The Final Harvest
(Copyright 10-23-2024) by John W. Ritenbaugh (Lancaster, South Carolina) For some reason, cemeteries fascinated my father. Quite frequently, when I was a young boy, after church on warm summer Sundays, he would take the family on a tour through Allegheny Cemetery, about two miles from the Methodist church we attended. It was an old-style cemetery […]
Pride, Humility, and the Day of Atonement
(Copyright 1996, 10-09-2024) by John W. Ritenbaugh (Lancaster, South Carolina) Because four holy days fall in a single month’s time—and the Feast of Tabernacles so dominates the season—Atonement frequently gets short shrift. But so important is its meaning to us that God’s instruction for observing it carries what some interpret as the death penalty for not observing it properly […]
Preparing for the Feast
(Copyright 2020, 10-16-2024) by John W. Ritenbaugh (Lancaster, South Carolina) All of us in God’s church consider the Feast of Tabernacles as a special time of the year. It is an exhilarating climax of one year that generates a “high” to prepare us for the next, enabling us to get through many a rough spot. Few of […]
The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy
(Copyright 1998) by John W. Ritenbaugh (Lancaster, South Carolina) Does anyone on earth not want to live confidently and joyfully? Undoubtedly, out of eight billion people, a few are so soured on life that they would rather be dead, a thought they express in their downcast, grumbling and sometimes even snarling demeanor. However, they must […]
A Truth About Revelation 2 and 3
(Copyright 2023) by John W. Ritenbaugh (Lancaster, South Carolina) Among the best-known and strongest beliefs held by those who left the Worldwide Church of God during its doctrinal heresies is that the seven letters in Revelation 2 and 3 describe church eras. That is, they comprise seven long periods from the church’s founding by Jesus Christ up to the present and continuing until […]
This is Not God’s World
(Copyright 2023) by John W. Ritenbaugh (Lancaster, South Carolina) Having been born and reared in Pennsylvania, I have more than a passing knowledge of the Amish country of southeastern Pennsylvania. People similar to the Pennsylvania Amish live in communities in other states, too, like the Amish of Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and Kansas. The Amana […]
All in All
(Copyright 2023) by John W. Ritenbaugh (Lancaster, South Carolina) Branded on our minds is the idea that I Corinthians 15 is the Resurrection Chapter, and indeed, resurrection is its major theme. However, the apostle Paul inserts other important ideas into this inspiring chapter. As important as it is to us and God’s purpose, the resurrection […]
Simplify Your Life!
(Copyright 2022) by John W. Ritenbaugh (Lancaster, South Carolina) Isaiah 57:15 proclaims: For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of […]