Why is it in Armstrongism that there has to be endless lists on how to do things? There are lists of the things HWA supposedly restored. There are lists by false prophet COG leaders of new revealed knowledge that they have added to HWA's list (because apparently he was too stupid to understand it all). Then there is Bob Thiel's list of restored "truths," which is now hitting 55 revelations. No one cares! No one needs to care!
Now, the Crackpot is back with 10 points on how to pray! Why can't Armstrongite leaders keep their noses out of members' lives?
We now have Crackpot Bob running off at the mouth about how you need 10 points before God will even consider listening to your prayers.
What is prayer? Would you like 10 tips on prayer? After his introduction, Dr. Thiel plays a 20th century radio broadcast by the late Herbert W. Armstrong who spoke on prayer (as well as healing). Dr. Thiel interjected a few comments as that was playing, and then covered the following ten tips on prayer:
1. Pray to God the Father (not ‘sacred names’)2. Worship God in Truth3. Believe God4. Obey God: Do More than the Demons5. Worship God in Spirit6. Resist Satan7. Don’t Fight God8. Pray for Others9. Pray for Your Needs10. Remember God’s Will and Have Your Priorities in Order
Prayer is important for Christians and this sermon can aid your Christian faith.
Under the New Covenant, prayer is relational communion with the Father through the Son by the Spirit—not a performance checklist, ritual formula, or graded set of techniques. Bob Thiel’s ten-point list (drawn from Herbert W. Armstrong’s mid-20th-century broadcast and then expanded) treats prayer as a set of correct procedures to master. That approach is foreign to the New Testament’s teaching on prayer after the cross.
The New Covenant changes the entire framework. Jesus inaugurated a new covenant in His blood (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8–10). Under it:
- Believers have direct access to the Father (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19–22).
- The Spirit Himself helps us in our weakness and intercedes with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26–27).
- We are no longer under a tutor of external regulations (Galatians 3:24–25; 5:1, 18).
- Prayer is not about impressing God with correct technique, sacred-name precision, or a completed scorecard of “do’s.” It is the conversation of adopted children with their Father (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6—“Abba, Father”).
And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7–8).
Lord’s Prayer that follows is a pattern of priorities, not a mandatory ten-step program.
Thiel’s “ten tips” list misses the mark by mixing legitimate biblical themes with a performance orientation:
“Pray to God the Father (not ‘sacred names’)” – Correct address is good, but the New Testament freely uses “Jesus,” “Lord,” “Father,” and “God” without anxiety over precise Hebrew forms. The apostles prayed in the ordinary language of their hearers.“Worship God in Truth / in Spirit / Believe / Obey / Resist Satan / Don’t Fight God / Priorities in Order” – These are real Christian realities, yet turning them into sequential prayer requirements produces the very legalism the New Covenant frees us from. Demons “believe and shudder” (James 2:19); the difference for the believer is union with Christ, not better technique.“Pray for Others / Pray for Your Needs” – Scripture commands both, but not as items 8 and 9 on a list that must be checked off before the prayer “counts.”
Armstrong-era teaching often retained a heavy emphasis on law-keeping and correct procedure as the path to effectiveness. The New Testament locates effectiveness in Christ’s finished work and the Spirit’s present help, not in the petitioner’s completeness of method.
Sometimes the best prayer is one word.
The New Testament repeatedly shows that authentic prayer can be extremely brief:
Romans 8:26 goes further: when we do not know what to pray, the Spirit intercedes without coherent words. Silence, a groan, a single name, or a heart lifted toward God can be truer prayer than ten carefully ordered points delivered without faith or love. Nor is it a commanded 1 hour spent on your knees with a daily checklist.
Paul’s command is “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)—an ongoing relationship, not a daily checklist completed and filed. Jesus Himself prayed all night at times and offered short, pointed prayers at others. The measure is not length, completeness of topics, or technical correctness; it is dependence on the Father who already knows and delights to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13).
Prayer under the New Covenant is therefore simpler and freer, not more complicated. Come as you are. Speak honestly. Trust the Spirit’s help. Sometimes that looks like a carefully thought-out intercession; sometimes it is one desperate or adoring word. Both can be real prayer.
- Peter sinking: “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30).
- The tax collector: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)—and Jesus said this man went home justified.
- The blind men: “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” (Matthew 20:30–31).
Romans 8:26 goes further: when we do not know what to pray, the Spirit intercedes without coherent words. Silence, a groan, a single name, or a heart lifted toward God can be truer prayer than ten carefully ordered points delivered without faith or love. Nor is it a commanded 1 hour spent on your knees with a daily checklist.
Paul’s command is “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)—an ongoing relationship, not a daily checklist completed and filed. Jesus Himself prayed all night at times and offered short, pointed prayers at others. The measure is not length, completeness of topics, or technical correctness; it is dependence on the Father who already knows and delights to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13).
Prayer under the New Covenant is therefore simpler and freer, not more complicated. Come as you are. Speak honestly. Trust the Spirit’s help. Sometimes that looks like a carefully thought-out intercession; sometimes it is one desperate or adoring word. Both can be real prayer.
6 comments:
A prayer list? Are we still babes in Christ that we need these men to tell us what we must do. They bind burdens heavy on us all, the opposite of what Jesus came to give us. His burden is light and yoke easy, but that aren’t good enough for the Armstrongites. We are justified by belief in him as Acts tells us , something that the Law cannot do. Acts and Romans are clear, without ambiguity, we don’t need a Bob Thiel prayer list of do’s and don’ts. My goodness.
The Church of England produces a DAILY prayer lists for their members, with as many as 40 pointers given on one day.
Yes I wrote daily.
The Catholic church PUBLISHES whole books on their prayer guidance for their followers.
That's how important ALL faiths take prayer.
Well, maybe he compiled this list for his African congregation, and figured that as long as he was going to go to the trouble of preparing the list, it wouldn't hurt to give his Caucasians a refresher.
I do wonder if playing some of the recorded HWAcaca from the twentieth century might have been copyright infringement. I mean the laws about piracy are so in front of us these days on every Movie or Television DVD. I get a kick out of the BBC ones! Gotta love that Ephraimite sense of humor!
What I have noticed over the years is that if you spend the amount of time praying that HWA taught, whether you are an Armstrongite or a traditional Christian, your prayer inevitably becomes repetitious. I can understand where someone who fancied himself as some kind of spiritual guide might share pointers regarding how to keep prayer vibrant, interesting, always fresh, but I have come to believe that intensity tracks with life's experiences. If you or loved ones are passing through some really dire circumstances, there is going to be some very intense, even frenzied prayer. But, it can't be at crescendo level every single time you pray, or you would no longer perceive the difference, and would not appreciate full intensity when it hits you. It's like the metrics of life itself in that way. The needle on the guage isn't always pegged at 100, but if it never moves from 0, you need to install a new battery, get some new probes, or check other life signs. There is also a problem if you go into overload. Your favorite song, if amped up enough, becomes distorted and destructive to the ears. Have you ever known someone whose excessive intensity in prayer has led them into their own private fantasyland, a place of distortion where imagination takes over, separating them from reality? (I speak as a fool🥸)
It's like the old saying: "Any strength, practiced to excess, becomes a weakness." Take that apart, unpack it, and think about it. The wisdom of that saying is something that fanatics will never understand or agree with. Its application has already sucked them down the rabbit hole.
You can pray for Thy will to be done. And it sounds good, but what if internally within Armstrongism you sort of want Armstrong’s will to be done, like BI and German Assyrianism, and protection from the Great Tribulation, and praying for more wisdom in prophecy, or someone within your group to be one of the two witnesses or to reveal the place of safety. I can only imagine. Although scripture does say, “pray that you may escape these things.” But Christ showed that it was about our attitude in prayer.
Lord’s Prayer that follows is a pattern of priorities, not a mandatory ten-step program.
Yet many mainstream ministers say it's also a pattern for structuring our prayers. I count nine points in five verses - yet I admit I don't often follow them exactly.
And didn't "the man Christ Jesus" advise people to do them?
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