PCG: God Inspired Wayne Turgeon Into Forcing PCG Students To Work On Sunday

One thing Herbert Armstrong never took into consideration when he designed his opulent buildings was the upkeep of the facility.  When the Ambassador Auditorium as built, no expense was spared on the materials used inside and outside the facility.  Then, as the advancing opening night approached, corners were cut in the final details.  As a result, the college and church had to spend hundreds and hundreds of man-hours, and millions of dollars in tithe money to maintain the monument to excess self-indulgence.

The same goes on today in Edmond Oklahoma where Gerald Flurry had to build his mini-me Herbert W Armstrong Auditorium.  This opulent monstrosity is filled with the same mistakes Herbert made, though the building itself is on a much smaller scale because Flurry was unable to duplicate the Pasadena monument as excessively.

Flurry's boondoggle has ended up costing the church members millions in tithe money for upkeep just so Flurry's grand kids can have a stage to dance on or sing in a play that is based upon some Old Testament prophet, though NEVER EVER in a story about a New Testament character or even Jesus.

The PCG website has a long story up justifying the expense and the amount of time required to keep the auditorium clean.  The PCG goes above board in trying to impress the non-believing community of Edmond.  That extra work done to impress came about because PCG's god apparently "inspired" Wayne Turgeon to make PCG students work on Sunday.  "Six days shalt though labor..." is the rallying cry of the indulged Flurry family members who get to take off as much time as they want and spend Sundays relaxing and doing family things while the lower caste students have to work.

Concerts

Although they are largely unseen, custodians play a part in Armstrong Auditorium’s Armstrong International Cultural Foundation Performing Arts series. The crew spends an average of eight manhours before a concert freshening the bathrooms, adding crispness to the vacuumed patterns in the royal purple carpet, and dusting the wood paneling so that arriving concertgoers see the auditorium at its best. 

Once the concert has begun and the guests are almost all in the theater, the custodians emerge from the hallway on a mission, pushing their yellow carts laden with the tools of the trade: polishing cloths, paper towel restocks, toilet scrubbers, and other equipment. Four groups rapidly clean the four bathrooms on both levels with the objective of leaving them as pristine in the middle of the concert as they were before the first guest arrived. After the last note has been sung or played and guests have finished conversing with artists, staff members and each other and left for the night, the custodians reemerge to complete their mission with a final clean of vacuuming and mopping the main floor and the crumbs left behind from concessions in the balcony. 

Schedule

Students clean immediately after concerts and other auditorium events, such as the annual seven-day Feast of Tabernacles. Students clean every day immediately after services (waiting until after sunset on high days and Sabbaths). 

During a regular week, Armstrong Auditorium is cleaned every day, with eight auditorium custodial staff spending an average of 34 manhours each week. The amount of time required has doubled with the opening of the Seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah exhibit, which requires at least three hours to scrub bathrooms, vacuum carpets and dust wood.

During the typical work week, the crew cleans the auditorium every Sunday morning. If they did not, “God’s house will be dirty for a whole day after the Sabbath,” said Lamberth. “I don’t believe He’d like that.” 

Lamberth said that the way the cleaning schedule for the auditorium worked out was miraculous. Initially, custodians cleaned the building on Monday, rather than Sunday, the day after services. Yet working out conflicts in the schedule proved to be a struggle, and it was difficult to complete the work in time and preserve the students’ 20-hour work weeks while college was in session. Lamberth brought the situation to buildings and grounds department head Wayne Turgeon, who reminded him, “six days shall you work.” Lamberth built the suggestion into his new schedule. 

“After that, all the scheduling lined up,” and all of the work was completed within the students’ 20-hour work time frame. Lamberth said in regards to the decision to clean on Sundays, “I believe he was inspired.”

Sadly, this story is written by the child of a family the PCG destroyed in order to get back at the father, a former minister. who tried to expose the spiritual abuse dealt out by Cal Culpepper.

You can read the PCG story here:  Custodial Crew Keeps Armstrong Auditorium Clean 

Also, see:

Gerald Flurry Demands That Aaron Eagle's Wife Divorce Him When He Tried To Expose Cal Culpepper's Abuse

Gerald Flurry Gives Aaron Eagles Wife A Job To Further Drive A Wedge In Their Marriage

Home School Teacher Joins Imperial Academy

Even Lee Majors Is Shocked!

2,500-3,500 hits a day

Who would have ever thought...

Survivor of Sexual Misconduct of Philip Shields

Light on the Rock

From a reader:

As a mandatory reporter, it is my obligation to report any knowledge I have of sexual deviance with minors. In the state of Washington and Oregon, the same standards apply today as they did 20 years ago. Yet, the Global Church of God, which and evolved into the Living Church of God, did not report the child abuse. Further, they stonewalled me as a mother. What does stonewalled mean? It means when I called headquarters, the evangelists and ranking ministers refused to take my calls. It means when I went to my brother (the then acting pastor of the Global Church of God who has now move on to another affiliation) I was systematically diminished in the eyes of my friends. Those members who had previously said they would testify for me in a civil lawsuit, they all bailed. He, the minister at that time, said I did not need him as I had enough laymembers. In short, I had to sue Philip Shields on my own. My minister would not help me. The laymembers at that time told me no later. And even today, the wife of this minister is telling one of my children that they were ready to support me. But the reality is is that I was left completely alone to fend for myself. There was no minister or his wife to support me. They jumped ship. Is telling my adult daughter that they were there for me, when they were NOT, teaching my children to honor me? Well, respect and obedience to ministers and their wives take priority over the commandment to honor your father and mother. Yet, these ministers tout their service to God, as they lie about what really happened.

Anything that is said contrary to this is an absolute lie. If you believe the Bible, it says that you will stand before the judgment seat. What I testify is true. My minister and his wife bailed on me. As I watched those who hated Philip systematically bail as well.

Of course, I planned all of this myself. Right? 

Bob Thiel on Happy Satanday!

Throughout life, the typical year of an Armstrongite or a child born in Armstrongism is pretty bland. Besides the annual year-after-year COG traditions, most celebrations are shunned, banned, or ignored. Birthdays have never been any different.

Of course, our doubly-blessed prophet Bob Theil of the improperly-named "Continuing Church of God" continues assaulting the practice of avoiding birthdays within the Church - this time, those who celebrate birthdays with - you ready for this? Satanism.

He continues to try everything in his glorious scholarly ability to point out what he considers valid reasons why birthdays are so dastardly evil. He looks into as many historic sources as possible to prove his already set in stone bias, to confirm his position. From astrology to Catholic theologians to now even trying to pull out the Satanism card - he keeps hitting the birthdays with his foam sledgehammer over and over and over again. It's the same song and the same story - even though he clearly admits the Bible has no specific commands that prohibit the celebration of birthdays! His latest drivel clearly seems to attempt to provoke fear among people that they might be inviting demons just because they are honoring the day of someone's birth. 

Of course, this is absolutely and totally ridiculous. Celebrating a birthday has nothing to do with either astrology, or the writings of Catholicism, and to even compare it with the practices of Satanists is beyond absurd. It's just plain ridiculous. And here's why.

The celebration of a birthday - especially for a child - is an act of love, acknowledging thanksgiving and gratefulness to God for another year of life for a person. It is a time of family and friends to gather and reflect on the year, enjoy friends and fellowship, give gifts of recognition, and enjoy a great time. Not only this - it's absolutely helpful to help build a sense of belonging, self-esteem, and value among friends and family. It is thrilling to see friends and family come together on this special day, to acknowledge that you - you as a person - are valued, and are loved.

More than this, it is a freedom that all people have a right to choose on their own as to if, how, and when and why they should or shouldn't celebrate it. Certain personalities may not want to have a birthday celebration - and that's fine. Certain persons may benefit from one - to help them out of a depression, or out of a bad time - or to just know that they are valued. Whatever is done, as long as it is done in love toward one another - against such there is no law. Perhaps this is why the Bible never mentions it - because it's personal! It is a decision that can only be determined by a person and a family. It is not a theological issue, or an issue any church needs to get their nose bent out of shape over.

The bottom line is: Because birthdays have no specific command for or against it, Bob should keep his unordained, self-appointed opinions to himself. But since he will not, I would hope that any who read it will recognize that it is their decision, their lives, their families, and is solely between them and the God whom they serve. Birthdays can be of great value if done in the spirit of love to one another. It's time that members of the Churches of God take back their lives from those who do everything they can to dictate decisions people are more than capable of making for themselves.

submitted by SHT

Are the COG's Fundamentalists?

Roger Olsen, a writer on Patheos has an entry up with the title: "Who’s Really a “Fundamentalist?” Again—the American Media Gets Religion Wrong".

He questions, rightly so, how the term "fundamentalist" is tossed around by the press and others when labelling religious groups. He goes on to explain how the word is used to label religious extremists of any religion and conservatives. It is true that the label does not apply because true fundamentalists are defined as thus:

Anyone who knows anything about fundamentalism knows that it arose in America (with simultaneous corresponding movements in Great Britain and Canada) as a militant (not violent) re-assertion of Protestant Christian doctrines in the face of the rise of liberal Protestantism.

What makes his posting interesting is that he uses the United Church of God as an example.  He apparently has relatives in UCG.

Most recently a prime time American television “crime documentary program” called the United Church of God—which follows the teachings of the late Herbert W. Armstrong—a “fundamentalist church.” True fundamentalists would consider any of the denominations that follow Armstrong’s teachings a cult (in the theological sense of the word). (The United Church of God was formed by former members of the Worldwide Church of God (now named Grace Community) when that denomination changed its theology be orthodox and evangelical—after the death of founder Armstrong. (Nothing I say here about the United Church of God is meant in any way to insult or demean it or its members. I have cousins who are members of the UCG. I only mean to point out that its doctrines are not consistent with true, historical fundamentalism.) Earlier in the two hour episode the presenter of the mystery referred to the church as “strict.” I assume, although I remain open to correction, that the writers of the program consider any “strict church” fundamentalist.

There are many problems with this use of “fundamentalist” but the main one I want to point out here is that this is simply dumb. I mean, it is part of the overall and general “dumbing down” of American culture about religion. There are too few labels and categories used and the ones they use become too “thin” to be very descriptive. To call the United Church of God “fundamentalist” is to loosen the label and category “fundamentalist” from history and theology entirely. It becomes nothing more than a label for any religious group that really takes its beliefs and life standards seriously. In that sense, then, one could label some liberal Protestant churches and people “fundamentalist!”

What spurred this on was the 48 Hours recent piece on the murder Amy Allwine by her husband, a UCG elder.

Most know very little, almost nothing, about any church or denomination other than their own (if they have one). Those who are “nones” are woefully ignorant of religion. And part of the blame for that falls on the media who do not even seriously attempt to “get it right” when talking about or portraying religious groups and individuals.

P.S. The particular “crime documentary” program in question here has my e-mail address; the producer knows me and could easily have suggested that the writer(s) e-mail me about The United Church of God so that they don’t misrepresent it. The fact that the married couple at the center of the story belonged to the United Church of God was played up as important to the particular segment of the two hour episode. So what would I have told them to say about it? “Strict” is okay, but I would have suggested they say it is a church that follows the teachings of the late Herbert W. Armstrong who was a famous televangelist considered unorthodox in his teachings by most Christians. That would have been informative. Calling it “fundamentalist” was misleading.

Of all the hundreds and hundreds of splinter groups of the old Worldwide Church of God, UCG is the more "liberal" of them all. even though they stick to the fundamental" roots of Herbert Armstrong.  UCG members tend to believe and practice their belief in many different ways and many times not in alignment with the "official" stance of the church.   This is what infuriates the Pharisaical legalists like James Malm and Bob Thiel.  They look at UCG as "Laodicean", lukewarm in their message and actions.

UCG certainly is not fundamentalist, extremist or even conservative in their beliefs. What exactly would you call them?