Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Which Present Day Church of God Is Being Led By The Modern Day Zephaniah?

Zeph the prophet

There is not a day that goes by that some crackpot in the Church of God assumes the name of some old covenant prophet.  None of them gives a damn about the New Testament characters or men of the early church but get overly orgasmic at the thought of being compared to some Old Testament prophet.

Various present church leaders have taken on the assumed personalities of many of these men and make all kinds of preposterous and outrageous claims. However, there is only one man who has taken on numerous personality claims over the last several years.  All of these claims are trotted out in order to make his self-appointment look legitimate in the eyes of his followers. By now you will have accurately guessed that it is our own Almost-arrested, almost-ordained, Joshua, Amos, Elisha, Elijah Bob Thiel.

Now, Almost-arrested Thiel claims he is the modern-day version of Zephaniah.  He makes this claim now to state that he leads the ONLY Church of God doing the correct "work" today BECAUSE his group is comprised of the peculiar people mentioned in I Peter 2:9-10.


Zephaniah 2:1
Gather yourselves together – to a religious assembly, to avert the judgment by prayers, (Joel 2:16, “Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders,” etc.) (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
When are they to gather together?
2 Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you! (Zephaniah 2:2)
The gathering is to take place well before the day of the Lord (which happens about 2 1/2 years after the Great Tribulation of Matthew 24:21 begins) and before some type of decree is issued.
Who does God want to gather together?
The end time Christians. Notice what Jesus stated and something the Apostle Peter wrote:
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:19, NKJV)
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10, KJV)
This is a peculiar people. These are people who the world does not desire. These are Philadelphian Christians.
Of course, it is a well know fact that Philadelphia Christians can only be Church of God, but even that number of people is narrowed to down to include only followers of the self-appointed leader, regardless of who they are.

That special group always has biblical references to be found in the Bible and ALWAYS ends up describing a specific COG group that includes ALL the other groups.


How do we know that Zephaniah 2:1-3 is related to Christians? Because the decree is for the end time and because of what else God inspired Zephaniah to write:
3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. (Zephaniah 2:3a)
The above is a reference to Christians as they are to be the “meek of the earth” (Matthew 5:5) and to Philadelphians who “have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility.” These are Philadelphian Christians who understand that church leaders need to have integrity and are willing to be humble enough to accept the authority of a church led by a low-level prophet in the absence of a clear apostle (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11-15). They are humble enough to not think that they should remain ‘independent,’ as many who once were part of the old Worldwide Church of God, during this Laodicean time, have done.
Did you catch the comment above?  Almost-arrested Thiel says his followers must have the humility to accept the authority of church lead by a low-level PROPHET.  These overly humble people also know that they MUST remain "independent" as a church.  And we all know who is the ONLY independent Church of God out there, don't we!

Because Bitter Bob is the modern day reincarnation of Zephaniah, he wants to make it clear that his group is the ONLY group that is doing a final phase work.


Why does God tell them they may wish to be gathered together? So:
3…It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger. (Zephaniah 2:3b)
Interestingly, the Hebrew words translated as Zephaniah means “Yahweh Hides” or “Yahweh Has Hidden” (Holy Bible: Vine’s Expository Reference Edition, p. 826).
Why have I written that Zephaniah 2:1-3 has to do with Philadelphian Christians?
For they are the only ones who will actually ‘gather together’ as they should.
Why?
Because it is they who will lead the final phase of the work and it is only to the Philadelphians that Jesus promises to protect from the coming hour of trial, also referred to as the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord:
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie — indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘ (Revelation 3:7-13)
Notice that the Philadelphians are doing the work of God, have kept God’s word, have not denied Christ’s name/authority, and are persevering in the truth. 
Because his group is the only group preserving the truth, they will be preserved and safely hidden away in Petra.


Yet, other churches around at the end, such as the remnants of Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) and Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) are not promised that protection. Nor are the many Laodiceans (Revelation 3:14-22)–even if they are somehow gathered together–as they have gathered together in places that Jesus did not wish them to.
Are not all real Christians going to be protected?
No. The Book of Revelation is clear that after the Philadelphians are persecuted (cf. Daniel 7:25a; 11:29-36), that group will flee to a place of protection, while the rest of the true Christians will not flee and then be subject to severe persecution 
As we are always made aware by the self-appoint guru's of the various COG's, only the select members of the chosen group will be in the place of safety.  Since all other COG's are Laodicean, it means that  Almost-arrested Thiel's group is the ONLY true remnant church and will be the ONLY COG group there.


Who is the only Church of God in the 21st century to teach all of this?
The Continuing Church of God.
If you are not with the group that is leading the final phase of the work will you not be able to flee if you wait until the last moment? While that may be remotely possible for some, remember that God inspired Zephaniah to admonish God’s people to ‘gather together…before the decree is issued.’
Most will discount this and many will scoff. Most COGs do not have any they consider to be a prophet, and those other than the CCOG who claim to, have prophets that have been proven to be false (e.g. PCG, CGPFKG, TPM).
You bet we will mock and scoff at Almost-arrested Thiel's prophetic nonsense.  He is a liar and was never set apart by God to lead any "end time work."  That is a fact that he cannot refute.  No
 COG member, let alone any Christian would EVER be part of such an organization.

Thiel ends with this:
The old WCG taught that Zephaniah had to do with being protected, yet few teach that today.
Since no later that 2007 I have written that Zephaniah had to do with Philadelphians being ‘gathered together’ so that they would be protected from the coming trial that will hit the earth.
We in the Continuing Church of God “have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV).”
Should we not be “exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25)?
We in the Continuing Church of God boldly teach the need for Philadelphians to be ‘gathering together’ today. Will you heed God’s instructions as the Prophet Zephaniah was inspired to write? Would you possibly like to be protected? If so, will you ‘gather together’?
No Bitter Bob, we do not want to gather with you.  You are no prophet.  You are not the prophet standing in the shoes of Zephaniah. You have no instructions that Christian needs to be heeding and most certainly will NOT have any say so in "protection" from God at this point in time or at any point in the future! 









31 comments:

  1. A minister that started his own Armstrong breakaway cult considers himself the "end-time Zerubbabel".

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  2. As Yosemite Sam said, the critter went and done it.

    Last night I started to listen to Bob's latest sermon in background, and heard him make conclusions about his church and himself based on Catholic prophecies and claims that that everyone else don't teach what the Bible says. Again I was wondering how far beyond repair Bob would stray.
    It appears Bob now follows the trend of Messrs Pack, Flurry, Weinland, et al, in grandiose pronouncements.

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  3. None of them gives a damn about the New Testament characters or men of the early church but get overly orgasmic at the thought of being compared to some Old Testament prophet.


    Ironically enough, Thiel may qualify for at least one New Testament office, "end-time Diotrephes."

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  4. These goofs need at least to whittle it down to being either the End TIme James or Paul just once in their piously convicted yet marginally informed theologies. Even an End Time Bar-Abbas would be better than all this For Profit stuff even if the profit is just to their out of control Ego.

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    1. I am the end-time John The Baptist. No wait, maybe I'm the end-time Philip.

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  5. This just proves the old saying that you can prove anything by the Bible. Or, to be more accurate, it might be said that you can prove anything to someone by the Bible, whether the "proof" is actually valid or not. Or, to put it even more accurately, there's a sucker born every minute, and each apostle/prophet after diligent searching will find his own suckers to "prove" whatever nonsense he wishes to espouse. There can be no doubt that a certain "spin" can be put on much of the Bible, but the interesting question is why this is so. Is the Bible really the product of intelligent design, written and compiled by men but directed by God and designed by God to be subject to different interpretations even with rigorous and scholarly exegesis? Was it written by God in a kind of code, as HWA was fond of saying (and of course only HWA could decipher the code)? Or is it simply a product of human authors with sufficient vagueness to be subject to whatever interpretation one might wish to impose upon it?

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  6. Thiel is more like Led Zephaniah. He's going over like lead balloon!

    BB

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  7. That photo reminds me of the idol Milcom or Molech, which Zephaniah mentions in his fifth verse. Look up Google images of milcom and you'll see what I mean. Arms outstretched to hold the babies over the open fire.

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  8. Comments were made saying: "...You bet we will mock and scoff at Almost-arrested Thiel's prophetic nonsense. He is a lair and was never set apart by God to lead any "end time work." That is a fact that he cannot refute. No COG member, let alone any Christian would EVER be part of such an organization...No Bitter Bob, we do not want to gather with you. You are no prophet. You are not the prophet standing in the shoes of Zephaniah. You have no instructions that Christian needs to be heeding and most certainly will NOT have any say so in "protection" from God at this point in time or at any point in the future!..."

    Well, amen to that!

    Bob Thiel may like quoting Zephaniah, but how about quoting Jeremiah???????

    Jeremiah 29:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

    :9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.

    So, Bob's little "Philadelphian 'christians'" are so meek and they will inherit only the earth?

    How did they get so meek? Change their last names to "Meek?"

    Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

    And so shall they inherit the earth! That is God's good pleasure and will!

    God's sons and daughters, His Firstfruits, His Church will inherit all things.

    Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

    That also is God's good pleasure and will.

    Jesus Christ's words for Bob Thiel, some professing "prophet" by bootstraps' thinking by his own glorified self-impressed SELF:

    "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." Matthew 15:11

    Yes, boasting Bob, stop defiling yourSELF!

    :12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?

    Does any of this offend SELF-important Bob Thiel?

    :13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

    Was Bob Thiel and his little helpers, "Philadelphian christians," ever planted by Jesus' Heavenly Father, The God? Absolutely not, b/c by their fruit you/we know them.

    What is ahead for Bob Theil?

    :14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

    "Join the club" of ditch-hoppers!

    Bob Thiel, let Zephaniah RIP. He, like Isaiah, will be back!!!!!! When?

    "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Isaiah 26:19

    AFter the 2nd resurrection! Isaiah and Zephaniah knew what they were inspired to say, as God's prophets, but you Bob Thiel don't know what you are talking about.

    Time will tell...

    John

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  9. FURTHER TRUTH ABOUT THE PHILADELPHIA BRETHREN! -From Prophet "Connie", (aka Mary Magdalene)

    The Philadelphia Eagles are in first place in the NFL with a 10-2 record, and have scored more points than any other NFL team!

    However, Prophet Bob Thiel will not acknowledge this NEW TRUTH about Philadelphia by his refusal to accept football as the revelatory vehicle!

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  10. I like the photo of Thiel on this post. Has that "almost arrested" look to it.... Hands Up --- Dont Shoot!

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  11. This is like Rome and the Roman Circus. All the XCOG leaders are trying to make themselves Caesar of the splinters and the endless prophesy speculation is like the entertainment in the Colosseum.
    These leaders are hoping that the circus will detract the followers from noticing that they are not being fed spiritual meat but rather, err, well, they're not being spiritually fed at all.

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    Replies
    1. Exactly, 7:44. If someone were to believe that Armstrongism held "the truth", how would one even decide what ACOG to go with? Flip a coin?

      BB

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  12. A small editorial note:
    Bob says, "They are humble enough to NOT think that they should remain ‘independent,’"

    Your comment is, "These overly humble people also know that they MUST remain "independent" as a church."

    That's not what he is saying. He's saying they should stop sitting independently in their living rooms and come join him instead.

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  13. All this talk bout being king and priest, I rather not for power corrupts. I would be happy to just have eternal life and learn of all the wonders of God's creations, what's so wrong with that?

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  14. ahhh, the ole "place of safety" routine....right up there with Jim Jones and Marshall Applewhite's idea of a similar "place of safety"....who's ready to flee...??

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    1. Same Old Song And Dance RoutineMonday, December 4, 2017 at 1:32:00 PM PST

      My place of safety is my mind palace.

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  15. John, Enough with the proof texting already.

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  16. 9.21 AM
    You are probably assuming that 'king and priest' means lording it over others like we have in todays politics and religion. Christ condemned this in Matthew, Mark and John with His 'don't lord it over members like the gentiles.'
    King and priest will be more like a high school teacher. After 'class is over' the students do as they please, ie, no micro managing of others lives.

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  17. The reason Bob is standing in a corner is because he's been scammed by his African members. He can't afford a studio or office or decent furniture.

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  18. Old Zeph looks like a vampire ready to suck your blood, or your wallet dry.

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  19. THE (CONTINUALLY WRONG) GUESSERS


    Gerald Flurry started his PCG by claiming that we were in not only the end times but the end of the end times. He said that the PCG would do a short work. He talked about the last hour. He said that he was afraid to give a sermon about the last minute for fear that if he did the end would come right away. But short Gerald was just telling tall tales. And that is how he strung his followers along to be misused and abused by the arrogant local goons that he set up over them.

    Even though Gerald Flurry was continually making up new revelation about how amazingly great he was, and soon claimed that he, rather than Jesus, was what he called “That Prophet” mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:18-19, he had to subscribe to Stratfor to help him try to guess the future. Whether physically drunk from too much beer, or spiritually drunk from too much praising himself, a drunken runt does not make a good prophet.


    David Pack started his RCG and claimed that his Real Truth magazine would bring responsible understanding rather than reckless speculation. Wow, finally, after all these years, responsible understanding rather than reckless speculation! You wouldn't believe how good that sounded. It sounded too good to be true.

    Unfortunately, David Pack soon forgot all about responsible understanding and came up with an August 31, 2013 prophetic guess that failed even though Dave had 56 “proofs” proving it. After it failed, Dave said that he would certainly never make that mistake again. And why should he, when there are other mistakes to made? So Dave then began a series of 80+ sermons full of reckless speculation about some new First Dominion prophetic theory that he made up as he went along. Still later, even David admitted that there were some errors in the sermons and deleted them. But it was too late. The brain damage had already been done to his followers. Some quite extensive damage had also been done to their wallets, savings accounts, retirement plans, and house equity.


    Ronald Weinland wanted money for travelling, shopping, and dinning out--living the good life. So he started his COG-PKG and began writing prophetic fantasy fiction. At least people did not have to wait 15 to 20 years or more to find out that he was just clowning around. Since people have short attention spans these days and desire instant gratification, he set nearby dates that quickly came, and also went, without anything he predicted ever happening. He appears to have just made up ridiculous stories without even bothering to watch the news or trying to guess what might happen in the future. While this might appear to be a lazy man's approach, it is actually faster and more efficient than watching the news, which does not seem to work either anyway.

    Ronald Weinland had made it sound like he was promising to quit and step down if what he predicted did not come to pass but, of course, the clown is still around telling even more prophetic jokes. You have to have a sense of humor about it all, and not pay for any of it, or else his fibbing might totally disgust you.


    Continued below...

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  20. ...continued from above.


    Bob Thiel wanted to be a prophet even though he was not one, so he started his CCG and his life of guessing. The result was that he had to watch the news and guess about what might happen in the future. This resulted in his writings being full of all the usual weasel words like could, might, may, etc. All the fake news that Bob Thiel watched on television had convinced him to write a book about Hillary Clinton, so, of course, Donald Trump won the presidential election instead. That is how prophetic guesses work out, or rather, that is how they do not work out.

    Bob Thiel had hoped that the demons would reveal little tidbits of prophetic truth to him if he studied pagan prophecies enough, but the demons just play with him like a cat with a mouse. They do not play nice at all.

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  21. k-baradanikto said...

    "There can be no doubt that a certain "spin" can be put on much of the Bible, but the interesting question is why this is so. Is the Bible really the product of intelligent design, written and compiled by men but directed by God and designed by God to be subject to different interpretations even with rigorous and scholarly exegesis?"

    Not only the Bible, k-b, but the whole of creation was designed as a text with multiple potential meanings. Different people interpret the text differently, "even with rigorous and scholarly exegesis." Some conclude that the earth is steadily getting warmer, while others believe they see a hiatus. Some see earthquakes and volcanoes as evidence the earth's crust is a dynamic system that sometimes ruptures naturally and impersonally. Others believe these events are sent by their god to warn human beings to repent and shape up. Only those with true discernment can say which ones of the many interpretations are correct. Fortunately I possess true discernment.

    It hasn't extended to the global scale yet, but inspiration on a minor matter was bestowed on me today that promises bigger things and clearly indicates I am on my way to prophethood. As I was cutting firewood, I noticed that my body is designed perfectly for making the necessary measurements. To fit in our stove without wasted space, sticks of firewood need to be one cubit long. I looked down at my arm, and Lo and Behold! I have been furnished a built-in ruler. The distance from my elbow to the tips of my outstretched fingers is exactly one cubit.

    There is more. The design includes a backup, using the well-known engineering principle of redundancy. When it is inconvenient to measure with my forearm, I can fall back on the span--the distance from the tip of my thumb to the tip of my pinky with the digits fully extended. Two span equals one cubit, exactly. What better evidence of design than this simple, memorable 1-to-2 ratio?

    There is still more. Some of the wood I cut was white oak. The designer has blessed this material with the smell of bourbon. What he had in mind was to remind me that, at the end of the day, when the saw was shut off and I had gone back to the house, it would be okay to have a little drink.

    Skeptics may scoff, but to me it is clear that these revelations mean I have at least as much right to consider myself a prophet as Bob Thiel does.

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  22. Prof,

    Were you chopping up whisky barrels?

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  23. Retired Prof,

    Next time you are telling us that "possibly, you might have another sip, in moderation, this coming weekend". If that comes true, it would seal the deal for me!

    An enquiring minds needs to know. While musing, were you in any way dressed in "animal skin?"
    (as in leather jacket)

    nck

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  24. This 5:43/5:45 person does not draw many comments on this blog.
    Over time however I have noticed that this person is quite accurate and always entertaining.

    Quite a shame most of us are "imaginary friends" although even 15 ago years our connection here would be deemed quite miraculous too. On the other hand in another life we were mortally bored by each other anyway so this is quite good.

    nck

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  25. Bob Thiel - Lair or Liar?

    Typos are common in blogs, and this sometimes results in ambiguity. For example, Bob Thiel is a lair.

    Lair: A place where a wild animal lives; a secret or private place; short for larrikin

    Liar: A person who tells lies

    So, was the example a typo, and Bob Thiel is a liar, or is he a lair (larrikin)? Or both?

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  26. No, Glenn, I was cutting trees down and cutting them up. Bourbon gets its flavor from the aromatics it absorbs from white oak barrels. I was twisting the relation between trees and whiskey to make fun of the way Thiel twists scripture and history.

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  27. nck, the important detail is that I would never drink a sip of alcohol while using a chain saw. Nor a firearm. I present a danger to others if I err with a rifle, but I never put myself in more peril than when operating a chain saw.

    No leather except steel-toed boots.

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