Please Advise: How a Grown Man Checked His Brain at the Door and Outsourced His Soul to Crackpot Bob

A former Worldwide Church of God member supposedly wrote to Bob Thiel with a problem that should have been solved by adulthood: he could not decide which splinter group to join. The churches disagreed with each other. Gerald Flurry was wrong about Jacob’s stone. David Pack claimed the Two Witnesses were already in his congregation. Living Church of God said the Mark of the Beast is Sunday worship and left it at that. The man was confused. So naturally he asked the one person whose entire ministry consists of announcing that everyone else is wrong.

Bob’s reply was a masterpiece of pastoral self-righteousness. He doubted Pack and Flurry were even converted. He declared that the only Church of God that is Philadelphian is the Continuing Church of God. Not all in CCOG are Philadelphian, and there are a few Philadelphians hiding in other groups, but no other organization represents the continuation of Philadelphia. 

Therefore, the man should use “God’s criteria” (conveniently listed in Bob’s own articles) and none other. Most people, Bob added sadly, refuse to believe and insist on using their own standards. How Laodicean.

The pattern is familiar to anyone who has ever been part of Armstrongism and who has watched the Armstrong movement fracture since 1986. Every new leader discovers that his group is the faithful remnant. Herbert Armstrong’s “Philadelphia era” apparently ended with his death, then immediately restarted in whichever living room the latest prophet happened to be sitting. Bob’s version comes with extra features: confirmed dreams, the signs of Acts 2:17-18, articles printed in more languages than anyone else, and the exclusive promise of protection in Revelation 3:10. When Jesus returns, the implication is clear enough. He will look for the group that kept the right list of 18 restored truths, practiced hierarchical government under a prophet who received a double portion, and refused to let members think for themselves. Everyone else gets the lukewarm treatment.

What has happened to people’s ability to think independently? Decades of being told that “God’s government” means the man at the top decides doctrine, prophecy, and which articles you must read before you are allowed an opinion. The emailer’s question—“who do you go with?”—is the logical result. CHurch members were told what color and kind of car to buy, what color shirts and suits to wear, how long skirts should be, how to color code their Bibles according to official church teaching, and never to ask questions. After years of being trained that disagreement equals rebellion, the safest move is to outsource the decision to whoever claims the loudest that God talks to him in dreams.

Bob is not uniquely guilty of this. Pack, Flurry, Weinland, and a dozen others have played the same game. The difference is only branding. One man’s “Philadelphia remnant” is another man’s “Laodicean error.” The Bible itself is treated as a multiple-choice test whose correct answers happen to be the ones published on cogwriter.com this week.

The real scandal is not that Bob thinks his church is special. Every religious entrepreneur thinks that. The scandal is that grown adults still write him asking which church Jesus would pick, as if the Second Coming includes a membership audit and a name badge check. Independent thought has been reclassified as a character defect. “People decide” churches are the problem, Bob says. The solution is a church where one man has already decided for you.

If Jesus returns and the first thing He does is ask to see your CCOG literature rack, we will all owe Bob an apology. But reality states this will NEVER happen! Until then, the more honest title for the operation might be: “The Continuing Church of Bob — Because Thinking Is Hard and Dreams Are Easy.”

------------------------------------------------------------------

A while back, I received an email from a former Worldwide Church of God member that included the following:

I AM CONCERNED ABOUT SOME ISSUES OF MR. …. BELIEF AND APPARENTLY YOU DON’T AGREE WITH. I DON’T THINK THAT ANY OF THESE CHURCHES AGREE WITH OTHER SO WHO DO YOU GO WITH? …

SOME OF GERALD FLURRY’S TEACHINGS ARE COMPLETELY WRONG AND HE’S GONE FAR OUT ON SOME THINGS SUCH AS ARMSTRONG’S STONE REPLACING JACOB’S. MANY, MANY PLACES IN THE BIBLE STATES THAT CHRIST IS THAT ROCK AND IT’S SPIRITUAL. CHRIST DOESN’T NEED A ROCK. FLURRY BASED HIS THEORY ON THE IDEA THAT COME KIDS STOLE JACOB’S ROCK FROM ENGLAND. THAT’S AMAZING SINCE IT WEIGHS OVER 350 LBS. I’VE READ OTHER LITERATURE THAT THE STONE IS STORED IN SCOTLAND.FALSE PREACHER #1

I SAW A DAVID PACK SERMON ON THE INTERNET ABOUT THE 2 WITNESSES . HE SAID THAT THEY ARE IN HIS CHURCH RIGHT NOW. I BELIEVE HE’S NOW PULLED THAT SERMON BECAUSE I COULDKN’T FIND IT NOW. FALSE PREACHER #2

I SAW A SERMON BY THE LIVING CHURCH OF GOD ABOUT THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND THE PRESENTER SAID WITHOUT HESITATION THAT THE MARK OF THE BEAST IS SUNDAY WORSHIP. PERIOD.. HE MADE NO MENTION OF ANY MARKS ON YOUR BODY OR 666. SABBATH MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT, BUT THERE WILL BE OTHER FACTORS. YOU LEFT BECAUSE OF DOCTRINE. I’LL ????????? ….

NOW I COME TO … A FALSE TEACHER …

YOU SEE HOW A PERSON COULD BE DECEIVED?

PLEASE ADVISE

Anyway, here is what I responded to the former WCG member with:

Dear …:

As I have repeatedly written at COGwriter, I doubt that David Pack or Gerald Flurry are converted.

I consider that the only COG that is Philadelphian is the CCOG–though not all in CCOG are Philadelphian and there are Philadelphians not in CCOG–but no other COG represents the continuation of Philadelphia.

You should use God’s criteria, and none other to decide.

Here are two links you should read and pray about if you are truly serious:

1. How does the Continuing Church of God differ from other Sabbatarian COG groups?
2. Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18?

But most refuse to believe and use their own standards.

Best regards,

Bob Thiel

Many have been confused and used the wrong criteria to assess churches.

Sadly, in the end time, in Revelation 3:14-19 Jesus revealed that even most real Christians would use their criteria, not God’s as they would be part of the “people decide” churches (which is basically what Laodicea means).

P.S. The same former WCG member sent me a follow-up email after I posted this. Here is some of what he wrote (Note: This is a different Mr. … in a different COG than the one alluded to above):

ALSO, I’M NOT HAPPY WITH … IN THIS RESPECT—–I’VE BEEN IN THE CHURCH FOR A WHILE AND ONE OF THE 1ST THINGS I NOTICED IS THAT THEY HAVE LEFT OUT 1/3RD OF THE BIBLE AND THAT PERTAINS TO PROPHECY. I KNOW THIS PANDEMIC CAUGHT THEM UNAWARE AS MR. … DIDN’T CALL FOR A PRAYER AND FAST INTIL THE PANDEMIC WAS IN FULL FORCE. SOME WATCHMAN

I WROTE A PERSONAL LETTER TO MR. … ADVISING HIM THAT ALL SCRIPTURE IS TO BE TAUGHT, AND HE NEEDS TO CRY OUT AND SPARE NOT. THE LATEST ISSUE OF OUR MAGAZINE FINALLY WOKE THEM UP AS THERE WERE SEVERAL MEANINGFUL ARTICLES REGARDING THE TIMES AND PROPHECY ALSO, HE SAID THAT THEY NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB IN BEING A WATCHMAN. THIS IS THE 1ST TIME IN 25 YEARS THAT THEY STARTED TO WAKE UP ON PROPHECY.

My response to the above was to tell him that the COG he attends as well as a group that came out of it do not teach much about prophecy. They also have a lot of prophetic errors.