Living Church of God

Winter has certainly arrived in force, with snow and plunging temperatures in many parts of the northern hemisphere. Economic shockwaves continue to reverberate around the world, and the Middle East crisis is far from being resolved. We are truly living in sobering and momentous times! Here in Charlotte, Mr. Meredith has completed a semi-annual letter that is in the process of being mailed. On Monday, we will begin to dismantle the old television studio as we move items to the new building. Today, the last sermon recording was made in that studio, a French sermon by Mr. Dibar Apartian (Dr. Winnail will be recording a lecture there tomorrow). Coincidentally, the first recording made there was also a sermon by him! This may affect the taping schedules for some of our Living University classes for several weeks. Dr. Germano was in Charlotte this week to work on LU matters, and he reports that we have 109 students enrolled in spring semester classes. This afternoon we have an online Web meeting scheduled with Festival Coordinators to discuss issues related to the Feast of Tabernacles 2009. We are also working on budgets for the coming year. We certainly need to pray that God will guide His Work in 2009.

Next week, Dylan King, from our Television Department, and Mr. Berner Gonzalez will be traveling to Washington, DC to gather footage of the historical Presidential Inauguration for the Tomorrow’s World telecast. Your prayers for a successful taping and photo shoot in the DC area, and for their safe travels, are greatly appreciated. We are also continuing preparations for nine public appearances, in the United States and in Saint Lucia (West Indies), scheduled for the first quarter of 2009. The first three months of this new calendar year are already packed with activity in God’s Work!

Area Pastor Fitzroy Greeman and his wife visited Barbados from January 2-6. There were 72 in attendance for Sabbath services, on January 3, followed by Living Leadership Course #17, “Delegating, Empowering and Building a Team,” with 46 in attendance. On Sunday evening, there was a spokesman’s club meeting with 15 men participating. We are very encouraged to see the growth of the Living Church of God in Barbados, which has roughly doubled in average attendance since 2003.

Last Thursday, January 8, a powerful 6.2 on the Richter scale earthquake shook Costa Rica, killing at least 20 people and destroying or seriously damaging hundreds of structures. Our elder there, Mr. George Schaubeck, reported that none of our brethren in Costa Rica were injured by the earthquake, which was centered five miles from a volcano, in a mountainous region popular with tourists. One of our members learned that his mountain home was completely destroyed by the tremor, but we thank God that none of our members suffered any severe loss.

Final touches are being made to contracts for the United States Feast sites for this coming Fall. We are having a Festival Coordinators online Web meeting today (Thursday, January 15) to discuss planning for this year’s Feast. We hope to announce the USA Feast sites soon. International Directors are also pulling together their festival information as they prepare for an early International Site Registration date of Sunday, February 22. Brethren in the United States planning to travel to sites in international areas are welcomed to register starting on this date at the MyLCG website (www.cogl.org).

Early registration on February 22 will also include the site in Hawaii. As mentioned in last week’s Update, if you would like to attend the Feast in Hawaii, you are asked to pre-register for planning purposes at the website: www.fothawaii.org. (We apologize for the mistake in last week’s Update—the website was listed incorrectly as www.fothawaii.com). Once you have accessed the website, click on the “contact me” tab and follow the instructions. If you do not have computer access, please see your Pastor or Festival Advisor for help in pre-registering. This website will be updated on a regular basis with new information on accommodations, activities and more, so check it regularly.

The Need for Wisdom: In the book of Proverbs, Solomon writes that one of the most important goals in life is to gain wisdom (Proverbs 4:7) and that the value of wisdom is even greater than rubies or gold (Proverbs 8:11; 16:16). He states that growing in wisdom will enable us to better discern between right and wrong, and that learning to act wisely will lead to happiness and a longer life (Proverbs 2:10-11; 3:13-16). Solomon was inspired to write the book of Proverbs to help others gain wisdom (Proverbs 1:1-6), and he reveals that the most important key to gaining wisdom is developing a proper fear of God—having a sincere desire to follow God’s instructions (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). It should be instructive that as Jesus Christ grew up, He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). Jesus obviously followed the instructions in Proverbs 2:1-5 to seek after wisdom, to cry out for discernment and to treasure the commandments of God. The Apostle James urged us to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5), and the Apostle Paul admonished us to study the Scriptures “which are able to make you wise” (2 Timothy 3:14-17). Why not set a goal to do a word study of “wise” and ‘wisdom” in the book of Proverbs and the rest of the Scriptures? As we grow in wisdom, we will be developing one of the attributes of God and Jesus Christ (Job 9:4; Romans 16:27).

Europe and Germany Inch Closer to Israel. Egyptian President Mubarak is spearheading an effort to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas by working closely with UN and EU leaders. Former EU President Sarkozy is also working with President Mubarak on the peace deal (EU Observer, January 8, 2009). A German official has also spoken out favorably, “If the parties to the conflict were to desire it, German soldiers could of course play a role.” A spokesman from Chancellor Merkel’s party added that if Germany sends troops, they must have “robust” powers to act (Deutsche Welle, January 8, 2009). Chancellor Merkel has also roundly blamed Hamas for the current situation, stating that the cause of the current fighting lies “clearly and exclusively” with Hamas (Spiegel Online, December 29, 2008). The EU and Germany are showing increased interest in the politics of the Holy Land—to the extent that the Germans have even volunteered military support in the area. The Bible warns that in the end times, Jerusalem will be “trampled down… until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). Christ also warned that when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies, this will be proof that desolation is near (v. 20). Both Europe and Germany are maneuvering to play a prominent role in the future of the Holy Land (European Jewish Press, December 8, 2008)—which is also in accordance with the wishes of the Pope.

Watch the Middle East! For decades the Church has admonished us to watch the Middle East. Recent events in Jerusalem, Gaza and Lebanon should remind us of this region’s prophetic importance. Now Iran claims to have 70,000 hard-line students who have “signed up” to carry out suicide attacks against Israel in retaliation for its offensive against Gaza (AP, January 5, 2009). In addition, the latest U.S. intelligence estimates suggest that by the end of the year, Iran will have enough weapons-grade material to construct three nuclear bombs—it could have enough fuel for the first bomb by the end of January (DEBKA, January 5, 2009). On January 3, the Egyptian Foreign Minister accused the UN Security Council of “failing to do its job,” by not immediately condemning Israel’s move into Gaza (Reuters, January 5, 2008). Egypt and Egyptian president Mubarak have taken the lead in the current Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza (EU Observer, January 8, 2009). Daniel reveals that the king of the south will eventually “push against” the king of the north (see Daniel 11). Currently the nations to the south of Europe are united on some issues and divided on others. Will some issue cause the nations to the south to come together in some way? What will this end time “push” look like? We must continue to watch the Middle East to see how these events will fit into prophecies about the end of the age.

Polarizing Societies—Against Christianity! In Britain, secular elements are growing more hostile toward Christian values (Sunday Telegraph, December 7, 2008). The Church of England has proposed ordaining women as bishops in the next five years and debates continue about ordaining homosexual priests (Daily Mail, December 30, 2008). In Australia, lawmakers have called for public debate over using the Lord’s Prayer to begin Parliamentary sessions—a century old practice (AP, October 27, 2008). In the USA, a homosexual bishop will give an invocation in conjunction with President Obama’s inauguration, and will purposefully avoid references to Christian values and the Bible (AP, January 12, 2009); and a conservative coalition wants Christians to start a “mass exodus” from public schools to protect children from the growing liberal agenda (OneNewsNow, January 2, 2009). Even the Vatican is preparing to end a century-old practice of automatically adopting Italian laws, because of corruption in Italian politics (BBC, January 1, 2008). The Western, so-called “Christian” world is rapidly moving away from traditional Christian values and toward increasingly secular and anti-Christian perspectives. The Bible predicted moral and religious decay in Israelite nations at the end of the age. Isaiah warned, “Woe to thosewhocallevilgood, and goodevil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). The polarization of society will create an opportunity for a religious figure to become a “rallying point” for professing Christians who want to retain their values system. Bible prophecy indicates this person will appear like a “lamb,” but will deceive people into worshiping the Beast and accepting a false religious system (see Revelation 13 and 17)—we appear to be moving in that direction.—Daniel Bennett, Sue Bennett and Scott Winnail