Reading PCG's Booklet, The God Family Vision

Let us now read Gerald Flurry's booklet, The God Family Vision. This booklet was first released in 2001. It was later revised in 2007 and 2012. In this booklet Flurry discusses what he says the nature of God is, encourage PCG members to keep backing PCG's leaders during the ongoing legal struggle with Tkach's WCG, glorifies HWA as the end time Levi and he also says other things as well. For this post I am reading through the original 2001 version. You can read the current 2012 version of this booklet at their website.

The writing on the cover reads:

Here is the only message that will fill us with hope. It is about bringing God's government and peace to the whole universe. It is the true gospel that mankind has never understood.

Really? Is this true? Let us take a look at what Gerald Flurry has to say.

Chapter 1

Some periods in the Church of God are not very positive—the first and last centuries, in particular. (p. 11.)

That statement is so stupid. Even I am astounded he would say something like that.

The name John means “God is merciful.” God is a merciful God. He is not cruel, as many in the world see Him. He wants us to have full joy—to be truly happy. We will be, if we understand this. That is a guarantee from God. (p. 11.)

Wrong. It means God's gracious gift.

Added to all these other fantastic blessings, we get to marry Him—if we can rise to the bride level of character. What a breathtaking honor! (p. 12.)

Never heard it explained like that before.

Ephesians 3:9 also shows how God created the universe through Jesus Christ, the Word. It was all done by the Father through the Son, because—I repeat—the Son is in submission. He has never been anything but submissive to His Father. He is our example. Our Husband wants His wife to act like He does. What a calling—what a responsibility! (p. 14.)

Christ's example is used to keep PCG members in submission to PCG's leaders for life. How disgusting!

Getting Mystery of the Ages to the largest audience possible is one major way we can let our light shine—or, if necessary, fighting in court to be able to do that. If you pour your heart into that, then darkness will not—cannot—overtake you! But if you are not letting your light shine by doing this work, then the light is overtaken by the darkness. (p. 15.)

If you are not working with PCG then you are in darkness. Yet more fear based talk designed to make the reader feel compelled to join PCG.

Daniel called God’s work the daily, or continual. (p. 16.)

This refers to what Flurry wrote in Daniel: Unsealed At Last! which was discussed in a previous post. There "the daily" or "the continual" is used to refer to the righteous activities of PCG. (Of course this is righteous according to Flurry.)

If you have a mate who doesn’t believe as you do, your example can be a wonderful light and have a dramatic impact on that person’s life. The Bible says it might even change them and bring them into God’s family (I Cor. 7:16; I Pet. 3:1-2). That’s how powerful this example—this light—can be! (p. 17.)

And so Flurry talks to PCG members who are married to a non-PCG member.

The more you study this, the harder it will be for you to remain in your seat! (p. 20.)

Flurry often likes to say that intently contemplating PCG's dogmas will bring someone to a state of this nature. He sometimes refer to this state as being on a spiritual high.

Chapter 2

This chapter discusses Hannah's yearning for a son and eventually bearing a son, namely Samuel. Flurry uses this to say that as part of believing in PCG's doctrines one must deeply yearn to train up new converts for PCG, both in this present time (before Christ's return) and into eternity and a member of the God Family.

Samuel is classified as one of the former prophets, and at least 90 percent of Bible prophecy is for this end time. (p. 21.)

Here Flurry is mimicking HWA. HWA often liked to say that most prophesies were for today.

God wants everyone focused on Shiloh, or where the ark is—where His headquarters is. That is the kind of government that should rule the nations of Israel, as it does rule spiritual Israel, God’s Church. (p. 23.)

Flurry often teaches that God only works through one man at a time. HWA used to be that man, now Flurry claims to be that man. This doctrine leads to Flurry often calling upon PCG ministers and members to do as they are told by those above them.

If God’s people—those whom He called out of this world and gave this vision to—don’t get out and proclaim His message to the world, they will lose their own blood (Ezek. 33:7-9). That is how important God’s message is. But on top of that, they will be guilty of the blood of those to whom they should have been giving this message—the whole world! This is all there is. This is why man. This is why God gives physical children. When people turn away from that, they turn away from God. (p. 28.)

The only reason you exist is to make PCG great and gain more converts and throw more money at it. That is essentially what Flurry says here.

This is what Hannah saw! She saw that she could have a son, and God would make him a firstfruit pillar—and God would resurrect him to set the whole world upon his shoulders. This is no fantasy—it will certainly happen! That is what God will do: raise people right up out of the dunghill—those the world so scorns and hates. They will be pillars. (p. 30.)

The problem is these promises Flurry makes to his readers are exactly that: a fantasy. The Americans and British are not descended form Israelites. HWA was not a man specially chosen by God. He made many false prophesies.

Make this personal, ladies. Realize that if you follow Hannah’s example, your horn will be exalted! You will be a part of David’s throne, just as Hannah and her son were. (p. 31.)

If you female PCG members do as you are told and meekly submit to the men within PCG, your husbands, your ministers, the leaders of PCG, and do this for the rest of your life, you will get to rule over everyone in a glorified afterlife. How convenient for those above them in this life.

This is about you! God will exalt your horn in that day. We shall be His kings! He will give strength to His kings and priests! Jesus Christ soon will thunder out of the heavens to usher in His Kingdom to restore all things to the Earth! (p. 31.)

The price for reaching this glory is to submit to PCG's authority and pay three tithes and extra offerings at your expense and the expense of your family and submit to all kinds of rules and regulations imposed by PCG's leaders for the rest of your life. And why do PCG's members put up with being ordered to do these things? Partly it is because they read words like this and believe them. They think a great reward awaits them if they submit to such rules and regulations. These teachings make them unable to see they are being exploited and used.

What about having spiritual children? We don’t naturally desire spiritual children. That is an unnatural desire. How much time do you spend thinking about all those wonderful children that you’re going to have with Jesus Christ, your Husband? How much do you yearn for sons and daughters in the family of God? Do you desire with all your passions to have children in the family of God? We must build that yearning for a spiritual family. (p. 32.)

What are you waiting for! Make more converts for PCG so that even more people will give even more money to the leaders of PCG. Making $19.5 million dollars in 2012 is not enough for PCG's leaders.

Children of converted members in God’s Church, even if not baptized when Jesus Christ returns, I believe will still be a part of that firstfruits group, because they were sanctified before Christ’s return. Our children have such a wonderful future! (p. 34.)

So Flurry apparently believes that even the unbaptized children of PCG members will be glorified as immortal God beings upon Christ's return.

Chapter 3

As we have seen in the previous chapters, this example is prophetic. God’s end-time Laodicean Church is making the same mistake that Eli made; they are exalting men above God. The results have been disastrous! (p. 37.)

"they are exalting men above God" is actually loaded jargon meaning they are not in PCG. Flurry hates that they are not sending in even more money to PCG.

Satan is moving quickly in this end time. But God is also. Make a list of all the revelation the Philadelphia Church of God has received in its short existence, and you can see that God is moving at lightning speed, trying to educate us. This is some of the final instruction we will receive before entering the God family. It is our responsibility to receive that education, or we will die spiritually! We must see how marvelous and wonderful it is to be with our Father and our Husband, Jesus Christ. We all need to be educated more deeply into the God family vision. (p. 37.)

Once again it may be seen that Flurry implies that the Great Tribulation is about to occur very soon.

They have taken people’s tithes and sacrifices, which should have been used to warn the world, and have used them for vain purposes. (p. 37.)

Is the money sent to PCG being used to spread PCG's teachings? How much of it?

The highest man in Israel at the time didn’t have the courage to replace his sons. ... Only one man—Eli—could have stopped his two sons. And because he failed, the whole nation began to fall apart. (p. 39.)

Here Flurry is among other things repeating his one man rule doctrine. Flurry teaches that God only works through one man at a time. HWA used to be that one man, now Gerald Flurry claims to fulfill this role. One must submit to Gerald Flurry's authority in order to be connected to God.

Malachi’s Message is still breaking through. There are several counterfeits of this book, because Satan wants to destroy the link between the Elijah and God’s work today. If he can do that, he can destroy God’s breaking-through vision and condemn the people to blindness. (p. 41.)

What on Earth is Flurry talking about? What counterfeit of Malachi's Message is he talking about? I am perplexed.

Gerald Flurry discusses how he wrote Malachi's Message.

When God was revealing Malachi’s Message to me, I didn’t know where it was leading. But I decided to have weekly Bible studies with my congregation in 1987 and 1988, as headquarters did. (Most field congregations had them biweekly.) I especially felt I needed it, because that was the time when God was revealing a lot to me from the book of Amos. So there was a time when I was preparing weekly Bible studies and sermons. Apart from occasional messages from my assistant, John Amos, I was doing most of the speaking myself. God was preparing me to get more deeply into the Scriptures. (p. 43.)

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. This is where Malachi's Message actually came from.

God wants to deepen our conversion. Knowledge is not conversion. It must be used, however, to produce conversion—to make us a part of the God family government. (p. 44.)

Of course Flurry would say this. He wants the reader to join PCG and start tithing to him.

This has to do with the man to whom God is giving the revelation. God gives the revelation to a man and has the Church look to that man. Then God holds that man very accountable. Because it is through him and the revelation God gives him that we get to know God intimately. (p. 45.)

Flurry says it is only through Gerald Flurry and his PCG that one can get to know God and be saved.

Likewise in this age, there have been two messages which have gone out from two different men. Still God’s family is not heeding. What is next? After the first two men have come on the scene, what happens next? What is the third event to happen to God’s people today? It is the same thing that happened to Eli and his sons, only in a more serious spiritual context. This is the Word of the living God! (p. 46.)

Flurry here implies that he will be present when the Great Tribulation comes. If Flurry really believes the Tribulation will soon comes why did he build Armstrong Auditorium? Did he really sink more then PCG's yearly income on a big building just for it to be conquered in a few years time?

Also why is Flurry training up his son Stephen Flurry to take over PCG? It is quite apparent that he is being trained to take over once Gerald Flurry dies. It may be seen in that it was Stephen Flurry who wrote the deeply flawed book Raising the Ruins and that it is Stephen Flurry who presents The Trumpet Weekly.

I believe the Kennedy-family curse is a warning from God of what is about to afflict all Israel. It makes our ears tingle. It should also cause us to repent. (p. 48.)

This is so absurd. Flurry seems to believe that the Kennedy family is actually under some kind of curse.

Today, though that house is still standing, there is no spiritual truth pouring out of Pasadena as there used to be. What a heinous sin those ministers committed. Is God harsh when He deals with them? If God puts them out of their misery for all eternity, is that bad? God wants to bring us into eternal glory, and He gives us every opportunity to achieve that goal. But He will not have rebels sitting at headquarters with Him. (p. 50.)

But Flurry claims that only he can provide "spiritual truth" in the entire world. He claims to have a one man monopoly on "spiritual truth". So this is just more grandstanding at the expense of Tkach's WCG and every other COG group.

The Philadelphia Church of God is not here just as a symbol today—God speaks from here! We are the inner court, where God dwells.

The spiritual ark is here today. God gives His revealed prophecy through me and this Church. This very book you are reading is a small part of the abundant evidence! (p. 53.)

Flurry claims to be the bearer of "new revelation". This is one of his main claims to legitimacy in the eyes of his followers. Flurry constantly boasts that he is the reveals "new revelation" that was known to HWA. Many of these actually change what HWA taught.

Joseph Tkach Jr. has said that 40,000 members of the Worldwide Church of God have dropped out and are not doing anything. They’ve been beaten. They’ve lost the battles, and they’re tired of fighting. If you have this problem, you’d better deal with it or you will be conquered by the devil. (p. 54.)

Join PCG or else. Pay the tithes to PCG or else. That is what Flurry is essentially saying here.

Let us remember the covenant we have made with God—our Stone. Let’s get our minds on His work and off ourselves. Let’s love God and His family today—and also His potential family, those billions and billions of people who will be resurrected on the Last Great Day. Let’s give our lives to the God family and yearn for a family as God does. If we can really grasp that and think like God, there won’t be anything that can stop us. We will be there to help bring all of those people into the glorious, wonderful and majestic family of God. (p. 56.)

Do not think about building up your own lives for yourself and your family. That must take second place compared to helping PCG advance its interests by gaining more members and paying the three tithes and extra offerings.

The Sons of Zadok

After Chapter 3 this is this insert. Elsewhere Flurry calls PCG members "the sons of Zadok" saying that they chose to remain loyal to God while none of the other COG groups did. 

This is a clear example of "loading the language" because loyalty to God is redefined as being loyal to HWA and then switching allegiance to Gerald Flurry and no one else, despite the many doctrinal changes he has made that he claims to be "new revelation". 

It also obscures the fact that many people who continued to believe most of HWA's teachings also resisted the Tkach changes without joining PCG. But they do not pay any tithes to Flurry's PCG so his PCG gets less money.

We are the only people on the Earth today who really want The United States and Britain in Prophecy by Herbert W. Armstrong—the book which explains the throne of David. Is that not consistent with these prophecies? Is that not why we have the noble label “sons of Zadok”? (p. 59.)

Actually that book is freely available in several places on the Internet without any help from PCG. I myself read that particular book from Pabco's Home Page. 

Today God has restored all things in the Church, but He will soon use us to help Him restore all things in the World Tomorrow. That’s why the firstfruits are here. That’s why it’s so important that we remain loyal! (p. 59.)

So keep those tithes coming to PCG. If you don't then the world will not be saved. What madness!

Chapter 4

Are you with God? Mr. Armstrong so often asked the Church, “Are you with me?” Though most of them thought they were, time revealed that most of them were not. We must be with God and with His leader the way the Word was with God. If you say you are with God’s leader 100 percent, then you are saying you are with God 100 percent, the way Christ is with Him. We must show by our example that we will remain with God for all eternity—just as the Word, or Christ, has. (p. 61.)

And so "God's leader" (Gerald Flurry) is presented as a middleman through whom one must approach God. Flurry claims to be essentially the vicar of God, in place of God.

That is why the greatest disaster in the history of man is probably what has happened to God’s own Laodicean Church in the end time: They do not honor their Father (Mal. 1:6). They refuse to declare the Father! They have rejected the message of Jesus Christ in which He declared the Father. He was not a rebellious Son who came to declare Himself, though that is what the religions of this world teach! The Laodiceans teach that same rebellious message, in their doctrines and by their example. (p. 64.)

This is nonsense. Just obfuscating nonsense. What Flurry really means is that only PCG is legitimate in (his) God's eyes and Flurry is shrilly insisting that if anyone is not in PCG then God will cast them into the Great Tribulation.

He put His eternity on the line to preach that message; and still, 95 percent of God’s people have rejected it today. (pp. 64-65.)

Once again Flurry is indulging in fear mongering. Stay loyal to PCG or be damned in the Great Tribulation.

Satan hates the family because it is a God-plane relationship. That means it is a type of the God family. The individual human family was designed to help prepare us for the God family. That is why family! (p. 65.)

Is that last sentence grammatical?

Our Father is the Head of that wonderful, majestic God family. Our number-one passion must be to declare Him and His family! (p. 65.)

Flurry is trying to get people to train themselves to love serving PCG more then anything else. It is talk like this that produces fanaticism.

Look at our potential. We are kings and priests. We are the sons of God. Our entire lives must revolve around declaring the Father. False Christianity builds its work around the person of Christ—not His message of declaring the Father! Christ said, “[M]y Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).
Declaring the Father is what separates God’s very elect from His own Laodicean Church and the world! (p. 65.)

No, what separates the Philadelphians and the Laodiceans (according to Flurry) is whether they belong to PCG and pay the three tithes to his PCG or not. They who do he says are Philadelphians. The rest are demonized as Laodiceans.

Chapter 5

The Laodiceans are upset with God. He didn’t punish the world through the Great Tribulation and return as soon as they expected. Their weak faith caused them to get discouraged and begin to rebel. So now they must get to know the God of judgment through experience. (p. 71.)

The only reason they expected Christ to soon return was because "Elijah" told them so. Flurry is blaming the victims here. The only reason anyone in the Radio/Worldwide Church of God thought Christ would return in 1975 was because HWA told them so.

After this Flurry talks about pornography and the supposed disintegration of the family and say that one must find real joy (as he defines it) by joining PCG in order to become an immortal God being (pp. 73-74). Tithing for the rest of your life is only part of the price for this supposed reward.

Flurry then brings up Colossians insisting it is all about the Tkach changes and the rise of PCG in opposition to them and all the other COG groups. He then accuses all the COG groups, Tkach's WCG and all its offshoots of forsaking God by not joining PCG and submitting to Gerald Flurry's rule.

All the Laodicean groups have forsaken God’s government today. They are dead-set on democratic-type rule. Why do they think that way? Because they don’t really love the God of judgment. (p. 77.)

Not true. Complete nonsense. In fact many COG groups continue to practice one man rule just like PCG. Why does Flurry say untrue things?

After this Flurry says it is necessary for parents to spank their children and accuses anyone criticizing this practice of being tools of Satan.

Nothing is more abominable than abusing our own children. They must be spanked at times, but always in love.

Are you unfair when you spank your children? You’ll probably tend to be too easy, unless you follow God’s instruction on child rearing. God says that spanking is necessary (Prov. 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; 23:13). Many scholarly people say spanking is wrong, and disagree with their Creator. What authority do those people have to tell you how to rear a little child being made into the character of God? Those people know nothing about correcting a child in love! They promote Satan’s philosophy of destruction! The people in the modern nations of Israel hate correction! And now they seem too far gone to ever be corrected by words. So how can God possibly reach them now? It will take something major, because they want nothing to do with the God of judgment. (p. 78.)

Armstrongism has a long and shameful history of giving out bad advice regarding the rearing of children.

Are you rooted and grounded in your understanding? Is this your whole life? Do the roots stretch into every little facet of your life, through and through? If not, then the God of judgment will be a mystery to you. (p. 79.)

Flurry wants the reader to have PCG's dogmas very much present in the minds of his readers.

People often say that we are bashing the Laodiceans. When you’re talking about something as dark as demon worship, shouldn’t we speak out? In a family, if you saw demons moving into your children’s lives, wouldn’t you do something about it? That happens all the time in this world: If your family fractures with no parent to take charge, you are turning your children over to demons! Even in the Church, if a husband and wife are not rooted and grounded in the true God, Satan can move into that marriage and quickly tear it apart! That is not something to remain silent about! If we see the demons invading God’s own Church, isn’t it a time to do something? We are trying to protect our spiritual family from Satan and his demons. The Laodiceans are still members of God’s family. We are not bashing or attacking the lukewarm Laodiceans. We are speaking out because we love them. If we don’t speak out, something is terribly wrong with us. (p. 80.)

And so once again we see Flurry justifying the shunning of members of the other COG groups. A draconian policy that has torn apart many families and relationships.

Don’t let men judge you for the message of God, or the holy days of God. Don’t let them take you away from the wonderful revelation that God gave Mr. Armstrong and is giving the Philadelphia Church of God today. Keep these days because, as verse 17 shows, they are a shadow of things to come. If you follow the shadow of something, it will lead you to the real thing. Follow these shadows and they will lead you to the reality of Christ’s return, of Satan being bound, of the glorious Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment. These very special days are where we get all of our hope! (p. 81.)

Strange. I thought you got your hope from God, not the festivals that are perverted into Armstrongite festivals to keep people trapped into a life of financial and spiritual exploitation. Why do PCG's leaders even call themselves Christians if they get "all of [their] hope" from festivals HWA taught?

The world is about to explode in our faces. Problems are crowding in all around us, with madmen from small terrorist nations getting their hands on nuclear weapons! These are the problems Christ warned about! (p. 82.)

Never heard of this specific prediction before. Flurry seems to be prophesying that "madmen from small terrorist nations" will acquire nuclear weapons. It is insinuated that these persons will have some sort of role in destroying the United States and Great Britain.

Chapter 6

In II Kings 2 we see Elijah’s last moments of life. (p. 85.)

Here is yet another change Flurry has made from what HWA taught. HWA taught that Elijah did not ascend to Heaven here but instead was deposited in the Kingdom of Judah and lived the rest of his natural life there. This was taught in Herman Hoeh's booklet, Where Did Enoch and Elijah? Even LCG's so-called "Bible Study Course" mentioned this teaching. Yet Flurry has contradicted HWA and Hoeh by saying that Elijah's life came to an end at this time.

As you study this, you will begin to understand that honoring Mr. Armstrong as our father is very closely tied to honoring God the Father. That’s what Paul’s warning was really about. God is trying to teach us the deepest part of the gospel—the central part of this family message: that we must first of all honor the Father. Christ is telling these people how to get their lives straightened out. He is trying to get them to see the family structure. There is nothing on Earth like this inspiring message! (p. 87.)

Why do you even claim to be Christian if honoring HWA is so important. Is calling COG adherents Armstrongites really really so wrong if some of them have this attitude?

Also many of the other COG groups also teach the God Family doctrine just like PCG. So there are many other places one can learn HWA's God Family doctrine. Why does Flurry say untrue things?

God says these people are under the curse—they’re in danger of losing their eternal lives—because they’re not honoring God in this God family structure. People can reason all they want today; this is the day for human reasoning. But God is talking about the way it will be for all eternity in His family! (p. 90.)

Human reasoning is just COG jargon for anything disapproved by COG leaders.

Then Flurry says that God made a covenant with HWA to let him preach all over the world. Flurry then quotes several articles of HWA's to insist that it is necessary for PCG members to contribute to "the Work" in order to develop righteous character in order to qualify to enter the God Family.

That is significant: It is through the work that God brings us out of our getting ways. It is through the work that He gets our minds off ourselves and onto the Father and this great family plan that will continue into the Millennium before it moves out into the universe. It is through the work that we grow. (p. 92.)

And so those who are told that only Gerald Flurry can grant access to God are further told that the way to becoming the right kind of person worthy of being an immortal God being is to give and give to PCG. How convenient for PCG's leaders.

Mr. Armstrong was a paragon of obedience to God—a remarkable example of a man who feared God, so much so that he restored all things. He didn’t quit restoring after 10 or 15 truths. He was a man after God’s own heart, and he wanted to restore everything the Father wanted him to restore! And he did! (pp. 94-95.)

HWA divorced his second wife. He committed incest against his own daughter for ten years as was recently confirmed by his own niece and his own grandson. HWA did as he pleased.

They saw this “messenger” here, and in their hostility for God’s government, assumed it could not be one-man rule, with one messenger over all the other ministers! (p. 96.)

Once again "God's government" is equated with "one-man rule".

Who preserves or guards the law and government today? Who has the same law and government Mr. Armstrong had? The answer is obvious. (p. 97.)

Once again Flurry insist that salvation is only to be found within his own PCG. No one else.

The court case over Mystery of the Ages has to do with guarding knowledge. Of course, if we have it and guard it, God wants to know what we will do with it. We should get it to the largest audience possible! Let’s get it to the world! Let’s get it to our future family! Mystery of the Ages doesn’t belong to the Worldwide Church of God. It is the knowledge of God! (p. 98.)

What PCG did with Mystery of the Ages after getting it was to change it. Who cares what HWA said, PCG made him say what PCG wants.

What a blessing the end-time Levi, our spiritual father, was to us! If you honor that office, the father Levi office, you also honor God the Father! The number-one way God has arranged for us to honor God the Father is to honor our father Levi’s family message. The covenant was made with him. If you dishonor his office, you dishonor your Father. (p. 99.)

 Beginning from this point Flurry proclaims that HWA is the end time Levi.

It is not about a man, but an office. It is about the gospel of the family of God. It is about the Head of the family. It is about the good news! We need Elisha’s childlike attitude of saying father, father—an attitude willing to submit to that father and what he taught from God’s Word. (pp. 99-100.)

That is what lay members are told to be like. With such an attitude so studiously taught to lay members it is no wonder that they learn to send in so much money to PCG. So much that Stephen Flurry even once boasted that PCG was able to get an greater income per capita from their lay members then either LCG or UCG.

Mr. Armstrong taught this vision. He brought us back to the first chapter of the first book of the Bible where God said, let us make man in our image; let’s create our character in him. Let’s create a family! Should we scorn that message because it comes from a man? (p. 100.)

I have heard it stated from Roderick C. Meredith that the God Family doctrine apparently came from a mistaken interpretation of Genesis 1:26.

Where do you see new revelation coming from God? That is so much more important than parting the Jordan waters and walking across, as Elisha was able to do. What you can receive through Malachi’s Message is so much more of a miracle! Show me another church that has one bit of revelation from God. (p. 101.)

And so proclaiming self proclaimed "new revelation" is said to be even more magnificent and glorious then parting the waters. What madness!

After that Flurry reveals a shocking ignorance of Hebrew. In this passage Flurry appears ignorant of the fact that Hebrew has no upper case letters. There are no capital letters in Hebrew the way he seems to think there are here.

Verse 10 states, “Have we not all one father?…” That’s a little f, referring to Levi. “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?” Again, fathers should read Levi. The New Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance lists these two words, father and fathers, as the same. Gesenius defines fathers as, “used of the founder or the author or the father.” The Anchor Bible says that some believe fathers means the covenant of Levi in that context. That is certainly what it means. (p. 101.)

"That's a little f" in the English translation. But not in Hebrew. There are no upper or lower cases in Hebrew. Not in Biblical times and not even today. It is just so pathetic that this man has been able to get so many people to revolve their entire lives around him because they think he knows more about the Bible then anyone else yet he is ignorant of such a fundamental fact that Hebrew has no upper or lower caste letters as is shown here.

Here Flurry insinuates that the reader's children will suffer in the Great Tribulation unless he or she submits to PCG right now.

We must look upon the people of this world as potential children in God’s family. We want to get the message of Levi and Elijah to these people to give them a chance to repent BEFORE this terrible time when the Levites will be purged of the dross—put into the fiery furnace, like the gold and the silver. God doesn’t want to do that; He doesn’t want to see your little children go through something like that. He abhors it far more than you do. But God is determined to show this world the horror of sin! (p. 104.)

What emotional blackmail. The reader gets interested at watching The Key of David or reading The Philadelphia Trumpet or any of their websites, decides to read this important looking booklet and then learns that unless he or she joins PCG his or her children will be cast into the Great Tribulation. That is disgusting.

Chapter 7

Flurry claims that the Tkach changes were prepared years in advance and cites how the serialization of Mystery of the Ages in The Plain Truth had some omissions (pp. 105-108).

If you understand that, is it difficult to comprehend why God will put us through trials and tests? We are the one bride; there will never be another. We have to struggle to keep that great, stirring concept in our minds. We are the one. Nobody in the world will ever compare to the one. That is not vanity—just the truth of God. And God wants to produce Elohim seed, not just any seed, because we are the one. (p. 111.)

Since at least the 1950s Armstrongism has taught that church members will not only become immortal God beings as fully God as God is God but will be of a superior rank over every human who becomes immortal God beings after Christ's return. 

There is a messenger first, though, who prepared the way before the Messenger of the covenant. “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.” That gives you some idea of the stature of Mr. Armstrong. He prepared the way before Jesus Christ—the real Messenger. (p. 111.)

Flurry often teaches that HWA was a great man. Here HWA portrayed as so great he is used to prepare the way for Christ's return.

“Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years” (v. 4). Which former years? The time of that messenger—Levi. God says the whole world will continue that work. If these Laodiceans are to repent, they will have to get back to the way it was in the days of old—the way it was when Mr. Armstrong was here. That is what God will tell people in the World Tomorrow. He will tell them to do things the way they were done in the old days, and then we’ll begin to teach them what Mr. Armstrong taught. They’ll begin to learn what we did in this end time. (p. 112.)

However Flurry claims to be the sole legitimate continuation of HWA's WCG. So consequently when he claims that one must return to what HWA said it is really an attempt to persuade the readers to join PCG. And in fact PCG has changed many of HWA's doctrines, even HWA's own words in his writings.

Mystery of the Ages has power to help bring people to God. That is why Satan hates it so much! Even that ought to prove to us where the God of Elijah is. If we didn’t have God’s protection, we wouldn’t last a month against Satan. That is why your prayers are so essential. (pp. 114-115.)

Mystery of the Ages is filled with numerous inaccuracies and nonsensical ideas. There was no "Dark Century" as HWA taught in that book. British Israelism is still untrue and that book constantly promotes that nonsensical doctrine.

All they have to do is go back to the beginning of the work that God did through Mr. Armstrong. All of the Laodiceans should know what we’re talking about, but they always come back with ignorant and rebellious questions: Where shall we return? I don’t get it! Return to what? (p. 115.)

Once again those not in PCG are demonized as stubborn rebels. Flurry does this as a way of nullifying the many concerns about his group and to obscure the fact many much more prominent then Gerald Flurry chose not to associate with him. Only one other WCG minister, his assistant John Amos, chose to follow FLurry's banner. No other WCG minister did so. 

So God sends Malachi’s Message, a warning so simple any 10-year-old could understand it, leaving them with no excuse. But they keep stubbornly talking back to God. That’s really what they are doing when they talk back to His very elect today. (p. 116.) 

Consequently any objection or refusal to join PCG is demonized as defiance against God. There is a sleight of hand. Those who choose not to join PCG are not defying God. But they are defying Gerald Flurry. By not joining PCG they are not contributing to the funds of PCG. No wonder Flurry is annoyed at such people.

Notice verse 9. “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.” ... So a better translation of that is, you have robbed me and this whole world. ... If you get away from God’s message and use tithes and offerings for something other than serving the entire world, you are robbing God! (pp. 116-117.)

And thus it is implied that unless one belongs to PCG and pay the three tithes then he or she is robbing God. Life outside of PCG is vilified as inherently vile and monstrous (robbing God) and so the reader is told he or she has no choice but to join PCG in order to gain God's favor.

We are the hope of the world. No other hope exists. The world has nothing to look forward to. Christ’s bride, however, who is concerned about her future children, does everything she can to help those people. (p. 117.)

Strange. I thought you would have said that about Christ. If you PCG members and ministers are the hope of the world why call yourselves Christians?

Can you imagine what it would be like if all of God’s people were here, giving their tithes and offerings to this work? We’d blast the world with this modern technology like they have never, ever received the truth of God before! (p. 117.)

Nonsense. Even if WCG maintained its unity or even if PCG was able to seize 90 per cent of WCG's members and income it would still just be a relatively small sect that the vast majority of people never even heard of.

Books like The Incredible Human Potential and The Missing Dimension in Sex don’t belong to the Laodiceans—they are needed out in this world. God gave His people His truth and said, I want you to get it out there to the nations. If you don’t, you are robbing them of this wonderful truth! You’re a robber! We need to have people reading The Missing Dimension in Sex, if we can get it to them. Does The Wonderful World Tomorrow belong to the Worldwide Church of God? No! It belongs to this world. They need that hope. What about the correspondence course Mr. Armstrong established? That belongs to this world too. So does The United States and Britain in Prophecy, because you can’t understand one third of the Bible without it. (p. 118.)

Actually the Judges decided that legally Tkach's WCG not only owned the copyrights they had the right to order PCG not to publish them and the Judges sided with Tkach's WCG. While it is perfectly understandable why those who contributed to HWA's WCG, often at great cost, feel it was not right that Tkach's WCG had the copyrights to HWA's writings, legally speaking they did belong to the WCG organization. PCG later discovered this the hard way when they lost the court case after using so much money to argue their case. However luckily for PCG the post-trial negotiations ended with Tkach's WCG agreeing to essentially sell the copyrights for $3 million to PCG. PCG did not win in court, they just bought HWA's writings.

Flurry often boasts that possessing the copyrights of these eighteen works by HWA prove that he is the sole legitimate continuation of HWA's WCG.

God says, if I give you this word, and you are my watchmen, and you don’t get that message out there to them, their blood is on your head. That means you must pay with your life, and there’s a 50-50 chance you will die spiritually too.

This is about fulfilling our responsibility as Christ’s helpmeet to get all these wonderful words that Levi [HWA] left us out to this world! And God help us if we don’t, because—at best— physical blood will be spilled. God help anyone who refuses to do this job—who robs the world of this warning. (p. 118.)

Do not complain that getting in a legal struggle with Tkach's WCG was a bad idea and that it would have been more efficient to use the money spent on that on other things like every other COG group. If you are opposed to the court case on tactical grounds you will be cast into the Great Tribulation. That is essentially what Flurry is saying here.

This is Flurry's way of getting PCG members to go along with what he wants to do with the court case and to demonize any dissent that the lay members who were funding this expensive court case may have about it.

It is easy to hear these words and think of how wonderful they are and not do anything about them. As Mr. Armstrong always said, knowledge unapplied is of no value. This message, if we don’t get it out to the world, and we don’t apply it to our own lives, is of no value. (p. 119.)

Of course Flurry would say that. He wrote this booklet and every other booklet hoping to persuade the reader to join PCG and pay the three tithes to his PCG. He does not want the readers to meditate on PCG's dogmas and pray to PCG's God privately in their own homes. That means less money for his PCG.

When God says, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, and this whole world,” He’s talking about getting all of Mr. Armstrong’s instructions to the whole world! That is what God is upset about here. He wants us to get more of that message out to people. That is why we need your prayers. God has given the greatest gift He could give to the world, and now He is depending on His very elect to deliver it. This is the world’s only hope. God doesn’t want them to die. He wants them to live—to have a chance to repent. (p. 120.)

So HWA's "instructions" are here said by Flurry to be "the world's only hope." No wonder PCG is often labeled as treating HWA in an idolatrous manner. If HWA's "instructions" are the only hope for the world then why even pretend to call yourselves Christians?

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Mal. 3:10). Put God to the test, and see if He doesn’t open up the windows of heaven for you physically and, more importantly, spiritually. (p. 120.)

This is Gerald Flurry calling for yet more tithes from his followers within PCG and (he hopes) from any potential convert. 

Don’t let Satan take this away from you, as he has taken it from so many of God’s people. Incredible as it is, the Laodiceans have shunned this great vision, and instead have chosen the curse. (p. 121.)

Once again anyone who is not in PCG is vilified as being without any sense. There is no legitimate reason not to be in PCG according to him. There is what Lifton called "Dispensing of Existence". To be outside of PCG is vilified as being a vile state unworthy of living in.

That is one reason why Flurry goes on and on about the Great Tribulation and accusing the other COG groups of being doomed to endure it. It tells PCG members that they must stay or face a most horrifying fate.

Some wonder why PCG members continue to stay despite the problems there. Partly it is because they think they have no choice and leaving PCG is viewed as not an option worth pursuing. They think leaving or getting kicked out will doom them to endure the Great Tribulation. In fact this is an induced phobia designed to keep PCG members under control of the group. Many authoritarian groups use similar tactics to keep their followers in the group.

The court case and the other battles we face are not with men. They are with Satan the devil. But we are God’s helpmeet, and He says He will rebuke the devourer. And Christ does that; He looks after His people. After all, we are the bride of Jesus Christ. With all the power that our Husband has, when He says He’ll rebuke the devourer, He means it. But He also wants us to step out in faith and do everything we can. (p. 122.)

So do not complain about how only PCG gets itself caught up in a very expensive legal struggle with Tkach's WCG and later having to shell out $3 million to the supposed Man of Sin who is supposedly guilty of committing the worst cries on Earth because so many former followers of HWA (according to Flurry) lost their salvation because of him.

Hang on to this vision; don’t give up! Our Husband will be here soon. (p. 122.)

Flurry and HWA before him have been constantly saying this since the 1930s and they are still waiting.

Chapter 8

Where is the God of Elijah? Wherever you find the God of Elijah, you will find the material that the Elijah produced through God’s inspiration! God’s remnant will be proclaiming it to the world! Where is the God of Elijah? Well, where is all the literature the Elijah produced? (p. 126.)

Do you mean herbert-w-armstrong.org? They have far more of HWA's writings then PCG has.You can read every Plain Truth issue from 1934 to 1986 there. You also read every Good News issue from 1952 to 1989. You can also read The Worldwide News issues from 1973 to 1995. That is far more of HWA's writings then PCG has.

But notice again Malachi 3:1: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me …”—before Jesus Christ’s Second Coming. There is all this chaos in God’s Church; many are stumbling at the law—then God says, “I will send my messenger.” Why didn’t God say, “I have sent”? It’s as if Mr. Armstrong was sent after or even during this crisis. ...

If we see this as God sees it, we realize that God wants this very elect remnant to resurrect the work of Elijah and send him again! It says that to the Malachi group—those people with Malachi’s Message. It is telling them to “prophesy again” (Rev. 10:11) in the context of the great mystery (v. 7). God wants us to get the same prophecy out there again—including some new revelation, like what you are reading right now. (p. 127.)

And so we see once again how Flurry makes anything mean anything. Once again Flurry is saying that the Bible is all about the Tkach changes and the rise of PCG in opposition to them. He does that a lot.

There are actually three messengers discussed in Malachi: the Messenger of the covenant—Jesus Christ; the Elijah messenger; and the Malachi messenger. The last two are human. So where have they appeared in this end time doing God’s work? Where is the God of Elijah today? (p. 131.)

Once again Flurry is reading current events into the Bible.

Read, however, how God’s Laodicean children respond to Him! “Wherein hast thou loved us?” They want to be left alone. Dad, just leave me alone! a son might say as he gets to be a teenager. Dads who don’t love their sons just leave them alone. But if you really love your son, you will not leave him alone. (p. 133.)

Once again the members of the other COG groups are belittled as being like petulant teenagers. The possibility that perhaps most WCG members have very good reasons to stay out of PCG is not admitted at all. Flurry does not allow that there could be any legitimate reason not to be in PCG. Not being in PCG is vilified as being in and of itself a most vile, hateful and rebellious act. And that is what Lifton called the "Dispensing of Existence", which he identified as one of the eight criteria for thought reform, or what is often referred to as brainwashing.

Then Flurry talks about Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of soup and accuses "the Laodiceans" of selling their right to become immortal God beings "for a bowl of soup" by not being a part of PCG.

Esau had his family’s birthright and sold it for a bowl of soup. The Laodiceans are rich and increased with goods. Yet even if they have all the riches and goods in the world and they turn away from God, they are still selling their inheritance—their magnificent future as firstfruits—for a bowl of soup! God states it bluntly. ... If you sell your birthright for all the wealth in the world today, it’s still just a bowl of soup! (pp. 133-134.)

Here Flurry redefines "a bowl of soup" as not being in PCG for any reason. Once again Flurry asserts that there is no legitimate reason not to be in PCG.

Jesus Christ didn’t die for them so they could give lame sacrifices to the great God! That is not why He came to Earth and was savaged by mankind! Do we realize what we are doing when we offer lame, puny, weak sacrifices? Can’t we muster up enough strength—through prayer, study, fasting and meditating on God’s Word—to give our best to God? He died for us! We would not even have this opportunity if He hadn’t done that. There is a tremendous cost for sin. Don’t take these sacrifices lightly. Don’t take this religion lightly. (p. 135.)

Flurry wants the reader to be very focused on doing what PCG tells him or her to do. It makes it harder for them to notice that they have little power within PCG.

Verse 10 is about ministers who should have shut the doors—who should have risen up when things began to go astray! But they did nothing. So God shuts the doors—He won’t even accept an offering from them! (p. 136.)

Flurry is always very eager to proclaim his legitimacy as opposed to the many other COG splinter groups. Here he is boasting that he got out of WCG before many of the other COG groups emerged from the dissatisfaction from the Tkach changes.

Was there a man who took God’s message to the world and showed the people that God’s name is great—and offered the truth in every nation? This has already happened! (p. 136.)

The vast majority of people on Earth today do not know who Herbert W. Armstrong was.

That is impressive; and God was impressed! God has nothing but fantastic praise for the end-time Elijah because of the work he did for Him. (p. 137.)

My word! Flurry makes HWA sound like Jesus Christ himself.

God is trying to get us out of Earth’s orbit spiritually, so we just take off like a rocket into the universe. (p. 138.)

Never heard that expression before.

“Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?” (v. 14). They don’t do God’s work, because it’s vain to them. And they’re walking around mournfully because of it. But God wants us to have real joy. If we go through life mournfully, then something is wrong; we’re not using that Spirit the way we should. We should be on a spiritual high most of the time. Of course we have trials and may struggle at times to fight depression, but the Laodiceans have a mournful way of life. They even admit it. (p. 139.)

Flurry spoke of his followers being on a spiritual high in his booklet, Jeremiah and the Greatest Vision in the Bible as well, as may be seen in a previous post.

Christ is personally inviting His bride to sit at headquarters, where the Laodiceans will not be allowed to sit. Most of God’s people today have not overcome, but God still makes the promise to you. (p. 140.)

Here Flurry tries to make the reader feel special.

Chapter 9

Large parts of this chapter was taken from Gerald Flurry's booklet, Colossians, which was discussed in a previous post.

Their spiritual father, the physical head of God’s Church, Mr. Armstrong, lived in the worst kind of poverty for 28 years—during which he said that he and his wife had never before been so spiritually rich. What hard trials he had to endure. But he had the God family vision. He saw the Father. He was thrilled and excited to know Him—to know that he could be called a son of God! (p. 152.)

HWA did not have the God Family vision during that time. It was only in the late 1940s to early 1950s after the establishment of Ambassador College that HWA taught the God Family doctrine. During all the time HWA was supposedly in poverty he did not teach the God Family doctrine. In fact as late as the 1940s it appears that HWA believed in the Trinity as may be seen in the following article.

Then, I [Richard C. Nickels] faced a unpleasant discovery: Herbert Armstrong was a trinitarian in his early years! It appears that his trinitarian beliefs continued into the early 1940s, in spite of the fact that the Church of God (Seventh Day) that he worked with during his early years were anti-trinitarians, and some were Arians. I developed more than one cold sweat deciding what to do with this information. "If I publish this discovery, perhaps it will be used by some to support their current Trinitarian concepts," I thought. After much prayer and soul-searching, I decided that I would let the chips fall where they may. After all, I might not like the Truth, but I would be guilty of a cover up if I did not relate the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth. (Richard C. Nickels, The Importance of Church of God History.)

(Please note that this website continues to promote HWA's anti-medicine superstition which he took from the Jehovah's Witnesses.)

Well, here I am using this discovery to note that Gerald Flurry is wrong to state that HWA was encouraged by the God Family doctrine during his supposed 28 years of poverty because he had not yet adopted that doctrine.

***

So we have seen from this booklet that Gerald Flurry

• seems to believe that the Kennedy family actually is cursed. He implies this is similar to what happened to Eli and his progeny. This suggests that Flurry thinks the Kennedy family is the continuation of the family of Eli, which is utterly absurd considering they lived about 3000 years ago (Chapter 3).

• uses PCG's publication of some of HWA's writings to claim to be the sole legitimate successor to HWA.

• inaccurately accuses "the Laodiceans" of being impatient that Christ had not returned as soon as "they" wanted, obscuring the fact that it was the leaders such as HWA and Hoeh who insisted that Christ had to return in 1975 (Chapter 5, p. 71).

• inaccurately accuses "the Laodiceans" of wanting "democratic-type rule" for themselves. Many COG groups do not have that (Chapter 5, p. 77).

• nonsensically talks about "a little f" in one passage of Scripture seemingly ignorant that there are no letter cases in Hebrew. Capital letters and lower case letters have been added in because that is how English is written, not Hebrew (Chapter 6, p. 101.).

• threatens the children of PCG members with getting cast into the Great Tribulation if the members should not stay in PCG. "He [PCG's parody of God] doesn’t want to see your little children go through something like that." How can one emotionally blackmail people more blatantly? (Chapter 6, p. 104).

• says PCG distributing Mystery of the Ages is the world's only hope.

• says HWA is the end time Levi specifically spoken of in Scripture (Chapter 8).

This is all nonsense designed to get members who submit to what they are told to do by the leaders of PCG. Not least this is done to get them to pay the three tithes and extra offerings to PCG.