Why has this "short work" taken so damn long?

For decades the church has always trumpeted the claim that we were a little church doing a mighty work in a very short time. The ministers and church leaders who preached this have come and gone as the "work" imploded into hundreds and hundreds of tiny little groups with some of them still thinking they are doing some kind of a work.  Some of the bigger groups hop into cable channels and print glossy magazines and yet no one seems to know who they are.  None have ever reached to the same level that the bombastic Herbert Armstrong achieved.  As much as they try to imitate him they end up looking like complete fools.

Their "work" is a times trite and silly with countless predictions and myriads of rules and regulations that they claim are necessary for salvation by their chosen god.

Imagine a splinter group leader who supposedly make the remark that  "LCG’s influence was like 1/2 a peanut shell in the Pacific Ocean.."  This is a pretty pathetic statement for a man who claimed to have been trained at the feet of Herbert Armstrong and yet though the had the best Church of God qualified to so a "short work."

That peanut shell comment was supposedly made by Rod Meredith to Tinfoil Bob Thiel  in a conversation that no one can prove ever happened. God's most highly chosen splinter leader, after Dave Pack, has this to say  about that short work:

Back in November 2002, the late Dr. Roderick C. Meredith and I had a discussion about that. I reminded him that he said that LCG’s influence was like 1/2 a peanut shell in the Pacific Ocean. And got him to understand that even if LCG doubled it television coverage that this would not fulfill Matthew 24:14. 

Thiel then goes on to say that there was not a single man in the meeting room that had the biblical understanding that he did. The other evangelists sat in awe as they listened to the miraculous words emanating from the golden mouth of the non-ordained "son" of Meredith.

During that meeting, and subsequent meetings with other LCG evangelists, I put forth my view that for a short time, the media would focus on the message of the Philadelphian work–particularly after identifying the King of the North and explaining what he would do (cf. Daniel 11:39-43). All the evangelists seemed like they had not thought of that, but that they agreed with the vision I laid out.

Apparently Living Church of God never recovered from the revelation from Tinfoil Bob and to this day has never accomplished anything worthwhile.  Because of that, Almost-arrested Bawana Bob, the great hero of Africa, determined he needed to step up to the plate and start God's ONLY end time church.

In late December 2017, in the article titled "18 items to prophetically watch in 2018," I wrote:

Jesus taught:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)  

In the Continuing Church of God, in sermons, I have gone over every thing that the Bible records that Jesus spoke in the New Testament. … 

We also have made literature available, not only on the internet, but in printed form and in multiple languages.

Jesus also taught:

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:14-22)

Elijah Thiel somehow believes he has preached everything there is to know about Jesus.  (Excuse me while recover from laughing so hard!)

Tinfoil Bob truly believes that he and he alone is doing the most magnificent work the church has ever seen in its history.  No work is more amazing as his.  No one has been on more conspiracy radio programs than hehas, no one has printed more literature in more languages than he has, no one has reached more territories or had so  many viewers of his videos than he has. Dave Pack was seen trembling in his fourth floor office when he heard this. Because of his great work, the end times will soon be here.

Notice that the Great Tribulation happens after Matthew 24:14 has been fulfilled to God’s satisfaction. 

In the Continuing Church of God, we have a booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, available in close to 100 languages. They can be found at www.ccog.org 

According to AWStats, our websites have been visited by people from at least 220 nations/territories. According to YouTube our online videos have been viewed by people from at least 220 nations/territories. 

More will be done.    

Absolutely right!  The work continues with Banned by HWA!!!!!!  Here is how many this "short work has reached in less time that Thiel has been in operation!

The late artist Andy Warhol was known for getting the idea out that people are entitled to their ‘fifteen minutes of fame.” 

The Apostle Paul wrote that God would have a short work:

28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth. (Romans 9:28) 

In the Continuing Church of God, we are preparing for this through the development of articles and booklets, and in numerous languages. 

We believe that when we publicly identify the coming King of the North and explain that he is pushing a false peace and false gospel, and that he will destroy the USA and its Anglo-Saxon dominated allies, as well as an Islamic power, that media attention will be focused on us and what we teach. 

This will be the short work, and will lead to the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14.
Are you going to watch or support the work? 

Jesus praised the Philadelphians for their work (Revelation 3:7-13), while condemning the Laodicean Christians for being lukewarm about the work (Revelation 3:14-22).

When you read Thiel's screed you will see that he believes he is doing a huge work on YouTube and of course in Africa.

The YouTube video, Something is Biblical About This!, has received over 265,000 views in the past seven or eight days. After showing various leaders covered by the news, the video switches to one of our videos (PESCO and a Great European Army) and shows many excerpts for about five minutes. 

So while YouTube only shows that our BNP channel has so far had less than 600 views, we actually have had a couple of hundred thousand more views than that. 

We in CCOG are leading the Final Phase of the Work and various ones in the media will cover parts of what we teach in the future. Matthew 24:14, which was not the topic of the video that was covered, will be fulfilled. 

Anyway, being featured in another video gives parts of the message we are proclaimed some fame. More will happen in the future. 

Outside media attention of aspects of our views, including from those hostile to aspects of what we teach will help lead to the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14. The media and the short work

So there you have it.  The only "short work" out there will soon be cut short because the world will soon be persecuting the "work" of Bawana Bob.

Why is the god of Armstrongism such an impotent god that it has to rely upon blithering idiots like Thiel and Malm to do its "small work?"

Sleeping In Church

Can there be anything more sleep-inducing than an hour and a half sermon by a COG minister who has to have 25+ points to get his point across as he makes you turn to 5,000 scriptures?  As your eyes start to flutter trying to stay awake because of the boring drivel you slowly start to realize that you are hearing the same canned sermon from two years ago.  

cartoon submitted by TLA

The Methodology of Bible Study: Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course

Today, I want to talk a bit about the methodology that Herbert Armstrong used when it came to how he interpreted the Bible to those who subscribed to the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course, and listened to his sermons and messages. In Volume One of the 1955 Correspondence Course, Herbert outlines four different ways that one could approach studying the Bible properly. They are: 

1) What the Bible is, how it was written, how to study it, and why "no one understands it." 

In reality, the Correspondence Course was full of this, in extremely detailed, specific instructions, down to exactly what Bible to get, and what pencils to use, how long to study, and the methods of indoctrination (i.e. meditation, habit, writing, etc.) So, to say this was not used as an approach isn't correct. This approach was used in combination with their chosen approach. So yes, they did use this as a methodology, detailed, specific, and exact. 

2) To start at the very beginning, with Genesis. 

They say they did not adopt this approach - but in reality, they kind of did, just not with the Correspondence Course exactly. They used this approach with the Youth Bible Stories/Studies, leading the children through the tumultuous and violent Old Testament, punctuated with intensely graphic illustrations by Basil Wolverton, Church member and illustrator of MAD Magazine Fame. After a full childhood of indoctrination of the horrors of the wrath of God, the opening of the Earth, David, Samson, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Balaam, Rachel, Esau, Jacob, Rebekah, and others - finally, around 11 or 12 years of age, they received the lesson called "The Introduction to Jesus Christ". 

3) The New Testament. 

This is the method nearly every Christian Church has adopted - the foundation being Jesus Christ, the foundation of the Christian Church, the Gospel of Salvation, the Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline Epistles, the writings of other Church leaders, and the symbolic and controversial Book of Revelation, and using this understanding to understand the books of the Old Testament, whose books pointed to and were a shadow of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of all that the Old Testament pointed to. This was the one method that was completely rejected as the approach for the Correspondence Course. 

4) To begin with the very present. 

The chosen method of how to study the Bible was number four - "the one we have adopted". Which, truly, is not "Bible Study" at all. 

This approach first and foremost was a "fear tactic" of speculation, inconsistencies, falsehoods, and irregularities. Below, you will see the text of how they rationalized their approach. 

To Begin with the Very Present

They begin by saying "the whole world seems suddenly to have erupted in chaos in physical violence".

Sadly, chaos and physical violence has been going on for millennia. Ignored are countless world wars, plagues, diseases, famines, pestilences, persecutions that have been far, far worse than the 20th century that Herbert lived in. It does not take a lot of research to look back and see generations and periods of time that make our current time look absolutely blissful. 

Remember, this was written in 1955. Just about everyone who read this in 1955 (assuming 18 or older) is extremely old or, frankly, dead. The intonation is the Bible would mean more to them as it's related to THEIR LIVES. Of course, things turned out very, very differently, as we all know. Besides some serious localized conflicts, diseases, and a wide range of social issues, the generations ahead of them in their prime of life (1955 -2005) were to be some of the most prosperous and bountiful years for many of the readers in many years. What Herbert Armstrong indoctrinated them with, on the other hand, was a fear and paranoia of the future which was doomed to imminent and total annihilation at virtually any time, within the next three to five years on a constant, ever-moving, but never-reaching timetable. 

Instead of studying the Bible, with the foundation being Jesus Christ, the foundation was fear. The foundation was prophecy - most of which was completely incorrect. The foundation was British Israelism, which, again, has been proven (through DNA and genetic analysis) as completely incorrect. The foundation was based completely on Herbert's worldview through HIS eyes - through HIS life - conveyed and transmitted to others through this course. 

Quotes That Immediately Followed This Text: (Said to a 1955 Audience.) 

"YOU LIVE IN A WORLD OF CHAOS" (we still do, we always have.)

"Mass Destruction of the Earth's Inhabitants Appears Imminent" (FALSE). 

"The Outlook Grows More Serious" (WE'RE HERE.) 

"This World's Civilization Has Come to a Crisis!" (WE'RE HERE)

"It is Time to Be Concerned" (ALL of those who read this were able to live out their lives without Armageddon.) 

"You will Learn The Only Way To Avoid the Dire Events Shortly To Fall." (They Didn't.) 

"In our Generation the Entire Earth is Endangered" (We're Still Here). 

"The World's Population Can Be Wiped Out in a Few Hours". (It Wasn't.) 

"This World is CRASHING to it's DOOM!" (We're Still Here.) 

Lesson One said the Following in BOLD LETTERS. (Remember the Psychological Condition Herbert taught)

WHAT would HAPPEN if HE WERE NOT TO RETURN (Fear Inducing) 

NO SOUL would be SAVED ALIVE (Panic Inducing)

SUICIDAL ATTEMPTS (Negative Thought, Fear Inducing) 

CUT SHORT (Cresendo, Emphasis)

TIME OF TROUBLE (Fear Inducing) 

ONE CLIMACTIC PERIOD 

MODERN SCIENTIFIC WARFARE (Fear Inducing) 

HYDROGEN BOMBS, ROCKETS, GASES (Panic Inducing) 

MASS MURDER (Fear-Inducing) 

DESCRIBING WAR WEAPONS OF OUR DAY (Panic Inducing) 

FORCE OF THE EVIL NATURE (Negative Thought, Fear Inducing) 

Does MANKIND REALLY KNOW THE WAY TO PEACE (Doubt Inducing) 

WITHOUT HEEDING WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN (Fear Inducing) 

The first lesson of the AC Correspondence Course was designed to make you afraid, to fear, to panic - and if you believed what was written, to try to escape what was said to about to happen. The problem? Nothing like this happened in their lifetimes. 

Another thing to mention: In this one lesson, the order of scriptures were all over the place without context: 

Matthew, Mark, Jeremiah, James, Luke, Proverbs, Romans, Isaiah, 1 Corinthians, II Timothy, II Peter, James, Micah, Isaiah. (Cherry-picking/proof-texting/find scriptures that fit what we're saying). 

Some may say I'm giving HWA too much credit for this methodology. Intentional, or unintentional - he knew what he was doing. Herbert Armstrong made a choice to use fear and worry - unfounded fear and worry - a psychological manipulation of mind conditioning to use the world at that time as the foundation of interpreting the whole entirety of scripture. That was the trap - a trap many in the splinters are still trying to use today. 

Finally, let me reiterate that this was written in 1955. History and time has proven everything written here was false. The predictions were incorrect. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was not the foundation. Fear, panic, worry, and doubt - and money - were the foundation. This was intentional manipulation. This was spiritual extortion. This was a SCAM, plain and simple. This is 2018. My hope is people will not fall for the trickery any longer. 

submitted by SHT