In the latest edition of The Philadelphia Trumpet magazine (April 2024), Stephen Flurry and Andrew Miller have an article titled Lawlessness by Design: The radical Obama-Biden regime is creating chaos at the southern border to provoke a civil war. The article castigates the Biden Administration for the crisis at the U.S. - Mexican border (this despite the fact that Trump ordered congressional Republicans NOT to support a bi-partisan immigration bill which would have provided considerably more resources for law enforcement on the southern border). The same article went on to praise the efforts of Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott to defy the federal government and set up his own border enforcement apparatus.
The authors went on to write that: "This is exactly the kind of dilemma between lawlessness and lawlessness that Joe Biden and, much more so, Barack Obama love to use their power to impose! Biden has compared 'MAGA Republicans' to Islamist terrorists, while Obama has called them bitter people clinging to guns and religion. These leaders do not want to defend conservative Americans from drug cartel agents and Latino socialists. Their goal is to use illegal immigration as a weapon to fundamentally transform America into a socialist nation." Really? Sounds to me like they are parroting right-wing talking points!
And, just in case anyone had any doubts about the Philadelphia Church's political stance, the authors removed all doubt with this statement: "In his July 2021 article 'What Will Happen After Trump Regains Power' (theTrumpet.com/23957), our editor in chief explained that President Donald Trump was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election. He further said that the Bible prophesies Trump’s return to power, yet he 'will have to fight for it. It doesn’t have to be military action, but it certainly could. President Trump could also lead some states to secede from the union.'" In other words, they clearly support Donald Trump's LIE that he was the "real" winner of the 2020 election.
In the same issue, Richard Palmer has an opinion piece titled Burn Down America - to Get Trump? The article decries the fact that Trump is being prosecuted for taking classified documents while Biden is not (even though that decision was made by an independent special counsel). The article goes on to suggest that the woman whom Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting is not credible, and that New York Attorney General Letitia James is just out to get Trump - that there wasn't any real fraud on his part! For Palmer (and the folks in the PCOG), the rule of law is under attack in the United States because Trump is the subject of so many indictments! That is so full of irony that it's not even funny. Indeed, Donald Trump has done more to undermine the rule of law than ANY of his predecessors in the White House!
The Philadelphia Church of God has dropped all pretense of being above the political fray! They are proudly in the thick of the culture wars currently raging within the United States, and they are unapologetically in the bag for Trump and the Republicans. Aren't these folks supposed to be preaching about the Kingdom of God? I wonder if Trump plans on having a rally in Edmond, Oklahoma this year?
I have often wondered if the PCG is supported to a substantial degree by far-right groups with deep pockets. I realize they teach tithing, but PCG is a perfect conduit for radical right-wingers to disseminate their nonsense. Also, I have noticed that they seem obsessed with Barack Obama, even to the point of saying that he is somehow pulling the strings to control the Biden administration. I suspect that level of absurdity is based largely on racism as well as politics. It is beyond me how anyone who claims to be Christian could support a man such as Trump. PCG even had a magazine cover a while back portraying Trump as "ready for war". That is completely irresponsible, as there may well be some nutcase out there with a gun who decides to take things into his own hands and start the war. The ACOG offshoots seem to be no better than all those Protestant evangelicals whom they deride when it comes to judging the charact of Donald Trump. I don't get, but maybe I just expect better from the offshoots. That probably goes back to a rose-colored view of the WCG. Clearly, it was not all rosy.
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