It is so comforting to know that God has been working behind the scenes to make Bob Thiel the greatest COG leader the church has ever seen in its entire history and who is behind the most superfantabulous COG to ever exist! Our God is an awesome God!
Anyway, the Great Bwana to Africa and 299 Caucasians has a new article up trying to prove that his church and that he could possibly be the end-time Elijah and one of the two witless witnesses. Sadly, Thiel is just one more in a long line of men (and a couple women) down through the last 80 years of the Church of God movement that has claimed such mantles. Like all the others before him, he is not Elijah and not one of the two witless witnesses. Besides, Ron and Laura Weinland have already claimed that honor.
The Great Bwana and the official true dreamer of the Church of God has this to say:
Although people like the discredited Ron Weinland and David Pack have claimed to be ‘Elijah,’ neither of them are.
Yet, the Bible does show that there will be an ‘Elijah’ who is alive before Jesus returns and that it is likely that he will be one of the two witnesses. And as Jesus is likely to return within the next couple of decades, it is reasonable to consider that he must be alive today.
Could he be one who has restored information on church history, doctrine, prophecy, and the reason that God created anything? Could he be one reaching people around the world with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in nearly 100 different languages? Or has God not chosen to have him do much at this stage?
Well, that is the $64,000 question!
Those with a WCG background might find the following quote from Herbert W. Armstrong of some assistance here as he wrote:
I have been asked “Are you the Elijah?” And I say “No.” (Armstrong, Herbert W. Congress of Leading Ministers Hears Defined and Reemphasized Spiritual Organization of Church. Worldwide News, March 6, 1981, p. 10)
Never fear though, the Great Bwana is setting us to know just who might be the end-time Elijah and one of the two witless witnesses:
HWA, himself, wrote:
Jesus shall come, SOON NOW, to RESTORE ALL THINGS! He did NOT restore all things when he first came. John the Baptist did not “restore all things.” But the one who was to “restore all things” just before the “day of the Lord” and preparing the way for Christ’s second coming, was YET to come, in the future, as Jesus said. Now what are the “all things” to be RESTORED? “Restitution” means restore to a former state or condition (Armstrong HW. Brethren & Co-Worker Letter, August 24, 1982).
Note that HWA states ONE (Elijah) comes just before the day of the Lord—an event that still has not occurred, hence some additional restoration beyond what HWA did is needed–and this has been happening in the Continuing Church of God. CCOG has restored more than any COG in the 21st century and under the human leadership of Bob Thiel it continues to do so. In time, God will make the final Elijah clear to all willing to see (this is NOT saying that he MUST be Bob Thiel–but we believe it will be a leader in CCOG).
The Great Bwana then trots out Herbert Armstrong, again...
Furthermore, it should be noted that a careful reading of another one of HWA’s articles supports the idea that the Philadelphia era will need to have something else be restored. HWA wrote:
This very WORK OF GOD for our day is foretold in the prophecy of Revelation 3:7-13. But there it is revealed that we, today, are a people of but little strength – little power (verse 8)! – within ourselves though we have faithfully KEPT GOD’S WORD! The impact of this WORK OF GOD today is going out only through the power of God! Are you having your part in this very WORK OF GOD? But – let’s face it! – WE DO NOT HAVE WITHIN OURSELVES, AS GOD’S INSTRUMENTS FOR HIS WORK TODAY, ANYWHERE NEAR THE POWER OF GOD THAT ACTIVATED THAT ORIGINAL FIRST-CENTURY CHURCH! For that very reason, the living Christ says (verse 8), He has opened to us the gigantic door of MASS COMMUNICATION! The magnified power of the microphone and the printing press. Yet that is only physical, mechanical power! The REAL POWER that makes God’s Work vital and alive is the Holy Spirit of God! (Armstrong HW. Christians Have Lost Their POWER! Plain Truth, Jun 1958).
The Greek word translated as strength, dunamis, which HWA refers to as power, is the same Greek word that is normally translated as ‘miracle’ or ‘miracles’. Thus, Revelation 3:8 shows that the Philadelphia Church will have some type of miracles, and although I agree with HWA’s position that the initial power/miracle had to do with electronic media, I also agree with him that the old WCG did not have, “ANYWHERE NEAR THE POWER OF GOD THAT ACTIVATED THAT ORIGINAL FIRST-CENTURY CHURCH.” Thus, HWA acknowledged, howbeit indirectly, that the power of God had not been fully restored to his WCG. And it should be noted that dreams and gifts of prophecy were given to the first-century church (Acts 2:17-18) and thus, according to his own writing, there should be these type of occurrences at the end. One group in the 21st century has that (see Dreams, the Bible, the Radio Church of God, and the ContinuingChurch of God and How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God).
A failed prophet quoting another failed prophet. Two wrongs do not make Bwana Bob right.
The Great Bwana concludes while whining once again like a third-grade school girl that COG members continue to ignore him. Everyone's salvation is at stake for failing to acknowledge Bwana Bob as the Chosen One, the leader of the most incredible COG in human history, and that he is the most educated leader that has ever led any COG since Elijah himself walked the earth.
The Elijah’s restoring of “all things” means that he is to be restoring information that the true Church of God once understood, but later must have lost or misunderstood.
The problem is that just as many would not hear Elijah’s or John the Baptist’s messages, relatively few will pay much attention to the end time Elijah as well.
