Cartwright’s Journal out: 257 Feast of Tabernacles’ sites listed, anger with God, meeting the Queen of Thailand, Noel Rude & 1975, and PayPal

The latest issue (says #165, print date August 31, 2014) of The Journal was sent out electronically and just received.

One of its lead messages had to do with the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles:

The Journal lists 257 Feast sites for 2014

The Journal lists four Feast of Tabernacles sites for the Continuing Church of God, which has increased to at least six since as we have added two additional sites in Kenya and are considering one or two additional sites in North America (sites currently planned for the CCOG are in the article Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2014). The Feast of Tabernacles begins after sunset on the 8th of October this year. Here is a link to a Holy Day calendar and some in two languages:

Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2024, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 🙂 In the Spanish/Español/Castellano language: Calendario de los Días Santos. In Mandarin Chinese: 何日是神的圣日？这里是一份神的圣日日历从2013年至2024年。.

A front page article had to do with someone’s anger towards God for allowing deaths:

Preacher unhappy with God for letting friends suffer, die
By Dixon Cartwright

BIG SANDY, Texas—A visiting speaker for Sabbath services in the building owned by the Church of God Big Sandy on Aug. 30, 2014, said he’s angry with God be- cause of the recent spate of illnesses and deaths of several of his friends.

Dennis Mouland, 60, of Dewey, Ariz., was in Big Sandy to speak at the me- morial service Aug. 31 for Carl Akins, a 56- year-old Church of God member from this area. Mr. Mouland said God has some explaining to do. “I have been quite angry with God over a number of things, especially this year,” he said. “It might be better not to say I’m totally torqued off but that I’m bitter- ly disappointed or I don’t understand and I disagree with Him.”

While grief is expecting, directing anger towards God is inappropriate. Of course, many have issues handling grief and other problems. Here is a link to three items that could be helpful for some:

Why Does Man Suffer? Herbert Armstrong gives biblical reasons on this topic. I also wrote and added a section titled Suffering Has a Future Purpose.
Why Does God Allow Suffering? This is a pdf booklet put out by the old Worldwide Church of God that also answers questions about why God allows war as well as babies to die.
Did God Create a Devil? If not, what happened? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet.

The front page of The Journal also had the following:

Leon and Gloria Sexton…. The public-relations department of the royal palace in August interviewed Mr. Sexton, a Church of God member and founder, with his wife, of Legacy Institute ministry in Thailand.

A related article in The Journal was written by Leon Sexton where he wrote:

CHIANG MAI, Thailand—In early August 2014 I received a call from a palace official asking if I would participate in an event honoring Queen Sirikit of Thailand on her 82nd birth anniversary. I of course said yes, but not knowing what to expect. …

What activities and projects of the queen have I participated in? I talked about how, as Ambassador Foundation representative to Thailand, I traveled with the queen to her many SUPPORT Foundation projects in the north, northeast and south of Thailand. I have seen Her Majesty hard at work for many hours at a time with no breaks. I have seen her kneel in the dirt to talk to the poor people sitting on the ground instead of sitting in a chair at a much higher level. …

I answered all her questions in the Thai language. The interview lasted for 20 minutes.

The late Herbert W. Armstrong met with many world leaders decades ago and had the Sextons with him when he met the royal family in Thailand. The Sextons continued to have contact on behalf of the old Worldwide Church of God with the Thai royal family, and in particular, the Queen, after the initial meeting. Leon Sexton now runs the Legacy Institute and lives in Thailand. While I have issues with some of his theology, I have always respected the fact that he and his wife choose to live there and devote their lives to trying to serve.

In another Journal article, Noel Rude wrote:

SCOTTSBURG, Ore.—Many years ago there was this booklet by Herbert W. Armstrong with shocking illustrations by famed artist Basil Wolverton. Even now it merits its own Wikipedia entry.

That booklet— 1975 in Prophecy, published by the Radio Church of God—along with much else brought yours truly to Ambassador College in Pasadena, Calif., in the late ’50s. And so I reminisce. If these are not your recollections, that’s fine. I just want to tell you mine. We don’t set dates I remember the booklet’s author insisting that he was not setting dates. Rather, he was responding to a certain magazine article’s gushing exuberance over the marvels that technology would bring by the year 1975.

The lesson for some is that the study of biblical prophecy is futile.

Let’s eat, drink, and be merry— and get with the praise music—for the Lord delayeth His coming.

But, as for me and my house, we’re still watching.

Although I never met him face-to-face, I have spoken with Noel Rude a time or two over the telephone and found his skills as a linguist helpful to me on certain matters of koine Greek related to church history (e.g. Another Look at the Didache, Ignatius, and the Sabbath).

He is correct that many do not properly pay attention to prophecy.

Many with COG-ties who now discount prophecy, and also various preterists (The Dangerous Rise of Preterists), have improperly taught that the old Radio Church of God taught that Jesus would return in 1975. That was not the case, even though many believed that. In order to attempt to correct that misunderstanding, in the late 1960s the ministry and others part of that church were told specifically that 1975 was too early. Obviously it was, as Jesus still has not returned.

But as Noel Rude’s article indicates, various ones got turned off of the subject of prophecy, which is a biblical mistake.

As I wrote in an article late last week (see Why Prophecy? To keep us vigilant and to realize that the world will not end this year) there are many reasons that God inspired prophecy, and that properly understood prophecy leads to spiritual growth. God would not have inspired between 25 -33 % of the Bible to be prophetic if prophecy was not important. Jesus, warned, however, that most at the end would not properly understand/pay attention to prophecy, which is the case in these Laodicean times.

There were other articles in The Journal, including subjects such as discouragement and government. Here is a link to an article by Paul Krautmann & John Siston related to the latter titled How to Overcome Depression and Discouragement. Here is a link to an article I wrote to the former: The Bible, Peter, Paul, John, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, Roderick C. Meredith, and Bob Thiel on Church Government.

The back page of The Journal had an announcement that another group, CGG, now accepts PayPal. We in the Continuing Church of God began to accept donations via PayPal this year. PayPal is a convenient way for contributions to made, especially for those outside the USA as it handles matters such as currency translation.

Also in The Journal there were the usual letters to the editor and other advertisements, various comments, and opinion articles.

The Journal itself is available by paid subscription (though Dixon Cartwright says some subscriptions are free to those who cannot afford it) and often tends to take a non-Philadelphian era view of certain church matters.