Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!
With all the new crazy self-appointed Chief Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, Pharisees, legalists, and outright liars leading various Churches of God today, it is important to hold these agents of deception accountable.
Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
The Philadelphia Church of God never exhausts its threats against members for not supporting the "work". Apparently, Dwight Falk believes that when you financially give to the cult then PCG's god will be so impressed it will restrict Satan and his demons from making your life a miserable hell. PCG's god will supply all of the needs of loyal PCG members as they struggle to survive with high food and gas prices. Will their cars automatically get more miles to the gallon? Will food in the refrigerators mysteriously double overnight? Considering the magical god of Armstrongism, this could certainly happen!
Dwight Falk Tries to Intimidate Members Into Supporting “the Work”:
June 24, 2022
A PCG source sent the following notes. It was a short, but twisted, taken out of context, sermonette given by Dwight Falk, who knows absolutely nothing about exegesis of the Scriptures.
Falk started off talking about rising gas prices and then went on to quote Malachi 3:11: “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.” This is God talking to the “sons of Jacob” (See: British Israelism-True or False?) not to the N. T. church that Jesus founded, and reading the passage in context shows it is talking about pests such as the locust or caterpillar eating their crops, not about gaining financial blessings. The PCG ministers know they can control members much better if they use the O. T. especially that which is applying to the House of Israel.
He said if we “support the Work,” God will rebuke the devourer. [Note: For a definition of the words “the Work” see Buzzwords (or loading the language).]
He rattled off several blessings they (PCG) have; i.e., Armstrong College, etc., etc.. “As long as we are supporting His Work, God will rebuke the devourer (i.e., take care of us)” he asserted.
In other words, the blessings we receive are contingent upon doing certain acts–especially supporting, giving money to, “the Work”–then God will follow through. Is the New Testament church today living in O. T. times?
He took examples from the O.T.; i. e., the Israelite’s clothing and shoes not wearing out in the wilderness; the blessings and curses in Deuteronomy.
“God will rebuke the devourer,” he said, “as long as we stay close to Him and support the Work.” Notice how God helping us is all centered around supporting the Work.
Does Philippians 4:19: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” say anything about God taking care of us, or blessing us, “as long as” we “support the Work”?
No, it does not.
Sorry, Dwight, you failed Bible exegesis big time. –sermonette critiqued by PCG source
Students at Herbert W Armstrong College, on the cult compound of the Philadelphia Church of God, have been given a foretaste of what the PCG imagines the Kingdom of God will be like with a new mural recently painted in the old John Amos Field House. That building was the center of college and church life for many years till Flurry built his mini-me auditorium patterned after the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, CA.
The JA Field House is still used for basketball, dining, and as a student lounge on the old stage. Sadly the students were subjected to a boring old white wall. But in good COG fashion, someone stepped up to the plate and designed a painting envisioning PCG's imagined world to come.
Evangelist Wayne Turgeon, who oversaw the buildings and grounds department for a number of years before transferring to the United Kingdom-Europe-Africa regional office, said the inspiration for the project came years ago because, with the curtains now open most of the time the stage’s empty white wall seemed to be “crying out for something to fill it up.”
The original concept for the wall was to be a painting of the "New Jerusalem" that the PCG expects soon to descend from on high and plop down at the exact center of the earth. But unfortunately, Gerald Flurry thought that that would involve too much speculation as to what it looked like.
The original subject of the painting was New Jerusalem, but Pastor General Gerald Flurry said he felt that depicting it would rely too much on speculation.
Imagine that, Gerald Flurry worried about too much speculation! Who would have ever thought that considering the bizarre speculations that come out of his aging mind right now?
King Flurry then approved a painting of their imagined kingdom to come.
He then approved a scene from the Millennium, the prophesied 1,000-year period of world peace under the government of God.
Gotta get government in there somehow.
After many discarded ideas had made it into the Kingly dumpster, a design was envisioned and approved.
Artists created several drafts but had a hard time deciding on one. For this and other reasons, the project sat untouched for years. But in early April, Dorning sketched the draft that would become the final version, and the project was underway.
I do appreciate the Temple to Zeus with its Greek phallic columns rising in the background and the father walking the tiger on a leash in the supposedly peaceful kingdom. As one person pointed out on Facebook, "this is a COG where sex and control are always in the background".
Mr. Turgeon expressed his hopes that the mural will “inspire the students, and any other members who see it, to think immediately of the incredible future that lies ahead for all of mankind.”
I also can't help but compare it to the Jehovah's Witness's Kingdom of God paintings that adorn their literature:
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.”
Imagine being an adult in the Philadelphia Church of God having just bought the latest smartphone and are enjoying the features that make your life more interesting and rewarding. Then the following Sabbath, your Grand Poohbah walks out on stage and plops his fat ass down in his comfy chair, and starts lecturing you about all of the things you are doing wrong as a PCG member. You are used to it though as this is what Sabbath services have been like for several decades. You know you won't hear anything about Christ since you will usually be raked over the coals for some misdeed the Grand Poohbah claims you are doing.
This Sabbath isn't much different until the Grand Poohbah says that loyal followers of God and himself should not be using or even owning smartphones! Well, CRAP! Double CRAP!!
What is a loyal PCG member to do? Keep the phone anyway and use it only when no members are around and leave it in your car when walking into church or getting rid of it and get another phone?
Apparently many PCG members are ditching their smartphones and flocking to buy a phone designed for children. This way they cannot inadvertently open a program and accidentally read all the negative publicity about the PCG! How convenient!
These are some things the Toomi phone restricts for kids, which actually isn't a bad idea, but is foolish for adults that should have the ability to use their god-given mental functions to make their own decisions.
No internet access so PCG members can't read about the negative things about the church or the heretical doctrines it teaches. Best of all though, at $19.95 a month, there is more money to send into The Grand Poohbah! Even better than all of that is if PCG members sign up on the private PCG member page they can get a free phone!
Sadly, even though this is a child's phone, many PCG members who have switched to it do not know how to use it! Wut?
PCG has an article up on its website talking about how to use the phone.
EDMOND—A number of PCG members are switching from smartphones to non-smartphones, including a phone from Troomi. (Phones are available for free to PCG members with the code BILLFREEA12.) Some have found the maps feature to work well, some have found it not to work, and Troomi has said that it is experiencing issues. Below are a few tips that seem to have helped some members fix the issue with Google Maps on the Troomi phone.
An LCG source sent me a link to an article on Frank Viola's Beyond Evangelical blog, The Danger of God's Power.
Where Power Is Safe
God never gives His power to you or me to wield as individuals. He gives His power to the bride of Christ, the ekklesia.
Whenever I see men wielding God’s power as isolated individuals, I immediately see imminent destruction. The power of God on an individual will destroy him. It’s safe only when that person remains properly connected to other members of the body.
In every case I can think of when an individual abused God’s power, that person was disconnected from the body of Christ. Yes, they may have attended church services. In fact, they may have even regularly preached in them.
But that’s not the same as having a living experience of the body of Christ, where close-knit relationships are forged and members temper one another.
I’m also impressed that Jesus didn’t try to gain fame through His signs and wonders. Have you ever noticed that the Lord never made a production out of healing the sick?
When Jesus performed a healing, He virtually always told that person not to tell anyone.[iii] We see a certain modesty in Christ whenever He exercised His power.
God’s power is available to accomplish His will, but it’s so easy to corrupt, pervert, and make cheap and common.
But wait, it gets even worse.
Malignant Narcissism
Spiritual power causes some people, perhaps many, to believe they can handle everything on their own. These befuddled souls are marked by titanic arrogance mixed with paranoia. They are erratic narcissists and serial liars who have an unwarranted confidence in their own sagacity.
They are rude, crude, insensitive, judgmental, and as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.
They are also prone to violate Proverbs 27:2, regularly lathering themselves up with praise. In some twisted way, they believe they have a right to such self-indulgence because they carry God’s anointing.
The same thing happens when individuals acquire political power. Many of them turn into insufferable human beings. Privilege has a toxic influence on most humans.
How ironic that those gifted with God’s power slip into the same temptations. Unfortunately, malignant narcissism abounds in both the political and religious worlds.
But a major fall awaits such people. They will move from a powerful place to a place of deep weakness. This is God’s generous grace, because power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), and only the weak and poor in spirit can heal the broken and needy.
It was said of Jesus that He would not break a bruised reed nor snuff out a smoldering wick (Matthew 12:20). In the ancient world, smoldering wicks signaled that they should be extinguished and replaced with new ones.
Bruised reeds couldn’t measure accurately, so they too had to be discarded and replaced. Strikingly, Jesus didn’t discard or replace the damaged, the weak, and the broken.
He healed them.
As the One gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29), our Lord consistently helped the least, the lost, and the lowest.
By contrast, those who take God’s power for granted not only discard the broken; they run over them.
With weakness comes the power to heal the weak. Without weakness, God’s power becomes a dangerous thing. So be careful.
It should come as no surprise that another person has died in the Philadelphia Church of God due to its draconian and vile doctrines. Once again, another person died because they refused medical treatment, or in this case, the husband refused it. Members live in this constant state of fear that they dare not cross the doctrinal line of the PCG for fear of losing one's salvation, while Gerald Flurry and other PCG elite regularly seek medical attention.
My Ex-Wife Died in PCG Died Due to Medical Neglect: January 30, 2022
Reviewing these pages has helped me understand and strengthen my thoughts about the PCG and my ex-wife’s passing.
My wife joined the PCG in the early 1990s. I continued attending a traditional Christian denomination while she attended the PCG. I kept getting vibes that her “church” was a cult from the members I met and because of the control it had on her thoughts and actions. We eventually ended up divorcing [several] years later due to the strain it was causing on our children and marriage. She married a member of the PCG and ended up moving multiple times to different states and loosing contact with her children.
Her husband called us in the middle of the night [date removed] that she was dying, was incoherent, and couldn’t talk. Word quickly spread and my son called the town’s police to do a wellness check. They arrived and insisted the husband allow them to call an ambulance and he argued. One was finally called but the husband refused any medical treatment at the hospital because that was her wish. He produced a hand written note stating she didn’t want medical intervention and later he admitted signing the paper. We learned later she possibly wasn’t allowed transportation (by her choice or others) to medical help for a few weeks leading up to her death. PCG members would come over and sit with her to pray and use healing cloths. This was murder by neglect. We also suspected the husband may have had a hand in her demise. The police never did an autopsy or investigation. Later [date removed], he remarried a PCG member and had a child.
The PCG stole my wife, contributed to her death, and emotionally scarred me and my children.
Your pages have given me knowledge that my experience was unfortunately shared by others. –[name withheld]
Other than the miraculous birth of Bob Thiel, which was planned before the foundations of the world had been set so that he could bring about redemption to the faithful in the end times, there is no other date in Church of God history as significant as December 7.
EDMOND—On the Sabbath of December 4, thousands of Philadelphia Church of God members around the globe marked the December 7 anniversary of the founding of the Church.
In Edmond, Evangelist Stephen Flurry gave a sermonette reviewing the history and accomplishments of the “32-year miracle” of the Church. His father, Pastor General Gerald Flurry, delivered a sermon about Bible prophecy and the radical political movement to revolutionize the government of the United States.
The 32-year-old miracle came about because Lil'Stevie read his daddy's plagiarized Malachi's Message while camping at Robber's Cave, Oklahoma. The earth stopped at this moment, just like when Bob Thiel was born, as God's mighty plan was put into place.
Gerald Flurry always fails to mention how he was disfellowshipped for insubordination which removes his ordination rank in the church. A church that he was essentially a nobody in.
December 7 was the beginning of a spiritual war that the true church has supposedly been fighting, all thanks to Gerald Flurry and HWA. For some reason, they left Bob Thiel out. What a bummer!
“This day serves as a reminder to all of us that we are to be persistent in this spiritual war,” Ohio prospective member Adam Williams said, “and to never give up believing in God’s Word, like Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Flurry.”
December 7 marks the date that Mr. Flurry and his assistant, Preaching Elder John Amos, were fired from the Worldwide Church of God for remaining loyal to the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong and Mr. Flurry’s manuscript that would become Malachi’s Message. The Church has since raised up the ruins with 32 years of a Bible prophecy magazine; 29 years of youth camp, 28 years of a Bible prophecy radio/television program; 20 years of college; 18 years of holding copyrights to 19 books and booklets by Mr. Armstrong, including Mystery of the Ages; and 13 years of a K-12 schooling; as well as regional offices, personal appearance campaigns, a corporate airplane and other milestones. Philadlphia Church of God Celebrates 32 Years
The Philadelphia Church of God has an article up by Joel Hilliker about being single in the church.
Here are some of the convoluted beliefs of the PCG:
What is your big goal in life? Like it or not, for true Christians, the answer is family.
We are destined to be born into the God Family as Gods! Our entire lives today are meant to prepare us for that future—to teach us to become more and more like God!
Righteous character is God’s greatest, most magnificent creation—His masterpiece! And He is working on that masterpiece within you. However, this requires your acquiescence, your full cooperation, your total submission. That is what makes it so challenging for Him.
Your part in allowing God to create His character is your greatest, noblest challenge!
Physical human families are the first thing God uses. Physical family is one of His most powerful tools for destroying human nature and helping us grow in godly character.
The Church family is a fantastic way to crush your human nature and get you ready for the God Family! Those in the Church are people with whom God wants you regularly practicing His love!
Confront the shallow notion that “single” is opposite of “family.” God is preparing you for eternal family life—and He wants to use your experience as a single in His Church to help in that process!
Your spiritual family provides you unique opportunities to confront your carnality and to build righteous thinking and godly character.
The women in the Church—the women you date—are sisters first! “First of all, she’s a sister—a member of the Family of God! The Family of God comes first!
Mr. Flurry continues, “Do you fellows look upon the woman you want to marry as a sister? Is she really like a sister to you, spiritually? Or do you just skip over that part?”
Dating is a service—an act of giving to the family. It is a way of providing companionship to brothers and sisters in Christ. When you serve in this way, you are drawing those you date closer into the spiritual family and enriching their experience within God’s Church. And on top of that, you are also taking a hammer to your own selfishness! You are becoming more like God! ‘Single’ Is Not the Opposite of ‘Family’
As with all things in Armstrongism, the goal is to look inward to the closed system instead of outward to the world, bringing the kingdom into a reality one person at a time.
Recently Gerald Flurry declared a fast in order to force his god into allowing the Philadelphia Church of God to open a new institute in Israel. That fast was a deliberate attempt to force the god of Flurryism to do what Flurry wants, after all, "he is Eliakim and that God gives him “extra authority to open and shut doors”; that he is a father to the inhabitants of Judah, and that God has a work for him to do in Israel."
It is always so delightful to watch these self-appointed fools leading COG's today get their comeuppance.
Concerning the November 21 letter “Members Fasting Today / GF’s Need for New Stimulation,” it looks like God may have responded to their fast.
GF said in his co-worker letter [see November 8 and November 13 letters above] that he wanted to make sure God is behind what they had decided to do.
First of all, he said that he already decided to start his Armstrong Mazar Institute in Jerusalem, rather than seek God’s will on this fast day. He wanted to make sure God was behind his decision and, in other words, he wanted to petition God to get in line and back his decision.
It seems God has responded with a big fat NO! Within a few days of their fast, an omicron [i.e., small] variant of the coronavirus was identified, and now Israel has shut their borders! How will they do this work in Judah that they keep going on about?
As Flurry stated in his December 5, 2019 co-worker letter, referring to Isaiah 22:20-22, that he is Eliakim and that God gives him “extra authority to open and shut doors”; that he is a father to the inhabitants of Judah, and that God has a work for him to do in Israel.
Never mind the fact that he thought the first building was the “open door”; then that fell through so he switched to another building and when that, too, fell through, he said there was no building and that the relationship with David Be’eri was the open door.
Once coronavirus hit the scenes, he was shut out of Israel and his work came to a stop there. Once again, he’s trying to dupe his followers into thinking that God is opening up Israel for him.
It is clear to even “blind Freddy” that God is not with the PCG, that God is not supporting their work, that God is not answering their prayers and that Gerald Flurry is a mere weak man with no authority to do anything in Israel. History has proven this and history tells us that he will never to do a work in Israel and his followers are deluded to believe so.
It is time for people to wake up to the fact that there is no open door and that Flurry and his goons are con artists and scammers. They have no interest in doing anything for God. They are simply in it for themselves. There is no reward for those who follow him. –M.K.
Let’s see… the archaeology is being undertaken by Zionist extremists, the City of David Foundation and Christian Zionist students at an unaccredited college of the Church of God, under the leadership of Eilat Mazar, who holds a Bible in one hand while she digs with the other.
Is it any wonder that the excavation comes up with the oddball proclamations they do, when they involve such one-eyed zealots? Unfortunately, their utterly unfounded proclamations are then uncritically accepted by an ignorant and profit-driven mainstream media, a gullible Christian public, and an equally gullible and also nationalistic Israeli public.
Given such a widespread dissemination of misinformation, it is well worth pointing out the highly suspect groups behind the dig, the routine failure to apply accepted archaeological method, and the completely fanciful and wishful nature of their identifications of archaeological sites with biblical stories.
Why is it that Armstrongism has so many bloviating fools who think they are authorities on everything and that they need to "educate" the world? The world is too dumb to understand things and certain COG leaders feel the need to run off at the mouth about how they think things should be.
Gerald Flurry in his attempt to imitate Herbert Armstrong, searched for years to establish a connection in Israel in order for his HWA College students could participate in an archeological dig like the Ambassador College students participated in in the 1970s. He soon found that person to work with, Dr. Eilat Mazar, in various digs in Jerusalem.
There is a huge archeological park in Jerusalem called the City of David and has been the site of archeological digs since the 1800s. Flurry was anxious to get this college and church involved in the digs there:
Before she died this past May 25, we had worked for years with archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar in and around the City of David and had developed a very close relationship with her. (If you don’t have one, we would be happy to send you a free copy of our latest Watch Jerusalem magazine, which we devoted entirely to Dr. Mazar and her findings.) There are some very talented archaeologists in the world, especially in Jerusalem, but I believe Dr. Mazar will be remembered as one of the greatest archaeologists of all time.
A few years ago, we reached out to Dr. Mazar to see if she could arrange a meeting for us with David Be’eri. Mr. Be’eri established the City of David Foundation and is renovating the City of David archaeological park. His foundation also purchases properties and owns a lot of real estate in the City of David. He is quite an authority over that area, and we wanted to see if we could talk with him to understand his plans for future archaeological excavations, when those would occur and who would be involved. We have always felt that excavation of the palace of David is incomplete. We wanted to help finish it, and we wanted to see if Mr. Be’eri and others were thinking the same way.
Flurry makes it sound like the folks doing the archeological digs there were too stupid to understand what was under their feet. However, as you can see in this video they are well aware of what is there.
Flurry continues:
We really wanted Dr. Mazar’s support, but she wasn’t totally comfortable with helping us arrange a meeting and did not want to accompany us. We prayed about it and tried hard to persuade her, but she remained unmoved.
But then, in February 2019, I visited Jerusalem. We met with Dr. Mazar and talked with her for probably an hour—and we saw her totally change her mind. She was now pleased for us to meet with Mr. Be’eri and arranged the meeting for us!
We met Mr. Be’eri at his office the following day. We quickly saw that he is a mover and a shaker in Jerusalem, even more than we were expecting. He trained with the Israeli commandos in the famous 1976 raid in Entebbe, Uganda, where 100 Jewish hostages were freed. One of the other commandos, the only one who was killed, was Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother. Mr. Be’eri is still close with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. Be’eri has accomplished some wonderful things in the City of David archaeological park. As part of his job, he goes to wealthy people and asks them to support his work in the City of David. When they ask, What’s in it for us? he tells them, I want to give you something that will give more meaning to your life. What a beautiful and noble answer! This man sincerely seeks to bring Christians and Jews and everybody else together. He even has a working relationship with archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, who disagrees quite a bit with Dr. Mazar’s findings and has serious doubts about David and Solomon’s presence in the City of David and on the Ophel. But Mr. Be’eri is a strong man, like Zadok, who was a warrior before he became a priest. He tells it like it is, and it’s refreshing to meet somebody like that.
We showed him pictures of Herbert W. Armstrong’s involvement with Prof. Benjamin Mazar and his meetings with Israeli prime ministers and presidents. He told us he expected excavations at David’s palace to resume in two years (this was before COVID-19 brought everything to a standstill in Israel). At that time, he told us Dr. Mazar would be the one doing the digging. And since Dr. Mazar said previously that she would not dig without Herbert W. Armstrong College participation, we hoped that we would be involved in this dig at the City of David.
But things have been in a holding pattern for some time because of coronavirus lockdowns. Then when Dr. Mazar died this past spring, we wondered how that would further affect things.
On the surface having an opportunity for his college students to participate in a dig is a worthwhile project, but being that Flurry is a megalomaniac COG leader, he has a deeper motive and that is to insert his biblical interpretations into what he thinks should be said about the archeological excavations. He also sees this as a prime opportunity to gain a footing in Jerusalem so that they are center stage when the battle of Armageddon happens and the two witless witnesses (always COG members - most likely Bob Thiel and Laura Weinland) will be preaching the message of Herbert Armstrong in the streets of Jerusalem. This will be the message that Herbert supposedly restored and not too much about Christ.
Flurry sees this as his mission now to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars in tithe money into establishing his presence in Jerusalem, because once again, he deems the Israelies too stupid to understand their own archeology. They need the COG version of archeology.
Of course, we want to be involved in this next phase of ongoing excavations in the City of David and would like to get there as soon as possible! We are working even now to visit Israel so we can meet and discuss how we can assist. But when great doors like this open, there is always great opposition. I’d like to ask that you be praying and fasting about this potential opportunity.
I believe that we are going to be moving more and more into Jerusalem to get involved in a dig very soon.
Israel is experiencing a lot of bad news these days. Many Israelis are in despair about their nation’s future. But there is a message of great hope in their own archaeology— and we want to do all we can to share this great hope!
I believe we can and must use ARCHAEOLOGY as a means of reaching the cities of Judah. Because we understand and believe the Bible, we can add incredible meaning to the archaeology of Jerusalem and Israel!
Flurry claims he will not be proselytizing with any of Herbert's theology and just wants to let the stones speak for themselves. We all know that is a lot of deceptive crap. Or maybe not, considering how Herbert Armstrong himself was too embarrassed to discuss Jesus Christ and could only talk about " a strong hand from someplace". Flurry is the same way. He can talk about Irish dance, Herbert's coronation stone, British Israelism, and loads of other non-essential crap, but rarely is Jesus ever mentioned.
During our meeting, Mr. Be’eri gave us approval to give tours of Dr. Eilat Mazar’s archaeological discoveries in the City of David and on the Ophel. We explained to him that we do not intend to proselytize or preach, that we simply want to take the history as it is recorded in the Hebrew Bible and put it alongside the archaeology. To use the words of Dr. Mazar, we simply want to “let the stones speak.” He agreed, and in essence supported us taking this message of Dr. Mazar to the cities of Judah.
Never fear though, the great Savior from Oklahoma, the anointed King of the Church of God and owner of the very throne that Christ will return to, is setting up a new foundation to educate Israel on how things should be:
For many years, I have talked with our Jerusalem department about the need for a new archaeological institute in Jerusalem. Based on feedback we have received from Dr. Mazar and others in the world of biblical archaeology, this field is presently in deep trouble. Biblical archaeology as a field of study is not growing—it is rapidly shrinking. Some of the great biblical archaeologists and professors, like Eilat Mazar and Hershel Shanks, the founder of Biblical Archaeology Review, have recently died.
Worse than this, the spirit of secularism and intellectualism so prevalent in the world has crept into the field of biblical archaeology. There are still biblical archaeologists working today, and some are very good at what they do—but some simply don’t use the Bible enough. Many don’t give it enough credibility or view it as a true authority in their work. In addition, the number of young people getting into the field of biblical archaeology is diminishing. Many just don’t see a future in biblical archaeology.
I believe we need to take action to help solve this problem: There is a desperate need now for some sort of institute or organization to come on the scene and revive biblical archaeology! We need an institution that promotes the Bible as a credible and essential historical source in the practice of archaeology in Israel. More importantly, this institution needs to make biblical archaeology available to the largest audience possible—especially the people of Israel!
I am pleased to say, we are creating just such an institute!
We plan to call it the Armstrong-Mazar Institute of Biblical Archaeology. Right now, our Jerusalem team is creating the website for this new institute. As you are probably familiar with, we already operate watchJerusalem.co.il. Soon we will have two websites for Israel: one that focuses on news and prophecy, and the institute website, which will focus on archaeology.
Church of God archeology and interpretations of that history through the lens of a COG cult leader. This is a train wreck ready to happen!
Flurry is changing the name of his current Watch Jerusalem to a new name to reflect this new education program:
In addition, we are planning some major changes to our print magazine Watch Jerusalem. Starting with the January-February issue, the magazine will be renamed Let the Stones Speak. This will be the magazine of the new institute, and it will focus solely on biblical archaeology.
He then adds this blatant lie:
Let me repeat this point because it’s important: The purpose of this new institute is not to proselytize or convert. The goal is to connect archaeology and the Bible and to show people how much hope there is in archaeology!
This is nothing more than a way to promote Armstrongism, though it will be the PCG version of Armstrongism which bears little resemblance to anything Herbert said or did now that Flurry has rewritten everything.
The Church of God has sadly become a clown show with crazy leaders saying and doing crazy things. As the years go by and they get older, the craziness will intensify till they reach a snapping point and COG members will feel the brunt of that craziness.
Isaiah 40:9 says, “Get thee up into the high mountain” to proclaim this message. The City of David area is mountainous. One time we were in a vehicle trying to navigate through the cars in a parking lot. As Dr. Mazar was trying to turn, she pulled right up to a cliff where you could look down, and it was scary how far down the cliff went into the Valley of Jehoshaphat! I BELIEVE THE PLACE OF THE DIG—INCLUDING EVERYTHING HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG WAS INVOLVED IN AND EVERYTHING WE ARE DOING NOW—IS THIS “HIGH MOUNTAIN.”
Open your wallets and checkbooks, boys and girls! It's time to give Flurry some more money! New buildings need to be bought, display cases made, a room for a library needs to be built, and more.
If we are going to create an institute in Jerusalem, then we really need a building or some sort of office space. We need a space to display our exhibits and to office our staff, who will be producing the magazine and website, as well as engaging in important research. We need a space where people can come and book tours of ancient Jerusalem.
Here is another reason I believe we need some real estate in Jerusalem: This summer we purchased the combined library of Benjamin and Eilat Mazar! This is an incredible blessing for us and a huge sign from God! When a scholar dies, it’s not unusual for his or her research library to be consolidated and then sold at auction. Many institutions and wealthy collectors are prepared to pay good money to own the personal library of an esteemed scholar.
Needless to say, we were thrilled when Dr. Mazar’s family agreed to sell us her library—without it ever going to auction! When we first purchased the library, we believed we were receiving around 3,000 books. As it turns out, the number was closer to 4,000.
Like Herbert Armstrong, Bob Thiel, and Dave Pack, the need to be seen as important weighs heavily on these cult leaders.
That’s not all: In October, Mr. Nagtegaal was at the archaeology department at Hebrew University and noticed boxes upon boxes of books on archaeology and the Bible. We told him to inquire about these books and see if they were available for purchase. Hebrew University gave them all to us free! The number of books in this collection totaled around 4,000!
Last spring, our office in Jerusalem had maybe a hundred books on archaeology and the Bible. By August, that number had grown to 3,000, by September it was 4,000, and by the end of October it had grown to 8,000!
Do you think God wants us to start a biblical archaeology institute in Jerusalem? Owning the library of Prof. Benjamin Mazar and Dr. Eilat Mazar will provide a massive boost to our credibility! This library will be an important part of our institute.
As part of the purchase, there is a stipulation that the libraries must be accessible to the public. This will again necessitate a larger office presence for God’s Work in Jerusalem. God will have to show us how to do this. But it does seem He is telling us to put more emphasis on the archaeology message! Because maybe that is going to be at the heart of what we do from now on, in the most efficient way we possibly can.
Flurry goes on to say:
We have to realize, as Mr. Armstrong said: God’s Church is a miracle! The PCG is a miracle! You are a miracle! Everything this Church is doing in Edmond and around the world and in Jerusalem is a miracle of God! How else could you and I be doing what we are doing? God must really be involved in this Church!
This has to be so humiliating to Bob Thiel, shuttered away in a dingey little brick building in Central CA and relegated to the sub-continent of Africa instead of in Isreal where they heed to hear his message.
Things may not go too well with Flurry's newest escapade.
The foolishness of our current leaders in the COG is appalling.
Anyone who has grown up in the Church of God movement, pre-1986, knows the stories and sermons that were pounded into us about Satan rebelling against God eons ago in a great battle of heaven who was then cast down to earth by God. That epic battle is what destroyed all the planets in the entire solar system and filled each one of them with pockmarks of the heavenly stars thrown around by Satan and his demons and the heavenly host as they fought each other. In COG mythology, this is also what destroyed the dinosaurs here on earth.
This includes all of the billions of universes out there that were destroyed because of this epic battle, except for earth. Of all of those desolate worlds that would have been perfect for Satan to be cast down to, and remember there are billions and billions of planets, stars, and galaxies floating around out there, this is the place Satan was thrown down to in order to make all of our lives miserable. Humanity got the short end of the stick.
In COG mythology, Satan has been running amok on this earth deliberately making the lives of COG leaders miserable and thwarting their amazing "works". According to the professional mythologists in the Philadelphia Church of God, there was a SECOND battle in heaven as Satan and his demons left this earth and tried to enter heaven in 1986 to battle God and the heavenly host for a second time (this happened all because Herbert decided to die). There was once again an epic battle in heaven as Satan almost got the upper hand, but magical God and his angels finally repelled Satan back to earth where he set about destroying the one true church.
Gerald Flurry states in one of his many recent articles about the glories of "empire" had this to say about this epic battle:
Around the time that Herbert W. Armstrong, died, Satan and his demons directly attacked God for the first time since before the creation (verses 7-8). God and His angels repelled him and also confined him and the demons to the Earth (verses 9-12). Then Satan attacked God’s Church! (verse 13). That is why the Church was absolutely decimated: 95 percent of God’s own people—the people He was training to rule with Jesus Christ—quickly turned away from God.
Why is the god of the Church of "god" such a weak impotent god? He handpicks people to be church members (since they can't do it themselves) and then lets Satan make their lives miserable and leads 95% of them out of the church into atheism or into one of the 500+ splinter personality cults of Armstrongism. What a cruel prankster god!
This god cared so little about his special little group of chosen ones that he was unable to stop Satan from entering their minds and leading them astray and who will soon be killing most of them off in the great battle of Armageddon, the ultimate battle of Empires.
Daniel 11:34-35 prophesied this same tragedy, which is ongoing as you read this: “And some of them of understanding shall fall.” Those God invited to build the God Family Empire, some of whom did so for decades, turned instead to the things that Satan is offering. What a tragedy! Satan is conquering them spiritually, and soon he will attack them physically.
Never fear though, there is ONE Church of God here on earth that has the ability to save your pathetic Laodicean asses, and that is the Philadelphia Church of God Empire where God's literal throne dwells today. Not even Bob Thiel's pathetic little cult can save you! Not even Dave Pack, Gerald Weston, Ron Weinland, or Victor Kubik's groups can do that! Silly Laodiceans!
The opportunity for God’s people to repent is still here. And He will protect them from Satan’s spiritual attacks and physical attacks. Those who don’t repent will have to face Satan when he comes “to make war” (Revelation 12:17). Even as this dragon attacks God’s people who rebelled against Him, He is working to save them spiritually.
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1). Finally they will repent and turn back to their Father and His Family. They wouldn’t respond to God’s message before the Great Tribulation and the attacks of this evil empire, but once they are suffering and ultimately losing their physical lives, God will bring them to repentance.
As powerful as this dragon and his beast power are, God is still empowering His God Family Empire. Satan has thrown down the gauntlet, and now it’s time for the warriors to rise. It’s time for God’s warriors, warriors like no one has ever seen before on this Earth except when they saw God’s very elect. It’s time for the warriors to rise, those warriors who are clothed with the sun! Should we let this evil old slut intimidate us—people clothed with the sun? Should we be daunted by some deranged archangel when we are clothed with the sun? Absolutely not!
Slut?
Clothed with the sun? Absolutely not!
A better question to ask is why are COG members being led astray by these evil deranged sluts running Church of God splinter groups? COG leaders are the ultimate sluts that members face right now.
Anyway, the little work must continue and only Gerald Flurry and his merry band of men are leading the way through the flaming arrows and storms of Satan. The Empire must prevail!
Satan is turning up the heat because he knows his time is about up! (Revelation 12:12). Should we be silent? Should we be reserved? Should we be outworked by the devil and those who follow him? God’s people are clothed with the sun, which means the Creator of the sun is behind us! Why should we fear anybody? It would be shameful if we did. The stronger their hostility gets, the stronger our message is going to get, because we are the God Family Empire.
This holy God Family Empire will soon wipe the Great Whore who will soon be causing serious trouble for the God Family Empire residing in Edmond, Oklahoma.
It is our mission to expose the dragon! Nobody else will do it. It’s up to the subjects of the God Family Empire to tell the world the truth, to remind them of the Holy Roman Empire’s bloody, bloody history, and to proclaim a warning. This is Satan’s world, and the Holy Roman Empire is Satan’s main weapon! But God’s people represent an empire far greater than Satan’s empire.
Most of the people in God’s own Church have turned away from giving this warning. They say nice things about the Vatican and the Holy Roman Empire. But we can’t think that if we speak out it will just cause more problems. God is not going to accept that at all. He wants us to speak out and tell the world how evil this harlot is! We must warn America, Britain and the Jews of what is coming. If we don’t speak out, who will oppose this satanic wickedness? Who, if not God’s Family? Prophecy says they are going to kill God’s people—our spiritual family, sons of God—who don’t repent before the Tribulation. It will kill them as it has killed God’s people for centuries! Should we warn about that? When God’s saints are resurrected, what would they think of us if we didn’t warn? What would God think of us?
The Philadelphia Church of God is the one true God Family Empire on earth where its cosmic creature they call "christ" will return to and sit on its throne where it will rule in majesty and power as it dispenses justice and mercy through the hands of loyal PCG members. This will happen after the Catholic church is destroyed, of course.
We’re going to announce the death of the Holy Roman Empire, and God is going to wipe that old harlot off the face of this Earth very shortly! See, we’re about to flee for the last time ever from the Holy Roman Empire. God is going to end this madness forever after He uses it to teach some lessons.
No other Church of God out there is warning the nations of the earth about this looming battle, not even Bob Thiel!
We are warning the physical nations of Israel and the rebels in God’s spiritual nation of Israel. We are warning that God is going to use Satan’s Holy Roman Empire to punish them for their sins and humble them. But then we will warn that evil empire and tell them that it is going to meet Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, and He is going to smash them like Israel should have done long ago! That empire will be dead forever! Then He will rule with His kings and priests, and the God Family Empire will be established forever! What a future!
Always remember the reason God is on PCG's side: it is because they have Herbert's prayer rock! Hallelujah Jesus! God in his mercy answered our prayers!
God has already given the symbol of His rule, Mr. Armstrong’s prayer rock, to this Church and revealed that He has established a new throne of David within the Philadelphia Church of God. The preparations for the God Family Empire to assume global power are nearly complete!
But remember boys and girls, this God Family Empire can't happen unless you read Mystery of the Ages and meditate on it, after all, it is the second most important book in human history and necessary for salvation.
Mr. Armstrong concluded Mystery of the Ages by writing: “With God’s great master plan of 7,000 years finally completed—the mystery of the ages finally revealed, and with the re-creating of the vast universe and eternity lying ahead, we come finally to … THE BEGINNING.”
What an inspiring way to end the second-most important book after the Bible! God inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15). That is something that’s totally different from anything we’ve ever known as human beings. Physically, there’s always been an end, and there’s certainly going to be an end if we don’t get into the God Family.
But this vision of the God Family Empire is endless! It just goes on and on forever.
Meditate on the glory of God’s Empire and what it will do for suffering human beings. That is a vision that will motivate you. It will move you to accomplish the commission God has given His Church. It will help you submit to His government. It will empower you to accomplish great exploits for God. It will give you hope and a burning desire to help proclaim this hope as much as possible. It will prepare you for your role in changing the world.It will empower you to fight, to build and to remain loyal to God, to Jesus Christ, to God’s Family and to God’s Family Empire. An Empire to Replace All Empires!
If you do all of these things and fully support the PCG with as much money as you can send them, then you too will be part of the God Family Empire.
What a glorious day it will be when the world is ruled by the degenerate ministry of the PCG when they will finally be able to weld the sword of justice against all who disagree with them. The PCG version of the World Tomorrow will be so wonderful!
Why is the Church of God, as it sinks into oblivion, filled with so many crackpot men leading it as we have today? Never have we heard as many outrageous lies as we have in the last 35 years as each new wanna-be upstart starts his own group. Instead of following that inconvenient dude that is always on the back burner of the church, people have placed their lives in the very hands of these degenerate men.
That inconvenient dude's way is easy and the burden is light, but not so in the Churches of God. Satan is the all-powerful god of the church, much more powerful than the name that dare not be uttered is.
When you live a sheltered life on a cult compound, all kinds of things will surprise you and shock you. The Flurry cult is all excited right now over a newly discovered throne toilet seat and sewer outside of Jerusalem. Will they soon acquire this artifact to place next to their other throne, Herb's Prayer Rock? This is the PCG after all, and NOTHING is impossible in these desperate end times!
They see this find as more proof that evil atheists are seeking to destroy the credibility of the Bible. That record has been skipping in this same place for decades in the PCG.
When Church of God members head home after attending Feast sites, they are usually filled with joy after visiting with friends and family at Feast sites and also filled with dread at having to go back to the doldrums of life waiting for them at home.
Many experience a post Feast let down as they return to tiny little church areas where most members are 60plus years or older. Never fear though, one of the favorite tactics of ministers is to tell members to review their sermon notes from the Feast and make a commitment to put into practice what was heard, something most never do because most ministers in the Church of God do not preach inspiring sermons. For most people hearing sermons at the Feast it is the same canned, prepackaged sermon they have heard for years. Rarely is any minister ever inspired to do preach differently or add a new twist to the same sermon they have preached for decades.
Those wild and crazy folk over at the Philadelphia Church of God have a sure-fire method to combat that post Feast let down...review your notes and read Mystery of the Ages! Woo Hoo! I get all tingly thinking about that!
October 8, 2021 Since members have returned from the Feast, the ministers are giving the same ol, same ol, sermons/sermonettes they give every year after the Feast; i.e., “review your notes”; “apply what you’ve learned”; “strengthen your resolve”; “hold fast to it”; “think like God”; “look forward to the Spring holy days”; ad nauseum. After reading the notes and comments which were only a taste of what they listened to for 20 hours at the Feast, it’s got to be exhausting to be told what else to do. I feel for the children who had to sit through all those “lectures”–opening night, offering appeals, and GF going on and on and on–unless they were in lockdown at home, and who knows, maybe even then these children were forced to sit and “pay attention.” Instead of members being able to make their own choice to read the Bible through, they must follow what Brad Macdonald has instructed, and that is to read Mystery of the Ages over and over. Since it is the Holy Spirit who opens our minds to understand the Bible, I do not believe for one minute that these so-called “ministers” even have the Holy Spirit, not only because of all the heresies they teach and the twisting of the Word, but because of their abuse and disdain for the members and their alienated families. I won’t even go into how they coerce members to not only give them “large offerings” but to also “leave their estates to them.” I can’t think of anything more morally reprehensible. –L. D.
