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]

Crackpot Bob's Latest Epistle: “I’m Just Like Herbert Armstrong, Only More Butthurt and Holier”

 

Bob Thiel’s Latest Epistle: “I’m Just Like Herbert Armstrong, Only More Butthurt and Holier”
In what can only be described as the theological equivalent of a jilted ex writing a 47-page Facebook rant at 2 a.m., Crackpot Bob Thiel has once again graced the internet with his favorite genre: Me vs. Everyone Else, But Mostly Rod Meredith and all COG that reject me. Fresh off yet another round of self-comparison to Herbert W. Armstrong justifying his split from COG7, Crackpot Bob is still nursing the mother of all grudges because the big boys in the Church of God scene looked at his résumé, his dreams, his prophetic timeline, and said, “Nah.”
For those keeping score at home over his lack of ordination, the Worldwide Church of God said no. The Global Church of God said no. The Living Church of God said double no. At this point, Bob has been rejected as many times as Peter rejected Jesus. But instead of taking the hint, he’s decided the problem isn’t his theology, his narcissistic personality, or his endless nitpicking—it’s that they lack integrity.
LCG had the audacity not to rewrite their Official Statement of Beliefs exactly the way Crackpot Bob told them to in December 2011. They also failed to update their history booklet to his exact specifications. The horror. The absolute scandal. One can only imagine the emergency evangelist meetings where grown men sat around saying, “Quick, we must appease the man who keeps emailing us corrections!”
Crackpot Bob solemnly informs us that Dr. Meredith, Richard Ames, and Dr. Doug Winnail agreed with him in private about prophetic errors. Of course they did, Bob. That’s why they immediately changed everything and made you their top guy, right? Oh wait—no, they didn’t. They kept right on teaching what they taught while Crackpot Bob seethed in the corner, furiously updating his website with more red-underline “errors” than a Soviet editor. Oh, and don't forget that unverifiable double-blessing by Gaylyn Bonjoir that no one ever witnessed.
The pinnacle of this saga is Bob’s declaration that his reasons for leaving LCG were “actually much more compelling” than Herbert Armstrong’s reasons for leaving the old Church of God (Seventh Day). Let that marinate. The man who was never ordained by any of the major groups, whose “double portion of God’s Holy Spirit” claim raises more eyebrows than a COG leader's jet purchase, is now positioning himself as the truer successor to Armstrong. 
It’s like showing up to a family reunion, announcing you’re the rightful heir because Uncle Herb once nodded at you, then storming off to start your own splinter group when nobody crowns you king. “They wouldn’t ordain me? Fine. I’ll ordain myself via a dream, some YouTube videos, and those adulterous leaders in Africa. Take that, you Laodiceans!”
Bob’s entire brand is now built on three pillars:

1. “They didn’t listen to me.”
2. “I was right about everything and they knew it.”
3. “Sardis! Laodicea! Falling away! Read my books!”

All while insisting he’s not bitter. Just… concerned. Deeply, prophetically concerned. The same way a guy who gets dumped is “concerned” about his ex’s new boyfriend’s theology.
If Crackpot Bob's credentials were as obvious and God-ordained as he claims, he wouldn’t need to write endless articles proving it by dragging LCG and Rod Meredith’s corpse through the mud years later. Legitimate leaders don’t spend this much time explaining why the groups that rejected them are doomed for not recognizing their greatness. They just lead.
Instead, we get this endless saga of perceived slights, unheeded corrections, and prophetic score-settling. It’s less “continuation of the Philadelphia era” and more “man still mad he didn’t get the promotion.”
At this point, the most compelling evidence that Crackpot Bob isn’t a legitimate COG leader is… Crackpot Bob himself. Keep writing those articles, Bob. The rest of us are enjoying the show.