Philadelphia Church of God mouthpiece Joel Hilliker wrote an article that was published on the PCG web site during the Feast of Tabernacles. Joel has a long standing reputation from many who have been in his classes for being many watt's short of a bright light bulb. He has had no education outside the cult system of Flurry/Armstrongism. Reading excerpts below from his article will make that painfully obvious.
Gerald Furry and the PCG go to great lengths in ridiculing the Pope and the Catholic church of its power/revelation structure. Through that haze of theological idiocy Hilliker and the rest of the PCG look upon Gerald Furry in the exact same way the loyal Catholics do the Pope.
- All governmental power emanates from God through Gerald Flurry to those below him. The Pope is the spiritual leader of the church and all under him.
- All revealed knowledge and prophetic utterances come through Flurry directly from God. All revealed knowledge comes through the Pope and is given to the church.
- As Mary is an intermediary between humans and God, so is Herbert Armstrong an intermediary between humans and the "truth once restored." That truth cannot be understood without knowing who Herbert Armstrong was and reading his words.
- The Catholic Church is the true church of God. The Philadelphia Church of God is the true church of God.
I mention this because Joel Hilliker only writes about what he has been personally taught by Gerald Flurry. Because Gerald Flurry is the official mouthpiece of God through whom all theological wisdom emanates there is no reason in Hilliker's mind to do any research or to question these assumptions of his leader.
Given that, Hilliker writes to the membership of the PCG telling them about what life will be like in the Kingdom of God, specially for the elite who live on the cult Compound in Edmond, OK. Flurry as taught all these people that since they are the true Church and God is working solely with them, and that they are the true government of God on earth today, it is only natural that the Kingdom of God will include them in its power structure.
Hilliker writes:
God has always been headquarters minded. The temporal headquarters of
His Work on Earth points people toward Him, and His dwelling place in
the third heaven. It projects our minds forward to the time when God the
Father Himself will descend to Earth and govern the universe from here!
In truth,
God Himself is headquarters!
What an extraordinary vision is wrapped up in headquarters, the place
where God dwells. God always wants His headquarters to be a bright
beacon of light to the world! He wants people's minds tied in to where
the Head is.
Like Herbert Armstrong, Flurry believes that God wants his cult compound to be the "light of the world" or in Dave Pack's case, the "city upon the hill." God has made COG cult compounds God's chosen properties in the world today.
In the days of King David, the headquarters of God's
chosen nation was in Jerusalem. David wanted to build God a house there
that would be "exceeding magnifical"—so magnificent that its splendor
would actually bring people to God.
Flurry likes to use David, just as HWA did, in justifying the construction of opulent money sucking monstrosities dedicated to god. If the building is dedicated to God then the membership would complain as much about it as they would if it was called Gerald Flurry Auditorium.
He instructed his son Solomon
in that stirring headquarters vision, and Solomon built the temple. When
the queen of Sheba visited, she was so impressed that she uttered,
"Blessed be the Lord thy God"! (1 Kings
10:9). God's earthly headquarters pointed this queen to God, just as
King David and God intended. She was moved to contribute wealth to this
glorious project (verse 10). She left God's earthly headquarters
inspired and filled with vision!
God apparently inspired Flurry to build his monument to himself just like HWA was inspired to build his monument to himself. Both worked/work as hard as they can to impress the world around them Its important to these men to be seen as important.
This same scene played out over
and over. People came from all over to witness the magnificence of God's
headquarters with their own eyes. Kings gave of their treasure, adding
to the treasure the Israelites gave. Verse 14 shows that, in a single
year, well over half a billion dollars' worth of gold (in today's value)
came in!
This is thee same message HWA forced upon the membership to fund his auditorium and opulent lifestyle. The lowly church members need to see what the finest things are in life in order to be prepared to live in the world tomorrow where riches will be for everyone. It does not matter that the PCG and other COG's suck the money out of members pockets to the point their live lives of poverty. They will receive their reward later in life so why worry about now.
Physically, what we have at God's headquarters today
isn't nearly so impressive. But spiritually, there is something far more
impressive happening here. Visiting the headquarters of God's Church in
Edmond, Oklahoma, is a special experience. You can sense God's Spirit
here. It is a place of peace and joy. To God's people, it feels like home.
And God ties us all in with it directly since we fund it through our
offerings and contributions. This campus combines the collective
energies of those who work here and our worldwide family of co-workers.
We all have our role to play in making this the finest headquarters it
can be. That's why it is so moving to God's people when they visit
Edmond. We can get a sense of what stirred the queen of Sheba and
others.
Hilliker wants all loyal PCG members to know that the Edmond Compound is the most godly place on earth today. Everyone lives in a state of bliss and enlightenment 24/7:
That feeling of awe, respect, joy and peace we experience in Edmond is
exactly the feeling that people the world over will have about God's
headquarters on Earth in the World Tomorrow! And, once again, that
headquarters will be Jerusalem.
So what is that headquarters going to be like for the world at large? After God spanks the world with death and destruction, the PCG membership will kick into action. They will be constructing the kingdom of God where all people will come.
Once people have been humbled, we will begin to build in them a habit of focusing on God—and on God's headquarters. "God will reach into the lives of every repentant person on Earth—from Jerusalem" (ibid).
The most important building in Flurry's kingdom will be the Temple located in Jerusalem:
And the most prominent structure within Jerusalem will be the
headquarters temple. The mountain of God's house will be established as
the highest of the mountains, and exalted above the hills (Isaiah 2:2;
Micah 4:1; Zechariah 8:3). The temple will dominate the landscape at the
headquarters city, helping people look to where Christ is!
In the thirteen acre temple where God will have his management office, the membership of the PCG will also be living and having offices. Since they will be gods as God is now, it is only right that they get to an office next door to God. OF course this will not be any of the rank and file of the PCG, it will only be the elite from the compound in Edmond that will have their offices there.
The Millennial Temple
The
Prophet Ezekiel describes that temple in wonderful detail. It will be
patterned after God's heavenly temple, the seat of His throne today. It
will have a footprint of half a million square feet, occupying about 13
acres. That is where God's Philadelphians of today will live!
The
outer precinct around the temple, described in the last nine chapters of
Ezekiel, will occupy about one square mile of land. The headquarters
city itself will only be about 7½ miles square. Considering that it will
be the command center for the whole world's system of governing, that
is quite an efficient headquarters facility.
Flurry and his elite can't wait to be married to their HUSBAND where they can rule.
What an exciting future we have to look forward to, living and working
with our Husband in that headquarters facility. Being a priest at
headquarters is a wonderful thing—even today. It is a great blessing to
be stationed right in the middle of all the action. In that future
headquarters, surely we will often shake our heads and say, What a privilege!
This "husband" thing starting to sweep through Armstrongism is weird and illogical. This is what happens when you take things as 100% literal instead of using it as a metaphor for something even deeper in meaning. Since Armstrongism is a totally superficial belief system, deep meaning cannot be found in it.
Only those loyal to Gerald Flurry and this cult HQ in this present age will be allowed to be in God's HQ. Then to show how even more illogical Flurry is, he says that ONLY LOYAL PCG members in this age will be able to have special aaccess to Jesus in the world tomorrow. They will be the ONLY ONES to have special access to come near to God.
Those who remain loyal to God today will inhabit special rooms in
the headquarters temple. Our offices will be near God's office. We will
have special access to Christ—the only ones who come near to God
(Ezekiel 40:45-46; 44:15-16). As His helpmeet, we will serve Him—seeing
to His needs, helping Him directly.
PCG members will also be Real Estate agent in the World Tomorrow in Jerusalem. They will be maiking fortunes off those wanting to move to Jerusalem. I guess that is part of the reasons Lil'Stevie bought his condo over looking the Mount of Olives. He will get to see JC return and then be able to run his real estate agency from his condo.
Surely many people will want to live close to headquarters. Jeremiah
32:43-44 show that there will be an active real-estate industry in the
areas around Jerusalem—the buying and selling of property. It will be
the choicest place to live on Earth.
PCG will also be producing "Envoy's for all the gullible sheep to buy. More money in their pockets!
Perhaps films or broadcasts will circulate around the world showing the
latest developments in the building project. Publications like our
college envoys might display beautiful photos of the temple and
surrounding structures, the colleges, the entertainment productions, the
city life, the people in the streets who are heroes like David. All the
emotion and enthusiasm we have for God's headquarters today in Edmond
will be multiplied by thousands and millions worldwide!
PCG members are being trained today by being forced to send in tithes, offerings to the Compound. Members are told to sell homes, businesses and real estate in order to send it to Flurry so the Compound can be built even bigger. It is a training exercise for the world tomorrow.
We've been trained by God to exhibit that headquarters focus today! Just
as our tithes, offerings, labor, building fund contributions and
sacrifices enable the construction of the facilities in Edmond today,
those offerings in the future are going to build Jerusalem!
Flurry and crew are also going to be running he travel industry in the world tomorrow. Withal those people flocking to Jerusalem someone needs to get them there and who better to do that than the PCG God's!
Clearly, we are going to need a travel industry in the World Tomorrow!
We'll need some forms of rapid transportation to get people from distant
continents to Jerusalem.
There is even more silliness that attempts to prove as fact on what he imagines the New Jerusalem to be like. What more can you expect from a guy who has no real theological training. Being trained at the feet of a narcissistic man who is also theological bankrupt does not produce wisdom or understanding.
You can read this pile of bullshit here:
A Visit to Millennial Headquarters!