Finally! One of the Two Witnesses Has Been Named!

Get ready to be amazed and stand in awe of who one of the two witnesses is. No, it is NOT our petulant crybaby Bwana Bob Thiel, but Aaron Dean! Woo Hoo! I am sure the first witness will be Herbert Armstrong as this story has been floating since he died and that he was coming back to life as one of the two witnesses.

What is Laodicea? In Revelation 12:17 we see a remnant receives IDENTITY AFTER the Church of the Philadelphia era goes into a place of protection and safety(See Rev 3:10, and Rev 12:14-16). That is when Laodicea begins the work of God. Prior to that, they were doing their own works that's why they didn't go to a place of safety. Otherwise the Church who goes into the place of safety, is doing the work of God(see Revelation 3:7-13). 

 

So Philadelphia has a witness leading them. 

 

Laodicea repents too late and must go through the Great Tribulation. Their witness is witnessing to them that the first witness is true, and he is assisting the Philadelphia witness. The Laodicean witness is ministering to them while they are going through the Great Tribulation, bringing them to repentance. 

 

Those who come out of the great Tribulation will be grafted in with Philadelphia, as there is no two churches of God only ONE CHURCH OF GOD. The Worldwide Church of God.(See Zechariah 2)
So we see, that what is produced through God's Work in Herbert W Armstrong, continues for the building and edification of the Worldwide Church of God until Christ returns! The men who will be the two witnesses of God, will be used to finish the Temple or Church age! 

 

One is outside of the ministry and one is pastor general of the ministry. Like Moses and Aaron.
Aaron conceded to the whims of the people and repented. So we see a Joshua figure repenting and bring brought up to lead God's Church under Philadelphia or Moses type. 

 

I personally believe that the assistant to Mr. Armstrong, Aaron Dean, the one who helped write Mystery of the Ages, is the one who will lead God's people as the second witness. 

 

The Kitchen family has only been here to preserve, preserve the Worldwide Church of God. Members of our family have died in that battle and together we give witness of how Satan wants God's Church destroyed! 

 

But we are not looking for followers. We look only to warn and to preserve. 

 

That's what our work has been about. That's why we don't receive tithes and offerings and why we are not ministers! 

 

Right now, the ministry is locked in chains much like how Joshua the High Priest was chained by Satan to keep them from doing the work of God. But God is going to release the ministry and things will come back together in greater power as you've never seen before! 

 

God is in control brethren! Don't you lose sight of that!  Recapture Tomorrow

 

Restored Church of God Open House Edition 2: Another Train Wreck In The Making.

 

Un-UnOpen House

 

Prophecy hobbyist David C. Pack has gone quiet since his complete failure on Pentecost last week. It is nice to know there are still some things in this world that are capable of shutting him up. At least momentarily.

 

The members of The Restored Church of God have been refreshing their email inboxes all week, waiting to hear what the heck they are supposed to do now since the Kingdom of God did not arrive as scheduled.

 

The 3.5-2-14-6.5-3.5-1-7-1K Kingdom structure of Part 444 was changed into the simpler and way more accurate 18-2-6.5-3.5-1-7-1K during Part 445. Surely, the Mystery of God ended because Daniel was unsealed.

Reality proved both of those were wrong.

 

No matter how large the printout gets with the “complete picture,” it is destined to crumble with the passage of time. This usually occurs before the deadline approaches. Grandpa Dave sure loves his caveats.

 

But have no fear because relief is on the way. Part 446 is scheduled for today.

 

Thursday, June 1, 2023

 

Dear brethren, 

 

Please note Mr. Pack plans to speak this coming Sabbath, June 3 to lay out more details. We are right on track!

 

The start time for the sermon will be forthcoming. Keep an eye on your inbox for any upcoming communication. 

 

Enjoy the rest of the day!

 

Warm regards,

 

Church Administration

 

We’re right on track, dummies. Wow. Lying is like breathing to the hirelings at Headquarters now.

 

“More details” is code for a brand new picture since Pentecost gave Dave a shiner.

 

Keep in mind that Tammuz 1 is June 20. The Ministerial Conference is one day shorter than usual, from Sunday, June 11 to Thursday, June 15. We all must wait and see what new nonsense the Packian Triad of Fraud dreamt up. The longer Dave is quiet, the more significant the "understanding" shift is and the more verses he has to support his revised fantasy.

 

 

In a bold move, Pseudo Evangelist Bradford G. Schleifer waded into the shark-infested waters of social media this week by announcing a 2023 Restored Church of God Open House taking place on June 25. It was posted on RCG’s main Facebook feed and the two private Wadsworth Neighbors groups.

 

Last year's lukewarm attempt was available only to RCG vendors and The Wadsworth Chamber of Commerce members [excluding Dawn Blue and me]. Over 1300 people were invited, and "a good hundred" attended. Whether that is a successful turnout is open to interpretation.

 

An article last September covered this in detail. In a WCTV interview, Dawn Blue of How It’s Done TV and I discussed our experience with being disinvited covertly a few hours before the event started.

 

Some in RCG are learning from past mistakes. The 2023 iteration is an Un-UnOpen House, as they are now inviting the local residents of Wadsworth to attend. To reserve your tickets, you can click HERE.

Brad posted this with his personal account because only someone of his high church rank can appropriately navigate the minefield of comments. Exceptional circumstances require superior discernment and wisdom. So much for Dr. Timothy D. Ranney being responsible for Public Relations. It must have felt like the keys to the car being taken away just before Prom Night.

 

 

Oh. And then there are the comments. It is not pretty.

 

As of writing this article, there are 3 hidden comments on the RCG main Facebook feed, 156 in Wadsworth Neighbors(19K members) and 62 in Wadsworth Neighbors #2 no rules (2.9K members).

 

Good luck trying to find anyone who is writing something supportive. Some acknowledged that RCG was opening its doors and that people should learn for themselves what they are about. Others thought that was a terrible idea.

To Brad’s credit, he did not delete the comments Dawn Blue and I made. From a Damage Control perspective, that probably would not have sat well with the residents in those groups.

 

Will RCG opt for armed security guards again this year, or wing it and leave the protection up to the angels? We will find out in a few weeks.

 

For anyone interested in joining Dawn Blue and me for an Across The Street Watch Party on June 25, please contact exrcgwebsite@gmail.com. Snacks and drinks will be coordinated after we get a headcount.

 

Marc Cebrian

See: Un-UnOpen House

The Sourpuss Church of God

 

I was reading yesterday about the recent death of John Rittenbaugh, founder of the Church of the Great God splinter group. Browsing through their website I noticed the following article,  Is God Playful? by Mike Fuhrer. To many in Armstrongism, particularly those with a literalist belief in the Bible and God, finding humor in Scripture is anathema to God's majesty and power. How dare anyone find something funny in the Bible! Just look at Song of Soloman, it's a gigglefest of sexual innuendo from start to finish, but I digress.

After spending over 30 years in Pasadena, far too many there were such dour sourpusses. Nothing ever made them happy and they seemed to make every effort to make all those around them miserable too! Thankfully there were lots of happy people to counteract those grumpy people who later left to start many of the splinter groups we have torturing people today.

Fuhrer writes:

At a previous church of God fellowship, while standing around after services, eating cookies, and drinking coffee, I told a joke. One man listening to my joke later cautioned me that we should not tell jokes "because they are not the truth." I have pondered his statement for quite some time now. 

 

Does everything we say or do have to be "truthful"? By that, I mean, is fiction in any form—even in the service of good—forbidden to us? Certainly, we should not break the ninth commandment (Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20), which covers intentionally speaking falsehoods to deceive as well as committing perjury. Nor should we step over the line into harmful practical jokes (Proverbs 26:18-19). But are there times when something fictional, made-up, lighthearted, or playful could be okay for a Christian to say or do?

It was always a trip to watch ministers in Pasadena get infuriated by students joking around and being playful. How dare they! They were at God's West Point and needed to act like it!

Fuhrer continues:

We cannot go too far astray if we allow Jesus Christ to be our Example in this area of life as in all others. Does Jesus have a sense of humor? The clues all point to the answer that He does! The Bible tells us He is the Creator (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2), and as such, He created humans and their laughter too. Eight billion people, each with a unique sense of humor, tend to support the idea that their Creator has a sense of humor too. 

 

The name of one of the patriarchs, Isaac, means "laughter." And his mother, Sarah, who was in her nineties when God told her she would have a child, laughed (Genesis 18:12). Perhaps God exercised His sense of humor, a grin on His face, when He named her son "Laughter."

Don't forget the talking jackass! No, I'm not talking about Dave Pack, but Balaam's ass.

Our Savior was not above having a little fun with the disciples, either. In John 21, the disciples, having been skunked after fishing all night long, saw Jesus standing on the shore. He casually asked them the question every fisherman has been asked: "Catch anything?" Are we to believe that He did not know? Of course, He knew! He is the One who set up the situation!

Another thing that infuriated the dour ministers and members was people who told stories that were totally fictional. They claimed this was lying. Yet, the Bible is filled with hundreds of parables that were made up of stories. Totally fictional and yet told a truth.

How dreadful our lives would be without at least a little playfulness and laughter! If we cannot tell jokes because they are not strictly "the truth," we should neither read novels nor watch movies because they are fiction—not the truth. By the way, we should take scissors to our gospel accounts because they are chock full of Christ's parables, made-up stories by which He taught His disciples vital spiritual lessons they—and we—needed to know. 

 

We should also be wary of history books because, as it is said, history is written by the victors. They alter the facts to depict the winners—themselves—in a heroic light and portray the defeated as villains. Beware of the daily news, too, because it may well be fake news leading us down a dangerous path. For good measure, we might want to quit reading opinion pieces because they are just that—opinions from the corrupt minds of people saturated with the knowledge of good and evil. 

 

In the end, on the question of whether we should tell jokes, William Shakespeare might have said, it is much ado about nothing! Like the parables, fictional stories—even jokes—can have positive qualities that a wise person can use to convey a piece of wisdom, offer a refreshing perspective, or simply lighten the mood to help others relax. A well-written book of fiction or a movie can impart valuable life lessons or trigger helpful emotions that lead us to think deeply about an issue or situation.

He ends with this:

Yes, God can be playful, and He no doubt enjoys a good laugh from time to time (see Psalm 2:4). Studies have shown that laughing reduces stress, a finding the Bible supports (Proverbs 17:22). But our higher priority is to please God by being a good and faithful servant and one day entering the joy of our Lord (Matthew 25:21, 23)!

UCG and the Tithe of the Tithe Con Game

 

For decades the church looked for ways to get more money from the membership and the tithe of the tithe was one of those con games. The mother church, the Worldwide Church of God was bringing in sometimes a million dollars a day in tithes and offerings from members who struggled to make ends meet. That money went to pay for lavish homes, gold, silver, fine art, concert series, and building three campuses. One would think that the church should carry on with that process and pay for Feast site locations through those tithes or with offerings taken up on the two holy days of the Feast. Not content with raking in that money, they wanted more and the tithe of the second tithe was instituted as the 4th tithe church members had to pay.

UCG found a subtle way of taking the word tithe out of the equation in order to make people think they were giving an offering instead. Today in 2023 some are looking to bring back the tithe of the tithe. and the Council now is looking into it again.

The next time COG leaders try and guilt you into paying a tithe on your second tithe take that money and instead take your family out to dinner inviting some widows/elderly, singles, and those you know that are struggling financially or better yet, give THEM the money. The church does not need it and God certainly does not!

Chairman Martin then turned the floor over to Brain Shaw to lead a discussion on the possibility of a policy statement concerning the subject of the Tithe of the Tithe.

Mr. Shaw began by explaining why he wanted to have this discussion. He mentioned that he has been approached by members who have asked if the Church still requires the members to give a tithe of the second tithe in order to pay for facilities at the Feast of Tabernacles. He commented that we used to have a statement on it in the Feast brochure, however, it seems that the policy has been inconsistent. Is it optional? Is it not optional?

Mr. Shaw said that it’s clear that it’s not a biblical command, but a policy that was put into place years ago in order to help pay for festival cost. Mr. Shaw added that, as a pastor, he would like to see us have a policy or clarify our stance on this matter. He then opened the floor for discussion.

During the discussion it was mentioned that the term “Tithe of the Tithe” is not used anymore and has been replaced with the term, “Festival Fund.” Chris Rowland reminded the Council that a resolution concerning the Tithe of the Tithe was passed by the Council on February 12, 1997.

Chairman Martin made a motion for consent without resolution to remand this to the Education Committee for the purpose of examination of the 1997 Resolution and report back to the Council in the August meetings with their suggestion. Eleven Council members supported the motion, one abstained.

UCG Has Discussion On The Most Astounding Gospel Witness Ever For A Church of God!

 

One would think in 2023 with all the homelessness, broken families, food disparity, and other societal issues that face the neighbors of the United Church of God and its members, that a UCG would step up to the plate and make a public proclamation that as a church they would help bring relief and kindness to people so in need of it. Sure they have Kubik's pet charity to make them look good, but as a church getting involved in their local communities should be a priority. What better way to witness for the gospel than that!

The Council of Elders met recently and they had a long discussion. Not about helping others and showing God's grace and mercy, but about whether or not they need an official church logo. WTH?

President Shabi began by giving a quick background of the logo history and issues. Sense (sic) the new logo was rescinded at the February 2023 meetings, the administration has worked together to assess the problem. He added that after much consideration he has concluded that UCGIA does not need a physical symbol to represent the Church. Moving forward the administration and staff have discussed ways in which artistic design can be utilized to bring unity to our different forms of media. He feels that those ways will actually be more effective than a logo. President Shabi then stated that this is where we are, and then opened the floor for further discussion, questions and suggestions.

Then, the next day they brought it up AGAIN!

Chairman Martin called the Council to order and then turned the floor over to Clint Porter to address the follow-up discussion concerning a Church logo.

Mr. Porter began by explaining how the Media and Communications Services department can bring unity across the UCGIA platform without the use of a logo. He then demonstrated how this can be accomplished through the use of text type, color schemes and wording. He presented the “NC State University” website as an example of how this can be achieved. After a quick demonstration, Mr. Porter opened the floor for comments, suggestions and concerns. After a further discussion addressing a few questions and concerns, Mr. Porter then turned the floor back over to Mr. Martin.

 

The ADD Prophet Is Back Trying To Con People Into Joining His Cult

It's another fun day in California as the Great Bwana to Africa and 100 Caucasians is back bouncing around again with his ADD narcissistic personality with arms flailing and hands flapping as he preaches to the choir on how superfantabulous his little cult is. Never in the history of the church have we had a man who claims to be an ordained preacher care so little about Jesus!

Nowhere in this multitude of topics below in this so-called sermon is there any mention of Jesus? It's all about Bob, all the time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No other Church of God is as miraculous and touching more people that the Great Bwana and his little band of merrymakers.

Philadelphian Gospel Proclamation Priority 

What work should the most faithful Christians be supporting in the 21st century? 

 

What was the “open door” that Jesus opened for the Philadelphians for? 

 

Did Herbert W. Armstrong say that door was for the Philadelphians to fulfill Matthew 24:14 to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness? 

 

What did Luke and the Apostle Paul write about the open door? 

 

Is having literature in hundreds of languages helpful to assist in the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:19-20, Romans 11:25, and Revelation 7:9? 

 

Just what was the work according to Herbert W. Armstrong? 

 

When did he, Dr. Herman Hoeh, and others in the Church of God say the proclamation work was to end? 

 

Was that related to the Great Tribulation and a nuclear World War III? 

 

Were the Laodiceans prophesied to rise up, be the dominant Christians at the end, but with lukewarm efforts and priorities, while wanting to focus on taking care of themselves? 

 

Did the Radio Church of God also warn about that? Is the proclamation of the Philadelphian church supposed to last until about the time it is to flee to the “place of safety” in the wilderness? 

 

Are there analogies between the first and second temple and the work done under Herbert W. Armstrong and now the Continuing Church of God? 

 

What about Loma Armstrong’s two-part dream? 

 

What about proclaiming the gospel through multi-media, radio, internet, literature, and personal visits? 

 

Will Philadelphian Christians be subject to persecution when some are used by God to “instruct many” per Daniel 11:33? 

 

Did Herbert Armstrong believe a “second work” would rise to effectively finish the short work of Romans 11:28? 

 

What are some part of the “final phase of the work”? 

 

Does the Continuing Church of God have the type of fruits that Jesus pointed to? 

 

Is supporting the proclamation work showing Philadelphian brotherly love? 

 

Was “Philadelphia” to continue per Hebrews 13:1? 

 

Is necessity laid upon the true Philadelphians to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness? 

 

Is this a priority of the Continuing Church of God? 

 

Dr. Thiel addresses these matters and more by citing scriptures, historical records, and more!

Can you imagine his poor followers in Africa sitting in a hot building with a metal roof that is amplifying the heat downwards as God's greatest evangelist puts on this sermon and the brethren have to sit there and listen to our bouncing Bob talk about things they could care less about? After walking miles in the heat and being wary of troublemakers along the way, you arrive at church and are subjected to this asinine preaching. They come to hear about Christ and instead hear about Holy Bob.

Quantum Physics and the Incorporeality of God: Armstrongist Anthropomorphism in a Quantum Reality

 

Creating Entangled Photons from a Helium Atom

 

Quantum Physics and the Incorporeality of God

Armstrongist Anthropomorphism in a Quantum Reality

By Scriptor

Theology must be informed by science.  Otherwise, theology will be bound to an archaic world of unrealism.  The Genesis creation account, for instance, is based on ancient Near Eastern cosmology.  A cosmology in which the sky is an arcing vault made of some kind of solid material and it is blue because there is water stored behind it and it is close enough so that birds can fly up to it and stars are little tiny lights in this firmament and one might even build a tower to reach it and God lives just on the other side of the vault.  My guess is that nobody reading this article believes this today even though it is written in the Bible.  If you never had a science course in public school at least you watched Star Trek.  The Bible content was written up during a certain period of time, by a certain people with a certain level of scientific development.  That does not limit its efficacy as a literary presentation of moral principle.  Science may change.  Moral principle does not.  This is the backdrop for this essay. 

Quantum Entanglement and the Idea of Space

Our world is a world of big stuff – rocks, trees, water.  But this world of big stuff emerges from another world of very, very tiny stuff – most of it particulate or resembling particles.  Light is composed of photons, for instance.  And this world, called the quantum world, behaves very differently than our world of large things.  This may seem irrelevant but it has very high relevancy to theology.  

Here is something that will be used in this essay that has an impact on theology but comes out of the quantum world.  It is called quantum entanglement.  Two photons can be entangled or, let us say, “connected.” These photons then may act as a pair.  An effect on one, like maybe changing its direction of spin, will immediately, in the same segment of time, cause the spin of the other to change.  They have identical, linked behavior.  The really amazing thing, something that Einstein called ‘spooky behavior at a distance’, is that it does not make any difference how far away the two photons are from each other.  One could be in your backyard and its twin could be 10 light years away and if you changed the spin of the one in your backyard, the spin on the one ten lights years away would also change identically.  Scientists don’t really know what happens here but they know it happens.  It is as if in the quantum realm the idea of space does not exist.  And in this reality of the incredibly small, Physicist believe that distance does not exist (Not all of them, of course.  You can never get agreement from all of them on most anything.)  

If you have a level of reality that is fundamental to our level of reality and distance does not exist in that fundamental reality, it has implications for whether or not God has a bodily existence in his essence.  This concern will be further developed below. 

God is Incorporeal – The Scriptures

Before we proceed with quantum mechanics, an exegesis from the New Testament concerning God’s ontological nature will give us a necessary point of departure.    Jesus is the culmination of the Law and the Prophets.   In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”   So, Jesus can be consulted on all those places in the Law and the Prophets where it speaks about God because he is the culmination of the message.  He knows what the text means because he personally is the fulfilment of the words of that message including all the words that describe God as having eyes, hands and other body parts.  Jesus was semantics in being and action. 

And Jesus said, “God is a Spirit (John 4:24).”  God, in his essence, is Spirit.  But to us Spirit is something like attitude or mood.  How could a Being be nothing but that kind of Spirit?  So, Jesus explained it further in another place by using an analogy to something we know from our created world.  Jesus stated in John 3:8: 

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit…The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

From this we know that Spirit has the following properties:

1.     It has existence.

2.     It is not visible to humans. 

3.     It does not have form, as the wind does not have form.

4.     It is of a totally different category from flesh.

This has to be a puzzle for Old Testament literalists.  They must believe that God has a body and that Moses saw God.  Yet, the New Testament tells us that God is pneuma.  But humans also have pneuma.  Humans are viewed in the New Testament as being composed of pneuma, psuche and sarx – spirit, animating principle, and flesh.  In the verse above, when Jesus said “God is Spirit” the word recorded as Spirit is pneuma.  When, 1 Corinthians 2:11, Paul speaks of the “spirit in man” the word he uses is pneuma.  We then are beings with a pneuma where mind resides.  But doctors, people who can be trusted to be careful, scientific observers, have never seen a visible, formed spirit emerge from the human body at death as the Old Testament literalists would believe.  We have come to understand that Moses really just saw a theophany of God, a vision prepared by God for human discernment – like a metaphor in action.   Jesus, who should know, said, “No one has seen God at any time…”

The Invention of the Idea that Spirit as Substance with Form

In spite of the words of Jesus, in John 3:8 and 4:24, some who have fallen under the influence of Semi-Arianism believe that there is a way to support the idea that God has a body.  This is by defining spirit to be a substance that will hold form like matter in our realm.  There are some difficulties with this idea.  The first is, if God exists as a formable substance, who formed him? Is he not the only God?  If he formed himself, does that not say that in his original essence, he had no form?  

Some assert that any artifact that is in heaven, such as the heavenly Temple, is made of spirit.  While there may be formable substances that angels and other spirit beings use to fabricate artifacts, this is not necessarily true.  In the Book of Revelation, our only real window into the heavenly realm, John of Patmos saw objects made of gold and various precious and semi-precious stones (Rev 21:18-21).  John’s inspired understanding of these building materials indicates that they were composed of matter as we know it. 

Moreover, in the writings of those who support the idea of spirit as a formable substance, spirit is a single type of substance.  This is a requirement because if you want to bridge the idea of spirit as formable substance from the artifacts of the heavenly Temple to God’s supposed body, it must all have the same properties.  But that is an unproven and unprovable assertion.   Nowhere in scripture does it refer to heavenly artifacts as pneuma, but God is pneuma.  Some heavenly artifacts may be made out of some ever-enduring formable substance, something we might call “spirit” because we have don’t know what it is, but there is no exegesis that will show that God, who is pneuma, is made out of this same substance.  The term “spirit” is bandied about indiscriminately.    

God is Incorporeal – The Quantum Mechanics

Physicists speak of entangled particles, like the photons we discussed earlier, as having “non-locality.”  The quantum particles are not really bound by location and distance.  If God had a body he would be bound by location and distance. A bounded object in 3-space would model this idea.  If God were at point A in 3-space, he would not be a point B.  If God wanted to go to point B, he would have to cover some distance to get there.  And when he arrives he will be at point B and no longer at point A. Yet, photons function as if space and distance do not exist.  This means that God is constrained by distance but photons are not. 

This creates a dilemma.  Would God make particles with greater freedom than he himself has?  Or more to the point, could he even make particles with more freedom that he himself has?  Do you think he could make something that could do something that he himself could not do and yet be omnipotent?  The rational conclusion is that God is not constrained by distance and the physics of large material objects moving in space, a characteristic of bodily existence, does not apply to him.   So, the entire creation is present with him at once – something called omnipresence in orthodox Christianity.   

Summation – God is Transcendental

While what I have written I believe is a better explanation than believing that anthropomorphisms are literal, I understand that God cannot be known; my views for me are just a placeholder until the real understanding comes. 

A few months back, a contributor to this blog said God is comprehensible.  I had just made statements about God being transcendental.  His feeling was that if you could not understand God, what’s the point.  I think he thought that God was a kind of Superman and maybe we are all Clark Kent and one day we would take off our human suit and put on Superman clothes – Superman who was really quite human except for a few super powers.   This is the natural outcome of the idea that God has a body – and is like us.  That God is not really transcendent – just a more powerful version of us.  It makes the bumptious idea that one day we will be “God as God is God” seem like something within reach.   But God says in Isaiah 65:18, “But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create…”  If we will be equal to God, wouldn’t we be doing our own creating and rejoicing at our creations instead?  It is clear that God expects this to be the eternal condition of our relationship with him – he creates and we rejoice.  Yet, being a Creator is the principal part of what God is.  If you are going to be God as God is God and you do not create, you are missing the principal part of being God.  I am glad that God created quantum reality and scientists can barely understand it even though they can experiment with it.  It informs my personal theology that God happily transcends all that we children of God know.

Forever. 

God is Great!

 

 

The Plan of Salvation Involves Google And Our Favorite Crackpot Prophet

 

Our favorite crackpot self-appointed prophet is back again with a little blurb in his weekly letter to his 100 Caucasians and some in Africa. In it, he talks about how Google has been vital to his so-called gospel and to the plan of salvation. 

Apparently, when God was creating the foundations of the world he made a place in it for Bwana Bob to rise up in the perilous end times and for Google to be created, both at the same time. Seriously people, how else could God get this message across than by using Bwana Bob and Google! Jesus be damned, it is about Bwana Bob and Google, the two greatest gospel messengers in several millennia! this reminds me of the malarkey that the church used to say about the printing press and air flight technology. The printing press was invented so Herbert Armstrong could write books and articles and airplanes were created so Armstrong could fly to world leaders and talk about "a strong hand from someplace".Isn't the church sooooo special!

The Great Bwana writes:

We have promoted information on church history, the true Church of God, and God’s plan of salvation around the world through our Google campaign as part of the work we are doing to assist in fulfilling Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:19-20, and Romans 11:25.

Imagine talking about a plan of salvation that does not focus on Jesus. Well, that's the message from Bwana Bob. 

Of course, like any conspiracy-laden COG leader, there are conspiracies floating around meant to discredit Bwana Bob's amazing work and Google is part of the demonic process! 

The Great Bwana to Africa and 100 Caucasins is also twitterpated over the number of "impressions" he has for his site.

As far as our Google campaigns go, we are doing very well. We have now reached over 523,894,002 impressions. That means computers (including ‘smart phones’) around the world have been reached over one-half billion times with parts of the good news for those who put in various search terms. 

 

In the past twelve months, we have made 154,423,552 computer/cellphone impressions through our Google campaign, which is over 12 million per month! And, we were able to do this without increasing our spending for this, but by basically working with Google representatives to improve the reach of our campaigns. 

 

It seems like never before in Church of God history have so few reached so many with so little resources. God has blessed the tithes and offerings we have received to give a witness to multiple millions around the world.

Like everything else from Bwana Bob, you need to take this information with a grain of salt. It sure looks impressive to see over 150 million "impressions" and to Bwana Bob, each and every one as a person who saw the gospel message he thinks he promotes. It doesn't mean they looked at it, it means it just popped up in an ad on what every device they're using. That's some gospel outreach there, Bobby! Truly astounding! Impressions usually never engage viewers, and that's what is happening to Bwana Bbo. People ignore him and rarely click through to actually read an ENTIRE article.

Here is what an impression looks like: 

Impressions are the most basic, utterly mundane interaction you can have with a page. In fact, it’s hardly even an interaction. An impression is a view. When your ad loads and displays in front of a user, that is one impression.

What’s the point of impressions? Well, you can’t have clicks without impressions. Users need to see your ads before they can decide whether or not to click them.

This is typically referred to as CPM, or Cost Per Mille, where Mille means thousand. So if you’re paying for $1.50 CPM, $1.50 will earn you 1,000 impressions on your ads. One thousand people will see your ads, and all you had to do was pay under two dollars.

Fun fact: mille is Latin for “thousand” and is the root of the word millennium.

Some advertisers will pay you for a certain number of impressions. This works the opposite way; you pull in views, and the advertiser will pay you per thousand, typically in the sub-$1 range. This is because it’s incredibly easy to get views, but it’s hard to get anything out of them. The Difference Between Website Impressions and Clicks

And more:

Page Impressions (also: impressions or page views, abbreviated as PI) is a term used in web analytics. It refers to the display or page view of an entire HTML document in a browser. Therefore PIs are also frequently called contacts. If page impressions are registered, it is generally not assigned to a specific user. A user can view multiple pages and create multiple page impressions. 

 

Since it is not possible to make a clear statement about specific user behavior with the help of page impressions, (as it constitutes a quantitative analysis), metrics such as unique visits or visitors are preferred as the basis for traffic analyses for quality web analytics. Page Impressions

Things are not rosy with Bwana Bob and Google though. He imagines they are trying to thwart his ministry:

That said, our Google campaign has been facing difficulties as Google keeps changing its rules on ads. Google is now more and more restricting religious advertising as well as the content of such advertisements. Today, we got more emails from Google showing their biases against “Religious beliefs” in advertising. 

 

Google also seems to think that asking a question is an “unreliable” claim and has suspended at least one of our campaigns because of this. While we have worked with Google on this before, the time may come when this door to reach people may be fully shut–before the coming prophesied famine of word in Amos 8:11-12. However, until such time, we still hope to reach multiple millions more through our Google and other campaigns. 

Poor Bwana! Everyone is always picking on him! It is getting bad when even Google sees that he is spreading false teachings! 

Repent Bob Thiel! Set your people free!

 

 

Why Does Our Crackpot Prophet Continue To Use Norm Edwards As Validation?

 

One would think that after being set apart by God as the foundations of the world were laid out and the plan of salvation was being developed, our illustrious self-appointed prophet in these perilous end times would not need to continually try and prove his prophethood status. Each year he must trout Norm Edwards as some kind of authority on prophets. Two erroneously wrong individuals do not make it right.

Norm Edwards was like the Great Bwaana to Africa and his 100 Caucasians. He left the church in a spirit of rebellion to start his own group because he knew MORE than those he was rebelling against. Norm did have one good thing going for him: he put what he believed into action and started a recovery center for recovering addicts.

Norm had a fan following of dissident members in Pasadena during the WCG upheaval and afterward with The Servant News and lately with Shepherds Voice.

The Great Bwana starts off by letting us know that Edwards was a former member of the Global Church of God (another rebellious COG splinter group). That right there makes Norm 100% legitimate...NOT!

The bouncing Bwana starts off with this from Edwards:

“… I [an angel] am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).

With dozens of New Testament Scriptures explaining and encouraging the ongoing prophecy in the New Testament and with no scriptures clearly declaring its end, one must conclude that prophets and prophecy are something that God wants for His Church today!

Implementing These Truths

In this 21 st century, most who call themselves Christian neither observe the Sabbath nor seek prophets or prophecies in their congregations. A few teach and practice one or the other. Only a tiny fraction accepts both.

The single biggest difficulty in acquiring any truth, no matter how valuable, is overcoming our own human pride. It is very difficult to accept that we have been wrong about something for many years— especially when we have been right on other things. The lessons of the books of Kings and Chronicles come to mind. Each king’s life is frequently summed up in a single statement— explaining what he did right and where he fell short. If we hunger and thirst for God as King David did (Psalm 63:1; 107:9), we can receive all that he has for us—and obtain a good report (Acts 22:12; Hebrews 11:2, 39).

Right off the bat, Bwana Bob fails Norm's standards for a prophet. Bwana Bob is one of the most prideful people the church has seen in decades! 

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness(1 John 1:9).

Beyond our personal decision to accept a biblical truth, we find difficulty dealing with Christian friends with whom we will differ. From our long friendships, we see each other as fellow believers. But our difference in Biblical understanding raises the questions in each person’s mind: If I do this and they do that, am I wrong? Are they wrong? Should I continue to fellowship with them?

Finally, for members of a church group with a doctrinal statement that is decades or centuries old, growth is rarely quick or even possible. Both religious and civil leaders struggle with prophets today for the same reason they did in the Old and New Testaments. The prophets speak for God, not for the religious or civil leaders of the day. People who always prophesy what the leaders want are probably false prophets.

Strike two for Bwana Bob. He does NOT speak for God! That is a fact. God doesn't deal in maybe's, could be's, and possibles, all hallmarks of the sad little ministry of Bwana Bob. 

This writer heard a church leader put forth this argument against prophets in the church: “If there are real prophets today, then we could ask them and know for sure when Christ will come back. But the Bible says that no man knows that time, so there cannot be prophets today.” We should never underestimate God. He is quite able to not answer the questions we do not need answered now. Jesus already explained this leader’s question:

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:6-8).

Individual believers can choose to accept and practice the Scriptural truth about prophets quietly. But if they speak openly and often, they will probably be required to depart for a new congregation. This takes faith to “walk in the wilderness” until new believing friends are established. …

One can quietly come to understand that God grants the gift of prophecy today and continue to fellowship and serve with the same brethren. But when a believer receives a prophecy in a church meeting (1 Corinthians 1 4:30) or makes important life decisions based on a current prophesy, then division often arises. Is this person hearing from God? Should we take action on what he says?

Bwana Bob does not have the gift of prophecy. This is a well-understood fact that the ENTIRE leadership of the Living Church of God understands as do 99.98% of LCG members. That is why LCG turned their backs on Bwana Bob en masse!

A little later Bwana Bo says this:

A while back, Norman Edwards also wrote an article Need Prophets More than Prophecy where he went through additional scriptures. Here are some items from that article:

Do people today have faith that God is able to prophecy through people in their congregations?

1Jo 4:1-2 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

Note: If there were no true prophets, there would be no need to “test the spirits”—because every prophet would be a “false prophet”. But because there are both true prophets and false prophets, we need to “test the spirits”.

Rev 1:1-3 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants — things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

The last book of the Bible is a prophecy inspired by Christ, given to the apostle and prophet named John.

Rev 10:7 But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

There is no Old Testament prophecy about a “seventh angel” and very little about a “mystery of God”.

Rev 10:10-11 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, “You must prophesy againabout many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

Here an angel is commanding John (or some end-time fulfillment of him) to prophesy. It does not say what he is to prophesy, but it will be given to the prophets when they need it. …Yes, God might choose to give one of them the gift of prophecy, but since most such groups and their schools do not seek out prophetic gifts, they rarely receive them. Notice these important passages:

Matt 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! “See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ “

Matt 21:24-27 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John — where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

If there was no prophet greater than John the Baptist (Matt 11:9-11) and if the leaders of his day refused to recognize him, what makes us think that the leaders of our day will recognize any true prophets today? 

 Then the Great Bwana opens his mouth and sticks his foot in, as usual:

Norman Edwards was the editor for Shepherd’s Voice magazine. He is not part of the Continuing Church of God, where, I function as its human leader (and am an ordained prophet; the only known such ordained prophet in any legitimate Church of God group).

Complete balderdash! Bwana Bob is no more a prophet than Dave Pack is. In fact, they are both the same, unrepentant spiritual abusers. 

While Norman Edwards and I have long disagreed about aspects of church governance and various matters of doctrine, we both agree that many who are in or claim to be in the Church of God (COG) wrongly do not accept that God has any prophets today and that Laodicean pride gets in the way. We also agree that most have severe difficulty identifying one who really is a prophet because of various unscriptural biases and improper criteria that they have. 

Talking about Laodicean pride - Bwana Bob is its poster boy!  

Because of false prophets in a couple of COG-related groups (PCG and CGPfK come to immediate mind, but there are others) and a disbelief in prophets by most of the COG groups, the non-Philadelphian COGs have a lot of severe prophetic misunderstandings.

Bwana Bob needs to include the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god" in that list of COG's. Never have we seen such severe prophetic misunderstandings!

Bitter Bwana Bob then drags LCG and UCG into the list supposedly claiming he is a real prophet. Both groups categorically deny he is a modern-day prophet!

Some will come up with their preferred rationale as why not to agree with the position of the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) on these matters. Yet not only is CCOG’s position biblical, it should be noted that leaders in the Living Church of God and/or the United Church of God confirmed to me personally that I was biblically correct on nearly all of the above points, despite the fact that their respective churches hold to several of the errors pointed out above. Those who rely too much on a compromised ministry (Ezekiel 34:7-10) to teach them prophecy that is not truly in accordance with scripture need to realize that according to Jesus’ words in Revelation 2 & 3 and Luke 21, only relatively few Christians will be protected from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole world.

Such a load of crap! Such a load!

As Norman Edward’s article points out, it is scriptural to now have prophets according to the New Testament. But many who truly believe that they live by the word of God have discounted or overlooked what the Bible actually teaches and/or have been influenced by others who have done the same or worse. The COG has at least one demonstrably true prophet today, yet most in the greater COG world seem to be able to ignore the truth about that, like most ignored John the Baptist and others in their day.

LOL! So when we laugh at and mock Bwana Bob's self-appointment as a prophet we are being like those in John the Baptist's time! Hilarious! 

Pride is a bigger problem for Christians than most realize. People, including Christians, have a hard time admitting that they were wrong.

Again, never has the church had a more prideful man than we have in Bwana Bob today. That alone has turned off thousands of people, particularly in LCG. They knew his pride got the better of him and refused to follow him into his nuttiness. 

Now, let me add that because Herbert W. Armstrong said there were no prophets in the old Worldwide Church of God when he was alive, many have falsely concluded that there could not be any legitimate prophets in the Church of God beyond New Testament times. But that is wrong. 

Just like Gerald Flurry having to edit HWA's writing to validate himself as a prophet, the Great Bwana does the same thing. HWA would have kicked Bwana Bob to the curb so fast that his head would still e spinning.

The great Bwana ends with this:

Do not let pride or preconceived ideas get in the way of you accepting biblical truth. That, according to Jesus, is actually the biggest problem for most Christians in the end time per Revelation 3:14-22–most Christians refuse to fully “hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:22).

The biggest problem with COG members in this period of time is that there are far too many liars and self-appointed prophets and apostles who have set themselves WITHOUT God's permission and are outright liars and religious frauds. The people in these false groups need to wake up and leave these degenerate churches and find the peace that passes all understanding. It will never be found in these groups, especially in Bwana Bob's lackluster personality cult.

WIll you truly hear and take the proper steps related to matters such as prophets?

Not when it comes from your mouth! Get on your knees and repent you lying false prophet!