Church answers Fox25 News
December 3, 2008
Edmond–A full page
advertisement appeared in The Oklahoman, The Edmond Sun, and Edmond Life & Leisure December 3 refuting the allegations leveled against the Philadelphia Church of God by Fox25 station KOKH November 24-25. Following is the content of the ad.
[Emphasis mine - David Ben-Ariel]
THE PHILADELPHIA CHURCH OF GOD ASKS
FOX 25 NEWS:
WHO IS REALLY ACTING LIKE DAVID KORESH, THE WACO CULT LEADER?
Last week, Fox 25’s Primetime News at Nine launched an outrageous attack against the Philadelphia Church of God, leaving little doubt in the minds of their viewers that they see our church as some kind of doomsday cult, similar to the Branch Davidians.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The truth is actually this: Fox 25 is being dishonest. And they know it.
In their slanderous report, for example, reporter Nick Winkler cited a letter, supposedly written by an anonymous former member of our church, who apparently noticed a change in my thinking in 1993. According to this anonymous source, I somehow became paranoid in the same year, as Fox 25 pointed out shamelessly, that David Koresh murdered his followers in Waco, Texas.
Based on that fraudulent, completely illogical “connection,” Fox 25 compared me and the Philadelphia Church of God to David Koresh and the Branch Davidians.
It was disgraceful. Yellow journalism at its worst.
I can’t imagine any church in Oklahoma City or Edmond not rising to defend its good name and sterling reputation after such scandalous, unsubstantiated allegations.
That’s what we intend to do.
One cannot overstate the grave danger of a secluded survivalist compound rife with drugs, pornography, polygamy, stockpiled weapons, and power struggles erupting in gunfights. That was life inside the Branch Davidian compound during the mid-1980s, even years before David Koresh clashed with the FBI. It was a dangerous and demented environment.
But I’d like for you to consider the dangerously demented tactics of a supposedly reputable news organization that casually compares an upstanding Edmond church with the Branch Davidians.
This isn’t just outrageous—it’s borderline criminal!
I was born in the state of Oklahoma in 1935. My service to God’s work brought me back here in 1985, where I have since resided. I’ve been in Oklahoma for nearly as long as that junior reporter from Fox has been alive.
I believe it is my right and responsibility to speak out against such a reckless and irresponsible attack on me, the members of my church, and, I believe, Almighty God!
For the past 19 years, the Philadelphia Church of God has been headquartered in Edmond. We have grown from having a mere handful of supporters in 1989 to becoming a globe-encompassing work that reaches millions of people.
After beginning our weekly television program, The Key of David, on superstation WGN in 1993, our current coverage now includes 190 other stations throughout the United States, Australia and Canada. In years past, we have also broadcast the Key of David in Israel, Britain and Europe, India and the Far East, South America and Africa. It’s one of the most popular, longest-running weekly religious programs on television.
We have built a solid 15-year reputation in the television industry by delivering the good news of the Kingdom of God to the world.
We have distributed nearly 50 million pieces of literature worldwide over the past two decades—hundreds of thousands of books and booklets, and millions of magazines—all of it given free of charge.
Our cultural foundation has sponsored charitable works overseas, like in Jerusalem, where we have partnered with Hebrew University and Dr. Eilat Mazar on the City of David excavations.
Herbert W. Armstrong College, the liberal arts college we sponsor, has brought hundreds of students to Edmond from all over the world, including India, the Philippines, Colombia, England, Australia and the Netherlands.
The college’s show choir, the Young Ambassadors, performs its uplifting and wholesome song-and-dance entertainment throughout the community at elementary schools, retirement homes and dinner club meetings—even at Edmond’s LibertyFest parade.
Thousands of locals have visited our campus to attend the concert series we sponsor, enjoying the likes of the Canadian Brass, the Vienna Choir Boys, the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet and the 5 Browns. In order to improve their concertgoing experience, we are currently building a high-quality, $15 million performing arts center, putting every effort into making it the finest venue possible. We are excited to share it with the greater Oklahoma City community.
David Koresh had none of these projects or programs because, as any honest observer would immediately see after a visit to our campus, we have nothing in common with him or his perverse and violent brand of “Christianity.”
Truth be told, Fox 25 has more in common with the Branch Davidians. We invited their crew onto our campus and gave them full access to all of our facilities, and we will do the same for anyone who is interested. We are proud of what God is building here and want to share it with the community. When you visit, you will find the same thing that Fox 25’s crew did: friendly, happy people who are hard at work in service to a cause they are excited about.
It is now clear, though, that the Fox 25 reporter came with a preconceived agenda to smear us, and he imputed tainted motives behind every positive thing he witnessed.
Then, to support the slanderous and unsubstantiated accusations, Fox 25 primarily relied on testimony from an anonymous letter, a detractor hiding at the end of a phone line and
a man that the Israeli police suspects of being involved in terrorist activity.
Oh, you didn’t know about that?
Well, we tried to warn them. Two days before Fox 25 planned to air its hatchet job news story, my son sent this message to the Fox 25 newsroom:
“Last night I found out that a blogger by the name of David Ben-Ariel was aware of your intent to run a story about our church back on October 16. Since Nick didn’t contact our organization until October 21, it seems odd that a little-known blogger knew about your story idea—even its approximate airdate—before we had even been contacted.
“Our church briefly communicated with David Ben-Ariel in the early 1990s. But we quickly cut off all contact after learning about his bizarre and even radical views. In 1996, while in Israel as an active member of the Temple Mount Faithful, Ben-Ariel—whose name used to be David Hoover—was detained by Israeli police and interrogated for six hours for allegedly plotting to blow up the Al-Asqa Mosque in order to clear the way for a third Jewish temple to be built.
“Israeli authorities kept Ben-Ariel in prison for several weeks during the investigation. While in jail, according to the Jerusalem Post (Feb. 1, 1996), Ben-Ariel petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice for his release while Israeli authorities decided whether to prosecute the Christian-Zionist or deport him back to the States. Ben-Ariel’s request for release was denied. Soon after, he was deported.”
That’s the kind of potentially dangerous influence our church avoids associating with. Fox 25, on the other hand, built its case against us by relying heavily on that man’s testimony, even featuring him prominently in their two-part series. Not once did they provide their viewers with any information about that man’s troubling background.
They were much more concerned about digging up dirt about me—like my intoxication arrest, which happened 15 years ago. Why, if that incident was such a critical part of their “investigation,” didn’t Nick Winkler ask my son about it during their hour-and-a-half long interview? Because the reporter only wanted to expose the ugly slice of the truth. Any additional truth, like my not having a drink of alcohol for over 13 years since then, would have brought a much more complete and balanced picture to light. But such truth would not have fit within the sleazy David Koresh parameters Fox 25 had set for the story.
They were far more interested in sensationalism and distorted truths than in real journalism. They proved themselves willing to titillate their viewers no matter what the harm to our organization or our church members.
Telling only part of the truth can make the truth out to be a lie. But that didn’t matter to Fox 25.
That members of my church were well aware of my 1993 sin didn’t matter. That I publicly repented of the sin before the church and before God doesn’t matter. That I haven’t had a drink of alcohol for years doesn’t matter.
And, that
one of my detractors may have been part of a terrorist plot in Jerusalem and, to this day, cannot travel to Israel doesn’t matter.NONE OF THAT MATTERS.
All that matters is that an anonymous detractor detected a mind change in me and it just happened to be in 1993. Aha! The Branch Davidian standoff with the FBI was also in 1993. And if that isn’t proof enough, my alcohol incident happened that same year!
This is how Fox 25 “investigates” and then prosecutes its neighbors before the court of public opinion? Where is there any sense of fairness and balance in that kind of sleazy innuendo? No wonder the general public distrusts the media so much.
Fox 25 blindly accepted what a few of our most rancorous and, in one case, even dangerous critics told them. We went out of our way to give them all the access they wanted for their report—our work, our activities, our facilities, our people—a comprehensive look at a well established church that has been headquartered in Edmond for 19 years.
My congregants hold me accountable based on God and His inspired Word—the Holy Bible.
But who is Fox accountable to?
How many innocent lives will be wrecked before someone or some organization holds Fox 25 accountable for their character assassinations?
They visited our campus pretending to be impressed by our work, our workers and our children. But inwardly, they came in with the same kind of deceitful, destructive spirit that David Koresh used to brainwash his 80 followers.
Then they tried to sell their garbage to the general public during November sweeps, in a shameless attempt to get higher ratings so they could charge higher ad rates.
It’s despicable and shameful. We will not allow Fox 25’s damaging innuendoes, smears and lies to be the last word. We want you to know the truth about the Philadelphia Church of God.
Fox’s negative reporting has given us unwanted, unwarranted and unfortunate publicity—but it is publicity that we will use to bring our story and good works more completely to the attention of the public. We would not be a responsible church if we didn’t respond. Thus, beginning immediately, our church will feature a series of informative pieces, advertisements and public events that will acquaint you with us even more, and enable you to know what we are all about. This is an opportunity for our church, one brought about through shameless and damaging sensationalism disguised as responsible journalism.
Gerald Flurry
Pastor General
Philadelphia Church of God
************
Gerald Flurry, and son Stephen Flurry, wrote in his full page ad:
"Our Church briefly communicated with David Ben-Ariel in the early 1990s.
But we quickly cut off all contact after learning about his bizarre and even radical views." And then he goes on to mention: "Ben-Ariel -- whose name used to be Hoover -- was detained by Israeli police and interrogated for six hours for allegedly plotting to blow up the Al-Aqsa mosque" and was later deported".
Flurry failed to report that the Israeli authorities acknowledged to The Jerusalem Post that they "lacked sufficient evidence" to convict me - because there was no plot except the one they conspired against me, due to an article published in The Traveller magazine in Jerusalem, as revealed within:
Exposing the German-Vatican Plot to Occupy Jerusalem and
Still at Large!Gerald Flurry and son failed to mention I was an official member of the Philadelphia Church of God in the early 1990s, and that I was put out of the PCG for daring to write a book, Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, without being an ordained minister. Dennis Leap was infuriated when I told him that by his insistence that I must be a minister to write such a book, he was still looking to "men of stature" (which Flurry's book,
Malachi's Message, condemns) and that he was unbiblical and playing politics by his dictates that I must "forget about
Beyond Babylon" and act "like a regular lay member." I was disfellowshipped and later "marked" after exposing all this in various *articles (which is what reporter Nick Day found on the Internet and is why he contacted me).
