Sunday, September 9, 2012

Bob Thiel: Pretending To Be Catholic In Order To Sell Books?



Bob Thiel, Living Church of God's illustrious book publishing mogul, has been pumping out books lately for the masses.  From Mayan fantasy, to visions of Fatima and now to Barack Obama, the speculation and theorizing abound.

It's interesting that Thiel is using Herbert Armstrong's tactics on taking his message to the world.  HWA was embarrassed to mention what church he represented so he formed the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation to open doors for him. Then he would talk about "a strong hand from someplace..."  What the hell is that? Is the flying spaghetti monster going to come floating down from outer-space?

Thiel is using his early baptism and confirmation in the Catholic church to legitimize his book in the eyes of the Catholic faithful.  No where in any of his Amazon information does he state that he believes the Catholic Church to be the Great Whore of Babylon, that the Pope will be the Antichrist that will kill "true" Christians, that Catholics are all heretics because they don't keep one of the 10 Commandments or that he is no longer a Catholic but a member of a diminished American sect that is fading into oblivion.

Once again you will get to see that Bob thinks he is more enlightened and informed that the majority of humanity. I guess we need to start genuflecting to his awesomeness since he is the "world's foremost authority of prophecy writings."

On his Fatima Shock book site on Amazon he states the following in his author description:

Baptized and confirmed into the Catholic faith as a youth, Michigan native Bob Thiel is one of the world's foremost authorities on prophecy writings, a published Ph.D. and a highly regarded researcher with multiple awards to his credit. He holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of LaVerne, a Master's degree from the Unversity of Southern California, and a Ph.D. from the Union Institute and University. Throughout his academic and professional career he has studied philosophy, religion, science, and prophecy; in recent years, has had scores of articles published on these subjects in magazines, newspapers, trade publications and scientific journals. Married to his wife Joyce since 1981, the two have made multiple trips to ancient sites around the world, including Fatima, Portugal. Dr. Thiel's articles and commentaries are wildly popular online with visitors to www.cogwriter.com, his philosophy and religion website, where he is known as “COGwriter.” “When I heard in 2010 that Pope Benedict XVI changed his views about the future of the Fatima messages,” explains Dr. Thiel, “I was immediately interested in why and what would be included. When someone I knew gave me a Fatima publication shortly thereafter, I was inspired to write a book about what Fatima really would mean for the 21st century.” As an award-winning researcher, Dr. Thiel took his work seriously, traveling to Fátima, Portugal as well as other places he identifies in his book. He and his wife have visited scores of sites of religious and prophetic interest around the world. After endless months of compiling and analyzing the Fatima messages and various other prophecies, Dr. Thiel now presents them in a clear, straightforward language, explaining what was said, what was seen, what will likely happen, and what has already occurred.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow!

Anonymous said...

I'm betting that Mr. Thiel will not knuckle under to any censur from LCG. He is fascinated by the prophetic nonesense many cultures have to offer and it seems to be his thing.

It may have been the prophecy schtick of WCG that intially drew him and the ongoing prophecy perspectives of LCG that keep him in.

This will be a big test for him as to whether he really believes LCG is God's Church if he has to repudiate or at least tone down his speculations, which he loves.

Gosh, Dr. Thiel makes Gerald Waterhous look lazy in speculation and prophetic musings lol

Anonymous said...

My friend with whom I just had lunch with is also a writer of some books and a former member of the WCG who recounted to me his conversations with Robert Thiel.

His perspective is that Thiel was a man who lusted and yearned to be someone.

He also said that Thiel was crazy.

Anonymous said...

Ahem....

Anonymous, now really!

Granted Thiel is nuts and just wrong.

But then so is the Living Church of God and Roderick Meredith.

One proclaiming the other in error is nothing but pure spectator sport.

Anonymous said...

Maybe he's not pretending. Maybe they sent him to spy on RCM and all the COG's to keep the Pope aware of what they are up to.

Mish-Mash said...

Hey All,
Haven't been commenting for awhile. Trials and such. Lots of soul searching, but that's boring to y'all.

Ok, Dr. Bob, and my analysis. Why would a loyal LCG'er allow his bio to read about being a baptized catholic. Hey, I'm a former one myself. But if you are speaking for "God's Church", make your bio clear as to who and what you are. I finally figured out the whole problem with the COG's this summer and this may seem pretty simplistic, but indulge me here a little. Everything they have fostered is RESENTMENT. Yep, any one who is "popular" goes out there and touts themselves as knowlegable on this, and that and the other thing. Then the higher ups grant themselves lovely homes and trips, etc all on your dime. This is causing layers of resentment and falling into all kinds of lunacy.

Enough of my rant, my point is why pretend ? Because you want MONEY!!!! That's what they all want. Guess what, that isn't what the gospel is all about. C'mon prophecy is sensational when its juicy.

Folks, get a life and read the news.

Signing off, tonight is our anniversary, time to watch home videos !

Anonymous said...

"HWA was embarrassed to mention what church he represented..."

So is Thiel, apparently. He's shouting the irrelevant and covering up what is obvious to anyone who knows the SOB. I think this is known in the evil, pagan, god-hating world as "lying." What do they call it in COG circles?

Assistant Deacon said...

What does Thiel do for a living?

Who has time to pump out War-and-Peace-length manuscripts on a daily basis when they are simultaneously working in a regular job? Is he independently wealthy or something?

Regardless, his self-authored bios are laughable. It's one thing to have a publishing house sing the praises of a noted authority -- say, like a Steven Covey -- and another when the same kind of language is used in a self-published tome. Makes it painfully evident that one is praising oneself, which has the exact opposite effect than what the author intends. Too funny.

Allen C. Dexter said...

Someone else commented on the similarity to Bill Dankenbring. It's inescapable.

I knew Bill very well. I used to work in the same office answering mail. He could churn out volumes of stuff faster than just about any of us. Too bad his talents got turned to kookism in about the same league as Theil's.

I often wonder how old Bill is doing these days. He's only a little younger than I am, so I suspect he may be slowing down a bit. Haven't visited his site in ages.

Anonymous said...

It's little different than Armstrongists pretending to be Christians.

Anonymous said...

Is 'The Baron' now jealous of Booby's new boyfriend 'The Pope'?

Holy smoke!

Norm

Anonymous said...

Finally someone has brought this guy to the forefront. His condescending attitude to those of us in the uneducated, spirit lacking, unwashed masses of LCG is getting tiresome. He has set himself up as more educated and knowledgeable than most of humanity since his "knowledge " on prophecy places him at the forefront of humanity. No one in their right mind would buy his books.

Anonymous said...

I visited his webpage for the first time ever yesterday. His first "fundamental article" is called "Is God's Existence Logical."

Knowing that it isn't, because if it were, there would be no need for faith, I wondered what he would say.

"Sadly, but of course," it was just a tired rehashing of Herbie's 70 year-old talking points. Half of his arguments were scientifically out of date by many decades. It is really a very silly article.

So I wrote to the good doctor, and gave him a thorough critique regarding his good points and embarrassing points. I really tried to suppress my snarkiness as much as possible, but I wasn't sure how well I'd succeeded. I expected it to go into the trash bin by the time he'd read to the bottom, but to my surprise he wrote back and said he wasn't comfortable rewriting it and that he has other priorities. I guess he's already busy writing his next book about what the 11th century writings of St. Malarky might predict about the doomsday planet Nibiru in 2014. Sweet!

But the biggest surprise was that he asked ME to REWRITE it for him! When I suggested he give it back to the original ghostwriter, he got a little miffed. I told him I can't do his work for him for no credit and no pay. Anyway, the very fact that he expected that a total stranger would jump at the chance to be used and abused by him at the drop of a hat leaves me with the impression that he'll make a great "minister" someday.

Armstrongism isn't taking on water nearly fast enough. Is there nothing we can do to help it sink a little faster?

Allen C. Dexter said...

"Armstrongism isn't taking on water nearly fast enough. Is there nothing we can do to help it sink a little faster?"

I share your feelings, but I'm afraid there isn't much more any of us can do. The poison HWA stole and originated will be around for generations, in one form or another. Just like all the other poisonous nonsense that permeates the world.

Drive down the street in any Southern city (and to a great extent, everywhere else) and you will see church after church. They're all spewing stultifying theological poison every day of the week and especially on Sunday. Some of them do it on Saturday too, like the Cogs and SDAs. They're all over Cottonwood too.

Anonymous said...

Armstrongism isn't taking on water nearly fast enough. Is there nothing we can do to help it sink a little faster?

Bob Thiel likes to feel important. He doesn't want to be a small-timer. Once Meredith cuts him loose, and Thiel finds he can't even attract a Weinland-sized following, what will he do?

My prediction is that he will reinvent himself as a cult-busting anti-Armstrongist. He knows enough of the truth behind Meredith to ensure the collapse of LCG. If he is honest with himself, he also knows the truth behind the incestuous pervert HWA.

Imagine Thiel on the Roman Catholic media lecture circuit, warning the world about the evil, brainwashing, mind-controlling, nepotistic, empires of the ACOG cult leaders. It could be a sight to behold!

Anonymous said...

"I guess he's already busy writing his next book about what the 11th century writings of St. Malarky might predict about the doomsday planet Nibiru in 2014. Sweet!"

He can call the book, "Malarkey for Fun and Profit", by Robert "Double Dose" Thiel

Byker Bob said...

Well, I always knew that if turbulent times came along, it would give traction to people who had had a pattern of forecasting it. It's why people flock to Bill Fleckenstein for financial advice, among other things. People seem to feel as if those forecasting gloom and doom have secret insider knowledge as to what is going on, and can provide solutions.

Pretentiousness, and disingenuous usage of backgrounds has always been such a cliche within the ACOGs, that most ex members automatically question whether someone really is who they claim to be, and has had the experience and perspective for which they claim past ownership. Due diligence is always a good thing.

It's not only the ACOG illuminati whose credentials are questioned. I've found that it is anyone who becomes controversial. That's why I'm so glad there are roughly 6-7 years of my writings from back when I was an atheist, and challenging and attempting to deprogram Christians. They say that anything on the internet lasts forever!

BB