Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Friday, November 4, 2022

Why Bob Thiel's Dismissive Attitude Has Turned Off The Churches of God


 


From a reader:


I first became aware of Bob Thiel through an old friend of mine who had taken umbrage with something he had written on Cogwriter, and was exchanging email with him. Oh, I remember what it was. Dr. Ernest Martin had just passed away, and Beto had very ungratiously trashed him. Of course, I became involved in the discussion. Thiel replied that his chief interest was in keeping the Philadelphia era of the church together, and that if my goal was not similar, he had no interest in discussing anything further with me. Typical. I had seen that dismissive attitude before. In reading some of the materials on Cogwriter, I realized that basically it was a brown nose site dedicated to the support of Rod Meredith. Two things occurred to me. 1) Such a site or publications would NEVER have been permitted by HWA during the WCG classic era. HWA wanted the exclusive, and would have been enraged if he suddenly had an echo. 2) LCG members would most likely resent Thiel, because it would be like having an extra parent that you didn't want emerging from your peers, inserting himself and asserting himself into your life. I was also cognizant of the fact that back in 1975, during the church troubles and the first round of splinters, there was no shortage of petulant little ones who had always felt that they had certain truths to which the church would not listen, and who suddenly arose to have their day in the sun. Members were shocked when these somehow got hold of mailing lists of members and began sending their materials around. It was pathetic, and they soon disappeared, having just wasted and exhausted their resources. Nobody wanted these little off-beat nobodies in their lives. People looking for change were more inclined to just leave Armstrongism, or to follow charismatic regional leaders who left, such as Ken Westby in the East, or Al Carozzo in California. Even those "big guys" melted away with time, and nobody even remembers them or their groups today. And, of course, this general trend repeated itself in the '90s, although the attempted correction or reformation of the main body is an added wrinkle, But none of the little guys from the splintering of the '90s have morphed into big guys. The better known ones who were already the leaders on the mother ship got the big pieces of the pie, and have watched them shrink. Bob Thiel has wasted his life. He will never become one of the big guys because real leaders know how to find and strengthen a common chord with a broad cross section of an audience. They know how to relate, and to exchange energy with that audience in symbiosis with the members. Not having that gift, or the polish which accompanies it, is the reason why so many aspiring leaders fail in building any sort of large scale following. Over time, such a leader's rough edges must become rounded, so that they lose personal tics such as flailing hands. They become more focussed rather than jumping around amongst 20 different topics in their public speaking endeavors. They grow in their effectiveness, usually on a short enough time scale so that they reach their peak in time to spend most of their productive years nourishing what they have built. And here we are. There has been no rounding of the rough edges for Bob over the past twenty years, no massive accumulation of followers, and he's running out of time. The only thing he has going for him is that he hasn't quit his day job. His sleight of hand with African believers whose loyalties float amongst various Miller-based teachers is an illusion, and everybody except himself knows this.

11 comments:

  1. Does Bob have an answer to the question of why God gave him a developmentally disabled son to take care of?

    And does Bob have an answer to the question of why he has spent so much energy on playing church when he could have devoted some of that time to caring for his disabled son?

    Bob likes to point to the Bible and to HWA for precedents showing how and why he is a prophet. Can Bob find even one example in the Bible where God gives a father a disabled son, then tells the father to be more of a prophet than a parent to that son?

    What is Bob running away from, from his childhood, his youth, or his WCG days? He is such a pathetic specimen.

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  2. The Sun is the largest object in the Solar System and it is an extremely simple shape - Round and Spherical.

    In order for anything to grow, it has to actually become SIMPLER not more complex.

    The problem with the COGS today, or for HWA was that as they grew, they actually make things more complicated, adding more layers of requirements, over management, ideas, and conformities, thus hampering any growth potential at a minimal level.

    The concept of a BIGGER TENT is beyond the ability of nearly all COG Iconic leaders , and instead of becoming centers of empowerment and growth, advocate more dependence, submission, and infancy.

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  3. Bob will never, ever grow his little <100 member group because he does not have Jesus, the gospel (1st Corinthians 15:1-4) or any sense of humility. It is always all about him, never about the finished work of Jesus on the Cross and what He accomplished for us. Until Bob sees that, he will continue to go nowhere. Until he can write a single article or give a single sermon that does not have a 116:2 ratio of Bob to Jesus, he is a nobody, with a message that offers no hope, peace, joy or most importantly, salvation in the here and now. It's just the same old, same old...keep the law, do this, don't do that and give me 30% of your income. I pray he will see the light, but at this point, I doubt it. Humility is not his strong suit.

    Why these guys have yet to figure that one out is beyond me!

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  4. Bob truly is the saddest excuse for a COG leader we have ever seen.

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  5. As Gamaliel astutely noted: “…if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God” (Acts 5:38-39) and judging the fruits of HWA/WCG and its endless offshoots…

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  6. Anon 7:02:00 PM PDT

    Quite so.
    This is simply the church of Bob.
    From the beginning it has been about him.
    And so it is today.
    And will be tomorrow.
    He follows a long line of individuals who claimed to be ‘someone’.
    And as written in scripture, in Acts, they all came to nothing.
    All is vanity cry’s out the Book of Ecclesiastes.

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  7. Interesting lessons can be learned about these little guys from the remora, a fish which spends its life in the company of a much larger host fish, such as a shark or a whale. A suckerfish, it can adhere to the skin or surface of its host, hitching a ride, and it also benefits the host by cleaning its outer surface, or skin.

    The remora, of course, remains small and never grows to the size of its host.

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  8. Well, despite claims that his effort is fulfilling the Biblical mandate to preach the Gospel, Bob decided this week to push push BI. He dismisses BI deniers, and admits he and the majority of CCOG are not direct descendants of Israel.
    As he admitted that salvation is not racial, and so BI has nothing to do with Grace, I guess he is saying he's not preaching the Gospel... and he also promises a sermon series on the Lost Tribes. As Rod would say, "Stay tooned..."

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  9. Almost arrested for Sabbath keeping doubly blessed Bob needs to focus on his true calling in life - God's gift of animation to the grossly mis-named Continuing Church of God - Cartoon Bob!

    Cartoon Bob is little Bobby Thiel's niche in life. They are very entertaining and provide a good laugh while maybe getting a message across (but I doubt it).

    The problem with little Bobby is that he is double minded. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). Little Bobby cannot decide if he is a Pastor General or a Prophet or a cartoon character. Bob Thiel is unstable in all his ways. Unfortunately, Thiel has gone down a rabbit hole with his insistence that he is a Prophet even though Herbert Armstrong taught that there are no Prophets in the modern end time Philadelphia Church era. Sounds like little Bobby Thiel has a disagreement with the Founder of Armstrongism and doesn't teach what Herbert Armstrong taught.

    "What is a Prophet" is a larger discussion. Personally, I don't think Little Bobby Thiel fully understands what a Prophet is. Perhaps others and Bobby Thiel know more on this subject of "what is a Prophet" than what I think. My understanding is the word "Prophet" can be translated "spokesperson". Usually, God's spokespersons made pronouncements which were not "predictive" in nature. Their pronouncements were more of, "If you do X, then Y will occur". But they were not predicting Y would actually occur.

    In the larger context, the entire Bible canon - Old and New Testaments- can be viewed as being written by ALL of God's spokespersons, and that the canonization of the Bible itself is sealed and a finished Book of communications from God to mankind through his spokespersons. These spokespersons wrote it all down in a book called "the Bible", and there are no NEW spokespersons today. Those in the Church who have preached from the Bible ever since Biblical times are not actual spokespersons, but rather are repeating what the firsthand spokespersons stated in the Bible. And in some cases, making the Bible say things today that it was never meant to say when God's spokespersons wrote it down in books canonized into the Bible.

    Sorry to burst your bubbles Little Bobby Thiel, Dave Pack and "That Prophet" Gerald Flurry. What this means is that all of you guys are NOT SPECIAL. Ironically, one of the Hebrew words for "Prophet" is the word "Nabi" which translated literally means "to bubble up." POP goes Thiel's bubble.

    If Little Bobby Thiel or anyone else would like to post a rebuttal comment to my comment here, I would welcome it because admittedly it is not a subject I know much about, but I feel I do know as much as Little Bobby Thiel does. Perhaps not.

    One thing I do know, Little Bobby Thiel should stick to his Cartoon Bob shtick. He has a great future in cartoon animations. They are very entertaining.

    Richard

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  10. 9:36, in response to the question in your third paragraph, there IS an example of where God gives a father a disabled child and then asks the father to fulfill his spiritual office!

    The apostle Peter had a daughter, Petronilla, who became a quadriplegic just before she was about to be violated, thereby preventing the sin from occurring, an act of mercy from the Lord to maintain her virginity.

    Men's thoughts are not always the thoughts of God.

    Oh, BTW, in case you're still doubting, the story goes that Peter was challenged by a member to heal her, just as you challenged Thiel, whereupon he asked Petronilla to get up and walk over to him, which she did, and then sent her back to the corner to reside in her disabled state.

    Nothing is too hard for the Lord except the unrepentant heart.

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  11. Anon 11:47:00 AM PDT

    Yes I am familiar with the legendary Petronilla, of which there are many different ‘stories’ associated with her.
    Much has being said about her and that is readily available and accessible.

    That in no way affirms Bob Thiel as a ‘prophet’ or ‘spokesman’ for God.
    The comparison of Peter and his daughter with Thiel, even remotely, is bizarre even by Armstrongisms strange standards.
    The fact that her life, compared to Stephen, for just one example, was not inscribed in the earliest manuscripts of the church ( the Bible) leaves the door open to mistakenly assume something that is not and assign that to the present day or persons is perfectly in keeping with HWA and his dwindling flock of followers.

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