Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Bob Thiel's African Naivety Allows Him To Be Easily Manipulated Financially And Mentally


 

The Problem with Bob Thiel is he's a novice when it comes to Africa; he doesn't know a thing about how the Africans can Manipulate the Whites or Muzungu as they call us; especially if you want to set up church here.

Bob Thiel has only been here I think twice in Africa; I believe Nairobi holding a conference with Church leadership. I've been here now for the fourth time and I can tell you truly, the only reason Bob Thiel has a presence in Africa is because it's mainly about Money and support, especially the financial backing of his African Ministry. 

The truth Bob doesn't realize or if he does - shame on him, is say Bob Thiel sends $5,000 for the Feast of Tabernacles in Malawi, his trusted and loyal minister Radson Mulozowa will be very excited as most likely close to 3/4 of that money will go into Radsons personal pocket and the people for whom the money was intended will never see it. This is a fact Bob Thiel doesn't acknowledge, and if he does secretly, then shame on him. 

CCOG is sadly run this way as there aren't any checks or balances in anything related to funds sent to Africa. Bob relies on one man to have complete control of his African funding and has admitted to me and Aleksander Veljic, that Evans will have no problem taking Money; he even warned Aleksander not to tell Evans Ocheing that money was given to him for his visit to Africa. 

I know when I arrived to Africa the first thing Evans requested of me was funds, I was not privy to that. It's a fact my being here for 4 times now, I can attest to the mentality of the Africans, we the Muzungu have unlimited money to give and they know how to play the manipulation game. So, when a certain man got Bob Thiel numbers through promise of support and leadership salaries, the numbers miraculously grew, Evans knows what Bob wants and that is numbers, and with 10 -20,000 pumped every month to one Man, that is possible. 

Bob Thiel admits in his own writings he's the fastest growing ExWCG church of God, this is only possible in Africa at large because of his financial paying off in way of good salaries and siphoning of Funds.        

CCOG doesn't own any halls or churches in Africa that I know of. What does this mean? It means if CCOG sends funds to build a Hall, immediately a good portion goes to the man that receives that money, then the next man in charge of getting the supplies gets his cut, so then the project is underfunded, no one on the ground to check how the money was spent. These are facts one has to face when dealing with the Africans. Ask any Muzungu down here or a real converted African Christian who believes in the Word of God, they all say the same thing, it is a fact!!!!!! 

So what did Bob accomplish in building these Churches? He provides a way for the African ministry to siphon off extra money for themselves and if that minister or persons own the land where that church is built, guess what, Bob Thiel just built a private church for the man or men that the church rests on. CCOG doesn't have any control over that Church or land anymore as CCOG doesn't own it, so that leads to the obvious train of thought; God forbid that the persons or person owning that property decides to leave, or that man or leader in that church is an evil shepherd! What can Bob do, but only to comply as CCOG doesn't own it. 

The Hope of Israel Worldwide Church of God owns legally all our properties in Africa because we're also legally registered.  If a Minister or leader is no good, we have nothing over our heads to be swayed by. We also bought farmland to develop. CCOG doesn't own anything that I know of. That my friends is poor mismanagement of Tithe Payer's money. Also, we won't be publishing any numbers here in Africa until our Congregations down here are self-sufficient and actually contributing to the Church, We want to change things in Africa, it can be done, but it's worth it, and more exciting news to come in the next few weeks. 

Terry A Nelson 

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

The ACOGs and FEAR

 



The ACOGs and FEAR

Lonnie Hendrix

As longtime readers of this blog know, I have written a number of posts over the years that were very critical of the “headline theology” and “warning messages” of the Armstrong Churches of God. Indeed, since the founding of the movement by Herbert Armstrong, the preaching has focused on relating current events and trends to biblical prophecy. To be more precise, Armstrong and his followers have focused on the most troublesome headlines reported by the various news media and portrayed them as manifestations of God’s wrath - predicted long ago in the pages of the Bible. In other words, they have always trafficked in FEAR! It has been (and is) the principal hook and calling card of their outreach to the public.

Of course, I am certainly not the first person who has noticed this fearmongering as being such a prominent feature of the Armstrong Churches of God. The Painful Truth blog recently reran an article originally published in Penthouse magazine back in 1977! The article, GTA - Prophet of Doom by Roger N. Williams, presented a well-balanced and well-written portrayal of Garner Ted Armstrong’s preaching style and content (At the time, he was still the face of the radio and television programs of the now defunct Worldwide Church of God). In the opening paragraph, Williams described GTA as a “media superstar” who “has discovered the profit of fear.”

He went on to say: “He’s the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, Fear, spreading his warning of the Coming End across the airwaves to 50 million people every week and telling of The Wonderful World Tomorrow that will follow the nuclear obliteration mankind is about to bring upon itself.” Later in the article, he quoted one of Garner Ted’s aides as characterizing the Church’s message as: “The good news is that Christ is coming back. The bad news is that he’s pissed off.” In reading through the article, I found myself repeatedly thinking about the oft repeated truism that “some things never change.”

For me, Williams’ evaluation of GTA and his messaging was fair and evenhanded. He did, for example, compliment GTA’s “booming golden voice.” He also described the Ambassador College campus in Pasadena as beautiful, handsomely appointed, and a “small Eden.” Williams even credited GTA and the Church for their early and thoughtful warnings about environmental damage. However, he also pointed out that this coverage wasn’t offered in the hope of correcting bad behaviors (like polluting), “but only to show that until Jesus gets here, we’re going to continue to make a mess out of things.” In other words, even the good stuff was meant to contrast with just how bad things actually were in the larger world!

Williams also pointed out that the Worldwide Church’s commentary was NOT always unbiased and objective. He observed that “The Plain Truth is largely a right-wing propaganda outlet. Articles rail against ‘the twisted ideology’ of the women’s movement, stating that the letters Ms. should stand for ‘Marxist sisters’. It denounces pornography as ‘an ideal weapon employed by our enemies to weaken Western civilization’. Garner Ted has looked like a liberal when he’s taken stands against ‘the death of the oceans’ or ‘aerosol Armageddon’ or the American SST. But in his column and occasional articles that appear in each issue, he is happier campaigning against European unity, which he believes threatens United States interests and is the fulfillment of the prophesied resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. He bewails America’s ‘isolationist attitudes’ and fears that the CIA exposĂ©s will weaken our country and the CIA. He vehemently and consistently supported the Vietnam War, right up to the fall of Saigon, fearing at the end that his big ‘World Tomorrow Campaign’ planned for Bangkok would be eclipsed by invading North Vietnamese troops. And despite his strong, if abstract, denunciations of world militarism, he whole heartedly supports a strong American military machine…” Hmmmm, that sounds an awful lot like some of the current messaging from the Armstrong Churches of God!

Yes, some things never change! The ACOG’s continued attachment to the discredited teaching that the English-speaking peoples of the Earth are the descendants of the ancient Israelites continues to pervert their understanding of biblical prophecy, and the “warning” message which flows from it. Unfortunately, the right-wing commentary of the current ACOGs is just as biased and irrelevant as the commentary offered in times past by Herbert and Garner Ted Armstrong. The fact is that this messaging is inconsistent with the commission Christ gave to his disciples (Matthew 28:19-20), and it doesn’t provide any reliable insights about what is going to happen next (other than Jesus will return someday, and God’s Kingdom will eventually envelope the entire Earth).

No, the New Testament canon makes very clear that Christians should NOT allow themselves to be motivated by fear. Paul told the Romans that God hadn’t given them a Spirit of slavery to fear, but one that instills confidence in their new role as God’s children because of what Christ had done for them (Romans 8). Likewise, in his first epistle, John wrote that “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (I John 4:18) Christ and his apostles brought the “Good News” about what Christ was doing/had done for humankind – a message of hope and love for a weary world. In other words, it did not resemble the gloom and doom of the messaging of the Armstrong Churches of God!

 

Monday, December 18, 2023

Holy Hanna! Is Bob Thiel Now One Of The HOLY Prophets?


 

Never underestimate the mind of a delusional Church of God false prophet, particularly when it comes to the improperly named "continuing" Church of God movement and its Great Bwana to Africa and 100 Caucsaisns, Bob Thiel. Over the last 13 or so years the Great Bwana has taken upon himself all kinds of Biblical names of men he thinks he is comparable to. The only ones in the list below that he has not compared himself to yet are the women, though knowing Bob he will soon have a dream and claim he carries the "spiritual" virtues of Deborah and other strong women. As a weak man and weak church leader, it is important to embrace the strong men and women of the Bible to look more righteous, though in this case, it does NOT work.

Bwana Bob has told us repeatedly that he is the modern-day: "Abraham, Job, Moses, Deborah, Samuel, David, Nathan, Ahijah, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Obadiah, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude". Who wants to take bets that he will soon declare himself as a type of Christ?

‘By the Mouth of All His Holy Prophets’

In Acts 3:19-21, the Apostle Peter stated that restoration (apocatastasis) was “spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophet.” Do you know what the prophets spoke about this? In this eighth part of an eight-part sermon series on God’s plan to offer salvation to all, Dr. Thiel reads quotes and references from many prophets including Abraham, Job, Moses, Deborah, Samuel, David, Nathan, Ahijah, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Obadiah, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude, and Jesus Himself. Do you believe the prophets? Do you have faith in the word of God and His plan? Can the lost be saved? Understand what the word of God teaches.