Forty and still counting…
There are a few moments in history I can still remember vividly – the Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy assassination, landing on the moon … and Pentecost 1974.
On the Sabbath before the first WCG Sunday Pentecost, we listened to a tape from Pasadena with “new truth” regarding D&R (Divorce and Remarriage) and the correct day for Pentecost. I remember GTA went over D&R, including some glaring problems he saw in hindsight with the old doctrine. After the tape was played, one local minister actually said he had some apologies to make to some people he had counseled years ago…
Then HWA explained how something had been brought to his attention regarding Pentecost. He said he contacted a Hebrew teacher about “counting from” and found his “common sense” counting of Pentecost was … well, not exactly correct. So, of course, he immediately fixed the problem, and the day changed from Monday to Sunday. “Immediately” fixed, amidst claims that for possibly ten years this issue had been a hot potato.
About a week before June 8, Bob Thiel posted the Pentecost section from HWA’s Holy Days booklet. (Does PCG hold copyright on this? If Flurry sues, just claim “fair use”.) Feeling it was time to put together a posting, I wrote a few paragraphs about the errors and assumptions HWA made in the article. Following a few days of procrastination, I noticed Bob’s June 8 Pentecost posting, and realized I wasted my time. Taking HWA’s theological framework, and expounding in more convoluted detail, I felt Bob, inadvertently perhaps, made it worse, and there was no point in trying to unscramble it.
For brevity, I’ll just say the claim that Pentecost is “the birthday of the Church” is just part of the “one true church” myth. Protestants see Acts as a “transitional” book, showing how Christianity evolved. COGs view snippets of the story in great detail while glossing over other parts – what is useful from the old system is transferred to “the Church” and the rest is tossed. But, even after the Acts 15 “conference”, Paul is still taking part in Temple worship, including a Nazarite vow, which involves animal offerings. Didn’t he read the book of Hebrews? Just joking of course; books like Hebrews and Galatians are great resources for “proof texts”.
Jews consider Shavuot (Pentecost) the day Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt Sinai. Tradition holds that on that day a voice came from Mt Sinai that was heard in “Seventy Languages” – considered the languages of all the nations. So, the “speaking in tongues” could have been viewed the same way – Peter’s zealous quoting of end-time prophecy may have been because he thought the word had gone to all nations. Not the same as hits on websites that are mostly in English.
Hoss.
I would like to share with Painful Truth blog readers here a false prediction by Gerald Flurry. He set the date for Christ’s return to be 2013 to 2018 or less in the 2003 version of his booklet, The King of the South.
“Here we see a small group of people with a God-sized message. The whole world should heed today. But most people won’t become converted until Christ returns—which is probably within 10 to 15 years or less.” (p. 43.)
Furthermore these very same words appear in the current 2011 booklet.
“Here we see a small group of people with a God-sized message. The whole world should heed today. But most people won’t become converted until Christ returns—which is probably within 10 to 15 years or less.” (p. 47.)
Just look at it on their website if you wish to verify that. Those words are right there.
Dating that statement from 2011 this means Flurry says Christ return will “probably” be within 2021 to 2026 or less.
Sorry Redfox: I can’t wait that long.
Hi Redfox,
And what shall the Flurry do when he fails to produce Jesus in this time frame?
Why “the church is not ready” bs excuse.
Most likely it shall be the blue ribbon tithe payers fault.
So let me put my own prediction down here for all to read:
“In the next 10 – 15 years, Christ will return and take the helm of the Painful Truth and refute false prophets within the realm of the ACOG’S.”
And that being said, remember, the Painful Truth is a non-prophet organization! If Christ doesn’t return in this time frame it will be Flurry’s, Pack’s and hundreds of other pseudo false prophets fault.