On June 25, 2026, a former member of the Living Church of God (LCG) wrote a short but powerful letter to The Exit and Support Network explaining why he walked away. He did not leave in anger or rebellion. He left because he saw the same spirit of control he had once rejected in mainstream Christianity now operating under a different label.
“I do not fear the doctrines of men,” he began. For years, he had believed that joining an Armstrongist group meant escaping “Babylon.” Instead, he found “heavy-handed lordship, failed prophetic fear-mongering, and a corporate machine making merchandise of the brethren.” Most damning of all, he concluded that LCG teaches members that leaving its specific roster means losing salvation. The fear of God had been replaced by the fear of men.
This is not an isolated complaint. It is the predictable result of the system Herbert W. Armstrong built and that his spiritual descendants — including the Living Church of God — continue to operate.The Armstrongist Control SystemArmstrongism rests on a few interlocking doctrines that together create a high-control environment:
Under the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8–10), God writes His law on hearts rather than stone tablets. Every believer has direct access to God through Jesus Christ, who is the one Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). There is no longer a separate priestly class or physical temple that must be maintained by human organization. The veil has been torn.
Jesus Himself said:
“I do not fear the doctrines of men,” he began. For years, he had believed that joining an Armstrongist group meant escaping “Babylon.” Instead, he found “heavy-handed lordship, failed prophetic fear-mongering, and a corporate machine making merchandise of the brethren.” Most damning of all, he concluded that LCG teaches members that leaving its specific roster means losing salvation. The fear of God had been replaced by the fear of men.
This is not an isolated complaint. It is the predictable result of the system Herbert W. Armstrong built and that his spiritual descendants — including the Living Church of God — continue to operate.The Armstrongist Control SystemArmstrongism rests on a few interlocking doctrines that together create a high-control environment:
- One True Church / One True Work
Only the organization descended from Armstrong is “God’s Church” in the end time. All other groups — Catholic, Protestant, or other Sabbath-keeping fellowships — are considered part of “Babylon” or at best incomplete. Loyalty to the corporate structure is therefore equated with loyalty to God. - Hierarchical Government “From the Top Down”
Ministers are not simply servants; they represent God’s government on earth. Questioning decisions, doctrines, or leadership is often framed as rebellion against God Himself. Disfellowshipment is presented as the biblical equivalent of handing someone over to Satan (1 Corinthians 5), with the clear implication that the person’s spiritual life is now in danger. - Fear-Based Prophetic Speculation
For decades, members have been told that world events prove the end is near and that only those inside the “right” organization will be protected in a “place of safety.” When predictions fail (and they routinely have), the response is usually not repentance for false prophecy but intensified calls for greater loyalty and more sacrificial giving. The letter-writer called this “failed prophetic fear-mongering.” It functions as a powerful retention tool: leave and you risk being unprotected during the coming Tribulation. - Salvation Tied to the Organization
While most Armstrongist groups are careful not to say in print “leave us and you lose salvation,” the practical teaching is unmistakable. Baptism into “God’s Church,” the laying on of hands by its ministry, regular attendance, tithing, and submission to its government are presented as the channel through which the Holy Spirit and truth flow. To walk away is therefore portrayed as cutting oneself off from God’s protection and truth. - Financial and Social Pressure
The system requires significant financial sacrifice (first tithe, second tithe, holy day offerings, building funds, etc.). Social life, friendships, and often family relationships revolve around the congregation. Leaving means losing community, identity, and, in many cases, the only support network the person has known. This is what the letter-writer meant by “a corporate machine making merchandise of the brethren.”
Under the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8–10), God writes His law on hearts rather than stone tablets. Every believer has direct access to God through Jesus Christ, who is the one Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). There is no longer a separate priestly class or physical temple that must be maintained by human organization. The veil has been torn.
Jesus Himself said:
No one will snatch them out of my hand
(John 10:28).
He did not add,
unless they leave the right organization.
Paul was equally clear:
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall (Romans 14:4).
The command to “come out of her, my people” (Revelation 18:4) is not a call to trade one human religious corporation for another. It is a call to come out of any system — religious or otherwise — that replaces the headship of Christ with the headship of men.
The writer of Hebrews urged believers to go to Jesus “outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore” (Hebrews 13:13). That “outside the camp” language is precisely what the former LCG member embraced when he wrote:
I am stepping completely outside the camp to follow Christ alone.
This is not lawlessness. It is the liberty Christ purchased:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
The New Covenant does not require a 501(c)(3) corporation, a top-down hierarchy, or the threat of losing salvation to keep people in line. It produces sons and daughters who serve God because they love Him, not because they fear what men will do to them if they leave.The Real ChoiceThe former LCG member’s letter is ultimately not an attack on Sabbath-keeping or holy days. It is a protest against spiritual abuse dressed in biblical language. He rejected trading one form of Babylon for another.
Many who have walked the same path have discovered something liberating: the same Jesus who promised that no one can snatch His sheep from His hand is perfectly capable of leading individuals without the constant supervision of a religious corporation. The New Covenant does not need a middleman organization to validate a person’s relationship with God.
Christ alone is enough.
Outside the camp is where many are finally finding Him.
20 comments:
The people who did not leave must all be bitter.
Armstrongism and the Jehovah’s Witness organisation have both produced systems that misled people, fostered exclusivity, and caused great spiritual harm. The issue is not the individuals, many of whom are sincere and kind, but the structures, doctrines, and information controls that shaped their behaviour.
Both systems use exaggerated or false claims, especially about paganism, to portray all other Christians as Babylon. Armstrongism inherited Alexander Hislop’s claims from The Two Babylons, a book modern historians universally reject as inaccurate and poorly sourced. Jehovah’s Witnesses likewise rely on exaggerated paganism narratives to portray all other Christians as Babylon. These stories are not the result of careful historical research; they are constructions designed to reinforce exclusivity and to convince members that all other churches are corrupt.
The paradox is that these systems end up treating people more harshly than the very alleged Babylon churches they condemn. Their rhetoric paints all other Christians as deceived, pagan, or Babylon, yet their own structures have produced fear, isolation, authoritarian control, and misinformation. When confronted with this reality, the systems as expected generate yet more propaganda - either to justify their behaviour or to refute any criticism - because their identity depends on maintaining the belief that they alone possess the truth. The individuals inside these groups are usually sincere and well‑meaning; the harm arises from the systems that shaped them, not from the people themselves.
‘Outside the camp…..many are finding Him’. Very true. Even Elijah had to be reminded that God had many within Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, of whom he, Elijah did not know about. Men bind us in chains, Christ came that we might have an abundance. Quite a contrast to the Armstrong model and its high demand controlling environment. We answer not to mere mortals but to the Divine.
I just briefly saw the LCG clip on the "two brothers" where Weston presented the for mongering prophecy gospel and did not mention Christ one time throughout the whole program. I am reminded of what Paul was inspired to write:
2 Corinthians 3:14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
See, Christ takes off the veil even when reading the OT. That system that is within the LCG doesn't produce the fruits of the spirit. It's a system that produces fear and negativity.
Cowboy
They use the term only true church to scare people into staying.. then they twist things like Matt 20:25,26 "you know the rulers of the nations exercise lordship over them and the great ones exercise authority over them...However it shall not be this way among you; but whoever would be great among you let him be your servant.
I have yet to see a minister, elder, serving the brethren,
All I can say is they better repent!
It is extremely difficult for brainwashed people to repent. Armstrongism is an extreme form of brainwashing, actually including a concept of God which is washed in to replace one's original learned or inherited concept. Some say reading the Psalms provides David's concept of God, and the fact that King David was memorialized as a man after God's own heart would seem to corroborate that.
What is Bob's "opinion" of what this ex-LCG person "has done".
Even though Bob exited LCG, does he push scare tactics ontonanyone exiting his "leadership" now?
CCOG teaches that God gives His greatest reward to those who praise Bob. Rod Meredith had that opportunity but squandered it. Bob left LCG when it became impossible for LCG members to praise Bob any longer. Now, CCOG exists to facilitate the praising of Bob.
Bob never officially takes a stand on anything. That way he can never beheld accountable. We have been witnessing how he has been harassing the ex-wife of one of his deviate evangelists. He has been hounding her to go back to her ex-husband so that Bob will look good, even though her ex-husband is remarried to his "cousin". Bob hates it when people leave his group but had no problem justifying why he left LCG. To those in LCG it was a great blessing when he left because we were free from his self-serving know-it-all attitude. With David C Pack you know exactly what he is thinking, but with Bob you never know because he never officially says anything The comments on here about this being the king of "maybes", "possibles", "could be's". "might be's" is spot on.
A statement from this post: “These tactics are not accidental. They are the logical outworking of a theology that places an earthly hierarchy between the believer and Christ.”
In a bizarre little galaxy long, long ago and far, far away, I was on the scene at Ambassador College Big Sandy. Because of my experience there, the statement quoted above with its reference to hierarchy strikes me as being very important. While an Ambassador College education included the study of Armstrongist belief, it was also a study of Hierarchy (I will capitalize it to reflects its philosophical gravitas) as it existed within the organization militant of the Worldwide Church of God. Students learned ideology in the classroom but the pragmatic application of Armstrongism was found in the daily operations of Ambassador College. It was the other half of the educational program.
The force that dominated those daily operations was Hierarchy. It is inevitable to draw a comparison between the AC society of Hierarchy and the hierarchy found in military organizations. One prominent Armstrongist even referred to AC as God’s West Point. From the moment I had contact with AC, I knew there was something that was not right about it, yet, I would have had trouble articulating it then. My view back then was heavily colored by the “one and only” true church idea. But I got an education in this milieu as well. I came to realize in retrospect that the followers of Armstrongism did not relate to each other with love or charity, as Christianity would prescribe, but related to each other through location in the Hierarchy. The archetypical Armstrongists, when they encounter a new person, automatically compute whether this person is more important than they are or less important. And this dictates how they interact with that person.
Those who were shrewd learned how to use the Hierarchy to their advantage. And that is the crux of an AC education. This did not apply to everyone but it was the leitmotif of the organization. AC was salted with a fair number of people who would eventually become Christian in their post-Armstrongist lives. But like the writer of this post asserts, this Hierarchy stands between the Armstrongist and Christ. And the Hierarchy was not there to foster free, God-given salvation but to exert control for the sake of the organization’s secular interests with salvation as a lever.
My two cents…
Scout
This is indeed a powerful letter. The 5 points presented parallel what I see in Scripture as biblical models to navigate one's ways through the maze of life in a corrupt world.
We are admonished to come out of this system (Rev.18:4), which is often easier said than done. How does one do that, and escape the pollutions of this world's contrivances? The simple answer is, believe what Gods says about:
1. Trusting man (Jeremiah 17:5-10).
2. The nature of this world system (John 7:7, 1 John 5:19).
3. What Scripture says about those in power / control (think of the Pharisees).
4. The love of money and the corruption of riches as motivation for those in power.
5. War /peace (what are the causes of division (James 4:1-4, 1 Corinthians 3:3), and the way to peace, which carnal man neither knows or understands (Romans 3:17).
Peter speaks of those who "promise them liberty (peace, safety, rewards, salvation) while they themselves are the servants of corruption" and in bondage (2 Peter 2:19). Sounds familiar, right?
These are broad principles and their implementation is not always easy and practical. They are also not meant for judging or separating yourself from your fellow man. Yet, when interacting with worldly institutions that claim to have your best interest in mind, they offer a true biblical lens for evaluation.
The churches of God which practice the HWA model are but microcosms of this world system, that function and operate according to the same playbook. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck (Babylon that is)!
I'm always reminded of how the apostle Paul spent the last few years of his ministry in his own hired house. Also the apostle John being kicked out by a "lord it over you" guy then on the island of Patmos still receiving inspiration and revelation. Keep your head up outsiders!
Tank
Correct, 6:41. There are certain realities of the corporate world which Bob allows himself to bypass by the way he is structured and operates. In the corporate world there is organization, and a report structure which sets forth goals and responsibilities, makes them measurable, and holds those involved accountable. Titles are given with accompanying job descriptions, subject to performance evaluation by management. Bob has taken a title for himself, one which he wants to have without the responsibilities and accountability which would normally accompany it. He alone evaluates himself, using smoke and mirrors, and other sleight of hand, and largely his own imagination. By every reasonable and traditional standard which define the role of a prophet, he fails. Yet, he rationalizes and reasons, and gives himself an A.
The system he comes from, his mentors in Armstrongism, did not realize that they are still subject to generally accepted standards and evaluation. What I call the "Yelp" principle is very real, and holds these people accountable who believe they are free and clear of a legitimate board of directors. This is also still the province of the Better Business Bureau as well, but the point is that people have the ability via the internet to provide a dose of reality to those who believe that they are accountable to no one but themselves, and who are known to play fast and loose with that privilege.
There are certain activities, certain missions, which by very definition require a large entity to fulfill. A "mom and pop" organization, like say "Billy-Bob's Bait and Tackle" is fraught with self-limitation on so many levels, based on its own structure. It is its own glass ceiling. Realization of this is why, with his personal magnetism, HWA built a relatively large organization which attracted so many followers, and (ahem!) captured immense cash flow. The structure, although it involved primarily "yes men", appeared to be typical of prevailing corporate structure and accountablilty. Because it was largely a function of Herbert W. Armstrong's personality, it gradually fell apart starting on the day he passed away. There were no contingencies in place to ensure its continuation. While that is primarily responsible for its downfall, the mess we see today is what happens when people are blind-sided by bad prophecies regarding an apocalypse which never happens. Fear of that alleged apocalypse was the factor responsible for the growth of the Armstrong Empire. Now, via the "Yelp" factor, people realize that the "Apocalypse Can" simply gets kicked down the road when the so-called prophecies fail. There is no sense of urgency because there is no longer a fixed date. That date failed long ago! To encapsulate, we have just seen the two main factors limiting Armstrongism today!
Getting back to Bob Thiel, the "Yelp" factor has severely limited his growth potential here in the USA, as it has Armstrongism in general. The word is out! So, he turned to Africa, much of which is "third world" and lacks standards and accountability. Much the same as Nike received demerits for child-labor in the countries to which their manufacturing was sent, CCOG is receiving much blow-back from those whose feet are on the ground in Malawi and other parts of Africa. The faces and identity of players and victims of CCOG and their shenanigans have become known. The mistreatment of one Priscilla has become similar to the corporate exploitation of the children not protected by child labor laws of Africa and parts of Asia.
Armstrongism, for years has been figuratively chasing the light caused by the low temp spark of spontaneously ignited methane gas as it travels through swamp lands. Chasing the wrong light, it has been sinking in and drowning in the muck and mire. There is no solution, no rescue, no revival so long as the members and ministry refuse to accept correction! Situation: Hopeless!
In relation to your post, the splinter groups are not just organizations that were created in the 21st century or late 20th (1990s), like Amazon, Google, Netflix, Ebay). The ACOG leaders are still programmed on that old operating system of Ambassador College. It’s a systematic problem like you said not based on Love, Mercy and New Covenant Faith. They have a virus.
When I say New Covenant Faith, instead of following in Peter and Paul’s example of the blessings that come from Abraham found in (Acts 3:25-26 & Galatians 3:7-9), they believe in the Armstrongist view of Gen 12:1-3 for end time prophecy. Satan knew how to misapply scripture as well.
YouTube.com has good video on cults: Cults 101: Dr. Steven Hassan & The BITE Model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmZqK-E2VzU&t=1347s
That's the difference between Armstrong and Rupert, 11:00. HWA cautiously groomed young proteges, just enough so that they could teach his package, but not so much that they could actually preside over a huge entity such as what was built in Pasadena, and later expanded globally. The originals who graduated in the 1950s have passed into antiquity, and those who came along in later decades fell into the pecking order under the originals, and apparently never grew any further. This is possibly responsible for the glass ceiling we all see limiting Armstrongism today
It's kind of like radioactivity progressing through its half-life. Each generation is a degeneration!
BB
Great examples 7:19 AM, You are right those men of the 1950s like Garner, Rod Merideith (I think), Hoeh , Ray McNair..., they passed on. The men who came in a decade or two later they are still with us but they are up there in age as well. The worst thing Armstrongism needed was "their apostasy" in the mid 90s. Their paradigm still needed a Pasadena with two campuses territorial domain. They did it to themselves.
Mr. Frank Best died just over a week ago. He had been a minister here in LCG. Talk about Gerald Weston being mean behind the scenes to people including Mr. Best and his wife Betty ...
RIP Mr. Frank Best
You know, Mr. Best and Betty had this wonderful presence about them, just like a cosy couple who were quite happily married. and they radiated this warmth about them to the others around them. Can't say the same for most ministers and their wives here in LCG. So why throw that in? Well hopefully at least a few of our LCG brethren including ministers and their proxies will stir up the dying embers of their souls and begin to think about things. Why is this and why isnt that.
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