Here’s a basic question for you: How do you draw close to God?
If you’ve heard that one before, you might know some of the answers. The Church of God helpfully focuses on four big actions we can take to draw close to God: Christians can pray, study their Bibles, fast, and meditate.
It can be a little tricky to start doing these things regularly. Thankfully, the Church provides plenty of help on how to get the most out of prayer, study, fasting, and meditation. When I tried to start doing these activities regularly, it was a slow process, but I gradually felt myself get better at prayer, study, and fasting. Little by little, I felt like I was getting more out of these things. Some days were better or worse than others, but generally, these practices seemed to be going in the right direction in my life.
Meditation was different—I rarely felt like I was getting much better at it. I knew the basics: think about a godly concept deeply. True meditation is not emptying one’s mind, as some religions teach. Philippians 4:8 tells us that “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” That’s a great list, but what does it mean practically? How exactly are we supposed to think deeply about those things?
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Tomorrow’s World
Volunteer for Music and Choir at Camp!
/in Uncategorized/by Your Friendly Neighborhood EditorsEditor’s Note: This will be announced this Sabbath in services, but it seemed like it would be helpful to include here. We look forward to hearing from our talented teens and staff members at the teen camp this year!
This Coming Monday, June 20: Deadline for Texas Teen Camp Talent Show and Camp Choir
The deadline is approaching for all campers who would like to participate in the Texas Teen Camp Talent Show! We are looking forward to an evening of entertainment provided by campers for the whole camp to enjoy. Selections should be vocal or instrumental music reflecting godly values of wholesome, positive, and uplifting entertainment in words and/or music, avoiding worldly themes or messages. If you would like to participate, please fill out the participation form by this coming Monday, June 20. The form can be found when you log in to your MyLCG account, and it takes about seven minutes to complete. All participants must submit this form in order to be considered for the Talent Show. If you have any trouble accessing the form, please contact Mr. Rod McNair at [email protected].
We are also planning to have a camp choir. Campers and staff members are all invited to participate. If you would like to be part of the camp choir, please fill out the participation form by this coming Monday, June 20. You can access this form through your MyLCG account, and it only takes about a minute to complete. If you have trouble accessing the form, contact Mr. Rod McNair by email at [email protected]g.
A Proper Gander at Propaganda
/in Uncategorized/by Your Friendly Neighborhood EditorsAs you can probably tell, the world is getting really political. And the more political it gets, the more people throw around the word propaganda. But not very many people are bothering to actually define that word—and, as Mr. Sandor recently said, definitions are important.
So, what even is propaganda? Well, the most recent issue of the Living Church News just so happens to have an article by Mr. Paul Kearns on that very subject. Mr. Kearns goes into what propaganda is and, more importantly, who’s really behind all the propaganda out there.
Intrigued? Just click the link below to be instantly transported to Mr. Kearns’ article through the mysterious power of the internets (which seems to run on some form of electricity).
Whiteboard: Seven Proofs God Exists
/in Uncategorized/by Your Friendly Neighborhood EditorsAs mentioned in our “Five Questions” interview with Mr. Mike DeSimone, the creator of the TW Whiteboards (that interview is right here, if you haven’t seen it), the new one that went up Thursday evening is “Seven Proofs God Exists.” Mr. DeSimone, Mr. Jonathan Riley, and the whole Whiteboard team did a great job, and we hope you like it! If you didn’t see the interview where we talked about this one, click here for that post and video.
5Q with Mr. Mike DeSimone of the TV Department
/in Five Questions/by Wallace SmithWell, we had some difficulties with getting the podcast up today (explained in the video, below), so for this week’s post, we’re doing something a little different. We’ve wanted to begin posting some “Five Questions” videos to pull back the curtain a bit and let you get to know some of the people and departments here at Headquarters, and in this initial outing we sit down with Mr. Mike DeSimone who runs the TV department. As he’ll point out, they do a lot more than TV-related work, including our many other video products. Their latest TW Whiteboard, for instance, that went public last night is fantastic (he’s the voice for those). We mention it in the video below, and I will add a follow-up post to this one to feature it.
The podcast will be back next week, God willing, and, until then, I hope you enjoy this first installment of Five Questions—this time, with Mr. Mike DeSimone!
A Couple of Tips on Meditation
/in Uncategorized/by Mark SandorHere’s a basic question for you: How do you draw close to God?
If you’ve heard that one before, you might know some of the answers. The Church of God helpfully focuses on four big actions we can take to draw close to God: Christians can pray, study their Bibles, fast, and meditate.
It can be a little tricky to start doing these things regularly. Thankfully, the Church provides plenty of help on how to get the most out of prayer, study, fasting, and meditation. When I tried to start doing these activities regularly, it was a slow process, but I gradually felt myself get better at prayer, study, and fasting. Little by little, I felt like I was getting more out of these things. Some days were better or worse than others, but generally, these practices seemed to be going in the right direction in my life.
Meditation was different—I rarely felt like I was getting much better at it. I knew the basics: think about a godly concept deeply. True meditation is not emptying one’s mind, as some religions teach. Philippians 4:8 tells us that “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” That’s a great list, but what does it mean practically? How exactly are we supposed to think deeply about those things?
Read morePodcast: How Do We REALLY Prevent Mass Shootings?
/in Podcast/by Wallace Smith & John RobinsonThe tragic event in Uvalde, Texas—and the political back-and-forth about it—had us thinking this week, and it seemed an appropriate topic for the podcast. In this episode, we try to think about the issue biblically, focusing on the solutions Christ surely longs to implement. We hope you find it helpful.
(In other news, many of you have requested that the podcast be made available in other formats, and we think the time has come to do just that! We hope to have more news on that front next week. Thanks for your patience with us as we’ve learned and the podcast has grown! Your feedback has been very helpful.)
P.S. After we posted this, we forgot that we had mentioned Mr. Weston’s telecast “Will God Forget Your Children?” We’ve added a link to it below. Also, we mentioned Mr. Mark Sandor’s upcoming article on false freedom & liberty, but it has not yet been published, so we can’t link to it. But look for it in the next Living Church News, due out in July!
Podcast: What can Living Education do for you?
/in Podcast/by Wallace Smith & John RobinsonToday (Friday), the Class of 2022 graduated from the on-campus Living Education–Charlotte program, and yesterday, we had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Jonathan McNair and pick his brain about both the program and his own long history of working with youth in the Church. Whether you are a teen or young adult with questions about Living Ed, a parent trying to decide how to guide your kiddos into their futures, or just someone wanting to know more about the program, this podcast answers all the questions. it was a real pleasure to sit down with Mr. McNair—who informed us, by the way, that there are still openings for the 2022–2023 year here in Charlotte! If you are interested in checking it out, listen to the podcast, and click on this link to apply.