Greetings from Charlotte,
Approximately 700 new subscribers to Tomorrow’s World magazine are added each week as a result of our telecasts. This is in addition to people responding to the telecast who are already on our mailing list. Several Tomorrow’s World Presentations will take place this weekend, from New Zealand to the United Kingdom to North America. The Texas Living Youth Program for teens finished another successful camp last Saturday night, and preteens arrived Sunday for their Texas camp. The LYP Adventure Camp begins this weekend with a week-long canoe excursion into the wilderness of Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. The preteen camp in West Virginia also begins this week, with LYP Europe starting on August 2.—Gerald Weston
Church Administration
Requests for Feast Sermon CDs—Repeat Announcement
Attention Pastors: Please send the Church Administration Department at [email protected] the names of those in your congregation(s) who will be unable to attend the Feast, who do not have access to Feast sermons online, and who wish to receive a set of the Feast of Tabernacles sermons on CD. (Sermons are available in English, French or Spanish.) Requests for French international recipients should already have been sent in. The deadline to submit these requests for all other international recipients is August 19. For recipients in the U.S. (any language), the deadline is September 18. Note: Feast sermons will also be uploaded (one per day) during the Feast at www.lcg.org for those who have Internet access. The French sermons will be uploaded to www.eglisedieuvivant.org and the Spanish sermons to youtube.com/IDVsermones.
Feast of Tabernacles
Volunteer for the Feast!
Experience teaches us that the BEST Feasts are usually those when we are serving our fellow brethren. If you have not yet signed up to serve at the 2019 Feast of Tabernacles, why not do so now? The Festival Site Coordinators are formulating their teams to take care of needs such as parking, sound, stage, ushering, security, first aid, etc. There are also usually needs for people to serve in the various activities held during the Feast. If you have not gotten involved in serving before, why not take the plunge? Sign up for something you’ve never done before—and watch how God blesses you as you make new friends, learn new skills, and have fun serving your brethren! Sign up today. If you have any technical problems trying to sign up to volunteer, contact [email protected].
Feast Speaking Schedules
Mr. Weston has approved the first batch of speaking schedules, and we have begun sending them out. Speaking schedules ready to be sent out today are for: Boerne, Texas; Cathedral City, California; Hilton Head, South Carolina; Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; Midway, Utah; Mt. Snow, Vermont; Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Sandestin, Florida; and Seaside, Oregon. Other schedules are in the final stages and will be forthcoming. Thank you to all our speakers who will be serving at the Feast! Please begin planning now to put extra planning and preparation into your messages, so they can be inspiring and encouraging to everyone!
Living Youth Program
2019 Teen Camp—Thank You!
The 2019 Teen Camp in Athens, Texas, came to an end last Sunday, July 21, and we would like to thank all the members of the staff, who donated their energy and time to make this another successful summer camp!
We were blessed with good weather every day—no activities had to be canceled due to weather—with the exception of an impressive storm that rolled through one evening, adding a little excitement to the day. The storm produced heavy rains and high winds, bending a few poles on our shade tents and bringing down a large tree that toppled into the swimming pool. No one was hurt. The storm gave us an opportunity to review and refine our safety plan for such emergencies.
Several campers and a few young adult staff benefited from financial assistance through the Morgan Montgomery Fund. These young people would not have been able to come to camp without your help. Thank you for your contributions!—Sheldon Monson, Director of Living Youth Programs
Comments
Take Time to Think: The pace of life today continues to quicken. News reports, e-mails, cell phones, text messages, job pressures, family situations, and more bombard us with information that can continually occupy our minds. We need to remember Jesus’ warning that “the cares of this world” can “choke the word” and cause us to miss out on the Kingdom of God if we are not careful and alert (Matthew 13:18–23). However, God has given us His Sabbath as a time to step back from our routines and to rest and refocus on what is really important (Exodus 20:8–11; Acts 16:11–15). We need to ask ourselves, are we really seeking first the Kingdom of God in all that we do (Matthew 6:33)? Are we making the most of the time and opportunities that we have to grow more like Jesus Christ so we can be effective servants in His coming Kingdom (Ephesians 5:14–21)? Are we continually looking for ways to show love to our neighbors, whoever they are (Mark 12:30–31; Galatians 5:14)? Solomon wrote that we need to take time to “ponder the path of [our] feet” so we can stay focused on our ultimate goal (Proverbs 4:26–27). The Sabbath is a good time to find a quiet spot where we can take time to meditate on God’s word and think about the incredible privilege that God has given us—to be called to understand His Truth and His purpose for our lives.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
News and Prophecy—July 25, 2019
Nearly a Billion Are Chronically Hungry: The United Nation’s goal to end world hunger by 2030 is not likely to be met (Deutsche Welle, July 15, 2019). Its recent report estimated that 820 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger. Nearly 150 million of these hungry people are children whose growth is stunted by poor nutrition. A recent U.N. report estimates that “around two billion people worldwide do not have sufficient access to clean and nutritious food.” The report continues, “Most of the world’s chronic hungry, who don’t have enough food—healthy or not—live in Asia (500 million), with about half as many in Africa (260 million), particularly sub-Saharan Africa.”
Factors that contribute to global malnutrition include war, famine, weather extremes, and poverty. More healthful foods are typically more expensive, so poor people eat foods that are far less nutritious. This year alone, extreme rains as well as extreme droughts are causing crop failures around the globe.
Bible prophecy reveals that as we approach the end of the age, food shortages and famine will continue to increase, eventually contributing to the deaths of extremely large numbers of people (Revelation 6:5–8). However, Bible prophecy also states that the time will come, after the return of Jesus Christ, when an abundance of food will be the norm! It will be a time when there is so much food that “the plowman shall overtake the reaper” (Amos 9:13). To learn more about this coming time of plenty, read or listen to The World Ahead: What Will It Be Like?
Epidemic Diseases Making Headlines: The year-long Ebola outbreak in the Congo is getting worse, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” (WHO, July 17, 2019). The WHO labeled the outbreak a “level 3” emergency—its most serious designation. According to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the organization, “It is time for the world to take notice and redouble our efforts. We need to work together in solidarity with the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo] to end this outbreak and build a better health system.” He stressed the need for more nations and governments to provide assistance in the emergency situation, as well as the necessity to avoid punitive restrictions on the Congo that could cripple its economy. For more information on the prevention of many diseases, watch the telecast “Ebola Can Be Prevented.”
While Ebola is ravaging the Congo, malaria and dengue fever are terrorizing southeast Asia. The mosquito-borne parasites that cause malaria in southeast Asia are mutating and no longer respond to front-line drugs (BBC, July 23, 2019). “The parasites have moved from Cambodia to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, where half of patients are not being cured by first-choice drugs. Researchers say the findings raise the ‘terrifying prospect’ drug-resistance could spread to Africa.” However, there are second-line drugs that are still working—for now.
Two weeks ago, the Philippine government declared a national alert following an 85 percent increase in dengue fever cases compared to this time last year (Deutsche Welle, July 15, 2019). There have been over 100,000 cases of dengue in the Philippines and more than 450 deaths in just the first six months of the year—an increase in deaths of almost 40 percent. Victims of this mosquito-borne disease can bleed to death internally if not diagnosed and treated early. Public health officials are urging people to watch for symptoms and get immediate medical attention.
Bible prophecies indicate that there is a time ahead of us when disease epidemics will increase globally as the end of the age approaches (Luke 21:11). Although these three diseases have not reached epidemic levels, they offer insight into the carnage and fear that people will experience when God’s long-prophesied end-time plagues reach their apex. For more information about prophesied events, be sure to read or listen to Fourteen Signs Announcing Christ’s Return.—Scott Winnail, Chris Sookdeo, Francine Prater, and William Williams