Friday, December 31, 2010

A Tribute

(Good news regarding the last post. Habbibolah Latifi's execution has been delayed. When people speak out together even dictators can be forced to take notice. Thank you. We now move onto to this new post.)

What we need to do for all those suffering under the abusive behavior of the various Churches of God.

We need to somehow show those who are suffering that we are together in this and we need to reach out each other.

Together we are stronger.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

A Good Deed You Can Do In A Dreadful Situation

Right now in Iran a man named Habbibolah Latifi, 29, a Kurdish activist, is on the verge of being executed. He seem to be scheduled to be executed on December 26.

In order to make this act as difficult for the Iranian authorities as possible I would encourage you to sign this petition, We want freedom for habib latifi at (http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40470/sign.html). You can sign anonymously.

Perhaps it is too late already, but it would be good to know that we tried to make this as difficult for the Iranian authorities as possible. This is a cause worth raising our voices for.

Friday, December 24, 2010

The Uselessness of TSA Terror "Security" Exposed

At San Francisco Airport, while American citizens and visitors are forced to go through demeaning, invasive, liberty destroying "security measures", full body scanners, and those horrific "enhanced pat downs" airport employees simply use a swipe card to enter secure areas. That's their screening.

This only further my point that these measures are useless and should be abandoned today. The Enhanced Pat Downs and the Full Body Scanners need to be banished to the history books. There people will wonder how on earth things got so bad.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Astounding Turmoil in UCG

J has a post detailing the current turmoil in UCG.

For me it is hard to be sympathetic to those responsible for igniting yet another round of turmoil. How many families and friends' relationships will be torn apart from this latest schism?

I am very sorry to the members of UCG because their ministers have once again failed them and are busy tearing each other apart in this vicious power struggle. During these turbulent times the members have been burdened with yet another problem, a most severe split in UCG's history.

I hope the unfortunate members caught up in this turmoil will try to calmly, as much as possible, contemplate whatever decision they are going to make.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Origins of the TSA Enhanced Pat Down Terror

Do you know how difficult it is to get just about every American to agree on a single issue?

We’ve finally found one. The TSA’s taxpayer funded coercion and terrorism and intimidation to force, intimidate, scare, people into using the full body scanners which were bought during a fit of hysteria.

The TSA’s liberty destroying dictators are simply too cowardly to admit they have made an expensive mistake buying ineffective and intrusive full body scanners that many people do not want to endure. The TSA do not want to admit they made an expensive mistake so they have lashed out at the entire world and have begun this unimaginable campaign of enhanced pat down terror to force people to use full body scanners.

First they were just incompetent buying the full body scanners. Now they have returned the US into barbarism.

They have not just gone beyond the moral event horizon they just soared right over it and away from it in a faster than light spaceship.

I remember once reading a book about 100 tyrants. J. Eager Hoover and Joseph McCarthy were in there. I have no doubt that those responsible for the Enhanced Pat Down Terror will be included in such a book just twenty years from now.

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/11/16/investigate-the-tsa-not-tyner/ The real reason for TSA Terror: It’s to intimidate and coerce you into the "porno scanners" which the Government has foolishly bought in a fit of hysteria. This post is essential reading.


Important info: Airports can opt out of using the TSA and provide alternative security. This line of escape should be used as much as possible.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/17/tsa-patdowns-scanner

This offers a great deconstruction of the trite and deceptive clichés the TSA are using to justify this unimaginable destruction of liberty.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101117/D9JI6A0G0.html

"I wouldn't want my wife to be touched in the way that these folks are being touched."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/new-airport-pat-downs-tsa_n_785075.html

[The head of the TSA John] Pistole conceded "reasonable people can disagree" on how to properly balance safety at the nation's airports but he asserted the new security measures are necessary because of intelligence on latest attack methods that might be used by terrorists.

This is a common tactics of those who seek to destroy liberty: We have to do it for your security.

This is tyranny.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/16/big-sisters-police-state/

Threaten? You should say destroy.

This is from the right wing Newsreal Blog: http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/11/16/libertarians-consider-tsa-scans-a-greater-violation-than-burqa-subjugation/

Americans have become subject to Peeping Tom airport X-ray scanners and full body groping. New TSA rules claim to prevent terrorists from blowing up airports and planes, but scanners won’t protect America from another 9/11. They will, however, violate travelers’ Fourth Amendment rights to be secure in their persons.

Americans should be up in arms over Superman X-ray vision machines: TSA scanners see the naked body through clothing. Libertarians at Lew Rockwell.com rightly condemn this unconstitutional violation, because, if one rejects full-body scans, one must be subjected to full body gropings many liken to rape. You won’t find conservative feminists like me disagreeing with that analysis.

Here are some other related articles about this horrific crisis:

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/11/17/tsas-master-plan-secure-the-planes-by-eliminating-the-passengers/

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/11/14/government-at-work-groping-children-is-preferable-to-perceived-profiling/

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/11/hamas-linked-cair-tsa-may-only-search-around-muslim-womens-head-neck.html

http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/11/15/what-happens-if-you-decline-a-full-body-scan/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/17/national/main7063414.shtml

http://www.indystar.com/article/20101117/NEWS02/11170365/Man-arrested-after-punching-Indianapolis-TSA-screener?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Communities

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/peninsula&id=7793386

http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/tsa-pilots-weigh-biometric-system-for-airport-screening-20101116

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_461991&v=TBL3ux1o0tM&

Penn Jillette calls Cops on groping TSA agent in 2002.



A Good Post About Prince William's Engagement

Congratulations to Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Here's a short but effective post looking at this joyous event from from a COG perspective, A New Day for Joy and Splendor for Britain?…YES!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

More on Wade Cox

Take a look at this wonderful post, Wade Cox of the Christian Churches of God, which details some of the recent activities, statements and actions of Wade Cox, leader of a COG splinter group which denies the divinity of Christ.

Definitely worth checking out.

A Rumor Within Egypt

Over in Egypt a most unfortunate and false rumor has spread among some Muslims that a Coptic priest's wife had converted to Islam. As far as I can see this seems to be false.

Here's a story from ASSIST News detailing how this rumor, which has been used to demonize the Egyptian Coptic Christian community, Coptic Christian Woman Unwittingly Becomes Focal Point of Islamic Clash With Christianity.

It is strange that some Muslims choose to be so agitated over this unverified rumor when the Coptic Christian community have long endured abductions and forced conversions to Islam today.

I well remember reading a Reader's Digest article way back in 2000 which detailed a truly sickening account of one Coptic woman being abducted and forced to convert by bigoted Muslims.

I have no doubt in my mind that most Muslims are embarrassed by such things and wished such acts did not occur. According to the article above it appears the state is trying to contain the damage from this rumor.

It is sad to know that such shocking acts occur in what is usually regarded as the most advanced and cosmopolitan of the Arab states.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

This Is INSANE!!! Instrusive Search Procedures in US Airports

I've just heard that the TSA are implementing more aggressive pat downs at Airport security in this entry, Groped or Ogled? Your choices under TSA's new pat-down procedures. Apparently these new more aggressive pat downs are used to effectively force people to go into the full body x-ray scanners and are quite traumatic for those who endure them.

I remember once reading about how prisoners in the Soviet Union during Stalin's time were forced to expose their most private parts as part of the process entering into the gulag. Solzhenitsyn once remarked that while he was being processed into the Gulag he was forced to even show his member in order to show the inspector that there was nothing in there. Considering how extraordinarily rare a terrorist or spy would use such a method in concealing something I regard this step as totally unless, just like the Stalinist rituals of intrusive humiliation they imposed upon new prisoners.

We are far more likely getting killed by crossing the road, driving a car and odds the junk food you are eating are far more likely to kill you then some terrorist. Terrorism is an important problem, but we (I really mean the TSA) need to keep perspective about these things and not lose ourselves into paranoia.

Also we already have drug mules who ingest illegal drugs and go through airports trying to transport them while the drugs are inside them (and hoping the capsule does not break). More aggressive pat downs are not going to find such things.

This is such a useless procedure. It is a monstrosity that must be stopped.

Personally I have no problem taking off my shoes, going through metal detectors, or keeping liquids in clear containers. But this is too far, it is intrusive, it is going to needlessly hurt potentially thousands of innocent peoples, and it is not going to stop terrorism. The TSA have lost their minds allowing this to occur, as far as I am concerned. This dreadful and useless policy needs to stop.

I am sorry to mention such a thing. I am aware that some may find this rather disturbing, but now that I am aware that this is happening, I feel that it is my duty to warn as many people as I can about this, so that you will not be caught unawares.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Terrible News From Iraq

For better or worse I havn't been reading the news lately but I heard recently about that terrible attack upon the Catholic Church in Baghdad which killed 58 people committed by a wicked terrorist front falsely called the Islamic State of Iraq. Here's the Wikipedia article on this 2010 Baghdad Church Attack.

I wish here to express my sorrow at knowing that such a dreadful thing has happened to these long suffering people and the many other vicious and wicked crimes the people of Iraq are subjected to, such as the recent multiple bombings against Shia in Baghdad.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

On The Corrupt Nature of Finance and How It Led to the Foreclosure Catastrophe

Read this very disturbing article about the corrupt state of finances and how it has lead to the economic crisis. "Inside Job": Global Finance as a Criminal Conspiracy.

Here's one highlight:
finance is really kind of zero-sum. It's a trading game, it's a gambling game. There's a relatively fixed pool of money, but there's a lot of money and the way you make more, as a banker, is by making sure that someone else makes less. It's really hard to keep that industry ethical without appropriate legal and regulatory controls. If Intel made microprocessors that blew up the computers they're in, Intel would go out of business. The same is not true for financial services. It was a very sobering moment.

Glad the Chilean Miners Got Out

The miners got out! That is good to hear.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Media Matters Exposes the Right's Demonization of the Tides Foundation

Media Matters has posted an article critiquing David Horowitz's website, DiscoverTheNetworks.com, A Guide to David Horowitz's DiscoverTheNetworks.

A few months ago one Bryan Williams engaged some law enforcement officers in a shoot out but was in the end arrested and is now in jail awaiting trial. He said he was trying to attack the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. Immediately there began speculation over what drove this man to hate the Tides Foundation so much he would chose to attack them. Commentators noted that Glenn Beck had recently denounced Tides and suspected a connection.

When I heard about this I immediately said to myself that he had probably read Discover The Networks.com's description of Tides. I shared this thought on my other blog. I discovered this website around early 2007 and read some of what was there. I distinctly recalled reading how they vilified Tides as the second greatest funder of 'the left' (just behind the Ford Foundation), that it's a money launderer used to let the wealthy left fund radical groups which they do not want to associate with publicly, they say. The funders know where the money goes, sends it to Tides, which sends it to the specified radicals, and the recipients may be unaware of the source of the money sent through Tides.
I am very glad that Media Matters has chosen to bring attention to this website.

DiscovertTheNetworks.com reveals much of what is wrong with the current state of the American right. It tries to convince the reader that every leftist must be as harmful to society as a Communist. Everyone that website disagrees with are vilified as Communists or portrayed as being as bad as one. Exploiting the fact that the Communist movement originates from the left it viciously accuses all leftists as being just as bad as Communists, as merely milder forms of Soviet Communism. The spirit of McCarthy is strong with this website.

Some highlights from Media Matters' interview with Bryan Williams:
Byron says that he had researched Tides on his own before seeing Beck attack the foundation on television. In his letter to me, he singled out Beck and DiscoverTheNetworks as key sources of information on Soros and Tides.
To accuse every leftist of being Communist is wrong. It is dangerous to do that because it hides what was really wrong with Soviet style Communism and make people unnecessarily fearful of the left. The problems of Soviet Communism which caused them to behave in the atrocious way they and their imitators did do not apply to the vast majority of the American left.

I know David Horowitz has a very compelling story about how he became disillusioned with the left due to apathy towards the murder of an associate of his, which he strongly suspects was committed by the members of the original Black Panther Party, but regardless of such sensitive matters they do not, I am sorry to say, justify him and his associates to demonize the left as they have done as Communists, as intellectual relatives of Communism, as sympathizers of radical Islamic terrorism, as traitors for opposing Bush's wars.

I have read about twenty books about Soviet style Communism and some of its imitators. As far as I can tell one fundamental problem was that their dream of being able to create Utopia allowed them to justify all measures to destroy democracy. Whatever may be said the American left I am firmly persuaded that the idea that democracy can be subverted to impose their vision(s), that such a step is justified, does not exist within the vast majority of the American left.

I say again I'm glad Media Matters has directed their critical eyes to this propaganda website and are exposing them.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Social Security Is Secure

The Daily Howler has another post up discussing why Social Security is NOT going to "fail" and that claims that it is going to fail are, ultimately, incited by plutocrats who want to get their hands on your Social Security. It is a fabricated crisis that we do not need to fear.

Media Matters Discuss "Christian Identity"

Media Matters has asserted that David Barton, an academic who teaches at Beck University, a venture of Glenn Beck, spoke twice to "Christian Identity" groups in 1991. They cite a 1994 book by the Anti-Defamation League.

Barton claims that he was unaware of the racist nature of these organizations when he spoke to them.
Barton later said he was not aware that the events were hosted by groups with a racist ideology and said "that with as many as 400 speaking engagements a year, he cannot do background checks on each of the invitations he receives," according to an April 10, 1996, Seattle Times article (retrieved via Nexis).
I don't know much about David Barton so I am not going to comment on his professional life or the criticisms against his work which Media Matters presents in the article. Personally I am not sure if it was a good idea for Media Matters to bring up this matter. Barton said he didn't know the nature of these groups, so I would be reluctant to use this to criticize him over this matter at this moment. So doesn't this mean that he has already addressed this business? If he hasn't spoken to any of these Christian Identity groups in 19 years, if he has avoided them this long, shouldn't we leave this matter alone? Isn't that long enough to leave this alone?

I also must state here that Media Matters did not state just how virulently racist these "Christian Identity" groups are. Here is how they are described in the article, quoting a 1994 book by the Anti-Defamation League:
["]Christian Identity["] movement .... "asserts that Jews are 'the synagogue of Satan'; that Blacks and other people of color are subhuman; and that northern European whites and their American descendants are the 'chosen people' of scriptural prophesy."
It's worse then that. "Christian Identity" asserts that Jews are the literal, fleshy descendants of the Devil, and that whites are descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. It is not enough for them to claim to be Israelites but they claim that Jews are impostors usurping the position of the true Israelites, the select European whites.

"Christian Identity" is a racist offshoot of British Israelism which originated from Victorian Britain, taught by men such as Richard Brothers, John Wilson and Edward Hine, and came into America. At first it was not racist towards Jews, instead viewing them as long lost cousins. It was from this non-racist form of British Israelism that HWA adopted it from J. H. Allen in the late 1920s. (Then carefully stole any credit Allen deserved by pointedly refusing to name him in his discussions about British Israelism.) Hence why HWA did not indulge in hating the Jews. But after World War II many of these British Israelites embraced racist doctrines that produced what is now known as "Christian Identity".

Because "Christian Identity" is related to British Israelism I feel it is necessary to mention this matter here.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Letter to ESN on Wade Cox' Armstrongite Group, Christian Churches of God

ESN has published an email about Wade Cox' Christian Churches of God. It's dated September 29. Take a look. The writer gives us a very unflattering portrayal of the leadership, and also expresses concern about their expansion into Africa and wishes that there were more resources on the Internet exposing the truth about this group.

LCG apologist Bob Theil has a fascinating article about this group. Similar to Jehovah's Witnesses, and unlike HWA, this group seems to teach that Jesus Christ is not divine and that He was generated and did not exist from eternity.

If you want to see what the writer is talking about here is the group's page concerning Africa and the Middle East.

Worryingly Bob Theil also indicates that this group is prone to making legal challenges, although he presents little evidence to support this.

On other matters a certain anti-Semite who denies the Bible has redesigned his website and whitewashed his commentary section which contained some of his most disgusting anti-Semitic hate speech, so some of his hate speech are now inaccessible. But there is still one booklet up on his website which claims the Jews are descended from Turkic Khazars and accuses Jews of dominating the slave trade. Both of these are anti-Semitic charges used to demonize Jews and stir up hatred. So I think this is just a trick. He is trying to obscure his hatred but it is clear he still retains his virulent anti-Semitic hatred.

[Update: Be sure to read the comment below. Here's more on this group.]

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Rising From The Ruins

You've heard of Stephen Flurry's deceptive book length recruitment pamphlet Raising the Ruins, which, among other things, condemn Tkach for using dictatorial methods to change WCG while PCG operates in the same dictatorial manner, hails Ambassador Auditorium in Chapter 2 as a 'legacy that was neither heavy nor burdensome' naively ignoring the reality that it was a severe financial drain, approving quote HWA's deceptive doctrine of the dark century, quotes a lawyer who insists that Mystery of the Ages cannot be rewritten thus deceptively hiding the fact that PCG has surreptitiously changed HWA's writings, deceptively hides information about the virulent and deadly anti-medicine superstition which HWA taught, cunningly teach that Tkach Sr., was a puppet of Tkach Jr. without revealing that PCG teaches that Tkach Jr., is the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2 (and not the last Pope as HWA taught) and much more can be said about it.

Well, recently, I quite randomly ran into this similarly titled book, Rising From The Ruins by Peter Daniels. No, I don't know what it's about and I'm suggesting that there is a connection but I just find it amusing that this book should use such a similar name.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Bamboo Cross

The following is a reposting of my previous entry Last Year's Day of Atonement which was made to coincide with the Day of Atonement 2009.


As it is that time of the year again I wish to share with you all my last Day of Atonement as a COG believer.

It was habit during holy time to read spiritually uplifting material. Therefore on the Day of Atonement 2008 I went to the library and read a book there that had caught my attention. The Bamboo Cross by Homer E. Dowdy (1968).

It is an account of Evangelical Degar (Montagnard) missionaries among their people in Vietnam back in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a fascinating account of life among these peoples.

I was not evangelical at all but I was already familiar with most of COG doctrine and their stories so I read other religious works.

In this book a shaman incites a drunken horde to destroy anything white, including white people. The harassment from Communist Viet Cong guerrillas who tried to lure them to join them in their war.

It also relates how among one tribe it was the custom to demolish a house once a person died in that house.

Also it related how there was this tribe that lived in an inaccessible place that could only be accessed by climbing a treacherous stone.

Since this book was written before the Communist North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam I wonder what happened to them. This book is definitely worth a read if you can get your hands on it.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

PCG's $24 Million White Elephant and Another False PCG Prophecy

According to the letters on ESN about PCG the Armstrong Auditorium may have actually cost $24 million.

Also check out this interesting letter:

Flurry has been screaming for years how short time is. [He still is. Recently he's been 'suggesting' Christ will return in about ten years.] He told me personally in 1993 that he didn't expect things would last until 1996. Thus, PCG would be a seven year work. (1989-1996). When that didn't happen, he had to use the gimmick of printing MOA. They claimed that God probably had given them seven more years to preach the gospel to the world. That began in 1997.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Rising From The Ruins

You've heard of Stephen Flurry's book length recruitment pamphlet Raising the Ruins, which, among other things, condemn Tkach for using dictatorial methods to change WCG while PCG operates in the same dictatorial manner, hails Ambassador Auditorium in Chapter 2 as a 'legacy that was neither heavy nor burdensome' naively ignoring the reality that it was a severe financial drain, approving quote HWA's deceptive doctrine of the dark century, quotes a lawyer who insists that Mystery of the Ages cannot be rewritten thus deceptively hiding the fact that PCG has surreptitiously changed HWA's writings, deceptively hides information about the virulent and deadly anti-medicine superstition which HWA taught, cunningly teach that Tkach Sr., was a puppet of Tkach Jr. without revealing that PCG teaches that Tkach Jr., is the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2 (and not the last Pope as HWA taught) and much more can be said about it.

Well recently I quite randomly ran into this similarly titled book, Rising From The Ruins by Peter Daniels. No, I don't know what it's about and I'm suggesting that there is a connection but I just find it amusing that this book should use such a similar name.

Disinformation About Social Security

The Daily Howler is beginning a special report on the Right's campaign of disinformation to discredit Social Security in order to gut it when it is unnecessary and how the left how unfortunately allowed this state of affairs to occur.

If you think that Social Security is going to fail (I know many do) please read this. Many of us have all been misinformed on this issue.

Social Security is not going to fail. It is not in a crisis contrary to the many deceptive claims made by some persons within the Right.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Happy FOT, Armstrong Auditorium Opening

I hope everyone in the COGs have had a good Feast of Trumpets. I have nothing against anyone observing that day in order to please God. I hope COG followers had a good and happy Feast of Trumpets.

On other matters I'm glad that dreadful Koran burning stunt has been called off.

PCG's $20 million white elephant Armstrong Auditorium is now open. Stephen Flurry has another one of those articles glorifying what they have done, Incomparably Magnificent.

As mentioned here previously ESN reported that PCG has been acquiring other websites in order to make search results more favorable to them. Here's another site, StephenFlurry.com, which is essentially a blog of his articles.

The most recent blog there are Dedication Remarks. What struck me about this post is that, unless he there is more to the speech that was not included in that blog, he didn't thank his fellow PCG members,, who are required to live under the severe terms of PCG's dictatorial rules. If true, then that is a pretty large and unfortunate omission.

But, alas, because PCG is so notoriously dictatorial it will be very difficult for anyone to complain to the ministry without running the risk of punishment. If I was a PCG member I wouldn't complain due to fear. (But I must emphasize here again that this may very well be over nothing if there are other comments which were not included in that post.)

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Armstrong Auditorium Soon To Open

Very soon now PCG's $20 million white elephant called Armstrong Auditorium is due to open September 5.

Stephen Flurry has produced this little article A House for God! for the opening.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Spam for Gerald Flurry

Someone has been sending spam promoting Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God cult. One of them reached one Dave Rhea, who works for The Journal Record.

Here is his response: Jesus Is Not a Spammer. Is Gerald Flurry?

Alas spamming is the least harmful thing PCG does (assuming the spam actually came from PCG instead of an enthusiastic member or fellow traveler).

Sunday, August 29, 2010

ESN Letters on PCG's Armstrong Auditorium

I havn't been to Exit and Support Network's letters archives in awhile but there has recently been a lot of new emails concerning PCG. Check it out.

Here's some relevant quotes:
Just looking at the latest Royal Vision. Looks as though those at the top of the PCG pyramid are becoming increasingly paranoid and controlling. The article in the July-August edition entitled "Must We Avoid Them?" by Greg Nice is another attempt at getting the deluded and deceived members to cut off loved ones and friends who have left the PCG. They use emotional blackmail statements such as: "If we fail to avoid them (ex-members) or cut them off today, we are doing it because we love ourselves and not because we truly love them." Members are also instructed not to: "...Eat with them; don't share a social event with them...avoid them until they repent..." --Anonymous
More sensible critique on the necessity (!) of Armstrong Auditorium.
I can think of so many things that a "real" church could have done with those millions of dollars, including feeding and clothing the needy in the community. Such a waste of members money. I'm reminded once again of the Scriptures and Jesus' reply to the rich young ruler: "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." (Matthew 19:21) It's just so obvious where GF's treasure is. --Impacted by PCG
One letter reveals that PCG are trying to massage the search results about them.
According to the June, 2010, Philadelphia News article by Timothy Oostendarp titled "Church improves online reputation," the PCG has "partnered with a Canadian-based contractor specializing in search engine optimization" to, in effect, silence critics. The article says: "In the case of God's Church, there is the added dimension of Satan using people to constantly upload virulent, smear-based materials." It says that these materials "were lodged as the top links Internet users found when they searched for information related to the Church. That is no longer the case. Through the optimization efforts and improved website content, the relevancy of PCG websites has steadily risen, while the relevancy of negative websites has declined."
Alas, this seems to be true. Observe these pro-PCG websites, GeraldFlurry.info and this biographical article. And most hilariously, this Gerald Flurry blog, which is composed of just three virtually identical blog posts posted on the same day. Clearly it exists solely to gobble up search engine rankings in order to bury the ugly truth about PCG.
This Auditorium is the PCG's "tower of Babel." It doesn’t bring glory to God, but to the man, HWA, and the same fate will befall it that has befallen the campus and buildings in Pasadena. God will not be mocked.
Could not agree more.

Thoughts On That Idiotic Koran Burning

There's some crazy church in Florida planning to burn Korans on September 11. I wish to state here that I absolutely condemn this inflammatory act.

In every way one looks at this event it must be concluded that this will only cause unwanted strife and heartache.

I have heard stories of Muslims becoming highly offended at such attacks upon their faith.

I remember reading in Princess Sultana's Circle how one women was tormented by unwanted mental images after seeing an irreverent portrait of Muhammad. She was traumatized. And the narrator, Sultana, commented that she was at least glad she did not have to endure that stress, even though she had been forced to endure various stressful situations discussed elsewhere in the book.

I remember reading how the first mass hunger strike in Guantanamo Prison was caused because a US soldier accidentally caused a Koran to fall on the floor.
I believe it was early February when, on Charlie Block, a Koran was thrown to the floor during a cell search. [It is later revealed that this was accidental.] This caused the whole camp to go in a massive uproar, screaming and yelling to the point all [military police officers] came out of the blocks....When the incident with the Koran happened, the whole camp pretty much went on a hunger strike that lasted a week or so.
Why are these people willing to do something like that and risk something similar occurring?

They are like little kids playing with fire.

This really is a heartless and foolish act. Do they think they will convert any Muslim by doing this? All this is doing is unnecessarily building another block of separation to hamper relations between Christians and Muslims.

I shudder to imagine that this may incite some professing Muslim terrorists somewhere in the dar al-Islam to persecute the Christians within their midst.

How can anyone still burn books considering the practice's negative association with Nazism? I am not calling these people Nazis, but it must be pointed out that whatever intellectual respectability book burning may have had before 1933 was completely lost because of its use by the Nazis. Again I am not calling them Nazis, that would be inappropriate and inaccurate, but it must be asked why they would use such a disreputable act with such a negative association.

There are countless, more sensible things they could do instead.

Why don't they burn Osama bin Laden's books? They could burn Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden. That would be far more sensible, it would make it clear they are directing this act against this specific movement, and it would not offend a billion people, the vast majority of whom had nothing to do with al Qaeda, at least not as much.

Or why not stage a protest at some embassy respectfully asking them to address an issue in that country?

Or why not hold a service discussing persecution of Christians in various parts of the world? Get in a speaker from Voice of the Martyrs or some such organization and educate people about these things, show them a movie about it and tell them how they can help persecuted Christians. This book burning will certainly not help the persecuted Christians. It may worsen their plight.

Furthermore there are Muslims living among us. How does this event help them feel safe and respected living with us? They are here and they are going to stay here and we all have to live together in peace and harmony as much as possible. This event does not help us to live together well but will only unnecessarily cause strife.

For all these reasons this deed must be judged as most reprehensible and mischievous.

It is a heartless and foolish act.

I condemn it completely.

Monday, August 23, 2010

More On Why Social Security Will NOT Go Bust

The Daily Howler has been doing some posts lately analyzing the various incorrect but extremely widespread rumors alleging that Social Security will fall apart.

Here are the relevant posts, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Here's one statement to be noted (from Part 2):
Second con—after the trust fund is gone: On the other hand, people have heard that Social Security will “go broke” or “go bankrupt” once the trust fund expires in 2037 (according to current projections). For most people, these terms suggest some sort of cataclysmic collapse, after which the Social Security system would have to be shuttered. Presumably, this explains why so many people, for so many years, have seemed to assume that they will never draw any benefits.


There's more in the links.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Sounds Like Garner Ted Armstrong To Me

Recently Esquire released this profile of Newt Gingrich by John H. Richardson, Newt Gingrich: The Indispensable Republican. The Left have been all over this article because for the first time his ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, has spoken out. Many of them point out this passage in particular. It describes what happened after Newt Gingrich admitted having an adulterous affair.
He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused.

He’d just returned from Erie, Pennsylvania, where he’d given a speech full of high sentiments about compassion and family values.

The next night, they sat talking out on their back patio in Georgia. She said, “How do you give that speech and do what you’re doing?”

“It doesn’t matter what I do,” he answered. “People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live."
Didn't Garner Ted Armstrong say something similar regarding why he continued preaching even though he indulged in adulteries?
[Garner Ted Armstrong] then elaborated to me in his defense that he felt he was specially "called" to preach his father's gospel. He declared that he must preach against adultery in others, even though he, himself, was personally guilty. "Put me behind bars, slip my food to me, keep me in solitary confinement," he said dramatically, "but put a microphone in front of me because I must preach this message to the whole world!" Once again I wrongly concluded that Ted had slipped under "emotional pressure." Sadly I walked away and tried to forget it. (Al Carozzo, The Profligate Son, Ambassador Report, 1977.)
Newt Gingrich acting just like Garner Ted Armstrong.

I am somewhat concerned that the focus of the article is on this part of it, because the rest of the article is a truly fascinating portrait of Newt Gingrich. The rest of the article is well worth checking out.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Long Live Net Neutrality!

Let me say I am disturbed by news that Google and Verizon are planning to scrap net neutrality and allow companies to grant better access to the Internet if you pay for it. I am aware they have denied this but I am still very concerned by this. I regard this as a dangerous innovation that all of us would be better without.

For information on this topic see SaveTheInternet.com.

Here are its frequently asked questions.

Big business, it seems, is trying to feudalize the Internet. I urge everyone to pass this along.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

On The Cost of PCG's Armstrong Auditorium

LCG apologist Bob Theil has an article about PCG's Armstrong Auditorium. It is due to open September 5.

He mentions this article about it. Bob Theil comments that,
According to the article, PCG spent $20,000,000 on this project. As PCG has approximately 6,000 members (including those outside the USA), this equates to something like $3,000 for almost every attendee. ... Even if PCG has more people, the focus on the building seems disproportionate, but that is apparently PCG’s priority.
Now that is a disturbing, and sad, thought for the unfortunate PCG members, who are forbidden by the PCG cult from contacting ex-members or members of other COGs and are discouraged from using medicine.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Why We Do Not Need to Fear Social Security Going Bust

It is not true, as I have heard every now and then, that Social Security is going to go bankrupt. Just found this, Top 5 Social Security Myths.
Myth: Social Security is going broke.

Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.3 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a 'T'). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever. After 2037, it'll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits--and again, that's without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers retirement decades ago. Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.

Myth: We have to raise the retirement age because people are living longer.

Reality: This is red-herring to trick you into agreeing to benefit cuts. Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were in the 1930s. The reason average life expectancy is higher is mostly because many fewer people die as children than did 70 years ago. What's more, what gains there have been are distributed very unevenly--since 1972, life expectancy increased by 6.5 years for workers in the top half of the income brackets, but by less than 2 years for those in the bottom half. But those intent on cutting Social Security love this argument because raising the retirement age is the same as an across-the-board benefit cut.

Myth: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security.

Reality: Social Security doesn't need to be fixed. But if we want to strengthen it, here's a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share. [More on that here.] If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come. Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income. But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.

Myth: The Social Security Trust Fund has been raided and is full of IOUs

Reality: Not even close to true. The Social Security Trust Fund isn't full of IOUs, it's full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. The reason Social Security holds only treasury bonds is the same reason many Americans do: The federal government has never missed a single interest payment on its debts. President Bush wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market--which would have been disastrous--but luckily, he failed. So the trillions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund, which are separate from the regular budget, are as safe as can be.

Myth: Social Security adds to the deficit

Reality: It's not just wrong -- it's impossible! By law, Social Security funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. That means that Social Security can't add one penny to the deficit.
Although there are other problems out there I am glad we can relax about that particular issue.

Monday, July 26, 2010

The Rightward Tilt of PCG's Political Opinions

In their coverage of politics PCG has chosen to embrace a very right wing viewpoint.

Here I shall discuss two issues which show PCG's right wing leaning in regards to politics. These are the positions that PCG chose to take on these issues and has chosen to promote among their followers.

When Arizona recently passed its harsh legislation against undocumented migrants, PCG chose to be sympathetic to those supporting that law and criticize those who oppose this law.
White males have taken a beating in recent weeks. First it was legislators in Arizona, branded as Nazis in some quarters, because they had the gall to clamp down on illegal immigration. Then it was Arizonans in general, labeled as racist for supporting tougher legislation, even though this majority support included many Hispanics—those who are legal citizens of Arizona. (Stephen Flurry, 'Watch Out for White Men,' May 7, 2010.)

The mayor of Phoenix called the measure “racist and unjust.” Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said the bill effectively “sanctions” racial profiling....

Even President Obama hastily joined in on the chorus of criticism against the Arizona law. Within hours of Governor Brewer signing the bill, Obama scolded Arizona lawmakers for their “misguided” work. He said it threatens to undermine the “basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.”

Should the law be enforced, President Obama envisioned life for Hispanic Americans to be something like this: “Now suddenly if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re going to be harassed—that’s something that could potentially happen.”...

That’s what much of the backlash against the Arizona law amounts to: stirring up racial discord....rather than do something about the mounting danger, America’s leadership is instead lighting the fuse of a much more explosive time bomb. (Stephen Flurry, 'How Arizona’s Immigration Bill Sparks Racial Hate,' July, 2010, Philadelphia Trumpet.)
Stephen Flurry denounces those who criticize the law as "race baiters".
Small wonder that 70 percent of Arizonans support the new immigration bill.... But not the race baiters. They see the law’s passage as yet another opportunity to fan the flames of racial hatred and division. (Stephen Flurry, 'Playing the Race Card in Arizona' April 30, 2010.)
PCG's hard right approach to news may also be seen in how they approach news from Israel.

During that horrible incident aboard the Mavi Marmara in which IDF soldiers boarded the boat in international waters and in the confrontation nine activists were shot by IDF soldiers and died. Israel does have a right to exist and to protect themselves but I do not feel that those two legitimate goals apply or excuse this terrible and shocking incident. PCG chose to give their sympathy to the state of Israel and dismiss the protesters on the flotilla as 'terrorists'.

Personally I am disturbed at how little compassion is expressed here for those who perished and their loved ones.
The terrorists who sponsored the Gaza-bound “humanitarian” mission earlier this week got exactly what they were aiming for: a lethal retaliation from Israel’s navy, followed by a tidal wave of international outrage against Israel. It doesn’t matter that 50 passengers on board the Mavi Marmara were linked to terror groups, or that the “peace activists” attacked Israeli commandos with metal rods, broken bottles, knives and stun grenades, or that three of the Turks killed by Israeli commandos actually wanted to die as martyrs, or that investigators discovered bulletproof vests, night vision goggles and gas masks on board the ship.

All that matters is that Israel, once again, is the bad guy.
(Stephen Flurry, 'Israel the Outcast', June 4, 2010.)
What about the fact that nine unarmed men died? How can Stephen Flurry say "All that matters is that Israel, once again, is the bad guy" and thereby ignore all these heart breaking facts?

The Mavi Marmara is also discussed in Joel Hilliker's column A Good Excuse to End a Bad Relationship. What I notice about this column is that he seems to ignore the possibility that people would be genuinely angry that nine unarmed lives have been ended by armed IDF soldiers and portrays the Turkish government's condemnation as simply an excuse being used by Turkey's leaders to scuttle friendly relations with Israel. He also alludes to HWA's doctrine (taken from various strands of British Israelism
) that Turkey is descended from the nation of Edom. This idea was taught by one M. M. Eshelman who identified the Turks as Edom.

Nothing does that better than some telegenic anti-Israel protests—over Turks having been killed by Israeli soldiers, no less.

In this way, the flotilla incident was a slam-dunk.

The folks who organized it knew what they were doing. The Turkish group that staged the “humanitarian” mission to Gaza had ties to terrorist networks. It invited dozens of terrorists with ties to Iran, Hamas and al Qaeda to participate. It specifically sought to bust a naval blockade solely intended to limit Hamas’s ability to turn the Gaza Strip into a military bunker. It forced a confrontation, banking on the ability to turn it into a public relations disaster for the Jews.

Israel could see what was coming. Before the convoy set sail, Israeli leaders pleaded with Turkish officials to stop it; they offered to allow the supplies to be delivered through an Israeli checkpoint. But Erdoğan’s government let it go anyway. Thus, Israel had no choice but to intervene directly. And those on the boat made sure it turned violent.

Now, Turkey is milking the event for all it’s worth. It accused Israel of state-sponsored terrorism.
And so those are some political positions which PCG has chosen to produce for their followers and sympathizers.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

PCG's Gerald Flurry on Mullah Omar

I remember one time during my brief encounter with PCG that Gerald Flurry hosted one Key of David presentation in which he implied that Mullah Omar, leader of the pre-9/11 Taliban regime in Afghanistan, was demon possessed. He cited some report that Omar was riding a motorbike, having epileptic fits, and barked like a dog, if I recall correctly.

I have absolutely no way to verify what Gerald Flurry said. It is just a memory I have.

I do believe that demon possession is possible, but such concepts should be used with great restraint. I shudder to think how this idea could be abused in the dictatorial environment of so many COGs.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

PCG and that Black Panther Voter Intimidation Story

Recently PCG has released a column by Robert Morley entitled President Obama, the Black Panthers, and the Coming Racial Explosion.

In it he mentions the story about an activist from the New Black Panther Party intimidating voters in the 2008 election. He also mentions J. Christian Adams who says that the Department of Justice is ignoring civil rights cases when white people are victimized.

This column exposes how PCG thoughtlessly parrots the line from right wing media outlets. I would like to state here that there are other hate groups out there that are more numerous than this small group, such as the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis, or even the COGs embarrassing racist cousins, so-called "Christian Identity".

As far as I am concerned this story is simply being strategically used by the right wing media, which PCG thoughtlessly imitates, to discredit the Obama Administration.

The forces of the right are doing their very hardest to ruin the Obama Administration. PCG adopts their pessimistic viewpoint to create fear in their followers in order for following to cling to PCG ever more.

Why are some right wing media outlets devoting so much attention to this story? Because they want to discredit the Obama Administration.

I would greatly encourage anyone to take a look at how Media Matters covers this story. Among the things that are mentioned are that some of the Minutemen also engaged in this sort of voter intimidation during the 2006 elections. Why haven't the media treated this story the same way? Because they could not use it against Obama.

Also it was the Bush Administration Department of Justice which decided to not pursue voter intimidation charges against this New Black Panther Party member.

Compared with the other racist groups out there this so called New Black Panther Party is quite small and insignificant. Alas within our free societies there are people who spread racial hatred like a drug. They always say outrageous and disgusting things against the targets of their hatred. They are always there. Every society harbors some extremists within its midst.

It is sad, (well I think it's sad,) how PCG have chosen to toe the line set by the right wing media so closely they are willing to just parrot this latest talking point so effortlessly and unthinkingly. They don't even bother being imaginative about this matter. The New Black Panthers are a threat Morley's column declares. What about the Ku Klux Klan? The Neo-Nazis? "Christian Identity"? Aren't they a threat too?

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Why the COGs Deny Jesus Died on a Cross

LCG's July 8, 2010 Weekly Update has a news bulletin suggesting that Jesus did not die on a cross. This idea, like so much of HWA's ideas, come straight from the Jehovah's Witnesses, who have taught that Jesus did not die on a cross since around the 1930s.

Here is what LCG's Weekly Update says:
Christ Probably Did not Die on a Cross. In a recent dissertation study at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, pastor Gunnar Samuelsson spent 400 pages describing the “Crucifixion in Antiquity.” His findings bear out what God’s Church has known and taught for decades—that Jesus Christ likely did not die on a “t-shaped” cross. As a devout evangelical preacher and believer in the “power of the Cross,” what Samuelsson discovered shocked him! In his in-depth research, he could find no clear references to the t-shaped cross. Samuelsson noted in an ABC News interview that “…for generations people have misinterpreted and mistranslated the Greek word ‘stauros’ [translated cross in most Bibles] to mean crucifix, when really the term just means a suspension device, which might have been anything such as a ‘pole or tree trunk’” (www.whas11.com, July 2, 2010). Although the information presented by Samuelsson has been known by scholars and God’s Church for decades, it is interesting to see it highlighted in the media. Satan, in his craftiness, has deceived people into believing and even worshiping the crucifix—rubbing likenesses of it, kneeling before it and even making it into religious jewelry. Sadly, not only do many people bow before an image, which God forbids (Deuteronomy 5:8), the crucifix is probably not even an accurate portrayal of the instrument of Christ’s death.
Again HWA took this idea from the Jehovah's Witnesses who use this idea to persuade followers to lose any lose for the Cross and view any Christian who uses it as false Christians which makes it necessary to follow the Watchtower Cult.

You can read more about the great similarity between the Watchtower Cult and HWA's teachings on this matter in this review of Mystery of the Ages. This work exposes
Why would HWA derive this teaching from a known cult? Ironically, what HWA didn’t know was that the Watchtower Society lied about the cross of Christ to their own members. In their "Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures," the Watchtower Society intentionally misquoted Roman Catholic scholar, Justus Lipsius (Joost Lips), in his book, "De Cruse Liber Primus" while deceptively displaying only one of the three illustrations shown in this book.15 The first illustration shows a man being crucified on a single beam, with his hands nailed above his head. The next two illustrations in Lipsius’ book—which were deliberately omitted by the Watchtower Society—show the correct cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Lipsius states that four pieces of wood were used: The upright stake, the crossbar in which his hands were nailed in an outstretched position, the piece of wood above the crossbar which contained the entitled superscription ("JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS"), and the final piece of wood fastened below for his feet. Justus Lipsius affirms that Jesus was nailed to a cross as displayed in the latter two illustrations, and not on a simple stake as shown in the first. HWA never realized that he was being duped by the Watchtower Society while he was gleaning his doctrines! The Interlinear is not available to the general public,16 so HWA was never aware of how the Watchtower Society lied about this particular teaching.
As an antidote to this attempt by LCG to alienate you from any Christian who uses the cross, take a look at this article, Cross or Stake?, which shows that, contrary to the Watchtower's constant assertions, there is plenty of evidence to believe that Jesus did indeed die on a cross.

Here's one small sample from this article:
It was not until well into the time of Rutherford in the 1930's that the anti-cross teaching was developed. Rutherford started to promote the view of several Protestant preachers that the word stauros was not known as cross until Constantine introduced it 300 years after Jesus death. This was supposedly done by Constantine to make Christianity more appealing to the Pagans that were already using the cross as a symbol. This article shows that this is not borne out by history. There is ample evidence that..."
In this article the author presents evidence to show that
  • "in Jesus' time stauros could refer to a cross,"
  • "the cross was a common form of torture,"
  • "that Jesus was crucified and Christians were identified by the symbol of a cross 200 years prior to Constantine."
  • "Most importantly, Scriptural references to Jesus death show that he was on a cross."
Here's some of the Scriptural evidence he presents:
Look at the number of nails in each picture. [This is after he has shown a tradition portrayal of the Crucifixion and one from the Watchtower.] Notice in the above depiction from the Watchtower publication ... there is only one nail and it goes through the wrist and not the hands, due to it being a stake, not a cross. Compare this to what Thomas stated at John 20:25;

"unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will certainly not believe".

Jesus was crucified with two nails, one in each hand, not a single nail through the wrist. That separate nails were in each hand is made clear by the use of the word 'nails' not 'nail'. This suggests that Jesus had his arms separated on a cross, not together on a stake as represented in Watchtower publications.

Matthew 27:37 also supports the idea of a cross rather than a stake when it says;

"Above his head they had put the charge against him in writing: 'THIS IS JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS' ".

In the picture of the crucifixion the plaque is above Jesus head, whereas in the Watchtower representation it is necessarily above his hands. If Jesus were impaled on a stake it would be stated that the titilus was placed above his hands, not his head. J. H. Bernard observes that this scripture "suggests that the cross was of the shape called crux immissa, with a cross-bar for the arms, as painters have generally represented it to be" (A Critical & Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. John, 1929, Vol. 2, p. 628).
The idea that Jesus did not die on a cross is simply used by the Watchtower and Armstrongites to alienate people from any and all Christians who use the Cross as a symbol and to force those people to rely only on their particular non-Cross using group.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Dave Pack Interview by ABC's Nightline Cancelled

There has been some news recently that the self appointed Apostle Dave Pack has been interviewed by ABC's Nightline. (Hat tip to LCG apologist Bob Thiel.)

However another announcement from RCG has since informed us that that particular interview has been now canceled.

Darrell W. Conder's Hatred

The outrageous nature of this quote of Darrell W. Conder's hatred of Jews deserve its own entry. It is so vicious.
Men like [John] Hagee and [Pat] Robertson are a very real threat to world peace. They are at least unknowingly serving an agenda [which is earlier identified as "an Israeli-New World Order agenda"] that seeks to establish a new world order—one that will relegate the suffering, destruction and death of World War II to a footnote of history. (November 2009 commentary.)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Can Iran Be the King of the South?

The United Arab Emirates have decided to inspect any ships from Iran lest they carry any contraband and froze 41 bank accounts connected to Iran. As reported by
Bernard-Henri Lévy in his article The Arab World Against Ahmadinejad?

Lévy also mentions that during the time of the assassination of Hamas operative Mahmud al-Mabhuh, the UAE was working with Israel to secure their borders from possible mischief by Iran.

And he cites the claim that Saudi Arabia has allowed Israeli jets (Yes-what was called the "Zionist entity" by many Arabs) to use its airspace. This has since been denied by the Saudis but Lévy seems unconvinced.

He concludes:
First of all, [these events are important] because it reminds those who refuse to observe the fact that Islam is not a bloc. Islam of peace exists, vs Islam of war; moderate Islam vs fanatical Islam; and, of course, in this case, Sunni Islam vs Shiite Islamor, [sic] to be exact, vs this heresy of Shi'ism that is the apocalyptic Islam of the loonies and the gangsters who, a year ago, stole their vote from the Iranians.

And then, it demonstrates as well that the front of refusal against the Iranian regime and its plans for total war is growing larger and taking shape and consistency.
This is a good point. For us Westerners we may know the difference between the French and the Spanish, but we often are unable to see the diversity within the Dar al-Islam.

I mention this because PCG claims that Iran will become the King of the South and lead a great Muslim entity which will a) play a role in destroying the USA, Britain and Israel in the Great Tribulation and b) eventually provoke the European Beast Power to wage war against the King of the South and to over run it and quickly seize control over them.

While there was some tentative declarations in old WCG that there would be a future Muslim power in the future it was Gerald Flurry who declared that Iran would be the King of the South.

These recent events suggest that Flurry was totally wrong to make this prediction.

I wonder, when he declared Iran to be the King of the South sometime in the 1990s, if he knew the differences that exist between Iran and the rest of the various Arab states. Iran is predominently Shi'ite, and because of this many Arab states have been quite suspicious and fearful of Iran.

Lévy's news is not much of a surprise to me since there has been bad relations between various Arab states and Iran. The Arab states fear Iran's power and wish to counteract it.

This is contrary to what Flurry "prophesized."

The idea that Iran will lead a vast Muslim power in the end time just seems extremely unlikely. The Iranians are not Arabs, Iran is a theocratic and authoritarian republic never seen before which the monarchies and secular republics of the Arab states, as far as I can see, have no wish to imitate. Why would they follow Iran?

I cannot help but wonder whether Gerald Flurry was aware of these things when he declared that Iran is the King of the South sometime in the early 1990s. Would he have said that if he knew these things?

Monday, July 5, 2010

Darrell W. Conder and Holocaust Denial (Expanded)

(Update: I have added more to this entry below.)

Darrell W. Conder, who denies Christ, often asserts that there is a Zionist conspiracy to take over the world, and that they already control the media, judiciary, legislature, etc.

He is also a Holocaust Revisionist. He asserts that the standard figures of the death toll of Jews during the Holocaust which is around 5-6 million is vastly overstated.

One of the fundamental ideas of Holocaust Denial is that there is a Jewish conspiracy out there to fool people about the Holocaust. They are awfully vague about this conspiracy. And after reading this I doubt they will ever be more specific about this alleged conspiracy.
This total dismissal of inmates' testimony, along with the equally-total dismissal of the Nazis' own testimony (!), is the largest unspoken assumption of Holocaust-denial.

This assumption, which is not often spelled out, is that the attempted Jewish genocide never took place, but rather that a secret conspiracy of Jews, starting around 1941, planted and forged myriad documents to prove that it did; then, after the war, they rounded up all the camp survivors and told them what to say....

But the fantasy is obviously in the minds of those who choose to ignore the mass of evidence and believe instead in a hypothetical conspiracy, supported by nothing but their imaginations.

That total lack of evidence is why the "conspiracy assumption" almost always remains an unspoken assumption. To our knowledge, there has not been one single solitary "revisionist" paper, article, speech, pamphlet, book, audiotape, videotape, or newsletter which provides any details about this supposed Jewish/Zionist conspiracy which did all the dirty work. Not one.

At best, the denial literature makes veiled references to the World Jewish Congress perpetuating a "hoax" (in Butz 1976) -- no details are provided. Yet the entire case of Holocaust-denial rests on this supposed conspiracy.
When reading these lying words note how they keep comparing the Holocaust to movies as though it was all just made up.

(They also claim the movies are controlled by Jews or those under their influence. As is typical among anti-Semites they view everything evil as being caused, ultimately, by Jews.)

Conder makes his opinion clear in these sickening words. This is from his June, 2009 commentary which condemns Hate Speech Legislation as an attempt by Jews to stifle criticism in order to for the Jews to take over the world.
the Holocaust is not quite the tale promoted in countless multi-million dollar Hollywood films, television productions, newspaper and magazine articles and books. Nope! Today honest scholarship and a handful of honest scholars hang over the tale of the Holocaust industry and Zionist aims like a Damocles Sword.

Now, no one disputes that Jews were systematically rounded up and deported from Germany and the conquered territories, and that many died tragic deaths. [This is just deceptive rhetoric to obscure the absurdity and venom of his current views. Also note how he subtly omits the Nazis' genocidal intentions.] But today an ever-growing number of brave historians are disputing the official Holocaust tale by citing documents [He then cites a document first used by the Holocaust Denier Rassinier to say 'only' 1.5 million Jews died]. Indeed, some historians have found evidence that brings even that revised figure into question, and argue for a death toll dipping down to a few hundred thousand. [Perhaps he is thinking of the so-called Institute for Historical Review, that infamous font of Holocaust Denial, which at one time claimed 'only' 300,000 Jews had died.]
This is from his November 2009 commentary. This is his kooky explanation as to how some Christians came to support the cause of creating a Jewish state.
But then came the "Holocaust." European Christians, as well as American Christians—because they allegedly stood by and did nothing—had the blood of "six million" dead Jews on their hands. Forget the other 100 million or so other people who were murdered in the 20th century by despots like Lenin & Stalin, [Conder has just accused the Jews of creating Marxist-Leninist Communism. He also ignores the fact that the USA soon turned against the USSR after World War II and did all they could to restrain their influence.] the Christian owed world Jewry big time for the "Holocaust"—for "six million" dead, a number that has been long discredited as ridiculously high. And thus was born Israel.

By the time of the Sixties, Hollywood, which was completely owned and controlled by Jews, [elsewhere he says Jews controlled Hollywood since the 1920s] combined with the publishing industry, which was itself either owned or at least controlled by Jews, and the news media, which was either owned or controlled by Jews, started a non-stop campaign of rubbing the world's face in the Holocaust. Year after year, movies, books and articles highlighted the suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of Christian Europe. Yes, by then the Jews had their own country, which America helped them steal from the Palestinians, but that was only a drop in the bucket. The "Holocaust" was turned into a shrine before which the world would need to continually bow with supplication and offering.
What actually caused people to call for the creation of a Jewish state was the Dreyfus Trial in France and the pogroms in Russia. These events at the turn of the 20th century spurred the creation of the Zionist movement.

This is from Linda Packer's August 2006 commentary. At the start of it she details how she used to have positive views of the Jews. This is done to obscure her present rabid anti-Semitic view that Jews control society and the media and are plotting to take over the world and create a New World Order.
I read and believed the stories about Anne Frank, [and of other Nazi atrocities.] I believed the movies as though they were actual footage. [She earlier mentioned watching Fiddler on the Roof (1971), a movie about Jews enduring pogroms in Tsarist Russia.]
Holocaust Deniers often like to accuse Anne Frank's Diary of being a fraud.
The most common complaint against the diary is that it contains writing in a ballpoint pen, and that ballpoints were not popular until after Anne's death. This is a fraudulent but persistent myth. The only ballpoint ink in the diary were on slips of paper known to be inserted by someone other than Anne anyway. The writings of Anne herself are, needless to say, not in ballpoint.
It is sad to imagine that these people have been fooled and corrupted by such transparent falsehoods.

Notice how they keep comparing the Holocaust to movies. How they pretend that fictional movies are somehow fooling people about what happened. They want us to deny what really happened.

Conder numerous times accuses Jews of controlling the media, a common lie often used by anti-Semites to demonize Jews. "For decades an insidious enemy has had virtual control over what America reads, hears and thinks,..." (August 2009 commentary.) If anyone argues against him he can just say you're being fooled by the Jews.

And as if that is not enough, he accuses Jews of striving to unleash their own Holocaust.

In his November 2009 commentary he comments how some among the American religious right are very supportive of Israel.
Men like [John] Hagee and [Pat] Robertson are a very real threat to world peace. They are at least unknowingly serving [If they are unknowingly serving a Jewish agenda than evidence Hagee and Robertson produce to say they not being controlled by Jews will be safely ignored.] an agenda that seeks to establish a new world order—one that will relegate the suffering, destruction and death of World War II to a footnote of history.
That is an outrageous statement. It is not enough for him to deny what actually happened in the Holocaust, he accuses the Jews of seeking to create their own Holocaust.

When I see that statement I truly wonder if there is any limit to this man's hatred.

Now why would Conder embrace Holocaust Denial? Now this will require some speculation on my part.

I think he has embraced Holocaust Denial in order to make his ludicrous accusation that the Jews are plotting to take over the world and create a New World Order more believable.

Somehow he decided to embrace the idea that Jews are plotting to conquer the world and that they already control the media, the judiciary, the legislature, publishing, etc. But if were to admit that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust then this fact made it harder for him to believe in the Jewish World Conspiracy Theory. There was cognitive dissonance between the facts of the Holocaust and his desire to believe the Jewish World Conspiracy Theory.

Conder's answer to this was to embrace Holocaust Denial. This way he could relieve himself of the burden of accussing the kin of the victims of that greatest of atrocities. Furthermore he could even use the Holocaust against the Jews, as Holocaust Deniers have always done, and cite as an .
The primary motivation for most deniers is anti-Semitism, and for them the Holocaust is an infuriatingly inconvenient fact of history. After all, the Holocaust has generally been recognized as one of the most terrible crimes that ever took place, and surely the very emblem of evil in the modern age. If that crime was a direct result of anti-Semitism taken to its logical end, then anti-Semitism itself, even when expressed in private conversation, is inevitably discredited among most people. [Anti-Semitism has to bear responsibility for that event.] What better way to rehabilitate anti-Semitism, make anti-Semitic arguments seem once again respectable in civilized discourse and even make it acceptable for governments to pursue anti-Semitic policies than by convincing the world that the great crime for which anti-Semitism was blamed simply never happened -- indeed, that it was nothing more than a frame-up invented by the Jews, and propagated by them through their control of the media? What better way, in short, to make the world safe again for anti-Semitism than by denying the Holocaust? (Source.)
And this is exactly what Darrell W. Conder has chosen to do.

Here are more words to consider. They quite accurately describe Darrell W. Conder and Linda Packer.
Jews are thus depicted as manipulative and powerful conspirators who have fabricated myths of their own suffering for their own ends. According to the Holocaust deniers, by forging evidence and mounting a massive propaganda effort, the Jews have established their lies as ‘truth’ and reaped enormous rewards from doing so: for example, in making financial claims on Germany and acquiring international support for Israel. (The nature of Holocaust denial: What is Holocaust denial?, JPR report #3, 2000.)
They [Holocaust deniers] picture a vast shadowy conspiracy that controls and manipulates the institutions of education, culture, the media and government in order to disseminate a pernicious mythology. The purpose of this Holocaust mythology, they assert, is the inculcation of a sense of guilt....Those who can make others feel guilty have power over them and can make them do their bidding. This power is used to advance an international Jewish agenda centered in the Zionist enterprise of the State of Israel. (Introduction: Denial as Anti-Semitism, "Holocaust Denial: An Online Guide to Exposing and Combating Anti-Semitic Propaganda", Anti-Defamation League, 2001.)
It's as though these writers are describing Conder himself! But they are not. They are describing other Holocaust Deniers. This only shows how thoroughly Conder has embraced the spirit of Holocaust Denial and how enthusiastically he has imitated them.

It's really is quite a pathetic picture to see these persons embracing such transparent falsehoods.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Darrell W. Conder and Linda Packer's False and Hateful Accusation that Jews Control Hollywood

Recently Time columnist Joel Stein plunged himself into a spot of bother over a column that seems to have been supposed to be humorous but instead has succeeded in offending the Indian community.

I bring this up because Darrell W. Conder, who denies Christ, in his June 2009 commentary, which condemned the introduction of Hate Speech which Conder ridiculously views as an attempt by Jews to stifle criticism of their (fictional) attempts to take over the world, cited a column by Joel Stein and offered it as proof that Jews dominate Hollywood and the media. Here are Conder's words. I have highlighting his disgusting, anti-Semitic paranoia.
Back when Hollywood was in its infancy, Zionists [in other places Conder says Jews took over Hollywood] took complete control of the new motion picture industry because they recognized the tremendous potential. Never in the history of the world was a propaganda tool more powerful than motion pictures. Once in control these new self-appointed lords of public opinion recreated the Western world. Today Hollywood Zionists can truly boast that they have recreated America in their image and after their likeness. If you doubt me, take a look at the December 19, 2008 column by well-known Los Angeles Times writer Joel Stein. ... Let me give you a dose of Stein's bragging:
To me it seems Stein's just having a laugh. It's satire.
As Mr. Stein says, Zionists not only control Hollywood, they control the major television networks, the banking and financial systems and the judiciary and legislative branches of the federal government. [Just how paranoid can you get?] Moreover, their brothers-in-arms have almost the same dictatorial control in those nations that have passed hate crime legislation. But, the only thing that is standing in the way of the final implementation of a New World Order is First and Second Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. And the only thing that has kept these two amendments from biting the dust is the tremendous informational network called the Internet, which isn't yet under Zionist control. [He must mean the various hate sites out there.] On the Net, 24/7, Americans can say and write anything they damn well please and hundreds of millions from around the world are listening and watching! That is why American hate speech legislation is vital to the New World Order and why it has been on the agenda for decades.
It should also be noted that this column has been used by anti-Semitic haters, such as Ku Klux Klan wizard David Duke, white supremacists, and Illuminati conspiracy theorists to spread the lie that Jews control the media.

Here is how one organization respond to a slightly different, but essentially the same, accusation.
This video [another video that need not concern us] demonstrates a common thread in anti-Semitism, in which someone lists disproportionate numbers of Jews in the banking sector [or the media in Conder's case] as proof of a conspiracy.

What such arguments presume is that there should be ethnic equality in industry. This equality, however, is absent from reality. Disproportionate representation is the norm across the world.

In the United States, for instance, African-American athletes are overrepresented in professional athletics while Caucasians dominate management. This is not the result of a conspiracy. Japanese farmers dominate agriculture in Brazil, Chinese Malaysians dominate the financial industry in Malaysia [and Indonesia I may add], and Indians dominate retail in Uganda and Kenya.

Each of these results has a distinct reason, none of which include a conspiracy. The case of Jews in the banking sector has its own history dating back to European anti-Semitism that forced Jews into specific industries, among them banking.

Singling out Jews for dominating an industry in the face of minorities dominating others is classic anti-Semitism. It ignores both the history that led to this result and the reality of disproportionate ethnic representation among industries.
Darrell W. Conder's associate and occasional writer on the website, Linda Packer, also repeats this vicious accusation, which is made to demonize Jews and to make us fear them as trying to take over the world, in a particular frightful and horrific commentary published in December, 2009.

Here Linda Packer argues (rather badly) that Jews are over represented in management position over large media companies. This is part of the anti-Semitic accusation that "Jews" control the media.
Have you caught on by now that the 1.5% of Jews in America are rather over-represented at the helms of major media....Are you starting to think now? Are you starting to think about why you are so conditioned? Could it be that a certain ethnic group that controls the media in this country has worked mighty hard over the years to condition you?
This accusation has often been made by anti-Semites against Jews.
For the better part of this century, anti-Semites have alleged that American Jews have conspired with their co-religionists to "control" the motion picture industry in the United States.

The assertion that Jews "control" Hollywood, the media, banking and finance, among other things, is an anti-Semitic canard which dates back more than 70 years to an anti-Jewish campaign waged in the 1920s by the Dearborn Independent, a long-defunct publication backed by the late industrialist Henry Ford Sr. The Dearborn Independent had mounted a seven-year anti-Semitic campaign based on the notorious and [plagiarized fabrication], The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. (Source.)

(Incidently, this is the real reason Conder accuses Jews of controlling Hollywood from its infancy ("Back when Hollywood was in its infancy, Zionists took complete control of the new motion picture industry"-Conder), because he has accepted the Dearborn Independent's hateful accusations that Jews control Hollywood.)

As is common among anti-Semites, Packer makes no consideration of the fact that these persons are individuals pursuing their own separate interests. They act as individuals working for their own companies, which are composed of Jews and Gentiles; not as part of a collective cabal trying to conquer the world.
"Though individual Jews control Hollywood, Jewishness does not." In fact, Hollywood studios are publicly owned corporations and motion pictures are made by the efforts of individual men and women, some of whom are Jewish, many of whom are not....

Generally, Jews involve themselves in non-religious and non-political activity as individuals, not as Jews....In other words, American Jews have as much right as any other citizens of the United States to work in the motion picture business, in the entertainment industry, and in any other legitimate businesses. Moreover, it bears repeating that those Jews who involve themselves in the motion picture industry do so as individuals, not as representatives of their religious group or with an aim to act in some coordinated conspiratorial manner. (Source.)

As mentioned above ethnic disproportionate representation in just about any area of work is a simple reality. Also there have been many Jews who have been quite scathing towards the State of Israel. There is no Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.

The accusation that Jews control Hollywood is simply a lie that anti-Semites have used for almost a hundred years to demonize the Jewish people. Sadly Darrell W. Conder and Linda Packer have chosen to spread this vicious lie.