Overview of the March 1998 Issue of PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet

PCG has been publishing their recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet, since 1990 seeking to gain more tithes paying converts. The earliest issue of The Philadelphia Trumpet that can be read on their website, thetrumpet.com, is the March-April 1998 issue which was published during the time of President Clinton's impeachment.

Let's take a look.

This issue had a circulation of 70,000 issues.

The publisher and editor-in-chief was Gerald Flurry. The senior editors were Dennis Leap, the late J. Tim Thompson and the late Vyron Wilkins. The managing editor was Stephen Flurry. The assistant managing editor was Joel Hilliker.

Gerald Flurry has a personal article discussing the Titanic disaster in 1912 to insist that people should take his warning of cataclysm seriously even though the COGs have been making such dire statements since the 1930s.

Gerald Flurry has an article denouncing those who supported President Clinton during the impeachment crisis.

Stephen Flurry has an article praising the ideals of the Founding Fathers in order to denigrate President Clinton and his supporters.

(Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry's articles were later edited into a booklet entitled Character in Crisis which was discussed in a previous post.)

Dennis Leap has an article denouncing the high divorce rate.

J. Tim Thompson had an article bewailing that the United States is economically too reliant on Japan.

Ron Fraser had an article crudely scare mongering as only he could that the Catholic Church would introduce a "third way" in contrast to Western capitalism and Soviet Communism. PCG teaches that the United States is fated to be conquered by a future European Empire that will be supported by the final Pope, who is taught within the COGs as fated to be a sinister person able to perform miracles, such as summoning fire from the sky, with the power of Satan.

World News Watch mentions that El Niño was causing all kinds of weather problems; scare mongering about debt held by Americans; anti-war protesters disrupting a meeting held by President Clinton's cabinet to rally support for continuing to enforce the severe sanctions against Iraq; and German air force pilots training in New Mexico.

Nineteen years later PCG still preaches of doom and gloom generating millions of dollars in income for the organization. Even as early as 1996 PCG claimed to have more than $5 million in annual income. But since its founding in 1989 PCG has made at least 52 failed predictions. These failed predictions make it clear that PCG's 1% are unable to foresee the future. They are but false prophets. There is no need to give any heed to their dire proclamations.

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.

PCG Condemning Climate Change as Ignoring (PCG's) God

It is widely known that the excess emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases are causing the Earth's climate to change. PCG's leaders from their facilities in Edmond and Edstone insist on downplayng this problem contrary to the vast amount of evidence indicating otherwise. This may be seen in a recent broadcast of PCG's Trumpet Daily.

The climate is changing. But the “science” pushed by the mainstream media and biased scientists to explain why it is changing is simply bogus. Humanity is changing the climate—but not for the reasons you so often hear about. God has always given mankind a choice—to obey His law or to reject it. Obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings curses. The Bible says that God is in control of the weather and He will use it to bless or curse mankind. Herbert W. Armstrong asked, “Can you realize that every unhappiness, every evil that has come to humanity, has been the result of transgressing God’s law?” That is the plain truth about climate change you won’t hear anywhere else but the Trumpet.

In other words PCG's leaders want to tell their audience that weather disasters are a sign of (PCG's) God's wrath upon America but if they admitted that climate change is real they could not say that anymore. What a dreadful response to the severe problem of climate change.

Fearing Iran in Israel

Recently Al Jazeera released an interview with an Israeli conscientious objector who went to prison because of her political positions. During the course of the interview she mentioned this anecdote.

I have a friend who, during her military service, worked at the biggest radio station in the country, which is military run. She was part of the news desk. They were ordered to start the broadcast with a news story about Iran whenever they had to report something that is critical of the military or something bad that happened - like a Palestinian being killed at a checkpoint.

They were told to go to Reuters and find something about Iran. It's like: "We do bad things sometimes at a checkpoint but there's an existential threat - a nuclear bomb, right?"

People are genuinely afraid. (Al Jazeera, June 29, 2017.)

It is rather unlikely that PCG's leaders listen to that radio station. Nevertheless I could not help but think of PCG's demonization of Iran. Even though there are many problems facing many Americans within the United States (such as Republican legislators trying to pass a bill that would take away the healthcare insurance of about 23 million Americans) the PCG leadership insist on continuously trying to make their audience frightened and scared of Iran.

Back in 1994 PCG's leader, Gerald Flurry, proclaimed Iran to be the King of the South. Consequently this gives PCG an incentive to convince their audience of that dogma in order to convince them that he is worthy of being followed.

Overview of the July-August 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 (July-August 2017).

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

There is no mention in this recruitment magazine of the matter of Republican legislators trying to pass a bill which, if passed, would take away the health insurance of 22 million Americans. Many of those who read this recruitment magazine will lose their health insurance if that proposed bill passes and LCG's leaders have nothing to say about that very important matter in this issue.

This issue has a circulation of 282,000 issues. This is a dramatic decline from a circulation of 539,000 issues which was enjoyed by the March-April 2016 issue. This issue's figure is by far the lowest circulation figure LCG's recruitment magazine has revealed since they started noting its circulation figures back in 2014. (See the circulation figures at the end of this post.)

Gerald Weston has a personal article remembering Roderick C. Meredith after his death on May 18, 2017. The article contains the following statement.

He chose the latter, and—at age 62—he began the Global Church of God in 1993, later to be known as the Living Church of God, in an effort to restore original Christianity. (p. 3.)

The magazine publishes the third part of a series of articles by the late Roderick C. Meredith discussing Martin Luther. The purpose of these articles is to delegitimize the Protestant churches to make readers more inclined to join the organization producing the recruitment magazine, namely the Living Church of God.

It is based on a narrative of his he made back in 1958. (See pages 17-22 for the part equivalent to this issue's article.) The article's age is indicated by the fact that Meredith tends to cite old books in this article. Here in alphabetical order are all the books cited in this article. Note that they are all quite old.

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

• Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand. Abingdon Press, 1978.

• Bettenson, Henry. Documents of the Christian Church. G. Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1950.

• D’Aubigne, Merle. History of the Reformation. Delmarva Publications, Inc., 1846. [The first edition of that work was published in French between 1835 and 1853.]

• Fisher, George P. The Reformation. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896.

• Hausser, Ludwig. The Period of the Reformation. American Tract Society, 1873.

• Lindsay, Thomas. A History of the Reformation. C. Scribner’s Sons, 1906.

With the exception of the works by Bettenson and Fisher all these works can be read at archive.org. Bettenson's book is available on the Amazon Kindle Store. Only Fisher's book is currently out of print.

Winston Gosse has an article discussing worries about old age pensions in Canada.

John Meakin has an article discussing the American War of Independence exploiting the time of year.

The Questions and Answers article promotes the doctrine of the "Great White Throne Judgment," the teaching that after the one thousand year millennial rule of Christ all of humanity who had not yet been "called" by (LCG's) God will be resurrected and given a chance to gain salvation by converting to LCG's religion.

Douglas Winnail has an article claiming that LCG's God performed miracles to make America triumph during the American War of Independence.

Adam West has an article discussing the Chunnel.

Wallace Smith has an article discussing storms.

Phil Sena has an article discussing teenagers who are distressed by LCG's teaching present day society will soon be utterly destroyed in the Great Tribulation thus discouraging them from making plans for the future. That is a serious problem that many of those who have since left Armstrongism talk about. But since those who make this recruitment magazine make their living thanks to people who believe such things.

There are letters. For whatever reason none of the letters published are listed as being from the United States.

One letter is used by the recruitment magazine's editors to promote the dubious doctrine of the Wednesday crucifixion, a teaching that is used to belittle the Christian churches that worship on Sunday.

Here's one letter from Jamaica.

I thank you and the Tomorrow’s World team for taking the time to respond to my requests and for giving me information that is vital to living in today’s world. I’m grateful for this program. Keep on doing God’s work.

Here's one letter from the Philippines.

Please continue send me your wonderful magazine because the evidence you give with biblical quotes and factual statistics makes it such a wonderfully knowledgeable and inspiring magazine. No other magazine has opened my eyes and cleaned my mind as your magazine has done. I wait anxiously for each new magazine to come.

Here's one letter from Australia. This persons boasts of having an ancestry traceable back to the High Kings of Ireland.

Thank you for your information regarding The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. It leads to a great understanding of the Bible and its prophecies. It is very well researched. My own family history traces back to the High Kings of Ireland and the Milesian dynasty. Regarding the Bible studies, I have finished Lessons 1–4. Would you please send me Lesson 5–8 and the Lesson 1–4 test answer key? Your Tomorrow’s World magazines are very informative. Thank you for your assistance with my studies of the Bible.

Actually anyone with Irish ancestry is in all likelihood related to those ancient sovereign rulers since they lived so long ago.

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.

Postscript: Circulation Figures

(Here are the rest of the circulation figures for LCG's recruitment magazine. July-August 2017 was 282,000 issues. May-June 2017 was 355,000 issues. March-April 2017 was 417,000 issues. January-February 2017 was 412,000 issues. November-December 2016 was 423,000. September-October 2016 was 415,000. July-August 2016 was 509,000. May-June 2016 was 513,000. March-April 2016 was 539,000. January-February 2016 was 527,000. November-December 2015 was 514,000. September-October 2015 was 510,000. July-August 2015 was 505,000. May-June 2015 was 497,000. March-April 2015 was 487,000. January-February 2015 was 492,000. November-December 2014 was 472,000. September-October 2014 was 458,000. July-August 2014 was 457,000. LCG's recruitment magazine did not reveal its circulation figure before the July-August 2014 issue.)

Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, A Crude Awakening? (2000)

The seventh issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (July-August 2000), featured an article by Mark Mendiola entitled "A Crude Awakening?" (pp. 14-18.) This was the seventh of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here he scare mongers that America was vulnerable to the effects of a future oil blockade.

Let's take a look at what he has to say.

As oil prices spiral upward, the United States is facing the consequences of its dependence on foreign oil—and on the nations that control the oil. How and why have the oil-exporting nations kept the United States “over a barrel”—and what does this mean for America’s future? (p. 14.)

Mendiola emotively compares high oil prices to an act of war.

Just as it did in the 1970s, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) still has much of the world over a barrel. Back then, U.S. President Jimmy Carter called a paralyzing global energy crisis the "moral equivalent of war." But if this is a war, who is winning it, and why? How does this crisis fit into Bible prophecy? And what can we expect for our future? (p. 14.)

He complains that Americans are complacent.

Complacent Americans, accustomed to cheap gasoline, faced a rude awakening as prices crept up past $2 per gallon. In a matter of months, gas prices nearly doubled, bringing about a startling reality check for Americans unaware of world events. (p. 14.)

Although he spends most of this article complaining about OPEC nations in the following paragraph he admits something that he fails to note elsewhere in the article, namely that OPEC is severely divided and rarely acts in a united manner together.

In many other nations, high taxes bring gasoline prices to $5 per gallon. Most of the world envies the United States' low gas prices. But these prices spiraled when OPEC decided in March 1999 to reduce a worldwide oil glut by cranking down production. Oil producers stuck to this agreement with a 90 percent compliance rate—an impressive feat for a cartel notoriously unable to maintain unity. (p. 14.)

Seventeen years later OPEC is, if anything, even more divided today as much of the Middle East is affected by intense rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. But focusing on OPEC's disunity might make Mendiola's readers less worried and less inclined to listen to him.

He cites a Republican Senator who mentions that at this time the United States was importing some oil from Iraq even while the United States continued to impose sanctions upon that nation.

Murkowski said the failure of U.S. energy policy is illustrated by the import of 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Iraq, despite the Persian Gulf War and U.S. military efforts to contain Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "We're bombing the guy who is refueling our warplanes," he said. "What kind of an energy policy is that?" (p. 15.)

LCG like most of the COGs tend to lean to the right but nevertheless they are certainly capable of acting like they are not so partisan.

Democrats countered that Republicans blocked energy conservation and more fuel-efficient vehicles, would not consider a ban on Alaskan oil exports to Asia, ruled out a drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—where 565 million barrels of crude oil are stored for emergencies—and resisted creating a heating oil reserve in the Northeast because such measures were opposed by the U.S. oil industry. (p. 15.)

He moans about Saudi Arabia having so much oil.

Consuming about 20 percent of the world's oil, the United States imports much more than the 35 percent it imported in 1973 when Arab nations retaliated against the U.S. for its support of Israel by imposing an oil embargo, creating long lines at gas stations. In December 1999, OPEC was the source of nearly half of U.S. oil imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Saudi Arabia was by far the largest source of those imports, supplying 43,118,000 barrels that month. 

OPEC supplies more than 40 percent of the world's oil and owns about 78 percent of the world's crude oil reserves. It produces about 26.6 million barrels of crude oil daily, with the Saudis accounting for about a third of that total. (pp. 15-16.)

Citing a Democratic Senator he scare mongers that the United States is more vulnerable to an oil embargo than back in 1973.

In remarks made on March 20, Sen. John Breaux, D-La., explained how the U.S. finds itself increasingly addicted to foreign oil, noting Arab countries hobbled the U.S. nearly 30 years ago when they only slightly restricted supplies and when the U.S. was importing much less petroleum percentage-wise. (p. 16.)

And then Mendiola starts to cite Armstrongite dogma to interpret this problem.

The United States of America has been blessed beyond any other nation in history with an abundance of natural resources, but it is starting to see those blessings stripped away. The oil, gas, mineral and agricultural wealth enjoyed in such great abundance in North America and other English-speaking nations has come from Almighty God. The Holy Bible is plain about that. (p. 17.)

This statement is based on the discredited dogma of British Israelism. Much of Armstrongite dogmas about the future is based on this assumption. Once it is recognized that British Israelism is false then so much of the assumptions stemming from that false conception falls away. Americans are not the descendants of the Biblical Israelites so the dire warnings of the Old Testament do not specifically apply to the United States. The author talks of nonsense.

But Mendiola is devoted to the discredited dogma of British Israelism so he continues to use it to insist that (LCG's) God's wrath will soon descend on America.

Just as parents discipline children when they go astray and engage in harmful activities, God punishes nations when they refuse to keep His commandments, veer from His ways and no longer fear Him. (p. 17.)

Mendiola melodramatically proclaims that the western world's baskets, stores and reserves are cursed by (LCG's) God.

It is no coincidence the western world find itself under what appears to be a worsening economic curse as westerners more blatantly sin by breaking God's divine law. We are witnessing a dramatic reversal in our fortunes. Cursed are our basket, our store, and our reserves! ... Hostile nations are on the rise as we are on the decline. (p. 17.)

He shrilly insists that the American is already brought low and is prostrating itself to oil producing nations in a crass appeal to parochialism.

The oil crisis is one of many national curses the U.S. faces as it rejects God, refuses to acknowledge His blessings and flagrantly breaks His law. Yet, it is official federal policy for the nation to prostrate itself before foreign nations that have been antagonistic in the past and allies who easily could turn on it. (p. 17.)

After moaning about Saudi Arabia he then complains about Iran and Kuwait.

Iran is OPEC's second largest producer. An international crisis was provoked in 1979 when Iranian religious revolutionaries overthrew the Shah of Iran, shut off the Persian nation's oil spigot and kept 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. An oil price surge peaked at $39 a barrel in 1981; U.S. interest rates climbed into double digits; the U.S. inflation rate flared up to 9 percent and unemployment approached 8 percent.
Iran opposed, vehemently, OPEC's decision last March to raise production and ease pressure on the world's petroleum markets. Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran's representative to OPEC, said Iran balked at going along with the rest of OPEC to protest American pressure on the cartel. It questioned whether the international oil shortage was extreme and whether production needed to be escalated. 

One major disappointment for American officials was Kuwait's resistance to increasing production. That is despite the massive investment and sacrifice made by western and other allies in Operation Desert Storm to repel Kuwait's invasion by Iraq. Kuwait aligned with the likes of Algeria, Libya and Iran earlier this year to adopt a hard line against raising OPEC production levels, but later agreed to ease output after U.S. diplomatic arm twisting. (pp. 17-18.)

Mendiola then shrilly insists that the American government's alliances with oil producing nations are somehow "worse than prostitution".

The Living God who has so richly blessed the U.S. and other western nations frowns upon our policy of buying off friends and enemies in exchange for their favors, turning our backs on Him. Such policy earns the disdain of friend and foe alike. In God's eyes, it is even worse than prostitution and will backfire! (p. 18.)

"Treaties and alliances will not save them," Mendiola proclaims belittling diplomatic relations with oil producing nations. He insists that "unprecedented national tribulation" is about to come to the United States.

The Bible shows that both allies and enemies ultimately will turn against the nations identified in the Bible as modern Jacob. Treaties and alliances will not save them. Only God's divine intervention can save them from the unprecedented national tribulation that looms! (p. 18.)

In certain contexts Armstrongite writers talk as though the conquest of the United States by Europeans can be avoided but generally it is believed within the COGs that this military conquest is inevitable. In practice the COGs teach that only they themselves will be supernaturally protected by God and taken to a place of safety during the times of turmoil just before Christ's return.

Mendiola insists that relying on other nations for the supply of oil is "a potentially fatal weakness."

The United States is leaving itself exposed and precariously vulnerable by increasing its dependence on foreign nations for vitally important oil, putting itself in a compromising position and revealing a potentially fatal weakness. (p. 18.)

He complains that the Middle East is an unreliable source of oil.

As crises in the extremely volatile Middle East have underscored in the past, the western industrialized world cannot rely on that region for a steady, uninterrupted flow of petroleum. Even the European Commission issued a rare plea in February for OPEC to boost output to prevent slowing the world economy. (p. 18.) 

He scare mongers that various oil producing nations might turn against the United States and stop selling oil to the United States.

Should pro-western leadership in oil-rich nations like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico suddenly turn anti-American, the national and economic security of the U.S. could be severely jeopardized and a dramatic shift in the international balance of power could occur. (p. 18.)

To this day Saudi Arabia and Mexico are closely aligned with the United States. Venezuela turned away from being closely aligned with the United States but it has not proven to be much a threat to the United States. But little did Mendiola know that soon the oil industry would soon shift its focus to extracting oil using fracking techniques making the United States less reliant on overseas oil. Although there is widespread concern about environmental and social repercussions of using this method.

Mendiola ends his article with these words insisting that America will face "horrendous suffering and calamity" unless his audience follow LCG's teachings.

As in the past, geopolitical events could turn Islamic countries violently against the U.S., Israel and other western nations, prompting Arabs to take drastic measures and sharply crank down their oil production in retaliation.  

Unless there is heartfelt repentance and a return to God in humility and gratitude for all His blessings, our national punishments will intensify and worsen before Jesus Christ returns to liberate us from horrendous suffering and calamity. ... There is wonderful news beyond today's troubling world as we approach the dawn of Tomorrow's World! (p. 18.)

What clap trap. He makes these dire predictions and now seventeen years later we are still no closer to his dire words being fulfilled. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are still closely aligned with the United States. Saudi Arabia and Iran are engaged in a bitter power struggle with each other so they cannot unite together in OPEC against the United States. Venezuela embraced turned to the left but that country is currently going through intense political and economic turmoil so it would be absurd to view it as a threat in its current state.

There was as a matter of fact a sharp rise in the price of oil back in 2008 but it shortly afterward went down to a more reasonable price and the reason for that spike had little to do with the OPEC nations or supply and demand. (That story is explained in chapter 4 of the 2010 book Griftopia by Matt Taibbi.)

Clearly there is no need to fear Mendiola's dire proclamations.

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.

PCG's New Version of "thetrumpet.com" Removes Many PDF Files (March 2017)

Back in March this year PCG drastically revamped their website, thetrumpet.com. Some things were removed while reorganizing the website.

The Trumpet Weekly, a weekly publication that had been running since late 2007 was ended and its back issues were taken offline. The Trumpet Weekly has been replaced with another such publication that is not publicly available on its website.

Also before this revamp thetrumpet.com provided PDF files of all the issues of their recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet, from the November 2003 issue to the present. It also contained the PDF files for the March-April 1998 issue to the July 1999 issue. After the revamp one can only access PDF files of issues dating back to the February 2011 issue.

Posts discussing issues of PCG's Trumpet Weekly may be seen through the following links: 2007-8, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

A PCG Writer Failing Grammar

PCG claims to be the only "true church" on the face of planet Earth. Other educational institutions are rubbished as being under the influence of Satan with only PCG being able to provide "true education" (referring to PCG's religious teachings).

And despite such lofty claims one of PCG's writers still has difficulty writing proper English. This may be seen the title of the following PCG article by Kieran Underwood: namely "Why the Global Peace Index Is Nonsense Pseudoscience" (June 11, 2017).

It is ungrammatical to write, "nonsense pseudoscience." He could have written it as "nonsensical pseudoscience" or even "nonsense and pseudoscience" but he cannot write "nonsense pseudoscience" without breaking the grammar of the English language.

He even repeats this ungrammatical gibberish twice in the article itself.

There is a problem though. Drawing any conclusions from a “Global Peace Index” is nonsense pseudoscience. ... 

That’s why the media’s reporting of the Global Peace Index is nonsense pseudoscience that you should avoid wasting your time reading.

Maybe the author should learn to proof read what he writes before posting it online.

Now we all make mistakes with grammar. I know I certainly do. But it is jarring to see such a thing from an organization which makes such lofty claims about itself.

It is awful to imagine that there are some people who sacrifice so much for this organization and trust them to do so much for them and yet PCG's leaders make grammatical mistakes. If PCG's leaders can make such simple mistakes as this how could one place so much trust in what they say about the future if they cannot even get their English grammar right?

PCG Blinded by Severe Partisanism

Even though Republican legislators are trying to pass a bill which if passed will cause about 22 million Americans to lose their health insurance PCG wants their audience to loathe the left in general by citing a story that presents CNN in a bad light in a recent broadcast of PCG's Trumpet Daily hosted by Stephen Flurry.

Earlier this week, three CNN journalists resigned after running a story that was supposed to back the Trump-Russia collusion narrative. As it turns out, the story was based on one anonymous source and wasn’t backed by any evidence. Then an undercover video surfaced featuring CNN producer John Bonifield. Bonifield admitted the Trump-Russia stories were not true and that he can understand why President Donald Trump would say this is a witch hunt. This is the new age we’re living in—where journalistic ethics are cast aside to improve ratings and rake in more cash.

While a large proportion of PCG's audience face the prospect of losing health insurance PCG's 1% still tell them to loathe the left.

PCG Bigger Than Jay Sekulow

Recently The Guardian published an article discussing the income of Jay Sekulow. It is mentioned that he and his family were paid about $60 million since 2000. If we divide that figure by 17 that would indicate that they enjoyed an annual income of about $3.5 million per year.

PCG is bigger than Jay Sekulow. Back in 2013 PCG's leader, Gerald Flurry, boasted that his organization, PCG, had an annual income of about $19.5 million in 2012. That would indicate that PCG enjoys an annual income about five and a half times greater than Jay Sekulow's organization.