Friday, May 4, 2018

Mark Armstrong: "Evil is Mainstream"

Mark Armstrong, leader of the Intercontinental Church of God, son of Garner Ted Armstrong, grandson of HWA, has released another weekly update (May 4, 2018). In this missive he complains about the increasing acceptance of same sex marriage, accuses the mainstream media of pushing for the removal of his preferred president and allegedly being so mean to him.

No doubt many people devote a lot of time, effort and money to keep the Intercontinental Church of God up and running but somehow none of that gets mentioned here.

Let's see what he has to say.
Greetings from Tyler, 
Interesting how the news tells everybody how and what to think, and then publish polls to vindicate their posture.  The latest is how a plurality of religious people are in favor of so-called gay marriage.  Recently released polls claim that Mormons, one of the slowest religious groups to accept the politically-correct inevitability, have finally come around to embrace the perverse concept. 
Armstrongism has a long and shameful history of demonizing the LGBT community. But nowadays this attitude is becoming harder to sell to the public. Although still prevalent in some quarters hostility to the LGBT community simply does not mobilize people the way it used to do. And Mark Armstrong's complaint reflects that fact.
And you can be confident that the information is accurate, because it's being carried by the mainstream outlets and platforms.  You know, the same ones who laughed off any chance of a Donald Trump presidency as a statistical impossibility.  It will probably be splashed across news programs tonight along with admonitions of how we are a democratic society, and what the majority says goes. 
Actually more Americans voted for Clinton instead of Trump and most polls taken before the election accurately reflected that result. But that failed to take into account the electoral college and Trump won more electoral college votes than Clinton.
From Jews to Muslims to Catholics, they say only evangelicals lag behind 50% approval.  And these are, you know, the staunch religious types.  How hateful and discriminatory would you have to be to be on the wrong side of them?  Besides, 61% of Americans now approve, so there's little argument left.  They've told us what to think, now they're reporting that the vast majority have accepted the premise.
Mark Armstrong seems reluctant to believe that polls accurately record the views of society in general. Polls are cast as part of some sort of massive conspiracy to discredit Mark Armstrong's views.

He now turns to his favorite topic: defending his preferred president.
But that won't be the lead story.  That could easily be a replay from today's date one year ago, with minor updates.  Tense excitement over the president's impending indictment or impeachment over any number of his exaggerations, contradictions, denials, or false statements will take top billing.  And yes, they have poll results to prove that the president's popularity is deep underwater with all but undereducated hicks in flyover country, his base, having long-since demanded his removal from office.  Not because of any specific malfeasance, but because he is…  Well, tune in to the mainstream outlets any day of the week and you can insert paragraphs of brutal adjectives.
Mark Armstrong often insists on defending his preferred president in these weekly updates. This time he does even bother to note why many suspect President Trump might be forced out of office, namely suspected collusion with Russian operatives during the election, alleged obstruction of justice to hinder investigation into that topic, and the possibly illegal payment of $130,000 of hush money to one Stephanie Clifford to hide information embarrassing to the president.
Everyone seems to have forgotten the crisis that broke out across the Hawaiian Islands when some incompetent was left in control of the early warning panic button.   You remember how people tearfully said their final goodbyes with only minutes to live, having been warned of incoming nuclear warheads.  The public was already nervous about North Korea's intentions, having demonstrated nuclear detonations and capable missile delivery systems.  A panic like that might not kill you but couldn't be good for longevity. 
Mark Armstrong brings this matter up to discredit those who criticize his preferred president.
It was an honest mistake, a simple error.  As you were.  Move along.  The excitement was just an accidental drill.  One that the victims will never, ever forget.  Everybody fell for it because they'd been primed to believe that President Trump's flippant insults and threats of “fire and fury” would touch off a worldwide nuclear holocaust.  You probably heard the frightening analysis too.  “He's a madman,” (not Kim Jong-un, but Trump).  Not only those in Hawaii, but around the world had been treated to frightening prospect of nuclear World War, and it was mostly the fault of the American president, so said the experts.  And the worst part?  He didn't even care!  His boundless ego was so out of control that he was willing to see the world go up in flames without conscience. 
How dare people not give full support to Mark Armstrong's preferred president even if people happen to be sincerely afraid that a few harsh words just might provoke a war with North Korea.

Mark Armstrong then complains that not enough attention is being given to events he implies would present his preferred president in a positive manner.
You might think it would be the biggest news since the fall of the Berlin Wall, that North Korea was releasing political prisoners, shutting down nuclear facilities and offering to make peace after 65 years of tense standoff technically maintaining a state of war.  The people in Hawaii wouldn't even break their stride if another false warning went out today.  But that takes a backseat to the ongoing mainstream obsession with the removal and prosecution of you know who. 
Mark Armstrong then scare mongers that society keeps trying to promote views he disapproves of.
How can it be that advocates for every socialist doctrine are our children and grandchildren's teachers, they pretend to report the “news,” and rule over the flow of information.  They're more than a little concerned that they may be temporarily losing ground from a practical standpoint, on issues they'd already celebrated as won.  They're so concerned that former advocates for free speech, when it suited their purpose, are fine with the use of violence and intimidation to silence dissenting voices. 
Instead of addressing alternative points of view instead he scare mongers that "advocates for every socialist doctrine" are trying to teach the children of America into adopting views contrary to Mark Armstrong's liking.

He scare mongers that millions of Americans "now proudly proclaim themselves to be socialist" making his followers fearful.
No doubt we've all been disappointed at the sluggish pace of important news, and there is some, finding its way into the consciousness of the masses.  But deception, false predictions and hopeful speculation regarding the president's imminent demise dominate the information landscape.  Masks have been discarded.  Millions now proudly proclaim themselves to be socialist, and as we just learned this week it's another explanation for “What Happened.”
He scare mongers that the constitution may be destroyed, presumably by this massive conspiracy against his preferred president, and then simply wishes "a great Sabbath" to his followers without offering any solution to the issues he presents to them.
The legacy of the past eight years may have been all but completely dismantled, but we don't yet know whether the Constitution survives.  Tremendous damage has been done.  It's plain to see that the standards on which all law is based have been rejected out of hand by the institutions that mold society.  Good is evil, so, so evil.  Evil is mainstream, and you stay behind at your own peril.  That's where we are, and it's downright comforting!  
Have a great Sabbath.    
Mark
And somehow his followers will still send send tithes to someone who writes like this.

2 comments:

  1. No matter what kind of week it's been, Mark never disappoints in making it a bad one!
    Reminding us of the false alarm in Hawaii, he failed to mention the real disaster of the Kiauea eruption. Unlike other COGleaders, Mark fails to bring in "prophetic significance" to anything, and unlike his predecessors, fails to tell everyone how all these problems will go away in The World Tomorrow...

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  2. Mark has a rude awakening coming, basically because he has no clue what his preferred president is bringing on.

    Indelibly etched lessons from the failed Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 have apparently been totally missed by both Mark and our president. Repercussions from this act were a large factor in the length and depth of the Great Depression, not only in the USA, but also in Europe.

    Two factors have been responsible for the loss of manufacturing jobs in the US within the past several decades. One has been automation. I work closely with the manufacturing sector, and have observed first-hand the many ways in which the control of machinery has been taken over by computers. Many of the machines which I now sell and service are semi-unattended. One publisher with whom I closely work has two digital presses, a slitter-cutter-creaser, a creaser, a guillotine paper cutter, and a booklet-maker. Because of computer controls, one person operates all of these simultaneously, programming them, feeding them, clearing the occasional jam, and refreshing spent supplies. In the old analog days, at least five workers would have been required to maintain the same level of productivity. And, automation is continuing to advance. Much is being done with Job Defined Formatting (JDF) and robotics. The fact is, automation will continue to shrink the work force in coming years.

    Yes, manufacturing jobs have gone overseas. However, countries such as China and India are also heavily invested in automation, arguably, even moreso than the US. Ultimately, their work forces in manufacturing will also shrink.

    These trends have the potential to reverse Keynsian economics at a time when the only thing that could resuscitate manufacturing would be the creation of even more middle class consumer bases. (Paying workers sufficiently so that they could afford the products which they produced was the premise on which Keynsian economics was based).

    Tariffs and trade war are exactly the wrong policy for an era of radically changing technology and a contracting international work force. Tariffs always bring retaliation as nations act to protect their own economic interests and stability.

    There may come a time when Mark is forced to rethink his admiration for a president who takes the shallow-thinking tough guy approach. Basically, the Donald is picking a fight, a fight in which all will be injured, and nobody will win. But, then again, that has also always been the Armstrong way.

    BB

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