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Pastor Letter (September 4, 2020)

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Pastor Letter (September 4, 2020)

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Pastor Letter (September 4, 2020)

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Weekly Bible Study Wednesdays, 7: 30 PM  Panorama of End Time Prophecy                                                                             WKDW –  97.5 FM, North Port Fl., 10-11 AM, Sundays                                                                                                               Webcast from Vero Beach, FL., 2 PM, Saturdays                                                                                                                          Pictures from last Sabbath in Ocala – at bottom 

Pastor’s Letter, September 4, 2020

                            When Animals Push Their Own Dangerous Agendas


                       THE DISTRACTION IS SLICK  …   THESE DUCKS HAVE NO SHAME

     You know we are all in trouble when animals start taking matters into their own hands. The shocking photos displayed here illustrate how the quality of life can ultimately go downhill when animals go “outside the box” to exploit us.
     We can see the humor in the Duck Scam as illustrated above. But as we do, we realize that this “injustice” reflects a hard reality in that there are many unscrupulous people out there that will scam and exploit us as well as also victimize other innocent people. While some people would say, “Aren’t these pictures cute?”  (and they are)  we would go further to make the observation that these pictures appear to display traits of human nature in animals. Of course, animals do not have human nature but personifying animals with human traits can be humorous. Gary Larson produced the eminently popular comic strip “The Far Side” based on the premise that animals can display human characteristics.  

                                                                                                             

 
               PERSONIFIED AS HUMANS , THESE CATS APPEAR TO BE LOADED WITH                                       .                                         STRIKING TRAITS OF HUMAN NATURE                                    

     Sometimes we come up against scams, deceit, and misrepresentation which elements of society foist on us. Thus we cannot believe everything we see and everything we hear. Sometimes it takes discernment for Christians to sense and then know what is really happening. This is one of several reasons why the Apostle Paul admonished us to “prove all things” (I Thes 5: 21).
     As an example, Paul had to know who he was dealing with, whether it were an adversary or a fellow church member. He needed to know who was honest with him and who was not. However that is sometimes only revealed over a period of time, which is why Paul was inspired to share the following observation in I Timothy 5: 24: 
    “Remember the sins of some people are obvious, leading to certain                                        judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later. In the same way, the good deeds of some people are immediately obvious while good deeds done by others in secret will someday later come to light.” (NLT)
     In the interest of being fair with other people and not drawing conclusions that could be riddled with serious errors, it is so important to be patient to not inaccurately rush to judgment.
     

            FOR EXAMPLE, DO WE CONCLUDE HERE THAT THE 3 CATS ABOVE ARE     DESTRUCTIVELY TURNING AGAINST US or ARE THEY ARE INNOCENTLY ‘CATS BEING CATS’?

     In Gary Larson’s Far Side, these 3 cats would be as guilty as sin. But as we understand it, these cats should not be sentenced to hard time in some penitentiary somewhere. Perhaps they should be disciplined to stay away from tissue paper, bathrooms and taught not flush bras down the toilet yet we cannot insist that they are no longer free to be cats…but reading human beings – well that can be more difficult…
                              

                              “…BUT THAT JUST DOESN’T SOUND RIGHT”
     I am reminded of the story of one of our widows who was befriended by a seemingly nice man who approached her on purchasing a significant item that it turned out she did not need. As he increasingly insisted that she sign the contract that he brought with him she responded, “You know…I’m just not sure about this”.
     She was right to be unsure to sign the contract because she did not understand enough about it. The other person began to get frustrated with her and then insisted that she sign the contract. She began leaning on her own intuition and focused on the man’s attitude. Finally she interrupted him again to say several times “That does not sound right,.. that does not sound right”  Later she had time to take the contract to a knowledgeable church member and he encouraged her to completely drop the matter. 
     When we do not understand a situation like that, we do not have to make rash decisions either. We should stay objective. We should get all the necessary facts and ask God for His perspective. We should be cautious instead of impulsive. He that jumps to conclusions seldom has happy landings. After all, we are living in a world that is becoming increasingly dishonest. As quoted in a previous Pastor Letter, “A lie can get half way around the world before truth has a chance to put its pants on”. How well do we interpret what we see?                             

  Maybe this cat is not thinking of exploiting us. The bottom line is that we have to be on guard in a deceitful world; especially with other humans. 
                         Meanwhile……Don’t let the ducks get you down
Photo credits: "funny-pictures-cat-disposes-of-evidence-down-toilet2" by wackyvorlon is licensed under CC BY 2.0"funny-pictures-cat-pleads-insanity" by wackyvorlon is licensed under CC BY 2.0 "funny-pictures-kitten-causes-crop-circles" by wackyvorlon is licensed under CC BY 2.0"funny-pictures-local-pigeons-have-tasers" by wackyvorlon is licensed under CC BY 2.0"funny-pictures-happy-vampire-cat" by wackyvorlon is licensed under CC BY 2.0"funny pictures-The Thanksgiving Turkey is missing you say?" by wackyvorlon is licensed under CC BY 2.0  "funny-pictures-kittens-ask-if-this-face-would-lie-to-you" by wakefielddavid is licensed under CC BY 2.0"funny-pictures-penguins-wonder-about-their-offspring" by wakefielddavid is licensed under CC BY 2.0"funny-pictures-cat-ate-mickey-mouse" by rikkis_refuge is licensed under CC BY 2.0"funny-pictures-beware-of-the-cute-duckling-scam" by zebedee.zebedee is licensed under CC BY 2.0
          Last Sabbath in Ocala, we had hours of rich fellowship and a sumptuous pot luck meal. This was followed by a speaker’s workshop where all the people in the room participated in providing ideas for  messages.
Our resident Italian, Paul Bidetti courageously volunteered to give an extemporaneous message to the group on another famous Italian.   Down the road we will occasionally have future workshops too. The motto of these workshops is…  “Good speakers becoming better.”
Unrelated to the workshop, coincidentally Tom Sinclair gave his first ever sermonette this day and it was very well done. How is it that somehow he was never been given the opportunity before now?
It was great to see Ross and Marcia Winne at services as well as everyone else who could come.

 


  
This weekend, Randy McQuien will speak in Ft. Myers, Jeff Newell will speak in  Vero Beach, Court Greenfield & Perry Harold will speak in Ocala, and I will be with the Tallahassee brethren.
Lastly, you can read Mr. Kubik’s latest member letter here: https://www.ucg.org/members/news/update-from-the-president-september-3-2020