Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings again from the Five Cities regional of California.
We hope and pray your week went well.
Bomet and Chesoen, Kenya
Tomas Koskey sent in the following report:
hallo bob greeting you in jesus name! the work of the lord is doing
well here,the church is growing to this date,im paster in charge of 2
local churches,bomet and chesoen. we had manage to build temporary
building at bomet,where over 50 members are gathered, chesoen is a
litle flock we started a year ago ,we had 12 members,they are praying
at school, so we need support and prayers to build a church. thank
you.
tomas koskey.
The needs in Africa are great, but we try to help and reach those we can.
Update on Vince Patterson
A while back we reported about health matters for Vince Patterson of the United Kingdom.
Vince Patterson
We have received the following update on him:
Sharon Patterson and the family would like to thank everyone for their prayers and expressions of support following the stroke to Vince almost three weeks ago. There have been some signs of improvement: kidneys and bowel function have resumed. Vince is breathing normally, and has just been taken off ventilator support. Pressure in the brain from the bleed has markedly diminished. He can open his eyes normally, and some few facial movements can be discerned, but there is no sign that either normal sight or hearing has yet resumed. He has been given a tracheotomy to facilitate easier breathing and free up the mouth area from lots of tubing. There is as yet no bodily movement at all below the neck. Sharon is hopeful that Vince will be moved back from Oxford to Northampton today to continue his hoped-for recuperation. Please continue to pray for God’s urgent intervention and encouragement to restore brain function in this still life-threatening situation.
Last Friday, Vince Patterson was moved back to Northampton. We have not yet heard from him directly.
Spanish News Items
We received the following news items from our Spanish language translator:
Norman Edwards on ‘Protestant Samaritans’
Norman Edwards sobre ‘Samaritanos Protestantes’
http://www.cdlidd.es/norman-edwards-sobre-samaritanos-protestantes/What is the Fate of Christians in Europe and Elsewhere?
¿Cuál es el destino de los cristianos en Europa y en otras partes?
http://www.cdlidd.es/cual-es-el-destino-de-los-cristianos-en-europa-y-en-otras-partes/More States getting closer to marijuana ‘legalization’
Más Estados acercándose a la ‘legalización’ de la marihuana
http://www.cdlidd.es/mas-estados-acercandose-a-la-legalizacion-de-la-marihuana/Syria, Hillary Clinton, WikiLeaks, and Prophecy
Siria, Hillary Clinton, WikiLeaks, y Profecía
http://www.cdlidd.es/siria-hillary-clinton-wikileaks-y-profecia/‘Soybeans power third-quarter growth in the US’
Tres cuartos de todos los frisoles de soya crecen en los EE.UU.
http://www.cdlidd.es/tres-cuartos-de-todos-los-frisoles-de-soya-crecen-en-los-ee-uu/
“NIBIRU IS REAL, AND HILLARY KNOWS”?
¿”NIBIRU ES REALL, Y HILLARY LO SABE”?
http://www.cdlidd.es/nibiru-es-real-y-hillary-lo-sabe/Operation ‘Euphrates Rage’ and the Armageddon prophecy
Operación ‘Ira del Éufrates’ y la profecía de Armagedón
http://www.cdlidd.es/operacion-ira-del-eufrates-y-la-profecia-de-armagedon/Pro and Anti Refugee Australians rally
Australianos pro y anti refugiados se enfrentan
http://www.cdlidd.es/australianos-pro-y-anti-refugiados-se-reunen/Russia reveals ‘Satan 2′–a missile that supposedly could destroy France or the State of Texas
Rusia revela ‘Satan -2’ – un misil que supuestamente podría destruir a Francia o al estado de Texas
http://www.cdlidd.es/rusia-revela-satan-2-un-misil-que-supuestamente-podria-destruir-a-francia-o-al-estado-de-texas/Federal Reserve policies, ECB, and ‘Quantitative Easing’
Políticas de la Reserva Federal, ECB, y ‘Facilitación Cuantitativa’
http://www.cdlidd.es/politicas-de-la-reserva-federal-ecb-y-facilitacion-cuantitativa/India utilty going away from cash and cashless threats from ‘Big Brother’
Dependencia de la India quedándose sin efectivo y amenazas de falta de efectivo del ‘Gran Hermano’
http://www.cdlidd.es/dependencia-de-la-india-quedandose-sin-efectivo-y-amenazas-de-falta-de-efectivo-del-gran-hermano/
As most of you are aware, the Continuing Church of God has a separate Spanish language website http://www.cdlidd.es. The term Continuing Church of God translates into La Continuación de la Iglesia de Dios in the Spanish language, also called Castellano or Español.
Although we have a lot of materials in the Spanish language, currently we only have a few scattered Spanish speaking supporters. But I believe that will change in the future.
World News Items
US President-elect Donald Trump has made statements that concern the Spanish-speaking people in the Western Hemisphere (see Donald Trump on Castro and Cuba–Latin America concerned). The prophetic reality is that Latin America is expected to align with the final European Beast power (Revelation 13:1-10; Ezekiel 27:12-24), and it may be that Donald Trump is, most likely inadvertently, pushing Latin America more towards Europe.
Speaking of Europe, the European Commission put out proposals yesterday about increasing European military spending. While the world acts like this is not that unusual, it is consistent with biblical prophecies (cf. Daniel 11:25,39-43; Revelation 13:4). Interestingly, news sources reported that this proposal was basically necessitated because of the Brexit vote in the UK as well as the election of Donald Trump in the USA (see European Commission unveils some of its military plans). Of course, in our materials, including the Bible News Prophecy videos, I specifically warned that both the Brexit vote and the rise of Donald Trump would spur Europe towards more unity and towards building up its military. We are seeing preliminary fulfillment of those warning already–and the actual Brexit has not yet happened nor has Donald Trump yet began to be the President of the United States.
Last week, in this Letter, I mentioned more about censorship. Ran across something a couple of days ago that some world’s ‘wise’ journalists suggest that events that we report about, like increasing USA debt, may be categorized as ‘fake news’ (see Biblical prophetic understandings proposed as ‘fake news’?). We are truly living in bizarre times.
Of course, the Bible teaches:
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:20-21)
While the above has had past ramifications, it certainly also seems to be prophetic for our day.
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 many who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is The Panama Canal and its Impact on Biblical Prophecy. It was done on location and there are some audio issues. 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: Trinity: Fundamental to Christianity or Something Else? 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 Bible News Prophecy channel.
Concluding Comments
The Apostle Paul was inspired to record the following:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)
Brethren, we must be willing to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. And despite difficulties in this world, we have to live by faith.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer