by
Keith Hunt
Concerning the Autobiography of HWA, Vol.l Flurry has this to say
on pages 26, 27.
This is the story of how God prepared the end-time "Elijah."
It is a big part of the history of our modern-day "John the
Baptist" .... It's not just history of HWA. This is VITAL
HISTORY of the BEGINNING AND GROWTH of the Philadelphia era
of God's Church.
Why has the leadership of the WCG DISCONTINUED the publication of
this volume? One of the reasons is because from the files and
records of the Church of God, Seventh Day, the organization that
HWA was a minister with for many years, can be shown how HWA
fabricated, told half truths, and out and out lies about his
early years in the ministry and the start of his own work.
For the last sentence above from Flurry's comments on page 27, no
Biblical Scriptures are given, nor can there ever be - there are
none.
GF is a good student of HWA as we learn from page 31:
THE MINISTERS WHO REFUSE TO HEAR Malachi's Message are under
a curse!(Mal.2:2).... The WCG ministry would have an
opportunity to "hear" - accept or reject the message. This
is that message. You are holding it in your hands! It is a
prophecy being fulfilled this very minute!
I've heard that talk before, from Flurry's mentor - HWA. It would
seem the vanity from the teacher has rubbed off onto the student.
I will be as dogmatic as GF - the interpretation he has for the
book of Malachi is ALL WET, SOAKED TO THE BONE, AND A FAIRY TALE
FROM A CULTIC MIND SET.
Malachi never saw the CHURCH in vision, he lived about 500 years
before the NT Church started. The very first words give you the
PLAIN TRUTH as to whom this prophetic message is sent: THE BURDEN
OF THE WORD OF THE LORD TO ISRAEL BY MALACHI. This book is a
message to the whole 13 tribes of Israel and not some small
little sect founded by a small little man that most of Israel has
never heard of nor cares about.
Some day I must bring a verse by verse sermon on the real meaning
of Malachi (which I did do and still have on file) and put an end
to Flurry's fancy favorite follies.
WHO ARE THE 144,000?
GF shows by quoting on page 43 from the Ambassador College
Correspondence Course of 1966, lesson 8, that the teaching of the
WCG back then was that the 144,000 of Revelation would be some of
the modern-day descendants of ancient Israel who will have gone
into captivity and heeded God's warning message while in
captivity. And this is still the truth of the matter. There is no
need for any interpretation, the Bible itself tells you plainly
WHO the 144,000 ARE. They are 12,000 from each TRIBE OF Israel
except Dan. Read it for yourself in Rev.7.
But with that clear word of God what does GF immediately do? He
immediately says, "The 144,000 could be only one of THREE
POSSIBLE GROUPS: the great multitude, the Philadelphians, or the
Laodiceans." (page 43).
Now I find that incredible! The 144,000 are said to be
Israelites, from the tribes of Israel - Rev.7:4. The GREAT
MULTITUDE is said to be from all nations, kindreds, and people,
and tongues. What could be simpler to understand, no theological
degree needed here. The 144,000 could not and are not the same as
the great multitude. The 144,000 are not "out of" the great
multitude, they are APART FROM the great multitude - two separate
groups of people, yet Flurry in contradiction to what the WCG
taught in the 60's under HWA, claims they could be the great
multitude.
On page 44 after some fancy foot work with the scriptures he ends
up by saying, "The Laodiceans did NOT come out of the Tribulation
because every indication is that they all DIED IN the Tribulation
(Rev.6:9-11; 12:11-12). These MARTYRS and the 144,000 are both in
the Tribulation because they are the SAME GROUP."(emphasis his
and mine).
It is very true that there is yet to come a great MARTYRDOM of
true Christians during the time period known as the "great
tribulation" which may last for about two and a half years - the
first 2 years of the last THREE and a half years before Jesus
returns to earth. These will die during the Tribulation and
Flurry is correct on that point. But he is way off track when he
claims (page 45) that these dead saints are the 144,000 of God's
people who die and are sealed during the two or so years of
tribulation - that they are one and the same group of people.
THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE
The saints who die in the Tribulation are mentioned in Rev.6:9-11
and this takes place before the SIXTH SEAL and the heavenly signs
of Rev.6:12. They will die and do not live again until the
resurrection (verse 11 and chapter 19:6-9). After the Tribulation
and Heavenly Signs and just as the Great Day of the Wrath of God
is about to commence(the 7th seal - Rev.8:1) is the sealing of
the 144,000. They are not sealed(with God's Holy Spirit - see
Eph.1:13 for a Bible definition) until "AFTER THESE
THINGS"(chap.7:1) - after the 5th and 6th seals are opened -
after the TRIBULATION and Heavenly Signs. These 144,000 are not
sealed DURING the Tribulation of two and a half years. They do
not receive their salvation through the Tribulation experience
and death as Flurry insists. They are STILL ALIVE at the time of
the Day of God's Wrath and are to be protected from it(all the
destruction to come) by receiving God's Spirit as begotten
children. These 144,000 have survived the captivity and slavery
by the enemies of Israel(all 12 tribes) and have come to see the
truth of God, maybe through the work of the "Elijah to come"
before the Day of the Lord - his public preaching to the peoples
of Israel while they were in captivity, and/or through the work
of the Two witnesses in Jerusalem, and are now sealed as the
servants of God and protected from the pain and death to come on
the world during the last year of this age, or the prophetic DAY
OF THE LORD.
All indications from the scriptures are that these 144,000 NEVER
SEE any physical death but live through to the return of Christ
and are a part of the FIRST resurrection.
These 144,000 are a separate group of people from the tribes of
Israel. Separate from the great multitude, and separate from any
so called "Philadelphian" or "Laodicean" Christians. They are not
one of the former three but one by themselves - as God's word
tells us - 144,000 of the tribes of Israel.
On page 46 Flurry says:
THOSE WHO ARE LOYAL TO CHRIST AND WHAT HE TAUGHT THROUGH HWA
ARE CALLED PHILADELPHIANS. Those who are NOT loyal to those
teachings ARE CALLED LAODICEANS.
I challenge ANYONE who believes this deceptive dribble to give me
the chapter and verse that proves such a statement as the one
above to be correct.
The Bible NOWHERE says the Philadelphians are given that name
because they are loyal to a human man and his teachings. Jesus
says to these Philadelphians that they have "kept MY WORD, and
has not denied MY NAME ...... kept the word of MY PATIENCE ....
"(Rev.3:8,10). Nothing but nothing is said about them being loyal
to the teachings of a man!
By the same token, nothing is said about those who do not follow
HWA and his teachings being called Laodicean - it is just NOT
THERE!! This kind of talk by GF is from his own WILD imagination
and idolatry with Herbert Armstrong.
Also on page 46 we read:
God demonstrated for many years through Christ and HWA how
His GOVERNMENT works. Then He removed HWA to see if we would
individually follow Christ's GOVERNMENT without this
spiritually strong, physical leader. It is a carefully
planned test for God's people.
Flurry goes on to say all this can be shown in the book of
Malachi. Let me add - GF's interpretation of Malachi - I do not
see the name of HWA mentioned in Malachi, do you? The word of God
does not endorse any such idea that God was showing us for years
HIS GOVERNMENT through HWA, nor that He took away HWA to see if
we would follow Christ's Government without HWA. All this is
again the WILD speculative mind of Flurry at work.
It is the continuation of the same SCARE tactics used so
effectively by HWA to hold his "dumb sheep" loyal to him, only
this time HWA's prime student is continuing the diatribe.
The Church GOVERNMENT that HWA established can EASILY be shown
from the NT to be anything but God's. Many(including HWA's own
son) have proved in article after article that the WCG Government
under HWA was NOT Scriptural. If the reader is not sure of that
then study my many studies on "Church Government."
Concerning the "open door" policy by the present WCG, Flurry
says, p.49:
The doors of the WCG are being opened to the world .....
This is yet another drastic departure from what HWA taught
us. He said people should be about 6 months before baptism
when they are invited to attend services.
Where did HWA get this teaching? Was it out of the Bible? See if
you can find such a teaching in God's word. See if you can find
any clear verse that teaches God's Church is to be a secret
"closed convent" type of Church, where only the "initiated" are
to meet. The early apostles and followers of Jesus were so open,
so bold, so powerful, so on fire for proclaiming the truths of
God, it is said they "turned the world upside down." Jesus said
"let your light SHINE." He taught His disciples NOT to put it
UNDER a bushel or table but ON THE TABLE so it can give light to
the whole room!
Jesus said that anyone who would be ASHAMED of Him, He would be
ashamed of when He returned.
If HWA had opened up the Church doors to all who wanted to
enter(as most upfront Churches do), if he had allowed the members
to preach Jesus in personal evangelism, then the 50 years or so
that the WCG has been in existence would have netted many 100's
of thousands in membership, perhaps MILLIONS, just as the SDA
church has done in their 140 year teaching and preaching.
Aaahhh, but to do that HWA would have had to step down as "chief
cook and bottle washer" - he would have had to adopted a Church
Government structure similar to the one that the SDA or Church of
God, Seventh Day, has been running on for decades. But HWA had to
be in control. By establishing a Church that was not open to the
public, where only "baptized" members were allowed or those very
close to baptism and personally invited after being "okayed" by
the minister, then he could easily control and SQUASH any
imagined "rebellion" against his rulership and dictates. In many
ways HWA was similar to the infamous HITLER who was able to rule
with an iron fist, all under him knowing their jobs were on the
line if the masses did not continue to support the "inspiring,
strong, leader" that would lead them to victory and glory over
their enemies(in HWA's case it was victory of the world and
Satan, a place of safety from the Tribulation, and a place in the
temple of God).
HWA's policy of a CLOSED Church door(only open to the selected
ones) was a POWER TRIP, pure and simple, a way to CONTROL!
He may not have started out in the beginning with that in mind
with his closed door policy, but it SURE ENDED WITH IT!
Those that study and are experts on what makes a cult a cult, say
without question that CONTROL is a major factor. There are many
things a person can do to gain control, but one of them is keep
the uninitiated OUT in the first place and CAST OUT immediately
those who would "question" the leader or leaders, this insures
that the inner circle is LOYAL.
And Flurry would like that policy to continue, I'm sure it does
in his church, where he's IN CHARGE like his master before him.
On page 56 Gerald F. writes:
Mr.Armstrong STARTED AND FINISHED AN ERA that "restored all
things." HE STARTED IT AND FINISHED IT BEFORE he died ....
His hands laid the foundation and his hands FINISHED THE
HOUSE - the Philadelphia era.
Again no Scriptural proof to back up such dogmatic statements. He
can not give you any for THERE IS NONE! The "restoring all
things" era through HWA is a LAUGH if it wasn't so serious. HWA
restored the Roman Catholic Church to the WCG through his
teaching of Church Government and the "supremacy of Peter" idea.
HWA restored FEAR and POWER through his un-scriptural
disfellowshipping practices(if the reader wants the truth on that
doctrine they should study my study on that topic). HWA restored
SIN to the use of make-up for women(study my articles on that
topic and see the error of HWA).
We shall see shortly a number of other so called "restorations"
that were ANYTHING BUT restoring things.
On pages 56,57 GF gives an excerpt from a letter to the Church by
HWA, the date was March 19,1981. The emphasis belongs to HWA. I
give only a part from page 57 of Flurry's book.
Did God raise up a one-man LEADERSHIP to be used by Him in
building this spiritual TEMPLE and in proclaiming after
1,900 years the true GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD in ALL THE
WORLD to even go to kings and heads of nations(Rev. 10:11) -
in bringing the Church back to the FAITH ONCE DELIVERED
(Jude 3)?
HAS THIS HAPPENED, IN YOUR DAYS, AND HAS GOD BROUGHT YOU
INTO THIS PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT AS A PART OF IT?
HAS ANYONE ELSE DONE IT?
First you will notice the outstanding HUMBLENESS (tongue in cheek
of course) of HWA. Then I take his claims one at a time. Was it
God who raised up a ONE-MAN LEADERSHIP or was it perhaps - Satan?
There are NO SCRIPTURES to prove HWA was raised up to be a one
man authoritarian leader over God's people. The NT proves God
used MANY men and apostles to guide and pastor His flock. What
HWA did from about 1967 until his death in 1986 was, build an
abusive, powerful mind control over people by two means -
dangling a golden apple(place of safety/eternal life) before
their eyes, while putting a knife to their back(fear of loosing
salvation if they left the WCG and being cut off from family and
friends by being disfellowshipped if found asking too many
question).
HWA claimed to have "restored" the true Gospel after 1,900 years.
What he fails to tell his readers is that HE HIMSELF was taught
the Gospel by the Church of God, Seventh Day. He was one of their
ministers for longer than he tells you about in his
autobiography. The CG7D was preaching the true Gospel of the
Kingdom of God even before HWA was born. They are still doing it,
preaching that you do not go to heaven at death but sleep in the
dust of the earth until the resurrection, when Jesus will return
in power, His feet standing on the mount of Olives. At that time
the Kingdom of God will be established on THE EARTH for a 1,000
years, after which will come the NEW heavens and NEW earth where
God the Father will dwell with all His children. What HWA
preached about the Kingdom of God was NOT NEW, why even the
BRITISH ISRAEL ASSOCIATION were preaching that basic trunk of the
tree doctrine long before HWA, and so were a lot of other Sabbath
and Sunday observing groups around the world.
It was the height of exaggeration if not lies, for HWA to ever
claim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God had been lost for 1,900
years or that it was not being preached around the world. The
many branches of the CG7D have tens of thousands of members
around the world who are busy and were busy in HWA's day with
preaching the true Gospel.
HWA claimed he went to kings and heads of nations, and that is
true. But did he preach Christ to them? Did he tell them to
REPENT from their sins and accept Jesus as their personal savior?
Did he preach so powerfully to them God's truths that he became
HATED by these kings and heads of nations? NO HE DID NOT!! I was
a part of the WCG during some of the years when HWA went before
heads of nations, and he became THEIR FRIEND! He was WELL SPOKEN
ABOUT by them. Now look at what Jesus said to His disciples in
Luke 6:26 - WOE unto you if this ever happened!
I well remember HWA taking his expensive gifts to these heads of
nations, gifts that came from the tithes and offerings of God's
people, and they were never asked if we wanted our tithes used
that way, then again when you set up a system that teaches all
tithes should be sent into a Headquarters(which is another false
doctrine that can not be upheld by the NT) then corruption is
just a matter of time.
The minister that ordained me to the ministry of Jesus Christ in
1982 was with the WCG until 1979, he well remembers the days of
HWA's preaching to the heads of nations. Here are his words about
that part of HWA's ministry: "Years ago they(WCG) were preaching
the Word of God. But, when HWA began his world trips in 1967, he
began to leave out the name of Jesus Christ in his message. In
its place he began preaching the theory of 'give verses get.'
Leaving out the name of Jesus Christ was in reality the beginning
of the decline of the WCG. How can you preach the Gospel without
the name of Jesus Christ - WHO IS THE GOSPEL! Under the advise of
his personal counsellor, Stanley R. Rader, the publications began
to be more 'secular' and less Biblical. In his message, HWA
replaced the Biblical message of the visible return of Jesus
Christ, in power and glory to establish the Kingdom of God, with
a so-called message of peace coming to the world through 'an
unseen hand.'" (from a letter sent to me June the 14th 1993,
emphasis his).
I have already commented on HWA's claim to have brought the
Church back to the "faith once delivered" so I will say no more
at this time.
HWA said in his letter of March 19, 1981 "HAS ANYONE ELSE DONE
IT?" My answer: No, from 1967 to 1986 not one person did it like
you Herbert, you BLEW IT WELL AND TRULY!!
Gerald F.says on page 59:
When he died, the PHILADELPHIA ERA WAS COMPLETE ....... No
more needs to be added to the house. ALL WE NEED TO DO IS
WALK IN HWA's FOOTSTEPS .... We just need to maintain the
"house."
Can you believe it! Yes GF really did write that in his book. Of
course, like so many of his flamboyant and pretentious
statements, there is not one Scripture to endorse his dogmatism.
To the contrary - the NT is against such an idea of just hang on
to the talent, hide it in the ground, sit on it and wait for
Jesus' return. One verse that blows Flurry's hypothesis to a
million pieces is a verse he knows well, inspired by God and
written by Peter "BUT GROW IN GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND
SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST .... "(2 Pet.3:18). That verse is not
limited, nothing is said that you can "do away" with this
instruction after some man claims another man ended a so-called
"Philadelphia Church Era."
Any group who say all truth is "now accounted for and in the
bank" - any group who claim their knowledge of "theology" is
complete or has been completed by some special prophet they had,
is going to find themselves not only up the stream without a
paddle but up the stream and heading for Niagra Falls not only
without a boat and paddle but also a life jacket.
The SDA Church has basically done this very thing - claimed their
theology is complete, after all they had God's specially inspired
PROPHETESS - Ellen G.White to tie it all up in a nice neat
package for them. They are guilty also of idolatry, basing their
teachings on the writings and visions and interpretations of the
Scriptures on E.G.White. She is a mill stone around their neck
but the leaders of the SDA Church can not seem to cast it off.
Flurry and his Philadelphia Church of God is not going to learn
from history and others mistakes, so he is destined to repeat the
error.
Now get a full eye shot of Flurry's idolatry, from pages 60-64:
HWA was a type of Zerubbabel. He believed it and said so
himself, MANY TIMES!.... It wasn't the work of HWA
- IT WAS THE WORK OF CHRIST! These scorners fail to see
God's Spirit(Zech.4:6) in CHRIST'S WORK, which was
accomplished through HWA. It's God's Spirit and God's
GOVERNMENT they reject!.... HWA restored all things ..... he
finished the house and then he died. But he didn't die until
he FINISHED THE HOUSE.... Several major prophecies are
telling us that our salvation has everything to do with
FOLLOWING CHRIST'S INSTRUCTIONS THROUGH HWA......
(Phi1.4:9). God is giving us the same instructions today.
WHAT YOU "HAVE BOTH LEARNED AND RECEIVED, AND HEARD, AND
SEEN IN ME" - or HWA - "DO"!.... FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF PAUL
AND HWA!....
I am lost for words - but I need not say anything, what you have
just read speaks one word - IDOLATRY!!
..............
TO BE CONTINUED
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