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
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.
I am an ex-PCG member who attended HWA College and wrote for the Trumpet magazine. I grew up in the church and eventually left in late 2017. While I was almost completely oblivious to the PCG's racism while I attended, I slowly grew more aware after I left of not just the racist legacy of the WCG, but the continuing racist practices the PCG pursues, all while denying that any of these things exist.
I have been thinking about writing an extensive piece on racism in the PCG, but while I can do all the research on the PCG's doctrines, attempted scriptural backing, or their origins in the WCG, I don't have any personal experiences to draw on, since I was a white male who went through 22 years of the PCG with little to no thoughts on race.
If you have a story that you would like to tell about your experiences dealing with racism in the PCG, I would like to hear them. Or if you know someone who would love to tell their story, please direct them my way. Without these first-hand stories, I doubt I will publish anything on race in the PCG, since I don't exactly feel qualified to be the one to do so.
Just when we think Armstrongism cannot get any crazier, along comes Wayne Turgeon of the Philadelphia Church of God cult that is based in Edmond, Oklahoma. Wayne is not known to be the brightest bulb in the box, even when he was a student in Pasadena and worked in the Auditorium. Wayne was just one of many narcissists the college pumped out and dumped on the church as being educated in the truth. Like so many that were failures in the WCG, he jumped to the Philadelphia Church of God as a ready place of employment.
Wayne has a long history of spiritual abuse in the PCG at members and other fellow ministers that have been talked about here and on other websites.
Turgeon was sent to England to oversee the Edstone campus of the so-called :college: of the PCG while Lil's Stevie had more important things to do in planning a new office and institute in Jerusalem.
Today we add yet another entry to Dumb Things Wayne Turgeon Says file:
Wayne Turgeon and GF’s Messed Up View of Bible Prophecy: March 12, 2022
Wayne Turgeon gave a Bible Study from England last week on “Isaiah” Chapter 6, Part 2.” He barely mentioned “Ukraine” when he started out and that was only because “his wife wanted him to.” There “were more important things” to cover than Ukraine.
In Turgeon’s messed-up view of Bible prophecy he linked Isaiah 22:22 to PCG because the verse mentions the words “Key of the house of David” which he said means the descendants from David, meaning PCG. GF is so hung up on his “New Throne of David” that Turgeon said GF wrote that the only way it would be possible for all the splinter groups to unite is if they “all united through the Key of David.”
Turgeon said GF believes Isaiah 22:25 is talking about “the famine of the Word.” Then people in the world “will wish they had every book and booklet of Mr. Flurry’s”; therefore, Turgeon said, “get those booklets and study them and mark them.” (i.e., underline all over in them) Since when has GF’s booklets been more important than the Bible? Since when does someone need GF’s interpretation of the Bible? A good Bible commentary will explain these verses much better than GF’s “new revelations.”
PCG believes Amos 7:10-11 is referring to Joseph Tkach Jr. going to the leader of the land, that he called, Mr. Jeroboam–and said “Mr. Donald Trump is his official name.” How the h*** is Tkach Jr. going to go to the “leader of the land” when he (Tkach Jr.) retired at the end of 2018 and Greg Williams replaced him as GCI’s President?! He added, “So he (Trump) has got to get back in office” and for members to “be patient.” Does GF have inside info that the rest of us don’t have? Or has he merely lost his marbles?
Then, like any good COG false teacher/prophet/apostle/Elijah, Wayne goes on to claim that intense persecution is coming due to what they preach. Wayne is about as dumb as Bob Thiel is in this department.
He said, “We are making ourselves a target for some intense persecution” by broadcasting and printing about the rising Beast of Revelation 17 and warning that the nations of Israel are “quickly losing their power” in this so-called God is cursing America mantra of GF’s. “We have had it good so far” Turgeon said, “The grass is still green,” etc., “compared to the terrible persecution that is coming.”
Turgeon is losing it, along with GF. No matter who is in the presidential office in the future, Tkach Jr. isn’t going to go to him and cause PCG to receive “intense persecution” by being kicked out of the country. This is nothing but lunacy. If he is interested in true persecution, he needs to take a hard look at what Christians in other countries like Nigeria (or even Ukraine) are enduring. But that doesn’t count in Turgeon’s well-worn fear book.
GF absolutely cannot get his head out of the O.T. Even when he does go to the O.T., have you noticed that you never hear him reading from the Psalms? It’s always some minor prophet book where he tries to see “modern-day Israel” in it. You never hear him talking about Jesus or grace or salvation, the most important subjects in the entire Bible. That’s too “dull” for him. God have mercy on his soul at the Judgement seat. –Anonymous Exit and Support Network
Not only is Gerald Flurry unable to get his head out of the Old Testament but almost every single COG group out there is in the same boat. The Old Covenant trumps the New Covenant in every aspect. Jesus still embarrasses the Church of God 80 some years down the line. They would much rather be seen worshipping at the feet of false prophets/ministers who preach false prophecies than being seen as followers of Jesus.
Flurry's jet at one time could be tracked using various flight trackers, but unfortunately, they have the option to turn off the tracker system being a private aircraft.
However, there are "airport watchers" who as a hobby , note the tail numbers of the various planes landing at sites around the world. Some people have the hobby of trying to find far away radio station call letters, others, register train locomotive numbers. A sort of "collect the set" kind of thing. These folks like to watch airplanes and keep journals of tail numbers.
Flurry's PCG Jet has the tail number of N127RR . Not all flights get recognized, but a few are made note of by airport watchers. Here is the list on the public site...
I hope this gets posted, just so that the Flurry crowd knows that they have "eyes on them" and that turning off tracking, didnt totally assure anonymity.
Just when you think you have heard it all in Armstrongism along comes another dingy minister saying something stupid. But, this is the Philadelphia Church of God and we have come to accept that they will do things like this.
This is by Brad Macdonald in a sermon to singles in the PCG cult:
Talked about Herman Hoeh being really yoked to God in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s and that meant “being yoked to Mr. Armstrong (HWA). Being “tightly bound” to HWA made Hoeh “incredibly successful and incredibly effective at doing God’s Work.” Kept talking about Hoeh and said he was “the most accurately informed historian in the world.” I couldn’t find anything like this when I searched on the internet. Told how Hoeh in the 70’s began to unyoke himself from HWA and yoked himself to intellectualism and by the 1970’s was yoked to the synagogue of Satan. Exit and Support Network
Even Herman Hoeh himself said that his Compendium of World History was riddled with errors. Nothing pissed off many of these splinter cult leaders when Hoeh refused to follow them when they started new churches in acts of rebellion.
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
When you look at the Philadelphia Church of God and what it teaches you are never surprised to see who their latest idol is that they have. For the last year or so, Winston Churchill has been the right example to follow, after Herbert W Armstrong, of course.
Brad McDonald has a new article up about how the youth of the Philadelphia Church of God need to learn to be Renaissance men.
He writes:
Any high school student has probably heard the word “Renaissance.” The term, which means “rebirth,” is used to describe 15th-century Europe—particularly Italy—at a time when art, literature and science were “reborn.” Most students have probably also heard a common phrase used to describe the men of that era: “Renaissance man.”
During the Renaissance, there was a revival in learning. Individuals were artists, musicians, scientists, inventors, philosophers. Today, the term “Renaissance man” describes the man who is competent is multiple fields—the man who has a rounded personality. A Renaissance man is an athlete and an academic, a warrior and a poet, an officer and a gentleman.
I think this is hilarious, particularly for someone in the PCG to be writing this considering how many of the Renaissance men of history were gay, which is pretty much like PCG today.
The Retrospect Journal had this to say about the Renaissance men in the "realm of carnal debauchery".
Renaissance Italy is popularly portrayed as a realm of carnal debauchery. One only needs to watch Tom Fontana’s Borgia (2011-2014) to understand common conceptions of Renaissance Italy as a realm of brutal acts, orgies, and affairs. Yet, is there any truth to these depictions? On the subject of sexual activity, Michael Rocke has argued that fifteenth century Florence was awash with sodomy. He suggests that two thirds of men were officially implicated by the age of forty. In the final four decades of the fifteenth century, 17,000 Florentine men had been accused of sodomy by the Office of the Night (an institution founded to investigate homosexual relations). These statistics seem to substantiate our popular conception of the Renaissance. However, sheer statistics undermine the complex dynamics of homosexual relations in fifteenth-century Florence.
This was not only a story of licentiousness. Men grappled with their “carnal” desires and scrutinised them through the intellectual tools available to them. One of these tools was Neoplatonism, the revival and re-interpretation of Plato and the Neoplatonic texts, most associated with Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) and his informal Florentine Academy. Understandings of Ancient Greek thought provided a framework for Florentine men to engage with homosexual relations, creating a discourse that could both justify and condemn their actions. Homosexuality in Renaissance Florence: The Ambiguities of Neoplatonic Thought
McDonald quickly moves on to PCG's masculine hero-worship of Winston Churchill:
Many of the great figures of history could be described as Renaissance men. One example is Winston Churchill. He was an avid reader, an outstanding writer and an influential philosopher. He memorized poetry. He was an artist who loved painting. At the same time, he loved to build, to develop, to get outside and work with his hands. He loved polo and fencing. Even as he got into his forties and fifties, he still loved getting outside and working with his hands. In fact, he was a good brick layer.
Ask yourself: Is a godly leader a Renaissance man?
McDonald wants the men of the PCG to realize their true masculine potential:
The point is, godly leaders are well-rounded. They are balanced. They love reading and studying, art and music; they enjoy museums and the theater. But they are also not afraid to get outside and “get their hands dirty.” They play sports; they landscape; they hunt and fish. They work with their hands. They are intellectuals, but they are also warriors.
Now, does not this describe PCG ministers accurately or COG leaders as a whole?
When have we ever seen real godly leaders who were well-rounded? When. have we ever seen a balanced COG leader? They are usually so wildly crazy that they are off the charts. Balance is not a Church of God cherished word.
What about you, young men? Where do you fall on this spectrum of masculinity? Do you like to read, to think, to engage your mind? Do you like art, poetry, fine music? If so, do you also work hard, pushing yourself to your physical limit?
McDonald then trots out David as a shining example of what a renaissance man is:
To see what a godly Renaissance man is, we can look to the Bible and find one of the greatest examples in King David.
King David, even as a teenager, was a tough, brave warrior. He lived outside; bathed in creeks; slept by the fire and under the stars. He hunted for his own food. He was absolutely deadly with a sling shot and sword. He fought lions, bears and giants. He was the ultimate tough guy. And yet, at the same time, David was an absolutely brilliant musician. He played the harp, and probably other stringed instruments. He wrote poetry and songs. He loved knowledge and learning. He was a terrific public speaker. David was a Renaissance teenager!
Sadly the COG has had a lot of men like David. Some have spent years banging other men's wives, stalking women, molesting children, and eventually killing members.
After extolling the virtues of David, McDonald says this:
Mr. Gerald Flurry writes about this in his book The Former Prophets: How to Become a King: “Several times throughout his life, David said that God was with him. That was like the motif of his life. That’s the most important statement that you can make about a person: That God is with him.”
The ultimate source of David’s admirable character traits was God’s power working with and in him!
What about you, men? When people look at you, do they see God? Do they say, “Wow, there is something special about that guy”? This is the characteristic that will really set you apart. The first five characteristics of a Renaissance man can be developed by anyone. Plenty of people appreciate culture; there are brave and strong men; there are men of action; there are men who love education; men who take care of themselves physically. You can develop these characteristics separate from God. But with God, and with the power of His Spirit working with you, these characteristics can become a hundred times more effective! In many instances, the power of God will actually empower you as you develop these characteristics!
Young men: God needs you to be a godly Renaissance man!
The Philadelphia Church of God is well known for how perverted its teachings are that are currently destroying family relationships in and out of the church. They naively think they are doing this to please that creature they call god.
Here are excerpts from an article by PCG's Greg Nice about, "Must We Avoid Them?"
Some of God's people outside and perhaps even inside the Philadelphia Church of God think that the PCG has established a policy regarding cutting off fellowship with members who leave the faith-those the Bible describes as Laodicean-even their own family members. Not having fellowship with Laodiceans is NOT a policy established by the PCG. What the PCG does is teach and obey the doctrine established by God. Because this is a doctrine of God, it is therefore a policy of the Church; that is, the Church follows God's commands about restricting fellowship with people He has called and impregnated with His Holy Spirit and who then choose to walk contrary to their covenant with God.
The doctrines of the Church of God come directly from the word of God. Not having fellowship with those who turn away from God is directly commanded from one end of the Bible to the other. The doctrine predates mankind and will continue into the Kingdom of God.
It seems strange to some that God would expect one of His children to stop socializing with his or her own blood-related, physical family members if that person was begotten by God and then turned away. But why should an individual who has counseled for baptism and has studied the word of God find this strange? Read Matthew 10:35. lf you have a red-letter Bible, you will notice the words are in red. These are the words of Jesus Christ, not any man: "For I have come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law."Verse 36 continues: "And a man's foes shalt be they of his own household."
This is a perfect example of why literalism is a pox upon the church.
Nice continues with this:
Most of those in the PCG or the Worldwide Church of God who studied prior to baptism were counseled to read Luke 14. Jesus Christ speaking again, says, "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh, not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (verse:33)."Forsake", according to Strong's Concordance, means bid farewell, take leave, send away. Isn't it clear that Christ makes some strong demands for an individual to be His disciple? starting with - verse 16, Christ begins this thought by talking about family, probably because this is one of the hardest things for a man to do: place his family secondary to something else. "If any man come to me, and hate [love less by comparison] not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. "Christ even mentions it before "hating" your own life. Christ is saying, To follow me, you might have to bid farewell to your own family. you might have to send them away.
In the baptism covenant in God's Church, the individual agrees to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Master'. They embrace what Jesus teaches as the supreme authority in their lives. They agree that no agreement or promise that they have ever made or will make, or any relationship they have, will supersede or intervene in them obeying Jesus Christ. If they have entered into that covenant, they simply cannot ignore what Christ says here in Luke 14 and Matthew 22.
Members ofthe PCG who are obeying Christ and the doctrine of cutting off contact with Laodicean family mernbers and friends are not doing it tightheartedty. Nor did they enter into their covenant with God lightheartedty. They understood these verses when they agreed to the baptism covenant. They can only presume that their Laodicean family members also understood when they made the same covenant.
They do not now "forsake" (as Luke 14 says) their family out of vengeance; they forsake them out of love. The Laodiceans entered into the very same covenant with God, and their eternal lives are at stake if they do not return to the covenant, not only will they be cut off now, but they will not have fellowship with their loved ones for etern ity! pcc members follow the doctrine of God and cut off fellowship with baptized family members at this time to send a strong warning that they need to repent. PCG members are not interested in just having a relationship with blood family members for the next 5, 10, 20 or 50 years in this physical life only'. They are interested in having a relationship with their family members for eternity. God's people are driven by the vision of eternity with God, not the present.
Even eating leaven bread during PCG's so-called holy days can lead to being cut off from family members.
There are more examples. In Exodus 2:15, God says that if you eat leavened bread during the Feast of uanleavened Bread, you are to be cut off for disobeying God. Many Laodiceans are now ignoring the Feast of Unleavened Bread after observing it for years. In Exodus 31:14, God says that if you are one of His people and you work on the Sabbath day, you are to be cut off from among His people. God is clear that anyone who forsakes Him and disobeys Him and does not repent is to be forsaken-to bring them to repentance.
A little later there is this:
Revelation 20:15 says that those not written in the book of life are permanently cut off. They are cast into the lake of fire and consumed. Each person who comes to that end was created by God. He loves those people more than we love our parents or our children. Yet God will cut them off for eternity. That is why He commands that we forsake them today: so they will wake up from forsaking Him-so that they will repent a nd not be cut off for eternity.
The entire reason God instituted and ordained this doctrine is love. God is love, and these are His words. The reason He stated them and preserved them for us is because He desires that all men come to salvation. God is not frivolous with those to whom He decides to impart His Hoty Spirit. If He called and gave your grandparent, parent, sibling or cousin the Holy Spirit, it is because He knew he or she could and should overcome Satan, society and self and become one of the firstfruits in His Kingdom.
lf we fail to avoid them or cut them off today, we are realtly doing it because we love ourselves, not because we truly love them. We would have to say, I didn't want to experience any hostility from you, so I ignored what the God of love instructed me to do. We must have the Kingdom of God vision, not be motivated by the here and now. Our desire is to have the relationshlp with Him for all eternity, not just for a few more fading physical years.
We must have faith that God had these instructions recorded in His Word for a reason. And we must obey God in this matter. lt is a doctrine of God; it is not a policy of any man's organization that we might like to consider optiona.
A number of God's faithful people have family and friends who have turned away from God. We should love them as God loves them. Let's follow His doctrine and avoid them until-and so that-they repent. God's way will lead to repentance. Doing it our way only leads to death. Forsaking, cutting off, stopping fettowship with those brethren who aie wirking contrary off God's way is the best for everyone involved because it is emulating the love of God.
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.
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.
This story just gets stranger by the day. Winters, who was considered by a large number of PCG members and ex-members to be an abuse minister in the PCG because he held firm to the abusive and revolting rules and regulations that Gerald Flurry set forth. In spite of that, he ends up being disfellowshipped and marked and is now suffering the side effects of COVID requiring his leg to be amputated. Now he is begging people for help. Like many other men in Armstrongism that got screwed by the cult by it not paying social security on the ministers or contributing to retirement. Unless of course, you are the super-elite and then you are set for life. Flurry pretends he is like HWA and the Worldwide Church of God pre1986, well he got one thing right... screwing the ministry over is what the church was really good at. Though in Winters case, karma is a bitch.
From a reader here:
Craig acquired COVID and had one of his legs amputated. His wife now works for Wal-Mart. He set up a gofundme to help pay for the hospital costs he has incurred. The man in the picture is definitely Craig.
Here is the link to the gofundme and I've copied the text of it below:
Hi, my name is Craig. I got Covid-19, hospitalized 23 days, full covid pnemonia, then complications set in. My lungs could not heal unless they amputated my right leg due to an infection that set in from a blocked artery. Either take my leg, or die. I was going to have to go on the ventilator for the surgery, slim chance for survival. Last minute they were able to do a spinal tap, I was now breathing room air. The many prayers that went our were answered. I'm alive. What I need help with. It turns out I am not eligible for Disability or Social security. I worked for a Non-profit organization the last 19 years and did not contribute to SS. My wife works full time at WalMart. I have a small Ebay business, 5 acres, buy and sell a few cattle. Not much. I can't come home without a ramp to get into our home. I have surmounting hospital bills. It is going to take me 6 months to a year to recover from the damage done to my lungs from the covid. I plan to work hard on becoming independent and mobile but it will take time and a lot of doctor bills. Some guys form my wife's work have volunteered to build the ramp but the wood alone was just over $1000.00. My out of pocket pay from my wife's insurance plan is $11,000.00. It would be greatly appreciated if you could help in any small way! Craig
Keep in mind this is the same Craig Winters whose son needlessly died from Addison's disease because he was told god would heal him not medications.
According to Mike's Testmony page @ ESN, both Craig Winters and his wife Colleen have been disfellowshipped as of Oct.2021 After being under his thumb for a few years (20 yrs ago), I'm not surprised. He was a 'piece of work' even back then! When I left the PCG, He disfellowshipped my whole family by phone from a campout in Cali. He disfellowshipped my middle son (who was unbaptized) for writing an email to a girl in South Africa who was 'in rebellion,' and then he disfellowshipped my 22 yr old handicapped son (also unbaptized), because "God can't use a handicapped person," and also said that my youngest son was too young to attend on his own (as if!) - - - he then told my wife that she had to divorce me since I had left the Flurry cult. When she refused to divorce, he disfellowshipped her as well. and then he finished his phone call with "there, that's the last of you!" What unmitigated gall that idiot had ....
The boys in Edmond Oklahoma have been looking for quite some time in opening an office in Jerusalem where they can be at the center of the soon coming tribulation that they want to happen to the City and the world.
The Philadelphia Church of God actually had an office there for a while which was the home of Lil'Stevie until they had to sell the building in order to buy the Edstone mansion and start a new cult college in England. By that time Gerald Flurry's grandkids were becoming immersed in Celtic dance competitions and needed transportation around the world and by the fact that Gerald Flurry could not fly commercial jets because he would have to sit next to unclean people or possibly a Laodicean ex-WCG member. So PCG had to spend more millions of dollars on a personal jet for Gerald and Lil'Stevie.
But now, as the end-times are only a few short months away, at least in PCG speak, the PCG thinks they need an office in Jerusalem where they can be front and center for terrible end-time events soon to hit the world. It also gives them immediate access to the streets of Jerusalem where they think the two witless witnesses (PCG members, of course) will preach in the streets, be martyred, and then be resurrected live on television for the world to see.
In order for this to happen PCG needs to brainwash its members into fasting for the day and then will be hit up with financial requests to buy new buildings in Jerusalem.
Exit and Support Network reports:
GF Declares Worldwide Fast for November 21: November 8, 2021 This is from a short letter from GF: “We are facing several major decisions that have to be made. One of those decisions is what all we need to do in Jerusalem. There are other decisions to be made that we will discuss with you later. We want to make sure that God is behind what we decide to do. Therefore, I am declaring a worldwide fast for God’s people on the 21st of November. Please pray fervently for us to do God’s will and finish His work.” –N. S.
Another reason that PCG needs access to Jerusalem is that they and they alone will be working with Christ in the new Temple to be built there where they will work with their "husband" dispensing the law.
The Millennial Temple
The Prophet Ezekiel describes that temple in wonderful detail. It will be patterned after God’s heavenly temple, the seat of His throne today. It will have a footprint of half a million square feet, occupying about 13 acres. That is where God’s Philadelphians of today will live!
The outer precinct around the temple, described in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel, will occupy about one square mile of land. The headquarters city itself will only be about 7½ miles square. Considering that it will be the command center for the whole world’s system of governing, that is quite an efficient headquarters facility.
God’s law will begin flowing from that city to the wide world. Word will spread—person to person, family to family, town to town, nation to nation—about happenings in Jerusalem. News of its construction projects and activities, of classes being taught there, will supply headlines around the globe.
The living waters of God’s Spirit will flow from there (Zechariah 14:8).
“And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one” (verse 9). All peoples will have one supreme King—one world government—one religion. They will begin to see the benefits of righteous leadership. They’ll experience the joy of living under God’s government.
Jerusalem will become “the joy of the whole earth”! (Psalm 48:2). God’s earthly headquarters will set the standard for the world!
Where Will People Get Nourishment
What an exciting future we have to look forward to, living and working with our Husband in that headquarters facility. Being a priest at headquarters is a wonderful thing—even today. It is a great blessing to be stationed right in the middle of all the action. In that future headquarters, surely we will often shake our heads and say, What a privilege!
”Only these Philadelphians from the end-time firstfruits will rule from God’s headquarters temple forever!” Mr. Flurry wrote in Ezekiel—The End-Time Prophet. “Why won’t the Laodiceans be at headquarters in God’s Kingdom—even if they repent in the Great Tribulation? Because they are not qualified! They don’t have a headquarters mentalityTODAY! The people who will be at headquarters in God’s Kingdom are the people who have a strong headquarters focus now.” We are receiving specialized training, developing that headquarters focus with this parcel of land in Oklahoma. That is why God plans to place us in the Jerusalem temple and says we will go no more out (Revelation 3:12).
Only devout and true PCG members will be able to live in this temple and have direct access to Christ. they will be the ONLY ONES who will be able to draw near to God.
Those who remain loyal to God today will inhabit special rooms in the headquarters temple. Our offices will be near God’s office. We will have special access to Christ—the only ones who come near to God (Ezekiel 40:45-46; 44:15-16). As His helpmeet, we will serve Him—seeing to His needs, helping Him directly. A Visit to Millennial Headquarters!
Screenshot of PCG article
