Intercontinental Church of God

12 March 2010

Greetings from Tyler,

If you’re following the “healthcare debate,” you know that this is “crunch time” for America. In the face of numerous setbacks and opposition from a majority of Americans, the party in power has demonstrated its willingness to engage in numerous forms of coercion to try to squeak this monstrosity through the Senate and House, even by the slimmest margin. Our government has determined that Americans just don’t know what’s good for the country and must be dragged, kicking and screaming, under the authority of a two or three thousand page law that ultimately will put government agencies in charge of every medical decision. That much we know. As for the rest of what may be contained in the monstrous decree, well, we’ve been told that they’ll just have to get it passed so we can find out! That bizarre statement from the Speaker of the House herself.

The threat of a complete “transformation” of the country was absolutely real. Our government has taken legal and financial control of banks, brokerage, and insurance companies, automakers and apparently, barring divine intervention will now dictate healthcare decisions to doctors, hospitals and patients. We’re about to enter a phase of socialism that may well eclipse everything that has doomed Europe to decades of stagnation.

Meanwhile, the solution to the massive, incalculable debt that is being created is to continue spending wildly on every imaginable non-essential cause. Our very system of checks and balances is being upset and circumvented by a cadre of dedicated radicals who’ve maneuvered their way into power, and are now using their clout to undermine the basis for our God-ordained freedom and prosperity. Can anything or anybody stop the destruction of America? Only God has the power to preserve our nation. We may not be many, but our prayers can certainly have a major impact, as the Bible tells us. This is a crucial time when we should all put this insurmountable set of circumstances in God’s hands and ask for His mercy and intervention.

The last couple of Updates have outlined the economic crisis in Europe, and particularly in Greece where order is breaking down amid strikes, demonstrations and riots over economic issues. Mobs have wrought destruction, burning cars, hurling Molotov cocktails setting fires, clashing with police and trying to storm government offices. Just today, there are reports of 60,000 angry people in the streets, opposing reductions in government spending. This is what happens when a majority of workers are dependant on a debt-ridden government that finally runs out of credit. It is a microcosm of a tack that is being vigorously pursued in these United States.

On another front, have you seen the stories coming out of Europe to do with priests abusing children, and claims that the devil is at work in the Vatican? Maybe Chris can link up these articles to fill in the details, but the gist of it is this. The pope’s brother, George Ratzinger was over a celebrated Catholic boys choir in Germany from 1964 through 1994. Lately, members of that choir have been coming out of the woodwork claiming physical and sexual abuse. You may not have seen this on the nightly news, and so far as I know, it has surfaced nowhere on talk radio. But the scandal is raging in Europe, particularly in Germany, as that is the home of the current pope and this hideous scandal involves a brother with whom the pope is very close. Most of the articles have focused on incidents of “face slapping” and corporal punishment, but that’s not the extent of the complaints. Here in the United States, the Catholic church has spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars settling lawsuits and buying silence so that details of hundreds of abuse incidents would never be made public. That is an undeniable fact. Now the pope’s own brother may be implicated in, at the very least, ignoring similar behaviour in Germany. This could get ugly.

And then there were lots of big stories this week tied to the publication of Memoirs of an Exorcist by Gabriel Amorth, the Vatican’s chief exorcist. He claims to have dealt with 70,000 cases of possession. Some of what he has to say is gruesome (my mom wouldn’t even let me read much of what he reports over the phone). But some of it is important, without getting to details. For instance he says, “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican.” He claims there are “cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon.” He also wrote, “When one speaks of ‘the smoke of Satan’ in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and pedophilia.” That’s it, we simply will not even repeat other hideous references he makes to his encounters with evil. Some things are not healthy to ingest into our minds, but given his acquaintance with evil it is disturbing that even he, a high Vatican official, would warn that the Devil has allies right inside the Vatican. Do you think you’ll see that on the evening news?

Fox News ran a story this week entitled, The Nightmare No One in America Sees Coming. It begins by asking, “Ever heard of Electromagnetic pulse, or EMP? Probably not unless you’re a nuclear weapons expert.” Well, we’ve heard of it. In fact, we were hitting this subject so hard about two years ago that I was advised to give it a rest. The result of an EMP attack over the U.S. would knock out everything electronic. The results would be catastrophic. Fox News suggests that all American electronic grids be “hardened” and that Iran be denied nuclear weapons even if by force. Toward the end of the story we’re admonished, “It’s time we start thinking about the unthinkable.”

There’s been absolutely no progress toward peace in the Middle East, to the contrary. Iran is as defiant as ever and Israel is increasingly nervous, as are we all. But the most important thing to our government seems to be gaining dictatorial control over industry, commerce, energy, you name it. May God help us.

The Garner Ted Armstrong program this week was on death and the resurrection. It brought 636 requests with two hundred eighty first time contacts. Not bad, wouldn’t you say. And that witness and warning continues to alert viewers by the thousands thanks to the commitment and perseverance of so many of you. No thanks is adequate, but thank you all.

Have a good Sabbath day,

Mark Armstrong

Intercontinental Church of God