LCG Speaks Out Against Thiel And Those "marching to their own drum"

For quit sometime now Living Church of God knew it had a problem concerning Bob Thiel and his writings.  Thiel has labeled himself as the worlds foremost authority on end time prophecy usurping Rod Meredith of that honor.  His condescending blog directed at other Churches of God labeling them as all Laodicians has not set will with many.  .  The complaints from members reached such a crescendo that Bob had to have a meeting with Doug Winnail and Rod Meredith recently.

Apparently that meeting did little to slow the rantings of Thiel.  Those rantings have had an impact on LCG members and the authority of the Church.  Many members have questioned why the church has allowed Bob to run off at the mouth about so many subjects over the years as the worlds best authority.  They have complained to LCG HQ a lot about Bob.  

Now LCG has spoken out about those in LCG who set themselves up as authorities and "march to a different drum."

Doug Winnail writes on December 20th:

‘Blessings of Unity: David wrote, “how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1). Jesus said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30), and He prayed for His disciples, “that they may be one as We are” (John 17:11). The Scriptures reveal that the disciples had different personal perspectives (Acts 2; Galatians 2), but they learned to work together as a coordinated team to achieve their mission (2 Peter 3:14-16). They obviously realized that if each marched to his own drum, the job they were given would not get done. This is why the Apostle Paul stated that as we do the Work of God we need to be respectful and patient with each other, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3). Paul also emphasized there is “one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism” and the work of the ministry involves fostering the unity of the faith and not being split apart by different ideas about methods or doctrine (Ephesians 4:4-16). As we are led by the same Spirit, we will see divisions diminish and we will be more “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). Peace, harmony and unity in the Church of God will become visible fruits when we are led by God’s Spirit.’

UCG Budget cuts

 As the money continues to drain from UCG's coffers, they have instituted the following budget cuts.  I still do not see any budget cuts for UCG executives, Council of Elders, Evangelists or ministers.  When will they set the example?

• Reduce mileage reimbursement by 20%;

• Reduce subsidies overall for U.S. congregations by 16%;

• Reduce subsidies overall for international areas by 16%;

• Use online ministerial training in lieu of a ministerial development conference

• Postpone area ministerial conferences;

• Conduct Senior Pastor & UYC Camp director conferences by video conference

• Reduce travel reimbursement by limiting travel outside of church circuits

• Reduce travel budget to international areas by 44%.

Media and Communications Services: ($1.4 million):

• Reduce The Good News (GN) magazine from 48 pages to 40;

• Renew GN subscriptions more often to reduce the print run and related costs (as well as consolidate the mailing list with more motivated subscribers)

• Curtail direct mail card packs and outside magazine print advertising for The Good News and our booklets;

• Drop World Harvest Network for televising the Beyond Today program while maintaining coverage on WGN America and the Word Network

• Suspend home office paid Internet advertising for our literature in all areas outside of the United States to reduce GN and booklet circulation costs to those areas;

• Publish United News six times a year instead of ten;

• Move Vertical Thought, our teen and young adult magazine, from print to a solely online production for the time being;

• Publish the United Youth Camps brochure in the February issue of United News rather than as a separate item;

• Reduce the Spanish and Portuguese publishing budgets;

• Reduce funding for bulk literature sent to our international offices.

Aaron Dean identified other ways to economize:

• Modify healthcare program, adding employee premiums, raising deductibles;

• Transfer funding of international ministers’ travel to the annual meeting of the General Conference of Elders from home office to each international region;

• Conduct at least one video conference for the Council of Elders each year, and more when appropriate, to save travel costs;

• Visiting ministers will stay with home office employees during conferences and be served economical lunches and dinners at the home office to save hotel and restaurant expenses.

E. W. King; My Prophecies Have Come True

E W King is gloating on his blog today that two prophecies he made earlier in the year have come true. 

He predicted solar flares and tornadoes.

On the Christ-mas tornadoes:

Christ-mas tornadoes????
Today, December 25,2012, we see rare tornados hitting the states. A major winter storm sweeping through the United States could tangle holiday travel plans in the central United States and even in the South, as could a weaker storm moving through the Northeast.
The Northeast storm will likely bring a “wintry mix” to cities of the I-95 corridor and east to the coast but could still be detrimental to holiday travelers,
On the official COGSR website there is a whole list of these predictions since April 2011. Stay tooned for more prophecy fulfillments!

He describes himself talking about solar flares:

Mr. E.W.King predicted that the solar cycle would get off to an earlier time than expected. He stated:
“Our sun has a solar storm cycle which comes every 11 years. Sometime in November of 2012 we should begin to see an increase in solar activity. Long lasting solar storms may damage high-latitude power grids.”
And what do we see has happened?
· The Sun erupted with two prominence eruptions, one after the other over a four-hour period on Nov. 16, 2012, between the hours of 1 and 5 a.m. EST.

I tremble at his awesomeness.....where can I send my money?

Dumpster Therapy

Bob Thiel: Being Doubly Blessed With The Holy Spirit Causes Departure From LCG?

Things are getting curiouser and curiouser in Thiel land.  Did Bob finally cross the line this past month with his "prophetic" postings?  Thiel feels he has more wisdom and knowledge about prophecy and end times rigmarole than even Rod Meredith does.  Thiel's anti-Catholic stance and his criticism of President Obama pushed Living Church of God to reign him recently.  Apparently that was only temporary.  It looks like Thiel has parted ways from Living Church of God.

I have had several people email me tonight that Thiel is out of LCG.  I also realize how intensely disliked Thiel is by many in LCG. Looking on his blog tonight there are a couple of strange postings that lightly touch on the subject.

12/16/12 a.m. Basically closed out the News of the Living Church of God page and, while there may be exceptions, expect to post certain types of news related to LCG at this page.

Thiel's LCG page where he wrote about the glories of the one and only TRUE church (Living) have this comment now:

This may be my last post on this page (though that could change). Future posts, however, are expected be found at the News of Those Once Affiliated with Global page.

He also has this little item that explains his sudden surge in book publishing and his constant radio appearance regarding Mayan prophecy.  Thiel feels he has been doubly blessed with the Holy Spirit.  Apparently way more than his old boss has been blessed.  That certainly has created a sticky situation!

On 12/15/11, a minister in good-standing with LCG anointed Bob Thiel with oil and prayed that God would grant him a double-portion of His Spirit: and things have not been the same since (he still, of course, supports the goals and biblical beliefs of Philadelphia era of the Church of God)

Notice that Thiel now supports the goals and beliefs of the broader Philadelphia area of the church and NOT Living Church of God who he had been proclaiming as God's ONLY church on the entire earth carrying out the proclamation of the gospel.