In Brief... Locusts of Almost Biblical Proportions
According to a British newspaper, there has never been a better time to be a locust. Economic, environmental and weather conditions have resulted in a massive proliferation of the winged insects, often with devastating consequences. China, Russia and the state of Utah in America have suffered severe crop losses from these migratory insects.
Locusts were the eighth of the 10 biblical plagues on ancient Egypt. Note that long before Israel's exodus from Egypt, locusts arrived by an east wind in a swarm so dense that "the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees.... So there remained nothing green on the trees or in the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt" (Exodus 10:15).
Locusts can be every bit as devastating today. In northeast China more than 19 million acres (8 million hectares) of land has been under attack. The Central Eurasian area of Russia is threatened. And, according to The Daily Mail, "Moscow's Emergency Situations Ministry says the locusts...are eating everything in their path."
While proportionally this present plague cannot be compared to the devastation wreaked on ancient Egypt, today's dire happenings should represent a wake-up call to our modern nations that shows how quickly devastation can strike. We need to get our spiritual houses in order (Psalm 50:23).
Sources: The Times, The Daily Mail [all London].
Course Content
Jim Tuck
Jim has been in the ministry over 40 years serving fifteen congregations. He and his wife, Joan, started their service to God's church in Pennsylvania in 1974. Both are graduates of Ambassador University. Over the years they served other churches in Alabama, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, California, and currently serve the Phoenix congregations in Arizona, as well as the Hawaii Islands. He has had the opportunity to speak in a number of congregations in international areas of the world. They have traveled to Zambia and Malawi to conduct leadership seminars In addition, they enjoy working with the youth of the church and have served in youth camps for many years.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
