Gerald Flurry: Premaritial salvation?

Gerald Flurry is on a roll lately in finding new ways to intimidate and make his dwindling flock of followers fearful of their standing with Flurry's creature god. 

The most urgent prophecies in the Bible are directed at God’s Spirit-begotten people. Why? Because eternal life is on the line. If they rebel and fail to repent of their sin, they will lose the opportunity to live forever in God’s Family. 

This is the very first paragraph in Flurry's article. PCG members are immediately threatened with not being a "spirit-begotten people", that their eternal life is on the line and that they will lose out on being a god in Flurry's god family. What a cheerful start!

A few have asked, “What is so bad about being dead for all eternity?” Looking at it physically, it isn’t that bad at all. But if you look at it spiritually, it’s catastrophic! It’s like turning away from a pile of precious jewels to a pile of dung. But even that comparison is inadequate to explain the firstfruits being called to marry Christ and then obscenely rejecting that invitation!

How can they "marry" someone they know nothing about? 

Then to scare people further and to further alienate his followers from family members no longer a part of the PCG, Flurry says this:

God’s loyal people who are in this marriage relationship are protected by Christ from the Great Tribulation—in His “skirts”! Remember Ezekiel 5, where, in the midst of the threefold destruction of Israel, God will take a few and bind them in His skirts (verses 1-3). God will protect His loyal Philadelphians. Those who aren’t protected (verse 4) will be cast into the fire. The Laodiceans are not bound in God’s skirts. They have rebelled against God and must also be punished in the Great Tribulation to get them to repent.

Everyone who has left PCG, refused to follow him into the PCG, or refused to heed his message is now Laodicean and MUST be punished by his angry god.

Only if PCG members heed the call of Flurry will they be protected.

To be bound in God’s skirts is God’s coded way of saying the Philadelphians grasp the marriage covenant with God and the Laodiceans don’t! The Laodicean Church has lost sight of this mind-staggering future as Christ’s wife.

Then the creep factor of Flurry's demented mind really kicks into action. Apparently, his creature called "christ" has already consummated his marriage to PCG members though they aren't married to him yet. Is this premarital salvation?

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Revelation 19:7). Christ’s wife must be ready when He returns. We are now to be preparing for that fabulous marriage—which Christ looks upon as already being consummated! That’s why we are called His “wife”—not His fiancée. We must think about this marriage as our Husband does!It is extremely urgent that we get ready to be Christ’s wife for all eternity! This is the most exalted reward ever offered to any human being at any time! 

 

At baptism, the firstfruits make a marriage covenant to obey God and be born again as Christ’s wife. This far transcends the marriage covenant He made with the physical nation of Israel! Ours is a special marriage covenant available only to the firstfruits.

In order to whip his few followers into a premarital frenzy, Flurry states:

The highest level of priests for God in the World Tomorrow will be Christ’s wife! His wife has the responsibility to be king-priests forever—for all eternity! That is our calling today. This is why we must be tried and tested. This is the highest calling God has to offer! We can’t stumble into this responsibility. “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. …” (Revelation 19:7-9).

Nothing excites legalists in the COG more than thinking they will be gods in some future kingdom where they will wield rods of iron as kings and priests. What a miserable thought!

Did you know that COG members in other COG's are committing spiritual fornication? Flurry claims the god they follow is not the same as his god. Thus, they are engaged in fornication with that god.

Some Laodiceans think God will give them this mind-splitting reward if they just stay in a church! A church is not our husband—Christ is! We must learn to follow Him wherever He goes.

Why is there such a preoccupation with COG with sex and sexual innuendo?

“But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by …” (Ezekiel 16:15). The word fornications should be translated adultery! This is a higher level of sin. Ancient Israel was married to God. True Christians are married to Christ today. If we turn away from God to another god—as the end-time Laodiceans have done—it is adultery!

Flurry's god does not even exist so he has no foothold in lecturing the COG's about the god they follow. 

Remember, this is prophecy for today. Only God’s firstfruits can commit adultery in this end time, because only they are married to Christ.

Bible translators don’t understand about God’s marriage and God’s Family. That’s why they use the word fornications instead of adultery. 

 

Revelation 19:7 and Ezekiel 16:15 reveal how God views our calling now. This is why we can view this marriage as already consummated and yet to be consummated. All too often, we view this marriage humanly. We need to view it through God’s Holy Spirit. God views the marriage through perfect character. God made a covenant. It is as good as done. By labeling His people as His wife, God is teaching us to build His character and think as He does. When God says He will do something, it is always done. He never breaks a covenant. So when we are engaged to Christ, it’s the same as a marriage. A covenant to be married is the same as a marriage—the way God views it. With God’s Spirit we should view it the same way. 

 

However, there is the human element. We can fail and never be a part of that wedding. The lesson God is trying to teach is that a covenant is a promise to keep your word. And our word should be fulfilled, if we manifest the character of God. Our word should never be broken. So God judges us on the basis of our promise, or our covenant. At baptism we said we would marry Christ and meet all the covenant conditions. So God judges us on the basis of our word, or covenant, to become His wife. Once we actually become His wife, we cannot commit adultery, because we’ll be God—members of the God Family—and God cannot sin. Viewing it spiritually, we can commit adultery only during the engagement period.

Carnal-minded men can’t grasp the magnitude of our reward. It takes the Holy Spirit of God to grasp what God is offering His firstfruits! The Laodiceans have lost this marriage and Family of God concept because they are spiritually blind. This is the greatest mistake they or anyone on Earth can make today! God says this adulterous sin is no “small matter” (Ezekiel 16:20). We know that many of them will wake up before or during the Tribulation. But why must they be so rebellious that they allow Satan to turn them away from their most noble, majestic crown? On Pentecost: Remember the Marriage Covenant

I guess when you ignore everything about Jesus and his salvational works one is left with this kind of malarkey. Basic Christianity understands the works of salvation, why can't these perverted purveyors of Armstrongism do the same? 

 

Greg Albrecht on Evil and Satan

The comments below by Greg Albrecht on Satan and evil will certainly set off one doubly blessed prophet of god into a naturopathic fit of self-righteous frenzy. I can't wait! 😈

QUESTION:

Some time ago you gave a sermon and talked about Satan, and asked how “real” is he and how “symbolic” is he. I think he is real, and I have many Scriptures that support my conclusion. Of course, I know that there are many references in the Bible which are true but not literally so. Can you elaborate?

 

ANSWER:

 

Some brief thoughts, perhaps if I enumerate them they might be a bit more logical! 

• The question of the devil, and how “literal” biblical references to his existence are, and how symbolic, is an ongoing discussion – has been for many centuries. 

• Excuse the double negative:  I do not believe that the devil/Satan does not exist.  I believe that would be an uncalled for (biblically speaking) conclusion.  I have no idea how real and literal Satan is, and that fact does not bother me because my believe in the reality of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit completely transcends any worries I might have about Satan.  

In COGland, Satan is the most powerful entity on earth today. Far more powerful than Jesus who is sitting in some faraway place pouring over all the details of COGleaders who have determined when he is to return. Satan is constantly on the prowl for the minds of COG members and apparently, according to most COG leaders, he is quite successful in leading church members astray - not the ministry of course, but the members.

• I also believe that it is possible to have an unhealthy interest in the things that constitute evil and darkness.  Thus, I suggest the more literal one tends to take Satan and his demons, and how much power one attributes to them, the “weaker” and more “vulnerable” one’s faith is.  This is the spirit of 1 John 4:4 –“… the one who is in you [Jesus] is greater than the one who is in the world [Satan].”  Trust God, focus on him, know that he alone is on the throne of the universe.  That we know.  That we believe.  There is our faith.

The emphasis on Satan in the COG is unhealthy and has led to mental health issues with members who think they are under his control. Every single week Satan is brought up in a sermon and members are warned to be on guard for his wiley ways. Jesus is seldom discussed, but Satan certainly dominates the airwaves in the COG.

• Whatever and whomever the devil and his henchmen are, and whatever they may do (Paul calls him “the prince of the power of the air”) the Bible clearly teaches they are limited in their scope of influence.  At times a fallen spirit world (whatever such a spiritual dimension is, and I do not pretend to know specifically and doubt anyone who dogmatically claims they know) they often have power and influence in someone’s life because an individual allows and gives them such powers. 

In COGland, Satan controls everything is craftily planning on how to get COG leaders kicked off the airwaves so their messages can't be preached. Since no COG leader has ever had a real theological education (and this particularly means Bob Thiel)  and spent time examining the subject of Satan in church history and fictional accounts that have entered the church belief system, they are totally oblivious to the many traditions and false understandings that infect COG leaders today.

• The greater question regarding how Satan may or may not literally exist, and the biblical passages that speak of him (or is “he” a “she” – just kidding, but the question is fair given the tone of our politically correct world today) is the matter of evil.  There is no doubt whatsoever that evil exists, that it thrives and that it causes enormous grief and heartache.  Satan may be in some way responsible for much of the evil we see in the world, and in some ways he may stand for and symbolize evil in some biblical references.   But evil does exist without him. Humans cannot blame Satan for all the evil in this world and specifically, the evil to which they contribute.  The totality of evil in our world is greater than the sum of its parts.  Evil is the greater enemy I believe, and thus it deserves more of our attention.

Evil is only discussed COGland when it can be connected to Satan and never is much discussed on how humans contribute to it all by themselves. Just look at the evil that transpired when numerous COG leaders took it upon themselves to set up COG splinter groups, diverting money into their pockets and separating families from loved ones. Did Satan cause that or just vile evil men who were consumed with their own greatness and lusts for power?

• Christ-centered, biblical faith does not offer any perfect solution to the problem of evil and why it exists (called a theodicy).  In brief, 1) God is all powerful.  2) God is good.  3) Appalling evil happens, all the time.  Why? How do we reconcile those three statements?  Some propose that we blame the devil, and when we are particularly involved in evil, conclude “the devil made me do it.”  This is overly simplistic and does not fit within the love, mercy and grace of God.  Do we propose that evil exists because of a mutual attack on goodness by our inherently evil human nature and by Satan and his demonic world?   Some do – again, I don’t think the Bible speaks authoritatively on this topic. But of course 1) God is all powerful  2) God is good and  3) Appalling evil happens, all the time.  These three truths are not perfectly resolved, to our satisfaction, by the love, mercy and grace of God either.  We are left with the problem of evil, where it comes from, how it happens, who is responsible and what can be done about it.

• Whether we take all biblical references to Satan being “literal” and “real” or not is a bit of a snipe hunt, I believe.  For example, one can say that people put on too much weight because they eat hamburgers and fries, while another person may say that people put on too much weight because they eat too much pasta and drink too much alcohol.  While there are folks who say they know dogmatic answers to weight gain, retention and loss (and they stand ready to sell you their book of course!)  the issue is a bit more complex than some of the simplistic solutions offered.  What can we say and know, and where should be place our attention?  In my opinion, Christ centered faith offers no intellectual solution to the problem of evil, or of Satan…. or for that matter, many other topics, including weight gain and loss.  But here’s the ultimate solution, here’s where our focus must be — the Cross of Christ stands forever as absolute testimony to the fact that there is no evil so vile and reprehensible that God cannot transform it to his goodness and grace, and that ultimately, he will.  Christ-followers have, by God’s grace, a cruciform faith, not a fearful of the devil faith.THE DEVIL AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL – GREG ALBRECHT

This is the standard belief of traditional Christianity, but not the COG version. Jesus gets little lip service in the COG while the law, Satan, and obedience do. People live in a state of fear in the church, constantly worrying if they are going to make it or if they have kept all of the laws properly. Any quick review of exCOG boards on Facebook makes that appallingly obvious on how people struggled when in the church to do everything right and how it helped destroy their mental health, so much so, that many are still dealing with the after-effects decades later.

God's Tone Deaf Prophet Wants You To Be More Hopeful

 

Never has the Church of God had a more tone-deaf prophet than we have in Bob Thiel. From being the Chief Overseer (slave owner connotations) of his African followers to publishing as many miserable things he can find, he tells us to be more hopeful. His god has to be the most miserable creature a COG minister has ever created. His god is always pissed off about something and ready for gleeful vengeance. Yet, with all of his doom and gloom, he expects his followers to have hope. 

How to Be More Hopeful
The New Testament teaches that Christians are to have hope. What are ways to be more hopeful? Pocket, a secular source, recommended an article about that. In this video, Dr. Thiel goes over many points of that article and ties them into numerous scriptures that teach about hope. Dr. Thiel also notes that multiple times, the Apostle Paul taught about faith, love, and hope together. Dr. Thiel also quotes Jesus related to not worrying and seeking first the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, he refers to mysteries of God’s plan that most do not understand. He also reads what the Bible promises will occur in the new earth.

While ignoring Jesus in their ministries, COG leaders expect members to look forward to 3 1/2 years of hell in Petra with all of the leaders fighting over who is in charge. Has the COG ever offered its members any real hope?