The Church of Boundless Love

There are four main COG sects. Let's take a look at number 4, and work our way upward during the week.

With around 5,000 members (baptized, tithe-paying adults) let's hear it for the Philadelphia Church of God! And no, you won't find it's offices in Philadelphia, despite the name. The good ol' boys who run this business are firmly entrenched in Oklahoma.

Pastor General Gerald Flurry was a lowly minister in the WCG till he saw the light and led an exodus into the hills. There was an angel, and a new book of scripture ("Malachi's Message") involved.

Gerry is a no-nonsense kind of guy. Shades of grey? Grey? What's that? And you wouldn't call him original either. The PCG is cloned from the original model created by Herbert Armstrong.

Flurry's sect is somewhere to the right of Atilla the Hun. The German's are coming to enslave the people of Arkansas, stay away from aspirin, pay those tithes, makeup is the broad highway to gehenna... you get the idea.

And there's a special revelation that God has blessed the PCG with. Gerry, it seems, is "that prophet" spoken of in the Bible. In short, he's one very important dude, so you better watch it!

PCG has a website, http://www.pcog.org, and a free glossy magazine of undiluted rants called The Philadelphia Trumpet. From what I've heard, the turnover rate among members is pretty high... who wants to be a masochist 24/7? And there are dark whispers (supported by a police report) that Prophet Flurry is fond of the six pack.

Of the big four, this is considered the most cultic. The members I know of are good, decent people. I doubt you could say that about some of the leaders though. They're supposed to be "Philadelphians" (from the Greek word meaning "brotherly love".)

But there's not a lot of love in evidence.

Next time: number 3. You'll get to meet the Presiding Evangelist of spanking. It's Rod Meredith's Living Church of God.

Till then...