God's greatest living prophet in the Living Church of God (Sorry Spanky, It's NOT you) wants you to know that his predictions are CERTAIN! They are fact and will happen according to his interpretation. Meredith must be mightily impressed to have such a distinguished prophet in his midst. Or might he be little ticked that Prophet Bob is getting more attention than he is. Since all of Meredith's predictions have failed will it be the same for Prophet Bob? I think we all know the answer to that one!
The Bible is absolutely clear that the world cannot end on December 21,
2012. The Great Tribulation itself cannot start before 2015 and I
really do not believe that it is at all likely to start prior to 2016.
Of course, there is much more that is certain about 2012, the King of
the South, and many other prophetic events. Those who have not done so,
may wish to read my book 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect as world events have already aligned with at least 17 Bible-based predictions that the book contains.
As we appear to be in the time that Jesus referred to as “the beginning
of sorrows” (Matthew 24:5-8), this is a good time to pay attention to
the “sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV), that my book 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect attempts to convey and lay out in a manner that many have said that they have been able to benefit from.
For those of you who may wish to see what the late night radio
personality Erksine thought of the book, here are a couple of things he
wrote about it:
Dr. Bob Thiel has published scores of articles and received numerous awards for his research. His latest book 2012: and the Rise of the Secret Sect
is an astonishing revelation of ancient prophecies and their relevance
today. It was TERRIFIC reading the book. It’s the BEST I’ve seen on
2012. Dr. Thiel REALLY does his research. Also, the photos in the
book his wife took are exquisite.
The fact that world events have aligned with many predictions in the
book was impressive to him. My primary focus in that book on what would
likely happen during the years 2012 through 2020. But of course, for
many of the events to occur, other world events need to align
themselves for them to come to pass. Many outside the Church of God
are impressed when they learn that world events have aligned with so
many prophecies we have explained.
You'll never truly understand the King of the North and the King of the South until you study the biographies of Santa Claus and Elvis.
ReplyDeleteM.T.Hall
In Saudia Arabia, the penalty for claiming to know the future and predicting it can be quite high.
ReplyDeleteFirst you're considered a sorcerer and then you lose your head...which is no way to get ahead in the world of prophecy
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2055636/Sudanese-man-beheaded-Saudi-Arabia-car-park-sorcerer.html
Usually chiropractors make extra income selling you water purification gizmos, shoe inserts, vitimins, pillows, gel packs and other assorted aids. Dr. Bob just sells prophecy that's all for a bit of extra income.
ReplyDeleteEventually water filters need replacing, vitimins go stale, pillows wear out, gel backs rupture and so on.
When I look into the future, I see no future in it much after 2012, 3-5, 10 at the most 20 tops.
“the beginning of sorrows”
ReplyDeleteMarked by the first day you learn about Armstrongism.
I was reading the special feature, "What Science Means to Me" by Jerry Oltion in the February 2012 Analog this morning, when the real problem with the Armstrongist Church of God occurred to me: Unlike science, you can't do anything with what they tell you.
Science is a tool; Armstrongism isn't -- Armstrongism is filled with a bunch of tools, but as leaders of the Armsrongist Churches of God, they are useless and don't give you much to work with.
Science isn't just data: You can do useful things with it, like, make cars, build roads and (more importantly) bridges, design artificial light, microwaves, more efficient ways or producing and harvesting food, build advanced cities, create the Internet and even make blogs, print books and publish fantasy... er... oops... slipped back to the magical thinking of Armstrongism on that one.
What does Armstrongism provide? It provides psychotic fantasy which is not just less than useless, but actually does harm. It would be one thing if it made zombie movies: At least that's entertaining and you know it's not real. Armstrongism, on the other hand, pretends it's real and will transform your life. It does transform your life, much like psychoaffective disorder transforms the life of a mental patient.
Just how well does "Ending Your Financial Worries" work? Does it really end your financial worries? As near as I can determine, it ends the financial worries of the Leaders of Armstrongism to provide them with (and this is really important to Dennis Luker, and we know this because he has told us repeatedly for decades at services) salary and retirement.
How about "The Seven Laws of Success"? The one immutable law of success is planning, and there has been scarcely any of that with the Armstrongist churches of God. Let's put it this way: Are they successful? Really? At what, exactly? Splintering and divisions? Were they really out for diminishing aging congregations with no future?
Ah, the wondrous magical thinking! How great works it produces... well, really, what it produces is more by accident and time and chance than anything. It's about the most short sighted kind of thing imaginable. Hey, what's your plan? Wait it out as the world crumbles in the vain hope that there will be a Great Tribulation? What sort of deal is that, do pray tell? We anxiously await the next episode of Rescue Me (more like, Rescue Us).
So with the Ouiji Board, Tarot Cards, Bat Entrails (seeing as how they are left over from Halloween), the Armstrongists yet again throw the die and WAIT FOR IT... well, maybe in 3 to 5 years. Or 10. We know it isn't going to happen in 2012, the magical signs just aren't blowing our way yet.
Yes, sometimes science ends up in unexpected places we might not have forseen, but as a tool it takes us places, which is a lot more than you can say for Armstrongism which doesn't seem to go anywhere.
Douglas Becker wrote, "Let's put it this way: Are they successful? Really? At what, exactly? Splintering and divisions?."
ReplyDeleteHWA made a lot of promises that he simply did not have the sheer know-how to deliver on. It's one thing to say that he couldn't prove the bible says the Sabbath should be kept on Sunday. That was his opening premise. Even the Catholic Church admits that. But from there he went on to teach other people to assume that the bible is the only book humanity has ever really needed or will ever really need, because the answers to every question that humanity will ever really need to ask are miraculously encoded between it's covers. And that is simply not true. The bible does not contain all the answers that a human being needs.
So HWA made a lot of promises that he can tell everyone how to live better, and be happier, both now and in the next life. It sounds good, but the problem is, if you're looking for the solution to a specific problem, the solution for every problem becomes along the lines of, "pray harder, fast more, study harder, etc," which isn't going to solve anything except perhaps a weight problem. While Armstrongism promises to be able show you how to change, overcome, solve all your problems, and be happy, what they really do is teach you how to keep doing the same old things you've always done, with the addition of Sabbath, prayer, fasting, and bible study, and then expect different results (miraculously). In fact, after promising that they can tell you how to live a happier life, when that totally doesn't happen, they then turn around and tell you that all the suffering you go through in this life (but only once you become a Christian) has the effect of laying up additional treasure in heaven.
In the early sixties, JFK made a promise that the USA would land a man on the mood and return him safely to the earth before the year 1970. While some may disagree, I believe the USA was successful at delivering on that promise. But if they had used the bible as their only source of knowledge, it never would have happened. Kepler, Copernicus, Galilleo, Newton, and Goddard all supplied knowledge in the form of key principles about the orbits of the earth and moon, general physics, and rocket building, but the know-how to take a living human there and then back again was something that still had to be developed. Developing know-how was something the church never did, and they wound up teaching everyone else not to do it either.
One of the things that separates human beings from other animals is their ability to delay gratification. Animals can delay it for a few minutes. Humans can delay gratification until after their death. HWA, like preachers spanning thousands of years have done, merely promised that if you give him money now, someone else (God) will repay you with interest, and He'll do it in such a way that no one will be able to present any evidence to the contrary (at least until after Joe Jr. has auctioned off my palace).
So you see, HWA never delivered on his promises because he knew he would never need to. He never developed any expertise at showing anyone how to live a more satisfying life, and he never taught anyone else how to develop that know-how either, unless, of course, if you were to count L. Ron Hubbard.
Ooooh, nasty, Andrew -- I love it.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing to add is the promise Herbert Armstrong made in 1971: "I will lead you into the Kingdom".
Scientifically speaking, and correct me if I'm wrong, but, Herbert Armstrong is dead and he didn't lead us into the Kingdom.
He had one chance.
He blew his credibility.
I invoke contempt.
Andrew,
ReplyDeleteExcellent! You got it. HWA was a spammer using the technology of his day. Useless infotainment shows that played late a night where the only people watching were insomniacs or drunks that still had half a bottle to go.
The armstrong sycophants resist seeing that the HWA had a blatant disregard for society's basic laws. They resist seeing such things because to see them, to examine them, to think about them and draw conclusions from them is to illustrate the virtues that armstrong lacked. Such as lacking courage, truthfulness, courtesy, honesty, diligence, chivalry, loyalty, and industry. In reality, old Herbie was a free-loader. A drunken one at that.
Let me go on record as saying that there is a genuine coldness, a chill, that pervades the land, as people are scared to death by armstrong's and the current crop of cult leaders and their wicked lamentations for the worlds future.
It seemed as if they feel obliged to overthrow western civilization through the destruction of its four pillars—family, nation, religion, and democracy.
Their favorite scapegoats are the government, the economy, the environment, society, parents, teachers, and just about everything else.
Let me try to put this in perspective: Justice and humanity are entirely on our side and nothing but illegality and barbarity are on side of the cults.
The truth if it is to be known, we allowed the wcg to disarm us morally, make us rootless and defenseless. HWA played the puppet master of us all.
Now just take a few minutes to think that through.
Well, at least Dr. Thiel was right about Harold Camping being wrong.
ReplyDeleteSomeone outside of LCG sent me a link to this, and perhaps I should clarify one point (there are others that addressing here would seem to be futile).
ReplyDeleteThe "prophetic certainty" that I was referring to was that of the Bible. Bible prophecy is certain (2 Peter 1:19, KJV).
Because it is, I and others can be certain that the world will not end in 2012 and that a King of the South will rise, etc., as these are predictions that the Bible makes.
It is because I believe the Bible that I used the expression "COGwriter's 'Prophetic Certainty' ", as the word of God is my 'prophetic certainty.'
Distorted perception strikes again.
ReplyDelete