Exit and Support Network has the following about a recent Bible Study given in the Philadelphia Church of God cult. The PCG is just like Dave Pack and Bob Thiel in that their goalposts keep getting moved because none of their prophecies ever come to fruition. You would think after all of the decades that have passed with one prophetic failure after another, starting in the 1930s with Herbert Armstrong, that COG members would wake up and tell these charlatans how far they can shove their conspiracy theories and absurd prophecies, but no, they need to be able to sit there and feel special and called out from the world as they think they are learning new secret knowledge never before revealed. The ___Church of God should call themselves the Gnostic Church of God and get it over with.
The end is supposedly coming and the focus is entirely upon Gerald Flurry, his absurd teachings, Malachi's Message, Mystery of the Ages, the New Throne and holy Stone, government, and Donald Trump. Nowhere in any of the crap below can you find Jesus. Gerald is the savior of the church.
Real Christians through the centuries know that for "love" to flourish in the church it and its people need to be following Jesus. Church of God members, however, are directed to follow their leaders and their teachings. Jesus is never mentioned and if so it is usually in the last paragraph or sentence of an article or sermon.
Daryl Hope Tells What the Ten Directives for the End Times Are:
March 27, 2022
To show what foolishness the PCG is feeding their members, Deryle Hope, in his fast-paced, cocky voice, gave a recent tedious Bible Study (“The Ten Directives for the End Times”) where he listed what he called the “prophetic stages, phases, or milestones” they have experienced since the start of the end time. He said we are in the period of at least nine time frames and are “waiting for number ten.” Those into GF’s prophecies will lap this up.
1. The End Time or latter days which really started when HWA came on the scene in 1931 and HWA said in MOA that the Philadelphia era began at Pentecost and that signaled the time of the end, or the latter days.
2. The second one was when HWA died on January 16, 1986. He said they ended the end mentioned in Matthew 24:14 and that was the end of the Philadelphia era and the start of this Laodicean era.
3. The third one occurred on March 11, 1989 and that marked the end of the 1150 days (mentioned in Daniel 8:19) That’s when the sanctuary was cleansed and then God started to reveal to GF the content of Malachi’s Message (MM) and we entered the phase known as “the last end.”
4. The fourth was after Malachi’s Message (MM) was written. The PCG was formed and had started mailing out MM in January 1990, and then we entered “the time of no more delay.” (Revelation 10:6)
5. The fifth one occurred on May 5, 2001 when we entered “the last hour” (I John 2:18).
6. The sixth one was “the point of no return” on July 25, 2008 which was the time when the Laodicean church is collectively in 3 nations of Israel, America, Britain, and the Jewish nation, and had reached the point of no return.
7. The seventh was May 31, 2009 which was “the shaking of the nations.” (Deryle said most of these milestones are explained in “some booklets GF has written.”) This 7th one is about the construction of “God’s House” which was completed in 2010.
8. The Eighth one was January 16, 2017 and that was the beginning of the New Throne and the New Stone. He told how GF said (in The New Throne of David booklet, p 14), “We must possess the Throne of David in the Place of Safety, meaning we must also possess the stone which represents the throne. … We are ready to go to the Place of Safety and we now have the New Stone of Destiny.”
9. The ninth milestone occurred on January 20, 2017 when President Donald Trump was inaugurated and “we began the Jeroboam end.”
He said “it appears we are on the verge of milestone number ten” and that it will probably be the leader of the Holy Roman Empire (the 3rd Antiochus). Then he asked if the imperial Antiochus heading the Holy Roman Empire will be the 10th milestone?
“Well, we don’t have long to wait.” … “We are in a world that is about to explode.” … “There must be more than ten.”
Then he went over the last 6 directives he gave in the last B.S. in December: (1) watch (2) pray always; (3) occupy; (4) take heed to yourself; (5) do God’s Work; (6) hold fast.
The love he emphasized that we should have was “love toward God and His government.” We become the chosen only after we are called, repent, are baptized, and make the changes we need to. What tomfoolery. He said we must be faithful and loyal and endure to the end in order to be with Him when He returns. He said, “We can’t be quitters now.”
None of this was scriptural. AJW
10 comments:
I'm going to forward this to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the writers of South Park, to see what their character "Professor Chaos" would have to say about such end times prophecy. Professor Chaos reminds me of Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack, and Ron Weinland, all of whom believe that their impact is far greater than the actual scope of their activities. I saw this correlation immediately during the episode when Professor Chaos decided to flood the world by leaving his mother's garden hose on.
O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.
The main difference between life in Orwell's Oceania and life in Flurry's PCG is that PCG warps your mind so that your "Room 101" is the entire world outside of PCG. Once they've done that to you, you welcome the boot stamping on your face, and leaving becomes unthinkable.
AND THE TENTH SIGN IS...
When Jamie killed his Dad on the last episode of Yellowstone, signifying the "end of things".
(Makes about as much sense of more than the Flurry stuff!)
PCG truely really bears the hallmarks of a classic cult.
The similarities between cults are not so great in their practice.
While they may ultimately be diametrically different in theology they are at their core totalitarian in structure. Rule from the TOP down. Dissent is stamped on harshly. Marking and stunning are common and the fear this practice produces.
This is observed in totalitarian political movements.
Soviet ideologist Nikolai Bukharin alluded to the fascist features within Marxist Russia.
Trotsky commented ‘Stalinism and fascism in spite of differences in social foundation are symmetrical phenomena’.
We have two opposing systems, Marxism and Fascism which are remarkably similar in operation.
Religious cults reflect this.
Freedom of information is a precious commodity and the greatest threat to cults and all totalitarian movements.
One can only hope those caught up within the cult of Armstrongism are able to avail themselves of the moment, and use this widely available freedom to find our true rest, which is too be found in Jesus Christ.
HWA and the Worldwide Church of God and most of their offspring sects always reminded me of a communist " People's Republic." It would have been appropriate if during the FOT they would have had their own May Day parades with participants carrying placards of HWA, RCM and Flurry like you used to see of Stalin, Lenin and Chairman Mao back in the day. Pack and McNair are buffoons so they would not qualify.
HWA studies communism in the 30’s & 40’s, even went to meetings! He knew he had to understand how they were able to make their following have total commit to the “cause” and be willing to do anything for it. He was a success and Gerry has not only carried on but stepped it up!
Again PCG presents imaginary criteria and indicators to predict a "soon coming" event. The points listed are no more credible than those given by Dave Pack, with his April 1 date coming, and another "delay" as he redoes the math...
As for moving goalposts, I remember the LCG's carrot on a stick - continually disaster was 3 - 5 years away. But, to be fair to Bob again, he avoids this time trap by using wiggle room, fudge factors and other maybe, possibly, commitment to his prognostications. The only timing he appears to push is the 6000 years - which I recall Bob wrote "must" happen by 2028.
They're all just reacting to the shift away from all of the international geopolitical protections which kept us out of WWIII. Global cooperation and global solutions are rapidly being abandoned in favor of nationalism, giving rise to a revival and update of the very dangerous conditions of the 1930s which preceded WWII.
They react to danger their way, and I react mine! My only shift, personally, has been to gradually begin to live life fearlessly, doing some of the things that I've wanted to do all along, but forced myself to err on the side of caution instead. It's fun and has provided a whole new zest for life!
Don't worry, they'll get progressively unhappier as Easter draws closer.
“PCG: 'We don't have long to wait.'”
Says the “Short Work” that has been going on since 1989.
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