Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from Michigan. It has been many years since I have been to this state. I got in late last night.
We bought another camcorder so that we can be able to tape sermons and sermonettes at our two North American Feast of Tabernacles’ sites. The one we bought had major problems and we had to exchange it. We then had to take a lot of time to get the exchanged one functional.
We hope to use the second one to video the services in Michigan. This camcorder will then, hopefully, be given to the Ruth and Steve Dupuie, so that they will be able to take it to the Feast of Tabernacles, so that the messages for services where they will be at can be videoed.
Wixom, Michigan Services this Sabbath.
As mentioned last week, we reserved a room so we can have services in Michigan on August 15, 2015.
We are scheduled to meet at the Wixom Public Library at 49015 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, Michigan. This is north of the 96 expressway. Wixom is basically between Novi and Brighton. Google maps says it is about 30 miles northeast of Ann Arbor and 33 miles northwest of Detroit. I have family members in the area and am staying with my father in South Lyon.
Services would probably start around 1:30 pm. We have the room reserved from 1:00 pm until about 5:00 pm.
If you live in or near Michigan and possibly would like to attend, please email me cogwriter@aol.com if you would like more details.
Construction has Begun in Grover Beach, California
The office is being constructed in Grover Beach, California. It is our hope to be fully moved to this in the next week or so.
As mentioned before, our new address is to be:
Continuing Church of God
1036 W. Grand Avenue
Grover Beach, CA 93433
We believe that the new office has room for us to better organize our literature as we have printed booklets and magazines in multiple languages. We also hope that we will be able to be more effective in proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom from there as we believe some changes we will make to our editing because of the move should help.
Canadian Registration
We put together more paperwork for Canadian authorities regarding our application to have the Continuing Church of God registered as a charity in Canada. I signed some additional documents this week and mailed them to Canada, for people there to also sign them, so they can be submitted before another deadline the Canadian authorities have extended.
We do expect that this should finally be resolved this year–but the process has taken a very long time, and costs funds in Canada.
Feast of Tabernacles
The Feast in 2015 begins the evening of September 27th.
If you are planning on attending in North America, our sites are in Denver, Colorado, USA and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Have you let us know your plans yet?
If you are planning on attending in Denver and have not contacted me, please send me an email: cogwriter@aol.com. If you are interested in possibly giving a sermonette, let me know as we have not finalized all the sermonette schedules yet for this site.
If you are planning on attending in Niagara Falls and have not contacted Herb Haddon, please send him an email: hwhaddon@gmail.com.
If you are planning on attending the Feast of Tabernacles’ site in New Zealand, contact John Hickey, email john.h@vodafone.net.nz; his mobile phone number is 021 519 441.
If you are planning on attending in Tanzania or Kenya or Nigeria or elsewhere in Africa and you are not from Africa, please contact Pastor Evans Ochieng, email evochieng74@gmail.com.
For more information of the various locations of the for 2015, including those in Africa & Asia, check out the updated article Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2015.
Africa
We want to thank all of you who have supported the work with your tithes and offerings, including those of you who have given extra to support the work in Africa.
We have spent thousands of dollars to fix a building in Ndhiwa, Kenya. Many will be staying in this building (for free) during the Feast of Tabernacles in Kenya. This is expected to be the largest CCOG Feast site in 2015.
On other African matters, we plan to have two CCOG pastors from Kenya be able to visit groups in Ghana and Malawi that have expressed interest in the CCOG in a few weeks–we have had to send funds for the travel as well as literature (including Bibles in the Chichewa, also known as Nyanja, language) for this.
We also hope to eventually be able visit groups in Nigeria and Ethiopia later this year if funding allows.
USA News Items
US President Barack Obama continues to promote his nuclear deal with Iran, despite comments from some in his own party as well as leaders in Iran who suggest that the deal is very dangerous (see Barack Obama dismisses criticism of nuclear deal with Iran; Pat Boone reports comments about Islam on making deals).
There were more protests and violence in Ferguson, Missouri (USA) related to the anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown. Enough that a ‘state of emergency’ was declared (see State of Emergency declared in Ferguson). But that did not stop the protesters and many were arrested after that declaration (see Protesters arrested in Ferguson; Obama ‘indifferent to ‘Christian’ persecution in the Middle East).
Earlier this week, a recording was released believed to be the first time that the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mentioned his ‘I have dream’ speech’ (see Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘Dream,’ Ferguson, and God’s Plan). Sadly, the situation in Ferguson shows that people of different races still harbor improper racial prejudice. This does not bode well for the USA. More civil unrest will happen in the USA.
Also in the USA, the presidential campaign season began with two debates between the Republican candidates who tried to propose their solutions for what they think is ailing that nation (see Republicans debate as Hillary Clinton meets with Kim Kardashian). Some like the Democrats, while Donald Trump on the Republican side keeps attracting a lot of attention (see, for example, Bernie Sanders moves up; Charismatic claims the Donald is God’s Trumpet).
While some ideas some candidates have proposed make carnal sense, we in the Continuing Church of God realize that our hope is in the coming Kingdom of God and no political leader of this world. Short of true national repentance, the USA is doomed (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8) despite its overall military strength (cf. Daniel 11:39).
Over in Australia, it was reported they still have not succumbed to the abomination of legalizing homosexual marriage (see Australian ‘PM defends stalling on same-sex marriage’). But, this is sadly likely to change. Once it does, this will not bode well for Australia.
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 who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one titled: Cashless society in 2016? A written article of related interest is titled: M&M & CNN: European and other governments pushing towards cashless society where 666 can operate. 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: John 16-18: Truth, Trinity, and Pontius Pilate. There is no directly related written article for all that was covered, but some may find the articles Jesus: The Son of God and Saviour and The Apostle John and CCOG and What is Truth? of related assistance. 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 that we list each week.
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 Bible News Prophecy channel.
Concluding Comments
Jesus taught that difficulties and trials will arise:
1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
5 The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.Today, if you will hear His voice:
8 “Do not harden your hearts (Psalm 95:1-8).
Brethren, the Feast of Tabernacles is getting closer. “Oh come, let us worship … For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: Do not harden your hearts.”
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer
Continuing Church of God