Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Next Sunday marks the second anniversary of the official declaration of the Continuing Church of God and the sermon recommended for this Sabbath discusses some of what has happened since then.
Between the internet, radio, YouTube, printed publications, and personal contact, we have reached millions around the world in over 220 countries and territories. We have been actively working to fulfill Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20.
Personally, this particular week has been a bit grueling because of travels and working on different aspects of the final phase of the work.
Currently, I am in Paris, France where we have been trying to put something together related to the origins of the French and their place in prophecy. The time here has been helpful as certain aspects were confirmed further that support some of our views on this.
We are working at getting the ‘Ezekiel warning’ to all the descendants of the tribes of Israel. And as we now have someone in Canada translating one of our booklets into the French language, I believe having more items related to the French will help us better reach them.
The Germans
Of course, Jesus said to reach the entire world with the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 24:14), so the message is NOT limited to people of Israelite heritage.
Someone sent me a link to an article about current German ambitions, by one of its political leaders, that I would like to share here:
German Foreign Minister Steinmeier’s great power speech to big business
By Johannes Stern
6 December 2014In his opening speech at the SZ Economic Summit, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to business heads to support Germany’s rise to be a world power.
The meeting did not take place in the Dusseldorf Parkhotel, but in Berlin’s Hotel Adlon. Sitting in the audience was not Fritz Thyssen and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, but Thyssen-Krupp CEO Heinrich Hiesinger and other current heavyweights of German big business. And of course, the Social Democratic Party Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is not Adolf Hitler.
Nevertheless, Steinmeier’s appearance recalled Hitler’s speech to the Dusseldorf Industry Club on January 26, 1932. Like the soon to become Führer, Steinmeier made a direct appeal to German big business to support Germany’s rise to be a world power. He explicitly called on big business to support him and the government in pushing through a militarist foreign policy turn against the will of the people.
Steinmeier’s programme strongly recalls the German lust for power, once believed to be a thing of the past. “Germany should ‘lead Europe to lead the world’, ‘Europeanise Russia’ and ‘multilateralise the US’”, Steinmeier demanded, citing an essay that has been featured on an official web site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for months. He added, “No small task!”
The implications of these words are unmistakable. Germany’s return to an aggressive foreign policy runs along similar channels as followed in the first half of the 20th century. The German elites once again see it as their “task” to dominate Europe in order to become a world power. Today, as before, this programme of German imperialism means conflict with Russia and the United States.
To “Europeanize Russia” means nothing other than to subordinate Russia to a Europe controlled by Germany. To “multilateralise the US” means to contest the role of the United States as the world hegemon. In other words, German foreign policy in the future will develop increasingly in opposition to the two powers against which it has already waged two world wars.
After the crimes of the Nazi regime, the German elites are, at least for now, still trying to present their programme of a third “grab for world power” as if it were being imposed on them from the outside. Every day, “the expectation of German involvement” is encountered from our “partners abroad”, Steinmeier protested at the Adlon. He had therefore “asked a large group of international experts to formulate their expectations of German foreign policy”.
From the many responses he received to this request, Steinmeier highlighted just one, titled “Germany’s destiny: leading Europe in order to lead the world”. This comes from the pen of the Indian-born Professor Kishore Mahbubani of the National University of Singapore, located in an authoritarian, one-party state.
The text, together with other calls for a more aggressive German foreign policy, can be found on the web site “Review 2014” of the German Foreign Ministry. Of Mahbubani’s key demands, Steinmeier said tersely, “And do you know who said that? Not a Frenchman, not an American, but an Indian professor wrote that for us.”
Steinmeier’s speech was remarkable not only for its call for German leadership in the world. It also expressed an openly imperialist programme…
When Steinmeier had finished, there was thunderous applause in the ballroom of Hotel Adlon. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/06/stei-d06.html
This speech is basically a call for a fourth reich. Another attempt for Germany to try to rule the world. The Bible reveals that, for a time, this will succeed with a leader known as the final Beast.
Earlier this year, I debated whether or not to leave references in the the personal correspondence course developed in 1954 by the old Radio Church of God in the revised Study the Bible Course for the Continuing Church of God. I decided, with some modifications, to let it remain in, despite the fact that I realized that some who find the reality of Germany’s current goals a bit hard to accept.
Anyway, here is some of what is in Lesson 3 of the Study the Bible Course of the Continuing Church of God: that was in the July-September 2014 issue of our Bible News Prophecy magazine :
FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
A HOT WORLD WAR 3 IS COMING!
Make no mistake!—The soon-coming World War 3 will end all wars! It will DECIDE WHO WILL RULE the world.
World War 2 was supposed to have been fought for this purpose, but it did not produce a decisive outcome. The nations know they have the power—and much to spare—to destroy all life from the earth in the form of the Hydrogen Bombs and other devices!
World War 1 of 1914 and World War 2—in which four times as many were killed as in World War 1—were only flashes in the pan! They were only the forerunners of the UTTER DESTRUCTION which is soon to break SUDDENLY upon the nations! The contenders for world rule will not abandon their quest. That’s why God says “WATCH“! (Luke 21:36).
This is a command from God. Let us therefore examine the backgrounds of the ambitious contestants who would rule or ruin this earth. Your very life may well depend upon your being convinced of the deadly seriousness with which gangster nations are out to attain their goal. You need more zeal in studying God’s way of ESCAPE revealed in the coming lessons of the Study The Bible Course.
Here are some amazing excerpts and comments which reveal to you the dogged determination and diabolical cleverness with which each pretender has settled down to attain his aim—kingship over this earth—the office that rightly belongs to Christ!
Germany about to SHOCK the World Again!
Since the above headline was originally written, Germany has shocked the world by rising up from the ruins in WWII and now becoming a major economic and technological power once again.
Down through the ages the Assyrians, the ancestors of modern Germany, called themselves the Herrenvolk—the “MASTER RACE.” Today the term is still used among themselves. Has today’s Germany given up the idea of achieving this dream?
The keynote of what lies in the Germanic mind was voiced in 1950. Then, according to T.H. Teten’s book Germany Plots with the Kremlin, Dr. Adenauer, the leader of Germany, caused much embarrassment by leading a German crowd in singing “Deutschland Uber Alles”—“GERMANY ABOVE ALL OTHERS“—in the presence of Allied representatives. Why was this thought lurking in his mind?
Here are Some Clues to the PRESENT GERMAN ATTITUDE
“No defeat is final. Defeats are simply lessons to be learned in preparation for the next and greater attack,” said German General von Stuelpnagel in 1944. Furthermore, he stated, ”In the NEXT WORLD WAR…the same mistake should not be made. The principal ADVERSARY WILL BE THE UNITED STATES, and the entire effort must be concentrated against this country from the beginning. . .our defeat in the present war need not be considered except as an incident in the triumphal march of Germany towards CONQUEST OF THE WORLD”—Deutschland Uber Alles!
Twice already Germany has attempted to seize world rule. And twice Britain, USA, and their allies have prevented her from achieving it. This time she will make sure that the USA is not around!
Adolf Hitler told us of the next step in the carefully laid German military plan to rule the world when he expounded the thesis in Mein Kampf. He said that Germany must FIRST DEFEAT THE WEST in order to have a free hand for the “Drang Nach Osten”—the march toward the East—toward Russia! How perfectly all this accords with revealed prophecy! Hitler was following this same plan in the last World War until Russia ceased to supply him with oil to further his war effort and he was forced to turn upon her in an attempt to seize oil from her.
Germany is out to conquer the world. As it is absolutely necessary for YOUR PERSONAL SAFETY that you be convinced on this point let’s examine further overwhelming evidence. Let’s examine the amazing tenacity with which Germany has set out methodically to achieve its goal of world rulership.
Many decades ago leading German industrialists founded a society which they called the PAN GERMAN LEAGUE. Its slogan was “Deutschland uber alles!”—Germany over all. They utilized the trademark “Made in Germany” as proof of German superiority. Behind their commercial and business methods was a central, PERMANENT strategy—with the GOAL OF CONQUERING THE WORLD!
It was they who were largely responsible for inducing the Kaiser to enter World War 1. It was they who were behind World War 2. Co-operating with the German militarists and the SECRET MOVEMENT started by General Ludendorff, who selected Adolf Hitler as his stooge and protégé, these same industrialists financed the Nazi movement and actually elevated Hitler to power. (Senator Kilgore’s report to the Senate Military Affairs Committee calls attention to this fact.) SOME FELT THAT HITLER WAS MERELY A TOOL. He was the rabble-rouser they needed to sway the masses of German people to get behind their fanatical plot for world rule.
The world heard and saw Hitler. But many of his promoters and backers kept in the background. If Hitler failed in this second round of World War, they planned to let him shoulder the blame before the world, and KEEP THEMSELVES FREE TO SECRETLY PLOT THE THIRD ROUND—WORLD WAR 3! This coming war! While those leaders are now dead, various of their descendants and others still have the same goal.
It was those industrial barons who met together to take action in mid-May, 1943. They knew Hitler’s war was probably lost. They realized the time had come for them to once again go UNDERGROUND—to throw all guilt of World War 2 on Hitler just as they had thrown that of the first round—World War 1—on the Kaiser.
From that time until now German industrialists have led a double life. To the world’s view, they have become merely private business men. BUT SECRETLY THEY HAVE OTHER PLANS! Their job is to keep German industry ready to produce the weapons, munitions, and technologies for the third war. Their mission is to finance the new movement, by whatever new name they may call it, whenever the time is ripe.
Here is a view of how one GREAT INDUSTRIALIST, for an EXAMPLE, has carried out his part in this plan. It is the hoax of multimillionaire industrialist Fritz Thyssen. It is revealed in the book, The Nazis Go Underground, written by Curt Riess. At the beginning (note the extreme cleverness) of World War 2, Thyssen was sped into neutral Switzerland proclaiming loudly that Hitler had duped him into financing the Nazi party, and then, once in power, Hitler had double-crossed and confiscated his wealth, and left him poor. The Nazis went through the pretense of removing Thyssen from their party. Thyssen wrote a book about his “shabby” treatment at their hands. But when the Nazis invaded France later, where Thyssen was, the very Nazis who were supposed to hate him, left him unmolested and soon he was back in Berlin where the Nazis were, living in luxury. The whole RUSE was to deceive the Allied nations into placing confidence in Thyssen in event of an Allied victory so he could supply them with funds for World War 3.
Today, thanks to this deeply-laid plan and others like it, Krupp and many other outstanding German businessman are actively establishing great factories all over the world to finance World War 3. The Nazi plans are well-laid. (Interestingly, within five minutes of reviewing the above, in 2014, which was written in the 1950s, I, Bob Thiel, walked onto a jet airliner and noticed that the huge automatic walkway had the name ThyssenKrupp—an industrial power that exists to this day.)
MANY OF THE NAZIS WENT UNDERGROUND, MAY 16, 1943!—two years before the war ended! The German generals, scientists, industrialists, bankers, and others, knew that War 2 was lost. So at that time they organized themselves for the future. The most thoroughly organized secret government of modern history began to function—UNDERGROUND! In 1951 Dr. Adenauer admitted the presence of 134 former Nazis, who served under Hitler, in high echelons in his Bonn government.
What about now? Germany is Europe’s biggest economy. It is well recognized that Germany dominates the European Union in many respects. Furthermore, even today various Europeans are WORKING FEVERISHLY on ultramodern weapons and other projects. From the Large Hadron and F.A.I.R. collider projects to the new Galileo “GPS” system to laser weaponry (ELI) to the European Space Agency, the German-dominated European Union is taking militaristic steps. Germany also makes nuclear weaponry for France. In addition to those, the Europeans have control over hundreds of nuclear weapons that the USA has put at their disposal. Europe has more military might at its disposal than most think.
Today you hear much of about the European Union, a potential UNITED STATES OF EUROPE. Where does it fit into Germany’s plan for world conquest?
Dr. Adenauer and his press reveal that Germany regards the creation of a United Europe as the first step in the erection of a Third Power bloc. In 1950 Dr. Adenauer wrote, “A federated Europe will become a Third Force in the world.” Later he said, “No one has more to gain through the unification of Europe than the Germans who are the most numerous and most dynamic among the nations west of the U.S.S.R. {Russia}.” Dr. Adenauer here showed that GERMANY desired a United States of Europe and points out that it WILL NATURALLY LEAD it once it is formed—in the 21st century, we are seeing the rise of such a German-dominated power.
We know what Germany’s plan is. WE know how the United States of Europe will be used by it to attempt world domination. PROPHECY shows 10 kings—TEN DICTATORS—will arise in Europe and GIVE THEIR POWER TO GERMANY.
You may be saying to yourself, well since most of the above was written in the 1950s, it cannot be true of the Germans in the 21st century. Many believe that Germany has been a reliable ally for decades and would not attempt domination again. You might believe that, and even many Germans and other Europeans believe that, but you would be wrong.
Notice the following prophecy:
5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
6 I will send him against an ungodly nation,
And against the people of My wrath
I will give him charge,
To seize the spoil, to take the prey,
And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 Yet he does not mean so,
Nor does his heart think so;
But it is in his heart to destroy,
And cut off not a few nations.
8 For he says,
‘Are not my princes altogether kings? (Isaiah 10:6-8)Isaiah tells of a time when the end time Assyrian power will be sent against an ungodly (NKJV), “hypocritical” (KJV) nation. The Hebrew word used signifies being “soiled” or impious, and certainly that is now the case for the nation known as the United States. The Snowden leaks of USA espionage have enraged the Germans.
Not only do they feel that the USA has been hypocritical here, they were outraged to learn that according to leaked documents from the National Security Agency (NSA), Germany was one of the most spied upon nations by the USA. Another NSA document said that the only nations that the USA considered to be “close friends” that did not warrant extensive USA espionage was the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic dominated lands. Germany and others have noticed this and will take steps against them later (cf. Daniel 11:39; Psalm 83:-3-8).
But notice verse 7 of Isaiah 10. It says this “Assyrian” power does not think that it will destroy at the time of the end. Yet, it is in his heart, his history, his outlook on the world to do so.
Why?
Because as verse 8 indicates, he considers that he is part of a master race.
The Vatican Enters the Scene
Does Germany have any plans for receiving the aid of a “Great Church” in helping her achieve world domination? The “Madrid Circular Letter,” which reflects the thinking of those in authority in Germany, states, “The German people, well-trained and steeled under national socialist leadership, are dominated by two sovereign ideas: the concept of a German Reich, and Germany’s mission of leadership in the world. . .the religious tradition embodied in the concept of the Reich, sparks our political mission and is especially attractive within the Catholic world.”
The GERMAN IDEA OF THE ACHIEVEMENT OF WORLD RULE PLEASES THE CATHOLIC WORLD GREATLY! Now let’s see why this is so. It affects our lives—your life—much more than you probably realize!
On February 10, 1952 in his pontifical exhortation, the POPE SAID, “THE WHOLE WORLD MUST BE REBUILT from its foundations.” Secretly the Vatican diplomats have been laying the foundations of a PROGRAM that WILL REMAKE WESTERN CIVILIZATION! It has to be PLANNED SECRETLY so it will not be discovered until it is too late to stop! The Vatican contends that peace can be maintained only by a CATHOLIC-DOMINATED international organization which has IRON TEETH TO CRUSH OPPOSITION.
“This organization,” said Pope Pius in his Christmas message of 1944, “will be vested . . . with supreme authority and POWER TO SMOTHER. . .AGGRESSION.” Note the organization which the pope will invest with this power will have military might enough to quell resistance to the Church. This coming world-ruling organization would therefore be a UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE with the pope, which both biblical and certain Catholic prophecies indicate will be a type of anti-pope and final Antichrist, promoting this (Revelation 13:11-18). The Vatican cannot plan this directly with the Russians, and the United States is not fired with a desire to rule the world that way. But the various Germans and other Europeans have all the qualifications the pope final desires. Germany needs the man power of the millions of people that the Vatican can throw to her support and the final apostate Church needs the power of the German military might! These things also fit into prophecy completely: In Lesson 3, section ‘Gathering at Armageddon,’ read question 2. And section ‘Results of Christ’s Victory,’ read questions 4 and 5. TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
The Vatican, consistent with various Catholic “private prophecies” believes that Europe will rise again for a final revival of what has been called “the Holy Roman Empire.”
One more thing needs considering. Will GERMANY PLAY ALONG WITH RUSSIA until she can subdue the West? The answer is “yes.”’ In at least six or seven separate instances within the last two hundred and fifty years, in which Germany has turned on the West, she has first made a pact with Russia to make herself safe from the East. Now will be no different.
The events mentioned here are certain to happen. The astounding union of German-dominated United States of Europe with a great church is going to rise up! READ your newspaper—read the news magazines that cover international news. You can see the things described here taking form, day by day. The world will “wonder”—stand aghast—when it sees this union of Church and State appear (Revelation 17:8). You need not stand aghast. Remember, God says: “Watch and pray that you may escape.” There is a reason. For God promises escape to His own.
Expect more industrial support for Germany dominance. Expect more support for an ecumenical plan to lead to assistance by one who will claim to represent the Vatican.
World events are moving towards the fulfillment of properly understood biblical prophecy.
World News Events
In the USA, its President Obama declared that 2014 was a ‘breakthrough year.” Yet some of the ‘breakthroughs’ in 2014 were not good (see Obama says 2014 was a ‘breakthrough year’). Events related to 2014 are covered in the recommended sermonette for this coming Sabbath (watch Sixteen News Events that May Affect YOU).
Also in the USA, it announced that its stockpile of nuclear weapons has been reduced by 85% since its high during the ‘cold war’ (see USA nuclear weapons down by 85% (plus)). While the Bible tells of a time of disarmament that God will implement, what the USA does not seem to realize is that the less weapons it has, the weaker it is relatively speaking to powers such as the one starting to rise up in Europe.
North Korea threatened the White House and other USA interests after Barack Obama said that the USA would somehow retaliate for North Korea’s suspected involvement in hacking Sony Pictures (see North Korea threatens the White House). Wars and rumors of wars were prophesied by Jesus (Matthew 24:4-8).
Over in Vatican City, both Pope Francis and one of his cardinals discussed difficulties related to their inter-faith and ecumenical agenda, but they still are pushing for them (see Despite obstacles, Vatican pushing inter-faith and ecumenical agendas). Many may not realize this, but the Catholics of Rome have been working with the Lutherans for some time to participate in the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s hammering of his 95 theses on the door of a Catholic church, which led to his Protestant movement (see Catholics and Lutherans plan 500th split anniversary to work for reconciliation). Catholics and Lutherans hope that the 500th anniversary (which would be on October 31, 2017) will mark a time of reconciliation and mutual acceptance. The ecumenical movement is moving forward, and for a time, will succeed (Revelation 13:4-8).
Russia declared, again, that it intends to keep Crimea. It also stated that it was willing to “support compatriots” (see Russia defends Crimea annexation and dismisses Western sanctions). This comes after much of the West announced more sanctions against Russia. The Bible tells of a time when the “kings of the Medes” will turn against the end time daughter of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:11). While not all the “Medes” may be with Russia yet, the time will come when their leaders will be militarily (Jeremiah 51:28-32).
Suggested Sabbath Service
Here is our suggested format for Sabbath services 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 emailed-letter will be a recorded one: Sixteen News Events that May Affect YOU. A related written article is: Sixteen 2014 News Events with Prophetic Ramifications. Other sermonettes are also 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 emailed-letter will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is: The Continuing Church of God: Two Years of Proclamation. A related written article would be: The Final Phase of the Work. 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 that we list each week.
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.
Final Reminder: Income Tax Matters
Those who live in the United States are reminded that for contributions to be eligible for tax deduction for calendar year 2014, all donations mailed must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2014.
All contributions received via US mail for residents of the United States should be processed based upon the postmarked date on the envelopes.
Concluding Comments
Since I am sending this out on the day that heathen historically celebrated the birthday of the sun god Mithras, it made sense to quote some of what God had the prophet Jeremiah record:
1 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the Lord:
“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
5 They are upright, like a palm tree,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.” (Jeremiah 10:1-5)
Brethren, we are not to be dismayed as the heathen are nor participate in their repackaged pagan holidays. God says that their practices are futile–of no value, despite what the Protestants and Catholics may say about them.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel, Pastor and Overseer
Continuing Church of God