Crackpot Prophet's 15 Year Long Bitterness Causes Him To Lash Out Once Again at LCG and PCG - They Are Too Stupid To Know When The Tribulation Starts

In December 2011 Bob Thiel submitted wording changes to Living Church of God’s Statement of Official Beliefs. Charlotte evangelists and ministers allegedly nodded along like they always did whenever Bob opened his mouth, stroking his overinflated ego. By the end of January 2012 the Great Tribulation paragraph was supposed to start at Daniel 11:39 instead of 11:40, because Herbert Armstrong once said something that later got a better translation, and because “Jacob’s trouble” must line up with an attack on the “strongest fortresses” (read: the United States and its British-descended cousins) before the King of the North whirlwinds into the King of the South.

LCG never changed it. As of 2026, their official statement still cites Daniel 11:40–45. Thiel left in late 2012 in a bitter fit of rage and founded the improperly named "Continuing" Church of God, and has spent the subsequent decade and a half reminding the entire universe that they promised him they would change it, but they never did. The grievance has outlived Roderick Meredith. It has outlived multiple world crises that were supposed to be the crisis. It has become its own liturgical calendar: the Feast of Unimplemented Changes.

This is not “love of the truth.” This is a man who treated a parenthetical citation like a marriage vow and then wrote a memoir about the divorce every year.

Armstrongite prophecy is a fear-management system dressed as truth. British-Israelism tells you that America and Britain are Ephraim and Manasseh; therefore, every bad headline is God spanking His favorite grandchildren. The King of the North (a German-led European beast, Holy Roman Empire 2.0) is coming to smash the “strongest fortresses.” The King of the South (an Arab/Muslim coalition south of Jerusalem) will “push,” get overrun, and then the real fireworks start. The TRUE Philadelphians get first-class tickets to Petra and their premium choice of caves. Everyone else is Laodicean and late for the bus and will be either taken as salves to Europe or butchered in the most gruesome manner. After all, Armstrongism requires the butchery to be the most gruesome ever imagined.

Thankfully, new covenant Christianity does not require you to live inside this delusional bubble Thiel has created.

Jesus did not say “blessed are those who correctly sequence Daniel 11:39 versus 11:40 so they can flee on time.” He said the hour is coming when true worshipers worship in spirit and truth, not on this mountain or that one. He said no one knows the day or the hour. He said do not be anxious about tomorrow. The new covenant is “I will remember their sins no more,” not “update your statement of beliefs or you lose the mantle and die in the tribulation.”

You do not have to decode whether “he” in verse 39 is already dividing the land for gain with a strange god before the king of the south pushes in verse 40. You do not have to treat Herbert Armstrong’s WWII-era reading, later adjusted, then re-litigated by a delusional self-appointed prophet, as the hinge of salvation history. The gospel is not a prophecy chart with a “place of safety” checkbox.

Armstrongism turned the Bible into a national-identity decoder ring and then a loyalty test: if your group won’t adopt my sequence, it cannot hold the Philadelphia mantle and therefore cannot finish the work. That is not New Testament Christianity. That is franchise warfare with extra proof-texting.

Daniel 11 is a long, detailed chapter that tracks the post-Alexander world: Ptolemies in the south (Egypt) versus Seleucids in the north (Syria), then later Rome absorbing the northern role. Armstrongism projects the end of the chapter onto the end of the world:

• King of the North = the final European revival of the Holy Roman Empire / Beast system, frequently German-centered, often with a religious figure riding along (Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg). This power supposedly first hits the modern descendants of Israel (US/UK/Canada/Australia/NZ) and later the Middle East.
• King of the South = a coming Islamic or Arab confederacy, classically Egypt-led or a broader caliphate-style bloc “south of Jerusalem.”

The intra-COG fight Thiel is still having is almost comically small: does the Great Tribulation begin when the northern king goes after the Anglo-American “strongest fortresses” (v. 39, Thiel’s hill), or when he later collides with the southern king (v. 40, LCG/PCG wording)? Both camps agree the US and Britain are prophetic Israel, Europe is the bad guy, Muslims are the other bad guy, and their own tiny group is the one that will know when to run. They just disagree on which verse number starts the horror movie.

HWA originally tied some of this to WWII-era events and a KJV rendering of v. 39 that is less clear than later translations. Thiel’s argument is that Armstrong later shifted and that LCG leaders privately agreed in 2008 and 2011. Whether that hallway conversation happened exactly as remembered is now less important than the fact that it is still the main character in 2026 blog posts.

COG history after Armstrong is a demolition derby of “the other guys lost the mantle.” Global became Living after Meredith was ousted. Living produced Continuing after Thiel decided integrity and footnotes had fled Charlotte. Philadelphia Church of God, Restored, United, and dozens of smaller letters-of-the-alphabet groups all claim to be the faithful remnant. Each one has a slightly different chart, a slightly different villain, and a slightly different reason the others are Laodicean.

Thiel additionally claims prophetic status: dreams, a “double portion” anointing that an LCG minister later said he didn’t intend as a prophet ordination AND that NO ONE can verify ever happened as Thiel said it did, and a running list of world events that “align.” Just because “something vaguely Europe or Middle-East-shaped happened this year” is not the same as “thus saith the Lord.” Thiel loves to boast that he doesn’t take a salary and continuously lets us know he writes an astonishing volume of material. Both can be true. Neither requires you to fear missing the exact verse where Jacob’s trouble begins.

The ongoing bitterness is the proof. A person who left over integrity in 2012 and then spent fifteen years cataloging the same unkept promise is not practicing good theology. He is keeping a wound warm. LCG’s refusal to swap 11:40 for 11:39 in a document most members will never parse is treated as proof they cannot lead the final phase of the work. That is an extraordinary amount of spiritual weight to hang on a citation.

New covenant people can say the obvious thing: if your faith requires you to win an argument about the start-verse of the tribulation against a group you left in 2012, you might have mistaken the appendix for the gospel. The new covenant alternative is almost offensively simple: trust Christ, love people, stop treating speculative timelines by deluded self-appointed prophets as a membership exam, and let a 2011 memo stay in 2011. The end of the age will not be delayed because LCG used the wrong verse number in an article. It also will not arrive faster because Thiel is still nursing a massive butthurt.

Here is is the change I explained and then I submitted in writing to the Charlotte-based evangelists in December 2011 on that topic. They agreed to use the following in their Statement of Official Beliefs by the end of January 2012:

THE “GREAT TRIBULATION”

The Bible speaks of a time of great catastrophe, called the “Great Tribulation” (Matthew 24:21-22; Daniel 11:39[xxiv]-45; 12:1; Luke 21:19-36)—also called “Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:3-7). Jesus Christ Himself will have to shorten those horrific days; otherwise “no flesh would be saved” (Matthew 24:22). We believe that we are fast approaching that time.   We also believe that God promises to protect the faithful Philadelphians from this “hour of trial” (Revelation 3:10).[xxv]

Here are the related footnotes that were submitted as partial explanations of the proposed changes:

[xxiv] Since we teach that the Great Tribulation is the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7) and Herbert Armstrong taught that it would begin with something like a nuclear attack on the UK and/or USA, we should not start it with Daniel 11:40 which shows the battle between the King of the North and the King of the South. Verse 39 shows the King of the North going against the “strongest fortresses” (NKJV) and dividing the land for gain. And since we teach that the King of the North will go against the British-Israelite nations first, we should not teach that he goes against the King of the South first. All the HQ evangelists specifically agreed to that sequence in a meeting with me in January 2008 and this would be a good time to modify the Statement to reflect this.

[xxv] Elsewhere in the Statement we mention being Philadelphian. By adding this to the Statement we give outsiders (as well as our own members and those with a WCG background) a reason to understand that God plans to show the Philadelphians special favor.

Yet, despite agreeing, LCG still has not made the corrections over 14 years later.

In the sequence of Daniel 11, the Great Tribulation begins in verse 39, not verse 40. Now there appear to be two reasons that LCG and PCG misunderstand the sequence. First is that the late Herbert W. Armstrong originally taught that sequence because of events related to WWII and a mistranslation of verse 39 in the KJV (which was corrected in the NKJV). Although Herbert Armstrong clearly changed his position by 1979, the leaders of LCG and PCG have overlooked/discounted that. The second reason could be based upon a misunderstanding of a translation of Daniel 11:39-40:

39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. (Daniel 11:39-40, KJV)

The above does not make it clear that the King of the North (the ‘he’ in verse 39) is going against the ‘strongest fortresses like the NKJV and other translations do. Notice a Jewish translation:

39 And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god; whom he shall acknowledge, shall increase glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price.

40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow, as he passes through. (Daniel 11:39-40, Jewish Publication Society, 1917)

Some seem to believe that the ‘time of the end’ does not begin until verse 40, but that is a misunderstanding of how the Hebrew text should be understood. The ‘and’ in verse 40 is not the start of the end, but a continuation of what began in verse 39. This is known by others. For example, the Barnes Notes on the Bible states:

And at the time of the end …. The “time of the end” must properly denote the end or consummation of the series of events under consideration, or the matter in hand, and properly and obviously means here the end or consummation of the transactions which had been referred to in the previous part of the vision. It is equivalent to what we should say by expressing it thus: “at the winding up of the affair.”

The ONLY way to reconcile that the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7) starts with the beginning of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21) is to realize that it begins with verse 39 of the sequence in Daniel 11. Those who hold to a start of the Great Tribulation AFTER the King of the North attacks the King of the South will not know until it is too late.

For an English language reader, on the surface verse 40 seems correct as the start of the end, meaning the Great Tribulation there.

Yet, notice the following translation:

40 And in the time of the end the king of the south shall wage war with him: and the king of the north shall rush on like a tempest against him, with chariot and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he came into the lands, and overflowed and passed through. (Daniel 11:40, Smith’s Literal Translation)

The above makes more sense