The other day we quoted some of the Great Bwana to Africa's attendance figures that he himself posted on his blog. This did not sit too well with Bobiniah Thiel. As the modern-day Elijah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Elisha, and future witless witnesses to the Church of God, he could not let the ridicule of his attendance figures go unanswered.
In one of the most pathetic self-justifications we have ever seen him write so far, he went on a rampage with the spittle flying.
Some of Satan’s allies at Banned by HWA website continue to post lies about those of us in Continuing Church of God (CCOG) and other COGs.
Notice the following that was recently posted at Banned by HWA:
Spiritual and physical abuse in the Church of God had/has been going on for decades and people were and still are sick of it. That is why fewer and fewer people stay in the spiritually abusive cults of Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Ron Weinland, and other groups. Even the so-called “enlightened” groups led by Weston, Theil, Kilough, Kubik, Thiel, Hulme, and others, who imagine themselves to not be spiritually abusive, have been unable to keep members or draw in new cash cows members. After all, what this really boils down to is money flow. (Leonard, Gary. How A Marked and Disfellowshipped Employee of Living Church of God Is Making A Difference In The World November 30, 2020)
Since my name was mentioned twice (and misspelled once), (Sorry buttercup, but Grammarly does not recognize you as being legitimate ) let me start off by saying that no, we in the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) have not been the source of spiritual or physical abuse. We will deal with the ‘money lie’ from Banned later in this post.
When a self-appointed fake prophet sets himself up as a new splinter personality cult of the COG movement it is spiritual abuse! Bob's personality cult was formed as a direct result of Living Church of God refusing his demands. God was no more behind this apostasy, the improperly called "continuing" Church of God, than he is behind Dave Pack and his cult in Wadsworth Ohio.
Imagine if you will, that you were a little insignificant COG prophet sitting at home and got so butthurt by the stats we posted that he had to reach out to other Church of God groups to get their attendance figures. Bobaniah did just that, even after he claims that other COG leaders are false prophets:
As far as Ron Weinland (CGPKG), Gerald Flurry (PCG), and David Pack (RCG) go, they have all shown themselves to be false prophets–they are false prophets because they have publicly made false predictions that they said God told them that did not come to pass.
As I have stated for years, I do not believe that they are converted Christians and, hence, are NOT truly COG (though some who have been drawn to them, often only for a time, have been). David Pack’s financial greed is also something I have denounced, for over a decade.
Now regarding four of the “enlightened” COG groups (Weston-LCG, Kilough-COGWA, Kubik-UCG, Thiel-CCOG) they have not been unable to keep members as Banned indicated (we do not have specific information on Hulme-COGaIC–as that group split several years ago and seems to be a small fraction of how it started out).
I personally contacted members/leaders in four of the groups who provided me, and/or directed me, to specifics on their size.
After quoting membership statistics of various COG groups, Bobaniah gets back to his little flock of members in Africa and calls them a bunch of Gentiles. So much for the foretaste of the Kingdom of God where there is "neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The fact that he deliberately calls his black members Gentiles shows the warped mentality that dwells at the back of his mind thanks to Meredith and other COG myth makers promoting the myth of British Israelism.
As it happens to be, throughout the late Fall of 2020, CCOG has been reporting parts of its membership in different nations in some of its Letters to the Brethren.
These reports were all consolidated, with additional information, in its Letter to the Brethren: December 10, 2020. That post shows that CCOG leaders have reported a total of 5,275 (mostly Gentiles) worldwide.
Sadly, many who claim to be Christian seem dismissive of Gentiles in places like Africa. This is despite scriptures like the following:
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25)27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:27-29)
Yet, many use prejudices and other factors to dismiss the truth that the Gentiles count as much as non-Gentiles and that the New Testament shows that more must be called before Jesus returns (see also What About Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles?).
I do not think anyone here has been dismissive of Christians in Africa. The problem with Bobaniah Thiel's followers is that most of them followed their leaders into Thiel's group. Most church members in Africa look at their church leaders as "chieftains" like they do over leaders of their tribes. They follow their spiritual leader/Chieftans wherever they tell them to go. So they jump from one COG group to the next.
It always seems like it is the "do nothing" little groups in Armstrongism that whine the most.
