Dear Readers,

The local news was abuzz last night over the report that the popular television program, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, had come to one of the Cincinnati, Ohio, suburbs to videotape one of its next projects.

This award-winning reality show is based on finding families in desperate situations and then demolishing their old house and building a brand-new home. Design teams, local construction companies and scores of volunteers accomplish this task in only seven days, while the family is sent away on a vacation.

Recipients of these projects are those who have suffered from tragic ordeals and hardships, such as crime victims, Hurricane Katrina survivors and those with severe health problems. The family here, for example, has two small girls with spinal muscular atrophy and a young son with Crohn's disease. Since the motorized wheelchairs are unmanageable in the house, the girls are essentially immobile. The family also needs a handicap-accessible van that could accommodate two wheelchairs. In addition to the new dwelling, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition often provides gifts like these that will help with the family's specific circumstances.

Unlike so much of the worthless programming that masquerades as "entertainment" today, this show has a strong following because it encourages, inspires, motivates people to help others and, perhaps most of all, gives hope to people who are struggling in life. It doesn't solve all of their problems, but it gives relief and makes it easier to cope. It gives them a little good news in troubled times.

I couldn't help but think of this last night watching the news report and the excitement it was generating in the community.

Isn't it nice to hear good news every now and then?

Isn't it good to be given some hope?

Well, let me give you more: another "Extreme Makeover" program is currently in the planning stages, and it is coming to your home, your community, your world! This one could be called Extreme Makeover: God's Edition. Jesus Christ will produce and direct it, but He will focus first and foremost on remodeling human behavior in order to make the real changes the world needs to alleviate its suffering.

However, just as the TV program provides additional gifts to help families, so will Christ. Prophecies are full of descriptions of how weather patterns will be modified to stop the types of destruction we see now, how agriculture will abound, how disease will be eradicated, how the animal world will change, how cities will be restructured, etc. You can find out more in our booklets The Gospel of the Kingdom and God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind (see particularly the chapter titled "The Feast of Tabernacles: Jesus Christ Reigns Over All the Earth"). Also, the upcoming September/October Good News issue will include several articles that touch on this topic.

Television has never produced this type of reality program, and most producers would probably laugh at the notion, but God has promised that this is in the works! Jesus not only announced the gospel, the good news of the coming Kingdom of God, but He said that it would be an extreme makeover—"Repent, and believe the gospel," He cried! True repentance is extreme, and it is a total makeover, from the inside out. You can also understand more about this vital topic from our booklet Transforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion.

You can easily read or download these and other booklets at our Web site http://www.gnmagazine.org/booklets/.
This is truly the extreme makeover edition that will change the world in the future, and it can change your life now!
Thank you for your participation in our efforts to take this message of hope to the world. We hope it is encouraging to you to know that the return of Jesus Christ is promised, it is on the horizon, and it will truly make over the world.

Until next month,

Clyde Kilough
President
United Church of God

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