Guess What PCG Says Is The Greatest Thing The World Needs Today?

 

When it comes to the Philadelphia Church of God and its proclamations, nothing should surprise us anymore. The focus is never on Jesus, but on sacred rocks, Irish dance, Gerald Flurry's visions, breaking up families and proclaiming Gerald Flurry as King.

Today they featured an article on their website that is from 2003 and written by the King himself.

It discusses the MOST IMPORTANT thing in the entire universe that PCG is to proclaim. Is it Jesus, his words and what he has accomplished, or something else? This is a Church of God after all, so forget about the focus being upon Jesus.

This focus is God's most supreme goal facing humanity today. Without this goal, humanity will never understand anything about salvation! 

This must be God’s supreme goal for His Philadelphian elect today. 

So what is that goal? Many of you probably already know. It is the promotion of the most god-awful book ever written. A book so bad and sooooooooo incredibly boring that most COG members have never completed it and a book that they have stuck in a box in the garage or on the top shelf of a bookcase where it will never be looked at again. Yet humanity's salvation is dependant upon this book.

The greatest single gift we can give to the world is Mystery of the Ages. Let’s think and work like God and give it to “the largest audience possible”!

Who knew that the single greatest gift to the world was a frigging book! Not Jesus. Nope! But a stupid, poorly written book. A book filled with so many doctrinal errors and outright deceptive lies that it should be dumped in the trash just like the Worldwide Church of God did in the 1990s when it hauled tens of thousands of copies of the book and other literature in the Glendale dump.

Even Bruce Lyon in Servant News panned the book.

A Mixture of Truth and Error

“All teaching came from Christ through the apostles… God’s Church today, as in the first century, receives its teachings from the living Christ, through an apostle, just as in AD 31.” (Page 350)

Considering the plain errors noted in a number of the teachings of this book and the previous book (The Incredible Human Potential), something is terribly wrong here. I’ll trust the Bible over Herbert Armstrong any day. Sure, I could go through this book and list a dozen or more good things. However, I did not come to praise this book, but to bury it.

I honestly thought we had allowed these two books, Mystery of the Ages and The Incredible Human Potential, to die natural deaths after they were both withdrawn by the WCG about 1990. They were rarely, if ever, referred to even before 1990 in my experience. I assumed that was because the numerous obvious errors were plain to many—especially to educated elders. 

When books have upwards of ten percent error, then they are as much or more trouble as they are worthwhile.

In the categories of unproven statements and opinions stated as fact (many of which I believe are easily disproved), along with information that is simply erroneous, I estimate that The Incredible Human Potential is 30% or more flawed (and not just chapters 4 and 5!). I estimate that Mystery of the Ages is at least 25% flawed. I have only shown some of the problems in this book.

As a whole, these books have way too many holes!

When truth is greatly interlaced with errors, the credibility of the whole suffers and the credibility of those who promote it. Even unconverted people can often see some of the false concepts, scriptural and historical, noted above.

The mixture of good and error in these books is strongly intertwined. Several themes and concepts Mr. Armstrong weaves throughout both books are false or unsupported by the Bible (yet stated as fact).

My desire is simple: let’s get rid of obvious biblical errors and other misinformation (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and let’s not be unbiblically cult-like in any way.

God was never dependent on Herbert Armstrong. Nor does our salvation depend on Mr. Armstrong in any way; it never did.

If grossly inaccurate books are retained as beneficial and recommended, then continual and needless controversy and confusion will result. This is already the case.

Truer words could never be spoken than what Bruce Lyon stated above (highlighted in yellow).

God did not need Herbert Armstrong. He does not need Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack, Vic Kubik, Gerald Weston, Bill Watson, or any of the other splinter group leaders out there to do His supposed "work". 

COG groups need to stop focusing upon "grossly inaccurate books" and grossly inaccurate teachings of people like Thiel, Pack, and Flurry. Their words are nothing more than stinking dung on a steaming pile of manure.

 

PCG on why church members are important

The Philadelphia Church of God has a new article up that regurgitates some stuff Herbert Armstrong wrote decades ago. It is about the "vital" role of members to the church and is from HWA's incredibly boring book, Mystery of the Ages.

Like many things written by church leaders over the decades, it has NOT aged well. It starts right off by making a ludicrous statement:

The individual lay member has his vital part in proclaiming the good news (gospel) to the world. How? Not by going out and himself proclaiming Christ’s message to the neighborhood or to the world. That is done primarily and directly by God’s apostle through radio, television and in print!

There is no better example of Christian values than by the everyday actions of a Christian in his/her everyday life. If they actually believe what they say they believe then they live it and it is apparent to those around them.  It doesn't take some globe-trotting "apostle" who has "prepaid" for his visit with world leaders so he can preach about a "strong hand from someplace." Who needs to hear that kind of crap? That message has had zero impact upon the world while the everyday lives of Christians have made such an impact that Christianity has been an active force for 2,000+ years.

The author, Christ’s apostle [Herbert], can say emphatically that the apostles, evangelists, pastors and elders could not carry on the Work of God without the loyal backing and continual encouragement of the lay members. 

 

Neither can the individual lay member develop and build within him God’s holy, righteous and perfect character without the operations of the apostle, evangelists, pastors and elders. All these various members God has set in His Church are interdependent—mutually dependent on one another. They form a team—an organized spiritual organism—utterly different from any secular and worldly organization!

Christianity, and most religions, all operate as "spiritual organisms". Most are mutually dependant upon the interaction of followers with religious/spiritual leaders. This is not something new that Herbert pulled out of his hat.

Then they get to the real reason the church needs members. Money! 

In general, the whole operation of the Church costs money. Facilities and methods are available to the Church for performance of its commission that did not exist in the first-century world. Without the tithes and generous freewill offerings of lay members, the Church commission could not be performed in today’s world.

Oh, ye of little faith! No church needs an extravagant campus. No church needs a multi-million dollar concert hall. No church needs private jets. No church needs faculty rows and housing for its elite ministers on the cult compounds in Edmond and Wadsworth. No church needs any of that. It doesn't even need its leaders going to speak to leaders of nations in the world. 

Oh, and don't forget, church leaders need the support of the members because of the INTENSE persecution they all suffer.

Without the fervent and prevailing continual prayers of all members, the Work could not be accomplished. Without the continual ENCOURAGEMENT of lay members and those over them locally, those of us operating from headquarters could not bear up under the persecutions, oppositions, trials and frustrations.

Every "persecution" PCG faces and COG's as a whole are because of their own perverse actions. When they run off at the mouth and say dumb things, treat members like crap, and make utterly asinine prophecies, they have no right to claim persecution, opposition, trials, and frustrations. These idiots brought it upon themselves. 

Also in reverse, the lay members need just as urgently the encouragement, teaching, counseling and leadership from headquarters and local pastors.

Oh no, they don't! Considering how awful the leadership is in so many of the COG's and the fact that 99.50% of them actually have no training in real counseling presents to church members things they do NOT need. 

The “loner”—the “individual Christian,” who wants to climb up into the Kingdom some other way than by Christ and His way through His Church—is not being trained in Christ’s manner of training, to rule and reign with Christ in His Kingdom!

While it is true that Christian is a "communal" faith that creates the need for community in order for the faith to grow it is not a training ground for "proper church government" nor for becoming god as Christ is god.

The Kingdom of God will be the God Family—a superbly and highly trained and organized family of God beings. The Church is God’s special school for training those He has selected and called to be trained in His Church—to be kings and priests, to rule and to teach—for their part in that Kingdom. Only those so trained in the Church will be kings and priests in the Kingdom of God.

Pure bunk. Millions of Christians down through the centuries who have never been part of an Armstrongist COG are immediately cast aside by such flippant remarks. If the soon-coming Kingdom of God is going to be comprised of current COG leadership and certain members then the licking flames of the lake of fire would be more compassionate. Can you imagine 1,000 years being ruled over by the Flurry clan and their followers? Or, Dave Pack and his ministers? Or, even Bob Thiel. Nothing could ever be more frightening!

The sad thing is that over the 80 years existence of this version of the Church of God we have had piss-poor leadership, horrendous abuses dished out on members, hundreds of false prophets, heretical teachings, and morally bankrupt leadership. 

Never has the COG NOT been an example of first-century Christianity than it is today. 

See The Vital Role of a Church Member

 

PCG: Getting ready to flood the earth with new textbook in the World Tomorrow

The twisted mind of Gerald Flurry continues to run amok with one outrageous claim after another. His idolatry of all things Herbert Armstrong is sickening to watch.  Besides the Stone of Herb in his collection, Furry calls HWA's Mystery of the Ages the second most important book in the world.  It will soon be the text book of the entire population of humanity in Flurry's kingdom to come.

Habakkuk 2:17 is about the destruction of Lebanon, which was at one time the jewel of the Middle East. God is saying that the entire Earth will soon experience that kind of destruction! The Laodiceans will have to go through this because they are lukewarm; they aren’t excited or on fire for what God has given them. And some of them ended up fighting God and trying to destroy His truth!

But notice where this all leads: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (verse 14). We are getting ready to fill the Earth with the truth taught in Mystery of the Ages! After the Bible, this will be the main textbook in the World Tomorrow. It is the instruction manual God will use to teach all mankind! This will be the number one book that all mankind will study, after the Bible, because it decodes the Word of God! It contains the most wonderful message you could possibly hear. As God’s kings and priests in embryo (Revelation 1:6), we are preparing to teach the entire world from this book!

After all, it is more important to emulate Herbert Armstrong and ready Mystery of the Ages than it is to emulate Jesus Christ and read Galatians or Romans.

The Stone of Herbert Cries Out For Mystery of the Ages..."the second-greatest book on Earth, second only to the Bible"

Gerald Flurry says:

Mystery of the Ages is the synopsis of the entire Bible—the Old and New Testaments. It is the only book on Earth that explains the Bible. It has the answer to the stone’s cry. Mr. Armstrong believed Mystery of the Ages was the second-greatest book on Earth, second only to the Bible. We have the same belief.

Look again at Habakkuk 2:11: “For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.” Habakkuk 2:11 is the single greatest new revelation that God has given the Philadelphia Church of God so far!

God is honoring His Church in a wonderful, wonderful way!

We heard the cry of the stone—Jesus Christ made sure of that. We knew we wanted Mr. Armstrong’s prayer rock, a symbol of how Mr. Armstrong built the greatest work ever on Earth! He built it on prayer, going to God continually. He had a prayer rock, which is the focal point of all this symbolism. And now, God has shown us that this rock symbolizes King David’s new throne. 

Did you know that Herbert Armstrognandhsi rock made possible and paved the way for Jesus to return again!  Without HWA Jesus would still be stuck in the third heaven.

This stone is tied to the man who wrote Mystery of the Ages. God is putting a dramatic spotlight on the man who prepared the way for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. God is honoring this man and telling us to follow his example. There is no stone on Earth like the prayer rock used by God’s end-time type of Elijah. He prepared the way for the Second Coming, and we are here to raise up the ruins.

PCG: Jesus Christ Made A Personal Appearance To The PCG

Did you know that Jesus Christ made a personal appearance to the Philadelphia Church of God?  He apparently came back to intervene in the right of PCG to publish Herbert's Mystery of the Ages. The other reason he came back as to make sure the Stone of Herbert was restored to the PCG so that he could eventually come back and sit on it.

This is about as absurd as Dave Pack claiming Jesus is returning to Wadsworth BEFORE he goes to Jerusalem.  Both of these nutjobs believe the creature they call "christ" is coming to their campuses or their church first.

Plus, the fact that Mystery of the Ages is as important to the salvation story as is a dirty old rock from Oregan, shows the depth of lunacy that has taken over the mind of Gerald Flurry.

“For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it” (Habakkuk 2:11).

As I wrote in my booklet on Habakkuk (request a free copy), the “stone” is God; He is “the stone of Israel” (Genesis 49:24). As our Leader and Head, Christ is crying out to the pcg. This Stone is crying out of the wall—right out of the house of God,spiritually and even physically to a certain degree today. Stone, wall, beam and timber are all materials in a physical house, but this is primarily a spiritual house.

The Hebrew word translated “beam” means to join together or connect; it is derived from a root that means “to fasten” and signifies “a connecting girder.” The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary says it is “the cross beam or the main rafter connecting the timbers in the wall.” The beam brings everything together. I wrote in Habakkuk that this beam is Mystery of the Ages. It brings things together because it is a synopsis of the Bible; it connects the whole Bible. We are together and we fight together because we have the most important book since the Bible! Mystery of the Ages connects everything—it is foundational to our understanding! It connects God’s people to each other, and connects us to the whole world, and connects the world to God!

God revealed the truth about Habakkuk 2:11 toward the end of 2002, just as our court case revolving around Mystery of the Ages was reaching its climax. Our court battle began over this book.

Yet I have come to realize that the “beam” in this verse is more than just Mystery of the Ages. That book is the centerpiece, but the “beam” includes everything that happened with that book— all the history of the court case, including all the other writings we obtained in it. The Stone was crying out, and we heard that cry in the midst of those crisis years. Mystery of the Ages and our copyright battle spells out the answer to this crisis!

It also includes the stunning truth revealed in Amos 9:1 that Jesus Christ made a personal appearance during the court battle! The “Stone” came in person; it was a real appearance; it was not just symbolic. While we were battling in court, God was working something out. He was there and He won that battle for us! (We will discuss this in the next chapter.)

When it says, “the beam ... shall answer it,” we have to consider everything that happened during the court case.

Not only did we obtain the copyright to Mystery of the Ages,but we also received new revelation and had a personal appearance from Jesus Christ Himself to the Church!

Why was it so important that Jesus Christ make a personal appearance when He did? He was concerned about the throne that He will rule on forever. This is something that we have to build our faith in. We didn’t see Him, but we saw what He did!

Mystery of the Ages 1919 Version

Michael Maynard sent this to me the other day.  Is this another book that influenced HWA during the 1930's?  Did HWA copy part of the title of this book for his own version of Mystery of the Ages.  More things to consider.  More things to disturb the Armstrongites.

Is there ANYTHING original in Armstrongism that has not been plagiarized from another person?????

THE MYSTERY OF THE AGES REVEALED, 1919 - ANOTHER ONE? AFRAID SO.

I STUMBLED ACROSS THIS OUT OF PRINT GEM while doing research for my upcoming book which discusses many sources of the doctrines that false prophet Herbert W. Armstrong taught in the World Wide Church of God that do not agree with new covenant theology.

Many of the sources that are well known in x-WCG circles and have been written about by others I have reviewed. But this one I had never heard of. If this book influenced his teachings it is difficult to know for certain. If he read it, it may have influenced him in his British Israelite theories to some degree in an obtuse and unusual way.  Larsen claims the western United States was actually the promised land and was inhabited by ancient Israel after the exodus. This book with a familiar title was possibly in the public libraries in the 1930's when Herbert was doing his research on religion.

 

The authors middle initial was incorrect on this cover, it is "B" not "A." On his photo it is correct. Very little is known about this author. The preface to the book written by Larsen  himself is dated April 1919 in Portland, Oregon. Some of his books can be purchased on line but none that I could find had the same title. It seems like Larsen may have been Mormon, or heavily influenced by their teachings. While I did not see where he actually says so in the book he makes reference to many Mormon teachings and the book of Moroni, the last of the books of Mormon.

 

This book may explain why HWA ended up in the Willamette Valley in Oregon and later Los Angeles.  Larsen claimed Los Angeles would the the heart of missionary work in America in the 1920's and that the tribe of Judah would inhabit the southern California area.

 

Larsen's book is full of failed prophecies and absurdities. But GOOD NEWS, the invasion of America by Germany will not occur until the year 4000 so he claims on page 154. So Larsen has not failed on that one...yet. Herbert's failed in 1972, then 1975....thankfully I add.

 

Did HWA read Ludwig B. Larsen's book written in 1919 

before writing his own Mystery of the Ages in 1985? 

Maybe. 

De-Mystifying the Mysteries

In August 1985, Armstrong's final work, Mystery of the Ages, was published. He called it a "synopsis of the Bible in the most plain and understandable language." It was more or less a compendium of theological concepts as articulated by Armstrong. Including the notion that the bible was ‘a coded book’ to which he had been given the key.

In De-Mystifying the Mysteries we will be taking a look at the Herbert W. Armstrong vision of Worldwide Church of God, encompassing from the 1930’s until his death in 1986. De-Mystifying the Mysteries specifically will challenge Armstrong’s doctrines as presented in his last book, Mystery of the Ages, a book he proclaimed to be his life’s work and beliefs.

De-Mystifying the Mysteries will quote Armstrong directly, as well as some of his most trusted ministers and advisors and will refute Armstrong’s doctrines, using scripture and support it with historical documents, scientific documents, and writings from the men whom the Apostles ordained, writings Armstrong claimed were lost through the ages. When applicable, Hebrew documentation will be used as well, in order to show the Hebrew traditions in Old Testament times.

Last but not least, De-Mystifying the Mysteries will take a step back and use a little common sense and logic when compiling all the evidence against the doctrines of Herbert W. Armstrong and his Evangelists in the Worldwide Church of God.