Given the track record of Gerald Flurry and his blatant idolatry of everything related to Herbert Armstrong, it is pretty weird to see Lil'Stevie preaching against idolatry. He is either talking a subtle jab at his dad, or he is totally oblivious to what he has surrounded himself with.
In fact, idolatry is just as common today as it was in the Stone Age. Of course, the materials, technologies, trends and fashions are much different than they were then. But human nature remains the same.
In the pivotal Old Testament prophecy of Leviticus 26, God reaffirmed the birthright promises He had made to Abraham. He told the Israelites of Moses’s day that they would receive the birthright blessings then, if they faithfully obeyed God’s laws. In outlining these conditions to Israel, God placed special emphasis on two of the Ten Commandments.
Notice: “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 26:1-2).
Keep my sabbaths, God said, and don’t bow down to idols. These were the two great test commandments for the people of Israel. Now why would God emphasize these two? Because these two, more than the others, were designed to keep man in the closest, most intimate contact with his Maker!
Now notice how the Second Commandment flows right out of the great command to put God above all else. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God …” (verses 4-5).
This commandment obviously forbids the use of any physical substitutes or aids man sets up in order to “worship” God. But what about the spiritual idols we set up in our hearts, as it says in Ezekiel 14:3? We may not bow down to physical idols made of stone, wood or precious metals, but our modern world is filled with idolatry just the same!Lil'Stevie even talks about idolizing "things." I guess building an entire college to mimic Herbert's Ambassador College, including an auditorium stocked with Herbert's memento's, to prayer rocks and a jet.
Perhaps it’s physical wealth and materialism that prevents us from putting God first, like the young man who told Jesus he had obeyed all of God’s commandments since his youth. When Jesus told him to give up his earthly possessions, he went away sorrowful because his heart was so attached to material things.There is one glaring reason why Lil'Stevie is against idolatry. If PCG members place their focus on physical things then they will have less money to send in in tithes and offerings. I guess this does not count for the Flurry clan though as they drop tens of thousands of dollars on Irish dance lessons, travel and competitions.
Pleasure-seeking also separates a lot of people from God—things like entertainment and sports or excessive television viewing. God’s way of life, after all, is demanding. Among other things, God expects us to observe His weekly and annual sabbaths, to tithe on all of our income and to seek Him daily through effectual fervent prayers and diligent Bible study. If we spend most of our leisure time pursuing things other than God, this might be an idol.
Still others insist on putting friends or family members ahead of God. They would rather give God second or third place in their lives than face alienation from loved ones over their obedience to God’s laws.The Flurry's cannot handle the fact that PCG members have contact with family and friends whoa re no longer part of the PCG or the COG. They consider members who do this to be placing family before the church and God.
Lil'Stevie ends with this:
“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry,” Paul wrote to the brethren at Corinth, well over a thousand years after Israel had come out of Egyptian captivity. He knew well that the idolatry command was not meant for some bygone age. It was written for us. Like the rest of the Ten Commandments, it applies to our time today!
And it remains, even to this day, as one of two critically important test commands. If faithfully obeyed, it automatically draws us closer to our Maker!
Tell that to your Dad!Keep yourselves from idols, as John wrote to conclude his first epistle. Give God first place in your life. Make your relationship with Him more important than anyone or anything else. Nothing in this material life is as important as that.
See: The Sin of Idolatry
29 comments:
The irony! This is surely more than a "pet rock" to them.
You'd need a booklet to catalogue all of the specific instances of the idolatries of Gerald Flurry and PCG.
BB
I wonder how many people have pissed on that rock Geraldine Flurry is bowing to?
Idolatry ...kind of like worshipping a man as "that Prophet"!
"Thou shalt not bow down to them" suggest that having a rock or a memorial of some sort is OK as long as it is not an object of worship, but only a reminder. The Lincoln Memorial is a reminder of a great president's words and accomplishments, but it isn't an object of worship. When the Israelites stacked a pile of stones in the middle of a river, it was a reminder of their safe journey, not an object of worship. Of course, if you have a Christmas tree, that is really bad. Any Christmas tree is not a reminder of any sort, but is automatically condemned as an idol, though I don't know of anyone who bows down to it in worship. Inconsistencies are all around the WCG teachings. It is ok for men to shave their faces smooth to look like a woman but you can't wear your hair long. I bet you readers on this site can come up with long list of contradictory teachings in the churches. God loves quality but only when it is exhibited by the top members of the church, members are not allowed to spend money on good quality items. Don't go to doctors unless you are an evangelist ranked minister or higher.
Maybe Flurry's rock will turn out to be "Wormwood"!
Heard that Former minister Brian Weeks was marked and disfellowshipped.
what is he doing to that rock...???
I don't keep up with WCG/GCI or any of the other splinter groups and this is my first time commenting here, but is the things you post up to date? Is this stuff about these groups for real? I have a difficult time taking this seriously.
So he is basically saying to give your money to the work for tithes and offerings and not spend on material things because that is putting these things before God; therefore it is idolatry. And yet, the ministers at headquarters have beautiful homes, a private jet, their own personal cooks, cleaners, babysitters (ie. the students). While many members work in low income jobs, do not have houses, struggle every year to attend the feasts.
"The Lincoln Memorial is a reminder of a great president's words and accomplishments, but it isn't an object of worship."
Whatever you say Adolf.
Let's all pray that Herbert will be resurrected, get the church on track, and resume the work! Then the rock will be moved to Pasadena and Gerald given a place of honor there.
The PCG info is up to date. Stevie's Idolatry article was from 2011, and was reposted in the last couple of days by PCG. When PCG seems to have problems, they start rerunning previous articles in order to keep the sheeple in line.
All tyrannies justify themselves with the belief that they are all wise and knowledgeable, whereas their subjects are fools and hence need to be lorded over for their own good.
Which is why these types of articles, implying the godlike character of the writers, are regular fare from the likes of Dave Pack and similar.
It's a deceitful ploy. It's the wolf in sheeps clothing preaching to the sheep.
5.20 PM
Presumably, you are the one who has been impersonating Allen C. Dexter.
The article makes no mention of the false God of church culture, especially the false God of ministers lording it over the members.
Tyranny is a idol in these XCOGs. And like the emperors new cloths, everyone is supposed to pretend otherwise.
Steve Flurry wrote: "...“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry,” Paul wrote to the brethren at Corinth...It was written for us. Like the rest of the Ten Commandments, it applies to our time today!
And it remains, even to this day, as one of two critically important test commands. If faithfully obeyed, it automatically draws us closer to our Maker!.."
I agree with Paul about fleeing idolatry, but where does Flurry come up with that "one of two critically important TESTS COMMANDS?" TEST what?
Nowhere in the Bible are we told that idolatry-fleeing is any TEST command.
Now, if one, Flurru, is into FEAR RELIGION and earning one's salvation by some works, then maybe it would be a TEST command, but like their man-made, Flurry-made, organization (nothing to do with Philadelphia in Revelation 3), that TEST COMMANDS-thingy is all man-made. It is striving to give us a SNOW JOB!
Paul had some other words to say, not just for those goody-two-shoes folks, but for the world:
"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;" 2 Corinthians 5:19
Do you see any TEST COMMANDS in that verse? And that is for the entire world, which right now CANNOT receive God's Spirit:
"...Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world CANNOT receive," John 14:17
Again, I like what Paul told us. Without God's Spirit this world will continue into idolatry, law-breaking, etc., because, like Steve Flurry and his dad, they have the following spirit dwelling within:
"...The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy..." James 4:5
Neither one of them can CHOOSE to stop sinning in their lives, and CHOOSE to make their CHOICE stick, can they?
Besides that, God has not imposed His Law on this world. This creation was MADE SUBJECT to vanity (Rom 8:20)...no getting around that!
Why will both of them continue to have sin in their lives? It's very simple:
"He that committeth sin is of the devil..." I John 3:8
None of us is going to earn salvation by any works, good deeds we think we do, by anything of SELF, but if one has God's Spirit one will be granted repentance and changes will occur in one's life (one will flee idolatry and NOT HAVE TO BE TOLD!), not b/c of SELF, but b/c of God: John 6:44; Phil 1:6, 2:13; Eph 1:6, 2:13, Romans 8:29-30......etc., but that gives glory, honor, praise to God...never to SELF striving to impress God to earn something....for SELF, me, myself, and I, me, me, me...
In the meantime, if Steve Flurry would think a little bit more about God's Law, that handwriting of ordinances, he would realize how much the Law is against him/us:
"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us..." Col 2:14
Some day Steve and his daddy will thank God, the Father, for being the Saviour, who gave His Son, and also perhaps thank His Son, also a Saviour, who gave His life. The Father, The God, has already worked this out through/by His Son.......and not by any TEST COMMANDS!
Time will tell...
John
It's always interesting to see these men occasionally have a fit of conscience and preach against their own conduct, whether consciously or unconsciously. Today over at Tomorrow's World, leading minister Wyatt Ciesielka has an article warning people not to become part of a church at which:
Its primary mission is something other than to preach the Gospel of the return of Christ and the coming Kingdom of God (Revelation 11:15) as a witness to the entire world. LCG's own published audit shows that LCG now spends substantially more money on "feeding the flock" than on preaching the Gospel. Preaching the gospel has become a secondary focus, though still a large one.
Its ministry does not practice and teach love, kindness, joy, peace and the other fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–26). Anger, rebellion, pride, jealousy, hatred, self-promotion and arrogance are not fruits of the Spirit. Jesus' true disciples will not compromise the truth, but they will be known by their love for their spiritual brothers and sisters (John 13:35).
Rod Meredith founded LCG in rebellion after he refused to obey the government he himself had established in the Global Church of God. The pride and jealousy, self-promotion and arrogance of the top LCG ministry is well-known. Their compromise of the truth, and their lack of love, is also well-known. But how many currently in LCG will follow Ciesielka's advice?
If your place of worship does not align with scripture, then don't just rethink church—do something about it personally (Luke 6:46). Be willing to follow Christ (Luke 9:23).
Thank you, Stephen Flurry and Wyatt Ciesielka, for telling the truth about your churches!
When a minister gets marked and disfellowshipped from pcg, is it because he was questioning the elites why they're main focus is on the continual high pressure swindling of money they put on the members?
"Time will tell..."
Well, Adolf, the facts are already in.
The purpose of Christianity--why our enemies gave it to us in the first place--was to make us docile, so we would be easy prey. But liberalism now serves that purpose. The purpose of diversity is to fragment us, so there is no unified opposition to their destructive lies. The purpose of Armstrongism, why the enemy helped it grow, and was in bed with Herbert, was to undermine what was left of mainstream Christianity, because it was too strong, and needed to be weakened to fragment society, to make way for new ideas and new peoples what would fragment America.
(eyeroll)
True Bread, Gerald Flurry is "KNEELING" at the rock. LOL
I second that eyeroll. Adolf just keeps spewing his hatred. Sooner or later someone will hold him accountable.
BB
9:07
Well ny friend. That plan by the "enemy that gave ua christianity" really backfired on them through the ages culminating in 1939 - 1945.
Or do you mean the pharaonic ancestors of the briton kings?
What enemies tried to weaken us proud Vikings? True those weakling Saxons on Lindisfarne and Dublin Celts were easy to beat with that weakling faith of theirs. Paris burnt unprotected by that faith. You might have a point seeing the weakling Swedish cook on the Muppets today. What have we become.
I believe Jerusalem was massacred for 3 full days when those weakling crusaders under Lord Bouillon breached the wall.
Another Christian wet tissue.
Nck
Follow Christ. Right out of the PCG. Of course, he was never there in the first place.
"Sooner or later someone will hold him accountable."
Is that another cowardly threat?
The children that are required to attend this church group & get destroyed by it are the only reason anyone should concerned! The children of 1965 to 1978 wwcog were destroyed & there outcome should be of concern.
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