The other day he got all hot and bothered by Grace Communion International putting emphasis on using the Revised Common Lectionary. The horrors!
Prophet Bawana writes:
GCI (Grace Communion International, essentially the group that originally ran the new and changed Worldwide Church of God) posted the following today:Dear GCI Family and friends,
Health is a relative term. …
You are aware that I have been preaching and promoting healthy church, and we are just beginning to focus on what this means. …
What is the diet of the church? Ultimately, we should be feeding on Jesus, the Bread of Life. This is why we have some of our best writers creating sermon outlines for the cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). …
Working toward better health,
Greg Williams
https://update.gci.org/2019/02/healthy-church-2/
The idea of a “Revised Common Lectionary” caught my attention for a couple of reasons.
Many churches around the world today use the Revised Common Lectionary as a means of reading the entire Bible, publicly or in private worship at home, over a three year period. These are daily readings of Old Testament scripture/s, Psalm/s, New Testament readings and finally a reading from the Gospels.The first is that it reminds me of what Roman Catholics and many Protestants do, which is to essentially write and mandate what their clergies are to preach.
The Revised Common Lectionary is NOT a sermon topic outline predesigned to preach, you idiotic fool! It is a list of appointed scripture readings for the calendar day. READINGS!Basically, lectionaries are sermon/topic outlines. So, the pastor does not need to come up with ideas and will also speak on what someone wants him/her to speak about.
Some churches make up outlines using all of the various verses for the preacher to use as a template, which is something that Bawana Bob, of the improperly named "continuing" Church of God is seriously in need of!
Who in their right mind needs to preach a sermon with 30-40 DIFFERENT topics?
I will tell you who...a shallow preacher who has no ability to reach into the depth of his understanding to preach a 15 - 20 minute sermon of a couple verses selected for the day. It is the same man who has to rely upon old articles of the Personal Correspondence Dept put out by the old Worldwide Church of God, which felt the need to tell members what they should be believing about EVERYTHING.
Personal intelligence and responsibility have never been a hallmark of the leadership of the COG.
9 comments:
Bob should know all about this practice, particularly after his claim to unique fulfillment of reading the Torah every seven years by giving sermons on Deuteronomy.
...his claim to unique fulfillment of reading the Torah every seven years by giving sermons on Deuteronomy.
Uh, brethren, today we're going to discuss whether the Israelites used paper straws while wandering in the wilderness, and then we'll discuss why naturopathy is better than chiropractic according to Moses, and then we'll discuss whether your son needs to sacrifice or offer one of his ten pet hamsters to the Lord, and then we'll cover the tithing law, and then we'll explain how the regulations for a king aren't back-filled but really were given centuries before Israel had a king, and then we'll explain what are the largest and smallest shovels acceptable for burying your poop outside the camp, and then we'll discuss whether you need to follow those disposal regulations for your dog or cat, and then we'll discuss how you have to believe that God sends dreams that work in my favor but other dreams come from Satan, and then we'll discuss the application of the slavery regulations for today.
Bob would not understand the concept of "quality control". While I understand the compulsion to speak, as a pastor, on what the pastor wants to speak about, perhaps to address local needs or topics of interest, many a sermon thought important or good by the pastor was often viewed less helpful to the congregation.
A Lectionary format focuses on the faith and not the whims and quirks of the pastor. It takes the focus off the man speaking and onto the topics at hand. A lectionary approach can be inhibiting at times I am sure. It would have been to me but I do recognize the tendency in all ministers, including myself at the time, to feel that what I had to say was more important than being told what to focus on by the Lectionary.
Back when WCG was imploding sermon topics for the FOT were "assigned". It was not because of any desire to have good sermons but rather, in my view, to control what the minister might say during hard times in the church and the conflicts the Tkaches were causing etc. I was assigned generic and rather mundane topics which I somehow was able to give the impression I followed but really didn't wanting to speak on where both the need actually seemed to be and something interesting enough to make the FOT worthwhile. My last sermon at a FOT was in Myrtle Beach, with an assigned topic of something about the World Tomorrow, meh...but actually on the Politics of the New Testament, showing that the characters of Peter, James, John and Paul neither got along nor did they preach or teach the same things. Just like the church was going through at the time.
Con't
con't
Bob Thiel is the most undisciplined speaker in the WCG fallout there is to date. You remember nothing of his sermons because he covers everything that comes into his undisciplined head. He needs a Lectionary, but of course, would have to come up with one himself for himself.
Dave Pack is undisciplined in the sense that he is untrained in theology and yet self absorbed , arrogant and delusional where his focus is on himself all the time and just how spoken of in the scriptures he is. That is simply insane. Dave Pack is not who he thinks he is of course, but you can't tell him that. He will learn it the hard way by dying like every other human and those who think he won't will get to clean up the mess and move on with their lives disillusioned, which is a good thing. We con't want illusions do we? They should get a headstart and move on now.
Ron Weinland is also a self absorbed speaker who could use a Lectionary, but again, in the one man show operations, who decides what would be in it. He would. Or the High Priestess.
Personally, a Lectionary would be both a relief if still in ministry and an annoyance. Since my counselor once told me, after a huge personality test, I tended to not keep rules I disagreed with I know this still would be so. No keeping rules I disagreed with mostly proved a wise thing for myself and the congregations I pastored in the day. Common sense was more a trait in my parents and upbringing. That has served me well over all. Thanks Dad.
I sat through some of the initial meetings with Greg Williams, back in the day, when the Church was taking me back to my Presbyterian roots. Greg is a very fine man and very sincere in all he says and does. He is likeable and genuine in my view. If I was ever still in any ministry, I'd be pleased to be around Greg and work with him. But it just did not ring true for me and the rest is history personally.
Are "HOMEOPATHIC KNICKERS" available on Amazon??
Perhaps!...
https://www.amazon.com/Tipsy-Elves-American-Patriotic-Knickers/dp/B07BFL63PZ/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?keywords=Homeopathic+knickers&qid=1551026312&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmr1
THE FALSE PROPHETS (who came only to LIE, STEAL, DESTROY, and KILL)
The Minor, Rinky-Dink, False Prophets
Robert J. Thiel [CCG] A parasite that attached himself to, and grew on, Roderick C. Meredith's LCG splinter group. Thiel began to think of himself in terms that are “not realistic,” claimed to be a prophet, and started his own CCG cult. A mentally challenged guy looking to demons and pagans for enlightenment about prophetic trivia. As if looking to Mayan, Kenyan, and Catholic prophecies was not bad enough, he even resorted to watching FAKE NEWS on television to try to guess the results of a presidential election so he could pretend to be a true prophet. Alas, neither the demons, nor the pagans, nor the FAKE NEWS on television, helped him at all. What goes around comes around. Bob boy immediately fell prey to more experienced scammers from Africa. Now, many parasites from Africa are attaching themselves to his CCG cult.
Better than the homeopathic knickers would be "Shreddies", carbon-filtered anti-flatulence underwear! (Made in the UK). A must for all members of the ministry who still persists in the typical Armstrongite diet!
To learn more, go to www.myshreddies.com/flatulence/mens/
Apparently Shreddies is a fun-loving company, as indicated by their opening portrait of a young dude clad in Shreddies jumping in the air like a British rock guitarist! For a few pounds sterling, Bob Thiel could be on the cutting edge (pun most definitely intended!) of fashion. Problem is, they do nothing to muffle the sound effects we've oft heard accompanying his oratory extravaganzas, just the odors. Oh dear!
BB
"Today's sermon is about... and this and this... oh, and just one more thing..."
We know Bob went to Spokesman's Club (he said how his Football speech wasn't appreciated) - didn't he learn about the Specific Purpose Statement?
I am starting a new COG called the "Confused church of God".
We don't know what we believe.
We do not know when Christ will return.
We don't know whether makeup is good or bad.
We don't know if the Holy Days apply to us.
We don't know if we are Israelites or Gentiles.
We are so confused....
But we do have poor, old and tired ministers who need your money.
If you send us your tithes, we promise not to preach to you, since even we find ourselves boring and confusing.
The only thing we are good at is spending money - so send all you can, and we promise to spend it all.
The Confused church of God - join today - we may be confused, but we are honest - we just want your money.
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