What exactly is missing from Christ's work that requires another man to come along and finish it?

The never-ending Armstrongist restoration project and the curious need 

for another human being to finish what Jesus Christ supposedly left undone.

For decades, Herbert W. Armstrong was presented by many of his followers as the end-time Elijah, the man commissioned by God to restore all the truths supposedly lost by Christianity. He was the great restorer, the apostle of the twentieth century, the man who supposedly brought back the original teachings of the first-century Church.

Then Herbert Armstrong died in 1986. The Great Tribulation did not arrive as anticipated. Christ did not return. The prophetic timetable continued to require adjustment, and the supposedly restored Church found itself divided into numerous competing organizations, each with its own interpretation of what Herbert Armstrong had taught.

But rather than reconsidering the underlying theology, Armstrongism did what it has become remarkably good at doing: it found another explanation.

Apparently, Herbert Armstrong wasn't the final Elijah after all!

And now, according to Bob Thiel's latest explanation, there must be another Elijah in the twenty-first century. Furthermore, the Continuing Church of God has supposedly restored truths that Herbert Armstrong missed, and it is apparently the place for the final Elijah, who is none other than Bob himself..

How convenient!

But underneath the sarcasm is a much more serious theological problem.

Why does Armstrongism continually need another human being to finish what Jesus Christ said he has already accomplished?

1. Herbert Armstrong: The Elijah Who Wasn't Quite Elijah

Bob begins his argument by acknowledging something rather inconvenient for those who insist that Herbert Armstrong was the end-time Elijah.

Herbert himself said: "I have been asked 'Are you the Elijah?' And I say 'No.'" That statement appeared in the March 6, 1981, issue of the Worldwide News. One would think that might settle the matter. After all, if the individual supposedly fulfilling the prophecy says he isn't Elijah, perhaps his followers should take him at his word.

But Bob has a different explanation. He points out that Herbert Armstrong also wrote that Elijah would come at the very end of the Church age and that the Church age had not yet ended when Armstrong died. Therefore, according to Bob, another Elijah must appear.

Notice the remarkable Armstrongite theological gymnastics involved here.

Instead of asking whether the entire Armstrongist interpretation of the Elijah prophecy might be mistaken, Bob simply assumes the prophecy must still be awaiting fulfillment by another Armstrongist personality. The original Elijah died. The restoration was incomplete. Therefore, another restorer is required.

It is a self-perpetuating arrangement. Every time the previous restorer fails to complete the assignment, the movement can simply appoint another one, or better yet, appointed oneself.

And apparently, the job description comes with an attractive collection of privileges: special prophetic understanding, authority over the faithful, the ability to identify everyone else's doctrinal errors, and the opportunity to explain why one's own organization is the one God is using.

2. Did Jesus Christ Leave Something Important Unfinished?

Here is where the entire Armstrongist premise needs to be examined against the New Covenant.

The New Testament does not present Jesus Christ as an assistant to some future human restorer. It presents Him as the culmination of God's revelation and the sufficient Savior and mediator of the New Covenant.

Hebrews 1:1-2 states:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.

Notice the contrast.

God spoke through the prophets in earlier times. Now He has spoken through His Son.

The author of Hebrews does not introduce another prophetic personality who will eventually arrive to correct deficiencies in Christ's teaching. He directs attention to Christ.

Hebrews continues by describing Jesus as the heir of all things and the One through whom God made the worlds. This is not an insignificant theological detail. It establishes the supremacy of Christ.

The New Covenant is not a temporary arrangement waiting for some modern religious leader to complete its doctrinal restoration. Jesus Christ is the mediator of that covenant.

Timothy 2:5 tells us: For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

One mediator.

Not Herbert Armstrong.

Not Bob Thiel.

Not a future apostle.

Not a self-appointed Elijah.

Jesus Christ.

The entire premise of continually looking for another human restorer raises a fundamental question: What exactly is missing from Christ's work that requires another man to come along and finish it?

Apparently, according to Armstrongist thinking, Christ established the Church, provided the Gospel, gave His teachings, commissioned His apostles, and established the New Covenant, but somehow left an important doctrinal restoration project unfinished for a twentieth- or twenty-first-century religious leader. That is a rather extraordinary way of diminishing the sufficiency of Christ.

Colossians 2:9-10 says that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and that believers are complete in Him.

Complete in Him!

Not complete in Herbert Armstrong.

Not complete in the Philadelphia Church of God.

Not complete in the Continuing Church of God.

And certainly not complete only after receiving the latest revelations of whichever Armstrongist leader currently believes he has discovered something everyone else missed.

3. What About Elijah Restoring All Things?

Bob repeatedly appeals to Matthew 17:11: "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things." He treats this passage as proof that another end-time human Elijah must appear. But there is something rather important in the very same passage that Bob's argument does not adequately address.

Read the surrounding verses.

Matthew 17:12-13 says: "But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished."

Then the disciples understood that He was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

This is important.

Jesus Himself identified John the Baptist with the Elijah expectation.

Luke 1:17 had already described John's ministry as going before the Lord "in the spirit and power of Elijah."

John was not literally the ancient prophet Elijah returned to earth. Rather, he fulfilled the prophetic role associated with Elijah.

John prepared the way for Christ.

And what was the central message of John?

Repentance.

He pointed people toward the coming Messiah.

He did not establish a new religious organization, publish a competing collection of doctrinal discoveries, or demand that people recognize him as the final authority over the Christian faith.

Most importantly, John pointed away from himself and toward Jesus.

John 3:30 records his attitude: "He must increase, but I must decrease."

That is a rather inconvenient attitude for anyone building a religious following around his own supposed prophetic importance. The Elijah passage cannot simply be turned into a blank check for every religious leader who believes he has discovered something previous generations overlooked. There is a difference between understanding the prophetic role of Elijah and using that prophecy to establish personal religious authority.

Bob needs to demonstrate why his particular interpretation requires a future Armstrongist restorer rather than simply assuming that it does.

4. The New Covenant Does Not Need Another Herbert Armstrong

One of the central problems with Armstrongism is its persistent obsession with restoring supposed lost truths. Armstromgism operates on the assumption that Christianity lost essential doctrines and that God had to raise up Herbert Armstrong to restore them.

Then, after Armstrong's death, his followers began arguing over which of his teachings were correct, which were incomplete, and which needed further restoration. Now Bob tells us that Herbert failed to restore everything and that the CCOG has restored additional fundamental truths.

But consider what the New Testament actually teaches.

Jude 3 speaks of "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

The Christian faith was delivered. The apostles proclaimed the Gospel, established churches, taught believers, and passed on the foundational message of Christ.

Ephesians 2:20 describes the Church as being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the chief cornerstone.

A foundation is not something that must continually be replaced by another foundation every time a religious leader decides that the previous one was inadequate. Christianity certainly requires continued teaching, learning, correction, and spiritual growth. Nobody is suggesting that Christians have exhausted every possible understanding of Scripture.

But there is a tremendous difference between growing in understanding and claiming that an essential part of the Christian faith was missing until a modern religious organization restored it. The New Covenant does not require an endless succession of religious restorers.

It requires faith in Christ, obedience flowing from faith, love for God and neighbor, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

The apostles did not tell Christians to wait for another Herbert Armstrong.

They told them to remain faithful to Christ.

5. Bob's Two Newly Restored Fundamental Truths

Bob then explains that Herbert Armstrong failed to restore two supposedly fundamental truths.

First, why God created anything.

Second, why God created each individual.

According to Bob, God created everything so eternity would be better, and each individual exists to develop character and eventually contribute uniquely to making eternity better through giving love.

There is nothing inherently objectionable about discussing God's purposes, the importance of love, or the idea that human beings have unique gifts and abilities. Those are worthwhile subjects.

But Bob takes these ideas and elevates them into two basic truths that supposedly required restoration through the Continuing Church of God.

Really?

Did Christianity somehow overlook the importance of love for nearly two thousand years?

Did the apostles fail to understand that Christians should use their abilities to serve others?

Did Jesus forget to explain that love was central to the Kingdom of God?

Matthew 22:37-40, where Jesus identifies love for God and neighbor as the foundation of the law and the prophets.

John 13:34-35, where Jesus gives His disciples the commandment to love one another and explains that this love will identify His followers.

1 Corinthians 13, where Paul explains the supreme importance of love.

Ephesians 2:10, which describes believers as God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

1 Peter 4:10, which instructs believers to use their gifts to serve one a

Apparently, all of these passages were sitting in the Bible for centuries, waiting for Bob Thiel and the Continuing Church of God to discover the missing theological ingredient. One wonders how Christianity managed to survive without this particular restoration.

The problem isn't that Bob discusses God's purpose or the importance of giving love. The problem is his extraordinary claim that these ideas constitute fundamental truths that Herbert Armstrong failed to restore and that the CCOG has now recovered.

A religious leader can develop an interpretation of Scripture without declaring that he has restored a lost fundamental truth.

There is a difference between offering an explanation and claiming a special divine commission.

6. The Growing List of Restored Truths: A Convenient Way to Establish Superiority

There is a particularly circular quality to this argument. Bob says that the final Elijah must restore all things. He then says the CCOG has restored many things. He then concludes that the final Elijah must be associated with the CCOG. But where is the independent biblical demonstration that these particular teachings constitute the restoration Jesus described? Where is the proof that the CCOG's interpretations are correct simply because the CCOG publishes them?

And where is the New Testament instruction telling Christians that they must identify and follow a modern organization claiming to have restored truths missed by the apostles and the historical Church?

The number of subjects on a restoration list does not answer those questions.

It merely creates a longer list.

And if the measure of spiritual authority is the number of things one claims to have restored, the competition among Armstrongist splinter groups could continue indefinitely.

Each group can produce its own list, declare its own leader specially commissioned, and explain why everyone else is missing the truth.

It is religious one-upmanship disguised as prophetic fulfillment.

7. The Strange Obsession With Philadelphia and Laodicea

Bob also devotes considerable attention to the Philadelphia and Laodicean churches.

He argues that the Philadelphia remnant must continue until the end of the age and that the CCOG expects to be that continuing remnant.

He even makes an interesting linguistic observation about Hebrews 13:1, where the Greek word Philadelphia is translated as brotherly love.

But the fact that the Greek word for brotherly love is Philadelphia does not establish that Hebrews 13:1 is a coded instruction for the Philadelphia Church era to continue. The passage is an exhortation to Christians to continue loving one another. It is not a secret organizational endorsement.

This is a recurring problem with Armstrongist interpretation.

Ordinary biblical expressions are frequently turned into organizational labels, prophetic classifications, and declarations about which modern church group supposedly possesses God's approval.

The New Testament, however, places extraordinary emphasis on the character of Christian believers rather than their membership in a particular modern religious corporation.

Jesus said in John 13:35 that people would recognize His disciples by their love for one another.

He did not say that they would recognize them by their ability to identify the correct Philadelphia remnant, calculate prophetic timetables, or determine which modern leader had restored the greatest number of doctrines.

And Revelation 3:10 should not be treated as a blank check allowing any organization to claim that it alone possesses Christ's promise of protection.

A church leader cannot simply announce that his organization is Philadelphia and expect the announcement itself to establish the claim.

8. The New Covenant Replaces the Need for a Religious Celebrity

Here is the central issue that Armstrongism repeatedly seems unable to grasp.

The Christian faith is centered on Jesus Christ.

The New Covenant is established through Him, not through a succession of modern religious personalities.

Hebrews 8:6 describes Christ as the mediator of a better covenant, established on better promises.

Hebrews 10:12-14 describes His sacrifice as sufficient, offered once for all.

The New Testament does not present Christ's work as an unfinished project requiring another human being to restore essential truths before the Christian faith can finally be complete.

The Holy Spirit guides believers, enables spiritual growth, and helps the Church understand and apply the teachings of Christ.

Christians can learn from teachers, pastors, evangelists, and fellow believers. They can examine Scripture, correct errors, and deepen their understanding.

But no modern minister should be elevated into a position where his personal claims of restoration become the measuring stick of Christian faithfulness.

The apostolic instruction is to test teachings, not surrender one's judgment to someone claiming a special prophetic identity.

Acts 17:11 commends the Bereans because they examined the Scriptures daily to determine whether Paul's teaching was true. Notice that even Paul's teaching was examined against Scripture. How much more should the claims of modern religious personalities be examined?

A Christian does not need to wait for Bob Thiel, Herbert Armstrong, or another self-proclaimed restorer to explain whether Jesus Christ is sufficient.

The answer is already in the New Testament.

9. The Never-Ending Elijah Sweepstakes

Perhaps the most revealing aspect of Bob's argument is its ability to keep the Armstrongist restoration system alive regardless of what happens.

Herbert Armstrong was supposed to restore the truths.

He died.

Another Elijah must come.

The final restoration was supposed to occur at the end of the Church age.

The Church age supposedly continues.

Therefore, another restorer must be waiting in the wings.

The CCOG has supposedly restored truths that Armstrong missed.

Therefore, the organization is apparently preparing the way for the final Elijah.

And somewhere in all of this, ordinary Christians are expected to believe that they cannot simply trust Christ and the apostolic Gospel without first identifying the correct modern religious organization.

It is a remarkable arrangement.

There is always another restoration to complete, another prophecy to explain, another doctrine to recover, another church group to reject, and another leader who understands what all the previous leaders supposedly missed. At what point does someone stop and ask whether the entire system is built on a mistaken premise?

If Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, if the apostles delivered the Christian faith, and if believers are complete in Christ, why must Christians continually search for another human Elijah?

Perhaps the problem isn't that the restoration is incomplete.

Perhaps the problem is the assumption that Christianity ever needed the kind of restoration Armstrongism claims.

10. Christ Is the Way, Not the Latest Restoration Project

The most important question is not whether Bob Thiel has published more material than Herbert Armstrong, whether the CCOG has restored more doctrines than another splinter group, or whether some future Armstrongist leader will claim to possess the final prophetic commission.

The important question is whether Christians are being directed toward Jesus Christ or toward another human authority.

Jesus said in John 14:6:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Notice that Jesus did not say that He was the way, the truth, and the life until a future Elijah arrived to restore the missing pieces.

He did not say that salvation required membership in a particular Philadelphia-era organization.

He did not say that Christians would need a succession of modern apostles to explain what He supposedly left unfinished. He pointed people to Himself. Bob Thiel points people to himself.

That is the central distinction between the New Covenant and the Armstrongist restoration mentality. Under the New Covenant, Christ is sufficient. The Gospel does not need to be reinvented, repackaged, or repeatedly restored by men who believe they possess a special commission unavailable to the rest of Christianity.

There will always be more to learn from Scripture. There will always be room for better understanding, correction, and spiritual growth. But there is a world of difference between growing in Christ and claiming to be the instrument through which Christ's supposedly incomplete message is finally restored.And perhaps that is the one truth Armstrongism desperately needs to rediscover:

Christianity is not waiting for another Elijah. It is called to follow Jesus Christ.

Herbert Armstrong is dead. His religious empire fragmented. The various splinter groups continue competing over who inherited the mantle, who has the most truth, and who is faithfully continuing the Work. And now Bob Thiel wants everyone to understand that the restoration is still underway.

Perhaps it is time to put the restoration business aside and return to the One who actually established the New Covenant.

Because if Jesus Christ isn't enough, no amount of restored Armstrongist doctrine is ever going to be enough either.