It is never dull in COGland with one self-appointed apostate church leader after another trying to set himself up as a martyr for the "truth. None is more blatant in his desire to see death and destruction than our very own Bwana Bob Thiel. He spends several hours a day searching out one idiotic scenario after another to bolster his warped beliefs that he can use to deceive his African members into believing he is a prophet sent by God.
The Great Bawna continues to search out Catholics and ex-Catholics to bolster his nuttiness. Of course, he found one to support his desire to be seen as a martyr:
Mike Gendron’s lead article in a past newsletter was titled Telling the Truth May Get You Killed. Here is some of what it said:Have you ever considered why religious people plotted to kill the Lord Jesus 2000 years ago? Why would devout Jews, who had a zeal for God, kill one of their prophets? It was not because He was so merciful (Luke 23:34). Nor was it because of His abundant grace and sacrificial love (John 15:13). So why did the religious leaders seek to have Jesus crucified? This may surprise you. It was because Jesus told them the truth (John 8:40). He proclaimed the truth about Himself and the truth about who they were (John 8:44). As the personification of truth, He declared His Word to be the truth (John 14:6; 17:3). He told them that He came from heaven to testify to the truth (John 18:37). He did not come to be a man-pleaser, but to do the will of God. This truth angered the Jews so much they plotted to have Him killed. The self-righteous Jews became incensed when Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Their religious pride, a powerful tool of the devil, had blinded them from the truth (2 Cor. 4:4). It is no wonder the proud oppose God, and God opposes the proud (Jas. 4:6). In one of the Bible’s curious paradoxes, people were put to death for telling the truth, but made alive for believing the truth (John 5:24). (August 2016)
Of course, this is all the Great Bawna needs to prove from scripture that "true" Christians will be killed.Mike Gendron is a former Roman Catholic.
The Great Bawna then goes on to mock real Christians claiming that they will not be killed because they are "so-called" and deceived, while he is his little band of merry Africans are the true believers.Let me add that Jesus made it clear that His true followers would face persecution:12… they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake (Luke 21:12).
20 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you(John 15:20).
2… yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you (John 16:2-4).
Now, does this mean that in the end times, all who claim to be Christian will be killed?
No.
But all who are real Christians will be subject to persecution. And telling the truth can get you killed.
The Great Bawna then rattles off a list of things what may be what get him and his followers killed:Notice the following prophecy:25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time. (Daniel 7:25)
Well, the Great Bawna will not need to worry about this one, since he denies Jesus and anything he accomplished.In the past, Christians were persecuted because they:
- Taught the truth about Jesus
Nor this one since it is not required in the New Covenant
- Kept Passover on the 14th
Nor this one as it also is not required in the New Covenant
- Refused to eat unclean meat
Especially this one since this is not an issue either
- Would work on Sunday
What false accusations have been railed against Bwana Bob? The fact that he lied claiming God worked through a cult member of the Living Church of God to "double anoint" him as a prophet? Or that his dreams validate his self-appointment? Nope, those aren't going to get him killed but may be locked up in the looney bin.
- Had false accusations railed against them
Not an issue either.
- Were binitarian
Not a New Covenant command.
- Kept the Sabbath
Certainly not a New Covenant command, either.
- Kept the Fall Holy Days
Not an issue either
- Were not trinitarian
If that is true, then what does that make Herbert Armstrong? He lied and told so many false prophecies that he too is an antichrist.
- Taught that the pope was an Antichrist and precursor of the final Antichrist
Since when has a COG minister ever done this properly?
- Having and teaching from the Bible
The Great Bwana continues on with his nuttiness:
Total nonsense.
- Rejected papal authority
- Did not accept idols
- Had different teachings than the Church of Rome
- Had writings Rome did not like
- Rejected Roman sacraments
- Objected to the dress of the Roman ministry
- Considered Rome to be the prophesied Babylon
- Taught that in the time of the final Antichrist that some would fall away
- Had practices that Rome considered Jewish
- Refused to baptize infants
- Did not participate in carnal warfare
- Teaching the millennium
- Taught the Kingdom of God
- Baptized adults
Kept the Fall Holy Days
ReplyDeleteWhere does this leave people who live south of the Equator? Are they required to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in the Spring? Or must they keep it in the Fall (March-April) while Christians north of the Equator keep it in September-October?
Anyone who teaches from the viewpoint of the physical doesn’t “get it”. None of the splinter leaders “get it”. They completely miss the point of the whole kit and caboodle. They are nothing but vomit spewing forth.
ReplyDeleteA speaker at one Feast site this week has talked about doing ministry in India. He said people who turn to Christianity there (yes, as in Sabbath keeping, etc.) DO indeed risk being killed - not by Catholics, but by angry Hindi.
ReplyDeleteHe talked of converts being pelted with rocks and bricks, while walking to the baptism site - and relatives beating new believers, because they've turned against the family tradition.
So you can scoff - but some people on the other side of the world are taking courageous stands for God. Even now.
Many Christians have this fantasy that if the gospel they preach could become so front and center, so disruptive and controversial, a rejecting public or the officials might kill them. And of course Christians actually are being martyrred in savage third world countries and in hermit kingdoms, but in the ACOGs this does not count because those Christians are not preaching the gospel of Herbert W. Armstrong.
ReplyDeleteThey also invalidate the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcom X based on that same criteria, and their British Israel racist world view.
They are in search of validation of their message, their “calling”, and for what they have adapted as being their reason for existing. They fantasize that their own deaths would constitute the ultimate “He was right.” Watch for much more craziness as their prophecy mold continues to fail.
BB
BB
ReplyDeleteMarin King was killed by a loner and prison escapee. Malcolm X was killed by a member of the Nation of Islam, after many death threats from that organisation. The Wikipedia article on Malcom X doesn't describe him as a person of noble character. Associating their deaths with British Israelism is a smear.
In fact the OT condemns exploiting and legally treating the aliens as inferior to the native Israelis.
Of course, 2:45. However, my greater point was that these two iconic gentlemen's assassinations were tied directly to their beliefs and teachings. That is closer than any Armstrongite minister has ever or will ever come to martyrdom.
ReplyDeleteNobody cares about a strange bunch of sabbatarians, or their doomsday prognostications. This is another way in which Armstrongism is time and date stamped. When HWA was preaching that WWII was Armageddon, or that the USA would be attacked and defeated in 1972, the general public was not yet accustomed to such talk. It was considered treasonous. Now, everybody is used to a glut in doomsday prognostications. We have the radical fringe of both political parties. Protests against one thing or another break out spontaneously, and the government doesn't silence them. Even the enemy combatant exiles to Guantanamo without legal representation have slowed to nearly zero. Thiel is just dreaming, as he repeats a cliche from the '60s.
BB
"Nobody cares about a strange bunch of sabbatarians, or their doomsday prognostications."
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, how many years has he been dead and this and other anti-blogs remain?
BB, keep in mind that WCG evangelist Harold Jackson once visited Malcolm X in prison. At least, that's what Mr. Jackson said in a message.
ReplyDeleteWhat did they discuss? The gospel? Brit-Is theories? We're left to wonder.