Tag Archive for: Second Thoughts

Author: Thomas White | Editorial Staff, Living Church of God

---

No, really, He does.

I mean, not all technology equally—the commonly memorized Isaiah 2:4 makes that pretty obvious. The fact that in His government, people will “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” shows that He’s more in favor of the pruning hook, plowshare, tractor side of technology than the sword, spear, machine gun side.

But to suppose that the Millennium is going to be Henry David Thoreau’s dream come true is to forget how very old the concept of technology is. Even the Bible is a type of technology, since scrolls, codices, and smartphone apps all had to be invented at some point. If God were against technology, it certainly wouldn’t make much sense for Him to use it to preserve and spread His inspired word.

God’s Word Through Tech

Such thoughts ran through my head as Mr. Daniel Guidry, IT Manager at LCG’s Charlotte headquarters, gave his assembly on, among other things, how thoroughly integrated God’s Work on Earth is with technology. Actually, every office I’ve seen in this building has a computer in it—and according to Mr. Guidry, God’s Work is being furthered by the tiny computers we have in our pockets, too, since more than 50 percent of visitors to our websites visit through their phones.

Not only does technology help us to take God’s work further than ever, it also allows us to be even better stewards of it. There was a time when a dog, little knowing the mischief it was doing, could set fire to twenty years’ worth of notes, and that was it: no more notes, unless you went through the time-intensive process of writing them all again. Now, we can upload documents and video files to the cloud, and back up entire databases four and five times over. The Church has backups for its backups, with multiple servers in North Carolina to handle web traffic and a server in Canada specifically for disaster recovery. As Mr. Guidry noted, “If this building burns down tomorrow, we can restore our systems from the Canadian offices and the business can continue.”

Faith and Prudence

More advanced technology usually means more ways of protecting the work God’s people are doing, and while our faith is completely in Him to sustain us and His mission, He’s definitely not against the time-honored trick of having a backup plan. Even David, one of the most faith-driven people to ever live, “chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook… and his sling was in his hand” (1 Samuel 17:40). Did he trust in God to take down Goliath? Absolutely. Was he about to “faithfully” head into battle with nothing but his bare hands? Not a chance. He took, along with his faith, his sling (technology) and four extra stones in case he missed with the first one. Faith works best when accompanied by prudence, and technology makes greater prudence possible. 

God uses tech, and He always has. Of course, Satan uses it as well, and we would be prudent to acknowledge that every product of his world, be it comic book, musical instrument, chocolate bar, or IT innovation, may have at least a little of his influence in it. But God’s willingness, even readiness, to use some of those same products for good reveals that at least a little of His influence is behind human invention, too. God likes technology—if we’re using it to glorify Him, of course.

---

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Author: Thomas White | Editorial Department, Living Church of God

“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light,” said Jesus Christ in Luke 8:16.

Here’s a thought: They had portable torches way before Christ’s ministry. Why didn’t He say, “No one who has lit a torch sticks it under a bed, but waves it around so that everyone can see him”? I mean, we’re supposed to make our spiritual lights obvious, right? Why are we lamps, not torches?

After hearing Mr. Michael DeSimone’s Assembly on how God’s people are making encouraging progress in getting the Gospel to the world, part of that scripture jumped at me in a new way. Mr. DeSimone showed us that when the titles of certain Tomorrow’s World telecasts are changed, made a little more “punchy,” those telecasts start racking up the YouTube views in a way they simply weren’t before. As it turns out, “clickbait” titles are used because people actually do click on them. Furthermore, when ads for free booklets are kept to a minimum on YouTube, Millennials such as myself tend to stick around longer, since we tend to appreciate ads about as much as Dracula would appreciate fresh garlic bread.

What We Have in Common

Those who have lit their spiritual lamps set them on lampstands, Christ said, “that those who enter may see the light.” Hopefully, those entering our houses are doing so because they actually want to be there—they already find us interesting, and want to get to know us better. We’re not to go out and coerce anyone into entering our houses, as if Christ expected us to be all “You will get in my house, you will look at my lamp, and you will like it.”

When we’re trying to befriend someone, or even convince someone, where do we start? With what we have in common with them, is where. We don’t open with, “Howdy stranger, that sure is some sinful music you seem to be listening to—interested in hearing why it’s completely of the devil?” No, because no one thinking they have nothing in common with you is going to enter your house, and they’ll never see the light of your lamp. 

An Inviting Light

We’re to keep the lamp in the house, where it belongs, letting those who enter see the light—not bring it outside to shove it in unsuspecting faces. After we’ve made friends based on mutual interests, then we can look for opportunities to show them the Gospel in ways that speak to those interests. They’re our friends, or at least our acquaintances—they’ve “entered our house,” so to speak. And once they’re in there, it works even better if they notice the lamp before we point it out, so we can respond to their comments: “Oh, that? That’s my lamp. It’s actually extremely important to me—the most important thing in my life, in fact,” as opposed to, “And over here, you can see my truly amazing lamp, take a closer look, bask in its light, baaaaaaask.”

We’re lamps, not torches, because lamps are friendly, even intimate. Torches… well, there’s a reason they’ve often been accompanied by pitchforks. If we strive to reflect God in everything we do, and truly care about preaching His message to the world, we’ll do it in a way that will reach the world—not with the invasive, antagonistic light of a torch, but with the inviting, loving light of a lamp on a stand.

---

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Author: Thomas White | Editorial Staff, Living Church of God

---

If you’re reading this, you’re probably in the Church of God, so you’ve heard sermons before. You’ve probably heard quite a few Bible studies, too, like the one Mr. Mario Hernandez gave for the most recent Assembly, in which he powerfully emphasized the command and the need for us to read from God’s word every morning and every evening.

Messages like that, instructional ones that point out things required of us, are given for what should be an obvious reason: Not everybody knows about every requirement. Case in point, I don’t remember ever hearing a sermon about how we shouldn’t eat one another, because that’s common knowledge—the world at large pretty much agrees that if I’m hungry, you’re not an option. But messages about not hating one another, for example, will always be needed, because although that’s required of us too, not everyone knows it—it’s a bit easier to forget than the law against cannibalism.

All humans are ignorant. We’re not to try to be, but it doesn’t make much sense to deny the fact that every one of us simply doesn’t know a lot of stuff, including a lot that’s biblical. The Bible’s not exactly light beach reading, and we wouldn’t need ministers if we could all just go through it and internalize everything we’ll ever need to know.

Yet how many of us, after hearing an enlightening message of instruction, feel terrible about having not known something? Maybe we haven’t thought to read the Bible every morning and evening. Maybe it never occurred to us that we need to keep a third tithe. Maybe it never crossed our minds that a daily part of our vocabulary might be a word we really shouldn’t say.

Nineveh’s Response

We didn’t know. But now that we do, what should our reaction be? For some, the first reaction is shame, as though they’re somehow stupid for not having made these connections themselves. Certainly, a godly sorrow is appropriate, because a sin committed in ignorance is still a sin, but if we sincerely ask God for forgiveness and determine to change whatever it is we’ve been doing or not doing, what’s the use of guilt-tripping ourselves over what, until recently, we had no idea was a problem?

Nineveh’s a good example of the right reaction. When it was made abundantly clear that major change was essential, the king of Nineveh didn’t wallow in guilt and think, “Well, we’ve been seriously missing something, so, I guess we’re terrible people who deserve whatever we have coming to us.” His response was almost the opposite—“let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” (Jonah 3:8-9).

What Defines Us

Nineveh accepted that they’d been ignorant of something important, and they determined to change. No “I can’t believe I didn’t know, I’m so stupid and awful”—just a desire to make the most out of what they now knew, and even, in their own way, an understanding that God is a merciful rewarder of heartfelt repentance.

So, if we hear a message that makes us aware of something wrong we’ve been doing, or something right we haven’t been doing, Nineveh might be a good place for our thoughts to go. God’s a whole lot more interested in our future than He is in our past, so we’re not defined by our ignorant mistakes—we’re defined by what we do about them.

---

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Author: Thomas White | Editorial Staff, Living Church of God

---

Dr. Douglas Winnail’s recent assembly addressed that Satan uses worldly persecution to lure away those who aren’t unshakably grounded in the truth.

Scripture confirms this, and we all need to constantly guard against the anti-Christian nature of Satan’s world. But those of us who struggle with occasional or even frequent feelings of insecurity—who are just as harsh to ourselves as anyone in the world could ever be to us—may need to guard against something else, too.

While such individuals generally don’t like to talk about them, there are moments when being in the Church can make us uncomfortable. We don’t regret our calling—we’re grateful for it, truly. We know this is the right way, but we feel unworthy of walking it.

For those with frequent insecurity, this state of mind is too often the norm—pervasive and crushing. They look at their fellow firstfruits, and because most of our sins are committed in the dark quiet of our own private lives, everyone around them looks better at being good than they “know” they are.

What Tempts Us

Then comes a shock. You get out there—into college, the workforce, wherever—and you discover that people don’t hate you. Your beliefs that you feared would come across as insane to everyone are viewed as interesting by some. What you thought would be seen as self-righteousness is taken as respectability. People don’t think you’re bigoted or foolish, they think you’re fascinating. Intriguing. Good.

That’s truly hard to resist. Satan knows each of us better than we know ourselves, and in the case of those who feel they’ll never be as good as God wants them to be, the devil knows that they don’t particularly like themselves—but that they long to. He knows that, because they’re used to persecuting themselves, persecution from others may not so easily tempt them into leaving the Church.

But praise might.

Eventually, those with such insecurities eating at them may be offered an opportunity for something that will compromise God’s Way—perhaps by the very people who were praising them before. Assured by their human nature that it will make them into someone they, themselves, will finally be able to accept, the immediate, fascinating option is to bite into that fruit, because it looks and—temporarily—is delicious.

The other option doesn’t look quite so promising: resist, struggle, and go back to a Church filled with people they feel unworthy to be among. Pass the fruit up, and walk back into the daunting, lonely garden.

Our Father’s Promise

But if we allow ourselves to think deeply about our calling, God can lead us to a conclusion that becomes incredibly freeing.

As Mr. Richard Ames has often reminded us, Christ points out that none of us are truly good: “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17). In this life, we never will be fully “good.” We are on this earth to learn what “good” really means, because frankly, we haven’t a clue. If we did, we’d never consider anyone in the Church “better” than we are.

Those of us who tend to be insecure are in training to become what we most long to be: Worthwhile. Valuable. That’s the point of all this—to do our best, which isn’t much, and be rewarded with His best, His perfection. In his world, Satan offers us something that isn’t one billionth as rewarding, but is, as Yoda might say, “quicker, easier, more seductive.”

Our Father and His Son are the only Beings in existence who actually know what it is to be truly good, because it started with Them. Incredibly, they want to share it with us. The praise and esteem we must refuse now “are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). We simply have to finish the race without keeling over. As long as we do, no matter what we place, our Father will carry our gasping, aching remains to the reward. He’s promised to make us good, one day. Right now, we have to show Him that we trust Him to complete the good work He’s started in us.

Dr. Winnail’s assembly message was absolutely true. Being grounded in the truth can protect us from faltering under persecution—even when that persecution comes from ourselves.

---

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

by Thomas White | Editorial Staff, Living Church of God

Assembly by Gerald Weston

Here’s a weird little question:

If you believe that I, Thomas White, exist, but you also think that I’m a 47-year-old albino pirate who lives in Saskatoon, do you really believe in me? Not really, no. You might believe someone named Thomas White exists, but that someone’s description is emphatically not of me. Honestly, I would probably rather you didn’t believe in my existence at all than believe I’m completely different from who I actually am. I’d venture to guess that God feels similarly.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

– Hebrews 11:6, New King James Version

When you define Truth

During this week’s assembly, one of the many topics Mr. Gerald Weston touched on was that of moral relativism—the increasingly widespread belief that what is morally right and true depends on what situation you’re in, how you feel about what you’re doing, how you’re feeling today overall, how your ancestors felt, etc. What strikes me as terrifying about this philosophy is that certain atheists aren’t the only ones who embrace it; many people who claim to believe in God also find it possible to believe that “My truth is my truth, yours is yours, theirs is theirs, and it’s all good.”

They may believe in God’s existence, but it’s not a belief that He’s perfect, or that He represents universal Truth… so is it really a belief in Him?

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

– Revelation 21:8, New King James Version

Dangerous Unbelief

I’ve wondered about the “unbelieving” included among those who earn the second death. By that point, the Millennium will have come and gone—you would think not believing in God’s existence would be as impossible as not believing in the existence of fingernails! That’s what makes moral relativism so scary, though. The “unbelieving” probably won’t be denying that God exists, but they may well go down refusing to believe that He’s right. “Your truth is different from my truth, Mr. LORD, and if I have to die in a fire for my truth, so be it. You’re not right just because you’re God.”

That’s a horrifying attitude, but it’s still possible for us to be affected by it—maybe in ways we don’t even realize.

God is Right

Discussing His way of life, we can say things like, “God makes the rules” and “Because God says so,” and neither of those statements are incorrect, but they also apply a certain arbitrary, “might makes right” nature to God’s decrees, and that misses a fundamental point. He didn’t decide, “You know what, there are gonna be commandments, and there are gonna be ten, because ten’s a nice number, I like that number,” and then make a universe where ten commandments would fit. The Father and the Word knew, before making a single thing, that there would have to be ten specific commandments, that there would have to be a Bible, that every just decree in it would have to be there. Because all of that was right.

He’s not just right because He’s God—He’s God because He’s right. If we believe He’s ever anything besides right, we’d probably be better off not believing He exists at all.

“He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.”

– Psalm 33:5, New Living Translation

---

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.