Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from the Five Cities region of California.
Bible News Prophecy International Radio
Kristy Gorman sent the following related to our ible News Prophecy International online radio:
Dr. Thiel,
I was uploading some media to the radio website and I looked at the statistics. We have picked up listeners in Germany and Singapore.
According to Radio.co, the peak listening time is when the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages play. Then again when the German language plays. That made me hopeful that some of our messages are getting out.
One of the technologies we are using is having AI (Artificial Intelligence) programs translate messages from me and others into various languages that we do not naturally speak. The feedback that we have received is that the voices sound natural, so, yes, we are reaching people that we otherwise would not be able to reach.
The Bible teaches that “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues” (Revelation 7:9) will respond by the end of the Great Tribulation. Having materials in multiple languages helps us support that.
Prophetic Podcast
(Pixabay photo)
Late Thursday afternoon, I was a guest on another podcast program. The host and I went over 18 predictions/warnings I wrote about Donald Trump before he assumed office the second time and how world events confirmed the accuracy of those writings. We also discussed the gospel of the kingdom, the reliability of the Bible, and God’s existence.
Being a podcast guest gives us an opportunity to be able to reach audiences of the podcast programs that we may otherwise not reach–and may also be helping prepare me for parts of the final phase of the work. Podcasts are major opportunities for the CCOG to utilize with no direct financial costs.
I also have what may be a very long one with a ‘Confessional Lutheran’ scheduled for next Wednesday. Confessional Lutherans are those “who unconditionally subscribes to the teachings of the Book of Concord,” which is a collection of 16th-century documents that includes the Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Small Catechism. They believe these historic documents perfectly summarize the Bible and serve as the standard for all church doctrine. Let me state that the Augsburg Confession condemns those who believe in the millennium, are opposed to military service for Christians, believe in annihilation of the incorrigible, and who oppose infant baptism. Anyway, the host reportedly opposes evangelical Protestantism and is interested in differing views on church history. Please pray as the Apostle Paul wrote:
18 praying always … 19 … for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, (Ephesians 6:18-19)
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.
Brazil
Adao de Amorim sent the following from Brazil that I machine-translated into English:
Good afternoon, Pastor … Bob Thiel. Here is an update from the Continuing Church of God in Brazil: over the past few months, we have managed to gather members from three Brazilian cities in one location to observe the Sabbath and listen to your sermons online.
We are moving forward with the Gospel of the Kingdom; another piece of good news is that the church’s registration in Brazil has been approved. …We are very grateful to you and the entire Continuing Church of God in the United States; without you, this would not be possible. With love, your servant and friend,Adão de Amorim from Brazil.
P.S. Another important piece of news is that we have nine people ready to be baptized.
The Brazilian government appreciates the wonderful work the Continuing Church of God is doing here.
Please do not forget to pray for us; religious enemies of God’s law are constantly persecuting us. I managed to purchase a plot of land for the church here on an installment plan—90 monthly payments of 1,000 Brazilian reais.
So, the angels are rejoicing (cf. Luke 15:10) as we continue to have growth in Brazil
Malawi and Mozambique
Pastor Radson Mulozowa sent the following:
Greetings from Malawi and Mozambique
We are all fine by the grace of God
Let me report that today we had a meeting of leaders both Mozambique and Zomba to discuss the progress of the church
The meeting was very successful and I have learned that the church in Mozambique and Zomba has grown more than my expectation
We further discussed about the feast of Tabernacle and Mozambique leaders has assured me that they will have two site
During the meeting I reached about
Who is a leader
Qualities of a good leader
The kingdom of God
Ordained feast
They have requested me to visit them this coming week as brethren in Mozambique they need me so much
I will be in Mozambique from Thursday up Sabbath so that I can visit some congregation and meet church committees
From Mozambique am planning to visit chikwawa, Mwanza and mulanje
Pray for me
Best regards
Radson
Please pray for our brethren and laborers in Africa.
Suggested Sabbath Services
Here is a suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and other interested people for this 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).
- Opening prayer.
- Sermonette: Who Gave the World the Bible? 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 is: Judah Kyriakos: A Church of God Leader with Succession. 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 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
The United Kingdom got another Prime Minister, this one is named Andy Burnham and he sometimes has been referred to at the ‘King of the North’ (see NBC: ‘King of the North’ Andy Burnham becomes 7th British prime minister in a decade; COGwriter: He is NOT the ‘King of the North’). He is not the biblical King of the North, as that man will be a continental European. Although Prime Minister Burnham said he would present a 10-year plan for a new economic and political model this year, I do not believe that the UK has enough time left to implement such a plan.
The USA and Iran have continued their bombings and threats (see USA continues to bomb Iran, Iran threatens Arab nations’ water desalination plants: What about Israel?). The USA, itself, may be hit with terrorist attacks (cf. Deuteronomy 32:5,25) and Jerusalem remains at risk of great damage (cf. Isaiah 22:6-9).
US President Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on Canadian goods, while some in India are also protesting his trade deals (see Trump announces 50% tariff on Canada, while farmers in India protest USA trade deal). Donald Trump has been succeeding to pushing friends of a “great” nation to become its enemies consistent with what is prophesied in Lamentations 1:1-2.
OpenAI admitted that one of its experimental Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs bypassed security protocols and attacked another company online (see Open AI’s went rogue and attacked: 2001 A Space Odyssey? Pandora’s Box?). AI is looking like a type of Pandora’s box of Greek mythology (which was actually not a box, but a jar with a lid). Yet, despite control issues of that type of software, I do believe that the coming ‘666’ King of the North Beast will use AI to control many things, including buying and selling consistent with Revelation 13:16-18.
Concluding Comments
The Apostle John wrote:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:1-5)
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)
Brethren, Jesus was before all things and will always be.
There is no power on earth that can defeat Him or God’s plan.
Jesus will return (1 Thessalonians 4:14-16), so “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer