There is a lot of craziness coming out of the Philadelphia Church of God lately, but this one really shows how disturbed Gerald Flurry is.
Flurry says that PCG members need to have their focus entirely on the New Jerusalem, not Jesus, but a physical city he believes will soon be here. In that magical kingdom, Gerald and Lil'Stevie will be in the office right next door to Christ where they will be both judge and jury as they pass out judgment and mercy.
In order for members to be focused upon the New Jeusalem, God built the Herbert W Armstrong Auditorium to focus the minds of members on that city to come. Because God helped build the building he personally dwells there and sends out his message from there to a lost and hurting world. The Herbie Audoitoriun and God's house in the New Jerusalem vibrate together today in unity.
God will go to extreme lengths to help us understand and focus on new Jerusalem. We are in the last hour, and I believe one of the most profound and spectacular ways God is getting us to focus on new Jerusalem is by building and properly using His house. Armstrong Auditorium is a $20 million facility we have built at our headquarters campus. We made it the highest quality we possibly could, because it points us to the new Jerusalem that we will inhabit in the future! The same God who shall govern new Jerusalem rules this house today—His eternal message flows from that building! We need to think deeply about this; God’s house and new Jerusalem are connected in a very special way. The new Jerusalem vision reverberates within the walls of this most royal house.
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‘The new Jerusalem vision reverberates within the walls of this most royal house’.
And there we have it. Straight from the horse’s mouth, or from the kings mouth, his royal personage, for whom this house was built.
A place where that most ancient of cultic crafts, Celtic dancing is also performed.
I raise a pint of Guinness to thy most royal personage Gerald laddie and I will do my utmost to not pass wind in your presence.
If a tree falls in the middle of the forest and nobody hears it, did it actually make noise?
Hey, Jere! Still not getting any street buzz or seeing you on the news! Does any of this stuff you are doing even count???
12:57 no worries, he has own he's been passing to his members for a long while, which is enough to keep members enthralled, it seems. sone brew, huh?
Non of the ACOG church's embrace Christ. They know that His righteous character clashes with their church culture. Members who display some of Christ's noble qualities are persecuted within these groups.
Either Flurry is crazy and actually believes this b.s. or he is a con artist and knows it is b.s.
This kind of one-off religion will end precipitately if Trump or a follower of Trumpism wins the presidency in 2024. After the recent Supreme Court ruling on prayer, Trump adocates are calling for the discorporation of the Establishment Clause. This means that separation of church and state will no longer apply to the States. Under this scenario, the various States can actually proclaim a state religion. My guess is that in Oklahoma it will be the Southern Baptist Church. No doubt this will evoke a State government review of all the little oddball sects operating on Oklahoma soil to determine if they are compatible with Southern Baptist theology. It is likely that the Trumpist politicians will weave all the little sects together into a fabric of malevolent conspiracy. The sects in jeopardy will have to flee to States, if any, that are liberal in attitude towards religion. Oklahoma is one of the most conservative States in the Union, both in politics and religion. Not much of a chance of survival there. The Mormons were prescient in pretty much having their own State.
If people do not get to the polls in 2024 and vote against the dissolution of democracy, the era of religious freedom will terminate by the end of the decade. Oh, I am not a prophet - just someone who watches National trends - and the future looks bleak for sects. I do wonder how Millerite prophets miss so many trends.
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Neo, don't be so alarmist. In Oklahoma, less than half of the population are evangelical Christians, and only around half of those are various kinds of Baptists. Politicians want to get elected, so they aren't going to establish a minority religion for the State.
What they WILL do is insist on broadly Judeo-Christian norms. Because Judeophilia is a big part of modern evangelical thought, there will NOT be any mandatory Sunday-keeping laws. There will be plenty of room for right-wing Sabbath-keeping Christians like Flurry and the SDAs.
California, on the other hand, will decide that "religion" means "being nice to marginalized groups." Any ACOG that wants to remain active in California will need to perform same-sex weddings, ordain homosexual ministers, and demonstrate its efforts to forestall climate change. That's a much bigger danger than anything Oklahoma might do.
6.59 AM
You're ignoring that the government is already a theocracy, with the state religion being wokeness.
Gerald Flurry is a con artist. His corruption was there from the beginning with Malachi’s Message being a plagiarism of Letter to Laodicea, he attempted to bribe the police officer that pulled him aside for drunk driving, he broke copyright law to print HWA’s books, he told the brethren he wouldn’t make deal with Tkach while making a deal with Tkach and he has a consistent record of saying wherever he needs to say to keep the members paying.
Worshipping a building instead of the True God, a lesson forgotten by the Jews of Jesus' day with the Temple , and repeated again by the Flurry clan.
Does it have a Holy of Holies?
RSK at 9:43 AM said...“Does it have a Holy of Holies?”
The ancient Israelites and Jews built TEMPLES. They had a Most Holy Place in the back.
The modern false prophets build AUDITORIUMS. They have a Dressing Room in the back.
The ancient Israelites and Jews built TEMPLES. The High Priest, a descendant of Aaron the brother of Moses and of the tribe of Levi, performed various rituals in the temple that were ordained by God.
That False Prophet Gerald Flurry built an AUDITORIUM. The descendants of That False Prophet perform Irish dancing shows in the auditorium that were ordained by That Irish Runt.
Anon @ 7:16 wrote, California, on the other hand, will decide that "religion" means "being nice to marginalized groups". Any Acog that wants to remain active in California will need to perform same sex marriages and ordain homosexual ministers and demonstrate its efforts to forestall climate change. That's a much bigger danger than anything Oklahoma might do.
Somewhere over the sunny landscape of Arroyo Grande, Bob Thiel's head just exploded!
Dave Pack is just the most extreme. He is currently making Zerubbabel appear relatively sane by comparison. But, these other dudes really aren't too far behind! Unrequited prophecy has a way of doing that to you!
We made it the highest quality we possibly could, because it points us to the new Jerusalem that we will inhabit in the future.
So, you admit that there are much nicer physical buildings than yours? If you believe a building is so key to identifying God's true church, do you think He would expect anything other than the absolute world's finest? Or maybe, just maybe, God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son look inward and are more concerned about what lies within the spiritual temple, where Their spirit dwells.
Jesus Christ talks about how the Pharisees were so concerned about their outward appearance in Matthew 23:25 saying, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness."
In the parable of the wedding supper, we do see concern for outward appearance with a guest not wearing the proper wedding garment. But interestingly, in the culture of that time (and even some cultures now), it was the responsibility of bridegroom's father to provide the guests with wedding garments. In this case the guest refused to wear the clean, white garments provided, thus he was thrown out.
Anonymous 7:16 wrote, "In Oklahoma, less than half of the population are evangelical Christians, and only around half of those are various kinds of Baptists."
I think you are forgetting the fact that State legislatures will be run by Trumpists and under those circumstances it does not make any difference what the general population believes. The ideals of democracy no longer exist in the Trump base.
Further, "Politicians want to get elected, so they aren't going to establish a minority religion for the State."
We live in a time of the unexpected. Nobody thought the exiting President would ever stage a coup, either.
Further, "Because Judeophilia is a big part of modern evangelical thought, there will NOT be any mandatory Sunday-keeping laws."
Not my experience. You must come from a background as a minister - no Sabbath conflict experience. I had a major conflict with a couple of Southern Baptist professors when I was in graduate school in a southern state. They wanted me to take a final on Saturday. The did not care jack about my need to observe the Sabbath.
80 percent chance that Oklahoma will purge its odd-ball sects if the Trump base seizes control of the State Legislature. Armstrongism is just too far removed from the acceptable standard.
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Neo,
DeSantis will probably win (I hope) and I would love to bet with you regarding this loss of religious freedom you are predicting in light of a DeSantis win.
There would be more freedom almost assuredly.
I think as time goes by, many of these cult leaders start to believe their own cons 4:22 AM.
Anonymous 3:49
Trump and his scurrying minions are autocrats. Religion is meaningful only if it can help them stay in power. Pro-Trump religion will survive - all else will be terminated. This is old stuff. History repeats itself. From Wikipedia:
"In 1932, Hitler came up with the name German Christians (Deutsche Christen) for a pro-Nazi group within Protestantism. "Hitler saw the relationship in political terms. He was not a practicing Christian, but had somehow succeeded in masking his own religious skepticism from millions of German voters", wrote Overy, who considered that Hitler found the arrangement useful for a time, but ultimately expected Christianity to wilt and die before "the advances of science". In this early period, the "German Christian" movement sought to make the Protestant churches in Germany an instrument of Nazi policy. Adherents promoted notions of racial superiority and race destiny."
You will have more freedom. You will be free to die in some pandemic or to be killed in a pogrom carried out against sects or to be shot up by a mass murderer while shopping at the mall or to be killed in the coming civil war.
What goes around comes around ...
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I have reached many of the same conclusions as Neo has just expressed.
There is a reason why Republicans do not act from their consciences as they did in the case of Richard Nixon. Nixon only surrendered his power when his own people convinced him that he needed to do it for the good of their party and for the good of the country. Republicans are not holding Donald Trump accountable, even though it has become painfully obvious that he did indeed foment the January 6 insurrection. I'm sure that everyone has seen footage of what his people that he summoned were doing at the entrance to the tunnel at the rear of the capitol. it was a free for all knock down drag out fight between the insurrectionists and various law enforcement agencies that went on for hours. That's where the real violence was taking place, not the photo-op stuff we saw where people with horns, or carrying the stars and bars were sitting at someone's desk. Even so, Republicans have come to believe that they need Trump, or they will stop winning elections. So, they continue to sear their consciences and hold their noses while they kow tow to a mad man.
The supreme court is now acting in Trump's valence, furthering his agenda even though he is no longer president. I am convinced that conditions will really begin to deteriorate immediately after the mid term elections if Republicans succeed in retaking Congress. We'll know more about our freedoms at that time.
As far as DeSantis goes, he's basically a Trump copycat. And, unfortunately, we have no shortage of politicians who are attempting to outTrump Trump. Hopefully they'd be what Flurry or Pack are to Armstrongism (paper tigers), but the thing is you never know! This runaway freight train has already negotiated some hairpin curves nobody ever believed make it through without derailing. Checks and balances mean nothing to this crowd! Mere speed bumps!
Anonymous 12:14
Well said.
Armstrongists need to realize that Trumpism is not their friend. Armstrongism consists of a collection of small, off-the-wall denominations. And they are not supported by the Trumpist viewpoint on religion. As Trump left office he issued a number of policy changes on religous freedom for the EEOC - favoring employers. As one person involved in advocacy for a small sect observed, the Trump Administrations guidelines have "a slant toward large Christian employers like colleges and social service agencies, rather than smaller religions like Sikhism, which face widespread prejudice. (ProPubica)"
Armstrongism falls in the latter category even though their ministry does not understand this. Their ministry is remote from issues of the workplace. My experience is that they want everyone working and paying tithes but a person's career and vision for the future of the family mean little. I think Armstrongists who are enamored of Trump, should look into Paula White, Trump's personal minister. After reading about her and her beliefs, I think they should feel uneasy.
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There are those enamored by Trump the person, but New Hampshire Gop voters supported DeSantis over Trump while DeSantis is much less known.
If I never hear of Trump again on the political stage that is preferable, but I really cannot understand the Jan.6 issue. It’s still a nothing burger. It was simply a symbolic action that the people are primary rather than the government and will not be run over. No guns=no insurrection; it’s stupid to say otherwise.
There were irregularities that must not occur in another election. This is not hard. I also do not understand why something as toothless as believing someone else really won a close contested election is called “the big lie”. I heard many claiming Gore really won or Hillary really won and it didn’t crater my thinking to view their opinions as not just false, not just a lie, not just a big lie, but THE big lie. That is asinine; in a world like ours that is the big lie…idiotic.
Some love Trump, others simply believe Americans should lean toward American interests all things being equal, should protect our border (and I am not against heavy immigration at our Southern border as long as we know who they are).
I wholeheartedly support issues not addressed in the Constitution go to the states…as explicitly directed in the Constitution. Honest debate that considers but does not tiptoe around the plethora of potentially offensive issues and stances is necessary rather than the ridiculous cancel culture of today.
I disagree with you strongly Neo regarding religious liberty…our situation and 1930s Germany is not analogous. WWI and its aftermath set up the rise of Hitler, much different than our rich, representative, national/state/individual rights, decentralizing (hopefully) republic.
You're just being silly. It's oblivious you still have the paranoia that was installed into you while you were in the WCG. Your gripe sounds like the nonsense spouted by SDAdventists about Ellen White's never fullfilled Sunday law prophecy. Shake off the paranoid delusions that the WCG instilled in you, and stop living in fear.
You lost your argument when you used ad hitler to criticize Trump. Get a life! Trump, regardless of his faults, isn't Hitler. If he was, you would have been in a concentration camp be now, singing Springtime For Hitler.
Paula White? Another false prophet who'll never admit it. https://youtu.be/7R8hPhDfv18
I contributed to the building fund to build that building. Not very much but it was my mite.
Truth has a way of always surfacing, given enough time and discourse. This is why I don't argue over anthropogenic climate change. Time will win the argument with those who do not believe in it, but of course that is valuable time which could have been used to combat it, time lost. Probably things are actually worse than they are telling us, and it's all over already.
I wish I were wrong about the hard right. They sure walk like a goose and honk like a goose, though, if you catch my drift. I've resolved to deal with life in 6 month windows, trying to enjoy conditions as they exist now as much as I can. It's not really that bad yet. When the current window closes, and a new one opens in November to January with the results of the mid-term elections, I'll step back and reevaluate and set goals for the next 6 month window. There may still be freedom for moderates like me. If not, well I always did admire William Tell.
No. Time will also prove that global warming is not a great issue.
Phinnpoy 9:41 wrote, "You lost your argument when you used ad hitler to criticize Trump."
The simple baseless declaration that I "lost" the argument is way different from actually engaging the arugment and demonstrating its incorrectness. You have failed to do the latter. And why would I be singing Springtime for Hitler? That is an unfunny and irrational statement.
I stand by my argument and am wondering if you are anything more than a warboy with an intellectually vapid fealty to Immortan Joe.
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I think your 6 month planning is good though!
7:35 PM,
The activity of the sun is the big factor determining the temperature on earth. Man-made climate change is indirect. If people behave too badly, God can go over to the thermostat that controls the temperature of the sun and turn it up to scorch the people on earth.
The current man-made global warming scam is designed so that people can be utterly godless and depraved while pretending that they are good, noble people who are concerned about saving the planet.
The idea that CO2 is a dangerous pollutant rather than important plant food is being used against people to cut out their coal, oil, gas, and agricultural production. The scientifically illiterate climate activists and useful idiots probably won't smarten up until they find themselves hungry and freezing in the dark.
No Neo, I'm just a patriotic American who's sick and tired of seeing our former POTUS compared to Hitler. If you're going to compare Trump with anyone, drop the ad Hitler fallacy. Nobody but uninformed people or leftists use that analogy.
He refers to Reducto ad Hitlerum, google it.
Neo is so rude, conceited and condescending. No one should care about The Donald anymore but Neo is obsessed and keeps the hurts festering.
Thank you RSK for posting the full name of that fallacy.
Righties used it ad nauseum during Obama. Lefties used it endlessly for W. Righties used it for Clinton. I dont specifically remember hearing it for GWHB, but someone probably did. It's... prevalent.
That said, I also dont see the typical mouthbreathing "hurdurdur everything I dont like and all the panic werds I heard from my favorite commenter is Hitler" aspect from Neo's post.
Phinnpoy wrote, "No Neo, I'm just a patriotic American who's sick and tired of seeing our former POTUS compared to Hitler."
I will not pretend that Mr. Insurrection (Where is your patriotism? Certainly his attack on the constitution and democracy should raise at least one hair.) is just another American President. That kind of view seeks to normalize a pathology. There are matters of political strategy where Hitler and Trump can be legitimately compared. I will not soft pedal that.
Anonymous 2:16 wrote, "Neo is so rude, conceited and condescending. No one should care about The Donald anymore but Neo is obsessed and keeps the hurts festering."
The old guy is back. Every one should care about The Donald. And after he is gone, they should care about his successors in spirit. If you don't, you have learned nothing from The Donald's four year tour of duty. Do you think the January 6 Committee sees the Donald as yesterday's news. The nation should not forget what he did. If we ignore him, he will be in our faces again shortly - this time with vengeance in mind. And we will have been fooled twice. And it will not fare well for Armstrongism and other non-ANSI standard sects.
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It’s fascinating but sad how Armstrong-ites are prone to falling for weird conspiracy theories. Some who say they left Armstongism just replace it with another sham such as political extremism. Maybe those who are obsessed with politics and foretelling our nation’s future would find more satisfaction commenting on a political site. Maybe they could debate the loons on the right or enjoy an echo chamber of loons on the left. However their political obsessions on this site just downgrade their theological comments. Just like no one would take Dave Pack seriously a rabid someone is branding himself in a similar way
Neo the Polarized Prophet is trying to incite a race war. He wants all black and brown folk to know whitie hates them and is coming to kill them. Neo has repeatedly predicted that the U.S. will soon be in a race. He sounds just like the doom and gloom predictions of HWA.
Trump had nothing to do with that so-called insurrection. It's obivious you have adopted a paranoid ideological idea to explain political events. Drop it, and start looking at things ad they teally are.
We all have our weak spots and for some it is TDS. Though different, it reminds me of how Herbert Armstrong associated Franz Josef Strauss as the beast in Revelation. Strauss died ober 30 years ago.
The Dutch government, which is daily becoming more socialist on the road to communism, is demanding that their farmers reduce by over 50% the ammonia and nitrogen oxide emissions from their cattle and cattle production. For no small portion of the dutch government this is driven by their anti beef/meat belief and to gain this land for housing of immigrants outside their cities. The strategies of the climate change extremists…
Why how quaint! Now we even have a disingenuously named little syndrome to try to make it appear as if some one who sees Trump for what he actually is has a mental disorder or disease! TDS was no doubt invented by the crowd who objects to being fact-checked by social media, who bitterly complain that prevention of their ability to spread lies is an abridgement to their freedom of speech. Hardly surprising in this, the post-truth era. The big battle is not between good and evil, folks, it's between truth and lies!
Enough with the politics crap! This post had nothing to do with Trump or Biden, Democrats or Republicans, Give it a rest.
Anonymous 3:54 wrote, "Neo the Polarized Prophet is trying to incite a race war."
That is looney. I don't have that kind of sway. And I am not a prophet. I am an observer of trends - not an inciter. We are now in the first stages of a civil war. Did I start that up?
Phinnpoy wrote, "Trump had nothing to do with that so-called insurrection."
I think this gives us a reference point as to where your mind is. Condolences.
Bottom-line: People who claim to be Armstrongist or Evangelical and seek to reconcile their beliefs to Trumpism oddly have an inexplicably and unnaturally high tolerance for cognitive dissonance.
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No. TDS is the best explanation.
Neo, my mind is in the real world. Yours is in the fantasy world of leftist fanaticism.
Where is John to tell us "time will tell."? We will soon see who is living in fantasy land! In the meantime, try to savor life as we know it now!
Neo the Polarized Prophet should be on a government watch list for those who spew hate rhetoric and incite violence. Neo has upgraded his prophecy of a race war. His mantra used to be that a civil war/race war was "inevitable". He is now boldly preaching "We are now in the first stages of a civil war." Neo wants our non-white friends, family, and neighbors to know that their days are numbered. Whitie has already mobilized to hunt them down. Neo wants them running scared. Neo's brand of hate politics seeks to instill such fear in people that they act on that fear in a multitude of negative ways.
Yesterday I was driving through a gritty old Southern town and saw an old black man holding hands with an old white dude as they strolled down the main street. They must have been in their late 70s and engaged in breaking taboos that were unthought of when they were young men. Neo has hate in his heart for the old as shown by his derisive comment "The old guy is back." Neo also hates the breaking of stereotypes that run contrary to his inevitability of a race war. Prophet Neo won't tolerate anyone who speaks against his pet predictions of racial hatred causing a war in which he claims Whitie will win (to further incite rage).
I see the parallels between Neo and Flurry and Pack. THey all can't resist sticking to crazy predictions, calling those who disagree with them "looney" and spewing a steady stream of hate. I hope the government is keeping watch on each of these dangerous prophets.
Hey, 5:57, He was right! Charlie Manson was right! He was just off by a couple of decades in the timeline of his prophecies! Helter Skelter is right around the corner. But don't take my word for it. It will all become more obvious in November, and then unavoidably obvious as we work towards a certain reemergence (if you catch my drift) of the commander in chief of the militias.
Is the bubble you inhabit comforting, Phinnpoy? I don't know about you, but in a perfect world of my choosing, there would be no powerful extremists present yanking the chains of either political party. No Trumps, no AOCs.
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