Letter to the Brethren: July 16, 2020

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from Grover Beach, California.

The State of California has reimposed more lockdowns, but so far, they have not had a significant effect on the work here.

We continue to work on matters around the world.

We also would like to announce that we have a new book in the French language: PREUVES QUE JÉSUS EST LE MESSIE.

This is a translation of the English book: Proof Jesus is the Messiah.

We also have it in the Spanish language: PRUEBA de que JESÚS es el MESÍAS.

We are working to have more materials in more languages to better reach more people.

We are also working on the French and Spanish websites to try to make finding materials easier.

World News Items

We are still seeing lockdowns and limitations in various parts of the world because of government moves they say are related to COVID-19 (see BBC: Millions go back into lockdown around the world; AP: Small businesses worldwide fight for survival amid pandemic). Over 50 million in the US have applied for unemployment benefits this year (see https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/More-than-50-million-have-filed-for-unemployment-15412510.php). Some speculate it could take years for certain economies to recover (see Rickards: Economy Won’t Recover Until 2023 … This is the reality of this depression).

Additionally, we are seeing territory (see US and China in battles of words over the South China Sea: Might Australia pay the price?) and trade issue conflicts between the US and China. At the same time, Germans are increasingly of the view that the US will not remain the top power in the world (see ‘Hong Kong: China vows to retaliate after Trump ends special economic status’ ‘Many Germans believe China will replace US as superpower’). But it will be a European power (cf. Daniel 11:39), not a Chinese one, that will one day defeat it.

Over in the UK, Brexit matters are concerning some (see Guardian: ‘Johnson must be mad if he thinks Britain can afford a no-deal Brexit’; COGwriter: Brexit will be worse than the Guardian realizes, deal or no deal). While both the European Union and United Kingdom look to suffer a bit economically from this, the prophetic reality is that Brexit will be one of several reasons why the European Beast power will one day take over the UK (cf. Isaiah 17:3; Daniel 8:24-25).

Yes, the world is changing. The Anglo-American world order is not going to last for too many more years.

Turkey’s President made an announcement to turn the famous Hagia Sophia–originally built by the Greek Orthodox–into a mosque. The US, EU, Vatican and others have spoken out against this decision (see Hagia Sophia, Pope Francis, al-Aqsa Mosque, and Turkey in Prophecy). Prophetically, this looks like a move to closer align Turkey with other Islamic nations. That is expected as Turkey will align with many of them for a time (cf. Psalm 83:4-8)–but this will not last as Turkey will betray the King of the South (cf. Daniel 11:25-26) to the European King of the North (Daniel 11:40-43).

The situation in the Middle East will change.

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: Christians, Why Prophecy? 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: Evolution is NOT the Origin of Life. 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.

Concluding Comments

The Apostle John wrote:

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants — things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. (Revelation 1:1-3)

Brethren, the time is nearer.

Events that we are seeing around the world are confirming it.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer