Philadelphia Church of God, Celitc Throne and New Place of Safety - Paran...The Gospel Message Has Never Been So Crazy!

The Philadelphia Church of God has pulled a lot of stunts over the decades but none of them compare to the claim they are now in the possession of the new coronation stone that their so-called "jesus" will return to sit upon.

They trecked off to Oregon and dug up a rock that Herbert Armstrong supposedly prayed at and dug it up and took it to the cult compound in Edmond, Oklahoma where it is now enshrined in a glass case resting on a royal purple base.

PCG is also obsessed with Celtic dancing and apparently considers this the dance of Kings that Jeremiah brought to Ireland when he and his daughters brought the ark to Hill Tara where they buried it. PCG sees it as their destiny to dig the ark up and take it along with Herb's prayer rock and have them ready for his "jesus" to come back and sit upon.

This Celtic crapfest mythology that they have latched on to is so important that they have commissioned a new play called Celtic Throne which they premiered in Edmond at Armstrong Auditorium and then took it to Branson, Missouri for a couple of shows.

Celtic Throne (Twitter)

In relation to this, Exit and Support had the following up:

GF said on January 15, 2017 (the day he called for a Church-wide fast): “I heard a strong voice. That had never happened to me before. This voice said, ‘There is a new stone of destiny and a new throne of David.’ ” (The New Throne of David by Gerald Flurry, Chap. 1, 2018)

Last month Brad Macdonald gave a Bible Study to members. Following is a partial transcript, including GF’s words. It was entitled, “The Urgent Need for Celtic Throne.” It also covers the Place of Safety being in Paran. (bolding mine)

Macdonald: “Celtic Throne is the United States and Britain in Prophecy performed as a dance show.”

“It’s about the New Throne of David. … Traces the throne of David on to America. Tells the story of the Davidic Covenant; … God’s relationship with America and Britain.” [see British Israelism: True or False?]

“The performance is spiritual. But to people in the world they won’t get any of that. We worked hard at this not being too spiritual. …If they aren’t religious they won’t be overwhelmed by a musical that isn’t too spiritual.”

“In June 2019 GF gave a sermon, ‘How the New Throne Changes God’s Work’ and that was turned into an article for the March-April 2020 Royal Vision.”

“In GF’s 2nd message at the FOT last year GF talked about Hebrews and the New Throne of David and probably for half of that message he talked about the Place of Safety, the 10,000 coming from Peran, and then he talked about the coronation and returning to the Place of Safety and the throne being transferred over.”

“But at the end of that sermon, he [GF] did something that I haven’t seen him do before. He stopped his sermon at 10 or 15 min earlier and he played this clip of the Irish Dancers dancing to this music that Brian Burns had written… That message, too, was written up in the March April Royal Vision.”

“This is what Mr.  Flurry got into in that 2nd Feast message last year: [reads the scripture in Jude 1:14 about how “behold, the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints.”]

“In the March-April Royal Vision, Mr. Flurry really digs down deep in these passages and to our time in the place of safety. It is an incredible article…we should all read and study that again.”

“Mr. Flurry explains things about the place of safety that I don’t think I’ve ever read before. …. But he gets us focused on the place of safety and on some of those details. Here’s a quote from that article [by GF]: (talking about the verse in Jude) “If Christ comes with these saints from Paran, that means before that time Christ will come personally to Peran. To what likely will be the place of safety.”

Wikipedia has this about Paran:

Biblical Paran[edit]

Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael into the Desert, illustration by Gustave Doré

The Wilderness or Desert of Paran is said to be the place where the Egyptian servant girl Hagar of Abraham's wife Sarah (Sarai) and wife to Abraham in Genesis 16:3 (who by her suggestion made his wife and bore him a son Ishmael) was sent into exile from Abraham's dwelling in Beersheba (Genesis 16:1). Hagar "departed, and strayed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba" (Genesis 21):

Then God opened her [Hagar's] eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. (Genesis 21:19-22)

Paran is later mentioned in the Book of Numbers as a place where the Israelites temporarily settled during the Exodus:

Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. (Numbers 10:12)^[1]

Paran again features in the opening lines of the Book of Deuteronomy: 

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert beyond the Jordan--that is, in the Arabah--opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. (Deuteronomy 1:1)

He said: "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with myriads of holy ones, from his right hand went a fiery law for them." (Deuteronomy 33:2)

King David spent some time in the wilderness of Paran after Samuel died (1 Samuel 25:1).

1 Kings 11:17-18 states that when Hadad the Edomite fled from Edom to Egypt, he passed through Midian and Paran on the way to Egypt.

It is not certain precisely where the wilderness of Paran is to be located. It is often associated with Mount Sinai in Egypt, and there is some evidence that it may originally have referred to the southern portion of the Sinai Peninsula.^[2]

Exit and Support continues:

Macdonald: “To leave Peran, you have to go to Peran. So why would Christ visit the 10,000 in the Place of Safety in the Tribulation?”

GF continues: “In I Thes. 4 it says Christ will meet everyone in the air and bring them back to earth with Him. But here we learn that He will come from Peran with His 10,000.”

“Why the difference with this group of people? Well, Peran is where the new throne will be.” (refers to Isa 16)

Back to that article from GF. “When will Christ begin ruling from that throne? It certainly would seem he needs to already be ruling on it when He gets to earth. After all He is King of Kings. A King must have a throne. Where would He take control of that throne before He arrives? The most practical place seems to be the place of safety, where the people who have the new throne are. It seems the place of safety would be where Christ officially receives His throne.”

To demonstrate how sick Flurry and the COG is about this stupid old rock, they deem it necessary for Christ to return back to. As if Jesus needs a rock, particularly Herb's rock to descend to and be crowned upon.

“Imagine Jesus Christ Himself coming to where we are. Being crowned and receiving the throne we now have, and officially becoming King of Kings. Then taking those 10,000 saints with Him.” … Think about what sort of event; celebration is going to be attached to the throne being turned over.”

“Maybe think of it in the context of just David bringing the Ark into Jerusalem and how hard David worked the 2nd time to get it right; how hard he worked, even on his dance and choreographing this journey. … The Ark as we know symbolizes God’s throne.”

GF continues: “That is overwhelming to think about. … I’m not saying absolutely this will happen, but it looks like what Scripture indicates. It certainly fits the time frame beautifully. It seems this would be the main reason Christ would come to take the 10,000 to officially assume David’s throne. If so, what a dramatic role we have in the Second Coming. This should be most inspiring to God’s people.”

Goes to Luke 1. “We have a dramatic role in Jesus Christ’s second Coming. And God wants us to start thinking about that and God wants us to start preparing for that.”

According to Stephen Flurry, the apostate son of Gerald Flurry, the PCG and the world is right on the edge of the tribulation and that the work is DONE! 

“Just look at world events. SF said in a recent message, or Trumpet Daily, “We are on the outer edges of the Tribulation. We’re done! There is no going back. The world will not be the same. … we do have to work; we do have to plan for the future, but there’s no hope in the future of this world. Our hearts have to be in this Work; our hearts have to be in the Throne of David; our hearts and energies and hopes have to be in this moment when we turn the throne over to Jesus Christ, and then we come with Him from Peran. That’s all there is! There’s nothing left in the world. ‘This is where our minds really need to be and it’s hard because we’re physical…”

The Flurry clan then pulls a Dave Pack and threatens their members with losing their salvation unless they give all they have to the work. Right now that work is flying Flurry's grandkids back and forth Celtic dance shows.

“But we can’t be consumed by [the physical]; … they can’t come before God. They can’t come before preparing for the place of safety. They can’t come before getting ready to go to the place of safety. To think, you and I are going to be a part of this, in just a few months, a year, or two or three or four. It’s really incredible.”

Reads Luke 1:30-32. “It’s incredible to think that you–YOU–will be there in that moment, if it’s the way Mr. Flurry explains it. He did say it may not happen exactly this way. But if it does and if it goes the way the Scriptures indicate, you’ll be there when Christ is given the throne of the father David. We need to start thinking about the coronation, and what might be involved in the coronation. And Celtic Throne helps get us ready for the Coronation, even if it just gets us thinking about the throne of David, and thinking about the history of the throne of David, and getting us excited for the throne of David. This show is going to help get the church ready for this moment.”

“He [God] really does want us thinking about the New Throne of David. He wants us thinking about the return of Jesus Christ. He wants us thinking about sitting on the throne of David with Jesus Christ. He wants us preparing for the place of safety. And preparing to play some role, whatever that might be, in turning David’s throne over to Jesus Christ.”

Says they are gonna create an album and a DVD. Tells how they’ve got some merchandise. “We have T-shirts and coffee mugs.”

“Celtic Throne declares the name of Israel. [Voice raises] Celtic Throne DECLARES the AWESOME — the AWESOME history of Ephraim and Manasseh — history that we should never apologize for! Mistakes have been made to be sure because all humans have human nature. But we can’t apologize for the 2,520 year promise. We can’t apologize for the way God’s worked with these nations.”

Could Herbert Armstrong have ever imagined that the end time would require the church to be putting on stage shows to get the gospel message out? Armstrongism gets stupider by the moment.

“As Mr. Flurry has been telling us the past 2 or 3 weeks, we have to uphold that history and declare the history of Israel …because GOD is involved in that history! That’s what makes it so special.”

[voice goes back to normal] “And Celtic Throne I think plays a role in that and that is something to get really excited about and to support and throw your weight behind–and everybody has. We’ve got to declare the name of Israel and we’ll do that hopefully through this show.”

“Celtic Throne will bring the New Throne of David alive. This is what GF said in one of his recent messages. This is something God’s people have been hearing about for decades. Yet, as we get closer to it, Christ is putting together the pieces so we can understand it better.

“Celtic Throne is your story; it’s your history; it your future. It tells the story of your throne. But it’s also much bigger than just us. It carries a message of hope for the world. It carries a message about God’s family, it carries a message about the incredible human potential, and it carries a message about the New Throne of David.”

[end of Bible study]

This message was insane and full of pride as it focused on GF’s New Throne of David and the Place of Safety. It shows how PCG does not put the emphasis on the Person of Christ, and His love, grace and mercy toward His children, but focuses instead on what great things members will be involved in. The emphasis is all on the New Throne of David and how members will have it in the Place of Safety (which is in Paran) and hand it over to Christ. (Read July 1, 2019 letter: Gerald Flurry’s New Throne of David.)

When has the Church of God EVER put its focus upon Christ? All we ever heard and still hear is law-keeping and punishment. Jesus is never part of the picture and when he is, he usually gets the last couple paragraphs of an article.

The Church of God has been taken over by crazy men who have self-appointed themselves, lied through their teeth trying to prove their prophethood status, spiritually abused members, dreamed incredibly stupid dreams, and tried to claim they were from God, and much much more silliness.

What an absolute embarassment the Church of God movement has become.