PCG had $5 Million in Annual Income by 1996

The website of the Cult Awareness and Information Centre has an intriguing article about PCG dating from around 1996 at the earliest ("A Look at the Philadelphia Church of God" by Lori MacGregor with research by Chris Palmer).

It critiques PCG's doctrines and correctly notes that PCG teaches many things contrary from mainstream Christianity such as PCG's claim to be the only true church, the God Family doctrine, denial of the Trinity and the insistence that it is not possible to know that you have been saved until the resurrection.

Among other things it contains the statement that PCG claimed to have an annual income of $5 million by 1996.

Today, they claim their magazine is received in over 60,000 homes'. (TPT [The Philadelphia Trumpet] 1/96 p. 1). The work has spread to five international offices, with a claimed annual income of over five million dollars.

Later in a 2013 booklet Gerald Flurry would boast that PCG had an annual income of "around $19.5 million annually as of 2012." In a January 7, 2011 article PCG's Stephen Flurry boasted that PCG had an income of $20.6 million in 2010.

Here are some of the other enlightening quotes this article presents which reveals PCG's claim to exclusively have God's favor and its adulation for HWA.

"Only the Philadelphia Church of God is receiving new prophetic revelation from God today". (TPT, 3/95, p. 4). ... 

"...Mr. Armstrong is our primary connection to God in this end time!...Mr. Herbert Armstrong was that messenger who prepared the way for Christ's second coming." (TPT 7/94, p.11).

The article cites the following issues of PCG's recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet.

• March 1994.

• April 1994.

• May 1994.

• July 1994.

• August 1994.

• September-October 1994.

• March 1995.

• May 1995.

• January 1996.

Since PCG has not released the early issues of their recruitment magazine online to the public it is very rare to find information about the early issues of their recruitment magazine.

PCG Condemns "Pro-Muslim Demonstrators" in New York

PCG reveals their narrow parochialism once again with an article condemning protests in New York against the executive order restricting immigration from seven Muslim majority countries which was later overturned in court. (Sam Livingston, New York City Rings With Shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar’, February 21, 2017.)

PCG has a long history of scare mongering against Muslims. This article continues that tendency of theirs.

An Arabic prayer call just miles from the site of America’s worst terrorist attack.

It is called freedom of religion. Muslims are allowed to practice their religion in the United States like any other religion. They presently compose about 0.9% of the population.

Furthermore about twenty-eight of those who died in 9/11 were Muslims. It is wrong to blame 9/11 on Muslims in general. Rather it was a criminal conspiracy by Al Qaeda personnel who were willing to kill innocent people to gain power including Muslims.

Pro-Muslim demonstrators marched in the streets of New York City over the weekend to protest President Donald Trump’s travel ban on people coming from jihadist-funneling nations in the Middle East. Hundreds of people attended the Manhattan rally, which included a public prayer to Allah.

"Pro-Muslim demonstrators"? What a strange turn of phrase. It is as though he never conceived of people choosing not to bear the hostility and suspicion against Muslims that seems to be so common within PCG.

Also most jihadist movements like Al Qaeda and ISIL are not in power and consequently conspire clandestinely to seize power. To demonize entire nations as "jihadist-funneling nations" slurs the innocent with the guilty and is morally wrong.

The prayer opened with shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” a phrase typically shouted by Islamist terrorists before carrying out an attack. For 30 seconds, the downtown area of New York City—a metropolis considered to be a quintessentially American city—echoed with sounds one would expect to hear in Baghdad or Tehran.

It is shocking ignorance to claim that "Allahu akbar" is just a terrorist cry. What profound ignorance. Actually it is a phrase that is often used in everyday conversation.

For years, America has been fed the mantra by the liberal left that diversity makes us stronger. Sunday’s protest in New York was a product of that thinking. This was a Muslim rally with an American flag as the stage backdrop, a call to prayer in Arabic, and to top it off, the singing of the United States’ national anthem.

Even when Muslims sing the nation anthem as far as PCG's writers are condemned they are still menacing outsiders.

Livingston then appears to suggest that these religious prayers are an attempt to commemorate 9/11. The best that can be said about this section is that he is terribly vague here so he has, intentionally or not, given himself plausible deniability if anyone should try to hold him accountable.

In 2010, there was a highly controversial plan to build a mosque just two blocks from the site of Ground Zero, the site where Islamist jihadists murdered 2,753 people and where zero Muslims live. At the time, moderate Muslim Abdul Rahman al-Rashid wrote, “Some Muslims will consider that building a mosque on this site immortalizes and commemorates what was done by the terrorists who committed their crime in the name of Islam.” 

One doesn’t have to wonder too deeply how Sunday’s public appeal to Allah, just a few miles from that same site, will be perceived by many in the Muslim world.

He then implies that people of different cultures living together somehow weakens society. Note how he insists that he is merely relating (PCG's) God's position. What a way to evade responsibility. This is the author's opinion as well.

America, Britain and much of the West remain sold on the idea that blending cultures strengthens their nations and erases differences that divide countries. The God of the Bible, however, says this is a debilitating mistake. In Deuteronomy 7:16, God warned the ancient Israelites not to serve the gods of the surrounding nations, “for that will be a snare unto thee.”

What does Livingston want? For Muslims to be shunted into ghettos like Jews in medieval Europe? Does he imagine that if white Americans were to remove ethnic minorities from among themselves the nation would be stronger? That is a recipe for disaster. It is also illegal.

He then insists that multiculturalism is terribly dangerous.

America and Britain have a dangerous infatuation with multiculturalism that blinds them to some very serious dangers. But ultimately, God is more upset with the people of America and Britain for turning their backs on Him.

You know what's really dangerous? Trying to separate people using ill founded fears and paranoia.

What strange xenophobia is presented in this article. Yet more of the continuous and monotonous Islamophobia that PCG's authors so often use for their writings.

PCG's Praise for Far Right Politician, Geert Wilders

For a long time PCG's leaders have insisted that there will be a shift to the far right in Europe. It is insinuated that this rightward shift will prompt the transformation of Europe into a military power fated to conquer the United States. With the current instability in Europe this theme has been reused again by PCG's leaders.

In one recent article (Kieran Underwood, "Geert Wilders Predicts a ‘Patriotic Spring’ for Europe," February 19, 2017,) the right wing, anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders, is mentioned. PCG happens to lean to the right so they tend to be sympathetic towards Wilders as is clearly evident in this article.

Dutch politician Geert Wilders, hair slicked back and rhetoric at the ready, has said the coming March 15 election in the Netherlands is the start of a “patriotic spring” across Europe. After the Dutch elections, in which Wilders’s Party for Freedom (PVV) is predicted to pick up the largest number of seats, the French will vote in May, the Germans in September, and the Italians whenever they get around to it.

He is presented as  being increasingly popular.

Wilders has risen in popularity over the past decade. In 2008, his anti-Islam Fitna video put him on the international stage, and the subsequent death threats and assassination attempts failed to cage him.

It is very unfortunate that some chose to make death threats and attempt to assassinate him. That is wrong. That is deplorable.

Underwood sympathetically describes the far right audience that Wilders appeals to as "outsiders."

Previously Europe’s modus operandi has been to brand the outsiders as “racists,” or even better still, “fascists.” When that approach loses its sting, it’s time to bridge the ideological gap. As Germany’s Edmund Stoiber would say, you can’t let another party address the concerns of your conservative citizens.

He speculates that Wilders will get the most votes of any party but will still not be able to gain power.

If Wilders wins the greatest number of votes—and doesn’t receive the equivalent power—you can imagine the outrage. This seems the most likely outcome—Wilders gets the most votes, is excluded from power, and therefore sees his popularity soar even higher.

He openly states the sympathy that the PCG leadership have for him.

There’s much to like in Wilders’s determined stance against radical Islam. But he is part of a wave across Europe that contains many more extreme parties.

So often PCG presents itself as above the fray and above politics. But they actually lean far to the right so they view Wilders as like being like themselves. His denunciations of Islam is viewed by them as praiseworthy even though he happens to be Catholic.

PCG tends to portray Catholicism in a very bad light. PCG teaches that the final Pope will be a sinister miracle worker who will turn the European nation states into a military power fated to conquer the United States. Since they believe that the Europeans will conquer the United States and not the Muslim world shouldn't one expect PCG to be more worried about Europe than Muslim immigrants?

Meredith Hiding HWA's Dogmas Behind Quotations

One thing Roderick Meredith did in his booklets is to cite numerous scholarly works in a manner to support his positions even though most of them had nothing to do with Armstrongism.

In one booklet of his, Restoring Original Christianity (formerly titled Restoring Apostolic Christianity) he quotes the following sources. At first glance it would seem as though Meredith reached his conclusions after much study and research.

• Samuele Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath to Sunday, 1977.

• W. D. Davies, Judeo-christianisme, “Paul and Jewish Christianity,” 1972. 

• Will Durant, The Story of Civilization.

• Eusebius, The Life of Constantine.

• Søren Kirkegaard, Attack Upon Christendom, 1956. [Originally published in 1854-5.]

• Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

• Edward Gibbon, The Triumph of Christendom in the Roman Empire, 1958.

• Frederick C. Holmgren, “Preaching the Gospel Without Anti-Judaism,” Removing Anti-Judaism from the Pulpit, ed. Howard Clark Kee and Irvin J. Borowski, 1996.

• Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity, 1976.

• Rufus M. Jones, The Church’s Debt to Heretics, 1924.

• Los Angeles Times, July 23, 1999.

• John Romer, Testament: The Bible and History, 1988.

• Stern, Jewish New Testament, 1995

• Carl von Weiszäcker, The Apostolic Age of the Christian Church, 1895.

But Meredith was ordained a minister by HWA back in 1952 long before most of these works were written. Where did he get his ideas from?

What happened was that his uncle, C. Paul Meredith, started listening to a radio broadcast by one Herbert Armstrong back in the 1940s. In time he started listening to the radio broadcast as well. Both of them moved to the unaccredited Ambassador College to be taught by HWA and became ordained ministers of the Radio Church of God. Meredith chose to listen to HWA. His citing of these sources in this booklet obscure the real source of Meredith's views, namely HWA. But this fact is hidden behind these quotations of works made outside of Armstrongism.

Also Samuele Bacchiocchi was a Seventh Day Adventist and adhered to the same day taught in Armstrongism. That detail is not mentioned in this booklet.

BBC Hardtalk Interview with Iranian Academic

Considering how often the COGs talk about Iran maybe they should try listening to them in order to devise a knowledgeable response and rebuttal instead of just hiding in their information bubble and listening only to the media outlets they choose to trust and which somewhat aligns with some of their political views.

By chance I recently listened to an interview on BBC Hardtalk with Mohammad Marandi, an academic of the University of Tehran whose views are in line with the Iranian regime. Topics discussed include the wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and Iran's support for various factions in those wars, tensions with the United States over recent ballistic missile tests and the nature of the current system in Iran.

ICG's Mark Armstrong's Vilification of Immigration, "Moles" in the Government and Mocking Pope Francis as "the Little Twerp"

ICG's leader, Mark Armstrong, has had another weekly update (February 17, 2017).

Here he condemns the immigration of Muslims into Europe and the United States. He blames Pope Francis for supposedly encouraging this. He also complains that "moles" in various government agencies are plotting with the media to undermine President Trump.

Let's take a look.

There are gasps of disbelief that the 'two state solution may no longer be the goal of American foreign under the Trump administration. You're invited to compare Netanyahu's expressions and body language during his recent visit to the White House to any of his appearances during the Obama years. Oops, the "two state solution" may be out the window. No doubt the most humble, refugee-promoting pontiff will weigh in shortly with some haughty tripe. Can you imagine the shock and outrage that will be boiling up among the human rights experts at the UN? (Two days later...) You've got to see this quote from the Guardian (UK) under the headline, "Pope appears to back anti-Trump protests in letter condemning populism." Here it is, from the proud but humble socialist pontiff himself. As Christians and all people of good will, it is for us to live and act at this moment. It is a grave responsibility, since certain present realities, unless effectively dealt with, are capable of setting off processes of dehumanization which would then be hard to reverse (emphasis mine). Better get your "No human is illegal!" placard and head to the airport. The pope says it's your "Christian duty."

Mark Armstrong ridicules Pope Francis as a "little twerp," viciously stereotypes the refugees moving to Europe as a "wave of jihadis" and "angry Muslims".

He also accuses former President Obama of plotting to bring in Muslims to change the demography of the nation even though Muslims only constitute 0.9% of the population.

He also makes the ludicrously false accusation that there are "no go zones" in which non-Muslims are unable to enter. This is complete nonsense. It is a rumor that can be traced back to a claim by Daniel Pipes in 2006 while he was mistakenly talking about "sensitive urban zones" in France that has since become terribly widespread.

Maybe it's not nice to ridicule the little twerp, but he's the one who told Europeans, EU leaders and citizens at large, that it was their "Christian duty" to provide and care for the wave of jihadis that have undermined the relative tranquility Europe used to enjoy. Speaking of things that are "hard to reverse." How hard will it be to "reverse" what has happened to Europe, now that "no go" zones exist in every city, where the sheer numbers of angry Muslims make policing impossible? Is there any doubt that X-president Obama was in the middle of an attempt to alter mid-American demographics by importing thousands into rural areas, without the knowledge of Mayors, Governors or local citizens? No doubt the pope is heartbroken, as are the snowflakes among us, that their strategy may be drawing to a close. But they're doubling down. Now the pope is a community organizer too!

Mark Armstrong insists "that "no go" zones exist in every city" and yet he cannot be bothered to even name one "no go zone." Why is that? Where are these "no go zones"? It is time to face the truth. Rather there are no "no go zones." They are not in France, Sweden, Birmingham or anywhere else in Europe. It is a myth. It does not matter how many times this inflammatory claim is repeated. It is still nonsense.

Mark Armstrong condemns those who wish that refugees would be welcomed among themselves in Europe and the United States. He falsely equates Muslim immigrants and refugees as violent and sexually deprived even though such problems can be found among all peoples.

We've published plenty of Updates, and articles detailing not only the spectacular and gruesome terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of innocent people in the major cities, but also the crime wave of assaults and rapes of both sexes (including children), the crime ridden and riotous "refugee" zones that blight the Continent. That is what Europeans are living with as a result of Angela Merkel following the pope's logic about everyone's "Christian duty." The "refugees" are the ones who've brought "dehumanization" to the west, because a great many of them have behaved in ways that no civilized human would. For western nations, NOT to welcome them as permanent residents, citizens even, and provide their every need is dehumanizing them? As with nearly all the ardent social-justice campaigners, their own logic is impossibly convoluted. And, as with our own domestic mainstream media, the pope is playing to ignorance and emotion.

While Mark Armstrong ridicules the mainstream media for supposedly trying to get rid of President Trump he mocks them as "pouting poofters" negatively comparing them to homosexuals.

He also bizarrely states that a panelist on CNN "responded with a lisp". Why bring up something like that here? It is not proper. If he does not agree with his statements then there is no need to bring up his having a lisp.

One of CNN's anchors said to a panelist this week, "We've got four years of this to look forward to." The panelist responded with a lisp, "It's high time Congress opened up articles of impeachment before Trump does irreparable damage." Breaking News! The New York Times reports that Trump campaign officials were in constant contact with Russian government officials throughout the months leading up to the election. The mainstream media starts from the premise that "Russia hacked the election." Then they claim that Trump insiders were "in touch" with Russian contacts throughout the presidential campaign. CNN brought on a New York Times columnists to state that the "hacking of the election" was an attack on the United States on a par with Pearl Harbor or 9-11, and Trump was in on it. That's what they claim. If you watched at all this week, you'd be convinced that the Trump administration is in the midst of a crisis to dwarf Watergate, and impeachment is all but imminent. Those pouting poofters (pronounced "poofta," Australian vernacular for homos, thanks Murray) that dominate prime time haven't been this excited since early on election eve when they were certain Hillary would cruise to an easy victory. It's a crisis every ninety seconds!

He then claims that "intelligence agencies" and the Department of State are plotting against President Trump acting as "saboteurs."

From the apparent "leaks" that proclaim that Flynn did indeed discuss sanctions with the Russian Foreign Minister while Obama remained in the White House, illuminates the fact that intelligence agencies, along with the Department of State have been staffed with dedicated leftists who believe it's their moral duty to undermine the Trump administration, just like the pope is saying. The other example might be the fact that the U. S. Department of State rushed in more than a thousand "refugees" from countries covered by Trump's executive order banning any further influx from the listed failed countries, that have become sprawling terrorist training camps. How did that happen, since Trump's inauguration, and why is no one asking? It looks as though every department and agency of government may be teeming with political activists, planted there by the Obama administration, working diligently in concert with the mainstream media as saboteurs.

Even though Obama is no longer President he makes his readers fearful of him and present him as operating a "shadow government".

Obama's Organizing for Action and Organizing for America. reportedly flush with political donor monies, including plenty from anti-American financier George Soros, have opened two hundred fifty offices around the United States for the purpose of training "activists" to hijack town hall meetings and populate the demonstrations that have been all over the news. It's being called a "shadow government," and most of the media is treating it as if it represents majority opinion. The community agitator is still at it as he was during his own presidency, following the Saul Alinsky play book for a national transformation that he still hasn't given up on. Neither has the media, the universities, the sanctuary cities, or thousands of political hacks that still populate the alphabet soup of government agencies.

He condemns those opposed to President Trump's policies regarding deportations.

Wouldn't it be interesting to see the clips of Obama defenders claiming that his administration was deporting hundreds of thousands, as a defense to reporting on the executive orders conferring legal status on millions in the country illegally. Oh, yes, they did. The media wasn't disturbed in the least at the explanation of "record deportations" under the Obama administration. Never mind that the stories were false. Where were the demonstrations when the Obama administration was supposedly carrying out all those deportations, "breaking up families" and the like?  

They were apparently counting all those denied entry by agents at Border Stations, and calling them deportations while in fact Obama was conferring legal status on millions, illegally. Now that some hundreds of criminals and identity thieves have been detained for deportation, the sob stories are legion, and epic. Families are being broken up, they cry! Doors are being kicked in with Gestapo style tactics. "Juan and Marie," (Geraldo Rivera's fictitious maid and gardener) are the real targets of the heartless Trump administration, they claim.

He fearfully intones that his preferred President is in danger from seemingly everywhere in the government bureaucracy.

President Trump's press conference yesterday was unavoidable, given the media's constant drumbeat of crisis and a failing administration. If the moles posing as "career public servants" can't be identified and sacked from agencies ranging from the Justice Department, to the CIA, the FBI, the NSA and the State Department, then the new administration is, in effect, a house divided. As the Proverb states, that's one thing that would ultimately spell doom for all attempts to "reverse the damage" that may, in fact, be irreversible if the pope, the X-president, the UN and the legions of organized snowflakes should prevail. Who knew that fulfillment of our commission to WATCH could be so full of intrigue? 

Mark Armstrong sure loath immigration. He insists that those nation states that restrict immigration are prospering while those who are more lenient are suffering.

Israel is back on the map, for all the world to see. The European Union is in tremendous danger of collapse financially, socially and maybe politically, we'll see soon enough. And it's largely due to having followed the pope's "Christian duty" logic. As you know, those are the main players, and everything, but for Israel and hopefully the United States, is in free-fall. 

What misanthropic invective this weekly update is. Mark Armstrong is very lucky to live in a country that has not fallen apart into mass violence such as has happened since 2011 in Syria after the regime tried to violently suppress an initially peaceful protest movement. He never found himself in the position of needing help and choosing to move to another nation state to find safety and a better life. It is unlikely he will ever know what it is like to be vilified the way he vilifies immigrants.

Roderick Meredith has Terminal Cancer (Banned by HWA)

Banned by HWA has revealed that Roderick C. Meredith has terminal cancer. Due to his advanced age of eighty-six and the current state of the disease he has decided not to seek "extensive treatment" but to rely on God. Being about 86 years old it is not surprising that it seems as though he will soon pass away.

It is saddening to think that his family and friends are in distress at this development. Despite feeling compelled to move away from his organization I had hoped he would live for a long time to come but that now seems less likely.

Remembering the Apartheid Regime's Propaganda Efforts

Journalist Ron Nixon has released a fascinating book, Selling Apartheid: South Africa's Global Propaganda War, detailing the propaganda efforts and various strategies of the Apartheid regime in South Africa in trying to blunt widespread opposition to its racist policies towards the black majority. It an intriguing account of this aspect of the Apartheid regime. I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

One interesting account in the book notes that in the early 1970s officials in the Apartheid regime authorized a R280,000 survey in twenty countries to see how the world viewed South Africa. The twenty volume report revealed the widespread disgust that existed in the world at South Africa's racist apartheid policies.

Apartheid government officials knew that South Africa was not well liked in the world, but had no idea just how disliked they were.... 

[In the survey] South Africa ... was ranked as the most unpopular country in the world, except for Uganda, then ruled by the brutal dictator Idi Amin. The country was also less favorably regarded than the communist countries of the Soviet Union and China.... the report showed that apartheid was 'the one word that popped into people's minds most frequently when questioned about South Africa.' (pp. 51-2.)

That is the racist regime that HWA and his imitators chose to sympathize with. HWA and those with him generally chose to view the Apartheid regime in South Africa quite favorably. One example may be seen in the April 1977 issue of The Plain Truth (pp. 6-11, 34-5). No wonder HWA's WCG has been characterized as white supremacist.

How shameful it was that HWA's WCG chose to sympathize with such a regime. It was readily apparent to so many that Apartheid was wrong and the leaders of HWA's WCG somehow failed to see that.

Mark Armstrong Complains of Liberals and Muslim Immigrants Again

Intercontinental Church of God's leader, Mark Armstrong, has released another weekly update (February 10, 2017). Let's take a look.

It is an unfortunate fact that many Americans are unable to afford health insurance. But Mark Armstrong decides to ridicule the Affordable Care Act and presents it in a sensationalist manner as funding elective surgeries he views as somehow wrong.

It was also prior to the time that the State required us to pay for "health insurance" policies that include sex change operations, abortions and a host of services inapplicable to pretty much everybody with any traditional belief system considered religious. As every American knows, it is a mandate, required of every citizen. As for the hordes of foreigners thrust into our midst, they needn't worry too much about the government's mandate. They're all on the receiving end of it anyway. But, as all we American citizens know, the fine, or is it a tax, extracted from those of us who refuse to participate, also pays for all manner of elective nonsense, including various psychological therapies so much in demand post-election.

He then indulges in some Islamophobia and presents immigrants who happen to be Muslim as plotting to impose their own laws upon American society, a largely nonsensical stereotype often used in Islamophobic polemics.

Now, according to some of the lawsuits raining down on the new administration from organizations funded by George Soros, "religious liberty" now means that people wanting to enter the country, even from nations that have transformed into sprawling terrorist training centers, have a Constitutional "right" to come into the United States at the expense of citizens who've been robbed of their own rights and liberties by the government. It doesn't matter if their form of religion demands our transformation to the tenets of Islam, or the necessity that they give their lives to wipe out as many infidels as possible. It doesn't even matter if they hold Sharia (Muslim religious law) to be a higher authority than the Constitution that has been convoluted by activist judges to force them upon us. 

Holding Sharia dear means they may very well practice brutal female mutilation and believe fervently in their right to carry out "honor killings." Some of the most western-oriented, civilized Muslims living in the west do, in fact, hold open the possibility of "honor killing" for any female that "dishonors" the family. And it doesn't take much, by American standards, for that possibility to be triggered. If, for example, a girl or woman dares go out of the home escorted by someone other than a mother, father or brother, that could do it. If she's escorted by a male, not from her own family, or seen to be flirtatious in public, chances are she's as good as dead.

He then slurs Muslims in general as somehow being inclined to commit murder against female family members.

A recent documentary showing the relatively mild circumstances under which Muslim men serve time in Israeli prisons, pointed out that the majority were incarcerated for having carried out honor killings, whether on a sister or daughter. There's literally no cultural shame attached to such an act. In fact, it is respected by other family members and the community at large. The way they look at it, the girl had it coming and the family had no choice. 

Actually most of those "Muslim men" he mentions as being held in Israeli prisons are Palestinians. Many Palestinians are Christians. But he chooses to ignore such details to vilify Muslim men in general.

Mark Armstrong hysterically insist that liberals and Muslim immigrants (inaccurately stereotyped as extremists) are engaged in a plot to demographically overwhelm Americans like himself. What ridiculous, xenophobic nonsense this is.

Incredibly, U. S. policy over recent years has not only given them the "right" to stay in the United States at the expense of others who work for a living, but to bring in their extended families. Once the brothers, sisters and cousins are in the United States, they can begin bringing in their extended families. Domestic policies are actually assisting them in their goal to eventually overwhelm the indigenous population. One look at the fearful, crime-ridden situation in Europe will show you exactly where this is headed.

Actually Native Americans are the indigenous population of the United States.

Also American Muslims only compose 0.9% of the population. To imply that they could become the demographic majority is terribly inaccurate. How strange it is to say a community of 0.9%

He condemns the federal judge who stopped President Trump's recent executive order concerning people from seven Muslim majority countries. He also implies that refugees are not refugees and also condemn Black Lives Matter protesters.

Oddly enough, the liberal judge from Seattle who issued the emergency stay on immigration orders banning travelers from terrorist regions is himself involved in "refugee resettlement," and spouts bogus Black Lives Matter rhetoric in his court. How is it that Federal judges with all the reasoning ability of a protest mob, have the unilateral power to imperil the nation's security? 

He hysterically insists that he and his followers have been stripped of their religious liberty and lost it to Muslim immigrants (inaccurately stereotyped as extremists). Such talk leads to resent against a numerically small minority community that is only composed of about 0.9% of the population.

President Trump has promised that religious liberty, of the variety guaranteed Constitutionally, will be restored to the American citizenry. Presumably, we won't have to pay for elective surgeries for the mentally deranged at some point in the future. For now, however, we do. 

But our "religious liberty" has been, at least for the time being, transferred to those who would see us all convert to Islam or die. The unelected judges of the Ninth Circuit Court have spoken. We were told we'd be winning so often we'd tire of it. But Americans aren't winning. The election is over, the transition has taken place, and the nation is still hostage to unjust judges determined to force their own version of righteousness, along with untold thousands of hateful practitioners of a heathen religion, upon us all. 

And so we see that Mark Armstrong continues to condemn liberals and Muslim immigrants to his followers. Even implying that a community of 0.9% of the population is somehow plotting to become the majority population.

Listening to Garner Ted Armstrong

Recently I decided to listen to some of Garner Ted Armstrong's sermons.

In one sermon entitled "Who is the Antichrist?" he starts out by calmly stating that the New Testament never talks about a single individual called the Antichrist. He ridicules one author who wrote a book saying that Prince Charles is the Antichrist. Then he talks about the "false prophet" who is interpreted in Armstrongism to be the "final Pope," an assertion bound to stir up anti-Catholic hostility.

In one sermon entitled "Fervent Patriotism - is it the Same as Godliness?" he talks about the political situation shortly after 9/11 including the situation with Afghanistan. Although he states his support for the wave of patriotism that occurred in response to 9/11 he talks about how the United States is filled with things that (his) God hates. He also alludes to his military service during the Korean War.

In one sermon he gave in a Atlanta on April 22, 2000 he talked about the annual Sabbaths insisting that Christians are to observe them. Lack of knowledge regarding the Jewish holy days of Leviticus 23 is portrayed in a sensationalist manner as being suppressed by mainstream Christian churches.

HWA, Garner Ted Armstrong and the COGs in general have insisted that Christians are required to observe the holy days mentioned in Leviticus 23. This unusual teaching is contrary to what has been taught by the vast majority of Christians. While it is true that the first Christians were Jews when Christianity began to spread among non-Jews naturally the question arose: Did Gentile converts to Christianity need to become Jews to be a Christian? And one obligation for male Jews was to be circumcised which symbolized entering the Jewish community.

Very early on, even before the New Testament was written, it was decided that a non-Jewish convert to Christianity did not need to adopt the rituals and practices of Judaism to become a Christian. Hence why Gentile Christians were allowed to not be circumcised as Paul argued in Galatians and as was mentioned in Acts 15. Over time it came to be mutually agreed that Judaism and Christianity were two different religions so Christians do not need to observe the holy days of Leviticus 23.

The Jewish Holy Days were specific to the Jewish community back in Apostolic times. They are precious to Jews all over the world. It is most unfortunate that HWA and Garner Ted Armstrong have exploited these beautiful festivals to sow resentment, disillusionment and division within Christian churches. The Jewish community never gave permission for these distinguished festivals to be exploited in such a way. HWA culturally appropriated these Jewish festivals and twisted them into a weapon to discredit mainstream Christian churches and get tithes paying converts. That is a terrible misuse of these precious Jewish festivals.

Near the end of this sermon Garner Ted Armstrong fantasized about the power he and his followers would have as immortal God beings ruling over the world. He mentioned the Elián González custody case and fantasized that if he and his followers were immoral God beings that would easily resolve that case as well as casually overthrow the Castro regime as well. What hubris.

Why wait for Christ's return to have a positive influence on society? One might as well try to help out our troubled world now.

Glynn Washington on Life in WCG

Finally listened to Glynn Washington describing his early life being raised within WCG. His anecdotes regarding life in WCG is at the start of the broadcast in these broadcasts. Truly he is a great and gifted story teller. It is little wonder that his show, Snap Judgment, has done so well.

"...and the rest of the world are Muggles", Banned by HWA, February 1, 2011.

Glynn Washington - Son of Ham, Banned by HWA, July 19, 2011.

Day of Atonement, Banned by HWA, April 29, 2013.

The Missing Dimension In Sex, Banned by HWA, May 21, 2013.

Glynn Washington On "The Reunion", Banned by HWA, July 15, 2013.

PM Netanyahu Tried to Cut British Funding for Breaking the Silence

Recently Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met with British Prime Minister May. No doubt they had important and pressing issues to discuss. But somehow Prime Minister Netanyahu chose to use part of this important meeting to call on the British government to withdraw funding for Breaking the Silence, an NGO of IDF reservists which publicize what happens in the Palestinian territories. However according to a co-founder of Breaking the Silence the British government has not sent any such funding since 2011.

On Monday the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with his British counterpart, Theresa May. Among other things, he asked her to stop the UK government’s funding of the group I co-founded, Breaking the Silence, as well as other human rights organisations in Israel and Palestine. This is regardless of the fact that Breaking the Silence has not received funding from the British government since 2011. (The Guardian, February 8, 2017.)

PCG's Gerald Flurry Labels Trump as Modern Jeroboam

In 2013 Gerald Flurry proclaimed President Obama to be "another Antiochus." He has done this again with Trump labeling him as a modern day Jeroboam. He did this in his November 23, 2016 co-worker letter. Gerald Flurry named the Trump era as the "Jeroboam end." In promoting this new doctrine of his he has made a Key of David broadcast entitled "Who Is the Modern-Day Jeroboam?" (February 3, 2017.) Let us take a look at the transcript of this broadcast.

Flurry fearfully intones that there will be a modern-day Jeroboam. This alludes to Jeroboam who led the ten northern tribes to revolt against King Rehoboam after Solomon's death and set up two golden calves to prevent the people from worshiping in Jerusalem. Flurry also mentions Jeroboam II who was the fourteenth King of Israel and reigned during the time of Amos.

Flurry does not state who this modern day Jeroboam is in this broadcast but he later offers an article (unavailable online [Update: May 6. The article has since been made available online.]) that can be ordered by the viewer. However other sources tell us that he is talking about President Trump as may be seen in Banned by HWA, Exit and Support Network in the January 24, 2017 letter and the January 23, 2017 broadcast of Stephen Flurry's Trumpet Daily.)

Let us see what Gerald Flurry says in the transcript of this broadcast.

God prophesies of His last warning to Israel in the book of Amos, and He aims it specifically at two nations, the two birthright nations, and that’s all explained in our book on The United States and Britain in Prophecy. God says, though that, in this context that there’s one last WARNING that He’s going to give, and it’s going to be in the timeframe of a modern-day Jeroboam. It’s going to be in that TIME. (p. 1. Emphases in original throughout.)

He insists that this modern day Jeroboam is vitally important in (PCG's interpretation of) Bible prophecy.

So it’s pretty mind-sobering when you think about it, that if you look at these end-time prophecies God talks about INDIVIDUALS. He names NAMES just repeatedly, and we need to understand those names and the role those men play if we’re going to understand these end-time prophecies. It’s ESSENTIAL that we understand these individuals. So this last timeframe is just FILLED with Jeroboam. You could say it’s a JEROBOAM timeframe or a JEROBOAM end. (p. 1.)

It is all about the modern day Jeroboam according to Flurry.

You can see that in this Jeroboam-end it all revolves around HIM, and that’s why it’s so essential that we understand who he is. But who IS this man? (p. 2.)

He mentions a priest of Bethel named Amaziah mentioned in the Book of Amos who opposed Amos and went to King Jeroboam II to work against Amos. Back in the early 1990s Gerald Flurry wrote a booklet entitled The Lion Has Roared which scare mongered that Tkach's WCG would conspire with American authorities to somehow suppress PCG. (Of course that never happened.) But this idea of governmental suppression seems to be getting reused and adapted to suit modern circumstances.

So here is this priest that is talking to Jeroboam, which tells you that Jeroboam has a religious following in this end-time. This end-time Jeroboam has a RELIGIOUS following, and he’s leading them in a way that they should not be led. THAT’S the problem! (p. 2.)

According to Stephen Flurry in his January 23, 2017 broadcast Gerald Flurry's co-worker letter mentioned the support Trump gained from religiously inclined Protestants and Catholics. Possibly this insinuates that Evangelicals and Catholics will soon conspire with President Trump to somehow suppress PCG. (Actually most of them have in all likelihood never heard of PCG.)

Apparently this modern day Jeroboam (Trump) is leading Americans away from (PCG's) God.

But anyhow, we can go on to prove that to you. If you look at I Kings 12, and I want to just to read a few verses there, you can see that this modern-day Jeroboam is committing the same sin that the ANCIENT Jeroboam did. There was more than one, but they all had the same spirit and did the same evil deeds. But the ancient Jeroboam turned Israel away from the message of God and the throne of David, turned them away from the throne of David. Now, that sin is being committed in this end time, as well. Why does God use Jeroboam as the last warning to the nations of Israel? (p. 3.)

Even though he insists that this modern day Jeroboam will be bad for his viewers he does not reveal who he is but instead directs the viewer to order a new article that has been produced.

Well, we have this special reprint article we’ve planned and created just for this very program that will explain all of this to you about who IS Jeroboam, and what do you need to know about him. And God DOES reveal a LOT about him in this modern-day endtime Jeroboam. And I’m telling you, the original Jeroboam committed a great sin and the modern-day Jeroboam is committing the very identical sin again, and it’s been going on for a long, long time, hundreds and even thousands of years. (p. 3.)

Trump is somehow doing what the ancient Jeroboam did.

Now, today a modern-day Jeroboam is causing other religions to make serious mistakes, and other Christians, and it’s just really simple to see that it’s going the same way it did ANCIENTLY, only on a higher level in many ways. (p. 4.)

Flurry then talks about "the key of David" which in PCG's jargon is a reference to the God Family doctrine. Other churches are condemned for not teaching this doctrine. However many COG groups also teach the God family doctrine to this day. They do not tend to use the phrase "key of David" regarding that doctrine but it is the same idea.

And He’s inviting those firstfruits to share that throne with Him if they’ll be loyal to Him and teach the key of David message, the house of David message! Then He’s going to give them the reward of being His Bride for all eternity, an unparalleled offering to any human being! What a reward that God gives the people who are loyal to Him! (p. 6.)

Flurry teaches that those who are transformed into God beings at Christ's return are "Christ's bride," the "firstfruits,"an elite group within the God family into which it will not be possible for anyone else to be admitted into after Christ's return. It is taught that for all eternity the God beings of this elite rank will be of a higher rank over all others who will later be born into the God family.

It is very unfortunate that Gerald Flurry has decided to try and squelch any hope his followers had that things will improve by denouncing Trump in such a ludicrous and bizarre way. But PCG are but false prophets. Their words will never come to pass. There is no need to fear their dire proclamations.

PCG Offended at Words from Chancellor Merkel

Ever since the 1930s HWA and his imitators have insisted that some sinister power in Europe is fated to conquer the United States and take Americans as slaves back with them to Europe. PCG have taught this ludicrous idea as well. But even though they have long insisted that such a terrible thing is fated to soon occur when Chancellor Merkel gave a statement concerning Trump's election as president that was not quite what PCG's leaders liked they moaned about it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s de facto leader, offered only conditional cooperation with the new U.S. president. She listed values that she said bind Germany and America together: “democracy, freedom, respect for the law and for human dignity, regardless of ancestry, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political leanings. On the basis of these values, I offer the future president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, close cooperation.” 

Since the end of World War II, the U.S. has been responsible for rebuilding Germany, protecting Germany—even reunifying Germany. Yet now Germany’s leader offers only tepid conditional support for an incoming U.S. president! (Stephen Flurry and Richard Palmer, America’s Election and Europe’s New Order, January 2017.)

So PCG has been saying for decades that Germany will soon conquer the United States and yet they get annoyed when the Chancellor makes a statement that is not quite as supportive as they like.

If Germany is supposedly destined to soon conquer the United States then why would PCG's leaders get offended that the German Chancellor was not as supportive towards then president elect Trump as much as they wanted? Shouldn't they be more worried about other things?

They say Germany will soon conquer the United States but at the same time they seem to expect Germany to so supportive towards the United States. What a glaring contradiction.

(Also it is worth repeating that PCG's dire predictions will not come to pass.)

Mark Armstrong Denounces Media and Liberals to Defend Trump

Mark Armstrong has another weekly update posted (February 3, 2017). Once again he delivers more of the same bitter polemic against the media, liberals and Muslims simplistically stereotyped as Al Qaeda like extremists, a tendency of thought which is often named Islamophobia.

He denounces the media for making too much about tensions between the United States and Mexico.

You'd think we were on the brink of a thermo-nuclear exchange with every nation on earth.  First there was the canceled visit with the President of Mexico.  The media treated it as if it was the end of cooperation between the United States and one of its most important trading partners.  Of course the dust-up didn't amount to much more than Nieto Pena having to look like he was holding his own in the face of Trump's promise to build a wall that Mexico will pay for, one way or the other.

He talks about the recent executive order but seemingly brings it up mainly to lambaste protesters opposed to it and even slur them as uncaring towards the victims of violence by Al Qaeda like extremists,

Then there is the dreaded Muslim Ban!  Airports were overrun with rent-a-mob protesters within hours of the announcement that "extreme vetting" was being introduced for travelers from some of the world's most dangerous, terrorist regions.  That, critics claim, violates the Constitution and is un-American!  How dare Customs and Immigration agents inconvenience travelers who raise suspicions as to their loyalties and intentions?  At this point, one wouldn't dare mention the "inconvenience" suffered by Americans who have been slaughtered by immigrants, refugees, or their children.  How about the dead and wounded from the San Bernardino Christmas party slaughter?  It would have been a crying shame if the murderous Muslim and his jihadist bride had been inconvenienced at the airport when the entered, wouldn't it?  Where was Chuck Shumer's blubbering then?

He promotes fear of the media by insinuating that the media is not telling the full story about anti-Trump protesters. Making people mistrust the media has the effect of making harder for such people to notice information which will contradict what this individual happens to say. (In this paragraph he links to the demagogue, Pamela Geller.)

Have you noticed?  The news reports only cut to close-ups of the protesters for two seconds or less, barely time to have a look at who those people might be.  They showed dozens of Muslim men at the baggage claim at DFW airport, lined up in rows and high in the behind after someone announced the "call to prayer."  President Obama once called it "the most beautiful sound on earth," but somehow people might not hear it that way, echoing though airport corridors.  It seems that an airport would be the last place you'd want to be subjected to any display of Muslim religious fervor. 

The possibility that these protests represent widespread dissent from White House policy is ignored by Mark Armstrong who instead blames a certain billionaire, He also slurs the protesters as sympathetic towards illegal immigrants and Al Qaeda like terrorists

The massive protests we're seeing undoubtedly come from the compiled databases of far-left organizations, nearly all of which seem to be funded by the infamous George Soros.  And oh, are they ever righteous and compassionate.  Well, they're compassionate toward illegal aliens and Muslims from terrorist regions at least, assuming they have capacity for rational thought.  For some reason their compassion doesn't seem to extend to all the families of lost or maimed loved ones in tens of thousands of immigrant crimes or the infamous terrorist attacks, where one zealot takes out forty or fifty at a time.  Where were all protesters when athletes and spectators were blown to shreds in Boston, or San Bernardino, or Orlando, or Ohio State University?  It would seem that their "inconveniences" went far beyond the relative handful from violent regions detained and questioned at airports. 

He then condemns protests in Berkeley and New York as stifling free speech; the phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball. (He blames the media for that.) .

Then he talks about Iran and, although stating reluctance at going to war with that large and highly populated nation of about 77 million people, states that the United States should have gone to war with Iran ten years ago.

Now we're off to Iran, which fired off a couple of mid-range ballistic missiles this week that may be nuclear capable.  He's risking war with those long-suffering zealots who have no agenda other than self defense, they tell us.  Hopefully it won't mean war, but if it does, it's one that should have been undertaken about a decade ago.

He then talks about Europe and he ridicules Europe as cowering under "the pope's skirts" appealing to anti-Catholicism and subtle sexism. He also mocks Europeans as being "green, gay and open-borders" thus ridiculing those conscious of environmental issues, appealing for anti-homosexual hostility and xenophobia against certain immigrants.

It's interesting to see European leaders come down with a case from the spreading epidemic of vapors over the insensitivity of the new American President.  They appear to be gathering themselves up in the pope's skirts over this hateful, anti-Christian idea that many would-be refugees may not be fit for settlement in polite society.  Is this what may ultimately drive a wedge between Europe and the United States?  How green, gay and open-borders have European citizens actually become in the wake of recent events?

He praises the Trump Administration as delaying or possibly even stopping "the steady descent into politically correct socialism". He boasts that the leadership of his COG group foresaw how the opposition against Trump. (In this paragraph he links to an article from Vox.)

We warned that the ride would be anything but smooth.  Hardly an hour goes by without another manufactured crisis that threatens to upset the international order, or worse yet, unnerve foreign leaders.  Now we see that the steady descent into politically correct socialism has been delayed if not permanently interrupted.  As you've seen this week, saying things that rattle the cages of those who insist that all the important debates are settled, can result in lunatic behavior.

He ends his weekly update by once again slurring people he does not like as sympathetic towards Al Qaeda like extremists and inciting hostility against homosexuals.

But that's what we've been doing all along!  Suggesting that God has any power or control over any matter on earth would drive the heartfelt homosexuals on national TV out of their minds.  They can only pity and lampoon anyone who doesn't share their righteous empathy for people weaned on the ideology of a death cult, and to whom death, vengeance and "honor killings"  define their way of life.  It's a safe bet that these are not the "poor" the Bible instructs Christians to assist.  

And so Mark Armstrong delivers more of the same for his followers. Even though his preferred candidate won the presidency he still complains and even viciously slurs liberals as being sympathetic to Al Qaeda like extremists.