Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Self-Appointed Prophet And Accuser Of The Brethren Says, There Are Times People Should Keep Their Mouths Shut



It's been a few hours since we had anything on here from our favorite Holy Child, the world's foremost church historian, the Great Bwana to Africa, and the most important COG leader in human history whose existence was planned before the beginning of creation as part of the salvational works necessary before Christ can return back to earth.

The Great Bwana has a bone to pick with people in the church who "gossip". Of course, in Armstrongland this is anyone who dares to criticize church leaders and what they preach. When these people wake up and dare to question, they are immediately labeled as "dissidents" in order to shut them up. The problem the Great Bwana and most of the other abusive COG leaders today have is they no longer have the power to shut people up. The internet has basically destroyed their quests of omnipotence and pure devotion from their rapidly shrinking fields of devotees.

In a letter to his African followers and his 150 Caucasians, he trots out his favorite COG personality, Dibar Apartian, and an article he wrote for the January 1982 Good News magazine.

WHY God Hates Gossip!
by Dibar Apartian 
 
Do you know what scourge victimizes more people every year than all the sicknesses and accidents in the world? It is the deadly poison of gossip. 
 
The Bible reveals that Satan the devil is the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10). 
 
But how does he accuse us? By spreading rumors and causing gossip.

Shutting down questioning by their followers is an important method of control for cults and the Churches of God have mastered that ability. Labeling people dissidents and then publicly disfellowshipping and marking people is an effective tool to shut people up. Fear is one of the most important tools used by the Church of God to control members. 

Thankfully, we have all watched over the last several decades and especially over the last several years with Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, and Gerald Flurry as people have publicly exposed their lies and false teachings, and outlandish proclamations.

The other tool to shut people down is tossing around the label "true Christian". Bwana Bob is particularly prone to this as a vain attempt to legitimize his little personality cult and devalue all other COG groups and particularly Christians in the world.

Quoting Apartian, 

But God commands, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Ex. 20:16). Do you grasp the depth of this commandment? Bearing false witness against someone can not only involve lying, but also accusing, gossiping and spreading rumors.

If you are truly a Christian, you should never take part in any of these activities. You should not accuse others, whether it be to defend yourself, to cover your mistakes or merely to make yourself look good in the eyes of others. In other words, the Ninth Commandment forbids lies, accusation, gossip and spreading rumors. That’s what bearing false witness is!

As a true Christian, you are to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:39). But how can you love your neighbor if you accuse him or gossip about him? How can you love him if you have a part in breaking up his family or his home or in making him lose his friends?

How can we love men who lie about themselves, destroy families, spiritually decimate members' lives, cause suicides, and even murder?

Should COG members sit by and let these men get by with their abuse or hold them accountable?

Jesus certainly held the leaders of Israel and elsewhere accountable for their actions. He flipped tables and cast out the money changers. He warred about lying ravenous wolves pretending to be "true" COG leaders, he warned about false prophets who dream dreams and set themselves as rulers over the members. He warned how easy it is to be conned by these duplicitous buffoons.

At the end of quoting Apartian's article, the Great Bwana has this to say:

Be a true witness, not a talebearer. And yes there are times we all should keep our mouths shut.

Yes, Bob, it is time to shut your mouth! Stop lying to your followers about nightmares you have. Stop assigning yourself the Biblical attributes of Old Testament characters. You will never in your entire life ever measure up to any of those prophets! Stop preaching and writing about thousands of asinine topics that NO ONE in Africa or the rest of the world gives a rats ass about. Stop writing about things that have nothing to do with being a follower of Jesus. Stop preaching your false gospel that totally ignores Jesus and anything he proclaimed and accomplished through his death and resurrection.

Yes, Bob. It is time to keep your mouth shut!

 

12 comments:

  1. Clearly, David Pack has not learned Mr. Apartian's lesson.

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  2. Reading this message and remembering Bob's ongoing obsession about video deep-fakes, it seems obvious that the Great Bwana is deeply fearful of some embarrassing truth becoming visible and then being gossiped about by ACOG brethren.

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  3. Amen! If Bob Theil really wishes to be a servant of God and man, it needs to all start with a serious vow of silence. I for one would take him much more seriously if I never heard so much as another word from him.

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  4. "Bob"s obsession about video deep-fakes"

    Ya think he's gatting more paranoid from watching the daily video deep-fakes of Dave Pack here? (Just kidding!)

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  5. I thought that the "Why God hates gossip" by Dibar, as one of the best articles ever put out by the WWCOG. I see nothing about questioning or disagreeing with church teachings in the article.

    Slander trashed my reputation and robbed me of all my friends while I attended services. People were afraid to be seen next to me least it harm their reputation. Which is why I can't join any ACOG even if I wanted to.

    I remind readers that all personal information about others can, with creativity, be weaponized and used against them. Which is why malignant narcissists carefully study their victims and potential victims, trying to find out what makes them tick. Which is why Sun Tzu in his famous book "The art of war" teaches to know your self and KNOW YOUR ENEMY.
    People who give out intimate information about others are traitors in the eyes of God.
    Btw, note the tones in bullies voices why they gossip about others. They treasure the information. To them it's like gold.

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  6. People who give out intimate information about others are traitors in the eyes of God.

    So if the priests did something wrong with those altar boys, we should keep silent . . . sheeeh . . . don't rock the boat!

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  7. Ha! This blog is run by the biggest lousy gossips the world has ever known.

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  8. 12.22 AM
    Reporting crimes is not gossip. In all states, it's the law for those in authority to report the abuse of others. In some states, it's the law for all citizens to report the abuse of others.

    12.31 AM
    The sins of David and others is laid out for all to read in the bible. It is legal to scrutinize those in positions of power. This is not gossip. This is in accordance with the saying that "power unscrutinized is power abused." Which is why this site is performing a service to the ACOG community.

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  9. Well said, 7:18. What constitutes gossip and slander has not been particularly well defined or properly judged in the church. When a minister sins against you and refuses to reconcile (because the cost is too high) we have the right to tell it to the whole church. And Christ allows this to prevent ministerial abuse. This is not a case of spreading rumours, gossiping or causing division. This is why Christ said that He came to bring a sword. He is trying to separate the righteous from the unrighteous so may everyone be aware of this. He could care less about reputations and loss of jobs (for honour and riches come from Him) if the sins bring ruin to His church. And the church, btw, isn't the head office -- it's the people.

    I've always wondered about where the limits are on this law. Should I speak to others about some sensitive subject or not? The ministers would prefer to shut everyone up just to save themselves and their corporate offices but they can't be trusted anymore. If they won't tell us about the conflicts in the church so that we can make informed decisions to please Christ, they are in effect saying "trust us" when in fact they can't be trusted. This is why I say that if we can gather more righteous men together who aren't men-pleasers we'll be able to rebuild.

    If Winnail of LCG is living in adultery (for remarrying his previously divorced and former wife) and people talk about it in LCG, is that a sin, gossip, a rumour or truth? If the Bible says he is in sin, the LCG ministry has no right to pound or condemn the members for judging this case. As Paul said, "DO YOU NOT JUDGE THEM THAT ARE WITHIN?" If the ministry perpetuates the sinful condition they bring condemnation on themselves and their work (which they call "God's work) will fail, which is what we see happening all around in the churches.

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  10. The woman in the photo is quite emotive, isn't she? I'm thinking she must be hearing about Herbert and Dorothy for the first time.

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  11. 1.49 pm
    Or the sex life of GTA.

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