Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from the Five Cities of California. We came back here yesterday after a short trip to Phoenix, Arizona.
As has been the case recently, we also received another 20 translations of our English booklet titled The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Some of you may recall that I have never claimed that the translations were perfect. Instead, I have said that the following prophecy applies:
9 “Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.”
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, 12 To whom He said, “This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest,” And, “This is the refreshing”; Yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:9-12)
Notice that even having some language difficulties seems to have been prophesied. And, I have been saying that about our translations for many years (e.g. watch Behind the Work 2016: All Nations, Tribes, People, and Tongues).
We are to reach people in multiple languages as a witness before the end comes (Matthew 24:14), despite the fact that most will not respond in this age. And we know that there may be difficulties caused by translations.
Rwanda Trip
Evangelist Evans Ochieng is back from Rwanda. The trip mainly went well, although our leader in Burundi was unable to come because of governmental border crossing issues. Evans Ochieng mentioned that he brought 100 or so of our BibleNewsProphecy magazines with him that were in the language of Kiswahili. While that is not the native language there, many in Africa read Kiswahili.
Moise Nshimiyimana, our leader in Rwanda sent the following photo and report related to the visit:
Peace to you Dear Pastor Dr Bob,
I’m happy to give you this good report from Rwanda that God’s work is going well.We thanks because Pastor Evans visited us in this past days. He helped us understand the questions we asked about the 7 churches of Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 and about prophecy of Revelation chapter 13 and Daniel chapter 2 and 7 . We were also interested by the training He gave us especially as church leaders from Rwanda and Congo.But we were all with delegation from Congo very happy as believers in general because of the teaching he gave us on the Sabbath day about the gospel of the Kingdom of God and being christian families. I have attached a photo of the Sabbath meeting.So , in the name of the delegation from Congo as they say we thank you again for the financial support of travel and other things that were required for the meeting , for that , May God bless you.However , the brother Norbert from Burundi could not come because of the situation especially that between the country of Burundi and Rwanda where the border are closed and from Burundi to Rwanda but passing through another country as Tanzania or Congo is expensive.Let us we continue to praise God and to be believe God , who can do everything.
Best Regards,
Moïse .
It is great that we are making inroads into those lands, but yes, there are governmental and other things that sometimes get in the way.
Meditation Sermon and a New Book
The recommended sermon for this sermon is about meditation.
While working on it, I thought that turning my sermon notes into a booklet could make sense. So, I did.
While the booklet still needs to undergo modification and formatting, here is a online link to it: Meditation for Faithful Christians.
We expect to have printed copies of it available this Summer or early Fall.
BBS Faith Network
In the Letter to the Brethren: May 23, 2024 last week, I mentioned that we were starting to go on a BBS Faith Network’s podcast channel.
We are scheduled to be on each week at 1:30pm to 1:45PM CST on Saturday, then repeated 1:46pm to 2pm Sunday.
Here is what they have put online related to the program:
Bible News Prophecy with Dr. Bob Thiel
STATION 2
VIDEO-TV and RADIO icons
– press to watch or listen –
Call In Live to 888-429-5471 or 323-744-4841
to speak to Hosts/Guests during show hours
Video: https://bbsradio.com/bbsradiotv/bbs-radio-tv-2.html
Audio: https://bbsradio.com/html5_player/html5_player2.htm
FAITH STREAM NETWORK
Audio: https://sonic.885radio.com/cp/widgets/player/?p=8012&type=sonic
Bible News Prophecy
The Bible News Prophecy program broadcasts news and information in the light of the Bible and its prophecies. This includes proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14), teaching all things that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20), providing prophetic warnings of God’s impending judgments, contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3), assisting in the calling of the full number of those to be reached before Jesus returns (Romans 11:25-26), explaining mysteries of God’s merciful (James 2:13) and loving plan (e.g. Romans 16:25-27), helping people better understand the Bible (Acts 8:30-31, Romans 10:14-15), explaining God’s loving plan of salvation (Psalm 68:30, John 3:16-17, Luke 3:6, Romans 11), encouraging people to live the way of Philadelphian (Hebrews 13:1) and agape love (1 Corinthians 13), and calling for personal (Acts 2:38) and national repentance (2 Chronicles 7:13-15).
The Bible News Prophecy program teaches the fact of God’s existence, the fact of Jesus being Savior, and the certainty of biblical truths. The program discusses what the future holds for humanity in the light of Bible prophecy. The Bible News Prophecy program analyzes news and world events by the light of the word of God and also explains matters that will happen in the future, based on Bible prophecy.
The Bible News Prophecy program is sponsored by the Continuing Church of God.
Jesus said His true Church would be a “little flock” and be around until He returns
The Continuing Church of God is a “little flock” that traces its history from the Book of Acts, throughout the ages, and into the 21st Century.
We trace our unbroken history to the start of the New Testament church in the Book of Acts. We are a pacifist church that teaches original Christianity as taught and practiced by Jesus Christ, the original Apostles, their early faithful followers, and others faithful to original Christianity throughout history. We have supporters and congregations around the world. We have free literature online available in over 1500 languages at ccog.org. We have churches in multiple countries (see Congregations of the Continuing Church of God ) and over 10,000 congregants around the world.
Our primary English speaking radio presenters for the Bible News Prophecy program on numerous AM/FM stations as well as shortwave stations are Steve Dupuie and Dr. Bob Thiel as well as James Martenet. The Bible News Prophecy program is also available online at biblenewsprophecy.net.
Dr. Thiel … more on him can be found in the article available at: https://www.cogwriter.com/cogwriter.htm…
Dr. Thiel writes daily news and prophecy articles which are available at https://www.cogwriter.com/
The YouTube channel link is: Bible News Prophecy channel.
So, we will see in time how this is working to reach the world with our biblically-based messages.
Phoenix Trip
As mentioned, my wife Joyce and I are back from a trip to Phoenix, Arizona. David Stevens, who originally counseled with the late deacon Richard Close, was finally baptized on Sunday. Here is a photo:
Jesus taught:
7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (uke 15:7-10)
So, there was joy in heaven this past week.
While in Phoenix, Joyce and I also ended up meeting with a couple who said that they wanted to come to the CCOG after realizing serious errors in a group that had been affiliated with (RCG).
Support to Africa
We provided some support to Pastor Tiongik Sawek and a part of the CCOG in the Chilani, Kenya referred to as ‘the Daughters of the Kingdom.’ Pastor Sawek sent the following in response:
Hello and I believe you are doing well. Following the funds sent, I have managed to withdraw and I have also given to the Daughters of the Kingdom. We are much thankful for the funds, and pray for you all . The previous months we experienced a lot of financial crisis and especially widows and orphans and but all is well. The Chilani women are struggling also in providing assistance. I have shared the women photo too.
Regards,
Pst. Sawek
The Apostles wanted church leaders to “remember the poor” (Galatians 2:20), and though we did not receive a specific request in Chilani for assistance, we were fairly sure that the poor there needed to be remembered and we provided some.
Suggested Sabbath Day Services
Here is a suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and other interested people:
- 2-3 hymns (our songbook, The Bible Hymnal, contains the materials from the 1974 Bible Hymnal from the old WCG with new covers, plus ten additional hymns; there is also some Choral Accompaniment online).
- Opening prayer.
- The suggested sermonette is titled: Jubilee Fake vs Real. Other sermonettes are available at our Prophecy channel on BitChute https://www.bitchute.com/channel/prophecy/
- Announcements (if any; though for many it will be this letter) and one hymn.
- The suggested sermon, which for most who receive this letter via email will be: Christian Meditation. Other sermons are also available at the COGTube channel on BitChute https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cogtube/
- Final hymn.
- Closing prayer.
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 mobile 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. 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 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. There are also some messages at the CCOGAfrica channel. There are also messages in the Spanish language at the CDLIDDSermones channel.
In case one or more of our video channels are unavailable, down, restricted, or ?, understand that we are on multiple platforms.
For sermons in English:
ContinuingCOG YouTube channel. Dr. Thiel has produced video sermons for this channel.
Also available at BitChute COGTube https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cogtube/
For sermonettes in English:
Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel BibleNewsProphecy https://www.youtube.com/user/BibleNewsProphecy.
Bitchute Prophecy https://www.bitchute.com/channel/prophecy/,
Vimeo at Bible News Prophecy https://vimeo.com/channels/biblenewsprophecy
Brighteon Bible News Prophecy https://www.brighteon.com/channel/ccogbnp.
Rumble https://rumble.com/c/biblenewsprophecy.
DailyMotion https://www.dailymotion.com/dm_e24c8ac0050c5e7445cd5573711869c6/videos
For animations in English:
CCOG Animations YouTube channel.
Also available at BitChute COGAnimations https://www.bitchute.com/channel/coganimations/
Sermons and sermonettes in Spanish:
CDLIDDSermones channel.
African videos:
CCOGAfricaYouTube channel.
Also available at BitChute COGAfrica https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cogafrica/
Audio messages:
Bible News Prophecy radio. This is an audio version of the Bible News Prophecy videos on one of our internet stations as well as our radio broadcasts in English. The BibleNewsProphecy.net website also has information about our international radio presence for Europe, Asia, and North America. That page is also available as a mobile app.
Bible News Prophecy International radio. This has links to our non-English language online radio station as well as materials in multiple languages.
There is also additional information at the Continuing Church of God Multimedia page.
World News Items
We continue to hear complaints from some leaders in Europe that the EU needs to be changed so that no single nation can veto various items (see Hungary veto upsets EU, France’s Macron wants reorganization). We know that at least two reorganizations are prophesied to happen in Europe (e.g. Revelation 17:12-13)–and Europe will end up under the power of a totalitarian leader that they Bible calls the Beast. Leaders calling for reorganization in the EU do not seem to realize at all what the Bible says will happen there.
One thing that will happen in Europe is that there will be much more control of buying and selling (Revelation 13:16-18). This will likely have to involve some type of digital currency. The World Economic Forum has pointed to many nations trying to switch to something called Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Yesterday, Israel launched an experiment to further develop one, while last week Donald Trump again said he would try to stop the USA from getting one (see Israel launches digital shekel experiment, Donald Trump says no CBDCs for USA, but …). Irrespective of what the USA does, this will not stop Europe from moving in that direction. And if Donald Trump opposes such a currency, that might motivate the EU to make it happen faster there.
On a lighter note, I ran across an article by a man who had not heard of ruminant meats before (see ‘Have You Heard About “Ruminant Meats”? Read This!’). Of course, ruminant meats are from biblically clean animals:
3 You may eat any animal that has divided hooves with cloven feet and that ruminates its cud, (Leviticus 11:3, ISV)
The above includes cows, sheep, goats, deer, and elk. Anyway the author of the article touted health benefits of the meat of those animals, and never mentioned that they were biblically–sanctioned, which of course, they are.
Concluding Comments
Earlier in this letter, I quoted part of the 28th chapter of Isaiah.
Now, please notice the version of Isaiah’s language statements in the New Testament as written by the Apostle Paul:
21 In the law it is written:
“With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord. (1 Corinthians 14:21)
So, the New Testament is clearly also prophesying that other languages would be used during the church age–and we in the Continuing Church of God have been doing so in more languages than any other COG has ever done.
The time to continue to do that is now!
Brethren, we must reach others in all the ways that Jesus opens the door up for us to do (cf. Revelation 3:7-13).
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer