Why Is This Time Of Year So Discouraging To Church of God Members?

It is rapidly approaching the Armstrongite version of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Members will be taking stock of their sinful lives as they scour their homes, cars and lives of leavening.

One of the more extremist Armstrong Churches of God, the Philadelphia Church of God, acknowledges that this time of the year can be very discouraging to church members.

Spring Holy Days: Appreciating God’s Goodness

This can be a discouraging time of year—unless we have the right focus.

By Gerald Flurry • March 8, 2019

This year, baptized members of the Philadelphia Church of God will observe the solemn Passover ceremony on the night of April 18, commemorating the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that pays for the physical and spiritual sins of all humanity past, present and future once we repent. From April 20-26, everyone in the Church—converted or not—will celebrate the Days of Unleavened Bread, which picture the complete removal of sin from our lives.

As we rapidly approach the spring holy day season, we should be thoroughly examining our lives for sin and preparing our minds to discern Christ’s sacrifice. This can be a very sobering experience as we begin to grasp the horrifying sins we have committed—sins that required the death penalty of our Savior.

The church has had a horrible reputation of grinding people down into worthless worms and maggots this time of year as they are berated as worthless sinners that killed Jesus. This sends members into a week-long frenzy of beating themselves up over their sins, especially the sins that the PCG leaders and ministers claim they have committed.

Then they show up at Passover services, in great solemnity, as ministers break the matzos with microphones amplifying the cracking and breaking of the bread. Members are supposed to sit there and ponder those sounds as if they were at the foot of the cross striking Jesus or thrusting the sword into his side.

Throughout church history, the Eucharist, communion, the Last Supper or the Lord's Supper has been the various names given to this event. Many look at it as the Love Feast or a foretaste of the heavenly banquet prepared before the origins of the world that will be celebrated in the Kingdom of God.

This heavenly banquet concept was something that Tkach Sr. recognized and told members in Pasadena that they needed to stop coming to the service with a sense of dejection and instead come to it with joy.  They were to look at it with the joy of participating in the great heavenly banquet to come.

ACOG members get depressed this time of year because their church leaders browbeat them continually down as they degenerate them as much as possible  Then, they are supposed to leave the Passover service exhilarated that all of the past sins of the last year have been wiped away. For many, this is an exhilarating feeling, but it never lasts long. All they have to do is wait until the first day of Unleavened Bread to be knocked down again during the sermon for failing to put sin out of their lives.  Then, they happen to find a cookie or bread crumbs in some strange place and the helplessness begins all over.

Because the ACOG places all of its trust in physical things and in the law, it fails to recognize the one they claim to celebrate at Passover.  Instead, they spend the night torturing and killing him in some gymnasium or Masonic Lodge.

Flurry says this in his article:

Yes, when Christ came to this Earth, His life was at stake. He could, indeed, sin. Christ’s life was the greatest risk in the history of man. But He took it because He wanted people like Abraham in His Family—people who would go out and sacrifice their own son if necessary, knowing that God would resurrect him to fulfill a promise (Hebrews 11:17-19). Abraham had that kind of faith and trust in God, and God returned that love many times over. All people who can repent like you, Abraham—I will give my life for them. I know that if I don’t make it, nobody else will. But I’m going to do this so we can build the Family of God. That’s the cost it took for us to receive God’s Holy Spirit.

Because Flurry refuses to know the Christ he claims to follow, he says that his Jesus could have indeed sinned.  That is typical Armstrongite bad theology.  Many Christians feel otherwise about that.  Consider this:

"We must strongly affirm the reality of Christ’s temptations, but we must not make his temptations the same as ours in every respect. Why? Because, as much as Jesus is like us, he is also utterly unique, and his temptations reflect this fact. For example, Jesus was tempted to turn rocks into bread, a temptation that normal humans do not face. He was tempted to use his divine prerogatives instead of walking the path of obedience, and he chose to live in dependence upon the Father in order to become our merciful and faithful High Priest (Heb. 2:17–18). In addition, he faced temptation in Gethsemane, but not by anything within himself, since he was perfectly holy and righteous. Unlike us in our fallen condition, in Christ there was no predisposition to sin and no love of it. The temptation he faced was unique to him as the Son, and it was unique to him as our sin-bearer. He rightly and legitimately recoiled at the prospect of losing his communion with his Father for a time; as a man, he rightly wanted to avoid death in this way for many reasons. We must never deny that Christ’s temptations were real, indeed more real than we could ever imagine or experience, but we must also affirm that they were utterly unique to him. (3) God cannot be tempted with evil, and God cannot sin (see, e.g., James 1:13). 

"But there is more to the identity of Jesus than this, especially when we think of the who of the incarnation. Jesus is not merely another Adam or even a greater, Spirit-empowered one. He is the last Adam, the head of the new creation, the divine Son incarnate, and as the Son, it is impossible for him to sin and to yield to temptation, because God cannot sin. Behind this assertion is the fact that sin is an act of the person, not of the nature, and that in the case of Christ, he is the eternal Son. As Macleod rightly reminds us, “If he sinned, God sinned. At this level, the impeccability of Christ is absolute. It rests not upon his unique endowment with the Spirit nor upon the indefectibility of God’s redemptive purpose, but upon the fact that he is who he is.” "  Could Christ have sinned?

Flurry continues with this absurd statement that once again lays a heavy burden on members backs.

If Christ had failed, God the Father would have been sitting in solitary confinement for the rest of eternity! That’s the kind of sacrifice these Gods made for us. We can forget that in our callous, carnal thinking. But God the Father and Christ did it—and they did it for you. They want you to be aware of that. Not out of their vanity, but so that you will recognize that repentance must be toward God! We must understand repentance if we are to enter the God Family."

All PCG members must always hold in the back of their mind that their sins that they continue to commit are still to killing their "jesus" to this day.  They must always hold in the back of their minds that the "jesus" they claim to follow just might have screwed up and sinned, prohibiting them from ever become gods like their version of "God the Father" is.

So yes, I do agree with Gerald Flurry. This IS a depressing and discouraging time of year for so many Armstrong Church of God members.

Philadelphia Church of God: Is Another Upcoming Split Of The Church In The Works?

Church of God News has a post up from a group that split off from Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God.

This group is the Armstrong Remembrancers and Keepers of God Foundation.  They are former PCG members who are mainly located in the Philippines.  They have had particular issues with John McDonald that I have reported about previously on here.  McDonald has a rich history of abuse towards the Philippines members and has kicked out close to 300 PCG members since he was sent there. He has a nasty reputation due to his callous and vengeful nature. Plus, PCG's track record in the Philippines has also taken huge hits with several suicides that have happened to members because of the implementation of the "no contact" policy that they implemented a few years ago.

The Remembrancers also recently restored Liberty Bell Park in Jerusalem that HWA and Ambassador Foundation had built decades ago.

Like any typical Armstrong related Church of God out there, it has selective enforcement of policies and doctrines.  Big money gives are always the first to be courted and tolerated for their mistakes that would have led others being kicked out of the church.

From Armstrong Remembrancers and Keepers of God Foundation (a PCG breakaway group in the Philippines) 20th March 2019: 

“SELECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF SUSPENSION AND NO-CONTACT POLICY BY THE PHILADELPHIA CHURCH OF GOD 

If a member is a big tithe payer, the PCG ministers will do everything to keep him in the fold no matter what. But for a member who is more of a seeker of financial assistance due to his poverty, his expulsion from the Church is just hanging by a thread. Historically, there were nearly 300 PCG members in the Philippines who were excommunicated for the flimsiest reasons under the continuing reign of terror of John Macdonald, which was halted only when the Remembrancers burst in the scene and started exposing PCG’s wicked policies and rules. The majority of those members who were spiritually slaughtered by the PCG ministers were excommunicated primarily because of their poverty. 

Mr. Naciancino Guillar is a generous donor and obviously, the PCG cannot simply let him go or do something that will make him feel bad or hold grudges against the PCG ministers. The ministers visiting him in Pagadian City are well aware that Mr. Guillar’s son, Joel Guillar, who is a leading member of the ARK of God Foundation, has never been restrained from visiting his father. He can freely come to see him and talk to him anytime. The PCG ministers are very well aware of this, but they would not dare IMPOSE THE NO CONTACT POLICY on Joel Guillar. Mr. Guiillar does not believe in the need to CUT OFF his relationship with his son, and the PCG ministers know that, if they will insist on him to cut off his connection with Joel, the probability of losing a BIG TITHE PAYER is very high. So, they have been very lenient in the case of Mr. Guillar. 

Now that Mr. Guillar is threatening to bolt out of the PCG if Mr. Gerald Flurry will decide to split-off with his son Stephen, the more that they are very uneasy about causing Mr. Guillar to have any ill feeling against them. 

Let’s see what happens when Mr. Alex Harrison comes to the Philippines for the PYC. Will he take a trip down south (to visit Mr. Guiillar), or will he require their disabled, two-legged amputee, a senior member from Pagadian City to travel to the PCG office in Angeles City, Pampanga? Most likely, Mr. Harrison will take option 2, which will put the heavy burden on Mr. Guillar, while thinking it will discourage him from taking the trip because of his extreme physical disability. They will avoid a meeting with him at all cost while trying to keep him at ease in continuing his membership in the PCG.” 

While the above information is nothing new to the Church of God, what follows may be a brief hint at an upcoming split in the Philadelphia Church of God between Flurry and Lil'Stevie.  There have been hints thrown around for some time now that there is a strained relationship between father and son, much like HWA and Garner Ted.

A post on 11th March said this of Alex Harrison: 

“IS HE A MINISTER OF GOD OR NOTHING MORE THAN A GLORIFIED HIRELING? 

He is a Kiwi who is based in Australia and holds the rank of an Evangelist in the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG). He is the Regional Director of the Cult over Africa, Australasia, Oceania and the Philippines. 

Alex Harrison is a family man himself and he has a son who has left the PCG, but since he is a high-ranking minister, who can prevent him from breaking their own man-made law? He doesn’t apply the NO CONTACT policy to his son Paul of course. But he is zealous in applying it on the membership beneath him.”A comment on 17th March might give a reason for the suggestion of a rift between Gerald Flurry and his son Stephen: 

“Stephen Flurry abandoned his post as Regional Director of the PCG in Jerusalem. His father made great plans of establishing a Regional Office in Jerusalem as well as a base of operations for on-site Trumpet reporting. He was also given charge to undertake the initial steps in establishing a branch of Armstrong College in Jerusalem. The details of this plan were covered in an article in the Trumpet Magazine. Stephen Flurry came to Jerusalem for in early 2012 with all the staff and students to help in pursuing the plan laid out by his father, Gerald Flurry. Things seemed to run smoothly for a while, until we learned later than Stephen had decided to abandon Jerusalem in August 2013. The reason for this abrupt termination of the plans for Jerusalem was obviously Stephen’s burning interest in pursuing another work in England and Ireland. In short, Stephen Flurry chose Edstone over Jerusalem!”

Dave Pack: Brethren, Stay Quiet!

Life after the Worldwide Church of God (The Old vs. the New Law)

Why Do The COG's Continue To Allow False Prophets In Their Midst?

This is a reposting of a 2013 blog entry, by request. Almost seven years later and the various ACOG leaders still do not speak out against ACOG leaders who are abusive and liars, like Pack, Flurry, Thiel and others.  They still consider them "brothers" and choose to let their god take care of matters.    So here we are seven years later and horrendous abuse is still being dished out and ACOG do not care.





The All About Armstrongism has an excellent blog entry today asking why it is that COG members continue to allow lying false prophets in their midst. Men like David C. Pack, Ron Weinland and Gerald Flurry, lie through their teeth with one false prophecy after another and yet the sheeple continue to support them.  Why?

And then there’s what happens when the prophecies completely fail. You would expect from Christian people a certain respect of what God says about false prophets. You would expect from Christian people to be intolerant of proven falsehoods. You would expect them to immediately withdraw from those who speak things that don’t come true in God’s name. You would expect Christian people to get as far away as possible from those that meet the criteria of a false prophet. But the reality is, there is little respect for God’s opinion in the COG’s when it comes to false prophecy and false prophets. Nearly every time, the prophecy and the prophet are excused by COG members – even when the false teacher’s own words condemn themselves as a false prophet. Then the “everybody makes mistakes”, “errors happen”. and excuses start up as the false prophet blasts excuses, clarifications, rewrites and reboots. And what do the members do? They excuse the person and fall for the reboot all over again, just to have it fail again, and again, and again.

They have no problems giving mainstream Christian leaders every judgement in the book as to what they are doing wrong, how they are doing it wrong, where they are weak, in error, in confusion, or just plain wrong – and every vile thing they have self-righteously judged others on – but when there’s something going on as serious as accepting false prophets and false prophecy when there is clearly no excuse to do so, there’s no fear. There’s no repentance. There’s no respect.

And this to me raises many questions. They claim to take God’s word seriously. But do they? Do they really and honestly? One thing I’ve learned from Armstrongism over decades in the religion is that they only take seriously what they want to take seriously. Armstrongism is a hodgepodge religion full of pickings and choosings, lines upon lines, precepts upon precepts, where certain things are taken VERY seriously, and other things are ignored or completely whitewashed away. Members are used to being told, thus, what is right and what is correct, not by the understanding given by the Holy Spirit to themselves, but by the understanding given to the Apostles then to the ministers and then to the members.