Bob Thiel: Armstrongism's Most Accurate Prophet

Bob Thiel, Living Church of God's prophetic voice on prophecy, Mayan gibberish and all things Catholic, is bragging today about his radio interviews over the last couple of days regarding the end of the world on December 12, 2012.

It is interesting to me that he works over time in disproving the Mayan  and Catholic visions of of Fatima while never paying any attention to the false prophecies and outright lies uttered over the decades by Roderick C Meredith, Gerald Waterhouse and Herbert Armstrong.  Literally hundreds of false predictions and prophecies by these men have failed miserably yet these men are raised up as virtuous wise men. Thousands of lives have been damaged and scared by these liars, yet they are given a "get out of jail" card for free.

Despite the utter failure of these men, there is one rising star in the Living Church of God that has a proven track record of his predictions being right.  At least in his eyes. 

Bob Thiel writes about his amazing accuracy:

Since my book 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect came out in 2009, I have been able to reach millions via radio (presuming audience size estimates I have been told are correct)–world events already have confirmed at least 24 predictions in it, and by the end of this month, apparently at least 27.  Interestingly, my online article End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? has had between 500,000-600,000 page views on the internet since it first came out.

While Satan seemingly has plans for 2012 related to false declarations of peace (cf. Ezekiel 13) and getting people to scoff about prophecy (cf. 2 Peter 3), as COGwriter, I have tried to explain to people interested in end time matters that Bible prophecy can be trusted and that it is not possible for today to be TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it).

Bible prophecy uttered by a Church of God minister or member is NOT accurate and CANNOT be trusted!   Every single one of them have been proven to be liars.

From Rakish Queensland Islander To Delusional Prophet

Andrew Martin in the late 1980s; during his years on Middle Percy Island, 

he became increasingly preoccupied with religion.

Here is a news story from Queensland about a man who's life was sent into a tail spin because of Armstrongism and British Israelism.

Religious fundamentalism and isolated, self-sufficient communities often go hand-in-hand, and Martin increasingly saw Middle Percy as a lifeboat in a world "drowning in sin". But how did an educated, carefree adventurer come to embrace such grim notions? Jon Hickling - who, with his wife, Liz, and their two young sons, lived on Middle Percy for 12 years - solves that abiding mystery with two words: egg cartons.

"The story Andy told us," he explains, "was that sometime in the late '60s, the Whites [former leaseholders] sent him over some egg cartons he needed on the stores boat. They were wrapped in a magazine from the Worldwide Church of God, led by someone called [Garner Ted] Armstrong. Andy wasn't religious up to that point, although he grew up in the Church of England, but when he unwrapped that magazine, and read it from cover to cover, he just went, 'Wow!' He felt like he'd been hit on the head by a thunderbolt and had seen the light."

Martin subscribed to the magazine, and became a convert to the church's theory, known as British Israelism, which holds that white races (especially the British) are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and are God's "chosen people". Before falling from favour for his philandering, Armstrong - described by one US writer as preaching to a "subculture of lonely, frightened, disoriented Americans" - also had a worldwide radio audience of millions, including Andy Martin.

By the early '90s, with his physical health in decline, Martin had become unbalanced. "He believed he was being communicated with directly by God as some sort of prophet," Hickling tells me. "It was very interesting, to say the least."

The Hicklings were practical yachties who'd arrived on Middle Percy in 1989. They built their own house near the homestead - "We couldn't have lived with Andy; others tried and just couldn't cope" - worked long hours improving the island's gardens and infrastructure, taught their sons via distance education, and did their best to look after the evermore erratic Martin.

In 1996, Martin left the island, telling the Hicklings he had to return to England to warn the British people of God's coming retribution unless they changed their evil ways. He promised to contact Queensland's Department of Natural Resources (now Environment and Resource Management) and have the Hicklings named joint leaseholders in recognition of the effort and money they'd put into Middle Percy. But because the latest 10-year pastoral lease was soon to expire, the department declined - a fateful glitch the Hicklings weren't aware of until it was too late.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/the-possibility-of-an-island-20121218-2bl9b.html#ixzz2FiY1WLrz

Aaron Dean on UCG Cash Flow Problems

Those poor overworked boys at UCG have had to cut out all kinds of expenditures that have made life so much more difficult.  Poor things!

Financial Report—Aaron Dean

The Church is currently receiving 5 percent more income than last year, which is a blessing, but it doesn’t make up for our current allocated expenditures. The special offering has so far reached almost $400,000. He explained that we are not in a bind to pay our current bills and that the main concern is our cash flow. None of our spending has been for anything except caring for the Church and preaching the gospel—the business of the Church.

The reason for the special offering letter was due to the reduction in bank balances by the use of reserves to care for pastorates and to preach the gospel. In losing a third of our prior income ($7 to $9 million per year which is it), we knew that the planned use of reserves could not go on indefinitely and that we would have to cut back in due course. It did cost more than we initially anticipated to have ministers visit churches without pastors until workable solutions could be found. Extra travel and accrued mileage was necessary to allay unfounded rumors of doctrinal change.

We did not replace every pastor that left, and have reorganized several circuits to be more efficient. Our annual payroll was $8.1 million before the split, and last year it was only at $5.7 million—even though we were serving virtually the same number of congregations. Additionally, costs for international subsidies, international Good News (GN) subscriptions (plus booklets) were growing and all being funded by the Church in the U.S. We didn’t try to expand, but we did spend a lot to maintain operations and our congregations in America and internationally. Current growth will allow a reasonable level of service even with the budget realignments.

We are now seeking to increase cash balances to avert projected cash-flow shortages before the annual Holy Days. We are cutting nearly $2 million to have a balanced budget. Since it was a special offering, it will be not be listed as regular income or used in projections for budgeting next year.