Crackpot Prophet Reaches A New Level Of Self-Deception

Over 10 years ago the most important man in the history of the Church of God movement had a major meltdown because Living Church of God leadership rejected his admonishment and refused to change teachings because this important man said to. He was widely mocked in the LCG at this time and eventually was publicly vilified by Rod Meredith from the pulpit and got kicked to the curb. 

Seriously brethren, how could the greatest man in the history of the COG movement ever be treated in such a way! It was shocking, so much so that this self-proclaimed prophet self-appointed himself as leader of the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god". 

Unable to garner any COG members from any of the splinter groups, the Great prophet set his eyes on Africa where he was assured a small following. Soon, a few hundred church-hopping Sabbatarians in Africa became "official" members of the Church of the Great Bwana.

It did not take long before the Great Bwana started taking on all kinds of "biblical" titles he claimed he represented. Not content being the world's foremost historian on the Mayans, church history, Mary and Satan's Chair, the Great Bwana set himself up as Elisha, Elijah,  Johsua, and other biblical characters which he deems to best fit his self-described characteristics. Never has the Church of God had a greater man leading it than we have in Bob Thiel.

Yet, in spite of all these most superfantabulous characteristics, the Great Bwana had this article up today:

Yes, Christians have to be aware of self-deception. Yes, you read that right! The king of self-deception is warning you to be careful of self-deception.

Thiel has published the most beautiful self-own ever!

Researchers have concluded that there are costs associated with self-deception: 

 

The invisible downside of cheating in life  

 

People who take shortcuts can trick themselves into believing they are smarter than they are, says Tom Stafford, and it comes back to bite them. … 

Thiel has never had a formal degree in theology (except for his diploma mill Ph.D. out of India). All he is able to say is that he has taken classes at various places. Thiel's theology "education" comes from eh words of Herbert Armstrong and Rod Meredith. These guys have educated Thiel so much so that Thiel considers himself the most educated theologian in the church today. ...trick themselves into believing they are smarter than they are, 

The researchers ran another experiment to check that the effect was really due to the cheaters’ inflated belief in their own abilities. In this experiment, students were offered a cash reward for accurately predicting their scores on the second test. Sure enough, those who had been given the opportunity to cheat overestimated their ability and lost out – earning 20% less than the other students. 

The inflated sensibilities of Bob Thiel are legendary. Never ordained nor set apart by God to start a new church, his inflated ego led him to do so, believing god was on his side.

The implication is that people in Chance’s experiment – people very much like you and me – had tricked themselves into believing they were smarter than they were. There may be benefits from doing this – confidence, satisfaction, or more easily gaining the trust of others – but there are also certainly disadvantages. Whenever circumstances change and you need to accurately predict how well you’ll do, it can cost to believe you’re better than you are. 

 

That self-deception has its costs has some interesting implications. Morally, most of us would say that self-deception is wrong. But aside from whether self-deception is undesirable, we should expect it to be present in all of us to some degree (because of the benefits), but to be limited as well (because of the costs). 

 

Self-deception isn’t something that is always better in larger doses – there must be an amount of it for which the benefits outweigh the costs, most of the time. We’re probably all self-deceiving to some degree. The irony being, because it is self-deception, we can’t know how often. The invisible downside of cheating in life

The Great Bwana of Africa goes on to make even more damaging self-own's:

Jesus taught that Satan was a liar and the father of lies:

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)

Of course, Satan takes advantage of deception and encourages humans to deceive themselves. Recall what happened to Eve:

14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Timothy 2:14) 

 

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6-7)

Satan was involved, but the woman allowed herself to be deceived. This type of deception happens every day.

But what about Christians? Can Christians fall victim to self-deception?

Jesus warned that most Christians in the end times would be deceived:

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked — 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:14-19) 

 

Although most Laodiceans do not believe that they are deceiving themselves, Jesus said that they are. Jesus said that Laodicean Christians need to repent–they need to change. They should not let pride get in their way.

Has the Church of God ever had a more prideful man in charge of a splinter group than what we see today in Bwana Bob? No one is more educated than him. No one knows more truth than he does. No one has a church doing more things than his. No one has the fasted growing COG in history (which it is not).

The Great Bwana's pride is so enormous that he even put out a sermon on the topic warning OTHERS to not be prideful...which he is ok with it.

Pride: Quit Lying to Yourself 

 

‘The Atlantic’ ran an article titled “Quit Lying to Yourself.’ It explained that this was not good and does not lead to happiness. The BBC ran an article about dangers of self-deception. The Bible warns about lies, self-deception, and pride. Does the New Testament warn that Christians can be deceived? What did Jesus say was the truth? What did Jesus tell end-time Laodicean Christians to do? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video.

The prophet then goes on to claim that prophetic deception can lead people astray. Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other than Dave Pack, does the COG have a bigger liar in their midst than Bob? 

Self-deception is common. Try not to fall for it. The word of God is truth (John 17:17), hopefully you will believe it enough so that you will resist Satanically-encouraged self-deception (cf. James 4:7).

Sadly, the COG has been infected with this disease from almost day one. Each successive year has brought out bigger and bigger liars. Self-deception in the COG is a plague!