Letter to the Brethren: March 17, 2016

Posted on Posted in Letters to the Brethren

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings. We have been able to ‘finalize’ two booklets as well as the upcoming edition of Bible News Prophecy magazine.  I put ‘finalize’ in quotes as we are always updating our literature, but at least they are now finished for the time being.

We plan to send all non-African subscribers the new booklet, Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?, as well as the next magazine, after they arrive (which will be around two weeks from now).

Weekly Services in Wisconsin/Minnesota

Minnesota resident Terry Nelson wanted me to pass on to all of you that because of prayers God answered from he and I, God granted him another job to help pay for renting space for weekly services. He then wrote:

The new place we’ll be meeting at is the Fairfield Inn in Duluth, Mn.  Address is  901 Joshua Ave.  Duluth, MN. 55811.   Phone # is 218-723-8607. Dates that are booked;  March-19,26.  April 9,23,29,30.  Times are 1-5pm.  Superior Public library.  March 12, April, 16th, May 14th.  Times 10:30-1:45pm.  I’m trying to find another place for April 2nd.  I look forward to the Feast.  Thanks again.

The Superior Public Library is at 1530 Tower Avenue in Superior, Wisconsin.

Booklets Being Sent

We ordered many of our booklets to be sent to Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, New Zealand, and Nigeria. So, if you are a leader in one of those nations, expect to be receiving them. We sent out around 400 books in total to those lands.

These booklets are those that Amazon’s Createspace is producing.  We hope that they will all arrive prior to Passover next month.

I am especially pleased that we will be getting the newest booklet, Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?, to several of the African nations as many with us there did not have a background where they kept the Holy Days (some were Protestant and some were formerly affiliated with the Church of God, Seventh Day).

Now, we did not send booklets to Kenya or Tanzania as they get printed in Nairobi, and then are distributed from there.  We also hope that those in Nigeria and Ghana will soon be able to print literature there.

April 2, 2016 in Florida

As announced last month, I plan to be in Florida the Sabbath of April 2, 2016.

We could not get a library, so we arranged with the West Boca Executive Office Suites at 7777 Glades Rd #100, Boca Raton, FL 33434. Services are to begin about 1:30 pm.

If you live in Florida, and/or may wish to visit and would like to come for services, please email me. My email address is cogwriter@aol.com.

Church Building in Nigeria

As mentioned before, the CCOG building in Nigeria is completed. Pastor James Dzermine sent me the following photos:

NigChurch  NigChurchFront  NigChurchBack

We did provide substantial financial support for the construction of this building.

As mentioned before, some in various parts of Africa have asked for support for church buildings in their areas which we have repeatedly refused, because of lack of funds.

As mentioned before, we were forced to support Nigeria because in Nigeria churches are required to own at least one building or the government will shut them down. It really stretched our finances to have to help with the Nigerian building project and we still have not fully recovered our fund situation.

Despite that, we are glad that we think we fulfilled the legal needs to operate in Nigeria.

More on Africa

Pastor Evans Ochieng sent me the following yesterday:

Pastor Dr Bob,
I have come back from my trip in Kisii. I met three congregations in
Kisii. The first congregation I met was Singera. This is a new
congregation of Peter Omuya. I was very happy because this
congregation has completely changed from Sunday to sabbath and they
are very active. The problem which they have is just  a hall where
they can do services. they are just under tree. I promised them that
they should get some poles so that I will help them in some other
areas like iron sheets, nails and roofing nails and roof timbers. So
we came to conclusion that in April we shall try to make that hall
before heavy rain starts.
After that I met another new congregation of Mageche. They are in a
small town where we rented for them a hall, This congregation is
bigger than Singera. They have 38 members. I paid for them a hall for
four months. They are very serious in God’s work. Since many things
are new to them, they are active to learn many things.
Lastly I met our old congregation of Eberege. This is an old
congregation with over 80 members.
So my plan is to go to Rift Valley next month.

NIGERIA
According to the letter from James, the Boko Haram are still a problem
in Nigeria. That means we have to wait till the place is good. Now I
also talk with Koang from Ethiopia. He told me that in  their town,
peace in back. …

Evans

We are reaching people in Africa, but terrorism continues to sometimes interfere with what we are trying to do.

World News Items

France’s President Hollande wants Europe to get more involved in Syria and not wait until the USA gets a new president (see France’s Hollande wants Europe to take lead in Syria and not wait until USA gets a new president). More in Europe are starting to feel that they should not rely on the USA.  That does not bode well for the USA (Daniel 11:39).

Australia has been in talks to have USA long range bombers stationed there to protect Australia and deal with China (see India not interested in joint China sea patrols; USA and Australia pursuing bomber stationing and China not pleased). The Chinese do not like this, and those in Australia will one day learn that relying on the USA will not work.

On a visit to the USA, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau commented that the USA and Canada were “siblings” (see Justin Trudeau: USA and Canada are ‘siblings’; Barack Obama straining ‘special relationship’ with UK). Biblically, that is true. Yet, the British descended nations, while ‘siblings’ to the USA, will also suffer a similar fate.  Those who get the blessings the Bible tells of will also get the cursings.

As the two front runners for the Democratic and Republican party nominees for US president increase their respective delegate counts, even some secular sources see ‘doom’ if either wins (see Presidential front-runners: ‘Either could spell our doom’). The USA needs national repentance and the Kingdom of God, but as neither of those candidates recognize that, so yes, the USA is doomed.

The Vatican’s Pope Francis has completed his third year as pontiff maximus.  Certain ‘conservative’ Catholics have been concerned (see Conservative Catholics concerned after 3 years of Pope Francis).

In other Church of Rome news, the Vatican reported that the number of Roman Catholics has risen from 17.3% in 2005 of the world’s population to 17.8% in 2014.  The Church of Rome now claims 1,272 million people (see Conservative Catholics concerned after 3 years of Pope Francis).  This is not a surprise.  Expect more to go along with the Church of Rome in the future (Revelation 17:1-5).

Suggested Sabbath Service

Here is our suggested format for Sabbath services this week:

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 Bible News Prophecy channel.

Concluding Comments

Notice something that the Apostle Paul taught:

12 But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. (2 Corinthians 11:12-15)

Brethren, during this time of year, many profess Christ and attempt to claim Him.  Yet, we are not to be swayed by Satan’s substitutes for God’s Holy Days.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer