Roy Moore and a Certain Poem

Following the allegations regarding Roy Moore I took a look at his 2005 book, So Help Me God: The Ten Commandments, Judicial Tyranny, and the Battle for Religious Freedom, and saw that the preview of the Kindle version of that book discussed his time as in the Military Police during the Vietnam War in Chapter 2. While reading that section I saw the following passage:

Of course, my real strength was my dependence on God. A poem, found on the body of a dead soldier, has been in my possession all these years. Entitled, "Since I've Met You I'm Not Afraid to Die," it showed this man's dependence on God in the midst of fighting a war. I kept my Bible by my bed and often read its encouraging message, while looking forward to going home!

Curious about this passage I looked up the words "Since I've Met You I'm Not Afraid to Die." Turns out this poem actually dates back to World War II. One source states that it was written by Frances Angermayer in Kansas City on June 3, 1943. According to that source it is entitled "A Soldier's Conversion." Another source states that an interview with Angermeyer is in the November 10, 1957 edition of The Chicago Tribune. That source states the song's title as "Conversion."

But from where did the claim that this poem was found on a soldier's body originate? Turns out there is an account (as may be seen here and here) that says that on April 19, 1944 an American soldier who died fighting Axis forces in Italy was found by a Royal Army Medical Corporal to have had this poem in his possession.

One would have no clue of any of this fascinating background about this poem if one simply read this passage in Moore's book. But perhaps he does vaguely allude to its origin from an earlier era when he states that this soldier was "fighting a war" instead of the same war he was involved in.

PCG on Roy Moore

According to a recent report by The Washington Post has recently reported that the Republican Party's senatorial candidate for Alabama, Roy Moore, initiated a sexual encounter with a 14 year old girl named Leigh Corfman back in 1979. It was also reported that around this time Moore dated three teenagers even though he was in his thirties at the time. One former work colleague, Teresa Jones, has since stated to CNN that it "was common knowledge that [he] dated high school girls, everyone we knew thought it was weird."

In times past he had gained attention after getting into contention with federal judges regarding his placement of the Ten Commandments in Alabama's court house. His contention with federal judges was mentioned twice by PCG's Dennis Leap.

In late August [2003], many news outlets ran a story about the controversy surrounding a 5,300-pound granite monument of the Ten Commandments in the Alabama state judicial building. The monument, which had been placed there by State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore two years earlier, included excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and other historic documents, as well as quotations from James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and other leaders. It featured our national motto: In God We Trust. 

The storm over the monument began when three attorneys, backed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, filed a lawsuit against Judge Moore for unlawfully crossing a constitutional line separating church and state by imposing his own brand of Christianity on the state of Alabama. When Moore placed the monument in the judicial building, he said it depicted “the moral foundations of law” and reflected the “sovereignty of God over the affairs of men.” Moore has been battling to keep it in place since U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson ordered it removed in November 2002. Justice Moore has lost that battle. The monument was moved. ... 

Judge Moore appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and his case was flatly refused—meaning Judge Thompson’s ruling stands. The Supreme Court obviously agrees that our nation cannot acknowledge God! This same Supreme Court said in June of this year that sodomy is a constitutional right. Think about this. For refusing to comply with the court’s order to remove the monument, Judge Moore has been suspended as a judge because of his so-called criminal activities—and yet, sodomy is now a right? What is going on? (Dennis Leap, America’s Judicial Blackout, November 2003.)

*** 

In the latter half of 2003, a lot of publicity was devoted to the furor over Judge Roy Moore’s placement of a huge chunk of granite displaying the Ten Commandments in the Alabama state courthouse. Opposing him were judges, lawyers and leaders of atheist groups. Supporting him were well-known heads of Christian groups. There were marches to get the granite rock out of the state house. There were prayer meetings and candlelight vigils to keep it in public view. The setting was very revealing about how our Western world views the Ten Commandments and God. 

Christopher Hitchens, Oxford graduate and prolific political journalist, wrote this in an article titled “Moore’s Law: The Immorality of the Ten Commandments”: “Judge Roy Moore is clearly, as well as a fool and a publicity hound, a man who identifies the Mount Sinai orders to Moses with a certain interpretation of Protestantism. ...” The article continues in such a similar reproachful manner for all the commandments. It is not our intention to fingerpoint here, but the author obviously holds a hatred of God and established religion. (Dennis Leap, Keys to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, February 2004.)

(The passage above was later included in Dennis Leap's booklet, The Ten Commandments, which was first published in 2005.)

Recently PCG has mentioned Moore in twice in their writings. Once after he gained the Republican nomination to run for a seat in the Senate.

Stephen Flurry discusses the repercussions of the German elections and the coalition that German Chancellor Angela Merkel may not be able to form. Also on today’s program: Israel’s worry over the rise of the far right in Germany, Roy Moore’s Senate victory in Alabama, and what inequality and injustice looks like from a global perspective. (September 27, 2017.)

He is mentioned again in a brief mention of the frightening allegations.

Today’s sexual harassment revelations and accusations have been aimed at ... Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore, who allegedly pursued relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s, nearly four decades ago. (Joel Hilliker, Sex Scandals: A Glaring Lesson People Are Missing, November 10, 2017.)

He who wishes to a senator for Alabama portrayed himself as being so devoted to God and yet he is said to have behaved in a sexual manner with an underage, 14 year old girl.

LCG on Roy Moore

According to a recent report by The Washington Post has recently reported that the Republican Party's senatorial candidate for Alabama, Roy Moore, initiated a sexual encounter with a 14 year old girl named Leigh Corfman back in 1979. It was also reported that around this time Moore dated three teenagers even though he was in his thirties at the time. One former work colleague, Teresa Jones, has since stated to CNN that it "was common knowledge that [he] dated high school girls, everyone we knew thought it was weird."

In times past he had gained attention after getting into contention with federal judges regarding his placement of the Ten Commandments in Alabama's court house. His contention with federal judges was mentioned three times within LCG's writings in articles by Mark Mendiola, John Ogwyn and Richard A. Wilson. Twice LCG's writers mentioned him to condemn the increasing acceptance of the LGBT community within American society.

A century ago, who would have predicted that a jurist would be prohibited from displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom? Yet Alabama judge Roy Moore has incurred the secularists’ wrath by doing so. (Mark Mendiola, Who's Winning the Culture War? July-September 1999.) 

*** 

Israel of old was told that the promised land had "vomited out" the nations that were there before them because of such perversions (v. 28) and that if they did likewise, the same results would follow. In 21st century America, it is considered acceptable for a judge who refuses to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom to be tossed from the bench, as was Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court. Yet, on the other hand, the media labels as "progressive" and "courageous" those magistrates who perform "marriages" between homosexuals and lesbians! Such an incredibly upside-down situation would have been unimaginable even a generation ago. (John Ogwyn, Will the Terrorists Win?, July-August 2004.) 

*** 

Three weeks ago, on a Saturday night, I attended a "special" public forum on the campus of William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, where the main speaker for the evening was the former Supreme Court Justice of Alabama, the honorable Roy Stewart Moore. 

Justice Moore, as you might remember, was removed from his office as Supreme Court Chief Justice on November 13, 2003 because of his refusal to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse despite orders to do so from a federal judge. It became a national story in 2003. 

Moore's supporters regard his stand as a defense of "judicial rights" and the Constitution of Alabama. Moore continues to contend that federal judges who ruled against his actions consider "obedience of a court order superior to all other concerns, even the suppression of belief in the sovereignty of God." (Richard A. Wilson, Liberal Judge's Backlash, November 18, 2010.)

Back then it was not publicly known what he had done in his earlier days.

The Futility of Denying the Watergate Scandal

Speaking of the Watergate, one wonders why PCG's writers, who seem to think President Nixon was too harshly treated during the Watergate scandal, have left unmentioned the infamous "Canuck letter" that helped to sabotage the Democratic candidate widely thought as the most likely to defeat President Nixon in the 1972 presidential election, namely Senator Edmund Muskie.

As the full dimensions of the Watergate scandal began to be revealed it was learnt that the Nixon campaign had sabotaged Senator Muskie's campaign by producing a letter that purported to reveal that he harbored prejudice against Americans of French-Canadian descent. Partly in response to the publication of this false letter the Senator led a protest against the paper that published the letter. While speaking at the rally it was reported that he had cried. Some dispute this assertion. But regardless of what actually happened the allegation caused Muskie's campaign to lose momentum and eventually he was unable to gain the Democratic Party's nomination.

Since PCG's leaders seem to think that the Watergate scandal was overblown one wonders what they would say about operatives of the Nixon campaign bearing false witness to the public by producing a letter that falsely besmirched the character of Senator Muskie. So far PCG's leaders have never specifically mentioned this aspect of the Watergate scandal.

PCG's Attempted Rehabilitation of Nixon's Role in the Watergate Scandal

Recently I finished reading The Haldeman Diaries by H. R. Haldeman, President Nixon's chief of staff in 1969-73.

While he was chief of staff Haldeman kept a diary detailing what happened from when he started in January 1969 until he resigned due to the Watergate scandal in April 1973. It is an intriguing portrayal of events within the White House under President Nixon.

I was quite taken aback at just how crippling the Watergate scandal was from March 1973 onward. The Watergate scandal is mentioned from when it first reached public knowledge after the break in at the Watergate Hotel and yet at first the narrative presented it as merely a problem, not the problem. But in early March 1973 the situation escalated and the White House found itself caught by the scandal spending long meetings with lawyers or other persons desperately trying to navigate their way around the taint of association with the scandal and finding no way out.

Every now and then since the January 2016 issue of their recruitment magazine PCG's 1% have tried to rehabilitate Nixon from the shame of the Watergate scandal. One example of this as may be seen below.

There is a lot of evidence exposing the Communists’ deliberate effort to get inside the Democratic Party. Like Paul Kengor wrote, they wanted to transform it “from the party of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy to the party of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.” 

A book published in 2015 ... documents how President Richard Nixon worked to prevent this from happening. He was part of the effort to convict Alger Hiss, a Communist spy who worked in the U.S. State Department. For that, Nixon became a target among those on the radical left. History shows that the way Nixon was prosecuted involved law-breaking and lawlessness far more scandalous than what he himself had to resign the presidency over. (Joel Hilliker, How Did Socialism Become So Popular in America?, April 24, 2017.)

This train of thought is seen again in the passage below.

The major media are working to bring down President Trump. In one way, it is like Watergate. The real scandal then, however, was not what happened at the Watergate Hotel, but the series of lawless moves taken by Nixon’s persecutors to bring him down. .... we discuss the long-lasting effect the real Watergate scandal has had on America. (May 17, 2017.)

Well, after reading The Haldeman Diaries it should be stated that Alger Hiss is mentioned a few times in it but never as a cause of the investigations concerning the Watergate scandal. Instead Haldeman states in this book that Nixon would at times recall the hard work he went through during the Alger Hiss trial to inspire his staff to work hard. But Hiss is not mentioned as somehow causing the investigations about the scandal in this book.

At one point John Dan is quoted as saying the real problem was the cover up to prevent people knowing that the Watergate Seven were connected to the White House as during the course of the cover criminal acts such as lying to investigators and destroying potential criminal evidence occurred. The cover up had to be investigated.

Another thing to mention is that among the political right is this story that the sexual revolution was the work of the Frankfurt School led by Herbert Marcuse who devised cultural Marxism to bring it to fruition. There is no mention of Marcuse, the Frankfurt School or cultural Marxisn in this book. Little surprise there since that idea only began to spread within the political right in the 1990s.

ICG's Mark Armstrong Vilifies Clinton Again to Discredit Trump-Russia Investigation

With the news that Special Prosecutor Mueller has presented a sealed indictment as part of the investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia certain Republicans have brought up the allegations regarding uranium and the Clinton Foundation. Mark Armstrong also brings this matter up in his latest weekly update (October 27, 2017).

First he begins by citing events and trends he does not like and presents it as a simple story of the the political left engaged in some sort of sinister conspiracy to bring about "the destruction of Western culture". He insists that "every imaginable left-wing cause" is part of this alleged threat.

For years we’ve been outlining the destruction of Western culture in these weekly updates, particularly in Europe and specifically here in the United States.  It appeared to be intentional sabotage of nearly all our governmental agencies, pushing for open borders, for unlimited importation of refugees, unimpeded abortion rights, homosexual marriage, trans-genders in the military and every imaginable left-wing cause.  Every governmental agency appeared complicit in this agenda, from the IRS going after conservative organizations, to the FBI lying and covering up everything from the Fast and Furious scandal to the State Department, the CIA and Benghazi.  The list is endless, and we’ve noted discrepancies between reality and the media narrative all along the way believing that it was over.

Reading this passage I cannot help but be reminded of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Back around 1898 the Tsarist secret service created a narrative of hate that presented all sorts of trends and problems as being part of a sinister conspiracy to destroy society and take it over. This narrative was created in response to the increasing difficulty of justifying the inequitable and authoritarian state of society. To prop up Tsarism scapegoats were presented by certain interests with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo to blunt the widespread calls for reforms. This narrative insisted that elements of the sinister conspiracy included the destruction of Christianity, the promotion of pornography, manipulation of the government, control of the press, etc.

But the subject of condemnation was different. Whereas Mark Armstrong condemns the political left in general this narrative of the Tsarist secret service accused one particular community, namely the Jewish community, of leading this sinister conspiracy. The accusation was complete nonsense but it would cause much pain and suffering to defamed and innocent people.

The world is complicated and confusing. It can be comforting to listen to someone who says he or she is sure about what the real problem is.

He insists gay rights, high immigration and integrating Muslims as threats to his audience.

It seemed that there would be no going back.  The American Congress, all the federal agencies, nearly all the educational institutions and major corporations seemed fully invested in a whole new set of “American values,” which enshrined gay rights, unlimited immigration, and particularly Muslim rights as somehow critical to America’s survival.  Our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights seemed minor impediments to the last administration, small hurdles which were overcome by the former president’s pen and phone. 

Being right wing in regards to politics he exults in Trump's electoral vote victory last year. Criticism of his administration is explained away by blaming the media. Widespread suspicions about alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia is presented as an attempt by the media to explain away Trump's electoral vote victory.

The mainstream media has convulsed with thinly veiled outrage at the surprising election of President Donald Trump.  It must have been a mistake!  A fluke of some kind.  It couldn’t possibly have happened unless there were outside interference, such as a secret Russian plot in collusion with the Trump campaign to undermine the ascension of Hillary Clinton to her rightful position as the first female president of the United States.  You don’t need a reiteration of how it has all played out, you’ve been living it!

Criticism of President Trump is explained away as attacks by a supposedly left wing dominated media.

The mainstream media has been pushing the narrative, at a fever pitch, constantly, for the past eight or nine months.  Trump takes orders from Putin… He’s unfit, unhinged, emotionally volatile, rude, uncaring, un-presidential, and of course he’s a racist bigot who’s populated the White House with a bunch of white supremacists!  The accusations are legion, and they haven’t slowed in the slightest, even though the lid has been blown off the mainstream narrative over the past week or so, and it will only get worse.

He insists to his audience that the Steele Dossier can be ignored even though it was initially sponsored by a Republican rival to Trump.

It’s beginning to look like the whole “Russian Collusion” scandal was instigated by the Clinton campaign to affect the election’s outcome.  Many of the charges contained in the infamous “dossier” were easily debunked, and therefore not published (by an NBC subsidiary) until after Trump was inaugurated.  But, the whole world learned this week that the spurious accusations provided by current and former officials of the Kremlin, were purchased by agents of the Clinton campaign.  It was a bomb-shell that has the expert panels on the national networks shouting, squirming miserably, and trying to get to the next commercial break without a meltdown. 

Clinton lost the election in 2016. Mark Armstrong's preferred candidate sits in the White House.  Robert Mueller has issued his first indictment in the investigation in the Trump-Russia scandal. But Mark Armstrong insists to his audience that the real collusion with Russia was by Clinton.

The smirks, flirts and pouts have turned to confused deer in the headlights.  Anchors don’t seem to understand or comprehend the news of Russian bribery, exported uranium or the tens of millions of dollars routed through third countries into the Clinton foundation.  They still insist that the REAL investigation is Russia/Trump collusion, even in the face of a tidal wave of evidence blowing them right off their stools.  Some of the networks are still ignoring the bombshells exploding in their faces.  It may take another week or two before they’re forced to report the news, and it blows their entire past year’s investment in subterfuge to bits. 

As part of simplifying events he presents the Steele Dossier as a pretext for the investigation. The possibility that it is an honest attempt to investigatin allegations of possibly criminal acts is ignored.

It looks like the false Russian-inspired “dossier” may have been used to acquire warrants to tap phones and spy on the activities of private citizens, some of whom were employed by the Trump campaign.  The “dossier” may also have been used to justify the massive investigation that is under-way, the one many at the news anchor desks were sure would put an end to the Trump presidency. 

He insinuates that various investigators are tainted by the deal concerning uranium with a Russian company.

Instead, the top investigators (Comey, Mueller, Rosenstein, McCabe) and intelligence agency bosses (Clapper, Brennan) appear to have been privy to the bribery and corruption that handed the Kremlin 20% of U. S. uranium reserves, and yet allowed it to happen without notifying Congress or the American public.  Talk about the foxes guarding the hen house!

It must be stated that Comey is not one of the investigators.

He then cites Proverbs and enjoys the possibility that those investigating his preferred president are somehow guilty.

Isn’t it just perfect that those pointing the finger, promoting dark suspicions and reaching conclusions of criminality may themselves be guilty of the very crimes of which they were accusing others?

Clearly the paranoid style is alive and well in the offices of this particular organization. No good can come from this. Unlike the COGs I make no claims to know the future but it is clear that it is not good for just insist that people one does not like can be ignored. We should learn from a variety of sources and not be afraid to confront issues that we may not wish exist.

Mark Armstrong Blaming Fires in California on Undocumented Immigrant

After the Armstrongite yearly conference Mark Armstrong, leader of the Intercontinental Church of God, is back to authoring his strange, misanthropic weekly updates (October 20, 2017). This time he condemns the mainstream media for not agreeing with the politically charged rumor, largely assumed to be untrue, that an undocumented immigrant started the fires in California.

It has long been a common practice among the COGs to state that some sort of disaster had occurred near them but it did not directly affect them. This is assumed to be some sort of divine favor. Mark Armstrong continues that practice here.

Thanks to all who contributed to making the 2017 Feast of Tabernacles a joyous occasion from coast to coast.  Our site in Panama City Beach dodged a hurricane that might have ruined everything, but came to shore well to the west as a weakened storm, only bringing rain and some wind gusts to our site. ... The last day of the Feast (preceding the Last Great Day) at Lake Tahoe, we emerged from the morning service to see that the entire basin had filled with smoke. ... The smoke that inundated Lake Tahoe that afternoon came from two fires nearer by, and not the horrific blazes that ... took 40 some lives in Sonoma County.

The world has watched in horror at the wildfires that have ravaged parts of California including Sonoma County. And how has Mark Armstrong reacted to this crisis? Cite a rumor to scare monger about undocumented immigrants.

Did California really, "Set itself on Fire"?  That's what one headline (out of the mainstream, found at the gatesofvienna.net) reads, the story indicating that an illegal alien living under a bridge in Sonoma is the chief suspect in at least some of the fires that caused more than a billion dollars in damages and killed at least forty people.

The Gates of Vienna blog's name alludes to the Siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Empire in 1683 and it portrays itself as a continuation of that struggle. It spends a lot of its time scare mongering about Muslims. (Incidentally this Gates of Vienna blog gained infamy for being cited 86 times in a certain manifesto.)

But Mark Armstrong complains that mainstream media sources are not impressed with this rumor. The possibility that they may be right is not considered.

Contrast that with the headline in the LA Times, "Sonoma homeless man accused of arson, but no link so far to massive wine country wildfires."  It tells of the diminutive "homeless man" zipping around on a small bicycle, occasionally lighting brushfires, and caught by police after lighting a fire Sunday along a creek at a park.  But the Sonoma County Sheriff is on the job, tamping down speculation that the "homeless man" had anything to do with the raging fires that have destroyed so many lives in his district.

The Sonoma County Sherriff's warning about this rumor is not enough to prevent Mark Armstrong from using this rumor to scare monger about undocumented immigrants and to vilify sanctuary cities.

The "homeless man" is a twice deported illegal alien, who has been released on his own recognizance repeatedly (five arrests in the past year alone) despite an ICE detainer which would have meant his deportation, were California and Sonoma County not committed to sanctuary policies.  You don't suppose there would be any legal liability connected to his repeated release in the event that he is proven responsible for the blazes that destroyed the lives of so many citizens?

In the paragraph above he provides two links to the far right, Mercer funded Breitbart media outlet.

He then muses of his desire for the mainstream media to somehow fall by the information he alleges are being suppressed by them.

Likely, the mainstream media will turn a blind eye, if it's remotely possible, and never report a story so damaging to its beloved diversity dogma.  There are a series of bombshells that the dominant media is straddling, many of which would blow the news narrative of the past year sky high, along with the reputations of the organizations themselves and their ever-so-diverse anchors and reporters.  Not only that, but key players in the former administration will be implicated, assuming there is anything left of truth or justice in America's most respected institutions.

He insists that "much of what passes for news is not."

Sorting the truth from fiction has become a full-time job for anyone who tries to understand what on earth is going on.  We all know, from recent years of painful experience, that much of what passes for news is not.  The truth, meanwhile, if it should damage any of the heroes of politically correct dogma, is not even known to those who purport to be "America's most trusted source..."

He fantacizes of the possibility of the mainstream media being "run over by the very stories they refused to acknowledge". Whatever that means.

We'll have to wait and see if the awful truth will ever be acknowledged by those who purport to report it, for now.  Hopefully, it will become widely known in spite of every conceivable effort to deflect, falsely accuse and endlessly speculate.  We know that everything hidden will eventually be brought to light, but wouldn't it be nice if the mainstream media got run over by the very stories they refused to acknowledge?

He seems to imply that this alleged suppression of this rumor of an undocumented immigrant setting the fire to be "one of the greatest dangers" facing the United States.

This is a time fraught with dangers ranging from international rogue regimes like North Korea and Iran, fielding ICBM's and working to perfect nuclear weapons; to terrorists that have been planted throughout the western world and pose a continuous threat.  But one of the greatest dangers, and perhaps the one that is tearing at the fabric of the United States and other western countries, is the deception to which the news media is wholly committed.  It may well be another sign of the times in which we are living.

What hatred and loathing must exists in his heart that his response to these terrible fires in California is to blame it on an undocumented immigrant and vilify the news media for not blindly accepting this politically charged rumor.

The post is available until Friday.

Guardian: No New Intifada Expected in Jerusalem

The Guardian has released a report meditating on the tragic divides within Jerusalem. (Hannah Ellis-Petersen, 'Fear is a fact of life': the rooftop view of Jerusalem, The Guardian, October 23, 2017.)

The article is well worth reading. Near the end it is stated that the consensus is that no new intifada is likely to occur at present.

While the current consensus is that another intifada is unlikely anytime soon, Alami says the tensions of the city are palpable. 

Will anyone in the COGs bother to mention this information to their followers?

May peace soon come to the Holy Land.

Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, Allies or Adversaries? A Unique Alliance Imperiled (2001)

The twelfth issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (January-February 2001), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "Allies or Adversaries? A Unique Alliance Imperiled." (pp. 20-24.) This was the tenth of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here Mendiola discusses relations between the United States and Britain to scare monger that these nations would soon endure military subjugation by a future European power.

Mendiola talks of the United States as being created miraculously linking respect for the sacrifices of the American revolutionaries with his religion.

Through a series of obvious miracles and decisive victories, Americans were able to defeat the red-coated British troops, overcoming incredible odds and predictions of imminent defeat. Following British General Charles Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, Va., in October 1781, British regimental bands appropriately played the tune—“The World Turned Upside Down.” Indeed, it was! (p. 21.)

He talks of the current friendly relations between the United States and Britain despite the history of war during the founding of the United States.

Despite what British officials considered brazen armed rebellion against royal authority, the two nations since developed a fraternal closeness unparalleled in history. That affinity has flared to prominence during times of crisis, when, invariably, Britain and the United States have come to each other’s defense like brothers. (p. 21.)

He insists that the political power of the United States and Britain is to be explained by their ancestry.

The extraordinary surge of the United States and British Commonwealth to economic and military global preeminence during the 1800s and 1900s can be explained by understanding their ancestral origins. (p. 21.)

But both nations also contain many peoples who happen to have no such blood relationship with those claimed to be modern Israelites among the Americans and the British. This problem is conveniently overlooked. Also other factors contributing to their political power are marginalized.

The United States and Britain have fulfilled remarkably God’s promise that Ephraim would develop into a multitude (a company, group or commonwealth) of nations, and Manasseh into a great superpower. History confirms unmistakably this incredible fulfillment. Collectively, the United States and Britain are modern Israel, and have been a blessing to people of all races, backgrounds and nationalities, as God promised, helping maintain peace, prosperity and civility throughout the world. (p. 22.)

Problems associated with territorial expansion of these nations are ignored. Due to the tragic fact that the Native Americans had no immunity to numerous diseases that existed among Europeans many Native Americans were killed by introduced diseases that reduced their population and rendered them unable to prevent being conquered by Europeans. Were these mass epidemics part of (LCG's) God's alleged miraculous fulfillment of this promise to Abraham as interpreted by British Israelism?

Also the conquest and dispossession of the Native American peoples are overlooked. The British Empire expanded by conquering the peoples of the territories upon which it expanded. Africans were abducted from the continent and kept as slaves in parts of the United States. These problems tend to be ignored among the Armstrongite COGs in favor of the discredited dogma of British Israelism.

Chronologically, the British Empire reached its zenith before the United States achieved its ascendancy, but just as the sun has set on that once-proud empire, the United States is now in decline, giving way to an empire forming on the European continent. ... Britain’s decline, from the most powerful nation in the world to a small offshore European island, was as swift as the rise of the United States. (p. 22.)

But why did the British Empire end? It is often assumed in COG writings that (their) God just ended it but this ignores what really happened. One of many reasons why it collapsed was that the colonized peoples could no longer believe in its claimed legitimacy. As the colonized peoples ruled over the British Empire gained more education and learned more about their colonial rulers they perceived that there was no kind of superiority that entitled the British to rule over the colonized peoples. Once a critical mass of the colonized peoples perceived this fact British colonial rule became nonviable and eventually the British government cut their losses and granted independent to the colonies in response to the widespread calls for independence. De-colonization was, among other things, a pragmatic concession to the fact that British colonial rule could no longer justify itself to the colonized.

Mendiola then talks of the various aligned interests between the United States and Britain in the 20th Century. But since this is an Armstrongite publication Mendiola then scare mongers that a future European Empire threatens Britain and the United States. He also stirs up crude sectarian hostilities by presenting this threat as part of a wider clash between Protestants and Catholics.

Since King Henry VIII’s split with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, the British defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, British-descended nations have been bastions of Protestantism, most directly challenging Catholic religious supremacy throughout Europe and the western world. 

Just as the 20th century has been called the American century, the 19th century was the British century. As we enter the 21st century, the international dominance of those primarily Protestant peoples is being challenged by a resurgent Roman Catholic Europe, which for centuries has been at odds with British and American interests. (p. 23.)

HWA and many of the COG splinter groups teach that in the near future a European Empire will arise and militarily conquer the United States and Britain.

Mendiola then presents Britain as facing a choice aligning its political interests with the United States or the European Union. Note the crass appeal to anti-Catholic paranoia.

Queen Elizabeth II swore at her 1953 coronation “to govern the peoples of the United Kingdom according to their laws and customs” and “to maintain the Protestant Reformed religion established by law.” [A eurosceptic author] points out these pledges are being negated by Britain’s deeper integration with the European Union. Relations between the Vatican and London have become increasingly close in recent decades. (p. 23.)

He then scare mongers that the Britain under Prime Minister Blair was aligning itself with the European Union by helping to place some of the British armed forces under the command of the European Union. This claim is somewhat unusual among the COGs as they tend to assume that Britain and the United States will remain aligned with each until both nations are conquered by the future European Empire.

[Margaret] Thatcher has exchanged sharp words with Blair over the direction Britain should take. She favors maintaining a close relationship with the U.S., while he supports a pro-European course. Baroness Thatcher denounced Blair’s decision to commit troops to a European rapid deployment force apart from the U.S.-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has maintained peace in Europe for more than 50 years. She called it “monumental folly.” (p. 24.)

He scare mongers that British military personnel would be propping up the European Union and would be dominated by Germany.

The European Union hopes to have 60,000 ground troops ready for deployment by 2003. British troops would account for about 20 percent of that force and would bear the EU’s 12-star insignia on their uniforms and vehicles. Ultimately, the force would have at its disposal more than 100,000 troops and some 400 aircraft and 100 ships ready to respond to crises. It would be dominated by Germany, whose militaristic past has thrust it into armed conflict with Britain and the United States in two devastating world wars. (p. 24.)

It is so strange how the COGs keep living as though we are in 1938 and not today. After World War II the United States placed military bases in West Germany and those military bases are still stationed there. How could a future German government possibly conspire to militarily conquer the United States if there are US military bases within German territory? But the COGs choose to just let HWA's dogmatic statements do the thinking for them.

The future of that historic fraternal relationship—that “grand alliance” [between the United States and Britain]—will be tested to the extreme in the years ahead.

Since the 1930s HWA and his imitators have constantly insisted that catastrophe would soon occur in the United States. Often (though not always) they have insisted that Germans would be the main perpetrators of this future military conquest. And always this dire threat has always failed miserably.

In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock.

Alternative For Germany Deputy Leader Said "Islam Does Not Belong to Germany"

Recently the COGs have been scare mongering about the Alternative for Germany party as a sign that the far right is on the rise in Germany. By chance I listened to an interview on BBC Hardtalk with Beatrix Von Storch, the deputy leader of the Alternative for Germany party. I found myself not particularly impressed with this party.

In one part she said that "Islam does not belong to Germany" claiming that "Islam" is plotting to impose Sharia law upon German society. This claim of Muslims in general plotting to impose Sharia law is a misconception common among Islamophobic demagogues. 

In real life many Turks moved to Germany after World War II to work as part of the reconstruction of West Germany. There have been many Muslims in Germany for decades and it sounds so strange to say a politician like Von Storch to say such a thing.