Why do so many Church of God splinter groups appear to be captained by men who clearly lost a very important argument with reality and never recovered? For a self-proclaimed elite remnant—the very crème de la crème of God’s special snowflake squad, personally selected to perform some world-shaking “mighty work”—we sure have a remarkable talent for attracting the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to unhinged, blithering, mouth-breathing leadership material.
Common sense? Rational thought? Those poor things apparently took one look at these guys, said “hard pass,” and sprinted for the hills years ago, leaving nothing but a cartoonish cloud of dust and a note that read “good luck, you absolute clowns.” Honestly, your average garden gnome—yes, the one with the chipped hat and the thousand-yard stare—would bring more emotional stability, theological coherence, and basic human dignity to the table than 98% of the current COG “leadership” roster. And it wouldn’t even demand a second tithe.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the latest masterpiece from our favorite apocalyptic fan-fiction author, Samuel Kitchen. He’s back, baby, spinning yarns so tall they need their own zip code—something about the glorious Church of God gearing up to order the planet itself to open wide and gulp down its enemies like a cosmic Pac-Man. All perfectly timed, of course, to the sacred, mystical, numerologically significant anniversary of Herbert W. Armstrong’s checkout date.
Remember the good old days when the die-hards used to camp out at Mountain View Cemetery every January 16 like it was the world’s saddest tailgate party, thermos in hand, binoculars ready, just waiting for HWA to burst forth from his grave like a budget-store Lazarus to single-handedly reboot the One True Church? Bless their hearts. Forty years of wilderness wandering later, even the most delusional among them have mostly shuffled off, muttering something about “maybe next decade.”
Anyway… back to Samuel’s latest award-winning entry in the Wishful Thinking Olympics.
1986-2026: FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESSOn January 16, 1986 (6 Shevat) Herbert W Armstrong died in his home located in Pasadena, California.This year, on January 24, actually marks the 40th year anniversary of his death (being the 6th day of Shevat on the Hebrew Calendar).
For the love of all that’s holy and slightly unhinged—what is this relentless obsession so many COG self-appointed saviors have with slapping Hebrew calendar dates onto everything like it’s some kind of spiritual seasoning? Nobody in the real world thinks like that. Nobody cares. Normal humans say “January 16th,” not “the 6th day of Shevat". But nooo, they’ve got to sprinkle every sentence with “the Hebrew reckoning” to sound extra super-duper Biblical and oh-so-authentic.
And then there’s our boy Samuel, who apparently spent the equivalent of forty years in the wilderness (fitting, really) digging through the Old Testament until—eureka!—he unearthed the perfect little parable to explain the spectacular dumpster fire that was the implosion of the Worldwide Church of God. Behold: the story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Yes, those three charming gentlemen were, according to Samuel’s deep prophetic insight, divinely inserted into the Bible thousands of years ago for one sole purpose: to serve as a timeless warning so that today’s COG ministers could finally be held accountable in these perilous, super-duper-extra-special end times. Because obviously, the entire point of the Torah was to provide future ammunition for 21st-century splinter-group drama. How could we have missed it? Truly, the mind boggles at the sheer depth of this revelation.
Events to note that occurred during the 40 years:
1. Korah, Dathan and Abiram, THREE SHEPHERDS(Zechariah 11:8) rose up among the assembly, against the government of God working through Moses.
They were LEADERS among the Assembly! They kept the Sabbath and Holy Days, keeping the FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS. They even were present during the receiving of the Ten Commandments of God! They saw the miracles of God, and the crossing of the Red Sea, and the plagues of God in Egypt!
They didn’t like how God led through His ONE MAN, Moses. They wanted to organize where THEY WERE IN CHARGE. They called “the congregation Holy” and claimed that God ”spoke through them also”.
They said Moses “concentrated too much authority to himself”.
How like those who came after the death of Herbert W Armstrong!
Now Mr. Armstrong, was a type of Moses. God appointed the ministry in this Church through him.
We have seen men rise up and create new church organizations, disagreeing with how God governed through the Worldwide Church of God. Disagreeing with the apostle whom Christ placed over them.
Like Korah, Dathan, Abiram, they reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the government of God.
And because they rejected His Government, their proclamation of His Kingdom being restored to this earth, is distorted and twisted. The event is SURE TO HAPPEN, but because they have rejected how Christ is governing His Church, they are leading people AWAY FROM GOD.(Deut.18;19-20; Deut. 13:1-7)
The god of Armstrongism has got to be the most pathetic, limp-wristed, incompetent deity ever hallucinated into existence by the fevered minds of men. Satan’s got more gold stars on his scorecard than this supposed Almighty has. In fact, the Prince of Darkness is so ridiculously overpowered these days that he’s basically running the entire show—actively worming his way into the minds of every single COG splinter group like some kind of spiritual termite. Every. Single. One.
Except, of course, for the one shining beacon of purity: Samuel Kitchen. (And maybe Aaron Dean… for now. Poor Aaron’s street cred is evaporating faster than a puddle in the desert sun, so don’t get too attached.)
Samuel, in his infinite prophetic wisdom, has issued a solemn, thunderous warning to all the false shepherds infesting the COG splinter scene: [dramatic pause for effect] …and we’re all just dying to hear what fresh apocalyptic word salad he’s about to serve up next. Stay tuned, faithful remnant. The end is nigh… apparently.
Now for the last FORTY YEARS these men have done their deeds! God has sent warning through His servant. As a WITNESS AGAINST THEM.
But when the TWO WITNESSES step into the office of Moses and Aaron, there will be sufficient witnesses to put men to death (2-3 witnesses). That is why you see the THREE SHEPHERDS in the wilderness falling and being swallowed up by the earth.
And it gets worse:
“And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
Let’s break down verse 16.
We see Satan “persecuting the woman” in verse 13.
Through that persecution the woman QUALIFIES for the promise mentioned in verse 14.
(see Revelation 3:8-11)
Now verse 16….
1.”And the Earth helped the woman”.
This is where the events of what happened to Korah, Dathan and Abiram occur. The earth opened up and SWALLOWED the camps and groups OPPOSING the Government of God, which had ROSE UP AMONG THE ASSEMBLY! Which came from the Worldwide Church of God?
2.”and the earth opened up her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth”
When the church goes to Jerusalem, and flees to the mountains, ARMIES (pictured by floods) will pursue the Church and God will cause the earth to open up and SWALLOW THEM.
But what happened to Korah, Dathan and Abiram, came by way of the LEADING MAN of the Two Witnesses. He warned, and therefore when they didn’t listen, consequences came.
At the close of the FORTY YEARS, the TWO WITNESSES remained, while none of the rebels INSIDE THE ASSEMBLY lived. They all were gone by the time THEY ENTERED the promises! That was to send a MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH!
God was putting down a POWERFUL “AMEN”. He meant what He said!
So this year, marks the 40 year anniversary of the death of Herbert W Armstrong, and the Worldwide Church of God has been spiritually fed through obedience to what was given through him.
Those who oppose do not enter the promises but died in the wilderness.
It’s time we listen to God’s Warning! EXIT THESE GROUPS! We are the Worldwide Church of God! REPENT and BELIEVE GOD!
Is it really any wonder the once-mighty COG was permitted to dissolve into a sad little puddle of nothingness? Please. No sane person on God’s green earth is clamoring for the “restoration” of that charming little authoritarian nightmare so many nostalgic holdouts still wet their dreams over. It was vile. It was corrupt. It was abusive to its members in ways that would make a cult expert blush—and surprise, surprise, the same toxic “church government” blueprint is still being flogged like a dead horse in every aberrant splinter group that clings to it today.
Newsflash: it doesn’t need to be restored. It never did. It never will. The universe has already voted, and the verdict is a resounding “hard pass.”
Samuel’s grand vision of himself single-handedly resurrecting the Worldwide Church of God under his benevolent shepherding? Yeah, that’s never going to happen. Not in this lifetime, not in the next. Aaron Dean will shuffle off this mortal coil still loyally collecting his UCG pension. And Samuel? He’ll spend his golden years in the same tireless, fruitless quest he’s been on for decades—staring at the horizon, waiting for Herbert W. Armstrong to come striding back from the grave to personally anoint him and reboot the glory days.
Spoiler: the grave is staying quiet. The glory days are staying dead. And the rest of us? We’ll just keep living in the real world, where calendars have normal months, and God doesn’t need constant man-made excuses for why everything keeps going spectacularly wrong when it comes to COG prophecies.

22 comments:
the very crème de la crème of God’s special snowflake squad
More like crème de la crud.
I always felt I got a bad rap from the books that Moses wrote. -- Korah.
No Hope
It looks like Samuel Kitchen is out of luck with Aaron Dean. Aaron Dean seems to have spent too much time over the past forty years criticizing Herbert W. Armstrong for being wrong about this and wrong about that.
Too Much Crud
Some splinter group leaders today are the cruddiest crud of the crud. For example:
Gerald R. Crud (#1 crud)
David C. Crud (#2 crud)
Ronald E. Crud
Robert J. Crud
Etc. Crud
And they all seem to be related somehow. Maybe the same evil spirits behind them all.
The Worldwide Church of God was wholly the creation of Herbert Armstrong, and it didn't even appear on this earth until a CENTURY of Metonic Cycles after Christ's death, burial and resurrection. Moreover, after less than three of those same cycles, the church had self-destructed. A blip on the chronological timeline of Christianity - and a particularly nasty one at that! The PLAIN TRUTH - only a handful of folks are still mourning that shipwreck!
Religious dogma makes people irrational.
Judging by the comments we should hold an annual ‘Crud’ competition for Crud of da year within the Armstrong movement.
As to HWA being a type of Moses, me thinks Samuel has missed the bus, the taxi, the rickshaw, the 747, the canoe, the train, the cart and horse, the donkey (for those inclined) etc etc etc, on this one. Cheers.
I'd like to know why does Sam Kitchen believe he has this mandate? Is it because he calls his organization the WorldWide Church Of God, as though the name has some sort of Christian mystical power about it? There are several WCG named groups out there these days. What makes Sam's group The Right One?
I don't see anything here about Mr. Armstrong being resurrected, that is before the first resurrection, so perhaps I'm missing something.
It seems that 99% of these COGs believe they are the right one and they hold the baton, and that all the others must go under their church authority or else they are rebelling and are not tru COGs. Or maybe I should say not baton but billy club. And not church authority but spiritual hegemony. Spiritual gangsterism. One can believe what the Bible says about such things as the Sabbath, the meaning of the Holy Days, and so forth, all in a New Covenant relationship with God, and yet also reject the spiritual gangsters who are the powers of these various COG groups.
Sometimes, the descriptive words of Bob Dylan sound so much more succinct and sane, when contemplating the meaning of Armstrongism and its lingering effects!
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk.
Now he looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette,
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet.
You would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row.
BB
"The Worldwide Church of God was wholly the creation of Herbert Armstrong..."
Complete rubbish. It was based on the cannon of orthodoxy and was therefore a branch of orthodoxy with a tradition going back to the invention of Judaism about 2500 years ago.
How dare you trash orthodoxy by attempting to associate Armstrongism with it in any way, shape, or form! What HWA inflicted upon his followers was criminal and insane!
LOL!
No no no BB, it should be some of the lyrics of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower"
"There must be some way out of here"
Said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth"
Or you can read the 21 Century Watch by GTA.
Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church actually swallowed itself up.
Acts 5:38-39 And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.”
Tank
The festivals and the sabbath and allegations they kept the rest of the commandments of God was, and still is, the argument put forward by the Armstrongists to argue they are the one true church today.
Samuel is walking on the ceiling. "Church government" under HWA stripped church members of all their natural rights. Who ever heard of the American bill of rights, or some of these rights mentioned in services or church literature?
It's Herb who did a Korah and friends with his North Korean type of government. To this very day, his splinters deny that Christ directly leads individual Christians. Their "following Christ" claims have been hijacked into something abstract, such as having the right doctrines.
Samuel has followed Herb into the ditch.
As soon as I read the title, somehow I could tell this was about Samuel Kitchen. It must be the vibe, because I know I'm not a prophet.
Herb actually taught us that the reason God chose "us" to reveal his end time prophecies to was that we had and kept the proper doctrines in a God-pleasing way. The prophecies have failed, and continue to fail, and one of Herb's revelations or restored truths (British Israelism) has been rendered genetically impossible. Ergo, the doctrines were also wrong, funny math, and persistent recalculations notwithstanding. Herbie was put in the garbage can, and the band played on.
Yea looking back ( I grew up in Worldwide ) what a long strange ride it's been
Yea, lot of strangeness and confusion. Especially after the splits and schisms.
Truckin' through the HWAcaca!
Anon, aka Tank, Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 9:59:57 PM PST, wrote:
"...Acts 5:38-39 And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.”
******
I might add the following:
Matthew 15:13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Nevertheless, Tank you for reminding us of Acts 5:38-39!
John
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