Satan has been working overtime to discredit and humiliate the greatest prophet and Church of God leader the church has ever had in its midst.
The Chief Overseer and self-appointed prophet of Arroyo Grande went into detail the other day on how people at trying to trick and deceive him.
CBS put out a report a while back about what one author believes are the top six scams that affect people in the USA:Overall, the nation’s most prevalent scam remains a fake check con, which involves “overpaying” for a product or service and asking the recipient to refund the difference. By the time the victim realizes that the check used for payment was bogus, the con artist has walked away with the consumer’s money…
The top six scams in order:
1. Fake checks
2. Bad Internet sales – products never delivered or misrepresented
3. Sweepstakes/prize/free gift cons that request payment to get your winnings.
4. Advance fee cons that promise a loan or line of credit, if you pay them first.
5. Phishing scams that attempt to get personal information to get access to your accounts, your tax refund or to open credit cards in your name.
6. Recovery/refund cons that promise past victims a recovery of swindled funds in exchange for a fee. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-6-us-scams/
Of course, there are also other scams.
The prophets of God have to be constantly on guard! Satan is a tricky dude!As far as these six go, a while back someone tried the fake check scam for a business I own. I did not fall for it. The only one in the list that someone has not directly tried to involve me in is number 4 (although I may not have read every loan offer enough to see if that was the case). Otherwise, numbers 3, 5, and 6 are very commonly pushed to me. But other than number 2 (I have made some purchases over the internet that were misrepresented, so took action), I have not fallen for any of the scams.
Sadly, many people are greedy and do not care how they harm others. Scams are based upon lies, theft, and deception. Scammers are, according to what Jesus said, a type of destroyer and murderer:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. (John 10:10)
Bawana Bob claims he is immune to scams yet he has been scammed by some of his African members for some time now. They are playing him for money as they also seek money and items from the Seventh Day Adventists and other Sabbatarian groups.The Bible teaches “love truth” (Zechariah 8:19) and that those who do not have the “love of the truth” will perish (2 Thessalonians 2:10).Lying is prohibited by the Ten Commandments:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Deuteronomy 5:20)
Even worse though, is the scam that Bawana Bob is concocting by claiming to have been doubly blessed by God and set apart to start a new splinter group of the already fractured Armstrong Churches of God.
Elijah Bob tosses out scripture to state that lying is wrong, yet he has lied from the very beginning of the start of his splinter personality cult. God no more blessed him to start a new group than God made Bob the modern day Elijah, Elisha, Joshua, Amos, or any other crazy personality's he wishes to be associated with. He preaches lies in his sermons and leads sincere people away from God.
Elijah Bawana Bob's followers in Africa do not need some "white savior" to come and save them. They do not need a church leader from America preaching Westernized religious cultish bullshit at them, particularly when it is tainted by so many heretical teachings of Armstrongism.
Bawana Bob is too blinded by his narcissism to see what he is doing. He defiles himself with his heretical nonsense,
Those who scam defile themselves.
Since he doesn't believe the Bible he claims to follow, he is incapable of preaching anything about Jesus and the New Covenant. He thinks it is easier to follow a bunch of rules and be kept in the safe box of legalism, all safe and comfortable than it is to be lost in the wild abandon of grace and freedom.Those of us who believe the Bible, have read the Bible, and believe in keeping the Ten Commandments have long realized that telling the truth contributes to happiness. Notice the following:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18)14 Happy is the man who is always reverent (Proverbs 28:14).
Awesome article.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, on his CCOG website some months ago Bob seemed indifferent when writing that some of his African congregation claimed they needed money to get out of jail. He reported that their incarceration was for Sabbathkeeping...
ReplyDeleteAh! The identification syndrome. Almost arrested to actually arrested! I wonder if this is going to become one of the “gang initiation” rites for becoming a member of the church of Bob.
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Funny- Thiel the trickster himself , (as well as the other cons like Flurry, Pack, Weinland, Malm, etc) uses those same techniques as well...
ReplyDelete1. Fake checks---- Checks on any of "Dr. Thiel's" credentials show dubious origins.
2. Bad Internet sales – products never delivered or misrepresented---- Thiels internet postings of Mayan and Catholic prophecies, or sourced from marginal and fringe websites.
3. Sweepstakes/prize/free gift cons that request payment to get your winnings.---- Tithe to Thiel and receive the "blessings of being in the True Church"
4. Advance fee cons that promise a loan or line of credit, if you pay them first.---- Donate to Thiel , get the Kingdom of God later.
5. Phishing scams that attempt to get personal information to get access to your accounts, your tax refund or to open credit cards in your name.---- Let us put you on our exclusive "Co Worker" list, so I can harangue you with more requests for money.
6. Recovery/refund cons that promise past victims a recovery of swindled funds in exchange for a fee.---- Im the "True Church of God" not like those others, come with me and I will make you whole after your previous bad COG experience.
It seems that all authority figures compartmentalize. I've experienced this with ministers and work bosses. The people that they moralised to are supposed to pretend that the minister/work boss is perfect and above being criticised.
ReplyDeleteIt gets ugly if one tries pointing out their hypocrisy, and the logs in their own eyes.
The COGs view Africa in a condescending way. When the UCG/COGWA split occurred there was great concern about what would happen to these congregants. Which Western minister would come to the rescue? It does make one wonder whether the African members are committed to the COG doctrine if after all these years the fear is they will fall apart without some COG minister to keep them on the straight and narrow.
ReplyDeleteChurch groups use our graphics equipment and need service just as do secular companies. Frequently, the operators and managers in the church’s office enjoy discussing their work with us as would anyone else. The other day, I had a discussion with a church elder who was heavily involved in what used to be called overseas missions. These days, they do not use the term mission or missionary because of the negative connotations those words have historically taken on. They use a partnership model, working alongside of the everyday people of let’s say Africa, digging wells, or planting crops. The church people must be very careful not to give the people being assisted expensive gifts, such as laptops, because this can make them a target endangering them with the surrounding community members who are not participating, especially if the outsiders are of a non-Christian religion. They also avoid any actions which could be considered condescending, or paternalistic. If they raise up a church, it must be not constructed in accordance with American standards, but in keeping with the prevailing economic standards for the area.
ReplyDeleteThe church people, at least from this particular church, must conduct their activities with the real street smarts of the area being served, or more harm will result than good.
It becomes really tricky in China where although there are more Christians than in the USA, their churches are of necessity underground, meeting in very secret locations. There are criminal penalties associated with the practice of Christianity, and smuggling Bibles into the country is a criminal offense.
In the greater Christian community, there has been an accumulation of knowledge and intelligence in conducting this sort of work in developing countries. The ACOGs function outside of that general community, and would seemingly be on their own in the development of their programs. It would be difficult to visualize condescending, arrogant legalists enjoying any sort of success in their missionary efforts. I seriously doubt that they have any greater success overseas than they do in conducting campaigns in major US cities.
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