The Compassionate Philadelphia Church of God. Really?

Of all of the Churches of God out there in 2018 that lacks compassion, mercy and grace, it is the Philadelphia Church of God, led by Gerald Flurry and his band of Gestapo agents. From instructing parents to abandon their developmentally disadvantaged child at the mall so the state can take care of her in order for the parents have more money to send in, to its perverse no contact policy for members and exCOG members.  Countless articles here been posted here on Banned, on the Painful Truth and the Exit and Support site, about the vile practices of Gerald and Stephen Flurry and many of his Gestapo agent leaders.

David Vejil writes:

Are you a compassionate person? Compassion is a character trait we need to develop (1 Peter 3:8).

Our greatest example of compassion is Jesus Christ. Matthew describes Christ’s compassion in four separate accounts.

How, just how can PCG write such a thing when they blatantly ignore everything about Jesus. Their saviour has turned out to be Herbert Armstrong.  HWA gets more air time and print time that Jesus ever has in the last 20+ years of PCG's existence.  The qualities that Vejil writes below about Jesus is something that PCG has never accomplished and NEVER will!

In one of those accounts, Matthew records a time when Christ was followed by a large number of people into the desert. He “went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). He continued doing so into the night. When the disciples advised Him to send the multitude away, Christ didn’t. Instead, He fed 5,000 through a miracle. Only after they were fed did He leave (verses 15-21).

It is amazing that He could have compassion on all those sick people even though He never once was sick. For humans, it is hard to have compassion on people in situations we have not experienced. Yet Christ has perfect compassion on us, even in the troubles we cause ourselves due to our sins.

PCG compassion for the sick is to bar them from proper medical care and abandoning their disabled child at the mall. 

How can we have that same compassion in our lives and build it in our families? Remarkably, God actually designed us to be motivated to build compassion.

Vejil says that our hearts are wired for compassion.  If that is true, then how are the hearts of the leadership of the PCG wired?

A 2013 University of Wisconsin study demonstrated that our bodies actually reward us for having compassion and acting on it. When we see someone suffering, our brain stimulates hormone glands to release chemicals that slow down our heart rate. These hormones prepare our bodies not to fight or flee, but to approach and soothe. When we act on these chemical changes, the body releases oxytocin, a feel-good hormone that encourages bonding.

Of course, even though our brains are hardwired for compassion, that doesn’t mean it is always natural to act on it. We can ignore these signals, just as we can sear our conscience (1 Timothy 4:2). Like all aspects of character, compassion must be cultivated with God’s power, through experience and practice.

That last sentence, while typical of COG thought, is not true.  I know plenty of agnostic and atheist people who are the most compassionate people you will ever meet. They do more in one week helping others than most of PCG has ever done in its lifetime.

Vejil continues:

This shows that compassionate thoughts lead to compassionate action. “It’s kind of like weight training,” Weng says. “Using this systematic approach, we found that people can actually build up their compassion ‘muscle’ and respond to others’ suffering with care and a desire to help.”

God encourages His people to meditate (e.g. Psalm 1:2; 143:5; 1 Timothy 4:15). In the time you spend meditating, devote a portion to thinking about the suffering of others. This will make it easier to remember them in your intercessory prayers and to be more earnest and fervent in those prayers. Intercessory prayers are a powerful tool we can apply to using the compassion we have for others.

Above you see how PCG really shows compassion to others.  They just think about it and wish warm thoughts for others instead of doing anything.  Thinking those warm thoughts build their "compassion" muscles.

Vejil next says that learning compassion starts with training the children to understand it:

It is also important to teach compassion to our children when the opportunity arises. Children will often cause harm to others through misbehavior. As parents, we can use these occasions to build compassion in our children by getting them to understand not only that what they did was wrong, but to think about what they did from the viewpoint of the person they harmed. If you do this consistently when opportunities arise, it will develop your children’s sensitivity to the suffering of others and a desire to remedy that suffering.

Tell that to the child who's parents told by a PCG minister to abandon their child at the mall so they could stop spending so much money on her.  How can children in PCG learn compassion when they are not allowed to visit their grandparents or friends who are no longer PCG members. Tell that to children of families the church has split up. Some standard of compassion that is!

When we have trials, we can cultivate compassion by thinking about those we know who are suffering trials, and then using that to motivate us to encourage one another with cards or encouraging fellowship. This works even if the trials are not similar. Any serious trial will bring us to our knees to God and show how powerless we are. It is that heart-wrenching experience that many of us share. And while it is easy to think only about our own suffering, if we use God’s help to think about others, then we can use our trials to build and unify God’s Family.

These studies show what can be achieved on a human level, but with God’s Spirit, we can elevate our compassion to that of Jesus Christ!

So there you have it.  Think warm fuzzy thoughts of others and you will just be like Jesus.  Forget ever working in a homeless shelter or cleaning vomit and shit off of a drug addict.  Or sitting down to dinner with a prostitute or a person suffering from AIDS.  Nah, just think warm fuzzy thoughts.  Never worry about putting real faith into action and bring a foretaste of the Kingdom you claim to be preaching boldly.