Armstrongism is not known for its pure religion and sound theology and Gerald Flurry has confirmed that in his latest message to the dwindling faithful of the Philadelphia Church of God.
Notice the very first two paragraphs of his article The Goal of Our Work:
A God from the northern heavens came to Earth and became flesh and blood, risking the loss of eternal life. Failure would have left the Father as the only remaining God forever.
Spend more time and ponder what failure would have meant to our Father—the rest of eternity spent as the only God in the universe! Then you can better comprehend the kind of love He has for His creation.
The craziness continues:
Can we fathom this loving sacrifice by God? This universe-shaking truth challenges our imagination. We are the recipients of this unparalleled act of love.
An “eternal life,” which was God, the Word, came and died for us. This ought to excite mankind beyond anything we can imagine. It was the beginning of what will probably become billions of sons in God’s Family.
Because we teach this God-ordained message, we are almost glutted with new revelation! This should show us what this message means to the Father and the Son. Revelation comes because we honor our Father and Husband.
At no point in the entire article does Flurry go into how Jesus lived a perfect life, though tempted in all things, There is no discussion about the crucifixion nor the resurrection and what was accomplished by these two things.
Instead, it is an article about church unity and their goal to bring all into fellowship with their Father god and their Son god.
The deepest kind of UNITY comes from God. This is the unity God and the Logos have had for eternity. And it is the only future life there is. Everything else is about eternal death!
The 12 disciples saw, touched and handled this Word—God in the flesh. John says they were overwhelmed with joy. They understood how God and the Word became the Father and Son—and what that means to every human being.
The goal of our work is to bring all humanity into fellowship with the Father and Son! Please read that again.
That is a pretty tall task considering how the PCG has shoved Jesus to the back burner much of the time while they worship their one true God, Herbert Armstrong, a man more powerful than Jesus.
It has been their mission for decades to get the word of Herbert Armstrong out to the world. Getting the message of Jesus out has never been anything they have attempted. Notice what is more important to them...forcing people to get behind their "work". Not following Jesus or understanding the redemption, grace, justification, and sanctification he brought, but getting behind their work.
The job of our ministers is to help get our people 100 percent behind God’s work—so we can complete this work as speedily as possible. We are in THE LAST HOUR! We must work while we can, BEFORE this world is plunged into the Great Tribulation.
Later on, Flurry discusses who was sent to redeem the world...not Jesus, but Herbert Armstrong and he himself, the end time Elijah:
God sent an Elijah to restore all things. It was an astounding message not heard around the world for almost two millennia!
Notice what that message entails...not Jesus of course, but Armstrongism:
And from the early college days to the end, Mr. Armstrong had outstanding, God-inspired spokesman clubs. There were research and writing classes. The students were not there just to learn the message. They were also taught how to deliver it, both in this age and in the Millennium.
In Herbert W. Armstrong College, our students are taught how to write and speak like kings and priests. We have a message that must be communicated to all humanity!
Not a Jesus message though...
Receiving God’s message is just half of the responsibility. The second part is communicating it. And what a communication job! This message must be delivered to every person ever born!
What good is the message if it is not declared and taught? What a failure if we don’t deliver our Father’s message! What a calamity. Now is the time to be a witness for God.
That is the purpose of this Work. We declare God’s message on television, in magazines, books and booklets and via the Internet—any means by which we can deliver it in a quality way.
Poor Bob Thiel, left whimpering by the side of the road, again. But, even he, the Great Bwana to Africa ignores the message of Jesus and what he accomplished for humanity. Instead, the focus is firstly upon his greatness, then on crappy booklets, heretical doctrines, and other claptrap posted on the internet.
Flurry then ends with this:
The Philadelphia Church of God has bought and paid for 170 acres and all of our buildings. What is it all for? We are getting ready to help Christ rule this world and the universe!
God has blessed us mightily. Now He wants to fire our imaginations to see what a marvelous, mind-staggering future this world has. We have the greatest, most complete message God has ever given to declare!
Like John, we must never lose this awesome vision of love! Then we must be a witness for God. This is what the world so desperately needs.
Jesus, where are you?
21 comments:
Listening to Gerald Flurry ATTEMPTING to preach is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. Of all the speakers I heard during my Worldwide days, GTA and Ron Dart were the only one's that were really gifted speakers. Flurry's blathering could turn a manic bipolar patient into Rip Van Winkle. It is 2+hours of torture.
What GRF is saying, in code, is that he has given us Lil Stevie Flurry, and that if Lil Stevie sins the church is screwed and there's nothing Wayne Turgeon can do to fix it.
Gerald says: "The job of our ministers is to help get our people 100 percent behind God’s work—so we can complete this work as speedily as possible. We are in THE LAST HOUR!"
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No Gerald, not "we". "You" are in your last days and times and will fulfill, "it is appointed unto to all men once to die". All, Gerald. Dave Pack? You listening?
To be honest, I could not get past his first paragraph. This heresy about two gods leaves me shaking with rage. Just as HWA taught, two gods, in verity.
Hell awaits you Gerry. At least you will finally be able to actually meet your god, HWA. Please to enjoy.
In some ACOG congregations, most members are in their mid seventies, so it's not just Gerald that's in his last days, and this includes our own Dennis.
The ACOGs have always used the theme of unity as a club against questioning or disagreeing with their teachings. Plus no rocking the boat by rebuking the minister boot licking church bullies. Church boot lickers are like mafia made men in these groups.
FLURRY WRITES :
The Philadelphia Church of God has bought and paid for 170 acres and all of our buildings. What is it all for? We are getting ready to help Christ rule this world and the universe!
MY COMMENT:
How many acres did John the Baptist, Jesus, or any of the disciples ever own??
Too bad Bible God doesn't know how to communicate directly to all humans who have ever lived personally and without all the middlemen.
We would probably be shocked to know the number of Armstrongites the believe what Flurry said is true.
"Failure would have left the Father as the only remaining God"
question for Tonto:
Does COG-7th-day still hold to this diminished-deity-christology that HWA got from them?
Two Gods - John 1:1.
Gerald has missed the gravity and depth of God. "What ifs" do not apply to God. He does not fail! This speculation about Father God being alone for all eternity because Jesus' demonstration of the Holy Spirit had failed is really kind of blasphemous to even contemplate!
Gerald says: "The job of our ministers is to help get our people 100 percent behind God’s work—so we can complete this work as speedily as possible. We are in THE LAST HOUR!"
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Like LCG, PCG sees their headquarters as the only thing on earth that matters. The members around the world only matter in so far as they support what is going on at the headquarters. This stems, in part, from a mis-interpretation of Eph 4:11-12, where they see the purpose of building up the brethren is so they can support the ministry at headquarters. The KJV could be seen to support that idea. Any other view of that verse is discarded or ignored.
KJV: for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ
ESV: to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ
NIV: to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
https://www.cog7denver.org/statement-of-faith.html
He didn't mention the plane. Is that paid in full, too?
Maybe COGWA needs to restart Spokesman Clubs. Then it wouldn't have to hire a TV news consultant to guide ministers in preparing for its new video project.
This heresy about two gods leaves me shaking with rage.
If you can't handle it when people don't agree with your theology, you need medication. If you are "shanking with rage" you are dangerous. There are billions of people who don't agree with your theology. If we all went hysterical there would be a nuclear war.
What a bizarre title for a sermon. His mind is off who knows where? What does he meditate on?
Claiming that members only exist to support the ministers and HQ is the ministry exalting themselves. They've got this down to an art form.
One of the problems with the Armstrong movement has been that people seem to think that Spokesmens' Club or Ambassador Club can turn you into a Garner Ted Armstrong, Feastgoer. I've recommended for years right here that if the splinters want their broadcasts to be effective, they need tutoring from industry professionals to bring them up to speed. If that is what COGWA is doing, I give them a lot of credit because do we all realize what a major change of mindset is required for Armstrongites to consult outside experts? I've even recommended that people like Bob Thiel actually take part in community theatre, and maybe even get a drama coach.
Todays audiences are really sophisticated, basically because they are so accustomed to professionally prepared media. Body language, the right facial expression at the right time, pitch of voice, micro-expressions, camera angles, objects in the background, attire, all of these aspects must come together to reach out and grab the viewers, and then to hold their attention for 30 minutes. Media audiences are not captive like a congregation listening to a sermon, and basically, throughout the past, that's what these cookie cutter broadcasts have been! A short sermon. The assumption of the ACOG leaders has been that the message will draw people, but the way the message is packaged and timed can make all the difference in the world. These churches also need help in their outreach programs, education as to how to put together an effective personal appearance campaign.
Maybe Flurry can start an infomercial hawking his sermons as money back guaranteed cures for insomnia and his updated book of HWA's all time classic "the Missing Dimension in Sex" with a bonus gift of Herbert's Flog Log. detailing his masturbation exploits. It is said these gifts are very romantic in the setting of a winter fireplace and GF's "Church Government Chorale" singing "Top Knot come down" in the background.
https://www.cog7denver.org/statement-of-faith.html
CoG7, like the ACoGs, make orthodox-sounding statements to hide their heresies:
But Wikipedia 'outs' them as having Arianist roots: the source of HWA/ACOG/Flurry's Arianist/ditheist/Armstrongist christological heresies - thus Flurry's position that the incarnation could have failed!
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