Old WCG's Address in Jerusalem

In a recent post it was noted that a 1975 booklet produced by WCG listed a mailing address in Jerusalem without mentioning Israel indicating that WCG was acknowledging that East Jerusalem is not recognized by the international community as being a part of the State of Israel. This includes the 161 national governments that recognize the State of Israel as well as the United States.

It now appears that this policy was not enforced consistently but changed over time.

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Some WCG booklets do not use the word Israel when listing their mailing address in Jerusalem.

HWA's 1971 booklet, Which Day is the Sabbath of the New Testament? only mentions Jerusalem when listing its mailing address. The word Israel is not used.

The 1973 version of HWA's book, The Wonderful World Tomorrow, only mentions Jerusalem when listing its mailing address. The word Israel is not used.

HWA's 1974 booklet, Why Marriage! Soon Obsolete?, only mentions Jerusalem when listing its mailing address. The word Israel is not used.

The 1975 booklet, The Modern Romans, only mentions Jerusalem when listing its mailing address. The word Israel is not used.

The 1976 booklet, White Horse, False Religion, only mentions Jerusalem when listing its mailing address. The word Israel is not used.

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Other books and booklets list Jerusalem as belonging to Israel even though the US government does not recognize Jerusalem as belonging to the State of Israel.

Garner Ted Armstrong's 1972 booklet, The Real Jesus, lists their mailing address in Jerusalem as being in "Jerusalem, Israel".

Garner Ted Armstrong's 1972 booklet, "To Kill a People," lists Jerusalem as being in Israel.

The 1972 booklet, This is the Worldwide Church of God, lists Jerusalem as being in Israel.

HWA's 1978 booklet, Never Before Understood, lists Jerusalem as being in Israel.

HWA's 1984 booklet, A World Held Captive, lists Jerusalem as being in Israel.

HWA's 1985 booklet, Are We in the Last Days? lists Jerusalem as being in Israel.

Overview of the September 2017 Issue of PCG's Philadelphia Trumpet

PCG has released another issue of their recruitment magazine (September 2017) in an attempt to gain more tithes paying converts. Back in 2012 PCG had an income of about $19.5 million according to a booklet by their leader, Gerald Flurry. Even as early as 1996 PCG claimed to have more than $5 million in annual income. Recently PCG has even bought its own plane.

Let us see what they say this time.

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

The circulation of this issue was 245,925 issues. August's circulation was 255,897 issues. July's circulation was 267,569. May-June's circulation was 263,551. April's circulation was 267,569 (which happens to be the same as July's figure). March's circulation was 271,949. February was 273,591. January was 267,992.

The contents page features a picture of the Grenfell Tower fire in London on June 14, 2017 in which at least eighty people were killed.

Gerald Flurry has an article hysterically entitled, "The Fall of the British Royal Family" bemoaning that the British royal family is going along with the supposed increase in behavior contrary to PCG's dogmas that supposedly will lead to Britain being conquered by a German led European Empire. He also complains of the Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn even though he is not in power.

PCG teaches that the British royal family is a continuation of the House of David described in the Old Testament. This is a feature of British Israelism., the idea that the British are descendants of the Israelites mentioned in the Old Testament. There is no genetic evidence linking the British people with the Jewish people. The alleged ancestral link between the British and Jews as claimed by promoters of British Israelism is nonsense.

Abraham Blondeau has a little column accompanying this article that scare mongers that Canada may soon abolish the monarchy.

Jeremiah Jacques has an article discussing the twentieth anniversary of the end of British rule over Hong Kong and its return to China in 1997.

Joel Hilliker has an article bemoaning about how bad things are in certain parts of the world.

Richard Palmer has an article scare mongering about the recent G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany and the protesters accompanying that summit. Among other things he ludicrously implies that Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party was somehow left wing because it had the word "socialist" in its name.

Richard Palmer also has an article scare mongering about German intelligence supposedly spying on Americans.

Andrew Müller has an article which discusses the problem of desertification and insists all will be solved after Christ's return.

The Infographic insists that farming methods are contrary to (PCG's) God's law which will supposedly be in force after Christ's return. Among other things it is insisted that the land Sabbath (shmita) is to be observed by farmers despite farmers involved with HWA's WCG encountering severe problems and even bankruptcy trying to observe this religious practice in the past.

Samuel Livingston has an article scare mongering about hearers, people encouraged to listen to voices in their heads. Quite irresponsibly Livingston insists that voices in peoples' heads are the work of Satan. Banned by HWA discussed an earlier version of this article.

Christopher Eames has an article insisting that the great flood of Genesis 6-9 was literally true. Many other churches unconnected to HWA's organization also say the same thing.

Joel Hilliker has a little article promoting happy marriages.

Robert Morley has a little article hysterically proclaiming that people cannot trust institutions anymore.

WorldWatch discusses Germany supposedly about to be a peace broker between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority; the triumph of  La République en Marche in France's legislative election; the sell off of Banco Popular in Spain for a single euro; the Saudi led blockade of Qatar; Iran producing more long range missiles citing an announcement by the National Resistance Council of Iran, an organization closely linked to the Mojahedin-e Khalq which was formerly listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department from 1997 till 2012; the presence of Assad regime armed forces and Hezbollah near the State of Israel; Russia and China agreeing to increase military cooperation; scare mongering of Russia buying more gold; and India's admission into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

SocietyWatch discusses Canada extending legal protections to transgender people; that more Americans believe in evolution; and scare mongering about the household debt of Australians.

There are letters. Here's one letter from Augusta, Georgia from a person persuaded by PCG's constant demonization of Iran which is done to convince readers that Gerald Flurry's proclamation in 1994 that Iran is the "King of the South" somehow proves that God is with PCG.

I have been reading the magazine for some time and agree that your analysis has been spot on in the issue of Iran. I really enjoy the magazine and feel that we are entering a time that really leads up to the end times. I pray each day more people will come to realize what the future holds. It seems God is holding off some of the disaster, hoping that people will change their way of living, but it seems that history is about to repeat itself.

Here's a letter from Coram, New York from a person who had been reading PCG's recruitment magaizine since about 2005 who praises PCG as making accurate predictions despite their record of making numerous failed and inaccurate predictions.

I have to tell you this is the most amazing periodical I have ever read. I have been reading it for 12 years now and everything you have said will happen or has happened. But that doesn’t surprise me because the Bible doesn’t lie.

Here's a letter from Long Beach, California from a person disillusioned with President Trump.

I was so happy when I discovered the Trumpet by accident. I read the one with Donald Trump on it four times over. According to this book, we are close to World War III. I don’t care for President Trump, but some members of my family think he is a gift from God. I told my daughters that he was going to lead us to destruction and they didn’t believe me. Then I found the Trumpet and it agreed with me! I really love the PCG. I am not really good with the Bible, but you put it all before me; I can read with the Bible and it is easier for me to understand. I appreciate your work so much.

And so we see that PCG's 1% has produced yet another issue of their recruitment magazine seeking to gain new recruits and to keep their followers overawed towards PCG's 1% by thinking that they can see the future. However since its founding in 1989 PCG has made at least 52 failed predictions. Getting a British columnist to talk at their headquarters cannot change that fact. Clearly PCG's leaders are but false prophets. There is no need to fear their dire proclamations. PCG's leaders are but false prophets.

WCG said East Jerusalem Does Not Belong to Israel (1975)

In 1967 the State of Israel acquired East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after its victory in the Six Day War. Immediately the State of Israel annexed East Jerusalem while placing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under military rule under the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) which is a part of the Israeli Defense Ministry.

But governments tend to be reluctant to recognize changed borders lest that diplomatic act should set a precedent justifying the dismemberment of their own territories. Consequently no national government recognized the Israeli government's annexation of East Jerusalem instead viewing it as occupied territory in which the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 applies. This includes the United States. It is for this reason that most foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv and not Jerusalem.

Even WCG acknowledged East Jerusalem legal status as occupied territory ruled by yet not recognized by the international community as being a part of the State of Israel. This may be seen on list of mailing addresses placed in the 1975 edition of WCG's booklet, The Modern Romans: The Decline of Western Civilization (1971, 1972, 1975).

On page 90 of this PDF file the booklet lists mailing addresses in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, England, Switzerland, West Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Jerusalem, South Africa and Rhodesia. The mailing address for Jerusalem does not mention the State of Israel. This acknowledges the legal status of East Jerusalem in the view of every national government (expect the State of Israel's) that East Jerusalem does not belong to the State of Israel but rather it is viewed as occupied territory in which the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 applies.

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.

PCG on the Al Aqsa Protests

Since 2005 PCG's leaders have continuously scare mongered that a third intifada would soon occur in the Holy Land. Following the tragic and terrible events that have occurred regarding the proposed metal detectors that were placed around the Al Aqsa Mosque recently PCG's Brent Nagtegaal has released an article discussing those terrible days. (Brent Nagtegaal, Palestinians Are Preparing for Another Intifada, July 25, 2017.)

The article serves to insist that PCG's teachings regarding supposed future events in the Holy Land are true and will soon be fulfilled. It also promotes a misconception common within the COGs, namely that tensions between the State of Israel and the Palestinians are all about the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Palestinian society is always one minor event away from reigniting a holy war over al-Aqsa.

It is casually assumed that the grievances of Palestinians in this matter are minor. How could peace ever be made if one side's concerns are belittled in such a way?

On Friday, July 14, two Israeli-Arab police officers were killed at the hands of Arab terrorists bearing machine guns and knives who came from the sacred Temple Mount complex. In response, Israel set up metal detectors at the entrance to the 35-acre compound to ensure such an attack will not take place again.

No mention is made that the perpetrators of that terrible and deadly attack were killed in the armed attack. The murderers were Palestinian citizens of Israel. Describing them as simply Arab obscures that detail.

The two police officers who were tragically were robbed of their lives by this terrible act of murder were Druze. Since its founding the State of Israel has favored the Druze community.

While the Israeli government justified the metal detectors as a security measure they seem to have failed to note that this move would inflame tensions with the Palestinians who did not ask for this measure. Tragically this measure would cause more loss of life.

Even though the metal detectors have been taken down, the fact remains that any Israeli movement around the Temple Mount, however minor, will be interpreted as justification for holy war.

It is assumed that the problem is mainly about the Temple Mount. While it is certainly true that from time to time tensions have been particularly acute and deadly over that particular site that is only a symptom of larger problems.

The territory seized by the State of Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem, is viewed by the international community as occupied land under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. The international community recognizes the State of Israel as only having the right to rule the land it had in its 1949-67 borders. This is why the US Embassy and the embassies of many other nations, such as the embassies of Britain, France, Canada, Mexico, Australia, China, India, and others, are located in Tel Aviv and not Jerusalem. As far as the 161 nation states that recognize the State of Israel are concerned East Jerusalem does not belong to the State of Israel but, rather, is occupied by it.

The author then describes at length the murder of three Israeli Jews by a 19 year old Palestinian. There is no such detailed description given for the three Palestinians who were killed by Israeli personnel in protests against the metal detectors. On the Friday after the publication of this article two more Palestinians have died violently. One of them was a 16 year old Palestinian named Abdelrahman Abu Hmeisa, who was shot to death in the Gaza Strip during a protest.

Palestinian parents, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives love their families and friends as much as any other people. No doubt the lives of those who knew those three Palestinians killed in the protests have been shattered by the loss of their loved ones. But somehow that pain and suffering is overlooked in this article.

While describing the mass murder the author makes the following statement.

One such person is 19-year-old [name of murderer] from the Arab village of Kobar. On Friday night, he took a knife and entered a nearby Jewish village in the West Bank.

Kobar is a Palestinian village in the West Bank. The scene of the terrible mass murder was Halamish, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It was built on land captured in 1967 which is viewed by the 161 nation states that recognize the State of Israel as not belonging to the State of Israel but instead is occupied by it. Palestinians are not allowed to live in these Israeli settlements even though many of these settlements are built by Palestinian laborers hired by Israeli authorities. Furthermore Palestinians are even hired to work in these settlements despite not being allowed to live there.

The author then criticizes the Palestinian protesters' objections to the metal detectors by saying that many other places in Israel and lands controlled by it have metal detectors. He also brings up Mecca and Medina.

Living in Israel, it seems that the only place that metal detectors haven’t historically been used is where Muslims gain access to the Temple Mount. Of course, if you are a tourist or a Jew wanting to visit the Temple Mount, you have had to go through a metal detector for years to gain access. Even then, you can only reach the Mount at very limited times during the week. Installing simple metal detectors at the Arab gates would simply raise the Temple Mount to the standard of public safety afforded other locations where public gatherings take place. Furthermore, Mecca and Medina, the first two sites most sacred to Islam, have far more stringent security measures in place (including metal detectors and security cameras) compared with the Temple Mount.

The difference between Mecca and Medina on the one hand and East Jerusalem on the other is that no one questions the Saudi government's sovereignty over Mecca and Medina however no nation state recognize the State of Israel as having the right to rule East Jerusalem because the State of Israel acquired it by armed force during the Six Day War of 1967. Consequently the 161 nation states recognizing the State of Israel view East Jerusalem as occupied land.

But this isn’t about metal detectors. It is about the long-standing Palestinian goal to wrest complete control of the Temple Mount from Israel. These security measures are just the latest excuse.

He is right to say that it is not only about the metal detectors. Many Palestinians, including some in Jerusalem, have had their homes demolished or have lived in fear that their homes would be demolished. Events like these are certain to make Palestinians weary of living under Israeli rule. The author makes no attempt to try and view these events from the perspective of one who had seen his or her home demolished by an Israeli bulldozer by order of Israeli authorities.

In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount. The Palestinians’ reaction to that should have been little more than a verbal debate. Instead, their reaction was the second intifada.

No mention is made that Sharon visited it with about 1,500 security personnel. It is insisted that Palestinians should have only had "a verbal debate" about it without trying to understand the Palestinians' perspective. Furthermore Palestinians were frustrated that their hopes for the Oslo Peace Process had not been fulfilled seven years after the PLO signed the Camp David Accord. In those seven years many more Israeli settlers moved into the settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians had hoped that the peace process would stop the settlements from expending. It was not just about Sharon's visit.

That “al-Aqsa intifada” also used the narrative that Israel was trying to take over the Temple Mount in order to motivate its Palestinians to blow themselves up on buses and in cafés throughout Israel. 

It was not just about al-Aqsa. Alas, as stability gradually collapsed the use of armed force gradually escalated. It was six months before the Palestinian militants began to use suicide bombers against the civilians of the State of Israel. Of course none of that justifies the horror that is suicide bombing. Today even the Palestinian armed groups that used suicide bombers back in the Second Intifada have for the most part quietly stopped employing that ghastly act. A pertinent detail which is also left unstated in this article.

In the end, over 1,000 Israelis were killed, not to mention thousands of Palestinians who died believing a narrative that was as untrue then as it is today.

The author obscures how high the death toll was for Palestinians in the Second Intifada. The author also criticizes the Palestinians who died, people unable to defend themselves, as believing in untrue rumors. This negative statement is made only about Palestinians. Many of the Palestinians who died violently in the Second Intifada were civilians.

The fact is that the Palestinians were far more vulnerable to violence than Israelis. While Palestinians had clandestine militia groups with guns and bombs the State of Israel had a powerful and well equipped army, navy, collaborators among the Palestinian peoples and other resources. The Palestinian insurgents could not compete militarily against this armed force. It was inevitable that the armed forces of the State of Israel would gradually wear down the insurgency.

Of course, if Israel wanted to take over the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site (believed to be the location of the first and second temples), it has had the means and, some would say, the justification for doing so for over 50 years. And yet, to this day, there has been no attempt to take over the sanctuary, nor exercise greater control over it.

It seems an unhelpful way of denying that rumor by stating that such a terrible thing could be done.

Again, it’s not about the metal detectors. And even the Muslim Waqf that oversees the daily running of the Temple Mount said on Sunday that it won’t accept any new security measures at the Temple Mount, “even if metal detectors are taken away.” They are not interested in a security compromise to ensure Israel’s legitimate security concerns are mitigated. 

Instead, the Waqf and the Palestinian leadership are looking to use this situation to further erode Israel’s ever shrinking sovereignty over the Temple Mount. This is part of their long-term strategy.

It is not mentioned that the Waqf is Jordanian. This is a hold over from when the West Bank was ruled by Jordan in 1949-67.

It has always been the Palestinian goal to take the Temple Mount completely out of the hands of Israel. Because of the constant lies about Israel’s attempts to block access to Muslims, Palestinian society constantly lives one benign event away from instigating a holy war to “protect al-Aqsa from the Jews.”

The author complains that it is a lie to say that the State of Israel is attempting to block access to Muslims entering the Al Aqsa Mosque. But actually since 2014 Israeli authorities have restricted certain age groups from entering the mosque at certain times. Since 2014 some Muslims have been restricted from entering the mosque by Israeli personnel. The author is wrong regarding this particular claim.

Also if a Palestinian state is be created out of the land acquired by the State of Israel in 1967 those who would build such a state need East Jerusalem. The 161 nation states that recognize the State of Israel do not view East Jerusalem as belonging to the State of Israel but as occupied land that is supposed to be governed by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. In addition to the legal status of East Jerusalem as occupied land the religious significance and tourist attraction of East Jerusalem is an invaluable resource. Consequently it is unthinkable for Palestinians to give up East Jerusalem after recognizing the State of Israel as having the right to rule the land in its 1949-67 borders (which constitute 78% of Mandatory Palestine) back in 1993.

We at the Trumpet take no pleasure in the loss of life, whether it’s the Palestinian that is driven by a religious fervor predicated on a pernicious lie or the Jews who are killed as a result.

Even here the author feels compelled to present one side, namely the Palestinians, as being deluded by a lie. He presents one side as good and innocent and the other side as deluded and irrationally fanatical.

But we do watch these events closely because Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has said for over a decade that the Bible prophesies that East Jerusalem will fall to the Arabs in the near future. ... He also writes more specifically that the Temple Mount itself will fall into Arab hands. As Mr. Flurry relates ... that will only occur after there is a fight with Israel over that territory.

PCG has made at least 52 false prophecies since its founding in 1989. This prophecy is also sure to fail. PCG's 1% are but false prophets.

To say that nothing can be done to solve these problems until Christ returns is of no use. Even if that were true surely we should feel that it would be right to try and solve this problem instead of just giving up and waiting for Christ to return. That advice is not good.

May peace soon come to the Holy Land. May violence soon cease.

All Americans Deserve to Have Health Insurance

So it now appears that Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the Senate have failed. The Congressional Budget Office had stated that millions of Americans would have lost their health care insurance if the legislation had passed. It would have been a terrible thing if so many Americans would have lost their health insurance. So many would have their health compromised and even die early.

All Americans deserve to have health care insurance. All Americans deserve to live healthy and prosperous lives.

Children's Nightmares in Radio/Worldwide COG

Banned by HWA has released a post entitled Richard Armstrong and the Church of God Tradition of Beating Children into Submission discussing Richard David Armstrong's infamous letter of March 12, 1958 berating the congregation for not disciplining their children as he expected and making threats of publicly humiliating church members if their children behave in a manner he disapproved of. This letter has gained attention before back in 2013.

The comments are also quite revealing about the frighteningly abusive and authoritarian atmosphere within the Radio/Worldwide COG. Some of what is mentioned in the comments is shocking. How dare anyone claim that the Radio/Worldwide COG is somehow worthy of emulation.

Also relevant to this discussion if a sermon Richard David Armstrong made on October 13, 1957 which was mentioned in a previous post. In it he complains that children are supposed to sit still and keep quiet during the entire sermon. Here is one sick anecdote he mentions in the sermon.

One of the cutest things I've ever seen....And I've seen, and it's fantastic. I've never seen anything like this before. I've seen that boy ... take off his belt, hold it up to him, and say, Daddy, I was supposed to get a spanking this evening. (Audience laughs.) I'm not lying either. That's a fact. I've seen it happen. I've seen him remind his father that he had a spanking coming. I never did that. (Laughter.)

And many within the COGs happen to view these days as Radio/Worldwide COG's golden age. What dangerous nonsense.

Transgender Ban in Military Would Endanger American Soldiers

Recently President Trump proposed banning transgender people from serving in the armed forces. Regardless of how we may view this issue we must face the facts even if we may not like them. And the fact is that if such a policy will be enforced it will endanger American soldiers since those who want to serve and who may earn a promotion by proving their competence and skill will be overlooked simply for being a transgender person.

Furthermore transgender people in the United States tend to enlist for military service at a disproportionately higher rate than the general population. Do those in the COGs who vilify and condemn transgender people realize that they are slurring a community that include many who serve the nation in the armed forces?

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.