Bob Thiel Makes An Ass of Himself...... Again....

Bob Thiel, the non-ordained self-appointed false prophet of the Continuing Ed Church of God, is making more asinine claims against the new Pope.

The Pope has ordered an investigation into the corruption in the Vatican Bank.  Thiel sees this as a sign of the end times.  Everything is a conspiracy or a sign pointing to the end.

 I cannot imagine living my life filled with this much fear. It is amazing to sit here and watch the mental break down of this guy over the last year or so.  I can only imagine how miserable hi family is having to deal with this stupidity all the time.  He takes himself far too seriously.

Pope Francis tightens Vatican bank controls

August 8, 2013

The Pope recently set up a commission to investigate the bank and report back to him personally…
Pope Francis’s number one priority this summer is to sort out the financial mess at the Vatican bank and a parent body which looks after the financial assets of the Holy See, the BBC’s David Willey reports from Rome.
Bank review
The new decree is intended to tackle “money-laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”, the Vatican said.
It sets up a financial security committee to coordinate the anti-corruption effort.
Church spokesman Federico Lombardi said the decree would help the Vatican resist “increasingly insidious” forms of international financial crime…
The Vatican bank, which is known officially as the Institute for Religious Works, handles the payroll for some 5,000 Vatican employees. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23621235

The USA seems to be the country that  introduced a lot of financial controls and reporting (spying) at banks within its borders, in these times.  Because of its financial influence, this has spread to other countries (where the USA pressures them and/or their banks to provide information to the USA).

While there is nothing obviously nefarious about what Pope Francis is doing (especially, as in his case there reportedly was a lot of Vatican-bank related corruption that he needed to deal with), I cannot help but feel that his actions, combined with those of others nations, are truly a prelude to the fulfillment of the following prophecies:

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.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.   (Revelation 13:16-18)

As far as USA espionage goes, there have been articles about how its Drug Enforcement Administration has tapped into various databanks in order to go after Americans.  While the USA is NOT the Beast of the sea nor the Beast of the land of Revelation 13, some of its policies and practices are making it easier for those Beasts to rise up.

Bob Thiel: As The World's Foremost Scientist I Say Evolution Is Illogical

Bob Thiel is well known in his own eyes as the worlds foremost authority on prophecy, end time events and Mayan gibberish, is also now weighing in as a premier scientist:

As a scientist, I have long known that proponents of evolution treat the subject more like a religious view than a scientific theory. This is somewhat also what the Ben Stein movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed revealed (see Ben Stein’s Expelled).

Which was?

Scientists who challenge too many claims associated with evolution are shunned by many academic institutions, as there is a tremendous amount of pressure at most “leading” academic institutions to squelch research that is not in support of evolution because it will affect their beliefs.  Thus many ‘accept’ evolution and act like it is a scientific fact, when instead it is an unproven model that can scientifically be rebutted at various stages.

Evolution has led to the intentional ignorance of appropriate scientific methods. It became a religion for many in the 19th century, and remains one for many today.

Bob Thiel: God Is Punishing California With Another Wildfire

What would the Church of God be without some dumb-ass prophet making another stupid comment when a disaster strikes.  Its all their god's doing because their god is pissed.

The mountain communities of Poppet Flats, Twin Pines and Silent Valley were under mandatory evacuation order due the blaze, which the department said was “burning at a critical rate.” Evacuations were also ordered in the Vista Grande and Mt. Edna communities, according to Cal Fire.

Just after midnight Thursday, new evacuations were ordered for portions of Cabazon including Peach, Plum and Eucalyptus streets, and Riza, Ida, and Helen avenues.

 http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Wildfire-Riverside-County-Banning-Silver-Fire-218750601.html

The Bible shows that God uses weather to get people’s attention. Sometimes to punish, sometimes to lead to repentance, and other times to consider that God, not humankind, is in control.

Although California historically has wildfires, the Bible also mentions fire as something God sometimes uses. Here are some examples:

11 The Lord said:
“Surely it will be well with your remnant;
Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you
In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
12 Can anyone break iron,
The northern iron and the bronze?
13 Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as plunder without price,
Because of all your sins,
Throughout your territories.
14 And I will make you cross over with your enemies
Into a land which you do not know;
For a fire is kindled in My anger,
Which shall burn upon you.” (Jeremiah 15:11-14)

12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:
“Execute judgment in the morning;
And deliver him who is plundered
Out of the hand of the oppressor,
Lest My fury go forth like fire
And burn so that no one can quench it,
Because of the evil of your doings.
13 “Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,
And rock of the plain,” says the Lord,
“Who say, ‘Who shall come down against us?
Or who shall enter our dwellings?’
14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,” says the Lord;
“I will kindle a fire in its forest,
And it shall devour all things around it.”‘ (Jeremiah 21:12-14)

11 The Lord has fulfilled His fury,
He has poured out His fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations. (Lamentations 4:11)

15 There the fire will devour you,
The sword will cut you off;
It will eat you up like a locust. (Nahum 3:15)

But be comforted those of you that have lost homes and property during the fire. Bob is praying for you! Woo hoo!

My prayers are with those affected by the fires and I also pray that those in California will repent as worse problems are ahead if it continues to go in a moral direction away from the Bible. Weather problems can be a warning.

James Malm: No Hotel Room Cleaning On Saturdays But What About Driving Rental Cars on Saturdays During Feast?

Example: Paying a caterer in the middle of the week to serve your entire COG group a large meal on a high holy day (Ex: 8th day of the FOT). Would this caterer and their staff, no doubt be working around the clock to provide a meal for such a large number of people? Work that would no doubt be completed on the holy day, or at least partially so? Would that work no doubt be condemned by God? Yes

 “But, as long as we don’t exchange payment on the Sabbath for their labor, it is ok right?”

How many times has this occurred and the church has asked the members not to tip the catering staff?  How many of us would feel comfortable tipping the catering staff, and then getting up to go find our seats for the afternoon service? How is that any different than tipping a server in a restaurant?  

“How about your hotel at the Feast? You pay the owner and their staff to take care of your room during your entire stay? This would have to include labor on the Sabbath and High days!”

Again, what is in your DIRECT influence of control? Are you able to put a “Do not Disturb” placard on your doorknob, so at the very least the maid does not need to labor on your room that day? Do you have to order room service on a high day? Does the teenager at Starbucks have to make you a latte on a High day? Can you not plan ahead for meals by buying a sandwich and sides the day before, so that you have a prepared meal ready for between services? Is it absolutely necessary (as in, no possible alternative) to pay your final bill on the High day or Sabbath? 

Can you not try to exchange payment sometime before the holy day begins?  These things are in your DIRECT influence of control.

“What about renting a car during the feast? You are using it on the Sabbath and High days, and you are paying for it’s entire use over the 8 days, thus aren’t you paying for goods on the Sabbath?” No, because I will not make payment for that car on the Sabbath or the High day. This is within my DIRECT influence of control. Does my driving the rental car cause any DIRECT labor to be done on my behalf? Someone may be able to split hairs fine enough to find a way to say that I am, and I would only reply “it is outside of my DIRECT sphere of influence.”

If we were to follow this flawed logic to the extreme, then no one could ever purchase anything, at any time, because of the possibility labor could have occurred on the Sabbath during its making. This would be Pharisaical, and completely unreasonable. Remember, this argument is against eating in a restaurant on the Sabbath.

We understand that this is not God’s world. It is Satan’s. There is no way we can ever be completely untouched by someone who broke the Sabbath to labor upon it. Sin is everywhere, and we cannot escape its sphere of influence completely. But, there are many, many things that are DIRECTLY under our control. And that which we can control, we should! God WILL hold us accountable for the things we can DIRECTLY control. He will not hold us accountable for the things out of our direct control.

James Malm: If it is Wrong to Make a Prostitute Work on Saturdays is it Also Wrong to Use Electricity?

Now the conversation has moved on to electricity.  This is the favorite pick and choose topic for those advocating strict Saturday activities.

One of the major arguments against the points listed above is, “if you declare eating on a restaurant a sin because you exchanged payment for another person’s labor, then wouldn’t it be a sin to use electricity on the Sabbath?” 
“Someone had to work at the plant on the Sabbath to provide your electricity. Then you also shouldn’t run any water on the Sabbath either for the same reason. See what happens if you declare eating in restaurants a sin, some people will inevitably split hairs until we become Pharisaical in observing the Sabbath……..turning it into a burden.”

 Malm chimes in: 

This idea that men generate electricity is not true; the generation of electricity is mechanical and does not involve human intervention  [or could be entirely automatic if unions would allow it] except a standby for emergencies.  The company has direct control over the building of new plants, maintenance scheduling, paperwork, setting up new accounts, billing etc and could very easily choose not to do these things on Sabbath.  This is like saying, because some farmer planted potatoes on the Sabbath, we are responsible for his actions when we buy in market during the week.  It is nonsense!

Questions to ask:

Do you pay your electric or water bill on the Sabbath? Are you DIRECTLY involved in the labor of these plant workers, including handing over payment to them for the DIRECT labor they provided you? No. This is out of your direct control. Even though you can choose not to turn on your light switch (Pharisees), this will not stop the employees at the power plant. That is because you have no DIRECT influence over them and their day.

But, when you eat in a restaurant, are you not DIRECTLY influencing the restaurant employee’s day? What if the place is slow, and you were not come in, they will have no customers for that hour. But if you enter, you DIRECTLY change and influence the situation through your presence. The hostess must find you a table, the server must take your order and make sure drinks are filled, and the cooks now must labor in the kitchen to personally make YOUR food. Then you directly compensate these employees for their service and goods. One situation involves our DIRECT influence, the other does not. The electric company argument is truly splitting hairs, and therefore invalid.

James Malm: Is a Restaurant Table Within Your "Gates?"

The fun just keeps going on and on....

Ex 20:10 “In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. “

How about “within your gates”? Explicitly this means anyone on your property, but could it not also imply anyone within your personal realm of influence or space? When we sit down at a table within a restaurant, is not that table now part of our personal space? Do we not control that space at least temporarily? Yes, the restaurant owner ultimately owns the table, but they are allowing you to have it to yourself for a time, in return for monetary compensation. No one else is able to use that table while you sit at it. It is temporarily under your control for the time you use their services. “Within your gates” – could this not imply your personal table at a restaurant?

“Male or female servant.” A waiter or waitress is called a “server” for a reason. Are they not paid to serve you, the customer? Admittedly, you are not forcing them to serve you, nor are you their “master” in the sense of a master/slave /servant relationship.  But are you not influencing them directly to work on behalf of you and your party. 

“Yeah but I have no control over them. I’m not telling them to serve me.”

 Imagine: What would you do if you sat down at a table, and the server never came over to ask for drinks and take your food order? Would you not get up and ask someone to come serve you? Possibly get upset that no one came to take your order? The truth is, we do directly affect the actions and the amount of money the server and business owner makes that day, when we walk through the door.

James Malm On Prostitutes and Sabbath Eating

James Malm, the Church of God's chief peddler in legalistic mumbo-jumbo of useless, outdated laws and regulations, has been working over time the last couple of years bellowing at COG members who dare to eat in restaurants on Saturdays.

To Malm, eating in restaurants and new moons are the  two tests that God has placed upon the Church of God.

The Sabbath and the Calendar are primary TEST issues; testing whether the COG leaders, elders and brethren  are humble enough to turn from their own false traditions, and embrace the increase in knowledge that Jesus Christ has promised us for the very end time, Dan 12.

One of Malm's acolytes sent him the following letter which Malm takes as vindication for his recent tirades:

You are correct in declaring there are many within the COG questioning the traditions of men. I am now in the process of studying the Calendar issue and there are others in our congregation doing so as well. We are striving to prove all things according God’s word just as Paul instructed. No longer can we trust any man to guide us without fail.

Is it Hypocritical to Eat in a Restaurant on the Sabbath? 


First ask yourself:

1. Is laboring on the Sabbath to receive payment a sin?   Yes
2. Is laboring specifically in a restaurant on the Sabbath to receive payment a sin?   Yes
3. Would you ever personally labor in a restaurant on the Sabbath to receive payment?   No
4. When you eat in a restaurant, do you not physically hand over payment to the server for the direct labor they expended on your party, including the food provided to you?   Yes
5. Do you not adjust this payment (specifically tip) according to the level/quality/amount of labor in which they provided?   Yes

So then:

1. If laboring on the Sabbath is a sin
2. Laboring specifically in a restaurant on the Sabbath is a sin
3. As a converted Christian you would NEVER work in a restaurant on the Sabbath because that would be a sin
4. Direct payment IS exchanged specifically for the level, amount, and quality of labor (including goods provided)

Then:

Would it not be hypocritical to hand over payment to a server specifically for labor on the Sabbath? Labor that you yourself would NEVER do? 

“Yeah but eating in a restaurant is a good chance to let our light shine!”

Imagine: You call your server over to your table, you look them in the eye and say, “I would never ever do you what you just did for me and my party because God declares that a sin;  but I very much appreciate you doing it for me and my family, so that my wife did not have to labor, and so our day could be more relaxing, and enjoyable. Go get me another cup of coffee, some rolls for my kids, and I will tell you more!”

What kind of light are we shining?

“Yeah but, we are not FORCING them to labor on the Sabbath. They would be doing it whether or not we go into the restaurant!”

Did you know that eating in a restaurant on Saturday is similar to visiting a prostitute on Saturday?  In both cases you are making someone work.

Another scenario to consider:

1. Is having any form of sex out of wedlock sin?  Yes
2. Is being a prostitute a sin?  Yes
3. Is it a sin to engage in the services of a prostitute?  Yes
4. Wouldn’t a prostitute just end up committing sexual immorality whether or not I engage in her services?  Yes

Then in that case… why not visit a prostitute? She would be committing sin anyway. It’s not like we are not coercing her to do so?

“Wait! That is not the same thing at all! Everyone knows prostitution is a sin. No converted Christian would ever argue prostitution isn’t a sin. Nor that visiting a prostitute, partaking in their activity of employment, and directly exchanging payment for the act performed would be sin. Not the same thing at all.”

Let’s look at the two scenarios side by side:

Restaurant / Prostitute

1. Is it a sin to work on the Sabbath?  Yes      B Is it a sin to commit sexual immorality?  Yes
2. Is it a sin to work in a restaurant on the Sabbath? Yes     B Is it a sin to work as a prostitute?  Yes
3. Would I personally ever work in a restaurant on the Sabbath?  No. Why? Because it is a sin.    B Would I personally ever work as a prostitute? No. Why? Because it is a sin.
4. Won’t the server be working on the Sabbath  (committing sin) whether or not I visit the restaurant?  Yes    B Won’t the prostitute commit sexual immorality whether or not I visit the prostitute?  Yes

The scenarios aren’t really so different, are they?

We would never visit a prostitute, despite the fact we know they would commit sin whether or not we visit them.  This because we know a sin is a sin, and circumstances do not change that fact. 

 Then apostle Malm jumps in with this:

Admin:  This is a good example but the issue is largerl since the excuse “they will do it anyway” would justify participating in almost ANY sin.  We are to set an example of godliness, not to follow the crowd!  That is what letting our light shine really means!

 Then his acolyte continues with this:

Then shouldn’t the same be true for directly paying someone for the labor provided on the Sabbath? Something we ourselves would never do, because we know laboring on the Sabbath is a sin!  Even though we understand they would sin, whether or not we partake of their services, that does not make it acceptable for us to partake in their sin (as with the prostitute).

I think it is rather obvious that Malm and crew will NOT be eating at Hooters during the Feast on holy days and sabbath's.....