The story of this rock begins and ends in one paragraph in Herbert Armstrong's autobiography2 where he tells the story of how he was a guest at the farm home of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer E. Fischer and while exercising on the hilltop he discovered a rock "about 14 inches high," where he prayed for the success of the new campaign meeting west of Eugene, Oregon. This rock was evidently the right height for him to kneel beside and so HWA said it became his "prayer rock." He goes on to say that he is sure that he "drank in much energy, spiritual strength and inspiration at that prayer rock."
1000 Ft high surge roars down the Columbia River Basin at Crown Point just outside Portland 15,000 years ago after 2000 ft High ice dam bursts in Montana. The flood created the Scablands of Eastern Washington State and flowed to 200 feet deep at Eugene, Oregon
Crown Point on the Columbia today. The huge rock in the upper left corner is Beacon Rock and is the core of an extinct volcano left after the flood washed the cinder cone clean away leaving the basalt plug.
This rock appears to actually be an "erratic" commonly found in the Willamette Valley from Portland to Eugene. The rock appears to be typical granite which is not a type of rock found in the area. Thus it is called an erratic. Granite such as commonly found on farms in the Willamette Valley originally comes from Idaho or Montana and these erratics are called "ice rafted" as they could only have gotten here by melting out of ice.
The Eugene Erratic?
Eastern Washington State erratic
The Missoula Floods (also known as the Spokane Floods or the Bretz Floods) refer to the cataclysmicfloods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. The glacial flood events have been researched since the 1920s. These glacial lake outburst floods were the result of periodic sudden ruptures of the ice dam on the Clark Fork River that created Glacial Lake Missoula. After each ice dam rupture, the waters of the lake would rush down the Clark Fork and theColumbia River, flooding much of eastern Washington and the Willamette Valley in western Oregon. After the rupture, the ice would reform, creating Glacial Lake Missoula again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missoula_Floods
The Flood even ice rafted one of the largest meteorites in America, down from Montana and melted it out in West Linn, Oregon , 8 miles south of Portland, where it was found in a farmers field.
You don't find 16 tons of iron that hit earth at 30,000 mph back in the day lying in the dirt of a cleared farmer's field.
So....the Sacred Stone of Blasphemy is most likely also an ice rafted and deposited erratic from Montana compliments of the Missoula Flood.
The Prayer Rock on the way to Eugene, Oregon
The very rock that HWA prayed before and that Gerald Flurry now declares to be where his Jesus will return to is actually contains in it's actual history the proof that the tales woven by HWA and Flurry (Dave Pack as well) about a 6000 year plan of God and a recent creation is somewhat mistaken to say the least. .
Not only were/are the teachings of HWA and now Gerald Flurry (along with Mr. Pack) erratic at best, but these men also prayed before one.
23 comments:
Putin did it.
He gave up the soviet empire, but he must be evil. Gerald told me so.
Russia is democracy now, but he must be evil. Gerald told me so.
Russia never attacked anyone, but he must be evil. Gerald told me so.
Russia did not sink Hitler's ships before 1939. Roosevelt did. But Putin must be be evil. Gerald told me so.
France invaded Germany before Germany invaded Poland. But who cares? It was all the fault of Putin and Adolf. Gerald told me so.
Read the book, Freedom Betrayed, by US president Herbert Hoover. Then you will know you have been LIED to. Totally. By the media. Gerald will never tell you this. It would destroy him. It would destroy Herbert. It would destroy the COGs.
Go to http://exitsupportnetwork.com and look at the letters. There seem to be more this year about Gerry-boy than all other COG cults combined. They always have a separate letters section just for Gerry-boy alone. Not Theil. Not Packer. Not Merry-death. Just Gerry-boy.
It is those who are not well rooted, or anchored who are most susceptible to scams. Not well rooted does not mean dumb. All a scammer need do, is pick an area that is not well known, and use that area as the vantage point for approaching the marks. This is why some with high IQs were taken in by Armstrongism.
A vaccine is made from a weakened version of the disease which it is intended to cure. Armstrongism cast doubt upon and weakened both science and Christianity in order to "cure" prospectives of both. Both were labeled "falsely so-called" Only then was the scam able to be dropped in place as being the healthy and optimal state, in the guise of truth.
While I was a student at AC, I once attended the baptism of a friend. This was a somewhat exceptional baptism, because it occurred not in the first few weeks or months of the student's freshman year, but late in his sophomore year. Following the baptism, the student had an interesting comment, one that has stuck with me for years. He explained that the reason it took him so long to commit was that his mind had been bogged down by the science and philisophy he had been taught in "the world's" education system. The reality is, he was one of the students that had been well-grounded. His natural defenses and ability to ask the hardball questions had initially been in place. But, alas, the system and AC environment succeeded in eventually wearing those down. There had been considerable pressures involved. His older brother was a highly committed student. And at that time, we all seriously believed that the Germans would be rolling their tanks off the ships in early 1972.
The antics of the splinters in keeping up the pressure may seem amusing to us today, but obviously the lessons of the early 1970s have never been completely absorbed by the movement. How many PCG members and ministers believe that the "authenticity" and destiny of this rock has been confirmed in their prayers?
BB
Sure. Read. You've brought this up before. But, also read the critiques of and rebuttals of that book. It is neither silver bullet, nor is it gospel.
BB
Glaciers and their history does not in itself disprove Gods Genesis recreation.
8.45 PM. Err, are you sure that you are posting on the right blog?
" And at that time, we all seriously believed that the Germans would be rolling their tanks off the ships in early 1972."
As one who studied the movement after the atrocious years you often refer to, everytime I read the referral to the German tanks in California I am baffled at that anyone ever believed that.
Never in history until this very moment did the Germans or Europeans for that matter posess the capabilities that is ships and aircraft cariers to conduct such operation. These capabilities were provided by the USA during the Cold War.
As a matter of fact I only heard about this belief in the 2ist century on the dissident blogs.
I did read about the nuclear destruction of the East Coast though. That is in BI in prophecy "best seller". But again Germany nor any other European nation but France was ever in sovereign posession of Nuclear weapons.
nck
Just providing some "by the way" related relief to COG drama and foolishmess. I've run out of "former minister" content.
There was no "recreation"
A little geological relief can be therapeutic and besides it is meant merely as a coincidental play off the theologically"erratic" nature of these guys. Blog owner does the heavy lifting on the specifics of the Wild World Churches of God and their personalities
Besides, the prayer rock may have passed right over my head back in the day on its way to Eugene and I may claim a geological blessing from that as no mere coincidence...
Humans are always so obsessed over symbolic objects.
Perhaps from reading too much fiction?
King Arthur's excalibur
The special ring of Frodo
The lia fail stone
The shroud of Turin
Elijah's mantle
The magic slippers
and now Herbert's special prayer rock
A god working out some kind of plan wouldn't care about stupid artifacts anyway.
Anonymous said "8.45 PM. Err, are you sure that you are posting on the right blog?"
It is important we understand how God brought the prayer rock to HWA and what Gerald Flurry has in his possession. All the credibility of Gerald Flurry depends on being able to establish the entire story of where this special rock comes from and just how it came to be imbued with the special qualities so that HWA "drank in much energy, spiritual strength and inspiration at that prayer rock."
We need to imagine, when Jesus is enthroned over it in Edmond Him taking the time in a fireside chat with the PCG elite to reveal it's miraculous story and how it came to Edmond. How surprised He will be when they say, "Oh we read
BannedHWA and already knew that."
When did France invade Germany before Germany invaded Poland ? It was Hitler who bluff marched into the demilitarised zone. Even Hitler himself admited that if Frace or any if the allies had blocked them then the german army would have had to retreat like foxes with their tales between their legs.
5.51 AM
Mis-direct-Guy/Troll-Guy strikes again.
Once again that Armstrongists have rocks in their heads....
An erratic rock for an erratic Gerald Flurry is very appropriate!
"Read the book, Freedom Betrayed, by US president Herbert Hoover"
What?! Were the lyrics of the theme song to "All in the Family" right? Do we really need a man like Herbert Hoover again?
OK. But just to be clear, we may need Herbert Hoover again, but we don't need another J. Edgar Hoover.
That is equivalent to bowing heads to the Temple Mount
(1 Corinthians 4:10 drank the same SPIRITUAL drink; for they drank from the SPIRITUAL rock)
If the Malones composed a musical to go with this stone, would we call it rock music?
BB
Note: I deleted the two political posts and the two follow up comments by regulars here. Those comments would not have made any sense if they had been left up and the two originals were gone. Sorry they slipped through.
How is Flurry's veneration for this rock any different from the veneration showed to icons and statuary inside many churches?
Wait, I was always taught NOT to revere or "worship" any object or graven image! Yet now we know there is a certain prayer rock that HWA prayed over? As usual, the rules did and do not apply when the COG's are involved.
Oh no! I just heard on the radio that there's going to be a big Irish Dance performance in Tulsa this Saturday night, the 4th! I bet the whole Edmond congregation is going!
Well, strictly speaking, the supposed "prayer rock" is not graven, except by the glaciers that carried it there early in its history. :)
I don't think HWA prayed TO the rock. It was just a piece of his quiet spot for prayer/plotting/thinking/getting away from his noisy kids/cover story for whatever. But the awe/prayer/adoration described above by PCG members over the now-displaced rock is different. You could theoretically see it as a sort of recap of the former relic trade of the Middle Ages. First there are no objects, then there are objects for simple illustration/nostalgia, then there are objects with magical curative powers, then there are objects which are actually venerated as a sort of foci for the divine.
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