Almost, but not arrested Elijah Bob Thiel has been giddily proclaiming he has over 3,000 members now, of which 2, 996 live in Africa. That all might sound impressive, if one had not paid any attention to the countless stories posted here and on other COG related sites on how many African Sabbath keeping groups have allegiances to many different parent organizations, all done in an effort to draw in as much money from gullible white Americans. Thiel is such a narcissist that since God directly spoke to him in a dream, then his god would never allow people to take advantage of him. This seems to be a major issue in the Sabbatarian groups, from SDA, COG7 to the Armstrongite off shoots, including Thiel's.
Church of God News had this up about from Bill Goff who runs Voice in the Wilderness. Bill has one of the few groups that actually seem to be doing some good in the world. Ironically, most all of the other Church of Gods will not financially assist him in caring for others.
Voice in the Wilderness Church of God
Update from Bill Goff, April 21:
“Last week we were contacted by a church group in Canada. They were asking if we had any information concerning a church organization in Bungoma, Kenya, that they have been supporting the past few years. We offered to travel to Bungoma (located on the Uganda border) to investigate for them. Nehemiah and I traveled there on Thursday, and our trip was a success. We found the church group to be totally legitimate and caring for quite a number of orphans.
Over the past few years we have investigated quite a number of “churches” here in Kenya that numerous churches of God in the States had been supporting financially. The majority of them turned out to be “cons”.
So, we thank our Heavenly Father for enabling us to work together and help one another whenever possible. We may be of different administrations, but there are no barriers between us, because we are of the same mind and same spirit. And much can be accomplished when we work together in unity and strive for humility. Praise God for that!
This is also a busy day today. We are having combined Sabbath services in Ikenye. There will also be a number of baptisms. (There are 20 being baptized, most are from the border group next to the Maasai tribe). We have been counseling with them for some time now.”