Dear Brethren and co-workers in Christ:
Pentecost is this coming Sunday, June 8, 2014. Because of this, suggestions for services for both the weekly Sabbath and Pentecost are included in this letter.
Booklets
We were able to finalize the booklet on faith this week and send it to the printer. We hope to send that out towards the end of June. It has been uploaded (see New Booklet: Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen), but those on our subscriber magazine list will be automatically be sent a physical copy.
This will be our second booklet this year and hopefully we will get at least one more out before the end of the year. My actual goal is two more booklets, but that might be overly ambitious. You all may wish to pray about that.
This week, we finished an edit on our earlier booklet on church history and uploaded it yesterday. The edits were minor, and mainly involved formatting and adding a couple of additional scriptures (it is available online: Continuing History of the Church of God). We in the Continuing Church of God have an important historical message to get out as we strive to “contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
Radio
Dr. Deagle (who is a Sabbatarian, but not CCOG) and I expect to do an internationally-syndicated radio show interview next Wednesday to discuss some topics related to the recommended sermonette for this week (3rd Council of Nicea in 2025?).
World News Events
After meeting with Pope Francis in Israel, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople announced that he and the Pope agreed that the Vatican and the Eastern Orthodox would meet on the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea of 325, in the year 2025 (see Ecumenical meeting in Nicea planned for 2025: What happened in 325 and what could happen in/by 2025?). The first Council of Nicea was called by the pagan Emperor Constantine and set the stage for a series of doctrinal changes and persecutions against those that believed the Bible over agreements of men. While this resulted in the type of unity that Roman emperors such as Constantine and Theodosius craved, they did so at the expense of biblical Christianity. Similarly, the current ecumenical movement has similar goals.
Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew are planning on a ‘prayer for peace’ with the presidents of Palestine and Israel on Pentecost in Vatican City on Pentecost (see Inter-faith ‘prayer for peace’ in Middle East is planned for this Pentecost in Vatican City). This marks another step in the ecumenical, political, and inter-faith plans of the Vatican.
On Sunday, Pope Francis spoke before 52,000 at a gathering for Pentecostal Protestants in Rome (see Pope Francis speaks of ecumenism to 52,000 Pentecostals and others). He also extended an invitation to the charismatics of the world to celebrate their 2017 Jubilee at the Vatican. The ecumenical movement is moving ahead and this will not work out well for the Protestants (see Beware: Protestants Going Towards Ecumenical Destruction!) nor the the Catholics (see Why Should American Catholics Fear Unity with the Orthodox?).
On the international scene, US President Barack Obama has called for the Europeans to spend more money on their military (see Obama tries to provide assurances to Europe while pushing for increased European military spending). This will end up being something that the USA will regret as the Bible is clear that a militarily successful European power will again form (Revelation 13:1-4) and this will not end up well for the USA or its Anglo-Saxon descended allies (cf. Daniel 11:39).
The situation with Ukraine remains tense as physical and political fighting continues (see Donetsk supporters push ahead, while G7 condemns Russian actions in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin comments on Hillary Clinton’s comments about him). That being said, a review of our websites earlier today reveals that we are reaching more people in Ukraine in 2014 than we have in the past.
Over in the Middle East, there was an election in Syria, which as expected re-elected its President Assad. He is being accused of finding a ‘loophole’ in his chemical weapons agreement and reportedly *there is some questions about that) used chlorine bombs against his own people in a run up to the election (see Assad’s chlorine bombs and re-election). The Bible teaches that Damascus, the capital of Syria, will be destroyed (Isaiah 17:1), and it just may be that President Assad’s actions will be a factor in making that happen.
Suggested Sabbath Service
Here is our suggested format for Sabbath services 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 most will be a recorded one: 3rd Council of Nicea in 2025? A somewhat related written item would be: Ecumenical meeting in Nicea planned for 2025: What happened in 325 and what could happen in/by 2025?. Other sermonettes are also 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 will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is The Unpardonable Sin and the Prodigal Son. A related written article would be: What is the Unpardonable Sin? 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. So, 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 that we list each week.
Suggested Pentecost Service
Here is our suggested format for Sabbath services 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 most will be a recorded one: Offertory: Pentecost is for Firstfruits.
- Announcements (if any; though for many it will be this letter) and one hymn.
- Sermon, which for most will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is Predestination and Pentecost. A related written article would be: Predestination: Does the Bible Teach It? As some prefer two sermons on Holy Days or may have recently watched the recommended one, another for today was done last year and is titled Pentecost: Feast of Firstfruits. A related written article would be: Pentecost: Is it more than Acts 2?
- Final hymn.
- Closing prayer.
Concluding Comments
The Book of Acts teaches:
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (Acts 2:1-2)
Brethren, while we are not physically all in one place, we can be spiritually and should be.
Pentecost helps picture God’s plan of salvation and our part in it. This coming weekend is a time to learn more about that.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel, Pastor and Overseer
Continuing Church of God