Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from Florida!
We have had internet connection issues, though, this week.
That being said, ee had a fine Feast of Unleavened Bread, including the seventh day, while in California.
We also have received positive reports from various leaders around the world, one of which we are sharing in this letter.
Ethiopia
Deacon Koang Deng sent the following from Ethiopia:
Dear Elders:
This is a day we end celebrated the feast of unleavened bread together with Sabbath day celebration here in gambella region.We thanks God for calling his people and by knowing his way of life.Again, We do have some people need to be baptize and I told to them to wait for some weeks to learn the important of sound doctrines of this group ccog.Again, Let our God adding more knowledge to his people.Here in Ethiopia, only (ccog) know the God’s plans for people to get salvation.What I experienced now here in Ethiopia, we are only people who keeping the God Feasts in according of his ordinance.Thanks,Koang deng.
Prayer Request
Shirley Gestro sent in the following prayer request from New Zealand:
Dear Dr. Thiel,
I am passing on a prayer request from Fai Fiso Leaana, it is for her eye surgery (pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft) scheduled for Friday, 16 April. Her request is for brethren to please pray for her eye surgery to go well, and she heals quickly as it can take some time to heal. The surgery is to remove significant pterygium in her left eye which causes blindness and replace it with a conjunctival graft to prevent recurrence. Prayers are much appreciated.
My family first met Fai Fiso Leaana in 2013. She had a dream that preceded the start of the official declaration of the CCOG back in 2012 (details are in the article Dreams, the Bible, the Radio Church of God, and the Continuing Church of God). Her picture is also on the front cover of our booklet: Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?
BNP Magazine
We were able to send out most of our English language version of the April – June 2021 edition of Bible News Prophecy magazine.
But only most.
Amazon Kindle has had a variety of problems, which resulted in them cancelling parts of our orders of magazines and books. If you are an English-language subscriber and did not receive a magazine, it will likely not be until the end of this month or early next month until you will receive it.
Amazon Kindle is also causing problems for the CCOG because of its interpretation of new US copyright laws. Because of that, we had to go to another printer when we went to reprint our booklet: Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen.
Rumble and YouTube Problems
We added another platform for our BibleNewsProphecy videos. It is called Rumble.
Here is the URL: https://rumble.com/c/biblenewsprophecy.
We have concerns that Rumble may put advertising on this that we may not be able to stop.
We also have concerns that YouTube is sometimes putting advertisements up in front of some of our sermon and sermonette videos.
Because of this, while we intend to continue with YouTube as our primary platform at this time, in this weekly Letter to the Brethren, each week instead of pointing to our YouTube channels for those interested in other sermonettes and sermons, we will point to BitChute as it (so far) has not ever placed advertisements in front of our videos
Northeast Florida Services: April 10, 2021
As mentioned that week, Joyce, David, and I are now in northeast Florida.
On April 10, 2021, we plan to hold services somewhere in the Jacksonville Beach area at 2:00 pm.
If you wish to attend, please send me an email: COGwriter@aol.com
Suggested Sabbath and Holy Day Services
Here is a suggested Sabbath service for our scattered brethren and other interested people:
- 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: Teach Children Self-Discipline, Self-Control. Other sermonettes are available at our Prophecy channel on BitChute https://www.bitchute.com/channel/prophecy/
- 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. Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover. Other sermons are also available at the COGTube channel on BitChute https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cogtube/
- 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. There are also messages in the Spanish language at the CDLIDDSermones channel.
World News Items
Church membership and attendance has continued to drop in the USA (see ‘US follows Europe as church membership falls below 50 percent’). Part of the side effect of this is that political leaders in the USA are more inclined to believe restrictions (like the US Constitution) mean as much as before. And while there were/are problems with the US Constitution, many of the rules., etc. that deviate from it have not been good. Expect to see more religious restrictions in the USA before the coming famine of the word (Amos 8:11-12).
Meanwhile, over in Europe, there are more and more moves towards a powerful European army (Daniel 11:25; see Express: EU army fears: Germany ‘willing to give up national military’ for powerful Brussels force). This will NOT end well for the USA, its British-descended allies, or many nations in the Middle East and North Africa (Daniel 11:39-43).
Concluding Comments
The Apostle Paul wrote:
2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. (Colossians 4:2-4)
Brethren, while, unlike the Apostle Paul, we are not in physical chains, leaders such as evangelist Evans Ochieng and I have been prevented from going through certain doors because of COVID as well as censorship from ‘Big Tech.’ Yes, please pray for us and the other CCOG leaders so ” that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ.”
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer