Praising Israel Before World War III: Overview of the September 2019 Issue of PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet

Let's take a look at the September 2019 issue of PCG's recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet.

The editors of this issue are  Gerald Flurry, Stephen Flurry, Joel Hilliker, Brad Macdonald, Richard Palmer, Jeremiah Jacques, Dennis Leap and Phillip Nice.

This issue had a circulation of 251,694 issues.

Gerald Flurry has a personal article talking about Jerusalem. It is taught by PCG and the other Armstrongite groups that after Christ's return all the world will be united under one government led by Christ headquartered in Jerusalem. Flurry talks about focusing on what Jerusalem will be like after Christ returns. In the article Flurry uses the word vision 36 times. In other words he is calling upon readers and PCG members to be enthusiastic in believing PCG's dogmas.

Christopher Eames has an article discussing an recent alleged discovery of Ziglag, a city which in the Bible was associated with David before he ascended to the throne, at Khirbet al-Ra'i.

Brad Macdonald has an article insisting that the State of Israel will enjoy a temporary revival for leaning to the political right. After Trump ascended to the presidency the PCG leadership has been boasting that President Trump is leading a temporary revival. PCG's 1% are so happy that a Republican is in the White House.

Richard Palmer has an article decrying anti-Semitic bigotry against Jews. While it is certainly good to combat anti-Semitism it is worth mentioning that PCG has some troubling teachings regarding Jews. Traditionally Jews have long feared attempts to make them convert to Christianity. Most Jews consider conversion to Christianity to be a renunciation of one's Jewish identity. But buried within the intricacies of PCG's teachings it is assumed that most Jews will eventually convert to PCG's religion if they happen to live after Christ returns or after a resurrection. Or else.

It is taught in PCG and other Armstrongite groups that God is not trying to convert the vast majority of humanity today. In their teaching most people have been supernaturally blinded by God and left unable to comprehend and believe in Armstrongite teachings. God will not give them a chance to be saved until after Christ returns. After the thousand year reign of Christ on Earth those who had been blinded by God before the Second Coming will be resurrected in an event the Armstrongites call the Great White Throne Judgment. Then they will either convert to PCG's religion and worship Christ or they shall be cast into Armstrongite hell. It is assumed that the divinity of God the Father, Christ and the other God beings predicted to exist by that time will make conversion an easy and happy choice. In Armstrongism it is taught that those who are not saved will be cast into the Lake of Fire and will be annihilated. Those people will have no afterlife after that. Any Jewish person who wishes to maintain his or her religion and not worship Christ or any of the other Armstrongite God beings are doomed to the Lake of Fire in this teaching. Armstrongism pushed the issue of hell to after the Second Coming for non-members but the issue is still there.

It is worth noting that PCG has been producing writings in Hebrew seeking to preach to a predominantly Jewish audience within the Holy Land.

Palmer's article also features a graphic photo of a mass grave at Mauthausen in 1945 on page 13.

Richard Palmer and Daniel Di Santo have an article scare mongering that continental Europe is able to get the resources they need by trading with Africa and Latin America. The fact that the United States has armed forces in continental Europe in fulfillment of their duties as part of the NATO alliance is blissfully ignored in this dogma.

The Infographic props up the article above.

Brad Macdonald has an article telling Americans to be scared of Germany because, he insists, the Germans are the descendants of the ancient Assyrians who conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel. But Macdonald and the other Armstrongites are wrong. The Germans are not descended from the Assyrians. The DNA evidence proves they are not related by descent. Therefore any prophecy that assumes Germans to be descended from the Assyrians is bound to fail.

In this article Macdonald indulges in one again scare mongering about Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. For years now the PCG leadership has often speculated that he is destined to be the military leader fated to lead a German led European Empire to conquer the United States and take Americans as slaves back to Europe.

Who is this modern Tiglath-Pileser III? We can’t say for certain, but for more than 12 years now we have considered former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg a potential candidate. Guttenberg has all the ingredients; he is aristocratic, rich and powerful. He has charisma and communicates with conviction, candor and power. Guttenberg isn’t popular with Germany’s elites or the mainstream media, but many regular Germans adore him. Watch Guttenberg: He could be Germany’s end-time Tiglath-Pileser III! (p. 23.)

Gerald Flurry has an article calling upon his readers to get to know God. However PCG insists that one can only know God by joining PCG. And one of the requirements for PCG members is to pay three tithes to PCG. That is how PCG managed to get an income of about $19.5 million in 2012.

Jeremiah Jacques has an article discussing the mass protest movement in Hong Kong. This anxious event is unfortunately used to indulge in some scare mongering about "Gentile rule" after the fall of the British Empire.

In Hong Kong, the effects of the transition from Israelite rule to Gentile rule are on display in microcosm. No one argues that British imperialism was perfect; it was administered by men, and all men rule deficiently. But when Hong Kongers anxiously brandish the Union Jack and insist that their colonial legacy means “Hong Kong is not China,” they are giving the world an early signal of how dark the times of the Gentiles will be. 

Hong Kong is a bellwether for what Mr. Flurry called the coming “catastrophic storm.” And as Beijing tightens its grip on the territory, it reveals how violent the tempest will be. (p. 27.)

Armstrongism often viewed British colonialism as the will of God. This is connected to PCG and Amrstrongism's teaching of British Israelism. And because they think the British Empire was the will of God they have a hard time understanding why it collapsed. Those who are conquered do not want to be ruled by conquerors.

WorldWatch discusses Bastille Day celebrations to scare monger about Europe's military power; complaining about the European Union seeking to persuade other nations to conform to EU rules regarding data protection on the Internet; a report indicating some German police officers have been aligning themselves with the Alternative for Germany party; fear mongering about the EU organizing their air defenses; four Russian warships taking a stop in Cuba; Russia placing fortifications in Crimea; fear mongering about President Putin meeting with Pope Francis; an attempt to integrate pro-government militias in Iraq into the Iraqi armed forces; and Iran choosing to retaliate against President Trump's breach of the nuclear agreement by making more enriched uranium than was agreed to under the agreement President Trump threw away.

SocietyWatch frets about homeless people and diseases in Portland (which seems quite low); condemning curricula in California that treats the LGBT community as normal people; and condemning advertising standards in the United Kingdom that seeks to discouraging limiting gender stereotypes which, with typical hyperbole, is condemned by the PCG leadership as "part of a larger attack on biblical sex roles." (p. 31.)

Alex Harrison has an article encouraging children to be close to their grandparents.

Joel Hilliker has an article discussing the horror of the illegal sex trafficking of underage persons in Portland. It is a rewrite of a December 2010 article.

Here is a passage from the September 2019 article.

The human mind can only take in so much. And in this information-saturated age, news of people mistreating their fellow human beings comes in such a torrent that we can easily grow numb to it. And—truth be told—we are helpless to do anything substantive to stop it. These blights are painfully endemic to the human condition, resilient against virtually all efforts to stop them. 

There is one, however, who has seen it all, who has never succumbed to apathy—and who absolutely will put a stop to it.

Here is the same passage from the December 2010 article. Only one word has been altered.

The human mind can only take in so much. And in this information-saturated age, news of people mistreating their fellow human beings comes in such a torrent that we can easily grow numbed to it. And—truth be told—we are helpless to do anything substantive to stop it. These blights are painfully endemic to the human condition, resilient against virtually all efforts to stop them. 

There is one, however, who has seen it all, who has never succumbed to apathy—and who absolutely will put a stop to it.

This points to a larger issue: Armstrongism keeps repeating itself over and over again. But it is still as false as it was in 1934.

PCG calls upon their followers to keep PCG's vision of the future in mind. But PCG has made many false prophecies since its establishment in 1989. There is no need to give heed to them. These false prophecies prove that they are but false prophets.