Gerald Flurry is an egomaniac and false prophet!
Philadelphia Church of God Leads the Laodicean Era (Part 1)
When Gerald Flurry wasn't anything in his own sight or mind God used him and now, unfortunately, it appears to have gone to his head, all the new revelation (simply a deeper understanding of some things), and he forgets that all truth is from and belongs to GOD and that God can use a donkey to deliver it (1 Cor. 4:7). Gerald Flurry has become so swollen in his own imagination that he fails to see that he is the leader of LAODICEA! He knows what warning God is giving the Laodiceans, of which he is chief! He had better heed his own words...
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
"It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
Stephen Flurry and The Philadelphia Church of God
Stephen Flurry, son of Gerald Flurry, pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God (based in Edmond, Oklahoma), has published a book that Amazon sells, Raising the Ruins: The Fight to Revive the Legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
The Work of God must go forward. The only work that's left to do now is focus on the NATIONAL LEVEL. We must get out God's ultimatum and fast! Europe is on the rise and Jerusalem is getting international attention (Zech. 14:2). Soon God's two witnesses will rise and shine in a world of darkness (Isa. 60:1-2). God's about to restore His lamp to the Middle East! (Rev. 11:3; 1 Kgs. 11:36; Amos 9:11; Zech. 12:8).
PCG: Carrying on Business as Usual
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
We know that certain prophecies were not to be fulfilled until these "last days." Therefore their sealed messages weren't to break their silence until the appointed time (Dan. 12:9). With the advent of the nuclear age, we've been living, for the first time in history, with the weapons of mass destruction that can erase all life from off planet Earth! (Matt. 24:21-22).
Politics in the Church of God Hinders Progress
Gerald Flurry refused to go forward with Beyond Babylon and fell backwards, treading old ground and is now going in circles, business as usual, as Europe rises and Judah and Israel have yet to be warned.
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
Let’s see to it that Philadelphia Church of God (Judah) doesn’t go the way of the Worldwide Church of God (Israel). These biblical principles still apply: don’t put undue trust in men; work out your own salvation, it’s not a group affair; beware the scholarly approach that demands you rely on men - not God’s Spirit or personal Bible study.
The Watchmen
"I have set Watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem"God has called us to do a Work! Anyone can and should do good works in private, but God has called us collectively to COME OUT OF THE CLOSET and deliver His Message! We're to help save individuals and nations from the coming Holocaust!
Fox 25 Special Report on Philadelphia Church of God
Gerald Flurry
Philadelphia Church of God minister's review of Beyond Babylon
The Philadephia Church of God & David Ben-Ariel
I'm not a terrorist
Is David Ben-Ariel a terrorist? Did he try to blow up the mosques in Israel? Is that why he was deported from Israel? Or is he simply somebody who has been targeted for exposing the German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem and highlighting the Nazi Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount?
God-given love for Jews (mentions my volunteer service on 8 kibbutzim throughout Israel)
Gerald Flurry's Outrageous Attack Against David Ben-Ariel
Is David Ben-Ariel a Terrorist? (Apparently Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry would mislead you to believe so!)
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization! (Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
A little known blogger
Showing posts with label philadelphia church of god. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philadelphia church of god. Show all posts
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Any church you can "join" is NOT God's Church
Any church you can "join" is NOT God's Church
The Plain Truth
April, 1968
(Archived as Any church you can "join" is NOT God's Church at COG Booklets and Articles
The Plain Truth
April, 1968
THE BIBLE ANSWERS Short Questions FROM OUR READERS
There are so many denominations, how does one recognize the
Church Jesus founded?
B. E., Canada
There are so many denominations, how does one recognize the
Church Jesus founded?
B. E., Canada
The Greek word "ecclesia" translated "Church" in English means "the called-out ones"!
On the other hand, in the WORLD the very first great event Jesus foretold would be a deceptive COUNTERFEIT Christianity.
"Take heed," said Jesus, "that no man deceive you. For many shall come IN MY NAME, SAYING I AM CHRIST; and shall deceive many!" (Mat. 24:4-5.)
Notice carefully! These deceivers would come in Christ's name, saying Jesus IS the Christ. They would be calling themselves "Christian," but would in fact be the devil's representatives. It was NOT THE FEW who were to be deceived by them -- but THE MANY! It was the FEW who were to become TRUE Christians! (Mat. 7:13-14.)
That isn't what the world believes, is it? Probably that isn't what you have always heard, and come to assume.
But it is WHAT JESUS CHRIST SAID! How deceived this world has become!
Yes, MANY would come in Jesus' name, proclaiming that Jesus IS the Christ -- preaching about Christ to the world -- yet, actually DECEIVING THE WORLD! (Mat. 24:5.)
Simply by preaching ABOUT the PERSON of Christ -- extolling is virtues, worshipping Him, yet DENYING HIS MESSAGE -- the GOSPEL OF HIS KINGDOM!
What a CLEVER counterfeit! And most of those preaching in Christ's name are SINCERE -- sincerely WRONG, themselves DECEIVED!
It is SATAN who has deceived them! Satan has deceived the WHOLE WORLD!! (Rev. 12:9) He is the author of this confusion (I Cor. 14:33).
It is SATAN who has made himself the god of this world (II Cor. 4:4) -- and is thus worshipped as though he were God! This world DOESN'T KNOW THE TRUE GOD, strange as that may seem. This world believes that if one just "accepts Christ" -- just "makes a decision for Christ" -- just "worships Christ" -- that is all that is necessary for salvation!
That's what MANY preach today! But what did JESUS CHRIST teach? Did He say it was possible to WORSHIP Him, and STILL BE UNSAVED?
Listen to His words: "In VAIN do they WORSHIP ME," said Christ, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men ... making the word of God of none effect through your tradition" (Mark 7:7, 13). Hard to believe, isn't it? You've probably been so drugged, so poisoned, so deceived, by this world's deceptions -- SATAN'S COUNTERFEITS -- that even the words of Christ are difficult to believe! Well, GOD HELP YOU TO BELIEVE CHRIST! It is one thing to believe ON Christ -- that is, on His person. It is something altogether different to BELIEVE CHRIST -- to BELIEVE WHAT HE SAYS!
Very few really understand what the true Church is.
Very few really understand what the true Church is.
Jesus purchased THE TRUE CHURCH by shedding His blood for it (Acts 20:28). The TRUE Church is not some politically organized denomination which one JOINS or becomes a member, of in order to be "saved." Jesus did not die for some one religious denomination or another -- called a church.
Joining a local church congregation does not put you into God's true Church! Any church you can "join" is NOT God's Church!
You CAN'T JOIN the true Church; only God can PUT YOU INTO IT BY HIS SPIRIT (I Cor. 12:13). God alone can make you a member of His Church -- if you surrender your life to Him.
God will give that Spirit only to those who are willing to "OBEY HIM"! (Acts 5:32.)
When YOU receive God's Spirit -- which is the spirit of a sound, sane mind (II Tim. 1:6-7), you become at that moment a newly begotten member of the body of Christ -- which is the true Church of God!
The receiving of God's Spirit and the MIND OF CHRIST (Phil. 2:5) upon REPENTANCE and BAPTISM PUTS YOU INTO, baptizes you into God's TRUE Church!
"For by ONE SPIRIT are we all baptized into ONE BODY to (I Cor. 12:13).
YOU can be part of God's true Church by earnestly repenting of your sins -- disobedience to GOD'S LAWS -- by asking God to cover your sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, by calling on God's true servants to baptize you, and by claiming God's promise of the gift of His Holy Spirit. In that way, and that way ONLY, does anyone enter into the true Church.
Church attendance is not the most important thing! Church attendance does not, by itself, mean CHURCH MEMBERSHIP in God's sight! Some people view "church going" as an end in itself. But it most definitely IS NOT.
God expressly forbids His people ever to join in with the worship of counterfeit church bodies -- no matter how "close" to the truth they might seem! Only the genuine worship of God with His TRUE Church is acceptable to Him!
You need to thoroughly EXAMINE YOURSELF. You NEED TO BE SURE!
(Archived as Any church you can "join" is NOT God's Church at COG Booklets and Articles
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Gerald Flurry is an egomaniac and false prophet!
Re: Was Peter the Chief Apostle?
Who was the human leader of the early New Testament Church? Was it one man, or a committee? Does the Bible tell us? By Fred Dattolo
************
Yes, Peter was the most outspoken, dominant and chief apostle under the Apostle Christ to Jews (Galatians 2:7-8). However, it's clear God worked through all the apostles doing miracles (not just Peter), and brethren supported the apostles (not just Peter), and it was the apostles' doctrine (not Peter's). Regardless, that was then, this is now.
There is no line of succession from Peter to Gerald. Peter also wasn't an egomaniac and false prophet like Gerald Flurry has revealed himself to be (who basically proclaims himself God in the Temple). Don't be so blind and gullible! We're to take all the scriptures on any given subject and see the Big Picture.
Ideally, the Church of God groups would work together and respect each others' ministry, as Paul and Peter did (and in that holy spirit I've shared articles from the PCG, the LCG and UCG all over the Internet even though shamefully none of them has even so much as given an honorable mention to Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall), and I'm on record for initially supporting Gerald Flurry as the leader in these last days of civilization as we know it:
I no longer support Gerald Flurry because he has clearly become worse than Diotrephes!
It appears Satan was feeding Diotrephes' ego (Diotrephes means "fed by Jupiter"). Diotrephes demanded brethren follow him and him alone. John wrote of Diotrephes' rejection of "we" and "us" - he didn't write about his rejection of Peter. John didn't agree that they should just blindly follow "God's man" or whatever Diotrephes had set himself up as, but to imitate what is good. Diotrephes was clearly evil. Gerald Flurry is evil for magnifying himself (2 Corinthians 4:5).
Today, as prophesied, the brethren are scattered in different groups and organizations. Even as the early Church of God headquarters in Jerusalem was history just before their Great Tribulation, the destruction of the Temple and dispersion of the Jews, the Judean Church of God members fleeing to Pella (while the Church of God congregations continued to function in Asia Minor as the apostles carried on their God-given missions to the scattered tribes of Israel), the organized Work of God under Herbert W. Armstrong (that was centered in Pasadena, California) is history.
Gerald Flurry had a God-given opportunity to serve the brethren and has failed, even though God has given him some victories like he did for Ahab for His Overall Purpose and can work though anybody or anything (Philippians 1:15) - including a pagan Gentile sorcerer and a High Priest and can even raise up rocks to do His Work if He chooses to.
Remember salvation is not a group affair, contrary to those who brainwash some to believe such a doctrine of demons. We're to maintain a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ: work out your own salvation with fearfulness and trembling. We're to obey God rather than men who often set themselves up as God! Yet too many are still looking to men or organizations to save them:
1 Corinthians 1:12-14
12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Even as the apostles informed the Gentiles if they followed certain basic requirements, they did well, so too today, regardless of which group or organization (if any) they're associated with, the brethren do well to remember the Sabbath and holy days, dietary laws, and basic doctrines.
We await the appearance of the Two Witnesses who will restore, by their presence, the Church of God headquarters to Jerusalem.
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
Who was the human leader of the early New Testament Church? Was it one man, or a committee? Does the Bible tell us? By Fred Dattolo
************
Yes, Peter was the most outspoken, dominant and chief apostle under the Apostle Christ to Jews (Galatians 2:7-8). However, it's clear God worked through all the apostles doing miracles (not just Peter), and brethren supported the apostles (not just Peter), and it was the apostles' doctrine (not Peter's). Regardless, that was then, this is now.
There is no line of succession from Peter to Gerald. Peter also wasn't an egomaniac and false prophet like Gerald Flurry has revealed himself to be (who basically proclaims himself God in the Temple). Don't be so blind and gullible! We're to take all the scriptures on any given subject and see the Big Picture.
Ideally, the Church of God groups would work together and respect each others' ministry, as Paul and Peter did (and in that holy spirit I've shared articles from the PCG, the LCG and UCG all over the Internet even though shamefully none of them has even so much as given an honorable mention to Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall), and I'm on record for initially supporting Gerald Flurry as the leader in these last days of civilization as we know it:
Whether we like it or not, God, in His infinite wisdom, chose Gerald Flurry to reveal to God's Church what was going on -- and thereby allow us to show our true colors by how we responded to Malachi's Message. (That doesn't mean Mr. Flurry is infallible or that he doesn't need to continually apply the principles of Malachi's Message to himself and organization, as we all do as explained in my article Worldwide All Over Again?). - Philadelphia Church of God Leads the Laodicean Era (Part 1)
I no longer support Gerald Flurry because he has clearly become worse than Diotrephes!
I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. (3 John 1:9-11)
It appears Satan was feeding Diotrephes' ego (Diotrephes means "fed by Jupiter"). Diotrephes demanded brethren follow him and him alone. John wrote of Diotrephes' rejection of "we" and "us" - he didn't write about his rejection of Peter. John didn't agree that they should just blindly follow "God's man" or whatever Diotrephes had set himself up as, but to imitate what is good. Diotrephes was clearly evil. Gerald Flurry is evil for magnifying himself (2 Corinthians 4:5).
Today, as prophesied, the brethren are scattered in different groups and organizations. Even as the early Church of God headquarters in Jerusalem was history just before their Great Tribulation, the destruction of the Temple and dispersion of the Jews, the Judean Church of God members fleeing to Pella (while the Church of God congregations continued to function in Asia Minor as the apostles carried on their God-given missions to the scattered tribes of Israel), the organized Work of God under Herbert W. Armstrong (that was centered in Pasadena, California) is history.
Gerald Flurry had a God-given opportunity to serve the brethren and has failed, even though God has given him some victories like he did for Ahab for His Overall Purpose and can work though anybody or anything (Philippians 1:15) - including a pagan Gentile sorcerer and a High Priest and can even raise up rocks to do His Work if He chooses to.
Remember salvation is not a group affair, contrary to those who brainwash some to believe such a doctrine of demons. We're to maintain a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ: work out your own salvation with fearfulness and trembling. We're to obey God rather than men who often set themselves up as God! Yet too many are still looking to men or organizations to save them:
1 Corinthians 1:12-14
12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Even as the apostles informed the Gentiles if they followed certain basic requirements, they did well, so too today, regardless of which group or organization (if any) they're associated with, the brethren do well to remember the Sabbath and holy days, dietary laws, and basic doctrines.
We await the appearance of the Two Witnesses who will restore, by their presence, the Church of God headquarters to Jerusalem.
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
Friday, January 8, 2010
Gerald Flurry gets his "revealed prophecy" from secular sources
Unriddling the Middle East
A record of accurate analysis on the world’s knottiest region.
By Brad Macdonald
************
Gerald Flurry gets his "revealed prophecy" from secular news sources, some more intelligent and discerning than others, and then - thanks to Herbert W. Armstrong - adds a biblical perspective to it, like all the Church of God groups do, and I do and have done, especially concerning Jerusalem and Israel.
Warning Jews
Pope's Evil Eye on Jerusalem!
EU to Conquer Anglo-Saxon-Celtics and Jews
Paint Israel Black: Jews to Lose Jerusalem!
Woe to Ariel! (Jerusalem to Suffer EU Occupation)
Jews - the Beast and False Prophet - and Rome's Destruction
The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11
A record of accurate analysis on the world’s knottiest region.
By Brad Macdonald
************
Gerald Flurry gets his "revealed prophecy" from secular news sources, some more intelligent and discerning than others, and then - thanks to Herbert W. Armstrong - adds a biblical perspective to it, like all the Church of God groups do, and I do and have done, especially concerning Jerusalem and Israel.
Warning Jews
Pope's Evil Eye on Jerusalem!
EU to Conquer Anglo-Saxon-Celtics and Jews
Paint Israel Black: Jews to Lose Jerusalem!
Woe to Ariel! (Jerusalem to Suffer EU Occupation)
Jews - the Beast and False Prophet - and Rome's Destruction
The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Gerald Flurry terrified of truth getting out!
RayMerk1 comments on I'm not a terrorist:
Gerald Flurry distorted reality to cut you up because he's scared. If his followers ever start to listen to ex-members his game will be up since some of them can prove his many lies. So of course he had to discredit you. He's insecure and terrified of the truth getting out.
Watch the video for yourself and see what he's talking about;
I'm not a terrorist
Gerald Flurry distorted reality to cut you up because he's scared. If his followers ever start to listen to ex-members his game will be up since some of them can prove his many lies. So of course he had to discredit you. He's insecure and terrified of the truth getting out.
Watch the video for yourself and see what he's talking about;
I'm not a terrorist
Is David Ben-Ariel a terrorist? Did he try to blow up the mosques in Israel? Is that why he was deported from Israel? Or is he simply somebody who has been targeted for exposing the German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem and highlighting the Nazi Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount?
God-given love for Jews (mentions my volunteer service on 8 kibbutzim throughout Israel)
Gerald Flurry's Outrageous Attack Against David Ben-Ariel (Gerald Flurry's demonic rage against me)
Is David Ben-Ariel a Terrorist? (Apparently Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry would mislead you to believe so!)
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization! (Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
Jerusalem's Betrayal and Rape (German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem)
Monday, November 23, 2009
Fox 25 Special Report on Philadelphia Church of God
Reporter Nick Winkler, of Fox 25 in Oklahoma City, presented a special report on the Philadelphia Church of God that aired Nov. 24 and Nov. 25.
I found the special report on the PCG, all things considered, unusually fair and balanced and commend Nick Winkler and Fox News for it, since the Sabbath-keeping Church of God members have always been highly skeptical of such reporters and cynical about such programs.
You can watch the Fox News' videos for yourself and see what you think:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part One
Philadelphia Church of God: Part Two
I'm pleased Fox News made mention of my book and name and showed them on my Philadelphia Church of God blog, having interviewed me as a former PCG member who was disfellowshipped for writing Beyond Babylon and who strongly disagrees with how Pastor General Gerald Flurry is squandering tithe money in Edmond, Oklahoma instead of going all out to share the plain truth of the Bible, our warning message, with the world in a powerful way that such money makes possible.
Fox 25, Oklahoma City, Special Report:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part One
David Ben-Ariel: I was basically put out..
Reporter Nick Winkler: Former PCG member David Ben-Ariel says he was kicked out of the Church for writing a book [Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall] without the Church's approval and says all that money [15 million Art Center on their Edmond, Oklahoma site] could be better spent spreading God's Word differently...
David Ben-Ariel: Hopefully, they'll stop spending their money in Edmond, Oklahoma and use it to become a household word with our teachings and let that become known.
*****************
Fox 25, Oklahoma City, Special Report:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part Two
Nick Winkler: Before Jesus Christ returns...
David Ben-Ariel: Violence, WWIII...yes, there will be lots of violence.
Nick Winkler: Former PCG member David Ben-Ariel says he was kicked out of the Church but still defends its tithing practices...
David Ben-Ariel: Again, it's voluntary but it's understood if you're a Church of God member you will tithe and you'll want to.
********************
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
Here's an excerpt from Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion) that reveals the PCG ministers' initial response to Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, and how Gerald Flurry's fomer right-hand man, PCG minister Dennis Leap, shamefully insisted on playing politics:
What's BEWILDERING to me is the different responses I've received from several of God's ministers who have read Beyond Babylon -- towards it and me -- before and after Dennis Leap's PARTIAL review! (Malachi 2:9).
When I faithfully sent a computer disk with my book on it to minister Wayne Turgeon, he graciously read all of it and responded:
"Oh, how I admire those with both the ability to write as well as the courage to put down their ideas on paper! I felt that you have a very gripping style of writing that uses twists and slants of words or phrases to make your point. I looked up every scripture you referenced and it became clear that you have really spent a lot of time in your Bible. Being Jewish, I think, gives you an added perspective that I could never have... Much of what you have written is not 'new revelation' as I'm sure that you'd readily agree... It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
What does he mean it's not his place to determine if what I wrote is true or not? God holds every INDIVIDUAL responsible to prayerfully determine whether something is of God or not! How did we prove Malachi's Message was biblical? Did we rely solely on our minister's evaluation? Worldwide all over again?
Mind you, unlike Mr. Armstrong's lengthy manuscript of close to 300 typed pages, Beyond Babylon is only 1/2 that size, literally! I suggested Gerald Flurry read the first and last chapters. Mr. Turgeon told me Flurry returned it to him, saying something like, "He's always sending us stuff."
I have written short letters to the point, like correcting him about Mount Hermon and Mount Carmel after he continued to confuse the two in several articles. I'm familiar with them because I've been blessed to have lived next to both of them. Mr. Turgeon also wrote that I was a little "too radical" for Mr. Flurry and wondered what I'd said or done that had given him that impression. I explained it's because I took exception to his careless condemnation of those religious Jews who want the Temple built as "extremists." I wrote that it's extremist for secular, humanist Jews to oppose converting the Promised Land into a Holy Land!
Flurry was surprised and had also written against the STRONG EMOTIONS some feel over Jerusalem and Israel. How could God use someone so distant over there?! Some of us have a GOD-GIVEN LOVE for Jerusalem and a genuine passion for Judah that's most personal; we're not a stranger in OUR Homeland! (Psalms 102:14; Ps. 137; Isaiah 62). That's not "radical," it's BIBLICAL!
Minister Carl Craven also read Beyond Babylon and acknowledged it as biblical. He said he hadn't looked up every Scripture, but was sure if he had they'd also be used correctly. I commented that I know it's biblical, but that I was just waiting for headquarters to prove that to themselves as well. He expressed an understanding of how it's difficult to be patient meanwhile.
When Dennis Leap did call, it was to instruct me to STAY HOME FROM SABBATH SERVICES while he looked at the book! I didn't recall such an unusual request being made of Mr. Armstrong, and recognized it went against "innocent until proven guilty," but obliged with the hope of returning soon (John 7:51).
"Prophesy Not!"
After some time, I called Mr. Leap. He said he'd read PARTS of the book, and that it wasn't important whether Mr. Flurry had read it or not (even though I'd been led to believe he'd pass it on to him). He stated, "You use some pretty strong language in there," to which I replied, "But it's biblical, isn't it?" "Well, yes, but...". He also noted, like Mr. Turgeon, that most of it is what we already teach. I agreed and said that that should serve as a GOOD SIGN, but that the NEW REVELATION about the Two Witnesses and Europe is firmly built upon that foundation.
Dennis Leap found it difficult to accept that a LAY MEMBER would write such a book. He admitted Flurry had received bits of revelation from lay members, but NEVER a whole book! I didn't want to be judged by precedent, but by whether or not what I'd written is biblical. If I was in error, then it was his duty to clearly show me where FROM THE BIBLE, like Aquilla and Priscilla helped improve Apollos' understanding (Acts 18:26).
I was informed if I wanted to return to services, I would have to forget Beyond Babylon, act like a "regular lay member," and basically deny that it was from God! Like Mr. Armstrong, I had PROVEN what I'd written to be TRUE. Actually, Leap didn't say that it wasn't or attempt to refute it!
I told Mr. Leap I didn't want to play politics. By his insistence that I must be a MINISTER to write such a book, he was still looking to MEN OF STATURE! And since I'm not one, he was demanding that I "PROPHESY NOT!" (Amos 2:12).
He got very angry when I mentioned this and said he was severing all ties between the PCG and myself, and that I wasn't to claim any association with the PCG. He said I was now free to go and do whatever I felt God would have me to do with BB and not worry whether or not he or Mr. Flurry had read it! When I expressed the hope of reconciliation, he retorted we could when I repented. Of what? OBEYING GOD RATHER THAN MAN? Is that "rebellion?"
Mr. Armstrong WASN'T an ordained minister either when he wrote what he felt GOD would have him to share! The Identity Doctrine also wasn't so much new truth, as a new way of presenting it. I'm sure glad he didn't let those two points stop him! Aren't you? So I was UNJUSTLY DISFELLOWSHIPPED for believing God used me to write a book, and MARKED for exposing the facts about Mr. Leap's folly!
************************************
Read Beyond Babylon for yourself. You can read Beyond Babylon for FREE on my Beyond Babylon blog!
Beyond Babylon
CONTENTS
Introduction
Survival Guaranteed
Why National Defeat?
Truth or Consequences
Victims of Tradition
Europe's Fate
Jesus and the Jews
Elijah's Key Role
I found the special report on the PCG, all things considered, unusually fair and balanced and commend Nick Winkler and Fox News for it, since the Sabbath-keeping Church of God members have always been highly skeptical of such reporters and cynical about such programs.
You can watch the Fox News' videos for yourself and see what you think:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part One
Philadelphia Church of God: Part Two
I'm pleased Fox News made mention of my book and name and showed them on my Philadelphia Church of God blog, having interviewed me as a former PCG member who was disfellowshipped for writing Beyond Babylon and who strongly disagrees with how Pastor General Gerald Flurry is squandering tithe money in Edmond, Oklahoma instead of going all out to share the plain truth of the Bible, our warning message, with the world in a powerful way that such money makes possible.
Fox 25, Oklahoma City, Special Report:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part One
David Ben-Ariel: I was basically put out..
Reporter Nick Winkler: Former PCG member David Ben-Ariel says he was kicked out of the Church for writing a book [Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall] without the Church's approval and says all that money [15 million Art Center on their Edmond, Oklahoma site] could be better spent spreading God's Word differently...
David Ben-Ariel: Hopefully, they'll stop spending their money in Edmond, Oklahoma and use it to become a household word with our teachings and let that become known.
*****************
Fox 25, Oklahoma City, Special Report:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part Two
Nick Winkler: Before Jesus Christ returns...
David Ben-Ariel: Violence, WWIII...yes, there will be lots of violence.
Nick Winkler: Former PCG member David Ben-Ariel says he was kicked out of the Church but still defends its tithing practices...
David Ben-Ariel: Again, it's voluntary but it's understood if you're a Church of God member you will tithe and you'll want to.
********************
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
Here's an excerpt from Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion) that reveals the PCG ministers' initial response to Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, and how Gerald Flurry's fomer right-hand man, PCG minister Dennis Leap, shamefully insisted on playing politics:
What's BEWILDERING to me is the different responses I've received from several of God's ministers who have read Beyond Babylon -- towards it and me -- before and after Dennis Leap's PARTIAL review! (Malachi 2:9).
When I faithfully sent a computer disk with my book on it to minister Wayne Turgeon, he graciously read all of it and responded:
"Oh, how I admire those with both the ability to write as well as the courage to put down their ideas on paper! I felt that you have a very gripping style of writing that uses twists and slants of words or phrases to make your point. I looked up every scripture you referenced and it became clear that you have really spent a lot of time in your Bible. Being Jewish, I think, gives you an added perspective that I could never have... Much of what you have written is not 'new revelation' as I'm sure that you'd readily agree... It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
What does he mean it's not his place to determine if what I wrote is true or not? God holds every INDIVIDUAL responsible to prayerfully determine whether something is of God or not! How did we prove Malachi's Message was biblical? Did we rely solely on our minister's evaluation? Worldwide all over again?
Mind you, unlike Mr. Armstrong's lengthy manuscript of close to 300 typed pages, Beyond Babylon is only 1/2 that size, literally! I suggested Gerald Flurry read the first and last chapters. Mr. Turgeon told me Flurry returned it to him, saying something like, "He's always sending us stuff."
I have written short letters to the point, like correcting him about Mount Hermon and Mount Carmel after he continued to confuse the two in several articles. I'm familiar with them because I've been blessed to have lived next to both of them. Mr. Turgeon also wrote that I was a little "too radical" for Mr. Flurry and wondered what I'd said or done that had given him that impression. I explained it's because I took exception to his careless condemnation of those religious Jews who want the Temple built as "extremists." I wrote that it's extremist for secular, humanist Jews to oppose converting the Promised Land into a Holy Land!
Flurry was surprised and had also written against the STRONG EMOTIONS some feel over Jerusalem and Israel. How could God use someone so distant over there?! Some of us have a GOD-GIVEN LOVE for Jerusalem and a genuine passion for Judah that's most personal; we're not a stranger in OUR Homeland! (Psalms 102:14; Ps. 137; Isaiah 62). That's not "radical," it's BIBLICAL!
Minister Carl Craven also read Beyond Babylon and acknowledged it as biblical. He said he hadn't looked up every Scripture, but was sure if he had they'd also be used correctly. I commented that I know it's biblical, but that I was just waiting for headquarters to prove that to themselves as well. He expressed an understanding of how it's difficult to be patient meanwhile.
When Dennis Leap did call, it was to instruct me to STAY HOME FROM SABBATH SERVICES while he looked at the book! I didn't recall such an unusual request being made of Mr. Armstrong, and recognized it went against "innocent until proven guilty," but obliged with the hope of returning soon (John 7:51).
"Prophesy Not!"
After some time, I called Mr. Leap. He said he'd read PARTS of the book, and that it wasn't important whether Mr. Flurry had read it or not (even though I'd been led to believe he'd pass it on to him). He stated, "You use some pretty strong language in there," to which I replied, "But it's biblical, isn't it?" "Well, yes, but...". He also noted, like Mr. Turgeon, that most of it is what we already teach. I agreed and said that that should serve as a GOOD SIGN, but that the NEW REVELATION about the Two Witnesses and Europe is firmly built upon that foundation.
Dennis Leap found it difficult to accept that a LAY MEMBER would write such a book. He admitted Flurry had received bits of revelation from lay members, but NEVER a whole book! I didn't want to be judged by precedent, but by whether or not what I'd written is biblical. If I was in error, then it was his duty to clearly show me where FROM THE BIBLE, like Aquilla and Priscilla helped improve Apollos' understanding (Acts 18:26).
I was informed if I wanted to return to services, I would have to forget Beyond Babylon, act like a "regular lay member," and basically deny that it was from God! Like Mr. Armstrong, I had PROVEN what I'd written to be TRUE. Actually, Leap didn't say that it wasn't or attempt to refute it!
I told Mr. Leap I didn't want to play politics. By his insistence that I must be a MINISTER to write such a book, he was still looking to MEN OF STATURE! And since I'm not one, he was demanding that I "PROPHESY NOT!" (Amos 2:12).
He got very angry when I mentioned this and said he was severing all ties between the PCG and myself, and that I wasn't to claim any association with the PCG. He said I was now free to go and do whatever I felt God would have me to do with BB and not worry whether or not he or Mr. Flurry had read it! When I expressed the hope of reconciliation, he retorted we could when I repented. Of what? OBEYING GOD RATHER THAN MAN? Is that "rebellion?"
Mr. Armstrong WASN'T an ordained minister either when he wrote what he felt GOD would have him to share! The Identity Doctrine also wasn't so much new truth, as a new way of presenting it. I'm sure glad he didn't let those two points stop him! Aren't you? So I was UNJUSTLY DISFELLOWSHIPPED for believing God used me to write a book, and MARKED for exposing the facts about Mr. Leap's folly!
************************************
Read Beyond Babylon for yourself. You can read Beyond Babylon for FREE on my Beyond Babylon blog!
Beyond Babylon
CONTENTS
Introduction
Survival Guaranteed
Why National Defeat?
Truth or Consequences
Victims of Tradition
Europe's Fate
Jesus and the Jews
Elijah's Key Role
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
by David Ben-Ariel
The Church of God has been charged to get the Word out to all the world and make disciples (students) within every nation, teaching them to follow Yahshua's (Jesus') teachings.
What did Yahshua teach? Yahshua boldly proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God, the immortal family of divine beings soon to reign over all the earth.
He also taught His students how to live a life that graces the Gospel and compliments the Kingdom. We're to become more godly, more Christlike, more Kingdom-like, daily, in anticipation of its Dawn.
But Yahshua also warned of TURBULENT TIMES to occur just before His landing on the Mount of Olives to liberate Jerusalem and secure David's Throne (leading to Israel's deliverance).
We know that certain prophecies were not to be fulfilled until these "last days." Therefore their sealed messages weren't to break their silence until the appointed time (Dan. 12:9). With the advent of the nuclear age, we've been living, for the first time in history, with the weapons of mass destruction that can erase all life from off planet Earth! (Matt. 24:21-22).
The early Church of God preached the Gospel, but within the framework of addressing issues and concerns of their time and place. For example, they emphasized Yahshua's necessary death and resurrection.
The biblical approach is to offer "meat in due season," custom-made messages, tailored for the times, "becoming all things to all men," using current events as a prop and a podium.
The Sabbath-keeping apostles and evangelists preached Christ and Him crucified, and didn't deal with Yahshua's prophecy about Jerusalem's imminent fall and the Temple's destruction. Why? Because it wouldn't affect the daily lives and national affairs of their Gentile audience.
However, today the European Beast is taking shape and form before us, while the American, British and Jewish peoples continue their nosedive to oblivion. Both of these intertwined events were clearly prophesied (Lev. 26; Deut. 28). And it's only with our God-given understanding of biblical prophecy that we can see where these trends are rapidly heading.
Both the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation reveal a Gentile confederation of nations to emerge upon the world scene just before Messiah comes, wrecking havoc upon Israel and opposing the Heavenly Army (Dan.7; Rev. 13; 17).
These prophesied headlines will directly affect the lives of every member of the Church of God and nations of Israel! We're living in the prophesied time of a knowledge explosion, of mass transit and rapid communication, and have truly become a global village (Dan. 12:4). Therefore these "geopolitical" prophecies are most personal and pertinent.
It was necessary for God to first identify Israel today (the so-called Lost Ten Tribes) so the Church of God could deliver His message to them, preserved by the Prophets for our time. We're to warn the sinful English-speaking nations of white Israelites that the Holocaust was only a preview of what's to come! We're to deliver the Ezekiel warning message to them specifically (Ezekiel 3:17; 33:1-9).
Many different groups and organizations (for better and for worse) have helped to restore Israel's identity. But Herbert W. Armstrong was the most influential, through his inspiring book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, as God ordained (Isa. 49:6). How else could we go with the Gospel to the "lost sheep of the House of Israel" unless God directed us? How could we warn about the imminent "Time of Jacob's Trouble" unless God sent us?
Many professing-Christian ministries today are still lost in their own little religious worlds (Ezek. 34:4-5). They still don't know or care who Israel is or reject our identity (yet express interest in our Jewish brethren), although God expects His shepherds to help remind Israel of our biblical roots and responsibilities and regather them as "One Nation Under God," a truly "United Kingdom" (Ezek. 37:22).
It appears that they're happy believing they're Gentiles (with their counterfeit Christianity/Gentile religion) and don't want to return to biblical ways and days, preferring their perverted scatter-brain traditions (Hos. 1:9).
As brought out in my timely book, Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, "Christ referred to WORLD WAR III as the GREAT TRIBULATION (Matt. 24:21-22). He had given an outline of prophetic events to occur just prior to His Second Coming. Although we can't know the exact time or date, we can know when it's very near!"
Yahshua taught that the end time would be very similar to Noah's time and how it was in Sodom and Gomorrah. Didn't Noah know what was about to happen? Wasn't Lot warned about imminent destruction? YES! Biblical precedent provides the proof that the people of God won't be left without a clue (Amos 3:7).
The Sabbath-keeping Church of God, His called-out ones (drafted to be delightfully different and wonderfully weird, living "ahead of our time"), are called Children of Light (1 Pet. 4:4; 1 Thes. 5:1-6).
We haven't been left in the dark, in stark contrast to those around us who know the latest weather report but miss the significance of the times. Too many remain oblivious to the fact that a EUROPEAN STORM IS BREWING (Matt. 16:2-3). Many won't realize it until it HITS HOME and they're devastated!
There's precious little time left to help sound the alarm and let the sirens go off. We're supposed to serve as God's EARLY WARNING SYSTEM (Jer. 44:4).
From the Watchtower of Faith we're able to see what's on the horizon and pick up on our spiritual radar screen the clear and present danger Europe presents. We know what's going to happen, based upon biblical facts, and declare it with confidence (Rom. 4:17).
If we don't help warn the world, giving everybody a chance to escape, we'll be held accountable for their deaths (Ezek. 3:18). Isaiah 42:19 warns about God's servant going blind and His messenger going deaf; Isaiah 56:10 rebukes blind watchman and dumb watchdogs that don't know how to bark and are asleep on the job!
Obviously God didn't "hire" them that way. This is so serious that God must warn us about it, (and you're being warned right now) because apparently many won't pass this part of our Christian test, deserting our posts, and running like Jonah. Such Christian-doves will get swallowed up in the belly of the Beast! There's nothing new under the Sun: just as Yahshua's closest friends fell asleep just before His trial and crucifixion, it appears some will nod off just before our Church and nations are scourged.
An important part of Yahshua's teachings, relevant to this generation, is the warning signs of what's about to strike, so everyone can prayerfully watch and seek shelter before it's too late (Lk. 21:36). But we're to share His survival course with others so they can know what to look for and expect and how to receive around-the-clock protection by trusting in Him. We can help save lives and prepare people for what's just ahead, whether it's World War III or the Lake of Fire (Jude 23).
Signs reveal what direction we're heading and how close we're getting to that destination. We're to share our God-given light of understanding with the world that they may be warned. That is our solemn privilege and responsibility. How nations or individuals respond is not our responsibility, it is between God and them.
Ezekiel's warning message is the same as Yahshua's and Paul's: repent or face the judgment of God. Likewise, Revelation's message is to repent of such things as murder, occult practices, immorality, idolatry, etc. and begin to obey the commandments of God and hang on for dear life to Jesus' teachings (in attitude and actions, in word and in works). However, God has decreed that His final warning to the world before the Storm breaks should be directed to His People Israel, now identified as prophesied, and that it should include exposing the European Beast as a satanic system opposed to the saints of God and His government.
If God preferred that we stuck to a general message of salvation rather than to warn about a specific POLITICO-RELIGIOUS POWER rising in Europe, then He wouldn't have given us such inspired details in the Bible!
Those who think otherwise are vainly dismissing the Prophets and Revelation as unnecessary. They think they're so smart but they're acting like fools (Rom. 1:22; Job 38:2). God knows what He's doing. Anyone can preach a generic message, but only the Children of Light can understand the fine print in God's Word and reveal His Secrets to mankind.
All the magicians in the times of Joseph and Daniel put together couldn't provide the right answer to the questions of their day, yet those two witnesses gave God the glory and revealed truth that could only come from God (Gen. 41; Dan. 2:30). Likewise, God expects us to share HIS DIVINE REVELATION (Isa. 48:6). This deeper understanding and special relationship with God and His Word ought to be evident to outsiders as something truly unique (Deut. 4:6-7; John 15:15).
May the Church of God share the complete teachings of Yahshua, His full gospel -- individual and national -- with all the world. Such priceless teachings about the Kingdom of God, faith and forgiveness, also warn about frightening events that will signal the end of this age and help usher in the Wonderful World Tomorrow.
May we faithfully explain the spiritual significance of today's bad news (through the light of Bible prophecy) and emphasize the GOOD NEWS that we have a Savior from sin and a Deliverer from men!
Come Lord Jesus! Hosanna in the Highest!
************
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
by David Ben-Ariel
The Church of God has been charged to get the Word out to all the world and make disciples (students) within every nation, teaching them to follow Yahshua's (Jesus') teachings.
What did Yahshua teach? Yahshua boldly proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God, the immortal family of divine beings soon to reign over all the earth.
He also taught His students how to live a life that graces the Gospel and compliments the Kingdom. We're to become more godly, more Christlike, more Kingdom-like, daily, in anticipation of its Dawn.
But Yahshua also warned of TURBULENT TIMES to occur just before His landing on the Mount of Olives to liberate Jerusalem and secure David's Throne (leading to Israel's deliverance).
We know that certain prophecies were not to be fulfilled until these "last days." Therefore their sealed messages weren't to break their silence until the appointed time (Dan. 12:9). With the advent of the nuclear age, we've been living, for the first time in history, with the weapons of mass destruction that can erase all life from off planet Earth! (Matt. 24:21-22).
The early Church of God preached the Gospel, but within the framework of addressing issues and concerns of their time and place. For example, they emphasized Yahshua's necessary death and resurrection.
The biblical approach is to offer "meat in due season," custom-made messages, tailored for the times, "becoming all things to all men," using current events as a prop and a podium.
The Sabbath-keeping apostles and evangelists preached Christ and Him crucified, and didn't deal with Yahshua's prophecy about Jerusalem's imminent fall and the Temple's destruction. Why? Because it wouldn't affect the daily lives and national affairs of their Gentile audience.
However, today the European Beast is taking shape and form before us, while the American, British and Jewish peoples continue their nosedive to oblivion. Both of these intertwined events were clearly prophesied (Lev. 26; Deut. 28). And it's only with our God-given understanding of biblical prophecy that we can see where these trends are rapidly heading.
Both the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation reveal a Gentile confederation of nations to emerge upon the world scene just before Messiah comes, wrecking havoc upon Israel and opposing the Heavenly Army (Dan.7; Rev. 13; 17).
These prophesied headlines will directly affect the lives of every member of the Church of God and nations of Israel! We're living in the prophesied time of a knowledge explosion, of mass transit and rapid communication, and have truly become a global village (Dan. 12:4). Therefore these "geopolitical" prophecies are most personal and pertinent.
It was necessary for God to first identify Israel today (the so-called Lost Ten Tribes) so the Church of God could deliver His message to them, preserved by the Prophets for our time. We're to warn the sinful English-speaking nations of white Israelites that the Holocaust was only a preview of what's to come! We're to deliver the Ezekiel warning message to them specifically (Ezekiel 3:17; 33:1-9).
Many different groups and organizations (for better and for worse) have helped to restore Israel's identity. But Herbert W. Armstrong was the most influential, through his inspiring book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, as God ordained (Isa. 49:6). How else could we go with the Gospel to the "lost sheep of the House of Israel" unless God directed us? How could we warn about the imminent "Time of Jacob's Trouble" unless God sent us?
Many professing-Christian ministries today are still lost in their own little religious worlds (Ezek. 34:4-5). They still don't know or care who Israel is or reject our identity (yet express interest in our Jewish brethren), although God expects His shepherds to help remind Israel of our biblical roots and responsibilities and regather them as "One Nation Under God," a truly "United Kingdom" (Ezek. 37:22).
It appears that they're happy believing they're Gentiles (with their counterfeit Christianity/Gentile religion) and don't want to return to biblical ways and days, preferring their perverted scatter-brain traditions (Hos. 1:9).
As brought out in my timely book, Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, "Christ referred to WORLD WAR III as the GREAT TRIBULATION (Matt. 24:21-22). He had given an outline of prophetic events to occur just prior to His Second Coming. Although we can't know the exact time or date, we can know when it's very near!"
Yahshua taught that the end time would be very similar to Noah's time and how it was in Sodom and Gomorrah. Didn't Noah know what was about to happen? Wasn't Lot warned about imminent destruction? YES! Biblical precedent provides the proof that the people of God won't be left without a clue (Amos 3:7).
The Sabbath-keeping Church of God, His called-out ones (drafted to be delightfully different and wonderfully weird, living "ahead of our time"), are called Children of Light (1 Pet. 4:4; 1 Thes. 5:1-6).
We haven't been left in the dark, in stark contrast to those around us who know the latest weather report but miss the significance of the times. Too many remain oblivious to the fact that a EUROPEAN STORM IS BREWING (Matt. 16:2-3). Many won't realize it until it HITS HOME and they're devastated!
There's precious little time left to help sound the alarm and let the sirens go off. We're supposed to serve as God's EARLY WARNING SYSTEM (Jer. 44:4).
From the Watchtower of Faith we're able to see what's on the horizon and pick up on our spiritual radar screen the clear and present danger Europe presents. We know what's going to happen, based upon biblical facts, and declare it with confidence (Rom. 4:17).
If we don't help warn the world, giving everybody a chance to escape, we'll be held accountable for their deaths (Ezek. 3:18). Isaiah 42:19 warns about God's servant going blind and His messenger going deaf; Isaiah 56:10 rebukes blind watchman and dumb watchdogs that don't know how to bark and are asleep on the job!
Obviously God didn't "hire" them that way. This is so serious that God must warn us about it, (and you're being warned right now) because apparently many won't pass this part of our Christian test, deserting our posts, and running like Jonah. Such Christian-doves will get swallowed up in the belly of the Beast! There's nothing new under the Sun: just as Yahshua's closest friends fell asleep just before His trial and crucifixion, it appears some will nod off just before our Church and nations are scourged.
An important part of Yahshua's teachings, relevant to this generation, is the warning signs of what's about to strike, so everyone can prayerfully watch and seek shelter before it's too late (Lk. 21:36). But we're to share His survival course with others so they can know what to look for and expect and how to receive around-the-clock protection by trusting in Him. We can help save lives and prepare people for what's just ahead, whether it's World War III or the Lake of Fire (Jude 23).
Signs reveal what direction we're heading and how close we're getting to that destination. We're to share our God-given light of understanding with the world that they may be warned. That is our solemn privilege and responsibility. How nations or individuals respond is not our responsibility, it is between God and them.
Ezekiel's warning message is the same as Yahshua's and Paul's: repent or face the judgment of God. Likewise, Revelation's message is to repent of such things as murder, occult practices, immorality, idolatry, etc. and begin to obey the commandments of God and hang on for dear life to Jesus' teachings (in attitude and actions, in word and in works). However, God has decreed that His final warning to the world before the Storm breaks should be directed to His People Israel, now identified as prophesied, and that it should include exposing the European Beast as a satanic system opposed to the saints of God and His government.
If God preferred that we stuck to a general message of salvation rather than to warn about a specific POLITICO-RELIGIOUS POWER rising in Europe, then He wouldn't have given us such inspired details in the Bible!
Those who think otherwise are vainly dismissing the Prophets and Revelation as unnecessary. They think they're so smart but they're acting like fools (Rom. 1:22; Job 38:2). God knows what He's doing. Anyone can preach a generic message, but only the Children of Light can understand the fine print in God's Word and reveal His Secrets to mankind.
All the magicians in the times of Joseph and Daniel put together couldn't provide the right answer to the questions of their day, yet those two witnesses gave God the glory and revealed truth that could only come from God (Gen. 41; Dan. 2:30). Likewise, God expects us to share HIS DIVINE REVELATION (Isa. 48:6). This deeper understanding and special relationship with God and His Word ought to be evident to outsiders as something truly unique (Deut. 4:6-7; John 15:15).
May the Church of God share the complete teachings of Yahshua, His full gospel -- individual and national -- with all the world. Such priceless teachings about the Kingdom of God, faith and forgiveness, also warn about frightening events that will signal the end of this age and help usher in the Wonderful World Tomorrow.
May we faithfully explain the spiritual significance of today's bad news (through the light of Bible prophecy) and emphasize the GOOD NEWS that we have a Savior from sin and a Deliverer from men!
Come Lord Jesus! Hosanna in the Highest!
************
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Gerald Flurry and the Philadelphia Church of God
Philadelphia Church of God Leads the Laodicean Era (Part 1)
When Gerald Flurry wasn't anything in his own sight or mind God used him and now, unfortunately, it appears to have gone to his head, all the new revelation (simply a deeper understanding of some things), and he forgets that all truth is from and belongs to GOD and that God can use a donkey to deliver it (1 Cor. 4:7). Gerald Flurry has become so swollen in his own imagination that he fails to see that he is the leader of LAODICEA! He knows what warning God is giving the Laodiceans, of which he is chief! He had better heed his own words...
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
"It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
Stephen Flurry and The Philadelphia Church of God
Stephen Flurry, son of Gerald Flurry, pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God (based in Edmond, Oklahoma), has published a book that Amazon sells, Raising the Ruins: The Fight to Revive the Legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
The Work of God must go forward. The only work that's left to do now is focus on the NATIONAL LEVEL. We must get out God's ultimatum and fast! Europe is on the rise and Jerusalem is getting international attention (Zech. 14:2). Soon God's two witnesses will rise and shine in a world of darkness (Isa. 60:1-2). God's about to restore His lamp to the Middle East! (Rev. 11:3; 1 Kgs. 11:36; Amos 9:11; Zech. 12:8).
PCG: Carrying on Business as Usual
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
We know that certain prophecies were not to be fulfilled until these "last days." Therefore their sealed messages weren't to break their silence until the appointed time (Dan. 12:9). With the advent of the nuclear age, we've been living, for the first time in history, with the weapons of mass destruction that can erase all life from off planet Earth! (Matt. 24:21-22).
Politics in the Church of God Hinders Progress
Gerald Flurry refused to go forward with Beyond Babylon and fell backwards, treading old ground and is now going in circles, business as usual, as Europe rises and Judah and Israel have yet to be warned.
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
Let’s see to it that Philadelphia Church of God (Judah) doesn’t go the way of the Worldwide Church of God (Israel). These biblical principles still apply: don’t put undue trust in men; work out your own salvation, it’s not a group affair; beware the scholarly approach that demands you rely on men - not God’s Spirit or personal Bible study.
The Watchmen
"I have set Watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem"God has called us to do a Work! Anyone can and should do good works in private, but God has called us collectively to COME OUT OF THE CLOSET and deliver His Message! We're to help save individuals and nations from the coming Holocaust!
Fox 25 Special Report on Philadelphia Church of God
Gerald Flurry
Philadelphia Church of God minister's review of Beyond Babylon
The Philadephia Church of God & David Ben-Ariel
I'm not a terrorist
Is David Ben-Ariel a terrorist? Did he try to blow up the mosques in Israel? Is that why he was deported from Israel? Or is he simply somebody who has been targeted for exposing the German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem and highlighting the Nazi Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount?
God-given love for Jews (mentions my volunteer service on 8 kibbutzim throughout Israel)
Gerald Flurry's Outrageous Attack Against David Ben-Ariel
Is David Ben-Ariel a Terrorist? (Apparently Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry would mislead you to believe so!)
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization! (Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
A little known blogger
When Gerald Flurry wasn't anything in his own sight or mind God used him and now, unfortunately, it appears to have gone to his head, all the new revelation (simply a deeper understanding of some things), and he forgets that all truth is from and belongs to GOD and that God can use a donkey to deliver it (1 Cor. 4:7). Gerald Flurry has become so swollen in his own imagination that he fails to see that he is the leader of LAODICEA! He knows what warning God is giving the Laodiceans, of which he is chief! He had better heed his own words...
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
"It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
Stephen Flurry and The Philadelphia Church of God
Stephen Flurry, son of Gerald Flurry, pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God (based in Edmond, Oklahoma), has published a book that Amazon sells, Raising the Ruins: The Fight to Revive the Legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
The Work of God must go forward. The only work that's left to do now is focus on the NATIONAL LEVEL. We must get out God's ultimatum and fast! Europe is on the rise and Jerusalem is getting international attention (Zech. 14:2). Soon God's two witnesses will rise and shine in a world of darkness (Isa. 60:1-2). God's about to restore His lamp to the Middle East! (Rev. 11:3; 1 Kgs. 11:36; Amos 9:11; Zech. 12:8).
PCG: Carrying on Business as Usual
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
We know that certain prophecies were not to be fulfilled until these "last days." Therefore their sealed messages weren't to break their silence until the appointed time (Dan. 12:9). With the advent of the nuclear age, we've been living, for the first time in history, with the weapons of mass destruction that can erase all life from off planet Earth! (Matt. 24:21-22).
Politics in the Church of God Hinders Progress
Gerald Flurry refused to go forward with Beyond Babylon and fell backwards, treading old ground and is now going in circles, business as usual, as Europe rises and Judah and Israel have yet to be warned.
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
Let’s see to it that Philadelphia Church of God (Judah) doesn’t go the way of the Worldwide Church of God (Israel). These biblical principles still apply: don’t put undue trust in men; work out your own salvation, it’s not a group affair; beware the scholarly approach that demands you rely on men - not God’s Spirit or personal Bible study.
The Watchmen
"I have set Watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem"God has called us to do a Work! Anyone can and should do good works in private, but God has called us collectively to COME OUT OF THE CLOSET and deliver His Message! We're to help save individuals and nations from the coming Holocaust!
Fox 25 Special Report on Philadelphia Church of God
Gerald Flurry
Philadelphia Church of God minister's review of Beyond Babylon
The Philadephia Church of God & David Ben-Ariel
I'm not a terrorist
Is David Ben-Ariel a terrorist? Did he try to blow up the mosques in Israel? Is that why he was deported from Israel? Or is he simply somebody who has been targeted for exposing the German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem and highlighting the Nazi Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount?
God-given love for Jews (mentions my volunteer service on 8 kibbutzim throughout Israel)
Gerald Flurry's Outrageous Attack Against David Ben-Ariel
Is David Ben-Ariel a Terrorist? (Apparently Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry would mislead you to believe so!)
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization! (Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
A little known blogger
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Gerald Flurry has FAILED to repent
That false prophet Gerald Flurry has FAILED to repent of his Nimrodian ego and for his false accusations against me. I'm not surprised but saddened that false prophet Gerald Flurry has hardened his heart and appears bent on self-destruction, taking his blind organization down with him.
The Philadelphia Church of God is so close and so far away from the plain truth, mixing truth with lethal error, misrepresenting what Herbert W. Armstrong stood for and offering an adulterated version of it, polluting the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Thankfully, the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 will set the record straight and testify from Jerusalem before a worldwide captive audience!
Gerald Flurry's Outrageous Attack Against David Ben-Ariel
Is David Ben-Ariel a Terrorist?
(Apparently Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry would mislead you to believe so!)
I'm not a terrorist
Is David Ben-Ariel a terrorist? Did he try to blow up the mosques in Israel? Is that why he was deported from Israel? Or is he simply somebody who has been targeted for exposing the German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem and highlighting the Nazi Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount?
God-given love for Jews
(mentions my volunteer service on 8 kibbutzim throughout Israel)
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization!
(Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
Star Witness testifies against Gerald Flurry
A little known blogger
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
The Philadelphia Church of God is so close and so far away from the plain truth, mixing truth with lethal error, misrepresenting what Herbert W. Armstrong stood for and offering an adulterated version of it, polluting the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Thankfully, the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 will set the record straight and testify from Jerusalem before a worldwide captive audience!
Gerald Flurry's Outrageous Attack Against David Ben-Ariel
Is David Ben-Ariel a Terrorist?
(Apparently Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry would mislead you to believe so!)
I'm not a terrorist
Is David Ben-Ariel a terrorist? Did he try to blow up the mosques in Israel? Is that why he was deported from Israel? Or is he simply somebody who has been targeted for exposing the German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem and highlighting the Nazi Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount?
God-given love for Jews
(mentions my volunteer service on 8 kibbutzim throughout Israel)
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization!
(Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
Star Witness testifies against Gerald Flurry
A little known blogger
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The Philadelphia Church of God
Philadelphia Church of God Leads the Laodicean Era (Part 1)
When Gerald Flurry wasn't anything in his own sight or mind God used him and now, unfortunately, it appears to have gone to his head, all the new revelation (simply a deeper understanding of some things), and he forgets that all truth is from and belongs to GOD and that God can use a donkey to deliver it (1 Cor. 4:7). Gerald Flurry has become so swollen in his own imagination that he fails to see that he is the leader of LAODICEA! He knows what warning God is giving the Laodiceans, of which he is chief! He had better heed his own words...
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
"It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
Stephen Flurry and The Philadelphia Church of God
Stephen Flurry, son of Gerald Flurry, pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God (based in Edmond, Oklahoma), has published a book that Amazon sells, Raising the Ruins: The Fight to Revive the Legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
The Work of God must go forward. The only work that's left to do now is focus on the NATIONAL LEVEL. We must get out God's ultimatum and fast! Europe is on the rise and Jerusalem is getting international attention (Zech. 14:2). Soon God's two witnesses will rise and shine in a world of darkness (Isa. 60:1-2). God's about to restore His lamp to the Middle East! (Rev. 11:3; 1 Kgs. 11:36; Amos 9:11; Zech. 12:8).
PCG: Carrying on Business as Usual
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
We know that certain prophecies were not to be fulfilled until these "last days." Therefore their sealed messages weren't to break their silence until the appointed time (Dan. 12:9). With the advent of the nuclear age, we've been living, for the first time in history, with the weapons of mass destruction that can erase all life from off planet Earth! (Matt. 24:21-22).
Politics in the Church of God Hinders Progress
Gerald Flurry refused to go forward with Beyond Babylon and fell backwards, treading old ground and is now going in circles, business as usual, as Europe rises and Judah and Israel have yet to be warned.
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
Let’s see to it that Philadelphia Church of God (Judah) doesn’t go the way of the Worldwide Church of God (Israel). These biblical principles still apply: don’t put undue trust in men; work out your own salvation, it’s not a group affair; beware the scholarly approach that demands you rely on men - not God’s Spirit or personal Bible study.
The Watchmen
"I have set Watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem"God has called us to do a Work! Anyone can and should do good works in private, but God has called us collectively to COME OUT OF THE CLOSET and deliver His Message! We're to help save individuals and nations from the coming Holocaust!
Fox 25 Special Report on Philadelphia Church of God
Gerald Flurry
Philadelphia Church of God minister's review of Beyond Babylon
The Philadephia Church of God & David Ben-Ariel
I'm not a terrorist
Is David Ben-Ariel a terrorist? Did he try to blow up the mosques in Israel? Is that why he was deported from Israel? Or is he simply somebody who has been targeted for exposing the German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem and highlighting the Nazi Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount?
God-given love for Jews (mentions my volunteer service on 8 kibbutzim throughout Israel)
Gerald Flurry's Outrageous Attack Against David Ben-Ariel
Is David Ben-Ariel a Terrorist? (Apparently Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry would mislead you to believe so!)
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization! (Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
A little known blogger
When Gerald Flurry wasn't anything in his own sight or mind God used him and now, unfortunately, it appears to have gone to his head, all the new revelation (simply a deeper understanding of some things), and he forgets that all truth is from and belongs to GOD and that God can use a donkey to deliver it (1 Cor. 4:7). Gerald Flurry has become so swollen in his own imagination that he fails to see that he is the leader of LAODICEA! He knows what warning God is giving the Laodiceans, of which he is chief! He had better heed his own words...
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
"It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
Stephen Flurry and The Philadelphia Church of God
Stephen Flurry, son of Gerald Flurry, pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God (based in Edmond, Oklahoma), has published a book that Amazon sells, Raising the Ruins: The Fight to Revive the Legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
The Work of God must go forward. The only work that's left to do now is focus on the NATIONAL LEVEL. We must get out God's ultimatum and fast! Europe is on the rise and Jerusalem is getting international attention (Zech. 14:2). Soon God's two witnesses will rise and shine in a world of darkness (Isa. 60:1-2). God's about to restore His lamp to the Middle East! (Rev. 11:3; 1 Kgs. 11:36; Amos 9:11; Zech. 12:8).
PCG: Carrying on Business as Usual
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
We know that certain prophecies were not to be fulfilled until these "last days." Therefore their sealed messages weren't to break their silence until the appointed time (Dan. 12:9). With the advent of the nuclear age, we've been living, for the first time in history, with the weapons of mass destruction that can erase all life from off planet Earth! (Matt. 24:21-22).
Politics in the Church of God Hinders Progress
Gerald Flurry refused to go forward with Beyond Babylon and fell backwards, treading old ground and is now going in circles, business as usual, as Europe rises and Judah and Israel have yet to be warned.
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
Let’s see to it that Philadelphia Church of God (Judah) doesn’t go the way of the Worldwide Church of God (Israel). These biblical principles still apply: don’t put undue trust in men; work out your own salvation, it’s not a group affair; beware the scholarly approach that demands you rely on men - not God’s Spirit or personal Bible study.
The Watchmen
"I have set Watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem"God has called us to do a Work! Anyone can and should do good works in private, but God has called us collectively to COME OUT OF THE CLOSET and deliver His Message! We're to help save individuals and nations from the coming Holocaust!
Fox 25 Special Report on Philadelphia Church of God
Gerald Flurry
Philadelphia Church of God minister's review of Beyond Babylon
The Philadephia Church of God & David Ben-Ariel
I'm not a terrorist
Is David Ben-Ariel a terrorist? Did he try to blow up the mosques in Israel? Is that why he was deported from Israel? Or is he simply somebody who has been targeted for exposing the German-Vatican plot against Jerusalem and highlighting the Nazi Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount?
God-given love for Jews (mentions my volunteer service on 8 kibbutzim throughout Israel)
Gerald Flurry's Outrageous Attack Against David Ben-Ariel
Is David Ben-Ariel a Terrorist? (Apparently Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry would mislead you to believe so!)
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization! (Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
A little known blogger
Friday, May 1, 2009
PCG Ad Attacks David Ben-Ariel!
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).
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).
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Why Churches Keep Sunday
Why Churches Keep Sunday
By Mark Jenkins
For thousands of years, people have gathered at sunrise on Sunday to worship. Even before the Catholic Church began, Romans would face the east and worship the rising sun. That pagan sun worship is, in fact, the origin of the name Sunday, just as the name Thursday refers to the worship of the Norse god Thor.
In Old Testament times it would have been clear to everyone that God’s followers rested on the Sabbath—the seventh day of the week—and pagans who worshipped the creation observed the first day of the week in honor of the sun.
How then—and by what authority—does virtually every church keep Sunday as the sabbath today? Was the day of worship changed by Jesus Christ, who called Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” in Mark 2:28? Or perhaps by the apostles? Is there any biblical command for true Christians to worship on Sunday? And if not, where does that authority come from?
The Origins of the Two Days
The origins for both Sunday and Saturday worship are found in the first two chapters of Genesis. On the first day of the week, the great Creator God separated the day from the night, saying “Let there be light.” At this point, light was visible from the Earth. Thus the link with Sunday worship: Pagans have worshipped the creation—and specifically its main source of light—rather than its Creator throughout history. Even today, religious leaders hearken back to the creation to support Sunday worship. At a mass in 2007, Pope Benedict xvi said Sunday calls to mind “the day of the dawning of creation” and is therefore “the church’s weekly feast of creation.”
In contrast, consider what happened on the seventh day of the week: “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:2-3). During creation week, God did not sanctify any other day. He stopped His physical creation on the seventh day and created something spiritual: His Sabbath.
No one disputes the sanctity of Saturday as the Sabbath in the Old Testament. Almighty God gave its observance as the Fourth Commandment in Exodus 20. (And Jesus Christ often verified the eternally binding nature of the Ten Commandments—e.g. Matthew 5:17-19; 19:17-19.)
Then, as part of a special and separate covenant with Israel, God said the Sabbath would be a sign forever: “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:17).
The Bible itself offers no sanction for Sunday worship—more on this later—and many churches know this. We turn first to the historical record, which clearly shows when the day of observance was changed, exactly who changed it, and how it was enforced.
Sunday Enforced
At the time of Christ, only pagans—specifically, the Roman Empire—worshipped on Sunday. By a.d. 230, however, Catholics were divided on which day they should observe. One early Catholic, Origen, wrote: “But what is the feast of the Sabbath except that of which the apostle speaks, ‘There remaineth, therefore, a Sabbatism,’ that is, the observance of the Sabbath by the people of God? Leaving the Jewish observances of the Sabbath, let us see how the Sabbath ought to be observed by a Christian. On the Sabbath day all worldly labors ought to be abstained from. If, therefore, you cease from all secular works, and execute nothing worldly, but give yourselves up to spiritual exercises, repairing to church, attending to sacred reading and instruction … this is the observance of the Christian Sabbath.” At that time, this Catholic leader was referring to the seventh day of the week.
Enforced Sunday worship began with the Roman Empire, specifically Constantine. In a.d. 321, Constantine issued an edict forbidding work on “the venerable day of the sun”—Sunday. In a letter following the Nicene Council of a.d. 325, Constantine spoke of the enforcement of Sunday worship for Easter services: “At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day.” In other words, Easter was to be kept on Sunday, and the Jewish observance of Passover was expressly forbidden.
To those who ignored the decrees of the Nicene Council, Constantine wrote, in another letter regarding Sabbath worship, “Forasmuch, then, as it is no longer possible to bear with your pernicious errors, we give warning by this present statute that none of you henceforth presume to assemble yourselves together. We have directed, accordingly, that you be deprived of all the houses in which you are accustomed to hold your assemblies: and our care in this respect extends so far as to forbid the holding of your superstitious and senseless meetings, not in public merely, but in any private house or place whatsoever. Let those of you, therefore, who are desirous of embracing the true and pure religion take the far better course of entering the Catholic Church …. [F]rom this day forward none of your unlawful assemblies may presume to appear in any public or private place. Let this edict be made public.”
After Constantine gave his edict, worship on any day except Sunday became illegal. Almost 40 years later, in a.d. 363, the Council of Laodicea determined, “Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath [that is, Saturday], but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s day …. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema [cursed and excommunicated] from Christ.”
At the Council of Tours in a.d. 1163, Pope Alexander III made this decree: “Whereas a damnable heresy has for some time lifted its head in the parts about Toulouse, and already spread infection through Gascony and other provinces, concealing itself like a serpent in its folds; as soon as its followers shall have been discovered, let no man afford them refuge on his estates; neither let there be any communication with them in buying and selling: so that, being deprived of the solace of human conversation, they may be compelled to return from error to wisdom.”
Historically speaking, there is no question as to who changed the day of worship. It was the Catholic Church, enforced by the Roman Empire.
What Churches Believe
Since the Catholic Church instituted the change and is the largest organization now observing Sunday, let’s turn to its materials first for information about why it believes Sunday is sacred. The simple answer is this: because the Catholic Church made the change.
The Catholic Doctrinal Catechism states this directly: “Question: Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.” Catholics identify the changing of the day of worship as a sign of Catholic authority!
Catholics, in fact, feel the Protestants should keep the Sabbath as long as they reject the authority of Rome. The Catholic Doctrinal Catechism further states: “Question: When Protestants do profane work upon Saturday, or the seventh day of the week, do they follow the Scripture as their only rule of faith? Do they find this permission clearly laid down in the Sacred Volume? Answer: On the contrary, they have only the authority of tradition for this practice. In profaning Saturday, they violate one of God’s commandments, which He has never abrogated—‘Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.’”
Some Protestants admit this. Martin Luther himself wrote in Against the Celestial Prophets: “Indeed, if [sabbatarian Andreas] Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy.” In his Larger Catchism, Luther wrote that “to avoid the unnecessary disturbance which an innovation would occasion, it [the day of worship] should continue to be Sunday.” He simply accepted Catholic doctrine, which he knew had no scriptural authority.
Methodists, the Church of England, and Presbyterians also have documents acknowledging that there is no scriptural authority for Sunday worship.
If you read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation, you’ll read the phrase “first day of the week” eight times (and the word “Sunday” zero times), and none of these passages speak of Sunday worship. Herbert Armstrong examined each of these passages in detail in Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?, which we will be happy to send you upon request.
The Bible clearly shows us which day the early Christians kept. Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). The Apostle Paul both kept the Sabbath and preached it to Gentiles on the Sabbath for 1½ years (Acts 18:4, 6-11).
Many point to an Easter sunrise as authority for Sunday worship. In brief, Jesus Christ only offered one sign of His Messiahship: that, like Jonah (Jonah 1:17), He would remain in the grave for three days and three nights. Ever since, mankind has been trying to squeeze three days and three nights into a barely 36-hour period between Friday evening and Sunday morning.
Like Sunday observance, the sunrise Easter service has pagan origins. You can prove that God commands us to observe Christ’s death, not His birth (request our free reprint article “The Resurrection Was Not on Sunday” for more information).
What then are millions of professing Christians to do? Should they, like Martin Luther, just avoid rocking the boat? Should they, along with the Vatican and millions of other professing Christians, look toward the sun in honor of the creation, and work on the day that God Himself sanctified?
What will you do? The Almighty God gave this command: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). The patriarchs, ancient Israel, Jesus Christ, the disciples, the Apostle Paul, and God’s true Church all kept it as He commanded. All worshipped the Creator of the universe instead of the work of His fingers. What will you do? •
************
Remember the Sabbath
Did you ever stop to think why Christians keep Sunday? Did they get it from the Bible? Is there a clear-cut command that says, "Thou shalt keep Sunday?" Why did Jesus worship on Saturday? Was it only because He was a good Jew? Or does it go beyond that?
Apostate Christians
Despite warnings about another Jesus, different gospels and spirits, the rise of a counterfeit Christianity has deceived the whole world
A Nation of Drunks and Whores
We’ve been living a lie and have loved to indulge in deception. “Don’t confuse me with the facts” has been our shameful attitude, and truth has been treated like some social outcast. Therefore, God threatens to use Europe to wake us up...
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Having clearly seen how the practice of homosexuality is a sin (as I testify in God and the Gays), I can now see clearly how SPIRITUAL HOMOSEXUALS, the bloody Roman Catholic whore and her Protestant prostitute daughters (Rev. 17:5), prefer tradition over truth.
By Mark Jenkins
For thousands of years, people have gathered at sunrise on Sunday to worship. Even before the Catholic Church began, Romans would face the east and worship the rising sun. That pagan sun worship is, in fact, the origin of the name Sunday, just as the name Thursday refers to the worship of the Norse god Thor.
In Old Testament times it would have been clear to everyone that God’s followers rested on the Sabbath—the seventh day of the week—and pagans who worshipped the creation observed the first day of the week in honor of the sun.
How then—and by what authority—does virtually every church keep Sunday as the sabbath today? Was the day of worship changed by Jesus Christ, who called Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” in Mark 2:28? Or perhaps by the apostles? Is there any biblical command for true Christians to worship on Sunday? And if not, where does that authority come from?
The Origins of the Two Days
The origins for both Sunday and Saturday worship are found in the first two chapters of Genesis. On the first day of the week, the great Creator God separated the day from the night, saying “Let there be light.” At this point, light was visible from the Earth. Thus the link with Sunday worship: Pagans have worshipped the creation—and specifically its main source of light—rather than its Creator throughout history. Even today, religious leaders hearken back to the creation to support Sunday worship. At a mass in 2007, Pope Benedict xvi said Sunday calls to mind “the day of the dawning of creation” and is therefore “the church’s weekly feast of creation.”
In contrast, consider what happened on the seventh day of the week: “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:2-3). During creation week, God did not sanctify any other day. He stopped His physical creation on the seventh day and created something spiritual: His Sabbath.
No one disputes the sanctity of Saturday as the Sabbath in the Old Testament. Almighty God gave its observance as the Fourth Commandment in Exodus 20. (And Jesus Christ often verified the eternally binding nature of the Ten Commandments—e.g. Matthew 5:17-19; 19:17-19.)
Then, as part of a special and separate covenant with Israel, God said the Sabbath would be a sign forever: “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:17).
The Bible itself offers no sanction for Sunday worship—more on this later—and many churches know this. We turn first to the historical record, which clearly shows when the day of observance was changed, exactly who changed it, and how it was enforced.
Sunday Enforced
At the time of Christ, only pagans—specifically, the Roman Empire—worshipped on Sunday. By a.d. 230, however, Catholics were divided on which day they should observe. One early Catholic, Origen, wrote: “But what is the feast of the Sabbath except that of which the apostle speaks, ‘There remaineth, therefore, a Sabbatism,’ that is, the observance of the Sabbath by the people of God? Leaving the Jewish observances of the Sabbath, let us see how the Sabbath ought to be observed by a Christian. On the Sabbath day all worldly labors ought to be abstained from. If, therefore, you cease from all secular works, and execute nothing worldly, but give yourselves up to spiritual exercises, repairing to church, attending to sacred reading and instruction … this is the observance of the Christian Sabbath.” At that time, this Catholic leader was referring to the seventh day of the week.
Enforced Sunday worship began with the Roman Empire, specifically Constantine. In a.d. 321, Constantine issued an edict forbidding work on “the venerable day of the sun”—Sunday. In a letter following the Nicene Council of a.d. 325, Constantine spoke of the enforcement of Sunday worship for Easter services: “At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day.” In other words, Easter was to be kept on Sunday, and the Jewish observance of Passover was expressly forbidden.
To those who ignored the decrees of the Nicene Council, Constantine wrote, in another letter regarding Sabbath worship, “Forasmuch, then, as it is no longer possible to bear with your pernicious errors, we give warning by this present statute that none of you henceforth presume to assemble yourselves together. We have directed, accordingly, that you be deprived of all the houses in which you are accustomed to hold your assemblies: and our care in this respect extends so far as to forbid the holding of your superstitious and senseless meetings, not in public merely, but in any private house or place whatsoever. Let those of you, therefore, who are desirous of embracing the true and pure religion take the far better course of entering the Catholic Church …. [F]rom this day forward none of your unlawful assemblies may presume to appear in any public or private place. Let this edict be made public.”
After Constantine gave his edict, worship on any day except Sunday became illegal. Almost 40 years later, in a.d. 363, the Council of Laodicea determined, “Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath [that is, Saturday], but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s day …. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema [cursed and excommunicated] from Christ.”
At the Council of Tours in a.d. 1163, Pope Alexander III made this decree: “Whereas a damnable heresy has for some time lifted its head in the parts about Toulouse, and already spread infection through Gascony and other provinces, concealing itself like a serpent in its folds; as soon as its followers shall have been discovered, let no man afford them refuge on his estates; neither let there be any communication with them in buying and selling: so that, being deprived of the solace of human conversation, they may be compelled to return from error to wisdom.”
Historically speaking, there is no question as to who changed the day of worship. It was the Catholic Church, enforced by the Roman Empire.
What Churches Believe
Since the Catholic Church instituted the change and is the largest organization now observing Sunday, let’s turn to its materials first for information about why it believes Sunday is sacred. The simple answer is this: because the Catholic Church made the change.
The Catholic Doctrinal Catechism states this directly: “Question: Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.” Catholics identify the changing of the day of worship as a sign of Catholic authority!
Catholics, in fact, feel the Protestants should keep the Sabbath as long as they reject the authority of Rome. The Catholic Doctrinal Catechism further states: “Question: When Protestants do profane work upon Saturday, or the seventh day of the week, do they follow the Scripture as their only rule of faith? Do they find this permission clearly laid down in the Sacred Volume? Answer: On the contrary, they have only the authority of tradition for this practice. In profaning Saturday, they violate one of God’s commandments, which He has never abrogated—‘Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.’”
Some Protestants admit this. Martin Luther himself wrote in Against the Celestial Prophets: “Indeed, if [sabbatarian Andreas] Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy.” In his Larger Catchism, Luther wrote that “to avoid the unnecessary disturbance which an innovation would occasion, it [the day of worship] should continue to be Sunday.” He simply accepted Catholic doctrine, which he knew had no scriptural authority.
Methodists, the Church of England, and Presbyterians also have documents acknowledging that there is no scriptural authority for Sunday worship.
If you read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation, you’ll read the phrase “first day of the week” eight times (and the word “Sunday” zero times), and none of these passages speak of Sunday worship. Herbert Armstrong examined each of these passages in detail in Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?, which we will be happy to send you upon request.
The Bible clearly shows us which day the early Christians kept. Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). The Apostle Paul both kept the Sabbath and preached it to Gentiles on the Sabbath for 1½ years (Acts 18:4, 6-11).
Many point to an Easter sunrise as authority for Sunday worship. In brief, Jesus Christ only offered one sign of His Messiahship: that, like Jonah (Jonah 1:17), He would remain in the grave for three days and three nights. Ever since, mankind has been trying to squeeze three days and three nights into a barely 36-hour period between Friday evening and Sunday morning.
Like Sunday observance, the sunrise Easter service has pagan origins. You can prove that God commands us to observe Christ’s death, not His birth (request our free reprint article “The Resurrection Was Not on Sunday” for more information).
What then are millions of professing Christians to do? Should they, like Martin Luther, just avoid rocking the boat? Should they, along with the Vatican and millions of other professing Christians, look toward the sun in honor of the creation, and work on the day that God Himself sanctified?
What will you do? The Almighty God gave this command: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). The patriarchs, ancient Israel, Jesus Christ, the disciples, the Apostle Paul, and God’s true Church all kept it as He commanded. All worshipped the Creator of the universe instead of the work of His fingers. What will you do? •
************
Remember the Sabbath
Did you ever stop to think why Christians keep Sunday? Did they get it from the Bible? Is there a clear-cut command that says, "Thou shalt keep Sunday?" Why did Jesus worship on Saturday? Was it only because He was a good Jew? Or does it go beyond that?
Apostate Christians
Despite warnings about another Jesus, different gospels and spirits, the rise of a counterfeit Christianity has deceived the whole world
A Nation of Drunks and Whores
We’ve been living a lie and have loved to indulge in deception. “Don’t confuse me with the facts” has been our shameful attitude, and truth has been treated like some social outcast. Therefore, God threatens to use Europe to wake us up...
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Having clearly seen how the practice of homosexuality is a sin (as I testify in God and the Gays), I can now see clearly how SPIRITUAL HOMOSEXUALS, the bloody Roman Catholic whore and her Protestant prostitute daughters (Rev. 17:5), prefer tradition over truth.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Gerald Flurry
Gerald Flurry, pastor general of the PCG, is guilty of what he charges others. The disgruntled leader of the Edmond, Oklahoma-based Philadelphia Church of God has launched an outrageous attack against me due to his indignation over FOX 25's Primetime News at Nine special report on the PCG that aired two nights in a row. Flurry's fury was poured out in a full-page ad in The Oklahoman today.
Fox 25 Special Report on Philadelphia Church of God
Gerald Flurry has every right to offer his review of the special report on the PCG (and some of his ire is merited), but one wonders why he refused to be interviewed and set the record straight then, and even tape it himself to avoid being taken out of context?
Gerald Flurry hypocritically rants and raves against yellow journalism, scandalous unsubstantiated allegations, "telling part of the truth can make the truth out to be a lie," and then turns right around and engages in all those "dangerously demented tactics" against the Branch Davidians and against David Ben-Ariel - little ol' me!
Gerald Flurry (and son Stephen Flurry) feigns surprise that I knew about the special report allegedly before they did, but he fails to make honest mention that I sent out that information to both the PCG and many other of the Church of God branches, as many can testify. Considering how his former right-hand man and terrible sycophant (who was a cruel counsellor to many of the battered brethren), Dennis Leap, apparently withheld information from him about my book, Beyond Babylon, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know what was going on. I tried.
Gerald Flurry should be ashamed that he would abuse me as his straw man against reporter Nick Winkler and Fox 25, especially when I made it very clear to Mr. Winkler that I did not want to be part of any hit piece after I reviewed some questions he graciously sent me, as these emails prove:
David wrote:
I'm curious if those questions are for everybody you'll talk to or do you plan to talk to present members of the PCG too for balance or not or what? Is it a hit piece or an honest and unbiased report?
Original Message
From: Nick Winkler
Sent: Oct 14, 2008 8:25 PM
To: David
Subject: Re: (no subject)
No. I plan on contacting Flurry and members who live nearby.
I understand they may even be having an open house for the public.
Those questions will be asked of Flurry as well.
Feel free to disagree with the nature of any of the questions.
Correct anything you think is not being asked fairly.
Some of the questions are derived from law enforcement who have
investigated the church in the past.
Feel free to ask me whatever you'd like..or to add to the questions I sent.
Nick
From: "David"
To: "Nick Winkler"
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 8:28 PM
Subject: Constructive criticism
I'm pleasantly surprised by your refreshing reply, Nick. Thank you. The questions simply seemed biased and hateful IF those are the only questions that bitter former members would revel in but someone like me wouldn't want to be party to since we have constructive criticism (even TOUGH LOVE) of the PCG and still maintain the same basic beliefs as they do: Sabbath, holy days, dietary laws, no pagan holidays or traditional heaven and hell BS from Rome.
You might have noted in several articles I took Mr. Flurry to task, saying IF he truly believes we're in the last of the last days, why is he spending a fortune in Edmond (on jewels, buildings, etc.) instead of getting the Word out and becoming a household name? It is inconsistent and a squandering of time and money.
If Mr. Flurry or current Church members speak with you, I'll be surprised, since Mr. Armstrong told us all years ago how he ONCE permitted himself to be interviewed and after they "edited" it and went with it he felt totally betrayed and misrepresented. A great and deserving mistrust exists among the brethren due to such negative experiences. I'm willing to be interviewed, because what have I got to lose? :-)
Cheers,
David
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).
Wayne Turgeon [Gerald Flurry's son-in-law] handed Flurry a print out of Beyond Babylon years ago and he returned it to him saying, "He's always sending us stuff." Mr. Flurry even responded to me several times on various issues including his confusion of Mount Carmel with Mount Hermon which I brought to his attention (having been blessed to live next to both of them), and my disagreement with him when he said the pope was the only religious leader to sit on a throne and I mentioned the Queen of England is also head of the Anglican Church (although agreeing with the point he was making against the Roman Catholic Cult)... Later I sent an autographed copy of a self-published BB (Beyond Babylon) [before Publish America published it] to Flurry's home for him and his wife who said to me (during the Feast of Tabernacles in Louisville) about my name, "What a strong Judah name!"
- excerpt from Politics in the Church of God Hinders Progress
When Caesar Plays God: When the State Oversteps its Bounds
*Philadelphia Church of God Leads the Laodicean Era (Part 1)
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
Gerald Flurry and son failed to mention that the PCG believes in the same "bizarre and even radical views" that I do, whether it's about a German-EU, under the heavy influence of the Roman Catholic Church, that will brutally betray the American, British and Jewish peoples, igniting WWIII, and that professing Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter are nothing but baptized paganism, idolatry and immorality, that are fuel on the fires of God's judgment upon our White Israelite nations, leading to destruction, defeat and deportation!
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
Gerald Flurry's attack against me failed to address the two issues I raised:
1) How I was put out of the PCG for writing Beyond Babylon, and 2) how he's wasting tithes on a $15 million Art Center on their Edmond, Oklahoma site instead of properly getting out the Word of God, as I decry in PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual".
Gerald Flurry has been given an opportunity to go public, taking out full page ads that I called upon him to do years ago, to share our beliefs, the plain truth of the Bible, to warn the world, now that FOX 25 has afforded him coverage. May God bless Gerald Flurry to repent and do just that.
David Ben-Ariel
Author, Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
Fox 25 Special Report on Philadelphia Church of God
Gerald Flurry has every right to offer his review of the special report on the PCG (and some of his ire is merited), but one wonders why he refused to be interviewed and set the record straight then, and even tape it himself to avoid being taken out of context?
Gerald Flurry hypocritically rants and raves against yellow journalism, scandalous unsubstantiated allegations, "telling part of the truth can make the truth out to be a lie," and then turns right around and engages in all those "dangerously demented tactics" against the Branch Davidians and against David Ben-Ariel - little ol' me!
Gerald Flurry (and son Stephen Flurry) feigns surprise that I knew about the special report allegedly before they did, but he fails to make honest mention that I sent out that information to both the PCG and many other of the Church of God branches, as many can testify. Considering how his former right-hand man and terrible sycophant (who was a cruel counsellor to many of the battered brethren), Dennis Leap, apparently withheld information from him about my book, Beyond Babylon, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know what was going on. I tried.
Gerald Flurry should be ashamed that he would abuse me as his straw man against reporter Nick Winkler and Fox 25, especially when I made it very clear to Mr. Winkler that I did not want to be part of any hit piece after I reviewed some questions he graciously sent me, as these emails prove:
David wrote:
I'm curious if those questions are for everybody you'll talk to or do you plan to talk to present members of the PCG too for balance or not or what? Is it a hit piece or an honest and unbiased report?
Original Message
From: Nick Winkler
Sent: Oct 14, 2008 8:25 PM
To: David
Subject: Re: (no subject)
No. I plan on contacting Flurry and members who live nearby.
I understand they may even be having an open house for the public.
Those questions will be asked of Flurry as well.
Feel free to disagree with the nature of any of the questions.
Correct anything you think is not being asked fairly.
Some of the questions are derived from law enforcement who have
investigated the church in the past.
Feel free to ask me whatever you'd like..or to add to the questions I sent.
Nick
From: "David"
To: "Nick Winkler"
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 8:28 PM
Subject: Constructive criticism
I'm pleasantly surprised by your refreshing reply, Nick. Thank you. The questions simply seemed biased and hateful IF those are the only questions that bitter former members would revel in but someone like me wouldn't want to be party to since we have constructive criticism (even TOUGH LOVE) of the PCG and still maintain the same basic beliefs as they do: Sabbath, holy days, dietary laws, no pagan holidays or traditional heaven and hell BS from Rome.
You might have noted in several articles I took Mr. Flurry to task, saying IF he truly believes we're in the last of the last days, why is he spending a fortune in Edmond (on jewels, buildings, etc.) instead of getting the Word out and becoming a household name? It is inconsistent and a squandering of time and money.
If Mr. Flurry or current Church members speak with you, I'll be surprised, since Mr. Armstrong told us all years ago how he ONCE permitted himself to be interviewed and after they "edited" it and went with it he felt totally betrayed and misrepresented. A great and deserving mistrust exists among the brethren due to such negative experiences. I'm willing to be interviewed, because what have I got to lose? :-)
Cheers,
David
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).
Wayne Turgeon [Gerald Flurry's son-in-law] handed Flurry a print out of Beyond Babylon years ago and he returned it to him saying, "He's always sending us stuff." Mr. Flurry even responded to me several times on various issues including his confusion of Mount Carmel with Mount Hermon which I brought to his attention (having been blessed to live next to both of them), and my disagreement with him when he said the pope was the only religious leader to sit on a throne and I mentioned the Queen of England is also head of the Anglican Church (although agreeing with the point he was making against the Roman Catholic Cult)... Later I sent an autographed copy of a self-published BB (Beyond Babylon) [before Publish America published it] to Flurry's home for him and his wife who said to me (during the Feast of Tabernacles in Louisville) about my name, "What a strong Judah name!"
- excerpt from Politics in the Church of God Hinders Progress
When Caesar Plays God: When the State Oversteps its Bounds
*Philadelphia Church of God Leads the Laodicean Era (Part 1)
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
Gerald Flurry and son failed to mention that the PCG believes in the same "bizarre and even radical views" that I do, whether it's about a German-EU, under the heavy influence of the Roman Catholic Church, that will brutally betray the American, British and Jewish peoples, igniting WWIII, and that professing Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter are nothing but baptized paganism, idolatry and immorality, that are fuel on the fires of God's judgment upon our White Israelite nations, leading to destruction, defeat and deportation!
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
Gerald Flurry's attack against me failed to address the two issues I raised:
1) How I was put out of the PCG for writing Beyond Babylon, and 2) how he's wasting tithes on a $15 million Art Center on their Edmond, Oklahoma site instead of properly getting out the Word of God, as I decry in PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual".
Gerald Flurry has been given an opportunity to go public, taking out full page ads that I called upon him to do years ago, to share our beliefs, the plain truth of the Bible, to warn the world, now that FOX 25 has afforded him coverage. May God bless Gerald Flurry to repent and do just that.
David Ben-Ariel
Author, Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
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