Thanksgiving

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men" (1 Timothy 2:1).

"Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving" (Colossians 4:2).

Those of us in the Church of God and in the United States have much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the United States, started as a tradition by those coming to this land who were thankful for God's protection and blessings.

Over the last two hundred years, the United States has been greatly blessed by God. We have more personal freedom, including the freedom to practice God's truth, than most nations of the world. We are still the most prosperous nation on earth. We are the most powerful nation on earth. God has worked things out in our history to make it thus. During the civil war, the nation was in danger of being split, but in the end we were united. God gave us the victory in World War II by intervening in many instances, I believe.

Yet the nation has been turning away from God in many ways.

It has been nearly 40 years since the Supreme Court decision known as Roe vs. Wade guaranteed that women would be able to have abortions, and since that time about 40 million or more unborn children have been aborted. Our public schools and secular colleges and universities are dominated by a godless, materialistic outlook that denies God's existence and creation, teaching that we came into existence through the random forces of evolution. Disrespect towards God and His name is a dominant characteristic of the entertainment of this country, the TV, movies, music, games, books, magazines, and websites Americans spend so much time with. Many people downplay the actual giving of thanks on Thanksgiving. They observe a day, but call it "Turkey Day" as if we are celebrating a turkey.

And the United States is beginning to lose its blessings.

We in the Church of God should not succumb to the attitude of unthankfulness around us. We have much to be thankful for.

Those of us who have jobs can give thanks for our jobs. Those of us who have families can be thankful for our families. Those of us who are able to attend Church of God services and enjoy fellowship can be thankful for those things. Those of us who are healthy can give thanks for our health.

We can all give thanks for the Bible and God's truth. We can thank God for opening our minds to understand His Word and His truth because so few people on the earth do. We can thank God for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that we can have the opportunity to enter God's Kingdom and live in joy and peace with God and Christ forever. We can even give thanks to God during our trials because we know that God works all things for our good in the end (Romans 8:28, Romans 8:18).

Let us always have an attitude of thanksgiving towards God for the blessings He has given us and will give us.

New Members of COGWA Board Elected

James Malm in the Shining Light blog reports that the three new members of the Ministerial Board of Directors of Church of God, a Worldwide Association (COGWA) who were elected to fill recent vacancies are David Baker, Arnold Hampton and Larry Salyer.

Here is a link to the post:
http://theshininglight.info/?p=5420

UPDATE:

Here is a link to a page in the COGWA site that gives a summary of the offices and leaders who hold office currently in COGWA:
http://members.cogwa.org/organization-leadership

COGWA Announcements

Church of God, a Worldwide Association has published a November 3 letter from Jim Franks in their website. There is not much news in it - I am waiting for an announcement of the results of the last election to fill vacancies on the Ministerial Board of Directors (MBOD).

Joel Meeker is the new chairman of the MBOD. He was a member of the board before, so he was not in the recent election.

The highest attendance for any holy day this year was 5,002 in the United States only. The estimate for total attendance at the Feast including an estimate of those who listened to the webcasts over the Internet is 5,300 in the United States and 9,500 worldwide.

The total of all holy day offerings in the United States this year is about $2,300,000.

Here is a link to the announcement:
http://members.cogwa.org/news/november-3-2011-member-letter

New Version of Preaching the Gospel

I have recently published an updated version of my book, Preaching the Gospel. I have added a new section to chapter 6 on why ballot-box governance causes division in the Church of God, and I have added a new chapter, chapter 8, on government in the Church of God.

Here is a listing of the sections in the new chapter:

Chapter 8 - Government in the Church of God           

Introduction

The Heart of the Issue

Two Principles of Bible Study

Moses
           
Exodus 18 - Leaders in Israel under Moses

The Difference Between Voting and Polling

Joshua

Samuel

Israel Asks for a King
     
David
 
Solomon
   
Rehoboam, Jeroboam, and Jehu

Elijah and Elisha
 
John the Baptist
 
Jesus Christ
  
The Twelve Apostles
  
Usefulness of the King James Version
  
Peter
    
The Replacement of Judas
     
The Appointment of Deacons
     
Paul
           
Resolving a Controversy - Acts 15
    
"If Two of You Agree..."
    
Instruction Concerning Appointments in the New Testament
    
Organization of the Church and Limitations on the Authority of the Ministry
   
Arguments and Answers
      
Other Problems with Using Balloting to Govern the Church of God
      
Clarify Your Thinking!
        
Root of the Church's Problem - Lack of Faith

The First 500 Trillion Years

The Bible teaches us about the Millennium and the White Throne Judgment. God tells us that our life in the Kingdom of God will be eternal and the Kingdom will last forever (Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 1:31-33). God also describes for us the New Jerusalem that God will dwell in on the earth (Revelation 21:1-4).

The Bible doesn't give us much information about what we will be doing in the eternity that follows. We know it will be joyous (Psalm 16:11).

It is as if God gives us descriptions of the Millennium, the White Throne Judgment period, and the New Jerusalem as an example of the kind of happiness and accomplishment we will enjoy for eternity.

God has allowed scientists in our time to discover many things about the universe. Scientists make mistakes, and some of the things they teach are wrong, but one thing I think they are right about is the vastness of the physical universe. The universe is much greater than is needed simply to provide the view we have of the sky with the sun, moon, and stars visible to our eyes. At most we can see a few thousand stars with our naked eyes. But there is much more than that.

The stars we see are suns, similar to our sun, very far away, and each can have planets orbiting around them, some perhaps similar in size and composition to our earth. Most of the stars we see are in the Milky Way galaxy as we are, and there are many galaxies. Scientists estimate there are perhaps about 100-200 billion stars in our galaxy and there are perhaps 100-200 billion galaxies in the known universe.

I want to speculate a little about what the Family of God might be doing after the White Throne Judgment.

Eternity is a difficult concept for the human mind to grasp, so I have chosen to consider only a tiny slice of time, a mere fraction of a second compared to eternity, a small period of time that our limited human minds can more easily grasp. Thus the title of this post, "The First 500 Trillion Years". That is easier to understand than infinity.

God is creator, and He is the author of life and beauty. The life that exists on earth in all its variety is testimony to that. It is likely that God will lead His Family to create life on other planets in this vast universe.

Christ may begin by teaching us in detail about the chemistry of life, the DNA code, and how to design and create new forms of life, giving us knowledge far beyond anything scientists presently know. Then perhaps we will start with the planets and moons in this solar system. Mars would need a richer atmosphere and might need to be closer to the sun. Venus has too much atmosphere and the wrong kind and may need to be farther from the sun. The gas giants have moons that may be able to be modified to support life. Christ may organize us into teams to work with these planets, creating life, and managing the ecology.

Once we have done that with the solar system, we may go out to do the same with all the solar systems in the galaxy, and after that, the same for all the galaxies.

There are enough stars in our galaxy for each one with multiple planets filled with life to be ruled and managed by one person born into God's family in the Millennium or White Throne Judgment. And after this, there are enough galaxies for each son of God to rule and manage an entire galaxy. God will see to it that we have the powers of mind and Spirit to fulfill our responsibilities. Our minds and our powers will be vastly increased beyond what we have today.

Those in the Church today, the first fruits, those in the first resurrection, will have the priviledge of dwelling in the New Jerusalem, the headquarters of the universe, with Christ Himself (Revelation 3:12-13, 21). He will share His joy with us (Matthew 25:21-23).

And through all this, the greatest joy will be the happy and loving fellowship and unity we enjoy with God the Father, Jesus Christ, all the saints, all those made sons of God and added to His family in the Millennium and White Throne Judgment, and all God's holy angels.


Here are links to related sections in Preaching the Gospel:

God's Purpose for Mankind, Chapter 2

The Last Great Day Shows God's Mercy and Justice

Satan the devil deceives the whole world during this 6,000 year age of man (Revelation 12:9). A meaning of "devil" is "slanderer" or "false accuser". He is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10). But he also accuses and slanders God. He does that by deceiving men with false religion into believing that God is unloving and unjust.

Most mainstream churches teach that to be saved, one must accept Jesus Christ in this life, and that this age is the only opportunity men will have for salvation. Yet the they know that throughout history, hundreds of millions of people never had the opportunity, due to time and chance and circumstances of birth over which they had no control, to accept Christ at any time in their lives, even to the time of their death. Yet according to the theology of this world, they are now condemned, never having been "saved" before they died.

Moreover, much of this same theology teaches that all men have immortal souls, and that those who are unsaved at the time of their death will suffer eternal torment in hellfire.

Talk about a monstrous idea!

But this is Satan's slander against God. He falsely accuses God of being cruel, by torturing men forever in hellfire, and unjust, by condemning those who have never had an opportunity to be saved. He also accuses God of weakness or incompetence, because he accuses Him of being powerless to bring salvation to all mankind.

So through much of this world's religion, Satan falsely accuses God of cruelty, injustice, or weakness, or a combination of these.

Mainstream churches never directly accuse God of these things. They will tell you that God is loving, just, fair, kind, all powerful, all wise, and all good. But those are words they say. They cannot believe those things deep down and still believe the traditional doctrines of their church about the soul, about hell, and about this being the only time of salvation.

The meaning of the Last Great Day shows that Satan's accusations against God are false, and the fulfillment of that day will clear God's name and glorify His reputation.

Ezekiel 37 describes the fulfillment of the Last Great Day. Everyone who has ever lived and never had a chance for salvation will be resurrected back to physical life. At that time, salvation will be open to all, and that includes those among men who have believed Satan's lies. They will find out that God is more loving, more just, wiser, and more powerful than they ever thought before. Those people will rejoice, and God's name will be glorified. People will be able to be re-united with their loved ones, and everyone will have a chance for salvation. I believe most people will choose God's way and enter God's Kingdom.

What a day that will be!


Here are links to related sections in Preaching the Gospel:

The Last Great Day - the White Throne Judgment, Chapter 2

The Millennium Prepares for the White Throne Judgment

The Last Great Day represents the great White Throne Judgment, a time when most of mankind that has lived and died during the six thousand year age of man is resurrected back to physical life. Those in that resurrection will have their first opportunity to learn the truth without Satan around to deceive them. They can then choose to accept God's way of life and gift of eternal life or to reject it.

But this post is not about the Last Great Day. It is about the Millennium.

The general resurrection is described in Ezekiel chapter 37. "Again He said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, "O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.' " ' So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, "Thus says the Lord God: 'come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.' " ' So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army" (Ezekiel 37:4-10).

How many people have lived and died in the earth since mankind began? There are about six or seven billion people alive today. Perhaps there will be 20 or 30 billion or more in that resurrection.

Think about their physical needs!

What will they wear? What will they eat? Where will they live? How will they find homes? All the physical possessions they had in their former life will be gone. Will they have to start from scratch, living in poverty and squalor until they can build up farms for themselves? I don't think so.

God could miraculously provide everything. But it seems that God uses His servants including physical human beings to do what we can to do His work.

Isn't it likely that preparing for these people will be a job for mankind in the Millennium?

Clothing will have to be produced. Food will have to be saved and stored. Housing will have to be built. There are many things that will have to be done to prepare for the arrival of 20 billion or more human beings who will have nothing and will need everything.

There will be a lot of work during the Millennium to prepare for the White Throne Judgment period. But this work will actually be good for mankind in the Millennium.

God's way of life is the give way, the way of love and service towards others, and we learn by doing. Just as the Church learns to put into practice the law of love by working to bring the gospel message and the Ezekiel warning to the world now, so people in the Millennium will have the opportunity to practice the way of love by working to prepare to provide the necessities of life to those who come up in the general resurrection that follows.


Here are links to related sections in Preaching the Gospel:

The Last Great Day - the White Throne Judgment, Chapter 2