There have always been a couple of things that the Church of God had a strange obsession about - Satan and weak effeminate men. Satan is the all-knowing all-powerful god of the church that controls everything. Jesus? Not so much. Satan is discussed more and emphasized more than Jesus ever is.
The other thing that set many church ministers off the deep end was weak or "effeminate" men. Who can forget the 98-pound weakling, turned Golden Gloves champion Rod Meredith and his obsession with gay men when he wrote his "The Shocking Truth About Queer Men". This article was probably a knee-jerk reaction to prove his masculinity after Herbert Armstrong said he was the most effeminate man in the ministry. From that point on all men in the church had to be Alpha men. No weaklings need apply. (See: "Alpha Men" In The Churches of God)
The Philadelphia Church of God has a huge obsession with British Royalty and Winston Churchill. Churchill was a man's man in LCG's eyes and could do no wrong. Gerald Flurry wants his followers to be men of integrity like Churchill, powerful and forceful in accomplishing the mission. He wants his men and followers to be "boiling hot".
We live in the Laodicean era. Revelation 3:15-17 reveal that most of God’s people in this era are lukewarm, complacent and self-satisfied. That is human nature. Their love has waxed cold, but God says, I wish that you were hot! That word “hot” is zestos in the Greek, meaning boiling hot.
Flurry wants them to also be filled with passion:
Do you have passion for truth? For righteousness? For God’s Family and Work? For the plan of God? For the Kingdom? Build passion for the things in your life that God supports.
That passion is needed because they are going to take the Kingdom of God by storm!
There is a lot to be said for having proper enthusiasm and excitement. When you put effort toward something worthwhile, good things will happen. The Bible is full of people whose passion was God and His Work.
Matthew 11:7 says, “And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” Did you expect to see some weak, soft, effeminate man? This man was a messenger for God; he prepared for Christ’s first coming—the first-century type of the end-time Elijah.
“But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. … Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (verses 8, 11-12).
“Suffers violence” comes from a Greek word meaning: “forced, overpowered, taken by storm” (Vincent’s Word Studies). Christ says the Kingdom of God is taken by storm! We seize the Kingdom of God like we are conquering a city.
PCG members need more passion and foregoing some meals to support the work. Christ's meat is all they need. Besides, the church needs the money you would waste on food.
Christ’s meat was to do His Father’s Work. It sustained and energized Him more than physical food. Mr. Flurry writes in John’s Gospel—The Love of God, “If you are like Christ and you miss some meals to do the Work of God, that’s not bad! Christ had enough passion and excitement that He didn’t mind those kinds of inconveniences. His mind was teeming with the vision of God! He was thinking about the World Tomorrow, not the world today. If you are really doing the Work, you have vision!”
PCG members and especially the Irish dancing men need more zeal and passion to get the work finished. Prancing around on a stage pretending to talk about a guiding hand from someplace, who will soon send his son to sit on Flurry's golden throne, is about as passionless as it could get. Well, other than printing hundreds of booklets in different languages that no one will ever read like Bob Thiel does.
“According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (verses 18-19). We need more of that zeal and passion—the zeal of the Eternal.
God is stirring us to build the zeal of the Eternal. Ask God for more passion, and He will give it to you. Passion will inspire action and help you surmount obstacles and become a more effective tool for God. You can inspire passion in other people and build a more passionate Family of God.
So get off your lazy butts and be passionate, because your number one reason for being passionate is you will soon be God ruling with power and authority!
Isaiah 62:1 says, “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.” Isaiah was eager to do anything possible to proclaim God’s message. The Church’s literature is packed with quotes about the need for passion like the Father and Son have. It should be our number-one passion to declare the message of the God Family.
