Overview of the April 2016 Issue of PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet

The latest issue of PCG's recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet, is now out.

Let us see what they have to say.

The cover is bizarrely misogynistic with pictures of Justices Kagan and Sotomayor in between a vacant seat symbolizing the recent death of Justice Scalia. There are several liberal judges in the Supreme Court. Why did the designer just happen to choose two female judges to be placed in this cover?

It claims a circulation of 285,193.

Gerald Flurry has an editorial article condemning the agreement with Iran regarding nuclear technology. It is hysterically denounced as "The Worst Foreign-Policy Blunder in American History." In 1994 Gerald Flurry proclaimed Iran to be the King of the South. If there is peace between the United States and Iran this will discredit his claim to be "That Prophet" in the eyes of his followers. So Gerald Flurry really wants this agreement to fail.

Stephen Flurry has an article praising the recently deceased Justice Anotonin Scalia and scare mongering that a liberal judge might replace him. Stephen Flurry seems to insinuate that President Obama is racist.

Just look at the president’s last appointee, Sonia Sotomayor. When he nominated her after the retirement of Justice David Souter in 2009, President Obama said he wanted to install a judge who exercises “empathy” for certain groups. He specifically said he’d like to see someone with a “heart” for the poor, someone who would judge according to the special needs of the downtrodden.
That may sound compassionate and wonderful. But when judges begin favoring one group over another in how they apply the law, that is not justice! (pp. 7, 21.)

Dennis Leap has an article scare mongering about genetically modified humans.

Robert Morley has an article scare mongering that financial elites are plotting to abolish cash in order to intrusively monitor financial transactions.

Richard Palmer (he who minimized the Srebrenica Massacre as merely a "crime of passion") has an article scare mongering that Europe will soon create its own nuclear arsenal.

Jeremiah Jacques (he who made a "joking" Tweet about a Palestinian's body being desecrated with bacon) has an article about how momentous things can be done with seemingly unimportant acts.

Gerald Flurry has an article talking about King Hezekiah and the recently discovered seal of his. He even boasts that PCG's unaccredited Herbert W. Armstrong College was mentioned by name in reports by Haaretz and Arutz Sheva obscuring the fact that most media reports did not directly mention PCG's participation in the archaeological excavations. Arutz Sheva is a far right Israeli media outlet that caters for national religious Israeli Jews and is closely associated with the settlers in the West Bank. It is headquartered in Beit El, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

In this article Gerald Flurry also asserts falsely that Germans are Assyrians and insists some catastrophe more terrible than the Holocaust will soon occur.

To understand how terrifying the Assyrian army must have been to the Jews, think about the modern descendants of the Assyrians under Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s goal was to exterminate every Jew in Europe and eventually the world. His fanatical anti-Semitism stemmed from his hatred for God! God entrusted the Jews with preserving His oracles and the Hebrew calendar, so Satan used Hitler to try to wipe them out. Hitler nearly succeeded, killing 6 million Jews in concentration camps and causing the deaths of 60 million people total in World War II. [PCG's interpretation of ] The Bible prophesies the Assyrian war machine will be far more destructive the next time around. We can see that prophecy borne out in the proliferation and scale of the advanced weaponry that exists today. (p. 17.)

Careful, Flurry. Many Israeli Jews do not like bizarre speculations that another Holocaust will soon occur.

The Infographic mentions archaeological artifacts that mention King Hezekiah.

Andrew Müller the neo-McCarthyite has an article scare mongering that federal authorities will take over the role of local police forces. Bizarrely accusations of racism within local police forces are portrayed as excuses exploited as a pretext instead of a reaction to instances of violence against African Americans.

In the near future, tensions between armed militia members and federal law enforcement officers are likely to grow much worse. As the Trumpet has reported repeatedly, executive overreach is a serious problem in America’s government today. The Obama administration is trying to use accusations of racism against local police and the threat of militia standoffs against federal police as excuses to centralize all policing authority, thus taking more power to itself. (p. 23.)

Gerald Flurry has an article fear mongering that Europe will soon unite. He cites Charlemagne asserting that an empire similar to his will soon be established in Europe. The COGs have taught for decades that Europe will unite as a military power and conquer the United States. Never mind that Charlemagne created his empire by military conquest while the European Union was created through peaceful negotiations.

Richard Palmer has an article fear mongering that Europe's bailout has been very badly enacted. The ongoing euro crisis is exploited to insinuate that soon Europe will unite as a military juggernaut fated to conquer the United States.

Joel Hilliker has a little article calling upon people to live up to their word.

Abraham Blondeau has an article which exploits the memory of the 1880 novel Ben-Hur to denigrate and belittle African American protests against police brutality. It is revealing how obsessed PCG is about African American protesters that a PCG writer should try to talk about Ben-Hur but ends up belittling and condemning African American protesters.

Following the North’s victory, the nation was still deeply divided. North and South were two distinct societies. The slaves were free, but no one knew how to integrate them into society. The controversial and disastrous policy of Reconstruction was running its course, deepening the wounds of the war. (p. 35.)

What actually happened was that some bigoted individuals within the white majority refused to treat African Americans as equals. Some of them even founded the Ku Klux Klan partly in order to wage a campaign of violence to intimidate and coerce African Americans into a subordinate position in society. So determined were they to deny equality to the recently freed slaves. Unfortunately those people were able to impose racial segregation upon African Americans. We must make sure that such things never happen again.

World Watch talks about Pope Francis' apology for the persecution of Protestants; Iran boasting about the brief capture of US personnel; fear mongers about the usurpers and murderers of ISIL trying to infiltrate into Libya; fear mongers that Iran is making contact with some group of Palestinians in Gaza who call themselves the Patient Ones as a substitute for Hamas; mentions a statement from a NATO official asserting that Russian airstrikes in Syria are strengthening ISIL's position by causing the anti-Assad rebels to rally against the Assad regime's forces; scare mongers about the Zika epidemic; scare mongers against some bank established by China; and scare mongers about a stealth jet developed by Japan. (PCG has a long history of demonizing Japan.)

Society Watch vilifies Otherkin as part of their demonization of transgender people and scare mongers that women will soon be drafted into the US military.

There are letters. Some discuss the refugee crisis. Here is one letter from a person who has clearly been heavily influenced by PCG. It is quite likely this person is a PCG member.

You truly feel for the people of Germany—being told to leave if they don’t like the current policies on immigration.... But Merkel, I feel, understands global politics very well and is fueling this fire on purpose—not some true belief in helping refugees. She knows she did her part and is creating the situation to step out of the way for her replacement.

Since 2009 PCG has constantly insinuated that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenburg "might" be the European dictator fated to conquer the United States. When he was dismissed from the government in 2011 PCG continued to "watch" him. PCG has often insinuated that Chancellor Merkel is fated to be replaced. Clearly this person deeply believes this dogma of PCG's.

Here's one letter from Australia accusing refugees of not wanting to integrate. There seems to be no sympathy in this letter that many of these refugees have endured many problems.

The more this is reported on, the easier it is to see why the Germans will call for a strongman. Who wants to be led by people who live with their head in the clouds, trying to pacify the public with lies about integration? They don’t want to integrate and assimilate. They just want to enforce their ways and laws on the rest of the world.

Here's one letter praising an article by Gerald Flurry that accused President Obama of hating the Jews and portrays him as a modern day Antiochus Epiphanes comparing him with he who defiled the Temple in Jerusalem as he has done since 2013. 

Thank you for such an enlightening article.... Excellent research and statement of historical facts.

It is true that President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu do not get along with each other very well but that is only one aspect of relations between the United States and the State of Israel. If President Obama hates the Jews he has a rather strange way of showing that with the financial aid that is sent to the State of Israel.

Here is another letter which is from California praising Gerald Flurry's bizarre article which accuses President Obama of hating the Jews and this person calls President Obama "an Antiochus." Clearly this person is quite familiar with PCG's dogmas. Very likely this person is a PCG member.

What do words mean without deeds to reinforce them? You had better be afraid when people start believing the words of an Antiochus.

Indeed let us look at the actions of the US government under President Obama. The US government under President Obama supplies 20% of the State of Israel's military expenditure. The US government under President Obama sends the equivalent of $10.2 million in (mainly) military aid to the State of Israel per day.

But PCG loathes President Obama so these facts will not mentioned by PCG. PCG's readers are not being informed about these pertinent facts.

And so we see that once again PCG has produced a magazine issue designed to persuade people that PCG understands what is "really happening" in the world but this magazine's true purpose is to persuade people to join PCG and make people pay three tithes and extra offerings to PCG.