Brad Macdonald gave a sermon1 which clearly revealed how much Mystery of the Ages is idolized in PCG. As he stammered2 his way through this lengthy sermon, he unabashedly focused on how important this book is to him and all members.
Not everything said in the sermon is covered. Bolding, comments and headers by ESN.]
Links to our two critical reviews of Mystery of the Ages can be found at the end of this article.
Note: Mystery of the Ages is one of the books that is listed to renounce on “Confession and Freedom From Specific Cult/Occult Strongholds” and to be removed from the house and burnt.
BM=Brad Macdonald
GF=Gerald Flurry
HWA=Herbert Armstrong
MOA=Mystery of the Ages
BEGIN SERMON
BM: [Referring to to a quiz he gave about MOA which was] “to get us thinking about how “relevant that book is; to get us thinking about how “timeless” that book is.”
BM: “I have probably read MOA ten times” and “I am reading it again.”3
[Referring to MOA] “Isn’t that book incredible?” “There’s always more we can learn from and about MOA”; “I want us to consider…our loyalty to this book.”
He referred many times to a Pentecost sermon that HWA gave on May 26, 1985 (“Why Firstfruits?) where he rebuked the members and said if they weren’t qualifying to be a teacher, “You are wasting your time”; “You don’t belong in the church.”
MOA THE MAIN TEXTBOOK IN THE WORLD TOMORROW
BM: “The Bible is the main text book of the world tomorrow and then right after the Bible, as we know, is Mystery of the Ages. … How deeply do you love that textbook? MOA.”
[He said in The New Throne of David booklet (p. 52) GF said] “We are getting ready to fill the earth with the truth taught from MOA. … After the Bible, this will be the main text book in the world tomorrow. It is the instruction manual God will use to teach all mankind. This will be the number one book that all mankind will study after the Bible.”
COMMENT from ESN: Where do we find that said or taught in the Bible?
BM: “How much does MOA shape our opinions?” … “how much MOA makes it into our conversations, our term papers, and how much is MOA forming the way we think?”
[In The New Throne of David GF said] “Habakkuk 2:11 is the single greatest new revelation that God has given the PCG so far.” (p. 48) “This beam [in Habakkuk 2:11] is MOA. … MOA connects everything.” (p. 45)
MOA CONNECTS EVERYTHING
BM: “God inspired MOA to connect it all.”
BM: [The truth in MOA] “holds this church together”; “holds our congregations together”; “holds our marriages together”; “holds our families together and MOA will *hold your life together.* And it will hold your brain and your mind together.” … “If your brain is coming apart, if you’re are struggling with God’s existence [mentions several chapters in MOA] … If you feel like with all this knowledge, you don’t know what is right and wrong, then you need to go back to MOA. The answers are in that book. And MOA will connect it all.”
COMMENT from ESN: Unbelievable!
“Now you need more than that. You need to be humble, you need to be objective, you need to be prepared to listen to what God inspires through that book. But that book holds our brains together. That book holds our life together spiritually. That book as it explains the Bible.”
[At this point BM says that he] “doesn’t want to marginalize the Bible at all.”
COMMENT from ESN: But that is exactly what he is doing.
“…thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” (John 17:6)
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17)
BM: “So far we have considered MOA as this depository of divine revelation. The most important; the most fundamental knowledge that man can have.”
THE BEAM
BM: “But there is another dimension to MOA that we really need to consider and that GF teaches us about in The New Throne of David.” [Reads a quote from p. 44 of TNTOD where GF says]” I have come to realize that the beam in this verse [Habakkuk 2:11] is more than just MOA. That book is the centerpiece, but the beam includes everything that happened with that book–all the history of the court case, including all the other writings we obtained in it.”
BM: “The beam is also the story of MOA, the way MOA came about, and then what happened with MOA in the years afterward.” [He called MOA “revealed knowledge.”]
BM: “The history of MOA really is the history of the PCG.”
BM: “From the beginning the PCG Work has revolved about MOA.”
BM: “MOA is at the core of our existence, and it’s the reason we still thrive today.”
BM: “The further we get from when MOA was first published, the more attention God gives us. … The more emphasis God puts on it.”
BM: “With the New Throne of David, God has put masses of emphasis on MOA.”
BM: “MOA is mentioned 30 times in The New Throne of David.”
“God is just giving us more and more understanding of the beam.”
EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND MOA
BM: “MOA has been at the core of our existence from the beginning. … Everything we do revolves around MOA.”
BM: “The purpose of your individual calling revolves around MOA and getting ready to teach that message.”
BM: “We’re here to learn and to live this book; we’re here to get super familiar with the Bible through this book that unlocks the Bible. So then as kings/priests we can help God offer salvation to all of mankind.”
COMMENT by ESN: How on earth can you help God “offer” salvation in the Kingdom? This is foolishness. God is the One who through Jesus Christ offered salvation.
BM: “Our spiritual lives really need to revolve around MOA, as MOA is revealing the Bible.”
BM: “The Bible is the #1 textbook, but we really do need MOA to understand it.”
COMMENT by ESN: What happened to the Holy Spirit helping us to understand?
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”(John 16:13-14)
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (I Corinthians 2:12-13)
BM: “Think about Malachi’s Message. That book really focuses a lot on MOA. MOA is mentioned 37 times in MM.”
BM: [Reads a quote from GF’s book, Revelation Unveiled at Last (p. 33) and says] “The whole vision of Revelation 10 and 11 revolves around MOA.”
BM: “This church revolves around this book (MOA) and our lives need to as well.”
GF SAID HE WOULD LOSE HIS SALVATION IF HE DIDN’T GET MOA
BM: “In Revelation Unveiled at Last (2002), GF wrote, ‘I believed that if I didn’t get this book [MOA], I would lose my salvation.'”
Comment by ESN: What he’s admitting is that his eternal salvation was determined by, and based on a book [MOA], not on the Bible and not on the Lord Jesus and His free gift of eternal life.
BM: “That’s how important this book is.”
BM: “Because GF and this church fought for MOA, then God gave us all these other things–the college, imperial academy, this auditorium; the dig in Jerusalem.
MOA IS THE GREATEST GIFT WE CAN GIVE
BM: [GF wrote in Revelation Unveiled at Last] “We are being measured, carefully and precisely, by how effectively we publish and proclaim MOA. We have to prophesy again. We have to give the people of the world one final warning. And give them the greatest gift we can possibly give.”
Comment by ESN: The greatest gift we can receive is eternal life.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
BM: “This Work was built and is sustained on a deep, sacrificial love for this book. MOA.”
BM: “So much of what we have today … we have because we fought for MOA. And because we love MOA.”
CHRIST CAME DOWN TO EARTH AND INTERVENED FOR MOA
BM: [Reads: Amos 9:1] “Christ had to come to this earth and he had to personally intervene with the affairs of this church because MOA was in real trouble. Because MOA would go extinct and the fight for this book and over the truth in this book, the fight was so intense that Jesus Christ Himself had to come down and intervene.”
COMMENT by ESN: To say this borders on blasphemy!!
BM: [Quotes GF from The New Throne, p. 64] “Jesus Christ personally came to smite them.”
BM: “God is still shaking the Laodiceans. God is still shaking those people who would fight against MOA.”
BM: “God really–He really does–take our attitude toward MOA very, very seriously.”
BM: “We do have to be careful when it comes to MOA that we don’t commit the sin of omission. [I.e.] We are not giving this revelation the attention that it needs.”
BM: [Talks about how] “we are encouraged to read MOA at least once a year.”
BM: [vs. 11 and 12 of Amos is] “in the context of the MOA court case.”
BM: “God just poured revelation into this church during the court case.” [after they began to fight for MOA]
STONE OF DESTINY MOST PRECIOUS PHYSICAL THING ON THIS EARTH
BM: “God blesses those who love and defend MOA. God blesses the Work that loves and defends MOA.”
BM: [GF said in the Aug 1996 Trumpet] “I believe this stone is the most precious physical thing on this earth.”
BM: “It is not a coincidence that we received the new stone [of destiny] during that 6 year court trial.”
COMMENT from ESN: Read: “Flurry Says PCG’s Scone of Stone (aka Stone of Destiny) is now HWA’s old Prayer Rock” (February 28, 2017 letter)
BM: “Great things happen when we build our lives, collectively and individually, around MOA.”
BM: “This book (The New Throne of David) is really is crucial to understanding MOA.”
BM: “MOA contains the fundamental message that emanates from that throne.”
BM: “MOA was mentioned 30 times in The New Throne of David.”
BUILD YOUR LIFE AROUND MOA
BM: [Voice gets loud] “Christ has built this Work around MOA and if you build your life around this book; if you strive to live the truth of this book, God will bless you the same way. He really will.”
BM: “And if you throw your heart into this Work that distributes this book, then He will give you the physical and the spiritual blessings, just as He has this Work.”
COMMENT from ESN: Where is that in the Bible? Doesn’t it talk about building our life around Christ? Doesn’t it say God has already blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” (Ephesians 1:3)
God may sometimes choose to give us physical blessings, but they were never promised to the N. T. church. Jesus said we would instead have tribulation in this world:
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation:” (John 16:33)
BM: “He is testing us, GF writes, and we have to qualify step by step to do what God wants us to do. Every one of us has an important part to play in God’s Work
MOA SECOND MOST IMPORTANT BOOK AFTER THE BIBLE
BM: “The Bible is our main text book. But MOA is the second most important book after the Bible. And it’s our second text book.”
BM; “This is the book we will teach when we become kings/priests. We have to be so familiar with this book, both the divine revelation contained in this book, but also the epic story of MOA. So familiar with all of that that we can stand in front of thousands of people [in the Millennium] and we can share them.”
BM: [GF said in Prophesy Again, p. 5, “God will give all people of this world a vision like they have never seen before. Perhaps He wants to show them that they are going to have to get this mystery out to the Universe, and perhaps to other men and women that God will create on other planets.”
COMMENT from ESN: This is a heretical Mormon teaching. [Note: Mormons today are known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but are still considered a cult. Read: “Why I Left The Mormon Church And Why It’s A Cult.“]
BM: “Don’t take your understanding of MOA for granted. Don’t ever think that you’ve read it enough. Strive to understand this book and the history of this book more deeply over time. Approach MOA the way God does. The older this book gets the more attention He gives it.”
BM: “Brethren, love Mystery of the Ages.”
COMMENT from ESN:
“…Knowledge puffeth up, but charity (love) edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him.” (I Corinthians 8:1-3)
The words in this sermon are an abomination to the true Lord Jesus Christ.
By D. M. Williams
Exit & Support Network™
September 14, 2021
Note: This sermon was sent to ESN from anonymous source.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (II Timothy 4:3-4)
“The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.”
(Isaiah 2:11)
Recommended Material:
Mystery of the Ages (a critical review) by Kelly Marshall (opens as PDF)
Mystery of the Ages (a 2nd critical review) by William Hohmann (opens as PDF)
Leaders of Totalistic Groups Have These Traits in Common
Recommended Letter:
Is Brad Macdonald Becoming More Mentally Unstable? (September 15, 2021 letter)
Recommended Article:
The Law of Moses and the Grace of God
Footnotes:
1 “Build Your Life Around Mystery of the Ages” (Brad Macdonald, Sermon, May 30, 2020, which was the day before Pentecost. Last played to members on Feast of Trumpets 2021.) Note: In 2021 Brad Macdonald replaced Eric Burns as the assistant dean of students at HQs in Edmond. He is married to Eyren Leap, one of Dennis Leap’s daughters. (Read 2004 letter: “Dennis Leap Is A Dangerous Man“) He is the brother of the late Garth Macdonald who died in 2006 due to lack of medical care.
2 Stammering can indicate the person is lying. Whether Brad knows he is lying, or not, only he knows, but it is evident that he has been completely brainwashed (mind-controlled) from youth on up since he grew up in PCG.
3 It should be a downright shame that a book (MOA) authored by a mere human being which has been shown to contain many untruths and heresies, and is on the list of books to renounce, is being read more than the Bible, the very Word of God, by someone who claims to be a “minister of God.” George Muller (1805-1898) said, “I have read the Bible through one hundred times, and always with increasing delight. Each time it seems like a new book to me.” (The Berean Call /Quotable /George Muller) Many who have absorbed themselves foremost in Herbert Armstrong’s literature have unfortunately never heard of him. George Muller was a Christian missionary evangelist and coordinator of orphanages in Bristol, England, who cared for over 120,000 orphan children. In his journals, Muller recorded miracle-after-miracle of God’s provision and answered prayer (50,000 were recorded). To read more about Muller, see our Booklist.