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Letter to the Brethren: June 25, 2015

Letter to the Brethren: June 25, 2015

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Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

We trust you had a good week and are seeking “first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33), while growing in the “grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Bearing Fruit in Africa

We are hearing from more people in different parts of Africa, which may mean that we will have growth of congregations in Africa in various countries.

Here are excerpts from a report from Pastor Evans Ochieng on 6/23/15:

Pastor Dr Bob,

Greetings from Kenya.

We had a busy Sabbath in Kisii. It was a wonderful and one of the happiest Sabbath I ever attend. The baptismal ceremony was full of joy. The River was surrounded by songs when the baptism was taking place. The whole congregation went to the river to witness the ceremony. That the surrounding to look happy, smart and joyful. We baptized 9 people. Names are- ISAIAH MASABE, CHARLES OANDA, LYDIA
EZEKIEL, YUNIKE ONKUNDI, GLADYS ONSANGO, RUTH MUSA, JACLINE JOHN, EVERLYNE NYABONYI, ELIZABETH.

After that we went back to hall. I did both sermonate and sermon.  After sermon we had 17 prayer requests with different problems. What caused all {need for} this prayer?  When I visit Kisii at the Couse of this month, there was a boy (Peter Ositu) who lost in December 2014 and from that month; his parents (Mr Mrs Wilkister and Richard Kenyanya) had never heard his whereabouts till this month. So when I was there, his parents told me to pray for him so that they can know where the boy is or if possible he can come back home. Through this my prayer, God answered my prayer and the boy came back home miraculously. After three days the boy reached home safe. This miracle gained a total faith amongst them. They had a total belief that God is dwelling in God’s church. The next day I received 5 prayer requests. Please help me to pray for this people because they have put their faith in God and the church. Among the five, 3 of them are not members but believe that miracles are done through the hands of God’s people in the church. Yesterday I was doing visitation of Members in their homes. …

JULY-SEPTEMBER MAGAZINE
Thank you very much for the magazine I will take it for printing in Nairobi on Monday. I will travel Sunday Night and reached there on Monday. I will also go for Attorney general’s office. After that I will visit Ethiopia Embassy, Nigeria Embassy, Ghana Embassy, and the Rwanda Embassy. The reason why I will visit this entire Embassy, we have people who are contacting us from these countries that I want to visit and know their stand if they are true members who are serious in faith. I want to do this work just with in July and August. September will be a busy month that I cannot travel. Look into this matter if it is good and possible so that I can do it.

FUNDS
…  I was to go out for baptism tour in Kisii. I have come back today. I hope you know the workload I have here and this famine problem which faces Kenya and Tanzania at this time. I know that the church is still small so it is not good for me to set what to send for me but it is good to send what God has put into your hand as you have been doing. Our main work is to preach the gospel.

Like now I have so many things to do but I will just try to prioritize what to do first then the rest I can do at the cause of next month when we receive funds again.  My main aim is how the church can reach
all corners of Africa. The doors are open for the gospel to move and I believe what the Kisii people told me yesterday that CONTINUING CHURCH OF GOD is the end time church to complete the work which was started by Jesus Christ preaches the gospel to all nations, tongues, and tribes.

Even though the work I have at now is big but I will use what I get to reach where I can. Thank you very much for the funds. May our sovereign father above bless more and the that CCOG is doing.
Evans

Please pray for those in Africa as many there are struggling with severe difficulties.

As far as Africa goes, I answered more inquires, and also sent more literature (booklets) to other parts of Africa this week.  Fruit is being born (Matthew 7:18-20).

Feast of Tabernacles

The 2015 Feast of Tabernacles will be here soon.

I just booked my family’s flights so that we should be able to attend both the North American sites.  I also just got of the telephone with Steve Dupuie who also intends to attend both the North American sites the opposite of me.  Thus, perhaps for the date we have the ‘Behind the Works’ sermon, there should be live sermon speakers all the other days.

We also have several who will give sermonettes, so all the sermonettes should be ‘live’ as well.

If you are planning on attending in North America, our sites are in Denver, Colorado, USA and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

If you are planning on attending in Denver and have not contacted me, please send me an email: cogwriter@aol.com.

If you are planning on attending in Niagara Falls and have not contacted Herb Haddon, please send him an email: hwhaddon@gmail.com.

If you are planning on attending Feast of Tabernacles’ site in New Zealand, contact John Hickey, email john.h@vodafone.net.nz; his mobile phone number is 021 519 441.

If you are planning on attending in Tanzania or Kenya, please contact Pastor Evans Ochieng, email evochieng74@gmail.com.

For more information of the various locations of the for 2015, including in those in Africa & Asia, check out the updated article Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2015.

Mailing Tithes and Offerings

A member asked me if he should send one or two checks if he had both first and third tithe to mail.  I told him to simply note in the ‘memo’ line of the check how much was for each–it is not necessary to send separate checks.

The same holds true for money orders.  While you certainly can send multiple ones, one is usually sufficient.  On most money orders, there is some room below the ‘address’ where you can designate the type of funds being sent.

Of course, you can leave all of that blank and whatever you sent will be designated as “tithes and offerings.”  Thank you for your support.

Michigan Trip in August

As a reminder, I am planning to be in Michigan around the middle of August.  My plan is to get a hotel room so we can have services in either Brighton or Ann Arbor Or South Lyon or ?  The expected date for services is August 15, 2015.

If you live in or near Michigan and possibly would like to attend, please email me cogwriter@aol.com.  Once we have a better idea of the number who plan to attend, we will try to nail down the precise location.

Radio

Last week I mentioned that I was to be interviewed on KTKK 630am (10:05 am PDT) out of Salt Lake City, Utah.  The interview went well and we were able to go into prophetic topics that differed from the positions that the hosts held.

As mentioned before, doing secular radio interviews gives us an opportunity to reach people who otherwise would not be as open to hearing the Church of God message.

World News Events

The USA has greatly offended France (see Wikileaks: USA spied on last three French presidents; President Hollande calls for emergency meeting).  Presuming that the allegations from Wikileaks are true, this will seriously damage relations between the USA and France during this age.  The New York Times reported that French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the U.S. must do everything it can, and quickly, to “repair the damage” to U.S.-French relations from the revelations, which he called “a very serious violation of the spirit of trust” between the allies.  What this is likely to mean is that the USA will try to appease the French.  The USA will likely share more intelligence, defer to France and the European Union on matters that it may not have otherwise, and also supply the Europeans more military technology than it may have thought was prudent.

Although my former church changed its position to be against the position that France would be part of the initial European Beast power, I publicly disagreed (see Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations?). I believe that this Wikileaks matter is additional proof that in the Continuing Church of God “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV) as our understanding of France’s role, to mention one example, is more solid than that group’s.

The USA has decided to put more heavy weaponry in Eastern Europe, ostensibly to slow down ‘Russian aggression’ (see US putting more weapons in Europe because of Russia, while also concerned about China’s militarization).  The Russians consider this a provocative move and have indicated that they will add more advanced nuclear weapons to deal with this.  The leaders of the USA continue to misunderstand Bible prophecy as they keep trying to give the Europeans more military technology and information.

As far as Europe goes, several leaders there have said that the time for ‘nation states’ is over.  One EU leader specifically said that the UK needs to realize this (see EU wants UK to get over the idea of a ‘nation state’).  The time will come when an empire will arise in Europe that the world will marvel at (Revelation 13:1-10).

Pope Francis made an apology for historical murderous persecution to the modern head of the Waldensian-named church as part of his ecumenical program (see As an ecumenical step, Pope Francis asks forgiveness of Roman Catholic persecution of the Waldensians).  While some called Waldensians were apparently part of the Church of God during the Thyatira era, many were not and the modern group calling itself Waldensians are not part of the Church of God.

Over in the Middle East, Iran’s Supreme Leader says that Iran wants all economic sanctions lifted as soon as there is a signed deal, that inspectors will not be allowed on Iranian military facilities, and that Iran will not agree to long-term limits on its nuclear programs (see Iran rejects long-term limits on it nuclear ambitions).  Iran is risking turning the West more against it with that type of rhetoric.  The time will come when Iran will NOT be the Islamic territory with most powerful military.  Iran will have problems (cf. Jeremiah 49:34-38).

Elsewhere in Asia, India has indicated that it would like to join Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union (see Eurasian Economic Union: India wants in. Is this consistent with what G.G. Rupert wrote?).  One effect of Western economic sanctions against Russia has been that they have pressured Russia to look more towards trade with other Asian nations.  This development is consistent with end time prophecies involving Russia (Jeremiah 50:41-43) and the ‘kings of the east’ (Revelation 16:12).

World events continue to align with properly understood biblical prophecy.

Suggested Sabbath Service

Here is our suggested format for Sabbath services this week:

Note: If you have a slow internet connection, you can watch these by starting the video, then below it (and towards the right) look for an outline of a gear–if you click on that, it will allow the YouTube video to be played with lower video quality, but at least it will not stop often–you can select a quality as low as 144p.

If your internet connection is still too slow (as my home one is) and/or you prefer audio messages to audio-visuals ones, go to the YouTube link for the message, click on SHOW MORE related to the description. You will then see something that says, “Download MP3.” Below that is a link to an MP3 file. Most computers (and even some cellular telephones) will allow MP3 files to be downloaded and played. This is an option we have made available (but we are also looking into ways to improve that as well)–and, of course, we have written article options that we list each week.

Some people have found that if their internet connections are not fast enough, that they can simply listen to the messages that are found at the new Bible News Prophecy online radio channel.

IN CASE YOU DO NOT RECEIVE A ‘LETTER TO THE BRETHREN‘ FOR ANY WEEK, REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE MANY SERMON MESSAGES ON THE ContinuingCOG channel AND MANY SERMONETTE MESSAGES ON THE Bible News Prophecy channel.

Concluding Comments

The Bible shows that we should save a tithe in order to be able to travel to attend the Feast of Tabernacles:

22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. 23 And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.  (Deuteronomy 14:22-26)

Brethren, believe what the Bible teaches and don’t just believe it, live it.

I look forward to hopefully seeing all of you who plan to attend either of the North American Feast of Tabernacles’ sites this year. As indicted above, my wife Joyce and I plan to split our time between both sites.  Steve Dupuie and his wife Ruth also plan to split their time between both sites, so hopefully we should all be able meet all of you who can attend.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer
Continuing Church of God