Revised ANNUAL COUNCIL October 8 to 14, 2004
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Revised • ANNUAL COUNCIL October 8 to 14, 2004 ANNUAL COUNCIL OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE October 10, 2004, 9:00 a. m. PRESENT Roy Adams, Patrick L Allen, Lucio Altin, Niels-Erik A Andreasen, John R Andrianasoa, Lucio Aranda, Jose Alfredo Argueta, Delbert W Baker, Trevor H C Baker, K J Balaji, John T Banks, Harold W Baptiste, Maurice T Battle, Bert B Beach, Enrique Becerra, Mathew A Bediako, Wesley Moonga Beene, B Lyn Behrens, Jannie Bekker, Guillermo E Biaggi, Branko Bistrovic, Arthur F Blinci, Violeto F Bocala, Adrian Bocaneanu, Rodney G Brady, Mario A Brito, Benjamin P Browne, Herbert Brugger, Reinder Bruinsma, Eliseo Bustamante, Marta Caceres, Mario Augusto Calderon, Jose Luis Campos, Izeas dos Santos Cardoso, Dennis N Carlson, Walter E Carson, Stephen Chavez, Pyung-Duk Chun, Douglas Clayville, Joan • C Coggin, Lalchansanga Colney, Lowell C Cooper, Nevanka Cop, Ken Crawford, James A Cress, Sharon M Cress, Rajmund Dabrowski, David Y Dambali, Luka T Daniel, Thomas Davai, Nestor D Dayson, Marino F de Oliveira, Wandyr Mendes De Oliveira, Belzazar Denila, Karnik Doukmetzian, C Garland Dulan, George 0 Egwakhe, Wilimore D Eva, Larry R Evans, Laurie J Evans, George W Fafale, Howard F Faigao, Nicodemos Falcao, Mumtaz A Fargo, Martin W Feldbush, Teofilo V Ferreira, Sergie B Ferrer, Mark A Finley, Karen M Flowers, Ronald M Flowers, John M Fowler, Ulrich W Frikart, Agustin Galicia, Jonathan Gallagher, Jay Gallimore, Alfredo A Garcia-Marenko, L James Gibson, Carlo Giliberti, Clifford Goldstein, Cesar Gomez, Raul Gomez, Luis Gonzalez, Leonardo Grant, Gordon Gray, John Graz, Rodney, Grove, Alberto F Guaita, Alberto C Gulfan Jr, Sendra Gunawan, Joseph E Gurubatham, Patricia J Gustin, Erkki Haapasalo, Uzziel Habingabwa, Bert Haloviak, Allan R Handysides, Dallian Haokip, Richard H Hart, Ceazar J Hechanova, Atte Helminen, Eric Hepburn, Claritza 0 Heyaime De Jimenez, Robert W Holbrook, Roscoe J Howard III, King-Yi Eugene Hsu, C Lee Huff, Daniel R Jackson, Michael R Jamieson, Johann E Johannsson, Choudampalli John, M C John, Delbert L Johnson, William G Johnsson, Theodore T Jones, Ignacio Kalbermatter, Bukasa Kalombo, Michael F Kaminsky, Gerry D Karst, Dennis C Keith Sr, Ole Kendel, Donald G King, Robert J Kloosterhuis, William Knott, Lorinda Knowlton, • Linda Mei Lin Koh, Eric A Korff, Viktor Alexandrovich Kozakov, Gary Krause, Vladimir A Krupsky, P Daniel Kunjachan, Jonathan Kuntaraf, Kathleen Kuntaraf, Peter R Kunze, Thundiyil Parambil Pothen Kurian, Kwame Boakye Kwanin, Saw Muller Kyaw, Robert E Kyte, Revised Peter N Landless, Kevin Lang, Pawel Lazar, Harold L Lee, Jairyong Lee, Paulo Leitao, • Israel Leito, Robert E Lemon, Nikola T Levterov, Jean-Luc Lezeau, Pavel Ivanovich Liberansky, Jose R Lizardo, Andrea Luxton, Guenther Machel, Louis Musasya Makulambizia, Solomon Maphosa, Kimberly Luste Maran, Japheth S Maranga, Dalbir Masih, Cornelius Mulenga Matandiko, Gabriel E Maurer, Benjamin C Maxson, Siegfried G Mayr, Geoffrey G Mbwana, Joseph W McCoy, Duane McKey, Denzil McNeilus, Carlos Medley, Julian Melgosa, Peter 0 Mensah, Saustin Kazgeba Mfune, Armando Miranda, Eric P Monnier, R Martin Moores, Rennie Elid Moreira, Kalapala J Moses, Thomas J Mostert Jr, John Moyer, Musyoka Paul Muasya, 'Ekkehardt Mueller, Baraka G Muganda, Pardon Kandanga Mwansa, Nina Myrdal, Ruy H Nagel, Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu, Bradford Newton, G T Ng, August de Clerc M Ngalamulume, Victor Niconde, James R Nix, John S Nixon, Robert W Nixon, Karel Nowak, Jethron Nsabiyaremye, Etzer Obas, Sal Nwachi Okwubunka, Joseph A Ola, Barry D Oliver, Daisy J Flores Orion, Richard C Osborn, Rubin R Ott, Bjorn Ottesen, Daniel Padmaraj, Orville D Parchment, Ruth E Parish, Vernon B Parmenter, Jere D Patzer, Jan Paulsen, David Javier Perez, Juan 0 Perla, Cecil R Perry, Gerhard Pfandl, Sally Lam Phoon, Larry J Pitcher, Don L Platt, Rolf Poehler, Timothy L Poirier, Alex Rajkumar Ponniah, T Michael Porter, Juan R Prestol, Peter J Prime, Stoy E Proctor, Geovani Souto de Queiroz, Guido Rodolfo Quinteros, Ted L Ramirez, Miguel Ramos, Leo Ranzolin, Bruno Raso, John Rathinaraj, Paul S Ratsara, Robert L Rawson, Nils Rechter, Gordon L Retzer, Samuel Lawrence Reuben, R Bruce Roberts, Donald E Robinson, Angel Manuel Rodriguez, Guy F Roger, Walter Romero, Denis P Rosat, Steven G Rose, Stan Rouse, • Iouliia Roussina, Amon K Rugelinyange, Lucas Nzungu Rugemalila, Blasious M Ruguri, Flavia Rwabuhoro, Michael L Ryan, Roy E Ryan, Claude Sabot, Charles C Sandefur Jr, Nikolaus Satelmajer, Byron Scheuneman, Don C Schneider, Marti Schneider, Benjamin D Schoun, Gregory Dwight Scott, Bobby Joutjc Sepang, Mozart Simon Serrant, Gibeon Ebenezaar Sharon, Bonita J Shields, Helder Roger C Silva, Pavel Simek, Ella Simmons, Houtman Elysha Sinaga, Dolores E Slikkers, Heather-Dawn Small, Robert S Smith, Reger C Smith Jr, Chester G Stanley, Ken Stanton, Artur A Stele, Ardis D Stenbakken, Vassili D Stoliar, Robert L Sweezey, Remelito Aguilar Tabingo, Jean-Marie Tchoualeu, Halyard B Thomsen, Brad Thorp, Alayne D Thorpe, Tor Tjeransen, Frank Tochterman, Jemuel M Toledanes, Athal H Tolhurst, Ronald W Townend, Max A Trevino, John P Trimarchi, Jansen E Trotman, Arnold Trujillo, Grigol G Tsamalashvili, Cindy Tutsch, Don Upson, Klaus-Juergen van Treeck, Gilbert Vega, Filiberto M Verduzco, Javier E Villegas Velile S Wakaba, Alan R Walshe, John Luga Wani, Ivan Leigh Warden, Gilbert Wari, D Ronald Watts, Youke Welan, Bertil A Wiklander, Jeffrey K Wilson, Neal C Wilson, Ted N C Wilson, Harald Wollan, Kenneth H Wood, James S F Wu, Lori Yingling, James W Zackrison, Rita U Zirimwabagabo, Joel Zukovski. • • 04-73 ANNUAL COUNCIL OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE October 10, 2004, 9:00 a.m. DEVOTIONAL The devotional message entitled "The Witness of Truth: The Time of Trouble" was presented by Frank M Gonzales, Speaker/Director and Correspondence School of La Voz de la Esperanza. Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version unless noted otherwise. In August 2003, North America suffered the most disastrous electrical blackout in history. In a matter of minutes, the northeastern part of the continent was suddenly transported to life the way it might have been in the 17th century. The only difference was that people in 2003 were less prepared. The change was sudden. For example, in the great modern airports, weary travelers went into the bathrooms but could not get any water to wash their hands because the electronic eyes were not working. Thousands of people living in skyscrapers could not get a drink of water. The Wall Street Journal reported, "The electronic age blew a fuse. When you are • unplugged, even very simple tasks become impossible." That is an interesting statement. That is also a theological statement. Hotels were made useless for many because the door locks to the rooms were all electronic. Cordless phones, of course, were unusable. One lady found a neighborhood grocery store that used an old-fashioned cash register, but she could not buy the potatoes she wanted because the scales were electronic. Cell phones were useless because the networks were jammed. You could not buy gasoline for your car because the pumps in the filling stations needed electricity. Fortunately, the great blackout ended in a day or two as the grid operators managed to piece together the grid connections needed for the great generator engines to begin running again. By the way, a CNN reporter said, "But for the lucid intervention of someone, who unfortunately was unnamed but who should have gotten a lot of credit, the blackout could have been national." Thoughtful people began to wonder, "What would happen if such a blackout were to last for a long time. What would happen if the sophisticated terrorism network of Osama Bin Laden could find a way to paralyze America?" Such a tragedy would have been impossible in the 17th century because most people lived in a simple way—out in the country. They lacked our modern conveniences, but at least they had water. They had food. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible tells us the greatest blackout is • coming. 04-74 October 10, 2004, a.m. GCC Annual Council • You cannot read many pages in the Bible without running into warnings of a time of trouble coming on this earth such as never has been in all history. For example, you read the gospel of Matthew that tells of the most happy days of all time, when the Son of God walked the paths of this earth with us: Emmanuel—God with us—healing the sick, comforting the sorrowing, feeding the hungry, and lifting heavy burdens with His good news. He raised the dead. Children loved Him and crowded around Him to hear His stories. It was heaven on earth. Then, like a sudden explosion on a calm sunny day, here are Jesus' solemn warnings of something to come. "For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."— Matthew 24:37-39 The flood in the days of Noah was a world disaster so terrible that it is unimaginable to us. A world blackout would also be unimaginable. But what happened in August 2003, made people begin to think that anything could happen. The only human survivors of the flood in Noah's day were the eight souls that went into the ark that Noah had spent one hundred and twenty years building. True, there will never be another flood to destroy all life on earth and the rainbow is God's sign to support His vow. But the Bible tells of the great time of trouble that is coming, of which the August 2003 blackout was a faint premonition. ". and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.