Greetings from Charlotte,
As announced in last week's The World Ahead, Mr. Rod King, United Kingdom Regional Director, recorded two television programs while visiting Headquarters in Charlotte. His programs' titles are "America and Britain, 'a Special Relationship'" and "Who Made Britain 'Great?'" Both telecasts offer the booklet The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy, and they will air on March 11 and May 27, 2007, respectively. Mr. King left last night for Australia, where he will spend a few days before traveling to the Philippines to conduct a local ministerial conference.
FINANCE AND MAIL PROCESSING DEPARTMENTS
Fall Holy Day envelopes should begin arriving in your mailbox soon. You may notice that we have switched to a larger green envelope this year. The larger envelope is actually less expensive and allows us to use the inserter machine instead of inserting each envelope by hand. So we are actually saving the Work money and several days of labor.
If you do not receive your envelopes by September 12, please let us know right away and we will send you a set of envelopes for the fall Holy Days. It saves the Work valuable time if you can use the pre-printed envelopes with your name, address and pin number. You can contact us by phone at 704-844-1970, or by e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected].
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION
Australia and New Zealand Update
This week, 216 responses (76 from new subscribers) were received from the Tomorrow's World program "Beware of the Antichrist" presented by Mr. Roderick Meredith, offering the booklet Who or What Is the Antichrist? In New Zealand there were 147 responses (75 from new subscribers), giving an Australia/New Zealand total of 363 responses.—Bruce Tyler
Malaysia Update
The past two months have been busy. We mailed 2,500 copies of Mr. Meredith's semi-annual letter and so far 107 requests have been received for the new booklet The Bible: Fact or Fiction? We expect to receive a 10-12% response rate to the letter. Once every month I travel to Bahau and visit members in their homes for a few hours before Sabbath services. They have a weekly Bible study conducted by Mr. David Isaac from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., followed by regular Sabbath services. When I go there, I conduct the Bible study and give a sermon. Preparations are going well for the Feast with 65 members attending this year. A couple of the members will be attending the Feast in Australia.—Rajan Moses
FEAST OF TABERNACLES
Attention all Pastors: Some of the brethren in your congregations will not be able to attend the Feast of Tabernacles for valid reasons. We will be glad to send them Feast of Tabernacles sermons CDs. Please send us their names and addresses by September 12, if you have not already done so—or if they haven't registered yet as "unable to attend" on our online FOT registration system. The requests can be sent to us by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone at 704-844-1960, ext. 217, or by fax at 704-844-1975.
Canmore, Alberta
Housing Reservations. If you have not yet made your reservations for Canmore, Alberta, please take note that the room block at the Radisson will be released on September 6. Any reservations made after that date will be subject to higher rates, and rooms may not be available.
Daytona, Florida
Housing Reservations. If you have not already made your housing reservations—and if it fits with your budget and personal situation—we encourage you to consider using the recommended housing listed in the Festival Planner 2006, as it helps to defray the costs of the meeting hall.
Paducah, Kentucky
Children's Choir. Parents of children interested in having their children participate in the Children's Festival Choir should contact the Children's Choir Director, Mrs. Beryl Wilson, at 816-537-8133.
Copper Mountain, Colorado
Family Talent and Fun Show. There will be a Family Talent and Fun Show in Copper Mountain on Tuesday, October 10, at 7:30 p.m. Come prepared to have some fun and display your special talent. We will have a special evening together. Everyone is also invited to attend the Family Dinner Dance at the Feast in Copper Mountain. A special evening dinner is planned for all attendees prior to the dance. Sabbath wear is appropriate for the dance to follow. Suggested donation for the meal will be $26/person (children $19). This includes the meal, service gratuity, tax and resort surcharge. More than 460 persons have already signed up for this special evening, planned for Thursday evening, October 12, from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. You don't want to miss this activity.
MEDIA
Mr. Wayne Pyle reports, "We aired program #267, 'Beware of the Antichrist,' which offered the Antichrist booklet. From Thursday through Sunday, we received 2,426 phone calls in the United States and Canada. Based on this, it looks like the response for the whole week will exceed 3,000 replies. The first airing back in February generated 3,912 responses. Thus, the second airing looks like it will produce about 78 percent of the first response-figure, which is a typical summer-time percentage."
COMMENTS
What Causes Strife? Is there strife in your family or discord in your congregation? Do you have problems getting along with certain people? Do others find you a difficult person? What actually causes strife and contention? The Bible reveals the root cause of contention is pride (Proverbs 13:10) and "a proud heart stirs up strife" (Proverbs 28:25). Other causes of strife and contention are foolish comments (Proverbs 18:6), spreading gossip and lies (Proverbs 6:19; 26:20), competition for a position (Luke 22:24), jealousy and seeking our own way (James 4:1-5), aggressive, combative or argumentative behavior (Proverbs 30:33; I Timothy 6:4) and angry, hateful comments (Proverbs 10:12; 29:22). Rivalry, strong opinions and a party spirit generated strife in the early Church, where some even preached Christ out of selfish ambition (Acts 15:1-2, 36-40; I Corinthians 1:10-13; Philippians 1:15). To eliminate strife, we must recognize and overcome strife-causing attitudes and actions and begin to exercise the fruits of God's Spirit (Galatians 5:19-26). Long ago Solomon said, "It is honorable for a man to stop striving, since any fool can start a quarrel" (Proverbs 20:3). We need to learn how to stop contention—before it starts (Proverbs 17:14).
Have a peaceful Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
NEWS AND PROPHECY—August 31, 2006
Pope meets German Chancellor. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the Middle East and Iran. According to Merkel, "We had a very intense exchange on world politics, especially on the Middle East, but also on how the international community should deal with Iran" (Deutche Welle, August 28, 2006). The Pope made several appeals for a truce in the recent war between the Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon. Observers noted the chemistry is "just right" between Merkel, who is the daughter of a Protestant pastor, and the Pope—who is looking forward to visiting Germany in September. Merkel also commented, "The Pope is a great leader of Christianity to which my protestant faith also belongs" (Ibid). Bible prophecy indicates there will be a close relationship between a powerful religious leader based in Rome who is actively involved in the politics of this world and who promotes an ecumenical movement, and a German-led beast power that will emerge in Europe at the end of the age (see Revelation 17:1-5; Isaiah 10:5-14).
Petroleum Producers Turning Against West. The competition for limited supplies of oil is increasing. Any major supply disruption will be devastating to the economies, and defense establishments, of oil-dependent nations. Iran controls our planet's second-largest oil reserve, and its government is threatening to "turn off the tap," if anyone seeks to pressure Tehran to cease its nuclear program. In war-torn Iraq, Iranian influence is increasing; if these two nations combined their oil reserves, it would be the world's largest. Meanwhile, anti-oil rebellions in Nigeria are threatening the flow of crude oil. Chad's president has just expelled all foreign oil companies from his nation. In South America, Ecuador has passed a law confiscating half of foreign companies' oil revenues, and U.S.-Venezuela relations continue to deteriorate, threatening oil sales to North America. Russia has now become the planet's biggest producer of oil and natural gas. President Putin has already used the "energy weapon" to impose his policies on other countries (Weiss Research, Money and Markets, August 25, 2006). Israel's lovers are beginning to turn on her, in ever-increasing numbers (Ezekiel 23:22).
Pruning Hooks into Spears. Instead of addressing hunger, disease, poverty, ignorance and natural disasters that afflict mankind, nations are arming themselves at an alarming rate. Demand is surging for the tools of war. This year, five nations--Australia, Japan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Thailand--have spent a combined $19 billion on armaments, which represents a 538 percent increase over their 2005 expenditures. Why the rush to arms? The Saudis fear the chaos in Iraq and the growing power of Iran. Pakistan fears India. Japan has a dispute with China over oil exploration rights, and fears a nuclear-armed North Korea. Thailand faces Islamic unrest. The United States, at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, will spend an estimated $535 billion--20 percent of its 2006 budget--on its military (Weiss Research, Money and Markets, August 30, 2006). The Russian bear is also rearming, with an eye to restoring its old empire (Early Warning Report, September 2006). God said that as the Day of the Lord nears, He will call the nations to arms and gather their forces for a great battle to be fought against the armies of heaven (Joel 3:9-12; Revelation 19:11-19).—Don Davis, Douglas Winnail