The Debbie Downer Of COG Leaders Has Another Depressing Sermon

 

Traditional speechwriting typically starts with something positive, elaborates on that, moves to the message, and then ends with something positive again. Oh, but not with God's greatest gift to the human race and the Churches of God—how utterly depressing! Everything he writes and speaks kicks off with one bombastic evil or negative thing after another, and then, right in the midst of it all, he humbly brags about how perfect he and his little church are, having restored all things to their glorious pinnacle. And then to top it off, he wraps up with even more delightful negativity. What a brilliant formula for inspiration!

Can you imagine the sheer bliss of spending 3½ years cooped up in Petra with this Queen of Negativity? If he's not graciously bitching about something wrong, he'll be modestly extolling how wonderful he is, only to lovingly berate those present for continually failing to meet his impeccable standards. Ah, what a heavenly paradise that would be—pure utopia!

Armstrongism has always tended to be grace-deficient in its message, hasn't it? Doom and destruction were the name of the game, with just a few tantalizing glimpses of the lion dwelling with the lamb thrown in for good measure. Have you ever heard a COG minister preach an entire sermon on grace and how deeply loved the people of God sitting before him are, and how precious they are in God's sight? Of course not—it would ruin the fun! 

This is the Great Bwana's latest sermon (always in multiple parts since he can't edit his words). Oh, and there will be consequences for resisting Bob's messages because they are directly from his god, which apparently dislikes paragraph breaks.

2 Timothy 3-4: Scripture and Truth Restored
This is the second part of a 2-part sermon series covering each and every verse of the Apostle Paul’s second epistle to Timothy. In this sermon, Dr. Thiel covers the last two chapters of Paul’s letter. Paul tells Timothy how terrible people will be in the last days, and that many are always learning but not coming to the knowledge of the truth. Dr. Thiel quotes passages in scripture showing that God’s word is truth, yet that many suppress the truth in unrighteousness and promote sexual immortality and other evils. He also quotes information about the possible identity of Jannes and Jambres, and warns that there are consequences in resisting God and His messages. He also cites Jesus who essentially warned that the Sardis and Laodicean Christians also resist the truth and need to repent. Dr. Thiel also covers the fact that Paul was persecuted, that Philadelphian Christians will be persecuted, but that later they will be protected per Revelation 12:13-16, but that the non-Philadelphian Christians will then be subject to persecution during the Great Tribulation. Prophetic errors that certain Laodiceans hold are also pointed out. He also explains why Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion, is not scientific. He warns that Greco-Roman Catholic and Protestant teachers have accepted traditions over the word of God, when instead they should be faithful. Dr. Thiel quotes various passages of scripture from the Apostle Paul showing that Christians are to continue in the original faith and doctrine, as well as grow in spiritual knowledge. He also goes over many truths that have been restored in the Continuing Church of God and gives biblical reasons why the most faithful in the 21st century should support the CCOG. He quotes the Apostle Paul who says ministers are to preach the word of God and mentions some of how the CCOG does that. He warns that throughout church history, people have rebelled against church government as well those who loved the world more than the truth of God. Some information related to the canonization of scripture is touched upon. The faithful couple, Priscilla and Aquila, are mentioned, including places they had lived for a time. Dr. Thiel concludes by saying that all need the Lord Jesus Christ to be with us, we all need God’s grace, God will strengthen us, His word is more of a guide than a GPS, and we simply need to do things His way which includes obeying Him, resisting Satan, not following the ways of the world in these last days, growing in knowledge, and supporting the most faithful Church in these end times.