The Philadelphia Church of God - Page 1

Gerald R. Flurry copied a "little book" and started the Philadelphia Church of God

Notes:

1. Brief history of Gerald Flurry and his Philadelphia Church of God

   In 1989, Gerald R. Flurry was fired from being a minister in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) for writing a book that he later called Malachi's Message and eventually claimed was the "little book" mentioned in Revelation 10:2-4. So he started the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), which once had about 7,000 people attending its meetings but is now down to about 5,000. When none of the WCG ministers went with Gerald Flurry, he set up other people as "ministers." The PCG has a magazine called the Philadelphia Trumpet, a television program called The Key of David, and a Web site at http://www.pcog.org.

   Gerald R. Flurry

   
   

2. Gerald Flurry suppresses Herbert Armstrong's writings

   Gerald R. Flurry planned to reprint about 19 of Herbert W. Armstrong's (HWA's) books and booklets, and started by reprinting a book called Mystery of the Ages in 1997, and going to court against the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) about it. He has tried to make people think that he is the only one who is standing up for HWA's writings. Apparently, though, Gerald Flurry doesn't want all of HWA's writings to be available to everyone. Donald H. Tiger had left the Worldwide Church of God to go with the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), and was working on a private project to put the writings of HWA on CDs. Strangely, the closer Don Tiger came to completing this project, the more out of favor he fell with Gerald Flurry, until he was eventually fired in November 1994, and then disfellowshipped in May 1997.

   Gerald R. Flurry, who likes to pretend that he is standing up for the writings of Herbert W. Armstrong, doesn't tell his followers that HWA's writings are available for free reading on the Internet, and are also available on free compact discs (CDs). In fact, Philadelphia Church of God members have been told to stay away from the Internet and to return or destroy any HWA CDs that they have received. Anyone who is still interested in seeing virtually all of the writings of Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA), can go to the following Web pages, as well as others:

   Pabco's Home Page - HWA's writings on the Internet
   
   Herbert W. Armstrong Library and Archives
   
   Hoselton.net - HWA's writings and Global Split Page

3. The prophecy game and Gerald Flurry's deceit

   The Philadelphia Trumpet magazine is advertised on its own Web site as "the most informed news source on the planet." This might sound impressive to outsiders who don't know that Gerald R. Flurry has to prevent members of the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) from becoming too well informed by forbidding them to read the writings of any other Worldwide Church of God (WCG) splinter groups, as well as anything else that he doesn't approve of.

   It is questionable how much the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine could tell anyone about the future when it can't even be honest about the past. The February 2000 issue of the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine was a special, expanded (20 extra pages) ten-year issue that said on the cover, "He Was RIGHT! Remembering Five Decades of Accurate Forecasting by HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG." This was designed to give readers the impression that Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) was right with all his predictions. They might naturally wonder why so many people from the Worldwide Church of God would stop listening to a forecaster who had been right for fifty years. Surely Gerald Flurry wouldn't deliberately try to deceive his readers about HWA's forecasting accuracy, would he? Or would he? Some people, such as Bill Hughes, didn't think that HWA was always totally accurate with all his forecasts, so he wrote an article called The Prophecy Game. The article was in the 1977 issue of Ambassador Report (AR2). Ambassador Report (AR) was produced by John Trechak.

   As Norman S. Edwards said in the January/February 2000 issue of the Servants' News newsletter, regarding the February 2000 issue of the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine, "Mr. Flurry knows that he could have just as well filled his magazine with 50 years of Mr. Armstrong’s prophetic error." As Jesus said, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36, NIV).

4. Cutting off "dissident literature"

   In a taped sermon, Gerald R. Flurry warned the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) members about the dangers of reading "dissident literature." He called The Journal, which had an article in its June 30, 1998 issue about the PCG and a group that had split off from it, "deadly dissident literature." The members were told to "cut off" anyone who tried to get them to read any "dissident literature," which seems to be defined as anything written by anyone other than himself. The problem is that everyone who reads widely and knows what is going on seems to end up out of the PCG. Ending up out of the PCG is supposedly a bad thing, for Gerald Flurry was thinking about the matter and it was announced in a taped sermon that, "Outside of the organizational structure of the PCG there is no salvation." Of course, with the track record of false prophets being what it is, it could turn out that inside the organizational structure of the PCG there is no salvation. Some people say that you cannot be saved following false prophets.

5. Copied and revised revelations in the PCG

   In earlier years, Gerald R. Flurry had speculated that Herbert W. Armstrong's (HWA's) last book, called Mystery of the Ages, was the "little book" mentioned in Revelation 10:2-4. Later, Gerald Flurry changed his mind, and the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) members are now expected to firmly believe that Gerald's own book, called Malachi's Message, is the "little book." If he is wrong, God might add to him some plagues written in the book of Revelation, according to Revelation 22:18. Gerald Flurry didn't seem to realize until some time after he had written it that Malachi's Message had been "delivered by a mighty angel." Of course, if it really were "NEW REVELATION" that had been "delivered by a mighty angel," as Gerald Flurry now claims, it would not have had to have been revised half a dozen times over the years to keep it up to date with what is happening in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).

   Gerald Flurry wrote a 1995 booklet called The Little Book, in which he said (emphasis his):

   "Malachi's Message was revealed to me in 1989. GOD REVEALED IT! There was no reason for God to do so if a few already understood the message! I hope all of us would challenge such statements. Malachi's Message is a new vision from God. It's a NEW REVELATION--not something somebody already knew!"

   Gerald Flurry's claim didn't stop others from disagreeing with him. A man by the name of Jules Dervaes has a Web site called Via del Rey. He has posted a copy of a letter to Gerald Flurry on it at http://www.viadelrey.com/proof/flurryletter.shtml. In this letter to Gerald Flurry, dated September 26, 1990, Jules Dervaes wrote,

   "I wish to inform you that I challenge your copyright of 1990, printed on page one of MALACHI'S MESSAGE and other copyrights of this message in your other publications. Whether it was done unknowingly or deliberately, many of your ideas are a direct and clear plagiarism of my work The Letter to Laodicea which was in stages published from December '86 through January '88."

   Apparently, "prophets" have "borrowed" from each other in the past. God once said, "I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me" (Jeremiah 23:30, NIV).

   Gerald Flurry's founding partner, John Amos, also gets left out of the latest stories about how Malachi's Message was written. An article called What Did John Amos Really Die of? can be read at http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/mike_ep/pcg/amos.htm. It puts the role of John Amos back into the story.

6. PCG flooded with Gerald Flurry's doctrinal changes

   Gerald R. Flurry likes to give the impression that he is "holding fast" and hasn't changed anything that Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) taught. He accuses all the other Worldwide Church of God (WCG) splinter groups of changing HWA's teachings, and strongly criticizes them for it. When Gerald makes a change, he calls it "new revelation." In the area of prophecy, Gerald Flurry says that Herbert Armstrong just didn't understand about this and Herbert Armstrong just didn't understand about that. Gerald Flurry has written that the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) "HAS BEEN FLOODED WITH NEW REVELATION" (emphasis his).

   In the 1994 edition of a book called Worldwide Church of God Doctrinal Changes And the Tragic Results, Gerald Flurry wrote, "Malachi's Message, the centerpiece of our literature, contains a lot of new revelation in the area of prophecy which God did not reveal to Mr. Armstrong." Indeed, God didn't reveal it to HWA. God didn't reveal it to Gerald Flurry either. It is possible that in the future someone might be able to write a book called PHILADELPHIA Church of God Doctrinal Changes and the REALLY Tragic Results.

   After Gerald Flurry was fired from the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) by the Tkach leadership, Gerald changed what the WCG under Herbert Armstrong had taught about the "man of sin" mentioned in the Bible, and started to teach that Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. (JWT, Sr.) was the "man of sin." According to Malachi's Message, which has become the "little book" mentioned in Revelation 10:2-4, Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. was supposed to be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming, but he ended up being destroyed by cancer in the fall of 1995 instead. The "ministers" that Gerald Flurry had set up in the Philadelphia Church of God were sternly warned in a taped sermon that Malachi's Message was between God and Gerald, and that it was not the job of the "ministers" to question it, after one of them had made it "sound like it was written by a drunk" according to Gerald. Perhaps Gerald was still a bit sensitive about having been arrested for drunk driving (see Does Gerald Flurry Have a Police Record? at http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/mike_ep/flurry/flop.htm at Mike's Enlightenment Page). Gerald had hoped to flee to Petra, Jordan (the expected Place of Safety) to avoid being sentenced, but it didn't work out. In a taped sermon, Gerald Flurry said that his father "was a drunk!" In spite of this apparent openness, people can still get kicked out of the PCG for asking about Gerald's own drinking habits.

   Gerald Flurry likes to force PCG people to state that they believe all sorts of things, when in fact they really are not sure about them. Dennis Leap, the "minister" who had upset Gerald by admitting that there were problems with Malachi's Message, later said--in what sounded like a forced, reluctant tone of voice--in a taped message distributed to PCG congregations that he "firmly" believed that Malachi's Message was the little book mentioned in Revelation. Though he said he "firmly" believed it, his contrite tone of voice made it clear that Gerald had been the firm one.

   Gerald R. Flurry spends time praising Herbert W. Armstrong so that people will think that Gerald Flurry is Herbert Armstrong's loyal successor, even though Herbert Armstrong probably didn't even know who Gerald Flurry was. Then, Gerald Flurry suddenly changes things around to give himself the glory.

   Gerald Flurry had speculated that Herbert W. Armstrong's last book, called Mystery of the Ages, was the "little book" mentioned in Revelation 10:2-4. Later, Gerald Flurry changed his mind and now expects everyone to firmly believe that his own book, called Malachi's Message, is the "little book."

   One man wrote that Gerald Flurry had spent a couple years "proving" that Herbert W. Armstrong was the "nail in the sure place," but then later said that God showed him that the nail was himself. Anyone who disagreed or questioned it was put out of the PCG, so it is not likely that Gerald will smartten up any time soon and realize that he is actually the "sack of hammers."

   In the September-October 2001 issue of the PCG's Royal Vision magazine, Gerald Flurry said, "God has now given me new revelation from the book of Isaiah." Gerald Flurry had previously taught that Herbert Armstrong was Eliakim in type (see Isaiah's End-Time Vision, pp. 50-54). But, now, Gerald Flurry explained in this article that Eliakim was actually a type of his own office.

   Herbert W. Armstrong, in his August 19, 1976 letter to members and co-workers of the Worldwide Church of God, explained that when the end didn't come in 1972 like they had thought it might, they were told in Revelation 10:11 to "prophesy again." HWA thought he was doing that and wrote: "Read and study Revelation 10. The TIMING of this prophecy is NOW" (emphasis his). Yet today, Gerald Flurry has rediscovered this verse and has written that it is a command to the Philadelphia Church of God.

   Gerald Flurry also appears to have changed what Herbert W. Armstrong had written about prophets on page 350 of his last book, called Mystery of the Ages, in 1985: "...prophets (of which there are none in God's Church today since the Bible for our time is complete)." The same sentence is also found in HWA's book called The Wonderful World Tomorrow--What It Will Be Like. In the June 1972 Tomorrow's World, HWA had said: "But today we have the COMPLETE Word of God, for our time, in the Bible. There are no such prophets--EXCEPT FALSE ONES." Yet today, Gerald has his "ministers" talking in sermons about "God's prophet Gerald Flurry."

   Moses told the Israelites, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him" (Deuteronomy 18:15, NIV). The Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong understood "that prophet" to be Jesus Christ. With the Philadelphia Church of God members forbidden to read any literature that Gerald Flurry doesn't approve of, Gerald was free to do as he pleased. As time passed, it pleased Gerald Flurry to change what the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert Armstrong had taught about Jesus Christ being "that prophet." At the PCG's June 1999 ministerial conference, Gerald Flurry gave five lectures, collectively titled That Prophet, in which he revealed that he-- Gerald!--was "that prophet." Some people believe that by doing this Gerald Flurry has become a false Christ, as well as a false prophet, and that he will probably give himself even more titles and positions before he is done. He has already come up with a couple dozen.

   Gerald Flurry claims that his new teachings just build upon the foundation that Herbert Armstrong laid. But, in fact, they contradict what was taught in the past. Some people went with Gerald Flurry because they believed his claim that he was "holding fast" to everything that Herbert Armstrong taught. After spending too many years and too much money supporting Gerald Flurry, they are now being faced with the choice of either going along with Gerald's changes or getting expelled from the PCG. Even more such unexpected changes and choices await them in the future. Note well that Gerald Flurry has quoted Adolf Hitler as saying that a clever conqueror will impose his will in installments.

   One man from the WCG joined the PCG even though his wife had threatened to leave him if he did. She had worked at one of the WCG's regional headquarters and wanted nothing to do with the PCG. When the man went with the PCG anyway, she did leave him. Under such circumstances it is not uncommon for a man to imagine that he has followed God, and done the right thing, but has suffered for being righteous. It won't be easy for him to admit that he made a terrible mistake. It could be a long, rocky road before he realizes that following Gerald and following God are two completely different things.

7. Absolute power corrupts absolutely in the PCG

   Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) wrote in his May 2, 1974 letter to WCG members,

   "GOD'S authority is administered in LOVE--and actually as one SERVING those under His authority for THEIR GOOD and out of loving CONCERN for them. That is the way I try to use what authority God has delegated to me, and I try to teach those under me to use it in the same manner--as a servant, not one lording it over those under him--as JESUS gave us an example. Satan DESPISES government, except as HE himself harshly and in hate employs it" (emphasis his).

   But, as Herbert Armstrong would say, some people just "don't get it." When none of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) ministers went with Gerald R. Flurry, he set up whoever happened to be around as "ministers." These Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) "ministers," drunk on their new-found power, are using it for their own selfish and immoral purposes, and filling the PCG with the outrageous abuse that Gerald Flurry passes off as the "government of God." Anyone who doesn't eagerly submit to everything that Gerald and his local dictators come up with is said to have a "government problem." Gerald Flurry, who has said that in his youth he did the "things that every normal young person does, drinking and messing around," now imagines himself to be the "lawgiver."

   A good description of some of Gerald Flurry's "ministers" and other local leaders can be found in the Bible: "Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil" (Isaiah 59:3-4, NIV). The Bible also has a good description of the situation that the PCG members find themselves in: "Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey" (Isaiah 59:15, NIV).

   Gerald Flurry talks on The Key of David television program, and writes in the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine, as if he is concerned about good character, so it comes as a surprise to some people to find out that they can be slandered and kicked out of the Philadelphia Church of God for politely refusing to be used by the older sexual perverts in the PCG. Local leaders in the PCG like to use the members for their own purposes, and while PCG leaders want to be treated with the greatest respect, they have absolutely no respect at all for other people.

   In addition to bad leaders in the PCG, there are always bad members too. At one Feast of Tabernacles site, a married man went around looking for people who were there alone. He wanted to go out with someone like that to, as he said, "discuss my plan to divorce my wife." She had stayed in the WCG rather than going to the PCG with him. He said he thought he could "grow more" without her. He tried quoting that old "Can two walk together except they be agreed?" line to make his plan to dump his wife and chase other women appear to be biblically based. Interestingly, Henry Doris didn't want to go to a minister to discuss his great and wonderful plan to divorce his wife so that he could "grow more." He wanted to yap with some complete stranger who had gone to the Feast alone, and whom he must have taken for a complete fool. Perhaps he need not have worried so much. PCG leaders seem all too eager to break up marriages. Henry claimed that when he first saw Joseph Tkach, he had turned to his wife, whom he now wanted to divorce, and told her that Tkach had the "eyes of Satan." Perhaps he talked like that because a recent issue of the PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet magazine had a picture of Adolf Hitler on the cover showing his big eyes. But, while Henry was laughing stupidly, the one whose time he was wasting couldn't help noticing that it was Henry who seemed to have the "eyes of Satan."

   One PCG man about sixty years of age called himself "single" because he never married any of the women that he had sex with, not even one that he had a couple children by. He explained that, "Just when I was finally ready to marry her, she walked out on me." After being Catholic, and then Pentecostal, and then with Garner Ted Armstrong (GTA), he decided to join the PCG. After joining the PCG, he told one woman he knew, "I can't marry you. You're not in the Church. Besides that, you're divorced." This didn't stop him, though, from going over to her place for some drinks and ending up in bed with her. None of the churches he went to, including the PCG, seem to have improved his behavior. And, he did not get kicked out of the PCG for behaving like that. It seems to be no big deal these days. He just said that he had to do some "heavy-duty" repenting. Being a smooth talker, when Roy Carter thinks of ways to use people in the PCG for his own selfish and immoral purposes, he tells the "minister" and others that he plans to "help" the person. Of course, this does not "help" them at all.

   One really old woman joined the PCG because an old married man she had known in the WCG joined it. When he moved from one city to another, she followed. When she saw in the PCG congregation a single guy a fraction of her age, she went on week after week and month after month for a couple years trying to get her hands on him and trying to get him to go over to her place. She would put on a nice, sweet, fake voice, but would always immediately become angry and openly snarl when she didn't get to touch him or get him to go over to her place. After so many years in the WCG, and then in the PCG, Magda Fisher's old age was full of selfish and shameful lusts that she just could not control. The various Churches of God (COGs) seem to have no shortage of such lustful old women who want to do the "good deed" of being "friendly" to single guys a fraction of their age, and who want to "help" them by dating them, and getting their hands on them. When people politely decline to be "helped" in this way, the old hags show them the error of their ways by slandering them to the local leaders.

   One local PCG leader by the name of Ronald Morley has always behaved in such a way that one can't help thinking that perhaps his true calling was to be a pimp or hooker-booker. A couple of the godless brats that he raised are already following in his evil footsteps. Ron Morley likes to service older sex maniacs by providing them with the unwilling younger people they pick out. Deranged leaders like Ron Morley just can't leave other people alone. Merely preventing them from talking to other decent people is not enough for Ron and his warped brats. Ron insists on matching them up with one pervert or another. Not even adults are safe from satanic control freaks like Ron Morley, who expects people to be just delighted with such things as horny old hags two or three times their age who can't keep their hands off them, or immoral old men who, after a lifetime of fornicating with various women, are still looking for even more women to have sex with. Of course, this is not the approach that Ron takes when trying to "help" his own children, whom he tries to set up with attractive people their own age or younger. Also, his own children don't get kicked out of the PCG no matter how badly they behave. In fact, one of his own brats was so good at doing evil to others that the brat now gets to write articles for the PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet magazine.

   While habitual fornicators, adulterers, and liars seem to be able to get away with anything in the PCG, such is not the case with innocent people who do behave themselves. Rude, gossipy, old liars like Mike and Cilina Gerlinsky (who went to the PCG to get their hands on other people's children) would stir up other shameful liars like Mervin (Murray) Armstrong (no relation to HWA) to cast out innocent people. Wicked local leaders like Mike and Cilina Gerlinsky were good at conspiring against unsuspecting people behind their backs. When the Regional Director--Gerald Flurry's son-in-law Wayne Turgeon-- arrived in one city, he told a surprised person, "We've been talking about you." Then he said, "Just kidding," and continued to walk into the meeting room. Shortly after, he came back out and told the person, "Actually, we were talking about you," and started by asking the person, who had always taken notes at the meetings, "How come you never take notes?" Since Wayne Turgeon's own mother had abandoned the family to run off with a guy half her age, Wayne probably knew what sort of things go on, and mentioned in his sermon afterwards that, "We should pray for our singles, not prey on them." But, malicious leaders like Ron Morley and Mike Gerlinsky and their old sex maniacs cannot be corrected or restrained by mere words.

   Shortly after, Mervin (Murray) Armstrong (no relation to HWA) called the person on the telephone to actually rant that, "OK, so now we know that you do take notes." But, he brought up other complaints. He complained that the person once "went to a meeting in casual attire," and once "missed a day without any explanation until you were asked" about it. Then, he raged that the explanation that had been given for the absense was too short. After working himself into a satanic fit by mentioning some such relatively trivial things, Mervin (Murray) Armstrong (no relation to HWA) concluded by shouting that, "This is the last straw in a long string of things." This scoundrel that Gerald Flurry set up as a "minister" then left the person speechless by ranting on the telephone that, "We've done so much for you and tried so hard to help you." Next, he proudly announced that, "I'm going to have to make an example out of you," and, "You have to fast and pray and study the Bible more until you learn how to talk to people before you come back." Of course, the real "long string of things" that Mervin (Murray) Armstrong (again, no relation to HWA) was really mad about was the person's continuing refusal to go along with unrepentant older sex perverts and outright liars and their evil plans. The old sex maniacs then complained to the local corrupt leaders that their attempts to "help" the person had been rejected. God help anyone who refuses to be "helped" by such characters!

   Of course, none of these PCG leaders and members ever even tried to help anyone at all--other than themselves--and nobody ever even expected them to either. As someone once put it, "If they could have merely refrained from acting like Satan and lying like Satan continually, that would have been enough."

   Those who politely refuse to be used by sexually immoral older men, or pawed over by horny older women, soon find out that satanic filth like Mike and Cilina Gerlinsky, Ron Morley and his brats, and Mervin (Murray) Armstrong will conduct vicious slander campaigns against them, but then don't want to have to explain their own conduct. Maybe someone should make an example out of these wicked PCG types. It's too bad that PCG members and leaders don't fast and pray and study the Bible more until they can keep their filthy old hands to themselves, stop getting drunk, keep their dinks in their pants and out of other men's wives, stop divorcing their mates to chase other people, and shut their lying mouths.

   When anyone said anything about what went on in the PCG, "ministers" like Mervin would tell the congregation that "the church is under satanic attack." But, of course, the only thing that ever really came under satanic attack was some naive people who got ensnared by the PCG. Naturally, they thought that such evil behavior must be just a local problem, and they tried appealing to Headquarters about their expulsion. They received further enlightenment when they found out that Gerald, like Nabal, was such a one that a man could not speak to him. They were required to put everything in writing. If they mentioned that they were not great writers, they were told that they must take a writing class as a condition to ever attending the PCG again. Since the whole idea was to get rid of them, they never received any reply at all to anything that they did write. In contrast, fornicators, adulterers, and outright liars do not get kicked out of the PCG, and wouldn't be required to take an ethics class if they did and wanted to attend again.

   A young, disfellowshipped Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) by the name of Vernon Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh soon after gaining power in a small SDA offshoot that had been reorganized as the Branch Davidians. This might be a good time to remember that the Branch Davidians, who got burned up along with their sexually immoral leader David Koresh on April 19, 1993 near Waco, Texas, are said to have kept the weekly Sabbath and the Holy Days too, yet something went terribly wrong. A bad ending also awaits those in Gerald Flurry's group. Jesus did say, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them" (Matthew 7:15-16, NIV).

   Apparently, Gerald Flurry reasons that he has to support the perverts that he set up as local leaders in the PCG or else people will not properly respect him and his perverts. The actual behavior of filthy Flurry and his sex maniacs comes as a disappointing shock to sincere, decent people who were deliberately deceived and defrauded by the PCG's false claims that it teaches morality, character, and the government of God. Some decent and sincere--yet naive and gullible--people who just wanted to support the truth of God end up finding out that they were actually supporting something very evil. Gerald Flurry should refund the money that he conned such people out of under false pretenses.

   It seems pointless to argue about whether the PCG is something that came out of the mind of Satan or whether it is something that came out of the other end of Satan, as the results would be about the same either way.