Thiel Spiel

I apologize. AW has been woefully neglectful of the CCG and its wondrously gifted prophet Bob Thiel. That's partly because Bob is irrelevant, given to delusions of competence and self-proclaimed master of a puddle-sized splinter sect, but nonetheless he battles on, secure in his own fantasies, and he does manage to attract some small attention from two groups; those few poor souls who take him seriously and those who think he's just plain bizarre.

In any case, the quarterly Bob magazine, grandiosely titled Bible News Prophecy (shouldn't that be Bible News and Prophecy?) is out there and ready for eager readers to devour the prophet's primer-level, semi-literate prose. Two dead men wrote a couple of the articles - handily copyright free from long ago. One was Herb Armstrong (lifted from a 1977 PT), the other by Dibar Apartian (from a 1966 GN). 1966 - dear lord, that was the year before they relaunched Dragnet! Too bad Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon aren't around now to knock on Bob's door and sort the poor schmuck out. Apartian has been claimed by Thiel as a silent supporter of his unique gifts and a critic of his onetime idol-turned-nemesis, Rod Meredith, despite retaining his status as an evangelist in Meredith's Living Church of God at the time of his death, so Bob is attempting to twist the knife. Mind you, I doubt the old fossils who run things over in Charlotte have even noticed.

Apart from the reruns of Herb and Dibar's stuff, everything else comes from the prophet's very own pen. The lead article screams PROTESTANTS: BEWARE of the ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT!

Bob, sit down and let me explain something to you. Protestant churches - with the exception of a number of fundamentalist retard denominations - created the ecumenical movement.

Oh well.

To be honest, in my view Bob is a complete dead end. His tiny Continuing Church of God is a vanity project that has a future only as long as Bob's personal longevity, and nobody lives forever. I guess it generates a nice little income in the meantime. So why bother even mentioning him? Well, Bible News Prophecy is, if nothing else, a sobering example - or mildly amusing if you think of it from another angle - of extreme nuttiness and dilettantism parading in proof-texting drag. As they say, whatever spins your wheels...

Downloadable (but not recommended).

Bwana Bob vs Daktari Dave

Bob lands one on Dave

It's a "rumble in the jungle", Church of God style. Bwana Bob Thiel seems to be taking over a major COG franchise in Tanzania, the operation formerly run by Daktari David Hulme. Not that we're going to learn that from Dave, who is about as forthcoming on his mini-me operation as the government of North Korea. The news comes via Prophet Bob's latest "letter to the brethren".

Bob's "pastor" in that part of the world is Evans Ochieng. Here's how Evans reports developments.

I noticed that so many people were in church of God in Tanzania. But due to poor management and relax made the congregations in Tanzania to die. The people who were in United and international community churches of God were so many in Tanzania. But poor management killed them. Before I met Andrew and his group, I met with Samson who was in United Church of God. This man was very happy to meet with me. When I introduced myself to him and and introduce the continuing church of God and the work we are doing, the man was so pleased. I gave him our magazines and statement of belief. I also explain to him why we know that continuing church of God is the only church where the truth is at this time. With prophesies, true salvation, repentance and ordained feasts. The work was so big in Tanzania that forced me to promise them another visit in July. So many people turned to join CCOG. It made me happy because of late, I wanted to pull off from Tanzania. What I noticed is that, pulling out wasn’t God’s plan. Satan was trying to block ways. But he is defeated. Martin was very happy when he met new people who are long-term members of God’s church. We were doing visitation to every member’s home. Every person whom we got his or her calling, we visit. The work was very good and made some steps a head.

After that we sat down and talk about the feast of tabernacles. How it can be organized this year. We noticed that people who will attend the feast of tabernacles this year in Tanzania will be many. We also noticed that to hire hotel for all those people will be very expensive. So Martin offered a land where we can put semi-permanent rooms to help those in Tanzania this year during the feast of tabernacles. I recommended their suggestions and when I was there I gave funds to start bringing sand. To make them it needs USD 2500. I hope this will help them and will make them steady. When I will be going back in July, I will also go and baptize 2 ladies who wanted baptism but I told Martin to continue teaching them the importance of baptism.

Bob adds:

‘Martin’ above is Martin Wanga.  He first contacted me in 2013. The ‘international community’ is a reference to the Church of God, an International Community (COGaIC)... That group initially had a relatively large presence in Africa, but many of COGaIC’s top US leaders left it a couple of years ago, and that affected their operations in Africa.

Hulme seems to have neglected Africa over a long period of time. Now that Dave's dreams have turned to custard, Africa has apparently dropped even further down the priority list. Developing local leadership and providing them with the skills to build and educate their congregations is a pretty basic imperative. It seems that, in the end, the COG-AIC members were desperate enough to jump into the arms of Evans and his Great White Prophet in California with not much thought or research. That's not as easy in Tanzania as it is in the developed West, but Dave certainly hasn't made it easier either. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

And does Bwana Bob really expect the newly rebranded Hulmites will be his till the Second Coming? The sociological factors indicate otherwise. People who struggle to get ahead in Tanzania have a whole lot of reasons for attaching themselves to a blowhard American sect, and they're not the same reasons as recruits in the Anglo world. You can bet Prophet Bob hasn't factored that in. How can two guys who both boast PhDs be so clueless?

So it's a fail all round. It's also a bit pathetic and tragic.

The obvious question now is - just how many people remain with the once ambitious Hulme? We know the British and American churches have been hit hard, and now the African brethren appear to be sailing away from Dave across Lake Victoria and into the sunset.

Too bad they're heading off after Bob.

(HT to Gary)

Another black eye for Bob

COGWA's John Carmack has posted a response to a lengthy attack by Prophet Bob Thiel (ThD) over at COG Perspective. Did Bob expect anything else?

I certainly don't have a canine in this altercation, but gotta say, in my opinion at least, John has the high moral ground here.

Meantime Bob, we're all waiting for clarification on that super-impressive Trinity ThD you claim to have earned.

Bob throws his toys at John

... if Bob has "stretched the truth" on this matter, how can anyone believe a word he says on anything else.

Bob Thiel must be feeling brittle after having the headlights turned on his claims recently. Gary Leonard has been relentless, and the immediate past posting here also raised important issues for Bob's credibility. Bob, however, has decided to vent his spleen at John Carmack, a COGWA member who operates the Church of God Perspective site. Over to you, Bob.

While I cannot address all the lies and innuendoes on the internet about me, since someone who claims to be in the Church of God has once again posted false and misleading statements about me, that perhaps this would be a good time to answer lest those who believe such things feel that they are wise in their own eyes.

Actually, Bob, it wouldn't be at all difficult to clarify the little matter of your ThD credentials. But more on that later. Here's Bob's post. I guess I'm not completely unbiased here, but I find Bob quite incoherent in parts. In fact, his defense of his own 'specialness' seems downright pathetic. But what do I know, if you're up to it you can click across and judge for yourself.

What is interesting is that Bob chooses to respond to John, but not address issues others have raised. Is that because he can't?

Explain what TCU means please Bob.

The issues around the legitimacy of Bob's CV are quite straightforward, relying on matters of fact, yet Bob keeps fudging. It's important because if Bob has "stretched the truth" on this matter, how can anyone believe a word he says on anything else. How simple would it be for Bob to type up a proper CV that lists and documents his qualifications rather than grandstanding and evasions? No need to "answer detractors" - just provide the documentation.

If Bob doesn't know how to set out an academic CV, I'm sure he can find lots of examples online.

The Remarkable Story of Bob Thiel's ThD

The story of Bob's acquisition of a Doctor of Theology degree was a major source of curiosity on AW back in 2009. Bob has since gone on to assert further remarkable personal claims. Perhaps we can gauge how seriously we can take these by Bob's ThD track record. Here's how it unfolded.


25 September: Bob's been busy

Not only in writing books but now articles for examiner.com. Here's the bio:

Dr. Bob Thiel has studied theology and prophecy for decades, and possesses a Ph.D. (UIU) and a Th.D. (TCU). He has also traveled extensively, and has visited sites of religious interest in Rome, Greece, Central Europe, Asia Minor, Cappadocia, Constantinople (Istanbul), Africa, Asia, North America, and Latin America.

Bob has a ThD from Texas Christian University? When did that happen? Bob doesn't mention it in his COGwriter bio.

Check 'em out

There have been some great posts recently on a number of ex-COG blogs. Here's a round-up of a just a few of those that are worth an extra plug.

Banned (Gary Leonard)
Always perceptive, Gary has called out Bob Thiel on his newly implied status as a latter-day Amos. Bob, you'll remember, is given to occasional delusions of relevance. The story of his dubious ThD degree, his elevation to accidental prophet thanks to misrepresentation of some flowery words by Gaylyn Bonjour (who was only trying to anoint him for a "minor health issue"), and now his apparent elevation to Amos' mantle.

Silenced

The anonymous Silenced writer has a pithy piece on Dave Pack. His estimate of Dave's membership: "RCG is still only about 200 members in Wadsworth and at most 800 or so scattered across the country in their living rooms." That sounds about right. In an Akron Beacon Journal article back in 2012 (also found on the Silenced site) the church claimed "more than 370 congregations in more than 50 countries". That seems highly unlikely, to say the least.

Living Armstrongism
An interesting reflection on the power of nostalgia in keeping people in line, specifically referencing PCG, but obviously with wider application.

The good old days? Those were good old days?

What to do till Kingdom Come?

Bob's been a busy prophet, producing the latest issue of his Bible News Prophecy mag. Included in this issue.

• Palestine & Gaza in Thielian Prophecy (by Bob)
• Did early Christians keep the Spring holy days? (by Bob)
• What to do till "Kingdom Come"? (lifted from a 1975 Good News)
• Dressing for church (by Bob)
• A quiz on the magic millennium (by Bob, adapted from the old Bible Correspondence Course)

The cover shows Bob's New Zealand following. Based in Auckland, these folk (apart from being mainly female) are predominantly made up of Pasifika members rather than Pakeha (Caucasian), which is interesting given Bob's position on BI. They seem to be frequently featured, which leads one to wonder whether this is the largest gathering of Thielians (I count nine here, excluding Bob and Joyce) the latter-day prophet can readily produce to front for a camera.

What to do till "kingdom come"? Clearly, read Bob's stuff. There's no end to that either.

The PDF is available for download.

Bob - a corporation sole

Good grief!

Hardly had the ink dried on the previous post - or whatever passes for ink on a blog - than this little gem appeared in the in-tray. It's the copyright notice to Bob's latest booklet.

A "corporation sole"? Who was the most famous corporation sole in COG history? None other than Herbert Armstrong, desperate to evade accountability to the State of California in the wake of the receivership and keeping well out of sight in Tucson. So I guess it's official, Bob is a one-man band.

And what do we make of the "and Successor" bit? Talk about taking precautions.

So is this all evidence of fiendish cleverness, or is Bob just delusional? Whatever the case, Bob seems to be intent on locking things down.

Making Bob look good

You've got to admire John Hickey, the Continuing Church of God's man on the ground in New Zealand. This guy has one unenviable job, making his master - accidental Prophet and Doctor-of-Theology-on-the-cheap Bob Thiel (pronounced teel) - look good in print.

John is proof-reader for Bob's magazine Bible News Prophecy. BNP is one of the rags in the 'also ran' category of COG evangelistic publications. And get this; every single word in the 36-page January-March issue is written by the Prophet.

Bob must spend long hours each day pounding away on his word processor. In February alone he clocked up 90 separate posts on his main news page alone, and we're talking long posts (I noted one recently in excess of 6,000 words). He's able to provide commentary on everything from Trump to tropical cyclones then, for light relief, film himself imparting prophetic insight for his YouTube channel. Moreover, you can now tune into Dr Bob's very own personal radio station (yes, his intro is indeed "greetings friends around the world"!) Now you need never go without Bob's expert knowledge about Bible prophecy. A heavily scripted John Hickey features too, Kiwi accent and all.

Of course, if you're going to more or less single-handedly produce, write and edit a magazine you need to display a modicum of skill with basic grammar and punctuation. That's without considering those garden variety typos which we all make. The key here is to fix them quick smart, something that busy Bob doesn't seem to be bothered with overmuch. Which is where John comes in. He's obviously a patient man.

So what literary treats await you in this issue? Bob on Islam, Bob on New Years Day, Bob on natural disasters and Bob on prayer tips.

The PDF is available to download.

One of the world's foremost authorities

"Dr. Bob Thiel is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the events likely to occur in the months leading up to and after December 21, 2012. Dr. Thiel’s exhaustive research of nearly a dozen ancient culture’s prophecies— including the Mayan, Hindu, I Ching, Buddhist and Islamic plans – reveals the chilling timeline of events surrounding 2012."

The geniuses at Whispers Radio have ordained Bob Thiel, Th.D (Kochi, India) as a world authority. Uh... Now how come the spiritual giants at LCG HQ in Charlotte haven't realized this yet?

Whispers is the Ohio Valley’s only source for paranormal talk radio... Jordan and Nick bring the best guests in the paranormal world to WKKX... Topics range from ghosts to cryptozoology to UFOs, as well as others that fall into the general paranormal realm.

Wow, talk about credibility; Bob, you've set a whole new benchmark!

Anyway, here's the show. Bob brings his outstanding expertise to bear in the second half of the program (around 47 minutes), after the lady talking about auras, harmonics and indigo children ("Am I too way out for ya, ha ha.") I guess she's a foremost authority too, huh?

The disappearing ThD

Bob Thiel seems to have expunged mention of any Th.D from his bio page. No explanation given, but I guess it amounts to a concession to his critics. Here then are the three versions of his qualifications that Bob has promoted this year.

Version 1: ...I have studied graduate level Early Church History from Fuller Theological Seminary and other schools. 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.

Version 2: ...I have studied graduate level Early Church History from Fuller Theological Seminary and other schools in and out of the USA like T of CU, where a Th.D. in Early Christianity was earned). 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.

Version 3: ...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.

Now you see it, now you don't. It remains to be seen whether Bob has done irreparable damage to his credibility by fudging on this issue.

Bob meets Billy the Brain

You can spend a pleasant hour listening to none other than Bob Thiel, Th.D, being interviewed by "Billy the Brain," on KKZZ just this week. But be quick, the show is only available for a few more days.

"Billy the Brain" was generous to Dr Bob ("you have done your homework, sir"), listing his many splendid academic accomplishments (did you know Bob has written seven books?) before launching out into the topic of 2012. Strangely enough, there was no mention of the disputed Th.D. Hmm. That didn't stop Billy from touting his guest as an "absolute expert": obviously he's easily impressed. Maybe I'm just a cynic, but having had to wing it through a few situations myself from time to time, I got the distinct impression that "the Brain" had only just picked up the book and skimmed the chapter heads before going on air, and thought Bob was there to "debunk" the movie that is coming out next week.

Credit where credit is due though, COGdom's favorite naturopath came across reasonably well, and he didn't get sidetracked into Sabbaths and other red-herring issues, but stayed focused throughout. Not even a free plug for the Living Church of God or Tomorrow's World.

And how many callers did Bob attract? Well, zilch, zip, nada. Sad. It's doubtful that Bob will make his fortune selling this thing, and even if he did, well, there wouldn't really be time to spend it anyway would there?

Oh, and yes, while Bob won't commit to 2012, he nonetheless assured Billy that the End is scheduled for the next decade. When LCG collapses, could it be that Bob cuts free and establishes himself as the Willie Dankenbring for a new generation?

2012 Garbage

Wally Smith, media understudy to LCG's gerontocracy, has scribed some 2012 thoughts on his blog.

On the other hand, I read and digested more 2012-related garbage that I would ever want to do again. For instance, I’m not sure if it will make the DVD, but we created a clip in which we toss book after book onto a table, each one professing to contain 2012-related wisdom, knowledge and prophecy.

It seems Wally is a skeptic, on 2012 if nothing else. No mention here, let alone endorsement, of fellow LCG member and eminent scholar Bob Thiel (Th.D) and his recent book 2012 and the Secret Sect though. Could it be that Bob's magnum opus was one of those books Wally tossed onto the table? "Wisdom, knowledge and prophecy" are a Thiel specialty! Wally mentions that he spent time with a Mayan scholar ("a Ph.D. in Mesoamerican cultures who was a Maya expert") who was also, it seems, a closet devotee of British Israelism.

In other research, he had also come to his own conclusions about the identity of the ten “lost tribes” of Israel, which — though done without contact with our church — correlated incredibly very well with exactly what we teach of them and of the United States and Great Britain in the Living Church of God — but that is a tale for another day.

Of course Wally isn't about to identify this genius.

Wally is the LCG's expert on 2012, and has both written a feature article about it in the latest Tomorrow's World, and recorded a television program which will air when the 2012 movie is released just over a week from now. But wouldn't you have thought the TW editorial team would have been falling over themselves to get Bob Thiel to write this article, considering Bob not only holds the sole Th.D in the church, but has just written a full-length book on this subject?

Just as mysteriously, there is still no comment or clarification from Bob about the legitimacy of that very same Th.D which he recently added to his resume. As someone recently pointed out, Bob's sudden elevation to doctor of theology - assuming it was the real thing - would be a huge asset for the intellectually under-endowed sect. If however it's little more than a vanity degree that Bob picked up from a shonky operation in India, then Bob could well be the butt of an awful lot of humor at the Charlotte HQ.

In Search of... Bob's Th.D

The mystery of Bob Thiel's Th.D may be solved, and it's a pretty strange tale.

Bob may have acquired a mail order degree from Trinity School of Apologetics & Theology in Kochi.

Kochi?

TRINITY??

Following up on an anonymous tip in the previous comments section, a web search revealed that Trinity is a fundamentalist institution in India which has a Calvinist orientation, and offers "Free Apologetics/Theology Graduate Distance Programs." It's listed in places like Conservapedia and Creationwiki, and is sited next to Cochin University, but from what I can tell is definitely not part of that institution (although to read the Trinity website you might assume it was!) T of CU would then mean Trinity of Cochin University, which seems to be a clear misrepresentation.

Here's what Walston's Guide to Christian Distance Learning has to say about this institution (see graphic).

Not exactly positive.

And lo and behold, there is a Bob Thiel listed under "graduation news" on the Trinity site.

Now let's recap.

(1) If this is the source of Bob's Th.D, one can only wonder at his choice of an institution which wears its trinitarianism on its sleeve.

(2) To all intents and purposes, the accreditation that this institution claims is highly dubious.

(3) Bob has misrepresented it by calling it TCU. The correct acronym is TGSAT. The impression that he has graduated from Texas Christian is highly misleading. The impression that TGSAT is part of Cochin University is also misleading.

It appears that Bob's Th.D - if this is its source - isn't worth the paper it's printed on. No wonder Bob has been less than forthcoming about its provenance: it's a huge embarrassment.

However, on the positive side, Bob was being at least partially truthful. He does have a piece of paper with a recently minted Th.D., the quality of which is fully commensurate with the quality of his scholarship.

A Case of Beams and Splinters?

Over at COGwriter, Bob Thiel is busy nuking some guy called James Malm. It's completely justified, as Malm has been slagging off Thiel. Never a dull moment in the sandpit.

What this clearly demonstrates is that Bob is quite capable of standing up for himself, and assuming a posture of peevish outrage. The current entry is entitled "James Malm Continues to Mislead."

Instead of repenting for being a false accuser of me, James Malm remains an accuser (cf. Revelation 12:10) as he continues to attempt to mislead people about me and my writings... The Apostle Paul faced false accusers as well who could not prove their false accusations (Acts 24:13).

Well, bully for Bob. But isn't it interesting that Bob has still failed to respond to questions about the legitimacy of a claimed Th.D from TCU. These claims are in his bio at Examiner.com, and on his own website. Hardly a good look to accuse someone else of misleading while being unable to provide the most rudimentary documentation for one's own claims. A case of beams and splinters?

The thing is, Bob gets a lot of traffic on his site, but where does it come from? Have a look at this breakdown from Alexa.com.

Sweet mystery of life, nearly 15% of Bob's click-through traffic comes from - gasp! - AW! No other source, search engines Google and Yahoo excluded, sends more visitors through for a dose of Bob's "Th.D" fueled Biblical expertise... Most of those would go directly to the COGwriter "news" page, while most of the search engine hits would go to one of the countless ratbag pages of opinion Bob has up on things like "Catholic prophecies," Mayan calendars, and whether Barack Obama is the Antichrist. If that's the case, most of Bob's upstream traffic would come from curious and confused nutcases outside the COG fold, which means the news blog - the part of Bob's site most of us are familiar with - has been hugely overrated in its influence.

Yes brethren, I'm very tempted to rain on Bob's parade by withdrawing all links to his site... after all he doesn't link here. But that would be boorish and small-minded, so I guess he can continue to hang out in the apologists' section of the side bar.

But there'll be no more direct links from blog entries until Bob explains that alleged Th.D.

Question: Exactly which institution issued the Th.D? Full name required, as the obvious candidate for "TCU" is Texas Christian University, and they don't seem to know anything about it.

Doctor of Thielology

The Last Great Day has been and gone, and thousands of Feast-goers are toddling their weary way home. The "best Feast ever"? Well, maybe.

I'm looking forward to Bob Thiel at last having time to share the details on his acquisition of the Th.D which suddenly appeared on his resumé , so to speak, just days before the Feast. This may seem a bit obsessive, but I think it's important that we all can feel Bob's honesty is not in question here. We may disagree with Bob, but nobody has had reason to question his sincerity and integrity before.

As late as March last year Bob didn't seem to know about his own Th.D. Here's what he wrote in answer to a critic on another blog (you can read the whole rebuttal here):

I do have a Ph.D. and it is from the Union Institute & University. And Union is regionally accredited (the highest accepted accrediting standard in the United States for universities and colleges). I also have a Master of Science degree from the University of Southern California (which, of course, is also regionally accredited).

I believe Bob unreservedly, and these qualifications are not in question. But note, no mention of a Th.D from TCU (or anywhere else.) Has Bob acquired his prestigious doctorate in theology since then? If so, how? If Bob wants to continue to be regarded as credible, he needs to come clean on this, and sooner rather than later.

Samoan Tsunami

The first I heard of the Pacific Tsunami today was an email from a dear (but anonymous) brother in Christ.

A tsunami is headed towards NZ what do you think of that? I am praying for the people of NZ and even you though you don't believe in God.

How thoughtful! Sadly, I didn't initially publish it to the comments section, but on second thoughts I decided I'd share it anyway. In fact, that email was the final straw that led to the previous post on moderation.

The only COG blog to mention the tsunami so far is COGwriter, where Bob sagely notes: "This has been a rough week in the South Pacific, and its only Tuesday. Ultimately, the Bible tells of a time there will be no more islands (Revelation 16:17-21)."

Well, that's cheery. No more islands? Are you kidding? Tasmania, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, what about the British Isles? Bob may have a PhD and a ThD (ahem) but, well, gimme a break! It's another example of the need not to be completely wooden and literal when you read the Bible. "And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found." Bob's transformation of poetic metaphors into a gray utilitarian paradise doesn't sound too attractive to me; not only no islands, but no mountains. Maybe his god has no concept of natural beauty.

The travail in Samoa and American Samoa is real, and while the anonymous brother's heartfelt prayers would doubtless be appreciated in a very religious nation, I'd have thought a donation to a relief agency might be more practical. As for arguing with this genius about his opinion that I "don't believe in God," well, it'd be a waste of breath. The guy is obviously a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.

For the record, the tsunami thankfully skipped New Zealand's shores. But what kind of Christianity is it that uses a disaster to slap around someone who has a different theological perspective, or play Internet doom-caster to illustrate a proof text?

A Very Special Treat...

... from triple-doc Bob Th[D]iel.

It's one of three videos Bob delivers in his attempt to sell copies of his book on 2012. This one is entitled Mayans, the others are labeled Obama and Catholic. They're all available here, click on "more from."

If you're willing to invest three and a half minutes of your life in inane, rambling waffle, this is for you.

Actually Bob, how about a short YouTube video explaining all about that ThD you've got from TCU?

Bob's ThD... revised edition

Just a few hours ago Bob had this to say on his website:

...I have studied graduate level Early Church History from Fuller Theological Seminary and other schools. 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.

Now there's a new, edited version:

...I have studied graduate level Early Church History from Fuller Theological Seminary and other schools in and out of the USA like T of CU, where a Th.D. in Early Christianity was earned). 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.

Uh... T of CU? Anyone have any idea what this means? TCU seems to know nothing about Bob (see previous posts.) And, accepting what Bob now says on face value, fancy him forgetting to mention his excellent doctorate in theology till now...

Bob's ThD

What do we make of the claim that Bob Thiel holds a ThD from TCU? Click on the image to enlarge. Inquiries have been made by concerned AW readers. Leonardo is one:

...in the endeavor to "prove all things" I called the Registrar's Office (817-257-7825) of Texas Christian University located in Ft. Worth, Texas – and talked to one Kristi Harrison at the Registrar’s Office. She informed me of the following facts: First of all, Texas Christian University does NOT have a doctorate of theology (ThD) program. They do have a Masters of Theological Studies program, a Master of Divinity program, and a Master of Theology program – but not a ThD program. And second, the name of Bob (or Robert) Thiel does NOT show up on ANY student listing the university has. They have a computerized file dating from 1984 forward – and Thiel is NOT on this one. And they have a microfiche file for students who attended before 1984 – and Thiel doesn’t show up on this one either.

I've always found Bob a scrupulously honest person, so it will be intriguing to follow this as it develops.