vic C. said:
Careful guys, don't jump to any conclusions about Flurry having cleaned up the ministry!
That is, not to say there there isn't ANY truth in the writings of Armstrong or Gerald Flurry.
Just in case you or anyone else doesn't know WCG dismissed Flurry in Dec., 1989. He has no affiliation with them whatsoever.
[quote:cf8e7]Worldwide Church of God
Gerald Flurry was a minister with the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) at the time of Herbert Armstrong's death in 1986. During the next three years, WCG made several doctrinal changes that Flurry objected to as doctrinally false. He began to make his opposition to these changes known 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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Flurry[/quote:cf8e7]
That excerpt from wikipedia does not give the whole truth about Gerald Flurry. From what you posted it seems to have made Flurry appear to be the villain who got kicked out of the Worldwide Church of God. But in reality, after all of the court battles, it was Tkach who lost the rights to the distributing of the Armstrong publications. So, Flurry is the one who is in reality carrying on the Armstrong legacy, NOT Tkach Jr. And it is only in name that these splinters were able to keep the name of the church. So yes, the Worldwide Church of God is NOT the same church founded by Armstrong, because they only have the NAME that was founded by Armstrong, they do not carry on the legacy of the same teachings as Mr. Armstrong taught. They kept the NAME only but had denounced Armstrong as being a heretic. And ever since the split, there has been confusion over the church NAME and who's who.
Mr.Tkach senior died in 1995. His son is now the head of the WCG, which by the way, is said to be diminishing (see the
Preface and
Afterword I posted below from the book
Malachi's Message.
So, is that why you and Handy have said the WCG has gotten more in line with Christianity? So then, Okay, Sorry, My mistake. Having been so used to the organization being named the Worldwide Church of God as it was lead by Armstrong for so very long, I failed to be specific about the split and who's in control of what as a result of that the long court battle between Tkach and Flurry.
Here is what is...
I am still getting publications, books, booklets and magazines from Flurry AND Armstrong, both coming from the same source which is the The Philadelphia Church of God which is currently lead by Flurry. Gerald Flurry's church The Philadelphia Church of God, in March of 2003, had won the copyrights to distribute much of Armstrong’s Books and booklets. Forgive me for the confusion.
In the back of every single Trumpet magazine, Flurry IS still publishing his defense of his position with what "appears" to be this never ending battle between him and Mr. Tkach. Flurry vows his innocence and true loyalty to Armstrong, while explaining away how several board members, including Mr. Tkach tried to steal and ruin the ministry of WCG.
Gerald Flurry, as a result of a long battle in the courts, has won the copyrights and is currently distributing 19 of the original Armstrong publications. I'm not sure about what publications Tkach Jr, is or is not in control of. The church run by Tkach Jr. is not the branch that has carried on the teachings of Armstrong. Just to clear up who's who.
and don't get me wrong. I am not in any way promoting fellowship with either church. I am just interested in reading. I am not a member with either of these churches. Don't think I ever will be either.
Like I said, there are some truths, but there are also many writings by these guys that must be read with careful discernment.
excerpt from the book entitled Malachi's Message
Preface
From the book Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today by Gerald Flurry
Copyright © Philadelphia Church of God
This is a story about God’s Church gone off track, and what God did to correct the tragedy.
Herbert W. Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God in 1927 (though it began with a different name), and led it for over 57 years to its height in membership, global impact and income at the time of his death in 1986. The successor he chose, Joseph Tkach, began as pastor general with the spoken aim to “follow his example.â€Â
Soon, however, disturbing and significant changes in Church doctrine began to be introduced. The changes revealed a diversion in course for the Church, one that would lead to catastrophe.
Malachi’s Message was originally written in 1989, when the new direction in God’s Church was, to many of its members, not very perceptible. The book was primarily intended to alert the ministry of the Worldwide Church of God (wcg) as to what was really happening, and secondarily to alert the Church membership. When an early draft of the book was brought to the attention of wcg leadership in Pasadena, California, Gerald Flurry and his assistant, John Amos, were fired from their positions as wcg ministers. As this book explains, the Philadelphia Church of God (pcg) began immediately.
Since its first printing in 1990, more than 87,000 copies of Malachi’s Message have been distributed. In early reprints of the book, the pcg tried to keep up with doctrinal changes as they emerged from the wcg. The changes came very fast, and became increasingly apparent to people both within and outside the Church. The last major print run of this book was in 1999.
By that time, however, so much had changed, and the landscape of the now-fractious Church of God was so different, we decided to preserve the book essentially as it was in the midst of the wcg’s doctrinal metamorphosis. The wcg today is hardly recognizable as the one Herbert Armstrong founded. Various other churches have formed, after leaving the wcg, each with varying degrees of the truth Mr. Armstrong established. These groups continue to change and splinter at a fast rate. Rather than making minor changes throughout the body of Malachi’s Message, we have chosen to bring the reader up to date by addressing major developments that have occurred since 1995 in an afterword. •
Afterword
From the book Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today by Gerald Flurry
Copyright © Philadelphia Church of God
Joseph Tkach Sr. died of cancer in September of 1995. Prior to his death, he made arrangements for his son to succeed him as pastor general. (Before that, Mr. Tkach Jr. had served as director of Church Administration.)
In 1997, Mr. Tkach Jr. wrote Transformed By Truth, condemning Mr. Armstrong and his teachings. By that point, the wcg was proud of their “unprecedented†changes, even though they had concealed their changes early on. When they started making changes soon after Mr. Armstrong’s death, they denied it. When the changes became more obvious in the early 1990s, Mr. Tkach Sr. told wcg members that Mr. Armstrong, on his deathbed, said he wanted these many changes made. But by 1997, Mr. Tkach Jr. and wcg officials labeled Mr. Armstrong a heretic and took credit themselves for leading the wcg “out of darkness and into the light.â€Â
Concurrent with these many changes in doctrine and traditions has been the steady decline of the wcg’s work. The annual income is now around $18 millionâ€â€less than one tenth of what it was in the late 1980s. As mentioned on page 72, the World Tomorrow program, once on over 400 stations, has since been canceled. Both college campuses, in Pasadena and Big Sandy, have now closed and been sold. Church membership figures are far below the more than 100,000 baptized members counted in the 1980s. Many splinter groups have attracted disgruntled members. (Even key wcg figures mentioned in this book, like Donald Ward and Larry Salyer, have gone their separate ways.)
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Church of God has continued to grow and prosper. In January 1997, we decided to reprint and distribute Mr. Armstrong’s final book, Mystery of the Ages. Weeks later, the wcg filed a lawsuit trying to stop us. We responded to their lawsuit by filing our own counterclaimâ€â€seeking to reprint and distribute 18 additional works of Mr. Armstrong that we consider central to our beliefs.
In March of 2003, we obtained the copyrights to Mystery of the Ages and the 18 other works of Mr. Armstrong we sought in our counterclaim. In less than a year, we had printed most of them and now offer them to anyone who request these life-changing works, free of charge.
The Worldwide Church may have disfellowshiped Herbert Armstrong from their own church, post mortem, but they will never do away with his teachings. As this ongoing story unfolds and the Worldwide Church continues to self-destruct, be assured the work of Mr. Armstrong will never die. God’s end-time message from Malachi will go out. The work will continue. •
~ end of excerpts ~
HOPE THIS HELPS IN RIDDING OF THE CONFUSION, that is, if there was any.
Peace ya'll :smt083 :-D :smt006
.
: 