Archive for month: February, 2025

On Thursday, Mr. Wallace Smith followed up on his previous forum on establishing pillars. He explained that after that forum, he received questions concerning why he placed Jesus Christ as the Son of God as his second pillar and the Bible as His Word as his third. 

Mr. Smith first clarified that he believes the Bible is the word of God. That is an unshakeable pillar he has established. Yet for him, personally, the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is His second pillar, second to his first, which is that God exists. He guided us to 1 Corinthians 15, which states, “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty.” This is a simple statement that tells us that if Christ was not raised from the dead, then He is not the Son of God, and everything He taught is futile. 

How can we know Christ rose from the dead in addition to simply trusting the Bible? Mr. Smith felt it necessary to teach us to defend this question. He said that even if we treat the Bible as if it weren’t the word of God, as just a historical book, we can still come to the same conclusion. 

Mr. Smith read a quote that the New Testament qualifies as one of the finest historical documents ever written. He brought out aspects from the Bible that make this statement accurate:

• It’s not one book but many little accounts from several authors
• Many of the events were written extremely close to those described 
• Small, unimportant details corroborated by multiple sources inside and outside the collection
• It contains embarrassing elements 
• Passes even statistical tests that ancient writers could not have anticipated 

Mr. Smith said these points were not to prove that the Bible is the word of God but a reliable historical text. He explained that there are facts even many professional Bible skeptics do not deny. He dove into three significant facts that these skeptics are willing to admit, which prove Jesus rose from the dead.

1. His tomb was found empty. 

Testimony from the first-century Jewish leaders, enemies of Christ’s church, support this. If this claim were false, Jewish leaders would have produced the body.

2. His disciples believed He appeared to them alive after His death. 

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul states that over 500 people saw Christ. Even skeptics do not deny that he wrote this approximately 20 years after the event. Paul says that most of the 500 were still alive to his day. He says, “Don’t believe me; ask the multitude of eyewitnesses who saw Christ.” Historian Josephus wrote in 66 A.D. that the disciples believed Christ was alive again after His crucifixion. 

3. The disciples went out proclaiming His resurrection even in the face of martyrdom.

No serious person denies the fact that the disciples faced extreme persecution for their preaching because of the amount of evidence and writings backing this claim.

What is the reason that these men would be willing to face this type of suffering? Mr. Smith shared with us three of the more popular false explanations that try to explain… without admitting that Christ is the Son of God and was raised from the dead. 

1. He faked His death.

Aside from how crazy the statement is, using the above facts, it is easily disproven. The disciples believed He was there with them alive after His death; if He never really died, then His disciples wouldn’t believe he rose from the dead. Beyond that, if they understood that He didn’t rise from the dead versus a battered and bleeding individual who had simply barely escaped death, then they would not be convicted to stand in the face of martyrdom for holding onto that belief.

2. The disciples stole the body.

Again, if the disciples had known they had the body somewhere, they would not have honestly believed He had risen. They also would have eventually broken under the persecution they faced.

3. The disciples hallucinated that they saw Him.

If they hallucinated the entire thing, there would have been a body in the tomb that the Jewish leaders could have shown to disprove them.

Mr. Smith demonstrated to the LE students that even if you view the Bible as a historical text, there is ample evidence that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He rose from the dead, and everything Christ spoke and taught is valid.

We are grateful for the knowledge that can assist us in being better apologetics to our faith!

Mr. Rod McNair started his forum this past Tuesday by asking, “Isn’t it sad that as mankind, we either make anything we touch worse or destroy it?” As Christians, it is essential not to lose touch with nature. From the dust, mankind came, and to it, we will return, as seen in Genesis 3:19. From this, it is clear that God intended man to tend and keep the land. “So what about you?” 

As Living Education students learn how to build a spiritual foundation, Mr. McNair recommended always incorporating growing plants into their lives. Try to grow something, no matter where you are, heading, or where you live.

Mr. McNair posed the question, “What can you grow?”  He gave two recommendations. One option was flowers, which add color and scent to the environment. He told the young men, “Hint: girls like flowers, and growing them can be a gift to one in your life.” We were also encouraged to “Grow something to eat.” Growing your food is a healthy and cost-efficient option in the long term.

Why grow something? Small growing projects can have positive benefits, such as connecting to the reality of God and improving one’s health. Studies have shown that growing plants goes beyond bending and walking; they also reduce stress and anxiety, assist with attention deficit recovery, decrease depression, enhance memory retention, help improve happiness and life satisfaction, and increase self-esteem. These benefits do not just apply to outside plants. Indoor house plants work just as well by boosting moods, productivity, and concentration. They also give some privacy and reduce noise levels in offices or homes. 

Mr. McNair explained that many popular and top games involve farming and gardening. He also showed that everything that someone gains from online gardening is limited, while gardening in real life has physical benefits.

 He listed these steps to grow something: be practical, grow what you like, do it quickly, and take advantage of where you live. Then, he challenged the Living Education students to grow something for themselves then and there. He gave each student a small plastic cup with some “dirt” and let them choose a couple of seeds to put in the dirt. 

He encouraged us all to grow something and reminded us how easy it is to start somewhere small. “Moreover, the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field.”

Today, Mr. Mario Hernández gave us a timely and much-needed forum covering lessons we need to glean from Daniel chapter three. 

Mr. Hernández started his forum by reading the courageous story of Daniel and his three friends. He emphasized the relevance of this account today because very similar things will happen again. We will be tested and persecuted like never before. We are in the end days! 

The conviction of these young men is admirable, and we should strive daily to mimic the example they left for us. Mr. Hernandez reminded us there would be a time of persecution before the elect go to the place of safety. As Proverbs 17 says, all will be tested and refined by God. Mr. Hernández explained that God will not allow anyone to enter eternal life without being tested. Satan, the devil, was given everything without first being tried, and we can see the result of that today. God has a great reward for us, but we will first experience trials and soon-coming persecution. 

The time is rapidly approaching when Satan will attempt to save himself. Mr. Hernández compared Satan’s desperate attempt to that of a king fearing his death who wipes out all of his competition, whether that be young men or little infants. Satan is, and is going to, do his very best to steal each of our crowns! Mr. Hernández said it is easy to see Satan’s hand directly guiding specific individuals throughout history. He explained that the Nazis used to use black magic till Satan had entered Hitler. Satan spoke through Hitler in one of his speeches and said: “I have fallen from heaven.”  Revelation 12 shows that Satan was cast out of heaven with his demons. We should not be foolish and believe that Satan will not enter men in our future to cause further strife and persecution.

We can falsely believe that those who are counted worthy of being in the place of safety will simply receive divine intervention and be miraculously taken under God’s protection; however, Mr. Hernández explained that when Exodus 19 speaks of Israel being taken out of Egypt under the eagle’s wings, they physically walked to the promised land. The Israelites did not just fly there; and they did experience hard times on their journey. So in Revelation 12, when it says we will be given two great wings like an eagle, we may be like ancient Israel leaving Egypt. 

Once he had made us aware of the coming difficulties, Mr. Hernández urged us to practice the principles from Daniel 3 daily! We must pray daily that we are counted worthy and remain diligent, not even flirting with the idea of sin. We have a tremendous future, but we must first accept the tests we will go through. The time is coming, and we will be there if we diligently follow His commandments. We will be there to hear the blowing of the 7th trumpet and rise to meet Christ in the sky! We were very appreciative of this heartfelt reminder and are joyfully taking the principles from Daniel and striving to put them into practice! 

 Mr. Paul Kearns, an area pastor for over a decade in New Zealand, presented the forum this past Thursday.

Mr. Kearns began by asking us, “How are you?” He clarified that this is often a polite greeting, where the person posing the question does not expect or even want a heartfelt reply. The point of the forum was to encourage us to be more aware of how those around us are doing and to take the time to care for our fellow man. 

Mr. Kearns expressed that human nature is carnally self-centered, yet we can use God’s Holy Spirit to help us care for others. We find in Second Timothy that men will be lovers of themselves during the end times. Self-love and a focus on the self are rising, which is why we, as Ambassadors for Christ, need to put off the carnal spirit of man and grow in the Holy Spirit. 

With the rise of various technologies such as Facebook and Instagram, people can converse in a shallower way today. We are losing our connection with people and focusing more on ourselves as a society. Since we are inherently carnal creatures, it comes as a surprise that the decreased connection with others has resulted in astronomically higher levels of depression. As a societal whole, we crave the likes and approval from others through the screen and are caught up in receiving it. A simple solution to this is to follow in Christ’s shoes, honestly care for the other person, and put the mind off of oneself. When we feed our carnal desire to dwell on ourselves, we are hindering ourselves and others. We need to put the focus off the self and more on our brothers and sisters. 

Mr. Kearns guided us to 3 John, which shows that letters were a nice tool at the time, but there is still a time when face-to-face communication is necessary. This can be compared today to a quick text. Texting does have a purpose, yet Mr. Kearns pointed out how much more intimate a phone call is. He took it another step further and said that if at all possible, we should be going out and visiting local brethren and others in person.

As he closed, Mr. Kearns left us with three keys to grow in caring:

• Know others by name
• Talk less and listen more
• We show we care through action 

“Asking how people are is not the end goal, but the starting point.”

We left the forum excited and eager to show our care for others. Before going to lunch, we all asked each other, “How are you?”

In a recent forum, the students heard from Mr. Robinson, the managing editor for the Living Church of God. As managing editor, he is involved in the design and layout of Tomorrow’s World and Living Church News and nearly all of the church’s written and printed content. When God works in our life, He gives us the experiences we need to shape us for later in life. In his current job, Mr. Robinson employs design principles that are a key factor in increasing comprehension for the readers of Church literature.

Experiences Matter

Mr. Robinson stated that God gave him the perfect life experiences to bring him to where he is today. Despite only attending Ambassador College for one year and never finishing his degree, he had already learned the printing trade and used this knowledge to find a job in the field. He was at the right time to witness the technology boom in the print industry. At one of his first jobs, Mr. Robinson typeset business cards. After that, he landed a job at a high-end design agency, where he wondered why he was there since he had never been interested in design. Mr. Robinson worked at a print shop for 12 years before being hired by the Church.

We might have experiences in life that don’t make sense now, or we may be in situations that cause us to wonder, however, Mr. Robinson reminded us of Romans 8:28: 

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

God places us in situations that prepare us for what we will later do. He has a master plan for us, and we must remember that He has a perfect end goal. We shouldn’t be discouraged, even if we are in a difficult situation that leaves us wondering why.

After 20 years of publishing experience, Mr. Robinson was offered a job as the Managing Editor of the Living Church of God. His experiences working in print shops and design suddenly became useful; one of his first projects was redesigning Tomorrow’s World Magazine. Today, design is very relevant to his job. 

The Purpose of Design:

The design organizes and clarifies information to be intelligible to the reader; and conveys the essentials to them.

Principles of Design for a Managing Editor

1. Structure of elements for a design and create a clear order of visual dominance between elements
2. The font used and how the text is displayed matters
3. Selection of color for printing and color theory
4. Image & Cover Selection

Mr. Robinson provided an insightful forum into how he came to his job as Managing Editor of the Living Church of God and the importance of design. When we are left wondering why we are given a certain experience, we need to have faith that God has a master plan for us and there is a reason.