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Letter to the Brethren: January 19, 2023

Letter to the Brethren: January 19, 2023

Uncategorized

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from Grover Beach, California.

We closed our calendar year 2022 accounting-wise and have mailed donation receipts to donors in the USA. If you need one and do not receive one within the next ten days, let us know and we can send another.

If you are in Canada or New Zealand, the offices in those countries handle that based on local regulations.

Spending in Calendar Year 2022

Jesus said, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21) and “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink … inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me (Matthew 25:35,40) and “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

In the Roman calendar year of 2022, income we received in the USA was up 13.8%. This increase was partially due to some unexpected seemingly ‘one time’ donations. Having this much increase was helpful as we have been expanding the number of countries with congregations, greatly increased the number of languages we have the gospel of the Kingdom of God available in, and because we greatly expanded our presence on radio around the world.

In the CCOG we really do focus on others and reaching the world with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. We received about 150 more language translations of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God booklet in 2022.

So, how were funds spent?

Overall, if you sent the CCOG a check for US$100.00 in 2022 here is how it was spent:

  1. Internet proclamation 7.39
  2. Printed publications 20.94
  3. Video and animation production 1.95
  4. Foreign final phase of the work 9.07
  5. Broadcast Radio 3.53
  6. US Feast of Tabernacles’ costs and US travel 2.35
  7. Increase in Reserves 7.12
  8. Administration and legal expenses 0.10
  9. Salaries, health insurance, and retirement plans for US leaders 0.00
  10. Support to Europe and Australia 3.08
  11. Support to or for Africa and Haiti 44.47

Yes, our income goes to support the physically and spiritually poor as we work to fulfill Matthew 24:14, Romans 11:25, the Ezekiel Warning, and Matthew 28:19-20.

Here are some longer explanations of each of the categories:

  1. Internet proclamation includes paying for servers, URL fees for websites, video platforms (like Vimeo), and our Google and Microsoft campaigns to reach people around the world. The Google campaign has now made over 500 million impressions on personal computers, laptops, tablets, and ‘smart’ cellular telephones with parts of the Philadelphian message. The Microsoft campaign, which targets 7th day Sabbath keepers, has had over 300,000 computer impressions since 2020.
  2. Printed publications include the production, printing, some translation costs (CCOG member translators are volunteers, but we also have an arrangement with an orphanage in Pakistan that we pay for those who volunteer to help it via doing translations for us), and distribution of the BibleNewsProphecy magazine in various languages as well as various books and booklets. The costs here also include formatting non-English literature in forms that it can be available on the internet as well as forms to allow it to be printed in the USA and Africa. The good news is supposed to be “published” (Mark 13:10, KJV/AFV) and we are doing that in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres.
  3. Video and animation production covers the costs to produce the BibleNewsProphecy videos, CCOG animations, the Behind the Works video, and the creation of DVDs that are sent to some international locations for the Feast of Tabernacles. It also, sometimes, includes cost for sermon production–but those costs are normally negligible. These videos are one of the major ways we reach people around the world. Because we mainly use free platforms, we do not have to spend massive amounts here.
  4. Foreign Final phase of the work expenses (professional fees, government fees, and travel) are generally for non-USA matters (essentially long-term proclamation matters related to Romans 9:23-28 and 11:23-28; see also The Final Phase of the Work). We are making contacts and working with various government, NGO, and private organizations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Because of less COVID restrictions, we spent more in this category than in 2021, but also were finally able to make certain key contacts as well as attain information and opportunities which we believe supports the final phase of the work. US expenses related to the final phase of the work are in other categories (like printed publications and internet expenses).
  5. Radio expenses are basically fees we pay to broadcast the good news of the Kingdom of God on commercial radio stations. We went on AM and shortwave radio in Europe (which also covers parts of North Africa and the Middle East), pay for radio on stations in Kenya, plus went on a shortwave station in the USA that also covers parts of Asia. Our online internet radio is covered by New Zealand (so not shown here) and US radio guest appearances are essentially free (sometimes a minor telephone cost, which is included under Administrative expenses). Costs for radio in the Philippines and Ghana are not included here as those are paid for by supporters in those countries.
  6. US Feast of Tabernacles’ costs include what the hotel charges for the meeting room and some travel and other expenses. This category also includes other US travel, which tends to be low. An example of US travel would include costs associated with making baptism related trips.
  7. Reserves are money not spent. Our funds were depleted badly during 2021 and we need to have some funds for emergencies as well as expenses we know we are about to encounter. Also, we held on to some funds to pay for the US-based shortwave radio station, which has still not ever billed us, despite us going on there for the last couple of months in 2022. Plus the reserve increase includes a pending refund. With serious hunger issues in Africa (see Davos 2023: Windfall tax on foods proposed. CNN: Yet the world is still in the grips of the worst food crisis in modern history), we feel it is wise to have some funds on hand as, “He who gathers in the summer is a wise son” (Proverbs 10:5).
  8. Administrative expenses. This tends to include a few office supplies, mandatory government fees, and telephone costs. My business office does NOT charge the CCOG for use of space, electricity, postal machine use, etc.
  9. Salaries are not paid to leaders in the USA. People such as myself, Steve Dupuie, Louis Rubin, Bill Wedekind, James Martenet, and our Spanish language translators are not paid—we all have freely donated our time. Nor have we paid wages for their spouses. Nor have we funded any retirement nor health insurance plans.
  10. Europe and Australia, via Serbia. Those funds provide ministerial and other support, including producing messages and materials (electronically) to reach people, not only in Eastern Europe, but also around the world. In 2022, it also included costs associated with a trip to Australia for baptisms and the Feast of Tabernacles by elder Sasha Veljic.
  11. Support for Africa and Haiti includes paying for ministerial expenses to reach and teach, travel to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God, printing some literature, certain translation expenses, distributing literature, meeting space assistance, supporting the poor (Galatians 2:10; Romans 12:13; cf. James 2:14-16; Hebrews 13:16; Isaiah 58:7; Proverbs 28:27), including widows and orphans (James 1:27). While most of the direct support for Haiti has come from the Canadian office (and is not included here), the US office helps advise on this, and sometimes also directly sends support. The vast bulk of the money in this support category goes to Africa as that is where the vast majority of our members reside and many fruits are being produced. This includes ministerial travel, literature distribution, local congregation support, and poverty support. The Bible is clear that the fulness/full number of the Gentiles must come in before Jesus returns (Romans 11:25; see also What About Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles? ) and our spending reflects our seriousness in working to help this get accomplished.

The vast bulk of funds are spent to preach, reach, prepare for the short work (Romans 9:28), and teach, with nearly all the rest to support the poor and widows. It appears that never before in Church of God history have so few helped so many with so little for so long in order to have the impact that the Continuing Church of God is having.

We strongly believe that whatever you send is well spent to support the Philadelphian remnant as we work on Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20 while we strive to be ready for the short work (Romans 9:28) and our part in the final phase of the work (e.g. Daniel 11:32; Luke 21:12-17).

The Continuing Church of God accepts tithes, offerings, and other financial donations.

Those who wish to voluntarily aid and support this worldwide Work of God are gladly welcomed as co-workers in this major effort to preach and publish the gospel to all nations per Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20.

Our mailing address is Continuing Church of God, 1036 W. Grand Ave., Grover Beach, CA 93433. Telephone is 1-805-574-1818.

Some have sent checks, others cash, others money orders, and even have used Western Union to donate.  We also accept bank transfers.

We also do have a way to accept donations via VISA/MasterCard/Discover. We do accept donations via PayPal (which also will handle many major credit cards).  Simply click on the Donate button below and you can enter any amount that you wish to donate to the Continuing Church of God:

And yes, in the USA, donations are immediately tax deductible as we have full IRS tax exempt status per Title 26 IRC 508(c)(1)(A). For those who in live in the State of California, we were specifically-approved in writing for our request for tax exemption status there. California nonprofit corporation number C3558924.

Donations to the Continuing Church of God are 100% deductible in all the US states.

Tax exempt status in New Zealand was also approved, and hence donations in New Zealand are also fully tax deductible. Check out CCOG.nz as you have to send donations to New Zealand for them to be deductible there.

Tax exempt status in Canada was also approved, and hence donations in Canada are also fully tax deductible. Check out CCOGCANADA.CA as you have to send donations to Canada for them to be deductible there.

In the Congo

In last week’s letter, I asked all of you to pray for the safety of evangelist Evans Ochieng as he was planning on going to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He flew there yesterday and then also came to meet people with Moise Nshimiyimana from Rwanda (many with ties to Rwanda live in the Congo).

Here is  a report and a photo he sent late yesterday:

Pastor Dr Bob,Greetings from Congo.I arrived Congo safe. The weather was very nice.I was received by many brethren in Congo and Ezekiel. We came with moise from Rwanda. This people are very happy. We had a discussion this afternoon with many of them. They wanted to know a lot from the church. Most of them are from seventh day church of God and seventh day Adventist.And there’s another Church here called church of Jesus Christ. Some came from that church.We shall have discussion tomorrow with many of them. I’ll be in Congo till Monday. The only problem here is that the hotels are expensive.  They are using dollars. But I’m ok.Moise is also ok. I’m taking care of him.Here {is a picture} we took together on arrival and during discussion.Evans

The Congo looks to be another door that is being opened for us (cf. Revelation 3:7-8).

Please pray for the safety and success of this trip.

Suggested Sabbath Day Service

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

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

Bill Gates called for more censorship of health information on the internet and has declared that a pandemic worse than COVID-19 is coming (see The “next pandemic” is coming, says Bill Gates, who says more censorship needed to “moderate some of the insanity online”). He is correct that a worse pandemic is coming (cf. Revelation 6:7-8). The Bible also warns, about “avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20, KJV)–yet many claimed to be following science related to COVID while they suppressed true information–and suppression of the truth was also warned of in scripture in Romans 1:18.

That said, the World Economic Forum has been meeting in Davos, Switzerland–with participants there, as well as USA Congresspersons, wanting to suppress and criminalize spreading information of various sorts (see WEF speakers want more censorship, while Elon Musk tweeted ‘WEF is increasingly becoming an unelected world government that the people never asked for and don’t want’). We continue to see more and more calls for censorship, which one day will result in the prophesied famine of the word (Amos 8:11-12) as well as murderous persecutions (cf. Daniel 7:25, 11:33-35; Revelation 13:15; watch also our latest sermon video Christian Persecution from the Beast).

In this post-Brexit world, along with Russia’s ‘special military operation’ into Ukraine, a recent survey found that less people in Europe want their countries to leave the European Union (see Support for leaving EU has fallen significantly across bloc since Brexit’). There will be other factors in the future that will drive Europe more together–and it will then reorganize and turn power over to a dictatorial leader called the Beast (Revelation 17:12-13). Steps towards this keep occurring.

In the British-American dominated areas of the world we continue to see more and more “official” moves away from the morality of the Bible (see Church of England blessing sexual immorality, Canada moving against scripture, and the USA the biggest promoter of childhood mutilizations) with numerous leaders promoting behaviors that the word of God says result in death of the participants as well as those who approve such behaviors (Romans 1:18-32). We also continue to see steps from Gentile nations to push aside the USA dollar (see Iran and Russia looking to bypass the ‘petrodollar’ with gold-backed crypto-currency; China, Saudi Arabia and the ‘petroyuan’)–ultimately, this will lead to massive economic and other problems for the USA.

Many of the so-called educated have claimed many fraudulent positions related to the Bible. Many have suggested that the biblical David was a myth. Now, notice the following cover:

Here is a link to that July-September 2017 edition of Bible News Prophecy magazine. Its front cover shows the ancient Tel Dan Stele which also mentions King David, and the associated article contains more information about why true science supports the Bible. In addition to that, there is a new archeological report which concluded that something called the Mesha Stela also referenced the house of ancient King David (see Mesha Stela declared to mention ‘House of David,’ hence is additional proof of the biblical text). Despite naysayers that assert that people in the Bible such as Joshua (watch Did Joshua of the Bible Exist?) and David did not exist, there is evidence out there for those willing to believe the truth.

Yes, we can (and should) rely on the word of God.

Concluding Comments

The Apostle Paul wrote the following:

21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  (Romans 3:21-26)

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, (Hebrews 5:8-9)

Brethren, not only are we to obey, we need to have faith and live a life of faith.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer