UCG Council of Elders Refuse To Reconfirm Vic Kubik For A Fourth Term

From a reader:

Mr. Kubik's "Letter from the President" this week is quite transparent. He says he wanted a fourth term as President, but was "not reconfirmed" by the Council. A politely way of saying: you're fired. Mr. Kubik says he plans to retire, and probably move back to Indiana to spend the rest of his days running LifeNets. Best wishes to him for that - but I can't help thinking about other ministers who "retired" from UCG and wound up preaching elsewhere (like Mark Mickelson in Pacific COG).

Here is what Kubik wrote: 

As many know, my wife Beverly and I went through a major change in our lives this week. Len Martin, chairman of the Council of Elders, earlier announced that I was not reconfirmed by the Council to continue as President of the United Church of God, an International Association. Mr. Martin and the Council composed a statement, which was distributed shortly after the ballot and which you may have already seen.

He also writes:

As was relayed to me, one of the Ambassador Bible College (ABC) students heard the news and asked instructor Steve Myers, “What will Mr. Kubik do now?” Mr. Myers replied, “He will continue to serve God’s people, just in a different way.” 

 

That was well said and eloquently reflects our thoughts. 

And then makes this weird statement:  

To be certain, Bev and I are praying for a peaceful transfer, and that God will inspire and lead the new president. We ask and pray that you will do the same.

Is there trouble brewing under the surface in UCG?  Are we about to see another shitfest in a COG break out with more power-hungry men jostling with each other to see who makes head honcho? We have never seen that happen, have we? After all, UCG is the most unified and loving Church of God to ever hit the scene, after Bwana Bob's improperly named "continuing" Church of God, of course.

Kubik had wished to stay on for more years and do more of his pet projects, but now that he has been made redundant, those fantasies are out the window. 

To be honest, Beverly and I had wished to continue in this role and complete some projects that were in progress. But we accept this decision graciously. We are so thankful to have served nine years at the helm of the United Church of God. We will forever be thankful to God for this extended period of peace and stability in the Church of God. Our greatest blessing in the Church is you and the many personal relationships that we have shared with so many around the world.

As was noted by the reader above, Kubik will continue his good works with LifeNets:

I plan to retire from full-time work for the Church after the new president is named. As Mr. Martin mentioned in his letter, Bev and I founded LifeNets International 22 years ago, a humanitarian 501(c)(3) organization that has helped many thousands of people—including many Church members—around the world. We have been privileged to help so many people with education, habitat, mobility, food security, agriculture and fresh water—things that are easy to take for granted. We will continue that work. 

 

We also very much look forward to spending more time being grandparents. We had already discussed plans to move back to Indianapolis, where we once worked together in 1995 with many others to organize and found the United Church of God. 

He makes the next statement, like so many other COG's do as they add on burdensome laws and other old covenant pet doctrines, that he is saved by grace, even though he rarely ever talks about that dude that supposedly provided it.  

The knowledge of the truth and the ability to freely practice it and worship God remain the most important parts of our lives. We are saved by grace and the understanding of our incredible human potential—observing God’s way with the help of the Holy Spirit to become more like Him and be part of His Family—is and will always be a humbling focus for Bev and me.

As I close, I urge you to “draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Seek Him through prayer and the study of His precious word. Pray for each other, pray for the Church, and remember that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, One whose sacrifice opened the way to salvation, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God is love! (1 John 4:16) Paul instructs us: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love” (Ephesians 5:1-2, New International Version).

As UCG joins all the other COG's in their rapidly shrinking relevancy, what remains to be seen of them? Will they ever really accomplish anything good and fruitful?

 

 

Cry Baby False Prophet Still Letting Rod Meredith Live In His Head

 

The endless comedy routine that is Bwana Bob Thiel continues unabated as he is whining AGAIN about how Rod Meredith refused to listen to him when the all-knowing One tried to educate him about the "man of sin".  

Not only is the most important prophet to have ever lived in the entirety of Christendom still angry at Rod Meredith, but he is also pissed off at the Church of God the Eternal.

A while back (in its 3/8/19 newsletter), after making attacks against me (but without mentioning my name) CEG (Church of the Eternal God), a group whose leaders were once part of the old Global Church of God, then published the following:

the fact that the man of sin is not the beast, but the false prophet, 

 

Fact?

If you are a Christian who stands firmly with the rest of Jesus Christ, as Christians have done for millennia, no one and I repeat NO ONE has to worry about WHO the 'man of sin is'.  It is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It is still only relevant in the disturbed minds of certain false COG prophets and end-time speculators.

The Great Bwana and Savior of Africa yanks his homeopathic knickers higher than ever with more whining about Rod Meredith.

On multiple occasions from 2008-2012, I sent Dr. Meredith detailed biblical information explaining why the man of sin was not the second beast of Revelation 13, and until I saw the above, I never really received a negative response from him (though he had previously published older information with a similar position). Instead two leading LCG ministers (including at least one LCG evangelist) told me I was right about this. 

 

It is absurd that Dr. Meredith’s April 17, 2013 letter suggested that if one does not agree with the conclusion that the false prophet is the “man of sin” of 2 Thessalonians 2, then one does not understand prophecy. Dr. Meredith also called knowledge of this chapter VITAL. But is the man of sin the false prophet, the second beast of Revelation 13, or not? 

 

No, it is not, thus those who follow LCG or CEG (or RCG or COG-ff) are not following leaders that understand this element of biblical prophecy.

It's amazing how long Rod Meredith has retained residency in Bwana Bob's deluded mind.

Everyone in the COG's is wrong and needs to be educated by the Great Bwana to Africa. After all, he knows bests as teh greatest human prophet to ever exist in human history!

The man of sin is the ‘beast of the sea” (also known as the King of the North) and not the false prophet. 

 

Those in CEG, LCG, RCG, etc. really need to pay more attention to the scriptures related to that. 

 

Furthermore, groups such as COGWA, PCG, and UCG also have the identity wrong.

After a long tirade of useless drivel, he has this:

The truth about the identity of the man of sin is one that the CCOG has restored. 

 

In closing, let me add that leaders in both LCG and UCG told me in the past that the position that the ‘man of sin’ in 2 Thessalonians 2 is the King of the North Beast and is NOT the false prophet is correct, even though their respective organizations teach the opposite, essentially because of a misunderstood tradition. 

 

Jesus condemned religious leaders who relied on tradition over the word of God:

8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. … All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. (Mark 7:8-9)

Jesus more importantly condemned lying false prophets who set about trying to deceive church members with lies and false teachings. The lies of Bwana Bob are getting close to surpassing Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry's lies combined! 

Bwana Bob's butthurt is epic and demands that people acknowledge him as a true prophet of God, though no one does. LOL!

In the Continuing Church of God, “We 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). 

 

Yet, sadly, most end time Christians are Laodicean and do NOT accept how the Bible shows that God works. 

 

The Bible shows that part of the final phase of the work is being done by God’s Spirit through His people (with God and angels directly handling other parts, e.g. Revelation 14:6-11), but many will not have the faith to believe:

Most Church of God members have enough understanding and faith to discern that Bwana Bob is a liar and a false prophet. That is why 99.99 % of the Church of God ever went with him.  Partially thanks to Rod Meredith and others lambasting him from the pulpit. Never has a self-appointed COG upstart been such a failure. The best part about Rod Meredith casting a shadow on Bwana Bob's name is that Bob had to learn about Rod Meredith's banishment of him from THIS blog! That had to have been the best moment in the 10 year run of this blog. That alone makes this all worthwhile!

 

What Happens If LCG Members Grow In Wisdom And Realize They Dont Need To Stay In The Church?

Doug Winnail says that LCG members need to grow in more wisdom. LCG faces a problem if this happens because once LCG members grow in that wisdom they will realize they no longer need to tithe to the organization. After all, wisdom is more precious than rubies or gold. If you grow in wisdom and finally realize that tithing is not a New Covenant command, imagine how freeing that would be. Even better, growing in wisdom will lead many, if not most, out of the church. 

The Need for Wisdom: Solomon wrote that one of the most important goals in life is to gain wisdom (Proverbs 4:7), and that wisdom is more precious than rubies or gold (Proverbs 8:11; 16:16). The book was written to help others gain wisdom (Proverbs 1:1–6), and the key to gaining wisdom is developing the proper fear of God—having a sincere desire to follow His instructions (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). Wisdom helps us discern between right and wrong and leads to happiness and a longer life (Proverbs 2:10–11; 3:13–16). As Jesus grew up, He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52) and He obviously followed advice in Proverbs (2:1–5). We are instructed to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5) and to study the Scriptures “which are able to make you wise” (2 Timothy 3:14–17). Do a word study of “wise” and “wisdom” to gain a better understanding of this vital subject. As you grow in wisdom, you will develop one of the very attributes of God and Jesus Christ (Job 9:4; Romans 16:27). 

 

Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail

Crackpot Prophet Proclaims: "...am an ordained prophet; the only known such ordained prophet in any legitimate Church of God group"

 

It has only been a few weeks, days, hours, minutes since we have mentioned our great and illustrious Bwana Bob Thiel here, the Saviour of Africa and 304 Caucasians, so here we are again. 😈

God's greatest gift to humanity since Moses and Herbert Armstrong is back AGAIN trying to prove to us that he is a true prophet of Gawd.

After several decades with the Worldwide Church of God, Global Church of God, and Living Church of God refusing to ordain him, our Great Bwana had to self-appoint himself up as the only true prophet on the earth today.

Bwana Bob is so desperate in his need for validity that he regularly has to publish articles quoting Norm Edwards and other Church of God heretics as his proof of legitimacy.

Former Global Church of God board member says PRIDE is the reason most in the COGs will not accept a true prophet

What really frosts Bwana Bob's homeopathic knickers is that the Church of God movement only looks at him with derision and apathy. Never has the Church of God had a more useless prophet in its midst than what it has today! It is all our fault and not his. He claims that anyone who rejects him is prideful. Yes, you heard that right, PRIDEFUL!  Not only PRIDEFUL but LAODICEAN PRIDEFUL! Oh, Noes!!!!!  A double whammy condemnation!

Mind you, this is coming from a man who constantly seeks to have his ego stroked and be admired by everyone in the church as a prophet and leader of the ONLY true church. His endless, "look at me" postings drive that point him at a shockingly frequent rate.

Norman Edwards was the editor for Shepherd’s Voice magazine. He is not part of the Continuing Church of God, where, I function as its human leader (and am an ordained prophet; the only known such ordained prophet in any legitimate Church of God group). 

 

While Norman Edwards and I have long disagreed about aspects of church governance and various matters of doctrine, we both agree that many who are in or claim to be in the Church of God (COG) wrongly do not accept that God has any prophets today and that Laodicean pride gets in the way. We also agree that most have severe difficulty identifying one who really is a prophet because of various unscriptural biases and improper criteria that they have. 

 

Because of false prophets in a couple of COG-related groups and a disbelief in prophets by most of the COG groups, the non-Philadelphian COGs have a lot of severe prophetic misunderstandings.

Yes, brethren, Bwana Bob says you are too STUPID to understand why he is a prophet. 

Remember that the Bible teaches:

7 Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. ( Amos 3:7) 

 

So in the last days, groups who do not believe there are prophets or those who listen to false prophets will not understand.

Norm Edwards has no more legitimacy as a spokesman for God than Bob Thiel does. While Edwards is certainly better at doing "good works" than Thiel is, it still doesn't mean he preaches truth.

Bwana Bob goes on to let his pride take over, again, when he whines about LCG and UCG ignoring him when he sought to "correct" them. because these leaders failed to acknowledge his magnificent words of instruction Bwana Bob's god is going to close their minds to be able to understand when it is time to flee to Petra or some other hell hole that Bwana Bob's god has set aside for them.

Some will come up with their preferred rationale as why not to agree with the position of the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) on these matters. Yet not only is CCOG’s position biblical, it should be noted that leaders in the Living Church of God and/or the United Church of God confirmed to me personally that I was biblically correct on nearly all of the above points, despite the fact that their respective churches hold to several of the errors pointed out above. Those who rely too much on a compromised ministry (Ezekiel 34:7-10) to teach them prophecy that is not truly in accordance with scripture need to realize that according to Jesus’ words in Revelation 2 & 3 and Luke 21, only relatively few Christians will be protected from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole world. 

 

As Norman Edward’s article points out, it is scriptural to now have prophets according to the New Testament. But many who truly believe that they live by the word of God have discounted or overlooked what the Bible actually teaches and/or have been influenced by others who have done the same or worse. The COG has at least one demonstrably true prophet today, yet most in the greater COG world seem to be able to ignore the truth about that, like most ignored John the Baptist and others in their day. 

 

Pride is a bigger problem for Christians than most realize.

 

CGI: Bill Watson – A Traditionalist?

Bill Watson – A Traditionalist?

I apparently hit a nerve when I characterized CGI’s Pastor Bill Watson as a traditionalist. For those who may not have read (or remembered) my post on the Church of God International’s messaging problem, I outlined the ongoing struggle between the folks within that organization’s leadership who see real problems with some of Herbert Armstrong’s theology (I called them reformers), and those who embrace most of his teachings (I called them traditionalists).

According to Bill, such characterizations are misguided and misleading. He insists that the stark differences which many of us have discerned in the messaging of the two camps are really illusions and are not indicative of real discord.

Last Sabbath, Bill delivered the second part of his message on the twelfth chapter of Romans, Processing Unity by Love. For the pastor, the key passage from this chapter is: “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.” (Verses 4-6) In other words, just because Bill’s messaging is different that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Unfortunately, the pastor seems to be conflating gifts and messaging and doesn’t understand the real differences between the two.

To underscore his point, Watson also referenced Paul’s first letter to the saints of Corinth. Specifically, the pastor was interested in the place where the apostle wrote: “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. Some of you are saying, ‘I am a follower of Paul.’ Others are saying, ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Peter,’ or ‘I follow only Christ.’” (I Corinthians 1:10-12) Apparently, this was meant to refute my observation that the reformers had the preferred or correct messaging. Notice, however, that Paul was talking about folks who expressed loyalties and/or preferences for one personality over another. There is no indication here that Paul was talking about differences in the messaging of the various leaders he mentioned.

To be clear, Paul believed that different people within the church had different offices/functions/gifts/talents to contribute to the edification of “the body.” Nevertheless, Paul believed that there was only ONE message that was acceptable for a minister of Jesus Christ to be preaching. Paul said that they all preached “Christ crucified” (I Corinthians 1:23). He wrote to the saints of Galatia: “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)

Hence, I say again: “A message to the English-speaking peoples of the earth which is focused on warning them about their sins and God’s impending wrath is NOT the equivalent of teaching all nations about Christ and his teachings and baptizing them into the Church in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! The headline theology (preoccupation with current events and prophecy) and political messaging of Bill and his allies is NOT appropriate messaging. In other words, this is not some benign and/or superficial difference which should be overlooked by folks inside and outside of the Church! These folks are NOT simply filling a necessary and beneficial niche that others have ignored or overlooked!

Indeed, Bill’s reaction to the “traditionalist” and “Armstrongist” labels is particularly telling in this regard. He throws out several straw men in his attempt to make those labels appear ridiculous. He suggests that if his support for Holy Day observance, the Torah, rejection of paganism, or his belief in the resurrection of the dead means that he’s a traditionalist or Armstrongist – then so be it! For the record, my posts have NOT taken Bill to task for his positions on ANY of those issues. Instead, I have questioned his messaging about British-Israelism, warning Israel, culture wars, headline theology, right-wing politics, conspiracy theories, and Covid-19 public health measures.

Unfortunately, Bill’s messaging has gone “off the rails” over the last decade. Once again, it is INAPPROPRIATE for a minister of Jesus Christ to be discoursing on these topics! Moreover, when Bill’s messaging returns to his former focus on salvation through Jesus Christ, he will NEVER hear another peep out of me (and he won’t have to worry about unity in the church either)!

Lonnie Hendrix