Joel Hiliker of the Philadelphia Church of God has an article up about what he calls "...the most important responsibility you have in your life right now..."
Is it to go forth into the world healing the sick, feeding the poor, clothing the destitute, and proclaiming the Good News? Nope, he say it is honoring your parents. While that is certainly a good thing and should be done, it is a hypocritical stance of PCG to make such a claim.
What’s the most important responsibility you have in your life right now? Do you know?
Actually, your biggest responsibility at this time in your life—like it or not—is your relationship with your parents! More specifically, it is that you treat your parents with proper honor.
It is a well known fact that the Philadelphia Church of God, at the direction of Gerald Flurry, has broken up families, turned children against parents and parents against children. Families have literally been destroyed by the PCG. Marriages have broken up and several suicides have happened because of the way the church treated some people.
God wants families to be happy, unified and fulfilling. Children honoring their parents is so important to strong families, that God made it number five of the “big ten”—the Ten Commandments.
Families in the PCG are unhappy, broken and unfulfilled all thanks to the strict and abominable stance that the PCG has taken.
If you do not believe that PCG destroys families take a look at the following page. It contains 14 years of letters from people who's lives have been ruined by the PCG. Letters of those impacted by PCG
When my mother in law, who's in PCG, lost her husband, she was warned not to allow members from other COG's to come to the funeral. So I was excluded.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest commandment is supposed to be the first commandment. The PCG is putting your human parents above God. Duh.
ReplyDeleteBut Hilliker always was a liar anyway.
hmmm- The name Hiliker has the meaning of "Strife/Spear "
ReplyDeleteSource:http://genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/hilliker
Looks like such a name fits in perfectly with the PCG family policy of NO CONTACT for those outside of the PCG who were former WCG.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: If the Devil took over the Worldwide Church of God and changed virtually all of its doctrines, why would he then sell some of Herbert W. Armstrong's writings to the remnant of the true church?
Answer: He did not sell them to the remnant of the true church! The Devil merely transferred them from the group that he took over to his own favorite Philadelphia Church of Fraud splinter group that he had set up--where he could edit them and change them while pretending that they were still being made available by the new official copyright holder. Those sheeple who would not go along with Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. removing the literature from circulation apparently will go along with Gerald "Satan's Scribe" Flurry editing it and changing it.
Dave Pack's cult also tears families apart and children suffer as a result. Number one for Dave is....Dave. He thinks that very very soon the world will change because Christ will return and that Christ will need lots of help managing things and that Dave will be appointed as a ruler and that he (Dave) will be given a rod to beat the lowly non RCGers into submission. no shit, he says that and writes that. All that he cares about families is that the need to follow his version of the rules and, number one priority, give him god's money and don't ask what Dave does with it, that's nunya. I don't think that Dave really believes all of that about Christ and all, he has to know better because HWA said that junk for decades and it never came true, Dave is simply a copy cat and he is a deceiver with the goal of getting money and making himself out to be some godman. I am embarrassed that my husband worships Dave as such. It's amazing that full grown men play such games.
ReplyDeleteYup, putting your parents in the NO CONTACT zone is definitely honoring them... somehow... THOSE DAMNED LAODICEANS WHO DON'T SEND US MONEY
ReplyDeleteGood call, NO2. The smugness of the PCG relative to its no-contact policy is beyond the pale, and is in no way scriptural. Hilliker's admonishments are nauseating in light of what they truly practice.
ReplyDeleteWhy any artist with a conscience performs at the PCG's Armstrong Auditorium is beyond me. That campus and that church are built on the backs of broken families.
The thing about the Hilliker's is: Joel Hilliker's father Carl Hilliker is related to Gerald Flurry as Carl Hilliker's daughter is married to Gerald Flurry's son Stephen. When I took my young son and left my ex husband, (at BRIAN DAVIS' advice), and moved to Washington State, (briefly Dec. 2005- Feb. 2006) I met Carl Hilliker and his wife because he was the minister in Orting Washington where I attended PCG services. This couple was very nice and also let me use their car while I was there. I met Joel later and he is a very nice guy, and extremely intelligent and talented. I believe his parents were excellent parents despite all the negativity that comes from being a member. I would call them >survivors<.
ReplyDeleteMost PCG members adhere to the scripture: Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Revelation 3:11.
This scripture is what keeps most, I believe, in the PCG enduring abuse and everything else. Also, this is the only religion most have known, (as Joel was born into the WWCOG), and it is and has been their only source of income.
Carl Hilliker was demoted back in 2007/8 sometime,(trumped up charges I'm sure), by Gerald Flurry and was sent to >Headquarters< to be over landscaping. How do you like that...minister to landscaping? But notice NO DISFELOWSHIPPING?? It's a family thang. Isn't that special!
PS...so as you see, the conclusion to the matter is "Honor your father and mother" ONLY applies to Gerald Flurry's family and those related to him in some way or another and close friends and associates with lots of money to give to him and his.
ReplyDelete>>Why any artist with a conscience performs at the PCG's Armstrong Auditorium is beyond me. That campus and that church are built on the backs of broken families.<<
ReplyDeleteI strongly suspect they do not know that Armstrong Auditorium is run by a (highly destructive and heretical) church. I suspect they might downplay PCG's role and say it is made a charitable foundation or something.
So many things to say. When Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority began attracting media attention back in the early '80's, I was living in California, and didn't realize that there were still such persons as Conservatives. In fact, I was deeply shocked by Ronald Reagan and the reaction he received as president, because when he was governor of California, he was really mocked on the California college campuses by predominantly liberal students.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this "Moral Majority" began speaking out for family values, and the added value in life that a strong family gave to an individual. By that time, we in my own family had already spent years of separation from the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who were not part of WCG, and, having left the WCG in 1975, I now also consciously avoided the parts of my family that were still part of WCG, because it's pretty darned uncomfortable sitting in a room with some people who feel in their hearts that you are deceived and on your way to either the Lake of Fire, or the Second resurrection. With our family having been blown apart by Armstrongism, I found it interesting that there still were churches who taught family values, and promoted healed relationships. My survival in the face of this dichotomy was based on the fact that, from necessity, I had evolved into a staunch individualist.
The types of simplistic family values WCG taught involved honoring and obeying your parents, or suffering the worst case scenarios outlined in the childrearing booklet. Terms such as grace were not applied to family situations, nor was unconditional love. Family was "forced" or contrived, as opposed to being natural. I can understand why mainstream churches teach that members should put Christ ahead of all else, and that such centering of your life will bring everything else into alignment, but in WCG, we were taught to put the church and HWA first, in a kind of "my way or the highway" paradigm. If you did not, you were not going to make it to the so-called place of safety. It mattered not that other family members might be devout Catholics or Protestants with good values, if they were not Armstrongite, for all practical purposes they did not exist. That type of teaching makes family expendible, as opposed to being a priority.
As the Reagan years progressed, I became employed by a business which was composed of a Catholic family, and select people from outside of their family. Because they practiced what they preached, I relearned about real family values during my time with them, as you didn't so much work for their company as you became part of their extended family. So, basically, what I know about family values today, I learned from the Catholics.
It's no wonder to me why HWA did not want us getting close to non-WCG members. He didn't want us discovering that what he taught about them was untrue, and how badly his own church sucked.
BB
Byker Bob, we have a prayer group convened and are praying that your heart will be softened, and that you will finally be able to reach out and achieve a loving reconnection with your parents.
ReplyDeleteGod has put it on our hearts that He will cause this to happen before your parents pass on.
BB: There is also this viewpoint:
ReplyDeleteWhat if My Mother or Father Dies Before We Resolve our Relationship - See more at: http://emergingfrombroken.com/what-if-my-mother-or-father-dies-before-we-resolve-our-relationship/#sthash.IqM809u8.dpuf
" Anonymous", why don't you select a name so we can tell the " Anonymous" ones apart from the other " Anonymous" posters?
ReplyDeleteThe most important responsibility in your life right now is seeking your own salvation with fear and trembling. That's Scriptural.
ReplyDeleteFailing that, Joel Hiliker just makes something up, thus threatening his own salvation, since Revelation reveals that liars will not be allowed in the Kingdom of God and it's not even a good idea to add to the Word of God (if you believe in that sort of thing, which he pretends to do but doesn't).
Don't worry, anonymous, Jesus has that covered. The restoration of perfect knowledge in the kingdom is going to melt away all the philosophical differences and false "knowledge" that drives families apart during the present time. It's not important during this lifetime to restore the relationships that have been rendered FUBAR by HWA. That comes later. It is important to forgive in this present life, but only new lines of thinking and fresh perspectives can make relationships possible.
ReplyDeleteBB
Probably, Joel would want a child to totally dig her parent only if that parent is in the PCG.
ReplyDeleteI've made my choices regarding my relationship with my parents- I've made the relationships the best I can, warts and all, and have apparently gone way beyond what suffices as acceptable moral conduct by some Christian believers.
I wanted to do the best I could in the present, because I could not believe in the Christian believers' idea of throwing such things aside in this lifetime because of some hypothetical and reality-challenged idea of an afterlife that'll fix everything and make everything all better.
But, anonymous, if you don't believe in the afterlife, nothing you do in this life matters at all, anyway. All you can do is try to stay out of trouble, attempt to earn a comfortable living, and seek pleasurable temporary inconsequential and meaningless experiences. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.......
ReplyDeleteI'm familiar with the argument that we don't need to get things right, now, because Jesus will return soon and make everything all okey-dokey.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do believe it's well within people's right's to believe that if they wish to, I don't agree. Such sentiments cause me to grieve humanity's current state of religious belief.
It's not unusual to hear claims that it's OK to rape and pollute our planet because Jesus will be coming back soon to fix all problems.
"Anonymous", why don't you select a name ...
ReplyDeleteWould love to but then the haters on here attack people just because of who they are, drag up old things they say you said in the past (that you didn't even say), and otherwise lie and discredit you because they hate your message and refuse to investigate it objectively for themselves. In other words, the media-heads kill any chance of civilized discourse.
Hey, I can relate to that, 1:27. As a techie, I've always deliberately kept relationships superficial. It's not as if I single out my family members and treat them differently.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am very concerned about all of the melting glaciers and ice caps, the rising sea level, and the plight of island nations. There is also a huge garbage dump at the center of the currents of each major ocean. As a species, we need to be doing everything we possibly can to be good stewards of the planet.
BB
Anonymous March 28, 2014 at 9:04 said to a different anonymous, "[I]f you don't believe in the afterlife, nothing you do in this life matters at all, anyway. All you can do is try to stay out of trouble, attempt to earn a comfortable living, and seek pleasurable temporary inconsequential and meaningless experiences. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down......."
ReplyDeleteSpeak for yourself, 9:04. Don't start with "if you don't believe. . . "; start with "if I didn't believe. . ." and then go on to tell us how you would feel. We might feel a lot different from the way you would, so don't impute to us your opinion that this life is worthless.
I, for example, do not believe in the afterlife. It could possibly loom out there on the other side of my inevitable fleshly dissolution, but since I see no evidence either way, it seems better to assume this life is all I've got. So I savor it. I am thankful that I have mostly stayed out of trouble and earned a comfortable living. I have had many experiences and anticipate a few more.
By definition they are all temporary--they have a beginning and they have an end. That's good, even for the pleasurable ones. I love pecan pie, but I can't stand to eat it all day long--much less for eternity. And what about a never-ending erection? Must be miserable, considering a man is advised to seek medical help for one that lasts more than four hours. And an eternal orgasm? Unbearable!
Inconsequential, you say? One of the best things about the way I made my comfortable living (teaching English) was that what I did was not fraught with awful consequences. I could relax. I was not wielding a scalpel that could slip and sever a patient's artery or slice through a vital brain connection. I was not a gunner on a military helicopter or the remote "pilot" of a drone ordered to destroy a wedding party in Afghanistan.
Meaningless? I have been required to do meaningless things on the job, or just in the course of living in a society managed by bureaucrats. But I weasel out of them when I can so that I can spend time doing things I find meaningful. If I get satisfaction from them, temporary though they may be, to hell with what others think.
For example, it means a lot to me to be able to heat our home with firewood I cut myself. Nobody else cares much, except my wife, and sometimes my son when he comes for a visit and hankers to spend a little time working alongside the old man. These times are good ones. They matter a lot. We treasure them all the more, knowing they will not go on forever.
"Would love to but then the haters on here attack people just because of who they are, drag up old things they say you said in the past (that you didn't even say), and otherwise lie and discredit you because they hate your message and refuse to investigate it objectively for themselves. In other words, the media-heads kill any chance of civilized discourse."
ReplyDeleteUh huh. Why are you worried about people dragging up old things you said in the past? Why are you so quick to shout that these thing people say you said are things "you didn't even say"? Is it because you say some pretty embarrassing things? Stuff like:
"Unlike the others on your list, Hitler was a world statesman, admired by heads of state in the West, widely lauded for his amazing economic accomplishments, and loved by his people. All that changed with the war and he was demonized and lied about like we do to all our enemies and are doing to Putin now over Ukraine (please look at the real news, like maybe at rt.com, and not the lies on CNN, NBC, etc). Have you spent weeks day and night researching BOTH sides like I have? No, probably not. Until you do, don't condemn people you have only heard lies about."
If I had said that, I wouldn't people bringing it up either. It's pretty embarrassing. Nobody else needs to discredit you. You're the one doing it to yourself.
6:52: Right on! That particular anonymous lurker is most likely a misfit who doesn't really fit in anywhere. Armstrongism attracted "legions" of these people, not realizing that they would fail to modify and conform, and then eventually cast them aside as incorrigible. Today, they are pitied and not taken seriously by both members and non-members alike, so it is easy to understand how they see everyone except themselves as having one singular mindset, that of the phantom "hater".
ReplyDeleteIt is impossible to find healing through Armstrongism, as that only exacerbates an individual's problems. However, one wishes that these people would look for, and find, better sources for healing than Hitler. There is no question that Hitler was by degree a worse despot than HWA. It is also possible that anonymous's postings are a crude and failed attempt at satire, or some blatant stirring of the proverbial caca.
BB
Perhaps an astute reader would be so kind as to put together a grouping of the "pro-Hitler" posts here by whichever anonymous poster(s) have posted them.
ReplyDeleteThat may be a stretch, but what if we could actually interact with, and help him/her/them in a positive way?
My 2 cents.