Due to many issues during these covid years with job loss and reductions in hours, some Philadelphia Church of God families do not have enough 2nd tithe to attend the Feast. PCG expects these families to send the men while everyone else stays home. While the Flurry clan flies around in their private jet and the elite of PCG travel anywhere they want with Feast allowances, those families struggling are told to stay home while sending their men to the Feast. If they are already having financial difficulties why in hell would they take off work to attend a fake festival that is not required of them? Can the COG get any more disgusting?
Another valid reason for not attending the Feast is financial hardship. God has instituted second tithe as the way to provide the financial means to attend the Feast (Deuteronomy 14:22-23). But due to our weakened national economies, some members have found themselves with little or no work for a long period of time. If you have been out of work, and have not been able to save sufficient second tithe, then there is the possibility that you may not be able to attend the Feast this year. You may request second tithe assistance, but realize that funds are limited and not everyone who requests assistance will receive it.
Festival assistance has been a joke in the COG for decades. They either did not help at all or would give such ridiculous small amounts that people would be lucky to cover a couple meals or groceries for the week. On top of that, they were expected to tithe on it or add it to the offerings.
Some men undergoing financial hardship have asked if they should attend the Feast without their families. There is a biblical principle to follow with regard to this issue. “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty” (Deuteronomy 16:16). If you do not have sufficient second tithe for you and your family to attend the Feast, but there are enough funds for you as the head of household, then you should plan to be at the Feast. It is not easy leaving our families behind to attend the Feast. We must look at this issue God’s way. All males are to appear before God at the Feast. If for some reason you are not planning to be at the Feast, please counsel with a minister.
On the one hand, why isn't the church assisting these families financially? But, this is the PCG, the ACOG version of the John Birch Society, so it is nothing short of amazing that they'd cut members some slack in not requiring the whole family to attend. Traditionally, hardship has not been a valid excuse at PCG. Guess this is what passes for kindness in Flurryland.
ReplyDeleteWhy not sell the jet, as this could several hundred thousand if not a million $$$ to provide financial relief to the membership. Wasn't their reason for buying the jet the bogus claim that it would help them spread the word? A lot of good that did, just shows how far that Flurry will make any bogus claim to get whatever He wants and could really care less about the plight of the average church member.
ReplyDeleteHow are the men supposed to enjoy the feast if their families aren't present?
ReplyDeleteSomething's not right here.
Before my wife and I were married, she needed assistance from the church and received a loan that had to be paid back. She couldn't pay it back so once we were married the church came after me to pay it back. Our minister even visited us to set up a payment plan. I was under HWA's deceptive teachings and paid them back without questioning anything. If only the members knew what goes on behind the closed doors of the COG's.
ReplyDeleteThe PCOG represents the paternalism of the ACOGs on steroids. Consistent with their emphasis on everything Old Testament, these folks are caught in a time warp and reflect values from the Stone Age through the Iron Age. Hence, for the Neanderthals who are in charge in Edmond, it makes perfect sense for the "head of household" to attend the festival. They see nothing wrong with the pater familias using limited family resources for himself. In fact, I'd almost be willing to place a bet that the thought has occurred to more than a few of the patriarchy within the church that the absence of women and children itself may be a positive!
ReplyDeleteThere are only three Feasts commanded that males should be present. For all the rest, for you to save up, don't go to these PCG sites or congregations. Better yet, leave PCG altogether. That is if you have the balls and the right discernment at all. If not, you deserve all the hardships you're putting on yourself and your family being in the PCG. Dumb, not like serpents; wayward, not like doves.
ReplyDeleteWhen Deut. was written, Moses told the people that sacrifices were going to be centralized in Jerusalem. No more could they "share their lunch" with God anywhere they wanted. Only Jerusalem, not the Poconos, or Squaw Valley or Jeckel Island. And I don't think there was the requirement for the entire family to attend, only the adult males.I guess the "do not add to or take away from the law" message never got to HWA.
ReplyDeleteThese holy days will never be cancelled since it is really more of a big fund raising event for the church.
Gerald Flurry, Rasputin, same thing
ReplyDeleteJust a quick shout-out to the thousands of ACOG members who started keeping their "Fall Festivals" in late summer this year. Kind of screwed that up because of human traditions, didn't you?
ReplyDeleteWell, 5:29, the deeper problem with these festivals is that in the southern hemisphere, they are totally out of sync with the seasons. Kind of proves that they were created to be Jerusalem-centric, and specific to the Jews/Israelites while they abode in Israel.
ReplyDelete“Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds, WOE to the shepherds of Israel who FEED THEMSELVES! Should not the shepherds FEED THE FLOCKS? YOU eat the fat and CLOTHE **YOURSELVES** with the wool; you kill the fat ones, but you DO NOT FEED THE FLOCK? You have NOT made the weak strong, nor have you healed the sick, nor have you bound up the broken. You have NOT brought again those that were driven away, nor have you sought that which was lost; but you have RULED THEM WITH FORCE AND WITH. CRUELTY!! And they were SCATTERED for LACK OF A SHEPHERD. And they became food to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.”(Ez.34:2-5)
ReplyDelete