Letter to the Brethren: May 7, 2026

Posted on Posted in Letters to the Brethren

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from the Five Cities region of California.

Feast of Tabernacles

Last week, I mentioned the Feast of Tabernacles, and that we have a contract for Branson, Missouri, USA. So, that site is officially well set.

While we do not have it totally confirmed yet, we do expect to have a site in Ontario, Canada. Probably Maple Grove. If we get a contract there we plan to announce that.

Now, let me add that we still do NOT have a location to meet in Brisbane, Australia, so that is not a confirmed site yet. While we hope to find a suitable site, that has not yet happened. If we do not, we would plan on going there instead in 2027 (there are school holidays and other matters affecting 2026 there).

If Australia does not work out for 2026, there is a small chance we may do something in northern France for this year.

We plan to provide some updates in the weekly Letter to the Brethren, but mainly at the following link: Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2026.

Gospel of the Kingdom of God Translations

Partially because of the death of Pope Francis who was mentioned in it, as well as finding major translation errors in what we had, plus Amazon Kindle dropping us, we decided to update our The Gospel of the Kingdom of God booklet in English to use it as a basis for new translations.

Our team of volunteers has been working on the translations of it.

Last Sabbath, Joan Galloway sent the following report:

Gospel of the Kingdom of God
Translation Progress Report
May 2, 2026

Executive Summary
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God translation project currently tracks 115 languages. As of this report, we have completed or uploaded translations in 52 languages, with 23 additional languages actively in progress and 7 languages in the first draft stage.

Status Category Count

Completed/Uploaded 52
In Progress 23
First Draft Stage 7
Under Review/Special Status 6

Not Yet Started
27 Total Languages 115

Detailed Status Breakdown

Completed and Uploaded (52 languages)

These translations have been completed, checked, and uploaded to distribution platforms:

Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chichewa, Chinese (Traditional), Corsican, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Frisian, Galician, German, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Kazakh, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Marathi, Nuer, Persian, Portuguese, Scots Gaelic, Serbian, Shona, Somali, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swedish, Telugu, Turkish, Yoruba, Zulu.

In Progress (23 languages)

These translations are currently being worked on by editors and reviewers:
Cantonese, Cebuano, Chinese (Simplified), Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hmong, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Laotian, Latin, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Slovak, Slovenian, Tamil, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa.

First Draft Stage (7 languages)

These languages have initial AI translations being reviewed and refined:

Assamese, Maithili, Moldovan, Oromo, Romanian, Russian, Uyghur.

Under Review or Special Status (6 languages)

These languages require special attention or are under external review:

Arabic (Fiverr reviewing), Kannada (sent to K…. to upload), Filipino (online 2019,
needs communication), Samoan (Google Docs performance issues), Sesotho (Google
Docs poor results), Sindhi (Google Docs performance issues).

Not Yet Started (27 languages)

These languages have not yet begun the translation process:

Georgian, Gujarati, Igbo, Javanese, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam,
Maltese, Maori, Mongolian, Myanmar, Nepali, Norwegian, Pashto, Polish, Punjabi,
Sanskrit, Sepedi, Sinhala, Tajik, Tagalog, Thai, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Yiddish.

Key Highlights

• Publication Progress: 45% of tracked languages (52 of 115) have completed
translations available for distribution.
• Active Work: 26% of languages (30 of 115) are currently being translated or refined.
• Recent Editions: Many languages have been updated to 2025 and 2026 editions,
reflecting ongoing quality improvements.
• AI-Assisted Translation: Claude AI, Google Docs, and DeepL are being utilized to
accelerate translation while maintaining quality through human review.
• Native Speaker Review: Several translations have been edited or reviewed by native
speakers for enhanced accuracy.
• Right-to-Left Languages: Special formatting considerations are being addressed for
Arabic, Hebrew, Pashto, Persian, Sindhi, Urdu, and Yiddish.

Recommended Next Steps

1. Priority Upload: Complete uploads for Turkish and Kannada, which are ready but
pending K…’s action.
2. Arabic Review: Follow up with Fiverr on the Arabic translation review timeline.
3. Problematic Languages: Develop alternative approaches for Samoan, Sesotho, and
Sindhi, where Google Docs has shown poor performance.
4. Resource Allocation: Consider prioritizing the 27 not-yet-started languages based on
strategic importance and speaker population.
5. Quality Improvement: Address noted issues with Finnish (needs replacement) and
Somali (needs improvement) editions.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God translation project demonstrates substantial progress with nearly half of all tracked languages completed. The combination of AI-assisted translation and human expert review is proving effective in maintaining both quality and momentum. Continued focus on completing in-progress translations and addressing problematic language challenges will further advance this important evangelistic work.

Jesus prophesied:

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.(Matthew 24:14)

That is something we are taking seriously in the Continuing Church of God. We do NOT believe it is appropriate to conclude that simply having English language materials is sufficient for Matthew 24:14 to be completed to God’s satisfaction, so we are continuing to add more languages and review our translations to make the truth of the good news of the coming Kingdom of God clearer for those whom God will have us witness to.

It is unfruitful to think that preaching the gospel in English alone is enough of a witness to those who do not understand it.

What about ‘minor’ languages? Are they unimportant?

The Apostle Paul somewhat addressed that as he wrote:

10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without significance. 11 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. (1 Corinthians 14:10-11)

Since there are languages people do not understand (cf. Psalm 81:5), but all languages are significant, then obviously more languages than one needs to be used by the CCOG to teach.

Consider also Jesus’ words:

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ (Luke 15:4-6)

40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:40)

We try to reach all that we can.

Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote:

6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. (2 Corinthians 9:6)

We are to sow bountifully! We are sowing by having as many languages as we can available as we prepare for the fulfillment of prophecies including Matthew 24:14.

This may also help us find the lost sheep, or more accurately, make it easier for the sheep to see the fact that we are witnessing to them and perhaps that the Father is also now looking for them (cf. John 4:23-24), in order to call them (John 6:44; Jude 1).

Notice something else the Apostle Paul wrote:

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:7-10)

Having materials in many languages helps serve ALL as well as those who are in the household of faith.

Rift Valley Meeting

Pastor Tiongik Sawek sent the following photo and report:

Receive warm greetings in the name of Our Lord .
I am pleased to inform you that the leaders meeting went on smoothly.
It’s the 2nd meeting we have done with Evangelist Ochieng .
The theme of the meeting is to teach brethrens on how to do gifts and offerings in the church.
Every leader was given a mandate to go and teach in their respective local churches so that in the next meeting in 3 months time we shall come to evaluate the progress and positive results of the teachings.
They all agreed to do so.
Later on every local church gave the progress and challenges faced in their local churches to Evangelist Ochieng.
A) Mau Local church has the following problems/challenges;
1.Recent Heavy downfall /rainfall lead to
a)sinking and cracks and explosion of mountains led to displacement of people who were living in the lowland since the area is hilly and has valleys leading to loss of lives and homesteads.
These displaced persons who most of them are members of our church by are at refuge in the Church now.The church toilet also has sinked.THEY ARE REQUESTING FOR PRAYERS AND FOOD SUPPORT(Report by Pst Stanley Kibet)
B)Molo Local Church has the following challenges/Problems
1. They are requesting Evangelist Ochieng to visit them and consider the remaining materials for the church construction since members have already purchased church Plot and a few construction materials.
C.Sogororbei Local Church has the following challenges and problems
The members of this local church suggested that they are requesting support from Church Through Evangelist Ochieng by purchasing construction materials since they are worshipping in a simple shade where sabbath is always distrupted by rains.

Finally we were three pastors Present
1. Evangelist Ochieng
2. Pastor Tiongik Arap Sawek
3.Pastor David Cheruiyot

Evangelist Evans Ochieng sent the following photo and report:

Pastor Dr Bob,

Greetings from Kenya.
We had a wonderful meeting in Bomet where we were discussing many progress in Rift Valley.  I met all leaders in Rift Valley and the two pastors in Rift Valley.  Sawek Tiongik and David chariot.
The meeting was very successful.  I also talk with them about the hall title deeds to identify the halls that we have built in Rift Valley to completely be under the church premises.  It was a good advice to all members.
We also discussed more about church development and members.  The discussion went well. I am suppose to travel to lower Rift Valley to meet the daughters of the kingdom and leaders down there.
Before that I am going to travel to Tanzania to meet Amani and other brethren in Tanzania.  I was supposed to travel today but my son Bradox ouma ochieng has been sick for some number of days.  We called a prayer for him today.  We asking for a prayer.  Please pray for him.  He is having serious problem in the stomach.  But God is giving quick healing.
I’ll let you know when I’m going to Tanzania.
Evans

We are striving to teach all to obey what the word of God instructs. This meeting was another way to do that.

Suggested Sabbath Services

Here is a suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and other interested people for this Sabbath service:

Note: If you have a slow internet connection, you can watch these by starting the video, then below it (and towards the right) look for an outline of a gear–if you click on that, it will allow the YouTube video to be played with lower video quality, but at least it will not stop often–you can select a quality as low as 144p. If your internet connection is still too slow (as my home one is) and/or you prefer audio messages to audio-visuals ones, go to the YouTube link for the message, click on SHOW MORE related to the description. You will then see something that says, “Download MP3.” Below that is a link to an MP3 file. Most computers (and even some cellular telephones) will allow MP3 files to be downloaded and played. This is an option we have made available (but we are also looking into ways to improve that as well)–and, of course, we have written article options. Some people have found that if their internet connections are not fast enough, that they can simply listen to the messages that are found at the Bible News Prophecy online radio channel.

IN CASE YOU DO NOT RECEIVE A ‘LETTER TO THE BRETHREN’ FOR ANY WEEK, REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE MANY SERMON MESSAGES ON THE ContinuingCOG channel AND MANY SERMONETTE MESSAGES ON THE Bible News Prophecy channel. There are also some messages at the CCOGAfrica channel. There are also messages in the Spanish language at the CDLIDDSermones channel.

World News Items

The Europeans were meeting in Armenia for the first time for something called the European Political Community summit–and Canada also participated (see First ever EU-Armenia summit–50 nations including Canada meet for European Political Community). This looks like another step from the EU to draw closer to Armenia, and for Armenia to move closer to Europe and away from Russia.

At the EPC summit, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a 2.5 million Euro investment to go to Armenia as part of the EU’s Global Gateway project (see EU to invest billions in Armenia as part of its Global Gateway project, after recently announcing deals with Bangladesh and Ethiopia). The Global Gateway is the EU’s answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and is intended to increase European influence in Asia and Africa. The USA is not part of the Chinese nor European projects. Both the Chinese and European projects, inadvertently, look like they will help partially pave the way to Armageddon.

As far as matters with the United States go, Ursula von der Leyen expressed her disappointment with another tariff threat from its President Donald Trump (see EU President: ‘A deal is a deal’ as she expresses disappointment with Donald Trump’s tariff statements). The Europeans are getting increasingly frustrated with the USA and this is pushing them to make/finalize trade deals with countries other than the USA. As the USA continues to push its European allies to becoming enemies (cf. Lamentations 1:1-2), the Europeans are also taking steps consistent with fulfilling prophecies related to the coming European Babylonian Beast power of Revelation 17 & 18.

Concluding Comments

The prophet Nahum was inspired to record the following:

2 God is jealous, and the Lord avenges;
The Lord avenges and is furious.
The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies;
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
And will not at all acquit the wicked. (Nahum 1:2-3)

Brethren, despite those who despise and mistreat us thinking they are getting away with it, they will not.

Have confidence in God and His promises.

Sincerely,

Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer