I have dropped out of
Flurry's
organization after being a member for a little over a year. I had tried
the other
splinter groups and thought Flurry had it right.
My mother had been ill since before Herbert W. Armstrong died so I
didn't know the changes that were
taking place until '97 when I had a chance to really take a look. I knew
WCG wasn't "the work" anymore but "nothing" had
happened so I started looking around, feeling that God would be working
somewhere. I did believe what Gerald Flurry was writing but felt uneasy at his
constant referral to himself, that he was "the only one" who
was following HWA, receiving new revelation, etc. Then he started with
"That Prophet" and I was almost embarrassed for him but more
embarrassed at myself. He has written a booklet about it now and in it
he cites Scriptures, then explains and explains, trying to shoe horn
himself as a latter day prophet that was foretold.
I think I had hoped I could "coast" but we can never let our
guard down. I emailed the deacon to ask for reassurance or encouragement
and got a lecture about "dissident
literature." How did they
think I found Flurry? While looking for copies of Don Tiger's CDs, I ran
across T-COG and they asked me to study to find out who "that
prophet" really was. So I got busy and the more I studied, the more
I realized Flurry is lying; "that prophet" can only be Christ.
I was baptized Feb. 4th and there was no requirement to read anything,
only tell them what I believe. I had already read the books required by
Flurry but was told to read them again. That isn't in the Bible, all the
Bible says is to repent and be baptized, not jump thru' your church's
hoops.
Now I have received a four page
Co-Worker letter, reminding me to "give" and
"support the Work." Flurry keeps saying we're in the
"last hour."1 If that is so, why is he in such an all fired
hurry to build dormitories and housing for his staff, and himself? Why a
field house with a swimming pool? Since one of the touted features of
this chunk of land he bought to build on was a working airstrip, why
isn't he buying up big airplanes to "flee" in and parking them
there, preparing them for a long flight to wherever?2
When HWA wrote, reminding us to
contribute, I did because I believed in what he was doing and that many were
served by what he and I built. Flurry is a huckster and what he is
building is for himself and his favored few, and it is painfully
obvious. I don't want to feel like this, but God opened my eyes to the flimflam and showed me I needed to get out, fast. I
am glad I did, I was beginning to resent the subtle pressure to attend
Sabbaths every week--an 80 mile drive--or ride with someone else,
spending practically the whole day there, then the long drive back. I am
disabled and need periods of rest during the day and time to be alone
and that was just too much. But every week I'd get a call or an email
reminding me what time to meet my ride.
I got involved with HWA's writings in 1960; I studied and read on my own.
There were times I tried to "distance" myself from it because
I believed it too much. Life took me where it would, taught me the
lessons I needed to learn the hard way. Only during a couple of years in
the early '70s did I regularly go on the Sabbath in a small community.
Later I was isolated in the high mountains and on my own again. God
worked with me, taught me, inspired me to contemplate Him and His
workings in a peaceful surrounding, in the beauty He created. Oh, there
were dangers. God saved my life for certain twice, accidents that should
have killed me, to show me He was still there and still wanted me. Since
more was accomplished while I was alone, I don't feel obligated to
attend Sabbath services every week with anyone. Now I am affiliated with a group
that doesn't have Sabbath meetings anywhere near here and I am relieved.
I observe the Sabbath alone and get much more out of it, without the
stress and later pain and soreness.
I am where God wants me to be and here is where I will stay until God
shows me what He wants next.
I think Flurry is driving members away, probably a
good thing with this "That Prophet" stuff.3 But rather than
just dump him, I did study and made sure I was convinced he was wrong.
How grateful I am to the people who asked me that simple question,
"Who does the Bible say "that prophet" is?"
By Eva
May 3, 2002
Footnote:
1
According to Flurry, the "last hour" began on May 5, 2001.
(Update: Flurry later claimed that the last half of the last hour began
on June 4, 2005.) (The
Last Hour, 2004; Dear Brethren and co-workers in Christ,
2/2/04; Jude, 2005, PCG sermon by
Wayne Turgeon, 12/24/05, etc.)
2
For more on PCG's teaching concerning the "place of safety,"
read: Philadelphia Church of God and the
Place of Safety.
3
Flurry has referred to himself by many other titles besides "That
Prophet."
Read: Biblical
Titles Gerald Flurry Appropriates For Himself.
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