This brief article is intended to answer the above and related questions.
Who is COGwriter?
COGwriter is Bob Thiel, Ph.D.
What Does COGwriter Mean?
COGwriter is an abbreviation for Church of God (COG) writer. The term Church of God is used here to include those Sabbatarian (sabbath-keeping) churches that are faithful to apostolic Christianity (most generally, but not exclusively, those who came out of the pre-1986 Worldwide Church of God, and hold similar beliefs).
What is Your Academic and Religious Background?
I was baptized as an infant and at age 10 was confirmed as a Roman Catholic. I also attended St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic school for two years. Later, as a high school junior and senior, I studied Latin and took college preparation courses.
After reading the Bible as an early teen it quickly became apparent to me that the Roman Catholic Church no longer seemed to practice original biblical Christianity (it made many compromises and changes). So, I began to attend Salem Bible Church (SBC) for a couple of years, but while also studying Worldwide Church of God (WCG) literature. After further Bible study, and after having a meeting with the pastor of SBC who admitted that SBC did teach certain non-biblical positions, I began to attend the Worldwide Church of God--I have kept the same faith ever since (even though the group that last had that name has not).
A major reason that I became part of the old WCG and now the Living Church of God is that in addition to proving all things from the Bible, I truly believe that since "God is love" (1 John 4:16) that He has a plan of salvation that will ultimately result in everyone being called and nearly every one who ever lived being saved. Two must read articles to demonstrate the truth of those doctrines are Hope of Salvation: How the COGs differ from most Protestants and Universal Salvation? There Are Hundreds of Verses in the Bible Supporting the Doctrine of True Apocatastasis.
I have always considered that Jesus was Lord, God, and Savior, even when my understandings were somewhat different than I now hold. And have striven to always be a part of the true apostolic church.
After high school I attended Allan Hancock College where I majored in Liberal Arts, including taking classes in writing, religion, data processing, and philosophy. I also have a bachelor of science degree in accounting (UL) and a master of science degree in systems management (USC). In addition, even though they were incomplete (e.g. the materials did not teach much is in the What Does Rome Actually Teach About Early Church History? or Location of the Early Church: Another Look at Ephesus, Smyrna, and Rome articles as two of the schools tended towards ecumenicalism), I have studied graduate level Early Church History from Fuller Theological Seminary and other schools in and out of the USA). A doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree was earned from the Union Institute and University where I studied various biological sciences and research methodologies. I also have other degrees/training, and have studied theology, both formally and informally.
After the death of Herbert W. Armstrong in 1986, the new leaders of the Worldwide Church of God began to slowly make changes to doctrines and practices (a related article of interest might be Did You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made?).
After the Worldwide Church of God wrote back to me in 1995 and told me no longer to rely on the Bible for doctrine, but to rely on scholars, I decided that it could no longer be practicing "the faith that was once for all delivered for the saints" (Jude 3). A couple of years before me, its longest time evangelist had left for the same basic reasons and I began to attend the Global Church of God where he was its presiding evangelist, which essentially became the Living Church of God after a managerial coup that the majority of Global Church of God members did not support.
Along with my wife Joyce, we have been hosting the Living Church of God (formerly Global Church of God) videogroup in our home for over 12 years and I have given about 400 sermonettes. We have three children.
Travels
Joyce and I have traveled to many countries and essentially have been around the world.
Of religious interest, we have been to Italy four times (the Vatican thrice), Greece thrice, Ephesus twice, and once to Patmos, Izmir (Smyrna), Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Rhodes, and Crete (plus traveled throughout much of the rest of the world). (Most the major islands we have been to are mentioned in the article Islands and Bible Prophecy).
Theological Articles Have Been Published for How Long?
After meeting a particular elder in the old GCG in 1996, he told me that I needed to write theological articles, so I began to do so. My theological articles first started to get published around 1997.
The COGwriter webpage began in 1997 at the extreme urging of a former GCG minister as an AOL member site. It was not my idea. In 1998, after a discussion with Larry Salyer (which he initiated), it was re-named members.aol.cogwriter. The entire site officially was renamed www.cogwriter.com in 2005 (though it had the name cogwriter since 1998, and cogwriter.com existed as a referring point since about 2001).
In addition to consulting with various individuals and groups on COG-related books and booklets, I have had approximately 70 articles published in the following religious-oriented publications:
G&S' Church of God News
Global Church News
Living Church News
Servants' News
The Journal: News of the Churches of God
eXaminer
Does Anyone Pay You for This?
I hold no paid position in any Church (I have been asked this many times) and do not accept payment for my COGwriter services.
Nor do I receive any money from any church for this work (though I do accept reimbursements for travel, etc.).
Some Advice From Herbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong frequently taught:
“Don't believe me – BELIEVE YOUR BIBLE – BELIEVE GOD!”
Herbert W. Armstrong, Plain Truth magazine, Sept. 1963, Personal pg.1
That is great advice. And I would tell Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, LDS, and everyone else the same thing. Here is my own slightly expanded version of the above:
“Don't simply believe me – Believe what the Bible really Teaches – Believe the Truth – Prove all things – Believe God!”
