Which Present Day Church of God Is Being Led By The Modern Day Zephaniah?

Zeph the prophet

There is not a day that goes by that some crackpot in the Church of God assumes the name of some old covenant prophet.  None of them gives a damn about the New Testament characters or men of the early church but get overly orgasmic at the thought of being compared to some Old Testament prophet.

Various present church leaders have taken on the assumed personalities of many of these men and make all kinds of preposterous and outrageous claims. However, there is only one man who has taken on numerous personality claims over the last several years.  All of these claims are trotted out in order to make his self-appointment look legitimate in the eyes of his followers. By now you will have accurately guessed that it is our own Almost-arrested, almost-ordained, Joshua, Amos, Elisha, Elijah Bob Thiel.

Now, Almost-arrested Thiel claims he is the modern-day version of Zephaniah.  He makes this claim now to state that he leads the ONLY Church of God doing the correct "work" today BECAUSE his group is comprised of the peculiar people mentioned in I Peter 2:9-10.

Zephaniah 2:1

Gather yourselves together – to a religious assembly, to avert the judgment by prayers, (Joel 2:16, “Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders,” etc.) (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

When are they to gather together?

2 Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you! (Zephaniah 2:2)

The gathering is to take place well before the day of the Lord (which happens about 2 1/2 years after the Great Tribulation of Matthew 24:21 begins) and before some type of decree is issued.

Who does God want to gather together?

The end time Christians. Notice what Jesus stated and something the Apostle Peter wrote:

19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:19, NKJV)

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10, KJV)

This is a peculiar people. These are people who the world does not desire. These are Philadelphian Christians.

Of course, it is a well know fact that Philadelphia Christians can only be Church of God, but even that number of people is narrowed to down to include only followers of the self-appointed leader, regardless of who they are.

That special group always has biblical references to be found in the Bible and ALWAYS ends up describing a specific COG group that includes ALL the other groups.

How do we know that Zephaniah 2:1-3 is related to Christians? Because the decree is for the end time and because of what else God inspired Zephaniah to write:

3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. (Zephaniah 2:3a)

The above is a reference to Christians as they are to be the “meek of the earth” (Matthew 5:5) and to Philadelphians who “have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility.” These are Philadelphian Christians who understand that church leaders need to have integrity and are willing to be humble enough to accept the authority of a church led by a low-level prophet in the absence of a clear apostle (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11-15). They are humble enough to not think that they should remain ‘independent,’ as many who once were part of the old Worldwide Church of God, during this Laodicean time, have done.

Did you catch the comment above?  Almost-arrested Thiel says his followers must have the humility to accept the authority of church lead by a low-level PROPHET.  These overly humble people also know that they MUST remain "independent" as a church.  And we all know who is the ONLY independent Church of God out there, don't we!

Because Bitter Bob is the modern day reincarnation of Zephaniah, he wants to make it clear that his group is the ONLY group that is doing a final phase work.

Why does God tell them they may wish to be gathered together? So:

3…It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger. (Zephaniah 2:3b)

Interestingly, the Hebrew words translated as Zephaniah means “Yahweh Hides” or “Yahweh Has Hidden” (Holy Bible: Vine’s Expository Reference Edition, p. 826).

Why have I written that Zephaniah 2:1-3 has to do with Philadelphian Christians?

For they are the only ones who will actually ‘gather together’ as they should.

Why?

Because it is they who will lead the final phase of the work and it is only to the Philadelphians that Jesus promises to protect from the coming hour of trial, also referred to as the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord:

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,

‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie — indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘ (Revelation 3:7-13)

Notice that the Philadelphians are doing the work of God, have kept God’s word, have not denied Christ’s name/authority, and are persevering in the truth. 

Because his group is the only group preserving the truth, they will be preserved and safely hidden away in Petra.

Yet, other churches around at the end, such as the remnants of Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) and Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) are not promised that protection. Nor are the many Laodiceans (Revelation 3:14-22)–even if they are somehow gathered together–as they have gathered together in places that Jesus did not wish them to.

Are not all real Christians going to be protected?

No. The Book of Revelation is clear that after the Philadelphians are persecuted (cf. Daniel 7:25a; 11:29-36), that group will flee to a place of protection, while the rest of the true Christians will not flee and then be subject to severe persecution 

As we are always made aware by the self-appoint guru's of the various COG's, only the select members of the chosen group will be in the place of safety.  Since all other COG's are Laodicean, it means that  Almost-arrested Thiel's group is the ONLY true remnant church and will be the ONLY COG group there.

Who is the only Church of God in the 21st century to teach all of this?

The Continuing Church of God.

If you are not with the group that is leading the final phase of the work will you not be able to flee if you wait until the last moment? While that may be remotely possible for some, remember that God inspired Zephaniah to admonish God’s people to ‘gather together…before the decree is issued.’

Most will discount this and many will scoff. Most COGs do not have any they consider to be a prophet, and those other than the CCOG who claim to, have prophets that have been proven to be false (e.g. PCG, CGPFKG, TPM).

You bet we will mock and scoff at Almost-arrested Thiel's prophetic nonsense.  He is a liar and was never set apart by God to lead any "end time work."  That is a fact that he cannot refute.  No

 COG member, let alone any Christian would EVER be part of such an organization.

Thiel ends with this:

The old WCG taught that Zephaniah had to do with being protected, yet few teach that today.

Since no later that 2007 I have written that Zephaniah had to do with Philadelphians being ‘gathered together’ so that they would be protected from the coming trial that will hit the earth.

We in the Continuing Church of God “have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV).”

Should we not be “exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25)?

We in the Continuing Church of God boldly teach the need for Philadelphians to be ‘gathering together’ today. Will you heed God’s instructions as the Prophet Zephaniah was inspired to write? Would you possibly like to be protected? If so, will you ‘gather together’?

No Bitter Bob, we do not want to gather with you.  You are no prophet.  You are not the prophet standing in the shoes of Zephaniah. You have no instructions that Christian needs to be heeding and most certainly will NOT have any say so in "protection" from God at this point in time or at any point in the future! 

God Unable to Keep Another of His Universities Open

God seems to be having a tough time maintaining the integrity of his universities" that he supposedly established to train the true world leaders to come.

First, he had to shut down his world class campus in England where he was going to have a ringside seat when the beast power rose up in Europe.  Then he was unable to keep Big Sandy open so he inspired COG leaders to move the student to Pasadena.  Then God had problems in Pasadena and was forced to shut down Pasadena, which led him to inspire leaders to send the students back to Big Sandy.  Then after inspiring church leaders to dump millions of dollars into his university, he failed once again to keep it running and was forced to close it down.

With three universities closed down, God needed a new school for the training of his true ministers.  After putting a bug in Rod Meredith's ear to start his own true church, God whispered to the powers to be that they needed a university too.   God said to even bring in Michael Germano to once again start the university.  As one LCG member said on Facebook the other day, Germano has had his fingers in the middle to three campus closings! Rod Meredith should have known better...or maybe God should have known better.

What LCG members and other COG members should realize by now is that God was not a part of the inspiration to start these world-class universities.  It was just a bunch of narcissistic men seated around a large conference table who thought they knew what the church needed.  God was never part of the design and certainly never inspired any of them to start a college or university.

Living University was no more relevant than Gerald Flurry's Herbert W Armstrong College, United's Ambassador Bible Center, or Dave Pack's failed "university."

As usual for any of the churches behind the closing of their universities, it was NOT their fault.  Living U is blaming their closing on censorship in the world around them.

The Spring 2018 semester at Living University will be the last for its curricular programs. As we push further into the 21st century and the laws of the land become more restrictive, it is becoming more difficult for LU to function, especially in the United States. Twenty states currently prohibit us from educating their citizens and we anticipate that number will grow in the future. In this light, we have been directed to begin to wind down the efforts of Living University with the goal of concluding formal operations by the end of the Spring 2018 semester (May 2018). 

The god of the Churches of God seems to be one weak creature.  He can't keep his colleges open any more than he has kept his churches joined in unity and one in truth.