Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Bob Thiel Holding Feast In A Site With Demonic Activity






Bob Thiel, the non-ordained self-appointed Overseer of the Continuing Ed Church of God has announced that he is planning on having his Feast site here in CA at the Santa Maria Inn.

Theil writes:



Please think about where you hope to attend this year and let the coordinator for your Feast site know via email.
  • Ndhiwa, Kenya contact Deacon George Otieno, email georgeoti47@gmail.com
  • Whangarei, New Zealand contact John Hickey, email john.h@vodafone.net.nz
  • Santa Maria, California, USA contact Dr. Bob Thiel, email cogwriter@aol.com
 We have tentatively decided on holding the Feast of Tabernacles in the USA at the Santa Maria Inn, in Santa Maria, California.  More information about that is expected for next week.


Here is what the Inn is noted for:
 



Rudolph Valentino, that wonderful entertainer, who seems to haunt everywhere, also haunts the hotel. He apparently likes to knock on room 221 and even recline on the bed in the room.

There are also rumors of the ghost of a sea captain who was murdered by his mistress long ago appearing inside the hotel. He has supposedly been attached to room 210.

Please note, a lot of sources report Valentino attached to room 210 and the sea captain attached to room 221. But when our team visited and looked around the second floor, the hotel had room 221 marked as Valentino's room. So it is our belief that the two numbers should be switched for the the two ghosts, and we have done so in this article.

In addition to the sea captain and Valentino's antics, the hotel plays host to a piano that plays by itself, mysterious footprints, unexplained perfume scented smells, spinning clock hands, opening and closing doors, music coming out of disconnected speakers, ovens opening, and even an elevator starting up and going to a certain floor at the same time of the day.

In addition to the hotel rooms, the ghostly activity has also been seen in the gardens and the cellar. Rooms have also suddenly turned ice cold, and even once a balloon followed a housekeeper around, even going down stairs with her.

Lastly, Richard Senate along with psychic wife, Debbie Christenson, conducted a sĂ©ance in the Inn and contacted a young cocaine addict with a nickname of Peppy (because she was so peppy) who was often a guest in the guest house at Hearst Castle, and was in the Inn awaiting a car to take her up to San Simeon. Who this young woman really was, is unknown. 




This is not the first time that a COG has placed their brethren in the grips of Satan.  LCG did it in 2011:

LCG Using a Haunted Hotel For Feast of Tabernacles

And as for the mega resort that Santa Maria is, one YELP reviewer had this to say:



First of all, I wouldn't recommend the city of Santa Maria to anyone.  It's junky strip malls surrounding this pretty hotel.



The CEdCG members will need to drive for entertainment.  Between battling with demons, the local attractions are the beach, Hearst Castle (if you skip a service) and Solvang. It sounds to be one of the best Feasts ever!!!!!!!

COG Member: 10 Commandments Is Our Judge In All Things



Another example of why Armstrongism is dying.  The law is more important than Jesus.  The law is the judge in ALL things instead of the person they are supposed to be a follower of.

From Yahoo:

I try to judge all things with one thing above all. The Ten Commandments has to be our judge in all things.

Over the last few weeks I have spent a lot of time thinking about all the troubles of the many COG's.

I have come to the conclusion that very few understand the Ten Commandments.

I have one desire to fulfil before I die. This is to write up the Ten Commandments as being our light and guide to walk in.
The fact this person has no desire to walk in the light of Christ is a chilling indictment against the ministry of Armstrongism.

While this person and the COG as whole is embarrassed by Jesus, these people are willing to die for their beliefs. What Armstrongite today would die for being a follower of Jesus?  Martyrs for the law - maybe, Jesus - not so much.


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Why The Church of God Is A Backward Flipping Church



I was reading a blog by a former fundamentalist today and he had an interesting point in his article.  It reminds me so much of when I read Philadelphia Church of God, Living Church of God and Restored Church of God's web sites and articles.  A person finds scant information on their web sites about Jesus, but will find hundreds and hundreds of articles, booklets and books dealing with Old Testament concepts and law.

He talks in his blog about how those embarrassed by Jesus or made to feel uncomfortable by Jesus like to flip backwards in the Bible till they find something that makes them feel comfortable again.

The Church of God has always been a backwards flipping church.  It lived in the past and in the law of the Old Testament stories and hero's.  Jesus makes them extremely uncomfortable, but they do like to quote angry Paul and others that are pissed at the local churches for some failure.  That makes them feel good.  Jesus' words have the opposite effect so they would rather find comfort in law or an angry pissed off God who is ready for revenge.

He writes:


The beauty of the context of this discussion in John, is that Jesus is talking to religious people who are quite similar to a lot of folks we encounter today- folks who, when confronted with the radical teachings of Jesus will keep flipping the page away from Jesus, backwards or forwards, until they land on a verse that makes them feel a little safer. This process of flipping the page away from Jesus until we find something more comfortable- in the name of “believing the whole Bible”, is a gross abuse of scripture. When Jesus confronted these people he blasted them, saying (my paraphrase):

“You know the scriptures backwards and forwards, but you’ve missed the most important part: me.(John 5:39-40)
If you see something in Jesus that makes you uncomfortable, but flip the page backwards until you feel more comfortable, you are misusing scripture.
Oh, how we especially like flipping the page backwards. The Old Testament has so many different verbal portraits of God, that everyone would probably find something to suit them. There are portraits where God is angry, portraits where he is sad and regretful, portraits where he is a warrior, portraits where he commands baby killing, portraits where he is feminine and compares him to a nursing mother, portraits where he is loving and patient, portraits where God is…

There are a lot of portraits. This provides a very convenient opportunity for those who wish to avoid the teachings of Jesus, and instead turn the pages backwards until one finds a portrait of God that seems to line up with who we want him to be. I see people do this for a host of reasons- there are all sorts of things we can seemingly justify if we flip the page away from Jesus.

Want to justify nationalism, oppression, violence, sexism, and ____ (fill in the blank)? Just keep flipping the pages away from Jesus and you’ll probably find something to make you feel justified.

- See more at: Flipping the Pages Away from Jesus: why some parts of the Bible are more important than others

Dennis on: "The Lord (Delays His Coming) Of Restored Church of God Castle Progresses Sorta






 The Lord (Delays His Coming) Of Restored Church of God Castle Progresses Sorta



Dennis Diehl - EzineArticles Expert AuthorCastles are spiffy things.  While we may say "a man's home is his castle," there is nothing in this world like actually having and living in one.   I do hear they are hard to heat and winters can be difficult with a certain dankness and chill in every room. But if you stand close enough to the fire, I suppose you are well warmed and filled.   As long as the Lord of the castle can order that whole forests with all their trees  be sent in to fuel the warmth, beauty and construction needs of the Lord of the Castle, all is well.  The peasants can also expect most of their crops to be sent to the Lord as well.  I also suppose the royal and loyal troops can also be sent out from time to time to enforce the laws of the Castle Master upon those who fail to send in all the trees and crops on their land as instructed.  Castles are high maintenance and can leave the peasant landscape a bit tohu and boo hoo at times.  (Let him who reads understand) 



2012 Travels with Our Scruffie: June 2012



Castles are actually places to hide and fear based constructs.  Water filled moats to slow the advance of any wanting to get in serve as the first line of defense against intruders real or imagined.  Very high walls are next and put the intruder at a distinct disadvantage.  It is simply impossible to climb a vertical wall in soggy wet clothes or armor.  The only way you could ever get in once you got into that mess was for the Lord to lower you a rope, after careful scrutiny, and haul you up.  You would then be interrogated as to why you did not show up at the narrow gate and slender bridge  for questioning in the first place and go by the rules of the Lord.  Scriptures about trying to climb in ways other than those allowed would be read to you and you would probably be put in the prison cell until you could prove your sincerity. If you had nothing to offer the Lord of the Castle, or were deemed a threat, out you go. The Lord would mark you and throw you off the walls back into the moat to swim home if you did not drown.  



Only the chosen and special people to the Lord get to live and abide in the Castle.  After all, the purpose of a castle is to keep the peasants (pagans) out and preserve the wealth and ideas of the Lord.  The are meant to insulate those within from those without.  The Lord of the Castle meets with only those he agrees to let in.  He only has to take counsel and advice from the few trusted knights that already abide in the castle by his good graces.  They know they will be on the outside looking in with all the rest of the peasants should they displease the Lord of the Castle or offer advice and counsel counter to the already preordained and acceptable answers.  And there are many preordained and acceptable answers to be memorized and agreed with, at least outwardly. 









 "Agreeth thou  I am the Lord of the Castle and that my Castle, my moat, my walls and myself were spoken of by our fathers long dead?"  

 "Oh yes, yes my Lord.  Agreeth I do! Truly this place was spoken of in times gone by and would be built by another Sir Lancelot to come, which is you!"    

"Well, spoken Knight......abide ye yet more as long as ye seeth the truth"



Castles can be a bit limiting as one's access to the countryside is limited.  The peasants, who are free of the Lord's limited views and not bound by the views of the ONE, often have much more fun and live a larger life than those trapped in the security of the castle.  Oh the Lord has his own servants do the quick run out and back to get supplies or to meet with peasants who admire his Castle to see if perchance they may have something the Lord might need, but over all it is a dull and boring existence waiting for the enemy which seems to be everywhere and nowhere to be found.  




To face this boredom the Lord has limited access camps, within the walls for Children of the Knights and Approved Peasants.  Archery, boiling oil pouring, catapulting and pushing wall climbers backwards skills are taught to the young. A great time is had by all.   The highlight is when the Lord visits the campers.  He rides in with his Knights, armored up on the best horse in the land. Dressed in the official "ME" youth shirts and uniforms and they chant  "Awesome, Awesome, Awesome...My World is Gyrating" as the Lord of Restored  passes to review the progress of the children.  Outside the walls, the non-chosen peasant children are fishing, laughing their butts off and fighting with wooden swords and riding on branches and jousting with brooms.   "Ok, you're the crazy Lord of the Castle this time.... "   "Awwwwww...I always have to be him!"   "I got you..."  "Did not..."   "Did too..."   


SEP (Send Everything Posthaste) Camp 2013


There are leadership classes, Knights Clubs, lead by the Lord to give the appearance of intellectual stimulation and proper delivery of the ideas approved by the Lord.  And of course there are Peasant Picnics and jousting tournaments.  When the Lord comes on the course to joust with a chosen knight, the Lord always wins.  It is just better that way for all concerned.



Specifically, the Lord (and there are many Lords of other castles) of Restored Castle has issued a degree that all other Lords must come to his castle and bring the peasants with them or risk death by decree.  The Lord of Restored wants this done by the Fall harvest because this was revealed to him four years ago but only now revealed it and why would it be later than this Fall if God reveals it now to him?   One very stupid peasant raised his hand and asked the Lord of Restored why he waited four years to reveal this and would not God have wanted him to reveal it then as it was given to him then?   The Lord said,  "Well wise one....with observations like that you will really go up in my kingdom."  Next we knew he was standing at the bottom of the stairs to the gallows and the Lord of Restored said.."Up you go young man."  There were no more questions.






The Lord of Restored and the Castle of God, as he now calls it, gave many sound proofs as to why all these things must be and shortly come to pass.  Secretly he is training Pipers to lead the people back to the Lord of Restored Castle this Fall.  Pipers may also be picked from the Lords of other castles who have lived in shame and ignorance of the true Lord of all Castles until now and deeply repent. There will be difficult hoops to jump through to qualify for this that position.  One Piper named Peter was too busy picking pecks of pickled peppers to respond and scoffed at this crazy decree. Neither he nor his pickled peppers have been heard from again. 






I personally would not wish to live in a castle.  Impressive places yes, but they are designed to keep only the few small minded and subservient agreers inside and the wonder of the whole wide world out.  I admit, I am not much of a Lord of Restored or any other castle fan.  I would not do well sitting for hours having the Lord of Restored or the lords of any other castles school me on what to think, what to believe and how everything should and is going to go as if the Lord of Restored or others really knew.   I have known other Lords of Castles who tried to give that impression to the chosen peasants and knights and....well....they are all dead and gone and the beat goes on. 

 



The Lord of Restored has been so long behind the walls of his castle that the light of the world cannot penetrate and illuminate anything.  Soooo serious and limited in his understanding of science and theology done well, the Lord of Restored Castle seems off into strange and weird ideas that he hopes you never question him on.  He once said he was not going anywhere with strange ideas...but if this not going anywhere, I'd hate to think where the Lord of Restored thought he'd have to go to be strange.  But, he has assured the peasants that this is not what he meant and they should have no concerns...whew!  Are you listening brethren....






Ultimately, castles are not happy places.  They are dank and chilly or humid and hot depending on the season.  They scarf up an inordinate amount of resources just to keep it going and often the Lord of the Castle requires the work of the castle bound be done for free as a sign of dedication to the Lord.  Those paid by the Lord know their horse and armor  can be taken away anytime they get off track and on some other page than the page of the Lord.    Always living in fear with guilt and shame to keep the peasants in place is not my idea of living.  Personal progress and growth never happens in castles,  Castles are too small and cover such a limited area of territory to be of any real value.  The confine people, ideas and learning, which is what they are meant to do.   Castles are where one lives to stay the same, learn nothing new, never step outside the box provided by the Lord of the Castle and quietly wonder if maybe there isn't more to life and learning than this.


There is......wonderful things...

contact Dennis at   DennisCDiehl@aol.com