Joel Hilliker, part of the elite at the Philadelphia Church of God compound has lived a life of privileged over the years, as has all the "men" working at PCG's headquarters. He and the rest of them have never known hardship or real distress. Yet, Hilliker thinks he is qualified to tell other men on how they need to be able to endure hardships.
While being part of the 1% of the PCG he has this to say:
Endure Hardness
2 Timothy was the last book Paul wrote. He wrote it from prison—an uncomfortable place—right before he was put to death. Despite the hardship, 2 Timothy is Paul’s most inspiring book.
The apostle admonished young Timothy, “be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). Doing your duty before God involves some affliction! Paul suffered to do God’s Work! Read 2 Corinthians 11:24-28. Paul was beaten with 39 stripes five times; beaten with rods three times; stoned and left for dead; shipwrecked three times; he suffered in dangerous journeys, perils, weariness, pain, hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness. He lived a rough life as a minister of God!
Fluury's god expects everyone to struggle and be in constant battle...except for the elite in Edmond. Men of the PCG are required to struggle for the good of the PCG. This translates into working over time so you can send in more money. Mortgaging your homes, farms and businesses so you can send it in to PCG.
God put this man through a lot! But Paul told Timothy, That’s the way it is! That’s the life we’re called to! God intends for your life to be difficult. He doesn’t intend for you to live your life of snuggling in your comfort zone. He wants you to struggle, battle, overcome, conquer! He wants you to do what needs to be done for the Work of God and the Family of God. “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1). This is manly advice: Don’t be weak—be strong!
Men of the PCG NEED problems in their lives! These asswipes ignore the simple quality of Jesus where he says he will carry your burden and make the yoke light. He says nothing about living a life of finding constant affliction.
“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (verse 3). There is hardness that benefits you. We need the problems, challenges and afflictions life presents.
Hilliker feels that he and his cult are constantly facing one trial and persecution after another. These guys have never known persecution because they are the PERSECUTORS! Look at the lives of church members which have been destroyed by sick ministers of the PCG. Look at the families broken up because some ministurd tells a family to kick their child out of the house. Look at the parents and grandparents who now ignore their children and grandchildren.How skilled are you at enduring hardness? God wants you to embrace this struggle. When you do—and you learn to rely on Him—He can develop His character in you!
“God has ordained that this life will not be an easy life—for a very good reason. He knows that, if we have no severe trials and tests, we become spiritually soft and flabby!” says the July 1967 Good News. “A comfortable man is a complacent man. A comfortable man doesn’t want to change—doesn’t want to alter the status quo! Why should he? He is quite happy to let things continue as they are. Why change—when everything seems to be going along so very smoothly?”
“God Almighty knows that we need problems, temptations, trials, necessities, weaknesses, persecutions and afflictions to stir us to action—to stir us up enough to overcome our spiritual lethargy! … He knows that we need to have continual trials, tribulations and persecutions in order to toughen us up spiritually—in order to show us how weak and helpless we are so that we will always look to Him and rely on Him for everything!” (ibid).
Challenges reveal your heart (e.g. Deuteronomy 8:2-3). They teach you about yourself, reveal your weaknesses, and show you the areas where you need to be stronger, more like Jesus Christ!
You must get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Men who are part of the PCG need to know that their lives will constantly be uncomfortable. They will never be able to do anything right. They will never be able to please Gerald Flurry or his god. Its a no win situation for these men.
19 comments:
Commentary on II Timothy, eh?
And yet... And yet... he left out the best part that describes the PCG:
2 Timothy 3:1-5 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
The leaders of the PCG need to suffer the loss of their homes, autos, and live under the stars to toughen up. Also the members could give them 100 lashes to aid in their suffering. This should toughen them up for God.
I you endure hardness for more than four hours...call your doctor.
To John 10:10, I'm please to add:
Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Obviously, PCG's not doing it right. Better they give up their doing and kowtowing to the the thief so they can enter the Sabbath Rest, to let Jesus do the work.
"He lived a rough life as a minister of God!...But Paul told Timothy, That’s the way it is! That’s the life we’re called to! God intends for your [ministerial] life to be difficult."
My how times have changed. So ironic that an Armstrongite "minister of god" would say this, who's spent his life couched in entitlement, as a parasite living off the lifeblood of others. I can't figure out what a COG pastor does all week besides prepare one elementary level sermon, and then deliver it on Saturday, once, perhaps twice. What does he do the other five days of the week? It's a part-time job that pays a living wage? Rough life indeed.
"God put this man through a lot!"
"[God] doesn't intend for you to..."
"[God] wants you to struggle..."
"[God] wants you to do..."
"[God] wants you to embrace..."
"God has ordained..."
"God Almighty knows that we need problems..."
"[God] knows that we need to have continual trials..."
For someone who is indistinguishable from nothing, he sure does intend, want, and ordain a whole lot of stuff. I really have no confidence in these sorts of statements. Where do people get off saying things like this in public? Where's the reality check on any of this stuff? The universe is random. Shit happens. Meaning is something only you bring to the table, not the universe, and not "god."
This is one area in which the ACOG PR efforts which assisted in accomplishing the brainwashing were very good: the art of making shit palatable.
Fortunately, people are more sophisticated these days, and rarely buy into it.
BB
As early as 1995 Gerald Flurry was boasting that PCG's annual income was in the "multiple millions."
"Look at how the PCG has grown since Malachi's Message was first mailed just prior to January 16, 1990. Already we have bought and paid for three new buildings with over 8500 square feet and are producing a beautiful monthly magazine that is mailed to tens of thousands of homes in over 80 countries. ... Our annual income is now into the multiple millions." (Gerald Flurry, The Little Book, 1995 version, p. 7.)
PCG has been enjoying an income of multiple millions like for at least nineteen years. In 2010 their yearly income was $20.6 million. In 2012 their yearly income was $19.5 million. How can the leaders of PCG be suffering?
BTW, that 1967 Good News article was written by Raymond McNair. He regarded PCG as unworthy of him and he never joined PCG.
Let's see the Balance-Sheet on his PRETENTIOUS Concert Series in the Opulent Performing Arts Jewel-Box.
Heavily subsidized by his poor cowering sycophants for the community's rich upper class?
NO WIN SITUATION for PCG people? That's a bunch or a congregation of losers! Who wants to be with losers? Birds of the same feather flock together. Losers! Losers! Losers! Losers even in the Kingdom of God! My only advise if these people really desire to enter God's kingdom, use common sense. Or else they would end up losers like their leader. If God is pleased with anyone, there is no reason not to be blessed and be confident of success. Losers! Losers! Losers!
Blogger Connie Schmidt said...
Jesus said: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Was Jesus referring to material abundance? If so, how did that work out for his followers? Perhaps living abundantly was meant in some other way.
The only sensible explanation that I can think of is that the PCG lives in some alternate universe and they sort of bled over into our own.
Or maybe the PCG is just insane.
At least Hilliker doesn't need to worry about "the greater condemnation."
That's reserved for the teachers of the Word.
I just look at Mr. Hilliker's picture on theTrumpet.com and want to add a comic strip balloon with him saying, "I'm a big, important minister and you're not. Nyah! Nyah! Nyah!"
No experience, no practical idea of ANYTHING he writes about! But as you've mentioned here, the point is that the members do the suffering -- and he does none.
If these are the sort of people that God wants to spend an eternity with, He's welcome to them -- I certainly wouldn't want to be with them.
But.. but.. he is persecuted because people are MAKING FUN of him on a WEBSITE! Oh, the hardship! Oh, the ignominy! Those lions in the coliseum were nothing compared to what a minister has to deal with now, I tell you. The Internet is serious business.
Ah, I get it. Special trials for special people! It's their approved method of sublimating repugnant, negative "results" or consequences in order to convince people that they are on the right track.
Most of the trials in these peoples' lives are induced by the teachings and practices of their church. 90% of it is totally unnecessary, because it is extrabiblical stuff. Persecution has to do, to a large extent, with the way these churches taught us to explain or handle beliefs in the presence of others. If you deliberately school your members in the art of appearing foolish, guess what happens?
BB
They're kinda like the people on T.V. soap operas. They live such a life of money, ease, comfort, and privilege, it gets boooooring, so their minds wander and they end up making their own hardships by doing stupid stuff.
They need to get away from their comfort zone compound out into the REAL working world where you usually don't have time or money on your hands to get into stupid stuff.
THEN they'll THINK endure hardship! They'll be running back to >Headquarters< lol
If I never had a problem, I wouldn't know God could solve them.
- from a Christian song by Andrae Crouch
Could work both ways. Without my problems, I would never have realized that god doesn't solve them (because he doesn't exist...lolz).
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