Gerald Flurry Doesn't Know the Difference Between Jeroboam I & II

08 Dec 2020 - PCG Watch

One of the PCG’s first official publications that mentioned the Trump-Jeroboam connection was Flurry’s book Great Again. Here, Flurry explains that a prophecy given by Amos to Jeroboam II actually refers to Donald Trump.See our article here which documents this failed prophecy.¹

Unfortunately for Flurry, half way through the first chapter of Great Again, he gets confused. He starts talking about Jeroboam I instead!

This is a big problem, since Edwin Thiele dates Jeroboam I’s reign from 931-910 BC. Thiele also dates Jeroboam II’s reign from 793-753 BC. There are nearly 120 years between their reigns. This is apparently not a problem for Flurry–since their names are the same…This is like believing Queen Elizabeth I and II are the same person simply because their names match.²

Jeroboam II

Flurry uses Jeroboam II and the events surrounding him described in Amos to insinuate these events will occur during Donald Trump’s presidency:

Amos’s prophecy continues: “Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words” (Amos 7:10).

God is sending His message into the “midst of the house of Israel,” into the very heart of America and Britain. The Philadelphia Church of God message is going to take center stage.

Just watch how this prophecy is going to be fulfilled.

God has spoken!

It is our words that the land will not be able to bear! This strongly indicates that there are serious problems plaguing the nation or they wouldn’t care what we say. But we have a message they cannot bear because it is about their destruction—at a time when their problems are soaring! Most people want to close their minds to what is coming upon them—instead of repenting of their sins. - Great Again, p. 5

And yet, only a few paragraphs later, under the heading “The King’s Chapel,” the confusion begins.

Jeroboam I

Under this new heading, Flurry continues, saying that:

Jeroboam was “a mighty man of valour” and “industrious” (1 Kings 11:28). But he ended up being a disaster for Israel, turning the people away from God by institutionalizing false religion (1 Kings 12). The emphasis in Amos 7 on the “house of Jeroboam” could mean the leader of America in the end time is a physical descendant of the original Jeroboam.

Yet the Jeroboam mentioned in 1 Kings 12 is Jeroboam I, the king involved in the split of Israel into the northern and southern tribes. The one mentioned in the next sentence by Flurry is the Amos 7 Jeroboam—Jeroboam II!

Which one is it again? Luckily, in the next heading—“What Was Jeroboam’s Sin?—Flurry clears this up for us:

Notice what Jeroboam did after he received rulership of the 10 northern tribes of Israel: “Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David” (1 Kings 12:25-26). He feared that the people would return to the house of David. They had just broken away, and he wanted to keep them separated from King David’s throne. God had even explained the importance of the house of David to Jeroboam (read 1 Kings 11:29-39), but he rejected God’s instruction.

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Jeroboam then polluted the priesthood by ordaining priests from “the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi” (1 Kings 12:31). Then he changed the dates of God’s sacred holy days so they would be different from what they were under David and in Jerusalem (verses 32-33). He had his own holy day plan—his own “master plan.” He rigged the system so he could lead the people and keep them away from the house of David. That was his great sin.

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This same sin is being committed today! This is not that difficult to understand or prove: Something is wrong with most religions today—even those that claim to follow the Bible and to understand God. The modern-day Jeroboam is causing religions to look to him—not the true God, the only solution to our many destructive problems. It is going the same way it did anciently, only in this end time there is a much greater abundance of truth. - Great Again, pp. 11-12

This is Jeroboam I being described here, as he separates the northern tribes from the southern tribes around 900 BC. But since we’ve cleared it up that we are actually talking about Jeroboam I, where does Amos’s prophecy come into play? Remember, Amos would not have even been born when Jeroboam I was around.

Back to Jeroboam II

Luckily, if you read on to the section “The Lion Has Roared,” Flurry changes his tune again, reminding us that it is actually Jeroboam II together with Amos that we are talking about:

Understanding where we are in prophecy—when God is giving His last warning to Israel in the time of the “Jeroboam end”—stirs us to increase our zeal for God’s Work.

The 2016 presidential election was prophetic. God puts His people right in the middle of it all—“in the midst of my people Israel” (Amos 7:8). His people have to be at the center telling the world what is happening and what it all means.

Look at the context for Amos 7. “The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel …. And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem …” (Amos 1:1-2). Who is going to be the voice? Who will be the people who utter God’s voice from spiritual Jerusalem? God has given us this message—we must proclaim it!

Clearly, Gerald Flurry has absolutely no idea which Jeroboam is meant for this prophecy.

Clearing Up the Confusion

In the following four years, Flurry has not cleared up the confusion.We have been told an anecdote that following a number of members being confused about which Jeroboam Flurry was talking about, Stephen Flurry made an announcement in a sermon that it was “obviously Jeroboam II”. The following paragraph should make it clear this really is not the case.³

Flurry’s desperate article “Why Donald Trump Will Remain America’s President”, published after Joe Biden won the popular vote by over 6 million votes, similarly equates the two Jeroboam’s.

More is revealed about this end-time Jeroboam in the book of Kings, which records the history of Jeroboam I and Jeroboam II, two kings in ancient Israel.

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Jeroboam I created a false religious system built on contempt for King David’s throne and legacy. This religion was perpetuated by all of Israel’s kings after him. Not one of Israel’s kings was righteous!

This same sin is being committed today! There is a powerful religious dimension to Donald Trump’s presidency. In many respects, his presidency is underpinned by support from religious leaders and people—but the religion of Jeroboam is false religion!

After this passage equating Jeroboam’s religious change in ancient Israel to Donald Trump’s religious tendencies while in office, Flurry immediately begins talking about Jeroboam II, without a single explanation for why these two different characters should represent one modern figure!

One can hardly blame him though, especially considering it is quite obvious he simply copy-pasted his old article into this new one to save time.