Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from the Five Cities region of California.
This week, we received additional translations of our English language booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God as we strive to support Matthew 24:14.
The old Radio Church of God reported:
Now a most important mission of AMBASSADOR COLLEGE is to teach foreign languages. (Armstrong HW. Co-worker letter, January 28, 1947)
Today we do reach every inhabited Continent on earth. But we do not yet reach every nation. We are now publishing literature not only in English, but also in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Portuguese. We are preparing to publish the Gospel in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Japanese and other languages. We are teaching many of these languages in our two colleges. Consecrated students, native born in many of these countries and speaking their languages from infancy, are enrolling in our colleges and being trained for GOING INTO ALL THE WORLD, and PREACHING TO ALL NATIONS! (Armstrong HW. Co-worker letter, July 31, 1962)
The old Worldwide Church of God reported in the following in an article titled Open Doors for Christ’s Gospel!:
In addition to the spoken word, Christ’s Gospel and God’s way of life is authoritatively expounded monthly in seven languages, through the pages of The Plain Truth … Billions of people can read at least one language. (Snyder M. Open Doors for Christ’s Gospel! Good News, 1983)
Yes, billions can read at least one language, and for most of them, English is not the language that they can read. Attaining multiple translations is part of the open doors in the 21 century.
While the old Radio/Worldwide Church of God ended up with materials in a couple of dozen languages, that is not enough.
In the Continuing Church of God, we have materials in over 1,500 languages (see Preaching the Gospel in Over 1500 Languages).
But we not done–and we have been getting additional languages/dialects weekly.
USA and Canada Feast of Tabernacles for 2024
The Feast of Tabernacles runs from sunset October 16th through the Last Great Day which ends sunset October 24th in 2024.
Our planned North American site is at the Moody Gardens Hotel & Spa, 7 Hope Blvd, Galveston, TX 77554, 409-744-4673.
(Photo from Moody Gardens Hotel accommodations” page)
While the per room rate is a bit higher than other sites ($169 per night, plus taxes), remember that no one needs to stay there in order to attend the Feast of Tabernacles’ services there. The hotel provided us a link in which you can book rooms should you choose to stay here: https://www.reseze.net/servlet/SendPage?hotelid=1722&skipfirstpage=true&page=227651
That said, Moody Gardens Hotel only set aside a small block of rooms for us. We hit that number already, so I had to ask them to allow additional reservations, and they did. However, please understand that if you want to stay there, you should book soon as they may not have any available for too much longer.
While no one has to stay at that hotel, at this instant, we are encouraging people in the United States and Canada to attend the site in Galveston.
While we may have some type of video site in Canada, we strongly recommend that Canadians should attending the USA site or one of the many international sites if possible.
Canadians normally have no problems being able to cross into the USA, so we are encouraging attendance in Galveston.
That said, all should be saving ‘second tithe’ so they will be able to afford to go to one of our festival sites around the world.
Information regarding our planned sites around the world is in the following article: Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2024.
Restored Truths
Herbert W. Armstrong once wrote, “1933 … At least 18 basic and essential truths have been restored to the True Church since that year” (Mystery of the Ages, Dodd & Mead, 1985, p. 251).
In a sermon titled Mission of the Philadelphia Church Era by Herbert W. Armstrong given on December 17, 1983, he started off with the following:
Greetings, everybody! This afternoon I want to speak on the mission of the Philadelphia Era of the Church, this Church today in comparison to the first era of the Church, the Ephesus Era of the Church. It’s been seeming more and more to me, as the years go by, that the Bible was written primarily for the Philadelphia Era of the Church …
During that sermon, he listed 18 truths he felt that the early Church of God held, but that had been lost by the time of the Sardis era of the Church of God.
The CCOG may be the only COG that has ALL the 18 restored truths that Herbert W. Armstrong pointed to as restored to the Philadelphia portion of the COG in its official Statement of Beliefs–see Statement of Beliefs of the Continuing Church of God.
This subject of restoring knowledge is important because the Jesus prophesied the restoration of all things when He stated:
11 … Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. (Matthew 17:11, NKJV throughout unless otherwise noted)
In Matthew 17:11, the term translated “will restore” is the Greek term apokathistemi which means “to reconstitute” or “restore (again)” (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.) and is preceded by the Greek term men which means “truly” in the asseverative sense.
Here is the first historical quote I found in WCG’s literature about an Elijah to come:
The Work of Elijah 1. Did Christ affirm that ‘Elijah’ must come before His own return? Matt. 17:11…John the Baptist did a one-man work. But today God works through the Body of Christ — the Church composed of many members (Eph. 4:12, 16) After Christ’s ministry on this earth, it was no more a single individual that did God’s Work (through the power of His Spirit), but the BODY of Christ…Today the ‘body’ of Christ — the entire CHURCH OF GOD through its voice, its prayers, its tithes and offerings and its various other functions — is heralding Christ’s eminent return (Matt. 25:6)…And the hearts of both parents and children are being turned back to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is what the ‘Philadelphia’ Era of God’s Church is doing today!…And it is this Church which will be taken to a temporary place of safety just as Elijah was taken to a place prepared by God (Armstrong HW, editor. Lesson 53. Ambassador College Correspondence Course. 1969).
Hence, it was originally Herbert W. Armstrong’s position in WCG that the Philadelphia Era of the Church of God would be involved in the Elijah role. Later, instead of just the Philadelphia era, he felt that it would be just one person, with the assistance of others in the church. Of course, the verses in the Bible clearly are referring to one man; but also one who would have support from the Philadelphia portion of the Church of God.
In a coworker letter dated, August 24, 1982, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:
John had come in the power and spirit of Elijah, but they did not recognize who he was. “Now why, then was Elijah YET, in the future, to come-just before the ‘day of the Lord?’ Verse 11, Jesus said to ‘restore all things.’ John the Baptist DID NOT do that! … Have WE, through this Work, RESTORED anything? Indeed we have!
So, yes a group can assist in restoration.
In the 20th century, Herbert Armstrong wrote that there would be a final human being as type of Elijah as well.
Since Herbert Armstrong died in 1986, he did could not be the final Elijah according to his own writings. For example, he wrote:
Malachi 4:5-6 pictures the Elijah to come at the very end of the Church age (Mystery of the Ages. 1985, p. 349).
When did he write that the Church age was over? Notice:
At the end of the Church age and 6,000 years from Adam, Christ would return to earth as King of kings and Lord of Lords, ruling all nations, with the saints, for one millennium. (Armstrong HW. What If Adam Had Taken of the Tree of Life? Plain Truth, March 1983)
The “very end” of the Church age was not decades ago in the 20th century! The 6000 years has NOT yet been fulfilled (see also Could God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End?). Since the “very end of the Church age” has not happened, and Herbert Armstrong died last century, his writings support that there must be another Elijah.
Notice also the following prophecy in the Book of Daniel:
4 … Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. (Daniel 12:4)
Yes, with planes, trains, and cars, many go to and fro. And with computers, the internet, etc. knowledge has been increasing. But that prophecy also would seem to support the idea of spiritual knowledge being able to increase.
We have been restoring much of that in the Continuing Church of God–and in more details than others.
In addition to us holding fast to the 18 truths Herbert W. Armstrong said he restored, here is a summary (with links for details) of other matters restored in the CCOG:
Dreams & Signs of Acts 2:17-18
Why God Created Anything
Why God Created Human Beings
Teaching all things Jesus taught (Matthew 28:19-20; see also The Final Phase of the Work)
Church History–and how it supports the COG contending for the original faith
Laying on of Hands Succession and List
Violent Sports (see also Is American Football Evil?)
Details and Ramifications of Being Non-Trinitarian (see also Did the True Church Ever Teach a Trinity?)
The Final Phase of the Work and Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God translated into over 1500 languages–while working on more (see also Preaching the Gospel in Over 1500 Languages)–and while distinguishing between the millennial and post-millennial phases of the Kingdom of God
Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles
Prophecy (watch also 50+ Laodicean Prophetic Errors)
Habakkuk 2 and Debt (e.g., see Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel)
Identity of the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2
Daniel 11:39 and the Start of the Great Tribulation
USA-Samaria Identification
Mark of the Beast
Why Do Christian People Die?
Information on the Third Resurrection (see also Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation
The reason there was a both Passover and Atonement sacrifice representing Jesus (see Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?)
There will be a 21st century Elijah, and that individual would be expected to be part of the Continuing Church of God.
We have also put out information to help, “turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6 AFV)–and are working on other ways to better do this.
God has restored last days’ signs to people now in the CCOG (for details, see Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18?).
Because of Acts 2:17-18 and Daniel 12:4, we can know that the final restoration of “all things” in the last days did not happen in the 20th century, and must therefore happen in the 21st century.
The CCOG has restored more in the 21st century than all other COG groups we are aware of–we are setting the stage for the Elijah fulfilling Jesus’ words in Matthew 17:11.
We in the Continuing Church of God are continuing to support the work of restoring all things–and many truths have been restored in our church. See also the article: Continuing Church of God, Elijah, and Restoring All Things.
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: Will there always be an England? 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: The Apple of God’s Eye.
- 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
The situation between Israel and Iran remains tense. Some of Iran’s allies want major confrontation, but Iran says it is not in a hurry, yet, to so so (see Houthis want to bomb, Hezbollah wants revenge, Iran says it might wait, and then there is ‘The Art of War’). Yet, Isaiah 22:6-9 shows “great damage” coming to Jerusalem from what looks to be an Iranian led confederation.
The US government debt continues to rise, which has a lot of ramifications for its dollar and economy. The official debt now exceeds $35 trillion and others are getting concerned about this (see ‘We’re doomed! Unless we stop the National Debt Clock’– Trump vs Harris vs Scripture?). Gold hit an all time high on Friday in US dollar terms–which is something I wrote would happen (see ‘Gold All Time Highs: Is $3000 Next?’)–gold later hit another high against the US dollar on Tuesday–which basically means its dollar is worth less than before (see Gold lifts off to another record as the US dollar is worth less; What about silver?). Habakkuk, chapter 2, has a prophecy for an end-time indebted nation to be taken over. As the USA is the most indebted nation of all time, it is setting itself up for that.
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) has been going on this week in Chicago USA. There have been a lot of anti-Israeli protesters (see Thousands in Chicago trying to tell the DNC to cut off arms to Israel–security wall breached). The DNC approved a pro-LGBTQ+ platform (see DNC, LGBTQ, and Russia’s ‘safe haven’ offer)–promoting that will not end well (cf. Romans 1:18-32). That said, we do not place our trust in political leaders, including the two leading candidates for the US presidency (e.g., watch Trump vs Harris vs Scripture).
We continue to see more censorship and other threats against free speech in the so-called ‘free world’ (see UK wants to ban silent prayer near abortion clinics; EU wants to censor political opinions and ‘The EU Just Declared War On Free Speech In America …’). Despite having its “freedom of speech” constitutional amendment, censorship is also more and more of an issue in the USA. More restrictions are coming (cf. Amos 8:11-12; Revelation 13:15-18).
On other matters, I was speaking with Aaron Dean of the United Church of God this week about issues we in the CCOG have faced in Rwanda. You may recall that the government shut down over 4400 church groups, including one of ours, because of its enforcement of certain rules requiring a church to own land and a building.
But this type of thing is not limited to Rwanda. Aaron Dean informed me that we may also have to take some close to impossible steps in Burundi and that his church and some other COG groups have been trying to figure out a way we can all comply with some new laws the government is forcing on churches. We will see how that goes. Furthermore, there was a report I saw yesterday that Nicaragua shut down 678 church groups because the government claims they did not file various papers. While we do not have a church group in Nicaragua, that nation is pushing a trend we have seen in Africa. Jesus warned of persecutions (John 15:20), and this is another type of persecution–but He also said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), so we will continue to live in the world and see how to function in it, while striving not to be part of it.
Concluding Comments
The Book of Revelation has the following prophecies:
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:1-6)
The Feast of Tabernacles helps picture that time.
While I personally could have come up with lots of excuses to not personally attend over the decades, 2024 should mark my 48th consecutive Feast of Tabernacles as I have never missed one. You should strive, even if you have missed any, to attend if at all possible.
Brethren, seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) and prepare to personally attend the fast-approaching Feast of Tabernacles this Fall.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer