When Genealogy, Zechariah, Armstrongism, and Samuel Kitchen Collide in a Perfect Storm of Spiritual Self-Importance

There is a fascinating phenomenon that appears again and again in Armstrongism, thanks to its structure that is built around authoritarian personalities: eventually someone discovers that God's entire prophetic plan somehow points directly to them. This is how we have been blessed by such luminaries as Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, and Gerald Flurry.

Now, Samuel W. Kitchen has discovered, by the rigorous method of rearranging the letters in his own surname until they look vaguely biblical, that the post office should be forwarding the tithes of the faithful to him. He is, he assures us, of the house of Josiah-Hen, descendant of Zerubbabel and of Joseph of Arimathea, co-heir with Herbert W. Armstrong of the Siward Bjorn line, and therefore the authorized recipient of gold, silver, and the three tithes that will restore the temple and rebuke the devourer. The rest of us are building in Babylon. Please make the check payable to the man whose kitchen is named for Christ.

The pattern is almost predictable.

First, someone finds an obscure biblical passage. Then they connect it to a mysterious family lineage. Then they announce that their ancestry proves they possess a special role in God's plan. Finally, the conclusion arrives right on schedule:

You should recognize their authority and support their ministry financially.

It is a remarkable theological system. Thousands of years of biblical history, genealogies, prophecies, and symbolism all somehow end up pointing to one modern individual with a donation button.

Convenient, isn't it? This is the main reason for the existence of Armstrongism - the donation button.

Armstrongism has set the perfect example for Samuel. The claim he is promoting is that he can trace a family connection through Joseph of Arimathea, Zerubbabel, Herbert W. Armstrong, and ancient Israelite lines, thereby inheriting some kind of spiritual authority connected with Zechariah 6.

The problem is that Scripture does not establish such a mechanism.

Zechariah 6 is dealing with a specific historical situation involving the post-exilic period after the Babylonian captivity. Zerubbabel was a governor of Judah during the rebuilding of the temple, and Joshua the high priest was involved in the symbolic coronation described in the passage.

The passage does not say:

Thousands of years later, find someone with a similar-sounding surname, trace questionable genealogies, and then send him money because he occupies Zerubbabel's seat.

That interpretation requires a very creative imagination.

A little too creative.

It turns biblical prophecy into something resembling an ancient treasure map where the final clue mysteriously leads to someone's personal ministry account.

Armstrongism is based upon word associations, whether in British Israelism or proof of a leader's calling. Samuel does this exact same thing.

Start with the name. "Kitchen" is a Middle English occupational surname from cycene, the room where the food was cooked. It is not "Kit" plus "Chen." "Kit" is not Hebrew for "supporter of Christ." "Hen" and "Chen" are the same Hebrew root meaning grace or favor; they are not a secret family crest waiting for a twentieth-century American to notice that his last name ends in similar sounds. Josiah means "Yahweh supports" or "Yahweh heals," depending on the etymology one prefers; it does not mean "send money to anyone surnamed Kitchen." If surname puns conferred priesthood, every Baker would be entitled to the showbread and every Smith would be forging the covenant.

The biblical text he cites does not say what he needs it to say. Zechariah 6:9-15 records a symbolic act in the days of the return from Babylon. Gold and silver brought by Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah are made into crowns and set on the head of Joshua the high priest. The prophet is told to go to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah for the purpose of that ceremony. The crowns are then kept as a memorial in the temple. The speech that follows is about "the Branch," who will build the temple of the Lord, bear the glory, and sit as priest on his throne. That Branch is not Zerubbabel's distant cousin who will one day incorporate in the United States. Christian readers, from the New Testament onward, have identified the Branch with the Messiah. The house of Josiah is the location of a one-time prophetic sign-act, not a perpetual clearinghouse for tithes whose mailing address updates whenever a man named Kitchen feels led.

This argument follows a familiar pattern found throughout Armstrong-related splinter groups.

The original movement centered heavily on the idea that God was working through a specially appointed human leader. After Herbert W. Armstrong's death, numerous groups emerged, often claiming that they preserved the true work, the true message, or the true authority.

The common thread is always the same: Everyone else lost the truth. God has restored it here. And naturally, the person making that claim is usually the one standing in the restored position.

What are the odds? Apparently, in these movements, the odds are very good.

Every generation seems to produce someone who discovers that the prophetic baton conveniently landed in their own hands.

Zerubbabel himself was the Persian-appointed governor who led a return and began the second temple. His line is traced in the genealogies of Matthew and Luke because those genealogies are interested in the ancestry of Jesus, not in establishing a continuing civil or ecclesiastical office that survives the fall of the temple, the end of the Levitical system, and the arrival of the new covenant. Hebrews is inconveniently clear that the earthly sanctuary and its regulations were copies and shadows, that Christ is the high priest of a better covenant, and that the old order is obsolete. There is no vacant "seat of Zerubbabel" for a modern claimant to occupy. The governor's work was finished when the temple was built and, later, when that temple was superseded.

The Joseph of Arimathea myth is legend stacked on legend. The Gospels say he was a rich member of the council, a disciple, who obtained the body of Jesus and laid it in his own tomb. Medieval British tradition, much of it late and pious, turned him into the uncle of Mary, the bearer of the Grail, the founder of Glastonbury, and the ancestor of British royalty. British-Israel and Armstrongite writers adopted the tale because it helped them connect the throne of David to the British Isles. None of this is history that can be audited. No continuous, documented pedigree runs from a first-century Judean counselor through Dark Age Britain, Siward Bjorn, the Armstrongs, and a Kitchen family in such a way that a living man can produce the records and say, "Here is the chain; here is the office." Even if every link were real, blood would not confer the right to collect Christian offerings. The New Testament never once treats descent from David, from Zerubbabel, or from any Sanhedrin member as a qualification for ministry or for the receipt of money. Paul, who could boast of his Hebrew pedigree when it suited an argument, refused to do so as a ground of authority.

Armstrong's own movement already illustrates the problem. Herbert W. Armstrong claimed unique insight, the Philadelphia mantle, and the right to the tithe that would finish the work before the place of safety. After his death, the church split, resplit, and resplit again. Each fragment has tended to discover that the true continuation runs through its own leader, its own literature, and its own bank account. Kitchen's version simply adds a family-tree flourish and insists that reorganization is apostasy while his own private claim is restoration. The pattern is familiar: one man, one work, one place the money must go, and a warning that refusal means missing the kingdom.

The most concerning aspect of these claims is not merely unusual interpretations of prophecy. It is what often follows: A demand for recognition, loyalty, and financial support.

The argument becomes: "God has appointed me." Therefore: "You must support what God is doing through me."

But this creates a serious biblical question: Where did Jesus tell His followers to locate a modern individual claiming inherited prophetic authority and send money to him?

Where did Jesus instruct Christians to verify someone's spiritual legitimacy through genealogy?

Where did the apostles tell believers: Search carefully through ancient family records until you find the person occupying Zerubbabel's seat?

They did not.

Instead, the New Testament repeatedly emphasizes faithfulness to Christ, humility, service, and spiritual fruit.

Jesus warned about religious leaders who sought honor and special status. He taught that greatness in God's kingdom is demonstrated through serving others, not through claiming elevated rank.

Another recurring Armstrong teaching is the idea that a specific organization represents the continuation of the Philadelphia era of Revelation.

This creates another theological dilemma: If every splinter group claims to be the continuation of the true Philadelphia work, how many Philadelphia works are there?

Apparently, the Philadelphia candlestick has multiplied like loaves and fishes.

Each group says:

"We are the faithful remnant."

Each claims:

"Others have fallen away."

Each suggests:

"Support us because this is where God is working."

At some point, a reasonable Christian has to ask:

Is this actually biblical restoration - or simply an endless cycle of people claiming spiritual inheritance from previous claimants?

New-covenant Christians have specific reasons to decline the invitation. The tithe of the Mosaic law was tied to the land, the Levites, the temple, and the festivals of Israel. The New Testament nowhere reimposes that statute on Gentile churches or on Jewish believers in Christ. What it does teach is voluntary, cheerful giving for the support of those who labor in the gospel, for the poor, and for the needs of the saints. That giving is not a test of whether one has found the correct descendant of Josiah-Hen. It is not the mechanism by which the devourer is rebuked, and the European clay is broken. Malachi 3 addresses a covenant people who were robbing God under the Levitical system; it is not a collection letter for every later claimant who can quote it. Revelation 12 describes the woman's flight and the dragon's rage; it does not name a treasurer.

Authority in the church, on the apostolic witness, rests on the gospel itself, on faithfulness to the apostles' teaching, and on the recognition of the congregation, not on a surname, a medieval pedigree, a self-appointed upstart, someone who had some dreams and nightmares, or a private assurance that Christ has added one to an office the text never created. A man may be sincere, industrious, and convinced. Sincerity does not turn Zechariah's memorial crowns into a standing order for his household. The Branch has already come. The temple he builds is not financed by locating the right Kitchen. 

The Christian message has never been:

"Find the man with the right genealogy."

It has always been:

"Follow Christ."

And thankfully, following Christ does not require locating a modern Zerubbabel, decoding someone's surname, or sending money to someone who claims heaven's endorsement.

---------------------------------------------------------

Quoted below, as Samuel wrote it:

With Zerubbabel, they carried out the tithes and offerings, the gold and silver, and brought it to the House of God. 

In Zechariah 6:10-15, we read: 

Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; 

 

Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; 

And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: 

Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. 

The HOUSE that receives the tithes and offerings, is called "Josiah-Hen". That is WHO IS AUTHORIZED. That is where Zerubbabel is! 

In fact, this is my family line. I can trace my lineage back to Joseph of Arimathew, back to Zerubbabel. 

My family is Kit-chen. Josiah means "supporter of Yah" Kit means "Supporter of Christ" 

Hen and Chen is the same Hebrew word. 

Herbert W Armstrong is a descendant of this same family line!! His line was surnamed ARMSTRONG through Siward Bjourn! I am a direct descendant of Siward Bjourn too! And We are the House of HEN. 

Zerubbabel was of that same house. Because in Zechariah 6, God says to give gold and silver to the house of Josiah-Hen the son of Zephaniah! By the three tithes, the Temple shall be restored! Notice it is three men that are taken to go to this specific house! 

How will the coming United States of Europe break up? Through the obedience of the CLAY or ISRAELITE NATIONS among them! Who will God use to do that? The same individual who shall do the same with these camps of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram! Jesus Christ will do it through ONE MAN. 

Because notice in Malachi 3 the DEVOURER is REBUKED. Satan will be rebuked! Now notice Revelation 12:13-17! How is Satan and his armies REBUKED! 

Now notice Zechariah 3, and Satan is rebuked. IT TIES DIRECTLY TO ZECHARIAH 6 and the house mentioned! 

This is about the Philadelphia elect GOING TO A PLACE OF SAFETY! 

Those who obey God in bringing Tithes and Offerings to those restoring the Philadlephia Candlestick, the Worldwide Church of God! Not another church. Not re-organized as a new thing as these groups have. 

BUT SPIRITUALLY ORGANIZED AS CHRIST ORGANIZED THROUGH HERBERT W ARMSTRONG! This is NOT MY CHURCH! 

But I have been added to it by the Hand of Jesus Christ! I have received authority from Christ, and even the Bible backs me up by pointing out my family line and the family line of Herbert W Armstrong! 

Us being of that line gives us no promise of position in the Church. But because AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GIVEN, we ought to OBEY GOD, and get back of HIS WORK. And stop this support of Babylon. Because the House of God will be built! and all these other houses will fall. 

This is about getting the Bride ready! It is a TEST ON US! God is watching us to see who is serving HIM, and who is just building in Babylon. 

I hope you realize your calling brethren! We will not enter the kingdom of God, any other way! 

In Jesus Christ's name, 

Samuel W Kitchen

Dave Pack's Avoiding Accountability Master Class: Minimizing

 

David C. Pack's Avoiding Accountability Master Class: Minimizing

Anyone who thinks that David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God is not diabolical needs to watch this video. During "The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 650)," given on September 19, 2026, he ridiculed members who left because they got "hung up" on him falsely preaching dates for the coming of the Kingdom of God.

The Pastor General equates the knowledge of his made-up 7.5-year kingdom to be a blue whale and the concern over him setting false dates 145 times since 2013 as a minnow. And a gnat. And a fly. In addition to him minimizing his own actions to avoid accountability, he also blames those who have concerns by accusing them of disbelief in God's Kingdom.

Part 650 is a Master Class in brainwashing manipulation.

Marc Cebrian
exrcg.org

Dave Pack News Flash: The Kingdom Will NOT Come on Atonement

News Flash: The Kingdom Will NOT Come on Atonement

David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God dissolved nine weeks of preaching by announcing that it is impossible for the Kingdom of God to arrive on the Day of Atonement. The long, slow crawl that began on July 11, 2026, with “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 640),” just got longer and slower.

It is time once again for everyone in RCG who still bothers to take notes to tear out all their pages from Parts 640, 641, 642, 643, 644, 645, 646, 647, and 648. You may now file them into the usual pile.

The Kingdom of God Will NOT Arrive on Atonement.
Not This Year. Not Any Year.

During "The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 649)" given on September 12, 2026, the Pastor General admitted that "no man knows the day and the hour" (again) but still tried to persuade members that his new theory can hold water: The Kingdom of God will arrive a few days before or after the Day of Atonement...or maybe a few days before or after the Feast of Tabernacles.

Considering that Atonement begins tonight at sunset, does anyone want to take bets on whether this will pan out for him?

Part 649 – September 12, 2026
@ 04:20 How is a Day of Atonement start possible in light of these things? I could have listed more. It’s difficult, I dare say, impossible to see how.

@ 07:15 But it could tarry a little bit. Well, Atonement can’t do that. Neither can the Feast of Tabernacles. So, we got a problem with either one of those dates.

@ 1:09:15 I thought I knew the Day of Atonement. And I did. I but I never saw it in the context that you're forced to when you're coming up to it and trying to figure out how in the world would you start the Kingdom on the Day of Atonement? …Does the Kingdom come one or maybe two days before the Day of Atonement?

@ 1:39:55 So I'm just telling you, brethren, I I my hands are off of the date.

@ 1:42:47 So I I I'm willing to believe I don't know the day or the hour. I just know it cannot be Atonement.And I don't see how it's Tabernacles.

David C. Pack insisted on clinging to his legitimacy by spending 110 minutes dragging the brethren of The Restored Church of God through a series of vague possibilities. None of which will prove to be correct.

The Pastor General is painfully unaware of how embarrassing he is when he makes ridiculous comments in front of the entire church. He was very proud of himself for not setting a date even though he admitted he did not know.

If he knew, he would have said it.

At the very end of Part 649, Dave admitted to something that he should have been ashamed of.

@ 1:51:29 We don't know. I didn't give you a date. And you know what gives me great joy? Oh, is that gonna frustrate our enemies.

David C. Pack has already set 145 failed dates since 2013, including Atonement 2026.

He is the only one who is frustrated.

Marc Cebrian

News Flash: The Kingdom Will NOT Come on Atonement

Dave Pack - David - Bathsheba - Cell Phones - Temptation - I might accidently take a peek, but so what, David did

 

exRestoredCOG

Dave Pack vs. Bob Thiel: Competing for the Title of "Most Accurate Date-Setter Since the Last Time They Were Both Wrong"

God's most perfect and only true Church of God leader in this horrendous end-times dispensation of the prophetic work of God has always tried to remind us daily that only through himself and his little itty-bitty group can salvation be found. People laugh and mock him, knowing for sure that it is all a lie. That doesn't deter him, as he is back today ridiculing Dave Pack over something he wrote for one of his booklets.

Another Work-a "Short Work" ...

God's commission to His Church continues until the end of the age-that God's kingdom will be preached "until the end come." It has also proven conclusively that the nations of Israel are to be warned by the "watchman" of Ezekiel 33-that these two components of the Great Commission in this age have not changed, nor will they until completed. It is against the second part of this backdrop that a special prophecy in Romans 9:27-29 comes into view. ...

Paul recorded, "Isaiah also cried concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant [take note] shall be saved: for He will finish the Work and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah." The Work of God Its Final Chapter!

It seems, according to our favorite Crackpot Prophet, Dave has no idea of who the "short work" will be in 2026. There can only be one prophet and one witnesses that shouts from the mountaintops that the law is to be kept, and that grace is selectively given only after right belief and strict adherence to Bob's teachings.

And there you have it: two aging men who both inherited the same Armstrongist playbook, both convinced they alone inherited the mantle, both spending an impressive amount of energy proving the other guy is the obvious heretic. Dave Pack of the Restored Church of God has turned failed date-setting into a performance art. By multiple independent tallies he has offered well over a hundred specific or strongly implied dates since 2013, many of them delivered with "impossible it's wrong" confidence in his never-ending "Greatest Untold Story" series (now hundreds of parts long). When the Kingdom fails to arrive on schedule he laughs it off, blames "enemies" for noticing, and immediately produces the next unicorn date. He has claimed the offices of Elijah, Joshua, "that Prophet," and the man who will gather all the other scattered COG groups under his Wadsworth campus. The "short work" of Romans 9:28 is, in his telling, something spectacular that his organization will finish just before Jesus shows up-again.

Bob Thiel of the Continuing Church of God watches this spectacle with the satisfied air of a man who has already been validated by dreams (his own and other people's), a 2011 "double-portion" anointing from a Living Church of God minister, and the fact that his group grew in Africa. He posts almost daily that CCOG is the group actually preparing for the short work by translating literature into an ever-growing list of languages. Dave, Bob informs us, simply doesn't understand who will cut the work short in 2026. Only one prophet can shout from the mountaintops that the law must still be kept and that grace is available only after you accept Bob's particular package of restored truths.

New Covenant Christians look at this food fight and politely decline the invitation. The reason is not complicated. Both men preach a gospel that adds the works of the Mosaic law-seventh-day Sabbath, annual holy days, clean and unclean meats, three tithes, British-Israel identity of the English-speaking nations-as necessary components of remaining in the "true church." Salvation, in their system, is not the finished work of Christ received by faith; it is faith plus correct organization plus correct calendar plus correct diet plus correct understanding of which man currently holds the prophetic office. Paul called that "another gospel." The letter to the Galatians exists precisely so that people would stop submitting again to a yoke of slavery after Christ has set them free.

A New Covenant Christian does not need Dave Pack's next date or Bob Thiel's latest language count to know that the work of redemption was cut short-once, at the cross. The remnant that is saved is not the handful of people who picked the correct Armstrongist splinter in 2026. It is everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. The watchman of Ezekiel is not a man in Ohio or a man with a globe and a vintage microphone. The short work is not a last-minute literature blitz by the one true remnant. It is the gospel of grace that has already gone out to the nations.

So why would anyone who actually believes the New Covenant follow either of these two? They wouldn't. They would recognize the familiar pattern: two competing little flocks, each insisting the other is Laodicean or worse, both requiring extra-biblical hurdles that Jesus never placed in front of the thief on the cross. They would notice that the energy spent mocking each other's prophetic charts could have been spent simply pointing people to the One who already finished the work. And they would walk past the table with the numbered plaques and the World Books, grateful that salvation was never that complicated.

Dave Pack: The Long, Slow Crawl to Atonement

 

The Long, Slow Crawl to Atonement

David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God has been exceptionally boring over the last five months. After his 144th attempt at legitimacy failed on Pentecost (May 24, 2026), the Pastor General retreated back into the biblical dismal swamp to reconvene with his prophetic acolytes in the Third Floor Executive Imaginarium.

With the handholding of Coffee Kid and Pepper Boy, the trio recycled a successful strategy that has been useful in the past: Teach a date for coming Kingdom of God (kinda) that is way out there (probably) and spend months leading up to it belaboring every point possible while sprinkling pauses in the speaking schedule.

The last five months in The Restored Church of God have been all about how the Kingdom of God will arrive maybe here, or maybe there, but settled on the Day of Atonement (possibly in 2027, at first). A few weeks ago, Dave introduced the idea that the Kingdom to Israel would occur "about" one year before that. You know, in 2026-ish.

Dave giveth a third Kingdom, and Dave taketh away. The Kingdom to Israel IS the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God Will Arrive on the Day of Atonement
Tishrei 10 – September 21, 2026
(But if not this year, then next year. Or the year after that.)

The more interesting developments for exrcg.org have been behind-the-scenes. There was notable blowback from the NPR/PBS broadcast in July, mainly due to Kevin Denee publicly stating he is writing a book about his experiences.

·      I had a five-hour lunch with Randall Pack (Dave’s oldest son) and numerous conversations with him and his brother, Robert. There were a lot of concerns about what and how I report on RCG. I received plenty of notes for improvement.

·      I wrote a letter for David C. Pack and gave it to Randall. His dad read it.

·      The Director of Church Administration called me on my cell phone to caution me about the "facts" I publish and warned me that there are "dangers" in continuing such actions.

·      The Director of Church Administration urged five staff members to write to me personally to “set the record straight” “if they wanted to.” Two ministers and three lay members sent unsolicited, sternly worded emails in which they demanded that I not share their information with anyone.

That information will be shared soon.

But in the meantime, it has been a long, slow crawl to Atonement. Tishrei 10 will begin next Sunday night on September 20, 2026.

 

There has not been much content worth posting on exrcg.org. David C. Pack's new hesitation and prophetic timidity created a lack of compelling video content. Based on my discussions with Randall and Robert, their dad has expressed a desire to pull back on "the date setting" and has privately regretted going down that road.

Too little, too late on the whole false prophet issue, however. Regardless of how much Dave wants to reinvent himself as “just preachin’ what the Bible says,” he is permanently disqualified from ever being a true minister of Jesus Christ or someone you can believe, even if he just tries to tell you the time.

The last sermon I analyzed was “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 629)," given on March 28, 2026, in the article Certain Uncertainty, when the most gullible in The Restored Church of God were still hoping for a theological Hail Mary to happen in mid-2026.

What wonderful prophetic material have the members of The Restored Church of God been force-fed on their Sabbaths since? Here is a summary of the last five months. If you invest the time to read each one, the patterns of hilarity reveal themselves.

Part 630 – April 8, 2026
The Passover should be a festive, joyful occasion and will no longer be somber in RCG. They will eat real unleavened bread instead of small bits of matzo and drink more than just a thimble of wine. Children may be allowed to attend.

Part 631 – April 11, 2026
RCG dissolves ministerial “ranks.” The Worldwide Church of God did not understand the true Government of God. All men are ordained as “elders” and only once. Being an evangelist or prophet is a “gift” but not a rank. Local elders and preaching elders have been dissolved, and Dave admits Herbert W. Armstrong invented those positions so more men could avoid the Vietnam draft. Dave knows the "exact date" the Kingdom is coming, but would not say.

Part 632 – April 18, 2026
The Kingdom of God will come on the Second Passover this year, or there will be a one-year wait.

Part 633 – April 25, 2026
Nothing will happen on the Second Passover. Zero chance, in fact. But what about Pentecost?

Part 634 – May 2, 2026
There are three kingdoms once again. God is helping Dave explain that the day that “cannot tarry” is Pentecost. He reiterates that he is not Elijah the Prophet (yet) and excuses himself from the consequences of being wrong in the past.

Part 635 – May 16, 2026
There are two kingdoms once again. The Kingdom of God coming on Pentecost is perfect. But we will not really know if a date is correct until it passes and the Kingdom's arrival reveals it.

New Moon Special Comments – May 17, 2026
The Kingdom of God will not come on Pentecost. God acts in His own timing, and things will happen when He decides it. Dave became "most uncomfortable" with Pentecost.

Part 636 – May 30, 2026
Being on the path to the Kingdom of God is an incredible privilege, and Dave has great respect for those in RCG who have remained faithful.

Part 637 – June 13, 2026
Dave is the victim of many false stories and big lies. You cannot imagine. One member quit because his daughter died, and Dave blamed the man's bitterness for his departure. RCG will eventually know the day that "cannot tarry," but not yet.

Dave does not carry a cell phone, but he has a cell phone. He does not believe he will ever be tempted by pornography, but his denial did not sound all that convincing.

@ 1:11:08 I don’t carry a cell phone. “Mr. Pack, what? You don’t carry a cell phone?” No, and I never will. I have one,that, I guess, if I in an emergency, I could use it. But it's a complete waste of time. There's too much in there that I I don't ever want to be tempted with. I don’t think I’d be tempted to go to a porn site. I haven’t. I don’t. I’ve never felt the temptation. I guess if it was in the palm of my hand, maybe it'd be a little different.

Part 638 – June 20, 2026
A period of watching for the Kingdom of God is a range of days. Dave teases a list of 159 truths RCG has learned, whether restored or discovered. Thankfully, he does not read it all, and he will not post it in Member Services because “evil men” would post it publicly.

Part 639 – June 27, 2026
Figuring out prophecy is a long and complex process that produces a picture with alternatives. Dave believes the Kingdom will no longer end on a weekly Sabbath, but an annual one. Dave grew suspicious of a fascinating date. Maybe it could be Av 10, but maybe not.

@ 46:24 We are watching. Not with absolute certainty, but uncertainty. Not with absoluteness, but with possibility. We’re supposing. Or wishing that it’s the right date.

Part 640 – July 11, 2026
Dave agonized, but there was a sudden "bang," and it was so easy to see. The Kingdom of God is coming on the Day of Atonement, and Dave is so certain, he stakes God's name on it. But is it this year?

@ 1:00:07 He [Jesus Christ] was sent to preach the Kingdom of God. I'm gonna say, on the authority of Almighty God, His Kingdom comes on the Day of Atonement.

Part 641 – July 18, 2026
The Kingdom of God can only come on Atonement and potentially only this year. There is an avalanche of proof. Dave’s goal is to lock the day. If it is not this year, then “don’t bother looking for any other day.” He admits that RCG does not understand the 1335 correctly.

@ 1:14:23 But I’m trying to show you that it is absolutely Atonement. It’s a lock.

Part 642 – July 25, 2026
Does the Kingdom of God arrive on the Day of Atonement this year?

@ 48:53 And the main purpose being to show the Day of Atonement is immutable. It's impossible that that's not the date. A different year? We'll we'll get into that.

@ 1:26:34 It's impossible that the Kingdom of God does not come on a Day of Atonement. It's impossible. Not improbable or highly unlikely. It's impossible.

Part 643 – August 1, 2026
There are three kingdoms once again. The Kingdom to Israel comes before the Day of Atonement and before the Kingdom of God. Dave baits RCG members at the beginning of the sermon.

@ 00:47 The Day of Atonement for the Kingdom of God, lasting seven and a half years to a Passover and the and the Millennium, and then the second iteration of the Kingdom of God are set and established. They cannot move. They’re immutable. And it’s just helpful to state that that that can’t change.

And he pulls a switcheroo at the end of the sermon.

@ 1:32:16 It says it closes with one bad month. So you can figure out the Kingdom of God is not coming this Atonement. On the other hand, we may learn this Kingdom starts before we ever get to Atonement.

@ 1:32:44 So on the one hand, I'm gonna just tell you the Kingdom of God is pushed off. But the Kingdom to Israel could start well before what would have been Atonement.

Part 644 – August 1, 2026
God conceals His truths through grievous mistranslations. The Kingdom of God will not arrive on the Day of Atonement until 2027. The Kingdom to Israel will probably come this year, but when is up for discussion. Dave gives himself another pass for teaching false prophetic dates.

@ 18:35 So I'm not predicting anything. I'm explaining verses in the Bible.

Part 645 – August 8, 2026
Dave hoped this would be his final message. If the Kingdom was just one year long, then it would start August 21. RCG is on a short clock. Potentially.

@ 17:51 Nobody knows about this Kingdom. It took me 11 years to be clear about it. But we not only know about it, we know how long it is. And basically almost exactly when it starts. I think.

Part 646 – August 15, 2026
Dave continues to "lock down" that there is a First Kingdom, which is the Kingdom to Israel. It will arrive on an undetermined Sunday at dawn “sometime ahead.”

@ 1:39:21 For now, every Sunday dawn, every one is a candidate. There's some evidence that Elul is in play.

@ 1:40:24 We'll just have to see when God has planned. And I'm waiting to be able to show an unbreakable date that cannot be exceeded. I sincerely do not know. I'm suspicious of some things, but know that a Sunday dawn away from a Sabbath, holy day, or new moon would completely disguise God coming as a thief on the fast Day of Atonement over a year later. Whenever that would be.

Part 647 – August 29, 2026
Dave rejoices at the “simplicity in Christ” finally arriving, but fails to see the irony of his convoluted theories. He provides a list of 95 proofs why there are three kingdoms, but reveals another list of 65 points that prove that wrong. He explains why there are other fascinating possibilities for when the Kingdom to Israel may start and how long it could be, because it could be three years instead of one.

@ 1:37:18 Now, you know, if it's a Sabbath, okay [chuckles], I guess we could sit and say there are six possibilities that exist for the for the other Kingdom. Maybe it's not Atonement. We could we could say. Even Tishrei 3 is a moed. It's wonderful. But you've got five Sabbaths plus Atonement. There's six Sabbaths in Tishrei, so I don't know. Could it be different? Could it be rounded in some way? Could the Second Kingdom start at Tabernacles, or the Last Great Day, or the last Sabbath of the month? I don't know. Is it technically the First Kingdom is days upon years? I don't know. That's that's a hard one to know. But there are six possibilities.So, you know, Trumpets is the first one.

 

Simplicity in Christ has indeed arrived at The Restored Church of God.

Part 648 – September 5, 2026
In The Restored Church of God, lying to brethren on the Sabbath while speaking in God’s name is acceptable when it has dramatic value.

Dave announces at the beginning that “nothing’s changed.” Until it does twenty-four minutes later, when he removes the shot glass Kingdom to Israel off the table because the Kingdom to Israel is also the Kingdom of God. There are only two kingdoms once again.

Dave drags RCG members through another laborious exercise to illustrate how hard Bible prophecy is to figure out and gives options for how maybe it is the Day of Atonement this year, after all. 1,500 days from Atonement 2026 to Atonement 2030 just makes a heck of a lot of sense. For now. 

Consider yourself caught up.

Five months of doctrines in The Restored Church of God summarized in three pages. And for the spiritually depleted brethren, it has been a long, slow crawl to the Day of Atonement across nine sermons.

But remember: If it is not this year, then it could be next year. Or the year after that. Or the year after that. Or the year after that.

The RCG brethren have a longer, slower crawl to nowhere if they keep listening to David C. Pack.

Marc Cebrian

See: The Long, Slow Crawl to Atonement

LCG: Please Review the Booklet "Germany in Prophecy" Before Satan and the Beast Notice Your Airline Boarding Pass”

Living Church of God, ever true to Roderick Meredith's hyperventilating past, has started hyperventilating again. Germany is "rising." Members need to dust off Germany in Prophecy. The AfD just scored a major win in Saxony-Anhalt. Get ready for jackboot Germans taking over the world. Arroyo Grande and Charlotte, here they come. Oh noes!!!!!!!!! 

Then they instantly pivot to a plane that ran off the runway at Heathrow, airports shutting down because Anak Krakatau is coughing ash. Satan, we are told, is so furious that COG members are heading to the Feast that he is personally disrupting air travel. All because of them.

Gerald Weston writes:

Greetings from Charlotte,

There is a lot happening of late. The AfD party in Germany scored a major win, causing much concern over a far-right party eventually gaining power over the whole country and taking Germany down a dangerous path once again. Messrs. Rod McNair and Douglas Winnail authored the booklet Germany in Prophecy, which points out that the country is given to sudden dramatic changes. Please review this resource as you see changes taking place in Europe. The wars in Iran and Ukraine continue to escalate along dangerous lines. Meanwhile, London's Heathrow Airport, Miami International Airport, and some Indonesian airports were shut down due to technical issues, a plane going off the runway, and the Anak Krakatau volcanic eruption-stranding and disrupting the plans of literally hundreds of thousands of travelers worldwide. We must never forget who the god of this age is and how he hates the Feast days that are now upon us. Let us pray for the safety of all our members and Festival sites and do our part in traveling safely. And let us never forget the reason we observe these important days. -Gerald E. Weston

There it is. The whole operating system on one index card: Europe is becoming the Beast, your passport is a spiritual target, and Lucifer runs air traffic control.

Armstrongism exists because fear works. Not because the forecasts aged well. Herbert's dates slid. 1972 and 1975 came and went without the nuclear fireworks package. The "final revival of the Holy Roman Empire" has been imminent for longer than most members have been alive. What never went out of print is the feeling: you are special, you are hunted, and the only people who can read the map are the men in Charlotte holding the booklet.

The racial machinery is still the engine. British-Israelism says the United States, Britain, and the white Commonwealth are Ephraim and Manasseh - the lost tribes with the birthright. Germany is recast as Assyria, the rod of God's anger, the coming king of the North who will punish those same "Israelite" nations for Sunday-keeping, Christmas trees, and insufficient third tithe. That is why a state election in Magdeburg is not allowed to remain a state election. It has to become Genesis-plus-Isaiah-plus-Revelation with a 2026 dateline. If the chosen nations are not in danger, the chosen church loses its plot. 

Notice the second move. After the German alarm comes the travel snarl - and Satan is credited as the author. In this universe the Accuser is not a defeated rebel. He is the most competent character on the stage. Christ, the one they claim to follow, is oddly underemployed until the sequel in which He returns to slaughter the portion of humanity that refused to follow Gerald Weston, Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, or Bob Thiel. Until then, the devil gets the airport, the volcano, and the headlines. The Lamb gets the footnote and the offering envelope.

Why keep members in a fearful frenzy? Because calm people start reading Galatians. Calm people notice that "neither Jew nor Greek" is a wrecking ball aimed at a racial prophecy chart. Calm people notice that Colossians 2 does not say, "Let no one judge you except headquarters, and also please consult Germany in Prophecy before you book the Feast." Calm people notice that the New Covenant does not require a German election to prove God is still interested.

The New Covenant offered an alternative and Armstrongism treated it like a competing product. Grace does not need you anxious about Saxony-Anhalt. Union with Christ does not need your ancestry to be Manasseh. The Spirit is not a frequent-flyer program Satan can cancel with volcanic ash. Perfect love casts out fear. That is precisely why fear has to be restocked every week before the Feast.

Weston's note is not analysis. It is maintenance. Review the booklet. Remember the god of this age. Pray for Festival sites. Travel safely - and never forget why you keep these days. Translation: stay inside the story in which Charlotte holds the decoder ring and the rest of the church holds its breath.

The satire writes itself, but the theology is older than Meredith's eye surgery. A system that must turn every runway excursion into spiritual warfare is a system that cannot afford a Savior who already said "it is finished." If Jesus is sufficient, you do not need jackboots in the middle distance to keep the lights on. If identity is in Christ, you do not need gold countries on a map and gray countries as extras. If the devil is not the most powerful god in the room, you can fly to the Feast without narrating yourself as the reason Krakatau woke up.

Armstrongism lives on fear because fear is the only fuel that still burns after a century of revised dates. The New Covenant lives on a cross and an empty tomb, which is why it does not need AfD's 43.8 percent to remain true. 

If the gospel requires a German statehouse, a Heathrow runway, and a volcano to stay interesting, it is not the gospel. It is a subscription. Weston can keep ringing the Assyria bell. Meredith's heirs can keep discovering that Europe is "given to sudden dramatic changes," a sentence that would also describe weather, teenagers, and the church's own prophetic calendar. Meanwhile the New Covenant sits there, unpaid and un-hyperventilated, insisting that the dividing wall is already down, that days do not commend you to God, and that the one they claim to follow is not waiting in the wings until He can out-perform Satan at travel disruption. Charlotte will call that Laodicean. Scripture calls it news. The jackboots can wait. The booklet can wait. The frenzy can wait. The alternative already arrived, and it did not need Magdeburg to close the sale.

Dave Pack: A Masterclass in Unsealing the Book of Daniel

 

David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God has been claiming to unseal the book of Daniel since 2015. This embarrassing supercut illustrates the absurdity of the prophetic doctrines of The Restored Church of God. 

Featuring clips from 2017 to 2025, the Book of Daniel has been allegedly unsealed multiple times by the Pastor General. This is not all of them. According to RCG, unsealing the Book of Daniel is a process. Not an event. This is one of the reasons why error is so pervasive, and David C. Pack will never be right.

ExRCG Website

Rhinestones, Books, and Hospitals vs. Plaques, Scandals, and Endless Splits

Armstrongism had a real knack for denigrating anyone outside their exclusive little circle—especially if they were an entertainer, and heaven forbid, a professed Christian entertainer. Nothing set Herbert Armstrong’s blood boiling more than country music. Yet the man would happily sink into the velvet cushions of the Ambassador Auditorium and elsewhere, reveling in grand operas dripping with adultery, murder, and every other sin that Armstrongites supposedly held in such high disdain. Oh, the sheer hypocrisy of it all—the self-proclaimed apostle of purity getting his cultural high from highbrow debauchery while sneering at the honest, heartfelt twang of ordinary folks. How “godly.”

Today, Dolly Parton died. She was a larger-than-life figure who captured the attention of people from every walk of life, across political parties, racial lines, and cultural boundaries. She grew up in a strict Pentecostal faith-filled home in Tennessee, where gospel music filled the air as her entire family sang. Like many raised in fundamentalism, she later stopped attending church regularly and said the most important part of her day was talking to God by herself in the mornings. She wrote many songs about God, faith, love, and hope. She believed that true faith means loving everyone without conditions, supporting people from all walks of life, and avoiding hypocrisy.

Dolly Parton passed away on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80 in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer, surrounded by loved ones. Her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, had predeceased her in 2025.

A Jewish woman wrote today:

Dolly passed away at 80 years old today.She was a woman of strong faith-the healthy kind. Although I am Jewish, I have many Christian friends who have demonstrated,as Dolly did, what it means to truly follow Christ's teachings. Unlike the phonies that we snark about here, she was the complete opposite. I wish more people were like her, in every faith. She embraced everyone regardless of race, religion,sexual orientation, and nationality. She not only talked the talk, she walked the walk.

Another person wrote:

In 1988 Dolly Parton pulled every 7th and 8th grader in Sevier County into a room and told them to pick a buddy. She made them sign a contract.. if BOTH graduate, she hands you both $500. One fails, nobody gets paid. The county dropout rate went from 35% to 6%. She handed out the checks herself. 

In 1989 she offered $500 to every kid in the county who wanted to go to the local college. 

 

When Gatlinburg burned in 2016, she sent 900 families $1,000 a month for six months. You've probably heard that part. Here's the part you haven't: The fund raised more than expected, so she showed up in May and handed every one of those families another $5,000 on top. Then she quietly put $3 million into the recovery group that handles the years after the news trucks leave. 

She built her county an entire hospital. She played a benefit concert in 2007, Dollywood and the Stampede matched it, and LeConte Medical Center opened in 2010 with a birthing unit and a women's center in it. 

In 2022 she started covering 100% of tuition, books, and fees for Dollywood employees. Full-time, part-time, AND seasonal. 

In 1991 she paid for a bald eagle sanctuary because the birds couldn't be released back into the wild, no press release. 

And when Hurricane Helene came through here in Western North Carolina, she wrote a personal check for $1 million and her companies matched it. She didn't owe North Carolina anything, but she helped us anyway. 

She started the Imagination Library because her daddy couldn't read or write. Before he passed, he told her it was the most important thing she ever did.

So, right now, I know that there is a certain element reading here that is getting all pissy and offended in self-righteous indignation at the mention of Dolly on this blog. So my question is: What will the Churches of God be remembered for in 50 years from now? What will people say about Church of God leaders who ruled their churches with heavy hands and abusive tactics?

What legacy has Herbert Armstrong left in Pasadena? Ninety percent of the city now knows nothing about the guy, other than a few plaques on the dismantled grounds of the old Ambassador Campus. Those that do remember recall all of the scandals and news articles eviscerating the church and its leaders. What lasting legacy has HWA left, other than hundreds and hundreds of splinter groups all claiming they are the one and only true church and that they and they alone are the best? What has Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, or Gerald Flurry ever given us that was meaningful and worthwhile? Endless “prophetic” updates that somehow never quite land, demands for more tithes to keep their personal empires humming, and the constant reminder that everyone else is wrong while they alone hold the keys to the kingdom. A true monument to humility and service, no doubt—scattered little kingdoms more skilled at condemning the world (and each other) than actually lifting a finger to help it.

A lot of the major religions (Catholic and Protestant) formed the first schools of learning in Europe and the US, though today most have drifted from their religious roots. Churches have built hospitals, nursing homes, retirement communities, schools, and much more. All of the Ambassador Colleges have been sold and now dismantled, either bought by another cult or torn down to make housing for the elite. Other than Ambassador Auditorium, there is no legacy of the church passing anything on to their communities.

What will our legacy be as a church? At the present moment in COG history it is rather a shitty mess.

At whatever point in time Dolly meets her moment of glory and in whatever location it might be, she will be told: “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”

The Suspenders of Doom: How One Man in Iowa Just Demoted Germany and Promoted Trump to Full-Time Beast

 

God's greatest gift to the church (after Bob Thiel, of course) is Samuel Kitchen—the self-appointed restorer of the last true remnant of the Worldwide Church of God, just did a video broadcast straight from what appears to be a red-curtain bacchanal in one of those trailers at Stateline behind the casinos on your way to Vegas (or is that the official “ripped-off photo from Pasadena headquarters from the 1980s?). And what a fashion statement our new fearless end-time watchman was as he heralded in the imminent Beast system! Red shirt to symbolize the scarlet beast and black suspenders to symbolize its two horns.  

Yes, brethren. Nothing says “I am the sole authorized spokesman of the New and Improved Worldwide Church of God, holder of the sacred name, collector of tithes, owner of the greatest aggregator of COG literature since Ron Stephens, and sole possessor of the official COG decoder ring for the Bible, quite like dressing like a 1950s short-order cook on Route 66.  

In this latest prophetic masterpiece titled “Donald Trump…Future Beast?” (59 whole views and counting!), our suspendered sage continues his noble quest of recycling Herbert W. Armstrong’s greatest hits—British-Israelism, Germany-as-Assyria, place of safety in Petra, the whole dusty catalog—except now he’s improvising. Apparently the classic “man from Germany” Assyrian plot twist is getting a little stale, so why not pivot mid-sentence and declare that the Beast might actually be…Donald Trump? 

Half-German, half-whatever, building a great economy, auditing the nation like a cosmic receiver, and preparing to be possessed by Satan for a tidy 3½ years.  

Brilliant. 

Decades of meticulous Armstrongist charts proving the Beast rises from a United States of Europe just got yeeted into the Iowa cornfields because one man in suspenders had a new revelation while blabbering in front of the beastly red curtain. 

The Worldwide Church of God “fell into the hands of apostates,” you see, so only Samuel can now properly warn the world that looking “across the pond” for the Beast is so 1986. Look in the backyard instead! Or the Oval Office! Or wherever the algorithm points next week!  

Truly the cutting edge of 21st-century prophecy. Dave Pack, Bob Thiel and Gerald Flurry are shaking in their boots right now.