Letter to the Brethren: September 14, 2017

Greetings again from the Five Cities region of California.

The Feast of Trumpets is coming up next week (begins sunset September 20th).

Feast of Trumpets

The Feast of Trumpets runs from sunset September 20, until sunset September 21, 2017.

Most of the Greco-Roman churches do not keep the biblical holy days that generally occur in the Fall. Yet, these Holy Days portray many pivotal events in God’s plan.

The Feast of Trumpets not only pictures the coming of Christ to resurrect the firstfruits from the dead, it also pictures the terrible time of devastation just ahead and the intervention of Jesus Christ to save the living from total annihilation and to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

Let’s understand how this festival fits into God’s great master plan.

Consider that there is a major time gap between the Day of Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets.  Since the New Testament church began on Pentecost and basically ends when Jesus returns at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-57), in a sense the period of time between Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets can be considered as representing the church age.

The fourth Holy Day, the Feast of Trumpets, is observed in “the seventh month, on the first day of the month” (Leviticus 23:23-25).

The number seven in God’s plan signifies completion and perfection. The seventh month of God’s calendar (occurs in September and/or October) contains the final four festivals, picturing the completion of God’s great master plan for us. The festival that falls on the first day of this month marks the beginning of the final events in God’s plan.

It is another annual Sabbath of rest from one’s regular work, and it was to be a memorial of blowing of trumpets (Leviticus 23:24-25). It is also a time to learn God’s ways (Nehemiah 8:2-3; cf. Ezra 3:1-7). Much of what happened to the children of Israel was written for our “examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

It is from the blowing of trumpets that the Feast of Trumpets draws its name.

There is a great deal of symbolic meaning tied in with the blowing of these trumpets, especially with regard to the end times in which we’re living. It should be noted that the modern Jewish name for this date, Rosh Hashanah, is not biblical nor even original for the Jews. It was something that they adopted centuries after God gave it to them and after the Old Testament was written (Kramer, Amy J. Rosh Hashana Origins. Copyright © 1998-1999 Everything Jewish, Inc.).

The Bible teaches that Trumpets were blown to announce God’s feasts, as well as to call people to assemble (Numbers 10:1-3, 10).

Feast of Trumpets Service

The Fall Holy Days are coming up soon, with the Feast of Trumpets which begins at sunset on September 29th this year.

Here is a suggested Sabbath service for the Feast of Trumpets this year:

• 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.
• Offertory, which for most who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one: Offertory for the Feast of Trumpets.
• Announcements (if any; though for many it will be this letter) and one hymn.
• Sermon, which for most who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is: Seven Trumpets: Jesus Returns. Other sermons are also available at the ContinuingCOG channel, especially if you wish two services today.
• Final hymn.
• Closing prayer.

For those wishing a second service for the Feast of Trumpets, here is another possibility:

• 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: ContinuingCOG Channel.
• Announcements (if any) and one hymn.
• Sermon, which for most who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is: The Last Trumpet and the Book of Life. Other sermons are also available at the ContinuingCOG channel, especially if you wish two services today.
• Final hymn.
• Closing prayer.

The next annual holy day will be the Day of Atonement, which begins at sunset on September 29th this year.

The Feast of Tabernacles starts the following week, and begins at sunset on October 4th this year.

For information on how to keep them, check out the article How to Keep God’s Festivals. A related sermon is also available titled: How to Keep God’s Feasts.

A booklet on the Holy Days is also available: Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?

For information on the locations of the Feast of Tabernacles’ site this year, check out the link: Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2017.

For information on the general locations of our congregations, check out the link: Congregations of the Continuing Church of God.

Ghana

Overseer/Pastor Samuel Ofosu Gyeabour sent me email contact information on many of the pastors in that country.

Samuel Ofosu Gyeabour

So, here is the email addresses for many leaders in Ghana:

Those in Ghana affiliated with the Continuing Church of God essentially have a Church of God, Seventh Day background.

Tanzania

Evangelist Evans Ochieng sent me the following today:

Pastor Dr Bob,

Greetings from Kenya.

I am back from Tanzania. I was very happy with a new member in Tanzania, Daniel. This man is a very good man and has really help Martin Wanga in many ways. He has strengthen the work in Tanzania.
Martin was very sick but he is now improved. Let us continue praying for him. Let us pray for Daniel to continue with the work he is doing. He cleared the feast site compound and the compound is looking smart. He is also reaching many people especially the SDA where he came from. So I like the way he is doing the work. I also got a letter from Michael who is coming from Tanzania. He wanted to know more about the church. When I reached Utegi, I noticed that he lives 1300 miles from Utegi. So I couldn’t meet him. We only talk on phone but we agreed that Martin and Daniel will meet him.

During the feast of tabernacles 2017, I will visit the feast in Tanzania one day because they wanted me to go and cover some topics  for that one day. I was encouraged by the work which is going on in Tanzania now because I found if there is a good improvement. It encourages me so much.

It is good that we are reaching people in Tanzania and that Evangelist Ochieng expects to go there for further teaching during the Feast of Tabernacles. Like me, he is going to have to have the Feast in two countries this year.

Radio and PowerPoint YouTube

Last week, I mentioned that I was scheduled to be on the Nutri-Medical Report on the Republic Broadcasting Network (RBN) Friday, September 8th at 1:00 pm CDT. The host and I discussed church history, location of the old temple, Jewish sacrifices, bizarre weather, and prophecy.

I also mentioned that never used PowerPoint before and was to do a PowerPoint interview. It was different than expected and ended up as a PowerPoint streamed YouTube video. The subject was church history. We promoted two free CCOG books: Continuing History of the Church of God and The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast. Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=firlRrE_Y2U&feature=youtu.be

World News Items

Weather-related issues have tended to dominate the news in the USA, Mexico, and the Caribbean (see Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, Jose, and Katia; Massive earthquake in Mexico and ‘Natures gone crazy” : Winds, fire, floods and quakes plague North America and Hurricane Irma and scripture). Millions were impacted, millions lost electrical power, many buildings destroyed, and on at least one island , a severe lack of food (see also Hurricane Irma fallout: No food in St. Martin, Barbuda ‘apocalyptic,’ and looting in Florida and the Carribbean!).

The Bible teaches that God does use weather to tell people to repent, but most in this age will not. Our recommended sermonette this week covers some scriptures related to weather: Hurricanes and Prophecy.

China’s plan to eliminate the US dollar is certain areas of trade has been in the news. China’s plan is to try to pay for oil in yuan that is backed by gold, instead of using the US dollar (see China’s petro-gold plan to bypass the US dollar). The Bible teaches that the final European King of the North will end up with gold (e.g. Daniel 11:43), which had led me to write for years that gold will have value longer than the US dollar will. China’s latest move is consistent with that.

Furthermore, new sanctions against North Korea were in the news (see North Korea to defy UN sanctions’ hope–Might US threats to China may help dethrone the dollar?). Yet, a side effect of at least one threatened sanctions is to encourage China to look for ways around using the US dollar. While China’s yuan will not eliminate the US dollar, China’s efforts, as well as those from Russia, the European Union, and others are setting the stage for the final over through of the US dollars international prominence–as it the increased debt by the USA (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8; see also ‘Four Horses Of The U.S. Debt Apocalypse’).

As far as Europe goes, some are seeing that the European Union looks a lot like the “fourth Reich” proposed by some Germans near the end of World War II (see ‘Undemocratic’ European Union has become a German empire). European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, in his European ‘State of the Union” address, expressed pleasure that European unity was being pushed ahead (see Juncker’s ‘State of the European Union’ address: Winds are favorable for European unity and UK will regret Brexit). He said Europe should reorganize to have a single leader (as opposed to two different presidents like it now does) and that the United Kingdom would regret its decision to leave the European Union.

The Bible shows that Europe will reorganize under a single leader in the future (Revelation 17:12-13), but that this leader will not have God’s favor (Revelation 17:14). The Bible also indicates that the United Kingdom will have regrets, if you will, from that leader (cf. Daniel 8:24-25; Isaiah 17:3; Daniel 11:39).

World events continue to align with the understanding of biblical prophecy that we in the CCOG have (cf. 2 Peter 1:19). This should motivate us (cf. Luke 21:36).

Suggested Sabbath Service

Here is a suggested Sabbath service for this week:

• 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, which for many who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is: Hurricanes and Prophecy. Other sermonettes are available at the Bible News Prophecy channel.
• Announcements (if any; though for many it will be this letter) and one hymn.
• Sermon, which for most who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is: Millennial Utopia. Other sermons are also available at the ContinuingCOG channel.
• 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 new 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 BibleNewsProphecy channel. There are also some messages at the CCOGAfrica channel.

Concluding Comments

Because of tradition and false teachings, relatively few that claim Christianity will be keeping the Feast of Trumpets. Jesus warned against tradition negating the word of God:

6 So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew 15:6b-8)

Brethren, do not rely on false traditions from men. Keep God’s Holy Days!

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer