Letter to the Brethren: June 22, 2017

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Post-Serbia trip greetings.

We are back in the USA after seeing the brethren and spending a few days in Serbia. The brethren in Serbia wanted me to convey their greetings.

We produced two videos (this week’s suggested sermonette and sermon) which are in English with Serbian translations–so if you watch them, you will hear some (actually a lot of) Serbian. We also linked these to our Serbian language page in addition to the usual places we link and post the videos.

Belgrade, Serbia

We actually got to see some of Belgrade this trip. When Joyce and I were there last Fall, we arrived just before sunset Friday and were at the airport before dawn Sunday morning. This time we had a couple of days.

Belgrade is nice and pleasant. It is a first-world European city and has most of what you expect in a European city (other than not much in the way of a metro/subway system).

We met with brethren there for services and a few activities.

Here are a few photos:


Luka Filipovic, Aleksandar ‘Sasha’ Veljic, Victor Jevremovic, Predrag Mijatovic, Maya Zoranovic
Bob Thiel,  David Thiel, Brian Thiel, Joyce Thiel

While in Serbia, in addition to the church messages, we also discussed producing more literature in the Serbian language, how Serbia can serve in a capacity in reaching more people in Europe, how to get more to see what we teach in the Serbian language, how Serbia can assist with Matthew 28:19-20 in Africa, future trips to Serbia, and other matters.

Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia

Today, Radson Mulozowa sent the following:

Dear Pastor . I Thank God For What He Is Doing Both Malawi,
Mozambique, Zambia.God Bless You For The Funds That Are Making The
Unreached To Be Reached.Much Is Happening. I Was Able To Visit Other
District Of Mozambique Called Mocuba And Namacurra. It Takes 2 Days To
Travel But God Was Able To Protect Us. The Brethern They Do Speak
Chilomwe Even Their Bibles.They Were Happy To Hear The Truth And Am
Planning To Visit Them Soon For Leader Conference.Am Planning To
Translate The Magazine Into Their Language And Buy Chilomwe Bibles So
That I Can Give Them Since Each Church Has Only One Bible. I Couldnt Go
With Matiya Since Her Wife Is Sick So I Sent Him To The Hospital For
Treatment. Pastor Pray For Our Boy Benjamin He Is In Hospital.(two
Weeks Now). Am Planning To Visit Other Parts Of Malawi And Zambia
Soon. Am Waiting Hospital  Discharge Of Priscilla. May God Bless You As
You Are Praying For God To Give Me Strength. RADSON MULOZOWA

Evangelist Ochieng and I are optimistic about reaching more in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and other parts of Africa. Please pray about the various situations and people in Africa.

Office Worker

We have a need for someone who wants a job handling a variety of tasks in an office. This job is located in Grover Beach, California and the employing company would be Doctors’ Research, Inc.

Before looking at local people outside of the Continuing Church of God, I thought that perhaps someone in the Church may have interest.

The ideal candidate would have office and computer skills (QuickBooks, Microsoft Word), and at least some interest in computer graphics and natural health. The job would include church and non-church work, telephones, lifting, packaging, mailing, and editing, etc. and is more complicated than many office positions. If you are interested, please email me your resume. My email address is cogwriter@aol.com

Google Campaign

Google reported that our campaign with them reached 3,222,565 computers last month. That is down slightly from the previous month, but we are still reaching many as we are working to fulfill Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20.

World News Items

The secretive Bilderberg group held its annual meeting earlier this month. Donald Trump and ‘climate change’ were on its agenda, plus the Director of Europe’s CERN organization was asked to speak (see Bilderberg, Donald Trump, and CERN). Then last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel went to the Vatican to work on ‘climate change’ and prepare an agenda for the G20 conference, which is scheduled for Hamburg, Germany next month (see Pope Francis and Angela Merkel met and laid out parts of their international agenda).

Do not think that the entire international agenda for Europe has to do with the economy and climate matters. It was reported that Germany’s parliamentary defense commissioner, Hans-Peter Bartels stated, “In the end, there will be a European army” (see also Pope Francis and Angela Merkel met and laid out parts of their international agenda). And there will be (cf. Daniel 11:25).

A change is taking place. Europe and the Vatican are plotting for their new world order–and order where Europe will have a strong military (Revelation 13:4; Daniel 11:39-43) with a “great army” (Daniel 11:25). We continue to see steps moving in this direction.

Most in the USA seem to have no clue about what is really happening and what will ultimately happen.

Yesterday in Vatican City, Pope Francis urged his followers to pray to dead saints for intercession (see Pope Francis implores his followers to pray to the dead for intercession). Many people seem to feel that the way to salvation is to pray to dead people, who cannot hear them, instead of the living God, who can.

In Saudi Arabia, a new crown prince was announced–this is expected to have impact on the Middle East, somehow on the rise of the final prophesied King of the South (see Saudi Crown Prince, Iran, and the King of the South).

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 many who receive this letter via email will be a recorded one. The one suggested for this week is: The Purpose of Christian Life. Other sermonettes are 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: Church of God Ceremonies. 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 new 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 BibleNewsProphecy channel. There are also some messages at the CCOGAfrica channel.

Concluding Comments

The Apostle Paul wrote:

4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, 5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. (Philemon 4-7)

Brethren, thank you for your love, prayers, and support.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer

Posted in Letters to the Brethren