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Letter to the Brethren: March 3, 2022

Letter to the Brethren: March 3, 2022

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Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from Grover Beach, California.

We are making progress in getting some literature in more languages. We just entered into an arrangement to get our booklet, The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?, translated into 80 additional languages. This excludes languages we have translators for like Serbian, Kiswahili, Luo, Portuguese, etc.

If you have translated literature for us before, and have not translated this booklet, we would ask you to consider doing so.

Brethren, information in this booklet is simply not properly understood or taught by others who profess Christianity, including other churches who call themselves ‘Church of God.’ But this is information that we need to get to as many as we can.

Speaking of literature, last week I started on a new book. This one, as some suggested to me, has to do with prophecy, and hopefully will be available later this year.

Malawi and Mozambique Projects Update

As many of you are aware, in order to assist our brethren in parts of Africa to produce more of their own food as well as to generate income, we assisted several congregations to begin chicken projects. We also have a project translating our book, Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism, from English into Chichewa, which is the language most of our brethren in Malawi and Mozambique speak.

Deacon Radson Mulozowa sent the following report about these matters:

Greetings from Malawi and MozambiqueLet me report about the chicken and translation projectsSo far churches that have chicken areMigowi, chiringa, sunuzi in MalawiNasiyaya in MozambiqueDomasi and Nagaga congregation they were having problem with their chicken, they were dieing, instead they sold the remaining chicken and start goat project and it is going well.…. congregation is not doing well since they are failing to care themAbout translation the office was closed because two members were having covid 19 as the results the covid taskforce closed the office. They have told me that they will resume work on 1st March but they have done half of the bookBest regardsRadson

We suspected that not all the congregations would be able to properly manage chickens, but are glad that most in Radson Mulozowa’s region have been able to.

Furthermore, while it was disappointing that the translation project was halted, I am glad it is supposed to be resuming.

Haiti

Herb Haddon sent an email from Canada stating that the CCOG office there just send 20 Creole language Bibles to our brethren in Haiti. Having a Bible in their own language will better assist them understand the gospel and all that Jesus commanded (cf. Matthew 28:19-20).

Kenya

Rift Valley, Kenya, pastor Tiongik Sawek sent the following photograph and report related to the chicken project there:

Receive greetings in Jesus name. I am happy to receive your email. Hope you are doing well. We are happy that you are with us in this chicken project. My chicken project together with the Chilani women project are doing well. Currently the weather is a bit good, mostly favouring chicken. The diseases have been reduced by a wide range. The Chilani women group are requesting for a wire mesh for fencing in order to secure the chickens against attack from wild animals and a house for chicks for security and shelter . They are also requesting for chicken feeds. In my chicken project, I am requesting a wire mesh to enable me extend the chicken compound to accommodate the growing chicken population and to enable them to feed on green grass. I am also in need of iron sheet for proper shelter for the chickens. This will avoid dangerous animals from penetrating through the walls. The previous house consist of timber that is easily affected by heavy rains and not warm the chicks. The other requirement that had arise is cement for proper floor for the chickens. We are really appreciating your help. Pass our appreciation to Dr. Thiel for his hand of help to ensure the chicken project runs smoothly. lets pray for each other in the way forward of this projects. Attached are the pictures for the projects for both chilani women groups and my projects

Glad the project there is working well.

Kenya Meeting

Evans Ochieng held a meeting with several CCOG leaders in Kenya yesterday.

Pastor Dr Bob,Greetings from Kenya.MINUTES OF THE CONTINUING CHURCH OF GOD MEETING HELD ON 2/3/2022 {written 03/02/22 in USA} AT THE CHURCH OFFICE NDHIWA.                 MEMBERS PRESENT1- EVANS OCHIENG2- DAVID CHERYOT3- EZEKIEL OANDA4- GRANTON OTIENO5- JOEL OWUOTI6- KENEDY ODHIAMBO7- OFFICE SECRETARY WICKLIFE OBOTE                Agenda1- prelimaries2- Confirmation of minutes of previous minutes3- collection of tithes and offerings plus the number of people from all churches that are under each pastor.4- All records of attendance  to be delivered every month.5- Translation of books6- construction of halls and latrines7- YOUTH CAMP programme.8- AOBMin1/022— preliminariesThe meeting was brought to order by Evangelist Evans Ochieng Kisiengo at 10.30 am.Evangelist Evans Ochieng requested Ezekiel Oanda to pray.   Min2/022  Confirmation of the previous minutesThe Secretary Granton Otieno read the minutes of the previous meeting which were confirmed by pastor Evans Ochieng as the true reading of the matters previously discussed. This was seconded by David Cheryot.Min 3/022— collection of tithes and offerings.Evangelist Evans Ochieng informed the members that it is indeed important and productive to bring tithes and offerings  to the church since it is through these that GOD wants to rescue and shower His people with blessings.  And it’s God’s command to bring tithes in the church.Each pastor brought tithes and offerings from the congregations which are under them and they were taken to the bank by church secretary Granton Otieno.Min 4/022– All the records to be delivered to the church office every monthEvangelist Evans Ochieng advised the pastors to bring all records from each congregation to the office every month. Since this will facilitate good records for future reference.  Our main aim is to preach the gospel around the country and worldwide.  Each pastor gave a good briefing on how they moved and visited the congregations under them. We were happy with the reports given by the pastors. Again the reports I got from some of the congregations were very positive.Min 5/022– Construction of church halls and latrines.We thank the continuing church of God under Dr Bob for the work he has done to help us in Africa to put more halls and latrines to most of our congregations in Kenya,  Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ethiopia. In Kenya,  we have already put 13 halls and 4 latrines.  Now we have some hall constructions which are ongoing and needs funds to complete them. Eberege congregation is building a new hall because the first one was small and the numbers  have increased.  So they cannot fit in the first one. They need assistance to complete their hall.  Due to heavy rain of last season,  mbani hall was fallen. Now we are building a new hall.  The work is going on and it needs more assistance.  Got kachola latrines have not been fully completed so they need some assistance. We are also planning to build church hall in South and North Rift valley plus rooms where people can stay during the feast of tabernacle.Min 6/022– Youth camp programme.Members suggested that the youth camp to be held twice a year. This is to let children know the word of God and to keep them busy during the holidays.  They suggested that it should be held both in April and December. Last youth camp in December,  we touched more in the book of DATING. which helped youths who are over 18 years so much.Min 7/022– Translation of books.Translation of books and magazines has helped a lot in preaching the gospel to every tribe in Kenya. So we need more translation to be done.  Now Kalenjin,  David is doing translation of God’s Holy days or Demonic holidays. It’s almost to be completed and ones it is complete,  we will send it for printing. Ekegussi under Ezekiel Oanda is also going on with translation of where is the true church.We urged Granton Otieno to put more effort into translating books in Luo language.Min 8/022— AOBThe members talked about the church choir so that we may also preach through songs.  This may help during Sabbath meetings and God’s holydays.            ORDINATIONEvangelist Evans Ochieng suggested that he will get special time to ordain three pastors for the smooth flow of work.         BAPTISMThere are 8 members who need baptism in Kenya. The ceremony is going to be held soon.       TRIP TO MALAWI AND MOZAMBIQUE.Evangelist Evans Ochieng is planing to visit Malawi and Mozambique this month.            ANNUAL  RETURNEvangelist Evans Ochieng is going for annual return next week.The work in Kenya is moving on well and more labourer are needed.         HYMNAL BOOKS.Since we have more congregations in Kenya,  the hymnals we have are not enough to supply all congregations. So we need more hymnals and banners.Evans.

The meeting notes basically relate to the more formal reorganizing  we have been doing in Kenya, which is needed because of the size of the membership there.

Anyway, we sent about 7 additional Feast of Tabernacles’ banners, along with some Bible Hymnals, last month, which hopefully will arrive in Kenya later this month.

Suggested Sabbath Service

Here is a suggested Sabbath service for this week:

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.

World News Items

The situation between Russia, Ukraine, and the world has been dominating the news.

The situation has resulted in increased fear and increased food and energy prices (see War, Food Prices, and Taking Away the Peace in Ukraine and Europe). Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat, and I noticed Monday that ‘wheat futures’ rose by about 9% in ONE DAY!

There are more impacts that simply financial ones (see also ‘Is Russia Gog of Magog?’ ‘What Could the Russia-Ukraine War Mean for You?’).

People are dying in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands have fled, homes destroyed, and millions of lives have been disrupted. Continue to pray for those affected in Ukraine.

If COVID-19 fears and restrictions were not enough to ‘take peace away from” the Europeans (Revelation 6:3-4), Russia’s military moves certainly have seemed to been a ‘wakeup call.’

Europe has been scared. And until the past week or so, many there seemed to not realize that wars can happen to Europeans. Wars are real and Jesus predicted wars and troubles for the end times (cf. Mark 13:7-8).

The West put in place sanctions and have gone so far as to have removed most Russian banks from accessing the SWIFT financial system (see US, EU, UK agree to remove selected Russian banks from SWIFT). Other ramifications of the SWIFT restriction is that more will be turned away from using the USA dollar (see WP: Why the enormous scale of financial pain being inflicted on Russia worries some in the West’ ZH: Zoltan Pozsar Warns Russian Sanctions Threaten Dollar’s Reserve Status). There are often many ‘unintended consequences’ from sanctions. Furthermore, understand that once the USA dollar loses its reserve currency status, the USA will face economic consequences unlike any it has faced in nearly a century–and then it will get worse (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8).

One of the biggest developments in the past several days was Germany’s change of direction and its announcement to massively increase its military spending (see ‘Germany commits 100 billion euros to new armed forces fund’). THIS IS A BIG DEAL!

Now, notice something I posted a few weeks ago:

While elements of WWIII are in progress, and Russia is influencing events that will lead to that, Russia is not the power that will actually start WWIII. Instead, their actions are influencing the actions of others, and ultimately that will start what could be called WWIII. …

The current situation with Russia and Ukraine is speeding up the type of unity that the European Beast power will have, as well as getting the Europeans to decide they need to more military power more quickly. (Thiel B. WWIII over Ukraine? Is there a place of escape? COGwriter, February 8, 2022)

This is happening.

Furthermore, notice something I posted Saturday morning, February 26, 2022–which was BEFORE the announcement from Chancellor Scholz today on  February 27, 2022:

This invasion is turning ordinary citizens into soldiers, and is scaring many nations in Europe.

Scaring them enough that they will be more willing to spend more and cooperate more militarily.

In addition to the humanitarian issues with the war in Ukraine, this is functioning as a wakeup call for Europe to arm. (Thiel B. War, Food Prices, and Taking Away the Peace in Ukraine and Europe. COGwriter, February 26, 2022)

Germany has committed to spend substantially more on its military than Russia spends on its. Combining German spending with others in Europe will begin to massively strengthen military power–power that will one day be used against places like the USA (cf. Daniel 11:39), its British-descended allies (cf. Isaiah 17:1; Daniel 8:24-25), as well as in the Middle East and North Africa (cf. Daniel 11:40-43).

Many in Europe are scared because of Russia’s military invasion into Ukraine. Many in Europe are scared enough to arm and not need to rely on the USA for protection.

What is happening now with Ukraine has likely greatly increased the feeling in Germany that it is facing a larger threat than it had thought. And although World War III has not started, increasing German military spending is a step towards it.

What is happening in the past few days has been called a “historic shift” in Europe (see Ukraine invasion causing ‘historic shift’ towards European unity and militarization)–a shift that will not end well for the USA or its British-descended allies.

The battles between Russia and Ukraine are pushing the Europeans towards more unity and setting the Europeans up to support the coming (Revelation 17:12-13), militarily successful, Beast power of Revelation 13:1-4.

Concluding Comments

The Apostle Paul wrote:

6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:5-12)

Brethren, we need to try to be content, even though we often must fight “the good fight of faith.”

That way, we can “lay hold on eternal life.”

So, yes, despite issues, there is very good news ahead for those who will do what God wants.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer