Letter to the Brethren: March 20, 2025

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Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from Grover Beach, California.

Spent more time related to finding an appropriate location for the Feast of Tabernacles site in North America this past week. Currently, after receiving a particular response Oklahoma City is the top candidate. However, we are also looking at the possibility of Lexington (Kentucky).

On other matters, I had three pre-podcast interviews on Tuesday and am scheduled to do one of those podcasts later today–and that should be online next week. These podcast opportunities are a door we continue to go through to reach people we would not otherwise reach–this is another way to witness.

In other news, more progress has been made related to removing malware and getting more languages up online. My thanks to our man in Portugal as well as others who have worked on that.

Death of Herb Haddon

Back in 2015, my wife and I met Herb Haddon and his wife Gisele at the CCOG Feast of Tabernacles’ site in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.


Herb Haddon at lunch in Niagara Falls 2015

The Haddons lived in New Brunswick, Canada.

I had spoken with them a couple of times over the telephone, before the first time we met. He and Gisele had been part of the Restored Church of God before contacting me.

My wife and I were also with Herb and Gisele at the Feast of Tabernacles in Montreal City, Quebec in 2019.

I am sad to report that Herb Haddon, the president of the CCOG in Canada died, while sleeping, last Sabbath. He was 68 years old.

His wife Gisele sent me and my wife Joyce the following email:

Want to let you know that Herb passed away today. Was throwing up blood today and last night but was determined that he did not want to go to the hospital.  He fell asleep around supper time and I dozed off on the rocking chair in the bedroom. When I woke up around 7, his Bipap was working OK so went to check up on him and noticed that blood was coming out of the face mask.  Tried to wake him up but he was already cold and unresponsive.  Checked for a pulse but he was already gone. They will be doing an autopsy to find the cause of death. Was bleeding internally,  just need to know where.

I take comfort in knowing that we will meet again at the resurrection. I suppose that it was best for him to go this way as dying from ALS would be a slow death. For the past few weeks he would tell me that he was tired of living with this disease.  He was having more trouble with his breathing. Could not take a breath by himself had to rely on the Bipap.  It was painful to watch. Now he is no longer suffering.

Now the more difficult part is learning to live without him. Taking care of him was a my whole day. Already kind of feeling lost.

Thank you both for keeping him in your prayers. He really appreciated it.

Love Gi

Well, we know that Herb lived several years longer than the medical people thought he would.

Back on June 17, 2021, the medical doctors told him to tell his family that he was about to die within the next 24-48 hours. The next day, his wife Gisele told me he had taken a turn for the worst. One of Herb’s children contacted me later that day regarding how we would handle his funeral service.

However, on Monday June 21, 2021, Gisele sent an email that said Herb was doing better. On Thursday, June 24, 2021 deacon Richard Close sent me the following in an email:

Good morning Pastor Bob    Less than a week ago the Dr.s told Gisele that Herb was in his last stages and would not be coming home.  Now he is up and writing. Miracles still do happen. I expect more as this short time gets shorter.

regards   Richard

On the Sabbath of June 26, 2021, Herb asked me to telephone him, and I did. He told me he was symptom free. Months later, however, health issues hit him again.

Back in 2022, Herb Haddon gave the following sermon:

47:18

Faith In The Face Of Death

Herb Haddon has an incurable disease known as ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s disease”. No one has ever been cured from this disease, though he felt he was for a time. In light of this, Herb gives us this message titled “Faith in the Face of Death”. He starts out repeating the ‘death and taxes’ joke–while pointing out that nothing (meaning physical things) cannot be counted on (he also uses some hyperbole). Herb points out that God has healed in the past, God heals now and that by faith IN His Son and by the stripes OF His Son, we are healed. He then reminds us that it is also appointed unto man once to die. And follows up with the question: “how can this be”? Why does God say that He will heal us by our faith and then say it is appointed unto man once to die? Is God playing jokes on us? Herb then asks us to consider this: do we want to be healed our way and on our time? Or do we have the faith to let God be in charge and heal us His way and on His time, letting all things work together for good to those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose? Herb uses, and explains, several scriptures that help us develop “Faith in the Face of Death”.

Here is a link to the sermon: Faith In The Face Of Death.

Gisele told me on Monday and Wednesday that Herb did not die of ALS.

Gisele sent me a link to his obituary, which has the following:

Herbert (Herb) William Haddon

1956-2025

Herbert (Herb) William Haddon

Herbert “Herb” William Haddon passed away at his home in Harvey Station, NB on Saturday, March 15, 2025, with his loving wife, Gisele, by his side. He was a devoted father, grandfather, husband, and a dedicated member of the Continuing Church of God. Throughout his life, Herb built many beautiful things, both in his work as a contractor and in his relationships, leaving behind a legacy of love and craftsmanship.

Known for his great sense of humour and captivating storytelling, Herb had a unique ability to bring joy to those around him. His infectious laughter and wit will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

Herb was predeceased by his father, William Haddon; his mother, Alberta Haddon; and his sister, Arlene Haddon (Jim).

He leaves behind his loving wife, Gisele, and his children Mari-Anne (Andrew), Adam (Celina), David (Brandy), Chavah (Terrance), and Larissa (Andrew), along with fifteen grandchildren: Cameron (Anna), Sadie, Trypp, Will, Landon, Nic, Teigan, Cole, Hannah, Zayne, Rebekah, Alyx, Georgia, William, and Walker, as well as two great-grandchildren, Aria and Cameron. He also leaves behind his siblings Anne (Enrique), Paul (Debbie), Maurice (Kathleen), and John (Rod), along with many nephews and nieces. His family was his pride and joy, and he cherished every moment spent with them. …

Herb’s memory will live on in the hearts of his family and friends, and he will be missed deeply by all who had the privilege of knowing him.

We know that he is no longer suffering.

Herb was dedicated, steadfast, loving, and always a pleasure to be with him and speak with him.

Herb Haddon finished the race (cf. 2 Timothy 4:7).

Herb Haddon endured to the end (cf. Matthew 10:22, 24:13).

And yes, we know we will see him in the resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), “Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).

Herb Haddon will be missed.

Gisele Haddon stated that Herb did not want a big funeral service, so she suggested some type of online Skype service.

The plan is to have a short Skype service tomorrow, Friday at 7:00 pm Atlantic, 6:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Central, 4:00 pm Mountain, and 3:00 pm Pacific time. If you wish to attend virtually, emailing Dawn Parr at n.dawn.parr@gmail.com.

Note that in order to join, YOU will need to have a Skype account–if you do not have one, you will need to download one and set yourself up. Also, please do not wait until late Friday to try to join the funeral service as it will not be feasible for Dawn to add a lot of people a couple of minutes before the service is scheduled to start.

Presuming no technical glitches, we expect this to be a relatively short service that I plan to conduct from my office in Grover Beach.

Online Services from Texas and Canada

As reported here a couple of weeks ago (see Letter to the Brethren: March 6, 2025), Microsoft is eliminating Skype and has been encouraging Skype users to migrate to Microsoft Teams as a replacement and our online service from Northern Ireland has made the switch.


MicroSoft Teams logo

Now, others are doing that as well. Here is a report related to the online service from Texas and Canada:

Hi Dr. Thiel,
Since Skype is closing its doors in May, we are planning to host Sabbath service on Teams. We conducted a trial run today. Overall, it was a successful transition.
Last year, there was a request for an additional later Sabbath service to be added. Since those we gather with are spread out over a number of different time zones, Joan Galloway and Nadjia LaFontaine began helping provide a later Sabbath service online. Having an additional time to gather for Sabbath services has been beneficial. Nadjia LaFontaine will continue to host those afternoon Sabbath services and will provide updates about what online platform to gather on for the later service hosted from Canada as that decision is made.
Chad Branton and Dawn Parr

In addition to a couple of hundred individuals watching the messages online, we basically have four group online services with the one out of Northern Ireland, one out of New Zealand, one out of Canada, and one out of Texas.

This is one way our volunteers are assisting and connecting our scattered brethren, particularly in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Rift Valley Updates

Pastor Tiongik Sawek sent the following from the Rift Valley of Kenya:

Receive greetings in Riftvalley, kenya. The Church is going well with the word of God here. We keep receiving various calls from different parts to make visits because they have heard us and they really want to know more about our church. The recent place is Longisa where they have requested a visit soon. The said person had visited us and we had a sabbath together. The late father of the person requesting for our visit was a member of Salem church. We are making arrangements to visit before passover.
We talked with an Evangelist so that I can visit a person named Tito from Sigor(he has been talking with an elder from Rwanda) probably this week. I will pass the information once I receive fare to and fro. Lets pray together so that all the plans are met. God bless you.
Regards,

PASTOR SAWEK

Receive greetings from Chilani church and Chilani women group.The Chilani women group pass greetings and they are happy for the message. Currently they lack food for the widows and the vulnerable in the society. Thanks an may God bless you.

Regards,
Pastor Sawek

We provided food support for the widows mentioned above as well as for some hungry in Malawi and Mozambique this week. That said, we continue to reach others in various remote locations with the truth.

Pastor Sawek also sent the following:

Hello,hope you are  well as we are well here at Kenya Rift Valley.Today we visited our brethren called Titus Kirui based at Sigor .He was happy to see us as we had planned for a long time to visit him, he was with his wife and sister..

He told us to plan to have a sabbath there at their home, we will plan on sabbath in the church with him and we will give him a date for the sabbath so that he would gather all members around.
We learnt many things through the bible, though he had many questions we reached to the point of understanding.
We will go once to visit him and Evangelist Ochieng will be waiting on the third visit.
Lets pray for him because we are seeing people in Rift Valley are continuing to know the church of Continue Church Of God.
After this I will visit Longisa -Kipreres..
God bless you
From I Pastor Sawek.

Many people have not even heard of the Rift Valley, yet God is calling people there.

The “full number” of Gentiles will come into the faith before Jesus returns (see also What About Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles?).

Michigan Sabbath Services

As mentioned last week, my family and I are planning on coming to Michigan in May. We are looking at having Sabbath services on May 24, 2025 in a location to be determined. We are looking at Wixom as the most likely location for services.

Anyone who wishes to attend can email me. My email address remains: COGwriter@aol.com

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

Items related to US President Donald Trump continue to dominate much of the news. Last Friday, the US Senate approved a spending bill he backed, which will further increase US debt (see Debt increasing budget passed, there are risks according to Ray Dalio and the Book of Habakkuk).

Donald Trump’s tariff threats and other actions were a major motivator for Canada’s new Prime Minister to go to Europe (see Canada’s Prime Minister heading to Europe hoping to make trade deals with the European Union and UK). He ended up meeting with the President of France, Prime Minister of the UK, and King Charles III (see Canada’s Mark Carney speaks of Canada being European, but realizes USA has economic leverage; Germany votes for a major military move).

Europeans are meeting today discussing its 2030 Readiness military plan which has the EU mainly buying weapons from the EU and not the USA or UK (see European Union reveals Readiness 2030 program–its way for Europe to be a military superpower–‘EU slams the door on US in colossal defense plan’). Donald Trump’s statements and actions are pushing various national friends and allies to turn away from the US.

Donald Trump ordered bombs to be dropped against the Houthis in Yemen. Furthermore, his other statements look to have emboldened Israel to break its ceasefire with Hamas as it launched a major attack on Gaza on Tuesday (see Israel bombs Gaza after US bombs Houthis and threatens Iran). We had warned that the ceasefire would NOT lead to “permanent peace” like former US President Joe Biden hoped and we even made a video about that two months ago (watch Hamas Israel Ceasefire and Daniel 9:27).

In the US itself, there have been protests related to Donald Trump and Elon Musk (see Protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk: Terror within?). There were Tesla vehicles torched in Las Vegas this week and the US Department of Justice is now labeling some of what has been happening as domestic terrorism (see US Department of Justice declares a rash of ‘domestic terrorism’). The Bible prophesies “There shall be terror within” (Deuteronomy 32:25)–and I expect terrorism to end up much worse in the US than what we have been seeing recently.

Concluding Comments

The old Worldwide Church of God taught that parts of Lamentations, including chapter 2, applied to places like the United States. For example, notice the following:

The United States, at the moment, is experiencing an upsurge in national pride and confidence. …

“Who can heal you?” God asks in Lamentations 2:13. Apparently not most of the spiritual guides of today.

“Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions,” God thunders. “They have not uncovered your iniquity” — exposed sinful practices to the light of God’s Word (verse 14).

The false shepherds have not done as God’s true servants have done in this age: “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1). (Hogberg G. The Truth Behind AMERICA’S MORAL CRISIS. Plain Truth, February-March 1985)

Various people, including leaders in some COG groups, are putting a lot of confidence in the presidency of Donald Trump.

Now, notice some of what the prophet Jeremiah was inspired to write:

11 My eyes fail with tears, My heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the children and the infants Faint in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” As they swoon like the wounded In the streets of the city,As their life is poured out In their mothers’ bosom.
13 How shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you False and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, To bring back your captives, But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.
15 All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem:”Is this the city that is called ‘The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth’?”
16 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day we have waited for; We have found it, we have seen it!” 17 The Lord has done what He purposed; He has fulfilled His word Which He commanded in days of old. He has thrown down and has not pitied, And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.  (Lamentations 2:11-17)

Brethren, without national repentance, which people like Donald Trump, Canada’s Mark Carney, UK’s Keir Starmer, Australia’s Anthony Albanese, or even New Zealand’ Christopher Luxon have not publicly called for, the USA and its British-descended peoples will be conquered (cf. Daniel 8:24-25, 11:24, 11:39).

Do not be dissuaded by hype from politicians nor people who claim to be Church of God leaders.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer