PCG's Cal Culpepper - The Most Abusive Minister in PCG

My wife, me and 4 children attended the PCG. My first grandchild was born a couple weeks after my wife died. 

A couple years later I was put out of the PCG because of some lies that were told about me. I was put out, with NO chance at counseling, NO opportunity to tell what happened. 

Mr Eagle called me and told me that Culpepper was going to mark me.

I wanted to see my granddaughter and Culpepper would not allow me to. He told my daughter that they were to have NO CONTACT with me. I could not see their daughter. 

In Kentucky there is a grandparents visitation law. You have to let grandparents visit grandchildren. 

I got an attorney and had him write a letter to my daughter. Let your dad see his grandchild or be taken to court. 

My son in law gave the letter to Culpepper for the "church" to help. Culpepper gave him the letter back and told him it was not the church's problem, they could not help but I WAS NOT to be allowed to see my granddaughter. 

My daughter Carmen and her husband Brett left the church and allowed me to see my granddaughter. 

Next I am going to tell why I was put out. Culpepper, or Cultpecker as I now call him did not like me at all. 

It will be the truth, and I am going to name names. I could write a book. Mr. Eagle was my local minister. He was there, He can verify what I say it true. 

Learn more about Cultpecker here: https://called-chosen.blogspot.com/2025/12/freaked-out-by-minister.html

Dan Moffett

When Genealogy, Zechariah, Armstrongism, and Samuel Kitchen Collide in a Perfect Storm of Spiritual Self-Importance

There is a fascinating phenomenon that appears again and again in Armstrongism, thanks to its structure that is built around authoritarian personalities: eventually someone discovers that God's entire prophetic plan somehow points directly to them. This is how we have been blessed by such luminaries as Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, and Gerald Flurry.

Now, Samuel W. Kitchen has discovered, by the rigorous method of rearranging the letters in his own surname until they look vaguely biblical, that the post office should be forwarding the tithes of the faithful to him. He is, he assures us, of the house of Josiah-Hen, descendant of Zerubbabel and of Joseph of Arimathea, co-heir with Herbert W. Armstrong of the Siward Bjorn line, and therefore the authorized recipient of gold, silver, and the three tithes that will restore the temple and rebuke the devourer. The rest of us are building in Babylon. Please make the check payable to the man whose kitchen is named for Christ.

The pattern is almost predictable.

First, someone finds an obscure biblical passage. Then they connect it to a mysterious family lineage. Then they announce that their ancestry proves they possess a special role in God's plan. Finally, the conclusion arrives right on schedule:

You should recognize their authority and support their ministry financially.

It is a remarkable theological system. Thousands of years of biblical history, genealogies, prophecies, and symbolism all somehow end up pointing to one modern individual with a donation button.

Convenient, isn't it? This is the main reason for the existence of Armstrongism - the donation button.

Armstrongism has set the perfect example for Samuel. The claim he is promoting is that he can trace a family connection through Joseph of Arimathea, Zerubbabel, Herbert W. Armstrong, and ancient Israelite lines, thereby inheriting some kind of spiritual authority connected with Zechariah 6.

The problem is that Scripture does not establish such a mechanism.

Zechariah 6 is dealing with a specific historical situation involving the post-exilic period after the Babylonian captivity. Zerubbabel was a governor of Judah during the rebuilding of the temple, and Joshua the high priest was involved in the symbolic coronation described in the passage.

The passage does not say:

Thousands of years later, find someone with a similar-sounding surname, trace questionable genealogies, and then send him money because he occupies Zerubbabel's seat.

That interpretation requires a very creative imagination.

A little too creative.

It turns biblical prophecy into something resembling an ancient treasure map where the final clue mysteriously leads to someone's personal ministry account.

Armstrongism is based upon word associations, whether in British Israelism or proof of a leader's calling. Samuel does this exact same thing.

Start with the name. "Kitchen" is a Middle English occupational surname from cycene, the room where the food was cooked. It is not "Kit" plus "Chen." "Kit" is not Hebrew for "supporter of Christ." "Hen" and "Chen" are the same Hebrew root meaning grace or favor; they are not a secret family crest waiting for a twentieth-century American to notice that his last name ends in similar sounds. Josiah means "Yahweh supports" or "Yahweh heals," depending on the etymology one prefers; it does not mean "send money to anyone surnamed Kitchen." If surname puns conferred priesthood, every Baker would be entitled to the showbread and every Smith would be forging the covenant.

The biblical text he cites does not say what he needs it to say. Zechariah 6:9-15 records a symbolic act in the days of the return from Babylon. Gold and silver brought by Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah are made into crowns and set on the head of Joshua the high priest. The prophet is told to go to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah for the purpose of that ceremony. The crowns are then kept as a memorial in the temple. The speech that follows is about "the Branch," who will build the temple of the Lord, bear the glory, and sit as priest on his throne. That Branch is not Zerubbabel's distant cousin who will one day incorporate in the United States. Christian readers, from the New Testament onward, have identified the Branch with the Messiah. The house of Josiah is the location of a one-time prophetic sign-act, not a perpetual clearinghouse for tithes whose mailing address updates whenever a man named Kitchen feels led.

This argument follows a familiar pattern found throughout Armstrong-related splinter groups.

The original movement centered heavily on the idea that God was working through a specially appointed human leader. After Herbert W. Armstrong's death, numerous groups emerged, often claiming that they preserved the true work, the true message, or the true authority.

The common thread is always the same: Everyone else lost the truth. God has restored it here. And naturally, the person making that claim is usually the one standing in the restored position.

What are the odds? Apparently, in these movements, the odds are very good.

Every generation seems to produce someone who discovers that the prophetic baton conveniently landed in their own hands.

Zerubbabel himself was the Persian-appointed governor who led a return and began the second temple. His line is traced in the genealogies of Matthew and Luke because those genealogies are interested in the ancestry of Jesus, not in establishing a continuing civil or ecclesiastical office that survives the fall of the temple, the end of the Levitical system, and the arrival of the new covenant. Hebrews is inconveniently clear that the earthly sanctuary and its regulations were copies and shadows, that Christ is the high priest of a better covenant, and that the old order is obsolete. There is no vacant "seat of Zerubbabel" for a modern claimant to occupy. The governor's work was finished when the temple was built and, later, when that temple was superseded.

The Joseph of Arimathea myth is legend stacked on legend. The Gospels say he was a rich member of the council, a disciple, who obtained the body of Jesus and laid it in his own tomb. Medieval British tradition, much of it late and pious, turned him into the uncle of Mary, the bearer of the Grail, the founder of Glastonbury, and the ancestor of British royalty. British-Israel and Armstrongite writers adopted the tale because it helped them connect the throne of David to the British Isles. None of this is history that can be audited. No continuous, documented pedigree runs from a first-century Judean counselor through Dark Age Britain, Siward Bjorn, the Armstrongs, and a Kitchen family in such a way that a living man can produce the records and say, "Here is the chain; here is the office." Even if every link were real, blood would not confer the right to collect Christian offerings. The New Testament never once treats descent from David, from Zerubbabel, or from any Sanhedrin member as a qualification for ministry or for the receipt of money. Paul, who could boast of his Hebrew pedigree when it suited an argument, refused to do so as a ground of authority.

Armstrong's own movement already illustrates the problem. Herbert W. Armstrong claimed unique insight, the Philadelphia mantle, and the right to the tithe that would finish the work before the place of safety. After his death, the church split, resplit, and resplit again. Each fragment has tended to discover that the true continuation runs through its own leader, its own literature, and its own bank account. Kitchen's version simply adds a family-tree flourish and insists that reorganization is apostasy while his own private claim is restoration. The pattern is familiar: one man, one work, one place the money must go, and a warning that refusal means missing the kingdom.

The most concerning aspect of these claims is not merely unusual interpretations of prophecy. It is what often follows: A demand for recognition, loyalty, and financial support.

The argument becomes: "God has appointed me." Therefore: "You must support what God is doing through me."

But this creates a serious biblical question: Where did Jesus tell His followers to locate a modern individual claiming inherited prophetic authority and send money to him?

Where did Jesus instruct Christians to verify someone's spiritual legitimacy through genealogy?

Where did the apostles tell believers: Search carefully through ancient family records until you find the person occupying Zerubbabel's seat?

They did not.

Instead, the New Testament repeatedly emphasizes faithfulness to Christ, humility, service, and spiritual fruit.

Jesus warned about religious leaders who sought honor and special status. He taught that greatness in God's kingdom is demonstrated through serving others, not through claiming elevated rank.

Another recurring Armstrong teaching is the idea that a specific organization represents the continuation of the Philadelphia era of Revelation.

This creates another theological dilemma: If every splinter group claims to be the continuation of the true Philadelphia work, how many Philadelphia works are there?

Apparently, the Philadelphia candlestick has multiplied like loaves and fishes.

Each group says:

"We are the faithful remnant."

Each claims:

"Others have fallen away."

Each suggests:

"Support us because this is where God is working."

At some point, a reasonable Christian has to ask:

Is this actually biblical restoration - or simply an endless cycle of people claiming spiritual inheritance from previous claimants?

New-covenant Christians have specific reasons to decline the invitation. The tithe of the Mosaic law was tied to the land, the Levites, the temple, and the festivals of Israel. The New Testament nowhere reimposes that statute on Gentile churches or on Jewish believers in Christ. What it does teach is voluntary, cheerful giving for the support of those who labor in the gospel, for the poor, and for the needs of the saints. That giving is not a test of whether one has found the correct descendant of Josiah-Hen. It is not the mechanism by which the devourer is rebuked, and the European clay is broken. Malachi 3 addresses a covenant people who were robbing God under the Levitical system; it is not a collection letter for every later claimant who can quote it. Revelation 12 describes the woman's flight and the dragon's rage; it does not name a treasurer.

Authority in the church, on the apostolic witness, rests on the gospel itself, on faithfulness to the apostles' teaching, and on the recognition of the congregation, not on a surname, a medieval pedigree, a self-appointed upstart, someone who had some dreams and nightmares, or a private assurance that Christ has added one to an office the text never created. A man may be sincere, industrious, and convinced. Sincerity does not turn Zechariah's memorial crowns into a standing order for his household. The Branch has already come. The temple he builds is not financed by locating the right Kitchen. 

The Christian message has never been:

"Find the man with the right genealogy."

It has always been:

"Follow Christ."

And thankfully, following Christ does not require locating a modern Zerubbabel, decoding someone's surname, or sending money to someone who claims heaven's endorsement.

---------------------------------------------------------

Quoted below, as Samuel wrote it:

With Zerubbabel, they carried out the tithes and offerings, the gold and silver, and brought it to the House of God. 

In Zechariah 6:10-15, we read: 

Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; 

 

Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; 

And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: 

Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. 

The HOUSE that receives the tithes and offerings, is called "Josiah-Hen". That is WHO IS AUTHORIZED. That is where Zerubbabel is! 

In fact, this is my family line. I can trace my lineage back to Joseph of Arimathew, back to Zerubbabel. 

My family is Kit-chen. Josiah means "supporter of Yah" Kit means "Supporter of Christ" 

Hen and Chen is the same Hebrew word. 

Herbert W Armstrong is a descendant of this same family line!! His line was surnamed ARMSTRONG through Siward Bjourn! I am a direct descendant of Siward Bjourn too! And We are the House of HEN. 

Zerubbabel was of that same house. Because in Zechariah 6, God says to give gold and silver to the house of Josiah-Hen the son of Zephaniah! By the three tithes, the Temple shall be restored! Notice it is three men that are taken to go to this specific house! 

How will the coming United States of Europe break up? Through the obedience of the CLAY or ISRAELITE NATIONS among them! Who will God use to do that? The same individual who shall do the same with these camps of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram! Jesus Christ will do it through ONE MAN. 

Because notice in Malachi 3 the DEVOURER is REBUKED. Satan will be rebuked! Now notice Revelation 12:13-17! How is Satan and his armies REBUKED! 

Now notice Zechariah 3, and Satan is rebuked. IT TIES DIRECTLY TO ZECHARIAH 6 and the house mentioned! 

This is about the Philadelphia elect GOING TO A PLACE OF SAFETY! 

Those who obey God in bringing Tithes and Offerings to those restoring the Philadlephia Candlestick, the Worldwide Church of God! Not another church. Not re-organized as a new thing as these groups have. 

BUT SPIRITUALLY ORGANIZED AS CHRIST ORGANIZED THROUGH HERBERT W ARMSTRONG! This is NOT MY CHURCH! 

But I have been added to it by the Hand of Jesus Christ! I have received authority from Christ, and even the Bible backs me up by pointing out my family line and the family line of Herbert W Armstrong! 

Us being of that line gives us no promise of position in the Church. But because AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GIVEN, we ought to OBEY GOD, and get back of HIS WORK. And stop this support of Babylon. Because the House of God will be built! and all these other houses will fall. 

This is about getting the Bride ready! It is a TEST ON US! God is watching us to see who is serving HIM, and who is just building in Babylon. 

I hope you realize your calling brethren! We will not enter the kingdom of God, any other way! 

In Jesus Christ's name, 

Samuel W Kitchen

From Armstrongism to Hebrew Roots: The Untold Story of a Religious Family Tree

From Armstrongism to Hebrew Roots: 

The Untold Story of a Religious Family Tree

The modern Hebrew Roots movement is often described as having emerged from Armstrongism. There is considerable truth in that description, but the actual history is more fascinating than a simple "Armstrongism became Hebrew Roots" explanation suggests.

Hebrew Roots did not spring from a single founder, denomination, or moment in history. Instead, it developed through the convergence of several religious traditions: the Sabbatarian Church of God movement, Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God, the Sacred Name movement, Messianic Judaism, and a growing interest among Christians in returning to what they regarded as the Hebrew and biblical foundations of the faith.

The dramatic doctrinal transformation of the Worldwide Church of God after the death of Herbert Armstrong in 1986 provided an especially important catalyst. Thousands of former members suddenly found themselves outside the church in which they had learned to observe the seventh-day Sabbath and biblical festivals. Some joined other Church of God organizations. Others encountered Sacred Name groups, Messianic Judaism, and eventually the emerging Hebrew Roots movement.

The story of the House of Yahweh in Texas provides an intriguing window into this larger history. Although the House of Yahweh should not simply be classified as a Hebrew Roots organization, its history demonstrates how closely the Armstrongite, Sabbatarian, Sacred Name, and Torah-observant worlds could overlap.

Armstrongism: Preparing the Ground

To understand the rise of Hebrew Roots, it is necessary to understand what made Armstrongism so unusual within twentieth-century American Christianity. Herbert W. Armstrong's Radio Church of God, later renamed the Worldwide Church of God, developed a distinctive theology that challenged many conventional Christian practices.

Armstrong taught his followers to observe the seventh-day Sabbath, rather than Sunday. His churches celebrated the biblical annual festivals-including Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day. The church also rejected Christmas and Easter as non-biblical traditions and maintained Old Testament dietary distinctions. For many Americans raised in conventional Protestant or Catholic Christianity, these teachings were startling.

Armstrongism essentially asked a question that would later become central to Hebrew Roots:

What if Christianity had moved away from many of the practices found in the Bible?

That question became fundamental to Armstrong's restorationist theology.

Armstrong taught that God had restored biblical truths that had been lost or obscured by traditional Christianity. His followers therefore came to see themselves not merely as another Protestant denomination but as participants in a restoration of original Christianity.

This provided fertile ground for what would later become Hebrew Roots.

The Questions Were Already Being Asked

By the time the Hebrew Roots movement began gaining visibility, former Armstrongites were already accustomed to asking questions such as:

• Why does Christianity worship on Sunday?
• Why aren't Christians keeping the biblical Holy Days?
• Why did Christmas and Easter replace the biblical festivals?
• Did Jesus and the apostles keep the Sabbath?
• Are the Old Testament dietary laws still relevant?
• What did the earliest followers of Jesus actually believe?
• How much of Christianity came from the Hebrew Scriptures?
• Did later Christianity lose something important from its biblical foundation?

These were not new questions. Armstrongism had already placed them at the center of religious discussion for thousands of its members.

That is one reason the later emergence of Hebrew Roots found such a receptive audience among some former Worldwide Church of God members.

• They didn't have to be convinced that the Sabbath mattered
• They were already keeping it
• They didn't have to be persuaded that the biblical festivals were important
• They had already spent years celebrating them

The question simply shifted from "What did Armstrong teach?" to "What does the Bible actually teach, and what was the faith of the earliest believers?" That distinction would become enormously important.

Armstrongism Wasn't the Whole Story

It would be a mistake to portray Hebrew Roots as simply a renamed version of Armstrongism.

Another important stream was already developing independently: the Sacred Name movement. Sacred Name groups placed particular emphasis on restoring what they believed was the proper Hebrew name of God, generally rendered Yahweh, and frequently used a Hebrew form of Jesus' name such as Yahshua. Many Sacred Name groups also observed the Sabbath and biblical festivals and maintained various elements of Old Testament law. In other words, there were already Christians outside Armstrongism who were pursuing many of the same biblical practices.

This means the historical picture is less like a straight line and more like a series of streams flowing toward one another.

One stream:

Sabbatarian Christianity → Armstrongism → Worldwide Church of God → post-Armstrong splintering

Another:

Sacred Name movement → Yahweh/Yahshua emphasis → Torah observance

Another:

Messianic Judaism → Jewish context of Jesus and the apostles → Torah-observant Christianity

Eventually these streams began overlapping. And that convergence helped produce the modern Hebrew Roots movement.

The Earthquake: Armstrong's Death and the Transformation of the Worldwide Church of God

The most important event in this story was the death of Herbert W. Armstrong in 1986.

Armstrong had spent decades building the Worldwide Church of God around a distinctive theological system. After his death, however, the church began undergoing major doctrinal changes. Under Joseph W. Tkach and later his son, the Worldwide Church of God increasingly abandoned many of Armstrong's distinctive teachings.

• British-Israelism was rejected.
• The church changed its teachings about the nature of God and salvation.
• The Sabbath and annual Holy Days were no longer required.
• Tithing doctrines changed.
• The church increasingly embraced mainstream evangelical Christianity.

For many members, this was not a minor theological adjustment. It was a revolution.

People who had spent decades believing that Saturday was the biblical Sabbath were suddenly being told that Christians were not obligated to keep it. People who had celebrated the biblical festivals were told that they were not requirements for Christians. The old doctrinal structure was collapsing. And thousands of people left.

The Armstrongite Diaspora

The result was one of the most remarkable episodes of fragmentation in modern American religious history.

Former Worldwide Church of God members scattered in numerous directions. Some joined or established organizations that attempted to preserve Armstrong's teachings. Among the resulting groups were organizations such as the United Church of God, Living Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God, Church of the Great God, and numerous smaller independent congregations.

But not everyone remained within the traditional Church of God world. Some former members began exploring other approaches to the Bible.

They encountered:

• Messianic Judaism.
• Sacred Name ministries.
• Torah-observant Christians.
• Independent Sabbath-keeping congregations.
• Hebrew Roots teachers and publications.

For someone who had spent years studying the Sabbath and Holy Days, these movements could seem remarkably familiar. But they offered something different.

Instead of saying, "This is what Herbert Armstrong taught," they asked: What did the Hebrew Scriptures actually say? What did Jesus and the apostles actually practice?

The birth of modern Hebrew Roots

The Hebrew Roots movement began emerging as a recognizable phenomenon during the late 1980s and 1990s. This period is important because it was precisely when the old Armstrongite world was breaking apart.

Former Worldwide Church of God members encountered other Torah-observant Christians. Some encountered Sacred Name groups. Others encountered Messianic Jewish congregations. Still others independently began studying Hebrew, Jewish background, the biblical festivals and the Torah.

The result was a movement that did not have a single founder. Instead, it consisted of networks of teachers, congregations, magazines, ministries and independent Bible-study groups.

One important development was the work of Dean and Susan Wheelock, who obtained a federal trademark for the term "Hebrew Roots" in 1994 and later published Hebrew Roots magazine. Other teachers, including Batya Wootten, were developing related ideas concerning the identity and restoration of Israel during the same period.

Some participants came from Armstrongite backgrounds. Others came from Messianic Judaism. Some came from Sacred Name organizations. Others came from evangelical churches and independently discovered Torah observance.

The movement therefore became a convergence point.

• One person might arrive because of the Sabbath.
• Another because of the biblical festivals.
• Another because of the Hebrew names of God.
• Another because of an interest in the Jewish background of Jesus.
• Another because of dissatisfaction with traditional Christian holidays.
• They could arrive at the same conference from completely different religious backgrounds.

What Armstrongism Contributed

Armstrongism's influence on this developing movement was particularly significant in several areas.

1. The Sabbath: Armstrong had already convinced hundreds of thousands of people that the seventh-day Sabbath was still relevant to Christians. For former members, Sabbath observance wasn't a new discovery.

2. The biblical festivals: The Worldwide Church of God had taught an annual cycle of biblical festivals for decades. Former members already knew the significance of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day.

3. Biblical dietary laws: Armstrongites were familiar with the distinction between clean and unclean animals described in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

4. Rejection of Christmas and Easter: Armstrong's followers had long been taught that these traditional Christian holidays were not commanded in Scripture.

5. Restorationism: Perhaps most importantly, Armstrongism provided a framework for believing that mainstream Christianity had lost important biblical truths.

This restorationist mindset became one of the bridges into Hebrew Roots. But Hebrew Roots went beyond Armstrong.

The emerging Hebrew Roots movement also departed from Armstrong's theological system in important ways. One major difference was the growing emphasis on Hebrew language and Jewish historical context. Many Hebrew Roots teachers became interested in the Judaism of the Second Temple period, the Hebrew language, Jewish interpretations of Scripture, and the cultural world in which Jesus and the apostles lived. This could lead to conclusions quite different from those taught by Armstrong.

The movement also contained considerable diversity concerning prophecy, salvation, the nature of God, Israel, the law, and the identity of the modern Jewish people.

Some participants retained ideas inherited from Armstrongism. Others rejected them.

Some adopted Sacred Name theology. Others did not.

Some identified closely with Messianic Judaism. Others deliberately distinguished themselves from it.

Consequently, Hebrew Roots cannot accurately be reduced to Armstrongism with Hebrew terminology added. It was a new synthesis.

Enter the House of Yahweh

One of the most fascinating organizations to examine in this history is the House of Yahweh in Texas. The House of Yahweh is generally better understood as part of the Sacred Name/Sabbatarian tradition rather than simply as a Hebrew Roots organization. Its history, however, reveals just how interconnected these religious worlds could become.

The movement associated with Yisrayl Hawkins developed in Texas and placed extraordinary emphasis on the biblical name Yahweh, Torah observance, the Sabbath, the annual Holy Days, and biblical prophecy.

The organization's history traces its development through the Hawkins brothers and their religious work. And there is an important Armstrongite connection.

Yisrayl Hawkins and the Worldwide Church of God

Before becoming associated with the House of Yahweh, Yisrayl Hawkins had a connection with the Worldwide Church of God in Abilene, Texas. Accounts of his early history describe him as having participated in the local WCG congregation, including serving as a song leader.

His religious path subsequently intersected with that of his brother, J. G. Hawkins, who had developed an interest in the Hebrew name of God. That connection is historically significant.

It demonstrates that the relationship between Armstrongism and Sacred Name religion wasn't merely an abstract similarity in doctrine.

There were actual people moving through these communities. They carried ideas with them. They maintained some teachings while abandoning others. They encountered new teachers and new interpretations. This is precisely how religious movements evolve.

The Sacred Name Becomes Central

The Hawkins movement placed far greater emphasis on the name Yahweh than Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God had. The organization also uses Yahshua in referring to the Messiah.

This Sacred Name emphasis distinguishes the House of Yahweh from most traditional Armstrongite organizations. Armstrong himself generally used the conventional English terminology of his era rather than making the restoration of Hebrew names the central issue.

The House of Yahweh therefore illustrates something important: A person could leave the Armstrongite world without abandoning Sabbath and Torah observance, while simultaneously adopting an entirely different theological framework. That is precisely the sort of religious cross-pollination that eventually characterized the wider Hebrew Roots environment.

The Two Witnesses

Another distinctive feature of the House of Yahweh is its interpretation of the Two Witnesses described in Revelation 11. The Hawkins tradition developed a strong prophetic identification involving the leadership of the movement and the biblical Two Witnesses. This represents another point of contact with the broader Armstrongite environment.

Armstrongism had always been deeply interested in biblical prophecy. World events were frequently interpreted through prophetic passages. The identity of Israel, end-time events, the return of Christ, and the coming Kingdom of God were central themes.

The House of Yahweh inherited the same kind of intense prophetic atmosphere, although its specific interpretations were different. n this respect, the two movements shared a common religious vocabulary while reaching different conclusions.

Why Texas Matters

The Texas connection is more than a geographical curiosity. Texas became an important center for several independent religious movements, and the Abilene area became particularly significant in the history of the House of Yahweh.

It is also an interesting example of how religious movements that might appear unrelated from the outside could occupy the same regional religious landscape.

A former Armstrongite in Texas could encounter:

• a Church of God congregation,
• a Sacred Name group,
• an independent Sabbath-keeping church,
• a Messianic congregation,
• or eventually a Hebrew Roots ministry.

The boundaries between these communities were not always as clear to individual believers as they appear in retrospect.

A Family Tree Rather Than a Straight Line

The easiest way to misunderstand this history is to imagine a straight line:

Armstrongism → Hebrew Roots

The actual history looks more like this:

Sabbatarian Christianity

↓

Church of God traditions

↓

Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God

↓

Post-1986 fragmentation

↙ ↓ ↘

Armstrongite churches - Messianic Judaism - Hebrew Roots

At the same time:

Sacred Name movement

↓

Yahweh/Yahshua + Torah + Sabbath + Holy Days

↓

House of Yahweh and related groups

And eventually these different streams began intersecting.

Why Former Armstrongites Were Particularly Receptive

There is a fascinating sociological element to the story.

Imagine someone who had spent twenty or thirty years as a member of the Worldwide Church of God.

They had been taught that:

• Sunday worship was wrong.
• Saturday was the Sabbath.
• Christmas and Easter were not biblical festivals.
• God's annual Holy Days were important.
• Biblical dietary laws still had significance.
• The Old Testament was essential to understanding the New Testament.
• Christianity had departed from the practices of the early church.

Then the church changes its theology. Suddenly, the person is confronted with the possibility that the institution they trusted had been wrong.

What happens next?

Some people follow the institution.

Others follow Armstrong.

Others follow the Bible as they understand it.

And still others begin asking an even more fundamental question:

What existed before all these modern denominations? That question can lead directly into Hebrew Roots.

The Search for the "Original" Faith

One of the strongest themes connecting Armstrongism and Hebrew Roots is the desire to recover what is perceived as the original faith of the apostles.

• Armstrong taught restoration.
• Hebrew Roots teachers frequently teach restoration.
• Sacred Name groups teach restoration.
• Messianic Jewish movements often emphasize recovering the Jewish context of the first-century faith.

The terminology differs, but the underlying impulse can be remarkably similar:

Something important was lost, and believers should recover it.

Where the movements differ is in what they believe was lost and how it should be restored.

For Armstrong, the restoration involved a broad system of doctrines concerning the Kingdom of God, biblical prophecy, God's plan for humanity, Israel, Sabbath and Holy Day observance, and numerous other teachings.

For Hebrew Roots adherents, the restoration is more often centered around Torah, the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish context of the Messiah, biblical festivals, Sabbath observance, and the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.

For Sacred Name groups, restoring the divine name can become a central component.

These aren't identical restoration projects. But they inhabit the same religious neighborhood.

The House of Yahweh as a Case Study

This is why the House of Yahweh deserves attention when examining the history of Hebrew Roots.

It illustrates three things simultaneously.

• First, Torah observance did not originate with Hebrew Roots. Sabbatarian and Sacred Name groups were practicing these things long before the modern Hebrew Roots movement acquired its present identity.
• Second, Armstrongism wasn't the only source of these ideas. The Sacred Name movement represents an independent stream with its own history.
• Third, the different movements interacted. People such as Yisrayl Hawkins demonstrate that an individual could move through the Armstrongite and Sacred Name worlds, absorbing elements of both.

That makes the House of Yahweh a fascinating case study in the cross-pollination of restorationist Christianity.

From Splinter Churches to the Internet

There was another factor that accelerated all of this: the Internet.

During the 1990s, former members of the Worldwide Church of God were already producing newsletters, magazines, books, cassette recordings, radio programs and independent ministries. Then the Internet transformed everything.

A person who previously might have known only one Sabbatarian congregation could suddenly discover hundreds.

A former WCG member could search for:

Sabbath.

Then:

Torah.

Then:

Hebrew Roots.

Then:

Yahweh.

Then:

Messianic Judaism.

Within hours, they could encounter ideas that would previously have taken years to discover.

This greatly accelerated the blending of religious traditions.

A Movement Without a Single Center

Today, "Hebrew Roots" can mean very different things depending upon whom one is talking about.

• Some adherents are relatively close to Messianic Judaism.
• Some emphasize Torah observance while maintaining conventional Christian terminology.
• Some insist upon the use of Hebrew names.
• Some reject traditional Christian holidays but do not use Sacred Name terminology.
• Some retain ideas inherited from the old Church of God movement.
• Others have little or no connection with Armstrongism whatsoever.

That diversity is one reason broad generalizations about Hebrew Roots can be misleading.

There is no single Hebrew Roots creed accepted by everyone who uses the term.

The Larger Historical Picture

The most accurate way to understand the emergence of Hebrew Roots is therefore not as the creation of a new denomination, but as a religious convergence.

Armstrongism contributed an established American tradition of Sabbath and Holy Day observance. The Sacred Name movement contributed its emphasis on Yahweh, Hebrew names and Torah. Messianic Judaism contributed an emphasis on the Jewish context of Jesus and the apostles.

The post-1986 collapse of the Worldwide Church of God created a huge population of people already familiar with many Torah-oriented practices. The Internet then allowed these previously separate communities to discover one another on an unprecedented scale.

Out of this mixture emerged the modern Hebrew Roots movement.

The Real Legacy of Armstrongism

Ironically, one of the most important consequences of Armstrong's ministry may have occurred after his death.

The Worldwide Church of God ultimately moved away from many of the doctrines that had defined Armstrong's ministry.

But the people who had learned those doctrines did not simply disappear. They carried them elsewhere. Some founded new churches. Some joined other organizations. Some became independent teachers. Some entered Messianic Judaism. Some became involved in Sacred Name groups. And some became part of the emerging Hebrew Roots movement.

In that sense, Armstrongism left behind not one successor but an entire religious family tree.

Conclusion: Following the Threads

The history of Hebrew Roots cannot be reduced to a single origin story.

It is neither accurate to say that Herbert W. Armstrong created Hebrew Roots nor accurate to ignore the enormous influence that Armstrongism had on the environment from which Hebrew Roots emerged.

A better historical description is this:

Armstrongism was one of the major streams that flowed into the modern Torah-observant Christian world, but it flowed alongside older Sabbatarian, Sacred Name, and Messianic Jewish streams.

The transformation of the Worldwide Church of God after Armstrong's death dramatically accelerated that process.

Thousands of people suddenly had to decide what they believed apart from the institution that had taught them.

• Some remained Armstrongite.
• Some went elsewhere.
• And some began digging deeper into the Hebrew roots of their faith.

The House of Yahweh in Texas provides a particularly intriguing example because it sits at the intersection of these worlds. Its history demonstrates that the Sacred Name tradition and Armstrongite Sabbatarianism were not isolated phenomena. People moved between them, ideas crossed their boundaries, and the resulting religious landscape became considerably more complicated than any simple denominational family tree can convey.

Perhaps the most useful way to visualize the history is not as a straight line, but as a series of rivers:

Sabbatarianism.

Armstrongism.

Sacred Name religion.

Messianic Judaism.

Torah observance.

Each developed its own course. Eventually, however, some of those streams converged. And from that convergence emerged one of the most distinctive religious movements of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries:

Hebrew Roots.

Silent Pilgrim

PCG's $7,800 an Hour Play Toy

 

Pastorplanes@pastorplanes

https://x.com/pastorplanes

Investigative project of Trinity Foundation bringing transparency to 

churches, ministries & Christian universities using privately-owned aircraft.

If you are on X (formerly Twitter) there is a fascinating feed called Pastor's Planes which monitors private jets of religious leaders, religious universities, and churches. It is very revealing as to how often and where these planes fly.

The Philadelphia Church of God is one that is featured regularly. They tried once turning off their tracker when Pastor's Planes started featuring them, but got bitch slapped big time when they got turned in.

Flurry, who has never had an original thought in his hops-addeled head, has tried all he can to imitate Herbert Armstrong in every manner possible, and having a Gulfstream was one of those things.

They justified the purchase ($11,000,000), telling members that the Holy Apostle/King/Prophet should not have to sit next to germ-laden, unwashed Gentiles on a commercial jet. Given his advanced age and health, the unwashed masses might give him a disease. God's holiest man on earth needs his own plush cushion for his holy derriere, with catered food and grandchildren waitstaff fawning all over him. Plus, this plane gets used as ferry service for Jude Flurry's Irish dance competitions and for PCG's Celtic Dance shows. What a life! Getting the gospel out sure is worth it!.

A reader here posted on another thread: 

Paris Turdgeon went to Stu (Flight Attendant) school in SoCa (her brother did, too)l. Keeping the riches and salaries all in the family. BTW, that school cost the tithe payers between 5 and 7k dollars, so that she could continue to walk around like she was someone important. Nasty little snob!?

Elitist snob pretty much sums up the entire Turgeon family. 

Gerald Flurry Tells Members To Be Ready To Be Deported While He Prepares To Buy A New 11 Million Dollar Jet

PCG: As Income Plummets, Flurry Declares Fast To Force His "god" Into Making PCG Members Give More Money

Gerald Flurry Follows in HWA's Steps and Buys Gulfstream G450 Jet

PCG: God gave us our new jet

PCG: Flurry Elite Travel In Style In Corporate Jet On Backs Of Tithing Members

Gerald Flurry: Elite Grandson, Grant Turgeon Trained To Be Steward To The BIG BOSS On New PCG Jet

Follow Gerald Flurry As He Flies Around The World Wasting PCG Members' Tithe Money

New King of the Church of God Travels To England

PCG Turns Off Tracking On Flurry Family's Private Jet But Still Can't Stop People From Tracking Them

Lamborghinis, Gulfstream Jets, Gold, and Silver...We Deserve The Best!

Questioning the Man in the Pulpit? They Called It Blasphemy, So You’d Shut Up

Armstrongism has long held the position that to question the ministry or the leadership was anathema. To do so was to question God himself. It is a long-standing control mechanism in Armstrongism, taught from the top and repeated in pulpits and private meetings for decades.  HWA bellowed it from the Auditorium stage. Ministers preached about it. Church leaders wrote articles and pounded podiums as they shouted it.

The Exit and Support Network has a letter up from a man who was told he was questioning God when he questioned a nosy minister's wife and the minister

A few years after his wife died, a former Philadelphia Church of God member began dating a woman from another congregation. The minister's wife began telling the woman details about the deceased wife and steered her toward a different man. When the member confronted the minister he had known for years, the minister grew offended and declared that his wife was part of his ministry: criticize her, and you criticize him; criticize him and you criticize God. Shortly afterward, the man was put out of the PCG with no counsel and told never to contact them again. That logic-equating a minister's words and actions with God's own-did not begin with one PCG pastor.

Herbert W. Armstrong himself framed criticism of "the Work" or of his office as something far more dangerous than ordinary sin. In a March 1960 Good News article, he wrote that a person might speak against him personally and still be forgiven, but "if and when you criticize or accuse or condemn THE WORK, then you are speaking against the Holy Spirit... YOU SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN." He added that such criticism usually began with fault-finding against "the one God has chosen... in the office of apostle."

In another piece titled "Would You Accuse Jesus Christ?" Armstrong told dissenting ministers and members that when they accused him they were actually accusing the living Head of the Church. Correction of "God's apostle," he said, was Christ's job, not theirs. To take that job was to accuse Christ.

A Good News article on judging and discipline went further: when Israelites rejected Samuel, God said they had rejected Him. Members were therefore to "be fearful lest you reject God by rebelling against His called servants." Speaking against "the things spoken by one of God's ministers" was described as blasphemy.

The same equation appears in the offshoots. Exit & Support Network has recorded that PCG members are taught that to question Gerald Flurry is to question God; the organization's government is presented as God's government. Questioning it is treated as rebellion against God Himself. One former member who privately raised biblical objections to a doctrine was reminded that Herbert Armstrong was "God's Apostle" and that he should simply have faith; he was later disfellowshipped.

The pattern is not limited to PCG. Church of God, the Eternal leader Jon Brisby has taught that criticizing "the Work" and refusing to acknowledge that Christ is working through his organized remnant is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Similar claims surface around other splinter leaders who treat disagreement with their office as disagreement with God.

This is the same tactic many high-control groups use when they quote "Touch not mine anointed" (Psalm 105:15) as a shield against any examination of teaching or conduct. The verse originally concerned physical harm to Israel's kings and prophets, not immunity from testing a man's doctrine or character.

A New Covenant Christian does not stand under a human apostle who mediates God's voice. The New Testament places every teacher, including apostles, under the written Word and under the scrutiny of the congregation.

The Bereans "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). They checked Paul. Paul did not rebuke them for it; Luke commended them.

Paul later "withstood [Peter] to the face, because he was to be blamed" (Galatians 2:11). An apostle publicly corrected another apostle when conduct contradicted the gospel. That is not "criticizing God." It is protecting the gospel.

John commands, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). Testing is not optional.

Paul told the Corinthians, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). The "even as" is the limit. When a minister stops following Christ, the obligation to follow the minister ends.

Peter warned elders not to lord it over the flock but to be examples (1 Peter 5:3). Jesus Himself said the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, "but it shall not be so among you" (Matthew 20:25-26). A minister who announces that criticism of him is criticism of God has already adopted the Gentile model.

There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). No pastor, no "apostle," no "That Prophet," no "Xhief Overseer," no "Pastor General," stands in that place. When a minister inserts himself there, the Christian's duty is not silence. It is to refuse the counterfeit.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, in context, is attributing the Spirit's work to Satan after seeing it clearly (Matthew 12:31-32). It is not pointing out that a fallible man has gossiped about a widow, twisted a doctrine, or demanded unquestioning loyalty. Calling that "blasphemy" is itself a misuse of Scripture designed to keep people quiet.

You should question because ministers are men. They can be wrong about doctrine, wrong about people, and wrong about their own importance. Armstrongism's history is a catalog of failed prophecies, financial pressure, medical neglect, family-breaking "no-contact" rules, and leaders who lived by a different standard than they preached. Those fruits are public. Pretending they cannot be examined does not honor God; it protects the system.

You should question because the New Covenant gives every believer the Spirit and the Word. You are not a child who must take a hired man's word as God's. You are responsible for what you believe and whom you follow.

You should question because silence in the face of spiritual abuse is not humility. It is complicity. The man in the letter lost his church membership for objecting to gossip about his dead wife. That is not church discipline. That is a man protecting his household's power.

A New Covenant Christian can question a minister because Christ, not the minister, is Head of the church. A New Covenant Christian should question a minister because the alternative is to let a man stand where only God belongs. Test the teaching. Test the fruit. Test the claim that "I speak for God." If the claim cannot survive the Bible, the claim is the problem-not the person who opened the Book.

Gerald Flurry Destroys Another Family: Nathan Moffett and Elise Moffett: My greatest hope is that my children will one day reach out to me again

By Dan Moffett

Called and Chosen

My greatest hope 

is that my children will one day reach out to me again.

If my son Nathan Moffett in Edmond Oklahoma, and my daughter Elise Moffett Salinas in San Antonio Texas were not involved with the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), I would likely never speak publicly about this group. I would still pray for those who have been hurt, but my focus would remain private.

What compels me to speak is not anger — it is love for my children and concern for families who have experienced similar separation. Policies that discourage or prevent normal family contact have caused deep pain, not only to me, but to many others. I believe families should not be divided, and that love, communication, and reconciliation should always be encouraged.

Because of this, I plan to continue raising awareness about the impact these practices have on families. My goal is not to attack individuals, but to bring attention to the human cost of separation and to encourage open discussion. I hope that by sharing my experience, others may better understand how deeply these situations affect parents, children, and loved ones.

My door, my heart, and my love remain open to my children — always.

THEY CAN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

The people TRAPPED in the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) headquartered in Edmond Ok are so controled and brainwashed that they cannot see the control methods employed by the CULT. They actually BELIEVE what the controlling "ministers" say, that if they go against the cult leader, "that prophet" and "King", Gerald Flurry, they are told that they will be condemned to eternal death.

If someone does leave or is put out, there eyes are opened. 

CLICK HERE FOR EXAMPLES

-------

See THE EVIL CHURCH

And THE EVIL CHURCH part 2

-------

Learn about my encounter with a PCG minister in my home:

FREAKED OUT BY "MINISTER"

---------

The Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) 
Has Taken My Family From Me.
They Are Prevented From Having Any Contact With Me.

The PCG has destroyed hundreds of families like mine. 

Some members have even committed suicide because of their NO CONTACT RULING 

My Daughter Elise Moffett

Now Elise Salinas of San Antonio, Texas

She is NOT ALLOWED ANY CONTACT WITH ME

By the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG)

Of Edmond Oklahoma

TELL MY CHILDREN I LOVE THEM

The Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) in Edmond Oklahoma.

Will not allow my children to contact me.

It has been over 14 years since I have been able to see my daughter, who now lives in San Antonio, Texas. During that time, we have had no contact other than her answering my text to tell her or the death of her brother Sterling. I am grateful that she did reach out — when my son Sterling died, she called and texted, and she shared a photo of her son, my grandson, whom I have not yet had the chance to meet. He is a beautiful little boy, and seeing his picture meant more to me than I can express. She also shared that she was expecting a baby girl. I think about them often and keep them in my prayers.

If you know Elise, please let her know that her father loves her deeply, misses her, and would cherish the opportunity to hear from her. My heart is open, and my door is always open. No matter how much time passes, that will never change.

I believe family bonds are a gift from God. Love, respect, and communication between parents and children are things to be valued and protected. My desire is simply for peace, understanding, and the chance to reconnect.

Elise, if you ever read this — you are loved, you are missed, and you are always welcome in my life.

If anyone knows my daughter Elise Salinas and her husband Paul of San Antonio Texas.
Tell them I would love to see my grandson. They are in a cult church called the Philadelphia Church of God headquartered in Edmond Ok. They church leader, a man that calls himself KING OF ISRAEL, Gerald Flurry will not allow them to see me.
I made this short video from a picture of the little guy that I have.... I would like to meet him before I die.

The same long separation has also affected my son, Nathan Moffett, who lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. I have not been able to have any contact with him for many years, and that has been one of the deepest sorrows of my life.

I had AI make these 2 pictures of me and my son Nathan Moffett
of Edmond Oklahoma. I haven't seen him in over 12 years.
The PCG will not allow him to contact me on penalty of him being
cast into the lake of fire at Christ's return.

Nathan, if you ever read this: you are deeply loved, you are never forgotten, and you will always have a place in my life.

The Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) has ruined the lives of thousands of people, broken apart hundreds of families and even caused the suicide of some members.

My Son Nathan Moffett of Edmond Oklahoma 

If you want to see the damage caused by the Philadelphia Church of God of Edmond Oklahoma check out this website. 

Here you’ll find letters written over the past 26 years. You will read of families torn apart, lives destroyed and member suicides caused by the destructive group led by the tyrannical FALSE PROPHET Gerald Flurry and now his son Steven Flurry.

As you read the hundreds of letters remember that most people do not take the time to write a letter. 

Many more people have been devastated by this cult church.

Letters from the Philadelphia Church (PCG) are listed on the left of the page.

https://exitsupportnetwork.com/letter-archives/

Only an EVIL "church" would prevent me from seeing my children,
and them from seeing me.

-------------------------

Gerald Flurry and the Death of My Son:

My youngest son killed himself January 2025.

One of the reasons is because he never got over losing his older brother and sister to the PCG’s “no contact rule.” They abandoned him, me and my daughter who left the PCG.

He lost his mother when he was 12. Something he took very hard.

Then when I was put out of the PCG, he lost his brother and sister who remained in the “church” and quit contact with me and him. Toward the end he talked about them a lot. He could not understand why they would not contact me, my other daughter that is out of the PCG, or him. He wanted to go visit them but thought they would not welcome him unless he was in “the church.” But, he wanted nothing to do with that “church.”

Even though my daughter Elise is in the PCG and under the “no contact rule.” Under penalty of being cast into the lake of fire by Gerald Flurry, she did text me, call me and sent me a picture of her son, my little grandson, who it turns out she had named after her brother, my son Sterling, that had just killed himself. And she told me she was going to have another baby, a girl.

So not only did I lose my youngest son, I lost my other son, my daughter, a grandson and a granddaughter.

How much longer will God allow this evil group to continue? How many families have been destroyed and lives lost?

D Moffett (Former PCG member)

I know I will see my son Sterling again. My son Nathan and daughter Elise have knowingly and wantonly broken the commandment. If they don't repent now. I won't be seeing them again in this age or the next.
What has kept me going is knowing the TRUTH. Our loved ones that died are all asleep in the grave. No more pain or suffering. No knowledge of the evil going on in this world. They don't even know they are dead. Their next conscious moment they will be alive again in the resurrection. Unaware of all the years they have been in the grave. They will be healed of the illness that took their lives. We will see them again. It won't be long now. My prayer is that I die soon to sleep peacefully until that day.