Greetings from Charlotte,
The ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline here in the United States has shut off fuel supplies to Southern and Atlantic Coast states, causing more than a thousand gas stations to run out of fuel. North Carolina is the hardest hit, with about 70 percent of gas stations shut down. Panic buying in Florida, which is not dependent on the Colonial Pipeline system, has shut down 16 percent of their stations. This will affect in-person Sabbath and Pentecost attendance in some of the states hardest hit, but we are thankful for the infrastructure we have in the Church, due to the pandemic, to transmit services online. Of course, we all know that anything involving the Internet is vulnerable, and it is a good practice to have back-up available. As we see our world going from one disaster to another, let us remember God as our Creator this Sabbath, and the millennial rest the Sabbath foreshadows; and let us rejoice in the calling God has given to us as firstfruits of His harvest.—Gerald Weston
Living Education
We started in the mountains and ended at the ocean! Last August, twelve students began Living Education-Charlotte with an orientation program in the Smoky Mountains. This week, we concluded nine months of intensive training with a three-day wrap-up program at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, home of Kitty Hawk, where Orville and Wilbur Wright first launched man into powered flight. This served as a powerful symbol for our students as they continue their life journey, equipped with lessons they learned over the past year. Graduation will take place on Friday, May 14, with final messages from Mr. Gerald Weston, Mr. Richard Ames, Dr. Douglas Winnail, and Mr. Ken Frank. Congratulations to our students!—Jonathan McNair
Feast of Tabernacles
More than 5,000 Registered for the Feast of Tabernacles
As of this writing, 5,027 Living Church of God brethren and guests have successfully registered for the 2021 Feast of Tabernacles. If you are having difficulty registering, please contact your Festival Advisor. If you don’t know who your Festival Advisor is, please contact your Pastor.
A number of Feast sites still have specific needs. If you would like to transfer and can fill one of these needs, please consider the following sites:
- Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri (First Aid, Piano, Special Music, Audio/Visual)*
- Boerne, Texas (Piano)
- New Bern, North Carolina (Ushering)
- Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (Audio/Visual, Piano, Special Music)
- San Diego, California (Piano, Special Music)
*New addition since last week.
This year in the United States, we encourage brethren to attend their assigned site. However, if you want to transfer, several sites still have ample room, so you may want to consider them:
- San Diego, California*
- Boerne, Texas
- Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri
- Midway, Utah
- Natchez, Mississippi
- New Bern, North Carolina
- Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
- Sandusky, Ohio
- Williamsburg, Virginia
*New addition since last week
Living Youth Program
West Virginia Preteen Camp Application Deadlines
Application deadlines are rapidly approaching for Preteen Camp in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia. The deadline for staff applications is June 1 and the deadline for camper applications is July 1. Staff positions are filling up, so if you would like to serve as camp staff this summer, be sure to complete your online application as soon as possible. This year’s camp dates are August 1–6. If you have questions, please email me at [email protected] or call 240-707-6280.—Scott Winnail, West Virginia Preteen Camp Director
Camp Registration Continues
We expect to continue accepting camper (ages 13–17) applications for Texas Teen Camp for a few more weeks. Registration will close on June 8. If you would like to attend, please visit https://camp.livingyouth.org for information and to apply.
Registration is also open for the Preteen and Adventure camps for campers and staff. You can find more information about any of those camps at the same address.—Joshua Penman
Adventure Camp 2021—Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana—Repeat Announcement
For those of you eager to go to Adventure Camp this year, the moment you’ve been waiting for is here. Registration for Adventure camp is now open. For more information about the camp and to begin registration, visit https://camp.livingyouth.org. Tuition costs will be $350 for campers and $250 for staff. If you have any questions about the registration process, please contact Jenny Penman at the Living Youth Camp office at [email protected].
This year’s Adventure Camp is an awe-inspiring backpacking trip to the Bob Marshall Wilderness in the Flathead National Forest. “In the Rocky Mountains of Northwest Montana, just south of the Canadian border, lies the 2.4-million-acre Flathead National Forest. With lakes galore, rugged wilderness, wild rivers, over 2,000 miles of trail, campgrounds, ski areas, and year-round beauty, this forest is a premiere natural landscape of the American West” (Flathead National Forest website). The Bob Marshall Wilderness is “one of the most completely preserved mountain ecosystems in the world, the kind of wilderness most people can only imagine: rugged peaks, alpine lakes, cascading waterfalls, grassy meadows embellished with shimmering streams, a towering coniferous forest, and big river valleys” (Bob Marshall Wilderness).
This year’s Adventure Camp will be a challenging but rewarding adventure that you won’t want to miss and will remember for many years!
Dates:
Arrival: Tuesday, August 3, 2021
Departure: Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Applicant information:
Staff: To be considered for Staff positions, applicants must be 21 years of age or older. Staff members selected must have the ability and endurance to hike 8 to 10 miles per day carrying 35–40 pounds in a backpack. They must also have a positive, encouraging attitude and have a love for working with teens and young adults.
Campers: Ages 13–20 may apply. Applicants selected must have a love for adventure as well as the willingness to do hard things! We will be hiking several miles a day carrying supplies in our backpacks. Preferential acceptance will be given to those ages 15 and up. If there is room available, we will consider younger applicants.
Finance
Pentecost Holy Day Offerings: U.S. Churches Only—Repeat Announcement
As we prepare for Pentecost, we want to let the brethren know how we will be handling the Holy Day offering. We encourage those who are able and want to donate online to make online Holy Day offerings. This greatly cuts down on the time and work required to process checks. Congregations holding in-person services on Pentecost will have an offertory message and collect an offering as we have normally done. If you attend in person and choose to donate online, simply write “online” on your offering envelope collected at services. For those who will not be able to attend services in person, we encourage making online donations, if possible, just as we did for the Days of Unleavened Bread.—Finance Department
Comments
Are You Filled with the Spirit? We read in the Scriptures inspiring accounts of numerous people who were “filled” with God’s Holy Spirit—John the Baptist, his mother Elizabeth, and his father Zacharias (Luke 1:15, 41, 67). On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were “all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). Later, Peter and Paul are described as being “filled” with the Spirit (Acts 4:8; 9:17; 13:9). Paul admonished brethren, “do not be drunk with wine… but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). How do you become filled with the Spirit? If we repent and make a commitment at baptism and receive the laying on of hands, we are promised the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). God gives His Spirit to those who obey His commandments (Acts 5:32). However, that Spirit must be nourished daily by regular prayer and Bible study if we are to be “filled” with the Spirit (2 Corinthians 4:16). Paul told Timothy to “stir up” the Spirit, indicating there are things we can and must do to become “filled” with the Spirit of God (2 Timothy 1:6–7). Let’s make sure we are doing our part to nourish and exercise the fruits of God’s Spirit so we can be instruments in His hands.
Have a profitable Pentecost,
Douglas S. Winnail
News and Prophecy—May 13, 2021
Rain and Drought in Israel: As a country, Israel is quite small—smaller than Belgium, about half the size of Costa Rica, and roughly the same size as the state of New Jersey. But as small as it is, Israel is experiencing drastic differences in precipitation across the country (Times of Israel, April 5, 2021).
Winter precipitation made the small nation seem as if it were two different countries, one north and one south, “with one receiving average or higher rain, and the other experiencing severe drought.” Some drought-ravaged areas have had as little as 18 percent of their average annual rainfall. While the south of the nation is drying up, some areas of the north have experienced flooding. A Tel Aviv University faculty member noted, “While in the north, everything is green, south of Beit Kama, everything turned yellow already in March. Fires will start soon.” Recently, the Israeli government even offered compensation to farmers who cut wheat early before the start of balloon season—the time of year helium balloons carrying explosive devices tend to come from Gaza in an attempt to set Israeli wheat fields on fire. Many farmers have taken the government up on this offer.
The current dichotomy in Israel’s climate could be a foretaste of what is prophesied to occur on an even larger scale across more Israelite-descended nations, as these countries continue to turn away from God. Speaking prophetically of times yet ahead, God stated, “I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered” (Amos 4:7). As we see this trend developing more widely, we need to remember God’s prophetic warnings that these events will come to pass before the end of the age. For greater insights, be sure to read Acts of God: Why Natural Disasters?
Believing the Bible—Now a Crime? While it might seem preposterous, in nations that once composed “Christendom,” believing in and preaching from the Bible is now subject to persecution and threats of criminal charges. Recently, a 71-year-old preacher in London was arrested, hand-cuffed, and jailed for publicly preaching from the book of Genesis that marriage was between one man and one woman (Newsweek.com, May 2, 2021).
Also in England, a chaplain at a Christian school was reported to a government counter-terrorism agency as a “potentially violent religious extremist” and dismissed for preaching a sermon, in a chapel service, informing students they could disagree with new LGBT policies promoted by an activist and being implemented that were contrary to their beliefs (ChristianConcern.com, May 9, 2021). And in Finland, a prominent politician, who is also a medical doctor and a mother, faces imprisonment for expressing her biblically based views on marriage and homosexuality (ADFInternational.org, April 30, 2021).
The West not only entered a post-Christian age, it is moving rapidly into an anti-Christian age. Yet this should not surprise any who read the Bible. Jesus said one of the signs of the approaching end of this age would be that those who follow His teachings would be persecuted (Matthew 24:9). The prophet Isaiah also foretold the time would come when good would be called evil, and evil would be called good (Isaiah 5:20). To discover what were once considered fundamental teachings of Christianity, read The Ten Commandments.—Scott Winnail and Francine Prater