Greetings from Charlotte,
Passover and Unleavened Bread are now upon us. How many more Passovers will we have before Christ returns? The events of the last four years are sobering—a pandemic with all the disruption it brought, inflation, violent crime and demonstrations in our streets, weather upsets of historical and “of biblical proportions” in various places around the world, illegal immigration, wars in Europe and the Middle East. However, there is a positive to all that we see happening. “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). Some among us are going through severe trials and we cannot minimize how difficult that is for those individuals affected, including family members, but we must never take our eyes off the big picture. God called us and gave His Son on our behalf, and Jesus willingly suffered for us that we might be healed and that through His indwelling Spirit we might have eternal life. May we never forget Paul’s inspired words: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). I wish all of you a profitable and joyous Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread!—Gerald Weston
The World Ahead will not be published for the next two weeks.
The next issue is scheduled for May 9.
Church Administration
Tomorrow’s World Presentations
Last week we held four follow-up Tomorrow’s World Presentations. The most notable of these was the follow-up in Adelaide, Australia, which drew 33 guests—very good for a second event. This week we will hold four more follow-up presentations, in Texas, Florida, and Maryland. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support for the Tomorrow’s World Presentations.
Living 4 Tomorrow: May 24–26 at Blowing Rock, North Carolina—Repeat Announcement
Preliminary plans are being made for a “Living 4 Tomorrow” weekend for young adults, ages 18 to 30, at Blowing Rock over the Memorial Day weekend, from Friday afternoon, May 24, until Sunday afternoon, May 26. We plan to focus intensively on building truly successful lives. How can young adults build a positive, fulfilling, and godly life, avoiding the pitfalls, traps, and dead ends that prey upon so many, and overcome the pulls that lure them away from God’s paths and out of His Church? Cost is $135, including food and accommodations. For planning purposes, we need to know by Sunday, April 21, if you are interested! Log in to MyLCG for more details and a link to register. Questions? Contact Mr. Jonathan McNair at [email protected].
Feast of Tabernacles
Housing for the Feast—Must Read
Please do not make Feast of Tabernacles housing arrangements until after registration takes place and after you have been approved for the site. That will occur after the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. Stay tuned for more information.
Living Youth Program
Texas Preteen Camp: Camp registration will close on May 1. If you would like to attend as camper or staff, please fill out an application prior to that time.
Texas Teen Camp:Camper registration is only open until the end of May. If you are thinking about attending this year, please sign up now. Teen Camp Staff registration is now closed except for High School Staff boys. We could still use a few more young men ages 17–18 who are willing to work hard and serve.
West Virginia Preteen Camp: This camp still needs lifeguards. If you are thinking about serving at camp this summer and can help in this way, please apply at camp.livingyouth.org.
Camp details and registration for these camps can be found at: http://camp.livingyouth.org.
Business Office
Making Holy Day Offerings—U.S. Only
If you choose to donate through the envelope system, using the green pre-addressed envelopes greatly speeds up the counting and receipting process, which in turn saves valuable time and money.
Online donations are another option. For those who can and want to donate online, please go to donations.lcg.org:
- Click the “Donate Now” button.
- Enter the “Amount to Donate.”
- Then click on “Type of Donation.”
Please choose “Holy Day Offering” at the bottom of the list. That will give you a list of Holy Days so you can select the applicable one.
A common mistake is to choose “Festival Tithe Donation” instead of “Holy Day Offering.” The “Festival Tithe Donation” is what is also called the Tithe of the Second Tithe or excess second tithe, and those donations are used to support the Fall Festival observances, not only here in the U.S. but also in other countries around the world. It is not the same as Holy Day offerings.
Comments
Satan’s Subtle Devices: The Days of Unleavened Bread are a time to examine the motives in our own hearts (1 Corinthians 11:29–32). Are we motivated by God’s Spirit, or by the attitudes of this world? Even after years in the Church, we need to recognize that we can still be snared by Satan’s devices (2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11) without realizing what is happening. Satan—who is the accuser of the brethren and the source of doubts, divisions, and rebellion against authority—can cleverly beam ideas and attitudes into our minds (Ephesians 2:2) that stir us to criticize, complain, and question decisions, actions, and policies of those around us and over us in the Body of Christ. When we see that Satan tempted Christ (Matthew 4:1–10) and stirred Peter to sharply rebuke Christ (Matthew 16:22–23), we should realize that we are not immune to Satan’s devices. Let’s be alert to where doubtful, divisive, and critical attitudes come from, because our adversary the devil is especially active around God’s Holy Days.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
News and Prophecy—April 18, 2024
When Wars Will Cease: What would happen if nations of the globe stopped fighting wars? How would this change the world, economies, and societies? Most people on earth long for a time when there will be no more war, but will that ever happen? The biblical prophet Isaiah wrote about such a future: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4). According to the Bible, a time of no more war will eventually come. What impact will the absence of war have on nations and peoples?
The nation of Sudan has been engulfed in war for the last year (The Telegraph, March 13, 2024). The conflict has displaced 10 million people! Hunger, disease, and dehydration are rising. Due to the fighting, crops were not planted last year and cannot be harvested this year, and this year crops will not be planted and will not be available for harvesting next year. Experts predict as many as “230,000 children, pregnant women and new mothers in Sudan could die from starvation in the coming months.” This number is only a fraction of the 2.9 million children who are severely malnourished. Famine and starvation are often offshoots of war—something those waging war seldom consider.
The future prophesied in the Bible—a time when there will be no more war—will be dramatically different from today. When wars cease and the causes for war have vanished, starvation can also end, as conditions are made right for abundance. The Bible foretells a time when the “desert shall… blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1–2), when there is so much abundance that “the plowman shall overtake the reaper” (Amos 9:13). In this war-free future, children will play freely and safely in the streets (Zechariah 8:5). Today, as we look around the world and see the horrors of war, we can find encouragement in knowing that in the not-too-distant future, wars will cease. To learn more, watch “Beyond World War III.”
Weeds Are Taking Over! Continuing research is demonstrating that farmers in the Great Plains of the United States—America’s “bread basket”—are losing the battle against weeds (Reuters, January 16, 2024). Once-powerful herbicides are increasingly less effective. Twenty-one weed species globally are already “showing resistance to dicamba, the most recent major U.S. [weed-killing] chemical, which launched in 2017,” and even the active chemical in the “all powerful” Roundup is losing its effectiveness. The large herbicide producers have reduced their research and development in recent years—coming out with fewer new products. One relatively new weed, kochia, can spread up to 30,000 seeds per plant, cutting crop yields “by up to 70% if left unchecked.” All of this is occurring at a time when fertilizers are becoming more expensive and weather is becoming more erratic.
While many factors influence the advance of weeds among farm crops, one factor is consistently overlooked by scientists and most farmers too. The God of the Bible once warned the Israelite peoples that “it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you” (Deuteronomy 28:15). Those curses included “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country” and “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land” (vv. 16–18). Today, as the predominantly Israelite-descended nations of the world reject God’s laws and ways, they are reaping the curses that God prophesied would come. To learn more about what lies ahead for our backsliding nations, read or listen to “The Third Horseman: Unprecedented Famine Ahead.”—Scott Winnail and Francine Prater