Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from Grover Beach, California.
In the recommended sermon for this Sabbath, Let’s Talk About Baptism, I mentioned our new booklet About Baptism.
While the booklet is available online, it is still in draft form, so we do not have final copies yet. We expect to finalize this booklet and send out copies to our supporters during the upcoming Winter.
Gospel of the Kingdom in 900 Languages!
This week, we received another 33 translations of our English booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, as we continue to work towards the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 and help set the stage for the fulfillment of Revelation 7:9. We have now received at least 900 different languages and dialects with varying levels of translation quality. Throughout the church era (which began at Pentecost in Acts 2), no other Church of God has ever had detailed information on good news of the coming Kingdom of God available in so many languages/dialects.
Making available more and more different language materials is part of our preparing for the “short work” that the Apostle Paul wrote of Romans 9:28 (see Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word) as that is also part of the final phase of the work (e.g. Revelation 7:9; see also The Final Phase of the Work).
Having materials in multiple languages also assists calling of Gentiles (and others) which MUST happen before Jesus returns as the Apostle Paul also wrote about (see What About Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles?).
Continue to pray, as Jesus said, for God’s kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10) and do your part to properly support the Philadelphian work Jesus spoke of in Revelation 3:7-13.
Announcing Plans for Bible News Prophecy International Radio
Since 2014, Shirley Gestro has been handling our Bible News Prophecy radio webpage (https://www.biblenewsprophecy.net) as well as running our online radio program. This online station puts out information 24 hours per day over the internet airwaves in the English language.
As we continue to get literature translated into more and more languages and dialects, this looked like a good time to explore a 24 hour per day online radio presence in languages other than English. This is something that Kristy Gorman and I discussed in the Wisconsin Dells at the Feast of Tabernacles last month.
The intent is to have another 24 hour per day online radio program, but in languages other than English. Some of the other languages we are currently hoping to broadcast include Asanti Twi (Ghana), Cebuano (Philippines), French (France, Quebec, Rwanda), Kiswahili (Africa), Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal), and Spanish (Latin America, Spain)–we also want other languages.
In order to accomplish this, we decided we should have another name for the channel and a new website, and chose Bible News Prophecy International channel.
We have also decided we needed a new URL. After consulting with a computer graphics specialist, we chose the URL of: https://www.bnpi.net
With that in mind, here is the new logo we plan to use for it:
We may, fairly soon, later change the above to logo say “and over one thousand other languages!,” instead of “hundreds of other languages!” as we expect to get our Gospel of the Kingdom booklet translated into more languages.
This new radio presence, along with having literature in numerous languages, will help us better assist in assisting with Matthew 24:14. Jesus said:
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)
Employing multiple languages helps provide a better witness.
At this time, we expect to start this online radio station with the Spanish language for a couple of reasons. The first is that we have the most materials already available in that language. Another is that will give us an opportunity to set it up and get it going with a consistent source. Then, we hope to add other languages.
Anyway, we are in the process of developing a webpage for this (basically only have the logo up for it now) and plan to make other announcements as this aspect of the work moves forward.
Suggested Sabbath Day Services
Here is a suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and other interested people:
- 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.
- The suggested sermonette is: How to Prep for War. Other sermonettes are available at our Prophecy channel on BitChute https://www.bitchute.com/channel/prophecy/
- Announcements (if any; though for many it will be this letter) and one hymn.
- The suggested sermon, which for most who receive this letter via email will be: Let’s Talk About Baptism. Other sermons are also available at the COGTube channel on BitChute https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cogtube/
- 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. There are also messages in the Spanish language at the CDLIDDSermones channel.
World News Items
The war in the Middle East remains in the news (e.g. see AP: Netanyahu says the Gaza war has entered a new stage and will be ‘long and difficult’ & BibleNewsProphecy: Gaza and Bible Prophecy and ‘Israeli Ground Assault Expands Into Gaza’ & ‘Now That Israel Has Entered Gaza, All Eyes Are On Hezbollah, Iran And Turkey’). Since Israel began its offensive in Gaza, we have seen a rise in antisemitism around the world as well as some anti-Israel diplomatic actions from Latin America (see ‘Bolivia severs diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza war’ and ‘Open hatred of Jews surges globally, inflamed by Gaza war’).
On Tuesday, US FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that there is increased risk of terror attacks in the USA, because of the Hamas-Israel war (see Tucker Carlson and Nigel Farage ask, ‘Why Aren’t Muslim Countries Taking Muslim Refugees?’). And yes, many nations, including the USA are going to experience more terrorism (cf. Deuteronomy 32:5,25).
Over in Australia, they rejected a trade proposal from European Union this week (see ‘Australia snubs EU terms for free trade deal’). This will not endear Australia to the Europeans.
In other Europe-related news, former US President Donald Trump made comments threatening to pull out of NATO (see Is Donald Trump Planning To Withdraw US From NATO?). This upset the Europeans before, and is doing so again. This may be one of the reasons why Germany’s foreign minister went public to state that he wants Germany and Europe to better be able to fight wars (see Germany’s defence minister calls for total militarisation: “We have to become fit for war” and WWIII Is Underway?). Europe will end up with a “great army” (Daniel 11:25) and “many ships” (Daniel 11:40), and will conquer the nation with the strongest military (which currently is the USA) according to scriptures like Daniel 11:39.
Concluding Comments
As far as baptism goes, the Apostle Peter wrote:
38 … “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”(Acts 2:38-39)
Yes, brethren, the acceptance of Jesus AND repentance is necessary for the remission of sins in baptism. Notice, that while the Apostle Peter preached that nearly 2,000 years ago, he also mentioned that the promise of receiving God’s Holy Spirit would be available in the future (like our time) that was “afar off” when he spoke.
The Apostle Paul added:
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight — 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard … (Colossians 1:21-23)
Continue to faithfully support the worldwide proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom of God.
Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer