Reading Dave Hunt's Denunciation of Catholicism

In 2000 I saw LCG's telecast, Tomorrow's World, and began to believe in the many doctrines of Armstrongism as taught by Roderick C. Meredith's Living Church of God.

While I progressively fell into believing Armstrongism's dogmas courtesy of Roderick C. Meredith's Living Church of God I was particularly taken aback with Roderick C. Meredith's article, "Who is the Harlot of Revelation 17?" in the January-February 2001 issue of their magazine, Tomorrow's World.

I was stunned to be told that the Roman Catholic Church was this mysterious figure mentioned in Revelation 17. It was a thought I had never encountered before. I found it quite exciting to be let in to this secret about them. By this time I had months earlier gotten into the habit of just trusting whatever LCG's writers told me so I accepted this dogma as well.

It was in this article that I first heard about Dave Hunt. While demonizing the Roman Catholic Church in order to make his claim that it is the harlot of Revelation 17 Meredith cited a book by one Dave Hunt.

In his well-documented book, A Woman Rides the Beast (pp. 243-244), author Dave Hunt describes what the "woman" did for hundreds of years during the Middle Ages: 

Thus Roman Catholicism became "the most persecuting faith the world has ever seen… [commanding] the throne to impose the Christian [Catholic] religion on all its subjects. Innocent III murdered far more Christians in one afternoon… than any Roman emperor did in his entire reign." Will Durant writes candidly: "Compared with the persecution of heresy in Europe from 1227 to 1492, the persecution of Christians by Romans in the first three centuries after Christ was a mild and humane procedure. 

Making every allowance required by an historian and permitted to a Christian, we must rank the Inquisition, along with the wars and persecutions of our time, as among the darkest blots on the record of mankind, revealing a ferocity unknown in any beast. (Meredith, Who is the Harlot of Revelation 17?, Tomorrow's World, January-February 2001, p. 5.)

(The last paragraph in the quote above is mistakenly presented in the 2001 article as though they were Meredith's words. In actual fact they are a continuation of the quote from Will Durant as is plainly seen when looking on page 244 of Hunt's book. This error is corrected when these words are used again in Meredith's booklet, Who or What is the Antichrist?)

The footnotes for the quotes above are "Ibid. [Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy (Crown Publishers, 1988)], p. 35, and jacket." He is referring to the sacking of Béziers in 1209 during the infamous Albigensian Crusade. The second footnote is "Will Durant, The Story of Civilization (Simon and Schuster, 1950), vol. IV, p. 784."

Such strong words seemed astonishing. Meredith mentioned Hunt again in the article.

Dave Hunt describes the blasphemous pretentions of the papacy:

The total submission that Rome requires has been expressed by many popes, but none said it more clearly than Nicholas I (858-67): 

It is evident that the popes can neither be bound nor unbound by any earthly power, nor even by that of the apostle [Peter], if he should return upon the earth; since Constantine the Great has recognized that the pontiffs held the place of God upon earth, the divinity not being able to be judged by any living man. We are, then, infallible, and whatever may be our acts, we are not accountable for them but to ourselves. (A Woman Rides the Beast, pp. 153-154). (Meredith, Who is the Harlot of Revelation 17?, Tomorrow's World, January-February 2001, p. 6-7.)

(The footnote for the quote above from page 558 of Hunt's book (Chapter 11, number 5). Strangely enough the footnote in Hunt's book appears to be in error. Here is the footnote with corrected page numbers. "Cormenin, History of the Popes, p. 243 [p. 248], as cited in R.W Thompson, The Papacy and the Civil Power (New York, 1876), p. 248 [p. 368]." The quote is attributed to one Gratian.)

What powerful words. How stirring they seemed to me at the time.

I had never heard of this idea that the Roman Catholic Church was mentioned in Revelation 17. I had never heard of this Dave Hunt before so I got it and read Dave Hunt's book. This book, A Woman Rides the Beast, was first published in 1994.

Later I listened to some of LCG's sermons. In one of them Meredith quoted the opening chapter of that book. It is entitled "Overturning the Reformation" and it is a condemnation of a 1994 document Hunt regarded as giving too much legitimacy to the Roman Catholic Church. Meredith quoted this to accuses these Protestants of renouncing the Reformation by making peace with the Roman Catholic Church.

I did not understand this at the time but Armstrongism has a long history of fear mongering any ecumenical development between Christian churches because they teach that in the future the Roman Catholic Church will somehow seize control of the Protestant churches. Thus any sign of friendship between the Protestant and Catholic churches is hysterically condemned by the COGs as a sign that the Roman Catholic Church will soon seize control of the Protestant churches.  

It is astounding what one's mind can do once one accepts something as true. Meredith cited Dave Hunt even though Hunt taught many things contrary to what LCG taught. How I read shows just how indoctrinated into Armstrongism I was at the time.

Whenever Hunt said something that was in accord with what LCG taught I believed and accepted Hunt's words.

Whenever Hunt said something contrary to what LCG taught I reminded myself that Hunt was wrong and ignored the contrary information.

Om page 32 Hunt states that Jesus Christ went into Jerusalem on April 6, AD 32. But Meredith told me in one of his booklets that Jesus had actually been crucified in AD 31 in order to justify his claim that Jesus was resurrected on Saturday and not on Sunday. So I disregarded what Hunt said in favor of Meredith.

Meredith and LCG's writers taught me that there would be two sinister personages who would arise in Europe to launch the Great Tribulation, a European dictator who would command the soon coming European Beast Power and the final Pope, sometimes referred to as the false prophet, who would be able to miraculously make fire fall from heaven and would tell people to follow the European dictator. Meredith and Co. said this false prophet is the Antichrist.

On the other hand Hunt taught that the European dictator is the Antichrist. Not the last Pope. I just told myself that Meredith was right and Hunt was right on this matter.

In chapter 11 Hunt makes the following statement while condemning Papal infallibility.

In the next chapter Peter errs seriously again, with another heretical pronouncement. He puts Christ on the same level with Moses and Elias: "Let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias" (Matthew 17:4). This time it is God Himself from heaven who rebukes the "new pope": "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him" (verse 5). (Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast, 1994, p. 154.)

How different these words are compared to HWA's God Family heresy which asserts that one becomes as fully God as God is God after being resurrected, though of a lower rank.  

Hunt talked about the Tower of Babel and on page 64 mentions how it was used in posters promoting the European Union.

Hunt talked about the various scandals that have involved past Popes, some of which are quite ghastly.

While reading Hunt I first learned of the Decretals. I had heard of the Donation of Constantine before but not of these Decretals.

One thing that is praiseworthy of this book is that Hunt discussed the rampant sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests and how they were covered up by those higher up within the hierarchy. Hunt condemned this in 1994 before knowledge of those terrible things reached mainstream discussion. (Chapter 12, pp. 170-6.)

Chapters 18-21 (pp. 265-326) are largely concerned with the rise of Nazism and the Papacy's relations with the Nazi regime. Chapter 20 discusses the infamous genocide by the Ustaše in Croatia against ethnic Serbs during World War II. Chapter 21 discusses the ratlines in which various Nazis were able to clandestinely flee to Latin America with help from sympathizers. (PCG would like those last two chapters.)

Chapter 22-24 are focused on the theological differences between Catholicism and Protestantism.

This leads to Chapter 25 which argues that maintaining positive relations with the Roman Catholic Church is a betrayal of those Protestants who died due to Catholic persecution.

Chapter 26 then condemns ecumenical relations with the Roman Catholic Church as apostasy and forbidden for Christians.

Chapter 27 talks about various visions of Mary among Catholics. I had heard about some of these visions of Mary before but I had never read someone condemning them until I read this book.

Chapter 28 then warns that the visions of Mary might be used as part of the rise of some kind of sinister one world religion to arise just before Christ's return.

There are appendixes. The last three appendixes were added into the book in 2000.

Appendix F contains these words concerning Catholicism's views on abortion.

From the fifth century onward, Aristotle's view that the embryo goes through stages from vegetable to animal to spiritual was accepted. Only in the final stages was it human. Thus Gregory VI (1045-6) said, "He is not a murderer who brings about abortion before the soul is in the body." Gregory XIII (1572-85) said it was not homicide to kill an embryo of less than 40 days since it wasn't yet human. His successor, Sixtus V, who rewrote the Bible, disagreed. His Bull of 1588 made all abortions for any reason homicide and cause for excommunication. His successor, Gregory XIV, reversed that decree. In 1621 the Vatican issued another pastoral directive permitting abortion up to 40 days. As late as the eighteenth century the Church's greatest moral theologian, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, still denied that the soul was infused at conception and allowed for flexibility, especially when the mother's life was in danger. Finally, in 1869, Pius IX declared that any destruction of any embryo was an abortion and merited excommunication--a view that remains to this day. (Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast, pp. 519-520.)

Appendix H concerns Pope John Paul II's visit to the Holy Land in 2000. In that appendix Hunt makes the following bizarre and dreadfully inaccurate statement.

The Pope repeatedly referred to Jerusalem as holy to Muslims in spite of the fact that it is not mentioned even once in the Koran and never was considered a holy site to Muslims until very recently as a ploy to expel the Jews. (p. 531.)

That statement is wrong. The site of the Temple Mount has been sacred to Muslims for over 1300 years. That is long before the Holy Land saw the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hunt is grievously wrong on this matter. Those who read this book are ill served with these words.

And so this reminiscence of Dave Hunt's book comes to an end.

How strange it is that Meredith, so often condemning all Christians outside of Armstrongism as false, would then use a book by one of these "false Christians," to "prove" his doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church will be part of the future European Empire that Armstrongites have been constantly insisting will soon conquer the United States since the 1930s. And yet Dave Hunt would be most vehemently opposed to Armstrongism.

Gerald Flurry Wanting His Followers to be "on a Spiritual High"

Every now and then Gerald Flurry tells his followers within his PCG that they should be "on a spiritual high".

As seen in a previous post.

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. This is where Christ and the firstfruits will begin to change the whole world! This is where God started working with His end-time Elijah, Herbert W. Armstrong. This is where it all starts! We must learn this lesson if we are to rule the world with Christ. (Gerald Flurry, Jeremiah and the Greatest Vision in the Bible, Chapter 8, p. 103.)

And as seen in a previous post.

“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?” (verse 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." (Gerald Flurry, The God Family Vision, Chapter 8,  p. 130.)

I know what being "on a spiritual high" is like. I well remember when I first sent money to LCG. I was so happy. Deliriously so. I also thought that if I gave money to God in this way that God would bless me and I would have even more money. But the rush of happy feelings was so strong it seemed like such a great thing to do. Surely it is that delirious state that Flurry is referring to as being "on a spiritual high".

I did it again and gave them more money. But I hasten to add that I did not lose much money to LCG. But knowing how I felt that time I can well imagine how people can lose so much to people who can get them to be "on a spiritual high" like that. I can well imagine how one can be more easy to manipulate while in such a state.

PCG Troll Comment on Banned by HWA

Recently a commenter who appears to be in PCG left behind a comment at Banned by HWA. Here it is.

You people and this site disgust me! Mr. Hilliker is a man of God who IS educated in the truth and not the lies of a seminary or a university. Satan is using you to turn people away from God the Father who IS using Mr. Flurry and the Philadelphia Church of God as a witness to the apostate COG's who are Laodicean so that they wake up and share with us in God's eternal glory. You are destined to the lake of fire if you do not repent of this damnable heretical site and the lies you spread about God's ministers and prophets. 

That comment by the PCG member is most fascinating. I view this as an opportunity to see what PCG members think.

That comment by the PCG member is most fascinating to me.

Mr. Hilliker is a man of God who IS educated in the truth and not the lies of a seminary or a university.

OK. So you think educational institutions should only teach what you think is true? That is not how education works.

Satan is using you to turn people away from God the Father ...

How on Earth are we doing this? By saying that Gerald Flurry says things that are not true?

How convenient for you to think that anyone who disagrees with what PCG teaches are tools of Satan. You can just ignore anything they say even if it happens to be totally true.

God the Father ... IS using Mr. Flurry and the Philadelphia Church of God as a witness to the apostate COG's who are Laodicean so that they wake up and share with us in God's eternal glory.

How many "Laodiceans" have actually converted and joined PCG in the last five years? If it is really the (or a) commission of PCG to get the other COG groups into PCG then clearly PCG has for the most part failed to persuade most WCG members and the other COG groups from joining PCG.

And if converting the other COG groups was really so important to Flurry and Co. why did they spend more then a year's worth of income that this PCG commenter sent them into building Armstrong Auditorium?

As far as I can tell PCG went through your typical advertizing boom and bust. It spread widely (went viral you could say) among disaffected WCG members in the 1990s as the Tkach changes proceeded. But eventually it reached saturation and gradually stopped growing among WCG members. The situation stabilized as they do. Also Flurry was not particularly important within HWA's WCG so he could not attract the largest following out of Tkach's WCG.

Actually the real reason the other COG groups are constantly demonized as fated to be in the Great Tribulation is to make you not pay attention to them or listen to them.

I well remember the first time I watched one of UCG's telecasts. I knew UCG was related to LCG and PCG. But even then I was shocked, utterly shocked, to see that they taught so much of what I had learned from LCG. They were not that different from LCG. I first watched a UCG telecast after I had renounced Armstrongism.

It seems to me that the other COG groups are demonized in order to prevent PCG members from noticing how similar the other COG groups are to them. This seems to be a classic example of information control.

Also there is nothing noble or generous about shunning people. Shunning is a brutal attempt to control people as vicious as a flying wooden baton.

PCG's leaders have strong motives to make the lay members avoid ex-members and the other COG groups. They were just ordinary men within HWA's WCG. But PCG has made them the masters of thousands (still smaller then Tkach's WCG, UCG and LCG though) with about $19 million going into their coffers a year. They are having the time of their lives and they certainly will try to protect the power and privilege they now have. And they know if a mass defection occurs the party will be over for them.

And that is why shunning occurs in groups like this.

To me this comment only exposes how peoples' minds have been warped and certainly will not make me or hardly anyone else considering joining PCG.

Reading PCG's Lamentations and the End-Time Laodiceans

I shall here read and discuss Gerald Flurry's booklet, Lamentations and the End-Time Laodiceans, which was published in 1993. It was one of the first booklets produced by PCG. Dennis Leap is also credited with providing editorial assistance.

(Note: This is not to be confused with the current Lamentations booklet PCG publishes, Lamentations: The Point of No Return, which was released in 2008 and appears to have replaced this booklet.)

Chapter 1

Gerald Flurry insists that Satan was cast out of Heaven and upon the Earth upon HWA's death and this is what has given Tkach Sr. the power to implement the changes within WCG. This is a doctrine peculiar to PCG in the world of Armstrongism.

All of these other dire prophecies in Matthew 24 also began to intensify when Mr. Armstrong died. And the pace is accelerating! (p. 2.)

Is God doing it by casting down Satan? Perhaps Satan was cast down to do a very specific job. God sent a lying spirit to persuade evil king Ahab on a matter (I Kings 22:20-23). (p. 3.)

In II Thessalonians 2 we see that Satan is using all of his power. As a result God’s own people are perishing spiritually. It also appears that Satan was cast down when Mr. Armstrong died. Prophecy says Satan was to be cast down and never have access to God’s throne again. (p. 4.)

Wait. I thought this booklet is about Lamentations. Why is Flurry bringing up Matthew 24 and II Thessalonians 2?

***

In condemning Tkach for making the changes in WCG Flurry states that Russians are uncommonly devious and deceitful.

The last warning to the Philadelphians is to let “NO MAN take your crown” (Rev. 3:11). If God would send “strong delusion” through Satan—the best tool to do the job—God would also choose the best man to do the job. Mr. Tkach and his son are Russians. Both of them have the potential to represent “strong delusion” to God’s people. ...

God uses the best tool to do a job. He uses the Germans to correct Israel (Isa. 10:4-6), because the Germans will do it better then any other nation. (pp. 3-4.)

To support this bigoted assertion about Russians he quotes an article from the October 1964 issue of The Plain Truth. Flurry refuses to mention who wrote the article because he wants all of the attention of the reader devoted to PCG. For the record Flurry is quoting from an article written by one Eugene Walter. (October 1964, p. 14, PDF p. 16.)

I seem to recall that Tkach was descended from another Slavic people, not Russians. If this is the case then, not only is Flurry apparently bigoted towards Russians, but he may also be wrong to claim that Tkach is of Russian descent.

It needs to be stated here that this booklet is already assuming that British Israelism and church eras are true. This booklet also assumes that God actually worked through HWA. Is that likely considering what his own niece and his own grandson have recently stated about his personal conduct?

***

God prophesied that a time would come when He would no longer hold events back. He removed Mr. Armstrong to let the “synagogue of Satan” quickly blossom into the Laodicean Church. This all happens in the context of a “little book,” or Malachi’s Message (Rev. 10:2). “And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer” (Rev. 10:6). The expression “time no longer” should read “no more delay.” That expression tells us that God held back events until the Gospel was preached to the world by Mr. Armstrong. Then God probably cast down Satan to let events race to the return of Christ.

CHANGE IN THE WCG AND THE WORLD IS RUNNING RAMPANT! THE WCG AND THE WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN! Evil in God’s Laodicean Church and the world has shifted into the fast lane. (p. 5.)

Is Flurry blaming God for not letting the Great Tribulation start in 1972 as Herbert W. Armstrong taught?

It was no later than 1992 that Gerald Flurry began to teach that Malachi's Message is the Little Book of Revelation 10. This contradicts HWA's teaching that the Little Book referred to him (HWA) visiting many world leaders. Also before 1992 Flurry taught that the Little Book was the Bible but then decided to proclaim it was a booklet he wrote.

***

Certainly the Laodiceans will never “prophesy again.” They abhor prophecy. “Prophesy again” tells us our work is mainly about prophecy. And it all revolves around a little book. And remember, it’s all in the context of “no more delay.” It’s a speedy work in a violent time! (p. 6.)

But what about all the other Laodiceans who left WCG but did not join PCG? They certainly do not "abhor prophecy."

There is very little time left. We are getting close to the time of the two witnesses (v. 3). (p. 6.)

Flurry wrote this twenty one years ago.

I believe this verse means that when Mr. Armstrong dies, WE ARE IN FOR DREADFUL TIMES UNTIL CHRIST RETURNS! We are about to enter into the dreadful Tribulation and the frightening day of the Lord. (pp. 6-7.)

What actually happened? Flurry later embarked in a long legal struggle which he lost but he was able to buy the copyrights to eighteen of HWA's works for $3 million. He later spent $24 million to build Armstrong Auditorium. Some dreadful times these have been for Flurry.

Flurry does not talk about Lamentations until page 7. Time to see what he has to say.

Then Flurry discusses how Lamentations was written by Jeremiah and claims that King Josiah was a type of HWA and his death, like HWA's, signed the beginning of the end. The end of Judah's independence in King Josiah's time and the end of Philadelphian WCG in HWA's time.

***

Flurry speculates that "God’s physical house in Pasadena, California" will "be destroyed" on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians.

Ezra read the book of Lamentations on the 9th and 10th days of the 5th month. That was the anniversary of the destruction of the physical temple. Will God’s physical house in Pasadena, California, be destroyed on that date? It could very well happen. (p. 12.)

***

When Lamentations was published in Judah, they had reached the point of no return. Israel has just about reached that point now. It will soon be too late to repent, if it’s not already. The ONLY HOPE for Israel is our message. May God help them to heed before it’s too late. (p. 12.)

And it is this sort of emotive rhetoric that inspire such fierce fanaticism among so many PCG members.

***

Chapter 2

Verse 5 also shows that even the young children of the people of the WCG will be taken into captivity and experience the horrors of the holocaust because of events taking place within “Zion.” It is all very tragic. Church members will have to watch their own little children suffer. (p. 16.)

Words like this cause many PCG members to be greatly fearful of leaving PCG. In fact this is an induced phobia designed to make PCG members remain loyal to PCG regardless of whatever grievances and wrongs may be inflicted upon them.

So we see that PCG members are told, If you do not pay three tithes and extra offerings to PCG you will see your own children suffer.

It is now twenty one years since Flurry wrote these words. The children he speaks of have long since grown up.

***

Here is Flurry once again trying to induce phobic beliefs among his followers.

Verse 11 shows that things become so bad that the people die of starvation. The people are willing to give up their “pleasant things,” meaning their silver and gold, for bread in order to stay alive. The expression “to relieve the soul” means to bring back to life. The people become diseased and sick because they lack food. They realize they have become vile.

The entire world was shocked by the photographs that came out of the Nazi concentration camps. YET THE SCENES FROM LAMENTATIONS ARE FAR WORSE! Verse 12 states there is no “SORROW LIKE UNTO MY SORROW”! Why do the Laodiceans suffer pain as no other group? Because they knew God’s truth and prophecies. They should have escaped the Great Tribulation. But they rebelled against God. As Matthew 24:21 states, there was not a time, nor will there be again, a time like this. Can any human mind imagine anything worse than the Nazi concentration camps? Yet, God says through Jeremiah that things will get far worse! And, God is doing it! Germany and a united Europe become a club in God’s hand. It is the day of HIS FIERCE ANGER (Isa. 10:5-6). (pp. 17-8.)

It looks like Flurry is really mad at Tkach.

***

 “Zion” [here Flurry means the Laodiceans, or more specifically the Tkachite WCG] begins to realize during her affliction, that God is punishing her for her sins. ... They tell God that they know they have rebelled against His commandments. They recognize that they rejected God’s end-time “Elijah.” They begin to realize that Malachi’s Message WAS a warning sent from God (p. 18.)

So if you want to escape the Great Tribulation you must believe that Malachi's Message was sent by God, according to Flurry who stands to gain three tithes and extra offerings should one decide that Malachi's
Message was sent by God.

***

Chapter 3

In this chapter Flurry gets more specific in criticizing various acts committed in the course of implementing the Tkach changes.

He also continues to make fear inducing statements in order to persuade WCG members to join his PCG.

God will not deliver His people from severe punishment. This all seems unthinkable to many of God’s people today. Many ministers have ridiculed the PCG for making such strong statements. THESE ARE BIBLICAL STATEMENTS! Some full-time ministers have stated that God would never send “strong delusion” to His Church. Others have said that God would never punish older “innocent” people and children. Could God allow His people to “believe a lie” by sending them “strong delusion”? Will God severely punish the elderly and children? THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS VERY CLEARLY SAYS HE WILL! Why? Because there is something very wrong in Zion and it must be corrected! (p. 20.)

Flurry expands on this discussion in Malachi's Message.

***

And that includes the Global Church of God. That group has left the Worldwide Church of God. But they have rejected Mr. Armstrong as God’s end-time “Elijah” as well as the GOVERNMENT God established through Mr. Armstrong. Other doctrines God established through Mr. Armstrong have also been rejected by the Global Church of God—as they falsely profess to follow what Mr. Armstrong taught! They are also Laodiceans. (p. 21.)

Later in 1999, GCG went through a schism that saw Meredith leave with about 80% of the members to set up another COG splinter group (Living Church of God) more firmly under his control. As part of establishing LCG Meredith established one man rule as the way LCG would operate.

GCG chose to avoid one man rule. They were not rebelling against God. Rather this was a perfectly rational response to the way Tkach implemented the changes. Tkach used the absolute power HWA had created for himself in order to change WCG's doctrines and it proved impossible to stop their actions. GCG wished to avoid anything like that from ever happening again. However Meredith did not like not being in control so he left GCG and created an organization that he could operate without restraint by others. In other words Meredith restored HWA's one man rule within LCG.

But despite this Flurry continued to denounce Meredith and his followers as Laodiceans. It should be clear that Flurry did this in order to claim that only PCG members are true Christians hoping to get more tithes and offerings.

***

Here Flurry also criticizes a Good News article from 1990 for supporting the Tkach changes and trying to prevent WCG members from joining PCG and paying them three tithes.

***

Flurry insists that God will treat the Laodiceans like an enemy (therefore insisting you join his PCG). Sometimes Flurry can be quite graphic about the supposed fate of WCG members for staying in WCG after the Tkach changes and not paying tithes to his PCG.

As human beings, we do not like to focus on dreadful events. We need to face the reality of what is coming. WHAT JEREMIAH ENVISIONED AND PERHAPS WITNESSED MADE HIM PHYSICALLY SICK! HIS EYES BECAME BLINDED BY HIS MANY TEARS. His grief and crying were so bad, HIS EYES BECAME SWELLED SHUT! Jeremiah’s bowels wrenched in pain and HE HAD TO VOMIT BECAUSE OF THE HORROR! The Church, “the beauty of Israel,” was destroyed. The young children and infants of the Church died of starvation. It is not a pretty sight. What has happened to many African nations will happen to God’s own people. CAN YOU SEE GOD’S ONCE VIBRANT PEOPLE CRAZED WITH STARVATION?! Church members’ children about to die ask their mothers, “WHERE IS THE CORN AND WINE?” (Lam. 2:12). The infants look at their mothers, LONGING FOR FOOD, AS THEY DIE UPON THEIR BREASTS. WHO WOULDN’T BECOME SICK AT SUCH IMAGES? Jeremiah had to ask himself why the parents allowed this to happen to their children. Church parents will have to realize that they brought this on their children. Many, if not all children will probably miss the millennium and will have to come back to life in the second resurrection. No wonder Jeremiah became so stressed by these events. It should not have ended that way. (p. 25.)

Flurry wants your tithes really badly. That is why he tries to intimidate you with these words.

***

The Laodicean ministry ridiculed God’s truth about a place of safety. They failed to teach the people about a future captivity and holocaust. (p. 26.)

While this seems to be true of Tkach's WCG, many other COG groups passionately believe HWA's teachings "about a future captivity and holocaust." I know this because one of these Laodicean groups taught me this and I totally believed what they told me. And yet Flurry would just demonize them as Laodiceans and try to pin his criticisms of Tkach upon them. How self serving of him.

***

Flurry then fear mongers that women in Tkach's WCG will be driven to eat their own children in the Great Tribulation for failing to pay tithes to Flurry.

"...SHALL THE WOMEN EAT THEIR FRUIT...?..." ... Verse 20 [of Lamentations 2] shows that He will even allow some members to come to the point where they may be tempted to eat their own children because of their severe starvation. How horrible! But it is necessary to wake people up! (p. 27.)

You must pay me tithes or else, Flurry is essentially saying here.

***

Chapter 4

God is going to punish His nations and Church SO SEVERELY THAT THEY WILL APPEAR AS IF A BEAR OR LION MAULED THEM! What a horrible sight! Can you imagine the horror? A severed hand here, a severed leg there! This is God’s doing. Like a skilled archer, God is waiting to destroy His people with many arrows. (p. 30.)

Flurry seems to get really mad at WCG members who will not pay him tithes and offerings.

***

Tkachite WCG members are so sinful that they must be willing to die during the Great Tribulation in order to be saved, according to Flurry who wants more tithes from them.

The leaders in God’s Church who were very quick to speak—to publicly preach wrong doctrine—will be silent in the Tribulation. Finally, they will have learned the lesson that it is better to just put their mouths “in the dust.” But it will take great pain to bring them to this point. God’s people will be willing to give their lives over to their captors—“giveth his cheek to him that smiteth”—because they realize the depth of their sin. They recognize that even though they must die—they will make it to the first resurrection and will be born into the Family of God. In all the tragedy God’s people still find great hope. (pp. 30-1.)

***

But verse 2 shows that there are two groups of God’s ministers doing a “work” at the same time. There is another group of ministers referred to as “THE PRECIOUS SONS OF ZION.” These are referred to as “FINE GOLD,” a term similar to that of the “JEWELS” found in Malachi 3:17. GOD ESTEEMS THIS GROUP VERY HIGHLY, FOR THEY ARE RARE. (p. 31.)

Flurry is talking about his own COG splinter group, naturally.

***

God does have precious stones in His house. Many have criticized the PCG membership for referring to themselves as “jewels” when that is exactly what God says about people willing to stand up for the truth at this end of the end time. ... The ministry [in WCG] should set the example for all the brethren. Today this is not the case. (p. 32.)

Actually many people have complained about the conduct of PCG ministers. Many of them do not seem to be setting a good example for PCG members.

***

Jeremiah shows that the Laodicean ministers are cruel like frightened ostriches. ... The Laodicean ministers are not taking care of their members as they should. They are passively allowing God’s people to be fed false doctrine. ... Many of the PCG members were also dealt with very harshly for questioning the many changes. (p. 33.)

So Flurry complains that those WCG who joined PCG were treated harshly by WCG ministers. Actually many people have also complained that PCG ministers treat them harshly as well. It seems many PCG ministers are doing exactly what Flurry condemned WCG ministers for doing.

***

Flurry really wants those tithes.

Even though the United States, the British peoples, and modern day Israel have enjoyed the greatest wealth; our people will soon be embracing “dung hills.” They will pick through garbage to survive! Verse 10 shows that things get so bad, SOME TENDER-HEARTED WOMEN WILL PREPARE (sodden) THEIR OWN CHILDREN AS FOOD! (pp. 33-4.)

***

The final separation of the Philadelphian and Laodicean ministry and members was begun on December 7, 1989. That is when the Philadelphia Church of God began as a separate entity from the Worldwide Church of God. Why was it begun? Because the Laodicean leaders did not regard what the Philadelphian ministry had to say about all the changes taking place within the Church. ... God will use the PCG to continue to give the WCG fair warning right up to the Tribulation. If the WCG ministers and members do not repent, they will have to drink from a very bitter cup. God has done the dividing—not Gerald Flurry or any man! (p. 35.)

One peculiarity of Flurryism is his constant insistence that PCG began the instant he was fired from WCG. Of course he needed time to write up the paperwork and get the signatures to register PCG and establish it legally. But, for whatever reason, this is not good enough for Flurry. He insists that in some sort of mystical, spiritual sense PCG really began the instant he got fired.

(Also this statement, as well as this entire booklet and Malachi's Message, assumes that HWA was mostly  right about church eras.)

***

Malachi's Message is very important to God, according to Flurry. It is so important that believing in it will automatically save you from the Great Tribulation.

Jesus Christ inspired the writing of Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today! ... Anyone who reads Malachi’s Message and heeds its warnings will be spared from the events of the Great Tribulation. If YOU reject it now—you will have to accept it in the Tribulation or lose YOUR SALVATION! IT IS THAT SERIOUS! All of God’s people will have to recognize that Malachi’s Message came from God (Mal. 2:4). There is still time to repent before the Tribulation. (p. 35.)

Odd. I thought we were supposed to believe in the Bible. Where did this Malachi's Message come from? What was its origin?

***

Flurry ends this booklet of horrors with these words. 

Let us be sure that we do our part to prevent this tragic fate from happening to ourselves, our families and our loved ones. Those of us who have come into the PCG will continue to warn the WCG and the world of the coming Tribulation. It is time for all of us to stand up for God’s precious truth! (p. 37.)

But how can you do that if Philadelphia Church of God members are required to shun WCG members, having no contact with them?

***

And so this reading of Gerald Flurry's Lamentations and the End-Time Laodiceans ends. We have learned that Flurry here shrilly insists that unless WCG members joins PCG all sort of horrifying things will occur to them. Essentially Flurry is threatening them with dire punishment for not paying him three tithes.

He wants your money.

Also Flurry seems to be somewhat bigoted towards Russians.

Reading PCG's Colossians: First Century Parallels

Gerald Flurry's booklet, Colossians: First Century Parallels was one of first booklets released by PCG. It was first published in 1992. However it has since been revised four times in 1997, 2000, 2010 and 2013. The current version of this booklet at their website.

Let us see what Gerald Flurry has to say.

Chapter 1

Colossians is the only book in the New Testament to discuss the Laodiceans, except for the book of Revelation. Here are the only specific scriptures where you will find the name Laodicea or Laodicean: Colossians 2:1; 4:13, 15-16 and Revelation 1:11; 3:14-19. (p. 1.)

 So that's why Flurry wrote this booklet so early in his career as leader of PCG.

***

The Laodiceans were warned around A.D. 60 by Paul. The modern-day Laodiceans (including the Worldwide Church of God and its splinter groups) are being warned today by the Philadelphia Church of God. (p. 2.)

Here Flurry defines all potential rivals as Laodiceans who need to become Philadelphian.

Translation: join my PCG and pay me three tithes or else you will be left behind in the Great Tribulation.

***

“And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it” (verse 17). Most commentaries agree that the subject is still Laodicea. Now another prominent leader of Laodicea is discussed. It strongly indicates that Archippus was a leading Laodicean minister. He was well known by all the Laodiceans. He was given a public warning!

Archippus was warned so all of the members could prod him to remain loyal! But neither he nor his followers responded. (p. 3.)

Do most commentaries say Paul is talking about Laodicea? Flurry has not proved that assertion here.

Note how Flurry reads this statement, quite neutral in tone, and insists this is Paul sternly warning the Laodiceans to repent of the failings Flurry accuses them of. Flurry seems to be reading quite a lot into this statement.

***

This is a warning about losing “the hope of the gospel” in this end time. Paul admonishes us to remain “grounded and settled.” “Grounded” means to have a sure foundation. The word “settled” has the added meaning of persistently remaining on the foundation. That foundation is the one Mr. Armstrong laid for the end-time saints. The Laodiceans have not remained on that foundation! They have lost the hope of the gospel! (p. 5.)

If it is so important to remain grounded and settled in what HWA taught then why did PCG's leaders think it necessary to alter three of HWA's writings?

Also who has not "remained on that foundation"? The Laodiceans? It is true the Tkachite WCG has moved away from HWA's teachings. However many COG splinter groups are in fact very loyal and devoted to what HWA has written and taught. At least they do not alter HWA's writings and pass it off as though this was actually written by HWA as PCG does. Gerald Flurry has changed Mystery of the Ages, The Proof of the Bible and Who or What is the Prophetic Beast? There may very well be more.

***

Secular history tells us that the Colossians and the Laodiceans had a serious conflict over what the gospel was. But more importantly, Bible history in Colossians tells us the same story. Paul was talking to the Colossians and the Laodiceans about “If you continue” in the “hope of the gospel.” The Laodiceans did not continue in the true gospel! Paul warned them while he was in jail. But they still moved to another gospel. They didn’t follow their great leader, who suffered so much for them and for God’s Work. 

In the first century, they heard the true gospel from Paul. We heard it from Mr. Armstrong in the end time. (pp. 5-6.)

Flurry is simply regurgitating what HWA taught about church history. In actual fact it seems that Herbert W. Armstrong greatly distorted the facts regarding early church history.

***

Now the WCG and other Laodiceans teach not to think of the Kingdom only in terms of the future, but in the present as well. The Church is the Kingdom in embryo. But that is not the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is not here on this Earth now. It is yet to come in the future. (p. 6.)

I will say here that I encountered this idea from LCG. Meredith said something like this in a sermon a saw. However I only encountered this idea when Meredith was explaining away a scripture that appeared to state that the Kingdom of God existed presently in Paul's time. The scripture was Collossians 1:13, "[God] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son". That was the only time I encountered this idea.

***

Why do people remain within PCG despite being forbidden to contact Laodiceans, paying three tithes and doing other strict requirements they are forced to bear? Partly it is because they are repeatedly told and they believe that great rewards awaits them if they stay within PCG. Some of this can be seen here when Flurry condemns Tkach's renunciation of the God Family doctrine.

Satan hates this doctrine more than any other because he can’t be a son in God’s Family. So Satan influenced the WCG leaders to remove this wonderful and inspiring “hope of the gospel.”

If we remain loyal, we will be God as God is God! That is the “hope of the gospel.” The Laodiceans are warned in the book of Colossians that they are losing that precious hope!

Don’t let Satan destroy your priceless hope. Mr. Armstrong taught that to us for so many years. Read and re-read the Incredible Human Potential and Mystery of the Ages. You are going to be God! (p. 7.)

Actually the idea of the God Family has no scriptural support whatsoever.

Isaiah 42:8: "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."

Isaiah 43:10: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me."

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

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

Also it needs to stated that although the Tkachite WCG has renounced the God Family doctrine there are many other COG groups that continue to passionately teach this doctrine. I know this because I used to believe what one of these "Laodicean" COG groups told me about the God Family doctrine.

***

Chapter 2

While praising Mystery of the Ages he makes this statement.

In this evil world, God has given us the most illustrious revelation—the deepest revelation that man can comprehend. It didn’t come from Mr. Armstrong. It came from out in the cosmos—beyond the stars and galaxies. (p. 10.)

***

Mystery of the Ages will be "a major textbook in all educational institutions" during Christ's millennial reign, according to Flurry.

The feast of ingathering (or Tabernacles) is about getting this message to the world—to gather in as many as we can. And that will continue into the World Tomorrow, where a major textbook in all educational institutions will be Mystery of the Ages, by Herbert W. Armstrong. (p. 11.)

***

What do the Laodiceans know about Mystery of the Ages? How many of them would fight for it in court? Paul was in jail because he preached this message! He was in jail trying to inspire and encourage God’s people about the great mystery that man has not known for all ages!

Now the Philadelphia Church of God has it. The Laodiceans are so confused, so foolish, so rebellious; they’re letting Satan take it away from them. If only they would stand up and love that message, nobody would ever be able to take it from them. And as long as there’s a work to be done, we’ll have Mystery of the Ages. Nobody can stop that. (p. 11.)

I read Mystery of the Ages on a website run by one of these "confused," "foolish," "rebellious" Laodiceans.

"What do the Laodiceans know about Mystery of the Ages?" Flurry asks. Enough to know not to change Mystery of the Ages for Flurry's convenience.

Once again Flurry uses his control over the copyrights for some of HWA's writings to claim to be the only legitimate successor to HWA. Flurry was an unimportant minister within HWA's WCG until he found himself out in 1989. He does not want PCG members reflecting on that fact.

***

After that he spends quite awhile glorifying Mystery of the Ages, basically insisting that if one does not adore Mystery of the Ages that person is not a Christian.

If Christ lives in us, we will love and fight for Mystery of the Ages. (p. 12.)

This is part of Flurry indoctrinating PCG members into believing they are the only true Christians within the entire world.

***

We are building the Family of God in embryo. (p. 13.)

Funny that. I thought you just told me on page 6 that only "confused," "foolish," "rebellious" Laodiceans say that?

***

Flurry just loves to insist the words of the Bible actually describe the Tkach changes and the establishment of PCG in opposition to them. He does it again here.

Colossians 1:28 presents God’s Work as happening in a particular order. First, it says, “we preach,” which means to declare plainly and openly or aloud. Mr. Armstrong did that as a witness to the world. Then it says we “warn”; that’s what we’re doing in this “last end” of the Work—warning all the world. We are running out of time. Of course, these things will run concurrently as well. But we have them listed here in this order. (p. 13.)

Flurry is just seeing things.

***

Paul taught Mystery of the Ages by HWA in the first century, according to Flurry.

Teaching Mystery of the Ages got Paul thrown in jail and eventually beheaded! Can you imagine that? (p. 14.)

Funny that. I thought Mystery of the Ages was published in 1985 long after Paul's martyrdom.

***

We won our court battle over Mystery of the Ages. God says this Work must be done—this world must be warned. (p. 15.)

Why does Gerald Flurry say untrue things? PCG did not win the court case. PCG lost the court case, but luckily for them Tkach's WCG decided to cut their losses by selling the copyrights to PCG for $3 million. How is a purchase a victory?

***

The Laodiceans don’t honor their Father (Malachi 1:6). If only they delivered Mystery of the Ages with us, they’d be honoring their Father and their Husband—the whole Family of God. They would have all of these riches. They don’t know what true, spiritual wealth is anymore. That’s obscene! (p. 16.)

Actually several "Laodiceans" deliver Mystery of the Ages by having it available on the internet. I know this because I read it on one of these websites run by a Laodicean while I was an Armstrongite.

The only way the "Laodiceans" could deliver Mystery of the Ages with PCG would be to join it and agree with the various changes PCG have imposed upon HWA's writings. They honor HWA's teachings enough not to agree to follow a group that changes his words.

In fact Flurry is here once again insisting that one cannot be a Christian unless he or she is a member of PCG.

***

Chapter 3

The biggest turning point ever in the Worldwide Church of God was Mr. Armstrong’s death. That is when the Philadelphia era ended and the Laodicean era began. (p. 18.)

But many WCG members did not anticipate that he would die. Many WCG members were told by their leaders like Gerald Waterhouse that HWA would live to see the Great Tribulation himself. HWA's WCG did not anticipate that the Laodicean era would begin with HWA's death. Many thought it would only arise when the Great Tribulation started and after the "worthy" WCG members fled to the place of safety (Petra, Jordan.) Flurry himself admits many WCG members believed this within HWA's WCG in Malachi's Message as I noted in a previous post.

Do the Laodiceans have works as a Church era? If the Laodicean Church begins when the Tribulation begins, as the Church has believed in the past, the very elect couldn’t deliver this message to the people. Under the prevailing conditions, it would be impossible. The Laodicean Church must have era “works” before the Tribulation begins. [Gerald Flurry, Malachi's Message, Chapter 3.]

Here we see that already Gerald Flurry is changing what WCG taught under HWA.

It was indeed taught within HWA's WCG that the Laodicean church would begin with the Great Tribulation. I recall listening to a sermon by Gerald Waterhouse and he seemed to have that assumption, that Laodiceans would not be made manifest until the worthy WCG members had fled to Petra and it is only then that the Laodiceans would be clearly shown because they would be left behind. (It also should be stated that he taught that HWA would live until the Second Coming. Conveniently Gerald Flurry never mentions the widespread belief within HWA's WCG that HWA would live until the return of Christ.)

So we see that once again Gerald Flurry is altering church doctrines. How is that remaining faithful to what HWA taught?

***

The WCG discontinued The United States and Britain in Prophecy after debating whether that book was God-inspired truth or only speculation. Of course, you can prove it’s God’s truth. And it doesn’t need to be debated—just believed! That book is not flawed. Their faith is flawed!

As part of their deception, for a while WCG leaders acted like they might bring the book back into circulation. But prophecy in Revelation 3:7 discusses only the Philadelphians, not the Laodiceans, as having the “key of David,” which is the understanding of prophecy—especially about David’s throne and Israel. (p. 19.)

But many "Laodiceans" outside of WCG continue to believe in British Israelism and to teach that the throne of Britain is the continuation of the royal line of David. I know this because one of these "Laodicean" groups taught this dogma to me and I accepted it as true. Do these Laodiceans not bear the key of David?

Unfortunately for them British Israelism is untrue.

***

After this Gerald Flurry condemns Tkach's WCG for gaining accreditation for Ambassador College in a section that is also produced in Malachi's Message.

This confirms what I suspected. Gerald Flurry really is just saying the same thing over and over again. This legend he has produced that God has divided "God's Church" (the Armstrongites) into two groups, PCG and the rest, and (he insists) this was foretold in the Bible.

***

Christ built a strong work through Mr. Armstrong that spanned the globe. Mr. Armstrong was used to establish three dynamic colleges for God that produced abundant fruits over several decades. (p. 22.)

One of those colleges were shut down under HWA's watch. Also many graduates who did not become WCG ministers (unlike Gerald Flurry) learned their degrees were worthless because Ambassador College did not have accreditation.

***

Those top Laodicean leaders have intruded into and changed many of God’s truths which they professed to believe when Mr. Armstrong was alive. Anybody should be able to see their blatant hypocrisy! They were in God’s holy of holies, as it were, when Mr. Armstrong was living. (p. 22.)

How is this not idolatry?

***

Those who come out of the Laodicean Church into the Philadelphia Church of God hear God’s voice. (p. 24.)

Translation: If you promise to pay us in the PCG leadership three tithes and extra offerings for the rest of your life I will flatter you and say you heard God's voice. I will make you feel as though you have had an extremely sacred and blessed moment with God because you joined us. In exchange we get your three tithes for the rest of your life.

***

Here Gerald Flurry is boasting at how much growth PCG has had since its founding in 1989. Notably he seems to reveal the annual income for PCG as of 2012.

Early on in PCG history, some Laodiceans said they wanted to see more fruits in the PCG before committing to it. God’s true Church will always bear good fruits. However, fruits are related to time. It takes time to produce fruits. When the PCG started with 12 members on Dec. 16, 1989, there were very few fruits.

Today, the PCG has a television program with weekly access to more than a half-billion people worldwide. We publish a 40-page, full-color, monthly magazine, the Philadelphia Trumpet and a bi-monthly Christian-living magazine, Royal Vision. The Church has also produced over 70 books and booklets and hosts several websites, including theTrumpet.com and pcog.org. Additionally, the Church has a college, a K-12 school and a performing arts center. All of this is due to the fact that the income has gone from virtually nothing in 1989 to around $19.5 million annually as of 2012. God has truly blessed this “little flock.” The fruits are there for all to see. (pp. 24-5.)

None of this changes the fact that UCG and LCG are larger COG groups than PCG and that they have greater claims to legitimacy then PCG has.

***

I wonder what Gerald Flurry has to say about the numerous people within Armstrongism who died because they believed using doctors and medicine are idolatrous and will send you to the lake of fire? (It's a doctrine Herbert W. Armstrong plagiarized from the Jehovah's Witnesses of the 1920s and 1930s.)

As they [Tkachite WCG's leaders] grew in their scholarly pursuits, they made major changes in doctrines. They changed healing into a doctrine which requires virtually no faith in God! They spurned preaching about prophecy because that requires faith. ... True doctrines on healing and prophecy help us to grow in faith and become more like God. The Laodiceans reject doctrines like those because they lack faith. (p. 26.)

Well, I guess we now know his (public) stand on that most tragic and painful issue.

Flurry seems to be denying that any Laodicean, which he had earlier defined as any Armstrongite not in PCG, continue to cling to HWA's medicine ban. I would like to mention that persons among the non-WCG Laodiceans do continue to believe in HWA's medicine ban and continue to die because of HWA's induced phobia of doctors and medicine. Those "Laodiceans" did not reject that doctrine, alas.

Again it must be asked: why does Gerald Flurry say untrue things?

***

Just discontinuing The United States and Britain in Prophecy destroyed two of the 18 truths Mr. Armstrong restored. The Laodiceans are destroyers!

The Philadelphians condemn the destruction of God’s truth—a heinous sin. If we won’t condemn that act and fight against it, then we are Laodicean! (pp. 26-7.)

Is Flurry taking a jab at Meredith here, boasting that he got out of WCG earlier than him?

***

Sometimes God will go to extreme measures to stir up His people, because they are His Family. They are the very elite of this Earth. Most of God’s Family has forgotten that! (p. 27.)

Sometimes people wonder why PCG members put up with all the rules and requirements PCG ministers impose on them. It is partly because their leaders, like Gerald Flurry, tell PCG members they are "the very elite of this Earth" and that they can only remain so by remaining in PCG.

***

Flurry brings this booklet to an end with these flattering words.

We can’t get bogged down in this present world. We must cling to the vision of God’s future world! ... God wants us to set our affection on those things that are above—not on the things of this world. God wants us to be passionately into the Work of His PCG. God wants your mind—you individually—to make His Work your greatest delight. Then your future will be magnificent!

“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).

This is the reward that we never, ever want to forget!

So, PCG members, don't "get bogged down in this present world." Do not worry that your tithes and offerings are placing terrible financial burdens on you and you never have enough money because of these tithes and offerings. Your money would be better spent given to PCG. Besides, PCG is "your greatest delight" anyway. Why worry about worldly things like your family, your livelihood or your non-PCG friends. Work for PCG.

The potential for abusively exploiting PCG members who believe these words of Gerald Flurry's is enormous.

***

So we see that Gerald Flurry used to booklet to restate some of the things he said in Malachi's Message, that the Tkach changes and the establishment of PCG in response were prophesied long ago in the Bible.

Of course this all assumes that church eras are true when, in fact, that dogma is nonsense as mentioned in a previous post">a previous post regarding Bruce Renehan's book, Daughter of Babylon.

• Claim that Waldensians are of great antiquity has practically no evidence.

• Waldensians themselves say that they merely date from Peter Waldo. 

•  Waldensians and English Lollards denounced tithing and observed Sunday.

• Catholics often called their church the Church of God.

• Armstrongism has no historical link with the Seventh Day Baptists. (That really shocked me.)

• Seventh Day Baptists only used Church of God as a generic name and more often used other names.

• The Church of God (Seventh Day) really started as a group of ex-Seventh Day Adventists who would not accept Ellen White as a prophetess, founded by one Gilbert Cranmer.

• Church of God (Seventh Day) did not use the "government of God" (one man rule) but decided matters democratically in a conference.

• It was first called the Church of Christ. It was renamed Church of God in 1884 after a vote in a conference, contrary to the "government of God."

• HWA got a lot of his doctrines from G. G. Rupert, who taught that the holydays were to be observed, and a form of the seven church eras doctrine.

• HWA was influenced by the Jehovah's Witnesses via C. O. Dodd, a Church of God (Seventh Day) minister who was quite influenced by their teachings.

• HWA acquired the seven church era doctrine from G. G. Rupert

• HWA and Hoeh imitated their "history" of a Sabbatarian, non-Catholic group of believers dating from Apostolic times from Andrew Dugger and C. O. Dodd's 1936 book, A History of the True Church. (It also fabricated their false historical link with the Seventh Day Baptists.)

• C. O. Dodd admitted much of what he and Dugger wrote were simply not true.

• Presents evidence that by the 1990s WCG leaders knew this "history" was largely fake. (Chapter 10.) Did John Ogwyn feel the same way?

So now we see what this booklet really is: an attempt to persuade people to join and give three tithes and extra offerings to a highly controlling, authoritarian group that uses a form of Armstrongism to exploit people.

This Novel, Kremlin Devils (1988), Predicted August 1991 Failed Soviet Coup

This is my 700th post. Thank you, readers, for inspiring me to share what I know in order to help any reader better understand the history and circumstances of Armstrongism. I hope what I have written have been of benefit to you.

My thoughts are with the people of the USA, especially the poor, as they are forced to endure the House Republicans' petulant shutdown of the Federal Government because they still cannot accept they lost the argument over health care reform in the Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the 2012 election. This shutdown is not a legitimate way to discuss legislative matters. I hope this shutdown ends soon.

For this post I wish to show an largely unknown example of predicting future events and see how it compares to the predictions of COG leaders.

The various leaders of Armstrongism claim to be able to foresee with great accuracy events which will occur in the near future. Let us see how they compare to this other person I discovered.

Awhile ago I went into a second hand bookstore. I went and looked around for about an hour. I felt it would be rude to stay so long and not buy anything so I bought a book entitled Kremlin Devils by Jack Hild. It was printed January 1988. It is the twenty third book in a series entitled Soldiers of Barabbas.

Early in the book one of our heroes, Nate Back, has a mysterious meeting with some Russians in a house out in the wintry countryside outside of Moscow. These Russians show him a doctored video which appears to show the wife of the "first secretary" (Mikhail Gorbachev, who is left unnamed in the book) conducting an adulterous affair. 

One of these Russians, Nikolay Popolov, is here speaking to Nate Beck.

"...This videotape circulates underground in Moscow and Leningrad, and the capitals of some of the other republics. An earlier video showed the first secretary's wife using a credit card to buy jewelry and fashionable clothing on state visits to Western cities. But this is much worse. It is intended to embarrass the new leader. To undermine his authority. To remind him that there are others in the Soviet state who are also powerful."

"KGB?" He [Nate Beck] ventured. "A campaign against glastnost." He used the Russian word that had become a clarion call for a new Russia. Roughly it meant openness. In fact, it meant much more--the accelerating release of dissidents and political prisoners, films and books freed from the censors' files, economic revival in a country where people lined up to buy meat and bread, and even a Communist version of democracy in elections.

"Is it your own production, Nikolay?" [Nate Beck asked.]

"There are many who stand to lose their privileges. They will do anything to stop it, " Popolov said...

Nikolay turned to Nate. When he spoke, his voice was urgent. "There is going to be a coup d'état."

Nate looked at him.

"A military takeover of the Soviet Union." (pp. 31-2.)  

Shortly afterwards Popolov further discusses his knowledge of this reactionary conspiracy to overthrow the government to halt the glastnost reforms. 

"The reforms in our country have threatened many party members and bureaucrats who have become accustomed to the pleasures their privileges have brought them. And some of the generals still remember with fondness the steel fist of Marshal Stalin. They fear the first secretary is growing weak with concessions for disarmament. A small group has banded together, calling itself the Committee of Nine. They have formed a counterrevolutionary leadership tribunal. They have an apparatus of disaffected and threatened bureaucrats everywhere. Their aim is to overthrow the present regime. We know this--"...

"I know these people. They will stop at nothing. I myself was one of them. But no longer."(pp. 32-3.)

Needless to say this conspiracy is a major plot point for this novel.

How amazing!

In 1988 an American writer presented a scenario in a fictional book of bureaucrats staging a coup to overthrow the reformist government of Gorbachev. Just three years later, in August 1991, that is exactly what happened. A faction within the Communist Party arrested Gorbachev and tried to overthrow him, but thanks to the heroic resistance by the people of Moscow this plot was thwarted. 

This book has presented theories and speculations that are much more accurate and prescient then what the leaders of Armstrongism have devised and propagated.

I remember hearing how after the fall of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe Garner Ted Armstrong complained that he predicted that and was being vindictively ignored.

That is total nonsense.

HWA also predicted the Communists would conquer Asia, including India, and that the Communist system, including the Soviet Union, would outlast the United States to be destroyed by the returned Christ a few years after Christ's return. HWA did not at all foresee the fall of the Soviet Union before the return of Christ.

HWA also predicted and promoted all kinds of other absurd and ludicrous predictions. To cite one example in 1965 the Plain Truth preached that Hitler was still alive and insinuated he would play a role in creating the European Beast Power.

Despite this some COGs, such as Roderick C. Meredith's LCG, continue to deceptively insinuate that HWA had remarkable insight in predicting events before they were apparent. Nothing could be further from the facts.

Jack Hild's novel is certainly far more accurate than Dave Pack's recent prediction that the other COGs would miraculously disintegrate and by August 30, 2013, the COGs would be unified under Dave Pack.

Also it turns out Jack Hild is just a pen name. The author is one Robin Hardy. And he also wrote this book in 1999, The Crisis of Desire: AIDS and the Fate of Gay Brotherhood. So this remarkable prediction was provided by a man who struggles for greater acceptance by society of LBGT people. Meredith will not be impressed.

James Malm's Burdensome Sabbath

Banned by HWA has a post up detailing how one Malmite follower is finding following the strict rules set down by James Malm to be a burden.

I have been reading your writings. I no longer go to restaurants on the Sabbath or “get out of the house ”

My question is this. During back to back Sabbaths, one can read so much, study so much and listen to sermons so much. How can we pass the time and still keep the Sabbath holy. The Sabbath has become more of a burden & endurance rather than joy. Eating warmed up & cold foods has left me weak with blood sugar levels unstable. This has caused me to not feel well all day long and my spiritual condition has been suffering. ” and Not man for the Sabbath.”

This is not a leading question with an agenda. I really grapple with this. Your help would be deeply appreciated. 

This is the perfectly predictable result of the legalistic rules and regulations James Malm has imposed upon his followers. It is tragic that some people take his words so seriously that they are willing to ruin their lives for him.

This is very similar to my own experience with Armstrongism's Sabbath and what Meredith taught me about it. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the many, many others who actually joined an Armstrongite group.

Combing Through Pabco's Home Page

(Update April 20, 2014: Pabco's Home Page has since moved to http://pabco7.com/~pabco/. The links have updated accordingly.)

At first I encountered Armstrongism through LCG. It took awhile for me to piece together that LCG was largely imitating the writings and teachings of one Herbert W. Armstrong. At first I was unaware of him and did not know where to read his writings. Later I finally found a copy of The Plain Truth About Christmas at Pabco's Home Page. It took a little longer for me to find the website itself.

Even today, when I link to one of HWA's writings I usually link to Pabco's Home Page because I usually read it there.

Pabco's Home Page appears to align itself with the Church of God - An International Community, David Hulme's splinter group.

Several articles maintained at Pabco's Home Page (The Bible Story and Hoeh's church history booklet for instance) gives grateful thanks to Church of God Cyber Auxiliary (a Montana non-profit). 

Although this internet archive appears to be run by a member of the Church of God, An International Community, David Hulme's splinter group, I can distinctly recall when Pabco's Home Page included a gloss on Mystery of the Ages, chapter 6, that said the work of WCG is now being continued by the Global Church of God. Presumably that was written in before the split of 1998. Seeing that only further persuaded me to choose LCG over any other COG. Back then Chapters 6 and 7 (in contrast to the rest of that book) of Mystery of the Ages were COG Cyber Auxiliary pages, noticeable due to the sky blue background of those pages, but they are not now and are simply regular pages, with the old paper background like the first five chapters.

I devotedly read many of the articles and books stored at Pabco's Home Page. I did not read everything but many of the most important and memorable writings by HWA I read there, including 

•  The Plain Truth about Christmas. This was first of HWA's booklets I found on the Internet. I was already aware of LCG's prohibition of Christmas, but this was the first time I heard about how he said it was derived from a pagan festival celebrating the rebirth of Nimrod. At the time I was unaware that HWA simply based this idea from Alexander Hyslop's The Babylons, a book from the 1860s which is now totally discredited.

• A True History of the True Church. The second booklet I read on this website. Herman Hoeh's booklet utterly bedazzled me with its retelling of Nimrod, how Shem pursued him all the way to Rome and killed him, how Saint Peter's Basillica is built upon Nimrod's grave.What astounding revelation, I thought. Then I was further amazed at how Hoeh described the Bible predicted that "God's Church" would be cast into the wilderness for 1260 and that this started with the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. (I was disappointed to see that Hoeh did not cite anything happening 1260 years later as a sign the church came out of hiding.) This booklet is also invaluable because it also details some of the false reasoning behind HWA and Hoeh's false prophecy of 1972-5. I did not make the connection for quite awhile after I read it. Essentially Hoeh was insisting that the Apostolic church was only allowed to operate two 19 year time cycles (AD 31-69) and the same thing would happen to the Radio Church of God (1934-72).

• Mystery of the Ages. COG people talk about this book a lot. The fact that it was HWA's last adds a note of poignancy not to be found with his other books. I was very excited to read this book. It did its work well further bedazzling me into believing that HWA was a special man. In fact the book has many inaccurate teachings and is filled with nonsense, not least his assertion that the true Gospel was suppressed in AD 53 simply so he could say he restored the gospel to the world 1900 years later in 1953 with the first broadcast on Radio Luxembourg.

• The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. When I read this I was struck by how HWA did not appeal to extra-biblical evidence as much as LCG's booklet did, but I was so bedazzled by HWA's teachings I ignored that disquieting thought. It was also very long. However the DNA shows clearly that British and white Americans are not related to the Jews. Also I was quite struck by his assertion in this book that those who observe the seventh day Sabbath are set apart from society. That statement seemed most profound to me. Today I now see that he is simply mentioning how his teachings were isolating his followers from the rest of society in order to better lord it over them. Getting isolated from society is a sign you are getting in a cult.

• The Incredible Human Potential. One of the last books of HWA's I read. I already understood the doctrine of the God Family from LCG's Your Ultimate Destiny and their so-called Bible Study Course, so I was reluctant to read this for a while because it seemed slightly redundant to read this as well. But I read it anyway. I recall once hearing how LCG's Mario Hernandez got HWA to autograph his copy of this book. I was somewhat disappointed to see that sections of this book appear in Mystery of the Ages, which I had already read.

• The Wonderful World Tomorrow. Here HWA describes what the utopian 1000 year reign of Christ upon the Earth will be like. I heard LCG's leader say that he caused HWA to temper his statement that various Biblical will fulfill certain roles in the World Tomorrow and instead persuaded him to only say maybe so and so will be assigned to do this and that. Having already read Mystery of the Ages I was somewhat disappointed to see that sections of this book appear in Mystery of the Ages, Chapter 7.

• The Autobiography of HWA. When I read in LCG's Tomorrow's World that this (then) mysterious figure, HWA, had even written a two volume autobiography I greatly yearned to read it. When I discovered that it was available on the Internet I read it. HWA bedazzled me with his account of how God helped him out in many ways and places. I did not know then of the great harm he had inflicted upon so many people.

• The Missing Dimension in Sex. What is the missing dimension in sex anyway? I, HWA, as the only true representative of God, have the right to tell you what to do with sex, as revealed in the Bible. HWA says this as though every other religious writer does not do the same thing. At the time I was unaware that Herbert W. Armstrong committed incest for ten years with his daughter. Somehow I think listening to an incestuous man telling you what to do about sex is a bad idea. Also it only came to my attention this year that HWA did not write it alone. It's first edition, entitled God Speaks Out on the "New Morality", was written by several men, including Roderick C. Meredith, Ernest Martin, and Dr. Ralph Merrill. Apparently it was Merrill who made the diagrams in the book. So it seems to me that HWA was lying to WCG members by pretending he was sole author of that book in its later editions. I find it odd that even Meredith got his name scrubbed out of the book. And despite that rebuke to him Meredith continued to play along and continue serving HWA and getting his paycheck from the organization HWA started.

• The Bible Story. Many people recall the illustrations. However because I read it here I never looked at the illustrations until long after I had read it. Therefore my memory of this retelling of the Old Testament is not blighted by those illustrations unlike most others.

• Pagan Holidays or God's Holy Days - Which? Here HWA condemns common festivals in order to isolate his followers from the surrounding society so that they will spend more money and time on his organization.

• 1975 in Prophecy. Here is HWA's infamous false prophecy. As a believer in HWA's teachings I did not want to believe that he was a false prophet. Later I read his damage control article in Tomorrow's World, published after the Great Tribulation failed to start in 1972 as he prophesied, and HWA insisted that 1975 only referred to the prediction of other scientists on when humanity would create a technological utopia. If you only read that booklet you could believe him because, oddly enough, the booklet does not explain why the date for Christ's return was set at 1975. But Hoeh's booklet on church history exposes HWA for the shameless liar he is. That booklet discusses the prophecy that the Great Tribulation would start in 1972, saying it is dual with apostolic Christianity only having 38 years before fleeing the Roman army in AD 69. HWA was lying. HWA did predict Christ to return in 1975. That is a major reason why the Radio Church of God expanded so much in the 1950s and 1960s, and why there was little turmoil until the 1970s because the WCG members and ministers were united by the urgency to get the work done before 1972. Whatever problems existed would only have to be endured until 1975 when you would get to become a God being, as fully God as God is God. It would be a long time before I woke up to HWA's deception. 

• The Proof of the Bible.

• The Truth about Masonry. Anti-Masonry polemic. Asserts legend of Hiram Abiff is really about Nimrod.

• The Plain Truth about Easter. Like the anti-Christmas booklet I was utterly bedazzled by HWA's descriptions of how Easter is the name of a pagan goddess, that lent came from "pagan devil worshippers", that eggs are pagan symbol, that Easter was introduced as part of a vicious conspiracy involving suppressing knowledge that Christ was resurrected on Saturday, that it was Sixtus I who wickedly introduced Sunday worship in Rome around AD 110, that Communion used to be universally observed on Saturday, etc.

Among the articles I read were:

• Who or What is the Prophetic Beast?

• The Resurrection was not on Sunday. I was most fascinated when I first heard of this teaching. How amazing is that? I thought. All this time I thought Jesus was resurrected on Sunday morning. Now I learn that he was resurrected on Saturday evening and was actually crucified on Wednesday. Actually, like many things, it appears HWA did not know what he was talking about.

• Did God Create a Devil?

• Are We in the Last Days?

• Has Time Been Lost? Apparently HWA plagiarized this booklet from a COG7 booklet.

• The Book of Revelation Revealed at Last!

• Is Jesus God?

• What is a Liberal? Here HWA labels dissident ministers and members as 'liberals' and falsely accuses them of trying to seize control of WCG and overthrow HWA for selfish gain, instead of seeking to address the serious issues these brave people were trying to address. 

• How to Prevent Sin.

• Does Your Child Lie?. 

• Lazarus and the Rich Man. One of the first articles I read.

• The Seven Laws of Success.

• The Origin of Halloween. Here the Papacy is blamed for inventing this holiday.

• The Middle East in Prophecy, I was perplexed by how HWA here identified Ethiopia as the King of the South, because LCG said that role would be fulfilled by an Arab-Muslim power yet to arise.

• The Greatest Story Never Told! Adds details to the Nativity story top support the Armstrongite dogma of British Israelism.

• Did Christ Reorganize the Church? Old 1939 article in which HWA condemned a specific way of church organization then being practiced by Andrew Dugger's splinter group from COG7. While doing so HWA condemned one man rule as like the image of the Beast, meaning like the Papacy. Later cited by brave dissidents to question the necessity of HWA's one man rule which he called 'God's Government' and expose how HWA appears to have opportunistically created an authoritarian dictatorship for his own selfish ends.

• Which Day is the Christian Sabbath? Here HWA asserts that Christians are to observe the Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) and must not worship on Sunday.

• Mission of the Philadelphia Church Era. Here HWA lists eighteen 'restored truths' he claims to have restored to 'God's Church'.

• No! I was Never a Jehovah's Witness or Seventh Day Adventist. Here HWA insists he was never a member of those organizations in order to obscure the fact that he took a lot of his teachings from them. It is priceless for his deceptive assertion that he learned his teachings direct from God through the Bible. This was not true.

• The Mystery of Melchizedek Solved! Here HWA claims Melchizedek was the pre-incarnate Christ. This idea is fairly within 'fallen' Christianity. My copy of The Amplified Bible also teaches this idea. This is not an idea unique to Armstrongism.

• The True Reason Why the Jews Rejected Christ. Here HWA claims because the Pharisees were collaborators with the occupying Romans and feared Jesus Christ would overthrow Roman rule immediately thus leaving the Pharisees without a job and a source of income.

• Daniel Nine Proves Jesus is the Christ. Here William Dankenbring cites Daniel 9 to claim it precisely dated the first coming of Jesus Christ.

• The Plain Truth about Old Testament Polygamy. Here HWA denies that God ever encouraged or idealized polygamy.

• Must God's Ministers by Ordained by the Hand of Man? Here HWA asserts that 'God's Church' has, and must always, by led by men who have been ordained by ministers. This teaching is conviniently forgotten by some.

• Tongues: Is the Pentecost Experience Being Repeated? Here HWA strongly say no. He even implies that Pentecostals are being demon possessed. This is notable for being a reprinting and expansion of an article HWA wrote for the first issue of the The Plain Truth.

• How Subtly Satan Used Make up to get the Church off Track. Here HWA defends reimposing the makeup ban by claiming that WCG letting women wear makeup allowed Satan to enter the church and begin a campaign of watering down doctrines which would have brought divine damnation upon WCG unless HWA was 'resurrected' after his heart attack to bring WCG 'back on track'. In reality HWA used this teaching to try to alienate his wife, Ramona Armstrong (nee Martin, nee Crittenden) from him, hoping that she would divorce him. HWA failed and he later divorced her.

• Geology Reveals: Two Creations - Two Worldwide Floods. Also notable in that it dates the Great Flood to 2369 BC, which assumes that AD 1975 is 6000 after the creation week of Genesis 1.

• A World Held Captive.  

• Predestination: Does the Bible Teach It?

• Does God Exist? 

• What Do You Mean - The Unpardonable Sin? Here HWA asserts it is highly unlikely to commit it.  

• Where are Enoch and Elijah? Here Herman Hoeh says Enoch died and his body was taken away by God to be buried in secret and that Elijah was taken up into a whirlwind to be deposited down in Judea where he served as a prophet.

• What Science Can't Discover about the Human Mind. Here HWA asserts that man has a spirit essence. It seems to me that Robert Kuhn helped develop this idea. Also says dinosaurs did not reproduce.

• Does God Heal Today? While looking around on the Internet I encountered the website of Harold Reiman, who insisted that doctors and medicines are forbidden by God. He cited this booklet. Later when I discovered Pabco's Web Page I read and indeed HWA condemned doctors and medicines. For a day or two I was distressed by his emotive assertions. However I was somewhat lucky in that I aligned myself with LCG which allows doctors and medicines. I told myself God's Church grows in truth, so what was said then has no relevance now because God's Church (LCG) now allows it. I did not then know that many people have died or had their health permanently impaired as a direct result of what is taught in this booklet. HWA got this teaching from the Jehovah's Witnesses, who were forbidden to use vaccines from around 1920 till 1952. Surely the most shameful legacy left behind by HWA. Alas, some COGs continue to spread this anti-medicine superstition.

•  The Plain Truth About Healing. The 1970s update of HWA's anti-medicine superstition, made as part of HWA's drive to purge the reformers of the 1970s in order to secure his leadership over WCG members.

I have also read:

• They Didn't Believe What He Said. Here HWA reduces all the problems of the world to Genesis 3. It implies one should always listen to HWA.

• If You Had Lived at the Time of Christ. Here HWA asserts that if you presently believe in what WCG is teaching now, you would have believed Christ when he walked upon the Earth if you lived back then. I was greatly flattered when I read this article. Why would anyone care? I am alive today. I did not live then and it is irrelevant what I would have done then because I live today, not then.

But I read those at another COG archive website.

Most of the writings stored here are writings produced by HWA's WCG, but there are a few eclectic other writings hidden within this archive.

• Except the Lord Builds the House. A compilation of quotes from HWA compiled by David C. Pack, before he went and started up his own COG personality cult.

• True Womanhood. This booklet was actually written by Roderick C. Meredith, but for whatever reason the author is not named here. Bob Thiel does the same thing on his archive of old WCG's writings.

• There is also the following article by Frank W. Nelte. Exactly What is Real Repentance? There used to be several articles by Frank W. Nelte in this website but they now appear to be gone except this one. I often wondered who this man was.

• There is also a list of sermons by HWA, Keith Brittain, David Hulme and Brian Orchard.

• The Nicolaitans. An article by J. H. Allen, who wrote Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright, the book HWA plagiarized British Israelism from. The article identifies the Nicolaitans with clerics wishing to seize power over their followers.

There are also some non-COG articles.

• Stark Prayer Sparks an Absolute Political Furor. A 1996 Washington Post news story about a minister in Kansas, Ray Wright, who caused a bit of a stir with a prayer he gave while speaking in the state capitol of Kansas. 

• The Land is Sacred to Us. A mournful lament at how Native Americans were being cast out of their land and shipped into reservations for the convenience of white men.

Beyond that there are a miscellaneous bunch of links to various non-COG web sites which I will not go into.

Outside of the COGs not many people understand the intricacies of Armstrongism. It is in the hope of making matters regarding Armstrongism more clear that I am writing this blog. Having experienced what I have within Armstrongism I feel it is my duty to tell what I know about it.

So that place is where I learned HWA's teachings from the man himself.