Things Church of God Ministers Need To Think About

From a reader here:

THINGS COG MINISTERS NEED TO THINK ABOUT

As a person who spent decades in the Worldwide Church of God, who was pastored under all sorts of COG-type ministers from the more easy going to the tyrannical strict dictator – and a person who also for several decades lived in “the world”, as they call it – I've developed some personal observations that I wish to pen down.

1 .You Are Placing Yourself As Directly Responsible for Human Lives.

Every decision that you make impacts a human life, a marriage, or a family. You are placing it on yourself a family's stability every second of your ministry. Every time you give a mandate, you take their entire emotional stability into your hands.

I grew up in a family that was impacted severely by every decision that a minister made. One decision by a minister could easily cause a domino effect that could change the mood, emotions, events – every aspect of the life of a person or a family. It can't be underestimated what this can do to a person's emotional or spiritual stability as a person. Your simple order to “quit a job” can have consequences that can last a decade. Your order to “stop seeing a person” can have consequences that can last a lifetime, or it could be the best thing to happen to a person. The simplest “correction” could be the very thing that could throw a fragile person over the edge. The control you have over a person is directly proportional to who the person believes that you are. And you ministers in the COG have taught them that you act as a direct representative of God and Jesus Christ. They feel, through your teachings, that disobeying you is the same as disobeying God. That's an extremely heavy responsibility to carry for any person, especially if it was even possible to be true. But it's not a matter of concern, in reality, if it is true or not – it's what they believe. So if it's real or if it's a master deception – the impact is the same, because they're acting on that belief. Therefore, the power you have is nearly god-like, and too many COG pastors let that power go to their heads, directly affecting the entire lives of their congregation. You have them write down every word you say in notes. You issue edicts and orders with lectern-pounding authority. Don't underestimate the power you've convinced them you have – and you are responsible for the decisions you have made on every single life that passes through your congregation – good, or bad. Every moment of depression, every moment of tears, every moment of inner hate, worry, and fear. You've put yourself in a huge position that I would be terrified every second of every day to be in. You've put yourself between a person and God. Too many COG ministers take that with a grain of salt, consumed and drunk with the power and control they've convinced the congregation they have.

2. Most of You are Drunk with Power and Control.

Instead of being a representative of the love of Jesus Christ, too many of you are drunk with the power and the control that you have with people. What's important to you is not so much what happens in the lives of the people you pastor, but how well they listen and obey YOU. It's not so much the impact of what happens in their lives that's the issue – it's how much they listen to what you have to say and do it. Your concern is “who's in charge”, not what your decisions do to people. Your concern is “government”, and sheriff-like authority. Your concern is if they are obedient or disobedient, not what it does to their lives, their families, their everything.

3. These people pay your bills.

How many times do you think about the fact that you are directly supported by your congregation? Putting aside your constant commands to tithe you say are biblical, do you ever take time to consider the fact they these are the people who put food on your table? Who pays your bills? Who pays for the clothes on your children's back, or the car your drive? Does it ever click to you just how much they sacrifice so you can live in the house you live in, or enjoy the life that you have? Do you ever think about the laborer in your congregation who works 12 hours a day in back-breaking work so you can live a posh live as a church pastor? Do you ever think about the plumber or the electrician in their skill? These people pay for you to live the life you have, and yet most of you are more concerned about how much they obey your every word about even their jobs or their life yet you forget if they all decided to get up and walk out, you'd be in a creek without a paddle.

4. You've put yourself in a place of high judgement.

I don't think most of you in COG minister positions take seriously the place you are in. Everything you do in the name of Jesus Christ in the lives of your congregation is being recorded – not just in a legal sense – but in the emotions, the lives, the results, the decisions, the mindset, and the spiritual well-being of every man, women, child, and baby in the congregation. Every time you yell and pound on the lectern, scaring a little baby, to every time you throw someone out your doors for something trivial that causes a break-up of a family or a fight when they get home. To the teenager who is depressed because you don't “get it”. To the dating couple you order to break up. To the chastisement that you give them that causes discouragement, despair, sadness, feelings of failure, loss of confidence – you've set yourself in a place of watching that any person should take with the highest level of humility. Sadly, most are so drunk with the power they yield with rods of iron that the impact they have on lives, and the judgement they bring on themselves is blinded by their love of power and control. How many of your people have you turned from God and Jesus Christ by your ego, your pride, your hubris, and your love of power and control? How many of your people are gone to this day because of the decisions you've made? Have you even tried to bring them back? What would Jesus do? Does it concern you about the place of high judgement you're in, and the impact of human lives that is in your hands every single day?

5. Have you ever put yourself in their shoes before?

Many of you just don't understand what your congregation goes through every day. Many of you came right out of Ambassador College decades ago, and have lived quite the nice life. Maybe you were a Young Ambassador, met your Young Ambassador wife right there in the college, got married, went right to the field, and have lived a life of relative luxury and ease as a pastor, with everyone admiring and looking up to you your whole life. Maybe you just went straight into the field, and never had a real hardship. You've always had everything taken care of – your job, your car, your expenses. You've lived a relatively easy life. But do you, or can you say, that you truly understand the lifelong pressures of the ordinary person in your congregation?

Have you ever woken up worried and scared that your electricity might be shut off because they couldn't afford to pay the bill? Have you ever worked 12 hours a day, worried that one mistake could get you fired? Have you ever not had food on the table, where even buying a 2-liter of soda is a luxury? Have you ever been worried that you would be made fun of going to church because you just don't have the money to buy the clothes that are required of you? Do you understand the pressures and the tension that one of your teens is under? Do you understand what it is like to live in a chronic, lifelong medical condition with constant pain or immobility? 

Have YOU, as a COG pastor, ever looked at a fellow minister, not with admiration, but with fear? That one false thing you say could get you kicked out of the only church you have ever known? Or that one bad thing you do could, in your mind, cost you your very eternal salvation forever and ever? Have you, as a COG pastor, ever understood the pain that is felt when you are wrongly accused – and your pastor will not even listen to you over the word of someone else? Have YOU, as a COG pastor, ever even experienced a tenth of the things one of your members have? Or do you, as a COG pastor, simply brush off their very real concerns and fears and issues as just signs of weakness, or an attitude problem?

Have YOU, as a COG pastor, ever tried to “get rid” of someone because they aren't meeting what you want them to become? Have YOU, as a COG pastor, ever ignored a certain type of person, or treated them like dirt under your feet, because they are different? Or because you just know they aren't paying half or all of their tithe? Have you EVER put yourself in their shoes, or ever had even a little bit of understanding of their everyday issues? Or do you live in a bubble of ignorance because of the easy life that the Church has given you from day one – and just don't get what “their problem is”?

Have YOU, as a COG pastor, ever been so consumed with pride about who you are, that it concerns you? Have you ever walked up to the podium and thought “Oh, look at me, I'm a PASTOR, and I'm walking up to the podium, I'm so blessed...”? Have you ever thought to yourself how good you sound in the PA system when you speak, and hear your own voice? Have you ever yelled in the PA just to hear the power you have over people? Do you ever sit in your chair of power in your home office, with arrogance and cockiness about who you are? Do you ever get enraged when someone doesn't show you the respect you think you deserve, not realizing how hurt that the person might be over something they've never been able to tell you before, because they are afraid you'll kick them out?

Do YOU, as a COG pastor, even care if you hear rumors from your congregation that you might be prideful, arrogant, conceited, stubborn, cold, calloused, power-hungry, or even abusive? Or you dismiss those rumors as simply bitter, angry people who have attitude problems and don't have the proper attitude toward government? Are you more protective over your power than you are over their concerns? Is your love of your paycheck of more concern than their impressions of who you are, and the way they think and feel about you? Does it even concern you that they feel bound to go to your church, not because of any type of spiritual nurturing and food they get from you, but simply because they have to because they feel it's the only way they have to worship God, but inwardly know that you are thought of as corrupt, hard, and even maybe anti-Christ? Does that even matter to you? It should.

You are a pastor. You are occupying a place between them and God. Your congregations look to you on a level that is far higher than any pastor of a mainstream church normally has. They look at you as their intermediary between them and God. And it is no secret that many in the COG's right now, at this moment, are frustrated, discouraged, depressed, disheartened, sad, and in despair because they are not being spiritually nurtured or fed in their congregations. They can see your power-hungry, dictatorial, out-of-touch ways. Yet they feel if they say anything at all, they'll be summarily dismissed, or thrown to the curb because you do not understand them, nor do you listen to them. You are a pastor. Yet most of you don't act like it. You sit there, collect your paychecks, without regard of the immensity of your position or of your job. You are supposed to represent Jesus Christ. Most of you do not.

I'm speaking out for those who can't. I don't have those concerns they have – my security is in Christ, not in any man. You will likely dismiss everything I have said here. That's your prerogative. But you cannot ever say you have not been told. It's being told right here. Stop the corruption. Stop the hubris. Stop the pride. Stop the attitudes. Stop the arrogance. Stop the lack of compassion. Start acting like the role you play – start acting like you know Jesus Christ like you claim you do. Because the way many you act right now makes you look like you are servants of the devil not of God. And that's something that should make you get on your knees, begging for forgiveness.

I can say these things because I don't have to fear your hand of dis-fellowshipment. It's too bad that those frustrated and sad in your churches who endure your heavy hands of spiritual abuse cannot say the same. More than this, I can say these things as a Christian in the spirit of love for those who don't feel they have a voice.

• A Former Member of WCG, who sees what's happening to the minds and hearts of your congregations.

Gerald Weston Strikes Out At LCG Youth and Members Who Live Deceptive "Three Different Lives"

It is that time of the month in the Living Church of God.  It is time for the monthly flow of sex, gays, transvestites, pot smokers, sex and more sex.  Nothing in this universe seems to make these people happy. Can the world ever be more miserable than how the Living Church of God portrays it?

Church members and particularly the youth are getting sick of the constant put-downs and are starting to ignore LCG's stances.  This does not make Gerald Weston happy!  He has discovered, after all of these years, that there are three different ways COG youth and members present themselves.

This desire to live in two different worlds is a strong temptation. Many who grow up “in the Church” remind me of the 1950s television drama, “I Led Three Lives.” It was based on the true-life story of Herbert Philbrick. All that his friends and family saw was his role as husband, father and white-collar worker, but he had two other lives. He also worked as a communist spy, and he was actually a double-agent working for the FBI as a counter-communist spy. He was constantly on guard to protect his credibility with whichever side was watching him. One can only imagine the stress this created!

Similarly, some members and teens live three lives. Friends and neighbors see one life. A second life is lived on the Sabbath, around the ministry and members who are viewed as solidly in the Church. Then there is the third life, away from the Church and around friends who are wrapped up in the culture of this world. Many young people describe their experience before baptism as having one foot in the world and the other in the Church. They desire the world, but keep a toe in the Church, just in case.

However, this article is not about young people only. It is about all members, and about those things we may stubbornly hang on to. What is it that you have not been willing to give up? Do you disagree with our stance regarding marijuana? Apparently, some do. Do you believe that so-called “mercy killing” is okay, even though one of the Ten Commandments tells us “Do not kill [commit murder]”? What about abortion? And do you privately believe that God made homosexuals and lesbians to be “born that way,” that He put males in female bodies and vice versa? Or do you believe the Bible, that these abominations are choices people make (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:18–32)?

Marijuana is an interesting case in point. In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many people still believe it is harmless and beneficial. Please note: We do not deny that there may be medicinal properties found in part of this weed, but the medical benefits do not generally appear to come from the hallucinogenic ingredient, THC. “But it’s a natural substance!” some will say. “It’s now legal!” So are poison ivy and tobacco! Is it not odd that at the very time when there is an all-out war against tobacco, there is a push to fill your lungs with another kind of smoke?

So, let me be clear on this subject. We will not hold back from telling the truth to the world and to the Church! Have You Bought the Lies?

Oh my, "We are not holding back..." Such a forceful message.  This must make Elisha Thiel bitter with jealousy!

Month after month, week after week, magazine article after magazine article and booklet after booklet, LCG members are bombarded with one negative thing after another.  Everything and everyone is wrong, except for the "delightsome" LCG leadership and some of the members. There is an endless list of DONT'S in the Living Church of God and the list on the negative side is 95% longer than any positive listings.

Just imagine if a future issue of Tomorrow's World was filled with positive, uplifting articles with not a negative comment insight, what a novel concept that would be!  Imagine seeing articles on the beauty of nature, on the beauty and richness found in different cultures and even religions, and on how good people do good things for other people.  All of these are qualities of the Kingdom they claim to preach but never truly believe in. It is much easier to live a miserable life than it is to be joyful.

Bitter Petulant Church of God Prophet Claims the Final Phase of the Work Is Here

The summer heat of California must really be zeroing in on Arroyo Grande, California this year.  More and more ludicrous things are flowing out of that city than ever before, all thanks to the official prophet of the end times, Almost arrested, but not arrested, Elijah Elisha, Amos, Habakkuk, doubly-blessed and ever so bitter, Bob Thiel.

Ever since he got a stinging rebuke and smackdown from his spiritual daddy, Rod Meredith, the bitter manchild has been working overtime trying to legitimize his bastardized version of what he imagines a  Church of God should be.

The Offical False Prophet of Africa has this to say:

The final phase of the work is continuing to move forward. More information is being put together, more people are being reached, and people are being reached in more languages.

What is the final phase of the work? How do biblical and non-biblical prophecies play a role? How will faithful Philadelphians be affected? And what is expected to be the Continuing Church of God’s (CCOG’s) part in it?

It is the highly dedicated in the real Church of God (COG) that will finish the human part of the final phase of the work before (Matthew 24:14-15) and during (Revelation 11:3-14) the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord. Presuming no significant organizational changes, for many reasons, the final phase of the work will be led by the Continuing Church of God (throughout Church of God history there have been significant organizational changes, so one must be cautious as more can happen).

Apostate Thiel was one of those "organizational changed" that happened when he lied that Gaylyn Bonjour doubly blessed him so he could start a new Philadelphian work.

This petulant man/boy believes that he and he alone truly understands how prophecy will be happening in the church. Elisha Thiel believes that of all the Church of God's out there today, no one has the sure word of prophecy nor the true understanding like he does.  In fact, all the COG's are so ignorant about prophecy that they will not know when the tribulation is beginning.

This final phase of the work seemingly will consist of identifying what is happening in the world (specifically also in Europe, the Middle East, and the Anglo-descended nations), preaching what Jesus commissioned in Matthew 28:19-20 around the world, finishing the proclamation of Christ’s gospel of the kingdom as a witness along with persecution (Matthew 24:9-14), the rise and work of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:2-12; which will likely overlap a few days with Matthew 24:14), the likely assistance to the two witnesses by the scattered flock (Revelation 20:4; cf. Luke 9:2-6), the three angel’s messages (Revelation 14:8-11; plus other angelic interventions), and the witness of those persecuted and martyred for Jesus (cf. Revelation 17:6). And then Jesus will return and establish the Kingdom of God.

Elisha Thiel has not preached any message around the world that has made an impact or has preached anything about the message of Jesus.  World leaders and nations have no idea who Elisha Thiel is, nor do they care.  If he can't appeal to the Church of God base then what hope does he have to witness to the world?

It should be clear to those who truly understand the warnings in the Bible that the final phase of the work for God’s people will also specifically involve dealing with the ecumenical religion that will rise up (cf. Daniel 11:36-38; Revelation 13:4,8; 14:8-13; Matthew 24:14-15) with signs and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) fulfilling Satan’s plan, while enduring the Beast power who will take steps to eliminate the faithful (Revelation 13:7,13-17; 14:12-13; Daniel 7:21,25).

The only "signs and lying wonders" I have seen has come directly out of Arroyo Grande!

Even though the message of the improperly named "continuing" Church of God is virtually unknown to 99.999% of humanity, the petulant man/boy believes he will be killed for his message.

Being killed as the result of persecution is seemingly also part of the final phase of the work that some of God’s people will endure: 

12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. 13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” (Revelation 14:12-13; cf. 6:11)

Now notice who Elisha Thiel looks to for his prophecies:

Having looked over a variety of Roman and Byzantine Catholic private prophecies, I would suggest that Satan’s planning has not always been completely in secret and that such private prophecies will be cited as “justification” for some of the coming persecutions.

Anyone can read the ancient myths and prophecies uttered by the Mayans and Catholics and read into them anything they imagine.  Even so, it does not make them true.

In order to fulfill Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20, personal visits, printed literature, and electronic media are key. In 2017, I both visited with leaders from seven countries in Africa, as well as established the website CCOGAFRICA.ORG, and went to New Zealand. In 2018, I also visited CCOG members in Europe and the USA, and wrote more booklets than in any other previous year. Evangelist Evans Ochieng has been visiting people in various parts of Africa as well and plans even more visits.

Notice the clever deception he used above:  "I both visited with leaders from seven countries in Africa..." One would assume that Elisha Thiel is mimicking Herbert Armstrong who actually visited REAL world leaders and political despots. Has Elisha Thiel done any such thing? NO! The only leaders he has visited is the representatives of various COG groups who decided that they saw a free cash cow coming their way and maybe with a local Chieftain that he needed to work through in order to build a structure for one of his African groups or to provide plots of land in order to plant seeds. Oh, and Elisha Thiel visited some of his members in Africa which apparently is another sign of a true prophet. And don't forget those booklets! Elisha Thiel has also written booklets in the last` year! Both Gerald Flurry and Dave Pack have written more than Elisha Thiel has and yet they are no more prophets than he is.

Then, as usual, the bitterness that still consumes Elisha Thiel's brain about when Rod Meredith rejected him and his foolish rantings is still a bitter pill to swallow. After years of stroking Elisha Thiel's back and patting his head like a poor little stepchild, Meredith thrust his knife in and eliminated all doubt that he thought Thiel to be a fraud. Living Church of God ministers, members and leaders swiftly discarded Thiel to the sidelines. Never has a splinter group like the improperly named "continuing" Church of God been ridiculed more than Thiel's.

About a decade ago, the late evangelist R.C. Meredith and I were talking and he agreed with various points I was raising about the end time work. And back then, I was able to help lead him to essentially state that in the end it would not mainly be the message of the COG vs. the Protestants, but it would be the COG basically vs. the ecumenical religion that will rise up in the end that will likely (for a while) refer to itself as “Catholic.” In 2005, during the Feast of Tabernacles in Clearwater Beach, after a private lunch, we and our wives met at his hotel room and I also discussed various aspects of the final phase of the work with him–and I had other meetings, discussions, and emails related to that with the other Charlotte evangelists through December 14, 2012. Yet, even though he and others in his church agreed to take many steps related to the final phase of the work, few, if any, of the promised steps were taken by his group–this is a major part of why the Continuing Church of God needed to form.

Interestingly, in December 2015, Dr. Meredith lamented the slow growth in his church. He said that 30% should be attained, but he hoped for at last 15% growth per year–something his church does not attain. Consider that the Continuing Church of God has been the fastest growing COG since its formation in late 2012. On a compounded basis, it has exceeded the 30% growth in both membership and income since it formed in late 2012. Even exceeding the percentage the late Herbert W. Armstrong often pointed to as a proof of a blessing from God. While our growth rate will fluctuate, the Continuing Church of God is the only one of the ten largest COGs whose leaders had origins in the old Worldwide Church of God to do so. Currently, we have over 3,000 people with us. The Continuing Church of God has been the fastest growing COG in the 21st century.

Herbert Armstrong lied about church growth and income levels, just like Rod Meredith twisted those figures around. Numbers and rapid growth do not make a "true" church! The LDS church is drawing in huge numbers which no more makes them a true church than Thiel's.

If one wants to compare Sabbatarian groups, then the Church of God 7th day has been showing steady growth for years now, much better than ANY Armstrongite COG out there. These people are certainly BETTER Christians than you will find in many COG's!

The gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed more powerfully to the world as a witness and the end will come (Matthew 24:14). We in the CCOG are reaching people in over 220 countries and territories and expect to continue to lead the humanly-involved portion of that, and certain other aspects, of the final phase of the work.

Elisha Thiel really needs to stop trotting out how many nations he has reached. Web trackers do only that, someone clicked on a link to his site. If he wants to be truly picky, he has to admit that the Gospel of Banned by HWA has also reached 220 different nations through this blog!

The amazing work of Banned is going forth into all the world!

It is possible that this short work will temporarily swell the ranks of the Church of God (including some Philadelphians, but perhaps with many Laodiceans and many others not truly faithful—many may well fall away—though some of the first will be last and the last first, cf. Mark 10:31). Some will be faithful and bear fruit, while many others may leave (cf. Matthew 13:18 -23; 2 Thessalonians 2:3) once the persecuting tribulation that seems prophesied to occur prior to the Great Tribulation hits (cf. Matthew 24:9-10;21). Then the end will come.

Elisha Thiel fantasizes that the worldwide media will soon discover his forceful message and start attacking him. He imagines himself being ridiculed! Shocking! WHY would anyone ever do that??????

Partially because of the message of the COG, the people of the holy covenant will enrage the upcoming prince/king of the North (Daniel 11:28-30). One or more associated with the Continuing Church of God will be identifying that the European “prince” (Daniel 9:26-27) who is rising up to become a king, will not be able to truly bring peace.

The coverage by the worldwide media will thrust Elisha Thiel into the forefront of the news because of his message, thus guaranteeing billions will hear his message.

Media coverage would then be expected to cover more of the COG message and this may be associated with the “short work” of Romans 9:28. Since the true COG is so small, it is highly likely that it getting significant media coverage will help fulfill Matthew 24:14. Some of the Philadelphia remnant will be explaining that it is Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God and not the rise of a militaristic leader that the world needs. According to Daniel 11:32 it is “the people who know their God [that] shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” Hundreds of millions, if not billions, will receive at least a partial witness.