Someone made a comment on here recently about how COG leaders have set themselves up as intermediaries between their members and the god they claim to follow.
Most of them, but not all, will bellow that they do no such thing, but in actuality they are.
All of them have made the claim that they are the one true church carrying on in the footsteps of Herbert Armstrong. As leaders of the one true church, they have deliberately maligned all other COG's and delegated them into lesser than status or actual Laodiceans.
They all claim exclusive knowledge through dreams, visions, nightmares, or whatever other entities they channel their "knowledge" that comes to them through.
Dave Pack has been preaching a 300+ sermon series on the visions and dreams he has that lead him to interpret scripture to prove his creature he calls "jesus" will be returning three times and that its imminent return is always days or weeks away. He bellows that no other church has this knowledge and no other church has access to God and his "christ" unless they are members of the Restored Church of God.
Bob Thiel does this by claiming his legitimacy through dreams and visions he claims he has had along with a couple other mentally unstable people in the Australasia regions of the world. Never have we seen a more pompous self-indulgent leader than we have in Bob. He has the exclusive doctrines and teachings that only he understands and repeats ad museum that only he has the right interpretations to scripture. His endless diatribes that all COG members need to recognize him and his work, and join in that work, in order to know the "correct" time to flee to Petra/Pella or some other hellhole he expects his followers to go to are beyond pale. No one knows the right time to flee except him. Therefore your salvation is dependant upon his interpretations, dreams, visions, and nightmares.
Gerald Flurry has set himself up as King of the Church of God because he has now in his possession a dirty old rock from the hills of Oregan that he claims his creature he calls "jesus" will return and sit upon. No other COG out there has this revealed knowledge and therefore are Laodiceans and are cut off from God. Only through Flurry can salvation be attained.
UCG, LCG, COGWA, CGI, and many of the other minor COG groups also claim that they are the only ones with the real truth. Most of them no longer state that publicly in order to appear more "loving" towards other COG members, but corner a diehard evangelist or minister and they will tell you that their group is the only COG doing the work and that they are the correct path to salvation.
COG members have been duped for so long by this kind of reasoning that they have turned into gullible sheep who sit there week after week believing that their leader is the right, correct, and one true leader of the end time COG, and because of that, their salvation is in his hands. Most will not admit that until you push them as to why they have not left for another group or left the COG entirely. They have been frightened into following a bunch of spiritual frauds that only care for the members as long as they give money.
COG members believe this because they have never heard that much about Jesus preached. Oh sure, they will talk about the veil in the temple being torn in half, and in the next breathe tell you that every damn law in the old covenant is still in force today, all except for the ones they conveniently don't want to follow and they always have an excuse as to why they don't. The new covenant is always shoved to the rear burner in order to promote the law and other nonessentials.
Ask most Christians today who their intermediary is and they will name Jesus and the work accomplished and finished on the cross. Most COG members cannot do that. They need the revelations from their leaders, their writings, and visions to tell them what to believe.
There is only one intermediary and it is NOT Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, or ANY of the other COG leaders or corporations. Bob, Gerald, Dave, and the others are not necessary for anyone's salvation and no one will ever attain it through them. It is an impossibility.
