Friday, July 31, 2015

Watching PCG's Program, Charleston, S.C.—How to Solve Race Relations

Let us now take a look at PCG's The Key of David episode, "Charleston, S.C.—How to Solve Race Relations", presented by Gerald Flurry. It is dated July 11, 2015. This telecast and a transcript of it can seen on their website.

Let us see what Gerald Flurry has to say.

In this telecast Gerald Flurry focuses on how relatives of those murdered in Charleston said to him that they forgave him following Jesus' example. Gerald Flurry praised this act and then complains that it was forgotten and ignored in media coverage that, he says, subsequently focused on controversy regarding the Confederate flag. It is insinuated that not focusing on the victims' statements of forgiveness is a sign that race relations will soon fall apart.

This alludes to Gerald Flurry's false prophecy of "race war" that African Americans are fated to soon launch a wave of mob violence against the white majority throughout all the cities of the United States. This is an idea he has taught since 1992. (He seems to think this will happen everywhere all at once.) Of course Flurry and Co. will have to wait a long time for that to happen since it will never happen.

Flurry condemns the murderer as a psychopath. It never seems to occur to Flurry to refer to him as a terrorist. In this program there is no discussion about how the murderer was influenced by white supremacists who were fixated on black on white violence. There is no attempt to explain these ideologies of white supremacy that incited the murderer to kill those nine innocent persons.

Flurry uses the victims' forgiveness to condemn the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. 
So let me talk to you a little bit about the REAL SOLUTION to race issues, and I will just ask this question: Why did Charleston, South Carolina not become a Ferguson or a Baltimore? Now, that’s a CRITICAL question for us to deal with. Why didn’t the same thing happen THERE that happened in those other cities? (Transcript, p. 1.) 
 While it is perfectly proper to condemn riots in order to discourage such things happening it is not acknowledged that this wave of protests against police brutality is a peaceful movement. By only focusing on the victims' forgiveness on the one hand and those riots on the other Flurry is ignoring the peaceful nature of the protest movement among African Americans by not talking about peaceful protesters seriously.

While the victims' forgiveness is praised the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore are condemned. But there is no acknowledgement in this program that the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore were the unfortunate exceptions of this current wave of protests against police brutality.

Ever since this wave of protests began following the shooting to death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 these protests have been peaceful. With rare exceptions these are peaceful protests. This most pertinent fact is simply ignored and willfully forgotten.
See, a beautiful attitude of making peace, doing everything you can to make peace, not war! Not riots! But PEACE! That’s what this is ALL about. (Transcript, p. 3.)
There is nothing wrong with condemning acts of rioting and violence. But we need to view things in their proper perspective rather than just nurturing an exaggerated fear that some sort of riot might happen when such a thing is extremely unlikely in any given place.

By ignoring the peaceful nature of the wider protest movement against police brutality Flurry makes it appear as though riots by African Americans are just around the corner and could occur at any moment. This is a highly skewed view of the situation.

It is insinuated that this protest movement weakens the national cohesion of the United States. It is even alleged that other nations such as Germany, Russia, China and Iran could view this protest movement as a sign of America's weakness and encourage them to attack America.
But let me give you just a warning that you won’t ever hear much about, and you almost never hear it I think, and that is, if you have problems with in, all kinds of problems within, race riots, race problems, anarchy, chaos and all that, it just makes you very vulnerable to these powerful nations outside, other nations of the world. Just consider. Russia and China and radical Islam are just gobbling up the territory of their neighbors EVEN AS I SPEAK! Do you think they wouldn’t attack America if we were weak and divided and hating each other and tearing each other apart? Do you think they wouldn’t? I tell you, history CRIES ALOUD that they absolutely would. And Winston Churchill said, look, the history of man is the history of war! We’ve ALREADY had two world wars. Do you think people wouldn’t love to destroy a superpower? That is, many people? Well, we need to learn a lesson, and we need to learn it quickly! (Transcript, p. 6.)
This idea is utterly absurd and ridiculous. Protests against police brutality accompanied with the most unfortunate yet rather rare incidents of rioting are not going to somehow lead to America's conquest at the hands of Germany.

And so the program ends on that absurdly fearful note.

What viewers of this program who do not know PCG well will not know is that PCG has consistently condemned the wave of protests against police brutality ever since it started following the shooting to death of Trayvon Matin in 2012.

Here is how one PCG writer portrayed Trayvon Martin, a sixteen year old minor who got shot to death while peacefully walking home.
In Florida v. Zimmerman, there was no shortage of evidence shining light on what Dr. King would have called “the content of Trayvon Martin’s character”: A text message record showed that the 17-year-old picked fights often and wanted a rematch with a certain opponent because he “hadn’t bled enough” the first time Trayvon overpowered him; a Facebook post showed Trayvon’s half-brother acknowledging his fighting expertise and asking Trayvon to teach him how to brawl; another Facebook post showed that Trayvon used an illegal codeine-based drug known to cause paranoia and panic attacks; school records showed that he had been suspended for possession of illegal drugs; a search of his backpack produced a burglary tool and some stolen property.
Zimmerman’s attorneys wanted this evidence presented to jurors because it could help determine questions relevant to the case about Martin’s character—primarily if it was possible that he was the aggressor in the fatal confrontation. But Prosecutor John Guy said jurors shouldn’t be presented with it because, “It would mislead the jury and be prejudicial.” The judge agreed and the jurors were not allowed to know about Trayvon’s history of violence and lawbreaking. (Jeremiah Jacques, Has Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream Come True?, September 1, 2013.)
Here is how one PCG writer presented Michael Brown, an eighteen year old man who was going to go to College. He was also belittled and condemned like Trayvon Martin. Amazingly mourning over Michael Brown's violent death by shooting is belittled as simply complaining he was unable to go to College.
Is it any wonder then that protesters in Ferguson overlook Michael Brown’s marijuana use, aggressive behavior and disobedience to law enforcement officials, and instead focus only on how he was denied a chance to go to a technical college? (Anthony Chibarirwe, Ferguson Is Only the Beginning if Loretta Lynch Replaces Eric Holder, December 4, 2014.)
One PCG writer called Michael Brown a "thug" while reciting what critics of President Obama were saying concerning a recent violent death in San Francisco.
They [critics of President Obama] say, Well, you remember the case with Michael Brown, this thug from Ferguson who attacked a police officer, charged at him and was killed. The President was very quick to reach out to his family. (Robert Morley, Trumpet Hour, July 17, 2015 broadcast, 47 minutes.)
Following the pool party incident in McKinney one PCG writer called some of those African Americans there "thugs".
There's a pool party for a graduation. The community has a community center with a pool. There's about a hundred kids in attendance. And then one of the ... somebody there posted on social media that there's a pool party. And outsiders start arriving at this pool. They're not allowed in because they're from outside the community. It's against the community rules to have more than two guests from outside of the community. That will not ... That's not going to stop these thugs who came into the community. They start climbing over the fence. They start picking fights. Fights break out in there. They assault two security guards. A mother and her daughter are attacked. Chaos starts breaking up. Property's being damaged. (Robert Morley, Trumpet Daily, June 15, 2015, 38 minutes.) 
Another matter that will not be clear to viewers of this program unfamiliar with PCG is that PCG condemns interracial marriage as sinful. PCG teaches that African Americans, including those who were murdered in such a terrible act of terrorism in Charleston, are not to marry whites.

Gerald Flurry himself promoted this doctrine that has imposed so much pain and suffering upon African Americans over the years as exposed in a previous post.
Some of the nation’s princes reported to Ezra that the people were racially intermarrying with the nations around them. Moses had recorded that God forbade interracial marriage (Deuteronomy 7:1-3). Ezra was devastated that this sin was being committed in Judah. He immediately began a fast because this sin threatened to destroy the fledgling nation. But what depressed Ezra the most about this sin was that some priests, Levites and princes were leading the people into this catastrophic rebellion. God’s own ministers were the chief sinners. (Gerald Flurry and Dennis Leap, Exra and Nehemiah: Building God's Temple, 1997, Chapter 5, p. 45.) 
Additional evidence of PCG's racist condemnation of interracial marriage may be seen in the late Ron Fraser's booklet, South Africa in Prophecy, as seen in a previous post. Ron Fraser was very prominent within PCG. When one reads this booklet it is clear that PCG's leadership sympathized with the now fallen apartheid regime.
An honoured guest of many of this world’s leaders, including South Africa’s, throughout his lifetime, God’s end-time Elijah, Herbert W. Armstrong, was used by Christ to restore God’s truth to His Church (Matt. 17:11). Mr. Armstrong wrote very strongly about these verses. He said, “The Bible speaks of three worlds: the ‘world that then was, overflowed by the Flood’; ‘this present evil world’; and ‘the world to come.’ At the close of that world, they were eating and drinking, and ‘marrying and giving in marriage’ (Matt. 24:38). Result? Destruction—the punishment for sin!” (Plain Truth, Oct. 1963, p. 26). Mr. Armstrong then asked, “What was the sin?” He continues in the same article: “Now go back to Genesis 6. Notice, these men looked lustfully at women, ‘and they took them wives of all which they chose’ (v. 2)—and as a result, the very next words: ‘And the Eternal said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.…’ He was going to destroy them in punishment! Yes, in punishment for taking wrong wives—wives which they chose, contrary to God’s decrees and laws!

“God had decreed that the races should not intermarry, and pollute the blood stream! But Negro men were choosing white wives and white men choosing yellow wives—just as many are doing today! They did not marry wives as God chose and directed—but ‘of all which they chose.’

“The antediluvians were trying to integrate! They, like we today, had a racial problem. They tried to solve it by integration. They were going to do away with God’s varieties—His different, distinct races.”...

[Ron Fraser then comments later on.] Such anti-God themes [including allowing interracial marriage which was previously banned under apartheid] are a precursor to confusion, division and strife! South Africa will reap the curses of correction imposed by an all-wise, all-loving Father who created mankind and set the racial bounds over which He commanded Israel not to cross! (Ron Fraser, South Africa in Prophecy, 1997, Chapter 3, pp. 22-23.)
So Flurry praises the victims' forgiveness but he views those same people as unworthy of marrying whites.

Flurry praises the victims' forgiveness but for about twenty-three years now he has been spreading this vicious doctrine that African Americans are soon fated to launch a wave of riots against the white majority in the in the United States.

Flurry praises the victims' forgiveness yet those who work for him belittle African Americans who had been shot to death as criminals and violent persons.

With ideas like that swirling around in the heads of PCG's leadership it should be clear that these persons have no business telling others how to manage the various tensions and issues regarding race relations. They need to be educated by others concerning this important topic, not telling the rest of us what to do about this important issue.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

PCG's Robert Morley Refers to Michael Brown as a "Thug" While Describing What Others are Saying

While complaining about President Obama commuting sentences Robert Morley then talks about how critics of President Obama have been criticizing him for not making contact with the family of a woman who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco. This violent death is here used to condemn the practice of sanctuary cities to fear monger that too many immigrants are getting into the United States. (Ironically Morley immigrated from Saskatchewan.)

PCG leans quite far to the right so they tend to read and view information mainly from right wing sources opposed to the Obama Administration. I do not condemn PCG for being right wing but it is important that we recognize that they are right wing because this explains so much of their political stances.

While describing what these critics of President Obama are saying that he should have approached the family of the victim, Robert Morley refers to Michael Brown, he who was shot to death in Ferguson, as a "thug" and he is accused of running towards the police officer who shot him. These words are presented as Morley describing what other people are saying.
They [critics of President Obama] say, Well, you remember the case with Michael Brown, this thug from Ferguson who attacked a police officer, charged at him and was killed. The President was very quick to reach out to his family. (July 17, 2015 broadcast, 47 minutes.)
My word. Michael Brown died already. He was going to college. He had his whole life ahead of him. That's all gone now.

And Robert Morley, while describing what critics of President Obama were saying, chose to refer to him as a "thug".

It was also asserted that he charged at the police officer. How does Morley, who lives in Edmond, know that?

It would have been wonderful if this matter was settled in a trial instead of having a grand jury that only listens to the prosecution decide not to prosecute this tragic incident. A grand jury is no trial.

Morley also called the African Americans at the pool party in McKinney as "thugs" as well.
There's a pool party for a graduation. The community has a community center with a pool. There's about a hundred kids in attendance. And then one of the ... somebody there posted on social media that there's a pool party. And outsiders start arriving at this pool. They're not allowed in because they're from outside the community. It's against the community rules to have more than two guests from outside of the community. That will not ... That's not going to stop these thugs who came into the community. They start climbing over the fence. They start picking fights. Fights break out in there. They assault two security guards. A mother and her daughter are attacked. Chaos starts breaking up. Property's being damaged. (Robert Morley, Trumpet Daily, June 15, 2015, 38 minutes.)
What a way to foster peace and understanding between races: label African Americans who get in trouble with police in highly contested incidents in which it seems likely that they were wronged by police and call them "thugs".

They weren't even convicted of anything. So much for innocent until proven guilty.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

PCG's Magazine Circulation Falls Below 2003 Levels

PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet magazine's circulation is falling. Despite their acquisition of an (unaccredited) College Campus in Britain and the establishment of their radio station the current circulation for PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet is now lower than what it was in 2003 and apparently even lower than what it was back in 2000. It is now 284,400.

This is part of a decline in circulation that has been ongoing since the December 2012 issue (341,259).

Something is clearly going wrong. What are the leaders of PCG doing with the money from PCG members and co-workers? Why is it that nothing they have done have increased the circulation figures?

Here is when The Philadelphia Trumpet's circulation fell below 300,000 since the November 2003 issue.
  • November-December 2006 till April 2007. (Four issues.)
  • March 2008 till December 2010. (Twenty-eight issues.)
  • May-June 2015 till September 2015. (Four issues and ongoing.) 
Here is when PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet magazine's circulation fell below the current circulation of 284,400 since the November 2003 issue.
  • April 2008 till February 2009. (Nine issues.)
  • April 2009 till September 2010. (Fourteen issues.)
(Only the March 2009 issue briefly goes above the current figure of 284,400.)

***

Here is the current list of PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet magazine's circulation figures updated with the recent figures.

1998

March 70,000

May 44,800

June 72,900

July 86,400

August 90,000

September 95,000

November 87,500

December 89,000

1999

January 98,250

February 102,750

March 105,300

May 116,500

June 135,000

July 178,000

At present it is not possible for me to know the circulation figures after this issue until the November 2003 issue. (August 1999-September-October 2003).

In the December 1999 issue Gerald Flurry boasts that the magazine had doubled its circulation in the last twelve months. This seems believable and to correlate with the figures presented here.

In the July-August 2000 issue of Royal Vision Gerald Flurry boasted that The Philadelphia Trumpet had a circulation over 300,000. He wrote that PCG's "Trumpet magazine has a circulation of more than 300,000" (p. 12).

We continue from the November 2003 issue.

2003

November 313,400

December 317,000

2004

January 341,305

February 341,735

March 344,530

May 347,750

June 345,290

July 340,740

August 338,665

September 335,000

November 340,340

December 325,835

2005

January 325,595

February 318,844

March-April 315,435

May 306,400

June 315,435

July 315,970

August 317,235

September 319,760

November 314,810

December 325,985

2006

January 323,900

February 322,200

March 326,702

April 345,000

May 325,000

June-July 332,000

August 326,000

September 330,000

October 314,000

November-December 288,000

[Falls below 300,000 issues. Still higher than current issue.]

2007

January 290,100

February 288,000

March 295,000

April 295,000

May 331,000

[Magazine goes above 300,000 issues again after five issues.]

June 351,000

July 417,000

August-September 428,500

October 444,100

November-December 458,700

2008

January 408,995

February 373,500

March 294,000

[Falls below 300,000 issues. Still higher than current issue.]

April 266,301

[Falls below current circulation of 284,400.]

May 283,450

June-July 252,948

August 275,180

September 269,180

October 274,076

November-December 278,480

2009

January 282,480

February 280,844

March 289,844

[Goes higher than current circulation after nine issues but falls below it with the next issue.]

April 255,455

[Again falls below current circulation of 284,400.]

May-June 257,944

July 255,280

August 252,067

September 255,067

October 257,978

November-December 259,767

2010

January 266,767

February 255,767

March 256,767

April 265,285

May-June 269,615

July 258,707

August 269,641

September 284,235

October-November 289,332

[Goes higher than current circulation after fourteen issues.]

December 295,382

2011

January 300,380

February 304,147

March 307,097

April 315,064

May-June 322,410

July 335,444

August 327,731

September 330,232

October 332,530

November-December 326,176

2012

January 330,067

February 333,067

March 333,067

April 334,044

May-June 338,939

July 342,452

August 340,298

September 340,813

October-November 340,813

December 341,259

[For whatever reason circulation declines from this issue onwards.]

2013

January 333,214

February 331,273

March 331,130

April 329,122

May-June 332,997

July 335,797

August 332,849

September-October 330,936

November 331, 830

December 328,019

2014

January 325,014

February 323,585

March 323,583

April 320,572

May-June 319,107

July 322,017

August 319,798

September 317,863

October 317,130

November-December 313,286

2015

January 314,408

February 312,399

March 311,350

April 310,367

May-June 297,255

[Falls below 300,000 issues and keeps falling.]

July 297,242

August 295,801
 
September 284,400

Arutz Sheva Writer: Serbia Turned into a Muslim State

Did you hear that Serbia was turned into a Muslim state back because of the Bosnian War? Well, that is what one Arutz Sheva writer said.
Here is what is going on: The Arabs and to a greater extent the Muslims, have a vision for the world of Islamic supremacy. Serbia and Bosnia both fell to Muslim forces who attacked those Christian countries with mercenaries and jihadists while staging diplomatic manoeuvers that ultimately turned them into Muslim states. The Serbs were winning their war until NATO and US planes joined in and bombed them. The same was true in Bosnia which today has as its main exports drugs and prostitution—but it’s Muslim and that’s all that matters. (Larry Kaplan, Why US State Declassified the Report on Israel’s Nuclear Capabilities, March 31, 2015.)
Serbia got turned into a Muslim state? Never heard that assertion before.

As for this assertion that Serbia was winning against Bosnian Muslims and would have won if it were not for the bombardment by NATO I must respectfully disagree with that conclusion.

As far as I can tell what happened is that during the Bosnian War the Bosnian Muslims were given no choice but to fight in their territories. While the Serbs aligned with Belgrade and the Croatians aligned with Zagreb could evacuate themselves to Serbia or Croatia if things went bad this was not an option the Bosnian Muslims had. So they were highly motivated to fight where they were because there was no sanctuary for them to get to if they lost. So despite being severely lacking in resources compared with the others, and even enduring acts of genocide that horrified the world, the Bosnian Muslims were nevertheless able to hold on to secure their independence from the regime in Belgrade.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

More From Arutz Sheva

Arutz Sheva is a news organization that caters for national religious Israeli Jews. It is trusted by PCG, UCG and LCG. Each of these groups have quoted news articles from Arutz Sheva numerous times. Although they quote news articles rather than opinion pieces nevertheless all three groups (PCG, UCG and LCG) have never bothered to criticize them or even discuss with their readers what sort of news organization Arutz Sheva is.

Recently the Israeli President gave a speech in which he stated that Israeli society can be viewed as being divided into four groups, namely secular Jews, national religious Jews, ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arab citizens. Arutz Sheva caters for the national religious Israeli Jews.

So when looking at what Arutz Sheva should happen to say we must be careful to remember that what they say is mainly for national religious Israeli Jews. Most Israelis are not national religious Jews. If Arutz Sheva should say something we would disagree with let us remember that most Israelis (even other national religious Jews) would quite likely also disagree with Arutz Sheva and with the opinions noted here. We must not stereotype Israeli Jews. Just like any other society there is a very wide range of opinions and diversity of people within Israeli society.

PCG, UCG and LCG tend to quote Arutz Sheva about news stories, not its editorial articles. But let us take a look at what this media outlet, Arutz Sheva, have to say about things in their editorial articles. What do the writers of Arutz Sheva say about things?

Is PCG, UCG and LCG's trust in Arutz Sheva warranted?

Let's take a look at what Arutz Sheva has to say.

Anti-Zionism is the Most Powerful Political Force on Earth (?)

Really? Is anti-Zionism more powerful than America? More powerful than Russia? More powerful than China?
Israel is obviously the major victim of anti-Zionism, the most powerful political force on earth. Israelis are threatened by rockets. They must always fear war and devote attention and money to defending themselves against possible attacks. (Professor George Jochnowitz, Who Suffers From Anti-Israel Hatred?, July 26, 2015.)
More powerful than oil companies? More powerful than Germany?

Denigrating Prominent EU Diplomat as "Little Girl"

So Arutz Sheva thinks the agreement with Iran is bad and do not like it. If there are problems about the agreement let such problems be exposed and condemned. Speak out about it.

But is it really appropriate to call an EU diplomat associated with these negotiations a "little girl"?
So who are these characters [referring to the P5+1] and what are their special interests? ... [After listing the six nations the author then discusses an EU diplomat.] Which leaves the little girl in the picture: Federica Mogherini. (Zalmi Unsdorfer, What's this starry-eyed Arafat fan doing in the P5+1?, July 19, 2015.)
Of course the person in question is an adult. A senior diplomat entrusted with looking after the EU's interests in those important negotiations.  

China Untouched by Islamic Terrorism

Did you know that China has been "untouched by Islamic terrorism"?
China - happily untouched by Islamic terrorism - wants only to restore deliveries of Iranian crude oil. (Zalmi Unsdorfer, What's this starry-eyed Arafat fan doing in the P5+1?, July 19, 2015.)
Actually for quite a few years China has had problems in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang province. Sometimes even escalating to truly lamentable levels of violence. I will not burden the reader with the tragic details except to note that the situation has been very bad in recent years. The author seems to be unaware of this issue.

Now it is more accurate to view those problems as a conflict between the Turkic Uyghurs of that province and China. It is not helpful to view it as part of some mythical grand clash of civilizations between Muslims and the rest of the world. That is not a helpful view. Politically speaking Muslims are divided into numerous nations and interests. They do not act politically in a united manner. How could over a billion people do so in regards to politics?

May peace soon come to Xinjiang.

Accusing Israeli Arabs of Dodging Train Fares

Apparently Israeli Arabs are inclined to dodge paying train fares. At least that's the opinion of one Arutz Sheva columnist.
Not a day goes by that I don't see Arabs on the train - often, I see them come on the train and stand watching to see if there is an inspector around before deciding if they will pay or not. (Paula Stern, Jabotinsky Had The Right Idea, July 7, 2015.)
I wonder what that statement would sound like if it was applied to any other group?

Israeli Supreme Court Denounced as Left Wing Tyranny

Did you know that the State of Israel is currently under the dictatorial rule of a bunch of leftist judges? Well that seems to be what how some national religious Israeli Jews view matters in Israel at present.
Given that nearly all Justice Ministers have come from the political Left - with the remainder coming from the more "establishment" elements of the Likud party (Netanyahu's favorite was rumored to have been the distinctly anti-reform Likud MK Benny Begin) - the Supreme Court Justices have had a very sweet deal indeed: on the one hand, almost unlimited power to fashion the country in their image; and on the other, in the tradition of all Middle Eastern dictators, a phony legitimacy provided by an elaborate pretense of democracy in the shape of an opaque and cynically-stacked selection process. ...

However, should she succeed against the odds, it will be nothing less than a revolution. By breaking the suffocating stranglehold of an unelected, leftist clique over Israeli democracy, she can pave the way for the Supreme Court's rehabilitation as a more balanced institution which actually represents the citizens of Israel. (Ari Soffer, Sexism and Death Threats: Why the Left is Afraid of Ayelet Shaked, May 11, 2015.)
(For reference here is an opposing view of the topic mentioned above there is the following article from The Daily Beast.)

Defending Huckabee's Controversial "Ovens" Comment

So Mike Huckabee accused the Obama Administration of leading Israeli Jews to "the ovens" by making the agreement with Iran thus comparing President Obama with those who exterminated the Jews in the Holocaust. Many Americans, including many American Jews, were disgusted at these words. The Democratic Party, which has the allegiance of the vast majority of American Jews, condemned him for it.
The National Jewish Democratic Council immediately called on members of the Republican Party to denounce Huckabee’s comments, saying it is “not only disgustingly offensive to the President and the White House, but shows utter, callous disregard for the millions of lives lost in the Shoah and to the pain still felt by their descendants today.”

It may be the most inexcusable we’ve encountered in recent memory,” the organization added in a statement. (Anna Brand, Jewish groups react to Mike Huckabee’s ‘oven’ remarks, MSNBC, July 27, 2015.)
The Anti-Defamation League condemned it as well. 
The Anti-Defamation League, a group that fights antisemitism, said that while they are wary of the deal, Huckabee’s comments are “completely out of line and unacceptable.”

“To hear Mr. Huckabee invoke the Holocaust when America is Israel’s greatest ally and when Israel is a strong nation capable of defending itself is disheartening,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, in a statement. (Anna Brand, Jewish groups react to Mike Huckabee’s ‘oven’ remarks, MSNBC, July 27, 2015.)
What did Arutz Sheva say about it? One Arutz Sheva columnist chose to defend Huckabee and condemn the Anti-Defamation League's response.
Jumping on the Democratic bandwagon, the ostensibly non-partisan Anti-Defamation League issued [a statement condemning Huckabee's comments.] ...

Frankly, I’m unconvinced. As a Jew who has suffered from anti-Semitism, but also understands the rough and tumble of politics, I strongly believe that the ADL is way off-base, even disingenuous on this issue. Its quick attack on the conservative Huckabee, after years of silence about President Obama’s well-documented hostility towards Israel and its leaders, reveals a disturbing political bias that needs to be addressed openly. ...

[It is later referred to as] Huckabee’s supposedly controversial statement about Iran... (David Rubin, Mike Huckabee Out-Trumps Donald Trump, July 27, 2015.)

Obama Plotting to "Squeeze" the World with Iran Agreement

So why did President Obama make that agreement with Iran? Well, according to one Arutz Sheva columnist, the agreement is part of a "plan" to "spread Islam to the West" and "deliver ... Israel to Islam" using Iran.
Obama doesn’t care what his critics say.  He’s happy because, you see, he has a plan. It’s a two-in-one plan: he will become the man who will spread Islam to the West as no one before him; he will be the man who delivers Israel to Islam ... He will use Iran to do it. Through Iran, he will squeeze the Middle East .... Through Iran, he will squeeze Israel .... Through Iran, he will squeeze the world .... (Tuvia Brodie, Obama’s legacy: deliver Israel and the world to Islam, July 27, 2015.)
Well, that's one assertion I had not heard of before.

*******

And so this collection of quotes come to an end.

Just imagine. The COGs trust this organization.

The COGs quote news articles from a media organization that would say things like this.

They have never bothered to criticize it or even note the sort of things Arutz Sheva says.

The COG leadership ask readers to trust what this media organization says and the COGs do not even bother to note that they say things like this.

Monday, July 27, 2015

PCG Members Medically Neglecting Themselves

Latest letter from Exit and Support Network. This one details how some PCG members are refusing proper medical care because of they were indoctrinated into believing HWA's anti-medicine superstition.
PCG's Teaching on Health and Healing is Immoral and Dangerous:

July 23, 2015

ESN, Many thanks to you for the good work you're doing! This concerns the PCG teaching on health and healing. Our family is dealing with loved ones in the PCG who are resisting medical treatment for some very serious conditions. They have placed blind trust in PCG leadership believing that if they can repent more, have more faith, and increase allegiance to PCG health guidelines then their diseases will be healed. In the meantime, their children are torn between what they've been taught, watching their loved one turn a blind eye to reality, and the realization that it could cost them their life. It's frightening to say the least. When pressed about these beliefs, they espouse the teaching almost verbatim from articles such as "Principles of Healthy Living" by Stephen Flurry.

The subtle deception in this article is frightening.

It's immoral and dangerous to teach someone that it's their lack of faith or sinfulness that causes their illness. They are left to live in a constant state of guilt and striving, all towards a goal that is unachievable. It's wholly unbiblical to teach that God promises us perfect health if we live according to the guidelines in this article.
This is how deception works--mix error with enough truth to make acceptance palatable. It's this type of deception that binds people physically and spiritually to error, encourages misplaced loyalties, and results in a lifetime of regret once they realize their error.

Sincerity of belief does not make something true. Unfaltering faith in something that's untrue will not result in the promises made by folks who wrongly attribute them to God. We can positively affect our health by making wise life choices. But we cannot rid our lives of disease and physical ailment by striving to comply with a set of guidelines falsely promoted as God's panacea.

We're praying and working diligently to see the eyes of our family opened and for their physical protection in the meantime. --Impacted by loved ones in PCG.
It is well documented that PCG continues to promote this doctrine of death.

How horrifying and disgusting.

How Does Christians United For Israel (CUFI) View UN Report on 2014 Gaza War?

So after reading For God's Sake: The Christian Right and US Foreign Policy by Lee Marsden (2008) I learned that among evangelical Christians the most prominent pro-Israel organization is Christians United For Israel (CUFI).

Recently the United Nations Human Rights Council released a report about the tragic war in Gaza last year. What did Christians United for Israel have to say about that report?

Unfortunately CUFI did not produce an article about the report themselves. However on their blog CUFI did link to an article which characterized the UN report as "a bad piece of work" and "boring".

This is how the article starts. These words are visible on CUFI's blog.
The UN Human Rights Council’s Independent Commission of Inquiry report on the 2014 Gaza war, released Monday, is a bad piece of work—bad in almost entirely predictable and boring ways, but no less bad for being bad and predictable. It is also no less important for being boring. (Source.)
So the report is "boring" apparently according to this article. These words, although not produced by CUFI, are visible on CUFI's blog.

Now to be fair the article does proceed to look through the UN report and makes various arguments, such as saying that the report did not take proper account of how Israeli soldiers viewed a particular situation. But to call the UN report "boring" seems a strange way to deal with a matter of such importance regardless of how views the situation in Gaza. It detracts from this article.

Here is one part of the report which details how one Israeli lost his legs during the course of that war. Is this part "boring"?
On 26 August, Ze'ev Etzion and Shahar Melamed were killed by a mortar as they tried to repair the electricity lines that had been damaged by Palestinian projectiles earlier in the day in Kibbutz Nirim, Eshkol region. While three other people suffered minor injuries in the attack, Gad Yarkoni, who travelled to Geneva to speak to the commission, had to have both his legs amputated as a result of his injuries. He saw his two colleagues lying close by and realized that his legs were severely injured when the alarm went off again and he could not move. It was not possible to evacuate him immediately by helicopter because the shelling continued despite the agreed ceasefire. He said he was flown to a hospital by helicopter and when he woke up there 13 days later, he was told that he had lost both legs. The Al Qassam Brigades announced that they had targeted Kibbutz Nirim and various other communities in the vicinity of Gaza with 107 mm mortars on the day of the attack. The type of weapon used was consistent with the testimony of kibbutz residents. (Paragraph 79, p. 23.)
Was that part "boring"?

Here's another part of the report. Is this "boring"?
A resident from the neighbourhood of Zanna in Khuza’a told the commission that on 17 July at about 6 p.m., as he left his home to get some water for his chickens, he was approached by a group of Israeli soldiers who confronted him and accused him of digging tunnels for Hamas. The soldiers shined a flashlight on his face and took him away. The witness could see that there were some Palestinian “collaborators” with the soldiers. The witness heard them talk and thought that the “collaborators”, having realized that he was not a very important target, so informed the soldiers and they stopped harassing him, but still decided to detain him. The witness stated that he was then taken to a house he recognized ... which was full of soldiers with dogs. It was Ramadan and after spending 48 hours blindfolded in the house, the witness asked for water and food. He reportedly was told to shut up, and a soldier went through his pockets and took 8300 Shekels from him. When the soldiers removed the blindfold, one of the soldiers showed him the vast level of destruction visible from the window and allegedly told him "look at what we did."

Two days later, the witness was taken to a small room and interrogated about tunnels and weapons caches. The witness claims to have been beaten during the interrogation. He was then given a nylon uniform to wear and transferred to another location where he spent two weeks. He was reportedly held in a room with no windows and interrogated repeatedly about the same issues. At one point, the witness claims to have been forced to sit in a small seat, which he described as being approximately 20cm x 20cm. The soldiers then placed a bag on his face, which carried a terrible stench. He stated that for three days, the soldiers would throw cold water on his head whenever he tried to sleep. The witness fell unconscious at some point and woke up several hours later, finding himself in a bigger cell with about ten other people. Finally, the witness was transferred to a court in Azabal Ashel, where he was sentenced to 28 days in prison. Having served his sentence, he was taken to the Erez crossing. When he asked about the 8500 shekels that had been confiscated earlier, he was told: “Ask Ismail Haniya.” (Paragraphs 327-328, pp. 83-84.)
Is it "boring" for a witness to say that 8500 shekels were stolen from him? Is it boring for him to mention the other things?

Out of respect for what happened in that terrible and tragic war, and especially towards those who died, I would not call a report of this nature "boring" even if I should disagree with it.

War is the most terrible thing. So many terrible things happen in any war. War degrades and defiles it touches. Hence why we all hate war. These are just two stories from that war. There are many others.

Even if a report was going to say something disagreeable to dismiss it as "boring" trivializes this vital issue. If it says something wrong then let such wrongs be exposed, not dismissed as "boring".

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Why Did Netanyahu Make a Speech to the US Congress?

On March 3, 2015 Prime Minister Netanyahu made a speech before the US Congress condemning the negotiations with Iran about its nuclear program.

But was this speech really about Iran's nuclear program? Here's one Israeli who suspects there were other motives behind the speech.
At the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner, Netanyahu was originally scheduled to address a joint session Congress on February 11. Netanyahu later asked that the speech be postponed by three weeks, slotting the high-profile address just two weeks before the March 17 election.

If Netanyahu truly believed the speech was of the utmost urgency to the Iran question – and not just a grand ploy to sway voters and distract them throughout the campaign from social issues the prime minister wants to avoid - why would he ask to have it postponed?

Then there is the timing of the speech itself. The Tuesday speech to Congress, as well as a companion Netanyahu address Monday to the AIPAC pro-Israel lobby, have both been scheduled for low-rating, midweek, mid-morning Eastern Standard Time, yawningly early in the Western U.S. – but perfect for prime time viewing here in Israel. (Bradley Burston, Think Netanyahu's speech is really about Iran? Think again, Haaretz, March 2, 2015. )
Before reading that article I did not know that the speech was delayed like that on Netanyahu's initiative.

But there's more. Turns out there is a housing crisis in Israel. Burston proposes that the speech was made to shift focus away from the housing crisis during the recent Israeli election.
Alluding to the housing report, Netanyahu told Likud activists last week that "When we speak about housing prices and the cost of living, not for one moment do I forget the matter of sustenance itself, of living, that is to say, life.

"And the greatest challenge that we face it the threat of an Iran arming itself with nuclear weapons, with the declared goal of annihilating us."

The quote was posted to Netanyahu's Facebook page, where it caused a brief storm, and was summarily deleted. (Bradley Burston, Think Netanyahu's speech is really about Iran? Think again, Haaretz, March 2, 2015. )
 Wow. Let this be a lesson in listening to a wide range of sources to better understand a situation.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Overview of the August 2015 Issue of The Philadelphia Trumpet

The latest issue of PCG's recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet (July 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.

This issue has a circulation of 295,801. Circulation is falling. Between the January 2011 issue and the April 2015 issue The Philadelphia Trumpet's circulation had always been above 300,000. (Some relevant figures may be seen in a previous post.) But now for the third time in a row it's circulation is lower than 300,000. (297,255 for the May-June 2015 issue. 297,242 for the July 2015 issue.) 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 about two and a half years now. Where is that money going? Is it being spent effectively?

Gerald Flurry has a personal article which exploits the memory of Steve Jobs.

Gerald Flurry has an article viciously condemning protests against police brutality as an attempt to weaken the powers of the police by African Americans. He fear mongers that this will have the effect of causing a rampant crime wave. These allegations are absurd and shows he is not paying attention to the concerns of the African American community on this very important topic. He alludes to his false, racist prophecy that soon African Americans will soon launch a wave of riots against the white majority. Supposedly this will occur in every American city at the same time. Gerald Flurry has taught this vicious and ridiculous idea since 1992. He even alludes to his teaching that President Obama is "another Antiochus" just like Tkach. What nasty nonsense this article is. This article was discussed in a previous post.

Jeremiah Jacques has an article fear mongering about illegal immigration and emotively alleging that the Federal Government has engineered the largest prison break in history by letting illegal immigrants stay in the United States. Recently PCG has been fear mongering about immigrants.

Brad MacDonald has an article venomously accusing Pope Francis of provoking war in the Holy Land by advocating the creation of a Palestinian state. He is seemingly heedless of the fact that the Oslo Peace Process has advocated this very measure since the early 1990s. This is not news. It is designed to create an induced phobia of the Pope among PCG members to keep them scared of events outside of PCG and distracted from the problems within PCG.

Jeremiah Jacques also has a little article fear mongering that Cuba will soon enter some sort of sinister alliance with the Pope.

Aaron Hudson and Anthony Chibarirwe have an article accusing the Obama Administration of "creating" a nuclear weapon armed Iran due to the current negotiations with Iran. (This article was published before the agreement was made.) They also fear monger that a nuclear armed Iran will lead to a the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

Dennis Leap has an article bemoaning how traditional religion is having less power within the United States. (Is he moaning that he, as a minister of PCG, has less power than he should have in his opinion?)

Jeremiah Jacques has an article demonizing Japan as fated to be a military threat against the United States. PCG has a long history of demonizing Japan despite their friendly relations with the United States since 1945. An earlier version of this article was discussed in a previous post.

Samuel Livingston has an article encouraging readers to walk for exercise.

Stephen Flurry has an article assuring the reader that God, angels and demons are real.

Worldwatch have a few little articles. One fear monger that Russia is planning to invade eastern Ukraine. One moans that Britain is cutting its defense budget. One fear mongers about the recent mass hacking against the US government. One moans about the United States no longer regarding Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism. One fear mongers about China's border dispute in the South China Sea with neighboring countries. One moans that President Obama is not supporting the State of Israel enough. One condemns the Supreme Court's ruling that the President is legally entitled to insist that Jerusalem not be listed as being a part of the State of Israel on US passports contrary to a 2002 law passed by Congress.

One little article talks about the war in Syria. In a previous post it was exposed how PCG constantly refers to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys in Iraq and Syria (formerly known as Al Qaeda in Iraq) as "the Islamic State" thus giving those murderers and terrorists exactly what they want. This gives no heed to the fact that most of their victims are Muslims. This reprehensible and irresponsible policy is clearly still in force among PCG's writers. This little article calls those terrorists "the Islamic State" numerous times. Why give Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys what they want?
On May 21, the Islamic State captured the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria— four days after the same terrorists seized the city of Ramadi in central Iraq. With the capture of these two cities, the Islamic State gained control of the vast region between them ... According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Islamic State now controls 38,000 square miles in Syria ... The rest is essentially a battlefield where Assad is fighting on four fronts, against the Islamic State [and other groups] ... Reports in late May indicated that Assad was temporarily fighting alongside the Islamic State in Aleppo, northern Syria. Analysts view this as Assad’s strategy to ... leave the world with only two options: a barbarous Islamic State or his own regime. (p. 30.)
That little article is accompanied with a picture. Nothing is said about where the photo specifically came from within Syria. The picture comes from Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus that in recent times has been the scene of fierce fighting. Quite likely many of those individuals in that photo are Palestinians.

Societywatch has a few little articles. One condemns Ireland legalizing same sex marriage after a referendum. One fear mongers about the drought in California. One complains that most Americans are shifting their views on various social issues away from how PCG views them. (Maybe that's your fault, PCG.)

Joel Hilliker has a little article advising people how to have a happy family life. That would be a lot easier if PCG members were not required to pay three tithes and extra offerings to PCG.

There are letters. Here is one fear mongering about racial conflicts.
Racially charged unrest is actually exploding all over the world. Just like in the days of Noah. Witness the recent Rohingya refugee crisis and the Yazidi genocide as examples. (p. 34.)
And despite the utterly terrible record of PCG predicting something bad will soon occur to the American economy here is one letter from a person who has become convinced that the American economy will soon collapse.
We are reminded that a forecast was made by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong three decades ago of how a U.S. financial crisis would destroy the American economy and lead to a United States of Europe .... Through a series of recent articles you have prepared us with details of the American banking system, fractional reserve lending, fiat money, of shadow banking and “quantitative easing.” These articles have prepared the way for our greater understanding of this article, which requires our full attention in these end times. Truly this is one of the signs of the times. Thank you for your efforts in keeping us fully aware of our future. (p. 34.)
PCG has constantly fear mongered that the American economy will soon collapse. And somehow it never happens, even after the events of 2008. Clearly PCG does not know what is going to happen.

Robert Morley has a little article comparing present society to Pompeii. This is just fear mongering nonsense. 

And so we see that PCG has produced yet another issue that fear mongers about all these problems thus keeping PCG members distracted from the problems within PCG. This issue once again presents these events as being part of some grand pattern that only PCG's leaders can discern thus legitimizing their insistence on being paid three tithes and extra offerings.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

PCG's Demonization of the "Foxy Old Socialist" Shimon Peres

PCG constantly claims to support the State of Israel. But how sincere is PCG's intentions towards the State of Israel?

PCG's support for the State of Israel is not unconditional. For instance they despise and continuously vilify the prominent Israeli politician Shimon Peres.

PCG's writers have called Shimon Peres "one foxy old socialist ... set to worm his way back into prime focus" to collude with the European Union and the Vatican thus setting the stage for Israel to be conquered by Europe. He is accused of being a part of "the sellout of Israel". He is accused of often making secret deals. In one article it is even insinuated that he is an enemy of the State of Israel. In another place it is insinuated that he is a traitor and a deserter to Israel.

Why is PCG's leadership so hostile towards Shimon Peres? Partly it is because Peres is left wing and PCG's leadership is right wing. This is one reason why they despise Peres.

I do not condemn PCG for being right wing but it needs to be made clear that they are right wing because this explains so much of their political stances.

Also PCG's leadership predict that there will be no peace in the Holy Land until (PCG's) Christ returns. If there is peace in the Holy Land this will discredit PCG's leadership so PCG's leadership take it granted that there will be no peace. They accuse any advance for peace by Peres as some sort of capitulation that will be a "deadly wound" for the State of Israel and contrary to (PCG's) God's will.

Let us take a look at what PCG's writers have said about Shimon Peres over the years.

In a 1996 booklet Gerald Flurry wrote the following while discussing a speech by Yasser Arafat.
The speech quoted above was given in 1994. Has Arafat changed his views? Notice what he said in early 1996 to a group of Arab diplomats in Sweden: “[Israeli Prime Minister Shimon] Peres and [Israeli negotiator Yossi] Beilin have already promised us half of Jerusalem [but] WE PALESTINIANS WILL TAKE OVER EVERYTHING, INCLUDING ALL OF JERUSALEM. (Gerald Flurry, Hosea and God's Adulterous Wife, Chapter 3, p. 35.)
PCG's hostility towards Shimon Peres dates back a long time. It dates back to 1998 at least.
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.) 
Of course it turned out Shimon Peres never regained the post of Prime Minister.

PCG's hostility against Shimon Peres can be seen in an article by the late Ron Fraser which denounces Shimon Peres as a traitor, as a "foxy old socialist" plotting with the European Union to make the State of Israel beholden to the European Union and the Vatican.
Why is it that Shimon Peres has seemingly popped up (either behind the scenes or in many instances leading) in negotiations, sometimes secret, with the other protagonists involved in the tortuous peace process? Simple. Close investigation reveals that Peres is the prime link involved in the negotiations with the Vatican and the EU which are now resulting in the EU seeking to take over as the principle mediator and driving force in the “peace process,” marginalizing U.S. efforts. (Ron Fraser, Muscling into the Mideast, March-April 2001.)
In this article Ron Fraser denounces Shimon Peres as a traitor.
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. (Ron Fraser, Muscling into the Mideast, March-April 2001.)
Ron Fraser then denounces Shimon Peres as "one foxy old socialist".
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.)
Did that actually happen? No. Of course not.

Later that year PCG's Joel Hilliker wrote an article in which he denounced Peres as a blackmailer, one who dances "to the EU's tune" and "a deserter". Also Peres is once again denounced as making deals "in secret".
Remember how the EU clearly has exploited the liberal politics of Israeli Nobel laureate Shimon Peres to its advantage. As we detailed in our March-April issue, Mr. Peres has always placed great faith in the land-for-peace formula, cutting back-alley deals with the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Vatican for Israeli real estate, all with the firm approval of the European Union.

Now carrying the political clout of the foreign ministership within the conservative Israeli government of Ariel Sharon, Peres recently revealed himself as a deserter! July 3, he warned “that he could step down from his post if the Israeli government does not stop trying to undermine Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.… ‘I will not be able to continue in my role if you keep trying to delegitimize Yasser Arafat’ [he told] parliament’s committee on defense and foreign affairs” (Agence France Presse, July 3).

Nothing could have made Europe more proud! Mr. Peres is surely dancing to the EU’s tune as he virtually blackmails his own government into dealing with Arafat, a confirmed terrorist, on his own terms. ...

As for Mr. Peres, he wears his love for Europe on his sleeve. In April, he visited the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, another Middle East enclave that Europe seems intent on incorporating. He praised the Cypriots for taking advantage of EU moves toward “the Europeanization of the island in the heart of the Mediterranean.” He was happy, he said, that Israel and Cyprus shared the goal of “Europeanizing the Middle East,” a trend he believes will secure peace and freedom in the region. “Europeanization will change everything,” he said.

Mr. Peres laid out his dream of the future for Israel—a future in which Israel is, of all things, “Europeanized”! Peres’s deal with the Vatican to give away half of Jerusalem to Rome had been made in secret, during the previous decade, at a time when it was not fashionable to talk of “Europeanizing” Israel. Now it is out in the open and the subject of a public lecture by Peres. (Joel Hilliker, The Counterfeit Peacemaker, August 2001.)
A little article in the same issue denounced Peres as plotting "to impose a “final solution” on Israel which is to the advantage of the Palestinians, the Catholic Church and the European Union".
Israeli author Barry Chamish has long maintained that the present deputy leader of Israel, Shimon Peres, the Vatican and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have colluded since the Madrid peace talks to impose a “final solution” on Israel which is to the advantage of the Palestinians, the Catholic Church and the European Union. (Surrounded By Armies?, August 2001.)
PCG's disdain for Shimon Peres can be seen again in November 2001 in which Peres is denounced for not speaking of Yasser Arafat with the open hostility PCG's leaders seem to expect.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres falsely maintains that “Arafat is the only Palestinian leader who cares about the Western countries’ position” (www.israelnationalnews.com [Arutz Sheva], Oct. 16). Peres admits that Arafat’s “desire to obtain legitimacy for the Palestinian cause influences him” (ibid). At the same time, from the other side of his mouth, Peres says, “Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah don’t care about the West, cannot be influenced, and call for for the destruction of Israel”(ibid.). (A New Push for Palestine, November 2001.)
In 2003 one James Leigh quotes Shimon Peres to insinuate that he welcomes the Europeanization of Israel while fear mongering about Cyprus' (ultimately successful) bid to join the European Union. PCG teaches that Europe is fated to conquer and enslave the Israeli Jews (and the people of America and Britain as well).
History shows that Cyprus has long been an attractive piece of real estate for Europe. Cyprus offers a political vantage point and a military stepping stone, for influence and campaigns respectively, as the rising European phoenix once again spreads its wings to expand into the Middle East and beyond. In this vein, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has stated publicly that Europeanization may not end in Cyprus, but extend into Israel to be welcomed even by the Israelis. (James Leigh, Stepping Stone to Mideast, February 2003.)
In 2005 PCG made a little article saying that if Peres returned to power he would "speed the sellout of Israel" by ceding land to the Palestinians.
In order to gain the needed support to avoid both the collapse of his government (which has already been subjected to three failed no-confidence motions) and the forcing of early elections, as well as to gain backing for his Gaza initiative, Sharon is seeking a coalition with the main opposition party, the center-left Labor led by Shimon Peres, along with some small religious factions. Though there is general consensus that Likud-Labor partnership would be limited in duration, any such relationship between Sharon and Peres will likely speed the sellout of Israel, as Peres is a strong proponent of ceding land to Israel’s enemies. (Political Chaos Eroding Will, January 2005.)
In 2006 Mark Jenkins notes that Shimon Peres was instrumental in starting the Oslo peace process. This is a major reason why PCG loath Peres so much. Imagine that: denouncing attempt to make peace.
On September 24 of 1995, Rabin signed Oslo II, agreeing to divide the West Bank into three zones, an act that would cost him his life. He was assassinated shortly thereafter, and replaced by Shimon Peres—one of the architects of the failing peace process. (Mark Jenkins, Middle East Peace Process: R.I.P. 1978-2006, April 2006.
In 2006 Ron Fraser wrote an article in which he labels Peres as "wily".
Military cooperation between Germany and Israel tracks back to the conclusion of secret accords between Franz Josef Strauss, Germany’s defense minister at the time, and his wily contemporary in Israel, Shimon Peres. Negotiations between the two began as far back as 1957. By 1962 they matured into a secret agreement for Germany to supply Israel with armaments and military training for the Israeli Defense Forces.

Foisted off onto the public as Germany’s obligation to “protect Israel” being its due penance for the Holocaust, German Middle East policy is in fact geared to achieving, by diplomacy, trade and military assistance, that which Rommel was denied in battle: the extension of German hegemony into the oil-rich Middle East. (Ron Fraser, On Jerusalem's Doorstep, November-December 2006.)
When Peres was appointed President of Israel PCG continued their denunciations of him.
“We have to get rid of the territories,” Israel’s new president, Shimon Peres, told AP last Sunday, referring to the West Bank.

He made the statement just hours before he was sworn into his office at the Knesset on July 15. Revealing a taste of what is to come of his seven years in office, Peres then said, “I won’t make any secrets of my mind. I shall respect the minority. I shall not insult them. I changed my position [to president]. I didn’t change my beliefs and concepts.”

After the Israeli public voted against him in the prime ministerial elections of 1977, 1981, 1988 and 1996, Peres now claims the office of voice of the people. Fortunately for him, the people did not get to vote. (Israel’s New President: “Get Rid of the Territories”, July 20, 2007.)
My word! The writer even brings up the 1977 election against Shimon Peres. PCG really do not like him.

Stephen Flurry wrote in a 2007 article that a slogan condemning Peres' plan to cede land to the Palestinians to gain peace caused him to lose control of the Labor Party to Ehud Barak.
Many Israeli commentators believe Olmert’s slogan (“Peres will divide Jerusalem”) is what catapulted Ehud Barak to leadership of the Labor Party in 1997. (Stephen Flurry, Israel's Last Stand, July 2007.)
The following month PCG produced a little article that cited Arutz Sheva accusing Peres of having "a long history of covert deal-making".
IsraelNN.com [Arutz Sheva] also commented on the publication of reports last week that Israeli President Shimon Peres has drafted a secret plan that would transfer to the pa “nearly the entire area of Judea and Samaria, along with several Arab-Israeli cities located within pre-1967 Israel.” Diplomatic sources have reportedly said Olmert is considering this plan.
“President Peres, Israel’s most veteran politician, has a long history of covert deal-making,” as IsraelNN.com [Arutz Sheva] points out. Peres helped negotiate the Oslo accords with Yasser Arafat in 1993, which resulted in the second intifada and full-scale retreat by Israel ever since. (Israel and Arabs Negotiate Over Temple Mount, August 21, 2007.)
(Shouldn't the title read "Israel and Palestinians Negotiate Over Temple Mount"?)

Such is PCG's disdain for Peres that in 2008 Gerald Flurry insinuated that Peres would lead the State of Israel into disaster. This implies that Peres would live to see the start of the Great Tribulation.
Today, Shimon Peres is the president of Israel, serving under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Mr. Peres is once again a key player in the “peace” negotiations. He was there at the beginning of the Oslo Accord, and it appears he will be there at the disastrous end. (Gerald Flurry, The Oslo Accord: Israel’s Death Knell, April 2008.)
Peres served his term as President and now another man is President of Israel. This "disastrous end" Flurry fear mongered about has not occurred. This is yet another failed prophecy which proves once again that God is not with PCG.

Later that year Stephen Flurry wrote that Peres had advocated dividing Jerusalem. In PCG dogma this is viewed as a terrible thing.
On Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres joined the list of high-profile Israelis who see the division of Jerusalem as inevitable. According to Arutz Sheva, “Peres said that there must be a separation between the Arabs of Jerusalem and the Jews, and that it must be in the form of a wall.” (Stephen Flurry, Iran: Filling the Power Void, August 1, 2008.)
In 2009 Fraser wrote a bizarre spiel insinuated that Peres would work in collusion with the Vatican to switch Israel's allegiance from America to Europe, but Europe will then betray Israel and conquer the Israeli Jews as slaves (and do the same to America and Britain). It is insinuated that the European Union is plotting to subvert Israel in the same way they (supposedly) subverted Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
What remains largely unknown is the secret deal done by current Israeli President Shimon Peres and the leftist peacenik, former Meretz party member Yossi Beilin, known widely as “Peres’s poodle.”

Six months after the signing of the bilateral agreement between Israel and the Vatican, on June 15, 1994, the Israeli government inked a further agreement with the Vatican endorsing the Roman Catholic Church’s participation in negotiations to determine the future of Jerusalem. This was followed in February 1996 by Secretary General of the Vatican Serge Sebastian announcing that Rome recognizes Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem. The Vatican had thus revealed its hand. From here Rome was to go on to actively work through its proxies in the “peace process” to exploit Palestinian claims as a means of splitting the city of Jerusalem asunder, seizing the Old City and possessing East Jerusalem. This involved the management of Palestinian aggression as part of the process, regardless of the suffering and loss of life that it would inevitably incur. This would in fact be a vital part of the initiative to take East Jerusalem by force in the event of the failure of diplomatic means. The same tactic had been instigated by Germany and Rome in the Balkan Peninsula to achieve a desired result with implicit UN agreement, with the Serbs becoming the pariah in the world’s view. This time, it’s the Jews who are being pilloried, in particular since the Gaza incursion, in the lead-up to a similar result as that in Kosovo: the seizure of iconic territory to be placed under the influence of Berlin and Rome with the willing acquiescence of the United Nations. (Ron Fraser, Vatican’s Hidden Jerusalem Agenda, March 16, 2009.)
In 2011 Ron Fraser wrote a bizarre little article saying that Israel and Germany's relations started "with Israel initiating contact with ... unrepentant Nazis".
Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, stated during the chancellor’s visit to Israel that “We are allies, Israel and Germany, and we have a great desire, on both sides, to strengthen our relationship and our bilateral cooperation. We also have the strong desire to advance peace and security in our region. Chancellor Merkel and I spoke at length about several ideas in this regard. We know that we are in a very stormy and unstable period, and we would like to advance stability, peace and security.” To which Chancellor Merkel replied, “We have similar values, which makes it very easy for us to cooperate” (JTA, January 31).

Yet, we would do well to remember just where all this collaboration between Israel and Germany started. It started with Israel initiating contact with those who were unrepentant Nazis, of that very group that Herbert Armstrong stated “went underground” toward the close of World War II, armed with their same imperialist dreams of world conquest. They emerged after the war—too often encouraged, aided and abetted by the U.S. and Britain—to build an infrastructure in Germany that would consummate in the fulfillment of their old Nazi dream of creating a world empire based on their national socialist model. (Ron Fraser, Israel’s Historic German Connection, February 16, 2011.)
In December 2012 PCG devoted a five minute video of The Trumpet Daily by Stephen Flurry to denounce a statement by President Peres that PCG viewed as too secular for PCG's taste.
Israeli President Shimon Peres recently said he believes the United Nations vote that upgraded the status of the Palestinian Authority means that Israel and the Palestinians must return to the negotiating table. In order for peace talks to resume, he said, Israel must “forget the past” and move forward. Peres said, “We are not going to deal with Abraham, our father and brother. It’s over.” (Stephen Flurry, Peres: 'We Have To Forget the Past', The Trumpet Daily, December 14, 2012.)
This segment was adapted into a little article for The Trumpet Weekly.
Wow. That’s dangerous, nation-destroying thinking. It was almost 2,000 years ago that Jerusalem was besieged by Gentile armies—and finally destroyed. But that couldn’t happen again today, could it? ... there is ... a widening divide among Israelis: one side wants to hold on to its history while the other side wants to let it go.

Many Israelis are turning their back on their heritage. ...

Israel’s enemies have always believed the Jews don’t belong in the Promised Land. By denying their past, many Jews are essentially saying the same thing. (Stephen Flurry, Peres: 'We Have To Forget the Past', The Trumpet Weekly, December 15, 2012, p. 4. [Link will prompt a download of that issue as a PDF file.])
So it is insinuated that Peres is an enemy of the State of Israel simply because his views about the State of Israel are not the same as PCG's.

In 2013 PCG produced a little article talking about President Peres giving a speech to the European Parliament calling upon the European Union to continue labeling Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
President Peres started his speech recalling his childhood as his family fled Europe in 1934. Then he recalled how, “in 1942, most of the inhabitants of my town were burned alive.” He pointed out that more Jews have been butchered in Europe in the past 100 years than in the previous 2,000.

Despite this history, the Israeli president stood in the heart of Europe asking for help. He went on to praise Europe for having “divorced its past” and having “converted the divided Europe of the last thousand years, to the unified Europe of today.”

These statements—and the fact that they are being made by an Israeli president before the European Parliament—resonate with prophetic significance. 
The little article then insists that Europe will conquer Iran and Israel and presents President Peres' speech as "filled with unintended irony."
Biblical prophecies go even further, providing several details that make President Peres’s speech all the more filled with unintended irony. Europe will step in and deal with Iran. The president may get what he wished for. However, the European powerhouse will not stop there. God says it will enter into the “glorious land” and turn on those who, at first, it appears to be helping (Daniel 11:41). That will be one of the greatest double crosses in history. When Israel goes to Europe for help, alarms should be sounding worldwide. (Israel Pleads With Europe for Help, March 17, 2013.)
And so this list of quotes come to an end.

So often PCG portray themselves as loving the State of Israel. But this affection is given selectively. No such affection is given to Shimon Peres.

One Israeli's View of the Agreement with Iran

So the Obama Administration has signed an agreement with Iran about its nuclear program. PCG would have us believe this agreement is terrible.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu opposed the agreement. PCG has cited his opposition to the agreement to insist that this agreement is terrible.

But what do Israelis think about this agreement? Not all of them voted for Netanyahu. What do those Israelis think about this agreement? Let us get out of the COG's information bubble.

The following is from Bradley Burston in Haaretz.
As complex and jargon-laden as the agreement is, evaluating it comes down to a simple question – who do you trust?

The document is asking us to trust on a level that we've seldom needed to summon. Like it or not, fight it or not, we are trusting this document, and its signatories, with our very lives.

Whom do I trust with the lives of my children? ...

I trust nuclear non-proliferation expert Aaron Stein, who told journalist Max Fisher that under the terms of the agreement, if Tehran tries to build a bomb, "the likelihood of getting caught is near 100 percent," meaning that the agreement "makes the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon in the next 25 years extremely remote."

I believe that Barack Obama is making the best effort that anyone is, to keep my family safe from the possibility of an Iranian nuclear weapon.

And what about Benjamin Netanyahu? Don't I trust him? Don't I trust him to keep us safe, to safeguard Israel's vital interests, to keep war at bay?

No. Not at all. Absolutely not.

"The attempt to change the rules of the game and include additional demands from Iran in the agreement, like recognizing Israel and halting the support for terror," Halevy wrote this week, "shows that Netanyahu has no interest in any agreement." (Bradley Burston, I live in Israel, in Iran's shadow. I voted for Obama. I'm glad I did., Haaretz, July 21, 2015.)
What a difference from what PCG would have us believe about this agreement.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

PCG Gives ISIL What They Want: PCG Calls Them "The Islamic State"

(Please note: Linking to an article does not imply endorsement.)

Now there is nothing wrong or judgmental to note that there is little that PCG's writers can do about Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys in Iraq and Syria (formerly known as Al Qaeda in Iraq). Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys (ISIL/ISIS) are a well armed terrorist group that has seized control of large parts of Sunni Iraq and Syria. They have done many terrible things. For instance making disgusting execution videos to scare people into conforming to their rule and to discourage and demoralize those who fight to liberate themselves from ISIL.

There is little PCG can do about these tragic events. They are only a small group of about 5000 members mainly based. They are even forbidden from serving in the armed forces. But what even those so far removed from these terrible events can do is to refuse to give this blood stained group any legitimacy. Currently ISIL call themselves the "Islamic State".

So it is clear that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys want to be call the "Islamic State". So let us not give them what they want. Let us not call them that.

And yet shamefully PCG's writers gives this justly infamous group what they want and constantly refers to them as "the Islamic State". PCG's writers have a policy of referring to them as "the Islamic State". This may be clearly seen when reading through issues of PCG's Trumpet Weekly.

Unfortunately PCG's leaders have a long history of fear mongering about Muslims and portraying them in the worst possible light. This policy by PCG's writers of referring to ISIL as "the Islamic State" seems to be part of this hostile attitude towards Muslims.

To call those power hungry murderers "the Islamic State" ignores the fact that the vast majority of Muslims have nothing to do with ISIL. Thousands of Muslims have and are continuing to fight ISIL in the struggle to liberate themselves from ISIL. The vast majority of those killed by ISIL are Muslims, whether Iraqis, Syrians or Kurds. Many of those would be disgusted to call that infamous blood stained group that killed them and their relatives and friends should be referred to as "Islamic". They know that ISIL exploits religion in order to gain power for themselves at the expense and misfortune of the people.

But for PCG's writers it is was not enough that only PCG's writers themselves called this infamous group "the Islamic State". Very often when citing an article made outside of PCG it is altered to say "the Islamic State" instead of an more bland acronym like "ISIS" or "ISIL".

The problem with this is that rhetoric such as this empowers ISIL. ISIL claims to be the true Muslims and all other Muslims are of a lesser sort unless they fight for Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and his lackeys. To those under the baneful influence of ISIL it will seem as though The Trumpet Weekly agrees that their claim to be the true Muslims is true.

By calling them "the Islamic State" this insinuates that they are true Muslims. ISIL can boast in their murderous propaganda that even non-Muslims "accurately" perceive that they are the true Muslims, which of course is complete nonsense.

Why would anyone thoughtlessly play into ISIL's hands like this? Such talk empowers ISIL. This gives them what they want. Instead of being just a viciously brutal insurgency that causes trouble, kills civilians and tries to usurp power calling this "the Islamic State" empowers them and grants legitimacy to ISIL's claim to be some sort of expression of the Islamic religion. In fact ISIL exploits religion in order to gain power for themselves.

It is shameful that PCG's writers have given ISIL this sick form of legitimacy.

What follows is a list of quotes from PCG's Trumpet Weekly with a few comparisons with the original articles cited in the issue.

Linking to an article does not imply endorsement.

(Please note: Links to Trumpet Weekly issues will prompt a download of the issue as a PDF file.)

July 5, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

At first PCG's writers tended to refer to it as "the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)" as the following quotes show.
On June 29, the first day of the Islamic month of Ramadan, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) declared its formation of a “caliphate” and consequently renamed itself the Islamic State, to indicate its new status. (Anthony Chibarirwe, ISIS Declaration of Caliphate: Strategy or Blunder?, July 3, 2014, p. 2.)
July 25, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

Later that month PCG's writers are still talking of "the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)".
These could be the words of a modern pope, patriarch or bishop lamenting the persecution of Christians in northern Iraq and Syria, the region now under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). (Richard Palmer, ISIS Attacks Christians in Mosul, p. 12.)
But soon after this PCG's leadership made the decision to refer to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys as "the Islamic State".

August 2, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

One of the first glimpses of this policy may be seen within this issue.

On page three of this issue an article from Middle East Eye is excerpted. Note where the text has been altered by PCG's writers.
According to the report, the Islamic State killed dozens of civilians and over 200 rebels from other factions during the same period. ... Meanwhile, Islamic State supporters on Twitter seem buoyed by recent advances they have claimed. One, whose handle is Ja’far, claimed on Tuesday that dozens of fighters from the Free Syrian Army had defected to [the Islamic State] during fighting in the town of Akhtarin in Aleppo governorate, far northern Syria near the border with Turkey. He claims that fighters from Jund al-Aqsa, another rebel group active in Syria’s war, have now joined [the Islamic State]. (Trumpet Weekly version, p. 3.)
Here is how the altered text reads in the original Middle East Eye article.
One, whose handle is Ja’far, claimed on Tuesday that dozens of fighters from the Free Syrian Army had defected to IS during fighting in the town of Akhtarin in Aleppo governorate, far northern Syria near the border with Turkey. He claims that fighters from Jund al-Aqsa, another rebel group active in Syria’s war, have now joined IS. (Middle East Eye, July 29, 2014.)
So we start to see PCG's writers beginning to adopt the practice of referring to ISIL as "the Islamic State", even altering non-PCG writings to enforce PCG's practice.

August 9, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

On page 4-5 of this issue is an article entitled, "Pope Calls for Action Against Islamic State". The original article is entitled "Pope appeals for international action to help Iraq’s persecuted Christians" (Catholic Herald).

However this policy had not yet hardened into a standard practice. On the same issue is an excerpt of a Fox News article entitled "ISIS Assault on Iraq's Largest Dam". At one point one of PCG's writers inserts "ISIS" to name those who follow Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
Residents told the Associated Press that [ISIS] had taken control of the Tigris River facility, but crack Kurdish troops guarding the site claim they repelled the attack, Agence France Presse reported. (Trumpet Weekly version, August 9, 2014 issue, p. 4.)
Here is how it was in the original Fox News article.
Residents told The Associated Press that the Islamic State (IS), the militant group formerly known as ISIS, had taken control of the Tigris River facility, but crack Kurdish troops guarding the site claim they repelled the attack, Agence France Press reported. (Fox News.)
So clearly among The Trumpet Weekly's writers there was still some inconsistency about how to name Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys. Any such ambiguity was gone by the next issue.

August 16, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

It is in this issue that PCG's decision to call those terrorists as "the Islamic State" is established. The transition is here complete.

Islamic State Supporters Hand Out Leaflets in London (Trumpet Weekly)

'The dawn of a new era has begun': ISIS supporters hand out leaflets in London's Oxford Street encouraging people to move to newly proclaimed Islamic State (Daily Mail)

August 22, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

It is in this issue that PCG's insistence on referring to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys as "the Islamic State" hardens to become standard practice for PCG's writers. They even altered numerous instances in which the original source had called them "ISIS" and changed it to say "the Islamic State".

This issue opens with an article by Timothy Oostendarp. Several times it refers to them as "the Islamic State".

During his Sunday blessing on August 10, “Pope Francis used unusually strong language to condemn the actions of [the Islamic State],” according to the Guardian (emphasis added throughout). ((Timothy Oostendarp, Where the Vatican’s Call for Military Intervention in Iraq Is Headed, p. 1.)

Several times Oostendarp refers to those terrorists as "the Islamic State".
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the president handling Eastern Catholic churches, in his August 7 statement published by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches thanked the pope for his “attentive closeness” to the developing situation and called the Islamic State’s actions “acts against God.” ... Giorgio Lingua, the pope’s ambassador to Baghdad, told Vatican Radio that United States President Barack Obama’s decision to bomb Islamic State militants was “something that had to be done.” ... In what could be a related response to Vatican efforts to generate a response to the Islamic State, Germany has also agreed “in principle” to send various armaments to Kurdish forces fighting the terrorist group. ... In recent months, the Islamic State has taken aim at both Europe and America ... As the butchering and pillaging in Iraq continues, and as the Islamic State’s threats against Europe grow, the Vatican will strengthen its own calls for action. ... In the future, expect Europe and Germany take the lead in dealing with the Islamic State’s threat. (Timothy Oostendarp, Where the Vatican’s Call for Military Intervention in Iraq Is Headed, p. 12.)
This policy is taken to an absurd degree when this issue reprints an article by Alan Dershowitz.

Here is The Trumpet Weekly version of an article by Alan Dershowitz. Why Condemn ISIS But Accept Hamas? (Trumpet Weekly)
President Barack Obama has rightfully condemned the ISIS beheading of American James Foley in the strongest terms. ... At the same time that President Obama has called for an all-out war against the “cancer” of [the Islamic State], ... I cannot imagine him urging Iraq, or any other Arab country, to accept [the Islamic State] as part of a unity government. ... Why then the double standard regarding [the Islamic State] and Hamas? Is it because Hamas is less brutal and violent than [the Islamic State]? ... Hamas has probably killed more civilians—through its suicide bombs, its murder of Palestinian Authority members, its rocket attacks and its terror tunnels—than [the Islamic State] has done. ... Is it the manner by which [the Islamic State] kills? ... Indeed most of [the Islamic State’s] victims have been shot rather than beheaded, ... Is it because [the Islamic State] murdered an American? ... Is it because [the Islamic State] has specifically threatened to bring its terrorism to American shores, while Hamas focuses its terrorism in Israel? ... Everything we rightly fear and despise from [the Islamic State] we should fear and despise from Hamas. Just as we would never grant legitimacy to [the Islamic State], we should not grant legitimacy to Hamas... (Trumpet Weekly version, p. 2.)
For comparison here is the original article by Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz refers to it as "ISIS" but numerous times this was altered by PCG's writers to say "[the Islamic State]".
At the same time that President Obama has called for an all-out war against the “cancer” of ISIS,  ... I cannot imagine him urging Iraq, or any other Arab country, to accept ISIS as part of a unity government. ... Why then the double standard regarding ISIS and Hamas? Is it because Hamas is less brutal and violent than ISIS? ...  Hamas has probably killed more civilians—through its suicide bombs, its murder of Palestinian Authority members, its rocket attacks and its terror tunnels—than ISIS has done. ... Is it the manner by which ISIS kills? ... Indeed most of ISIS’s victims have been shot rather than beheaded, ... Is it because ISIS murdered an American? ... Is it because ISIS has specifically threatened to bring its terrorism to American shores, while Hamas focuses its terrorism in Israel? ... Everything we rightly fear and despise from ISIS we should fear and despise from Hamas.  Just as we would never grant legitimacy to ISIS, we should not grant legitimacy to Hamas... (Alan Dershowitz, Why Does President Obama Condemn ISIS But Ask Israel to Accept Hamas in Unity Government?, Algemeiner.)
Later on this issue is the following article by Anthony Chibarirwe. Despite the article's brevity it is clearly seen how PCG refers to it as "the Islamic State".
In an execution video released on August 18, the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, threatened to “drown all [Americans] in blood,” if the United States continues its airstrikes in Iraq. ... Such threats from the Islamic State terrorists against America aren’t new. In a video interview posted on August 7, a spokesman for the Islamic State warned, ... The Islamic State’s history of belligerence and beheadings goes all the way back to its founder Abu Musab al Zarqawi. (Anthony Chibarirwe, The Islamic State Threatens the United States--Again, August 25, 2014, p. 3.)
Here is one paragraph from another article.
Nevertheless, it comes ever closer to home. In recent weeks the black flag of jihad as used by [the Islamic State] has been flown openly in London—supporters of Isis have appeared on Oxford Street—and elsewhere. Just this week, the imam of a leading Welsh mosque resigned after a pro-[Islamic State] guest preacher was invited to speak at his mosque. (Trumpet Weekly version, p. 9.)
Here is how the article read originally in the Spectator.
Nevertheless, it comes ever closer to home. In recent weeks the black flag of jihad as used by Isis has been flown openly in London — supporters of Isis have appeared on Oxford Street — and elsewhere. Just this week, the imam of a leading Welsh mosque resigned after a pro-Isis guest preacher was invited to speak at his mosque. (Douglas Murray, Spectator, August 20, 2014.)
Further examples of this policy by PCG may be seen in later issues.

September 6, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

Here Richard Palmer refers to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys as "the Islamic State".
In reality, the Nigerian soldiers probably fled—like Iraqi soldiers before the Islamic State. ... This could change. The group has links to al Qaeda, and some interpret the latest video to be a declaration of support to the Islamic State, and a pledge to join it. (Richard Palmer, Nigeria: Boko Haram Declares Caliphate, September 2, 2014, pp. 4-5.)
In one article taken from the Washington Examiner "ISIS" is replaced with "the Islamic State" five times.
“Inadequate grid security, a porous U.S.-Mexico border, and fragile transmission systems make the electric grid a target for [the Islamic State],” said Peter Pry, one of the nation’s leading experts on the grid. ... Pry provided details of recent attacks on electricity systems and said that [the Islamic State] could easily team with Mexican drug cartels to ravage America. ... “[The Islamic State] could hire one of the Mexican cartels, ... “I am not saying it is likely they will do so. But given the capabilities and objectives of [the Islamic State] and our obvious vulnerabilities, ... The Texas Department of Public Safety recently said they believe there is evidence that [the Islamic State] plans an attack. ... (Trumpet Weekly version, p. 10.)
Here is the original Washington Examiner version.
“Inadequate grid security, a porous U.S.-Mexico border, and fragile transmission systems make the electric grid a target for ISIS,” said Peter Pry, one of the nation’s leading experts on the grid. ... Pry provided details of recent attacks on electricity systems and said that ISIS could easily team with Mexican drug cartels to ravage America. ... “ISIS could hire one of the Mexican cartels, ... “I am not saying it is likely they will do so. But given the capabilities and objectives of ISIS and our obvious vulnerabilities, ... The Texas Department of Public Safety recently said they believe there is evidence that ISIS plans an attack. (Paul Bedard, New ISIS threat: America's electric grid; blackout could kill 9 of 10, Washington Examiner, September 3, 2014.)
(Please note: The article above cites Frank Gaffney, a man identified by the Center for American Progress as one of the main pillars of the Islamophobia Network.)

September 12, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue
“The ground campaign is what is going to defeat [the Islamic State] in the end,” ... We’re already seeing reports where U.S. strikes against [the Islamic State] are having the effect of bailing out Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist groups,”(Trumpet Weekly version, p. .)
In the original Washington Examiner version the two instances "the Islamic State" is used to replace "ISIS".
"The ground campaign is what is going to defeat ISIS in the end," ... "We're already seeing reports where U.S. strikes against ISIS are having the effect of bailing out Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist groups,"(Byron York, Five things that could go horribly wrong with Obama's action in Iraq, Washington Examiner, September 10, 2014.)
Not only does this policy give those accursed terrorists what they want, it is also longer than just saying "ISIS" or "ISIL".

September 26, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

Here is another example of a PCG writer referring to ISIL as "the Islamic State" and even altering a quote to say "the Islamic State".
Iran-P5+1 nuclear talks continue in New York, Iran may employ the latest lever that emerged in its negotiations tool kit: the Islamic State. ... But Kerry responded to questions raised by Sen. Marco Rubio at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on September 17 by insisting that he “never said anything about coordinating” with Iran or Syria. But, he said, “If we are failing and failing miserably, who knows what choice they might make” in an effort to “take on [the Islamic State].” ... The murkiness surrounding United States-Iran cooperation shows just how much leverage Iran can wield in nuclear negotiations when it comes to fighting the Islamic State. (Anthony Chibarirwe, Iran May Work With the U.S. Against Islamic State, September 24, 2014, p. 3.)
October 3, 2014 Trumpet Weekly Issue

Here are more examples of PCG's writers referring to ISIL as "Islamic State".
... the Islamic State’s rise in Iraq and Syria, ...  “For weeks the militia of [Islamic State] has been massacring innocent people in Iraq and Syria,” he [zu Guttenburg] wrote in Bild. (Brad MacDonald, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg: Positioned for a Comeback?, p. 1.)
Kerry’s response was, “[Islamic State] first. That’s our policy.” (Anthony Chibarirwe, Syria Is Ready To Explode, October 1, 2014, p. 2.)
Here another new article excerpted in this issue with "Islamic State" inserted in it by a writer for PCG.
“Unless someone very senior has been shredding the president’s daily briefings and telling him that the dog ate them, highly accurate predictions about [Islamic State] have been showing up in the Oval Office since before the 2012 election,” the Obama security staffer told the Daily Mail. (Obama Has Missed Over Half His Daily Intel Briefings, Breitbart News, September 29, 2014, p. 10.)
In the original article the altered text reads "ISIL".

And so this list of quotes come to an end.

It is sad that PCG's writers have chosen to refer to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys as "the Islamic State" which has the most unfortunate effect of empowering them in the eyes of those under their baneful influence. It is also insulting to the thousands of Muslims who have suffered and been killed by those power hungry murderers and terrorists. It is also insulting to the thousands of Muslims who are now on the front lines fighting to liberate themselves from the power hungry usurpers of ISIL.

Those of ISIL who murder people on film want to be call the "Islamic State".

Why give those power hungry murders of ISIL what they want?