Crackpot Bob's Newest Magical Succession Trick: Behold, Saint Nepos of the True Church of God!

 

Crackpot Bob's Newest Magical Succession Trick: Behold, Saint Nepos of the True Church of God!

By A Concerned Believer

Just when you thought Bob Thiel had exhausted every dusty name in the early church for his endless "unbroken laying-on-of-hands succession" chain, the Crackpot Prophet has outdone himself. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Nepos of Arsinoë-now officially a direct descendant of the Church of God movement. Yes, really. The same Nepos that mainstream history remembers as a third-century Egyptian bishop who liked a very literal, earthy millennium and got gently corrected after he was already dead.

Nepos was bishop in the Arsinoë (Faiyum) region of Egypt in the first half of the third century. He wrote a now-lost work called Refutation of the Allegorists (or Book of Nepos), arguing against the allegorical reading of Scripture popularized by the Alexandrian school-Clement, Origen, and later Dionysius of Alexandria. Nepos took the thousand-year reign in Revelation 20 literally: Jesus returns, the saints reign with Him on earth for a thousand years of righteous (and, according to his critics, somewhat "Jewish" and bodily) delight. He also wrote hymns and psalms that the brethren enjoyed. Dionysius of Alexandria, who later wrote against the doctrine in On the Promises, still spoke of Nepos with genuine respect: praising his faith, industry, diligence in the Scriptures, and his psalmody. Dionysius treated him as a brother whose interpretation was mistaken, not as a heretic or outsider.

After Nepos died, his teaching continued to circulate in the Arsinoë villages. It produced enough unrest that entire churches experienced schisms and "apostasies." Dionysius went there, called a three-day public examination with the local presbyters and teachers, and sat with them from morning till evening debating the book. The chief promoter, a man named Coracion, publicly renounced the chiliastic view after the discussion. Dionysius wrote his refutation because the book was still circulating and persuasive, not because Nepos had launched a rival "true church" that rejected the rest of the faith.

That is the historical Nepos. Now for the Thielian upgrade. According to Crackpot Bob and the CCOG, Nepos "had laying on of hands succession from the apostles," was a well-respected leader of the faith once delivered to the saints, and was succeeded by Macarius of Edessa. The actual CCOG article is more cautious when you read it carefully: it says "presuming" Nepos belonged to the faithful continuation, "if the succession hypothesis is correct," and "possible successor." In other words, they inserted him into the list because he was a literalist millenarian who opposed allegory, then invented a clean handoff to someone in Edessa for whom there is no documented connection. No historical source places Nepos outside the ordinary Egyptian church under Alexandria's orbit. No source says he kept the seventh-day Sabbath, rejected the developing mainstream calendar or practices, or considered himself the sole true remnant. Chiliasm was still widely held in the second and early third centuries by people as diverse as Papias, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus-none of whom were "Church of God" in the Armstrongist sense. Dionysius simply moved the ball toward a more spiritual reading, and most of the local churches followed after the debate.

Thiel's version turns a respected local bishop whose distinctive teaching was debated and largely abandoned after his death into a foundational link in the one true Church of God succession. The same man who died in the communion of the churches of his day is now retrofitted as the anti-allegorist hero who alone contended for Jude 3. It is succession by selective quotation and hopeful presumption. When the evidence is thin, the list still gets another name.

The lies stop when the desire for an unbroken institutional pedigree stops outweighing what the sources actually say. Until then, expect more forgotten bishops to be drafted into the ranks of the "faithful remnant," complete with video titles and radio segments. Nepos was a literalist chiliast bishop who wrote hymns, opposed allegory, and was treated with respect by the man who later refuted his millennium. He was not the missing link that makes the Continuing Church of God the sole heir of the apostles. History is less cooperative than the succession charts.

Dave Pack and The Feast of Speculations

The Feast of Speculations

After looking both of his sons in the eyes and repeatedly declaring that he would never move away from believing that the Kingdom of God would arrive on the Day of Atonement, David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God moved away from believing that the Kingdom of God would arrive on the Day of Atonement.

During “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 649),” given on September 12, 2026, which was also the Feast of Trumpets, the Pastor General spent one hour and 51 minutes walking on eggshells. The Kingdom could come just before Tishrei 10 by a day or two, but perhaps after, closer to the Feast of Tabernacles.

Since he had to admit again that no man knows the day and the hour, Dave was unsure when the Kingdom of God would come. He took unearned delight in not declaring a specific date after getting the previous 145 wrong.

Part 649 – September 12, 2026
@ 1:51:29 We don't know. I didn't give you a date. And you know what gives me great joy? Oh, is that gonna frustrate our enemies.

Dave does not understand that these types of quotes make my day. They tickle me to no end and provide wonderful video content for social media. Please do not tell him, Brad.

The Feast of Tabernacles prep sermons in The Restored Church of God have changed significantly since I resigned in March 2021. During “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 650)” on September 19, 2026, Dave fed his sheep undercooked malarkey instead of meat in due season by offering up theoretical possibilities instead of decisive facts based on solid biblical evidence.

Part 650 – September 19, 2026
@ 1:37:10 It could be Opening Night. It could be during the middle of the Feast at a couple different moments. Who knows, maybe eve–it’s just somewhere in there. Or it could be the Last Great Day. Or you get to the maybe it's the Sabbath at the end of the month. Or it or you just keep going.

David C. Pack is a living example of insecure arrogance on a biblical scale. He broadcasts his obvious inability to grasp any measure of self-reflection based on reality, but is in full-blown beast mode when it comes to blaming others for his prolific failures.

According to him, nobody in The Restored Church of God ever leaves for a legitimate reason. There is no biblically-based standard David C. Pack can be held accountable for. Failed dates are just insignificant trivialities that should be endured by any faithful believer.

Dave conducts a Master Class in how to avoid accountability by utilizing the technique of minimizing to defuse the gravity and harm of what he has done.

@ 1:34:51 Many times people have left in the past because I got the wrong date.

@ 1:35:29 Now people get hung up on what I would call a a minnow. If that's a blue whale [Kingdom of God], that's the big centerpiece of prophecy. The minnow is what date’s it gonna be. “Mr. Pack got the date wro–.” Yeah, but he got the Kingdom right. I did.

@ 1:36:16 The date is a gnat on an elephant's back. The elephant is the Kingdom. The date’s a gnat. It's a flyon the top of a big barn. That’s what. The barn is the Kingdom.

God has a sense of humor and is a fan of irony. David C. Pack admits he has dedicated his life since 2012 to a pursuit that he characterizes as a minnow, a gnat, and a fly. He is so busy condemning others and reducing legitimate concerns of his worshipers that he fails to see how he exposes himself by declaring the unimportance of a delusional “divine charge” rocketing past 650 sermons.

In his own words, David C. Pack is wasting his remaining days chasing after a gnat. Ponder that.

@ 1:36:43 But the people who leave because I got the date wrong never believed a Kingdom was coming. They didn’t. The date is inconsequential. Anybody in the in a task no one has ever had in the history of the world would try to figure out and give certain dates. I learned don't do that. It can backfire.

Dave did not learn anything because he is still at it with more words he would soon regret in 3…2…1…

@ 1:37:52 But since I'm not gonna talk about timing anymore, I'm gonna get it I'm gonna get it all out there right now… I I mean, the Series is over.

That was all preparation for the Feast of Speculations forced upon the members of The Restored Church of God. Instead of focusing on the legitimate reason for the holy days instituted by God, Dave’s worshipers were looking forward to compulsory sermons stuffed to the gills with personal opinions, conjecture, outright fabrication, intentional deception, and self-serving ego-stroking.

 

The members of The Restored Church of God saved up all year to sit and listen to Dave bloviate on whatever random idea popped into his head. Do not pity them. They willfully choose to endure this torture and pay him to do it.

During "The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 651)" on September 26, 2026, on the First Day of the Feast of Speculations, brethren learned that Dave had suspicions about the Kingdom arriving before the Feast, but his god led him to discover the Day of Judgment is the Last Great Day.

The Kingdom Comes on The Last 

Part 651 – September 26, 2026
@ 01:05 You saw all the things that seemed to say the Feast of Tabernacles, just as I did. But yet I was suspicious it wasn't the Feast, and it turns out it was not.

Dave truly loves to be right about being wrong. It is really the only thing he is actually good at.

@ 59:06 If God tells us the Day of Judgment, if He does, He points to only one day that I can see. Whether other people know it or not isn't relevant. There's a day that can't tarry, and there's only one day in the crosshairs.

@ 1:00:08 If God tells us the day of Judgment, He points to only one day.

@ 1:14:49 A resurrection, a judgment, people can begin to be converted. It's on the last day, and the only place you'll find it identified anywhere is the Last Great Day, which, oh, by the way, this year is a weekly Sabbath. It ends a week, it ends the Feast, and it ends a year.

Dave admits his Last Great Day speculation could be wrong, but members should blame God at that point.

@ 1:29:50 …when God will pours out His Spirit in the last days, Joel 2, is both a Sabbath last day, and potentially it looks like the Last Great Day. If God has thrown that in to throw us off, then that's what He did.

Dave’s god tricked him yet again because during “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 652)” on September 29, 2026, the brethren learned that they are NOT waiting for the Last Great Day.

No Kingdom on The Last Great Day
October 3, 2026

Dave continues taking on the characteristics of his inept god because the Pastor General intentionally hoodwinked brethren during Part 652 to perform a bait-and-switch by utilizing premeditated deception to serve his own ego.

Instead of telling them from the start that the Last Great Day was no longer the day they were looking for, Dave padded his sermon for one hour before actually getting to the point. See if you can spot him setting everyone up for disappointment.

Part 562 – September 29, 2026
@ 1:01:39 All right, now we’re we'll do something unusual today. We'll continue into the Last Great Day. But maybe toward an unexpected end. [chuckles] We'll carry out an exercise.

An end unexpected to them, but he laughed because he knew where he was misleading them. David C. Pack is a very disturbed man. How anyone can remotely believe he is a minister of Jesus Christ or that God’s Spirit guides him needs a reality check.

@ 1:01:59 We’ll carry out an exercise to appreciate how difficult it has been locating the right date when the Kingdom begins. I think you’ll enjoy this.

Only one member of The Restored Church of God enjoyed Part 652. That person was David C. Pack because the message was an exercise in self-serving CYA.

Instead of focusing on biblical facts and Christian principles, Dave meandered around the Bible to illustrate how darn hard this whole prophecy business is. After all, who knew chasing a minnow would be so slippery?

@ 1:03:08 It’s all very, very compelling. Now, a few more scriptures in parallels pointing to the Last Great Day.

@ 1:10:41 Could that be pointing to the Last Great Day at the split second it begins, called the 21st, but really the 22nd? …Remember, we're going through a kind of an exercise here. I'm trying to show you how difficult it is to put this together.

@ 1:12:44 That helps the Last Great Day case.

@ 1:27:20 Are we waiting for the Last Great Day? Lot of evidence we are. Or must we wait further?

Dave knew before he sat down on the stage that they are not waiting for the Last Great Day and still chose to waste everyone's time by boring the brethren to death so that he could feel good about himself. He spent 45 minutes doing this to them.

@ 1:31:09 Having watched the Last Great Day seven times, perfection, [chuckles] almost, with nothing happening, should we learn it's just not the right day or learn that we just didn't wait quite long enough, has to be one more?

He finally spelled out what those who pay attention to Dave already knew. The Last Great Day ain’t it.

@ 1:33:47 How do you make that fit the Last Great Day? And the answer is it's very, very hard. Some would say, “Mr. Pack, it's impossible.” Those verses aren't true if the Last Great Day is, or the Last Great Day isn't true if those verses are.

@ 1:44:19 The Last Great Day case is very strong. Yet you have seen it can be broken.

Dave suggested that the Kingdom would come before the end of Tishrei and that the Series was finally over. Both of those proved false because everything taught during the Feast of Speculations in The Restored Church of God is just speculation. But that was not the end of it.

 

After spending 45 minutes during Part 562 showing brethren how difficult it is to find the right day the Kingdom of God arrives, Dave offered an alternative viewpoint: It is quite easy. During “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 563)” on October 2, 2026, Tishrei 30 became the obvious answer to the question everyone has been asking for two thousand years.

The Kingdom Comes on Tishrei 30
October 11, 2026

Part 563 – October 2, 2026
@ 00:08 The Last Great Day is here in Jerusalem by about 15 or 20 minutes, and nothing's happened. So I I don't think anything will.

@ 00:36 But we'll be looking only at the day the Kingdom comes today. And it it it'll be it'll be pretty easy, actually. Surprising, but easy and with much proof.

Yes. He said that with a straight face and an overly dramatic pause for emphasis. David C. Pack depleted all his credibility on August 30, 2013, yet still puffs his feathers like he can be taken seriously. His god coaxed him into another embarrassment.

@ 01:30 The Bible talks constantly about this date, and if God didn't want us to have any idea about it, He wouldn't do it.

@ 12:09 Tishrei 30 is, therefore, locked. You might say it's trapped as our goal.

@ 12:31 Only one day works for the Kingdom of God. It's a day that cannot tarry. The last day of Tishrei.

@ 16:34 Now, is all of that a coincidence? Because if it is, we're on a major role. So as I said, you're piling on, and it become “Wow, wow, wow. Whoa, it's hard to break.” …if it isn't eight days away, then I have no remote idea what day we are waiting for.

More words to soon regret in 3…2…1…

@ 16:55 You'll never have to worry about a date. Because I'll have none.

David C. Pack has no concern for taking the Lord’s name in vain, swearing falsely, blaspheming, stealing God’s authority, or crediting God for being the source of lies.

@ 56:46 But it never says Tishrei 30. And I dare say none of us thought about it. It would have to be very carefully discerned, with God's help, of course, or remain unknown.

@ 57:31 A thief event says no one can anticipate it unless God divinely reveals it, and only near the end so it wouldn’t get out too too far. No one would guess Tishrei 30…

This next clip explains why David C. Pack will never quit. He has manifested a reality in which his god wants him to keep trying after failing 146 times. The path to prophetic legitimacy is paved with carnal perseverance. These motivations are entirely human-generated and have nothing to do with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The evidence is well-documented.

@ 58:04 A thief event says no one can anticipate it unless God divinely reveals it. And God it can–If God conceals a matter, nobody finds it. But if you keep searching, you know, Proverbs 25:1, it's the honor of kings. And so I thought, “Well, Father, all right, I better I've got to stay with this. This is my charge. Eventually, You're gonna make it clear, and all the people that didn't believe there’s gonna be a Kingdom in the first place would quit because of all the dates that I got wrong. But eventually, You'd reveal it near the end, and no one would think of Tishrei 30.”

Dave’s perceived enemies and the RCG doubters who eventually quit will all regret the day his god turns him into a real boy prophet. Do not lose any sleep fretting over that possibility.

@ 1:42:47 So, if the Kingdom does not come some hour on the 30th and all these points are wrong, no future date appears better than any other.

Dave's god gave him so much help, proving that the Kingdom of God arrives on Tishrei 30 was super, duper easy. Surely, making this "the best Feast ever," the brethren could finally rest with surety that everything their Pastor General told them was accurate and biblically sound. Well, then Dave stepped off the stage.

The. Next. Day.

No Kingdom on Tishrei 30
October 11, 2026

RCG brethren were probably grateful for the idea that their Pastor General would not be wasting yet another afternoon during the Feast of Speculations, especially on the Last Great Day. But alas, it was not meant to be.

It only took David C. Pack 89 seconds to dismantle 104 minutes of sermon from the previous day. During "Special Announcements" on October 3, 2026, the Pastor General declared that the Kingdom of God would not be arriving on Tishrei 30 because something “enormously powerful and actually stronger” was just over the horizon.

I wonder if the elderly in wheelchairs at the back of the hall could smell Dave’s pathetic desperation. How many excuses can you count? At least he only blamed God once.

Special Announcements (Last Great Day) – October 3, 2026
@ 03:16 Okay. The reason I wanted to come up here was we all realized we're part of a very, very dynamic process that is now 654 parts long. And I mentioned it was blue sky beyond Tishrei 30. And it's not. Because, as has often been God's custom, let's just put it that way, I learned the most right after I just spoke. And this happened again.

By his own admission, Dave should never speak because he will learn more later. The brethren should never accept what he teaches because it will always change afterward. RCG's human idol just admitted it is God's will to not allow him to speak the truth.

That fine point will escape Dave and his enablers at Headquarters.

@ 03:54 And I sat with a group of men in a series of meetings. So, believe it or not, and I would not have believed it. There is actually a stronger date not far ahead. I do not expect next week. It could be. Could be wrong. And you should you should watch. But I do not expect a week away to be the date we're looking for. Now, some of you may guess it. Okay. That's fine. Hope you do. You can have fun talking and thinking about it. But you'll remember how I closed, and that got me thinking. And I will detail I will detail this enormously powerful and actually stronger case.

As the RCG brethren flew back to their regular lives after the conclusion of the Feast of Speculations, there must have been some discomfort gnawing in their guts because they recognize that the Series is not over and the next malarkey-infused theory their Pastor General peddles will liquefy when exposed to the air.

David C. Pack was not right about the Day of Atonement. He was not right about Opening Night. He was not right about the middle of the Feast. He was not right about the Last Great Day. He was not right about Tishrei 30.

Whatever David C. Pack teaches during Parts 654, 655, and into the 700s will rot because God is not inspiring him to teach what he does. That is not speculation.

Marc Cebrian

See: The Feast of Specualtions

Beware the Birthday Cake: Armstrongism’s Latest Lesson in How to Ruin Normal Life

 

Beware the Birthday Cake: Armstrongism's Latest Lesson in How to Ruin Normal Life

If you needed another exhibit in the museum of why Armstrongism (and its endless COG splinters) is bad for the human soul, look no further than the latest Bob Thiel piece warning that birthdays and Halloween are basically Satan's greatest hits. The argument, in short: a former warlock says Halloween is "cheating on God," Anton LaVey ranked birthdays as the highest Satanic holiday, a couple of wicked kings threw bad parties in the Bible, and some early church writers frowned. Therefore, real Christians must avoid cake and candy lest they accidentally join the forces of darkness. This is not discernment. This is legalistic claptrap that trains people to treat ordinary family joy like a spiritual landmine. For those who haven't followed the source material: the piece leans heavily on John Ramirez, a former high-ranking participant in occult practices (Santeria and related spiritualist circles) who grew up in the Bronx. He has described involvement from roughly age 8 to 35, including claims of demonic ceremonies, animal blood, sacrifices, a "mark of the beast," a demonic wedding on Halloween, and rising to high ranks as a warlock. He later converted, became a Pentecostal-style evangelist focused on deliverance and spiritual warfare, and wrote books such as Destroying Fear. In a 2019 Fox News interview, he argued that because he knows the dark side of Halloween from the inside, Christians who dress up or participate are essentially cheating on God. Satanists don't show up for Good Friday, so why should Christians show up for October 31? His personal story of trauma, fear, and escape is real and worth hearing. Turning it into a universal ban on seasonal fun for every believer is not. The "Satanists do it, so you can't" fallacy This is the article's central engine, and it is pure guilt by association. Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible does call one's own birthday the highest holiday in that system (followed by Walpurgisnacht and Halloween), because their philosophy centers the self as god. The modern Church of Satan treats holidays as optional and low-ritual. So what? Bad people also eat food, use electricity, speak English, and mark anniversaries. Their ranking does not rewrite the practice for everyone else. If the standard is "the devil's side does something, therefore Christians must never do it," then clear your calendar of almost everything and prepare for a very quiet existence. Intent and context matter. A parent celebrating that a child was born is not performing a blood rite or declaring themselves divine. Birthdays are not forbidden The Bible records two clear birthday feasts: Pharaoh's (Genesis 40) and Herod's (Matthew 14). Both are stories of wicked rulers doing wicked things. That does not create a general prohibition any more than one drunken wedding bans marriage. Job's sons held family feasts "each on his day" (Job 1:4) with no condemnation attached. There is no command against marking the day someone entered the world. Josephus notes that Jewish custom avoided birth festivals partly to discourage excess drinking and to prioritize education and sobriety. Origen, writing in the third century, observed that only sinners like Pharaoh and Herod are recorded celebrating birthdays and suggested cursing the day in light of his views on original sin. He is one voice reacting against pagan and imperial customs, not the voice of apostolic Christianity or a binding rule. Most early Christian literature is simply silent on personal birthdays; the church had other priorities. Astrology is condemned. Celebrating a life is not the same thing. Halloween is not a mandatory pact with demons Halloween's history is mixed, as is true of many calendar customs. It has roots in the Celtic seasonal festival of Samhain (marking the end of harvest and the darker half of the year, with beliefs about a thinner boundary to the dead). Over centuries it overlapped with Christian observances: All Hallows' Eve, the night before All Saints' Day (November 1), and All Souls' Day. The precise historical relationship between the Celtic festival and the Christian date is debated by scholars-some see deliberate Christianization of existing customs, others note that the November date for All Saints has its own Roman and Western Christian development. Modern American Halloween for the vast majority of participants is secular: costumes, candy, community events, and kids collecting sweets. It is not ritual worship of Samhain, LaVey, or anything else unless someone chooses to make it so. Ramirez's point that Satanists value the night is true for some, just as some people treat Christmas or Easter in purely commercial or irreligious ways. That does not force every costume or bowl of candy into the category of spiritual adultery. New Covenant Christians live under the finished work of Christ, not a revived Mosaic or early-church purity code on days. Colossians 2:16-17 is direct: let no one judge you in questions of food, drink, festivals, new moons, or sabbaths-these are a shadow. Romans 14 gives the same freedom: one person regards one day above another; another regards every day alike. Each should be fully convinced in their own mind. Handing out candy or letting children wear costumes is not "cheating on God" any more than using the names of months that once had pagan associations. If the activity involves actual occult practice, avoid it. Ordinary fun does not require that. Why this keeps damaging people Armstrongism (and groups that still treat Herbert Armstrong's extra-biblical rules as binding) specialized in turning ordinary life into a loyalty test. Birthdays, holidays, and dozens of other customs became markers of the "true church" versus the world. The practical result was not deeper holiness. It was isolated kids, family tension, constant guilt over normal joys, and a focus on what you don't do instead of the fruit of the Spirit, love of neighbor, and the grace that sets people free. HWA himself framed the birthday rule as a general principle he set in the church, not a clear biblical command. That is the pattern: elevate a preference or a historical caution into "God's way," then use it to police people. New Covenant Christians do not need this. We are free in Christ. Celebrate a birthday as a thankful recognition of life if you want. Skip Halloween if you prefer. Or hand out candy and enjoy the absurd costumes. None of it is a salvation issue, and none of it requires bowing to LaVey, Ramirez's past, or Armstrongist legalism. The real threat to the soul is the fear-based system that treats cake and candy as evidence of spiritual compromise while ignoring the finished work of the cross. Eat the cake. Or don't. Just stop pretending the devil owns the calendar. Silent Pilgrim

Samuel Kitchen’s Apostasy Alarm: Stay Inside the Crumbling “Spiritual Organism” or Lose Your Crown!

 

Samuel Kitchen has issued another urgent fatwa from the front lines of Armstrongist anxiety. Half the Church was supposedly destined to quit the Sabbath (Aaron Dean heard it from Herbert himself-and then gave out Aaron's phone number and said to call him). The faithful remnant (now numbering between 5-10 people) is the true Philadelphia Candlestick still burning inside the Worldwide Church of God, which is not a human organization but a "spiritual organism." Anyone who starts another group is polluting the temple whose foundation HWA already laid. Love God more by staying put; love the leavers less. Exit the other churches. Pour everything into the approved channel. Listen to HWA so Christ's voice gets louder. Otherwise your crown is being stolen, your bags have holes, and Satan's smooth-speech system is winning. It's a familiar sermon. It is also the exact opposite of the New Covenant. Kitchen's entire case collapses the moment you stop treating Herbert Armstrong as an untouchable apostle whose organizational shell is the ongoing spiritual temple. The Church is the body of Christ. Christ is the head. Believers are members. Paul did not write that there is one body, one Spirit, one faith, one baptism-and one true candlestick that must remain inside the corporate structure HWA built in the twentieth century. The foundation is the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone. Kitchen's move is the classic one: redefine "the Church" as "the people who still agree with me and my preferred leader," then brand everyone else an apostate for refusing the redefinition. That is how you keep people inside Sabbath-keeping, tithing, and hierarchical control long after the New Testament declared the law's role as tutor finished. The authority Kitchen wants to rest on HWA does not hold. The 1975 prophecy failed. Later date-setting and place-of-safety claims failed. A second-hand recollection that "half the Church would quit the Sabbath" does not become binding revelation just because Aaron Dean remembers hearing it. The scattered groups Kitchen condemns are what happens when a legalistic organization fractures. They are not proof that the "Philadelphia elect" must now reassemble under his particular banner. The New Covenant does not require anyone to keep the Sabbath as a covenantal obligation, tithe to a specific ministry, or remain inside any post-HWA entity in order to be "spiritually organized." Believers are free. That freedom is not compromise. It is the point. Kitchen's love language is especially revealing. True love for God, he says, means staying put and pouring everything into the approved channel, while following people who leave is loving them more than Christ. That is inverted. Loving God under the New Covenant means resting in the finished work of Christ, not performing the old-covenant calendar and financial obligations as proof of loyalty. The people who walked away from Armstrongist groups did not "start loving Jesus less." Many of them discovered that the real Jesus is not the one who needs an exclusive twentieth-century foundation laid by HWA before He can return to His own spiritual temple. The temple is already the people of God. It does not get polluted because someone starts a new congregation or simply reads Galatians and stops worrying about which corporate name still holds the candlestick. The fear tactics are standard issue: crowns being stolen, voices growing weaker, families destroyed, bags with holes, Satan's system of smooth speech. All of it is designed to make ordinary believers feel that exiting the system equals spiritual death. New Covenant Christians do not have to manage that anxiety. They are not under the Sinai administration. They are not required to "speak the same thing" HWA taught in order for Christ's voice to grow louder. They already have the Spirit, the Scriptures, and direct access to the Head. Kitchen's demand that people exit every other group and reorganize their households around his vision of the continuing WCG is not humility before Christ. It is another round of the "one true church" claim that has produced the very fragmentation he now decries. No New Covenant Christian needs to lose sleep over Kitchen's apostasy alarm. The real departure is the one that adds HWA's foundation, Sabbath-keeping as identity, and exclusive organizational loyalty to the gospel of grace. Those who have left that system are not polluting a temple. They are refusing to treat a human movement as if it were the temple. Christ is sufficient. The rest is optional religious infrastructure-and optional is exactly what the New Covenant makes it

Apostle John. and Polycarp Were NOT Charter Members Of The Continuing Church of God

 

By a Concerned Brother 

Who Can Actually Read Primary Sources

Bwana Bob has once again appointed himself the official historian of the first century, and the results are about as reliable as one of his prophetic timelines.

In his latest piece, (CG7, biblical accuracy, and Lucian of Antioch), Bob Thiel argues that the New Testament canon was essentially complete the moment John finished Revelation, that the Apostle John personally possessed the full 27-book list, and that he handed it off to Polycarp of Smyrna as part of a continuous "Church of God" chain of custody that somehow (after a brief 1,800-year nap) reappears in the Continuing Church of God. The entire argument is classic Armstrongist retrofitting: take real early Christian figures, strip away everything that makes them actual historical Christians, and rebrand them as proto-CCOG members who quietly believed in Sabbath, holy days, tithing, and the whole package.

1. The "John and Polycarp were True COG" claim is pure anachronistic cosplay.

Thiel treats the Apostle John and Polycarp as if they were early members of the same organization that Herbert Armstrong invented in the 20th century and that Bob now claims to lead. John was a Jewish-Christian apostle writing within the first generation of the movement that became the broader church. Polycarp was a second-century bishop of Smyrna who opposed Marcion, accepted the developing four-gospel collection, and operated within the emerging proto-orthodox network. Neither man left any evidence of British-Israelism, the specific Armstrongist calendar, the rejection of the Trinity in the modern COG sense, or any of the other distinctive markers of Thiel's group. Claiming them as "TRUE COG members" is the same move used for every other ancient figure Bob wants to recruit: if they mentioned Scripture or lived in Asia Minor, they must have been secretly running a Sabbath-keeping remnant that matches the 2026 CCOG website.

2. Selective quotation and circular "chain of custody."

Thiel cites Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians, the Harris Fragments, Irenaeus, Ignatius, the Didache, and 1 Clement as if they prove a closed 27-book canon under John's personal supervision. What they actually show is that early Christian writers in Asia Minor and elsewhere were using and quoting various apostolic writings and treating them as authoritative. That is normal and expected. It does not equal a formal, fixed canon list that John privately certified and passed to Polycarp like a membership card. Polycarp alludes to and quotes a number of New Testament writings; he does not provide a checklist of all 27 books, nor does any contemporary document record John compiling and sealing the collection. The argument is circular: "The true Church had the canon because Polycarp had it, and Polycarp had it because he was true Church."

3. Ignoring how the canon actually developed.

The New Testament collection was recognized gradually. Some books (the Gospels, Paul's major letters, 1 Peter, 1 John) were widely accepted early. Others (Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2-3 John, Jude, Revelation) had more varied reception. Athanasius's 367 Festal Letter is one of the earliest clear statements of the exact 27-book list that matches the modern Protestant canon; regional councils later confirmed it. Thiel's claim that the canon was locked once Revelation was written, and that only the "Church of God" in Asia Minor possessed it, requires ignoring the actual historical process and the fact that writings circulated across multiple Christian communities, not inside a single exclusive remnant.

4. The Asia Minor exclusivity argument is special pleading.

Yes, many New Testament books were addressed to or written from Asia Minor. That does not mean the churches there alone possessed or defined the canon, nor that every other Christian community was somehow outside the "true" line. Early Christian literature shows letters, Gospels, and apostolic traditions moving between Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and elsewhere. Thiel's map of "only Asia Minor counts" is drawn to fit the conclusion that his preferred geography is the only legitimate one.

5. Textual history is pressed into service of the narrative.

The discussion of Lucian of Antioch, the Byzantine text, and the Textus Receptus mixes real textual scholarship with the usual implication that the "true" line preserved the pure text while everyone else corrupted it. This is a familiar pattern in certain Protestant and Armstrongist circles, but it does not demonstrate a continuous COG chain of custody from John through Polycarp to the present.

The pattern is consistent: real early Christians become honorary members of the Continuing Church of God, the historical development of the canon is flattened into a single apostolic hand-off, and any evidence that does not fit is either ignored or reclassified as the work of the "Greco-Roman" church. It is not historical method; it is membership recruitment conducted with ancient names.

PCG REJECTS: “Not Headquarters Material”

 

PCG REJECTS: 

“Not Headquarters Material”

Click Here For The Song

Dam Moffett

What happens when a PCG church member wants to move closer to headquarters—and is told she does not fit the image?

A few years ago, I met a woman at a church festival who lived in Seattle, Washington. She told me she was close friends with Steven Flurry’s wife and wanted to move to the Philadelphia Church of God headquarters in Edmond, Oklahoma. Her employer was willing to let her transfer to its Edmond location, so she had a practical way to make the move.

According to her account, her local minister approved but said she would also need permission from the headquarters minister, Wayne Turgen.

She told me his response was that she “did not fit the image they were trying to project.”

She said she broke down crying. She was a heavy woman and believed the rejection was because of her weight. I cannot say whether that was his reason, but that was how she understood the remark—and it hurt her deeply.

Another woman, Jennifer Ladd of the Cincinnati congregation, also wanted to move to headquarters. She was a Montessori schoolteacher and administrator and believed her experience could be useful at the school on the PCG compound.

Jennifer told me she asked Regional Director Cal Culpepper for permission to move. According to her, he told her she was “not headquarters material.”

What does that mean? What makes someone “headquarters material”? Shouldn’t a religious community value a person’s character, kindness, faith, and willingness to serve?

These are two accounts shared with me personally by the women involved. I did not witness their conversations with the ministers, but I heard how they described the rejection.

To me, these accounts raise a serious question about priorities. When members are told they do not fit an “image” or are not the right “material,” where is the concern for the people behind those labels?

James 2:1–4 warns against favoritism in the assembly. First Samuel 16:7 reminds us that people look at outward appearance, while Yahweh looks at the heart.

A “church” should take those lessons seriously. Members are human beings with feelings, abilities, and a desire to belong. They deserve to be treated with dignity—not left wondering what about them makes them unacceptable.

Contemplating Homo neanderthalensis: The Collapse of Armstrongist Racial Theory

 

Neanderthal: Probably One of Your Ancestors (fair use)

Contemplating Homo neanderthalensis

                                           The Collapse of Armstrongist Racial Theory

                                                                                                By Scout       

      

So a good rendering of Genesis 6:9 is that Noah was the only “just” man (in spiritual character), and also “unblemished” (in his genetic heritage) among his contemporaries. – Herbert W. Armstong, Mystery of the Ages, p. 147.

 

If Neanderthal is anything, he is a disruptor of Armstrongist racial theory. Of course, Neanderthal could never have foreseen the dust he would flap up with a small Millerite sect 40,000 years after he went extinct.  One of the Armstrongists beliefs that Neanderthal disrupts is the pedigree of Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA).  Evangelist Gerald Waterhouse commonly asserted that Herbert W. Armstrong, like Noah, was also racially pure.  Back in those days, the adulation of HWA’s racial purity was an internal support for the Armstrongist position against racial intermarriage and favoring segregation. Racial purity was the Armstrongist ideal and HWA symbolized that.  There are many reasons why Armstrongist racial theory of the past and maybe the present is not valid.  This essay deals with one of the most salient – HWA’s pedigree.   

HWA’s purity meant that there had to be a line of racially pure people who ran from Noah down to Herbert W. Armstrong.  Enter the science of genetics.  Genetics carries with it some embarrassment for all people who trade in racial purity. There is no exception for those who assert HWA’s pristine pedigree.  I will start with a look at Europe, whence HWA and many North Americans trace their ancestry. 

The European Mixing Vat

Europe is geographically connected to other land masses such as Asia.  If you had the time, interest and good pair of shoes, you could walk from western Portugal to eastern Siberia.  Migrations have been frequent.  In fact, the people who live in western Europe now are descended in part from people who lived in Central Asia and migrated westward about 5,000 years ago.  The Armstrongist idea that God created geographic barriers to contain various races seems to be sophistic.  On average the people in southern Europe carry genetic influences from various peoples in Africa despite the barrier of the Mediterranean Sea.

So, as one might expect, many different peoples down through history and prehistory migrated into Europe and made their mark.  And this is written in the genomes of the European people.  You can set aside all the ancient, hoary histories and read the biology directly. Which is more trustworthy – something dubious that Tacitus wrote or your own genetic structure?  And what this tells us is that the idea that the people in some isolated Scottish village in the fastness of the Highlands are racially pure is false.  The Scots are a mix of three strains of people just like everyone else in Europe: Western Hunter-Gathers, Anatolian Farmers and Steppe Pastoralists (plus whatever racially diverse Roman legionnaires brought with them). One of the Highland Clans is principally y chromosome haplogroup E which originated in Africa.  And, finally, mixed into the mélange is a small dose of Neanderthal of uncertain speciation.  The One Drop Theory of the American South wreaks havoc on Scottish genetics. 

Some may argue that these waves of ancient migrants who came to Europe were all White people but that is not the case.  Genetic research also tells us that most of the population groups of Homo sapiens that migrated to Europe, beginning with the Aurignacians who interbred with Neanderthals, were originally dark-skinned. Light skin reached its heyday in Europe only around 3,000 years ago.  Archaeologists began to find the genes (primarily SLC24A5 and SLC45A2) for light skin in increased frequency in excavated remains dating to that period.  This is a brief profile of the base population that HWA came from. 

The Neanderthals and Armstrongism

 Neanderthal heritage is written on our genomes.  This is something established by the science of genetics. What genetics means is that the Armstrongist model of the origin of races collapses profoundly.  The Armstrongist model was that God is a racially White, Adam was racially White, Noah was racially White, as people were intended to be, and non-White races arose as a result of mutation (read “as an anomaly”).  There is a kernel of truth here.  Genetic analysis of our genomes indicates that the different varieties of Homo sapiens arose from mutation.  But it also indicates that the original human stock was Black and that Whites and Browns mutated from these Black forefathers. Somehow I feel that if Herman Hoeh had understood this and taught it back in the Fifties and Sixties, a totally different group of people with a different mindset would have been attracted to Armstrongism.  I always ran into people in the Worldwide Church of God who seemed like they came out of some kind of Neo-Confederacy. 

A Final Note

I feel I need to add this in anticipation of the donnybrook.  Armstrongists trade in conspiracy theory, ulterior motives and sometimes paranoid tendencies when it comes to history and sociology.  It’s all that fantasy stuff in the Hoeh Legendarium.  So, let me state explicitly that I do not advocate racial intermarriage but I also just as firmly do not believe it is a sin.  That any marriage would be a success is a long shot.   So, marrying as close as you can to your own background is good conventional wisdom.

Conclusion

So, was HWA pure in his generations like Gerald Waterhouse asserted? Of course not.  He was part Neanderthal just like other Europeans.  Neanderthals are not only a separate race; they are another species (some scientists argue that they are a separate sub-species.  In either case, they are more distant than a separate race). While HWA is deceased and cannot be tested directly without excavation, we can know his genetic condition from the general population from which he originated.  As Google AI states, “All modern Europeans carry Neanderthal DNA, typically making up about 1% to 2% of their genome.”  So, asserting the ideal of a racially pure HWA as an important support of the Armstrongist policy on race is simply flogging a dead horse.