The Church of God Faithful Flock (CGFF), based in the Modesto-Valley Springs-Lodi area of California, is a small post-Worldwide Church of God splinter. It claims to be the only group that remained true to Herbert W. Armstrong's restored teachings. Of course it does! Every single COG splinter group claims the same thing. Alton B. "Don" Billingsley has led it since its founding. A World War II infantry veteran, Billingsley joined the Radio/Worldwide Church of God in 1953 and worked at Ambassador College, where one of his jobs was chauffeur. He was later ordained an elder, but left the WCG orbit after the Tkach changes.
Before starting CGFF, he briefly associated with the United Church of God and David Hulme's group. The group runs cog-ff.com and a YouTube channel, and publishes magazines and booklets promoting HWA materials, online Sabbath services, and the claim that HWA was the end-time Elijah who restored all things. Like Crackpot Bob's organization, it is tiny and has produced repeated failed prophecies. Its record sits alongside Crackpot Bob's own failures.
Like many tiny COG groups, CGFF operates as a remnant church and claims to be the authentic Philadelphia-era body, preserving Armstrong's doctrines with "no departures." Billingsley, however, has spent years making specific public prophecies that never came true. Some earlier writings predicted that Hillary Clinton would become president and, in certain versions, be executed around 2023. A statement from around 2021, that we posted here on Banned included:
- A famine begins near Passover 2023 and lasts 3½ years across America, Britain, and the "Israelite" nations.
- In 2024, the devil releases "Assyria-Germany" from the bottomless pit, leading to the emergence of the Holy Roman Empire.
- America and related nations face severe famine, pestilence-with COVID mutating into the black plague-and widespread destruction, particularly in 2026. Nuclear warfare follows.
- Around 2029, Jesus Christ stands on the earth.
Recent commentary still points to 2026 as a catastrophic year for America and Britain, sometimes linking the date to the 9th of Av / Tisha B'Av and predicting the end of those nations in their present form. Other versions place the Day of the Lord, or similar end-time events, somewhere in the latter half of 2028. Armstrongite circles have seen this pattern before: elaborate timelines miss their marks, then get revised or quietly abandoned when nothing happens. Deuteronomy 18:22 remains plain on the point-if a prediction fails, the Lord did not speak it.
Billingsley also argues that the New Covenant will not begin until Christ returns and that, during the Millennium, it will focus entirely on the law-specifically, the Ten Commandments. That claim reflects a classic Armstrongite delay tactic: it keeps the church under continuing law-keeping requirements while deferring the New Covenant's full benefits and character to the Millennium. Biblically, the position cannot stand.
Scripture presents Christ's first coming as the beginning of the New Covenant; His blood sealed it, and believers now live under it:
At the Last Supper, Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:20; cf. Matthew 26:28, 1 Corinthians 11:25).
He spoke of a covenant already established through his blood-not a promise postponed until the Second Coming.
Hebrews 8-10 treats the New Covenant as something already in force. Christ mediates this superior covenant (Hebrews 8:6), while the old one has become obsolete and is close to disappearing (Hebrews 8:13). God now writes his laws on believers' hearts and minds (Hebrews 8:10; 10:16, quoting Jeremiah 31), no longer remembers their sins, and grants them direct access through Jesus' blood (Hebrews 10:19-22). The writer is addressing believers in the present, not describing a future millennial administration.
2 Corinthians 3 sets the old covenant's ministry-its letter engraved on stone, which kills-against the new covenant's ministry of the Spirit, which already gives life and liberty. Paul and his coworkers are already "ministers of a new covenant" (2 Corinthians 3:6).
The Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14). Through the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, believers have been freed from sin's law and death (Romans 8:2).
The New Covenant is not a future reboot of the Mosaic order, with the Ten Commandments once again at its center after Christ returns. Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 speak of a new heart, a new spirit, and change written within God's people. According to the New Testament, those promises are fulfilled during the church age through the indwelling Spirit; they are not held over for the Millennium. Galatians and Romans state plainly that believers no longer live under the law as a system of justification or covenant administration (Galatians 3:23-25; 5:18; Romans 6:14; 7:6). The law functioned as a tutor who pointed people to Christ, but that role ended when faith came. Its moral substance did not disappear-love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14). What now governs the covenant is Christ, His finished work, and the Spirit-not a renewed return to stone tablets.
Saying that the New Covenant must wait for Christ's return leaves people living under the Old Covenant's system of performance and fear, as though genuine transformation and freedom belong to some later time. That claim also diminishes what believers already possess: justification by faith, the indwelling Spirit, and the better promises now in effect. Much of Hebrews argues the opposite-that Christ has already established something superior. Moving that reality to the Second Coming turns the epistle's argument on its head.
Billingsley's failed timelines and delayed-covenant theology follow the wider Armstrongite pattern: prophetic urgency keeps being reset, while a legalistic framework rejects the plain teaching that the New Covenant has already begun through the risen Christ and rests on grace and the Spirit, not on some future law-centered regime. The scriptures cited above leave little room for claiming that the New Covenant has yet to begin.
Silent Pilgrim
35 comments:
Thank you SP, fine post. A small group…..yes they are. No growth…nothing. And that pictures the Armstrong franchise. The New Covenant is far removed from what the ‘franchise’ preaches. It is a freedom that was not found by many of us when we were in the Armstrong movement. Burdens were placed upon us. Which Christ came to lift from us. Yet many of us were sincere. But today, as I think Paul said, he counts all these things as but dung, that he might know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What liberty we have in Him, and how depressing it must be for these charlatans to realise we answer to Him and not to them…..there goes their audiences and power and salaries…………..
Why do people even do this? When I think of all possible professions and the fulfillment one derives from each, Armstrongite Preacher ranks far below Dr. of Proctology, Honeydipper, fecal analyst, crash test dummy, Lobotomist, grave digger, podiatrist, executioner, White House Press Secretary, Polka musician, pornographer, harvester of mountain oysters, fertilizer processor, sewer worker, worm farmer, roadkill collector, hazmat diver, telemarketer, slaughterhouse worker, petfood taster, crime scene cleaner, odor tester, animal inseminator,
insurance company claims denier, ticket scalpers, used car salesmen, house flippers, ICE Agents, slum lords, black hat hackers, drug dealers, pimps, hitmen, professional mercenaries, sanitation workers, spies with the FBI and CIA, and debt collectors. I would actually rather invest my life savings with Bernie Madoff than my eternal salvation with people like Don Billingsly.
Brilliant comment 5:51:57. Just reassuring you, as an ex slaughterhouse worker, I am not offended lol. It was well paying. I think you missed out weather forecasters. They are certainly more accurate than any in the Armstrong franchises. I would rank them higher for their (mostly) accuracy.
In 2024, the devil releases "Assyria-Germany" from the bottomless pit, leading to the emergence of the Holy Roman Empire.
>>Oh nos not the germans coming again, they''ve been threatening to come so many times now . Armstrong started saying “Germany will rise and attack Britain and America” before 1934 - that is, before the Radio Church of God existed as an organisation and he repeated it in the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Every decade, the prophecy was refreshed, re‑dated, and re‑packaged - and when he exited this world his devotees keep repeating the same old refrain. So we are now not too far off a hundred years of germans coming This farce put out there all in the name of God.
Wow! He is still alive. He is probably 100 years old!
I visited COGFF website after reading this post. I feel bad for Mr. Billingsley. Not because of his Armstrongism as his very low wattage ACOG group only amounts to 25 members today according to his biography. But because he takes full responsibility in his biography for the 1958 automobile accident that killed HWA’s first born son, Richard Armstrong.
First, it takes a very big person to admit fault publicly particularly in today’s environment where it seems like NOBODY ever admits fault in anything. I respect him for that. He didn’t have to mention it.
Second, I think Mr. Billingsley felt tremendously guilt laden for Richard Armstrong’s death for his entire life. Even 10 years after the accident when my family came into the Church, there was the occasional church chatter (never from the pulpit) about the accident and Mr. Billingsley involvement and the subsequent impact his death had on the Church. Richard Armstrong was remembered very positively by Church members. I think, particularly with what happened to the WCG splintering post HWA’s death, he transformed himself in to HWA’s replacement son to keep the beliefs HWA preached and practiced alive to this day - as if he was HWA’s actual son. If you visit COGFF website, it is full of HWA broadcasts and PTs going back to the 1930s.
Third, it had to be very hard for Billingsley in subsequent years to see HWA face to face at ministerial conferences and at Feast of Tabernacles.
Lastly, Don Billingsley is probably THE reason there is no Worldwide Church of God or Ambassador College today (and I suspect he realizes this). Richard Armstrong, had he lived on beyond his father’s death in 1986, was first in line as heir to succeed his father. With Richard Armstrong gone, Garner Ted Armstrong became the heir. GTA might have made other career decisions with his life had his brother lived. I think I have read where GTA alludes to this and felt compelled as if he had to take further responsibilities in his father’s organization following Richard Armstrong’s death.
We all know what happened and the estrangement between father Herbert and son Garner Ted in the late 1970s. Where there is no heir, the organization is lost. The rest is WCG history.
Richard
Excellent comments Richard. the church would have went an entirely new direction Richard had survived. It would have been way less legalistic.
I doubt it "NO2HWA", have you not read Richard Armstrong's articles on church conduct ?? He was very strict in an already strict environment.
Richard,
From the standpoint of that belief system, I've wondered how anyone could recover from that too! It would be crushing every waking hour of the day. It is no secret that I mock those who make a spectacle of themselves as they teach Armstrongism. However, I've never felt any inclination to mock Don Billingsley. One of the boundaries I impose upon myself is that he's hands off. I wouldn't follow him, but because of what he went through I would not mock him either.
The thing we need to remember is that if God had truly been behind HWA and the Radio/Worldwide Church of God, if that had been His True Church, He would have turned it all around, and the church would still be existing and prospering, and would have expanded to the point that "the world" would not be able to escape the warning message which was being preached. What can we say about the condition of that church today? Divided and confused, like God left the armies of the enemies of Israel starting in Moses' time, or the construction crew at the tower of Babel before that. Enemies confronting the Israelites under Josua or King David. Numerous examples.
Humans cannot derail God's plan. We're not even speed bumps. If God's plan had been dependent on Richard Armstrong, the whole episode would have resembled Jonah's experience, with the exception that Dick did not resist as Jonah had. Also, I believe there were issues regarding the limited medical attention HWA was allowing, per the church's teaching in that era. In some of what I've read, a blood transfusion would have determined the difference between life and death. Mr. Billingsley is probably one of the very few people still living who were present during that ordeal, and has all the facts. At that time, our family was geographically distanced from California, we did not yet even have a local church. We were considered to be "scattered" brethren. All that I remember was that I came home from grade school one day, and found that my mother had been sobbing unconsolably from the time the mailman had arrived with HWA's letter. She read to us what had happened to Dick. She expected him to be healed, and that we would hear him speak at the Feast of Tabernacles in Texas. But we received another letter informing us that he had died.
The more history Armstrongism amasses with time, the more I continue to see the movement through the eyes of Gamaliel. Still, there are individuals whose experiences tug at our heart strings. Thank you for your compassionate comments. Some people believe that most of us regulars are heartless. Sometimes a breather like this blog entry can serve to bring out additional aspects of our personalities. Qualities we know we have that others may not always see.
BB
If Richard had lived and took charge the legalism would have likely lasted until he death. In other words, probably another 20 years after HWA died. Further, he might have cleaned out the liberals which would have prevented Tkach and his pals from hijacking the church.
Nobody I know has ever witnessed the resurrection of Herbert or Richard or Jesus.
Tkach Snr wasn't a liberal he was an deceiving apostate, as are all the lying ministry on this blog. Beware their long elaborate comments of pure lies.
Wait until scientists discover how to bend the time-space continuum! Once time travel is possible, we will actually be able to travel back and witness the resurrectiin of Jesus. Herbert and Dick Armstrong? Not unless we can also travel back to the future!
Thought this was not an anti-God blog? Questioning the resurrection of Jesus lacks basic faith.
The overall general new push for science to be treated as divine scripture is very revealing on the direction a specific group from within UCG want.
Poopie on thou, Mad Cow! We have all provided enough personal details so that you can know that we are not UCG ministers, yet you stick to your vile lies.
Some have to go through an atheist stage as they recover from Armstrongism, 10:49. I mean, it's so sad, but it gives you a good indication of the level of damage HWA and his religious philosophy have inflicted upon all of us.
As for your statement about science, try to see it this way. Science explains to us the ways in which God works! As an example, Darwin showed us God's evolutionary processes, one of God's primary tools of creation.
Speak for yourself 7:51. So matter of fact, so full of pride in trying to put those of faith down. Those of God brush you off every single time. Every. Single. Time.
How flattering, 12:14! ❤️ Wouldn't want to associate with you deceived people anyway. Thank you for brushing me off and staying away. I just love your shunning doctrine, cause if you stay away, I won't ever slip and ruin my character by responding to your provocations and being mean to you! See? You are being a blessing to me in spite of yourself! 😇
The only mad liar is you 7:24. I leave the readers who never comment to discern who is telling the truth.
Say it to my face 2:01. Brushing off is not shunning it's what Jesus commanded his disciples to do, brushing the dust off their feet.
The only one who shuns is you, the only one who is full of mischief is you.
2:01 a ten faced lousy Pastor.
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones 2:01.
2:01 It's only a matter of time before God removes you from the UCG Ministry.
Dream on. Buttercup! Never going to happen! My job is 100% safe.
Aw, did someone get her little feelings hurt?
'My job is 100% safe.'
What in a COG organisation?!, no such security exists.
One day the people of UCG shall be rid of you and your goading, bullying, lying and corrupt ways and we shall rejoice!
You bully others because your ill and none love you enough to stop you.
Oh my. Someone's having a bad day! Go have another drink, that seems to solve your problems.
You write about self 11:23. Jokes forever on you. A tsumami of courage will wipe your power away.
3:46. A good glass of vintage Sherry along with a cigar, sitting on our porch with friends, enjoying the sunset is a great way to wind down on a Friday evening. Try it sometime and you won't be so uptight and angry all the time at church.
Who's angry at Church ? I think you are mistaken in your assumption of to whom you throw out insults.
Guessing WRONG
When Alton B. "Don" Billingsley was proven to be WRONG by the passing of time about his claim that God had revealed to him that Hillary Clinton was going to win the 2016 presidential election in the USA, Alton should have simply, humbly admitted that he was WRONG, rather than making up even more WRONG prophetic nonsense guesses to try to make his theory work out yet.
Who needs any more of these arrogant old fools trying to impress other people with their silly prophetic trivia guesses that always turn out to be WRONG?
Oh nos gives the game away.
I see we are playing a game of "the dozens" here, so, my advice to the cow is tell your parents that next time Mummy gives birth, she's supposed to keep the baby and dispose of the placenta! The baby is more perceptive!
Eh? This comment makes no sense 8:42 i'm surprised it was allowed. I think you are really fighting a war within yourself if truth be told. I shall pray for you.
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