Letter: October 11, 2013

Posted on Posted in Letters to the Brethren

Dear Brethren and co-workers in Christ:

It has been another full and busy week out here in California.  We have been trying not only to catch up and keep up, but to press ahead “toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

Doing the Work

We have fantastic news!  We now have the first edition of our Bible News Prophecy magazine out in the language of Tagalog.  Tagalog is mainly spoken by people from the Philippines, and so now we have our Bible News Prophecy magazine in four languages!  It is also available as a downloadable pdf: MGA BALITA NG PROPESIYA NG BIBLIYA January-March 2013 edition.   We are hopeful that we will end up with more editions in Tagalog.

On Monday, we received the printed editions of the English and Spanish versions of the October-December 2013 edition of our Bible News Prophecy magazine. So, magazines were mailed to subscribers all over the world.

After having some technical difficulties, I was able to upload the Spanish version of the October-December 2013 edition, and it is available as a downloadable pdf: Noticias de Profecía de la Biblia: Octubre – Diciembre 2013 (the English version had been previously uploaded as is available as a downloadable pdf: Bible News Prophecy, October-December 2013 edition).

We continue to spend a lot of time on issues related to Africa  and are attempting to decide how to best handle certain areas of that continent. I hope to visit Africa by late 2014 if it makes sense.

World News Events

The US government shut down, debt limit, and related matters tended to dominate the financial news.  What has happened so far seems to have been to discuss how to increase the debt limit for a time.  This has historically been what the USA has done several times in the past, as opposed to actually getting to the point it no longer needs to borrow.  This does not bode well for the USA in the long term (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8).

The Chinese and the Europeans announced a currency swap program on Thursday that will allow them to basically by-pass the USA dollar in some of their trade as well as boost the acceptance of the euro and the renminbi yuan as international trading currencies.  This was missed by many, yet this is part of setting the stage for the end of USA dollar dominance in international trade.

Also, related to economics, US President Obama has proposed that Janet Yellen would become the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (CNN: Fed’s Yellen to become ‘world’s most powerful woman’).  The idea of a woman becoming Fed Chairman is something I suggested may  happen back in April 2013, based on my understanding of Isaiah 3:12.  FWIW, at the time I posted about it, Janet Yellen was not considered to be a serious candidate for the position as she personally had stated that she was too old for the job.

On other international matters, Egypt is still in the news.  There have been protests by supporters of the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood (see Pro-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators again killed in Egypt) as well as concerns by the Israel concerning aid to Egypt (Israel concered USA reportedly cutting funding to Egypt).  The situation in Egypt will ultimately change and we will see that the Islamist factions will gain more influence than they now have.  A confederation of Arabic/Islamic states with Egypt will form according to Bible prophecy , but it will not end well for Egypt (Daniel 11:40-43; Ezekiel 30:1-9).

Over in Europe, because of success at the Large Hadron Collider, the Noble Prize for physics in 2013 went to two Europeans who came up with the hypothesis of something called the Higgs Boson (CERN’s Large Hadron Collider and the Noble Prize for Physics).

Explaining a Higgs boson is fairly complicated.   Basically many believe that a Higgs boson is a type of subatomic particle that gives a gravitational charge (which most people would mainly consider to be weight or mass) to other particles. By understanding its nature, this is a major advance for the scientific community and should produce some highly advanced products, likely including military ones.

Finding and understanding the Higgs boson, or something like it, may propel Europe into a new level of technology that will accelerate its rise on the world scene.  With its Large Hadron Collider, Europe has already been able to capture antimatter much longer than a lot of scientists had previously believed was possible.  Europe will temporarily be able to lead the world, partially because of mistake made by the USA as well as technological advances that it is working on.  More and more, Europe is demonstrating that it is making technological progress.  The Bible warns that ultimately the world will marvel at its military abilities (Revelation 13:4).

Suggested Sabbath Service

Here is our suggested format for Sabbath services this week:

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 try to improve that as well).

Notice the following from the Apostle Paul:

13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. 16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.  (2 Thessalonians 3:13,16)

Brethren, you are in my prayers.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel, Pastor and Overseer
Continuing Church of God