The Philadelphia Church of God has an article up in its January 2019 Trumpet magazine; Four Signs the Second Coming Is Near, by Joel Hilliker.
In it he says:
Weapons of mass destruction. An end-time Elijah. The true gospel preached around the world. The true Church splitting apart. These are four signs of Jesus Christ’s return that God inspired to be recorded and miraculously preserved in the Bible for 2,000 years. Today, they have all been fulfilled! These four specific signs, along with many others, show for certain that Jesus Christ is not just going to return, but He is going to return soon.Gerald Flurry and the PCG has always claimed that Herbert Armstrong was the end-time Elijah, which is an end-all statement that rubs the present day Elijah with some major butt-hurt. By proclaiming Elijah has already arrived and completed his ministry leaves no room for the various COG self-appointed Elijah's and self-appointed prophets to anoint themselves and expect adoration. That is a major bone of contention for our favorite self-appointed, doubly anointed and almost arrested prophet to the COG and the world, Tinfoil Bob Thiel.
He writes:
Notice that the Elijah is to come just before the great and terrible day of the LORD, and if he did not come, utter destruction would occur.
Herbert W. Armstrong died in January 16, 1986.
Now let’s see what Herbert W. Armstrong actually wrote about the timing of the final Elijah:
"Also Malachi 4:5-6 pictures the Elijah to come at the very end of the Church age (Mystery of the Ages. 1985, p. 349). "
When did Herbert W. Armstrong write that the Church age was over?
Notice:
At the end of the Church age and 6,000 years from Adam, Christ would return to earth as King of kings and Lord of Lords, ruling all nations, with the saints, for one millennium. (Armstrong HW. What If Adam Had Taken of the Tree of Life? Plan Truth, March 1983)
The “very end” of the Church age was not over nearly 33 years ago! The 6000 years has NOT yet been fulfilled. Since the “very end of the Church age” has not happened, and Herbert W. Armstrong died decades ago, his writings support that there must be another Elijah. And he was referring to an individual in the Mystery of the Ages.Then, as usual, Tinfoil Bob trots our Dibar Apartain as if the man was a legitimate validation for end time events. Given how the COG ministry has been abysmal failures in prophecy, using Apartian as a source shows poor judgment. Apartian was as theologically bankrupt as Meredith and Thiel both are. Plus, Tinfoil Bob has made lots of claims about conversations and statements Apartain supposedly said to him, none of which can ever be verified as true. Given how every single COG leader has lied to get himself in positions of authority, why should we believe any less of Theil?
That being said, sometimes Herbert W. Armstrong did think that he may have fulfilled the Elijah role, but he told the late Dibar Apartian (who told me) that he was NOT the Elijah. Furthermore, essentially on his deathbed, Herbert W. Armstrong admitted to his closest aide, Aaron Dean (who told me this multiple times) that there could be an Elijah to come after he died.
This combined with what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in The Mystery of the Ages and the length of time since his death demonstrates that Herbert W. Armstrong could not biblically be the final prophesied Elijah.Next, our prophet wanna-be throws out some more scripture to PROVE he is the end time Elijah that was prophecied to come.
Since the Bible does teach that there will be an ‘Elijah’ who is alive right before Jesus returns (Malachi 4:5-6), it is not possible that Herbert W. Armstrong was the prophesied final Elijah.
Now, presuming Jesus will return within the next couple of decades, then that ‘Elijah’ would need to be alive now. And he would be part of the church that places the highest priority on the truth.
Yet, most Christians seemingly refuse to accept that.Woe to be to those in the Church of God community and the world at large that reject this end-time Elijah and his church message! Woe brethren! Woe!
We in the Continuing Church of God are regularly restoring more truth about church history, doctrine, and prophecy. And we have done this more, by far, than any other group in the 21st century (COG or otherwise for that matter).
Sadly, just as many would not hear Elijah’s nor John the Baptist’s messages, relatively few will pay much attention to the end time Elijah as well.
That is not a surprise as most Christians in the end times were to be Laodicean, and Jesus warned the Laodiceans since they would not ‘get with the program,’ that they would be punished (Revelation 3:14-18).
Of course, if you are willing to believe the truth and do what the Bible teaches, that does not have to include you.
Was that supposed to happen?
Yes.
Notice something that Daniel wrote:
4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:4)
The end has not yet come.
Therefore, Herbert W. Armstrong could not have possibly been the final Elijah and Matthew 24:14 has not yet been fulfilled.
That being said, we in the Continuing Church of God are regularly restoring more truth, while we are reaching people around the world and preparing for the short-work (Romans 9:28), because Jesus will be coming relatively soon.
It is just that on at least two points in Joel Hilliker’s article, the so titled Philadelphia Church of God is wrong.Those poor deceived people in the Philadelphia Church of God just do not get it! Truth only lies in the improperly named "continuing" Church of God and NOWHERE ELSE!!! The problem lies in the fact that if they join up with Thiel they are just jumping from one spiritual despot to another. God has nothing to do with Gerald Flurry and the Philadelphia Church of God anymore than he does with the improperly named "continuing" Church of God. God never appointed Bob Thiel, just as he never appointed Gerald Flurry as a COG leader. That is a fact that cannot be refuted.
Any deluded fool can claim his dreams are god inspired and then turn them into mythological status as Thiel has done. God did no such thing with Thiel and he cannot prove that He did.
So essentially we have one deluded man lecturing another deluded man on what he thinks is right.
