Reeducation in the World Tomorrow?

Herbert Armstrong had a very low opinion of this world's education system, and the scholarly elite which it produced. In his book, Tomorrow - What It Will Be Like (Chapter 5: Education and Religion Tomorrow), he wrote: We covered a section on this world's paganized, agnostic, decadent education earlier in this book. The academic system was founded by the pagan philosopher Plato. It has always remained pagan. Injected into it, in more recent times, has been German rationalism and the atheistic theory of evolution. He continued: Modern education has been based on a false, erroneous, untrue foundation. The supposedly educated of this world, even the great minds, have absorbed false knowledge. They have been trained in a false approach to knowledge. Almost always, error is based on a false assumed premise or hypothesis, taken for granted, never questioned-and, of course, unproved. The "educated" minds have been filled with such false hypotheses. They have allowed a false sense of values to flood their minds. Armstrong reasoned that the whole concept of education had been perverted and twisted, and he concluded that a whole new system would have to be instituted when God's Kingdom was established on this earth!

Unfortunately, like many Fundamentalists and Literalists before him, Armstrong viewed the findings of science as an attack on God and religion. This caused him to reject any evidence which he felt contradicted the Bible or his belief system. In his mind, they simply had to be wrong! Armstrong reasoned that - if they were right, then he and God would be wrong - and that could NEVER be. If this reasoning is beginning to sound circular to you, then you may be on to something! For Herbert Armstrong and his followers, the Genesis account of creation explained the mechanics of how life in all of its varied forms came to exist on this planet. Instead of seeing those chapters as an emphatic statement about God's role as Creator, they see it as the ONLY valid scientific explanation of how the earth and universe began! In other words, they turn spiritual/supernatural revelation into a scientific text. In reality, the Theory of Evolution provides a well-documented explanation for the diversity of life that we see all around us. It is evidence-based, and it has absolutely NOTHING to say on the subject of God and/or "his" role in creation!

At any rate, all of his angst about the educated of this world served as the basis for Armstrong's speculation about education in "The World Tomorrow." Armstrong wrote: In God's millennial civilization, the basis of all knowledge dissemination will be revelation. Light will replace darkness-truth will replace error. Understanding will replace crass materialism. True knowledge will replace intellectual ignorance. (Tomorrow - What It Will Be Like) Likewise, Herbert reasoned that this world's educated elite would be the toughest nut to crack when Christ returns. He wrote: Yes, indeed, the educating and reeducating of the world will be one of the most important tasks the Kingdom of God will face, after Christ returns to rule. Today people follow the false and deceptive values. Their entire thinking will require a reorientation-a change of direction. Now, while Mr. Armstrong's reasoning appears reasonable and progressive at first glance, we can clearly discern that it is extra-biblical when we take a second look. Armstrong identified a problem (education and the educated of this world) and then reasoned that it will have to be resolved in "The World Tomorrow," without referencing any scriptures to back up his reasoning! Moreover, Armstrong then proceeded to offer what he felt would be a reasonable solution to the problem: Christ would use his (Armstrong's) folks to reeducate the world!

In support of this conclusion, Armstrong turned to one of his favorite passages about the future Kingdom. However, before we address his interpretation of the passage, I'd like to quote it for our readers without prejudice. In the fourth chapter of the prophet Micah, we read: It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore... (Micah 4:1-3, ESV) Now, in response to this passage, Armstrong wrote: This knowledge-this teaching-and even knowledge of God's Law-shall go forth from the Church-and from Jerusalem, the new world capital. The problem, of course, is that this passage does NOT mention the Church anywhere - Armstrong injected this into the passage! Notice also that it is the nations themselves who will be seeking God's help - "that HE may teach us his ways." Notice too that there would not be any opportunities for them to learn about war anymore. In other words, Micah has absolutely NOTHING to say about ACOG folks reeducating the rest of the world!

Talk about a leap in logic. Herbert Armstrong went on to write: This Headquarters Church, at Christ's own world capital of Jerusalem, then, undoubtedly, will be given the administration of the world's new system of education. Did you notice that word "undoubtedly"? In other words, this is the only reasonable conclusion for us to reach! Is that, however, true? Even so, the speculation didn't stop there. Armstrong went on to conclude: Also, the indication is that the teaching of spiritual truth-of the true gospel, the spiritual conversion of the world-will be directed, worldwide, from this Headquarters Church, under Elijah and the overall direct supervision of Jesus Christ. Now, laying aside the fact that all of this is unsupported by scripture and is based entirely on Armstrong's reasoning out the "problem," how likely do you think that it would be for God to use a group of educators to retrain the world whose own teachings have been so thoroughly discredited by reputable sources? Indeed, Mr. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God doesn't even exist today - some forty years after the death of its founder!

At this point, I think that it would be appropriate to actually examine some of the appropriate prophetic scriptures dealing with the dissemination of spiritual knowledge in God's Kingdom. In the book of Jeremiah, we read: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, ESV) Notice that God intends to put his law within them and write it on their hearts. Moreover, we are informed that it will no longer be necessary to instruct people to "Know the Lord, for they shall ALL know me." Finally, this passage seems to imply that spiritual knowledge is inextricably linked to forgiveness of sins! In other words, no teachers appear to be necessary in this passage!

Finally, there is that other Armstrong favorite passage from the book of Isaiah. Anyone with any background whatsoever in one of the ACOGs will remember the often-quoted passage from the eleventh chapter of Isaiah. After talking about the shoot which emerges from the stump of Jesse (Jesus Christ) and the nature of his person and reign (Isaiah 11:1-5), we are treated to a vision of his Kingdom. We read: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:6-10, ESV) Once again, we notice that the nations will seek him. Also, we are told that "They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be FULL of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Universal knowledge of God and "his" ways, but no mention of ACOG teachers reeducating people!

Bottom line - the world will be reeducated in a sense, but it won't be as Herbert Armstrong imagined it. Scripture indicates that it will be accomplished by a Divine miracle, and the willingness of the people of all nations to learn about God and his will for us. Moreover, as with our own experience, it appears that this will be accomplished by believing in Jesus Christ and accepting what he has done for us. In other words, no crash course in Torah will be necessary! What do you think?


by Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix

After 3½ Years of Tribulation, Bob and His Itty-Bitty Law-Enforcement Squad Will Finally Whip You Into Loving the Rules — No Elections Needed!

Herbert Armstrong’s “New Covenant”: Divine Dictatorship, Celestial Nepotism, and Why Bob Thiel Is Still Pretending It Makes Sense in 2026

God’s favorite crackpot is back. Bob Thiel, head of the tiny and improperly named "Continuing" Church of God splinter, has once again dusted off Herbert W. Armstrong’s dusty pamphlets to warn us that America (and the rest of the world, but mostly America) is about to endure 3½ years of hell so that, at the end of it, he and his microscopic band of law-enforcers can finally whip the survivors into shape. Then everyone will live happily ever after under “the New Covenant.”

Wait until you see what Armstrong actually called the New Covenant. It’s the kind of theological slop that makes you wonder why Armstrongism talks about it so rarely — because once you read it, the whole edifice starts looking like a cosmic HOA run by immortal busybodies who never got over being mocked due to Crackpot Bob's silly utterances.

Here’s Armstrong in his own words, from Tomorrow…What It Will Be Like (and repeated in Mystery of the Ages):

It will not be man’s government over man. Man has proven his utter incapability of ruling himself. 

It will be Divine Government — the Government of God. 

It will not be government from the bottom up. 

The people will have no votes. 

It will not be government of or by the people — but it will be government for the people. 

It will be government from the top (God Almighty) down.

There will be no election campaigns. No campaign fund-raising dinners. No dirty political campaigns…

No human will be given any government office. 

All in government service will then be Divine Spirit beings, in the Kingdom of God — the God Family.

All officials will be appointed — and by the Divine Christ, who reads and knows men’s hearts…

There will then be two kinds of beings on earth — humans, being ruled by those made divine. 

Some resurrected saints will rule over ten cities, some over five…

And then Herbert's definition of  the New Covenant:

What Is the New Covenant? 

In short, under the new Covenant which Christ is coming to usher in, what we shall see on earth is happiness, peace, abundance, and justice for all. Did you ever read just what this New Covenant will consist of? Did you suppose it will do away with God’s Law? Exactly the opposite. “For this is the covenant that Christ is coming to establish, you’ll read in Hebrews 8:10; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts…” 

 

When God’s Laws are in our hearts — when we love God’s ways, and in our hearts want to live by them, human nature will be put under subjection — people will want to live the Way that is the cause of peace, happiness, abundance, joyful well-being! 

 

But remember, the humans remaining on the earth after Christ’s return — ruled then by Christ and those resurrected or changed to immortality — will themselves still have human nature. They will be still unconverted. 

 

But Christ and the governing Kingdom of God, then set up as the Governing Family, will bring about the coming utopia by two basic courses of action. 

 

1) All crime, and organized rebellion will be put down by force — Divine supernatural force.

2) Christ will then set His hand to reeducate and to save or spiritually convert the world.

Let that sink in.

According to Armstrong, the New Covenant is not primarily about Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice, the indwelling Holy Spirit, or the forgiveness of sins through faith. No, no. It’s about setting up a post-apocalyptic theocracy where:

• Dead people who got the resurrection upgrade become your unelected, immortal bosses (along with true Philadelphian COG members).
• They “read your heart” like some kind of divine HR department with X-ray vision.
• You, the surviving mortal, still have the same sinful human nature Armstrong spent decades railing against.
• But don’t worry — the laws will be magically written on your heart so you’ll want to obey… while the immortals stand ready with “divine supernatural force” to crush any organized rebellion.

The continuation of the passage (which Thiel’s site also loves to quote) makes it even clearer: 

Christ and the saints will bring about utopia by two basic courses of action — (1) put down all crime and rebellion by divine force, and (2) re-educate everyone in God’s way. 

 

So the New Covenant, in this telling, is basically “We’ll beat the sin out of you until you love the rules.” Or, if that fails, the resurrected saints who rule over ten cities will handle it.

The actual New Covenant, as described in Jeremiah 31 and explained at length in Hebrews 8–10, is already in effect. It is not something Christ is “coming to establish” after a future tribulation. It was established by His blood on the cross. It is an internal transformation by the Holy Spirit for those who believe — not an external enforcement regime run by glorified humans lording it over unconverted mortals. The writer of Hebrews spends chapters showing how the New Covenant is superior precisely because it does not rely on the old system of external law and human (or even angelic) mediators in the same way.

Armstrong took a beautiful promise of heart-level change and turned it into a justification for a two-tier society: the immortal ruling class and the mortal peasant class who still need the rod of iron (Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15) applied when necessary.

And he had the gall to call this the New Covenant.

Armstrong insists humans will still have human nature and be unconverted after Christ returns. Yet the New Covenant is supposedly writing God’s laws on their hearts so thoroughly that they’ll love righteousness.

If the laws are truly written on the heart by the Spirit, why do you still need immortal stormtroopers ready to use “divine supernatural force” against rebellion? If people still have unconverted human nature, how exactly are the laws “written in their hearts”? It’s theological whiplash. Armstrong wanted to keep his favorite doctrines (Sabbath, holy days, tithing, British-Israelism, the “government of God” hierarchy) while also claiming the New Covenant. So he just redefined the New Covenant as “the Millennium, but with extra law enforcement and resurrected middle managers.”

This is where it gets truly pathetic. Bob Thiel didn’t invent this stuff. He inherited a broken theological framework from a man who declared himself the end-time Elijah, built a personality cult, predicted the end of the world multiple times, and died in 1986 while his church promptly abandoned most of his distinctive teachings.

Instead of admitting that Armstrong’s eschatology was a house of cards built on proof-texting and British-Israel fan fiction, Thiel and his microscopic following treat every Armstrong pamphlet like holy writ. They repost this 1970s-era fever dream about immortal city-managers reading your heart and suppressing rebellion with supernatural force, and they call it “prophecy.”

It’s not prophecy. It’s nostalgia for a cult that promised its members they would be the ones ruling over ten cities while everyone else groveled. It’s the ultimate power fantasy dressed up in biblical language: “One day we will be the ones with all the authority and no one will be allowed to vote against us.”

The New Covenant was never about creating a permanent underclass of mortals ruled by an immortal elite. That’s just what happens when you let a radio preacher from the 1930s–80s rewrite the Bible to match his authoritarian personality and his followers’ desire to feel special.

So yes — it’s no wonder Armstrongism is “filled with ignorance on the topic.” 

They don’t talk much about the actual New Covenant because doing so would expose how thoroughly they’ve mangled it to preserve their own little theocratic daydream.

Bob Thiel can keep quoting the slop if he wants. The rest of us will stick with the version where the New Covenant is about grace, the Spirit, and a kingdom that doesn’t require resurrected bureaucrats to read your mind and decide whether you get to rule five cities or zero. 

That one actually sounds like good news. Armstrong’s version just sounds like hell.

From Morning Stars to Martian Puppet Masters: Wade Cox Makes History, Aviation, and Basic Logic Look Stupid in One Glorious Brain Fart

 

Wade Cox’s “Transfer of the Rule of the Morning Stars” has ben posted in the so-called "Christian" Churches of God Facebook page as if it is propehcy timeline detailing the endtimes. It is a fever-dream asinine load of garbage written by an Armstrongite splinter-group coordinator, who, like Bob Thiel has apparently decided that the Bible is too vague and needs his personal charts of doom attached to it.

Wade Cox, self-appointed Coordinator General of the "Christian" Churches of God and professional date-setter, has graced us with yet another masterpiece of eschatological fanfiction. This time he’s not content with just moving the apocalypse to 2030 and blaming the Hillel calendar for everything. No — he’s now claiming the Fallen Host (disguised as aliens)actually started the American Civil War and every single war since then. He also insists the US government has been reverse-engineering demonic spacecraft technology to design new aircraft.

This is the same theological sludge (but with added twaddle)that has been peddled by various Armstrongite offshoots for decades: British-Israelite-adjacent tribalism, obsessive Old Testament legalism, rabid anti-Trinitarianism, and a pathological need to set dates that the Bible explicitly forbids anyone from setting. Cox just adds extra layers of calendar autism and a cast of thousands of demons, popes being executed on Roman hills, sapce aliens, interstellar techonolgy, Islam, and humans turning into literal elohim (little gods). It is blatant heresy from start to finish, and it deserves to be mocked with the full force of sarcasm it has earned.The Date-Setting Industrial Complex (Because Matthew 24:36 Is Just a Suggestion)Cox has the entire end of the world choreographed down to the day:

• Time of the End allegedly began at Purim 2026 (early March).
• WWIII / Sixth Trumpet war kills a third of mankind.
• Empire of the Beast consolidates by Trumpets 2026.
• Two Witnesses (Enoch & Elijah) arrive at Atonement/Jubilee ~September 20-21, 2026.
• They die on or around March 28/31, 2030.
• Christ returns March/April 2030 (Day 1264 of their ministry).
• Second Exodus finishes by Day 1335.

As of July 7, 2026, we are supposedly deep into the Great Tribulation, with the Northern armies (Russia/East) having already swept into Europe, destroyed NATO, occupied the Middle East, reduced Damascus to rubble, set up military HQ in Gaza, and generally been busy killing hundreds of millions while the Beast power takes over the planet.

Instead, the big news is a NATO summit in Ankara, ongoing Russia-Ukraine tensions, and some Iran-related strikes in the Strait of Hormuz. 

• No global thermonuclear exchange. 
• No third of humanity dead. 
• No Witnesses calling fire from heaven on the Temple Mount. 
• No concentration camps for Trinitarian clergy. 

Just another summer of geopolitical posturing.

This is the same genre of prophecy that Herbert Armstrong used to sell magazines with. His big one was 1975. It didn’t happen. The splinters have been moving the goalposts ever since. Cox is just the latest guy with a spreadsheet and a Messiah complex.The Bible says no one knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36). Cox has not only named the day, he has named the *intercalary month* and whether it’s a Sabbath or not. That isn’t boldness. That’s the theological equivalent of writing “I know better than Jesus” in crayon.

Cox has the end of the world choreographed down to the day, including the exact intercalary month. The Bible says no one knows the day or the hour. Cox has not only named the day — he has blamed aliens for starting the Civil War to set the whole timeline in motion.

As of right now in July 2026 his “Time of the End” that supposedly began at Purim has produced… nothing apocalyptic. The demons must be slacking. Or maybe they’re too busy helping the US Air Force design the next stealth fighter.

In his article he discusses the Godhead.

The Godhead According to Cox: Satan Was the Morning Star Landlord for 6,000 YearsIn Cox’s cosmology:

• There is “Eloah” (the One True God).
• There are multiple “elohim” (gods).
• Satan (the other Morning Star) was literally put in charge of Earth by God for the full 6,000 years.
• Christ is the subordinate Elohim who gets the job in 2030.
• The fallen host will be sent to “the Pit of Tartaros in the Euphrates Basin.”
• The elect will be resurrected as elohim (gods) to rule with Christ.

Cox’s view of God is already heretical nonsense — multiple elohim, Christ as subordinate, humans becoming little gods, Satan as literal planetary CEO for 6,000 years. Now he’s added that these same space demons started the bloodiest war in American history. Calling mainstream Christianity “Baal worship” while claiming UFOs kicked off the Civil War is peak cultic inversion. The early church would have laughed this man out of the room just as the modern church today does.

This is not Christianity. This is warmed-over Arianism with a side of polytheism and a Satan who is basically God’s property manager who got a bit handsy with the tenants. It directly contradicts the biblical presentation of the one true God in three Persons, the full deity of Christ (John 1:1, Colossians 2:9, Hebrews 1:3, etc.), and the complete defeat of Satan at the cross rather than him being a divinely appointed planetary CEO until 2030.

Calling Trinitarian Christianity “Baal worship” and “Satanic Sun Cult” while promoting this two-Morning-Stars, humans-become-gods nonsense is peak cultic inversion. The early church spent centuries fighting exactly this kind of subordinationist garbage. Cox has simply resurrected it with extra end-times cosplay.Calendar Fetishism: The One True Faith Is Getting the New Moons RightAccording to Cox, the single most important issue in the last days is whether you use the “Temple Calendar” or the evil, Satanic, Hillel (rabbinic) calendar. Hillel intercalation in 2026 makes the entire Jubilee year “a month late” and therefore zero days of it are under God’s protection. So if you’re keeping the wrong calendar in 2027, Satan can apparently smite you with impunity on every single feast day.The Witnesses will apparently spend their first 90 days educating people on the correct calendar and then start hitting non-compliant rabbis, Sardis/Laodicean ministers, and random church members with the plagues of Egypt (boils, hemorrhoids, the works) until they submit.This is not biblical Christianity. This is Pharisaic legalism on bath salts. The New Testament is crystal clear that the shadows (including calendar regulations) were fulfilled in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). Cox has turned the calendar into a salvation issue and a mechanism for divine smiting. It is grotesque.

Only the correct Temple Calendar gives God’s protection. Wrong calendar? Space demons can smite you. And apparently those same demons were busy starting the Civil War in 1861 while arguing about intercalation.

Cox has turned salvation into an argument over New Moons while simultaneously claiming aliens caused every war in modern history. The man’s brain is a special kind of place.

The Two Witnesses FanficEnoch and Elijah show up on the Temple Mount with power to:

• Stop the rain for 3.5 years
• Call fire from heaven
• Send whatever plagues they feel like
• Cause earthquakes

They will also apparently start executing Sunday-keeping Trinitarians in Jerusalem on arrival.The Bible never names the Two Witnesses. Cox’s choice of Enoch and Elijah is common in some circles but still speculative. Turning them into a supernatural hit squad that enforces the Temple Calendar with hemorrhoids is pure creative writing. The idea that these two men will be running around Jerusalem in 2027-2030 zapping people for wrong feast observance while the Beast power is supposedly in charge is cinematic nonsense.

Enoch and Elijah will show up with superpowers to enforce the calendar. But first, according to Cox, their demonic counterparts already did the hard work of starting the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and everything else.Because obviously the real reason 620,000 Americans died wasn’t slavery or union or economics. It was space demons testing humanity’s worthiness for the First Resurrection. 

Wade’s historical scholarship is truly groundbreaking. By which I mean it’s in the ground where actual history is buried.

Cox now claims the Fallen Host, appearing as aliens, didn’t just use the American Civil War — they started it. They whispered into the ears of both sides, engineered the division, and ensured maximum bloodshed to weaken America for their long-term takeover.

And it didn’t stop there. Every war since 1861 — World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf Wars, current conflicts — all orchestrated by the same extraterrestrial deceivers.

[Let that sink in. According to Wade Cox, the real cause of the Civil War was not 4 million enslaved human beings or states’ rights or economic systems. It was gray aliens in flying saucers who wanted to set up WWIII in 2026. Gettysburg was apparently a UFO hotspot. Appomattox was just the aliens getting bored. This is not theology. This is a man who watched too many History Channel alien shows and decided to write his own fanfiction while ignoring every actual history book ever printed.]

He further insists the US Government has been reverse-engineering the demons’ spacecraft technology since WWII to design and build new aircraft. Your fighter jets, stealth bombers, and “next-gen” planes are not the product of human engineers at Lockheed or Boeing. They are stolen demonic alien tech.

[Yes, Wade. The F-35 Lightning II was clearly reverse-engineered from a captured UFO that also happened to start the Civil War 160 years earlier. Human ingenuity is apparently impossible without help from the same space demons who are also running the Hillel calendar conspiracy. The SR-71 Blackbird? Obviously a Tartaros prototype with a fresh paint job. This level of stupidity is almost impressive. Almost.]

The man who can’t get basic 19th-century American history right is also the man who knows the exact day in 2030 when Christ returns. The same man whose 2026 predictions have already failed spectacularly. The same man who thinks your airplane was built with space demon parts.This isn’t just wrong. This is historically illiterate, prophetically bankrupt, and comically stupid.

The Empire of the Beast and the Rest of the Raving

Cox details the Beast power, the destruction of Trinitarian systems, concentration camps for false teachers, a “tithe of the tithe” of 90 million special people, and the Second Exodus by Day 1335.Now with the exciting new twist that aliens started all of it in 1861.

When 2030 arrives and nothing happens (again), Cox will move the goalposts. The aliens will be blamed for the delay. The calendar will be blamed. Everyone who laughed at him will be blamed. Never once will he consider that maybe — just maybe — claiming space demons started the Civil War and built the US Air Force makes him look like a complete idiot.

The Rest of the Raving Insantity:

• Detailed scenarios of popes being dragged over the bodies of their priests and executed on Roman hills.
• Concentration camps for false priests, imams, and teachers until the survivors can be “re-educated” not to want to kill them.
• A “tithe of the tithe” — roughly 90 million special people extracted from 9+ billion to become the Holy Seed and future leaders.
• Demons still influencing people even after they’re supposedly defeated.
• The entire non-Cox-compliant world being either converted or dead by 2030.

It is apocalyptic pornography dressed up as exegesis. Every failed date-setting cult in history has produced exactly this kind of granular, confident nonsense right before their dates quietly expire and everyone pretends it was “symbolic” or “conditional.”VerdictWade Cox’s article is a masterclass in everything wrong with date-setting, legalistic, anti-Trinitarian Armstrongite splinter groups. It takes genuine biblical themes (the return of Christ, judgment, the importance of obedience), twists them into a grotesque legalistic timeline, adds a completely unbiblical view of God and Satan, and then has the audacity to present it as “the sequence” that Scripture demands we follow.It is heresy. It is false prophecy. It is the theological equivalent of a man standing on a street corner with a sandwich board that says “THE END IS NIGH… AND I HAVE THE EXACT DATE AND THE CORRECT CALENDAR SYSTEM.”

The tragedy is that people get sucked into these systems, terrified of the wrong calendar or the wrong baptism or not keeping the feasts correctly, while the actual Gospel — salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of the fully divine Christ — gets buried under 6000-year timelines and hemorrhoid plagues.

When 2030 comes and goes without the Second Exodus or the 144,000 serving Christ in a rebuilt Temple while 90 million Holy Seed people run the world, Cox and his followers will do what every other failed date-setter has done: move the goalposts, claim “we never set an exact date,” or blame the lack of repentance.The Bible has already told us how to spot this stuff. Beware of false prophets. This one is particularly loud, particularly detailed, and particularly wrong.

This is not prophecy.

This is not scholarship.

This is a man making himself look spectacularly, historically, and prophetically stupid in real time.

As of July 2026 his timeline is already in the dumpster. Adding “space demons did Gettysburg” to the pile doesn’t save it — it just makes the dumpster fire brighter and funnier.The Bible already told us how to spot this stuff. Beware of false prophets. This one isn’t just false — he’s historically illiterate and aviation-conspiracy-level absurd.When the dates keep failing, the only thing left for Cox to blame will be the aliens he invented to explain why he’s always wrong

Silent Pilgrim

Guess Which COG Leader Just Blew His Tiny Kazoo And Declared His Church The Modern Day Gideon's Army

 

Crackpot Bob, the self-appointed prophet and fearless leader of the improperly named "Continuing" Church of God, has once again blessed the internet with his theological genius. He’s recycled an old sermon outline from the late Jim Rector (via the late Richard Close), because doing something original is never an option, slapped on some extra scriptures for good measure, and declared that his tiny CCOG is basically Gideon’s elite 300-man army. You know, the one that routed a massive enemy horde with nothing but trumpets, broken pitchers, and torches. 
Because apparently, when your group is small, scattered, and mostly in Africa while the rest of Christianity carries on without you, the only logical conclusion is that God personally sifted out all the losers so you could be the faithful few with “little strength.” How convenient. How humble. How not at all like every other tiny splinter group that ever claimed the same thing.
Back in the book of Judges, Israel was busy doing what Israel did best: turning away from God, worshiping Baal, and generally acting like they’d never heard of the Ten Commandments. So God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, allowed the Midianites to come in and humble the ever-loving daylights out of them for seven years. Raids, oppression, hiding wheat in winepresses — the full “you done messed up” package. Only after Israel finally cried out did God raise up Gideon, a guy so confident in his own abilities that he was threshing wheat in a winepress out of sheer terror.
God then did the classic divine flex: gathered 32,000 volunteers, immediately said “Too many, they’ll think they did it themselves,” sent home the 22,000 who admitted they were scared, and then whittled the rest down to 300 alert water-lappers who didn’t kneel like they were at a spa day. These 300 then performed the ancient equivalent of a flash mob with noisemakers and flashlights, causing the vastly superior enemy force to freak out and start killing each other.
The whole point? God was humbling Israel through the very attack that brought them low. The oppression wasn’t some random test for a special remnant — it was consequence and correction for national sin. And the victory was 100% God showing off so nobody could brag.
Now, enter Crackpot Bob, stage left, wearing his prophet hat and clutching his “Gideon’s Army: Lessons for Philadelphian Believers!” article like it’s the Dead Sea Scrolls.
According to Crackpot Bob's expanded masterpiece, this is all about his church. The sifting? That’s God lovingly removing the fearful and uncommitted — you know, like all those people who left the old WCG for various reasons that totally weren’t just “fear.” The 300? That’s the tiny, yielded Philadelphian remnant (wink wink, CCOG) who walk by faith, not sight, support the work, and rely on the Spirit instead of big organizations or human strength.
The empty pitchers? Emptied of self, obviously. The torches? The light of Christ shining through Bwana Bob’s followers. The trumpets? Proclaiming the gospel through Crackpot Bob's YouTube channel )when Satan is not picking on Bob) and cogwriter.com posts. The overwhelming odds? Whatever minor inconveniences a small Armstrongist splinter faces in 2026, I suppose.
And the best part? Crackpot Bob helpfully adds that God uses “a handful of truly yielded believers” to accomplish more than entire big corporate churches. Subtle. Very subtle.
In the actual Bible, Israel was being attacked and oppressed specifically to humble them because of their unfaithfulness. The Midianites weren’t some neutral “overwhelming odds” — they were the divine spanking for idolatry. 
Crackpot Bob, however, does not appear to have a single humble bone in his entire body. He’s the guy who left another group in self-righteous indignation because THEY refused to change things he wanted changed, started his own group, declared it the most faithful continuation of the Philadelphia era, and now positions his modest operation as God’s hand-picked 300 for the end times. No national sin to repent of. No divine spanking required. Just pure, unfiltered specialness because the Great Bwana had a temper tantrum.
How inspiring. How biblical. How completely backwards.
Gideon himself was reluctant, demanded multiple signs from God, and later turned around and made a golden ephod that became an idol. But sure, let’s model our modern church leadership after that. The story ends with Israel backsliding again anyway. But never mind — the important lesson is clearly that our small group is the chosen one.
Meanwhile, in Crackpot Bob’s telling, the “sifting” just happens to leave his followers as the pure, humble remnant while everyone else is fearful, Laodicean, or compromised. It’s almost as if the entire exercise exists to make one man’s small organization feel cosmically important rather than, you know, actually teaching dependence on God.
The biblical oppression humbled a whole nation that had grown proud and idolatrous. Thiel’s version lets a tiny splinter pat itself on the back for being small while implying everyone else got weeded out by God for lacking faith. One story is about God bringing low the proud. The other is about the proud declaring themselves the humble ones God chose.
Spot the difference? Crackpot Bob doesn't.
So there you have it, folks. Bob Thiel has taken one of the Bible’s clearest examples of God humbling His people through hardship and turned it into a recruitment poster for his itty-bitty church: “We’re small because we’re special. Everyone else left because they were scared. Also, we’re the 300 with the torches now. Please send tithes.”
Never mind that the original story starts with Israel getting its collective butt kicked precisely because they needed humbling. Never mind that the guy promoting this has built an entire identity around being the faithful remnant leader who sees what others don’t. Never mind any of that.
Because in the wonderful world of Crackpot Bobl’s theology, humility isn’t something God has to impose through difficult circumstances. It’s something you declare about yourself while claiming divine special-forces status.
Truly, the man has no humble bone in his body.
If this is what “lessons for Philadelphian believers” looks like in 2026, I can only say: God help us all. Or at least send better biblical analogies. This one’s embarrassing.