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Channel: Banned by HWA! News and Observations About Armstrongism and the Church of God Movement

Dave Pack: There is a Bible Prophecy That Foretold Me Being Held Back From Speaking...And Now I Can't Shut Up!

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Decades ago, the American Psychiatric Association published a book on mental disorders that has since become the textbook for diagnosing and treating these conditions in people. It's now in its DSM-5 edition (with updates continuing). 

Sadly, in Armstrongism, seeking help from psychiatrists was often looked down upon—and outright forbidden by many Worldwide Church of God ministers. Part of the issue? That very book accurately describes the mental disorders exhibited by far too many ministers and Church of God leaders over the decades. If members truly understood what was wrong with their leaders and some ministers, they might lose power and control. Gasp! People might even start questioning them! Jumping Jehoshaphat—they couldn't have that!

Because so many self-absorbed leaders were in charge, the membership was exposed to malignant narcissism and subjected to authoritarian control tactics—patterns that still persist today in the various splinter groups. We see leaders who are extremely self-focused in their sermons and writings, all placing themselves smack in the center of God's end-time plan, which apparently He can't pull off without them. That's precisely why they lash out so frequently at anyone who dares question them.

When they're exposed, they immediately start gaslighting members. Every failed prophecy magically transforms into a "learning experience" or proof that "God has revealed deeper insight" to them. All these endless "new understandings" are supposedly to benefit the church and help it grow in grace and knowledge. But more importantly, they're trotted out to show members how being accused of being a false prophet actually proves their importance. How convenient.

Dave Pack and his little lap poodles strongly reject these characterizations and immediately frame any criticism as persecution from those who "left God's truth" or as satanic attacks. He's constantly portrayed as the faithful leader restoring truth amid all the COG apostasy.

In spite of all that, most people now see through his endless failed predictions (including the fresh batch in late 2025 and early 2026 that fizzled spectacularly) and his self-aggrandizing, almost psychotic behaviors. They recognize him for what he is: a liar, a false prophet, and a genuine cult leader. Shocking, right?


Don Billingsley Predicts a Fun 2026!

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2026 promises to be an absolute blast of a year, according to the ever-reliable Don Billingsley. Who needs boring old normalcy when you can have apocalyptic excitement?

Just a friendly tip: steer clear of those highways, brethren! The moment those divine instructions drop to hightail it to the airports and snag your one-way ticket to Petra, it's going to be pure, unadulterated chaos. Picture this: highways gridlocked with desperate drivers, airports on full standby with hundreds of planes lined up like obedient little soldiers, all ready to whisk the select members off to safety in Jordan while the rest of the world burns.

Imagine the scene at the terminals: people clawing, fighting, and probably straight-up killing each other just to board one of those precious flights as bombs rain down overhead. Screams, shoving, luggage flying—total Mad Max meets end-times rapture fantasy. And yet, the Armstrongites somehow never quite factor in the minor detail that the rest of humanity might not politely step aside for their exclusive evacuation party.  They see everything as normal until they depart the runways of the airports, then all hell breaks loose.

Here we are in February 2026, and—surprise, surprise—the highways are still drivable, the airports aren't running a secret COG shuttle service to Petra, and the bombs aren't falling (yet?). If this is the "fun" apocalypse Don Billingsley prophesied, it seems the divine evacuation memo got lost in the mail. Maybe next year they'll update the timeline... again. Until then, I'll keep my calendar clear for something a little less dramatic—like, say, a quiet cup of coffee. Way fewer casualties that way.

Don writes: 

The 9th of Av, Tisha b'Avcommemorates a list of catastrophes so severe that it's clearly a day set aside by God for suffering. The following momentous years are for the United States, beginning in this end time with the year 2026. End of quote.

Within the next few short years, possibly three years, it will bring about the closure of the curse, the 9th of Av, Tisha b'Av, when America and Britain will no longer exist as nations.

May God have mercy on the people who live in those nations.

Just before Germany launches a blitzkrieg attack on America, the chosen people of God are directed to prepare their minds to leave their homes and board flights to Jerusalem. Jeremiah 51:50 “You who have escaped the sword, get away! Get away! Do not stand still! Remember the LORD afar off and let Jerusalem come to your mind.”

There will be little time to flee, for at that time the highways and airways will become desolate:

Isaiah 33:8 The highways lie waste; the traveling man ceases.

Just before this takes place, the people of God will have boarded passenger planes with Jerusalem as their destination.

Crackpot Prophet Doubles Down As The Big Mean Dream Machine

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It's another gloriously sunny day in California, because nothing says "end times" like waiting for the weekend rainstorm while our resident Crackpot Prophet doubles down on how utterly magnificent his dreams are and how tragically stupid everyone else is for daring to ignore them.

After all, his nighttime fantasies are clearly just as vital and legitimate as those of biblical Joseph or Loma Armstrong—you know, the kind of divine VIPs whose visions actually mattered. Back when the Holy Family was in the early planning stages of creating this whole world thing, they apparently gathered around the heavenly kitchen table one lazy Sunday morning, strategizing the entire end-times script and assigning all the major players. In a moment of pure serendipity, the Holy Spirit chuckled and said, "Hey, we need some sort of Bob character to pop up in the last days and absolutely amaze and astound the world. We'll hook him up with visions and dreams so people will believe him. Remember, the Laodicean attitude is going to deceive tons of folks, and they'll blow him off—so we've got to make him look way more legitimate than all those other Church of God leaders." The whole God family apparently lost it, laughing hysterically while munching on their heavenly chocolate croissants and sipping that divine brew.

Fast-forward a casual 5980 years, and voilà—here we are with the world's most astonishing dream machine himself: the Infallible Great Bwana Joshua, Habakkuk, Elijah, Elisha, Joseph, Bob Thiel strutting among us in the flesh. Sadly, things aren't unfolding quite as splendidly as the Holy Family had scripted. People just aren't paying proper attention to his dreams, and that's simply not kosher!

Everyone fails to recognize that right in their very midst walks the single most theologically accurate man who has ever twisted the Bible to perfectly match his own worldview. Forget Dave Pack and Herbert Armstrong—the Great Bwana is clearly the man!

And here he is today, once again moaning into his herbs and potions about how today's True Christians stubbornly refuse to acknowledge his greatness. Poor thing. How ever will the world survive without bowing to his nightly reruns?

When believers read about dreams in the Hebrew scriptures, they realize that God has actually used them. 
 
But, some in the various COGs have commented that they do not care to know about dreams in this century. 
 
Do dreams and prophets have any place in the Christian Church today? 
 
Did any dreams precede the start of the old Radio Church of God? What about the Continuing Church of God (which did not officially form as a declared entity until December 28, 2012)?

Our Great Bwana has placed himself as part of the Armstrongist trinity of dreams, Loma, Herbert, and Bwana Bob.

I had a couple of dreams prior to the start of the Continuing Church of God, and also two people I did not know, one who lived in New Zealand and one in Kansas, had dreams prior to that start as well. 
 
Though many discount all dreams, many also forget that Herbert W. Armstrong believed that his wife Loma D. Armstrong had a dream from God...

The Great Bwana continues with this:

Loma and Herbert W. Armstrong were married in 1917. They were specifically told that they would have a work to do. Furthermore, the bright lights in the dream may have had to do with doing a work (cf. Matthew 5:16)–a work that seemed to vanish and return (flash). 
 
Thus, there was a dream from God given to a woman in the 20th century that preceded the start of the old Radio Church of God that Herbert W. Armstrong led. The Radio Church of God represented the start of the Philadelphia era and the Philadelphian work–a work that is not finished (cf. Matthew 24:14-15)–and Herbert W. Armstrong claimed that a dream given to his wife was from God, prior to the start of the Philadelphia era. 
 
The Bible says:

8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them … (Genesis 42:8-9) 
 
Notice that after events that occurred years later confirmed Joseph’s dreams, then he remembered them. When events confirmed Loma Armstrong’s dream, she and Herbert W. Armstrong remembered them. 
 
Now, consider that since the Philadelphia era was raised up after Loma Armstrong’s dream, a question to ponder is, would God do anything similar to point to the continuation of the end-time COG remnant of the Philadelphians? 
 
Oh, the sheer desperation oozing from Bwana Bob as he clings to the Armstrongs for any scrap of legitimacy—it's almost touching. Apparently, the only way to justify raising up yet another tiny splinter group is to hitch his wagon to the same old family legend. Because nothing screams "divinely appointed" like recycling someone else's decades-old dream.

Yes, folks, according to our infallible prophet, the mysterious second part of Loma Armstrong's famous dream—the one nobody else seems to remember quite the same way—was secretly about him and the Continuing Church of God. Not Herbert, not the original work, not even the entire end-time drama... nope, it was a cryptic prophecy pointing straight to Bwana Bob Thiel in the 21st century. The mental gymnastics required to arrive at that conclusion are truly Olympic-level. Mind-boggling doesn't even begin to cover it.

Truly, the delusion is strong with this one. Keep dreaming, Bwana Bob. The world is clearly just too Laodicean to appreciate your starring role in Loma's extended director's cut.

Consider that in Loma Armstrong’s dream that there were two sets of flashing stars–there were two parts to the dream. Herbert W. Armstrong is now dead and there was a pause between the work God had him to do and the completion of the final phase of the work to finally fulfill Matthew 24:14 (cf. Isaiah 29:14). 
 
Herbert W. Armstrong mentioned the dream from time to time publicly, here are two nearly identical accounts:

I’m usually pretty skeptical about God speaking to anyone today in visions or dreams. God speaks to us thru His Son, Jesus Christ — the WORD of God — and the Bible is the written Word. I didn’t really believe it then, 38 years ago, but subsequent events have verified that God did speak to my wife at that time, shortly after we were married, revealing thru an angel that He was calling us to the mission of WARNING the world of the fast-approaching END OF THIS WORLD, the Coming of Jesus Christ, and the world-ruling Kingdom of God. At the time I was unconverted, not bothering to attend church, interested only in business and making money. I was embarrassed — a little awed — but immediately tried to put it out of my mind. But at age 30 God took away my business, struck me down, took away my idol of money-making and business prestige. (Armstrong HW. Co-worker letter, November 25, 1955) 
 
I’m usually pretty skeptical about God speaking to anyone today in visions or dreams. God speaks to us thru His Son, Jesus Christ — the WORD of God — and the Bible is the written Word. I didn’t really believe it then, 38 years ago, but subsequent events have verified that God did speak to my wife at that time, shortly after we were married, revealing thru an angel in a vision that He was calling us to the mission of WARNING the world of the fast- approaching END OF THIS WORLD, the coming of Jesus Christ, and the world-ruling Kingdom of God. At that time I was unconverted, not bothering to attend church, interested only in business and making money. I was embarrassed — a little awed — but immediately tried to put it out of my mind. But at age 30 God took away my business, struck me down, took away my idol of money-making and business prestige. (Armstrong HW. Co-worker letter, February 21, 1956)

Notice that the dream was to go until the end of the world and the coming of Jesus–since Herbert W. Armstrong has been dead since January 16, 1986–if the dream was from God then, does it not make sense that the second half of the dream would be fulfilled by another? Like in the 21st century? We in the Continuing Church of God are fulfilling that second part of the stars.

Perhaps it should be mentioned, Herbert W. Armstrong had more information about what I am referring to as the first set of stars in the dream. He wrote:
It was a dazzling spectacle … People by the hundreds came running into this broad intersection looking up to see the strange phenomena … A vast multitude of eyes were upon us … I have only come to believe that this dream was a bonafide call from God in the light of subsequent events. (Armstrong HW. The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, 9th installment. Plain Truth, August 1958, p. 18).
Eyes of a vast multitude suggest that the dream was saying, that the work to be done was to have a witness to many. This happened with the old Radio and Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong’s leadership in the 20th century. The second set of stars in the dream, which he did not mention in the August 1958 Plain Truth, article, but did in his published Autobiography, may pertain to what I have called, for years, The Final Phase of the Work. But even if it had applicability to the ministry of Herbert W. Armstrong only, the dream, which shortly before his death he confirmed he believed was from God (per Aaron Dean, who I discussed this with on October 30, 2015), shows that one did precede the Church of God work he was involved in. 
 
Consider that Herbert W. Armstrong concluded that his wife Loma’s dream was from God. He also believed the first part of it had to do with the start of the Philadelphia era of the Church of God via the Radio Church of God. He did not discuss the fulfillment of the second part of the dream directly, however he taught another work would be done. 
 
Buckle up, brethren—here comes the undeniable PROOF straight from the Great Bwana himself that he is, without question, the legitimate next big thing in the Church of God universe.

Even Herbert W. Armstrong—yes, the very same one—mentioned him! Not by name, of course (because why be specific when you can be mysteriously prophetic?), but as a shadowy “second mighty work” that was supposedly destined to arise. Forget actual quotes, clear context, or anything remotely verifiable. No, no. HWA dropped a vague, throwaway line decades ago, and Bwana Bob has heroically decoded it to mean: “Behold, I am that second mighty work. Bow before my YouTube sermons and my endless stream of dreams.”

It’s the theological equivalent of finding a cryptic fortune cookie message and declaring yourself the Chosen One because it vaguely mentioned “a great leader will rise in the West… with excellent Wi-Fi.” 

The mental contortions required to turn a generic end-time comment into a personal bat-signal are nothing short of breathtaking. Truly, only a mind as uniquely gifted as the Infallible Bwana could crack that code.

So yes, everyone—pack it up. The case is closed. Herbert basically named him in code. We can all stop doubting now and get in line behind the world’s most self-anointed “second mighty work.” History will surely thank us for not laughing too hard.
Herbert W. Armstrong’s part of the work lasted over 50 years, and he seemingly felt that the “short work” would be much shorter than his work. And that is correct.

Here is what was in Herbert W. Armstrong’s last letter:

The greatest work lies ahead … Never before in the history of the Church has it been possible to reap so great a harvest. It has only been made possible through modern technology, beginning with the printing press, radio, television ... Each of you must commit yourself to support God’s Work … God’s work must push ahead as never before. God is opening up new doors in television (Letter, 1/10/86).

Consider that since Herbert W. Armstrong did not teach that the second part of his wife Loma’s dream was fulfilled and that he also taught a greater work was going to happen after his death. It is greater because it will fulfill Matthew 24:14, etc. That is the work that we in the Continuing Church of God are leading. It appears that the second part of Loma D. Armstrong’s dream was pointing to the Continuing Church of God–the group that best represents the remnant of the Philadelphian portion of the Church of God. As far as radio and new doors in television and other media, check out the CCOG Multimedia page. 
 
As far as the greatest work, consider that the Continuing Church of God has had its English language booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, translated into over 1500 languages and dialects. This has NEVER been done before in the nearly 2,000 year history of the Church of God.
Furthermore, dreams are a sign that God has used to confirm ‘Philadelphia.’ 
 
No other Church of God group has ever dared to publish a book so gloriously stuffed to the gills with theological heresies. Not a single one. And yet, somehow, here we are, blessed beyond measure with this unparalleled masterpiece of doctrinal creativity.

Truly, it's a miracle of modern prophecy: a tome so densely packed with eyebrow-raising interpretations that it makes the rest of the COG literature look like dry, boring orthodoxy by comparison. Who needs boring old consistency when you can have page after page of bold, boundary-pushing "truth" that somehow only one very special man on the planet has managed to uncover?

We should all be taking notes. This isn't just another book—it's a landmark achievement in the fine art of saying things that make even the most die-hard Armstrongites do a double-take. History will remember it fondly… or at least as the moment everyone else quietly backed away.

Oh, and because one dream interpreter in New Zealand just wasn’t enough cosmic validation, the Great Bwana now ascends to the next level of self-congratulation: he dreams about Rod Meredith.

Yes, you read that right. In what is surely the most humble and understated move of the century, Bob Thiel’s subconscious decides the best use of his prophetic nighttime bandwidth is to stage a personal cameo from the late Dr. Roderick C. Meredith himself. Because nothing screams “I’m the legitimate successor” quite like your own brain casting a dead former boss in your fan-fiction sequel.

One can only imagine the scene: Rod appears in glorious technicolor dream-vision, perhaps giving a solemn nod of approval, or maybe handing over a glowing scepter labeled “Second Mighty Work,” or—let’s be real—probably just standing there looking mildly confused while Bob narrates how this obviously confirms every single thing he’s ever claimed. Divine endorsement level: expert.

The rest of us are left to marvel at the sheer convenience. When your real-world followers won’t give you the respect you so richly deserve, why not have the next best thing—a literal ghost from COG past—drop by in your sleep to tell you you’re special? It’s efficient, it’s cost-free, and best of all, Rod can’t talk back or fact-check you.

Truly inspiring stuff. Keep those dream logs coming, Bwana. At this rate, your next blockbuster revelation might feature Herbert Armstrong himself showing up with a PowerPoint titled “Why Bob Was Right All Along.” We’re on the edge of our seats.

Many years ago I had a dream, which while I did not understand it at first, as it became more and more fulfilled over the years, I remembered it, began to understand it, and believe it was from God.

I was 50 at the time (which essentially makes me an ‘old man’ per Numbers 8:25; cf. John 8:57). In my dream, there seemed to be two parallel lines. Living Church of God (LCG) evangelist Roderick Meredith was on the top line and I was on the line much below. In the dream, I kept calling up to Dr. Meredith, but he never would respond. This lack of response made no sense to me during the dream. Then after what seemed to be a long time, the lines-crossed with his line dropping and my line going up.

One reason that I did not understand it at the time was that I was on relatively close speaking terms with Dr. Meredith then (he repeatedly told me he considered me to be his friend, plus he had appointed me an adviser to LCG on matters of doctrine and prophecy), so that aspect of the dream made no sense at the time. Also, since I had no intentions of leaving Living Church of God then (and certainly no plans to start a separate church), it was not clear what the dream was saying. Another reason I was unsure about the dream then was that I had not had any anointing for the Holy Spirit beyond baptism when I had that dream.

But these matters changed eventually. For one, I was unexpectedly anointed for a ‘double-portion’ of God’s Spirit (cf. 2 Kings 2:9) on December 15, 2011 by an LCG minister named Gaylyn Bonjour.

Furthermore, the following year Dr. Meredith became more distant from me, would not keep various promises to me, and ultimately stopped speaking with me. And after I got a letter from him on 12/28/12, it was clear to me that there was no way that the Philadelphia mantle could be with him or any of his leaders or remain in LCG. I remembered my dream as these subsequent events showed me that the dream was being fulfilled.

In late 2020, I had another dream that was fulfilled. In 2022, CCOG evangelist Evans Ochieng had another dream that was confirmed. 
 
Poor Bwana Bob—nothing quite frosts his delicate little butt like the fact that every other Church of God group continues to treat him and his sacred dream journal with the respect they reserve for random spam emails. How dare they!

The audacity! The sheer, unmitigated gall! Here he is, the self-proclaimed second-mighty-work-in-chief, graciously dropping divine revelations left and right, and these ungrateful Laodiceans just… keep on ignoring him. They won’t acknowledge his dreams, his YouTube empire, his endless stream of “proof texts,” or his starring role in Loma Armstrong’s extended remix. It’s practically persecution. Nay, it’s worse—it’s disrespect.

Clearly, the only logical explanation is that the entire rest of the COG world is spiritually blind, deceived, and too busy sipping lukewarm Postum to recognize the greatest prophetic gift since Herbert himself. Meanwhile, Bwana sits there, cheeks aflame with righteous indignation, wondering why no one else has the good sense to bow down and say, “Yes, sir, your nighttime brain movies are definitely from God, and we were fools to ever question it.”Truly heartbreaking. Someone fetch the man a fainting couch and a fresh batch of heavenly chocolate croissants—he’s suffering, people. He’s suffering.

Despite what the Bible supports, most Church of God groups do not seemingly accept that there are any prophets today, nor do they seem to accept that God actually sometimes speaks in dreams in the 21st century–some, oddly, seem indignant of the very idea. Part of the reason for this is that those self-proclaimed ‘prophets’ outside of the Continuing Church of God have tended to be proven to be false. 
 
Oh, and then—because why stop at self-referential prophecy when you can outsource it?—the Great Bwana trots out yet another golden nugget: a dream one of his loyal acolytes in New Zealand supposedly had about him. 

Double blessed, triple confirmed, quadruple ignored.

He proceeds to quote this second-hand nighttime fan fiction in exhaustive detail, as if it's the missing chapter of Revelation that finally explains why everyone else in the COG universe is too spiritually dense to recognize his greatness. More whining ensues about how tragically overlooked he is, how the Laodiceans just won't wake up and smell the prophetic coffee, and how dare the rest of the world not immediately fall to their knees over a dream some follower had halfway around the planet.

Truly groundbreaking stuff. Nothing says “legitimate end-time apostle” like leaning on the subconscious ramblings of your own fan club for validation. At this rate, the next big proof will be his cat having a vision about him while napping on the keyboard. Keep 'em coming, Bob—we're all riveted.

He ends with this:

Satan and his allies do not want you to believe that God has actually been using dreams–he wants you to rationalize away the prophecy in Acts 2:17-18–otherwise you might take action he opposes. 
 
Can you believe?

Well, Bob, after surveying the full panoramic sweep of your prophetic portfolio—from heavenly kitchen-table brainstorming sessions with chocolate croissants and the Holy Spirit's chuckle about needing “some kind of Bob character,” to the mind-bending decoding of Loma Armstrong’s dream as your personal origin story, to the outsourced New Zealand acolyte visions, the subconscious Rod Meredith cameo, and the endless frostbitten indignation over every other COG group’s refusal to genuflect—yes, we can believe. We can believe it all right.

We can believe that in a world where the most theologically creative book of heresies ever published by a COG splinter sits proudly on the shelf, where vague Herbert Armstrong comments become coded bat-signals for your “second mighty work” status, and where the late Rod Meredith apparently moonlights in your dreams to hand out approval stamps, the one constant is the tragic, unforgivable oversight of everyone else failing to recognize the Infallible Bwana Joshua-Habakkuk-Elijah-Elisha-Joseph-Thiel as the greatest unappreciated prophetic gift since… ever.

So when you warn that Satan and his minions are desperately trying to get people to “rationalize away” Acts 2:17-18 (you know, the part about dreams and visions in the last days), the irony is thicker than heavenly brew. Because if anyone’s been rationalizing—twisting, stretching, outsourcing, and dream-logging their way into legitimacy—it’s the man whose entire ministry seems built on the premise that if enough people dream about you (or your followers dream about you dreaming about someone else), reality must bend to match.The rest of the COG world? They’re just too Laodicean, too deceived, too busy ignoring the double-blessed evidence to see the obvious: that God Himself scripted your starring role millennia ago, complete with cameos from dead leaders and prophetic fan fiction from Down Under. How else to explain the deafening silence from everyone except your own echo chamber?

Can we believe? Oh, we believe the script you’ve written for yourself is one for the ages—equal parts tragic, triumphant, and hilariously self-referential. Keep warning about Satan’s plot to make people doubt your dreams, Bob. Meanwhile, the world keeps not paying attention, the weekend rainstorms keep coming, and your delicate little butt keeps getting frosted.

History (and probably a few more dreams) will sort it out. Until then… sweet dreams. 

Will You Join The True WCG In Washington DC On May 27, 2026 For The National Day Of Prayer?

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Samuel Kitchen is graciously inviting all you true Worldwide Church of God members to drop everything and flock to Washington, D.C. on May 27, 2026, for the National Day of Prayer. There, you’ll have the distinct privilege of praying and belting out Dwight Armstrong’s one-and-only true hymns—as a bold witness to the nation of the glorious, unifying truth brought to us by Herbert W. Armstrong himself.

Who knows? Maybe this time the country will finally be spared from being overrun by those dastardly Germans.

Of course, in classic Armstrongite fashion, Samuel insists you must be ALL IN—100% committed, no excuses—or you’re just another pathetic, backsliding Laodicean: weak, lukewarm, and basically phoning it in for Satan. Better pack your guilt-trip bags along with your hymnals.

Add to that, this is a TEST to see if you are rightly discerning the Lord's body!

 

Dear brethren, 
 
I am writing this to ask something special of you, of those who can participate. 
 
As you probably have heard, President Donald Trump had called May 27th this year, a NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER to re-dedicate this nation to God once again. 
 
He has invited Americans to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for this special occasion. 
 
I have been reading in the literature of God’s Church, how it is is GOOD and PROPER to support one’s country when sanctifying a people to give thanks to God, and this special occasion President Trump has called for, surely gives occasion for God’s people to stand up and support such a right and proper thing! 
 
I am thinking of attending this social occasion in Washington D.C. I also was thinking, if there was a gathering together of God’s people there, and together would sing hymns and thank God and pray for this nation and people. 
 
Jesus Christ is going to CUT the Great Tribulation short, because of THIS CHURCH. And these people, our neighbors and family, are sanctified for a Holy purpose!!!! Through us, do we realize this brethren! As soon as we ARE OUT OF HERE, and in a place of safety, the greatest trouble ever to happen in world history is going to befall the peoples of the English speaking nations. 
 
But Jesus Christ intervenes, and we have a part in its God’s Church. 
 
I want to get a census of how many of you would be willing to go to Washington D.C with me, on May 27th to stand up together as God’s Church, to pray for this nation and its leaders, and to dedicate them to the Great God of Heaven and Earth? This would be about SANCTIFICATION, to set this nation and people apart for HOLY USE by God. 
 
And wouldn’t it be wonderful for God’s people to come together, at such a time as this, to THANK & PRAISE GOD for His plan for this nation and people, to pray for their repentance and for their turning unto the true God in obedience? 
 
They do not know the true God, but we do brethren, and like the Athenians who had an altar unto the unknown god, Paul had the opportunity to witness for Christ. So do we also have an opportunity to witness but Christ here. 
 
Pray about it brethren. Take it to God and get stirred up! Are you ALL IN to be part of this great Work of God? Or are you lukewarm, kind of guessing, holding back, and not wanting to participate until you see clear skies and easy roads? 
 
This year’s Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread are going to be probably the most important we are going to experience by far! One year closer to Christ’s return! And a test whether we are rightly discerning the Lord’s Body! If we aren’t here to do the Work of God and we hold back we are NOT rightly discerning the Lord’s Body! Let be sure we are! 
 
In Christ’s service,
Samuel W Kitchen

Kansas City COG Member Wins 5.1+ Million Dollar Lawsuit For Religious Discrimination Against Emporia State University

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On a cold January day in Lyon County, Kansas, a jury delivered a verdict that reverberated far beyond a single campus dispute—awarding more than $5 million to a longtime university professor who said his career was dismantled because of his religious practice.

The judgment against Emporia State University marked one of the most significant religious discrimination verdicts in Kansas higher education in recent memory.

On January 21, jurors found that the university and two senior administrators unlawfully discriminated against Dr. Dusti Howell, a tenured professor of Instructional Design and Technology, after he took time off to observe religious holidays he had marked for decades. The award—$5,181,344.55 in compensatory and punitive damages—followed a trial that began January 12 and traced how routine accommodation gave way to discipline, isolation, and what Howell’s attorneydescribed as a forced exit from academia.
“They just made his life miserable because of his religious practice.”

The verdict carries broader implications at a moment when religious accommodation standards have been recalibrated nationwide. Jurors concluded that Emporia State violated the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, the Kansas Act Against Discrimination and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, underscoring that public employers face strict obligations to justify any denial of religious accommodation.

Howell had spent more than 20 years teaching at Emporia State and had held tenure for 12 of them by the time the conflict erupted in 2020. A member of a nondenominational church that observes holidays overlapping with the Jewish calendar, Howell had long taken brief, preplanned absences—an arrangement that had never drawn formal objection. That changed after he returned from observing the Feast of Tabernacles, a religious conference he said he had attended since childhood and throughout his career at the university.

“I came back from a one-week church conference, which I’ve gone to since I was 6 years old and for 23 years at Emporia State,” Howell said. “They said, ‘You can’t do that anymore, not without getting an eight-week, preapproved notice from HR, and the dean and your chair.’”

The contrast with secular travel was stark. When he asked whether attending a technology conference would require similar advance approval, he recalled being told, “Oh, yeah, you don’t even need to tell us. Just go. But if you’re gone for a church conference, gone for one day for church, yeah, you need eight weeks preapproval. We’ll let you know whether you can go or not.”

University officials justified the discipline by pointing to two missed class sessions during Howell’s absence—classes covering green screen technology. Howell said that he had arranged for his graduate teaching assistant to lead those sessions, a practice he described as commonplace in higher education.

“She was probably the best graduate teaching assistant I’ve had there in 23 years,” Howell said, adding that she was a former department head at a university in India. “She was fantastic as a graduate teaching assistant, but I was chastised for allowing a graduate teaching assistant to teach in my class.”

From that point forward, the lawsuit alleged, the university escalated its response. In a letter dated November 4, 2020, then-Dean Joan Brewer disciplined Howell based on claims the jury later heard were factually incorrect. According to the complaint, Brewer asserted Howell had been absent for “weeks,” failed to respond to emails for extended periods and improperly placed himself on leave—allegations Howell disputed point by point. The filing stated that the absences cited were shorter than claimed and that no written policy supported the procedural demands imposed on him.

The dispute widened beyond a single professor. Court filings introduced evidence that Emporia State lacked any formal policy for accommodating religious observances and had previously resisted such accommodations for students. In 2016, the university considered adopting a written policy on religious absences, according to the filings, but the faculty senate declined to enact it, leaving accommodation decisions to ad hoc administrative discretion.

As the case progressed, Howell said the consequences compounded. He was removed from graduate-level teaching, excluded from departmental email chains and later reprimanded for missing meetings he said he had never been informed about in the first place. His attorney, Linus Baker, argued these actions were designed to create a record of noncompliance that would justify his termination.

“It was a constructive discharge,” Baker said, describing a situation in which an employer makes conditions so intolerable that resignation becomes inevitable. “I mean, they just made his life miserable because of his religious practice.”
The verdict does not restore his position, but it does restore, in legal terms, what the jury determined was taken wrongfully.

The legal strategy intersected with a major shift in federal law. Baker asked the court to pause the litigation while the US Supreme Court considered Groff v. DeJoy, a case that re-⁠examined how employers assess religious accommodation. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that employers must show “substantial increased costs” to deny an accommodation, rejecting decades of precedent that had allowed denials based on minimal burdens.

Baker told reporters at the time that Emporia State’s own history undermined any claim of hardship. The university had accommodated Howell’s observances for years, he said, and only reversed course after a change in leadership. “That’s something he has practiced habitually since he was there,” Baker said. “When he hired on, it was understood, right? So, I mean, it’s not like he had some epiphany during his employment where he changed the rules of the game.”

Jurors ultimately agreed, awarding roughly $2.1 million in compensatory damages, including for lost pay and benefits Howell would have earned had he not been forced out, along with $3 million in punitive damages intended to sanction the conduct. Additional attorney’s fees are expected, and the university has indicated it plans to appeal.

For higher education administrators, the verdict lands as a cautionary signal. Public universities, often balancing scheduling demands against faculty autonomy, operate squarely within constitutional and statutory civil rights frameworks. The jury’s finding suggests that informal practices and unwritten expectations cannot substitute for lawful accommodation processes—especially when religious exercise is involved.

He resigned after being reassigned to teach only freshman courses, believing termination was imminent. The verdict does not restore his position, but it does restore, in legal terms, what the jury determined was taken wrongfully.

As the case moves toward appeal, its legacy may extend beyond Kansas. In an era of renewed scrutiny on religious liberty in the workplace, the Howell verdict reinforces that accommodation is not discretionary goodwill but a legal obligation.

For institutions navigating cultural and administrative change, the message from Lyon County is clear: Longstanding practice and basic accuracy matter. So does religious freedom—and when it is treated as optional, the cost can be measured not only in reputational damage but in millions of dollars.

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A former Emporia State University professor has won his religious discrimination lawsuit against the university.

A Lyon County jury earlier this week awarded Dr. Dusti Howell $5,181,344.55 in compensatory and punitive damages, finding the university violated Howell’s rights under the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom act and the Kansas Act Against Discrimination as well as Federal Title VII protections.

The jury said Emporia State and administrators Joan Brewer and Jim Persinger now owe Howell some $2.1 million in compensatory damages — pay he would have been entitled to had he not been forced out — and $3 million in punitive damages. That figure will likely go higher when the judge awards attorney’s fees and other punitive damages.

Lyon County radio station KOVE reports an appeal is likely.

Howell, who had been a professor in Instructional Design and Technology at Emporia State University for over two decades — and tenured for 12 years — returned from celebrating the “Feast of Tabernacles” in 2020 to a “conference” with the now-former Dean of the Teacher’s College, Joan Brewer, and now-retired interim IDT department chair Jim Persinger.

“I came back from a one-week church conference, which I’ve gone to since I was six years old and for 23 years at Emporia State — Feast of Tabernacles,” Dusti Howell said. “They said ‘you can’t do that anymore, not without getting an 8-week, preapproved notice from HR, and the dean and your chair.”

“I asked if I could go to a tech conference,” he said. “‘Oh, yeah, you don’t even need to tell us, just go.’ But if you’re gone for a church conference, gone for one day for church. ‘Yeah, you need eight weeks pre-approval. We’ll let you know whether you can go or not.’”

The reason for this? According to Howell, he’d missed two classes — a Tuesday and a Thursday — during which students were to learn to use green-screen technology. However, Howell had already planned to have his graduate teaching assistant cover those days — something common at any university.

“She was probably the best graduate teaching assistant I’ve had there in 23 years,” Howell said, noting that the TA was a former head of department at a university in India and was attending ESU while her daughter was in the nursing program.

“She was fantastic as a graduate teaching assistant, but I was chastised for allowing a graduate teaching assistant to teach in my class,” Howell said. “Wow, really, you can’t use them to teach at all?”

This was the beginning of what the lawsuit alleges is a years-long effort to force Howell out — including multiple false claims against him. (More to this story is on the link above)

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PCG Cult: Cal Culpepper Claims The Minister Is The Head Of Single Women And They Should Consider Him Their Husband

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Shadows of Authority: The Minister's Claim
A story based upon real events in the Philadelphia Church of God 
by Anon



In the quiet suburbs of Ohio, where winter winds whispered through barren trees, Sarah stared at the faded map on her kitchen table. It was February 2026, and at 32, she had finally mustered the courage to dream of a fresh start. Michigan had been her cage for too long—cold, isolating, bound by the invisible chains of the Philadelphia Church of God. She longed to move south to Oklahoma, closer to a job opportunity that promised independence. But in the PCG, nothing was simple. Independence was a sin, and every decision required the blessing of the ministry.

Sarah had joined the church a decade ago, drawn in by promises of divine order and protection from the "end times." She was single, a status that marked her as vulnerable in the eyes of the leadership. "Single ladies need guidance," the sermons often reminded. And guidance meant control. She picked up her phone and dialed the number she'd been dreading: Regional Director Cal Culpepper.

The meeting was set for a nondescript church hall in Detroit. Culpepper arrived late, his tall frame casting a long shadow as he entered. His face was stern, etched with the arrogance of a man who believed he spoke for God. Sarah explained her plan nervously—the job, the move, how it would allow her to tithe more faithfully. He listened, his eyes narrowing."

You need my permission for this," Culpepper said flatly, leaning back in his chair. "Single ladies like you... you should consider me your husband. The husband is the head of the wife, but the minister is the head of single ladies. Without that headship, you're adrift, open to Satan's influence."

Sarah's stomach twisted. The words hung in the air like a foul odor, disgusting in their presumption. She had heard whispers about Culpepper—stories from the shadows of the congregation, passed in hushed tones after services. But this? This was a claim of ownership, wrapped in twisted scripture.

As she drove home, the weight of his words pressed on her. She remembered the tales she'd pieced together from forbidden glances at online forums like Banned by HWA, where ex-members vented their horrors. Culpepper's trail of destruction was long and bloody. There was Janet De Gennaro, a young woman much like Sarah—devout, isolated. In 2014, Culpepper and his superiors, Fred Dattalo and Gerald Flurry, had enforced a brutal no-contact policy. Janet's brother Robert had been labeled "rebellious" for a harmless Facebook post. The family was torn apart: parents suspended, Janet forced to move out and cut ties. She married under Culpepper's watchful eye, but the isolation broke her. One July day, she ended her life with a gunshot. Her body was shipped back to her grieving family like cargo, cold and impersonal. Culpepper had monitored her every step, ensuring no family reconciliation, all in the name of "God's government."

Sarah shuddered. And it wasn't just Janet. In Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Culpepper's "scorched earth policy" had decimated a once-thriving congregation. Families shattered over petty infractions—teens disfellowshipped for attending a school dance, elders demoted for questioning doctrine. One man, David McClain, the congregation's only Black member, was cast out despite kidney disease, left homeless because Culpepper deemed him unworthy. Fear ruled: attendance sheets tracked like prison rolls, absences leading to suspensions and threats of eternal fire. Snitches lurked in every pew, reporting "nervous" behavior or whispered doubts.

Then there were the marriages Culpepper meddled in. Aaron Eagle had tried to expose the abuse, only for Flurry to demand his wife divorce him. Culpepper enforced it, driving wedges with jobs and privileges. Hypocrisy reigned—Flurry himself married a woman decades younger, while forbidding members similar unions over age gaps or income. One couple, defying Culpepper's veto on their 11-year difference, was disfellowshipped into what they called the "Great Tribulation." Their siblings, loyal to the church, embezzled family money to flee to headquarters, leaving a pregnant woman abandoned.

Even trivial cruelties marked his reign. In one congregation, Culpepper and minister Craig Winters exploded over cookies at a fundraiser, turning a simple event into a power play that left members humiliated. And in 2025, when a grandparent threatened a lawsuit for visitation rights—barred by PCG's damnation threats—Culpepper recoiled, abandoning the family to legal wolves. "The church can't help," he whimpered, his bold facade crumbling.

Back in her apartment, Sarah packed a small bag. Culpepper's words echoed: "Consider me your husband." Disgusting. Predatory. She thought of the young singles in Edmond, Oklahoma, denied love until they bowed to the elite. Of the Scott Flory scandal, where Culpepper's interference led to more broken homes. Of his infamous quip in a sermon: "A wife has to be a whore in the bedroom"—crude, demeaning, revealing the man behind the minister's mask.

No more. Sarah slipped out under the cover of night, driving toward Ohio without permission. She left a note for her few church friends: "The headship I need is my own." As miles blurred, she felt the chains snap. In the rearview, the shadows of Culpepper's empire faded. But for those still trapped, the destruction continued—a minister's claim devouring souls one disgusting decree at a time.

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Based upon two Exit and Support Network letters:

Culpepper Says the Minister Is the Head of Single Ladies:

February 11, 2026

I helped a lady move from MI to OH. She first had to get permission from Cal Culpepper. He told her that single ladies should consider him to be their husband. The husband is the head of the wife, but the minister is the head of single ladies. –Former member of PCG

What Was Told Single Ladies In PCG:

February 12, 2026

I’m responding to the February 11 post about single ladies in PCG. I was also told that and it is a bald-faced lie!!

Ministers in PCG control by any means they can and spy on those suspect of going against their regime. PCG has never been anything but a group of power-minded control freaks. Thousands have been used (without their knowledge) to support their regime. Death and destruction follows wherever they go.

They shall truly reap what they have sown! –name withheld

See more stories on Banned about Cal Culpepper:


How Fred Dattalo, Cal Culpepper and Gerald Flurry Caused The Suicide of Janet De Gennaro

"Gerald Flurry, Fred Dattolo, Tim Oostendarp, Cal Culpepper, Eric Anderson, Jim Cocomise and John Chandler. I hold you responsible for the death of my daughter Janet De Gennaro."

Cal Culpepper Destroys Another PCG Relationship

Gerald Flurry Demands That Aaron Eagle's Wife Divorce Him When He Tried To Expose Cal Culpepper's Abuse

Gerald Flurry Gives Aaron Eagles Wife A Job To Further Drive A Wedge In Their Marriage

PCG Cal Culpepper Continues His Scorched Earth Policy and Helps Decimate the Elizabethtown PCG

Philadelphia Church of God: Update on Cal Culpepper/Scott Flory Scandal

Philadelphia Church of God: Where The World Is Celebrated While Simultaneously It Destroys Lives Of Members

PCG: Cal Culpepper and Greg Nice - "These were a couple of the most despicable, disdainful, and creepy goons I ever met"

Cal Culpepper and His Philadelphia Church of God Gestapo Making Life A Living Hell for Members

Philadelphia Church of God: Cal Culpepper, Wayne Turgeon - Gerald Flurry's Gestapo Agents

How Sick Can Cal Culpepper and Gerald Flurry Get?

Philadelphia Church of God Cult: Kicked out of PCG because she was a "threat to their cause"

Philadelphia Church of God: Hypocrisy of Gerald Flurry and Cal Culpepper

Philadelphia Church of God Mantra: Pay Any Price, Sacrifice Any Person, and OBEY Us

Cal Culpepper Continues To Intimidate and Threaten PCG Members

The Most Disrespectful Church of God Dares to Teach About "Respect"

Craig Winters and Cal Culpepper Gets All Crummy Over Some Cookies

Philadelphia Church of "god", Gerald Flurry and Cal Culpepper Destroying Yet Another Marriage

Diabolical Cal Culpepper



A Heartfelt Rebuttal to Dr. Bob Thiel: Brother, You Cannot Hide from the Truth

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On Friday, February 13, Bwana Bob—our self-proclaimed prophet extraordinaire—descended into one of his signature, over-the-top meltdowns. All because of some recent posts here shining an inconvenient spotlight on the corruption festering in his African "empire," where he attempts to reign supreme from the comfort of his California armchair.

It was quite the spectacle: long, rambling, and dramatically drawn out, complete with carefully curated letters of "support" from a select group of his African leaders. These are the very same leaders who have perfected the art of turning a blind eye to the graft, the scandals, and the outright moral rot—because, let's be honest, the steady flow of handouts from Bwana Bob apparently outweighs any pesky concern for the spiritual well-being of their congregations. Priorities, right?

I was fully prepared to dismantle his wild accusations. But then, something far more damning arrived: fresh information straight from someone who knows the inner workings of this African deception far better than I ever could. Let's just say it makes Bob's defensive tirade look even more... quaint.

Stay tuned, folks. The truth has a way of cutting through the noise—no matter how loudly one man shouts about it.

A Heartfelt Rebuttal to Dr. Bob Thiel: Brother, You Cannot Hide from the Truth

Dear Dr. Bob Thiel,

I write this with tears in my eyes and a heavy burden on my heart. Your recent attack on me and others—calling us liars, troublemakers, and worse—has left me heartbroken, not for myself, but for you and for the precious brethren in Kenya and Malawi who are suffering under the weight of deception. I have prayed over this for days, asking the Lord to give me words of truth wrapped in love. Because I still love you as a brother in Christ. But love does not mean silence when souls are at stake.

Bob, you say you cannot handle lies. Yet time and again, you have chosen comforting lies over painful truth. And that, my brother, is the root of this tragedy.

You yourself admitted in a sermon that someone “put Bradox Ouma Ocheing’s name on the ballot” in the 2022 Kenyan elections—as if that excused everything. But Terry Nelson showed you the official Kenyan government documents. Bradox did run for MCA. His father, Evans Ocheing, knew it. They both looked you in the eye and lied to your face. Multiple leaders in CCOG Kenya testified to this in writing. Yet instead of removing Evans as you should have, you protected him. Why, Bob? Why protect a man caught in two separate Facebook sexting scandals? A man whose own church members say he made advances on hotel workers? A man so many leaders described as “not a good man,” yet they fear for their lives if they speak? These are not rumors. These are documented facts. And you know it.

You also openly admitted in that same sermon that you fired Sosten Libungwa for adultery and skimming money from the church. You said it yourself. Yet you reinstated him. According to the very Church of God doctrines you claim to uphold, that reinstatement was wrong. And you know it.

Then there is Radson Mulowzoa—the man you have repeatedly chosen to believe over everyone else.

Priscilla, his former wife, testified on video that Radson committed adultery while they were married. Their three heartbroken children stood up and confirmed it (those videos were posted on the Banned blog). Deacon Wahela recorded a testimony saying Radson “loves women” and visits witchdoctors. These are not anonymous accusations. These are named witnesses. You ignored them all. You believed Radson’s denials instead of the tears of innocent children.

In your official letter to the brethren in December 2023, you welcomed Radson back with open arms—without requiring him to repent or change his story. That decision told every leader in Kenya exactly where you stand.

And now, Bob, you have gone even further. You have admitted in recent messages that you support using the Kenyan authorities to arrest fellow believers who dare to speak the truth. You have not stopped Radson from doing this. In fact, you have funded it. You are using the power of the state—the same “Gestapo tactics” you once condemned in others—to silence your own brethren. Do you deny this? I pray you cannot.

You even refuse to acknowledge the photo of Radson tightly embracing Patricia Sambani—his second wife—because he told you she was “just a cousin.” Priscilla told you the truth. Evans knew the truth. Yet you chose the lie.

Brother, these are not small matters. These are the souls of God’s people. When a leader covers sin, protects the guilty, and punishes the truthful, he is no longer acting as a shepherd. He is scattering the flock.

You call yourself a prophet. You claim special revelation from God. Yet Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, the man who once believed in you, wrote you a letter before you left the Living Church of God warning that you were suffering from delusional thinking. I say this with sorrow, but I must concur. The Churches of God around the world do not recognize your ordination or your prophetic office. They see a man who has built his own kingdom on sand.

Bob, I am not your enemy. I am a concerned brother who has watched this pain for years. I beg you—repent. Turn away from these worldly tactics. Stop protecting the guilty and persecuting the innocent. Humble yourself before the God you claim to serve. Release the brethren you have allowed to be arrested. Restore what has been broken.

It is not too late.

The Jesus we both claim to follow said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Right now, the love is missing. The truth is being buried. And the sheep are suffering.

I am praying for you, Bob. Praying that the scales fall from your eyes before it is too late. Praying that you will choose truth over comfort, mercy over power, and Christ over ego.

With a broken but hopeful heart,

Your brother in Christ,

A voice for the truth in Kenya and beyond



Samuel Kitchen Now Is Imitatintg HWA's Typewriter For More Emphasis!

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Ah, yes, those were the glory days, weren't they? Back when we'd eagerly await those legendary letters from HWA himself, hammered out on his trusty typewriter—whether in his office or mid-flight on the plane like some airborne prophet. Sure, most of us only ever saw the polished, crisp white-paper versions, neatly blaming the brethren for every church mishap or urgently demanding more cash to keep the Work afloat. And oh, how the Envoy or Worldwide News loved splashing photos of Herb's typed missives across the pages, just to prove how tirelessly he was slaving away for us all. Those letters were pure gold—effective as ever at opening wallets by the ton.

Fast-forward to 2026, and behold the new era of apostolic excellence: Samuel Kitchen, self-proclaimed leader of the one true Worldwide Church of God (Iowa branch, naturally), now channeling his inner HWA by furiously typing—or perhaps letting AI do the heavy lifting—grand histories of the church. Complete with that authentic vintage flair: random jumps between upper and lower case, CAPS IN BOLD RED for dramatic emphasis, and even those charming strike-throughs to simulate "oops, I made a mistake but I'm too frugal for White-Out" authenticity. Truly, the spirit of thrift lives on.

His latest masterpiece? A riveting 10-page epic titled "1986 to 2026: A SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE WCG". It's the usual delightful cocktail of whack-a-doodle theology, conspiracy-level rants, and—surprise, surprise—a hefty portion dedicated to blaming Victor Kubik for every imaginable ill that's ever befallen the church. Because nothing says "continuing the legacy" like turning a historical recap into a personal vendetta hit piece. Classic.

Who needs actual apostles when you've got this level of retro authenticity? Pass the offering basket —history is clearly repeating itself, typos and all.


You can read all 10 pages here: Recapturing Tomorrow. There is obviously more to come since none of this mentions the dramatic role that Aaron Dean still needs to play.



The Zerubbabel Work of the Kitchen Family is Now Part of the Sacred Timeline of Worldwide Church of God History

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Oh wow, guys, brace yourselves— we've all been living a massive lie for decades about the One True Church. The sacred, divinely-inspired timeline? Completely fabricated. Total fraud. Mind blown.

Time to toss those pathetic counterfeit Zerubbabels in the trash where they belong: Bob Thiel with his little African fan club, Gerald Flurry and his creepy stone obsession, Dave Pack and his never-ending story, and—wait for it—the other guy who's also definitely not the real Zerubbabel. Amateur hour, all of them.

We clearly need to fall on our faces in gut-wrenching repentance for our icy, Laodicean hearts and sprint back to the actual place where Christ has finally, mercifully decided to slap His name. Forget the sad also-rans in Oklahoma and Ohio. Iowa, baby. Iowa is the promised land now. Who knew?

Any day now, they're going to unearth that holy rock little Herb clambered up as a toddler in the Hawkeye State. It's probably buried under a cornfield, glowing softly, waiting for the faithful to trip over it. And obviously Christ's literal throne is about to be revealed in downtown Keosauqua, Iowa—population 900, epicenter of the universe.

Meanwhile, praise God, the Kitchen family has been sovereignly commissioned to rescue us all… even though they're currently splintered into three different directions, each one no doubt convinced they're the only ones with the mail room keys.

Truly, the restoration is underway. Stay tuned for updates. Or don't. Your call.

The true history, unknown to us all:
Victor Kubik writes to Tkach Sr. in 1995, resigning from Assistant Director of Church Administration: “What has happened is that the teaching about the latest changes in particular has brought a crisis of conscience to our ministry. It has for me. Many ministers cannot and won’t preach what you espouse. Congregations are divided in how they view the latest teachings.”
“The way the changes have come about has been insensitive and uncaring to our people’s faith. Mr. Tkach, I think it would be good to have a broader concensus of ministers in the decision-making process.” (Chapter 3 GROUND ZERO)
“…these most recent major doctrinal changes have come about with no input in the decision-making process from the ministry on either the administrative or field levels. What ever happened to the Council of Elders?” (Chapter 3 GROUND ZERO)
To Joseph Tkach Sr. Victor Kubik writes:
“We loved our church and its people, so Bev and I wanted to be problem-solvers. We had no intention of launching a personal attack. So, I proposed a solution in the second letter.”(Chapter 3 GROUND ZERO)
“Wouldn’t it be honorable to set up a board that would represent a broad spectrum of our leadership from both the local administrative ministers and representation from the field ministry? I sincerely feel that if the regional pastors and regional directors had been able to be involved in the process of considering these most recent subjects of change in doctrine, that we would have avoided much of the trauma and crisis we now face in the church. These major changes in belief have come about as a result of input and opinion of only a very few people that surround you.” (Chapter 3 GROUND ZERO)
So what do we have here?
We have the appointed Pastor General, being TEMPTED with a change.
The spirit of Satan already got Joe Tkach Sr. to approve of other changes.
This “solution” presented by Victor Kubik, was very similar to what was presented by the spirit of Satan in the 1970’s!
To “diffuse” authority and decision making away from what was already established by God.
From 1986-1993, we can see men in the administration leave the church spiritually. God was testing them for 7 years! He was not going to leave them unpunished. He had withdrawn His blessings.
Their relationship with God and with Christ has ended with them becoming a different church!
1993-2003 was a TEN YEAR PERIOD signifying judgement.
In 1993, the “solution” presented by Victor Kubik, was rooted deep in what the spirit of Satan wanted established in the 1970’s. The goal? To divide the ministry and to cut them off from the apostle. In order to DESTROY the Worldwide Church of God.
It was oppressive to the man God was working through. Satan wanted to diffuse that authority and power, so vultures could pick the body clean.
A divided house cannot stand.
This was all the result of men who had stepped outside of the Church.
They were attempting to make it a Church of people! The solution was to take a step away from what God already raised up and established.
Satan was there tempting Joe Tkach Sr. and he was surrounded by those disloyal to Christ and His apostle.
The Devil didn’t want the WCG standing and well equipped.
But Tkach Sr. rejected the “solution” presented by Kubik.
Here was Tkach Sr. and Victor Kubik assisting his son in Church Administration. They brought to him the idea to approve a “Regional Pastor Structure”, whose purpose ran exactly like the previous attempts of the 1970’s liberals! They had the spirit of Satan working in them.
And being denied, what did Victor Kubik do?
They wanted the Worldwide Church of God, but was told NO! Mr. Armstrong put Tkach Sr. in because he was strong against GTA.
The spirit working in GTA at the time was Satan! And he was also influenced by the liberal ministers around him. Satan wanted power DIFFUSED away from the apostle of Christ. So we saw the STP and doctrinal committee.
Now Christ’s apostle had put his son into a position. So the Devil pounced on GTA, to use him as a personality!
If GTA wasn’t there, the goal of the liberals was to diffuse authority and power away from Herbert W Armstrong, and install and work through a “regional pastor structure”!
Mr. Armstrong took responsibility on putting his son in that position. But he is not responsible for his son’s decisions and choices! GTA answers for what GTA has done!
In the case of his disfellowshipping and defrocking of ministerial authority within God’s Church, and marking, GTA was overcome by the spirit of Satan the Devil. Influenced by those around him.
But Jesus Christ still protected His apostle and the Worldwide Church of God from the coup detat Satan was launching!
So we have to make note of these important points:
1. Satan doesn’t like the government of God. He opposes it.
2. Satan influenced men in the ministry to develop a mid-level administration, a regional pastor structure, to cut the ministry off from Jesus Christ who was working in the one man God chose.
In 1974, a rebellion resulted because of the reinstatement of GTA.
They did not want a man placed over them. They wanted it all.
In 1975-1979, a rebellion resulted with Liberal ministers surrounding a personality, and using him to take over the Church.
Christ in 1977, raised Herbert W Armstrong back to life after total heart failure, and Jesus Christ began cleaning house! Mr. Armstrong stood eyeball to eyeball against the threat! And it was the devil who blinked.
But it was time for him to be taken out of the way.
Once he died in Jaury 1986, did Satan give up? No!
Once again, a single man was placed.
He began to be surrounded by liberal ministers, swayed by the spirit of Satan.
In 1993, Victor Kubik offered a poor solution. It was a solution presented by Satan before.
But why was Tkach Sr. chosen by Christ to be the next Pastor General?
To stand up and say no to the Devil.
And he may have said yes to all the rest of the Devil’s temptations, but it is a matter of record HE DID SAY NO THIS ONE TIME!
So from 1993-2003 was judgement placed on the Worldwide Church of God.
Those who continued to disobey God, became Grace Communion International.
Jesus Christ was no longer their head.
This put the people of God outside of THAT CHURCH, and as prey for the beasts of the field. These smaller groups.
From 2003-2010 we had a period of 7 years. It was a test on God’s people.
God was testing the members of the Worldwide Church of God. Where was your heart? Was you going to compromise the truth? Or was you continuing to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ?
In 2010, God revived the Zerubbabel work through the Kitchen family.
More and more people wanted to learn what it meant to be a member of the Worldwide Church of God!
In 1995, we saw the spirit of Satan at work.
When Satan’s attempt in 1974, failed, h tried to take the ministry away!
When Satan’s attempt through GTA didn’t work in the late 70’s, GTA left and formed his own group. He was the head of the synagogue of Satan. He then proceeded to do a work of “siphoning off” the members of the Worldwide Church of God!
When Satan’s attempt through Victor Kubik, failed, he contacted the men he helped pick for the Regional Pastors, and together formed the United Church of God.
God didn’t build their “house”. Their house will fall down like Jericho’s walls.
Those of God’s people who fear the Lord and keep His commandments, are called upon to EXIT the synagogue(Church) of Satan. They are falsely claiming to be the Church of God.
It is evident, Christ didn’t pick one of the ministry to lead. While they were in fellowship with these groups, they couldn’t be used.
A picture that is depicted in Zechariah 4, emerges. The ministry is unable to fulfill its job, while in the chains of Satan.
So Jesus Christ now has rebuked the Devil.
And we in the Worldwide Church of God are drawing closer to the end our work.
In Jesus Christ’s name,
Samuel W Kitchen

COGWA Focussing Upon Integrity And Humility...Wut?

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Buckle up, because Jim Franks of COGWA just dropped some profound spiritual insight from his recent jaunt Down Under. While attending the Australian Open, he apparently witnessed the "humility" of champion Carlos Alcaraz. In his February 2026 member letter, our fearless leader gushed that he found it positively refreshing to see such rare, exotic humility on display "in our society, especially among athletes, politicians, and world leaders."

Yes, you read that right. Politicians. Athletes. And world leaders. Those paragons of self-effacement are now the gold standard for humility. Who knew?

Imagine the sheer shock: secular athletes and slimy politicians out-humbling the very shepherds God supposedly hand-picked to lead His remnant people. Apparently, Carlos Alcaraz and some random G7 suit are now setting a better example for COG members than… well… the COG leadership itself. Because let’s be brutally honest: the men running these splinter groups aren’t exactly famous for their legendary displays of lowliness.

When they so graciously apostatized from the mother church, and then—plot twist!—apostatized again from the United Church of God. Pure, selfless humility in action, clearly. No pride, no power grabs, no “my way or the highway” ultimatums whatsoever. Just wall-to-wall meekness and turning the other cheek. They did not, in fact, turn the other cheek.

If we want to seek peak humility in the Churches of God, then we need to look no further than Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, and Gerald Flurry, said no one ever.

So here we are in 2026, being gently reminded by the top brass that we should all aspire to the Christ-like humility so beautifully modeled by… professional tennis players and career politicians. Because when has Armstrongism itself ever bothered with anything so pedestrian as actual humility? Never once. Not in 1934, not in 1986, not during any of the glorious church splits, and certainly not now.

Truly inspiring. We’ve got a new standard to live up to.

While I’m not much of a tennis fan, I did watch the men’s final. The match featured Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Alcaraz, at just 22 years old, won his first Australian Open, defeating Djokovic, who holds more Grand Slam titles than any other male player in tennis history. 
 
These two men are at the top of their sport, and since Alcaraz is only 22 years old, it appears that—barring injury—he may remain there for many years to come. After the championship match concluded, each man addressed the crowd in the stadium. I was impressed by the humility they displayed, as they directed attention toward others rather than themselves. There was nothing in their remarks about how great they are. 
 
I found it refreshing to see such humility in our society, especially among athletes, politicians and world leaders. As Christians, we understand that humility is a foundational trait Christ taught us to imitate, and Scripture reminds us that without humility, we cannot enter His Kingdom. 
 
When we began the International Leadership Program in 2018, one of the first classes we chose to teach focused on integrity and humility. As we now approach the Passover, we are reminded that Christ described true conversion—and those who will be in His Kingdom—as being humble, like a little child. Notice His words in Matthew 18:4: “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” We see from this that humility is not simply an important trait to possess; it is essential for all Christians. The Bible makes this point very clear. James 4:6 tells us, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Likewise, we read in 1 Peter 5:5-6, “Be clothed with humility . . . Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.”

The plot thickens in this masterclass of spiritual whiplash from Jim Franks' February 2026 member letter.

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The plot thickens in this masterclass of spiritual whiplash from Jim Franks' February 2026 member letter. After breathlessly praising the stunning humility on full display at the Australian Open—where young Carlos Alcaraz and even Novak Djokovic graciously deflected praise and pointed to others instead of thumping their chests—our intrepid President couldn't resist taking it up a notch. He marveled at how "refreshing" it was to see such rare, almost mythical humility "in our society, especially among athletes, politicians, and world leaders."

Politicians. World leaders. Got it. These are now the unexpected role models beaming down heavenly vibes of meekness for all to admire.

But wait—there's more! In a twist so delicious it could only come from the top echelons of COGWA leadership, Franks immediately pivots and sighs wistfully: "What a different world it would be if humility were more evident among its leaders." Translation: Sure, the secular world is occasionally knocking it out of the park with humility, but let's be real—those godless politicians and athletes still aren't doing it enough. The world is still a mess because humility isn't the default setting among the powerful.

And who, pray tell, is going to fix this glaring shortfall? Not the Church as an institution, heavens no. Franks is crystal clear: "While we cannot bring that about, we can choose to focus on others rather than ourselves, thereby fostering an atmosphere of love, humility and service within the Church." In other words, brethren, the ball is squarely in your court. You lowly members—yes, you—get the sacred duty of cultivating all that warm, fuzzy love, humility, and service right here in the congregation. Because, let's face it, God knows the leadership and ministry aren't about to lead by example on this one. They've got far more important things to do, like writing letters about how everyone else should be humbler.

And just like clockwork, because no COG seasonal message is complete without it, he seamlessly ties this all into the upcoming Passover season. This year, apparently, we're not just focusing on Christ and His perfect example—no, no. We're supposed to elevate the shining beacons of humility we've witnessed in the world's top athletes and government officials (yes, those same ones he just implied aren't humble enough overall) as pointers to "something better." Members are urged to seek out and emulate that level of humility this Passover. Because nothing says "examining ourselves before taking the symbols" like benchmarking against tennis pros and career politicians who occasionally say nice things in victory speeches.

Truly visionary stuff. Forget Philippians 2 and Christ's emptying of Himself—let's look to the ATP tour and Davos for inspiration. After all, when has the Armstrongist leadership ever needed to practice what it preaches on humility? The endless cycle of splits, name-calling, power plays, and "my group is the one true remnant" declarations have always been dripping with the stuff. Why start now?

Passover prep just got a whole lot more... worldly. Thanks for the guidance, President Franks. We're all feeling properly inspired (and slightly nauseated) already.


Brethren, I pray for all of you every day. Our world truly seems to be reeling out of control, yet it is vital that we not become so caught up in its politics and tragedies that we lose sight of the most fundamental principle of all—the need for humility, both in our worship of God and in our attitude toward one another.

What a different world it would be if humility were more evident among its leaders. While we cannot bring that about, we can choose to focus on others rather than ourselves, thereby fostering an atmosphere of love, humility and service within the Church. I believe this is exactly what God expects of us.

As we approach another Passover, when we will once again follow the example of Christ, I have been encouraged by the humility I have witnessed during this trip—among the brethren and even between two professional tennis players with no connection to the Church. Seeing such examples is a reminder that humility stands out when seen and continues to point us toward something better.

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,

Jim Franks

COGWA: As Its aging ministers retire, the church is "facing some real challenges this year"

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What a golden opportunity the great Mother Church implosion handed everyone on a silver platter! When Worldwide shattered into an unimaginable kaleidoscope of splinter groups—each one convinced it alone carried the torch of truth—those very same people could have, in theory, started fresh. New organizations! New directions! Sweeping reforms in how members are actually treated! A clean break from the old authoritarian playbook! The sky was the limit.

Instead… drumroll, please… every single one of them plopped the exact same aging ministers from the glory days right back at the top. The very men who had spent decades perfecting the art of top-down control, ministerial privilege, and “because I said so” governance were dusted off, given new letterhead, and told, “Carry on, gentlemen!”

Nothing—absolutely nothing—changed.

The same learned patterns of dominance, the same “God speaks through me, not you” mentality, the same fear-based loyalty tests, the same endless fund-raising sermons—they carried it all over with gusto into their shiny new “remnant” entities. 

Why reinvent the wheel when you can just bolt on a new name and pretend the old hubcaps still shine?

Not one of them seriously considered injecting fresh blood into the system. New ideas? Younger voices? Actual accountability? Perish the thought! The old guard “knew it all,” you see. They had sat at the feet of the apostles (or at least at the right hand of the one true apostle), so clearly they were irreplaceable. And conveniently, there just weren’t that many younger men stepping forward—either because the system had already burned them out, scared them off, or because the few who remained looked at the circus and thought, “Hard pass.”

So here we are, decades later: each splinter group still marching proudly forward under its old tattered and graying banner of “We Are the One True Church.” The ministers may be slower, the sermons may be shorter (or longer, depending on the painkillers), and the congregations may be smaller and grayer, but the structure? Untouched. The attitude? Identical. The claim to exclusive truth? Louder than ever.

Truly visionary leadership. A masterclass in innovation. If only the rest of the world could learn from such bold, forward-thinking stewardship of God’s government.

As for the Church, we are facing some real challenges this year, with eight full-time ministers retiring (six in the U.S. and two outside the U.S.). The challenge will be replacing these individuals. But I am happy to report that Ministerial Services has developed a plan over the past year to make sure that every congregation will have an assigned pastor. This has required the hiring of several men, younger men, I might add. Replacing pastors who represent hundreds of years of combined service is very difficult, but with God’s mercy and blessing, we plan to make sure that all our congregations have pastors. We believe it is impossible to put a value on what these men and their wives have contributed to the Church. But we are excited about the future pastors who are coming along. To fulfill the role of pastor, we look for men who have a good understanding of the truth, including a love for the truth and a love for the brethren. And we look for those who have a true heart of service.

Let me conclude this letter by quoting Hebrews 6:10, which I quoted in my sermon on the Sabbath in western Michigan. “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” This is an important principle. God promises not to forget our works of service.

Brethren, let’s not get distracted from our calling by the events unfolding in the world around us, but let us keep our focus on our need to grow spiritually by serving each other and on our need to preach the gospel in all the world. This is the true answer to the chaos we see unfolding in the world around us. This is where our focus must be as we look ahead to another year.

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,



Jim Franks

Crackpot Prophet and Tucker Carlson Both Agree That Aliens Are Demons

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Oh, just when you think the batshit insanity of Armstrongism has hit peak crazy, here comes our favorite Crackpot Prophet cozying up to Tucker Carlson like they're long-lost soulmates. Both are solemnly declaring that aliens are just demons in disguise, here to deceive humanity and steer us away from Christ with their "lying wonders." Because, obviously, we need extraterrestrial help for that when our very own Crackpot Prophet is already doing a bang-up job of it right here on Earth. But that's a whole other tragic comedy.

Anyway, as Crackpot Bob loves to say, today's headline is that President Trump is finally releasing some of those juicy UFO/alien files that Obama supposedly "spilled the beans" on the other day. This, naturally, has sent God's Most Highly Favored Prophet into a full-blown frenzy, sniffing out alien demons like a bloodhound on a mission. Is there any subject—literally any—that Crackpot Bob won't jam his nose into? The man's got range.

And let's not forget Crackpot's profound analysis of Carlson's latest wisdom: aliens now conveniently travel to Earth in advanced spacecraft because society has "advanced" beyond the days of Moloch, and they supposedly dwell on distant stars where—gasp—we can't confirm if they actually live there or not. Brilliant stuff. This is exactly the kind of profound theological insight Armstrongites cling to these days instead of, you know, actually following Christ. Priorities, people. Priorities.

Tucker Carlson Believes Aliens are Demons Described in the Old Testament

October 23, 2025

In a speech given at Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Tucker Carlson correctly stated that modern so-called aliens are just demons, which are described in the Old Testament of the Bible. … These same demons are still around. They haven’t gone anywhere. And there are many who worship them seeking after power and wealth by believing their deceptive promises.

The ancient Canaanites worshiped these gods, even sacrificing their children to them. One of them was Moloch, who is depicted with a large opening and fire burning within it. Infant children were offered as a sacrifice to gain favour from the demon. …

These demons are more subtle now. They say they are from other star systems, aliens who have travelled to Earth in advanced spacecraft. Once they said they were from Venus, Mars, Jupiter etc but as human space technology developed and astronomical observations became more advanced they said (through mediums who channeled them) that they were from more distant star systems like Sirius and Zeta Reticuli. Convenient, because we cannot go to those distance star systems to test their claims. 

Crackpot Bob says:

Yes, I believe many people who believe that they had an alien encounter likely had a demonic encounter.

Pretty much like those who claim to have dreams that God told them to start a new splinter group. Some things never change. 

Is it an Alien or is it a Demon?

In late October 2025, 3I/ATLAS came near the sun! Is it an Alien? Is it a Demon? A Harvard astronomer suggested that it was “an ‘Alien Mothership.’ Many people are convinced Earth has been visited by aliens from outer space. More Americans believe in aliens than in Jesus. Several people even claim to be abducted by aliens. Other people say that, despite looking, scientists have not ever been able to locate space aliens and that every claimed alien sighting can be explained by a physical phenomenon. Tucker Carlson believes so-called alien spaceships are piloted by demons. Are there really demons? Well, God warns us about them in the Bible. Is it possible that all the accurate clams of an alien sighting are really manifestations of demons? What about poltergeists and apparitions? Did a demon visit Fatima, Portugal numerous times in 1917? Should we believe something that appears to be an angel if it supports a false gospel? According to the Book of Revelation, will demon sightings become more frequent? Is deception the purpose of these manifestations? Are verifiable signs and lying wonders prophesied to deceive? The answers to the questions of demonic deception are found in the pages of your Bible. Dr. Thiel uses the Bible to address the subject of demonic deception. He shines the light of Bible prophecy on the purpose of these deceptions and provides a way for you and me to avoid the deception of Satan and his lying spirits.



Oh, and let's not forget the real kicker here: whether aliens are actually buzzing around in fancy spaceships or are just demons pulling a cosmic prank isn't even the point. The issue is our dear Crackpot Bob doing everything in his power to whip up fear, paranoia, and end-times hysteria in the desperate hope that a few more wide-eyed seekers will flock to his little corner of Armstrongism for "answers."

Instead of calmly pointing people to place their worries, their lives, and their trust in the hands of the One they're supposedly following—Jesus Christ—he's out there chasing every shiny distraction: UFO files from Trump, demon-aliens according to Tucker, ancient deceptions, you name it. Anything to keep the flock scared, dependent, and clicking "donate" rather than quietly living out actual faith.

Common sense conclusion? If your "prophet" spends more time fear-mongering about extraterrestrial demons than encouraging people to rest in God's sovereignty and love, maybe—just maybe—he's not pointing anyone toward Christ at all. He's pointing them right back to himself. And that's the real deception worth worrying about.

Prophets, witches, demons, ouiji boards, magical TV's, Gerald Waterhouse, and more! A story like no other you will ever read about Armstrongism!

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Time to buckle up, once again, because what you're about to read is hands-down one of the most unhinged, batshit-crazy tales ever spawned in the fever swamp of Armstrongism. It makes Bob Thiel's daily word-vomit look like mild-mannered Sunday-school storytelling for toddlers.

This is the legendary Kitchen family saga, as lovingly recounted by none other than Samuel Kitchen himself. Nothing you've ever scrolled past on the various COG gossip blogs even comes close to this level of glorious, weapon-grade insanity.

Gerald Waterhouse prophecies? Check.

Demons running amok? Check.

Witches, Ouija boards, full-on witchcraft? Double check.

Men swinging baseball bats and chains like it's a low-budget action flick? Check.

Actual fist fights breaking out? Check.

Nearly gutted on an operating table? Check.

Sawn nearly in half on an autopsy table, yet came alive to scare the nurse. Check 

Having your head smashed in a powerful press so hard your eyes pop out, and your skin splits on your skull. Check.

Demons running through locust trees, causing them to bend over like grass. Check.

Walls "breathing" due to demons moving around behind them as plates and silverware fly around and stick to the walls. Check.

Mystical "sanctifications," Check.

Magical televisions that work unplugged? Check

Doctrinal changes, Gerald Waterhouse, John Bailey, Joe Tkach Sr and Jr, Marvin Campbell, Vic Kubik. Check.

...and a whole buffet of "so much more" that defies rational description.

If you're looking for peak Armstrongite lunacy—the kind that makes you question whether reality itself has taken a permanent vacation—this is it. 

Enjoy the ride. Or don't. Either way, your sanity will thank you for the warning.


This is straight from his Facebook page, unedited:

When I look back at my father, i realize now that my Dad had a true sanctification from God.
Gerald Waterhouse told my dad that God must have a special job for him. God doesn’t give that much understanding that much all at once if it wasn’t for a special purpose. 
 
My dad’s first Church service was when Mr Waterhouse was passing through.  
 
He took a step off the stage, after giving a 4 hour sermon and walked straight up to my dad and said: “I hear the ladies in the back are fixin’ me up a pot of coffee. Would you mind if we chat a spell?”
For another 6 hours they talked, until the were the last ones in the hall. They closed and locked up the doors sometime around 1am.
My dad was telling Mr Waterhouse his life’s story. Im going to go ahead and tell some of it too.
My dad’s live as a child wasnt easy. It seemed like everyone had a reason to see him dead.
From fist fights, ambushes set by others, to being pushed down stairs and wells, it seemed whatever could go wrong did go wrong.
He dropped out of high school. He didn’t think it would matter. His family and friends all had a death pool he wouldnt make it to twenty years old.
When he was ten years old he was invited to a church dow lm the road, by a girl he liked. On the way in he saw the pastor molesting a little girl in a side room. He bit his lip.
He had proved to himself by the age of ten, there was a God. And he knew enough that was not what God said to do in the Bible.
When everyone sat down and the pastor got up to the podium, things got weird.
The pastor knew his name. Although he was a stranger, and while that church was still in town, he was too far away from home for this man to know his name.
The preacher began screaming at my dad, a ten year boy on the front row, telling him how he was going to burn in hell, and how evil he was and how God hated him! My dad stood up in front of the congregation, and responded: “what does God have to say about molesting little girls? If im going to hell, then where are you going to be by molesting “so and so”(he named off the girl) over in the side room? I dont think God looks too good on that” and he walked home.
He wasn’t invited back.
God had shown him from a young age, how wicked this world’s religions are! Even those professing to follow the Bible weren’t.
There was an old lady in the neighborhood, named “Raincrow”. She looked exactly like a hook-nose wrinkly witch! Probably because she was a “high priestess” of witchcraft.
Some days she would come up to my dad and say “my master tried to kill you last night. He didn’t get the job done, but some day he will!”
She shrieked one time “IT’S YOU! You’re from the Holy One!” And took off running for her life while shrieking down the road!
My dad laughed as a kid at that. Later he realized what it meant.
He had a similar event happen while eating at the Royal fork in Wisconsin dells. He had the habit every feast to invite at least 20 people and pay for their meals. So the entire restaurant was full of God’s people.
A lady walked up to my dad’s table, and looked at my dad and screamed: “AHHHHH! It’s YOU! You’re from the Holy One!!!” And ran out of the building screaming at the top of her lungs!
My dad walked up to the counter to pay.
He apologized to the owner who was standing there. He replied, “no your money is no good here. You’re with the Worldwide Church of God aren’t you?” My dad said yes.
“We got the tab. There is no doubt we me that God is with you! Your meals are on me.”
At age 16, he was working one sumner and was busting concrete with a sledge hammer. He started to cough up blood, and couldn’t stand for the amount of pain he was in.
They rushed him to the emergency room.
They x-rayed his chest and found a “straight needle, rusted in a couple of pieces in his lung.”
They wanted to operate and get that out of there.
Well, my dad woke up on what he described was an autopsy table! They had him saw nearly in half with rib spreaders! He looked down and saw his guts and lungs and heart all there in the open! He staggered to stand up. No one was in the room.
He said later that it seemed to him they thought he was dead, and they was getting ready to harvest his organs.
As he staggered to sit up, he knocked over the surgery tools, and made enough noise for urse to investigate the room!
She turned white as a sheet!
“Doctor!” She screamed as she ran out into the hallway.
Doctors and nurses came running in.
My dad said he thought he heard someone say “Oh my God, he’s alive!”
They gave him anesthesia and it still wasn’t working. They gave him some more and he still wasn’t going under. They had him count down from a hundred, and on the third time, he blacked out.
A few years later, he was working in a local steel factory, and he was friends with the guy who ran the presses. He worked as a foreman inspector. He inspected the molds after they were pressed, for any imperfections.
In between the presses he would chat with his buddy through the pressing machine.
Now if anyone has seen Terminator. This machine is what killed the terminator machine at the end of the movie. That’s what my dad worked around.
One day he was chatting and thought he heard his friend call him, so he leaned under to respond, and his friend didn’t actually call him but was running the machine as usual. This crushed my dad’s head twice. Causing his eyes to pop out and his skin to burst on his skull, splitting the scalp. He was alive! They took him to the hospital. He never regained full eyesight.
Now prior to this he was prone to drink, and brawl. He wanted to have a good time, but people would go out of their way to try to do him in. Biker gangs, thugs, etc. He was ambushed a lot.
Everytime, he felt this “presence” help him. He found out later it was an angel or something. More on that later.
Many times he would be ambushed and the were literally beating him to death, when suddenly he got a hold of something and would come to with them laying in pools of blood. He blacked out!
He got a reputation built, and men would come around from hundreds of miles away to defeat this “wild man with a punch from hell”. So he got into some intersting situations.
However he never started a fight. He just knew how to end it.
He was ambushed one night, after walking to a bar in town. He was walking out to go home when five men jumped him with baseball bats, ax handles and logging chains. He ended that night covered in blood but not his.
On the way home he collapsed in the street, and began praying. He thanked God for intervening, because they had him down. They was beating him to death and he couldn’t stand back up. But he recognized that “presence” and believed it was God who intervened.
So when he had his accident at the steel factory, he quit drinking. Soon his brother, my uncle, invited him out to a bar. “One drink won’t hurt ya” he said.
Well, the one drink he got, had a mickie in it. Seems like someone wanted my dad dead. As soon as he drank it, he went from dead sober to blind drunk. He lost his vision, and could stand or walk.
Now my dad drank a fifth of whiskey to get a buzz when he drank before! Someone told my dad after that night he saw a bottle where the bartender was met by some guys in suits outside. He asked her “what’s in that bottle!” She said, “none of your business!” He said that bottle went missing right after my dad went down.
Now as soon as he went blind, a couple of brothers hit him from behind with a pool stick and took a beer bottle and hit my dad across the face, right across the eyes!
Well, for some reason he snapped out of the “drunk”, blood in his eyes he could see the guy but had grabbed him by the collar and was preceding to beat the man!
My uncle was up from the table and there beating on the guys just as soon as it happened. They ran off. But they did admit someone paid them to do my dad in.
I’m saying this stuff to show you what kind of man my dad was, and how he grew up, and what sort of stuff he had been through!
Soon after that night, he started to have brain aneurysms. Hundreds of them. He was beginning to lose time, and lost a week at one point. He would wake up with him and his bed soaked in blood!
Life became unbearable. He was pain constantly. Years later he wondered what they really gave to him.
Now that was early 1980’s. He had his last brain aneurysms around 2003.
He went through a lot.
As life became unbearable, he contemplated suicide.
He thought about it, and prayed plastic down in his parent’s living room. Got his shotgun, and sat down and began praying.
He asked God, “I know you’ve created everything for a purpose Lord! What purpose do I have? I don’t know why I’m here! I am hated by everyone. Everyone wants me dead. There’s no use living anymore. If I have a purpose show it to me. And if not, I’ll meet you in a few seconds.”
Now as he was praying he realized the tv in front of him was on. A white haired old man was talking about God.
He didn’t want to listen to another televangelist lying about God! He had enough of the lying pastors!
So he reached over and turned the knob off. It didn’t go off.
He turned the channel knob. It didn’t change the program.
He reached behind the TV and pulled all the plugs from the wall.
The white haired old man continued to talk.
So my dad fell back and began listening to him.
It was Herbert W Armstrong.
Mr Armstrong said. “many think about suicide today. Perhaps you are thinking suicide? Perhaps you have asked God what your purpose is, and why God put you on this earth! Well, my friend sit down and listen, because the great Eternal God has something for you to hear!”
My dad’s jaw dropped.
Soon he was a baptized member of the Worldwide Church of God and attending the Ottumwa Iowa congregation.
That’s how God called my dad.
Shortly afterwards, my dad was hunting with family, and came back one day. In front of his sisters house, was a lane with large locust trees on each side of the driveway!
His sister had stayed behind with her girlfriends while the men was hunting.
And when the got back they suddenly heard a terrible scream! It was a woman screaming! It was getting louder and louder and it was coming from across the road!
My dad looked and saw the corn field part like something huge was running through it towards them! Then the large locusts trees bent over like grass as someone invisible screaming was running heavily towards him! Now he started shooting at it, but not seeing anything! His buddies had ran inside and locked him outside! So he stood his ground.
Suddenly it stopped in front of him and he could feel its hot breath on his face. It was huge and it was in a rage!
My dad realized it was a demon, so he began praying and asked God to remove it. And it left.
Came to find out, his sister and her friends were playing around with an Ouija board earlier!
But it seemed like the Devil wanted to destroy my dad!
He was invited by his friend Lex one day, because he and his wife was having some “supernatural problems” at night, and they wanted someone to witness it.
So they invited my dad over.
He woke up in the middle of the night with the walls breathing in and out, and a demon screaming and plates and silverware flying into the room and sticking in the wall above his headboard! He knelt down and began to pray and actually fell asleep! He woke up in the morning with pieces of glass and porcelain all around him, plates stuck in the wall.
These people were experiencing a haunting, and wanted to be sure it wasn’t them losing their minds!
So he’d leave for a couple of days and it would return, and they’d invite him over for the weekend again. He did eventually explain to them they were somehow opening the door for it to come back, and that he couldn’t keep staying there. The eventually sold the hose and moved out.
But I say these things, to explain what kind of man my dad was.
When he was baptized, a lady from the congregation a Mrs. Hershberger, gave my dad like 12 plastic bins full of church tapes. All from Mr Armstrong and the Church. He husband had been bed ridden and as a shut in, he received sermons for many years. So she felt my dad needed it, and actually gave it to him, but after he got done listening to them, he gave them back. Shortly afterwards I think they were destroyed.
But he received a lot of truth all at once, and he came in right before Mr Armstrong died.
Mr Waterhouse, he said, was very instrumental in grounding him with the truth of God and in holding fast to the apostle Herbert W Armstrong! Without Mr Waterhouse doing what he did, my dad said he wouldn’t have made it through the great falling away.
Now from the time he came into the church he began reminding people of what was taught, and began wanting of departures. People wanted to convince him how much error was in the teachings of “Armstrong”, and often would gang up on him, to try to bully him into submission, and he would not back down!
One feast site, had like 200 men he said! He couldn’t believe how many was telling him how wrong God was and how wrong Herbert W Armstrong was! My dad had already proven how right God was and how right Herbert Armstrong was!
Well, in 1989 he married my mother. Melissa Barcuch from the Fort Worth Texas area.
She had grown up in the Church, since 1977, when her mother became a member.
In 1991, they had me Samuel William Kitchen, named after my grandfather.
And Timothy John Kitchen Jr., named after my dad. We were twins.
Now my dad took us in the hospital one day and rolled us into a side room, and he sanctified us unto God. He held us up to God, and dedicated us and sanctified us to be used by Jesus Christ as He saw fit. He used the example of Hannah and her son Samuel.
He also did this with our little brother Clinton James Kitchen, when he was born in early 1993.
Now around 1993, my dad began to uncover a conspiracy locally, where a major clean up was underway, where the EPA was dumping chemicals and poison and toxic waste, into underground rivers and that fed our well water. We began experiencing sepsis, and variety of health problems that was killing us! As toddlers we would be rushed to the Emergency Room because we were hemorrhaging from Evey orifice losing blood! We were dying!
My dad was given six days to live at one point.
Because of these health problems, and with the birth of our little brother, our dad couldnt work. So we went on state aid, and disability assistance, and my dad began investigating what was going on!
At the time, we couldn’t attend regular church services, so we began attending the new Bible studies led by our local pastor John Bailey. It was closer to us.
They began pressuring mom to accept the changes. My dad resisted it. My mom did too. But their pressure began to make its affects.
In 1997, when my dad and mom told John Bailey we could no longer attend because of the changes in doctrine, he admitted to us that for 3 & 1/2 years they had been trying to get my mom to divorce my dad and take us kids away. He was too strong in “Armstrongism”, and wouldn’t accept any changes. But they held out hope for mom. She was more quiet.
John Bailey said it was direct from Joe jr.
So that put things back into 1993-1994, when they began. In fact, the local Bible study group was established for that reason of breaking my parents up.
That’s what the man admitted!
So in 1993, Church administration, Joe Jr. gave the order to target my dad.
Now this just so happened to be the year, Joe Jr. and Victor Kubik set up a “regional pastor structure”, who then placed a man over our region, and so for 3 & 1/2 years mentored John Bailey on how to overcome “the challenge” my dad presented to the local area. What would happen when someone stayed and didn’t leave the church!
So in 1993, we see a repeat of 1974,1975 and 1979, with Victor Kubik suggesting a “solution” to Joe Tkach Sr. They had already gotten approval of this Regional Pastor Structure. They had obtained a power block of ministers.
Now Kubik suggested that Tkach change the “decision making process” to include a more democratic inclusion of all the ministers, especially the regions pastors!
Tkach said no, and Victor Kubik called up the ministers who were fed up with the changes, and pulled them away from the WCG to create the UCG.
Remember Mr Armstrong stopped every attempt like this before!
So from 1993-2010, the work of Zerubbabel was halted, as it were, in the Worldwide Church of God.
1986-1993 was a seven year period of testing for the ministry. The ended up accepting the offer presented by the sport of Satan.
They could not stand in the gap, as Mr Armstrong did! So they left.
My dad, with special calling, continued faithfully.
1993-2003 was a ten year period of judgement on the ministry. A lot of higher ministers died during this period.
Between 1997-2003, we was attending the PCG group in Iowa. In the local congregation was 12-18 older WCG members they had gone to the PCG in order to support the reprinting of Mr Armstrong’s books. That’s why my dad went to them.
There was some, who was demon possessed, who wanted away from “Armstrong”. One man, knew my dad from his younger days, and absolutely hated him! My mom thought maybe my dad thumped him years before.
But he hated my dad.
Between 1997-2003, my dad would hold the PCG ministry to their word. They promised they believed 100% of the truth taught and restored through Herbert Armstrong.
During this time, there was no resident minister. A Regional Director would pass through once a month or more.
In dealing with the demons and unbelievers in the congregation, thhe rest looked to my dad for leadership.
The Regional Director Marvin Campbell, saw Jesus Christ working there, and he wondered why. It was clear to him, he said, that it was the only place in the PcG group where he saw Christ actively working.
My dad kept telling him to take it to God. He smiled and said “good answer”.
But what we found out later, was the PcG group was at logger heads with the WCG membership! And they were spiritually bullying them in order to get them indoctrinated with THEIR CHANGES of doctrine!
My dad once again, was standing in the way.
He was strengthening the brethren, back to what was restored through Mr Armstrong! And that congregation sparked to life!
Now what I saw, was Jesus Christ using my dad to “reconnect the flow of the golden oil” to those who were holding fast, but was being obliterated spiritually speaking by the PCG group!
Marvin Campbell was an evangelist and was doing the work of evangelist, when he started noticing Fhrist working through my dad. He repented of some brethren! He stood before thousands at a feast site in Sandusky Ohio, and just confessed what he’d been doing wrong! He was too much a sheriff and not enough a shepherd! And he talked about how he may have pushed his own son away from God, and how he had hurt so many of God’s people! He gave a sermon on what a real shepherd does, with God’s Holy Spirit! And how he fell short. He wanted to make sure the people wouldn’t take his wrong example and turn away from God and become bitter against the ministry.
We were put out of the PcG, for no reason, but to get us out of the way.
Soon after Marvin Campbell left and died. He was a minister I saw repent. So I think he secured his crown.
But Christ used my dad to accomplish that! I see that clearly!
I remember talking that year at the youth camp, to Michael Watts a friend and fellow camper, about my dad and how I felt he was being used by God.
So from 2003-2010, the Church went through another 7 year test.
From 2005 I began telling everyone that would listen about Christ working in my dad.
By 2009, we was out of the PCG. And Christ began reviving the Zerubbabel work through us.
No one wanted to be the Worldwide Church of God! No one! But we kept sharing and kept advocating for the restoration of the Worldwide Church of God!
I was baptized in 2012 by my dad. And he did perform the laying on of hands ceremony on me. I didn’t know why at the time. No I do.
My dad seems to have been sanctified from birth. And he was baptized into the Body of Christ, and he did receive the laying on of hands by a minister of Jesus Christ.
From 1986 forward he was used in a spiritual work by Jesus Christ.
As a prophet.
I’ve been praying and studying on what authorty my dad had. Jesus said you shall know them by their fruits. So I have been examining them.
He had no administrative authority.
No doctrinal authority.
No preaching authority.
Although he was being trained by Marvin Campbell to begin preaching and go into ordination. But that didn’t happen. Christ stopped it.
He was being used in a capacity above of an evangelist, as he was used to restore an evangelist to Christ!
When Mr Armstrong died…as an apostle…Satan locked out the ordained ministry by what occurred in 1993-1995, with Victor Kubik. This stopped Christ from being able to use any of the ordained ministry. If one was available, He would no doubt used them!
So it fell to a prophet, God had set apart through sanctification. My dad only had authority over his family. His pastor, was Herbert W Armstrong.
He always went back to Herbert Armstrong, and not to another minister.
So under the apostle, but over the ordained ministry, is the special category of prophet.
So from 1993-2010, Jesus Christ worked through my dad, preserving the Worldwide Church of God ministry, and using him to train me, and his children as we were sanctified for Holy use by God!
I don’t know why he asked for special sanctification for us! But he went through with it!
So when I was baptized in 2012, and he performed the laying on of hands, he was doing it with the authority of a prophet of Jesus Christ! It was He who was used to revive the Zerubbabel work, guiding me and helping me, and that is why I am here today! I didn’t choose this!
I spent all my life in training!
I thought my dad was one of the two witnesses. He was just the prophet used to revive the Work and the Church that wil set up the two witnesses!
His fruits are evident.
It’s why Satan seemed so dead set on killing him. He like Mr Armstrong, went eye ball to eye ball with the Devil.
He died in 2021, three days before my 30th birthday. He was killed. As was my mother it seems.
In 2022, I came face to face with the Devil too. He told me through the one he possessed that he wanted me dead, and he would possess the Pope even “to get the job done”. I went to Jerusalem and to Petra.
In 2023 I started the worldwidechurchofgod.org in Philadelphia, PA.
In 2024, I went back to Jordan.
In 2025, I went back to Jerusalem for Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread.
I visited brethren in Canada four times!
We kept Trumpets, Day of Atonement and The Feast in Bethany near Jerusalem. On the eighth day we were in Tel-Aviv(Joppa) signifying new organizational beginnings.
January 16 this year I went to Pasadena to make a video commemorating the closure of the last 40 years(1986-2026).
And now we move towards the spring festival season! Commemorating Joshua and Jericho falling.
Now we understand why the ministry was “out of the way”. What Satan wanted done in 1974, 1975, 1979 and in 1993-1995, was accomplished! They were locked away in Egypt and Babylon.
So we see Zechariah 3 come alive!
And what we are beginning to see is the restoration of the Worldwide Church of God, as seen in Zechariah 3-4.
People have questioned about my dad. Who was he? How did Christ use him? What authority did he work with? I have a lot more stories of what he and my family went through. But wow Christ is getting the job done!

Crackpot Prophet Warns Us About False Prophets in the Churches of God

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Only in Armstrongism do you get the exquisite irony of one false prophet furiously condemning all the other false prophets in the Church of God. For reasons known only to the heavens (and perhaps his mirror), God's Greatest Gift to Humanity and the Churches of God genuinely believes he's a legitimate prophet. His airtight validation? A so-called "double blessing" from Gaylyn Bonjour—because nothing screams divine authority like that—and some half-remembered comment Rod Meredith supposedly once made. When those credentials start looking a bit thin, Crackpot Bob dusts off poor deluded Norm Edwards for yet another desperate cameo appearance to prop up his fragile prophet credentials.

Then, in a dazzling display of self-awareness, he hauls the old Mother Church into his tirade about their official position on false prophets. Anyone who ever spent even five minutes working in Pasadena witnessed an endless parade of self-appointed "prophets" strutting into the Hall of Administration to announce their greatness… only to be swiftly rebuked, escorted to the sidewalk, and permanently disfellowshipped. That's exactly what Herbert Armstrong—and the entire Worldwide Church—would do to Crackpot Bob today. He'd be disfellowshipped so fast his mail-order Indian diploma-mill degree would still be spinning in the air behind him.

Undeterred, he gleefully lists Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack, Ron Weinland, Wade Cox, Alton Billingsley, and the rest of the current COG false-prophet All-Star team… somehow mysteriously forgetting to pencil in his own name. But don't worry—he's not just as big a liar as the others. No, no. He's convinced he's the one and only truly righteous COG prophet, hand-picked by God in these perilous end-times to deliver the urgent message that the world is about to get a divine spanking.

As usual, his attention span is doing cartwheels—bouncing from topic to topic like a caffeinated pinball—so he never has to slow down and seriously examine the very issue of false prophets he's pretending to care about. The faster he jumps around, the less time his followers have to stop, think, and critically evaluate him. Because if they ever did pause for more than ten seconds, they'd quickly realize he's no more being used by God than Dave Pack is. He's just another self-deluded liar in a long, sad line of them—only with worse writing and an even bigger persecution complex.

21 Century False Prophets
Were false prophets expected in the 21st century? Did Jesus and the Apostle Paul warn about false prophets in the last days? What did the old Worldwide Church of God write about imposters, false prophets, and true prophets? What are the criteria to determine if someone is a true or false prophet? Could there be false prophets in various Church of God groups? Have people such as Gerald Flurry, Ron Weinland, David Pack, Wade Cox, and Alton Billingsley made false predictions/prophecies? What about Protestants like Harold Camping and Messianic Sabbath-keepers like Jonathan Cahn? Because most prophets are false, is it safer to not search to see if there are any true prophets of God today? What did Jesus teach? What does the Bible teach? Should most Christians take Acts 2:17-18 more seriously than they do? How can you know if someone is a false prophet according to the scriptures? Is there a specific false prophet who will be the final Antichrist? Do supernatural signs and wonders prove someone is a true prophet? Does Satan the devil have ministers? Can Jesus return or the millennium start prior to 2033? Dr. Thiel addresses these matters and more in this sermon.

Why...can't you get reconciled to one another?

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Wise words from a comment in a previous post:

Listen, ye fools in the church, if God reconciled you to Himself by the blood of His Son, why then can't you get reconciled to one another? What? Is your will (It has to go my way), authority (I am a minister and no one tells me what to do) and money (I know how to manage it better than you) more important?

Stupid ministers, who don't know that if you want to contend with one another you have to please the General first (Christ; 2 Tim 2:4), play by the rules (the law; 2 Tim 2:5), and participate in the fruit production (the fruits; 2 Tim 2:6) if you want to get your rewards. 

THIS IS A MONUMENTAL POINT IN HISTORY! Will You Help Samuel Kitchen Buy The Ambassador Auditorium?

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Brethren, dust off those checkbooks and prepare to open wide those wallets of righteousness! The time has finally come to rescue and truly restore the Worldwide Church of God's crowning jewel—that magnificent monument to Herbert W. Armstrong himself: the Ambassador Auditorium, otherwise known (in hushed, reverent tones) as The House of God!

Apparently, the Almighty has grown weary of those wild-eyed Pentecostals flopping around like fish out of water, getting "slain in the Spirit" all over the sacred carpet. No, no—He now demands the return of the building through Samuel (or whoever's available) to re-consecrate this holy edifice, originally blessed by none other than Herbert Armstrong in his role as Christ's personal stand-in on Earth. What an honor!

Let's be honest: the whole place was Herbert's grand vanity project, a glittering stage to make him look far grander in the world's eyes than his actual radio-preacher-turned-cult-leader status warranted. Hundreds of thousands of wide-eyed concertgoers filed through over the decades, while tens of millions in precious tithe dollars vanished into its upkeep—all to prop up the illusion of a legitimate "ministry." Funny thing, though: Jesus Himself was never once name-dropped during those high-society recitals. Attendees would wander in, spot the gold lettering proclaiming dedication "to God," and snicker—then some cheeky soul, like Pat Boone, would sidle up and scratch at it to check if it was solid gold or just fancy plating. Spoiler: it wasn't solid anything for long.

Those very letters? Long gone now, lovingly transplanted to adorn the walls of Gerald Flurry's pint-sized knockoff auditorium in Edmond, Oklahoma—flanked by those exquisite Baccarat candelabras originally commissioned for the Shah of Iran's 2,500-year Persian Empire bash. More tithe-funded treasures sold off for pennies on the dollar to yet another splinter group. Recycling at its most spiritually economical!

And oh, the other activities that unfolded behind those hallowed doors—far beyond mere concerts and services. The roof, the fourth-floor machinery rooms, lighting booths, dressing rooms, prop storage, even the trench encircling the building: prime real estate for all sorts of extracurricular delights involving performers, students, and staff. Those shadowy corners probably saw more action than a Nevada brothel on the road to Vegas. Classy!

Then came the fireworks: raging ministers and the indomitable Stan Rader throwing tantrums onstage during the receivership crisis, as rebellion erupted between those screaming for accountability and the faithful insisting the church answered to no one but God (and, conveniently, Herbert).

The grand finale? Joe Tkach's Christmas Eve sermon that dropped the bomb: tithing wasn't a New Covenant requirement after all. Cue the mass exodus, dried-up tithes, and the sad realization that the gravy train had derailed. The place had to go.

Buyers circled—Church of Scientology, USC School of Music—but none took the plunge until a plucky local Pasadena minister and his Pentecostal posse stepped up with a "bold leap of faith" and snatched it in 2004. Where once COG faithful sang hymns about dashing babies against rocks (blessed be!), the halls now echoed with pogoing, holy laughter, gold dust spewing from mouths, and glossolalia in full alien-tongue stereo. From Armstrong-era prophecy to full-on charismatic circus—what a glorious glow-up!

But wait—there's still hope for the purists! Now, dear brethren, you can help reclaim this sacred ground! Redeem it! Rededicate it to the one true God as the very spot where Jesus will touchdown on His white horse, sword gleaming, ready to smite every last unbeliever in a blaze of apocalyptic glory!

What an unparalleled opportunity to etch your name in eternity! Give like you've never given before—God's work (and this real estate rescue) hangs in the balance! Don't delay; the end times are expensive, and the checkbooks won't write themselves!

Samuel writes (unedited):

Help support the Work of God

I am excited to announce I will now be accepting tithes and offerings, and other donations, to raise funds for a special building fund.

Ambassador Auditorium is for sale. 
now this building was built by the generous donations of the membership of the Worldwide Church of God. I would like to bring it back to us.

It was consecrated to God for HOLY USE, and to have those with the Holy Spirit assembling there.

In Haggai 2:19, we read “Is the seed yet in the barn?” And in Malachi 3:8-12, we who have the Holy Spirit of God are COMMANDED to bring tithes and offerings into the storehouse, so that the SPIRITUAL TEMPLE MAY HAVE SPIRITUAL MEAT!

This is not about a physical building. Groups everywhere is building physical complex properties, and you may be okay with it. But this building was consecrated and dedicated to God. We was robbed of it when those who didn’t agree with this Church left and sold it off because they didn’t value it.

We do. And so I am standing up and announcing this plan to purchase it, and I need all of you God’s Holy People to help me with God’s Tithes and Offerings! All the scriptures point to our success!

in Psalms 145:18-21 we read “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.”

No one else sees value in this auditorium. They might see it as a white elephant. But for those who love God, and love His restored truth, and seek to glorify HIS NAME, we value this consecrated building.

What I propose, is we purchase it, and use it. There is room for a library of Church materials, and room to be used for services and for Festival services.

Mr Armstrong was inspired by the Holy Spirit to design and build such a building. And since it still stands, and only those who were wicked and left Jesus Christ sold it, shall we not jump on this opportunity to bring praise and glory unto God and to declare THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD spiritually has not been destroyed?!

This would only glorify the name of God. While others say we are desolate, read what God says in Isaiah 62. I AM ENCOURAGED BY THIS BRETHREN! I need your help. Bring your tithes and offerings and send them to me. If you have any questions please email me at “wcgpillars@gmail.com”, or write me at PO box 126 Fairfield Iowa 52556.

THIS IS A MONUMENTAL POINT IN HISTORY! Will you stand up with me and help me purchase this property, so we may move forward in the true Work of God? May God show you and inspire you brethren. We need to be excited and on fire for God! Let us not be Laodicea, lukewarm, indifferent! Believe God!

in Jesus Christ’s name,

Samuel W Kitchen

 

Samuel clearly has zero clue what he's signing up for with this grand delusion of snatching up the Ambassador Auditorium. How exactly does he plan to slap a fresh coat of paint on this aging diva when the early (read: endless) maintenance bills start rolling in like a biblical plague? We're talking a landmark that's been pampered for decades—now imagine the surprise invoices for HVAC overhauls, roof repairs, seismic retrofits, and keeping that famous reflecting pool from turning into a mosquito breeding ground.

And the association fees to Ambassador Gardens/Maranatha High School? Those won't be a polite suggestion—they'll be a monthly gut-punch. The place is nestled right in the middle of condo heaven and school grounds; good luck dodging those HOA-style charges for shared infrastructure, landscaping, security, and whatever else the neighbors demand to keep their property values from tanking.

Sure, the Pasadena Symphony rents the hall for their concerts, but let's be real: those fees are a drop in the bucket compared to the black hole of operating costs. We're talking astronomical insurance premiums (because California loves lawsuits almost as much as earthquakes), sky-high property taxes and city fees that Pasadena gleefully piles on for historic properties, and don't even get me started on payroll. California labor laws? Minimum wage hikes, overtime rules, benefits mandates—hiring even a skeleton crew of ushers, techs, and cleaners will cost more than a small country's GDP.

Oh, and if he dreams of hosting something ambitious like a Feast of Tabernacles blowout? He'll be begging Maranatha to rent out their parking structure and student center just to accommodate the crowds—because the onsite spots are laughably limited. Meanwhile, the upscale condo residents next door will be sharpening their pitchforks at the thought of eight straight days of wide-eyed "nutjobs" (his future flock, presumably) pressing their noses against windows, waxing nostalgic about the glory days of Herbert Armstrong, and generally disrupting the neighborhood vibe.

This isn't just a bad idea—it's a trainwreck of unimaginable proportions, a financial Titanic steaming full speed toward an iceberg made of red ink, lawsuits, and angry neighbors. Samuel might think he's buying a holy relic, but what he's really purchasing is a money pit disguised as a concert hall. 

Samuel Kitchen Writes To Harvest Rock To Set Up Appointment For Opportunity To Buy Auditorium

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And, it just keeps getting worse. Samuel writes:

I just sent an email to the owners of the Ambassador Auditorium. Below is that email.  
 
Hello,
My name is Samuel W Kitchen.
I am a representative of the Worldwide Church of God and I was wanting to talk to someone about the Ambassador Auditorium being for sale.
My people are very excited at an opportunity to perhaps purchase the auditorium. As you know, the membership of the Worldwide Church of God donated originally to build this wonderful structure.
But during doctrinal upset in the 1990’s, and directional differences, church leaders decided to sell off the auditorium, upsetting a great deal of members.
We are interested in talking with someone about purchasing the auditorium, and restore it to the original purpose and usage.
What can I do to move forward towards purchase? I am in talks with membership to see what funds are available, but I wanted to reach out to you and see if something could be started, or at least moved towards.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Samuel W Kitchen
928.358.7302
worldwidechurchofgod@icloud.com
wcgpillars@gmail.com

 

Here we go, Samuel W. Kitchen, valiant knight of the one true remnant, swooping in like a budget Herbert W. Armstrong reincarnate to reclaim the holy grail of mid-century acoustics. Because nothing says "restoring to original purpose" quite like a tiny splinter group with a website and a dream trying to pony up $45 million for a landmark that was sold off decades ago when the actual Worldwide Church of God still existed and moved on."

My people are very excited"—ah yes, that vast throng of loyal supporters, presumably consisting of Samuel, his email aliases, and maybe four or five others who have swallowed his malarkey. How thrilling it must be for them to contemplate reversing the great 1990s doctrinal unpleasantness by... buying back the building they lost fair and square, with zero funds they're "in talks" about gathering. Truly visionary stewardship!

And the polite inquiry: "What can I do to move forward towards purchase?" As if the owners—Harvest Rock Church, who paid good money for it back in 2004 and have been using it ever since—have just been sitting around waiting for a random claimant with a Gmail address and a phone number to waltz in and declare divine right of first refusal. Perhaps they should start a GoFundMe titled "Help Samuel Reclaim the Glory: Because Nostalgia Costs $45 Million."

Rest assured, the sarcasm here is aimed squarely at the letter's audacious tone, not at any legitimate historical appreciation for the venue. The Ambassador Auditorium remains a stunning piece of architecture and history, but this pitch reads like a masterclass in wishful thinking wrapped in faux-Worldwide Church of God stationery.

WCG Iowa Setting Up Council of Elders To Be Ready For Aaron Dean To Step In Once The Ambassador Auditorium Is Purchased.

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By the time Samuel is able to buy the auditorium, Germany will have destroyed the United States


The self-proclaimed remnant of the one true church strikes again, this time with a manifesto so drenched in delusion it could water the entire old AC Pasadena campus dicondra lawns. In a recent missive that reads like a mix of Herbert W. Armstrong's old co-worker letters and a particularly feverish Reddit post from r/EndTimesPrepper, Samuel Kitchen has declared his intention to single-handedly resurrect the Advisory Council of Elders, purchase the Ambassador Auditorium (currently listed at a cool $45 million, because why not aim high when God's check is in the mail), and apparently kick off the final end-time drama with a Zoom call and a group fast.

Let's unpack this masterpiece of wishful ecclesiastical thinking.

First, the Advisory Council of Elders. For those who forgot (or mercifully blocked out) the 1980s WCG org chart, this was Herbert Armstrong's hand-picked group of yes-men evangelists who existed to "advise" the apostle while he did whatever he wanted. It was dissolved, reformed, ignored, and eventually rendered irrelevant as the church splintered into a thousand tiny fiefdoms after HWA's death. Now, Kitchen informs us that only one original member remains: Aaron Dean, the longtime aide to Armstrong who now serves in the United Church of God and has spent decades politely declining to play along with every self-appointed restorer who calls him up.

Kitchen's plan? Chat with Dean about appointing six more "faithful and loyal" men—all guys proven loyal to "Christ’s apostle" (spoiler: that's code for dead Herb, not some vague New Testament figure). These paragons will Zoom weekly (or more!) to steer the good ship Worldwide Church of God back on track. Dean might say no, but Kitchen hopes he won't—because nothing says divine authority like hoping your one living link to the golden age doesn't hang up on you.

But wait, there's more grandeur! As the miraculous purchase fund inches toward $45 million (any day now, surely), Kitchen calls for a massive scavenger hunt: gather every dusty tape, yellowed booklet, scrap of mimeographed sermon notes, and forgotten VHS from the 1970s. Build a shrine-library in the Auditorium, digitize it all, and launch a "monthly refresher program" to... refresh people? Presumably with the exact same doctrines that led to the original church's doctrinal "upset" in the '90s, which everyone else moved on from.

To seal the deal, Kitchen drops a biblical proof-text barrage straight out of the Armstrong playbook: Isaiah 4's "seven women" clinging to one man (obviously the tiny faithful remnant), Zerubbabel as the end-time builder figure (with seven eyes, naturally), the Branch (Jesus, but channeled through a modern type), cornerstones, crowns that won't fade, Philadelphia elect, place of safety, two witnesses on deck—the full eschatological bingo card.

In Kitchen's telling, this isn't just nostalgia; it's prophecy fulfillment. The "day of small things" isn't a humble beginning—it's his current operation, complete with a handful of supporters, Gmail addresses, and dreams of reclaiming a concert hall that hasn't been WCG property since before most millennials were born. God will provide the laborers, the funds, the tapes, and presumably the Zoom Pro subscription.

One can almost picture the scene: six loyal appointees blinking at their screens, Aaron Dean wondering how he got dragged into this, and Kitchen presiding over the council like a budget HWA, declaring victory as the donation jar hits four figures. Meanwhile, the actual Ambassador Auditorium sits on the market, waiting for a real buyer—perhaps a symphony orchestra or a megachurch that can afford the utilities—while the "remnant" sanctifies their fast and refreshes their browser for new PayPal notifications.

Truly, in the multitude of (Zoom) council there is... entertainment. If nothing else, this bold revival plan reminds us why "safety in a multitude" was always more slogan than reality in the old WCG: when the multitude is one guy emailing Aaron Dean, it's less safety net and more prayer chain with extra steps.

Hold fast to that crown, brethren. Preferably the one that doesn't involve a $45 million real estate flip.


Samuel writes (unedited):

I want to revive the Advisory Council of Elders. There is safety is a multitude of council.
The only one left from the original Advisory Council of Elders is Aaron Dean.
I’m going to talk to him, about appointing another six men, all men who have proven themselves faithful and loyal to Christ’s apostle, and who are willing to work with me to get the Worldwide Church of God back on the right track.
Perhaps he wouldn’t want to be involved, I hope he does want to be involved.
I would like weekly meetings, or more, via zoom etc as we move forward. Mr Dean has the experience of knowing who would best serve in this Advisory Council of Elders. As everyone comes away from heading their separate directions, I do believe we all need to sanctify a fast together and everyone in God’s Chuch participate.
Also as we grow closer to the purchase price of Ambassador Auditorium, I will need help gather tapes, original books, publications, videos, everything the church produced down to scraps of paper saved! I want a thorough library and archives, so we can install it in the Ambassador Auditorium. I would also want it all produced online, working complementary to the physical collection.
I would also want to set up, upon purchase, a monthly refresher program.
Now this is a huge undertaking. But if we pray about it, and take it to God, asking God for the laborers God will provide.
I want to also point out Isaiah 4.
“And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.”(verse 1)
These seven, are with Zerubbabel!
“For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”
Isaiah 4:2
“In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.”
In Zechariah 3:8-9 we read: “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.
“For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.”
Jesus Christ is THE BRANCH.
Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”
This foundation stone is the cornerstone, which is Jesus Christ!
That cornerstone is brought forth by a Zerubbabel figure, and layed before Joshua.
Speaking of Isaiah 4:2, we also have Isaiah 28:5, which reads: “In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people”.
In Revelation 3:11, we read “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
And in 1 Peter 5:4 we read “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
This is talking about God’s Philadelphia elect coming together, and the two witnesses being set up, and the elect going into a place of safety.


"All I ask is for the people of God to obey God and to bring what is HIS to his storehouse"

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The Kitchen family has once again proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are exactly like every other slithering COG snake slithering through the weeds of Armstrongism. Shocker of the century, right? This entire circus isn't about shepherding the flock, feeding the spiritually hungry, or humbly serving the brethren in any meaningful way or even buying an auditorium. No, no—it's all about money, cold hard cash, the almighty dollar (or check, preferably made out directly to one specific person). 

Samuel Kitchen, that paragon of third-generation "true church" purity, is now dusting off the book of Haggai like it's the hottest new money-making playbook straight from the divine accounting department. Members are apparently supposed to obediently drag every last tithe, offering, spare dime, and probably their kitchen sinks too, straight to "God's storehouse"—which, in a plot twist no one saw coming (except literally everyone who's been paying attention), has miraculously relocated to the rolling cornfields of Iowa. Because nothing screams "divinely appointed headquarters" like a quiet Midwestern town far from the prying eyes of... well, anyone asking inconvenient questions.

All those endless COG splinter groups—each one birthed in a blaze of "God's government" drama and righteous indignation—were never genuinely about caring for the brethren, correcting wrongs, or restoring some pristine "truth once delivered." It was always a glorified vacuum cleaner operation: suck up as much third-tithe money, festival tithe of the tithe money, first tithe, building fund "love offerings," emergency excess second-tithe scraps, and whatever loose change falls out of grandma's purse, all so the self-appointed leaders could keep their lifestyles comfortably insulated from the harsh realities of, you know, actual work or accountability. Private jets? Lavish homes?  College campuses? Auditoriums? "Modest" ministerial perks that would make a televangelist blush.

And let's be crystal clear: Samuel wasn't exactly standing on a mountaintop begging the brethren to send their hard-earned tithes directly to the Almighty in some ethereal spiritual transaction. Oh heavens no—that would be far too... biblical. Instead, he's politely (or not-so-politely) requesting that those checks be cut straight to him, personally, Samuel W. Kitchen, resident prophet-administrator-CEO of the One True Storehouse in Keosauqua or Coralville or wherever the divine GPS is pointing this week. Why? So he can buy another glittering monument to pomposity—because truly, what better way to demonstrate Christ-like humility and "poor in spirit" vibes than by owning the personal shrine to his earthly god (Herbert Armstrong), bankrolled entirely by the gullible faithful who still believe the "work" needs their widow's mite to limp along? 

Nothing says "God's true servant" quite like turning Malachi 3 into a personal building fund.

Truly inspiring stuff. If only the original apostles had thought to incorporate and reroute all donations to their own names—think of the cathedrals we could have had by now.

God says that whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might.  
 
And when God says to do something, why can’t we do it? If God gives us something why not obtain it and hold it? 
 
Do we fear God or not? 
 
This won’t be achieved by power or might BUT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD. 
 
But I am fully confident in the Word of God, who says do it! Work! God says! For I am with you!
So let us WORK towards this goal, to give glory to the name of God, and to unite in one cause, and as one people, one church. Why do men love it when the enemies trash what God gives? Now when we can restore it, why hesitate? Why let Satan hinder us?
All I ask is for the people of God to obey God and to bring what is HIS to his storehouse. And when Haggai talks about the seed in the barn, that is like the ark and the 8 people. Noah and his family were commanded to build “an ark” a physical ark, something for the mind and hands to do in service of the Lord our God. Everyone laughed but they didn’t laugh when God moved ahead with His plans.
Let us go to God in prayer and fasting. Let us obey God. Let us not neglect our job as members of the spiritual temple.

The Supreme Sin: Not Funding God's Luxury Concert Hall (A Masterclass in Spiritual Blackmail)

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God is in the house!


The Supreme Sin: Not Funding God's Luxury Concert Hall (A Masterclass in Spiritual Blackmail)

In the grand tradition of televangelist fundraising letters that could double as extortion notes, Herbert W. Armstrong's June 29, 1969, missive from 39,000 feet (because nothing says humility like dictating theology from a plane) drops the ultimate bombshell: What is the WORST, most TERRIBLE sin imaginable?

Spoiler: It's not murder, adultery, or even idolatry in the classic golden-calf sense. No, the SUPREME sin, the one that severs you from EVERYTHING GOOD, from the SOURCE OF ALL GOOD, from INHERITING and SHARING with God ALL THAT HE HAS, is... failing to cough up extra cash for the EXTRA SPECIAL BUILDING FUND to construct Ambassador Auditorium.

Yes, brethren, the Almighty—who created galaxies, oceans, and every blade of grass—apparently can't bear the indignity of not having a multimillion-dollar, acoustically perfect concert hall on the Pasadena campus. Because nothing screams "spiritual priority" like equating skipped TV dinners with eternal damnation.

Armstrong masterfully redefines idolatry for the modern age: It's not bowing to wooden statues. It's the horror of excessive TV viewing, enjoying the wrong kind of shows, reading wrong material, or—gasp—pursuing MATERIAL things! (You know, like food, shelter, or college funds for your kids.) These are the false gods threatening your soul. But the real clincher? Putting any of that ahead of YOUR PART in honoring God with this EXTRA SPECIAL BUILDING FUND.

Never mind your regular tithes (those are non-negotiable for keeping the Gospel Work charging forward worldwide). Never mind the additional offerings God supposedly demands for the regular ministry. The BUILDING FUND must be EXTRA—on top of everything else. Don't you dare reallocate; that's basically telling God His new marble palace isn't worth skimping on your family's groceries.

In a stroke of humble genius, Armstrong casually mentions he's increasing his own monthly special offering (again), and he's been faithfully pouring in since the fund began years earlier. Subtext: If a man in his 70s flying private can sacrifice, why can't you lowly wage slaves?

The math is airtight: Two years prior, the faithful ponied up $150,000 a month for other buildings. Now membership's grown by nearly 50%! So $200,000 per month is totally doable—IF YOUR HEARTS ARE RIGHT WITH GOD, IF you stop idolizing your pathetic desires, and IF you're willing to let banks and insurance companies finance the rest (because God helps those who help themselves... with loans).

Fail to hit the target? Armstrong will simply lose heart. (The emotional stakes! The drama!) Unlike those poor saps in David's day who lacked the Holy Spirit, our response will prove whether we have it. No pressure.

But don't worry—he's not heartless. Many of you "simply are not able." God understands. Armstrong understands. Just make sure enough of the able ones are willing. Pray about it. He'll know by the total haul.

And that P.S.? Pure gold: Send your non-binding "statement of intention" NOW, or he can't authorize groundbreaking. No one should give what they can't afford or harm family (perish the thought!), but you should be willing to SACRIFICE non-essentials. Use WISDOM! Pray for judgment!

The auditorium—eventually built in the early 1970s at a cost reportedly around $7–11 million (roughly $50 million+ in today's dollars, funded by the sacrificial "extra" offerings of the faithful)—became the "Carnegie Hall of the West," hosting Sinatra, Pavarotti, and more. It was sold off decades later amid church upheavals, now listed for $45 million.

So remember, brethren: The path to salvation isn't faith alone. It's faith plus tithing plus additional offerings plus extra-extra for God's vanity project. Skip that last one, and you're basically cutting yourself off from ALL THAT GOD HAS.

What a beautiful gospel. Pass the special yellow envelope—eternity's price tag just went up.

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

The quote from Herbert Armstrong's letter, that Samuel posted, expecting church members to give to his vanity project, the very same building Samuel Kitchen believes he has the right to buy. 


What, then, is the WORST, most TERRIBLE sin?
It is that which cuts you off from EVERYTHING GOOD — FROM THE SOURCE OF ALL GOOD — from the God from whom ALL good comes — from INHERITING and SHARING with God ALL THAT HE HAS!
The SUPREME sin is to lose the supreme BLESSING — to be CUT OFF from GOD! The most AWFUL sin is to have another god before Him! And nearly every-body in this sick, polluted, unhappy world is worshipping other gods!
They may not be literally bowing down before an idol made of wood, stone, gold or other material. But devoting themselves to PLEASURE: to excessive TV viewing, to "enjoying" the wrong kind of TV diet: to filling the mind with FILTH in front of the TV set, or reading material of a wrong kind; to MATERIAL pursuits and interests; to material things!
Could it be that EVEN YOU are putting some of these things ahead of HIM — or ahead of YOUR PART in HONORING our God with this EXTRA SPECIAL BUILDING FUND — or ahead of YOUR PART In HIS GOSPEL WORK? As I write this letter I am INCREASING my own personal monthly SPECIAL OFFERING for the Building Fund. I have increased it before. And I have never stopped putting in this SPECIAL OFFERING since the Building Fund first began, several years ago.
Meanwhile, the WORK OF GOD must continue to GO FORTH with INCREASING POWER, WORLDWIDE! Your TITHES must go for that — your first tithe, that is. God calls on all of us to make ADDITIONAL offerings regularly FOR HIS GOSPEL WORK. What we give for the BUILDING FUND must be EXTRA, in addition to ALL THAT! It must not come out of the REGULAR offerings and tithes.
Brethren, I KNOW we can finance this HOUSE FOR GOD, if we allow God to make our hearts willing. Two years ago we were able to contribute $150,000 per month to the BUILDING FUND for other buildings! There are almost half again MORE OF US now! We CAN contribute $200,000 per month to this EXTRA SPECIAL FUND — IF OUR HEARTS ARE RIGHT WITH GOD — IF we really DO not put other false "gods" or interests, or desires, ahead of HIM! And IF we can put in $200,000 per month, with the financing big banks and insurance companies are willing to make available to us, WE CAN START BREAKING GROUND THIS AUTUMN!
If we fail, — well, I'm simply going to lose heart! Those people in David's day did not have God's HOLY SPIRIT. Our response to this appeal will show whether WE have! We can do it IF WE ARE WILLING!
ARE YOU WILLING, according as God has prospered you? I know too well, many of you simply are not able. God understands that, and so do I. But ENOUGH of us are ABLE — IF willing! Are you PRAYING? I will know by the over-all answer.
Brethren, I think we are going to break ground very soon on that beautiful building!
With love, in Jesus' name,
Herbert W. Armstrong
P.S. If you did not send in your statement of intention, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOW. I cannot authorize this work to proceed unless the statements of intention mount up to $200,000 per month. It does not bind you — but lets me know whether we can go ahead. I do not want any to give what you are not able, or to harm yourself or family. But we should be willing to SACRIFICE and GIVE UP things we planned to do or buy if they are not necessary. We should use WISDOM! PRAY for wisdom and good judgment.

Will You Obey God And Give Money To Buy The Auditorium Or Will You Spit In His Face?

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This Auditorium saga just keeps getting weirder by the nanosecond!

Now our boy Samuel has apparently upgraded himself to Modern-Day Joshua Vr 3.0—you know, the guy through whom God is obviously continuing His Very Important Work. Poor Bob Thiel must be absolutely seething right now. After all, he’s spent years insisting that he and he alone is the One True Joshua of our time. But hey, this is the Church of God we're talking about—there's always room for multiple self-appointed Joshuas. And let's be real: there will always be enough gullible souls to mail in their checks for whichever version is currently shouting the loudest.

Joshua Samuel is now solemnly informing the brethren that if you don't cough up your resources, you're straight-up robbing God (shocker). Not only that, but you're now personally eligible for the deluxe curses-and-blessings combo package. And just to make sure the fear is properly dialed up before Passover: if you don't give, you're taking the Passover unworthily, which apparently triggers a separate, extra-spicy curse layered right on top of the first one. Double jeopardy, Church of God style.

With Passover barreling toward us like a freight train full of guilt, we're clearly supposed to picture Joshua Samuel leading the chosen few into the Promised Land—like Joshua of old right after Moses had his own little wilderness tantrum that somehow ticked God off (classic COG sequel plot). He's here to guide the faithful remnant to the sacred House of God, where they will bask in everlasting bliss… until, naturally, the Germans roll up, gaze upon its magnificence, decide it's too pretty to bomb, and promptly convert it into their new U.S. invasion headquarters. (And before you think I'm making that last part up—nah, that was a straight-faced, decades-long Pasadena campus urban legend in certain COG circles. Never change, brethren.)

So this Passover season is going to be a real test, dear brethren. A double test, actually, if you happen to be one of the stingy ones who didn't send in your “tithe to avoid extra curses” payment. Fail to give, and congratulations—you’ve just RSVP’d to the End-Time Plagues VIP section, where one-third of humanity gets to enjoy the festivities firsthand.

The choice is crystal clear:

Are you going to obey God…

Or are you going to spit in His face?

Tick tock. Your offering envelopes had better still be open.

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

Joshua Samuel writes (unedited):

This is saying, in order to receive God’s protection here is your test.
Now is laid upon you blessings or cursings.
If you receive cursings, you have not sent God’s tithes and offerings in.
God’s blessing is with obeying Him!
Not disobeying Him!
I am announcing to you God’s will.
It’s up to you whether you will surrender to Jesus Christ or not!
And also if you go and take the Passover “unworthily” not properly discerning the Lord’s Body, you have another curse upon your head. This is about where God is working and through whom.
The Passover and Unleavened bread season for the children of Israel, after the forty years in the wilderness, was about establishing Joshua as the new leader. Through whom God continued to work though as with Moses.
This season will test you. Will you reap blessings or curses?
This too reflects the children of Israel when Moses came back to Egypt after 40 years, and they had to decide to Obey God or suffer the curses of God aka the plagues. Those who obeyed God made it through and was spared and delivered from the hand of Pharaoh, which pictures Satan the Devil the devourer. Just like Rahab in Jericho.
What will you do brethren? Will you obey God or spit at Him? You’re choice! You have been warned!
In Jesus Christ’s name,
Samuel W Kitchen

The Dance

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Time at the Schwarzschild Radius (A cinematic depiction of a black hole - Fair Use)


 “At the still point of the turning world…At the still point, there the dance is, where past and future are gathered…Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.”   - T.S. Eliott from his poem “Burnt Norton”



The Dance

By Scout



God is not a neat package.  At least to human reason.  If he were, the lives of theologians would not be blighted with so much controversy.  I hold to the Nicene view of God, as interpreted in classical theology, but I must admit that the Nicene view has both strong points and weak points.  By “weak” I mean concepts that seem a little theoretical and exploratory rather than unassailable. I have also been a sharp critic of the Armstrongist view of God which strikes me as an alarming excursus into all-out anthropomorphism.  

How much can we, as created beings, know about the uncreated God in his essence?  Not much, really.  God meets us in metaphor.  Usually, he presents himself in scripture using anthropomorphic terms.  We, on the other hand, use what we know from the created realm to try to describe him.  Our efforts can result in nothing more than unintended poetry. 

There is the school of thought that we should read what God has provided as a description of himself in the Bible and ask no further questions.  Then there is the view of analytic theology that advances the idea that if the Bible leaves a topic unstated then we should put on our finest philosophical dressage and develop the topic ourselves.  While I am a proponent of the latter view, I know it to be fraught with uncertainty.  Analytic theology is midrash in discussion of the gray zones rather than the inspiration of incontrovertible truth.  And at this point we must join with faith.  What I am trying to ease into saying is that there are now neo-classical theologians on the land who are starting to sound like they have had a passing tryst with the Armstrongist Doctrine of God.  I will cite an example. 

God as Temporal, For Instance

There are now some theologians, followers of neo-classical theology, with reputable backgrounds that believe that God exists in time.  They don’t go the complex route to establish this.  They simply say that if God did this, and then this and then that, he had to be following a chronological sequence.  He is temporal just as we are, they assert. If God creates then he begins to do the activity of creation.  And this occasions both intrinsic and extrinsic changes to God.  That is because to create something is to act and then after the creation God is different.  He is now someone who owns and interacts with a Cosmos, for instance.  This means God is not immutable as in classical theology.  

Neo-classicists also point out that there is a time constraint on cause and effect.  Cause must come before effect.  The word “before” is one of those troublesome prepositions that comes out of the created realm.  It has a spatial meaning.  What it actually means in this context is that on the continuum of time, first the cause happens and then the effect happens.  God causes things to happen; therefore, he must be “in” time.  Then there is logic.  “If it is a horse, then it is an animal.”  The proposition does not make sense unless it is ordered in time sequence.  Ordered thought for us humans happens in a succession of moments.  The neo-classicists have a talking point.  And if they have a talking point, so do the Armstrongists. 

God as Atemporal

I believe that God is timeless.  Note that this is an apophatic statement.  It tells us what God is not.  God is not in time.   My statement does not do much to define positively what God actually is.  What drives me towards atemporality is that time is a part of the created Cosmos.  It responds, for instance, to gravity.  As gravity increases, time slows.  At the Schwarzschild horizon of a black hole, time almost stops.  If spaghettification of your body did not happen, you could live there almost forever although it would seem like to you to be a normal lifespan.  Your feet are younger than you head because they are closer to the earth’s gravity-generating mass. God would not be dependent on something that he created.  (God, of course, is not dependent on anything.) If he created time, then time had a beginning but God has no beginning so God existed prior to time.  I am not sure how neo-classicists or Armstrongists handle this issue.  I heard a neo-classicist talk about it but I cannot say that I understood what he said.  Something like the statement that time does not run slower under intense gravity, just the mechanical clock runs slower.  Physicists don’t seem to believe that.  

Logic may seem to require chronological flow of propositions but it can be static.  It does not have to be represented as an argument flowing in time.  It can be represented by Venn diagrams.  As for cause and effect happening in chronological sequence, that is a conundrum.  I keep coming up with the idea that God knows all causes and all effects already and the act of creation means that he exposes something already known to him forever to our purview.  He doesn’t really innovate at all in the act of creation.  For the software engineers among you, God instantiates classes, methods, data types and parameters that are already known to him.  But then the neo-classicists can argue that instantiation itself is done in the succession of moments – in time.  I would have to look beyond these arguments for a resolution. Later in this essay I will look to Jesus. 

There is also a mathematic problem.   If the eternal God experiences reality as a series of moments, that means his past is infinite. If we represent the present moment as p then the next moment is p+1 and the previous moment was p-1.  The subtraction of moments moves us backwards in time mathematically.  For an eternal being who lives in a succession of moments, time goes backwards forever.  We would never, ever quit subtracting moments. No matter how much subtraction we do the p-1 term would always exist. If God is locked in an infinite past, how does he ever reach the present or the future (The Infinite Delay Argument.)  In brief, an infinite series of moments in time as required by temporality is not a meaningful description of God’s eternity.  The arithmetic of infinity does not serve us well here. 

Someone told me once that Herman Hoeh believed that time is motion – an Aristotelian idea.  I have never seen this view in writing in WCG literature.  I don’t think time is motion directly.  I believe in the “A Theory” of time (there is also a B Theory).  Solely because it most closely matches my experience and intuition.  You will have to look the A Theory up. There isn’t enough time for it in this little essay.  In brief, I believe God creates the present. The present is all that we know.  The past is gone and the future has not come into existence yet. Theory A says that reality is only the present.  Like T.S. Elliott wrote.  So, my view is that God creates reality in sequence, moment by moment.  Time is not motion but motion is the real product of God’s action of moment-by-moment creation.  Time is smoothly continuous because God’s creation of reality is smoothly continuous.  If God decided not to create the next moment, reality would simply disappear.  We would not die.  We would just vanish. 

Armstrongism and Neo-classical Theology

Armstrongism lacks a well-developed theology.  Armstrongists have done a little to organize the ideas that HWA left them.  Armstrongism could use the help of the neo-classicists.  The neo-classicists believe that God is temporal.  They also believe that God is not a simple being, that is, lacking subordinate parts.  This resonates with Armstrongism. I recall an Armstrongist minister stating that God had a heart.  But one pulpit statement from someone trained at Ambassador College doesn’t make an integrated doctrine.  A neo-classicist that is prominent in the media is Dr. Ryan T. Mullins trained at St. Andrews University in Scotland.  It might be a good idea for some Armstrongists to look into his ideas rather than simply deal in the pontifications of HWA or spend their time churning prophecy.  I have read some of Mullin’s material but I am still trying to figure out what he believes.  I think it would be good if Armstrongists were to leave the bunker and study some of these things and thereby gain depth in their theology.  

Jesus is the Key

The data that Jesus left with us points to a different way of engaging with the Cosmos.  He did not define that modality fully but gave us an event that points us in the right direction.  The event is the Ascension.   Jesus ascended bodily in the view of many witnesses.  The witnesses were early church members.  They saw him rise up into the sky.  But that kind of bodily locomotion doesn’t cut it for moving around the Cosmos of the size that Jesus himself created.  I think the visible ascension into the sky was done for dramatic effect.  It wasn’t technically the way the resurrected Jesus travelled.  

If Jesus were “in time” and moving at a speed where he was visible to the human eye, where would he be right now in his ascension progress – maybe somewhere between earth and Alpha Centauri which is only 4.357 light years away?  And if he were moving near or at the speed of light he would undergo time dilation.  Time would pass much faster for us than him. This would result in a mismatch between our experience of time and his experience of time. If Jesus were bound by time and space, a day trip to the Third Heaven at divine speed might mean the passage of trillions of years for us earthlings.  

The simple fact is that the speed of light is not fast enough for someone who needs to move around the Cosmos.  The Cosmos is way too large.  And, even so, an object with mass moving near the speed of light experiences infinite time dilation so that time effectively stops compared to an earthbound observer.  Did the body of the resurrected Jesus have mass?  That is an interesting question.  Doubting Thomas felt Jesus and whatever Jesus was made of it gave resistance to Thomas’ hand. 

Living and moving in time and space is clearly not useful for a resurrected human being like Jesus.  It is too constraining for the mode in which Jesus, as God, operates.  Jesus could not have ascended to heaven in such an environment in any reasonable time.  The neo-classicists can say that God experiences another kind of time and not our constraining form of time – something else that gives him a succession of moments.  But why not just say that he isn’t in time.  And what we know as time is just an analog of how God chooses to order events.  We already understand that he knows the future or predictive prophecy would not exist.  God may organize time anyway he wants whenever he wants to do it.  He is not bound by time.  We also know that he does not have a one-track mind.  Our minds are pretty much one-track.  God can listen to millions of people pray and follow each prayer perfectly while also sustaining the Cosmos. While that still requires a succession of moments, the point is, God may think in very different ways than we can imagine, including in a non-linear, timeless way.  It is not God who is constrained but our imaginations.

So, if you, like me, believe that you must consult the Book of God’s Works as well as the Book of God’s Words to gain an understanding of anything, then the idea of a temporal God collapses. And the Nicene brothers were right. But I will read about it more.

Surprised by God – a Probable Conclusion

I believe there is much about God that we will never understand.  Maybe God in simplicity is time rather than existing in time.  Maybe what we know as time in the Cosmos is an imitation of his personal essence somehow.  I am at peace with the idea that I do not know what God’s actual relationship to time is. And I may never know no matter how smart God may make me one day.  God told Moses, “I am that I am.”  God has ultimate and unrestricted free will. Perhaps, when the truth outs, it will be a big surprise.  It will not be about time but some other alternative we never considered. God is what he is.  Moses just had to get over it.  Some conjectures make more sense than others.  But they are still conjectures.  Maybe we will just have to get over it. 

Why I Am Authorized Collecting Tithe Money, So Says Another Self-appointed Crackpot

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Ever since the Great Apostasy from the one true Mother Church, an endless parade of Armstrongist splinter groups has proudly declared themselves the sole, rightful heirs to your wallet—specifically, to collecting your tithes and offerings. Naturally, every other group was (and remains) hilariously illegitimate when it comes to touching money. Only they get the divine green-light. Of course.

Gerald Flurry, decided he needed his very own mini-me campuses in the U.S. and England. After his 1993 arrest for public drunkenness, he pivoted straight into imagining himself rebuilding Ambassador Auditorium and launching a concert series—because nothing says “God’s end-time work” like classical music for the elite and stage plays of Irish Dance. He even treated himself to a private jet so he wouldn’t have to breathe the same recycled air as the unwashed masses on commercial flights. All of this, naturally, required money. Lots and lots of money. Cue the mandatory tithing, the “demanded” special offerings, and the unspoken threat that God was personally auditing your bank account.

Then we have Dave Pack, who built his own adorable little mini-me campus in Ohio—complete with TV studios that, shockingly, were never used. He even had blueprints drawn up for his personal mini-me auditorium (because one faux-palace just isn’t enough). Dramatic income drops, countless resignations of ministers and employees, and a rapidly deteriorating relationship with the city of Wadsworth eventually killed the dream, but that didn’t stop him from solemnly declaring that every dollar belonging to his members was, by divine right, actually his. 

Common doctrine? Enforced. 
Cash? Flowing. 
Members? Obediently poorer.

Enter the biggest crackpot yet: a man publicly rebuked by the Worldwide Church of God, the Global Church of God, and the Living Church of God. After Rod Meredith’s very public smackdown, our hero—affectionately known as Crackpot Bwana Bob—stormed off to build his own empire. Problem? Almost no one in the entire Church of God movement followed him. Just a tiny handful of loyalists. Still, he too, believes he is supernaturally authorized to collect tithes and offerings. He’s just, you know, the illegitimate one. No fancy headquarters. No auditorium. Just some nightmares and a website.

And then—hold onto your wallets—along came Samuel Kitchen. In a blistering couple of weeks, he single-handedly decided he is the one true remaining member of the Church of God authorized to vacuum up tithes and offerings from the scattered faithful. His big break? Teaming up with an equally unhinged guy from the Philippines who wrote him a very official-looking letter (see below) granting him divine permission to handle money. Not legitimately registered with any government as a charity, mind you—this cash is heading straight into Samuel’s personal checking account for important spiritual purposes like title trips to Pasadena and awkward meetups with Harvest Rock weirdos instead of, say, talking to the real estate agent. Millions upon millions will apparently pour in (any day now), all thanks to one crazy letter from an apostate Filipino “minister.” So go ahead, brethren—send your money ASAP! He’s got a letter! Woo hoo! The end-time work is saved!

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

(Unedited) 
 
Hi,

My name is Samuel W Kitchen.

A Mr.Jonathan Dicen, an ordained elder in the Church of God, approached me a few months ago eager to assist this work. He then gave me authorization to receive tithes and offerings, since I was not yet an ordained elder myself.

Below is his letter of authorization. He was not attending any group at the time, but shortly after he was offered a job by another group, and had to sever connection with me.

Now the question is: Who Authorizes?

Answer: God gives the authority.

Question: If a man leaves the work or the Church, does this invalidate anything done prior in the name and authority of Jesus Christ?

Answer: NO! It would not. Otherwise marriages would be made null, ordinations would be null.

So it is Jesus Christ who is HEAD of the Worldwide Church of God. This man as an ordained minister, believed he was led by Christ to authorize me to receive tithes and offerings in the name of Jesus Christ. So it is my belief that I am fully authorized to receive tithes and offerings from God’s people, to expand this work and to provide a place for God’s true ministers.

In Haggai 2:19, we read “Is the seed yet in the barn?” The SEED is the Holy Spirit. The Worldwide Church of God is the SPIRITUAL TEMPLE. 
 
Read also Matthew 13.

In Malachi 3:8-13, we read more about how TITHES AND OFFERINGS are to be brought into the “storehouse”. Both Malachi and Haggai speak of the same thing. “Barn/storehouse” so that there “may be meat in my house”, whose house? God’s House!! The Spiritual Temple, which is the Worldwide Church of God!

So below is Jonathan Dicen’s authorization letter. Although he is no longer with us, I believe he was inspired like Cyrus King of Persia, to authorize me to receive the things belonging to God, to gather into the storehouse of God. Nothing more.

in Christ’s name,

Samuel W Kitchen

 

Letter of authorization

Dear Samuel,

Following our spiritual discussion, we must now address the strategic and financial needs essential for the growth of this emerging work. For the ministry to expand and build credibility among potential U.S. membership, it is critical that we formalize our initial financial commitment and organizational plan.

1. Current Financial Context and Impact

Philippine Ministry History: It is worth recalling that the work in the Philippines, during its early days in the 1960s within the WCG, was initially financed by the Australian brethren. This historical model of international partnership remains relevant today. This WCG model has been applied by RCG, LCG, COGWA and UCG.

Currency Advantage: Due to the current economic situation, where $1 is approximately equal to 60 Philippine Pesos, even modest, regular donations from the U.S. have a powerful impact here, funding significant ministry activities. A modest 1000 USD could start God’s work in the Philippines. When you are committed to this, I will make a final fasting again.

Personal Commitment: While I am currently facing personal financial difficulty due to being out of work, which temporarily limits my support, I am committed to resuming contributions immediately upon securing employment. Furthermore, my two daughters are committed to tithing upon finding work after their college graduation.

2. Stewardship of Tithing and Offerings (T&O) and Shared Ministry

As a duly ordained elder, and with the full confidence of the authority from God, I am formally authorizing you to collect Tithing and Offerings (T&O) in the USA.

We affirm the sacred truth that T&O belongs solely to God and must be used with reverence and integrity. The ultimate accountability for the proper spending of these sacred funds is a matter directly between you and God. I place my complete trust in your faithful stewardship and will not impose an external audit.

However, I formally and gently request that you consider sharing a portion of these resources with the Philippine office monthly operation, mirroring the pattern of support that the Australian work provided in the early WCG days under HWA.

3. The Call for Financial Partnership

Given your current business operations, we prayerfully ask you to consider taking a leading role in funding the initial work in the Philippines.

Please be assured this request is entirely voluntary, and absolutely no pressure is exerted upon you.

We request only that you commit to providing a regular, sustainable sum that you are able to commit to financing the church's core operations here.

4. The Crucial First Step to Expansion

The quicker we can demonstrate a firm organizational commitment and financial base, the sooner we can secure broader support from the entire body of brethren. As the proverb affirms, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Let us take that crucial first step of faith now by formalizing your initial commitment. We anticipate that once our U.S. brethren see that you have established an organizational presence, such as setting up a ministry office in the Philippines, others will be encouraged to follow your lead, especially as you step into the role of a recognized COG elder.

I have a vision that if you remain faithful, you will eventually, God willing, will lead the international work in the USA and I will support you with sound biblical advice. This means I will be working under you.

5. Ministry Expense Needs and Urgency

Funds are strictly needed to cover essential ministry operations:

Internet, communication costs like AI which is becoming very relevant now.

Necessary travel and transportation fare for ministerial duties.

Expenses incurred when visiting brethren.

Scriptural Foundation for Tithing and Ministerial Support

To address any potential misunderstandings regarding the support of the ministry, we anchor our practice firmly in the Word of God. The principles established in the Old Testament are directly confirmed and applied to New Testament ministry and this was faithfully applied in WCG under HWA. It is now applied as well as in COGWA, UCG, LCG, RCG and CGI.

A. Old Testament Tithing Principles

The purpose of tithing was to sustain the Levitical Priesthood and provide for the needs of the Israelites community and the House of God:

Numbers 18:21 (Sustaining Ministry): "Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting."

Deuteronomy 14:27-29 (Caring for the Vulnerable): "You shall not forsake the Levite... and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied..."

Malachi 3:10 (Testing God's Provision): "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this... If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing..."

B. New Testament Confirmation and Application

The New Testament confirms that those dedicated to spiritual teaching have the right to be financially sustained by those they serve:

1 Corinthians 9:11 (Mutual Exchange): "If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?".

1 Corinthians 9:14 (Commanded Support): "Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel."

Galatians 6:6 (Sharing in Blessings): "Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches."

1 Timothy 5:17-18 (Double Honor for Elders): "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,' and, 'The laborer is worthy of his wages.'"

Clarifying the Ministerial Example

We recognize that some COG ministers after the breakup of WCG have misinterpreted these principles, leading to erroneous practices. However, the Scriptures provide a clear model. Even the Apostle Paul, while capable of earning his living through tent-making, affirmed the right of those who preach the gospel to be supported by the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:14).

Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong himself relied on this command when establishing the Worldwide Church of God, demonstrating that the support of the ministry by tithes is a valid, scriptural model. Review again HWA’s Autobiography Vol. 1. I have read Vol.1 three times. I have two copies of Vol. 1 and two copies of Vol. 2.

3. Seeking God's Timing in Consecration

For the past two years, the challenge of finding secular employment has been persistent, particularly after dedicating twenty-one years to my previous career at DACON and more than 20 years in the ministry. This extended period of unemployment naturally causes me ask, "Why, God, am I unable to find work?" 
 
The struggle brings us back to the core question of my calling in the ministry: Is this difficulty a sign that I could not leave the ministry to do secular work? Perhaps the Lord is guiding me to exercise patience and faith, trusting in His timing and provision, knowing that God works in His own perfect time (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Perhaps, through this period of patient waiting, God is directing my path to yours, intending for us to collaborate on a great and significant work ahead.

It is deeply moving to consider the connections: "All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Furthermore, I consider the fact that you hail from Iowa, the very state where Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was born, seems more than mere coincidence; it speaks to a remarkable and special providence.

Let us embrace this sense of divine leading. We will proceed with faith, courageously taking the first step, and seeing where God, in His perfect plan, chooses to guide our efforts.

Example of Immediate Need: We currently have a member's wife in Laguna province requesting baptism. I cannot perform this essential ministerial duty due to the lack of funds to cover the required travel. Your early commitment will directly facilitate these vital acts of service.

6. Organizational Legitimacy

To ensure confidence and facilitate broader support from future U.S. brethren and donors, we strongly advise registering a formal name in the USA (e.g., as a non-profit organization). While you can personally collect T&O now under the authority of an authorized Church of God elder, formal registration will significantly enhance the legal legitimacy and long-term growth potential of the ministry.

7. Clarification on Name Use

We must seek greater clarity regarding the use of the name "Worldwide Church of God." We must ensure this will not create legal morass that could hinder the work. Please seek counsel from a qualified lawyer regarding the legal implications. What are your current thoughts on this critical matter?

Warm regards,

J. Dicen

Note: I advise you to have a hard copy of this "Authorization Letter" and keep it safe in a folder for future use.

The Linchpin of Armstrongism

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The Linchpin of Armstrongism

A Christian’s supposed obligation to observe four particular aspects of Torah was central to Herbert Armstrong’s theology. He identified the weekly Sabbath, Holy Days, clean/unclean animals, and tithing as being still binding on Christians of the New Covenant. In fact, many who are currently a part of the Armstrong Churches of God regard these doctrines as their primary raison d’etre! In support of these obligations, they cite the facts that God commanded them, and Jesus Christ and his apostles observed them as proof of a Christians obligation to observe them. However, this paper will demonstrate that these two foundational pillars of Armstrongist theology do NOT stand up to closer scrutiny.

First, God commanded the children of Israel to observe these commandments, NOT anyone else! Indeed, in the preface to the delivery of the Ten Commandments, we read that “God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.’” (Exodus 20:1-2, ESV) Question: Who did God deliver from slavery in Egypt? Moreover, in the preface to these commandments in Deuteronomy, we read: “And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.’” (Deuteronomy 5:1-3, ESV) Now, from my perspective, the target audience seems pretty clear.

Notice too this passage addressing the weekly Sabbath: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” (Exodus 31:12-17, ESV)

Likewise, regarding clean and unclean animals, upon closer examination, we see that they were clearly addressed to the people of Israel. In Leviticus, we read: “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.’” (Leviticus 11:1-2, ESV) And, “You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them. For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:43-45, ESV) In short, there simply is no mistaking to whom these commandments were addressed – the people of Israel.

Herbert Armstrong and his followers never failed to point out that ALL of these commandments were God’s – that it was God’s Sabbath, and God’s festivals. Unfortunately, they failed to mention the audience for whom they were intended! Once again, in Leviticus, we read: “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.’” (Leviticus 23:1-2, ESV) The text then proceeds to list all of the festivals. For the Feast of Firstfruits, we read: “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them…” (Leviticus 23:9, ESV) Indeed, the phrase “Speak to the people of Israel” is repeated two more times in this text. (Leviticus 23:23, 34) Then, we come at last to the final festival and the summary. We read: “You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.” (Leviticus 23:42-44, ESV)

Finally, regarding tithing, we read: “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the Lord. One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.’ These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.” (Leviticus 27:30-34, ESV) And, regarding the place for Israel’s central place of worship, we read: “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.  And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses.” (Deuteronomy 14:22-25, ESV) Once again, this language is clearly focused on the children of Israel and the Promised Land.

Now that we have examined each of the four elements of the Law which Armstrong and his followers have obligated Christians to observe, we can make some more general observations about Torah as a whole. Torah was addressed to the children of Israel - NOT to the world at large! In a recent post over at the As Bereans Did blog, we read: "Some people say, ‘Look what the Lord says to us,’ as they turn to Leviticus. Well, I have some bad news for you. The Lord didn't say that to us. He said that to ancient Israel." Jesus Christ said that he came to fulfill Torah and the Prophets. In other words, THEY POINT TO HIM! That is their value for us. ABDwent on to note: "The Old Testament was not written to us; it was written for us. Big difference."

Which brings me to my second point refuting the teachings of the Armstrong Churches of God relative to Torah and Christians: Both the Old and New Testaments view the Law as an inseparable whole! First, Torah repeatedly enjoins the children of Israel to observe ALL – EVERY commandment which God has given to them. (Leviticus 20:22, Deuteronomy 6:1-2, Deuteronomy 6:24-25, Deuteronomy 11:8, 32, Deuteronomy 28:1, 15, 58, Deuteronomy 31:12, Deuteronomy 32:45-46) Likewise, in the New Testament, we are informed that Christ and his apostles viewed the law in exactly the same terms – that it was an inseparable whole. (Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 7:12, Matthew 22:34-40, Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, 34-40, James 2:8-11) This is an important/critical point in understanding the Scriptural view of the Law. To reiterate, both the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament writings confirm that Torah it is impossible to cherry pick Torah. Discarding, ignoring, or breaking one commandment makes you a law breaker – period!

This point was underscored for the children of Israel. In the final book of Torah, we read: “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:1-8, ESV)

Notice please that adding to or taking away from these commandments was strictly forbidden, and that they were CLEARLY and unequivocally addressed to ISRAEL. They were to keep the WHOLE Law – everything contained in Torah. This legislation constituted the terms of their covenant with YHWH! Moreover, it made them SPECIAL among the nations of the earth. This legislation made Israel UNIQUE. They were the ONLY people on the face of the earth who had this Law!

Now, we come at last to the final argument of Armstrong and his followers in favor of the obligation of Christians to obey some of the commandments of Torah. Yes, Jesus and his apostles observed the Sabbath, Holy Days, and avoided unclean meats. They were Jews, living under the terms of God's Covenant with the children of Israel. They were also circumcised and never wore clothing made out of blended materials. They observed Temple protocols. They tithed, never entered the Holy of Holies, and presented the appropriate offerings demanded by Torah. They observed the appropriate protocols for bodily discharges, skin diseases, and mildew. They came to Jerusalem and the Temple to observe the three pilgrimage festivals. They didn't round off the corners on their beards or have any tattoos. They also didn't eat rare meat or consume any fat.

In the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus went to Jerusalem during the celebration of the Feast of the Dedication (Feast of Lights, Hanukkah). Does that mean we (Christians) are expected to observe it? Didn't Christ say that we are supposed to follow his example? "That's not what he was talking about!" the Legalists will snap back. "EXACTLY," is my response.

Please permit a more modern example: The people of Illinois are living under the state constitution of 1970, NOT the three previous iterations of a state constitution! Likewise, the citizens of Illinois are obligated to obey ALL of the current income tax and traffic laws that are applicable to them. Most of us recognize that the notion that we would be able to pick and choose which laws we are going to obey and which ones we are going to ignore is absurd (and would probably land us in jail if we attempted such a thing)! 

Christ came to this earth to fulfill God's Law for Jews and Gentiles. He did. He fulfilled it perfectly - as NO other human has EVER been able to duplicate. Moreover, his righteousness/innocence was the perfect cure for our sinfulness/guilt before God. Likewise, his original disciples were ALL Jews - born under the terms of the Old Covenant (Torah). Hence, we would expect to find them observing the commandments of Torah - ALL OF THEM, and we do!

Even so, it does NOT follow that we (Gentile Christians) should be doing likewise in 2026! Indeed, a good many things have happened since then – like Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to heaven; the coming of the Holy Spirit and the establishment of the ekklesia; the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (which I don't believe was happenstance), and the reformation of Judaism.

Thus, we have seen that the argument that Christ and his disciples were Torah-observant Jews is completely irrelevant to the notion of a Christian's obligation to that legislation! That's worth repeating - let it sink in: The fact that Christ and his disciples were Torah-observant Jews is completely irrelevant to the notion of a Christian's obligation to that legislation! Hence, we have demonstrated that the Armstrongist justifications for obligating Christians to observe the weekly Sabbath, Holy Days, clean/unclean, and tithing have been completely discredited.

In other words, Christians are NOT operating under the terms of God’s covenant with Israel! We are operating under the terms of the NEW covenant – the one which requires belief in and acceptance of the value of Christ’s fulfillment of Torah, the Prophets, and Writings of the Hebrew Bible, and subsequent sacrifice for us! The covenant, which was founded on the Two Great Commandments, which Jesus Christ himself drew from Torah. And, more particularly, the covenant that is based on Christ’s commandment to love each other (the very thing that he said would identify his disciples to the world – the sign of the New Covenant)! Sorry to my Armstrongist friends, but THIS represents the real obligation of New Testament Christians!

 

Lonnie Hendrix/Miller Jones



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