BETRAYAL! Broken Promises, Satanic Attacks, Failed Ordination, Balaam's Wages, FIlthy Lucre, Plus A Topless Woman!

One would think that after decades of being marinated in the fragrant stew of Armstrongism and the Churches of God, absolutely nothing could still make us choke on our herbal teas and Postum "coffees". Fifteen years running this blog, plus all those glorious seasons assisting Gavin Rumney with his, and we’re supposedly unshockable. Bulletproof. Seen it all, from splintering splinters to apostles who think “Joshua the High Priest” is their personal cosplay. Yet somehow these people still manage to innovate new levels of ridiculous. Who knew the one true end-time church—restored with perfect government and doctrine straight from the throne of God Himself—could keep serving up fresh chaos like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet of dysfunction?

But of course it can. Because why wouldn’t it?

Enter stage left: Samuel Kitchen, self-appointed end-time restorer of the once-mighty Worldwide Church of God. In his noble, totally-not-delusional quest to resurrect the corpse of Herbert W.’s empire, Samuel will apparently try anything. Anything at all.

Cue the latest plot twist: a former minister and writer from David C. Pack’s traveling circus (you know, the Restored Church of God, where “restored” apparently means “we’ll change the prophecy timeline again next week while taking all of your money”) reaches out to Samuel. This gentleman, one Jonathan Dicen, expresses a burning desire to join the Great WCG Revival™. And because Dicen claims he was ordained back in the sacred days of the actual Worldwide Church of God, that’s apparently all the vetting Samuel needs. Credentials? Who needs ’em! Discernment? Never heard of her!

Naturally, Dicen graciously bestows upon Samuel the divine apostolic authority to start collecting tithes and offerings. Translation: “Hey kid, here’s a bucket, go shake down the widows for me.” Most of us smelled that scam from orbit, but Samuel? Samuel swallowed it whole and asked for seconds. Though, to his credit, he did hesitate… for about five seconds before accepting the sacred money-collecting mantle. Gotta save up for that glorious day when Aaron Dean finally sees the light, denounces UCG, and comes home to the one true remnant, right?

And then, in a shocking twist literally no one on planet Earth saw coming (except everyone), Dicen offered to ordain Samuel as a minister. Wow. Ordination via random ex-Packite on the internet. Truly, the biblical pattern was restored.

Fast-forward a few days. Satan, clearly bored and in need of entertainment, cranks the drama dial to eleven. Dicen announces he’s jumping ship to another group that’s willing to pay him better. Samuel is shocked—shocked!—to discover that loyalty in Armstrongism is negotiable when cash is involved. Betrayal! Treachery! How could this happen in God’s one true church?

As if that weren’t enough, the Devil personally launches a full-scale assault on poor Samuel’s health, landing him in the hospital multiple times in just a few days. Because obviously, when a shady ordination deal falls apart, the only logical explanation is that Satan himself is rattled by Samuel’s mighty work of restoration.

Truly, brethren, we’ve never seen anything like this before. Except literally every other week for the last forty years. 

Keep the faith, folks. Or whatever’s left of it after this latest episode.

Samuel writes:

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Dear brethren,

When Jonathan Dicen, a minister in the Philippines, approached me, we talked about shared values, and how God says that “two cannot walk together unless they be in agreement”(Amos 3:3).

We had agreed we would walk together moving forward in Christ.

He told me he felt God was reviving the work of the Worldwide Church of God and he wanted to be a part of it, and revive the work there in the Philippines.

He also saw the need for tithes and offerings to be collected in accordance to God’s tithing law. I was not an ordained minister, so have not been able to receive nor handle any tithes and offerings, and Mr Dicen wanted to remedy that. So he “authorized” me to receive tithes and offerings. I published this authorization at his request.

Mr Dicen seems to me to be a very friendly man. I have chatted with him, and talked on the phone with him two times.

This last phone call, he relayed to me how he had been recontacted by another group, hired, and would be included in another group and he would no longer be joining with us and the Worldwide Church of God.

This broke his word to me. We had promised to walk together through thick and thin, through good times and bad times.

He was offered a “better payroll”, so he has decided to step away.  

 

In the Churches of God it’s never been about Jesus, prophecy, or owning church buildings—nope! It’s always been about the real god they truly worship: Money. Cash. Filthy lucre. Cold, hard tithe checks and offerings. 

Because nothing screams “Philadelphian love” quite like obsessively milking widows and poorer members while the ministry upgrades to a newer Lexus. Truly, the love of money isn’t the root of all evil in Armstrongism—it’s the entire tree, the orchard, and the gift shop at the entrance. 

Herbert himself taught us that the Work™ needed your money yesterday, and his spiritual heirs have been faithfully carrying on that sacred tradition ever since. Praise be to the Almighty Dollar—may its value never fluctuate before second and third tithe is due!

I removed my post on our website(worldwidechurchofgod.org) concerning Mr Dicen and tithes and offerings.

I am not surprised at how things came about, but I did step out in faith trusting and asking God to reveal to me who this man was, how trustworthy he is, and whether he is walking with God or not.

I announced his involvement, the authorization and expansion of the work into the Philippines, at his request. He wanted me to send him monthly money to help the work in the Philippines, and he also talked about ordination, as he said it would resolve many problems I have with detractors.

I am not interested in becoming a minister. God is in charge of that. I full support the true ministers, but please brethren beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing, who come along looking like ministers of righteousness.

This appears to been about money and payroll m, and Mr.Dicen accepted the better offer from another group, breaking his word with me, before God and Jesus Christ, and since it was made public it was set before the entire church(at least those who paid attention).

People warned Samuel that Dicen was not on the up and up, including his own brother Timothy. 

I held him accountable, but I also should not have announced his inclusion without finding more knowledge about him. But I did take to prayer when I originally posted, telling God that I can only take people for what they say, I cannot force them or coerce them to do what is right. But since Mr Dicen gave me his word, I held him accountable before everyone.

Now it is sad for me to say, he is no longer walking with us, and has broken his promise.

I trusted in Jesus Christ our head to make things known. He is in complete control of His Church. I trust people too much, but I also want to give people a chance to do the right thing. And so I may appear to be an easy mark, someone to be easily taken advantage of, but my focus is to look to Jesus Christ and be ready to respond zealously and fearlessly.

People can hurt me. I am used to it. I am just saddened to lose trust with someone I was so eager to build truth with, especially when someone comes to you claiming to be a fellow member and brother in Jesus Christ.

But prayers have been answered!!!!!  

 

Oh noes! 

Jonathan Dicen has officially been MARKED, disfellowshipped, and publicly severed from the one true Worldwide Church of God (restored edition, Samuel Kitchen proprietor)! 

Quick, someone sound the shofar and update the master spreadsheet—another dangerous heretic has been dramatically excommunicated from a church that consists of like nine people and a Facebook group! Truly a devastating blow to the Work™. 

How will the end-time restoration ever survive now that a random ex-Packite who lasted all of two weeks has been cast into the outer darkness? Brethren, avert your eyes! Do not even think about speaking to this man!

The Philadelphia remnant remains pure. 

And Jesus Christ INTERVEENED on our behalf as our Good Shepherd. And I now have to publicly sever full connection with Mr Jonathan Dicen.

His actions has caused doubt and confusion for those weak in the faith, and now I have to explain why he is no longer going to be with us.

He still wants me to come to the Philippines, to be ordained into the ministry. I respectfully decline. No. This was not of Jesus Christ! I am not seeking after an office in the ministry. And if Jesus Christ wants me ordained the job will get done by a man authorized by Jesus Christ. When one is so easily swayed by a paycheck, then hirelings hire hirelings. I’m not for sale.

While I appreciate the friendliness, I don’t appreciate the name of God being besmirched because one could not toe the line and not be swayed by balaam’s wages. How much is a red bowl of soup?

So please mark well, his separation. He does not desire it, but I will step forward and now announce it. He is no longer associated with us.

Que the Satanic attack: 

When he first came to me, I went to fast and pray about it. I came down sick and have been in and out of hospitals for the last 3-4 weeks!

It turns out problems that already existed was working against me, but the doctors couldn’t figure out why I was sick and near death’s door! Satan can spiritually CHARGE things where that is the only logical explanation for being that sick. It was keeping me from studying, from listening to sermons, from prayer on my knees as I was battling a fever all the time.

When I ended up in the hospital this last Friday, I couldn’t get church services listed on the website because I was away from my computer in a hospital bed, but I had time to sit up and pray and Bible study and I had a very rewarding Sabbath day! Now I am feeling much better, and now Satan seems to be withdrawing and fleeing. 

 

Note, Satan seems to be fleeing (praise be! miracles do happen!), but don’t pop the Manashevitz quit yet.

Cue the topless woman temptation, because obviously the Devil’s master plan to derail God’s one true end-time restoration involves... strategic nudity. Truly cutting-edge spiritual warfare. How will our brave Elijah-in-training ever resist the ancient and unbeatable snare of... checks notes... women's boobs? Quick, someone fetch the emergency anointing oil and a modestly sized bath towel! The fate of the entire Work™ hangs on whether Samuel can keep his eyes on the Kingdom instead of whatever Beelzebub just sent to his door.

Stay strong, soldier. You’ve survived hospital visits, betrayal by a money-hungry opportunist, and now this ultimate test. We always knew the final hurdle before the Wonderful World Tomorrow would be bare boobs. 

Classic Satan. 

So original.

My neighbor next door, banged on my front door this morning and when I opened she was topless, which I didn’t appreciate, and she began to tell me how loud the voices from my apartment was!

I was alone and I heard no such voices! I explained that maybe it was the tv.

She was stoned and high as a kite, but it seemed to be the cherry on top. Satan and his demons were attacking. I went back inside and began praying asking God to remove the demons, because they were stirring up my neighbors for the reason of possible expulsion from my apartment! That is the only reason i can see why such a thing was occurring to her. Now maybe she heard loud voices coming up from the apartment beneath hers thinking it was me, but she was inspired nevertheless to accuse me falsely of it. That is how demons work.

And now Christ has intervened and protected us from association with the wrong people. I’m sorry for getting hopes high. I had my hopes raised, because i have wanted the work to expand and expand with God’s good blessings. He will and HE IS, but in His own way and timing.

This experience has taught me something about some tactics Satan uses. I was already aware of them, but I wanted to believe this was not the case.

I trusted God and God came through in the end. Many people may cling to us along the way, we cannot judge them for wanting to be with us, but as soon as their fruits are born, we must stand with Jesus Christ.

So no I won’t be going to the Philippines. I won’t be ordained by Mr Dicen. I am rejecting the authority he said he “gave t me” concerning receiving tithes and offerings, but that was deceitful given in order for him to receive money through me. Please do NOT send me nor Me Dicen any tithes and offerings. If any arrive at my address, I will quickly return to sender.

Thank you for your prayers. It seemed too good to be true, but it shall not deter me from looking and trusting in Jesus Christ. Mr Dicen will be held accountable by Christ. Please pray for him, but please beware of him according to Bible command.

In Jesus Christ’s name

Samuel Kitchen 

 

And there you have it, folks—the latest thrilling installment in the never-ending soap opera that is Armstrongism in 2025.

A deluded, yet I think sincere “restorer” gets love-bombed by a mercenary ex-Pack minister, handed a tithe bucket, offered a mail-order ordination, then dramatically betrayed the moment a better paycheck appeared on the horizon. 

Cue the emergency disfellowshipping, the emergency hospital visits, and—of course—the emergency topless woman deployed personally by Satan to try and finish off the one true church.

Yet somehow, through it all, the Philadelphia remnant remains as pure, persecuted, and penniless as ever.

So fear not, dear readers. The end-time Work™ marches on—smaller, louder, and more absurd than ever. Satan may send his topless agents, his false ministers, and his mysterious illnesses, but he’ll never defeat the unassailable truth that God’s real church is wherever the last three diehards are still arguing about 1975 prophecy updates and who gets to keep the tithe envelope this week.

Until the next betrayal, the next “miraculous healing,” and the next emergency Facebook manifesto… keep the faith, protect your wallet, and for the love of all that is holy, stay clothed.

Ehrman's History of the Notion of Heaven and Hell

Ehrman's History of the Notion of Heaven and Hell

I had recently been thinking about our varied beliefs about the afterlife and decided to finally read a book that had been given to me as a birthday gift a couple of years ago. The book was Bart Ehrman's Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. Now, being familiar with some of Bart's other works, I knew that the book would be interesting and well-researched, and I wasn't disappointed. I found much to agree with in the book and a few things to challenge. Some will call this a book review, but I prefer to think of it as an exploration of the parameters and evolution of Judeo-Christian thought regarding the afterlife.

First, I think that it is important to acknowledge that most humans (including those who are not Christian) believe in some kind of continued existence when this life is over. In terms of Western Culture, whether we're talking about Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Jews or Muslims, we find some notion of an afterlife among them all. Hence, it is not at all surprising that we find Christians have similar beliefs about what happens when our present life ends.

Second, as Ehrman points out, it is even more important that we acknowledge the fear which has motivated a great deal of our thinking on this subject. Frankly, it is very unsettling to contemplate the end of our existence - a time when we no longer exist in this world. Moreover, for most of us, it is downright terrifying to contemplate the prospect of being punished for our sins after this life is over. Conversely, even the prospect of being rewarded for our behavior in this life when it is over, can be the source of some anxiety and uncertainty. Will we be reunited with our loved ones? What will we be doing for eternity and will we enjoy it?

Indeed, for Christians, the certainty of death and our fear of it are what motivated Jesus of Nazareth to do what he did for us. In the anonymously written epistle to the Hebrews, we read: "Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying." (Hebrews 2:14-15, NLT) In other words, Christ's sacrifice was meant to address this near universal human fear of our own mortality.

Nevertheless, before we get into what the Judeo-Christian canon of Scripture has to say on the subject, it is essential that we trace the development of Gentile/pagan thought on the subject. Why? Because many of our "Christian" beliefs about the afterlife are rooted in that thinking, NOT in the Bible! Indeed, we will shortly demonstrate that our modern beliefs about the afterlife are more closely aligned with what folks like Plato and Virgil contemplated about them than they are with what Jesus and Paul believed and taught on the subject!

As he skillfully traced the evolution of human thinking on the afterlife, Ehrman wrote: "There were obvious problems with the concept of Hades imagined in the writings of Homer. If everyone has the same fate after death - whether noble or lowly, righteous or wicked, valiant or cowardly - then where is justice? Doesn't this life, in the end, make any sense? Isn't good behavior to be rewarded and evil punished? Won't I get a better hereafter than the brutal tyrant who torture and kills for his own sadistic pleasure, or even that obnoxious fellow who lives across the street?" In other words, these ancient philosophers were grappling with the same kinds of questions which haunt us.

Ehrman continued: "We have seen some hints of what we might call 'differentiated' afterlives even in Homer. Three particularly wicked sinners are punished forever, and a very few individual humans, or semi-humans, related to the gods are rewarded. This differentiation is far more pronounced in Virgil's Aeneid, which portrays fantastic rewards for the upright and horrible punishments for sinners. In the centuries between Homer and Virgil, more than any other thinker and writer, it was Plato who developed the notion of postmortem justice for both the virtuous and the wicked." It is in this very human reasoning that we find the embryo of our own modern notions about heaven and hell!

Like most Christians today, Plato believed that we humans have an immortal soul which departs from our physical bodies at death. For many of us, this "soul" represents our true self. This physical body is merely a temporary abode for the part of us that really makes us a sentient god-like being. Isn't that much at least Scriptural? Yes and no!

In the Old Testament, we read: "Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, NLT) In the Gospel of John, we read that Christ became human and tabernacled among us (John 1:14). Likewise, Paul wrote: "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit." (II Corinthians 5:1-5, NLT) Also, in the second epistle of Peter, we read: "Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease." (1:13-15, NKJV)

Thus, in the light of the above passages of Scripture, it is reasonable to conclude that the Bible teaches that humans have a physical body and a spiritual soul. Nevertheless, we still have to answer the question as to whether this spirit component/soul is inherently immortal. What does Scripture reveal about that?

First, we should note that ONLY God has true immortality (I Timothy 1:17, 6:16). The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are also God (Genesis 1:1-2, Job 33:4, Psalm 90:2, 104:30, 139:7, Matthew 28:19, John 1:1-3, 10:30, Hebrews 1:1-13, Revelation 1:8). Like the Father, they are NOT created entities. They have always existed and will always exist. In this respect, they are UNIQUE! EVERYTHING ELSE was/is created - both physical and spiritual! (Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 40:26, Ezekiel 28:13, 15, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:16, and Revelation 4:11) Moreover, as Creator and the Omnipotent One, God is able to destroy or annihilate ANYTHING He has created!

"What about angels and the resurrected saints?" some will demand. Angels apparently have the ability to exist indefinitely. They are, after all, composed of spirit. However, as we have already demonstrated on this blog in previous posts, God has the ability to annihilate angels (including the former covering Cherub now known as Satan the Devil). Indeed, Scripture reveals that that is exactly what God has planned for him and his demons!

Remember, in the book of Isaiah, we read: "How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths." (Isaiah 14:12-15, NLT) Likewise, in Ezekiel, we read: "You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone— red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone, blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper, blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald—all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire...You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So, I brought fire out from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All who knew you are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end, and you will exist no more.” (Ezekiel 28:12-19, NLT) Finally, in the book of Revelation, we read: "Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet...Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:10-14, NLT)

"But, what about the soul? Isn't that immortal?" The soul is a created thing. Hence, like the rest of creation, it is subject to annihilation by Almighty God! Still not convinced? Once upon a time, Jesus told his apostles: "Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28, NLT) On another occasion, Christ said that it was unwise for his followers to try to hang on to their physical lives, and he asked them: "What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?" (Mark 8:36, NLT) According to your Savior, you can lose your soul! Paul wrote to the saints at Rome that "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23, NLT) Hence, the soul is NOT immortal.

"How then do Christ's followers become immortal?" Paul explained it to the saints at Rome this way: "Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you." (Romans 8:10-11, NLT) This is completely consistent with what Christ told Nicodemus about being born again. He said: "I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life." (John 3:5-6, NLT) In other words, the Holy Spirit (God) makes our soul immortal, and that Divine spark is there the instant that we receive God's Spirit! Christ said: "I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life." (John 5:24, NLT)

Getting back to Ehrman, what is his thesis about Christ's views and teachings about the afterlife? He wrote: "Jesus did not teach that when a person died they would go to heaven or hell. He taught that the Day of Judgment was soon to come, when God would destroy all that is evil and raise the dead, to punish the wicked and reward the faithful by bringing them into his eternal, utopian kingdom." Now, that will come as a surprise to many of my more traditionally minded Christian friends; but it would probably also come as quite a shock to some of my Armstrongist friends. "Where does Lonnie stand on this issue?" I think that Ehrman is right and that most traditional Christians and Armstrongists do NOT really understand the nature of what Jesus believed and taught about the afterlife.

According to the Gospels, Jesus of Nazareth believed in and taught about the resurrection of the dead. In the Synoptic Gospels, there is a story about Christ being confronted by the Sadducees with a question about the concept of a resurrection (Matthew 22:23-30, Mark 12:18-25, Luke 20:27-36). After dealing with their challenge, all three gospel accounts inform us that Christ said something along these lines: "But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So, he is the God of the living, not the dead." (Matthew 22:31-32, Mark 12:26-27, Luke 20:37-38, NLT) Even so, there is probably no more succinct statement of Christ's beliefs about the resurrection than one found in the Gospel of John. We read there that Jesus said: "I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man. Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment." (John 5:25-29, NLT)

Moreover, Paul believed and taught the very same thing! In the famous "Resurrection Chapter" of his letter to the saints at Corinth, we read: "But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless." (I Corinthians 15:12-14, NLT) Paul then reassured them that their face was well-placed and began to explain exactly how the resurrection will work. He wrote: "But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back." (I Corinthians 15:20-23, NLT)

Absolutely NOTHING about going to heaven or hell when we die! But where did this notion originate? It is too simplistic to say that we inherited it from Plato and Virgil (although they certainly popularized these notions). No, it is more accurate to say that these notions about punishments and rewards and going to heaven or hell upon death arose from our own flawed human reasoning and sense of justice. "God wouldn't allow us to lose consciousness or have to wait for hundreds or thousands of years after our death - would he?" Continuing with this line of thinking, "God wouldn't simply annihilate sinners and grant eternal life to the righteous, would he? How is that fair and just? Don't murderers, rapists, and child molesters deserve to be tormented? Don't the righteous deserve a paradise with lots of good food, drink, and companionship waiting on the other side? In other words, isn't the Christ - Paul formula just a little bit boring and too easy?" Of course, we could throw a few questions back in the other direction as well. Is it really fair to punish someone for all of eternity for sins spread out over a brief human lifespan?

Now, having said all of that, Scripture does seem to point to some kind of interim state between death and the resurrection. In the book of Ecclesiastes, we quoted a passage which also seems appropriate here: "Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, NLT) Likewise, we know that Saul is said to have consulted the ghost of Samuel (I Samuel 28:7-25). We are also informed in the book of Revelation: "When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. They shouted to the Lord and said, 'O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?' Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them." (Revelation 6:9-11, NLT) What does this interim state entail? As Scripture is silent on the subject, anything I offered here would be pure speculation.

What's the point of all of this? We can believe whatever we choose to believe. We can follow Dante into hell? We can visit the Elysian Fields. Imagination is a beautiful thing! But please, let's not fool ourselves that our fantasies are supported by Scripture or reflect the teachings of Christ and his apostles! Moreover, for those who profess to follow Christ, wouldn't it make sense to embrace what he believed and taught about the afterlife? Just asking.😊

 Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix

Walking Fraud Street: David C. Pack’s 10,000 Piece Puzzle of Nothing Beyond

Walking Fraud Street 

David C. Pack’s 10,000 Piece Puzzle of Nothing Beyond 

Around 1927, when a young-in-faith Herbert W. Armstrong discovered Matthew 24:14, he concluded that someone must fulfill that prophecy. Almost sixty years later, that same man was traveling the globe 300 days a year in a private jet, spreading a message of hope that would soon end all wars and strife, and the good news he brought was that there is a way to end poverty, disease, and starvation.

Until his death in January 1986, no one could accuse Herbert W. Armstrong of The Worldwide Church of God of not using “God’s money” to spread a Gospel of the Kingdom of God to a world some viewed as teetering on the edge of collapse.

In November of 2015, Pastor General David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God started his self-described authoritative defining of the Mystery of God and laid the foundation of the complete schematic of God’s plan for all mankind. Those of us attending RCG at that time could only ask ourselves two questions: Where is he going with this, and what will be the conclusion?

In the early days of “The Greatest Story Never Told!” David C. Pack framed his Series as a complicated 10,000-piece puzzle that only he could solve due to his unique background and special training. Apparently, his mother was a very talented puzzle solver, and young Dave quickly picked up the same skills. Becoming masterful at solving complex puzzles would make that person a cognitive genius. 

David C. Pack’s 10,000-piece puzzle presentation was supposed to have all the details of the gospel clearly defined. All the complicated pieces were to fit perfectly together, revealing the complete good news that had been hidden from mankind for ages. Once the world heard and understood this message, they would finally have the words of eternal life.

David C. Pack’s “Greatest Untold Story” was unlike any store-bought puzzle. Puzzles at the store have spectacular photos or artwork on the box, along with a piece count and size to give the potential buyer all the information they need to decide if they want to invest the effort into building that image. They know exactly what the conclusion will be. 

In The Restored Church of God, the Pastor General’s puzzle was a mystery confined behind many successive doors with an astonishing number of locks, all residing in vast darkness. The RCG members give complete allegiance of trust to their Pastor General and thus commit to paying in advance for an unseen, unsubstantiated, overhyped conclusion billed as beyond spectacular.

Through all the darkness, blindness, smoke, mirrors, and criticism over the past ten years, “The Greatest Story Never Told!” has been defended vigorously by David C. Pack as a message about the gospel of God comprising The “who”, the “what”, and “when” of God’s one, two, and three iterations of His Kingdoms. This is not a prophetic piece of work, though it contains many prophecies we have been told to believe.

If the now 10-year long series of “The Greatest Story Never Told!” has reached a conclusion and all the intricate mysteries of the final pieces of the gospel puzzle have been revealed, it is essential to understand how David C. Pack arrived at that conclusion, just as it is equally important for as many people as possible to hear that conclusion if it is true.

In 2009, David C. Pack invented the concept of “open doctrine.” “Open doctrine” is the first step to redefining “present truth.” After a present truth is established, it becomes “official church doctrine,” which demands strict adherence. For RCG members, this is a dead end with no escape. All three steps are melded together and are enacted in real-time all the time. There is no avenue for RCG members to get beyond this. 

Most biblical students would strongly question the gospel being subject to exegesis some two thousand years after reaching maturity in the first century, especially if it is done by a man who believes he is the sole source of biblical interpretation. For David C. Pack, each page of the Bible was waiting for him to excise its words and then piece back together a conclusion that is mind-blowing in its revelation.

David C. Pack has often vehemently framed this revelatory process as originating from the Holy Spirit. Despite the claims of divine origin, it has not been spiritually rosy in the RCG despite the spectacular gardens.

David C. Pack started his Series with approximately 2,500 members and is finishing it with about half that. Which means in his mind, half the virgins were foolish and impatient and went to taste all the world’s delights and have no oil in their lamps anymore. The remaining 1,250 members have slumbered and slept for the past 10 years in their most important guard: “Don’t believe me, believe your Bible.” The complexities of the conclusions that David C. Pack has taught have been a grievous burden upon the RCG membership. But they do know how to follow the feigned words of their slightly held idol, and they have paid handsomely for the privilege to not only know the “who” but the “what” some of the time. And to know the “when” all the time —cough cough—none of the time.

For the weary, longstanding RCG member, “The Greatest Untold Story!” has a conclusion that contains a reward for them. That reward is to stand before eight billion people as a god figure for seven years...maybe? To obtain that reward, the RCG member must check all the boxes in David C. Pack’s works of salvation.

One of those works is paying “Common.” If tithes and offerings are the basis for funding church operations and congregations, then “Common” is David C. Pack’s magnificently conceived, yet unbiblical method for extracting enormous amounts of money for mostly one specific purpose. If you ever wonder what the draw is to line up and cash out, check out just part of this highly polished RCG sales pitch contained in their article titled: COMMON—Paying One Portion of Christ’s Price.

Many millions of people (including wealthy philanthropists) collectively give vast billions of dollars to charitable organizations in an attempt to fix this world. Governments and international organizations invest additional billions to eradicate hunger, poverty, disease, and war. Yet all their efforts ultimately fail. No amount of human ingenuity can solve mankind’s problems.

You can participate in giving the most wonderful gift this world could possibly receive. By supporting the Work of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God and all other Bible truths in all nations (Matthew 28:19-20), you are helping to bring a message of hope to a world groping about in spiritual darkness (Isaiah 59:9-10)—the sure hope of a better world soon to come, to be established under the reign of Jesus Christ.

What greater calling could there be?

The Work has distributed scores of millions of pieces of literature during the past several years, and many millions of people have visited the Church’s websites. But consider: Earth’s population is beyond 7.6 billion human beings. Think of those who live in your city, town, village, or even your neighborhood—have they heard the true gospel? What about your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances—have they listened to this greatest of news? Realize there is tremendous work to be done. Truly, we (following Jesus’ example) must be about our Father’s business!

Many live unhappy, unfulfilled lives. Some seek answers to their problems and life’s greatest questions. Knowing we can participate in bringing them precious knowledge should excite us to no end, motivating us to do everything we can.

As David C. Pack explained to the Church, Christ’s price involves three elements that Jesus plainly laid out. These are listed in Luke 14 in the context of “counting the cost” of Christianity:

(1) Loving Christ more than anyone, including our own lives: “If any man come to Me, and hate [Greek: love less by comparison] not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (vs. 26).

(2) Bearing the burdens/crosses that we face in life: “Whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple” (vs. 27).

(3) Giving our assets to support preaching the gospel. “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be My disciple” (vs. 33).

You would think that after reading that, you would conclude that the RCG is perfectly in line with what its predecessor did. In the Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong repeatedly reminded the lay membership that the ONLY REASON they were called was to support the work and commission of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God as a witness unto the world. The difference between the WCG and RCG is that David C. Pack moved past just tithes and offerings supporting the work of God.

“Common” is how a little church does “big things,” according to David C. Pack. Christ has a price, and that is selling all that you have and then giving it to David C. Pack, who then gives “the most wonderful gift this world could possibly receive.” That is the splendid picture we are expected to believe. No one could possibly accuse the RCG of not using “God’s Money” to spread a gospel message of hope throughout the world, right?

David C. Pack has allegedly concluded the 10-year-old series, stating that he absolutely knows God’s plan and the unfolding timeline of the Mystery of God. He has repeatedly claimed God has shown him from the scriptures the date everyone is waiting for. As of October 2025, there have been 135 dates.

David C. Pack has said that Jesus Christ has sworn by God and all things made in heaven and earth that there is time no longer after he finishes making the Mystery of God clear. This is absolute earth-shattering news for a world ready to be harvested and saved from unprecedented evils. Is the Restored Church of God now prepared to take its extraordinary, precious message and wonderful gift unto the world?

Even after escaping corporate debt by selling off residential properties to his members, it has become painfully evident that there is only one truthful answer: NO!

With Restored Church of God mouthpiece extraordinaire Edward L. Winkfield completely contradicting his boss David C. Pack and God himself with his statements to a reporter late this Spring which has all the makings of “legal” postering, Mr. Winkfield emphatically declared that “this (extraordinary date) is (unequivocally) not something the Restored Church of God teaches or that Mr. Pack is claiming.” He continued, “The Restored Church of God is a group which remains hopeful... more than anything definitive, maybe you could go as far as speculating different things, but I wouldn’t take it as anything beyond that.”

Figuratively taking “it” as anything beyond that is precisely what David C. Pack came to conclude. Although the conclusion of David C. Pack’s 10-year, 10,000-piece puzzle constituted a convergence of a “date that cannot tarry” and a “man that would know and reveal that date,” the Pastor General could see no way forward to carry that message anywhere beyond the closed doors of the Restored Church of God. David C. Pack’s prophetic vision of a “thief,” “time no longer,” and a future “marvelous work and wonder” is a three-wheel brake to a prophetic mouth that has not stopped for a decade. David C. Pack’s antipathy to carrying the gospel message beyond anything or anywhere was summed up recently in this statement to the church: it “would fight prophecy” to go against God’s will to try and spread a message of ultimate truth and to grow the Church of the Living Christ. This is the same man who has concluded that setting over 135 false prophetic dates IN GOD’S NAME is not going against God’s will or fighting prophecy.

With Dave Pack singing the Guess Who’s hit song “No Time” as his new excuse, the “who,” the “what,” and “when,” of the gospel sit only as a trophy on a mantle constituting 10 years of answering nothing except for the fact that it is beyond our imagination that one man could so grossly foul up the divinity of Jesus Christ, His true gospel message and the “day and hour” that no man knows.

Comparing the work of David C. Pack to the work of Jesus Christ is a mind-bending exercise. The work of Jesus Christ in the first century AD was an unstoppable juggernaut. Revealing the Father, showing the Kingdom of God, and ushering in salvation had everything and anything any person would ever need or want to see, and all of it was done in the public eye. Filtering David C. Pack through Jesus Christ never paints a pretty picture.

ExRCG.org does this non declaratively and proves that David C. Pack is a blaspheming anti-Christ, false prophet, and false apostle. The contrast is clear: David C. Pack being against Jesus Christ is not an opinion. It has become fact.

If the conclusion of “The Greatest Untold Story!” is the most precious thing the world would ever see or hear and has at its core the complete plan of God—the gospel message of the Kingdom of God, why does David C. Pack want to hide it from the world? Is this not the treasure and “talent” of God that David C. Pack wants to go and dig in the earth and bury in a field (Matthew 25:14-18)? Speaking of treasure, or that other treasure—God’s Money, why is it that recently, on the very precipice of a predicted arrival of the Kingdom of God, did David C. Pack reveal that his longstanding prayer was for the church to be out of debt? No mention of a longstanding prayer for an open door to the world for God’s treasure to be revealed? No simple, longstanding prayer of thy Kingdom come, thy will be done? Instead, he has been bragging about asset conversion and “booming” financial wealth, both of which were initiated and executed in the “last days” in a dark back room and involved putting widows into debt would certainly conflict with John 5:29: “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Burying the gospel (the light of life) from the public and doing scurrilous real estate deals in the face and advent of Jesus Christ is walking in darkness.

The Church has always taught that the start of Christ’s ministry was when He spoke these words: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye and believe the Gospel.” According to David C. Pack, the Opening Night of the Feast of Tabernacles on October 6, 2025, will end the almost two thousand years’ wait for the Kingdom of God to arrive. The Kingdom may be at hand, but hardly a soul has repented because they can’t believe what they haven’t heard—at least from the Restored Church of God.

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 9:37-38: “The harvest is plentiful—pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.” David C. Pack wants you to save your prayers for a future time; his immediate prayer is for a “harvest” of debt relief and financial growth.

Jesus observed in Luke 16:16 that from John the Baptist until the present time, the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it. David C. Pack has chosen not to preach the truth of the Kingdom of God, leaving the world ever more pressing into the Devil’s world.

In John 17:2-3, it says: “And this is eternal life, that they may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” David C. Pack has defined and re-defined God and Jesus Christ during the whole ten-year series of messages of The Greatest Untold Story. The world will never hear the true God and Jesus Christ from Dave Pack, because that truth is lost and buried in the thinking of David C. Pack’s mind.

“As thou hast sent me unto the world, even so have I sent them unto the world (John 17:18). I spoke openly to the world (John 18:20) .... for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” What a beautiful concluding message from Jesus Christ concerning His public ministry and those He trained. David C. Pack came into the world to piece together the most confounding puzzle known to mankind and then kept within his organization the revelation of it, biding his time in a gated community of yes men who eat and drink at a table of lies. Is that the “truth” the world needs to hear?

The Restored Church of God is a real estate organization doing business in God’s name. It is led by a faithless man using false pretenses and coercion to alter people’s lives. It operates as a temple money changer—exchanging “all” for practically nothing in return. “God’s Money” has been squandered down a giant 10-year-long rat hole. The treasure of God’s true Gospel message is purposely hidden in the depths of Hades, just as David C. Pack has hidden the savior of the world as a silent 5’6” olive-skinned Middle Eastern man in the back dark room of the Temple of God. David C. Pack’s message of strong financial standing is now front and center, while the name of God and Jesus Christ and their extraordinary Gospel message are purposely hidden from the world.

The poor RCG membership never could fully understand the complexity of David C. Pack’s message. They were always buried in papers, timelines, metrics, days, weeks, months, full moons, moeds, rushing, running, absolutes, impossibilities, inarguable suppositions, all while under pressure to pay for their very lives.

God’s will is not being done in the RCG, and Jesus Christ is aghast at the conduct of its leader. The real thief breaking up people’s houses has been exposed. The confounding non-action of one part of the conclusion of “The Greatest Non-Story Ever Told!” is just as concerning as what was revealed in most of the rest of the Series.

A Series that became a bait and switch sham show that always interchanged one error for another error to come to some new and improved assumed truth. A Series that included a scheme to manipulate and coerce the RCG membership into paying “God’s money” for a purpose that David C. Pack either doesn’t or poorly and passively executes. The only real conclusion of “The Greatest Untold Story!” is that David C. Pack stands alone above and apart from all of God, the RCG membership, and the world. David C. Pack enlightened and enlivened himself as the only person indispensable in the Bible and the mediator of 8 billion people’s path to salvation. He satisfied all the desires of his soul by in part shaking sown widows to resolve his longstanding prayer. He rode the real estate market up and cashed out to make himself strong financially. He successfully baited his membership into funding a lifestyle that he himself forbids them to have. He operates with no patience and is faithless in all his actions, while always demanding both from his membership. He embraces hypocrisy like it is a requirement to run and lead a church organization, yet his membership would never come close to such conduct.

In the end, David C. Pack’s 10-year 10,000-piece puzzle was nothing but a self-promotion exercise. The world received nothing. The RCG membership paid an excessive price to have all their expectations continually crushed. There are 10,000 proofs, 10,000 examples, and 10,000 reasons why David C. Pack failed to discern and deliver the most critical piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, there are far too many men and women lost in the confines of the other 9999 pieces of the puzzle to even know or care.

The now conclusion of the decade-long “The Greatest Untold Story!” gave us the final picture and evidence that each of David C. Pack’s three revealed mysteries of the gospel and the implied fulfillments of each, present a vast gulf between what was stated and what was realized. The potential for David C. Pack’s 10,000-piece puzzle to be one big giant fraud is real. David C. Pack concluded that the “who” at the very end almost entirely revolved around himself. The “what” was a multi-million-dollar financial exchange for a promissory action that, at the end, was deemed undeliverable! The “when” has been framed as unassailable 135 times, but technically and legally, it was always just “hopeful speculation.” If it looks like fraud and it sounds like fraud and it walks like fraud—it is fraud!

Scott Steel/former RCG member

Herbert Armstrong's Fanciful History of the Angelic Realm

Ezekiel 1:15-21

15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Herbert Armstrong's Fanciful History of the Angelic Realm

Herbert Armstrong, founder of the now-defunct Worldwide Church of God and Plain Truth magazine, wrote about the angelic realm:

Mystery of the Ages: The Perfect Creation

In Job 38:4, 7, God is speaking specifically of the creation of this earth. He said all the angels (created “sons of God”) shouted for joy at the creation of the earth. This reveals that angels were created before the creation of the earth, and probably before the material universe. The suns, planets, and astral bodies are material substances. Angels are individually created spirit beings, composed solely of spirit. It will come as a surprise to many to learn that angels inhabited this earth BEFORE the creation of man. This passage from Job implies it.

Mystery of the Ages: Angels on Earth Sinned

It is revealed in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, that God placed the archangel Lucifer, a cherub, on a throne on the earth. He was placed there as a ruler over the entire earth. God intended him to rule the earth by administering the government of God over the earth. And the government of God was administered on earth until the rebellion of the sinning angels.

How long these angels inhabited the earth before the creation of man is not revealed. It might have been millions-or even billions-of years. More on that later. But these angels sinned. Sin is the transgression of God’s law (I John 3:4). And God’s law is the basis of God’s government. So we know these angels, apparently a third of all the angels (Rev. 12:4), sinned-rebelled against the government of God. And sin carries penalties. The penalty for the sin of the angels is not death, as it is for man. Angels are immortal spirit beings and cannot die. These spirit beings had been given dominion over the PHYSICAL EARTH as a possession and an abode.

The universal, worldwide sin of the angels resulted in the physical destruction of the face of the earth.

Mystery of the Ages: A Surprising Truth

Now another surprise for most readers. Here is another bit of the missing dimension in knowledge, actually revealed in the Bible, but unrecognized by religion, by science and by higher education.

From verse 2 of Genesis 1 on, the remainder of this first chapter of the Bible is not describing the original creation of the earth. But it is describing a renewing of the face of the earth, after it had become waste and empty as a result of the sin of the angels.

What is described from verse 2 on, in the supposed creation chapter of the Bible, did occur, according to the Bible, approximately 6,000 years ago. But that could have been millions or trillions of years after the actual creation of the earth described in verse 1!

I will comment later on the length of time it might have taken before all earth’s angels turned to rebellion.

The earth had become waste and empty. God did not create it waste and empty, or in a state of decay. God is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). This same Hebrew word-tohu-meaning waste and empty, was inspired in Isaiah 4518, where it is translated “in vain.” Using the original Hebrew word, as originally inspired, it reads: “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain [tohu], he formed it to be inhabited.”

Continue now with the remainder of verse 2 of Genesis 1 (the earth had become chaotic, waste and empty): “And darkness was upon the face of the deep [the ocean or fluid surface of the earth]. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness” (verses 2-4).

Satan is the author of darkness. The rebellion of the angels had caused the darkness. God is the author of light and truth. Light displays and enhances beauty, and also exposes evil. Darkness hides both.

The verses that follow in this first chapter of the Bible describe the renewing of the face of the earth, yielding beautiful lawns, trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetation-then the creation of fish and fowl, animal life, and finally man.

Mystery of the Ages: God's Purpose for Angels

So the angel potential was to take over the entire universe-to improve and finish the billions of physical planets surrounding the uncountable stars, many of which are SUNS. The sun in our solar system is merely an average-size sun. Some that we see as stars are actually many, many times larger than our sun. Our solar system, vast beyond the imagination of most minds, is only a part of our galaxy, and there are many galaxies! In other words, the physical UNIVERSE that the mighty God created is vast beyond imagination! How GREAT is the GREAT GOD!

He intended angels to have a vital part in the final creation of the endless universe!

(But God may not have then fully revealed this awesome potential to the angels, for one third of them set out to take it from him by force, without first qualifying.)

For this far-reaching purpose, God established his GOVERNMENT on earth over them. The administration of the GOVERNMENT OF GOD over this globe was delegated to the super archangel-the great cherub Lucifer.

Bear in mind that even the holy angels and archangels-including this super cherub Lucifer-of necessity were endowed with ability to think, to reason, to form attitudes, and to make choices and decisions.

The Incredible Human Potential: What Caused the Angels' Sin?

He had created a beautiful, perfect creation in the earth. He populated it with holy angels - probably millions of them. He put over them, as king, on an earthly throne, the archangel - the cherub Lucifer. Lucifer was the supreme masterpiece of God's creative power as a single separately created Spirit being. He was the most perfect in beauty, power, mind, knowledge, intellect, wisdom, within the almighty power of God to create. God can create nothing higher or more perfect, by instantaneous fiat.

Yet this great being, knowledgeable, trained and experienced at God's own throne in heaven over the universe and the administration of the government of God, had rejected that government, corrupted his way, rebelled against administering or even obeying it. He had led all his angels astray and into the sin of rebellion and disloyalty. 

 

Now consider further. Apparently, the entire universe had been created also at the time of the earth's creation. There is no evidence either in God's revealed Word, nor in science, that any of the planets in endless outer space had been inhabited with any form of life. But God does nothing in vain. He always has a purpose. 

 

Apparently, all such planets in the entire universe NOW are waste and empty - decayed (tohu and bohu) - Like the earth was, as described in Genesis I :2. But God did not create them in such conditions of decay - like our moon. Decay is not an original created condition - it is a condition resulting from a process of deterioration. Evidently if the now fallen angels had maintained the earth in its original beautiful condition, improved it, carried out God's instructions, and obeyed His government, they would have been offered the awesome potential of populating and carrying out a tremendous creative program throughout the entire universe. When they turned traitor on earth, their sin must have also brought simultaneously physical destruction to the other planets throughout the universe, which were potentially and conditionally put in subjection to them. 

 

As God surveyed this cataclysmic tragedy, He must have realized that since the highest, most perfect being within His almighty power to create, had turned to rebellion, it left God Himself as the only being who would not and cannot sin... 

 

God saw that no being less than God, in the God Family, could be certainly relied on never to sin - to be like God - who cannot sin. To fulfill His purpose for the entire vast universe, God saw that nothing less than Himself (as the God Family) could be absolutely relied upon to carry out that supreme purpose in the entire universe. 

 

God then purposed to reproduce Himself, through humans, made in His image and likeness, but made first from material flesh and blood, subject to death if there is sin unrepented of - yet with the possibility of being born into the Divine Family begotten by God the Father.

Unfortunately, Mr. Armstrong's logic and writing style were so flawed that it makes it more difficult to get a handle on precisely what he was teaching. As a consequence, I will follow the order of his presentation of this material and summarize the major points he made in this regard (hopefully, making it easier for the reader to follow along and make sure that I have accurately characterized his teachings.

My summary:

1. Mr. Armstrong taught that the book of Job suggested that angels were created prior to the physical universe, and that they inhabited the earth before humankind was created.

2. He also taught that passages in Isaiah and Ezekiel reveal that Lucifer was placed on the throne of earth over the angelic host. Armstrong went on to teach that these angels sinned, and that the penalty for their sins was not death (because they were immortal beings).

3. Instead, according to Mr. Armstrong, the angels' sin caused the destruction of the earth's surface - forcing God to recreate/renew the face of the earth. He then concluded that God had intended for the angels "to improve and finish" the other solar systems of the universe!

4. Mr. Armstrong taught that Lucifer represented the pinnacle of God's creative power, and that he had been trained at God's throne in heaven. Moreover, Armstrong taught that Lucifer had rejected God's governance and had led a great angelic rebellion against Him!

5. As a consequence of Lucifer's failure, Mr. Armstrong taught that God had decided that only a God-being could be relied upon. Hence, according to Herbert, God then decided to reproduce Himself, and that he would accomplish that through the creation of humankind. In other words, humankind represented PLAN B!

Now that we have summarized Armstrong's teachings about the history of the angelic host, we can begin to take a look at his scriptural prooftexts and critically dissect the flawed reasoning that led to his erroneous conclusions and teachings.

First, this is the actual text from the passage in Job which Mr. Armstrong referenced in his book:

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 'Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:1-7, ESV)

So, we see that the actual context of this passage was God's confrontation of Job's self-righteousness. He was telling Job to put on his big boy pants and answer His questions. "Where were you when I created the earth?" He demanded. In the course of this conversation, we can clearly see that God used flowery and symbolic prose to describe His creation of the earth. As part of this discourse, God revealed to Job that the "morning stars" (angels) sang together, and "all the sons of God" (spirit beings/angels) "shouted for joy."

Now, while it is reasonable to deduce from this passage that angels and spirit beings were created prior to the physical earth and were witnesses to its actual creation, there is NO explicit or implied statement that it was created for them! It is very clearly a stretch to suggest otherwise! Moreover, I defy anyone to point to any place in this passage where it is even remotely suggested that angels lived on this earth before humans! Anyone up for that challenge? If so, please respond in the comments section.

Moreover, before we leave the book of Job, we should note that this is the first mention in the Hebrew Bible of an entity known as "Satan." And, at the beginning of the book, it is made very clear that this Satan still had access to God's throne in heaven at the time that this story took place - ostensibly, many years after the appearance of humans on this planet! (See Job 1:6 and 2:1)

This is especially interesting in terms of this passage from the book of Revelation:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!'" (Revelation 12:1-12, ESV)

In this passage from the New Testament, it is clearly suggested that this great angelic war happened sometime after the appearance of the Messiah and the institution of his Church, and that this event finally resulted in the Dragon/Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven and losing their right of access to that place! Moreover, this passage clearly suggests that prior to this event that they had a place in heaven!

This, of course, is more consistent with a host of other scriptural passages than Armstrong's teachings on the subject. In the Gospels, angels are always associated with heaven (Matthew 18:10, 22:30, 24:31, 36, Mark 12:25, 13:32, Luke 2:15, John 1:51). Likewise, in the book of Jude, we read about: "the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling..." (Jude 6) And, finally, there is Christ's own statement that he saw Satan "fall like lightning from heaven." (Luke 10:18). We should also note that all of these passages suggest that the angelic host also had/have access to the earth, acting in their capacity as God's servants/messengers!

For instance, we find the Serpent present in the Garden of Eden! Moreover, when we read through the narrative in the second and third chapters of the book of Genesis, it appears that the Serpent did not have any negative connotation associated with him prior to the events with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. After all, God didn't curse him until after he had deceived Eve and caused her to disobey God! It was only then that God declared: "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:14-15, ESV) Wait a minute! Did that passage suggest that the days of Satan's life were limited?

Let's take a look at those passages from Isaiah and Ezekiel that Mr. Armstrong referenced in his remarks above. In the fourteenth chapter of the book of Isaiah, we read this passage about the "King of Babylon:"

How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution. The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us. Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. 'How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?' All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot. You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named! (Isaiah 14:4-20, ESV)

Now, to be clear, there are those who see this passage as comparing the actual human king of Babylon to Lucifer/Satan, and there are those who see this passage as comparing Lucifer/Satan to the human king. Although an important distinction, for our purposes, I believe this argument is academic. However, one chooses to interpret this passage, the termination of the subject's life and power is delineated in the starkest terms imaginable. In other words, there isn't any possible interpretation which ends in the immortality of the individual in question!

Likewise, when we take a closer look at the twenty-eighth chapter of the book of Ezekiel, we are forced to reach a similar conclusion about the subject of the text. The chapter begins with a passage reprimanding the prince of Tyre, which clearly pointed to the human ruler of the city. This is followed by a passage addressed to the king of Tyre - a personage who is clearly extraordinary (not human). We read there:

You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever. (Ezekiel 28:12-19, ESV)

Are these passages suggesting that Satan and his angels are NOT immortal? Yes, that's exactly what they are saying! Apparently, taking into account the totality of Scripture, angels have the ability to exist indefinitely. They are, however, still CREATED beings! As such, they continue to exist at the pleasure of Almighty God! Notice that, in his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote that Jesus is "King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion." (I Timothy 6:16, ESV) Apparently, immortality is a God quality/characteristic!

In this connection, we should look again at the book of Revelation and see what John had to say about the ultimate fate of Satan. In the twentieth chapter of that book, we read: "an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while." (Verses 1-3, ESV)

First, notice that this passage is referencing a TEMPORARY imprisonment of Satan - it says absolutely NOTHING about his ultimate fate! Indeed, we find the subject of his ultimate fate addressed later on in the same chapter - after the millennial reign of Christ and his saints. In verse ten, we read that Satan will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, where the Beast and the False Prophet had already been tossed. After this we read of the "Great White Throne Judgment," and that, finally, "Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:14, ESV) In other words, this means permanent/eternal death! There is no resurrection from this one! Everyone thrown into this "fire" ceases to exist forever! This is consistent with Paul's statement to the Romans that the "wages of sin is DEATH," and that eternal life is God's GIFT! Moreover, it is also consistent with John's statement that there wouldn't be any more sorrow, tears, or pain in the New Heavens and the New Earth (Revelation 21:1-4). In other words, the continued existence of ANYONE (including Satan) in a state of torment would contradict this statement!

One more thing before we finish. What was God's purpose for the angels? In the book of Hebrews, we read: 

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you?' Or again, 'I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son?' And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, 'Let all God's angels worship him.' Of the angels he says, 'He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.' (Hebrews 1:1-7, ESV) 

 

Clearly, Christ is/was superior to angels, and they NEVER had the potential to become Sons of God!

Likewise, a little later in the same chapter, we read: 

And to which of the angels has he ever said, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?' Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:13-14, ESV) 

Once again, this passage makes very clear that angels NEVER had any part in humankind's potential or purpose! Moreover, in the very next chapter, we read: 

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:14-16, ESV) 

In other words, in the words of one of my past posts, God is NOT working on "Plan B!"

Hence, we can see that Herbert Armstrong's cherry-picking of Scripture and faulty reasoning led him to construct a fanciful history of the angelic realm - one that is certainly NOT rooted in Scripture! The Plain Truth is that angels were created to serve God and humankind, and that those of their number who rebelled against this purpose (including Satan) will eventually face complete annihilation!

Posted by Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix