Living Church of God World Ahead Weekly Update

It is good to be home in Charlotte after a very profitable trip to the UK for visits and a Regional Ministerial Conference. It is very inspiring to see the dedication of God’s people and the excitement and appreciation in the eyes of new people coming into contact with God’s Truth and His Church. It has also been encouraging to hear how God has protected His people during the recent severe weather that has hit various areas of the globe.

This week, Mr. Meredith and Mr. Ames taped new programs for the World Tomorrow telecast: “What “The World’s Most VITAL Need” and “End-Time Prophetic Events.” Dr. Meredith also completed a semi-annual letter that will be mailed mostly next week to about 305,000 subscribers around the world. Mr. Wayne Pyle reports that last week’s program on “Answered Prayer” presented by Mr. Meredith should bring more than 4,400 responses and that the new TV station in Los Angeles, KCAL, is already beginning to draw good responses. We are very thankful that the income for the month of May continues to be strong. Mr. Rod McNair conducted an Internet conference for Festival Coordinators. This coming Monday, May 16, Living University will hold its third graduation with ten students from various countries receiving degrees or certificates. This past academic year we have had five on-campus students here in Charlotte and about 130 on-line students from around the world. Next Tuesday through Thursday, we will hold a Council of Elders meeting here in Charlotte. Your prayers for safe travel and for God’s guidance on the meetings will be greatly appreciated.—DSW

The Mississippi River flooding has displaced thousands of individuals, destroyed thousands of homes, covered millions of acres, and will cost the economy hundreds of millions of dollars. The city of Memphis, Tennessee, was hit very hard, and because of flooded roads, travel to and from Memphis, and around Memphis has been severely affected for more than a week. The Mississippi River crested at 47.8 feet Tuesday night in Memphis. Flood stage in Memphis is 34 feet. However, all of the Memphis congregation was spared from any flood damage, and the Memphis brethren wish to express their heartfelt thanks for all of the prayers that God’s people have been making on their behalf. They continue to pray for their spiritual brothers and sisters up and down the Mississippi river basin, especially as the flood surge moves south. We thank God for protecting all of our members, some of whose homes are literally just yards away from where the flood surge crested.—Wyatt Ciesielka

Mr. VG Lardé reports that, as of last week, the First and Last Day of Unleavened Bread sermons (by Mr. Yvon Brochu) on our French Tomorrow’s World website, www.MondeDemain.org, were watched by more than 230 unique visitors. In addition, our latest booklet translated and published into French, Le mystère révélé de l’Apocalypse (Revelation: the Mystery Unveiled!), was consulted by 174 unique visitors during the first ten days of going online.

Mr. Hernandez visited Costa Rica during his recent trip to South America. On the Sabbath, Mr. David Lujan gave the sermonette and Mr. Hernandez the sermon, titled “God’s Feasts: A Love Story.” On Sunday, May 1, we celebrated the marriage of my son Jorge Manuel Schaubeck to his fiancée, Dr. Frannia Arias, also a member of the Santa Ana congregation. On Monday, Mr. Hernandez and I traveled to the Guanacaste Province to visit the Eliecer family. On this journey of 325 miles, we were able to see beautiful landscapes and mountains. The visit was very interesting and Mr. Hernandez saw for himself the faithfulness of this family to God’s way, even though they didn’t have any contact with the Church for 20 years. After a short Bible Study, we departed with the desire to visit them again.—George Schaubeck

Brethren from all over the United States—from Ohio to Florida, from Virginia to Oregon—are signing up for the Carolina Singles Weekend to be held on Memorial Day Weekend, May 27-30. Other singles are welcome, too! Our theme will be: “Servants of God.” Here is a sampling of the Bible Studies and lectures scheduled for the weekend, including sessions by Dr. Roderick Meredith and Mr. Ames!

We had a successful Festival Office Web meeting this past Tuesday, with more than a dozen of our Festival Coordinators participating from all over the United States, Belgium, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Dr. Winnail exhorted coordinators on keeping the focus of the Feast spiritual, and developing a good manpower team. We also discussed how to upload activities and various reporting functions of the registration system. Brian Scarborough, from Kansas City, who developed and maintains the on-line registration system, joined us on-line to answer technical questions.

The Need for Wisdom: Solomon wrote 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). Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs to help others gain wisdom (Proverbs 1:1-6) and taught 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). Wisdom helps us discern between right and wrong and it also leads to happiness and a longer life (Proverbs 2:10-11; 3:13-16). As Jesus grew up, He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52), because He obviously followed the instruction in Proverbs 2:1-5 to seek after wisdom, to cry out [in prayer] for discernment and to treasure the commandments of God. The apostle James urged us to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5). The Apostle Paul admonished us to study the Scriptures “which are able to make you wise” (2 Timothy 3:14-17). Do a word study of “wise” and “wisdom” to gain a better understanding of this vital subject. As you grow in wisdom, you will be developing one of the attributes of God and Jesus Christ (Job 9:4; Romans 16:27).

China’s Growing Influence. In April, China posted an $11.4 billion trade surplus—up significantly from the previous three months, and far above the predicted $1 billion surplus. Imports and exports also rose significantly in April, over one year ago (Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2011). China also maintains over $3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. Although China is wrestling with inflation, their workers’ salaries are rising, giving greater ability to purchase Chinese-made goods within China, and further fueling its economy. Experts suggest that Chinese inflation and rising labor costs within China will increase the prices of Chinese exports—primarily to the U.S. This, coupled with the falling dollar, will almost certainly result in increasing prices for American consumers who have greatly benefited from the artificially low prices of Chinese products for the last several decades (Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2011). As China’s influence on the world stage continues to increase, the basis for prosperity in many Israelite-descended nations (primarily the U.S. and Britain) continues to erode. God warned long ago that the “borrower” would become a servant of the lender (Proverbs 22:7). As time continues, prophecies about the detrimental impact of foreign nations on the Israelite-descended peoples will continue to come to pass (Deuteronomy 28:25, 33, 43-44).

Brussels Undermines Democracy in Britain. Britain just held a national referendum on revising the voting system for the House of Commons. In this landmark referendum, voters overwhelming voted to keep the existing system. Proponents of the plan to change the voting system advocated for “a better form of democracy.” But according to noted columnist, Christopher Booker, “In no way did it address the real crisis of our politics, which is that any real semblance of democracy in how we are governed has all but drained away.” Booker continued with his sad commentary on the state of the nation in Britain, “For 40 years we have witnessed a mighty slow-motion coup d’état, whereby most of the laws which shape our lives are no longer made by elected politicians at all. The power has been handed over to a strange and barely comprehensible form of lawmaking, centred in Brussels but with tentacles stretching into every corner of our own bureaucracy” (Telegraph, May 7, 2011). For several centuries Britain has ridden the “high places of the earth,” because God has kept promises He made to Abraham long ago (Genesis 22:17-18; Isaiah 58:14, KJV). However, due to her national sins, God is allowing Britain’s once-great power to be usurped by and distributed among nations and peoples who were once her enemies—just as Bible prophecies have long foretold (Deuteronomy 28:25, 32-33, 36, 45-48).

Growing Threat of Urban Disease Outbreaks. The UN predicts that by the year 2050, the number of people living in cities will double. However, a recent study warns of an increasing risk for disease outbreaks in cities, “Cities become incubators where all the conditions are met for outbreaks to occur.” Because of overcrowding, lack of clean water, poor waste disposal and poor family dwelling construction, many in these cities will be ripe for contracting all types of infectious diseases. If an infectious disease takes hold in such a situation, it can spread very rapidly and will be next-to-impossible to stop. One important recommendation in the paper is that, as urban areas are built, they need to be designed so as to reduce risks for disease outbreaks (www.SciDev.net, February 2, 2011; The Lancet: Infectious Diseases, February 2, 2011). Jesus prophesied that “pestilences” or disease outbreaks would be one of the signs of the end of the age (Matthew 24:7, Luke 21:11). This will be due, in part, to ignoring biblical health principles that deal with proper disposal of wastes and warn about crowding dwellings too closely (Deuteronomy 23:13; Isaiah 5:8). God promised that if we would obey His statutes, people would be healthy and be able to avoid disease (Exodus 15:26). Thankfully, Jesus Christ will return to this earth and the laws of God will be implemented around the world (Isaiah 2:2-4)—resulting in unprecedented health and freedom from disease.—Jim and Sue Bennett, Ray Clore, Scott Winnail