Ever since Gerald Flurry dreamed up his "no contact" policy as a method of controlling Philadelphia Church of God members he has had to be on the defensive. As he struggles to find scripture to back up his insane rants he also has to deal with the backlash from PCG members and ex members.
Since so many find Flurry's excuses to be highly offensive he has has to turn to one of his abettor's to do his dirty work. That lackey ended up being Greg Nice who ultimately proves there is nothing nice about the guy at all!
Nice wrote the following article in July of 2010. The PCG has reposted this in order to keep the grumbling members under control. Must We Avoid Them?
Nice gets right to the point in the very first paragraph. This should leave no doubt in any PCG members mind that Gerald's god is directly behind this teaching.
Some of God’s people outside and perhaps even inside the Philadelphia Church of God think that the pcg has established a policy regarding cutting off fellowship with members who leave the faith—those the Bible describes as Laodicean—even their own family members. Not having fellowship with Laodiceans is not a policy established by the pcg. What the pcg does is teach and obey the doctrine established by God. Because this is a doctrine of God, it is therefore a policy of the Church; that is, the Church follows God’s commands about restricting fellowship with people He has called and impregnated with His Holy Spirit and who then choose to walk contrary to their covenant with God.
The doctrines of the Church of God come directly from the Word of God. Not having fellowship with those who turn away from God is directly commanded from one end of the Bible to the other. The doctrine predates mankind and will continue into the Kingdom of God.
Why would any PCG member ever doubt Flurry again after reading this? The very first two paragraphs are laden with fear tactics meant to enslave and subdue.
25 comments:
Yep, and this is why the brainwashed occasionally show up here proclaiming, "Oh, no!!! We don't follow a man! Why we follow what God says in the pages of the Bible!"
Pssst. Secret message, doofburgers! It ain't the Bible! It's the way a man you follow cobbled together certain scriptures to use as prooftextimg, oh, and ignoring other pertinent scriptures along the way about converted husbands or wives not cutting off the unconverted, but leaving it up to the unconverted whether to stay or go. Or the rewards for winning back someone who has fallen away. But, hey! If you feel compelled to follow your ignorant and tyrannical minister, go for it!
BB
If one were Satan, and not as nice as Flurry and Nice, how would you think? How would you do it? How would you have people treating one another? Nice's words are really written in code, but if we decode Nice's words and change the big G to little g or to Satan, then their real God is exposed for all to see. In other words, we have this message as follows when decoded:
"...Some of Satan’s people outside and perhaps even inside the Philadelphia Church of Satan think that the pcg has established a policy regarding cutting off fellowship with members who leave the faith—those the Bible describes as Laodicean—even their own family members. Not having fellowship with Laodiceans is not a policy established by the pcg. What the pcg does is teach and obey the doctrine established by Satan. Because this is a doctrine of Satan, it is therefore a policy of the Church; that is, the Church follows Satan’s commands about restricting fellowship with people He has called and impregnated with His Holy Spirit and who then choose to walk contrary to their covenant with Satan.
The doctrines of the Church of Satan come directly from the Word of Satan. Not having fellowship with those who turn away from Satan is directly commanded from one end of the Bible to the other. The doctrine predates mankind and will continue into the Kingdom of Satan..."
John
"Work out your salvation with fear and trembling" is a acknowledgement of every persons uniqueness. Shunning people who genuinely slacken off, might jolt some to repentance, whilst making zero difference with others. It depends on their background. Some have a background of achievement, hence a shock to the system will get them back on track. But others have a history of no achievement, and in the church continue with this. Shunning these types will not work. Why separate family members if it will not work? I regret not having spent more time with my aging pet before it died. I would be terrible likewise, to regret for all eternity not having spent as much time as possible with someone that you know is not qualifying for eternal life. God does not deal with such 'blanket' solutions. He always customizes for what is best for each and every person. There is no 'collateral damage'
with His policies. A Christian is one who follows Christ, not man. To those in this situation, make sure you are following God.
Second thoughts....
Greg Nice wrote: "...Some of God’s people outside and perhaps even inside the Philadelphia Church of God think that the pcg has established a policy regarding cutting off fellowship with members who leave the faith—those the Bible describes as Laodicean—even their own family members. Not having fellowship with Laodiceans is not a policy established by the pcg. What the pcg does is teach and obey the doctrine established by God. Because this is a doctrine of God, it is therefore a policy of the Church; that is, the Church follows God’s commands about restricting fellowship with people He has called and impregnated with His Holy Spirit and who then choose to walk contrary to their covenant with God..."
How do people think such stuff up? And what's wrong with Laodiceans? After all, those Laodicean members are still a part of God's Church. They just have a different purpose to fulfill. They are going to be part of a Bride; aren't they? Can Flurry and Nice, themSELVES, really believe that they aren't Laodicean? Could they be fooling themselves?
In any event, I prefer to read Jesus Christ's words and follow His advice:
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Ro 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
1 Thess 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1 Jhno 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
2 John 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
And Jesus spent much His time on earth with sinners!
John
First of all, enough of this talk about "Impregnating". It is highly inappropriate in the dating process between Christ and his bride to be... :)
Not Nice Notes:
"What the pcg does is teach and obey the doctrine established by God. Because this is a doctrine of God, it is therefore a policy of the Church; that is, the Church follows God’s commands about restricting fellowship with people He has called and impregnated with His Holy Spirit and who then choose to walk contrary to their covenant with God."
Actually it is the policy of ancient priests and early Church Father types running into "the brethren" beginning to think time was not as short as first imagined and the competition between various factions was heating up. As then, so today. It is incredibly easy to quote the Deity living in one's god-haunted head to manipulate and achieve one's goals for conquest and control. Of course, no real Deity is involved in the process or the instructions given by the Schlepard to the Sheep. No real Deity would be so weak as to have to put up walls to keep the true believers in and protected from the big and bad ideas of those void of the current truth . One would think this Deity's truth would be so self evident and so well explained with proof beyond measure folk would be flocking to get in...not out.
"The Doctrine" continuing into the Kingdom must mean folk would still be struggling with wanting to follow Satan and his demons in the Lake of Fire, which would be a normal desire and big problem again for the Deity after everyone "making it" into the Wonderful World Tomorrow... lol
Regarding the dating article... I always wondered what heartache and havoc the Apostle Paul caused young relationships with his terrible and wrongheaded commands to stay single but marry if you must to avoid fornication. The concept of love between two people never seems to cross his mind , he obviously never experienced it due to his undesirable physical and personality issues and ended up terribly wrong about why those folks should avoid relationships because time was short as usual...again.
5.36 AM In PCG literature, Laodicean means almost spiritually dead. It's their personal definition.
Shame on PCG's 1% for inciting such acts of hate as shunning people.
Even though PCG has been inciting such acts since 2000 nevertheless on November 22, 2005 Stephen Flurry did a phone interview with UCG's Aaron Dean. This is mentioned in the footnotes for his book, Raising the Ruins.
"Personal interview with Aaron Dean, November 22, 2005." (Footnotes, 5, 7, 14 and 28 for Chapter 3. Footnotes 1 and 23 for Chapter 4. Footnote 1 for Chapter 5. Stephen Flurry, Raising the Ruins.)
Why it is all right for Stephen Flurry to interview UCG's Aaron Dean when so many PCG members shun "Laodiceans"?
Sorry to see Greg Nice got deeper into the crazy of Armstrongism. I vaguely knew him and knew his wife a bit better at the time they got engaged. You could not meet a sweeter woman than her. For a stoic and homely looking giant, Greg was surprisingly humorous and pleasant.
I'll never forget how Greg, in front of a large group of students and others, told all about his pre-marital counseling session with Old Spanky. He was really goofing on Spanky's description of how to do it. Spanky was sitting in a desk chair and he pushed the chair toward, then away from the desk, rapidly like a jackhammer, for a long time. Greg guessed that Spanky didn't think that the he, a farm boy, was catching on fast enough.
My guess is that Spanky was masturbating at the time, but now we'll never know because Greg must shun Spanky and the rest of that gang.
Heil, Nice!
"Shame on PCG's 1% for inciting such acts of hate as shunning people."
Shame on them for following the bible? The bible says to shun people. Furthermore, every society shuns people. America today is one of the most repressive societies ever. America used to shun deviants and those with destructive behavior. Now it shuns tens of millions of people. It shuns so-called "racists," for wanting to save their race, and so-called "homo-phobics," for wanting the gay filth off of TV. And Republicans and Democrats shun each other all the time. The hate is all over the web. Get an Internet connection and see for yourself.
What a stupid remark. Talk about posturing. This blog is full of hypocritical posturing.
"Some ... think that the pcg has established a policy regarding cutting off fellowship with members who leave the faith—those the Bible describes as Laodicean..."
As someone pointed out, Laodiceans have not left the faith. They are members of the church. There is no scripture that supports not fellow-shipping with Laodiceans.
"Not having fellowship with Laodiceans is not a policy established by the pcg."
Bullshit.
"... choose to walk contrary to their covenant with God."
Another lie. Laodiceans are just people who are spiritually weak; they are not walking contrary to their covenant with God. If they did that they would be out of the church. i.e. lost the holy spirit.
"Not having fellowship with those who turn away from God is directly commanded from one end of the Bible to the other."
Laodiceans have not turned away from God. If they did they would be out of the church, and Laodicea is one of the seven churches.
The PCG has to lie about (i.e. defame) their Laodicean brethren to support Gerald's policy.
Free societies have to build walls to keep people "out". Societies that enslave and deny freedoms have to build walls to keep people "in". The PCG is the latter. As D.D. well stated, if what they believe is so great and so clearly ordained by a powerful God wouldn't millions be rushing the doors of any of the COG's.
Oh. just stop with the Laodicea stuff.
The PCG is rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing, so they don't want to hear it.
9:47 seems to somehow justify shunning by claiming that people do it all the time. A peculiar bit of theological reasoning, that.
What free societies? Everyone is brainwashed. They are prisoners of the lies constantly spread by the media and government. Wake up.
Shunning does not happen all the time? Even this blog censors unwelcome comments, as do other ex-COG blogs. And then there are the people who label as trolls anyone who disagrees with what they think is acceptable opinion. If that is not shunning what is it?
Would any Leader/Minister/Elder of PCG be able to explain, really PROVE (YES PROVE) that everyone else outside their church is Laodicea?
Prove it from the Bible, not their little concocted booklets?
The Strongarmist Creed goes as follows.
There are Church Era's.
According to the Creed we are ALL in the Laodicean Era since....... (well all differ on the since).
So if one is convinced that one particular off shoot still consists of a majority of "Brotherly Love" spirited members, they are still part of the Laodicean (and supposedly last) Era of the Church.
This is a creed made out of a couple of cities along an old Roman Postal route in what is now called Turkey, lined with carpet shops nowadays.
nck
Hey, come on! People aren't branded as trolls for expressing contrarian opinions. They are branded as such for being arrogant and obnoxious about those opinions and expressing them in a baiting way. They play us as a "bait-a-test site". Usually after outrage or reprimand, they go into this milquetoastish innocent little act that would gag a maggot.
BB
A couple years ago when Greg was at HQs for the birth of his grand baby, he graced us all with his presence and gave a sermonette. He spoke about "happiness" and how being happy is pagan! He said the origins of happy came from China and no where in the Bible is happiness mentioned and that we should never strive to be happy. I just remember staring at that doofus in absolute disbelief!
His daughter in law almost died during childbirth and he was rambling on about how it wouldn't make any difference if she lived or died because all things work out for the good.
He's a very callous man!
But then, the PCG teaches us all to be callous and cold, it's all part of the grand Brotherly Love Plan!
Just when I think I have heard it all....appalling!
Ignorant Greg Nice is unaware that the Greek word makavrioß (makarios), used in the Beautitudes and generally translated "blessed", actually means "happy".
Anyone in the PCG needs to run.
6.17 PM "all things work out for the good," is a bad translation. If that was the case, evil would not truly exist, and there would be no point in choosing life over death. Besides, common observation and experience shows this not to be the case. The right translation from memory is 'God will always be with you in your trials.'
The story of Nice is not a nice story.
The story of Gerald Flurry and the PCG is even worse.
The PCG always claimed to be holding faithfully to everything that HWA had taught, but then it somehow always managed to teach the exact opposite of what HWA had taught.
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