Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from the Five Cities Region of California.
We have been working on many issues, including looking how to provide more videos for those who speak Spanish.
On other matters, for the second week in a row, the recommended sermonette is much longer than usual and the sermon a slight bit shorter than usual.
The sermonette is the 11th and last video covering our book: Who Gave the World the Bible? The Canon: Why do we have the books we now do in the Bible? Is the Bible complete?
That book is now with a volunteer editor who is in the CCOG. After editing, and then formatting, and then printing, we expect to mail copies out–that probably will be in the Spring. There is a lot of referenced material restored in this book that the vast majority of this world’s scholars have overlooked or misunderstood–but this is available to those willing to look. The truth about the word of God is important to know.
Volunteer Opportunity
From time to time, someone emails me and offers to volunteer to assist the CCOG.
When their skill set matches an immediate need, I usually suggest something.
If not, I usually suggest that they wait until some need pops up that they can assist with.
Well, we now have something to announce.
Yesterday, I was speaking to Oscar Leal and Carlos Aponte about producing more Spanish language videos (like at least one per week).
To assist them, they would like a native English speaker (the persons does NOT have to know any Spanish) review a machine-transcript of video messages I give, compare it word-for-word to the actual words spoken in the video, and then correct the transcript to be completely accurate. This would probably take several hours per week.
So, if you have the inclination, the time, and are willing to make a long-term volunteer commitment, perhaps this is for you.
If you believe that this is something you would want to do, please email me at COGwriter@aol.com
We only need, at this time at least, one person to do this. Therefore, if we receive multiple emails, please do not be offended if you are not selected to try this. Other opportunities are bound to come up.
Laptops for Africa
The latest shipment of laptops and supplies to Africa has finally arrived and been picked up today.
In order to make shipments cost-effective, a relatively slow form of shipment is used. Otherwise, shipment costs can be double or triple the cost of the items (this happens for books, for example, if we ship them in a more conventional and faster way to Africa or other part of the Eastern or Southern Hemisphere).
The box contents include:
10 used laptops
some kitchen utensils / tools
3 pairs of shoescouple dozen school notebookscouple dozen promotional (free) penscouple dozen promotional (free) post-it note padsdozen 8-digit calculatorsdozens of Bibles
dozens of CCOG books
5 combination pad locksFYI – some of this Evans asked me for. Other items just used to fill the box.
We sometimes order Bibles and copies of the CCOG Bible Hymnal to be shipped directly to Bill Wedekind so he can include them in the laptop shipments.
For example, we can get bulk paperback NKJV Bibles purchased and shipped for a total of about US$1.60 each to him. But the ‘normal’ shipping cost alone each to Kenya is over $6.00. But if they are included in the laptop shipment, there is no additional cost to ship them. So, we put them in the container with the laptops being shipped as we have room.
We strive to be as cost-efficient as practical.
The laptops, themselves, tend to be used for education, communication, and translation of our materials into African languages. These are laptops donated to Bill Wedekind for this purpose, so we have no out-of-pocket costs for them. Over 90 laptops have now been sent to support the work.
Speaking of support, we also provided some support for our host in South Sudan through Koang Deng in Ethiopia.
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. The one suggested for this week is: Who Gave the World the Bible? Who Had the Chain of Custody? 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: Let’s Talk About Sin: What is It? Should You Hate Sin? 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 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.
World News Items
With Joe Biden as US President, the government of Iran is waiting for contact (see Iran waiting for Biden-Harris Administration and the deal of Daniel 9:27). If the Biden-Harris Administration gives Iran what it wants, that looks to risk military action by Israel, whereas if it does not, that looks to risk military action by Iran. The situation between Iran and Israel may be an important factor that will lead to the temporary peace deal of Daniel 9:27.
Although Joe Biden is a Democrat, a member of his political party, Tulsi Gabbard has sounded the alarm about many of his recent ‘moves, including those related to more domestic surveillance (see also ‘Would YOU Be Considered a Domestic Terrorist Under This New Bill?’)–otherwise known as spying on citizens (see Tulsi Gabbard: Domestic-Terrorism Bill Is “A Targeting Of Almost Half Of The Country” Michael Snyder: The Police State Is Coming For “Religious Extremists”, “Evangelical Christians”, “Pro-Life” Activists And “Libertarians”). Jesus warned about coming persecutions (John 15:20, 16:33) and Christians will get some in previously unexpected ways. The USA is less ‘free’ than when I grew up. It is now definitely the land of the regulated and monitored–and both regulations and monitoring are intended to be increased in the Biden-Harris Administration.
On the international front, the 51st World Economic Forum has been going on ‘virtually’ (see World Economic Forum: Pushing for the ‘great reset’ and the UN’s & Vatican’s agenda ). The theme is something called the ‘great reset’ which globalists, including those at the United Nations and the Vatican, want to happen to change society. Controlling food supplies is also part of this (see World Economic Forum wants to control food as part of its great reset?). Expect more totalitarian type controls in the future (cf. Revelation 13:16-18).
Concluding Comments
The Apostle Paul was inspired to write:
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:11-14)
Not only are we to put on the armor of light, we are to walk properly and support the work of proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world as a witness and then the end of this age will come (Matthew 24:14).
Brethren, our focus is not on this world or its politics–though we watch as Jesus said (Mark 13:5-37) and see events aligning with properly understood biblical prophecies.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer