Armstrongism: 100 Years of "Soon Coming", Still No Kingdom, But Give Us Your Money Anyway

 

Armstrongist splinter groups follow highly predictable, repetitive patterns rooted in the post-1986 (and especially post-1994/95) fragmentation of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). These groups preserve core Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) teachings while endlessly dividing. Here's a breakdown of the recurring dynamics. 1. The Core Trigger: "They've Compromised the Truth"Every major split follows the same script:

• The parent group (WCG under Tkach, or later a big splinter) makes real or perceived changes to doctrine, governance, prophecy emphasis, or "the Work."
• Dissidents accuse leadership of Laodicean lukewarmness, abandoning "the faith once delivered," or watering down HWA's restored truths.
• The new group forms to "hold fast" or "restore" pure Armstrongism. 

This happened with:

• Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) — Gerald Flurry (1989) — "Philadelphia era" remnant.
• United Church of God (UCG) — 1995 mass exodus, council governance.
• Living Church of God (LCG) — Roderick Meredith.
• Restored Church of God (RCG) — David Pack (claims Elijah role).
• Continuing Church of God (CCOG) — Bob Thiel 
• Church of God Assembly (COGA) —  Sheldon Monson 
• Church of God Preaching the Kingdom (COGPK) — Ron Weinland
• and dozens more micro-groups.

Second-generation splits are common: UCG → COGWA (2010), LCG → CCOG, etc.2. Leadership Patterns: The "New Apostle/Elijah/Mantle" Figure

• Strongman founder (often ex-WCG minister or insider): Claims special insight, divine mantle, or prophetic role that the old group rejected.
• Humble beginnings narrative followed by authoritarian control.
• Personal grievances fuel the exit: "They wouldn't correct errors I pointed out" (classic Thiel move).
• Many leaders position themselves as HWA's true spiritual successor. Flurry, Pack, Thiel, and others all play this game. 

The result? Hierarchical, top-down governance with heavy emphasis on loyalty to the leader and "the government of God."3. Doctrinal and Rhetorical ConsistencyAll groups share the HWA package:

• British Israelism (Anglo-Saxons as lost tribes).
• Mandatory Holy Days, clean/unclean meats, Sabbath.
• Rejection (or heavy qualification) of the Trinity.
• Two-class salvation (church + physical Israel in Millennium).
• Strong prophetic focus on current events as end-time signs.

Variations create division:

• How rigid on "the Work" (media, prophecy preaching)?
• Governance: One-man rule vs. council of elders?
• Exact prophetic timeline/place of safety/Great Tribulation sequence?
• How much HWA himself can be critiqued? 

Each group insists it alone is the true "Philadelphia" remnant while labeling others (and the world) as compromised.4. Growth and Sustainability Patterns

• Initial surge from dissatisfied members, then stagnation or decline.
• Heavy reliance on literature, websites, and (failing) media outreach.
• Some groups now have significant African membership for numbers.
• Repeated failed or vague prophecies erode credibility over time.
• High turnover: Burnout from legalism, failed predictions, and authoritarianism drives ex-members out entirely. 

5. The Endless Schism CycleThis is the most defining pattern. Why do they keep splitting?

• Proof-texting + "love of the truth" absolutism: Any disagreement becomes a salvation issue.
• No central authority after HWA → every strong personality becomes a potential new headquarters.
• Ego + doctrinal nitpicking: "They ignored my corrections on page 47 of the booklet!"
• Restorationist mindset: Each new group believes it's restoring pure truth against compromise. 

The movement has produced hundreds of groups and micro-groups since the 1990s. Unity talks fail because each claims exclusive legitimacy.6. Psychological and Sociological hallmarks

• Persecution complex: The world (and other COGs) hates us because we're right.
• Us vs. Them: "True Church" vs. "so-called Christians," other splinters, and Laodiceans.
• Inherited trauma patterns in members: Authoritarianism, fear-based obedience, family divisions. 
• Cognitive dissonance management: When prophecies fail, it's "God is giving more time" or "the timing was slightly off."

Bottom LineArmstrongist splinters operate like a fractal of division: the same HWA-derived DNA keeps replicating smaller, more zealous (or eccentric) versions of itself. Each claims to be the faithful remnant preserving truth against compromise — yet the pattern itself (endless fragmentation, leader personality cults, unfulfilled prophecy) is one of the strongest empirical arguments against the whole system being "the one true church."
It's not random chaos. It's a highly consistent sociological and theological loop: charismatic founder → institutionalization → perceived compromise → righteous split → repeat. Bob Thiel's silly grievances fit the template perfectly — he's just the latest verse in a very old song that remains out of tune.
Silent Pilgrim

PCG: Two Year Sabbatical for the Rapist, Lifetime Ban for the Disabled Victim – Just Another Day in God’s True Church!

Why is it that in Armstrongism, when there's child molestation, instead of reporting it and the molester to the police, the church tries to cover it up? 

Armstrong's splinter groups see have a long, sordid history of this. After the Worldwide Church of God imploded in the 1990s, former members felt freer to drag their cases to the police and courts. That led to scores of COG ministers and members being arrested, prosecuted, and sent to prison for child sexual abuse. But not so with the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG). Like clockwork, they cover up molestations. 

This came from a Facebook source (paraphrased and corrected for clarity):

A couple of years ago, a creepy K.J. (who used to edit The Trumpet) horribly molested and raped a mentally disabled girl. They suspended him for two years... and suspended her indefinitely. But shhhhhhhh! Don't talk about it, and it will all just go away! 

Oh, how convenient. Because nothing says "God's true church" like protecting the predator while punishing the victim. Sarcasm aside, this pattern isn't shocking—it's systemic.

Why the Cover-Ups?

In these authoritarian, high-control groups descended from Herbert W. Armstrong, the priority is preserving the organization's image, authority structure, and cash flow (tithing, of course). 

Reporting abuse to "the world" (i.e., police) would:

• Expose the "one true church" as just another flawed institution full of sinners.
• Damage recruitment and member retention.
• Undermine the leaders' claim to divine authority (how can God's apostle-appointed ministers be pedophiles?).
• Risk lawsuits that drain the precious building fund or whatever lavish project Gerald Flurry is funding next. 

Instead, they handle it "internally" — a nice way of saying sweep it under the rug, counsel the victim to forgive, maybe shuffle the abuser to another congregation, and enforce silence with shunning or disfellowshipping threats. This mirrors patterns seen in other insular religious groups, where protecting the "work of God" trumps protecting children. 

The PCG, under Gerald Flurry, has a reputation for being especially controlling and litigious among Armstrong splinters. Ex-members have documented various abuses, including heavy-handed discipline and failure to properly address predators. When the broader WCG broke apart, other COG groups saw more accountability through lawsuits and arrests. PCG? They doubled down on isolation and secrecy. 

If your church's response to a child being raped is a two-year timeout for the rapist and indefinite suspension for the disabled victim, plus a gag order... that's not a church. That's a cult protecting its own at the expense of the vulnerable. Real justice involves police, courts, and zero tolerance—not "don't talk about it." Victims deserve better than this hypocritical, self-serving farce dressed up as biblical governance.

Jesus Demands a Gulfstream and Dance Troupe, But Apparently Not This Jerusalem Lease

As the Philadelphia Church of God hurtles down its spectacular financial death spiral, the once-proud outfit has been unceremoniously told to vacate from its swanky long-term lease on prestigious David Marcus Street in Jerusalem. The very building they crowed about securing in 2022—because only the best will do for God’s most elite remnant—now belongs to someone else. 

 
It housed the late Dr. Eilat Mazar’s archaeological library and research, the spoils they eagerly claimed after she mysteriously bequeathed her life’s work to them. (Because nothing screams “divine favor” like inheriting dusty artifacts from someone else’s decades of toil.) This was their grand imitation of Herbert W. Armstrong’s “iron bridge” with Benjamin Mazar: twenty years after the original digs died with Armstrong in 1986, PCG wormed their way back in with Eilat on the City of David and Ophel excavations, strutting around like they’d single-handedly reinvented biblical archaeology. 

 
But the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology was always mired in controversy. Critics slammed it as little more than a slick apologetics outfit pushing maximalist, literalist interpretations designed to “prove” the Bible at all costs—cherry-picking finds to prop up PCG’s end-time narrative while dismissing mainstream scholars as godless minimalists. Their work was routinely accused of bias, politics, and turning science into propaganda for Gerald Flurry’s prophetic fantasies. Yet none of that stopped the tithe pipeline. 

Archaeology was just the warm-up act. They needed that prime Jerusalem pad as a luxury forward operating base for their prophesied role as the Two Witnesses—so after a long day of fiery sackcloth street theater, God’s chosen could retire to a hot shower and a gourmet meal instead of roughing it like common prophets. All of it bankrolled by the tithe slaves back home, who were simultaneously funding far more critical “kingdom work”: the obscene millions lavished on Gerald Flurry’s private Gulfstream jet (because commercial cattle class is far too worldly for a latter-day apostle with delicate health) and the extravagant Celtic Throne traveling road show. That glittering Irish-dance vanity project stars the Flurry spawn and a bloated entourage of over 60 performers and crew, with every last penny for food, luxury lodging, airfare, security, and “other necessities” gleefully extracted from the faithful. Nothing spreads the gospel quite like daddy’s dancers prancing and twirling on your dime while the “Work” supposedly races toward the end of the age. 

Gerald Flurry has always had ironclad theological justifications for this breathtaking waste, of course. Every private jet flight, every dance tour encores, every overpriced Jerusalem lease, and every empty English mansion was “God’s will”—part of the final warning message, building faith through archaeology that “proves” the Bible, preparing the place of safety, and positioning the PCG as the elite end-time players who will shake nations. The tithes aren’t being wasted; they’re “invested” in the most important Work on Earth. How dare you question God’s apostle? 

 
Yet here we are. With an aging, shrinking membership, disillusioned victims finally waking up to the spiritual abuse and nonstop financial fleecing, the coffers are bone dry. Extreme budget cuts have landed like divine judgment. The Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology building on David Marcus 1 has been sold. Staff and volunteers must vacate by the end of August 2026. Brad Macdonald piously bleated that God will “choose another building in Jerusalem for us.” How touching—right after this one got yanked. 

 
And don’t forget the crown jewel of fiscal incompetence: they’re still chained to that grotesquely overpriced Edstone mansion in England that no one has expressed any interest in since on the market, quietly hemorrhaging cash while the Gulfstream guzzles fuel and the dancers keep prancing.

This is peak Armstrongism in all its hypocritical glory: preach imminent apocalypse while living like minor royalty on other people’s sacrifices, then act shocked when the money evaporates. The Two Witnesses can’t even keep their fancy Jerusalem apartment. The “great Work” is imploding under the weight of its own extravagance, yet the desperate, guilt-soaked pleas for more tithes will only grow louder and more hysterical. 
 
Truly a masterclass in end-time stewardship. Keep sacrificing, you glorious tithe slaves—Gerald still needs that next tank of jet fuel, another round of applause for the family dance troupe, and fresh “revelations” to justify it all while the whole glittering empire circles the drain. 

hattip to two different readers here for information.

 From The Exit and Support Network

Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology Sold:
May 28, 2026
I was more than surprised to see in the May 22, 2026 Friday Philadelphian under “Jerusalem” that the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology (AIBA) was sold and to be vacated by August.
“Staff received notification that the sale of the institute building on David Marcus 1 was finalized: The building will be vacated by the end of August, with the help of the summer excavation volunteers.”
Brad Macdonald said that God “will choose another building in Jerusalem for us.”
GF “approved plans” yesterday for Chris Eames (whose visa expires in a few months) to move to Edmond in September following the excavation.
I did a search and found the property had been a long term lease to the AI. Then today found an article in The Times of Israel about property deals. Don’t know if there is any connection but the institute was very supportive of the City of David development. The Institute is in the Talbijeh district. –[name withheld]