Notice where Mark Armstrong mentions God in this trainwreck to his few followers. I have highlighted all the times that the director of the church, which supposedly represents God, mentions the sacred dude.
Mark needs to turn in his church leader mantle and go be a reporter for NewsMax, the official go-to source for news that COG prophets and apostles use to frighten their followers.
Greetings from Tyler,
The global humiliation is underway. It was intended as one of those off the cuff, wild exaggerations for humor's sake when this Update suggested we were headed for another escape from Saigon. It's worse. You can access whatever news you will, but it's not good anywhere. It's a disaster we can't and won't imagine. It's off the charts. Pride and honor are a big deal in Middle Eastern culture. We're fresh out. One very worn out top official, (sometimes known as the big guy) who not a month ago adamantly assured the world this wouldn't happen, couldn't be reached for comment. Until he gave a canned speech and explained the situation before darting away. No questions. The ever defensive mainstream press is starting to turn. The events of recent days, and perhaps future days constitute a black eye the U. S. will wear for all eternity. Those in charge have only excuses.
Some images stick with you, and you can no doubt remember some that were so disturbing you can never get them out of your head. We've been treated to several of those this week, things we'd never seen before and couldn't imagine actually happening. One is the military cargo plane completely jammed with Afghans that had scrambled on board. Where are the women and children? They're not anywhere to be seen. We'd also never seen people climbing all over each other up ramps at a departure gate, or the hundreds trying to hitch a ride as the jet taxied to take off. Turns out that flesh and bone are no match for the C-17's hydraulics.
So the fall back position is “it's Trump's fault,” this situation was inherited. That's already the retort, even though the Donald is seething with anger at the way this has been handled. It seems like ISIS got humiliated and wiped off the face of the earth during… Let's see, which president was it? The caliphate was dismantled, remember? Now that the “adults” are back in charge the goat thumpers have made a comeback. Who'd have guessed?
Glenn Beck has to be credited with this. He opened his radio program on Wednesday proclaiming a great triumph for inclusion and diversity. Never in recorded human history has a debacle of this magnitude been pulled off by such a diverse group of people. From the agency heads to the intelligence apparatus and all down the line, the highest priority has been racial equality and multi-gender inclusion. Even the generals have been preaching it. They'd just finished gay pride month at U. S. embassies around the world. They were particularly PROUD that a rainbow flag was flying at the U. S. Embassy at the Vatican, as if they don't have enough trouble in Rome. But in Kabul the U. S. obviously wasn't planning for what would come next. Now thousands are marked for death. Was that part of some deal?
It's been pointed out that the big guy was on the phone congratulating Ft. Worth school board members for standing up against Governor Abbot's ban on mask mandates as Afghanistan fell. We're over here deciding whether we want to re-inhale carbon dioxide while people who cooperated with the United States are hunted down and killed. Mind you, the Taliban are the nicest of terrorists even when chanting death to America according to CNN. You probably saw the scene of the Taliban press conference, delivered from within the presidential palace in Kabul. There were about a dozen head wrapped geniuses with automatic weapons and the combined IQ of a third grader. The organizers? They were in Guantanamo Bay until they were traded along with 5 billion dollars, for traitor Bo Bergdahl. You probably remember who did that. Gay pride parade? Anybody?
Now U. S. allies including those in NATO have important questions about the reliability of the United States. It appears that things are not buttoned up in the way you'd expect of the American military or State Department, which is reportedly in charge of the “evacuation.” Promises have been broken. The world is watching, realizing that the U. S. is inept under current leadership. Whoever planned and carried out the withdrawal of the advisory forces still in Afghanistan needs their heads examined. Whose idea was it to leave all manner of valuable equipment and munitions behind? Word is that the volume of weaponry and vehicles now in the hands of the Taliban is “immense.” When asked what ‘was the plan?’ to keep American weapons from falling into the hands of the Taliban, General Hank Taylor said in a nationally televised press conference that he had no answer to that question. Let's just say we're impressed.
The answer is to give the Taliban a taste of U. S. military capabilities. It's not like we don't have bases all over the Middle East, not counting the eleven that were turned over to the Taliban. But alas, we have the big guy and he's not even writing the script. Biden is taking a beating that more properly belongs to Obama and crew. Never in the annals of history has the American presidency come in for the kind of rebuke delivered on the floor of the House of Commons. America's institutions have been shamed, and deservedly so. It turns out that the British Prime Minister was trying desperately to talk to the big guy, it was urgent. The Brits have people in harm's way, now that the whole of Afghanistan and an unbelievable cache of American weapons have been kindly handed to the terrorists. It would be nice if we could coordinate. Sorry, he can't come to the phone.
If you've not seen the absolute disgust displayed toward the White House on the floor of Britain's House of Commons, you might consider looking it up. Anger arose over helplessness amid the chaos. The fact that allies can't even communicate during an emergency with countless lives in the balance is “shameful,” “dishonourable.” The White House was castigated for taking unilateral (“catastrophic”) action, “throwing us (the British) and everybody else to the fire.” This is not just some diplomatic faux pas, innocent lives are being snuffed out by these inbred bozos and nobody better intervene. Meanwhile we continue to be battered with COVID news and the coming orders. It's like they've been learning from the Taliban, but they can't just shoot us. God sees it all.
Mark
Well, there he is!!!!!!!!!
33 comments:
He is unfortunately correct in much of his writings on this subject. Even in Britain and France they are writing about Biden's bumbling incompetence. It has got to the point that even many of the news services that have tended to try to prop up the Biden administration like CNN & ABC have starting being critical of his actions.
Mark Armstrong makes the other ACOG leaders look like flaming liberals - and that's NOT an easy thing to do. Headline theology (Jeff Reed of CGI has posted another excellent piece on their website about why it is so wrong and harmful) has always been attractive to these folks, but Mark's version is even more explicit and extreme than most of his counterparts. He is obsessed with current events and politics and has never been one to talk much about Jesus Christ and God. Nevertheless, I recently made the case on my own blog that he is the logical evolutionary result of what his grandfather and father preached before him (For those who may be interested, you can view that piece here: https://godcannotbecontained.blogspot.com/2021/08/herbert-and-garner-ted-armstrongs-heir.html
As for Mr. Armstrong's observations about what's going on in Afghanistan, it is interesting to see him and other right wing folks in the position of parroting and supporting the current narrative in the mainstream media! The United States has been in Afghanistan for TWENTY YEARS. The original objective of the war was to get Osama bin Laden and prevent al-Qaeda from using the country as a base of operations for their terrorism. Wasn't that mission accomplished a long time ago? The U.S. has spent TRILLIONS of dollars there, sacrificed the lives of many servicemen and has been building bases and training Afghanis for YEARS; and the corrupt regime which they put in place folded like a deck of cards - almost overnight. How many more years, lives and dollars does Mark (and those who share his views) think that it will take to stabilize that country - to get it right?
To be clear, the situation in Afghanistan is very sad - as it is in many places around the world. The situation there underscores why Christians were instructed by the founder of their religion to pray for God's Kingdom to come to this earth. I wish that Afghanistan wasn't as backward and harsh a place as it is. I wish that the rights, lives and property of its citizens could be better protected (especially those of the women and children); but the United States could not make that happen in 20 years (and it's doubtful that we could do it in another 20)! Biden is the fourth U.S. president to oversee this war, and he is carrying out the withdrawal that his immediate predecessor (Trump) set in motion. There is no doubt in my mind that our withdrawal could have been conducted with greater competence, grace and finesse; but it seems to this commentator that the decision to leave there was the right one.
I don't think this is a religious subject, but Biden destroyed the hope and future of millions who preferred a more moderate version of Islam.
Millions of people in Venezuela have been able to flee a tyrannical government that has no clue how to run a country.
If the USA would have provided a way for millions of Afghanis to leave before handing it over to the Taliban, then it would have had a much better outcome.
It has been out of the frying pan (Trump) and into the fire (Biden).
Lets hope both major parties start using a better way to select presidential candidates.
There is a history behind COG headline theology.
Once upon a time, a program like Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh talk radio or tv, would not be allowed on media. There was what was called the FAIRNESS ACT , starting in the late 40s, that required equal time for opposing viewpoints. This was repealed in the 1980s and gave rise to talk radio.
So thus, in the heyday of GTA/HWA there was a void to be filled for talk radio commentary. With daily broadcasting , the Armstrongs filled the void for political commentary and news analysis. They were the Rush Limbaugh of their time, with virtually no completion.
In the late 1950s, the IRS came down on the church , wanting to deny the tax exempt status of the church, under the auspices of that it was offering political commentary. A young Stan Rader went to Washington DC and created a faustian compromise to them. 1) The church would not allow for voting amongst its members, nor specifically endorse a candidate 2) They would regularly publish and promote that people should pay their taxes to the government.
They were granted the exemption, and Stan Rader grew to prominence because of this achievement.
The WCG grew using the news commentary, "headline theology" format, and it had a unique spot in radio programming. It was that format that attracted me as a young man, as it was not "syrupy" and sentimental like most religious programs at that time, but rather fast paced, and provocative.
After 1985, and the opening up of talk radio because of the repeal of the fairness doctrine, COG "headline theology" has had a continued dwindling effectiveness. There is much completion in media now , and with the internet, a virtual explosion of such expressions. The COGs have lost their "unique selling propositions".
For Mark Armstrong, and his cottage industry business, he can still cull out a living by servicing the old time membership that ware attracted to headline theology, in a declining marketplace. There are companies around that buy up the rights to old bankrupt beer companies , like Olympia, Strohs, Falstaff , and others, and still sell these branded beers in limited online releases , without investing in any marketing costs, as there are old geezers who won't drink anything else until the day they die. Mark is using the same business model.
Mark Armstrongs COG has a market niche that won't change, and will last long enough for Mark's cottage industry in his remaining life. Mark is now in his late 60s and this niche should last for at least the rest of his life. Amazingly, GTA would be 92 years old this coming January, and HWA would have just had his 129th birthday in July. Like the old Sonny and Cher song, hey , "The Beat Goes On"!
I think Miller Jones is hoping for the resurrection of the Soviet Union. His messiah is V.I Lenin or Che Guevera. He is just as intolerant as the QAnon crowd.
"Headline theology" as practiced by Mark Armstrong is the easy way out. He literally is just repeating talking points from paid commentators. No thought went into that written vomit.
The last time I looked at the website (old format) there were captions of the "Good News" about to happen. Don't look for it in the HQ updates!
When Mark's mate Murray had the Australia report, it showed he was another bearer of bad news - but I think he tended to try to support his rant with source links.
Let's pause to acknowledge some basic truths, and hopefully, if someone has told Mark that he is being featured here, he will read what we have to say and might even possibly become educated.
First, it is hardly surprising that the same issues which have divided the USA would also be so divisive amongst Armstrong-based churches. The Russians realized as the 2020 elections approached that they had attained their fondest goals. One term of the great divider had totally laid waste to the USA, divided and confused their tongue! It's why the Russians did not participate in the election as they had in 2016, and hence, Trump lost.
Secondly, it's already too late with climate change. The time frame when we could have actually avoided worst case scenario was the 1990s. Powerful interests threw everything they had at obfuscation, so they could continue their normal course, delaying the preventative measures which needed to be taken. Now, climate change is on a self-sustaining course, and rapidly accelerating at that! What we see unfolding has the same dynamics as a nuclear chain reaction. The oceans, jetstreams, polar ice caps, glaciers, exacerbated weather (and fire) patterns, permafrost, and various other formerly reliable maintainers of the constants are all coordinated and feeding from ine another, and play their part of the symphony.
Let's say a few words about Covid 19. This was China's deliberate response to President Trump's tariffs. He thought, as most might remember, that "you can win a trade war." That may be true if the only response is a trade war from the other side. But, it has been the Asian way to sidestep, and to substitute. A virus has been an extremely effective sidestep, especially within the context of the divisive environment which the Russians had created via the 2016 election! I can hear it now. Someone out there sitting at their keyboard is murmering "But, Anonymous, they wouldn't do that! It's killing their own people!" But, that is a WASPish meme. When ever have the Communist Chinese ever valued human life? These are the folks with so many citizens that they have mandatory abortion of a couple's third child. Even if millions of their own citizens were to die, they will still have a problem with overpopulation.
It amazes me that the science and history denial that was promulgated by Herbert W. Armstrong was a foretaste or microcosm for what is now mainstream and rampant in 2021's USA. It is so not amazing that Mark Armstrong would line up behind the kind of thinking that his grandfather pioneered all those decades ago.
Anonymous 8/21 @ 9:47,
For the record, I'm not a fan of Lenin or Guevera, and I DON'T like Putin (he's Trump's hero, not mine). I Believe that Ronald Reagan's characterization of the Soviet Union as an evil empire hit the proverbial nail squarely on its head, and I have ZERO desire to see Russia's hegemony/prestige/power/influence restored in any format (but especially not in the guise of a Soviet Union). I have always welcomed the opinions and commentary of those with whom I do not agree, but I have always demanded that the folks who espouse those views be willing to provide sources and be able to engage with those who do not share their views. In other words, anyone who wishes to challenge my commentary better put on their big boy pants and gird up their loins. And, in that setting, if you can employ logic and evidence in an effective and persuasive argument, I am always open to the possibility of modifying my own views. Are you? Can we say that of most of the QAnon crowd?
Did the "Faustian" bargain actually happen? Rader was just a CPA at that time.
Tonto
Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are in a different ball park to GTA and HWA. Glenn and Rush view/ed the world through their free market conservative paradigm. GTA and HWA believed in a tyrannical command economy paradigm, which is still the case in all their splinters. So Herbs church just viewed the headlines via their interpretation of bible prophecy. Glen and Rush went beyond that.
The world is being depopulated by Fauci's bio-weapon, and Afghanistan is the biggest concern of Armstrongism? Where is the spirit of a sound mind among these people?
https://www.bitchute.com/video/zarFW3hwuyBc/
Addendum to earlier post:
Famous lawyer says the corona scandal is the greatest crime against humanity ever! Scientists say "vaccine" is a bio-weapon meant to cause depopulation. This is WWIII happening now, and the West is losing badly. Masks are useless, but people are being put in prison or shot in the head for improper mask wearing!
https://www.bitchute.com/video/zarFW3hwuyBc/
bitchute? lol
Educate yourself on this virus. Don't listen to the flawed science of the Miller Jones and NEO's of this world.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/TsdTTHJteilw/
A natural interest of apocalyptic Millerites is world news. Prophecy and the expectation that Christ will soon return is the backdrop for M. Armstrong's preoccupation with current events. A Millerite casting of news events causes prophecy to acquire an exciting relevance. It roots prophecy in the present.
While we can see that M. Armstrong states very little about God or theology we also know that his audience is receiving his words in a certain context called The End of the Age. This is so much a part of the rhetorical infrastructure of apocalyptic Millerism that no in-house preacher need mention it explicitly in every homiletic excursion.
When I was a teenager and after I read "1975 in Prophecy," GTA's glib riffing on world news was riveting to me. I hung out in front of the radio every evening at 6:30 to hear how the eschaton was progressing. I would not have done that for a straight religious broadcast.
What I am saying is that M. Armstrong is not just floundering in error. There is some calculation to this. There is a persuasive apocalyptic dynamic at work. And the equation of supply with demand is the best place on the curve for a business to operate. We are seeing finesse and not buffoonery. To find the idol's clay feet, you must root around in Armstrongist theology.
******* Click on my icon for Disclaimer
James wrote: "Don't listen to the flawed science of the Miller Jones and NEO's of this world."
You might want to look at this: https://www.factcheck.org/2021/04/scicheck-idaho-doctor-makes-baseless-claims-about-safety-of-covid-19-vaccines/"
A preview:
"A viral video features a doctor making dubious claims about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments at a forum hosted by Idaho’s lieutenant governor. Dr. Ryan Cole claims mRNA vaccines cause cancer and autoimmune diseases, but the lead author of the paper on which Cole based that claim told us there is no evidence mRNA vaccines cause those ailments."
If you want to listen to someone who worships at the feet to The Great Disinformer and maybe die, that's up to you.
******** Click on my icon for Disclaimer
Addednum:
Yeah, yeah, I know. That website was put out there by the Illuminati. And a better source of information would be Marjorie Taylor Green.
******** Click on my icon for Disclaimer
Educate yourself at Wikipedia (and other sites) about bitchute before subscribing to the notion that education is even possible at bitchute. Trust your doctor rather than internet conspiracy sites. And, read the regular news items about the prominent members of the MAGA crowd who pontificate upon their anti-vaccine views, and disbelief that Covid even exists, or whether masks work, and then end up getting sick with the virus themselves.
Or, wait until Covid cleans up the gene pool, a time when our modern equivalent of the flat earthers has largely succumbed to the disease. Miller and NEO have educated themselves and are correct.
This blog is run by the Illuminati as a way of destroying the true church!
Anonymous 8/22 @ 10:27,
The TRUE Church has never been attacked by this blog and has NOTHING to fear from anything that has been posted here over the years. Manmade organizations are just that - some of the folks who are a part of the various groups may be a part of God's Church, but these creations of MEN are NOT any part of it.
I read a recent report that cloth masks provide minimal protection.
The K95 medical grade tasks provide much better protection. They cost about $30 each on Amazon.
Also, good ventilation is considered as good as wearing a good mask - this is an area airlines have focused on.
Personally, I am vaccinated, just bought and wear the better mask, and avoid crowds.
This is feast of Tabernacles time and also football time.
If the church gods don't get you, the football gods will....
As the old saying goes - "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public"
Unfortunately it applies to health as well.
Agree 10:27. This blog is run by VERY SAD rebels from within the ministry who are not happy with their own lives.
Miller Jones fantasises yet again. This blog is an anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-christian HATE FILLED ATHIESTS run blog. Don't even try and say it's Christian especially after the STONED STEPHEN Pro drugs woke articles that this blog published.
5.46 AM
Many members and even ministers in my HWA era congregation were anti-God, anti-Christian and hate filled God rejectors.
Things aren't black and white as your post implies.
It amazes me how many brain dead zombies post here on Banned. Can any of you comprehend that Trump is the primary candidate for the King of the North and will most likely be put back into power?
The USA/NATO block is the military arm of the Beast Power, the G7/Club of Rome, per Rev 13.
Iran is the King of the South, about to be annihilated by the Beast.
Russia/China clearly are the Kings from the East and will face off with the King of the North at Armageddon. You can watch the set up on TV.
Sorry if that is too much “headline theology” for the sensitive types here but those are the facts on the ground. Watch and pray, right…??
1:57 wrote:
"Can any of you comprehend that Trump is the primary candidate for the King of the North and will most likely be put back into power?
The USA/NATO block is the military arm of the Beast Power, the G7/Club of Rome, per Rev 13."
Truly the stupidest thing posted here today. More useless speculation. This must be Bob Thiel.
1:57's comments are the kind of pig slop that pervert Gerald Flurry teaches his cult members.
AnonymousAugust 23, 2021 at 7:42 PM
1:57's comments are the kind of pig slop that pervert Gerald Flurry teaches his cult members.
What you call pig slop is what I call absolute proven verifiable facts on the ground that you can watch on the news. Just because you are still stuck in your 1975 in Prophecy paradigm doesn’t mean the rest of us are. If you could possibly sneak out of mommy’s basement and go to a library you could find these things out for yourself.
HWA had no idea about these end time events but you still cling to his dogma as scriptural fact, which is an obvious error.
I’m guessing that you have not heard about the recent events in Afghanistan, the heart of EuroAsia, that Russia and China are salivating over. Sounds like you can’t make the scriptural connection between provable facts and clear biblical prophecies.
I’m guessing you also reject grace peace and love as well, since you are such a dogmatic low information thinker.
In conclusion just about all I know about Flurry I’ve learned from this blog. He sees Trump as sent from god….I see Trump, who I detest, as a tool of Satan.
Try to get out of your basement more and get some fresh air. Calling Dan 11:40-44, Rev 13, and Rev 16:12-16 pig slop isn’t going to work out too well for you in the long run.
Keep the faith
The old Mark Armstrong from the '70s, if he'd survived, would be an activist today working for the legalization of recreational marijuana in Texas. Then, he and his minicult would realize that Donald Trump is the King of the North, and he'd quit spouting all of the MAGA nonsense,
I am a person with few words. Let me summarize what happened in the transition from US military-led Afghan gov't. to Taliban. Taliban controlled the country at least 75% even before US launched a wrong war during Bush time.
Here is the gist: Taliban's takeover in the country was "more smooth" and democratic than US presidential transfer of powers in 2021.
Some additional info on Mark and the ICG was just posted by Bob Thiel.
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