For over 80 some years now the Church of God has had self-appointed prophets popping up in its midst with one miraculous revelation after another. Many of them are now dead or are sitting in their living rooms expecting a few devotees to send them money in order to keep a roof over their heads. Here we are in 2018 and not one of their prophecies has come to pass. Every single one has turned out to be a lair and a false prophet. Yet, that never seems to stop a new crop of prophets popping up year after year.
While many revealed themselves before Herbert Armstrong's death, they were nothing compared to today's crop of self-appointed prophets. Gerald Flurry claims he regularly receives divine revelations from his god. Dave Pack hit the scene running with over 130 some prophecies and a firm statement that tens of thousands of COG members would jump over to his church after his god struck down the leaders of four Churches of God. Ron Weinland has made so many failed prophecies that he now looks like a blithering idiot. All one has to do is take a look back in previous issues of The Journal and see the ads for all the other raving lunatics.
Yet, in all of this quagmire of silliness, one guy stands out in particular. For several years now he has been working overtime to remind us every other month that he IS a prophet of God. No excuse to legitimize himself is too far out to consider valid. From nightmares after a bad Mexican dinner to mentally disturbed people in other countries dreaming up dreams to legitimize our favorite prophet; the excuses are constantly flowing forth in order to impress us on how holy he really is.
Ever the constant name dropper, this prophet has to drop the names of Rod Meredith, Richard Ames, Gaylon Bomjour, Dibar Apartian and others as his "proof's."
This is what he is publishing in his booklet,
"Continuing History of the Church of God: Historical Overview of the True Church of God and Some of its Main Opponents from the 1st to 21st Century."
One group that was mainly faithful for a time to the teachings and practices of the Bible and the basic doctrines of HerbertArmstrong’s old Radio/Worldwide Church of God was theGlobal, then Living Church of God. Its physical human leader has been Roderick C. Meredith, who left WCG in late 1992.
In January 1993, Dr. Meredith began a church with the name Global Church of God (GCG). About two years later, evangelist Dibar Apartian joined with him. While trying to please various ministers, Dr. Meredith made certain statements on governance and other matters that concerned many (including this author).
Then, after an unusual series of legal moves by some individuals who did not share his public vision for leading the church, Dr. Meredith decided it was necessary to leave GCG in late 1998 to form the Living Church of God (GCG in the USA shut itself down within a year). For a short time, my COGwriter.comwebsite served as LCG’s website until LCG’s website got going.
Later, Dr. Meredith made me (Bob Thiel), over my objections, promise that I needed to tell him when I thought that he was“pulling punches” doctrinally. In early 2002, after LCG came out with its first public Official Statement of Fundamental Beliefs, I sent him an email where I mentioned that I felt he was pulling punches doctrinally and informed him that the Official Statementseemed Laodicean. Many, but not all, of the additions I requested were adopted by LCG officially in November 2002.308
Prophetic and Doctrinal Matters
In the Summer of 2005, Dr. Meredith appointed me to be an advisor to the evangelists on matters of doctrine and prophecy. Some of my advice was heeded, but much was agreed to, but not implemented. It was LCG’s failure to keep promises and to publish known errors that was distressing. One LCG evangelist flat-out told me that it did not matter that errors were being sent out as most of their readers would not really know the difference.
This I found to be outrageous and unacceptable (cf. Jeremiah 48:10).
Before that happened, on October 3, 2008, Dr. Meredith telephoned me and stated, “God may consider you to be aprophet.” Shortly afterwards I told that to Dibar Apartian, whotold me, “You are either ‘the one’ (‘the one’ to lead the Philadelphians at the end) or the biggest threat to the Church!” In 2010, Dibar Apartian confirmed I was not the biggest threat, but instead that God had an important end-time role for me.309
In January 2009, Dr. Meredith told me that if he raised himself to the office of apostle that he might ordain me as a prophet (which made me wonder about his view of spiritual gifts and theological authority). Although he did not raise himself up nor ordain me, in the Fall of 2011, two LCG ministers told me that I did not need to have hands laid upon me to be a prophet. I disagreed and I specifically prayed about this ‘prophet matter’ and asked God to give me insight on whether He might consider me tobe a prophet when I was to visit LCG’s offices in Charlotte, North Carolina in December 2011.
This prayer was answered when I ended up having had hands laid upon me by LCG minister Gaylyn Bonjour on December 15, 2011. He laid hands upon me and anointed me with oil and unexpectedly prayed that I would be given a “double-portion” of God’s Spirit (which Gaylyn Bonjour ended up telling me was reminiscent of the mantle passing from Elijah to Elisha; cf. 2 Kings 2:9-15 and what this anointing could mean).
Gaylyn Bonjour’s comments then, and in March 2012, made me wonder if the mantle had truly been passed and if the final phase of the work could begin (cf. Acts 13:41; Isaiah 22:20-23; Romans 9:28).
Earlier, back on December 16, 2011, there was a private lunch in Charlotte with me and LCG evangelists Dr. Meredith, Richard Ames, and Dr. Douglas Winnail. Richard Ames prayed, with“Amen” concurrence from Dr. Meredith and Dr. Winnail, that I would continue to do the work that God has had me to do, etc.
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Richard Ames also specifically called my writings/work “an additional witness.” Hence, there was a broad top-level concurrence with the evangelical and prophetic fruits of that work. Various promises were made to me by Dr. Meredith in meetings that month concerning doctrinal corrections, some of which he specifically assigned due dates in January 2012--yet none were kept that year nor the next. Instead, LCG ‘doubleddown’ and publicly promoted positions that several of its top leaders had admitted to me were errors. The Bible shows that the Jewish religious leaders somewhat knew about Jesus (John 3:1- 2), yet betrayed Him (Matthew 27:18). Sadly, though various LCG evangelists knew/suspected my role in 2012 and agreed to fix errors, in their own manners, they betrayed me and the truth.
Our amazing doubly blessed prophet is so fantabulous that his prophecies go even further than Herbert Armstrong's and the heretic Rod Meredith's. In fact, Rod Meredith was such a poor prophet that even he acknowledges someone GREATER than him was to hit the scene:
Unlike Herbert Armstrong who restored truths to the Philadelphia era, and Bob Thiel who added many more details to those truths and restored more that was lost regarding church history, prophecy, and doctrine, Dr. Meredith has not claimed to do that. Nor has he fulfilled the prophetic office. Yet, he wrote that someone had to.
Let's take a huge guess here. Just WHO could that ONE person be? This is so hard to contemplate! Never fear though, Doug Winnail knew who THAT prophet was:
Consider also, even after I left LCG, an email from LCG evangelist Douglas Winnail sent to me on January 7, 2013 stated,“we made comments to you that ‘you may be a prophet.’”317
On September 27 2018, the divine one had to yet AGAIN tell us just how important he is to the Church of God. Like usual, he lashes out in bitterness at the Living Church of God because they have rejected him:
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Apostle Paul makes it clear that not all are prophets. Prophet is an office and prophets are to prophesy as God’s Spirit moves them. LCG’s position is that it has NO prophets (which is apparently the case as I stopped associating with LCG on 12/28/12). And it has had Dexter Wakefield publish that:
We are aware of no prophets in the Church today (Wakefiel D. Living Church News, July-August 2015, p. 26)
But it should be noted that starting with a telephone call from its late top leader on October 3, 2008, LCG had repeatedly stated that God may consider Bob Thiel to be a prophet.
Consider also:
- On August 26, 2012, LCG Evangelist Dr. D. Winnail told Bob Thiel, “We all think that you might be a prophet.” In order to determine who “We all” was, on September 7, 2012, I asked if this was a reference to all three of the LCG Charlotte-based evangelists and Dr. Winnail concurred.
- On January 7, 2013, Dr. Douglas Winnail sent me an email, which included the statement, “we made comments to you that “you may be a prophet.””
Now that I am not in LCG, it seems obvious that LCG does not have any prophets. As far as LCG and other COGs go, they have at least 38 prophetic errors, which are cited in the article The Laodicean Church Era.
The craziness continues:
Dexter Wakefield’s ‘rare prophet’ article continued with:
“Prophets” in the sense of Elijah are rare,
True. But rare does not mean that there are not and cannot be any. Now while Dexter Wakefield did not make that error, many in various COGs have concluded that rare means none. The New Testament is clear that God has prophets who prophesy (1 Corinthians 12:28-30) and will do so in the last days (Acts 2:17-18). Those in LCG and all other COGs need to realize this.
As far as ‘Elijah,’ the position of the Church of God since the beginning is that there would be three biblical ‘Elijahs.’ The original Elijah (e.g. 1 Kings 17:1), John the Baptist (Matthew 7:12-13), and an Elijah to come at the very end of the church age (Malachi 4:4-6) to restore all things (Matthew 17:11).
LCG’s late Roderick C. Meredith taught that Elijah would be a younger man than he (Meredith, Roderick C. The Elijah Question. VTE 131, May 19, 2001). Its Dr. Winnail has improperly taught that the Elijah is not a person but an “Elijah-type work” which fulfills the Elijah prophesies in Matthew 17:10-11 and Malachi 4:4-6 (Winnail D. The Mission of the Church. Living Church News, March-April 2006, p. 7). The Bible shows that ‘Elijah’ will be a person.
As far as rarity goes, I would ask, “How many people were told by an actual top evangelist in the Church of God that God may consider him to be a prophet?” In the 20th and 21st centuries, there is only one who comes to mind. So, while prophets are “rare,” and being told one is a prophet by an ordained evangelist is also rare, rarity does not mean that there are none.
As far as “Elijah” goes, he is to “restore all things” (Matthew 17:11).
Even the Living Church of God has taught about restoration–yet LCG has NOT restored what it says should be done.
There is one person, in particular, that is to blame
The truth about early and apostolic Christians is that it is PROVABLY NOT IN LCG AND IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT than Dr. Meredith realized. When I was in LCG in 2011, I was trying to help them restore much of it; Dr. Meredith agreed, but then failed to keep his word. Dr. Meredith’s failure to keep his word on that and other matters was a major reason that the Continuing Church of God had to form.
Where has the historical knowledge of the early Church of God been most fully restored?
In the Continuing Church of God!
Not true at all! The improperly named "continuing" Church of God is NOT carrying on any truth. It is also a FACT that Bob Thiel is a false prophet and a liar. God no more set him up as a prophet than he has Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry or Ron Weinland.
All one has to do is look at the biblical record of prophets. They never seek to legitimize themselves. They never lie about themselves. They speak unapologetically while never whining.
Now take a look at the myriad of COG prophets who regularly pop up like pimples on Satans butt. They constantly come and go and accomplish nothing other than whine and bellyache in between the lies they regurgitate on a regular basis.
There is not a single man in the Church of God today that is a prophet. Not a single one!
