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Letter to the Brethren: July 25, 2024

Letter to the Brethren: July 25, 2024

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Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Christian greetings to all of you.

Yes, as you may have guessed, we received additional translations to our English language booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Notice something that the Bible says will happen BEFORE the millennium:

33 And those of the people who understand shall instruct many . . . (Daniel 11:33)

We in the Continuing Church of God have been preparing for that as that is part of the short-work of Romans 9:28.

In order to “instruct many,” “the people who” will do that need to “understand.”

In addition to the gospel booklet and some other literature translated into numerous languages, we are also hoping on getting our English language book, Islamic and Biblical Prophecies for the 21st Century, translated into Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, French, Huasa, Indonesian, Swahili, Turkish, and/or Urdu.

Remember that Jesus gave the following commission:

19 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)

This involves working to reach people in multiple languages. Jesus’ statements in Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20 are the major commissions of the faithful church. The “phil,” as in Philadelphian Christians, means fraternal love/affection, which in the biblical context includes supporting the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom of God to all that we can.

Satan does not want people reached in other languages.

But as the Apostle Paul wrote of him, “Satan … we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11).

So, despite criticisms, we continue on to work to fulfill the commissions that the New Testament points to being fulfilled.

Google Campaign

While it is only in the English language, so far in 2024 we have made over 20 million computer impressions with our Google campaign to witness to the world! This campaign reaches personal computers, laptops, tablets, and ‘smart’ cellular telephones with parts of the Philadelphian message. This would have been much higher, but because Google changed its rules, the aspects of the campaign have been put on hold by Google for much of 2024. This campaign is part of the work we are doing to reach the world to assist in fulfilling Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:19-20, and Romans 11:25.

We also have a small campaign with Microsoft that targets and reaches Sabbath keepers–and we continue to reach thousands that way.

Report from Malawi

Pastor Sosten Libungwa sent the following photo and report:

Dear pastor Evangelist Evans,am very glad to send you the report about how God is expanding our work in Malawi,this two church leaders are from Zomba and Mulanje, the man on the right hand side represent CCOG for Mulanje,this is the man who called us on the way from Chikwawa which I told you that him and his church people are interesting to join our church,then you encouraged me to go and teach them every week but this week I called them to come to us to keep sabbath with us so that they should learn how the church services is conducted in God’s church, his name is Mr Salanya,the one at the left is Mr Namacha who represent CCOG for Zomba whom I told you that we have started building the church hall,soon I will visit them to see how the work is progressing and after I will report to you,we need your prayers.thanks for your prayers and support the work of God in Malawi and African at large.Your son in the faith Sosten.

We continue to see more interest in Malawi and other parts of Africa.

Reports from Rwanda and Kenya

Moise Nshimiyimana sent the following photo and report from Rwanda today:

Dear Pastor Dr Bob ,

Greetings from Rwanda .Dear Pastor , as I tell you last week , I visited the two congregations we have in Nyagatare district and the Sabbath services was good . Then we discussed the problem of few people who had the ideology of COG 7th day as advised by Evans . So, now those people agree to follow the way of CCOG. …However , as I told you again , tomorrow morning I will go back to Congo to pay for one of the places they chose .Best Regards ,Moïse

The situation in the Congo remains dangerous, so please also pray for Moise Nshimiyimana’s trip there.

Pastor Tiognik Sawek sent the following report today:

Receive greetings in Jesus Christ. We are doing well here at Riftvalley Kenya. The spread of word of God is working well too. Pastor Stanely Kibet and Evangelist Ochieng had planned to Visit Mau, but it failed due to the ongoing protests in various places in kenya. It has been some time since Evangelist Ochieng visited Mau. We will plan for the visit once again when we meet with Evangelist Ochieng at Bomet. The brethrens who have been working at those affected areas have returned home due to the protests. This will greatly affect them because they were relying on those jobs. Local churches in South Rift have been greatly affected because most of the members have returned home for fear of the protest. Let’s pray that the protest stops because the famine will greatly hit those places. Evangelist Ochieng is aware of the same in kenya. Mathew 24:3 .

God bless you.Regards,Pastor Sawek.

The “tax protests” that began several weeks ago in Kenya have continued which has caused additional difficulties for the brethren there. Please remember to keep them in your prayers.

Biblical Keys to Happiness

Most people want to be happy.

Here is a list of fifteen biblical keys to happiness:

  1. Do not focus on temporal pleasures
  2. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness
  3. Strive to obey God’s commands–and that includes how you physically work
  4. Trust God
  5. Accept chastisement, tests, and trials
  6. Have the right vision
  7. Don’t worry–be confident
  8. Be careful about complaints
  9. Unity in Christian fellowship
  10. Rejoice
  11. Forgive: Do not allow the root of bitterness to take hold
  12. Work on maintaining your family God’s way
  13. Be thankful
  14. Choose God’s ways
  15. Look to the role God has for eternity

Although there are many ways in which the Bible describes true happiness, they may all be summed up in one definition: Happiness is — doing God’s will. It really works.

Consider:

6 … Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:6, NKJV)

17 “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:17, KJV)!

The Continuing Church of God has the following sermon related to happiness on our ContinuingCOG channel:

1:17:28

Happiness: 15 Biblical Keys

Do you want to be happy? Most people do. Is it possible to be happy in this world? Most people aren’t happy, because they don’t know what real happiness according to the Bible is. This sermon goes over many scriptures about what happiness is and also what it is not. Christians should not focus on temporal pleasures, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, strive to obey God’s commands–and that includes how you physically work, trust God, accept chastisement, tests, and trials, have the right vision, not worry, be confident, be careful about complaints, strive for unity in Christian fellowship, rejoice and keep the Holy Days, forgive, do not allow the root of bitterness to take hold, work on maintaining your family God’s way, be thankful, choose God’s ways, look to eternity, and look forward to the role of giving love in a unique way to make eternity better for themselves and others. Dr. Thiel addresses these and other issues for Christians and happiness.

Here is a link to the video sermon: Happiness: 15 Biblical Keys.

Suggested Sabbath Day Services

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 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

Political matters have dominated the news.

In the Middle East, the Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas have agreed to work for unity (see I365: Hamas agrees to unity deal with Abbas’s Fatah faction; COGwriter: A prelude to the deal of Daniel 9:27?). Some type of unity among the Palestinians looks to be needed before the deal of Daniel 9:27 will be in place.

In Europe, Ursula von der Leyen was chosen to remain the President of the European Commission after pledging to work for greater European unity and a stronger European defense (see ZH says: The EU’s Planned Transformation Into A Military Union Is A Federalist Power Play).

Europe is concerned about the USA and reportedly, Europe is terrified of J.D. Vance and Donald Trump.

US President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race a few days ago (see ZH: Biden Drops Out Of 2024 Race But Will Remain Through Term; Endorses Harris As Resignation Calls Grow). There have been various reasons speculated (e.g. see PA: Why They Forced Biden Off The Ticket).

That said, the USA presidential election looks to be a choice between an adulterer (Donald Trump) and an adulteress (Kamala Harris). See also Kamala Harris takes lead in poll, but what has a ‘fact checker’ reported?

Christians need to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) and pray for it to come (Matthew 6:10). A vote for the lessor of two evils is still a vote for evil (watch also Should Christians Vote in 2024?).

Concluding Comments

If you truly want to be happier, you can do something about it. Examine your priorities and your thoughts. Determine to make any necessary changes so you may reflect more of the lasting happiness now that God wants for you always!

You need to chose to really do things God’s way:

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:2-8)

Do not be double-minded–completely choose God’s way! Really trust God!

But many do not. At least not enough.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21, KJV)

Have YOU done that?

If so you will not be double-minded if you act on what you have proven.

You should be able to PROVE that God exists.

To help you with scientific and biblical proofs, we have a free booklet: Is God’s Existence Logical?

You should be able to prove that the Bible is true. To help you with that, we have a free book: Who Gave the World the Bible? The Canon: Why do we have the books we now do in the Bible? Is the Bible complete?

You should be able to prove that Jesus is the Messiah and our Saviour. To help you with that, we have a free book: Proof Jesus is the Messiah.

You should be able to prove that the Greco-Roman Catholic and Protestant churches are not the true church. To help you with that, we have the following free books: Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism and Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession?

You should be able to prove which Church of God best represents the Philadelphian portion in the 21st century. To help you with that, we have the following free book: Where is the True Christian Church Today?

Those of the churches of this world, as well as the non-Philadelphian churches, do not even know why God made anything or what the true purpose of human life is. But you can know that–and to assist with that, we have a free online book: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?

If you read, study, and properly pray about this literature, you should be able to prove the truth and not be double-minded.

So, you should always act on the truth.

Do not make some excuse.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer