Church of God News

Panama Canal (Thomas Römer/OpenStreetMap data)

COGwriter

Recently, my family and I visited the Panama Canal.

Here is some information about it:

The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 48-mile (77 km) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. There are locks at each end to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 metres (85 ft) above sea level. The original locks are 33.5 metres (110 ft) wide. A third, wider lane of locks was constructed between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded canal began commercial operation on June 26, 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, Post-Panamax ships, which have a greater cargo capacity than the previous locks were capable of handling.  …

One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan. Colombia, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. The US continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for handover to Panama. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, in 1999 the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government and is now managed and operated by the government-owned Panama Canal Authority. (Panama Canal. Wikipedia, accessed 11/12/16)

Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven wonders of the modern world in 1994, the canal hosted its 1 millionth passing ship in September 2010. (Panama Canal, History Channel. http://www.history.com/topics/panama-canal accessed 11/12/16)

How did it get there? Well, the original idea was for military purposes, then trade:

The earliest mention of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama dates back to 1534, when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, ordered a survey for a route through the Americas that would ease the voyage for ships traveling between Spain and Peru. Such a route would have given the Spanish a military advantage over the Portuguese.

In 1788, Thomas Jefferson suggested that the Spanish should create it since it would be a less treacherous route than going around the southern tip of South America, which tropical ocean currents would naturally widen thereafter.

During an expedition from 1788 to 1793, Alessandro Malaspina outlined plans for its construction.

Given the strategic location of Panama and the potential offered by its narrow isthmus separating two great oceans, other trade links in the area were attempted over the years. The ill-fated Darien scheme was launched by the Kingdom of Scotland in 1698 to set up an overland trade route. Generally inhospitable conditions thwarted the effort, and it was abandoned in April 1700.

Another effort was made in 1843. According to the New York Daily Tribune, August 24, 1843, a contract was entered into by Barings of London and the Republic of New Granada for the construction of a canal across the Isthmus of Darien (Isthmus of Panama). They referred to it as the Atlantic and Pacific Canal and it was a wholly British endeavor. It was expected to be completed in five years, but the plan was never carried out. At nearly the same time, other ideas were floated, including a canal (and/or a railroad) across Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Nothing came of that plan either.)

In 1846 the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty granted the United States transit rights and the right to intervene militarily in the isthmus. In 1849, the discovery of gold in California created great interest in a crossing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Panama Railway was built by the United States to cross the isthmus and opened in 1855. This overland link became a vital piece of western hemisphere infrastructure, greatly facilitating trade and largely determining the later canal route.

An all-water route between the oceans was still seen as the ideal solution, and in 1855 William Kennish, a Manx-born engineer working for the United States government, surveyed the isthmus and issued a report on a route for a proposed Panama Canal. His report was published as a book entitled The Practicality and Importance of a Ship Canal to Connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1877 Armand Reclus, an officer with the French Navy, and Lucien Napoléon Bonaparte Wyse, both engineers, surveyed the route and published a French proposal for a canal. French success in building the Suez Canal, while a lengthy project, encouraged planning for one to cross the isthmus.

French construction attempts, 1881–94

The first attempt to construct a canal through what was then Colombia’s province of Panama began on 1 January 1881. The project was inspired by the diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps …

In France, de Lesseps kept the investment and supply of workers flowing long after it was obvious that the targets were not being met, but eventually the money ran out. The French effort went bankrupt in 1889 after reportedly spending US$287,000,000 and losing an estimated 22,000 lives to disease and accidents, wiping out the savings of 800,000 investors. Work was suspended on May 15, and in the ensuing scandal, known as the Panama affair, various of those deemed responsible were prosecuted, including Gustave Eiffel.

De Lesseps and his son Charles were found guilty of misappropriation of funds and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, though this was later overturned, and the father, at 88, was never imprisoned. In 1894, a second French company, the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama, was created to take over the project. A minimal workforce of a few thousand people was employed primarily to comply with the terms of the Colombian Panama Canal concession, to run the Panama Railroad, and to maintain the existing excavation and equipment in salable condition. The company sought a buyer for these assets, with an asking price of US$109,000,000. In the meanwhile they continued with enough activity to maintain their franchise, and Bunau-Varilla eventually managed to persuade de Lesseps that a lock-and-lake canal was more realistic than a sea-level canal.

United States acquisition

At this time, the President and the Senate of the United States were interested in establishing a canal across the isthmus, with some favoring a canal across Nicaragua and others advocating the purchase of the French interests in Panama. The French manager of the New Panama Canal Company, Phillipe Bunau-Varilla, who was seeking American involvement, asked for $100 million, but accepted $40 million in the face of the Nicaraguan option. In June 1902, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of pursuing the Panamanian option, provided the necessary rights could be obtained, in the Spooner Act.

On January 22, 1903, the Hay–Herrán Treaty was signed by United States Secretary of State John M. Hay and Colombian Chargé Dr. Tomás Herrán. For $10 million and an annual payment it would have granted the United States a renewable lease in perpetuity from Colombia on the land proposed for the canal. The treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate on March 14, 1903, but the Senate of Colombia did not ratify it. Bunau-Varilla told President Theodore Roosevelt and Hay of a possible revolt by Panamanian rebels who aimed to separate from Colombia, and hoped that the United States would support the rebels with U.S. troops and money. Roosevelt changed tactics, based in part on the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty of 1846, and actively supported the separation of Panama from Colombia and, shortly after recognizing Panama, signed a treaty with the new Panamanian government under similar terms to the Hay–Herrán Treaty.

On November 2, 1903, U.S. warships blocked sea lanes for possible Colombian troop movements en route to put down the rebellion. Panama declared independence on November 3, 1903. The United States quickly recognized the new nation. On November 6, 1903, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, as Panama’s ambassador to the United States, signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, granting rights to the United States to build and indefinitely administer the Panama Canal Zone and its defenses. This is sometimes misinterpreted as the “99-year lease” because of misleading wording included in article 22 of the agreement.[27] Almost immediately, the treaty was condemned by many Panamanians as an infringement on their country’s new national sovereignty.

This would later become a contentious diplomatic issue among Colombia, Panama, and the United States.

President Roosevelt famously stated that “I took the Isthmus, started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate me.” Several parties in the United States called this an act of war on Colombia: The New York Times called the support given by the United States to Mr. Bunau-Varilla an “act of sordid conquest.” The New York Evening Post called it a “vulgar and mercenary venture.” More recently, historian George Tindall labeled it “one of the greatest blunders in American foreign policy.”[citation needed] It is often cited as the classic example of U.S. gunboat diplomacy in Latin America, and the best illustration of what Roosevelt meant by the old African adage, “speak softly and carry a big stick [and] you will go far.” After the revolution in 1903, the Republic of Panama became a U.S. protectorate until 1939.

Thus in 1904, the United States purchased the French equipment and excavations, including the Panama Railroad, for US$40 million, of which $30 million related to excavations completed, primarily in the Gaillard Cut (then called the Culebra Cut), valued at about $1.00 per cubic yard.

The United States also paid the new country of Panama $10 million and a $250,000 payment each following year. In 1921, Colombia and the United States entered into the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty, in which the United States agreed to pay Colombia $25 million: $5 million upon ratification, and four-$5 million annual payments, and grant Colombia special privileges in the Canal Zone. In return, Colombia recognized Panama as an independent nation. …

The U.S. formally took control of the canal property on May 4, 1904, inheriting from the French a depleted workforce and a vast jumble of buildings, infrastructure and equipment, much of it in poor condition. …

The construction of the canal was completed in 1914, 401 years after Panama was first crossed by Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The United States spent almost $375,000,000 (roughly equivalent to $8,600,000,000 now[46]) to finish the project. This was by far the largest American engineering project to date. The canal was formally opened on August 15, 1914, with the passage of the cargo ship SS Ancon. (Panama Canal. Wikipedia, accessed 11/12/16)

The Panama Canal can be considered to be a “sea gate.”

Here is how Dictionary.com defines a sea gate (viewed 08/05/2013):

sea gate noun a navigable channel giving access to the sea.

That is part of the definition. But for the purposes of this article, my use of sea gate implies that some government has the land and thus is able to exert at least some control over the channel that is near that land.

Could any of this have to do with the Bible?

Let’s begin by looking at a promise given to Abraham:

16 “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son — 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:16-18)

Enemy gates were promised to Abraham’s descendants.

Notice a prophecy about what was told to Rebeka, the wife of the son of Abraham, named Isaac:

60 “Our sister, may you become The mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess The gates of those who hate them” (Genesis 24:60).

Prosperity was also a promised blessing to the descendants of Isaac and Rebeka’s grandson Joseph (Genesis 49:22-26). Blessings were promised to Joseph’s descendants, Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:2-20)–the British descended peoples and the USA respectively (see also Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel).

Consider that for many years, the major sea gates of the world were possessed/controlled by the United States (like the Panama Canal) and the British Empire (Straits of Malacca, Singapore, Suez Canal, Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Simon’s Town/Cape of Good Hope, Malta, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands, etc.).

And while that is no longer the case for many of them, they seem to have been prophesied to be taken away for disobedience as well.

We in the Church of God have been teaching for decades that the United Kingdom and USA would ultimately lose many of their sea gates–we believe they possessed them because of blessings from God and would lose them because of blatant disobedience. And many are no longer under USA/UK control.

Notice what the Bible teaches:

24 ‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. 25 For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. 26 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you 27 (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), 28 lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. (Leviticus 18:24-29)

23 ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25 And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. (Leviticus 26:23-25)

58 “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, 59 then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues — great and prolonged plagues — and serious and prolonged sicknesses. 60 Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. 62 You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. 63 And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. (Deuteronomy 28:58-63)

And many of the sea gates, including the Panama Canal, have been lost to the USA and the UK (such as the Straits of Malacca, Singapore, Suez Canal, Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Simon’s Town/Cape of Good Hope, etc.).

The gaining and losses of many of the sea gates of the world by the Anglo-Saxon descended nations show that Bible prophecies have been and are being fulfilled.

The USA ceded control to Panama in 1999 based on a treaty in 1977. Companies with ties to China, a nation that often has a different world view than the USA, have significant control of the canal now.  Enough so, that in the event of a blitzkrieg-type war (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Daniel 11:39), that it may be that the USA will be blocked from using the Panama Canal at a time it could have military advantages to use.

The fact of the losses so far of many of the Anglo-American sea gates should show us that various curses have begun to hit the Anglo-nations.

The time will come when the USA is no more. Not controlling the Panama Canal could be a factor.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. A related sermon is titled: Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
Will the UK Lose Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands? For many years, the major sea gates of the world were possessed/controlled by the United States (Panama Canal and certain locations in the Pacific ocean) and the British Empire (Straits of Malacca, Singapore, Suez Canal, Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Simon’s Town/Cape of Good Hope, Malta, etc.), and many are no longer under their control. Spain wants Gibraltar and Argentina wants the Falklands (also known as the Malvinas). UK Prime Minister David Cameron says the UK will defend the Falklands Gibraltar. Does the Bible give clues as to what will happen with those ‘sea gates’? Do promises made the Jacob’s mother Rebekah play a role? What about Deuteronomy 28? This is a video.
Will the UK Lose Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands? Spain wants Gibraltar and Argentina wants the Falklands (also known as the Malvinas). Does the Bible give clues as to what will happen with these ‘sea gates’? A version of the article in the Spanish language would be ¿Perderá el Reino Unido a Gibraltar y las Islas Falkland (Malvinas)?
Mexico, Central America, South America, Brazil, and the Caribbean in Prophecy [Español: México, América central, Suramérica, Brasil y el Caribe en la profecía] [Português: México, América Central, Ámérica do Sul, e Brasil na profecia] What will happen to those of Latin America? Will they have prosperity? Will they cooperate with Europe? Will they suffer in the future? What role might the various Caribbean nations/territories play?
Islands and Bible Prophecy What’s ahead for islands? What does the Bible prophesy about them?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.
Will the Anglo-Saxon Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves? Will the lands of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand be divided? What about Jerusalem? What does Bible prophecy teach? Are there non-biblical prophecies that support this idea? Who will divide those lands? Who will end up with the lands and the people? Here is a link to a video titled Will the USA and other Anglo-nations be Divided and Their People Made Slaves? Here is a related item in the Spanish language ¿Serán divididas las naciones anglosajonas?
British are the Covenant People What do ‘British’ and ‘Britain’ mean in Hebrew? Are the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons people of the covenant? Does the British royal family connect to the throne of David? What does the Bible teach? What does history show us? Is there any DNA evidence related to British-Israelism? When did Christianity make it to the British Isles? Could Jeremiah have made it to the British Isles? What type of Christians made it to the British Isles? Did the last King of England believe in British Israelism?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin?

(Photo by Geierunited)

COGwriter

Should Christians smoke?

Does smoking show love to self or neighbor?

Tobacco use is believed to kill about six million people each year.

Smoking is dangerous and hurts the smoker and those around the smoker. Can or should smokers quit?

Here is information about his own smoking and views on it by the late Hebert W. Armstrong from his Autobiography:

In order to keep up with the job, due to inadaptability and resultant slowness, it became necessary to work nights. I established a system. I worked alternately one night until ten, the next until midnight, rising at 5:30 every morning. Time had to be taken out to walk the one or two miles from my room to the mill, and also to walk over to the boarding house where I took meals. I kept awake on the job nights by smoking a pipe — my first habitual smoking. In just six months this overwork and loss of sleep exacted its toll, and I was sent to the hospital with a very severe case of typhoid fever…

I had taken up pipe smoking during those long and frantic night hours at Wiggins, Mississippi, as an aid to staying awake while I worked over the books. I had smoked, moderately, ever since. However, I will say that I was never a heavy smoker. Never more than one cigar a day, or three or four cigarettes in a day. That’s the reason I did not have the battle many men have had in breaking the habit, when I saw that it had to be broken…

{Later} I was baptized, the matter of smoking had to be settled. Of course the Quaker church, in which I had been reared as a boy, taught that smoking was a sin. But I had been unhappily disillusioned to see that in so many basic points the Bible teaching is the very opposite of what I had absorbed in Sunday school. “I’ve got to see the answer to the tobacco question IN THE BIBLE!” I said to myself. Until I found the answer in the Bible, I decided I would continue as before — smoking mildly. I had continued to smoke lightly, averaging three or four cigarettes a day, or one cigar a day. I had never been a heavy smoker.

Now I had to face the question: Is smoking a SIN? I wanted the BIBLE answer, for I had learned by this time that Christ had said we must live by EVERY WORD OF GOD. The BIBLE is our Instruction Book on right living. We must find a BIBLE reason for everything we do. I knew, of course, there is no specific command, “Thou shalt not smoke.” But the absence of a detailed prohibition did not mean God’s approval. I had learned that GOD’S LAW is His WAY OF LIFE. It is a basic philosophy of life.

The whole Law is summed up in the one word LOVE.

I knew that love is the opposite of lust. Lust is self-desire — pleasing the self only. Love means loving others. Its direction is not inward toward self alone, but outgoing, toward others. I knew the Bible teaches that “lust of the flesh” is the way of SIN.

So now I began to apply the principle of God’s Law. I asked myself, “WHY do I smoke?” To please others — to help others — to serve or minister to or express love toward others — or only to satisfy and gratify a desire of the flesh within my own self? The answer was instantaneously obvious. I had to be honest with it. My only reason for smoking was LUST OF THE FLESH, and lust of the flesh is, according to the BIBLE, sin! I stopped smoking immediately.

This beginning of overcoming was not too difficult, for it had not been a “big habit” with me. Once weaned, I was able to see it as it is — a dirty, filthy habit. And today we know it is a serious and major contributing cause of lung cancer! God designed and created the human body. He designed the LUNGS to take in FRESH AIR to fire and oxidize the blood, and at the same time to filter out of the blood the impurities and waste matter the blood has picked up throughout the body. Befouled smoke, containing the poisons of nicotine and tars, reduces the efficiency of the operation of this vital organ.

The physical human body is, God says, the very TEMPLE of His Holy Spirit. If we defile this TEMPLE — this physical body — God says He will destroy us! God intended us, if we are to be COMPLETE, to live happy, healthy and abundant lives, and to gain eternal life, to take in HIS SPIRIT — not poisonous foreign substances like tobacco.

Hebert W. Armstrong died on January 16, 1986, at age 93 1/2. His reasons for quitting smoking make biblical sense to me. People should not smoke. It harms them and others around them.

He concluded, correctly, that Christians should not smoke.

(Those interested in learning more about Herbert W. Armstrong, should read the article Who Was Herbert W. Armstrong? How is He Viewed Today?)

Smoking causes DNA damage:

November 3, 2016

Smoking leaves an “archaeological record” of the hundreds of DNA mutations it causes, scientists have discovered.

Having sequenced thousands of tumour genomes, they found a 20-a-day smoker would rack up an average of 150 mutations in every lung cell each year.

The changes are permanent, and persist even if someone gives up smoking.

Researchers say analysing tumour DNA may help explain the underlying causes of other cancers. …

The study, in the journal Science, was carried out by an international group, including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

The analysis shows a direct link between the number of cigarettes smoked in a lifetime and the number of mutations in tumour DNA.

The authors found that, on average, smoking a packet of cigarettes a day led to:

• 150 mutations in each lung cell every year

• 97 in the larynx or voice box

• 23 in the mouth

• 18 in the bladder

• six in the liver

Joint lead author Prof Sir Mike Stratton, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: “The more mutations there are, the higher the chance that these will occur in the key genes that we call cancer genes, which convert a normal cell into a cancer cell.”

The researchers said that in tissues such as the lung, which are directly exposed to smoke, they could find the mutational signature of the chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 60 are carcinogens. …

Dr David Gilligan, consultant oncologist at Papworth Hospital and Roy Castle Lung Foundation trustee, said: “For every 150 mutations in the cell each year, that is 150 opportunities for lung cancer to develop.

“Lung cancer has been at the bottom of the survival league for many years, but there are many exciting developments, including immunotherapy and genetically targeted drug treatments.” http://www.bbc.com/news/health-37849000

Smoking is not good.

Notice some of what the New Testament teaches:

19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

37…”‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Consider that smoking does not glorify God in your body–it harms your body. Consider that smoking also does not show love towards one’s neighbor–it harms your neighbor. Smoking is a sin against the body, and sometimes more than that.

Smoking is wrong and it kills people. God wants people to change/repent (Acts 17:30)–which means that, despite its difficulties it can be done (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13). The sooner one starts the better one will be. Christians should strive to not smoke and should strive to be healthy.

Several items of possibly related interest include:

Should Christians Smoke Tobacco? Is smoking a sin? What does the Bible teach? What have COG leaders written? Can smokers change? What about marijuana?
Marijuana: Should a Christian Get High? There is increasing acceptance of the use of marijuana. How should Christians view this? Here is a related video titled How Should a Christian View Marijuana?
Alcohol: Blessing or Curse? This is an article from the old Good News magazine that attempts to answer this question.
Binge Alcohol Drinking and the Bible Many college students and others overindulge in alcohol. Are there health risks? What does the Bible teach?
Obesity, processed foods, health risks, and the Bible Does the Bible warn about the consequences of being obese? Is overeating dangerous? Is gluttony condemned? What diseases are associated with eating too much refined foods? A related video would be Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy.
Living as a Christian: How and Why? In what ways do Christians live differently than others. What about praying, fasting, tithing, holy days, and the world? There is also a YouTube video related to that also called: Living as a Christian: How and Why?
Who Was Herbert W. Armstrong? How is He Viewed Today? Includes quotes from the 1973 edition of The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong and explains how he is and should be viewed today.
Overcoming Sin What is sin? How are Christians suppose to overcome it? Here is also a link to a video titled How to Overcome Sin.
How to Prevent Sin This is an article by Herbert W. Armstrong.
Just What Do You Mean Conversion? Many think that they are converted Christians. But are they? Would you like to know more about conversion. Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet on this important subject.

Portrait of Nostradamus by his son Cesar

COGwriter

There have been several scattered reports that Donald Trump is supposedly the “third antichrist” that the French seer Nostradamus prophesied. Here is one such report:

Nostradamus Prophecy: The Third Antichrist

Another prophecy by Nostradamus stated that the third Antichrist could rise in 2016. This rise could actually result in the beginning of World War 3 – a nuclear war or biological warfare that really sustain for 27 years. 11/10/16 http://www.morningnewsusa.com/nostradamus-prophecy-2017-who-is-the-3rd-anti-christ-ww3-end-of-the-world-coming-23120740.html

Nostradamus Predictions 2016: Donald Trump to Cause Apocalypse Through Disastrous Wars?

It is further theorized that Donald Trump is the “third antichrist” predicted by Nostradamus after Napoleon and Hitler. On the writings, it was stated that the third antichrist will cause the apocalypse.

The publication of the Nostradamus prediction 2016 stirred concerns in different social media. Many are getting terrified of the impending war that everyone is dreading may come. http://www.hofmag.com/nostradamus-predictions-2016-donald-trump-to-cause-apocalypse-through-disastrous-wars/199933

Here is the actual prophecy by Nostradamus, related to the alleged “third antichrist,” followed by what most others claim is the normal translation of it:

VIII 77

L’antechrist trois bien tost annichilez,
Vingt & sept ans sang durera sa guerre,
Les heretiques morts, captifs exilez,
Son corps humain eau rougie gresler terre.

The antichrist very soon annihilates the three,
twenty-seven years his war will last.
The unbelievers are dead, captive, exiled;
with blood, human bodies, water and red hail covering the earth.

Some disagree with that translation and claim that Nostradamus predicted three “antichrists.” Here is one such alternative translation:

The third Antichrist, the third to come, gets annihilated,
His war shall last for twenty seven years,
The heretics are all dead; all of the prisoners are now exiled,
His body (the Antichrist) has reddened the waters, and the earth has been scorched. http://propheticals.angelfire.com/nostra18.htm

Irrespective of what Nostradamus may have intended, the reality is that Donald Trump is NOT going to be waging wars for 27 years, nor will the final Antichrist wage war for 27 years.

Furthermore, contrary to the views of some, World War III is not going to start prior to 2021 (see also World War III: Steps in Progress).

Now there are some interesting writings from Nostradamus that some believe are related to Donald Trump. Notice one:

Century 1:40

The false trumpet concealing madness will cause Byzantium to change its laws. From Egypt there will go forth a man who wants the edict withdrawn, changing money and standards. (Michel de Nostredame. The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus. Lulu.com, 2015. pp. 38-39)

Notice how some have interpreted the above:

Theorists believe that the “False trumpet concealing madness” is Trump and that the reference to Byzantium – an Ancient Greek colony – could be linked to the influx of refugees coming through Greece. (Maloney A. ‘THE GREAT SHAMELESS, AUDACIOUS BAWLER’ Donald Trump’s victory was predicted by Nostradamus who said it would bring about the end of the world, say conspiracy theorists. The Sun, November 11, 2016)

But perhaps a better interpretation, if relating this to Donald Trump, would be that Donald Trump intends to change international arrangements and trade deals and will withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement.

That being said, no, Donald Trump, though antichrist in various ways, will NOT be the final Antichrist.

How can I be so certain?

Because of what the Bible teaches.

Let’s examine the only four verses in the Bible that specifically mention “antichrist,” starting with 2 John 7:

⁷ For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist (2 John 7).

This scripture says that antichrists are deceivers “who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.” Does this verse allude to a leader that is simply not acknowledging that there was a person named Jesus?

This seems highly unlikely, as even most atheists acknowledge there was one referred to as Jesus Christ who lived in the flesh. This doctrine of Antichrist might have something to do with not actually believing a member of the Godhead actually emptied Himself of His divinity to become human (even though that is what happened according to Philippians 2:6–7) and/or not humbling oneself to truly accept Christ to live His life in their flesh. This is a doctrine that certain faiths officially adopted because of the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D.

John also wrote the following related to Antichrist:

¹ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. ³ And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (1 John 4:1–3).

This scripture similarly states that the “spirit of Antichrist” is not confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. It also shows that some of Antichrist’s teachings began when John was still alive.

These verses specifically tie in the idea that false prophets have the spirit of Antichrist. Thus, it would seem consistent with these passages to conclude that the final Antichrist would or could be a false prophet (which is a term that John uses later in the Book of Revelation 16:3).

In addition, John also wrote:

¹⁸ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. ²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. ²² Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:18–22).

These scriptures show that while there will be a final Antichrist, even since John’s time, there have been pretended/false believers–these are religious people, not secular leaders.  These passages also state that if people were true believers, they would have continued with John’s practices.

All the verses in the Bible that use the term antichrist or antichrists are referring to religious leaders or people in a religious context.  The final Antichrist will not be a USA political leader like Donald Trump.

That being said, inadvertently, I do expect that Donald Trump will take actions and/or make statements that will help enable the rise of the final Antichrist.

That final Antichrist is likely to rise up some time in the next decade.

COGwriter

On November 21, Catholics of Rome honor their bishop and pontiff Gelasius I.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says the following about him:

Pope Gelasius I (died 19 November 496) was Pope from 1 March 492 to his death in 496…

Despite all the efforts of the otherwise orthodox patriarch, Euphemius of Constantinople, and the threats and wiles by which the Emperor Anastasius tried to obtain recognition from the Apostolic See, Gelasius, though hard-pressed by difficulties at home, would make no peace that compromised in the slightest degree the rights and honor of the Chair of Peter. The constancy with which he combated the pretensions, lay and ecclesiastical, of the New Rome; the resoluteness with which he refused to allow the civil or temporal pre-eminence of a city to determine its ecclesiastical rank; the unfailing courage with which he defended the rights of the “second” and the “third” sees, Alexandria and Antioch, are some of the most striking features of his pontificate. It has been well said that nowhere at this period can be found stronger arguments for the primacy of Peter’s See than in the works and writings of Gelasius…

As a writer Gelasius takes high rank for his period. His style is vigorous and elegant, though occasionally, obscure. Comparatively little of his literary work has come down to us, though he is said to have been the most prolific writer of all the pontiffs of the first five centuries. There are extant forty-two letters and fragments of forty-nine others, besides six treatises, of which three are concerned with the Acacian schism, one with the heresy of the Pelagians, another with the errors of Nestorius and Eutyches, while the sixth is directed against the senator Andromachus and the advocates of the Lupercalia. The best edition is that of Thiel.

The feast of St. Gelasius is kept on 21 Nov., the anniversary of his interment, though many writers give this as the day of his death. (Murphy, J.F.X. (1909). Pope St. Gelasius I. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved April 21, 2014 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06406a.htm)

The reason I reported about him is because he is believed to have been the first pontiff to be referred to as the “vicar of Christ” (_{Park H. The Roman Catholic Church – A Critical Appraisal. Xulon Press, 2008, pp. 37-38}).

Vicar comes from a Latin term:

vicar (n.)

early 14c., from Anglo-French vicare, Old French vicaire “deputy, second in command,” also in the ecclesiastical sense (12c.), from Latin vicarius “a substitute, deputy, proxy,” noun use of adjective vicarius “substituted, delegated,” from vicis “change, interchange, succession; a place, position” (see vicarious). The original notion is of “earthly representative of God or Christ;” but also used in sense of “person acting as parish priest in place of a real parson” (early 14c.). (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=vicar viewed 0421/14)

So “Vicar of Christ” means In Substitute of Christ or Instead of Christ.

So what does the expression “anti-Christ” mean?

In English, the word Anti-Christ clearly means one who is opposed or against Christ. And that is consistent with the meaning in the Greek.

But the Greek allows for another definition that seems to be applicable.

The Greek term translated as anti, such as in antichrist in 1 John 2:18, is Strong’s word 473.

NT:473 άντί

anti (an-tee’); a primary particle; opposite, i.e. instead or because of (rarely in addition to):

(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

The Greek word for Christ, Strong’s word 5547, Christos, means Christ or Messiah.

So, the term Antichrist can mean Opposite of Christ or Instead of Christ.

After Emperor Constantine issued his Edict Against Heretics in 331 A.D., it began to become clearer to those associated with the true Church that perhaps a church proclaiming Christianity and tied into the Roman Empire should be identified with antichrist.

Notice what the Catholic Cardinal Newman wrote about it in the 19th century:

Now, one of the first questions which it is natural to ask on entering upon the subject is, whereas the Pope is said to be Antichrist, sometimes from the fourth, sometimes from the seventh century, when was he first detected and denounced, and by whom?

On this point Dr. Todd supplies us with much information, from which it appears that the belief that the Pope was Antichrist was the conclusion gradually formed and matured out of the belief that the Church of Rome was Babylon, by three heretical bodies, between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, in consequence of their being submitted to persecution for their opinions:

“In the middle of the eleventh century, numerous emigrants from Thrace and the East had established themselves in the north of Italy, and especially in the neighbourhood of Milan; and some, despising a fixed habitation, or unable to obtain one, itinerated throughout various parts of France and Germany. The doctrines of these sects exhibit various shades of extravagance and error, and appear to have had a close affinity with the Oriental Manichees or Paulicians, from whom they are historically descended…they despised all external religion, ridiculed the office and powers of the priesthood, the efficacy of the Sacraments, and especially the use of baptism.”—Pp. 28-30.

These were the Albigenses, the first of the three independent families of heresy above mentioned…It would appear from these that the Albigenses founded their opposition to the Church on a Manichæan principle, viz., that, as there was an evil deity, and he the author of the visible world, so was he author also of the visible Church, which in consequence was “the devil’s basilica and synagogue of Satan,” and, in the language of the Apocalypse, “the mother of fornications.” (Newman JH. The Protestant Idea of Antichrist. [British Critic, Oct. 1840]. Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman. Copyright © 2004 by The National Institute for Newman Studies. http://www.newmanreader.org/works/essays/volume2/antichrist1.html viewed 12/03/07).

What the Cardinal seems to be teaching is that beginning in the fourth-seventh century one or two groups apparently began to feel that the Pontifex Maximus was an antichrist and that one who calls himself Pontifex Maximus may be the final antichrist. The Roman bishops did not refer to themselves by the pagan title of Pontifex Maximus (literally meaning the “greatest bridge-builder” between mortals and the gods) until the late 4th century.

It is likely no coincidence that after bishops of Rome took the title Pontifex Maximus in the late 4th century and “vicar of Christ” in the 5th century that more started to believe that the Bishop of Rome represented the final Antichrist.

Note: I want to make it clear that consistent with biblical and Catholic prophecies, I believe that the final Antichrist will pretend to be a Roman Catholic and betray that church. That being said, I do not believe that terms such as reverend (cf. Psalm 111:9, KJV), pontifex maximus (an old pagan title meaning bridge builder), or “vicar of Christ” should be used of leaders who claim to be Christian.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The above photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki reflect what pre-tribulation rapturists hope to miss

COGwriter

Is there a pre-tribulation rapture of the church? No, not according to scripture.

Nor even sources such as Joseph Swank:

A while back, I watched the Key of David program by PCG’s Gerald Flurry. Here is some of what he taught:

Satan cast down…It has happened…He had a war with God.

Revelation 12:13:
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.

He did in this end time…

Revelation 12:12… because he knows that he has a short time…Why does Satan have a short time?

About 5% of God’s people are doing the work in this end time…

There are two men…

The man of sin… there is no truth in him… He attacks God’s church…The son of perdition here is second Thessalonians 2…in all likelihood is possessed by the devil…That is why he shows himself that he is God. …

There is another man {2 Thessalonians 2:7} the mystery of lawlessness … only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way…

He was taken out of the way…The very day he was taken away, Satan was cast down. (Flurry G. Satan Cast Down (2014). November 16, 2014)

I know the above is a bit cryptic–yet Gerald Flurry did not lay out the specifics of the identity of the two men in that video. But based upon other items from Gerald Flurry, it is clear that he believes that Satan was (or probably was) cast down to the earth on January 16, 1986.

Why?

Two basic reasons.

First, Gerald Flurry taught the following:

Remember that Malachi is about an end-time messenger, like John the Baptist, who prepares the way for Christ’s Second Coming (Malachi 3:1-2). It all occurs just before “the great and dreadful Day of the Lord.” Common sense would tell us the events Malachi prophesied about couldn’t happen while Mr. Armstrong was alive. There was a type of it in the 1970s—but he stopped it, and as one pcg member said, that was the only time in recorded secular and biblical history that it ever happened! The only time! Mr. Armstrong restrained it (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). (Flurry G. Malachi’s Message, Chapter 9. Copyright © 1990, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2008 Philadelphia Church of God)

Second, because Herbert W. Armstrong died on January 16, 1986, and that is the event that Gerald Flurry seemed to be alluding to in his video program.

Now, I do NOT believe that Herbert W. Armstrong could possibly be the restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2:7–the restrainer would need to exist from the time of the Apostle Paul to now. While a change from the Philadelphia to Laodicean church era may have happened then, I do not believe that Satan was cast down on January 16, 1986.

Notice what the old Radio Church of God taught about the restrainer:

One prominent writer attempts to prove that II Thessalonians 2:7-8…has not yet begun to be fulfilled…But notice the first part of verse 7:, “For the mystery of iniquity DOTH ALREADY WORK”–even in Paul’s day. (Hoeh H. The Secret Rapture: Fact or Fiction. Plain Truth, July, 1959, p. 30)

Read the rest of this alarming prophecy! “… sitteth in the temple of God, chewing himself that he is God… for the mystery of iniquity (a babylonish MYSTERY religion!) doth ALREADY work (yes, Paul said it had its insidious beginnings even then!) only he who now letteth (an old word meaning “restrains”) will let, until HE BECOME TO BE!” (The original Greek verb, “ginomai” has this sense, rather than “taken out of the way,” as it appears in the King James translation) “And then shall that WICKED (A WICKED ONE — ONE EVIL PERSON IN HIGH OFFICE — is the whole subject and content of this passage of scripture!) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming” (II Thess. 4:8). (Armstrong GT. And when you see the ABOMINATION… Plain Truth, July 1963)

The above is teaching that the restainer was restraining nearly two thousand years ago. That understanding agrees with that of the Apostle Paul, the late Herbert W. Armstrong, and me (see also What is Restrained and Who is Restraining in 2 Thessalonians 2:7?).

Don Billingsley, of Church of God, Faithful Flock (CGFF), also has improperly taught that Herbert Armstrong was the restrainer:

Mr. Armstrong…He had to be taken out of the way by his death to make the fulfillment of them possible (II Thessalonians 2:7). (Billingsley D. Philadelphia Remnant, written January 16, 2007. http://philadelphiaremnant.com/).

As I wrote earlier, the restrainer was at work during the Apostle Paul’s day–it was NOT Herbert W. Armstrong. See also What is Restrained and Who is Restraining in 2 Thessalonians 2:7?

Perhaps, I should mention that Gerald Flurry also teaches that Joseph Tkach was the man of sin. He originally taught that it was Joseph Tkach Sr., who became in charge of the old Worldwide Church of God at the time of Herbert W. Armstrong’s death; Gerald Flurry later changed that to Joseph Tkach, Jr. But neither of those are correct. Other COG groups also misunderstand the identity of the “man of sin/son of perdition.”

To understand who that is, please check out Who is the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2? and/or watch a related YouTube video titled Who is the Man of Sin?

This shows that PCG is publicly proclaiming, though cryptically in its Key of David program, error. Hopefully those part of PCG will realize this soon. Gerald Flurry is NOT God’s prophet nor apostle as he falsely claims to be.

Nor is Don Billingley’s CGFF the ‘faithful flock’ as its name implies. Earlier this month, his claim that God told him that Hillary Clinton would be the next president of the USA and then get re-elected in 2020 were proven false (see also How Will President-Elect Trump be Apocalyptic? Two false prophets exposed!).

That being said, many are afraid to believe that God uses any prophets in the 21st century. That is also NOT biblical (see How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God), but instead is a dangerous and lukewarm position to hold (cf. Revelation 3:14-22; see also Laodicean Church Era).

Some items of related interest may include the following:

What is Restrained and Who is Restraining in 2 Thessalonians 2:7? Are sorceries being restrained until the future? What is the mystery of lawlessness?
Who is the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2? Is this the King of the North, the ten-horned beast of Revelation 13:1-11, or the two-horned Beast of Revelation 13:12-16? Some rely on traditions, but what does the Bible teach? Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Quién es el Hombre de Pecado de 2 Tesalonicenses 2? Here is a version in Mandarin: 主编： 谁是’大罪人’？Here is a link to a related YouTube video, in English, titled Who is the Man of Sin?
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders–here is some of why you should be concerned about them. Here is a related article in the Spanish language ¿Por qué estar preocupado acerca de falsos y heréticos líderes?.
How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God There are many false prophets. How can Christians determine who is a true prophet? There is also a sermon-length video titled How to determine if someone is a true prophet of God. Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Cómo determinar si alguien es un verdadero profeta de Dios?
Teachings Unique to the Philadelphia Church of God Simply calling oneself ‘Philadelphia’ does not make one so (see Revelation 3:7-9), nor does Gerald Flurry calling himself “that prophet” make it so. This article provides many quotes from this group which tries to look faithful.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now the remnant of that era is basically the most faithful in the Church of God, like who hold to the beliefs and practices of the Continuing Church of God.
The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. The Laodiceans are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG or its offshoots.  They do not properly understand the work or biblical prophecies and will face the Great Tribulation if they do not repent. One video of related interest is 17 Laodicean Errors in Prophecy.

COGwriter

The Continuing Church of God is pleased to announce the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

15:31

The Hymnal of the Continuing Church of God Consists Mainly of Psalms and Biblical Passages Set to Music

COGwriter

Having attended both Roman Catholic and Protestant church services while growing up, one of the things I noticed that was different about the true Church of God was the type of hymns that were sung.

While Catholics and Protestants tended to sing songs that had religious messages, the old Worldwide Church of God (WCG) mainly sung hymns which were extracted from the Psalms in the Bible. Most of those of us in groups with ties to the old WCG still do.

And while we have been criticized for that (see Praises to Jesus Christ or Biblical Hymns: Which Should Christians Primarily Sing?), the fact is that the practice of the Churches of God appear to be the same as those of the earliest professors of Christ.

The Book of James teaches:

13 Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms (James 5:13).

The Apostle Paul noted:

26 Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm (1 Corinthians 14:26).

The noted historian K.S. Latourette observed:

From a very early date, perhaps from the beginning, Christians employed in their services the psalms found in the Jewish Scriptures, the Christian Old Testament. Since the first Christians were predominantly Greek-speaking, these psalms were in a Greek translation. We hear of at least one form of service in which, after the reading from the Old Testament, the “hymns of David” were sung…Until the end of the fourth century, in the services of the Catholic Church only the Old Testament Psalms and the hymns or canticles from the New Testament were sung…Gradually there were prepared versical paraphrases (Latourette K.S. A History of Christianity, Volume 1: Beginnings to 1500. Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1975, pp. 206,207).

Because of fears of gnostic influence, Christians did not add outside poetic phrases or non-biblical lyrics until well after the second century (Ibid).

On the Roman date of 7 March 203, Tertullian records that while being prepared for martyrdom:

Perpetua sang psalms (Tertullian. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

Here is a quote from a fourth century publication known as the Apostolic Constitutions :

It appears likely that the Sunday practice of singing songs of praise to God ultimately led to the practice of shifting the primacy of psalm singing to praises towards Jesus in what we now consider to be the Protestant world (as they got Sunday from the Romans). A 21st century book on early biblical and church practices states:

Hence evidence does support the idea that psalms were the main types of hymns that the early Christians sang on the Sabbath (as that is when the early Christians, did in fact meet–Sunday worship is not alluded to in any historical literature prior to the 2nd Century–and the first clear mention of Sunday worship was by Justin Martyr: A Saint, Heretic or Apostate?).

The songbook of the Continuing Church of God (as well as the old Worldwide Church of God) is almost exclusively English-translations of the Book of Psalms and other parts of the Bible set to music. The actual hymnal (called The Bible Hymnal) used by the Continuing Church of God consists of all the songs that were part of the 1974 edition of ‘The Bible Hymnal’ used by the old Worldwide Church of God, plus ten other hymns that Herbert Armstrong approved that were written by Ross Jutsum. The songs in this book are essentially the Psalms and other passages in the Bible set to music.

In non-English speaking areas, Church of God congregations basically sing the same hymns translated into other languages such as Spanish, Kiswahili, Dholuo, Ekegusii, French, German, etc.

Notice that the Continuing Church of God also has its Bible Hymnal in Kiswahili:

The Bible mentions singing should be done on God’s holy days:

1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song and strike the timbrel,
The pleasant harp with the lute.

3 Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon,
At the full moon, on our solemn feast day. (Psalms 81:1-3)

4 When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. (Psalms 42:4)

The Festival of Tabernacles is a ‘pilgrim feast’ (see also Christians are to Be Strangers and Pilgrims?). So sing psalms during it.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Praises to Jesus Christ or Biblical Hymns: Which Should Christians Primarily Sing? This biblical article on music is in response to an advertisement critical of WCG’s 1974 The Bible Hymnal. It also address early church practices here.
Overview: How Does the Church of God Agree and Disagree with Other Faiths Professing Christ? This overview answers that and explains what the Church of God basically stands for. In the appendices provides information about certain complaints and as well as an overview about many COG-related groups.
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L’Histoire Continue de l’Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
The Bible Hymnal via Amazon.   This is the paperback edition of the hymnal used by the Continuing Church of God. It consists of all the songs that were part of the 1974 edition of ‘The Bible Hymnal’ used by the old Worldwide Church of God, plus ten other hymns that Herbert Armstrong approved that were written by Ross Jutsum. The songs in this book are essentially the Psalms and other passages in the Bible set to music. To access it free online, click: The Bible Hymnal. Amazon sells a hard copy of The Bible Hymnal for $8.99.  We also have the Kiswahili version on Amazon: Nakala ya Nyimbo za Biblia.

‘TPP’ nations highlighted

COGwriter

US President Obama is hoping to keep Asian nations under USA influence, but that now seems to be a bit more difficult:

Asia-Pacific Leaders Seek Obama’s Reassurance After Trump Win 

November 19, 2016

LIMA, PERU —President Barack Obama is on the final leg of his final foreign trip, to Lima, Peru’s capital, where he will seek to reassure U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific region following the election of Donald Trump.

Obama had made a focus on Asia and the Pacific — called a pivot, or an “Asia Rebalance” — the cornerstone of his foreign policy, but that could change substantially after he leaves office in nine weeks.

The president and his free-trade allies have pushed hard for years to put the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, or TPP, into action. But on the campaign trail, the Republican nominee and now president-elect has proposed a sharply divergent course. Trump suggested he would disengage from Asia, was highly critical of some U.S. allies and called the TPP a “rape” of American interests. …

Will campaign vows become reality?

Asia expert Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center told VOA the world is now waiting to see to what extent Trump will translate his campaign promises into foreign-policy decisions.

“He certainly scared quite a few key capitals in Asia when he suggested that U.S. alliance partners aren’t doing enough to hold up their end of the bargain to maintain long-standing defense partnerships with Washington,” Kugelman said. “And yet, do we really think that Trump would try to scale back critical relationships with Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea? To me, it seems hard to believe.”

Kugelman said Asia-Pacific leaders are anxious about what impact Trump’s election might have on U.S. leadership in the region. He said there is only so much Obama can say or do to reassure them. In fact, Obama has had to concede that Congress will not take up the TPP trade agreement now that Trump has been elected.

Japan’s Abe: ‘Trump is trustworthy’

“I think the best advice he can offer to U.S. allies in Asia is for them to reach out to Trump as soon as possible and make a direct pitch for continued engagement,” he said. “We’ve already seen Japan’s prime minister do this, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meeting with Trump to impress upon him the continued importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance.”

Abe met with Trump at Trump Tower in New York Thursday, saying afterward he is a “trustworthy leader.”

Trump posted on his Facebook page, “It was a pleasure to have Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stop by my home and begin a great friendship.”

Trade experts are watching to see if China will seek to position itself as the new world leader on free trade at the Asia Pacific Economic Summit in Lima.

Some analysts say talks are underway for a new Asia-Pacific trade group that would exclude the U.S. but include China and possibly Russia. http://www.voanews.com/a/asia-pacific-leader-seek-obama-reassurance/3603507.html

Trade is a major concern for most of the countries in Asia. But before going further, notice that Russia was mentioned above.  Russia has been putting together its own trade block, called the Eurasian Econimic Union and it wants others in Asia to join it. More might be thinking about that now (see also Eurasian Economic Union makes a deal with Vietnam–a step towards prosperity or Armageddon?).

The election of Donald Trump and the likely dismantling of the TPP agreement has many concerned in Asia. Even before he was a candidate, Trump was on record as opposing the TPP. As early as April 2015, he predicted it would hurt U.S. businesses and put people out of work.

China was never part of TPP–and some believe that was because the USA wanted to blunt China’s influence in Asia.

The Chinese themselves are also concerned about Donald Trump and issued a warning to him today:

November 19, 2016

Chinese state media warned U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday against flip-flopping on trade deals in Asia, as Asia-Pacific leaders gathered for a summit amid fears that growing protectionism will stunt global economic growth.

During the raucous election campaign, Trump fuelled concerns among many of the United States’ trading partners by pledging to renegotiate trade accords such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and impose tariffs on imports from countries such as China.

“Turning his trade-bashing campaign talks into actual policies could bash any hope that the Asia-Pacific will finally have its much-wanted free trade deal,” said a commentary in the official Xinhua news agency on Saturday.

“Worse, it could drag his country and the wider world into deeper economic distress,” added the agency, which is a barometer of government thinking.

Xinhua also said that the exclusion of China from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement was not about boosting trade and instead was U.S. President Barack Obama’s strategy to make sure Washington “rules supreme in the region.”

Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Pacific Rim leaders are meeting at the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Peru this weekend.

Though Obama championed the TPP as a way to counter China’s rise, his administration has now stopped trying to win congressional approval for the deal that was signed by 12 economies in the Americas and Asia-Pacific, but excluded China. Without U.S. approval the agreement as currently negotiated cannot come to fruition.

China’s Xi is selling an alternate vision for regional trade by promoting the Beijing-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which as it stands excludes the Americas. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-trump-trade-idUSKBN13E0AJ?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Many in Asia are concerned about China’s rising economic and military presence. The election of Donald Trump is increasing pressure on the Chinese to perhaps make better trade deals in Asia.  And the likely scrapping of TPP would indicate that many nations in the Asia-Pacific region will decide then that they do need to make better deals with China.

Notice also the following:

November 18, 2016

US officials have warned for months that the failure of the TPP would open the door to China to promote its own trade agreements, and that’s exactly what happened today when at the meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states in Lima, Peru, Chinese President Xi Jinping officially called for the launch of the Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific for “institutional guarantee of open economy.” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-19/tpp-dead-china-officially-launches-its-own-pacific-trade-deal

Of course, not all nations in Asia are looking towards China, but many are, to use an American expression, “hedging their bets.” They see China’s rise, various declines in the USA, and hence think they see that the “handwriting is on the wall.”

While few seem to really know how this will end, the Bible tells of a time when there will be a confederation of the ‘kings of the east’ that will get together:

12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon. (Revelation 16:12-16)

This will include Russia, China, Korea, Japan, and probably Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. Things will one day dramatically change, militarily, in Asia, in terms of cooperation.

Notice also the following:

13 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. (Revelation 9:13-17).

Only China, and possibly India and others in Asia (many of which will one-day align themselves with China and Russia against the European Empire), are capable of fielding a two hundred million man army. Thus, Revelation appears to be discussing an Asian role in the end-time prophecies.

As I have written before, there were only about 100,000,000 males (including children) on the entire earth when God had the Apostle John pen the prophecy in Revelation 9:16 that a 200,000,000 man army would form (Rastogi VB, Kishore B. A Complete Course in ISC Biology. Pitambar Publishing, 1997, p. 24). This means, despite those who claim that the Book of Revelation was fulfilled centuries ago (see The Dangerous Rise of Preterists), that the prophecy about the 200 million man army is for a time like we are now in.

In the Book of Jeremiah, it is shown that a northern people (which most logically would seem to have to be Russia at this stage) will be part of the force that extends to the ends of the earth and then eventually invades, end time Babylon (which will be a European power):

9 For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the north country,
And they shall array themselves against her;
From there she shall be captured.
Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior;
None shall return in vain. (Jeremiah 50:9)

50:41 Behold, a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance;
They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon. (Jeremiah 50:41-42).

From a European perspective, Russia is a north country whose borders reach to the eastern ends of the earth, as do China’s and many Asian-Pacific nations.

Donald Trump’s nationalist message may help encourage those in Asia to get closer to China and Russia’s Eurasian Union.

Eurasian forces will one day gather at Armageddon. No, I am not saying that Donald Trump intentionally is causing Armageddon, but that some of his statements are probably going to help drive various Asian nations together.

Bible prophecies will be fulfilled.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Armageddon Dr. Thiel, from Tel Megiddo in Israel, discusses Armageddon, some of its history, and what the Bible says about it. Is this the place where forces in the world will gather to fight? Will they fight here or is the related battle somewhere else. Dr. Thiel answers these questions and more.
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Genesis and Chinese Characters Where did the Chinese people come from? This article provides information showing that the Chinese peoples must have known about various accounts in the Book of Genesis up until their dispersion after the Tower of Babel. Here is a link to a version of this article in Spanish: ¿Prueban los caracteres chinos la exactitud de la Biblia?
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: The Sabbath and Some of God’s Witness in China When did Christianity first come to China? And is there early evidence that they observed the seventh day sabbath?
Russia and Ukraine: Their Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end? There is also a video sermon available: Russia in the Bible and in Prophecy and a video sermonette available: Ukraine in Prophecy?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Ezekiel 38: For Russia & Iran in Our Day? Is Ezekiel 38 about to be fulfilled? A related video is available titled Ezekiel 38: For Russia, Ukraine, & Iran Now? Another could be Russia, Iran, Syria, & the Bible (Code).
Islands and Bible Prophecy What’s ahead for islands? What does the Bible prophesy about them?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon? A YouTube video of interest may be Is China THE Threat to the United States of America?
The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy Is there a Eurasian union that will be formed? Is one being formed right now? Are any leaders working on that in the 21st century? Does the Bible teach that there will be a Eurasian union? If some type of Eurasian union is formed, who might it benefit and who will it destroy? A related video would be Is The Eurasian Union Rising?
Korea in Prophecy, Any Witness? Where did the Korean people come from? Does God have a plan for the Koreans? Is Korea mentioned in any prophecies? Will Koreans be among the first in the Kingdom of God? Here is a machine-translated link to that article in Korean: 한국의 언어로 : 한국 예언, 모든 증인에?; here is a link to that article in Mandarin Chinese: 在预言中的韩国：有任何证人吗？
Japan, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Any Witness? Where did the Japanese people come from? Have they had any witness?
Japan, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: Prophecy Japan in prophecy. What is prophesied for Japan? Will God save the Japanese?
Islands and Bible Prophecy What’s ahead for islands? What does the Bible prophesy about them?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.
Do You Know That Babylon is Forming? How is the final Babylon forming? Are Protestants such as Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland are endorsing something dangerous? Could Pope Francis be the ‘False Prophet’ that the Bible warns against? Is an antipope expected to endorse a one-world religion? Here is a link to a related written article In Vatican City: New Babylon more openly forming!
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin?
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2024 or 20xx? There is also a video titled The 6000 Year Plan: Is the end of humanity’s reign almost up? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2016, 2017, or 2018? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2016 o 2017? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon videos: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives and Can the Great Tribulation begin before 2020? A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation Start in 2016?
Donald Trump in Prophecy Prophecy, Donald Trump? Are there prophecies that Donald Trump may fulfill?  Are there any prophecies that he has already helped fulfill?  Could a Donald Trump presidency be apocalyptic?  A related video is titled: 13 Ways President-Elect Trump is Apocalyptic.

Jesus spoke to the Apostle John on the island called Patmos

COGwriter

The Continuing Church of God is pleased to announce this sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:22:50

Revelation: Jesus’ Final Words

In this sermon, Dr. Thiel covers all the words that the New Testament records from Jesus that are in the books of Revelation, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians. Dr. Thiel explains the historical and prophetic significance of many of Jesus’ statements. He discusses church eras, characteristics of those eras, and some prophetic ramifications. He also explains what the Bible says the “testimony of Jesus” is. With this sermon, Dr. Thiel has, in accordance with Matthew 28:19-20, completed going over all the words that the New Testament shows that Jesus commanded.

Here is a link to the sermon: Revelation: Jesus’ Final Words.

Some items of related interest may include:

Jesus: The Son of God and Saviour Who was Jesus? Why did He come to earth? What message did He bring? Is there evidence outside the Bible that He existed? Here is a YouTube sermon titled Jesus: Son of God and Saviour.
Jesus is God, But Became Flesh Was Jesus fully human and fully God or what? Here is information in the Spanish language¿Es Jesucristo Dios?
The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3 from 31 A.D. to present: information on all of the seven churches of Revelation 2 & 3. There is also a YouTube video: The Seven Church Eras of Revelation. There is also a version in the Spanish language: Las Siete Iglesias de Apocalipsis 2 & 3.
1. The Ephesus Church Era was predominant from 31 A.D. to circa 135 A.D. The Church of James, Peter, Paul, and John, etc.
2. The Smyrna Church Era was predominant circa 135 A.D. to circa 450 A.D. The Church led by Polycarp, Melito, Polycrates, etc.
3. The Pergamos Church Era was predominant circa 450 A.D. to circa 1050 A.D. An especially persecuted Church.
4. The Thyatira Church Era was predominant circa 1050 A.D. to circa 1600 A.D. The Church during the Inquisition.
5. The Sardis Church Era was predominant circa 1600 A.D. to circa 1933 A.D. Discusses early history of the Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and COG-7th Day.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now the remnant of that era is basically the most faithful in the Church of God, like who hold to the beliefs and practices of the Continuing Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. The Laodiceans are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG or its offshoots.  They do not properly understand the work or biblical prophecies and will face the Great Tribulation if they do not repent. One video of related interest is 17 Laodicean Errors in Prophecy.
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra This article discusses a biblical ‘place of safety’ and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject–thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory. There is also a video on the subject: Might Petra be the Place of Safety?  Here is something related in the Spanish language: Hay un lugar de seguridad para los Filadelfinos. ¿Puede ser Petra?
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
CCOG.ORG Continuing Church of God The group striving to be most faithful amongst all real Christian groups to the word of God. To see how CCOG has done so far, here are links to two sermons Continuing Church of God (CCOG) first year anniversary: What has been accomplished? and The Continuing Church of God: Two Years of Proclamation. Here is a written link to a version of that sermon in the Spanish language: Aniversario del primer año de la Continuación de la Iglesia de Dios: ¿Qué se ha cumplido?
Congregations of the Continuing Church of God This is a listing of congregations and groups of the Continuing Church of God around the world.
CCOG.ASIA We in the Continuing Church of God also have the url www.ccog.asia which has a focus on Asia and has various articles in Mandarin Chinese as well as some in English, plus some items in other Asian languages. 我们在继续神的教会也提供此网址 www.ccog.asia, 关注于亚洲并且有各种各样的中英文文章，其中一些用菲律宾语翻译的文章也正在进行中，准备添加到这个网站中。 Here is a link to our Statement of Beliefs in Mandarin Chinese 继续神的教会的信仰声明.
CCOG.IN This is a website targeted towards those of Indian heritage. It has a link to an edited Hindi translation of The Mystery of the Ages and is expected to have more non-English language materials in the future.
CCOG.EU This is a website targeted toward Europe. It has materials in more than one language (currently it has English, Dutch, and Serbian, with links also to Spanish) and it is intended to have additional language materials added.
CCOG.NZ This is a website targeted towards New Zealand and others with a British-descended background.
CCOGCANADA.CA This is a website targeted towards those in Canada.
CDLIDD.ES La Continuación de la Iglesia de Dios. This is the Spanish language website for the Continuing Church of God.
PNIND.PH Patuloy na Iglesya ng Diyos. This is the Philippines website Continuing Church of God. It has information in English and Tagalog.
Bible News Prophecy online radio. This is an audio version of the Bible News Prophecy videos as well as some ContinuingCOG channel sermons. It is also available as a mobile app.
ContinuingCOG channel. Dr. Thiel has produced scores of YouTube video sermons for this channel. Note: Since these are sermon-length, they can take a little longer to load than other YouTube videos.