Below will be clips from his letter, along with comments by ESN. (Bolding replaces caps used by Flurry.) Updates are at bottom.

GF: "Time is rapidly running out for us to complete God's Work!"

ESN: Is this Gerald Flurry talking, or Herbert Armstrong? "Time is getting shorter! We haven't as much time left to complete Christ's Commission, as we think!" (October 2, 1957 co-worker letter by HWA.) HWA repeatedly in his co-worker letters declared, "Time is running out!" "Time is getting shorter!" "Time is now short!" "There is not much time left!" "We still have much work to do and not much time to do it!" etc.

GF: "One big decision weighing on my mind for months now is when to proceed with constructing the House for God, the auditorium we plan for the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus. ... The only thing we lack is funding.

ESN: Guess who is going to pay for it?

GF: "This is not a time for cutbacks--it is time to drive forward with greater urgency and power in God's Work!"

ESN: When has Flurry ever cut back (or waited) on anything he wanted?

GF: "...given what looks to be the very shortness of time we have left, I believe we must position ourselves to begin constructing the house for God as quickly as we possibly can."

ESN:  What words were continually repeated by HWA in his co-worker letters from 1938 until 1985? "Time is short!"

GF: "I also believe God wants us to build this inspiring structure."

ESN: God? Or Gerald Flurry?

GF: "He [God] has also given us the concert grand piano and the two candelabra from the Ambassador Auditorium. I believe that these are strong indications God wants us to move ahead with this project."

ESN: Flurry spent $107,500 for items auctioned off by Worldwide Church of God (which included a Steinway concert piano and two seven foot tall candelabra) and now he wants us to think it was "God" that gave these to him? And that somehow it all correlates with how a "House for God" must be built?

GF: "Shouldn't we have a house for God, just before the greatest event ever to occur in the universe, the return of Jesus Christ?

ESN: Translation: "Shouldn't I, the great Gerald Flurry, have a house built for my ego, just like HWA built one for himself? If you members will only sacrifice enough, I shall have it!"

GF: And money is not our primary need. We need faith to build that auditorium--faith in the living God!

ESN: Of course, faith won't build it. He still needs your money.

GF: "...Jesus said blessed shall we be, who shall be found diligently doing in His Work, when He comes. Not those who say, 'Let's lie down and quit.' "

ESN: Is Flurry reading from a different Bible? Where does it say in Matt. 24:46 and Luke 12:43 that "so doing" means building a House for God?

GF: "...Mr. Armstrong said the Work being done is the whole reason Christ can come back! [referring to a April 1951 Good News article by HWA]

ESN: If this is true, then why doesn't Flurry furnish a Scripture? Is it because it isn't in the Bible?

GF: "The Apostle Peter said we could actually hasten the coming of Jesus Christ by how we work today (2 Peter 3:12).

ESN: Is this what this Scripture really says? That Christ's return depends on how we work? Or does Flurry want us to tie in his words about "work" with sending in more money to him?

GF: "Mr. Armstrong's focus was not on a date--"

ESN: Flurry is only half right. HWA emphasized dates in order to bring more money in.

GF: "--it was on the Work that had to be done. That will largely determine the course of world events!"

ESN: Jesus explained what the "work of God" is and that He finished it: "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (Jn. 6:29); "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (Jn. 17:4); "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (Jn. 4:34).

GF: "We don't need a building program--"

ESN: Then why does Flurry have one? Is this more double-talk?

GF: "--we just need to get this message out. But God's House has its own message! Mr. Armstrong considered the Ambassador Auditorium part of the Great Commission of the Church! It served a role in bringing the world to God--."

ESN: Ambassador Auditorium (i. e, "God's House") was part of the Great Commission?? If it served a role in "bringing the world to God," then what need is there for another one? Did the early apostles need a magnificent building in order to proclaim the gospel to the world?

GF: "We can also see a parallel between our building program and Noah's program anciently." [quotes Heb. 11:7]

ESN: There is nothing in Heb. 11:7 to make one think there could be any kind of parallel between Flurry wanting to build a lavish "House for God" and Noah building the ark. The ark can foreshadow our salvation in Christ alone.  

GF: "How many lives will be impacted--even while this structure is going up? How many will be moved just by simply seeing the resources we put into making God's house a reality? It is a special means of proclaiming God's message of hope, pointing people to the day when God will transform the world into a Garden of Eden."

ESN: Flurry previously told us he saw a "parallel" between his building program and Noah's. Doesn't he know that no one outside Noah's family believed? So how will lives be "impacted"? What good will it do for people to be "moved" if they don't hear about the salvation that is offered through Christ? How will seeing all the money that has been thrown into a building project proclaim that God is going to transform the world into a Garden of Eden someday?

GF: Perhaps we can see the need for buildings for our staff and students to work in and dwell in, but what about a place for our great God to dwell in?

ESN: Isaiah 66:1 says, "Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?" How can Flurry talk about building a place (house) for the majestic God (who is a Spirit) to dwell in?? It is God who dwells in His children through His Spirit.

GF: ... At this point, I believe the urgency of the times does not negate the fact that we need this building to proclaim God's message. It just means we have less time to build it!

ESN: In other words, the time is short, but it doesn't cancel out that this house needs to be built, because that's how Flurry is going to "proclaim God's message."  Which of the early church fathers ever said that they needed a building in order to proclaim "God's message"? What is Gerald Flurry's focus? Is it not on a building instead of the gospel?

GF: "As I wrote in Daniel Unlocks Revelation: 'God also had Herbert W. Armstrong build a physical house to help keep His people's minds on Him and His Work."

ESN: Do we need something physical to keep our minds on God? Is this what the Bible says? "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him" (Jn. 4:23).

GF: "We need it in order to understand our vision of the World Tomorrow better. We need it to build our faith."

ESN: Need it?? "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1) "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19).

GF: "We all need more faith than what we have right now. I believe building the auditorium will be a major way God builds our faith for what is coming!"

ESN: So building the "House for God" (Flurry's auditorium) is supposed to build everyone's faith? How much faith do we need? If we have faith in Jesus Christ, isn't that enough? "Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers" (Eph. 1:15-16). And doesn't Flurry teach that all loyal Philadelphians are going to a "place of safety" to escape that which is "coming"?

GF: Our enemies are always trying to marginalize us and to make us appear as some deranged cult. How they possibly succeed when people see God's magnificent house rising from the Oklahoma landscape?

ESN: There are many different types of cults, not just "deranged" ones. Captive Hearts, Captive Mind includes several categories: Eastern meditation, religious, political/racist, commercial, psychotherapy/human potential, New Age, occult/satanic, one-on-one and cult of personality. Isn't it the leaders of some cults who have been labeled "deranged," such as Jim Jones' of People's Temple and David Koresh of the Branch Dividians? [Read how Koresh's belief system was very similar to that of Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God.]

GF: "We need to follow Mr. Armstrong's faithful example."

ESN: For more on HWA's "faithful example," see articles and testimonies under Questioning Herbert W. Armstrong (especially the ones on the incest).

GF: "God's house shall be a message of awe-inspiring hope for this world!"

ESN: The Lord Jesus Christ is the only hope for this world that the Word of God proclaims!

GF: And, after God's house, I don't believe God will want us to build anything else of significance on His property. We are so close to the end of this wretched age..."

ESN: After "just this one" expensive structure, we're to believe that Flurry won't ask for anymore.

GF: "And if God wants us to build Him an auditorium, then we must not slow Him down."

ESN: How can anyone "slow God down"? Evidently (according to Flurry) they can, if they don't send in enough money for "God's House."

GF: "Having the honor to build a house for God is truly inspiring! And we are quickly running out of time to be able to do this."

ESN: Couldn't "God's money" be spent for far more important things? How much more can people give than they are already giving? Nevertheless, Flurry wants readers to know "we are quickly running out of time" so they better hurry and send those donations in.

GF: "Immediately after Mr. Armstrong died, we entered into a time of 'no more delay" (Rev. 10:6)

ESN: How long is "no more delay" supposed to last? While Flurry feels it is now, what did HWA say about Rev. 10:6? The following is taken from HWA's November 11, 1976 co-worker letter:

"This mighty angel in the second half of this inset prophecy, beginning verse 6, swears by the Eternal GOD there shall be "time no longer" (A.V.--marginal translation--'no more delay'). ...

"Could it be possible, after proclaiming the Gospel of THE KINGDOM OF GOD, as well as Ezekiel's warning to the people of Israel, that, beginning January, 1972, when my PRESENT CAMPAIGN of walking through the doors God said He would open (Rev. 3:8) to KINGS, and many NATIONS of DIFFERENT LANGUAGES commenced, that it is the FULFILLMENT OF THIS PROPHECY OF REVELATION 10?

"To me it comes as a STARTLING, AMAZING EYE-OPENING NEW LIGHT DIRECT FROM GOD!"

Then in a January 20, 1980 co-worker letter HWA said:

The Laodicean era of the Church shall rise OUT OF, through and in the latter
part of the Great Tribulation. They shall be IN it, and turn to God out of and during
it (Revelation 7:9-15). They come out of the Great Tribulation and are converted
as a result of it, which will open their eyes to the fact that what the Philadelphian
Church proclaims was true, although now, while we proclaim it, they are not heeding. ...

"So Revelation 10 shows that when our Work appeared to be close to finished
and there should be no more delay in God's intervention, God did hold up world events, and I was commissioned to NOW go with the Kingdom Message to many KINGS, or national leaders, of many nations, speaking different languages. That is what, as I now look back in retrospect, I have been doing since 1970 and especially since 1972. So perhaps our Work would have been completed by 1972, except for this special commission.

ESN: While there is no mention of "Laodiceans" in Flurry's February 22, 2007 co-worker letter, one can ascertain from the above words of HWA that he would disagree with Flurry's assessment of Laodiceans being the WCG, offshoots, or anyone who has left PCG or rejects the "government" God taught through HWA.

GF: "Many people can see that something is horribly wrong in this world. But they don't understand why."

ESN: So along comes PCG (and similar cultic groups) that offer people black and white answers to life's problems, showing them the way out of this messed up world. (Few know this "knowledge" Flurry dispenses comes with a high price.)

GF: "Our time is also extremely short."

ESN: Time has been "extremely short" for a very long time. In an August 23, 1945 co-worker letter HWA said, "It's a NEW AGE---but one destined to be of extremely SHORT DURATION."

GF: "God has promised to protect the people who are doing His Work."

ESN: Where does it specifically say in the Bible that it is those "doing His Work" that shall be protected? Jesus finished "His (the Father's) Work." (Jn. 4:34) "Work" is a buzzword for the needs and wants of Gerald Flurry.

GF: "Also, we plan to completely renovate our pcog.org website to provide visitors a much more complete picture of the great many positive and hope-filled activities and projects the Philadelphia Church of God is involved in."

ESN: Will Flurry let visitors know that if they get involved with PCG they will have to cut off from all their loved ones and family (especially if they were ever in WCG or offshoots)? For other things that will be expected of those who join PCG, read: Without My Informed Consent!

GF: "Most of our enemies' attacks will be directed at the office God has given me."

ESN: Is it really the office God has given Flurry, or a lofty office he has assumed for himself? The "office" Flurry talks about is tied in with "the government of God" which PCG emphasizes and which no one dare question without fear of disfellowshipment.

GF: "...we have decided to transform True Education into an Internet-based magazine rather than a print magazine, which will eliminate printing and shipping costs. ... Putting the magazine online will enable us to give our young people a large variety of content--including, possibly, occasionally virtual "fireside chats" with our headquarters ministers..."

ESN: Will they be able to raise any kind of doubts with the HQ ministers? For instance, can they ask questions about Scriptures that disagree with PCG's doctrines?

GF: "We took out a five-year loan for our Hall of Administration. I have made it our goal to pay it off within the next 12 months... And unless God directs me otherwise, as soon as that loan is paid we plan to break ground on the house for God! Again, given the urgency of the times, we want to begin that construction as quickly as we possibly can."

ESN: In other words, it is the members' responsibility to make sure this loan is paid off within the allotted time.

GF: "The only other period during which we received more calls was in the few months after we announced winning the copyrights to Mr. Armstrong's literature, almost four years ago.

ESN: Winning the copyrights? It was a settlement and PCG paid WCG $3 million for the copyrights. Read: PCG Did NOT Win a Victory in the WCG vs. PCG Court Case (2-23-07 letter to ESN from Attorney at Law).

GF: "...it does humble me to see how much you are sacrificing for this Work and putting your hearts into it!"

ESN:  How true that the members are sacrificing more than ever. But would they do it if they weren't browbeaten into it?

GF: "Let us get on our knees and beseech God to help us work more powerfully and more efficiently for Him. Pray that God would provide the wherewithal for us to hasten the completion of this Work and usher in the return of Christ..."

ESN: Let us all pray that more members would have the strength to see how much they are being exploited and deceived and that they will choose to leave the PCG and be set free in Christ.

By D. W.
Exit & Support Network™
March 21, 2007

UPDATE: PCG broke ground for this 15 million dollar "House for God" in January 2008. It will be called Armstrong Auditorium (patterned after HWA's Ambassador Auditorium) and will seat 800. It has been planned as a new PCG feast site for 2010. In his June 6, 2009 sermon he boasted that this would be the last and only House built and God would dwell there forever.

Read 2009 letters to ESN:

Gerald Flurry Purchases the Big Sandy Swan Sculpture (for his auditorium)

Why Build and Then Leave it All Behind?

I Questioned Who Gerald Flurry Was (by Mike)

Questioning Herbert W. Armstrong (was he who he said he was?) (Many articles)

Mike's Enlightenment Page (Info on Philadelphia Church of God)

Back to Articles on Gerald Flurry

Contents (Site Map)

Home