Can Prophecy Really Come Alive?

Ecclesiastes 8:7 

"Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?"

"For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur?"

"If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?"

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I am not personally of the view that there is actually such a skill or ability of anyone to predict the future. Generally perhaps based on trends, but not specifically as the Bible seems to do. Prophets of the past, in my view, may have spoken about what they felt would happen in their own times, but "prophecies" thousands of years in advance are simply not possible. 

Anyone can, if they are willing, to see that what seems like prophecy, such as the 8 "and thus it was fulfilled"s of Matthew 2, concerning the birth story of Jesus, are merely back written into his tale, which in no way agrees with Lukes Birth Narratives, and a clear making Old Testament scriptures mean what they never actually mean when written down. 

The reason Jesus last crucifixion story and his last words seem prophesied is because the author of the Gospels lifted quotes from the Psalms to flesh out a story, they really had no idea about how it went down nor were they witnesses of it. 

Prophecy is not so much history prophesied, but prophecy historized and brought ahead into the present by writers intending to give the impression the present was pre-dicted long ago, when it was not.  

For example, the reason Daniel 11 seems so prophetically detailed is simply because all the events it predicts had already happened. Outcomes were already known and lives lived to historize into prophecy. (Daniel was a product of the Second Century BCE and not the Fifth.) The reasons that empires could be prophesied to come is because they had already come and gone. 

When you get into Daniel 12, it all gets rather vague again about the real future and Daniel is simply told to shut it down. The reason?  We don't actually know what will happen as it has not yet happened. 

Today, I am more inclined to see OT prophets as being fascinating for their schizophrenia (Ezekiel and Amos along with any who noted "And the Lord said unto me), depression (Jeremiah) and others who heard the voice of God in their heads when no one else did. If Paul's visions were real, to Paul, they take on the symptoms of temporal lobe epilepsy. (Voices, bright lights and often with religious content). These now understood mental issues would not have been understood and assigned divine gift status back in the day. 

I recall visiting a mentally ill member in the hospital where she calmly said "I know you don't understand this, but Mr Diehl, you are an angel unawares".  Well yeah! LOL.  Mania and bi polar issues can do that to you. 

"Someone once asked what's the difference between a Bible Prophet or Christian fundamentalist and a paranoid schizophrenic? Well, one hears voices in their head, has a heightened moral code, is judgmental yet can be very deceptive and manipulative, has delusions of being on a mission from God, sees things that no one else present sees or hears , sees lights in his head, is the center of the universe and has special knowledge that must be kept secret until the right time an then can only be understood as explained by the one. The other, of course, is a paranoid schizophrenic."

Prophets, Apostles, and Mental Illness

Jesus is said to have prophesied his coming "soon", "shortly" and "quickly", and the Apostles joined in specifically telling those in the NT Church to be ready, not marry and if you had a wife, act as if you didn't, whatever that meant. The Apostle Paul, not unlike all Church leaders today who build their churches on the fear of imminent prophetic fulfilments, spent his whole ministry pre-dicting "we shall not all die...", until he did of course. That was our collective experience with WCG.  "Just ahead", "Three to five years, 10 at the outside, 15 max" was just more prophetic fiction mean to motivate, perhaps for less than honorable reasons. 

Dave Pack, the greatest fool ever produced by the WCG is addicted to making an ass out himself prophetically. He is never right and he never will be because the whole concept of prophetic abilities is simply wrong. No one can pre-dict the future in any theological sense. 

While Dave claims...

DCP – Like No One Else

“I’ve been studying God’s word for almost 50 years. And I’ve studied prophecy, I know
this, like no man who’s ever lived. And I’m gonna tell you things over the next several weeks that are so awesome, so mind-bending, even before today.”

“I know literally, literally everything that happens from the time Christ drops outta

that cloud ’til this things rolls into the box. I’ve got the whole picture ’til there’s no more

earth. So, I know what God is gonna do and you know what God’s gonna do.”

and...

“I’m gonna to reveal a great prophecy is ending. A great prophecy no one ever saw

in the Bible is ending right now, and you know nothing of it, and the church didn’t, and

every historian and theologian who’s ever lived never knew anything about it.”

...he will always be a fake and badly mistaken prophetic fool. 

Now, I can probably predict the loss of the war by Ukraine and the "chosen people" making themselves the most accursed people on the planet, but that's not based on anything any Holy Spirit had to "inculcate" my mind with. That just seems to be common sense at play. 

Both the Gospel Jesus and the Apostle Paul, as well as others, real or imagined authors of the NT were wrong. When Jesus is said to have said, "This generation shall not pass until all these things be fulfilled" it does not mean and never did mean, "this generation to whom these things happen to". That's the apologetic since it did not happen then. Jesus meant it for none others than for those to whom he was speaking.  Jesus was wrong. The beat went on...

Bob Thiel is big on prophetically awful weather because "God is trying to get our attention."  Rubbish...  Weather is just weather and we know better, or should. Unless, of course, God is a low pressure system in disguise. Besides, what's with God having to "try".  Lame. 

Our first hint of the fallacy of prophetic skills is realizing that...

• Fortune-Teller
• Seer
• Prophet
• Augur
• Cassandra
• Crystal Gazer
• Doomsayer
• Futurist
• Jeremiah
• Oracle
• Palm Reader
• Prophesier
• Prognosticator
• Sibyl
• Soothsayer
• Herbert Armstrong
• Dave Pack
• Gerald Flurry
• Bob Thiel

...have not yet won the lottery. It's not unlike our not finding faith healers working for hospitals. They lose their magic powers outside of church. 

Whoever said it was spot on...

The future isn't what it used to be. We can predict everything, except the future. The future's uncertain and the end is always near. 

And prophecy can never really come alive because

"Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?"

"For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur?"

"If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?"

The Great African Con Game: The Bamboozling Of Dr. Bob Thiel

It is a well-known fact that Dr. Bob Thiel (the fake prophet) is in panic mode since it was reported on Banned by HWA that his Feast in Malawi was an EPIC con job. Insider information from a top CCOG leader tells all about Evans Ocheing, Dr. Bob's fake evangelist and High WITCHDOCTOR, the Servant of Satana. 

Dr. Bob sent Evans on a cleanup mission to Malawi to find out why Radson and Sosten's Feast sites were empty and also to sort out the mess of confusion about why there are two leaders in Malawi. Shouldn't it be Sosten L. the disgraceful, adulterous, money-skimming S.O.B. that now has thousands with him? Or, is it the mini-minion Radson Molowzoa, the WITCHDOCTOR's servant and whoring bang machine? Only time will tell!!!!! 

Dr. Bob had better hurry up and put someone who is actually qualified to be in charge. Bob sent Evan's boy on a mission to prove the CCOG has 4,000 members in Malawi. The big African WITCHDOCTOR couldn't produce those numbers for Dr. BOB, so, Evans does what Evans does best - Bribe people to show up for photos and make it look like CCOG has something on the ground. 

Reports are also coming in from a top CCOG leader that Sosten L. was ordained as a Deacon. The ordination should have been for the tile of Deacon Woman Bang Machine, since that is what he does best! 

This truly is the most pathetic-looking ordination certificate I have ever seen! 

Get rid of that stupid picture and make a real logo. 

It looks dumb and childish. Not professional at all!

Evans and Dr. Bob have to go slow and figure out a way to get Sosten in charge, as Sosten claims thousands of CCOG members are here. Dr. Bob is excited for those very high numbers, Ha Ha!

Yes, we all know that it is the Fastest Growing COG in the history of the world! 

There are reports coming in of a top Hope of Israel minister being bribed and threatened to lie about Forster Abraham and Terry Nelson and to lie and say Hope of Israel Worldwide Church Of God only had 350 attending their Feast site when they had over 1000 attendees in Mulange. 

We all know that Dr Bob can't handle the truth. We also know how Africa works: Bribe, Bribe, Bribe, and more Bribes. He has to keep those few Caucasian CCOG tithe payers happy and brain-dead. 

These pictures are of Evans bribed villagers told to show up for photos with the great African WITCHDOCTOR and his servant Radson Molowzoa, the mini-minion bang machine. 

Karl Kolechek

Paleo-Indians and the Bible: Armstrongism in Contention with Anthropology

 

Paleo-Indian Hunting Camp (Fair Use)

 

Paleo-Indians and the Bible

Armstrongism in Contention with Anthropology

By Scout

 

Back a couple of decades ago, my wife and I were eating in a restaurant with another couple. He was a Deacon in the WCG. It was after Sabbath Services and all seemed cordial and pleasant. But then something happened that made me feel as if I had stepped into the surreal. We were talking about the fact that there were some nearby Indian Reservations. He said that the Indians did not belong here.  She said that God said to “wipe ‘em out.” This was dreadful not because I had never heard it in the WCG before but because I had not heard it in a long time. It was as if they really did not understand the consequences of what they were advocating – the terror, the screams, the slaughter, blood on the ground, men, women and children dying. I was taken aback. I recall hearing such statements when I first came into the WCG. A prominent professional man in Spokesman Club told a small group of men in conversation that “People feel sorry about how Native Americans were treated but they’re the Canaanites!” The Deacon and his wife had no trouble asserting the needed genocide because they were reciting what they thought was orthodox WCG belief. 

The point of this short essay is that the informal doctrine of the extermination of Native Americans held by the WCG is invalid.

The WCG Indian Policy

I never ever heard the WCG pulpit advocate the extermination of Native Americans.  I heard it many times from the pews.  The position of the pulpit was much more subtle than making a blatant statement that advocated genocide.  All the pulpit really needed to do was to establish that Native Americans were Canaanites and everyone would get the picture.  And they did this. The Torah was quite specific about what should happen to Canaanites – they were destined to become slaves and those who lived in the Promised Land (including North America) should be exterminated.  So, this was a policy never spoken from the pulpit but it was also never denied by the pulpit even though it was a view held explicitly by many in the pews.  Ron Dart was the only minister I ever heard stand in opposition to this viewpoint on genocide before a congregation.  Otherwise, it seemed to be agreement by silence.

And, of course, the Torah was written on the heart of all who believed including the instructions to exterminate the Canaanites, according to Armstrongism.  But genocide could be eschewed according to Rod Meredith because the Ministry of Death had been abrogated in the New Testament.  This view, actually without exegetical validity, avoided mandatory bloodshed but it left Native Americans in a dismal should-have-been-killed state.  

Who are the Native Americans?  

About a decade ago, a genetic study of Northern Europeans was done and the results were puzzling. There was a genetic connection between Europeans and Native Americans.  Archaeogenetics further revealed that both Europeans and Native Americans were descended from a group of people called Ancient North Eurasians.  Native Americans are about 30 percent Ancient North Eurasian and about 70 percent Ancient East Asian.  The important point to notice is that none of the Native American ancestry came from the Near East or North Africa where the ancient Canaanites lived.  Native Americans are Eurasians. 

Who are the Canaanites?

In this context, it is important to define the Canaanites.  It is because Native Americans were thought to be Canaanites and lived in a land that properly belonged to “Israel” that the WCG considered them to be candidates for extermination by the righteous.  Spencer Wells, a famous geneticist, worked on a National Geographic project that identified the Canaanites.  He discovered that the ancient Canaanites, the Phoenicians and the modern-day Lebanese were genetically continuous.  I am wondering if current Armstrongist denominations have ever advocated the extermination of the Lebanese.   I just heard today that Israel and Hezbollah have made a truce.  Will Armstrongists wave a copy of the Torah and warn Israel that it should not make peace with the Lebanese as the Torah states (Exodus 34:12)?  It makes you wonder why HWA never brought this important end-time message to Teddy Kollek. 

Summary Argument

Armstrongists were always happy to keep Thanksgiving.  But I would imagine the typical imagery of Thanksgiving, with Indians and Pilgrims in cordial festivity, might cause Armstrongists to cringe.  Israelites and Canaanites in friendship – an unnatural condition.  This is not a valid view because Native Americans are not Canaanites.  Native Americans came to North America from Siberia maybe around 20,000 years ago – long before Canaan even existed in Palestine.   The date is revised as more discoveries are made.  But the larger question is should any racial group of people be targeted for debasement because of something that happened in the Bible?  Some in the WCG deplored Native Americans.  Is it now time for them to deplore the Lebanese instead?  Should Christians ever relegate anyone to a deplorable state based on ancient Biblical events?