One thing you can never fault the Church of God ministers and self-appointed church leaders about is their ability to find the worst in every situation. But what else should we expect when their god is always pissed off about something and is just itching to destroy the lot of humanity (except for those superfantabulous COG members ensconce in Petra and living the high life as humanity dies around them). Such a lovely scenario.
The greatest self-appointed prophet in the history of Christianity, the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu Thiel is back regaling us with his mental brainfarts about how pissed off his god is and what delicious things it has in store for the world.
Enjoy!
First, painful sores will appear on those still subservient to the beast (Revelation 16:2). The second and third plagues turn the seas, rivers and springs of water into blood (verses 3-7).
The fourth plague turns the normally, life-giving sun into a life-destroying power as the sun heats the earth to incredible temperatures. This fourth plague will still not bring mankind to repentance (verses 8-9). The fifth plague causes massive pain and plunges the beast’s realm into darkness (verses 10-11.)
But many, instead of putting their confidence in God, are hoping shelters and stored food will work.
While many doomsday preppers and most Christians seem to think that they will survive well during the 3 1/2 years that starts with the Great Tribulation, there are factors that they have not considered–or at least not well enough.
Those without food or shelters will seek out those with both–hence theft and worse will happen–Additionally, it needs to be emphasized, is that God does not promise to physically protect all Christians in the end times.
That said, Bible shows that some few will escape the captivity that will impact the Anglo-American peoples and will go to the mountains:
16 ‘Those who survive will escape and be on the mountainsLike doves of the valleys,All of them mourning,Each for his iniquity.17 Every hand will be feeble,And every knee will be as weak as water. (Ezekiel 7:16-17)Yet, notice also something from the prophets Amos and Jeremiah:
9 ‘Assemble on the mountains of Samaria; See great tumults in her midst, And the oppressed within her. 10 For they do not know to do right, ‘Says the Lord, ‘Who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.’” 11 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “An adversary shall be all around the land; He shall sap your strength from you, And your palaces shall be plundered.” 12 Thus says the Lord: “As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion Two legs or a piece of an ear, So shall the children of Israel be taken out Who dwell in Samaria — In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch! 13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,”Says the Lord God, the God of hosts, 14 ‘That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel; And the horns of the altar shall be cut off And fall to the ground. (Amos 3:9-14)19 They pursued us on the mountains And lay in wait for us in the wilderness (Lamentations 4:19).
The above indicates that some will be hiding in the mountains, and other places in the USA, while others are will be taken out of the USA. Most of the Anglos that are not killed will be made slaves. Hiding in the mountains may protect a few for a time, but it will be relatively few that survive that way for long.
They will be pursued.
If you are alive during this time and you do not want to be overcome by the coming Beast, YOU MUST live as a Philadelphian Christian–do not deceive yourself otherwise.
Jesus gave the following warning to most end time Christians:
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)
While there is value in doing some physical prepping, proper spiritual prepping–which MOST END TIME CHRISTIANS WILL NOT DO–is so much more important.
31 comments:
Can you imagine ballless Bob ever acting like those kids did in Red Dawn? Even Bob's military father knew early on that he had a milquetoast as a son.
There is a great cartoon of Casper Milquetoast here. It perfectly describes Bob Thiel
https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/milquetoast
A milquetoast is a meek, mild-mannered, submissive person, usually a man.
I don’t doubt that the state of Israel is problematic for the cog movement.
None of them as I am aware made any prophetic statements and foretold the present conflict in Gaza or indeed in most if not all the conflicts in the Middle East. These conflicts simply caught them utterly unaware and gasping for straws.
That this incredibly small state beautifully fits into the prophetic scriptures is an enigma to them but not I say to the many churches outside of Armstrongism.
It defies logic British Israelism and its associated theology.
But as most of us know it is perfectly logical inside the cog movement.
If Jews are not supposed to inter-marry with Gentiles, why does the book of Esther praise Ester for seducing and sleeping with a gentile king? It is because the laws of God don't matter when serving the Jewish cause? Isn't that how these COGs think? That they can carve out exceptions for themselves and be above the law?
THIEL WROTE:
While there is value in doing some physical prepping, proper spiritual prepping–which MOST END TIME CHRISTIANS WILL NOT DO–is so much more important.
MY RESPONSE:
Indeed Booby! I am "spiritually prepping" by staying away from FALSE PROPHETS LIKE YOU!
I once saw a movie that involved disaster junkie time travelers who paid their travel agents to take them back in time and place them on the Titanic, a train wreck, or other disaster so that they could experience exactly what took place as opposed to reading about it. Somebody busted them, because they changed time in that the pictures of the events showed them as present, causing the obervant to wonder how this could be.
Sometimes I find myself wishing that the COGlodytes and their leaders who are so looking forward to the horrific events which they believe will validate their entire existences could be these time travelers. Let them walk that walk, and see if maybe they come away from that with a slightly different attitude. Actually, while I was a member, one of the ministers early on tempered the message, by telling us that God might allow some of us to go through what everyone else was experiencing. HWA's hook had always been that "You have been chosen to receive advance knowledge of what is going to happen in the very near future. You and your loved ones can have protection from all of these things!"
What a mess it always was! The thing is, even in the examples in the Bible, there was always that caveat that if people would repent, the bad things wouldn't happen. HWA surely attracted his share of black and white thinkers!
It looks like many prophecies will be proven false in the next few weeks or months because events in the middle east are NOT playing out as predicted by COG "prophets." For example, if Iran is wiped out by the USA it will invalidate Flurry's prediction that Germany will destroy Iran. If Russia and the USA go to war, it will invalidate Armstrong's prediction that they won't go to war. (They are already in a proxy war in Ukraine with Western commandoes on the ground). Plenty of COG literature will be rewritten or taken out of print, like 1975 in Prophecy was.
What I want to know is when is this supposed to happen, you know, with the Anglo slaves? I wanna buy me up a few of these Anglo ladies! Better not be lying, Bob!
12:45
Yeah I’ve thought about this too. It makes me think that since Bible prophecy says nothing about a “king of the west” that the West (ie USA/Anglosphere) will be virtually nonexistent as a major superpower in the end time. Whether this’ll happen from financial collapse or nuclear terrorist attacks or a war with another nation or groups of nations (eg China, Russia, etc) only God knows.
Then again the people of the West are already slaves in one form or another (https://youtu.be/WWs8J-rz-7A?si=o1mUtrNE2892vgln) be it wage slaves, debt slaves, drug slaves, sex slaves, propaganda slaves, etc. Even “know-it-all” Bob is a slave to Armstrongism at the very least and doesn’t know it yet.
It has always been beyond me what is so evil about the English nations that they are singled out for punishment. They are the good guys, fine characters. It's the secret elements which are purposely corrupting gentile societies which are the evil.
A scripture is quoted that Jacob said to Joseph "let my name be upon you"? I would not leave Judah out of the prophecies of punishment. They are the ones who chose Satanism back in ancient Israel. Actually this is what the Elohim have been saying to the Raelian church, so disregard it at your own risk.
The West??? Get real. There is no indication in the entire Bible that anyone even knew about the western hemisphere, let alone prophesied about it! The epicenter of the Old and New Testaments is the promised land and gentile nations surrounding it. HWA had to artificially turn the English-speaking white guy nations into Israelites to massage them into prophecy. I blame the leaps he learned from Hislop for this!
To 4:18,
See in order to single out the English nations for punishment is to validate them being Israel during the end time. So Israel has to go through captivity or slavery according to the prophets. Therefore the COGs and Bob need this validation of punishment. Heavens forbid if the punishment were to go to another group of people at the end time.
Bizarrely for this blog it was Herbert Armstrong who repeatedly warned "watch the middle east, always watch the middle east" But none of the splinter groups focus on 'watching', many are smug and have gone extremely small minded being nothing more than gossips gossiping complete garbage about their own members and rivals.
Hating and waring over garbage.
Grow up Churches of God rarely exist. The weirdos won out and now rule. All hail the weirdo's.
12:47
Part of their problem with "watching" is since they have a western mentality or approach, they simply are watching solely from western media sources if they do watch. They may look at international news, but if they are going to "watch the middle east", I would advise them to look at Al Jazeera News to get their spectrum or side of things. Then they can "watch" at the East and the West and putting it together like a peanut butter jelly sandwich. But that may be too much for them, especially the olders and their prejudice.
Also social media from the internet provides more truth than the actual agenda driven media of the west. Most of the younger generation use smart TVs, with the internet.
Without knowing it, they tend to watch the news which confirms Armstrongism. The German Reunification Treaty of Oct. 3, 1990 was really supposed to set the stage! And the election of President Clinton was going to grease the final downward slide of the USA. I don't recall whether Y2K was a big event for them, but I know they were taken completely by surprise when the attacks on the USA of 9/11 were by Arabic Muslim extremists as opposed to German Catholic ones. And then, our pride as a nation was really broken when we suddenly had (gasp!) a Black president elected in 2008, and then the mother of all recessions hit! But, President Obama did a damned good job of steering us through it. International disease epidemic Covid happened, derailing the presidency of the strong man whom many within and outside of Armstrongism had regarded as our national savior.
Each time one of these "mega" events happened, some people we know were on the edges of their seats. The truth is, they ended up being just like the latest hurricane or earthquake, and soon faded, and life went on.
Dave Pack does not care that the Temple has not been rebuilt, and the red heifers some farmer lovingly bred down in Tejas are not being sacrificed. It does not bother him that the Popes have all been benign. That's another thing they watch. Every time a Pope dies, it's "Uh Oh! Here we go!" And then the new Pope is all about peace, love, and Catholic-Christian values.
A person who has left Armstrongism slowly begins to watch international geopolitics more expansively. We are watching global events holistically, not just as the news equivalent of proof-texting. Sometimes it is just as scary as it was for us in the old days of Armstrongism, but it is scary from different perspectives. Things that were poo-pooed by HWA, and would have been considered as inconsequential by him and his church, are very real, and tend to be the scariest of all. His "good guy" politicians tend to be the real danger, rather than providing more time to get the work dine. Granted, Ronald Reagan was an obvious exception to that, but he was one of those once in a generation presidents.
There has always been material which can be exploited for fear-mongering. I believe the greatest fear amongst Armstrongites is that members will all die never having seen the Armstrong prophecy mold fulfilled. They radically changed their life styles, often sacrificing their relatives, friendships, careers and financial stability, have made themselves pariahs, have watched their leaders fan the flames of any little fiery news event, have lived with gloom and doom and fear for decades, and for that which they "knew" was going to happen never to come to pass, it's got to be difficult to deal with, and ultimately very defeating. Imagine someone in the church who died in, say 1970, suddenly coming back to life in 2023. They'd be wracking their brains, in total disbelief! "What??? It never happened??? It's 51 years past 1972, and the Germans never showed?"
Funny, the things charismatic people with weird theories can do to our minds.
I'm 12:47 commentator and I was in full agreement with you until Al Jazeera was mentioned. Although all news is biased from all different perspectives for a variety of reasons, that's when the gift of discernment is more required now than ever before.
You assume much and take too much notice of what generally the fools within crow about. Are the foolish ones who spout support for this or that the converted ones ? Scripture would indicate not.
Spot on 10:33!
Many things have happened within our nation and in Britain over the past 30 plus years. Remember Germany is supposed to enslave the” British people before they go to enslave the anglo- Americans.” Oh and Britain has its first British Asian prime minister. Armstrongism’s theory is that America and Britain have just “recently” forgotten their God therefore they must be punished. Instead of looking basically at the nation's economic issues, military issues, birth rates, immigration, environmental issues and political issues including its history.
What is also defeating is as time goes on, is their leader not being “the guy” at the end, ya know. I think whatever goes on in the world, is what happens. But as an organization, family or individual you have to keep it together. One has to have a peace of mind in this world. And the breakup of Worldwide created a major division. It’s a division that will have consequences in the end (and they don’t see it yet). One of the major problems with Armstrongism is that when world conflicts occur or political leaders are chosen, they start picking sides instead of staying neutral. These leaders act as if they were put in prison for preaching the gospel boldly, they act as if they have been given visions and dreams, they act as if an angel or the Lord has spoken to them regarding a prophetic matter.
They may see two or three things that may line up with what's written in scripture, but there has to be four other things (that hasn’t occurred yet) that need to take place in order for it to come to pass and be spiritually alert. Even if Armstrong is right here and there, the attitude was off, it was the attitude of the Nicolaitans.
Nico means power and laitan refers to people. The word literally means to conquer people. Jesus had a simple yet profound teaching on how the leaders of his disciples shouldn’t “lord it over” others but be a servant or slave of all (Matthew 23:11). This is why people who leave Armstrongism especially after worldwide broke up, exclaimed that they were FREE. They were free from being lorded over by harsh ministeres.
12:31 and 12:47 I was referring to Al Jazeera in regards to seeing how that part of the world views a particular event since it's over there. I am not saying look at their channel for truth. I enjoy DW News (Germany), 24 France, Sky News, RT, BBC News and others, to get a wider perspective. But if something is going on in the middle east, I like to go there to see how they are reporting it, because it can influence they're people. Not to mention that we have Arabs living in America and they are watching it, so it could give you a heads up. I agree with you though.
5:58 seriously?! That’s a false assumption to make. It’s like the Europeans “discovering” Australia and believing it was “terra nullius.” So I’ll have to respectfully disagree. I prefer to believe that there was pre-Columbian contact with Old World civilizations as various maps and ooparts support.
Knew a young lady who worked for Al-Jazeera here in the States. She's since moved on to writing for other outlets, but she said her experience with their US bureau was good. I did a shoot or two for them and didnt have any issues either. Some of the big US conglomerates cam be a mess though, on the business end.
Why the switcheroo, 4:43? Of course there was pre-Columbian contact. We all studied about Leif Ericcson in high school, and some of us were fascinated with Thor Heyerdahl's work with Kon Tiki. My statement was purely about there being no Biblical evidence of knowledge of the Western Hemisphere, either by the prophets, or other authors.
I wasn’t switching anything 2:10 just expanding upon what I said since that’s where we’ll have to agree to disagree as I believe various ancient peoples and civilizations of the Bible were aware of the western hemisphere and for me the archaeological evidence that proves pre-Columbian contact with Old World civilizations supports that. Besides just because there’s no Biblical evidence to you that they knew of the western hemisphere doesn’t mean they didn’t.
In responding to both of you:
I wonder if the phrase "four corners of the earth" would mean that they knew of the the norther, easter, western and southern hemisphere? I am just wondering. But yea most of the bible, if not all has the areas within the old world in mind. Although the chuch likes to say isles for the west. You know...
Four corners actually resembles the concept of a flat earth more than a spherical one, as does more of the language in the Old Testament. Psalm 103:12 speaks about our transgressions being removed as far as the east is from the west (I'm paraphrasing). On a globe or sphere, the West actually almost joins the East at Alaska and Russia.
Anyone have any legitimate reference materials containing maps of the world proven to be from the 6th Century BCE, contemporary with Daniel? I am certainly open minded and would love to see them if they exist. Of course there will be further study and discussion to establish their authenticity. But, yeah, let's do it. Let's get them up here. It will be educational.
Thatd be the Imago Mundi.
Nope: Earth ( Circular)
Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in
When the angels gather the elect from the four winds ( Matthew 24:31), I think the angels who come from the heavenly abode know that the earth is circular and not flat. We know that Jesus knew the shape of the earth when speaking.
So I disagree with you, because Isaiah 40:22 proves it.
Yet another of your famous switches! (which you clearly made, but will deny). You cited maps of that you knew if from ancient times. Had you delved into those, as did I, you would have seen the *circular* flat-earth maps of Anaximander, and Hecataeus from the 600s and 500s BCE. Eratosthenes (276-194 BCE) had new knowledge based on the conquests of Alexander the Great, and incorporated additional territory into his map of the known world of his times. He had calculated earth's circumference, and this was improved upon by Posidounius (135-51 BCE), philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer who was considered to be the most learned man of his times. He went on many voyages on the Mediterranean Sea, and his expanded maps of the known world based on these voyages.
So, the first maps of the the earth as a globe came from the Helenistic Period. Ptolemy, later, knew the size of the earth, and that certain territories existed, like Australia and the Americas, but his maps referred to them as "terra incognita" These lands were not explored until the Age of Discovery, which began in the 1500s CE.
For those of you who are in the interested audience but not commenting, check out the history of world maps. It is so easy to verify, based on maps of the known world at various stages of history that knowledge of the western hemisphere was as yet unknown to mankind at the time of the OT prophets.
9AM I don't know who you're referring to re "famous switches" as I'm 3:58, 4:43 and 8:33 alone.
Anyway IMO I believe the Americas was known to various people in the Middle East BC. I've read a few books that argue such as not only a possibility, but a probability. Some even contend it as a certainty. Like one author astutely noted the Atlantic Ocean is a mere lake when compared to the Pacific Ocean and yet if the Polynesian people mastered the Pacific over 2,000 years ago why couldn't ancient Middle Eastern peoples like the Phoenicians for instance manage to cross the tiny Atlantic? Just because the evolutionists say they couldn't and therefore didn't doesn't mean it's true.
Well, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Communication was not global in those times, and knowledge and education were often confined to regional centers of civilization. The Alexandrian Library in Egypt was the main such center, having the greatest collection of knowledge amassed by man during the several hundred years of its existence. Unfortunately, all of that was lost when the library was destroyed. Who knows what all was lost, and the answers that might have provided to us today in figuring all of this stuff out?
By the way, You almost want the evolutionists to be in charge of all of the research and discoveries. They are not influenced by any religion, making them neutral, and they are trained scientists schooled in the collection of data, and in following an evidentiary trail. They test and retest the theories they form along the way. At any given point in time, they generally have the best information available. We may not always agree with what they tell us, but they're not just a bunch of dumb bunnies who make things up to scam us.
9:42 AM said: "By the way...evolutionists...are not influenced by any religion, making them neutral, and they are trained scientists schooled in the collection of data, and in following an evidentiary trail. They test and retest the theories they form along the way. At any given point in time, they generally have the best information available. We may not always agree with what they tell us, but they're not just a bunch of dumb bunnies who make things up to scam us."
Yeah right! LOL! Like you said "you are certainly entitled to your opinion" and, in closing, I still do prefer my opinion to yours.
Post a Comment