Building Patience While You Have A Profitable Sabbath?

 

The Importance of Patience: Today, our societies are focused on instant gratification. Yet God has a different priority, and we are to develop His perspective (Philippians 2:5). The Scriptures reveal that God places a premium on developing patience (Luke 8:15; Romans 12:12; 1 Peter 2:20), because He is patient (1 Peter 3:20) and patience is one of the fruits of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:2). God uses trials to help us develop patience (James 1:3–4). As part of God’s plan to prepare them for their future roles, Abraham and Sarah waited decades for a promised son (Genesis 12:4; 17:17), Joseph spent years in prison (Genesis 39:20; 41:1, 14), Moses herded sheep for 40 years (Exodus 2:21–25; 3:1), and David endured persecution (Psalm 37:7; 40:1). We need to remember God’s promise that “those who wait on the Lord… shall mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31). Let’s strive to develop real godly patience, because that is what God is looking for in each of us.

Have a profitable Sabbath,

Douglas S. Winnail

Nothing substantial is wrong with the content on patience itself. The verses cited are accurate, the biblical examples are real, and the call to develop patience as a fruit of the Spirit is standard Christian teaching. God is patient, trials produce endurance, and waiting on the Lord is repeatedly commanded. That part is fine.

The problems appear in the source, the framework, and the closing line—especially when measured against the New Testament’s teaching on the New Covenant.

“Have a profitable Sabbath” is not a neutral greeting. In Living Church of God / Armstrongism it functions as a doctrinal marker. It assumes that the seventh-day Sabbath remains a binding covenant obligation for Christians today.  Under the New Covenant that assumption does not hold:

• Colossians 2:16–17 treats “a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath” as “a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”
• Romans 14:5–6 allows freedom of conscience on days.
• Galatians 4:9–11 warns against returning to “weak and worthless elementary principles” that include calendar observances.
• Hebrews 4 presents the true “Sabbath rest” as entering God’s rest by faith in Christ’s finished work, not by weekly calendar-keeping.

Greeting people with “profitable Sabbath” quietly re-imposes an Old-Covenant boundary marker that the apostles said has been fulfilled and set aside. That is the clearest “wrong” element in the message.

LCG teaches that the New Covenant does not do away with “the law of God” (understood to include the weekly Sabbath, annual holy days, clean meats, etc.), that Christians enter it at baptism by covenanting to keep those commandments, and that what we experience now is only a “foretaste” for the firstfruits.  That framework turns even a good topic like patience into something that sits inside a performance-oriented system. Patience becomes one more quality you must “strive to develop” while also carefully observing the right days, the right diet, and the right calendar—exactly the kind of external measuring that the New Covenant was designed to replace with the internal work of the Spirit (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; Galatians 5:22–23; Romans 8:2–4).

Armstrongism has always been slow on patience. It has a long record of date-setting, urgent timelines, and “this is the final warning” rhetoric that repeatedly failed (1972/1975 expectations under Armstrong, later adjustments in the splinter groups, etc.). Preaching patience while living in a culture of prophetic urgency and tight hierarchical control is inconsistent. True New-Covenant patience rests in the certainty that Christ has already secured the future; it does not need constant recalculations of “how much longer.”

The paragraph on patience is biblically sound. What is wrong is the theological package it comes in: a system that keeps the form of Old-Covenant Sabbath observance while claiming to be under the New Covenant. That package confuses shadow with substance, external day-keeping with the rest that is already available in Christ, and Spirit-produced fruit with law-regulated performance.  

Under the New Covenant, the call is simpler: walk by the Spirit, and the fruit—including patience—will grow. You do not need a weekly calendar check-in to make it “profitable.”

Silent Pilgrim

CGI and Bill Watson: Why Being Nice Does Not Work

 

You Can’t Be Nice To Bill Watson!

 

In a sermon to the Atlanta congregation of CGI this past Sabbath, Bill Watson attempted to spin his departure from that organization as a brave and heroic act. Indeed, Watson implied that he did what he did to remain true to himself and his principles and suggested that CGI’s leadership was allowing error and sinfulness to creep into their midst! He went on to assert his own integrity and insinuated that association with any organization would inevitably lead one to compromise his/her integrity. Hence, while he stated that he wasn’t looking for followers, he encouraged folks to analyze and investigate what was happening and join him in remaining faithful to “THE TRUTH.”

“Why would CGI provide Bill with this platform?” you ask. After discussing this very question with some of the leadership of CGI, my impression is that they are still trying to extend the hand of fellowship/friendliness to Bill. Unfortunately, many of them still can’t bring themselves to believe that their former minister could be so manipulative and malicious. Mr. Watson smiles and talks about different gifts and administrations while insisting that he alone has the courage and conviction to insist on righteousness – both within the ACOG culture and the culture of the country as a whole! In short, Bill has developed the skillset of a snake oil salesman. He won’t just come right out and say that he’s right and everyone else is wrong, or that what he’s selling will work. Instead, he suggests, implies, insinuates, and gives the impression to others that he has suffered for righteousness’ sake at the hands of unscrupulous and sinful men working to suppress his truth!

Interestingly, Mr. Watson went to Paul’s first epistle to the saints at Corinth for proof that he was on the right track – that he had acted with integrity and in accordance with Scripture in his dealings with CGI. You know, the one where the apostle wrote: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (I Corinthians 1:10-17, ESV) Try spinning that one, Mr. Watson!

Watson went on to quote from Paul’s discussion of the various gifts within the Church (I Corinthians 12:4-11). We must not forget, however, that this discussion of different gifts is followed by this: “For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (I Corinthians 12:14-26, ESV) How can anyone spin this to justify separating him/herself from the body? Never underestimate an ACOG minister!

Mr. Watson then proceeded to make fun of the folks who insist on speaking about LOVE. He implied that they used love as an excuse to get away from obedience and faithfulness. Paul, however, followed his remarks about gifts with this: “And I will show you a still more excellent way.” (I Corinthians 12:31, ESV) This, of course, is followed by the LOVE chapter of the Bible! Paul wrote: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (I Corinthians 13:1-3, ESV) He went on to conclude: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13, ESV)

Mr. Watson would have everyone in his audience believe that the times we live in are so evil and precarious that each and every one of us is really on our own. He quoted from Paul’s epistle to the saints at Philippi, but he once again left off a crucial part of the message. We read there: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me.” (Philippians 2:12-18, ESV) Once again, the message is focused on unity – on making it into the Kingdom together.

Mr. Watson even managed to get a couple of his conspiracy theories into the message. He talked about chem trails and hinted at strange happenings on the world stage involving Venezuela, Iran, and China. In short, Bill Watson is a self-righteous and unapologetic advocate for headline theology and that “good,” old-time religion (as preached by Herbert W Armstrong)! Mr. Watson is like the servant who took what had been gifted to him many years ago and buried it in the ground to protect it!

The truth, however, is far removed from what Watson is currently selling. I have it on good authority that Watson was operating in direct defiance of the organization which employed him – and for several years prior to his departure. In short, Mr. Watson diverted tithe money away from CGI and kept it in Medina to support his own agenda and designs! “Isn’t that called stealing?” you ask. That’s what I would call it, but that’s just me. I’m sure Mr. Watson would say that he was acting to “protect” God’s tithe money from abuse by those evildoers at headquarters. We should also note that Watson used that money to buy “his” church building back from CGI, and that he continues to use that property and its resources to this day. It is now a part of his Church of God Independent Ministries! Integrity? Courage? Honesy? Those are NOT words that I would use to describe Pastor Bill Watson of Medina, Ohio! What do you think?

 

Lonnie Hendrix/Miller Jones

 

From Judas Kyriakos to Bob Thiel: The Longest Game of Apostolic Succession in Church History

 

No, Bob Thiel is not in any line of succession from Judas/Judah Kyriakos. The claim is pure speculative fan-fiction dressed up as restored apostolic history, the kind of thing that would make even the most dedicated conspiracy-map hobbyist blush. 

Judah Kyriakos (also Judas of Jerusalem) is a real enough figure in the sparse early sources: according to Eusebius and Epiphanius, the fifteenth (and last Hebrew-descent) bishop of Jerusalem, described as a great-grandson of Jude (the brother of Jesus) and thus one of the desposyni. Eusebius lists the short-lived Hebrew bishops up to him and notes they “received the knowledge of Christ in purity.” After the Bar Kokhba revolt and Hadrian’s ban on Jews in the rebuilt Aelia Capitolina (~135 AD), a non-Jewish bishop named Marcus/Mark takes over. That’s roughly where the actual historical trail ends for this Judas. Later legends muddle him with a completely different Judas Cyriacus associated with the True Cross story centuries afterward. There is no continuous, documented episcopal line from him through Pella to Edessa (or anywhere else) that survives into later centuries with the doctrines Thiel wants. 

Thiel’s version invents the rest: Judas “fled” the “antichrist” Markus who compromised by staying in Jerusalem, possibly went to Pella then Edessa, and somehow anchors a “speculative succession list” of leaders there that conveniently lines up with the practices Thiel prefers (avoiding unclean meats, binitarian Godhead, more literal reading of Scripture, Sabbath/holy days). He admits the list is speculative. From there it leaps across nearly two millennia of “true church in the wilderness,” through Herbert W. Armstrong’s church-era schema, various Worldwide Church of God offshoots, a private anointing that supposedly transferred a “mantle” and “double portion,” and finally lands on Bob himself as the one restoring knowledge that was “basically unknown in the 20th century.” Daniel’s increase of knowledge and HWA’s predictions are drafted as supporting prophecy. The punchline is that only two groups of professing Christians really exist today: the ones with God’s Spirit who contend for the faith once delivered (guess who), and everyone else. 

This is not succession. It is a choose-your-own-adventure history where gaps are filled with “might have,” “logical,” and “we consider.” Actual apostolic succession claims (Catholic, Orthodox, etc.) at least attempt continuous, named, historically attested chains of ordination in recognized sees. Thiel’s version has an early list from Eusebius, then fog, legend, and self-referential COG genealogy ending in a 21st-century website and YouTube sermons. No serious historian traces an unbroken pure line of Sabbath-keeping, holy-day-observing, binitarian, unclean-meat-avoiding bishops from Judas of Jerusalem to Arroyo Grande.

Now the New Covenant part, which renders the whole exercise even more absurd. The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31; Hebrews 8–10) is not maintained by blood relatives of Jesus, speculative bishop lists, or geographic flight paths from Hadrian. It is ratified by Christ’s blood, written on hearts and minds, with Jesus as the permanent high priest after the order of Melchizedek. The old genealogical and cultic structures are obsolete. Scripture itself warns against endless genealogies and speculative controversies (1 Timothy 1:4; Titus 3:9). The “faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) is the apostolic gospel centered on Christ, not a reconstructed package of second-century Jewish-Christian practices filtered through 20th-century Armstrongism and then declared the sole pure remnant. Claiming that knowledge of the “original” faith was largely lost until the last generation, only to be restored by one particular offshoot leader, treats the Holy Spirit as if He went on a 1,900-year sabbatical and needed Bob’s research notes to clock back in.

Markus of Jerusalem is not an “antichrist” in the sources; he is simply the first non-Jewish bishop after the Jewish ones could no longer reside there. The idea that fleeing equals faithfulness while remaining equals apostasy is a convenient binary that lets later groups anoint themselves the pure continuation. Desposyni still existed in the fourth century according to some reports, but that does not create a secret pure pipeline to modern California. And the notion that true Christians are defined by a short checklist of distinctive practices (plus recognizing Thiel’s group) is classic remnant theology, not New Covenant reality.

In short: Judas Kyriakos was a late-second-century Jewish Christian bishop whose trail goes cold. Bob Thiel is a post-Armstrong COG independent who built a speculative bridge of “maybes” and then declared himself on the far side of it. The New Covenant does not run on that kind of paperwork. The claim is historically groundless, theologically unnecessary, and comically self-serving.

Armstrongism’s Final Prophecy Comes True: They Would Indeed Be Persecuted… by Complete Public Indifference

 

A comment on "Same Old Yoke, Same Old Excuses – Must Be the Members’ Fault Again"

It is truly ironic that a dynamic movement which in its heyday warned the world of the end times would end up fizzling out and decaying right along with the world it once warned. One once expected this voice to rise to its highest crescendo as surrounding conditions evolved to their worst and became intolerable. So effective would be this message that we were supposed to be persecuted and expelled for this! And, it is so easy to get deported today!

It seems perfectly obvious that the splinters are clueless and have lost the gift of messaging. With the proliferation of "the influencer" on the internet, how is it that nobody has been able to tap into and exploit the old Armstrongism in such a way as to go viral? It's really kind of mind-boggling, isn't it? If God were truly behind them, all it would take would be a divine nod, wink, or smile, and they would be everywhere! Instead, we find them waddling in their paranoia over a few well-placed termites or strategically released farts from Satan, who most likely could care less their so-called work! Cowabunga!

You people who are out there making Banned part of your sabbath AM studies realize that my comment this morning is not wrong!

In an era when any teenager with a ring light and a TikTok account can command a global audience before breakfast or a twenty-something guy can expose massive fraud of taxpayers' money, the heirs of Armstrongism cannot make their “urgent” end-time warning travel farther than the next church basement. They have the internet, the algorithms, the free platforms, and a ready-made catalog of dramatic prophecies. What they lack is the ability—or the will—to package any of it in a way that anyone outside their shrinking circle actually wants to hear.  

If God were truly behind them, all it would take would be a divine nod, wink, or smile, and they would be everywhere. Instead, they are nowhere. The absence of that viral breakthrough is not a mystery; it is the evidence. A message that cannot spread even when the tools for global distribution are handed to it on a silver platter is a message that has already been weighed and found wanting.  

Rather than adapt, the remaining groups have retreated into the safest possible activity: paranoia. They spend their energy hunting termites in the walls and detecting strategically released farts from Satan while the actual work of reaching the public is left undone. The result is a collection of tiny, self-referential echo chambers whose loudest noise is the sound of their own mutual suspicion.  

That is why none of them are known around the world for their message. World leaders have no idea who they are. No magazines or video productions influence large audiences. Not because the world is too wicked to listen. Not because persecution has silenced them. But because the message itself has become unhearable—clumsy, outdated, and delivered by people more interested in guarding the last remaining vestages of 1970/80s Armstrongism than in speaking to anyone outside them.  

Cowabunga, indeed! 

Same Old Yoke, Same Old Excuses – Must Be the Members’ Fault Again

 

These are some more of the issues UCG says they need to work on, as discussed in their Council of Elders Report 2026. 

• Respect for One Another
• Recognizing Jesus’ command to always treat each other in a godly manner, we believe we have sometimes not treated each other in a godly manner. Therefore, we will dedicate ourselves to:
• Recognize our different personalities and strive to understand one another.
• Reconcile and restore/rebuild relationships in the love that God the Father and Jesus Christ have shown us.

Barriars

Not being able to stand out over the noise.

Poorly skilled speakers.

Not passing the baton/lack of trust.

Lack of focus on doctrine.

Tired, stressed over pastors.

Unresolved issues from the past.

Lack of communicating improvements to stakeholders.

Resistance to change internally.

Reticence to collaborate.

Ineffective internal processes.

Misconceptions about Church finances.

The United Church of God’s Council of Elders has once again emerged from its latest meeting clutching a strategic plan report that reads like a greatest-hits album of excuses first pressed in the mid-1990s. After thirty years of proclaiming they alone possess “the truth,” the leadership has diagnosed why the Church has not been successful with a list of barriers that would be comical if it weren’t so predictable: poorly skilled speakers, tired and stressed pastors, lack of trust in “passing the baton,” unresolved issues from the past, resistance to change, reticence to collaborate, ineffective internal processes, misconceptions about finances, and the inability to stand out over the noise. Oh, and a solemn pledge to finally start treating one another with respect, recognizing different personalities, and reconciling relationships in the love of the Father and Jesus Christ.

This is the same tired script the Churches of God have been running since the Worldwide Church of God imploded. The problem is never the message. It is never the heavy yoke of mandatory Sabbath-keeping, annual holy days, clean meats, tithing schemes, and hierarchical control dressed up as “God’s government.” No, the real culprits are the members who resist change, the pastors who are exhausted from carrying the load, the speakers who lack polish, and the lingering grudges from decades of splits, disfellowshipments, and power struggles. Leadership’s solution? Try harder to be nicer to each other while doubling down on the same doctrinal package that has produced declining attendance, aging congregations, and perpetual internal friction since the 1990s.

From a New Covenant perspective, this is pure legalist nonsense. The New Covenant is not a slightly friendlier version of the Old with Jesus as the new high priest enforcing the same shadows. It is the radical replacement of the old system: the law written on hearts by the Spirit rather than on tablets of stone (Jeremiah 31; Hebrews 8), the end of the sacrificial and ceremonial system fulfilled in Christ, the priesthood of all believers instead of a professional ministerial class that hoards authority, and freedom from the yoke that neither the apostles nor their fathers could bear (Acts 15).   The gospel is the announcement of grace, justification by faith apart from works of the law, and life in the Spirit—not a never-ending campaign to prove that Saturday is the correct day and pork is still forbidden.

UCG’s barriers are the inevitable fruit of trying to grow a New Testament church with an Old Covenant operating system. “Not passing the baton/lack of trust”? That is what hierarchical control produces when the ministry functions more like a modern Levitical caste than a body where every member is a living stone and priest. “Tired, stressed over pastors”? Burnout is the natural result when a small group of men are expected to carry the spiritual load for people who are treated as perpetual dependents rather than Spirit-empowered adults. “Poorly skilled speakers” and “lack of focus on doctrine”? When the core content is endless proof-texting to keep the shadows binding, passion and relevance dry up. “Unresolved issues from the past” and “resistance to change”? Legalism breeds identity around rules and exclusive truth claims; any suggestion that the package needs rethinking feels like betrayal of God Himself. “Not standing out over the noise”? Of course not. In a world hungry for grace, hope, and genuine freedom in Christ, another group insisting on calendar observance and dietary restrictions as marks of the true church simply blends into the background of religious irrelevance.

The “Respect for One Another” statement is particularly rich. After decades of splits, accusations of heresy, and top-down discipline that treated dissent as rebellion against God, the Council has discovered that Jesus commanded them to treat each other in a godly manner. They will now “recognize different personalities” and “reconcile relationships.” One can almost hear the collective sigh of members who have heard this exact language after every previous crisis, only to watch the same patterns repeat. True New Covenant community flows from the Spirit producing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness—not from another strategic plan that treats relational failure as a secondary issue while the root remains untouched.

This is not analysis; it is diagnosis by deflection. The same old story has been proclaimed since the 1990s: if only the members would try harder, trust more, speak better, collaborate better, and stop holding onto past wounds, the work would finally take off. The uncomfortable truth under the New Covenant is simpler and more liberating. The barriers are not primarily skills gaps, communication failures, or personality conflicts. They are the predictable consequences of clinging to a system of performance and control that the finished work of Christ has already rendered obsolete. 

Until the wineskins are changed, the same list of excuses will keep appearing in the next report, and the one after that, and the one after that.

Crackpot Prophet Keeps Gloating Over His So-called Evangelists Poaching Members From Other COG Groups

The second biggest thorn in Crackpot Bob's side (after Banned) is the group that split off from him in Malawi, Hope of Israel Church of God. When they originally broke away from the abusive tactics of Crackpot Bob's henchmen in Malawi, he was not a happy camper. This particularly irked his paid henchmen in Malawi, who have made it their mission to destroy the Hope of Israel groups that operate in Malawi. Radson Mulozowa and Evans Ochieng ply people in these groups, and especially the leaders, with money, computers, sheet metal for roofs, etc., and the second they can draw people away, they crow to Crackpot Bob, and he falls for it.

0e 7/18/26 p.m. Got a report today that the rest of those I once knew in Serbia have left Hope of Israel for COGWA. It seems like Hope of Israel no longer has any in Serbia.

Various ones in Malawi and Mozambique left Hope of Israel for the CCOG this year.

Hope of Israel had this to say about Crackpot Bob's poaching:

Hope of Israel was formed in early 2023 primarily by people who left CCOG, including Aleksandar Veljic (Sasha), Terry Nelson, Randy Freeze, and others. They publicly accused CCOG’s African leadership (especially Kenyan “evangelist” Evans Ochieng and Malawian leader Radson Mulozowa) of corruption, financial impropriety, moral failures (including adultery allegations), and even involvement with witchcraft/local practices. They said they presented evidence to Thiel, who dismissed it, labeled the critics “accusers of the brethren”/talebearers, and continued supporting the African leaders.

Crackpot Bob then lashed out and claimed that Terry Nelson disfellowshipped himself, helped start the rival group in Malawi, which Thiel claims is hostile, makes false accusations of corruption, and targets CCOG members/congregations. HOI is portrayed as having chosen a wrong direction on governance by not recognizing Bob's supreme authority, and as not being Philadelphian.

HOI’s own 2023 declaration states that Thiel and his African associates have targeted them for destruction from the start, that Thiel finances and tolerates lawlessness for the sake of claimed membership numbers in Africa, and that he makes false statements about them (e.g., claiming one of their founders was arrested). They also reject Thiel’s claims that CCOG is the sole Philadelphia remnant and that he has prophetic status.

Recent critical reports (2026, drawing on HOI Malawi statements and people like Priscilla Mulozowa, Radson’s ex-wife) allege that Thiel’s African associates (Evans Ochieng and Radson Mulozowa) have been actively trying to pull members and local leaders from HOI groups in Malawi. Accusations include:

• Offering money, material goods, motorcycles, phones, etc.
• Pressuring for public “reconciliations” (including attempts to get Priscilla back with Radson despite the long-standing separation and adultery claims).
• Staging or publicizing meetings/photos that HOI says misrepresent the situation.

Thiel always is highlighting these in communications as successes. The deceived returning to the one true faith. God's remnant, the TRUE Philadelphians.

HOI and its defenders describe this as aggressive poaching and gloating driven by animosity. CCOG frames its African work as legitimate outreach, growth reporting, and reclaiming people, and has posted attendance claims and notes about people coming over or HOI having limited/no presence in certain places. Both sides accuse the other of dishonesty about numbers and motives.

In these groups, the stakes are high because certain leaders claim unique prophetic insight, remnant status, and that supporting the “right” organization matters for salvation/end-time protection. A breakaway founded by former insiders who publicly document alleged corruption undercuts Thiel’s narrative that CCOG is the faithful Philadelphia work and that its African expansion is blessed. From HOI’s perspective, Thiel’s refusal to address the African issues + continued financial support for the leaders they exposed explains the ongoing campaign against them. From Thiel/CCOG’s perspective, the leavers are rebellious accusers undermining the Work, so competition for members is expected and justified.

If it wasn't for Loma and Herbert Armstrong you would all still be singing The Old Rugged Cross and be holy rollers....

It is always fascinating to see how people in the Churches of God need to feel special. God has supposedly called them into a secret organization that few will ever know about—one where the chosen few are being trained to become gods and goddesses in some mythical Mickey Mouse kingdom their dear leaders have invented for them. Some will defend that fantasy to the death. But even the fantasy comes with fine print. Unless you believe Herbert W. Armstrong was the end-time apostle who restored “all things,” you are excluded from the inner circle. Otherwise you might as well go back to being a Pentecostal, running down the aisle while belting out “The Old Rugged Cross.” (Yes, certain ministers actually taught that emotional worship was proof of spiritual inferiority back in the late ’60s and early ’70s.)This isn’t just quirky theology. It is a system built on exclusivity, hierarchy, and the absolute necessity of one man’s apostolic credentials. And today’s splinter groups have turned that system into a self-devouring contradiction.

the general attitude of todays COGs
They’re excluding the Authority - Mr Armstrong as an apostle  The Truth is HWA in his sermons warned to avoid them so their legitimacy totally depends on discrediting the apostle otherwise they become their own contradiction. You and I both know if not for Loma and Herbert Armstrong they’d all still be singing The Old Rugged Cross and the holy rollers would be jumping around the altar like jackasses, thinking they have the Holy Ghost yet these same folk forgot where they came from and more importantly, who brought them here, To deny Isa 40 changes EVERYTHING especially the duel part of prophecy in the spiritual and physical sense. Today, they believe God is accepting all as long as they have COG in their title BUT first they must teach. Mr Armstrong was a fake.

And their splinter pastor general is the one God appointed to lead them to the world tomorrow. 

 

Some of today's Churches of God routinely downplay or sideline Herbert Armstrong’s unique authority while still claiming to be the faithful continuation of “the Work” he started. Their legitimacy, however, rests entirely on the premise that Armstrong restored lost truth that the rest of Christianity had abandoned. If he was not the apostle who did that restoring, then what exactly are they preserving? Nothing more than their own brand of Armstrongism with extra holy days and a stricter diet.

HWA himself repeatedly warned against false ministers, competing organizations, and anyone who would dilute the truth he claimed to have recovered. So when today’s groups treat his apostleship as optional, negotiable, or even something that must be quietly revised so their pastor general can claim the mantle, they step on their own foundation. 

Here is where the New Covenant becomes lethal to this kind of mentality.

The New Covenant, ratified in Jesus’ blood, renders the old covenant “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13). The law written on stone has been replaced by the law written on hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:10). Justification is by faith in Christ, not by Sabbath-keeping, holy-day observance, tithing to a central organization, or dietary regulations (Galatians 2:16, 3:24-25; Romans 10:4; Colossians 2:16-17). The ceremonial shadows have given way to the reality found in Christ.

Under this covenant, there is no secret inner circle that only the truly enlightened can enter by acknowledging a 20th-century American as God’s final apostle. There is no requirement that believers be trained to become literal gods and goddesses ruling planets in some future Mickey Mouse kingdom. Believers are already adopted as children of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:5-7). They are being conformed to the image of the Son (Romans 8:29), partakers of the divine nature through the indwelling Spirit (2 Peter 1:4)—not earning divinity through law-keeping or organizational loyalty.

The gospel is not a hidden mystery reserved for a tiny remnant. It is to be proclaimed openly to every creature (Mark 16:15). The New Covenant does not produce competing “Churches of God” each claiming their pastor general is the one God has appointed to lead everyone into “the World Tomorrow.” It produces one body with Christ as Head (Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 1:18).

When today’s groups insist that God is now “accepting all” as long as the name includes “Church of God,” provided they first teach that Mr. Armstrong was a fake or at least not uniquely authoritative, they reveal the game. They must discredit the very apostle whose work they claim to continue—otherwise their existence as separate organizations becomes an obvious contradiction. And every new splinter’s leader then steps forward as the new anointed one for the final era. It is an endless cycle of self-authentication that the New Covenant simply does not need or authorize.

The people who once mocked emotional Pentecostals for thinking they had the Holy Ghost now find themselves in dozens of competing organizations, each convinced it alone has the correct understanding of the “truth” restored by one man. They mock mainstream Christianity for being lawless while quietly reinterpreting the New Covenant to keep as much of the Old Covenant ceremonial system as possible. They speak of dual fulfillments of prophecy while the New Testament repeatedly shows the primary, spiritual fulfillments occurring in Christ and His church.

The New Covenant does not produce secret societies training future gods under the authority of a modern apostle. It produces forgiven sinners who are already seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), already citizens of the Kingdom (Colossians 1:13), already indwelt by the Spirit who writes God’s law on their hearts. No special badge, no required belief in Herbert Armstrong’s apostleship, no future deification program required.

The quote—or rather the entire attitude—that one must belong to the right splinter, acknowledge the right apostle, and keep the right list of Old Covenant practices to be truly special… that attitude is not merely outdated. In light of the New Covenant, it is exposed as unnecessary, unbiblical, and ultimately self-contradictory.

The splinters can keep arguing over who gets to wear the apostolic mantle. The New Covenant has already moved on. Christ is sufficient. The work is finished. And the only “inner circle” that matters is the one open to everyone who comes to the Father through the Son.