From a reader:
I first became aware of Bob Thiel through an old friend of mine who had taken umbrage with something he had written on Cogwriter, and was exchanging email with him. Oh, I remember what it was. Dr. Ernest Martin had just passed away, and Beto had very ungratiously trashed him. Of course, I became involved in the discussion. Thiel replied that his chief interest was in keeping the Philadelphia era of the church together, and that if my goal was not similar, he had no interest in discussing anything further with me. Typical. I had seen that dismissive attitude before. In reading some of the materials on Cogwriter, I realized that basically it was a brown nose site dedicated to the support of Rod Meredith. Two things occurred to me. 1) Such a site or publications would NEVER have been permitted by HWA during the WCG classic era. HWA wanted the exclusive, and would have been enraged if he suddenly had an echo. 2) LCG members would most likely resent Thiel, because it would be like having an extra parent that you didn't want emerging from your peers, inserting himself and asserting himself into your life. I was also cognizant of the fact that back in 1975, during the church troubles and the first round of splinters, there was no shortage of petulant little ones who had always felt that they had certain truths to which the church would not listen, and who suddenly arose to have their day in the sun. Members were shocked when these somehow got hold of mailing lists of members and began sending their materials around. It was pathetic, and they soon disappeared, having just wasted and exhausted their resources. Nobody wanted these little off-beat nobodies in their lives. People looking for change were more inclined to just leave Armstrongism, or to follow charismatic regional leaders who left, such as Ken Westby in the East, or Al Carozzo in California. Even those "big guys" melted away with time, and nobody even remembers them or their groups today. And, of course, this general trend repeated itself in the '90s, although the attempted correction or reformation of the main body is an added wrinkle, But none of the little guys from the splintering of the '90s have morphed into big guys. The better known ones who were already the leaders on the mother ship got the big pieces of the pie, and have watched them shrink. Bob Thiel has wasted his life. He will never become one of the big guys because real leaders know how to find and strengthen a common chord with a broad cross section of an audience. They know how to relate, and to exchange energy with that audience in symbiosis with the members. Not having that gift, or the polish which accompanies it, is the reason why so many aspiring leaders fail in building any sort of large scale following. Over time, such a leader's rough edges must become rounded, so that they lose personal tics such as flailing hands. They become more focussed rather than jumping around amongst 20 different topics in their public speaking endeavors. They grow in their effectiveness, usually on a short enough time scale so that they reach their peak in time to spend most of their productive years nourishing what they have built. And here we are. There has been no rounding of the rough edges for Bob over the past twenty years, no massive accumulation of followers, and he's running out of time. The only thing he has going for him is that he hasn't quit his day job. His sleight of hand with African believers whose loyalties float amongst various Miller-based teachers is an illusion, and everybody except himself knows this.
