Living Armstrongism

Thoughts On William B. Hinson's Broadway to Armageddon

2011-12-11T00:24:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I have not been posting much. I am well and hope you are as too.

Regarding the last post containing Roderick C. Meredith's family destroying letter I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Exit and Support Network for directing me to the 1977 book Broadway to Armageddon by William B. Hinson which contains the letter.

In the book comments from the author and placed within the letter. I have chosen not to include them. Also the letter contains many italic words. Most of them I chose to ignore. Some emphases have been retained however.

I found Mr. Hinson's book very difficult reading as it most vividly describes the monstrous abyss of tyrannical Armstrongism and how it quite literally destroys people.

The author himself tragically lost his own son to Herbert W. Armstrong's anti-medicine superstition. (An idea Herbert W. Armstrong stole from the 1921-1952 Jehovah's Witnesses.)

The book is to a large extent a collection of letters, personal testimonies, and recollections made by WCG ministers and members crying out for reform within HWA's WCG, pointing out the many terrible shortcomings within WCG (largely due the authoritarian manner in which HWA lorded over it) and how they were cast out of the vicious cult as HWA and his cronies proceeded to destroy any attempt at reform to secure their power over the eternally abused flock.

It provides an important account from the those who strived to correct injustices within WCG before the mass defections of 1974. It certainly is well worth reading.

RCM's Manual on How to Destroy Families

2011-10-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

From William Hinson, Broadway to Armageddon, Chapter 9, pp. 150-6.

WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
World Headquarters
Pasadena, California
Herbert W. Armstrong
President and Pastor
Office of
Roderick C. Meredith Second Vice-President

July 18, 1969

Special instructions: SAVE!

Dear Fellow Ministers:

This is a special letter of instruction regarding the handling of divorce and marriage cases. I hope all of you will read it very carefully and follow these instructions in handling these cases/

Appeal to them to be open-minded and candid about any pertinent information or intimate details of their past marriages. Let them know that you have gone into intimate details of dozens of cases and that you are not going to to be shocked at all. They should not hold back anything about any pertinent romantic or sex relationships before marriage. Tell them--if these factorsa apply--that you are God's minister and are married, have children and know about sex. Also, that you are bound as God's minister not to divulge any of it to anyone, and that, in fact, you forget most details anyway as you go through more and more cases....

There are ten basic questions you should ask and write up for review by your District Superintendent in regard to the previous marriages. Go through each question in detail, and be sure your write-up is thorough. Get specific answers, not general ones. Use the first names of the people involved throughout the write-up to avoid confusion, and be sure to go through each case chronologically. Keep in mind that the ministry is not a detective agency. It is the responsibility of the people to get the facts, not the ministry. We can only base our decision on the facts that they present. The basic questions to ask are as follows:

1. Has either party been married before? How many times? If so, go through each marriage in chronological order covering the following points to finally determine their present status. Remember to ask about any "common-law" situations or "arrangements" while the man was overseas in the service, etc.

2. When did the original couple become acquainted? (Approximate date and their ages.) Ask the family background, religion, etc., of their parents.

3. How long and what type of courtship did they have? Did they have formal dates? Was petting involved? Fornication?

4. Did they discuss home, family, children?

5. What were the ages when both parties married? Were their ages legal?

6. Did the parents grant permission for the marriage? If not, did they try to annul it? Did they follow through on annulment or acquiesce?

7. What kind of marriage was it? (Justice of the Peace or church?) What were the circumstances of the wedding--elopement, shotgun wedding, church, etc.

8. What were the attitudes of each party involved before and at the marriage? Did they really intend to be husband and wife? If not, why did they marry? Ask and pull it out of them. This is a key factor. You may need to keep going back asking about their intentions in marriage over and over throughout the entire discussion. Ask about it in different ways, but get this point thoroughly established if possible!

9. What fruits of point #4 above were evident? Did they buy furniture and dishes, rent an apartment, set up housekeeping, or live with their parents, etc.? Did he properly support her or at least try to be a husband in this regard? Did they make a home and perform the duties of a husband and wife? Did he provide for the home? Did she cook, sew and keep house? Did they have normal sex relations?

10. Was there previous fornication with anyone else or fraud of any kind involved?

We must judge the spirit of fraud as well--lesbian or homosexual, absolute alcoholic, dope addict, demonism, etc. These are matters affecting the character and being of the individual. The question is "Did God bind the marriage, or is either party the victim of a fraud?" Once the fraud is discovered, they must separate or else God will then bind the marriage if they continue to live together with the knowledge of the fraud. If the couple has lived together for a number of years and fraud is discovered later, and if the man then puts her away for that reason, the marriage is not binding. If he forgives her or "tolerates" the fraud and continues to live with her, God then binds the marriage.

Tell the people that what they told us is the basis of our decision. If they have not told us the truth, then they are sternly accountable to God Himself as were Ananias and Sapphira!

When all the facts bearing upon the case have been written up, do NOT inform the individuals of your decision based upon those facts unless the former marriage was clearly binding and you are SURE the case is cut and dried. In this instance, they may make their decision to separate sexually (though you should not "tell" or command them to do anything!) But do not advise one or the other to move out until the decision has been confirmed by your District Superintendent. In cases where the former marriage does not appear binding, or where there is some doubt in you[r] mind as to whether or not it was binding, do not give them the decision until it has the final approval of your District Superintendent. Give them the benefit of the doubt until the decision is final.

So that everyone will now have a complete, thorough and uniform approach to divorce and remarriage cases, I will give you vital guidelines that all of you should now be following. We here on the Headquarters' "team" have spent dozens of hours working out and reviewing these guidelines. So SAVE this special letter and use it regularly in handling D& R cases!

First of all, before you tell people they are bound to a previous mate according to God's Word, you had better be sure that they are. You can be sure, of course, only after the whole case has been written up in detail and submitted, first of all, to your District Superintendent for approval of the decision. The minister in charge should be handling these cases and making the decisions, not Local Elders.

Do NOT tell the people before the decision is made that you think their present marriage is "probably" valid or "probably" not valid in God's sight! Just tell them that you cannot advise them on their situation until you have the full details about the previous marriages and also check with your District Superintendent. Giving people false hopes can make an eventual separation even more difficult than it would be normally, or make the individuals involved bitter against God's Church and you personally if the case doesn't come out the way you indicated that it would.

Don't go into the case unless you have the time to go into it thoroughly. Begin by asking them whether they have counseled with anyone else--a Catholic priest, etc., or one of our ministers--in regard to the validity of their marriage. Then ask if they have read our booklet on Divorce and Remarriage. If they havn't, you may advise them to write for it and postpone further discussion until they have read and studied the booklet. If they have read the booklet, ask them if they agree with the Bible teaching on divorce and remarriage. Find out if they are willing to go along with the decision reached and separate, if necessary, in order to obey God. If they won't, then there is no need to pursue the case further.

Explain that we don't tell people to separate, but if they come to us wanting to become a member of God's Church, we merely tell them what God requires of them before He will put them in His Church. It is just a matter of whether they are willing to obey God, and if they are, God will put them in His Church.

If one of the mates is not interested in the Church, just explain to him or her that just as any club has its own membership rules, God has set down certain requirements that must be met before a person can become a member of the Church of God. It is our responsibility as His ministers to explain these requirements, but what the individual does about it is his own private and personal business.

Try every means to induce the unconverted mate to talk freely and give the necessary information about any previous marriages. If the converted or interested wife does see fit to separate or threatens to separate sexually until a decision is reached, this is often a powerful means to induce the man to co-operate and be willing to sit down and discuss the case.

If an antagonistic mate simply will not divulge information on previous marriages, try to find out the basic details from the converted mate--or other relatives or friends--and you may be able to be sure from that. We cannot assume that the present marriage is not bound without adequate facts. It is up to them. If the unconverted mate is not willing to discuss it, what the other does is up to the individual. We will tell neither what to do--though if the weight of the evidence indicates, the converted mate probably should separate until the decision is made.

If they are willing to abide by the decision reached and if they want a decision made based on God's Word, let them know that this is a very serious issue and may be a turning point in their lives which could affect their eternal salvation. Warn them that they may be tempted to twist the facts, gloss over certain facts and even lie about certain aspects of their previous marriages. Remind them of what happened to Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 in explaining God's attitude toward those who lie to His ministers. Ask them if they have already made up their minds about whether their past marriages were binding. If they have, there is no point in pursuing the matter further.

Do NOT send the information you have written up directly to Headquarters! Send the information--along with the decision you reached if you were able to reach one--to your District Superintendent, and be sure to keep a copy for your local files. He will then either approve or disagree with the decision. Or on those which you were not able to decide, he will, if possible, make the decision and forward the case write-up and the decision to Headquarters for our records. The District Superintendent need NOT keep a giant file on all case write-ups--just those for the churches he personally pastors.

We will make the decisions only on those that the District Superintendents refer to us to decide. In these cases, we will then send both the local minister and the District Superintendent a copy of our decision.

If the final decision was that they are not bound to their present mate, tell them verbally, in person, that according to CHRIST'S TEACHINGS THEY ARE NOT BOUND AND THAT NOW THEY NEED TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO IF THEY WISH TO OBEY God. But once a case like this has been fully gone into and decided, the people must NOT be allowed to attend if they insist on living in adultery!

Do not, under ANY circumstance, put the decision in writing! It could be used against us in court, as occurred in one case that all of you are familiar with.

When one of the mates is not being called, emphasize again that we are not telling them separate, but that we are only telling them what God's Word says, and be especially discreet when the mate is antagonistic. If a woman decides to separate against the wishes of her unconverted "husband," we cannot help her to make the separation in any way. After she has made the decision to obey God and has separated, we will then help her in any way we can--again, using discretion, of course.

If they both agree to the separation, we should offer help and advice in carrying out their decision. They should separate geographically--at least a state away in most instances, and in every case should be in different Church areas.

Only in very rare circumstances--perhaps when one or both are senile and when one or the other is crippled or severely disabled--might a brother-sister relationship be approved. In no case, however, should you hold out this hope until this arrangement has been approved by Headquarters! We have found that brother-sister relationships just do not work--even though they might, and I say might, be able to remain sexually separate. They are still living in a husband-wife relationship in their minds. Only in very unusual and extreme circumstances would this arrangement be approved. We have learned some hard lessons on this through the years!

We have enclosed a list of the ten questions with this letter on a separate piece of paper so that you can carry it with you on D & R counselings. This will help you include all the important information in writing up the cases. You can just write the number of each question and take notes on each answer in order to write it up in complete, thorough form later. You should then go over the completed write-up with the individuals involved to get last-minute clarifications and to verify that the information is accurate since the decision may hinge on certain vital facts, and their accuracy is very important.

Take time to do a thorough job on these, fellows, and be sure your write-ups are easily legible (preferably typed) and in order according to the ten points we are giving you. We all know how these decisions affect people's lives, so let's all prayerfully do our best as God's representatives.

Your brother in Christ,
Roderick C. Meredith

P.S. We will only send you a couple of sample copies of different types of cases because of the importance of writing these up correctly.

P.P.S. Remember! From now on send your D & A write-ups ONLY to your District Superintendent. He will confirm or reject your decision, decide those in question, and he will forward the case write-ups to us. Also, he will ask Headquarters to decide those crucial cases even he is not sure of--hopefully, very few!

So study, keep and USE this letter as a basic "manual" on handling D & R cases from now on!

Gaddafi's Fall

2011-10-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have heard that Gaddafi, the man who ruthlessly lorded over the people of Libya since gaining power in a military coup in 1969, is dead.

I would have preferred for him to be brought before a trial, but that did not happen in this war situation.

I am truly amazed and awed at how the courage and bravery of the Libyan people were able to overthrow that tyrant, even though that murderer killed so many people in a futile attempt to protect his power.

That murderer brought this catastrophe upon himself. He did this by refusing to show any mercy to the protesters, by being so astoundingly contemptuous of human life, by oppressing the Libyan people for so long. He decided that he had every right to murder as many people as possible just to protect his privileges and power, and that is why the Libyan people were forced to take up arms and overthrow him.

I hope that the Libyan people will be able to create a peaceful Libya and wish them luck in their quest to create a new Libya.

Occupy Wall Street

2011-09-27T01:22:00.000-07:00

Let me state here that I truly hope this protest spreads and grows. It is wrong that those responsible for the global financial crisis of 2008 to escape prosecution. It is wrong that the middle class and the poor are expected to make do without to suffer for the failing of the world market. Failings caused by elites, not ordinary people who inevitably suffer during rounds of austerity. the big banks who bought toxic mortgages, which were fostered onto people who were viciously tricked into entering mortgages that they could not pay off, just as many of us were tricked into joining Armstrongism without knowing what we were getting into.

I wish the protesters well in their quest for justice. If you can help I encourage you to do so. Spread the word.

Sydney Hull Has Passed Away

2011-09-14T02:23:00.000-07:00

Recently I looking at the stats of the blog and discovered that someone had arrived at this blog after typing in a search phrase saying that Sydney Hull had died. Intrigued I looked through issues of Living Church News and discovered on page 31 of the July-August 2011 Living Church News that he has indeed passed away.

Mr. Sydney Hull died March 13, just a few days short of 81 years. Mr. Hull was baptized in 1964 and ordained an elder in 1974. He served as an evangelist and as the LCG Regional Director in South Africa for a number of years. Mr. Hull is survived by his wife, Mrs. Dot Hull.

I am saddened to hear to hear of this. I wish to express here my sympathy to all those who mourn his passing.

[Update: I have just seen that his death was reported by LCG apologist Bob Thiel as soon as it happened. Somehow this information escaped me. I was probably too busy watching the events in Libya and Syria to notice it. I have been taking a long break from watching the saga of the COGs.]

Ten Years After 9/11

2011-09-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

It has been ten years since since 9/11. For anyone interested I related my personal experience of 9/11 elsewhere.

It is very sad what happened to those and that their loved ones have lost them.

I feel sad that the US government, in response to 9/11, has eroded personal civil liberties in ways that are wrong. I feel particularly strongly on this issue after learning of the useless and vicious 'enhanced pat downs' that were instituted by the TSA in airports last November to coerce passengers into entering controversial full body scanners.

So often I hear people say we live in a changed world after 9/11. That is true, but this fact should be used as justification to surrender liberties to the state, letting them poke and prod in our lives in ways that would have been unjustifiable before 9/11. We also should not forget that Al Qaeda has been severely crippled, not least after the wicked mastermind himself, Osama bin Laden, was killed by US soldiers. We must not let the fear of Al Qaeda permit our government to erode our liberties.

I would like to share here the following books I have read concerning 9/11.

God @ Ground Zero by Ray Giunta and Lynda Rutledge Stephenson.

One chaplin's personal account of his experiences in Ground Zero. This book really helped me learn to be more sympathetic with those who endure traumatic experiences. An unforgettable account of those who responded to this catastrophic emergency containing moving stories of peoples caught up in this most terrible crime. It provides a glimpse into the lives of those who respond to disasters.

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright.

An astounding and superb account of the history of Al Qaeda up to December 2001, with emphasis upon the lives of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Essential reading for any one wanting an account of how those two men came to lead that most infamous terrorist group.

I found this book unexpectedly comforting. This was the book that made me realize clearly that Al Qaeda is actually a bizarre, small, Islamic based cult and that the vast majority of Muslims are very different from Al Qaeda. To imagine that the majority of Muslims are like Al Qaeda is like imagining every American is like the Ku Klux Klan.

Old WCG Was a Doomsday Cult, Bob Theil

2011-09-11T01:15:00.000-07:00

Bob Theil made an article: Australian Wrong: Old Worldwide Church of God Was Not a Doomsday Cult. In response to the release of a semi-autobiographical novel written by an Australian ex-WCG member, Bob Theil insists that old WCG was not a doomsday cult.

There are a lot of misunderstandings about the old Worldwide Church of God (WCG).
But it was not a “doomsday cult.”

Those of us who were part of the old WCG and in the current Living Church of God (LCG) are not like the Jim Jones’ followers–we do not plan on drinking poisoned flavor-aid to end our lives.

This statement is very deceptive. What the old WCG under HWA did do was forbid followers from using medicine or going to doctors causing tragic and needless deaths. Herbert W. Armstrong appears to have gained this anti-medicine superstition from the Jehovah's Witnesses, in which members were also forbidden from using vaccines from 1921 till 1952. Here Bob Theil shamefully ignores this most dreadful and atrocious behavior HWA forced upon his followers and banishes it down the memory hole.

Let us now continue:

Although some are expected to die in persecutions, LCG church members mainly hope to live until the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His kingdom, and hope to proclaim the truths of the Bible to the world as a witness until the end (Matthew 24:14)....

As far as preaching prophecies in the Bible that show that the Anglo-descended nations will be chastised if they do not repent, yes the old WCG and current LCG taught that .... But urging repentance is not a sign of being a doomsday cult. It is a sign of trying to follow what Jesus said to do.

Bob Theil is wrong. Old WCG was a doomsday cult. HWA and his cronies constantly abused the Bible and viciously used false prophetic interpretations to sow fear of being caught within the Great Tribulation to force followers to follow the dictatorial rule of the so called ministers.

HWA taught that Jesus Christ would return in 1936, then after World War II, then in 1975, then he declared in Mystery of the Ages that He would return by 2005. (PCG removed that embarrassing false prophecy in their version, so you will not see it there.)

Those were not just speculations, as was deceptively taught after these failures, but preached as definite facts. They failed. These false prophecies prove that HWA was never a man used by God.

But these facts are simply ignored by HWA's followers, such as Bob Theil, pretending these things did not happen and deluding themselves that HWA was a man sent from God when he most certainly was not.

Tripoli Rises Up Against Gaddafi

2011-08-21T01:11:00.001-07:00

I have heard that the people of Tripoli are now raising up against the forces of that murderer Gaddafi. It will be good when he is removed. I hope that this overthrowing of that murderous dictator is accomplished as cleanly as possible so that the proud and noble people of Libya may live in a free society and are able to enjoy peaceful lives.

Thoughts on S&P's Downgrading of US Bonds: The GOP is Responsible

2011-08-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

I have just heard that Standard & Poor has downgraded US bonds.

As far as I am concerned this fact can be entirely blamed on the Republicans in Congress who decided to politicize the debt ceiling, something that had never been done before.

Before 2011 whenever the debt approached the debt ceiling limit Congress simply raised in a proceedure as mundane as looking at both sides of the road before you cross.

But the GOP in Congress chose to politicize it and refuse to raise it unless they got what they wanted. From the very start experts, such as Geithner, warned that this was very dangerous.

This makes me angry. I have no doubt many innocent people within the good old USA are going to suffer because the stupidity of those who decided to use the debt ceiling to humiliate President Obama. That decision deserves to be labeled as nothing less than stupid and horrendously irresponsible.

Thank you John Boehner, Eric Candor, and Mitch McConnell for bringing this reverse to the USA.

Bob Theil Fails to see Crisis in Debt Ceiling Crisis

2011-07-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

LCG apologist Bob Theil appears to have no understanding of why the debt ceiling crisis is a crisis. Obama Says He is Trying to Avert ‘Armageddon’.

Since the USA seems intent upon increasing debt (as the current ‘crisis’ has to do with RAISING the DEBT ceiling AGAIN), this will continue to insure that the USA is the most indebted nation in the history of humankind....

Right now, the USA crisis is that it wants and hopes to increase debt and borrow more from its foreign creditors, yet its leaders believe that not increasing debt will be a greater calamity.

I am amazed that he is so apathetic about this issue.

If the US gets more debt that is fine because those willing to invest in US bonds are willing to buy them, the US government meets its financial obligations, and these matters will be dealt with later in the future.

If the debt ceiling is not raised...

No. Wait. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if that occurred.

The reason why not raising the debt ceiling is a problem is that it would force the US to not pay their debts.

The entire world economy is based around the belief that you can trust the US dollar. You invest in a US bond and it will be paid back to you. You can't be too sure about any other thing you invest in, but you can trust the US bond.

If the debt ceiling is not raised then the US bond, something in which people all over the world have invested in, rich people, poor people, Americans, others, some who are reading this, all their holdings in US debt become unreliable. None of them can be sure that they will be paid back. The US Treasury will not be able to pay the necessary financial obligations of the US.

I recall hearing President Obama saying that Social Security checks will not be made, Soldiers will not be paid, if the US Treasury is unable to meet its financial obligations because Congress did not raise the debt ceiling.

And it cannot but be recalled that back in 2008 when just one major Wall Street bank went bankrupt it caused the entire world economy to freeze, have a heart attack, and brought the world economy to the precipice of another Great Depression.

Far more people are invested in US bonds than was the case with Lehman Brothers.

A lot of people fear that if the debt ceiling is not raised, thus forcing the US government to not pay their debts, we will have another Lehman moment which will freeze the entire financial world.

This is the crisis that Bob Theil pretends that this is not a real crisis. He even puts brackets around the word crisis as though it is not a real crisis. It is a real crisis.

All of that will be avoided if Congress simply raises the debt ceiling.

Somehow Bob Theil seems to think that the US government shirking its responsibilities to its debtors, and causing soldiers to not be paid, Social Security checks to not be paid, etc, and possibly creating another Lehman Brothers moment is less of a problem then for the US government to honor its obligations.

PCG, Behold The People of Free Libya

2011-07-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

Recently, citing "a report from two French think tanks", PCG has been trying to slur the Libyan rebels as Islamic fundamentalists. The report, as presented by PCG, have even charged that Al Qaeda is the main force of the armed resistance against Gaddafi.

The al Qaeda-affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group is the “main pillar of the armed insurrection,” the report says.

If you believe that please make the time to watch this video.

How can PCG tell us those vast multitudes are Al Qaeda? Or Islamic fundamentalists?

They are simply people struggling to gain basic human rights consistently denied them during the 42 year tyranny of Colonel Gaddafi.

Gaddafi has had a terrible impact upon the world. Bombing the cafe in Berlin, bombing the plane over Lockerbie, contributing to the terrible wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Darfur.

The sooner he goes the better.

PCG Blind to EU's Current Divisions

2011-07-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

PCG just posted the following tweet:

Herbert Armstrong, July 22, 1984: a global financial crisis could "suddenly [trigger] European nations to UNITE as A NEW WORLD POWER"

It needs to be stated that the current financial crisis in the European Union is actually dividing the EU.

I am sure the Greeks are very angry at other nations for imposing the current austerity measures. The Germans are bitter over having to bailout Greece. Here is one example from the German newspaper Der Spiegel:

Given that Germany is shouldering risk to the tune of hundreds of billions for a life-threatening euro crisis, it may seem absurd that Berlin is perceived abroad as 'euro Nazis' rather than as a benevolent leader. ... Germany is in the impossible situation of having ponied up hundreds of billions of euros but is nevertheless being pilloried. Some Greek newspapers refer to Germans as "euro Nazis," and not as a benevolent leading power.

How is this situation supposed to unify Europeans together and become a militarily unstoppable empire?

This simple fact needs to be stated.

PCG Slur Libyan Rebels as Al Qaeda

2011-07-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

I was just reading PCG's Week in Review. In it PCG continue their shameful denigration of the brave persons seeking change in the Arab world.

Here they accuse the Libyan rebels of being Al Quaeda.

A new report by two French think tanks indicates that the West is on the side of Islamic terrorists in the war against Muammar Qadhafi in Libya. The report concludes that jihadists have played a predominant role in the eastern Libyan rebellion, and that “true democrats” represent only a minority in the rebellion....

Here's PCG's opinion on what arming the Libyan rebels means.

The al Qaeda-affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group is the “main pillar of the armed insurrection,” the report says....Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry pointed out on May 5 that “NATO is considering arming the rebels. That’s practically handing Libya over to the radical Islamic camp!”

Please watch this TV report, Libya responds to Bin Laden death. It is an report in which Libyan freedom fighters speak about Osama bin Laden upon the occasion of his death. The ones in this report are unsympathetic towards him, state that he was a terrorist who murdered innocent people, destroyed public property, and had his terrorism rebound back to him. They also note that the Gaddafi dictatorship often accused suspected opponents of having links to Al Qaeda.

I cannot help but believe that the real reason PCG has taken such a negative view of the Arab Awakening is that the PCG leadership fear that their eternally abused flock might try imitating the protesters who have shaken the Arab world to its core.

As for Libya as far as I am concerned the sooner Gaddafi is overthrown the better. I hope he is removed as soon as possible.

Below is the relevant section in full. Note how shamefully there is no concern here over the literally thousands of peaceful protesters who were murdered by Gaddafi's shoot-to-kill thugs.

A new report by two French think tanks indicates that the West is on the side of Islamic terrorists in the war against Muammar Qadhafi in Libya. The report concludes that jihadists have played a predominant role in the eastern Libyan rebellion, and that “true democrats” represent only a minority in the rebellion. It also found that the justifications given for Western military intervention in Libya were largely based on media exaggerations and “outright disinformation.” The two organizations sent a six-member expert mission to Libya at the end of March to evaluate the situation and consult with representatives on both sides of the conflict. The report reveals that the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) is comprised of four factions: “true democrats,” which are a minority; partisans of a restoration of the monarchy that was overthrown by Qadhafi in 1969; Islamic extremists seeking the establishment of an Islamic state; and former figures in the Qadhafi regime who defected for opportunistic or other reasons. Many of the monarchists are also Islamists. The president of the NTC is a “traditionalist” who is “supported by the Islamists,” according to the authors of the report. The al Qaeda-affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group is the “main pillar of the armed insurrection,” the report says. “Thus the military coalition under NATO leadership is supporting a rebellion that includes Islamic terrorists,” the authors write. “No one can deny that the Libyan rebels who are today supported by Washington were only yesterday jihadists killing American GIs in Iraq.” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry pointed out on May 5 that “NATO is considering arming the rebels. That’s practically handing Libya over to the radical Islamic camp!” It appears the current military campaign in Libya may well facilitate that country falling to Islamists and into the Iranian orbit—an outcome prophesied by the Prophet Daniel.

Children Made to Sweat in Philadelphia Youth Camp

2011-06-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

Recently I read this terrible story about how one father in PCG was horrified at the neglectful treatment his children endured at Philadelphia Youth Camp. There have long been stories insisting that Philadelphia Youth Camp does not come up to scratch in looking after the children in its care.

Those concerned about such matters will not find any comfort in Brad MacDonald's article:

Parents, Make Your Child Sweat!

(In the context of PCG I find this title quite cringe inducing.)

In five weeks, 144 teenagers from around the world will arrive on the campus of Herbert W. Armstrong College for our annual youth camp. Our camp is designed to ensure these young people go home mentally charged and focused, their attitudes and spirits refreshed and renewed.

We also plan to send them home utterly exhausted.

For three weeks, these teens will spend their days mountain biking, canoeing and practicing archery, as well as playing basketball, water polo, soccer, softball, volleyball and flag football. They will walk, and sometimes jog, between activities, as well as to breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the evenings they will engage in other taxing activities, including a track and field event and camp dances. And if all that activity isn’t strenuous enough, much of it will occur in daytime temperatures hovering in the mid 90s.

If you’re like me, simply reading that paragraph is enough to make you sweat.

Those unaware of what PCG is like will simply assume that this is a simple exhortation for people to look after their health by embracing a physical pursuits. But knowing that PCG is an authoritarian group, in which their leaders are given far too much leeway and the fruits of authoritarianism are allowed a very free hand within it, I find these exhortations concerning.

Gerald Flurry's New Doctrine: The Psalm 83 Nations are not with the King of the South

2011-06-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

Gerald Flurry has changed Mystery of the Ages, The Proof of the Bible and Who or What is the Prophetic Beast?

Now he has changed how prophecies concerning the future King of the South is understood among PCG members.

The future King of the South is taught among many COGs to be a great Arab-Muslim combine who will arise, help to enslave Israel (the USA, Britain, and Israel) and later somehow provoke the European Empire to conquer the Arab world in a blitzkrieg attack.

PCG teaches that Iran is the King of the South. Most other COGs are more inclined to say it will be mainly composed of Arabs. Not least because Iran is east, not south, of Israel.

Daniel 11:40 is used to support this theory.

Another Scripture often used in regard to this is Psalm 83. As I understood it this Scripture was used by the COGs to say that later the Arabs will ally with Germany (Assyria) to defeat Israel (the USA, Britain and Israel).

However Gerald Flurry has put a new twist to this interpretation. He now says that the King of the South and the Psalm 83 nations are separate and distinct, and the Psalm 83 nations hate Israel even more than the King of the South.

He has revealed this 'new light' in the article A Mysterious Prophecy (The Philadelphia Trumpet, May-June, 2011).

These peoples’ enemies want to cut them off from being a nation (they are the descendants of the ancient nation of Israel). Their enemies don’t even want the world to remember the name of Israel!

The leader of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed to wipe the Jewish nation off the map. The enemies of Psalm 83 have what appears to be an even deeper hatred. They even want to obliterate the biblical name of Israel forever! ...

“For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre [Lebanon]; Assur [Assyria or Germany] also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah” (Psalm 83:5-8). Here are the modern names of these nations, as taught at Ambassador College under Herbert W. Armstrong: Edom—Turkey; Ishmaelites—Saudi Arabia; Moab—Jordan; Hagarenes—anciently dwelt in the land known as Syria today; Gebal—Lebanon; Ammon—also Jordan. (We cannot be extremely precise in this understanding, but it gives a good general idea of where these nations are today.)...

Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia are missing from this list. They will be allied with Iran when they are conquered by a German-led Europe (Daniel 11:42-43).

It appears Iraq, with its massive oil reserves, will be solidly in the Iranian camp. I have predicted this would happen since the early 1990s!

This Psalm 83 nations doctrine is a completely new prophetic doctrine that I have never encountered among the COGs.

As far as I can tell it is true that Gerald Flurry preached that Iraq would be allied with the King of the South BUT Gerald Flurry has never taught that the Psalm 83 nations are distinct from and unaffiliated with the King of the South (Iran) before now.

Therefore his "I have predicted this [Iraq will ally with Iran] would happen since the early 1990s!" statement must be regarded as simply a distraction obscuring the fact that Gerald Flurry has changed this doctrine.

Those of us who understand these things must make it clear that Gerald Flurry has opportunistically changed this doctrine.

Thoughts on the Incident at Jisr al-Shughour, Syria

2011-06-06T23:18:00.000-07:00

So today I hear that Syrian state media are now claiming 12o of the Assad regime's security personnel have been killed by armed gangs.

As far as I am concerned this is a lie or extremely distorted message produced by the Assad regime. Until this is independently confirmed one way or the other I will assume it is a lie or extremely distorted. I feel it is more likely the Assad regime itself murdered them and is now blaming the protesters. That is what one local resident of Jisr al-Shughour told the BBC:

But opposition websites insisted that their protests had been peaceful, and they scorned the government's talk of armed gangs. A Jisr al-Shughour resident told BBC Arabic that the protesters did not have any weapons and blamed the authorities for Monday's deaths. "The soldiers were coming our way, then they were shot in the back by some Syrian security elements," Abu Nadir said....

Others said that members of the armed forces had changed sides and joined the protests. Some also said the town had been relatively calm until a mutiny at the security headquarters, where so many deaths were reported. "I think they executed policemen who refused to open fire on demonstrators. There was a mutiny in the security service," one told the AFP news agency.

This is an excuse for the murderous and devious Assad regime to continue their reckless murders and tortures and their frightfulness that have already claimed more than 1100 precious lives of peaceful protesters, more than the uprising in Egypt.

I have read about how dictatorships operate. I remember reading in Berlin Diary how British Prime Minister Chamberlain was impressed by the crowds welcoming him on his visit to Germany. Safire wryly commented that he did not know that those crowds are organized by the ruling party.

Already I have heard of rumors that people are paid by the Syrian dictatorship to lie and claim to see atrocities committed by alleged armed gangs that did not happen.

I will admit for a little while I thought Bashar al-Assad would murder his oppressed victims into submission and win, but recently I now feel he will fall. And it cannot come too soon.

PCG Calls Srebrenica Massacre "a Crime of Passion"

2011-06-06T01:30:00.000-07:00

PCG has always been supportive towards Serbs in regards towards the Yugoslav Wars. This was made clear in a previous post and PCG's hack writer Richard Palmer's article, What Really Happened at Bosnia continues in this tradition.

In this article Palmer, who has written for PCG since August 2007, breathlessly cites various atrocities committed by non-Serbs against Serbs, as though all of this information is being kept hidden from you. He cites one claim from the then Yugoslav government that

Yugoslav envoy Vladimir Pavicevic claimed that 15,000 Serbs were dead in Krajina, and that this total included slain refugees and soldiers who had already surrendered (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Aug. 14, 1995).

He completely ignores the fact that Serbian state television has just apologized for its role as a propagandist during those dark and terrible days.

In the week of his [Ratko Mladic] arrest, Serbian state television finally apologised for its role in inciting the barbaric war through misinformation, deception and propaganda thinly disguised as news.

AP reported:

Radio Television of Serbia, or RTS, said in a statement posted on its website yesterday that the station's programme was "almost constantly and heavily abused'' by Milosevic's regime with the aim of discrediting his political and ethnic opponents and spreading official propaganda.

Liberal politician Marko Karadzic described the apology as a "positive step'' but said the television's managing board did not distance itself clearly enough from the past.

"RTS's programme was an organised campaign of support to the policies of extinction and violence which we cannot view as insult or slander,'' aid Karadzic.
(Remembering War Crimes and Media Obligations, Danny Schlechter.)

Contrary to what Palmer's assumption that the world, due to perfidious German influence has been blinded to the excesses and atrocities of non-Serbs the article above cites RTS's apology as an opportunity to call for Croatian TV to apologize as well.

It's time for Croatian TV to make a similar statement: this statement clearly defines the often complicit relationship between war and media showing how TV networks promote wars in the guise of covering them.
Too many media organisations took their cues from state propagandists.

Also in my previous post I cited an article, The Devolution of Ratko Mladic by Sumantra Bose, and it freely acknowledged that many Serbs did indeed suffer during those wars.

It is not that Bosnia's Serbs did not suffer during the 1992-1995 war. Far from it. There are numerous well-documented cases of Bosnian Serb civilians being murdered, forcibly expelled from their homes and tortured in detention camps by Bosnian Muslim as well as Bosnian Croat forces, and of Bosnian Serb combatants taken prisoner being brutally mistreated and even executed.

The Bosnian Serb army led by Ratko Mladic lost 20,649 soldiers, killed in action during the war. But the overall picture is unmistakable. Bosnia's Muslims, about 45 per cent of the population, account for two-thirds of the total deaths and - most telling - a staggering 83 per cent of the civilian dead.

That is the real reason why there is so much attention upon what Serb forces did during the Yugoslav Wars. It is not because of some German conspiracy to trick you into supporting moves designed to cripple Serbia's power. No one pretends that Serbs did not suffer during these wars.

Palmer also insinuates that the stresses of waging war contributed to the massacre at Srebrenica.

It was this hatred and circle of revenge that lead to the Srebrenica massacre....The Serbs finally reacted to [Bosnian Muslim] Oric’s provocations. When they took Screbrenica far more easily than they thought they would they took their revenge on the men they found there. But, unlike Oric, they let the women and children go....The full context presents a very different picture of Srebrenica. It was not a cold-hearted Nazi-style final solution for Bosnian Muslims. Instead it was a crime of passion—still a crime, but one that was provoked by crimes on the other side.

Palmer wishes to make us sympathetic towards the murderers of Srebrenica by calling it "a crime of passion". First of all everyone loses people in a war, that is why we all hate war.

I do not feel that rounding up unarmed men to be killed in a vast logistical operation involving 8000 people deserves to be whitewashed as "a crime of passion". As far as I understand it it is illegal to arrest people and then simply kill them. To call that "a crime of passion" is obscene.

If PCG wishes to support Serbia thinking it will weaken Germany and prevent the creation of the false prophet of 1975 Herbert Armstrong's European Empire then it is their affair but to whitewash the horrendous crime at Srebrenica as "a crime of passion" is obscene and, as far as I am concerned, is not a statement people of conscience would allow themselves to say, and therefore deserves to be condemned.

PCG Puts Royal Wedding on Trumpet Cover

2011-06-03T01:55:00.001-07:00

In the new Philadelphia Trumpet (July 2011) the editors at PCG have chosen to put a picture of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding.

How dreadful that something so beautiful and joyous should be exploited by a cult which tears apart families with its No Contact rule towards ex-members and members of other Armstrongite groups, that inflict incalculable suffering because of its anti-medicine superstition which Herbert Armstrong plagiarized from the Jehovah Witnesses who from about 1921 till 1953 were forbidden from using vaccines, that create a dictatorial society that has inflicted terrible suffering upon thousands.

PCG's Germany-is-more-powerful-than-the-US Myth

2011-05-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

In Gerald Flurry's article Germany Rules the Balkans he accuses Germany of having greater will to do what it wants than the US. Germany is portrayed as active. The US is portrayed as hopelessly passive and drunkenly meandering to destruction.

Germany was so determined to recognize Croatia! But why would the U.S. support such a move? At first, America did not. But that quickly changed once Germany flexed its political muscle. ... Germany forced the issue and revealed how weak America and the West really are!

If the US is really as weak as it is portrayed by Flurry then why is it that the US invaded Iraq in 2003 over Germany's opposition? Where was Germany's power in 2003?

Why is the US intervening in Libya while Germany has expressed reluctance about this decision? Where is Germany's power?

PCG has a prophetic scenario and they relentlessly push this viewpoint in every Philadelphia Trumpet magazine. Contrary facts be damned.

PCG's Support for Serbia in the Yugoslav Wars

2011-05-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I heard the news that Ratko Mladic has been captured by Serbia and will soon be extradited to the Hague.

This reminds me of PCG's stand concerning the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. PCG has long viewed the Yugoslav Wars as German imperialist bullying of a nation (Serbia) which had been the ally of the USA and Britain in both world wars. Hence PCG has long viewed Western intervention in that conflict very negatively.

This attitude may clear be seen in these articles published in 2002 Germany Rules the Balkans, which discusses the Yugoslav Wars of 1991-5 and The Kosovo Disaster which concerns the Kosovo conflict in 1999. Here Germany and the Vatican are accussed of using NATO and the USA of intervening against Serbia simply to expand Germany's power in the Balkans.

Here's a sample from the second article:

The Serbs fought on our side in two world wars, and Germany fought against us in both of those wars. How strange to see that alliance reversed today....The only real winner in 1999’s war in Yugoslavia was Germany. Time will show that America and Britain were the great losers. The Kosovo conflict made them weaker as Germany grew in power....

Germany recognized these breakaway republics and then supported them with troops and armaments. America (and almost the whole world) strongly opposed Germany’s plans in the beginning. But the U.S. weakened and then even decided to support Germany in its war to control the Balkans!

Now why is it that the West chose to intervene against Serbia then?

It is universally acknowledged that all sides in that war committed atrocities.
However it was the Serbian army which committed more atrocities than any other side. That is why Western opinion was so negative towards the Serbs.

This fact is succinctly expressed by Professor Sumantra Bose.

the overall picture is unmistakable. Bosnia's Muslims, about 45 per cent of the population [of Bosnia], account for two-thirds of the total deaths and - most telling - a staggering 83 per cent of the civilian dead.

There is thus no doubt whatsoever as to which community suffered the most in the Bosnian war, just as there is no doubt that the atrocities committed by the Bosnian Serb army and allied paramilitaries were significantly more widespread and more systematic than those perpetrated by the belligerents of the other two sides [the Croats and Bosnian Muslims].

Moreover, most of the worst atrocities of the war were perpetrated by Bosnian Serbs - the violent uprooting of tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims from in and around the north-western Bosnian town of Prijedor in the summer of 1992, the punitive attacks on Sarajevo over more than three years, the Srebrenica killings in the summer of 1995. (The Devolution of Ratko Mladic.)

That is the real reason why Western opinion is so negative concerning the Serb armies and paramilitaries in that war.

But these painful facts are completely absent in Gerald Flurry's Germany Rules the Balkans. Assuming that Germany will become an evil European Empire the PCG leadership chose to ignore the terrible atrocities which Serbian military forces committed and opposed intervention. They chose to oppose supposed German bullying and ignore these terrible events.

As for myself I am very glad that Mladic has been arrested so that he may answer for his alleged crimes. So often I read about the Yugoslav Wars and it was dutifully mentioned that Mladic was still evading justice. It is very good that that fact has been changed and that Mladic will be held accountable for what happened then.

PCG is Blind to the Hopes of the Arab Awakening

2011-05-25T02:51:00.000-07:00

PCG has viewed the historic protests in the Arab world very negatively. No doubt this is caused due to the Armstrongite teaching that an Islamic Caliphate will rise up and assume great power, until it provokes the European Empire into conquering it in a blitzkrieg attack. PCG are afraid that these protests will cause the Muslim world to unify into a mighty Caliphate which, according to PCG, is to be dominated by Iran. Therefore PCG are quite negative towards the protests.

I think it is very sad that these persons have chosen to view the extraordinary events in this highly pessimistic manner.

Before the revolution began I was aware that human rights protections were not the strong point of many Arab governments. Before 2011 reading about events in the Middle East was, while very interesting, was also terribly pessimistic. I was aware that torture of prisoners and detainees did not occur just in Iraq but occurred in many Arab countries. I heard about an Egyptian taxi driver suing the police for torturing him. As I read stories about the Middle East I was struck how so often I heard that prisoners are tortured.

No wonder so many of them have chosen to rise up and protest against the many injustices that the people are forced to endure at the hands of dictatorial rulers.

Contrary to what PCG teaches I feel that these protests are very good. It is great that the people of Tunisia decided they had enough of being exploited by the Ben Ali regime. From what I hear it sounds like Tunisia was a hopelessly corrupt society, with a large share of the nation's wealth being cunningly diverted to the well connected while the rest are casually left to rot. No wonder they protested.

But PCG does not care about these things. They are worried that it will lead to an Iranian dominated Caliphate.

From what I hear it sounds like Egypt was also hopelessly corrupt. Police had free license to torture detainees, or even kill people. No wonder the Egyptian people revolted.

But PCG does not care about these things. They fret that the USA 'betrayed' a friend in Hosni Mubarak. What about the over 800 people murdered by security forces to protect Mubarak's hide? Are they are not a good reason for the US to disassociate itself from his regime? Does the blood of 800 count for so little among Gerald Flurry and his close associates?

Also note how the US, Britain and France united together to oppose the murderous Gaddafi regime. I remember during the build up to the Iraq War France and Germany bluntly disagreed with the US's decision to invade Iraq. The COGs taught that this was merely the beginning of further isolation for the US, ending in national conquest. That France and Germany's opposition signaled the beginning of a hostile relationship with the EU that will end in war.

Today, the USA, Britain and France are united together in military operations against Gaddafi. This is yet another false prediction made by Armstrongites that have hopelessly failed.

PCG portrays the Egyptian revolution as an event which will cause Iran to prosper. PCG exploited Iran's support for the Egyptian revolution as a sign that we should be afraid of it. Just a few months afterward the people of Syria rise up against the notoriously despotic Baathist regime of Bashar al-Assad. Even before the revolution I knew of Syria as an austere, dictatorial society. It is ruled by a dictatorial regime dominated by the Baath Party, the same Party of which Saddam Hussein belonged to, although those two regimes hated each other despite their common origins.

Iran is closely allied with Syria. So naturally Iran opposed the Syrian uprising. How do these Syrian protests help create an Islamic Caliphate since Iran oppose them?

My heart just breaks knowing about the terrible things the Assad regime is inflicting upon its people. Especially because at first many were highly skeptical that protests would occur there. I hope that justice is done for the protesters who have lost their lives in the uprising. No wonder so many there are willing to risk everything to protest against these intolerable injustices. May the Assad regime soon fall.

I think it is an act of inexcusable ignorance for the PCG leadership to view these tremendous and historic events as simply a stepping stone in the rise to power of Iran and therefore it must be feared and opposed. It is evidence of the moral blindness of the PCG leadership and further evidence that they must not be listened to.

Tornado in Joplin, Missouri

2011-05-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

I heard about the terrible destruction that occurred due to a tornado in Joplin, Missouri which killed about 124 people. It is very sad to know that such things have been happening.

When I heard of this I could not help but remember that this city was where Roderick C. Meredith grew up in. The land of his nativity, so to speak.

I wish all those affected by that terrible tornado the best of wishes and hope that Joplin will revive once again.

Porn Found in bin Laden's Compound

2011-05-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

I was quite amused to learn that among the treasure trove of intelligence which US forces took from Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad was a "fairly extensive" collection of pornography.

Reuters broke the story.

Has the Pride of America's Power Been Broken?

2011-05-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

I remember after September 11 how the COGs explained this event as simply the start of the fall of the Israelite nations which will lead to the Great Tribulation. The COGs warned us that things will get much, much worse, indeed, the political situation would deteriorate to such an extent that all of humanity would be wiped out, but this would only stop because of Jesus Christ's return.

Roderick C. Meredith mentioned Osama bin Laden near the beginning of his booklet, Who or What is the Antichrist?, which was published around 2002.

Horrifying events are beginning to happen in America and much of the western, professing "Christian" world. The destruction of the Twin Towers in New York, and the devastation of the Pentagon in Washington, DC, focused the minds of millions on Bible prophecy. They now wonder: "What is God's purpose in all of this?"

Indeed, prophesied events are truly speeding up. As Jesus instructed, we all need to "watch and pray." For—within this generation—truly awful, Satan-inspired tragedies will begin to strike much of humanity. The "Antichrist" will be directly behind many of these events!

After September 11, 2001, many began to wonder: is the sinister Osama bin Laden the prophesied end-time "Antichrist"?

(Meredith teaches that the Antichrist is the final Pope, as Herbert Armstrong taught.)

I also recall reading the November 2001 issue of The Philadelphia Trumpet published by PCG during those terrible days.

Well the prophetic scenario created by Herbert Armstrong has hopelessly failed many times and now the murderer Osama bin Laden has been killed by US forces.

Does this mean the pride of America's power has not yet been broken as the Armstrongites tell us?

(But it must be remembered that Anglo-Saxons and Celts are not related to Jews as the doctrine of British-Israelism, which Herbert Armstrong plagiarized, falsely teaches.)

I well recall how LCG's so-called Bible Study Course insinuated that Christ would return by 2017. Back in 2000-1 this seemed quite possible to me, especially after 9/11. But it is simply another Armstrongite false prophecy. Looking at that prediction now it is impossible to believe, especially coming from the followers of a man (Herbert Armstrong) who said Christ would return in 1936, then after World War II, then in 1975, then by 2005.

Thoughts On Osama bin Laden's Death

2011-05-02T02:25:00.001-07:00

I wish he renounced his terrorism. But that did not happen.

I wish he was captured alive and put on trial and convicted for his crimes. But that did not happen.

I am glad he lived to see the Arab Awakening currently shaking the Arab world.

When I saw the momentous events in Tunisia and Egypt and elsewhere I often thought to myself, "Ha! Take that Al Qaeda! They did not need you to overthrow their oppressors."

The No. 2 man in Al Qaeda, Zawahiri, long strived to overthrow the Mubarak regime. And then in 2011, after 18 days of popular uprisings, Mubarak was overthrown. The Egyptian people did not need Al Qaeda's help.

It is good that those who have suffered because of this evil man have been avenged.

Osama bin Laden was an evil man. He created and embraced and propagated an insane ideology that permitted the murder of innocents. He had no regard for the collateral damage of his terrorist activities directed against civilians. He selfishly believed that his grievances against the USA, against Muslim majority governments he regarded as apostate and compromising, gave him license to kill off anyone, in order to intimidate those he hated. He willfully decided that there are no innocents therefore it is permitted to kill anyone to pursue his objectives. He arbitrarily decided that he had the right to murder anyone in order to pursue his objectives.

It is good that he will no longer harm anyone.

The world is better off without him. I am sorry to speak of a human being in that way, but I will make an exception for him because he was a murderer. He had no fear of taking innocent blood. Such a thing is monstrous.

How Could Iran Become King of the South?

2011-04-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

PCG has long taught that Iran, which is mainly Shiite Muslim, will be the king of the South.

Recently I was looking at this group of photos from Radio Free Europe. The first photo shows an Iranian woman protesting outside the embassy of Saudi Arabia. Seeing this made me dwell on the PCG's leadership complete ignorance of the politics of the that area.

This teaching completely ignores the fact that most Muslim majority states, practically all of which are dominated by members of the other sect, Sunni Islam, are in fact extremely suspicious of Iran. They fear that Iran could destablize their Shiite populations. Iran's doctrine that the Shiite leaders should rule over the government greatly distresses other Muslim countries.

Another thing that needs to be considered is that Iran, unlike most other Islamic majority countries, is Shiite.

There are two main branches of Islam, Sunni and Shiite. They arose from a disagreement over who should succeed Muhammad after he died in 632. Some felt that Muhammad's closest relative, his counsin and son in law, Ali, should take over, but another man took the leadership. Those who supported Ali gradually became Shiites, while those who did not became the Sunni. Over the centuries they became more and more distinct.

For a long time Iran was mainly Sunni but several hundred years ago the Shiites came to become the majority in Iran.

Now most of the Sunni states are highly suspicious of Iran.

When I was an Armstrongite I found the thought that Iran would become the King of the South impossible to accept.

Recent events have made this thought even more harder to accept.

Recently, as part of the Arab Awakening gripping much of the Arab world, the Shiites of Bahrain, who are actually the majority population of the country, have been protesting against the predominently Sunni government.

In response Bahrain invited forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to enter the country and effectively suppress the protests. This move has quite naturally deeply offfended many Shiites from Iran and Iraq.

With this recent grievance now coming between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, how can they be united together as a great force which is to challenge the European Empire as proclaimed in PCG's prophetic scenario?

Of course it must be said that PCG members are taught that the false forecaster of 1975 Herbert Armstrong and Gerald Flurry are men sent by God. It does not matter to them that events at present make it seem unlikely that Iran will assume command of the Islamic World. Because they believe that HWA and Flurry are sent by God they assume that future events will correct what we now see. Furthermore PCG supply writings in the Key of David broadcast, the Trumpet magazine, and in weekly sermons where this prophetic scenario is constantly taught to them and they are taught to view things in this incorrect manner.

(Also knowing that you can be disfellowshiped and shunned by PCG members if you leave or are kicked out also make it very difficult to express dissent.)

So even though one were to explain these things to a PCG member it would not surprise me if they would still continue to believe PCG's propaganda.

Are Atheists Smarter? Exposing a Superficial Survey

2011-04-04T01:25:00.000-07:00

A few months ago you may have heard about a survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

This survey led to media stories implying that Atheists and Agnostics have a greater knowledge of religions then any other religious group.

The survey in question is a series of 32 questions which may be seen Are you smarter than an atheist? A religious quiz, courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor (which happens to be owned by the Christian Science cult. The link goes to a secular anti-cult web site).

At the end of this blog I shall answer that question in the article's title.

Here are the results of the survey

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups in a 32-question survey of religious knowledge by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. On average, Americans got 16 of the 32 questions correct. Atheists and agnostics got an average of 20.9 correct answers. Jews (20.5) and Mormons (20.3). Protestants got 16 correct answers on average, while Catholics got 14.7 questions right.
How will you do on the quiz?

I tried it out. Once I started I did not consult anyone or anything else on the Internet to help me with my answers.

I got 31 questions right out of 32.

The one I missed was Question 4 about nirvana.

I remembered as I was doing it all the media stories based on this which implied that this showed that Atheists were more knowledgeable about religion.

I remembered one time watching a left wing radio host (who happened to be Atheist, but that is not the point) saying (I paraphrase), Look at all these religious fundamentalists. This survey shows that they do not know what they are talking about, even about their own religion.

I remembered one time reading a political commentator I greatly respect and admire (who happens to be Baha'i, but that is not the point) saying religious people should be humble knowing that on average Atheists are more knowledgeable then they are.

I think this survey is pointless. An exercise in futility.

As I was going through this quiz I strongly felt, Wait a minute.

So what if, let's say a Catholic, does not know that Maimonides happened to be Jewish?

Does that mean Mormons must be viewed as more knowledgeable then Catholics?

So what if a Hindu did not know that the fast of Ramadan happens to be Muslim?

Does that mean Hindus must be judged as being more ignorant than Atheists, Agnostics, Jews, Mormons?

So what if someone does not know what the majority religion of Pakistan happens to be?

Do you see what I am getting at?

This is pointless.

Most people are leading busy lives desperately trying to get the bills paid, perform well at work, finding work, spending time with family, solving problems, watching movies, reading books, making plans that it is only natural that people never got around to knowing that the Sabbath happens to start on Friday evening.

(For those of us who are/were involved in the COGs, other Seventh day Christians and Jews that question is easy. It's not so easy for everyone else.)

This survey has been all too easily used by people for their own reasons as an excuse to stereotype religious people as being ignorant.

People, particularly in the media, have thoughtlessly rushed to the conclusion that Atheists are smarter when the evidence is simply not that clear.

Why are Atheists, Agnostics, Jews, Mormons higher on the list?

Let me ask some other questions.

Well are the people in the survey educated? Are they not? Do they love to gain knowledge? Are others slightly less inclined? How enthusiastic are they in knowing information? Do they know someone who often talks about these matters?

There are many reasons why an individual would happen to know the answers in this quiz.

It is, I feel, wrong and misleading to say one group holding a particular worldview/faith to be more knowledgeable about religion based on the results of this survey.

I would not read much into the results of it.

There could any number of hard to detect reasons why the people in the survey happen to know the answers for this quiz.

Perhaps a disproportionate section of Mormons happened to be missionaries and so had to be knowledgeable about these things in order to perform that role. Perhaps some of the Atheists were ex-Christian, some were ex-Jews and this coincidence caused the Atheist score to go higher. Perhaps the Jews had an advantage because some knew the answers to the Jewish questions and knew enough about the other questions from the simple fact that they are a minority in the USA and information from the other religions seeps into the consciousness from everyone else around them.

None of these circumstances should allow anyone to cruelly demean and mock an entire people as being ignorant and less knowledgeable based on this superficial survey.

Should Christians think that Atheists are smarted than them simply because some of his or her co-religionists happened to not know the intricacies of the US Constitution (Question 21) and US Supreme Court rulings (Question 22)?

Should a Mormon regard Atheists as more knowledgeable about religion simply because some of his or her co-religionists did not say "Jonathan Edwards" when answering the question about the First Great Awakening?

This survey is pointless as far as I am concerned.

We must not stereotype an entire people holding a particular viewpoint based on the results of this superficial survey.

And now to answer the article's question: Am I smarter than an Atheist?

According to this quiz, I am. In fact the average Atheist score was 20.7. I got 31. So I, a Christian, am way, way smarter than the average Atheist.

(I hope the reader may tell I was being sarcastic in the last paragraph.)

As far as I am concerned this survey is utterly pointless.

I think it is a tragedy that people will thoughtlessly assume that Atheists are smarter, everyone else is more ignorant because of the increditably ignorant and embellished manner the media have presented this survey.

It would be a dreadful mistake to label people who hold a particular worldview based on the results of this survey.

Petition for a No Fly Zone over Libya Now

2011-03-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

There is a petition at Avaaz.org calling upon the UN Security Council to impose a no fly zone over Libya.

If your conscience will let you I encourage every reader to sign this petition.

The people of Libya deserve to be free of Gaddafi the Murderer.

Hat tip to the Al Jazeera live blog about the events in Libya.

Murderer Gaddafi Will Fall

2011-02-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

I am not a prophet in any sense of the word but reading about what's going on it seems to me that it is very likely that the murderer Gaddafi will soon fall.

His No. 2 man has resigned. Although it seems that he has been kidnapped. Diplomats are resigning.

Jet fighter pilots and even a battleship have defected because they courageously refused to commit wicked murder for that unspeakable villain.

Tribes have given their support to the Revolution.

The Murderer has already lost control of the eastern half of Libya, including Benghazi and Tobruk. Recently a CNN reporter went in from the Egyptian border and reported that there is no sign of the state.

It is my earnest hope that the people of Libya will be free of the Murderer and live to see happier days.

The Massacre in Libya

2011-02-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

At the moment Gaddafi's regime in Libya has inflicted astounding violence against the people who choose to protest. The death toll seem to rise to frightening proportions on a daily basis.

Many peaceful protesters have been murdered.

Here's Al Jazeera's Live Blog on Libya for more information about these terrible happenings. (Warning: Contains disturbing images, and links to websites with disturbing images.)

Helicopters have fired on protesters.

The Internet have been shut down.

Phones are no longer working.

This is part of what dictatorships often seek to do upon their people, the atomization of society, in which people are unable, afraid to speak to each other, support each other, and are forced to be alone so the dictatorship can regain control.

As far as I am concerned the main focus towards these many protests in the Arab world must now focus upon Libya. The Libyan state has revealed itself as being especially vicious towards peaceful dissenters and the terror they inflict on them must be exposed to the world.

If we speak up we may force the Libyan authorities to relent on their oppression.

If there is any way you can spread the awareness of these terrible happenings I encourage you to do so.

Evil hates being exposed to the light. Therefore let it be exposed.

That is why I feel moved to speak of these things.

Gaddafi is a murderer.

The Tragic Persecution of Said Musa in Afghanistan

2011-02-15T02:42:00.000-08:00

In Afghanistan Said Musa, a convert to Christianity, and worker for the Red Cross, has been sentenced to death for apostasy.

This terrible act of persecution has gained attention among websites concerned about the plight of persecuted Christians.

Afghan Rights Fall Short for Christian Converts

Write Prisoner Said Musa

Nato sides with jailed Afghan Christian convert

Red Cross Neglects Arrested Afghan Employee for Converting to Christianity

Execution Trial of Afghan Convert is Illegal

Reading for Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

Even though this article came out only a short while ago here is xHWA's article about the origins of Valentine's Day.

And, no, it's not as simple as Herbert W. Armstrong suggested at all

Congratulations to the Egyptian People

2011-02-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

My humblest congratulations to the Egyptian people in this historic day when Mubarak, after 29 years of authoritarian rule has resigned.

The pro-democracy demonstrators have shown extraordinary courage, showing up to strive for freedom even though they knew they could be killed, as far too many indeed were.

Tomorrow the grand and difficult task of rebuilding Egypt will begin but for now I wish to share, however humbly, in the joy that this news has sparked and say my deepest congratulations to the people of Egypt.

Christian to be Hung in Afghaistan for Converting

2011-02-07T23:44:00.001-08:00

Just heard this sad and terrible story from Afghanistan:

Red Cross worker to be hung for converting to Christianity.

The story is from the Daily Mail.

Protest Action Against PCG

2011-02-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

I saw this tweet from Stephen Flurry:

Today's Trumpet column "Will the Muslim Brotherhood Close the Suez Canal?" linked on realclearpolitics.com and realclearreligion.org. Nice!'

Alas it is true.

Here's the article mentioned.

Let's respond to this.

I have sent the following email to the editors of realclearreligion.org:

After reading this tweet (http://twitter.com/StephenFlurry/status/32905801584607232) I learned that your website offered a link to a story by one Joel Hilliker, entitled "Will the Muslim Brotherhood Close the Suez Canal?" He is an employee of the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) which runs thetrumpet.com.

I am concerned that you may be unaware of the true nature of this organization.

This organization has been known to engage in destructive behavior and hence is widely known as a destructive, mind control cult.
Members hold this superstition that using medicines is somehow an offense against God and members have been known to refuse to take medical treatment. Some have even died because of this doctrine of death, such as Australian member Garth MacDonald in 2006 (See: http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/mike_ep/letters/ltrspcg06.htm#Garth_Macdonald).
If any member should wish to leave they are shunned by all members. PCG members are required to have "no contact" with those who leave.
Furthermore PCG members are strickly forbidden from having contact with members of their parent organization, the Worldwide Church of God, which was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, or any other organizations springing from WCG. Those who belong to such organizations are denounced as "Laodiceans" who are viewed as cursed by God and not worthy of any social contact. (See: http://www.pcog.info/ptmmtp.htm#Disfellowshipping)
PCG members are also required to pay three tithes.
Their leader, Gerald Flurry, is held to be "That Prophet" and an Apostle.
They do not believe in the Trinity, instead they say God is a family of beings into which believers can be born into.
If you wish to see more information about this organization you might wish to investigate the following sites:

Ambassador Report on PCG
http://gavinru.tripod.com/flurry2.htm

Exit and Support Network
http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/mike_ep/mike.htm

The Plain Truth about Malachi's Message and That Prophet (written by a former member)
http://www.pcog.info

Because of these facts I have put this to your attention. This is the organization which Joel Hilliker represents. I fear that this fine website has allowed a such a man to be mentioned without being aware of the facts about this organization.

I emphasize that I do not bring this organization to your attention because of their viewpoint regarding politics. I bring them to your attention because of the abusive practices which are forced upon members, particular their fear of medicine and their No Contact policy.

I have brought these facts to your attention in order for you to be aware of the true nature of this organization. You deserve to know what sort of organization PCG is.

Because of these terrible things I ask you to look into these matters and delete the link to Joel Hilliker's story (ideally with an explanation as to why) and not to link to them. I ask this to honor those who are suffering because of these cruel practices and to hopefully prevent anyone else falling into this abusive cult.

Thank you in advance for your attention on this matter.

I greatly encourage you to send a similar email to them. If we speak up together there will be a greater chance that they will act upon this concern.

Another PCG No Contact Horror Story

2011-02-06T00:09:00.000-08:00

It is impossible for me to verify this account.

ESN has just published another letter (see the February 2 letter) that exposes the horror of those whose lives are torn apart by PCG's ruthless No Contact policy.

Due to Philadelphia Church of God's cut off policy, I lost my wife who passed on in 2009. Two of my children had been cut off because they decided to marry outside the PCG. My other son was to be cut off by December 2009 if he didn't make a baptismal commitment. This was too much to bear.

In June 2010, I was required to cut off important people outside the PCG (a group of 17 families in the neighbourhood who have been very supportive of my family for years). I gave reason why I didn't think of cutting them off (we discussed ideas and supporting each other during happy and sad occasions). This didn't go well with Max Rumler. He had all kinds of schemes to get me submissive. Max Rumler (Regional Director) gave a married lady US$300.00 to divorce her husband and she was told after the divorce went through that she should get married immediately. I wondered who else they expected her to get married to. When I eventually told Max there was no way I would marry this lady, I was accused of knowing nothing and not being close to God and that I allowed people who had not studied the formerly seven books (and in June increased by another two) to come into the PCG. I was suspended and told I was going to suffer for putting the PCG at risk. Strange enough, all these people have been pursued to come back to PCG and some have been calling me to tell me about it. This showed how dishonest the Regional Director has been.

Sure enough, I knew nothing as I came to discover. But what didn't I know? It wasn't what Max had in mind. My research through the internet for the truth is what I didn't know. Now I know the disappointment of Max and his boss. Max has been preaching that he had told me not to visit the website but I disobeyed the "government of God." He says the website is a lie. My question to Max is if all website is a lie, what makes you think PCG's is not? On the contrary it has proved to be the greatest lie.

What was intended to control me turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. I am out of PCG and NEVER TO GO BACK but at what cost? Loss of my wife and family.

The sad thing is no one of all those that I have tried to help see what PCG has been doing to people will believe me. They strongly believe I am in the bonds of Satan. --[name removed]

In case you want a picture here's one of Max Rumler.

Alas, within PCG, members are brainwashed into believing that having no contact with former members is actually loving. It is a most wicked thing when the "ministers" dare to lie and tell their followers that No Contact is Love. Such a sentiment is as nonsensical as saying a Square is a Circle.

It is precisely because of these things that I encourage readers to warn people about PCG, hence why I have released my previous post calling on members to inform those who gave PCG a platform to preach without while possibly not knowing their true nature.

Here's Something You Can Do About PCG

2011-02-05T21:57:00.000-08:00

Among those of us who are familiar with the abuses of PCG or other COGs there is a lot of anger. Let us use this anger strategically in the right place.

Therefore I encourage every reader to take note of this situation and just take five minutes of your time and send an email, cut and paste my email if you want to make it easier, to expose the true nature of PCG.

Let us, who know the true nature of PCG, inform such persons of their true nature and insure that PCG will not be able to come there again.

Recently I saw this tweet by PCG's Stephen Flurry:

Columnist Joel Hilliker to be interviewed on a Birmingham radio station in about 20 minutes. Stream: http://bit.ly/hb6YMi

The link in that tweet goes to

http://www.101wyde.com/pages/3984494.php

It is the website of WYDE-FM, an AM radio based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Here is their contact page.

http://www.101wyde.com/pages/3984493.php

It asks for details.

I sent them this message.

Here's my email:

According to this tweet (http://twitter.com/StephenFlurry/status/32932147471851521) it seems that one Joel Hilliker, who is an employee of the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), was interviewed on your radio station around noon on February 3.

I am concerned that you may be unaware of the true nature of this organization.

This organization has been known to engage in destructive behavior and hence is widely known as a destructive, mind control cult.
Members hold this superstition that using medicines is somehow an offense against God and members have been known to refuse to take medical treatment. Some have even died because of this doctrine of death, such as Australian member Garth MacDonald in 2006 (See: http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/mike_ep/letters/ltrspcg06.htm#Garth_Macdonald).
If any member should wish to leave they are shunned by all members. PCG members are required to have "no contact" with those who leave.
Furthermore PCG members are forbidden from having contact with members of their parent organization, the Worldwide Church of God, which was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, or any other organizations springing from WCG. Those who belong to such organizations are denounced as "Laodiceans" who are viewed as cursed by God and not worthy of any social contact.
PCG members are also required to pay three tithes. They trick potential converts by offering their writings for free, thus creating a sense of obligation to them in the reader, which they use to suddenly spring this terrible burden upon them. This is a terrible financial burden which has caused many members to be impoverished and forced to go without in order to meet the demands of this cult.
Furthermore their publication is designed to interpret the world events within an apocalyptic narrative. They teach that nuclear World War III will soon erupt and the world will be on the brink of nuclear annihilation. This fearful interpretation is used to scare people into clinging themselves onto PCG.
Their leader, Gerald Flurry, is held to be "That Prophet" and an Apostle.
They do not believe in the Trinity, instead they say God is a family of beings into which believers can be born into.
If you wish to see more information about this organization you might wish to investigate the following sites:

Ambassador Report on PCG
http://gavinru.tripod.com/flurry2.htm

Exit and Support Network
http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/mike_ep/mike.htm

The Plain Truth about Malachi's Message and That Prophet (written by a former member)
http://www.pcog.info

Because of these facts I have put this to your attention. This is the organization which Joel Hilliker represents. I fear that this fine radio station has allowed a such a man to be on its station without being aware of the facts about this organization.

I have brought these facts to your attention in order for you to be aware of the true nature of this organization. You deserve to know what sort of organization PCG is.

Thank you for your attention

It is impossible for us to know what this radio station knows about PCG, so let's make them know.

I sent my email, but I am only one.

If many of us sent such an email to them it will give them a clear message on how dangerous this group is and what a harmful influence they have been. Let us expose PCG.

Attacks on Social Security Blocked by Senator Reid

2011-02-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

In regards to the Social Security situation I am happy to report that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has declared that proposals to gut Social Security are off the table.

It is not true that Social Security is in the midst of a crisis. That is simply deceptive propaganda ultimately spread by the Right in order to take control of its money.

Jesse Ventura Sues to Resist TSA Tyranny

2011-02-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

Recently saw this heart breaking story about the TSA's tyranny at the airport security, how it has affected one man who has chosen to resist this disgusting, inexcusable, useless attack upon the liberty of every American citizen, and upon those who travel through their airports.

Jesse Ventura sues TSA, says body scans and [enhanced] pat-down searches violate rights

But when Ventura set off the metal detector in November, he was instead subjected to a body pat-down and was not given the option of a scan with a hand-held wand or an exemption for being a frequent traveler, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said the pat-down "exposed him to humiliation and degradation through unwanted touching, gripping and rubbing of the intimate areas of his body."

It claims that under TSA's policy, Ventura will be required to either go through a full-body scanner or submit to a pat-down every time he travels because he will always set off the metal detector.

He does not deserve to be treated like this. No US citizen or anyone peacefully traveling through US airports deserve to be treated in this useless and terrible manner.

As I said before this monstrous policy must be abolished immediately. (And the full body scanners as well, but I regard the enhanced pat downs as the major priority.)

I certainly wish Jesse Ventura well in what I am sure will be a hard struggle. I hope he wins.

Al Jazeera Report on Pakistani Christians

2011-02-01T01:04:00.000-08:00

Al Jazeera has just released another news report about the situation of Christians in Pakistan who, along with other religious minorities are forced to live under the shadow of an abusive 1986 blasphemy law.

Pakistan Christians feel threatened.

For more information on this topic presented earlier at this blog see: The Oppression of Pakistan's Man Made Blasphemy Law.

The False Scare: Fear over Non-Existant Social Security Crisis

2011-01-29T18:08:00.000-08:00

The Daily Howler has once again published a post discussing how the Right have created the widespread false perception that there is a crisis in Social Security.

Many reports about Social Security often presents information in such a way that readers assume that Social Security will go bankrupt by 2037. This is an incorrect message. What will happen in 2037 is that, “Social Security would collect enough in payroll taxes to pay out about 78 percent of benefits” as stated by a source in the linked article.

So you would get 78 cents for every dollar from 2037. It is not going to disappear.

And it is relatively easy to solve this problem, as seen in this previous post:

Myth: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security.

Reality: Social Security doesn't need to be fixed. But if we want to strengthen it, here's a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share. [More on that here.] If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come. Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income. But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.

So it is not going to disappear. Social Security is secure as is, and as seen above it is easily sustainable well past 2037 if only the rich paid for Social Security over the rest of their income and not just $106,000 of it.

There is no Social Security crisis in fact. However the Right are doing all they can to convince people that it will not be there for them in order that they may cut it. After all, if you think Social Security won't be there for you, why wouldn't you let the Right just cut it in order to make it better, as they incorrectly tell you.

Any such cuts must be resisted and not allowed to be put in force.

Dave Pack's Selective Use of Statistics

2011-01-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

LCG apologist Bob Thiel has revealed some of the dishonest tactics used by Dave Pack to lure people into his group in his News of Those Once Affiliated with the Global Church of God page.

From the January 26 update:

If RCG had the fruits, RCG would publicly list its income for each year since it formed, its members for each year since it formed, and other statistics. Instead, David Pack has demonstrated a pattern of pointing to one or two statistics one year, then others in other years, while at the same time not revealing publicly his membership.

This selective use of statistics seems to have worked for him, but this is not proof of fruits.

And from the January 27 update:

RCG's David Pack has a history of selectively focusing on certain statistics to give the impression that RCG has phenomenal growth or is highly successful in some area.

Yet, he tends to be inconsistent in the fact that David Pack has to change what particular area he is reporting about. For example, for nearly a year he has been focused on the number of what he calls "church inquiries" that RCG gets and how that has increased. In 2010, that total number of inquiries was 4,790. Now the fact that the Living Church of God has often received more responses to its telecast in a single week than RCG's record high "church inquiries" is discounted by David Pack.

But there is more. David Pack historically has made a big deal about his internet reach. He even asked his membership to take out mortgages on their homes and cash out their retirements a few years back so that, amongst other things, RCG would improve its internet reach.

Yet, David Pack has no longer been making such a big deal of his internet reach.

Why?

Well, perhaps because RCG does not do that well with it right now.

For example, as of this morning, according to Alexa (an independent internet rating company), RCG's thercg.org website had an internet ranking of 185,503. This means that 185,502 websites are more popular than RCG's. And while 185,503 is not a bad ranking, the COGwriter website had an Alexa internet ranking of 154,255 this morning.

This means that the COGwriter website, which has never spent any money on advertising itself, is significantly more popular than RCG's, despite the fact that RCG does spend advertising money to promote its website.

So if you ever find his group alluring and you hear the siren song to join with Pack and Co. just remember that he selectively use only the statistics that make RCG look successful.

It is a cunning slight of hand.

Some Guy who Wishes He Could Slap Women in Public

2011-01-28T11:18:00.001-08:00

Recently I saw this little video: British salafi Abu Mounisa - The Islamic Awakening Conference in which the speaker calls for democracy, capitalism, etc, to be beheaded and replaced by Islam.

Please watch the video first if you can. It's more fun that way.

For those of you who were unable to watch it in the video you will hear some Muslim activist of some sort saying we (his kind of Muslims, he means) need to uproot and behead democracy, capitalism, etc, and replace it with Islam.

In one curious section (around 4:20) he cited how one of the Caliphs was in the street in Medina and slapped a woman for dressing inappropriately and rebuked her for that.

The speaker in the video complains that he can't do that today. (Oh! So you think you should act like the Caliph.)

Now if I was Muslim (which I'm not) my response would be something like this: he's the Caliph. The ruler of the realm.

In contrast the speaker in the video above is just some guy. I'm pretty sure that sort of behavior could actually be punished by the state as some kind of assault.

My heart goes out all the reasonably minded Muslims, who I am sure are not like him at all, who are forced to endure the fear and hostility which is unfortunately provoked by people like the speaker in this video.

Just because you share the same religion as that Caliph does not mean you can act like him.

He had an army. You do not. He ruled over a vast empire. You are just some guy.

Man, he needs to really rethink his attitude towards women.

Hey, did that rant just remind you of anyone?

Hey, that's what Herbert W. Armstrong suggested in his "Women's Dress Ruling concerning too short and too tight skirts, and extra-low-neck dresses" in the September, 1962, Good News, pp. 9, 16.

In this infamous article HWA states that seeing inappropriately dressed makes him so mad he feels they deserve a "sound spanking" or to be called a "common prostitute." (p. 9, middle column, paragraphs 4-6.)

Well, there you have it. No wonder his attitude struck us the wrong way. He is talking like Herbert W. Armstrong.

Good News: Social Security is Secure and SALT III Passed

2011-01-27T23:43:00.000-08:00

I just read that SALT 3 has just been approved by Russia so there will be less nuclear weapons held by both the US and Russia. I regard this as very good. Now onto another story.

PCG has published a story saying that Social Security will go bankrupt. It cites this AP story to frighten their eternally abused flock that Social Security will go bankrupt.

I would like to once again share these facts with you.

"The Social Security trustees—the official body charged with evaluating the program’s long-term finances—project that Social Security can pay 100 percent of promised benefits through 2037 and about three-quarters of scheduled benefits after that, even if Congress makes no changes in the program." (See this post.)

After 2037, at present trends, Social Security will have to pay out less than a dollar to beneficiaries. It is not going to go bankrupt as many people mistakenly believe.

Top 5 Social Security Myths

It is truly sad to see that while having to deal with all the problems the people of the USA are enduring (wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the lack of universal health care coverage, the recession, intrusive TSA tyranny at the airports, etc.,) many are mistakenly informed that Social Security is going to go broke. Many Americans labor under the misconception that Social Security won't be there for them

They do not realize they are being tricked by the Right in order to whittle down Social Security. It is not necessary at all for financial heath.

PCG, as is so often the case, has swallowed this piece of Right wing misinformation and are using it to instill fear into their followers.

I am glad to see the Daily Howler has once again tackled this issue.

Our public discourse is a howling mess—has been so for many years. The source of this disaster is clear:
On the one hand, skillful, well-financed conservative think tanks push poll-tested disinformation into the public sphere. (The Social Security trust fund is an elaborate accounting trick—a pile of worthless IOUs! The money isn’t there—we’ve already spent it! The left hand has been borrowing from the right! By 2037, the program will be bankrupt!)

In response, the mainstream press corps flounders and flails. It proves unwilling, or unable, to deal with the massive public confusion produced by this onslaught.

Surely, liberals and progressives know how these two sectors will continue to function. If we hope for a better public discourse, it’s plainly up to us to create it. But alas! Our major progressive organs have never been up to the task of “repealing and replacing” the bogus narratives which come from the right. ...
the standard claims are grossly misleading, but they are skillfully constructed, fiendishly persuasive and extremely well-known.

There is much more to be said on this subject.

Anyway the point is: the Social Security Scare is a non-existent crisis that you do not need to worry about.

PCG's Inept Advice on Surviving the Recession

2011-01-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

In the latest Philadelphia Trumpet the writers have included a list of advice for those undergoing this dreadful recession: Penny-Saving Tips.

Reducing tithes is not mentioned at all, but considering that that is PCG's source of income this is sadly unsurprising.

Presumably this is written by someone employed by the Philadelphia Church of God from their main income, tithes provided by their members. I have to ask would such people really know how to survive during this recession?

There are some advice I cannot disagree with but some of their advice makes me rather suspicious at the writer(s) skill in dealing with this issue.

Let's see what they have to say.

Walk or bike when possible—it’s healthier.

I won't discussing the walking advice but I must speak about biking on the roads.

Frankly I feel that people biking on the road are in a position of danger. Roads, alas, are made for cars, not bicycles, not even motorbikes, but cars. I feel that in too many circumstances it may be too dangerous use a bike on the road. I would strongly encourage anyone thinking of making such a change to take their personal safety into consideration when making such a decision.

Cut out Internet use. When you need to “search the Net,” use the public library.

This piece of advice strikes me as ignorant of modern conditions. I would like to share this story from a struggling substitute teacher posted on the leftist community blog, DailyKos:

The internet IS a basic need for many working poor who want to stay working.

I have seen too many post [sic] with comment [sic, and so on throughout] the likes of "if you can afford to have Internet ... you're not really poor." I have had similar things said to me about the fact that I have a cell phone.... [It is] my one and only way to find work and try to get out of poverty ... there has never been a time I did not have internet access and a cell phone. Why? Because I have to work. ...

I have worked summers on an on call temp job. If you are called and do not answer the phone immediately the job goes to someone else. This leaves two options, sit by the phone all day and ignore your family or have a cell phone.

I have found two of my jobs while living over an hour away. I found them through the internet also, they were not posted in newspapers or on local job boards and I would never have found them without looking online. ...

I know that if I did not have internet and a cell phone I would not have had ANY of the jobs I have had since I finished my undergraduate education. ...

Internet is NOT a luxury for many of the working poor. Having a working heater, door handle, window, etc in my car is a luxury I cannot afford right now, but having the means to find work in the internet age is a necessity.

So PCG's advice on this matter strikes me as painfully ignorant of the current situation of many of the poor.

It also must be noted that PCG have actively discouraged members from getting to used to the Internet, as seen in Andrew Locher's infamous Facebook sermon when he demonized Facebook as a tool of the Devil best to be avoided. PCG did this in order to better enforce their infamous No Contact rule against ex-members and members of the other COGs.

If PCG were really concerned about their members' financial welfare they would relax the tithing rules. But, alas, they will not do that.

xHWA on Armstrongism's Distorted Dogmas of History

2011-01-27T00:42:00.000-08:00

xHWA has produced an excellent blog, A Pattern of Dishonest Documentation.

It details how one columnist in LCG quotes the Encyclopedia Britannica, and then xHWA checks the source and discover that it does not present information quite exactly how the LCG columnist presents it.

He has also written Is Valentines Day the Lupercalia? Here he presents evidence everyone of us who had any kind of association with Armstrongism needs to read that the origins of this day are not how Armstrongites have taught it. It is a fascinating read.

Alas, I cannot help but agree that this sort of thing happens all the time in the world of Armstrongism. In 1999 John Ogwyn wrote an article stating that Herbert W Armstrong was a marvelous foreseer of the fall of the Iron Curtain by quoting some articles he wrote in 1952 and 1956.

John Ogwyn deceptively ignored the countless other failed speculations HWA made, that Christ would return in 1936, that Mussolini, then Hitler was the Beast who would be slain by the returning Christ outside Jerusalem, that Christ would return in 1975, in Mystery of the Ages HWA predicted Christ to return by 2005 at the latest, that the Soviet Union would last several years after the return of Christ, and countless other false predictions.

Alas resorting to such omission of information is all too common among Armstrongites, because they operate upon the false assumption that 1) HWA was a man used by God (which is not true, his many false prophecies prove that) and what he taught was true (which in many cases were not true).

The Oppression of Pakistan's Man Made Blasphemy Law

2011-01-24T17:28:00.000-08:00

It is very sad to hear about Pakistan's blasphemy laws and how they are used to intimidate religious minorities within Pakistan. Here is some background about these laws:

For background, here is the text of the original law introduced into the Indian Penal Code by British colonial rulers in 1860:
Section 295: Injuring or defiling place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class:

“Whoever destroys, damages, or defiles a place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of any class of persons or with the knowledge that any class of persons is likely to consider such destruction, damage or defilement as an insult to their religion, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.”
Here is the version of one of the added clauses which have caused so much acrimony in Pakistan, as amended in 1986 by Pakistan’s then military ruler, General Zia-ul-Haq:
Section 295-C: Use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet (pbuh)

“Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine.”
The amendment loses any acknowledgement of intent. Yet intent is not only a fundamental part of any legal system but also an essential attribute of faith. Indeed when Britain abolished its own archaic blasphemy laws in 2008, and these were replaced with laws against inciting religious and racial hatred, the idea of intent was retained.

The row which caused Taseer’s death was about amending the Pakistani penal code to reintroduce the concept of intent and end the death penalty. It was never about repealing the laws, nor about allowing people to insult Islam or the prophet Muhammed. (Pakistan, blasphemy, and a tale of two women, Reuters.)

A lot of attention upon those laws have occurred due to the murder of Salman Taseer, an MP who wished to reform the law in order prevent it being used to abuse religious minorities.

Salman Taseer was driven to speak out against the abusive nature of this law because the tragic case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, a mother of five, who has been sentenced to death.

While working in the fields last June, she was sent to fetch water. When some of the other woman refused to drink it because it had been carried by a Christian, a spat ensued about the merits of both religions. The other women later went to a cleric and complained that Bibi has blasphemed the name of the Prophet Muhammad.

A complaint was filed and Bibi was charged, convicted, and given a death sentence. (Some Christians in Pakistan convert fear into safety, Toronto Star.)

The abuses of this infamous blasphemy law are well documented. Here is one particularly disgusting case which well illustrates how abusive this law is:

Here's the case when an Ismaili Muslim, Naushad Walyani, was charged with blasphemy for simply throwing away a business card of a man named Muhammad.

As protests and appeals for the freedom of Asia Bibi mount, the controversial blasphemy law has claimed another victim from a religious minority, this time of the Ismaili Muslim sect that is headed by the Aga Khan. The episode proves, if proof were ever needed, how the blasphemy law harms Pakistani civil society of [sic]. The incident took place in Hyderabad, the second city of the province of Sindh. Naushad Walyani, a doctor, is in prison for a seemingly trivial gesture. A pharmaceutical salesman, Muhammed Faizan, visited him on December 9 to sell certain products. The doctor ''after taking the business card of the sales representative threw it in the trash'' writes a local newspaper. Clearly annoyed by the gesture, Faizan returned later with some colleagues to "teach the doctor a lesson". A violent quarrel broke out between the two.

The agent threatened to report the doctor for blasphemy for not respecting the sacred name engraved on the business card. According to local media reports, on December 10 Faizal's colleagues attacked the doctor, who, following a complaint to police under the Blasphemy Act was arrested and is now awaiting trial. His apology and the assurance that he "had no intention of insulting the Prophet by throwing the card in the trash' has served no purpose. The complaint was supported by local religious leaders.

And when you consider that Muhammad happens to be the common given name in the world that is unutterably obscene.

In another case two Muslims were sentenced for life after alledgedly removing a poster on their store which contained Qur'anic verses.

A Pakistan court has jailed a Muslim prayer leader and his 20-year-old son for life on controversial blasphemy charges in the rural centre of the country, court officials said Tuesday....Mohammad Shafi, 45, and his son Mohammad Aslam, 20, were arrested in April last year for removing a poster outside their grocery shop advertising an Islamic event in a nearby village which allegedly contained Quranic verses. (Court convicts imam and son for blasphemy, AFP.)

(That reminds me of a story I read in one of Jean Sasson's books, either Daughters of Arabia or Princess Sultana's Circle. These books are about a Saudi princess known only by the alias Sultana. One of Sultana's daughters became somewhat fanatical in her faith after attending the pilgrimage to Mecca, much to the annoyance of her family. At one point she suggested that the family could not throw away the newspaper because the newspapers contained verses from the Qur'an. Her family were not impressed.)

No wonder the Pope has called for this law to be repealed.

The mere accusation of blasphemy is often enough to whip an angry mob against the unfortunately accused, as may be seen in the terrible case of Latif Masih, 22, who was murdered on November 18, 2010 by his accusers after being granted bail.

The murderer, one of his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, seems to have been motivated after hearing polemics against Taseer by Islamic religious authorities:

Qadri told a judge Monday in written testimony that he decided to kill Taseer after he attended a gathering on Dec. 31 organized by Shahab-e-Islam, a small Islamist group that operated in his neighborhood in Rawalpindi, just outside the capital, Islamabad. He said speeches given by a cleric leading the group, Qari Hanif, and another member, Ishtiaq Shah, played a major role in his decision. (Sermons motivated killer of Pakistani politician, Yahoo News.)

Just as the forces of reaction did all they could to maintain racial segregation in the South of the US so those who wish to preserve these abusive laws in Pakistan have done all they could to make sure the government will not change this law.

Before the murder a national strike was held by those supporting the abusive law.

Violence flared Friday as police and protesters clashed during a mass protest strike that closed businesses across Pakistan over a bid to end the death penalty for blasphemy. Police said protesters near the home of unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari in the financial hub of Karachi pelted stones as they shouted slogans including "We'll sacrifice our lives -- we'll save the sanctity of the Prophet". (Violence as Pakistan strikes over blasphemy law.)

The murder of Salman Taseer, among other things, seems to have intimidated some Christians into converting to Islam, as documented in this heartbreaking Toronto Star story, Some Christians in Pakistan convert fear into safety.

Although only about 10% of the country vote for Islamist parties they are highly organized and thus are able to wield an impact upon society much greater than their voting figures suggest.

Alas many of the politicians within Pakistan appear to have meekly followed the Islamists' lead are refusing to consider changing this abusive law. The current government insists that no change is being contemplated, even before Taseer's murder.

Pakistan's prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday reiterated that the government does not intend to amend the country's controversial blasphemy law, under which a Christian woman has been sentenced to death.
"Everybody trust me. The government trusts my statement and even the opposition parties believe whatever I promise to them," he told Muslim scholars and spiritual guides from the mystical Sufi strand of the faith.

"You (Sufis) belong to me. Why don't you trust when I say that government would never amend the Blasphemy law?" added Gilani, who hails from a revered Sufi family. (
Pakistan: Prime minister confirms govt has no plans to amend blasphemy law )

Furthermore the Interior Minister has discouraged people discussing the problems caused by this law.

Interior Minister, Rehman Malik on Thursday reiterated that government has no intention to bring any amendment in blasphemy laws, owing to its sensitivity, the people should not play up the issue after the government categorical stance on the subject....The Interior Minister announced to block all un-Islamic materials put on various websites and urged people to inform government if they found any matter of blasphemy on the Internet. He said the government has highest regards for judiciary and its decisions are being implemented in latter and spirit. (Malik for blocking un-Islamic content on websites)

Former Pakistani leader Musharraf, who is currently attempting to re-enter politics, has stated that the blasphemy law must not be repealed.

Even the editor of a newspaper stated to a BBC reporter that Govenor Taseer deserved to be killed, saying incorrectly that the law is divine, completely disregarding the fact that the law is man made and was amended into its current abusive form in 1986. (Alas this particular radio interview is no longer available.)

No wonder so many are willing to protest in support of this abusive law, if even such a presumably intelligent and educated man can carelessly and thoughtlessly believe that the man made law in question is actually divine.

Asia Bibi's current situation in prison has been reported upon by Compass Direct News.

The female warden tasked with Noreen’s security the day Taseer was killed told Compass of the Christian woman’s reaction to the news.

“I was escorting her for her routine walk on the evening Governor Taseer was gunned down,” said the warden, who requested anonymity. “We were passing by a barrack when the news broke out on TV that the governor was dead … She stood there in shock for some time, and then she started screaming and crying.”

The warden added that she helped Noreen back to her cell, “as she could barely walk and kept weeping.”

“She cried all evening and also refused to have supper,” the warden said. “The governor’s killing shattered her

However it appears attempts are being made to keep her safe.

Masih [Asia Bibi's husband] said prison authorities had improved Noreen [Asia Bibi]’s security considerably after Taseer’s killing.

“She’s being kept in a separate cell with a warden deployed 24 hours for her security,” he said. “Only I am allowed to meet her, but even I am searched completely before they bring her out for the meeting. I just hope and pray she keeps safe inside the prison.”

Still, prison officials have reportedly said she will be transferred to another prison soon because of security concerns. ...

Sheikhupura District Jail Superintendent Sheikh Khalid, who recently assumed charge, told Compass that Noreen was the most “high value” inmate of the prison and that he was not going to take any chances regarding her security.

“She is on the hit list of several extremist organizations,” he said, “and there are reports that she might be targeted inside the jail – moreover, she has a 30 million rupee [US$350,000] prize on her head. This is enough incentive for anyone to kill her.”

He said the prison had enhanced its security measures, and additional forces have been employed to guard the premises at night.

“No one except her husband can meet her,” Khalid said. “I have also directed her not to eat anything given to her by any person other than the wardens deployed for her security. We are trying our best to keep her safe, but life and death are in the hands of Allah.” (Jailed Pakistani Mother Living in Constant Fear, Husband Says, Compass Direct News.)

It is good that some are still nevertheless speaking out against Pakistan's abusive blasphemy law.

It is clear that this law is being used to oppress religious minorities within Pakistan and therefore needs to be removed to insure the security and rights of the members of religious minorities so that they may live peaceful and productive lives as citizens of Pakistan.

(Hat tip to Jihad Watch for providing most of these links. I do not agree with everything that is written there.)

How Dare You, Stephen Flurry

2011-01-19T22:17:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking again about Stephen Flurry's first UCG crisis related polemic, Making Sense of the Church Split: Judge By the Fruits, which I have discussed previously.

His complaints are so thin skinned and hypocritical.

Stephen Flurry complains that some nameless UCG minister neglected to mention PCG as a possible choice for those leaving WCG.

Stephen Flurry complains that the other COGs remained neutral during PCG's court case with WCG.

(Never mind that most of HWA's major writings were freely available over the Internet in unofficial COG websites throughout most, if not the entire, time the court case proceeded.)

Meanwhile the victims of PCG can complain that their families and their relations with loved ones have been destroyed due to PCG's (Gerald Flurry's, Stephen Flurry's, Joel Hilliker's, Ron Fraser's) policy of forbidding PCG members from making any contact with "Laodiceans".

Recently ESN has published a letter from one who suffers from this No Contact policy.

My brother is one of Flurry's sheep and has not had anything to do with me or our father for the past 4 years. Without calling or letting us know he was coming to the funeral, which we assumed he wasn't, it made a stressful and mournful situation even more so. My question to you other Flurryites that I know visit this site is: Why come to a man's funeral service when you have not visited him in his lengthy illness and made the illness worse by the grief of losing a son? How can this possibly be a "light" to anyone involved or make anyone think? (January 8 letter.)

This is Stephen Flurry's policy.

The victims of PCG can complain that PCG's teaching are causing people to die, because of their negative attitude towards healing by medicine. (How is healing by medicine any different from eating only clean meats? Are you not also hoping the avoidance of unclean meats will make you more healthy? Then what is wrong with medicine?)

This wicked doctrine ultimately comes from the Rutherford era Jehovah's Witnesses who from 1921 - 1953 forbade followers from using vaccines.

While PCG are doing all of these terrible things Stephen Flurry chooses to whine that some nameless UCG minister fifteen years ago did not mention PCG as a possible choice for those leaving WCG.

These are your policies, Stephen Flurry.

How dare you choose to whine about these small slights when you do all these terrible things.

When you tell members they cannot contact "Laodiceans" (and then blame it on God! Besmirching His name.)

When you tell members, or even imply, that healing by medicine is somehow wrong, imitating Rutherford era Jehovah's Witnesses.

When you throw your followers' precious money away to build some $20 million white elephant during this Great Recession. Do they have health insurance.

When you use a book (Malachi's Message) that was viciously plagiarized from Jules Dervaes' Letter to Laodicea. When Jules Dervaes received Malachi's Message through unsolicited mail he knew immediately that the book was merely a rip off of his writings.

And you choose to whine over how one UCG minister did not mention your sect fifteen years ago.

How dare you, Stephen Flurry.

How dare you.

Christians Fleeing Iraq

2011-01-19T00:46:00.000-08:00

While the ministers in UCG allow their tensions to erupt in this latest split, further burdening their unfortunate followers (I do not doubt for an instant that it is a hard experience for the members caught up in it), while the plagiarist Gerald Flurry dares to call himself an Apostle, while the COGs spread fear inducing prophecies based on the misinterpretations of another plagiarist to gain money, the Christians of Iraq are fleeing from the unimaginable violence there which, alas, has now turned its wrath upon them and other religious minorities.

It seems clear that the terrible terrorist attack against Baghdad has caused many Christians to flee from Iraq.

Haunted by violence, Iraqi Christians flee to Turkey (Hürriyet Daily News).

According to church records, some 150 Christian families, or more than 600 people, arrived in Turkey in December, almost the same as during the whole of 2009....

Figures by the Turkey office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tend to confirm the trend: The number of asylum applications by Iraqi Christians has more than doubled in three months – from 183 in October to 428 in December.

Meanwhile the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq continues.

Christian Doctor Assaulted in Mosul (Asia News). A doctor "seriously wounded" by a gunman but survives.

Baghdad Raids on Alcohol Sellers Stir Fears (New York Times). This article also includes an account of a (thankfully non-fatal) assault upon an Assyrian cultural center.

Persecution is not something that just occurred in ancient Rome, it is happening right now.

(Hat tip to Jihad Watch. Please note I do not agree with everything written on that site. )

Conviction for Nag Hammeddi Shooting

2011-01-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

Some readers may recall a previous post reporting a mass shooting in Nag Hammedi, Egypt in January, 2010, which killed eight Coptic Christians.

I have just learned that one Mohamed Ahmed Hussein has been sentenced to death for that shooting.

Two other accused are to be sentenced next month.

A Sugested Name for COGaWA: Cogawa

2011-01-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

I don't know what you do but whenever I read something with an acronym for one of the COG groups, (WCG, UCG, RCG, GCG, PCG, LCG, etc, etc,) I read it to myself using a word to make these horribly impersonal acronyms more like a name instead of those coldly impersonal line of letters.

WCG is Worldwide. UCG is United. RCG is Restored. PCG is Philadelphia, GCG is Global, LCG is Living, and so forth.

But what to do with COGaWA?

Worldwide? I already use that word for WCG.

So I called it New Worldwide in my head at first.

But now I have an idea for giving COGaWA a proper name.

We should call it:

Cogawa

(pronounced Ko-gah-wah) O" as in "cove". Stress may be placed first or second syllable.

A meaningless name for a badly named church.

Maybe we should even spell it Kogawa.

Lets make the acronym a name to be pronounced as though it was a word.

There. Problem solved. It is now Cogawa.

PCG's Hilliker's Polemic Against UCG

2011-01-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

Joel Hilliker also wrote a column discussing the UCG schism, To Our Family in the United Church of God.

I found it rather boring. [Addition: Though I'm sure not everyone will feel that way.] It's mainly saying, Look at all these prophetic events that are happening right now [which HWA did not foresee, having predicted Christ to arrive in 1975, then by 2005] and all you Laodiceans can do is bicker and argue among yourselves. (Well then, why bicker with them?)

The reason this is happening, he seems to say, is because you use the wrong form of Government, he says, completely ignoring the fact that many other COGs operate in the same form of government which HWA's WCG operated in, and yet they have not had the same membership growth.

Let me state again, the idea that "fruits" do not just mean membership growth as HWA and his imitators so crudely teach.

Also Hilliker makes no mention of the fact that PCG has forced members to have no contact with Laodiceans, namely those who belong to WCG or any other offshoots.

At least the other COGs are mainly bickering, as far as I can tell, but PCG has chosen to shatter families by this draconian no contact policy just to enhance the leadership's authority and intimidate members from speaking out against them so that they can never leave.

In other words it's just your typical hypocritical PCG polemic against other the other COGs.

January 16 Remembered

2011-01-16T05:59:00.000-08:00

It is now 25 years since the man who created the COGs, Herbert W. Armstrong, died.

Let it be remembered that he told us that Jesus Christ would return by 2005 in his last book, Mystery of the Ages, but we are still here.

Let it also be stated that I am persuaded that he would have been astounded at what happened to WCG and the rest of the COGs since his death.

I would like to share this blog from Shadows of WCG's J: Would Anyone Have Believed It?

“PROPHECY DELIVERY DATE: APRIL 1981″

What is will be no more. What you have will be gone. What was is not to be. Your leader, Herbert Armstrong, has five years. He will select an individual who will tear down everything you know and cherish. Your treasures, your grounds, your possessions, they will disappear. Your college, your precious Ambassador College, will exist no longer. Your beautiful auditorium will be sold to those you have despised and cursed. Your grounds will be sold off and scattered, just as your people will scatter to all four corners of the earth. Your gigantic conventions will dwindle to near nothing. You will never be able to replicate what was. What is will be no more. You will have nothing.

You will be given a leader who will dismantle all that was. Your congregations of tens of hundreds will be reduced to tens, and tens of tens. Your plain truth will stop. Your television broadcasts will stop. Your magazines, brochures, they will stop. Some will attempt to revive what was but their attempts shall never come close to what was. They will be working in vain, and though they beat the vines with sweat and tears, they shall not yield fruit. There shall never be the growth that was, never again. What was is to be no more.

You can read the rest at the link.

Let it also be noted that one particular COG, "That Prophet" and "Apostle" Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God, has taken January 16 as a day of prophetic importance. Hence I am reposted this blog entry: January 16:

A peculiar belief within PCG is that January 16th, the day Herbert W. Armstrong died, will be marked by important events. This belief is generally absent from the rest of Armstrongism.

This belief is also continued in Raising the Ruins. From the end of Chapter 14 detailing the first mailing out of Malachi's Message to WCG members we read the following:
With me [Stephen Flurry] now added to the original group, 13 of us gathered at the Thompson home Wednesday night, January 10. We packaged 921 copies of Malachi’s Message, several hundred of which included the above letter....We delivered the bundles to the post office the next day, Thursday [January 11]. Many of those books from the first mailing landed in mailboxes on or just before [Tuesday] Jan. 16, 1990—four years, to the day, after Herbert W. Armstrong died.
The link this to January 16 here is quite week. There is nothing specific here that would cause one to pick January 16 as the important date unless one had already picked that date for another reason. The book is simply using a predefined belief that is artificially placed on events. The January 16 Myth.

In Chapter 23, part 2, under the heading 'Sealing the Deal', the date is again called upon in relation to the back room deals PCG was making with WCG to buy the books. (Again, PCG did not win the Court Case, it was an out of court deal with the man they say is the Son of Perdition.) 'On Thursday morning, January 16—17 years to the day after Herbert W. Armstrong’s death—the WCG agreed to sell us all the copyrights for $3 million.' The January 16 superstition again.

This belief comes from Gerald Flurry's Malachi's Message, which is [PCG teaches that it is] believed to be the Little Book of Revelation 10. Raising the Ruins omits to mention that Gerald Flurry himself referred to the date in the first edition of Malachi's Message. 'This message is being received by many people on the very day of the anniversary of HWA's death (January 16, 1986). We didn't plan it, but we are very happy it happened that way. You are going to see the date of HWA's death take on more significance as time goes on.' (p. 82). Maybe Flurry did not plan it that way but he certainly took advantage of that anniversary and instantly latched onto that date even before Malachi's Message was first published. This is evidence that Gerald Flurry tried to sanctify the mailing out of Malachi's Message by appealing to the memory of the date of HWA's passing. This does not prove that God attaches any significance to January 16.

The first sentence of that part has been changed in the modern version: 'Malachi’s Message was first received by many people on January 16, 1990, the very day of the anniversary of Mr. Armstrong’s death (January 16, 1986).' He then tries to use the 19 year time cycles to pinpoint January 16, 1991 as an important date. Gerald Flurry then identified the Gulf War as the prophesied event, ever so conveniently ignoring the fact that fighting actually began a day later on January 17. See also the March 16, 2004 letter here. Thus this prophecy is a failure and furthermore is a misrepresentation of the facts.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have this peculiar belief that Jerusalem fell in 607 BC but everyone else knows that it happened in 587/6 BC. It is the same with PCG, insisting that the Gulf War began on January 16, but everyone else knows it started a day later on January 17.

This is similar to what happened with the infamous Northridge Earthquake which occurred a day late to be useful to Gerald Flurry, on January 17, 1994.

It is very interesting to note, however, that in Chapter 13 of Raising the Ruins Stephen Flurry relates that Gerald Flurry wanted to 'reveal' Malachi's Message in January 1991 to coincide with the end of WCG's third 19-year time cycle.
But believing it was from God, he [Gerald Flurry] fully intended to deliver the message to church leaders in Pasadena—perhaps in January of 1991—the end of the work’s third 19-year time cycle. That was still a year and a half off, I thought.
This is evidence that from the beginning Gerald Flurry was determined to sanctify his work with some sort of chronological pattern, to give the appearance of having divine favor. Gerald Flurry completely disregardedthe fact that the time cycles was invented specifically to devise the infamous 1972-1975 prophecy of Christ's return. Gerald Flurry completely ignored the time cycle's previous failure in 1972. World War III, the nuclear Great Tribulation that would destroy all humanity unless Jesus Christ came back in 1975, was supposed to begin then. Maybe he has, ever so conveniently, forgotten about that.

However events soon spun out of control too quickly for this timeline to be fulfilled. By December 7, 1989 Gerald Flurry and his assistant John Amos were fired. Soon GF was well on his way to establishing his own church, the Philadelphia Church of God. He was unable to pull off his original timeline scenario, so he needed to quickly latch onto another event to sanctify his removal and/or the establishment of PCG in order to appear to have divine favor. He quickly latched onto January 16. Even before Malachi's Message got published he had already sanctified January 16 as an important day.

There was nothing important for January 16 in regards to Malachi's Message. It was sent in the mail on January 11. Even if WCG members received it on January 16 why is that day special and not January 13 or 14 or 15 or 17 or any other day in which WCG members received Malachi's Message? Why should not the printing be important, or the mailing of it? Because it would not fit the highly artificial pattern that Gerald Flurry devised.

And why is January 16 important? Is that not the 'pagan', 'papal', 'Satan inspired' Gragorian Calendar? Why not use the date on the Biblical Calendar as an important date? Why is it that the Gregorian Calendar is viewed as flawed and yet PCG uses that date in order to sanctify its founding and give the appearance of divine favor with no reference to what they acknowledged as God's Sacred Calendar? (Addition: As may be seen here January 16, 1986 was Shebat 6 and in the 1987-2010 period it falls on January 16 only once in 2005. In 1989 HWA's anniversary according to what 'That Prophet' Gerald Flurry acknowledge to be God's Sacred Calendar Shebat 6, the true anniversary of HWA's death, was February 1. That is 22 days, over three weeks, after MM was first posted. In 1991 it was on January 21, so the Gulf War started four days too early. In 1994 it was on January 18, so the earthquake was a day early. It never falls on January 17 either in that period. And also where is any of this in the Bible?)

If God does attach any significance to January 16 why does PCG need to pretend that the Gulf War started a day earlier than it actually did? Where in the Bible does it say that January 16 is important? This is simply an extra-biblical superstition. It is simply further evidence that PCG is simply the work of MEN and that God is not in PCG.

More on Raising the Ruins may be read here.

Ron Fraser: Ignoring Church Abuses Since 1968

2011-01-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

PCG author Ron Fraser has written this article, Marriage—Soon Obsolete?

Here he reveals some details of how he joined WCG.

Well, I’m thankful that amid the search for the absolutes as a young seeker after truth crossing the threshold from teens into young adulthood, I came across one who preached the truth, no holds barred, and who challenged his listeners to prove he was right!

I took the challenge and proved it!

As a young married parent of two at the time, I read Herbert Armstrong’s booklet prophesying of a coming generation which would see marriage as largely obsolete. That was 42 years ago. [c. 1968.] Yesterday I read the headline that spoke of the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Now this article makes no mention of when he joined WCG. All it reveals is he was reading their writings around 1968. So it is impossible to know when he joined and became a participating member of WCG from this article.

It must be noted that Ron Fraser wrote this:

I know the negative statistics surrounding the families that are not embedded in the tradition of monogamous marriage. And I have, over the years, worked with people who have shattered their lives as a result.

Did Ron Fraser encounter the effects of HWA's abominable Divorce and Remarriage doctrine? Until 1974 HWA enforced a shocking policy that those who have remarried are living in adultery and must separate themselves. Only Heaven knows how many families were destroyed by this most monstrous policy. Did Mr. Fraser personally observe this happening?

In 1974 he changed this doctrine after others pointed out to him that his doctrine rested on a misunderstood word.

He was with PCG when Gerald Flurry changed the government in PCG letting a Prophet, which he claims to be, have administrative rule over the church, contrary to HWA's teaching on this matter.

But since Gerald Flurry pays him, of course, he does as he is told.

He was with PCG when they implemented the No Contact policy forbidding PCG members from having any contact with "Laodiceans" members of other COGs. As far as I am aware he implements this draconian policy.

But since Gerald Flurry pays him, of course, he does as he is told.

Gerald Flurry Changed the Government in PCG

2011-01-14T15:49:00.001-08:00

Stephen Flurry has used the controversy in UCG as an opportunity to bad mouth LCG, as may be seen in his most recent column, Rod Meredith and Church Branches.

In these recent columns Stephen Flurry has focused his polemical retorts upon the two largest COG sects, UCG and LCG. He accuse UCG of changing the style of government. As for LCG he focuses on Meredith's attempts to implement collegial leadership during Global (1993-8).

Flurry's polemic ignores the fact that many COGs in fact practice one man leadership as practiced by old WCG.

In Meredith's case he focus on Meredith's attempt while in Global (1993-8) to have collegial government. He knows that after LCG was created Meredith reverted to one man rule but for the purposes of his argument this is de-emphasized and Flurry questions why this man chose to change things during that time to delegitimize him.

Let's see what he has to say:

When Rod Meredith left the Worldwide Church of God to start a new church in 1993, he clearly called into question the way Herbert W. Armstrong had governed the Worldwide Church of God.

Just like Gerald Flurry!

1) HWA taught from 1953 onwards until the day he died that Prophets cannot hold administrative power over church members.

PCG changed that and allowed a Prophet to rule over them.

This clearly contradicts HWA's teaching on this matter.

PCG has deceptively deleted these words which HWA wrote in Mystery of the Ages (Chapter 6):

No prophets are mentioned as having either administrative, executive or preaching functions in the New Testament Church.

If you view MOA from a non-PCG source you will find this statement. You will not find this statement in PCG's copies of Mystery of the Ages because they deleted it.

Therefore PCG has changed the form of government under HWA.

(I am aware that recently Gerald Flurry has declared himself an Apostle. This does not change the fact that until then PCG was ruled by a Prophet in clear contradiction to HWA's teaching.)

2: Gerald Flurry has called for "abnormal government" to be implemented within PCG in 2003.

On November 1, 2003 Gerald Flurry made a sermon in which he commented that PCG was entering a time of crisis because Satan is now on the earth. (PCG teaches that Satan was cast down to the Earth upon HWA's death in 1986.) He speculated that because of this time of crisis before the Great Tribulation it will be necessary to change create an "abnormal government" within PCG.

“REVELATION, 11, VERSE ONE IS ABNORMAL”

(Sniffs, voice changes) “Not that you’re abnormal! but this is abnormal administration of God’s Government.”

“Instead of setting up abnormal machinery to meet the highly abnormal need, the normal standards were not good enough at such a critical time. So they had to change the way they administered the Government. And so we enter into this time, brethren, and let me tell you, it’s getting to be pretty, pretty, fiercely bad. We enter into this time and Jesus Christ is showing me that there really is a change in the administration of our Government. There really is a change in that.

Satan has been cast down. Now that’s a different situation. I mean that’s like Hitler attacking, only it’s worse.And so we have that to contend with. And it’s, as I said, in the last hour, and no more delay, so Mr Armstrong’s structure of Government really will not work ... to get this job done.

Gerald Flurry knows how dangerous this rhetoric can be among people who has been (falsely) taught that PCG is the true church because they (alledgedly) have the same form of government as old WCG. So he tries to deceptively hide the fact that he is changing the government by pretending he isn't.

“It’s different brethren, but again, you see, it’s the same government, the same law that Mr Armstrong had!” And so I submit to it, you submit to it, but we do have to administer it in a different way.

This is merely deceptive doublespeak. Wikipedia offers these helpful words in discussing this concept.

Doublespeak (sometimes called doubletalk) is language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. ... It may also be deployed as...reversal of meaning (for example, naming a state of war "peace"). In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth, producing a communication bypass.

That is what Gerald Flurry is doing.

All of this, (having a Prophet wield administrative power over the church contrary to HWA's teaching, Gerald Flurry's call for "abnormal government" in 2003,) is deliberately ignored by Stephen Flurry to pretend that PCG preserves the same form of government, when they do not.

Let us continue with Stephen Flurry's column.

[Meredith] wrote in Church Government and Church Unity that the subject of church government had been seriously misunderstood during the days of Mr. Armstrong’s leadership.

How is this any different from your father, and employer, saying in the sermon cited above that

we’re in a fierce, fierce battle, just before the Great Tribulation and we’re going to have to do things differently; we already are doing them differently ... you are, I am, we ALL are and WE LIKE IT THAT WAY ...

I know Gerald Flurry claimed that this different way is "the way Christ leads us.” but that's just deceptive doubletalk.

Most of Stephen Flurry's column is devoted to discussing Meredith's booklet, Church Government and Church Unity, and Flurry insists that HWA always believed that there was one man in charge in the church.

Alas that booklet is, as far as I know, not available on the Internet, so it is hard for me to talk about what Meredith said.

This must be said: HWA was a false prophet so, as far as I am concerned, there is no need to wonder what his views on government were, because God was not with him.

A Brief History Of Pakistan's Blasphemy Law

2011-01-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

Just read this article, A, B and C of the Pakistan blasphemy law, from ASSIST News, detailing some of the historical reasons why this infamous law was adopted in Pakistan.

Alas, this law tends to be used to intimidate religious minorities within Pakistan.

Pack Also Goes Poaching For UCG Members

2011-01-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Stephen Flurry has recently been boasting how great PCG is.

Dave Pack has been doing exactly the same thing as may be seen in his article, RCG Fruits—Phenomenal Growth Continues!

Imitating HWA's twisting the Scriptures that "Fruits" means "Membership/Material growth" of the organization Pack asserts that his sect has grown more then any other COG. Like HWA before him and Stephen Flurry as seen earlier "Apostle" Pack assures us that this growth is a sign of divine favor.

None of that changes the fact that HWA was a false prophet who spread countless fear inducing prophecies which simply did not happen.

Let the reader remember these words of Scripture.

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath NOT SPOKEN, but the prophet hath spoken it PRESUMPTUOUSLY: thou shalt not be afraid of him.' (Deuteronomy 18:22, emphasis mine).

What is HWA's track record?

He predicted Christ to return in 1936 (p. 3).

He predicted that Mussolini then Hitler was the Beast.

He preached for years, from 1953 onwards, that Jesus Christ would return in 1975. Nothing happened.

In Mystery of the Ages he claimed Christ would return by 2005. (PCG altered that book after the court case so if you look up their version you won't see that prediction.)

It does not matter how much growth RCG or PCG or any of the other COG sects have when it can be shown by his false prophecies that Herbert W. Armstrong was a false prophet. From at least 1936 HWA spoke presumptuously on his own authority, not that of God, in regards to prophecy.

Claims of growth are meaningless.

PCG Members Are About 5500

2011-01-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

LCG apologist Bob Theil has an intriguing article, PCG Statistics commenting on Stephen Flurry's column, which among other things confirms what PCG observers have long suspected since at least 2003: that PCG's membership stands at around 5000 and is thus the smaller than LCG and UCG.

Stephen Flurry's Deceptive Polemic Against UCG and LCG

2011-01-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

Stephen Flurry has unleashed another column discussing the UCG split, Making Sense of the Church Split: Judge By the Fruits. (He means you are to choose his own: PCG.)

He takes this opportunity to spread cheap and deceptive propaganda to insist that PCG is the only true church.

He weaves mundane circumstances and insists that they reveal the hidden workings of the universe.

First he uses the old if-they-didn't-mention-us-it's-because-they-wish-we-didn't-exist rhetorical trick. Observe how he uses it.

After joining the United Church of God in 1995, one former minister of the Worldwide Church of God outlined four choices for disgruntled members of the wcg: 1) Stay with the Worldwide Church of God; 2) join the United Church; 3) go with Rod Meredith’s Global Church of God; or 4) wait on God to clearly reveal where to go. In his mind, the Philadelphia Church of God wasn’t even worthy of consideration!

Never mind all the other choices that were around at the time, such as joining Dankenbring, who was actually kicked out of WCG by Tkach even earlier than Flurry, the pre-1986 splits such as Garner Ted Armstrong's sect, or the pre-1974 splinter groups which retained the Monday Pentecost and that abominable Divorce and Remarriage doctrine.

There were in fact many other choices available to WCG members in 1995. Or even simply abandoning the heretical Armstrongite tradition altogether.

Suephen Flurry however focus his attention on Meredith in the Global era and UCG to deceptively insinuate that every other COG does not have the correct government when most COGs, as far as I can tell, still practice one man government as old WCG.

Stephen Flurry then complains that other COG ministers complained that PCG retained the same form of government as WCG. He brings that point out to make it appear as though only PCG had the courage to retain government precisely, when actually PCG have made changes, such as allowing a Prophet (Gerald Flurry) to hold administrative power over the church. This is contrary to what HWA always taught, that Prophets can have no administrative power over the church.

Stephen Flurry omits the many other legitimate complains made against PCG: that Malachi's Message is plagiarized from Jules Dervaes' Letter to Laodicea, PCG's idolatrous reverence for Malachi's Message, the fact that prospective members were required to believe that HWA is the end time Elijah before being allowed to attend, a completely new requirement.

In reality many COGs continue to embrace the one man rule as practiced by old WCG, but PCG continues to lie and confuse their members on this subject.

Back then [circa 1995], it wasn’t so much where you went, you just needed to get out of the Worldwide Church of God. There were plenty of “branches” you could join. Any of them would work—as long as it wasn’t the Philadelphia Church of God. [This is simply a straw man Stephen Flurry made to make PCG look special.] We, after all, had that old authoritative government. It was much too harsh and austere, Laodicean ministers would tell prospective members if they inquired about the PCG.

Publicly, however—because we were never considered a viable option [by whom? Straw man again.]—these ministers simply ignored the work of the Philadelphia Church of God—even as it became more and more difficult to overlook.

Stephen Flurry then complains that the other COGs remained neutral during their "war" with WCG over HWA's copyrights.

He completely neglects to mention that

HWA's writings were freely available for viewing on the Internet during the entire time of the court case. I can personally testify that I found and read Mystery of the Ages on the Internet about 2000-1 and it has remained online to this very day.

Omits to mention that PCG has since made alterations to HWA's writings, including removing HWA's teaching that Prophets cannot hold administrative office over the church from Mystery of the Ages.

He then writes crowing over how COG members are requesting their HWA writings:

Now that the lawsuit is over and we own the literature, many brethren from other churches have contacted us for copies, since we offer it freely to anyone who makes a request. In private, some ministers from other groups have even encouraged their members to come to us for personal copies of Mr. Armstrong’s books.

Of course these books have been sanitized to fit PCG innovations in doctrine.

He then spends a lot of time bragging about how great and wonderful PCG is. Never mentions how he requires PCG members to have "no contact" with former members and "Laodiceans".

He makes this statement which I found quite disgusting:

Our total worldwide income in 2010 amounted to $20.6 million—a solid 5 percent increase over 2009....[Please note, as I understand it UCG had abolished third tithe.] The UCG had about 20,000 people attend its fall festival in September—roughly four times the amount we had at our sites. Yet its overall income for 2010 was only 16 percent more than the PCG’s—$23.9 million.

Our members are so much more profitable than yours! Stephen Flurry seems to be saying.

He thinks this is a good thing.

To me this demonstrates how viciously exploitative PCG has been towards their eternally suffering flock.

Stephen Flurry then turns his barbs on Meredith and accuse him of showing poor judgment in adopting a collegial form of government under Global, insinuating that he has lost divine favor. Flurry also manages to throw in a They-called-me-a-Nazi accusation at Meredith.

He then ends with this:

How, then, can you know if that man is humbly submitted to the government of God and is faithfully following Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church? You shall know, Jesus said, by their fruits.

The unsuspecting reader will not know that PCG's fruit include shattered families torn apart by the No Contact rule, and exploited members being used to empower the oppressive leadership in Edmond, while laboring under a web of deceptions all perfectly calculated to say, PCG is the one true church so give your three tithes.

The Original Bible Story

2011-01-11T03:07:00.000-08:00

Most of us are familiar with Basil Wolverton's The Bible Story, a retelling of the events of the Old Testament, covered with a heavy dose of HWA's heretical teachings.

It debuted in the November 1958 Plain Truth and was serialized in the Plain Truth and later Tomorrow's World until April 1972. (Which happened to be the last issue of Tomorrow's World. If wonder if those events were connected?) Eventually it was compiled into six volumes.

I have just learned that from 1952-7, ending one year before Wolverton began his work, one Arthur Maxwell, a Seventh Day Adventist, wrote and published a series of 411 tales, compiled into ten volumes, entitled The Bible Story. Here is its official website advertising it. The title is exactly the same as Wolverton's work.

Also it should be remembered that Wolverton's work was also referred to as The Story of Man. Still I find this similarity remarkable.

PCG Discussing The UCG Split

2011-01-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

PCG's Stephen Flurry has written a column discussing the UCG split, entitled The United Church of God and the Evils of 300-Man Rule.

In this column Stephen Flurry insists that David Hulme and Roderick Meredith disregarded how HWA governed WCG thus disqualifying them as true Christians. Stephen Flurry completely ignores these comments which were made by his father in a sermon he made on November 1, 2003 in which Gerald Flurry implies that the immanent end of this world will necessitate a change in government:

I think God is saying alright, NOW LET’S CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT TO FIT THE TIMES!” Here we are in a time of no more delay. We’re in the last hour, and I think Christ is saying ‘NOW I WANT YOU TO RISE UP AND I WANT YOU TO RUN THIS THING DIFFERENT THAN THE WAY IT WAS DONE IN THE PAST.”

Furthermore Stephen Flurry speaks of Hulme and Meredith as deviating from HWA's teachings. It must be remembered here that PCG has altered HWA's writings, including Mystery of the Ages, a book which PCG's lawyer in the court case with WCG said HWA was inspired by God and which cannot be rewritten.

PCG has rewritten Mystery of the Ages. Here it is.

If one bears these facts in mind one is struck by how utterly hypocritical Stephen Flurry's assumed righteous stance is.

Let us see what he has to say.

Today, both Meredith and Hulme head up two spin-offs of WCG offshoots. All totaled, there must be at least 100 offshoots of what once was the Worldwide Church of God. [There's actually far more.-Redfox.]

It makes you wonder: How many failed experiments with collaborative government will it take for former members of the Worldwide Church of God to wake up and figure out where God is working today?

Did you see that? He's deceptively implied that each and every one of the other COGs tried to use a different manner of Government ("collaborative government") contrary to HWA's example. That is absurd. Many COGs practice one man rule just as HWA did.

But PCG members won't know that. Because the other COGs are constantly denounced by PCG ministers as "Laodiceans" who will be doomed to suffer in the Great Tribulation many PCG members will not see that this accusation of Flurry's (that every other COG practices a deviant form of Government) is completely wrong and even deceptive.

Meanwhile, the one organization that actually started the right way—as a tiny mustard seed planted in 1989, without any of the best-known former ministers of the WCG or their many thousands of supporters, but with God’s government

How is PCG's any different from that of any other COGs which have one dominant leader? This accurately describes just about all of them, aside from UCG.

The method of rule employed by HWA within WCG from about 1953 onwards was one man rule. Many other COGs also employ this method of organization. Stephen Flurry highlights these two instances (Hulme 1995-8 and Meredith 1993-8) in order to deceptively insinuate that every other COG somehow employ a different method of government.

This is a bold lie.

Insinuating that every other COG has a different form of government is a lie carefully crafted to subtly persuade unsuspecting readers to believe that only PCG is a legitimate continuation of HWA's work.

But he can get away with such bold lies. Stephen Flurry knows that if any PCG member complains that he is not speaking the truth about this matter, then that person can simply be disfellowshiped from PCG and forbidden to contact PCG members.

PCG uses "God's government" as a euphemism for PCG rule. PCG wishes to be the only true church and so every other COG is denounced as corruptions of WCG. PCG members are actually forbidden from having any contact with any member of WCG or its offshoots, even if they are close family members. Unsuspecting readers would have no idea that this is demanded of those who wish to submit themselves to what PCG deceptively calls "God's government" (which is actually PCG rule).

As far as I can see many COGs employ one man rule just as HWA's WCG did. UCG is very much the exception.

To insinuate, to state, that every other COG employs a different form of government from that of HWA's WCG is simply a lie to deceive people.

Let Us Remember Salmaan Taseer

2011-01-06T01:40:00.000-08:00

Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab, Pakistan, was assassinated by one of his bodyguards, it is widely reported that this murder was committed for Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's notorious blasphemy laws.

These laws forbid "defaming" Islam and are notorious for being used to intimidate the religious minorities within Pakistan.

It is a terrible shame that a man who speaks out against this law, because he knows that it is being used to intimidate religious minorities, he knows it is being ruthlessly used by some scheming opportunists to settle personal grudges, he knows that those even accused of blaspheming Islam can face severe discrimination by those who judge the accused guilty, even murder, and so he speaks out, he wants to change things to make them better. And for standing up for religious minorities so that they may live peaceful and productive lives in Pakistan, he pays with his life.

It is a terrible injustice that such a thing should happen.

Christmas Topics As Discussed By "Professing Christians"

2011-01-02T21:57:00.000-08:00

The Creationist Answers in Genesis has published some articles discussing some topics concerning Christmas that will be familiar to those of us familiar with Armstrongite teaching on this matter. I bring to attention in order to show that "professing Christians" are aware of what the various details mentioned by Armstrongites.

Miscellaneous Misconceptions About Christmas mentions the assertion that Jeremiah 10 is discussing Christmas trees, discusses how it is unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25, and discussing how some people (who are left unnamed) who teach that Christmas is not to be celebrated.

Regardless of what your opinion is of how the writer deals with these issues I bring

Footnote 3 of this article also discusses the argument that Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, was of the course of Abijah.

A Matter of Time discusses the timeline of the events concerning in Jesus' birth. It mentions that the Magi visited Jesus long after Jesus was born. I recall Meredith mentioned this point in his online study of Matthew. This detail about Jesus' early days is also mentioned in The Picture Bible, in which the Magi reach Jesus well after his birth.

I mention all this here to show that those the COGs teach us to look down on as "professing Christians" are actually aware of these details. The COGs are merely reciting information that was available from other sources.

A Tribute

2010-12-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

(Good news regarding the last post. Habbibolah Latifi's execution has been delayed. When people speak out together even dictators can be forced to take notice. Thank you. We now move onto to this new post.)

What we need to do for all those suffering under the abusive behavior of the various Churches of God.

We need to somehow show those who are suffering that we are together in this and we need to reach out each other.

Together we are stronger.

A Good Deed You Can Do In A Dreadful Situation

2010-12-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

Right now in Iran a man named Habbibolah Latifi, 29, a Kurdish activist, is on the verge of being executed. He seem to be scheduled to be executed on December 26.

In order to make this act as difficult for the Iranian authorities as possible I would encourage you to sign this petition, We want freedom for habib latifi at (http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40470/sign.html). You can sign anonymously.

Perhaps it is too late already, but it would be good to know that we tried to make this as difficult for the Iranian authorities as possible. This is a cause worth raising our voices for.

The Uselessness of TSA Terror "Security" Exposed

2010-12-24T01:17:00.000-08:00

At San Francisco Airport, while American citizens and visitors are forced to go through demeaning, invasive, liberty destroying "security measures", full body scanners, and those horrific "enhanced pat downs" airport employees simply use a swipe card to enter secure areas. That's their screening.

This only further my point that these measures are useless and should be abandoned today. The Enhanced Pat Downs and the Full Body Scanners need to be banished to the history books. There people will wonder how on earth things got so bad.

Astounding Turmoil in UCG

2010-12-17T01:39:00.000-08:00

J has a post detailing the current turmoil in UCG.

For me it is hard to be sympathetic to those responsible for igniting yet another round of turmoil. How many families and friends' relationships will be torn apart from this latest schism?

I am very sorry to the members of UCG because their ministers have once again failed them and are busy tearing each other apart in this vicious power struggle. During these turbulent times the members have been burdened with yet another problem, a most severe split in UCG's history.

I hope the unfortunate members caught up in this turmoil will try to calmly, as much as possible, contemplate whatever decision they are going to make.

Pastor Sentenced to Death in Iran

2010-11-21T01:35:00.000-08:00

Iranian Pastor Accused of ‘Thought Crimes’ to Die by Hanging.

The Origins of the TSA Enhanced Pat Down Terror

2010-11-17T23:42:00.000-08:00

Do you know how difficult it is to get just about every American to agree on a single issue?

We’ve finally found one. The TSA’s taxpayer funded coercion and terrorism and intimidation to force, intimidate, scare, people into using the full body scanners which were bought during a fit of hysteria.

The TSA’s liberty destroying dictators are simply too cowardly to admit they have made an expensive mistake buying ineffective and intrusive full body scanners that many people do not want to endure. The TSA do not want to admit they made an expensive mistake so they have lashed out at the entire world and have begun this unimaginable campaign of enhanced pat down terror to force people to use full body scanners.

First they were just incompetent buying the full body scanners. Now they have returned the US into barbarism.

They have not just gone beyond the moral event horizon they just soared right over it and away from it in a faster than light spaceship.

I remember once reading a book about 100 tyrants. J. Eager Hoover and Joseph McCarthy were in there. I have no doubt that those responsible for the Enhanced Pat Down Terror will be included in such a book just twenty years from now.

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/11/16/investigate-the-tsa-not-tyner/ The real reason for TSA Terror: It’s to intimidate and coerce you into the "porno scanners" which the Government has foolishly bought in a fit of hysteria. This post is essential reading.

Important info: Airports can opt out of using the TSA and provide alternative security. This line of escape should be used as much as possible.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/17/tsa-patdowns-scanner

This offers a great deconstruction of the trite and deceptive clichés the TSA are using to justify this unimaginable destruction of liberty.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101117/D9JI6A0G0.html

"I wouldn't want my wife to be touched in the way that these folks are being touched."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/new-airport-pat-downs-tsa_n_785075.html

[The head of the TSA John] Pistole conceded "reasonable people can disagree" on how to properly balance safety at the nation's airports but he asserted the new security measures are necessary because of intelligence on latest attack methods that might be used by terrorists.

This is a common tactics of those who seek to destroy liberty: We have to do it for your security.

This is tyranny.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/16/big-sisters-police-state/

Threaten? You should say destroy.

This is from the right wing Newsreal Blog: http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/11/16/libertarians-consider-tsa-scans-a-greater-violation-than-burqa-subjugation/

Americans have become subject to Peeping Tom airport X-ray scanners and full body groping. New TSA rules claim to prevent terrorists from blowing up airports and planes, but scanners won’t protect America from another 9/11. They will, however, violate travelers’ Fourth Amendment rights to be secure in their persons.

Americans should be up in arms over Superman X-ray vision machines: TSA scanners see the naked body through clothing. Libertarians at Lew Rockwell.com rightly condemn this unconstitutional violation, because, if one rejects full-body scans, one must be subjected to full body gropings many liken to rape. You won’t find conservative feminists like me disagreeing with that analysis.

Here are some other related articles about this horrific crisis:

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/11/17/tsas-master-plan-secure-the-planes-by-eliminating-the-passengers/

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/11/14/government-at-work-groping-children-is-preferable-to-perceived-profiling/

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/11/hamas-linked-cair-tsa-may-only-search-around-muslim-womens-head-neck.html

http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/11/15/what-happens-if-you-decline-a-full-body-scan/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/17/national/main7063414.shtml

http://www.indystar.com/article/20101117/NEWS02/11170365/Man-arrested-after-punching-Indianapolis-TSA-screener?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Communities

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/peninsula&id=7793386

http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/tsa-pilots-weigh-biometric-system-for-airport-screening-20101116

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_461991&v=TBL3ux1o0tM&

Penn Jillette calls Cops on groping TSA agent in 2002.

A Good Post About Prince William's Engagement

2010-11-17T02:09:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Here's a short but effective post looking at this joyous event from from a COG perspective, A New Day for Joy and Splendor for Britain?…YES!

More on Wade Cox

2010-11-16T01:08:00.000-08:00

Take a look at this wonderful post, Wade Cox of the Christian Churches of God, which details some of the recent activities, statements and actions of Wade Cox, leader of a COG splinter group which denies the divinity of Christ.

Definitely worth checking out.

A Rumor Within Egypt

2010-11-16T00:20:00.000-08:00

Over in Egypt a most unfortunate and false rumor has spread among some Muslims that a Coptic priest's wife had converted to Islam. As far as I can see this seems to be false.

Here's a story from ASSIST News detailing how this rumor, which has been used to demonize the Egyptian Coptic Christian community, Coptic Christian Woman Unwittingly Becomes Focal Point of Islamic Clash With Christianity.

It is strange that some Muslims choose to be so agitated over this unverified rumor when the Coptic Christian community have long endured abductions and forced conversions to Islam today.

I well remember reading a Reader's Digest article way back in 2000 which detailed a truly sickening account of one Coptic woman being abducted and forced to convert by bigoted Muslims.

I have no doubt in my mind that most Muslims are embarrassed by such things and wished such acts did not occur. According to the article above it appears the state is trying to contain the damage from this rumor.

It is sad to know that such shocking acts occur in what is usually regarded as the most advanced and cosmopolitan of the Arab states.

This Is INSANE!!! Instrusive Search Procedures in US Airports

2010-11-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

I've just heard that the TSA are implementing more aggressive pat downs at Airport security in this entry, Groped or Ogled? Your choices under TSA's new pat-down procedures. Apparently these new more aggressive pat downs are used to effectively force people to go into the full body x-ray scanners and are quite traumatic for those who endure them.

I remember once reading about how prisoners in the Soviet Union during Stalin's time were forced to expose their most private parts as part of the process entering into the gulag. Solzhenitsyn once remarked that while he was being processed into the Gulag he was forced to even show his member in order to show the inspector that there was nothing in there. Considering how extraordinarily rare a terrorist or spy would use such a method in concealing something I regard this step as totally unless, just like the Stalinist rituals of intrusive humiliation they imposed upon new prisoners.

We are far more likely getting killed by crossing the road, driving a car and odds the junk food you are eating are far more likely to kill you then some terrorist. Terrorism is an important problem, but we (I really mean the TSA) need to keep perspective about these things and not lose ourselves into paranoia.

Also we already have drug mules who ingest illegal drugs and go through airports trying to transport them while the drugs are inside them (and hoping the capsule does not break). More aggressive pat downs are not going to find such things.

This is such a useless procedure. It is a monstrosity that must be stopped.

Personally I have no problem taking off my shoes, going through metal detectors, or keeping liquids in clear containers. But this is too far, it is intrusive, it is going to needlessly hurt potentially thousands of innocent peoples, and it is not going to stop terrorism. The TSA have lost their minds allowing this to occur, as far as I am concerned. This dreadful and useless policy needs to stop.

I am sorry to mention such a thing. I am aware that some may find this rather disturbing, but now that I am aware that this is happening, I feel that it is my duty to warn as many people as I can about this, so that you will not be caught unawares.

Terrible News From Iraq

2010-11-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

For better or worse I havn't been reading the news lately but I heard recently about that terrible attack upon the Catholic Church in Baghdad which killed 58 people committed by a wicked terrorist front falsely called the Islamic State of Iraq. Here's the Wikipedia article on this 2010 Baghdad Church Attack.

I wish here to express my sorrow at knowing that such a dreadful thing has happened to these long suffering people and the many other vicious and wicked crimes the people of Iraq are subjected to, such as the recent multiple bombings against Shia in Baghdad.

On The Corrupt Nature of Finance and How It Led to the Foreclosure Catastrophe

2010-10-14T02:14:00.000-07:00

Read this very disturbing article about the corrupt state of finances and how it has lead to the economic crisis. "Inside Job": Global Finance as a Criminal Conspiracy.

Here's one highlight:

finance is really kind of zero-sum. It's a trading game, it's a gambling game. There's a relatively fixed pool of money, but there's a lot of money and the way you make more, as a banker, is by making sure that someone else makes less. It's really hard to keep that industry ethical without appropriate legal and regulatory controls. If Intel made microprocessors that blew up the computers they're in, Intel would go out of business. The same is not true for financial services. It was a very sobering moment.

Glad the Chilean Miners Got Out

2010-10-14T02:04:00.001-07:00

The miners got out! That is good to hear.

Media Matters Exposes the Right's Demonization of the Tides Foundation

2010-10-12T00:45:00.000-07:00

Media Matters has posted an article critiquing David Horowitz's website, DiscoverTheNetworks.com, A Guide to David Horowitz's DiscoverTheNetworks.

A few months ago one Bryan Williams engaged some law enforcement officers in a shoot out but was in the end arrested and is now in jail awaiting trial. He said he was trying to attack the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. Immediately there began speculation over what drove this man to hate the Tides Foundation so much he would chose to attack them. Commentators noted that Glenn Beck had recently denounced Tides and suspected a connection.

When I heard about this I immediately said to myself that he had probably read Discover The Networks.com's description of Tides. I shared this thought on my other blog. I discovered this website around early 2007 and read some of what was there. I distinctly recalled reading how they vilified Tides as the second greatest funder of 'the left' (just behind the Ford Foundation), that it's a money launderer used to let the wealthy left fund radical groups which they do not want to associate with publicly, they say. The funders know where the money goes, sends it to Tides, which sends it to the specified radicals, and the recipients may be unaware of the source of the money sent through Tides.
I am very glad that Media Matters has chosen to bring attention to this website.

DiscovertTheNetworks.com reveals much of what is wrong with the current state of the American right. It tries to convince the reader that every leftist must be as harmful to society as a Communist. Everyone that website disagrees with are vilified as Communists or portrayed as being as bad as one. Exploiting the fact that the Communist movement originates from the left it viciously accuses all leftists as being just as bad as Communists, as merely milder forms of Soviet Communism. The spirit of McCarthy is strong with this website.

Some highlights from Media Matters' interview with Bryan Williams:

Byron says that he had researched Tides on his own before seeing Beck attack the foundation on television. In his letter to me, he singled out Beck and DiscoverTheNetworks as key sources of information on Soros and Tides.

To accuse every leftist of being Communist is wrong. It is dangerous to do that because it hides what was really wrong with Soviet style Communism and make people unnecessarily fearful of the left. The problems of Soviet Communism which caused them to behave in the atrocious way they and their imitators did do not apply to the vast majority of the American left.

I know David Horowitz has a very compelling story about how he became disillusioned with the left due to apathy towards the murder of an associate of his, which he strongly suspects was committed by the members of the original Black Panther Party, but regardless of such sensitive matters they do not, I am sorry to say, justify him and his associates to demonize the left as they have done as Communists, as intellectual relatives of Communism, as sympathizers of radical Islamic terrorism, as traitors for opposing Bush's wars.

I have read about twenty books about Soviet style Communism and some of its imitators. As far as I can tell one fundamental problem was that their dream of being able to create Utopia allowed them to justify all measures to destroy democracy. Whatever may be said the American left I am firmly persuaded that the idea that democracy can be subverted to impose their vision(s), that such a step is justified, does not exist within the vast majority of the American left.

I say again I'm glad Media Matters has directed their critical eyes to this propaganda website and are exposing them.

Social Security Is Secure

2010-10-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

The Daily Howler has another post up discussing why Social Security is NOT going to "fail" and that claims that it is going to fail are, ultimately, incited by plutocrats who want to get their hands on your Social Security. It is a fabricated crisis that we do not need to fear.

Media Matters Discuss "Christian Identity"

2010-10-09T00:59:00.000-07:00

Media Matters has asserted that David Barton, an academic who teaches at Beck University, a venture of Glenn Beck, spoke twice to "Christian Identity" groups in 1991. They cite a 1994 book by the Anti-Defamation League.

Barton claims that he was unaware of the racist nature of these organizations when he spoke to them.

Barton later said he was not aware that the events were hosted by groups with a racist ideology and said "that with as many as 400 speaking engagements a year, he cannot do background checks on each of the invitations he receives," according to an April 10, 1996, Seattle Times article (retrieved via Nexis).

I don't know much about David Barton so I am not going to comment on his professional life or the criticisms against his work which Media Matters presents in the article. Personally I am not sure if it was a good idea for Media Matters to bring up this matter. Barton said he didn't know the nature of these groups, so I would be reluctant to use this to criticize him over this matter at this moment. So doesn't this mean that he has already addressed this business? If he hasn't spoken to any of these Christian Identity groups in 19 years, if he has avoided them this long, shouldn't we leave this matter alone? Isn't that long enough to leave this alone?

I also must state here that Media Matters did not state just how virulently racist these "Christian Identity" groups are. Here is how they are described in the article, quoting a 1994 book by the Anti-Defamation League:

["]Christian Identity["] movement .... "asserts that Jews are 'the synagogue of Satan'; that Blacks and other people of color are subhuman; and that northern European whites and their American descendants are the 'chosen people' of scriptural prophesy."

It's worse then that. "Christian Identity" asserts that Jews are the literal, fleshy descendants of the Devil, and that whites are descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. It is not enough for them to claim to be Israelites but they claim that Jews are impostors usurping the position of the true Israelites, the select European whites.

"Christian Identity" is a racist offshoot of British Israelism which originated from Victorian Britain, taught by men such as Richard Brothers, John Wilson and Edward Hine, and came into America. At first it was not racist towards Jews, instead viewing them as long lost cousins. It was from this non-racist form of British Israelism that HWA adopted it from J. H. Allen in the late 1920s. (Then carefully stole any credit Allen deserved by pointedly refusing to name him in his discussions about British Israelism.) Hence why HWA did not indulge in hating the Jews. But after World War II many of these British Israelites embraced racist doctrines that produced what is now known as "Christian Identity".

Because "Christian Identity" is related to British Israelism I feel it is necessary to mention this matter here.

Letter to ESN on Wade Cox' Armstrongite Group, Christian Churches of God

2010-10-06T02:02:00.000-07:00

ESN has published an email about Wade Cox' Christian Churches of God. It's dated September 29. Take a look. The writer gives us a very unflattering portrayal of the leadership, and also expresses concern about their expansion into Africa and wishes that there were more resources on the Internet exposing the truth about this group.

LCG apologist Bob Theil has a fascinating article about this group. Similar to Jehovah's Witnesses, and unlike HWA, this group seems to teach that Jesus Christ is not divine and that He was generated and did not exist from eternity.

If you want to see what the writer is talking about here is the group's page concerning Africa and the Middle East.

Worryingly Bob Theil also indicates that this group is prone to making legal challenges, although he presents little evidence to support this.

On other matters a certain anti-Semite who denies the Bible has redesigned his website and whitewashed his commentary section which contained some of his most disgusting anti-Semitic hate speech, so some of his hate speech are now inaccessible. But there is still one booklet up on his website which claims the Jews are descended from Turkic Khazars and accuses Jews of dominating the slave trade. Both of these are anti-Semitic charges used to demonize Jews and stir up hatred. So I think this is just a trick. He is trying to obscure his hatred but it is clear he still retains his virulent anti-Semitic hatred.

[Update: Be sure to read the comment below. Here's more on this group.]

Rising From The Ruins

2010-09-22T02:00:00.001-07:00

You've heard of Stephen Flurry's deceptive book length recruitment pamphlet Raising the Ruins, which, among other things, condemn Tkach for using dictatorial methods to change WCG while PCG operates in the same dictatorial manner, hails Ambassador Auditorium in Chapter 2 as a 'legacy that was neither heavy nor burdensome' naively ignoring the reality that it was a severe financial drain, approving quote HWA's deceptive doctrine of the dark century, quotes a lawyer who insists that Mystery of the Ages cannot be rewritten thus deceptively hiding the fact that PCG has surreptitiously changed HWA's writings, deceptively hides information about the virulent and deadly anti-medicine superstition which HWA taught, cunningly teach that Tkach Sr., was a puppet of Tkach Jr. without revealing that PCG teaches that Tkach Jr., is the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2 (and not the last Pope as HWA taught) and much more can be said about it.

Well, recently, I quite randomly ran into this similarly titled book, Rising From The Ruins by Peter Daniels. No, I don't know what it's about and I'm suggesting that there is a connection but I just find it amusing that this book should use such a similar name.

The Bamboo Cross

2010-09-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

The following is a reposting of my previous entry Last Year's Day of Atonement which was made to coincide with the Day of Atonement 2009.

As it is that time of the year again I wish to share with you all my last Day of Atonement as a COG believer.

It was habit during holy time to read spiritually uplifting material. Therefore on the Day of Atonement 2008 I went to the library and read a book there that had caught my attention. The Bamboo Cross by Homer E. Dowdy (1968).

It is an account of Evangelical Degar (Montagnard) missionaries among their people in Vietnam back in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a fascinating account of life among these peoples.

I was not evangelical at all but I was already familiar with most of COG doctrine and their stories so I read other religious works.

In this book a shaman incites a drunken horde to destroy anything white, including white people. The harassment from Communist Viet Cong guerrillas who tried to lure them to join them in their war.

It also relates how among one tribe it was the custom to demolish a house once a person died in that house.

Also it related how there was this tribe that lived in an inaccessible place that could only be accessed by climbing a treacherous stone.

Since this book was written before the Communist North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam I wonder what happened to them. This book is definitely worth a read if you can get your hands on it.

PCG's $24 Million White Elephant and Another False PCG Prophecy

2010-09-16T01:50:00.000-07:00

According to the letters on ESN about PCG the Armstrong Auditorium may have actually cost $24 million.

Also check out this interesting letter:

Flurry has been screaming for years how short time is. [He still is. Recently he's been 'suggesting' Christ will return in about ten years.] He told me personally in 1993 that he didn't expect things would last until 1996. Thus, PCG would be a seven year work. (1989-1996). When that didn't happen, he had to use the gimmick of printing MOA. They claimed that God probably had given them seven more years to preach the gospel to the world. That began in 1997.

Rising From The Ruins

2010-09-15T02:41:00.000-07:00

You've heard of Stephen Flurry's book length recruitment pamphlet Raising the Ruins, which, among other things, condemn Tkach for using dictatorial methods to change WCG while PCG operates in the same dictatorial manner, hails Ambassador Auditorium in Chapter 2 as a 'legacy that was neither heavy nor burdensome' naively ignoring the reality that it was a severe financial drain, approving quote HWA's deceptive doctrine of the dark century, quotes a lawyer who insists that Mystery of the Ages cannot be rewritten thus deceptively hiding the fact that PCG has surreptitiously changed HWA's writings, deceptively hides information about the virulent and deadly anti-medicine superstition which HWA taught, cunningly teach that Tkach Sr., was a puppet of Tkach Jr. without revealing that PCG teaches that Tkach Jr., is the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2 (and not the last Pope as HWA taught) and much more can be said about it.

Well recently I quite randomly ran into this similarly titled book, Rising From The Ruins by Peter Daniels. No, I don't know what it's about and I'm suggesting that there is a connection but I just find it amusing that this book should use such a similar name.

Disinformation About Social Security

2010-09-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

The Daily Howler is beginning a special report on the Right's campaign of disinformation to discredit Social Security in order to gut it when it is unnecessary and how the left how unfortunately allowed this state of affairs to occur.

If you think that Social Security is going to fail (I know many do) please read this. Many of us have all been misinformed on this issue.

Social Security is not going to fail. It is not in a crisis contrary to the many deceptive claims made by some persons within the Right.

Happy FOT, Armstrong Auditorium Opening

2010-09-10T02:07:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone in the COGs have had a good Feast of Trumpets. I have nothing against anyone observing that day in order to please God. I hope COG followers had a good and happy Feast of Trumpets.

On other matters I'm glad that dreadful Koran burning stunt has been called off.

PCG's $20 million white elephant Armstrong Auditorium is now open. Stephen Flurry has another one of those articles glorifying what they have done, Incomparably Magnificent.

As mentioned here previously ESN reported that PCG has been acquiring other websites in order to make search results more favorable to them. Here's another site, StephenFlurry.com, which is essentially a blog of his articles.

The most recent blog there are Dedication Remarks. What struck me about this post is that, unless he there is more to the speech that was not included in that blog, he didn't thank his fellow PCG members,, who are required to live under the severe terms of PCG's dictatorial rules. If true, then that is a pretty large and unfortunate omission.

But, alas, because PCG is so notoriously dictatorial it will be very difficult for anyone to complain to the ministry without running the risk of punishment. If I was a PCG member I wouldn't complain due to fear. (But I must emphasize here again that this may very well be over nothing if there are other comments which were not included in that post.)

Armstrong Auditorium Soon To Open

2010-09-04T04:36:00.000-07:00

Very soon now PCG's $20 million white elephant called Armstrong Auditorium is due to open September 5.

Stephen Flurry has produced this little article A House for God! for the opening.

Spam for Gerald Flurry

2010-09-03T02:20:00.000-07:00

Someone has been sending spam promoting Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God cult. One of them reached one Dave Rhea, who works for The Journal Record.

Here is his response: Jesus Is Not a Spammer. Is Gerald Flurry?

Alas spamming is the least harmful thing PCG does (assuming the spam actually came from PCG instead of an enthusiastic member or fellow traveler).

ESN Letters on PCG's Armstrong Auditorium

2010-08-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

I havn't been to Exit and Support Network's letters archives in awhile but there has recently been a lot of new emails concerning PCG. Check it out.

Here's some relevant quotes:

Just looking at the latest Royal Vision. Looks as though those at the top of the PCG pyramid are becoming increasingly paranoid and controlling. The article in the July-August edition entitled "Must We Avoid Them?" by Greg Nice is another attempt at getting the deluded and deceived members to cut off loved ones and friends who have left the PCG. They use emotional blackmail statements such as: "If we fail to avoid them (ex-members) or cut them off today, we are doing it because we love ourselves and not because we truly love them." Members are also instructed not to: "...Eat with them; don't share a social event with them...avoid them until they repent..." --Anonymous

More sensible critique on the necessity (!) of Armstrong Auditorium.

I can think of so many things that a "real" church could have done with those millions of dollars, including feeding and clothing the needy in the community. Such a waste of members money. I'm reminded once again of the Scriptures and Jesus' reply to the rich young ruler: "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." (Matthew 19:21) It's just so obvious where GF's treasure is. --Impacted by PCG

One letter reveals that PCG are trying to massage the search results about them.

According to the June, 2010, Philadelphia News article by Timothy Oostendarp titled "Church improves online reputation," the PCG has "partnered with a Canadian-based contractor specializing in search engine optimization" to, in effect, silence critics. The article says: "In the case of God's Church, there is the added dimension of Satan using people to constantly upload virulent, smear-based materials." It says that these materials "were lodged as the top links Internet users found when they searched for information related to the Church. That is no longer the case. Through the optimization efforts and improved website content, the relevancy of PCG websites has steadily risen, while the relevancy of negative websites has declined."

Alas, this seems to be true. Observe these pro-PCG websites, GeraldFlurry.info and this biographical article. And most hilariously, this Gerald Flurry blog, which is composed of just three virtually identical blog posts posted on the same day. Clearly it exists solely to gobble up search engine rankings in order to bury the ugly truth about PCG.

This Auditorium is the PCG's "tower of Babel." It doesn’t bring glory to God, but to the man, HWA, and the same fate will befall it that has befallen the campus and buildings in Pasadena. God will not be mocked.

Could not agree more.

Thoughts On That Idiotic Koran Burning

2010-08-29T05:20:00.001-07:00

There's some crazy church in Florida planning to burn Korans on September 11. I wish to state here that I absolutely condemn this inflammatory act.

In every way one looks at this event it must be concluded that this will only cause unwanted strife and heartache.

I have heard stories of Muslims becoming highly offended at such attacks upon their faith.

I remember reading in Princess Sultana's Circle how one women was tormented by unwanted mental images after seeing an irreverent portrait of Muhammad. She was traumatized. And the narrator, Sultana, commented that she was at least glad she did not have to endure that stress, even though she had been forced to endure various stressful situations discussed elsewhere in the book.

I remember reading how the first mass hunger strike in Guantanamo Prison was caused because a US soldier accidentally caused a Koran to fall on the floor.

I believe it was early February when, on Charlie Block, a Koran was thrown to the floor during a cell search. [It is later revealed that this was accidental.] This caused the whole camp to go in a massive uproar, screaming and yelling to the point all [military police officers] came out of the blocks....When the incident with the Koran happened, the whole camp pretty much went on a hunger strike that lasted a week or so.

Why are these people willing to do something like that and risk something similar occurring?

They are like little kids playing with fire.

This really is a heartless and foolish act. Do they think they will convert any Muslim by doing this? All this is doing is unnecessarily building another block of separation to hamper relations between Christians and Muslims.

I shudder to imagine that this may incite some professing Muslim terrorists somewhere in the dar al-Islam to persecute the Christians within their midst.

How can anyone still burn books considering the practice's negative association with Nazism? I am not calling these people Nazis, but it must be pointed out that whatever intellectual respectability book burning may have had before 1933 was completely lost because of its use by the Nazis. Again I am not calling them Nazis, that would be inappropriate and inaccurate, but it must be asked why they would use such a disreputable act with such a negative association.

There are countless, more sensible things they could do instead.

Why don't they burn Osama bin Laden's books? They could burn Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden. That would be far more sensible, it would make it clear they are directing this act against this specific movement, and it would not offend a billion people, the vast majority of whom had nothing to do with al Qaeda, at least not as much.

Or why not stage a protest at some embassy respectfully asking them to address an issue in that country?

Or why not hold a service discussing persecution of Christians in various parts of the world? Get in a speaker from Voice of the Martyrs or some such organization and educate people about these things, show them a movie about it and tell them how they can help persecuted Christians. This book burning will certainly not help the persecuted Christians. It may worsen their plight.

Furthermore there are Muslims living among us. How does this event help them feel safe and respected living with us? They are here and they are going to stay here and we all have to live together in peace and harmony as much as possible. This event does not help us to live together well but will only unnecessarily cause strife.

For all these reasons this deed must be judged as most reprehensible and mischievous.

It is a heartless and foolish act.

I condemn it completely.

More On Why Social Security Will NOT Go Bust

2010-08-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

The Daily Howler has been doing some posts lately analyzing the various incorrect but extremely widespread rumors alleging that Social Security will fall apart.

Here are the relevant posts, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Here's one statement to be noted (from Part 2):

Second con—after the trust fund is gone: On the other hand, people have heard that Social Security will “go broke” or “go bankrupt” once the trust fund expires in 2037 (according to current projections). For most people, these terms suggest some sort of cataclysmic collapse, after which the Social Security system would have to be shuttered. Presumably, this explains why so many people, for so many years, have seemed to assume that they will never draw any benefits.

There's more in the links.

Sounds Like Garner Ted Armstrong To Me

2010-08-11T02:47:00.001-07:00

Recently Esquire released this profile of Newt Gingrich by John H. Richardson, Newt Gingrich: The Indispensable Republican. The Left have been all over this article because for the first time his ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, has spoken out. Many of them point out this passage in particular. It describes what happened after Newt Gingrich admitted having an adulterous affair.

He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused.

He’d just returned from Erie, Pennsylvania, where he’d given a speech full of high sentiments about compassion and family values.

The next night, they sat talking out on their back patio in Georgia. She said, “How do you give that speech and do what you’re doing?”

“It doesn’t matter what I do,” he answered. “People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live."

Didn't Garner Ted Armstrong say something similar regarding why he continued preaching even though he indulged in adulteries?

[Garner Ted Armstrong] then elaborated to me in his defense that he felt he was specially "called" to preach his father's gospel. He declared that he must preach against adultery in others, even though he, himself, was personally guilty. "Put me behind bars, slip my food to me, keep me in solitary confinement," he said dramatically, "but put a microphone in front of me because I must preach this message to the whole world!" Once again I wrongly concluded that Ted had slipped under "emotional pressure." Sadly I walked away and tried to forget it. (Al Carozzo, The Profligate Son, Ambassador Report, 1977.)

Newt Gingrich acting just like Garner Ted Armstrong.

I am somewhat concerned that the focus of the article is on this part of it, because the rest of the article is a truly fascinating portrait of Newt Gingrich. The rest of the article is well worth checking out.

Long Live Net Neutrality!

2010-08-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

Let me say I am disturbed by news that Google and Verizon are planning to scrap net neutrality and allow companies to grant better access to the Internet if you pay for it. I am aware they have denied this but I am still very concerned by this. I regard this as a dangerous innovation that all of us would be better without.

For information on this topic see SaveTheInternet.com.

Here are its frequently asked questions.

Big business, it seems, is trying to feudalize the Internet. I urge everyone to pass this along.

On The Cost of PCG's Armstrong Auditorium

2010-07-31T00:31:00.000-07:00

LCG apologist Bob Theil has an article about PCG's Armstrong Auditorium. It is due to open September 5.

He mentions this article about it. Bob Theil comments that,

According to the article, PCG spent $20,000,000 on this project. As PCG has approximately 6,000 members (including those outside the USA), this equates to something like $3,000 for almost every attendee. ... Even if PCG has more people, the focus on the building seems disproportionate, but that is apparently PCG’s priority.

Now that is a disturbing, and sad, thought for the unfortunate PCG members, who are forbidden by the PCG cult from contacting ex-members or members of other COGs and are discouraged from using medicine.

Why We Do Not Need to Fear Social Security Going Bust

2010-07-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

It is not true, as I have heard every now and then, that Social Security is going to go bankrupt. Just found this, Top 5 Social Security Myths.

Myth: Social Security is going broke.

Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.3 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a 'T'). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever. After 2037, it'll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits--and again, that's without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers retirement decades ago. Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.

Myth: We have to raise the retirement age because people are living longer.

Reality: This is red-herring to trick you into agreeing to benefit cuts. Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were in the 1930s. The reason average life expectancy is higher is mostly because many fewer people die as children than did 70 years ago. What's more, what gains there have been are distributed very unevenly--since 1972, life expectancy increased by 6.5 years for workers in the top half of the income brackets, but by less than 2 years for those in the bottom half. But those intent on cutting Social Security love this argument because raising the retirement age is the same as an across-the-board benefit cut.

Myth: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security.

Reality: Social Security doesn't need to be fixed. But if we want to strengthen it, here's a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share. [More on that here.] If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come. Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income. But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.

Myth: The Social Security Trust Fund has been raided and is full of IOUs

Reality: Not even close to true. The Social Security Trust Fund isn't full of IOUs, it's full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. The reason Social Security holds only treasury bonds is the same reason many Americans do: The federal government has never missed a single interest payment on its debts. President Bush wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market--which would have been disastrous--but luckily, he failed. So the trillions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund, which are separate from the regular budget, are as safe as can be.

Myth: Social Security adds to the deficit

Reality: It's not just wrong -- it's impossible! By law, Social Security funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. That means that Social Security can't add one penny to the deficit.

Although there are other problems out there I am glad we can relax about that particular issue.

The Rightward Tilt of PCG's Political Opinions

2010-07-26T01:36:00.000-07:00

In their coverage of politics PCG has chosen to embrace a very right wing viewpoint.

Here I shall discuss two issues which show PCG's right wing leaning in regards to politics. These are the positions that PCG chose to take on these issues and has chosen to promote among their followers.

When Arizona recently passed its harsh legislation against undocumented migrants, PCG chose to be sympathetic to those supporting that law and criticize those who oppose this law.

White males have taken a beating in recent weeks. First it was legislators in Arizona, branded as Nazis in some quarters, because they had the gall to clamp down on illegal immigration. Then it was Arizonans in general, labeled as racist for supporting tougher legislation, even though this majority support included many Hispanics—those who are legal citizens of Arizona. (Stephen Flurry, 'Watch Out for White Men,' May 7, 2010.)

The mayor of Phoenix called the measure “racist and unjust.” Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said the bill effectively “sanctions” racial profiling....

Even President Obama hastily joined in on the chorus of criticism against the Arizona law. Within hours of Governor Brewer signing the bill, Obama scolded Arizona lawmakers for their “misguided” work. He said it threatens to undermine the “basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.”

Should the law be enforced, President Obama envisioned life for Hispanic Americans to be something like this: “Now suddenly if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re going to be harassed—that’s something that could potentially happen.”...

That’s what much of the backlash against the Arizona law amounts to: stirring up racial discord....rather than do something about the mounting danger, America’s leadership is instead lighting the fuse of a much more explosive time bomb. (Stephen Flurry, 'How Arizona’s Immigration Bill Sparks Racial Hate,' July, 2010, Philadelphia Trumpet.)

Stephen Flurry denounces those who criticize the law as "race baiters".

Small wonder that 70 percent of Arizonans support the new immigration bill.... But not the race baiters. They see the law’s passage as yet another opportunity to fan the flames of racial hatred and division. (Stephen Flurry, 'Playing the Race Card in Arizona' April 30, 2010.)

PCG's hard right approach to news may also be seen in how they approach news from Israel.

During that horrible incident aboard the Mavi Marmara in which IDF soldiers boarded the boat in international waters and in the confrontation nine activists were shot by IDF soldiers and died. Israel does have a right to exist and to protect themselves but I do not feel that those two legitimate goals apply or excuse this terrible and shocking incident. PCG chose to give their sympathy to the state of Israel and dismiss the protesters on the flotilla as 'terrorists'.

Personally I am disturbed at how little compassion is expressed here for those who perished and their loved ones.

The terrorists who sponsored the Gaza-bound “humanitarian” mission earlier this week got exactly what they were aiming for: a lethal retaliation from Israel’s navy, followed by a tidal wave of international outrage against Israel. It doesn’t matter that 50 passengers on board the Mavi Marmara were linked to terror groups, or that the “peace activists” attacked Israeli commandos with metal rods, broken bottles, knives and stun grenades, or that three of the Turks killed by Israeli commandos actually wanted to die as martyrs, or that investigators discovered bulletproof vests, night vision goggles and gas masks on board the ship.

All that matters is that Israel, once again, is the bad guy. (Stephen Flurry, 'Israel the Outcast', June 4, 2010.)

What about the fact that nine unarmed men died? How can Stephen Flurry say "All that matters is that Israel, once again, is the bad guy" and thereby ignore all these heart breaking facts?

The Mavi Marmara is also discussed in Joel Hilliker's column A Good Excuse to End a Bad Relationship. What I notice about this column is that he seems to ignore the possibility that people would be genuinely angry that nine unarmed lives have been ended by armed IDF soldiers and portrays the Turkish government's condemnation as simply an excuse being used by Turkey's leaders to scuttle friendly relations with Israel. He also alludes to HWA's doctrine (taken from various strands of British Israelism) that Turkey is descended from the nation of Edom. This idea was taught by one M. M. Eshelman who identified the Turks as Edom.

Nothing does that better than some telegenic anti-Israel protests—over Turks having been killed by Israeli soldiers, no less.
In this way, the flotilla incident was a slam-dunk.
The folks who organized it knew what they were doing. The Turkish group that staged the “humanitarian” mission to Gaza had ties to terrorist networks. It invited dozens of terrorists with ties to Iran, Hamas and al Qaeda to participate. It specifically sought to bust a naval blockade solely intended to limit Hamas’s ability to turn the Gaza Strip into a military bunker. It forced a confrontation, banking on the ability to turn it into a public relations disaster for the Jews.

Israel could see what was coming. Before the convoy set sail, Israeli leaders pleaded with Turkish officials to stop it; they offered to allow the supplies to be delivered through an Israeli checkpoint. But Erdoğan’s government let it go anyway. Thus, Israel had no choice but to intervene directly. And those on the boat made sure it turned violent.
Now, Turkey is milking the event for all it’s worth. It accused Israel of state-sponsored terrorism.

And so those are some political positions which PCG has chosen to produce for their followers and sympathizers.

PCG's Gerald Flurry on Mullah Omar

2010-07-25T03:50:00.000-07:00

I remember one time during my brief encounter with PCG that Gerald Flurry hosted one Key of David presentation in which he implied that Mullah Omar, leader of the pre-9/11 Taliban regime in Afghanistan, was demon possessed. He cited some report that Omar was riding a motorbike, having epileptic fits, and barked like a dog, if I recall correctly.

I have absolutely no way to verify what Gerald Flurry said. It is just a memory I have.

I do believe that demon possession is possible, but such concepts should be used with great restraint. I shudder to think how this idea could be abused in the dictatorial environment of so many COGs.

PCG and that Black Panther Voter Intimidation Story

2010-07-20T02:52:00.000-07:00

Recently PCG has released a column by Robert Morley entitled President Obama, the Black Panthers, and the Coming Racial Explosion.

In it he mentions the story about an activist from the New Black Panther Party intimidating voters in the 2008 election. He also mentions J. Christian Adams who says that the Department of Justice is ignoring civil rights cases when white people are victimized.

This column exposes how PCG thoughtlessly parrots the line from right wing media outlets. I would like to state here that there are other hate groups out there that are more numerous than this small group, such as the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis, or even the COGs embarrassing racist cousins, so-called "Christian Identity".

As far as I am concerned this story is simply being strategically used by the right wing media, which PCG thoughtlessly imitates, to discredit the Obama Administration.

The forces of the right are doing their very hardest to ruin the Obama Administration. PCG adopts their pessimistic viewpoint to create fear in their followers in order for following to cling to PCG ever more.

Why are some right wing media outlets devoting so much attention to this story? Because they want to discredit the Obama Administration.

I would greatly encourage anyone to take a look at how Media Matters covers this story. Among the things that are mentioned are that some of the Minutemen also engaged in this sort of voter intimidation during the 2006 elections. Why haven't the media treated this story the same way? Because they could not use it against Obama.

Also it was the Bush Administration Department of Justice which decided to not pursue voter intimidation charges against this New Black Panther Party member.

Compared with the other racist groups out there this so called New Black Panther Party is quite small and insignificant. Alas within our free societies there are people who spread racial hatred like a drug. They always say outrageous and disgusting things against the targets of their hatred. They are always there. Every society harbors some extremists within its midst.

It is sad, (well I think it's sad,) how PCG have chosen to toe the line set by the right wing media so closely they are willing to just parrot this latest talking point so effortlessly and unthinkingly. They don't even bother being imaginative about this matter. The New Black Panthers are a threat Morley's column declares. What about the Ku Klux Klan? The Neo-Nazis? "Christian Identity"? Aren't they a threat too?

Why the COGs Deny Jesus Died on a Cross

2010-07-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

LCG's July 8, 2010 Weekly Update has a news bulletin suggesting that Jesus did not die on a cross. This idea, like so much of HWA's ideas, come straight from the Jehovah's Witnesses, who have taught that Jesus did not die on a cross since around the 1930s.

Here is what LCG's Weekly Update says:

Christ Probably Did not Die on a Cross. In a recent dissertation study at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, pastor Gunnar Samuelsson spent 400 pages describing the “Crucifixion in Antiquity.” His findings bear out what God’s Church has known and taught for decades—that Jesus Christ likely did not die on a “t-shaped” cross. As a devout evangelical preacher and believer in the “power of the Cross,” what Samuelsson discovered shocked him! In his in-depth research, he could find no clear references to the t-shaped cross. Samuelsson noted in an ABC News interview that “…for generations people have misinterpreted and mistranslated the Greek word ‘stauros’ [translated cross in most Bibles] to mean crucifix, when really the term just means a suspension device, which might have been anything such as a ‘pole or tree trunk’” (www.whas11.com, July 2, 2010). Although the information presented by Samuelsson has been known by scholars and God’s Church for decades, it is interesting to see it highlighted in the media. Satan, in his craftiness, has deceived people into believing and even worshiping the crucifix—rubbing likenesses of it, kneeling before it and even making it into religious jewelry. Sadly, not only do many people bow before an image, which God forbids (Deuteronomy 5:8), the crucifix is probably not even an accurate portrayal of the instrument of Christ’s death.

Again HWA took this idea from the Jehovah's Witnesses who use this idea to persuade followers to lose any lose for the Cross and view any Christian who uses it as false Christians which makes it necessary to follow the Watchtower Cult.

You can read more about the great similarity between the Watchtower Cult and HWA's teachings on this matter in this review of Mystery of the Ages. This work exposes

Why would HWA derive this teaching from a known cult? Ironically, what HWA didn’t know was that the Watchtower Society lied about the cross of Christ to their own members. In their "Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures," the Watchtower Society intentionally misquoted Roman Catholic scholar, Justus Lipsius (Joost Lips), in his book, "De Cruse Liber Primus" while deceptively displaying only one of the three illustrations shown in this book.¹⁵ The first illustration shows a man being crucified on a single beam, with his hands nailed above his head. The next two illustrations in Lipsius’ book—which were deliberately omitted by the Watchtower Society—show the correct cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Lipsius states that four pieces of wood were used: The upright stake, the crossbar in which his hands were nailed in an outstretched position, the piece of wood above the crossbar which contained the entitled superscription ("JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS"), and the final piece of wood fastened below for his feet. Justus Lipsius affirms that Jesus was nailed to a cross as displayed in the latter two illustrations, and not on a simple stake as shown in the first. HWA never realized that he was being duped by the Watchtower Society while he was gleaning his doctrines! The Interlinear is not available to the general public,¹⁶ so HWA was never aware of how the Watchtower Society lied about this particular teaching.

As an antidote to this attempt by LCG to alienate you from any Christian who uses the cross, take a look at this article, Cross or Stake?, which shows that, contrary to the Watchtower's constant assertions, there is plenty of evidence to believe that Jesus did indeed die on a cross.

Here's one small sample from this article:

It was not until well into the time of Rutherford in the 1930's that the anti-cross teaching was developed. Rutherford started to promote the view of several Protestant preachers that the word stauros was not known as cross until Constantine introduced it 300 years after Jesus death. This was supposedly done by Constantine to make Christianity more appealing to the Pagans that were already using the cross as a symbol. This article shows that this is not borne out by history. There is ample evidence that..."

In this article the author presents evidence to show that

"in Jesus' time stauros could refer to a cross,"

"the cross was a common form of torture,"

"that Jesus was crucified and Christians were identified by the symbol of a cross 200 years prior to Constantine."

"Most importantly, Scriptural references to Jesus death show that he was on a cross."

Here's some of the Scriptural evidence he presents:

Look at the number of nails in each picture. [This is after he has shown a tradition portrayal of the Crucifixion and one from the Watchtower.] Notice in the above depiction from the Watchtower publication ... there is only one nail and it goes through the wrist and not the hands, due to it being a stake, not a cross. Compare this to what Thomas stated at John 20:25;

"unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will certainly not believe".

Jesus was crucified with two nails, one in each hand, not a single nail through the wrist. That separate nails were in each hand is made clear by the use of the word 'nails' not 'nail'. This suggests that Jesus had his arms separated on a cross, not together on a stake as represented in Watchtower publications.

Matthew 27:37 also supports the idea of a cross rather than a stake when it says;

"Above his head they had put the charge against him in writing: 'THIS IS JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS' ".

In the picture of the crucifixion the plaque is above Jesus head, whereas in the Watchtower representation it is necessarily above his hands. If Jesus were impaled on a stake it would be stated that the titilus was placed above his hands, not his head. J. H. Bernard observes that this scripture "suggests that the cross was of the shape called crux immissa, with a cross-bar for the arms, as painters have generally represented it to be" (A Critical & Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. John, 1929, Vol. 2, p. 628).

The idea that Jesus did not die on a cross is simply used by the Watchtower and Armstrongites to alienate people from any and all Christians who use the Cross as a symbol and to force those people to rely only on their particular non-Cross using group.

Dave Pack Interview by ABC's Nightline Cancelled

2010-07-10T03:28:00.000-07:00

There has been some news recently that the self appointed Apostle Dave Pack has been interviewed by ABC's Nightline. (Hat tip to LCG apologist Bob Thiel.)

However another announcement from RCG has since informed us that that particular interview has been now canceled.