Greetings from Tyler,
We’ve never approached a Day of Atonement under circumstances quite like these. The audience of the Church of God is surely paying closer attention than most people, and is painfully aware of the evil that is being visited upon our nation. It is flowing in from the most squalid, diseased, crime infested places on earth. Current national leadership has determined that we don’t deserve even the most basic, common sense protections. They trot out arrogant bald-face liars to divert the attention of those who are paying any, and bamboozle the rest who can’t be bothered and wouldn’t understand if they could.
ISIS continues gaining ground, despite the ineffective bombing campaign in Syria and Iraq. They’ve continued to drive hundreds of thousands from their homeland, torturing, murdering, raping, beheading and crucifying as they go. Their crimes against humanity are growing, as are their territorial holdings.
Iran is chortling on the sidelines, secure in the knowledge that the U.S. has its hands full and nothing will stop its race to become a full fledged nuclear power. Not unless Israel takes matters into its own hands, and that would undoubtedly destroy what’s left of its relationship with the current administration.
Not only is there a continuing onslaught of ignorant, diseased migrants into every one of the United States, the president has the gall to claim that they will shape the future. If he’s right, the future will look like Honduras or Guatemala.
You only need a cursory look at the headlines to see what “Hope and Change” was all about. It means that every crisis will be exacerbated, every threat left to run its course. But its always somebody else’s fault, and every potential solution is off the table in advance. It just wouldn’t be fair for Americans to be spared the terror, crime and disease incubating in the third world.
In addition to all the wretched headlines spelling out wars that can’t be won, epidemics without cure and despotic edicts that make a mockery of law and order, an economic crisis is being brewed that no one can yet appreciate. We don’t know exactly when confidence will falter in the U.S., and everyone will want out of their complex investments. But it looks sure that it is only a matter of time before economic crisis will change the political order of Europe.
The annual Day of Atonement is a day of fasting and prayer, and we’ve seldom if ever had more to fast and pray about. Thankfully, the Feast of Tabernacles, a time to rejoice, is close behind.
We’ve certainly had tremendous blessings over which to rejoice. And if we can survive, spiritually the persecution that is coming from every direction, we have a future in God’s Kingdom to look forward to. In the meantime, we’ll apparently have to watch our “politically correct” leadership try to wreck every blessing we’ve enjoyed. The Day of Atonement has arrived at a crucial moment in time this year. It’s up to us to make it count.
Mark Armstrong
