Raising the Ruins (24 page)

We made 1,000 copies of that first version of
Malachi’s Message
—spiral bound, with a brown cardstock cover. Though few would have considered it a book, it was at least a good-quality manuscript. Meanwhile, my dad prepared a personal letter to be included with the books sent to those in his former congregations: “Dear Oklahoma City and Enid Brethren,” he wrote.

So much has been distorted about what I said and did, that I felt this letter was necessary. I feel it isn’t asking too much of you to allow me to set the record straight. I hope you will read what I actually said and did.

Mr. Arnold Clauson was sent here by Mr. Joe Tkach Jr. Arnold had a meeting with the deacons and elders on Friday night, the 8th of December. He related some statements that Mr. Tkach Jr. said about me. (Mr. Clauson did not contact me while he was in Oklahoma City.)

Here is some of what I was supposed to have said in the December 7 meeting in Pasadena with Mr. Tkach Jr.: 1)
Gerald Flurry
is supposed to have said he could “run the work better than Mr. Tkach does.” Actually, I have never made such a statement in my life. Has any one of you ever heard me say anything like that? 2) Supposedly, I told Mr. Tkach Jr. to “shut up and listen to me.” The truth is I have never told even a deacon or local elder to “shut up”—much less one of my superiors. I did not say anything even close to those statements in that meeting. 3) Also, he said that when I send in magazine articles, I demand that they be printed because people must read what I have to say. The truth is I haven’t submitted an article in about six or seven years. And I have never demanded that any articles be printed. Why should this even be mentioned now, after such a long time? What is the motive?

Any of you can verify what was said about me by asking your deacons and elders. But you have probably already heard about these comments I was supposed to have said. The sad part is, these distorted statements filter down into the congregation. I ask you, brethren, in my almost five years of service here in Oklahoma, have statements like that ever been made by me? Did I ever conduct myself in that fashion?

Mr. John Amos knows those statements about me are not true. So does Jesus Christ .…

Would you please read the enclosed, finished message of Malachi. Then you can evaluate me by what I say—not what people think I said. Obviously, I don’t want a stained reputation if it can be avoided.

The Oklahoma City and Enid churches went through terrible turmoil in the 1970s—more than most churches. I desperately wanted to avoid causing you any more problems. But trouble now could mean far less difficulty in the future. I hope that serving almost five years in this area has revealed my love for all of you.

The decision to take a stand on the issues presented in the message of Malachi was not taken lightly. Mr. John Amos and I have given up almost any physical security we had. It’s hard on our whole families. As you know, my wife has had serious heart problems for years. Why would we decide to take such a stand?

Hopefully, no one will think I’m doing this for money. The church offered me $6,000 “assistance” or severance pay if I met several conditions, and also took my only car (I don’t have a “second car”). I do not qualify to receive social security or unemployment compensation. Headquarters called the $6,000 a “love offering.” That view was not shared by me, so the money was rejected.

None of this is mentioned for sympathy. I say it only to help you see my true motive. Jesus Christ has promised to provide our needs—so we don’t worry about money (and believe me, we have very little).

You may think I have a government problem. If you will read the Malachi message—you will see that loyalty to government is my motive for doing this! Then you will also understand the real reason why I was fired.

Please search the scriptures as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11) and prove all things (I Thes. 5:21). Then pray for God to guide your every step. I believe Mr. Amos and I would die—if we had to—for what is written in the Message of Malachi. We desperately want you to make up your own mind—and not let others do it for you. That is a very biblical approach. …

[P]lease don’t believe me or any man—believe the Bible.

Love always,

Gerald Flurry
¹²

With me now added to the original group, 13 of us gathered at the Thompson home Wednesday night, January 10. We packaged 921 copies of
Malachi’s Message,
several hundred of which included the above letter. No one could possibly gauge what kind of response there would be to that first mailing. But we all knew that this was the beginning of something special. Finally, members of the Worldwide Church of God could understand what was happening to their church.

We delivered the bundles to the post office the next day, Thursday. Many of those books from the first mailing landed in mailboxes on or just before January 16, 1990—four years to the day that Herbert W. Armstrong died.

“I can’t believe that anyone would think that … Christ built this worldwide work through Mr. Armstrong and then blew it all. He didn’t choose the right one! He should have gotten someone that’s long-standing and that’s going to last in a stable manner forever like a ‘snow flurry.’”

— Gerald Waterhouse

Sermon, January 25, 1992

Church Administration announced my dad’s firing on page 6 of the December 19, 1989,
Pastor General’s Report:
“It is our unpleasant duty at this time to notify you that
Gerald Flurry
and John Amos, former pastor and associate of the Oklahoma City and Enid, Oklahoma, congregations, and Laura Flurry, a former Church Administration employee, have been disfellowshiped.”
¹

At the time, outside of Oklahoma, this announcement was not big news in the church. Even on the day it was announced, most congregations also received news of the possible headquarters move to Big Sandy, which largely overshadowed the fact that two unknown ministers from the Midwest had been disfellowshiped.

After our initial mailing of
Malachi’s Message
on January 11, the
WCG
made this comment to the ministry:

Many of you have called to advise us of the receipt of a manuscript written by
Gerald Flurry
. It appears that he mailed it to most church pastors, to many members where he and John Amos previously served and to some people in neighboring areas. We thank you for your diligence in keeping us informed and in protecting the flock from heresy.

As always, we encourage your prayers to ask for God’s protection over His people as well as to grant repentance to those who have deceived themselves into thinking their righteousness is greater than what God gives to the church.
²

This was the extent of the
WCG
’s response (or lack thereof) to the
PCG
in those early days. Nothing specific is said about the
content
of
Malachi’s Message
—only that it was “heresy” and its proponents are self-righteous. In fact, the church would not address any specific content in the book for another year and a half. During that time, they largely ignored
Malachi’s Message
and the
PCG
.

At the local level, however, the church did work quickly to troubleshoot isolated areas affected by
PCG
mailings. After Arnold Clauson announced the firings in Oklahoma City the weekend of December 9, Pasadena sent Dean Blackwell in for a week to help smooth the transition to its next pastor, Don Lawson, transferring in from Salt Lake City. Mr. Blackwell gave a sermon December 16 in which he tried to address some of the points raised in
Malachi’s Message,
but he hadn’t even read the book. He told the congregation that my dad had gotten a wealthy man to help him raise up the church, which was not true.

In the months that followed, Mr. Blackwell became the
WCG
’s unofficial troubleshooter for areas affected by
Malachi’s Message
—often ridiculing and belittling my father and the
PCG
because of how small it was and the fact that it was started by two unknown ministers.

But with every handful of people that responded positively to
Malachi’s Message,
we received more new names and addresses. And as the message spread, the
WCG
gradually broadened its attack against the
PCG
—first in an indirect way, and then later, head on.

First Sip of Being Exposed

When Mr. Tkach Sr. announced in September 1990 that the
Plain Truth
and
World Tomorrow
would adopt a more “religious” tone, he made it sound like times were changing and that their audience had changed, but in fact, the only thing that changed was the church’s message. They no longer felt obligated to deliver the warning message of the gospel to the largest audience possible. Their focus had turned inward.

When Mr. Tkach elaborated on this change in the November 14, 1990,
Pastor General’s Report,
he left little doubt about them now proclaiming a different message:

First, the telecast is definitely not to copy the overly emotional character of certain other religious programs. On the other hand, it is also not to become confrontational, degrading others’ sincerely held beliefs, condemning, nor filled with hyperbole about specific prophetic fulfillments.
³

Mr. Tkach prefaced this major change by pointing out obvious flaws in two opposite extremes. Then he stressed that they were only seeking to find a proper balance between the two. It was another attempt to obscure the fact that they were making a dramatic change.

“Prophecy programs will present a balanced, overall perspective of the purpose and value of prophecy, instead of attempting to interpret specific prophecies,” he continued. “Prophecy programs will not lose sight of the gospel message by trading the true gospel for a ‘10-nation/save-your-skin’ gospel”
⁴
—an unmistakable smear against Mr. Armstrong’s teachings.

Of course, the television program and the
Plain Truth
had already been watered down significantly, as my father had told Mr. Tkach Jr. a year earlier. Arnold Clauson, you will remember, even noted in his report to Tkach Jr. that my father felt that the
TV
program was too weak. And now, a year later, Mr. Tkach Sr. finally came forward and at least explained why the program had changed.

The Philadelphia Church of God, as small as it might have been in 1990, had already begun to expose the
WCG
’s deceitful transformation. The more our message spread, the more it forced
WCG
leaders to put forward some sort of response.

“Self-Righteous” Ministers

Not long after explaining the new format for the
TV
program and the
Plain Truth,
Mr. Tkach Sr. complained about the attitudes of certain members and ministers who had been put out of the church. Some of the more vocal ones, he wrote in the
PGR
, believe “[e]very word of
Mystery of the Ages
,
along with every word of every article and booklet Mr. Armstrong wrote, except those they are personally aware that he specifically changed himself.”
⁵
He went on to say that these dissidents bolster their argument by saying the
WCG
had “gone from Philadelphian to Laodicean.” He then mentioned how upsetting it was to find out how some of these former ministers were treating their brethren:

The minister places himself on a pedestal, usually along with his closest elders and deacons. Some people are afraid to counsel with him because he is harsh and intimidating rather than considerate and approachable. Members who become close to the pastor in this little clique pull out all stops in their efforts to get and stay “in good” with the pastor. Many become men-pleasers in their attitudes toward the leaders who are in the “in” group. A certain smug attitude develops among those who are in this “righteous” group toward those who are trying to be faithful to the church. Confidentiality becomes a problem, because things discussed with the ministers may be shared in this clique.

Let me stop right here to say that these things are abominable in the sight of God! They are the result of an arrogant, smug, deeply self-righteous and superior attitude that is the opposite of all that Jesus Christ taught and stands for! And all this sin-filled abuse of ministerial authority is cleverly disguised in a pious smoke-screen of somehow being “loyal” to Mr. Armstrong and teaching the real truth!
⁶

Strong words those! And since only a handful of ministers had left (or been fired by) the church at that time, that rebuke was aimed primarily at the “self-righteous” ministers in the Philadelphia Church of God.

“Churches That Splinter”

On May 4, 1991, Dean Blackwell gave a sermon in Columbus, Ohio, during which he went through a list of 23 “splinter” groups that had left the Worldwide Church of God over the years. His main point was to show how all these groups had come to nothing. Of course, the
PCG
was his main target in that sermon.

Do you think a little group of 135 people is going to grow big enough to preach the gospel of the kingdom around the world for a witness when they say “Christ is coming back soon—Christ’s coming is imminent”?
⁷

Actually, the
PCG
had between 200 and 300 members at the time of Blackwell’s sermon. Still, he wasn’t impressed. Blackwell said,

To me, one of the greatest blessings I’ve had in my job has been to go out into troubled areas when something like this happens and see if I can shut the door in the wolf’s face. I hate to see God’s people blinded and duped and deceived and hoodwinked and led off into a little fly-by-night peanut shell floating on a big ocean going nowhere doing nothing.
⁸

He criticized the
PCG
—which began with 12 people and had only been around for 16 months—for not being on television or radio. “You’re going to know the church by the work it’s doing,” he later said.
⁹
Yes, and we have said much the same for over a decade, as the
PCG
’s work has continued growing, whereas the
WCG
stopped doing a work long ago.

Mr. Blackwell also made some astonishing statements regarding Ambassador College.

People said Mr. Armstrong said we should never have accreditation. That’s not so. I’ve been in on every ministerial meeting ever held since 1955, and I’ve got that big, fat, thick notebook where I took notes vigorously and I can stick your nose in that book and show you right in the notes.
¹⁰

And yet, Mr. Armstrong wrote this to the
ENTIRE CHURCH
:

We could now qualify for accreditation both at Pasadena and Big Sandy—but we shall not, because the government of the colleges would have to be according to that which is in force in this world’s educational institutions—God’s government would have to go. We already have the highest accreditation of all—that of Almighty God!
¹¹

Later, Mr. Blackwell said,

They said we moved the college to Big Sandy and Mr. Armstrong said to close it. That is ridiculous. Mr. Armstrong didn’t do any such thing. I don’t know how these people 3,000 miles away supposedly know what Mr. Armstrong said and I’ve been out there [in Pasadena] 13 years. I ought to know what he said. I’ve been in on all the meetings, the board of directors, and he didn’t say any such thing.
¹²

Of course, we knew what Mr. Armstrong said because he wrote it in a letter he sent to all church members and co-workers.

Malachi’s Message Finally Referred to

Not long after Mr. Blackwell’s sermon in Columbus, the
WCG
finally mentioned my dad by name in one of its publications—the
Worldwide News
. The
PCG
had only begun just 18 months earlier—and with just 12 people. During that first year and a half, we had only mailed 4,000 copies of
Malachi’s Message
to
WCG
members. But the message in the book had apparently sent enough shock waves through
WCG
congregations that Pasadena felt compelled to address the subject directly.

In June 1991, Mr. Tkach criticized former ministers who had resisted changes as being only interested in gaining a following for themselves. “One dissident says I am destroying everything Mr. Armstrong did,” he wrote. “In fact, I am doing exactly the same thing Mr. Armstrong did—putting the word of God first.”
¹³

Mr. Tkach again chose not to mention my dad by name. He left that to David Hunsberger, who wrote an article on page 4 of the issue, titled, “What the Church teaches about Malachi and his message.” Mr. Hunsberger wrote,

In this article we will examine the claims of one critic of the church to show how his teachings contradict God’s word and how the attitude displayed in his writing is an affront to the Holy Spirit and contrary to Christian principles.

The subject for this study is a book titled
Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today
© 1990 by Gerald R. Flurry.
¹⁴

Mr. Hunsberger continued, “Mr. Flurry contends that since the death of Herbert W. Armstrong the church has changed ‘away from the Philadelphia standard’ and has become the Laodicean era.”
¹⁵
Thereafter, he offers a response to some of the points raised in
Malachi’s Message.
To his credit, at least Mr. Hunsberger attempted to address some of the content in
Malachi’s Message
. Most ministers, like Dean Blackwell, simply ignored the content and focused instead on ridiculing
Gerald Flurry
.

“Snow Flurry”

For many years, Gerald Waterhouse was known in the
WCG
as the “traveling evangelist.” He traveled the world visiting hundreds of congregations, helping keep the brethren focused on headquarters. He played a lead role in stirring up zealous support for Mr. Armstrong in the years following the 1970s crisis.

He tried to drum up similar enthusiasm for Mr. Tkach’s leadership, but he lost much of his credibility when he found himself defending the very things he had condemned a decade earlier.

He had much to say about my dad in a sermon he gave in Tallahassee, Florida, on January 25, 1992:

I can’t believe that anyone would think that Christ, who said “I will build my church,” and “I will never leave nor forsake it,” and people come now and think that Christ built this worldwide work through Mr. Armstrong and then blew it all. He didn’t choose the right one! He should have gotten someone that’s long-standing and that’s going to last in a stable manner forever like a “snow flurry.” You ever notice how long they last? They come down and, “Well, where was it? There was a flurry, I saw it right here.”