Gerald Flurry, leader of the Philadelphia Church of God has a new article up about The Spirit of Prophecy. It is another convoluted mishmash of false beliefs created by Gerald Flurry in an attempt to promote the law and whip his followers into the notion he is the one true prophet to the church. Jesus gets the short end of the stick again.
“And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Testimony comes from the Latin testimonium, which is the word used for the Ten Commandments. Webster’s offers three primary definitions: the tablets inscribed with the Mosaic law; a firsthand authentication of a fact; and a solemn declaration.
So this testimony the Apostle John wrote about is very different from most: It is a declaration from God in the flesh!
The Temple Dictionary of the Bible writes: “In the plural, this word stands in the Old Testament, especially in Psalm 119, for the divine law. … Testimony is frequently joined with ‘commandments’ (2 Kings 23:3) …. It is used emphatically for the two tables of the law.” This is a testimony from God in the flesh. It was His message when He came to Earth.
Christ said, “I receive not testimony [the same word used in Revelation 19:10] from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved” (John 5:34). Christ’s testimony didn’t come from a man. It is perfect and it’s in the spirit of prophecy.
Thayer’s further amplifies this word: “[T]he testimony of Christ is that which He gives concerning divine things, of which He alone has thorough knowledge … that testimony which He gave concerning future events relating to the consummation of the Kingdom of God ….” That is prophetic testimony!
It is critical that we, like Christ, understand and have the spirit of prophecy!
The article is a huge slobber fest of idolatry to Herbert Armstrong and quotes HWA at every chance they can get. It also makes the excuse for why Flurry left the mother church to start his own group. Of course, it is an attack of Tkach Sr. and high praises for the most significant moment in PCG's history when Lil'Stevie read Flurry's plagiarized Malachi's Message.
After Mr. Armstrong died, terrible spiritual destruction fell on the Church. God started that famine, exactly as Mr. Armstrong prayed it would. And look at what has happened since. “And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” (verse 18). On July 16, 1989, exactly 3½ years later, my son read Malachi’s Message. The latter rain started at that time, and “brought forth her fruit.” We are that fruit! One man prayed to God and changed the course of everything. Look at the fruits of that prayer. We are here because of Mr. Armstrong’s prayer and God’s blessing. We have all kinds of marvelous new truths God has given—truth that God and Mr. Armstrong didn’t want the Worldwide Church of God to ever have again. He raised up the Philadelphia Church of God to receive God’s new revelation.
Imagine basing your church on demented writings of Jules Dervaes that Flurry plagiarized and the fact that Lil'Stevie read it. It can't get any crazier, except maybe for Bob Theil's fantastical reasons on why he formed his group.
Only one wcg minister continued for about six months to deliver the truth of God. Eventually, he too caved in and accepted wrong doctrines. If you were in the spirit of prophecy, you would never follow that church because they were teaching “Prophesy not”! That’s no small mistake—it’s rejecting God and His law and our testimony.
Mr. Armstrong knew what that leadership was all about. He knew Mr. Tkach was not going to lead God’s true Church. And he saw to it that he didn’t receive any new revelation. He saw an evil that he hadn’t seen six days before.
We are dealing with those who are “according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders.” We are in a war against that evil being, and Satan is in his worst wrath ever. That is what we are fighting against. Being in a war can result in a lot of persecution. This is why we must understand the spirit of prophecy.
Know We Are at War
Prophecy describes Mr. Tkach being in the bonds of Satan and his son being a spiritual Antiochus. God says these men are liars, and He’s going to expose them. These ministers were in the synagogue of Satan (Revelation 3:9). Satan is the father of liars and a murderer from the beginning because there is no truth in him (John 8:44).
Propehcy has absolutely nothing to say about Tkach, Flurry, Thiel, or any of the other looney tunes leading COG's today other than the fact the Bible states that false prophets will arise to deceive many.
Flurry then gets to the gist of what the spirit of prophecy is in the church and it does not involve church members. It's all about him. and corporate prophecy.
This little group, with a powerful message going around the world, believes in the spirit of prophecy! If you are in the spirit of prophecy and you have the testimony of Jesus Christ, you see the future and you know it is worth any trial we have to endure.
With the spirit of prophecy, you understand that we have a spectacular future when Christ returns. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). We are going to be like God! What a stirring God Family potential!
There's that "we will be gods" myth, again.
He then moves on to his favorite book in the Bible, Lamentations. Not anything that concerns Jesus but a book filled with death and destruction. Hell yeah!
Lamentations is the most horrifying book in the Bible! Some of it is tough to read. It’s not something you sit and read before going to sleep—it would keep you up all night! But it is talking about real events that are going to happen to Israel. For example, Lamentations 4:10 talks about the “compassionate women” of Israel boiling their own children for food! (Revised Standard Version). The Laodicean churches are going to experience that! Unparalleled punishment is coming on God’s own Church! They are self-righteous and lukewarm. They can sound chic today proclaiming their messages of “love,” but they won’t be doing that when Lamentations is fulfilled! God will force them to face their rebellion!
A little later he writes:
The book of Lamentations is a funeral dirge—a poem of the most intense grief and mourning. Yet we must remain encouraged. You need the spirit of prophecy to put all this into perspective. This book makes clear that God will do what it takes to bring members into His Family. If you lack the spirit of prophecy, then you won’t see the beautiful bigger picture in this book—God building His Family!
He does mention Jesus a couple times, but only as it fits his warmongering of death and destruction of the Laodiceans:
The spirit of prophecy is filled with hope. How could Jesus Christ endure the suffering of being marred more than any man—how could He be crucified—if He weren’t in the spirit of prophecy? He knew He was to be a King! He was born to rule this Earth and this universe under His Father. Nobody could stop Him from fulfilling that destiny!
We must have the testimony of Jesus Christ. If we are going to be like Christ and get through severe persecution, we need the spirit of prophecy!
Only Flurry's group has any hope of being the "elect".
But look how God describes His very elect: “The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter’s hands!” (verse 2; rsv). What powerful poetry!
If you want to be a “precious son of Zion,” you must let the master potter shape and mold you! We are simply the clay in the potter’s hands. This is a powerful truth. These are people who give everything they have to God’s Work. How precious that is!
Live in the spirit of prophecy! If you can get this wonderful vision in mind, there is nothing like it and never will be anything better on Earth during this age of man’s rule! Allow that to stir genuine hope in your life and to stir your motivation and fire your imagination. Give everything to God, even your life if that is required. That is the perfection of beauty! That is what God loves.
While Flurry tells his followers to have the spirit of prophecy it is only to be the prophecies revealed by him or Lil'Stevie after Flurry dies. It is all about corporate propehcy and has nothing to do with any "spirit" of prophecy. Members are to be subservient and NOT believe they can have the spirit of prophecy.
Can you imagine what would happen if one of Flurry's members popped up and said they had a prophecy from God? They would be out the door so fast they would know what happened. Flurry's "spirit of propehcy" schtick is that his followers develop the understanding that Flurry's prophecies are true. That's the only "gift" they need to have.
There is no need for a prophet to be in the New Covenant church. One can easily see that this is true considering the mishmash of demented weirdo's currently lying to the church in 2021.
