Reading PCG's Booklet, Jeremiah and the Greatest Vision in the Bible (Part 1)

Let us now read Gerald Flurry's booklet, Jeremiah and the Greatest Vision in the Bible. This booklet was first published in 1999. It is one of his "warning the Laodiceans" booklets. It was later revised in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2013. For this post I am reading through the 2002 version. You can read the 2013 version of this booklet on their website.

I wonder if Gerald Flurry will repeat what he said in Malachi's Message and many of his booklets afterwards? If this booklet is like that then Flurry will say her that this particular Biblical book (Jeremiah this time) is all about the Tkach changes, the rise of PCG in opposition to them, PCG members get the place of safety and all others are doomed to endure the Great Tribulation. Will Flurry say that here?

Previously Gerald Flurry had written another booklet about Jeremiah, entitled Jeremiah: Prophet of Doom -- Or Hope? It was released in 1993 or earlier. I don't think it came out in 1991, so I suspect it was released in either 1992 or 1993. However at present I am unable read that booklet or provide more detailed information. I hope that may change later. Intriguingly the French and Dutch translations of this booklet use the name of the old booklet. The Dutch version even uses the old booklet's cover.

We now begin.

The book of Jeremiah was written to Israel over 100 years after they had gone into captivity. Think about that! Why would God cause Jeremiah to do such a thing? Because the book of Jeremiah is primarily for Israel in the end time! And there is an even greater emphasis on spiritual Israel, or God’s Church. You urgently need to understand why! (Introduction.)

I have seen how Flurry discusses "spiritual Israel" many times before by now. He claims all other COG groups are illegitimate in (PCG's) God's eyes. The real reason why Flurry condemns them in this way is because the members of those other groups do not pay PCG any money. But he will not say it that way. Instead he claims every other COG either deny HWA was the end time Elijah and have rejected God's government, which he defines as one man rule. Both claims are inaccurate. Many COG groups have one man rule. Many COG groups hail HWA as the end time Elijah. Will Flurry repeat himself in that way in this booklet?

Chapter One

The greatest disaster of all time is imminent. Jeremiah tells us how to avoid these disasters. But very few listen. (p. 1.)

Already Flurry is using fearful rhetoric to crude scare people into joining his PCG. Will it get any better?

“Jacob’s trouble” means the trouble in the U.S. and British nations mainly. And notice—IT’S THE WORST TROUBLE THEY HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED! Far worse than WORLD WAR II AND THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS! This has not happened yet. But it’s about to begin. It is prophecy unfolding this very minute.

This coming nuclear holocaust is the culmination of man’s rule over man. Study your history books and you will see man’s rule is from crisis to crisis. But THE CRISIS OF CRISES IS JUST AHEAD! (p. 2.)

Clearly not.

By the way, America and Britain are not descended from the Biblical Israelites. In fact DNA evidence refutes British Israelism. All assumptions deriving from that untrue idea is nonsense. 

However, end-time national Israel was NEVER GOD’S FLOCK! They were never unified as God’s people in these latter days. This is referring to God’s spiritual flock.

Wickedness is found in God’s own Church today! What is it? God is concerned about evil in all Israel, but far more in spiritual Israel, the Church. That is where the worst crimes of all are being committed! (p. 3.)

Flurry is talking about Tkach's WCG.

"That [Tkach's WCG] is where the worst crimes of all are being committed!"

Really? The worst crimes of all? Worse then murder? Worse then anything else? No doubt the Tkach changes were very traumatic for many people within WCG, whatever they happened to believe, but this over heated rhetoric is absurd.

Flurry then insists that Jeremiah is all about the Great Tribulation and the Tkach changes. Flurry does that a lot in these "warning the Laodiceans" booklets.

On page 4 Flurry begins to talk Jeremiah 1 and saying that he was a very great prophet because he was one of only three to be chosen from the womb.

Jeremiah was a very special prophet, chosen for an extremely important commission. He was chosen from the womb by God—like John and the Son of the living God! ... It’s one thing for God to call a man to do a job. It’s quite another thing to choose him from the womb. Then God REVEALED a major message to him. That message is the greatest, MOST INSPIRING VISION IN THE BIBLE—THE KEY OF DAVID (Rev. 3:7-8). (pp. 4-5.)

So that would appear to be the greatest vision in the Bible this booklet's title refers to. Back in 1996 or sooner Gerald Flurry and the late Wilbur Malone wrote a booklet entitled The Key of David. Perhaps Flurry is alluding to that booklet. In 2002 that booklet was greatly revised.

The majority of God’s own people fail to do His Work in this end time. They, like Jonah, are trying to run away from the job. But their punishment will be far worse than being swallowed by a whale. They will be chastised by God in the worst time of suffering ever on this earth. (p. 5.)

Once again Flurry is threaten all other COG groups that they shall be cast into the Great Tribulation unless they join PCG. Flurry says that a lot in these "warning the Laodiceans" booklets.

Flurry then claims that only PCG truly understands Jeremiah and if you are really a Christian it is necessary to support PCG.

If we have God’s words in our minds and mouths, it’s because God put them there. And God expects His spokesman to speak those words. God’s people are fully expected to support those revealed and spoken words! (p. 6.)

"His spokesman" seems to refer to Gerald Flurry himself.

Flurry then lets HWA state what Jeremiah was commanded to do quoting him at length from The United States and Britain in Prophecy on page 7. Flurry then states that Jeremiah was used by God to transfer the royal house of Judah to Ireland. This is a reference to the legend of Tea Tephi as taught by British Israelism. Unfortunately for Flurry it would appear this story really is just a story. (See Silenced.co's A Foundation of Sand Part 7 which shows how proponents of British Israelism have tended to simply repeat extravagant claims without question or critique.)

After that Flurry waxes poetic telling of the great glory that awaits PCG members if only they join PCG and pay three tithes and extra offerings for the rest of their lives. Some wonder why PCG members choose to stay in PCG despite all the problems there. It is partly because they read stuff like this and they actually believe it, or at least just enough to stay in PCG.

WHY IS IT CALLED THE THRONE OF DAVID? Because Christ will share that throne with a very elect group of human beings like David, biblically called firstfruits. Remember, this is a family throne. The Son has a wife (Rev. 19:7). The wife is the Church: the firstfruits, called out before Christ returns. ... So we then have Father, Son and wife. After Christ returns, billions of people will eventually be invited into God’s family. Those who repent and obey will be likened to the children in God’s family. They will literally be sons in God’s family. (pp. 7-8.)

And that's not all. This God Family will then extend its rule to the entire Universe.

When God brings all mankind into His family as spirit beings, that will be the REAL BEGINNING! God will BEGIN His family plan to restore and beautify all of the decaying planets and galaxies. Then God will BEGIN a Work with His entire family, which will even dazzle our Creator! God’s family will see the work to be done. They will know what has to be done to finish God’s awesome plan. Truly, this is the real beginning of our incredible human potential. This is the vision Jeremiah had. This is why he and other prophets could suffer so horribly and still endure. (pp. 8, 10.)

The whole Universe will belong to PCG members and you can join in too.

Just keep sending in those three tithes to PCG.

For the rest of your life.

On page 9 is a picture of the British coronation throne containing what PCG teaches is the pillar in which Jacob had his dream while fleeing to his uncle Laban. Herman Hoeh once claimed this chair was with the Israelites in the wilderness in the time of Moses.

This same rock-the coronation stone-accompanied the Israelites during their forty years wandering in the wilderness. ... This is the rock that Moses struck with his rod to bring forth waters (Exodus 17 and Numbers 20). It was the shepherd rock, the stone of Israel which went with them in the wilderness. During those forty years the stone accompanied Israel. That is undoubtedly why the two iron rings fastened to either end are so worn. The stone beneath the coronation chair could never have become worn by lying untouched in England’s Westminster, or Scotland’s Scone or in the halls of Tara in Ireland. It must have been worn during the wilderness wanderings. (Herman Hoeh, "Inside Story of the Coronation", Plain Truth, July 1953, pp. 9-10.)

We now continue.

Flurry often claims to have received new revelation. Usually this new revelation is just a rerun of what he said in Malachi's Message except this time Flurry claims it is in another part of the Bible.

God revealed the book of Jeremiah to Herbert W. Armstrong. He had the foundational understanding. But Mr. Armstrong did NOT UNDERSTAND THIS LAODICEAN REBELLION AND ERA (in Jeremiah and other prophecies). HE ALSO DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THE PHILADELPHIA WORK IN THE LAODICEAN ERA.

God didn’t want to completely reveal that truth until the Laodicean era, which began when Mr. Armstrong died.

So WHAT GOD HAS REVEALED IN THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH (and the other major and minor prophets) since Mr. Armstrong’s death IS A TOWERING SIGN OF WHERE GOD’S WORK IS TODAY!

Truth and prophecy are revealed by God. YOU WILL FIND GOD ONLY WHERE YOU FIND HIS REVELATION! (p. 11.)

In other words Flurry is claiming that God only works through himself, Gerald Flurry. He does that a lot.

It also needs to be stated that Flurry's teaching that the Laodicean era started with HWA's death is a new doctrine of his. HWA's WCG tended to be vague and confusing about when they expected the Laodicean era to emerge. Gerald Waterhouse in 1979 seemed to believe that the Laodicean era would only manifest itself after the worthy WCG members fled to Petra. Roderick C. Meredith and David Robinson at one point speculated that Garner Ted Armstrong's splinter group might be the Laodicean era.

Here Flurry is talking about the other COG groups ("the Laodiceans").

God knew they would lose the big vision: the key of David vision. There is no mention of the Laodicean era having the key of David. That is because they have lost it. That is the main reason they are blind! (p. 11.)

How have the other COG groups lost the key of David vision described on pages 7-8 and 10? This criticism may be true of Tkach's WCG, but the other COG groups believe that God Family doctrine and believe they will be born into it at Christ's return. Why does Flurry say untrue things?

The Laodiceans have FORSAKEN God (Jer. 1:16). This revolt revolves around rejecting The United States and Britain in Prophecy. This is the visible sign of how the Laodiceans were losing the key of David vision. (p. 12.)

Again, this criticism may very well be true for Tkach's WCG, but the other COG groups (who are also labeled Laodicean by Flurry), have not rejected British Israelism. They still staunchly teach this idea. In fact I first read HWA's writings on British Israelism on a website run by a "Laodicean". Why does Flurry say untrue things?

Verse 16 is about a split in God’s Church. One group delivers Jeremiah’s message and the other group forsakes God and fails to do His Work. They receive God’s greatest wrath in the Tribulation. (p. 12.)

This is just fear mongering. Phobic induction that is often practiced among high demand groups. Flurry is simply trying to indoctrinate the reader into thinking that unless he or she joins PCG he or she is doomed in the most terrifying way. This is nonsense. Flurry and his predecessors have been saying this since the 1930s. It is just a way of manipulating people into doing what PCG's leaders want them to do.

Flurry then says PCG members must not be afraid. God is with us. And if you get scared and fail your duty God will break you into pieces.

This message is for the whole world. It is from the omnipotent God. We must not fear men. ... If God’s very elect back off because of fear, then they really have a big problem. God will confound them before their enemy. The word “confound” is from the Hebrew word frangere. It means “to break in pieces.” ... If God gives us a job, we had better do it—OR GOD WILL BREAK US IN PIECES! Doing the job, we will face fearful situations. But if we run like Jonah, we will face a greater fear—God’s wrath! (p. 12.)

More fear mongering. If you do not join PCG and pay them three tithes then you will get God's wrath.

In many ways God has made His people like an iron fortress. Without God, we would be quickly destroyed. God’s message is AGAINST kings, princes, leaders of the world and priests—primarily Laodicean ministers, but it also includes religions of the world. THAT IS OUR BATTLEGROUND! ... They will fight against God’s Work and His people, but “they shall not prevail” against us! This is a prophecy and a promise from God for the end time. Nobody can close the doors God opens for His Work. Nobody! Not even great armies! (pp. 12-13.)

We are special. No one can defeat us. Here Flurry appeals to PCG members' sense of elitism over all non-members, especially the members of the other COG groups that Flurry loves to condemn so much.

Why won’t our people heed Jeremiah’s mind-splitting prophecies? Many people will go mad! MEGA-SUFFERING AND MEGA-DEATH COULD BE PREVENTED! (p. 14.)

The last sentence has been removed from the current 2013 version of this booklet.

Rachel had only two children, Joseph and Benjamin. She died giving birth to Benjamin. So she really only knew her son Joseph, who had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (which are the British and American peoples today). This is a specific prophecy aimed at those two great nations. However, they won’t be great much longer. Rachel is symbolically about to weep for the captivity and death of both nations! (p. 14.)

After this Flurry talks about Jeremiah being sent to the dungeon but Ebed-melech saved him.

God has a small remnant in this end time. They too will be delivered when their nations are destroyed. Does it matter if we are white, black, brown or yellow? God is no respecter of persons. He is a respecter of faith! Ebed-melech knew where God was working. That is each person’s responsibility. (p. 16.)

If Flurry really does believe the words highlighted above then why does Gerald Flurry, Dennis Leap and the late Ron Fraser condemn interracial marriage as sinful in their writings? Also why do they publish a book they regard as very important (even though they altered it) that says interracial marriage is sinful, contrary to God's intentions and a reason why God sent the Great Flood?

Let us see what PCG's leaders have to say on this issue.

Some of the nation’s princes reported to Ezra that the people were racially intermarrying with the nations around them. Moses had recorded that God forbade interracial marriage (Deuteronomy 7:1-3). Ezra was devastated that this sin was being committed in Judah. He immediately began a fast because this sin threatened to destroy the fledgling nation. But what depressed Ezra the most about this sin was that some priests, Levites and princes were leading the people into this catastrophic rebellion. God’s own ministers were the chief sinners. (Gerald Flurry and Dennis Leap, Ezra and Nehemiah: Building God's Temple, Chapter 5, p. 45.) (This is mentioned in a previous post.)

Remember that Ezra had corrected the people for interracial marriage (Ezra 10). It appears that not everyone immediately complied. Nehemiah 9 includes the account of others who later also repented of this national sin. This chapter records the very moving, repentant prayer of the people. The people did deeply repent of some serious sins. If only our people could learn from their own history! The nations of Israel could be saved from a disastrous end if they repented of their sins like these people did anciently. (Gerald Flurry and Dennis Leap, Ezra and Nehemiah: Building God's Temple, Chapter 7, p. 73.) (This is mentioned in a previous post.)

As far as I understand it Judaism is not a universalistic religion and so in general they do not try to convert other people. Their rules were for themselves, not the whole world. Deuteronomy 7:1-3 was about them not marrying the Canaanites, there is no assumption that this was part of some universal principle that all peoples were required to follow as Flurry and Leap inaccurately imply. What Flurry and Leap are teaching here is totally different from what is discussed in Ezra and Nehemiah. Those Jews who lived in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah would have seen it as utterly bizarre and absurd that these Gentiles are pretending to be people they are not and enforcing among themselves things that were not intended for them. It's just crazy.

Let us see what the late Ron Fraser had to say about this topic, which was mentioned in a previous post.

In Genesis 6, the conditions at the time of Noah are explained. Three specific conditions are mentioned: 1) Marrying according to their own choice, rather than subscribing to God’s laws in the choice of a mate; 2) Extreme corruption; and 3) Extreme violence. (Ron Fraser, South Africa in Prophecy, 1997, p. 21.)

Such anti-God themes are a precursor to CONFUSION, division and strife! South Africa will reap the curses of correction imposed by an all-wise, all-loving Father who created mankind and set the racial bounds over which He commanded Israel not to cross! (Ron Fraser, South Africa in Prophecy, 1997, p. 23.)

What madness! It is racist to forbid people from marrying because of race. In the United States banning interracial marriage has historically long been used to oppress African Americans and other ethnic minorities. Over the years many idealistic and brave Americans resisted this racist practice. It was not until 1967 that a Supreme Court decision finally put an end to that disgusting practice in the United States. It is disgusting and horrifying that PCG's leaders appear to have assumed for themselves the power to decide who can marry whom and who cannot marry whom. That's disgusting.

We now continue.

Then Flurry talks about when Jeremiah's scribe, Baruch, grew discouraged.

We must remember, though, that this is a prophecy for the end time. Today, destruction is about to come “UPON ALL FLESH”—THE WHOLE WORLD! DO WE REALLY GET IT? It’s not a time to seek great things for ourselves. It’s time to deliver Jeremiah’s message and warn the world. God will save us from captivity and death, if we deliver this message. If we love humanity, we’ll work to warn and hopefully save them physically.

The vision about David’s throne, which encompasses the whole universe, will get us through any trial. This vision separates the Philadelphians from the Laodiceans. Only the Philadelphians have the key of David vision. (pp. 18-19.)

Pretty much every COG group except Tkach's WCG believe that church members are called to become immortal God beings and be born into the God Family. That is what this key of David vision that Flurry talks about, HWA's God Family doctrine. They may not call it the key of David vision but the other COG groups all believe this teaching. Why does Flurry say untrue things?

There was a good ending. Baruch repented and did go with Jeremiah to deliver David’s throne and the stone of destiny to Ireland. God took them to a safe place. Their lives were saved. (p. 19.)

And one of the promises PCG makes to members is that if they join and pay three tithes then they shall escape the horrors of the Great Tribulation and be taken to a place of safety, usually said to be Petra, Jordan.

After that Flurry talks about Tkach's WCG and saying that the Tkach changes were very terrible, again. He then talks about the supposed glory that awaits PCG members.

There never has been, and never will be, a MORE NOBLE OFFICE IN THIS WORLD OR IN THE WORLD TO COME THAN BEING THE BRIDE OF CHRIST!

This is why Christ is so angry. The majority of His Church has turned away. He REMEMBERS “when you went after me.” But they aren’t going after Him now! His own bride is turning away! They had a history of going after God. This happened under the leadership of Herbert W. Armstrong. When he died, they turned away from much of what he restored. ...

God wants a strong spiritual warning. After all, His own bride is turning away. She stands to lose everything! She should be crying out and warning Israel. Instead, the majority is turning away! ...

Only the Father begets His sons today. We can’t even come to God unless that happens. Then Christ takes these firstfruits, whom His Father chose for Him, and harvests them to be His bride! IF YOU REALLY GRASP THIS VISION, IT ALMOST MAKES YOU FAINT! (pp. 19-21.)

 Flurry then ends this chapter with these words.

We have the glorious honor of helping the Father and Christ harvest their children—their family—and then introduce them to the entire universe. That is when God’s Work really BEGINS! (p. 21.)

This ending is very similar to how HWA ended his last book, Mystery of the Ages.

However Flurry's booklet has not ended. There is more. More will be discussed in a future post.

To be continued...

[Update: August 22, 2014: This reading is continued in Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.]

PCG Advertizing Flurry's Yugoslav Wars Booklet

Here is PCG advertizing Gerald Flurry's booklet, Germany's Conquest of the Balkans (originally entitled The Rising Beast). This is from page 14 of David Vejil's reprint article, The Remarkable Identity of the German People. (Source)

Did you know Germany recently destroyed a nation and conquered a region? It did it without a massive war, and it did it in your lifetime! Order our free booklet Germany Conquers the Balkans by visiting thetrumpet.com/go/Balkans and learn of Germany’s first victims since World War II.

Let's go over that line by line.

Did you know Germany recently destroyed a nation and conquered a region? 

If one does not know what this is talking about he or she might think this is talking about East Germany. Of course this is about Yugoslavia, or actually what PCG's leaders say happened in Yugoslavia.

It did it without a massive war, 

I somehow doubt the peoples who lived in the former Yugolsavia would speak of those wars in that way. It was "massive" enough for them. 

and it did it in your lifetime! 

How do you know? I might be very young.

Order our free booklet Germany Conquers the Balkans by visiting thetrumpet.com/go/Balkans and learn of Germany’s first victims since World War II.

I have read that booklet. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) That booklet is quite misleading. It is based on the incorrect assertion that Germany's recognition of Slovenia and Croatia as independent states in December 1991 was the cause of the Yugoslav Wars. In actual fact the wars were well under way by December 1991.

Slovenia had already had a referendum in which they voted to secede from Yugoslavia (December 23, 1990), fought their war of independence (June 27-July 7, 1991), and compelled Yugoslavia to remove all federal Yugoslav troops by October 1991. Slovenia was already independent in fact by December 1991. All that happened before Germany recognized Slovenia in December 1991. 

Croatia had their own referendum in which they voted to secede from Yugoslavia (May 19, 1991), declared independence (June 25, 1991), was recognized as an independent state by Lithuania (July 30, 1991), upon European encouragement had a three month moratorium on declaring independence after which severing all ties with Yugoslavia (October 8, 1991) and fought the cataclysmic Battle of Vukovar to defend their country from attack by Belgrade which killed about 3000 people (August 25-November 18, 1991). All that happened before Germany recognized Croatia in December 1991.

Also left unmentioned is the movement called the Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution (1986-9) in which many Serbs came to embrace nationalism. This movement did so much to sow discord between the nationalities of the former Yugoslavia and was very important in setting the stage for the Yugoslav Wars. This was a major reason why so many chose to leave Yugoslavia despite the great risk involved. All that happened before Germany recognized Croatia in December 1991.

One would not know the situation was like this reading Flurry's booklet.

PCG has long taken a (superficially) pro-Belgrade stance in regards to the Yugoslav Wars. One article written by Richard Palmer in 2011 even dared to belittle the Srebrenica massacre as just "a crime of passion". This stance regarding the Yugoslav Wars may be summed up in these words by Stephen Flurry.

As pointed out in “The Unseen Danger in Kosovo” (page 6), Germany stood against the whole world in 1991 by recognizing Croatia. That, not Slobodan Milosevic, is the reason civil war has erupted in Yugoslavia. That point cannot be overemphasized. (Stephen Flurry, NATO: Why Bomb Serbia?, The Philadelphia Trumpet, May 1999.)

PCG's superficially pro-Belgrade stance regarding the Yugoslav Wars is just a way PCG's leaders continue to demonize Germany by falsely blaming them for the disintegration of Yugoslavia. It is merely a tool to keep PCG members in fear of this fanciful German threat. But as may be seen above the causes of the Yugoslav Wars are much more complicated then this booklet would lead you to believe.

Reading PCG's Booklet, Australia in Prophecy

This is the 900th post for the Living Armstrongism blog. My thanks to all readers. Thank you for encouraging me. 

Let us now read the late Ron Fraser's booklet, Australia in Prophecy. This booklet was printed in 1999. This booklet is based on Ron Fraser's article, "Australia: The "Luck" Runs Out", which was published in the December 1998 issue of The Philadelphia Trumpet (pp. 9-13, 27). This booklet has since been superseded by another booklet by Ron Fraser on this subject, Australia: Where to Now? which was published in 2008. Let us see what PCG's leaders have to say about Australia. You can read the article this booklet is based on at their website.

Let us begin.

Surprisingly, they are linked to the very crown which so many Australians have come to reject, in the country’s drive to sever all ties with its royal heritage. (Introduction.)

This booklet was printed in 1999. It is now fifteen years later and Australia still has Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.

Here is Ron Fraser waxing poetic about the natural beauty of Australia. I am not sure what to make of this so I simply quote these words without further comment.

Earlier, the sun shone brightly as the wind stretched ribbons of white cloud across the boundless southern sky. Further down the range, at Springwood, bush fires rage, and now, at Jenolan, strong winds drive in a rain squall. A heavy mist soon settles over the range. A mother kangaroo with a joey in her pouch hops out of the bush for her evening meal. As she bends to nibble the sweet grasses, joey’s head pops out inquisitively, licking the newly deposited moisture from the green blades. The bush is silent, save for the occasional call of a magpie sheltering from the rain. Suddenly there is no breeze. Strings of bark hang limply from the tall strands of bluegum. Below, the green grasslands, grazed by generations of cattle and sheep, undulate over the plateau amidst this great backbone of eastern Australia. (p. 2.)

Fraser then asserts that this beautiful land is under threat from the North. He mentions some sort of militia that has been established in order defend Australia against a supposed threat from Indonesia. Fraser seems to think this threat is quite creditable (pp. 2-3).

Fraser also quotes Rupert Murdoch speculating in a great influx of migrants should come from Indonesia (p. 3). This has not happened yet. Incidentally this fear is not unique to PCG. I can well recall Meredith in LCG speculating that Indonesia might turn on Australia because, he would say, there are so many people there and look there is all that land waiting to be claimed just down south in Australia. All this talk is xenophobic nonsense, whether in PCG or LCG.

Fraser claims that Australia has been overeager to establish links with Asian countries and, now that the Liberal Party led by John Howard has recently come to power (this was written in 1999) Australia has found itself ill suited to regain the past close relationship with the USA before those pesky "liberal-socialists" (?) from the Australian Labour Party ruined everything (pp. 3-5).

Of course Fraser completely failed to foresee that when the Global Financial Crisis struck in 2008 Australia was kept isolated from its ill effects largely because Australia was busy mining resources for export to China.

After this Fraser wax poetic regarding what Australia used to be like.

Senior citizens in Australia remember the country’s golden years. This was a time when Australia’s population was predominantly British-Irish in descent. They remember the time of full employment and the exploitation of seemingly inexhaustible natural resources. It was a time when everyone knew everybody else in the street in one’s neighborhood. A time of the morning or evening chat between neighbors over the back fence. A time of pride in the national flag and a strong sense of heritage which, despite being 10,000 miles away on the other side of the globe, gave evidence of their roots, attached to the crown, to a royal throne that dated back to the mists of antiquity. (p. 5.)

"British-Irish"? That seems an odd way to describe those people. Fraser means "white".

Of course (as anyone familiar with the COGs' writings will be able to sense) he then starts to complains about Asians moving to Australia and influencing the local and ... well what do you think he's going to say about that? 

Yet, one has to wonder, when in 1998 a chief petty officer of the Royal Australian Navy was photographed kneeling on the deck of the missile frigate Newcastle before the statue of a buddha, where does the loyalty of Australia’s present generation lie? (p. 5.)

What does the soldier's religious beliefs have to do with serving Australia in the Royal Australian Navy? Absolutely nothing. The photo appears in the original magazine article.

Although, per capita, the number of Asian migrants is not huge, the impact of their culture and religion on Australia has been rapid and significant. ... to that generation [who lived through the Great Depression, World War II and post-war reconstruction], the “older version of Australia” is much more attractive than today’s Australia, which sees its national heritage warped and increasingly diluted by the progressive Asianization of its society. (pp. 5-6.)

Oh grow up. Maybe Fraser should spare a thought for how the Aborigines would have reacted to his ancestors arriving in Australia. Would Fraser be happy to receive such a dismissive attitude from them?

And why Fraser care anyway? I thought he was an ex-patriot. That is what he called himself earlier.

After this Fraser talks about Anzac Day commemorations, the Australian equivalent of Memorial Day, and complains that "liberal-socialists" have tried to make Australians forget this commemoration as part of a wicked attempt to make Australia Asian that betrays Australia's national heritage.

Anzac Day, as the national day of remembrance is known, was once an event revered by the nation as an icon—that is, until the liberal-socialists unravelled the entire fabric of Australian society. Thanks largely to their efforts, this day ... is now, in the nation’s eyes, becoming somewhat of an anachronism. Australia is forgetting. Forgetting its heritage. ...

This loss of connection with its heritage has largely stemmed from the liberal-socialist thought which penetrated Australia’s institutions of learning from the 1960s on. Such influences prepared the collective mind of the nation for separation from its British heritage, an embracing of all things Asian and a mood swing in favor of the replacement of its present monarchist form of government, giving allegiance to the queen, with a republican model. (pp. 6-7.)

More xenophobic madness. And what on earth is this "liberal-socialist thought" Fraser's talking about?

Then Fraser moves into condemning attempts to abolish the monarchy and turn Australia into a Republic.

Prime Minister Paul Keating, of Irish-Catholic-socialist descent, brought the republican issue to the fore in 1993, during his term as national leader. Keating also deregulated the Australian economy in the 1980s, while he was federal treasurer, and led the refocusing of Australian business toward Asia, away from many of its traditional first-world customers. In recent decades, years of socialist government in Australia devastated its traditional economy. The impact of this change of long-standing economic policies in this nation has had its most detrimental effect on rural Australia. ...

Some claim that the issue of republicanism was brought to the fore by Australian Prime Minister Keating in 1993 as a strategy to refocus the worrying minds of Australians off the issue of their rapidly failing economy. If this is so, then the strategy has, sadly, worked. (pp. 7, 9.)

How can someone be of "socialist descent"? Is it possible to be descended from "Socialism"? Apparently it is in Fraser's head.

These words were written fifteen years ago. Today Australia still has Queen Elizabeth II as its Queen. Fraser's fear mongering has so far failed to come to pass. Even in this 1999 booklet Fraser alludes to the fact that it might be quite hard for Australia to become a Republic.

On November 6, 1999, the nation voted on two issues— whether to trash its national heritage by divorcing from the crown to set up a republican form of government and, as a consequence, whether to change the preamble to their 100- year-old Constitution. The country voted NO on both counts. Although the prevailing mood seemed to be in favor of both, it did not support the method by which the bureaucrats and their spin doctors proposed to achieve these two great changes to Australia’s principal conventions. (p. 9.)

Fifteen years later Australia still has Elizabeth II as its Queen. If PCG's leaders really knew the future why did they not foresee this and instead fear monger that Australia might become a republic?

In this part of the booklet Fraser condemns how the Labour Party government under Paul Keating managed Australia's economy. I am not going to comment on that except to wonder why would Fraser assume he knew how Australia's economy should operate?

The backbone of its commonwealth was its efficient farm economy combined with some of the most efficient mining enterprises in the world. The socialists tried to change this by swinging government support away from the commodity sector to “sunrise” or high-tech industries. This strategy was always destined for ultimate failure. ...

The cold hard facts which the Australian liberal-socialist economists fail to grasp is that you simply can’t eat computer technology and it won’t clothe your body. On the other hand, there is always a market for wool, wheat and meat. People will always need to eat and be clothed—but mankind lived for almost 6,000 years without the benefit of high technology. (p. 8.)

Fraser also talks about how Australia's economy has developed since World War II 

In the 1960s, Australian writer and child of left-wing liberal-socialism Donald Horne authored a bestseller titled The Lucky Country. (p. 9.)

What on earth does Fraser mean when he writes of "left-wing liberal-socialism"?

Also Fraser hysterically claim that Australia (in 1999) is bankrupt and turning Asian. (Fraser here thinks that is bad.)

Australia took off on a collective materialistic binge which consummated in the profligacy of the great wage pushes of the 1970s and the age of commercial greed in the 1980s. Then, suddenly, as the 1990s dawned, having priced itself out of its markets, the country woke up from its obsessive consumption binge to the hangover of extraordinary levels of foreign debt. ...

Technically, Australia is broke—BANKRUPT! The Australia of today lives on cash flow and does its best to bury its head in the sand to ignore its liability to those who have underwritten its gluttonous consumptive habits. ...

During the last 15 years [1984-1999], certain influential voices within the Labor (socialist) government, business and the press cajoled Australians into thinking of themselves as having their future tied to Asia, economically, rather than to the first-world economies. The result of the proselytizing ways of Australia’s “Asiaphiles” has been disastrous for the country. (p. 10.)

What nonsense! Australia did not look bankrupt when the Global Financial Crisis struck in 2008. Australia was sheltered from the worst of its effects because it was experiencing a mining boom, largely caused by exporting mined minerals to China. Fraser had no idea what he was talking about. Australia prevailed over any obstacles to meet the challenge of the Global Financial Crisis.

Fraser was talking fear inducing nonsense claiming Australia was broke and bankrupt.

During the last 15 years, certain influential voices within the Labor (socialist) government, business and the press cajoled Australians into thinking of themselves as having their future tied to Asia, economically, rather than to the first-world economies. (p. 10.)

I find it worrying that Fraser likes to call things what he wants instead of what they are. That is confusing.

After this Fraser talks about problems between the various ethnic communities within Australia. Fraser talks about the Australian Aborigines in the following manner.

However, the plain facts are that the Australian Aborigine, at the stage of their cultural development in which the early settlers found them over 200 years ago, were not an industrious people. Their articles of manufacture were limited to the most basic of tools and weapons, traditionally thought of as “stone age.” They largely went naked, save for the use of animal skins in the colder climate of the south. The concepts of cloth and yarn manufacture and weaving largely eluded them. (pp. 11-12.)

Clearly Fraser was not impressed with the Australian Aborigines.

At the foundation of the Aboriginal “culture” lies the cult of serpent worship. Legends and myths of the “dreamtime,” when the great serpent (Gen. 3:1) ruled not only the earth, but the universe, abound in Aboriginal lore. For students of the Bible, the origin of such myths and legends is clear, as is the intent of their author (Rev. 12:9). (p. 12.)

Fraser is here alluding to the doctrine (taken from Alexander Hyslop's 1850s book, The Two Babylons) that non-Christian religions are descended from the religion of ancient Babylonia which Hyslop asserted was actually based upon the worship of Nimrod as a deified God. Hyslop's book is now known to be nonsensical. But despite that fact this book is often used among the COGs (not just PCG) to demonize mainstream traditions and customs in order to isolate followers from the surrounding society.

What is not so apparent to most is the emerging industry which white anthropologists, historians, multitudes of liberal-socialist do-gooders, a few sharp operators, young left-leaning lawyers and self-seeking politicians have made out of this cultural apparition. What has emerged has indeed become the “white man’s burden” in Australia. (p. 12.)

 Once again we see Fraser's talent for amusing invective.

Also we see Fraser ignorantly redefining "white man's burden". That phrase referred to the idea that it is the duty of "white men" to bring the rest of the world up into civilized life. This idea has rightfully fallen out of fashion due its racist connotation that non-white people are like little children who "need" to be ruled by "white men" for their own good. In practice this idea was used to oppress and exploit and rule over many peoples who were labeled non-white. It is out of recognition of this painful history that this idea has now been rightfully renounced by polite society.

But here Fraser completely twists that phrase upside down. Fraser mocks those sympathetic to the historic and present injustices endured by Australian Aborigines and claims they are creating a (new) "white man's burden", namely addressing the severe injustices Aborigines have been forced to endure.

Once again, the liberal-socialists have succeeded in warping the country’s conscience. Over the past 40 years, the collective Australian mind has been brainwashed into paying penance for the perceived sins of their forefathers against the Australian native peoples. A national “Sorry Day” was declared in May of 1998, for Australians to issue an apology to their Aboriginal population in atonement for these perceived sins. (p. 13.)

It is disgusting and irresponsible of Fraser to pretend as though the grievances of the Aborigines are not real. It is disgusting that Fraser belittles the great pain of the Aborigines, historical and present, endure as "perceived sins." Fraser writes as though the Aborigines only have hurt feelings.

The Aborigines were legally defined out of existence. A long time ago Australia's government legally defined land unowned by whites as being "terra incognita", no man's land, and therefore any of the Aborigines who happened to live on that land had no recourse to address any problems in Australian courts.

If some white people chose to lay claim over some land and the Aborigines who had lived there for so man years wish to complain to the authorities in order to protect their interests like anyone else, the courts just ignored any such protestation because, legally speaking, they had no legal claim to the lands they had lived on for so many years.

From around 1909 till 1969 it was the law in at least some part of Australia that if there are children of mixed ancestry being raised by Aborigines they, by law, had to be seized away from their Aboriginal providers in order to "save them" from being reared up by "inferior" Aborigines. Many, many children were ripped away from their parents in these days. These children are often called the "Stolen Generation". How dare Fraser pretends these are only "perceived sins"!

On the other side of the coin, a motley collection of mixed-race, self-interested anthropologists, historians, lawyers and politicians have bent the minds of the Aboriginal population to the extent that they now expect to be apologized to, by the very people that have built the systems of finance, health, welfare, education, business and housing of which they freely avail themselves. (p. 13.)

Who on earth talks about "mixed-race" people today? You know who is "mixed-race"? Everyone. Including Ron Fraser.

Also many Australian Aborigines are today quite disadvantage and deprived, partly the tragic consequence of traditionally being denied any legal recognition to the land they had lived on for so many generations by successive governments that did not have their interest foremost in mind. Only in recent years have there been attempts to correct this injustice.What does Fraser think about such moves?

The potential existed, under the “Wik” judgment [December 1996], for 76 percent of Australia being “claimed” by the Aboriginal community who number less than 2 percent of the country’s population! Encouraged by greedy white lawyers, Aborigines soon tested the legislation via a rash of claims on mining and oil leases and such tourist attractions as the Great Barrier Reef. (p. 12.)

It is sad to Fraser being so dismissive and condemning towards those trying to correct the severe injustices the Australian Aborigines have long endured.

After this Fraser moans that society is becoming feminized and, much to his horror, being friendly to gays.

The traditional family unit has been so undermined by the success of the liberal-socialist engineers, the press, educators, religionists, policy-making bureaucrats and left-wing politicians in Australia that its oldest city, Sydney, now boasts one of the world’s largest annual homosexual debauches. (p. 14.)

Ron Fraser sure has a talent for colorful, if clumsy, invective. And he hates homosexuals, as is very common among the COGs.

After this Fraser talks about the British Israelism saying that Australia is prosperous because white Australians are descendents of Ephraim.

The wealth of Australia did not come about by pure chance. It was gifted to it by a beneficent, supreme Creator God, in fulfillment of His promises to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Australia, the great south land called Sinim in your Bible (Isa. 49:12), was colonized by descendants of Ephraim, younger brother of Manasseh, both being sons of Joseph (p. 15.)

But of course British Israelism is complete nonsense. The British peoples are not descended from Jews. As Silenced.co recently showed British Israelism is built on a foundation of sand.

Then Fraser says Australia is failing to live up to the ideals of (PCG's) God and therefore disasters will soon strike Australia. He then again talks about his xenophobic fear that (somehow) Australia is becoming Asian.

One of those curses had to do with Ephraim and Manasseh suffering from the influence of “strangers,” those not of the household of Israel, who would dwell among them. (p. 15.)

The COGs have often appealed to the base passions of xenophobia in claiming that "Israel" (the white British descended peoples) is declining and will soon be punished by God in a most frightening way. Here Fraser continues that shameful practice.

This is happening today in Australia. The 2 percent of its native population seeks to hold the 98 percent to ransom. Increasingly, alien, particularly Asian, cultures are imposing their ungodly practices on Australia, changing and corrupting its heritage. This will be the downfall of Australia. (p. 16.)

Ron Fraser really does not like Asians it would appear.

Fraser also seems to view attempts to correct the shameful injustices Australian Aborigines have endured as being morally equivalent to being taken hostage by them. He seems to have little to no shame about what happened to them in times past. He seems to think those problems are not his concern. What a shame.

What is to do done about these "problems"? Such as like addressing the injustices Aborigines have been forced to endure, or "alien" Asians migrating to Australia. And somehow these "problems" will lead to Australia being conquered and enslaved. What is to be done about these "problems"? Fraser ends his booklet with these words.

Your only hope of protection from this devastating period of Australia’s coming enslavement is to heed this warning and respond! Respond by writing immediately to request your free copy of Mystery of the Ages, and learn the reason for your being and of the wonderful, unsurpassable future that awaits those who heed Christ’s knock, repent of sin and turn to submit to their gracious and merciful God in complete obedience to His laws. Heed the knock and start now to fulfill your incredible God-given human potential! (p. 17.)

In other words pay three tithes and extra offerings to PCG or be cast into the Great Tribulation. There are many problems in the world but being financially exploited by PCG will not solve any of them and not give any protection to such a person.

(For important information regarding Mystery of the Ages see the link.)

So we see that Ron Fraser 

• really does not like Asians moving to Australia.

• really does not like Australia establishing economic links with Asian nations.

• thinks Australia was already bankrupt in 1999. (Little did he know that Australia would weather through the Global Financial Crisis quite well largely because they were exporting mined resources to China.)

• thinks Australian Aborigines are holding the rest of the population hostage. "The 2 percent of its native population seeks to hold the 98 percent to ransom." (p. 16.)

• and in Paul Keating's case at least, he seems to think people can be descended from "Socialism". "Prime Minister Paul Keating, of Irish-Catholic-socialist descent," (p. 7.)

What madness. And to think a lot of people within PCG probably actually took this useless booklet quite seriously.

Oh well, at least he didn't rant about Muslims here.

Meredith Making Excuses on Why (HWA's) Christ Has Not Yet Come

Roderick C. Meredith has written a remarkable personal article, "Is Our Lord Delaying His Coming?" for the latest July-August 2014 issue Living Church News.

Dear Brethren and Friends, At least a few thousand of you older brethren who are reading this letter have had to be patient through the trials and tests of life, of human issues in the Church, and with the realization that Christ has not come back as quickly as we had hoped. But please realize, Almighty God has never given us an exact date as to when Christ will return to this earth.

HWA gave a succession of dates claiming Christ had to return at those times: 1936, end of World War II, 1975, by 2005.

Brethren, this same passage of scripture also tells us to “watch” for certain events to occur .... Many of these prophesied events have not yet happened. Certainly, it appears that they may be coming very close. But the reality is that they have not yet happened.

Despite the pathetic failures Meredith still insinuates that Christ's coming is very soon.

Mr. Herbert Armstrong, Ted, Herman Hoeh and I all “hoped” that Christ would come very soon. We prayed. We worked hard to do the Work. But our Father in heaven—in His infinite wisdom and mercy—has allowed human beings on this earth to have several more decades of time than we expected to do their own thing, and write the lessons of human suffering.

Herbert Armstrong, Garner Ted Armstrong, Herman Hoeh and Roderick C. Meredith did not hope Christ would come soon, this teaching was taught as a sure certainty. From 1953 onwards HWA, Hoeh and Co. taught that Christ would return in 1975.

Also why does Meredith speak of the late Garner Ted Armstrong like a long lost friend? Does he not remember these fearful words he wrote in 1979 about anyone who was too close to him?

Mr. Armstrong has reminded us again that we are to disfellowship any members who attend GTA's [Garner Ted Armstrong's] campaigns, church services or other meetings. Some of our weaker members apparently do not realize that this man is in direct rebellion against God and His government! We must not allow them, or ourselves, to rationalize about this matter, to try to "help the underdog," or in any other way lend support to one whose gross immorality, whose long standing "play acting" and hypocrisy, and whose direct insubordination to the Government of God has long been and is now a source of confusion and DIVISION among God's people. So, as per Mr. Armstrong's instruction, I charge and exhort every one of you faithful ministers of the living Christ to explain this in no uncertain terms to your members, to warn them about this cause of division and then to disfellowship any who consort with GTA or any of his fellows. (Roderick C. Meredith, Pastor's Report, May 21, 1979, pp. 1-2.)

One shudders to imagine how many peoples' lives were negatively affected by WCG ministers enforcing this bloodthirsty mob mentality Meredith here encouraged.

We now continue with Meredith's excuse making article.

However, we older members in God’s Church should not give up at the last minute. And we should encourage our young people to see the “Big Picture.” After all, we have been able to go ahead with our lives for these decades. We have had the opportunity to have families and perhaps even grandchildren, to experience wonderful trips and opportunities in life and to learn lessons that we would not have learned if Christ had come 30 or 40 years ago. 

It is an awful shame so many people caught up in Armstrongism failed to realize this because they were listening to you and your follow exploiters. So they did all kinds of things that disadvantaged them because they thought the world as we knew would soon end with the Germans invading and enslaving America and Britain. They thought that because you, Meredith, told them that with absolute certainty that this was the case.

Every one of the leading men that I talked to in this Work—including Dr. Herman Hoeh, Dr. Ernest Martin, Dr. Charles Dorothy, Dr. Robert Kuhn and others—have acknowledged that they came to realize during their study of biblical chronology that we could “easily” be 20 or 30 years off in either direction! Therefore, it should be easy to realize that Christ may not come until about 2030ad!

Now Meredith insinuates that Christ will come around 2030. It is sad to realize that some LCG members will believe that Christ will come by that time.

Do I, personally, think it will be that long? No! But I have “hoped” that it would be sooner for many decades. So I want you to realize—as you plan your life, and as you young people plan your lives—that there may be enough time for you to have a career, and to marry, have children and accomplish a number of wonderful things before our Savior returns as King of kings.

Meredith and those he taught did not hope Christ's coming would be soon, they "knew" that Christ had to return in a very short time. From 1953 onwards HWA and Hoeh taught that Christ would return in 1975. This was not hopeful speculation as Meredith wishes LCG members to think. The date 1975 was taught as an absolute certainty.

We must never be involved in “murmuring” and “disputing” and complaining about the fact that Almighty God is giving human beings more time to write the lessons of human suffering and for His own children to “work out” our own salvation before Christ returns. Rather, we must be glad that God has called us now...

Who is complaining that Christ has not come? Rather people are pointing out that Meredith is not who he says he is. God is not with him or HWA. Why would God be with someone who has spent so much time spreading fear inducing nonsense that Christ is soon coming? Meredith has long since lived off of those he has conned to giving away tithes and offerings deceived into thinking that being financially exploited by Meredith and Co. will save them from the Great Tribulation.

Those of us who have been in God’s Church for a long time need to be very gratefulfor [sic] all the time we have been given to learn the lessons of life and to serve more during these years God has granted. And we need to zealously use the talents our Father has given us to serve our Creator, to serve our fellow man and to do His Work over the next several years—however long it is until Christ’s feet are again upon this earth!

Even though Meredith and Co. have got wrong over and over again Meredith still expects you to give till it hurts ("zealously use the talents ... do His Work") for however long it takes, meaning for the rest of your life. Be financially exploited or be cursed in the Great Tribulation. That is the real message Meredith has for our troubled world.

There are a lot of troubles on the Earth, giving three tithes to LCG will not help one bit (except allow a privileged few to live off of the deceived many.)

Now why would Meredith write about this? Is this a sign that things are going wrong in LCG behind the scenes? Recently his wife did pass away which must have been very hard for him. Is he sickly, or fearful that he may die soon?

Maybe Meredith is worried that there will be a mass defection once he dies. LCG was built on Meredith. It was founded specifically because Meredith felt he did not have enough power in the Global Church of God and he was able to persuade about 80% of GCG members to support his bid for one man rule. Once he dies what will unite LCG? Already LCG has been blighted by schisms and splits, nothing as bad as 1998 or the UCG-COGWA split, but splits nonetheless, usually be ministers who felt LCG was too "liberal".

Inevitably he will die and others will take his place. He seems to be trying to make it easier for his successors to continue ruling over LCG members after he is gone.

I wish to say here that this article is a terrible belittling of the suffering of thousands who believed his fear inducing and financially exploitative false prophecies. He gets to live while so many others have suffered terribly, even gave up their lives because of HWA's anti-medicine superstition. Alas, Meredith will never understand because he lives in a cocoon of money and privilege that makes it very difficult for him to understand the suffering he has inflicted on so many.

Misremembering the Fall of the Berlin Wall

When the Berlin Wall came down as part of the fall of the Communist East European regimes many people were amazed at these dramatic events. Less visible were the excited reactions of the followers of a certain Herbert W. Armstrong who looked at these events as a sign that he was right. This seems to have been a common reaction among the COGs.

One example of this enthusiastic reaction may be found in Brad MacDonald's article, A Night to Remember, which was published in the January 2010 issue of PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet.

In my house, halfway around the world in Australia, the excitement had overpowered nightly bedtime rituals. Obviously something major was unfolding. But it was happening thousands of miles away on another continent. I didn’t understand. My parents were nearly as excited as those we were watching on TV. By now the phone had jumped into the noisy fray. My parents were darting between the phone and the television. Are you watching this? This is it! they told friends. This is what we’ve been waiting for.
 
As the wall fell, my parents’ attention didn’t remain solely on Berlin. They also cast an anxious gaze toward Pasadena, California, the location of the headquarters of the Worldwide Church of God. While the collapse of the Berlin Wall was a watershed event for Germany and Europe and the future of international affairs, it came with an added dimension for those in the WCG. For decades, the founder and pastor general, Herbert W. Armstrong, had forecast the unification of Germany.

On Nov. 9, 1989, WCG members watched that forecast come true.

One commenter wrote the following discussing MacDonald's article.

I was 12 when the Berlin Wall Came down and remember a scene nearly identical to yours. Dad was so excited he was practically giddy only to be crushed by the statement that later came out of the Church. I also well remember the Feast of Tabernacles earlier that year because many late-night conversations centered around what was happening in Germany, what Mr. Armstrong had taught about it, and where it was all leading. The atmosphere was electric and everyone was waiting eagerly to hear what headquarters would say. Then they said nothing at all really.

It would appear many WCG members were anxious to spread the message after this event but were discouraged that WCG's leaders did not exploit this incident as much as they could. 

PCG is far from alone in this. Garner Ted Armstrong and LCG's leaders have also presented this event as proving that HWA was a man in touch with God and able to miraculously foresee events. Here is Roderick C. Meredith making such a statement from his article, We Must Increase Our Faith! in the May-June 2014 issue of Living Church News.

As Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was virtually alone in predicting, the nations of Eastern Europe broke away from Soviet control. This dramatic upheaval back in 1988–89 was sudden and totally unexpected by the so-called “experts”! Yet God made it clear to Mr. Armstrong that this had to happen to lay the groundwork for the complete ten-nation European Union that would follow. Remember, no one else taught this as he did!

On that day in 1989 did they expect to still be waiting for Christ's return twenty four years later? That is 8760 days.

If HWA really did have prophetic insight then why did HWA say that Christ would return by 2005 at the very latest in his last book, Mystery of the Ages? (Those words have since been deleted in PCG's copies of that book.)

"And, secondly, to reveal—preserved in writing for us TODAY—what is to happen "in the latter days"—actually within the next two decades—THIS LAST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY! (Mystery of the Ages, Herbert W. Armstrong, p. 298) (Source.)

What about the fact that HWA said the USSR would outlast the USA and only be destroyed a few years after the second coming?

HWA also taught that all the East would be seized and controlled by Communists. Why did his followers not look for Asia to turn Communist? That is what HWA taught in his booklet, 1975 in Prophecy (html). (A PDF version of 1975 in Prophecy may be read here.)

But Communism, prophecy indicates, will continue to make gains in the East-Probably in Indo-china, Malaya, Japan, India. For more than ears I have been telling the radio audiences that Communism will engulf and control the manpower of the yellow races by the time of the swift-approaching crisis of world upheaval. ...  The entire eastern world will be under atheistic Communism. Neither the eastern or the western world will permit any true Gospel preaching whatsoever. (1975 in Prophecy, p. 10.)

HWA did not foresee that the Communist insurgency in Malaya would be defeated. By 1960 the insurgency there was crippled and rendered utterly unable to overthrow the government. Communism never took hold in Japan. As for India despite the efforts of many Communism has also failed to take hold there. Although some individual states have been controlled by Communists after elections and an armed insurgency by Maoists (Naxalites) has been in operation since 1967 in some parts of the country India did not become Communist as HWA speculated it would. 

HWA also specifically stated that the sixth plague would be an invasion by "Communist forces". While HWA believed some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow HWA did not anticipate Communism to fall in Russia. As far as I know even during his last days he never imagined that Communism in the Soviet Union would fall.

The sixth of these punishing plagues will be a military invasion of Europe by the Communist forces from Russia and the Orient. By that time, the Red Armies of Russia, China and allies will number TWO HUNDRED MILLION! (1975 in Prophecy, p. 25.)

At one time it appears that HWA speculated that Tito would be the leader who would destroy America and Britain.

Also, I have warned the radio audiences to watch TITO. Of course, Tito is not identified personally in prophecy-nor is any other man. Only the major EVENTS are revealed. ... I have even suggested the possibility that Tito might be the man to lead the new Nazi-Fascist Europe-though that possibility has appeared most slight. Remember again, prophecy does not identity the MAN. More probably he will be a German. (1975 in Prophecy, p. 10.)

Gerald Waterhouse once made a sermon (Lufkin, Texas, December 1, 1979) in which he said that HWA was one of the two witnesses, that HWA would live to see the Great Tribulation and that Franz Josef Strauss would be the dictator who would destroy America and Britain.

HWA taught that the Great Tribulation would begin in 1972 and that Christ would return in 1975. HWA taught this from 1953 onwards. Some of his followers deny this because HWA did not discuss why he dated Christ's return to be 1975 in his booklet, 1975 in Prophecy. Herman Hoeh made reference to why Christ's return was dated for 1975 in his booklet, A True History of the True Church. Also HWA unveiled this doctrine in his Co-Worker Letter of May 22, 1953. HWA most certainly said Christ would return in 1975.

Actually HWA and his collaborators within his Worldwide Church of God made numerous false prophesies that did not occur. The Painful Truth has a list of over 200 false prophecies made by HWA's WCG.

So we see that in order to believe that the fall of the Berlin Wall proves that HWA had prophetic insight as Brad MacDonald and others have done it is necessary to forget all of these things and pretend these things never happened or did not matter.

It is amazing how so many otherwise perfectly intelligent people willfully choose to ignore the facts and believe that somehow, contrary to all the facts, that HWA was a prophet who had some sort of insight into the future. It is total nonsense. Such persons are actually defying the will of the God of the Bible they claim to love so much.

"This is what we’ve been waiting for", HWA's devotees thought while seeing the Berlin Wall fall down.

They had previously waited for Christ to return in 1975.

They had previously waited to see the vast drama of end time events, including the rise of the European Beast Power and the destruction of America and Britain, would all occur before 1975.

They had previously waited to see HWA become one of the two witnesses. He would live to see the Great Tribulation.

They had previously waited to see all of Asia fall into Communist control, including Malaya, India and Japan.

They had previously waited to see Christ returning by 2005 at the latest because of what HWA wrote in Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words in their copies of that book.)

And they were waiting for these things because they were cunningly deceived by the leaders of HWA's WCG into believing nonsense carefully designed to isolate them from the surrounding society in order to make them easier to exploit and control within the restricted little society of WCG so that WCG's leaders could live off of three tithes and extra offerings from WCG members.

(Also A Night to Remember happens to be the title of a 1955 book about the sinking of the Titanic. I find it curious why MacDonald would use such a phrase. Maybe he does not know about that.)

Did HWA Foresee the Tkach Changes? (HWA's 1985 Pentecost Sermon)

When I first encountered PCG after reading about them on Bob Thiel's website (before he made himself the unordained, self appointed false prophet) I was taken aback when I read Thiel mentioning that PCG taught that one of their booklets, Malachi's Message, is the Little Book in Revelation 10.

Intrigued I went to PCG's website and saw they had a booklet entitled The Little Book. To me the idea seemed so absurd I decided if they taught this I would not take PCG seriously and instead give my allegiance to LCG. It took a long time but finally the booklet came. I read it. It was written by Gerald Flurry. And indeed it did teach that this Malachi's Message is the Little Book of Revelation 10.

So naturally I decided to ignore PCG and give my allegiance to LCG. (If only I made the same decision in regards to LCG as well. It would be years before I finally realized LCG and Herbert Armstrong were not who they said they were and got myself mentally out of that nonsense.)

While reading this booklet entitled The Little Book I came upon this statement by Gerald Flurry.

Physical marriage is a type of our marriage to Christ. Physical family is a type of the God Family--into which we shall enter. THIS IS THE MISSING DIMENSION IN EDUCATION, OR KNOWLEDGE. But as Mr. Armstrong said to his own Church on Pentecost in 1985, "most of you just don't get it"! (Gerald Flurry, The Little Book, 1995, p. 12.)  

Reading it I interpreted these words as a statement by Gerald Flurry saying that HWA miraculously foresaw the Tkach changes before his death.

Is that really the case?

Recently I found this sermon online. I alluded to it when writing about Gerald Flurry's booklet, From the Beginning. This is what I wrote in that post.

Then Flurry quotes from a sermon by HWA. He loves to bring up this sermon. Flurry portrays this sermon as being a prescient warning from HWA that something might go wrong after his death. Flurry portrays this as the result of remarkable foresight. He had previously mentioned it in his booklet, The Little Book. Is that really the case? Here is his quote.

Mr. Armstrong’s made this very strong, condemning statement in his sermon on Pentecost, May 26, 1985—a few months before he died: “Why is this Church the firstfruits of God’s harvest for His Kingdom?... Brethren I want to say to you, I think that most of you don’t understand that at all. I think that most of you think it merely means that God chose us to get into the Kingdom first and then they’ll come in later. That is not the answer at all. And I perceive that even our ministers, when they preach, take it for granted that the whole goal is to get us into the Kingdom of God and that’s all we’re called for now and for no other purpose—but we’ll get in ahead of the others.... There is a reason why we’re the firstfruits! And I wish I could drive that home. But I fear that MOST OF YOU JUST DON’T GET IT. YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT AT ALL. WHY? WHY ARE WE THE FIRSTFRUITS? I’m going to try to make it plain this afternoon and STILL I THINK YOU WON’T GET IT.”  

How terribly prophetic those words have proven to be! Mr. Armstrong perceived that many ministers and members did not understand this precious truth. We can’t rule with Christ if we don’t even understand His family government. (pp. 26-27.)

Reading that quote it seems to me that HWA is not complaining that a great apostasy is about to be unleashed as Flurry seem to imply here and elsewhere. Rather HWA seems to be discussing a fine point of his doctrine concerning why WCG members are supposedly called to the truth earlier then the vast majority of humanity.

You can read or listen to HWA's sermon for yourself online. Is it really what Flurry portrayed here?

As seen above I included a link to that sermon in it but I had not listened to it for myself. Until now.

As I suspected above HWA's sermon is not a premonition predicting the Tkach changes as Flurry insinuated it was in The Little Book and, more specifically, From the Beginning. It is not that at all.

Instead, as I suspected after reading From the Beginning, HWA discusses his doctrine that church members are called first in order to teach all the rest of humanity to become God beings after the return of Christ. For some reason he feels that WCG members and ministers have misunderstood this particular teaching of his. HWA complains that members and even ministers think it is simply random, that one is called into the church and the rest come in later. He says it is not like that. Rather church members are called first in order to expand the God Family so that the rest will be properly called and born into the God Family. That is what HWA was talking about.

At one point in the sermon (55 minutes) he talks about a home for the disadvantaged in Amman, Jordan. He is told that the children housed are only a small part of those so disadvantaged. HWA asks why not make many other such houses? HWA is told that this is not possible as it is necessary to train up teachers who will be able to staff any such newly established houses. HWA says that it is necessary for the church members to be glorified first and only then can the rest of humanity be taught how to become immortal God beings.

How is HWA not belittling God in this teaching? Why does HWA limit God's power in saying that He needs to make more God Family members to convert the rest of humanity? What sort of God is HWA talking about here?

This sermon is most certainly not a premonition that the Tkach changes were just around the corner. HWA was talking about one specific doctrine of his. HWA was complaining that members and ministers had misunderstood one particular doctrine.

So this sermon is not what Gerald Flurry portrays it as.

Once again Gerald Flurry has been caught portraying things contrary to what actually happened. How can anyone trust him?

Of course Gerald Flurry also plagiarized The Letter to Laodicea by Jules Dervaes (written December 1986-January 1988) to write Malachi's Message. Dervaes' writing 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. Even this most important part of the legend of Gerald Flurry is found to be a far lesser thing then Flurry would have us believe.

***

Sermon Notes

Here are some notes I took of this sermon as I was listening to it. At the start HWA complains that members and even ministers do not get it. He then says he will try to explain it. But then he goes on about the creation of the Earth that was populated by Angels until Lucifer's rebellion which turned him into Satan, and this rebellion causes God to create humans in order to produce new members of the God Family. What HWA says is essentially the same as what he said in his last book Mystery of the Ages, which he was working on at the time. So I did nit bother with any notes until around 44 minutes into the sermon. (This is also the point where he starts shouting frequently. He does that during the rest of this sermon.)

We begin.

Shouts. He says that Jesus started a school, namely his twelve disciples. (44)

Mocks a man who said he gave Jesus his heart. (48)

Shouts. (52)

Shouts. That church members are called to teach humanity and all the future members of the God Family. (54-55)

Talks about home for disabled children in Amman, Jordan funded by the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation. (55-56)

Called to become teachers. (56-57)

Complains that WCG members and ministers do not understand that church members are called to become teachers of those who are called to be born into the God Family after Christ's return. (57-58)

You wonder why you can't convert your family and friends. I wonder myself. (59-60)

(One hour.)

If not [preparing to be rulers,] you are wasting your time. Maybe God has not called you yet. Shouts. (5)

Shouts Doers. (7)

States that he is not trying to convert world leaders because they have not yet been called to understanding by God. (15)

Criticizes some WCG ministers for speaking as though he was trying to convert the world leaders he visits. (16)

End of sermon notes.

The point of that sermon was to say that church members are called now to teach all those who are called after Christ's return how to become immortal God beings in the same way WCG church members were doing then. It is not some miraculous premonition about the Tkach changes before its time.

Bob Thiel Apostatizes Regarding Daniel 9:24-27

Banned by HWA has reported that Bob Thiel now says Daniel 9:24-27 refer to the European dictator who is taught to soon to lead the European Beast Power to conquer America and Britain.

Once again Thiel has changed what HWA's WCG taught.

Back in 1965 Ambassador College published an article by William Dankenbring (who now runs his own little COG cult) entitled Daniel Nine Proves Jesus is the Christ. It says Daniel 9:24-27 refers to Jesus Christ, not the European Beast leader. This is what HWA's WCG taught.

Daniel 9, the "seventy weeks prophecy," has already - for the most part - been fulfilled. History proves that Jesus Christ - and NONE OTHER - was the One who fulfilled the prophecies of Daniel 9:24-27. He is the Messiah! No one else appeared at the time mentioned, or did the things mentioned, DIED in the midst of the week, and caused the sacrifices and offerings in the temple to CEASE! ...

The prophecy given in Daniel 9:24-27 is truly one of the most amazing, startling prophecies in the entire Word of God! It gives a pinpointed, detailed explanation of the FIRST coming of Jesus Christ - even giving us the EXACT DATE HE WAS TO BEGIN His MINISTRY! It shows that after three and one-half YEARS, He was to be "CUT OFF" crucified for our sins giving His life for us, thereby causing the need for other sacrifices, given as a picture of our need for forgiveness, to CEASE.

Soon, now, Christ will RETURN to complete this amazing prophecy and finish the LAST three and one-half years. He will finish confirming the covenant of God with many, all those who accept Him and obey Him! The truth is overwhelming! How thankful we should be that God is revealing the real meaning of Bible prophecy! How thankful, that our faith is NOT merely empty superstition or "belief," but is based on the proven and tested, SURE WORD OF GOD!

Once again the unordained, self appointed false prophet Thiel has ignorantly changed what was taught by HWA's WCG and apostatized from what the false prophet of 1975 HWA taught.

Reading PCG's Booklet, Conspiracy Against Fatherhood

Let us now read Gerald Flurry's booklet, Conspiracy Against Fatherhood. This booklet was published in 1999. At first glance it appears to be a denunciation of divorces and the problems caused by them, but as we shall see below this is not really the case. Unlike most other PCG booklets it has not been reprinted since then. You can read this booklet on their website.

This booklet is based on Gerald Flurry's article in the September-October 1999 Philadelphia Trumpet, Conspiracy Against Fatherhood.

At first glance this booklet seems to be a condemnation of the breakup of families. But actually after this Flurry goes into a condemnation of evolution as nonsense (pp. 2-4). I am not interested on dwelling on that topic here because many churches, mainly non-COG, also teach against evolution so this teaching is not unique to the COGs.  It is also worth noting that this booklet never mentions the particular doctrines of PCG in regards to this, that the Universe was created a long time ago but Satan's fall caused the Universe to be degraded and it was only then that the events of Genesis 1 and 2 occurred.

The August 23, 1999, feature article in Time magazine was titled “How Man Evolved.” Notice that is an absolute—no room for disagreement whatsoever, even though evolution is an unproved and unprovable theory. (p. 2.)

After swelling at length on condemning evolution he ends his condemnation with these words.

That is the typical way people act when they have strong beliefs and little or no proof! These people cling to evolution in faith—like some extreme cult. (p. 4.)

How ironic that the leader of a movement often called a cult labels others as being "like some extreme cult."

Flurry responds by quoting HWA in The Missing Dimension in Sex (pp. 5-6). (Actually that book was originally written by several men, including Roderick C. Meredith, Ernest Martin and Ralph Merrill. However, while under HWA, all their names were deleted in later editions in order to aggrandize HWA. I wonder how Meredith felt having his name blotted out from that book? That happened while HWA was alive.)

Flurry further condemns evolution by mocking such persons as bringing the world on the verge of human extinction with the creation of nuclear weapons.

These educated men have brought us to the brink of human extinction with our nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. ... The same Christ who prophesied this nuclear catastrophe about 2,000 years ago also created life—and not through evolution. Unless He returns, man has no hope!

But that hope is being destroyed through the false teaching of evolution, and man is heading into a nuclear tribulation of suffering, unparalleled in our history.

Is that what it will take to wake us from our ignorance and blindness? Must we experience this blackest of all nightmares before we awaken? We could avoid the Great Tribulation if only we would heed God’s warning. (pp. 6-7.)

Flurry then claims that those reading this booklet are experiencing God's love, in other words that God is speaking to the reader through this booklet.

This very message you are reading reveals God’s love and His desire to avoid that towering disaster. (p. 7.)

Would God work in such a way through a man who plagiarized from The Letter to Laodicea by Jules Dervaes (written December 1986-January 1988) to write Malachi's Message? The man I speak of here is Gerald Flurry. Dervaes' writing 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.

It is time we wake up to what is happening to fatherhood, the family and our society. Now, let’s take a closer look at why the teaching of evolution destroys the family—and fatherhood. (p. 7.)

At first glance this booklet appears to be about family values. But within this booklet Flurry uses this booklet to condemn evolution.

After that Flurry cites Matthew 19 to argue that Jesus believed that Adam and Eve were literal persons therefore telling the reader they need to believe this as well (pp. 7-9). Many non-COG churches also teach this as well. This does not prove that Gerald Flurry is the only man with whom God is communicating with.

Flurry asserts that God established the institution of the family among humanity and as part of this institution (according to Flurry) the husband is to rule over the wife.

The whole feminist movement has rebelled against any man ruling the family—God’s way. They want to build the family their way. They refuse to be Christians—Christ’s way. If they ever expect to get beyond this life, they must repent. (p. 8.)

And just like that Flurry threatens the eternal salvation of everyone involved in the feminist movement, or, more importantly, anyone who thinks of the family in a way different from what Gerald Flurry teaches.

Starting on page 9 Flurry begins to quote a lot from an article in the May-June 1970 issue of Tomorrow's World (pp. 9-12). The article was written by David L. Antion. It is entitled "Is There a Conspiracy Against Fatherhood?" (Tomorrow's World, May-June 1970, pp. 40-43, 50.) So now we see where this booklet's title came from. These facts about this article is never mentioned in Flurry's booklet.

David Antion's article is all about condemning homosexuals. PCG, like most COGs, condemn homosexuality as sinful, but strangely enough little of that is too be found in this booklet of Flurry's. Flurry does allude to Sodom and Gomorrah on page 9, but only as part of a long quote from David Antion's article. He does not dwell on condemning homosexuality for long here, which seems odd to me. However this booklet is quite short and so it is quite vague regarding the intricacies of COG doctrine.

Flurry quotes David Antion's article to assert that once modern society (he mainly means America and Britain) abandons the institution of the family (as Flurry teaches it) then PCG's God will destroy America and Britain in the Great Tribulation just like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Interspersed with this fear mongering that the Great Tribulation will soon occur Flurry alludes to the God Family doctrine PCG inherited from HWA (like just about every other COG group).

God is bringing many sons to glory. We must become born sons of God. We will then have God’s own character to rule over the earth and the universe.

The family of man pictures the God family! God created the human family to get us into His family! THE TEACHING ABOUT EVOLUTION IS A VILE INSULT TO OUR AWESOME ORIGIN AND POTENTIAL! (p. 11.)

The God Family doctrine is contrary to what is taught and believed by the vast majority of Christians. Also the God Family doctrine is contrary to Holy Scripture.

Isaiah 42:8: "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."
Isaiah 43:10: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me."

Isaiah 44:6: "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God..."

Isaiah 44:8: "Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." (From Mike of Mike's Enlightenment Page.)

Flurry ends his booklet with these words.

People who fight and war against fatherhood are little more than puppets of the devil, and they use Satan’s tactics in their warfare. He is behind the conspiracy to destroy fatherhood.

Our time before the Great Tribulation is also short. Passivists [sic] will not survive Satan’s onslaught. If ever there was a time to take a stand for God, now is that time. Soon Christ will be here and the whole world will become a part of our spiritual Father’s family. The sad part is how much man must suffer before he learns that lesson. (p. 12.)

Note how Flurry states that the Great Tribulation will occur in a short time. It is now fifteen years since this booklet was published. Just how soon does Flurry expect the Great Tribulation to occur? Note what Flurry wrote in another booklet in 2003.

Here we see a small group of people with a God-sized message. The whole world should heed today. But most people won’t become converted until Christ returns—which is probably within 10 to 15 years or less. (Gerald Flurry, The King of the South, 2003 version, p. 43.)

This is from the 2003 version of that booklet. This would mean Christ would return between 2013 and 2018 "or less." This was mentioned in a previous post. This prophecy has failed miserably. This proves that Gerald Flurry is most certainly a false prophet.

But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? when a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22.)

So we see that Gerald Flurry is a false prophet.

And so Flurry's booklet comes to an end.

So we see then that what appeared to be a denunciation of divorce and family break ups is actually a denunciation of evolution tied with the insistance that HWA's heretical teaching of the God Family is true.

***

The God Family doctrine has been discussed elsewhere on this blog.

The God Family discusses how I first learned of this doctrine and how Roderick C. Meredith claim it was 'revealed' to HWA's group.

A Problem in the God Family Doctrine discusses how HWA taught that humanity was simply Plan B for God. According to HWA God originally intended to have Angels govern the Universe but Lucifer's rebellion forced God to create Humanity instead. This aspect of HWA's God Family doctrine is never discussed in Stephen Flurry's booklet.

Called to the Truth? Will all in the God kingdom be Equal? discusses how the COGs teach that those who become God Beings at the return of Christ will be superior in rank then all other people who become God Beings afterwards, even though all are supposedly as fully God as God is God. The COGs nevertheless teach that there will be ranks and that the God Family will be divided into an elite (the deified church) while the rest will be inferior in rank. This aspect of the God Family doctrine is never discussed in Stephen Flurry's booklet.

Reading PCG's Booklet, God is a Family reads through Stephen Flurry's booklet, God is a Family, showing how Stephen Flurry appeals to a commentary by a Sunday keeping Protestant scholar to "prove" the God Family doctrine, but in fact this Protestant scholar would never have accepted such a teaching. Stephen Flurry also spends half the booklet arguing that the Holy Spirit is only an impersonal force contrary to what the vast majority of Christians have taught and believed. In fact these have been many persons who have also used these argument, but they often also deny the divinity of Jesus Christ.