Crackpot Prophet Seeks To Divert Attention Away From African Boondoggle To Take A Swipe At Living Church of God…Again...

It has been many years since Rod Meredith publicly rebuked the future Great Bwana to Africa and 100 Caucasians and the very public ongoing rebukes by the entire ministry of the Living Church of God to the demands of Bwana Bob to change church teachings to fit HIS interpretations. The bitterness of that rapid rejection still weighs heavily upon his disturbed mind.

That frustration usually arises after suffering public humiliation over some part of his operation malfunctions, which usually means something happened in his African congregations and/or leadership. With the recent exposés of the appalling happenings in Malawi, Africa, the Great Bwana lashed out again at LCG and others in order to divert attention away from his miserable ongoing failures.

What stirred the indignity of the Great Bwana Mzungu was their new "whiteboard" telecasts and that he believes the Living Church of God is too stupid to know when Christ is returning. 

Mzungu writes:

A Canadian sent me the following email last year:

LCG wades deeper into the Laodicean mire… 

 

I think they’re getting even more confused about end-time events, stating that when we see the 1st and 2nd seal opened that Christ’s return is about 3.5 years away. I thought the Great Tribulation marked 3.5 years from Christ’s return and this is reflected in the 5th seal? What about the 3rd and 4th seals? (I say this tongue-in-cheek.) Aside from their confusion on the identity of the man of sin, they’re REALLY not going to know when things are coming to a head… 

 

This video is only about 6 minutes long, so not a huge waste of time but I thought I would let you know some of what they’ve been up to.

I don't know why Bwana Bob and his followers get all upset over prophetic timelines for the return of Christ when they ignore the dude for most of the year after Passover. 

What initially frosted Bwana Bob's homeopathic butt was that LCG's new program was professionally done, something he has been totally inept at doing. When no one from LCG joined him when he started his little group he had no access to professional video and production people to guide him. Instead, it is all done in his own home, work office, and a few hotel rooms when he travels. Production values have been nonexistent both in his presentation skills, video sets, and words being spoken. LCG's production skills at least draw interest from the public that Bwana Bob can only dream about.

While I rarely watch videos people suggest, I did watch this one. 

 

The video, itself, is well produced and seems designed to keep modern audiences interested enough to watch it.

At least the production is interesting enough for people to engage with it. When it comes to Bwana Bob's chair bouncing, arm waving, hand flapping, Bible thrusting, and face obscuring gestures, people quickly tune out as they are laughing.

Bwana Mzungu continues with this, which shows his great displeasure:

The problem is that it makes statements and assertions that are in biblical error as well as in contradiction to previous LCG teachings. 

 

The video perpetuates LCG’s error that the False Prophet is the ‘man of sin’. It also somewhat hints that its ‘falling away’ error is valid. 

 

While the whiteboard video cites Jesus’ statement about wars and rumors of wars, related to the beginning of sorrows, it teaches that neither the first nor second seal of Revelation 6 is open yet. 

 

That contradicts what LCG was publishing for years.

This is the point the bitterness that has been eating away at the  Great Bwana for the last 15 years or so manifests itself all over again. Bob=Good - LCG=Bad.

Before proving that, let me state that during the Feast of Tabernacles in October 2009, an odd feeling came over me that pointed to looking to see if the beginning of sorrows may have begun. After researching and finding that events consistent with start of the ride of the 1sthorseman, in November of 2009 I telephoned LCG’s Dr. Roderick C. Meredith and told him. While his church had taught that the beginning of sorrows had not begun prior to that, it taught shortly after that telephone call that the beginning of sorrows had begun.

Bwana Mzungu then goes on to whine about Davey Crocket III, Doug Winnail, Richard Ames, and Rod Meredith ignoring him when he tried to point out their errors.

It just pops Bwana Mzungu's self-righteous cork that the Living Church of God is NOT proclaiming that any of the Four Horsemen of Revelation are currently riding.

Bwana Bob Mzungu's bitterness is so extreme that he has had to find 57 different points on where LCG differed from his misinterpretations.

Then the ever-whining crybaby has to put on his 'martyrdumb' cape and whine that people ignore him:

Instead of checking out the teachings of differences with the Bible, most will instead prefer to listen to false and misleading information about me. 

 

All of course, in LCG and elsewhere, should instead value the truth.

According to Bwana Bob Mzungu all truth solely resides in him and his group. No other Church of God and no little independent group has any of the truth that Bwana Bob Mzungu has.

All of course, in LCG and elsewhere, should instead value the truth. 

 

Notice also:

16 The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes

Than seven men who can answer sensibly. (Proverbs 26:16) 

 

There are more than seven sensible reasons that those in LCG should realize that it does not hold to the truth as it should. 

 

Jesus said:

31 “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32) 

 

The truth is that some time ago, LCG ceased to have the ‘Philadelphia mantle‘ (proper leadership authority for the true and faithful church). 

 

Its prophetic whiteboard is additional proof that it will not know when the Great Tribulation will begin until it will be too late for most to flee and get the protection that Jesus promised the Philadelphian Christians. 

 

Jesus told the Laodicean Christians, who thought that they were fine, to repent (Revelation 3:14-22).
I pray that those in LCG and other Laodicean groups as well as the Laodicean independents, will repent and not simply brush off truths that they do not find convenient.

As much as we rag on the Living Church of God, Doug Winnail, and others here, my hat is off to them that they fully recognize what an absolute liar Bob Thiel is and that there is NOTHING he has to say about prophecy, Biblical interpretation, or church government that are relevant.  Not one single thing!

"To Bob Thiel, there are no issues in Africa. He has the most bizarre and dumb explanations to cover all of African lawlessness,…"

Someone above asked how would (Bob Thiel, I guess) portray me in his cartoon. Well, considering his accusations after my conscience compelled me to leave CCOG, I guess I will be portrayed as someone who released funds so that he can go on to American radios; also, as someone who is a talebearer and a gossiper. He was always so unhappy when I would raise the questions about Africa, and especially about how the CCOG in Africa was governed.  

In January of this year he sent me an email in which he said that I should be careful about my attitude to Africa. I responded in a long email telling him that my attitudes to Africa have nothing racist there, but that I have been raising concerns about Africa for years. In my concerns I quoted lies of certain ministers, as well as the involvement of CCOG main person in the elections in Kenya, his proselytizing Muslim boys by taking them as orphans to work on his farm, of his main man taking one of his sons to the Kenyan military, of local churches supposedly being CCOG, when in fact on their sings it was written "Church of God 7th Day Jerusalem" and so on. So, in that long email I repeated all my concerns about African CCOG ministry. Meanwhile, Terry Nelson provided me with various proofs of all the wrongdoings in Africa that he investigated!  

And let now be clear. The small amount of money I was allotted monthly from CCOG for my service cannot compare with the amount of money Bob Thiel sent to Africa. And my issues were not the amounts he sent, but how that money was being squandered and that he was lied that such money was used to help all the poor members there. Besides, he would have had enough money for presence on American radio stations if he did not send so much money to Africa to allow those people there to build their local churches. As far as talebearing and gossip, I was shocked that Bob Thiel would not take into consideration testimonies of children and the testimony showed here by lady Priscilla, ex-wife of Radson Mulozowa, "the minister in good standing". One of the lies that Evans Ochieng uses in Africa is that Priscilla was cheating on her husband and that Terry Nelson tried to break her marriage to Radson. That detestable lie has never been addressed, just as usually nothing is addressed when it comes to Africa. To Bob Thiel, there are no issues in Africa. He has the most bizzare and dumb explanations to cover all of African lawlessness, while his African minions keep flattering him and go to great lengths to express to him their unwavering loyalty. Million times I asked Bob Thiel if he is aware of how much of Bible truths those people understand, but I never had any answer. And yet, there are rumors that some CCOG members don`t even know what Holy Days are kept by CCOG, and this does not exclude the top men of CCOG in Africa.

Aleksandar Sasha Veljic

Does the Church of God Really Obey God's law?

Do the ACOGs really obey God's Law?

Among the followers of Herbert Armstrong's teachings, the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus is critical. According to them, not only does their observance of the commandments outlined in this chapter distinguish them from traditional Christians, it also distinguishes them from other Sabbatarian Christians (like Seventh Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptists, and the Church(es) of God Seventh Day). For them, these festivals not only provide the perfect contrast to the "pagan" holidays of Easter, Halloween and Christmas; they also stand or fall with Sabbath observance!

For the sake of argument, let's assume for a moment that Christians are obligated to observe these festivals - that the ACOG's theology is sound on this point. Are their observances and arguments consistent with what is revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures? Let's take a closer look.

In the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, NINE festivals are outlined: the weekly Sabbath, Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Booths, and the Eighth Day. In connection with the annual festivals, it should be noted that there were specific rituals, sacrifices, and offerings associated with each one of them. Again, for the sake of argument, for the moment, we will ignore the instructions about sacrifices and offerings (even the ACOGs acknowledge that Christ's sacrifice makes those no longer necessary).

We are, nevertheless, left with a number of undeniable discrepancies between ACOG observances and what is outlined in this passage. For example, in all of the years that I was associated with them, I don't remember ANY specific observances related to Firstfruits. To be fair, an occasional sermon would mention the fact that Christ was our wave sheaf offering, but there was no specific observance associated with that festival. They would even read aloud the passage: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." (Leviticus 23:9;14, ESV) Now, I suppose we could say that Firstfruits/wave sheaf was symbolic and pointed to Christ - a shadow of the reality found in him; but isn't that the very argument which other Christians use to "do away with" all of these festivals?

In similar fashion, the Feast of Trumpets was to be "proclaimed with blast of trumpets" (verse 24). Now, I do remember a couple of occasions when a trumpet was employed in the singing of "God Speaks to Us" on this feast day, but I don't recall this as having been a formal or regular part of the worship service. And, as far as this festival being celebrated as a "memorial" (same verse), most of the sermons and literature which I remember being associated with this day focused on the second coming of Jesus Christ. If my memory is faulty on this point, I'm confident that someone will correct me!

In terms of the Feast of Booths, we read: "And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." (Verses 40-43) I don't remember any of this being associated with the "Feast of Tabernacles" celebrated by the ACOGs (at least, not the ones with which I was associated). Indeed, instead of temporary shelters constructed by the celebrants, most of us had reservations in very permanent hotels and campgrounds - a temporary stay!

We could, of course, talk in some detail about the ACOG's flawed understanding of the symbolism associated with these festivals. After all, the ACOGs claimed that the meaning of these days was an important part of observing them! We could talk about how the Day of Atonement pointed to Jesus, NOT Satan the Devil. We could also talk about Jesus Christ and humankind tabernacling in the flesh, and Christ's sermon on the "Last Great Day," but we will focus instead on the physical observance of these days by the ACOGs.

In this connection, another favorite passage of the ACOGs comes immediately to mind - the sixteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. Of course, within that culture, the principal role of this passage was to enjoin the membership to cough up generous offerings on each of the Holy Days! Even so, this passage conveys a number of other imperatives which those folks conveniently ignored.

For example, although ACOG folks were scrupulous about removing all leavening from their dwellings, they completely ignored the passages related to the ONLY acceptable place for the observance of these days. In that chapter in Deuteronomy, we read: "You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt." (Verses 5-6) Likewise, in connection with the Feast of Weeks, we read: "And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there." (Verse 11) In similar fashion, with regard to the Feast of Booths, we read: " For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful." (Verse 15)

Notice that ALL three of these festivals were to be observed "at the place the Lord your God will choose." Moreover, so that there wouldn't be any room for misunderstanding of God's intent in this regard, the passage concludes with: "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you." (Verses 16-17) In other words, Torah mandated THREE pilgrimage festivals - where the Israelites were required to come to JERUSALEM to properly observe these festivals! After all, any serious student of the Hebrew Bible understands that JERUSALEM is the ONLY place which God ever chose for His name to permanently rest. Moreover, students of the New Testament understand that Christ and his apostles ALWAYS celebrated the festivals at Jerusalem! Also, doesn't Zechariah suggest that JERUSALEM is where the Feast of Booths will be observed in the Millenium? (Zechariah 14:16-19)

What has been the practice of the ACOGs in this regard? The Worldwide Church of God and most of its successors have designated various "feast sites" around the world where their members gathered to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. On the other hand, Passover and the Feast of Weeks were usually observed locally - within the various congregations of the Church. Now, having personally been to many of these sites, I can attest to the fact that places like Wisconsin Dells, Jekyll Island, Saratoga Springs, Biloxi, Pensacola, Johnson City, Myrtle Beach, etc. are very nice vacation spots. They are, however, NOT JERUSALEM! Also, are the ACOGs suggesting that the choices of a "Festival Coordinator" (or church administrator) reflect God's choice? And, what about the Scriptural designation of the other two festivals (Passover and Weeks) as pilgrimage festivals? Finally, if the "offerings" on these occasions were binding on members, why weren't the other offerings designated for those days still binding on them?

What about ACOG justifications for their divergence from these plain Torah instructions? A favorite of theirs is found in Christ's instructions to his disciples recorded in the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. We read there: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Verses 18-20) Let's ignore the fact that these remarks were delivered within the context of dealing with disagreements among Christ's disciples within the Church (verses 15-17). If this passage justifies ACOG practices regarding the festivals, why can't it be employed by traditional Christians to justify their observances of Sunday, Christmas, and Easter? Let's not forget, too, that this passage was used to justify their observance of Pentecost on Monday for many years! What's that old saying? "What's good for the goose is good for the gander!"

Now, while this post does not disprove that Christians are obligated to observe the festivals (that's a subject for another post), it does demonstrate that ACOG observance of those festivals is NOT in line with Torah instructions regarding them! Hence, the answer to our original question: "Do the ACOGs really obey God's Law?" has to be answered with a resounding NO!

Lonnie Hendrix