Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings to all of you from the Five Cities region of California.
Feast in Haiti
Jeremy Nichols sent the following photo and report from Haiti:
Greetings Dr Thiel.
It’s been a while since before the FOT.
We have an internet issues in our region no signal, for twice I spent alot of money to do an internet plan but no signal to used the plans. We have had a good time together at the Feast I attached below some of Feast photos. We rented a place to gather … the Feast went well.
While we are sorry they had internet issues, we are glad that they were able to conduct the Feast of Tabernacles in Haiti.
Return to Standard Time
Sunday, November 1, at two a.m., the USA and several other nations (Canada, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, and Haiti) change their clocks to go back to Standard Time and off of Daylight Saving Time. Europe did this last weekend.
Because of the clock change, sunset will be over an hour earlier next Friday in the USA, Canada, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, and Haiti.
Iron Sheets
In many parts of Africa, many of our church buildings have iron sheets for their roofs.
In Ethiopia, some were stolen, so we just sent funds to replace them.
And for the Migow church hall in Malawi, we just sent funds for them to purchase iron sheets before the rains.
Iron sheets for roofs are not something people in the West tend to think about, but I thought some of you may be interested in knowing about them.
Perhaps I should mention that some of the funds that were sent to Africa for the Feast of Tabernacles last month were to buy mattresses for people to sleep on. These are not like Western bed mattresses, but are more like what would be considered to be bed rolls/floor mattresses.
Halloween and All Saints Day
Halloween symbols are up in many of the stores in this area as well as elsewhere.
While Halloween is supposed to mean “All Hallowed Evening,” its observance is anything but hallowed/holy.
And the date itself was adopted by the Church of Rome because its was a night of pagan practices for the ancient Druids (see also Is Halloween Holy Time for Christians?).
The next day is supposed to be “All Saints Day” which is then followed by something the Church of Rome calls “All Souls Day” which is observed as the “Day of the Dead” in Mexico.
Catrinas, such as the above, are among the most popular figures of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico (Tomascastelazo).
Of course, none of these observances is enjoined in the Bible.
Instead, the Bible warns:
29 “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32)
We are not to adopt pagan practices.
Consider the following words of Nehemiah:
29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. 30 Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan. (Nehemiah 13:29-30, NKJV)
30 So I cleansed them of all foreign contamination. … (Nehemias 13:30, Roman Catholic New American Bible)
Nehemiah was a leader that God appointed and he rightly stood against foreign pagan contamination that affected what was supposed to be the religion of God’s people.
Today, as the New Testament also supports (e.g. 1 Corinthians 10:21), true Christian ministers are to stand against pagan contamination (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
Booklet Update
While we continue to add new languages for our The Gospel of the Kingdom of God booklet, we are looking at eventually translating our The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? booklet.
However, before doing that Steve Dupuie and I have gone through the booklet for updating and editing. Here is a link to the updated online version: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?
Furthermore, I think before we start the translating process, I would like to do a sermon series related to this booklet, which likely will result in a few additional changes (probably additional scriptural references). After that, it will need to be re-edited.
Then it should be ready for translation.
Radio and Baptisms in Kenya
Radio is one of the forms of media we use to proclaim the good news of the coming kingdom of God (see also Continuing Church of God Multimedia page).
In Kenya, we are on one radio station, with three presenters. The presenters are Grantone Otieno, Joel Owuoti, and Charles Agwenge.
Here is the one we are regularly on:
The above station comes from Migori, also reaches Tanzania, and is a called Radio Milambo and is on 103.8FM. We are on Fridays from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm.
We just renewed our contract to be on that station for another 8 months.
Evangelist Evans Ochieng sent the following:
Pastor Dr Bob,
Thank you very much. May you be blessed highly.
Thank you very much for putting the work where it’s now. You have given me easy time to move and preach the gospel. My prayers are always preaching the gospel of the kingdom of GOD. Let’s put our hands together to reach as many people as possible. I want also to inform you that five members are added in Ndhiwa congregation after the feast of Tabernacles.
Same to kisii. Many members were added.
GOD is in control and working miraculously.
That’s my prayer.
Evans.
Yes, we are working to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14), teach and baptize (Matthew 28:19-20).
Suggested Sabbath Service
Here is a suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and other interested people:
- 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.
- The suggested sermonette is titled: Wormwood: Asteroid or Comet? 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, which for most who receive this letter is: Halloween and Dead Souls. 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
We continue to see calls in Europe and even in the United States to suppress/censor speech and writings that various ones call “hate speech” (see European leaders and American students highly supportive of censorship for what they define as ‘hate speech’). Yet, sadly, hate speech is sometimes defined as promoting biblical teachings related to sexual morality (see Finnish court rules that it is ‘hate speech’ and falls under the category of ‘war crimes and crimes against humanity’ to declare homosexual marriage is a sin) and even about Jesus as Facebook reportedly censored “Jesus died so you can live’ as ‘hate speech’.
Restrictions on speech and proclamation have long been expected. We see that God inspired the prophet Amos to write:
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)
While Bibles will still exist, the above looks like a prophecy that biblical truth will be censored and often banned from places like the internet.
Although we in the CCOG have been improperly censored many times (see Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word), more is coming.
In other news, the election in Serbia has increased the desire in the European Union including it in its enlargement plans (see European Union hopeful that Serbia will be able to join because of its election results). Such enlargement is consistent with prophesies such as Daniel 8:9-12.
Now as far as Europe goes, the EU leaders are also highly concerned that “right-wing populist” leaders may get elected in places like Germany and France and change things away from the direction that they would like to see (see The left-center are concerned about how politicians on the right may change Europe–the Bible shows that reorganization will come!). And while such may get elected and change some things, ultimately, the Bible shows that Europe will reorganize (Revelation 17:12-13) and change greatly (cf. Revelation 13:1-18). The political shifts we are seeing in Europe help show that Europe will change.
Speaking of elections, the upcoming one in the USA will result in more troubles (cf. Mark 13:7-8) as the divide in the USA grows–see also Should a Christian Vote?
Concluding Comments
The prophet Jeremiah was inspired to write:
2 The Lord says, “Do not start following pagan religious practices.
Do not be in awe of signs that occur in the sky even though the nations hold them in awe.
3 For the religion of these people is worthless.
They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. 4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold. He uses hammer and nails to fasten it together so that it will not fall over.
5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.
They cannot talk.
They must be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them because they cannot hurt you.
And they do not have any power to help you.” (Jeremiah 10:2-5, NET)
Brethren, do not let jobs, family, or social influence push you to observe pagan rituals and holidays.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer