The dilemma of Living Church of God leadership to its members

 

While this comment is made in regard to the ongoing problems in the Living Church of God, it is also an issue in many of the corporate COG groups. The leadership of LCG and most of the other corporate COG's are completely out of touch with their members. It seems as if most of them do not really care. Good shepherds are hard to find.

Most ACOG members figured out years ago that the power of the holy people has been scattered and that the rebellious "shepherds" are mostly to blame. Most members by now have friends in several groups other than their own, and they see for themselves that these members are more serious about their Christianity than most of the bickering hirelings in any of the groups. When Weston causes a division, he instantly creates a bond between LCG members and the divided group. Very few LCG members anymore are particularly loyal to LCG, it's just that LCG is their primary loyalty and convenient social network. As Weston is starting to learn with the Monson fiasco, every division strengthens the loyalty among brethren while weakening individual loyalties to splinter leaders. It is getting easier and easier for LCG members to feel comfortable shifting their primary loyalty away from LCG. Eventually, Weston will find that his whining won't bring the sheep back once they've found a pasture where the Good Shepherd's voice isn't being muzzled by hireling men playing at being shepherds.

God's One True COG Leader Speaks Out On Coffee Pot Wars and Proper Pickle Placement

 

It is another day in the Living Church of God and men and women in the church just cannot do anything right. From fighting over who gets to lead hymns to the proper placement of pickles on the table, LCG members are constantly doing something wrong. In his Feast of Trumpets/pre-Feast of Tabernacles love letter to the few remaining faithful, Gerald Weston discusses how enlightened LCG members are over the rest of the COG's and Christianity.

...the Apostle Paul explains that the body of Christ is made of many different parts (1 Corinthians 12), and we know it is human nature to desire to be one of the comelier parts of the body (1 Corinthians 12:22–25). How many men have striven to hold an office in Spokesman Club or to be in front of the congregation leading hymns or speaking? And it’s not just the men. We’ve seen ladies get into what we sometimes call “coffee pot wars,” fighting each other over where best to place the pickles on the serving table. This may sound humorous and even preposterous, but those of us who have been around for any length of time know that these things really do happen!0 

 

Notice that Paul tells us it is Christ who determines where each of us fits within the body (1 Corinthians 12:11, 18). A body will not function properly with two mouths and one ear. As Paul explains, “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body?… If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?” (vv. 15–17). 

 

As Paul explained, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4). Then, one of the clearest passages of Scripture—yet one of the most difficult for most people to accept—is found just after that. Christ has placed in the body positions of responsibility so we can have unity and, “speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (vv. 15–16). 

 

To those who really get the big picture and faithfully hold on to it until the end, God will give a great reward. The current spirit ruler who directs the course of this world, along with the angels who fell with him when he “got the big head” and thought he knew better than God, will be removed and replaced (Revelation 12:4; 20:1–4). His removal is emphatically shown in the Day of Atonement. And the fact that we will replace him and his minions is stated in numerous scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments (Daniel 7:27; Matthew 19:27–29; Luke 19:16–19; Revelation 20:4, 6). 

Weston goes onto mock Christians who believe in heaven and how mistaken they are and then whitewashes the LCG belief that church members will literally become God, so much so that they are co-equal with Jesus. The power trip that COG leaders need to have so that they can rule over others is mind-numbing. To be co-equal with Christ is to have dominion over all creation as they sit side by side with Jesus.

Further, we are not to become angels or some kind of super-humans in the resurrection, as so many professing Christians mistakenly believe. You do not need me to remind you that we in God’s Church have been called to become sons and daughters of God, the very children of the living God—brothers, sisters, and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:14–21; Hebrews 2:10–18; 2 Corinthians 6:18). Can there be a more glorious future for such flawed beings as we now truly are?

Can Gerald Weston EVER write a letter to his followers that does not discuss anything wrong he perceives them doing, that does not bad mouth the rest of Christianity, and that does not discuss sex? Is he capable of writing a letter filled with grace, compassion, and mercy? No bitching and moaning, just a heartfelt "you are loved for who you are" letter? Can he? Will he?

Has Bob Thiel Now Declared Himself One of the Two Witless Witnesses?

from anon... 

Bob Thiel continues his journey through La La Land with his mentally disturbed mind now saying he is Elijah and is one of the two witless witnesses. We knew it would only be a matter of time till his mind cracked and he declared himself a witless witness. He was already so far down the rabbit hole that there is nothing left for him to be.  

Never has the Church of God seen a more successful and amazing church in its entire history. More importantly, never has there been a Church of God leader as magnificent and awesome as Bob Thiel. Even with all the boasting from Dave Pack, there is none like Bob Thiel.

Although people like the discredited Ron Weinland and David Pack have claimed to be ‘Elijah,’ neither of them are.

But, guess who is that Elijah...Come on, make a guess... 

Yet, the Bible does show that there will be an ‘Elijah’ who is alive before Jesus returns and that it is likely that he will be one of the two witnesses. And as Jesus is likely to return within the next couple of decades, it is reasonable to consider that he must be alive today.

Bob Thiel has been on a one-man war in declaring himself as the only COG leader who has restored church history, doctrine, and the message of the kingdom of God. And, he is the ONLY COG leader who has publications in 100 different languages. But then, as usual, Thiel throws in his wimpy capitulation that he MIGHT not be that man.

Could he be one who has restored information on church history, doctrine, prophecy, and the reason that God created anything? Could he be one reaching people around the world with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in nearly 100 different languages? Or has God not chosen to have him do much at this stage? 

Of course, he has to throw Herbert Armstrong into the mix using him as a tool to claim Herbert was speaking about The Bob to come. 

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).And when was the “Church age” supposed to end according to Herbert Armstrong’s old church? Notice: 

 

God has set before us an open door and no MAN can shut it. God can shut it, and He will when the work is finished and the Philadelphia Church goes to a place of safety. …The Laodicean Church is not going to be worthy to escape to a place of safety. When it is too late, they will find that the Church of Philadelphia has gone to safety (What Is the “LAODICEAN CHURCH”? Good News August 1959 Vol. VIII, Number 8).

Now since the Church age has not ended, and the Day of the Lord has not yet come, then it follows that Elijah was to come on the scene publicly after this was written. His restoring of “all things” means that he is to be restoring information that the true Church of God once understood, but later must have lost or misunderstood

Again, Thiel claims he is the only one restoring all things to the church.  

The problem is that just as many would not hear Elijah’s or John the Baptist’s messages, relatively few will pay much attention to the end time Elijah as well.

Thiel has been having fits over the last few years that 99% of the COG movement ignores him and his message. No one cares about what he preaches, particularly Living Church of God members. They know him for the liar he is. Rod Meredith, Dibar Apartian, Herbert Armstrong would all have a fit to see Thiel making such absurd claims.

I can state for a fact that Bob Theil is NOT Elijah. He is NOT one of the two witless witnesses. He is NOT a minister of God and is NOT a legitimate leader of a Church of God.