Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from Grover Beach, California.
Last Sabbath, I made a sermon for the upcoming Feast of Trumpets, which begins at sunset September 22nd and runs through sunset September 23rd in 2025.
Because of recording that, I did not make a sermon for this coming Sabbath. So, instead we are suggesting a sermon recently done by John Shackleton out of Australia.
Speaking of recordings, we sent DVDs of Fall Holy Day related messages to Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi/Mozambique, and the Philippines this week. We used to also send them to India, but our elder there informed me that they have sufficient internet access there, so they can access those messages online, without us sending them DVDs.
Baptism and Baptismal Counseling
Since we have many followers who are scattered in the USA and Canada, a while back, we appointed Steve Dupuie to assist with baptismal counseling. Understand that baptism is a major step, and we do not perform baptisms without baptismal counseling.
Last Sabbath, Steve Dupuie went up to Canada and performed a baptism.
He sent the following photo and report:
Paul William Clark being welcomed as a newly begotten child of God, was added to the the body of Christ as a member of the Continuing Church of God on September 13, 2025, at Nadjia’s house in Ontario, Canada.
Those in attendance: Steve and Ruth Dupuie, Nadjia LaFontaine, and Terry (Nadjia’s mother).
If you are in the USA or Canada and need baptismal and sometimes other counseling, etc,, normally you should contact Steve Dupuie, who lives in Michigan, but he often travels.
His email address is: steve.dupuie@yahoo.com
As a backup, Michael Doles has agreed to provide baptismal counseling. Michael Doles lives in Phoenix, Arizona. His email address is mjdoles@msn.com. So, if you are in the USA or Canada, please feel free to contact him about counseling matters if you cannot connect with Steve Dupuie.
For counseling in other areas, please contact the minister or host for the area. A listing of congregation locations, minister/host names, and email addresses is in the following link: Congregations of the Continuing Church of God.
Please pray for them and, as Jesus said pray for more, “laborers for the harvest” (Luke 10:2).
Growth in the Congo
Moise Nshimiyimana sent the following from Rwanda:
Dear Pastor and Overseer Dr Bob ,
Greetings from Rwanda .Dear Pastor we continue to thank God because sometimes on the day of Sabbath there are those who continue join us during meeting online here in Rwanda. And we are well prepared for to attend the Holy Days , especially baptism candidates in this next days in the DRCongo.Also , after communicating with one of the Pastors of Church of God 7th day Salem in Goma city/Congo , there is now one congregation left COG7 and they accepted Feasts of God and who want to join CCOG and we will be together for the Feast of Tabernacles with their Pastor …Sincerely ,Moïse.
We also received reports of growth in the Rift Valley, other parts of Kenya, and connections to Tanzania this past week.
God is calling many Gentiles, and many Gentiles, as prophesied in Romans 11:25 What About Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles?) are responding.
Fall Holy Days
The Holy Day season is about to commence–sunset next Monday marks the start for the holy days that begin this month.
That first holy day is the Feast of Trumpets which is from sunset September 22nd through sunset September 23rd.
The holy day after the Feast of Trumpet is the Day of Atonement that runs from sunset October 1st through sunset October 2nd.
Church services for the Feast of Tabernacles in 2025 are to begin the evening of October 6th and run (including the Last Great Day) until sunset October 14th.
For information on our sites around the world, go to the article: Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2025.
Feast of Trumpets: Christ’s Return and the Events Leading to it
Most of the Greco-Roman churches do not keep the biblical holy days that generally occur in the Fall. Yet, these Holy Days portray many pivotal events in God’s plan.
The Feast of Trumpets not only pictures the coming of Christ to resurrect the firstfruits from the dead, it also pictures the terrible time of devastation just ahead and the intervention of Jesus Christ to save the living from total annihilation and to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.
Let’s understand how this festival fits into God’s great master plan.
Consider that there is a major time gap between the Day of Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets. Since the New Testament church began on Pentecost and basically ends when Jesus returns at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-57), in a sense the period of time between Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets can be considered as representing the church age.
The fourth Holy Day, the Feast of Trumpets, is observed in “the seventh month, on the first day of the month” (Leviticus 23:23-25).
The number seven in God’s plan signifies completion and perfection. The seventh month of God’s calendar (occurs in September and/or October) contains the final four festivals, picturing the completion of God’s great master plan for us. The festival that falls on the first day of this month marks the beginning of the final events in God’s plan.
It is another annual Sabbath of rest from one’s regular work, and it was to be a memorial of blowing of trumpets (Leviticus 23:24-25). It is also a time to learn God’s ways (Nehemiah 8:2-3; cf. Ezra 3:1-7). Much of what happened to the children of Israel was written for our “examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
It is from the blowing of trumpets that the Feast of Trumpets draws its name.
There is a great deal of symbolic meaning tied in with the blowing of these trumpets, especially with regard to the end times in which we’re living. It should be noted that the modern Jewish name for this date, Rosh Hashanah, is not biblical nor even original for the Jews. It was something that they adopted centuries after God gave it to them and after the Old Testament was written (Kramer, Amy J. Rosh Hashana Origins. Copyright © 1998-1999 Everything Jewish, Inc.).
The Bible teaches that Trumpets were blown to announce God’s feasts, as well as to call people to assemble (Numbers 10:1-3, 10).
Interestingly, Jewish scholars have tied the Feast of Trumpets in with the ‘Book of Life’ (Peltz M, Rabbi. What is in a Rosh Hashanah greeting? Haaretz, September 17, 2012). Why is that of interest?
Well, the Bible teaches that those who are listed in the ‘Book of Life’ (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5) will be resurrected (Hebrews 12:22-23). When? At the seventh and last trumpet:
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)
The Book of Revelation clearly teaches that seven trumpets will be blown (8:2), punishment comes upon those who are not protected by God (9:4), and then God’s kingdom and judgment will come (11:15-18). Finally it teaches that those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will experience the second death (Revelation 20:14-15).
Consider that the Bible shows that during Israel’s history, which was heavily punctuated with conflicts and rebellion, trumpets continued to be used as warning devices, to call to arms or as preludes to important messages — always to mark an event of tremendous import to the whole nation.
God also used the prophets, among them Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and Joel, to warn Israel about punishments He would bring upon them for their constant rebellion against His laws. These prophets were to use their voices like trumpets to blare their warnings to God’s people.
1 Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. (Isaiah 58:1)
We in the Continuing Church of God are working to do that today–despite the efforts of Big Tech to block us. We boldly tell of the sins of society and how world events are aligning with properly understood prophecy–which we also strive to explain.
But there will also be literal trumpet blasts coming in the future as the Book of Revelation teaches (Revelation 8:1-13, 9:1-18). But most will not heed those warnings.
Many are blown in the Book of Revelation, and a lot were to be blown on the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24)–hopefully many can see the connection.
But the most important trumpet, in a sense, could be the last, the seventh one. Here is what Revelation teaches about that:
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. 18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. (Revelation 11:15-19)
The Feast of Trumpets pictures the future blowing of trumpets and the reality that Jesus will come and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth. The good news of coming Kingdom of God is a big part of what Jesus wants His servants to proclaim now (Matthew 24:14; 28:19-20), and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). The Feast of Trumpets points to Christ’s victory over this world.
Greco-Roman historians, such as Jerome and Epiphanius (Catholica Omnia Tabulinum De Ecclesiae Patribus Doctoribusque Materia Migne JP Argumentum Patrologia Latina Volumen MPL025 Ab Columna ad Culumnam 1415 – 1542A, pp. 922, 930 and Epiphanius (Ephiphanius. The Panarion of Ephiphanius of Salamis: Book II (sects 1-46) Section 1, Chapter 19, 7-9. Frank Williams, editor. Publisher BRILL, 1987, p. 117-119), recorded that the ‘Nazarene Christians’ continued to keep the Fall Holy Days into the fourth and fifth centuries. They were also kept by the faithful Christians in Jerusalem who claimed the original Christian building in Jerusalem into the fourth century until they were stopped by Imperial authorities (Pixner B. Church of the Apostles Found on Mt. Zion. Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1990: 16-35,60).
The anti-Semite John Chrysostom specifically attempted to stop people from keeping the Feast of Trumpets in the late fourth century (John Chrysostom. Homily I Against the Jews I:5;VI:5;VII:2; watch also John Chrysostom and Holy Days). However, those trying to be faithful continued to do so throughout history. The Continuing Church of God does so now.
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