News from
Local
Congregations
Man in Korea Seeks Pen Pals
There are no congregations here in South Korea. I have kept the Sabbath by myself quite a long time. Please print my name and address in the Servants' News. I am married, 30 years old.
Lee Ho Kyoo
#1-405 Hyupjin Taeyang A.P.T.
Yongho 4-Dong, Namgu
Pusan 608-094
Republic of Korea
Sabbath Singles Connection
Attention single 7th day Sabbath Christians! Finally, a way to meet others that share your beliefs. In depth profiles, confidential, free details. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: SSC, 3229 Larkin Road, Biggs, California 95917.
Dallas Conference in January
The Scattered Brethren is hosting a Scattered Churches of God conference on January 3-5, 1997. The subject of the Conference will be the Holy Calendar which will include Passover, Postponements, New Moons, etc. It is the desire of the Scattered Brethren to help the north Texas area sabbatarians to come together and study the word of God and hear the latest studies on these subjects.
The conference will be held at the Hilltop Inn located at 5600 N. Central Expressway in Dallas. Those interested in making reservations for a room at the Hilltop Inn can do so by calling 1-800-537-8483. Forty rooms are blocked for the event at $46 per room. Call by December 23.
Tickets are $27/person, $45/couple. The price includes a Mediterranean noon meal on the Sabbath. For more information, contact Lawrence Maayeh at 214-785-0060 or P.O. Box 860471, Plano, Texas 75086-0471.
¿Cuál es el día de reposo
del Nuevo Testamento?
¿Sabe usted cuál es el día de reposo del Nuevo Testamento? Aprenda lo que declara su propia Biblia sobre este tema de vital importancia. Escríbanos y pida el folleto gratuito titulado, "¿Cuál es el día de reposo del Nuevo Testamento?"
Diríjase a
Bible Sabbath Association
3316 Alberta Drive
Gillette, WY 82718
EE. UU.
Friendly Arizona Sabbath Seminar
Dear Mr. Edwards,
Greetings from Arizona. Pastor Ivan Blake of the Camelback Seventh-Day Adventist Church provided the beautiful setting for a Sabbath seminar on the weekend of November 9-10 in the shadow of Camelback mountain. The co-sponsors of this activity were Mr. Blake and the pastors of the three Phoenix UCG congregations: Roger Foster, Jim Tuck, and Chuck Zimmerman.
The featured speaker was Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi. His enthusiasm and zeal for God's Sabbath were inspiring. Mark Kaplan, a UCG pastor serving in California, also spoke. All speakers' topics were well received by those in attendance.
It was a great blessing to see our groups come together on our common ground. I pray that more such endeavors will be tried. I am a UCG member and I am very pleased in the willingness within the UCG to explore joint projects such as this. I do not know why I ever received The Servants' News, but I have gotten every issue and am constantly encouraged by your inclusion of tales of inter-Sabbatarian cooperation. Please continue doing the fine work of serving all of GOD's children. You are in our prayers.
Your brother in Christ,
—David Meidinger
Faltering Calif. Sabbath Seminar
Dr. Samuel Bacchiocchi was surprised and disappointed at the UCG's home office lack of support for his October 18-19 Sabbath lecture. Dr. Bacchiocchi is the author of the book "From Sabbath to Sunday", and is finishing his book on God's Holy Days.
UCG's Home Office congregation meets in a Seventh Day Adventist's building. Dr. Bacchiocchi had been invited to speak there about his research on the Sabbath and God' Holy Days. He called the UCG pastor, Brian Orchard, to ask him to participate in the lecture and announce it to his congregation.
My wife and I went to the Friday night lecture and were told by Dr. Bacchiocchi that Brian Orchard had told him that he was "not supportive of this kind of activity." Brian Orchard also said that he "looks down on the Friends of the Sabbath."
This amazed Dr. Bacchiocchi because of how well he had been received by many UCG congregations this past year. He spoke fondly of how Mr. Dennis Luker had invited him to the Seattle area to speak to the UCG brethren there. The same was true with Mr. Chuck Zimmerman and Mr. Roger Foster in the Phoenix area; and Mr. George Crow in Houston.
The Saturday lecture was to start one hour after the UCG service was over, but just after the UCG service was over an announcement was made to everyone that the Seventh Day Adventists were having a lecture at 5 PM and everyone should leave in a timely manner.
—Harry Curley, Altadena, Calif
IBLC Off To a Good Start
The International Bible Learning Center reports that as of this month of operation, 1,000 have responded and the number is growing daily. This is an opportunity to take Bible classes or courses right in your own home via VCR or cassette tapes.
The IBLC is a nondenominational, nonprofit institution of higher learning dedicated to the restoration of the faith once delivered to the saints. One of the goals of IBLC is to make collegiate -level Bible courses available to persons of all ages and educational backgrounds.
The educational philosophy and purpose of the IBLC is guided by Christ's statement that the "worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the.Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23-24).
Therefore, the IBLC is committed to providing sound biblical instruction that respects and reflects the biblical teachings of the first-century Church of God. These doctrines of the Apostolic Church can be gleaned only from Holy Scripture. They are not the domain of any corporate or organizational structure. All organizations and corporate structures should rejoice in the efforts of any person or group that is committed to teaching and publishing the truth of the Bible.
Since the IBLC is not a church, we do not publish a codified statement of beliefs; we seek to explain and defend the doctrines of the Bible. The Holy Scriptures, not tradition or orthodoxy, serve as the authority for determining the veracity of any viewpoint. The only requirement for enrollment in the IBLC is a teachable heart and determined dedication to intellectual honesty.
Our Mission Statement: The mission of the International Bible Learning Center is to provide Bible courses relevant to the educational needs of Christians regardless of their church affiliation, age, educational background or socio-economic status for the purpose of educating, edifying and strengthening the faith and practice of Christians.
Current Course Offerings:
Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ—Don Ward
Principles of Prophecy—Don Ward
Introduction to Paul—Ron Dart
Current Prophecy Seminars:
Church Eras -Don Ward
Place of Safety—Don Ward
Seventy-Weeks Prophecy—Don Ward
These courses will address some recent changes and doctrinal issues that concern many of us.
The three minicourses and the three prophecy seminars, 15 two-hour video-tapes, can be ordered for $146. The same courses and seminars on audiotape can be ordered for a cost of $94. The cost of the minicourses on an individual basis is $39 for video and $25 for audio.
The cost of the prophecy seminars on an individual basis is $10 for video and $7 for audio.
Future Courses:
Introduction to the Old Testament—Mark Kaplan
World Religions and Catholicism—Gary Antion
Book of Daniel—Don Ward
Book of Revelation—Don Ward
Life and Teachings of Paul—Ron Dart
Stewardship in the Churches of God -C. Wayne Cole
These Courses will be available by December 1, 1996.
The "course of the month" offered this month is Introduction to the Old Testament by Mark Kaplan, formerly an Orthodox Jew with a history degree from Brooklyn College.
Those interested in the Bible courses can contact:
IBLC, 7 Berean Way, Hawkins, Texas 75765 or call 903-636-4155, FAX 903-636-4098 or E-mail: IBLC @aol.com.
Have a Computer? Get a Bible!
If you own a computer, but do not have a Bible search and study program, you are missing out! Nearly all computer Bible programs allow you to search the Bible for phrases like "day of the Lord" or "time of the end"—searches that would be very time consuming with a regular concordance. Also, most of these programs allow the user to find every place a certain Hebrew or Greek word is used in the Bible—all using Strong's numbers—you do not have to read Hebrew or Greek.
These programs are available in a variety of places and cost from $30 to $300 depending on the number of features and Bible versions available. Some programs include commentaries, histories, cross-references, lexicons, etc. Programs are available locally from most big software stores and Christian book stores. Large mail-order software stores will also have them—see the ads in computer or Christian magazines, or try calling 1-800-EGG-HEAD.
One of the best programs available for a low price is the Online Bible. The CD-ROM DOS version costs $25 and the Windows version $30. It has numerous English Bible versions, several foreign language versions (including French, Spanish, German &Russian), commentaries, cross-references and helps. The NIV, NASB, and NRSV are copyrighted and cost an extra $20, $20 and $5 if you want to use them. Online Bible works fairly well directly from the CD-ROM, so you do not need much hard disk space. Online Bible specifically allows most of the non-copyrighted portions of their software to be freely copied to others—they show you how to do it. If you have a friend with this software, a few diskettes to transfer it and about 10 megabytes of free hard disk space, you can get a very useful program for free. This minimal system will run on old computers—DOS 5.0 with 640K. (If you do not know anyone with Online Bible, you may order a set of diskettes from Don Deist, 12415 Imperial Hwy #56, Norwalk, CA 90650, 310-863-1765 for $15.) For the full CD-rom version, contact Online Bible, PO Box 21, Bronson MI, 49028, 800-243-7124 or Web page http: //www.omroep.nl /eo/software/ps.
—NSE
Lake Tahoe Feast Tapes
For those who are interested in obtaining the Lake Tahoe Non-Aligned Feast tapes, contact:
Mike Kawasaki
3229 Larkin Drive
Biggs, California 95917
916-868-5272
Please note that at this point, these tapes are free.