Prophet, Magician or Liar?

Bob Thiel is nothing more than an astrologer, palm reader, fortune teller, or other sort of cold reader.

His "prophecies" are generalized statements about often mundane things that it's not hard to forecast based upon the past or upon current trends, couched in metrics so vague you'd be hard pressed to say if many of them had come true or not. He carpet bombs with a couple dozen of these so-called "prophecies" and then waits for 6 months, a year, two years or more, until he can arguably say this one or that on "came true." Of course, it's so vague there's little basis to say so one way or the other for sure. But as long as he can crow victory eventually over 10 or 15 of them, that's all that matters to Bob. The rest he'll keep quiet about, and hopefully those who notice the failures won't be enough to notice. You'll certainly never find Bob admitting to having uttered any "prophecies" that turned out to be false. It's kind of like prophesying that the price of an ounce of gold or a barrel of oil will hit $x. Sure, given enough time, it's bound to happen sooner or later. And when it does, does that make you a "prophet"? Of course not!

If Bob really were a prophet, that is to say, receiving information from "beyond" about the future, he wouldn't need to resort to these well-known cold reading techniques. No, he'd be making highly specific predictions about things that matter, that shift the balance of power in the world. And he wouldn't need to carpet bomb. He could pronounce them one at a time, and he could predict the timing as well. And he could nail every single major event without missed opportunities or missteps. Instead his "prophecies" have the grubby fingerprints of a hoax all over them.

But not Bob. No, Bob is a "prophet" in the same sense that a "magician" is one who works "magic." He's not breaking the laws of physics, there's nothing supernatural about it, just sleight of hand. The only difference is that a magician deceives people honestly, for entertainment purposes. Bob deceives people dishonestly, to enrich himself at other's expense. Bob has to know there's nothing supernatural about his deliberately vague and often inconsequential prognostications.

From the Ritenbaugh posting.

Dave Pack Plants Armstrong Maples To Commemorate You Know Who

We have all had fun sitting back watching the blatant idolatry that goes on in various COG's splinter groups since the Worldwide Church of God imploded.  It all started with Gerald Flurry who imitates everything he could to be like Herbert Armstrong.  From building a mini-me auditorium to traipsing in the woods of Oregon to haul back a dirty rock and he claims HWA prayer at to buying an aging mansion in England and starting another "college."

Meredith then tried to emulate HWA, at who's feet he had been trained, but has failed rather spectacularly. After failing miserably in Global Church of God, he took their money and started the Living Church of God.  Never able to afford to build a college campus with fine buildings and gardens, he has had to settle on a few rooms in an office building for his "college."

Then there is United Church of God, another sad imitator, who has split and fractured so many times that they cannot keep up to date on how many are actual members.  Its media campaigns have been disastrous.  Like Meredith, it too has a few rooms in an office building that house it's "Bible" Center.

Like Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack has built himself a little empire that is another imitation of Herbert Armstrong's visions.  Regardless of how much he lies that he was trained at HWA's feet, which he wasn't, he cannot make his dwindling cult desirous of other COG members.  After predicting tens of thousands of wayward COG members would soon be flocking to Wadsworth, he has been left sitting red faced as he is unable to build his own mini-me auditorium.  

Dave recently sold his home and has had a new one construct on the Wadsworth compound along with other "faculty" homes for the boot clicking elite.  It's all imitation and make believe.  From the streams, flower beds, building designs, to even the trees he plants

Dave recently planted some maple trees on the campus to hide the metal barn that houses tractors and grounds keeping machinery.  What better tree to plant that one that's the name "Armstrong" in it!  Employees and members in Wadsworth are mocking that decision.  But poor Dave just doesn't get it.

Everything he does is an imitation of what Herbert Armstrong did.  Dave can never compare.  It is a poor business model that was doomed to failure from the start.  Dave does not have the personality that HWA did. When HWA sent out regular bombastic letters blaming members for church problems and that they needed to send in more money, they did.  When Dave speaks people tend to ignore him.  People look at Dave as a liar.  They are leaving his church daily and money continues to be a struggle.

How long will it be till the Wadsworth compound has to be sold to developers who will build condo's?