Reading PCG's Booklet, The Prophecy of Habakkuk (1995)

Let us now read Gerald Flurry's booklet, The Prophecy of Habakkuk, first published in 1995. Since its first publication Flurry has reinterpreted Habakkuk to claim that it predicted PCG to win at the court case. (In fact PCG did not win the court case.) At the time this booklet was first written Flurry had no idea that he would have a court case against WCG or that Habakkuk had anything to do with it. You can read the 1995 booklet for yourself here.

Chapter 1

Flurry claims to have received new revelation regarding the Book of Habakkuk. His new revelation is that Habbakkuk is all about the Tkach Changes, the rise of PCG in opposition to that, and that unless WCG members join PCG they shall die in the Great Tribulation. Essentially Flurry simply recycles the ideas of Malachi's Message and then applies the same interpretation upon Habakkuk. He ended up doing that a lot.

It is widely known that many of the ideas within Malachi's Message were plagiarized from The Letter to Laodicea by Jules Dervaes, written December 1986-January 1988. It was sent to 237 WCG ministers including Gerald Flurry and John Amos. In fact on September 26, 1990 Jules Dervaes sent a letter to Gerald Flurry in which he denounces Malachi's Message as "a direct and clear plagiarism" of his work.

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Also Flurry condemns Meredith's Global Church of God for introducing collegial government and he cites this as proof that they are "Laodicean". He also mentions another booklet that was looked at in a previous post (p. 5.).

This booklet it seems to have been made before UCG was established as he does not mention them.

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Intriguingly on page 6 he states that PCG made its first radio broadcast on June 30, 1991, and then made their first television broadcast in January 1993. He then boasts that by the end of 1994 PCG was on 50 TV stations.

Chapter 2

In this chapter, for once, Flurry makes it (somewhat) clear what he wants his readers to do.

If a member of any Laodicean Church is willing to go to God and repent--THEY WILL COME TO THE PHILADELPHIA CHURCH OF GOD! (p. 12.)

Of course even this blatant demand to convert does not capture just how destructive and costly, mentally, socially and financially, membership in PCG is to so many members.

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If you are to avoid the Tribulation, YOU WILL HAVE TO SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM LAODICEA! God does not want us to ... follow a sinning church! (p. 13.)

Now we know from other sources that at the time this booklet was published (1995) there did not appear to be any stigma to associating oneself with members of other COG groups. But still one can see how this heated rhetoric, demonizing Laodiceans would later make it that much easier for Flurry to give the order for PCG members to shun Laodiceans, any Armstrongite who did not join PCG.

Also it should be noted that it now 19 years since this booklet was published. No one who chose to not join PCG has suffered the Great Tribulation. Indeed many of these Laodiceans have now died and so Flurry's threats that they would be cast into the Great Tribulation meant absolutely nothing to them. Flurry's punishment is meaningless to them.

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Unless they repent soon, the Laodicean ministry and members will have to face Satan's wrath! (p. 20.)

It is now 19 years later. Satan's wrath (the Great Tribulation) has not manifested itself towards anyone, PCG member or certainly not the "Laodiceans". Would many early PCG converts have joined if they anticipated the world to simply continue its way for these 19 years. Clearly this Great Tribulation is just an induced phobia that Gerald Flurry and Co. rely on to exploit tithes paying PCG members.

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Chapter 3

This chapter is filled with fear mongering about the supposed future Great Tribulation. Some parts of this chapter also appears in his booklet that uses Amos.

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Flurry says Habakkuk saw the effects of nuclear war and that it was so terrifying for him that he nearly dissolved into goo. I am not making this up.

Habakkuk almost became like a shapeless blob! (p. 22.)

That passage is quite bizarre.

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Fear monger that there will be a 99 percent fatality rate during the Great Tribulation. This will due to the use of nuclear weapons. (p. 23.)

And at the end Flurry, after scaring his readers, then assures us that we should be very happy that Christ is coming soon. We should be so happy that we should jump for joy.

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So the purpose of this booklet was to call upon WCG members to leave and join PCG. It also encouraged PCG members to warn WCG members that they needed to join PCG as well to avoid the Great Tribulation. (Although now that Flurry banned PCG from contacting Armstrongites who have not joined PCG, "the Laodiceans", it is hard to see how PCG members can do that except by sending in unsolicited mail.)