Sunday, September 21, 2014

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.

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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

2 comments:

  1. The King of the South is King Mswati III of Swaziland, a country located in southern Africa and surrounded almost entirely by South Africa. It is the world's southernmost kingdom. South Africa itself extends farther south, and as a commonwealth nation it could be considered a monarchy, but the relationship of South Africa to the British monarchy is a little murky since South Africa was in the British Commonwealth and then out of it and then in it again. However, even if the Queen of England is considered the head of state of South Africa, that nation could not possibly be the King of the South since 1) Elizabeth is a not a king but a queen, and 2) the white population in South Africa is descended from the Ten Lost Tribbles --- uh, I mean Tribes. So yes, King Mswati III is definitely the King of the South. Forget Iran.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Never thought about that. Good point, k-baradanikto.

    ReplyDelete