The Unveiling of Malachi's Message

Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God's was founded in 1989. He had just been fired for making a book critical of WCG, Malachi's Message. PCG teach that it is the Little Book of Revelation 10.

One thing I find interesting is how his family took it when they were first told of Malachi's Message. Let us see what we can discover.

Here is how Stephen Flurry reacted when his father first showed him Malachi's Message according to this remarkable testimony (Emphasis mine):

"We had a nice conversation [with Stephen Flurry], but Dale was very unhappy at PCG and he wanted some straight answers, so he was very direct with Stephen and asked him what his first thought was when his dad had told him he was "a prophet" and that Malachi's Message was the "Little Book"? Stephen said that he had come home from Ambassador College for a break when his dad asked him to read it (the book was still unfinished at the time). His dad stood and watched over his shoulder while he read it, waiting for a reaction. Stephen said his initial thought was that his dad was crazy. He said his dad kept asking him what he thought. If it was really God's divine revelation (revealed by a "mighty angel" [as Gerald Flurry alleged in this article in September-October, 1992 issue of The Philadelphia Trumpet, p. 8, third column, fourth paragraph. The page itself may be seen here.]), would you ask your son what he thought of the book so far? We never saw or talked to Stephen or his wife after this 1998 lunch conversation. (In 1986 WCG printed a camp newspaper as a souvenir for the campers. They printed our pictures and our addresses and the Flurrys later used these addresses to mail the original Malachi's Message books to.)"

Gerald Flurry's desperation to hear what his son thought of Malachi's Message is corroborated by Stephen Flurry's own account of his first encounter with it. Of course, for obvious reasons, this book gives no indication that Stephen Flurry thought he was crazy, but it does confirm Gerald Flurry's nervousness at his son's possible reaction. This may be seen in Raising the Ruins, Chapter 13, heading "My Dad's Initial Feedback":

"I put off reading it [Malachi's Message] until Sunday morning, two days later. We had planned to head back home that afternoon. As I read, I could tell my dad was anxiously awaiting any kind of feedback. He was very fidgety—constantly in and out of the cabin, trying to “keep busy” while I took the time to read.

"I got through about half of it before we had to gather our things to leave. “So, what do you think?” he asked when I stopped reading. “Well, that definitely will get you fired,” I responded."

It must also be noted that this book never reveals PCG's teaching that Malachi's Message is the Little Book.

On another matter here is the official account of how the late Barbara Flurry, wife of Gerald Flurry, first came to accept Malachi's Message as reported in the November-December, 2004 Philadelphia News, p. 8, or p. 16 in the PDF download.

"This excitement for grasping new truth was shown when she proved Malachi's Message for herself in 1989. Mr. Flurry didn't tell his wife much about Malachi's Message at first. Now he was getting a new and radically different perspective. He had taught her to always look to headquarters and stay with the WCG. In the beginning his wife was not receptive. Whenever he would talk about the problems in the WCG, she would change the subject to avoid thinking about it. Plus, Mr. Flurry didn't think events would happen as quickly as they did.

[As was related in a previous post Gerald Flurry originally planned to unveil Malachi's Message in January 1991 in order to coincide with "the Work's" 19 year time cycles (1934-1953-1972-1991). These are the same time cycles that produced the 1972/1975 Disappointment.]

"After he was fired from the PCG, [Sic. This is obviously just a misprint.] their son, Stephen Flurry, said his mother was shocked and didn't really know what to think, but "after a few days, she was with it.""

Of course these testimonials only serve to hide the fact that Gerald Flurry plagiarized the writings of Jules Dervaes when producing Malachi's Message as may be seen here, here. His interpretation that WCG has entered the Laodicean era may be seen in his second letter. It was delivered on February 11, 1987, long before Gerald Flurry started to write Malachi's Message. It was later delivered to 237 WCG ministers including Gerald Flurry. No mighty angel necessary.

Also it appears that Gerald Flurry did not know that Malachi's Message was the Little Book until at least 1991 since in page 3 of the February 1991 Philadelphia Trumpet Gerald Flurry wrote that "The little book is the Bible." This may be seen in the center column, paragraph 1. More information on this topic may be seen here.

And so that is what may be made known concerning the Flurys initial reaction to the unveiling of Malachi's Message.

More on Raising the Ruins may be read here.