Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Is it wrong to criticize or mock self-appointed prophets in the Church of God?


For over eighty some years now the Armstrong Churches of God have had hundreds of self-appointed prophets popping up and proclaiming a message of death, gloom, and utter destruction. For eighty some years now, each and every one of these men (and a couple women) have been proven to be liars. That sad track record has never stopped new ones from popping up in the church.  Hardly a year goes by now that some know-it-all comes forth proclaiming a message to the church that is supposedly coming directly from God.

Every time these self-appointed prophets started making their prophecies, the church leaders in Pasadena would start mocking them because they knew it was just another whack-a-doodle hitting the scene.  Even the men in the church that many called prophets ended up being made fun of. The last official prophet of the church to be ridiculed was Gerald Waterhouse.  The older this guy got the crazier his claims became. When he started justifying Joseph Tkach Sr. in biblical terms, his credibility went down the drain.

Seeing the utter failure of Gerald Waterhouse in action has never been a deterrent to those that continue to self-appoint themselves as prophets and church leaders.

The Great White Bawana, the new savior of the African peoples is NOT happy about a recent post here on Banned.

God's prophet starts off by quoting Jesus, shocker, I know, but Jesus only works when ACOG leaders can use him as a threat:


04/26/19 a.m. Jesus warned:
11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12) 
So, prophets will be improperly spoken against. Jesus would have not mentioned that if there were not to be prophets after His departure from the earth.
There is a HUGE difference in the Prophets of old who actually prophesied things as compared to today's upstarts who self-appoint themselves and lie through their teeth. THAT is the history of prophets in the Armstrong Church of God movement.
Now, consider something that Jude admonished:
17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. (Jude 17-19) 
Why mention any of that here today?
A reader here made a "funny" about his Supreme Delicateness which was offended and did not see the humor in it. 
Well, I saw the following posted at the Banned by HWA site which was specifically directed against me that was made last night:
A COGprophet said to one of his evangelists, “Who do people say that I am?” The evangelist mentioned a few names, and the COGprophet said, “Who do you say that I am?”
The evangelist answered, “You are the end-time prophet of the most faithful remnant of the Church of the Philadelphia Era”, to which the COGprophet replied, “Blessed are you, for this was revealed by our Father in heaven”.
“Oh, no, Pastor” the evangelist exclaimed, “you told me yourself, many times! Don’t you remember?”
Another commenter at that site seemed to enjoy the above--although I never a conversation like this with our only evangelist.
Seriously dude? Did anyone ever claim you did?  It is sarcasm, oh most Delicate One! All you have done for several years is tell us over and over WHY you are a prophet. Anyone that has to justify himself over and over and over and over and over, already proves he is not a prophet.  Your actions should speaking mightily better than incessant boasting.

Anyway, The Great Bawana continues on to do the exact things that was made fun of above.  He has to PROVE to all of us how great the is.


Now, while I rarely look at the comments at that site and even rarer make any posts about the mocking done there, consider something that post brought to mind. 
Did God reveal anything to CCOG's evangelist related to me or not? Or did everything come from my comments like the Banned commenter seemingly wants everyone to believe? 
Here is a written report from Frederick Ochieng (the son of CCOG evangelist Evans Ochieng) on two dreams he had:
Dear pastor
Greetings pastor.  I believe you are doing good though you are having great thrust of fulfilling Matthew 28:19 of which we must do before the return of Christ. ...
I had two dreams 
1. Before our family joined CCOG my father was then working with voice in the Wilderness Church of God. When I was sleeping I had a dream and in my dream I saw a light and the light was not normal, the one who was standing by the was You pastor Bob according to my dream. Then I had voice shouting, "Arise you who are sleeping, for the Lord is near." I again I heard another voice shouting, "Come up Evans and let us do the work we are called to do." I then saw a man dressed in white clothes join hands with my father walking together towards a very big lake then I woke up. 
2: In my second dream some weeks after my first dream and in my second dream I saw almost the same dream and now this was in New Zealand. I did not know about the CCOG group in New Zealand before I had the dream. 
Fred
Dreams are an important "proof" that Bawana Bob likes to toss out as proof of his prophethood and his appointment to start a new splinter personality cult called the Continuing Church of Bob.

Now consider something that Jesus taught:
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:15-20) 
The CCOG has been--by far--the fastest growing x-WCG COG in the 21st century. CCOG clearly has the fruits that Jesus indicated that a true prophet would have.
People should really heed of the stories in the Bible that talk about how Satan can come across as an agent of light and righteousness: 
He masquerades in costumes of light and righteousness. 
In 2 Corinthians 11:13–15, Paul says that some people are posing as apostles who are not. He explains like this: “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.”
In other words, Satan has servants who profess enough truth to join the church, and from inside teach what Paul calls “doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Jesus says they will be like wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Acts 20:30 says they will not spare the flock, but will draw people away to destruction. Without God’s gift of discernment (Philippians 1:9), our love will be suckered into stupidity.
If any scripture describes Bob Thiel perfectly, the above does!

Bob Thiel is NOT a prophet. He is NOT an apostle.  I can state that as fact.  I have no fear in saying that nor do I fear that I am "mocking" a true prophet of God. I can rest assured in that fact too.


Anyway, it is not only the anti-COG types at Banned who seem to delight in spreading inaccurate information about me--various ones once part of GCG have done so as well. 
Sadly, few will accept the biblical criteria for a prophet but prefer to be mockers.
Thank goodness a COG group had some balls and stood up against Bawana Bob's lies!  The rest of he splinter cults give he free run to do all the damage he can.  After all, its just poor Africans who are being hurts instead of money giving Westerners.   Only when splinter groups see their income drop do to defections to other splinter groups do they ever speak out.

Bawana ends with this:


While some denounce dreams, God had Peter remind people that they would occur in the end time:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams. (Acts 2:17)
Many seem to forget and/or discount the biblical fact that God said He revealed himself to prophets via dreams (Numbers 12:6). And many of those once part of the old Radio/Worldwide Church of God seem to forget that that work was proceeded by a dream by a woman--which also happened prior to the start of the Continuing Church of God...
And we have seen the MESS the dream of Loma has caused in the thousands of lives lost over the decades because of church lies and false teachings.  That is NOTHING to brag about as a "proof!"

The Chosen One ends with another warning to NOT mock him:
But instead of accepting the truth, many prefer to be mockers.
If Bawana Bob was genuine then there would be no need to mock him.  The problem lies in our history of over 80 years now of these self-appointed turds rising up and making proclamation's about their uniqueness. 

I will state again:

Bob Thiel is NOT a prophet. He is NOT an apostle.  He is NOT a legitimate Church of God leader.  I can state these things as fact.  I have no fear in saying that nor do I fear that I am "mocking" a true prophet of God. I can rest assured in that fact too.


37 comments:

  1. It is sarcasm, oh most Delicate One!

    Or consider it a parable. After posting that, I noticed Brad Young's observation in Jesus and His Jewish Parables that a story can get more attention than dry discourse, but taken out of context, the meaning can be lost.
    So, it did get Bob's attention, but as HWA said, You just don't get it!

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  2. Comment was made saying: "...People should really heed of the stories in the Bible that talk about how Satan can come across as an agent of light and righteousness:
    He masquerades in costumes of light and righteousness.

    In 2 Corinthians 11:13–15, Paul says that some people are posing as apostles who are not. He explains like this: “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” In other words, Satan has servants who profess enough truth to join the church, and from inside teach what Paul calls “doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Jesus says they will be like wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Acts 20:30 says they will not spare the flock, but will draw people away to destruction. Without God’s gift of discernment (Philippians 1:9), our love will be suckered into stupidity.

    If any scripture describes Bob Thiel perfectly, the above does!..."

    ******
    Satan, and his ministers, are counterfeiters, and their "light" is actually "darkness," and a couple of interesting scriptures follow:

    Job 10:22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the LIGHT is as DARKNESS.

    Job 18:6 The LIGHT shall be DARK in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

    Yes, Satan is a light-bringer, but his light is darkness! Bob Thiel is caught up in that "light," but Fred? Might he be caught up in the "light" too?

    Frederick Ochieng wrote: "...When I was sleeping I had a dream and in my dream I saw a light and the light was not normal, the one who was standing by the was You pastor Bob according to my dream...."

    Why is it that "the light was not normal?" Was "the light" really "darkness?" Why the adnormal light?

    Fred and false prophet Bob Thiel may want to consider the following words of Jesus Christ:

    "But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the LIGHT that is in thee BE DARKNESS, how GREAT is that DARKNESS!" Matthew 6:23

    Matthew 15:13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

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

    When one is blind: that's a whole bunch of darkness! It doesn't get any darker, or does it?

    Bob Thiel's group, his coglet, was never planted by God, and Bob Thiel, like Fred, appear to be in a ditch bouncing wall to wall, like being caught in a cave with no light present.

    Is Bob Thiel, without God's "gift of discernment," in actuality a pawn of Satan, like Satan, just another masquerader, a counterfeiter, pretending to be "of the light," but is in reality in darkness he cannot perceive, and spouting out lies (John 8:44; 2 Tim 2:26; James 4:5), and lies, and lies??????

    Time will tell...

    John

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  3. Why mock anyone? What us the purpose and the goal with mocking? If someone is a liar and a thief then point it out. If they teach something not in the bible... Point it out. But mock and ridicule? Is this mature discourse?

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    Replies
    1. Ask Elijah and the prophets of Baal or Jesus with the Pharisees. Mocking is a great way to get ones point across. It’s like The Daily Show

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  4. “Is it wrong to mock self-appointed prophets in the Church of God?”


    Mock and laugh and save yourself from them. No regrets later.

    Or, listen and pay and suffer and cry. Nothing but regrets later.

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  5. 628. The 450 Prophets of Baal would have liked your approach better than Mocking Elijah's back in the day😇

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  6. I have never read in scripture of a prophet having to tell others that he was a prophet.

    In addition, they always said 'Thus saith the Lord' showing that it wasn't their words, but Yahweh's.

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  7. If your goal is to amuse yourself or your group of friends, then mock and be sarcastic. For a moment you may get weak minded people to laugh along with you.

    If you want to change peoples minds long term you need to convince people. Convict their conscience.

    Mocking doesn't convince it's only a momentary form of belittling. People who feel threatened by others tend to mock. Those who want to make a change put effort into their communication.

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    Replies
    1. People who find others arguments weak and ineffectual also mock.

      Delete
  8. SING ALONG TIME! - Sing to the tune "I Started A Joke" - Bee Gees 1968

    https://youtu.be/3qlBsMoqccw



    I started a church which started the whole world cringing...
    But I didn't see that the cult, was only, me eeee... oh no


    I started to cry and Banned was only, ... laughing
    Oh If I'd only seen that the cult... was only me eee!!

    I looked at the skies running my hands over my eyes
    And I fell out of bed hurting my head, ... from things that I said

    'Till I finally quit which started the whole church living
    Oh if I'd only seen that the cult... was only me!!

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  9. In my experience mockery in the church usually comes from the top down (the hierarcy pyramid )not the bottom up (the lowly members)

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  10. People who feel threatened by others tend to mock. Are you talking about Mr. Trump?

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  11. The anti-mockers at 6:28 and 8:04 think mocking is nothing but a strategy for self-gratification that has no effect on anyone else's beliefs or behavior.

    On the contrary, mocking is intended to elicit jeering laughter one of the human vocalization that marks the separation between who is "in" and who is "out." Laughter unifies the in-group; it may either alienate the outs or mortify them. Alienated people may go away and nurse their resentment quietly or get hostile and form or join a rival group. Mortified people who aspire to in-group status will stick around and try to avoid further ridicule by changing their behavior.

    In New Onleans laws were passed making dueling illegal. They did not help. The editor of the *Picayune* started writing up the duels, sarcastically praising the participants for their courage, their heroism, their defense of their sacred honor. It didn't take long for the young upper-class hotheads to change their behavior.

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  12. Some things deserve mocking. Depending on the reader, mocking may galvanize their support of the idea or person mocked. Or, it might be an effective tool to diminish the hold an idea or person has on an individual. I hope the effect is the latter here.

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  13. "Thus saith the Lord" Sweetblood, isn't always me

    Thus sayin'

    Best Wishes
    The Lord

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  14. When Gerald Waterhouse finished his 3 hour prophecy tirade, he would leave and head straight to the gay bar.

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  15. Well, hopefully, eventually Bob Thiel will realize that he is a joke, and will modify his behavior. As a philosophy, Armstrongism eventually alienates most of the people who have participated in it, but as with other forms of intoxication there must be a bottoming out process, which is often painful.

    Bob has inserted himself into the wrong profession. He cares too much about what others think about him, and is contantly writing about it. Prophets focus on the job rather than on themselves. They tell the tale and let the chips land where they may.

    BB

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  16. The is no justification for mocking others. The mocking jeering heart is a wicked heart.
    The is no excuse for mockery.
    I recall the suited and booted WCG ministry mocking their men who were not dressed as well as them.

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  17. 1139
    You can't head "straight" to a gay bar!😈

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  18. I find it absolutely incredible that this man continues to visit the Banned site only to leave the web page so troubled that he has to tell his members that he is being made fun of or mocked.

    There is no need to mock or make fun of this man because he completely de-legitimatizes himself every time he writes or opens his mouth. He claims the veracity of dreams for his formation of prophet-hood by quoting the scripture about in the last days your old men shall dream dreams. Bob Thiel wasn't an old man when he heard his "prophet" dream and isn't an old man presently. If he thinks this scripture applies to him, where are all of the dreamS plural? There should be a flood of dreams coming out daily from him and where are they?

    His second proof about the legitimacy of dreams is to state: "And many of those once part of the old Radio/Worldwide Church of God seem to forget that that work was proceeded by a dream by a woman". That the work of the WCG and CCOG were started by a dream means absolutely nothing. The church of Jesus Christ was not started with a dream. Therefore why should the average person believe that every incarnation of his church separate from some type of work should start with a dream? If the deciding factor for the legitimacy of a work/church is that it starts with a dream and exhibits fruit by growth then I would think Joseph Smith and the Mormon religion which was started with a dream and has 16 million plus members would be a much more logical choice than the CCOG.

    Bob Thiel claims that the "The CCOG has been--by far--the fastest growing x-WCG COG in the 21st century". HAS BEEN is past tense and it is easy to attain high growth figures when starting out with a few members. What is the growth rate of the CCOG right now?

    Mr. Thiel has claimed that his legitimacy of holding the office of prophet came from the leaders of the true church of God who were at that time according to him in severe error concerning doctrinal understanding and discernment but yet at the same time somehow
    correctly identified himself as a prophet.

    If Mr. Thiel is reading this, please point out where all of the inaccurate information is that you claim is coming from the people on Banned. Because right now there is plenty of evidence for anyone to see, that you are guilty of being a sincere fraud.

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  19. Continuing is well-named since it is continuing a long line of false prophets.
    But hey - all those Catholic and Mayan prophecies can't be wrong! Were they inspired too?

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  20. No need to mock- Dr Bob is a mockery of himself.
    Thanks for the laughs, Bob!!!

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  21. Many WCG members identified closely and personally with HWA, even though they were entirely unknown to him. He was a surrogate father and role model, as a moral exemplar and religious leader and often as an example of the "laws of success" in action.

    For many of these members, the loss of HWA as their idol (literal or figurative) is too much to bear. Rather than admit that their idol was in fact a huckster who exploited them with cynical lies, they desperately want to reinterpret their experience as something meaningful and successful.

    The Delicate Doctor, Bwana Bob, is one of the saddest examples of this. He has no choice other than to live in a dream-world of his own making, because if he ever wakes up he will have to realize that he wasted decades of his life on a pack of lies. This phenomenon is sad enough when it occurs to a relatively well-adjusted WCG member who invested his entire identity in HWA's church. When it occurs in the psyche of a narcissist, who already thought so highly of himself as a historian and naturopath, the consequence of waking up from the delusion is even more dangerous, perhaps even life-threatening to the deluded man and the people around him.

    Butthurt Bob has trouble enough admitting that he is wrong in ordinary matters of history or science. Now that he is making religious truth claims, the consequence of admitting error would put him in the same league as men he detests, like Dave Pack, Ron Weinland, and Gerald Flurry. This will not happen.

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  22. If only Butthurt Bob could realize how foolish he looks, over-reacting to comments on this site even while he tries to pretend/downplay his visits to this site. Do the site administrators have access to information about visitors from AOL (Bob's ISP for many years) or from Arroyo Grande? The numbers might be very embarrassing.

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  23. Bob is a failed catholic. He never could get the respect that he so desires from them. The same is true as to the Meredith cult. Bob thinks he deserves respect and honor. What follows will be a disaster for his mind numbed followers.

    It will be some years before the wakeup call, but know this, Bob will fail. We can only hope that his failure will not result in a negative action such as suicides of the membership or even a shooting.

    Bob has made his bed and by this he will either live richly rewarded in this life or die by it.

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  24. Bob was a failure in Living Church of God too. If he thinks he is mocked here he has one idea how badly LCG members disliked him. We were disgusted by his pretentious narcissism. He almost expected us to bow down to him when he was in our presence. It humiliated him sorely when Mr. Meredith publicly rebuked him in front of the entire church. No one came to his defense which further shamed him.

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  25. “Is it wrong to mock self-appointed prophets in the Church of God?”


    FALSE prophets like Gerald Flurry, David Pack, Ronald Weinland, Robert Thiel, and others come only to LIE, STEAL, DESTROY, and KILL. What they do is wrong!

    Jesus said to beware of false prophets, and warned that MANY false prophets would come and would DECEIVE many people. In the context of warning about false prophets, Jesus said that a BAD tree CANNOT bear good fruit.

    Merely mocking, scoffing, and laughing at false prophets is still not carrying out God's command to put them to death. Allowing false prophets to live is a disaster for their victims who follow them, and who aid and abet them in their sinning.

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  26. The allegory that kindled Bob’s wrath was the second comment to the post The Medicine Man vs COG Leaders. It did not mention Bob Thiel, though there were inferences in the title, Medicine Man, and Church Prophets. The only place Bob’s name appeared was in the seventh and last comment (okay, that may be significant!)
    In splintered COGdom, there are others to whom the monikers “Medicine Man” and “Prophet” apply. My story only mentioned “COGprophet” and “evangelist”, with no mention of Bob, CCOG, Africa, whatever. But Bob thought it was about him - what if I said it was really about "That" Prophet, Gerald Flurry? Yes, my second story, about kinyesi cha ng'ombe, (Swahili for cow dung) did mention an African congregation, but not Bob. That inspires a variation of a Carly Simon song -

    You’re so vain,
    You think that quip was about you,
    You’re so vain, you’re so vain.

    Sweetblood777 commented, I have never read in scripture of a prophet having to tell others that he was a prophet
    In 1 Kings 13 there is an account of two prophets. The “old prophet” told the other that “I too am a prophet” and lied to him, eventually resulting in the other prophet being killed by a lion.

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  27. NOTE: Not necessarily mocking and scoffing and laughing. Just telling it like it is.


    The FALSE Prophets:

    Gerald Flurry: That Arrogant Runt wants to make you worship him (with the titles he stole from Jesus) and financially support his family while he and his local goons despise you and wreck your family. A very ferocious and ravenous little wolf (runt of the litter).

    David Pack: Klepto-Dave Pack-of-lies wants to yell and spit, and rant and rave, and steal everything in sight. A vomiting mess.

    Ronald Weinland: Ronald McClownland wants to fool you into wasting your time reading his (failed) prophetic fantasy fiction novels. A lying shame.

    Robert Thiel: Mentally Challenged Bob wants to fool you into looking to demon-inspired pagan prophecies and FAKE NEWS on television to try to guess (unsuccessfully) the future. A retard.

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  28. Most false prophets would probably prefer criticism and mocking to being stoned (see Deuteronomy 13)

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  29. I grew up in the church and one of the worst things I had to deal with my wife was how COG ministers would mock the religion she grew up with. It felt like a very personal attack on her entire family. Who are really wonderful caring and loving people.

    Bob is ineffectual, deluded and a lying false prophet.

    But if you mock COG ministers you are doing what they do. That is textbook hypocrisy.

    Call them liars, thieves, decievers don't be just like them.

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  30. Hebrews 1:1-2 in the Greek is plain that there would be no more prophets after that time. Anyone claiming to be a prophet (or should that be Profit?) should be greeted with a big question mark.

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  31. “Is it wrong to mock self-appointed prophets in the Church of God?”


    You do NOT have to mock and scoff and laugh at the false prophets if you do not want to.

    You DO have to beware of them and avoid them like the plague that they are.

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  32. Hoss, May 2, 2019 at 7:41 PM, responded to Sweetblood777 who said, "I have never read in scripture of a prophet having to tell others that he was a prophet," by providing the following comment:
    ******
    "In 1 Kings 13 there is an account of two prophets. The “old prophet” told the other that “I too am a prophet” and lied to him, eventually resulting in the other prophet being killed by a lion."
    ******
    FWIIW, God had planned all along to fulfill the following prophecy approximately 400 years later via a Josiah, and used a prophet, that man of God out of Judah to "mouth" the prophecy:

    "Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee." I Kings 13:2

    God, however He does these things, it seems gave honor to both of His prophets b/c scripture indicates all of the men's bones were burnt up except for the bones of these 2 unnamed prophets.

    The old prophet from Bethel (within Samaria?), that apparently came out of "retirement" (if there was such a thing) retrieved the uneaten body of the prophet that came out of Judah and "...took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. I Kings 13:29

    :30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

    A brother? Yes, a dead brother!

    :31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:

    :32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

    What word of the LORD was that? That was revealed in verse 2, quoted above. And approximately 400 years later we have the following history fulfilled for these 2 "brothers:"

    2 Kings 23:15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
    :16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
    :17 Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
    :18 And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

    Is there anymore future for these 2 unnamed prophets? Yes, the same as was planned for the prophet by the name of Isaiah!

    "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

    When will that be for all of these "brothers?" At the time of the 2nd resurrection; there is no need for a 3rd one, but

    Time will tell...

    John

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  33. There is no spiritual reason for not mocking false prophets and teachers. In fact, it's our duty to expose them so that they won't hurt others. The problem is that in most cases they believe that posturing as if they were on special project for God should make it a spiritual crime or sin to criticize or mock them. It is their shield that they feel they should be able to hide behind to avoid accountability. Most of us can readily see through the speciousness of their approach.

    BB

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  34. If you don't tell an accountant it's a joke, he won't laugh. - unknown source

    If you don't tell a minister it's a joke (or tell Sheldon that it's sarcasm) he'll take you literally?

    BB wrote it's our duty to expose them.

    Yes, it definitely is. And it was duty of the Pharisees to test prophets and teachers as well... but they tended to overdo it...

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  35. I believe mocking, criticizing, exposing false teachings and teachers is a good service to others. I do think there is a discouraging nature to pointing out the many negatives of the COGs. And I do think it has an effect, on at least me, of taking some joy out of life. The reality of the past, the present, and the future effects of the COGs on yourself and those you love is frustrating and discouraging as it extends into the future.
    Maybe the thoughtful matter-of-fact approach of BB (and others) allows one to engage the COG issue with a necessary element of detachment, or as nck who makes light of the worst parts with his intuitive "fanciful" connecting of everything and maintaining a humor to it all. Regardless, an approach that doesn't bring discouragement is valuable.

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