Why does God Allow
Evil? Click here: /Apologeticshtml/Why Does God Allow Evil
0908.htm
May Christians work on
Saturdays? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Protestant
Rhetoric vs Sabbath Refuted.htm
Should
Christians obey the Old Testament law? /doctrinalhtml/Does
the New Covenant Abolish the OT Law.htm
Do you have an immortal soul? Click here:
/doctrinalhtml/Here
and Hereafter.htm
Does the ministry have authority? Click here:
/doctrinalhtml/Is
There an Ordained Ministry vs Edwards.html
Is the
United States the Beast? Click
here: /doctrinalhtml/Are
We the Beast vs Collins.htm
Should you
give 10% of your income to your church?
Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Does
the Argument from Silence Abolish the Old Testament Law of Tithing 0205 Mokarow
rebuttal.htm
Is Jesus God?
/doctrinalhtml/Is
Jesus God.htm /Doctrinalpdf/More
Evidence That Jesus Is God 08.pdf
Will there be a third resurrection? Click here:
/doctrinalhtml/Will
There Be a Third Resurrection.htm
“Malachi’s
Message” Reconsidered: Its Claims to
Inspired Authority Analyzed
by Eric V. Snow
Gerald
Flurry, the pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God, maintains he is
leading the true Church of God at this time.
Everyone else who is or was associated with the Worldwide Church of God
is a Laodicean, including people now with Global, International, and United,
are headed for the Great Tribulation and (quite possibly) the lake of
fire. His basic worldview is laid out
in Malachi’s Message, where he lays out the Philadelphia Church of God’s
basic claims, which include the view that he is God’s messenger to bear witness
against the Laodicean WCG’s ways. The
most fundamental fallacy in this book is the misappropriation of various Old
Testament Scriptures to apply in a VERY SPECIFIC way to the Worldwide Church of
God under the leadership of Joseph W. Tkach.
However, below we shall examine what is Gerald Flurry’s Achilles”
heel: his prophetic claims to
authority, and their implications.
First, we
must examine some of Mr. Flurry’s claims to prophetic authority. For IF Malachi’s Message or other
writings by him are inspired by God in
the sense Holy Scripture was, then if there are any false predictions or even
false statements, he cannot be God’s messenger to the Laodicean WCG or its
alleged Laodicean offshoots (i.e. CGI, GCG, UCG, TPM, etc.) For 100% accuracy is a requirement for a
true prophet of God (Deut. 13: 1-5; 18:20-22).
Mr. Flurry says that Malachi’s Message was inspired by God
repeatedly: “If Malachi’s Message
is revealed knowledge--it must be from God. If you see it as such--God also must have revealed that to you”
(p. 104, all emphasis throughout is his).
“ALL OF GOD’s MINISTERS ARE GOING TO KNOW MALACHI’s MESSAGE CAME
FROM GOD--WHETHER THEY REALIZE IT NOW OR IN THE GREAT TRIBULATION!” (p.
145). “Malachi’s Message was
REVEALED by God. EVERY HUMAN BEING ON
THIS EARTH MUST EVENTUALLY COME TO SEE THAT!” (p. 152). In addition to these weighty claims, he
implies he is a prophet on p. 109:
“When the structured ministry fails to repent and do its job,
then God says prophets shall arise! (Amos 2:11-12; 3:7-8).” In addition, in more recent writings, it has
been arbitrarily asserted that the “little book” of Rev. 10:9-10 is Malachi’s
Message.
Hence, one way to investigate Mr. Flurry’s
spiritual authority would be to see if he made any dogmatic false predictions
that were allegedly inspired by God. If
such a prediction exists--which is what I label a ‘smoking gun”--then it will
become very easy to direct away from Mr. Flurry’s ministry brethren who has any
spiritual discernment. Hence, there is
a need for researcher(s) to go over back issues of the Philadelphia Trumpet or various booklets Mr. Flurry has written to
see if stronger, clearer claims to prophetic inspiration are made, and whether
clear false predictions have been made--which is what category his July 17,
1994 World Cup/Auditorium collapse prediction MAY fall into. Here we should apply the techniques the
anticultists tried to use against HWA--but they were never able to find claims
of him receiving new direct revelations from God outside of the Bible by
visions, etc. For HWA maintained in Mystery
of the Ages (p. xi, 23) that he had gained spiritual truth by a process
that has been labeled “illumination” (i.e. God helped him to restore true
doctrine through Bible while studying it, NOT separate from it like Joseph
Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, etc.) By
contrast, Mr. Flurry appears to be making such prophetic claims clearly, and
says HWA did also (see p. 108).
One key
equivocation that is engaged in by Mr. Flurry and his followers is to make the
words “prophet” or “prophecy” mean “to give warning.” While no doubt God’s prophets in both the Old and New Testament
did give people warnings, this subtle redefinition allows him or them to
explain away errors they may have made in predicting the future. One example of
this definition of these terms is found on p. 126: “There are so many more major prophecies being fulfilled now than
in the 15 years prior to HWA’s death--and THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD IS
PROPHESYING LESS AND LESS!” Similarly,
on p. 108 we find: “It [Amos 2:12]
implies some minister won”t give prophetic warning as they should. . . .
“PROPHESY NOT” IS ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING, “DON”T PROPHESY THE WAY HWA DID IN THE
PAST!” The “prophesy not” attitude
means there was a time when the WCG had a strong prophecy program. . . . It’s
almost the reverse of the way they used to prophesy when HWA was the
leader.” Note how talking and preaching
about the subject of “prophecy” gets equated with “prophesying.” It is simply wrong to equate talking about Bible
prophecy and correlating current events and history with what the Old and New
Testaments” predict, with receiving visions, dreams, etc. from God. With this expansive definition of
“prophecy,” it becomes harder in the minds of PCG members to use Deut. 13 or 18
in showing that true prophets are infallible when under inspiration in what
they say. Mistaken predictions can be
easily swept under the carpet, since one could claim to make a mistaken warning
is not a sin, forgetting that if someone says what they are writing is inspired
by God directly, it would come under the condemnation of these scriptures in Deuteronomy if they turn
out to be wrong.
As we can
see, Gerald Flurry in Malachi’s Message evidently makes some very
serious claims that this book is inspired by God and implies that he is a
prophet. We can counteract this message
by finding places where inaccurate predictions are made by Mr. Flurry when they
were dogmatically asserted to be inspired by God and telling about these to
others interested in the PCG. Unfortunately, the success of the Philadelphia
Church of God nowadays with ex-WCG members is largely a product of the WCG’s overemphasis on discussing
prophecy in the past under HWA. The
PCG badly overemphasizes this subject
in the Philadelphia Trumpet, where it can virtually take over entire
issues! Unfortunately, the WCG under
Mr. Tkach now underemphasizes what composes about a fourth of the Bible (the
old one-third figure was mistaken). We
in the UCG should aim for BALANCE on this subject, and talk and write about it
some, while avoiding PCG-style excesses.
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Why does God Allow Evil?
Click here: /Apologeticshtml/Why
Does God Allow Evil 0908.htm
Is Christian teaching from ancient paganism? /Bookhtml/Paganism
influence issue article Journal 013003.htm
Which is right?:
Judaism or Christianity? /Apologeticshtml/Is
Christianity a Fraud vs Conder Round 1.htm
/Apologeticshtml/Is
Christianity a Fraud vs Conder Round 2.htm
Should God’s existence be proven? /Apologeticshtml/Should
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