The Accuser of the Brethren

It has been bad day in Arroyo Grande for Almost-arrested, Elisha, Elijah, Amos, Joshua, Peter- Paul and Mary, Habakkuk, doubly blessed, African prophet, second witless witness and disappointing "son" of Rod Meredith who went into meltdown mode  over a posting here that called out his absurd command for women to wear scarves on their heads when praying.  I opened my computer up before church today and the screen was all wet from his spittle flying.  Take a valium Dude!  You take yourself too seriously! Seriously!

The false prophet posted:

While I do not intend to respond to most of the falsehoods and accusations he continues to post about me, I thought it could be helpful to some for me to show what he falsely asserted about me today, to help demonstrate that he and others like him need to repent and should not be trusted until they do so.

He then proceeds to write a huge screed trying to make himself out as a martyr for the "truth" he claims is revealed to him.   After publishing a list of 28 points for prayer that included head coverings for women, he melts down that he was mocked for publishing such a useless list.  Why is it that ever y wannabe COG leader feels they need to have countless "points" in order to preach or write about something? There is already a simple formula set forth in the Bible, that most all COG leaders love to ignore as they pick and choose what THEY think is right for their LITTLE flocks, which can be found in Matthew 6:9-13.  I just happened to look at The Message version which accurately describes what Elisha Thiel did when he published his absurd list:

Matthew 6:9-13The Message (MSG)

7-13 “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply.

That is exactly right!  Bob Thiel's 28 points is NONSENSE!  He is a peddler of scripture perversion inserting his own warped beliefs as standards for others to follow.   There is only this example that Christians need to consider, not the endless lists of COG ministers:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.

Habakkuk Thiel then continues with this:

People like Gary Leonard say all kinds of evil against me falsely–this is one way they persecute. 

Sadly, Gary Leonard and many other opponents do not care about the truth and think that they are getting away with their lies and falsehoods.

How can I persecute a man who has NEVER been set apart by God to lead an end time Church of God?  God had nothing to do with a double blessing.  God never appeared in any dreams to Amos Thiel.  No matter how much he wants to "prove" himself to be right, God had NOTHING to do with the false African prophet's apostasy from the Living Church of God.  His own narcissism and vanity caused him to stab Rod Meredith in the back and set himself up as some specially appointed new end time witnesses.  If anyone in the COG preached 'the doctrine of demon's" it is Mayan authority Bob Thiel!  He is a prime example of what lying deceivers do to gullible people who truly are trying to follow God.  What he is doing is weighing each and everyone of the African members down with mill stones due to his legalistic bullshit.  Yes, Bob, you preach BULLSHIT!

After whining and grumbling he adds this, to justify his all too funny meltdowns:

Because of Proverbs 26:4, I do not respond to most of the lies and false accusations at the Banned By HWA site, but because of Proverbs 26:5, I sometimes will.

This is what Proverbs 26:5 says:

Proverbs 25:6-7The Message (MSG)

6-7 Don’t work yourself into the spotlight;
    don’t push your way into the place of prominence.
It’s better to be promoted to a place of honor

    than face humiliation by being demoted. 

Amos Thiel should have thought that verse through before he posted it! Joshua Thiel has been working over time to put himself in the spotlight.  Endless posts about double blessings, multiple dreams by himself and others, whining how Rod Meredith humiliated him, grumbling how Rod Meredith and the Living Church of God IGNORED his wise words and that he is a prophet, that he is an apostle, etc., etc., etc.  The self-appointed false prophet has continually sought to place himself in a place of prominence in the church as the ONLY work that is growing at 30%...which it is not. Elijah Thiel has the incessant need to be placed in a place of honor.  Just look at the endless number to titles he has given himself. His fake "university degrees" His non existent degree from Fuller Seminary. His appearances on radio prophecy programs, his books and articles he writes and much much more.  Being seen as important is a big deal to the hundreds of lying false prophets of Armstrongism and Thiel is no exception.  Then to top it all off with the ultimate humiliation, Elisha Thiel was DEMOTED by Rod Meredith.  He was publicly rebuked by Rod Meredith.  Meredith rejected him as a prophet.  He was cast aside. He is regularly mocked by various ministers of the Living Church of God. That has to be a bitter pill to swallow.

The false prophet then writes:

As regular readers at the COGwriter.com website are aware, I provide scriptures and many facts and reasons to back up my writings. Gary Leonard and others should ask themselves if they can accept the truth or if they prefer dismissive conceit.

As regular readers from all the Churches of God know, the ministry has a horrible track record of throwing out scriptures and twisting them to fit their own perverse beliefs.  When men lie like Thiel about God doubly blessing himself  and by self-appointing himself as a church leader, no matter how many scriptures he quotes he has no credibility. 

Gary Leonard is an accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), and often a bearer of false witness (Exodus 20:16).

You Amos Thiel are NOT brethren!  You are the one that is hurting the brethren by your lies and false teachings.  The worst part in all of this is seeing sincere people in Africa duped by your lies.  You bear false witness to the everything that Jesus did and accomplished just so you can weigh their lives down with your bastardized version of the law.

Even those of your former fellowship, the Living Church of God, understand you to be an "accuser of the brethren."

See the story here:  

False Christianity/False Prophets Bob Thiel: Accuser of the Brethren

The doubly blessed one then writes:

Although he tries to disguise it, much of his hate is without cause. Gary Leonard hates those who pretend to be in the COG as well as those that truly are in the Church of God. Jesus taught:

You ignorant little man.  No where have I said I "hate" COG members, nor has anyone else here ever said that.  What we do hate is liars who self appoint themselves like you did, like Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Ron Wienland, and many other deceivers of the brethren have done.  You are the ones that hate the brethren.  You lie and promote lies in order to keep people away from the very person they claim to follow.  Jesus is unknown to you.   

I want people to be free to follow Jesus into the unknown and revel in grace knowing that they NEVER have to follow another idiotic Church of God minister again in their lives.  Those here that follow Jesus, those that are agnostics and atheists, actually want what is best for COG members and that is to be free.  

While we might have different ideas on how that might be accomplished we are united in getting people freed from the cesspool you and others have created.  There will be others after me, Dennis, James, Bob, Allen, etc.  We will never be stopped until the the last personality cult bites the dust.  That you can be assured off! And, you and your impotent man-made god can never stop that.  

Paul Being Hard to Be Understood

Fifty years ago, (Hoooly Long Haired Lions!), when I was 18, Garner Ted Armstrong went Bat Sh%# Crazy in the middle of a sermon in the AC Gym and screamed, "If you don't like it here, get out!"  It was a real quiet moment in the gym and a what's buggin' him moment. He went back to the sermon.

The following Monday, Richard Plache came and got me out of Freshman Bible class and said, "Mr. Ted Armstrong wants to see you."  It was a quiet elevator ride up to the 4th heaven in the Hall of Administration....  

When I got into his office, there he was in the flesh.  I had never met him but had listened to him on the radio as a teen with my transistor radio. It would of been an great moment, but I sensed this was not going to be a great moment.  

He had his hands behind his head and his feet on his desk.  Uh oh....defense mode.  The first words GTA ever said to me in this world were, "Why do you hate me?"  I said, "Why would I hate you?  I just got here at AC.  I have admired you on the radio for years."  He said, "Do you know I was talking to YOU in the sermon Sabbath?"  Ugh...well, I did notice he was staring over my way when he went nuts.  I assured him that all was well and I really had no idea why he would feel that way.  (It took a decade for me to figure what the real problem was that day. I was dating the same student he was. He feared I knew too much and my look to him that Sabbath proved it.)  Any way...he then told me, assured I knew nothing much, said..."Well your hair is too long and you are to get a haircut.  It covers your forehead and the forehead is the seat of the intellect."

Sure fine, what?  Everything in me wanted to ask if the frontal bones also blocked the intellect, but I wasn't ready for that move yet.  So I submitted to a Church of God haircut for men.   It looked no different before the cut than it does to this day save for the brown being replaced by silver but I wanted to stay in college, God's College and be the minister I went there to be.  He also told me not to think to come there to be a minister, but I didn't tell him what I was thinking on that one.

Speaking of Hair...

2 Peter 3:16 "He (Paul) writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." While not actually written by Peter, but rather a later Church father type addressing issues far beyond Paul's actual lifetime, even they found Paul hard to understand at times.

The Pressing Problem of Long Haired Men and Bald Women/Or The Pressing Problem of Women Uncovered Heads

Which?

I Corinthians 11:

1Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

    Meaning:  Now  do what I tell you because I hallucinated this from Christ since I never met any real earthly Jesus who offered an opinion on this vital matter. 

2Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.  

Meaning:  Thank you for being some of the few people who like me or how I think. Do what I told you, as I told you  and how I told you to do it

3But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Meaning:  This is what I believe and the reason I place women in the que where I do.  

4Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.

Meaning:  Unsure yet.  Maybe men aren't to cover heads with a hat , some Middle Eastern traditional garb when praying, or have long hair. It may even mean the man dishonors God, his "head"

5But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

Meaning:  Unsure yet. Maybe not wearing a scarf or traditional Middle Eastern garb over the head or have short hair. It may also mean she dishonors her husband or men, who are her "head".

6For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

Meaning:  Because if she is uncovered somehow in a way not yet sure of his meaning, she may as well be shaved bald,  so cover up. Paul was an "all or nothing" type of guy evidently with little room in the middle for compromise. 

7For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

Meaning:  Indeed, men should have their heads visible and not covered either with some kind of traditional Middle Eastern garb or with long hair

8For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.

Meaning:  Paul reflects the ignorance of his times.  Men do come from women both in birth and genetically as a female template prior to birth which is why men have nipples.  But let's skip a longer explanation here.

9Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

Meaning:  Paul read this in the Genesis story and again with no knowledge of the reality of where human beings actually come from and how modern humans evolved

10For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

Meaning:  This is a bit tougher to discern what Paul meant but I'd say it means "Look...Angels look up to God and since women are a bit lower than men and angels, they should look up to their men as Lord, as long as they do well.  Make sense?

11Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

Meaning: But there is some equality between the two if both are in the church.  

12For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

Meaning:  Yeah, that's it. I know I said women came from men and not men from women a bit earlier, in the big picture and especially in the church, God made us all somewhat equal

13Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

Meaning:  C'mon folks, see it my way.  Ok, don't let me confuse you even though I just did.  You decide if it is appropriate for a woman to pray unto God without a cover on her head or with short hair since my meaning is not yet clear.

14Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

Meaning:  Um..actually no.  What are you talking about?

Nature tells me what?

Nature tells me what"

Nature tells me what?

Um...sure. Real shamer 

15But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.

Meaning:  Men like long haired women and nature makes that clear.

Female Lioness with long hair as we learn from nature.

16But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

Meaning:  But if you want to argue about it or don't see my point, then that's just the way it is in the Church and according to my commands.  So , (and this is my opinion on whether it is covering or hair), no long haired men and we better see no bald or pixie cut women in the Church.

Another COG False Teacher Claims Women Should Cover Their Heads While Praying

Over the decades various Church of God false teachers have tried to force the old covenant upon church members, particularly when it comes to women in the church.   Women have always gotten the brunt of everything, from disobeying their husbands, committing the first sin, wearing make up, speaking  in church, and much more.

Each of these false teachers have set themselves up as God's supposed mouthpiece on earth that are filled with special inside revealed knowledge.  One of the bigger groups to force women to cover themselves in prayer and speaking is Yisrayl Hawkins cult in Abilene, Texas.

These pictures are of women leading prayers and teaching classes which is exclusively for women.  They cover their heads and their mouths when speaking and praying in church. During Hawkins preaching on Saturdays, women are kept separate from the men who also cover their heads while even some of the men cover their mouths.

Quite truthfully, this is appallingly sick.  Yet, we have two more Church of God cult leaders who also claim women should be covering their heads, Pharisee James Malm and Almost-arrested Elisha, Elijah, Amos, Habakkuk, African prophet, second witless witness, and the most disappointing "son" of Rod Meredith, claim their women must cover their heads when praying.  All three of these men have made a profession about bastardizing the law to fit their perverted interpretations and imaginations.

We have reported previously about James Malm's  demands on the women in his cult group.  Now we have Almost-arrested Thiel claiming his female members should over their heads during prayers.  I wonder what the women in Africa feel like when some sniveling fraud in American tells them to cover their heads?

Here is Elisha Thiel's list of demands that he has laid out for his cult members to follow when praying.  28 steps to pray!  No one needs 28 steps on how to do it. How incredibly stupid is that!  Here is his list:

Here is a listing of the 28 tips:

1. Pray to God the Father

2. Worship God in Truth

3. Believe God

4. Obey God: Do More than the Demons 

5. Worship God in Spirit

6. Resist Satan

7. Don't Fight God

8. Pray for Others

9. Pray for Your Needs

10. Remember God’s Will and Have Your

Priorities in Order

11. Praying Positions from the Bible

12. Pray Every Day

13. Forgiveness

14. Recognize God’s Spirit

15. Pray for What the Bible Says to Pray For 

16. Ask for Spiritual Gifts

17. Don’t Pray for Show

18. Obey the New Testament About Head

Coverings

19. Ask Often, Do Not Use Vain Repetitions,

But Be Fervent

20. If You Are Suffering or Sick, Pray About It

21.Pray for Church Leaders

22. Pray For Secular Leaders

23. Put Jesus in Your Prayers

24. The difficult: Remember Fasting

25. Pray With Thanksgiving

26. Deal With 'Secret Sins'

27. Change Can Make That Possible

28. Close with Amen 

This is what happens when foolish men set themselves up as purveyor's of truth when all they are doing is setting forth their own perverse teachings.  This is what happens when law is more important that ever following Jesus.

Scoffers and Mockers Are Making My Life Miserable

Poor old Dave Pack.  He just cannot get over the fact that almost all in the Churches of God consider him to be crazier than hell and have no desire to come over to his side.  Of course he never takes any responsibility that people might possibly think he was nuts. Instead he lays the blame on all of the mean "mockers and scoffers" that are "in all corners" including many in the COG's.  He can't possibly meaning of us here, could he?  Due to all of the scoffers people will not know when his "jesus" returns to Wadsworth.

“Mockers” and “scoffers” rule in all corners, including everywhere among God’s people (II Pet. 2:3; Jude 18). The result is that when there is still sufficient time to escape, most (but not all) cannot make themselves “take heed” (Lk. 21:8, 34; Mk. 13:33).

HWA Japanese "Son's" Worship His Statue Before Shooting Up The Ambassador Auditorium

The Mind You Save May Be Your Own

enabler

1. Tacit Enabler - Supports another's bad habits by staying silent. 

2. Overt Enabler - Supports another's bad habits by providing assistance such as money, transportation, approval, etc... 

A person who supports another person's bad or dangerous habits  (Author note: Or interpretations, title taking and  rules for others to follow)

Enablers tend to fear calling others on their destructive habits because these "others" tend to be friends, family or others close to the enabler. 

Thus, rather than risk losing the love, respect, friendship or contact with the person, the enabler chooses instead to play it safe and watch the other slowly destroy themselves or others through their own actions.

The Churches of God are full of enablers and those who, at best, are standing up on the inside, i.e. reserving judgment or actually disagreeing on the inside, but sitting down dutifully on the outside.  

From the rubber stamping church board or council, to the congregants as a whole, the crazy man who dreams up, surely finds himself spoken of by the prophets or simply seizes his place and title through the shear power of his will and narcissism, eventually provides everyone that enables a reason to give pause for themselves to ask, "why do?did I do that?"

Example:  From "Why Unification Now?"  Dave Pack, 2013

"15) Next, for those who will see the value of how to pursue spiritual matters, there is this: After fervently seeking God about it, not one reason the prophecy is off this year ever emerged in the minds of even one of our 16 Headquarters ministers! I (we) have NEVER prayed about, studied over, meditated on, fasted about and counseled with other ministers regarding a subject more than this one—in fact no other subject is even close!Now comes a series of reasons Haggai’s prophecy will be fulfilled this year. 

Shame on these still unknown 16 who should know better by now

16) Similarly, as questions emerged throughout our pursuit of truth with the many details of the prophecy, so many of these details kept coming clear as direct answers to prayer. And these were often immediate.

These prayers and truths weren't really answered and the truths weren't true.  They were only "immediate" because Dave already knew what he was going to say and do.  Anyone within the enablers ever bother to point this out to Dave Pack ever?  

If not:

Sadly, and of course, Dave Pack was miserably wrong in 2013 about all this which needs to be provided from time to time to remind his and other enablers of bad theology and terrible spiritual leadership they have a responsibility to speak up and question "if you were this wrong then with such enthusiasm and surety, why would we think you are correct this time?"

***

"Now comes a series of reasons Haggai’s prophecy will be fulfilled this year. (2013) They are summarized, with only a very little detail added. More could be said of each, but the descriptions given will suffice to those willing to think just a little about them. Realize there are over 30 more reasons—many of them very powerful—that I have left off the list because some will be covered later or because they would only be recognized as proofs by our Headquarters ministry (involving various miracles, some big). Readers would be largely unable to appreciate them as proofs:

1) Understanding the meaning of the prophecy, starting with Haggai 1:2, automatically carries the requirement of taking a position on it. This cannot be avoided after one learns it. Think about this. The position of the remnant is that “the time is not come” to rebuild God’s House. Are they right or wrong? God indicts their thinking, meaning they are wrong! If the prophecy is not now, the net effect would be that God agrees with the remnant’s view. Worse, so should those currently in God’s one Church because they now know the meaning of the prophecy. Think this through. One does or does not agree with the remnant. God does not—and we do not. The time is now!  (2013) Let’s go further.

2) Directly related, why (or how) would God command the remnant to “Go…build the House!” (Hag. 1:8)—but not mean NOW? (2013) How could He mean some undetermined future year? Why would God tell them (twice) to “consider their ways”—but not mean that they should do this now? Try to imagine God saying, “Consider your ways, but take your time. There’s no hurry. In fact, take years to think it over—even though you have been out of My Church for 20 years! You don’t have to DO anything now.”

3) Also related, if God waited 2,500 years to reveal the prophecy’s meaning (3,000 years when various related much older Psalms are considered), is not His waiting done? Does His revealing it not signal that He has reached the time to fulfill it rather than having reached a point one, two or three years out?

4) Next, why would God wait longer? What would He wait for? The remnant is absolutely ripe for deliverance.

5) Internally, and this is no small thing, God’s Church is truly ready to expand the Work in a BIG WAY. The prophecy features this as the MAIN PURPOSE of the remnant returning! Without the prophecy’s fulfillment, this expansion would be delayed one year—or more! Why would God notify His Church of the prophecy’s existence at the very same time our staff is ready, our websites are ready, our literature is ready and even God’s college is ready for more students if the prophecy were not imminent? Why would God notify His Church if HE were not ready?

6) Related to this, the buildings on our campus can very soon handle significantly more staff than we have now. This is already true without the other two buildings scheduled for completion in the late fall. However, this extra size works perfectly if the prophecy occurs this year.

7) Also related, but separate, our infrastructure is ready to receive and serve a much larger flock this fall! This includes field ministry being ready, but also other things.

8) Maturing interest from many in the world due to one year of explosive television expansion requires many more laborers in the ministry by this autumn.

9) The Restored Church of God is experiencing an AWESOME period of growth and development at this time—in the runup period just prior to the prophecy’s fulfillment. This is putting it mildly! To us, this is powerful indication that we are on the right track for this year—that God is not only pleased with His Church, but that He is helping it get ready.

10) If the prophecy did not happen this year, (2013) the remnant would remain another year (or more) undergoing ever worsening false ways. Worse off, they would have a commensurate shorter time to spiritually recover before the Tribulation. Think worse condition, less time to recover.

11) If reunification occurred next year (or any year after), those with God’s Spirit would have one more year cut off from God’s Church. This carries the potential for more to quench the Holy Spirit (I Thes. 5:19) and lose salvation.

12) The readers of the Haggai prophecy announcements (this is #21) who believed them would be the most disillusioned and the biggest candidates to QUIT everything if God did not return His people to one House this year! This would work directly against what God is doing—directly opposite His overall purpose.

13) Further desolation (Hag. 1:11; 2:16-17) from God of the splinter “houses” would practically wipe out the few remaining senior leaders in them. This includes pastors and elders, all of whom are NEEDED TO CARRY OUT THE BIG WORK!

14) The onset of all future years would never come with clarity—with any certainty! Would God leave thousands who are now aware of this prophecy in such a condition? Hardly.

(Author: Well there ya go enablers.  Dave cannot, no matter how hard he tries, "clarify" his mistaken ideas about himself or his views of scripture after being so off base theologically)

15) Next, for those who will see the value of how to pursue spiritual matters, there is this: After fervently seeking God about it, not one reason the prophecy is off this year (2013) ever emerged in the minds of even one of our 16 Headquarters ministers! I (we) have NEVER prayed about, studied over, meditated on, fasted about and counseled with other ministers regarding a subject more than this one—in fact no other subject is even close!

16) Similarly, as questions emerged throughout our pursuit of truth with the many details of the prophecy, so many of these details kept coming clear as direct answers to prayer. And these were often immediate.

17) Recall Haggai 1:13: “Then spoke Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people…” Haggai is the messenger to God’s people, with what is an all-important message from God. Would not God make clear in such a unique message He describes as “the Lord’s message unto His people” the correct date for action? What kind of message would it be if people did not know WHEN TO CARRY IT OUT?

(Author's note:  A false one perpetuated by enablers?)

18) Since the apostasy, God had not wanted the remnant back in His Church, but now He does. He would first reveal the remnant to His leader, then tell him how they would return, and finally that He meant NOW. This was the order in which these things became apparent.

19) Imagine God not revealing the year the remnant is coming—but only the day and month. Vast amounts of time would have been wasted by His leaders studying and preparing for something that was not imminent. Would God put His Church in such a position?

   20) Of interest, God revealed to me during ELUL four years ago my role as the modern Joshua.

(Authors note:  And enablers allowed him to perpetuate this fantasy)

21) Also of interest, I and The Restored Church of God learned about the New Testament remnant last ELUL (August). Let’s ask: Would timing of when we were shown the prophecy not be tied to its unique timing of fulfillment during the very next available ELUL?

22) We might ask: does the DEVIL know the prophecy is on? For those who understand how the devil works—that he counterfeits EVERYTHING God does—a variety of counterfeit theories have recently appeared about how God is going to reunite His people. Should not the devil be expected to do this at the time it would cause the most confusion? You will soon see that most of these theories are coming from men standing on the wrong side of this prophecy.

23) With God’s people split up, it is now almost impossible to do a powerful Work. (This might be the one area where the splinter leaders would agree.) God’s Church is largely stymied in working with both brethren and the world because of the confusion and deception from top leaders about where God’s Church is, who has the truth, who is carrying on after Mr. Armstrong, who is doing the true Work, etc. (Reread #22.) There is no other way to proceed than for God to remove leaders who have lulled with deceit many thousands who were blind (Rev. 3:17) to begin with.

24) World conditions cry out for a big Work NOW!!!—not one or more years from now (2013.)

Please stop enabling the delusional. The life you save may be your own.

Dr. James Tabor: " Paul and Jesus"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqAiDOFQSJc&t=262s

James Tabor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James D. Tabor (born 1946 in Texas) is a Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he has taught since 1989 and served as Chair from 2004-2014. He previously held positions at Ambassador College (1968-70 while a student at Pepperdine University), the University of Notre Dame (1979–85), and the College of William and Mary (1985–89).

KIRKUS REVIEW

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/james-d-tabor/paul-and-jesus/

The Apostle Paul has long been a controversial figure to modern Christians, but in recent years, his life and writings have spawned a plethora of books dedicated to reevaluating his role in the Christian faith. Tabor (Religious Studies/Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte; The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity, 2006, etc.) throws his hat into the ring, attempting to define Paul and his version of Jesus Christ against that of the original Jerusalem church, headed by James. The author stresses that the traditional view—that Paul was in harmony with the original apostles, ministering to the gentiles while they ministered to Jews—is a complete fabrication. Instead, he believes that Paul was in direct conflict with James, Peter and the rest of the original Christian church. This conflict was based not just on personality or approach; it spoke to Paul’s fundamental understanding of the identity of Jesus Christ, which differed from that taught by the original apostles. It is Paul’s understanding of Jesus, Tabor avers, that won the day, coming down to us in Scripture and doctrine. The author blames this historical legacy on a conscious effort by Paul’s followers to minimize the influence of James and the Jerusalem church, while promoting Paul’s theology. Books of the Bible such as Acts, he explains, were written specifically to present a Paul-focused version of emerging Christianity. Tabor tends to sensationalize tenets of Christian doctrine to highlight his view that Paul’s ideas were radical, while also pushing the conspiracy theories (e.g., “process of mythmaking”) about New Testament Scriptures that have been covered by such authors as Bart Ehrman.

His ultimate claim that Paul saw himself as a second Messiah seems like an inflated reading of the Pauline letters, and it will prove controversial with most Christians.