PCG Excited Over Ancient Judean Toilet Seat!

 

Watch Jerusalem · An Ancient Judean Toilet Seat—and Proof of Nehemiah’s Wall?

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.

PCG Gloats About New $170,000 Steinway Piano

 

Steinway Model D piano

Everything we hear out of the Philadelphia Church of God is about the imminent return of their creature called "christ" and the end of this age. Yet, PCG spends money like they have a bottomless wallet...well, they actually do...gullible church members who will send in money for this kind of extravagance.

They are gloating about how much prestige that being an "all Steinway school" brings them, supposedly so impressive that the State Department will look at them differently now.

PCG went on a piano quest when the Worldwide Church of God was dissolving and the Ambassador Auditorium was shut down. Flurry then bought one of the Auditorium's Steinway grand pianos. They bought the piano around the same time they bought the two Baccarat Crystal candelabras that used to be in the Auditorium lobby. This was a significant coup for the PCG as anything thing could collect that Herbert Armstrong had touched added to the collection of idolatrous artifacts.

Since that time the PCG has been on a quest to replace all of its campus pianos with Steinway's.

OKLAHOMA—Piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons has recognized Herbert W. Armstrong College as one of its 221 “All-Steinway Schools.” The certification, which Armstrong received news of in May and official notification of on July 20, is given to schools whose pianos are made or designed exclusively by the German-American piano company. The college qualified earlier in May after purchasing a Steinway Model B for the Armstrong Auditorium rehearsal room. 

 

With only 72 students, the college is one of the smallest schools to “demonstrate a full commitment to excellence by providing their students with the best instruments possible for the study of music,” as the All-Steinway program is described on Steinway.com.

The college began the process by purchasing a Steinway Model D from the company’s factory in Hamburg, Germany, in 2009. The sponsor of the college, the Philadelphia Church of God, had previously purchased a 1983 Steinway Model D from Ambassador College in 2004. Since then, the campus’s dozen or so practice or performance areas have transitioned from lower-quality instruments to Steinway-designed pianos, typically an upright from its Boston brand. 

 

When the college finished constructing the Dwight Armstrong Performing Arts Conservatory in 2016 and purchased two grand pianos and an upright for its classrooms, the school’s quantity of Steinway-designed pianos rose high enough to qualify it for the recognition. Armstrong Recognized as ‘All-Steinway’ Institution

Here is the current cost range for Steinway pianos, including the Model D which PCG purchased.

Cost Of A Steinway Piano (Price Chart and Buyers Guide)

In PCG's continuing quest to gain legitimacy and pander to the U.S. Government, even though they claim it will soon deport them all to Jordan, they look at this piano as their ticket with the U.S. Immigration Service as a means to get in foreign students to their cult collge.

“Having toured the Steinway facility in Hamburg, we understand what it means to have this peerless name associated with our institution,” music director Ryan Malone said. “We feel honored to receive such a distinction. Though we’re not a large school, or even a music school, this recognition highlights how we are committed to the highest quality education when it comes to the performing arts.”

The Church’s chief financial officer, Andrew Locher, gave an example of other effects of the recognition: “Being an all-Steinway School adds a respectable credential to Armstrong College in the eyes of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. While we meet the necessary standards to have international students granted a visa for study, each recognition like this helps the reputation of our college.”

The college plans to host a presentation ceremony with Steinway representatives in the months ahead.

While everyday members of the PCG struggle to survive, the elite at the cult compound spend lasciviously and cavort around the country for Irish Dance competitions and to England in their own private jet. 

It pays to be a cult leader of Armstrongism! 

 

Is "God's Church" Really Training Leaders?

 

Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:2-4

The Philadelphia Church of God has an article up about how they and they alone are training their followers to be leaders in some magical kingdom they claim is coming where they will be of the same substance and equal with Jesus as gods.

Dwight Falk writes:

There is a massive leadership crisis in this world! Daily headlines show the terrible and harmful decisions being made by political and religious leaders—decisions that harm the very people they are supposed to be helping! 

 

What is wrong with the leadership in this world? The answer comes by going back to who actually rules this world today. Satan the devil is the god of this world! (2 Corinthians 4:4). Shocking, but true! 

 

Ephesians 2:2 reveals how Satan rules this world today: “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”

I don't think anyone here would have any doubt that most of today's world leaders are abject failures in what they do. Of course in Armstrongite speak, this is all attributed to Satan, the most powerful god in the Church of God movement. If one wants to believe in a literal devil then one has to also notice that the leadership crisis described above is also present in the Church of God movement today. Never has the church been filled with so many corrupt, lying, self-appointed prophets, and apostles as we have today in the church. Considering ALL of the splinter groups are children of rebellion this also makes all their leaders children of disobedience and followers of that Satan described above.

Satan broadcasts his evil moods and impulses. He is a very negative and selfish being. Galatians 5:19-21 list the works of the flesh that are a result of yielding to Satan’s broadcast. These wicked fruits include adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings. 

 

This is a horribly wicked and depressing list of what we see on Earth today. Verse 21 further tells us that “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

All of the things assigned above to Satan's "broadcast" are every single thing that is wrong in the Church of God today. With its history of adulterous leaders and lascivious behaviors to the idolatry of money, position, and power. To the hatred, some in leadership positions have against members and lower subordinates, to its rich heritage of appalling heresies. Add to that the incredible epidemic of alcoholism in the ministry and the membership. And last, but not least, is the appalling history of stalkings, rapes, sexual assaults, child molestations, and murders in the Church of God movement, It is no wonder God says they will not inhereit the kingdom to come.

But, this is the Church of God we are talking about here and specifically the Philadelphia Church of God and there is a special place for them above all others!

But the great news is that there is a Kingdom of God coming! This Kingdom will last forever and the leadership positions will be filled with righteous leaders (Daniel 2:44). 

 

Where will these leaders come from? 

 

God is using His Church today to prepare people to rule in the Kingdom of God. Incredible? Absolutely! But it is the very truth of your Bible.

Would anyone here want to live in a kingdom ruled by Church of God leaders and members, considering what we know about so many of them today?

God’s Church started small but it was beginning to grow. Christ shows in Luke 12:32 that God’s Church would always be a little flock in this world when compared to the numerous false churches.

Today's Church of God movement is just as fractured and broken as the world's churches they self-righteously condemn, so they have no right in casting stones of self-righteousness.

But through His Church, God is training elite leaders for His Kingdom. Once members are baptized and receive a portion of God’s Spirit, they must use that Spirit to take on the very character of God. God’s people grow as they put their heart into God’s Work.

Um, people grow as they place their faith in Christ, that inconvenient dude that is constantly in the way of the "Work" of the Churches of God.  It's always about the physical things members must constantly be doing to impress and please the condemning god of the church. Faith is not a fruit of the spirit that is really emphasized in the church. Faith doesn't require submission to corrupt lying COG leaders but in the One, they are supposed to be following.

In spite of all of this, PCG leaders and COG leaders as a whole believe they are able to deliver the following to their followers, though 99% of them never do:

What type of growth does God’s Spirit produce? Simply, the fruits of God’s Spirit. 

 

These fruits are listed in Galatians 5:22-23. These righteous rulers are using God’s Spirit today to develop love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. 

When have any of us ever seen a COG leader bring joy and peace to the church? How many of them have ever been long-suffering? Have they ever been gentle to their followers?  Is there any COG leader who has ever been a meek person?

Christianity.com describes meekness as the following, something we have NEVER seen in any COG leader. Out-of-control emotions are how COG leaders operate.

Meekness is not weakness; it is power under control. As the writer of Proverbs says, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city" (Proverbs 16:32). In contrast, the individual who is not gentle is likened to "a city that is broken into and without walls" (Proverbs 25:28). Gentleness always uses its resources appropriately, unlike the out-of-control emotions that so often are destructive and have no place in your life as a believer. Who are the Meek? Why did Jesus say "Blessed are the Meek"?

Falk continues: 

These fruits are about to fill this Earth as they increasingly fill God’s Church today. God’s leaders will help bring the abundance and joy of God’s way of life to the whole Earth and, ultimately, the universe (Isaiah 9:7).

God help us all of we have to rely upon PCG ministers and members to bring abundance and joy to the earth! Not only can we not count on them to do this, but it will also not happen with LCG, UCG, RCG, and those in the improperly named "continuing" Church of God. None of them have the capacity to do this. 

“In my Father’s house are many mansions [offices]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you,” Christ said in John 14:2. 

 

Christ Himself is preparing eternal offices and positions of authority for God’s people. New leadership is coming to this Earth, and it will be righteous leadership! 

If COG leaders and members cannot act with righteous leadership today, in the flesh, how can we expect them to do so in the "god spirit" they claim they will be? If we believe this then we are all f*@#ed big time!

Today, God is training His people in the skill of following the government of God. Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus came to build only ONE Church! (Ephesians 4:4). 

 

And through His Church and Work, God is preparing the rulers who will assist Christ in the Kingdom of God. This world needs new leaders who obey God’s government and implement His law. This righteous leadership will help solve the problems brought on by sin.

This "government" crap and the emphasis on the law is necessary to the COG because these necessitate the vengeful wrathful god they need to justify their rotten behavior in today's life. Punishment is needed for a rebellious world that doesn't live up to the standards that they have been preaching. They need blood, guts, and death to justify their existence over the Jesus that came and broke all the rules and implemented righteousness through grace and mercy to those he came in contact with. 

When have you ever seen a Church of God implement and practice grace and mercy?

Is there any COG group or leader that you would want to live under in their magical kingdom to come?

Philadlphia Church of God Cult: Kicked out of PCG because she was a "threat to their cause"

We have had a lot on here over the years about how the PCG and particularly Cal Culpepper and Wayne Turgeon have treated members like dirt. Both of these men are particularly despised in PCG circles for their extreme nastiness and unbiblical ways of dealing with people. 

Exit and Support Network had this letter up from a young woman who was kicked out of PCG by Culpepper over mental health issues. 

The Church of God over the decades has treated members with mental health issues in appalling ways. From being told they are possessed by demons, telling them that medicines that could assist them were wrong, to outright kicking them out of the church because they "looked bad". The church looked down on mental health professionals and called them all kinds of names and disparaged their professions all the while claiming that all a person needed to do was to draw closer to God and stop sinning because that was the main issue of their mental health issues.

I Was Described as a Threat to PCG’s Cause:
August 15, 2021 

 

I am a child who was mentioned in Case #3 in “Abuses I Was Aware of in Philadelphia Church of God.” I would like to elaborate on that story and talk about where I am now. 

 

The reason I was thrown out was because of my mental health. I was deeply depressed, self harming nearly every day. It got to the point that I was admitted to a hospital. When the PCG found out what happened, my dad read a letter that was addressed to me. PCG described me as “a threat to their cause.” 

 

I had so many friends that I deeply miss from my time there, but I know I’ll never see them again. As far as my life after this, I’m finally getting help and going to therapy. I tried to go to a church to appease a friend, and as soon as I entered I felt an overwhelming sense of dread. I haven’t been back since. 

 

I don’t know if I’ll ever heal from it, but I’ve at least accepted that it happened. –Child survivor of PCG [name withheld]

Case #3: [This was as recent as 2013] 

This concerns a member from Louisville, KY. This man was a loyal servant of the congregation. He went to all of the PCG activities. He did the garage sale for the building fund, was in Spokesman’s Club, went to the cookouts, picnics, etc. He had joint custody of his 15 year old daughter. The girl was torn between her dad and mom. Cal Culpepper verbally abused the girl at a PCG activity in Ohio. The girl was then condemned by Culpepper and told to not come to services. The father was told not to have any contact with the girl (15 years old) at all. The man refused and was disfellowshipped. 

 

There are many more cases like this but these three will suffice to give a picture of the unbiblical and illegal practice of abandoning your minor teens. 

 

In a recent PCG sermon it was stated how the non-PCG performers who do the Concert Series at God’s House [Armstrong Auditorium] gush and rave telling the HQ people how they were “treated like Kings” with fine dining and accommodations while they stayed at the Auditorium. I wonder if these people were told how minor age children were being tossed out in the street by orders from PCG ministry? Would they still be willing to perform for the Philadelphia Church of God? 

 

I have witnessed much suffering amongst the youth in PCG. One girl in the congregation was told by Wayne Turgeon she could not go to the college because she was “too fat” and did not “fit the proper image of the church.” Many of the youth are leaving PCG. 

 

There are a lot of people with drinking problems in the PCG. One “contact person” in a Kentucky congregation sometimes comes to services high. But he attends Spokesman’s Club and is in good with the regime. 

 

There are ministerial scandals (especially in the North West region) going on. One minister was carrying on a two year affair with a woman in a congregation! He tried to get his wife to leave him. When that did not happen, he tried to convince the PCG that she was “crazy or demon possessed.” He took it to HQ and they suspended the wife. Then it came out about the affair and they kicked him out and let her back. 

 

Also, J. C., a member, was doing security detail at a HQ function in Edmond, OK a few years ago. Grant Turgeon1 (son of Wayne Turgeon) came into an area off limits to people. When confronted by J. C., the little Turgeon said, “Do you know who I am? My father is Wayne Turgeon.” Later, this member was accosted verbally by Wayne Turgeon for telling his son where to go and was suspended not long after. 

 

Whenever I walked into services, there would be no warmth at all; no encouragement from the podium, no mention even once that God loves us–just law, judgment, threats, and doom.

By Chris

For more first hand abuse check put these addtional letters and articles on Exit and Support Network:

Recommended Material:

Profile on a Sociopath (A number of abusive, religious leaders may exhibit many of these behavioral characteristics)

Grant Turgeon Has an Attitude (2013 letter to ESN)

Crazy statement by Wayne Turgeon (What Wayne Turgeon once said)

Related Testimonies:

Cal Culpepper Continues to Threaten and Intimate Members (5-14-14 letter to ESN)

Fear and Dread in PCG (5-24-13 letter to ESN that covers Culpepper)

Frightening Incident With Cal Culpepper (4-29-13 letter to ESN)

Why I’m Ex-PCG (8-28-14 testimony; cruel and cold-hearted abuse by Culpepper)

True Love Lacking in PCG Members (3-6-07 letter to ESN)

Footnote by ESN:

1 Read: Grant Turgeon Has an Attitude (1-3-13 email to ESN)

Gerald Flurry: “The Law is essential for this church to survive.” In other words, We Do Not Need Jesus

Exit and Support Network has a letter up about some of the idiotic things Gerald Flurry said recently to the youth at Philadelphia Church of God's Summer Educational Program camp in Edmond, OK.

July 17, 2021 

 

Gerald Flurry’s recent sermon entitled, “The God Family” was given to the youth at SEP. In it he made some wild over-the-top, even crazy, statements. Those who understand the false doctrines he is teaching, and the deceitful path he is on, will be able to spot this. Some of my comments are in brackets and in purple. 

 

He started and ended with loud music. Beforehand, it was the Celtic Throne music, which began with drums. 

 

At the beginning he did nothing but boast about the Celtic Throne performance, including the important people they had brought in. The CT performances are very important to GF and especially to his ego. He said the CT was “choreographed by God”; “inspired by God,” that this is one way the youth are “serving in the Work,” and it inspires them to “work even harder.” Astonishingly, he said the dancers “begin at age 4.” 

In the mother church, under the auspices of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, the celebrities and important people they came into contact with were vitally important to them. It was proof that God was on their side. No one knew of any of these important, rich, celebrities that ever joined the church. Other than dishing out money for tickets and maybe sponsoring a concert series, these people never gave money to the church. That did not matter to them. Like Gerald Flurry, their egos were stroked by these celebrities while it was the membership that dished out millions of dollars in tithe money to fund the concert series.

According to GF, this CT performance is a “God family” message “showing the world how God’s family serves” and how God “brings them nothing but blessings in their lives.” 

 

“We show them God’s way of life when they look behind the scenes.” [OK, let’s look at that scene. On the front we hear stirring, powerful music, spectacular lighting, dazzling costumes, young people Irish step-dancing across the stage, as they celebrate the “New Throne of David.” Then we pull the curtain back and what do we see? Destroyed families due to the no contact ruling, abuse, suffering, fear, control, exploitation, lies, unhappy children and young people. We see misery, sorrow, even death. Isn’t something very wrong with this picture?] [Note by ESN: To read more about all this see: Testimonies by Those Impacted by Philadelphia Church of God and letters.] 

This is the same crap stance that the WCG took when they promoted the concerts as the best in human ability and artistry. This was supposed to be the way the so-called kingdom of God was going to be like.

In this sermon GF emphasized Malachi’s Message, the Laodiceans, and how “God’s Law is taught at the SEP” and “we have to get out a God family message.” 

As usual, no message about Jesus, grace, justification, and mercy, just more law, and god/goddess crap.  

“The Law is essential for this church to survive.” [Without the Law the members would find they are under grace and would leave. See: The Law of Moses and the Grace of God.] 

As usual, Jesus is shoved to the back burner and only trotted out when necessary, usually around the so-called Passover time and even then, after they kill him again on the stage they leave them there for another year as they live miserable lives as sinners for another year. 

“God is going to forget the Laodiceans’ children if they forget God’s Law.” [Won’t this crazy statement make the PCG youth, especially the children of top ministers, feel special and glad that they are part of an elite, favored group?] 

This is such crap, but what should we expect from a cult that worships at the altar of Moses and blasphemes the Christ they claim to follow. 

Over the top statement—> “We have to be God to be married to God. That’s an amazing truth.” [It’s also an amazing lie.] 

 

[Note: For those who want to look into this “God family” doctrine, it is covered in our two Mystery of the Ages critiques.] 

 

After quoting from Malachi where it says Elijah would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, etc., GF says the reason they have SEP is because God says (primarily says to the ministers but also to those who follow them), “If you refuse to teach that, you are going to lose your eternal life.” … “That’s very serious for you young people, and you have to understand this.” [Do the Scriptures anywhere say we can lose our eternal life? If we could, it wouldn’t be eternal.] 

Only in Armstrongism can one lose one's eternal life for the silliest of things. It is an impossibility for anyone who follows Jesus. Christianity has understood this for centuries, but not Armstrongite COG's though.

Also, when has the Philadelphia Church of God EVER turned the hearts of the fathers to their children? What they've done is break up families and marriages due to the asinine and perverted teaching that PCG members are to cut off all contact with family, spouses, and children who have left the church. Who can forget them telling the mother of a handicapped child to leave it at the mall so the state could take care of it which would then allow the mother to give more money to the church! Disgusting people!

There was talk about how the hearts are being turned to the fathers, etc. [When have the children’s hearts been turned to the fathers or vice versa? See: Testimonies From Child Survivors.] GF has blinders on, just as HWA did, in thinking everything is so wonderful and marvelous with the young people in PCG. Isn’t it the children of the top ministers that claim all is wonderful? 

Exactly! Its Flurry's grandkids and the elite children of elite PCG higher-ups that benefit from all kinds of privilege in the church, they are the only ones who benefit. 

He says Satan has turned 95% of God’s people [now Laodiceans] away and “Satan can seduce you right away.” [Wouldn’t this make Satan more powerful than God? He read several scriptures in I John yet didn’t understand what he was reading. 

Once again the all-powerful god of the PCG and the COG is able to turn people away from Flurry's so-called truth. When people are not at rest in the one they claim to follow and understand their security in HIm then of course they can be swayed by stupid ministers and church leaders. 

Crazy statement—–> “Christ must be with your Spirit. … If Christ isn’t with that Spirit the Spirit won’t help you.” GF could not even understand Galatians 5:18 (which he read): “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” He quickly went right on to say, “If you don’t keep the Law the Law will break you.” [Where does it say that in the Bible?] 

More law nonsense. Law is used only as a matter of control in the Church of God but what more should we expect when they deny the one who made a new covenant with the people. A covenant that does not include any of Flurry's law he claims is necessary.

He talked a lot about the movie Star Wars at the end and said if they (the youth) have the work ethic like George Lucas did, God is going to “bless their lives in ways like they could probably never imagine.” “If you really want to make it with God, you’re going to have to be a great servant. … an outstanding servant to God–to His Work, to His message, getting this message out.” [This would include giving their money to PCG.] 

More legalistic bullshit. The new covenant does not demand endless works in order to impress God to save you by the skin of your teeth.  

GF said he loved the music in Star Wars, but said it’s all fantasy. [Seems that what GF is preaching is fantasy] And we have to “proclaim this God family message.” After stating, “Let the real force be with you,” he played the theme of Star Wars loudly at the end. 

 

Does Gerald Flurry speak the truth? Does he have the Holy Spirit within him? Or is he unregenerate, hardened to the suffering and evil he has caused and even allows? Has he given himself over to a reprobate mind? Has he been taken over by a lying spirit? Isn’t this what happens to those who claim they “speak for God,” have received “new revelation,” appropriate biblical titles for themselves that belong to Christ, and then go on to leave Christ Jesus out as Lord and Savior and the center of their message, and of the entire Bible, failing to focus on Him, but instead focus on fables and lies? 

Does Flurry speak the truth? No!

Does Flurry have the Holy Spirit? No!

Is Flurry unregenerate? Yes!

Is Flurry a liar? Yes! 

Does Flurry follow Jesus? No! 

This warning has been given before. Get out before it is too late! –sermon critiqued by L. S.

Amen to that! Get out of the PCG ASAP! Your very life depends upon it! 

PCG: Flurry Elite Travel In Style In Corporate Jet On Backs Of Tithing Members

After PCG members were TOLD to raise money and give extra offerings to buy Gerald Flurry his own private jet so he did not have to travel sitting next to the unwashed masses on commercial jets, the PCG bought their own jet and painted it to look  just like Herbert Armstrong's. Flurry has never used the jet yet to travel to world leaders and preach his fake gospel, instead his grand kids and Lil'Stevie jet  around the world to the British campus and to Irish Dance competitions and productions.

Also see: 

Gerald Flurry Follows in HWA's Steps and Buys Gulfstream G450 Jet

PCG's Embarrassing Justification On Jet Plane Purchase

Fundraising for God: Keeping Gerry Flurry's Family Jet In The Air

Gerald Flurry and God's Last Message To The World Is That Trump Will Be Returned To Office So That PCG Can Complete Amos 7

 

The inmates in Oklahoma have escaped the looney-bin and are currently holed up in the Philadelphia Church of God cult compound in Edmond, Oklahoma. The leader of that pack is King Gerald Flurry who's insanity levels are off the charts.

This is what Flurry said in the April 2021 The Trumpet:

God could use this situation to expose the treason. We know that God will yet save Israel, temporarily, by the hand of Jeroboam. Why? Because Amos 7 contains a prophecy that God’s true Church will finish delivering its warning message to the world, especially to Israel and specifically to Jeroboam. This prophecy shows that someone fulfilling the priestly role of Amaziah will order God’s messenger to be exiled from the country. God’s Church has not yet warned Jeroboam, President Trump; this Amaziah has not yet risen to the place where he could speak for the leader of the land; and God’s Church has not yet been thrust out of the country. So this prophecy must mean that President Trump will regain power in spite of the stolen election. And as Amos 7:8 says, this will be God’s last warning message through His Church before this nation is fatally weakened from within and finally destroyed from with- out—unless they heed God’s warning message! AMERICA HAS NO HELPER

Fred Dattalo Warns PCG Members To Get Ready For Persecution

Fred Dattalo has been wreaking havoc in the Philadephia Church of God now for many years. Dattalo hooked on to Gerald Flurry's cult when the Worldwide Church of God wouldn't use him in the ministry. He was always known around Pasadena HQ as a conceited self-serving ass and extremely disliked by many. Sadly, that reputation has carried over into the PCG cult where he is even more abusive than he ever was in the WCG. His actions have led to the suicide of at least one person and possibly another.

Datttalo envisions himself as a highly educated minister, which he is not, and has a reputation of saying things that are totally unbiblical.

Exit and Support Network has the following up from a letter that was sent to them about one of Dattalo's recent "sermons". I left ESN's comments in and then added my own snarky ones...

Get Ready for Persecution

Members are to “get ready for persecution” and this persecution will be “more than it’s ever been” and “more intense” because of PCG’s “high profile.”

Persecution has been a fantasy of Church of God leaders for decades. They believe that the words they speak and print are going to get them persecuted. In the fantasyland they all live in it that might be true, but in reality, no one, other than a few handfuls around the world even know who Gerald Flurry and the Philadelphia Church of God are, NOR do they care! 

PCG will be persecuted by: (1) the media (PCG may go to court again like they did in 1979); (2) the Laodiceans; (3) the government; and (4) the Catholic church. 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: It was back in the late 60’s when 1, 3 and 4 were to befall members of the Worldwide Church of God before they fled to Petra (the Place of Safety). All religions, especially the Catholics, were going to come against “God’s one and only true Church.”

Bob Thiel and Gerald Flurry are both screeching like little girls that the media is persecuting them right now. The problem is, both of these guys are posting heretical nonbiblical bullshit up as a so-called "gospel" message that has absolutely NOTHING to do with Jesus Christ. 

COG groups are not persecuting the PCG either. They could care less, which is part of the COG problem. Many COG's out there know that some of these splinter groups are heretical cults and dangerous, but they won't speak up and hold them to account. To do so would expose them as being part of the same corrupt theological system, and, they foolishly think they are "brothers" in a broader sense because they are all really one big COG family.

The Catholic church no more cares about Flurry than they do Bob Thiel. The COG has always needed bogeymen to do their bidding and the Catholics are the best bogeymen they can latch on to. The fact that Rod Meredith stupidly thought Bob Theil would be a major force in exposing ht Catholic Church is the most laughable thing ever. Not one single thing he says, or that Gerald Flurry says about the Catholic Church has not already been said a million times over for centuries. All these two do is plagiarize the words and writings of others and try to pawn them off as original god revealed facts.

Dattalo them makes this incredibly absurd comment:

The main reason the Catholic church exists is to “destroy the Work.” It’s good to think about that once in awhile because Satan is the one who orchestrates all this persecution that is coming on “God’s church.” 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: This is nothing but a recap of everything Herbert Armstrong–the man GF looks up to and emulates–broadcast decades ago.

The Catholic Church was not created to last for thousands of years till the 2020's so it could specifically persecute the PCG. That has to be the stupidest thing ever! 

The battles, stress and hardship we’ll suffer–which are needed to build character in order to rule with Christ–will get more severe, and we can “expect problems” when we support “God’s Apostle” (one of GF’s many titles). 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: The words “building character” are not found in the Bible. However, in a controlling, abusive group, those words are interpreted as what happens when the member grows more and more in obedience to the government of the organization.

The battles members face, the stresses, and hardships are not God-ordained things piled upon them to build character in them. These things are a result of the lies and heretical teachings of Gerald Flurry.  Deliberately suffering because of the lies of a human is not character building but stupidity!  Suffering for standing up as a follower of Christ and dying for that belief, as many are doing in Iraq, Syria, India, and in Muslim strongholds. These are the real martyrs, not COG members who follow liars like Flurry, Pack, Thiel, Weinland, Weston, and others.

Those Who Leave or Marry on the Outside 

 

He attempted to frighten the singles and members from leaving as he went on about Satan stalking us and exploiting our weaknesses. He said everyonewho has left and married outside “the Church” comes back with “horror stories” and said “what do you expect?” 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: This is true only if the person who left is still holding to PCG teachings and doctrines as “the Truth” and and marries someone who has a different belief system. Then this would apply: How can two walk together unless they be agreed? (Amos 3:3) How can you be yoked with someone who believes the opposite than you do? Or doesn’t believe at all? (II Corinthians 6:14) 

 

He went into all kinds of “stories” about what would happen if you left PCG with your mate still inside and there were children involved. He described what the wife (in PCG) would want compared to what the husband would want; i. e., taking the children to services with her. Then he told one wild scenario about how the wife could say, “If you leave me (leave PCG), I’m going to kill myself.” He insisted these stories he was telling were true and he could give even more cases. 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: These “horror stories” are not because someone up and left or married outside PCG, but because PCG is known to destroy families by splitting the family up with one person in PCG who is wanting to take the children to services (even wanting to divorce the mate) and the other one who is not in PCG not in agreement, along with being cut off from those in PCG, even perhaps from their own children. The other scenario of being forced to stay and not leave because the wife “threatens to kill herself” is another result of entanglement with PCG and its destructive doctrines.

Myths and Contradictions 

 

“When Herbert Armstrong died people’s world fell apart.” 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: How many remember that happening? HWA wrote a letter prior to his death that was mailed out to all the members, preparing them to “carry on” after he died. It was the changes in 1995 when the Tkach Sr. video came out that caused people’s world to fall apart and to become confused with many leaving.

If some people's worlds fell apart it was because they looked to a man as their savior instead of the one they should have been looking to, but this is the COG after all and Jesus was not the focus then and still is not to this day.

Speculations 

 

Instead of saying “false prophecies” of GF, he called them “speculations” that might happen and might not happen. 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: those are words false prophets always use when they give false prophecies. Its aim is to cause the person to keep looking to the man in spite of his false prophecies.

"Speculation" is the same deceptive way to dance around failures just like Bob Thiel does. Speculations are made by weak impotent little men who do not have God on their side nor a real conviction them to speak boldly. Instead, they use the stuff of the nightmares as if their creature god was speaking to them

Told a story about one member who was convinced he knew who the two witnesses were and now one of them is dead. (He laughed at this.) He tied this in with “speculating” to make us believe GF false prophecies were speculation and that God is “testing us. 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: There are those in certain offshoots who to this day say HWA’s over a hundred false prophecies were merely “speculations.” John Ritenbaugh is one who has said this. See footnote #2 at the end of Did Herbert Armstrong Set Dates? where it talks about John Ritenbaugh.

Ritenbaugh was seen by many in the Southern CA area as a real prophet and a speaker of truth. People flocked to his church and spread his sermon tapes around the world. The problem with him was that he was as big a liar about prophecy as HWA, Waterhouse, Blackwell, and others were. ESN is right that Ritenbaugh covered up for HWA's lies. By calling it speculation gave the ministers the right to say anything they damn well pleased and the members were supposed to suck it up as the gospel truth. Here we are 35 years after HWA's death and hundreds and hundreds of his failed prophecies and people are still making excuses or dreaming up even more fantastical prophetic scenarios like some of our current false prophets are doing.

We don’t know all the details about how it will work out when members go to the place of safety but they “better be walking with God and looking to Godbecause it’s going to take faith to flee because it “may not be crystal clear” when the time comes. 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: That is the same thing HWA and Herman Hoeh said decades ago about having faith to flee. (Refer to first part of Philadelphia Church of God and the Place of Safety beginning with “To Just Mention a Few”) Again, God in PCG=PCG government.

This is the same crap that Bob Thiel is teaching. Everyone is apparently too stupid to know when the time to flee will happen. People can only rely upon certain COG gurus to tell them the true time to flee. 

Imagine the shock they will all have when all the COGs arrive there at once and all of the COG leaders start brawling over who will be in charge. I imagine many COG members will then turn around and walk back out through the Siq to Wadi Musa and check-in to the nearest Marriot and go have a cold beer.

To give the appearance of boldness, he said if anyone wants to pick a fight with “God’s Church,” he is going to “bite off more than he can chew.” Related a story about how GF is as “cool as a cucumber” when there is a problem because he knows “God will fight the battle.” 

 

COMMENT BY ESN: One reason GF may seem so fearless is because he is known to have an array of high- powered, shrewd lawyers to defend him, not because he knows “God is with us.”

Gerald Flurry's brain is so addled with alcohol poisoning that he is unable to fight anyone. He picked a fight with the WCG over literature he stole, got sued, hired a bunch of lawyers to do his dirty work, lost the case, and ended up dropping over 3.5 million dollars for the right to publish certain HWA books. Flurry has never let God fight his battles, only his lawyers do that.

It still amazes me that church members sit there, week after week, lapping this bullshit up like dogs eating their vomit. They spend decades being treated like dirt, lied to by ministers, and financially drained, and yet they hang on to an unattainable hope of something better than the dreary life they are currently are experiencing a the hands of COG leaders.

Their salvation seems to rest in the hands of these charlatans because it is only through them do they see any hope. They don't know that inconvenient dude that is never discussed, so their hope and rest are unattainable.

Read more about Fred Dattalo here:

How Fred Dattalo, Cal Culpepper and Gerald Flurry Caused A PCG Suicide

UPDATE: Fred Dattalo Sinks to New Low: Members to cut off contact with non-member spouses

PCG Gerald Flurry Doubles Down On His Prophetic "Accuracy"

 

The blog Living Armstrongism follows the Philadelphia Church of God cult very closely and does not hesitate to expose their lies and deceptions. Gerald Flurry and his boys in Edmond have been infuriated that Joe Biden was elected President of the United States, especially after Gerald Flurry received a revelation from his resident demon that Trump was going to be reelected or would be put back into power after Biden's election was exposed as illegal. Gerald Flurry went on his video broadcasts and spouted this nonsense, preached it in sermons, and wrote extensively about it in his church rags.

Here we are in April of 2021 and Flurry is having to eat his words, or is he?

In early February 2021 PCG released the March 2021 issue of their recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet. Here Gerald Flurry's false prophecy that Biden would not assume the presidency met with ignominious failure and the PCG leadership had to desperately explain it all away. PCG's false prophecy of Biden not assuming the presidency is merely one of many false prophecies produced by PCG since its founding in 1989. 

 

This issue had a circulation of 248,523 issues. 

 

Gerald Flurry has an article trying to explain away his false prophecy that Trump would remain as president by implying that Trump would later return to power.

The side article condemns President Biden's inauguration. 

 

Stephen Flurry has an article denouncing President Biden and attacking his legitimacy to lead as president. It is absurdly insinuated that the January 6 insurrection was the work of left wing infiltrators. He cites the presence of one individual, John Sullivan, amongst the insurrectionists as evidence that the January 6 insurrection was somehow the work of left wing infiltrators. But a little fact checking reveals that Sullivan's presence proves nothing as may be seen here and here. 

 

Stephen Flurry has a side article insisting that sometimes a leader is not legitimate if PCG's God does not recognize that person.

Gerald Flurry has this to say about his failed prophecy: 

I do feel badly about some people being upset or angry, but that’s OK if God has something He’s trying to get across to them. We don’t ever have to apologize for God! He is always right in every prophecy and every word of the Bible. If we make a mistake, we have to realize that and apologize. I’m a flawed human being. We’re all going to make mistakes. But maybe this mistake is a little different from other mistakes. Maybe it led us into some understanding we direly need. 

 

Sometimes God does things very differ- ently than how we would. After all, He does have to get our attention. He knows how to put His message across. 

 

Even looking at it the way I’m talking about it, you could say, Flurry made a four-year mistake in his prophecy. But the first-century apostles thought Jesus Christ would return in their day—so they were 2,000 years off in their thinking! And they certainly were much greater in doing God’s work than I ever will be! It shows you that there is much we don’t know that we have to wait and let God show us. 

 

Finishing God’s Work 

 

One thing is certain: God is going to bring Mr. Trump back. We know he’s coming back—it’s in the prophecy! It’s just a matter of when. It will happen at most in four years—yet I can’t con- ceive of it being anywhere near that length of time. It could be much quicker—we will see. 

 

Why? Because with radicals in power, how could God’s work be completed? When the devil is motivating people, God’s work is their number one target! Already God had to intervene and stop the evil that was happening, or the name of Israel would have been blotted out—and God’s work is at the heart of that name of Israel. The devil would like most of all to get rid of us. WHY I STILL BELIEVE DONALD TRUMP IS COMING BACK

And here we thought Bob Thiel was crazy!

 

UPDATED: PCG Claims they do not do this kind of "repugnant" behavior: PCG Now Sending People To Protest Women and LGBT People?

 

UPDATE:Iradophilly corrected the name of the church group with the Westboro Baptist style protest. The protest was actually done by members of Key of David Christian Center. Apparently they have done several protests at colleges for the past few years typically around Pride Week.

This is the statement that PCG sent to them:

Correction* 04/12/21 - This group was previously identified as the identified as the Philadelphia Church of God based in Edmond, OK. In a statement sent to iradiophilly, "The Edmond, Oklahoma-based Philadelphia Church of God, Inc. is in NO WAY associated with this group... The Philadelphia Church of God condemns the repugnant behavior ascribed to us. Our members, located in over 60 countries worldwide, have never engaged in such behavior." 

That has to be the most hypocritical nonsense that the Philadelphia Church of God has published considering how antigay they are. Almost every single week there is some antigay comment from them. They constantly claim that LGBT people are responsible for floods, tornadoes, forest fires, droughts, and much much more, their behavior IS REPUGNANT and totally deceptive!

This strange news story came across my newsfeed this morning. Apparently, the Philadelphia Church of God is expanding its preaching of the gospel to now harass women and LGBT people.

Part of me wants to say they got their church ID mixed up with another group, but there is nothing that the PCG does anymore that surprises me

A Ursinus College student was arrested on Friday night, 4/9, supposedly after confronting Collegeville Police about the officers' lack of wearing masks in public. The exact details leading up to his arrest are not clear. The contentious arrest was caught on video by another student and posted on Instagram (see below). It showed the male student struggling with two officers on the ground as they tried to handcuff him. He is yelling profanities and makes numerous requests of the officers to make sure his mask is kept on. Ursinus College officials say they are working with police to determine what happened. "Our focus is on his well-being, and we are working hard to support a quick resolution to this matter that is least disruptive to our student and his future," said a statement from the college. 

 

This happened just off-campus around 7 p.m. on Main Street. Students had gathered to counter-protest an anti-LGBT 'church' hate group that was protesting outside campus. The group, identified as the Philadelphia Church of God based in Edmond, OK, was yelling disparaging remarks at women as well as LGBT slurs. This past week was Pride Week at Ursinus. Students say that this group demonstrates at the school once or twice a year. iradiophilly: Ursinus Student Arrested During Anti-Hate Protest

Women have never been a high priority in the PCG so I can see them disparaging women, but considering the number of gay men on the Edmond Campus I am surprised to hear them protesting LGBT people. In light of that, PCG needs to be protesting figs.

 

 

PCG Lays Down Lots Of Rules For The Feast, Especially For Women Who Cause Lust In Men's Eyes

Cover the cleavage women so that you do not cause our men to sin. 

It's your fault when you dress improperly and cause lust in men's eyes.

The Flurry cult is getting ready to send out Feast of Tabernacles registration forms to its dwindling membership. The cult has always felt the need to control every aspect of its member's lives and is cracking down even more on its members this year.

Some letters have come into Exit and Support Network detailing the demands of the Flurry cult in its members this year.

Members are expected to pay extra money for all lunches, dinners, and events that PCG puts on which will be recorded on the back of the name tags required of all attending the Feast. This helps the cult keep track of members and stops any outsider or Laodicean COG member from another group from slipping in to see friends or family, or God forbid hear a cult sermon. 

The cult is also following in Worldwide Church of God's footsteps and relegating families with small children to the basement of the Herbie Armstrong Auditorium during services. WCG did this in the Ambassador Auditorium because they did not want kids distracting the holy ministers, or even worse, make a mess in the royal purple carpet in God's House. God would not be happy.

The PCG cult is always looking for ways to portray its self as the perfect church and to do this they cannot have imperfect people on screen if the camera pans the audience. This year, seniors (or anyone) in wheelchairs, those hard of hearing wearing hearing aids that occasionally squeal, or those needing sign language interpretation, must sit in the balcony, out of sight, out of mind.

April 10, 2020
Members with small children are to be seated in the basement of Armstrong Auditorium during Feast services. If you are in a wheelchair, are hard of hearing, or have translation needs, you are to sit in the balcony. (Taken from “Important Instructions” for PCG members attending or not attending the FOT). –[name withheld]  Exit and Support Network

And, as usual, the women in the cult take the brunt of the rules due to the fact that some pervie ministers and male members can't control their roving eyes and lust in their hearts when they see females at church or at the beach who show some cleavage. It's never the men getting lectured on learning to control their lust, but always the women. If they forced the men to do that, half of PCG's ministry would be found guilty!

Females must wear one-piece swimsuits. One-piece swimsuits are the standard for females. The cut should not run too high up the thigh. A safe guideline would be for it to approximately follow the natural crease in the groin. Also, be sure it completely covers the buttocks. Tankinis are unacceptable unless the two pieces are sewn or tacked together so that they don’t come apart and expose the midsection. Swimsuits can be worn with skirts or shorts over them, but this is not required of our ladies. Lastly, as with shirts, no cleavage should be exposed. (Comment: We do not want our young men (or especially any of our ministers) gawking at the ladies and getting wrong ideas [as if they don’t have enough]. Read: What Happened At Robber’s Cave?) Exit and Support Network

Preferred dress for women at church:

 and at the beach:

             Good................Sinful................Borderline