Gerald Flurry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerald Flurry is the co-founder and Pastor General of the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) in Edmond, Oklahoma and is a staunch supporter of the legacy and doctrines of Herbert W. Armstrong (the founder of the old Worldwide Church of God). He is presenter of the television program The Key of David, is editor in chief of The Philadelphia Trumpet magazine, and is founder of Herbert W. Armstrong college in Edmond Oklahoma. The church he leads owns the copyrights to all of Herbert W. Armstrong's major writings--nineteen works in all.
He believes that the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong was a church era within the overall history of the true church going back through the centuries to the apostles (as did Armstrong); he and the members of his church look back historically to the Waldensians and other Sabbath-keeping Christian groups of European fame as proof of continuous incarnations of the same basic body of faith. Flurry believes that in the current era, the Philadelphia Church of God is the one true Church led by Christ, following in the footsteps of the old Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Bible doctrines espoused by him, Armstrong, and the members of the PCG are thought by them to be the true doctrines of the Bible, devoid of error through tradition, mistranslation, and Catholic or pagan influence. These doctrines, called by some Armstrongism (derogatorily), are apparently identical to those expounded on by Herbert W. Armstrong.
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[edit] Gerald Flurry and Worldwide Church of God
Gerald Flurry was a minister with the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) at the time of the Herbert Armstrong's death in 1986. During the next three years, WCG made several doctrinal changes that Flurry objected to as doctrinally false and suggestive of a great falling away from what were the church's firmly held beliefs. He began to make his opposition known to these changes and felt inspired in his Bible studies, thus producing a manuscript that would become the book, Malachi's Message to God’s Church Today; all this led to his being summoned by church leaders to appear before them. Mr. Flurry was subsequently dismissed from the WCG on 7 December 1989.
[edit] Gerald Flurry As Head of the Philadelphia Church of God
A loyal group of supporters began to form around Flurry at this point, convinced that God was using him in some way—hopefully to get the Church “back on track.” After publishing Malachi's Message to God’s Church Today and distributing it to as many WCG members as possible, Flurry has continued to publish a variety of booklets—mostly on prophecy; these all expressed agreement with and support for Herbert W. Armstrong’s teachings. Gerald Flurry strongly supports the belief that Armstrong fulfilled the Mathew 17 office of the “Elijah” or the second John the Baptist (fulfilling the same role as those figures: i.e. restoring full doctrine to the church and paving the way for the arrival of Jesus Christ the Messiah). These booklets also delved into scriptures and prophecies more relevant to the immediate present which had never been fully commented on by Armstrong in the past.
Membership of the PCG began to number several thousand by the mid 1990's, and then leveled off. People who who support the work financially but are not members have continued to grow in number.
[edit] Battle With the WCG over Armstrong’s Writings
Despite the fact that the WCG owned the copyrights to Mystery of the Ages, written by Herbert W. Armstrong, Flurry decided in 1997 to print and distribute it under the “fair use" law. This book summed up Armstrong's teachings, and according to both he and Flurry, was a synopsis of the Bible and the true Gospel which had never before truly been understood, but rather had been replaced by a "counterfeit" Gospel focusing on Jesus the personage, instead of the Gospel message, or "good news" he proclaimed.
The stated goal of printing Mystery of the Ages was to distribute it free of charge to "the largest audience possible”—a goal originally expressed by Armstrong in 1985 when he introduced the book to the sophomore class at the Worldwide Church of God college. The book had been put out of print and copies destroyed by the WCG leadership within three years of Armstrong’s death. The leadership of the Worldwide Church of God rejected that the PCG printing of this book was "fair use" of their copyright and thus began a six year court battle over fair use of the copyrights, with the WCG losing the initial round at the appellate level, then appealing and winning a split decision with the ninth circuit court. While eighteen other works were being considered separately by the courts and were still in dispute with the PCG, the WCG leadership offered Flurry and the PCG all of Armstrong’s works for three million dollars on the condition that internal WCG documents, memos, and emails obtained through discovery be handed back by the PCG. According to Stephen Flurry’s (Gerald Flurry's Son) book Raising the Ruins, this condition was regarded as a deal breaker and the WCG was told to prepare to resume litigation. Within hours, the condition to the sale of the copyright was removed from the proposal and an agreement was reached.
The Philadelphia church of God now owns the copyrights to nineteen of Herbert W. Armstrong’s most significant works, including all his full length books, and these are offered and distributed free “as a public service.”
[edit] Gerald Flurry and the Philadelphia Church of God Today
The church led by Gerald Flurry currently features a television program called The Key of David which airs throughout the world, and a magazine called The Philadelphia Trumpet. Both emphasize a warning to the nations, and appear to express the same, unique gospel message that Herbert W. Armstrong proclaimed.
Gerald Flurry is presently conducting a personal appearance campaign throughout the English Speaking nations, while his son Stephen is promoting an in-house, PCG published book, the aforementioned Raising the Ruins. This book, largely derived from the court documents obtained in the trial and featuring an exhaustive endnotes section, details 1) the doctrinal transformation of the Worldwide Church of God after Armstrong’s death 2) The initial cover-up behind many of the doctrinal changes, 3) the court battle over the copyrights to Armstrong’s works, and 4) the current effort to revive the legacy of Armstrong’s life’s work and message to the world.
[edit] Literature
Literature written by Gerald Flurry:
- Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet.
- Malachi's Message to God's Church Today.
- The God Family Vision.
- The Last Hour.
- Conspiracy Against Fatherhood.
- Daniel—Unsealed at Last!.
- From the Beginning.
- Haggai: Proof of God’s Work Today.
- Isaiah’s End-Time Vision.
- Jeremiah and the Greatest Vision in the Bible.
- Jerusalem in Prophecy.
- Jonah: A Strong Warning To God's Church.
- Nahum—An End-Time Prophecy For Germany.
- No Freedom Without Law.
- Repentance Toward God.
- The Former Prophets—God’s Royal Family.
- The Key of David.
- The King of the South.
- The Prophet Joel—Christ’s Bride and the Day of the Lord.
- The Rising Beast—Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans.
- Unveiled At Last: The Royal Book of Revelation.
- Winston S. Churchill: The Watchman.
- Zephaniah’s Day of the Lord—“It Hastens Greatly”.
- We Have Had Our Last Chance.
Literature co-authored by Gerald Flurry:
- Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.(Co-authored with J. Tim Thompson and Stephen Flurry)
- Character in Crisis.(Co-authored with Stephen Flurry)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.(Co-authored with Wayne Turgeon)
