Greetings from Charlotte,
Reports from the Feast of Tabernacles are coming in and continue to be very positive. Holy Day offerings for this year are running about 3.6% above last year. Mr. Meredith has been writing items for the Living Church News, and he completed another co-worker letter that was mailed last Friday. Last week, on the new ION network we had a record response (more than 1,000) to Mr. Meredith's program, "Seven Steps to Destruction"—the total response from all USA TV stations should be well over 5,000. This weekend, Mr. and Mrs. Ames will be in the Providence, Rhode Island congregation for services, and I will be in Minneapolis for services and a Tomorrow's World Bible Lecture on Sunday. We would appreciate your prayers for these events.
Church Administration
Hymnals
Attention Area Pastors: We are trying to assess the need for hymnals in our congregations. If your congregations are—or will soon be—in need of more hymnals, please contact Church Administration ([email protected]) with a request for the number of hymnals that you require in your area.
Jamaica Update
Mr. Lascelles Fraser reports: The attendance was very encouraging on Trumpets with 13 in Ocho Rios and 88 in Kingston (combined with Mandeville). On Atonement, the attendance in Kingston was 53 and in Mandeville 24. The income from January to September was up 15.3% over last year, with 3% attributable to "donors and co-workers." The expenses for the same period were 1.9% less than last year…. Four individuals who have been watching the telecast have shown an interest in the Church and I have planned to meet with them by mid-November.
Timely Intervention
Before the Day of Atonement, the city of Atlanta experienced serious flooding in which seven people lost their lives. Atlanta Area Pastor, Mr. Jack Lowe, wrote soon after: "Some areas in Atlanta had 23 inches of rain in 24 hours… I got a call from one of our members. He related this heartpounding story to me. His wife left for work in her truck but about three miles from home she attempted to cross a stream running across the road. She said that as soon as it hit the water, the truck began to float off the road and into the creek that had flooded and caused the water to go over the road. The truck began to sink and water was running into the truck and up to her legs. She called her husband on her cell phone and told him what was happening. He told her to hang up and call 911. He immediately got into his car and raced through the rain to where she was. By then his wife was attempting to climb out the window and onto the roof of the truck. He jumped into the water and pulled her to safety. Moments later the truck was completely under water. He said he has never prayed as loud and as fervently as he did driving to his wife. Thank God he got there quickly; the emergency crews were so overwhelmed that they were unable to send anyone to help her, as well as dozens of other situations."
Media
This week we aired Dr. Meredith's brand new TV program "Seven Steps to Destruction," which offered the long-standing booklet, Fourteen Signs Announcing Christ's Return. For the first time ever, as a result of our 6:00 am Sunday morning airing on superstation WGN, our call-center was absolutely over-run with phone calls from all over the United States. In one hour, more than 6,500 phone calls flooded into the call-center. Several hundred callers were not able to get through to either a live operator or voice machines. Our two new networks, the ION Network and the CW-Plus Network, both set new records. The ION Network brought in more than 1,300 phone calls from its Wednesday night airing of the telecast, and the CW-Plus Network generated more than 600 phone calls from its Sunday morning airing. All TV stations combined in North America brought in more than 5,000 responses this past week.—Wayne Pyle
Comments
Are You a Positive or Negative Person? What is your outlook on people, events and life? Do you grumble and complain about things and find fault with people and decisions made by others? Or do you see positive aspects of people and situations? The Apostle Paul emphasized that real Christians are positive people with a positive outlook on life. He wrote, "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" and "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:28, 31). Paul encouraged Christians, "Rejoice in the Lord always" and think on those things that are noble and good and pure (Philippians 4:4, 8). He also admonished Christians, "Do all things without complaining and disputing" [without grumbling, arguing and finding fault with others] (Philippians 2:14). Long ago Solomon wrote, "An ungodly man digs up evil, and it is on his lips like a burning fire" (Proverbs 16:27). Jude warns Christians that people who murmur and complain—and cause divisions—do not have, or are not being led by, God's Spirit (Jude 16-19). Even in the Church of God, we may forget that when we make or listen to accusations about other people, we can become tools in the hands of "the accuser of the brethren" himself, Satan the devil (Revelation 12:10). Let's remember these biblical admonitions to be positive and resist temptations to make negative comments and accusations about others.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
News and Prophecy—October 22, 2009
Heading Home to Their Mother. "The Vatican said Tuesday it has worked out a way for groups of Anglicans who are dissatisfied with their faith to join the Catholic Church." Henry VIII broke with the Catholic church more than 450 years ago. However, due to recent radical changes in the Anglican/Episcopal church (ordaining women and homosexual clergy and blessing same-sex partnerships), many conservative Anglicans are looking for a way back to a more traditional foundation. According to a Catholic church representative, "hundreds of Anglicans around the world have expressed their desire to join the Catholic Church. Among them are 50 Anglican bishops" (cnn.com, October 20, 2009). In fact, more than 400,000 Anglicans are ready to immediately join with the Catholic church (Timesonline.com, October 22, 2009). This move back to the Catholic Church is a monumental event—especially in terms of Bible prophecies that point to the end of this age and the return of Jesus Christ. Revelation 17 speaks of a woman (symbolic of a church) named "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots" that is "drunk with the blood of the saints" (vv. 5-6). The Roman Catholic church is well known to have shed the blood of religious people down through the ages who would not recognize the Pope as the Vicar of Christ and the Catholic Church as the true Church. The Catholic Church has long seen itself as the "mother" of all Christianity and has awaited the return of its "daughters." The prophet Isaiah foresaw a "daughter of Babylon" who would be referred to as "The Lady of Kingdoms" and would mount an ecumenical movement claiming "I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children" (Isaiah 47:8). Today we are watching this movement back to the Catholic church—even from churches that violently broke company with it centuries ago. Bible prophecies continue to be fulfilled that point to the return of Jesus Christ.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Arm-swinging while walking has long been thought by many scientists to be an artifact of our evolutionary past—when we supposedly walked on all fours. A recent study published in a biochemical journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, highlights the necessity for arm swinging. Researcher Steven Collins and his team demonstrated that, without arm-swinging when walking, the effort to walk is increased by 12% or "the equivalent of walking 20% faster or carrying a 10 kg [22 lb] backpack." Collins' research on robots revealed that walking robots "had trouble walking without arms, tending to spin and fall. When Collins and his colleagues added free-swinging arms to the machines, they moved in a way similar to human arms" (Cosmos Magazine online, July 29, 2009). So, rather than proving that arm swinging motions are useless leftovers from an imaginary evolutionary past, modern research is proving that arm-swinging motions are an important design element—providing further evidence of a Designer and Creator. King David wrote, "For You formed my inward parts… I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works… My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth" (Psalm 139:13-15).
One Billion People Are Hungry! According to the U.N. food agency, more than one billion people are hungry worldwide. Thirty nations now require food aid—twenty of which are in Africa. Many families "are cutting back on school, clothes and basic medical care just to give their children a meal once a day, experts say. Still, it is not enough." According to the head of international campaigns for ActionAid International, one child dies of malnutrition every six seconds. The key to ending this terrible situation is not just providing food, but teaching nations how to increase food production (Associated Press, October 14, 2009). God promised that obedience to His laws (not just spiritual laws, but biological and agricultural laws), will bring an abundance of food (Leviticus 26:3-4). Today, however, the world has chosen a path of exploitation—the "way of Cain" (Jude 11)—that leads to destruction. Jesus Christ taught the "way of God" (Matthew 22:16) and instructed His Church to "preach the gospel to every living creature" (Mark 16:15). Our mission is to bring the "good news" of God's way to a hungry world and that "way" will lead to a world without hunger in the near future, when "the plowman shall overtake the reaper" (Amos 9:13).—Scott Winnail, James Ginn, Marc Arseneault