Chapter 10
1 I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them."
5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, 7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:1-7)
The WCG taught:
God's Word does not reveal the message of the seven thunders. (L246. Personal Correspondence Department, Worldwide Church of God, 1989)
That is correct.
It also taught:
It is clear, however, that their message concerns an event which is to take place at the time the seventh angel sounds his trumpet ... (L246. Personal Correspondence Department, Worldwide Church of God, 1989)
While that seems to be the case, Herbert W. Armstrong was not certain, and we will get to his position later.
Now continuing in Revelation 10 we read:
8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, "Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth."
9 So I went to the angel and said to him, "Give me the little book."
And he said to me, "Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth."
10 Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. (Revelation 10:8-10)
Consider also more claims about its book Malachi's Message that contradict HWA's teachings:
The stormy wind comes in the form of the little book of Rev. 10. THAT LITTLE BOOK IS MALACHI'S MESSAGE. That little book is the vanguard of the STORMY WIND. (Flurry, Gerald. The Little Book. Philadelphia Trumpet. Sept-Oct 1992).
We also firmly believe that Malachi's Message is the little book of Revelation 10. (Leap Dennis. As quoted in Philadelphia Official Responds. The Journal. June 30, 1998. p.8).
The little book and our message is to measure the Church to prove that they are Laodiceans (Flurry, Gerald. Lamentations and the End-Time Laodiceans. Booklet. 1993. p.6.).
God has commissioned the PCG to prophesy again. God has given us the LITTLE BOOK--Malachi's Message--because we are the only Church which knows how to 'PROPHESY AGAIN' (Flurry, Gerald. From the Beginning. Booklet. 1996. p.34).
We now 'prophesy AGAIN,' after God's message was stopped by His own people (Rev. 10:11). Revelation 10:11 actually says, "And he said to me, 'You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings' " (Flurry, G. The Solution to Israel's Problems. Philadelphia Trumpet, Dec 2002, p. 26).
Although this verse does talk about prophesying again, it says nothing about the message being stopped by God's own people. For in truth, God's own people never stopped proclaiming the true Gospel--though some who claimed to be God's people did stop--yet even the Laodiceans are condemned for a lukewarm work (Revelation 3:14-21), not that they stopped the work. The Tkachs, which Gerald Flurry ties to at least one of the seven thunders, were not Laodicean. The Tkachs were not truly members of God's church, but apostates.
PCG improperly claims:
The PCG is the only Church that holds onto ALL of what Christ established through Mr. Armstrong (Flurry, Gerald and Leap, Dennis. Ezra and Nehemiah: Building God's Temple. Booklet. 1997. p.29).
No, PCG does not hold to the teachings that HWA's WCG held. Herbert W. Armstrong did not teach that Laodiceans would stop the work.
Gerald Flurry has falsely asserted:
Malachi's Message was delivered to me and the PCG in 1989. A MIGHTY ANGEL DIRECTLY FROM GOD REVEALED IT! (Flurry, Gerald. The Little Book. Philadelphia Trumpet. Sept-Oct 1992).
Furthermore, it was NOT an angel from God that directly revealed this message to Gerald Flurry. Plus that can be proven as it contradicts scripture related to at least the timing of the seven thunders..
Furthermore, PCG changed its book:
The PCG's main publication, Malachi's Message, was drastically improved in 1991. Much of that summer was spent on adding sections, editing, and giving it a new format like most other small books. The improvements are astounding (Flurry, Stephen. 1991: A Year to Remember. Philadelphia Trumpet. February 1992).
A former Philadelphia pastor asked,
"Why would anyone dare to change a revelation from God?" (Schaeffer, Randy. In Former PCG Elders Say Church in Crisis, Moving Away from Its Founding Principles. The Journal. June 30, 1999. p.9).
Faithful Christians DO NOT change the word of God, yet PCG changed Malachi's Message several times.
PCG also claims:
Malachi’s Message is an unwritten part of The Book of Revelation ... The Little Book is a prophetic section of The Book of Revelation (Gerald Flurry, Philadelphia Trumpet Sept./Oct. 1992, "The Little Book" article pg. 6,7).
The angel over the Laodicean era had the little book in his hand. One of his major responsibilities was to get the little book delivered.
The little book has seven thunders. The whole Bible is referred to as a book--not a "little book" (Ezekiel 2:9-10; Revelation 5:1-2). So this passage is not referring to the Bible. The little book is only a small portion of what John saw in the book of Revelation. ... Notice, the angel “cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth” (verse 3). It is like a lion’s roar. It is a message that has one blast of thunder after another--a series of seven thunders. The little book has an image of terror! It is prophecy about catastrophe! ... Thunder number four is about the “Man of Sin.” God calls him the “son of perdition”--or destruction. (Flurry G. The Little Book. Copyright © 1995, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2016, 2019 Philadelphia Church of God)
That is opposed with what Jesus said, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18). PCG has claim to have added to the prophecies of Revelation.
That fourth thunder, according to Malachi's Message supposedly has to do with the identity of the man of sin. Yet, PCG had it originally Joe Tkach Sr., then switched to Joe Tkach, Jr. However, neither of them fulfilled the prophecies about the man of sin as far as having, for example, the signs and lying wonders. While Joe Tkach, Jr. is still alive, he does not consider himself Church of God and simply does not have the biblical attributes of the man of sin--see also the article: Who is the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2? The timing of the seven thunders demonstrates that this fourth thunder could not have been related what the Tkachs already have done.
What Herbert Armstrong Actually Taught About Revelation 10
Herbert Armstrong had a completely different view of Revelation 10 and many other PCG claims:
Now notice this tenth chapter--an inset chapter, not necessarily at all occurring at the TIME sequence of the end of the ninth chapter. The actual recording of EVENTS, TIME-WISE, is not continued until chapter 11, verse 15.
This chapter 10 has been virtually OVERLOOKED. I did not comment on it in the earlier days, or expound it when I wrote the OUTLINE of the book of Revelation, or the full booklet on the revelation. There was NO WAY it could have been understood then--until after subsequent events--just as we could not have understood how Satan sways the entire WORLD, as explained in Eph. 2.1-2, until we had radio and television.
A MIGHTY ANGEL comes down from heaven, his face as the SUN, his feet as pillars of fire. His voice was as the roar of a lion. He set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth.
He had a LITTLE BOOK open.
This mighty angel in the second half of this inset prophecy, beginning verse 6, swears by the Eternal GOD there shall be "time no longer" (A.V.--marginal translation--"no more delay". But the angel continues, "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, (7th trumpet--which shall be the 7 last plagues--and which also is the PRECISE TIME of Christ’s coming as KING over the earth)--when He shall begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished..." (verse 6-7).
I italicized "when He shall" referring to the sounding of the last and FINAL trumpet, to show that the time setting of this brief two-part inset prophecy is NOT AT OR IMMEDIATELY AFTER the 6th trumpet of chapter 9) --but SOME TIME PRIOR TO IT! Therefore, in time setting, this is a flashback. Now continue:
The Apostle John in his vision is told to take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel, and eat it up.
HOW LIKE EZEKIEL'S PROPHECY!
It was sweet as honey in his mouth but BITTER in his stomach.
The message of that little book seems to be what the angel next said, "Thou must prophesy [proclaim--preach--foretell] again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues and KINGS!" ...
Now WHEN is the TIME of this prophecy in Revelation? ...
Could it be possible, after proclaiming the Gospel of THE KINGDOM OF GOD, as well as Ezekiel's warning to the people of Israel, that, beginning January, 1972, when my PRESENT CAMPAIGN of walking through the doors God said He would open (Rev. 3:8) to KINGS, and many NATIONS of DIFFERENT LANGUAGES commenced, that it is the FULFILLMENT OF THIS PROPHECY OF REVELATION 10? (Armstrong, Herbert W. Co-worker letter, November 19, 1976; see also Armstrong, Herbert W. Plain Truth, February 1977).
Although HWA was not sure about timing, for PCG to state that it has the same teachings as Herbert W. Armstrong is again shown as incorrect. Let me add that Herbert W. Armstrong taught that the 10th chapter had to do with reaching the nations in multiple languages. That is something that is a priority for the Continuing Church of God, not PCG (see also Preaching the Gospel in Multiple Languages).
Back to Revelation 10:
11 And he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings." (Revelation 10:11)
Because of that last statement about the Apostle John, some have wondered if it would be possible for him to be one of the two witnesses. And while that is remotely possible it could be the case, another conclusion is that his later writing in the Book of Revelation as well as well as sermons he later gave might be how this was fulfilled. Particularly since John was told this after 1) being told he could not write down the seven thunders and 2) it is immediately after he ate the little book, whose prophecies he was not able to reveal.
But one thing this 11th verse does not say is that Gerald Flurry is the one that God's angel is speaking with.
That said, related to Revelation 10, the WCG also published the following:
In chapter 10, a voice from heaven tells John to take an open book out of the hand of an angel. It instructs him to eat this small, bittersweet volume. The leaves are honey to his taste, signifying that the judgments and plan of God are just and righteous.' But the digested book causes bitter distress to his stomach. This implies that the world would neither accept God's judgments nor his call to repentance.
Thus, proclaiming the saving gospel would lead to persecution and, sometimes, to the death of God's servants. Yet John is told to preach the good news in spite of the possible repercussions. His commission is: "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues and kings" (Rev. 10:11). Prophetically, the two witnesses of Revelation 11 accomplish that same task in the last days. (Inside the Book of Revelation. Ambassador College Publications, 1989)
Anyway, the Tkach Administration is not related to the seven thunders, the Bible does not tell us what they were, Malachi's Message is not the "little book" of Revelation 10, God's angel did not give Gerald Flurry a false message that disagrees with scripture, Gerald Flurry is not identified to prophesy again in Revelation 10, and people need to believe the word of God over false claims.