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
In times of global tension, it is wise for churches—especially smaller Sabbath-keeping fellowships—to review basic safety practices without fear or alarm. Prayer is essential, but it is not enough to simply pray and take no practical action. Scripture calls us to be both trusting and prudent: “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16), and “The prudent sees danger and hides himself” (Proverbs 22:3). It is true that most incidents involving churches are not tied to international events but to local, personal, or mental health situations. Even so, moments of heightened global tension should prompt us to examine our preparedness and strengthen simple safeguards. Nehemiah prayed, had faith, and yet still set a watch (Nehemiah 4:9). Church of God congregations should follow this stellar example by combining prayer with practical vigilance.
Many Churches of God are small, relational, and welcoming—strengths that should be preserved. Unfortunately, safety is often not considered a priority. There are, however, simple, low-cost measures that can make a meaningful difference: keeping doors locked once services begin, designating one main entrance, posting a greeter or two at the door at all times, and avoiding propped-open side doors. Leaders should ensure someone is always ready to contact emergency services if needed. Children’s areas should follow basic check-in and two-adult guidelines. These steps do not create a fortress mentality; they simply reduce vulnerability while maintaining a warm, inviting atmosphere.
Church security need not feel militarized or fearful. A visible presence, basic first-aid supplies, and non-lethal defensive tools—such as pepper spray or even a medium-sized fire extinguisher, which can be very effective in delaying or stopping an attacker—can all be utilized. It is time for the Churches of God to become more safety-conscious and better prepared, combining faith with thoughtful vigilance to protect the congregations, especially the children entrusted to their care.
Oh, where do we even begin with these paragons of humility and divine appointment? Never have the people of God been blessed with such a glorious saga of self-proclaimed saviors in the endless parade of Church of God splinters.
When Bob Thiel burst onto the scene in 2012, the entire Church of God world collectively gasped in awe at the arrival of the most self-absorbed narcissist ever to launch a splinter group. It was all about him—his magnificent website, his breathtaking articles, his unparalleled theological brilliance. The world had never before witnessed such a beacon of doctrinal purity. No historian in the vast arc of human history had ever been more accurate. No prophet of God had ever been purer or more prophetically spot-on. Clearly, the entire sweep of Christianity needed to drop to its knees and bow at his feet in humble adoration. And with each passing year, he somehow manages to outdo himself in sheer, unadulterated grandeur. Impressive escalation, really.
Then along came Samuel Kitchen, strutting in with his shiny new-and-improved "Worldwide Church of God"—a thrilling congregation consisting of himself and a handful of unemployed loyalists (give or take a brother). He and his sibling fancied themselves the noble saviors of the church, heroically preserving the writings, publications, and videos of Herbert W. Armstrong and his crew. How touching. Of course, they didn't just "preserve"—they outright swiped the booklets, articles, videos, and other property once owned by the original WCG/CGI outfits. Then, in a masterstroke of branding genius, they stole the name "Worldwide Church of God" too. Timothy soon tired of the family circus and bolted for the greener (or at least less delusional) pastures of the United Church of God, leaving Samuel to solo-run his mind-boggling ministry. A ministry, mind you, that is first, foremost, and exclusively about himself—with God dutifully tagging along as his personal hype man.
His latest letter triumphantly lists all his jaw-dropping accomplishments—most of which sound suspiciously like the itinerary of an average tourist with a religious-themed travel blog.
In 2022, he and three or four other brave souls trekked off to Jerusalem for the Feast. Apparently, he thought he was going to dazzle the streets with Herbert's theological landmines and single-handedly revive the Work. Alas, some unscrupulous Muslims had the audacity to take his money and refuse him the accommodations he demanded. A couple of his ragtag followers slunk back to the U.S. in defeat, while he and one other woman decamped to Jordan. There, the Jordanians—clearly recognizing divine royalty—rolled out the red carpet for God's most astonishing prophet as he scoped out Petra, the future rallying point for his mighty army of misfits. Epic.
By 2023, undeterred, he boldly claimed the corporate name "Worldwide Church of God," positioning himself as its official representative in this latter-day dispensation. Because nothing says "legitimate successor" like expecting everyone who remembers the glory days to instantly recognize him as the fresh, updated face of the church. Genius marketing.
In 2024, brother Timothy finally had enough of the escalating nuttiness, jumped the sinking ship (again), and joined the United Church of God. This left God's most cherished repository of Herbertism floundering—until Samuel heroically stepped in to rescue it and restore it to what is surely God's all-time favorite website. Meanwhile, poor Bob Thiel was reportedly spotted whimpering in the corner of his little brown world headquarters in Grover Beach, devastated by the shocking turn of events. The humanity!
Fast-forward to 2025: He returned to Jerusalem and—hold onto your hats—stood in a street! The world shook. Jerusalem quaked. The Temple Mount rocked on its ancient foundations. The planet was forever changed. Tourists really do have that kind of impact, apparently. Then he kept Passover and Unleavened Bread right there in the holy city. Whoop-de-doo. Truly earth-shattering.
A couple of months ago, his holy feet graced the once-sacred grounds of the old Ambassador College campus in Pasadena. The earth trembled yet again as those sanctified soles trod the hallowed Bouquet Canyon paving stones. His gaze finally settled upon the sacred House of God—the Ambassador Auditorium—where the Almighty once dwelled in peace and harmony for nearly 25 glorious years... until the Great Apostasy hit and He was served an eviction notice, and it was handed over to a bunch of Pentecostal pogo-jumping, slain-in-the-spirit types. The very kind Herbert Armstrong despised with every fiber of his being!
And then—miracle of miracles—God dispatched Michael the Archangel himself to whisper sweet nothings into Samuel's ear: "Thou must raise 45 million dollars and buy the Auditorium!" Shockingly, the archangel forgot to mention the part about also snapping up Herbert's old mansion (also conveniently for sale). Imagine: Samuel could live on campus, stroll down each day, and tickle the ivories on the auditorium stage piano just like Herbert used to. Isn't the Work of God just amazing? Truly, the mind boggles at the divine priorities.
These men aren't just leading churches—they're rewriting the very definition of humility, one grandiose self-proclamation at a time. Stay tuned for the next chapter in this never-ending ego odyssey.
In 2022, I announced the existence of the Worldwide Church of God meeting in Jerusalem to keep the Feasts of the Lord. We ended up keeping them in Petra, Jordan.
In 2023, in Philadelphia PA, I launched a new website for the Church. (worldwidechurchofgod.org)
In 2024, I saved the WWCG-archives website domain from being lost. I then added it to the main website. This domain is what was used in All video and All articles on social media before. The loss of this would have completely destroyed what God had been doing through me.
In 2025, Members of the Worldwide Church of God stood up in Jerusalem.
I kept the Passover, and Days of Unleavened Bread in Jerusalem.
We kept the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles and last great day, there in Jerusalem.
In 2026, I went to Pasadena in January, to commemorate the closure of 40 years in the wilderness since the death of Herbert W Armstrong. And to honor Christ’s apostle. I announced the people of God should leave the modern day groups of “Korah, Dathan and Abiram”.
In February, I announced the desire and plans to purchase the Ambassador Auditorium, announcing God’s will to bring His Tithes and His Offerings to do God’s Work and to give God’s name Glory.
No one else is doing this.
What people don’t understand, is that Jesus Christ for many many years has been stirring up His Church members, to exit these other groups.
Not one of these groups is headed by Jesus Christ. God is NOT building their houses.
The Worldwide Church of God is HIS HOUSE.
If you study Joshua, after the forty years in the wilderness, and death of Moses, the next step was to magnify the one God is using next.
In this case, I am the only one fighting for, and working a work for the Philadelphia candlestick! Everyone else is busy creating “their groups”, and trying to siphon away the membership of the Worldwide Church of God.
I am not starting a “new group”. This is the Worldwide Church of God which Jesus Christ raised up!
Now with the work announced. I also have warned of the curses of God coming on those who do not want to obey Him! The countdown is ticking.
If you study, Malachi, Haggai, Zechariah, and Isaiah(plus more of course), but these all talk about a period of plagues, drought, famine, and curses from God for disobedience! It also goes back to Leviticus 26!
So now God will be magnifying whom He is working through. It won’t be a human work. It will be a spiritual and divine work.
The Work of God!
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says God!
Right after the forty years in the wilderness, God made it clear who He was working through. The Word of God is unbreakable! Gods will fulfill everything in it!
Study Joshua. For that is what we are seeing spiritually being fulfilled today.
Those outside of the Church, in these groups, are called upon to repent and believe God! To come out of them!
These groups are church structures of Satan the Devil. They teach you how to be a Babylonian “church of God”. Oh how they do lie.(Rev. 3:9)
The way was prepared through Mr Herbert W Armstrong. The Spiritual Temple is the Worldwide Church of God! That is the future wife of Jesus Christ, who is called the Bride.
The Wife shall rule with Christ on earth forever! After a thousand years, Jesus Christ will present to the Father, the Wife!!!
We have faced much indoctrination from thae groups. To teach us contrary to what we receved from Christ in the Worldwide Church of God.
One might naively assume that after the great apostasy of the Worldwide Church of God, thirty-some years later, the splinter scene would have fizzled out into blessed silence. But nooo—every day (lately, practically every hour) some fresh nugget of asshattery emerges from the Churches of God. And yet, amid this glorious parade of nonsense, every single one of these groups smugly insists they're the sole practitioners of pure 1st-century Christianity. How utterly COG precious.
As these outfits splinter into hundreds upon hundreds of micro-cults—each screeching louder than the last that they're the most authentic—the weirdness has ascended to dazzling new heights of complete and utter stupidity.
Take Gerald Flurry, for starters. He kicked off his little Philadelphia Church of God empire by, ahem, "borrowing" heavily from Jules Dervaes' Letter to Laodicea. Then he swiftly pivoted to treasure-hunting the Ark of the Covenant under Ireland's Hill of Tara (because why not?), snapped up a mansion in England to cosplay the old Bricket Wood campus, and somehow "discovered" that King David actually danced the Irish jig. Naturally, his gospel morphed into a traveling Celtic dance roadshow starring his own grandchildren. But wait, there's more! He dispatched minions to Oregon to excavate Herbert Armstrong's supposed prayer rock, hauled it back to Oklahoma like sacred luggage, draped it in royal purple velvet for pilgrims to bow before... until, of course, a dream revealed it was the new Stone of Destiny destined to replace the Stone of Scone. Cue the custom throne, more roadshow antics, and the solemn promise that Jesus would return to perch atop this holy lawn ornament to be crowned King of Kings—flanked, naturally, by Gerald on His right and little Stevie on His left—before unleashing divine wrath on the sinful Laodicean world. Classic.
Then there's Dave Pack, who stormed off to Wadsworth, Ohio, after a messy divorce from the Global Church of God (sparked by questioning Raymond McNair and Rod Meredith). Dave heroically "restored all truth" to the Laodiceans, tried (and failed) to build his own college, botched his TV studio broadcasts, and—surprise!—ran into money troubles. Solution? The satanic "Common" doctrine: Sell your house! Sell your business! Cash out your retirement! Hand it all over to Dave. Not long after, he declared Jesus would return to his campus before Dave's third "retirement" to rain holy hellfire on the world and those pesky Laodiceans. Priorities, people.
Around the same era, Ron Weinland launched his prophetic warning tour, gracing TED-like stages with tales of impending doom. Turns out he and his charming wife were deceiving the government on taxes; he landed a biblical 3½ years in prison. He is now joins the ranks with other ordained Church of God felons (the others arrested and in prison for pedophilia). Now he's a footnote on the COG radar, and even Jesus seems uninterested in swinging by for a chat before torching everything.
And don't forget bitter Bob Thiel, who threw a royal hissy fit in 2012 when Rod Meredith wouldn't rewrite doctrine to match Bob's revelations. Rejected in the U.S. and Europe (ministers in UCG and LCG literally laughed him out), he found a receptive audience among church-hopping Sabbatarians in Africa—folks who bounce between Adventists and COG groups chasing whichever one doles out more cash and goodies.
The insanity just rolls on, day after day, week after week, year after interminable year. Nothing surprises us anymore...at least we thought...until some nobody with limited income in Iowa declares he's buying the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena to restore it as The House of God, breathlessly awaiting a $45+ million windfall to make it happen. (Never mind the tens of millions more needed to actually run and maintain the place.) Yet here we are, sternly warned that if we don't cough up the cash, we're blocking the "wife" from marrying Christ.
Note: For some reason there has been a strong interest in this article from 2013 in the last few days, one year after Bob Thiel started his little group. He wasn't even the Big Bwana at that point and was desperately trying to get members from LCG and other groups to join him. Everyone refused. You can quickly discern from below that Bob remains exactly in the same state of mind he was in back then and today you can see there has been no growth in the man himself.
The Grain of Sand
Speaks...
Reflect on this Dr. Thiel
"Maybe those in LCG should realize that God may not be giving that group as much favor anymore? LCG no longer truly leads God's work. Hopefully, possibly because of its fast today, some will be better able to reflect on that."
Dr. Robert Thiel,
Non Prophet Continuing Church Of God
Perspective is not something most human beings are really good at. The Churches of God certainly aren't into perspective about themselves as far as I can tell. We give lip service to "Dear Lord, please bless us in your infinite wisdom for you are so very very large and we so very very small," but we usually end up forgetting that and the big head sets in again.
ex·ag·ger·ate
(g-zj-rt)
v.
ex·ag·ger·at·ed, ex·ag·ger·at·ing, ex·ag·ger·ates
1.
To represent as greater than is actually the case; overstate: exaggerate the size of the enemy force; exaggerated his own role in the
episode.
2.
To enlarge or increase to an abnormal degree: thick lenses that exaggerated the size of her eyes. To
make overstatements.
It is understandable that many leaders in the COG exaggerate just about everything they come in contact with is but is not unique to them. The Bible actually has played its part in teaching many to exaggerate with its own exaggerations.
I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, Genesis 22:17
Our mere 6 billion are already too many and straining the system. A mere smudge of humanity is actually descended from Abraham, if he ever existed. Israelites and Palestinians are virtually indistinguishable from each other genetically. Hebrews were merely the outcast Canaanite clan. Modern Israelis have very little actually DNA connection to original Hebrews in "the Holy Land."
Hundreds of billions of stars in one galaxy with hundreds of billions of galaxies in what may prove to be one grape of a universe on one cluster, on one vine, in one row in one vineyard probably is not what the Creator meant. We now are pretty sure Abraham's descendants won't actually be as the stars of heaven or the sand in the sea, but we'll get to that sand thing in a moment.
Whether it is the awesome number of booklets one of the Churches produce, the amazing response they had to a TV program, or the dozens of people that sit before them in church, perspective eludes them. They can and have "gone them therefore into all the world" in such amazing ways and for many years now that 99+ percent of the planet has never so much as heard of them, much less agreed with them. Go to any beach, scoop up a bucket of sand from one of them and that's about the amount of influence they have had on this planet with the one truth that must be spread or no flesh would saved alive.
Now...either they are missing something in all this, or God is way too small for the job himself and not doing so well with it either. Personally I wish that The Deity has cut out all the middle men long ago. How much further ahead would we actually be if we didn't have to go through priests, be heckled by prophets or try and figure out who the true and who the false apostles were? I say the Deity should have, from the start, offered seminars, personally conducted by itself with open question and answer sessions as desired. A buffet of what the Deity actually approves of as food fit to eat would be awesome! I'd like to see Gospel Jesus get to know Revelation Jesus and actually hear what the disciples , now apostles, have to say about Paul, but that can be for another time.
Back to self absorbed and ego centric wanna be's.
Self consumed and self absorbed, their impression of their importance, understanding and place in the universe becomes laughable even when compared to other churches, denominations, sects and cults...much less splinters and slivers. In the above quote and view, Dr. Thiel is tsk-tsking the Living Church of God for perhaps not being able to be used by the God of the Universe to "do the work" as in the past. To Bob, this is no mere coincidence. Plainly, since his falling out with LCG and their apparent rejection of his awesome self and in sights has occurred, God is packing up too and going with Bob. Where Bob goes can God and Jesus be far behind? Ummmm....sure!
What Bob means is that God takes his cues from what Bob does or thinks. If Bob had stayed, and he may wish he had in time, then we'd know God would stay with them as well. But if Bob gets offended and leaves, well then, the God of the Universe also gets offended and begins to withdraw his blessing from those that rejected His chosen servant and prophet. Bob is not the first person I have encountered in my life who thinks this way, but I spare you some pretty pathetic stories of special people I have met through ministry.
Bob hopes their now past fast will help them to see this easily discernible truth. Actually, I'm just kidding. This arrogance wrapped in a fake and false humility is beyond offensive and insulting to those who have half the brain it would take to see this. Those with less than half may not be able to comprehend what they are seeing however and evidently won't or don't.
So, let's get back to that one grain of sand on the beach thing for true perspective.
If you were to take one grain of actual sand, stick it on the end of your index finger, extend your arm out and hold the grain of sand up to the heavens , this is what you will find in the space that one grain of sand covers up in the night sky.
The Hubble eXtreme Deep
Field (XDF) combines Hubble observations taken over the past decade of a small
patch of sky in the constellation of Fornax. With a total of over two million
seconds of exposure time, it is the deepest image of the Universe ever made.
Credit: credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch (University
of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), and the HUDF09 Team
EVERY speck of light and spiral in this photo is one of 5500 galaxies each containing hundreds of billions of stars. This is what you can hide behind one grain of sand at arms length. And there is much more behind this but our technology is not there yet. We're seeing here what these galaxies looked like 13.2 billion years ago. They could still be there or not by this time.
One of these...
x 5500 behind one grain of sand
on the end of your fingertip held up to the night sky.
Are we feeling important yet? Do we actually think the Universe knows about us or is impressed by the COG Self Appointed types or the Pope for that matter?
I going to go with no. All flesh is as grass is being generous. Very generous.
Need more to think about ?
I believe the Universe must be teeming with life and much of it way beyond what we are humans can conceive of. I'm also going to bet that none of it or they have ever heard of the awesome and amazing, over arching and incredible Churches of God or their ego centric and self absorb one man shows of leadership.
Personal humility and men getting out of their own heads long enough to keep themselves in perspective is not one of the COG leadership qualities that shine through the darkness. Probably because minds like Dr. Thiel's and others simply cannot imagine a world without their input and "understanding." It is quite a joke actually.
I think in time, for those with eyes to see and minds to think it through, one can come to see the Bible and it's cultic God that inhabited an obscure mountain in an obscure land barking obscure orders to an obscure people on an obscure planet in a rather average solar system and galaxy is simply too small a god, should it actually exist.
Instead of sermons and Bible studies, I suggest the COGs, and I mean all of them from Grace Community formerly known as WCG to the most obscure of men trying to be and think more highly than they ought give apologies instead. Apologies for the big head, ego centric and self absorbed fairly theologically uneducated selves they have inflicted on many other well meaning and sincere humans who simply wish to know what it's really all about. I doubt you guys have a clue. I don't, but if I thought I did, I doubt I'd be comfortable presenting myself to the world of sand grains in the arrogant and puffed up manner you guys have mastered
Last week I picked up my mom's cremains. Ten pounds of stardust. Ten pounds of sand. One grain of that sand can block out a billion worlds and none of them ever heard of you who think more highly of yourselves than you ought...
