Gerald Flurry: Descending Into Madness

From Exit and Support, regarding Gerald Flurry's descent into madness:

June 26, 2017
I have a friend who has left PCG. This person became skeptical back in November when Flurry spoke about Trump being the Jeroboam and then his mentioning about buying a plane. Then in January he gave the sermon about HWA's prayer stone replacing the stone of destiny (a.k.a. Jacob's pillar stone) and Flurry saying HWA was a type of Jacob or Israel. And how he, Flurry, is the chosen man on this whole earth privileged to bring the prayer stone to the Place of Safety where Christ will meet up with them and take his rightful place on the throne after Flurry, who is representing the house of David for 2 l/2 years, since he says he is a descendant of David through his genealogy. And finally, once this person got the letter about pledging funds to purchase a plane and then finding out they bought it in April during Feast of Unleavened Bread, this was the final straw. I am not sure what this person will do next. They are looking at other offshoots that follow the Sabbath, but feel that all of them try to control peoples' purse strings to suit their own agenda by using end time events and the Place of Safety to control them. --[name withheld]  

Another posting had this about the Philadelphia Church of God:

June 29, 2017
I don't even know where to begin. It's so difficult to summarize my experience and sort out how I'm feeling about everything that this so called "church" has put me, my family, and countless others through. The abuses that we undergo are covered up kept hush-hush and resolved through gossip started by who knows. I started becoming very skeptical when my own family began to be ripped apart by the ministry, who were not to be questioned ever! Every problem was pushed back on us not having it all together, or not praying and studying. No biblical proof was offered, just the opinion of a man who thought he spoke with God's authority--although certainly not with God's LOVE. It's so clear to me now why no one was ever allowed to compare stories or talk about counseling sessions. They did not want us comparing notes on our interactions with the ministry. 

But my last service was when our local minister aired all my family's dirty laundry in front of the congregation, blaming everything on my father's inability to lead. Taking no responsibility for his own interference and meddling. FURIOUS. I left knowing I'd never be back. I told no one and refused to talk to anyone after. A clean cut was the best resolve for me. I was so sick of being dragged into everyone's drama when I had no part in it. And I was certainly tired of feeling beaten down--not good enough and chastised every week at services. Also, if I missed a week, I felt like a child being scolded. I wish I'd left sooner. No, I wish I never would have attended at all.

Since I've been out, I've been happier than I thought possible. I'm happy to let God judge me. At least it will be true justice. If anyone is considering leaving, do it now. I waited years and regret it deeply. I will mourn family left in and pray they leave. --Raised in WCG; joined PCG as adult 

COG Prophet Upset LCG Members Read and Post Here

Ever since this blog started I have had various COG members in various groups as readers.  As time goes by, more and more share information about the abusive ministers and leaders of their churches.

The Internet has been a major thorn in the side of many COG groups.  No longer can they sweep under the rug the abusive things they do and say.  People talk, people leak information.  From the Ambassador Report, the Good News Grapevine, the Painful Truth, Ambassador Watch, Silenced, and many other sites, the Church of God has had to continually do damage control.  Members no longer trust their leaders to tell the truth or to do what is right.  When abuses happen, people quickly spill the beans.  This infuriates ministers so much that they stand in front of their congregation and tell members to NOT read things on the internet.  The moment they do that, their members start reading blogs and websites with a fervor.  This what happened when Rod Meredith stood in front of his congregation and told them to not read this blog.  Within hours the readership here increased dramatically and has remained so ever since.

People share things because they are disgusted by what is happening.  They share things because they care about their church and want things to change. They share things about the abusive ministers of other groups because they see how their family members and friends lives are being ripped apart.  They share things when they see self-appointed pissants proclaiming themselves as God ordained leaders when they know for a fact that these men are outright liars and don't have a godly bone in their bodies.

LCG members and members of other groups share here because they have a platform that allows them to comment. All of the deluded COG leaders out there do not allow members to question or criticize things on their web sites or blogs.  If these men were really preaching the truth, then they would be secure in what they teach, but none of them are.  They cannot handle anyone questioning them.  They all seem to think they are immune to criticism because they are "God's" ministers.

Many in the Living Church of God know lots of things about self-appointed Bob Thiel and what a hypocrite he is and they feel free to comment.  This has not made the doubly-blessed prophet and future second witless witness happy.

The world renown Mayan and Fatima authority has this to say about LCG members who read and comment here, particularly against those that mock him.  Elijah Thiel cannot wrap his head around the fact that LCG members do not like him and have no problem stating so here.

P.S. In my 06/29/17 a.m. post on this page, I accidentally omitted that according to the Banned by HWA site, the first three sets of comments I reported about from that site were supposedly "From an LCG source." In other words, an unnamed coward who claims to be a Church of God Christian. That person should consider the following:

16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)
18 Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool. (Proverbs 10:18)
8 ... all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

This is not the first time someone who claims to have been in the Living Church of God has sent the Banned by HWA site false information about me (see the 6/15/17 a.m. post on this page). Anyway, presuming it was someone in LCG, it is distressing that any who claim to be a Church of God Christian would make up such falsehoods. Such a person needs repentance. 

Furthermore, why would anyone in LCG actually want to help the Banned by HWA site?  

The site is not only anti-COG, it seems to relish being anti-CCOG and anti-LCG. Although I do not know LCG's top evangelist, Gerald Weston, well, it is not likely that he would want his members to encourage the Banned by HWA site at all, let alone want his members to post falsehoods. 

But it is distressing when any who claim to be in the COG spreads falsehoods to get the way of truth blasphemed (2 Peter 2:2). But in this age we keep seeing it. Many do not have the proper love of the truth.

PS Brother Bob

I am NOT anti-COG.  What I am against is abusive liars and self-appointed false prophets who preach abusive bullshit and wreck people's lives, like you are doing.  If a COG member is grounded in their faith and have a relationship with Christ, then there is not one single thing I can say here that will cause them harm.  It is abusers of the brethren like you, Flurry, Pack, Weston, Kubik, and others that are the issue.  I am an issue because deep down you know you are a fraud and cannot handle the criticism.

Jim O'Brien, COG Cincinnati Demands Respect

It is amazing to read the tripe that COG ministers write about all of the time. With people struggling to make ends meet, to people dealing with drugs, homelessness, continued racism, outright hatred, and the myriad of other life issues, the ministry of the COG, being the privileged elite and spiritually lazy ministers of the Church of God that they are, write about useless crap that has no relevance to anyone's life.

Jim O'Brien of the Church of God Cincinnati, writes about one of the Church of God's major pet doctrines, how people dress.  Jesus never worried about the dress of those he touched but COG ministers do. They are more worried about wrinkles or the type of clothing that people wear rather than they are about lying fools that have self-appointed themselves as COG prophets and leaders. The length of a skirt or a pair of blue jeans is more offensive than abusive leaders like Flurry who have driven members to suicide and ripped generations of families apart.  They don't care that Dave Pack is bleeding his members dry, both financially and spiritually with his endless consciousness-streaming of utter bullshit.  Nope, it is more important that members be admonished over some wrinkled clothing.

O'Brien also talks about "lack of respect" in society today but failed to talk about the lack of respect that many Church of God ministers have towards their members.  The ground is literally littered with abused and disrespected Church of God members and ex-members who have suffered because of these fools for 80 some years.

Culture of Disrespect

Laura Ingalls Wilder is famous for her series of books, "Little House on the Prairie," depicting her childhood in pioneer America. One of the memorable experiences of life is being snuggled between our kids-and later grandkids-reading bedtime stories of Laura's adventures as the tiny tots hung on each colorful word.

She described moving to Missouri in a covered wagon to homestead their new land. Alone on the prairie they were running low on food so Pa had to leave Ma and the kids alone for a couple of days to forage for meat. Laura described living in the covered wagon away from any other humans. One morning Ma took their freshly washed petticoats and put them on the step of the wagon to be ironed.

There was no other explanation, but I was left wondering why little girls on the prairie needed to dress in petticoats and I could only imagine what it must take to iron them when there was no electricity.

The kids asked, "Why would they iron their clothes when no one else was around?" Donna, always the font of wisdom, responded, "They were not trying to impress anyone, respect is the culture of civilized people."

O'Brien then uses this as an example of why people need to dress well in church.  Because Jesus (supposedly) neatly folded up his body wrappings before leaving the tomb, COG members need to dress properly and keep the wrinkles away.

An often-overlooked act of Jesus occurred during the minutes after He was resurrected. When the stone was rolled away the Gospel account records that the blanket was neatly folded. It's remarkable that Jesus would take the time to fold the blanket during such a momentous event.

At times I wonder what God thinks of the way some Christians dress when coming to worship Him.

In ancient Israel when the Ark of the Covenant was returned after having been lost to the gentiles for a period of time a tragic event took place. When the Ark arrived men allowed curiosity to overcome respect for the sacred. "But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. (1 Samuel 6:19) These were Israelites who knew that the Ark was holy to God. You don't open the doors of the Ark anymore than you allow a man to walk into the women's restroom-but then America has forgotten that the body is sacred.

Later when the Ark was being transferred to Jerusalem, "Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God. (2 Samuel 6:6-7)

How can a person read these accounts without concluding that respect for sacred things is a core part of Christianity?

When have most of the COG leaders ever respected members?  How can COG leaders talk about respect for "sacred things" when they know nothing about the man they claim to follow or to even act like him.  It is more important to talk about Moses and the law than it is to talk about Jesus, grace, and mercy.

Compare that with the recent news story of a comedienne holding an image of the severed head of the President of the United States. Is tolerance for such barbaric antics the mark of a civilized people?

Nothing has done more to civilize mankind than the values of the Bible. Few things have done more to undermine civilization than the disrespect encouraged by the popular media.

Until next time,

Jim O'Brien