Sabbath 10/7/32/120

Dear Friends,

Today is the Day of Atonement. It is a day of fasting when we afflict our bodies in repentance and in commemoration of the fact of our reconciliation with God.

On this day you should all have and read the studies Atonement (No. 138) and the paper Azazel and Atonement (No. 214). They are being translated into various languages for the nations to understand what the day represents, and how the entire planet is to be reconciled. In addition to the two hundred-odd thousand papers that will be downloaded this week from the web we are to print and distribute over 40,000 copies of each of these papers at one per family in those areas without normal facilities, and also the various feast papers for next Sabbath, which is the First Holy Day of the Feast period. 

The purpose of the Fast is to break the bonds of wickedness and to let the oppressed go free. The explanation is in Isaiah 58:1-14. The purpose of this day is to repent and to honour the Sabbaths of the Lord, to cease from doing your own will and to make the Sabbath a delight.

It is too easy to poke fingers at other people and to feel more righteous than others but God says that is exactly what we should not do. Our job is to fast and pray for the establishment of the Churches of God and the foundation of sound doctrine among God’s people. Pray for your enemies and for those that despitefully use you.

For those of you who have not kept the Fast before you should be aware of the requirements. You take no food or water from dark on the previous evening to dark at the end of the Day of Atonement. Do not drink alcohol before the fast as it makes it more difficult by causing some dehydration.

We always break the fast with a special meal in celebration of the reconciliation of the people to God.

We are all required to keep this fast as anyone that does not keep the Day of Atonement is cut off from their people. In other words, you are removed from the Church of God if you do not keep it. It is God that does the removal.

Each of us should keep these days dutifully and work out our salvation in fear and trembling. Pray and fast for one another and for the foundation and establishment of the Churches of God.

There is a lot to do and the time is short. The harvest is ripe and the labourers are being added to us now to help in the harvest. Thank you for your prayers in that regard. We are baptizing many hundreds of new people before this Feast. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. With over one new church a day joining us, and some days a church almost doubling in size with new baptisms, it is a very exciting time. 

I look forward to seeing many old friends over this period and many new ones also.

May God bless you and keep you safe.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General