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Letter to the Brethren: February 19, 2026

Letter to the Brethren: February 19, 2026

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Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from the Five Cities Region of California.

We continue to deal with some website issues, but think we are making a lot of progress.

That said, this has been a week of many worldly holidays. Saturday was celebrated by many as Valentine’s Day, Monday night as Chinese New Year, Tuesday night as Mardi Gras, Wednesday night as Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, and Wednesday/Thursday (depending on the location) as the start of Ramadan. Of course, none of those are biblical holy days and none of them properly show any of God’s plan of salvation as His holy days do (see also the free eBook: Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?).

Speaking of holy days, we did receive a possibly acceptable response from a hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the USA Feast of Tabernacles’ site for 2026. We are also still awaiting responses from other possible locations, such as Louisville, Kentucky.

Podcast

Last Thursday, I was a guest on something called the Military Saint Podcast podcast. The host and I discussed biblical prophecies related to the kingdom of God as well as topics covered in our free eBook: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?

(Pixabay photo)

The host is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, more commonly referred to as Mormons. We touched on some of the similarities and dissimilarities between our two faiths–some details of the differences are in the article: Teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) and the Continuing Church of God.

I am scheduled to do a different podcast tomorrow and would appreciate your prayers about that as well as a related one for possibly the next day as well.

That said, being a podcast guest is a free proclamation resource we utilize. Thanks to the efforts of volunteer CCOG people working behind the scenes, I have a guest on dozens of podcast programs. Plus, I have been a guest on radio over two hundred times.

Podcasts are currently one of the doors that Jesus has opened for the remnant of the Philadelphia portion of the Church of God (Revelation 3:7-13). To see about other doors, check out the Continuing Church of God Multimedia page.

Book Updates

As mentioned before, because Amazon Kindle removed all our books for an improper reason and would not listen to the facts, we have had to move our books to another platform for printing.

Because of that, I am taking this opportunity to update most of our booklets.

This week, I finalized a new edition of the English language version of The Gospel of the Kingdom of God booklet. Here is a link to the pdf version which is now available at www.cogwriter.com as well as www.ccog.org: The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

So, what type of changes?

This version has Pope Leo XIV (the original version had Francis, who died in 2025, as pontiff), scriptures about obedience to God, and some minor clarifying words that seemed appropriate.

Note to ‘Closing Act’ volunteers: It is not necessary to change the completed translated versions you have for this booklet. However, this latest edition would be the appropriate version to use for future languages.

That said, recall that Jesus taught the following:

7. “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:

8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. (Revelation 3:7-8)

What is the “open door” for?

Let us look at this concept within the New Testament and let the Bible interpret itself.

Paul wrote:

12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord (2 Corinthians 2:12).

8 But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. 9 For a great and effective door has opened to me (1 Corinthians 16:8-9).

2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak (Colossians 4:2-4).

Luke wrote:

27 Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27).

Thus, the Bible is quite clear that the open door is the door to proclaim the Gospel.

The late Herbert W. Armstrong understood that the door was opened to proclaim the gospel:

Also a door was to be opened for this leader and/or the Philadelphia era of the Church to fulfill Matthew 24:14: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come’ (Mystery of the Ages, pp. 290-291).

And he and his church did reach people with the message in many languages.

Jesus said:

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

The end spoken of above looks to be the start of the Great Tribulation–3 1/2 years before the millennial Kingdom of God is established on the earth.

The gospel proclamation needs to occur in the 21st century, and is a focus of the work of the end time Philadelphian Christians.

The Continuing Church of God has many volunteers that are supporting that.

Suggested Sabbath Services

Here is a suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and other interested people for the Last Great Day Sabbath service:

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. 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.

World News Items

There was another public/mass murder by a ‘transgendered’ person in the USA this week–we are seeing more of these in the last year or two (some details are in the news post A trans shooter kills relatives at a high school hockey game).

Speaking of the USA, it has continued to upset the Europeans (see Munich Security Conference: Europeans push back against USA and want a new security strategy) and the Iranian government (see US talked, Iran threatens and test fires missiles, and MS asserts USA is ‘Sleepwalking Into An Apocalyptic War With Iran’) this week. While the USA and Iran have been adversaries for decades, the USA has been pushing some its allies to become enemies (cf. Lamentations 1:1-2).

Over in the UK, there continue to be rumors that King Charles III is planning on abdicating the throne to his son William. With certain reports related to the former Prince Andrew (the brother of King Charles) and the Epstein files, this possibly could hasten the abdication (see also Might King Charles III abdicate the throne to Prince William? Might the Epstein-Andrew connections further push this?). Today, former Prince Andrew was arrested and King Charles commented that the “law must take its course.”

Over in Canada, some are pushing the idea that euthanasia is appropriate for babies (see Canadian medical doctors calling for ‘euthanasia’ to kill babies). Since abortion is murder and euthanasia is murder, it is little wonder that those who support both seem to feel that babies should be killed if one or both parents wants that done. The Bible warns of  a horribly corrupt, perverse, and filthy generation in Deuteronomy 32:5 and Proverbs 30:12-13–and we are witnessing it.

Concluding Comments

Remember, brethren, that despite the evils in this world and trials you face in this life, a better eternity is coming.

The Apostle John was inspired to write:

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

Yes, brethren, the coming post-millennial Kingdom of God will be beyond fantastic. That is very good news which should comfort us during this age.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer