Chapter 4
Gerald Flurry denounces an article by Herman Hoeh from the November-December 1987 issue of Good News (pp. 9-12) and accuses him of minimizing HWA's importance in producing (PCG's approved interpretation of) prophecy.
In an article he wrote less than one year after Herbert W. Armstrong's death, A Sealed Prophecy Now Open to Understanding," Herman Hoeh didn't mention anything about the many revelations that God gave to Mr. Armstrong. ... Dr. Hoeh wrote, "Some tried to explain this enigmatic prophecy before God's time came to reveal it." Those are strong words. He was implying that God had revealed this prophecy to him, for the Church. The truth is, God did no such thing. (pp. 77-78.)
Flurry fails to mention that Hoeh's article was a denunciation of the Seventh Day Adventist interpretation of Daniel 8. Several times Hoeh mentions interpretations that link Daniel 8 to the date 1844. Hoeh's article is clearly criticizing the Seventh Day Adventist interpretation of this passage. However Flurry presented Hoeh's article as though it were an attempt to minimize HWA's contribution the Armstrongite interpretation of prophecy. Anyone who soberly looked up what Hoeh said in that 1987 article will see that is not true.
Even though Flurry states that Hoeh's article was written less than a year after HWA's death it was actually published over a year after HWA's death when it was published in the November-December 1987 issue of Good News.
Flurry then links Hoeh with the court case with Tkach's WCG which is melodramatically portrayed as an attempt to hang on to (what the PCG leadership calls) the truth.
In fact, we had to fight him [Herman Hoeh] personally in court depositions to hang on to that truth! (p. 79.)
How can these words be true? It is not legally possible for Tkach's WCG to prevent PCG from practicing their religion. It would have been easy for PCG to continue practicing their religion without using HWA's writings just like every other Armstrongite group like LCG, UCG, COGWA and the others. If PCG had done that they would have avoided a lengthy and expensive court case.
Flurry accuses Hoeh of making false predictions without authorization from HWA. However he does not state what prediction he is referring to.
Even when Mr. Armstrong was ill, Dr. Hoeh came out with some prophecies that were wrong and quite different than what Mr. Armstrong was used by God to restore. We must be certain not to make that mistake! Why would men of such high rank, to whom God had given such honor, make such catastrophic mistakes? (p. 79.)
As I emphasized in Daniel: Unsealed at Last!, the meaning of the book’s name is critical: “God is my judge.” (p. 80.)
That is the name of Daniel. To take his name and assume it reveals something about the content of the book is taking his name out of context.
Pages 81-84 is largely a rehash of Armstrongite dogma citing Daniel and Revelation.
Then came 10 resurrections of that beast. This power kept coming back. Here God says it received a deadly wound. We mustn’t have the misconception that it just degenerated and collapsed—it received a deadly wound and almost died. That is why the Roman Catholic Church had such a vengeance in resurrecting a strong empire—the last seven of those 10 horns (after the first three horns were uprooted). (p. 84.)
This is not true. The Papacy did not revive the Roman Empire. The Papacy did not trick the Byzantine Empire to conquer Italy. The Byzantine Empire, under the leadership of Emperor Justinian, chose to advance into what we now call Italy for their own motives. The claim that the Papacy caused the Byzantine Empire's expansion at this time is an Armstrongite myth made to promote Armstrongite false prophecies.
In A.D. 554, Justinian, Emperor of the East, from Constantinople, set up his government through an Imperial Legate at Ravenna, Italy, and brought about what is known in history as the “Imperial Restoration” of the Empire. (p. 84.)
The Imperial Restoration is practically only mentioned by Armstrongites to prop up their prophetic dogmas. Look up any account of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-65) in the history books. The Imperial Restoration as taught by the Armstrongites is a myth.
Flurry then praises "Philadelphians," in this context PCG members in good standing, as loving prophecy as opposed to "Laodiceans" in this context followers of WCG/GCI after the Tkach changes. And because Flurry thinks love and obeying rules are the same this leads him to make a call for his followers to follow rituals and rules derived from Armstrongism's selective adoption of certain Jewish rituals and rules.
Flurry then goes back to "loving prophecy" by saying the future Germany and the future Papacy would be very scary and horrifying. Flurry insists that a scary German leader fated to conquer America is about to arise. At this time in 2005 the PCG leadership was fixated on Edmund Stoiber, chairman of the Christian Social Union.
This man doesn’t think he would do murderous deeds (Isaiah 10:6-7). But Satan is going to get to him—he will experience a mind change (Habakkuk 1:11).
That man could be coming on the scene as early as this year--2005--or 2006. There has been a dramatic shift in German politics and new elections are scheduled to be held in September of this year. Watch those elections when they come! Or see how a man could manipulate the system. Regardless of when this "king of fierce countenance" appears, it is going to be for an extremely short span of time. (p. 96.)
Stoiber has been chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria from 1999. He challenged Schröder in the 2002 election. He lost but the PCG leadership continued to scare monger about him to their followers. Contrary to PCG's prediction Stoiber left the chairmanship in 2007. From about 2009 onward PCG redirected their scare mongering on Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. PCG has quietly erased their previous speculation. Here is how this passage now appears in the current 2019 version of this booklet.
This man doesn’t think he would do murderous deeds (Isaiah 10:6-7). But Satan is going to get to him—he will experience a mind change (Habakkuk 1:11).
That man could be coming on the scene very soon. Regardless of when this “king of fierce countenance” appears, it is going to be for an extremely short span of time. (2019 edition, p. 124.)
Clearly the PCG leadership cannot predict the future.
Flurry ends with this call to his readers for supporting PCG.
It is left to us now--you and me. This little remnant has been given that watch. We're all that is left, and God says, I want you to WATCH and PRAY, PROCLAIM my message and finish the work! Then, we will all STAND BEFORE THE SON OF MAN! (p. 102.)
However the PCG leadership have made many false prophecies since its founding in 1989 thus proving that the PCG leadership cannot see what will happen in the future. There is no need to be afraid of PCG's dire predictions of the future.
