Crowing Over a Cancelled Podcast: Bob Thiel Declares Himself the Undisputed Champion of Debates That Never Took Place

Two weeks of chest-thumping. Weeks of promising the world that the great Crackpot Bob Thiel—self-appointed guardian of “original Christianity,” tireless enemy of that pesky little doctrine called the Trinity—was about to educate some poor, unsuspecting Confessional Lutheran on a podcast. The topic? The Trinity, of course. The one thing Armstrongism has spent decades treating like garlic to a vampire.

Crackpot Bob was ready. Bob had the scriptures. Bob had the “historical facts.” Bob was going to gently (but firmly) dismantle centuries of Christian orthodoxy while the host sat there in stunned silence, taking notes for his eventual conversion. 

Then… nothing. 

The host delayed once to “prepare.” Then he simply vanished. No email. No explanation. Just radio silence. 

And what does our hero do? Does he shrug and move on like a normal adult? Of course not. Crackpot Bob does what Bob does best: he turns a cancelled appointment into a full-blown theological victory parade. 

In his own words: the host “backed out without informing us.” Why? “He probably could not handle the truth and was afraid his audience would have trouble with the truth about the trinity.” Further speculation: the man “may have seen that he did not have valid arguments against the scriptures and historical facts.” 

Translation: “I win because the other guy didn’t show up to lose.” 

This is the same energy as a kid who challenges the school bully to a fight after school, the bully never appears, and the kid spends the next week telling everyone he scared him off with his superior karate. 

Crackpot Bob even treats us to a little diagram of the Trinity (the classic shield) and smugly notes that “logic shows [it] contradicts itself.” Yes, Bob. The diagram that has been used for over a thousand years is the problem—not the man who thinks a cancelled podcast proves the early church was non-Trinitarian. 

And because the host’s “non-brave approach to cancelling” was just too much for Crackpot Bob’s delicate sense of justice, he is now adding extra sermons on the Trinity to his schedule. Nothing says “I have the truth on my side” quite like doubling down on a monologue after the other participant ghosts you. 

One can only imagine the scene in Crackpot Bob’s study: leather chair, wall of crooked bookcases, glowing Earth backdrop, microphone ready for action… and a man so certain of his own brilliance that an empty calendar slot is interpreted as divine confirmation. The arrogance isn’t just appalling. It’s performance art. 

Somewhere, a Lutheran podcaster is quietly enjoying his weekend, blissfully unaware that he has just handed Bob Thiel the greatest win of his debating career—by simply not showing up.  

And Crackpot Bob? He’s already polishing the trophy. 

No Trinitarian Discussion Podcast

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that I was supposed to be a guest on a Confessional Lutheran’s podcast. The host then delayed that to better prepare himself to read more of my writings, and he set up for us to discuss the trinity on his podcast yesterday. So, I agreed and that was scheduled. But he backed out without informing us or responding to emails from our team.

Why?

Let me speculate.

He probably could not handle the truth and was afraid his audience would have trouble with the truth about the trinity.

The fact is that I do NOT believe that one can have a rational scriptural discussion about the beliefs of the original Christians and conclude the Church was trinitarian if one can accept the plain truth on that subject.

I speculate that host may have seen that he did not have valid arguments against the scriptures and historical facts related to the Godhead.

Below is a drawing that trinitarians use to explain their faulty view, which logic shows contradicts itself:

(Public Domain via Wikipedia)

Anyway, partially because of the podcast host’s non-brave approach to cancelling, this motivated me to add some more to my sermon schedule. So, I plan to give a couple of new sermons on the trinity.

Send Your Tithes or Get Bundled: The Gospel According to Samuel Kitchen

Did you know that you are all nothing but tares that have been bound together and are ready to be burned? Ready to be fried to a crisp! All because you have joined one of the hundreds of splinter groups and are sending your tithes to them! How dare you! This is Samuel’s money.

Samuel has learned well from reading How to Start Your Own Church of God for Dummies. It was a bestseller for a while in the 1990s and has been well used by a myriad of current splinter leaders. Samuel has taken this to a new level—one that current splinter leaders thought they were achieving but have been failing at miserably. For some stupid reason, all of the splinter groups imagine themselves as the one true Philadelphian-era Church of God, when in fact they are nothing but tares! Tares, I tell you! Tares!

The only real Church of God group out there is the one that stole the name Worldwide Church of God and all of its literature and telecasts. All other WCG- and COG-related groups are nothing but cheap street-corner whores out seducing people into joining their groups. They are tares that have been bound together and are waiting for Christ to return and cast them all into the Lake of Fire. Burn, baby, burn!

Like all good graduates of the Church of God Splinter Leader for Dummies school, Samuel has set himself up as the only place tithe money should be sent. And if you do not send your tithes to him, then you are a tare, ready for Christ to return with His heavenly match to set your sorry ass on fire.

Armstrongism has not matured into fine wine but into slop that is not even worthy of the swine.

Now feast your eyes on the pure, uncut gospel according to Samuel himself—the latest self-anointed heir to the Armstrong franchise, who has elevated the classic “send it all to me” scam to Olympic levels of shamelessness:

Now since these original apostle died and fulfilled their jobs in Christ, then over a thousand years ago, Jesus had need to bring forth and send out another man in the 20th century, carefully preparing him and giving to him THE ENTIRE BIBLE AS WE KNOW IT. The Holy Bible is complete for this time, and it was given to Herbert W Armstrong to preach the true Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

So as he preached the Word of God, planting seeds in the field under the direction of Jesus Christ, congregations of the Church grew all around the world, first beginning on radio...then WORLDWIDE. The Worldwide Church of God could have never been possible if the gospel message was not first preached by Herbert W Armstrong all around the world as a witness to all nations. 

We therefore are the SEAL OF APOSTLESHIP for Herbert W Armstrong. We are the evidence Jesus Christ sent him forth with the gospel of the Kingdom of God! 

Now back to the parable of Jesus Christ. As the Church became READY FOR HARVEST, there were found people attending among the people of God, who had crept in unwares,(Jude 1:4) from Satan, infiltrated the Worldwide Church of God, and were not the real membership at all! 

They had come into the Worldwide Church of God, to take it over, and to govern the Worldwide Church of God at the highest levels!

Judas came among the disciples did he not? Eventually he was used to come with SOLDIERS to take the physical body of Jesus Christ, so he may be killed. Judas, was the treasurer of the work of Christ. He had the money bag. So he had a lofty position in the work of Christ. 

 

And while INSIDE that fellowship he went and JOINED with others seeking the demise of the Body of Christ. 

And there came a time where he stood with the enemies of Christ, not with Jesus and his other disciples.

After Mr. Armstrong died, what was taken but that which was materialistic, and physical? It was taken by a psuedo-membership and psuedo-ministry.

TARES. And they became BUNDLED TOGETHER.

Herbert W Armstrong said this on the World Tomorrow RADIO BROADCAST, called The Parable of the Tares" : 

"Now, this is in the Kingdom, the Kingdom age. Whenever the Kingdom age is they are both to grow together in and during the Kingdom age until the harvest. When is the harvest, my friends? Is the harvest the present time? Is the harvest the Second Coming of Christ? I want you to notice. "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them..." And notice they're gathered in bundles. Have you noticed how people are being gathered into bundles? Have you ever noticed that it is human nature that people want to belong? They just want to belong to something. They want to belong to a club. They want to belong to a lodge. They want to belong to some society. They want to belong to something they can join and feel that they belong—that's psychology. And do you know that the psychologists are teaching that today? Do you know that in nearly every college and university in our schools of higher learning where they are training the future leaders of this nation? The future leaders for the churches and church pulpits, the future leaders for business and commerce, the future leaders of our government and our statesmen are being taught and trained in these colleges and universities and they have a psychological idea—they feel there that, well, it's human nature, everybody wants to belong and so they say, "Let's encourage it. Let's have every kind of group and fraternity and society we can and let them bind themselves up in bundles." I wonder if you ever notice the significance of that and what is taking place today. "Let them grow together until the harvest..." Now, when is that harvest? Is that speaking of our age now or the age to come? Well, we're doing that thing now but specifically what was Jesus referring to? At the time of the harvest, whenever that is, He says, "I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them..." These bundles of human beings gathered together are being bound up in these bundles to be burned. I think, my friends, that's something worth looking into. I think that's something you might investigate and begin to think a little bit about. "But," He said, "gather the wheat into my barn." They weren't bundled at all. They come into the barn, in other words, that is the Kingdom of God and that is the place where you want to go, the wheat, that's what He's saving. But the tares, He's not going to save, He's going to burn. Now, the wheat is going to be saved, in other words, Salvation and eternal life is what it portrays there."[Herbert W Armstrong]

WE KNOW that those INSIDE the true Church of God in the period of time called the PHILADELPHIA ERA, will be spared and saved alive in a place of safety, while the Great Tribulation is waging in all the world! Why is it the Philadelphia Era? It is because THIS ONE TRUE CHURCH, which was raised up through an apostle named Herbert W Armstrong, is faithfully doing the work, and is simply remaining in patience AS A WITNESS unto all the nations!

See Revelation 3:10; Revelation 12:13-17. Matthew 24:14

They are NOT being bundled, you see? We remain as the Worldwide Church of God, serving as a WITNESS in all the nations.

When you look online what do you see? You see the Work of God that was done through the Worldwide Church of God DOMINATING and still persisting even after 40 years in the wilderness! 

What else do you see? You see the unrepentant, the rebellious, the murmerer, and complainer, BUNDLING TOGETHER INTO DIFFERENT GROUPS! They will go through the Great Tribulation! And if they won't repent THERE, God will have to place the Day of the Lord on them, and if they still won't repent He is going to throw them into the Lake of Fire!

Every group is wanting to look enough like the Worldwide Church of God to fool everyone, but not enough to actually BE THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD. They have taken so much of what they learned from God's true Church, and they try to recreate it but to no avail!

They are just mere counterfeits, who oppose Jesus Christ!

Websites and groups, who are taking the property of the Worldwide Church of God, all oppose the Worldwide Church of God. They merely use the publications and productions of the true Church of God, to fill in and HAVE THE APPEARANCES of a similar work. But they are working to lead people away from full obedience, and full adhearance to what we were taught from Christ through His apostle!

Notice the WHEAT COME INTO THE BARN. That is the storehouse of the Wheat!

Notice Malachi 3:7-11, "Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

Wherein shall we return? Haggai 1:4-5 "Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

Now, brethren THOSE INSIDE the TRUE Church of God will go into a place of safety, protected from Satan the Great Destroyer and DEVOURER! 

What is the deciding factor? BRING YOU ALL THE TITHES INTO THE STOREHOUSE. Where is the barn? WHERE THOSE OF THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD ARE GATHERED TODAY.

The purpose for this work, is to restore the Worldwide Church of God, and to STAND AS A PHILADELPHIA WITNESS. 

If you examine every group, every website, you find they are going to ANOTHER CHURCH OR GROUP. It is not the Worldwide Church of God!

There it is, folks—the full, glorious, completely unhinged package. Herbert Armstrong was the final apostle (never mind that the original ones somehow finished their jobs a thousand-plus years early so Jesus could wait until the radio age). The “true” Worldwide Church of God is whatever Samuel says it is this week. Every other group is a satanic tare-bundle headed straight for the cosmic deep fryer. And the only way to prove you’re wheat instead of combustible weed? Mail those tithes, offerings, and anything else that isn’t nailed down straight into Samuel’s personal storehouse/barn/Swiss account.

It’s classic Armstrongism, all right—every splinter has always claimed to be the sole Philadelphian remnant while branding the rest as Laodicean losers destined for the Tribulation. But Samuel has refined the formula into something almost pure: the name itself is the magic talisman, the literature is holy relic, and any dollar that doesn’t land in his pocket is proof positive that you are a tare already tied up and ready for the match. No need for actual growth, no need for a functioning congregation, no need for anything except the perpetual declaration that everyone else is fake and the check should be made out to him.

Armstrongism didn’t evolve. It just found a new depth of depravity, and Samuel is happily diving headfirst into the sludge while waving Malachi 3 like a divine invoice. Burn, baby, burn—just make sure the tithe envelope is postmarked first.

From Double Blessing to Double Delusion: Why Independents Are All Wrong

One of the biggest hypocrites leading a Church of God splinter today is Crackpot Bob Thiel. His little group has been focused entirely upon himself. Every single thing he posts points directly back to himself and none of them toward Jesus. 

In 2012, when he split off from the Living Church of God in a fit of rage over Rod Meredith and the church ignoring his admonitions and veiled threats to change their teachings, the focus has been entirely on himself. From using the imbecilic so-called “double blessing” that Gaylyn Bonjour supposedly gave him, he took it as a sign that God was now on his side and that the entire church needed to recognize just how important he was. He broke off as yet another independent COG group. The problem he faced was that the folks in LCG ignored him, as did 99.8% of the broader COG community. Only around a hundred fringe outliers bothered to join him.

Friday, the self-serving and self-appointed prophet sent out his weekly update from the mind-boggling world headquarters in Grover Beach, where he admonished his followers (and anyone unlucky enough to read his sophomoric-level theology) that it is a SIN to be an independent Church of God—or even a member following God at home.

Because of this “sinful nature,” you will NOT know when it is time to flee to Petra, where you will be held prisoner for 3½ years listening to Crackpot Bob elaborate on just how he thinks the world should be as civilization collapses around Petra.

Oh, and he tells you to seek humility—because he has never had a humble bone in his body. Taking on the names of numerous Old Testament prophets does not make Crackpot Bob a prophet. Heck, even his own adult son says the reason he is not part of his dad’s church is that he does not believe he is a prophet. And neither should you!

Here’s the latest installment of Bob’s greatest hits, straight from the man who never met a Bible verse he couldn’t twist into a recruitment ad for himself:

The prophecy Zephaniah was inspired to write: 

 

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together,

O undesirable nation,

2 Before the decree is issued,

Or the day passes like chaff,

Before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you,

Before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you!

3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth,

Who have upheld His justice.

Seek righteousness, seek humility.

It may be that you will be hidden

In the day of the Lord’s anger. (Zephaniah 2:1-3) 

 

Brethren, this is a prophetic warning to end time Christians that we are not to be independent at this time. It is telling us that those non-Philadelphians who think that they will be protected/hidden at the last minute from “the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10) are deceiving themselves. 

 

Support this end time Philadelphian work, uphold God’s justice, seek righteousness, and seek humility, then it “may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

Sincerely,
Bob Thiel
Pastor and Overseer

Notice the classic move: quote a verse about seeking the Lord, righteousness, and humility… then immediately pivot to “Support this end time Philadelphian work” (translation: send your tithes and loyalty to Bob in Grover Beach). The entire “warning” is just another commercial for the Bob Thiel Protection Plan™. Stay independent? You’re doomed. Stay home and follow God? Doomed. Fail to recognize Bob as the exclusive Philadelphia franchise holder? Doomed. Only by gathering under the one true prophet (spoiler: it’s Bob) might you—just might—get hidden. How convenient.

This is more of the same old lies. The “double blessing” was never a divine endorsement of a new denomination; it was one minister’s prayer that Bob twisted into a personal coronation. The claim that independents are automatically “non-Philadelphian” and therefore unprotected is pure invention designed to keep the tiny flock from wandering off. And the Petra fantasy? Bob has been selling tickets to the Jordanian rock city for years as the exclusive safe house run by… wait for it… Bob. You’ll get 3½ years of lectures on how right he was while the world burns. What a deal.

New Covenant Christians have zero reason to worry about this kind of slop. Under the New Covenant, Jesus is the Mediator, the High Priest, the Head of the Church, and the only One whose protection actually matters (Hebrews 8–10; Colossians 1:18). We are not saved or protected by aligning with the correct 21st-century American splinter group or by fleeing to a tourist site in Jordan under the supervision of a self-appointed overseer who still can’t get his own son to buy the prophet act. The “hour of trial” is handled by the One who already overcame the world (John 16:33; Revelation 3:21), not by a guy in a suit quoting Zephaniah while building a personality cult. True humility looks like following Christ, not demanding everyone gather under your personal brand. Bob’s entire message places the focus entirely upon himself and his cult, as usual. The rest of us can safely file it under “entertainment for people who enjoy watching someone argue with their own reflection.” 

Please, God, Just One Little Mushroom Cloud Over Washington So I Can Finally Be Right!

 

On August 6, 2026, Crackpot Bob of the improperly named "continuing" Church of God—that tiny, self-anointed remnant from the rebellious Armstrongist universe—published yet another article marking the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. One might expect a moment of sober historical reflection. Instead, we get the theological equivalent of a man jumping up and down on a street corner waving a “The End Is Nigh” sandwich board while secretly hoping the end hurries up so he can stop looking like a complete fraud.

Crackpot Bob does not merely note the tragedy. He practically salivates over the possibility that the same kind of devastation is finally, finally coming for the United States, Britain, and Canada. Why? Because according to the sacred cow of Armstrongism—British Israelism—those nations are the modern “lost tribes” of Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh, naturally), and therefore every Old Testament curse of desolation, captivity, and city-wasting must apply to them. Nuclear weapons are just the convenient modern delivery system for the prophecy that has been stubbornly refusing to show up for decades. 

The argument is pure recycled Armstrongism. Leviticus 26:33 about cities becoming waste “wasn’t fully fulfilled anciently,” so it must be waiting for thermonuclear fireballs over London, New York, and Toronto. Herbert W. Armstrong’s 1948 and 1979 predictions of European “Beast” forces vaporizing Anglo cities overnight are lovingly quoted as if they hadn’t already expired more thoroughly than milk left in the sun for eighty years. Thiel even throws in Isaiah’s “land is burned up” language and Daniel 11:39, then plugs his own videos about German bombers and the “conquering” of the Five Eyes nations. The only thing missing is a pop-up ad for “Buy My Book Before the Fallout Hits.”

This entire performance rests on British Israelism—the thoroughly debunked doctrine that the British and Americans are the literal descendants of the ten “lost” tribes of Israel. Armstrong called it the “master key.” In reality it is the master excuse: a 19th-century piece of imperial fan-fiction that lets you take every curse aimed at ancient Israel and aim it like a heat-seeking missile at the English-speaking West. No evidence required. Genetics? Indo-European languages? Continuous European archaeological records? The fact that the tribes weren’t even fully “lost” in the Bible itself? All irrelevant when you have a good story and a desperate need to feel special. Without this teaching in the church it would have no reason to exist. None at all!

Armstrong predicted the nuclear fireworks for the 1930s, the 1940s, 1972, 1975… and then just kept moving the goalposts while the cities stubbornly refused to glow in the dark. After his death the main church finally admitted the whole prophetic house of cards had collapsed under the weight of more than a hundred failed predictions. But the splinter groups, bless their little residual hearts, simply declared themselves the true remnant and kept the same broken record spinning. 

Enter Crackpot Bob, who left the Living Church of God in a fit of rebellion and malice, declaring himself the recipient of a “double portion” of the Spirit (via a conveniently worded prayer that no one witnessed), started collecting dreams like trading cards, and now runs the improperly named "continuing" Church of God as the sole group that supposedly understands just how thoroughly America and Britain are about to get glassed. There are long lists of his own missed or massively stretched predictions. Thiel’s defense is the classic prophetic soft-shoe: “I never actually set a date,” “partial fulfillments,” and “I correctly said the tribulation wouldn’t start in those years.” Impressive. Most of us can also correctly predict that the sun will rise tomorrow.

Why keep doing this? Because the destruction of the United States, England, and Canada is not just a prediction—it is a requirement. If the Anglo-nations are not obliterated on schedule, the entire British-Israel identity scheme, the exclusive Philadelphian remnant claim, and Thiel’s own prophetic résumé collapse into the same radioactive dust he keeps promising everyone else. So every August 6 he dusts off Hiroshima, reminds the faithful that the real fireworks are still coming, and hopes no one notices that the fuse has been lit for the better part of a century without ever reaching the powder.

His article is not analysis. It is liturgical fear-mongering: a yearly ritual in which the prophet gets to feel important by contemplating the fiery end of nations that have the temerity to keep existing. Hiroshima becomes not a warning about the horror of nuclear war, but a teaser trailer for the bigger, better, God-approved version that will finally prove Crackpot Bob right.

Eighty-one years after the first bomb fell, the cities still stand. The “lost tribes” remain as lost as ever—because they were never lost in the first place. And Crackpot Bob is still in his study, gesturing earnestly at the camera, waiting for the mushroom clouds that will validate a lifetime of prophetic over-promising. One can only assume the disappointment is becoming radioactive by now.

Gerald Flurry: Spiritual Degenerate Extraordinaire, Destroyer of Families, Pretender to the Throne of God

 

There has been a lot of speculation over the last several weeks about the remote possibility that Stephen Flurry might finally scrap the grotesque “no-contact” ruling his spiritual-degenerate father, Gerald Flurry—that self-appointed “That Prophet” and king-of-Britain wannabe pretending to lead a church while playing God with people’s lives—introduced to forbid members from associating with family members, relatives, and friends who had the audacity to leave the Philadelphia Church of God. Many are desperately hoping this is the case. So many are longing to reconnect with loved ones after years of enforced isolation. But on the other hand, what a bitter pill to swallow: after Flurry’s cultish decree has utterly wrecked their lives, survivors now get to sit and watch the whole mess potentially swept under the rug as if it never happened. The irreparable damage has already been done. But this is how Armstrongism has always operated—doctrines and rulings flipped at the flick of a limp -important wrist, with never so much as a mumbled apology in sight.

For nearly two decades this archaic “cutting-off” policy, rooted in Flurry’s own sermon “Exposing Satan,” has demanded total severance from anyone branded “Laodicean.” No phone calls, no letters, no photos, no advocacy—just cold, total exile, even for unbaptized children who dare reject the party line. It has torn families apart with surgical cruelty, enabling abusers, bankrupting parents through unpaid support for kids they are forbidden to see, and leaving behind complex PTSD, parental alienation, and multiple suicides that the organization prefers to paper over as “short illnesses.” One woman wrote to the Exit and Support Network detailing exactly how it gutted her family: parents lost (one already dead), minister brothers turned against her, three teenage sons manipulated into hatred, over $40,000 in child support paid for children whose faces she is not even allowed to glimpse. “Time has been stolen,” she said. Years of growth she will never witness. 

That is merely one horror story among dozens. Consider Dan De Gennaro, whose daughter Janet was forced into isolation under the policy, forbidden from contacting her own parents and brother; after three years of enforced silence and mounting despair, she took her life—and only then did Flurry’s regime “relax” the rule long enough to ship her body home in a metal container. Or the father who lost his son Nathan and daughter Elise to the cult’s blackout, never meeting his grandchildren, only to watch another son spiral into suicide after years of grieving the siblings the “no-contact” edict had stolen from him. In the Philippines, the same murderous policy has been linked to multiple suicides—young people like Errol Concepcion hanged after years of mandatory shunning by their own blood relatives under ministerial orders. Grandparents barred from seeing grandchildren, elderly members abandoned when they need help most, teenagers kicked out of homes, marriages strained or dissolved on command: this is the body count of Flurry’s “spiritual purity.” 

And let’s not pretend this is some unique Flurry invention. It is pure Armstrongism in action—the same cult environment Herbert W. Armstrong perfected, where “God’s government” always trumps flesh-and-blood family, isolation is sold as holiness, and questioning the hierarchy gets you marked and cut off. HWA himself wrote that when it comes to a disfellowshipped relative, the church family comes first; avoid them completely. Even the more “moderate” Church of God splinter groups—those that publicly soft-pedal the extremes—privately nod along with the same authoritarian instincts. Disfellowshipping policies still lurk in their handbooks, social ostracism of “dissenters” or “Laodiceans” happens quietly, and the underlying mindset remains: loyalty to the organization over love for your own children or parents. It’s the same high-control playbook—secrecy, absolute submission, financial exploitation, and the deliberate destruction of outside relationships to keep the flock trapped. 

In the end, this entire archaic ruling stands as a glaring repudiation of the New Covenant. Jesus Christ did not model permanent family exile; He ate with tax collectors and sinners, restored the broken, and taught a process of confrontation aimed at reconciliation, not lifelong blacklisting (Matthew 18). The apostle Paul spoke of a ministry of reconciliation, not a ministry of cutting people off forever (2 Corinthians 5). The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—not the cold narcissism of forcing parents to treat their own children as spiritual lepers under threat of the lake of fire. Armstrongism’s legalistic hierarchy, its elevation of human “government” over grace, and its willingness to sacrifice families on the altar of control are the very opposite of the freedom and mercy Christ purchased. No amount of prophetic posturing by a spiritual degenerate like Gerald Flurry can turn this fruit of destruction into anything but what it is: a cultic abuse that has no place in the New Covenant.

 The Exit and Support Network  letter sharing how Flurry has damaged her family.

DESTRUCTIVE CUTTING OFF POLICY OF PCG

In considering the prospect that the cutting off policy might be relaxed or removed I can’t help feeling quite angry. This policy has been in place for the best part of a couple of decades, and despite any perceived feelings they have of it being “the right thing to do,” it has damaged many, many individuals and families irreparably, including my own family. I’m scared to think how many suicides there have been. I personally know of three; there will no doubt be many more. There will be cover-up stories–“died after a short illness,” etc. I don’t even have words to describe how disgusted this makes me feel and how ice-cold this behavior is. It is narcissistic power and control. 

 

My name is Philippa Labao (was Hercus), from New Zealand, and I’ve been out five years. I’ve lost my parents (Jim and Margaret; dad died last year; my brothers Colin and Steven Hercus; Colin and Jim being ministers. I’ve lost my three children (teenagers) for now. My ex husband Gary Labao was abusive, manipulating, and controlling. He has thoroughly enjoyed the PCG policy and used it to his full advantage. He has lied continuously and everyone appears to believe him. No one checks with me as to the truth. 

 

Aaron Hudson supports and enables him. The children are caught in a web of manipulation–made to feel more righteous for cutting me off, believing every bit of filth their father tells them. It is quite a shock when you realize the stable and apparently loving family you grew up with does not support you. They have not advocated for me, they have not discussed my circumstances with me and tried to help in any way. Why can’t I see my children? I would go as far as to say they have been manipulated into hatred for me. To date I have paid that evil man over $40,000 in child support (alimony). For children I don’t get to see. It’s been over three years. A few months ago I appealed to them all (including top tier ministers) for a change. Not one single reply and not one change! 

 

Aaron Hudson’s own family are not all in the PCG, but they all see each other. MY family refuse to even send me photos of my own children. My point is, they relax this policy now and where does it leave my family? Do they say, “Oh whoops, we can see you now” and expect me to pick up where we left off? Think again. If and when I get to see my dear boys again it will take YEARS to repair the damage. Time has been lost, stolen, in their growth. There are parts of them that I will never see. There are parts of their personality as they grew that I will never experience. Not to mention the long term affects of parental alienation just on them.

I have government funded therapy for my CPTSD, but who is helping them? Where is the accountability for the abuser who sits there raking in money? So they continue to play with people’s minds and lives and really it’s all about money. It’s got nothing to do with God’s love, that is for sure. How absolutely disgusting.

By Philippa Labao

August 3, 2026

The Old Testament Perspective of Matthew 5:19-20 And a Critique of the Armstrongist Interpretation

 

The Mount of Beatitudes Where Jesus May Have Preached the Sermon on the Mount

The Old Testament Perspective of Matthew 5:19-20

And a Critique of the Armstrongist Interpretation 

By Scout

 

Jesus in that sermon (Sermon on the Mount) said He did not come to destroy the Law or the prophets. He came only to fulfill. And I've shown you that according to the New Testament in James that we are commanded to fulfill the Law following in His steps — He set us an example that we should follow His steps and we too must fulfill the Law or else we are sinners and love is the fulfilling of the Law. And He said that not the dotting of an "i" or the crossing of a "t" would be removed from the Law until everyone is really fulfilling it.  ― Herbert W. Armstrong, “Spirit of the Law”, Sermon, 1979  

 

What if Israel really wanted to continue observing the Law? Well, it is simply impossible. There is no longer a priesthood, no temple, and no sacrificial system—all of which comprise the heart and essence of the Law. We cannot separate the Sinai covenant from the Law. The laws are merely an outgrowth of the covenant … Those who want to can only pick out a few laws to keep that are not related to the temple, the priesthood, or the sacrificial system.” ― Dr. Eitan Bar, “Reading Moses, Seeing Jesus: How the Torah Fulfills its Goal in Yeshua,” 2017.

Jesus spoke to Jews ― Jews of the Second Temple period.  I am a bit Jewish so I can sympathize.  I am descended from certain Sephardic Jews and history indicates that these Jews were from the Southern Tribes and fled Palestine in 70 AD.   So, it is likely that my Jewish heritage is a mix of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi.  While it is interesting to be genetically connected to these tribes, I have to solemnly consider that I am descended from people who may have heard Jesus and rejected him. I recognize that Jesus spoke to a very specific and demanding audience.  But Jesus, I am certain, had no trouble with this audience.  Because Jesus was an expert at “reading the room.”  After all, he could read people’s minds.  Jesus read the room with perfect precision and said exactly what was needed.  So, it is important not to overlook the audience-related nuances in what his words tell us.  As I examine two verses in Matthew 5, it will become obvious why this is important.   

The Redemption Model in Matthew 5:19-20

Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount to his disciples and to a Jewish crowd purportedly on the Mount of Beatitudes near Lake Tiberias. Matthew 5 begins with, “When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.”  Some have asserted that Jesus was not speaking to the crowd of Jews but only to the disciples. This is likely meant to support the idea that the Sermon on the Mount, with its references to Torah, was a thoroughgoing New Testament statement without Old Testament influence.  But it is clear that Jews were a part of the audience because Matthew 7 ends with, “Now when Jesus had finished saying these words, the crowds were astounded at his teaching.”  They must have all been close together to be able to hear the voice of Jesus.

I think the Jewish audience had an inkling of what was going to happen by the time Jesus reached verse 17 of Matthew 5.  He had already talked about who would enter the Kingdom of Heaven in the Beatitudes and he did not mention once keeping the Torah.  So, by this time the crowd was probably thinking, “This guy, this miracle worker, doesn’t believe in following the Torah.”  He answered this unvoiced objection by stating pre-emptively that he would not abolish the Law and the Prophets (the Tanakh) but would himself fulfill its demands perfectly – every last word not just a selection.  All the commandments, statutes, judgements, ordinances, rituals and ceremonies.   In this, Jesus took a shot at the Pharisees.  He would later accuse them of preaching but not doing what they preached (Matthew 23:3).  He, further, explained that one had to not only teach but do the Law in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  The Pharisees were teaching but not doing.  

In the course of this, in Matthew 5:19-20, Jesus touched on the model of redemption that was relevant to this audience.  He said, 

“Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

There is a reason why I refer to this passage as a redemption model and not a salvation model.  If you are familiar with Christian soteriology, by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), then Matthew 5:19-20 is informative. It tells you that Jesus is not speaking of salvation (“entering into the Kingdom of Heaven”) as we know it from Pauline theology. In the Pauline model of salvation, one does not enter the kingdom of heaven by achieving a certain level of righteousness.  In this case, a level that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees – both groups ardent Torah keepers.  That would be salvation by works.  Jesus did not speak of New Testament salvation by grace through faith in this sermon.  He spoke the Torahic concept of keeping the Law in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as Jews understood the Kingdom idea. This was the idea that keeping the Torah would bring blessings in this temporal, earthly life (Leviticus 18:5, Deuteronomy 30:15-16).  In Second Temple Judaism to “take upon oneself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven” meant consciously keeping the Torah, and submitting to God in this lifetime.  Within the boundaries of this system, if you were good then you had a good life on earth but in the end everyone went to Sheol where they lived a diminished existence in a dim, subterranean shadow-world.

Further, Jesus states in verse 20 that someone can break laws, even the least of them, and teach others to follow this evil example and still be in the Kingdom of Heaven.  The downside for that person is only that the person will be one of the least in rank.  This does not sound like the dire consequences that Paul spoke of in reaction to the activities of the Circumcision Party when he said in Galatians 5:4, “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”

This drives the conclusion that Jesus is not speaking about the Christian model of eternal salvation but the Jewish model of earthly blessing.  The deeper picture is this: Jesus, who was under the Law, was speaking to Jews who were under the Law.  Jesus had not been crucified and the grace he was to bring was not known yet.  When Jesus mentioned the Kingdom of Heaven, the Jewish audience was not seeing the shining, mystical scenarios from the Book of Revelation because John of Patmos would not write until years later. There was no golden vision of the Parousia because Jesus was standing right in front of them and nobody could foresee his death and return, not even his own disciples.   There is no discussion here of the Crucifixion, grace, faith, the Ekklesia and theosis.  Instead, what was in view, was the earthly Judaic Kingdom of Heaven that meant for the future the coming of the Messiah militant and the exaltation of the nation of Israel and the casting down of Israel’s enemies.  Even Jesus’ own disciples held this view (Acts 1:6, Luke 24:21).  But some may see Matthew 5:19-20 not as instruction to a mixed audience of Jews under the Law and the disciples of Jesus but instruction solely to Christians under grace.  That brings us to Armstrongism and the Circumcision Party. 

The Armstrongist Interpretation and Its Similarity to Circumcision Party Belief

In the wake of the church planting work of Paul and bar-Nabus, a collection of Pharisees who had a different view on what Christ said, began to aggressively push a different message.  They asserted that one had to be circumcised in order to be saved.  They also asserted that one must keep the Law of Moses to receive salvation.  This group of Pharisees is known to modern critics as the Circumcision Party.  But they could just as accurately be referred to as the Torah Party. 

The view of the Circumcision/Torah Party on salvation has a modern parallel among Armstrongists.  The Circumcision/Torah Party and Armstrongists came to the same conclusion about the Torah’s relationship to salvation.  The citation from a sermon by Herbert W. Armstrong at the beginning of this opinion piece underscores this.  Armstrong drew the same conclusion that the Circumcision/Torah party drew – that the Torah is still a requirement for salvation.  The difference is that the Circumcision/Torah Party, influenced by the Pharisees, promoted the Law of Moses with fidelity to the Tanakh.  Whereas, Armstrongism promotes a streamlined, mini-Torah.

See Rod Meredith’s article, “Is Obedience to God Required for Salvation?” for how the argument supporting this Armstrongist doctrine is developed.  We do not have, as far as I know, a record of how the Circumcision/Torah Party developed this conclusion.  They may have simply misinterpreted statements like Matthew 5:19-20. In the statement of Herbert W. Armstrong’s position in 1979 cited at the beginning of this opinion piece, it is clear that Armstrongists are required to fulfill the Torah in the same way that Jesus fulfilled the Torah down to the jot and tittle level (though in 1956 Meredith, in his article previously cited, excluded the sacrifices and imposition of the death penalty).  If Herbert W. Armstrong’s view were really true, we would all be capable of human earthly perfection in this life (this is a belief found among some Millerites called Spiritualizers) and the imputed righteousness of Christ would be rendered superfluous.  So, the Armstrongist view leaves us with some unresolved issues. 

Conclusion

The Sermon on the Mount is a significant part of what Christians view as the Law of Christ. But it was not delivered to Christians but to Jews of the Second Temple period, Jews who were under the Torah.  While the Sermon on the Mount is bedrock Christian doctrine, it must be recognized that it was delivered in Jewish terms to a Jewish audience.  Jesus read the room and spoke to his audience.  During the course of the sermon, Jesus even mentioned taking a gift (Greek, doron, which is typically an animal sacrifice) to the alter, a sacrificial practice required under the Law but not in Christianity.  We must recognize the coloration of Second Temple Judaism in the Sermon on the Mount and permit the words spoken by Jesus later through the Apostle Paul and the author of Hebrews to temper these Judaic views.

Jesus Sure Has A Hard Time Finding A Place To Live On The Old Ambassador Campus

Remember the glory days of old when the Worldwide Church of God used to proclaim that God lived in the Auditorium and that God and Jesus were present in the everyday activities of the church?

Well, that all came to a screeching halt when the Great Apostasy happened and the church splintered into the winds with some of the wildest and most idiotic men ever produced by the COG movement.

Jesus and God soon found themselves standing on St John Ave wondering what in Gehenna fire happened! Never fear though. The Holy Spirit was quietly working in the background and Jesus and God soon found a home once again when Maranatha High School and Harvest Rock Church bought the lower campus in 2004. 

The Auditorium (that glittering “Carnegie Hall of the West” Herbert Armstrong built as a literal house for God) was soon rocking to praise and worship under Che Ahn’s charismatic crew. Herbert had his second coronary at this point.

Then, God’s House went up for sale! Oh noes! Never fear, though—Samuel Kitchen stepped up to the plate to buy it. We are still waiting on that one. (In the meantime the $45 million listing from 2024 got quietly yanked off the market by Harvest Rock in May 2025. Divine timing, no doubt.)

It wasn’t long until earlier this year that Jesus had a home once again on campus—in Mayfair! Steadfast Church sprang up using the old mansion (the historic 1902–03 Tudor Revival Sprague/Mayfair house on Orange Grove) as their worship space. They were part of a church-planting group that starts in people’s homes and small offices or rented rooms from other churches.They were able to meet in Mayfair for several months until their pastor made the decision in June of this year to shut it all down. 

Jesus got evicted again! Is the property cursed, or what?