Friday, 6 August 2010

Dagon's Temple - Flurry's Folly

Flurry's Auditorium in Edmond
I try not to link to stories like this these days, it doesn't help the blood pressure. But for some folk the latest news about Gerry "Six-pack" Flurry and his designer sect, the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), will at least serve to keep their contempt fresh.

The short version is that Flurry has blown twenty-million dollars to complete a monument in Edmond, OK; a near clone of the Worldwide Church of God's Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena CA. (since sold to Harvest Rock church). Flurry's church is itself something of a clone, slavishly aping the teachings of the Worldwide Church of God as they were presented under the leadership of Herbert W. Armstrong.

No expense has apparently been spared as Flurry imports high-brow acts to grace his stage. These include the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Vienna Boys Choir, the Russian National Ballet Theatre and the Eroica Trio. Is he trying to buy credibility? That's certainly the view of his critics.

Armstrong's Auditorium in Pasadena
The PCG has a reputation for weirdness. This is a high-demand sect that exercises strict control over its members, including imposing "no contact" rules with family members outside the group, particularly those in other sub-sects of Armstrongism. The dropout rate - along with the human cost - is, unsurprisingly, reported as high. The sect is believed to have only a few thousand tithe-paying members, which makes the lavish headquarters in Edmond even more remarkable.

Local Oklahoma media have been largely uncritical of the presence of the PCG, presumably because Flurry keeps throwing shiny baubles at the community. The $20,000,000 obscenity in Edmond is provided, as former member Sarah Luther notes, "on the backs of church members, who have been warned to give extra special and generous offerings if they want to please God."

Read it and weep.

6 comments:

  1. Don't you think it's about time they launched a new--and SECULAR--magazine? How about calling it "Quest"? Or can somebody think of a more original title?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why do I have the feeling Mr. Flurry's next act of plagiarism will be to start another branch of HWA College?

    I happened to watch The Key of David in June, airing his commencement speech in Edmond. (It was either that or a dry French Open tennis final.) Mr. Flurry kept emphasizing how Herbert Armstrong "founded three colleges," and compared that with similar (perhaps truth-stretching) O.T. examples.

    Mr. Flurry's college count stands at one. As of now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lake of Fire Church of God8 August 2010 at 13:57

    This $20 Million white elephant in the middle of almost no where bodes the question - WHY?

    For what purpose?

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like to read the letters on ESN because it is often a stopping off point for many exiters from Flurry's group.

    Someone made an excellent point that the cost of the entertainments proposed will be much higher than what it cost in Pasadena because LA was often a stopping off point for these groups/individuals.

    Flurry's followers will have to foot the transportation bill as well as the performance fees.

    I can just hear some of the performers asking, "Where's that?" in reference to the venue. Then shrugging their shoulders and thinking that at least it's a paid gig.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Simply a copycat. Flurry is just a HWA wannabe.

    I can't understand why anyone would want to be a copycat, especially of a false prophet, but that's just me.

    And to follow a copycat...well, that's just too sick for words.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Am I the only who noticed there were 6 columns on the original Auditorium, and Flurry's monstrosity has eight?!

    Talk about "do not add or take away" !!

    ReplyDelete