Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from Grover Beach, California.
We hope and pray you have been growing in grace and knowledge.
We made three videos this week, two of which essentially finished up our series related to the book: Proof Jesus is the Messiah.
The third one was made on Monday and posted online Monday to report about an event in Israel from its Sanhedrin.
Flipboard and BNP Radio
Shirley Gestro, from New Zealand, sent the following statistics related to our reach on Flipboard and BibleNewsProphecy Radio:
Bible News Prophecy Internet Radio
Countries: 191
Unique Listeners: 52,804
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Top 20 Countries by listener Minutes
United States 5251876
Unknown 966535
United Kingdom 900345
Germany 421790
Canada 270306
New Zealand 201984
Australia 201474
Bahamas 130744
France 102463
Japan 89595
Virgin Islands (U.S.) 43076
South Africa 36324
Mexico 34657
Netherlands 29480
Ukraine 24774
Switzerland 18193
Ireland 16018
Italy 10789
Hungary 10728
Jamaica 10251
We have recently added short messages for the 5 new books recorded by John Hickey and Bill Wedekind.
Tune In app: 1,000 (added to favourites)
You can also listen on:
Streema.com / Simple Radio app
Online Radio Box
Vtuner
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Winamp
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Bible News Prophecy on Pinterest
(COGwriter News items & BNP radio):
Average monthly viewers: 8,290
Top Pin Impressions for last 30 days:
- ‘US, EU Call Election in Pro-Russian E. Ukraine a Sham’
- Yemen famine and USA ‘polio’
- PESCO and a Great European Army
- Financial Reset by 2022?
- 1 & 2 Thessalonians
Bible News Prophecy on Flipboard
Articles Flipped: 11,359
Magazines: 22
Followers: 3,813
Viewers: 23,867
Most viewed in previous 30 days:
- 200+ OT prophecies Jesus filled; Plus prophecies He made that were fulfilled. cogwriter.com 11/25/2018
- EU approves Brino Brexit deal, but deal still needs approval by UK and EU parliaments. cogwriter.com 11/26/2018
- COGaIC interview related to Marcion. cogwriter.com 11/24/2018
- Archaeological evidence about Isaiah reported, but what about his message? cogwriter.com 2/23/2018
Flipboard is a personalized magazine app designed for phones and tablets, but you can access it on a personal computer, too. For us, Shirley Gestro takes articles, mainly from COGwriter, and delivers them in an attractive visual feed. Our Flipboard name is Bible News Prophecy. You can also find us under Prophecy News.
Bible News Prophecy is our online radio program. This is an audio version of the Bible News Prophecy videos, sometimes with other speakers. This ‘radio’ is also available as a mobile app.
Speaking of radio, I ended up on the Nutri-Medical Report last Thursday (this was actually somewhat unexpected, but my schedule opened up to allow me to do so). Topics covered were animal sacrifices, prophecy, and what the Sanhedrin had planned for this week. I am also scheduled to be on today at 2:00 pm PST. I expect to cover the fact that the Sanhedrin did perform a burnt offering to dedicate their new altar (some of which is covered in the recommended sermonette for the week: Sanhedrin makes burnt offering to dedicate altar!) and perhaps some items related to the time of the Gentiles.
India
India host, Sani Mao sent me several emails that I asked him to consolidate to give all some information about him, the group in India, and the process of them deciding to be part of CCOG (bolding his):
Dear Sir,
I was baptised in 1995 by Pastor Daniel Zechariah of the WCG and he still probably lives at Hyderabad. My association began sometime in 1987 and I completed the Bible course in 1991.
When the WCG went through the changes, I also left it, without anything against it though.
My wife and I were married in the Manipur Baptist Convention Centre Church in 1998 when I left WCG as it was for all practical purposes another Protestant church. The articles in The Plain Truth magazine became very watered down from the crystal clear pictures I used to get in reading it and the comfort I got from reading The Good News. I also could not pay the subscription. I had been paying my tithes to the Hyderabad office. I read the weekly paper publication of the WCG under Tkach Jr. one after another with pages and pages of photos of ministers being excommunicated with the hope that they be repentant! That was the time I left, and joined the Baptists. However during the time I heard a voice in a dream that the Sabbath remains and is valid.
In 2003 I went to Hawaii, USA to attend the Haggai Leadership Training Institute in Evangelism. But the teaching of Kingdom of God was ever in me. I visited quite of lot of Baptist churches preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God and in the various Haggai Leadership Seminars.
In time emails and the internet began to boom and I went searching for what became of the WCG which was turning Grace Communion International.
I stumbled onto a web page that listed all the Churches of God. It was an exit group. The conversation was nothing near edifying as a CoG should be. Some of the criticisms were so silly they helped me get closer to target.
So I began to read through the profiles of PCG, RCG, UCG, LCG and others, I followed Dr. Thiel’s opinion on the true Church. I went to LCG because Dr. Thiel was in there.
When I saw that the Sabbath continues to be valid I joined the LCG. While the ministers were arriving, I had a dream again. I was at the airport and I saw not an L-shape but a C-shape route on the ground which I could not comprehend nor tried to understand at the time.
I had considered the “C” could be a “U” depending on one’s view point! What if it meant the United CoG? They write pretty good too! But when I read that Victor Kubik went for a small birthday celebration, I changed my mind. I decided to stick to the 18 truths that you wrote about (and it was a sermon topic) and decided to invite LCG ministers since you also showed your preference for LCG at the time.
From my dream, I wrote to {CCOG elder} Sasha Veljic and told him that perhaps the C represents “Continuing“. And that dream was well before the CCOG formed.
My wife is also a believer. [She said because the Baptist Pastor had prayed, “Our Mother in heaven”, this was an important reason for leaving the Baptist Church!] She was baptised by LCG minister, Mr. Rajendra Rao Moses.
Later on when Dr. Thiel moved out of LCG, I too found LCG talking of things that were hard to reconcile with the Bible. For further confirmation, I began to study again.
In the meantime, differences started popping up and we were made to decide.
So we also moved out, or to put it more politely, LCG left us.
Early this year an associate left us; one who I put in charge to verify the credentials of ministers and churches. He communicated with Gaylyn Bonjour and [with you too!] concluded that since Gaylyn Bonjour did not intend any ministerial credentials upon you when Gaylyn Bonjour prayed for Double Portion on you, that your position is invalid. But since he was in habitual error, I felt he misunderstood. It made me sit up and now I am quite convinced of CCoG and that is our story. I disagreed with him.
I must also thank for his [and Peter Salemi’s] rather unkind mention of Dr. Thiel, in this endeavor.
I explained as a host to the group who are former members of LCG the following:
1) Isaac did not intend Jacob to be blessed. But it happened. And Isaac reiterated, the blessings once bestowed cannot be undone.
2) Jacob then dreamt of a ladder that ascended to heaven and saw thousands and thousands of angels descending and ascending. God had endorsed the blessing made by Isaac upon him.
3) Elijah said to Elisha that his request was difficult. Nevertheless, the later used the former’s cloth to cross over the Jordan.
4) Reaching a town he encountered some unruly children who made fun of him. Thereupon she-bears came out and silenced them.
5) I also told them of a US lady senator who carried a gun close to her chest. It was obviously for self defence. But while changing her clothes the gun accidentally went off and the bullet pierced her jaws and head . She was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. This was not intended, but it was an irreversible action.
Gaylyn Bonjour may not have intended you to be a minister who exceeds in rank over the presiding Evangelist.
After these things were discussed, the net was then busy with discussion on the scenario on how the elderly Evangelist would have handled the issue of having a younger bypass him.
But his [Gaylyn Bonjour’s] pronouncement too cannot be reversed. And you have asked him this question too.
This in a way has settled an unsettled question in my mind.
So I would like to work together as we wish to be part of CCOG.
With regards,
K. Sani Mao.
Perhaps I should add that in the Fall of 2011, two ministers of LCG told me prior to the double-portion anointing by Gaylyn Bonjour that I did NOT need to have hands laid on me to be a prophet, nor did I need any type of credentialing. However, I told them that I felt, biblically (e.g. 2 Timothy 1:6), that some type of laying on of hands anointing was needed (as God’s ‘credentialing’ through the laying on of hands was needed). Furthermore, I prayed in November 2011 that if being a prophet was or was not God’s role for me that something would happen in my trip to LCG’s Charlotte office the next month to make this clearer.
And on December 15, 2011, while anointing me, LCG minister Gaylyn Bonjour prayed that God would grant me a double-portion of His Spirit. When I asked Gaylyn Bonjour if he had ever thus prayed for that for anyone else, he said “No, I never have.” He then said that this was reminiscent of what happened to Elisha and the passing of the mantle in 2 Kings (2:9-13). He also stated then (and later) that what he did could not be undone and that he understood what this could mean. He again brought these points up to me on March 23, 2012 and seemed to emphasize the passing of the mantle to me then. Because of intentionally broken promises and integrity issues, which came to a head on December 28, 2012, I had to leave LCG and CCOG was formed.
As far as CCOG goes, it has the fruits Jesus said would help one determine whether it has a true or false prophet (cf. Matthew 7:15-20).
Getting back to India, the group there just purchased airline tickets for Sasha Veljic to visit them for nearly two weeks next month. This new CCOG congregation is in Northeast India, in the Manipur state.
We are pleased that they were able to understand scriptures related to anointings and those of sound doctrine, and have became part of CCOG.
We thought that sharing their journey into CCOG would be of interest to present and potential CCOG members.
World News Items
The US Department of Homeland Security is warning Americans that a catastrophic loss of electrical use, from an incident involving an electromagnetic pulse, is a real threat (see Electromagnetic threat real: Could it be a factor in the fall of the USA?). A severe loss of electrical power may well be a factor that will weaken the USA near the start of the Great Tribulation.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who survived a “no confidence vote” yesterday, seems to be hoping that by delaying a vote in the Parliament about the ‘soft’ Brexit deal, that it may pass if the other choice is no deal–also called a ‘hard’ Brexit (see Brexit: Is Theresa May playing ‘Deal or No Deal’?). The two EU Presidents (Juncker and Tusk) have gone on record saying that the EU will not negotiate a better deal for the UK, but that ‘clarifications’ can be made. The EU will not forget Brexit and will one day seek military revenge against the UK (cf. Daniel 8:24-25).
The European Union is taking steps to be able to conduct international trade with Iran in a way that bypasses the USA dollar and certain USA controls (see ‘EU initiates proposal to dump the dollar and to create a PetroEuro system’). In the future, the USA dollar will totally collapse and Europe will, for a time, dominate the world. The EU’s Parliament just approved what they have called the world’s largest ‘free trade deal’ (see EU makes world’s largest ‘free trade deal’ as some see EU moving towards totalitarian fascism).
Of course, not all is well in Europe. The ‘Yellow Vest’ protests in France have continued and have spread to other lands (see Yellow vest violence in France continues and spreads to Belgium). There are also migrant-related protests (see Migrant backlash in Europe: Will Islamic migrants be pushed out?). Expect more civil unrest in Europe before the final Beast of the sea rises up (Revelation 13:1-10). It is likely that economic, migrant, and banking issues will be a factor for Europe to one day reorganize and turn over power to the Beast, that the Bible prophesies will happen (Revelation 17:12-13).
Over in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin held a ceremony where they had a burnt offering and dedicated a new altar that they hope to use for daily sacrifices (see Sanhedrin ceremonially dedicates altar with a burnt offering!). The Bible teaches (Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11) that the sacrifices will be stopped, which means that they must first start. This week’s ceremony shows that some in Israel are determined to resume daily sacrifices. The recommended sermonette for this week deals with some of that (watch Sanhedrin makes burnt offering to dedicate altar!).
Suggested Sabbath Service
Here is a suggested Sabbath service for this week for our scattered brethren:
- 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. The one suggested for this week is: Sanhedrin makes burnt offering to dedicate altar! 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: Facts and Atheists’ Delusions About Jesus.Other sermons are also available at the ContinuingCOG channel. 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 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.
Concluding Comments
Notice the following from the Old Testament:
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. 3 According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. 4 You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
(Leviticus 18:1-5)
Now notice the following from the New Testament:
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”17 Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
18 ‘I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
Brethren, as we see the trappings of this world’s holidays this month, let us keep in mind that God does not want us to be in communion with the dark ways of the world and its religions.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer