Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings again from the Five Cities region of California.
We hope and pray that you are doing well.
There have been some serious fires south of where we live. Although my wife Joyce and I (and our son David) live in an area subject to wildfires, we have not yet been affected.
French Materials
We are working on getting the French version of our The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast online and in booklet form.
We have also been working on getting more French language materials available online. Some that had been printed before, were not online, and this is something we have finally been able to partially fix (we hope to finish this sometime this month).
French language materials can be found at http://ccog.eu/category/francais/.
We have had some inquiries from French-speaking Africa as well as Haiti. We believe that having more materials available will help people in those regions who have expressed some interest in the Continuing Church of God.
Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia
Radson Enock Mulozowa
Radson Mulzowa sent in the following report:
Greetings From Malawi, Zambia And Mozambique. We Thank God For The
Expansion Of His Work And For Protecting Me During The Road Accident
When I Was Coming From Mozambique. We Have Opened Two Congregations
Namely: Nakhuni And Micholo. After The Fot We Have Registered 42
Brethern To Be Baptised. Pastor Let Me Give You Other Prayer Request
Addhng On What You Are Praying For. 1. There Was Heavy Rainy Storm In
Mozambique Which Has Caused The Roof Damages Of Duya And Khwalivo
Branches. Some Brethern Houses Has Collapsed.. 2. Pastor I Have Failed
To Give You Pictures About My Trip For Transparency Of What Is
Happening Here Due To Lack Of Camera And Computer.Whenever Am Sending
Report I Do Borrow .Pray For That. 3. Pushing Bicycle Since God Is
Opening Many Door To Be Visited With The Gospel Travelling Is A
Challenge. But I Know With Prayer All Things Are Possible. 1 Thessa
5:25. Two Are Better Than One, I Have Shared These Prayer Requests To
Pastor Evans. Best Regards. RADSON MULOZOWA
Radson Mulozowa came with us about a year ago and has displayed zeal for the work.
World News Items
Austria’s Constitutional Court ordered the legalization of homosexual marriage (see Austria’s Constitutional Court orders ‘legalization’ of homosexual marriage) on Tuesday. Today, the Australian parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the same perversion. Australians have been celebrating this abominable decision. This will not end well (cf. Romans 1:18-32).
A new study came out in Germany that showed that the vast majority of Germans who responded are more skeptical of the USA led by Donald Trump than Russia, North Korea, or Turkey (see Germany fears Donald Trump policies more than North Korea, Russia, or Turkey). We are seeing the divide between the USA and Germany growing–and this will not end well for the USA (cf. Isaiah 10:5-12; Daniel 11:39).
Speaking of Donald Trump, he took a step yesterday to keep a campaign promise related to moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (see Donald Trump announces plan to relocate US Israeli embassy to Jerusalem against torrent of world opinion). This move is not without controversy. Demonstrations and protests have occurred. Hamas has also now called for more violence. It is reported that the secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, said that Donald Trump had destroyed all hopes a peace deal in the region. Palestinian President Abbas has said that Donald Trump’s move essentially eliminates the USA as being a broker for a future peace deal. Palestinians have chanted that ‘America is the mother of terror’ (see Hamas calls for third intifada after US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital’ ‘America is the mother of terror’). Despite various things that are being said, there will be a type of temporary peace deal coming to that part of the world (cf. Daniel 9:27). Donald Trump’s announcements appear to be pushing the Palestinians to look away from the USA, but towards Europe to broker a future peace deal–that will happen according to biblical prophecy. But we will see more violence before that happens.
An Islamic plot to assassinate British Prime Minister Theresa May was reportedly thwarted. In other UK-related news, it was reported that after pressure from governments like the UK, Google announced that it will be hiring 10,000 people to censor YouTube (see UK’s Theresa May survives Islamic assassination plot; Google/YouTube to hire 10,000 censors after UK pressure). While the claim is the need to remove “extremist content,” Google/YouTube’s definition seems to also cover content that holds to certain biblical teachings. As I have written before, a ‘famine of the word’ (cf. Amos 8:11-12) is coming and private internet companies look to be involved in that.
Not only is there more and more electronic surveillance and censorship, it was reported that the US government is actually working on developing plants that can commit espionage (see Loss of privacy, and now government wants plants to spy). Human governments are moving towards totalitarian control (cf. Revelation 13:16-18).
Some hope cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will provide privacy, but do not count on that.
That being said, many want to dethrone the US dollar as the world’s primary trading and reserve currency. Venezuela proposed a cryptocurrency, tentatively called the Petro, as a step in that direction (see Bitcoin hits new high, Venezuela planning ‘petro’ cryptocurrency). Russia, China, and other Gentile powers are trying to come up with a way to use gold and/or cyber-technologies to bypass the US dollar (see Russia, China and BRICS: A New Gold Trading Network). Russia will one day cooperate more with the Europeans (see Frank Engel: Existence of EU-Armenia deal shows EU and Eurasian Union are not enemies). The US dollar will one day be worthless and replaced by something that that Europeans can monitor (Revelation 13:16-18).
While we continue to use YouTube, we realize that one day another platform will likely be needed. Until then, we still believe we get the best value (YouTube does not charge us to post content) and reach (more search for videos on YouTube than any competitive service we are aware of) sticking with YouTube. But, no, we do not trust their censors to support various aspects of biblical content in the future.
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 most who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one: Can the Great Tribulation begin in 2018? 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: Understanding the Resurrections. 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 BibleNewsProphecy channel. There are also some messages at the CCOGAfrica channel.
Concluding Comments
The Apostle John was inspired to write:
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-11)
Brethren, salvation only comes through the Lamb, Jesus (Acts 4:1-12). We continue to get materials in as many languages as we can for the short work of Romans 9:28. This will be a factor in the ultimate fulfillment of Revelation 7:9-11.
Thank you for doing your part.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer