Letter to the Brethren: February 14, 2019

Speaking of God’s Holy Days, in 2019, the Feast of Tabernacles will begin at sunset October 13th and run through sunset, the Last Great Day, October 21st.

An optional group activity is under consideration for St. Louis (not Busch Stadium).

Regarding guest rooms (rooms you may stay in), our contract states the following (some may arrive earlier or stay later at this hotel):

Start Date	End Date	Room Type	Room Rate
10/31/2019	10/21/2019	Run of the house	$119.00

The Hotel’s room rates are subject to applicable state and local taxes (currently 16.93%) in effect at the time of check out.

The group room rates listed above are net non-commissionable.

For the group rate call 800-Westin-1 and ask for a room in the “Continuing Church of God” room block for St. Louis. Local number is 314.552.5806.

This rate is a MAJOR DISCOUNT for the normal rate for this hotel. For many reasons, you may wish to stay here.

Of course, since attendees have to pay for their own rooms individually, if you are attending in St. Louis, you DO NOT have to stay at this hotel. There are many other hotels in the general area. However, many people will find that it is much more convenient to stay at the Westin. And it does make our meeting room negotiations easier when we have more people who stay at the hotel location we hold services at. And they will only hold a certain number of rooms, so the sooner you book, the better.

My family and I have already booked our room here. We plan to spend the first 1/2 of the Feast of Tabernacles here and the last 1/2 in Canada (probably Montreal).

For tentative information on the St. Louis site and other festival sites for 2019, please check out the page: Continuing Church of God Feast of Tabernacles’ sites for 2019.

Philippines Feast of Tabernacles

Received the following email on Monday:

Note: FOT 2019 will be held in Cagayan De Oro, this year at the request of the Philippine brethren.

The Location will probably be at the Philtown Hotel in downtown Cagayan De Oro.

I will make a Booking there in the next week or two and I will keep you updated.

Kind Regards

Anthony Flavell

India

Sani Mao sent the following information related to the recent visit by Elder Veljic and the Feast of Tabernacles for 2019:

12 people were baptized. … having been hearing the Bible for about 8 years or more, they were enthusiastic about being taken seriously. We are near 40 now who are baptized. …

We have had the Feast of Tabernacles within the State at 0 Km, 65 Km, 100 Km and 222 Km distances. We are thinking to have this year’s FoT at Moreh,  a small border trading town with Myanmar. A few rooms at the State Guest House are air-conditioned. {We expect} some 50+ people. We normally pool the money and pay for all.

It is great that we now have over 50 people in India who expect to keep the Feast of Tabernacles this year.

Haiti

Herb and Gisele Haddon flew into Haiti from Canada on Monday. There were riots just prior to their arrival (not related to them of course). Due to riots and road blockages, they had to fly back to Canada on Wednesday. We hope they will be able to meet with our brethren in Haiti in the future, but the current situation prevented that this time.

This world, in general, and Haiti in particular, needs God’s Kingdom to come.

Statement of Beliefs in Chichewa

World News Items

The USA officially passed the $22 trillion debt marker on Tuesday (see CBS: ‘National debt tops $22 trillion for first time in U.S. history’ Forbes: ‘The 2020s Might Be The Worst Decade In U.S. History’). This will not end well for the USA (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8).

As a prelude to the Munich Security Conference, Europeans  put out a paper about who should ‘pick up the pieces’ because of how things are going with the USA, Russia, and China (see Munich Security Conference theme: ‘Who Will Pick Up the Pieces’?). Europe will decide it needs to take the lead for world affairs (cf. Revelation 13).

A scientific report came up pointing to a massive decline in many insect species, while wondering if this may lead to plagues from other insects (see BBC: Global insect decline may see ‘plague of pests’). Pestilences are one of several things Jesus pointed to as part of the ‘beginning of sorrows’ (Matthew 24:4-8) and humans are taking steps that will lead to pestilences and other sorrows.

Suggested Sabbath Service

Here is a suggested Sabbath service for this week for our scattered brethren:

• 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.
• Sermonette, which for most who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is: Pope Francis signs ‘one world religion’ document! Other sermonettes are available at the Bible News Prophecy channel.
• Announcements (if any; though for many it will be this letter) and one hymn.
• Sermon, which for most who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is: Ecclesiastes 1-3: Vanity or Biblical Focus? Other sermons are also available at the ContinuingCOG channel. Other sermons are also available at the ContinuingCOG channel.
• 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 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 ContinuingCOGchannel AND MANY SERMONETTE MESSAGES ON THE Bible News Prophecy channel. There are also some messages at the CCOGAfrica channel.

Concluding Comments

Jesus said:

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:24-33)

Brethren, make sure your priorities are right and seek first the Kingdom of God.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer