Here We Go Again: 2025 Crackpot Prophecy Watch

 

Well, here we are in 2025, thirty-nine years after Herbert Armstrong's death, so it is fitting to start the year off with more failed prophecies to watch for this year. For thirty-nine years, COGland has been filed with hundreds of false prophets, yet they continue on undeterred.

The Church of God's current most special prophet to ever grace the Church of God has published his latest New Year's list for things to watch this coming year. Ever since 2012, he has published a list of idiotic things he predicted would happen. Failures all, but that never stops the Great Bwana from adding more to his yearly lists.

These are the things to watch for in 2025:

25 Items to Watch in 2025

In Mark 13:37, Jesus tells His followers to watch world events that will precede His coming. In this sermon, Dr. Thiel goes over 25 items to watch in 2025 and points out events that were related to several of them in 2024:

1. Scoffing in the Last Days  

2. Immorality Prophecies Being Fulfilled 

3. Media, Internet, and Other Censorship 

4. Weather Sorrows and Troubles Weather happens. 

5. Earthquakes and Volcanoes 

6. The White Horse of the Apocalypse

7. Strife and the Red Horse of War

8. Trade Issues

9. The Deal of Daniel 9:27

10. Knowledge Increasing

11. Debt

12. US Dollar Dominance will Decrease

13. CBDC and 666

14. Gold

15. Unrest, Terror, and the Dividing of the USA

16. Europe Will Work to Reorganize

17. Europe Will Have a Great Army and Many Ships

18. Steps Towards the Formation of the King of the South

19. The Time of the Gentiles will Lead to Armageddon

20. Jews Readying to Sacrifice

21. Inventions of evil things

22. Reelection of Donald Trump and His Adminstration

23. Totalitarian Steps

24. Preparation for the Short Work

25. Fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 and 28:19-20

Dr. Thiel goes over prophetic scriptures (in 2 Timothy, Habakkuk, Amos, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Romans, Revelation, Isaiah, 2 Corinthians, Psalms), including those that must be fulfilled before the start of the Great Tribulation, as well as others that also need to be fulfilled before Jesus returns. When are some prophetic events expected and not expected to be fulfilled? Could we see events in 2025 in the Middle East involving Israel & Iran that would lead to the Great Tribulation starting in 3 1/2 years? Dr. Thiel goes over many biblical items and ties them in with world events that happened and are in the process of happening.

The one prophecy that will always remain constant in COGland is that the church is filled with self-appointed liars masquerading as men of God. 

Football, New Years, and Being Free From Armstrongism

When I am not stroking the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu Thiel's massive over-inflated ego, I am heavily involved with the Tournament of Roses New Year's Celebration, the Rose Parade, and the Rose Bowl.

Today, we hosted over 650 parents of the Ohio and Oregon football teams. It was a giant pep rally of sorts, with the coaches and athletic directors speaking to the parents, thanking them for raising such honorable young men.

I could not help but contrast it to the blithering idiocy of Bob Thiel in his yearly rants over football and New Year's celebrations. I cannot imagine living such a miserable life that he must have by seeing everything around him as satanic, pagan, and heathen. Today's activities make his comments even more imbecilic and out of touch with reality. It is amazing to watch how Armstrongism robs people of rational thought processes.

While he is still stuck in the 1960s version of Armstrongism that he so desperately seeks to create. it is so freeing not to have to adhere to all of that blithering and useless nonsense anymore. As much as Armstrongism sought to suck the beauty and pleasure out of daily life, the world still has beauty and amazing experiences in it that spiritually degenerate men like Thiel, Pack, and Flurry can never take away.

Happy New Year!

The Christmas Experiment: The Tepid Armstrongist Response to the Challenge of Christmas

 

The Artful Dodger (Fair Use)

The Christmas Experiment

The Tepid Armstrongist Response to the Challenge of Christmas

By Scout

 

"Fagin will make something of you, though, or you'll be the first he ever had that turned out unprofitable."  The Artful Dodger, From “Oliver Twist”

 

Armstrongism handles the issue of Christmas paganism poorly.  There have been several posts on this blog recently related to Christmas.  I contributed one of the posts.  And these are the points that concern me:  

Point One: “How do Armstrongists deal with the logical issue of the Genetic Fallacy?”

 In simple terms, why does a pagan history, now renounced, render modern, unimpeachable practice wrong?  Should we then ferret out and abandon everything that is pagan?  My Quaker ancestors renounced the names of the days of the week.  They went to First Day, Second Day and so forth.  So, this issue is not confined to Armstrongists.  But none of the responses to the recent posts from people who seem to be Armstrongist, that I have seen, attempt to answer this question.   If once pagan means always pagan, does that not besmirch God’s Creation forever?

Point Two: “Armstrongists have no consistent methodology for determining what is pagan.”

You would think they follow this kind of methodology: “If it has any historical pagan associations, we will reject it.”   But this would lead them to reject Thanksgiving and wedding rings, for instance.  And they do not.  This inconsistency leads me to believe that they really follow this principle:

Point Three: “If the Armstrongist leadership says it is pagan then it is pagan.  If the Armstrongist leadership says it is not pagan than it is not pagan.  And this is in spite of any empirical evidence or logic.”

I would like Armstrongists to respond to the three points above, at length.  What we have received so far are parroted sound bites from the Armstrongist pulpit.   Does this mean that their pulpit has no answers or does it mean that those people who participate in this conversation have never really understood their denomination’s belief on this?  The data is yet inconclusive because responses have been so off target, it is as if they were written by the Artful Dodger. 

The recent Christmas posts on this blog could be viewed as an experiment.  The line of reasoning probes the phenomenon of why Armstrongists believe what they believe.  And I have a hypothesis.  The Christmas polemic here indicates that the most important source of truth and understanding for Armstrongists is their denominational authority figures.  They lay aside research, science, logic, midrash and exegesis and follow the words of an authority figure.  (This takes exception to James Tabor who, I recall, posited that Biblical rationale was the most important factor in belief among churches that exalted the Old Testament.)  And what they know about Christmas only goes as far as what the authority figures have said. 

I would like to generalize this to all of their beliefs but I think that would be unfounded.  Because my hypothesis here, though simple, lacks good, broad empirical data.  Moreover, getting at the data is a problem because when I was an Armstrongist, and I was one for decades, I thought I had good, tight arguments in my hip pocket for everything.  I was ready to take on a Protestant at a moment’s notice.  But this was because my beliefs inside the Armstrongist community were never challenged only reinforced.  And I always stayed inside the community.  A theologically astute Protestant would have eaten my lunch.  I just didn’t know it.