Letter to the Brethren: February 20, 2025

Posted on Posted in Letters to the Brethren

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from Grover Beach, California.

We completed the last sermon in our six-part series covering each and every verse of the Book of Hebrews.


Koine Greek Papyrus P13 fragment from the Book of Hebrews
(Public domain via Wikimedia)

The recommended sermon for this week is: Hebrew 13: Let Philadelphia Continue.

Here is a list of the sermons in this series:

Hebrews 1-2 & Angels: An Introduction
Hebrews 3-4: Belief & the Sabbath
Hebrews 5-7: Teach & Melchizedek the High Priest
Hebrews 8-10: Entering the New Covenant.
Hebrews 11-12: Faith–Yes, the Diligent are Rewarded.
Hebrew 13: Let Philadelphia Continue.

This is the 18th book of the New Testament in which we have intentionally covered each verse.

Jesus taught:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

And while we have covered each and every verse in the New Testament that quoted Jesus, it is our intent to cover all the books of the New Testament.

We have also covered 5 books of the Old Testament the same way.

The Apostle Paul taught:

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

By covering every verse of the New Testament and many in the Old Testament, we are assisting in helping you be “thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Free Book

We are now able to temporarily (for several days only) the Kindle/e-book edition of my book, Unintended Consequences and Donald Trump’s Presidency: Is Donald Trump Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic, Greco-Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and other America-Related Prophecies?

There will be many unintended consequences of the Trump-Vance Administration.

And there already have been.

Unintended Consequences and Donald Trump’s Presidency: Is Donald Trump Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic, Greco-Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and other America-Related Prophecies?-Kindle edition Kindle edition is available free for a few days. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Unintended Consequences and Donald Trump’s Presidency: Is Donald Trump Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic, Greco-Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and other America-Related Prophecies?

Podcast Media

Currently, we have a few channels of our own considered to be podcasts, plus we are on the Faith Stream Network podcast channel.

Some of our supporters in North America have been working on seeing if some commercial podcasters would like to interview me.

Our supporters have mainly, but not exclusively, been working with a company called PodMatch. Well, I am scheduled to do a couple of interviews next week hosted by those who are not part of the Church of God that were connected to us via PodMatch. We will see how they go.

Other podcasts are also scheduled for later.

Jesus told the Philadelphian church:

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,

‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. (Revelation 3:7-8)

The Apostle Paul wrote:

12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord (2 Corinthians 2:12).

8 But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. 9 For a great and effective door has opened to me (1 Corinthians 16:8-9).

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).

Luke wrote:

27 Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. (Acts 14:27)

Thus, the Bible is quite clear that the open door is the door to proclaim the Gospel–and that Gentiles were an important part.

So, it looks like this podcast matter may be another open door.

Feast of Tabernacles

Church services for the Feast in 2025 are to begin at sunset on October 6th and run through (including the Last Great Day) sunset October 14th in 2025.

Joe Lumpay sent the following from the Philippines:

Dear Dr. Thiel,

Happy to inform you that The Continuing Church of God – Philippines, has found a place where to put God’s name in this year’s Feast of Tabernacles.
The place is one of the Villas of a resort compound in the municipality of Lila, province of Bohol, a part of the Visayas Islands.
The island of Bohol is widely known tourist destination for its famous Chocolate Hills, that sits on two municipalities, an approximately one-hour ride from said feast site.
We already have sent our reservation fee and subsequently received a confirmation.
Please see facebook link below.
Happy Sabbath.
Warm regards,

So, it is great that the above site has been set.

We had once again hoped to try to go to Hershey, Pennsylvania for our primary North American site, but again some other conferences are going on there which may make it unaffordable and impractical.

So, we are also looking into other locations.

Also, others are looking for sites in other parts of the world.

Here is a link to our, in progress, Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2025.

Suggested Sabbath Day Services

Here is a suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and other interested people:

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 mobile 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.

In case one or more of our video channels are unavailable, down, restricted, or ?, understand that we are on multiple platforms.

For sermons in English:

ContinuingCOG YouTube channel. Dr. Thiel has produced video sermons for this channel.

Also available at BitChute COGTube https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cogtube/

For sermonettes in English:

Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel BibleNewsProphecy https://www.youtube.com/user/BibleNewsProphecy.

Bitchute Prophecy https://www.bitchute.com/channel/prophecy/,

Vimeo at Bible News Prophecy https://vimeo.com/channels/biblenewsprophecy

Brighteon Bible News Prophecy https://www.brighteon.com/channel/ccogbnp.

Rumble https://rumble.com/c/biblenewsprophecy.

DailyMotion https://www.dailymotion.com/dm_e24c8ac0050c5e7445cd5573711869c6/videos

For animations in English:

CCOG Animations YouTube channel.

Also available at BitChute COGAnimations https://www.bitchute.com/channel/coganimations/

Sermons and sermonettes in Spanish:

CDLIDDSermones channel.

African videos:

CCOGAfricaYouTube channel.

Also available at BitChute COGAfrica https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cogafrica/

Audio messages:

Bible News Prophecy radio. This is an audio version of the Bible News Prophecy videos on one of our internet stations as well as our radio broadcasts in English. The BibleNewsProphecy.net website also has information about our international radio presence for Europe, Asia, and North America. That page is also available as a mobile app.

Bible News Prophecy International radio. This has links to our non-English language online radio station as well as materials in multiple languages.

There is also additional information at the Continuing Church of God Multimedia page.

World News Items

Another study came out pointing out that ‘liberal women’ are less happy than ‘conservative women’ (see ‘Liberal women’ are unhappy)–essentially, women that push against religion and certain traditional roles tend to be unhappy and their children tend to have more mental health problems (see also ‘Liberal women’ are unhappy).

US President Trump and his Administration continue to shock many in the world, particularly in Europe and Ukraine (see Europe in shock as Trump-Vance push ‘friends’ towards becoming enemies, Ukraine’s president calls for an “army of Europe,” whereas Germany’s chancellor blasts statements from US Vice President Vance, and Ukraine reportedly panics related to US proposed peace plan).

The leading candidate to be the next chancellor of Germany believes that he and Germany should lead Europe (see Friedrich Merz says he wants Germany to lead all of Europe). There will be many unintended consequences to Donald Trump’s statements and policies.

Let me add that the European Union wants people to think mealworms are not dangerous and fine for food (see European Union asserts insects it has approved for the food supply are not dangerous–the Bible and some scientists disagree). But the Bible disagrees (see The New Testament Church, History, and Unclean Meats).

Concluding Comments

In the New Testament, the Apostle James wrote:

Notice something about wisdom from the Book of Proverbs:

13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her.

19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
By understanding He established the heavens;
20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up,
And clouds drop down the dew.

21 My son, let them not depart from your eyes —
Keep sound wisdom and discretion;
22 So they will be life to your soul
And grace to your neck.
23 Then you will walk safely in your way,
And your foot will not stumble.

24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror,
Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;
26 For the Lord will be your confidence,
And will keep your foot from being caught.

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
“Go, and come back,
And tomorrow I will give it,”
When you have it with you. (Proverbs 3:13-28)

Brethren, seek wisdom and do good.

Do not delay.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer