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Letter to the Brethren: October 27, 2022

Letter to the Brethren: October 27, 2022

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Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Post-Feast of Tabernacles greetings now that we are back from Branson, Missouri.

Since last week’s Letter was sent out earlier than usual, a few Feast of Tabernacles reports that should have been in it were missed–plus some some late reports were also recently received.

Elder Aleksandar ‘Sasha’ Veljic sent a very lengthy report from Australia. To summarize some of the points, he commented that more attended than he expected. Some came who were part of CBCG (a different COG) as well as a couple of people who have been ‘independent’, one of which knew Sasha years ago. He reported that there were baptisms and the CCOG is moving forward on registration. Here are some excerpts:

All attendants of the Feast in Australia will have some fond memories of this year’s celebration of the coming Kingdom of God. The same goes for our … New Zealand members who were connected to us through Skype.  …

An old Worldwide Church of God member who left that organization as soon as it began to depart from the Truth attended.  Shortly before the Feast he came into contact with other Feast attendants and introduced himself.  He has been reading the writings of Bob Thiel and in those writings have found his spiritual identity.  That was the motivating force for him to come to the Feast. …

On October 12th, three members were added to the Body of Christ.  James Stoneham had been waiting for his baptism for 7 years.  His elderly mother-in-law Tanya Hilligan was healed by God as she was also faithfully waiting to enter into the covenant with the Eternal.  The oldest by age, but youngest by his spiritual journey, John Shackleton, was also baptized.  Therefore all the Feast goers in Australia were now baptized by Christ. …

On Thursday, October 13, following the services 6 of us signed a covenant by which we thereby consented to the registration of CCOG in Australia. … Jamie Stoneham explored registration possibilities in accordance with Australia laws.  CCOG in Australia can only be registered as a charity whose sole purpose is to spread its beliefs.  It must have no connections to the government which keeps away from all religions.  Registration was necessary to get tax exempt status.  I have appointed John Shackleton, a retired bank manager, the treasurer in future newly registered CCOG Australia.  I asked other members to be his advisors.  John will keep the records for newly registered CCOG Australia.  CCOG Australia will have an obligation to submit an annual report on its activities to the Australian government.  The government has no right to meddle into our Church activities and decisions.  Other than mandatory annual report, it is strictly forbidden for CCOG in Australia to have any ties to the government whatsoever.  Jamie is to submit the documents to the government for registration. …

Aleksandar Veljic

Let me add that a couple of years ago, Tanya Hilligan was not necessarily expect to live this long–but she has and was baptized.

Here is a report from the Philippines:

Dear Dr. Thiel,All is well with our celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles and The Last Great Day here in Surigao City, Philippines, though for some inevitable circumstances, out of four families, we only had two families in attendance, a total of eleven including children. But despite, we enjoyed a close-knit fellowshipping being united in the one body of Christ.We were all so blessed to have fed daily with wonderful spiritual food all appertaining to the Gospel of The Kingdom of God, the very gospel that this world doesn’t have knowledge about which only the Churches of God had. …

Warm regards,Joe

Here are reports from Africa:

Pastor Dr Bob,Greetings from Kenya.I’ve recieved good reports from all the feast sites,  that the feast went well all over.  Thank you very much for the great assistance that has helped Many people to celebrate the feast of tabernacle in kenya and Tanzania.We had a wonderful  feast of tabernacle at Got kachola which  was attended by 302 people.

The  congregations which attended were as follows,  mbani,  Oriang,  kituka,  Ndhiwa, Migori, muhuru and Nyakach. It was a very enjoyable feast.Our brethren from Rwanda were very happy.  I escorted them up to kisumu on their way back to Rwanda. I gave them some pens, banner, laptop, different books and song books.Thank you very much for the great support and good work for the people.

EvansDear Dr. Thiel:Much Christian greetings from Kehancha, Kenya.We are very grateful to you and Evangelist Evans for supporting us. We have celebrated one of the best Feast this year.May God richly bless you for the great Work you are doing. …

We profoundly thank God for another opportunity He has offered us to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day! Every year, when we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, we see new things and encounter more insight on how to handle ourselves during the Feast of Tabernacles and continue to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We meet new people who are making the Feast more enjoyable than before.

Last year, we celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with a few adults and children considering the fact that the Feast normally falls during the third term of the school calendar. This year, we were 62 adults and 69 children. We were also able to welcome the students of Tabitha Outreach Foundation Academy who requested that the students, who are specifically Churches of God members, celebrate the Feast with us because there is no any Feast keeping Church of God apart from us here at Kehancha.

We have also received brethren from as far as Tanzania, our neighbor Country. The brethren from Tanzania came from places like Mwanza City, Tabora and Sirare border. Some were also brought by Pastor Francis Mwita Gisiri from Isibania. …

We could not manage to tour any place because we were financially low. However, we used most of our time in Bible Study because some of the people who visited us were from Messianic Assembly of Yahweh but they seemed to know very little on Bible prophecy and the Festivals. We also welcome some members of the SDA church who are radio listeners. Some of them have accepted to be part of the CCOG. Pastor Francis Mwita Gisiri and his members have also accepted to be part of the CCOG.

May the Almighty God bless you abundantly for your love and concern for us. We are very grateful for the support we received from  Evangelist  Bob Thiel and Evans Ochieng. May God richly bless you for being of a great help to us.

Enjoy the Feast.

Best regards,

Bro. Ondigo.


Mau attendees

Receive greetings in Jesus Christ. The Feast of Terbenacles went on very well as it was planned. it was blessed. All groups of Mau Continuing Church had attended the event this time round in a good number, with many brethrens. The meeting was blessed with teachings. We managed to receive three families who joined us during the event. We are thankful for the teaching and blessing from the Continuing Church of God.
Here are some photos I managed to take.
Thanks and be blessed.
Best Regards,
Stanley Kibet TK.Dear Pastor Bob ThielGreetings and much regards to you and all the brethren in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.We do much appreciate your financial assistance for the Feast and may the Almighty God bless all your endeavors.This year’s Feast was joyfully attended and celebrated in Ghana under the theme “THE HIDDEN TREASURE – MATT. 13:44”.The General Overseer in Ghana, Pastor Samuel Fosu Gyeabour admonished amongst others that, “THE GREATEST GIFTED TREASURE IS THE PROMISED SALVATION IN CHRIST”, and urged all to embrace it unconditionally by obeying and fully submitting to God’s-Will.The 7-days was fully honored and the eighth.., THE LAST GREAT DAY, which marks the future completion of God’s Plan of Salvation was all joyous moments with no casualty.However, we lost one soul soon after the Feast, which is Pastor Samuel’s direct Sister, whose funeral arrangements we shall update you.As we await the revealing of the Messiah, we hope and pray all shall keep the Faith once given to the Saints..!May the One and Only True Invincible God keep us save until His coming..!!!AMEN.

[Pastor Samuel Fosu Gyeabour, Ghana].

christian greeting from the Northern Rift Valley, Kenya. I am glad to report that the feast of the Tabernacle went on well. God strengthened brothers, sisters as well as the children to fulfill what God wants us to do especially during God Holy days. During the feast we got new converts from various denomination. several Sunday keepers as well as sabbath keepers, our main concern is the lack of books, kindly remember us.
Again, we will not forget to inform you that next month(November), Pastor Sowek and I will visit Molo for the continuity of the work of our master Jesus Christ. during the feast , we were with the following teachers:-
– Jackson Ruto
– David Kosgei
– Jane Sitonik
Thank you for your continuous help towards Kenya. At the moment, Kenya is experiencing shortage of food as a result of severe drought thus prompting high cost of living.
[David Cheruiyot]Receive greetings in Jesus Name. We had a wonderful Feast of Tabernacles. This was made possible because we sat with Evangelist Ochieng in planning for the same. The brethrens were taught to their satisfaction. We came across four families who were not honoring the Feast of Tabernacle and they joined hands with us and promised to join us. They noted that surely it is written in the Bible about the Feast of Tabernacle.

We are facing famine and drought here at Chilani. We really pray that we may get a water tank in near future so as to assist us gather water for use and drinking. I will attach some photos for the same. The below photos show two venues; Takitech and Chilani.
I received reports from South Rift, Bomet, Mau, Takitech and Chilani did the Feast of Tabernacles did successfully and was blessed. The Continuing Church of God Brethrens really thanked the pastors for the successful planning.
Regards,

Pastor Sawek

I am concerned as well about the drought and famine in the Rift Valley and other parts of Africa. We are looking into some steps that might help some (as well as providing more literature as requested).

Censored Again

While looking at some earlier news posts at www.cogwriter.com, I noticed that one of our videos had been blanked out. So, I clicked on it and found that YouTube, once again, improperly and retroactively removed an earlier video.

That particular video was recorded on November 16, 2019. In it, I warned that scientists stated that various infectious agents were becoming more resistant to medical antibiotic treatments, and that promises associated with vaccines were often overstated.

In that video, I said that since the Bible teaches that deadly pestilences would come (Matthew 24:4-8; Revelation 6:7-8) that people should not believe that scientists will be able to prevent the prophesied deaths.

Furthermore, as it turned out, COVID vaccines proved my assertion that vaccine-promises are often overstated.

Anyway, despite COVID not being mentioned (the novel coronavirus was not even called COVID that far back), YouTube censored and removed it–and without giving us the option to appeal.

Yet, the video was scientifically accurate and biblically sound.

The Apostle Paul warned of “oppositions” falsely called “science” (1 Timothy 6:20). We are still experiencing that these days.

Since we do not trust YouTube’s improper enforcement of its changing standards, we already had it up on other platforms, so it is still available. Here is a link to it from our BitChute platform: Superbugs, antibiotics, and vaccines.

If you watch it, consider that since YouTube censored a documented video which included other sources that YouTube accepts, that more improper censorship of biblical views is clearly coming.

We know that the coming ‘famine of the word’ of Amos 8:11-12 will be in full place not too many years from now. But even now, we are seeing signs of  some ways that will happen.

Radio

We sent the remaining funds we received from the our French connection (a group in France that cooperates with us on matters from time to time) to keep our radio broadcasts on the air in Kenya. This should carry us through until the end of February 2023 as we have continued the trial being on Kenya’s only national station.

Deacon Ondigo Ochieng sent the following:

Dear Dr. Thiel:

Thanks for sending funds {for the radio broadcast}. May God bless you abundantly. …

1. National radio ,,, What I have usually done is that I was advised by my biological brother not to pay for an official program but lease a fully paid program of any pastor who is a friend so that I may use his remaining time. That is what I have been doing. I do pay for less to a certain program owned by a  pastor … who lends me time for his program. Otherwise, I couldn’t have made it to a national station. …

2. Regional Radio … I opted for Radio Togotane which is a bit considerably {less than other regional stations} …

Therefore, it is by grace that I can manage two radio stations with the amount you are sending. It is just God’s miracle that He still has given us that favor. Remember that even the message given over the radio is sometimes vetted by the ” known pastors” but ours have been passing through without vetting. God has opened the door for this radio and we should pray about it so we should pray against anything that may close the door before the appointed time.

Best regards,

Bro. Ondigo.

We are glad that we are able to reach people in Kenya and Tanzania with this radio program.

The national radio station covers basically all of Kenya. The regional station covers parts of southern Kenya, but also parts of Tanzania. Deacon Ondigo told me that the rates went up from several months ago, so we will see if we will be able to remain on both stations.

Radio is a door that has been opened for the Philadelphian Christians (cf. Revelation 3:7-13) and has been used since the beginning of the Philadelphian era of the Church of God.

Partially because of Big Tech censorship, we have looked at more options on radio.

To see more stations and other platforms we used check out the CCOG Multimedia page.

In other radio news, we have been in contact with a couple of shortwave radio broadcasters to better reach other parts of the world and expect to add at least one shortwave broadcast soon.

Suggested Sabbath Day Service

Instead of doing a sermon warning against Halloween this year, we decided to list a short sermon from Herb Haddon which has some hyperbole). Because his sermon was short, we are suggesting two sermonettes. (For those wishing to watch a sermon on Halloween, here is a link to one: Halloween Day of the Dead). As far as the Haddons go, Herb informed me Tuesday that he and his wife Gisele just tested positive for COVID–please have them in your prayers.

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

China’s ruling Communist Party ended its Congress last Saturday with several amendments to the party constitution that are expected embolden President Xi Jinping’s status as he pushes for what he wants China to accomplish (see China’s Communist Party’s Congress: Xi Jinping, the Global South, and Europe). While China has made strides economically, it will not be the power to dominate the world economy soon for a time–that will be a European one (cf. Revelation 17-18).

Speaking of Europe, its top political leader, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently received a Goalkeeper Global Goal Award from the Gates Foundation for promoting globalist items consistent with those pushed by the World Economic Forum (see Von der Leyen presented With Gates’ Foundation ‘Great Reset’ Award; Alberta’s new premier opposes WEF). Despite a few scattered leaders publicly opposing that agenda, like Alberta’s newest and previous premier, it is moving forward. ‘666’ type controls will be put in place (Revelation 13:16-18).

Over in the UK, it now has a Hindu Asian Prime Minister (see Hindu Asian Rishi Sunak is now UK Prime Minister), which brings to mind prophecies like Deuteronomy 28:43 and aliens rising up.

In the Middle East, there are reports that Israel continues to destroy Iranian military items in Syria (seeI365: Israel has struck 90% of Iran’s weapons production facilities in Syria). Such attacks by Israel, along with the USA’s stalling on a new nuclear containment deal, look to be factors to embolden Iran to cause damage to the nation of Israel consistent with prophecies in Isaiah 22. Such an attack may well be a major prelude to the ‘peace deal’ of Daniel 9:27.

Over in the USA, some thirty “Progressive Democrats” had supported a memo that called for the USA to negotiate with Russia to stop the fighting in Ukraine, but after the White House objected that memo was rescinded (see Russia, dirty bombs, the White House, and the fighting in Ukraine to continue). This suggests more killing and more destruction.

Speaking of killing and destruction, World Net Daily reported a post about an old memo from a Planned Parenthood leader who advocated increasing homosexuality and forcing unwed mothers to have abortions as means of population control (see Planned Parenthood’s Frederick Jaffe memo outlying promoting various sins to reduce fertility). Planned Parenthood remains a leader in promoting the killing unborn children and destroying their lives in this age.

Concluding Comments

The Apostle Paul wrote:

11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, 13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13)

Brethren, with the annual Holy Days of 2022 behind us, let God direct you to increase and abound in love.

That is what the true Christian church is really all about.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer