Roe v. Wade Overthrown

Politico broke the story. The US Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade and let the individual states decide how to manage abortion instead of following the 49 year old precedent of respecting abortion as a right guaranteed by the federal government.

It is reasonable to assume that the Armstrongite groups will be pleased with this development. Similar to evangelical churches and the Roman Catholic Church the Armstrongites tend to teach that abortion is forbidden within their religion. (Fred Dattolo, "Is Abortion Murder?," Tomorrow's World, March-April 2001, pp. 14-17.) At times LCG even compare abortion to the Holocaust even though most American Jews support abortion being legal. (Douglas S. Winnail, "Abortion: A Modern Holocaust?," Tomorrow's World, March-April 2005, pp. 10-13, 29.) But despite this stance it does appear that the old WCG did encourage abortion under certain extreme circumstances as is evident in an article for The Plain Truth which was published in 1985.

Having read the draft opinion by Justice Alito it cannot help but be noted that there is little discussion about the inevitable negative effects of such a ruling upon women in the United States. One cannot help but think about Savita Halappanavar, a woman who died on October 28, 2012 in Ireland after her request for an abortion was denied. The outcry over her death help lead Ireland into legalizing abortion. 

Also noteworthy is what happened to Agnieszka T., a woman in Poland who died of sepsis after being denied an abortion on January 25, 2022. She was the mother of three children. Recently Poland passed a law making abortion very difficult to get. Because of that restrictive law tragic events like this are now happening in Poland.

Knowing of such events it seems certain that harrowing events like this will happen in the United States once a ruling allowing states to restrict abortion is made law. It is to be wondered at if the right wing judges in the US Supreme Court are not worried about these consequences of their ruling.

(Knowing how passionately views are held on this issue on both sides I am not interested in trying to change peoples' religious views on abortion. Many unconnected to Armstrongism also condemn abortion. So if one were to criticize the anti-abortion stance such a person would be criticizing many other people outside of the Armstrongite groups. On this blog I wish to focus on Armstrongism. But I cannot help but express sadness at what will inevitably occur under laws that severely restricts access to abortion. We need to see things as they are, not what we wish them to be.)

Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, The Bible: A Book for All Time (2001)

The fourteenth issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (September-October 2001), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "The Bible: A Book for All Time." (pp. 16-19.) This was the twelfth of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here Mendiola praises the Holy Bible and cites Christians who disagreed with many of Armstrongism's dogmas to praise the Bible but then he says the Bible cannot be understood until one chooses to obey (LCG's interpretation of) God.

Mendiola quotes Queen Victoria, William Gladstone, George Washington, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Sir William Herschel and Sir Isaac Newton as persons who revered the Bible. However all of those persons believed things very different from what is taught in the Armstrongite organizations. They all belonged to churches that worshipped on Sunday, a practice Herbert Armstrong and his imitators insist is the mark of the beast of Revelation 13. Newton was alleged to have held dissident religious views. George Washington at times refused to take communion in his Episcopal church. Abraham Lincoln was alleged to believe in universal salvation. The British monarch leads the Church of England. William Gladstone was a member of the Church of England. Theodore Roosevelt was a member of the Reformed Church in America. Since they do not share the views of LCG why did Mendiola cite them in this article? How is this not a lie? Mendiola cites these famous persons to say the Bible is revered and true in a publication designed to get recruits for LCG, an organization that teaches things contrary to what those famous persons actually believed.

He extols the Old Testament and the New Testament and then he quotes a Jewish archaeologist even though Judaism does not view the New Testament as canon.

Dr. Nelson Glueck, a renowned Jewish archaeologist, observed: “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to discoveries” (Rivers in the Desert, Glueck, p. 31).

Dr. Glueck was also a rabbi of Reform Judaism. It is reasonable to assume that in the passage above Dr. Glueck was referring to the Hebrew Bible, namely the Old Testament. This is misleading to the readers. Mendiola glides over this flaw in his article and refuses this address the problem of quoting a Jewish rabbi while promoting the New Testament. Was he hoping that his readers would not notice this flaw? The fact that Mendiola did this indicates that this article was directed at people who only have a very superficial knowledge of Judaism.

Mendiola also cites some other persons like Jeffery Sheler and Grant Jeffrey but, again, they belonged to Christian churches which worship on Sunday thus, according to Herbert Armstrong and his imitators, they bear the mark of the beast. Why does Mendiola cite people who worship on Sunday when he belonged to an organization that teaches that worshipping on Sunday is a terrible thing?

He also cites Charles Sellier and Brian Russell but those men did not appear to have been affiliated with any Armstrongite organization. Mendiola cites all these people to praise the Bible but he does so selectively. He chooses to cite certain words of theirs to say the Bible is of religious importance and reliable but, at the time this article was written, he disregarded anything they say contrary to Armstrongism by choosing to be a follower of LCG.

Then after praising the Christian Bible he insists that the Bible cannot be understood unless one chooses to obey (LCG's interpretation of) God.

Amazingly, the Bible even predicts many would not understand it and would consider it cryptic. Most people in the world are drunken with false doctrine and ideas that blur the precious truths contained within its pages. Many consider it sealed. Others think they are not educated enough or must be fluent in Hebrew or Greek to understand it. Even ministers are confused about its teachings....

Jesus Christ said that His disciples would be given the spiritual discernment to understand the hidden truths of the Bible. He told His disciples that He spoke in parables so only they would understand the mysteries of God, and the world at large would not ....

The Living God who inspired the Bible must open our minds to understand it as we show Him a willingness and humility to obey His instructions. ... Obedience to God is the key that will unlock for you the truths of the Bible: a book for all time!

Among the Armstrongite organizations it is taught that one cannot join unless (Armstrongism's interpretation of) God open that person's perception to begin to believe Armstrongism. This explanation is quite useful in explaining away why most people do not convert to Armstrongism after learning about it.

This article seems to be merely a paean to the Holy Bible but it is actually deceptive in citing persons who revered the Bible while being used in a magazine designed to attract recruits into an Armstrongite organization. The people Mendiola cited did not adhere or believe in what was taught by Armstrongites including LCG. It is deceptive to cite these persons and then insist that they are wrong in every stance contrary to Armstrongism.

In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock. He was credited as helping to produce COG-FF's magazine, The Philadelphia Remnant, as late as 2012.

Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, A Powerless America? (2001)

The thirteen issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (July-August 2001), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "A Powerless America?" (pp. 20-24.) This was the eleventh of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here Mendiola cites energy management issues as evidence that the United States will soon collapse.

Simultaneous energy and water shortages jeopardize the faltering U.S. economy’s chances for a strong recovery. Bible prophecy indicates that conditions may grow much worse before they improve.

Mendiola discusses strain upon the energy supply in west coast states of the USA. He cites President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. He also cites a future Governor of Washington.

“You can today see blackouts coming, as big as life, and an energy crisis going into the fall,” said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash.

In the entire article there is no discussion about climate change.

He ends this article claiming that these energy supply problems are signs of an impending catastrophe about to hit the United States.

Is it merely coincidence that the U.S. is confronting major crises on several fronts that threaten to cause major hardships and suffering? Most experts are reluctant to cite it as a source, but the Holy Bible plainly shows a cause and-effect reason for what can accurately be described as curses plaguing the nation. Our actions— the choices we make—determine whether we are blessed or cursed. The Living Creator God who inspired the Bible warns of adverse consequences if we disobey commandments, but blessings if we are obedient to His spiritual laws. ...

God then describes curses that would result—including terrorism, disease outbreaks, farm disasters and defeat by enemies. He also describes a drought that symbolically turns the heavens and earth dry and hard. ...

U.S. energy, water and economic crises are worsening as snowpack, spring runoff and reservoir levels dwindle due to drought conditions gripping major regions of the nation. Those setbacks further weaken the nation’s power and prestige. ... Breaking God’s commandments brings national as well as individual curses on us. T he choice is ours.

LCG and the other Armstrongite groups teach that white Americans are descendants of the ancient Kingdom of Israel described in the Bible which was conquered by the Assyrians around 720 BCE. This idea is called British Israelism. This idea is used within the Armstrongite groups to insist that the frightful fate of military conquest and exile that the ancient Israelites and Jews endured will occur to the United States in the near future. The Armstrongites have been teaching this since the 1930s. But the idea called British Israelism happens to be false. Non-Jewish Americans of European descent are not descended from the ancient Israelites.

 

In this article Mendiola cites Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 11 as evidence that the United States will soon endure terrible things but those passages were describing warnings to the ancient Israelites and Jews. These warnings were alluding to the conquest of those kingdoms by the Assyrians and the Babylonians and the subsequent exiles they were forced to endure. Those Biblical passages were not talking about 21st Century America. Those Biblical passages were cited out of context. There is no need to fear the dire predictions of the Armstrongites.

In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock. He was credited as helping to produce COG-FF's magazine, The Philadelphia Remnant, as late as 2012.

Allegation of Sexual Harassment at LCG HQ (Banned by HWA)

Banned by HWA has made a post qouting a person making public an allegation of sexual harassment within LCG headquarters. Considering how many times clergy abuse have occurred in other organizations that claim to be religious I am not surprised to hear of such an allegation. 

Sexual harassment is a terrible crime. If these allegations are true such things are further evidence that indicates that being a member of LCG is not a good idea.

May all those who committed such criminal misconduct face the courts of justice.

The Book of Enoch

I have read the Book of Enoch (First Enoch), specifically the 1893 translation by Robert Henry Charles. It is an ancient religious text of Jewish origin which was first written in Hebrew. It was revered by Jews and early Christians but it gradually lost favor and in time was essentially forgotten. Except in Ethiopia. They adopted it as part of their canon and they preserved it in the Ge'ez language. The rest of the world rediscovered this book thanks to the Ethiopians. 

It is certainly a fascinating and intriguing book. It offers a glimpse of what was believed by at least some ancient Jews and their hope for a future righteous society to be created by God.

One section of the book is devoted to detailing a calendar that differs from the current Jewish calendar.

This book contains descriptions of the movement of heavenly bodies and of the firmament, as a knowledge revealed to Enoch in his trips to Heaven guided by Uriel, and it describes a Solar calendar that was later described also in the Book of Jubilees which was used by the Dead Sea sect. The use of this calendar made it impossible to celebrate the festivals simultaneously with the Temple of Jerusalem. (Source.)

Back around early 2015 this book caused some controversy within LCG when the LCG leadership discouraged lay members from studying this ancient book even though their students had been previously instructed to study that book.

LCG's 11,600 Members

According to Living University's 2017-8 catalog LCG has about 11,600 members.

Living Church of God membership around the world is about 11,600 (approximately 6,300 in the USA and 5,300 internationally). The Church has international regional offices in Australia, Barbados, Canada, France, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom. Average weekly church service attendance is about 9,000. The Church’s Tomorrow’s World television program airs on more than 118 stations in 206 countries. The potential number of people reached by the telecast is over one billion. Its Tomorrow’s World magazine circulation is over 409,000 in 162 countries. (pp. 23-24.)

Banned by HWA reports that LCG's Living University is to shut down after the Spring 2018 semester.

LCG on Roy Moore

According to a recent report by The Washington Post has recently reported that the Republican Party's senatorial candidate for Alabama, Roy Moore, initiated a sexual encounter with a 14 year old girl named Leigh Corfman back in 1979. It was also reported that around this time Moore dated three teenagers even though he was in his thirties at the time. One former work colleague, Teresa Jones, has since stated to CNN that it "was common knowledge that [he] dated high school girls, everyone we knew thought it was weird."

In times past he had gained attention after getting into contention with federal judges regarding his placement of the Ten Commandments in Alabama's court house. His contention with federal judges was mentioned three times within LCG's writings in articles by Mark Mendiola, John Ogwyn and Richard A. Wilson. Twice LCG's writers mentioned him to condemn the increasing acceptance of the LGBT community within American society.

A century ago, who would have predicted that a jurist would be prohibited from displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom? Yet Alabama judge Roy Moore has incurred the secularists’ wrath by doing so. (Mark Mendiola, Who's Winning the Culture War? July-September 1999.) 

*** 

Israel of old was told that the promised land had "vomited out" the nations that were there before them because of such perversions (v. 28) and that if they did likewise, the same results would follow. In 21st century America, it is considered acceptable for a judge who refuses to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom to be tossed from the bench, as was Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court. Yet, on the other hand, the media labels as "progressive" and "courageous" those magistrates who perform "marriages" between homosexuals and lesbians! Such an incredibly upside-down situation would have been unimaginable even a generation ago. (John Ogwyn, Will the Terrorists Win?, July-August 2004.) 

*** 

Three weeks ago, on a Saturday night, I attended a "special" public forum on the campus of William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, where the main speaker for the evening was the former Supreme Court Justice of Alabama, the honorable Roy Stewart Moore. 

Justice Moore, as you might remember, was removed from his office as Supreme Court Chief Justice on November 13, 2003 because of his refusal to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse despite orders to do so from a federal judge. It became a national story in 2003. 

Moore's supporters regard his stand as a defense of "judicial rights" and the Constitution of Alabama. Moore continues to contend that federal judges who ruled against his actions consider "obedience of a court order superior to all other concerns, even the suppression of belief in the sovereignty of God." (Richard A. Wilson, Liberal Judge's Backlash, November 18, 2010.)

Back then it was not publicly known what he had done in his earlier days.

Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, Allies or Adversaries? A Unique Alliance Imperiled (2001)

The twelfth issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (January-February 2001), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "Allies or Adversaries? A Unique Alliance Imperiled." (pp. 20-24.) This was the tenth of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here Mendiola discusses relations between the United States and Britain to scare monger that these nations would soon endure military subjugation by a future European power.

Mendiola talks of the United States as being created miraculously linking respect for the sacrifices of the American revolutionaries with his religion.

Through a series of obvious miracles and decisive victories, Americans were able to defeat the red-coated British troops, overcoming incredible odds and predictions of imminent defeat. Following British General Charles Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, Va., in October 1781, British regimental bands appropriately played the tune—“The World Turned Upside Down.” Indeed, it was! (p. 21.)

He talks of the current friendly relations between the United States and Britain despite the history of war during the founding of the United States.

Despite what British officials considered brazen armed rebellion against royal authority, the two nations since developed a fraternal closeness unparalleled in history. That affinity has flared to prominence during times of crisis, when, invariably, Britain and the United States have come to each other’s defense like brothers. (p. 21.)

He insists that the political power of the United States and Britain is to be explained by their ancestry.

The extraordinary surge of the United States and British Commonwealth to economic and military global preeminence during the 1800s and 1900s can be explained by understanding their ancestral origins. (p. 21.)

But both nations also contain many peoples who happen to have no such blood relationship with those claimed to be modern Israelites among the Americans and the British. This problem is conveniently overlooked. Also other factors contributing to their political power are marginalized.

The United States and Britain have fulfilled remarkably God’s promise that Ephraim would develop into a multitude (a company, group or commonwealth) of nations, and Manasseh into a great superpower. History confirms unmistakably this incredible fulfillment. Collectively, the United States and Britain are modern Israel, and have been a blessing to people of all races, backgrounds and nationalities, as God promised, helping maintain peace, prosperity and civility throughout the world. (p. 22.)

Problems associated with territorial expansion of these nations are ignored. Due to the tragic fact that the Native Americans had no immunity to numerous diseases that existed among Europeans many Native Americans were killed by introduced diseases that reduced their population and rendered them unable to prevent being conquered by Europeans. Were these mass epidemics part of (LCG's) God's alleged miraculous fulfillment of this promise to Abraham as interpreted by British Israelism?

Also the conquest and dispossession of the Native American peoples are overlooked. The British Empire expanded by conquering the peoples of the territories upon which it expanded. Africans were abducted from the continent and kept as slaves in parts of the United States. These problems tend to be ignored among the Armstrongite COGs in favor of the discredited dogma of British Israelism.

Chronologically, the British Empire reached its zenith before the United States achieved its ascendancy, but just as the sun has set on that once-proud empire, the United States is now in decline, giving way to an empire forming on the European continent. ... Britain’s decline, from the most powerful nation in the world to a small offshore European island, was as swift as the rise of the United States. (p. 22.)

But why did the British Empire end? It is often assumed in COG writings that (their) God just ended it but this ignores what really happened. One of many reasons why it collapsed was that the colonized peoples could no longer believe in its claimed legitimacy. As the colonized peoples ruled over the British Empire gained more education and learned more about their colonial rulers they perceived that there was no kind of superiority that entitled the British to rule over the colonized peoples. Once a critical mass of the colonized peoples perceived this fact British colonial rule became nonviable and eventually the British government cut their losses and granted independent to the colonies in response to the widespread calls for independence. De-colonization was, among other things, a pragmatic concession to the fact that British colonial rule could no longer justify itself to the colonized.

Mendiola then talks of the various aligned interests between the United States and Britain in the 20th Century. But since this is an Armstrongite publication Mendiola then scare mongers that a future European Empire threatens Britain and the United States. He also stirs up crude sectarian hostilities by presenting this threat as part of a wider clash between Protestants and Catholics.

Since King Henry VIII’s split with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, the British defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, British-descended nations have been bastions of Protestantism, most directly challenging Catholic religious supremacy throughout Europe and the western world. 

Just as the 20th century has been called the American century, the 19th century was the British century. As we enter the 21st century, the international dominance of those primarily Protestant peoples is being challenged by a resurgent Roman Catholic Europe, which for centuries has been at odds with British and American interests. (p. 23.)

HWA and many of the COG splinter groups teach that in the near future a European Empire will arise and militarily conquer the United States and Britain.

Mendiola then presents Britain as facing a choice aligning its political interests with the United States or the European Union. Note the crass appeal to anti-Catholic paranoia.

Queen Elizabeth II swore at her 1953 coronation “to govern the peoples of the United Kingdom according to their laws and customs” and “to maintain the Protestant Reformed religion established by law.” [A eurosceptic author] points out these pledges are being negated by Britain’s deeper integration with the European Union. Relations between the Vatican and London have become increasingly close in recent decades. (p. 23.)

He then scare mongers that the Britain under Prime Minister Blair was aligning itself with the European Union by helping to place some of the British armed forces under the command of the European Union. This claim is somewhat unusual among the COGs as they tend to assume that Britain and the United States will remain aligned with each until both nations are conquered by the future European Empire.

[Margaret] Thatcher has exchanged sharp words with Blair over the direction Britain should take. She favors maintaining a close relationship with the U.S., while he supports a pro-European course. Baroness Thatcher denounced Blair’s decision to commit troops to a European rapid deployment force apart from the U.S.-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has maintained peace in Europe for more than 50 years. She called it “monumental folly.” (p. 24.)

He scare mongers that British military personnel would be propping up the European Union and would be dominated by Germany.

The European Union hopes to have 60,000 ground troops ready for deployment by 2003. British troops would account for about 20 percent of that force and would bear the EU’s 12-star insignia on their uniforms and vehicles. Ultimately, the force would have at its disposal more than 100,000 troops and some 400 aircraft and 100 ships ready to respond to crises. It would be dominated by Germany, whose militaristic past has thrust it into armed conflict with Britain and the United States in two devastating world wars. (p. 24.)

It is so strange how the COGs keep living as though we are in 1938 and not today. After World War II the United States placed military bases in West Germany and those military bases are still stationed there. How could a future German government possibly conspire to militarily conquer the United States if there are US military bases within German territory? But the COGs choose to just let HWA's dogmatic statements do the thinking for them.

The future of that historic fraternal relationship—that “grand alliance” [between the United States and Britain]—will be tested to the extreme in the years ahead.

Since the 1930s HWA and his imitators have constantly insisted that catastrophe would soon occur in the United States. Often (though not always) they have insisted that Germans would be the main perpetrators of this future military conquest. And always this dire threat has always failed miserably.

In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock.

Bibliography of Roderick C. Meredth's Plain Truth About the Protestant Reformation

Over the last few issues of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World, they have reprinted a narrative that the late Roderick C. Meredith wrote back in 1958.entitled The Plain Truth About the Protestant Reformation. The purpose of the narrative was to discredit the founding of the Protestant churches as illegitimate in order to make joining his own organization seem like the righteous thing to do.

What follows below is a list of the books he cited in this narrative. It should be noted that even taking into account that it was written in 1958 he instinctively referred to older books, many of which date before the start of the 20th Century.

One wonder why did he choose to get his information from such old works? Did nothing made by more recent historians at least made him curious to learn about what they were saying?

• Alzog, Johannes. Manual of Universal Church History. 1878.

• Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand. 1950.

• Bainton, Roland. The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. 1940.

• Bebington, John Albert. The Reformation. 1901.

• D'Aubigné, Jean-Henri Merle. History of the Great Reformation. 1843-1853.

• Deharbe, Joseph. A History of Religion. 1881.

• Fisher, George. History of the Christian Church. 1887.

• Fisher, George. The Reformation. 1873.

• Gibbon, William. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-1789.

• Hastie, William. The Theology of the Reformed Church. 1904.

• Hausser, Ludwig. The Period of the Reformation. 1873.

• Hislop, Alexander. The Two Babylons. 1853, 1858.

• Hurlburt, Jesse Lyman. The Story of the Christian Church. 1918.

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

• Kurtz, Johann Heinreich. Church History. 1889.

• Lindsay, T. M. A History of the Reformation. 1906-7.

• Michelet, Jules. The Life of Luther. 1846.

• MacKinnon, James. Calvin and the Reformation. 1936.

• Moncrief, John Wildman. A Short History of the Christian Church. 1908.

• Moore, Audrey Lackington. The History of the Reformation. 1890.

• Mosheim. Johann Lorenz von.  Institutes of Ecclesiastical History.

• Neander, August (1789-1850). General History of the Christian Religion.

• Perrin, Jean Paul. History of the Old Waldenses. 1884.

• Plummer, Alfred. The Continental Reformation. 1912.

• Qualben, Lars P. A History of the Christian Church. 1936.

• Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church. 1858.

• Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, third edition, 1908-1914. Named after Johann Jakob Herzog (1805-1882) and Philip Schaff (1819-1883).

• Vedder, Henry C. A Short History of the Baptists. 1907.

• Walker, Reginald F. An Outline History of the Catholic Church. 1944.

• Walker, Williston. A History of the Christian Church. 1918. [Link omitted due to quality issue with at least one previously offered source.]

• Wharey, James. Sketches of Church History. 1840.

Overview of the September-October 2017 Issue of LCG's Tomorrow's World Magazine

LCG publishes a recruitment magazine with the intention of gaining more triple tithes paying converts to join the organization behind that recruitment magazine, the Living Church of God. LCG has released a new issue of that recruitment magazine (September-October 2017).

Let's take a look at what LCG's leadership have to say this time.

The editors are Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, Gary Ehman, John Robinson, Robert Tyler, Stuart Wachowicz, Adam West and William Williams.

This issue has a circulation of 293,000. For July-August 2017 it was 282,000. For May-June 2017 it was 355,000. For March-April 2017 it was 417,000. For January-February 2017 it was 412,000. More circulation figures may be seen in a previous post.

The magazine continues to reprint a narrative which was originally published back in 1958 written by the late Roderick C. Meredith vilifying the mainstream Protestant churches as illegitimate by condemning the initial leaders of the Protestant Reformation.

It is evident how old this narrative is by noting the books cited in this article.

• Alzog, Johannes. Manual of Universal Church History. 1878.

• Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand. 1978.

• Bettenson, Henry. Documents of the Christian Church. 1950.

• Fisher, George. History of the Christian Church. 1887.

• Hausser, Ludwig. The Period of the Reformation. 1873.

• Hurlburt, Jesse Lyman. The Story of the Christian Church. 1918.

• Orchard, G. H. (George Herbert.) A Concise History of Foreign Baptists. [Volume 1 of this narrative dates back to 1855.]

• Vedder, Henry C. A Short History of the Baptists. 1907.

• Walker, Williston. A History of the Christian Church. 1918. [Link omitted due to quality issue with at least one previously offered source.]

It is so strange seeing how Meredith cited these old sources when making his polemic delegitimizing the mainstream Protestant churches. Many of them were quite old when this narrative was first published in 1958.

Michael Heykoop has a little article condemning mixed martial arts.

Gerald Weston has an article discussing juvenile delinquency.

Douglas Winnail has a little article insisting that the rise of the British Empire was God's will even though he lives in a nation which gained independence only after being compelled to wage war upon the British authorities for eight years.

Richard Ames has an article scare mongering about the possibility of the annihilation of humanity by nuclear warfare.

Simon R. D. Roberts has a little article discussing the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards and the recent retirement of the Duke of Edinburgh from public duties.

The Question and Answers insists the vision mentioned in Acts 10 does not abolish restrictions regarding meats mentioned in the Old Testament. LCG teaches that Old Testament restrictions regarding meats are still to be observed by Christians today.

Jonathan McNair has a little article calling upon parents to give their children chores to do.

Wyatt Ciesielka has an article talking about terrorism and insisting that the problem of Al Qaeda-like extremism will be solved after Christ returns.

There are letters printed. Out of the six published only one originates from the United States.

Here's one letter from Jamaica from a person commenting on Meredith's death.

I regret the passing of Dr. Roderick C. Meredith. I have been listening to him for over 20 years on radio and TV and have joined the Tomorrow’s World Magazine Bible studies, so I have come to know him and love him. To his family and many friends, be encouraged, we will see him again in the life to come. I will know him personally then.

Here's a letter from the Philippines.

Please continue my free subscription of Tomorrow’s World Magazine. It’s very interesting to read. I’ve learned a lot about world events through the eye of Bible prophecy, and about what is going on in our troubled world as we face unprecedented dangers and crises and the time of Jesus Christ’s return draws nearer. So, please continue my subscription, for I want to be one of those who follows our Savior’s instruction to “watch and pray” (Luke 21:36) as we approach the end of the age.  

May I request also from your good office a free copy of your informative booklets [booklet which calls for the observance of Jewish holy days mentioned in Leviticus 23 as interpreted by LCG], [a booklet which implies that only LCG is the true church] and [a booklet insisting that the final Pope will be a miracle worker who will prop up a future European empire.]

Here's a letter from Australia questioning LCG's doctrine of soul sleep, the teaching that once one dies he or she enters a state of unconsciousness until resurrected in various resurrections in the future. This idea is also present in other Adventist churches originating from the Millerites of the 1830s-1840s such as the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

In a recent TV programme you spoke about people who die not going directly to be with their Heavenly Father but sleeping until the resurrection. In Ecclesiastes 12 at the end of verse 5 we read, “Then man goes to his eternal home.” Also verse 7 says, “and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Surely we are a Spirit rather than a Soul? In Matthew, we read about the transfiguration of Jesus where there appeared Moses and Elijah. I would appreciate your comments on these scriptures.

LCG naturally insists that their interpretation is correct. They say the human spirit is in humans but not a human and that it is not conscious. They say the transfiguration was only a vision which did not literally happen. Here is part of their response.

The Bible says that there is a spirit in man, not that he is one (e.g., Job 32:8). And while our spirit does return to God upon our death, it does not represent a “conscious entity” of any sort, as Ecclesiastes itself makes plain, stating that “the dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5)—an observation verified by many other passages. And Jesus clearly described the event in which Peter, James and John saw the future, glorified bodies of Moses and Elijah as a vision, and not as a current reality (Matthew 17:9).

Here's a letter from Ontario insisting that Canada is becoming increasingly intolerant towards this person's views.

I find the changes in morality today disturbing. But as you say, the knowledge of a future world ruled by Christ, when peace will be the Law of the land, gives me comfort and faith in a very challenging society that is becoming more intolerant to Christian ideals.

And so we see that LCG's leadership have produced another issue of their recruitment magazine to attempt to get more people to join their organization and to persuade once again to their members that LCG's leadership is worthy of being followed and accepting their tithes. There is no need to follow LCG to become a Christian.

***

LCG and many of the other COGs insist nothing can be done to improve the Earth until Christ returns. We must not live in despair or think that our efforts are useless. The COGs are wrong to be so pessimistic. But there are many opportunities to help people and improve society. For instance helping people in need because of Hurricane Harvey.

Here Are Ways You Can Help People During Hurricane Harvey.

How to get (and offer) help after Hurricane Harvey.

Horror in Charlottesville

On Saturday, August 12, 2017 Heather Meyer was killed as a result of a car driven by a far right extremist in Charlottesville, Virginia during a gathering of far right extremists from all over the country. The suspect is now in police custody. It is terrible that a human being has been killed apparently as a direct result of racist extremism. We must always stand against hatred including the horror that is neo-Nazism.

As far as I can tell neither PCG or LCG have bothered to comment about this terrible atrocity.

LCG Remembering Roderick C. Meredith

LCG has released a broadcast of their recruitment telecast, Tomorrow's World, commemorating the late Roderick C. Meredith following his death on May 18, 2017 at 86 years of age. It is presented by Gerald Weston and Richard Ames. (A Life of Faith, August 2, 2017.)

Most of it is a compilation of footage of some of Meredith's TV broadcasts dating from 1995 to 2014.

LCG's John Ogwyn on Nimrod (2001)

Back in 2001 the late John Ogwyn wrote an article that promoted LCG's view of Nimrod. (John Ogwyn, Fragmentation in an Age of Globalism, January-February 2001.)

The original Babylon, or Babel, was founded by Nimrod in the land of Shinar, in what is now Iraq.... Here the people—all of one language—came together to build the famous Tower of Babel to keep from being fragmented and scattered. The tower was to reach into heaven—a prideful venture that directly challenged God.... The Almighty intervened and divided the various nationalities by giving them different languages.... This halted construction of the tower. 

This parallels our modern time remarkably. In fact, the economic and political integration of European nations with their different languages has frequently been compared with the ancient Babel project. As an example, the European Commission sponsored a widely distributed poster of the Tower of Babel and the words, "Europe—Many Tongues, One Voice." 

In addition to trying to build a political empire, Nimrod also promulgated an idolatrous system of worship known as the Babylonian Mysteries, through which he sought to unify his subjects. It may surprise you to learn that this essentially pagan religion, though changed in form, has persisted to our day. Called by God "Mystery, Babylon the Great"..., it is described as a great "mother" church which will play a major role in end-time events.

The concord between European nations under the aegis of the European Union is negatively portrayed as being something opposed to (LCG's) God's will.

The last paragraph is largely based on a discredited anti-Catholic polemic from the 1850s, namely The Two Babylons by Alexander Hyslop, a Presbyterian minister. One book that critiques the spurious claims made by Hyslop is The Babylon Connection? by Ralph Woodrow (1997).

It is taught in LCG that the final Pope will be given power by Satan to perform sinister miracles such as summoning fire from the sky in order to prop up a future European superstate fated to conquer the United States just before Christ's return.

Ever since Armstrongism began in the 1930s the COGs have constantly insistied that catastrophe is coming and it has never happened. There is no need to fear their dire proclamations. They are but false prophets.

Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, The Scourge of Pornography (2001)

The tenth issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (January-February 2001), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "The Scourge of Pornography." (pp. 24-28.) This was the ninth of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here Mendiola condemns pornography and insists that it is a sign that LCG's God will soon unleash the Great Tribulation upon the United States.

Let's see what he has to say.

Pornography is one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy as people from throughout the world buy staggering volumes of sexually explicit materials. Americans alone spend an estimated $8 billion a year on it, making pornography one of the most profitable industries in the United States. How can nations with Judeo-Christian underpinnings justify their massive production and consumption of such objectionable material? Historically, cultures that have repudiated morality have rotted from the inside only to collapse. (p. 24.)

Mendiola implies that pornography will cause the United States to collapse.

Mendiola exploits the Northridge earthquake of 1994 to insist that LCG's God is filled with wrath at the United States for its pornography industry.

At 4:31 a.m. on January 17, 1994, Southern California’s densely populated San Fernando Valley was jolted by the most devastating earthquake in the United States since the 1906 San Francisco temblor [sic]. Nearly 60 people were killed, 1,500 others seriously injured and 12,500 structures damaged, including major Los Angeles freeways.  

The earthquake measured 6.7 on the Richter scale. Its total damage estimate of $15 billion made it financially one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.... Was it merely coincidence that the quake’s epicenter was at Northridge, Calif., considered the nation’s pornography capital? More than 80 percent of all video pornography made in the U.S. is filmed at Northridge studios within five miles of the epicenter.  

The destruction that occurred in the Los Angeles area is a forerunner of the national punishment coming on the U.S. and other nations in the western world for their blatant disregard of moral standards prescribed by God’s living spiritual laws, including guidelines on marriage and sexual relations. The proliferation of pornography in western society today is a disturbing cultural phenomenon, symptomatic of a hedonistic age that rejects traditional values. (p. 24.)

Earthquakes are a natural fact of life. They are caused by friction between plates in the Earth's crust. It is terrible that a natural disaster which killed so many people had been exploited in a superstitious manner.

Whether displayed behind convenience store counters or posted on the Internet, pornography is a corrosive element eating away at the vitals of civilized society. Raunchy pornographic material in various forms—including magazines, videotapes, cable television and Web sites—is easily accessible to people of all ages. (pp. 24-25.)

How knowledgeable.

He then cites a statement from Beverley LaHaye.

Calling Internet pornography the “red light district of cyberspace,” Concerned Women for America, a public policy organization founded by Beverly LaHaye in 1979, stated, “There has never been a time in history when such massive distribution of pornographic material has been paralleled. And, sadly, because of the nebulous quality of the Internet, currently very few safeguards or age-check procedures are in place to monitor its distribution.” (p. 25.)

Concerned Women for America is a prominent organization of the religious right. So often LCG and the other Armstrongite COGs vilify the mainstream churches as false Christians and even as bearing the mark of the beast by worshiping on Sunday. But here Mendiola finds it useful to cite an organization of these supposed false Christians who bear the mark of the beast to prop up his condemnation of pornography. How selective he is.

Mendiola moans that his views are not popular.

It is not popular or politically correct today to call deviant sexual behavior “perverse,” yet God shows that indulging in widespread sexual promiscuity defiles nations. History strongly attests that such nations bring punishment on themselves. The licentious ancient Greek and Roman empires and many other nations have written that lesson for all of us to consider. (p. 25.)

But what happened to the Greeks? They were conquered by the Romans and became a part of the Roman Empire. Later the Roman Empire was split into two and the Eastern Roman Empire did not fall to any foreign power until 1204 when Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade.

In 1998, 8,948 new hard-core videos hit the U.S. retail market, up from 1,275 in 1990. Many of those were produced in the Northridge, Calif. area. (p. 26.)

Once again the earthquake is exploited to make his point even though earthquakes are a natural phenomenon.

Mendiola then insists that those who enforce the law insist that "repeated exposure to pornography" lead to dangerous and illegal sexual behavior. But instead of citing any of these law enforcement officers he claims have this view he immediately cites an infamous serial killer.

Law enforcement officials who have investigated sexual abuse, rape and murder cases confirm that repeated exposure to pornography has turned many men into sexual addicts, predators and abusers. Hours before his execution in 1989, notorious serial killer Ted Bundy stated: “I have lived in prison a long time now, and I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to violence just like me. And without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography, without a question, deeply influenced and consumed by an addiction to pornography.” (p. 26.)

It is strange to see Mendiola citing a serial killer to support his argument against pornography. It is dangerous to trust people like that. They tend to be dreadfully manipulative. They cannot be trusted.

It also needs to be asked why it is that none of the editors of this recruitment magazine removed this passage? Didn't anyone above Mendiola think this passage was a bad idea? The editors of this issue were Roderick C. Meredith, Richard Ames, William Bowmer and Gary Ehman.

Yet throughout the western world, pornography is promoted and defended by those who argue it is a form of freedom and enlightenment. (p. 27.)

Who has ever called pornography "a form of ... enlightenment"?

The COGs tend to be right wing in regards to politics and Mendiola shows this by complaining about the Supreme Court legalizing pornography. I do not condemn the COGs for being right wing but it is important to note that they are right wing because it explains so much of the political stances they choose to make.

The turning point in the United States for the commercialization of pornography came in 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. California that “pornography,” but not “obscenity,” was protected by the First Amendment, muddying the issue. (p. 27.)

He then mentions that President Reagan was strict about enforcing the law against obscenity. But he complains that Clinton then was elected and that it is implied that his administration has let pornography flourish.

However, the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography was established shortly after President Ronald Reagan gave his second inaugural speech in 1985. It included an enforcement unit that aggressively prosecuted pornographers. 

“During the Reagan and Bush administrations, the Justice Department successfully prosecuted child pornographers and large-scale purveyors of obscenity; and, in the process of effectively enforcing the obscenity laws, collected millions of dollars in fines and forfeitures to offset the costs of enforcement,” Morality in Media president Robert Peters wrote in a July 28, 2000 article. 

President Bill Clinton assured voters in 1992 that “aggressive enforcement of federal obscenity laws by the Justice Department... will be a priority in the Clinton-Gore administration.” 

However, the pornography industry has exploded with unfettered success in recent years. “During the first six years of the Clinton administration, federal obscenity law enforcement declined by over 80 percent. ...” (p. 27.)

Mendiola cites this article to cast suspicion upon various organizations blaming them for the pornography industry instead of our sex hormones.

He [Russell Peters] speculated that Clinton was pressured by elitist supporters in Hollywood, the Playboy empire, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and People for the American Way to ease off enforcing obscenity laws. Scandals in his administration also made it difficult for him to urge U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to prosecute porn cases. ... Pornographers have flourished from the benevolent neglect the porn industry has enjoyed under Attorney General Reno. (p. 27.)

Strangely in all this article there is no discussion of sex hormones. The reason there is pornography is because we have natural urges that encourage reproduction partly caused by hormones such as testosterone and estrogen. Mendiola fulminates about pornography and yet he seems to think that our sex hormones are a matter unworthy of mention. Think about it. That is a very strange omission. It is no use to fume against supposedly liberal elites instead of addressing our own hormones.

Another concerning thing about this article is how he seems to make little distinction between what is legal and what is illegal. He emotively mentions illegal sexual behavior and assumes that illegal behavior is caused by watching pornography but it is hard to prove something like that. That line of thought also fails to address the fact that there is legal pornography. How can one expect the government to stop that which is legal?

In the last part of this article Mendiola links his condemnation of pornography with LCG's proclamation that at some point in the near future a German led European entity of some sort will launch a war of conquest and seize control of the United States with much violence and take Americans as slaves back to Europe. This is taught to be divine punishment for behavior contrary to LCG's teachings.

Rather than being a shining beacon on a hill as President Reagan fondly envisioned, the United States exports prodigious volumes of some of the vilest material imaginable in the form of pornography. A nation that prides itself in its Judeo-Christian roots is accountable to the Living God for promulgating such filth throughout the world. (p. 28.)

Mendiola proclaims that the German led Europeans are coming.

What happened in the past to ancient Israel and Judah will recur in the future. The Bible shows a modern Babylonian Empire, spearheaded by modern Assyrians or Germans, will arise on the European continent.... Inspired by a charismatic religious leader who will denounce American and British cultures for their steep slide into immorality, including the export of pornography, the Europeans will justify unleashing horrific punishment on the U.S. and British Commonwealth peoples. (p. 28.)

This "charismatic religious leader" refers to the final Pope. It is taught within LCG that the final Pope will be granted power by Satan to perform miracles such as summoning fire from the sky to prop up a future political union between some of the nations of Europe in a union led by Germany. However such things are not made clear in this article. The COGs have been making similar dire proclamations since the 1930s and yet this dire news has always failed. It will never happen.

Mendiola insists that this supposedly coming conquest by Europe will lead to a catastrophe even worse than the Holocaust thus crudely invoking the memory of the approximately six million Jews who were so dreadfully murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators for being Jews. What dreadful behavior Mendiola shows here.

As unbelievable as it is to contemplate, American, British, Jewish and other modern Israelitish people will be plunged into national punishment even worse than the Holocaust unless they repent of their widespread immorality and sexual sins. Although they now are considered allies, the remilitarized Europeans primarily will be used by the Living Creator God to chastise modern Israel and Judah. ... [Ezekiel describes] a scenario frighteningly reminiscent of the Nazi death camps of World War II.... (p. 28.)

Mendiola's insistence that the United States will soon endure such terrible things is because he assumes that Americans are descended from the Biblical Israelites. This idea, which is known as British Israelism, is complete nonsense. British and Americans are not related to Jews in that way. Once British Israelism is exposed as incorrect much of LCG's other dire proclamations of doom awaiting the United States fall apart as well.

This claim seems unbelievable because it is unbelievable. It will never happen. LCG's 1% cannot see the future.

Mendiola then calls for repentance by embracing behavior taught by LCG's leaders. He implies that it is possible for the United States to repent and stop the conquest by the Europeans from occurring but within the COGs it is generally assumed that such a military conquest is inevitable.

It is not too late for nations in the western world to repent of their plunge into the cesspool of pornography and immorality, defiling themselves, but time is running out. 

The Bible shows when Jesus Christ returns to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, He will cleanse these nations and restore their former greatness after they bitterly repent of their widespread lewdness. (p. 28.)

He then ends the article with a quote from Jeremiah.

It does not matter how many times LCG's 1% insist that the Great Tribulation is near since they cannot perceive the future. From 1953 onward their predecessors in the Radio Church of God taught that this Great Tribulation would begin in 1972 and culminate with the return of Christ in 1975 to begin the Millennium. Clearly the COGs do not know the future.

In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock.

Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, Watch and Warn (2000)

The ninth issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (November-December 2000), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "Watch and Warn." (pp. 20-24, 30.) This was the eighth of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. (The September-October 2000 issue had featured an article by Rod McNair about US relations with the Philippines.) Here Mendiola scare mongers that a time of severe military conflict called the Great Tribulation will soon occur which is to be shortly afterwards followed by Christ's return. He also insists that the news media have failed to notice the signs that the Great Tribulation is about to occur implying that readers cannot trust other sources of information.

Introduction

Jesus Christ told His followers to watch world events, and to warn the world of what is to come. With the Bible as our guide, we can understand how seemingly unrelated events in different regions tie together as the Savior’s prophesied return draws near. (p. 2.)

In other words these separate events are unrelated without LCG's dogmas.

Momentous changes that will dramatically impact everyone on earth are occurring throughout the world.  How do seemingly unrelated events in different regions tie together?  Jesus Christ urges us to "watch" and shows us how, giving us major signs to discern.  With that watching also comes a responsibility to warn of impending troubles. (p. 20.)

In other words keeping up with current affairs and using LCG's speculations to interpret them. In this way political and economic events are exploited to make the audience more indoctrinated into believing that LCG's 1% have God's favor.

Jesus Christ, the greatest newscaster of all time, urges His disciples to remain constantly vigilant of world events. They also must stay close to God in prayer to survive the calamitous conditions that will precede His return to earth at the end of this age. (p. 20.)

And this article seeks to convince the reader that one draws close to God through LCG.

The ultimate impact of developments in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East will be profound on the United States, British Commonwealth and other nations in the western world. Yet these major developments often are barely mentioned, if even reported, in newscasts or news publications. (p. 20.)

In other words Mendiola is casting suspicion towards mainstream media outlets to make the audience distrustful of them so that they will rely on LCG to tell them about world events.

Virtually everyone on earth will be astonished at the unforeseen direction events will take in the coming years that will change the global balance of power and plunge the world into its most severe crisis ever. The destruction, loss of life and suffering will exceed even the two previous world wars. It is a scenario that seems unbelievable, but will come as surely as the sun rises and sets. Yet beyond this time of unprecedented trouble dawns tomorrow's world ruled by Jesus Christ, who proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom of God. (p. 20.)

And it is implied that "destruction, loss of life and suffering ... exceed[ing] even the two previous world wars" will soon occur. And yet seventeen years later no such thing has occurred.

Mendiola writes, "It is a scenario that seems unbelievable, but will come as surely as the sun rises and sets." It seems unbelievable because it is unbelievable. While catastrophes may well occur the possibility that LCG's leaders then based in San Diego and (after relocating there in 2003) in Charlotte could possibly know the future is utterly unbelievable.

In Luke's account of the famous Olivet Prophecy, Jesus Christ warns of conditions that will prevail prior to His Second Coming to this earth. He notes that religious deception, wars and commotions will be widespread, but the end will not come immediately as a result.... 

Wars between nations and kingdoms, however, will steadily intensify; great earthquakes will strike throughout the world; famines and disease epidemics will spread. These conditions are worsening throughout the world. One only has to witness the wars, starvation and pestilence reaching crisis proportions on the African continent for confirmation. What Christ foretells is unfolding right before our eyes! (pp. 20-21.)

But seventeen years later still in such catastrophe of the type Mendiola prophesied of has yet occurred.

Mendiola then belittles those who may disagree with him by insisting that most people are too self centered to notice his dire proclamation of catastrophe.

In other words, He strongly admonishes His disciples to wake up and be aware of world events around them. However, He also notes that most people will be so consumed with seeking their own pleasure and concerned about their own personal cares that they will be oblivious to the ominous trends happening around them.... Most people will not expect the rapid chain reaction of events leading to a great tribulation that will engulf the entire world prior to Christ's return. (p. 21.)

He shrilly insists all life on Earth is in danger.

As prophecies in the Bible show, we are to watch developments throughout the earth that will lead to a grand smash collision threatening the existence of all life on earth.... (p. 21.)

Future European Superpower

First he focuses his attention on Europe. LCG teaches that America is destined to soon be conquered by a European military power said to be destined to arise in the future and conquer the United States. He claims that Europe is arising as a mighty military power and insists that this is happening without the media's notice and scrutiny. Once again he seeks to slur the media as unreliable and unworthy of trust.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union about 10 years ago, a significant power vacuum was created, leaving the United States the world's only major superpower. What was a bipolar world suddenly turned into a unipolar world, with the U.S. the undisputed dominant nation. However, a shift in the balance of power, eroding U.S. supremacy, is under way, which has not been widely reported in the news media. Yet this development on the European continent is extremely significant. (p. 21.)

He implies that most people are obsessed with trivial matters and so have failed to notice Europe's supposed rise as a military power. By belittling the many he flatters the attentive readers that he or she is better than most of society.

A United States of Europe that threatens to rival the U.S. on the diplomatic, economic, political, and even military fronts, is emerging. It is a development that looks innocent on its surface, but has sinister ramifications for the entire world. Most people in the western world are so obsessed with celebrities, scandals, sensations and other inconsequential news, they are not aware of what Europe's unification means for their future. (p. 21.)

He cites a speech by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on May 15, 2000 to imply that the European Union would somehow remove some members in some sort of closer union. After that he once again casts suspicion towards the media to imply that they have failed to notice the supposed rise of Europe.

Yet when this United States of Europe rears its head for a final time as a monstrous beast, the Bible also shows the world will be astonished. Because the news media devote little attention to international affairs, when that powerful empire arises, it will seem to come out of nowhere, astonishing the vast majority of mankind! .... 

Watch news trends leading to a more powerful united Europe militarily, politically and economically. (p. 22.)

The Middle East

When it comes to the situation in the Middle East much of the COGs have this misconception that the problems are all about Jerusalem. This is largely ignorant nonsense. It is true that the political status of Jerusalem is an issue but it most emphatically not the only issue.

In His Olivet prophecy, Jesus Christ emphasizes the need to watch not only developments in the Middle East in general, but also Jerusalem in particular. (p. 22.)

He calls for readers to be informed about events concerning the Middle East region and Jerusalem.

Diplomatic negotiations in the Middle East between the Israelis and Palestinians, as the European Union and Vatican become more heavily involved, will not mean peace in this volatile, strategic region. Christ warns that Jerusalem ultimately will be surrounded by gentile armies and trampled by foreign troops! .... Yet are we keeping ourselves informed about what is happening in that explosive region? (p. 22.)

And how is his audience supposed to be informed about these things if (he implies) the news media are so incompetent as to not notice the important developments? Through LCG.

He scares mongers that "Islamic power" will somehow be magnified in the future.

In March 1999, Stratfor, Inc., an intelligence consulting firm in Austin, Texas, launched an experimental Web site www.stratfor.com. In December 1999, it predicted three events that will, in this decade, magnify Islamic power in the Middle East.... (p. 22.)

Page 22 features pictures of various Middle Eastern leaders to further emphasize the theme of scare mongering about uncertain succession.

The Middle East remains the world’s most explosive region, with leadership a volatile issue. From left to right: Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd; Jordan’s King Abdullah II bin Hussein; Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak; Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi; Bashar al-Assad of Syria; Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. Jordan’s King Abdullah II bin Hussein and Bashar al-Assad of Syria are the most recent changes in Arab leadership; both assumed power after the deaths of their fathers. (p. 22.)

King Fahd passed away on August 1, 2005 but Saudi Arabia remains a stable nation. King Abdullah is still in power and Jordan remains a stable nation. President Mubarak was overthrown in a popular uprising in 2011. Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in a popular uprising and armed insurgency but tragically to this day Libya has been divided and politically unstable. Since 2011 Syria has been the scene of severe political instability partly caused in no small part by police brutality against what was initially a peaceful protest movement. Since then the crisis has escalated into a full scale armed conflict that among other things allowed the terrorists of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIL to exploit the troubled situation to seize power for themselves. However with its armed forces and aid from Iran and Russia the Assad regime is still intact in its territory. Yasser Arafat passed away on November 11, 2004 and was succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas. In 2007 Abbas' faction, Fatah, lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas. Saddam Hussein was overthrown by US led military intervention in 2003 and hanged on December 30, 2006 after being convicted for leading a campaign of state terror in Dujail in 1982 after a failed assassination attempt. Alas, Iraq has and continues to be travailed by many troubles.

Many things have happened since 2000 when this article was published. But the Great Tribulation and other predictions of LCG's 1% remains as distant as it was in 2000.

Mendiola insists that the Arab nations will join themselves together in some kind of alliance to be led by a future political leader named in Armstrongite dogma as the "King of the South."

The Bible strongly indicates Arab nations in the Middle East will band together to form a confederation led by a "King of the South" that will provoke a remilitarized European power to take swift action in the Middle East. (p. 22.)

The King of the South has changed over the years among the COGs. Before 1945 HWA taught that it was Ethiopia. Later in the 1960s the dogma was changed to label the Arab nations with this role. LCG teaches that idea to this day but other COGs have different opinions. In 1994 PCG's leader, Gerald Flurry, proclaimed that Iran, not the Arab nations, would fulfill this role even though Iran is east, not south, of the Holy Land. RCG's leader, Dave Pack, chose to only accept Ethiopia as fulfilling that role.

It is taught among the COGs that the King of the South is fated to somehow provoke the future European superpower into launching a decisive attack and crush the King of the South and seize control of the Middle East.

This provocation could be prompted by Arab nations in the Middle East cutting off supplies of petroleum to the western world, prompting a swift response from European nations, or a controversy regarding the status of Jerusalem, which requires foreign troops. This crisis in the Middle East, in turn, will pull in nations from other regions like a vortex. (p. 23.)

He ends this section of the article with these vague words.

Watch for future changes in leadership among key Arab nations. And watch the geopolitics associated with the production and marketing of Middle East oil. (p. 23.)

Russia, China and Other Nations

Mendiola then scare mongers about Russia, China and other nations in the east. He teaches that Russia and China will lead some sort of alliance of eastern nations fated to fight against the future European superpower just before Christ's return.

Once this King of the North invades the Middle East, other major military powers in Russia, India, China and Southeast Asia will mobilize to counterattack the brazen move by the Europeans.... 

He [the future European leader supposedly fated to conquer America] will eventually meet his end at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.... This King of the North will face the massive armies of Eurasia. Even now the populations of China and India each exceed one billion people! (p. 23.)

He scare mongers against Russia and China presenting them as working towards weakening the United States.

Russia and China, both nuclear superpowers, will probably be in alliance with the kings of the east and supply most of the 200-million-man army that will launch a major offensive against the European beast power in the Middle East. Russian and Chinese leaders recently stressed the need to offset American power by encouraging a multi-polar world. (pp. 23-24.)

Why have the readers scared of only Russia and China? Why not get them scared of other nation states as well?

Watch continued cooperation between Russia and China as well as among India, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and other heavily populated Asian nations. These geopolitical developments in various regions of the world do not bode well for the U.S. and its western allies. (p. 24.)

Fall of the United States

Mendiola claims that since there is no King of the West mentioned in the Bible that it is a sign that the United States will be rendered powerless in the days just before Christ's return.

The Bible speaks of a King of the North, a King of the South and kings of the East, but remains almost deafeningly silent about a king from the other compass point—the West. There is no "King of the West" per se named in the Bible. Yet the United States undoubtedly is the leading nation in the West. 

When the King of the North retaliates against the King of the South, which will compel the kings of the East to respond, Bible prophecy shows the United States and other nations of British descent will be either conquered, enslaved or on the verge of captivity. (p. 24.)

Mendiola then makes the inaccurate and nonsensical claim that white Americans are descended from the Biblical Israelites of the Old Testament. Elsewhere LCG teaches that white Americans are descended from Manasseh, the son of Joseph mentioned in Genesis.

America and other British-descended and northwestern European nations are identified in Bible prophecy as modern descendants of Israel, the Old Testament patriarch whose name was changed from Jacob. (p. 24.)

It will not be immediately apparent to readers unfamiliar with Armstrongism but much of Armstrongism's fearful proclamations are based on the misconception that white Americans are descended from the Biblical Israelites. But white Americans are not descended from the Biblical Israelites. Genetic evidence shows conclusively that there is no such ancestral connection as is imagined by Armstrongite dogma. It is nonsense and any news of doom and gloom arising from that misconception is also wrong.

Heedless of the painful history of US slavery Mendiola insists that slavery awaits the United States at the hands of Germans, Europeans and Arabs in the future just before Christ's return.

The Bible shows these nations will bear the initial brunt of the unprecedented Great Tribulation.... He [Jeremiah as interpreted by Mendiola] also shows foreigners will enslave these nations of modern Jacob and even those considered allies will severely wound them.... Psalm 83 is prophetic in that it illustrates major powers in Europe and the Middle East conspiring to annihilate Jacob or Israel as a common enemy.... Arab nations and Assyria, the ancestral nation of modern Germany, are then described as the conspirators. They have shared anti-Semitic sentiments historically. (p. 24.)

It is also complete nonsense to claim that Germans are the descendants of the ancient Assyrians. This idea arose within the British Israelism movement due to World War I. Before 1914 the British Israelism movement taught that Germans were fellow Israelites but during the course of that cataclysmic war the teachers of the British Israelism movement changed the Germans' purported ancestry.

Watch trends in the moral decay of western nations, particularly the modern descendants of the ancient patriarch, Jacob. (p. 24.)

When Mendiola talks of "moral decay" he speaks of behavior contrary to what is taught by LCG's 1%.

Appeal for More LCG Members

The main purpose of this article and the entire magazine is to gain more recruits to join the organization behind the recruitment, namely LCG. After spending so much time insisting that catastrophe will soon occur he implies that reader has a responsibility to act on this message of doom and gloom.

As we watch the decline of such nations as the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Jewish state of Israel, there comes a responsibility to warn people in those nations as well as the rest of the world about the punishment that will ensue. (p. 24.)

Mendiola slurs "secular and religious leaders" for not sharing telling the same message of doom and gloom that is taught by LCG.

Yet the prophet Isaiah also foresaw a time when the secular and religious leaders, who should be trumpeting a warning to their people, would not because they are too wrapped up in the cares of this prosperous age and hope its comforts and luxuries will continue indefinitely. (p. 24.)

He slurs other sources of information to make his own organization and his paymaster look good.

By contrast, God's true servants are to be faithful watchmen. For more than 50 years, evangelist Roderick C. Meredith has been involved in this work of teaching, preaching and warning the world. Thousands of co-workers are supporting the Tomorrow's World magazine and telecast and are committed to crying aloud, lifting up their voices and showing mankind its sins and warning of the consequences. That is coupled with proclaiming the wonderful news of the Kingdom of God that Jesus Christ will establish beyond the horrible times that lie ahead. (pp. 24, 30.)

He ends this article with an appeal to the reader to respond to the article.

Those involved in this Work are soberly striving to heed Jesus Christ's command to watch world events and, like sentries, sound an alarm out of love, about the terrible times ahead for all people on the earth. They fully realize that the message will not be popular, but an urgent warning is needed. Beyond the gloom and doom of the immediate years ahead lies a glorious world governed by Jesus Christ. But meanwhile, we all need to sincerely hope and pray people will repent and turn around as a result of this message of warning and hope. You have just read that message! How will you respond? (p. 30.)

What is intended is for the reader to be moved into sending money to the organization behind this recruitment magazine and perhaps even the organization. And yet sixteen years later his message of doom and gloom is still unfulfilled. While many things have happened since this article was written what he and LCG teaches has not occurred. The United States is still the most powerful nation state on Earth. Europe still relies on the military protection of the United States under the NATO alliance. No "King of the South" has arisen in the Middle East. Russia and China are strong but LCG teaches that it will be a German led Europe that will conquer the United States.

There is no need to listen to LCG's dire proclamations. They are but false prophets.

In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock.

Reading John Ogwyn's The Middle East-Will a New Millennium Bring Peace At Last? (1999)

The COGs think that events in the Holy Land, specifically in Jerusalem, will tell them when Christ will return. In 1999 LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World, published an article by John Ogwyn (1949-2005) discussing the situation in the Holy Land in 1999 shortly after the election of Ehud Barak as Prime Minister of the State of Israel. (John Ogwyn, The Middle East-Will a New Millennium Bring Peace At Last?, Tomorrow's World, October-December 1999.)

There is this widespread idea within the COGs that the conflict concerning the State of Israel is all about Jerusalem. This idea is nonsense. While it is true that the status of Jerusalem is an issue it is far from the only issue sustaining the conflict. There are other issues that sustains the conflict such as the issue of the Palestinian refugees, what will be the territory of the proposed future Palestinian state, what is to be done with the Palestinian prisoners, etc. Nevertheless Ogwyn erroneously tells his readers that the current conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is all about Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Barak, shortly after taking office, "…set another deadline for himself: After campaigning on the promise that he would bring the Israeli army out of Lebanon within a year, he raised the ante... and set a 15- month time frame for negotiating peace with Syria and finalizing agreements with the Palestinians" (Jerusalem Post, July 23, 1999). According to this announcement, that would mean peace in the Middle East by October 2000. 

Will this happen? Can it happen? What does the future hold for this ancient and long-troubled corner of the world? Will Jerusalem, whose name in Hebrew means "city of peace," finally cease to be the sticking point for a long-awaited peace settlement? 

Make no mistake about it: events in the Middle East and in Jerusalem in particular will profoundly affect your world in the years to come! This ancient city is destined to play a central role during the years that mark the dawning of a new millennium. What will that role be—and what will it mean for you and your family?

In other words Ogwyn looks at events concerning Jerusalem to determine when Christ is supposed to return. What people are actually doing is incidental background to his quest to determine when Christ is to return by watching what happens in the Holy Land. What a dreadfully limited view of events.

For the 3,000 years since ancient King David captured the Jebusite citadel and made Jerusalem his capital, Jerusalem has been the most important of cities for the Jewish people. It was the city of King David, the location of Solomon's temple and later of the second temple, and the capital of the Jewish state until the Roman destruction in 70AD. It has been the subject of psalms, hymns and personal prayers and yearnings for most of three millennia.

The highlighted phrase is wrong. Between the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians and AD 70 Jerusalem was only the capital of an independent Jewish kingdom during the time of the Maccabees (164-63 BC). Under the Persians Jerusalem was under the rule of the Persian Empire then it came under the rule of Alexander the Great and his various Hellenistic successors until the Maccabees revolted in response to the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes and created an independent kingdom. But in 63 BC the Romans invaded the Holy Land and from that time dominated the Jews in Judaea. The Romans destroyed the Temple in AD 70 and later expelled many Jews from the Holy Land in AD 135. Since Ogwyn is so wrong about this what else is he wrong about?

Muslim control of Jerusalem lapsed when British troops under General Allenby entered the Old City in 1917. The British soon learned that capturing Jerusalem was much easier than administering it. The Palestine Mandate, as it was called, proved to be a troublesome burden for a succession of British governments over the next 30 years.

Actually Jerusalem was under Turkish control before British forces captured it. Ogwyn says very little about the era of the British ruled mandate territory or the tragic clashes between Palestinians and the Jews of the Yishuv, the Jewish community within Mandatory Palestine. The Great Arab Revolt of 1936-9 began as a general strike by the Palestinians and resulted in the crushing of Palestinian society by British forces. During the revolt British authorities aided the Yishuv and sent a remarkably skilled British officer to teach the Yishuv how to fight. His name was Charles Orde Wingate. By 1944 elements of the Yishuv such as the Irgun, a right wing leaning militia within the Yishuv, decided to launch an armed insurgency against the British. In October 1945 the left wing leaning Palmach chose to follow the Irgun's lead and began their own armed insurgency against the British.

Finally, in 1947 the United Nations passed Resolution 181, partitioning the Palestine Mandate between the Arabs and the Jews and internationalizing the city of Jerusalem. The Arabs, who were convinced that they could win all of Palestine by force of arms, vehemently rejected the resolution. The Jews, on the other hand, were fresh from the horrors of World War II and deeply anxious simply to have a place of their own. They accepted the UN resolution.

And so the war of partition began. However with the Palestinians having been routed during the revolt of 1936-9 by British forces the Palestinians were simply no match for the forces of the Yishuv by the time hostilities between the Yishuv and the Palestinians resumed in November 1947 after the passage of Resolution 181.

Before the British could even withdraw their troops, Jerusalem was under siege. By the beginning of 1948 the highway to Jerusalem was virtually impassable and the city's Jewish population was reduced to a state of near-starvation. In the fighting that followed, the Arabs destroyed 27 of the historic synagogues in Old Jerusalem.

How terrible war is. As the war progressed atrocities occurred. Some by one side. Some by the other. One atrocity that gained much attention was a massacre committed by personnel of the Irgun at Deir Yassin on April 9, 1948 in which about 107 were massacred. News of the massacre as well as the many Palestinian refugees fleeing into neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Syria and Jordan put pressure on the neighboring Arab nation states to fight the Yishuv and protect fellow Arabs, namely the Palestinian people.

On May 14, 1948 David Ben-Gurion announced to the world the formation of the new State of Israel. The Arab League reacted with predictable fury and its armies began advancing on all fronts.

The British mandate to rule over Palestine ended on May 15, 1948 consequently the Arab League did not officially go to war with the Yishuv until the British mandate expired lest they should end up fighting the British Empire. Before then fighters from neighboring Arab countries proceeded to Palestine and joined armed forces to fight the Yishuv.

Though the armies of six Arab nations combined with the express purpose of pushing the Jews back into the sea, events soon took a remarkable turn. On front after front the Arabs were fought to a standstill and were even pushed back. 

Under British rule society was divided between the Palestinians and the Yishuv with the British acting as mediators in between and lording over all. At times the British would favor one side and then another side in a divide and rule stratagem. During the Great Arab Revolt the British authorities chose to unleash the full force of their repression upon the Palestinians. Consequently when hostilities arose again after the United Nations vote to partition Palestine in November 1947 the Palestinians were at a military disadvantage compared with the Yishuv. Consequently the Yishuv succeeded in securing the State of Israel after hostilities ended in 1949.

The Old City of Jerusalem, however, formed the weakest link in the new state's defense chain. Finally a cease-fire was arranged and troops froze in position. Two weeks after independence, the last of the elderly Jews living in the Old City passed through Zion Gate, and the massive gate was irrevocably shut behind them. Thus Jerusalem became divided, and the Jews were once again denied access to their ancient city.

As hostilities ended Jordan had taken control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

However Ogwyn never mentions in this article anything about the approximately 750,000 Palestinians who were expelled by the forces of the Yishuv during the Israeli War of Independence of 1947-9. After the war they yearned to return to their homes and their farms. But the Israeli government refused to let them return. Seeing that the State of Israel not allow the Palestinian refugees to return proved to the Arab world that the State of Israel was more powerful then the Arab nation states since the Israeli government could simply ignore the demand of the neighboring nation states to let the Palestinian refugees return.

For 19 years this remained the status quo. Then in June 1967 came the incredible Six Day War, and with it the Jewish recapture of the Old City of Jerusalem. As Jewish troops swept out in all directions, Arab armies fled in disarray before them. Israel advanced east to the Jordan River and also seized the strategically vital Golan Heights from Syria. Israeli forces quickly moved into the Gaza Strip and the region of Sinai. While much of this was of great strategic value, nothing could compare to the excitement of the moment that Jewish troops came through Zion Gate and seized the Old City. None who witnessed the event can ever forget the emotional fervor displayed as Jewish troops finally reached the western wall of the Temple Mount, better known as the Wailing Wall.

Intriguingly Ogwyn omits mention of the 1956 Suez crisis in which Israeli forces seized the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt in just eleven days. The State of Israel was militarily superior compared with the surrounding Arab nations in 1956. However President Eisenhower disapproved and compelled the Israeli government to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip in 1957. In 1967 the State of Israel still held a decisive military advantage over the neighboring Arab nation states.

"Arab armies fled in disarray" partly because the Israeli Air Force had destroyed much of the air forces of Egypt early in the war. With Israeli air superiority the Arab armies had no chance of defeating the Israelis. To stand and fight in such circumstances would have been futile.

While Ogwyn describes this war as incredible and exciting it seems to escape his notice that the State of Israel's triumph in the Six Day War of 1967 led directly to the rise of Yasser Arafat. The Palestinians had hoped that the Arab nations would defeat the State of Israel and let them return. Seeing that Egypt, Jordan and Syria were so decisively routed many Palestinians rallied themselves together and decided to fight the State of Israel by themselves. In December 1967 some left wing leaning Palestinians formed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in response to the Israelis' triumph. Following the Battle of Karameh in Jordan on March 21, 1968 many Palestinians rallied under the banner of Fatah, led by Yasser Arafat, who soon emerged as the dominant faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

For centuries, religious Jews had concluded festival observances with the prayer, "Next year in Jerusalem." Finally, for the first time in almost two millennia, Jerusalem was united under Jewish control. It was quickly proclaimed as Israel's "eternal and undivided capital."

As far as I can tell when Jews said, "Next year in Jerusalem," while observing Passover they were not simply wishing to move from their homes and buy real estate in Jerusalem. Rather it symbolized their hope in the coming of the Messiah and the dawn of the Messianic age. It was certainly not a claim of ownership over Jerusalem since the nationalist movement to create a Jewish state only arose in the 19th Century, many centuries after those words began to be used in observing Passover.

Also when the State of Israel captured East Jerusalem there was a problem. The nation states that recognized the State of Israel only recognized its right to rule its 1949-67 borders and regarded the land acquired in 1967, including East Jerusalem, as occupied territory, that is territory ruled by the State of Israel but not actually belonging to it. This is why many nations keep their embassies located in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem. Partly to counteract this legal view of East Jerusalem as occupied territory the Israeli government proclaimed Jerusalem to be the "eternal and undivided capital." It is called that precisely because of Israeli control over East Jerusalem is not recognized by any other nation state including the US government.

More than 30 years have passed since those momentous events. Since then, we have seen the Yom Kippur war, the Camp David agreements, the Oslo accords, and the Wye River peace agreement. What we have not seen, however, is peace in the Middle East. There have been stalemates, skirmishes, invasions and assassinations, but no lasting peace.

The Yom Kippur War arose in part because the State of Israel refused to hand back the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. In 1971 President Sadat offered to make a bilateral treaty with the State of Israel without the other Arab nation states but the Israeli would not pursue this offer. Determined to reclaim this territory President Sadat led Egypt to war with the State of Israel in 1973.

Is Ehud Barak now destined to succeed where all of his predecessors have failed? Inevitably, all attempts at peace stand or fall over the issue of Jerusalem. What is to be the destiny of the "City of Peace" and what part will that destiny play in the future of the Middle East and, indeed, of the world itself?

This is complete nonsense. While it is true that the issue of Jerusalem is an issue it is not the only issue. This statement shows that Ogwyn is allowing his preconceived notions to dictate his views on this topic.

Just think of it. For centuries Jerusalem remained little more than a footnote to world events, notable only for historical and religious reasons. The Jewish presence in the ancient land of their forbearers was minuscule and impotent. Who could have foreseen that after so many centuries away, millions of Jews would be regathered to their ancient land? Who could have imagined that a formidable Jewish army would overwhelm neighboring states after a lapse of more than two millennia since such developments? 

There is a source, however, that did foresee just such events! It is your Creator's instruction book, the Holy Bible. A variety of prophecies in the pages of the Bible foretold that the Middle East, and Jerusalem in particular, would be a major focus on the world scene in the end time. Some of these prophecies are found in the Old Testament while others were spoken by Jesus Christ Himself, shortly before His crucifixion.

Ogwyn talks of the Holy Land as "their ancient land" but this loses sight of the fact that when the nationalist movement to create a Jewish state began to arise in the 1880s the vast majority of people living in Palestine were Palestinian Arabs and the vast majority of the land was owned by Arabs.

Considering the many false prophecies that Armstrongites have made over the years it is clear that the COGs do not see the future. Over the years the COGs have altered interpretations to fit their purposes. HWA said the King of the South was Ethiopia. Later Garner Ted Armstrong, Keith Stump and now many of the COGs fervently teach that the King of the South will be some sort of Islamic power that will provoke Europe into going to war. LCG tends to think it will be composed of Arabs. There are differing opinions elsewhere among the COGs.

As it turned out the hopeful optimism that there would be peace collapsed after the right wing opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, visited the Temple Mount with an armed guard of "hundreds of Israeli riot police" to insist that this ancient religious site, one of the oldest Islamic shrines in the world which is so beloved to Palestinians and which is located in East Jerusalem and therefore outside of the State of Israel's internationally recognized borders, would remain under Israeli control indefinitely.

"The Temple Mount is in our hands and will remain in our hands. It is the holiest site in Judaism and it is the right of every Jew to visit the Temple Mount," he [Ariel Sharon] said after his descent. (Suzanne Goldenburg, Rioting as Sharon visits Islam holy site, The Guardian, September 29, 2000.)

Traditionally Jewish religious authorities forbade Jews from going to the Temple Mount lest they should unknowingly defile the Holy of Holies since its precise location is not now known. In the 1958 novel Exodus, author Leon Uris described the Wailing Wall, not the Temple Mount, as "the holiest place in all Jewry." But with the rise of the national religious Israeli Jews to political prominence after the Six Day War some have insisted on visiting this site contrary to the previous Jewish tradition and regardless of the tensions these visits create.

Many Palestinians protested Sharon's visit under armed guard. Far too often lethal force was employed against the Palestinian protesters by Israeli police personnel and soldiers. The violence spiraled out of control and escalated into a cycle of violence.

The second intifada erupted and over 5,000 Palestinians and over 1,000 Israelis were killed in 2000-5. It escalated into an armed insurgency by Palestinians but the State of Israel had vastly superior equipment compared with the various Palestinian militia groups. The State of Israel had an army, an air force and a navy as well as about $3 billion in military foreign aid from the US government per year. The insurgency was gradually worn down by the Israeli military led by the Israeli government under Ehud Barak and then Ariel Sharon. It was the worse era of violence in the Holy Land since the Six Day War of 1967. Finally an agreement was made at Sharm el-Sheikh in 2005 which put an end to the intifada.

But LCG's prophecies were not fulfilled. Christ did not return as LCG's leaders confidently insisted to their readers. It is now eighteen years since Ogwyn wrote this article. This dreadful cataclysm occurred and Christ did not return. And yet the LCG leadership expect us to just wait again for their predictions to occur.

It is clear that God is not with the COGs. There is no need to follow them.