Writes Mark S. McGrew:
"Obama was sued in Federal Court to produce his birth certificate. He refused and instead hired two legal firms to make up reasons why he shouldn't have to. The case was taken to the United States Supreme Court and they also asked him to respond. Again, he refused. Obama took an oath to defend the Constitution. Instead he speaks of changing it.
Obama has spent an estimated $500,000 or more on legal fess to keep his birth certificate from being seen. For $25 or less, or probably no more than a phone call and a fax to Hawaii he can release his birth certificate and shut everybody up, once and for all. But he won't do that." (Pravda, The Mysterious Shadow: Code Name Obama, 18.12.2009, http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/col...e_Name_Obama-0)
Not only did the U.S. and world media fail utterly to make known this disturbing question about Obama's legal U.S. constitutional status to become president, it did the opposite. This has been brilliantly documented by Bernard Goldberg in his new book, A Slobbering Love Affair (Regnery Publishing; January 2009), where he writes:
"Never in my memory were so many journalists so intent on effecting change as they were during the campaign of 2008. Sure, mainstream journalists always root for the Democrat. But this time it was different. This time journalists were not satisfied merely being partisan witnesses to history. This time they wanted to be real players and help determine the outcome. This time they were on a mission, a noble, historic mission, as far as they were concerned. In fact, I could not remember a time when so many supposedly objective reporters had acted so blatantly as full-fledged advocates for one side - and without even a hint of embarrassment.
... Make no mistake: this is not the same old liberal bias we have witnessed for years. In 2008, the mainstream media crossed a line. As a result, their credibility is in tatters. Hardly anyone trusts them anymore. This is not good for them, of course. But it may be even worse for us."
- IS THERE ANY FREE PRESS IN THE WORLD AT ALL?
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A president who has not proven his legitimacy for office
Bombshell: Orders revoked for soldier challenging Obama's birthplace
A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after he argued that he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his legitimacy for office.
Read the latest now on WND.com.
A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after he argued that he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his legitimacy for office.
Read the latest now on WND.com.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Pope Benedict and National Socialism—the Connection
July 13, 2009 From theTrumpet.com
Few commentators have picked up on the connection between Pope Benedict’s recent encyclical on the global economy and Nazi ideology. Cause and effect. There’s a binding universal law that connects the two. So it is with Pope Benedict’s most recent, long-awaited encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (“In Charity and Truth”). That encyclical is inherently joined to a consistent theme that has run through Catholic social doctrine over the past 120 years, finding its most extreme political outlet in the National Socialism that gripped Europe in the wake of the great global crisis of the 1920s and ’30s.
Is it entirely coincidental that this pope would choose the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression to profoundly endorse those same principles that laced the economic theories of fascism and Nazism just one lifetime ago during a similar crisis?
Pope Benedict’s encyclical is the latest contribution to Catholic economic theory, traditionally known as Catholic social doctrine. That doctrine is founded upon Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (“On the Condition of Labor”), issued in 1891 in response to the tensions that resulted between capital and labor in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. It endorsed an essentially socialist approach to economic control.
Building upon the theme established in “Rerum Novarum,” Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical of May 15, 1931, titled “Quadragesimo Anno” (“On the Reconstruction of the Social Order”). The text of that encyclical introduced the concept of subsidiarity that has long since become a catch cry of the European Union.
Pope John XXIII followed up with the introduction of the theme of globalism, calling for all peoples to live as one community working for the common good, in his encyclical titled “Mater et Magistra” (“Christianity and Social Progress”), issued May 15, 1961. This publicized the concept of a global “common market,” working for the good of the “global community,” themes that are deeply embedded in the general philosophy that is behind development of the EU.
The theme of solidarity then threaded its way into Catholic social doctrine with the release of the encyclical “Populorum Progressio” (“The Development of Peoples”) by Pope Paul VI, March 26, 1967. Twenty years later, “Solidarity” became the motto of the Vatican-sponsored Polish workers movement, which was the prime mover behind the effort to break the Communist yoke on Eastern Europe thus enabling the EU to build its long-awaited eastern leg (Daniel 2:33). On the eve of that momentous change in the map of Europe, Pope John Paul II marked the 20th anniversary of “Populorum Progressio” with the release of his own encyclical on social doctrine, “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis” (“On the Social Concerns of the Church”), Dec. 30, 1987. That encyclical, produced less than two years prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, was a reflection on the great social changes that had affected the world over the previous 20 years, destined to consummate in the collapse of Communist rule in Eastern Europe at the turn of the last decade of the 20th century.
In his latest encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI expresses the conviction that Pope Paul VI’s “Populorum Progressio” “deserves to be considered ‘the “Rerum Novarum” of the present age,’ shedding light upon humanity’s journey towards unity.”
It is a peculiarity of papal encyclicals on social doctrine that—from the founding document defining Catholic social doctrine, Leo’s “Rerum Novarum,” to Paul VI’s overtly socialist “Popularum Progresso”—all support the intervention of the state in economic planning and control, as against the free enterprise system. This, of course, has ancient origins tracking back to the interventionism of the Holy Roman Empire, and even more anciently to old Babylon.
Knowing the history of Rome’s approach to economic theory and, more importantly, the Bible prophecies that bespeak its effect on our immediate future, it ought to come as no surprise to our readers to see that Pope Benedict has endorsed such a central role for the state. In fact, reading both the lines and in between the lines of his latest encyclical, this pope is calling for a world order regulated and controlled by a central power that would govern the world economy.
And what does he think that central power should be?
Here’s a hint. Check the vocabulary of the public communication surrounding the one institution—a “common market”—that possesses an overwhelming lust to become a recognized world power despite its present hodgepodge of 27 differing bickering nationalities. Which great trading empire has used the following terms in the process of its evolution to global power status: “one community,” “solidarity,” “subsidiarity”—terms that come right out of encyclicals on the global economy emanating from Rome?
If you guessed the European Union, you’re right on the money!
Now, which institution has maneuvered to have all 20 of the world’s greatest economies sign up to one central power, one governing global authority, to regulate their individual and collective national economies?
You got it right if you again guessed the EU!
Finally, which head of a powerful religious institution has recently recommended that the world submit to a singular central authority to govern the world economy?
Very obviously, Pope Benedict XVI in his recently released encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate.”
Join the dots.
The cruncher is contained in paragraph 67 of chapter 5 of this latest papal missive. It is a statement that has been anticipated by many, ever since Herbert Armstrong prophesied over 70 years ago of its coming reality “in our time.” Here are relevant excerpts from that section of Benedict’s message released last week to coincide very directly with the meeting of the leaders of the top eight economies of the world at the G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy (emphasis mine):
[T]here is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of … economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth. … This seems necessary in order to arrive at a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity. To manage the global economy … there is urgent need of a true world political authority …. Such an authority would need to be regulated by law, to observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good ….
Where is there, today, a political, juridical and economic order, a common market, established for the “common good” under central control, incorporating the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity? We need look no further than that very German-Roman Catholic idea that has become a political reality in the form of the European Union.
If we truly can connect the dots between Pope Benedict’s latest encyclical, the Germanic European Union, the EU-controlled Financial Stability Board (to whose regulatory power all major world economies must now submit) and the origins of Catholic social doctrine, then we will begin to understand that we are being led by the nose down the road to global disaster.
Here’s the real shocker. Pope Benedict’s call for a global “new financial order” is based upon the very foundational tenets of fascism and Nazism!
The connection between the fathers of both National Socialist doctrine and modern Catholic social doctrine is irrefutable. One of the principal minds that crafted the earliest economic philosophy of 20th-century Nazism belonged to German theologian and politician Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherr von Ketteler.
As bishop of Mainz, von Ketteler had profound influence on the framing of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical “Rerum Novarum.” He was a disciple of Ferdinand Lassalle, German Jewish socialist and political activist of whom it was said, “Lassalle was the first man in Germany, the first in Europe, who succeeded in organizing a party of socialist action. Nevertheless, if he had not unfortunately been born a Jew, Lassalle could also be hailed as a forerunner in the vast halls where National Socialism [Nazism] is acclaimed today” (Cambridge Encyclopedia). Lassalle founded the first Workers Party in Germany, the adev, which later changed its name to the Social Democratic Party under Hitler’s finance minister, Dr. Hjalmar Schacht. It is said Schacht played a crucial role in bringing the Hitler regime to power, laying the economic and financial foundation for the Third Reich (Executive Intelligence Review, July 16, 2004).
It is a fact of our own very recent history that, to use Benedict’s own terms, “a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity [to] manage the global economy” has already been tried. It was aggressively pursued between 1939 and 1945 by those who slavishly followed that same social doctrine as propounded by Lassalle, von Ketteler and Pope Leo XIII.
The result was the annihilation of over 60 million souls and the devastation of the economies of literally dozens of nations!
If you are still with us, here’s the big one. Where can you find, in your own Bible, divinely inspired prophecies of a world power that reflects such ideological origins, forecast to be extant in our day, today?
Our long-time readers will go straight to Revelation chapters 12, 13 and 17. There’s a very direct connection between those prophecies and Pope Benedict’s latest encyclical. Believe it or not, Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical released July 7, titled “Caritas in Veritate,” is the most powerful sign that we have yet seen of the rise of that power prophesied in your Bible as destined to exert its rule, quite brutally, for a brief moment in time, over the whole global economy! •
************
How President Obama’s Cairo Speech Will Shake the Nations
June 22, 2009 From theTrumpet.com
Barack Obama’s speech is a great turning point in this world. By Gerald FlurryU.S. President Barack Obama traveled to the Middle East at the beginning of June. He met with the leaders of two key Arab nations and had private conversations with them. After visiting Saudi Arabia, he delivered his keynote foreign-policy speech at Cairo University in Egypt to define America’s relationship with the Muslim world.
Iran is the most important part of that subject. Iran is the king of terror and makes the Middle East tremble! But President Obama didn’t even mention the word terrorism in his speech!
I have no reason to doubt Mr. Obama’s sincerity, but his words will cause deadly problems.
The president said, “No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons.” In other words, he believes America by itself should not prevent another nation from getting nuclear bombs—a signal to the world that America the superpower is dead! That means America has no right to forcefully stop Iran’s nuclear program, even though Iran is the number-one terrorist-sponsoring nation in the world by far!
But if the United States does not stop Iran, currently only one other nation will: Israel. And Obama also implied that the Israelis had better not bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities—or America will be against them! What kind of a “superpower” is that?
Commentator Charles Krauthammer called this “the weakest statement on Iran and nukes in at least eight or nine years BY ANYONE IN THE WEST” (emphasis mine). That sends a lethal message to the Middle East and to the rest of the world!
And it’s not what even the other Arab nations want to hear. Mort Kondracke said, “The whole Arab world is scared to death of Iran.” That is who President Obama was addressing in this speech. But he said nothing about confronting the king of terror in this world! Considering what Iran is doing now, it should have received the strongest condemnation ever!
President Obama thinks that through his words, he will have peace with Iran. But after the terrorists heard that speech, they had to be rejoicing! When America’s president gives a speech like that, the terrorists have contempt for such weakness and are stirred to fight even harder. They can smell the victory. So we can expect violent terrorism to intensify and shake the nations!
We won’t have long to wait to see who is right.
The Obama administration’s plan to deal with the head of the terrorist snake is to tell Iran and its terrorists, America has stopped using torture. He was mainly referring to American interrogators waterboarding three super-terrorists under the supervision of a doctor. Showing such weakness to the terrorists only adds fuel to the terrorist fire!
Those terrorist murderers go around cutting off people’s heads, shooting men, women and children, and blowing up buildings. Yet even if terrorists are captured and have information about the next bomb to be exploded—maybe a nuclear bomb—the president believes you can’t use waterboarding to get that information from them.
The president also mentioned that he ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison, perhaps the nicest prison in the world.
We are witnessing a reenactment of the 1930s between Chamberlain and Hitler. Chamberlain tried to negotiate his way to peace, as Hitler gobbled up Europe. World War II was almost lost before the West mustered the will to fight.
Why didn’t the president publicly discuss Iran’s terrorism? You can be sure that is what those Arab leaders talked to him about privately! Their number-one concern is what is happening in Iran! They are frightened of this terrorist nation for good reason. Iran has already toppled governments in the Middle East and now it’s about to get nuclear bombs. Its ambition is to rule that part of the world and more. Do you think the other nations are assured when Mr. Obama says that no one nation can interfere with another’s nuclear program? Why shouldn’t America interfere when human survival may depend on it?
What if Mr. Obama is wrong about his handling of these nuclear terrorist-sponsoring nations like Iran and North Korea, who are ruled by madmen? When you’re dealing with such dreadful issues, it is a mistake you make only once!
President Obama made this speech knowing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, If America doesn’t knock out Iran’s nuclear capacity, we must! Mr. Netanyahu strongly believes that Israel’s survival depends on it! Israel knows it has been abandoned by the U.S. (The rest of the world abandoned it a long time ago.) The Israelis are scared!
Imagine: If other Arab nations are scared to death of Iran, how do the Jews feel? What are they going to do without help from the U.S.? Their nation has had strong financial and military support from America since its birth in 1948. Their nation has been shaken by President Obama’s speech.
“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him [here’s the Iranian king of terror—the king of the Middle East]: and the king of the north [the resurrected Holy Roman Empire in Europe] shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over” (Daniel 11:40). This is an end-time prophecy about how powerful and aggressive radical Islam is, and it’s rapidly growing stronger. Iran’s foreign policy is to bully and push its way into controlling the Middle East. It will take more than nice words to stop this pushy terrorist nation. That elephant in the room—the king of terror—Mr. Obama almost overlooks altogether!
President Obama’s speech has also shaken the European nations. It will lead to a clash between these two powers as Daniel prophesied. Europe can now see that America will do nothing to stop the king of the south, or the terrorist movement led by Iran.
So the European Union, which will become the Holy Roman Empire, is now moving into the Middle East. After President Obama’s speech, its presence there will speedily increase. Europe is heavily dependent on Middle East oil. It also has a strong spiritual interest in Jerusalem.
According to Daniel’s prophecy, America will not even be on the scene when this military clash occurs. That should alarm America, as well as Britain and the Jewish nation. It means that America is totally absent because of its economic collapse and lack of will to use its military power. (Request our free booklet on Germany and the Holy Roman Empire for a full understanding.)
Iran supports and controls two areas in particular: Lebanon, via the Hezbollah terrorists, and Gaza, via the Hamas terrorists. Hamas is closely affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and President Obama invited them to hear him at Cairo University. (The invitations were sent out officially by the Cairo and Al-Azhar universities, but the White House helped construct the guest list.)
Meanwhile, Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, didn’t even attend. Hamas’s close friend, the Muslim Brotherhood, was there, but the president of the country wasn’t! “Rather than buttress a loyal ally [Mubarak], Obama’s speech undermines him on his home ground,” wrote Asia Times (June 2). (Mr. Obama’s speech was closely scrutinized around the world.) The Muslim Brotherhood would like very much to overthrow Mubarak—and have tried to do so! Yet Mr. Obama invited them to Cairo University!
Daniel’s prophecy reveals what is about to happen in Egypt. The passage in Daniel 11 continues, “He [the European power] shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape” (verse 42). Why would Europe attack Egypt? Because at that point, it will be aligned with Iran! Egypt is about to experience a radical change! No doubt the Muslim Brotherhood is going to gain control of Egypt. Its invitation to hear that speech from the leader of the free world absolutely strengthens its cause!
The Wall Street Journal reported that Mubarak has recently gotten more control over the Muslim Brotherhood. But Daniel’s prophecy states that the radical terrorists are going to get the upper hand in Egypt. That is certain to happen!
How much did America’s president help the terrorist cause? Probably far more than we imagine. Regardless, God’s prophecy will be fulfilled!
It all gets back to Iran, Iran and Iran! Yet our president will hardly talk about the brutal king of terrorism.
Iran is the terrorist problem in the Middle East. Terrorism started with Iran and is empowered by that nation, more than any other in the world. Iran is the problem you have to deal with if you are ever going to solve anything in the Middle East.
Will it be a problem when the Iranians get nuclear weapons? They will use them—they have said as much! Their plan is to wipe Israel off the map! If they have a chance, that is what they will do.
Is it really rational to think you can stop a murderous terrorist juggernaut with apologetic words? History is replete with failures who tried that approach. And that includes Bible history.
Iran is going to “push” at a European power. That will trigger a nuclear war, which could lead to the extermination of all human life. Is this a time to talk about eliminating waterboarding and closing Guantanamo Bay prison? There are much bigger issues to deal with.
In essence, Mr. Obama said that Hamas terrorists could play a role in Palestinian society—which the White House insists should become its own state. Hamas already controls the Gaza Strip, and is also very strong in the West Bank—Samaria and Judea. Its terrorists are going to take over the West Bank, and then take half of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1-2). When they do, would we not look back and say that America helped them do it?
Jerusalem Post journalist Caroline Glick reported that George Mitchell, one of the U.S. State Department’s peace envoys trying to bring peace to Israel, has said that for all these past years Israel has been lying to the United States! Most authorities know that is shamefully untrue.
Israel knows it isn’t going to be able to go to America anymore as it has in the past. So what will it do? It is going to turn to Germany as God uses these events to shake the nations. (Our booklet on the Holy Roman Empire explains how that will happen.)
President Obama’s speech is a great turning point in this world. It is going to play a major role in terrifying prophecies of your Bible being fulfilled. It is beginning because of the broken will of America. God is going to SHAKE this world and start by shaking America, Britain and the Jewish nation for their sins!
Israel has been shaken by this, and friendly Arabs have been shaken. The European Union has been shaken and is going to realize it must protect itself now. Russia and China are going to take advantage of everything they can. God is breaking the pride of our power and raising up Gentile nations and terrible wars because of our sins.
As the United States goes down, our enemies will become far more powerful.
Do our minds truly comprehend what all this means? A powerful Iran is far beyond any other nation in sponsoring the most savage terrorism we have ever seen. And now it is about to get nuclear bombs. Then it will give nuclear weapons to its terrorist proxies.
And these are only the beginning of sorrows!
Here is the truth mankind will not accept at this time: This nuclear nightmare is beyond a human solution. When we finally learn that lesson, our future will be bright forever.
You are about to see nuclear proliferation like you’ve never seen it before. That will bring us to the coming of our Messiah, when He stops the madness. If He didn’t, there would be no flesh saved ALIVE! Nothing left alive! That’s the world we are living in. God is SHAKING the nations, trying to wake more people up!
God is walking and talking His people through the minefields and helping us to realize where we are in Bible prophecy. No matter how bad it looks today, God is about to usher in a utopia that is greater than mankind has ever imagined. •
Obama brainwashing the masses
Emperor Obama, the president usurper, the fraud and foreigner who has yet to prove he is a natural born American citizen (as required by our Constitution), has the media under delusions of his grandeur, and a horde of useful idiots ready to mislead and deceive the masses in their immoral crusade for "change" that will destroy us all.
"By establishing reading societies, and subscription libraries, and taking these under our direction, and supplying them through our labors, we may turn the public mind which way we will."
-- Adam Weishaupt (1748-1830?) [Spartacus] Professor of Natural and Canon Law at Germany's Ingolstadt University, founded The Order of the Illuminati on May 1, 1776.
He designed the very plan of world domination that is still in use today to enslave the world's masses.
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Adam.Weishaupt.Quote.505E
"This manual of the Communist Party should be in the hands of every loyal American, that they may be alerted to the fact that it is not always by armies and guns that a nation is conquered."
-- Kenneth Goff
Author and a one time dues-paying member of the Communist Party
Source: in his book, "THE SOVIET ART OF BRAINWASHING - A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psycho-politics"
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Kenneth.Goff.Quote.E200
"If the political-correctness fascists get their way, we can safely assume it will be correct-thinking, "political cleansing" squads deciding what we can or cannot say on the Internet. These people fear public debate and demand homogenization of "acceptable" attitudes compatible with their emotional, utopian idealism."
-- Charles W. Moore
Source: Barquentine Ventures Online Journal, 8 July 1999
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Charles.Moore.Quote.A7FE
Obama's failure
Reward for Obama's Birth Certificate!
Show us YOUR papers, BO!
Emperor Obama
President Usurper Obama
Shame on the Conservative Cowards!
BLACK DAY IN AMERICA: Obama Wins, America Loses
"By establishing reading societies, and subscription libraries, and taking these under our direction, and supplying them through our labors, we may turn the public mind which way we will."
-- Adam Weishaupt (1748-1830?) [Spartacus] Professor of Natural and Canon Law at Germany's Ingolstadt University, founded The Order of the Illuminati on May 1, 1776.
He designed the very plan of world domination that is still in use today to enslave the world's masses.
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Adam.Weishaupt.Quote.505E
"This manual of the Communist Party should be in the hands of every loyal American, that they may be alerted to the fact that it is not always by armies and guns that a nation is conquered."
-- Kenneth Goff
Author and a one time dues-paying member of the Communist Party
Source: in his book, "THE SOVIET ART OF BRAINWASHING - A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psycho-politics"
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Kenneth.Goff.Quote.E200
"If the political-correctness fascists get their way, we can safely assume it will be correct-thinking, "political cleansing" squads deciding what we can or cannot say on the Internet. These people fear public debate and demand homogenization of "acceptable" attitudes compatible with their emotional, utopian idealism."
-- Charles W. Moore
Source: Barquentine Ventures Online Journal, 8 July 1999
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Charles.Moore.Quote.A7FE
Obama's failure
Reward for Obama's Birth Certificate!
Show us YOUR papers, BO!
Emperor Obama
President Usurper Obama
Shame on the Conservative Cowards!
BLACK DAY IN AMERICA: Obama Wins, America Loses
Monday, July 13, 2009
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
When Herbert W. Armstrong died, Dr. Herman Hoeh declared that the seventh candlestick had been lit. That means Laodicea officially began immediately.
Nearly four years later, Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today by Gerald Flurry began to sound the alarm: something wasn’t kosher in the Church of God! It exposed a corrupt ministry intent on destroying the foundational doctrines of the Worldwide Church of God, and urged the brethren to hang on for dear life to what God had given us through His end-time Elijah. We were encouraged to get a grip, while others were losing it (Revelation 3:11).
Those who were of God heard what the Spirit said to the Churches through Malachi’s Message. Those who weren’t of God quickly lost it (God’s truth) and slipped further and further into darkness. That darkness was disguised as a "new light of understanding" (2 Corinthians 11:14). The true members of the Church of God responded to His call and came out of that decadent organization. Those who remained behind became the SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN - just like the original apostate Christianity (Catholics and Protestants) that has deceived the whole world.
They were no longer God’s Church! You can’t reject God’s truth for demonic doctrines without becoming a part of "Mystery Babylon" (1 Corinthians 10:21; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). All this has been quite revealing (1 Corinthians 11:19).
Knowing the Truth
God knows the end from the beginning (Acts 15:18). He prophesied a great falling away that would leave few standing. The BIG ONE has hit and shaken the Church of God to its core! But isn’t it possible to know the truth without knowing the Truth? (2 Timothy 3:7).
God’s calling us to a deeper love and conversion (1 John 3:18). Isn’t God’s truth a means to an end? Didn’t Herbert W. Armstrong fear some just "DON’T GET IT?” That too many were only converted to our doctrines? The doctrines are meant to help bring us closer to God by having a better understanding of His Will, but only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will save us! We need Christ’s teachings, but we need God the Father and Jesus Christ even more. Only they can establish us and secure our salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17). You can have all the understanding in the world and still fall short (1 Corinthians 13:2).
Remember Solomon? Just because you know God’s truth, doesn’t mean you know Him (Job 42:5; 1 John 2:4). You’re not going to be judged by how much you know, but by HOW MUCH YOU GROW! By how much you apply what you know, becoming more Christ-like, more Godly, more representative of the Kingdom of God, here and now (James 1:22; John 13:35). A system can’t save you and ritual is no substitute for a relationship (2 Timothy 3:5).
Malachi’s Message Still Applies!
Whereas the Worldwide Church of God was physically rich, aren’t we in danger of feeling spiritually rich and self-complacent (Amos 6:1)? Ancient Israel had God’s holy days; didn’t eat pork, etc. But it didn’t keep them from going into captivity! (Amos 5:21). It wasn’t enough. Worldwide doesn’t feel sufficient, they feel so impoverished they go to Babylon for help! We’re the ones who feel safe and secure. Who said we can let our guard down? We’re commanded to REMAIN ON HIGH ALERT until Christ comes (Luke 21:34). Yet some are failing to continue to apply Malachi’s Message (Romans 2:17-21). God’s refining process isn’t over (Daniel 12:10; Isaiah 48:10).
Let’s see to it that Philadelphia Church of God (Judah) doesn’t go the way of the Worldwide Church of God (Israel). These biblical principles still apply: don’t put undue trust in men; work out your own salvation, it’s not a group affair; beware the scholarly approach that demands you rely on men - not God’s Spirit or personal Bible study. And God help us to look past Petra (though it’s important), to focus on His Kingdom (Luke 21:36; Isaiah 33:17). To survive the coming Holocaust is one thing, to enter the Kingdom of God is everything (2 Peter 1:10-11).
Beware of Emperor Worship!
What’s the greatest false doctrine to come out of Babylon? The nefarious idea of a DIVINE EMPEROR! Nimrod had put himself in God’s place. He had people depending on him for all their answers and protection. Today, we have such MEN "playing God" in the Church! (Nahum 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:3). There’s nothing new under the sun. Unlike Moses, who wished that all God’s people were prophets (Numbers 11:29), Nimrod felt threatened by any "competition." He dealt cruelly, in a jealous rage, with those who opposed his haughty position. God used Shem to put him back in his place! Leaders are ordained of God; they do have a definite place, but it’s NOT in the Holy of Holies (2 Chronicles 26:18). They’re intruding in God’s business, and trespassing on His sacred ground, when they get out of line and overstep their bounds (Zephaniah1:9; Exodus 19:12; Colossians 2:18).
Away with emperor worship! It’s soon to sweep Europe, but we don’t need it in the Church of God. Not if we want to remain the Church of God!
Didn’t Gerald Flurry warn that we were slipping into a Laodicean attitude when he had his unfortunate incident with alcohol? Didn’t he say, after prayerfully wracking his brains to understand why God had allowed that to happen, that we have to be careful not to get proud due to our abundance of revelation (2 Corinthians 12:6-7)? Have we learned that lesson? Has he? With his preoccupation with all his religious titles and self-promotion, we really have to wonder and be most concerned!
Holy, righteous CHARACTER is more important to God than all the revelation in the world! We definitely need the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but God says we should want the FRUITS of his Holy Spirit even more. GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT (1 Corinthians 14:1). I’m convinced God’s about to empower His people like never before, but wants us to be spiritually ready (having learned from the Corinthians’ mistakes), and our ministers mature enough not to get in the way (Joel 2:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:19).
As far as revelations go, God can inspire unconverted men like Caiphas and speak through donkeys! All truth is from and belongs to God, so why should some become puffed up with pride that they're something special rather than just an instrument serving God's purpose? And why get bloated with self-importance when God can quickly pop that balloon (1 Corinthians 4:6-7)?
Warnings from History
If what happened in the Church during the 70’s was a warning of what could happen in the 80’s what about now? Having survived our Worldwide Church of God ordeal, are we now home safe (Jude 5)? Let us pray and examine ourselves this new century: Do we love God or fear men (Acts 5:29)?
God has an ordained government for His Church, but it can gradually fall to Satan - made over in some man’s image - if we blindly follow it and forget that it’s also a means to an end, and not and end in itself! Isn’t that how the Church of God got off track? The Mother spoon fed the brain-dead! We need the Father! When Church government stops directing us to God and substitutes doctrines or a personality cult instead (3 John 9), and refuses correction, God’s glory has left such a bankrupt administration! Will God destroy the very government He’s installed because we’ve failed to use it properly? Some are actually worshipping the government rather than the Governor!
Didn’t God level His Temple, stop the sacrifices, and disband the priesthood? Didn’t he empty the House of Israel and scatter Judah? Wasn’t Jerusalem-headquarters forcibly shut down? Even Hezekiah had to destroy the brass serpent God told Moses to make, because they had perverted its purpose (2 Kings 18:4).
Too often, that which God had intended to become a blessing, became a curse! Such historical warnings don’t curry favor with "the top brass, " but it’s evident God would rather work through a very faithful few than let many misrepresent Him (Jeremiah 26:18; Ezekiel 5:3-4).
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
What have we learned from our WCG experience? Haven’t some since scrambled for positions of power, while others claim we’re all equal? (Numbers 16:3; 1 Timothy 1:7; James 3:1) God isn’t an anarchist, and neither should we be. We mustn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, just because of abuses of power. Proper leadership encourages us to "be all we can be," within God’s law; it encourages us to think and become like our leaders, and able to teach what we’ve been taught—after all we’re PRIEST-KINGS IN TRAINING (Matthew 10:25; Hebrews 5:12; 2 Timothy 2:2, 15).
The proper use of God’s government never plays politics or acts jealous, but truly has everyones' best interests at heart (1 Cor. 14:26). We’re all members of God’s Royal Family, therefore we ought to respect each others’ part in God’s plan and place in God’s Church (1 Corinthians 12:18).
I truly believe in GOVERNMENT FROM THE TOP DOWN —- and it starts with GOD THE FATHER! That’s why we must always OBEY GOD, even if it means we must disobey men. Wasn’t it ministers who told you to throw Malachi’s Message away? Wasn’t it Church leaders who threw out the faithful? Didn’t we just take their word for it, rather than check out what GOD had to say?
Don’t be fooled again! Do you now CONSULT CHRIST, or are you still playing "follow the leader?" Which is truly learning how to follow God’s government? Have you finally learned this lesson? Or did you ask your minister for permission to read Beyond Babylon? Worldwide all over again? Not if you continue to read and apply Malachi’s Message to yourself. That’s the only way to prevent a "repeat performance." Hopefully, once was enough.
When Herbert W. Armstrong died, Dr. Herman Hoeh declared that the seventh candlestick had been lit. That means Laodicea officially began immediately.
Nearly four years later, Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today by Gerald Flurry began to sound the alarm: something wasn’t kosher in the Church of God! It exposed a corrupt ministry intent on destroying the foundational doctrines of the Worldwide Church of God, and urged the brethren to hang on for dear life to what God had given us through His end-time Elijah. We were encouraged to get a grip, while others were losing it (Revelation 3:11).
Those who were of God heard what the Spirit said to the Churches through Malachi’s Message. Those who weren’t of God quickly lost it (God’s truth) and slipped further and further into darkness. That darkness was disguised as a "new light of understanding" (2 Corinthians 11:14). The true members of the Church of God responded to His call and came out of that decadent organization. Those who remained behind became the SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN - just like the original apostate Christianity (Catholics and Protestants) that has deceived the whole world.
They were no longer God’s Church! You can’t reject God’s truth for demonic doctrines without becoming a part of "Mystery Babylon" (1 Corinthians 10:21; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). All this has been quite revealing (1 Corinthians 11:19).
Knowing the Truth
God knows the end from the beginning (Acts 15:18). He prophesied a great falling away that would leave few standing. The BIG ONE has hit and shaken the Church of God to its core! But isn’t it possible to know the truth without knowing the Truth? (2 Timothy 3:7).
God’s calling us to a deeper love and conversion (1 John 3:18). Isn’t God’s truth a means to an end? Didn’t Herbert W. Armstrong fear some just "DON’T GET IT?” That too many were only converted to our doctrines? The doctrines are meant to help bring us closer to God by having a better understanding of His Will, but only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will save us! We need Christ’s teachings, but we need God the Father and Jesus Christ even more. Only they can establish us and secure our salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17). You can have all the understanding in the world and still fall short (1 Corinthians 13:2).
Remember Solomon? Just because you know God’s truth, doesn’t mean you know Him (Job 42:5; 1 John 2:4). You’re not going to be judged by how much you know, but by HOW MUCH YOU GROW! By how much you apply what you know, becoming more Christ-like, more Godly, more representative of the Kingdom of God, here and now (James 1:22; John 13:35). A system can’t save you and ritual is no substitute for a relationship (2 Timothy 3:5).
Malachi’s Message Still Applies!
Whereas the Worldwide Church of God was physically rich, aren’t we in danger of feeling spiritually rich and self-complacent (Amos 6:1)? Ancient Israel had God’s holy days; didn’t eat pork, etc. But it didn’t keep them from going into captivity! (Amos 5:21). It wasn’t enough. Worldwide doesn’t feel sufficient, they feel so impoverished they go to Babylon for help! We’re the ones who feel safe and secure. Who said we can let our guard down? We’re commanded to REMAIN ON HIGH ALERT until Christ comes (Luke 21:34). Yet some are failing to continue to apply Malachi’s Message (Romans 2:17-21). God’s refining process isn’t over (Daniel 12:10; Isaiah 48:10).
Let’s see to it that Philadelphia Church of God (Judah) doesn’t go the way of the Worldwide Church of God (Israel). These biblical principles still apply: don’t put undue trust in men; work out your own salvation, it’s not a group affair; beware the scholarly approach that demands you rely on men - not God’s Spirit or personal Bible study. And God help us to look past Petra (though it’s important), to focus on His Kingdom (Luke 21:36; Isaiah 33:17). To survive the coming Holocaust is one thing, to enter the Kingdom of God is everything (2 Peter 1:10-11).
Beware of Emperor Worship!
What’s the greatest false doctrine to come out of Babylon? The nefarious idea of a DIVINE EMPEROR! Nimrod had put himself in God’s place. He had people depending on him for all their answers and protection. Today, we have such MEN "playing God" in the Church! (Nahum 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:3). There’s nothing new under the sun. Unlike Moses, who wished that all God’s people were prophets (Numbers 11:29), Nimrod felt threatened by any "competition." He dealt cruelly, in a jealous rage, with those who opposed his haughty position. God used Shem to put him back in his place! Leaders are ordained of God; they do have a definite place, but it’s NOT in the Holy of Holies (2 Chronicles 26:18). They’re intruding in God’s business, and trespassing on His sacred ground, when they get out of line and overstep their bounds (Zephaniah1:9; Exodus 19:12; Colossians 2:18).
Away with emperor worship! It’s soon to sweep Europe, but we don’t need it in the Church of God. Not if we want to remain the Church of God!
Didn’t Gerald Flurry warn that we were slipping into a Laodicean attitude when he had his unfortunate incident with alcohol? Didn’t he say, after prayerfully wracking his brains to understand why God had allowed that to happen, that we have to be careful not to get proud due to our abundance of revelation (2 Corinthians 12:6-7)? Have we learned that lesson? Has he? With his preoccupation with all his religious titles and self-promotion, we really have to wonder and be most concerned!
Holy, righteous CHARACTER is more important to God than all the revelation in the world! We definitely need the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but God says we should want the FRUITS of his Holy Spirit even more. GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT (1 Corinthians 14:1). I’m convinced God’s about to empower His people like never before, but wants us to be spiritually ready (having learned from the Corinthians’ mistakes), and our ministers mature enough not to get in the way (Joel 2:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:19).
As far as revelations go, God can inspire unconverted men like Caiphas and speak through donkeys! All truth is from and belongs to God, so why should some become puffed up with pride that they're something special rather than just an instrument serving God's purpose? And why get bloated with self-importance when God can quickly pop that balloon (1 Corinthians 4:6-7)?
Warnings from History
If what happened in the Church during the 70’s was a warning of what could happen in the 80’s what about now? Having survived our Worldwide Church of God ordeal, are we now home safe (Jude 5)? Let us pray and examine ourselves this new century: Do we love God or fear men (Acts 5:29)?
God has an ordained government for His Church, but it can gradually fall to Satan - made over in some man’s image - if we blindly follow it and forget that it’s also a means to an end, and not and end in itself! Isn’t that how the Church of God got off track? The Mother spoon fed the brain-dead! We need the Father! When Church government stops directing us to God and substitutes doctrines or a personality cult instead (3 John 9), and refuses correction, God’s glory has left such a bankrupt administration! Will God destroy the very government He’s installed because we’ve failed to use it properly? Some are actually worshipping the government rather than the Governor!
Didn’t God level His Temple, stop the sacrifices, and disband the priesthood? Didn’t he empty the House of Israel and scatter Judah? Wasn’t Jerusalem-headquarters forcibly shut down? Even Hezekiah had to destroy the brass serpent God told Moses to make, because they had perverted its purpose (2 Kings 18:4).
Too often, that which God had intended to become a blessing, became a curse! Such historical warnings don’t curry favor with "the top brass, " but it’s evident God would rather work through a very faithful few than let many misrepresent Him (Jeremiah 26:18; Ezekiel 5:3-4).
Worldwide Church Of God All Over Again?
What have we learned from our WCG experience? Haven’t some since scrambled for positions of power, while others claim we’re all equal? (Numbers 16:3; 1 Timothy 1:7; James 3:1) God isn’t an anarchist, and neither should we be. We mustn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, just because of abuses of power. Proper leadership encourages us to "be all we can be," within God’s law; it encourages us to think and become like our leaders, and able to teach what we’ve been taught—after all we’re PRIEST-KINGS IN TRAINING (Matthew 10:25; Hebrews 5:12; 2 Timothy 2:2, 15).
The proper use of God’s government never plays politics or acts jealous, but truly has everyones' best interests at heart (1 Cor. 14:26). We’re all members of God’s Royal Family, therefore we ought to respect each others’ part in God’s plan and place in God’s Church (1 Corinthians 12:18).
I truly believe in GOVERNMENT FROM THE TOP DOWN —- and it starts with GOD THE FATHER! That’s why we must always OBEY GOD, even if it means we must disobey men. Wasn’t it ministers who told you to throw Malachi’s Message away? Wasn’t it Church leaders who threw out the faithful? Didn’t we just take their word for it, rather than check out what GOD had to say?
Don’t be fooled again! Do you now CONSULT CHRIST, or are you still playing "follow the leader?" Which is truly learning how to follow God’s government? Have you finally learned this lesson? Or did you ask your minister for permission to read Beyond Babylon? Worldwide all over again? Not if you continue to read and apply Malachi’s Message to yourself. That’s the only way to prevent a "repeat performance." Hopefully, once was enough.
Copyright Philadelphia Church of God
Copyright Philadelphia Church of God
Following the death of Herbert W. Armstrong, a new host of leaders took over the worldwide church, media and humanitarian religious empire God had used him to build from scratch.
Mr. Armstrong’s successors indicated they would follow his teachings and traditions. However, almost immediately after Mr. Armstrong died, the church’s new leaders began subtly altering Mr. Armstrong’s writings.
Changes to Mystery of the Ages, Mr. Armstrong’s crowning work, began to surface quickly after the book was released in September 1985, when Mr. Armstrong emotionally presented first copies of the book to students at Ambassador College, urging them to study it alongside their Bibles in order to help make the meaning of the Bible clear.
Church leaders put the book “on hold” in the spring of 1988, supposedly for minor reasons and for a short period. The Worldwide Church of God would never publish it again.
In 1989, church member and pastor Gerald Flurry was summoned to Worldwide Church of God headquarters in Pasadena, California, along with his assistant, John Amos. There he was fired for continuing to adhere to the teachings of Herbert Armstrong and for contesting the repudiation of Mystery of the Ages, which the administration told him was “riddled with error,” even while the membership at large was led to believe otherwise.
Immediately afterward, the Philadelphia Church of God was founded, and those who continued to believe in God’s teachings through Mr. Armstrong began to join.
In 1997, the PCG printed Mystery of the Ages under the copyright of Herbert Armstrong, advertising the book through its media and distributing it for free to anyone who requested it: the “largest audience possible.” The Worldwide Church of God countered by suing.
A six-year legal battle ensued. The Worldwide Church demanded the PCG cease from disseminating Mystery of the Ages or any other books by Mr. Armstrong, while the PCG contended that the WCG’s new administration had abandoned the copyrights in every sense of the word.
The PCG won on the district court level in 1999, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals eventually overturned the lower court opinion in a split decision the following year. The PCG subsequently stopped printing distributing the book.
When the Supreme Court declined an appeal by the PCG, both churches turned their focus to the damages trial and the PCG’s counterclaim for the rights to produce 18 additional works by Mr. Armstrong.
An article covering the litigation appeared on the front page of the February 21, 2001, Wall Street Journal, and a criticism of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion was published in the April issue of the Harvard Law Review the same year.
As high hopes for the damages trial dropped lower and the thorny counterclaim issue complicated the WCG’s legal position, the Worldwide Church of God approached the PCG offering to sell Mystery of the Ages. After a series of counteroffers and finally insisting that any arrangement include all 19 works as well as the court documents obtained during the lawsuit, the PCG purchased full copyrights to Mystery and Mr. Armstrong’s other works and retained the discovery documents uncovered during the lawsuit. The PCG now prints and distributes all of these materials for free.
A book written on the basis of those documents, Raising the Ruins, chronicles the history of the WCG leading up to the copyright battle, as well as court case itself and its outcome. Raising the Ruins is also available in serialized form in the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine.
Following the death of Herbert W. Armstrong, a new host of leaders took over the worldwide church, media and humanitarian religious empire God had used him to build from scratch.
Mr. Armstrong’s successors indicated they would follow his teachings and traditions. However, almost immediately after Mr. Armstrong died, the church’s new leaders began subtly altering Mr. Armstrong’s writings.
Changes to Mystery of the Ages, Mr. Armstrong’s crowning work, began to surface quickly after the book was released in September 1985, when Mr. Armstrong emotionally presented first copies of the book to students at Ambassador College, urging them to study it alongside their Bibles in order to help make the meaning of the Bible clear.
Church leaders put the book “on hold” in the spring of 1988, supposedly for minor reasons and for a short period. The Worldwide Church of God would never publish it again.
In 1989, church member and pastor Gerald Flurry was summoned to Worldwide Church of God headquarters in Pasadena, California, along with his assistant, John Amos. There he was fired for continuing to adhere to the teachings of Herbert Armstrong and for contesting the repudiation of Mystery of the Ages, which the administration told him was “riddled with error,” even while the membership at large was led to believe otherwise.
Immediately afterward, the Philadelphia Church of God was founded, and those who continued to believe in God’s teachings through Mr. Armstrong began to join.
In 1997, the PCG printed Mystery of the Ages under the copyright of Herbert Armstrong, advertising the book through its media and distributing it for free to anyone who requested it: the “largest audience possible.” The Worldwide Church of God countered by suing.
A six-year legal battle ensued. The Worldwide Church demanded the PCG cease from disseminating Mystery of the Ages or any other books by Mr. Armstrong, while the PCG contended that the WCG’s new administration had abandoned the copyrights in every sense of the word.
The PCG won on the district court level in 1999, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals eventually overturned the lower court opinion in a split decision the following year. The PCG subsequently stopped printing distributing the book.
When the Supreme Court declined an appeal by the PCG, both churches turned their focus to the damages trial and the PCG’s counterclaim for the rights to produce 18 additional works by Mr. Armstrong.
An article covering the litigation appeared on the front page of the February 21, 2001, Wall Street Journal, and a criticism of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion was published in the April issue of the Harvard Law Review the same year.
As high hopes for the damages trial dropped lower and the thorny counterclaim issue complicated the WCG’s legal position, the Worldwide Church of God approached the PCG offering to sell Mystery of the Ages. After a series of counteroffers and finally insisting that any arrangement include all 19 works as well as the court documents obtained during the lawsuit, the PCG purchased full copyrights to Mystery and Mr. Armstrong’s other works and retained the discovery documents uncovered during the lawsuit. The PCG now prints and distributes all of these materials for free.
A book written on the basis of those documents, Raising the Ruins, chronicles the history of the WCG leading up to the copyright battle, as well as court case itself and its outcome. Raising the Ruins is also available in serialized form in the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine.
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