PCG's Flawed History Lesson on the Six Day War

Recently PCG's Brent Nagtegaal made a broadcast of The Trumpet Hour discussing the Six Day War of 1967. (Nehemiah and the Six Day War, June 10, 2016.)

In the first half of the broadcast Nagtegaal discusses the Six Day War of 1967. He asserts that the Six Day War was a miraculous victory showing (PCG's) God's favor for the State of Israel.

Astoundingly Nagtegaal made no mention of the Suez Crisis of 1956. In just nine days the State of Israel's forces were able to seize control of the entire Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. This suggests that Egypt's armed forces were simply no match for that of the State of Israel's armed forces in 1956. It was only due to political pressure, partly due to President Eisenhower's opposition, that the State of Israel was compelled to withdraw from the Sinai in March 1957. The withdrawal was forced by political pressure, not by a military defeat. This also suggests that Egypt's armed forces were no match for the State of Israel's armed forces in 1956-7. 

At one point Nagtegaal mentions how during the Six Day War one part of the Egyptian front line fled without seeing even one Israeli soldier. That indicates that the Egyptian army was simply unable to compete against the Israeli armed forces in 1967. In other words the same result happened eleven years apart and both times Egypt's armed forces were simply no match for the armed forces of the State of Israel. What sort of miracle is this?

Furthermore in the opening moves of the war the Israeli air force bombarded the Egyptian air force in a surprise attack. This crippling of Egypt's air force made it impossible for Egypt to protect their soldiers from Israeli air bombardment. The skies belonged to the State of Israel. With the skies now hostile to Egyptian ground forces it would have made sense for the Egyptian soldiers to withdraw to prevent unnecessary loss of life for their forces.

Furthermore the pain of war is rarely dwelt on in this broadcast. Somewhere between 776 and 983 Israeli soldiers were killed in the Six Day War but the pain of their loss is rarely dwelt on. The main point of this broadcast is that all went well. But if one wishes to praise this war in such a way the pain of war is minimized and ignored. This encourages listeners to view war as an acceptable option if such praise is given and the loss of soldiers is minimized and not discussed.

But did the war really end after six days? With the Sinai Peninsula now occupied by the State of Israel the Egyptian government led by President Nasser was determined to regain control of this lost Egyptian territory. To restore Egyptian sovereign rule over the Sinai Peninsula the forces of Egypt waged a low scale war against Israeli forces on the Sinai Peninsula to regain their conquered territory. This was named the War of Attrition. The first armed action occurred on July 1, 1967, less than a month after the Six Day War. 

July 1, 1967: An Egyptian commando force from Port Fuad moves south and takes up a position at Ras el 'Ish, located 10 miles south of Port Said on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal, an area controlled by the Israelis since the ceasefire on June 9, 1967. An Israeli armored infantry company attacks the Egyptian force. The Israeli company drives off the Egyptians but loses 1 dead and 13 wounded. However, another source claims that an Israeli attack on Port Fuad was repulsed.

So less than a month after getting routed in the Six Day War Egyptian soldiers launched a raid on an Israeli held position killing an Israeli soldier. What sort of miracle victory is this?

By omitting the War of Attrition the pain and loss endured in that armed conflict is ignored. Egypt 's war to restore their sovereignty over the Sinai Peninsula raged on until a ceasefire was made on August 7, 1970 shortly before Nasser's death.

During the War of Attrition 694-1424 Israeli soldiers were killed in these battles. Egypt endured 2882-10,000 military and civilian fatalities. The Six Day War along Egyptian frontline did not really end. The conflict kept going since Egypt was determined to regain its lost territory. These events are ignored in Nagtegaal's broadcast. Listening to Nagtegaal's broadcast unless one knew better one would have no idea that any War of Attrition even occurred.

By focusing only on what happened during the Six Day War this gives a highly skewered view of the situation. It makes it seem as if going to war solves problems but dangerously ignores the negative consequences for the State of Israel of choosing to retain the Sinai Peninsula thus provoking Egypt's attempts to regain the Sinai.

After Nasser's death his successor, Sadat, proposed in 1971 making a peace treaty with the State of Israel without it being part of a comprehensive settlement which included the rest of the Arab League as had been proposed before. This was part of the Jarring mission. The State of Israel ignored this diplomatic proposal and insisted on keeping at least part of the Sinai Peninsula as part of a peace deal with Egypt. To give up Egyptian land was unacceptable to President Sadat.

He prepared for war and attacked on October 6, 1973. The Yom Kippur War began. The State of Israel was caught unawares. The Israeli government had complacently assumed the surrounding Arab nation states would not dare to fight for their own territory. After about three weeks the State of Israel regained control of the battlefield but Israel had endured up to 2800 fatalities. Egypt endured between 5-15,000 fatalities. Prime Minister Meir was forced to leave power.

Seeing that Egypt was determined to regain the lost territory of the Sinai several years the State of Israel agreed to make peace by returning all of the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt. And since then Egypt has not threatened to attack the State of Israel. It is frightening to imagine that the Yom Kippur War with its thousands of fatalities could have been avoided if the State of Israel's government had taken Sadat's 1971 proposal seriously. There was nothing inevitable about it. It could have been avoided. Those thousands of lives could have spared in decisions were made.

None of this about the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War is explained in Nagtegaal's broadcast. Instead the problems of victory are rarely discussed and Nagtegaal provides a bombastic and sanitized account of the Six Day War making it look wonderfully easy.

Nagtegaal also asserts that Israeli Jews have forgotten (PCG's?) God and for this the Great Tribulation will descend on them as well however this is presented in a rather gentle way that only those well versed in Armstrongism will really understand the full implications of such statements.

The second half of Nagtegaal's broadcast discusses Nehemiah. He talks about how there was much opposition to rebuilding Jerusalem's walls. One incident in the Book of Nehemiah is exploited to condemn the peace process. Since 1996, if not earlier, PCG's leadership has consistently condemned any attempt by the State of Israel to make peace with the Palestinians as a deadly wound which will cause the State of Israel to be plunged into catastrophe. PCG teaches that the Israeli government is fated to turn away from the United States and go to Germany to seek a peace settlement with the Palestinians but the Germans will betray the State of Israel and conquer them (and the United States and Britain) during the Great Tribulation. Peace will not occur until Christ's return therefore any attempt to make peace is strongly condemned by PCG.

More of the same from PCG. PCG's leaders insist they know what is going to happen and world events are reinterpreted to fit their views. Inconvenient information that suggests other explanations are more useful are casually ignored.

Are Palestinians Just Arabs in Disguise?

Recently it has been reported that one pro-Israel individual said to applause the following words.

I just wanted to mention: Why are we using the word Palestinian? There's no such thing as a Palestinian person.

Even though cognate versions of the name Palestine have been used as early as 1170 BC somehow it is wrong to use it to describe people.

And never mind about Leon Uris' novel, Exodus. In that novel the people of the Yishuv are named Palestinians. Although it has to be said that the Palestinians are most often described as Arabs in that novel. Although that is a topic for another time.

There are about 12.37 million Palestinian persons around. They are not Lebanese or Syrian or Jordanian. They are Palestinians.

The COGs' Exploitation of Brexit

The people of Britain voted to leave the European Union and some within the COGs are seemingly ecstatic by this as they seem to think this proves that HWA's dire proclamations of a united Europe led by Germany will soon annihilate the United States and Britain.

Banned by HWA reports that LCG, PCG, RCG, the self ordained Bob Thiel and James Malm are all exploiting this development to insist that that their dire predictions will soon come true. They are eager to use this to "prove" that many other things they say are also true.

This Armstrongite claim is, of course, nonsense.

In order to believe that Brexit somehow fulfills HWA's alleged prophecies one needs to ignore the many false prophecies HWA and his followers made. HWA said Christ would return in 1975. The Painful Truth has a list of 209 false prophecies made by HWA and his imitators.

Those devoted to perpetuating Armstrongism has a strong motive to ignore these many inconvenient proofs that HWA and Co. do not know what will happen in the future. We have been lied to since the day HWA churned out the first issue of his Plain Truth recruitment magazine back in February 1934.

Back then HWA insisted that Mussolini would be "the Beast" who would conquer the United States. Later he said it was Hitler who was fated to conquer the United States. Even after Hitler died HWA insisted that Hitler had survived and would reappear to lead Europe to conquer the United States.

For a time HWA thought Yugoslavia's leader, Tito, would become "the Beast" fated to conquer America which he obliquely admitted in his 1956 booklet, 1975 in Prophecy.

I have warned the radio audiences to watch TITO. Of course, Tito is not identified personally in prophecy-nor is any other man. Only the major EVENTS are revealed. ... I have even suggested the possibility that Tito might be the man to lead the new Nazi-Fascist Europe-though that possibility has appeared most slight. Remember again, prophecy does not identity the MAN. More probably he will be a German. We shall not have to wait much longer to know! IT'S LATER THAN YOU THINK! (HWA, 1975 in Prophecy, 1956.)

In his last book, Mystery of the Ages, HWA insinuated that Christ would return within two decades, in other words by 2005 at the latest. However PCG has removed those words from their copies of that book. Since PCG now owns the copyright they can make whatever changes to it they wish.

Also if the COGs really could see the future than why isn't the entire world listening to them to get the inside scoop of the future? With the inside scoop on the future the various COGs are only able to get a few thousands to join them at most. They have such wondrous power of foresight, the COGs' leaders tell us, but hardly anyone is willing to act on it and join them? Why is it like this? Because the COGs' claims about the future are not true. These false prophecies are a tool to get people to join the COGs and pay tithes to them.

In order to believe "he was right" it is necessary to ignore all these other facts. HWA and his imitators are but false prophets. There is no need to fear HWA's words or any of his imitators. The false prophets of the COGs need you and your tithes but you do not need them.

PCG's Dennis Leap Remembers the Court Case with WCG

Dennis Leap has recently released an article (Whose Faith Follows, June 21, 2016,) discussing the court case that PCG lost concerning their pirated publication and distribution of some of HWA's writings. It was only during the negotiations after the trial that PCG bought the copyrights from WCG for $3 million. 

Leap insinuates that losing the court case would cause PCG the dire consequences for them.

Mr. Flurry was not just talking poetically here. The leaders of the WCG were hell-bent on grinding the PCG into the ground, never to rise again. The court case was a real fight for the survival to do God’s Work of keeping His message alive and active on Earth. ...

This case was the WCG’s final attempt to bury all of Mr. Armstrong’s writings—revealed truth from Christ—with him forever!

Of course that is largely hyperbole. WCG was not seeking to destroy PCG or render it inoperative. WCG was seeking to restrict PCG's printing and distribution of works copyrighted to WCG. The other COGs that generally never distributed HWA's writings consequently they for the most part never got sued by WCG. Even if the case ended promptly with PCG unable to publish HWA's writings PCG would still have been able to operate and maintain their organization. Also HWA's writings were also distributed on the Internet and they have been left alone.

The second week in February, Mr. Flurry called me into his office. He showed me a letter that Ralph Helge had written to him concerning our printing of Mystery of the Ages. Of course, the WCG did not like what we had done, and they demanded an explanation. The WCG filed a complaint against us in the Los Angeles federal court on February 10. The PCG was not informed about the court filing until February 11. This not unexpected, yet unwanted, development was a major concern to all of us at headquarters. The fight was on!

Mr. Flurry assigned me to work on our case and, well, the rest is history. The court case dominated many of my days for the next six years. There was one vital lesson that carried me through the glum days and the nail-biters. It is a lesson we all must learn and keep at the forefront of our thinking—especially because we are moving ever closer to the sure-to-come tough times ahead.

It is no surprise that WCG should have decided to exercise their right as the copyright holder to stop PCG from distributing HWA's writings. PCG's leaders have no one but themselves to blame for getting themselves dragged into that court case.

PCG's leaders have constantly insisted that catastrophe will soon occur ever since 1989. And before that HWA and his imitators said similar things since the 1930s. Here is the same, old dire proclamation that simply never comes to pass. They are but false prophets.

Leap mentions that few within the WCG ministry where he lived were upset at Mystery of the Ages being taken out of circulation by Tkach's WCG.

Many members in God’s Church [WCG] were upset and disturbed when Pasadena took Mystery of the Ages out of circulation. I was living near Buffalo, New York, at that time. Not one minister or minister’s wife I knew in that area expressed any distress over its removal. However, one ministerial trainee’s wife told me that she was very sad people would not be able to read the book. She said that the book had led her into God’s Church.

It is not possible for me to verify this claim. But even if this account is true it is worth bearing in mind that as a leader of PCG he has an incentive to discredit the WCG ministers who stayed in WCG or joined other COG groups.

Leap states that he had little awareness of how the law worked before this court case.

The only thing I knew about the law and legal matters came from the Ten Commandments and the first five books of the Bible. I had zero understanding of court cases, court filings, court lingo, court procedures, judges and the good or bad of lawyers except for what I had seen on television and in movies. A few speeding tickets had given me a look inside a courtroom. At those few times, all I had to know was the balance in my checkbook. Yet once the court case started, I was plunged into the world of all things legal: lawyers, judges and mountain-high stacks of paper.

Leap says he learned to always trust the minister over him, namely Gerald Flurry.

The one vital spiritual lesson I learned, which I plan to carry with me into eternity, concerns the critical importance of the faith of the leaders above us. “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation,” wrote the Apostle Paul .... I reflected on this scripture often during the court case. It became my anchoring verse to help me weather the tough tests and trials wrought by WCG v. PCG. Study this verse carefully.

When our faith flags, we must learn to follow the faith of the ministers God has set over us. As Paul said, we must remember the men “which have the rule over you.” That means to remember their examples of faith.

It is easy to imagine PCG members reading this and interpreting this to mean that they must obey the minister over them.

Leap ends this article telling his followers to remain loyal to those who are over them.

What a blessing it is for us when we learn to follow the faith of the man [Gerald Flurry] whom God has given to rule over us. Let’s all be sure to read, study and apply Hebrews 13:7. We will need it desperately in the coming days.

This sounds a lot like papal infallibility.

Despite all of PCG's efforts and faith they actually lost the court case but in the negotiations after the court case WCG decided to essentially sell the copyrights to some of HWA's writings to PCG for about $3 million. Sending $3 million to Tkach's WCG allowed PCG to brag that they had the copyrights to some of HWA's writings in order to bolster their claim to be the sole, legitimate continuation of HWA's WCG.

(Later PCG bought another copyright from WCG, namely that of The Bible Story by Basil Wolverton. This later acquisition appears to have occurred no later than 2008.)

Very few WCG ministers joined PCG so PCG's leaders had an incentive to distinguish themselves from the competition, namely the other COG groups. Meredith's Global COG and his later Living COG and UCG which was formed as the Tkach changes reached its completion in 1995 all had more members and more WCG ministers with them. The fact that so many WCG members chose to join these other organizations challenged PCG's claim to be the sole legitimate successor to HWA's WCG. If PCG was so, then why did so many WCG members simply not bother to join PCG? Publishing HWA's writings and then buying the copyrights was one way PCG tried to make themselves seem to be worthy of one's allegiance compared with the other COGs.

But despite having these writings in their possession they still are losing members at the moment. One report asserts PCG has lost about 20% in annual income and yet they are still building some dance hall in Edmond. A recent letter on Exit and Support Network suggests PCG have reserved accommodation for only about 4000 people for the Armstrongite Feast of Tabernacles. HWA's writings did not open any sort of cornucopia of plenty for PCG.

HWA Insinuated No Christian Children's Books Retold the Entire Bible (1958)

The Other Bible Story (1953)

In his preface to The Bible Story (1958-72) HWA claimed that Christian children's books failed to explain everything and just told a few events without explaining the wider context. This is nonsense. Although they may have been slightly harder to acquire and more expensive such books were out there.

Here is how HWA put it in the November 1958 issue of The Plain Truth.

THE NEXT fifteen pages bring you the first installment of the long-awaited Bible-story book for children, written and sketched by nationally known artist Basil Wolverton. 

Never has there been a Bible-story book like this!

It is not a disconnected series of blood- and-thunder stories without meaning or any connection with God’s real Message or the Gospel. Rather, this is THE story of the whole BIBLE-starting with the original creation in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis. (p. 5.)

The insinuation that there was no other children's book that retold the Bible as a continuous narrative before 1958 is nonsense. As a matter of fact there had been retellings of the Bible written for children that discusses the events of the Bible from beginning to end published outside of HWA's following. And many of them actually got around to discussing Jesus and the events of the New Testament. When Basil Wolverton ended his narrative in 1972 he had ended it with the return of Jews to the Holy Land under Ezra and Nehemiah.

Considering that HWA devised his syncretic ideas from various sources all such books published outside of HWA's control would have presented information and ideas that contradicted his dogmas. But their disagreement with Armstrongism is a separate issue from whether there were any children's books that presented the Bible as one narrative. There were such works available.

In fact in from 1953 until 1957 one Arthur Maxwell, a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, published a ten volume narrative retelling the Bible for children. It was named The Bible Story. Is this the source for the name of Wolverton's narrative?

(Gerald Flurry's PCG has bought the copyright for Wolverton's narrative from WCG. The copyright was possibly acquired no later than 2008 which is the copyright date for Volume 1 of PCG's printing of Wolverton's narrative.)

Once again HWA's hyperbole does not match the facts.

Water Inequality in the West Bank

The Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, warns that Palestinians in the West Bank face a water shortage while the Israeli settlers who live in the West Bank have their water supplies attended to.

Israel admits cutting West Bank water supply, but blames Palestinian Authority - Israel News https://t.co/syD4emAPw1

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) June 21, 2016

While Palestinians suffer from severe water shortage, settlement swimming pools are full https://t.co/syD4emAPw1 pic.twitter.com/W8KRq9hylW

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) June 21, 2016

May peace soon come to the Holy Land.

Remembering Mahmoud Badran

Another Palestinian family now has to deal with the news that their beloved family member has been killed.

Five teenage Palestinian boys were on their way home after midnight Monday morning, after spending the evening at a swimming pool in the village of Beit Sira west of Ramallah, celebrating the recent arrival from Qatar of friends who were to spend the summer in their hometown of Beit Ur al-Tahta.

However, their fun came to a halt when an Israeli soldier began showering the car with live fire, killing 15-year-old Mahmoud Raafat Badran and seriously injuring four others.... (Ma'an News Agency, June 22, 2016.)

The COGs believe in various prophetic speculations insisting that the State of Israel will soon be conquered by Europe. But the violent death of a young Palestinian has no meaning to them in discerning when Christ will return so events like this are ignored.

The COGs teach the incorrect dogma of British Israelism and consequently they incorrectly view Jews as relatives of whites Americans and white British. The predominantly white COG leaders and members view Jews as white like themselves even though the Jewish community has existed long before the idea of races as we know it were even conceived of. The COGs impose this identity upon the Jews refusing to take into account how they view themselves. But the COGs do not view Palestinians as white like themselves so a tragic event like this is ignored. It can't be used to prop up their preconceived dogmas. We should not be so selective in our compassion.

The COGs say that there is no hope of peace until Christ returns. The COGs' teachings wishes to rob even the hope that anything can be done to bring peace to those who suffer in the Holy Land.

May peace soon come to the Holy Land.

PCG Feast Sites Revealed

Exit and Support Network have released the following letter (June 21).

PCG Feast Sites for 2016:

June 21, 2016

I found a Feast planner for 2016. Here are the sites with expected attendance:

Edmond, OK 700
Lexington KY 650
Palm Harbor, FL 600
Ogden, UT 300+
Bellingham, WA 225
Huntsville, Ontario, Canada 200
Invermere, BC, Canada 200
St. Lucia, Caribbean 150
Enfield, Ireland 275
Tweed Heads, Australia 350
Clark, Philippines 350
Limpopo, South Africa 125
Medellin-Guatape, Colombia 60
Huanchaco, Peru 25

A Case of Flattery in PCG?

Recently PCG's Joel Hilliker wrote an article discussing some diplomatic communications that occurred between the Carter Administration and Ayatollah Khomeini before he ascended to power. PCG has a long history of demonizing Iran since their leader Gerald Flurry dogmatically proclaimed Iran to be the King of the South in 1994. They demonize Iran in order to "prove" that God is with Gerald Flurry. In this recent article Hilliker proceeds to once again denounce Iran as "the head of the snake." He cites Gerald Flurry 

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has often pointed to Iran as “the head of the terrorist snake.” In the January 2008 Trumpet magazine, he wrote... (Joel Hilliker, Secret Talks With Ayatollah Khomeini, June 13, 2016.)

A quote from Gerald Flurry follows. But why does Hilliker cite his boss (and father-in-law) with this inflammatory phrase when it was Joel Hilliker himself who first used this inflammatory phrase within the pages of PCG's recruitment magazine back in 2001?

This ugly phrase was first used by PCG's leaders in the November 2001 issue of their recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet which was written shortly after 9/11. Note how inflammatory his diatribe is. He alludes to Iran as a "monster," "the enemy" and "the head of the snake."

Present targets in the war on terrorism are only one tendril of the monster. Will the U.S. strike at its head? Here is how the war will end. ...

Iran is the one Mideast country with the power, the determination and the resources to be the king of the south. Its long-held objective is to become the undisputed leader in the region. Not only is it at the TOP of the State Department’s terrorist list because of its vast links to regional terror groups (including Hamas and Hezbollah), Iran has been stockpiling weapons and delivery systems (former Soviet nuclear warheads and weapons-usable nuclear material; thousands of tons of chemical blister, blood and choking agents; artillery mortars, rockets, aerial bombs and Scud warheads) and building production capabilities (manufacturing biological agents and long-range missiles; pushing for uranium-conversion facilities) for years. Make no mistake about it: Iran is the head of the snake. ...

In spite of that slap in the face, efforts to woo other Arab states into the coalition continue. The problem with this approach? It leaves the head of the snake intact! It is tiptoeing around the enemy! (Joel Hilliker, The Head of the Snake, November 2001.) 

If Hilliker is so eager to go to war maybe he should join the army and then society would be spared enduring his writings while he serves in the armed forces. However PCG actually bans their followers from military service.

Iran has no nuclear weapons at present so Hilliker's claim that Iran acquired "former Soviet nuclear warheads" seems to be incorrect. Also it is worth noting that later in 2003 Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei issued a fatwa denouncing the possession of nuclear weapons as un-Islamic.

Why is Hilliker giving the credit for that inflammatory phrase to Gerald Flurry when he clearly wrote that phrase far earlier than the 2008 article he cites? Is this a case of flattery?

PCG Mentions Hazara Fighters in Syria to Demonize Iran

PCG has a long history of demonizing Iran since their leader Gerald Flurry dogmatically proclaimed Iran to be the King of the South in 1994. They demonize Iran in order to "prove" that God is with Gerald Flurry.

Recently PCG released an article discussing a propaganda video promoting the Fatemiyoun Brigade, an organization of Hazaras from Afghanistan who are sent to Syria to fight on behalf of the Assad regime. During the course of the war numerous armed groups from outside Syria have come to Syria to fight alongside the Assad regime.

PCG's article says:

They are recruited from a number of places, but many come from the estimated 1 million undocumented Afghan refugees in Iran and the persecuted Shiite Afghans in Damascus, Syria.

The Shiites in Afghanistan also include the Hazara ethnic group which is predominantly Shia.

PCG's article comments on a six minute video promoting the Fatemiyoun Brigade. It does not bother to provide a link to the video.

PCG's article is based on an article from another source. That source article cites a certain organization that used to be listed by the US State Department as a terrorist group from 1997 till 2012.

It is very unfortunate that people from Afghanistan are getting involved in this terrible war in Syria. They have already been enduring many problems and now they face this war, an added component in the terrible time of violence and suffering currently underway in Syria. May peace soon come to Syria.