Gerald Flurry has gone out of his way to imitate Herbert Armstrong in every manner possible. His latest episode in whoring himself out to Herbert's legacy included buying his own GIII jet. Of his many excuses for a reason to do this was that due to his advanced age and severe health issues, he could not travel and breathe the same air as the unwashed masses of unconverted commercial airline travels. Some of them might have a cold and due to the air being recirculated the apostle just might be exposed to the germs of pagans.
Flurry went several letters of appeal to Philadelphia Church of God members appealing for them to send in as much money as possible. Several larger benefactors face huge amounts of money to fund his jet. He also took money from widows and the poor in the church without any guilt at all. $13,000,000.00 in tithe money is a pretty hefty price for a church member to support. Not involved in any of this is the cost for jet maintenance, hanger rental, gas, pilot salaries, crew salaries, insurance, transportation costs to and from the airports, hotels, meals, and renovations to suit the expected lifestyle of God's ONLY end-time apostle.
FYI: Yesterday in a play-all-areas sermon entitled “Abraham’s Vision”, Gerald Flurry mentioned that he is now considering buying a private jet! The rationale behind this unbelievable decision stems from experiences Flurry had last year on his flight to and from a US feast site. Apparently his trip left him feeling so unwell that it took several weeks to fully recover his energy levels. During the message he commented that modern air travel is now very unpleasant and that breathing in recycled air was unhealthy for him. He also complained how in the US passengers needed to get to the airport in sufficient time to allow for security screening, sometimes requiring that they arrive up to 3 hours before an international flight. He concluded by saying that owning a private jet meant he would be able to travel and do more for the work, especially being able to travel quickly between the two campuses in Edmond, OK and Edstone, UK.
What that all translates into is this: After buying a multi-million dollar stately home in the UK, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars refurbishing it, literally pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a fruitless UK TV campaign for his son, after building a multi-million dollar music and Irish dance facility for the Edmond compound brats, all of which is financed by an ageing and declining membership, the PCG is now going to buy a private jet so Gerald Flurry's children Stephen and Laura and their children and friends can travel the world like rock stars and not have to rub shoulders with the unwashed masses. This unbelievable decision has been made during a time when PCG is experiencing a current 25% drop in income!You seriously have to wonder about the long-term stability of the PCG and who is really running the church behind the scenes. Repeatedly throughout his message, Flurry referenced Josephus and how this ancient historian taught that Abraham was an educated and cultured man who introduced fine arts and music everywhere he went. Each time Flurry made that statement, after the expression, “fine arts and music” he would quickly add “and dancing”. I know for a fact that “Wittle Laura” and “Wittle Stevie” are both obsessed with Irish dancing, perhaps this is where the pressure is really coming from to buy that oh so needed Lear jet!
A PCG source has sent information that Flurry had several opportunities to not spend so much tithe money on his own personal play toy as he has now done.
There are at several conveniently located jet charter companies that would have let Flurry use their luxurious jets for his apostolic/Irish dance trips.
'Wiley Post Airport is one of three airports owned and operated by the City of Oklahoma City Department of Airports. Designated as a reliever for Will Rogers World Airport, Wiley Post functions as a lively center for corporate and business aviation."
There are two jet charter companies at Wiley Post airport. PCG could have just chartered a jet at far less cost than buying one. But one obvious inconvenience is that Wiley Post airport is about 18 miles from Edmond, OK. The distance just might be too great for PCG staff to overcome.Wiley has the following charter companies that would have allowed PCG to charter their jets.
18 comments:
Gerald Flurry is a self-righteous prick. His PCG won't last too much longer with membership leaving more than is actually joining his cult.
Flurry has bought this jet as his family jet so if WW3 kicks off he can take it anywhere. Leasing a jet wouldn't give him such freedom. This jet is so the Flurry famiky can escape any problems. The downtrodden brethren are not even considered. This is selfishness at its most extreme.
Flurry is indeed copying HWA and also reminding brethren that HWA and GTA had the same idea. Their place of safety is for them, their elite. I'm sure God will shatter everyone's expectations in the coming years.
Honestly, who in their right mind would ever join PCG now? Back in the 90's, & early 2000's their wasn't that much information available on the Net.
Most of what is posted about PCG is negative. Of course, Flurry and his other mouthpieces will just say that they are being persecuted by Satan, because only
they are right and the only true church.
I remember standing on the Ambassador BS campus with students and seeing the Cessna Citation piloted by GTA fly over repeatedly. Everyone in my immediate vicinity seemed thrilled. I think there was even some cheering - it was a long time ago. Nobody was thinking about personal use or how much it cost. They were likely thinking how great it was that the organization could make such a spectacular display of God's endorsement. I expect that, if anything, PCG's plane will energize the base.
And some people will remain committed no matter what nasty issues emerge. Like Trump's unflagging base. They are beyond help.
Wouldn't it be something if it is hijacked. Someone can ask for a ransom for six-pack, but I doubt that they will ever pay much, especially if sonny boy wants the kingship. LOL Let us hope that the old seats have bedbugs.
And now the jet is being re-painted with Gold metallic accents per their official twitter. https://twitter.com/PCG_News/status/862033905209180160
I wonder how much this is costing the church membership?
Below is the cost for chartering a Bombardier Challenger 350 at American Jet, Wiley Post airport, Oklahoma, OK. This would be far cheaper than operating his own jet.
http://american-jet.com/n350mb-challenger-350
$4500.00 per hour (1 hour minimum leg charge)
$300.00 per hour fuel surcharge (Subject to change without notice)
$125.00 per hour ground time charge
$1250.00 per overnight charge
An estimate on what it will cost for Mr. Flurry's Gulfstream G450 jet is below. He will spend about $16,100 per hour to operate this jet. He could Uber himself around the country for less.
https://www.sherpareport.com/aircraft/costs-gulfstream-g450.html
...A new Gulfstream G450 will currently cost between $38m to $43m. A pre-owned model will typically cost anywhere in the $14m to $35m range. A model built between 2006 and 2009 can be found for approximately $15m, while a newer model, from 2011 or there abouts is typically in the $20m to $25m range. Prices of pre-owned aircraft will vary according to age, use, maintenance, records, and the level of upkeep.
Here are the costs you should expect with ownership of a Gulfstream G450. All figures used are provided by Conklin and de Decker.
The total cost of ownership per year for a Gulfstream G450 is $4,221,475 including market depreciation of $1,726,000 or $6,810,475 including book depreciation of $4,315,000. The figures below are based on 423 hours of usage per year. Both figures include annual fixed costs of $878,884.
Variable Cost per Year $1,616,591
Fixed Cost per Year $878,884
Depreciation $4,315,000
Total Annual Costs $6,810,475
Costs per hour $16,100
The variable costs of operating a Gulfstream G450 vary according to the number of hours operated and distance traveled. Assuming 423 operational hours per year, and 175,000 nautical miles traveled, annual variable expenses of $1,616,591 can be expected. The largest of these variable expenses is fuel costs, estimated at $2,280 per hour from a total variable cost of $3,822 per hour. The table below shows the breakdown of variable hourly costs and assumes a fuel price of $4.41 per gallon and a usage of 517 gallons per hour. Maintenance labour charges are assumed to be $105 per hour, with 1.12 maintenance hour required per flight hour.
I wonder if six-pack viewed the following video from YouTube?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_JCPFvm8nc
There are also other fees such as: landing fees, ramp fees, segment fees, federal excise tax, crew overnight fees, crew per diem fees, wait time fees, short leg fees, reposition fees, one way fees, de icing fees, international fees, catered meals, phone charges for in house use, cleaning fees.
These are found on the internet under 'private jet charter costs.'
11.48 AM
The claim that they alone are the one true church, and that every other sliver has fallen away, can't be a sincere belief.
Are member and coworker letters now going to begin with "Here I am at 30,000 feet, returning from a successful..."?
Obscene! What else can someone say? I can only hope that FLURRY gets "bumped" from his own plane just like a United Passenger!
At one point in my career, the CEO of our company was going to foot the bill for pilot lessons for me. The idea was that for calls in the remote areas of our territory, I could drive 10 minutes to our local community airport, take off, and be on site at the customer location at a very much reduced response time as compared to driving. Even considering a one engine Cessna or Piper Cub, this was going to be an expensive proposition, and difficult to justify based on profitability. But, since he was also a hobbyist pilot with VFR certification, I suspect the main motivation was that the plane would be available on weekends for his personal use.
If we examine the sizes and scopes of the for profit companies that typically own and operate aircraft, while the non-profit WCG at peak fell within those ranges, PCG most certainly does not. Gross income is one area where Flurry does not successfully imitate HWA, and never will. It is also reads a lot into the Bible to hold the belief that Abraham was some sort of merchant of culture, to be imitated today.
BB
"Honestly, who in their right mind would ever join PCG now?" What better PR to throw around about how solvent an organization is than to say you OWN your own jet!! History shows how HWA attracted. albeit temporary, heads of State and personalities with all his glitz and glamour! He put on his sabbath best, poured only the most expensive wine into gold goblets! We were all awed by his sermons that declared huge returns on our tithe money! Why, the King of Jordan would lay out the red carpet when we needed to flee to the place of safety! Folks don't flock to the little church in the valley, they go where they see solvency; big, bright and shiny!
Based on $16,100 per hour to operate Mr. Flurry's jet, his gold metal accent paint job cost at least $32,200 for 2 hours of flight time, plus the cost of the paint job. Well worth the cost.
2.52 PM
"well worth the cost" if Mr Flurry can meet heads of state like Mr Armstrong did.
But what if he never does? After all, doors open and doors close. What if Mr Flurry is stubbornly failing to respect that God is no longer supernaturally keeping a door open?
It's God that's in the drivers seat, not Mr Flurry.
What if God has disqualified judaizing "Israelite" Armstrongites from the commission and has given it to the gentiles? Then Flurry is just wasting his members' resources! We'll all know soon from watching this jet experiment!
BB
How do you know he took from the poverty fund?
Post a Comment