Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!
With all the new crazy self-appointed Chief Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, Pharisees, legalists, and outright liars leading various Churches of God today, it is important to hold these agents of deception accountable.
Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
Bob Thiel has been having a huge meltdown lately, claiming his prophecies are coming true with recent things Trump has said here in the US and in Davos. It is a literal wet dream come true for Bob. Of course, there is NOTHING he predicted that is unusual or sent by God to his amazing brain. Everything he says he has predicted is drawn straight from news stories and other conservative news aggregators that he reads that fit his narrative. Everything single thing he has "predicted" has been things discussed by people all over the world.
Are all of his mental contortions actually just a Russian disinformation act to deceive Church of God members? Facebook seems to think so:
The story below is from Facebook and is also by a former writer who posted here occasionally. It is his take on joining the Living Church of God at age 19, waking up and recognizing the dissonance, and leaving it and Armstrongism behind. He also wonders about how Herbert Armstrong would be reacting to todays political climate.
I exited a doomsday bible cult almost six years ago. Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of the founder of that cult. His name was Herbert W. Armstrong, and his cult was called the Worldwide Church of God.
I joined this cult when I was 19, just dropped out of college, emotionally vulnerable, confused, obviously scared, and full of anxiety and undealt with childhood stuff.
Nevertheless, it provided the safe space I needed; an alternative reality - a bubble. A place that said the world is so messed up and unfixable because of Satan, the devil, and there was nothing to do but sit back and wait for Jesus to return in (always 3-5 years) to fix everything. All I had to do was pray, pay, stay, and obey.
And that is what I did for 20 years. But then, I started acknowledging the cognitive dissonance that was growing inside my mind. I started challenging the doctrines and could see many of the teachings did not align with the scriptures. I learned the difference between eisegesis and exegesis.
I've expressed this before, but it was learning that Jesus as the Word (Greek: logos) in John 1:1, which means "rational thought," that gave me the green light to question without fear.
By now, the internet was fully developed. The Information Age was here. I studied the character of the now-dead founder. And what I found was a man remarkably similar to Donald J. Trump.
His own father described him as stupid and lazy. He spent his life up to his 40's grifting in sales positions and failing even when it was hard to do in the 1920's. Then he found religion during the Great Depression and managed to preach his way into a pastoral position in the Church of God, Seventh Day.
Arguing he could not preach what one man commanded in the church's hierarchy, he set out to start his own religion based on two key doctrines the Seventh Day Church refused to teach:
1. British-Israelism, a soft version of white supremacy.
2. Commanded observance of annual holy days outlined in the Old Covenant with the ancient nation of Israel.
For a decade, he built an audience using the power of radio out of Pasadena CA. Also during this time, he was commuting to Pasadena, taking his daughter, Dorothy, with him while his wife and sons were left behind, starving most of the time. From the time Dorothy was 13 till she married at 23, HWA was having a sexual relationship...excuse me, HWA was raping her.
HWA learned that grifting religious fear on the radio was making him a lot of money. He eventually opened a college to train young boys, whom he would send all over the country to start churches. These young boys were taught to teach only and exactly what he said.
By the 1960's, he had quite a money-making machine that required members to send 10% of their pre-tax income to him. Another 10% was required to pay for annual holy day meetings and conventions. And another 10% to be sent to Headquarters every 3rd and 6th year of 7-year cycles, to "help the poor and widows" in the cult. In addition, letters would regularly be sent out, frightening (already shit-poor) people into sending in offerings for buildings and additional pet projects. Always with urgency to "finish the Work."
He took his fear-mongering to television, becoming what was really the model for TV evangelism that followed after him. He claimed he was an end-time Apostle sent by Jesus Himself to restore the true teachings of the bible to the last generation. He said he was the prophet, Elijah, prophesied about by Jesus. He set 1975 as the year Jesus would return.
Just as 1975 came and went, so did scandal after scandal concerning sexual promiscuity and crimes, including money laundering and theft. Despite all that, his cult continued to grow, reaching over 150,000 members and raking in over 200 million dollars a year by his death in 1986.
With no strong leader to follow him up, the cult collapsed by 1993. It was at this time that pastors and evangelists were starting their own competing continuation of HWA's teachings. It has been estimated that there are still over 300 factions started since. The four largest groups today being:
1. The United Church of God
2. The Philadelphia Church of God
3. Church of God, A Worldwide Association
4. The Living Church of God
I stumbled across the Living Church of God in 1992 (originally the Global Church of God, 1992-1998). The imploding of the Worldwide Church of God at the time was brilliantly explained away using prophesy, saying the "falling away" from the true teachings of the true end-time church had to happen first, then Jesus would return and fix everything. And this would, of course, happen in just 3-5 years.
I watched 3-5 years go by for two decades before it started being clear to me that these cults have no idea what they are talking about.
I remember in 2016, as Trump bullied his way to the top of the Republican ticket, members of the cult and even the leadership subtly supported him. This was a problem because one of the core doctrines of the cult was that we do not participate in the "politics of the world." I even preached against supporting Trump one Sabbath. But from that year on, siding with the political conservative climate was more obvious in the writings of the cult and in conversations with fellow members.
These cults, sometimes quietly, sometimes openly, support the MAGA movement right along with the rest of Evangelical churches in America. Some of those members who would argue with me regularly on social media all the way to Trump's 2nd inauguration have oddly disappeared from social media.
I say stay away from all Christian churches in America today unless they are Progressive Christian churches.
If Herbert W. Armstrong was alive today, he would undoubtedly be a Trump supporter and would most likely had been a guest at the Inauguration, as he spent the waning years of his life flying around in a personal jet giving expensive gifts to heads of state and royalty.
Both grifters. Both pedophiles. Both are malignant narcissists. Both low IQ. Both lazy. Both bipolar. Both I would be deeply ashamed to have ever followed. I gave over six figures of my hard-earned income over a 20 year period to one of them (by extension of copy-cat cults following his death).
But I thank Donald J Trump because he helped me to "see" Herbert W. Armstrong. So I left that religious cult and avoided joining a political cult. I am free now because that is what the truth does. But it comes at a steep price the longer you fight against it.
For the love of all things good and decent, stay away from any groups that claim they are right about everything, have everything figured out, demonize (other) people who disagree with them, use fear to grow, label the core teachings of Jesus, "toxic empathy," and value obedience over morality.
David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God enjoys the thrill of finding the day that cannot tarry after ten long years of toil and disappointment. Ever-rushing to call out recycled malarkey, the Pastor General is mentally and physically exhausted as he continues to hunt his religious white whale across the stormy seas of Bible prophecy.
Dave knows that unless he can deliver the goods by nailing down the date for the arrival of ANYTHING biblical, he is just another wacky former Ambassador College graduate with a non-credentialed degree in outdated theological tomfoolery.
Just like his doppelgänger, Gerald Flurry, unless he accurately discovers the real start of the Kingdom to Israel, or the Kingdom of God, the return of Jesus Christ, the beginning of the 1335, or actual worldwide calamity, he will need to face the reality that he is not a prophet, not an apostle, and God had nothing to do with the decades of his blowhard meanderings.
With each prophetic failure, the picture must shift to continue the illusion of legitimacy. Keeping brethren perpetually on the hook, he and his enablers sell the concept that their journey's end is just over the horizon. They just need to hang on and endure one more shift in understanding.
The Kingdom Will Come on March 18, 2026!
Dave was all piss and vinegar, stewing in his spirit-inspired certainty during “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 615)” on January 3, 2026, when he landed back on Abib 1 for the fourth year in a row.
Part 615 – January 3, 2026 @ 00:42 Only when all competing dates passed before the last possible date can you have full confidence a date cannot tarry.
@ 07:58 But I do know absolutely and completely when the this Kingdom [7-year] comes, and we're gonna go home knowing that much today. Absolutely. I waited, I was suspicious, I've been suspicious. And I'm gonna show you we finally are gonna reach the date where it's impossible that it's wrong,and you'll know that.
It must give the brethren the warm fuzzies when Dave gets all absolute about his current belief. Here are words Dave likes to say that never age well:
@ 13:17 But I I will I will stake everything on what I'm gonna tell you…
@ 13:40 How about it's about time to say the 7-Year Kingdom begins when all the others did on Abib 1. So if you want to write it down, put down March 18th.
He went on and on and on about how March 18 was the day they had been waiting for. Abib 1 is “the day that cannot tarry,” because this one is as hard as diamond, and the brethren will be “absolutely unable to doubt March 18.”
The brethren were unable to doubt it longer than Dave was because he shifted his tune the following week during “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 616)” on January 10.
The Kingdom Will Come on February 2, 2026!
Dave started off with manipulative word games to lull his worshipers into a false sense of security.
Part 616 – January 10, 2026 @ 01:06 We are seven years for a kingdom right here [7 glass on table]. In that regard, March 18th is locked with 1335 days thought to be within it.Abib 1 is a hard date.But it's the fifth day of a week. Aren't we to look for a third day?
David C. Pack is the master of mixed messages, blending reassurance with the introduction of doubts to lead his audience into seeing things his way. He chips away at his own teaching from the previous week and takes 37 more minutes to get to the punchline.
@ 38:24 There wouldn't have been a 1335 in their mind because we're learning that's fiction. We have it wrong. We're not waiting for March 18th. We're waiting for 45 days before that.
Dave returns to a three-kingdom structure, convolutes the 1335, 1290, and 7-Year Kingdom, then invents a "clever" nickname for the 45 days before March 18, “the Sour Grapes Kingdom.”
David C. Pack has no qualms about taking the Lord's name in vain each time he puffs his chest, claiming God's authority.
@ 51:53 The 1335, on God's authority, I'm telling you, is not in the in the seven years. If it is, we could never know it. It would be utterly contrary to all the things I've told you.
He serves up humble pie to smash in the members' faces.
@ 1:09:11 I don't take any credit. I couldn't possibly figure any of this out without the help of God.
David C. Pack figured nothing out. When he soon abandons the 45-day First Kingdom before it gets close, he will refuse to consider how many times he spoke in God’s name while teaching it and gave God the credit for putting it in his head. He can never face the implications of doing this for ten years running.
After fear-mongering about Venezuela, Cuba, and Colombia with a ridiculous "society is collapsing" proclamation, Dave tied the timing of world events to the proximity of the Kingdom's arrival.
@ 1:32:27 It can't go on. We're looking for a year where 45 days before an Abib it's a Tuesday. Or, if you will, a Monday night or if you will, a Monday morning here when it's Monday night, sundown in Jerusalem. Remember, you touch 1335. But just touch it. That'd be a Monday morning. February 2nd.
You know the drill by now. Dave will get suspicious, feel uncomfortable, make a startling discovery that changes everything, and set a new date that is certain to fail.
For those keeping score, February 2 and March 18 in chronological order will be David C. Pack's failures 139 and 140. The countdown timer is running on exrcg.org.
The Kingdom Will Come on February 1, 2026!
Update: During “The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 617)” on January 17, 2026, David C. Pack changed his story again and moved the date for the start of the Kingdom to February 1.
Part 617 – January 17, 2026 @ 01:23 It's critical we stay with proof of mid-Shevat. …you're gonna learn that February 1st replaces February 2nd. So, we're not waiting for Monday morning, February 2. We're waiting for Sunday morning, February 1.There's huge, massive proof of that. For now, until I can get to it, for now, just rejoice we’re a day closer.
The members of The Restored Church of God are no closer to David C. Pack being right than they were one week ago or ten years ago. He is a blaspheming, hypocritical liar, a false teacher, a false apostle, and a false prophet. With the abundant documentation of his deceit and failures, it is foolish to believe anything the Pastor General says.
