On July 26, 2014, Norbert Link will give the sermon, titled, “How Strong Is Your Faith?”

The live services are available, over video and audio, at www.cognetservices.org (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time; 8:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time; 9:30 pm Central European Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

It is so easy to forget. Especially when one gets older. I may phone someone with a particular purpose in mind, but after being side-tracked during the conversation, I can forget  what I had called about.  It can just “slip” my mind. I try to write down the previous night, or at the beginning of a new working day, what important issues have to be dealt with… lest I forget. But sometimes I forget to prepare or to look at my notes which would have helped me not to forget…

Apart from physical shortcomings like these, we are very clearly told not to be forgetful in spiritual matters.

For instance, we are admonished: “But do not forget to do good and to share” (Hebrews 13:16).  We are also encouraged not to forget to be hospitable (Hebrews 13:2). Proverbs 4:5 tells us: “Do not forget, nor turn away from the words” of wisdom. Many in biblical times had forgotten a very important cause for trials (Hebrews 12:4-6); and, even worse, they had “forgotten” that they were “cleansed” from their “old sins” (2 Peter 1:9).

God warned ancient Israel—and He warns us today—not to forget Him: “Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you” (Deuteronomy 32:18).

How can we forget God?

Moses warned the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:11: “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today.” But they did forget God and did not remember His Law, and notice the consequence: “So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs” (Judges 3:7).

When we forget God, we will get involved with paganism and false worship. Godly obedience will cease, and evil and wicked conduct will be the result. Jeremiah 3:21 says: “… they have perverted their ways; they have forgotten the LORD their God.” And Jeremiah 13:25 adds: “… you have forgotten Me And trusted in falsehood.”

Forgetting God and living unrighteously is a matter of cause and effect. Ezekiel 22:7-12 states: “… they have made light of father and mother… they have oppressed the stranger… they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and profaned My Sabbaths…. Men… slander to cause bloodshed… they commit lewdness… they violate women… One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another… violates his sister, his father’s daughter… they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbor by extortion, and have forgotten Me…”

What a terrible list. What an indictment against those who forget God. What a horrible guilty verdict for man who does not remember his Maker.

As Romans 1:28 tells us: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” The list of wicked conduct which follows in verses 29-32 is equally disgusting.

When God opened our minds and called us out of this terrible world to free us from our evil human nature, we were supposed to become a “new creation.” In accepting—and not rejecting or forgetting—the knowledge of God, “we have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge” (Colossians 3:10). That godly knowledge tells us not to sin, but to live righteously, as 1 Corinthians 15:34 says: “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God.”

People in this world, being cut off from God and forgetting and rejecting God’s truth, really do not have the knowledge to do good (Jeremiah 4:22). They are “destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). They have “rejected knowledge” and “forgotten” the law of God (same verse). As God’s called-out disciples, we must be different.

At the same time, the Bible tells us that there are things we must forget. But for us, it is so easy to forget what we ought to remember, and to remember what we ought to forget.

We must “forget” those things “which are behind” (Philippians 3:13), while “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). We are admonished to “grow” in the “knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). God’s knowledge helps us to forgive others and forget their sins against us. But without it, we will hold grudges and remember—sometimes for many years—what we should have forgotten a long, long time ago.

How can we grow in God’s knowledge? Where can we get help to leave our old man behind and become a new man with godly knowledge to save us from sin? Jesus Christ has shown us very clearly that His true ministry can be of assistance. We are told in Ephesians 4:11-12 that Christ built His Church and gave it ordained ministers for the “edifying” of the membership, “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (verse 13). This will help us to be firm in the truth and not to become confused by strange doctrines and prophetic speculations.

Not all heed this admonition. Some reject God’s ministry and, having itching ears, they look for wrong teachers, thereby forsaking the knowledge of God and sliding back into the wrong ideas of this world. Peter does not warn us without reason:

“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning” (2 Peter 2:20). He even goes on to say: “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them” (verse 21).

God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), but there are those who are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Why is that so? Because they are not humble enough to be taught, and while they think that they know everything, they know nothing at all. Lack of humility and obedience will prevent us from receiving godly knowledge, and whatever knowledge we might have received will ultimately be completely lost.

Hebrews 10:26-27 warns us:

“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”

Forgetting God and rejecting His knowledge puts us on a dangerous and slippery road. We must be doers of His Law and can’t be forgetful hearers (James 1:23-25). When Christ returns and asks us what we did with the knowledge that He gave us, we had better not answer Him: “Sorry, I forgot!” Christ will not accept that kind of an answer. But He will praise us as His friends for remembering and doing what He commanded us (John 15:14). Christ tells us in John 13:17: “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Let us not forget, but let us always remember what we must do!

We are reporting on the terrible atrocities being committed by ISIS and other radical Islamists; the worldwide anger and some despicable accusations against Israel, while the real culprit, Hamas, is largely ignored; and the dubious and repulsive role Russia has been playing in eastern Ukraine and its culpability for the shooting down of the Malaysian passenger plane.

We are continuing with the acquittal of Silvio Berlusconi; tackle the question as to what it means to be a German—especially after Germany’s victory in the Soccer [Football] World Cup; and review the 70th anniversary of the unsuccessful attempt of German resistant fighters to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

We conclude with reports on the word’s rejection of American conduct and activities; and warn that a huge earthquake, hitting Los Angeles, is inevitable.    

ISIS Forces All Christians Out of Mosul

On July 19, 2014, The Associated Press wrote the following:

“The message played over loudspeakers gave the Christians of Iraq’s second-largest city until midday Saturday to make a choice: convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death. By the time the deadline imposed by the Islamic State extremist group expired, the vast majority of Christians in Mosul had made their decision. They fled…and headed for the largely autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq or other areas protected by the Kurdish security forces.

“Their departure marks the latest — and perhaps final — exodus of Christians from the city, emptying out communities that date back to the first centuries of Christianity, including Chaldean, Assyrian and Armenian churches.”

Minorities Persecuted by ISIS and Iraqi Militias

The New York Times added on July 18:

“Christians are among several minorities who are being systematically expelled or killed by ISIS…

“Among them are Yazidis, a tiny sect that has survived for centuries and whose theology fuses elements of Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism; Shabaks, who are often described as Shiites whose language is close to Persian and who take beliefs from different traditions; and Shiite Turkmen. The Yazidis and the Shabaks are being persecuted in the Sinjar area west of Mosul… The United Nations has documented scores of abductions and killings as well as the destruction of shrines.

“The United Nations report noted that extrajudicial killings had also been carried out by Iraqi security forces and allied militias, and warned that the executions on both sides might constitute war crimes…

“As the Christians leave Mosul, ISIS has painted the Arabic letter that means ‘Nasrani,’ from Nazrene, a word often used to refer to Christians, on their homes. Next to the letter, in black, are the words: ‘Property of the Islamic State of Iraq.’ The militants have also told Muslims who rent property from Christians that they no longer need to pay rent, said a businessman who rents from a Christian. The landlord now lives in Lebanon.”

This is so reminiscent of the systematic persecution and ultimate extermination of Jews and other minorities in Nazi Germany. The demons which possessed Hitler’s henchmen resurface now in ISIS and others.

Persecution of Christians in the Middle East

Breitbart wrote on July 22:

“Jews are not the only religious minority in the Middle East under fire… Christians have come under the heaviest hand in the Middle East in generations thanks to the weakness of the United States…

“The rise of the Islamic State in Syria and the Levant (ISIS) has led to the wholesale slaughter or exile of hundreds of thousands of Christians…

“Thousands upon thousands of Christians have been forced from Syria… opposition fighters drove some 80,000 Christians from Homs alone…

“The rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt led to a massive spike in persecution of Christians within the country.

“… the Christian population under Palestinian rule has dwindled with each passing year….Even though Hamas denies involvement in the attacks and claims that it is attempting to protect the small, ancient Christian community in Gaza, attacks on the 3,000 Christians residing there have increased since the Muslim terror militia came [to] seized power…

“Iran has been a disaster area for Christians since the fall of the Shah, but an increasing number of Iranian Christians are fleeing the country now…  Christians have been persecuted in Iran with more and more alacrity as fear of the United States wanes…

“Christianity is no more welcome in Libya after the Arab Spring than under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi before it…

“In the 1970s, before the collapse of the country [Lebanon] into Islamist violence, Christians represented a majority of the population. Now, that number has dropped to 34%…. continued violence and the rise of Islamist groups like Hezbollah has dramatically decreased the Christian population.

“No wonder Pope Francis stated in November 2013, ‘We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians.’ That reality is already well within imagination, thanks to the Islamist Spring…  and the persecution of Christians continues to increase in other countries, including Turkey, Nigeria, and Pakistan.”

Worldwide Demonstrations Against Israel

The Times of Israel wrote on July 19:

“Tens of thousands protested in London Saturday afternoon against Israel’s military operations in Gaza, denouncing Israel as a terrorist state and castigating British Prime Minister David Cameron for backing Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas rocket fire… Saturday’s demonstration in London came on the heels of numerous protests Thursday and Friday worldwide, including Cairo, Istanbul, Cape Town, Berlin, New York and Washington. Many of the protests have turned violent… Calls for the destruction of the Jewish state were heard in both Turkish cities [Ankara and Istanbul].”

Anti-Semitic “demonstrations”, instigated and stirred up by Palestinians, radical Islamists and ignorant and gullible “observers,” are a sign of our time. Note the next article.

Anti-Israel Demonstrations Instigated by Islamist Groups

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 22:

“In many European cities, what began as peaceful protests turned into outpourings of anti-Jewish sentiments and violence against counter-demonstrators. The situation became particularly heated in France… The Gaza conflict has stirred up public opinion in Europe, and it has brought Israel-hatred to Germany along with it… the current demonstrators are mostly members of Islamist groups…

“Many of the participants openly express support for Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah or Islamic jihad… there is a perfidious tactic behind the Islamists’ campaign… In a recent survey by the ‘Stern’ magazine, more than half of respondents place the blame for the conflict on both Israel and Hamas – and 86 percent believe that Germany should not publically stand on the Israeli side… In the meantime, pro-Gaza demonstrations are set to continue in Germany and other European countries…”

Turkey Condemns Israel

The Times of Israel wrote on July 19:

“Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of ‘barbarism that surpasses Hitler’ during its ground invasion of Gaza… He has been speaking out strongly against Israel during its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 300 Palestinians. Hamas has fired some 1,500 rockets at Israel and carried out a series of terrorist infiltrations via tunnels and from the sea in recent days.

“Erdogan accuses Israel of using disproportionate force and has said the operation there has derailed efforts to normalize Turkish-Israeli ties…

“Early Saturday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning to Israeli citizens against nonessential travel to Turkey… Israel decided Friday to pull some of its diplomatic staff out of Turkey in the wake of violent protests targeting the buildings of its embassy and consulate in Ankara and Istanbul, an embassy spokesman said, as well as recent statements that accused Israel of attempting a ‘systematic genocide’ on the Palestinian people…

“Turkey’s foreign minister also ‘vehemently’ condemned Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza…”

The Bible shows that Turkey (biblical Edom) will become a fierce enemy of the Jews and support military actions against the state of Israel. 

UN Warns Israel of War Crimes

BBC News reported on July 23:

“The UN’s top human rights official has condemned Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, saying that war crimes may have been committed… She also condemned Hamas for ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on Israel.”

South Africa Praises Adolf Hitler

Newsmax reported on July 20:

“An aide with the African National Congress, South Africa’s ruling party, has drawn sharp rebukes from Jewish groups for an outrageous Facebook post praising Adolf Hitler for the Holocaust. Rene Smit, a social media manager with the ANC in the Western Cape province, posted an image of Hitler with the comment: ‘Yes, man, you were right!’ Below Hitler’s face were the words: ‘I could have killed all the Jews, but I left some of them to tell you why I was killing them.’ …

“Smit’s original post came just days after ANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte posted a statement on the ANC’s website comparing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to Nazi war crimes.”

With all these unqualified attacks on Israel, one should not forget who the real terrorists are. Please note the next article.

Hamas’ Abominable Terrorist Activities

The Telegraph wrote on July 20:

“Hamas militants sent a donkey laden with explosives on a suicide mission in one of the most unconventional tactics yet seen in the fighting in Gaza, the Israeli army has said. Troops said they were forced to open fire on the animal – blowing it up – as it approached their position in the southern city of Rafah, near the Egyptian border…

“‘They used this donkey as a human shield, or an animal shield, if you like,’ said… an army spokesman. ‘Anything, an animal or an international building, that can help make use of innocent people or international [citizens], they will use it.’… Soldiers in the field have reported ‘multiple incidents’ of dogs trying to approach with explosives attached to them, according to the army.”

Bild Online added on July 18 that Hamas uses children, families, sick and old people as “human shields,” placing them in locations where they are bound to be killed by the Israeli rockets, while the cowardly Hamas leaders seek protection in bunkers.

Why Hamas Tunnels Must Be Destroyed

The Washington Times wrote on July 22:

“A Hamas force wearing Israeli army uniforms emerged from a tunnel inside Israel and inflicted losses on Israeli troops before being wiped out… Israeli losses as of tonight in the four-day-old incursion were 25 dead and several score wounded. An Israeli official said the number of Hamas combatants killed amounted to ‘several hundred.’ Hard fighting was continuing in Gaza as dusk fell, with artillery and air strikes pounding Hamas positions. The fighting focused on the town of Shujaiya. Located only a mile from the Israeli border, it is the source of many tunnels leading towards the border…

“Meanwhile… Hamas gunmen have been killed in the past two days after they emerged from the mouths of tunnels inside the Gaza Strip. Ten of them emerged from a tunnel inside a mosque. Among them was a female suicide bomber who attempted to charge the Israeli soldiers… A senior Israeli officer in Shujaiya said yesterday that one tunnel he had examined was 27 meters deep—equivalent to a seven-story building—and was lined with at least 800 tons of reinforced concrete. He said the existence of such tunnels leading into Israel would have permitted Hamas to send commando forces at night through all of them simultaneously to wreak havoc in the Israeli villages in the area.”

Sunni World Bitterly Divided

The Times of Israel wrote on July 19:

“… the continuing escalation of the conflict in Gaza has actually got nothing to do with Israel itself. Unfortunately, Israel has found itself tangled up in a battle of far wider proportions — a war between two competing axes in the Sunni Muslim world. On the one side are Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, with Jordan and Saudi Arabia likely to join them… On the other, Qatar, Turkey and Hamas, as well as other global supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“This is a proxy war for all intents and purposes… Hamas remains committed to the destruction of Israel. But Hamas is firing rockets at Tel Aviv and sending terrorists through tunnels into southern Israel while aiming, in essence, at Cairo. It is backed in this by Doha and Ankara.

“… the Sunni war rages and the possibility of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel becomes more remote. Abbas is still trying to bridge the gap between the parties — between Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, that is; not between Hamas and Israel. But it’s doubtful he will be the man to reunite the bitterly divided Sunni world.”

It is interesting that the Muslims are terribly divided amongst themselves. Not only are Shiites and Sunnis at each other’s throats, but Sunnis are fighting against each other. The view that an Arabic “King of the South” will arise in the Middle East, who will unite all the hostile Sunni and Shia nations under his banner, sounds far-fetched and hardly believable, nor is it in accordance with biblical teaching. For the biblical revelation on this matter, see our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.”

Flights to Israel Suspended or Cancelled

JTA reported on July 22:

“The Federal Aviation Administration prohibited all U.S. airlines from flying to Israel for at least 24 hours. All three U.S. carriers with nonstop flights to Israel – United, U.S. Airways and Delta Airlines — canceled their flights to Tel Aviv on Tuesday… The FAA order came after a rocket fired from Gaza struck and destroyed a home in Yehud, an Israeli town about a mile from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv…

“A slew of other airlines also canceled their flights to Tel Aviv, including Air Canada, Lufthansa, Austria Airlines, Germanwings, Turkish Airlines and Swissair…

“Delta diverted a flight en route to Tel Aviv from New York’s Kennedy Airport on Tuesday… Delta said it made its decision to suspend all flights to Tel Aviv ‘in coordination with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’ and ‘to ensure the safety and security of our customers and employees.’ Korean Air suspended its flights to Tel Aviv last week.”

The Washington Examiner commented on July 22:

“For Hamas, [the ban] could be the biggest break the Islamist group has had since the most recent fighting started — potentially increasing Israeli’s physical and psychological isolation from the rest of the world. The airport handles about 14 million travelers a year.

“Most of the more than 2,000 rockets fired at Israel in the past two weeks have had little effect. Only two Israeli civilians have died, and the Iron Dome missile system — partially funded by the U.S. and incorporating U.S. technology — has been almost 90 percent effective at intercepting rockets fired at populated areas.”

“Russians Did It! Putin’s Rebels BLEW UP MH17 Plane”

Sunday Express wrote on July 19:

“… damning evidence emerged that Moscow supplied the Buk anti-aircraft ­system to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine… US President Barack Obama also laid the blame for the outrage on Russia while investigators from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe were blocked from accessing the crash site by rebel forces…

“President Obama confirmed that the plane was shot down from Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by Putin supporters fighting for independence. He said the rebels could not ‘shoot down fighter jets without sophisticated equipment and sophisticated training and that’s coming from Russia’…

“Among the dead were 80 children, including three babies, and more than 100 Aids experts on their way to a conference.”

Russia Is to Blame… One Way or the Other

The Washington Post wrote on July 18:

“This plane crash is a result of the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine, an operation deliberately designed to create legal, political and military chaos. Without this chaos, a surface-to-air missile would not have been fired at a passenger plane.

“From the beginning, the Russian government… sent Russian mercenaries and security service operatives… With the help of local thugs, these Russian security men besieged police stations, government offices and other symbols of political authority to delegitimize the Ukrainian state. In this task, they were assisted by the Russian government and by Russia’s state-controlled mass media… Just in the past week, Russian reporting on Ukraine reached a new pitch of hysteria, with fake stories about the supposed crucifixion of a child…

“Into this ambiguous and unstable situation, the Russians cynically funneled a stream of heavy weapons: machine guns and artillery and, eventually, tanks, armed personnel carriers and anti-aircraft missiles. In recent days, the separatist forces were openly using man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) and boasting of having taken down large Ukrainian transport planes, clearly with Russian specialist assistance.

“Indeed, Strelkov on Thursday afternoon reportedly boasted online of having taken down another military plane before realizing that the plane in question was MH17. The blog post was removed. In late June, several different Russian media sources published photographs of Buk anti-aircraft missiles that they said had been captured by the separatists — though they were probably outright gifts from Russia. These posts have also been removed.”

Separatists Shoot Down Two Ukrainian Fighter Jets

Deutsche Welle reported on July 23:

“Separatists have shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets just under a week after the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. According to reports, the two pilots managed to parachute out… the planes went down about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17… Local health officials say that fighting since the removal of Ukraine’s previous president in February has led to the deaths of 432 people and left 1,015 injured.”

Russia Supplied Missile Launchers to Separatists

The Washington Post wrote on July 19:

“The United States has confirmed that Russia supplied sophisticated [Buk] missile launchers to separatists in eastern Ukraine and that attempts were made to move them back across the Russian border after the Thursday shoot-down of a Malaysian jet liner, a U.S. official said Saturday…

“Russia and the rebels have denied any involvement in the attack on the Boeing 777…

“In an oped column in the Sunday Times, British Prime Minister David Cameron said: ‘The growing weight of evidence points to a clear conclusion: that flight MH17 was blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile fired from a rebel-held area. If this is the case then we must be clear what it means: this is a direct result of Russia destabilising a sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing thuggish militias and training and arming them.’”

Putin’s and the rebels’ denial of any involvement is ridiculous and blatantly untruthful. Such lies would be laughable, if they were not that horrible. Putin, a former KGB spy,  should be viewed as a ruthless “leader” without any credibility. From all the evidence available, it is abundantly clear and beyond the shadow of any doubt that Putin’s Russia is directly or at least indirectly responsible for the terrible situation in eastern Ukraine and the most recent destruction of almost 300 innocent lives in shooting down the Malaysian passenger plane. One may also still ponder, in this context, what actually happened to the previous Malaysian airliner which disappeared without any trace. 

Bild Online reported on July 22 that a Russian rocket killed 298 people on board of the Malaysian airliner, but that the Euro bosses are intimidated by Putin. The paper wrote that they are behaving in a “despicably passive” way. Even further sanctions are being hotly debated, partly due to German business bosses warning that sanctions might hurt the economy. In addition, London has been recently described as a “safe haven” and the “Las Vegas” for “Russian investors.”

According to Der Spiegel Online, Europe’s hesitancy might cause a further rift with the USA.

On the other hand, we also understand that Bible prophecies show that, ultimately, Russia and Ukraine will join forces and collaborate militarily against continental Europe. 

Japan’s New Military Drone Ambitions

The website of defenseone.com reported on July 21:

“For decades Japan has been the world’s playground for design innovation. But now it may become ground zero for the future of something far more hostile: military drones. The country has positioned itself as one of the unlikely players in the escalating global race for military drones… A veteran Japanese politician even warned that the country’s re-armament looked like ‘a kind of pre-war revival.’…

“Japan is now in a position it hasn’t been in for nearly 70 years, when it gave up its right to engage in conflict outside its borders… The country will invest [$372 million] in the coming decade to drastically expand its virtually non-existent military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program… which would make Japan’s the fastest growing UAV program in the world… The military alliances could quickly devolve into something much larger. Japan’s drone situation isn’t just a boom, it’s a potential game changer with global implications…”

Berlusconi Acquitted

The Local wrote on July 19:

“An Italian appeals court on Friday cleared Silvio Berlusconi of having sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power in a surprise ruling that will strengthen the former prime minister on the political scene…

“The [decision] effectively scraps Berlusconi’s seven-year sentence and lifelong ban from holding public office…”

Like a cat with nine lives, we should not dismiss Berlusconi quite yet from any future political role in Europe.

What It Means to Be a German

The victory of the German national soccer [football] team in the World Cup has caused understandable euphoria in Germany. Some have hastily concluded that this event has now given rise to renewed German feelings of nationalism. They even tried to use biblical passages for their opinion. Their conclusion, however, is premature and unrealistic. American audiences became very supportive of their American soccer team, but no one would suggest that this has caused a renewed feeling of American nationalism. International success in sporting events comes and goes, without a real lasting effect. On the other hand, growing self-confidence can be observed in Germany, but it is still a country uncertain of itself. This will change in time.

The following article in Der Spiegel Online, dated July 17, gives an interesting picture of the present status in Germany—pointing out some facts which might not be realized by some.

“[Germany] has indisputably become a nation of immigration…  Germany [is] ranking second in the world after the United States in attracting permanent immigrants, beating out even such melting pots as Britain and Canada… Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats still don’t like thinking of Germany as a country of immigration, and the nation could also be a lot more generous in its handling of refugees. Some immigrants, on the other hand, could also make more of an effort to integrate.

“Germany has become one society, but also a diverse one — and that is contributing to this new lightness of being. This is also reflected in the national football team, for which immigrants have since become indispensable, with players like Mesut Özil, a Turkish-German, Jerome Boateng, who has a German mother and a father [who] originates from Ghana, and Sami Khedira, who has Tunisian roots…

“Nothing occupies Germans more than the idea of Hitler’s return, regardless in what form. It could be a swastika tattooed on the chest of a Russian opera singer at the Bayreuth Wagner festival that sparks a massive debate. Or it could be a rower on the German national team who is engaged to a neo-Nazi, which again triggers a national uproar… People from other countries also sometimes like to hold us prisoner of our own history. Even during the semifinal against Brazil, this celebration of beautiful football and lightness, some felt compelled to evoke the Nazis. ‘The Germans have stormed into a foreign country and taken charge,’ tweeted New York Times Washington correspondent Binyamin Appelbaum…

“Today we can remember the past with anger and with sadness, but without becoming overly uptight about it… German virtues… too contribute to the country’s lightness. Prosperity makes life easier and improves moods everywhere. And prosperity, thanks to hard work, discipline and harmony, is currently on the rise… Fully 42 million people have jobs in Germany, more than ever before, and wages have risen substantially…

“Angela Merkel… runs a country that regained its sovereignty with reunification… A strong feeling of self-confidence is bound up in Germany’s lightness… A German chancellor thinking beyond the country’s borders? Here too, things have changed.

“… the US is making it difficult for the Germans to stand by their side…

“One still can’t speak of a relaxed German nation; rather it is a country that is losing its inhibitions. It is finding its way back to itself, but is still searching for its role in the global community. Should it sit quietly in the corner or should it take on a leadership role reflective of its size and economic strength? What is missing is a national team coach, one that stipulates a clear path forward.”

This national team coach will arise in due time.

July 20, 1944

Deutsche Welle reported on July 20:

“On July 20, 1944, Adolf Hitler cheated death when military officers planned an assassination attempt. It took a long time until the Germans came to honor those who took part in the coup attempt…

“In the summer of 1951… [o]nly a third… had a positive opinion about the men and women who had tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the Nazi regime…The resistance fighters [especially Count Stauffenberg] came mainly from the German aristocracy and the upper echelons of the Wehrmacht… [They] were portrayed [by the Nazi Government] as traitors who had broken the oath of allegiance they had sworn to Adolf Hitler. This opinion was shared by many Germans even after the end of the Second World War.

“But Theodor Heuss, West Germany’s first postwar president, played a key role in persuading Germans that the resistance against Hitler was not treason and Stauffenberg’s insubordination was even honorable. ‘The oath of allegiance was paid to a man who formally, legally, morally and historically had many cases of perjury behind him,’ Heuss said in 1954, on the tenth anniversary of the attempted assassination. It was the first official memorial service for the resistance fighters of July 20… ‘There have been cases of refusal to carry out orders that have achieved historic greatness.’…

“In 1958, Social Democrat Carlo Schmid said there was a moral obligation to kill a tyrant… It is striking how often speeches and debates of that era address the limits of oaths and obedience, with a ‘duty to commit high treason’…

“A remarkable memorial service took place in 1990: the first all-German remembrance for the resistance. East Germany’s communist leadership had ignored the assassination attempt for decades, mainly because the conservative and aristocratic conspirators around Stauffenberg did not match the socialist ideal… In 1990, Herzog [Constitutional Court President Roman Herzog, later German president] warned about people ‘who have done nothing but look the other way.’ Even today, he said, most people would behave that way…

“In this respect, the words of Theodor Heuss in 1954 are still valid today: ‘The legacy is still effective, the obligation has not yet been removed.’”

In a related article, Deutsche Welle wrote:

“President Joachim Gauck said [on July 20, 2014] that the events of July 20, 1944 were a reminder to Germans about the importance of ‘bravely standing up for our values.’… Earlier, the president had taken part in a church service in Berlin Cathedral, where the head of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Nikolaus Schneider, said it was important to honor the efforts to resist Hitler made by the conspirators.”

These reports mix truth with error, which is not surprising; given the fact that humanity as a whole is still eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, deciding for themselves what is right and wrong. God, in the Bible, reveals to us true knowledge and understanding—including how to behave as true Christians in a hostile environment and in a world ruled by Satan—but most reject this precious truth, as Adam and Eve neglected to eat from the tree of life which would have given them godly knowledge.

Very Few Support U.S. Drone Strikes and Spying

“People around the world overwhelmingly oppose U.S. drone strikes targeting extremists in countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, a new poll reveals… A majority of respondents in only three nations approve — the United States (52 percent), Israel (65 percent), and Kenya (53 percent), which has suffered terrorist attacks in recent years.

“The strongest opposition to the strikes is in Venezuela, where 92 percent disapprove and just 4 percent approve… followed by Jordan (90 percent disapprove), Greece (89 percent), and Nicaragua (88 percent). A majority of respondents in several strong U.S. allied nations also disapprove of the drone strikes against extremists, including South Korea (75 percent disapprove), Italy (74 percent), France (72 percent), Germany (67 percent), and the United Kingdom (59 percent). Not surprisingly, just 3 percent of respondents in Pakistan approve of the strikes.

“… people around the world generally oppose the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices. Asked if they consider U.S. monitoring of citizens from their country ‘Acceptable’ or ‘Unacceptable,’ 81 percent say it is unacceptable and just 12 percent consider it acceptable.  Sixty-two percent say U.S. monitoring of Americans is unacceptable.

“Asked about monitoring of leaders in their country, 73 percent say it is unacceptable. However, 64 percent of respondents believe that monitoring terrorist suspects is acceptable, and just 29 percent say it is unacceptable… overall ratings for the United States remain mostly popular… 65 percent have a favorable view of America, while 25 percent have an unfavorable view. The lowest favorable rating in the survey is in Egypt, just 10 percent.”

Sadly, the overall ratings for the United States will dramatically change in the not-too-distant future, when only very few will retain a favorable view of America.

Big Earthquake Hitting Los Angeles Inevitable

The Telegraph wrote on July 19:

“The southern section of the San Andreas fault that runs near the city [of Los Angeles] has not had a ‘mega-quake’ of more than magnitude-7.5 since 1680 and it is, according to seismologists, more than a century overdue.  A flurry of lesser earthquakes in recent months has refocused attention on whether America’s second city can withstand a major hit…

“‘A big earthquake is inevitable,’ Los Angeles’ recently appointed ‘quake tsar’ Dr Lucy Jones, told The Telegraph. ‘Each earthquake that happens increases the probability. We know… it will happen. We know everything but the time.”

It is indeed only a matter of time.

This question addresses some important issues about the Christian Way of Life.

As we pointed out in our previous Q&A, “Does God Give His Holy Spirit to People Who Have Not Been Baptized?”, since the establishment of the New Testament Church, a person needs to be properly baptized to receive the Holy Spirit, and he will not enter the Kingdom of God at the time of his resurrection if he did not have God’s Holy Spirit within him at the time of his death. Normally, he must spiritually grow after the receipt of the Holy Spirit, until he has qualified for the entrance of the Kingdom of God. (To clarify, when the Bible or we speak of a Christian in the masculine gender, the feminine gender is ALWAYS included, unless the context demands a different understanding in a given case.)

We state the following in our free booklet, “Are You Already Born Again?”, under “The ‘Born-Again’ Process”:

“Using the process of human conception, gestation and birth as an analogy, we can gain a clearer understanding of the concept of being born again into SPIRIT. In this physical life, one is not born immediately at the time of conception. There is a time interval between conception and birth. A human baby must be conceived. A human baby must grow in the womb (the period of gestation). A human baby gains life of its own through birth.

“The same principles apply to our spiritual birth. Although we will be born again at the time of our resurrection or our change to immortality, something else must happen first so that we CAN become born again. The Bible describes this prior event as spiritual conception or ‘begettal.’ Simply put, before we can be born again, we must be begotten again—a spiritual begettal. This spiritual begettal takes place at the time of our baptism, after repentance, and after coming to an understanding of, and belief in, Christ’s sacrifice and the gospel of the Kingdom of God. At the time of baptism we then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, through the laying on of hands, as a down payment—a guarantee—(Ephesians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 5:5) of our ultimate new birth at our resurrection to spirit.

“In applying the analogy of human birth to spiritual birth, the receipt of God’s Spirit at conversion is a type of spiritual begettal. With the receipt of God’s Spirit, we acquire God’s divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), but there is still another step in the process. Just as an embryo must grow and develop, we must also grow spiritually and develop the fruit of the Spirit—the actual character of God. God considers those who have received His Spirit as being His children (2 Corinthians 6:17–18). Finally, Spirit-begotten children become SEPARATE SPIRIT BEINGS upon being born again—at their resurrection and change to immortality.

“Romans 8:11 tells us that ‘…if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit [which] dwells in you.’ 1 Corinthians 6:14 adds, ‘And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.’ In other words, God will resurrect us by His Spirit, which is a spirit of power (Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:7).

“To come to the point of being ‘born again’ is a process. It starts with the moment we receive God’s Holy Spirit, in the same way that a human being begins to live in his mother’s womb at the time of conception. God baptizes us through His Holy Spirit into the Church, which is called ‘the mother of us all’ (Galatians 4:26–27, 31). A human baby grows in his mother’s womb until he is ready to be born. Likewise, we are to grow in our Christian lives in the womb of the Church, increasing in the ‘grace and knowledge of Christ’ (2 Peter 3:18; compare Ephesians 4:11–13), until we can become born again—Spirit beings.

“A father begets a child, while the mother delivers it. After the father has initiated the process, there is an intervening time of about nine months before birth, or parturition, occurs. During this intervening time, the mother nourishes and protects the unborn child in her womb for the entire gestation period. The same is true for our spiritual begettal, growth and birth. During the spiritual ‘gestation’ period, after our conversion, it is the duty and responsibility of the Church, of which Christ is the Head (Ephesians 5:23), to nourish and protect the begotten children of God. These spiritually begotten children of God, the Father, need nourishment from good spiritual food supplied by God, and they need to absorb the food so they can grow spiritually, striving to become perfect in this life. In this way, they can become born again children at the time of Christ’s return…”

So we see that normally, a newly-baptized person must spiritually grow before he can enter the Kingdom of God. Some have claimed that this is not always the case as the thief on the cross who came to conversion a few hours before his death, was promised by Christ that he would enter “Paradise” or the Kingdom of God on the day of his death… and he was not even baptized. However, in addition to the fact that this incident occurred PRIOR TO the establishment of the New Testament Church, this is not what Christ promised the thief.

We read in Luke 23:39–43, in the translation of the New King James Bible: “Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.’ But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’”

We addressed this question in our free booklet, “Jesus Christ—a Great Mystery”, under “Did the Thief Go To Paradise on the Day of His Death?”.

After discussing Christ’s statement in detail, we offered the following conclusion:

“… both the throne of God and the tree of life are in the Paradise of God. Revelation 22:1–3 teaches us that the throne of God and the tree of life will be in the New Jerusalem, when it descends to [the new] earth. This means, then, that the Paradise of God will be here on [the new] earth.”

This means, Christ promised the thief that he would be in Paradise when the heavenly Jerusalem descends to the new earth—which will occur long AFTER the first resurrection. Christ did not say he would be in Paradise on same day of his death. Rather, to continue with quoting from our above-mentioned booklet:

“Jesus Christ was telling the thief on the cross that he would be with Christ in Paradise, AFTER it had been established on [the new] earth.

“In the original Greek, there are no commas… This means, rather than stating, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise,’ this passage could also be translated as, ‘Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise.’ The Companion Bible states in its appendix, in paragraph 173, that the interpretation of this verse depends exclusively on the punctuation, which is totally dependent on human authority. They explain that until the 9th century, Greek manuscripts had no punctuation at all, and even after that time, they only had a dot separating words from each other. The Broadman Bible Commentary admits: ‘It is possible to place the comma after today…’

“Christ did not promise the thief that he would be in Paradise the day he died. But since He saw his repentant attitude, He did promise him on that very day that he would be in Paradise—here on [the new] earth, in the future.”

On the other hand, God looks at the heart of a person, and when He determines that a newly-converted person is qualified to enter the Kingdom of God, He may let him die soon after his baptism. We find that Samson will be in the Kingdom of God (compare Hebrews 11:32, 39-40), even though we understand that he only came to true repentance and conversion shortly before his death, when his hair grew again in the dungeon (Of course, in Old Testament times, God gave the Holy Spirit to some without any requirement of prior baptism. This changed with the establishment of the New Testament Church.)

In any event, converted Christians do not die because of time and chance. When a converted Christian dies, God decided to let him die, because He had determined that he had qualified to enter the Kingdom of God. In other words, when a person dies and the Holy Spirit dwells in him at the time of his death, then that person WILL be in the first resurrection and in the Kingdom of God. God would NOT let a converted Christian die if he was not ready for the Kingdom at the time of his death.

Some quote Ecclesiastes 9:11 for the idea that true Christians may die BECAUSE of time and chance.

We stated the following in our free booklet, “Human Suffering, Why… and How Much Longer”: under “True Christians Not Subject to Time and Chance”:

“Note what Solomon said: ‘Time and chance happen to THEM all.’ He did NOT say—‘to all men,’ or ‘to all of us.’ In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon was mainly addressing and writing about people in this world—people who only live and work for material possessions (Ecclesiastes 5:13–17), or people who do not understand God’s plan (Ecclesiastes 8:17). When he addressed true Christians, however, he referred to them as ‘you’ (compare Ecclesiastes 9:10: ‘Whatever YOUR hand finds to do, do it with YOUR might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where YOU are going.’)…

“Christ made the same distinction, in Luke 13:1–5: ‘There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but UNLESS YOU repent, YOU will ALL LIKEWISE perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but UNLESS YOU repent, YOU will all LIKEWISE perish.”’

“Christ’s teaching is unmistakable: If we don’t repent, we might very well die as those did, on whom the tower of Siloam fell; that is, through an accident, apart from, or being cut off from God, by time and chance. If we repent, however, according to Christ, we will NOT likewise perish or die in that way. Rather, even if we were to die in an ‘accident,’ God would have specifically—not just ‘generally’—DECIDED not to intervene and to LET US die. God is always in control over our lives. Nothing happens to us, which God is not aware of and which God does not ‘approve of’ (compare Job 1:21–22; 2:10).

“True Christians are NOT in the ‘hand’ of time and chance. Rather, Solomon tells US: ‘… the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God’ (Ecclesiastes 9:1). David understood, too, that he was in God’s hands. He wrote, in Psalm 31:15: ‘My times are in Your hand.’ He knew that he was always, constantly, and completely under God’s observation, His protection, and in His loving care (compare, Psalm 4:7–8; 9:9–10; 17:8; 23:1–6; 33:18–19; 34:7, 15, 19–20, etc. etc.), as are all true Christians today. God promises that nothing will happen to us that is too difficult for us to bear (compare 1 Corinthians 10:13). This means, then, that God must be watching us every second to guarantee the fulfillment of His promise…

“The very idea that a true Christian could die… because of time and chance, limits God and weakens our faith. It is a patently unbiblical concept. When a Christian dies, it is because GOD has DECIDED that it was time for His son or daughter to die…

“Isaiah 57:1–2 states: ‘The righteous perishes, And no man takes it to heart; Merciful men are taken away, While no one considers That the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, Each one walking in his uprightness.’ Psalm 116:15 teaches: ‘Precious in the SIGHT OF the LORD Is the death of His saints.’ (Compare, too, Psalm 72:14). So, God’s people just don’t die without the knowledge of God. Rather, they die in God’s SIGHT!…

“Did Paul teach that we are hopeless and helpless victims of time and chance? Quite the opposite is true: ‘For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, WE ARE THE LORD’S’ [Romans 14:8]…

“What exactly is Solomon saying in Ecclesiastes 9:10–11?

“Simply this: In Ecclesiastes 9:10 he encourages us to do with our might what we ought to do. In other words, to be very careful how we live our lives as Christians. Give all glory to God, he says, and don’t lean on your own understanding or strength. Because, he says in verse 11, when you fail, you’ll be right back in the world, which you once belonged to, and in the world, you WILL be subject to time and chance. Your own human abilities won’t necessarily help you in the world. Understand that without God’s help, we are pretty much lost, having become victims of time and chance. Solomon says, you may even die in a terrible accident or because of a terrible sickness.

“But, as long as we are in God’s loving hands, we are not victims of time and chance. And when we die, it is NOT because of time and chance. Rather, when a Christian dies, it is because GOD has decided that it was time for him or her to die, as he or she has qualified for God’s Kingdom (Numbers 23:10; Isaiah 57:1–2; Romans 14:8; Revelation 14:13).”

In conclusion, the Christian Way of Life requires spiritual growth. God will decide when a converted person is ready to enter the Kingdom of God. In doing so, He also looks at the heart, the attitude, the motives and the desires of the person. God will not let a true Christian die before his time and before he is ready. If the Holy Spirit dwells in a person at the time of his death, he WILL be in the first resurrection and in God’s Kingdom.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Norbert and Johanna Link will be in Oregon this weekend. Mr. Link will be giving the sermon, and live transmission of services will be from that location.

The July Member Letter has been mailed this week. In the letter, Eric Rank reminds us of the incredible human potential God has set before us. Additionally, he points to our need to focus on and participate in the Work of the Church of God right now.

A recent StandingWatch program (Feb 27, 2014), “Ukraine in Prophecy,” has received over 10,000 viewings.

“Why the Hatred for Israel?,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

Israel stands condemned. Anti-Semitism and hatred for Jews can be again observed worldwide. This program gives you some truly shocking examples and explains from history why there is continuing war and strife in the Middle East, and what constitutes the only solution for peace in that region.

“Wie Stark Ist Ihr Glaube?,” is the title of this week’s German sermon. In English, the title is “How Strong Is Your Faith?”

“Does Sin Lead to Success?,” the sermon given last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Does sin pay? Are sinners happy people? Are they more successful and blessed than others? Can they look with confidence at a peaceful future? The Bible shows us that none of this is true. Sin leads to disaster. It sets in motion an automatic chain of events. There is a cause for every effect. There is a fundamental difference between the righteous and the wicked. We will reap what we sow. Our sin will find us out.

On July 19, 2014, Norbert Link will give the sermon, titled, “Does Sin Lead to Success?”

The live services are available, over video and audio, at www.cognetservices.org (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time; 8:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time; 9:30 pm Central European Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

In John 6 verses 1-13 we read about the feeding of 5,000 men (verse 10) plus all the women and children. Quite a crowd! We can marvel at such a miracle and the fact that everyone ate their fill and there were twelve baskets that were filled with fragments after the meal, and all from five loaves and two fish.

But after we have finished marvelling at the mighty miracle that Christ performed, we can overlook something else in this story. Christ then told the disciples to gather up the food that was left. Typically today, many just throw rubbish anywhere and everywhere. Just look at the aftermath of rock concerts, picnics in the park, football matches and visits to the cinema. I recall having lunch some years ago with the senior executive of the company I worked for at that time and he paid by credit card. As we left the table, he looked at his receipt and just let it fall to the ground. In another case, a man came out of the post office, looked at his receipt and just threw it on the ground. I  suggested, politely, that he should pick it up and he smiled. I again suggested the same thing and he smiled, waved his hand at me and just walked away. I don’t think that he may have understood much English!

That was not neat!

I recall visiting Singapore on a company convention in the 1980’s and litter was not allowed. I looked up the current situation and read that in Singapore “A litter law dating from 1968 means litter bugs can be fined $1,000 for the first conviction and $5,000 for repeat convictions. On top of that, you’ll be forced to do community labour.  And if you offend three times, you’ll have to wear a sign, which states, “I am a litter lout”. They take it seriously!

Of course, in the United States today, littering is also strictly forbidden and punishable with a fine of at least $1,000 for each violation. In many other countries, similar laws exist.

Why am I raising this issue? Jesus Christ set the example by instructing His disciples to clear up after “the party”. When I first started attending church, I was pleasantly surprised by the attention to detail that church members made. Meeting halls were left as clean and tidy as they were found and, sometimes even tidier and cleaner! Even toilets were left in a clean condition.

Being tidy may seem a small matter but we have to be faithful in the little things (compare Luke 16:10). Do we tidy up at home, at church or wherever we are? Are we following Christ’s example of tidiness and order?

If so, that’s neat!

We begin with real threats from Islamist terrorists for the USA and other Western nations; focus on the sickening Middle Eastern situation; show growing anti-Semitism around the globe; report on the crash of a Malaysian airplane as well as the shattered relationship between the USA and Germany; point out the lack of American leadership and America’s inability to fulfill its role as the world’s superpower; and address the crumbling relationship between the USA, the UK, Canada and Israel.

In other news, we speak about the Church of England’s unbiblical decision to appoint women bishops and the pope’s problems with pedophiles in his church; as well as the exploding number of HIV cases involving practicing homosexuals and transgender women.

“Extreme Concern” Over Terrorist Bomb

NewsMax wrote on July 13:

“New intelligence reports indicate that Yemeni bomb-makers are joining terrorists in Syria to build new types of virtually undetectable bombs, says Attorney General Eric Holder… Holder called the prospect ‘more frightening than anything I think I’ve seen as attorney general … ‘

“The Yemen-based bomb-builders… have traveled to Syria to meet with members of the Islamic State (ISIS), the group that has declared a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq… About 7,000 people with American or European passports have joined the fighting on behalf of the Islamic State, and officials fear they may attempt to return and carry out acts of terrorism in the West.”

These concerns are most certainly valid.

Middle East Conflict—No Winners but a Big Loser

The Washington Post wrote on July 12:

“… the latest bout of fighting in and around the Gaza Strip has produced no clear winners. But it has yielded a nearly indisputable loser: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who… has now been relegated to bystander status as his two longtime foes once again slug it out.

“… Here in the West Bank, where Abbas and his allies have long held sway among Palestinians, residents speak admiringly of the Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, while despairing that Abbas’s advocacy for nonviolence has led nowhere…

“The overall impact is the opposite of what the United States has long sought in the Middle East — a strengthened hand for Abbas and marginalization for Hamas and other militant groups…”

Ultimately, all will be losers, and only the return of Jesus Christ will bring an end to the madness of our futile wars.

Israel Launches Ground Invasion

The New York Times wrote on July 16:

“A senior Israeli military official said Wednesday the likelihood of a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip was ‘very high’… The stark assessment came as Israel bombed 60 targets, most of them in northern Gaza, after warning 100,000 residents to evacuate their homes by 8 a.m. via leaflets, text messages, and automated telephone calls. The Palestinian death toll reached at least 205 by late afternoon, including four children killed in a strike on the seashore…

“Scores of rockets from Gaza continued to fly into Israel, several of them intercepted by the Iron Dome missile-defense system over Tel Aviv and the southern city of Ashkelon. Hamas, the militant Palestinian faction that dominates Gaza, on Wednesday officially rejected an Egyptian cease-fire proposal that Israel had initially approved Tuesday morning…  the [Israeli] government moved to call up 8,000 additional reservists, adding to the 42,000 already mobilized…

“Mr. Netanyahu has been under pressure from some members of his cabinet and party to start a ground operation…”

Subsequently, Israel began a ground invasion on July 17, 2014. JTA reported:

“Israel launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip to destroy tunnels it says are used for terrorist activities. The Israel Defense Forces’ spokesman’s office announced the operation by a ‘large IDF force’ late Thursday on its Twitter feed following the order given by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister MosheYaalon… The operation is limited for now to tanks targeting 10 tunnels in Gaza, the IDF said… Israeli troops earlier Thursday stopped an attempted Hamas infiltration from the Gaza Strip, forcing 13 infiltrators back into tunnels.”

Anti-Semitism Worldwide

Breitbart wrote on July 14:

“With Hamas’ decision to begin firing hundreds of rockets into Israel, precipitating Israeli action to stop that rocket fire, anti-Jew sentiment has now exploded full-force onto the public scene. This isn’t unprecedented – each time Israel acts in its own self-defense, whether in Gaza or in southern Lebanon, Jew-haters around the world have utilized the opportunity to target Jews.

“Such evil has now shown its ugly face around the world. Here are the latest incidents across the globe against Jews, utilizing Israel’s defensive activities as an excuse:

“Los Angeles. When some 2,000 Israel supporters showed up at the Federal Building in Los Angeles on Sunday, a group of pro-Palestinian men – they were identifiable by the large Palestinian flags they carried – attacked the demonstrators with sticks. LAPD attempted to stop the fight, and the attackers reportedly drove off in their truck…

“Paris. Anti-Jewish thugs attempted to break into a Paris synagogue carrying bats and chairs… The synagogue was full of Jews memorializing the three Jewish boys killed by Hamas operatives.

“Frankfurt. Neo-Nazi protesters threw stones at police. Fellow anti-Israel protesters, who numbered 2,500, screamed ‘God is great’ and ‘children-murderer Israel.’ One sign stated, ‘You Jews Are Beasts!’ The groups apparently tried to find Jewish institutions to attack after their rally. According to the Jerusalem Post, ‘student organization Left-SDS, Islamists and some members of the Neo-Nazi group National Socialists Rhein-Main attended the anti-Israel protest. Flags from Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Hamas were on display at the protest. Banners compared Prime Minister Netanyahu with Adolf Hitler.’ Police reportedly allowed demonstrators to use ‘a police vehicle and loudspeaker to blast anti-Israel slogans.’

“Seattle… pro-Israel rallies were met with anti-Israel rallies in the city with protesters screaming ‘anti-Israel slogans calling for the destruction of the Jewish state while waving signs and marching through the downtown sidewalks…signs comparing Jews to Nazis were commonplace.’… posters utilizing the blood libel were present in the crowd, including ‘a Jew eating a gentile child along with a cup of blood to wash it all down.’

“Boston. Pro-Israel protesters were called ‘Jesus killers’ and swarmed at a rally outside the Israeli consulate…

“As Israel’s enemies are emboldened in the Middle East, Jews’ enemies are emboldened around the globe. It is no surprise, then, to watch as Jews across the world come under attack, given the unprecedented level of tacit and spoken global support for anti-Israel activity.”

JTA added on July 13:

“Rocks were thrown at police in Berlin during a protest by some 1,000 demonstrators — most of them Palestinians — against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza… By some estimates, Berlin is home to 35,000 Arabs of Palestinian origin.”

The Bible prophecies that the poison of anti-Semitism will spread and grow. As it occurred in the past, so will all again become targets who are considered “Jewish.” This will include true Christians who keep the Sabbath and the annual Holy Days and who abide by the biblical dietary laws. Martin Luther once wrote a terrible tirade against the Jews and all other Sabbath-keepers (“Gegen alle Juden und die den Sabbat halten.”) Many feel that Luther and others set the stage for Hitler’s diabolical conduct of mass murder against millions of Jews and other minorities, including some Christian “sects.” Something similar will happen again—only this time, it will be so much worse.

Syria’s Assad’s Position as Secure As Ever

Reuters reported on July 16:

“Bashar al-Assad was sworn in for a new term as Syria’s president on Wednesday, after an election which his opponents dismiss as a sham but which he said proved he had achieved victory after a ‘dirty war’ to unseat him. Once written off in the West as certain to fall, he launches his seven-year term in his securest position since the early days of the three-year-old war.

“Those close to Damascus say he now believes his Western and regional foes will be forced to deal with him as a bulwark against Sunni Islamist militants who advanced across northern Iraq last month. At his inauguration he delivered a defiant speech, vowing to recover all Syria from Islamist insurgents and warning that Western and Arab countries would pay dearly for supporting rebels he described as terrorists.”

This article proves once more how human imagination and concepts of the future can drastically change within a heartbeat.

Malaysian Passenger Aircraft Crashed in Eastern Ukraine

Deutsche Welle reported on July 17:

“[A] Malaysian airliner has crashed in eastern Ukraine near Donetsk. The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur… On board reportedly were 295 people [the accurate count seems to be 298, including three infants] — 280 [or 283] passengers and 15 crew members…”

It is presumed that everyone on board was killed.

ABS News added on July 17:

“A statement from the Foreign Ministry in Kiev said, ‘A large passenger aircraft Boeing 777, performing a flight between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur, was shot down in the eastern part of Ukraine… by the Russian Buk missile system as the liner was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters… because the Russian air defense systems was affording protection to Russian mercenaries and terrorists in this area.’”

Breitbart reported on July 17:

“Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera  said, ‘I believe Vladimir Putin has the blood of these airline passengers on his hands.’”

Subsequently, it was reported (but not independently verified by the respective governments) that at least 23 Americans, one Canadian, four Germans, 154 Dutch, six Brits, four Belgians, 27 Australians, 45 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, and three Philippine citizens were killed.

Bild Online reported that Kiev and the USA “are convinced” that “pro-Russian rebels” shot down the plane with Russian weapons—perhaps erroneously believing that the plane was an Ukrainian fighter jet. The Sun wrote: “Putin was facing universal condemnation last night after pro-Russian separatists shot down a passenger jet carrying 295 people over Ukraine.”

Also note these additional messages:

The Associated Press wrote on July 17:

“An Air Force fighter jet has been shot down by an air-to-air missile fired from a Russian plane, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Security Council said Thursday. Andrei Lysenko also said Ukrainian troops had been fired upon by missiles from a village just inside Russia…Pro-Russia rebels, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for strikes Wednesday on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets…

“On Monday, Ukraine said one of its military transport planes carrying eight people was shot down by a missile fired from Russian territory. Security Service chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said he had ‘unconditional evidence’ that Russia was involved in downing the craft… Rebels claimed to have shot that plane down.”

The situation involving Russia and the Ukraine is bound to escalate.

Germany Demands a No-Spy-Agreement–Growing Anti-Americanism in Germany

The Guardian wrote on July 12:

“Germany is determined to extract a public commitment from the US over future spying activity… Anger is running so high in Berlin that several earlier overtures by the US have this week been rejected by Berlin, which instead asked the CIA’s station chief to leave the country…

“‘We need to find something that satisfies the German public mood,’ said the senior German diplomat on Friday, who warned of growing anti-Americanism in the country…”

Experts agree that the USA will never enter into a formal no-spy agreement, but the hope is that something “informal“ could be worked out, and if this could be achieved, that it will not be broken at the next “expedient” opportunity.

Widespread German Support for Decision to Expel CIA Top Spy

The Local wrote on July 11:

“… ordering America’s top spy to leave Berlin was ‘unprecedented’ in the German-US relationship…  ‘The expulsion confirms a noteworthy increase in the level of frustration felt by the political elite [in Germany],’… ‘People’s trust in America has been decreasing ever since 2003 with the Iraq War.’…

“The Süddeutsche Zeitung called the expulsion ‘an unequalled act of protest against American arrogance’…

“Former Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg wrote in Bild, the country’s biggest-selling tabloid, that Barack Obama risked raising anti-Americanism in Germany…

“The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warned Germany and America were ‘on the threshold of a diplomatic war’… ‘Merkel is not Obama’s poodle. The message which she sent him now was necessary and without ambiguity…’

“Journalist Jakob Augstein, meanwhile, quoted Britney Spears in his Spiegel Online column. ‘The Americans spied on us again. Oops! And they humiliated us again. Oh, baby, baby! They played with our hearts. We thought it was love. But that was a mistake.’ Augstein added: ‘The bitter truth is the relationship between the Americans and us resembles that between a dog and its owner. And unfortunately the American owner doesn’t love the German dachshund. The owner only needs it to occasionally fetch something.’…”

These excerpts show the disgust of many Germans with American duplicity.

Wake-Up Call for USA–Is Obama Losing Germany?

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 12:

“Expelling intelligence officials is an act usually associated with countries with which the US does not maintain friendly relations… disappointment with Obama is widespread…

“Listening in on the German chancellor’s telephone was inexcusably ‘stupid,’ as former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Berlin…

“The New York Times soberly noted that German-American relations have reached their low point with the expulsion of the CIA’s representative from Berlin. Experts on Germany in Washington view the events more dramatically: President Obama, they fear, is on the verge of losing Germany.”

In fact, he has already lost Germany.

Most Challenging Crisis Since End of World War II

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 14:

[Klaus Scharioth, Germany’s ambassador to Washington from 2006 to 2011, said:]

“… this is a very very serious crisis… If the United States wants to know what the Germans are thinking, what the people in the foreign ministry or in the chancellory are thinking they should just call. That’s very easy. I know from my days in Washington in office that we have such a close relationship that we talk practically about everything and we also don’t hesitate to talk about differences. So there is and was no reason for this kind of espionage. And therefore I think this was basically a waste of taxpayers’ money…

“Yes I think [this is the most profound and challenging crisis in German-American relations since the end of the World War II].”

On July 15, Deutsche Welle ran the following headline: “Moronic spying may turn German friends into enemies.”

It continued:

“… it is Washington, and not Europe, that is presently – in the most stupid manner imaginable – endangering the most important alliance in the history of the world… An increasingly neutralist Germany now has a further reason to continue drifting away from America… American tone deafness over espionage is nothing less than a cancer that could effectively end the vital alliance as we know it between these two great powers.”

We hear these words, but do we really grasp what is being said here? For many decades, we have proclaimed that the relationship between the USA and Germany will deteriorate, and that hostilities and WAR will be the consequence. Now we are seeing the beginning of these developments, but most do not understand the signs of the time… including many of those who once had some knowledge of biblical prophecy. But their desire to be part of the world; their involvement with futile activities; and their setting of wrong “priorities,” as well as their willingness to compromise with God’s truth, have clouded their spiritual understanding.

No More Trust in the American President

The Financial Times wrote on July 13:

“… less than 40 per cent of Germans consider the US a trustworthy partner… Most Americans say they no longer personally trust Mr Obama. And fewer than 30 per cent express trust in the office of the presidency…

“Mr Obama has now played golf 179 times – considerably more than George W Bush, his golf-loving predecessor. Mr Obama dislikes spending time with fellow politicians. But he seems happy to attend endless fundraisers. He has now clocked up 393 fundraising events since becoming president, almost double that of Mr Bush.

“If Mr Obama put half as much effort into co-opting or wrongfooting his opponents as he does raising cash from the wealthy, people might be less sceptical…  If you seek an explanation for why Mr Obama riles so many voters – and not just Tea Party conservatives – the perception of double standards is at the root of the problem.”

These are interesting comments, describing a leader who is unwilling or unable to lead.

Impeach and Sue President Obama?

Breitbart wrote on July 16:

“A week after former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin called for President Barack Obama’s impeachment over his lawlessness on illegal immigration… two in three Republicans believe impeachment is justified and a majority of independents believe that Obama has exceeded his constitutional limits.

“A YouGov/Huffington Post poll found that 49% of Americans, 89% of Republicans, and a majority of independents (52%) ‘think that President Obama has exceeded the constitutional limits of Presidential authority.’ But 35% of Americans ‘say impeaching Obama would be justified,’ including 8% of Democrats, 37% of independents, and 68% of Republicans.”

The Washington Times wrote on July 15:

“A prominent law professor and avowed supporter of the Obama White House will tell the House on Wednesday that the president has created one of the biggest constitutional crises in the country’s history and will endorse House Republicans’ effort to sue to rein him in.

“Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University, will say President Obama is trampling the founders’ vision for the country in his push to circumvent Congress, and he will demand Republicans and Democrats alike forget their party labels to unify against this White House’s power grab.”

The “United States of America” (USA), a/k/a the “Unsuccessful Superpower (of) America”

The Huffington Post wrote on July 14:

“… And speaking of the ‘sole superpower,’ it remains true that no combination of other militaries can compare with the U.S. military or the moneys the country continues to put into it and into the research and development of weaponry of the most futuristic sort…

“In addition, the U.S. still maintains hundreds of military bases and outposts across the planet… In 2014, it still garrisons the planet in a way that no other imperial power has ever done…

“And yet, recent history is clear: that military has proven incapable of winning its wars against minor (and minority) insurgencies globally, just as Washington, for all its firepower, military and economic, has had a remarkably difficult time imposing its desires just about anywhere on the planet.  Though it may still look like a superpower and though the power of its national security state may still be growing, Washington seems to have lost the ability to translate that power into anything resembling success.

“Today, the U.S. looks less like a functioning and effective empire than an imperial basket case, unable to bring its massive power to bear effectively from Germany to Syria, Iraq to Afghanistan, Libya to the South China Sea, the Crimea to Africa.  And stranger yet, this remains true even though it has no imperial competitors to challenge it… All in all, the situation is puzzling indeed… the wounds Washington has suffered on numerous fronts in these last years are self-inflicted. Just what kind of decline this represents remains to be seen.”

We have recently published several articles of writers who begin to point out that America lost all its wars since the end of World War II. However, it is a puzzle to them as to why this should be, since America is still THE superpower of the world. But the explanation is very simple: God has withdrawn His support and protection from this country. The reasons are described in our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Putin vs. Britain vs. USA over Falkland Islands

The Telegraph wrote on July 14:

“Vladimir Putin has weighed into Argentina’s dispute with Britain over the Falklands, backing Buenos Aires’ bid to open ‘negotiations’ over the islands’ future… Phyll Rendell, head of the Falklands legislative assembly, responded to Mr Putin’s comments by insisting that the islands’ status as a British overseas territory was of its own choosing… Mr Putin’s visit to Argentina came as part of a charm offensive to woo Latin American nations back into Moscow’s sphere of influence. It is seeking to take advantage of Argentina’s ongoing run-ins with Washington…

“The Russian expression of support for Argentina’s claim to the Falklands comes amid growing British frustration with America’s equivocal stance on the issue. Anxious not to upset Argentina, President Barack Obama’s administration has remained ‘neutral’ on the dispute, a stance that has caused some annoyance given Britain’s firm backing of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In April, a House of Commons inquiry into the health of the ‘special relationship’ said: ‘We are disappointed that the US administration fails to give priority to the principle of self-determination in its position on sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.’”

The Bible shows that even Britain (modern Ephraim) and America (modern Manasseh) will be against each other. The same can be said about the relationship involving Canada (which is also a part of Ephraim). As Breitbart reported on July 14, the “Canadian Prime Minister condemned Obama for not supporting Israel.” Breitbart continued that now Canada has become the ONLY friend of Israel, and that the USA can no longer be viewed as one of Israel’s true friends.

Women Bishops in the Church of England

BBC News wrote on July 14:

“The Church of England has voted to allow women to become bishops for first time in its history…

“The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said he was ‘delighted’…

“It is hard to exaggerate the significance of today’s decision at the York Synod. It breaks a hitherto unbroken tradition of exclusively male bishops inherited from the first Christians almost 2,000 years ago…

“The Archbishop of York said it was a ‘momentous day’ … Mr Cameron said it was a ‘great day for the Church and for equality’… Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg praised Archbishop Welby’s ‘leadership’ on securing the Yes vote, adding that it was a ‘big moment’ for the Church of England.

“Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was “wonderful news’… The Anglican Communion has the largest Christian denomination in Britain and a presence in more than 160 countries. Women bishops are already in office in a number of provinces including the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.”

This latest move is in complete violation of the Holy Bible. It is interesting that the Roman Catholic Church happens to follow the Bible on this issue, but it stated at the same time that they will in no way abandon their desire to continue to build close ties with the Anglican Church of England. It can be expected that the Catholic Church, in its ongoing attempts to bring back all “daughter churches” into its fold, will be willing to make some “compromises” in order to reach that goal.

“‘One in 50’ Catholic Priests, Bishops and Cardinals a Pedophile

The Independent wrote on July 14:

“Pope Francis has revealed that ‘reliable data’ collected by the Vatican suggests that one in every 50 members of the Catholic clergy is a paedophile… He pledged that he would drive away the ‘leprosy’ of child abuse that was infecting the ‘house’ of Catholicism… He also warned of much greater figures for people who were aware of the existence of abuse – sometimes within their own families – but who stayed silent because of corruption or fear…

“His comments came a week after the Pope met with six victims of clerical paedophilia to apologise for their abuse at the hands of priests. The meeting, with six British, Irish and German Catholics, was designed to acknowledge the gravity of the Church’s guilt and complicity.”

That figure might even be much higher.

HIV Exploding Among Homosexual Men and Transgender Women

AFP wrote on July 14:

“HIV infections are rising among gay men in many parts of the world, the World Health Organization warned Friday, urging all men who have sex with men to take antiretroviral drugs to prevent infection. ‘We are seeing exploding epidemics,’ warned Gottfried Hirnschall, who heads WHO’s HIV department…

“While images of skeletal men dying of AIDS in the 1980s pushed the world to act, a younger generation that has grown up among new treatments that make it possible to live with HIV are less focused on the disease, he suggested. Today, this group is 19 times more likely than the general population to be infected by HIV, Hirnschall said…

“Globally, transgender women and injecting drug users, for instance, are around 50 times more likely than the general population to contract HIV…”

Again—the signs of the time are clearly visible, but most are unwilling or unable to connect the dots.

In the writings of the Bible there are a small number of examples of individuals who received the Holy Spirit without a Christian baptism. Prior to the time of the establishment of the New Testament Church, some received the Holy Spirit without first being baptized. They were used by God at that time for a specific and special purpose. They had a job to do, which involved establishing the truth of God among people on the earth and executing the plan of God.

Following the establishment of the New Testament Church, the standard process for receiving the Holy Spirit involves a Christian baptism followed by the laying on of hands by a minister of God.

We write in our free booklet, Baptism – A Requirement for Salvation?: 

“Without baptism based on biblical teaching, we normally would not receive the Holy Spirit and we would not be in a position to look forward to salvation. (An obvious and extremely rare exception to this rule would be, of course, when it is physically impossible to baptize someone, because the person is physically incapable of being baptized.) We understand, of course, that the situation was different in Old Testament times because God did bestow His Spirit on a few people without prior baptism, so that they could fulfill His specific commission for them.

“This is no longer true in New Testament times. We read in Acts 8:16–17… that the Holy Spirit was given to people only AFTER they were baptized and had hands laid upon them—not before then.”

What can we learn about the examples of the individuals who received the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times? A good place to start such a study is by understanding what purpose the Holy Spirit serves in man. Why does God provide His Holy Spirit in the first place?

A very important purpose of the Holy Spirit is to help man understand the things of God. Paul states this fact clearly in 1 Corinthians 2:11-12, “… no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit [which] is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

This Scripture clearly states that it is necessary to have the Holy Spirit of God if we are to understand His truth. In addition, we can see that a reason for providing His Holy Spirit is to know the things of God. It makes good sense too. The way mankind thinks is fundamentally different than the way God thinks (compare Isaiah 55:8-9), and if God wants man to understand His ways, it is necessary that a means is provided to do so. The Holy Spirit helps man to understand God and His perfect Will, and it gives man the power to obey that Will.

With this fact established, we can begin to understand some of the reasons why God provided His Holy Spirit to people in Old Testament times. We find proof that establishes this in the historical account of the construction of the tabernacle when Israel came out of Egypt.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.’” (Exodus 31:1-6).

In this subtle, but clear example, we read that Bezalel was filled with the Holy Spirit, for the special purpose of understanding exactly what was necessary to build God’s tabernacle. The spiritual understanding and wisdom was required to properly design and build the physical tabernacle used in the practice of worshiping God correctly at that time. In addition, God gave him the physical skills required to carry out his task.

Evidence exists in the Bible where several other people in the Bible were given the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times. Again, quoting from Baptism–A Requirement for Salvation? on page 31:

“We understand that the Holy Spirit was not offered to the people of ancient Israel, except for a few people in Old Testament times who were selected by God to receive the Holy Spirit for a special purpose. These would include Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, and the prophets of old, among others.”

Noah and Enoch both walked with God (compare Genesis 6:9 and Genesis 5:22 respectively). Walking with God indicates a special relationship with God, in which common understanding is shared (compare Amos 3:3). Since we know that having a common understanding with God requires having His Holy Spirit, we can conclude that Noah and Enoch both had the Holy Spirit. Noah in particular had an important purpose in executing the plan of God in that he “…became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Hebrews 11:7). Enoch too served as an example to the earlier lineage of mankind of how to live by faith (Hebrews 11:5-6). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fulfilled a special purpose by establishing the family and nation of Israel, which was to receive God’s promise of eternal life and inheritance of the Kingdom of God (Galatians 3:16). Moses and Aaron were both responsible for administering the law of God and leading the nation of Israel. With such important commissions to fulfill, it was important in Old Testament times (as it is now) that the individuals responsible for carrying out the plan of God understood that plan spiritually. Therefore, it was necessary for God to give His Holy Spirit to people carrying out His Plan.

We understand, of course, that these were not the only reasons why the ancients received the Holy Spirit. It was God’s preordained purpose to call them for salvation and eternal life at that time. Without the gift of God’s Holy Spirit within a person at the time of his or her physical death, he or she would not be resurrected in the First Resurrection to eternal life and enter the Kingdom of God (compare Romans 8:11).

The only biblical example of the Holy Spirit being granted to people following the historical event of the establishment of the New Testament Church occurred when Gentiles were proven to be included in the promise of salvation. Quoting from Baptism – A Requirement for Salvation? on page 3:

“There is only one recorded incident since the establishment of the New Testament Church where someone received the Holy Spirit prior to baptism, and that is the Gentile Cornelius and his household. This was an exception for a specific purpose—God wanted to make it clear to the disciples that He had called Gentiles into the Church, and indeed, to salvation. Before Cornelius, only Jews had been accepted as Church members.”

Interestingly, even though the Holy Spirit was given prior to baptism in that particular and unique case, Peter commanded those who had received the Holy Spirit to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 10:44–48). This example indicates that baptism is a very important requirement for salvation.

Following the establishment of the New Testament Church, the gift of the Holy Spirit is still limited to those whom God uses for a specific task, according to His pre-ordained purpose. Christians are called today to qualify for the Kingdom of God by becoming teachers, so that they can teach others later. Especially in this end time, they are also called for the task of supporting the commission of the Church of God to preach the gospel of the Kingdom in all the world as a witness to all nations. In addition, when Christians are ordained as deacons and ministers, God gives them an additional amount of the Holy Spirit to enable them to fulfill their responsibilities.

In Acts 2:38 we read: “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission [Margin: forgiveness] of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'” This passage makes it clear that today, a Christian baptism is intimately involved in the process of receiving the Holy Spirit.

This process of baptism, as a means of obtaining the Holy Spirit, highlights another important purpose. The Holy Spirit serves as a guarantee of the promise of God of the gift of eternal life and the corresponding inheritance of the Kingdom of God. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “… you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, [which] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). And to the Romans Paul wrote, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption (better “sonship” NIV) by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit [itself] bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:14-17).

Taken together, we can see that the Holy Spirit is provided as personal proof of the promise of eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

The Bible makes it clear that the Holy Spirit was given to people by God without a Christian baptism prior to the establishment of the New Testament Church. God’s Word also reveals that since that time, a proper Christian baptism IS required for salvation. Then, as now, the Holy Spirit is given so that a special purpose in the plan of God can be fulfilled. The Holy Spirit was necessary then, and it is necessary now, to understand the things of God, to live in accordance with that understanding, and to inherit eternal life in God’s Kingdom.

Lead Writer: Eric Rank

Norbert and Johanna Link are planning to visit both the Oregon and Colorado church congregations. The dates are for the Sabbath of July 26 with the church in Oregon and the Sabbath of August 2 with the church in Colorado.

“America’s Disastrous Domestic and Foreign Policies,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The domestic and foreign policy of the USA is a total and complete disaster. In this program, we quote many liberal and conservative national and international voices, showing the “declining American influence and commitment in the Middle East,” the “incompetence” of the President; and his lack of “vision or power,” while putting “politics and ideology ahead of preserving hard-won gains.” They state that while America is “alienating its friends,” “the ruins of American foreign policy” are observable everywhere. Why is America in such an unprecedented hopeless state?

A new member letter is being written by Eric Rank and will be sent out early next week.

“Segnen und Gesegnet Werden, is the title of this week’s new German sermon. The title in English: “To Bless and to Be Blessed.”    

by Kalon Mitchell

When I was a younger man, I always thought about the future. What would happen? What would I turn out like? Would I get married, have a family? These thoughts always left me feeling apprehensive.

Looking back now, I am in awe of the way God has formulated and guided my life. The lessons He has allowed me to go through have had tremendous bearing on where I am and where I am headed today.

Now that I am a little bit older, I still find myself wondering at times: What is next? What is in store for me? For my family? As I ponder these questions, I am always aware that while I may plan my paths, it is truly God who leads and directs. Therefore, it is up to me to lean on Him in all things, seeking His Will.

No longer do I feel apprehensive or frightened by the future. I don’t know what’s going to happen from day to day, much less minute to minute. But I do know that it is God who opens the doors and lays the path for me to continue walking upon. The future, while still unknown, is laid out in front of me, ready to be grasped with confidence.