This is a continuation from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
Chapter 8
This chapter is particularly intriguing because it seems to be from Flurry's original Jeremiah booklet, Jeremiah: Prophet of Doom -- or Hope? which was published in either 1992 or 1993.
Here is Flurry describing how sin is so inherent within humanity and difficult to confront.
It’s like being hooked on heroin. The key is to never let it BEGIN. Once we are hooked, it is almost impossible to repent without mind-paralyzing trials. That is how hard a sinning mind becomes. Sin penetrates our very being and becomes a real part of our lives. This should cause men to acutely fear sinning. But it rarely works that way. Jeremiah shows that even when some people know where sin leads, they still continue sinning. (p. 87.)Here is Flurry insisting that one must trust not trust in man, but you must trust in God's man (Gerald Flurry) or else unimaginable punishment awaits you.
We are cursed if we follow a man. And yet God always works through ONE MAN to lead His Church and do His Work— like Jeremiah did.We are cursed if we fail to follow "God's man". Here Flurry is talking about himself. Flurry says he is "God's man" in the same way he says HWA was.
The Laodicean ministers today talk about avoiding “the evils of one-man government.” So they rebel against God leading them with one man.
That is a deadly, satanic deception. God plainly says that we are cursed if we follow a man. But we are also cursed if we fail to follow the one man God is using—like Jeremiah! Or the man God is using today to deliver the full message of Jeremiah!
We must get this straight in our minds. Most of God’s people have rebelled against God in this end time because they trust a man! At the same time, they refuse to trust God and follow His man, His leader. We must learn this gigantic lesson or be cursed. WE ARE CURSED IF WE FOLLOW A MAN—AND CURSED IF WE FAIL TO FOLLOW GOD’S MAN! (p. 88.)
Also note that Flurry seems to be talking about Tkach Sr. and Tkach's changes when Flurry writes that many "of God's people ... trust a man". I recall how PCG Information asserts that Flurry first taught that Tkach Sr. is the Man of Sin and then changed this to Tkach Jr. after the elder Tkach's death in 1995. This section of writing seems to support that assertion.
In this section that criticizes Tkach in that way there is not the slightest indication that Flurry is talking about Tkach Jr. Flurry seems to be talking about Tkach Sr. here. But later he said that Tkach Jr. was the real mastermind behind the Tkach changes and Stephen Flurry echoed this view in Raising the Ruins. There is no indication here that Flurry is talking about Tkach Jr. However Flurry writes in an oblique manner that makes it all too easy for his devoted followers to simply assume Flurry's view of Tkach Jr. is to be found here when such is not necessarily the case.
ONLY the PCG understands the prophecies about God’s Laodicean era in the book of Jeremiah and all the other prophetic books! This is a large portion of the “good” which they fail to see because they trust in a man. Therefore, God can’t use them to do His Work.
THIS IS A LAKE-OF-FIRE MISTAKE, UNLESS THEY REPENT! This is the most grotesque sin of all. They knew the omnipotent God and then put their trust in a pathetic man! They knew the God described in the first chapters of Revelation and Ezekiel AND THEN TURNED TO SICKLY MAN! How could their sin be more grotesque? (p. 89.)Either you agree with me that Jeremiah is all about the Tkach changes or else you will go to the lake of fire. That is the message Flurry gives here. Once again Flurry crudely threatens the reader with the Lake of Fire unless he or she does what Flurry demands.
The real reason only PCG "understands" that Jeremiah is all about the Tkach changes is that Gerald Flurry has devised this interpretation of Jeremiah and injected these ideas into the Bible and curses anyone who happens to disagree with him as doomed to endure the Great Tribulation and even the lake of fire to be annihilated forever.
This spiritual tree [PCG] can easily be seen by anybody—except the blind. And remember, Jeremiah only discusses one tree with green leaves and fruit in the midst of spiritual drought. It is easy to see for those who have spiritual eyesight. The fruitful tree stands out in a spectacular way. It stands ALONE in the midst of a scorching drought. Those who CANNOT see that tree are focused on a man! That condemns them spiritually. (p. 89.)Unless you believe that PCG is the one true church then you are blind. Do you like to say you are blind? Then you believe that PCG is the one true church. What if anyone else, your family or friends, happen to disagree? Then they must be blind. That is the message Flurry delivers here.
The indoctrinated readers believe they are chosen by God if they happen to believe that PCG is the one true church. If any say otherwise the indoctrinated reader thinks that they must be blinded in some mystical way. It also gives the indoctrinated reader a feeling of superiority and elitism compared with the "blind" mass of the rest of humanity.
After this Flurry talks about the depravity of the human heart and condemn non-PCG education for assuming humanity is basically good.
Jeremiah 17 teaches the fundamental lesson about our human minds. If we truly understand, we won’t let a day pass without intense Bible study and repentant prayer to our God. Only He can save us from our own incurably sick minds. We are deathly ill and need a PHYSICIAN. (p. 90.)How ironic that Flurry should say we are sick and need a physician and at the same time PCG members continue to believe in Herbert W. Armstrong's anti-medicine superstition and think going to doctors is some form of idolatry.
Also note how Flurry recommends spending lots of time indoctrinating one's self into understanding and believing PCG's dogmas. In PCG "Bible study" really means learning PCG's dogmas and making yourself believe what they say.
This chapter in Jeremiah discusses hope. This is where mankind must begin if we are ever to have HOPE. There is no hope in man. There is endless hope in God. (p. 91.)This passage was probably in the original 1992-3 booklet.
“Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil” (v. 17). Again God inspired the word “hope.” In the worst day of evil there is still great hope. THE VISION CAN BE RECAPTURED NOW! If not, the Great Tribulation horror is their last chance to repent. If they wait until then to repent, they will lose a good portion of their reward. (p. 92.)Flurry really wants WCG members to join his PCG. Flurry even claims that if any member of the other COG groups should "repent" after the Great Tribulation begins they will still live in disgrace even after being glorified as immortal God beings as fully God as God is God. It is so disgusting how these COG leaders insist that there are the great and not so great even within the God Family.
Why can’t the Laodiceans see the magnitude of the curse they are under? A curse which leads to eternal death! They refuse to see the fountain of living waters. They listen to men—not God! They have lost God’s most glorious vision of hope. (p. 92.)Join PCG now or go to the Great Tribulation and a one in two chance of being thrown into the lake of fire. Flurry really wants more tithes payers to expand his PCG.
After that Flurry goes on to insist that one must properly observe the Sabbath. This is likely in reaction to the Tkach changes.
The Sabbath day focuses our mind BACK to God the Creator. He “rested, and was refreshed” on the Sabbath day. God doesn’t need physical rest. So how was He refreshed? The Sabbath is a type of the Millennium. A time when God will be ruling this earth and building His family. Then that family will rule the universe forever. So the Sabbath also causes us to look ahead. ...
THE GREAT GOD WAS INSPIRED AND “REFRESHED” BY THE SABBATH-DAY VISION. It will also greatly inspire you and me, if we keep the Sabbath holy.
Only that glorious vision will bring the Laodiceans back. Only that vision will keep us growing spiritually. (p. 94.)Only if the members of Tkach's WCG make themselves excited by imagining how great and powerful they will be if they join PCG (and pay the three tithes) will they join PCG. That advice does not make much sense to me. Also many PCG members have since left PCG disillusioned with the problems there. Clearly the problems within PCG overcame their determined attempt to simply follow "God's man".
The Sabbath has become a “burden” to God’s lukewarm Church. It is no longer a “delight” to them (Isa. 58:13).Get high. On being intensely focused on what PCG's leaders say you must do for twenty four hours every seven day. Get high on knowing you are doing the right thing and that you will be part of the elite that will soon rule the world.
God is present in a special and powerful way on His Sabbath day. The Sabbath, instead of being a burden, should leave us on a spiritual high. (p. 94.)
Strange Flurry should say that. I have read other people discussing being in PCG as having a sort of drug like effect upon PCG members. Members of other destructive cults do sometimes describe joining a cult as like being high.
Assuming this passage is from the 1992-3 booklet these words would have been written around the time Gerald Flurry got arrested for being drunk while controlling a vehicle. One cannot help but wonder if Flurry is alluding to drunkenness here and comparing that with becoming ecstatic at accepting the doctrines of HWA as filtered by Flurry.
I can give you this godly guarantee. If you start keeping the Sabbath properly, it will begin to make dramatic changes immediately in your life! Put God to the test! If we properly keep the Sabbath, we would never look to hopeless men. (p. 94.)Yes. It will make a change to your life. It will make it harder to find a job. It will make it harder to do the other things in your life that need to be done.
It will make it easier for you to make time to spend getting spiritually high on learning PCG dogma.
It will make it easier to be misled on any given Sabbath by being told that America and Britain are descended from Israelites (not true), that Assyrians were Indo-European (not true because the Assyrians spoke a Hamito-Semitic language), that Turks are Edomites (not true), that HWA was right (not true because HWA made many false prophecies, not least of them saying that Christ would return in 1975), that grace is a license to sin (not true), that all the other COG groups deny that HWA was the end time Elijah (not true), and other pieces of misinformation so that you will do what PCG's leaders say.
And what should happen should one disagree with PCG's leaders on how to keep the Sabbath?
God will personally kindle a fire—starting with the Great Tribulation. But this fire will not be quenched—it will destroy lives forever, unless we repent. Will you heed God’s strong warning? (p. 95.)Once again Flurry threatens the eternal lives of his readers unless they do what he says in regards to observing the Sabbath.
Flurry then describes the supposedly wicked leaders of Tkach's WCG who, according to Flurry, are denigrating the Sabbath.
However, these leaders don’t often tell their followers the brutal truth. This is the kind of mind which is “deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9). It is catastrophic to ever trust such a mind! The motives are often evil. (p. 95.)Is Flurry describing himself? I cannot help but wonder if Flurry is psychologically projecting his own failings upon the leaders of Tkach's WCG.
After this Flurry goes on to condemn the Tkach changes. This reads a lot like his many other "warning the Laodiceans" booklets he wrote in the early days of PCG.
This virgin has “forgotten” her Husband. She is spiritually fornicating with the world. “They have burned incense to vanity” in their temple service, which refers to the Church today. The leaders have caused the people to stumble from the ANCIENT paths (Mal. 2:8). They have left the “cold flowing waters” from the snows of Lebanon for vanity. They have rejected much of what they were taught in the past by God’s Holy Spirit. (p. 96.)While this criticism makes sense assuming Flurry is talking about Tkach's WCG these words are quite nonsensical when applied to the other COG groups, most of which continue to teach and practice much of what HWA taught. (Because HWA made a lot of false prophesies that are now outdated it is impossible to believe everything he taught.)
Chapter 9
This chapter is largely concerned with discussing the British throne and saying that Christ will sit on this throne.
Where is David’s throne? It is in Israel—primarily America and Britain in end-time prophecy. We have proven that truth for over 50 years. These prophecies could not be understood without knowing where David’s throne is. GOD’S VERY ELECT MUST KNOW ALL ABOUT DAVID’S THRONE AND WHERE IT IS, OR MOST OF JEREMIAH’S MESSAGE COULD NOT EVEN BE UNDERSTOOD TODAY!But the British throne has nothing to do with David's throne. That is just a myth derived from the nonsense of British Israelism.
Why so much emphasis on that throne? Because the only hope for America and Britain revolves around that throne! That is what Jeremiah’s message is all about. If America and Britain fail to heed these words, they will become desolate! (p. 98.)
On page 99 is a picture of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
Jeremiah warns that each individual in Israel has a responsibility in connection to that throne. Ultimately, the whole world will submit to that throne. That is the throne on which Christ is to rule forever. The very elect is to share that rulership with Christ. That means we should have a deep concern for what is happening on that throne—now and forever. (p. 100.)So Flurry wants the reader to be concerned about the affairs concerning the British throne. But it is not David's throne.
Also, Flurry lives in the United States. The British throne has no claim to rule over the United States. In fact the founders of the United States of America fought a six year war against British forces with great loss of life in order to attain independence from the British crown. Why is Flurry glorifying the British throne with such high regard considering that? It is just so bizarre. It is good that America and Britain were later able to greatly improve relations but this is still strange.
What if the royal family of Britain fails to heed this extremely strong warning? God will send destroyers against the rulers sitting on David’s throne who forsake God’s covenant with David (Jer. 22:7-9). Jeremiah is very descriptive of their end. ... The ancient rulers were only a type of what is to happen in this end time. THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BRITAIN WILL RECEIVE THE “BURIAL OF AN ASS” IF THEY DON’T REPENT! (p. 102.)What a sick imagination this Gerald Flurry has. If Flurry can write of the British royal family in such a way how much worse will he regard the powerless?
THE THRONE IN BRITAIN IS THE GREATEST ROYALTY THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN! ... It happened for only one reason: God’s covenant with David. THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BRITAIN WILL GET THE SAME TYPE OF TREATMENT THEY HAVE RENDERED TO THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GOD! That is why British royalty will receive the burial of an ass if they don’t repent. Nothing majestic about that end. That is how God corrects them for their evil. (pp. 102-103.)So Flurry is prophesying that the British royal family will be killed or sent into exile as slaves unless they get on PCG's good side. What utter madness!
Here is a two-fold covenant. God made a covenant that David’s throne would never lack for a ruler. He also promised that there would always be a true ministry TO TEACH THE REVEALED TRUTH ABOUT THAT THRONE. This is an unbreakable promise from the omnipotent God that there would be a continual flow of new revelation about that throne in the end time. You are reading that revelation now. This very moment you are a part of this prophecy! The amazing truth of David’s throne is a major part of our whole Work. That is why our television program is called The Key of David today. (pp. 103-104.)This "revelation" is based on nonsense that the British are descended from the Biblical Israelites, which is not true. Silenced.co has shown that British Israelism is built on a foundation of sand. In fact DNA evidence refutes British Israelism.
Also Flurry seems to be saying that the true church would always teach the dogma from British Israelism that the British throne is the continuation of the throne of David. "God's Church" never did that until HWA introduced this nonsensical dogma.
God established His government through Mr. Armstrong— ONE MAN. IT IS THE SAME GOVERNMENT THAT IS TO BE ADMINISTERED FROM THE THRONE OF DAVID FOREVER! All of God’s Laodicean churches today have rejected that government. That is why God no longer reveals new truth to them. But God has deluged the PCG with new revelation, and it will continue to flow to God’s very elect. That is how God is fulfilling His special covenant with the ministry today, related to David’s throne. (pp. 104-105.)Why does Flurry say untrue things? Many COG groups have one man rule just like PCG. Flurry deceptively insinuates that no other COG group have one man rule. This is completely untrue.
God was always urgent and hard-working in sending prophets to warn Judah. Jeremiah was being inspired by God. Here is the key to our success in God’s Work. We must be urgent the way God is! There is nothing more urgent than getting God’s Work done! Are we filled with God’s urgency? That means God’s Work must become our work.Some wonder why PCG members stay in it despite the problems in it. Partly it is because they read words like this and believe, or at least enough to stay in PCG despite the problems there. Flurry promises them that by being in PCG they are part of an elite far more powerful and important then any other group in the world. As absurd as that is, that is what PCG members are told (as seen above) and clearly many of them believe it.
This is why so few people are doing God’s Work. Generally an individual doesn’t love God and His Work more than he does his own life. His individual work is more important than God’s Work. The very elect know that they work for God. And nothing is more urgent. How rare are such people on this earth. (p. 105.)
Where is the lamp today? Where is the bride? If you know where the bridegroom is, you know where the bride is! God’s very elect know who they are. They also know they are the only ones delivering God’s revealed message. Only they have God’s lamp in this dark world. If you can’t see God’s only lamp in this dark world, you are blind. And God’s very elect know how terrifyingly black it will become spiritually in this world when they are taken to a place of safety. Then the Work as we know it today will come to an end. Nobody else can repent and escape the Tribulation. (p. 106.)Also Banned by HWA has recently pointed out that Flurry has been saying that PCG members will witness to the world from Petra during the Great Tribulation. That clearly contradicts what Flurry taught here. Yet another one of Flurry's changes.
God is revealing all of the book of Jeremiah to the PCG. That new revelation is added to the foundational revelations given to Herbert W. Armstrong. But only we understand all the words of Jeremiah. Only we can fulfill this prophecy completely.But PCG does not have God's revelation. It has a bizarre syncretic of beliefs and practices, many of which were devised by HWA and later modified and changed by Gerald Flurry.
Here is what sets God’s very elect apart. They know that God’s revelation comes only to them. They know this means a heavy responsibility. They must deliver that revelation to the entire world. Only they have the message to deliver! (p. 107.)
God has a great controversy with this world. The “slain of the Lord” will be from one end of the earth to the other. Millions of dead people will be “dung upon the ground.” They won’t be “buried.” That is the primary meaning of “heaping up in a mound” (see Gesenius’ Lexicon). HIGH MOUNDS OF DEAD BODIES, LIKE PILES OF DUNG OR MANURE, WILL FILL THE EARTH! (p. 108.)What a sick imagination Flurry has. Here is the reader thinking they are about to learn about Jeremiah and the greatest vision in the Bible and here is Flurry mouthing off about piles of bodies.
Chapter 10
This is foundational understanding that we must have before we can ever grow spiritually. Without any evidence, these people accused Jeremiah of being misled by his scribe Baruch. I hear such accusations at times. Proud people sometimes say I have fallen under the influence of one of our leading ministers. Their pride has deceived them into rejecting God’s authority. (p. 110.)Who said that? I would love to know why Flurry felt compelled to deny that he was under the influence of another PCG minister. I do not know what Flurry is taking about here.
Most of God’s own people in this end time have rejected God’s revelation given to Herbert W. Armstrong. They also reject what God has revealed to the Philadelphia Church of God. They do it because they are too proud to receive God’s revelation (Matt. 11:25).So if you think, What Gerald Flurry said here is absurd, then Flurry has defined that as being "human nature" which must be zealously ignored and rejected in order to avoid getting caught up in the Great Tribulation. Forget about proving all things, you must be humble or else it is the Great Tribulation and eternal disgrace within the God Family that you failed to gain a Headquarters position within the God Family. It is just phobic believes Flurry tries to induce in the reader in order to control them more effectively.
God reveals only to people who are humble. Before we can totally follow God, we must understand our own human nature and conquer it. (p. 110.)
Flurry's words have no power over you. Flurry's teachings are, like British Israelism, built on nothing but sand. And we know what happened to the house built on sand in Matthew 7. It was not pretty.
We must keep the big picture. God is the potter; He continues to shape and mold us—even in concentration camps and facing death!Shouldn't that be, We must keep the big picture in mind?
The bad news is good news in the long run, if we finally respond to God. But be warned. GOD WILL TAKE US INTO A RAGING FURNACE if that is what it takes to remove our pride! GOD HAS DONE THAT REPEATEDLY THROUGHOUT HISTORY! (p. 111.)
Again Flurry shows the sick imagination he has and how he uses his grotesque words to ensnare people and make them think they need to remain in PCG or face a fate not worth existing through. This is what Lifton called the dispensing of existence.
This is still very good news. God won’t give up on us until we give up on Him. That means there is a splendid hope in this great suffering! God is only giving us the punishment that is required to make us moldable clay in His hands! God is the potter.Sugar coating his doom and gloom ranting is just an attempt to mask the fear he is trying to induce in the reader. Flurry is just trying to confuse the reader by boldly denying he is spreading a message of doom and then contradicting the tenor of what he writes to claim it is the most wonderful and splendid thing you can ever imagine. No wonder so many people get so badly messed up within PCG as the constant stream of letters from ex-members and those badly affected by PCG testify.
This is Jeremiah’s message of hope for the end time. First, God delivers the warning message, hoping we will heed. If we don’t, then God heats up the fiery furnace of captivity and death in an effort to refine us.
GOD ONLY GIVES US THE CORRECTION THAT OUR HARDNESS REQUIRES. He takes His very elect to a place of safety (Rev. 12:14). His own Laodicean Church is plunged into a nuclear holocaust with the nations of Israel (v. 17). (p. 111.)
God’s goal is always to bring men to repentance.And so Flurry threatens the reader and all PCG members that if they are unwilling to endure what those above them in PCG require of them then that one is doomed for the Lake of Fire. This is only a tool that Flurry and his collaborators use to keep people under their control.
Is that bad news? Not in the long run. The bad news is when God is no longer the potter and men have rejected His loving correction. Then the clay is no longer usable. There is no more hope that they can become members of God’s family. (p. 112.)
At this point, for whatever reason Flurry feels compelled to launch a condemnation of Princess Diana who hold her up as an example of women rising up and usurping what he says is man's rightful role to rule over their women. (Flurry does condemn Prince Charles as well for adultery but Flurry chooses to focus his criticism here on Princess Diana.)
Prince Charles has PUBLICLY lived in an adulterous relationship with a married lady. Princess Diana went from one sordid adultery to another, while the whole world ogled and many followed her example! Since her death, she has widely been viewed as a saint! In truth, SHE WAS IN THE VANGUARD OF A SPIRIT THAT TURNED OUR FAMILIES UPSIDE DOWN!What can one say about such madness. No one claimed Princess Diana was perfect. At least she tried to help people out with her charity work. That's certainly a lot better then building up a group that has earned a bad reputation for inflicted abusive behavior upon its members.
God thunders that these are nation-destroying problems!
When she married, Princess Diana had the word “obey” removed from the wedding ceremony. SHE DIDN’T WANT TO OBEY HER HUSBAND, AND CHARLES SHAMEFULLY AGREED! God holds him more accountable. Herbert Armstrong prophesied that the royal marriage would fail because of that serious omission.
Princess Diana led an unparalleled rise of feminism and rebellion against God’s law and the marriage covenant of God. It is blatant rebellion against God, and it is wrecking the families in Israel. It leads to Sodom and Gomorrah! (pp. 113-114)
And as for HWA prophesying that the marriage would fail that still does not change the fact that HWA and his collaborators made numerous false fear inducing prophesies. Herbert W. Armstrong's WCG even once cited a gynecologist to predict that "Nothing Can Stop Famine in the Mid-1970s" in the February 1969 Plain Truth.
Anciently, God sent only one man to warn them—Jeremiah. He was the physical head of God’s government. And today, God sends one man to warn His Church and Israel. That warning message is supported by God’s very elect. You are reading that warning. Only the Philadelphia Church of God submits to God’s law and government today—the same government taught by Herbert W. Armstrong. God used Mr. Armstrong to set His government and law before us in this end time. The Laodiceans have rejected that government. ONLY the PCG remembers and keeps God’s government! (p. 115.)Many COG groups have one man government just like HWA's WCG. Once again we see Flurry spreading nonsense and indoctrinating PCG members to believe untrue things. Why does Flurry say untrue things?
Also the "one man" in question here is Gerald Flurry himself.
We don’t have just some tiny little doctrinal differences with the Laodiceans. We are keeping God’s government. They are rejecting God’s government—AND KNOW IT! They were taught government through Mr. Armstrong, as were all of God’s people. God says they are without excuse! (p. 116.)As a matter of fact many of the COG groups are very similar to PCG. However over the years Flurry has added a lot of "new revelation" (often simply reiterations of what he said in Malachi's Message) that serve to make PCG more distinct. But as for this assertion that only PCG keeps "God's government", that is simply self serving nonsense. Many COG groups practice the same form of government that HWA's WCG did, namely one man rule.
Actually 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.
In the next words Flurry is trying to stir up fear and paranoia among PCG members so that they will never join another COG group.
What does that mean for the very elect who are delivering Jeremiah’s message today? It means the priests God planted and raised up will have the most evil thoughts and deeds toward God’s very elect! At one time they delivered the very prophecy of God. Now they are bitterly working to destroy that message and the messenger! They were fighting for God. Now they are fighting God. (p. 118.)This is just mind manipulating nonsense. Flurry says these things because he is scared that PCG members will leave for another COG group and he will have less money because of that. So he demonizes the leaders of the other COG groups by accusing them of harboring "the most evil thoughts and deeds toward God's very elect [PCG members]".
The evil priests who tried to kill Jeremiah and his message lived in Anathoth. This was where Jeremiah was born. Today it is a little community called Anata, just outside Jerusalem. I have done a television program from there. (p. 119.)And Flurry was able to broadcast from Anata because of the tithes of PCG members. And they tithed to him because they believed him when he claimed Tkach's WCG was the Laodicean era ignoring the previous teaching in HWA's WCG that the Laodiceans would not be made manifest until they found themselves left behind to endure the Great Tribulation. There has been a lot of talk about Tkach's changes, but this was to be the first of Flurry's changes. The fact that Flurry chose to greatly praise HWA and to retain many of his doctrines does not change the fact that these were changes just like Tkach's. However Flurry claimed his changes were "new revelation" and that if anyone disregarded what he (Gerald Flurry) said then such a person would not be saved and be doomed to endure the Great Tribulation which Flurry so loves to describe to keep PCG members in fear of the outside world.
We should be willing to invest our time, money and effort in God’s glorious Work today. God’s Work will usher in the wonderful World Tomorrow. Doing God’s Work is an investment in that incredible future! (p. 121.)Finally, after over 120 pages, we get to the point of this whole booklet: Flurry wants your "time, money and effort" to be used in "God’s glorious Work today", meaning to fund and maintain his PCG.
Flurry needs your time otherwise no one will be able to contribute to building up PCG for the benefit of an elite few.
Flurry needs your money because that is what his PCG lives off of. That is how he makes his living. That is how his collaborators make their living.
Flurry needs your efforts to keep his PCG operating smoothly for his benefit.
Jeremiah was no prophet of doom. He had the greatest vision in the Bible, clearly focused. If we keep this vision in our minds, we shall NEVER be overcome by discouragement!And so Flurry's booklet ends with an appeal to sacrifice for PCG and act as though it is the most important work on Earth. Flurry says the reader must be willing to make any sacrifice for God, even one's own family. As strange as this may appear Flurry's appeals for more "time, money and effort" have actually worked quite well for him as may be seen in these words of his from the original 1995 version of his booklet The Little Book as was seen in a previous post.
Jeremiah was not even allowed to take a wife and have a family (Jer. 16:1-2). He was willing to make that sacrifice—in fact, ANY sacrifice—for God. He kept his mind filled with the greatest vision in the Bible.
So must we. (p. 121.)
Look at how the PCG has grown since Malachi's Message was first mailed just prior to January 16, 1990. Already we have bought and paid for three new buildings with over 8500 square feet and are producing a beautiful monthly magazine that is mailed to tens of thousands of homes in over 80 countries. We have access to hundreds of millions of people with our television program. Our annual income is now into the multiple millions. (Gerald Flurry, The Little Book, 1995 version, p. 7.)And that was back in 1995.
But instead of being satisfied with what he had by 1995 Gerald Flurry constantly wants more and more and more from his followers. He has given no indication that he needs less then the reader's total commitment in this 2002 version of his booklet. And unfortunately many of his followers take his words very seriously, to their own detriment.
So after reading this booklet let us now see what we have learned about PCG's leaders from this booklet.
Now that we have gone through Flurry's booklet let's summarize what we have learned what Flurry has taught in his booklet.
- Flurry once again insists that God only works through one man at a time (sort of like the Pope) and that Gerald Flurry is now that man.
- Flurry insists that PCG is the only true church.
- Flurry again condemns the Tkach changes and all other COG groups, labeling them Laodiceans.This essentially repeats what Flurry wrote in his plagiarized Malachi's Message.
- Flurry wants you to be really scared about the dire future he insists is just about to occur.
- Flurry says one can only be protected from the Great Tribulation by joining PCG.
- Flurry promises glory unimaginable if only you join PCG and pay three tithes and extra offerings to him and his collaborators for the rest of your life. This is the vision alluded to in the title.
- As part of this vision Flurry encourages readers to fixate their minds upon David's throne and convince themselves that have been chosen to sit on that throne (because Flurry says so).
- Flurry accuses Princess Diana as the leader of women being insubordinate towards their husbands and condemns her for this alleged deed. ("Princess Diana led an unparalleled rise of feminism and rebellion against God’s law and the marriage covenant of God." Chapter 10, p. 113. Page 122 in the current version.)
- Flurry continues to promote HWA's anti-medicine superstition which has killed so many people, as may be seen in Chapter 2, page 28 (Page 30 in the current version.): "Can you trust God to save you now? Can you trust God to heal you? (That’s a type of spiritual salvation.)" My word! What loaded and misleading words these are!
- And Flurry wants you get a "spiritual high" as you observe the Sabbath according to PCG's dictates. "The Sabbath, instead of being a burden, should leave us on a spiritual high." (Chapter 8, p. 94. Page 103 in the current version.)
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