Robert Thieme
Encyclopedia
Robert Bunger Thieme, Jr. (April 1, 1918 – August 16, 2009) was pastor of Berachah Church
, a nondenominational Christian church in Houston, Texas, from 1950-2003. Affectionately called "the Colonel" by his congregation, he was a dispensationalist
theologian who wrote over a hundred books and conducted over 10,000 sermons on various theological topics during his 55 years as a pastor.
and raised in Beverly Hills, California
due to a large family inheritance. He attended Beverly Hills High School
, including four years study in Latin and went on for his undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona
at Tucson
where he majored in Greek
and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, graduating with honors in Classical Literature in 1940. While attending university, he met and married Betty Beal, the daughter of a Baptist minister.
During World War II
, he served in the Army Air Corps
where he eventually was in charge of training Army Air Corps cadets at Luke Field. In 1946, at 28 years old, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel
, from which his nickname "the Colonel" originates, and he entered the Reserves
. He continued in a militaristic vein after leaving the service, including as a guest speaker at the third annual Houston Anti-Communism School in 1960. Additionally, during the early 1960s Thieme publicly lectured on Communist brainwashing techniques
At this point, he attended Dallas Theological Seminary
where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. His 1949 Master's thesis is entitled Armageddon: an investigation of the campaign of the great day of God the Almighty. During his time at DTS, he held a part-time pastorate at Reinhardt Bible Church in Dallas, Texas
.
In 1950, he came to Berachah Church
in Houston, Texas
, having been recommended to the church for this position by Dr. J. Ellwood Evans of Dallas Theological Seminary. Thieme met with the Board of Deacons at the close of his first Sunday service and demanded that they resign immediately, or he would. The board acceded to this demand, and from that moment on, according to Joe Wall, Thieme "became the dominant leader who brooked no
challenge to his authority." He was pastor at Berachah until he retired in 2003 due to Alzheimer's disease
.
After retiring in 2003, his only son, Robert "Bobby" Thieme III, was elected by the congregation of Berachah to serve as the new pastor. Since his retirement, R.B. Thieme Ministries has shifted focus to compiling Thieme's sermons and notes into new books, and reformatting and revising existing material into modern formats (e.g. DVD
, MP3
, and Powerpoint).
Over the years, Thieme has ordained dozens of men to the ministry.
In 2007, C. G. Hunt wrote an unauthorized biography on Thieme's family history and upbringing entitled Robert B. Thieme Jr.: His Ancestry, His Life, ISBN 9781598582345.
The book has raised questions concerning the veracity of some claims Thieme has made about his background, including his sports letters at the University of Arizona and his Latin honors
from Dallas Theological Seminary.
, in his theology. He has, in turn, been influential in the ministries of other Christians, including former U.S. Vice President
Dan Quayle
. He can be described as a dispensational
, non-denominational Protestant who believes in Biblical inerrancy
.
. Isagogics means studying the Bible in terms of the historical context in which each book was written, including both the human writer, the audience, the times in which they lived, etc. Categories refers to a topical categorization of doctrine, so that one can approach the Bible on a step-by-step basis and cross-reference scriptures effectively. Exegesis means studying the Bible in the original languages (or as best as is available) so that one is not relying on an intermediate chain of language translations which may obscure or lose meanings. Through the ICE method, Thieme sought to uncover all of the deepest truths of Scripture.
of Jesus that was substitutionary
and salvific. Thieme used the phrase "Blood of Christ
" as a "representative analogy for the work of Christ in salvation."
Thieme called Roe v. Wade
"one of the wisest and most brilliant decisions that the Supreme Court has made in many, many, many years" and said that "abortion is a decision between a patient and her doctor."
, Dr. Stewart Custer, Rev. Robert Walter, J. Ellwood Evans, Ron Enroth, Daniel Wallace, and Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.
. In addition, he has been both commended and criticised in dissertations by Th.D.
candidates at his alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary, such as by Joe Layton Wall (note the foreword by DTS president John F. Walvoord), and at other seminaries, such as by Todd Campo at Trinity College and Seminary
, George King at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
and Philip Mitchell at Grace Theological Seminary
. Garry Wills, in his book Under God: Religion and American Politics shares insightful interviews with Thieme and his staff on how he perceives himself and how he teaches with his exclusive interpretation of the Bible ISBN 9781416543350.
Thieme's style of teaching and vocabulary reflected strongly his military background. He would, for example, wear his military uniform while preaching from the pulpit on holidays such as Veterans Day
and Memorial Day
. He referred to believers as "Christian soldiers" and wrote a number of books which focused on military service as it related
to the believer's spiritual life, such as War: Moral or Immoral, and Freedom through Military Victory. Thieme also used military imagery in books such as Follow the Colors, Christian, at Ease!, and The Christian Warrior, analogizing the Christian spiritual life in some ways to physical combat. His teachings have been popular among military personnel
.
Berachah Church supports both United States
and worldwide evangelism
, especially through an outreach group called Operation Grace: World Missions. OGWN currently supports missionaries in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines, Africa, England, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldovia, and Kazakhstan.
Even since his retirement, Thieme's ministry has continued to grow worldwide in a number of ways. As of January 2007, many of his books have been translated into a dozen languages, including Spanish
, Portuguese
, German
, Hungarian
, Romanian
, Korean
, Chinese
, Thai
, and Russian
. Currently, his sermons are broadcast on the radio in a number of US states, Africa
, and the Philippines
. Study groups have also been formed by so-called "tapers", a term hearkening to the pre-internet era of messages recorded and distributed on cassette tapes, in the US, England, Canada, Germany, and the Philippines. To facilitate easier world evangelism, tape distribution centers have been opened outside the US in Australia, England, the Philippines, and Germany.
shown to believers by God. As a result, his ministry has never charged money on any materials, including books, tapes, and DVDs, of his doctrinal teachings. In the cover of all of his booklets, a note appears that states "to place a price on Bible Doctrine is incompatible with grace," and therefore "no price list for tapes or publications is furnished. No money is requested. When the Lord motivates a believer, that individual is free to give."
Berachah Church
Berachah Church is a Christian fundamentalist, nondenominational church founded in 1935 in Houston, Texas.-History:Berachah Church was founded by C. W. Colgan, an oil company executive, who created it to evangelize Christianity. In 1950, Robert Thieme came to Berachah...
, a nondenominational Christian church in Houston, Texas, from 1950-2003. Affectionately called "the Colonel" by his congregation, he was a dispensationalist
Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism is a nineteenth-century evangelical development based on a futurist biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants.As a system,...
theologian who wrote over a hundred books and conducted over 10,000 sermons on various theological topics during his 55 years as a pastor.
Biography
Thieme was born in Fort Wayne, IndianaFort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
and raised in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
due to a large family inheritance. He attended Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...
, including four years study in Latin and went on for his undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
at Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
where he majored in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, graduating with honors in Classical Literature in 1940. While attending university, he met and married Betty Beal, the daughter of a Baptist minister.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he served in the Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
where he eventually was in charge of training Army Air Corps cadets at Luke Field. In 1946, at 28 years old, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...
, from which his nickname "the Colonel" originates, and he entered the Reserves
Military reserve
A military reserve, tactical reserve, or strategic reserve is a group of military personnel or units which are initially not committed to a battle by their commander so that they are available to address unforeseen situations or exploit suddenly developing...
. He continued in a militaristic vein after leaving the service, including as a guest speaker at the third annual Houston Anti-Communism School in 1960. Additionally, during the early 1960s Thieme publicly lectured on Communist brainwashing techniques
At this point, he attended Dallas Theological Seminary
Dallas Theological Seminary
Dallas Theological Seminary is an evangelical theological seminary located in Dallas, Texas. It is known for popularizing the theological system known as Dispensationalism...
where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. His 1949 Master's thesis is entitled Armageddon: an investigation of the campaign of the great day of God the Almighty. During his time at DTS, he held a part-time pastorate at Reinhardt Bible Church in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
.
In 1950, he came to Berachah Church
Berachah Church
Berachah Church is a Christian fundamentalist, nondenominational church founded in 1935 in Houston, Texas.-History:Berachah Church was founded by C. W. Colgan, an oil company executive, who created it to evangelize Christianity. In 1950, Robert Thieme came to Berachah...
in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, having been recommended to the church for this position by Dr. J. Ellwood Evans of Dallas Theological Seminary. Thieme met with the Board of Deacons at the close of his first Sunday service and demanded that they resign immediately, or he would. The board acceded to this demand, and from that moment on, according to Joe Wall, Thieme "became the dominant leader who brooked no
challenge to his authority." He was pastor at Berachah until he retired in 2003 due to Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
After retiring in 2003, his only son, Robert "Bobby" Thieme III, was elected by the congregation of Berachah to serve as the new pastor. Since his retirement, R.B. Thieme Ministries has shifted focus to compiling Thieme's sermons and notes into new books, and reformatting and revising existing material into modern formats (e.g. DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, and Powerpoint).
Over the years, Thieme has ordained dozens of men to the ministry.
In 2007, C. G. Hunt wrote an unauthorized biography on Thieme's family history and upbringing entitled Robert B. Thieme Jr.: His Ancestry, His Life, ISBN 9781598582345.
The book has raised questions concerning the veracity of some claims Thieme has made about his background, including his sports letters at the University of Arizona and his Latin honors
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
from Dallas Theological Seminary.
Theology
Thieme attended Dallas Theological Seminary and was influenced by its founder, Dr. Lewis Sperry ChaferLewis Sperry Chafer
Lewis Sperry Chafer was an American theologian. He founded and served as the first president of Dallas Theological Seminary, and was an influential founding member of modern Christian Dispensationalism.-Early life:...
, in his theology. He has, in turn, been influential in the ministries of other Christians, including former U.S. Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Dan Quayle
Dan Quayle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving with President George H. W. Bush . He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana....
. He can be described as a dispensational
Dispensationalist theology
Dispensational theology refers to the unified teachings of Dispensationalism that address what other views teach as divergent theologies in the Old Testament and New Testament...
, non-denominational Protestant who believes in Biblical inerrancy
Biblical inerrancy
Biblical inerrancy is the doctrinal position that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact." Some equate inerrancy with infallibility; others do not.Conservative Christians generally believe that...
.
Vocabulary
He developed his unique systems of vocabulary and doctrinal study based on what he called ICE: Isagogics, Categories, and ExegesisExegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
. Isagogics means studying the Bible in terms of the historical context in which each book was written, including both the human writer, the audience, the times in which they lived, etc. Categories refers to a topical categorization of doctrine, so that one can approach the Bible on a step-by-step basis and cross-reference scriptures effectively. Exegesis means studying the Bible in the original languages (or as best as is available) so that one is not relying on an intermediate chain of language translations which may obscure or lose meanings. Through the ICE method, Thieme sought to uncover all of the deepest truths of Scripture.
Distinctive teaching
Thieme held to some uncommon doctrines and distinctive teaching on a number of subjects.Blood of Christ
Thieme held that it was the spiritual death rather than the physical deathCrucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
of Jesus that was substitutionary
Substitutionary atonement
Technically speaking, substitutionary atonement is the name given to a number of Christian models of the atonement that all regard Jesus as dying as a substitute for others, "instead of" them...
and salvific. Thieme used the phrase "Blood of Christ
Blood of Christ
The Blood of Christ in Christian theology refers to the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby; and the sacramental blood present in the Eucharist, which is considered by Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and...
" as a "representative analogy for the work of Christ in salvation."
Abortion
Thieme taught that there is no human soul in a fetus and that it doesn't become a human life until the point of birth (see: The Origin of Human Life); in an interview with Joe Wall, he categorically denied that he taught abortion is acceptable. Thieme taught that the fetus has biological life, including reflex motility and unconscious brain activity, and what he terms the "format soul", analogous to a formatted but blank computer disk. Thieme indicated that during fetal development, the brain is prepared to receive a human soul but does not actually receive one and become a human person until God breathes the "spark of life" (neshemah) into the body at human birth.Thieme called Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
"one of the wisest and most brilliant decisions that the Supreme Court has made in many, many, many years" and said that "abortion is a decision between a patient and her doctor."
Spiritual growth
Thieme believed that a pastor was the "only one who can grow by personal study" and that "the congregation cannot grow by personal study, it can only grow by being under authority. Thieme argued that "no believer can read the Bible daily for himself and discover and learn the mystery doctrine for the Church Age, and understand the mechanics of the protocol plan of God. It must be taught through authority." He also argued thatRetractions
Thieme's continuing study over the years led him to revise some of his older teachings. The 1987 printing of The Integrity of God included a one page supplemental insert clearly admitting a doctrinal error on an issue, stating that "Ongoing study has led me to revise certain expressions of Bible doctrine that appear in this book", and that:Criticism
Thieme's teachings and theology have been widely disseminated, and have been the topic of numerous critical articles and books, including those of Miles J. StanfordMiles J. Stanford
Miles J. Stanford was a Christian author best known for his classic collection on spirituality, The Green Letters, published in 1964.-Biography:...
, Dr. Stewart Custer, Rev. Robert Walter, J. Ellwood Evans, Ron Enroth, Daniel Wallace, and Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.
R. L. Hymers, Jr.
Robert L. Hymers, Jr., is a conservative Baptist pastor noted for his evangelistic sermons and for his emphasis on classical Protestant conversion. He is the founding pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles. In the 1980s he drew media attention for his demonstrations against abortion,...
. In addition, he has been both commended and criticised in dissertations by Th.D.
Doctor of Theology
Doctor of Theology is a terminal academic degree in theology. It is a research degree that is considered by the U.S. National Science Foundation to be the equivalent of a Doctor of Philosophy....
candidates at his alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary, such as by Joe Layton Wall (note the foreword by DTS president John F. Walvoord), and at other seminaries, such as by Todd Campo at Trinity College and Seminary
Trinity College and Seminary
Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary, also known as Trinity College of the Bible; is a nondenominational Bible college and seminary located in Newburgh, Indiana. Trinity offers unaccredited distance education programs at undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree levels for...
, George King at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
and Philip Mitchell at Grace Theological Seminary
Grace Theological Seminary
Grace Theological Seminary is an evangelical Christian seminary located in Winona Lake, Indiana. GTS is joined with Grace College and is associated with the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. The seminary enjoys a history that dates back to its 1937 organization by Alva J. McClain, the...
. Garry Wills, in his book Under God: Religion and American Politics shares insightful interviews with Thieme and his staff on how he perceives himself and how he teaches with his exclusive interpretation of the Bible ISBN 9781416543350.
Ministry
Veterans Day
Veterans Day, formerly Armistice Day, is an annual United States holiday honoring military veterans. It is a federal holiday that is observed on November 11. It coincides with other holidays such as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark...
and Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
. He referred to believers as "Christian soldiers" and wrote a number of books which focused on military service as it related
New Testament military metaphors
The New Testament uses a number of military metaphors in discussing Christianity, especially in the Pauline epistles.In Philippians 2:25 and Philemon 1:2, Paul describes fellow Christians as "fellow soldiers"...
to the believer's spiritual life, such as War: Moral or Immoral, and Freedom through Military Victory. Thieme also used military imagery in books such as Follow the Colors, Christian, at Ease!, and The Christian Warrior, analogizing the Christian spiritual life in some ways to physical combat. His teachings have been popular among military personnel
Christians in the military
Christians have been present in the military since at least the 2nd century. Marinus of Caesarea, Julius the Veteran, and other military saints were Christians who were soldiers, although other Christians, such as St Maximilian, were conscientious objectors, believing that the Bible supported...
.
Berachah Church supports both United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and worldwide evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
, especially through an outreach group called Operation Grace: World Missions. OGWN currently supports missionaries in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines, Africa, England, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldovia, and Kazakhstan.
Even since his retirement, Thieme's ministry has continued to grow worldwide in a number of ways. As of January 2007, many of his books have been translated into a dozen languages, including Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Thai
Thai language
Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
, and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. Currently, his sermons are broadcast on the radio in a number of US states, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. Study groups have also been formed by so-called "tapers", a term hearkening to the pre-internet era of messages recorded and distributed on cassette tapes, in the US, England, Canada, Germany, and the Philippines. To facilitate easier world evangelism, tape distribution centers have been opened outside the US in Australia, England, the Philippines, and Germany.
Financial policy
A key position of Thieme's theology is that the Word of God should be based on the same graceGrace (Christianity)
In Christian theology, grace is God’s gift of God’s self to humankind. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favour, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most...
shown to believers by God. As a result, his ministry has never charged money on any materials, including books, tapes, and DVDs, of his doctrinal teachings. In the cover of all of his booklets, a note appears that states "to place a price on Bible Doctrine is incompatible with grace," and therefore "no price list for tapes or publications is furnished. No money is requested. When the Lord motivates a believer, that individual is free to give."
Selected publications
Most of Thieme's books are compilations of his notes and sermons from his years of teaching. Many are out of print, although R.B. Thieme Ministries does keep many in print as well. The below list is a small subset of his total work.- The Barrier
- King of Kings and Lord of Lords
- The Blood of Christ
- The Trinity
- God's Perfect Gift
- Heathenism
- A Matter of Life & Death
- The Night Before Christmas
- Anti-Semitism
- The Plan of God
- Apostasy in the Land
- Slave Market of Sin
- Armageddon
- Canonicity
- Daniel Chapters One through Six
- Isolation of Sin
- The Divine Outline of History
- Old Sin Nature vs. Holy Spirit
- Dispensations and the Church
- The Prodigal Son
- Freedom through Military Victory
- Rebound & Keep Moving!
- In Harm's Way
- Rebound Revisited
- Levitical Offerings
- Satan and Demonism
- Victorious Proclamation
- Better Things for Christmas
- Christian, at Ease!
- Christian Integrity
- The Prayer for Eternal Life
- Christian Suffering
- A Prayer for America
- Divine Guidance
- Dying Grace
- Creation, Chaos, and Restoration
- The Origin of Human Life