Where would the Church of God be without all of its crazy self-appointed and illegitimately ordained weirdos that latch on to every conspiracy theory or legend out there? From Catholic visions of Fatima, Nostradamus, Malaky, Gary North, and every other crackpot weirdo on late-night AM radio stations, they have all found a following in Armstrongism. The weirder it is, the better it spreads through the church.
No one takes this to the extreme more than our illustrious, illegitimately ordained, and self-appointed prophet to the church, the Great Bwana Bob Thiel. The Great Bwana, though a day late, is not letting the new Pope get by his conspiracy-laden mind.
He has already updated his poorly researched book on the new pope, but all he has done is change a few names from previous popes mentioned to update it to Pope Leo. As usual with all of Bwana Bob's books and articles, it is filled with all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories. It is an entire book about "one wonders", "maybes", "could be's," and "possibly," as you would expect from a false prophet who is too big of a coward to really take a stand. Besides, when he talks about all of the "maybes" and "could be's" it is his easy out by never being held accountable for lying to his followers and the public.
Leo XIV will be ecumenical. And, because of the Augustine Order connection, militant in some ways.
It just frost the Great Bwana's butt that churches might just get along, unlike the Churches of God who refuse to.
Next, the Great Bwana starts to go whack-a-doodle:
Because of the timing of his papal election, Pope Leo XIV could possibly fulfill biblical prophecies about a particular False Prophet, the final Antichrist.
But we will need to see if he ends up doing “great signs” and wonders:
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:11-17)
The Great Bwana then goes on to quote his favorite crazy dude, Malachy. Any fellow crackpot he can find to support his craziness, the Great Bwana latches on to them, even after admitting that most people also think these nut jobs are crazy (just not COG folk).
If Pope Leo XIV does not perform “great signs” and never calls fire down from heaven, then he could not be the final Antichrist and would not be the last Pontifex Maximus. But if he does those signs, that would point to him being the final Antichrist.
Now, there is a list of pontiffs that an Irish Roman Catholic bishop named Malachy put together in the 12th century. Over a decade ago, I bought a copy of the book shown above related to the Malachy predictions of 112 future popes.
Though various Roman Catholics believe that the list was divinely inspired, and this also seems to have been the position of the Protestant prophetic writer Hal Lindsey, many (including this author) do not believe that the list was from God. Many make light of the list for a variety of reasons.
Even the expression “malarkey” seems to have originated as a derivative of the word Malachy, possibly because of how some viewed Malachy’s writings. Malarkey signifies worthlessness.
Read that again: Malarkey signifies worthlessness. There can be no better definition of Bobism than this. Worthless!
The Great Bwana then goes on to say that he thinks the Malacy was demonically inspired, yet he quotes him endlessly, as if what he said were fact.
I have long believed that the list was demonically-inspired–hence I do not rely on it.
He then goes on to quote it and discuss it:
In both Malachy’s list and the Book of Revelation we see:
1. Reference to the city of seven hills/mountains.2. The destruction of the city of seven hills/mountains.3. The end of a power in Rome.4. Persecution.5. Troubles/tribulations on the earth.6. A type of judgment.7. Events for the end time.
And, produced a ridiculously silly video:
Malachy Prophecy, Francis, Doom in 2027?
Do you know who Malachy was? He was an Irish bishop and saint of the Roman Catholic church who put together a list about 900 years ago. This list has been a source of amazement and interest for centuries and at the same time it has also been a source of ridicule. Recently his list has been making headlines; the publication, Euronews has an article citing “Malachy’s List” and doom in 2027. The reason Malachy’s List is once again front-page news is because of what the list contains, as well as because of health concerns related to Pope Francis. It contains a prophecy of the number of popes until Jesus returns as well as a description of the characteristics of each pope. So, why does this matter? How many popes are on the list? What about the reign of the last pope? Are there any similarities between Malachy’s description of the last pope on his list and the prophecies in the Bible? Does the Antichrist fit in to Malachy’s list? Is it possible that Malachy’s list actually predicts the final judgment and the return of Christ in 2027? These questions are fascinating and provocative. Let Dr. Thiel shine the light of Bible prophecy on the answers to these questions. Answers from the verses of the Bible that bring prophecy to life.
He ends by promoting his "new" book and dancing around everything he said about the new pope. It is "could be" time to the max, except when it's not, then it's not.
In my previous ‘Last Pope’ book of 2013, I wrote:
Pope Francis I … if he does not perform various signs and wonders, the Bible is clear that he certainly would not be (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 13:13-16).
The same is true for Leo XIV.
That said, my book about the Malachy prophecies and how Pope Leo XIV could be the one to fulfill the last one...
