PCG: Since Israel Is Too Stupid To Understand Their Own Archeology We Are Now Starting A New Institute To Educate Them On Their Archeology.

 

Gerald Flurry is constantly seeking to find ways to be relevant in the world like he believes Herbert Armstrong was. He built his own mini-me campus and auditorium near Edmond Oklahoma. He stole hundreds of HWA's works and republished them, got sued, lost the case, and then paid $3,000,000.00 for the rights to publish them. Then proceeded to rework them to edit out anything HWA might have said to make Flurry look like a self-appointed idiot, He started the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation in order to imitate Herbert's Ambassador International Cultural Foundation so he could share the same abbreviations (AICF). Abbreviations are important in COG land, it makes them closer to HWA than they really are.

Flurry also has his students from the cult college participate in archeological digs in Israel just like HWA did. While HWA worked with Benjamin Mazare, PCG has worked with Eilat Mazar, the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar. When she has made a lot of discoveries, she is not held in the highest esteem for her interpretations. She fits right in with the distorted interpretations of Gerald Flurry.

Mazar was a biblical maximalist and, according to herself, "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything."[22] 

However, Israel Finkelstein and other archaeologists from Tel Aviv University have flagged concern that, with reference to her 2006 dating of the "Solomonic city wall" in the area to the south of the Temple Mount known as the "Ophel", "the biblical text dominates this field operation, not archaeology. Had it not been for Mazar's literal reading of the biblical text, she never would have dated the remains to the 10th century BCE with such confidence.[23] Nevertheless, scholars now agree with Mazar's dating of this structure.[24][25][26] 

Mazar was cautioned by epigrapher Ryan Byrne following the 2008 confusion over the inscription on the Shelomit seal, that "in the mad dash to report biblical artifacts to the public or connect discoveries with the most obscure persons or events reported in the Bible, there is sometimes a tendency to compromise the analytical caution that objects of such value so dearly deserve."[27]

Flurry had an office in Jerusalem several years ago until he got the brainy idea to buy the Bicket Wood campus of the old Ambassador College so that he can be closer to Hill Tara in Ireland where he believes he and his cult will soon dig up the mound and recover the Ark of the Covenant that Jeremiah brought to Ireland when he supposedly visited it centries ago. When the campus sale fell through he bought Edstone outside of Bricket Wood and closed down the Jerusalem office due to finances.

Now that the end is just a few months away Flurry needs to spend millions on a new foundation and office to be built in Jerusalem.

In order to impress the faithful followers of Flurry, they announced this on the 32 anniversary of the founding of the PCG by Flurry.

Brad McDonald wrote the following the other day in a mailing to the faithful:

It was around five or six years ago now that Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry first mentioned his plan to start an archaeology institute. I remember the mix of emotion I experienced listening to the idea—the excitement and anticipation pickled in gravity and trepidation.

The idea was logical. We have practiced archaeology in Jerusalem, mainly in support of Dr. Eilat Mazar and Hebrew University, since 2006. We’ve helped Dr. Mazar uncover some truly astonishing biblical artifacts, including King David’s palace and the clay seal of Judah’s King Hezekiah. Our predecessor, the late Herbert W. Armstrong, worked alongside Prof. Benjamin Mazar, Eilat’s grandfather, for almost 20 years. After 50 years of participating in (and even sponsoring) archaeological digs, starting an archaeology institute was the next logical step.

Still, founding an institute would mark a major development. It would require an office in Jerusalem, qualified staff and researchers and a substantial research library. It would mean in-depth research, working alongside scholars and scientists, and then publishing. It would be a pretty audacious enterprise!

How did we get on?

This past weekend (January 16-17)—exactly 36 years after the death of Herbert W. Armstrong and less than one year after the death of Dr. Eilat Mazar—we finalized and launched the website of the Armstrong-Mazar Institute of Biblical Archaeology (AMIBA).

We have an archaeology institute!

This is what Flurry has on the main page of the Armstrong-Mazar Institute of Biblical Archeology and how they intend to educate Israel and the world:

Welcome to the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology (AIBA). AIBA’s mission is to showcase Israel’s biblical archaeology and to make it available to the largest audience possible, most especially to the people of Israel. 

 

AIBA is a non-profit academic and educational institution headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. 
AIBA seeks to share and promote Israel’s biblical archaeology via multiple platforms, including: 1) this website, which publishes articles, scientific reports and videos on Israel’s biblical archaeology; 2) Let the Stones Speak, a full-color, 32-page bimonthly print magazine; and 3) private tours of the Ophel and the City of David, as well as public seminars and archaeological exhibits. 

 

AIBA also sponsors and participates in archaeological excavations in Jerusalem, primarily in the City of David and on the Ophel. (To learn more about past projects, or to follow our ongoing projects, see Excavations & Projects.)   

 

AIBA has deep roots in Israel and in the field of biblical archaeology. The institute collaborates and works in partnership with many of Israel’s esteemed academic institutions, including Hebrew University, the City of David Foundation, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the Israel Exploration Society. AIBA is named after Herbert W. Armstrong and Dr. Eilat Mazar, two personalities with a long and rich history with both Israel and biblical archaeology. 

 

Herbert Armstrong was a prominent 20th-century Bible scholar, minister and humanitarian. He was also a keen supporter of biblical archaeology and the Jewish state. From 1968 to 1986, Mr. Armstrong supported multiple archaeological excavations in Israel, most notably the “Big Dig,” a massive excavation on the Temple Mount led by Hebrew University professor Benjamin Mazar. (Our Excavations & Projects page has more information on this.) 

 

Dr. Eilat Mazar, granddaughter of Prof. Benjamin Mazar, was one of Israel’s greatest biblical archaeologists. Eilat was responsible for making some of biblical archaeology’s most sensational discoveries, including King David’s palace, King Solomon’s royal complex, Nehemiah’s wall and the seals of King Hezekiah and Isaiah (among other finds). Dr. Mazar was a brilliant scientist who not only deeply valued the scientific method but recognized the crucial role the Bible plays in the study of Jerusalem’s ancient history. 

 

Since 2006, AIBA has proudly sponsored and worked alongside Dr. Mazar in her excavations in the City of David and on the Ophel. We endeavor to preserve Dr. Mazar’s archaeological legacy and keep it alive by approaching biblical archaeology with the same dedication to scientific and academic integrity, and the same passion, urgency and love. (You can learn more about the work and legacy of Dr. Eilat Mazar here.) 

 

AIBA’s overarching mission can be divided into five specific objectives: 

 

To promote the Bible as a credible and essential historical resource in the practice of archaeology in Israel 

 

To feature and continue the archaeological work of Dr. Eilat Mazar and her grandfather, Prof. Benjamin Mazar 

 

To analyze and explain archaeological excavations and discoveries past and present in the context of the Bible 

 

To challenge the unwarranted and unsupported criticisms leveled against the use of the Bible in archaeology in Israel 

 

To encourage archaeologists to consider and employ the Bible in the practice of archaeology

 

Gerald Flurry: Have a Smart Phone? Unless You Get Rid Of It You WILL Be In The Tribulation And Will Eat Your Sons, Daughters, And Friends!!!!!!!!!

 

The total asinine pronouncements of Church of God ministers get crazier by the day. Exit and Support Network is reporting that Flurry has banned smartphones and has proclaimed that anyone who still uses them will be in the tribulation where they will be eating their own children. Imagine being part of a cult that is this sick? Why do COG members still fall for this shit?

I can guarantee you that Lil'Stevie and the kids of the elite ministers at the cult compound have those phones. While they may use them at home instead of at work, they still have them.

The real reason he doesn't want them to have these phones is that they can easily access articles and information critical of the cult.

Armstrongism is sick. Sick to its rotten filthy core. Not one single one of them has any idea what being a Christian is.

GF Says Get Rid of Your Smart Phones or You Will End up in the Tribulation:
January 25, 2022 

 

I just wanted to draw attention to the last sermon GF gave entitled, “Jeremiah’s Commission.”
Towards the end he began speaking about smart phones. He referenced one specific family who used them and though he didn’t specifically say, he alluded to them no longer being members. So whether they were kicked out or left I don’t know. 

 

He then proceeded in an attempt to scare his followers by saying if people don’t get rid of their smart phone they will end up in the Tribulation and they’ll be eating their sons, daughters and friends and he then asked, “what good will those smart phones be then?” 

 

This is only about control! Think about this. What is the difference between an iPad or a computer? They all access the same information. What is the difference between a man at work all day on his computer in his private office or a stay at home mom with access all day to her iPad?? There is literally no difference. 

 

GF does this to control, and if the members secretly keep their smart phones, then they feel guilty and will attribute any bad thing that happens to them to this little “act of rebellion.” And if the ministry finds out someone is “rebelling,” then that gives them leverage and control over them. Even by their own doctrine, if their members can’t control themselves and stay off the porn sites–which he seemed to indicate that was a problem–how then can they make it into their supposed kingdom? Clearly they don’t have the character, and can’t do it unless their life is controlled for them. 

 

Last time I checked God doesn’t want robots. If He did, He would have made us so. It makes no difference if they access porn via a smart phone, iPad, or computer. It’s not about that, it’s solely about control, just like the recent ruling on men only wearing white shirts to church. It is 100% cult behaviour. –T. C.

Crackpot Prophet Lets His Racism Show In Regards To His African "Gentiles"

 

One thing Armstrongism was good at was segregating people into "us vs them" categories, but its biggest epitaph was to calls someone a 'Gentile" which quickly translated into an "unconverted" person. COG members were enlightened and chosen by God while all others were not called and were labeled as Gentile, particularly those of color and those assumed to not be part of the British Israelism belief the church clung to in order to make itself special and better than others.

There is one book of the Bible that irritates COG leaders the most and that is Galatians. Nothing makes their legalism look more stupid and silly than this book. They particularly do not like Gal 3:28 as it puts everyone on an even playing field, though this doesn't stop the Great White Bwana and Chief Overseer from labeling his black followers as Gentiles, i.e Black...the other.

The CCOG has nearly 6,000 Gentiles, which compares to about 300 or so in early 2014. CCOG has been the fastest growing x-WCG COG in the 21st century. 

 

Sadly, many people are affected by prejudices and other factors which stop them from acting on the truth and supporting the reaching of the Gentiles. Many also seem to dismiss that we are reaching tens of millions on non-Gentiles with our internet presence and programs. 

 

Jesus taught that the end does NOT come until the ‘Gospel of the Kingdom of God‘ reaches enough nations (Matthew 24:14) and, based on Paul’s writings, we also see that “the full number” (as the NIV, NLT, BSB, CEV, GNT, HCSV, ISV, and NET Bible, put Romans 11:25) of Gentiles God wants in this age come in. 

 

Notice also the following that Paul wrote which points to Gentiles, and then those of Israel:

25 As He says also in Hosea:

“I will call them My people, who were not My people,

And her beloved, who was not beloved.”

26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,

‘ You are not My people,’

There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,

The remnant will be saved. (Romans 9:25-27) 

 

In CCOG we are reaching Gentiles and non-Gentiles (cf. Romans 9:27, 11:23-24; see also What is the Ezekiel Warning?). 

 

We have done this in person and over the airways, as well as reaching over 100 million computers/talbets(sic)/cellular telephones in 2021. 

 

And that is part of why we have been the fastest growing xWCG church in the 21st century.

Its interesting to notice that here is a guy who thinks his witness is to the House of Israel and the 12 tribes scattered around the world (at least according to COG mythology) and the guy is UNABLE to attract any Caucasian followers, except for a scattered 1 or 2 here and there, let alone any followers from ANY of the Churches of God.  Instead he as to contend himself with "Gentiles" and "non-Gentiles" whoever they are supposed to be. 

 

 

Huh? Sure, Fine, Whatever...

"I'm fulfilling the clearing up of the Book of Revelation!"

These are snippets from the latest, non-Christian and extra-Biblical musings of Dave's, "Never Ending Story" as to just how correct he and the math still is about Christ's Second, or, the way it's going, Dave's Fifth Coming of his Christ saga.

Apologies for lack of context but I assure you, all of Dave's sermons on this BS sound like this from start to finish. I am sure that no member or minister can repeat or explain it as Dave presents it. I do not understand either the members or the ministry of the RCG. Brain dead it seems.  Besides, it changes every week or less anyhow. 

Most of this makes no sense to me and probably not to anyone hearing it at Church. One thinks that if they could hear the entire sermon, it would make sense. Alas, it does not make any more sense in its complete form than it does in snippet form. 

"HOW many STILL believe (as IF they EVER REALLY did!!!) that Moses, Solomon, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Christ and Paul, and perhaps others - PROVED the Kingdom of God comes in the winter month of Sebat?" That it can't be July,  it can't be April or the Feast of Tabernacles or something?................  Ok so we still believe those things


"HOW MANY were convicted that when we move the 8 days out of the Feast of Tabernacles, where the 1st and last days of the Feast, and then the Last Great Day, retain their holy status, and we have to locate them somewhere as SABBATHS?......... HOW MANY STILL believe that?

In other words, do we have AUTHORITY to take these (8) days and move them, and because they're NO LONGER annual Sabbaths, they lose their holy authority, even though annual Sabbaths are more holy to God, there are only 7 of them versus 52 regular Sabbaths. Do we have ANY authority a little over a month ago, to move them and drop the holy status. Are they holy unless God says they're not, or are they not holy unless God PROVES to us AGAIN that they STILL are?"............. There's nowhere in the scriptures that suggests for a minute, that God SAYS they're NOT holy"...

"While the 5 answers remain ROCK SOLID - OR SCRIPTURES BREAK..........SEVERAL things would NOT sit well in my mind for SOME time... In fact, the number of things grew a LITTLE over time - and they resolved themselves"

"The days of his voice..... Either it was 2 messages..... OR the days his voice is PLAYING OUT as his message goes around the world to the brethren....

"My voice is not active anymore since I did Part 344 over 10 days ago... It's TOO far! They don't apply - it bothered me!!

I explained the Book of Revelation - that was a PROPHECY.

I prepared these things WITHOUT ONE THOUGHT - WITHOUT ONE THOUGHT, that I was OPENING UP the Book of Revelation...

It occurred to me DURING the delivery of Part 344, that I WAS FULFILLING the clearing up of the Book of Revelation..... Mr Holcombe and Haboush are both witnesses"....

I believe "Mr Holcombe" was a very close friend of mine back when I pastored in Ohio in my 20's. I ordained him a deacon along the way and then lost track of him over the years. I did call him a couple times in the past but he would not speak with me or return my calls. Then I found he had gone with RCG and Dave so that pretty much explains it.  Dave might not be too happy if John and I were still friends. 

Concerning Dave's view that he opens or fulfills the Book of Revelation-- wrong.  Really, really wrong!

The Book of Revelation, whether we understand it or not, is full of hyperbole and is a failed first century prophecy written in or around the Summer of 70 AD just prior to the Fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans. I do understand the emotional disagreements with this, but Revelation was not written for a 2000 plus year down the road group of White Europeans to use as an explanation as to the times they, like all before them, thought or think they live in with Christ's Second Coming the prize. Even the early canonizers of the scripture were at a loss as to what to do with Revelation. But, as a Book for all times, it made the cut. 

This is not a study on Preterist perspectives but take a look at the concept sometime with regards to Biblical Prophecy and in particular the Books of Daniel and of Revelation should it interest you. It is the most satisfying view of Revelation I have studied to me. I recognize it might be so to you. 

"Preterism, a Christian eschatological view, interprets some (partial preterism) or all (full preterism) prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened. This school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events that happened from the 7th century BC until the first century AD, while seeing the prophecies of the Book of Revelation as events that happened in the first century AD. Preterism holds that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian church at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

The term preterism comes from the Latin praeter, which is a prefix denoting that something is "past" or "beyond".^[1] Adherents of preterism are known as preterists. Preterism teaches that either all (full preterism) or a majority (partial preterism) of the Olivet discourse had come to pass by AD 70."

From The Religion of the Occident

"Revelation was the swan song of Militant Jewish Christianity. When Jerusalem was destroyed, when Rome waxed greater and more powerful, when the False Prophet gained more and more followers (Note: To the author, this was the Apostle Paul who was hated by Jewish Christians), when the book itself was proved totally false within two years, when it became evident that the Jewish Messiah Christ would not come, the Hebrew Christians lost their virility and their cult faded under the combined assault of orthodox Judaism and of Gentile (Pauline) Christianity."

If you'd like my perspective on "The Second Coming as the Eternal Carrot" see:

https://ezinearticles.com/?The-Second-Coming-The-Eternal-Carrot&id=94672

or not...

In short, the "you" of the NT meant them not us, or anyone else of another time, every time.

And "This Generation shall not pass" has indeed passed and, apologetics notwithstanding, was never meant to imply any other future generation than the one Jesus is said to be speaking to in the Gospels. 

Dave's fetish with Revelation and his part in it are delusional and ignorant. 

Thanks for reading and your consideration here. 

   

LCG: Did Its Recent Fast Bring Them Closer To God And More Humble?

 Notice that this is NOT the kind of fast that LCG thinks is profitable for edification

Gerald Weston explained the purpose of a fast to some of his inquiring members as follows:

"...a clear statement that fasting is for the purpose of drawing close to God...fasting is a means of humbling ourselves...we draw close to God in humility. This applies to us individually and as the collective Body of Christ. Let us spend extra time in prayer, study, and meditation this Sabbath as we draw close to God in humility and oneness of mind."

That Sabbath is over. Anyone feeling that oneness and humility, besides Weston and Winnail? Was it so wonderful that fasting will no longer be necessary?

At least, Weston didn't ask his members to make their voices to be: "...heard on high," Isaiah 58:4, because God isn't interested in prayers and fasting to get for self.

Might fasting actually have another purpose that the likes of Weston/Winnail, and other former hirelings of the former WCG, hadn't thought of?

Think about it. Moses and Christ fasted for weeks. David did it for days. Were they any humbler? Were they any closer to God?

Weston/Winnail, as are Kubik, Franks, Thiel, Pack, Weinland, Flurry, etc., other former WCG hirelings (not sure who these people really are today?), all believe in their Mickey Mouse Millennium, to one degree or another lord it over others, and want their members to fast. Why? What has fasting ever done during the days of HWA, and since 16 January 1986?

Aren't true Christians, something other than organizations, associations, groups of men striving to rule, lord, and control the lives of men and women....already humbled by God and are hence close to God?

Did Moses and Jesus fast for the reasons Weston gave? If yes, then prove it to us with scripture!

Jesus told us this:

John 17:21 "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."

:23 "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."

Can a Christian get any closer to God than that: the Father in Christ, and Christ in every Christian? If these verses are true, that's pretty close to God and that Bridegroom (hint for Weston referencing the Bridegroom being taken away: well, He was away for 3 days and 3 nights), if you ask me.

Fasting is for some other reason(s), but not for what Weston said. Jesus fasted for 40 days and He wasn't going to get any closer to His Father, who was always with Him. And Christ is in them (John 17:23), those to be dragged by the Father and sealed by God's Spirit to be Firstfruits, part of a Bride to be built over time.

Will the likes of Weston, Winnail, other former WCG hirelings determine some other reasons for fasting other than the ones they burden their members with? Will they learn why Christ just may not be "in them:" if that is the actual situation?

Time will tell...

John