It is well known by now how Bob Thiel thought he had great influence upon Rod Meredith, the Council of Elders, and many of LCG's top men. Thiel was constantly running to them with newly revealed knowledge he had supposedly discovered and therefore had to correct the LCG, its leadership, and its teachings to conform to his own interpretations. After being publicly humiliated by Rod Meredith from the stage, Thiel, filled with vanity, set off on his own to form his own personality cult, though the "personality" in this instance sure leaves a lot to be desired! Oy!
In a letter to the members of the Living Church of God, Paul Sena has written this, Beware of “Special Knowledge”. In this letter, he discusses how church members down through the decades have found themselves wrapped up in special knowledge gained from personal study, conspiracy theories, and other avenues of intellectual pursuit. Of course, when this involves questioning church leadership or beliefs then it creates an open can of worms.
A destructive pursuit has plagued the Church of God for centuries. Perhaps surprisingly, it often starts with pure motives—yet it frequently leads to pride, rebellion, and division. It did so in the first-century Church, and still does in God’s Church today. The pursuit of “special knowledge” is one of Satan’s most insidious and effective tools for attacking the people of God, and the problems it causes can be devastating. Let’s examine some of the effects of this pursuit, and then see what we can personally do to rein it in.
One avenue is intellectual curiosity, which ultimately is vanity:
Notice that Paul referred to the serpent deceiving Eve in the Garden of Eden. We find the account of this deception in Genesis 3:1–6...
The serpent, Satan, appealed to Eve’s intellectual vanity. In effect, he was offering her special knowledge. The appeal of having special information goes back to the very first humans, and Satan played on that desire—in fact, he still does.
Peter addressed the growing problem around 68 AD, 19 years after the letter to the Galatians:
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber (2 Peter 2:1–3).
Notice that Peter uses the term “false prophets,” referring to people who claimed special insight. Such people, he says, are motivated by covetousness—whether they are coveting power, prestige, respect, or something else. Christ’s Apostles, on the other hand, clearly had the authority to preach as they did. 2 Peter 1:16–18 reminds us that, unlike those who claimed to have “new truth,” the Apostles were eyewitnesses of Christ Himself. What’s more, Peter says, “No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation [origin], for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (vv. 20–21). This has always been how God works to reveal the truth.
Intellectual curiosity breeds people like Bob Thiel...
The progression from innocent curiosity to arrogant rebellion usually goes something like this: First, a person notices something in a scripture that piques his interest—it’s something he hasn’t noticed before, but it seems to merit further study. Leaping to his mind as a result of this curiosity is a theory that, for one reason or another, is very attractive to him.
This person then gathers all the scriptures and other documentation—lexicons, commentaries, Google search results, etc.—that seem to support his theory. But here is the danger: Does he honestly consider the evidence he finds that does not support his theory? Has he seriously studied what the Church teaches on the topic? Or is he studying to show his new idea correct, rather than to understand God’s word more fully?
Because the Internet spreads almost every idea imaginable, it is easy to feel validated by finding others who share belief in his newfound theory. Once he feels validated, his theory becomes, in his mind, Truth—with a capital T. Believing he has discovered special knowledge, he begins to share it with people offline, including members of his Church congregation. If he receives positive reactions, he grows bolder in spreading his “Truth” and starts to look for further special knowledge that will gain him more positive attention.
But what does he do if he receives negative reactions? The humble Christian approach is to go to God in prayer and to ask God’s ministers to help him understand what he might be misunderstanding. Too often, however, pride was behind the “special knowledge” in the first place, and though he feels superior to those who do not share his knowledge, he retreats within his own mind, still privately believing his own ideas but unwilling to examine those ideas honestly in the light of God’s word.
Either way, such a proud individual almost inevitably starts finding other points on which he believes the Church is wrong, and he repeats the above steps—either gaining an audience or internalizing his attitude of superior knowledge. His demeanor and attitude change, and his attendance at Sabbath services becomes sporadic. All along, he keeps up a dialogue with others who believe the same things he does.
…which then brings into being the Bob Thiel’s of the church.
By the time he tells his minister about his new beliefs, he is no longer seeking to learn. He is seeking to teach, rejecting all explanations of Church teachings or refutations of his mistaken beliefs. He then leaves God’s Church. He might join another group, he might stay “solo” and rely on the Internet for his study and fellowship, or he might start a group of his own. Whatever he does, he is far from the humble place where he began; he now sees himself as a chosen vessel for special knowledge, and as such, he will eventually disagree with whomever he aligns himself, because he now has the delusion of knowing more than anyone else. If he goes far enough, he will become, in his own mind, the sole authority of God’s truth, ending up completely alone and disconnected from the Body of Christ—the Body that, tasked with doing the Work, now has at least one less person to help with doing that Work.
Of course, this all boils down to the tired and worn-out scapegoat, the most powerful god in Armstrongism Satan.
The only “winner” in this scenario is Satan, who has once again worked on someone in the same way he worked on Eve. In addition to appealing to people’s intellectual vanity, he also works on the ego, causing them to feel slighted. With Eve, he used, God is not fair—He is holding something back from you.
And Satan uses the same tactic today. What’s interesting is that doctrine is rarely the true beginning of the journey: Many times, before the person “gains special knowledge,” he has already been offended by something or someone in the Church. Perhaps there is something that he doesn’t agree with, or his feelings were hurt by an “insensitive” statement or a slight (usually by someone in authority). The person allows a root of bitterness to spring up. Then, believing that he has “special knowledge” the Church lacks, he soon embraces the idea that those who disagree with him can’t be in “God’s true Church.”
This is a pretty good description of Bob Thiel. Is Satan behind his so-called work?
Look at the tragic results: Another schism in the Body, thereby diminishing the Church’s effectiveness in performing its mission of preaching the Gospel. Another person is now without the nurture and protection of the Church, deluded that he, and he alone, is being used by God to reveal truth.
The particular doctrines in dispute are actually beside the point, whether they involve calendar issues, “sacred names,” the true Gospel, or any one of a hundred other old, tired controversies. Once people start down this path, their argumentative and defiant attitudes become the issue. Paul told Timothy to “charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith” (1 Timothy 1:3–4).
How sad that these people have forgotten the point of the Gospel: “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” (vv. 5–7).
Brethren, be on guard against Satan’s lies that play on our vanity. Beware of the danger of thinking you have special knowledge—God doesn’t work this way!
Amen to that! This is why Bob Thiel has been unable to draw the vast majority of COG members into his little group. People recognize there is a different "spirit" occupying Theil's mind.
Sena goes on to tell LCG members to remain humble so that they aren't drawn into this mess. Humbleness is not a factor that has ever played into Thiel's psyche.
God gave a warning to those who take upon themselves the prerogative of spreading “insight” that is not clearly supported by God’s inspired word. Deuteronomy 13:1–5 reveals that anyone who leads others away from God and the truth is guilty of an incredibly serious offense. But that warning is not only to the person claiming to have special knowledge. God says in verse 3 that He is testing those who listen to what the person says.
Those claiming to have special knowledge will always be around, but part of the guilt of spreading it is on the listeners. Some people have “itching ears” (2 Timothy 4:3–4) and are looking for “new ideas.” We all need to judge the validity of any idea, comparing it with God’s word, as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11, cf. 1 John 4:1).
Sadly, far too many in the LCG, and other COG's, will take this as an easy excuse never to question church leaders or beliefs. Intellectual curiosity is stifled yet again. LCG, like many other COG's remains fearful that members who actually study and examine doctrinal and church teach teaching, may actually discover many, if not most of them are wrong. It becomes dangerous territory when a church member actually started studying the New Covenant.
Sena makes sure to point out that the church encourages Bible Study...as long as it uses official church teachings to study it with.
Does this mean that we should avoid personal study and talking to others about the word of God? No—we are commanded to study to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), and to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), which requires study. But the attitude behind Bible study is all-important. Are we striving to become more like Jesus Christ or to become important in our own eyes (Proverbs 3:7)?
How can LCG members become Christ-like when the dude is never discussed most of the time?
So, beware of those who have special knowledge as they will try and seduce you:
The allure of “special knowledge” has seduced many since Eve was deceived in the Garden of Eden. It is one of Satan’s great deceptions and one of his most dangerous fiery darts—a deadly trap that leads to arrogance and eventual isolation from God’s plan and purpose. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), and as we read in Ephesians 4, He leads His people to the truth through the authority He has established in His Church. By allowing Him to lead us that way, we will remain steadfastly within the safety of the Body of Christ, now and until the end of the age.
Remain humble, brethren, and watch out for those who claim to have special knowledge.
20 comments:
Paul Sena does raise some good points.
And he certainly is correct in his observations.
What is written here applies to all of Armstrongism.
To all the splinter’s and especially to Bob Thiel.
For this to be written might point to trouble and disquiet among the sheep of lcog.
It’s likely that websites like ‘Banned’ etc are having a bigger impact than we know of and hence this piece by Sena.
The ready availability of information is a real threat to Armstrongism.
Yes, this is a good description of
Thiel, but also of HWA himself.
Isn't this the reason we all ended up here processing our very negative and toxic experiences? HWA arrived at "special knowledge" that COG-7 rejected, so he left and started his own group, using the new media of radio? Our parents or ourselves fell for it all, leaving us now to recover from the damages?
It's really an age old story, but HWA's splinter church that he started remained fairly stable for several decades, and you really didn't hear much about the personality types which Paul Sena has described until high profile members of the WCG ministry began to leave and to start their own groups in the mid 1970s.
Then, when the Tkach corrections were rejected in the 1990s by much of the membership, ministers splintered away their various groups allegedly to preserve the original beliefs, elevating their own ranks and titles along the way. Ultimately, with a whole separate history of splinters numbering over 600 at one time, the "special knowledge" trip became a do it yourself affair, self-published through digital media.
What was once possible in the HWA era, was that these people who felt they had special knowledge could simply be banished and they went away and were never heard from again. They had no recourse, because HWA had his own radio and TV programs, and his magazines, booklets, and regular member letters, all of which were funded with tithe money, and lowly members armed only with supposedly new ideas could not compete, and quite predictably dried up and blew away without having platforms to give them equal voice. That all changed in the mid '70s with John Trechak and his network, and then again, twenty years later with Ed Mentell using the then new internet capabilities. The tide has turned so radically within the past several decades that it is now nearly impossible to maintain a significantly sized ACOG, because members and ministers will splinter on a whim. The pie has shrunken to the point that the people creating their own little splinters using the internet can't really grow because there are no longer enough people in the pool to follow them.
All of this, to simply say that Paul Sena has written an extremely outdated and useless article or editorial. The damage has already been inflicted. To mix up my metaphors, the horse has already been squeezed out of the tube! Those who are left in an ACOG remain there largely because that's where their friends and family remain. Bob Thiel is a living example of how leaving and starting your own diy group is totally ineffective. He is constantly crying about how nobody accepts him as a prophet! James Malm was, too. Everybody remaining in an ACOG has heard all of the stories of special knowledge, watched people who think they have it leave, only to drift into insignificance, too late to capture a piece of the pie. The early bird has already gotten the cheese!
Doug Winnail claimed to have special knowledge when he overturned HWA's old teaching about the falling away, and to this day LCG ministers are divided in accepting the new teaching. Are we supposed to ignore or reject Doug, or are we supposed to ignore or reject HWA?
Probably the biggest "BUST" has been David Holme , UCGs first President.
Leaving with some 1500 or so folks, a "calling" , and broadcasting experience, in 1997, his church has gone nowhere, and has splintered in several pieces.
COGWA is another flop, that also started out with a big bang, and has gone nowhere. ANON at 4:39 nails it, in that media distinctiveness and exclusivity , with the control of information, allowed for the Soviet Style COG to survive for a few decades. Now anybody with a cell phone can create a website, create videos, network, and be just as insignficant as the major COGS.
The Malms, Thiel's, Pack's and Flurry's have resorted for a "unique selling proposition" of being the holders of unique , private, gnostic knowledge as being specialy chosen Bible type of characters. Problem is that you better have a pretty good "pulling a rabbit out your hat" performance. The internet will not be forgiving. Armstrong could hide and bury his past failed predictions in his era.
Pack has taken false predictions into the "False Prophet Hall of Fame", and Thiel issues nothing but vaguery, and deniability, and Flurry some fantastic "Magic Thinking Enchantments" like the mystical Prayer Rock and more.
Bobby, you missed a big opportunity. If you just simply would had stated something like ... former Japanese President Abe will be assassinated in July 2022, then maybe you might be worth a glance or second thought.
@ 5:25 PM, that would also apply to Dick Ames and his new teaching about the firstfruits being "raptured" to Heaven for the Marriage Supper before Christ returns. Is Sena telling us to reject Ames's special knowledge, or to reject HWA's special knowledge?
The hypocrisy and irony is amazing... sad thing is that they dont see it, just like the emperor's new clothes...
No, they don’t “see it” for the god of this world has blinded their eyes.
Sena describes perfectly what Bob Thiel did. The same goes for Flurry, Pack, Meredith, and all the other upstarts.
Herb was the blueprint.
Kinda like a pyramid scam. The first person to execute it really rakes it in. And, of course, that would have been the HWadio Church of God! (apologies to Elmer Fudd!). We're now at the point of most diminished returns as Spokesmens Club washouts have inherited the scam! And, (sob!). Nobody respects them or follows them or sends in their tithes! Boo Hoo!
Part of the COG message is all about having "special knowledge" that God is only giving to a "few" He is calling at this time. This is the mantra repeated within most of these groups.
In order to be given this knowledge or to be part of this special club, you must only listen to "our ministers," read "our literature," or attend "our Church." The assumption is that God is only working through "us" and that assumption is largely the same regardless of whether the "us" in question is LCG, PCG, RCG, etc. Is this not the epitome of the very pride and arrogance the above author warns against?
The assumption that the "Church"(meaning the corporate hierarchy this man is loyal to, rather than the entire body of believers) is automatically correct on every point of doctrine is a dangerous notion. Many church organizations down through history have come and gone and most if not all have been wrong about one thing or another. Men are imperfect beings, and are not the final arbiters of truth, regardless of whatever titles or knowledge they might claim to have. That is why we are told repeatedly in scripture to examine the fruits of those who would presume to teach us, and prove all things. This requires study and questioning, rather than simply reading a booklet or listening to a sermon and accepting whatever we are told at face value. Any minister or church that doesn't welcome questions and honest and open examination of their doctrines should be viewed with caution and a critical ear.
My advice to the author of the above article would be physician heal thyself. The plank in your own eye must be removed, before you can tend to the splinters of others.
Concerned Sister
Jon Brisby in COGE, loathes bible study. He teaches his followers to eschew any form of scholarship. In fact his groip is full of people who arrogantly strut around claiming "I'm not a bible scholar, I believe in divine revelation" as if never opening your bible is a badge of honor in a church claiming to follow the bible.
Concerned sister, Sunday, July 10, 2022 at 11:49:00 PM PDT, wrote:
"...My advice to the author of the above article would be physician heal thyself. The plank in your own eye must be removed, before you can tend to the splinters of others..."
******
Jesus Christ provided some advice, not to the widows of His day but, to the religious leaders of His day, who would then go out and control/snare (2 Tim 2:26) others:
John 8:42-47 "Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."
Lusts? How in the world is it possible for these religious leaders to have less by another spirit?
"Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" James 4:5
When and how will these leaders, the hirings of the former wcg based in Pasadena, prove to us which father they are of?
Jesus was not talking about Himself as though He were some God of the Old Testament!
Jesus' God is a spirit Being and Satan is a spirit being.
Satan, not God the Father, is a god of confusion.
By their fruits we know them. Are these hirings of God the Father, or are they of the "god" of this present evil world?
Time will tell...
John
Sunday, July 10, 2022 at 4:39:00 PM PDT:
Your comment is the best, concise summary I have ever read of what has transpired in the almost 90-year history of Armstrongism. Standing ovation as you hit the ball right out of the ballpark.
It is the kind of post comment that needs repeating periodically. You nailed it!
Richard
This reminds me of my 1980s WWCG minister complaining from the pulpit that his congregation of 200 members had 200 different interpretations of the bible. Which is in fact God's system. It's inherent and part of the parable of the talents. 200 different results, with reality having the final say by penalizing the error component. This same minister had a tone of yearning and regret in his voice to the effect of if only he could lord it over his members faith to correct this "problem" and create "unity." But this so called solution always results in the situation described in Daniel where everyone was expected to bow to a golden statue under threat of death. Which is what happened in HWAs Soviet era early church. It was, and still is a combination of truth and error that he and many of his followers felt comfortable with. Verifiable truth that contradicted this alternate reality was discarded. The messengers of correction were shot and slandered.
This article is what cult followers would call "thought stopping". It is deliberately designed to make adherents question their own thoughts (or "special relevations" if you will), and automatically assume that when they have an opinion that doesn't match the hierarchy, that the adherent is always wrong. These are dangerous teachings as they seek to control your God given free will and mind. I don't know that I have seen LCG been so overtly cultish before, and displays a dangerous direction Weston is taking the ship.
There is an interesting comment made on the July 8, 2022 post entitled, "LCG: Satan's Deceptive Influence is Leading LCG Members Astray" that is relevant here on this subject matter. It reads:
"Or is Doug unconsciously admitting that LCG is a Laodicean remnant, not a Philadelphian one? Aren't the Philadelphians the church that does NOT get super-duped by Satan, in contrast to the Laodiceans? You certainly wouldn't browbeat a Philadelphian in the way Winnail browbeats LCG members. So maybe Winnail is revealing something very important with his attack on LCG members here".
MY COMMENT - Before Herbert Armstrong's death, it was the stated belief of the WCG that the Philadelphian era and the Laodicean era would be physically separated by the Great Tribulation. The Philadelphians would go to Petra Place of Safety and the lukewarm Laodiceans would remain and be tried by fire going through the Great Tribulation. Each group comprised roughly 50% of the Church (consistent with Luke 17:36 as well as the Parable of the 10 Virgins in Mathew 25). After Herbert Armstrong passed away and after the Tkach apostasy, the belief narrative had to change to accommodate Armstrong's death and the Splintering of the WCG. The new belief became that the Church had entered the Laodicean Era, and that the Philadelphians from the Philadelphian era co-exists in the Laodicean era as a remnant. That Laodicean era had to have its time and season as the Church in final apostacy even before the Great Tribulation.
It is my understanding that the late idiot Rod Meredith and his Splinter LCG represented themselves to be the ONLY Philadelphian remnant of the Philadelphia era. All other WCG splinters consist of Laodiceans. In other words, it is not possible to have Philadelphian remnants in COGWA, Philadelphia COG, Restored COG, United, the grossly mis-named Continuing COG joke, etc. If splinter LCG represented themselves to be the ONLY Philadelphian remnant of the Philadelphian era, then there would be no one with “new special knowledge” to discourage intellectual curiosity from in the LCG!
WHY?
Because Mathew 24: 24 says “There shall arise false Christs (Dave Pack?) and false prophets (little Bobby Thiel and his little Cartoon Bob), and shall show great signs and wonders, in so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect”. In other words, IMPOSSIBLE to deceive the very elect! HOW? By applying “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
This raises some "intellectual curiosity" questions - if LCG is the ONLY Philadelphia remnant remaining, then do the traditional WCG belief scriptures of Luke 17:36 and Matthew 25, implying that 50% of the Church is Philadelphian and the remaining 50% is Laodicean, still apply? If LCG has 7,000 members and all other WCG Laodicean Splinters have a combined total of, say 50,000 members (a guesstimate), how does the math work to conform with these stated beliefs? Or do these two traditional WCG scriptures used in Herbert Armstrong's time now ONLY apply to LCG, and that 50% of LCG is Laodicean?
Which takes me back circular to the comment I found interesting posted on July 8 which read, "Or is Doug unconsciously admitting that LCG is a Laodicean remnant, not a Philadelphian one?” A damn good question for your local LCG minister.
Richard
P.S. In little Bobby Thiel’s Continuing Church of God’s case, Luke 17:36 and Matthew 25 Parable of the 10 Virgins CANNOT apply because 50% of nothing is still nothing, LOL!
Black and white thinkers always abounded and thrived in Armstrongism. The leaders who proclaim that their particular brand of the franchise is Philadelphian apparently see churches as monoliths. That simply cannot be. Humans are imperfect by nature, have different drives, emotions, filters, intellects, tempriments, and personalities. You can't compose a monolithic church from this natural variety. Admittedly, people in an ACOG generally subvert their personalities in order to survive the ministry and remain in the church, but no church is monolithic. That is why the teaching of church eras is so ridiculous. The messages to the churches are about attitude, because every single attitude amongst the seven will be found in all churches. They are all part of the normal human condition.
Monday, July 11, 2022 at 2:51:00 PM
Agreed. The article checks a lot of boxes for the bite model.
http://f3magazine.unicri.it/wp-content/uploads/bite_model_hassan.jpg
Post a Comment