Letter to the Brethren: December 11, 2025

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from Grover Beach, California.

We had some issues with the Canadian website, but it is now up and functional again. This seems to have been related to some earlier malware attacks. Anyway, the Canadian website is https://ccogcanada.ca/

That said, this week marked the 15th anniversary of the death of evangelist Dibar Apartian–he had warnings about my prior COG organization. More about that is in the post: 15th anniversary of the death of evangelist Dibar Apartian.

Youth Camps, Hunger, and Prayers

We have hoped to help sponsor numerous youth camps in Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique this month (that is when Summer begins in Africa), but our income has not been sufficient. We also would like to do more with assisting those in Africa and elsewhere with hunger matters (supporting the youth camps also assists in reducing hunger matters). Yet, the reality is that we have many more requests to support hungry brethren that we currently have the resources to assist.

Remember that Jesus said:

37 … The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. (Matthew 9:37-38)

Please pray for more laborers for the harvest.

Online Services from Texas, Canada, Northern Ireland, and New Zealand

In the Continuing Church of God, we have scattered brethren throughout the USA and Canada, as well as in the Caribbean (like Trinidad & Tobago), South Asia, North Africa, South Africa, South America, and elsewhere. We have supporters on all the inhabited continents of the earth as well as dozens of US states.

We also have four online group services.

Because I pre-recorded an extra sermon in September and because we received an unexpected sermonette from Louis Rubin (watch If You Believe Certain Things You Could Be Laodicean), I decided that instead of recording a sermon and sermonette last Sabbath, I would participate in the online service hosted by Dawn Parr and Chad Brantone.

They host a service each Sabbath at 10:00 am Central Time in the USA using TEAMS. Here are times in zones in the USA and Canada when this begins:

8 am PT

9 am MT

10 am CT

11am ET

12 pm AT

There are two other online services that some in the USA and Canada participate in: Jaison Curtis hosts one out of Northern Ireland and there is another that Nadija LaFontaine hosts out of Canada. My wife Joyce and I actually visited with Jaison and I gave a live sermon there when we visited the isle of Ireland back in 2022.

Here are times in zones in the USA and Canada for the one hosted by Nadija Lafontaine, which uses ZOOM, but is related to the one hosted by Dawn Parr and Chad Brantone:

12 pm PT

1 pm MT

2 pm CT

3 pm ET

4 pm AT

Here are times in zones in the USA and Canada for the service hosted by Jaison Curtis:

5 pm UK GMT
9 am Pacific
10 am Mountain
11 am Central
12 pm Eastern

That said, online services are a way for our scattered brethren to have contact with each other and not be as isolated as many in North America, Europe, and the South Pacific are.

The online service in the South Pacific is hosted by Richie White and Shirley Gestro and mainly serves brethren in Australia and New Zealand–though people in other lands may also participate.

If you wish to join any of those online services, please send me an email: cogwriter@aol.com

Remember that Jesus taught, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Do not be one called who gives up because there is no group geographically close to you.

The Bible teaches:

⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. ⁵ Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. ⁶ He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday. ⁷ Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him (Psalm 37:4-7)

Sometimes Christians have to wait and trust God to establish congregations near them. It took decades for that to happen in the old Radio Church of God. But the faithful can have access to online groups now.

Also remember that Jesus promised Philadelphian Christians that they would be “pillars” in the Temple of God (Revelation 3:12). Therefore in this age, sometimes being a foundational part of a new group, or standing alone in a separated area, could be part of your training for that reward.

Furthermore, remember, we should fellowship on the Sabbaths when we can (Hebrews 10:24-25). God’s Holy Days, like the Feast of Tabernacles, are another opportunity for that (cf. Leviticus 23:2; Romans 12:1).

In the Continuing Church of God, we hold the Feast of Tabernacles in multiple places around the world. This festival is a time that God expects those that can to travel (cf. Psalm 42:4); far away if need be (cf. Deuteronomy 14:22-27). For a listing of currently expected sites this year, check out Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2026. This festival also gives Philadelphian Christians an opportunity to fellowship together.

In the 20^th century, particularly in the early days of the old Radio Church of God, people often had to wait years for an opportunity to hear sermons or have contact with other like-minded Christians. To better serve our scattered brethren in the 21^st century, we put out this weekly email titled Letter to the Brethren. As readers can tell,  it has a suggested Sabbath service, as well as, when appropriate, Holy Day information–hence sermons are regularly available for our scattered brethren and other interested persons.

Pray and be patient, and trust that God (Proverbs 3:5-7) will call others that you can fellowship with in person, but you can also have the ability for more contact now by participating in an online service, particularly if there is no physical congregation closer to you.

As a pillar, you can be an ambassador for Philadelphian Christianity.

Growing in Brazil

Adao de Amorim and Bob Thiel

Adao de Amorim sent the following from Brazil:

SEGUE UM PEQUENO RELATÓRIO DA IGREJA DE DEUS CONTINUADA NO BRASIL
ABRIMOS UM NOVO GRUPO EM REDENCAO PARÁ E OUTRO EM ANAPU E XINGUARA MEDICILÂNDIA ANAPU E CAJAZEIRAS AO TODO TEMOS 32 PESSOAS PARA BATIZAR, QUANTO AO DOCUMENTO DA IGREJA FOI APROVADO PARA SAIR DE DIA 30 DE JANEIRO DE 2026

Machine-translated into English as follows:

HERE IS A SHORT REPORT FROM THE CONTINUED CHURCH OF GOD IN BRAZIL
WE OPENED A NEW GROUP IN REDENÇÃO, PARÁ, AND ANOTHER IN ANAPU AND XINGUARA, MEDICILÂNDIA, ANAPU AND CAJAZEIRAS. IN TOTAL WE HAVE 32 PEOPLE TO BE BAPTIZED. REGARDING THE CHURCH’S DOCUMENTATION, IT WAS APPROVED TO BE ISSUED ON JANUARY 30, 2026.

It is great to see the fruits of growth in Brazil since my visit there in July 2025. The “church’s documentation” comment is a reference to the official registration of the Continuing Church of God in Brazil.

Year-End Income Tax Matters

(Public Domain Images)

We are getting close to the end of the Roman calendar year. Those who live in the United States, in order to have their contributions eligible for tax deduction for calendar year 2025, need to send electronic or regular mail donations no later than December 31, 2025. For those who physically mail donations, they legally must be postmarked by December 31, 2025 to be eligible for deductibility for 2025.

All contributions received via US mail for residents of the United States are to be processed for the tax year based upon the postmarked date on the envelopes.

For contributions received via PayPal, we use the date that PayPal gives us.

The PayPal donation link for the USA is at: https://www.ccog.org/donations/

In Canada the rules may be slightly different for mailed and other contributions, so if you want the tax deduction for calendar year 2025, they likely also need to be made before the end of the calendar year to the CCOG office in Canada.

(In New Zealand, they use a March 31st date to end their tax year.)

Suggested Sabbath Services

Here is a suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and other interested people for the Last Great Day Sabbath service:

• 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: If You Believe Certain Things You Could Be Laodicean. 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 is: Let’s Talk About Marriage. Other sermons are also available at the COGTube channel on BitChute https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cogtube/
• Final hymn.
• Closing prayer.