Greetings from Charlotte,
This has been a sad week for many as a prominent member of the Church has gone to sleep to await the resurrection. Renee Strain, wife of the Charlotte congregation’s Pastor, John Strain, died last Sabbath from a brain tumor. Renee attended Ambassador College in the mid-to-late 1960s and was a dear friend of many as a former student and as a minister’s wife. The funeral will be held on Friday, and she will be buried in Oklahoma next week. Family Weekends were held in Texas, Alabama, and here in Charlotte over last weekend. For more details see this week’s video update. Family Weekends are scheduled this weekend in Kansas City, Missouri; Jacksonville, Florida; and Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. Rod McNair’s telecast this past week on the subject of Christmas brought a large number of new responses. It also trimmed our subscriber list of those individuals who understood the implications of his telecast but are not responding to truth at this time. Either way, it was a very potent message. —Gerald Weston
Church Administration
Winter Weekend in Pelham, Alabama
The Alabama Winter Weekend went very well. Beginning Friday, December 20, several brethren met together at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Pelham, Alabama, and began the day with an enjoyable “Meet and Greet” in the hotel’s lobby. We later enjoyed a couple of hours of bowling before meeting again in the hotel’s lobby, where we fellowshipped until about 9 p.m.
Sabbath morning, Mr. Stroud gave a Bible Study on vital lessons of obedience, using 1 Chronicles 13:1–10 to address the seriousness of obeying all that God commands. Sabbath Services took place at 1:00 p.m., followed later by a dinner and dance with the theme of “Western Wear,” as 71 cowboys and cowgirls enjoyed a meal together and danced the evening away.
Sunday, about 52 of us enjoyed a morning filled with games, a chili bar for lunch, and we ended the day with bingo and fellowship before most went home, though several stayed even later, talking and enjoying one another’s company.
All in all, it was a very good Winter Weekend in Alabama. Many are already talking about what next year’s theme might be.
Living Youth Program
LYP in Porto-Novo, Benin
Forty campers and staff from Togo and Benin are having a wonderful time at camp in Porto-Novo, Benin. After Bible classes, sports activities including rugby, basketball, handball, and speedminton do not damper the campers’ vitality! The campers have had an introduction to astronomy and slept under the stars, and the fishing activity was so successful that we changed the evening menu. Parents are very thankful for these opportunities given to their children. —Fanny Ellis
LYP in South Africa
Sixty-six campers and staff from South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Kenya, and the UK gathered near Cape Town, South Africa, for Teen Camp. Daily Christian Living classes focus on the theme “Be Ready with an Answer,” helping campers to be firmly grounded in the Truth. Physical activities include team building and leadership games, handball, tag rugby, netball, soccer, noodle hockey, arts and crafts, woodworking, life roles class, swimming, dance, speech classes, and more. This year, we are delighted to have elder Agik Otieno from Kenya joining us at camp. Also, Dr. Scott Winnail is attending from the UK to serve in Christian Living classes, Bible studies, and other various activities. We sincerely appreciate your prayers for God’s hand of protection and blessings upon this camp. —Lawdi Ferreira
Finance
Year-End Donations (U.S. only) (Repeat Announcement)
Please be reminded that all U.S. contributions dated in December and postmarked on or before December 31 may be tax deductible in 2024, even if we receive them in January 2025. For those who donate online, the deadline for online contributions is 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31.
Also note that if you plan on taking a tax deduction for contributions, your tax return should not be filed until you receive your year-end receipt for donations. This donation receipt is one of the tax documents the Internal Revenue Service requires you to keep as backup to claim this deduction. We plan to issue year-end donation receipts on or about January 22, 2025.
As we close the calendar year for 2024, we want to extend a hearty thank you to all our members, co-workers, and donors for your generous financial support, and for your prayers for every aspect of the Work. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few, but collectively we are able to accomplish much through God’s blessing. Please continue to pray for God’s guidance in everything that we do at Headquarters and in the local congregations around the world as we begin 2025.
Comments
The Path to Peace: Millions around the world yearn for “peace on earth,” yet news sources are filled with reports of riots, wars, and other horrible acts of violence between people. While governments try to negotiate peace accords and dispatch armed “peacekeepers” to dangerous areas, and determined activists claim that defunding police will bring peace to neighborhoods, nothing seems to work. The Bible reveals that human beings simply do not know the way to peace (Isaiah 59:8). Yet real peace will come when Jesus Christ, the “Prince of Peace,” returns to this earth (Isaiah 9:6–7). He will show that the path to peace involves learning to love one another and live by the laws of God (Psalm 119:165, 172; Isaiah 32:17). We have an opportunity to learn how to become peacemakers now—so we can teach the world the path to peace in the Kingdom of God (Matthew 5:9; Isaiah 2:2–4).
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
News and Prophecy – December 26, 2024
EU-South America Trade Deal: As Europe struggles politically and economically at home, it continues to reach out to nations around the globe to build stronger trade relationships. Some of these relationships may take years to pay off, but they have great potential. Just such a deal has now been struck between the EU and South American nations of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and—most recently—Bolivia (AP, December 6, 2024). “Provided it is ratified, the accord would create one of the world’s largest free trade zones, covering a market of 780 million people that represents nearly a quarter of global gross domestic product.”
While some industries in Europe are worried that South American products will undercut their own, European industry as a whole stands to gain if the trade deal is ratified. Although the European economic engine has stalled, opening up the market to nearly a half-billion people in South America could be the fuel Europe’s economies need to restart.
Bible prophecies predict that, as we near the end of the age, a German-led “beast” power will become a powerful economic and trading force that will make nations rich for a short period of time (Revelation 18:3–4). Yet the downfall of this global trading block will be felt round the world (vv. 15–18). As we watch world events, the stage for the future fulfillment of Bible prophecies is being set. To learn more about this coming global superpower and its demise, read or listen to The Beast of Revelation: Myth, Metaphor, or Soon-Coming Reality?
Doctor-Assisted Suicide May Soon Be Legal in Britain: Currently, any doctor in Britain who assists a patient to die prematurely could spend up to 14 years in prison (The Catholic Herald, December 2, 2024). However, two physicians and a judge may soon be able to give legal approval for an assisted suicide in the United Kingdom. This is concerning in a nation overseen by a national health care system that can benefit financially by prematurely terminating the lives of the very ill. The UK may soon join the club of nations where doctors can legally kill their patients. Currently, the bill requires consent from the patient and specifies narrow conditions, though the history of assisted suicide in other nations has demonstrated that the slope from explicit consent to vaguer, more sinister conditions is very slippery.
Not all leaders in Britain support this move. The Bishop of Portsmouth recently observed, “Our world here in the UK has now changed, unfortunately not for the better…. This legislation, however, makes one thing crystal clear. Britain is no longer a Christian country. To be a Christian in [the] future will not be easy, if ever it was.” The former leader of the Liberal Democrats has also observed, “A society has chosen a dystopian and contagious path if it chooses to facilitate the death of those who have a terminal illness rather than standing with them, weeping with them, valuing them and loving them against the desolation that any of us would feel if we were given a diagnosis of that sort.”
At the heart of the debate over doctor-assisted suicide is the idea that we all have the right to do to our own bodies whatever we want. However, the Bible clearly teaches differently, noting that the body is the temple of God’s own Spirit and “you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19) and that human beings are created in God’s own image (Genesis 1:26–27) and their lives are sacred. God, the giver of human life, is the only authority that can sanction the termination of that life (Genesis 9:6–7). For a deeper understanding of this important subject, watch “Do We Have the Right to Die?” —Scott Winnail and Francine Prater