Class Outline:
TRIBUTE TO PASTOR and COLONEL R.B. THIEME, JR.
OPENING VERSES by PASTOR THIEME
HEB 4:12
The word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
2TI 3:16-17
All Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
2TI 2:15
Study to show yourself approved unto God as a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Those were the words that snapped my soul to attention for fifteen years.
It was a familiar cadence that gave me time to get my soul in a relaxed and receptive condition, giving me time to shift gears into strict academic discipline, meaning good manners, thoughtfulness of others, with no talking, with no unnecessary movement, with nothing that would be disturbing or distracting to those who are serious students of the word of God.
Because of this voice, I am a serious student of the Word of God.
My name is Pastor Rory Clark
You’re listening to a memorial tribute to Pastor R. B. Thieme Jr.
The tribute is entitled…To Sir, With Love…
To Sir, With Love
Those schoolgirl days,
of telling tales and biting nails are gone,
But in my mind,
I know they will still live on and on…
But how do you thank someone,
who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn't easy, but I'll try,
If you wanted the sky
I would write across the sky in letters,
That would soar a thousand feet high,
To Sir, with Love
The time has come,
For closing books and long last looks must end,
And as I leave,
I know that I am leaving my best friend…
A friend who taught me right from wrong,
And weak from strong,
That's a lot to learn,
What, what can I give you in return?
If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start,
But I, would rather you let me give my heart,
To Sir, with Love
Pastor Thieme’s opening words, his melodic yet booming voice, gave me time to focus. It gave me time to shift into a state of concentration. It gave me time to get ready to receive the Word of God as it was being spoken by God the Holy Spirit to the churches.
On August 16, 2009, my first Pastor, Colonel Robert B. Thieme, Jr., passed through death into eternity at 8:45 PM, and he is now…according to…
2CO 5:8b…
“absent from the body and (at home) face to face with the Lord”
…in a place REV 21:4 describes as place of…
“no more sorrow, no more tears”
…a place, according to 2CO 5:17 where…
…the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
…or as EPH 3:20 says, a place…
EPH 3:20
…exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think
This is news that many of you have heard by now.
Pastor and Colonel Robert Thieme, Jr. has…according to…
EPH 4:22
…laid aside the old self, which was being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit
And according to 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 1…
…we know that if the earthly tent (the physical body) which is our house (on earth) is torn down (and it is at physical death), we have a building from God (an interim body), a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.\
Colonel Thieme now enjoys this interim body which is recognizable to family and friends…and he is in the presence of the person he loved and the one person he taught us most about for the fifty three plus years he was in the pulpit, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Colonel Thieme was my first Pastor.
There is much that I could say about him, but nothing more important than this…I love him.
His promotion to heaven is his gain, but it is my loss.
I have lost a mentor, a friend, a model of excellence, and a colleague.
I’ve lost a man who has no peer among men.
We have lost a man of impact.
We have lost a leader.
We have lost a man of passion.
We have lost a man of doctrine.
We have lost a spiritually mature believer.
We have lost a member of the pivot of mature believers in client nation USA.
We take heart, even in our loss, however because of things he taught us…things like John 11:25 and 26…
JOH 11:25-26
Jesus said to her (Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,//and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
Pastor Thieme used to say that life is for the living…
We have not lost the Colonel to physical death…for he still lives…but for a short time we will be without him here.
He has gone home…according to PHI 3:20…
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
Since Pastor Thieme retired, I haven’t listened to a single lesson of his. When I thought about listening to a lesson of his, I wouldn’t.
I realize now that I have intentionally ignored processing his retirement, just I have, until now intentionally ignored his passing in my soul…because I will never think of him as retired or as physically dead…
For me he is as alive and powerful within me today as he was on that fateful day in 1988 when I began studying with him.
My life is his tombstone…and on it is written his legacy…a legacy of bible doctrine circulating in my stream of consciousness.
Pastor Thieme’s work changed my life…that is an understatement of the greatest magnitude.
Pastor Thieme’s work IS my life.
His voice is buried deeply into the sinew of my existence.
I am who I am because of him.
My life is a reflection of him.
My every thought is an attempt to make him proud of me.
He is the earthly father I never had. He stood in the gap for me…he filled the vacuum of male influence in my life…and he filled that spot, not with himself but with doctrine, and he introduced me to my real Father, God the Father, and to God the Father’s perfect plan for my imperfect life.
I hold myself to the standard of being a better teacher than him, an impossible objective, I know…but one, nonetheless, that he would demand. In addition, it is an objective that his work has made possible.
Accepting God’s highest and best for my life is a standard that his work gave me the ambition to aspire to…
I do all in honor of him.
To the Colonel’s family, especially Betty, his faithful wife, and Bobby his son, you are in my prayers. The doctrinally advancing Christian world has been influenced mightily by Pastor Thieme, and we all ask that God fills the hole in your souls left because of the Colonel’s passing in a way that only God can fill…with the sweet fragrance of wonderful memories.
I have many fond memories of the Colonel.
Three come to mind immediately, although there are several more.
The first memory is the first time I read one of his publications. It was the publication, “The Plan of God.”
I was first impressed by the financial statement. But frankly, I didn’t believe it. It read…
There is no charge for any material from R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries. Anyone who desires Bible teaching can receive our books and recordings without obligation. God provides Bible doctrine. We wish to reflect His grace.
R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries is a grace ministry and operates entirely on voluntary contributions. There is no price list for books or recordings. No money is requested. When gratitude for the Word of God motivates a believer to give, he has the privilege of contributing to the dissemination of Bible doctrine.
I remember thinking, “Yeah right!” Mailing list here I come. To date, I have not received a single request for money in the twenty one years I have participated in his ministry. Yet believe me, I have benefited tremendously from his teachings, on tapes, in books, and in MP3 recordings, as have many whom I introduced to his teachings, some of whom went on to become Pastors as I did.
As my reading continued in The Plan of God, all was routine until I got to page 27. A single question changed my life. “After salvation, what?”
Yes! Yes! My soul exclaimed. Yes! After salvation then what?
The Colonel continued with another question…
“What is God’s plan for your life following your personal faith in Christ?”
For years, my soul had been desperate for the answer to a question it could not articulate. And the Colonel had put into words that which I had been dying to know. He had me at that moment, and I have never looked back or had a desire to live in my former manner of life.
The second memory I have of Pastor Thieme occurred during the summer of 2002.
I had wanted to be a good father since I was nineteen. Before my kids were born, and before I met their mother, I was preparing for their arrival. At a point, it was no longer good enough to be a good father. I wanted to be a great father. In asking myself how that might occur, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I took the summer off from work to instruct my boys personally.
That’s when I decided what my legacy to my kids would be….bible doctrine. That summer, we did the Colonel’s teen series. It was the introduction my kids needed to doctrine, my kids and I bonded, and my status as a great father was assured.
My spiritual father, Colonel Thieme, had passed a legacy of doctrine on to me, and I passed it on to my kids.
Listening to the Colonel handling teens was inspirational. He was giving them truth, he was relating to their issues, but there was no compromise in the matter of doctrine. It was just the inspiration I needed as a parent. To clearly get the idea that there is no need to compromise with teen-agers. To know how much they need doctrine and to give it to them is the key to working with them.
The third best memory of the Colonel was when I took one of my clients to his church in Houston. The client was quite a practical joker, and I warned him not to talk during the lesson. He didn’t listen. And the Colonel enforced the ground rules and lit him up! The client took it well. We still talk about it today. I loved it because the warning had come true. The Colonel has integrity.
I have so many more Colonel memories.
I actually thought it was spiritual adultery to listen to another Pastor. I NEVER listened to anyone else. And I’m convinced today that flitting from Pastor to Pastor IS spiritual adultery. He was my right Pastor, and he gave me all I needed.
There was a time when I thought no one else in the world was teaching bible doctrine other than the Colonel. And today I’m convinced that even though there were others teaching doctrine, no one was teaching it quite like the him.
His teaching is like oatmeal. It sticks to your ribs.
He had a commanding presence.
He had a credible approach.
He made an intimate relationship with God accessible.
He made the plan of God crystal clear to me.
His teaching took all the fluff out of Christianity for me.
On the occasions when I got to spend time with him personally, it was like being with a rock star. You just knew you were in the presence of greatness.
And I know I will stand in his presence again as I exit my own death shadowed valley, and enter the eternal state. And I am eternally grateful to the Pastor Teacher, Pastor and Colonel R.B. Thieme, Jr., who did the spiritual equivalent of taking me from crayons to perfume.
I end this tribute with a simple thank you…but how do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume…from religion to the truth of bible doctrine? Words cannot do justice to explain all the Colonel means to me.
Thanks you Colonel.
To Sir…with Love.
