Joel Hilliker Does Not Want Little Boys Playing With Cars When He Is Preaching

The Gestapo at the Philadelphia Church of God extends its reach further into the lives of families.  This time it concerns the period of time BEFORE, DURING and AFTER church services.  Lil'Joel Hilliker is highly offended that little boys roll little cars around on the floor while he is speaking.

Lil'Joel then drags up a letter by Richard Armstrong, who early on was proving himself to be even more legalistic than his daddy was, where he railed on bad children in church.

Emphasizing that the Sabbath commandment includes “thy son” and “thy daughter” (Exodus 20:10), Dick Armstrong wrote, “The Sabbath is holy time, sacred to God, and as such our children should not be allowed to run loose like so many wild animals. … Your children must be in Church, and they must keep the Sabbath holy the same as you do.”

That is the overarching principle we must remember when we monitor and regulate our children’s behavior before and after services. This is still holy time. Isaiah 58:13 commands that we all—including our children—refrain from doing our own pleasure to ensure the Sabbath is “holy of the Lord, honorable.”

That means no running or horseplay. The children should not be throwing things, or noisily rolling cars around, or being overly loud. Boys seem especially prone to such behavior. We must direct them toward appropriate alternatives.

At the same time, that verse in Isaiah shows that God wants the Sabbath to be a “delight” for the whole family. We must train our children to uphold the standard—while we provide suitable activities and opportunities that they will enjoy.

Little kids, bored to death by idiotic 2 hour services, MUST learn what "holy time" is.  In other words, any time a PCG minister opens its mouth, that MUST be regarded as "holy" time.   Even when it's the likes of Lil'Joel Hilliker speaking.

“Of course your children can play with the other children when services are over,” said the August 1965 Good News. “They should look forward to and enjoy the Sabbath when they see all their friends again. But this is not license to sail airplanes out of restroom windows, wrestle on the floor, or bang chairs around ….”

Our children should be quiet and orderly throughout the Sabbath. They should respect the property at services—including songbooks and other children’s toys—and have a sense of decorum befitting the occasion.

By upholding God’s standards, we are teaching them what holy means. 

After sitting there for two hours listening to Gerald Flurry slur his words and ramble aimlessly and mindlessly about, little kids, especially boys, need to let off some pent up energy.  But NO, that is not permissible!

We all want to fully enjoy fellowship with the other brethren before and after services. But we must not succumb to the temptation to turn our children loose and forget about them until it’s time to “round them up” for the trip home. The congregation is not a giant day-care staff that will look after them so we can take a break from being parents. As Proverbs 29:15 warns, “[A] child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”

Armstrongism has always been about shame.  There unworthy and unloved they could make members feel the more control the church had over them.

The best thing parents in the Philadelphia Church of God could do for their kids is the leave the church and find freedom!

Dingy Wade Cox Says We Are In The 30 Year Time Period Of The Two Witless Witnesses

The craziness of self-appointed COG leaders knows no end to the stupidity that comes from their mouths and pens.

Wade Cox, of the Christian Churches of God cult, claims that we are now in a 30 year period of the two witless witnesses.   30 years, instead of 3 1/2 half years.  Of course when the two witless witnesses never materialize in these 30 years, the false prophet will say God has delayed his coming because the "brethren" were not ready.  The millennium will end in 2026 instead of 1,000 years from now.  All of this is going on during the "times of the demons."   Of course we should all believe that these two witless witnesses will arise from the Coxites. They are the "true church" after all and have converted hundreds of thousands of people in Africa over to the dark side.

It is sad to think that people actually believe this absurd nonsense.

We will commence the thirty years’ countdown which will then finish off this Jubilee and finish off the 2,000 years of the forty Jubilees of the Last Days (see the paper The Last Thirty Years: the Final Struggle (No. 219)). The year 1996 was the 3,000^th anniversary of David’s entry into Jerusalem. There are all sorts of significant points that arise from 1996. It will take thirty years through to 2026 to finish off the Millennium and the times of the demons, and prepare all of the nations to put them back for the treble-harvest year prior to the Jubilee of 2027-28. 

The Two Witnesses will take up within that period. It appears quite certain that the Two Witnesses will commence their prophecy over the next thirty years. 

------

The modern US view is to say they are two prophets and living on the planet today. They must be alive at the moment, given the time-frames and the requirements of the Law. In order to be prepared, they have to be over thirty years of age to commence to preach – otherwise they have broken the Law. Therefore, they have to be over thirty before they teach and it’s thirty years from 1996 to 2026, and they have to take up their ministry three years before 2026. At the very latest they will be on the planet by 2023. That means they have to be alive now and had to have been, at the very least, one year old in 1995.

------ 

This is the end of the Times of the Gentiles. The last phase of the thirty years thus commenced in 1996/7. This period leads up to the coming of Messiah. The Witnesses are an important part of that activity. 

Exclusive...New Blog Site: Rod Meredith Crimes

I received this from the owner of a new blog that is documenting the "inappropriate behavior" of Roderick C Meredith down though the decades.

The purpose of this paper is to document the inappropriate and even criminal behavior of Roderick C. Meredith and the succession of church corporations he has founded (primarily Global Church of God [GCG] and Living Church of God [LCG], but stretching back into Worldwide Church of God [WCG] days as his behavior was problematic at that time as well).  The impetus to collect this evidence came from the discovery of the Scarborough defamation lawsuit against LCG and Mr. Meredith.  Subsequent investigation revealed a pattern of troublesome behavior, for which I wanted to verify and collect clear evidence.  The evidence shows behavior reported by several people across a diversity of circumstances and time which completely invalidate any ministerial or leadership credentials Mr. Meredith might claim, barring complete repentance (i.e. a clear change in behavior and disposition). 

Documenting the crimes and inappropriate behavior of Rod Meredith would be daunting task considering the path of destruction he has left in his wake over the decades.

The blog states:

Though there seem to many problematic behaviors demonstrated by Mr. Meredith, this narrative will primarily revolve around the lawsuits for defamation and slander directed at Mr. Meredith, and the very public dispute between Mr. Meredith and the board of directors at GCG that launched LCG.

The blog covers:

First lawsuit -- McNair v. Worldwide Church of God (WCG) 

Meredith v. GCG Dispute 

and the 

Current lawsuit -- Scarborough v. Living Church of God (LCG) 

Follow the blog here:  RCM Crimes

Wes White (Church of God International) On Critical Blogs and Web Sites

Gavin posted this on his blog today.  This is a Church of God International web cast with Wes White.
Go to minute 17:00 and listen to his comments about the dissident blogs and web sites.

The views of Wes compared to Rod Meredith's rant about this blog several months ago is light years apart in understanding.   What Meredith did was actually drive more LCG members to this site than we had ever had, where they found they had a voice that could be heard.

Wes is correct in his view that if the Internet had been around in the early years of the church we would not have had the abuse that we went through.

Sacred Names Group Trying To Attract COG Members

Those entrenched in Armstrongism always seem to be attracted to every aberrant group that appears on the horizon.  Many in the church jumped off into various sacred names groups over the years when all of the changes started hitting the fan.  This one seems to be the most aggressive in trying to recruit COG members.

This group feels it is so important that it is now suffering persecution from various COG's that are telling members to stay away from it.

A sleeping giant has awakened. The Name of our Heavenly Father Yahweh is under ramped-up attacks from various WWCG “Worldwide Church of God” breakaway groups. Because of its unquestionable proof and rock-solid, historical fact, their members in large numbers are questioning why their leaders refuse to honor and teach the personal Name of their Creator Yahweh.

Unquestionable "proof?"    There is no proof that people are to call God by some sacred magical name.

They claim that Herbert Armstrong used the name Yahweh in the early years of the church.

Herbert Armstrong himself used the Name Yahweh for about six months in his early Radio Church of God (before it became the Worldwide Church of God) broadcasts, according to an elderly former member.

If HWA had used pink toilet paper in his bathroom many would think they too need to use pink toilet paper.   Do any of these groups ever have an original idea in their heads?

They claim that nervous COG leaders are doing all they can to discredit them.

In attempts to stop the bleeding, nervous leaders are amping up their efforts to discount their Creator’s Name Yahweh.  Regardless, His revealed Name is going out in power and in unprecedented ways. Any attempts to squelch it will prove futile, according  to Yahweh Himself.

As one ex-COG member noted:

There is absolutely nothing new in this latest splinter except the demand of calling deity by a certain name, which is just silly. The rest is textbook Armstrongism. 

Yahweh's Restoration Ministry 

New Book: “The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult”

The title of Jerald Walker’s new memoir “The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult” (Beacon) sounds like it was ripped from the front page of a supermarket tabloid. Yet this was his life growing up in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s.

Walker, a writing professor at Emerson College, is one of seven children. Both his parents lost their sight in childhood accidents and Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God gave them hope that their sight might be restored and that they had been chosen for a better afterlife. Struggling to make ends meet, his parents sent tithes to Armstrong even when they needed the money for heat and food.

After “60 Minutes” aired an exposé of Armstrong and his lavish lifestyle, Walker and some of his siblings left the church. His parents did, too — for a while.

Walker will speak about the book at 7 p.m. Friday at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge. 

“World in Flames” is Beacon Press’s first title to be simultaneously released as an audiobook. Boston Globe

Amazon Books has this:

When The World in Flames begins, in 1970, Jerry Walker is six years old. His consciousness revolves around being a member of a church whose beliefs he finds not only confusing but terrifying. Composed of a hodgepodge of requirements and restrictions (including a prohibition against doctors and hospitals), the underpinning tenet of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God was that its members were divinely chosen and all others would soon perish in rivers of flames.

The substantial membership was ruled by fear, intimidation, and threats. Anyone who dared leave the church would endure hardship for the remainder of this life and eternal suffering in the next. The next life, according to Armstrong, would arrive in 1975, three years after the start of the Great Tribulation. Jerry would be eleven years old.

Jerry’s parents were particularly vulnerable to the promise of relief from the world’s hardships. When they joined the church, in 1960, they were living in a two-room apartment in a dangerous Chicago housing project with the first four of their seven children, and, most significantly, they both were blind, having lost their sight to childhood accidents. They took comfort in the belief that they had been chosen for a special afterlife, even if it meant following a religion with a white supremacist ideology and dutifully sending tithes to Armstrong, whose church boasted more than 100,000 members and more than $80 million in annual revenues at its height.

When the prophecy of the 1972 Great Tribulation does not materialize, Jerry is considerably less disappointed than relieved. When the 1975 end-time prophecy also fails, he finally begins to question his faith and imagine the possibility of choosing a destiny of his own.  A World In Flames

UCG's Subtle Brainwashing of it's Youth

It has taken 20 years for UCG to get where it is today.   Most of its members were already WCG members when they jumped ship, so they have been indoctrinated for many more years than this 20.  So with a minimum 30-40 years now they have heard all of the teachings of Armstrongism, yet they still lack the wherewithal to truly explain what they believe, especially to their children. Its no wonder they are struggling to remain relevant.  Decades  of booklets, articles, tv programs, and sermons have told them what to believe, yet they have never experienced it for themselves. That's what happens when law trumps grace and mercy.  Rules and regulations are more important that freedom.

One key subject was discussion of the Christian living theme. For the coming year it will be “Building Your Relationship With God.” Each day a sub-theme will delve deeper into the main topic. Our camps are not activity camps to just have a lot of fun. Camps have a carefully crafted plan to educate our young people throughout the day about spiritual values that we hold true and dear. We start by speaking of the Zone that all are to live within while at camp and beyond. From morning till night the camp theme is impressed on campers from prayers, compass checks, Christian living discussions, assemblies, storytelling and almost any other opportunity in communication.

We spoke about the Mission Statement of the Church, which includes the important component of making disciples. Are we making our children disciples of God the Father and Jesus Christ? Are they students and followers as a result of our teaching and example? Are we doing the best we can in making them students and learners of the spiritual values that we hold true?5When we went over last year’s exit surveys from campers, staff and parents, we noted that one area that needed attention was to give our youth a stronger ability to explain God’s Word. What could we do better? How can we instill more confidence in our campers to expound God’s Word? Update from President September 15

The COG Need For A Hyper-Masculine Jesus vs His Female Followers

Why is it so important to some COG leaders that Jesus MUST be a hyper-masculine man?  Apparently it's more important for him to be a "man's man" that it is to follow any of his teachings.

Rod Meredith has ranted for decades about how Jesus was a "man's man."  Rod's "jesus" was a  buff, hard working, carpenter who liked to sweat manly sweat.

Surprisingly the quote below is NOT from Meredith, it's from the hyperventalating scaremongers at ItstimeCOG.  

Chris was a MAN'S MAN, not some weak whining milk sop.  

He was a carpenter, a tradesman, a physically strong healthy man who said what He meant and meant what He said.   

The kind of guy that would sit with anyone and have a chat and share some wine over a good meal or have a few beer with the guys.  

There are places in the bible that describe Him doing that very thing.  

His first recorded miracle was when He made some wine at a wedding, so obviously he wasn't and isn't against the use of alcohol but all things in moderation.

This "man's man" that Meredith and others claim to follow was also the very man that all the MEN that were present at the crucifixion turned their back upon.  Who was there for Jesus?  The women!

The men didn’t get it. They betrayed, abandoned and hung him on a cross. Yet while he was there, who stayed with him? The women. They got it. They stayed at the cross. They returned to the tomb, and as a result, were the first to see the risen Christ. The crucifixion and resurrection stories do not have a “masculine feel.” Indeed, the whole life of Christ is decidedly opposed to the masculine norms of his day.

Well, Luke 8:1-3 adds even more depth to the women’s support:

Soon afterward, Jesus traveled through the cities and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. The Twelve were with him, along with some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Among them were Mary Magdalene (from whom seven demons had been thrown out), Joanna (the wife of Herod’s servant Chuza), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

The women didn’t just support Jesus at the cross. They essentially bankrolled his and his disciples’ ministry. Whatever shape Christianity has, it wouldn’t have had any at all if not for the support provided by Christ’s faithful female disciples. From the Disoriented, Reoriented blog

Here we have the women supporting Jesus while the men cowered on the sidelines, just as most of the men leading various COG's today ignore the man.  Malm, Thiel, Meredith and others worship the law and elevate it to a higher level than any thing Jesus ever said or did. They all find Jesus embarrassing.

SaveSave

James Malm and Bob Thiel: Sabbath Breakers

The Feast of Tabernacles In The Church of God...A Time of Disunity or Millennial Harmony?

In the Church of God the Feast of tabernacles always attempted to portray a foretaste of the Kingdom of God where everyone dwells in harmony.  Tens of thousands would gather at the larger sites with 8 days of sermons and fun.  There was unity unparalleled, as false as it was.

Now let's flash forward to 2016 and you will see how broken up and divided the Church of God has now become.   Look below at Branson Missouri.  Look at how many DIFFERENT Church of God's that will be meeting there.  Each one proclaiming that they and they alone are keeping the Feast right.  Some will publicly tell their members to NOT associate with any of the other COG's present.

It truly is a sad state of affairs in the church.  If they cannot get along now, how in the world will they all dwell peacefully together in Petra when the call comes out to flee there?

Missouri has the following Feast sites in its borders.

Missouri—Branson: UCG, http://feast.ucg.org. 

Branson: CGWA, http://feast.cogwa.org. 

Branson: ICG, http://intercontinentalcog.org. 

Branson: Oct. 15-22, International Congregation of Yahweh, www. feastgoer.org/metamorph_spring/ branson16.html. 

Branson: CGMI, http://thecogmi.org. 

Branson: Sept. 14-21, Church of God in Truth, http://postponements.com. 

Eminence: Oct. 15-22, Congregation of Yahweh (Missouri), http://yahschosen.org. 

Greenville: Sept. 17-24, Yahweh’s Restoration Ministry, http://yrm. org/FOT2016. 

Lake of the Ozarks: Feast of the Nations, http://sukkot- fotn.org. 

Osage Beach: LCG, https://fot2016.lcg.org. 

Steelville: Sept. 17-24, EliYah, http://praiseyah.com.

And then there is the Sunshine state, as divided as ever.

Florida—Destin: Church of God Big Sandy, http://churchofgodbigsandy.com, David Havir III, (903) 714-3007.  

Fort Myers: CGWA, http://feast.cogwa.org. 

Fort Walton Beach: Common Faith Network, www.commonfaithnetwork.org, (513) 755-0040. 

Fort Walton Beach: CGI, http://cgi.org/feast-of-tabernacles. 

Fort Walton Beach: CGMI, http://thecogmi.org. 

Lantana: Christian Church of God, Neville Gilbert, jancgil@aol.com, (561) 547- 4952. 

Melrose: Community of YHVH, http://fallfeast.com. 

Panama City Beach: LCG, https://fot2016.lcg.org. 

Panama City Beach: UCG, http://feast.ucg.org. 

Panama City Beach: ICG, http://intercontinen- talcog.org. 

Panama City Beach: CGI, http://cgi.org/feast-of-tabernacles. 

St. Petersburg: COG in Miami, http://godschurch.org. 

  

Rod Meredith Says Time Is Short...For The One Millionth Time

For over 60 years now we have had the unfortunate pleasure of having to listen to Rod Meredith run off at the mouth that the world is coming to an end, that time is short, and that it is time to step up the game and preach a forceful message.  Like Bob Thiel, James Malm, Gerald Flurry and Dave Pack, its been one lie after another. Endless false prophecies and wildly absurd speculations.

Meredith knows that the old guard are quickly dying off and that his life is soon to come to an end while his kingdom still has not come.  As his life winds down he still feels the need to get a "forceful" message out to the world.  In other words, since time is short, it is the duty of the members to send in all the money they can so the greatest work ever can get its final message out.

Dave Pack his own version of an end time message that has failed for three years in a row now.  Bob Thiel has a bastardized Catholic/Mayan version.  James Malm, the professional Judaizer, pretends that the knows the date of the end, Gerald Flurry is ready to dig up the Ark of the Covenant so he can get his final word out.  Don Billingsley is so crazy that he has become the laughing stock of the church due to his absurd ads in The Journal. Which end time version is the correct one?

With literally thousands of failed prophecies uttered by Church of God leaders over the decades the church has lost all credibility, except in the eyes of a few die-hard believers.  Unfortunately we may soon see some of these die-hards do horrendous things in order to bring in the end times they fervently desire.  Or, they may suffer horrendous abuse at the hands of certain leaders.  Mass deaths and suicides may be on the horizon.

How many more lies will these men need to proclaim till people wake up?

Frankly, brethren, I deeply feel that the next two to three years of your life will see big changes—perhaps more than any we have seen in modern times. It looks like many massive changes are beginning to come together in our society—new leaders with drastically different ideas taking over the United States, big changes coming in Europe and a possible disintegration of the entire European Union, along with increasingly dangerous threats from China and the Far East. We need to realize that more and more reports are coming out almost every month about the threat of the Zika virus and a “new” virus against which there are apparently no defenses! So it is possible that the massive disease epidemics prophesied in the Bible are slowly beginning to develop. Also, bigger upsets and natural disasters than ever before will occur, including powerful storms, fires, earthquakes and other events of increasingly unprecedented magnitude.

All of this certainly indicates the need for us to “step up our game” and have a real impacton this terribly deceived world while we have the opportunity. It means each of us whom God has called needs to realize that our lives are short and we need to act to do God’s Work while we have the opportunity. As you know, many of our older ministers and brethren are dying. Each of us still living needs to truly go “all out” to seek God like never before, as the final years of this society close in upon us. Are you, personally, truly seeking God and His power? I know that most of us are sincere, and are attending Sabbath services and tithing regularly. But, in many of our personal habits and ways of life, are we just drifting rather than powerfully growing and “crying out” to God for all of us to have a much bigger impact on this sick world?

Nightmares and Double Blessings Do Not A Prophet Make...or Modern Day Elisha's

The sheer depth of lunacy that the Church of God has produced over the decades in regards to self-appointed prophets  apostles and two witless witnesses is appalling.  Even more appalling is that self-appointed false prophets claim an ordinary prayer is somehow a direct line down from God to set them apart from all other Church of God leaders and ministers.

Over the decades literally hundreds of these fraudulent fools have come knocking at he doors of the church with new found revealed knowledge gained through direct communication from God in visions and nightmares.

Bob Thiel has taken on many mantles and names over the last few years of his vain attempt to make himself legitimate in the eyes of COG members.  Because Rod Meredith slammed the door in his face and publicly rebuked him, Thiel has had a hard time drawing regular COG folk to his dark side.

Because no one listens to him in the except for several hundred African's who found a new cash cow, Thiel has to continually try and prove he has been God sent.

Because of his bitterness at Rod Meredith that still consumes his dark soul, Thiel has to claim he is the Elisha to succeed the corrupt Elijah who was unable to lead the church properly.  Meredith was Elijah and Thiel is Elisha.  Elisha picked up the mantle that elijah was too inept to wear. Thiel has now taken on the mantle that Rod Meredith used to wear.

Elijah, however, over time seem to have lost the mental/emotional ability to properly lead (cf. 1 Kings 19:13-18). God later took him and replaced him with Elisha as the top ecclesiastical authority. Elisha then received a “double-portion” (two-portion literally) of the gift that God had given Elijah:

9 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?”
Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”
10 So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. 13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. (2 Kings 2:9-13)

The recipient of the double-portion, Elisha, was a type of Elijah. Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah (2 Kings 2:13) which God wanted him to have (1 Kings 19:16-19), did a similar miraculous dry river crossing (2 Kings 2:13-14), also did other miracles (2 Kings 4:30-35; 2 Kings 10:5-14; 2 Kings 6:16-18), as he replaced Elijah as God’s top ecclesiastical authority on earth (cf. 1 Kings 19:16). 

Thiel continues to drag Gaylyn Bonjour though the mud by making false assertions that Bonjour deliberately set him apart as the new Elisha. 

A minister of the Living Church of God prayed and anointed Bob Thiel for a ‘double portion’ of God’s Spirit back in late 2011 and told him that was reminiscent of what happened to Elisha.

Bob Thiel has now taken on another new mantle, that of John the Baptist.  Meredith dropped Elijah's mantle and Thiel picked it up.  Thiel also places himself on par withHerbert Armstrong  who claimed he was a voice in the wilderness.  Thiel is NOT that voice in the wilderness.

Interestingly, for several years after Elisha picked up the mantle that Elijah dropped, Elijah was still alive. While many outside of the Church of God seem to doubt this, the following passage confirms that Elijah was still alive later, even though the main work/mantle had shifted to Elisha:

5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem…
12 And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying,
Thus says the Lord God of your father David:
Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself, 14 behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction — your children, your wives, and all your possessions; 15 and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day. (2 Chronicles 21:5, 12-15)

The Bible, however, teaches that a voice from the wilderness would come again:

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3)

John the Baptist said that he was fulfilling this (though he did not indicate he would be the only one to do so):

19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”…

23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,”‘ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:19,23)

The Church of God position has been that someone would come in the spirit and power of Elijah to “restore all things” and possibly be one of the two witnesses. While the late Herbert W. Armstrong (died in January 1986) sometimes indicated that he fulfilled that role, he told people that I have personally spoken with that there could be another other than he. Those with a WCG background might find the following quote from Herbert W. Armstrong of some assistance here as he wrote: 

Those called into the Church were called not merely for salvation and eternal life, but to learn the way of God’s government and develop the divine character during this mortal life in the Church age…

Also Malachi 4:5-6 pictures the Elijah to come at the very end of the Church age (Mystery of the Ages. 1985, pp. 201, 349).

NO ONE is called to learn about government or to develop "divine character" during their Christian walk.  It is an absolute impossibility  despite the ranting of legalists like Malm and Thiel.  These two men bastardized everything they touch in regards to redemption, justification and salvation. These two men are walking sin machines! 

Thiel closes his silly rant pointing out that Dave Pack is not the modern day Elijah.  Only THiel can possibly be the true Elijah:

Now, I should add that RCG’s David Pack is NOT the prophesied endtime Elijah despite his claims earlier this year–he has NOT restored the truth and is confused/wrong on many points. 

Those of the true and genuine Philadelphian remnant will pay much attention to the voice of the true final Elijah. Those who do not will not fare as well as they could (cf. Revelation 12:14-17). 

We in the Continuing Church of God “have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV).”

I can state with a fact that Bob Thiel is NOT Elisha, Elijah, or the latter day John the Baptist.  Thiel, like Malm, Pack and Flurry are corrupt men masquerading as men of light. If there were ever "doctrines of demons" to be preached, Thiel is doing it now.

Thiel's  so-called ministry is nothing more than a vanity project as Gavin writes:

His tiny Continuing Church of God is a vanity project that has a future only as long as Bob's personal longevity, and nobody lives forever. B

Bob Thiel is NOT Elisha, Elijah, John the Baptist, a prophet, a true minister, or a follower of Jesus.

When Thiel writes or speaks, Jesus truly weeps!

Rod Meredith, Erdogan and John Robinson

From a reader here:

ACOG ministers are constantly saying weird things. Billingsley has plenty of company. Sometimes the ministers even fight amongst themselves in their own church's publications. LCG seems to do a lot of this, with anti-Meredith, anti-Germano and anti-Winnail factions often quite recognizable. Soon enough I'm sure we'll see an anti-Weston faction start taking its turn. What does this tell us about the LCG ministers who are letting their media effort be used in that way? Are they so eager for power that they delight in cutting down the senior men, not realizing that when the senior men fall, the junior men will fall with them?

The latest example is an article online at Tommows World

The article tells us that Turkey's Recep Erdogan is an autocratic tyrant who seeks to implement Godly rule as he understands it, and is purging Turkey of people who oppose his plan to move away from anti-God secularism. The commentary tells us that Christians aren't to act in such an autocratic way. They should be more "introspective" than Erdogan, and instead of purging their enemies should "learn from past mistakes."

How can LCG reconcile the purging of John Robinson with the standard set in this LCG article? Is this LCG article not a direct attack on Rod Meredith? Is LCG publishing it because there's an internal power struggle? Or are they just a bunch of clueless brainwashed zombies who are at peace with the cognitive dissonance that comes from saying one thing while doing another? LCG has now come out plainly in print as opposing autocratic rule. How can it defend this position against the reality of its form of government and Rod Meredith's practice of the form? In publishing this article, they are either hypocrites, cynical manipulators, or outright idiots.

Don Billinglsey Goes Off The Deep End And Says Hillary Will Be Shot

Don Bilingsley has imagined himself a prophet for many years now and publishes some of the most idiotic rants ever imagined regarding the COG and prophecy.

The Church of God News site had this up:

Church of God Faithful Flock“What Are Your Plans for the Next Six Years?” asks CGFF Pastor Don Billingsley, a Church of God elder since the 1950s, in Historical Reality Reveals the Future - as he shows (?) that Biblical history and prophecy point to President Hillary Clinton being executed in 2023, when God’s Elect will flee to the Place of Safety and the Great Tribulation will then begin.

Just how stupid can this man get?  His small personality cult will be kept safe while Hillary in office, but once something happens he and his group will flee to Petra.  Jordan is never going to allow these raving lunatics from the Church of God into their country.

Someone needs to report him to the government.  All we need is some idiot in his cult that might take matters into their own hands!

Who Is Really Being Persecuted? Church Leaders or Well Meaning Members?

For the 30 some years I worked in Pasadena I saw hundreds and hundreds of kooks show up at HQ claiming they were Elijah's, Elisha's, Joshua's, the Two Witnesses, prophets, people filled with prophetic knowledge, people who dreamed dreams that God had appointed them to reform the church, people who claimed they were Satan, that the mantle of Herbert Armstrong had been passed on to them, and many, many more whack jobs.  Every single one of them were lairs.

Then the church ruptured into countless heretical splinter personality cults that were far more corrupt than anything WCG had ever been.  We have seen the Flurry, Pack and Meredith all claim that God had personally spoken to them to restore the faith once delivered.  No one was more qualified to do that job than they were.  Each one had some creature they called god telling them that they were especial and called out.  They were not.  We all have seen the corrupt fruit that these "so called" ministers have produced over the last two decades while their new churches were under their control.  Before that we saw the worthless fruit of the labors for decades earlier.

Even those that have ungodly nightmares now seem to think they are set apart.

False prophet and legalistic spiritual abuser, Bob Thiel still claims that because he had a nightmare/dream/hallucination, that his god now has now placed his mantle upon him to do some kind of amazing work.

He bitterly writes:

Consider that furthermore more in his latest rant against me, Gary Leonard falsely asserted that I and a woman from New Zealand (who I did not know) had nightmares. No, we had dreams. 

The self-appointed  false prophet. who was never ordained as a minister in the Living Church of God. then goes on to quote scripture to support his hallucinations.  Church of God ministers somehow think that buy posting countless scriptures that they intern justify their  beliefs.  It never has and they never  will.

Apparently Gary Leonard does not believe that God uses dreams, even though the Bible says God does (Genesis 20:3-7, 28:10-17, 31:10-13, 31:24, 37:5-10, 40:5-18, 41:1-32; Numbers 12:6; Judges 7:13-15; 1 Kings 3:5-15; Daniel 2:3-45, 4:4-27, 7:1-28; Matthew 1:20-25, 2:12, 2:13, 2:19, 2:22; Acts 16:9; see also Dreams, the Bible, the Radio Church of God, and the Continuing Church of God).

I can state for a fact that God never inspired any dream telling Thiel to start his own personality cult.  His own mind told him that he deserved to be a leader.   Even Rod Meredith knew Thiel was unfit to be a minister.

The self-appointed false prophet is also very unhappy at being referred to as "Almost Arrested."

Furthermore, he continues to refer to refer to me with statements like “Almost Arrested” to imply I am some type of criminal, without bothering to explain that I was almost arrested because I told government authorities that I would observe the biblical Day of Atonement  (details of this are in my post, ‘Banned by HWA’ continues to make false assertions–Matthew 13:19-21?, that Gary Leonard responded to, though he did not bother to mention the truth about this).

If he had bothered to check he would have seen the reason that so many call him "almost arrested."  had occurred many, many posts ago.   Even though he claims above that he almost was.

The tactics of Thiel, Flurry, Malm, Pack and most other COG leaders is to combine error with fact, truth with imaginative thinking,  proof-texting instead of well reasoned scriptural understanding.  They are sneaky an beguiling, just like Satan in the Garden.

He then continues on that those that have blogs, web sites, have written books, that speak out publicly at the abuse in the Church of God are guilty of stealing people's crowns and their chance to make it into the kingdom.

Sadly, various ones have let the anti-COG people “take their crown”–did not “endure to the end” as they should have. They allowed people once considered to be brothers to betray them spiritually. 

For decades the spiritual lives of church members have been raped and pillaged by unsound ministers  who betrayed them spiritually.  They have every right to walk away from Armstrongism and learn sound scriptural reasoning.  Tens of thousands of former church members have done just that!  They have been healed from the abuse.  They live truly fruitful lives and understand God better than they ever have.  Sure many have also left faith behind, but that no more makes them evil or unworthy.  After the crap that the church has pulled on them, they have every right to do such a thing!

True spiritual knowledge and a grounded spiritual life cannot be found in the Continuing Church of God no matter how much Thiel pontificates or  how special he thinks he is.  Salvation will never be found in the Continuing Church of God.  Redemptive life lies outside its doors, if they would only dare to look,  as they chuck Thiel's booklets and magazines in the bin.

He imagines himself to be equals to Jesus and the apostles and that he is being persecuted as they were.  Talk about a steaming pile of bullshit!

Some do not seem to understand that Jesus and the apostles faced intense criticism and false assertions–and that those who really want to follow Him will be subject to it as well (John 15:18-25).

There is NOTHING about Thiel that even compares to ANYTHING the Apostles or Jesus ever said or did.  According to scripture they were persecuted for speaking truth.  Thiel does not.  He and his personality cult are not facing persecution form this blog or the government.  Delusional COG "leaders" love to thrown that out to divert attention away from their inept actions.

Anyone thinking God dwells in the Continuing Church of God is in for a rude awakening.  God does not.

The Accuser of the Crazy Self-Appointed Ministers

Today started of with one of the most hilarious posts that Bob Thiel has posted in a long time.  The Almost Arrested Elisha Elijah Joshua Bob had an epic millennial melt down this morning.  His delicate doubly-blessed sensibilities were apparently severely tweaked by a post on this blog.  

The post that sent God's end-time, self-appointed prophet over the edge was:

Hear No Evil, See No Evil: 

Why does the ministry turn their back on abuse in the church?

Gary Leonard, the webmaster at the Banned By HWA site (an anti-Church of God website), seems to relish in posting false accusations and innuendoes against me and others.
Why do I think that?
Well, in my personal case, for some odd reason he likes to lump me in with others he apparently detests and then asserts that I have the same flaws he claims others have.  For example, here is something he posted yesterday:

The question that really needs to be asked is why do the leaders in various Churches of God keep silent as they watch Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack, Rod Meredith and others abuse their members.  Why do none of them speak out?

Flurry, Pack, Thiel, Malm, Meredith and many others are NOT their brothers.  These men are not brothers in the faith. They sit there and do nothing as one horrendous abuse after another is dished out upon COG people.   How many more need to die from suicide, die from lack of medical care, have their families ripped apart and marriages destroyed?

While I am not aware of all the details of the others listed above regarding all the alleged abuse, I would like to comment about myself (But as far as various positions and actions by the others listed above, readers can read the following articles Teachings Unique to the Philadelphia Church of God, Why Not the Restored Church of God?, Error-Ridden James Malm Not Doing an Elijah Work, Roderick C. Meredith’s Accusatory Letter to Bob Thiel, and What About the Living Church of God? Are there Doctrinal Differences with the ContinuingChurch of God?) 

In the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) I have repeatedly worked to NOT rip families apart, but to strive to keep them and marriages together (though not all who are married wish to listen). None I am aware of in CCOG have died from suicide, though that happens in and out of COGs.  And although I personally strive to avoid mainstream ‘medical care’ for myself, I have never taught members to not seek it if they wish. And I do care for the brethren (and pray for them daily). 

So Thiel claims he has makes an effort to never break families apart.  Well good for him.  The problem remains, which was the point of the entire original post was WHY do the ministers of the various COG's sit back and say NOTHING and DO NOTHING when they see the horrible abuses going on in the Philadelphia Church of God, the Restored Church of God, the Living Church of God and elsewhere.  Unnecessary deaths due to medical prohibitions, suicides due to aberrant teachings of sick ministers/evangelists, pedophile ministers who are mollycoddled by the big boys.

While Thiel may not do these things, the fact that he self-appointed himself as a splinter cult leader after a bitter row with his idol Rod Meredith makes him just as culpable of spiritual abuse as those who physically, and mentally abuse their members.

God no more appointed Bob Thiel as an end-time prophet/church leader, through the blessing of Gaylyn Bonjour during a simple prayer, than Dave Pack was personally educated at the feet of Herbert Armstrong.   Just because Thiel and a disturbed woman in the Southern Hemisphere had some nightmares, which they assume came from their god, it no more makes Thiel a prophet than the dream of my cat being made Supreme Leader of the Planet Argon I might have had several months ago.

The false prophet then writes:

Gary Leonard is an accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), and often a bearer of false witness (Exodus 20:16).

Accuser of the brethren?  If anything I would say accuser of the corrupt, self-appointed, lying  ministry that DO NOT represent God in any manner whatsoever.  Ministers who teach aberrant heretical doctrines that enslave their members and actually work to turn them away from the grace and mercy of the Jesus, that most inconvenient dude they claim to follow, yet know nothing about.

From taking tithe money from struggling members for their own benefit or to use it to publish theological mishmashes of heretical doctrines.

Its the brethren that suffer and pay the consequences of these lying prophets.  For a church that claims to be restored first century Christianity, that has made a cottage industry out of mocking Christianity and its various divisions, it has turned the lives of hundreds of thousands of members upside down over the last eight decades.

Bob Thiel is no more a prophet or agent of God than Gerald Flurry is.  I can say that in confidence and with no fear of pissing off the god they claim to follow.

It's not the brethren who are accused.  It is the snakes in the grass that occupy self-appointed church positions that lead 3.8 million visitors to come here to find out about and comment on how they are abused.  Of course self-appointed prophets claim those people have bad attitudes and everyone should ignore them.  We have seen how well that has worked over the last 20 years as tens of thousands have left the COG.

Thiel is like Flurry, Pack, Malm and Meredith.  They all have an obsession with having religious status in the church.  They want to be seen as the revealers of truth and store houses of exclusive knowledge.  Every single one of them are self-appointed, whether they like it or not.

Thiel is an addict.  A religious addict, which is just as destructive to the soul as alcohol, sex and drugs.

Religious AddictionAnything that can alter our mood can become addictive. Religious behaviors can certainly alter our mood. Is that a good thing? Of course! Just like sex and food and work can alter our mood in positive ways, religious behaviors can also alter our moods in positive ways. But can religious behaviors also become a problem—become addictive? Absolutely. It may be easier to imagine what religious addiction looks like if you think about extreme examples such as religious suicide cults or religiously motivated extreme self-deprivations or self-injury. Our experience, however, suggests that religious addiction is much more common than you would conclude from looking only at the extreme cases. A wide variety of religious behaviors have the potential for mood alteration and therefore the possibility of becoming addictive. Evangelism, worship, personal spiritual disciplines, church attendance, service, and many other behaviors that are important and praiseworthy in a general sense can be subverted by the addictive process into very harmful and destructive parts of our lives. This is an important point. Just because prayer is good does not mean that addictive prayer is good. Just because worship is good does not mean that addictive worship is good. Just because evangelism is good does not mean that addictive evangelism is good. The addictive process can destroy the most precious of God’s gifts to us. Except perhaps as loose rhetoric, even getting “addicted to Jesus” is not the solution to our problems with addiction. Addiction to Jesus is just another addiction. God’s desire for us is not that we find the “right” addiction—Jesus. God’s desire is that we find a way to live without being addicted at all. Sobriety is the solution, not being in an addictive relationship to God. The addictive cycle in religious addiction follows roughly the same stages found in other addictions. The process begins with preoccupation. We alter our mood up by thinking about, focusing on, obsessing about our next religious experience, the next evangelism opportunity, the next worship service, the next retreat or whatever. This preoccupation, while it may alter our mood up may also distract us from important parts of life. In most but not all cases, religious addiction also involves a major element of ritualization. Our pre–acting-out behaviors can become elaborate in religious addiction. We may repetitively recite memorized prayers or biblical texts, we may engage in what seems to others to be very Godly or pious behaviors. Eventually our preoccupation and rituals lead to some kind of religious acting out. As we have already emphasized, the specific behaviors that are part of the acting-out stage can vary. Evangelism addicts may experience an enormous rush when approaching a stranger with a presentation of some kind, and with even more of a rush if the stranger responds positively. Worship addicts may experience profound mood alteration when the “Spirit descends.” But all addicts eventually find that their addictions lead to a stage in which their mood is altered down. In some cases, questions or doubts may trouble us or even plague us. We may become obsessed with whether or not we have done well enough. Shouldn’t we try harder and do more to stay out of trouble with God? We may leave church on Sunday to face the next week determined to live the Christian life, only to return the next week and hear once again that it wasn’t good enough. And for many, even if the reminder doesn’t come this week at church, it comes readily from the echoes in our hearts and minds of past religious training. Addictive religion never leads to soul rest. It always leads to trying, trying harder and trying our hardest. It always leaves us tired, frustrated and depressed. Just like addiction to alcohol and drugs, the acting-out mood alters up, while the entire cycle mood alters down.   When Religion Goes Bad: Spiritual Abuse

Bob Thiel needs to set the right example and be the first Church of God leader to seek counseling with a licensed therapist  for the mental issues that lead him to think the is called out, set apart, and God's personal hand-picked representative on earth.   I would suggest that Bob check out some licensed Christian therapists in Arroyo Grande that can help him work through his addiction to self-made religion.   Christian therapists would at least have some communal understanding when it comes to religion.

Am I an accuser of the brethren? No! Accuser of lying, deceitful, abusive ministers?  Yes!

You can read his entire post here.