Overview of April 2015 Issue of PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet

The latest issue of PCG's recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet (April 2015), is now out. Let us see what PCG's leaders say this time in order to get more tithe money from PCG members and co-workers.

The circulation for this issue is 310,367. This is once again the lowest figure since the March 2011 issue (307,097). This is part of a continuing decline since the December 2012 issue (341,259). Clearly all the money PCG's members and co-workers are sending to PCG has been failing to increase circulation for The Philadelphia Trumpet for over two years now. Where is that money going? Is it being spent effectively?

Gerald Flurry has a personal article hysterically insisting that Iran is more powerful than ever and is now in control of four Middle Eastern countries. Contrary to the widespread attention given by many to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys PCG's leaders yearn to convince readers to think the real threat is Iran in order to "prove" their leader, Gerald Flurry, to be a prophet able to see the future.

Callum Wood has an article insisting that only Iran could possibly be the King of the South. This ignores the long confused history of how Armstrongites have viewed who the King of the South would be. First HWA said it was Ethiopia. Then from the 1960s onwards some in WCG such as Garner Ted Armstrong and Keith Stump said it would be some sort of Muslim state but they were inclined to see its fulfillment among Arabs, not Iran. It appears to have only been in 1994 that Gerald Flurry dogmatically proclaimed Iran to be the King of the South. 

Brad MacDonald has an article insisting that recent terrorist attacks in Europe will inspire Europe to launch a military campaign which will destroy Iran.

Brad MacDonald also has an article insisting that the alliance between the United States and Israel is falling apart.

Jeremiah Jacques has an article telling people how to manage one's personal life effectively.

Stephen Flurry has yet another article insisting that now it is the end times just before World War III and the return of Christ. Armstrongites have constantly insisted this is the case since the 1930s.

There are a few pages detailing the intricacies of various creatures in order to prove how great PCG's God is. Never mind that many other Christians and people from other religions make similar arguments.

Gerald Flurry also has an article telling how people can overcome sin by ordering for his new booklet. (Chapter 1 of that booklet is largely lifted from Gerald Flurry's 2001 booklet, Repentance Toward God.)

Dennis Leap has a little article saying why so many people just cannot understand the Bible. PCG's leaders insist they have the correct understanding and everyone else is wrong.

Joel Hilliker has a little article praising the beauty of the songs of the birds.

Worldwatch has little articles portraying Russia and China as closely allied together, that despite economic troubles caused by the crisis in Ukraine Russians are still happy, speculation that Japan will make peace with Russia over a border dispute thus insinuating that Japan will soon ally with Russia and China, irresponsible speculation that Russia will invade the Baltic states, fear mongering about Angela Merkel being the leader of Europe, exploitation of the EU's contribution to opponents of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys as a sign that Europe will soon arise as a military superpower, fear mongering about Germany's contribution to Kurdish troops, a claim that Britain will soon leave the EU and fear mongering about Iran's associations with Shiite militia groups in Iraq as a sign that Iran will arise as a great power.

Societywatch has little articles about marijuana being legalized in Washington D.C., fear mongering about student debt, whining about so many Americans getting food stamps (would PCG's leaders prefer those Americans to starve? Also PCG pays no taxes therefore PCG as an institution does not pay for those food stamps.), and condemnation of a woman being ordained a bishop in the Church of England for the first time.

There are letters.

In a previous post (PCG's Andrew Müller: McCarthyite Imitator) I took great exception to an article by Andrew Müller that fear mongers about Communism in America in an ahistorical and inaccurate manner totally divorced from about the facts about the Communist Party USA and portrays it as a boogeyman with no real facts to back up this paranoid screed.

But alas some are unable to detect the severe problems with Müller's silly article. This issue publishes two letters praising Müller's ahistorical and paranoid article. Tellingly both letters say incorrect things.

This is an excellent summary of how a superpower has been brought down because her people have forgotten God... .The icing on this American Communist cake is the compelling evidence you mentioned connecting the current president with his real history and parentage to the big names of the Communist Party U.S.

In fact Müller's silly article only mentions one leader of the Communist Party USA, Earl Browder. No one else.

However part of this letter simply repeats some of what Müller wrote in his ahistorical article.

There is even compelling evidence connecting the current president to some of the biggest names in America’s Communist history. (From Müller's article)

I repeat again only one leader of the Communist Party USA, Earl Browder, is even mentioned in that article.

Here is another letter praising Müller's McCarthy like article.

This is a great article delineating the history of Communist tactics. They are, as J. Edgar Hoover said, “masters of deceit.” It is significant to me that the one major power to recognize Russia back then was the U.S. under Franklin D. Roosevelt in November of 1933, thus giving them breathing room to survive. He also opened our universities to Communist professors. This resulted in America’s cultural revolution of the ’60s—a generation of influence. This influence, along with the nostrum of evolution, is most responsible for lack of faith in our Creator in this day and age. One might call it the advocacy of doubt.

This letter is also badly misinformed. By the time the United States recognized the Soviet Union in November 1933 the Soviet Union had survived for sixteen years. While I suppose there could be a case to be made that the United States should not have recognized the Soviet Union at that time for moral reasons and should have been done it at a later date, nevertheless it is absurd and bizarre to pretend that US recognition of the Soviet Union sixteen years after its founding somehow allowed the Soviet Union to survive. That is nonsense.

And you know who else recognized the Soviet Union and even entered into a military alliance with them? Winston Churchill. A man PCG's leaders often idealize.

This letter also bizarrely scapegoats Communists for causing society's attitude on many issues to drastically change in the 1960s. This is nonsense. Such drastic social changes can only come from below. It is absurd to somehow assume the social changes of the 1960s was some sort of conspiracy by the Communists. It is a conspiracy theory.

There is also another letter that criticizes an article in the previous issue. This is somewhat unusual for PCG's writers to do.

Too many Americans are lazy and spend more time looking for handouts than jobs... . The truth is that hard work doesn’t pay off as it once did. I see many who work three or four part-time jobs and still don’t make enough to live on. What this article fails to mention is that at one time people were paid what they were worth, but that is no longer the case here. As you alluded to, there are many reasons for intransigent poverty. “Laziness” is only one of them.

Joel Hilliker also has an article condemning Fifty Shades of Grey. This article was mentioned in a previous post.

And so this post comes to an end.