Feast of Tabernacles Incorrectly Observed

Here is an Anonymous comment at Banned by HWA discussing how the Armstrongite observance of the Feast of Tabernacles is what the Armstrongites would call a "man made tradition" that contradicts the proper way of observing the Feast of Tabernacles as described in the Old Testament.

The Jews have a couple of different terms, d'oraisa (a biblical command) and d'rabbanan (a rabbinic tradition). The Jews all know what is actually commanded vs. what is merely Jewish tradition. Not that it actually makes much difference, as, i.e. the wearing of yarmulkas is d'rabbanan. But at least they've gone through and separated the two. Half the stuff we did in WCG was merely traditional. Like making the feast into both a vacation and xmas, all rolled into one, having 11 church services during an 8-day period, or sending in "all your 'excess' second tithe." This was all stuff invented by WCG if not the Pervert himself. The difference would be that nobody had ever separated "WCG tradition" from "stuff actually in the bible" and people did not know the difference.

Once during the feast, I made the "mistake" of telling someone that I was going to take an all-day trip in the middle of the feast and that I was going to "miss" a service. They were shocked! They had no idea that the bible does not command people to have "holy convocations" 11 times in 8 days—don't forget that "evening service" to "kick off" the feast, when you're exhausted from traveling, haven't had a chance to unpack or eat. It's a "sin" if you're not there—according to who?

Those in-between days in FOT aren't even "holy days," and are no different than the in-between days in UB. If FOT is a pilgrimage feast, and so is UB, then why did we keep UB so differently? About the same as the Jews keep sukkot? Instead of having a "booth" made out of palm fronds for 8 days, they eat unleavened bread for 8 days. The reason is that this was tried, I guess in the early sixties, and people just didn't have the time off of work, let alone the financial resources to do this twice every year. In addition, this was probably going to mean no more "excess" second tithe! Not to mention what to do about Pentecost, the other pilgrimage feast. As always, what "god wants" is always dictated by men, usually old ones, never by gods.

There are some people now, who reason that if they go somewhere for FOT and have 11 church services in 8 days, then they must be doing something wrong by not doing that for UB as well. Wrong! More people "figuring out" what "god wants" who can't even figure out what is and is not in the bible! Instead, if these folks had half-a-brain between them, they'd start keeping FOT the same way they've been keeping UB all these years. But *sigh* we were mostly zealots, weren't we? And easily manipulated idiots too.

Repost: HWA's Error Regarding the Feast

(The following is a repost of this 2013 post, Herbert W. Armstrong's Error Regarding the Feast , discussing how the Feast of Tabernacles is observed by the COGs.)

Very soon the Feast of Tabernacles will occur and the COGs will observe them by gathering themselves together to the various Feast sites and fellowship with one another and listen to sermons for eight days as the entire COG from all over the world unite together for eight days of fellowship and communion with each other.

But there is a problem with their observe of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Notice Leviticus 23:40-43:

And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

And that is exactly what the Jews do today.

Look at how the Jews observe this day. They do it by building booths, called sukkah (sukkot plural) in the Hebrew language, within their houses or somewhere on their property.

Take a look at how the Jews observe the Feast of Tabernacles and the booths they observe it in.

They do not go around gathering themselves up together to assemble to listen for eight days to their Rabbis teaching the religion to them, instead they have fun and socialize with each other while staying at their own places or visiting their friends' places.

Does Leviticus say, Assemble yourselves together in a large warehouse far away from the world and go on vacation for eight days while you listen to my priests explaining the mysteries of the universe to you that you have already been hearing all year?

HWA has willfully misunderstood what this Feast is about. Instead of getting his followers to rejoice and celebrate with each other by meeting together in booths (sukkot) as seen above, in their own places, he exploited the peoples' misunderstanding and ignorance of this feast to get the COG members to assemble themselves together in a hotel, warehouse, campus, or some other such place in order to indoctrinate them into his syncretic religion.

Recently I had the honor of reading Carla Powers' book, Matches in the Gas Tank. She well described how the Feast was a terrible burden as her family had to drop everything from their regular lives and take a compulsory eight day vacation by order of HWA.

The Feast is designed to isolate COG members from society. It makes keeping a job that much harder for the COG members as they try to take eight days off. Kids are forced to take several days off from their education at school. Going to the Feast likely forces COG members to sacrifice by not using their hard earned money to go somewhere else. Instead they must go where the minister orders them to go.

They have no idea that they are not following God, but instead are following a man made tradition invented by one Herbert W. Armstrong.

Instead of observing the Feast as it is actually described in Leviticus and how the Jews observe it, HWA devised his own man made tradition in order to indoctrinate his followers.

The truth is HWA invented this man made custom of assembling together to hold a great feast in which every member is ordered to attend. The COGs think they are following God's law. In fact they are following a tradition invented by HWA.

PCG's Mark Jenkins Remembers Moving to PCG as a Young Man

PCG's Mark Jenkins has written an article entitled Malachi's Message: Your Personal History which discusses how he and his mother left WCG to join PCG. It is targeted towards the youth of PCG. Let's take a look.

First Mark Jenkins relates how his mother was furious when she read of Tkach's decision to discontinue printing and distributing Mystery of the Ages in early 1989. Maybe Jenkins should pay attention to the fact that PCG has altered Mystery of the Ages.

Jenkins relates how distressed his mother was when Tkach announced that WCG members could go visit doctors and take medicine without fear of incurring the wrath of God.  

I remember well my mom’s distress when Mr. Tkach released his new healing booklet saying that it might not be God’s will to heal and that there was no such thing as physical sin. From that point forward, the ministry no longer applied the stripes of Christ when anointing, despite Isaiah 53:5 clearly showing that Christ’s beating made our healing possible. My mom got out Mr. Armstrong’s original booklet and had me, a 12-year-old, read his book next to Mr. Tkach’s, which exposed the satanic deception in that booklet.

The truth is HWA taught for decades that using medicine and going to doctors for medical treatment was a form of idolatry and would earn damnation in the Lake of Fire. Many of his followers believed what he said. They were tricked into accepting HWA's anti-medicine superstition. Many WCG members died or had their health otherwise impaired as a direct result of this doctrine of death.

Why would Jenkins' mother think trying to change this abominable situation is a bad thing? It is disgusting and shameful that Jenkins' mother and now Mark Jenkins himself opposed this move and portray this as something wrong, even Satanic. I shudder to imagine these words encouraging anyone to neglect his or her health.

Of course, reactions to the changes were not always perfect. My mom was thrilled when our pastor announced that makeup would be allowed. When the sun set, she went straight to a department store and restocked her makeup cabinet—she had performed on piano publicly for years and had never been happy with the loss of her cosmetics.

The next day, we went to our local choir rehearsal, and the makeup was on. Nor was she alone. Several women had already replenished their supply. But her joy was short-lived. After we went home, she exclaimed, “Jesus Christ thinks I look dirty!” She went straight to the bathroom, and removed it. All of the cosmetics went into the trash, and she never purchased or wore any of it again.

I wonder how much money she stopped paying because she did not use makeup. I wonder how much of that money was later tithed away to WCG and then PCG. It seems quite likely to me that HWA's makeup ban was at least partly an attempt to get even more money out of WCG members.

Also note that no mention is made of the fact that HWA went back and forth on this issue. At first he allowed it, then sometime around the early 1950s he banned it, then he allowed it again, then took it back and banned it again. The Painful Truth has a very good article on this, That Darned Makeup Doctrine, which exposes why HWA's WCG decided to relax its attitude to makeup at one point.

Truly Herbert W. Armstrong's makeup ban was a terrible thing he imposed upon WCG members.

We now continue with Mark Jenkins' reminiscences.

I remember the announcement that the Big Sandy campus would remain open, the exact opposite of Mr. Armstrong’s instruction, and her reaction to it: That is not what Mr. Armstrong wanted. 

So a property continues to be used as decided by the man who can make such decisions. What is so terrible about that? So HWA did not plan that. I find it hard to understand why one would object to this because it is not what HWA would have done.

I remember the 1989 sermons suggesting that the trinity might be all right after all, identifying God as a hypostases rather than a Family.

The God Family doctrine is heretical nonsense. The God Family doctrine has no support in Scripture. 

For her, and for many of your parents, the split in God’s Church was the most traumatic experience of their lives. Having been called to the truth by God the Father Himself, they watched as Satan-inspired men dismantled the Work of God. And though many knew something was happening in God’s Work, they didn't know why. Then Malachi’s Message came.

Actually many WCG members wrote about and discussed what was happening during the Tkach changes.

I was 13, and we were privileged to get a copy of Malachi’s Message from a local deacon with the original January 16 shipment in 1990. 

The shipment was not on January 16. And anyway that date is according to the worldly Calendar HWA told his followers to hate and despise.

The son of Wilbur Malone (one of the ministers in our congregation) and I read his dad’s exit letter together, which exposed the WCG’s doctrinal changes and pointed people toward Malachi’s Message. Its final words—“Brethren, you have now been told!”—which we read in unison with great exuberance, still ring in my ears. A few weeks later, after attending for so long in an area with five congregations and about 2,000 people, we held the first St. Louis PCG services in Mr. Malone’s house with only eight people, but all of the local pianists, present.

One reason why Malachi's Message resonated with some WCG members was because at the time few WCG ministers resisted the Tkach changes. Among those troubled by the Tkach changes there were few ways one could resist them. Flurry was able to tap into this reluctance to conform to the Tkach changes and was able to build up a following in that way.

Roderick C. Meredith was probably biding his time waiting for WCG to resolve a libel case with Leona McNair. It was only after that case was resolved in 1992 that Meredith left WCG to start up his own splinter group. Also many ministers waited until the Tkach changes became undeniable with the so-called Christmas Eve sermon in December 1994. It was only after that pivotal event that many WCG ministers left to form UCG. 

The son mentioned here is apparently Ryan Malone. Wilbur Malone was a prominent minister within PCG. He was even allowed to write a chapter in the original four chapter version of The Key of David booklet that came out around 1996. He died in 2005.

Revelation 10:9 says that the little book— Malachi’s Message—will be as sweet as honey in your mouth. And it was. The answers that Mr. Malone, my mom, the local deacon who came out with us and our families sought were finally there, made plain in that first spiral bound, Kinko-published edition of Malachi’s Message. The reason for the turmoil in our lives was now understandable as God exposed the man of sin and the Laodicean rebellion through Mr. Flurry. Seeing that God had moved His lampstand and that it would again shine brightly in His Church was “in my mouth sweet as honey.”

But many people could discern that Tkach was transforming WCG into (for the most part) a mainstream church. Most people did not need Malachi's Message to know that.

Also it needs to be stated that it is widely known that many of the ideas within Malachi's Message were plagiarized from The Letter to Laodicea by Jules Dervaes, written December 1986-January 1988. It was sent to 237 WCG ministers including Gerald Flurry and John Amos. In fact on September 26, 1990 Jules Dervaes sent a letter to Gerald Flurry in which he denounces Malachi's Message as "a direct and clear plagiarism" of his work.

Another thing about Malachi's Message is that drastically changed the teaching regarding who the Laodiceans would be. Under HWA it was taught that it was not possible to know who is a Laodicean or a Philadelphian until the worthy WCG members fled to the place of safety. Only then would it become apparent that the others were the Laodiceans. Even Flurry himself in the revered Malachi's Message obliquely admit that this was the case.

Do the Laodiceans have works as a Church era? If the Laodicean Church begins when the Tribulation begins, as the Church has believed in the past, the very elect couldn’t deliver this message to the people. Under the prevailing conditions, it would be impossible. The Laodicean Church must have era “works” before the Tribulation begins. (Gerald Flurry, Malachi's Message, current 2008 version, Chapter 3, pp. 34-35.)

However Flurry changed this doctrine. Recently I read the current version of Malachi's Message and came away with a sadness that so many WCG members accepted this change of doctrine and embraced it. It was with this sadness in mind that I wrote these words in a previous post. 

I feel compelled to say that the fact this booklet could help launch one of the major COG splinter groups is a shameful indictment of how HWA and his WCG ministers kept WCG members woefully ignorant about the Bible and their own dogmas thus allowing Gerald Flurry to become one of the prime beneficiaries of the mass departure of members out of Tkach's WCG. (Reading Malachi's Message: Part 4.)

So we can see that the embrace of Malachi's Message showed how so many WCG members were willing to accept change from an ex-WCG minister in order to justify to themselves leaving WCG.

We now continue with Jenkins' article.

But that is only part of the verse. After the little book is devoured, “my belly was bitter.” We expected a mass exodus—surely out of 2,000 in the metro area’s congregations, a significant number would come. But most of God’s Family—our Family—had accepted strong delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11).

What actually happened is that most WCG members did not know who Gerald Flurry was and did not throw away their affiliation to WCG because of what he said. Many later got out of Tkach's WCG when other, more prominent ministers got out. Also at the time it appears to have been fairly easy to ignore the changes until later on.

In many cases, people were split from physical family—parents, brothers and sisters left behind in a Church no longer led by Jesus Christ. For those of us without physical family in the Church, we left our spiritual family behind. The teens I grew up with are simply not in God’s Church today, other than Ryan Malone, Mr. Malone’s son, who sits in the office next to mine. Most of the adults who taught and guided me in the WCG, other than his parents, never returned to the fold. 

How very sad. Maybe you should let PCG members associate with whomever they please if you think such afflictions are so bitter. Maybe you should get your leaders to stop telling PCG members that they are forbidden from associating with so-called Laodiceans because of Gerald Flurry's no contact policy (which apparently does not apply to Stephen Furry).

Since that time, Mr. Flurry has shown that 50 percent of those people will lose their eternal lives—and that is bitter news. And it is intensely personal.

Flurry took those words out of context. Also it must be stated that the doctrine of seven church eras is complete nonsense.

After this Jenkins encourages the youth of PCG to learn the stories of their families in how they ended up joining the alleged one true church, PCG. And this article comes to an end.

So we have learned that Mark Jenkins 

• condemns Tkach's attempt to stop HWA's anti-medicine superstition from killing anyone.

• condemns makeup.

• writes as though only Malachi's Message explained the unfolding Tkach changes.

• hypocritically complains that relationships were destroyed by the Tkach changes while working for PCG which has a no contact policy towards so-called "Laodiceans".

(Update: October 3, 2014: I have added a link to expand on why the God Family doctrine is untrue. It is in the line "The God Family doctrine has no support in Scripture.")

Reading PCG's Booklet, The Royal Book of Revelation

Let us now read Gerald Flurry's booklet, Unveiled At Last: The Royal Book of Revelation. This booklet was first released in 2001. However after reading this booklet I strongly suspect at least parts of this booklet was written as early as 1998. It was later revised in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2011. For this post I am reading through the 2005 version. You can read the current 2011 version of this booklet at their website.

Chapter 1

If you have the spirit of prophecy, that means you are given new revelation by God—to build on the old revelation. You must keep what God has already revealed, or you will be given no new revelation. (p. 5.)

Then why has Flurry changed so much? HWA's WCG taught that the Laodiceans would not be made manifest until the moment when the worthy WCG members flee to the place of safety (Petra, Jordan) so any left behind would be the Laodiceans. But Flurry changed this to say all WCG members are Laodiceans unless they join his PCG.

Gerald Flurry's PCG has even changed HWA's book, Mystery of the Ages, the book PCG claims to love and adore so much.

You can find where Jesus Christ is by finding the only group of people on this Earth who understand Bible prophecy! You can’t separate the two! Where you find one, you find the other. (p. 5.)

Where you find the group you find Christ. The two are not to be separated. So we see that PCG members are taught that Christ can only be found within PCG. Leaving PCG is viewed as being the same as leaving God. Some wonder why so many PCG members remain there despite the many problems there. Partly it is because they read words like this and believe them. They have some residual doubts and unease but in order to stay they learn to ignore such feelings.

The spirit of prophecy reveals the course of future world history! That means you understand world news in advance! You grasp exactly what is happening on the world scene. You can fit it all into a time frame with the book of Revelation. (p. 6.)

Then why did Gerald Flurry complain that America was far too pacifist in his booklet Winston Churchill: The Watchman? 

We can’t afford the pacifist attitude we had before World War-II [sic] and survive nationally. Yet our pacifist attitude today is far worse than it was then. (Gerald Flurry, Winston Churchill: The Watchman, 1999, 2002 version, Chapter 1, p. 2.)

Also in 2001 Gerald Flurry claimed the United States were much more isolationist then it was in the days before World War II. He said this in his booklet, No Freedom Without Law.

Even one of the most diabolical leaders in history, Adolf Hitler, could not rouse us to fight until we were bombed by Japan. And we are much more isolationist today. We are not prepared to die to defend our security, as we were in our past. This is the supreme sign that our will has been broken—and that our republic cannot stand. (Gerald Flurry, No Freedom Without Law, 2001, Chapter 3, p. 24.)

Also Ron Fraser said America was becoming isolationist just before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was clearly mimicking Gerald Flurry.

Of course 9/11 happened and the United States then proceeded to enter into war in Afghanistan and later Iraq. Clearly Flurry and Fraser were completely wrong on this topic. Clearly Flurry does not "understand world news in advance" and neither is he able "grasp exactly what is happening on the world scene" as he claims to be able to.

What a far cry from what Flurry promised above: "That means you understand world news in advance! You grasp exactly what is happening on the world scene."

If only his readers knew about such things.

The book of Revelation is about His Second Coming. Our lives must revolve around that great cause—to the extent that we would die for it if necessary. (p. 7.)

No wonder so many PCG members fiercely believe what they are told. Unfortunately when one makes his or her life revolve around an organization it causes such persons to become dependent upon the group.

The very elect follow His example. It is conceivable that you could also become a martyr, though God promises protection to His Church overall in this end time. All of God’s lukewarm saints are to be martyred in this end time. God told us it could happen (Luke 14:26-27). (p. 8.)

PCG has never had to endure martyrdom of this sort. This is simply an induced phobia designed to make followers afraid of leaving PCG. Flurry is artificially creating a sense of crisis among PCG members so that they are fearful of outside non-PCG forces so that they will rally under the leadership of PCG.

All of these martyrs were “under the altar.” That refers to the altar of burnt offering where the animals were sacrificed in the temple. Today the temple is God’s Church, and those sacrificing their lives are God’s lukewarm saints—not animals! (p. 9.)

In the second half of this chapter Flurry loads the language to say that certain Scriptures talk about HWA's God Family doctrine. Certain verses are presented as proof texts supposedly proving HWA's God Family dogma. Frequently any opposing view contrary to the God Family dogma is demonized as being of Satan the devil. Of course it is all nonsense.

Isaiah 42:8: "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."

Isaiah 43:10: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me."

Isaiah 44:6: "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God..."

Isaiah 44:8: "Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." (From Mike of Mike's Enlightenment Page.)

Here are some other posts that discuss the God Family doctrine.

• The God Family discusses how I first learned of this doctrine and how Roderick C. Meredith claim it was 'revealed' to HWA's group.

• A Problem in the God Family Doctrine discusses how HWA taught that humanity was simply Plan B for God. According to HWA God originally intended to have Angels govern the Universe but Lucifer's rebellion forced God to create Humanity instead. This aspect of HWA's God Family doctrine is never discussed in Stephen Flurry's booklet.

• Called to the Truth? Will all in the God kingdom be Equal? discusses how the COGs teach that those who become God Beings at the return of Christ will be superior in rank then all other people who become God Beings afterwards, even though all are supposedly as fully God as God is God. The COGs nevertheless teach that there will be ranks and that the God Family will be divided into an elite (the deified church) while the rest will be inferior in rank. This aspect of the God Family doctrine is never discussed in Stephen Flurry's booklet.

• Why I no longer believe in the God Family doctrine (and never will) (offsite article by Felix Taylor Jr.) discusses how the God Family doctrine is simply not in the Bible.

• Reading PCG's Booklet, God is a Family discusses Stephen Flurry's booklet (1995) which teaches the God Family doctrine. It also discusses how Stephen Flurry misleadingly uses a Protestant commentary to insinuate the Bible teaches the God Family when the author of this commentary never taught the God Family doctrine at all.

 The God Family doctrine is not supported by Scripture.

Chapter 2

They stoned Stephen to death. His only “crime” was preaching God’s truth! Let’s remember, these were religions that talked much about love! May God protect us from such “loving” religions! (p. 17.)

Flurry is alluding to the "Laodiceans" here. Flurry often says that the Laodiceans talk about love but do not do what God says.

Later Flurry recapitulates the dark century dogma, that shortly after the time of the Apostles the church fell away from the truth and became apostate until HWA came upon the scene.

Herbert W.Armstrong's dark century dogma is nonsense. It was an idea he imposed upon history and he deceptively quoted historians who never said there was a dark century.

Chapter 3

In this chapter Flurry insists the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 are seven church eras.

The history and prophecy of the great false church is included. Then doesn’t it seem logical that God would also reveal the far more important history and prophecy of His true Church in this book? (p. 26.)

Do not doubt Flurry's words or else you will be far from God. Flurry is merely trying to intimidate the reader into submitting him or herself under PCG's control.

The magnificent and powerful God is in the midst of the churches (verse 13). So we ought to have faith and should not deal in could be’s. We ought to know whether or not the Church eras are successive if this great and powerful God is in our midst! If we don’t, isn’t that an indication God is not in our midst? God reveals our own history and prophecy! God intends that we know! Not wallow around in the darkness of could be! (p. 26.)

Be completely sure that Flurry is correct or else you will not be in contact with God.

In fact the seven church era doctrine is also nonsense. Bruce Renehan in his book Daughter of Babylon proved that the seven church era doctrine is complete nonsense. Here are some of the facts that are presented in that book.

• Claim that Waldensians are of great antiquity has practically no evidence.

• Waldensians themselves say that they merely date from Peter Waldo. 

• Waldensians and English Lollards denounced tithing and observed Sunday. (Bet that was not mentioned in the musical PCG made recently.)

• Armstrongism has no historical link with the Seventh Day Baptists. (That really shocked me when I first read Renehan's book.)

• Seventh Day Baptists only used Church of God as a generic name and more often used other names.

• HWA acquired the seven church era doctrine from G. G. Rupert.

• G. G. Rupert taught that the Adventists in 1799 till the Great Disappointment of 1844 was the Philadelphian era and everything after that was the Laodicean era.

• HWA and Hoeh imitated their "history" of a Sabbatarian, non-Catholic group of believers dating from Apostolic times from Andrew Dugger and C. O. Dodd's 1936 book, A History of the True Church. (It also fabricated their false historical link with the Seventh Day Baptists.)

• C. O. Dodd admitted much of what he and Dugger wrote were simply not true.

• Bruce Renehan also presents evidence that by the 1990s WCG leaders knew this "history" was largely fake. (Chapter 10.) Does this apply to Gerald Flurry and those who joined him from WCG?

So it can be seen that the seven church era doctrine is nonsense. Flurry's claim that only PCG members are the Philadelphians is thus also revealed as nonsense. This also destroys his claim that the other COG groups are Laodiceans. He bears false witness whenever he demonizes the other COG groups as Laodiceans.

Both Sardis and Laodicea said The U.S. and Britain in Prophecy was in error. Both reject it. Soon everybody shall know that the God of Revelation 1:13-18 is the author of this inspiring truth! (p. 27.)

The other COG groups do not regard that booklet as in error. Why does Flurry say untrue things? For someone who claims to love the truth so much why would he write so vaguely.

Chapter 4

In this chapter Revelation 10 is specifically interpreted as referring to PCG distributing Mystery of the Ages. This appears to be a new teaching Flurry unveiled to the PCG members as "new revelation" around 1998 according to this booklet.

Until people remove the mystery from the Bible, their lives are meaningless. (p. 35.)

Devaluing the individual. Life outside PCG is vilified as not worth existing in.

The whole vision of chapters 10 and 11 revolves around Mystery of the Ages, not the little book. The little book just tells you what happened to God’s Church and Mystery of the Ages. It’s not about the little book; it’s about the great mystery of God which this world must be taught. (p. 35.)

That is quite a change. Back in 1992 Flurry proclaimed the Little Book to be Malachi's Message. That doctrine is one reason why PCG reveres it so much. Now Flurry pretends to be humble and says Revelation 10 is all about Mystery of the Ages. This reminds me of PCG Information noting that some in PCG seemed to think Mystery of the Ages was the Little Book. Is Flurry somehow trying to integrate that idea here? 

We know most people are not going to respond until they’re in the Great Tribulation. But if we do our job, I know what the buzz word will be in the Tribulation—people will be talking about Mystery of the Ages. That book is the hope of this world. There isn’t any other hope. Mystery of the Ages has the answers to this world’s problems! (p. 37.)

Strange. I thought Christ was supposed to be our only hope. Now it is Mystery of the Ages? Why do PCG members even pretend to be Christians when their leader says things like this? Maybe they should name themselves after Mystery of the Ages.

We may ask, Why didn’t God reveal this BEFORE we printed that book? Well, this is just another case of God waiting and testing, wanting to learn more about His people. If we would have understood this before, there would have been no doubts about publishing and freely giving Mystery of the Ages. But God wants to know if we are going to step out on faith. And now look what He does if we do! How encouraging! (p. 40.)

The real reason why PCG's God did not reveal this "new revelation" before is because Flurry did not think of it then.

Chapter 5

In this chapter Flurry talks about how great Mystery of the Ages is. That it is the world's only hope.

Paul didn’t have the complete picture like Mr. Armstrong did. So God wanted Mr. Armstrong to write the book Mystery of the Ages. (p. 41.)

So HWA had a much better understanding of "the truth" then even the Apostle Paul. Well, why do PCG members even call themselves Christians and claim to be the true heirs of what Paul wrought? Clearly HWA is superior. Is it really so terrible to call people like this Armstrongites?

You can see it when individuals leave this Church: They are with us and then gradually or suddenly they have a mind change. One minister vigorously supported Mystery of the Ages and then left, and now his crusade is against Mystery of the Ages. How do you explain that? It’s easy to explain—lose the Head and it will happen to you too. (p. 44.)

There is this delusion widely present within the COGs that if you leave "God's Church" you will be blinded by Satan and forget "the truth". Flurry is trying to teach this delusional belief to PCG members so that should anyone talk about things that are wrong in there or doubting that PCG's leaders are correct the PCG members will simply ignore them and not give heed to their warnings. This is called thought stopping.

I wonder which minister Flurry is alluding to here. It is good he at least got out of PCG. It must have been hard for him.

Our goal is not just to make it known to all nations. Paul says we’ll teach those people how to keep it in faith. It’s not just a matter of merely saying, “Here’s Mystery of the Ages.” The hard part is obeying it in faith. That’s what king-priests do today. (pp. 45-46.)

So PCG members are told that PCG will make Mystery of the Ages "known to all nations." It is amazing how Flurry talks of Mystery of the Ages in such an adulatory way.

“Most of you don’t get it!” said Mr. Armstrong. I was told by one minister that, at one time, Mr. Armstrong wondered if even 5 percent of the people got it. Is 1 Kings 19:10 a prophecy of an end-time Elijah, surrounded by all these Laodiceans, perhaps for a moment, thinking, Am I the only one who gets it? (p. 46.)

As shown in a previous post the sermon Flurry alludes to here and frequently elsewhere does not mean what Flurry says. You can read or listen to HWA's sermon for yourself online. That 1985 sermon was discussing a particular doctrine regarding why church members are called before Christ returns while the rest of humanity have to wait till later and only get a position of lesser rank.

HWA was complaining that WCG members and even ministers thought this selection was simply random. That is what he was complaining about. It was not some sort of miraculous premonition foreseeing the Tkach changes. That just simply is not true.

Beginning in verse 7, God speaks to the Philadelphians. Notice verse 9: “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.” You could say, “People from the synagogue of Satan right in the midst of Philadelphia? How discouraging!” But God doesn’t look at it that way. This is the way God fashions and molds king-priests! He says you will be at the top of the heap if you can conquer, and remain loyal to the Elijah work from beginning to end. (pp. 48-49.)

As seen in Flurry and Leap's Ezra and Nehemiah booklet (see Part 2 and Part 3) Flurry teaches that Satan sends infiltrators into PCG in order to lead PCG members away from PCG. What a convenient pretext any PCG minister has for casting out any unwanted member out of PCG. 

Your race, your station in life, how poor you may be—these things make no difference if you are a spiritual Jew. God is not even talking about race. People can get hung up on race. God is trying to teach us about spiritual race. We have different races in this Church, but we’re all spiritual Jews committed to this work! (p. 49.)

Maybe if people were treated equally and not discriminated against just because they are defined as being of a different race it would not be necessary to confront and discuss this important issue.

Also it should be noted that PCG teaches that interracial marriage is sinful. This is seen in Flurry and Leap's booklet, Ezra and Nehemiah (See Part 2 and Part 3) and the late Ron Fraser's booklet South Africa in Prophecy. This racist doctrine was inherited from HWA. It is hard too be more "hung up on race" then ordering people not to love each other because of race. Forbidding interracial marriage is racist.

We now continue.

Afterwards Flurry talks about the great glory that supposedly awaits PCG members for remaining loyal to Gerald Flurry all their lives.

Let me give you an expanded vision of that throne—the real, majestic picture of the way God says it will be in His Kingdom and even beyond that 1,000-year period, out into eternity. When I talk about David’s throne, I’m not talking about a little wooden chair with a rock under it. I’m talking about the estate and the meaning behind that throne—the dignity and the character of the God who rules it. Our estate will be the whole world in the Millennium, and the whole universe after the Last Great Day. That is the real estate over which we will rule. It takes a special being to zip out into the universe and back when you have something like 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. (p. 50.)

PCG members hope to attain this glory and are told this will be denied them should they leave PCG. That is one reason why they stay in PCG despite the many problems there.

There’s a lot of activity and excitement going on there, and those lamps are shining brightly before God’s throne. Today, we have that lamp in the form of revelation. Elisha received two portions of God’s Holy Spirit. We certainly have two portions of revelation today: The revelation given to Mr. Armstrong and the revelation God has given us since that time. Our job is not to try to accumulate buildings or land or things; we are not striving to become “rich and increased with goods”—we are to keep the lamp burning! (p. 51.)

And just a few years later (2007-2010) Gerald Flurry made Armstrong Auditorium sinking more then the equivalent of PCG's yearly income in building that white elephant.

The creatures say to God, “You have created all things.” We are created. Lucifer must have forgotten that. You are created. Keep yourself humble. Remember, you are dirt. And remember what God is! (p. 52.)

Remember that yourself, Gerald Flurry.

This royal book of Revelation has it all. Sure, there are tough times to come, but it won’t be long before we are through those, once we get the rebellious, evil spirit out of man—the spirit that won’t let God the Father and Jesus Christ be his Head. After that, all you have is full, full, full joy everywhere you look! (p. 52.)

So ignore the problems within PCG. Why worry about them? In just a few years Christ will be back and you will not need to worry about these things. In this way PCG members are made to ignore and overlook the problems within PCG.

Chapter 6

In this chapter thunder and lightening is used as a euphemism for the teachings of PCG, both those teachings inherited from HWA's WCG and the "new revelation" Gerald Flurry has introduced into PCG.

God thunders His revelation through His very elect which have the lamp on this Earth! Meditate on that inspiring truth: Having a part in this work makes you very important to God. There is only one lamp on the Earth today. (p. 54.)

Flury likes to tell PCG members that they are the most important people on planet Earth because they are in PCG and believe what PCG tells them.

God wants us to tremble before His Word. Spiritual thunder and lightning should have such an impact on us. (p. 55.)

Note how Flurry is instructing the PCG members to read and accept Gerald Flurry's supposed "new revelation" with great reverence and respect.

Now what was He trying to achieve with the accompanying thunder and the lightning? He was trying to get those people to realize that this was not from a man, but from the great Creator of mankind! Spiritually, new revelation today should have a much greater impact on our lives than physical thunder and lightning. Why? Because it has eternal consequences! (p. 56.)

Do what I say or else you might be cast into the Lake of Fire. That is what Flurry is essentially saying here. He is crudely trying to intimidate the reader into joining PCG and paying the three tithes and extra offerings.

God brings us to the Feast of Tabernacles with spiritual thunder and lightning to prepare to do what Israel failed to do—gather in all the world! That’s why we attend the Feast, as kings and priests in embryo—a kingdom of priests. I hope we never get tired of hearing that. (p. 56.)

Once again Flurry is trying to control the readers own emotions. If members get tired of listening to the same thing over and over again they might allow feelings of discontent to lead to action. Flurry is teaching members to suppress such feelings so that they ignore any problems within PCG and continue paying the three tithes and extra offerings.

Statistics reveal that 25,000 people die of malnutrition and starvation daily. At the Feast of Tabernacles we eat the best foods—things we can’t necessarily afford at other times. Why? As kings and priests, very soon we will permanently remove starvation from this Earth. And not just physical starvation, but spiritual as well. (p. 56.)

Perhaps this happens because PCG members are so busy tithing the rest of the time that they splurge out during the Feast of Tabernacles using the second tithes money they had saved up during the rest of the year.

If you don’t have revelation, God is not with you. Don’t despise the day of small beginnings—whether it’s 12, 19, 900, 10,000 or whatever. If Jesus Christ is there and you have thunder and lightning, stay with Christ. Numbers are irrelevant. Men of stature are irrelevant. (p. 59.)

Aside from his assistant John Amos none of WCG's ministers joined with Gerald Flurry to build up PCG. Flurry often alludes to this issue. It seems to bother him that no other WCG minister chose to join Flurry's following.

When we hear the thunder, we tremble. We’re all under government. I’ve never changed one judgment that Mr. Armstrong made about the law and the statutes. I’m under government. We all are. (pp. 59-60.)

HWA taught that Prophets have no administrative authority over lay members. He taught this from 1953 till the day he died, even restating it in his book, Mystery of the Ages. But Gerald Flurry proclaimed himself to be "That Prophet" and changed Mystery of the Ages and deleted that offending passage in which HWA said Prophets have no authority over members.

All of the lukewarm, rebellious Laodiceans will tell you they don’t believe Mr. Armstrong fulfilled the Elijah office and restored all things. They don’t get it because they refuse to understand. What an indescribable shame! One evangelist said that he would wait and let Christ show him who the end-time Elijah is. So Christ is going to show him the hard way, if that is what it takes. (p. 60.)

Many within the wider COG groups also believe that HWA was the end time Elijah. Why does Flurry say untrue things?

It is true that Meredith chose not to teach that doctrine but Flurry took advantage of this small difference with just one of the major COG groups in order to keep PCG members socially and mentally isolated from the other COG groups.

God is preparing His king-priests now. Look how much thunder and lightning of revelation we’ve had in the Philadelphia era under Mr. Armstrong and now in the PCG. We’re receiving so much revelation! It’s possible we could be lulled to sleep by getting so much. (p. 61.)

Actually from I have read it seems to me that a lot of this "new revelation" is just Flurry injecting the ideas of Malachi's Message onto other parts of the Bible. The ideas are just recycled and reused again and again for the most part.

Also it needs to be stated that it is widely known that many of the ideas within Malachi's Message were plagiarized from The Letter to Laodicea by Jules Dervaes, written December 1986-January 1988. It was sent to 237 WCG ministers including Gerald Flurry and John Amos. In fact on September 26, 1990 Jules Dervaes sent a letter to Gerald Flurry in which he denounces Malachi's Message as "a direct and clear plagiarism" of his work.

We need to be so thankful to God for receiving the old and new revelation like nobody has ever received it in the history of man. Be thankful! Rejoice! Come and see what God has given us in the form of new revelation! Thunder is going to keep coming and coming and coming until we’re sitting on that throne with God. (p. 62.)

And so Flurry promises to unveil "new revelation" until Christ returns, or more realistically for the rest of his life.

Chapter 7

Amaziah was the priest of Bethel—the house of God. So here is a minister from God’s lukewarm, Laodicean Church, somehow getting a message to the leader of the land in an attempt to stop God’s message. This is a confrontation between God’s people, the leaders of the land and a priest of the house of Bethel. Our court case with the WCG was probably just the first stage of that mighty confrontation! (p. 66.)

Here Flurry is essentially repeating what he said in his booklet, The Lion Has Roared. He is insinuating that Tkach's WCG will somehow conspire with the governmental authorities of the United States to somehow silence PCG. All Flurry has done is update this idea to mention the court case. He insinuated that it was "just the first stage of that mighty confrontation". But after PCG payed $3 million for the copyrights to eighteen of HWA's works what happened? Nothing. And it seems very unlikely that anything is going to happen.

“Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there” (verse 12). In other words, You are in this for bread, or money. Go to Judah, go over into that part of the world. So this man seems to know about the place of safety—probably because he grew up in the Church where it was taught! (p. 66.)

Here Flurry is complaining that Tkach's WCG is maliciously accusing Flurry and his PCG of trying to get money. Whatever gave them that idea? Flurry's PCG only demands three tithes from the members. How can monetary gain possibly be viewed as the ulterior motive for PCG?

To God’s very elect, it doesn’t make any difference who comes with God’s message. They are intelligent people spiritually, and cannot be deceived. That’s why God will put them at His headquarters forever. (p. 67.)

Pay no heed to the fact that only one other minister chose to join Flurry's following out of WCG. Pay no heed to the fact that other more prominent persons associated with HWA's WCG have nothing to do with PCG. Disregard that fear. Join PCG and pay the three tithes to Flurry and his collaborators.

God revealed the book of Amos shortly after the PCG began. Mr. Armstrong admitted that he didn’t understand this book. (p. 67.)

This refers to Flurry's second booklet, The Lion Has Roared. As for HWA claiming not to understand Amos, I do not know what Flurry is talking about.

On page 69 of the 2005 version is a picture of a roaring lion set within a field of starts. This picture has since been removed from the current 2011 version.

Revelation only comes from God’s government! Christ gave us precisely what His Father—the supreme government—gave to Him. Revelation from God also means we have God’s government. In this end time, if you do not have God’s revelation, you are rebelling against His government! Christ gave Herbert W. Armstrong God’s government and revelation. The PCG also has God’s revelation. That means we continue submitting to the exact same government of God that Mr. Armstrong taught us. (p. 70.)

If you are not in PCG paying three tithes and extra offerings you are doomed. Once again Flurry crudely attempts to intimidate the reader to join PCG and stay there.

After this Flurry presents a quote from Roderick C. Meredith and accuses him of claiming too much glory for himself at the expense of HWA. Then Flurry claims he does not do this and boasts that this proves he is humble compared to Meredith. Flurry does this to discredit Meredith to make sure PCG members do not migrate to Meredith's group. (Emphasis in original.)

In the Global Church of God News, August/September 1997, Rod Meredith stated, ... “So Christ was not in any way surprised that this great falling away took place. He knew this would happen and He intended to use it as a test to see if His people would hang on to the basic truths He had placed in His Church through Mr. Armstrong, AND the SENIOR EVANGELISTS  who assisted him for decades in establishing and building a really powerful work.” Matthew 17:10-11 does not say that God is going to send an end-time Elijah and senior evangelists to restore all things, as Mr. Meredith said. God says He reveals truth to holy apostles and prophets—not to senior evangelists (Ephesians 3:5). Mr. Meredith did say they were assisting, but still, he said that God put those great truths in the Church through Mr. Armstrong and the senior evangelists. They are putting themselves on the same level as God’s end-time Elijah, and they don’t belong there! Neither do I. (pp. 72-73.)

So what if Flurry does not call himself Elijah, Gerald Flurry claims to be the "one man" God works through on planet Earth. He says this repeatedly. There is no need for him to be Elijah, when he claims to be the one man through God is working with. Flurry claims he is the "one-man" through whom God reveals revelation and one can only be saved by following PCG.

Flurry is arguing over semantics. Alas, many PCG members seem to find this spurious argument convincing. They do not realize they are being duped.

Also the fact that he cites a 1997 article by Meredith in this booklet indicates to me that this section probably dates to 1997-8. There is also no mention of LCG. So I suspect at least parts of this booklet was originally published as an article in the Royal Vision magazine and then compiled into a booklet.

For one who claims to be the middleman between God and humanity maybe he should avoid fudging facts the way he does here.

But Mr. Armstrong said he finished that specific work. He also discusses in his book the 18 restored truths, with the first truth on that list being government—the same government that they have rejected. (p. 74.)

What list? The one published in Worldwide News several months after HWA's death? But that was not in Mystery of the Ages. HWA did not state what these eighteen truths were in that book. My word! Flurry cannot even get simple details like that right. And to think that so many PCG members trust him with their very lives.

After this is a particularly frightening passage saying that Satan will send infiltrators into PCG and that it is necessary for PCG ministers to cast them out. This merits quoting at length.

If we don’t have God’s government, “wolves” are prophesied to come in and tear the inner court apart and make it the outer court. God says if you have people like that, cast them out (Revelation 11:2). That means using force or power and being decisive doing it. God wants to make sure we keep the inner court holy. If we have somebody acting like a wolf or causing serious problems, we cast them out. That’s what Christ told us to do. Either we cast out Satan or Satan casts out Christ!

That phrase leave out, or cast out, is the same expression you’ll find in Luke 4:29, where Christ was thrown out of the city. We are in a war, and spiritual survival is at stake. If you’re in the outer court, you’re going to be destroyed and trod underfoot by the Gentiles. We get a little insight into that by looking at World War II videos and the concentration camps. But the next war will be much worse. (pp. 74-75.)

"If we have somebody acting like a wolf or causing serious problems". What a vague charge. One could use any incident to cast out someone using words like this. This is not advice. This is essentially a license to PCG ministers to do whatever they think is necessary to make PCG members continuing in the unity imposed upon them by PCG ministers.

Flurry continues.

We don’t want to see anyone trod underfoot. And our leading ministers will cast somebody out if we see that person leading a member or prospective member in that direction. God is going to back us in that. (p. 75.)

I find this assumed pretense of necessary reluctance eerily similar to how Roderick C. Meredith would announce disfellowshipping ministers who had somehow earned the wrath of those in power. Whenever he announced these disfellowshipping he would always say that he regretted it in a desperate attempt to obscure the use of his power and authority in crushing perceived threats to power. It is sad that Flurry appears to have learned this trick.

This casting out is an ongoing process. One minister who left the PCG was upset that we put some people out of the Church. But we use the government of God to keep people from destroying the inner court. The Laodiceans have not learned that. When the Philadelphia Church of God began, God cast out 95 percent of His people! Do you want to get angry with God for doing that? If they don’t change their ways, He’s going to cast them out of the Kingdom. They’ll see people of Sodom and Gomorrah entering in, while they’re being cast out! We must see the big picture. (p. 75.)

That minister is a hero. There is nothing heroic about shunning those ordered to be cast out of the group. To accuse them of trying to destroy PCG is nothing but deceptive rhetoric designed to trick PCG members into thinking it is necessary and good to do what PCG's leaders tell them to do. It is all about power, the ability to use people for their own ends at the expense of the lay members.

It is worth noting how Flurry here claims (PCG's) God has "cast out" all the other COG groups. He is here insinuating to PCG members that God wants them to shun the members of the other COG groups. The real purpose of this draconian demand is to make people dependent upon PCG and try to alienate them from the members of the other COG groups so that they are rendered dependent upon other PCG members. They are socially stuck in PCG and cannot get out.

It is all about making PCG lay members willingly allowing themselves to be controlled by PCG's leaders.

If we don’t have God leading us, life doesn’t work. Man can’t lead himself! We are little children who need to be taught God’s precious and wonderful truth—His royal law which makes us royal. (p. 75.)

Life outside PCG is devalued as not worth existing in. This is what Lifton called the dispensing of existence and is used to induce thought reform in people in order to radically alter how they think. Life outside PCG is viewed as a state of existence not worth living in. The effect is to make PCG members endure any demand placed upon them because leaving PCG is viewed as not an option. And in this way PCG members are controlled and this is why there are so many problems there.

After this Flurry talks about the woman of Revelation 12 who is taught to be the church. Flurry says she is PCG and only PCG. He says that "the Laodiceans" refuse to admit that PCG is the woman of Revelation 12 and that is why they are to be cast out into the Great Tribulation.

Here’s quite a woman! She is clothed with the sun, has the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars—all kinds of brilliant light! And the time setting is right now. If people can see spiritually, there is a woman who is clothed with the sun—led by the Lion of Judah, a type of Jesus Christ—and they have all this light, all this revelation. Everybody should be able to see it, but the Laodiceans are blind. They don’t want to see; they refuse to see. But the light is there. The glory is there, and it’s out of this world. (p. 75.)

Once again the other COG groups are vilified in order to keep PCG members in the fold and continuing to send all that money to PCG so that PCG's leaders have a good income.

But don’t think only about the pain—think about the birth. About being born again. Of course we are going through trials and difficulties. God is getting us ready to save the world. We’re saviors. We must get our minds off ourselves. We must think about saving people by teaching them to follow their Head. (p. 77.)

According to Gerald Flurry Jesus Christ is not our savior. PCG members are the saviors. What blasphemy. If PCG members are the saviors why do they even bother to pretend to be Christians?

It is also needs to be stated that PCG teaches that one is not born again until after death. It is taught that PCG members upon death enter an unconscious slumber and will be woken up when Christ returns and they shall at that instant be transformed into immortal God beings as fully God as God is God though of lower rank. This teaching was inherited from HWA.

After that Flurry fear mongers that the Catholic Church and Europeans will soon destroy the United States and the other COG groups.

He incorrectly implies that only PCG understands the supposed end time role of the Catholic Church.

The scholars can’t figure this out. The religious people can’t figure it out. Lange’s Commentary, which is out of print, is one of the few commentaries that knows this refers to the Roman Empire, ruled over by the Catholic Church. Shouldn’t we be able to understand if we’re God’s Church? The only people who really understand are the people who have this light. We know what is happening in Europe. If the people of this world knew, they would be terrified! We’re going to have to tell them. (p. 77.)

Reading this it sounds like only PCG knows this. In fact even as early as the Protestant Reformation the Papacy was identified as a creation of Satan. This idea has constantly been within various strands of Protestantism. In the present calm environment inevitably such ideas have tended to fall out of favor. But PCG has no right to somehow claim only they properly understand it. 

After this Flurry claims that PCG members have a great power on their side, God is with them and them alone.

Satan is right here on Earth today. We in the Church will be accused. Satan will use all of his deceitful power to destroy us. But God tells us to look at the strength we have! That means force, or miraculous power. It is the power of Jesus Christ. We’re not pictured here as weak people, but strong, like the Lion of Judah! But only if we hold on to and act just like the Head. (p. 78.)

But this power is only with PCG members if they stay within PCG despite the many problems there and continue to submit to the many demands placed upon them, including paying three tithes and extra offerings.

So why does God not give similar protection to the other COG groups and make it necessary for them to die before they can be saved?

Why do the Laodiceans have to die? Because they’re just not qualified to sit as royalty with Jesus Christ to rule this Earth from headquarters. Christ wants to know that if anybody comes to headquarters with a question, they would get the answer Jesus Christ Himself would give. The Laodiceans are not qualified to do that. They aren’t a loyal and faithful witness to this word. (p. 78.)

This is just confusing jargon. The real reason Flurry demonizes the Laodiceans so insistently is because they do not pay the three tithes and extra offerings to his PCG. Flurry does not control them. Flurry views them as rivals and he is determined to do whatever he can to make sure none of his tithes payers leave PCG for any of them.

Flurry is not thankful that he was lucky enough to build up one of the major splinter groups of HWA's WCG, instead he petulantly demand all of them submit to his authority.

Flurry then talks about how glorious it will be when PCG members are resurrected as immortal God beings.

Here you have these four living creatures and the 24 elders falling down before the Lamb. They are responsible for your prayers. God has specific angels monitoring all of your prayers!

Look at the royal environment in which your prayers are handled. Look at the priority God gives your prayers! You must place the same supreme importance on your prayers! You must remember where they are going. (p. 79.)

And this glory is only available if you stay in PCG despite the many problems there and pay the three tithes to PCG.

Flurry ends this booklet with these words.

Do we see? Do we understand? It’s all there for us. It’s so wonderful that when John saw it, just in a vision, he fainted. This is our future—our transcendent, royal future. No wonder God gives us the job of delivering His message. No wonder we face such obstacles today. God is preparing us, doing everything He can to get His bride ready—because He really does need help dealing with all those billions and billions of people.

Let’s all work together to build that harmony, continually holding to the Head—that powerful Lion of Judah. (p. 80.)

And so this paranoid screed comes to an end.

***

So we have seen Flurry in this booklet

• says Christ is only to be found in PCG. "You can find where Jesus Christ is by finding the only group of people on this Earth who understand Bible prophecy! You can’t separate the two! Where you find one, you find the other." (Chapter 1, p. 5.)

• says that Satan sends in infiltrators into PCG and these must be removed by being cast out of PCG. This refers to and justifies the draconian practice in PCG of shunning ex-members.  

• claims Roderick C. Meredith is pompous for taking some of the glory that rightfully belongs to HWA. So says he who claims to be the "one man" God is working through. (Chapter 7, pp. 72-73.)

• says Mystery of the Ages is the only hope for the world. Not Christ apparently. "But if we do our job, I know what the buzz word will be in the Tribulation—people will be talking about Mystery of the Ages. That book is the hope of this world. There isn’t any other hope." (Chapter 4, p. 37.)

• says PCG is not focused on acquiring property. Very ironic considering how he ordered the construction of Armstrong Auditorium just a few years later. "Our job is not to try to accumulate buildings or land or things; we are not striving to become “rich and increased with goods”—we are to keep the lamp burning! (Chapter 5, p. 51.)

• confuses Mystery of the Ages with the 1986 Worldwide News article that lists the supposed eighteen truths "restored" by HWA. "But Mr. Armstrong said he finished that specific work. He also discusses in his book [Mystery of the Ages] the 18 restored truths, with the first truth on that list being government—the same government that they have rejected." (Chapter 7, p. 74.)

•  says Revelation 10 is all about PCG distributing Mystery of the Ages.

Gerald Flurry is not the "one man" through whom God is working through. That is nonsense. There is no need to go to Flurry's PCG in order to gain God's favor. There is no need to pay three tithes to PCG in order to please God. That is just exploitation. Paying money to PCG only makes them more powerful, it is of no use in getting close to God.

A Shocking Ex-WCG Testimony: Family Destroyed by HWA's WCG

My mother sincerely decided that she wanted to become a member of the Worldwide Church of God and in order to become a member at that time which was back in about 1955 she was required to leave my father. And at the age of ten I lost my father to the Worldwide Church of God.

She spent hours on her knees crying and praying in order for God to give her the strength to do this. She had been married to my father for twelve years and they had a happy marriage.

Shortly after that she married the youngest brother of Herbert Armstrong, Dwight Armstrong.

This shocking testimony comes from a Christian based anti-cult documentary entitled The Cult Explosion, narrated by Walter Martin, author of Kingdom of the Cults. The documentary seems to date from the early 1980s. The section which first describes Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God starts here.

This draconian policy of divorce and remarriage was in force within HWA's WCG until 1974.

Roderick C. Meredith was one of the men who carried out and orchestrated this most abominable practice. This may be seen in Roderick C. Meredith's 1969 letter to WCG ministers on how to enforce this most wicked practice. He was one of the last to insist that this practice had to be carried out.

What a shocking testimony. How dare anyone claim that HWA is worthy of being followed. How dare anyone minimize these atrocities by saying "it was reformed" as though the victims have no right to speak out about what has happened.

Just appalling. There are no words to describe how awful this is. It is just shocking.

Inspiring Ex-PCG Testimony

Exit and Support Network has released a letter (September 20, 2014) relating a testimony about leaving PCG that I thought was quite beautifully expressed and quite inspiring about how life seems to be going well for because they got out of PCG. Banned by HWA has also posted this testimony.

God Has Set Us Free:

September 20, 2014

Soon it will be the one year anniversary of our official resignation from the PCG cult. Flurry and his henchmen always told us that God would curse us or kill us if we ever stopped "supporting the Work" (i. e., putting money in their bank accounts so they can live in luxury). Or if we ever stopped attending services or keeping the Mosaic Sabbath law, God would kill us or strike us down horribly.

When I read the writings of Meredith's LCG they persuaded me that if I ever stopped believing in what they taught some monstrous calamity would occur to me, I would lose salvation, I would be blinded by Satan and forget "the truth".

None of this has happened. In fact, God has blessed me with a state job that has full time hours, a future and paid benefits. In three weeks I will graduate from the academy and become a sworn Peace Officer. This is God himself setting me free from the obsolete Mosaic Law that so many are still enslaved to by those gangsters in Edmond.

If I would have stayed in the PCG cult, I would probably be homeless and on government assistance section 8 housing. Keeping the Mosaic Holy Days and Sabbaths destroyed every good job opportunity I ever had. Gerry Flurry always told me that giving him money would ensure my salvation, health and prosperity. Instead, giving him the money I needed to live my life almost cost me everything I had.

It is so terrible that so many people are reduced to such desperation because of what they been indoctrinated to believe and to do for PCG and the other COG groups.

Thanks to my good friend [name removed] who told me about ESN I was able to conquer the fear that the Flurrys, Turgeons, Malones, and Culpepoers used to keep me sending them my hard earned money to keep my salvation. Realizing from ESN that Gerald Flurry plagiarized most of Malachi's Message and was arrested for being drunk on the Sabbath disillusioned me from the adoration I had for that fake prophet from Oklahoma.

That friend is a very good friend. It is so good you got out.

There follows an impression of how the leaders in PCG appear to behave.

The hardest thing now is to not be overcome with resentment and anger towards those men in Edmond who deceived me into giving them my limited resources so they could live in elegant homes, drive luxury cars, and travel all over the world in comfort. When I went out to Edmond OK and saw the wealth and extravagance that these people surround themselves with I was shocked. Then it was the snobbish arrogance and pride of these Edmond elites that sickened me to the core. Here are a bunch of individuals living off of the hard work, sweat, and tithes of others and they act like it was all owed to them.

As early as 1995 Gerald Flurry was boasting that PCG had an annual income of "multiple millions".

In 2012 PCG gained $19.5 million in income. Is that where the money is going?

Recently Andrew Locher released an article (discussed in a previous post) that appeared that state about $2 million is spent on buying airtime for The Key of David telecast. And yet he admits that in 1999 "just over $4 million" was spent on buying airtime for The Key of David when it was about half of "the total income". (I presume he means half of "the total income" of PCG in 1999, which would make it $8 million.) Combining his words with the information that PCG got $19.5 million in 2012 it appeared to me that Locher was admitting PCG's income was like the following:

PCG Income in 1999                                       $8 million
(Implied in Locher's article)

PCG buying airtime for KOD in 1999        $4 million
(Stated in Locher's article)

PCG Income in 2012                                       $19.5 million
(Stated by Gerald Flurry in his Colossians booklet)

PCG buying airtime for KOD in 2014        $2 million
(Implied in Locher's article)

Locher tried to minimize this clear reduction in spending on distributing The Key of David by claiming they got more responses at less expense.

Really? Then why is The Philadelphia Trumpet's circulation about the same as 2003? It has been stuck at 300,000 since 2000. (Actually from March 2008 till January 2011 it was below 300,000.)

If these figures are inaccurate perhaps PCG should be a little more transparent about such things to avoid possible confusion, at least for the sake of PCG's lay members and non-PCG contributors (co-workers).

So that would seem to be where the money is going.

The final straw was when a "minister of God" told me that God would kill my baby girl if I did not follow his instructions.

 That is just horrifying. He has no right to behave in such a frightful manner.

We left and never looked back. Someone in Edmond like Brian Davis would read this letter and laugh and mock. But we are free now and for the first time we have the blessings Flurry always promised but never delivered.

God bless you all. --Brett and Carmen Streutker

And God bless you as well. What an inspiring account of triumph over adversity. I wish you well. I hope things go well for you. You deserve it.

I must say your has moved me. Thank you for your brave and courageous decision to share it.

PCG's Demonization of Iran

Around 1994 Gerald Flurry, founder and leader of the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), proclaimed that Iran is the King of the South fated to become a great power only to be utterly destroyed and routed by the supposedly soon coming European juggernaut. Gerald Flurry wrote about this in his booklet, The King of the South, as seen in a previous post. Because of this dogma PCG's writers have constantly denounced and demonized Iran as the main source of troubles within the Middle East, whether the facts warrant such condemnation or not.

In the world of Armstrongism the doctrine of the King of the South has had a long and muddled history. Before World War II Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) said Ethiopia was the King of the South. Fascist Italy's conquest of Ethiopia in 1936-7 was interpreted by HWA to be the fulfillment of Daniel 11:40. HWA taught that Mussolini was the Beast who would forge Europe into an unstoppable military superpower that would conquer the United States and Britain. Later HWA changed his mind and said Hitler fulfilled this role. (Naturally these were false prophesies.) Even after Hitler died HWA and his collaborators such as Roderick C. Meredith insisted that Hitler simply went into hiding, even as late as 1965.

After World War II HWA continued to teach that Ethiopia was the King of the South, as may be seen in his booklet, The Middle East in Prophecy. That booklet, published in 1948, 1954 and 1972, made no mention of a future King of the South. (Incidentally PCG's Stephen Flurry plagiarized that booklet in 1998.)

But what use was the King of the South doctrine unless it could be used to make WCG lay members fearful of the future? And so in time, beginning in the 1960s, other leaders of Armstrong's following, such as Garner Ted Armstrong and Keith Stump, began to teach that there would be a future King of the South. But unlike PCG today they were inclined to say the King of the South would arise among the Arabs.

As Tkach began to implement his changes within WCG after HWA's death in 1986 many WCG members left wishing to continue following HWA's teachings. PCG was simply one of many such groups that arose during this turbulent time. Early on Gerald Flurry claimed to be the bearer of "new revelation" that HWA did not know about and introduced various doctrines to PCG and altered not a few teachings from HWA's WCG. One of these "new revelations" Flurry introduced that made PCG stand out from the other COG groups was his declaration that Iran was the King of the South. This change appears to have occurred in 1994. Even though in the Bible south meant south of what is now the State of Israel and by that Biblical standard Iran is east, not south, PCG quickly embraced this doctrine.

Ever since then PCG has constantly demonized and stirred up anger and fear of Iran in order to convince readers that Gerald Flurry is the one man God is working through. When the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurred PCG shamefully used that tragedy to demonize Iran as the "head of the snake" and to say that Iran was the main source of troubles for the United States in the Middle East. PCG's writers also constantly claim Iran is preparing to make nuclear weapons. Many news events are presented as evidence of Iran's rise and Iran will help plunge America into a most frightful catastrophe in order to glorify their leader as a prophet.

(PCG actually teaches that a German-led European super power will destroy America and Britain nevertheless PCG's writers try very hard to frighten their readers that other countries, including Iran, are to be feared as well.)

Amazingly PCG's writers, as far as I can tell, have never talked about the overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. How short sighted is that? Maybe later events involving Iran would make more sense to PCG's writers if they paid more attention to that shameful and tragic event.

If any Iranians read this I would just like to say that the Philadelphia Church of God is not important within the United States. It is a small sect that seem to be composed of about 5000 members. (They tend to be quite secretive about such matters.) PCG's writers stir up fear about Iran because they are trying to scare their predominantly American followers into thinking nuclear World War III is just about to occur. They do this in order to scare PCG members into giving lots of money to PCG. In 2012 PCG made $19.5 million in income largely by peddling such fear mongering nonsense and telling their followers that they must pay lots of money to PCG in order to please God. PCG is trying to make money out of their predominantly American followers. That is the real reason why PCG's writers talk of Iran so irresponsibly.

Also most Americans do not want war with Iran. Most Americans are not like these chickenhawks. Actually PCG actually orders their followers not to join the armed forces. This is a doctrine they inherited from HWA who plagiarized that doctrine from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Yet hypocritically PCG's writers and leaders irresponsibly glorify war to their shame and do so in an irresponsible way.

There are problems in Iran, some of them quite serious, but ultimately the Iranian people must solve these issues for themselves.

There is no need for the United States to go to war with Iran. There are non-violent ways to resolve problems between the United States and Iran and these non-violent paths should be followed, not war.

*******

Here are some of the articles PCG has made demonizing Iran. A few quotes and comments are included as well. Whenever possible authors are listed but many articles are written anonymously.

1998

August

Merchants of Death by J. Tim Thompson

2001

November

The Head of the Snake by Joel Hilliker

2003

May

Helping Iran Go Nuclear

June

Is Iraq About to Fall to Iran? by Gerald Flurry

Prophecy Comes Alive in Iraq! by Joel Hilliker

November

Why We Cannot Win the War Against Terrorism by Gerald Flurry

2004

September-October

Hezbollah-Palestinian Alliance Exposed by Donna Fraser

December

The Coming War Between Catholicism and Islam by Gerald Flurry

2005

January

Election Rigging, Iran Style by Joel Hilliker

February

The Precious Jewel of Iran's Plan by Joel Hilliker

July

Iraq, Iran Announce Military Cooperation by Joel Hilliker

Evidence of Iran’s Conquest of Iraq

September-October

The New Islamic Superpower by Joel Hilliker

December

Russia, China Stand Up to EU

2006

February

Oil Bourse to Strengthen Prestige of Europe, Iran

March

Why Iran Can Afford to Be Insane by Brad MacDonald

May

Exposing Iran's Lies by Timothy Oostendarp

Iran is King by Brad MacDonald

July

The Only Solution to the Middle East Crisis by Gerald Flurry

August

Iran Seeks Global Anti-U.S. Axis

September

The Only Solution to the Mideast Crisis by Gerald Flurry

Venezuela Allies With America’s Enemies by Robert Morley

November-December

Lighting Iran's Fuse by Ron Fraser

November

Imperial Iran

December

Iran Moves to Dominate Middle East by Joel Hilliker

2007

January

Rafsanjani on the Rise in Iran

The Architect of the Iraqi Insurgency

March

The U.S. Looks to Iran for Iraq Solution

April

UN Selects Iran and Syria for Disarmament Commission Posts

May

Should America Ally With Arabs Against Iran? by Joel Hilliker and Timothy Oostendarp

Peace Through Diplomacy: Can It Work? by Brad MacDonald

June

Iran Flashes Trump Card, Again

July

Japan Drops Dollar to Buy Iran’s Oil by Robert Morley

Iran, Russia About to Sign Massive Arms Deal

August-September

Iran Threatens to Strike Back at U.S.

August

Iran Muzzles and Executes Dissenters Under Sharia Law by Robert Morley

German Banks Terminate Business With Iran

September

Egypt and Iran Ally Against Potential U.S. Military Action

October

Negotiating With Terrorists by Stephen Flurry

November

Is the Syria-Iran Alliance Beginning to Crack? by Stephen Flurry

(Little did Stephen Flurry know in just a few years the Syrian people would rise up to resist Assad's tyranny and Assad ran to Iran and received all kinds of assistance from them, including getting fighters from Hezbollah to fight and die in Syria to protect Assad's tyrannical privilege and power while being indoctrinated to believe they fight for a noble cause. Clearly Stephen Flurry does not know what he is talking about.)

December

Russia Delivers First Shipment of Nuclear Fuel to Iran

Enriched Confidence: Post-NIE Iran

Ahmadinejad: U.S. Report a “Victory” for Iran

2008

January

Nuclear Iran Means Nuclear War by Gerald Flurry

Pakistan and the Shah of Iran by Gerald Flurry

Iran and Latin America Developing “Narco-Terrorism”

Merkel: Must Protect Israel

February

America Is Copying Chamberlain’s Mistakes by Gerald Flurry

Iran Inaugurates New Space Center, Launches Rocket

March

Iran-Egypt Alliance Prophesied by Gerald Flurry

May

Iran Conquered Lebanon, Now What? by Gerald Flurry

Israel: Iran Could Have Nuclear Weapons by Summer 2009

Washington Upset Over Iran-Europe Energy Deal

Syria Reaffirms Loyalty to Iran

June

Syria Helped Iran Develop Weapons-Grade Plutonium

August

Iran Conquered Lebanon--Now What? by Joel Hilliker and Gerald Flurry

2009

January

Iran Sends Explosives Lab to Venezuela

February

Iran Launches First Satellite

March

Iraq Sides with Iran by Richard Palmer

Iran Slaps America’s Friendly Hand

July

PA Holds First-Ever Meeting With Iran by David Vejil

August

How President Obama’s Cairo Speech Will Shake the Nations by Gerald Flurry

September-October

Surrendering to Iran by Stephen Flurry

September

Why Trouble in Iran Will Lead to War by Joel Hilliker

(This is a false prophecy. The pro-democracy protests of 2009 did not lead to war. Clearly PCG's leaders do not know what they are talking about.)

October

Who Bombed Pan Am Flight 103? by Stephen Flurry

December

Iran Sends Message to Iraq—and U.S.

2010

January

9/11 and the Head of the Terrorist Snake by Stephen Flurry

Iraqi Prime Minister Caves to Iran

Iran, Turkmenistan Launch New Gas Pipeline

February

Iran: The German Solution by Brad MacDonald

Leader of Iranian Militant Group Arrested

Ten Fulfilled Prophecies

April

Man Does Not Know His Greatest Enemy by Gerald Flurry

(Flurry wrote the following in this article:

Man is facing total annihilation of all human life, perhaps in a decade or less. That is especially true when you consider the mad leader of Iran, who is about to get nuclear weapons and is eager to use them. Iran is by far the greatest terrorist-sponsoring nation in this nuclear world—madness that no nation or group of nations has been willing to take a stand against—yet. The country’s leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believes a nuclear war would hasten the return of his version of the Messiah.

This is a false prophecy. What Flurry did not know is that soon afterwards Ahmadinejad would lose the confidence of the Supreme Leader and later be replaced.)

August

Is Iraq About to Fall to Iran? by Joel Hilliker

October

Iran Takes Over OPEC by Robert Morley

December

Iran Gets Pushy with Pakistan

2011

January

The History Iran Forgot by Brad MacDonald

Iran-Backed Hezbollah Topples Lebanon’s Government by David Vejil

Iran: Main Supplier of Weapons to Hamas

February

Iran Provokes—Germany Reacts by Ron Fraser

March

Why Iran Is Sweating Bullets by Brad MacDonald

Iranian-Backed Insurgents Call for an Islamic Revolution in Ethiopia by Andrew Miller

Saudi-Iranian Conflict Builds in Bahrain

Iranian Propaganda Film Claims Jerusalem Is About to Be Conquered

April

Libya and Ethiopia Reveal Iran’s Military Strategy by Gerald Flurry

Prophecy Comes Alive in Egypt!

May-June

A Mysterious Prophecy by Gerald Flurry

(This article was discussed in a previous post.)

May

Iran Working on Nuclear Trigger

U.S. to Be in Range of Iran’s Nukes?

July

Pakistan Draws Closer to Iran

August

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Commander Becomes OPEC President

Iran Protects Centrifuges Inside Mountain

The Man Who Rules Iraq

September

Iran Helped Plan 9/11 by Joel Hilliker

(This article was discussed in a previous post.)

October

Egypt and Libya to Join Iran’s Terror Network by Gerald Flurry

November

Germany Mulls War With Iran by Ron Fraser

North Korea Helping Iran With Nuclear Program

2012

January

Europe, Iran and Bible Prophecy Come Alive in the Strait of Hormuz! by Brad MacDonald

Iran Wants War. It Is About to Get One. by Joel Hilliker

February

Want War? Then Continue Ignoring Iran by Brad MacDonald

Iran Offers to Invest in Egypt

Iran Developing Missiles to Reach Europe and U.S.

March

Iran, Radical Islamists Taking Over North Africa by Brad MacDonald

‘Iran Wouldn’t Use the Bomb’ by Richard Palmer

May

Iran Establishes Military Presence in Iraq

Iran Makes Territorial Stand

July

Iran and the 'End of Days' by Brad MacDonald

Iran’s Largest Fireworks Display Yet by Stephen Flurry

Eritrea in Iran’s Crosshairs by Stephen Flurry

August

Egypt Shifting Away From Israel, Toward Iran by Richard Palmer

British Bank Caught Laundering Money for Iran

Iran Holds Meeting on Conquest of Jerusalem

Iran’s Nuclear Program Intended to ‘Finish Off’ Israel, Says Hezbollah M.P.

Morsi to Attend Tehran Conference

Intelligence Estimate: Iran’s Nukes Nearly Immune From Israeli Strike

September-October

Egypt Unites With Iran 
and Fulfills a Bible Prophecy by Gerald Flurry

September

A Dramatic Break from Iran by Richard Palmer

Is Iran a Security Threat to Canada? by Jerry Ozipko

Why Would the Muslim Brotherhood Want to Ally With Shiite Iran? by Andrew Miller

Attacks in Libya, Egypt Confirm Link With Iran by Joel Hilliker

What an Iranian Bomb Means for This World by Gerald Flurry

Ayatollah Khamenei Posters in Iraq Display Iran’s Influence

Iran: Israel Has ‘No Roots’ in Middle Eastern History

Tensions Mount in the Strait of Hormuz

October

As Western Sanctions Bite, Iran Seeks Greater Trade With Egypt

Iran Withdraws Troops From Syria

December

The Truth Revealed in the Benghazi Attack by Gerald Flurry

Is Iran Infiltrating the United States With Terrorist Sleeper Cells? by Andrew Miller

Iran and Israel Vie for Influence in Eritrea

Iran Wants to Own Both Persian Gulf and Red Sea

2013

January

Sanctions on Iran Bringing Terror Closer to the U.S.

Iranian ‘Fleet’ to Patrol Mediterranean

February

34 Years of Iran by Callum Wood

(What a terrible title! Iran has existed as a people and a nation for thousands of years.)

Iran Accelerates Nuclear Program by Anthony Chibarirwe

Why Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Is Right by Callum Wood

Netanyahu: North Korea Proves Iran Will Continue Nuclear Program

March

Iran’s Dual Path to Nuclear Arms

Iran Tests, Gaza Fires

April

Guttenberg Challenges Berlin on Iran, Israel by Ron Fraser

U.S. Influence in Iraq Continues to Diminish by Callum Wood

May

Iran Sidesteps Sanctions With Smuggling and Drug Trafficking

Iran Chairs the UN Conference on Disarmament

Iran Continues Push Into Jerusalem

The Whirlwind

June

Will Iran Try to Take Over Nigeria? by Richard Palmer

2012: Iran Sponsors More Terror, ‘Pushes’ Harder by Callum Wood

Iran Counters the U.S. and Underestimates Europe by Callum Wood

Melanie Phillips Exposes Britain’s Stupor by Brad MacDonald

Hasan Rowhani: The Moderate Extremist by Callum Wood

July

The Whirlwind Prophecy by Gerald Flurry

Was Iran Behind the Benghazi Attack? by Richard Palmer

Why Saudi Arabia Can’t Afford to Lose in Syria by Callum Wood

August

Iranian President Rowhani’s Extremist ‘Path of Moderation’ by Anthony Chibarirwe

September

Iran’s Battle for Africa by Richard Palmer

October

Iran to Negotiate With Germany, UN Security Council by Richard Palmer

Germany Works to Create ‘Counterbalance’ to Iran by Callum Wood

Is Iran About to Lose Its Proxy Hamas? by Brent Nagtegaal

Germany—the Middle East’s Middle Man by Richard Palmer

November

Saudi Arabia Buys Pakistani Nukes by Callum Wood

British Prime Minister Phones Iran, Renews Diplomatic Ties

December

Iran Claims to Have Designed Ballistic Missiles by Callum Wood

Iran Forges 'Pact of Friendship' with Afghanistan by Callum Wood

Deadly Diplomacy: Handing Our Power to Iran by Callum Wood

Geneva Won’t Stop Iran From Exploiting Loopholes by Callum Wood

The Most Shameful Phone Call in American History by Gerald Flurry

The Geneva Deal Is Worse Than You Know by Brad MacDonald

2014

January

Russian Trade to Empower Iran by Callum Wood

Broken Promises: Iran Ignores the Geneva Deal by Callum Wood

Iran's Looming Presence in the Middle East by Callum Wood

Iran’s Shah Cooperated With Herbert W. Armstrong by Gareth Fraser

Saudi Arabia’s $3 Billion Bid for Lebanon by Brent Nagtegaal

Conquering the Holy Land

(Also relevant to this topic is this post: Stephen Flurry on the Situation in Fallujah, Iraq.)

February

The Unthinkable Will Happen! by Gerald Flurry

(Gerald Flurry writes the following in this article.

Iran is already the strongest Muslim nation. It is the king among Islamic states. It has repeatedly, boldly proclaimed its hatred of the U.S. and its intention to destroy Israel. Immediately after the Geneva deal was struck, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, called Israel the “rabid dog” of the Middle East and said the Jews were doomed to destruction! This man leads the nation that the Western world wants to trust with nuclear power!

This is largely demagogic nonsense. In fact many Arab states are greatly suspicious and fearful of Iran.)

Iran Is Ready to Build the Bomb by Callum Wood

Is Iran the Enemy? by Callum Wood

Iran Exposes America’s Geneva Lies by Callum Wood

The Bloody Cedar Revolution Approaches in Lebanon by Brent Nagtegaal

March

Turkey Fights Syria, Enrages Iran by Callum Wood

Iran: Russia's Trump Card by Brad MacDonald

Ignoring the Murderer Next Door by Callum Wood

Spent in Vain by Callum Wood

History According to an Ayatollah by Callum Wood

April

Is Iran Setting Itself Up for an Attack? by Don Jacques

Iran Undermines Nuke Deal, Yet Funds Released Anyway by Callum Wood

America's Two Options with Iran by Callum Wood

Israel Wants Persia Back, Not Iran by Callum Wood

May-June

Why You Need to Watch Lebanon by Gerald Flurry

May

Khamenei Calls for More Ballistic Missiles by Callum Wood

June

Iran Needs More Time by Callum Wood

Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei Confident U.S. Has Given Up on Military Attack by Anthony Chibarirwe

Three Reasons Why Iran Is the ‘King of the South’ of Bible Prophecy

America Urges Mortal Enemy to Save Iraq

July

How Much Longer Will Sanctions on Iran Last? by Sam Livingston

August

Gaza War: Iran Rallies Muslims Against Israel by Anthony Chibarirwe

Just What is Iran Up To? by Anthony Chibarirwe

America’s Southern Border: A Terrorist’s Open Door by Kiall Lorenz

War in Gaza Reveals Divide in Muslim World

Iran Quietly Arming in the Strait of Hormuz by Callum Wood

September 

Iran Rejects Offer to Join Coalition in Iraq by Callum Wood

Playing Both Sides in Syria