Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from Grover Beach, California.
Joyce, David, and I were on the East Coast for nearly a week and came back late on Sunday.
This week’s recommended sermon is longer than any we have ever put out in the past, but it is a subject I have long wanted deacon Richard Close to cover–it is on the destiny of Satan.
Spring Holy Days Begin This Month
Unleavened Bread
The Spring Holy Days begin later this month.
Passover is to be observed after sunset on March 26th. The Night to Be Observed is after sunset on March 27th. And the Days of Unleavened Bread run from sunset March 27th through sunset April 3rd.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, we had to make arrangements for people in several nations to observe Passover in their homes as opposed to meeting with their congregations. So, another reason to mention this now is to tell leaders of congregations in Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, and Zambia to remind them to plan now.
For everyone else, since the 2021 Spring Holy Days come earlier this year than in many years, it made sense to give a ‘heads up.’
Rift Valley
Pastor Tiongik Sawek sent the following photo and unedited report from Kenya:
North Rift Valley, Kenya
Receive greetings in Jesus Christ. I’m very thankful for having travelled safely to the North Rift region. I arrived on Friday noon where I was received by Elder Cheruiyot at Naswet-Njoro. We met with leaders from Molo, Rongai and Mauche.
We held a meeting with elders at 4:00 pm and proceeded until late in the night.
The Njoro place was so cold but we persevere thereafter, we manage to share ideas and they hair out their problems. i managed to settle some of the issues and some few waited to be settled by Evangelist Ochieng.
We held a blessed sabbath at Naswet local and thereafter evening we held a meeting with elders where we propose for Passover be held at Sikotik, Molo, SIrikwo and Rongai. Elder Cheruiyot and Elder Kimeto to planned on the remaining regions to held the sabbath since there are upcoming new locals.
I also move to Londiani where i held a meeting with the leaders from that region, the brethren’s are yet to opened a new continuing church of God and we shall communicate on the day planned.
The brethren’s were happy and glad for the visit. I will therefore give detail report as we had power problem in our area currently.
Furthermore, I didn’t travelled using motor bicycle due to weather and security.
Otherwise I’m planning to meet with elders this week here in south Rift so as to scheduled for the Passover event.
Great the daughters of Lord and May God bless you.
Regards,
Pastor Sawek.
Pastor Sawek has been reaching many in his part of Kenya.
Services in North Carolina
Union County, North Carolina
Joyce, David, and I held services in the northern portion of Union County, North Carolina last Sabbath.
It was nice to see someone we met before and a couple of people we had not met in person.
Church of God News in Spanish
The Continuing Church of God continues to get additional materials translated into the Spanish language.
Here are links to the latest news posts we received on Monday:
Locusts in Saudi Arabia, 10 plagues?, and solar plague risk is real
Langostas en Arabia Sautida, ¿10 Plagas?, y riesgo de plaga solar es real
https://www.cdlidd.es/langostas-en-arabia-saudita-10-plagas-y-riesgo-de-plaga-solar-es-real/
Pope Francis adds special day for Hildegard of Bingen: Any COG ramifications?
El Papa Francisco agrega día especial para Hildegard de Bingen: ¿Alguna ramificación para la COG?
‘Why Aren’t All Christians Multi-Millionaires?’
‘¿Por qué no son multi-millonarios todos los cristianos?’
https://www.cdlidd.es/por-que-no-son-multi-millonarios-todos-los-cristianos/
‘Pope Calls for Unity of All Religions’
‘El Papa llama por la unidad de todas las religiones’
https://www.cdlidd.es/el-papa-llama-por-la-unidad-de-todas-las-religiones/
COVID cases ‘appear’ to be dropping, but a worse pandemic is coming
Casos de Covid ‘parecen’ estar disminuyendo, pero una pandemia peor está próxima
https://www.cdlidd.es/casos-de-covid-parecen-estar-disminuyendo-pero-una-pandemia-peor-esta-proxima/
EU wants to be the global judge of human rights
La UE quiere ser el juez global de los derechos humanos
https://www.cdlidd.es/la-ue-quiere-ser-el-juez-global-de-los-derechos-humanos/
Australia seemingly wants to make lack of support of transgender agenda a crime
Australia aparentemente desea hacer un delito de la falta de apoyo a la agenda transgénero
‘MASSIVE FOOD PRICE INFLATION IMMINENT: Stock Up Now Before Food Costs SKYROCKET And Certain Items Become UNAFFORDABLE’
‘INMINENTE INFLACIÓN MASIVA DE PRECIOS DE ALIMENTOS: Guarde ahora antes de que los costos SE SUBAN HASTA LAS NUBES y algunos productos se hagan INASEQUIBLES’
I365: Amazon reveals Plan to Build ‘Tower of Babel’ opposite US Capital
I365: Amazon revela plan para construir ‘torre de Babel’ opuesta a la capital de los EE.UU.
Dibar Apartian: How to Escape Satan’s Three Major Snares
Dibar Apartian: Como escapar a las tres principales trampas de Satanás
https://www.cdlidd.es/dibar-apartian-como-escapar-a-las-tres-principales-trampas-de-satanas/
DW: 500 years after Martin Luther’s excommunication: A chance for ecumenical Christianity
DW: 500 años después de la excomunión de Martín Lutero: Una oportunidad para el cristianismo ecuménico
WND: Archbishop to Biden: Stop calling yourself a ‘devout Catholic’
WND: Arzobispo a Biden: Déje de llamarse a sí mismo un ‘católico devoto’
https://www.cdlidd.es/wnd-arzobispo-a-biden-deje-de-llamarse-a-si-mismo-un-catolico-devoto/
France’s Macron pushing against Islam and USA wokeism
Macron de Francia presionando contra el Islam y wokeismo de los EE.UU.
https://www.cdlidd.es/macron-de-francia-presionando-contra-el-islam-y-wokeismo-de-los-ee-uu/I365: Polls show Pro-3rd Temple Politicians becoming Lawmakers
I365: Las encuestas muestran que los políticos que están en favor del 3er. Templo se están convirtiendo en legisladores
MS: Big Brother Is Spying On You In Thousands Of Ways, And All Of That Info Now Goes Into Centralized “Fusion Systems”
MS: El Gran Hermano lo está espiando a usted en mil formas, y toda esa información va a estar ahora centralizada en “fusion systems”
The Continuing Church of God has a separate Spanish language website http://www.cdlidd.es. The term Continuing Church of God translates into La Continuación de la Iglesia de Dios in the Spanish language, also called Castellano or Español.
We have also additional Spanish language videos on our CDLIDDSermones channel.
Our Spanish translator normally provides translated news items once or twice per month.
So, in addition to having magazines and books in the Spanish language, we also post news items in it as well.
Why so much in Spanish?
Spanish. reportedly, is the world’s second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese, and the world’s fourth-most spoken language overall after English
This is another avenue we utilize to teach all that we can in accordance with Matthew 24:14, Mark 13:28-37, and Matthew 28:19-20.
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: Will YOU Instruct Many? Other sermonettes are also 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: Destiny of Satan. 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
The situation between Iran and Israel continues to heat up–with Israel accusing Iran of attacking a freighter of it this past week (see ‘Netanyahu Blames Iran for Cargo Ship Blast’). We look to be getting closer to the fulfillment of prophecies such as Isaiah 22:6-8–which looks to be a factor in the coming ‘peace deal’ of Daniel 9:27.
The USA, itself, also is having some military involvement with Iran (see ‘Rocket Attack Targets Iraqi Military Base’).
On a different note, we have put out some reports related to the current US Congress. This is NOT because we are political, but we have been reporting many anti-biblical steps that Congress has entertained (e.g. see House votes for more ‘COVID’ debt and anti-biblical ‘Equality Act’ and/or watch 117th US Congress and Gendered Words).
Notice, also, the following:
Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) upset Democrats when he confirmed God makes boys and girls unique.
“When men or women claim to be able to choose their own sexual identity, they are making a statement that God did not know what he was doing when he created them,” the congressman said.
“The gender confusion that exists in our culture today is a clear rejection of God’s good design. Whenever a nation’s laws no longer reflect the standards of God that nation is in rebellion against him and will inevitably bear the consequences,” the congressman said. “We are seeing the consequences of rejecting God here in our country today.”
That promoted a rather shocking comment from Nadler.
“What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress,” he admitted. https://www.lifenews.com/2021/02/26/congressman-jerry-nadler-gods-will-is-no-concern-of-this-congress/
God’s will is of no concern to the US Congress–at least as far as Congressman Jerry Nadler is concerned.
The current US Congress, to a great degree, despises truth and the word of God.
Notice the following:
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise this word,
And trust in oppression and perversity,
And rely on them,
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you
Like a breach ready to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. (Isaiah 30:12-13)
It is totally clear that males and females are different (see Cross-dressing and other assaults against your children. What should you do?). And the USA will fall–and it looks to do so BEFORE 2028 (watch Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028?).
One of the factors to contribute to its fall will be debt (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8)–the US Congress voted for another $1.9 trillion of debt (see House votes for more ‘COVID’ debt and anti-biblical ‘Equality Act’)–and that is on top of major increases in the past year (see ‘One-fifth of all United States dollars ever issued have entered existence within the past year.’).
Concluding Comments
This week’s recommended and detailed sermon comes to different conclusions that many in the overall Church of God hold.
Yet, consider that Isaiah wrote:
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little. (Isaiah 28:10)
Brethren, despite traditions many are comfortable with, doctrine is to be based upon the Bible.
Please pray, as the Apostle Paul admonished, that we will continue to boldly proclaim the truth as we ought (cf. Ephesians 6:18-20), with wisdom as Jesus taught (Matthew 10:16-17).
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer