Greetings from Charlotte,
It was a sad day Monday, as funeral services were held for Mr. Gary Ehman, a longtime minister, pastor, and Personal Correspondence Director. A member related to me during the Feast how much Mr. Ehman meant to him, as he had helped him greatly coming to the Truth. Please see further information about Mr. Ehman below, and remember Linda, his widow, in your prayers. And that reminds me of something I’ve taken notice of in recent years. We often decry, and rightfully so, the failures in marriage, but the greater picture shows that there are many marriages that last 40 to 70 years or more. It is easy for young people to fear marriage, especially when the marriage of their parents or the parents of a close friend ends in divorce, but a significant percentage of couples work through their challenges and grow closer together over the years, and that is beautiful to see. In other news, Mr. Wallace Smith recorded a new telecast titled “Why Does God Use Prophecy?” Worldwide Festival attendance was up this past year, and offerings were up for every Holy Day in 2021, with an overall increase of 8.5 percent over 2020 here in the U.S. We plan an online Council of Elders meeting this coming Tuesday.—Gerald Weston
Church Administration
In Memoriam: Mr. Gary Ehman
Mr. Gary Ehman died on Sunday, October 10, at the age of 84, in his home in Mint Hill, North Carolina, after a battle with bladder cancer. Mr. Ehman was baptized in 1969 and ordained into the ministry in the Worldwide Church of God in 1979. He served in a number of capacities in the Global Church of God and Living Church of God and was instrumental in developing the Church’s Personal Correspondence Department. He also pastored congregations in Southern California, Arizona, and North Carolina. Until his illness prevented him from doing so, he pastored the Statesville and Kannapolis, North Carolina, congregations. A funeral service was held on Monday, October 18, followed by a committal service at Veterans’ National Cemetery in Salisbury, North Carolina, on October 21. Your prayers for his wife of 46 years, Mrs. Linda Ehman, would be much appreciated. Cards and condolences may be sent to her at the HQ office in Charlotte: 2301 Crown Centre Drive, Charlotte, NC 28227, and they will be forwarded to her.
Living Education
Each week, we feature a “Digging Deeper” article on lcgeducation.org. In a short article, Mr. Ken Frank digs into the Bible, revealing gems of knowledge that help readers have a better understanding of this fascinating book. If you check out this column, you’ll see titles like “Least of all the Seeds,” “A Lesson from Barabbas,” “A Hanukkah Confrontation,” and “Did John Invent Baptism?” To make these articles even more accessible, we produce audio podcasts of each, posting them both on lcgeducation.org and on Spotify. As of this week, people downloaded one of the podcasts more than 2,000 times—which is very encouraging! If you’d like to check them out, just go to lcgeducation.org and search for the “Digging Deeper” posts. Or, you can go directly to Spotify and search for “Digging Deeper” by Mr. Ken Frank.
Editorial Department
Print Bible Study Course
Attention anyone who is actively taking the print Bible Study Course and has ordered any lesson beyond Lesson 1 in the past six months: we’d love your help. We would like to talk with you about your experience in taking the course. We are working on making improvements to the course and your feedback would be helpful. If you are able to help us, please email Deborah Stephenson at [email protected] or call her at 704-708-2263 and she will set up an appointment.—Wallace Smith and Mike DeSimone
Feast of Tabernacles
Feast of Tabernacles Attendance
The Living Church of God had a grand total of 11,343 members and guests attend the Feast in 2021. Eighty-one percent of our attendees were present in person, and 19 percent joined online. This is a 1.4 percent increase over 2020. Feast attendance increased most significantly in Africa, especially in Burundi, where we had a big influx of new attendees, mostly from other Church of God groups. We had about 100 Feast sites in 49 countries. Seventeen sites were conducted in the United States, with the rest being in Africa (22), Latin America (15), the Caribbean (14), Australasia (13), the Philippines (9), and the United Kingdom and Europe (6).
Saving the Festival Tithe
Deuteronomy 14:22–27 describes a “tithe” that is to provide the means to go up to the Feast and “eat before the Lord your God.” God commands us to set aside one-tenth of our income throughout the year so that we have the financial means to keep the Feast. That means we are learning to fear the Lord our God always (Deuteronomy 14:23) well in advance of the Feast, by acting in faith and setting aside our Festival tithe week by week, month by month. Now’s the time to start preparing for a great Feast next year!
Comments
Take Time to Think: For many today, the pace of life is frantic and filled with distractions. Yet, Daniel warned that at the end of the age, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4). Jesus also warned, “the cares of this world” can “choke the word” and cause us to miss out on the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:22). One of the biggest challenges Christians face is the battle that goes on in our minds with thoughts that determine our actions. Solomon wrote, as a person “thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). David observed that a wicked person does not seek God and “God is in none of his thoughts” (Psalm 10:4). Yet, David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) because he meditated on God’s law daily (Psalm 119:97). David wrote that green pastures and still waters were restful and restorative (Psalm 23). Such places are conducive to thinking and reflecting on God’s creation and his Great Plan for human beings. If we want to grow and prepare for the coming Kingdom of God, we need to take time to think and meditate on God’s word. Read a Psalm every morning or evening and meditate on the subjects mentioned in Philippians 4:8. We can develop the mind of God if we think on these things.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
News and Prophecy—October 21, 2021
Jerusalem—A Heavy Stone for all Peoples: The Jerusalem Post reports that an Israeli court recently ruled that a Jewish man detained for praying on the Temple Mount was not in violation of the law (October 7, 2021). Many believe the ruling implies silent prayer by Jews is now officially allowed on the Temple Mount—a recognized Muslim holy site. A conservative attorney noted in frustration, “It is inconceivable that Jews in the Temple Mount area should not be allowed to mumble and pray even silently when Muslims on the mountain are allowed to do everything—pray, demand, play football, and riot while the police do not prevent this—and Jews should feel like strangers in the holy place.”
Muslim and Arab reaction was not favorable. A “spokesperson for Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called the decision ‘null,’ saying it has no legal effect as international law does not recognize Israeli authority over east Jerusalem.” Hamas called the ruling a “declaration of war” and “blatant aggression” against the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Palestinian governor of Jerusalem warned that allowing quiet prayer on the Temple Mount set a “dangerous precedent.” Arabs know that a sect of the Jews are intent on rebuilding the Jewish temple on the Temple Mount. Jerusalem and the Temple Mount remain a powder keg in the Middle East, just as the Bible stated long ago: “And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it” (Zechariah 12:3).
The Temple Mount is a site of contention between Arabs and Jews. Bible prophecy indicates the Jews will resume sacrifices near or on the Temple Mount at the end of the age. What must occur for Jews to be allowed to do this in relative peace and safety? To learn more, be sure to watch “The Future of Jerusalem.”
China-U.S. Tempers Flare: Over a recent four-day period, China flew 150 aircraft within Taiwan’s defense zone (BBC, October 5, 2021). Taiwan’s air force went on high alert and its president warned that Taiwan would “do whatever it takes to defend itself,” while China cautioned the United States against “supporting and ‘inflating’ Taiwan separatist forces.”
In a reaction to the new Australia-UK-U.S. alliance known as AUKUS—an alliance apparently formed as a response to what is seen as Chinese aggression in the region—a spokesman from Beijing’s foreign ministry declared that the agreement resulted from an “outdated Cold War zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical perception” (Politico, September 16, 2021). He also stated that the agreement would intensify the regional arms race. On October 8, China’s Global Times reported the claims of multiple Western news outlets that U.S. special forces have been training Taiwanese military for over a year, and it had warned earlier, on October 4, that the “strategic collusion between the US and Japan and the DPP authorities is becoming more audacious, and the situation across the Taiwan Straits has almost lost any room for maneuver teetering on the edge of a face-off, creating a sense of urgency that the war maybe triggered at any time.” Leaders in Beijing have previously warned Taiwan that any attempts to establish independence from China would bring war.
As global tempers flare, will world leaders keep their cool and decrease hostilities? A direct military confrontation between China and the United States is the last thing either nation wants to experience. But what does the future hold for these two increasingly competitive superpowers? To learn more, be sure to read “Is This China’s Century?”—Scott Winnail, Chris Sookdeo, Etienne Duval, and Francine Prater