UCG: Crafty Old Satan Beguiling New Members And Leading Them Out Of UCG

That pesky ol'Satan is a busy guy lately as he is specifically targeting those whom the UCG believes they have 'converted' over to their way of life. Are new 'converts" to UCGism leaving the church soon afterward? Why is Satan always blamed for ineffectual UCG speakers/ministers who are so bland and boring that they can't retain new members? People thought they were joining a church geared toward Jesus when they joined UCG and later realized the guy is rarely talked about.

In addition, we would like to ask if you would add another vital component to your prayers. Please pray especially for the many people God is calling that they will be unhindered in learning and implementing the marvelous truths of the Bible (Matthew 22:14). In Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed He said, “The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts” (Mark 4:14-15). Brethren, we can all pray that God will help people resist the devil’s unseen aggression so that the seed of the gospel will put down roots in their lives so as to begin producing godly fruit (Matthew 13:23). 

 

In His model prayer Jesus said, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13). As we pray this way for ourselves, we can also pray for these new, vulnerable “little ones” whom God is calling (Matthew 10:42). This is so they can not only withstand Satan’s toxic influence, but deal effectively with life’s troubles and distractions while growing in and applying spiritual knowledge and understanding (Mark 9:41-42; John 17:15).

How can a diseased tree produce "good fruit"? 

Does Jesus Really Care About DNA, the 12 Tribes, Banks, Or Even the Bible?

Our favorite self-appointed prophet will spend countless hours a week talking jibberish about topics that have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Bwana Bob's topics do not even concern his African followers, who could care less about these things. When you face a day to day struggles with keeping food on your table, shelter over your head, and maintaining personal safety, these nonsense topics by their leader do not impress them. Rarely do they ever hear about Jesus Christ, the one they actually take delight in following. Why COG leaders are embarrassed about talking about Jesus has always fascinated me.

Does Jesus even care about those topics, including the Bible? The answer to that is, of course not!

These are some of the unimportant things the Great Bwana thinks is important to know for salvation:

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LCG: Wants Members To Become More Transcendental

The  LCG source submitted this along with the quote below: 

And Douglas Winnail tries to sound spiritual by using the word "Transcendental" then proceeds to brow beat. Notice he didn't fully quote Mark 16:15, he quoted "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." Why truncate "...to every creature?"

A Transcendental Purpose: God revealed a vital truth to the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “in the last days... men will be lovers of themselves... lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1–5). Today, people have full schedules and empty lives. When we focus on ourselves—my life, my job, my feelings, and my problems—this is a one-way ticket to frustration. However, some have learned that the key to a meaningful life is to focus on a goal that is bigger than ourselves. Jesus taught that we should “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Jesus told His disciples to “go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15) and that “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). To fulfill our calling as Christians and to have a really meaningful life, we need to get our focus off of ourselves and think about how we can serve others (Matthew 20:25–28). What adjustments can you make in your life to focus more on this transcendental purpose?
Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail

Why Bob Thiel's Dismissive Attitude Has Turned Off The Churches of God

 

From a reader:

I first became aware of Bob Thiel through an old friend of mine who had taken umbrage with something he had written on Cogwriter, and was exchanging email with him. Oh, I remember what it was. Dr. Ernest Martin had just passed away, and Beto had very ungratiously trashed him. Of course, I became involved in the discussion. Thiel replied that his chief interest was in keeping the Philadelphia era of the church together, and that if my goal was not similar, he had no interest in discussing anything further with me. Typical. I had seen that dismissive attitude before. In reading some of the materials on Cogwriter, I realized that basically it was a brown nose site dedicated to the support of Rod Meredith. Two things occurred to me. 1) Such a site or publications would NEVER have been permitted by HWA during the WCG classic era. HWA wanted the exclusive, and would have been enraged if he suddenly had an echo. 2) LCG members would most likely resent Thiel, because it would be like having an extra parent that you didn't want emerging from your peers, inserting himself and asserting himself into your life. I was also cognizant of the fact that back in 1975, during the church troubles and the first round of splinters, there was no shortage of petulant little ones who had always felt that they had certain truths to which the church would not listen, and who suddenly arose to have their day in the sun. Members were shocked when these somehow got hold of mailing lists of members and began sending their materials around. It was pathetic, and they soon disappeared, having just wasted and exhausted their resources. Nobody wanted these little off-beat nobodies in their lives. People looking for change were more inclined to just leave Armstrongism, or to follow charismatic regional leaders who left, such as Ken Westby in the East, or Al Carozzo in California. Even those "big guys" melted away with time, and nobody even remembers them or their groups today. And, of course, this general trend repeated itself in the '90s, although the attempted correction or reformation of the main body is an added wrinkle, But none of the little guys from the splintering of the '90s have morphed into big guys. The better known ones who were already the leaders on the mother ship got the big pieces of the pie, and have watched them shrink. Bob Thiel has wasted his life. He will never become one of the big guys because real leaders know how to find and strengthen a common chord with a broad cross section of an audience. They know how to relate, and to exchange energy with that audience in symbiosis with the members. Not having that gift, or the polish which accompanies it, is the reason why so many aspiring leaders fail in building any sort of large scale following. Over time, such a leader's rough edges must become rounded, so that they lose personal tics such as flailing hands. They become more focussed rather than jumping around amongst 20 different topics in their public speaking endeavors. They grow in their effectiveness, usually on a short enough time scale so that they reach their peak in time to spend most of their productive years nourishing what they have built. And here we are. There has been no rounding of the rough edges for Bob over the past twenty years, no massive accumulation of followers, and he's running out of time. The only thing he has going for him is that he hasn't quit his day job. His sleight of hand with African believers whose loyalties float amongst various Miller-based teachers is an illusion, and everybody except himself knows this.

Crackpot Prophet Reaches A New Level Of Self-Deception

Over 10 years ago the most important man in the history of the Church of God movement had a major meltdown because Living Church of God leadership rejected his admonishment and refused to change teachings because this important man said to. He was widely mocked in the LCG at this time and eventually was publicly vilified by Rod Meredith from the pulpit and got kicked to the curb. 

Seriously brethren, how could the greatest man in the history of the COG movement ever be treated in such a way! It was shocking, so much so that this self-proclaimed prophet self-appointed himself as leader of the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god". 

Unable to garner any COG members from any of the splinter groups, the Great prophet set his eyes on Africa where he was assured a small following. Soon, a few hundred church-hopping Sabbatarians in Africa became "official" members of the Church of the Great Bwana.

It did not take long before the Great Bwana started taking on all kinds of "biblical" titles he claimed he represented. Not content being the world's foremost historian on the Mayans, church history, Mary and Satan's Chair, the Great Bwana set himself up as Elisha, Elijah,  Johsua, and other biblical characters which he deems to best fit his self-described characteristics. Never has the Church of God had a greater man leading it than we have in Bob Thiel.

Yet, in spite of all these most superfantabulous characteristics, the Great Bwana had this article up today:

Yes, Christians have to be aware of self-deception. Yes, you read that right! The king of self-deception is warning you to be careful of self-deception.

Thiel has published the most beautiful self-own ever!

Researchers have concluded that there are costs associated with self-deception: 

 

The invisible downside of cheating in life  

 

People who take shortcuts can trick themselves into believing they are smarter than they are, says Tom Stafford, and it comes back to bite them. … 

Thiel has never had a formal degree in theology (except for his diploma mill Ph.D. out of India). All he is able to say is that he has taken classes at various places. Thiel's theology "education" comes from eh words of Herbert Armstrong and Rod Meredith. These guys have educated Thiel so much so that Thiel considers himself the most educated theologian in the church today. ...trick themselves into believing they are smarter than they are, 

The researchers ran another experiment to check that the effect was really due to the cheaters’ inflated belief in their own abilities. In this experiment, students were offered a cash reward for accurately predicting their scores on the second test. Sure enough, those who had been given the opportunity to cheat overestimated their ability and lost out – earning 20% less than the other students. 

The inflated sensibilities of Bob Thiel are legendary. Never ordained nor set apart by God to start a new church, his inflated ego led him to do so, believing god was on his side.

The implication is that people in Chance’s experiment – people very much like you and me – had tricked themselves into believing they were smarter than they were. There may be benefits from doing this – confidence, satisfaction, or more easily gaining the trust of others – but there are also certainly disadvantages. Whenever circumstances change and you need to accurately predict how well you’ll do, it can cost to believe you’re better than you are. 

 

That self-deception has its costs has some interesting implications. Morally, most of us would say that self-deception is wrong. But aside from whether self-deception is undesirable, we should expect it to be present in all of us to some degree (because of the benefits), but to be limited as well (because of the costs). 

 

Self-deception isn’t something that is always better in larger doses – there must be an amount of it for which the benefits outweigh the costs, most of the time. We’re probably all self-deceiving to some degree. The irony being, because it is self-deception, we can’t know how often. The invisible downside of cheating in life

The Great Bwana of Africa goes on to make even more damaging self-own's:

Jesus taught that Satan was a liar and the father of lies:

44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it (John 8:44)

Of course, Satan takes advantage of deception and encourages humans to deceive themselves. Recall what happened to Eve:

14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Timothy 2:14) 

 

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6-7)

Satan was involved, but the woman allowed herself to be deceived. This type of deception happens every day.

But what about Christians? Can Christians fall victim to self-deception?

Jesus warned that most Christians in the end times would be deceived:

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked — 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:14-19) 

 

Although most Laodiceans do not believe that they are deceiving themselves, Jesus said that they are. Jesus said that Laodicean Christians need to repent–they need to change. They should not let pride get in their way.

Has the Church of God ever had a more prideful man in charge of a splinter group than what we see today in Bwana Bob? No one is more educated than him. No one knows more truth than he does. No one has a church doing more things than his. No one has the fasted growing COG in history (which it is not).

The Great Bwana's pride is so enormous that he even put out a sermon on the topic warning OTHERS to not be prideful...which he is ok with it.

Pride: Quit Lying to Yourself 

 

‘The Atlantic’ ran an article titled “Quit Lying to Yourself.’ It explained that this was not good and does not lead to happiness. The BBC ran an article about dangers of self-deception. The Bible warns about lies, self-deception, and pride. Does the New Testament warn that Christians can be deceived? What did Jesus say was the truth? What did Jesus tell end-time Laodicean Christians to do? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video.

The prophet then goes on to claim that prophetic deception can lead people astray. Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other than Dave Pack, does the COG have a bigger liar in their midst than Bob? 

Self-deception is common. Try not to fall for it. The word of God is truth (John 17:17), hopefully you will believe it enough so that you will resist Satanically-encouraged self-deception (cf. James 4:7).

Sadly, the COG has been infected with this disease from almost day one. Each successive year has brought out bigger and bigger liars. Self-deception in the COG is a plague!