The Philadelphia Trumpet

The Philadelphia Trumpet is a monthly news and prophecy magazine published by the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG). The editor-in-chief is Gerald Flurry, who is also the leader of the PCG and characterizes the magazine as the successor to The Plain Truth magazine when it was under the aegis of the Worldwide Church of God when run by the late Herbert W. Armstrong. The only advertisements in the magazine are for various pamphlets and booklets published by the PCG, for the Armstrong College Bible Correspondence Course, and a list of broadcast times for The Key of David. The Trumpet reports on worldwide events as seen through the lens of Bible prophecy as taught by the PCG.

After Armstrong's death in 1986 the WCG repudiated essentially all his teachings, shocking both members and observers, and driving loyal members into numerous newly forming splinter groups collectively known as the Sabbatarian Churches of God (COG). PCG is one of the larger of those many new churches. A large number of these other churches also make the claim that they are carrying on the Armstrong's work, with several, like the PCG, claiming that their magazine is the successor to The Plain Truth.

The magazine has occasional claims of political neutrality (for example, the October 2004 issue stated "Neither George W. Bush nor John Kerry can promise ." Occasionally the Trumpet has articles on certain issues not tied to specific current events (for example, pornography, the weakening of the traditional family unit, or the paganism of Easter).

Although PCG leader Gerald Flurry emphasizes his similarities with Armstrong, even claiming to be Armstrong's spiritual successor, he has quietly made many doctrinal changes to Armstrong's teachings, particularly in the area of prophecy and the function and authority of prophets in the New Testament church. (See Gerald Flurry, and the original edition of Mystery of the Ages, p. 244-5, p. 350). Flurry claims to be "That Prophet" (Who is That Prophet?), a title that the WCG under Armstrong taught referred to Jesus Christ (A Tale of Two Prophets by Jon Hill, p. 9, Deut 18:15-19, Acts 3:22-23, Acts 7:37). Not surprisingly, the Trumpet has a strong prophecy message, even stronger than Armstrong's The Plain Truth. The message of the magazine is a mixture of prophecies taught by Armstrong along with Flurry's prophetic changes and additions.

As of April 2012, the magazine has a circulation of 334,000 worldwide. It is available in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian language editions.

theTrumpet.com website is an online version of The Philadelphia Trumpet