Church of God News

Banned post basically correct that Ronald Weinland, David Pack, & Gerald Flurry are false, but provides inaccurate information about Bob Thiel


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COGwriter

The anti-COG Banned by HWA website has a post by an anonymous one who identifies as Silent Pilgrim. That post, correctly identifies Ronald Weinland, David Pack, & Gerald Flurry as false.

I have long documented their errors at this COGwriter Church of God News page, as well as in the following articles:

If you read the above, it is clear from statements those men made that they are false prophets, etc.

But, the post at the anti-COG Banned by HWA website has the following about me:

Bob Thiel (Continuing Church of God) Thiel presents the CCOG as now delivering the end-time Ezekiel warning. He has described himself in prophetic roles (including watchman/evangelist aspects), claiming confirmation via dreams and anointing by a Living Church of God minister, Gaylyn Bonjour, in 2011 (who prayed for a “double portion” of God’s Spirit), and points to early coronavirus warnings as validation of his insight.
Critics within the COG movement have documented multiple specific predictions that did not unfold as stated. These include detailed forecasts in his 2012 book 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect, regarding geopolitical sequences, church developments, U.S. reliance on Europe’s Galileo GPS system in exact ways, and certain political/military outcomes involving nations like China and Australia that required later reinterpretation when events diverged. Independent trackers (such as those on Church of God Perspective and Banned by HWA) note that Thiel’s interpretive style often mixes biblical prophecy with current events and pagan sources, leading to claims of “fulfillment” that are vague or retrofitted after the fact. For instance, while he correctly stated the Great Tribulation would not begin in specific years (2012–2023), his broader end-time sequences tied to those years or to his personal prophetic role have not materialized in the manner presented, resulting in shifts of emphasis to “general warnings” rather than direct “thus saith the Lord” declarations.
When specifics fail to align precisely, the response is typically re-framing or highlighting partial alignments instead of acknowledging error—precisely the pattern Deuteronomy 18 rejects. Thiel maintains he has made “no false predictions,” but the cumulative record of unfulfilled or adjusted specifics undermines the claim of divine prophetic authority required for the watchman role.

Actually, no, critics within the COG movement have NOT documented multiple specific predictions that did not unfold as stated. Nor have I ever made any “thus saith the Lord” declarations (unless I am directly quoting the Bible).

Related to my 2012 book, let me quickly list 32 predictions in my book 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect that were at least partially confirmed by items in the news after the book came out in the Summer of 2009 and by December 22, 2012:

1.  2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect teaches that the U.S. dollar will ultimately be worthless with another currency (with European involvement) taking its place in the world (see Chapters 7-8 and Appendix B)—in process.
2.  2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect explains that the Vatican will continue to expand its ecumenical policies and compromise in order to ultimately lure most of the Protestants and Orthodox into unity with the Church of Rome (Chapter 3 & 10)—and it has taken steps to do so.
3. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect clearly warns that a major united European empire power will rise up (Chapter 5)—it officially has now started to.
4. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that U.S. President Obama will encourage the rise of a European power to the ultimate peril of the U.S.A. (Chapter 8)—he did.
5.  2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect teaches that a temporary peace deal involving the Middle East with seven-year confirmation from a European leader (cf. Daniel 9:26-27) must occur and then be broken (Chapters 5 & 8)—in process.
6. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect explains that, the world in general and the Europeans in particular, will find it useful to greatly increase gold reserves to restore confidence in paper currencies (Appendix B)—in process.
7. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that the Large Hadron Collider, which was not functional when the book came out, would likely develop technologies to be used militarily by the coming European power (p. 85)—in process.
8. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that the USA will continue to greatly increase its debt (Chapter 8)—it has.
9. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warned that, “Because of domestic economic concerns and international pressures, Barack Obama is shifting priorities away from defense spending…” This will help lead to the destruction of the United States, when the Europeans are ready and the U.S.A. is not” (Chapter 8, p. 147)—in process.
10. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that “for the daily sacrifices to stop, they will have had to start” (Appendix B, pp. 302-303)—a sacrificial altar is now ready in Israel.
11.  2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect explains that the leadership of the Orthodox Church will ultimately support a council to lure most Eastern Orthodox into unity with the Church of Rome, as will many Protestants (Chapter 10)—public statements prove this is getting closer.
12. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that there will likely be gaps in the U.S. G.P.S. system and this may require the U.S. military to rely on the upcoming European Galileo system (essentially an upgraded and European developed version of G.P.S) to meet that gap (Chapter 5, pp. 84-85)—fulfilled.
13. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that there may be civil unrest in Europe (Chapters 5 & 16)—fulfilled, but still in process.
14. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that there may be sorrows and “squatter rebellions” in the USA by the end of 2012 (pp. 127-128)—fulfilled, but still in process.
15. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that apparitions that some people will claim to be Mary of the Bible may be used as part of the ecumenical religion that will arise and call itself Catholic (Chapter 6, pp. 113-117)—in process.
16. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns (through quoting Habakkuk 2:7) that foreign creditors “will rise up” against the USA (Chapter 8, pp. 131-132, 148)—in process.
17. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that Barack Obama will cause people to err and not discourage, but instead encourage, biblical sin (Chapter 8, pp. 130,148)—fulfilled and in process.
18. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that Barack Obama will help enable the rise of a multi-national leader of an Islamic confederation that the Bible refers to as the King of the South (Chapter 8, p. 132)—fulfilled and in process.
19. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that China may end up with at least part of Australia (pp. 323, 367)—in process.
20. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warned that there will be “Odd weather patterns…and natural disasters… It is the beginning of sorrows” (Chapter 16, p. 240)—fulfilled and in process.
21. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that a multi-national Islamic confederation will form wanting an Imam or similar, consistent with biblical prophecies for the King of the South (see Chapter 8, pp. 131-134)—in process.
22. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that because some will partially rely on a Shi’ite prophecy that Iran has indicated points to Barack Obama, they should NOT rely on that “Imam Mahdi” and may do so to their parallel  (see Chapter 8, pp. 132-135)—in process.
23. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns about the U.S.A. losing technologically out, because of spending cuts (pp. 86,147).  The U.S.A. is down to only one particle collider—and this is an interesting indicator.
24. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect warns that during 2012 some would likely declare that a new age of peace is dawning (Chapter 17, pp. 253-254)—fulfilled by Barack Obama and others.
25. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states that the world will not end in a flood on December 21, 2012 (this is mentioned in numerous places in the book)—this was completely correct.
26. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states that Jesus would not return on December 21, 2012—this was completely correct.
27. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states that the world will not be destroyed by a solar storm by December 21, 2012 this was completely correct.
28. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states that the world will not be destroyed by high heat by December 21, 2012 this was completely correct.
29. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states that the Great Tribulation could not start as early as December 21, 2012—this was completely correct.
30. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states that some will interpret the lack of the apocalypse on December 21, 2012 as verification that an era of an age of peace is beginning —and while this truly is not the biblical age of peace this—prediction was completely correct.
31. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states that related to December 21, 2012 some will scoff and denounce end of the world prophecies, even those in the Bible—this was completely correct.
32. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states that the December 21, 2012 would not mark the end of civilization—this was completely correct.

Now the Silent Pilgrim statement, “his broader end-time sequences tied to those years or to his personal prophetic role have not materialized in the manner presented” is misleading. Why? Well, when I was in Kenya in 2017, someone in a COG came up to me and pointed out that my book had the following:

This rising up of the secret sect may well become apparent to much of the world in 2012.

He then pointed to the fact that the Continuing Church of God formally began on 28 December 2012. And that, by the way, was NOT some plan of mine when I wrote the book, nor did it happen because of the book.

Now notice that I did NOT falsely state that the rising up of the secret sect would be apparent to much of the world in 2012, only that it may, and it may still in retrospect be considered the time by the world after other events occur.

Let me add that I believe that on 28 December 2012, the final phase of the work began and the transitional phase was over.

In the future, the rise will be known to much of the world.

The old Radio Church of God published the following:

SOME DEFINE “a false prophet” as any minister with whom THEY DO NOT AGREE! Simply because a man says something that sounds strange or different from the religious statements they are accustomed to hearing, does that make him a “false prophet”? To many it would. People have odd ways of evaluating a minister’s authenticity! …

Then there is the prophet or minister who says something will come to pass and it apparently does not. Such a one would certainly be labeled false by most observers. This is one reason, but not the only reason, why almost all of God’s prophets throughout history have been labeled by many as false!

Consider such men as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. They sometimes prophesied for many years, and yet what they said would happen did not come to pass immediately. Why didn’t these prophecies come to pass?

The answer was that it was not yet God’s time for their predictions to come to pass. At the proper time, sometimes years or decades later, the prophecies were fulfilled. And in some cases, what they prophesied has not yet come to pass even in our day, but will be fulfilled in God’s time. There is a time, after ample warning, when God will finally say, “None of My words will be postponed any more” (Ezekiel 12:28). There are other examples where God’s true servants expected certain events to occur in their lifetimes. During his earlier ministry, the apostle Paul apparently expected Christ to return during his life (I Thessalonians 4:17, I Corinthians 15:51). Later, he realized that it would not occur until later (II Timothy 4:6- 8). Paul was criticized and labeled “false” by accusers, but the members of God’s Church knew he was a true servant of God. (Neff LL. Imposter–or–True Prophet — Which? Good News, December 1986, pp. 10-11)

Regarding time delays, even the Apostle Paul sometimes speculated that one or more events would happen sooner than they did.

In my case, I only wrote that more attention MAY happen in 2012.

As long time readers are aware, I have also long denounced false prophets like Ron Weinland (see CGPKG: Concerns About Ronald Weinland’s Church of God-Preparing for the Kingdom of God), David Pack (see RCG: Why Not the Restored Church of God?), and Gerald Flurry (see PCG: Teachings Unique to the Philadelphia Church of God). I have also questioned the conversion of those men.

Getting back to posts at the Banned site (and not only the ‘Silent Pilgrim’ article), they seem to like to try to connect me to false prophets like David Pack, Gerald Flurry, Don Billingsley (see Banned on Alton Billingsley and COG predictions–but Gary Leonard ignores the truth), and Ron Weinland (see also 21st Century Church of God Prophets). And Gary Leonard, the webmaster at Banned by HWA, has done this repeatedly and has also referred to me as “that other global heavyweight of almost-truth, Bwana Bob Mzungu Thiel.”

Guilt by association has long been a tactic of Satan–he had his minions do that related to Jesus (Matthew 11:19; Mark 2:16; Luke 5:13). Anyway, on September 21, 2025, Gary Leonard posted the following:

No man alive in the Armstrongist churches today has ever authenticated the gospel message through signs, wonders, and miracles. None of them—including Bob Thiel and Ron Weinland— will ever do so in the future. They cannot even get a prophecy right,

Well, that, of course is not true in the case of myself in the CCOG. For details, check out the article: Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18?

We do have the confirmed miraculous signs of the last days.

Notice something that Herbert Armstrong wrote in 1985:

In these last days, according to biblical prophecy, knowledge, spiritual as well as material, was to be increased. The true Church of God was to be set back on the track, restoring the glorious knowledge of the faith once delivered to the saints in the days of the original apostles. (Armstrong HW. Mystery of the Ages, 1985)

Would not spiritual and prophetic knowledge include making predictions inspired by God and having a better understanding of prophecy than the non-Philadelphian COGs?

That said, Gary Leonard likes to state that I have never made any predictions that came to pass. As regular readers of this COGwriter Church of God News page are aware, that is more false nonsense from Gary Leonard and his anti-COG supporters.

We even have a prophetic list in a chart, by the way, for he and others to consider. You can find it in the article: Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18?

But for now, let’s just look five of them:

Prediction: On April 7, 2007 Bob Thiel posted: I believe that Iran will be somewhat neutralized at some point in time as I differ from PCG on Iran and the king of the South. (COG News: Emphasizing News of Interest to those Once in the Worldwide Church of God. April 7, 2007. https://cogwriter.com/1103news.htm) Other posts repeated that, See: Iran in Prophecy.

Fulfillment:  On March 19, 2026 there was the following headline: Netanyahu Declares Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Capabilities Neutralized https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/3844117-netanyahu-declares-irans-nuclear-and-missile-capabilities-neutralized

Prediction: On December 5, 2013, I, Bob Thiel, posted that governments, particularly in Europe,  would one day not allow cryptocurrencies like BitCoin to be private and unregulated.

Fulfillment: In late November 2021, the European Union released a paper called “Proposal for EU Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets.” On December 7, 2022, the EU passed rules to rules that are to “be extended to the entire crypto sector, obliging all crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) to” eliminate the possibility of privacy through various customer “due diligence” requirements.

Prediction: On December 27, 2024, Bob Thiel posted: “Gold will break records in US dollar terms.”

Fulfillment: Gold hit daily record prices in US dollar terms over 50 times in 2025 (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/commodities/a-golden-run-after-60-surge-and-over-50-all-time-highs-this-year-whats-next-for-gold-in-2026/articleshow/125800646.cms?utm_source=chatgpt.com&from=mdr). It also hit records in 2026. And despite ups and downs, that is not over.

Prediction: On November 6, 2024 (https://www.cogwriter.com/news/prophecy/media-declares-donald-trump-won-the-election-now-what/), I, Bob Thiel, wrote, “Donald Trump won re-election. … Europe will get more serious about trade deals with others internationally, such as being more motivated to approve the trade deal with the Mercosur block of South America.”

Fulfillment: On January 9, 2026, the European Union voted to approve the Mercosur trade deal, despite strong opposition (see https://www.euractiv.com/news/eu-countries-endorse-mercosur-trade-deal/)–and part of the reason it was approved was because of concerns related to Donald Trump.

Prediction: On November 26, 2024 (https://www.cogwriter.com/news/2024/11/page/2/ ), I, Bob Thiel wrote, “If the EU-Mercosur deal is approved, there will be protests in parts of Europe.”

Fulfillment:  In January 2026 there were (e.g. https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/13/hundreds-of-tractors-rumble-through-paris-in-protest-over-eu-mercosur-deal)

You can find a larger chart of fulfilled dreams and predictions in the article: Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18?

Jesus said that fruits were the criteria to determine true vs. false prophets (John 7:15-20). The Continuing Church of God has the true fruits.

The Bible teaches:

16 The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes
Than seven men who can answer sensibly. (Proverbs 26:16)

Do not simply accept nonsense and other anti-CCOG statements posted at places online.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21)

Many at the Banned by HWA website, as well as non-Philadelphian Christians, refuse to do that.

What about you?

Some items of possibly related interest may include the following:

Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18? Does any church have the confirmed dream and prophetic signs of Acts 2:17-18? Should one? Here is a link in the Spanish language: ¿Tiene la CCOG confirmadas las señales de Hechos 2: 17-18? Here is a link in the French language: Est-ce que l’Église Continue de Dieu confirme les signes d’Actes 2:17-18? A related sermon in the English language is also available: 17 Last Days’ Signs of the Holy Spirit.
21st Century Church of God Prophets Are there any true prophets in the 21st century? What about false prophets? What are scriptures and fruits to identify the true from the false? Will you prove all things and test the spirits?
Church of God Leaders on Prophets Have there been prophets throughout the church age? Are any supposed to be around in the last days? What have COG leaders stated or written about prophets? Here is a link to a related sermon: Church of God Leaders on Prophets.
How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God There are many false prophets. How can Christians determine who is a true prophet? There is also a sermon-length video titled How to determine if someone is a true prophet of God. Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Cómo determinar si alguien es un verdadero profeta de Dios?
26 items to prophetically watch in 2026 Much is happening. Dr. Thiel points to 26 items to watch (cf. Mark 13:37) in this article. Here is a link to a related sermon: 26 Items to Watch in 2026.
Why is there a Philadelphian remnant of the true Christian Church of God? Did the old Worldwide Church of God essentially predict a Philadelphian remnant? Is a Philadelphian remnant needed for end-time prophecies to be fulfilled? Here is a link to a related sermon: The Philadelphia Remnant.