Church of God – the royalty free franchise business

With over 400 splits and splinters, the COGs have become one of the best franchises to own, especially when you consider there are no royalty fees and the marketing materials are free.

The owners have the advantages of running a pyramid style business where the benefits flow to the top tier without any fear of prosecution associated with the pyramid marketing model because it is run as a church. The other big advantage is the elimination of most business taxes because of non-profit and church taxation rules.

In the guise of church management and preaching, the owners get free travel, free cars, and tax reductions on their personal living costs.

There are several models:      

· Multiple congregations – collect money from each local group and send to HQ
· Single group – not as much money, but simpler lifestyle, plus can be run without added employee expense.
· Prophet model – need to claim some special revelation.

Marketing model is well established:

· Free literature (these days you can use pdfs which eliminates mailing costs).
· Threaten end of the world scenarios with only your followers escaping.
· When money gets tight, threaten followers with the lake of fire if they don’t send you more money.
· Claim 10% of all income, claim a portion of 2ndtithe, add a third tithe, plus 7 Holy Day offerings, plus special offerings, special project offerings, and building funds.
· Persuade people to leave you money in their wills.

If you go with the HQ model, you can have amazing perks like your own TV show, personal plane, and even your own university where the teachers can further indoctrinate your followers.

Biggest problem to overcome – since having “Church of God” in your business name is a requirement, with over 400 existing businesses in your franchise model, it is getting really difficult to come up with a unique name.

One suggestion is to use the city names used by the 7 churches in the book of Revelation.

Philadelphia is already taken, and no one wants to be called Sardis or Laodicean, but Ephesus and Thyatira are more positive names.

Otherwise you are left with adjectives like:

      · Continuing (taken – isn’t that amazing!!!)
· Bloviating
· Windy
· Sustaining
· Lasting
· Persevering

·     Loving – no forget this one – it just does not fit



submitted by TLA

Herbert Armstrong's "Different Gospel"

Herbert Armstrong taught the following in a May 13, 1978 sermon:

And so it is. Adam had made his choice. In other words, Adam said to God in effect … And let me just paraphrase it in my own words. In effect, he said: “God, I want you to keep your nose out of my affairs. I will not accept you as my ruler. I reject you as my king, as my ruler. I reject you as my God for salvation. I reject you as a source of knowledge to tell me what is good and what is evil, and I will decide it myself.”

And God said, “Well, I’ve given you the choice.” Now, instead of choosing character, he chose the wrong way; and God allowed that. God has not going to force you to choose the right way. Adam was able to choose whatever he pleased, and so are we. But, if you make the wrong choice, you’ll never have the character of God. And God is able to take care of that too.

From then in effect, God said, “Okay. You have rejected me. You have said you will create your own knowledge. You rejected me as your ruler and my government over you. You have rejected me as a Savior and a God and as the source of knowledge. So now I sentence you and your children after you – THE WHOLE WORLD that will come (and we have all come from Adam) – to 6,000 years of being cutoff from ME. All except the few in the world that I will decide I need to call and choose to do something for me in my service. Them I will call. But otherwise, ALL HUMANITY will be cut off from me.”

Is THIS the truth according to scripture? Is this the message of the Gospel? Is this what the New Testament boldly proclaims? Is THIS the Gospel of reconciliation? 

The entire theme of the New Testament is what Jesus did for ALL of mankind. John 3:16 says God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. In Acts, we read how the Holy Spirit was poured out to not only Jew but Gentile. We read in Galatians that there in neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free - nor male or female - that all are one in Jesus Christ. We read in 2 Corinthians that God has reconciled the world to Himself through Christ. We read in Romans how we are no longer enemies to God but reconciled through Christ. 

Herbert's teaching that the Whole world - from Adam forward 6,000 years in his teaching (of which time we have now past, by the way), is cut off. ALL humanity. This is a doctrine that is the exact opposite of what the New Testament teaches. It is in exact opposition of what the Holy Spirit did when He came to not only Jew but Gentile. If Herbert's teaching was correct, then Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female is incorrect. If Herbert's teaching is correct, John 3:16 is woefully false. This teaching is contrary to the essential teachings of Paul, the decisions of the Apostles at the Jerusalem council, every missionary effort by Paul through the foreign lands of the Gentiles, every move of the Holy Spirit to Gentiles, every martyr of the founding fathers of Christianity, and the action of reconciliation of mankind to the Father through Christ. Herbert's teaching basically invalidates scripture after scripture of Good News for all of mankind. 

Herbert's "different Gospel" sideswipes what Christ did, what the Spirit has done and is doing, eliminates any reconciliation of the Gentiles, places bondage and restrictions on the Gentiles (which the Spirit and the Jerusalem Council outlawed, by the way!), reaffirms differences between Jew and Gentile in relation to Christ, and rejects any "Gentile" as defined in scripture as apostate because of their differences with Jewish/Mosaic Law. Herbert's teachings are pharisaical and are in absolute opposition with every teaching and effort that Paul had with great effort taught to the Gentile Church who accepted and believed in Jesus Christ. 

Herbert's teaching, along with the teachings of the Judaizers, was that observances of rituals and ceremonies and the Law was commanded and required for Christians. This very argument was resolved in the Jerusalem Council. The reality is, according to scripture, that the teachings of Herbert Armstrong - that man continues to be cut off from God - ALL of mankind - ALL of humanity - except for an infinitesimal few - is nothing less that absolutely ANTICHRIST, Anti-Spirit, Anti-New Testament, Anti-reconciliation, and anti-truth. It is the opposite of what the truth of the Gospel is - and what the Old Testament pointed to - that Jew and Gentile both have been accepted to God through the reconciliation of mankind through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to the Father. The very fruits - and current status - of Armstrongism bear witness to the futility and result of going against what Jesus Christ Himself accomplished, and what the Spirit had done, is doing, and will continue to do through the Spirit of God through those - ALL those - whomever and wherever they may be - who believe - whether Jew, Gentile, Slave, Greek, Male, Female, American, British, Australian, African, or any other person on the face of this Earth who has heard and who has accepted and believes in Jesus Christ, Son of God, and for that, we give thanks.

Submitted by SHT

Dave Pack; Part 2 - After the failure, more lies

Dave Pack: A Thugs Life...After the failure, more lies

Whiney COG Prophet Claims You Ignore Him Just Like You Would Have The Original Amos

Another day in COGland and another prophet is whining.  Not much new with that.  Today's little rant is by our favorite self-appointed imposter of the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god".

Elijah Amos Bwana Bob Thiel is once again claiming that his message will soon be throttled by the government as it persecutes the "one true church."  Once again he trots out the claim that he is the modern-day version of Amos.  At this point in 2019, just exactly who is left from the Bible that all of these upstarts NOT claimed as their own?

Amos, an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah,[1] was active c. 750 BC during the reign of Jeroboam II,[1] (786–746 BC) making the Book of Amos the first biblical prophetic book written. Amos lived in the kingdom of Judah but preached in the northern kingdom of Israel. (Book of Amos. viewed 02/22/2014) 

Before becoming a prophet, Amos was a sheep herder and a sycamore fig farmer. Amos’ prior professions and his claim “I am not a prophet nor a son of a prophet” (7:14) indicate that Amos was not from the school of prophets, which Amos claims makes him a true prophet (7:14). His prophetic career began in 750 BCE out of the town of Tekoa, in Judah, south of Jerusalem. (Amos the Prophet, viewed 02/22/2014)

It is interesting that he had to tell people that one becomes a true prophet in a manner that most did not expect. The Apostle Paul attempted to defend his apostleship in that same manner (2 Corinthians 11:5, 22-29)–and that was to people who were supposedly in the Church of God.

Dagnabit! When will all of you Laodiceans learn just how special Bwana Amos Thiel is! He had dreams and was doubly blessed in an unconventional way, that no one expected!

One of the messages that Amos proclaimed is that the time would come when people would not be able to find the words of God:

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)

Here we go again, its the "famine of the world." The Church of God's favorite mantra.  This time there is an additional hidden meaning in what Amos wrote above.  As a prophet of God, Amos had channeled through his brain a secret meaning for what "famine of the word" meant for those in the end times. Unfortunately, Amos just was not able to put the vision he had seen into words.  He had been shown the INTERNET and how it would be used to spread the message of the Kingdom of God in the future and then how it would be used to inhibit the work of God going forth.

What? You say? Amos believed that?  Yes Sir Bob, he did! So says the modern day Amos!

I believe that the above warning is a reference to a coming internet censorship. And in the Continuing Church of God, we have already experienced some of this.

But the major fulfillment is likely to start just before the start of the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), also called the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21).

Perhaps under the guise of “neutrality,” perhaps under the guise of “The Patriot Act,” perhaps under the guise of “public welfare,” perhaps because of alleged “intolerance,” calling parts of the COG message “hate speech” and/or national security threats/issues, something will be done to stop perhaps all of the organized media efforts to proclaim biblical truths. A short work will be done (Romans 9:27-28; see also Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word), which will trigger the end (Matthew 24:14), and likely then the famine of the word (Amos 8:11-12).

Never has the Church of God had a more persecuted leader and group than the one Bawana Amos Thiel leads. Never have true Christian been persecuted so much as has the self-appointed prophet, Amos Thiel. and the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god".

Then to appeal to Church of God members, Amos Thiel tosses in some British Israelism for the final touch. 

Amos is giving a warning to those called by Jacob’s name (which was also Israel), whom according to Jacob himself, would seem to be a reference to the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:16). In modern times, this would be the Anglo-Saxon nations such as Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and also the United States of America. The reference to trusting Mt. Samaria in Amos 6:1 could be a reference to trusting the USA to defend in the end. That will not end well for the USA or its allies of the Anglo-Saxon nations.

Of course, few in those nations believe that they will be taken over and have such calamity. But that will come to pass. Most would not listen to Amos then, and most, sadly, will not listen to Amos now.

you had better start paying Prophet Amos Thiel his proper respect!