Vol. 21 No. 3 Third Quarter 2018 “And“And whosoeverwhosoever shallshall offendoffend oneone ofof thesethese littlelittle onesones thatthat believebelieve inin me,me, itit isis betterbetter forfor himhim thatthat aa millstonemillstone werewere hangedhanged aboutabout hishis neck,neck, andand hehe werewere castcast intointo thethe sea.”sea.” MarkMark 9:429:42 2 Twenty-First Century WATCH Vol. 21, No.3 COMMENTARY THE POPE KNEW, THEY ALL KNEW by Mark Armstrong It’s all over the place. Even abused teenage boys and adults time, dating back decades. the Fake News outlets haven’t for years from his parish post in This is an open secret that been able to white-wash a scan- Santiago. He was never prose- has been part and parcel with the dal so huge, so horrific. So, for cuted criminally, but in 2011 the Catholic Church across the Unit- the most part, they report it briefly Vatican sentenced him to a life of ed States and all over the world before returning to their mission prayer and penance.” Cruel and (many South American coun- of destroying the Trump presiden- unusual, isn’t it? tries, Australia, Ireland, Italy...) It cy. Of course the pope knew! He Recently he was scolding an has been known and written for knew what was up when he visit- audience of nuns about the evils decades that Catholic “divinity ed Chile in January 2018 where of GOSSIP! It was supposedly schools” and seminaries are bas- he faced unprecedented hostility, a light-hearted comment when tions of homosexuality. Appar- and issued “a somber apology” he compared convent gossip to ently there’s no hope of success for the unspeakable abuse Cath- terrorism. Is there some doubt or elevation within this powerful olic priests had visited upon the as to what that was about? The organization for would-be priests children of their congregations. nuns must have known too! The without being a little light in the It was somewhat difficult to ig- bishops, the cardinals, they’ve slippers, to put it mildly. nore when three Catholic church- all known all along. The excuse The current scandal involves es were firebombed coincidental heard over and over is that every the former ambassador from with his arrival. profession has a bad apple now the Vatican to the United States, “Clerics” have been elevated and again. But the vast majority Carlo Maria Vigano, having writ- to high office by the Vatican even of Catholic priests are wonderful ten an eleven page letter saying he while involved in the cover-up teachers and mentors to the chil- warned Francis, the beleaguered of crimes committed by their dren in their care. Really? pope, about the heinous homosex- colleagues. From the LA Times, What percentage of priests is ual activities of the former arch- January 16th, “Francis in particu- 300 in one state, pray tell? And bishop of Washington, Theodore lar has been heavily criticized for why did this information only McCarrick toward “young sem- his 2015 appointment of a bishop, leak out in an Attorney Gener- inarians.” According to Vigano, Juan Barros Madrid, to head the al’s report out of Pennsylvania? he personally warned the “hum- Diocese of Osorno in Southern It made news around the world ble pontiff” of McCarrick’s histo- Chile. recently because it involves so ry in 2013, telling him that there “Some abuse victims have many priests in a single state, had been a litany of complaints accused Barros of protecting a having raped and abused at least and that the Vatican retained a mentor, Father [sic] Fernando a thousand, and probably many thick dossier dating back to the Karadima, who was investigated more children (predominantly year 2000 cataloging him as a se- by the Vatican and found to have young boys) over a long period of rial abuser. His letter quotes his Continued on page 27 Third Quarter 2018 Twenty-First Century WATCH 3 F E A T U R E S Commentary: Socialist Venezuela Falling The Pope Knew, Apart as President Maduro They All Knew 2 Shockingly Blames Party 23 Mark Armstrong by Kenneth Rapoza, Forbes When You Die – Then What? 4 Garner Ted Armstrong All Roads Lead to Rome Michael Armstrong 28 Bible Study: Higher Spiritual Standards 14 Dr. James Ricks Facebook’s Antidote to Russian Interference in US Elections 33 Murray Allatt The Balance of Our Choice 17 John Mitchell Photo credits: Cover – Vincenzo Pinto/Getty Images page 2 – Giulio Napolitano/Shutterstock page 3 – InkDrop/Shutterstock page 11 – eFesenko/Shutterstock page 24 – Michel Piccaya/Shutterstock page 25 – (top) Senate Democrats/Wikipedia page 25 – (bottom)David Shankbone/Shutterstock page 31 – (L) Finoskov (R) Joanbanjo/Wikipedia page 33 – rvlsoft/Shutterstock page 37 – (top) Oliverrees/Shutterstock Islamic Challenge to Italy page 37 – (bottom) Stefano Guidi/Shutterstock page 39 – Lalupa/Wikipedia Michael Burkert 37 TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WATCH is an official publication of The Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association and The Intercontinental Church of God, headquarters Tyler, Texas USA Copyright © 2018 The Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association. All rights reserved. 4 Twenty-First Century WATCH Vol. 21, No.3 When You Die – Then What? My mother died about midnight. I was holding her hand, praying for her to “hang on,” as she grew weaker. But one moment she was alive and the next, dead. What happened at death? What happens next? Did my mother die – or only a part of her? Is she still conscious? Are the dead yet able to see the sorrows and tears of loved ones? by Garner Ted Armstrong Death is the enemy of man JUST HOW IMPORTANT IS IT? have put their minds to these and we all hate it. We hate it most When public-opinion poll- fathomless mysteries for many of all when death strikes very sters ask Mr. and Mrs. Average centuries now, and have not close loved ones, taking them Citizen their opinions about life, found the answer! away from us; out of our lives, death, and the hereafter, they find Today, modern space-age away from our daily routines–– most simply unconcerned. science, and a dazzling array of just gone. Most do not under- They just don’t like to think technological achievements have stand death. about it happening to them. created an awesome new Dagon Why is it that, with all our But when death strikes sud- for the Western World. The aver- advancements in science and denly EVERYTHING is changed! age citizen finds himself continu- industry––our accumulation of Suddenly, we must pause, in our ally amazed at all that is accom- knowledge, that we still do not swiftly moving lives, to face plished in the name of “science.” know the answers to the biggest death. And we are compelled to He faithfully trusts this false and most puzzling questions of ask, “Just what is death?” And, god of science to lengthen his life all––what are we, and where are for that matter, what is life? span, transplant his kidneys when we going? Can anything, after all, be they fail, help him reduce or put Millions believe in some kind more singularly important than on weight, change his very per- of life after death. But no one the answers to these questions? sonality, and perhaps allow him seems able to prove such an as- You’re here. You live. But to choose the sex of his progeny. sumption. Some believe we never why? The modern world looks to die but go on living, in one place its mechanical god––science–– or another, or in one form or an- UNSOLVED DILEMMA OF to SAVE it from all its troubles. other, for all eternity. Others be- CENTURIES People look to medical science lieve we have always lived. They Serious though these ques- to save them from sickness; to think life is a strange succession tions are––urgent though they the physical sciences to produce of different existences––each in be––man has not yet answered the continual flow of goods and a different form, in a different them! Science does not know; services to make their life one place. says it cannot know. Philosophers, of physical ease and pleasure. But no one seems to know theologians, anthropologists, his- They look to the “life” sciences for sure! torians, scholars of every stripe to explain to them what they are, Third Quarter 2018 Twenty-First Century WATCH 5 and where they’re going, and the babes!” (Mat. 11:25). Now that you think about it, meaning of life. But, somehow words like “life” and “death” are death stops it all! YOU CAN DIE! words almost no one has ever At death, science stops its If anything could be called researched, or looked up in a mouth. A doctor, quietly sympa- “instinct” in the human crea- dictionary. thizing with grieved members of ture, perhaps the “instinct” of If you did try to find some the family may say, in a kindly self-preservation could. “scientific” definition for life, you voice, “I’m sorry, there is nothing We just automatically seek to would find only some statements further medical science can do preserve, to protect, to lengthen to the effect of “the state of being for him.” and hang on to our lives! But we alive,” or the ability of a “living” Today, the world exalts CANNOT! How futile, how ut- organism to utilize organic life knowledge. It holds aloft the terly helpless we feel, when we in a living metabolism, and other institutions of “higher” learning. are urging a loved one to “hang such “double-talk” which would The leaders of mankind are prod- on”––to fight to live––and see NOT, in actual fact, tell you what ucts of these same educational that life ebbing away right before life is! institutions––the “educated” men our eyes! But the Creator of all life of the world.