I am scheduled to be a podcast guest later today–these podcasts interviews are an opportunity to go through opened doors (Revelation 3:7-8) to reach those we would likely not otherwise reach.
Please pray about the location of our North American Feast of Tabernacles’ sites. None of the three cities we contacted in the USA provided a reasonable quote. In two cases, the places were not available because of other activities. In the third, the room rental rates were outrageous. So, we contacted Louisville, KY yesterday. We are also looking at a new site for Canada.
We have continued to deal with website issues because of malware attacks, but think we are making progress. We have determined that our hosting company is unable to properly assist here, so have moved most of our websites elsewhere.
Satan does not want the truth to go forth.
Please keep these attacks and how we should respond in your prayers.
False Accusations
Speaking of attacks we have experienced, there are various ones on the internet who have long made false accusations against myself, Evans Ochieng, Radson Mulozowa, and others who are part of the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) on a nearly daily basis.
This should not be a surprise as the Apostle Paul warned:
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, (2 Timothy 3:1-2)
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:12-13)
Biblically, it is clear that false accusations are not unexpected as they were essentially prophesied.
The Bible also teaches:
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes. (Proverbs 26:4-5)
Thus, sometimes I will respond to some of the numerous accusations, though most of the time I do not.
Related to some of the falsehoods and accusations, former United Church of God Pastor, John Otieno Owak sent me the following in an email Tuesday:
Hello Dr. Bob,
Greetings to you. I hope you are doing well.
I am writing concerning the matters that have arisen between CCOG and HOIWCOG, particularly the disputes and allegations made against Evangelist Evans Ochieng Kisiengo. I would like to clearly state, based on my direct involvement and knowledge, that these allegations are not true.
I was part of the ministry from its early days and served as one of the ministers of that church from the time I was invited by the late Pastor Alexander, who knew me well. You may recall that you visited Kenya together with him in 2017. When the organization was formally established, I was among its ministers, and I was also the one who ordained Pastor T. N. when he came to Kenya.
At one point, I was informed of serious allegations claiming that Evangelist Evans Ochieng was involved with witch doctors and that he had brought one from Nigeria to his home. I was even shown photographs that were claimed to have been taken in his house. However, after carrying out further investigations, the young man who claimed to have taken the photos later admitted to me that the accusations were false. He confessed that he had been forced to make those claims in order to receive financial assistance from the leadership of the said church organization.
I discovered that the photos were photoshopped images taken from the internet. The young man admitted that he used his phone to send them to me while pretending they came from Evangelist Evans. Pastor T. N. was led to believe that the allegations were true. When I confronted the young man, he admitted the truth and pleaded with me not to inform Pastor T. N. However, due to the seriousness of the accusations, I felt it was necessary to clear the matter, and I informed Pastor T. N. He was deeply upset and demanded that the young man return the money he had assisted him with for school fees, or alternatively work to repay it. That matter was addressed, and I believed the issue had ended.
Recently, I learned that further accusations have continued against Evangelist Evans and against you, Dr. Thiel, regarding the work of CCOG in Kenya and Malawi. From my firsthand knowledge, these accusations are false. There are more than twenty CCOG congregations currently operating in Kenya to this day. In Malawi, we were among the first pioneers who traveled there in 2016 to establish churches under CCOG. We arrived at Lilongwe Airport and were welcomed by Pastor Sosten Lubunga. From there, we traveled to Blantyre, spent the night, and later proceeded to Migowi, where members were already waiting for us. Since that time, the church has continued to grow steadily. The work has even expanded into Mozambique, where CCOG now has many congregations.
Therefore, claims that CCOG has no churches in Kenya or Malawi are simply not true.
Another allegation I was informed of is that Evangelist Evans receives large sums of money from you every two months,…, what truly matters is that the work of God is advancing in Africa under the leadership of Evangelist Evans. From my observation, these allegations were created to cause division and to divert donor attention toward a newly formed church organization which, following the death of its leader, has not shown growth. Many members and leaders have since left due to poor leadership.
If I am able to retrieve the photos that were used to support the false claims, I will attach them in a follow-up email to further clarify the truth of this matter.
In conclusion, CCOG is faithfully doing the work that God called you, Dr. Thiel, to accomplish in these end times. This work deserves our full support—financially and through prayers—so that God may continue to use you to complete the mission He has entrusted to you.
Thank you very much, and may God continue to bless His work throughout the world.
Yours sincerely, Pastor John Otieno Owak
I met John Owak twice in Kenya and even spoke to a leader in UCG about him long ago. He and his brother Isaiah (who never was part of the CCOG) assisted in translating for me when I spoke to many church leaders in Nairobi in 2014 and 2017. Let me also add that Evans Ochieng never has been to Nigeria, hence it was never possible for him to have brought a witch doctor back from there, anyway.
Speaking of witch doctor allegations, there was a video that came out a couple of years back where some claim it shows CCOG Pastor Radson Mulozowa at a witch doctor event. However, I watched that video and Radson was not there. Yet, some have chosen to believe a lie about that.
A while back, related to some of the witch doctor nonsense, we put out the following video:
Many in Africa, Haiti, the West, and various other parts of the world believe that witch doctors are powerful. Various ones have succumbed to the point they believe Christians can be cursed by them. The Bible opposes the use of witchcraft and casting spells as Deuteronomy 18:10-12 shows. Does the Bible suggest witches, palm readers, and witch doctors could be real? Is it possible that witch doctors can cast spells on Christians to blind them to something? If not, why not? Are non-Christians subject to be blinded by Satan, his demons, and those involved with the ‘dark arts’? What does the Bible clearly teach? Could the teaching that true Christians be deceived by curses from witch doctors be a ‘doctrine of demons’ that the Apostle Paul warned about in the last days? Are Christians to fear humans? Does God limit Satan’s power and those of his henchmen? Will the False Prophet Antichrist perform real signs that many will fall for? Do you, if you are a real Christian, truly believe, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world?” What can we learn regarding Job as well as Balaam and Balak? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie go over scriptures to show what the Bible really teaches about this matter.
The Apostle Paul taught that true Christians should:
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21, KJV)
Many, sadly, have not truly wanted to “prove all things” or “hold fast to what is good.”
Reportedly, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s Minister of Propaganda stated:
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Sadly, many have been taken in with lies–and many times this week there were posts about me supposedly having some witch doctor involvement, which I never had. Yet, talebearers continue to repeat and believe such lies.
The Bible teaches:
20 Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. 21 As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife. 22 The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, And they go down into the inmost body. (Proverbs 26:20-22)
16 You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people … (Leviticus 19:16)
Do not be one who listens to talebearers instead of believing the facts.
Consider that in the last book of the Bible, Jesus warned:
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. (Revelation 22:14-15)
Sadly, many bitter and confused people seem to want to love lies.
Don’t be one who “loves and practices a lie”–do not harden your heart and be “banned from the truth.”
If you have been impacted by the falsehoods against the Continuing Church of God, now is the time to change and stand for and support the truth.
Do not let false accusations stop you.
There were many false accusations against Jesus as well.
Notice also that Jesus said:
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)
Throughout history, true prophets have been reviled and had all kinds of evil against them falsely said. So, it is no surprise the same would happen to a true prophet in the 21st century (see also 21st Century Church of God Prophets).
Jesus also said:
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, (Matthew 5:44)
Those who post and speak against the truth remain in my prayers.
Spanish is the 4th most spoken language in the world, plus is the first non-English language that the Continuing Church of God received materials from (via Columbia).
I spoke with Oscar Leal and Carlos Aponte over the telephone on Monday. They have long handled a lot of the matters in the Spanish language, and are assisted by other volunteers as well.
During the phone call, I appointed Carlos Aponte to oversee the coordination of the Spanish language sites, videos, promotions, etc.
For those who are “closing act” volunteers, this means that if you are involved with Spanish language materials, please coordinate with Carlos Aponte who is in charge of our Spanish language materials.
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:
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).
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
A young man in a dress who referred to himself as “she” reportedly killed many people in Canada on Tuesday (see 9 dead in Canada and dozens wounded by a ‘transgender’ shooter). We continue to see terroristic acts by people associated with the transgender movement. Those affected in Canada are in my prayers.
We continue to see the Europeans taking steps to become independent of the United States (e.g. European Union wants more independence from the Unites States, particularly in military and financial matters). We are also seeing more calls for the European Union to reorganize to be something like a ‘United States of Europe’ (see ). Biblically, we know that Europe will reorganize and give power to one called the beast per Revelation 17:12-13.
Do you think your circumstances cannot change quickly with prayer?
Consider what happened to Nehemiah who wrote:
11 … I was the king’s cupbearer. (Nehemiah 1:11)
1 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. 2 Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.”
So I became dreadfully afraid, 3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?”
4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”
So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”
6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. (Nehemiah 2:1-6)
Nehemiah’s private prayer was probably just a few seconds. Then his situation completely changed.
Your situation can change.
Yes, prayer works.
Years back, we put out the following sermonette video:
Inc. magazine posted an article online titled ‘How to Change Your Life in 5 Seconds.’ In it, Mel Robbins explains how she developed a technique to be more productive. She observed that 95% of decision are based on emotion instead of logic, and how and why adding a five second countdown helped her life. She mentions that fear, anger, and other factors often interfere with our ability to be better people. In this video, Dr. Thiel quotes a lot from that article, including some of the science behind the technique. He also quotes Jesus as well as many passages from the Bible. He also teaches a 5 second statement to say and pray to use as a five second spiritual statement to help Christians change.
