PCG Claims Libyan Insight Was a Miracle
Gerald Flurry
PCG’s Gerald Flurry, who has declared himself both a prophet and apostle, has the following miraculous claim in the April 2011 edition of the Philadelphia Trumpet:
Until now, I have not understood much about why the two nations of Libya and Ethiopia are mentioned in verse 43, along with Egypt. These two nations are the key that unlocks the strategy of radical Islam…
There are several Middle East nations not mentioned in Daniel 11:40-44 either by their ancient or modern names—for example, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc.
But two more nations are mentioned for a reason I have not understood as I do now.
Libya and Ethiopia
“But he [the king of the north] shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps” (Daniel 11:43). Why did God inspire the mentioning of Libya and Ethiopia? Every word in God’s inspired Bible has significance. God placed two nations in the same verse as Egypt for a definite reason. This verse states that Libya and Ethiopia are also going to be closely allied with Iran!..
So you need to watch Libya and Ethiopia. They are about to fall under the heavy influence or control of Iran, the king of the south…
Whoever heavily influences or controls Ethiopia will undoubtedly also control the small areas of Eritrea and Djibouti on the Red Sea coastline. These areas only recently became independent of Ethiopia. Also, I believe the Bible view is that these small areas are included as a part of Ethiopia…
I did a television program on January 27 of this year. The viewers were asked to watch Libya and Ethiopia because of new understanding I had received the previous day.
There was almost no news about Libya at that time. The nation seemed stable. Less than one month later, Libya’s government was about to be overthrown, or a civil war was beginning.
We believe that the new understanding we received about Libya was a miracle. We also believe the timing of when we received that understanding was a miracle.
Such miracles are not just coincidence.
You need to continue to watch for Libya and Ethiopia to make a severe and rapid turn into the radical Islamic camp.
So the Bible indicates that Libya and Ethiopia also have to be subdued by the king of the north because they were in the radical Islamic camp. Those two nations were “at his steps.” Both countries have already been influenced by radical Islam. But they are not in the radical Muslim camp—yet. (Flurry G. Libya and Ethiopia Reveal Iran’s Military Strategy. Philadelphia Trumpet, April 2011)
So, Gerald Flurry considers the fact that while there were civil uprisings throughout the Middle East, and Libya was only sometimes mentioned in the news when he publicly speculated about it, that this is a miracle. Apparently, this is also considered as such by certain others in PCG. How sad.
Are Predictions Made By Those in LCG More or Less Miraculous?
Perhaps Gerald Flurry and others in PCG may wish to consider what LCG’s Roderick C. Meredith wrote a month or more before the deadly Indonesian tsunami (bolding mine):
Events prophesied in your Bible are now beginning to occur with increasing frequency. In this Work of the living God, we are able to warn you about what is going to happen soon. We are not talking about decades in the future. We are talking about Bible prophecies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life! Please understand. We are not “scaremongers.” We love our fellow man. So it is our responsibility to warn our peoples—ahead of time—to prepare for the future. Most of our advice is spiritual in nature. However, in this editorial I want to give you some common sense advice involving your physical survival and your financial well-being…So we must each examine our own situation to determine what action we should take. Are we living in a low-lying coastal area where we may be in danger at a time of increasing hurricanes, tsunamis or similar natural disasters?
When Dr. Meredith wrote that, tsunamis were not really in the news and no one seemed to really expect any major one. Yet, this was the deadliest disaster in the past forty years. Was this a miracle? Well, it certainly seems more so than Gerald Flurry’s speculations about Libya during a time of Middle East turmoil.
What about my own writings? As reported before, world events have lined up with at least 14 or 15 the predictions in my book 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect.
For one example, in May of 2009, the US Air Force denied that there was any military problem with the USA’s GPS system. Yet, that same month, I wrote the following which is now page 85 of my book 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect that states the following:
In 2013, the Europeans are planning on having their own global positioning system (GPS), called Galileo, available for military applications. This will allow the Europeans to track the world and attack others without relying on the U.S.A.’s GPS. This will be the first time in the 21st century that Europeans will be able to have that type of independent military capability.
Furthermore, according to a 2009 report from the U.S. government, the U.S. Air Force may have to start relying on the European Galileo system (at least to a degree) beginning in 2013, as the U.S. GPS capabilities are expected to deteriorate by then (other problems are also appearing in the newer U.S. satellites). Because the Europeans will be able to control Galileo, they will also likely be capable of derailing certain sophisticated U.S. military applications. This will give the Europeans a unique defensive (as well as offensive) capability that no others on the planet will have.
And the USA did agree in 2010 to do precisely that (see USA GPS and EU Galileo linking was expected). The idea that the USA would compromise its satellite defenses with a potential enemy was essentially unprecedented. Those in PCG should consider that this was more “miraculous” than speculating that another Middle Eastern nation (Libya) would likely have problems.
My advanced predictions about a variety of false prophets to be proven false have also consistently come to pass. My assertion that Gerald Flurry is falsely prophesying that Iran will be the final King of the South (and other areas where I have disagreed with his predictions) will also be shown to be true. Hopefully, those in PCG will not wait until then or later to realize that Gerald Flurry is not God’s apostle or prophet.
Is Daniel 11:43 Talking About the Modern Nation of Ethiopia?
Now, ones of Gerald Flurry’s points about Ethiopia perhaps should be addressed.
A problem with the NKJV translation in Daniel 11:43 is that the word “Ethiopians” is not in the Hebrew in the Old Testament. The word translated as “Ethiopians” is the plural of the word Kuwshiy, which according to Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary means descendants of Cush. Or in other words, people of dark color–and it is commonly translated as Cush or Cushite in many Old Testament passages. Wikipedia suggests that Cushites are in Somalia, but I suspect that it not the only location.
But either way, Daniel 11:43 is not necessarily referring to those from Ethiopia.
There is one famous person that the Old Testament translated into English (by some) refers to as from Ethiopia, the famous Queen of Sheba. Yet, even term Sheba’ does not usually refer to Ethiopia in the Bible, as it most of the time refers to specific, non-Ethiopian, people. Furthermore, notice the following from two different commentaries (bolding/italics theirs):
Our Saviour calls her the queen of the south, for Sheba lay south of Canaan. The common opinion is that it was in Africa; and the Christians in Ethiopia, to this day, are confident that she came from their country, and that Candace was her successor, who is mentioned Acts 8:27. But it is more probable that she came from the south part of Arabia (from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.).
The queen of Sheba has been identified as the ruler of the Sabeans (Job 1:15), who inhabited Arabia Felix (from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press).
Thus the fact that Jesus referred to her as “the queen of the South” (Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31), does not indicate that she was necessarily from Ethiopia. And if she was from Ethiopia, Jesus could have clearly stated that, but He did not.
The New International Version translation of the Bible seems to get Daniel 11:43 translated more correctly as follows:
He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Nubians in submission.
And while Ethiopians might possibly be indicated here, the reality is that Nubians (who may be considered as Cushites) makes a lot more sense.
Why?
Because the Nubians are Moslems and historically lived amongst the Egyptians and the other Arabs. The Nubians have been in so much contact with Arabs that Nubians speak that some of their peoples have been “Arabized” (http://www.thenubian.net/nubtoday.php 8/05/06).
Interestingly, although it uses the term “Ethiopians” while discussing Daniel 11:43, Matthew Henry’s Commentary says that these are people who anciently lived next to Egypt.
Well, Nubians currently live in Egypt as well as in neighboring Sudan. The Sudanese, like the Nubians, are also Cushites, and are also mainly Moslem (especially since they recently killed many of the non-Moslems in the southern portion of their country)–plus Sudan is between Egypt and Ethiopia. Thus, even Daniel 11:43 is not teaching that those now called Ethiopians must be even be involved when the king of the North retaliates against the king of the South–and this is apparently one of the reasons that HWA changed his position on the identity of the future king of the South. Those in PCG may wish to consider this.
Perhaps I should add here that even the late evangelist Raymond McNair realized that the Ethiopians were likely the Cushites as he wrote:
Daniel 11 also mentions some of the Mideast peoples who will be involved in that struggle among the nations at the close of this age. The belligerents will include the “King of the North,” the leader of the European Union (or its final outgrowth, called the “Beast”). The “King of the South” (an Islamic leader—apparently from Egypt {or} some other Muslim state) is also referred to. The following lands/peoples are specifically mentioned: Egypt, the Holy Land (Israel/Palestine), the Ethiopians (modern Cushites, south of Egypt), Libya, Edom, Moab and Ammon. Many descendants of the ancient peoples known as Edomites or Idumeans now live in the West Bank, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Arabia, Yemen, the Persian Gulf states, etc. (McNair R. Solving the Arab-Israeli Impasse! Copyright Raymond F. McNair 2005, Church of God—21st Century).
LCG has also reported:
The northern Sudan, anciently referred to as Cush, was once part of the Egyptian empire—a region where the future King of the South may headquarter (News and Prophecy. World Ahead Weekly Update, May 24, 2007).
In his later decades Herbert W. Armstrong believed that King of the South would be Egypt and/or an Arabic Muslim leader, as that is what was published while he was alive by the church he was the physical leader of (see Is There A Future King of the South?). Yet since Gerald Flurry claims it is Iran, and Gerald Flurry claims to have followed Herbert W. Armstrong, this should give his followers additional pause.
Gerald Flurry’s boastings does not make his assertion about a miracle correct.
The Apostle Paul Paul warned that there would be boasters who were false apostles as he wrote:
12 But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:12-13, NKJV)
And I consider that Gerald Flurry is a false apostle and not God’s prophet. Nor have I ever considered that PCG is Philadelphian. Of course, I do not consider any of those who have declared themselves apostles this century, thus far, are true apostles.
No matter how much they boast.
Anyway, Iran is not the final King of the South and the Cushites in Daniel 11:43 are not necessarily represented by the modern nation of Ethiopia.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include the following:
Is There A Future King of the South? Some no longer believe there needs to be. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? Might this King be called the Mahdi? What does the Bible say?
The Arab and Islamic World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam? What about the Imam Mahdi? What lies ahead for Turkey, Iran, and the other non-Arabic Muslims?
Teachings Unique to the Philadelphia Church of God Simply calling oneself ‘Philadelphia’ does not make one so (see Revelation 3:7-9), nor does Gerald Flurry calling himself “that prophet” or a variety of other titles make it so. This article provides many quotes from this group which tries to look faithful.
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
Samaritans: Old and New Who were the Samaritans? Do the represent true Christianity or something else?
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now best essentially represented by the Living Church of God.
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders–here is some of why you should be concerned about them.
2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect This is a link related to a book by Bob Thiel (COGwriter). This link also has YouTube videos. This book documents and explains hundreds of prophecies. And since it was published, world events have aligned with at least 14-15 predictions in the book and many more will to come to pass.
2012 y el surgimiento de la secta secreta 2012 libro del Dr. Thiel en Español.
2012 und das Auftreten der geheimen Sekte (German Edition) 2012 Buch von Dr. Thiel in deutscher Sprache.
2012 e o Surgimento da Seita Secreta (Portuguese Edition) 2012 livro do Dr. Thiel em Português. Este livro documenta e explica centenas de profecias. E desde que foi publicado pela primeira vez, pelo menos 14 já começaram a acontecer.
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