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Saturday 12 March 2016

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.

3 comments:

Pam said...

Maybe his proofreader can make him look good (or at least a teeny bit better than awful) in print or online in PDF. But WHO will step forward to fix the horrendous disaster that is his background for many of his videos on Youtube??! Someone sent me a link to one the other day, not for the content, but so I could see the weird "set" he uses.

I was stunned. It wasn't just the one video--you can see down the small icon pics of other videos down the side of the page that he is standing immediately in front of this weird backdrop in every one!

All I can say is that the gaudy flowered drapes that are the ONLY backdrop are pretty much identical to ones my husband's grandmother (born in 1889) had in her shabby home in the early 1960s. Purchased, no doubt, at KMart. They fit in well with the 75 year old lady's ancient furniture that all had the doilies pinned on the arms and back. (And yes, I have to confess that I probably had some pretty tacky looking flowered drapes in my own living room in our lean years in the 1970s and 80s.)

But as a background for a Prophetic Messenger explaining the Mysteries of the Bible and the significance of all the evil in the world? Surely Bob could at least find a couple of bookshelves to stand in front of, with some classic-looking faux-leather-bound books strategically placed among some British-feeling knick knacks. With a big standing globe in earthtones on one side and a fake ficus on the other. Or at absolute minimum, a plain colored thick drapery in a muted color that doesn't scream at you the whole time you are trying to focus on Bob's dry patter.

Have a look.

Dr. Bob Speaks Out



James said...

Bob won't use the bookshelves. There crooked! And he needs some new books in them besides Barney the Dinosaur.

The man is a light weight. I normally don't discount a foe, but in Bob's case I will. He is by all intensive thought, a moron in my humble opinion.

Anonymous said...

Careful, there, James. He who calls another a fool (Gr. moros, from the English "moron" is a loan word) risks the fires of the valley of Ben-Hinnom. On second thought, since I doubt there's any significant fires burning in the valley of Ben-Hinnom these days, you probably don't have anything to worry about. LOL

Isn't Prophet Bob in his other life a homeopath? Someone who believes that pure water is a panacea? Yep, on that score alone he'd be a moron. Oh, but there are so many more reasons where that came from...