How many of you ever completed the Correspondence Course that the old Radio/Worldwide Church of God put out? Most church members only know it in its abbreviated form of 32 lessons which was eventually shortened to 12 lessons. Those who grew up in the church in the "Radio" years remember the mind and butt-numbing 58 lesson course. Remember all of those wonderful hours parked at your dining room table diligently reading each lesson and handwriting out every single Bible verse it referenced?
Each lesson was meticulously planned out so that you never had the opportunity to question what was being presented. After all, this was coming from God's College and therefore had to be 100% right! God would NEVER lead the Apostle astray into letting something as miraculous as the Correspondence Course EVER be filled with error!
The problem with the entire course is that was nothing more than an elaborate "proof-text" of what the church believed after "proof-texting" scriptures to fit their interpretations.
Here is the definition of proof-texting:
The church was quite adept at twisting scripture to fit the interpretation it wanted the members to believe. Most members never knew it was happening. After all, if Herbert said it, that settled it! Since it was settled it could never be questioned. God forbid if anyone dared to read a book that might have an opposite viewpoint!Prooftexting (sometimes "proof-texting" or "proof texting") is the practice of using isolated, out-of-context quotations from a document to establish a proposition in eisegesis (introducing one's own presuppositions, agendas, or biases). Such quotes may not accurately reflect the original intent of the author,[1] and a document quoted in such a manner, when read as a whole, may not support the proposition for which it was cited.[2][3][4][5] The term has currency primarily in theological and exegetical circles.This is to be distinguished from quotations from a source deemed a hostile witness, which inadvertently substantiate a point beneficial to the quoter in the course of its own narrative. Even when lifted out of context, those facts still stand.Many Christian ministers and Christian teachers have used some version of the following humorous anecdote to demonstrate the dangers of prooftexting: "A man dissatisfied with his life decided to consult the Bible for guidance. Closing his eyes, he flipped the book open and pointed to a spot on the page. Opening his eyes, he read the verse under his finger. It read, 'Then Judas went away and hanged himself' (Matthew 27:5b). Finding these words unhelpful, the man randomly selected another verse. This one read, 'Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."' (Luke 10:37b). In desperation, he tried one more time. The text he found was: 'What you are about to do, do quickly.'" (John 13:27)[6]
That brings us to today, as Doubly-blessed, Almost-arrested Tinfoil Bob Thiel has determined that he need to correct the old Correspondence Courses. Tinfoil Bob, like almost all the other splinter group leaders has never had an original thought in his head. He has spent years copying and imitating everything the church did. Now he has determined that he needs to add his great interpretations to these old courses.
Can any of these self-appointed pissants ever write or preach anything NOT already done by HWA and his crew? Not a single new thought or interpretation for the 21st century. No new way of looking at things that have relevance for people of this world. No one humble enough to admit mistakes were made and interpretations were wrong.We have been making progress on literature and clarifying matters for an upcoming Study the Bible Course lesson. Working on that lesson (number 15) caused me to do a lot of research and add many scriptures that were not in the original course from the 1950s. We expect that lesson to be available next Spring.Speaking of the Study the Bible Course, we have been working on getting all the English version lessons online by themselves, as opposed to only being available in the magazines. This should be ready fairly soon.
Humility is not a word any present-day Church of God leader knows or exemplifies. They cannot because they REFUSE to follow the one person who taught them what it was to be humble. Liars and boasters of themselves and their supposed good works of magnificent campuses, auditoriums, great websites, booklets in Swahili and other African languages, the list can go on and on because it is always about themselves.
Herbert Armstrong, as arrogant as he was, at least had a vision. Something bigger and grander for members to look forward to as a unified group on a journey together. Today's COG leaders have no vision. The beat their chests as if they do and boast a lot, but they are visionless. Herbert Armstrong could circle the wagons and realign people to his cause when it got waylaid, yet today we see scores of little men who cannot inspire people to join up with them to complete the grand vision Herbert Armstrong envisioned. They have ended up being like dung beetles rolling their little balls of malevolent teachings up the side of an ever-growing pile of stinking crap.
24 comments:
HWA, his WCG and its daughter churches are all renowned for following the principle that "A text taken out of context is a pretext for a proof text." ;-)
When I was doing the original Correspondence Course, RCG claimed they just finished lesson 54. When I first met a minister I told him I was concerned that they'll run out of lessons and I'll have nothing more to learn...
There was an article about Bob's lessons at Painful Truth some years ago, and how easy the multiple-choice "tests" were -- so predictable, I remember getting 100% on one without even looking at the lesson.
Like Edison said, I start where the last man left off. Bob reminds me of a journalist in Spokesman's Club whose speeches were often reworked versions of a sermon, PT or GN article.
Can any of these self-appointed pissants ever write or preach anything NOT already done by HWA and his crew? Not a single new thought or interpretation for the 21st century.
No, they can't write anything new because they haven't learned anything new. Not only was HWA given lost truths, he was given ALL the that there is. There is no need to study any commentary, any history, any books on Jewish culture . . . nothing. There is NO more truth to be mined from the Scriptures other than what HWA has already learned and taught. This is why articles and sermons today are the very same ones given at AC when I was there in 72-74. Once you have read what HWA wrote . . . your education is complete. The Mormons had an expression, "Once the decisions have been made, the thinking has been done." The same goes with HWA and I would add, "Once a subject has been taught to you, the learning has been done."
Bitter Bwana Bob is continuing the same old pattern.
He starts with: "You guys are heretics because you aren't teaching what HWA taught! I need to start my own pure HWA-church!"
As sole leader of the new church, however, the tune soon changes: "My church is better than all the other churches because it has new understanding that HWA never had!"
This happened with Flurry. It happened with Meredith. It happened with Pack. Now, it's starting to happen with Thiel.
UCG is different in that it started with the premise that HWA was sometimes wrong and that Joe Tkach had sometimes been right, and its drift is mostly in the direction of standard Protestantism, not kooky prophetic speculation.
A man in the Tupelo congregation got his Ass chewed out because he found contradictions in the B.C.C.
Will Bitter Bob soon release a [i]Study the Dresden Codex[/i] series to help his followers understand how Mayan prophecy foretells the doubly-portioned prophet and his role in end-time prophecy?
Id like to know ... How many people took the Correspondence Course but CHEATED on the TESTS! ??
I am not sure if anyone else mentioned this is comments the last few days. But Bob T is featured in a Jason A video from mid last week. It is about Europe creating its own military and BT waxing eloquently about the Beast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwi5c86unqc
In some ways the USA is more like the feared Assyrian empire- destroying nations and all its generals like kings.
Hi, I'm a dung beetle. Dung, yum, yum.
..UCG is different in that it started with the premise that Herbert had sometimes been wrong and Tkach had sometimes been right ? Ive attended UCG for twenty years and that has never been told to the laity.
@ 11:16 AM, you don't need to have been told. It's self-evident. When UCG formed, it brought along many but not all of the Tkach-era changes. As just one super-simple example: the 90-minute format for services. Under HWA, Sabbath services were never shorter than 2 hours, but when UCG formed it accepted that Tkach-era administrative change. Dig deeper and you will notice other changes between 1986 and 1995 that were brought into UCG as the 1995 version rather than the 1986 version. Since then, where UCG has changed, it has changed to move closer to 1995 WCG than to 1986 WCG.
You write about UCG as if they were unified in vision and application. That after twenty years is not the case. One UCG congregation or one area of UCG may be run along 1995 WCG lines but you cannot achieve that throughout UCG. The devil is on the detail and UCG can differ from region to region.
Hello TLA.
Early 90's USA diplomacy resembled Thucidides and the Pelopenisian wars.
Nck
November 25, 2018 at 8:55 AM
Using Bobby as a reliable source is one dumb ass mistake. Anything that the author of the video wanted to prove his point with he put in there without checking the references of the author. Is this case Bob Thiel.
@ 11:49 AM, thank you for acknowledging that UCG — unlike RCG, LCG, and PCG — allows congregations to be run along 1995 WCG lines. The other major ACOGs are moving more and more away from Protestantism, into wacky new Adventist-style doctrines, while UCG is moving more and more toward Protestantism. Though the pace of that movement varies from region to region, the Home Office doesn't stop that movement, just as WCG after 1995 did not stop different congregations from sliding toward Protestantism at different speeds appropriate to each congregation.
So, bob was ALMOST arrested. So? I wonder how many people have ever done something they could have been arrested for? Probably more than you think.
2018 UCG wanting to go back to 1995 WCG, is a disaster waiting to happen. It makes UCG look inspired by human opinion not God's opinion. So God is doomed to be stuck in 1995 WCG. Uggghhhh.
Neither one thing nor another.
I've given up reading or viewing UCG online sermons. They are just about devoid of any distinct theology. I find their material very Kenneth Copelandish. By comparison, Joyce Meyer programs have zeal and teach a strong (though faulty) moral code.
UCG is asleep, so any shifts in theology is near meaningless. It's the United Asleep Church of God.
Restoring the 1995 WCG in the newly formed United was NOT the spirit of Indianapolis 11:40 Anon. You either are ignorant of that meeting or you are rewritting history to bring in error.
@ 3:17 PM, the "spirit of Indianapolis" was a slogan that was interpreted quite differently by Ray Wooten, David Hulme, Jim O'Brien, Robin Webber, Jim Franks, and so many others. Many today perceive that the slogan was used to corral the "independents" in the early stages of breakaway, so the larger organization could coalesce and neuter the widespread sentiment to focus locally on congregational health. I won't stoop to insult, though, and use the word "ignorant" to describe your understanding, because your choice to do that to me tells me a lot about your approach to discourse among brethren.
It was not a slogan to many. It was how various people felt at that time. It was a time of hope.
Your attitude is not right and it only serves you to treat people as such. Many would disagree with you and over the years im sure many have.
Im no false witness anon 4:11. I find it bizarre and quite strange that a high ranking powerful UCG Elder haunts this website so frequently. Dropped your fake name ? We all know its you by your attitude of hate towards true and honest believers.
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