But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22.)Gerald Flurry and his Philadelphia Church of God claim to be able to know what will happen in the future because (they say) God only reveals the true meaning of the Bible to PCG alone. In 1999 Gerald Flurry even proclaimed himself to be "That Prophet."
But the Bible reveals that if a man presuming to speak for God should make a prediction and it does not happen then such a man has spoken presumptuously and the God of the Bible commands people not to be afraid of such a man. To make false predictions disqualifies one from being a prophet of God.
Have Gerald Flurry and those with him in PCG made false predictions that did not come to pass?
1. Tkach's WCG may greatly expand in membership because of the changes. (Gerald Flurry, Malachi's Message.)
The Laodicean Church [Tkach's WCG] may be growing in membership until Christ returns, but does that always mean it is doing God’s will? No! We can’t use that criterion to judge. Other churches have millions of members and are not God’s churches. Actually, the Work of God could be declining in numbers and still do a wonderful job for God. So we have to look deeper than a growing membership. (Gerald Flurry, Malachi's Message, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2008, Chapter 3, p. 36.)2. Tkach is the Man of Sin of II Thessalonians 2. (Gerald Flurry, Malachi's Message.)
Herbert W. Armstrong taught that the man of sin mentioned in II Thessalonians 2 was the final Pope. HWA taught that the final Pope would be granted by Satan the power to perform miracles such as calling fire from the sky. But Gerald Flurry changed this doctrine to say that II Thessalonians 2 was talking about the Tkach changes and that the man of sin was Tkach. Of course this doctrine is nonsense.
3. Tkach's WCG will conspire with American authorities to suppress PCG.
Will there be another direct confrontation between the Laodicean and Philadelphian churches in the near future? Here is why that could easily happen. The leaders in the United States and Britain will know that the Philadelphia Church of God came out of the Worldwide Church of God. The leaders of the nations could enlist the WCG in an attempt to stop the PCG’s message. Amos says “the land is not able to bear all his words”! This is a prophecy about the impact our message will have on modern Israel and the Laodicean Church! (Gerald Flurry, The Lion Has Roared, 1991, 1992, 2006, 2011, Chapter 4, p. 38.)4. Ambassador Auditorium might be destroyed by an earthquake as a sign of (PCG's) God's anger at the Tkach changes.
Am I saying that what used to be God’s physical house [Ambassador Auditorium] in Pasadena is going to be destroyed? No, I am not. God only knows. But can we rule out that possibility in view of Amos 9:1 and other verses? I don’t think so. A shaking of God’s former physical house could also shake the spiritual temple, or Laodicean Church.5. PCG's warning to America will "be a very short work." (1992).
The city of Laodicea in the first century was repeatedly struck by earthquakes. So God’s Laodicean saints had that problem to cope with then. And the first-century Laodicean Church was only a type of the end-time Laodiceans. Only God knows the details of what is to occur. But this much we do know: Total destruction is coming upon the Laodicean Church! God’s Philadelphia Church must warn the Laodiceans and pray that they will repent! (Gerald Flurry, The Lion Has Roared, 1991, 1992, 2006, 2011, Chapter 4, p. 31.)
HWA thought the end of Israel would occur in his lifetime. He was EXACTLY right about the prophecies, but his timing was off a few years. (Gerald Flurry, The Ezekiel Watchman, 1992, Chapter 1, p. 2.)6. PCG's Gerald Flurry mocking WCG ministers for saying the second coming could be within 30-40 years as "tragically wrong!"
This warning to all Israel by the Philadelphians is probably going to be a very short work. Israel is collapsing very fast and their enemies are rising equally fast. (Gerald Flurry, The Ezekiel Watchman, 1992, Chapter 1, p. 3.)
They [WCG members] are being told it will be 30-40 years [2023-2033] before these prophecies will be fulfilled. And they are tragically wrong! The book of Ezekiel will illustrate that truth as we go along. (Gerald Flurry, The Ezekiel Watchman, 1992, p. 23.)It is now twenty-seven years since these words were published. This is also a false prophecy in itself.
7. PCG saying that "[t]here is very little time left" in 1993.
There is very little time left. We are getting close to the time of the two witnesses (v. 3). (Gerald Flurry, Lamentations and the End-Time Laodiceans, 1993, p. 6.)8. Reading and believing Malachi's Message will save you from the Great Tribulation.
Jesus Christ inspired the writing of Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today! ... Anyone who reads Malachi’s Message and heeds its warnings will be spared from the events of the Great Tribulation. If YOU reject it now—you will have to accept it in the Tribulation or lose YOUR SALVATION! IT IS THAT SERIOUS! All of God’s people will have to recognize that Malachi’s Message came from God (Mal. 2:4). There is still time to repent before the Tribulation. (Gerald Flurry, Lamentations and the End-Time Laodiceans, 1993, p. 35.)Malachi's Message is a false book. It cannot save anyone. Gerald Flurry cannot save anyone. Gerald Flurry cannot see into the future.
It is widely known that many of the ideas within his booklet Malachi's Message, which is so often cited by PCG to justify following Gerald Flurry instead of the many other COG splinter groups, 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. On September 26, 1990 Jules Dervaes even sent a letter to Gerald Flurry in which he denounces Malachi's Message as "a direct and clear plagiarism" of his work.
9. There is "little or nothing ... in the northern heavens" because of Lucifer's pre-Adamite rebellion.
God intended Lucifer to go to other planets after His work was established on Earth. But Lucifer would not wait. The only place astronomers can find little or nothing is in the northern heavens. That is in the direction of God’s throne, and almost everything in that direction was destroyed WHEN SATAN FOUGHT WITH GOD OVER GOVERNMENT! There was a violent, destructive war. And SATAN IS STILL FIGHTING AGAINST GOD’S GOVERNMENT TODAY! (Gerald Flurry, God's Family Government, 1993, p. 26.)How can anyone just listen to such nonsense and just accept it and refuse to point out that there is nonsense?
10. PCG is "intensely" persecuted by Satan.
Some in the world try to label the PCG a cult. Actually, we are the only church doing God’s Work on this Earth! That can easily be proven from the Bible. ... Only we understand what Satan is planning and doing. That is why Satan hates us most of all and persecutes us so intensely. (Gerald Flurry, Isaiah's End-Time Vision, 2013 version, p. 41.)11. PCG saying the US economy is about to collapse in 1993.
Bank consultant Ed Furash said, "Everything is going to be up in the air until after the inauguration [of President Clinton]." Then he said, "We're going to have a lot of dead banks that need to be taken over!" The U.S. ECONOMY is in serious trouble and that means trouble for for the whole western world! (Gerald Flurry, Jeremiah: Prophet of Doom--or Hope?, 1993, p. 3.)12. PCG saying Germany and Japan will soon get nuclear weapons in 1993.
Tactical nuclear weapons have been stolen form the Soviet arsenal and sold to nations in the Middle East. Soon Germany and Japan will also have nuclear weapons. (Gerald Flurry, Jeremiah: Prophet of Doom--or Hope?, 1993, p. 31.)13. PCG saying Algeria would soon fall to Islamists in 1994.
In the December 1994 Trumpet, Mr. Flurry explained the significance of verse 42 thus: “Egypt is conquered by the king of the north probably because of an alliance with the king of the south.” The king of the south, Mr. Flurry believed, would be radical Islam, headed by Iran. This Iranian-led Islamic movement, he wrote, was already “very strong in Egypt and Algeria.” He went on to state: “This religion will probably take control of both countries very soon.” (Prophecy Comes Alive in Egypt!, The Philadelphia Trumpet, April 2011.)Actually the military led government of Algeria was able to eventually render the rebels powerless and re-establish control over Algeria. Gerald Flurry was wrong.
14. PCG saying Turkey will soon be annihilated forever.
Teman was the grandson of Esau (Gen. 36:1-11). Obadiah refers to him as “O Teman.” This is how the Turks got the name Ottoman. The Ottoman Turks ruled the Middle East for about 400 years. That rule ended just before World War II.Turkey is not Edom. The Turkish language is a Turkic language totally unrelated to Hebrew or Arabic. Other related Turkic languages include Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Uyghur, Turkmen, Tatar and Kyrgyz. Are those related peoples all Edomites? If the Turks are really related to Israel as common descendants of Isaac why do they speak a completely unrelated language?
It is very likely that the name of Esau, or Turkey, is going to be cut off forever because of their treachery to the nations of Jacob. (Gerald Flurry, Obadiah, p. 10. Page 11 in the current version.)
Also the word Ottoman is not derived from "O Teman." It refers to Osman, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. And that name itself is derived from the Arabic name Uthman.
15. PCG's prophesied of doom and gloom in 1995.
Natural disasters have intensified mightily since Mr. Armstrong died. There have been earthquakes, floods, droughts and fires. There have also been an alarming increase in family break-down, race problems and out-of-control crime. One journalist said 1993 was the "SCARIEST YEAR IN AMERICAN HISTORY" (because of the floods, fire, etc.) That is also true of the British people. Already South Africa has lost control of its country. That catastrophe and a lot more going to happen to America and Britain, if we don't heed God's Word. (Gerald Flurry, The Little Book, 1995 edition, p. 6.)
Why does God mention the times of the Gentiles and not the Tribulation? It’s probably because it helps us to see the shortness of time better. The Gentiles are rising inside and outside the nations of Israel—very fast! That is easy for us to see. Israel is collapsing from within and is about to be attacked from without. (Gerald Flurry, The Little Book, 1995 edition, p. 10.)16. PCG saying now is "the gun lap today."
When God gives us the full revelation from Joel, it is near “at hand.” We are being plunged into the preliminaries of the book of Joel now! We are in the gun lap today. World conditions are going to get vastly worse—quickly! (Gerald Flurry, The Prophet Joel, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2006, p. 8.)17. PCG saying "there is only going to be a single, brief space of time" between HWA's death (1986) and Christ's return.
What is God telling us here? He is showing that after Mr. Armstrong passes from the scene and just before Jesus Christ returns, THERE IS ONLY GOING TO BE A SINGLE, BRIEF SPACE OF TIME. Then God is going to shake the heavens, the Earth, the sea and the dry land. In other words, the PCG only has a very brief space of time to complete its work. There is only a brief span of time for God to determine who is Philadelphian and who is Laodicean. There is only a little time to determine who will be in Ezekiel’s temple in the World Tomorrow. Then God says He is going to fill “this house” with glory. (Gerald Flurry, Haggai, 1995, 2004, pp. 29-30.)
So when we saw the gospel being preached around the world, we should have known it was the end time. But when that work ceased, we were in the very end of the end time! (Gerald Flurry, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1995, 2001, 2005, p. 6.)
When the gospel stops going around the world, we can begin to watch for specific signs—like God’s Church being attacked by armies of demons, the rapid collapse of Israel, the rise of the abomination of desolation, nuclear power out of control and other serious signs we’ll mention later. (Gerald Flurry, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1995, 2001, 2005, Chapter 1, p. 7.)18. PCG saying the peace process between the State of Israel and the Palestinians is the deadly wound which will cause the State of Israel to be conquered by the future European Empire.
We have to deeply understand the urgency of the times we live in! There has never been a time like this! Events are moving along with lightning speed. It seems as though major prophecies are fulfilled virtually every week. God says that time is quickly running out. World crisis is dangerously close and speeding very quickly! Are we heeding this warning? (Gerald Flurry, Zephaniah's Day of the Lord, p. 13.)
For God’s faithful people, this prophecy should help us realize what a critical time this is for God’s Work. God’s people must take advantage of this little window of opportunity. We have to perform great works now, before it’s too late. When I study the book of Zephaniah deeply, I realize that I’m not as urgent as the spirit of this message! I believe that none of God’s people are! We must realize and keep in our minds where we are in prophecy and how urgent these times are. We must make sure to do all we can before, before, before, before the Day of the Lord or the time of tribulation begins for Israel. (Gerald Flurry, Zephaniah's Day of the Lord, 1995, 2000, p. 16.)
Is the 1993 peace pact with the Arabs the Israeli wound that God refers to in Hosea 5:13? There would have been no peace pact if Judah would have trusted God instead of men. (Gerald Flurry, Hosea and God's Adulterous Church, 1996, p. 26.)19. PCG saying Britain is to endure the Great Tribulation for trusting in industrial expertise.
Ephraim’s great fault is its idolatry. The word “workman” means artisan or craftsman. It is well known that England excels in technical ability. One of their greatest achievements has been the development of nuclear energy for domestic and military purposes. Could this be Britain’s calf? Could Britain think their nuclear power will get them through another war? ...
England relies on its “craftsmen” for protection rather than God. They worship their technical ability—they “kiss the calves.” ...
Britain will soon become ashamed of its “craftsman” or experts. Do you really want to rely upon the experts? No human being or idol can ever deliver what a human being wants. Do we have some idol that sits between us and God? If we do, God wants us to get rid of it now. (Gerald Flurry, Hosea and God's Adulterous Church, 1996, pp. 39-40.)20. PCG saying Algeria will soon transform into a radical Islamic state like Iran.
Today I believe that much of the king of the south’s land area will be south of Jerusalem, but not all. For example, Sudan is already in the radical Islamic camp. Algeria may be there very soon. But all of the king of the south’s land area is south of the end-time king of the north. (Gerald Flurry, The King of the South, 1996, 2001, 2003, p. 3.)21. PCG insinuating that Khomeini was behind Anwar Sadat's assassination.
In 1981, Mike Wallace of the television program 60 Minutes interviewed Ayatollah Khomeini (who had come to power only two years before). He told the ayatollah that Sadat had called him a “lunatic.”22. PCG saying war is about to explode in the Middle East.
Almost immediately afterward, within just days, President Sadat was assassinated!
That is the kind of power the leader of radical Islam has! (The King of the South, 1996, 2001, 2003, p. 7.)
Middle East peace treaties dominate the news—as all kinds of peace treaties did just before World War II began! It is just another major sign that WAR IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE IN THE MIDDLE EAST! And it will lead to World War III. (Gerald Flurry, The King of the South, 1996, 2001, 2003, p. 14.)23. PCG saying Christ to return by 2018 at the latest.
Here we see a small group of people with a God-sized message. The whole world should heed today. But most people won’t become converted until Christ returns—which is probably within 10 to 15 years or less. (The King of the South, 1996, 2001, 2003, p. 43.)24. PCG saying Christ is almost certain to return by 2023.
This statement shows that this is an end-time prophecy. Satan was cast down just a “short time” before Jesus Christ returns to this Earth and kicks Satan off his throne! ... That is the spectacular, joyfully good news. Christ is about to return to this Earth and stop all of the hatred, racism, violence and war that is caused by Satan’s influence. Everything is set for a new government to be in place on Earth very shortly—almost certainly in less than a decade. (Gerald Flurry, America Under Attack, 2013, p. 6.)25. Gerald Flurry saying "America is bankrupt" in 1997.
“What will it take to awaken our people? America is bankrupt. Our people just don’t know it yet.”—Co-Worker Letter, July 22, 1997 (As quoted in the May 30, 2009 issue of The Trumpet Weekly, p. 5.)(Flurry was wrong then and is wrong now. See #34 below.)
26. There will be a peace treaty between Germany and Russia which will allow Germany to conquer America and Britain without fear of Russian interference.
“The presence of a deal between [Germany and Russia] is not a sign of peace. Like the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact … it is a sign of exactly the opposite. Both of these nations are looking to secure their shared border—so they can pursue their imperialistic aims elsewhere! It is a precursor to war! That is the way they operate! And the U.S. has no clue.”
—Gerald Flurry, Trumpet, October 1998 (Quoted in Trumpet Weekly, October 9, 2010, p. 6.)
“The way it’s looking, don’t be surprised if America arrives in Lisbon to learn that Germany, France and Russia have hatched a plan to redefine NATO into a distinctly European, pro-Russian organization!”Instead Putin waded into a war in eastern Ukraine in 2014 that has led to Europe imposing sanctions on Russia just when the price of oil went down.
—theTrumpet.com, October 21 (Quoted in The Trumpet Weekly, October 30, 2010, p 6.)
27. Post-apartheid South Africa will impose an economic blockade on the West as severe as OPEC's oil embargo of 1973-4.
A well-orchestrated campaign of disinformation, propaganda and scurrilous slander has been waged against the South African nation by the combined forces of government officials (both within and without South Africa), the liberal press, leftist church authorities and the United Nations. The catch phrase of all has been apartheid—the policy of separate development pursued by the South African government since 1948. What escapes most commentators’ attention is the reality that the whole world has been hoodwinked by this disinformation campaign. Most have expressed a great, global, emotive, self-righteous outcry against the imputed unfairness of the apartheid system. Many people are gullibly being led by the nose to endorse a power transfer that PORTENDS A FUTURE MINERAL AND METALS BLACKMAIL AGAINST THE COMBINED WESTERN ECONOMIES at least equivalent to that imposed by the OPEC oil cartel in a previous decade! (Ron Fraser, South Africa in Prophecy, 1997, p. 4.)Eighteen years later nothing of the sort has occurred.
28. PCG predicting that Shimon Peres will return to power in Israel to create an self defeating agreement with the Palestinians that will lead to the State of Israel's conquest by Europe.
Peres is also slurred as being a traitor and a "foxy old socialist" who "is set to worm his way back into" a position of prominence to make such an agreement with the Palestinians (which PCG insists will somehow lead to the State of Israel to be conquered by Europe).
Sources within both the U.S. and Israeli administrations claim that America is intent on seeing Netanyahu removed from office so that he might be the scapegoat for the failed peace process. Meanwhile, the man whom Arafat has called his friend, Shimon Peres, waits in the wings, biding his time. (Israeli Pullback Continues, May 1998.)
But most significantly, it was Shimon Peres who in 1993 brokered the deal with Pope John Paul II to hand over sovereignty of Jerusalem’s Old City to the Vatican. Although we have observed enough snippets of intelligence here and there to build the picture, author Barry Chamish’s research has done much to expose this traitorous act. ...It would appear that the PCG leadership loathes Peres. Ron Fraser even dehumanizes him by comparing him to a worm. But nevertheless in all this time Peres has not returned to power as prime minister in the State of Israel.
Ariel Sharon may be the elected leader of Israel, but watch for one foxy old socialist to slide into the picture as the power behind the throne in a unity government between Likud and Labor. Once again Shimon Peres is set to worm his way back into prime focus as the mediator between Israel, the PLO, the EU and the Vatican. (Ron Fraser, Muscling into the Mideast, March-April 2001.)
29. Sexual behavior disapproved by PCG is responsible for "giving birth" to HIV/AIDS.
The current generation of foreign policy formulators and administrators in the West, particularly in the present British and American administrations, is the product of a left-wing, socialist-engineered education system that had its genesis in the 1960s (though its true origins may be traced to the Marxist-Leninist thought engendered by the fathers of socialism in the early 1900s). Socialist philosophy has always had particular appeal to the intelligentsia. Often described as the “baby-boom generation,” the post-World War II generation, which had their minds bent by German rationalist thought, tends to predicate all analyses, judgments and conclusions on godless evolutionary theory, based on the overall assumption that there are no absolutes.Of course this is nonsense. No human gave birth to HIV/AIDS. It is an offshoot of another virus, SIV, which infects one species of ape, namely the Central Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes). The first cross species infection appears to have been with a cut hunter somewhere in rural central Africa, possibly in the Congo, around 1921 (1908-1933).
In general terms, to this generation all of the values, mores, honorable traditions—even documented history of past events—are held up to question. This approach to subjective analysis is fundamentally sourced at a basic and false assumption—that the theory of relativity applies not just in the arena of physical sciences. By extension it is assumed that it generally may be applied to human behavior—religion, moral standards, ethics and human values. Thus we have the concept of “moral relativity,” which spawned the “new morality” of the 1960s, giving birth to a new and uncontrollable communicable disease—AIDS. (Ron Fraser, What's Behind the Crisis in Foreign Relations?, The Philadelphia Trumpet, May 1999, p. 3.)
Bizarrely enough the mass murdering terrorist Osama bin Laden also tried to falsely blame other human beings for producing HIV/AIDS. In his case he decided to blame Americans.
And because of all this, you [Americans] have been described in history as a nation that spreads diseases that were unknown to man in the past. Go ahead and boast to the nations of man, that you brought them AIDS as a Satanic American Invention. (Osama bin Laden, To the Americans, October 7, 2002, as quoted in Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, 2005, p. 168.)Imagine that. PCG saying something Osama bin Laden would say.
30. PCG saying the United States is becoming isolationist. (They said this just before 9/11.)
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 S. Churchill: The Watchman, 1999, 2002, p. 2.)
Our people in Britain and America lack the will to even sacrifice a few soldiers’ lives to fight a ground war. Our generals know that we lack the will to win any hard-fought battle—even if it directly relates to our own freedom. For example, we had to be bombed into World War II. 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.We must make very radical changes to save our country. (Gerald Flurry, No Freedom Without Law, 2001, p. 24.)
A few voices within the United States have been raised in concern over this apparent new American isolationism. (Ron Fraser, Is America Becoming Isolationist?, The Philadelphia Trumpet, September-October 2001.)31. PCG predicting Serbia will be fast tracked into EU membership.
Watch for Yugoslavia to be pushed now, by events controlled from Brussels, into the fast lane to EU membership. (Ron Fraser, Yugoslavia Comes in From the Cold, The Philadelphia Trumpet, December 2000.)In 2000 Yugoslavia referred to what are now Serbia and Montenegro. Today Serbia is still not in the European Union.
32. PCG predicting Macedonia would be partitioned by the EU (2001).
Cleverly, the EU has let NATO do all the grunt work in Macedonia, with the result that if things go wrong, the egg will be, once again, as in Kosovo, all over NATO’s face, and a classic opening will ensue, at the right moment, for the new EU rapid reaction force to deploy and to “enforce” the “peace” in that ethnically and politically divided country. ...
By dividing Macedonia into separate Albanian and Macedonian enclaves, as U.S. think tank Stratfor points out, NATO will have been the unwitting accomplice in achieving the Albanian rebels’ goal. (Ron Fraser, The Final Piece Fall Into Place, Philadelphia Trumpet, August 2001.)Macedonia has not been partitioned. Once again PCG is wrong.
33. Gerald Flurry saying America and Britain have reached the point of no return in 2008.
If you study the biblical prophets, there came a point when their warnings no longer spoke about repentance. They were simply bold statements of fact—spoken as a witness against those peoples who had rejected God. I strongly believe our nations today—particularly the United States and Britain, modern descendants of the biblical nation of Israel—have passed the point of no return. The hope of their turning to God during this age has been eclipsed by the magnitude of their rebellion!34. PCG saying the US "dollar is doomed" in 2008 and afterwards.
This indicates that time is indeed very short before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The increase in catastrophic events shows God strengthening His correction. Thus, I believe God simultaneously wants to strengthen and intensify the prophetic warning—in the hopes of reaching those individuals who exhibit a teachable attitude and a willingness to accept His guidance. (Gerald Flurry, How This Magazine is About to Change, The Philadelphia Trumpet, September 2008.)
People are so afraid of the current Wall Street meltdown that they are willing to purchase federal bonds that pay interest rates far less than the rate of inflation. In other words, these people know that they will technically lose money by purchasing treasuries, but are willing to take the loss in order to avoid the possibility of an even greater loss in other investments like U.S. businesses, stocks, and the real-estate market.
Unfortunately, this time the bond market will not prove to be a safe haven. The structural problems in the U.S. economy and America’s massive debt load mean that the dollar is doomed too. (Robert Morley, Trumpet Weekly, December 6, 2008 issue, p. 10.)
But it won’t end there. The whole nation—head to toe—is sickened with debt. Federal, state, municipal, corporate, personal debt; America is maxed out. Trillions upon trillions. That debt is coming due! (Robert Morley, "How America Killed Itself", Trumpet Weekly, December 20, 2008 issue, p. 10.)
The government is broke. It was running massive deficits before the crisis ever struck. And now it is planning the biggest borrowing binge ever to bail out the irresponsible, inefficient and incompetent. The nation’s finances have been pushed beyond the point of recovery. (Robert Morley, Trumpet Weekly, March 7, 2009 issue, p. 10.)
The United States is beyond broke. It is borrowing and printing hundreds of billions of dollars in a mad scramble to escape economic quicksand.
Why, then, is it offering $300 million to reconstruct the Gaza Strip? And another $600 million to help the Palestinian Authority pay its bills? That’s $900 million of other people’s money—for a cause that is profoundly flawed. (Joel Hilliker, Trumpet Weekly, March 14, 2009 issue, p. 1.)
"Will Social Security go bankrupt by 2010?" (Trumpet Weekly, April 18, 2009 issue, pp. 7-8.)
Never mind what some “experts” say. Bankruptcy is inevitable. The handwriting is all over the wall. (Stephen Flurry, "The Recession is Over?" Trumpet Weekly, August 8, 2009 issue, p. 3.)
The problem is that America has passed the financial point of no return. This country has reached debt-saturation. Borrowing and spending more money to fix a problem caused by too much borrowing and spending won’t fix anything. If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting.
The end of the recession is almost here. Next comes the depression. (Robert Morley, Trumpet Weekly, June 19, 2010 issue, p. 10.)
The world is heading toward another Lehman moment. Epoch-changing events are in motion—especially in Europe. (Second Collapse Coming Soon, Trumpet Weekly, July 23, 2011 issue, p. 9.)
After several wild stock market swings and S&P’s downgrading of America’s credit rating, anxiety about America’s financial future is understandable. Some analysts correctly recognize the S & P downgrade as another mile marker on the road to economic Armageddon. (Joel Hilliker, We'll Always Be a Triple-A Country, Trumpet Weekly, August 13, 2011 issue, p. 10.)
The Dow Jones set a new record on Tuesday. Market commentators say this new record high is a big sign the economy is on the mend. But is it possible that it signals something much more ominous? (Robert Morley, Dow Jones Sets New Record: Now What?, Trumpet Weekly, March 9, 2013 issue, p. 10.)
In Americans’ view, we have done our part. We are weary of intervention. We’re broke. We’re weary of fighting. We’re sick of not seeing the benefits from all the effort and expenditure. (Joel Hilliker, The Age of American Intervention is Over, Trumpet Weekly, October 25, 2013 issue, p. 12.)The United States is not going to go bankrupt. Per capita the United States was in fact more indebted back in the 1940s because of World War II but this fact is often overlooked partly because of inflation.
Also it is not possible for the United States to go bankrupt because its debt is denominated in its own currency. Other countries have gone bankrupt in recent years but that is because they did not control their own currencies. The United States does not face that particular problem.
This matter is a red herring. The United States is in no danger of going bankrupt. PCG was wrong on this matter in 1997 (see #25 above), in 2008, and today.
(This topic was discussed before here.)
35. PCG saying the U.S. economy is already destroyed.
Mr. Armstrong thought that crisis would be the collapse of the Western world’s monetary system! America’s banking system collapsed in September 2008. The American economy is already destroyed, we just don’t know it yet! (Gerald Flurry, Isaiah's End-Time Vision, 2013 version, p. 39.)36. PCG saying American economy may collapse in 2013.
"America's Crash of 2013?" (Robert Morley, Trumpet Weekly, June 30, 2012 issue, p. 8.)37. PCG insinuating that America might be destroyed by 2017.
Are you concerned about where the current administration is leading this country? Whether the nation can survive the next four years? It's worst then you think, and there is only one solution to this gigantic problem. (Trumpet Weekly, April 20, 2013 issue, p 11.)38. PCG saying high oil prices will not come down.
Since coming to office, Mr. Obama has been confronted with an uncomfortable truth.
It is the fact that, going forward, it is going to become dramatically more difficult for America to obtain and secure the energy it needs—and sooner than most people realize. It is a truth that policy makers and politicians are afraid to publicly admit because the implications of an oil-constrained world affect everything from stock markets and food production to the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. ...
So where is the oil going to come from? Not America. ...
Over the past week crude oil surged to a new 17-month highs—$86 per barrel. Better get used to it, sky-high oil prices may soon be here to stay. (Robert Morley, Trumpet Weekly, April 10, 2010 issue, pp. 8-9.)
You are paying 20 cents a gallon more for gas today than you were a week ago. And $1.70 per gallon more than you were just 26 months ago.
Better get used to it. Of the 89.1 million barrels of oil the world uses every day, about 35 percent come from North Africa and the Middle East. Instability there has put oil supplies in serious jeopardy. As a result, the first two months of this year saw the price of oil leap about $20 a barrel. That translates into 50 cents more per gallon. (Joel Hilliker, Oil Shock Is Coming, Trumpet Weekly, March 5, 2011 issue, p. 4.)
What if America discovered it had a Saudi Arabia worth of oil under its own soil? Guess what? We found that oil—rather, the Canadians did. It just needs a way to get to market. But strangely, America doesn’t know if it wants it or not. (Robert Morley, Plugging Our Own Economy, Trumpet Weekly, November 26, 2011 issue, p. 8.)
[Here Hilliker discusses President Obama's re-election:] America re-elected the president after ... four years of rising inflation, gas prices, grocery bills and so on. (Joel Hilliker, Thoughts On Four More Years, Trumpet Weekly, November 10, 2012 issue, p. 7.)Little did PCG know that the price of oil would later indeed go down.
39. Watching Karl-Theodor zu Guttenburg.
Consider German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. Guttenberg, as Time observed this week, “is virtually the only German minister to emerge from the revelations untainted” (emphasis mine throughout). That’s telling. (Brad MacDonald, "Look Who Survived WikiLeaks," Trumpet Weekly, December 4, 2010 issue, p. 5.)40. Watching the "three Bavarians of the moment".
So there it is. Yet once again we draw attention to three Bavarians of the moment—Joseph Ratzinger, Baron Guttenberg and Edmund Stoiber. (Ron Fraser, Germany--Watch This Space, Trumpet Weekly, June 5, 2010 issue, p. 4.)
What is it about these three Bavarians—Ratzinger, Stoiber and Guttenberg? ...Little did PCG know that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenburg would soon be forced to resign as defense minister. This is also a false prophecy.
There is a reason why we watch these three Bavarians—Ratzinger, Stoiber and Guttenberg. They all share a common vision. It is the vision propounded by Stoiber’s mentor, Franz Josef Strauss, which matched that of the recently deceased Otto von Habsburg. It’s a Holy Roman imperial vision—a vision that has Rome as the spiritual glue that will hold together a revival, a literal resurrection, of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. (Ron Fraser, Three Men to Watch, Trumpet Weekly, October 8, 2011 issue, p. 5.)
41. The release of postage stamps in Germany honoring their own army cited as a sign that Germany will soon conquer America and Britain.
Following hard on the consolidation of Berlin as the national capital of Germany came the bringing out of storage and restoration for display of many of the statues of German military heroes dating back to its earliest imperial days. Then, recently, out of the blue, the German government released a postage stamp honoring the Bundeswehr’s expanding role in international missions. Perhaps this would be looked upon favorably by the world had not Germany possessed such a consistent history of abusing its military power over such a long period of time. (Ron Fraser, Germany--Return of National Pride, Trumpet Weekly, June 29, 2013 issue, p. 4.)42. Not foreseeing the Arab Spring.
Note that: The developed world—not some backwoods sub-Saharan dictatorship—is on the verge of exploding. (Brad MacDonald, A Chilling 'Age of Rage', Trumpet Weekly, June 12, 2010 issue, p. 4.)This was written just before the Arab Spring began in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread throughout the Arab world.
43. Iran, the Taliban and a radicalized Pakistan could get nuclear weapons (2009).
“Mankind is on a toboggan-slide toward nuclear oblivion! It looks like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could have nuclear weapons in a matter of months. It also looks like the Taliban can conquer Pakistan in a very short amount of time. WE COULD HAVE THREE MADMEN IN THIS WORLD WITH NUCLEAR BOMBS!”Six years later Iran has no nuclear weapons. The Taliban has not conquered Pakistan. Pakistan has not become radicalized. Once again PCG is wrong.
—Gerald Flurry, Co-Worker Letter, July 3, 2009 (As quoted in Trumpet Weekly, August 14, 2010 issue, p. 3.)
44. After retreating from Iraq America will never fight another war.
“After World War II , Mr. Armstrong said the U.S. would never win another war. I believe that after we retreat from Iraq, America will never FIGHT another war!”This was written just before the intervention in Libya which aided the Libyan people to overthrow the Gaddafi regime.
—Gerald Flurry, Trumpet, January 2007 (Quoted in The Trumpet Weekly, September 4, 2010 issue, p. 9.)
45. PCG's prophecies are to be fulfilled in the very near future most dramatically (2009).
Read and study our booklet.... If ever there was a book written for our time today, it is this book. You need to at least be acquainted with its message, even if you do not agree with it at this moment. For the chances are, you will recall and agree with its message when the prophecies that it contains are fulfilled, most dramatically, in the very near future! (Ron Fraser, America The Corrupt, Trumpet Weekly, August 29, 2009 issue, p. 10.)46. PCG speculating that the Berlin Club will become a streamlined EU composed of ten members which will soon conquer America and Britain.
The Trumpet has continued Mr. Armstrong’s forecast and explained repeatedly that a closely integrated group of 10 nations, or groups of nations, would emerge out of the 27-member EU behemoth that exists today. We don’t know for certain if the Berlin Club constitutes this group, but it’s possible. (Brad MacDonald, Germany Hasn't Given Up On a United States of Europe, Trumpet Weekly, March 24, 2012 issue, p. 5.)47. PCG speculating that the State of Israel may fall by 2013.
Netanyahu sees that right now vast tracts of the Middle East, territorially, politically and strategically, belong to Iran and radical Islam. Soon now, this Iran-led radical Islamic mob will descend on Israel with overwhelming numbers and force. Like its embassy in Cairo last week, the Jewish state has a defensive wall, a top-notch military, crack intelligence and state-of-the-art anti-missile defense systems. That wall might hold for a while longer. But with each passing month, its ability to protect and defend will diminish, one missile, one terrorist attack at a time.
Soon, perhaps in a few months or maybe next year [2012] or the year after [2013], the weight of the Islamic mob will cause the wall to crumble and collapse. What will happen then? (Brad MacDonald, Israel Enters Nightmare Scenario, The Trumpet Weekly, September 17, 2011, p. 10.)
For radical Islam, and especially the Palestinians, the speech was confirmation that they are on course for victory over Israel, and that all they need to do is hold fast to their current strategy. That strategy is simple: It involves bringing about the genocide of Israel by waging SIMULTANEOUS campaigns of aggression and of feigned peace, designed to force concessions and buy time. (Brad MacDonald, Hitler, the Palestinians and the West, Trumpet Weekly, May 21, 2011 issue, p. 1.)48. PCG predicting that the Assad regime would fall to be replaced by a pro-EU government.
Syrian and Iranian interests and loyalties have been wed together for decades. But all of that is about to change—particularly now that we are witnessing the last days of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship. As early as 1994, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry expounded on a prophecy in Psalm 83 that reveals that Syria would ally itself with Germany. This is why we have long known about the forthcoming divorce between Syria and Iran. It’s not a matter of if— only when. (Iran To Let Go Of Syria, Trumpet Weekly, July 28, 2012 issue, p. 3.)
The latest U.S. policy shift to send direct aid to Syria is yet another game changer that will ultimately help topple Assad’s government and most likely trigger the switch in Syria’s allegiance from Iran to another alliance comprised of “moderate” Arab states and Germany. (Syria: the inevitability of collapse, Trumpet Weekly, March 9, 2013 issue, p. 3.)49. PCG predicting that Ethiopia would fall to "radical Islam."
This verse states that Libya and Ethiopia are also going to be closely allied with Iran ! ... So you need to watch Libya and Ethiopia . They are about to fall under the heavy influence or control of Iran, the king of the south . That is why they are subdued in the king of the north victory. (Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 6.)Clearly PCG should have listened to this Ethiopian reader.
Whoever heavily influences or controls Ethiopia will undoubtedly also control the small areas of Eritrea and Djibouti on the Red Sea coastline. These areas only recently became independent of Ethiopia. Also, I believe the Bible view is that these small areas are included as a part of Ethiopia. (Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 6.)
As al-Shabaab terrorists clash with Ethiopian troops in Somalia and as Muslims across western Ethiopia burn churches, what is now basically a Somali civil war could soon escalate into an inter-state war between an Islamist-controlled Somalia and its western enemy. (Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 9.)
Ethiopia’s decision last week to attack Eritrea’s terrorist training posts shows that, despite UN sanctions, the radical Islamist problem in Eritrea is growing. Expect the pressure on Ethiopia to intensify until the nation falls under the influence or control of radical Islam.(Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 10.)
In Ethiopia, religious tension is growing too, and has surprised many. Ethiopia is predominantly Christian. Christians outnumber Muslims two to one. Yet even here, they were under attack earlier this year. Rioting Muslims burned 69 churches in addition to Christian homes and other buildings in a week-long uprising in March. Now in a backlash, the government is cracking down on Islamists. More than 570 Islamists have been rounded up and sentenced to jail terms of up to 18 years. An additional 107 are charged with terrorism for their roles in attacking Christians. Ethiopia is sending a message that radical Islam will not be tolerated. However, as happened in Egypt, and more recently in Syria, the government crack - down may actually empower those being targeted. (Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 13.)
Egypt is not going to escape the king of the north because it is allied with Iran. The same applies to Libya and Ethiopia (which will probably be the next Middle East explosion, which Iran is going to exploit). (Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 16.)
Earlier this year, Mr. Flurry outlined how Daniel 11 also foretells that Libya and Ethiopia will realign to join an Iranian-led, radical Islamist camp. Watch for these far-reaching changes. Egypt and Libya are already in the midst of their transition and Ethiopia is set to be next. (Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 17.)
At the time, many readers rejected this warning as absurd. This is a “most bizarre article,” retorted one Trumpet reader from Ethiopia. My country is “one of the oldest and [most] devout Orthodox Christian nations on the planet (since third century) and a staunch ally of the United States. On behalf of U. S., Ethiopia invaded Somalia in late 2006 and kicked out ruling Islamic Courts Union .... [that] doesn’t sound like a nation doing Iran’s bidding.” He’s right too, at least in his facts. (Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 22.)
Continue watching Ethiopia. Recent events appear to be setting the stage for an Islamic takeover. (Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy, 2012, p. 25.)Three years later Ethiopia has not turned Islamist and is unlikely to ever do so.
50. PCG predicting that the Muslim Brotherhood would radicalize Egypt just like Iran and join forces with Iran.
What a dramatic and shocking transformation we have witnessed! A radical Islamist now presides over the biggest and most powerful state in the Arab world. Of course, Mohammed Morsi’s election represents a tremendous victory for democracy—so say the fantasists. But these fantasies will soon be exposed by a brutal reality. ... In other words, Egypt is now lost. Whether these radical steps are taken quickly and overtly or slowly and subtly, the outcome is inevitable.(Stephen Flurry, Egypt Is Lost, Trumpet Weekly, June 30, 2012 issue, p. 2.)
America pushed Mubarak out of office. Now an Islamist leader is setting himself up as a dictator in Mubarak’s place, and the U.S. is doing nothing. (Egypt's President Grants Himself Extraordinary Power, Trumpet Weekly, November 24, 2012 issue, p. 2.)Little did PCG know that just one year later the Muslim Brotherhood would be ousted from power in a military coup and suppressed with much violence and bloodshed. At least 638 people were killed in this coup. PCG was wrong.
51. PCG insinuating that President Obama's re-election in 2012 would work in the interests of America's rivals.
Vladimir Putin took a “very positive view” of Mr. Obama’s victory. I should think so, considering President Obama’s pledge that he would have “more flexibility” to work with Russia after this election. Other happy leaders: Ahmadinejad, Chavez, the Muslim Brotherhood. Not so happy: Netanyahu. (Joel Hilliker, Thoughts On Four More Years, Trumpet Weekly, November 10, 2012 issue, p. 7.)Putin ended up wading into a nasty war in eastern Ukraine that led to his nation getting sanctioned by many countries just when the price of oil went down. Ahmadinejad has since been replaced by Rouhani. Ahmadinejad's preferred candidate failed to gain power. Chavez died and his successor had to deal with long running protests and a toilet paper shortage. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was overthrown and suppressed with much violence and bloodshed and driven underground. Meanwhile Netanyahu gets about 20% of his nation's military budget funded by the United States.
52. African Americans will soon launch a wave of riots against the white majority all over the United States. PCG has taught this vicious and racist idea continuously since 1992, if not earlier.
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And after all these miserable failures to predict the future PCG leaders still wonder why PCG just is not as popular as the PCG leadership seem to think they should be.
We’ve been trumpeting these prophecies for over two decades, following in the footsteps of Herbert W. Armstrong, who prophesied before us for more than 50 years. And now that many of these very prophecies are being fulfilled, one would think our mail bins would be buried under piles of requests; that our phone lines would light up like Las Vegas; that our Web traffic would crash the servers.
Instead, it’s more like a steady trickle of interest—one from a city, two from a family, as the Prophet Jeremiah said. God’s work is still getting done. His warning message of LOVE is still going out to this world.
But the support for that worldwide work is coming from such a tiny group of dedicated families.
Most do not make time for Christ or His good news message of the soon-coming Kingdom of God. They are too busy attending to the cares of this world. As the Apostle Paul said about the perilous times of these “last days,” men would love themselves and pleasure-seeking MORE THAN GOD (2 Timothy 3:1-4). This doesn’t apply to every single individual, of course—but it certainly describes our society in general. ...
Can’t we put some time-consuming, energetic devotion into our love and service to God and His great work? (Stephen Flurry, It's High Time to Wake Up!, Trumpet Weekly, April 2, 2011 issue, p. 10.)A major reason why PCG is not taken seriously is because of these many false predictions the PCG leadership have made over the years.
The evidence is clear. Gerald Flurry and those with him in the Philadelphia Church of God are false prophets. There is no need for anyone to fear that their dire words will come to pass. The Bible commands us not to be afraid of their words. They are false prophets.
