Living Church of God Continues to Struggle from COVID and Delta Virus Infections

 

The latest from the LCG:

Greetings from Charlotte, 

 

As Mr. Weston reported last week, both he and his wife have contracted the coronavirus. Be sure to pray fervently for their healing as well as others who became ill at or after the Living Youth Teen Camp. Several have already recovered, but the global danger has not significantly diminished. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has even recommended that vaccinated individuals wear masks “indoors and in certain parts of the country” (“CDC Changes Guidelines on Indoor Masks,” Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2021, p. A1).” Several headquarters employees are under quarantine and working from home. But the Work is moving ahead powerfully. We just received newly printed copies of Tomorrow’s World magazine, August edition, which posts a circulation of 488,000. We anticipate passing the half-million mark within the next two issues! This afternoon, our television crew will be taping my program “The Dangerous Times of the Gentiles,” offering The Beast of Revelation: Myth, Metaphor or Soon-Coming Reality? The three-and-one-half years leading up to the return of Christ will be very dangerous and ultimately include World War III and Armageddon. Be sure to read Luke the 21st chapter, in which our Lord admonished us to watch and pray always! The TV department is also working on the November Semi-Annual DVD “Taking a Stand: Three Censored Tomorrow’s World Telecasts.” 

Weston is apparently not well enough to write this week's update to the brethren.

As for the rest of the above comment by Richard Ames, it is the same old WCG message of doom and gloom that has been preached for decades. Can LCG not come up with something new and original? Perhaps talk about finding peace in the grace of Jesus Christ? If LCG members were encouraged to find that rest and peace with Jesus then they would not be so consumed by who the Beast is and the myths and metaphors of Revelation. Does anyone outside of the COG even care about the "times of the Gentiles"? Those that are at rest with Christ do not need to let this consume their daily lives. 

Headquarters is looking forward to the new semester for on-site Living Education students who will be arriving Friday, August 6. They will study a variety of subjects and experience challenging real life adventures in their pursuit of “Recapturing True Values.” We all should strive to be living those biblical values as we overcome day by day. 

Just what "true values" are they recapturing? Twenty-some years out of the Worldwide Church of God and they still are seeking those elusive true values.  Perhaps if they sought the things Jesus brought to the table instead of worshipping the feet of Moses, those "true values" might actually be found. 

Mr. Peter Nathan visited our ministers in western Kenya where churches are not allowed to congregate. He writes, “Most of the congregations have been meeting in small groups in members’ homes to avoid the regulations. The actions of the pastors to care for their flocks has been most commendable.” Mr. Nathan then flew to Accra, Ghana to meet with several groups. Next he will be visiting the Ivory Coast and Togo before returning to the UK. Your prayers for Mr. Nathan’s travels will be appreciated. It’s encouraging to know that God has called or is calling people “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).—Richard Ames

UPDATED: Gerald Weston, His Wife, and Others at Texas Teen Camp Contracted the Delta Variant of Covid

Greetings from Charlotte, 

 

Everyone should now be home from the Texas Teen Camp that we shut down because of COVID—most likely the Delta variant that is sweeping across the world at this time. Both Carol and I, as well as others who were at the Texas camp, have come down with it. I took Carol to the emergency room per doctor’s orders, but she was not put in a room and was sent home after a long day sitting up. 

 

It is truly remarkable how so many threads are coming together to present a picture leading to the end time and affecting some of our brethren here in the U.S., South Africa, and elsewhere. Leviticus 26 points out that when we come to despise God’s commandments, terror (terrorism) would follow. And following that would be wasting disease. This scourge of COVID has not gone away. And then it says in Leviticus that we will sow our seed in vain, for our enemies shall eat it. Mr. Gene Hilgenberg reported that there are shortages of food supplies, as he was having trouble getting some basic products for the camp. We see the western United States and Canada experiencing extreme drought conditions and high temperatures never before seen. Serious floods have ravaged parts of Europe and China. South Africa, countries in the Middle East, and parts of Asia are facing internal turmoil. See below for news about the situation in Haiti. We are now in a cyberwar with many bad actors disrupting basic services, such as water treatment plants. The big picture shows that this world is entering a time of trouble. Now is no time to fall asleep. While we pray for God’s Kingdom to come, we need to realize that very difficult times are ahead.— Gerald Weston

Church of God News has this up:

Announcement from Gerald Weston, Living Church of God, 22 July 2021: 

 

“By this time all of you are aware that we had to shut down the teen camp in Texas.
Tuesday morning we had a case of Covid from one of the ladies. We quarantined several of the ladies downtown in separate hotel rooms for several days as a precaution. One of those ladies, my wife, came down with Covid. The others seem to have escaped it, for which we are thankful that it was not any worse. The regular camp program began Wednesday morning. We seemed to be containing it, but then on Thursday and Friday we had several other cases … it seemed like there would only be about five total. Never the less, we could see a trajectory that, if we got into the next week, it could escalate significantly. It has, because some have come home from camp with it, so we know that more people were exposed, more people have caught the virus than we knew of for certain on Friday. 

 

Friday I called a meeting for all our department heads and all our our ministers … We realized that either we take control of the situation, or this could get out and outside authorities could take control of it and shut us down, so we decided to shut it down ourselves. 

 

We are not going to hide the fact that there was a Covid outbreak. We could have decided not to test and simply say there was some sickness, but the fact of the matter is it was Covid, we tested for it when somebody got sick.” 

 

This camp in Athens, Texas, has also been utilized by COGWA, which had one report of Covid during camp, and by Church of God Assembly, which has not made any public announcement.

"All in LCG teen camp have been exposed to COVID-19 and are returning home and will be quarantined for 14 days."

Ever wonder if your children will be infected with COVID at LYC this year? 

Wonder no more! The answer is YES!
 

More troubles for Living Church of God!

From Gary Stein in his email yesterday: 

 

Greetings Everyone. 

 

As many of you know, Mr. Weston shut down the LYC Camp in Athens Friday out of an abundance of caution because some campers and staff had contracted the Covid Virus. Mr. Weston directed the campers and staff to not attend Church Services this Sabbath and next because of this. Therefore I ask that those of you who attended the LYC Camp to not attend services in Dallas, Big Sandy or Temple this Sabbath and next. 

 

Best Regards,
Gary Stein, Pastor 

 

Prayers requested for the kids and staff who got sick. 

 

Interesting.. Sheldon's camp which was held in the same facility as LCG's camp, this year, seemingly avoided this Covid-19 outbreak. Weird. Just an observation.


UPDATE ON CAMP:
All in camp has been exposed to COVID-19 and are returning home and will be quarantined for 14 days. Please continue in your prayers for all concerned. Our God is great!