Gerald Flurry has gone out of his way to imitate Herbert Armstrong in every manner possible. His latest episode in whoring himself out to Herbert's legacy included buying his own GIII jet. Of his many excuses for a reason to do this was that due to his advanced age and severe health issues, he could not travel and breathe the same air as the unwashed masses of unconverted commercial airline travels. Some of them might have a cold and due to the air being recirculated the apostle just might be exposed to the germs of pagans.
Flurry went several letters of appeal to Philadelphia Church of God members appealing for them to send in as much money as possible. Several larger benefactors face huge amounts of money to fund his jet. He also took money from widows and the poor in the church without any guilt at all. $13,000,000.00 in tithe money is a pretty hefty price for a church member to support. Not involved in any of this is the cost for jet maintenance, hanger rental, gas, pilot salaries, crew salaries, insurance, transportation costs to and from the airports, hotels, meals, and renovations to suit the expected lifestyle of God's ONLY end-time apostle.
FYI: Yesterday in a play-all-areas sermon entitled “Abraham’s Vision”, Gerald Flurry mentioned that he is now considering buying a private jet! The rationale behind this unbelievable decision stems from experiences Flurry had last year on his flight to and from a US feast site. Apparently his trip left him feeling so unwell that it took several weeks to fully recover his energy levels. During the message he commented that modern air travel is now very unpleasant and that breathing in recycled air was unhealthy for him. He also complained how in the US passengers needed to get to the airport in sufficient time to allow for security screening, sometimes requiring that they arrive up to 3 hours before an international flight. He concluded by saying that owning a private jet meant he would be able to travel and do more for the work, especially being able to travel quickly between the two campuses in Edmond, OK and Edstone, UK.
What that all translates into is this: After buying a multi-million dollar stately home in the UK, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars refurbishing it, literally pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a fruitless UK TV campaign for his son, after building a multi-million dollar music and Irish dance facility for the Edmond compound brats, all of which is financed by an ageing and declining membership, the PCG is now going to buy a private jet so Gerald Flurry's children Stephen and Laura and their children and friends can travel the world like rock stars and not have to rub shoulders with the unwashed masses. This unbelievable decision has been made during a time when PCG is experiencing a current 25% drop in income!You seriously have to wonder about the long-term stability of the PCG and who is really running the church behind the scenes. Repeatedly throughout his message, Flurry referenced Josephus and how this ancient historian taught that Abraham was an educated and cultured man who introduced fine arts and music everywhere he went. Each time Flurry made that statement, after the expression, “fine arts and music” he would quickly add “and dancing”. I know for a fact that “Wittle Laura” and “Wittle Stevie” are both obsessed with Irish dancing, perhaps this is where the pressure is really coming from to buy that oh so needed Lear jet!
A PCG source has sent information that Flurry had several opportunities to not spend so much tithe money on his own personal play toy as he has now done.
There are at several conveniently located jet charter companies that would have let Flurry use their luxurious jets for his apostolic/Irish dance trips.
'Wiley Post Airport is one of three airports owned and operated by the City of Oklahoma City Department of Airports. Designated as a reliever for Will Rogers World Airport, Wiley Post functions as a lively center for corporate and business aviation."
There are two jet charter companies at Wiley Post airport. PCG could have just chartered a jet at far less cost than buying one. But one obvious inconvenience is that Wiley Post airport is about 18 miles from Edmond, OK. The distance just might be too great for PCG staff to overcome.Wiley has the following charter companies that would have allowed PCG to charter their jets.