Letter to the Brethren: January 8, 2026

Posted on Posted in Letters to the Brethren

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from Grover Beach, California.

We continue to struggle with malware causing redirects (having site visitors going to something other than our web content, normally selling something) and other issues with our websites.

Our men in Portugal and Maryland have been fixing these issues as they come up as well as other ones.

Satan does not want the gospel of the Kingdom of God to reach the world as a witness, which, according to Jesus in Matthew 24:14, will lead to the end.

Remember that the Apostle Paul wrote:

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

2 … the prince of the power of the air, the spirit … now works in the sons of disobedience, (Ephesians 2:2)

Anyway, while we are still working on internet matters, this Letter to the Brethren was posted at the COGwriter.com website.

Baptisms Expected in Brazil


(Map showing Brazil from Free-image.com)

Adao de Amorim sent the following from Brazil:

BOA TARDE PASTOR E PROFETA BOB
A PARTIR DO DIA 20 DESTE MÊS ESTAREMOS BATIZANDO 12 PESSOAS NA IGREJA CONTINUADA DE DEUS NO BRASIL EM VÁRIOS MUNICÍPIOS DENTRE ELES EIS PASTORES E EVANGELISTAS PROTESTANTES VOU MANDAR O VIDEO E FOTOS PARA VOCÊ VOU VIAJAR MAIS DE 300 KM PARA REALIZAR ESSA OBRA ORE POR NOS

Machine-translated into English as follows:

GOOD AFTERNOON PASTOR AND PROPHET BOB,
STARTING ON THE 20TH OF THIS MONTH, WE WILL BE BAPTIZING 12 PEOPLE IN THE CONTINUED CHURCH OF GOD IN BRAZIL, IN SEVERAL MUNICIPALITIES. AMONG THEM ARE PROTESTANT PASTORS AND EVANGELISTS. I WILL SEND YOU THE VIDEO AND PHOTOS. I WILL BE TRAVELING MORE THAN 300 KM TO CARRY OUT THIS WORK. PLEASE PRAY FOR US.

300 km is about 200 miles.

In the recommended sermon for this week,  26 Items to Watch in 2026, I quoted the following words of Jesus:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19)

I personally baptized Adao de Amorim last Summer. A larger COG offered to baptize him, but he refused and wanted baptism by a Continuing Church of God minister.

It was my view we would have growth and more baptisms in Brazil after that, and that has started to happen, and more, as Adao de Amorim wrote, are expected this month.

Remember to pray for the work as well as to pray as Jesus said, “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:36).

Languages

I was able to record another sermon using Riverside last Sabbath. The plan is to mainly use that platform for most of my sermons.

In addition to Riverside automatically putting out subtitles in English, it also has the ability to have people seem to speak well in many languages using some type of AI (artificial intelligence) program–which is something we have started to utilize related to our sermonettes. We are looking into various programs to further assist us with this.

Once certain matters are fixed regarding our internet hosting platform and sites, we expect to have a lot more audio materials in numerous languages at the Bible News Prophecy International radio site.

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:

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

Militaristic actions and statements by the Trump Administration have tended to dominate the news.

The main USA-International topics including the forced removal of Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela (see US attacks Venezuela and captures Nicolás Maduro), threats for actions against Cuba, Iran, Mexico, and Columbia (see Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico: US military action in Venezuela is further evidence of the breakdown of the world order; Donald Trump suggests Mexico, Cuba and Colombia could be next and Iran: Protests turn deadly, Donald Trump threatens), the taking of a Russian-registered oil tanker (see Trump Administration seizes Russian-registered oil tanker near Venezuela–could this be a prelude to WWIII?), and more statements about Greenland (see Denmark and Greenland react after Donald Trump again points to Greenland to become part of the USA and Trump Administration’s actions & statements on Venezuela and Greenland are pushing Europe and South America and French want to rearm and German says in response to Trump moves on Greenland, whereas Politico gives 5 steps for an “easy” USA takeover of Greenland).

Actions and statements by the Trump Administration are affecting NATO. Late last year, even before the more recent statements this past week, we put out the following video: USA to leave NATO? The reality is that the USA is pushing NATO allies to reconsider the alliance, while it has also been encouraging them to increase military spending. This will not end well for the USA (cf. Daniel 11:39; Habakkuk 2:6-8; Isaiah 10:5-11; Lamentations 1:1-2).

Partially because of USA sanctions, threats, military actions, and debt, gold continues to get a lot of attention (see Gold price predictions for 2026 and beyond). While the price of gold can drop (and sometimes a lot), it hit daily record highs against the US dollar over 50 times in 2025. Although one day people will toss gold and silver into the streets per Ezekiel 7: 19, the Bible also shows that gold will have value years after the US dollar is worthless (cf. Daniel 11:39-43; Revelation 18).

Concluding Comments

The Apostle Peter wrote the following:

16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. (2 Peter 1:16)

While myths about the Septuagint (related to the recommended sermonette for this Sabbath) brought the above verse to mind, Jesus did come.

Brethren, hopefully you have proved that to yourself beyond a doubt.

Whether you have or not, you may wish to read our free eBook: Proof Jesus is the Messiah.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer