March 25, 2014
Dear Members and Coworkers,
Since when did the number one priority of the American government become forcing our population to act in violation of conscience, in violation of legitimate religious beliefs? Exactly where and when this began is debatable, but people of conscience are currently targeted by a blitz of rulings by Federal Judges, several that go so far as to kick aside the express will of the majority on the basis of false concepts of “fairness,” “equal protection,” “non-discrimination.” You name the issue. They’ve invented “legal” language and arguments for nearly every occasion. If any of us should think that we personally aren’t compromised, we’ve got another thing coming.
At this writing, attention is acutely focused on a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, as to whether a corporation (in this case Hobby Lobby) has any business opting out of government mandates that they provide and pay for “contraception”. But like so many other words that used to have an absolute definition, government seems to have partnered with activists, radical intellectuals and the national press to redefine the term. Now its definition has been stretched to include drugs capable of terminating a pregnancy. And one of the many “mandates” included in the fine print of our national health-care experiment requires employers to provide them to their workers whether it violates the corporate credo or not.
You may remember one of the heated arguments that took place during the last presidential campaign. The candidate who was destined for defeat dared make the argument that corporations are owned and managed by “people” whose beliefs and policies should be respected under the Constitution. What a firestorm of derision that comment touched off! Why, the uninformed, out of touch audacity that must be behind such a stupid statement, the press chimed in with the incumbent candidate’s re-election team. At writing the decision of the High Court is still pending, but several important rulings of these particular justices in recent years seem to have been based on concerns having a lot more to do with ideology and personal status than anything to do with the law!
Come to think of it, the meaning of that word has been besmirched beyond recognition as well. America’s founders recognized that any “law” that runs afoul of God’s Law was no law at all. But the current crop of elected and appointed officials went to a different school of thought. Yes, we know they studied (and in at least one case purportedly taught) Constitutional law. Those exercises were apparently undertaken in order to decipher methods by which it could be subverted.
Federal Judges, and even Supreme Court Justices have repeatedly discovered Constitutional rights and guarantees nobody knew existed for well over two hundred years. But the right to the free exercise of one’s religious beliefs? Lately we’re told that it only applies to how we “worship”. Presumably now, as soon as you step outside your “place of worship” you’re at the mercy of regulations, mandates, and you’d better get in step with the modern age.
Nobody wants to be a target of vengeful agencies, so the trend has been one of appeasement and acquiescence. After all, who can claim they’ve been harmed if “queer people “are allowed to “marry”? Besides, they may want to start a “family.” And that means they can’t be discriminated against when it comes to adopting children. No harm there, right?
And what if society should just completely roll over and conclude there’s no longer any point in resisting one “sin mandate” after another. Envision an outcome where the majority goes along, whether or not religious convictions are breached, whether or not morality gets completely erased from the national consciousness. Who cares? Does God care, or have anything to do with it or say about it?
For anyone to suggest that the country is falling apart due to its falling away from righteous precepts, or beyond that, that God is allowing one national failure after another as punishment for a headlong descent into depravity is not exactly a good career move for anyone with a household name. And it has happened in a very few cases. It is the quickest way imaginable to get the “lunatic” label from popular media and sober analysts alike. Make a statement like that, and news anchors will roll their eyes and shake their heads in disbelief and despair.
While current American leadership seeks to undermine our national traditions, punish patriots, sue or prosecute critics, the “world order”, (tenuous as it may have been) is coming apart. It is obvious to the whole world that the current administration has its hands full with national transformation as its number one priority. Allies have been given short shrift, military budgets are being slashed, reliable weapons systems canceled, allies snubbed, and ruthless dictators and rogue regimes know that their chance to run amok is at hand. Washington is busy suing nuns and enforcing “mandates” on its own population. Putin has certainly taken advantage, carving Crimea out of Ukraine and frightening the rest of Eastern Europe. These actions may spur Europe to forge ahead with plans for the united military force that Germany wants. With U.S. influence all but destroyed throughout the Middle East, Putin is now a powerful player in Iran, Syria and Egypt.
Israel is convinced that Iran can mount a nuclear threat within a matter of weeks, should it choose to do so. It is reported that Israel has budgeted for a clash with Iran this year, and interestingly, is closing down embassies all over the world. North Korea, a nuclear power with lunatic leadership, is test-firing missiles. China is asserting itself, threatening Taiwan and Japanese controlled islands in the South China Sea. America’s role of keeping evil at bay has evaporated, and that is obvious.
Maybe kicking God out of the national equation wasn’t such a good idea after all? We’re beginning to reap the consequences of this folly, as will the rest of the world. We’re beginning to see what happens when a nation turns evil into virtue, makes redistribution, abortion, “climate change” and queer “rights” America’s main focus. For the most part, mainstream Christianity is giving in and playing along. And why would they not? Mainstream Christianity is nearly as “man-made” as the four just mentioned.
Man-made Religion is the title and the theme of the message we’re offering this month on CD, by Garner Ted Armstrong. It is a strong subject; with applications we could barely have imagined when it was delivered. The warnings God gave Israel apply to us, and the consequences are all too real in the developing scenario. A record attendance for the ancient sun and fertility rites of Easter isn’t likely to impress Him much. But then, society isn’t impressed much either. It’s getting late in the game for the recipients of God’s great blessings to realise the trouble this world is in, largely due to our trust in Man-made Religion.
Sincerely,
Mark Armstrong
P.S. For your convenience I have enclosed two holy day offering envelopes for the upcoming Days of Unleavened Bread. The first holy day is on Tuesday, April 15, and the last holy day is on Monday, April 21.
PS. In Australia the CD “Manmade Religion” can be requested through this website or call 1300 885 066.
