Sad news this week, Wilma Gilbert has died.  We owe a tremendous amount to Wilma.  She was a fixture here at the office from our inception until 2012.  She took it upon herself to learn all the stipulations to do with bulk mail, and looked after our mailings you might say religiously.  She became like a grandmother to my Daughter-in-law Melody, and our family went to visit her in Kentucky and have lunch together after she’d moved.  We’d seen her a couple of times when she came here to visit members of her family, and we all went out to eat.  Apparently my Dad irritated her with his messages on radio and TV, so much so that she set out to prove him wrong.  In doing so, she became a member for life.  She died peacefully Wednesday night, and we will forever be in her debt.

Maybe you’ve heard, the UK is in an economic crisis.  Liz Truss barely lasted long enough for us to know her name.  The head of lettuce with the wig outlasted her.  But what’s next?  Apparently she’d made promises that the old guard thought out of place. Cut taxes on the wealthy?  Why, it’s not the English way!

Our Twenty-First Century WATCH magazine with a rare photo at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation on the cover has taken longer than ever at the printer.  Apparently they’re suffering similar maladies imposed on businesses everywhere.  Covid mandates, supply-chain troubles, who knows?  We expected copies to be available for the Feast of Tabernacles, but it wasn’t to be.  

It was promised that a descendant of King David would rule over the throne of Israel in perpetuity, and that Divine promise has been kept.  Queen Elizabeth was an incredible example to us all including the nations that claimed her as their sovereign, Canada, Australia, New Zealand…  A coronation of the UK’s King Charles is coming, and will be a spectacle to behold.  Surely he’ll be less outspoken (and full of it), having learned from his mother’s Royal manners.  The loss of Queen Elizabeth may haunt us more than we expect.  

Two and a half years later, the CDC is still putting out mandates. They call them recommendations.  They’ve decided that Covid shots should be part of the regular regimen for vaccines and should be required for attendance at school.  Several states have “opted out,” paving the way for court cases as far as the eye can see. Now an education has become a political hot potato. Some states are not too happy about the “requirements,” defying the new “rules” almost immediately.  

Why are so many suffering heart trouble, heart attacks and strokes within weeks of being vaccinated? It seems like that might be a question they’d want answered before forging ahead with enforcement and penalties.  

Is it just me, or is starting to seem like the government has turned on the very people they’re sworn to represent?  We’re entering the  months when they realize they have but a short time to implement as many infuriating policies as possible.  It’s no longer politics when a party turns against God and everything His believers stand for.  What in life is not treated as “politics”  by media and some three letter agency?  It seems that the freedom God gave us is under siege for every woke reason imaginable.  Will lost freedom in the United States be the great accomplishment of this generation?  

We suffer mindless nonsense from those who purport to be leaders, and agree with almost nothing they say.  A little kindergarten talk with broad, meaningless gestures should do the trick.  It’s not working!  They’re about to find out how big a hurry they’re in.  

Halloween is upcoming, and I (unfortunately) live in a neighborhood that goes all out for decorations.  Inflatables sprawl deflated in yards during the day, but at night they blow up and light up.  One lady has a life size critter doing something rotten in front of her house.  You can’t even look.  What’s she going to do with that thing when the holiday is over?  I wouldn’t want it in my attic.

The Feast was a huge success at our various locations, and we thank God for the opportunity to enjoy something He commanded as a commemoration of Israel’s forty years in the wilderness.  It’s a reminder that we’re not permanent, yet, merely “tabernacles” (temporary dwellings) on this earth with the hope of Eternal Life in God’s Kingdom.  

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – October 21, 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.