Building on the Foundation

  A few days ago, I came across an article entitled “The First Wave-Sheaf Offering” in the United Church of God newspaper, the United News . Or rather, it was brought to my attention. You can find this article on pp. 6-7 of the latest issue, the May-June 2025 issue. The article begins by analyzing Joshua 5 and asserts that Israel offered a wave sheaf on “the day after the Passover” (Josh. 5:11) before eating the produce of the land — an assertion I agree with. It then continues, based on this passage, to try to establish when we should begin our count to Pentecost. But unfortunately, the article makes several inaccurate and unproven claims, some of which beg for a response. Now, the purpose here isn’t to examine the article as a whole or even to prove when we ought to keep Pentecost, but merely to address two or three specific claims. Let’s give our attention in particular to the section “Timing of the Offering.” Here in this section, we read, It helps to more directly consider the...

We are all familiar with the term “disciple,” and most of us would classify ourselves as disciples. Disciples of Jesus, of course, though many of us might be a bit hard put to define the term. Right off the bat, someone would probably say that disciple means a follower, which is partly true, but it goes deeper than that.  One of the greatest callings in this life is to make disciples of every nation, wherever we might find ourselves. We don't have to be missionaries; that command was for wherever we might be living at this time. The iconic disciple of Jesus, Paul, often stayed in one place for years at a time while he preached to everyone he could find in the area until the Holy Spirit told him it was time to move along.  Our job is to make disciples where we are, not necessarily to travel to do so. The distinction isn't to minimize evangelism, not at all. Rather, it's to drive home the point that making disciples isn't off in a faraway country; it's right here in o...