No Smooth Talking From Me! I Speak Boldly Therefore I MUST Be A Prophet

I Speak Boldly Because Isaiah Said People Hate Hard Truths – Therefore, I Am the Prophet

Look at him. Hands raised. Eyes locked on the camera. Mouth moving with that special brand of urgent conviction. This is Bob Thiel in full “bold speaker” mode — the living embodiment of someone who has read Isaiah 30:8-14 and decided it was written specifically about him and his ministry.

Here’s how the logic works in Bob’s world, and it is a thing of twisted beauty.

God told Isaiah to write down that the people were rebellious because they said to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” 

Bob reads that ancient complaint and concludes: “The people who reject my warnings must be the same rebellious crowd. Therefore, I am the one speaking the ‘right things.’ Therefore, I am the true end-time leader God has chosen.”

It’s the theological equivalent of declaring yourself the winner of an argument by writing both sides of the script. Disagree with Bob’s latest prediction about world events or find his constant drumbeat of impending catastrophe a little manipulative? Congratulations — you’ve just proven Isaiah 30 was talking about you. You wanted smooth things. Bob, by contrast, bravely refuses to coddle you. He speaks the hard, non-smooth truth.

And just to make sure no one misses how bold he is, Bob reaches for the New Testament. 

Jesus said, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves… beware of men.” 

Paul asked for prayer “that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.”

Bob takes these verses — verses about courage in the face of real persecution for preaching Christ — and uses them as divine endorsement for his particular style of end-time fear delivery. “See?” he says, in effect. “The Bible commands boldness. I am bold. Therefore everything I say about the collapse of society, the King of the North, or whatever the current crisis is this month, carries the weight of scripture.”

The manipulation is almost elegant in its simplicity.

He positions himself as the courageous truth-teller who refuses to “speak smooth things.” In reality, he has perfected a very specific kind of smooth talking: the smooth talk of perpetual alarm. It’s the verbal equivalent of a fire alarm that never stops ringing. It keeps people anxious, dependent, and tuned in for the next update on why everything is about to get much worse unless they stay closely aligned with his particular interpretation of events.

This is not the boldness of the apostles, who were bold about the gospel even when it cost them everything. This is the boldness of someone who has discovered that scaring people is an effective way to maintain influence — and then baptizes that tactic in selective Old Testament quotes so it feels prophetic rather than controlling.

Under the New Covenant, boldness looks different. It looks like speaking truth in love. It looks like pointing people to Christ as the answer rather than to an endless cycle of “the end is nearer than you think, and only my warnings can prepare you.” It looks like comfort and edification alongside any necessary warnings — not using warnings as the main product.

Bob’s version flips the script. He uses Isaiah’s ancient rebuke of people who rejected hard truth as a shield against anyone who questions whether his version of “hard truth” is actually helpful, accurate, or even particularly biblical in its application. He uses Jesus’ and Paul’s calls to courage not to embolden people with hope, but to justify a ministry style built on keeping followers in a state of low-grade dread.

And when the predictions shift, when dates come and go, when the “imminent” events keep getting rescheduled, the same Isaiah 30 shield comes out again: “See? The rebellious people always reject the true warnings.”

It’s a closed loop. Fear is the product. Scripture is the marketing. Boldness is the branding.

The raised hands in the photo aren’t the hands of a man fearlessly proclaiming good news in the face of opposition. They’re the hands of someone working very hard to keep the spotlight on his own dramatic delivery — while hoping no one notices that the actual content is mostly recycled alarm dressed up as prophecy.

In the end, Bob Thiel hasn’t escaped “smooth things.” He’s simply discovered a smoother way to sell fear: wrap it in selective Bible quotes, call it boldness, and dare anyone to disagree without proving they’re the rebellious ones Isaiah warned about.

That, apparently, is what passes for non-smooth leadership these days.

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The prophet Isaiah was inspired to write the following:

1 Cry aloud, spare not;

Lift up your voice like a trumpet;

Tell My people their transgression,

And the house of Jacob their sins. (Isaiah 58:1)

That is something we in the CCOG do.

The Bible teaches:

8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the Lord; 10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. 11 Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us.”

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

“Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them, 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. 14 And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, Which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments A shard to take fire from the hearth, Or to take water from the cistern.” (Isaiah 30:8-14)

Since we do not despite (sic) the word of God nor trust in oppression and perversity, we do not restrict our teachings to “smooth things.”

That said, Jesus said:

16 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. (Matthew 10:16-17)

And the Apostle Paul added:

18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints — 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:18-20)

Yes, pray that we will have the wisdom and proper discretion to boldly speak as God wants us to.