UCG: Always Finding An Excuse To Look Backward Instead of Forward

 

From Victor Kubik

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we in the Church of God hold the marvelous gift of truth from God Himself. As Jesus declared to His disciples in the first century, “truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matthew 13:17, English Standard Version, emphasis added throughout). 

 

In many respects, the New Testament serves as an illuminating and eloquent commentary on the truth revealed in the Old Testament. Isaiah declares to us that “The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious” (Isaiah 42:21, ESV). 

 

That’s exactly what Jesus did in His first-century ministry, as we read in Matthew: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20, ESV). 

 

All Old Testament prophecies and teachings ultimately reflect and point to the coming of Jesus as the Savior of humanity and future King of Kings in the coming Kingdom of God. The apostle John reveals: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

 

Of course, we understand that we as humans cannot keep the law perfectly, nor can we somehow “earn” salvation by keeping it as a service of works. As Paul emphasizes to us: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

 

Importantly, that does not change what Jesus said about those who try to “relax” the standard of the commandments, including the keeping of the weekly seventh-day Sabbath and the annual Holy Days. The commandments and teachings—embodied by the Word of God—guide our behavior. They tell us how to worship God. They provide incredible insight into both past and future trends. They give us sustaining comfort when we’re in painful trials and tribulations. They show us how to succeed, even in this earthly existence. They guide us on the spiritual pathway to transformation and how to put on the new man (Ephesians 4:24).

A Bunch of Bull-a! PCG's Gerald Flurry "Reveals" How an Ancient Clay Seal Heralds The Return of Donald Trump

A Bunch of Bull-a! 

PCG's Gerald Flurry "Reveals" How an Ancient Clay Seal 

Heralds The Return 

of 

Donald Trump

A Tiny Artifact Proclaims a Powerfully Encouraging Message

In the same publication of "The Trumpet" as previously posted, an article by PCG leader Flurry delves deeper into his manufactured reasons for connecting Jeroboam II in 2 Kings, with former President Donald Trump, who was democratically elected out of office last year.

Let's see if we can follow his iron-clad logic here. It seems that, during the 1980s, a "bulla", a type of clay seal, turned up in Israel in the possession of a Bedouin antiquities dealer, the seal bearing the words: "Belonging to Shema the servant of Jeroboam", together with an image of a roaring lion. Please remember the roaring lion.

The artifact was originally suspected to be fake, as is often the case, but careful examination has been carried out recently over the last 5 years and has led experts to conclude last December that it is, in fact, authentic. Interestingly enough from an archeological standpoint, this indicates that someone named Jeroboam seems to have existed and had at least one slave.

But for Gerald Flurry, this is so much more than an interesting ancient artifact - it's a strategically timed sign from God, that his wacky connect-the-dot style prophetic ideas are all true!

"For more than four years, I have explained that United States President Donald Trump fulfills a role prophesied in the Bible of an end-time King Jeroboam."

Hold on, let's hear him out... Pastor General Flurry knows this must be true because... lion on the bulla and Twitter memes!

"To many of his supporters ... Donald Trump possesses the qualities of a lion. Last year, one of these supporters posted a photo on Twitter of the president casting a shadow of a lion. (Remarkably, the shape of the image was similar to the one inscribed on the Jeroboam seal.) The message praised Mr. Trump as having “the courage of a lion.”

There we have it, folks, and after all who could argue against some random Trump supporter posting something on the internet? If they say Trump is a lion, and this ancient bulla seal has a lion image on it, well, that pretty much wraps it all up, doesn't it? Trump must be Jeroboam, it's just obvious.

And if this isn't already enough solid rock evidence, Flurry also seems to think that Trump has actually, in fact, been roaring like a lion since he left office!

"In spite of what virtually everyone believes, Mr. Trump’s job is not over. Since the 2020 election, he has been roaring like a lion. This is the message God wants us to take from the Jeroboam bulla: God is not done using Mr. Trump!"

Yes, roaring, my friends, whatever that means! Therefore, the bulla is a message from God to us, about Trump! How could we have been so blind?

And finally, he repeats his previous prediction that Trump will be back (probably by mutiny of the military and secession of Red states as he has "explained" previously):

"Donald Trump is going to return. When he does, a lot of people, especially the Jews, will be pleased. But when this happens, we must remember Amos 7 and 2 Kings 14. God will be the one behind Mr. Trump and what he accomplishes!"

So again, it seems that concrete predictions have been made. But he who makes predictions must also answer for them when they don't come to pass.

And while Flurry seems to be quite excited about this tiny little clay seal, it's not like similar such finds with various ancient names aren't found all the time in archaeological digs. What if this bulla seal is just another old bulla which happened to be found in the 1980s, and not some invented prophetic signal? And what if Flurry's enduring hope that Trump is reinstated by military insurrection is just a wacky idea that has more "bull" in it than bulla?

Submitted by Michael

Philadelphia Church of God: "We’re the hope of this world. This Noah-like work."

This is how Stephen Flurry imagines PCG members 

will soon be transported out of the United States 

 to the Place of Safety. 

It should never come as a shock to anyone even remotely familiar with the Armstrongite Church of God movement that its focus is NOT on the One they claim to follow but upon the law and other personalities they deem of great importance.

Leave it to the Philadelphia Church of God to take this to the extreme, once again. That most inconvenient dude they know nothing about is once more relegated to the rear of the room so that Noah can shine forth as the great savior of the world, as the one who led people to safety.

The Philadelphia Church of God is not known for having any great theologians who actually understand the Bible and the works of Jesus. It instead has a poorly trained group of man/boys who were trained at the feet of Gerald Flurry, who himself was so poorly trained that he based his entire movement upon Malachi's Message, a book he stole and plagiarized from Jules Dervaes, The Letter to Laodicea. The very same book that Stephen Flurry had a mystical vision about while at a PCG weekend at Robber's Cave in Oklahoma. Robber's Cave was the site of an event so sacred to the PCG that the student body of Herbert W Armstrong College make yearly pilgrimages to gaze in wonder at the very cabin  Stephen stayed in as he read Malachi's Message, thus validating his father's madness and the establishment of the Philadelphia Church of God cult.

In a letter sent to Exit and Support Network a few days ago, Stephen Flurry has given us proof once again on how theological bankrupt he really is. This time he is praising Noah and how he set the example to save the righteous. 

SF Talks About “Our Noah Like Work” and Going to the Place of Safety: 

 

September 5, 2021 

 

SF gave a Bible Study on August 20 at HQs entitled, “Our Noah Like Work” in which he compared GF’s “work” to “Noah’s work” and talked about members going to the Place of Safety. Below are some of the things he said. 

He said Joel Hilliker had a Trumpet Brief on August 18 (“Prophecy is Fulfilled in Afghanistan”) and he [Hilliker] “talked about these people desperately clinging to those cargo planes, even on the outside and he said that it brought to mind images of people clawing at the sides of Noah’s ark when God sent the flood.” [Those who read The Bible Story books in WCG will remember Basil Wolverton’s frightening cartoon depiction of that scene. 

 

“We in the church know the flood is coming.” 

 

“And in a lot of ways, the pictures of those people all sitting on the bottom of that C-17, crammed in there– that may be something that we experience ourselves at some point. We don’t know exactly what it means to be lifted away to the place of safety on the wings of a great eagle. But somehow or another, we are gonna to fly to the Place of Safety. And as Amos 7 says, we’re gonna be escorted out, or asked to leave. … There might be some government jets that are part of that massive transport operation. … 10,000 saints headed off to the Place of Safety. And then when you look at the outside of the vessel, when the people know the rain has set in and it’s not gonna stop–it’s a pretty sobering visual.” 

  

He referred to GF’s Peter booklet several times and said “We’re like the family of Noah. Hard at work during these final days of the present evil world. And soon we are going to be flying right into another world, a new world.” 

 

He referred to 9-11 as the time they [PCG] “entered into the Last Hour.” 

 

“Noah and his family were a type of this church; a type of this work that we are engaged in. A Noah like work. We are facing universal destruction.” … “God promises to save us.” 

 

“If we are supporting God’s preacher of righteousness [i.e., GF] [Noah was called a preacher of righteousness in II Peter 2:5], then God promises protection; God promises to save us.” 

 

“This present, evil world is almost over.” 

 

“When we are lifted over to the Place of Safety, that is the new world; that is the World Tomorrow.” … we are IT. We’re the hope of this world. This Noah-like work.” 

 

“Noah had to go out and build for God for a century. Then the rains came. … He had to plan ahead.” 

 

“It’s been almost a century since God opened the mind of Herbert Armstrong. And here we are–right where God prophesied.” 

 

“We’ve got to support our preacher of righteousness.” [i.e., GF] 

 

“We are here to tell this world that is about over.” 

 

He quoted from GF’s Peter booklet and said “You can look at Noah’s example and see that God saves a few. God is going to save us; He’s going to rescue us. He’s going to protect us. He promises that. We’re His children and He’s our Father. He’s going to look after us.” 

 

“God is still teaching us. The new revelation just continues. We haven’t even gotten some of the finer points or details regarding the Place of Safety and our flight and how that operation is going to be carried out. That is going to be exciting, getting some instructions in sermons from my father–‘Hey! We’ve got to be ready. God has shown me this and this and this about this verse here or this verse over there.’ Selling off our belongings. And being air-lifted out of a dangerous world.” 

 

Reading from the Peter booklet again, “Noah and his family were spared. A big benefit of doing God’s Work as He commands. Rewards always accompany obedience to God. … all the way to the end.” 

 

He read I Peter 3:19-21 “This age is about over. … God tested Noah to make sure he would wait and endure until the very end.” 

 

 

 

“Eventually, we’re going to be packing our bags–for good!” 

 

–Bible Study critiqued by Anonymous