Mark Armstrong on Negligent Authorities and Abortion

Mark Armstrong, leader of the Intercontinental Church of God, has another weekly update (January 13, 2017). First he discusses the tragic massacre at Fort Lauderdale then he denounces the authorities for not stopping him and other violent individuals. He makes the sensationalist implication that the fear of being labelled racist or bigoted prevented persons from being stopped before committing acts of mass violence.

So, let's see.  The brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon had come to the attention of authorities, having raised a number of red flags, and were deemed to not pose a threat.  The “couple” who shot up the office party in San Bernardino were deemed not to pose a threat, even though they were known to have traveled to and from terrorist havens.  The Orlando nightclub shooter had been under investigation, even interviewed by authorities before they determined that he posed no threat.  Anyone suggesting that any of these murdering half-wits presented a danger to society before they killed people would have been branded a racist and a bigot.

He then condemns certain religious leaders for participating in dedicating a Planned Parenthood facility that had recently opened in Washington, D.C. He uses this information to recite his opposition to abortion. This position is widespread in the COGs and elsewhere so this viewpoint does not provide any reason for a person to join the Intercontinental Church of God since many others also believe the same view.

As shocking as it seems to our sensibilities, a group of “religious leaders” gathered in the nation's Capitol this week to hold a ceremony “blessing” the new $20 million, 27,000 square foot Planned Parenthood abortion facility.  The “clerics” donned religious garb and posed for a group photo at the event where the facility was repeatedly praised as doing “sacred work.”  It was organized by a ridiculous outfit that claims to bring “the moral force of religion to protect and advance reproductive health, choice, rights and justice through education, prophetic witness, pastoral presence and advocacy.” To apply that kind of language, appearing to grant divine sanction to the “service” this facility provides reeks of evil.

But there they are, so called “Christian leaders,” a Rabbi and a couple of Hindu priests, proud as can be.  They even prayed (not sure to whom) for “blessings” on the abortion facility. You'd have thought we would have grown accustomed by now to evil being presented as some lofty moral ideal.  But this one takes the cake, with queer matrimony getting runner up.

He then complains that "the American heartland" and president elect Trump are labelled as racist and bigoted. Reading these words it sounds as though he is complaining about how he thinks he himself and his organization are viewed by others. These words seem designed to stir up resentment among his followers at leftists.

The howls of racism and bigotry aimed at the American heartland and the incoming president are heard in our mainstream media and in the foreign media as well.  They are applied to the abortion argument, as if difficulty in arranging an abortion is tantamount to slavery.  And we've all heard, or been subjected to the almost universally accepted notion that to oppose “gay” anything and everything makes you bigoted.

He expresses hope that the Trump Administration will make society more aligned with his views. Most COGs tend to lean to the right in regards to political matters. I do not condemn them for this but it is important to note this fact since it explains so many of their political stances which may be found in their writings.

Truth is fallen in the streets as never before in the United States.  Evil is paraded as “good,” even as having a “spiritual” and religious component.  We can hope, with a turnaround in governance and hopefully on the panel of the Supreme Court, that we'll see some semblance of sanity going forward.  But it won't be quick and it might well get ugly. 

He then links his topic of condemning abortion with vilifying the acceptance of refugees by the US government. It seems a bit odd linking those two topics together.

Last week's Update showed that there had been about 25 terrorist attacks in the first week of 2017.  The poor, frightened and displaced refugees have been financed, welcomed and given every benefit of the doubt all over Europe, and to a lesser degree the United States.  We've been told time and time again, that it was done out of an obligation to the “poor.”  That's as big a lie as calling what they do at the abortion clinic “sacred work.”  The lies have been so bold, and repeated in the mainstream press so often that they may never be fully exposed, at least not in the present age.

He then mentions at the end of the main narrative his belief that Christ will soon return and make the world right.

Some of us are aware of a time in the future when God will set everything right on this earth, and you can guarantee no one will characterize any heinous sin as “sacred.”

Imagine living in a world in which a man like the author of this weekly update gets to be in charge forever. What a thought.