Letter to the Brethren: November 30, 2017

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings again from Grover Beach, California.

We have been working on updating our booklets.

We added items such as the CCOGAFRICA.org website as well as fixing some typos in several of our English language booklets. We also updated some statistics and added additional information.

This is something I had been meaning to do earlier, but finally got to it. Then there were some issues with CreateSpace that delayed this.

Anyway, we did this to make it easier for our new translator in Bangladesh to translate our booklets. But it needed to be done either way.

We continue to prepare for the short work (Romans 9:28) and strive to do the work in truth (cf. Psalm 33:4).

Youth Camps

Pastor Evans Ochieng sent the following (blurred) photograph from Kenya our youth camp in Ndhiwa last year:

Ndhiwa Youth Camp

Related to 2017, he sent the following:

Pastor Dr Bob,
Greetings from Kenya.
The youth camp in Kenya will start on 13th December 2017. We shall have two sites for youths. That is Ndhiwa and Transmara Rift Valley.
Evans

Pastor Dr Bob,
Greetings from Kenya. …
Help me tomorrow or Friday morning to see how I can do some preparations for that trip and for youth camp. Youths are so many this time than before.
Evans

Please pray for the success of these camps.

Feast 2017

Pastor David Cheruiyot belatedly sent the following photographs from the Feast of Tabernacles:

Nakuru, Kenya

This was added to our Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2017 page and our CCOGAFRICA.org page.

BibleNewsProphecy Podcast

Brian Thiel has worked to make our Bible News Prophecy videos available via podcast. This means that they can be played on i-Phones, i-Pads, as well as Windows devices (or anything) that plays i-Tunes.

A podcast is “a digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically.” Our podcast also includes video.

We continue to add new ways to try to reach more people (cf. Matthew 24:14; 28:19-20).

Here is a link: BibleNewsProphecy Podcast.

Facebook

Canadian Randy Freeze sent me the following email yesterday:

Just wanted to send a November update for our facebook pages. We now are running 3 pages the CCOGCanada page we have been running the page for a month now, this page is now targeting North and South America along with Oceania, The CCOGEurope page is now targeting Europe and Asia, The CCOGAfrica page is targeting all of Africa.

Here are the links to the pages

https://www.facebook.com/CCOGAfrica

https://www.facebook.com/CCOGCanada/

https://www.facebook.com/CCOGEurope/

Here are the stats

CCOG Africa has 2938 Likes and has reached 20908 people

This page was created on Nov 26, 2017

CCOG Europe has 2583 Likes and has reached 23867 people

This page was created on  Nov 26, 2017

CCOG Canada has 27568 likes and has reached 372962 people

We created this page on October 31, 2017

This has really been taking off. Here are the number of people in some of the countries the Canadian page is reaching:

The USA was next on the above list.

We are to go to all the world (Matthew 24:14-28:19-20) and that is happening!

Facebook is currently a door that is opening more and more for us to reach more people. Our new podcast capability may also fit in with the Facebook developments.

Evangelistic Campaign

Of course, we do not limit our outreach activities to the internet.

Yesterday, Evangelist Evans Ochieng sent me the following:

Evangelistic Campaign

Pastor Dr Bob,
Greetings from Kenya.
I will have seminar  on 6th December 2017 at Muhuru Bay along Lake Victoria border of Tanzania. I will be accompanied by Granton Otieno, Bartholomew Ogada, and others.

Please pray for the success of this campaign.

Modesty

We live in a world where many of the brazen sinners seem to succeed. This has affected society.

While many do not value modesty, the God of the Bible does:

8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; 9 in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, (1 Timothy 2:8-9)

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. (1 John 2:15-16)

We are not to love the world and push pride as the world does.

More on modesty and conduct can be found in the news post: Modesty and Free Speech.

World News Items

The situation between the USA and North Korea remain tense (see Russia warns of ‘apocalyptic scenario’ on Korean Peninsula). Furthermore, North Korea just successfully launched a more sophisticated ICBM that theoretically could hit any part of the USA (see North Korea launches more advanced missile; Hawaii taking steps). If the situation escalates to a full war in the future, many will die in North Korea and the USA will have losses.

In the Middle East, various Kurds are concerned that the USA will no longer support them as the Islamic State suffers more defeat (see AP: Syrian Kurdish official to US: Don’t turn your back on us). While the CCOG is not taking a political position on what the Kurds want, it should be pointed out the the USA has seemed to use the Kurds when convenient and ignored them when it wanted to. The Bible warns of judgment coming to “an hypocritical nation” (Isaiah 106, KJV) and how the USA has tended to treat the Kurds is simply one example of apparent USA hypocrisy.

Hundreds were killed by Islamic terrorists in Egypt last Friday (see Hundreds killed in Egypt). As many of you are aware, we in CCOG have been teaching that Islamic terrorism is likely to be a motivating factor for the rise of the final King of the South (Daniel 11:40-43) of biblical prophecy. This past Sunday:

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the country’s two-year-old military coalition would “pursue terrorism until it is eradicated completely” http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/26/middleeast/saudi-arabia-crown-prince-terrorism-fight/index.html

While we do not yet have the formation of the final King of the South, some steps towards such a formation have been taking place (see also Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman pushing King of the South?).

On other matters, digital blockchain cryptocurrencies have been in the news (see CNN Money: There’s no stopping bitcoin right now.). Blockchain currencies may very well be used by the 666 Beast of Revelation 13:16-18 as our recent video “Blockchain, Karl Guttenberg, and 666” indicates.

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 most who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one: Popes Change on Limbo and Purgatory? 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: Prophecy and the Two Witnesses. 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

Jesus taught:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. (Matthew 5:3-13)

Brethren, live as Jesus taught and be blessed. Do not lose what you have been striving for.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer