Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Monday, September 16, 2013

Bob Thiel: Is The The WORST COG "Behind The Work" Video Ever Produced By A COG?



Bob Thiel has released the video he wants shown at his Feast sites.  It is in no way shape or form like any of the well produced BTW videos from WCG decades ago, UCG's or even LCG's today. It is appallingly BAAAAAAAAAAAD!  I guess being unordained and self-appointed does have its problems!

The most noticeable improvement is that he no long looks like he is sitting on the floor.  He now is a little higher up than the doors on his crooked bookcases.  I mean,  come on Dude!  Surely you have a blank wall in your house that you cold put a really nice paining on for a backdrop.  Crooked bookcases, a door with a doorknob sticking out next to your head, a file cabinet and some boxes of Fatima Shock next to it do NOT make an effective video for this world wide "work."

All About Armstrongism has this to say:


So with the facts, how would he do this “Behind the Work” video? Well simple. It’s going to be an “All About Bob Thiel and his Church” video. That’s pretty much the essence of it. The video will review Bob’s schedule, go to his house (he says proudly), go visit a graphics company, his office with the crooked bookcase where he says he is currently filming, and see a “couple others” associated with his church.

At this point, we jump to Bob’s house. Bob reveals to all of us that his day begins at 4:30 AM to 5:30 AM (Pacific Time), and he prays. After he prays, he comes down, and “if he’s ready”, and work’s on the computer. He’ll (on most mornings, he says) go through emails. He says he gets between 100-200 emails a week. After he goes through his emails, he says he will write a post at COGWriter, based on news, by going to news sites like Google News or CBS News, and scan through headlines to pick something prophetic. He then compares the beginning of his work with what it was like when he first came into the Church with the Plain Truth magazine in the way of news focus. Bob says people are interested in news items and the “why’s” of what is going on. So Bob says he will explain with how world events line up with Biblical prophecy.

In the mornings, he says it takes about 1/2 hr to 2hrs to “come up” with his morning posts and eats breakfast at his home office. he’s up before the rest of the family, and At 8 AM, he then heads to the office. He compares what he is doing with how Herbert Armstrong started. Since radio is no longer the primary media, he’ll go on the computer and find news items. He explains how email and people send ideas to him about what to post. He also says he will go into the Bible, and answer internet questions about the Bible. He says he uses email for counseling issues, marital and family issues. He says the work starts in his home where he lives. He says after he’ll come back from the office he will have dinner, go back to the office, check email again. (6:20).

He then takes us to his printing and graphics company who does his magazine for him. Literally.
That company lays out their magazine, and prints them for Bob’s Church, and shows us where they print the magazines. He shows the machine that will print his first mandarin magazine, showing the first print. The machine is a small copy machine. Thiel says his wife Joyce reviews and edits the weekly letter to the Brethren, on a standard WordPress editor, exactly like I am using right here at “All About Armstrongism”. His wife also is working to help out with the classic “Feast Banners” for Bob’s Feast of Tabernacles at his 3 worldwide locations. After this, we get a look at sidewalk and road construction on the avenue. He calls this a distraction when he does the “Bible News Prophecy” videos. He says this would be a “Different part of the Behind the Work scenes then you’ve probably ever seen before”. Yes, Bob, that would be absolutely true. Looking at sand, a sidewalk and a busy street is definitely different.

And now we are going to look at what Bob Thiel typically does in a normal week! Oh man, I need some popcorn and root beer now. I have a feeling this is going to be exhilarating to watch. Giddy!
So, according to Bob, on a Monday, the first thing Bob will do is take the video camera to his work and connect that video camera to his laptop computer. And he will then upload his Sermon. He states how he has reduced his YouTube upload time from 20 to 30 hours to 3 or 4 hours by decreasing quality and increasing connection speed. Smart….

Oh man.



17 comments:

  1. Aw, Bob! Couldn't you find even one trumpet player to open your hour and a half (HOUR AND A HALF!) of dull ramblings for you? Might've helped if you had one to play a fanfare every few minutes to keep us awake. P.S. Using the same words and phrases that old HWA used does NOT make your message just as compelling -- you have to be able to somehow capture and hold listeners' interest. You lost me when you were shown saving electricity by working in the dark. 'Bye, Bob.

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  2. Poor thing.
    He should name his video, "How to be a Crappy Prophet"!

    And maybe, due to popular demand, we'll get a "double dose", and he'll release Part Deux, where he'll take us to see the factory that made the machine that will print his first mandarin magazine.

    And then maybe there will be a Part 3, where he'll take us to see the factories that made the machines that made the machine that will print his first mandarin magazine.

    On and on, it goes- where it stops, nobody knows!

    And hey, wouldn't it be a gas if the small copy machine that will print his first mandarin magazine has a sticker on it that says, "Please contact Byker Bob for more ink." ?

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  3. The Coward won't allow comments on his You Tube

    He - and his followers - would be better off reading the scholars: Christianity stands out as a religion that is not believed by its big leaders & scholars (this situation can not end well) I reference the Catholics in particular - that big religion, far from being an "End Time" threat, as he predicts in his video, is actually a failing institution where only the ignorant lay members believe Catholic dogma. Why doesn't the Pope, Jesuit & Dominican scholars believe? Because they READ!

    After decades of research on the the sources used by the Gospel writers, Catholic scholar concludes they are mostly fiction : http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-priest-disciplined-after-claims-Jesus-never-existed-in-controversial-book-187717531.html

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  4. I think a "Behind The Work" video from the Lemonade stand ran by the 12 year old down the road would be more interesting and productive than Thiels!

    Shouldnt BANNNED have a "Behind The Work" video too??! LOL! Would love to see in depth, on site, interviews with Dennis, Byker Bob, Corky, Head Usher, Doug Becker, Dexter et al, and one of myself at the ranch, all busily typing away at their computers while we are all in our underwear.

    Then a cut to Gary, receiving emails, and using google search to look for COG related pictures, and then posting them to BANNED, in this the most glorious of internet endeavors!

    Joe Moeller
    Cody, WY

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  5. LOL!

    I recently ate at a restaurant and the helper brought a booster seat for a child at a nearby table and I thought to myself, "THAT is what Bob Thiel needs!"

    (Besides psychotherapy and psychiatric meds and a non-armstrongist impartial theological education.)

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  6. Isn't this like what they all believe about their millennium? They think that suddenly, and with no prior experience, poof, they will be kings and rulers?

    I guess that justifies the do it yourself prophet routine. In the Bible, when God intended for people to be prophets, they were gifted with the abilities to accomplish the job. No gifting would seem to belie the idea that someone was supposed to be a prophet, but if you want to fake it, at least take community college level drama classes, or get some other type of coaching.

    This is another guy playing mudpies with some accompanying delusions of grandeur.

    BB

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  7. Wow Joe! You're as bad as Thiel. I mean, who are you to compare yourself among Dennis, Byker Bob, Corky, Head Usher, Doug Becker, Dexter et al? You're a new comer, so what makes you think that you rate? Why don't you try to make yourself "famous" at UCG, instead of here?

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  8. "We get a look at sidewalk and road construction on the avenue."

    I heard that the UCG's "Jelly" is overseeing that project (Because of UCG's income problems, Jelly has had to do some side work until the Kingdom comes.
    Bob Thiel has paid Miss Piggy to get Jelly into compromising positions so Thiel can take pictures of them together and hence cause rifts within COG Splinterland in order to get more people into his BEST FEAST EVER worldwide event!

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  9. Steve, I got no patience for earnestness like yours. Anybody that can't appreciate Joe Moeller's sense of rollicking (never bitter) irony is a waste of good skin.

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  10. Prophecy, prophecy, prophecy, end time work, tithes and offerings...same old, same old.

    It's a good thing for Thiel that he's a tithe collecting preacher though, he couldn't make a living at a real job.

    He reminds me of the "Advanage 20x" salesmen who don't tell you that "Super Strength MeanGreen" is better and you can buy it at Walmart for a tenth of the cost of his product.

    Bob Thiel's product? Well, it's worthless and expensive at the same time. And, it's guaranteed to put a stain on your soul that even MeanGreen won't remove.

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  11. Yeah Corky . . . the guy is not worth a single cent of tithe. I won't waste my time with this guy. I couldn't even care to watch his video. This Thiel's product is trash.

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  12. NEWS FLASH!...

    "Steve" will replace Joe Moeller in this years BANNED "Behind the Work" video.

    Said Moeller, "Its a great disappointment to be left out of the video this year, I thought I earned a spot and worked hard this past year in posting, but some within the BANNED community balked at this. Maybe next year"

    "Steve", who replaced Moeller in the video, protested Moeller's original inclusion in the yearly BANNED highlight film, stating...

    "This is a special calling here at BANNED, and we's got rules. You have to be bitching against Armstrong for at least 5 years on the net to be someone around here.

    You dont get to be on TV or video, or the BANNED Behind the Work film or anything cool unless the rest of us say so. It sort of like being in a cult, we get to say who is in and who is not in. Its an US vs. THEM, and if you aint one of "US" then you can go to HELL, and you aint worth squat! Moeller thinks he is a cool dude, but it dont matter... if you go to UCG, then you are a turd, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE!"

    It appears to this reporter that hierarchy, class privilege, and guilt or esteeming by label and prejudice are alive and well regardless of group, COG, or EX-COG.

    Joe Moeller
    Cody, WY

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  13. Retired Prof said...
    Steve, I got no patience for earnestness like yours. Anybody that can't appreciate Joe Moeller's sense of rollicking (never bitter) irony is a waste of good skin.

    MY COMMENT: Well, skin my ass, impatient Prof! What did I say that wasn't fitting to you? What's wrong with being earnest? You don't like it? Too fuckin bad!

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  14. Steve,
    Don't be too hard on Joe for commenting here.
    Sure, as a member of the UCG that has a large portrait of Herbert W. Armstrong hanging prominently at their headquarters, he's apt to make comments that defend the UCG and their teachings.
    Most cult members act like pit bulls when defending their cults and their cult's teachings (that's to be expected), but at least Joe has a sense of humor and thinks Herb was a jerk, so he's got a foot out the door.

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  15. Anon above:

    Many people, including elders in UCG have very little respect for HWA. I certainly do not.

    Anyone under the age of 50 in UCG has no memory or recollection of HWA. HWA is not quoted as source material, nor is ever mentioned in church literature or on its broadcast.

    HWA is RARELY ever mentioned from any pulpit, and even then it is never as an authority figure or the like, but more likely a personal historical reference by someone about their own past. Again, this rarely happens.

    The HWA picture thing is a problem. Again, I know several elders who agree, the pictures need to go. It is a delicate political issue... who is going to have the gravitas to make the suggestion to move them out. Whoever has it done, will suffer the darts of morons like Malm, who will claim that they are "going liberal" or "going Tkachish" or whatever.

    The UCG is still in recovery mode from the COGWA split, and doesnt need the hassle right now. In the end it is just a picture, and it was placed there by past leadership of UCG that is no longer in the organization.... Franks, Kilough, Hulme, McCullough etc.

    I predict the day that the pictures are either removed or moved, is coming, likely in a few years.

    Joe Moeller
    Cody, WY

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  16. Oh, crap!!! LOL! Back in the 1980s in Southern California, one of the aspects of massive immigration was that different ethnic groups would decide to settle in and virtually take over entire cities. Monterey Park, as an example, became the Asian Beverly Hills. Glendale became Armenia. Part of Los Angeles became Korea Town. Bigotted people began putting bumper stickers on their cars that asked "Will the last American leaving Monterey Park please bring the flag?"

    Now, in our own merry little community here, I think a good satirical question might be, "Will the last Philadelphian to leave the ACOG please bring HWA's portrait?"

    Of course, my own bumper sticker would probably read "Help stamp out false teachers, and all memory of them!"

    I believe that if Armstrongism is to move forward, shedding toxicity and all of the cultic aspects, they're going to need to place less and less emphasis on the ol' fake apostle. The SDA church has learned to an extent to downplay Mrs. E. G. White, who was known to suffer from temporal lobe epilepsy. I've known a number of
    SDA people, and none of them would be what we'd call fanatics. I'd like to see the ACOGs mainstream in a similar manner..

    BB

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  17. Joe writes about the UCG- Anyone under the age of 50 in UCG has no memory or recollection of HWA.

    Joe, this is FAR from true where I live in central Ohio.
    (Also it's FAR from true where my friends in Kentucky, Florida, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Alabama and Virginia live.)

    Maybe the UCG you attend is some kind of oddity.

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