Did you know that you can hear the Word of God and, at the same time, deceive yourself? Self-deceit destroys your happiness and deprives you of blessings. It makes your Bible muddled and confusing in many ways—in fact, God says He will actually hide His revelation from you!
However, if you overcome self-deceit, you will have a strong spiritual house that can weather any storm. Your life will overflow with joy and happiness. God will pour out blessings on you. You will understand your Bible better. These are all promises from God!
So how do you not deceive yourself and remain happy? Keep the law!!!!!!!!
How many truly happy people do you know? Many reject Christ’s example and successfully gain temporary pleasures. But those pleasures do not bring real happiness, and they do not last. God created us to be continuously filled with hope, joy and vision! How much of those qualities do you see in the world today? A big reason for the prevalence of unhappiness is self-deception.
Jesus also said, “[B]lessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it” (Luke 11:28). We must go beyond simply hearing God’s Word. We must guard it, protect it, live by it. When we do that, Christ promises we will be blessed.
When has Gerald Flurry or the rest of the Church of God ever "guarded, protected, and lived by the law"? Why is the god of the Church of God so impotent that it cannot guard and protect its word? The dude lost it for 1,800 years until Herbert discovered it in an Oregon library. Not a very powerful god, I would say.
Oh, by the way. Christ's blessings come from following him, not the law,
Flurry continues, describing the current state of affairs in the COG movement:
Some people were following Jesus and even calling Him “Lord,” or master.That surely seemed right and good. But here is what Christ said to them: “[W]hy call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
This is shockingly serious! These people felt very righteous! They followed Jesus around. They wanted to hear His words. They regarded themselves as His followers. But they would not do what He said! They were self-deceived! Christ boldly told them, I’m not your master if you don’t do what I say! There’s no point in calling me Lord unless you obey what I’m telling you to do!
They regard themselves as His followers yet do not do what he says or even understand what is accomplished.
He then goes on to describe building your foundation upon a rock, something the Church of God movement has never done. They built their houses and still build their houses upon a man.
Christ went on to emphasize the importance of what we do with what God teaches us. “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock” (Luke 6:47-48).
What a marvelous picture! When you do as God commands, your life becomes stable and grounded—because you are building your life on the Rock! Hearing and then doing the word of God gives you great spiritual strength. Violent storms, difficulties and trials can arise, yet they will not shake you. No problem can cause you to leave Jesus Christ!
What happens if you don’t do as God commands? “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great” (verse 49).
This man didn’t build on the Rock—Jesus Christ. He may have heard Him. He may have agreed with Him. But he did not do what He said. Matthew 7:26-27 say this man built his house on sand. When the flood came, the foundation of this house washed away in an instant. Many people who hear what God says fail to concentrate on applying it. Because they are not doing these words, they have no strength. Once a trial comes, their house quickly falls in, and they leave Christ.
At the first moment of "trial" in the Church of God all we have ever seen happen is people getting angry, then rebelling against church government, and then pitching a royal hissy-fit and starting their own group. Then, those same issues rear their ugly heads in the new group and more splits happen. Then more splits. All the while leaving Jesus sitting all alone in the local Masonic Lodge or local union hall as they split and splinter bitching and moaning about how bad things are. All of their houses are quickly falling apart.
11 comments:
Did Gerald Flurry deceive his own self when he remarried & set up a new "mother-figure" for son Stephen who was born about the time step-ma was age 9?
A follower of Jesus would agree with Him. They would do what He says to do.
"So how do you not deceive yourself and remain happy? Keep the law!!!!!!!"
I suppose I should give up hope that any of the offshoots will ever see the grace and truth of Jesus Christ in the New Covenant. All they know is THE LAW, over and over and over.
I suppose you can't blame people for being blind. So sad.
Somewhere Jesus said something like: " If you believed Moses you would believe me, because he spoke of me."
Partial quote from a letter at Exit & Support Network:
PCG Just a Peanut Shell Floating in the Ocean:
February 13, 2024
Keep in mind their total membership of so called “converted” people is well under 3,000. I know the ministry gets on here [ESN site] and reads all the time, so if they would like to give us that exact number, I know many would appreciate it. Personally, I believe it is somewhere around 2,350, not including children, etc.
After 34 years they just a peanut shell floating in the ocean. –Former PCG member [name withheld]
----------------------------
COMMENT: The peanut shell is being tossed around by every wind of heresy, and sinking.
The current PCG members were deceived and “converted” to Gerald R. Flurry's diabolical and outrageous heresies, NOT to what Herbert W. Armstrong had actually taught.
Gerald Flurry was a plagiarizing (with his Malachi's Mess. “little book” derived from Jules Dervaes' Letter to Laodicea), gospel suppressing (with his “new commission” to “warn the Laodiceans”), family wrecking (with his “No Contact” policy), Jesus' identity stealing (with his “That Prophet” fraud), self promoting (with dozens of names titles, offices, and positions he made up for himself), editor and changer of HWA's old literature (such as Mystery of the Ages, etc.) who falsely claimed to be faithfully holding fast to everything that HWA had taught while actually editing, changing, warping, mangling, and totally perverting HWA's teachings.
Gerald Flurry was the worst false prophet that Satan ever sent against the Worldwide Church of God people. Gerald Flurry somehow managed to make even the Devil's apostate Tkaches appear to be sensible and decent compared to himself and the tyrannical and malicious perverts he set up to assist all the sexually immoral old people in his satanic imposter cult.
It is a propensity of human-kind to fight one's own mind. You cannot get rid of that by subscribing to a philosophy. I understand that Buddhism comes close, but worship of and enslavement to excessive laws would only make it worse.
"I know the (PCG) ministry gets on here [ESN site] and reads all the time"
Hello ex-PCGer, is "ESN site" one of these : Erasmus Student Network...or European Social Network?
Exit and Support Network.
https://exitsupportnetwork.com/
danke schön ESN
How not to deceive yourself? Shred any literature from Flurry/The Philadelphia Strumpet & avoid the Key of David telecast.
Well, not proclaiming yourself a prophet based on your deep insecurities about being a lowly, lowly field ministurd would help. Then again, Bob Thiel was never even that, so you can see the powerful effects of insecurity right there.
Abusive churches on how not to deceive one self. Sounds like projection.
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