Sabbath 3/5/35/120

Dear Friends,

This Sabbath is the Third day of Ab and Monday will be the Fifth of Ab. We are dealing with the period of God dealing with Israel, both spiritual and physical.  The period will develop from the New Moon of Ab and last over 5th-10th Ab.

Everyone that comes into the Church of God (COG) and is baptised becomes a part of spiritual Israel and is subject to the laws and judgment of God.  It is important we are all aware that God acts in dealing with us and in our consideration and welfare of one another.

There is one aspect that I wish to deal with and that is the welfare and honesty of the church and the capacity of the church to harness the tithe for the work of God.  Also we need to deal with the capacity to overcome the customs that limit the capacity of the church of God to grow in strength and to develop the well-being of the church in one’s area and nationally and internationally.

The churches of God have been developing around the world. They are able to use modern media to spread the gospel where we were never able to do so in previous centuries because of the control of the print media by the Trinitarian systems, who also controlled the educational systems. For some eight centuries they have controlled the universities and suppressed the people of God everywhere they were able do so.

The churches of God had the power and reach to deal with the gospel in the 20th century but made a complete mess of it.  God had to deal with it and scatter it in order to get the gospel going. The COG and Armstrongite system in the US and elsewhere wasted  untold millions in funds that could have been better spent in dealing with developing nations and squandered the money that might have been used for that purpose.

The growth of the churches of God in Africa, including the SDA system there, has been a terrible failure in that the faults and failure in education and scriptural knowledge in the COGs over the 19th and 20th centuries have been contaminating the groups there and they are aided and abetted by African customs and tribal systems. In fact the church of God in Abyssinia in the fourth century was far more efficient and understanding than most of the nations and tribes are now. They actually managed under Archbishop Mueses to go via India to China and establish the Sabbatarian faith there while the European Church had corrupted themselves and were squabbling outside of Britain and the Middle East creating a Trinitarian monster (see the paper General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122)).

God is about to deal with that monster.  The harlot daughters of that whore are about to be brought back into it and that system will be destroyed in accordance with Revelation (cf. Rev. 18:1-24).  It will most effectively be destroyed in Africa first.

In order that we more effectively deal with the work, we need to deal with some specific problems especially in Africa.  One of the most problematic areas is in Kenya and especially among the Luo and adjacent tribes in the west. We are continually being approached by dishonest cliques to join us in the pursuit of money. Many claim baptism in the COGs and we find they are lying about it on checking with those with which they claim baptism.  There are other problems. One problem is based on the tribal custom of saying that a body has to be repatriated to their home grounds for burial.  Another issue is for hospital fees, much of which is bogus. Sometimes the hospitals do not even exist.  Often the person has never been there. Sometimes people will ask for funds for childbirth.  One has nine months to prepare and save for the hospital fees. Why should a church elsewhere have to pay for something that should have been planned for months in advance?  CCG has never had a request for funeral expenses outside of Kenya except where the body was allegedly in Tanzania but the request came from Kenya. These requests have to stop.  Families are expected to pay their own funeral expenses and not to be a drain on the churches of God. All other requests should be for projects to increase the income of the local church and are to be processed through the national HQ and the project officers.
 
The funds of a national church should not be used for other than what it is designed to do.  The First Tithe is to be used for the work of God and nothing else. A Tenth of those tithes should go to the World Conference under the Constitution as the Tithe of the Tithe for World Conference and Missionary expenses and whatever else is determined by the National Conference.

If a church is not tithing then it is not entitled to any assistance.  If a church is not documented with proper official National ID photos and with Fellowship forms documented after baptism or with Co-worker forms done prior to baptism then the people are not entitled to any assistance. Photos are not good enough; they are to be Numbered National IDs.

The Second tithe is for the families’ Feast funds and to help others as deemed necessary.

The Tithe of the Third year derived from the Second Tithe is to be given to the National church for the assistance of the poor and needy. The church is not required to spend more except in urgent need. It can establish further collections but should not be allocating poor funds out of First Tithe (see the paper Tithing (No. 161)).  That fund is for the work of God. Officers doing that will be removed. Uganda has managed to assist its people and those of the Congo and Rwanda and Burundi from its own project income. That is the aim of all of us.

We are disappointed in the constant demands, and even downright fraud, from Kenya at the expense of the other churches in Africa and elsewhere in the world.  Let it also be understood that CCG does not support orphanages.  All orphans are to be allocated to their next of kin and the village and if the village does not support them in families then the coordinators and the churches are to be corrected and if necessary removed from CCG. He who does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel (1Tim. 5:8). Each child is entitled to be brought up in a family environment and the church is to enforce it.

A true convert to the Church of God does not seek to profit from the church. Our meat is to do the will of him who sent us (Jn. 4:34). The correct mindset of the church of God is to establish the brethren in work so that the family benefits and the church can grow.

Pray that we are able to do the work of God. Do not be a leech on the Church of God. Do not rob God by withholding your tithes (Mal.3:8).  Deceive the elect and rob the Church and God will deal with you. It is a matter of time.

Pray for the church and to build it on a sound base.

Wade Cox