On February 15, 2014, Robb Harris will give the sermon, titled, “Satisfied with Our Calling?”

The services can be heard 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.

Have you measurably progressed in your spiritual life to become a Christian of sound judgment and discernment? Are you able to choose right over wrong? Can you apply God’s laws in your everyday living?

In the Book of Hebrews, those of us who have been called to salvation are confronted with a challenging self-examination:

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).

To progress in spiritual maturity, we are to increase day-by-day in attaining godly perfection (compare Matthew 5:48; Ephesians 4:13). While we do initiate life-changing actions at the beginning of God’s calling, our conversion involves continual growth.

Peter cautions us that we must “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” (2 Peter 3:18).

Even Jesus grew in spiritual maturity, as Luke 2, verse 52, states: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” During this process, Jesus faced the same kinds of things we face: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

The ultimate goal of Jesus becoming our perfect High Priest was accomplished in order that we might also reach perfection in the Family of God. Quite clearly, we still face many challenges before that time arrives, and we must not become stagnant in our Christian living.

We have been given the Holy Spirit of God—a help by which we can grow to become more and more like Jesus Christ.  If Jesus is truly living His life in us, then we will be growing in Christian maturity—a test we absolutely must pass!

We begin with focusing on American-German distrust, as well as on Germany in general—it’s past, presence and prophesied future. We continue with reporting on the Middle East and America’s relationship with Israel and Iran; speak about developments within the USA and the Roman Catholic Church; and conclude with a report on controversial human behavior pertaining to animals.

Nulangate and German Anger

The Washington Post wrote on February 7:

“Germans were already smarting from revelations that U.S. intelligence listened in on the phone conversations of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Then came Nulandgate. On Thursday, a video was posted on YouTube in which Victoria Nuland, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, disparagingly dismissed European Union efforts to mediate the ongoing crisis in the Ukraine by bluntly saying, ‘F— the E.U.’ On Friday, Merkel, through press attache Christiane Wirtz, described the gaffe as ‘absolutely unacceptable,’ and defended the efforts of Catherine Ashton, the E.U.’s foreign policy chief. ‘The chancellor finds these remarks absolutely unacceptable and wants to emphasize that Mrs. Ashton is doing an outstanding job,’ Wirtz said.

“Still freshly furious over the phone-tapping scandals, Germans took to Twitter and other social media in a litany of bitter comments… In Brussels, E.U. officials remained publicly mum. Though the story played big across the continent, the official response beyond Germany appeared relatively muted. But the Germans were not the only ones smarting. Reactions among Austrian members of the European Parliament ranged from outrage to schadenfreude. ‘Victoria Nuland must step down after these remarks, otherwise there has to be a suspension of negotiations about the E.U.-U.S. free-trade agreement,’ Jörg Leichtfried, leader of the Austrian Social Democratic delegation in the European Parliament, told the Austrian press agency APA, according to the daily Die Presse.

“Nuland quickly apologized for the comments, with the United States pointing the finger Thursday at the Russians for recording and posting her private conversations with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt… Nevertheless, analysts said the unscripted moment served to underscore a serious point: the increasingly strained nature of the U.S. relationship with continental Europe — and, first and foremost, with Germany. In the aftermath of the exposure by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden of U.S. intelligence-gathering efforts in the region, distrust of the American agenda in Germany has jumped appreciably.

“Experts say the image of the United States has suffered deeply, with the Nuland gaffe reinforcing perceptions of American heavy-handedness at a highly sensitive time. This week, for instance, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper published fresh allegations that the United States had wiretapped former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder. In response, Schröder gave an interview to the Bild newspaper in which he said, ‘The U.S. has no respect for a loyal ally and for the sovereignty of our country.’

“Olaf Boehnke, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the gaffe could not have come at a worse time. To some extent, German officials — particularly Merkel — have sought to put the wiretapping scandal behind them, pragmatically attempting to move forward and mend the transatlantic relationship. Nuland’s comments, he said, had just made that effort more difficult, particularly with the increasingly skeptical German public. ‘It was really the worst thing that could happen; Germans will be going home tonight to discuss this at dinner,’ Boehnke said. ‘It fits into a broader picture that German people have of the U.S. betraying the trust in them.’”

BBC News wrote on February 7:

“The conversation between Ms Nuland and Mr Pyatt reveals deeper tensions between America and Europe. Washington seems to prefer a deal brokered by the UN rather than Brussels. If true, that would bruise the feelings of EU officials. They believe this is their crisis to solve. Today’s comments and accusations are a reminder that this crisis is far from over and that it has the potential to cause division and tension even between allies.”

The Local quoted the Geman newspaper, “Die Welt,” as follows on February 7:

“‘Not even those affected were surprised by Nuland’s unladylike turn of [a] phrase she used to express her negative judgment of the Europeans,’ Die Welt wrote. ‘In a different phone call, which can also be heard on YouTube, top German diplomat Helga Schmid can be heard complaining that the USA feel the EU is being ‘weak’ on Ukraine. Nuland’s conversation with Pyatt makes it clear how intensively the West, especially the US, are concerning themselves with the current uprising in Ukraine and what they think of opposition leaders,’ it added.”

The Bible prophesied long ago that the relationship between the USA and Europe (Germany in particular) will worsen until outright war will ensue between the two power blocs. A modern “King of Assyria” will be used by God to punish the sinful modern house of Israel—especially the USA and the UK. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.” Also, please take note of the next two articles, dealing with Germany’s history, which were written from a German perspective. As is so often the case, events of today and tomorrow can be explained, at least in part, by reviewing events of the past.

Obama—“No No-Spy Agreement with Europe”

The EUObserver wrote on February 12:

“US President Barack Obama after meeting his French counterpart in Washington poured cold water on European hopes that the US will sign no-spy agreements with countries like France and Germany. Obama said there is no country in the world the US has such agreements with, not even the UK.”

Germany’s Bad Memories of Hyperinflation

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 7:

“There’s a number that illustrates the brutal dynamics of the hyperinflation of 1923 better than anything else. It’s the number four. In the fall of 1923, prices were doubling in Germany approximately every four days… Three generations after the collapse of the German mark, the fear of hyperinflation is more alive today than ever before.

“The global glut of money as a result of the financial crisis has evoked painful memories of the great inflation that began with the beginning of World War I in 1914 and ended in chaos in 1923. Each new report on the need for billions in Europe’s crisis-ridden countries reignites concerns over the stability of money. According to a poll by the Allensbach opinion research firm, Germans fear inflation even more than life-threatening diseases like cancer…

“The euro has proven to be more stable than the deutsche mark ever was. Economists are more concerned that prices will decline on a broad scale, crippling the economy. It makes no sense to invoke terrible visions of 1923 today, says economic historian Hans-Joachim Voth. ‘A repeat is unthinkable,’ he notes. The Germans suffer from a sort of ‘collective psychosis,’ concludes Voth, who teaches in Barcelona…

“Families today still remember the horrifying reports of what once happened to grandparents and great-grandparents. The fate of someone like Berlin author Maximilian Bern illustrates the extent of despair. In 1923, Bern withdrew his savings, more than 100,000 marks, from the bank. But 100,000 wasn’t much compared with the 2.5 quintillion marks in circulation at the end of October. Years earlier, the money would have been enough to pay for Bern’s retirement, but now it was worth no more than the price of his last subway ticket. Bern went home, locked his door and died of hunger. Doctors, teachers and professors had not only lost everything they owned, but also their confidence in the state. In 1914, many had gone to war with enthusiasm, and they had bought bonds, which generally yielded a five-percent return. The government collected 98 billion marks, but not a pfennig of the money was repaid…

“People felt cheated, both of victory in the war and their money in the bank. The same bitter experience was repeated a generation later, when the Third Reich came to an end. This double loss of confidence shaped the civil society of the postwar period. Its members yearned for stability and order and were sharply opposed to experiments, especially with their money. This need for security — in other words, their aversion to risk — is practically proverbial to this day in Germany…

“In 1948, the Allies had decreed that the Bank of the German States was not to be ‘subject to the directives of any political entities or public agencies, with the exception of the courts.’ It was something then Chancellor Konrad Adenauer could never accept…  This is the irony of history: Washington and Paris, the Western wartime allies, once decreed complete independence and strict budgetary discipline for the Bundesbank, but now the mentors are violating their own principles.”

Germany’s Two Wars

On February 7, Der Spiegel Online published a lengthy article about Germany’s role in World War I and World War II, and the subsequent conduct of Germany’s enemies. We will be quoting quite extensively from this article, as it puts into perspective current conditions in Europe and it will give the reader a better understanding as to why things happened there in the past—and why and how prophecies will come to pass in the near future:

“As its name indicates, World War I was the first truly global conflict, the effects of which only a few nations managed to escape…  While Germany lost two million soldiers in World War I — more than any other country — that number was more than doubled in World War II. The situation was reversed among Germany’s adversaries in the West. More than twice as many Britons and four times as many Frenchmen died on the battlefields of World War I than in World War II…

“It is difficult to say how many German soldiers perceived the cease-fire as a shock, as Hitler did. But by the time the Treaty of Versailles was signed, the dream of exacting revenge for the humiliation Germany had suffered became an obsession… For many historians, there is a direct line between Verdun and Stalingrad… In their view, the years between 1914 and 1945 merge into a single, uninterrupted conflict interrupted by a prolonged cease-fire…

“The Treaty of Versailles seemed to confirm all fears… Under Article 231 of the treaty, Germany was forced to concede that it was solely responsible for the war — a genuflection from which the victorious powers derived their claim for extensive reparations… It was the United States that turned the tide in World War I… By August, some 1.3 million men had been shipped from the United States to Europe…

“Today Versailles is seen as a cardinal error, with the French playing the role of the victor seeking revenge. In truth, however, it was the United States that did not live up to its responsibility. Wilson drafted a new world order, in which all nations were granted a right to self-determination. But when it came to stepping into America’s new role as a hegemon, Congress withdrew its support by forcing the president to agree to a strict policy of nonintervention. The Europeans were on their own once again, but this time it was in a different configuration than before the beginning of the war.

“The British, who had entered the war as the world’s creditors, emerged from it as debtors to the United States. While the French were one of the victorious powers, they were in fact no longer a major military power… it was Germany that would hazard another war — precisely what the Treaty of Versailles was intended to avert…

“The indecisiveness of the United States, its political elites divided over how to assume their role as a new world power, was already apparent in the peace negotiations. The resulting peace was one with conditions that were insufficiently draconian to permanently weaken the German Reich, and yet too severe not to give rise to a desire among the losers to reverse the peace when the next opportunity arose…

“Germany’s total war reparations, enforced with massive threats, amounted to 132 billion gold marks, payable in 66 annual installments, together with 26 percent of the value of its exports. Present-day Germany was still suffering the consequences until 2010, when Berlin made its last interest payment on foreign bonds it had issued after World War I to satisfy the Allies’ demands for reparations. The most agonizing aspect of the war repayment was its duration.

“Hardly anyone was as familiar with the Germans’ smoldering resentment (or knew how to take advantage of it) as the private from Munich. Within three years, Adolf Hitler went from being an unknown veteran to the ‘King of Munich,’ a man who could fill the city’s largest beer halls with his appearances. The fact that the Allies had forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles was a central theme of Hitler’s speeches. At his rallies, he never failed to mention ‘shameful and humiliating peace’ that had condemned Germany to ‘servitude’ for the foreseeable future. Humiliation at the hands of the victorious powers became a collective trauma that united Germans far beyond the circle of supporters of the rising Nazi Party…

“Until 1929, the German economy had managed to keep itself more or less afloat, partly as a result of American investments. Now the creditors from abroad were withdrawing their money, plunging the German Reich directly into the vortex of the Great Depression. The deflationary policy of Reich Chancellor Heinrich Brüning drove unemployment numbers to well over six million.

“Despite the defeat in 1918, the pride of the German officer corps was still intact. It was clear to everyone, beginning with the general staff, that the French would never have achieved victory on their own… When Germany invaded France in 1940, the Wehrmacht had learned from past mistakes. In the first war, German attacks had frequently failed due to an inability to bring up additional artillery and infantry quickly enough to preserve the momentum of attack achieved by shock troops.

“Now the tank force was being combined with dive bombers, which functioned as airborne artillery. This enabled German troops to advance at speeds previously believed to be impossible. German troops reached the Meuse River in two days, and after six weeks France was forced to capitulate. It was the greatest defeat of a proud nation in military history. When the French laid down their arms, half of their soldiers had not even arrived in the combat zone yet.

“For the majority of German officers, the victory over France was the gratification they had desired. But for their commander-in-chief, the western campaign was merely one stage in a much more extensive war of conquest. As a result, the world was transformed into a hell on earth once again, and what began as a war of revenge ended in a war of extermination more complete and boundless than the massive slaughter of World War I.

“What was to be done with Germany? The Allies now faced the same question a second time, in the summer of 1944. By the time the Americans had landed in Normandy, everyone knew that the Third Reich’s days were numbered. But the victorious powers were confronted with the same problem they had faced a quarter of a century earlier: How to prevent the Germans from planning the next war soon after their defeat.

“One of the men who had been pondering this issue for some time was US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau. He believed that the Germans were a people with an unquenchable thirst for war. Because there would no longer be anyone to stand in the way after a third attempt to achieve global dominance, the goal was to figure out how to prevent them from doing so. It was a question of survival, not just for Europe [but] for all of mankind.

“In September 1944, Morgenthau submitted a plan to the president in which he proposed the large-scale destruction of German heavy industry. Anything that could be used to produce weapons was to be destroyed, seized or placed under international control. This meant the elimination of Germany’s chemical, steel and electrical industries… Morgenthau had influential adversaries. Both the American State Department and senior military officials stationed in Germany were strictly opposed to sending Germany back to the Middle Ages… But the treasury secretary had both the strength of his convictions and the ear of President Roosevelt. Their wives were good friends, and the two couples socialized with each other.

“In addition, Roosevelt had little sympathy for what he called the ‘Huns.’… ‘We have got to be tough with Germany,’ Roosevelt told to his secretary of state. ‘You either have to castrate the German people or you have got to treat them so they can’t just go on reproducing people who want to continue as in the past.’

“Morgenthau seemed to prevail at a meeting between Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Quebec in September 1944. Churchill… initially had strong objections to the plan… But then money came into play and decided the issue. Churchill urgently needed a new loan from the United States. With that hurdle out of the way, the two commanders-in-chief placed their initials under a document agreeing on the transformation of Germany into a ‘country principally agricultural and pastoral in character.’

“That the Germans were eventually spared this fate is thanks the US public outcry over the plan and fear of the Russians. If Roosevelt dreamed of a long-term alliance with the Soviet Union, his successor Harry S. Truman had no illusions about the character of Russian dictator Joseph Stalin. Churchill, too, did not have to be convinced of Stalin’s malevolence…

“Everything was done differently this time. Instead of rubbing the faces of the defeated in the extent of their humiliation by demanding submission, the United States carefully guided the country back into the family of nations. The victors also practiced leniency in the courts, limiting their prosecutions to a small number of leading war criminals. The majority escaped with a formal interrogation, with which the requirements of denazification were satisfied. Only two decades later, in the Auschwitz trials starting in 1963, did a true investigation of the crimes begin…

“The notion that they could never be allowed to possess weapons again is a view that the Germans, only too happy to be disarmed, completely internalized over the years. Pacifism had become national policy by the time the peace movement began. Even the swearing in of new recruits by torchlight can be a source of discomfort. When the Germans decide to do something, they do it thoroughly. In a strange reversal of roles, they had assumed the role of the reformed criminal who lectures others on how to bring about peace without weapons…

“To this day, the mistrust among Germans hasn’t disappeared completely. In the European debate, the suspicion that things could change drastically once again is a subliminal but clearly perceptible motif. Hardly any appeal to European solidarity makes do without a reference to the war and the resulting obligation to keep the peace. Integration into Europe is seen as a sort of self-shackling of the German giant, intended to relieve its neighbors’ fears of the country’s size and economic might…

“During the euro crisis, there has been a noticeable decline in the Germans’ desire to contribute to peace in Europe through transfer payments. But the ongoing impact of the memory of both world wars remains evident in the fact that an EU-critical party has yet to win seats in German parliament. Until his death in 1967, Morgenthau remained convinced that the Germans could not be pacified. ‘You are too young to be able to evaluate whether the Morgenthau plan was a mistake,’ he told his biographer when he tried to get Morgenthau to admit that his plan was wrong. ‘And I’ll bet you — though I won’t be around to collect — that you’re going to have to fight Germany again before you die.’

“Like many historians, the former US treasury secretary saw World War I as the beginning — not of a Thirty Years’ War but of a Hundred Years’ War.”

And so, even though Morgenthal, Roosevelt, Churchill and others did not understand biblical prophecies, it is interesting to note that another World War will break out in this century, involving, at first, Germany and the USA… but this time, it will be a war between the United States of Europe—under German leadership—and the USA and Great Britain.

Will the Bundeswehr be Deployed More Often in the Future?

Deutsche Welle reported on February 8:

“In Mali, the Bundeswehr is being trained for future military interventions, says Christine Buchholz in a DW interview. The Left party politician accompanied Defense Minister von der Leyen on her latest trip to Africa… ‘I believe that the deployment of the Bundeswehr doesn’t have much to do with Mali itself. Mrs. von der Leyen, President Gauck and Foreign Minister Steinmeier have oriented their policy toward more foreign military deployments, and so they are looking for more trouble spots. That’s the higher objective. Of course it’s also about the training of the Malian army which can then be deployed in the north. But the main purpose is the training of the Bundeswehr for future assignments in Africa.

“For the defense minister, the trip also seemed to be about creating images to counteract the low acceptance of the German population regarding foreign assignments of the Bundeswehr… Mali is also a training ground for the Bundeswehr. During the Mali mission, the Bundeswehr refueled warplanes in-flight during deployment for the first time. That is an exercise under real-life conditions in Africa. Insofar, I expect that the Bundeswehr is now being trained to intervene in comparable conflicts. I also expect that there will be more engagements in the future. They will be very different – they won’t all be such large missions like the one in Afghanistan. In different ways, the Bundeswehr will be deployed more often.”

New International Assignment for German Bundeswehr?

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 12:

“The German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, may be facing a new foreign assignment – the German foreign office confirmed Wednesday that it is considering participating in the planned destruction of Syrian chemical weapons on a US ship in the Mediterranean. The German navy may participate by providing security to the American ship where the destruction will take place.

“Berlin had already offered to destroy Syrian chemical weapons on German soil, which would take place at a state-owned company in Munster, Lower Saxony… According to a United Nations mandate, the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad must destroy all chemical warfare agents by June 2014. However, the removal of toxic substances – including sarin and mustard gas – has been slow going… Assad’s regime has said it remains committed to the June deadline, but that security problems… were causing delays…

“Peace talks between the two warring parties continued in Geneva on Wednesday, but little progress has been made. They came even as warplanes bombed the rebel-held town of Yabroud, near Syria’s border to Lebanon.”

“Merkel Toppled from Popularity Throne”

The Local wrote on February 7:

“Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has overtaken Angela Merkel to become Germany’s most popular politician, a poll on Friday showed, with the Chancellor slipping from the top spot for the first time in two years… Seventy percent of respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with how the Social Democrat (SPD) veteran was performing in his job as foreign minister, compared to 69 percent for Merkel. 

“Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, from Merkel’s CDU party, occupied third place, as 68 percent of those polled said they were happy with his work… Poll respondents were less pleased with the performances of Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, who fell six points to 43 points, while Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Christian Democrats’ Bavarian sister party, the CSU, plunged ten points to 38 percent. Von der Leyen has started in her new post by looking to increase German troop numbers abroad, something which does not sit well with most Germans.

“Steinmeier, who served as foreign minister from 2005-09, has also been busy globetrotting in a sign Germany will pursue a more active foreign policy.”

Steinmeier, a Lutheran, is married and has one daughter. He studied law and served in many different political capacities, including that of Vice Chancellor. Merkel and Schaeuble are also Lutherans.

“Bosnia-Hercegovina Protests Break Out in Violence”

BBC News reported on February 7:

“Demonstrators in Bosnia-Hercegovina have set fire to government buildings, in the worst unrest since the end of the 1992-95 war. Hundreds of people have been injured in three days of protests over high unemployment and perceived inability of politicians to improve the situation… Black smoke could be seen coming from the presidency building in Sarajevo…

“About 40% of Bosnians are unemployed. The unrest began in Tuzla earlier in the week, with protests over the closure and sale of factories which had employed most of the local population. This appears to be a case of simmering frustration boiling over. Two decades on from the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia has fallen off the international radar – and its people feel they have been forgotten. And not just by the wider world, but their own government.

“The administration is split along ethnic lines – and seems incapable of agreeing on anything but its own above-average pay packets.This has left the rest of Bosnia’s citizens struggling to move forward. Even practical matters like national identity cards, get mired in ethnic politics. At one point last year, desperate mothers formed a human chain around the main government building, begging for identity cards for their babies.

“The economic situation is desperate. Four in ten are unemployed – in large part due to a series of botched privatisations. That is what sparked the initial protests in Tuzla – but empathy with their cause brought demonstrators out in towns across Bosnia…”

American Presbyterian Church Angers Israel

JTA wrote on February 7:

“A study guide on Zionism published by an arm of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is drawing expressions of outrage from Jewish groups. The guide is ‘worthy of a hate group, not a prominent American church,’ said Rabbi Steve Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for Jewish public policy groups.

“The study guide by the church’s Israel Palestine Mission Network is titled ‘Zionism Unsettled.’ It posits that a ‘pathology inherent in Zionism’ drives the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and rejects theologies that uphold Zionism. It also calls for an ‘expanded, inclusive’ understanding of the Nazi genocide that would apply its lessons not just with respect to the persecution faced by Jews but also to the plight of the Palestinians, among others. The guide urges a ‘renunciation of the morally hazardous claims of a hierarchy of victimhood.’

“The Israel Palestine Mission Network advises the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) but does not necessarily speak for the church, according to mission network’s website. But the JCPA noted that the church funds and must approve the expenditures of the mission network. ‘As such it is impossible to separate the toxic actions of IPMN from the PCUSA without the kind of clarification from PCUSA officials that remains sorely missing,’ Gutow said in the statement.

“The Simon Wiesenthal Center warned that the guide could result in Jews cutting off ties with the church. ‘If this book reflects the feelings of the PCUSA, the Simon Wiesenthal Center will divest all contacts from this institution and call on other Jewish organizations to do the same,’ the center said in a statement. The American Jewish Committee called the guide ‘a devastating distortion of Jewish and Israeli history, aimed at nothing less than eradicating the State of Israel.’”

“The guide was released ahead of the church’s biennial General Assembly, taking place this June in Detroit. The gathering will once again consider recommendations that it divest from companies that deal with Israel’s military. Similar resolutions have been narrowly defeated in the past.”

Vast Majority of Israelis Don’t Trust Obama, Kerry and America

Breitbart wrote on February 7:

“A new poll by Israel’s Geocartography Institute found that 70% of Israeli Jews do not trust the U.S. to protect Israeli security interests in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, according to the Jerusalem Post. The poll… also revealed that 75% of Jewish Israelis do not trust President Barack Obama, with degrees ranging from ‘definitely no’ to ‘not completely.’

“In addition, the poll found that two-thirds of Israelis agree with their government’s recent criticisms of statements by Secretary of State John Kerry. In recent months, Kerry has warned that Israel could face boycotts and even a ‘third intifada’ if it did not reach a deal with the Palestinians. U.S. officials were at pains to stress that Kerry did not mean to threaten Israel but to warn Israel about what other parties might try to do to it.”

The relationship between the USA and Israel will steadily deteriorate, until Israel will have been forsaken by all of its allies.

Israel Minister of Housing Wishes Construction of Third Temple

The website of israelvideonetwork.com wrote on February 2, 2014:

“The Israel Minister of Housing and Construction Uri Ariel on Friday expressed his wish to see the construction of a ‘Third Temple’ in place of the Al-Aqsa Mosque that is currently occupying the temple mount. Uri Ariel said ‘The first Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE, the second Temple in 70 CE, and ever since the Jewish People have been mourning its loss.’

“He then went on to say ‘Al-Aqsa Mosque is currently in place of the temple, despite the temple being much holier than it. Al-Aqsa Mosque is only the third most holy mosque in Islam.’ ‘Now that Israel has once again become a Jewish sovereign state, the desire to rebuild the Temple is growing stronger and strong’ he added.”

Uproar in Israel’s Knesset Over European Parliament President Martin Schulz’s Speech

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 12:

“European Parliament President Martin Schulz came under fire Wednesday after making remarks in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, about the water usage of Palestinians and Israelis in the occupied West Bank.

“In his speech, Schulz said that when he was in Ramallah earlier in the week, a young Palestinian had asked him ‘why an Israeli can use 70 cubic liters of water daily and a Palestinian only 17?’ He then added, ‘I haven’t checked the data. I’m asking you if this is correct.’

“The remarks caused the Knesset to break out in turmoil. Right-wing Jewish Home Party member Moti Yogev shouted at him, ‘Shame on you, you support someone who incites against Jews.’ Yogev and Naftali Bennett, Economy Minister and Jewish Home party leader, then left the hall. Bennett immediately took to his Facebook page: ‘I will not tolerate duplicitous propaganda against Israel in the Knesset … and especially not in German.’

“Likud Party member Moshe Feiglin, known for his extreme statements, was absent for the speech because, ‘it is inappropriate that a speech is given in the parliament of the Jewish state, in the language used when our parents were thrust into the railway wagons and in the crematoria,’ he wrote on Facebook.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his own address to the Knesset, accused Schulz of repeating claims without fact-checking. ‘Check first,’ he said. Israeli media quoted Israel’s national water authority as saying the figures quoted by Schulz were inaccurate with West Bank settlers consuming 1.7 times more water per person, instead of 4.2 times more.

“In his speech, Schulz also said ‘the Palestinians have the right to self-determination and equality,’ and that they want to ‘live in peace and have unlimited freedom of movement,’ which he said they are denied in Gaza. Shortly before his Knesset speech, Schulz had complained of sensitivity in Israel against criticism from Europe…”

The Times of Israel wrote on February 12:

“Left-wing MKs reacted angrily to a right-wing walkout during the speech of EU Parliament President Martin Schulz in the Knesset Wednesday…  ‘The behavior of the Jewish Home MKs was shameful and scandalous,’ said opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog (Labor). ‘I think some of the [MKs] didn’t even hear the speech,’ he told Israel Radio shortly after the incident. ‘My colleagues and I were embarrassed. We know Martin Schulz. He defends Israel’s position, including in the European Parliament.’

“Schulz’s speech included ‘deep, historic words about the justice of Israel, about the Shoah and its lessons, about the battle against anti-Semitism and against evil; it was very impressive. And then he talked about our relationship with the Palestinians and the founding of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of the two-state solution. We have to get used to the fact that even our friends around the world are sometimes critical of us, and they’re going to say it. In the Knesset itself far worse things are said,’ Herzog added…

“Schulz had used the speech, delivered in his mother tongue of German, to reassure Israel of the European Union’s friendship, asserting that it plans no boycott against Israel and is committed to the Jewish people’s right to live in peace and security…

“‘I’m not familiar with the facts about water quotas,’ said Herzog, ‘but these are claims that can be dealt with, looked into, respectfully. Don’t put on a show. [Much of Schulz’s speech] would make Israel proud around the world, and we can only hope that every member of the EU Parliament will study it.’

“Meretz chair MK Zahava Gal-on was even harsher in her criticism. Responding to Jewish Home MKs’ complaints that criticism of Israel in German was especially problematic, she said in a statement: ‘The use of the Holocaust as a way to avoid dealing with international criticism isn’t just disgusting, it’s ridiculous.’ Jewish Home MKs were angry that Schulz ‘had dared to say that Israel needs to think about its relationship with the Palestinians,’ she said.”

America Is “Lying” and Still Iran’s Enemy

The Times of Israel wrote on February 8:

“Iran’s Supreme Leader said American officials are ‘lying’ when they say they are not seeking regime change in Iran… Khamenei also urged officials not to pin hopes for economic recovery on the sanctions relief from a landmark deal reached with world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program… Khamenei has given his blessing to Rouhani’s outreach policies. But he also has held to the line that the United States is fundamentally Iran’s adversary.”

The Associated Press reported on February 8:

“Iranian warships dispatched to the Atlantic Ocean will travel close to U.S. maritime borders for the first time, a senior Iranian naval commander said Saturday… The fleet, consisting of a destroyer and a helicopter-carrying supply ship, began its voyage last month from the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. The ships, carrying some 30 navy academy cadets for training along with their regular crews, are on a three-month mission…

“IRNA quoted Haddad as saying the fleet is approaching U.S. maritime borders for the first time. The Islamic Republic considers the move as a response to U.S. naval deployments near its own coastlines. The U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet is based in Bahrain, just across the Persian Gulf.”

Iran Prepares for War Against USA and Israel

The Washington Times wrote on February 12:

“A leading military chief in Iran said America’s threats against Tehran mean next to nothing — and that it’s the United States that better watch it. ‘We are ready for the decisive battle against the U.S. and the Zionist regime,’ said Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, according to Fars News, Iran’s government-run news agency. ‘If we are targeted from the U.S. bases in the region, we will hit those bases.’

“The general also said that Iran’s been prepping for war against the United States and Israel for the past 10 years… The bellicose threats come as the West, led by U.S. influence, forged a deal with Iran to freeze its nuclear activity for six months in exchange for relaxed international economic sanctions.”

How America Forsakes Its Poor

The Huffington Post wrote on February 6:

“Democrats failed on Thursday to win enough Republican votes to reauthorize long-term unemployment benefits for more than a million workers cut off in December. At least five Republicans needed to vote for the bill in order for it to advance, but only four did. The bill failed 58-to-40. Even if the Senate eventually passes an extension of unemployment benefits, which seems unlikely, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have been unenthusiastic about holding a vote.

“More than 1.7 million long-term jobless Americans have missed out on benefits since the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program lapsed on Dec. 28. Since 2008, the program had provided extra weeks of benefits to laid-off workers who use up the standard six months of state benefits. Democrats tried to sweeten the deal by banning millionaires from receiving benefits. Thursday’s measure would have required unemployment claimants to certify they’d earned less than $1 million in the previous year; previously, there was no income restriction…

“Congress routinely installs temporary federal benefit programs when the economy sours, then lets them expire when it improves. Democrats say that with an unprecedented 3.9 million Americans unemployed six months or longer, it’s too soon to drop the benefits…

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the Senate would try again… Last week, Reid told the story of a 57-year-old Nevada woman who’d written him to say that since her unemployment benefits stopped, she’s been couch surfing at friends’ houses. He revisited the story at a press conference on Thursday. ‘She couldn’t pay her rent,’ he said. ‘I hadn’t heard the term, some of the younger people probably have — she’s been couch-surfing. She’s been going from friend to friend to sleep on their couch. She said, “How do you think it makes me feel?’”’

Sadly, these real tragic life stories are no exceptions, but are becoming more and more common place in a country which prides itself of helping the poor. We might be doing this in other countries, granting them financial assistance beyond control, but what about our own people?

How America Punishes Its Poor

The Huffington Post wrote on February 12:

“In recent years, local governments throughout the United States have locked up growing numbers of people for failing to pay their legal debts… a new report takes a closer look at the emergence of modern-day ‘debtors’ prisons’ in Washington state, specifically.

“People throughout the state are often sent to jail because they can’t afford to pay the heavy fines and legal fees issued by county courts… The county’s District Court fines people for misdemeanors… defendants are often ordered to pay for the cost of their trials… Throughout the state, defendants frequently must pay fines, fees and other charges exceeding several thousand dollars per conviction, accruing interest at the rate of 12 percent per year…

“Under the U.S. Constitution, Americans can’t be jailed for failing to pay their debts when the reason for their failure to pay is poverty. But in Washington and other states, county governments get around that by insisting poor defendants could find a way to pay if they simply tried hard enough…

“In Ohio, a woman who couldn’t pay a $250 legal debt was held in jail for over a month… thousands of courts in Southern states jail people who can’t keep up with the fees imposed on them by private probation companies. Some states have begun curtailing their versions of the practice. In Ohio, the state Supreme Court announced last week that it would hand out ‘bench cards’ to state judges, encouraging them to offer payment plans to people who couldn’t afford their fines.”

Weak US Economy

BBC News wrote on February 7:

“The US economy added 113,000 jobs in January, the second month in a row the figure has been weaker than expected. Economists had predicted the US Labor Department would report an increase of about 180,000 new jobs… Getting America back to work is unfinished business… there were declines in hiring in retail, utilities, government, and education and health employment… Earlier this week, an unexpectedly weak manufacturing report raised concerns about the strength of the US economy and sent the Dow Jones tumbling by 326 points.”

Obamacare Problems

Newsmax wrote on February 12:

“The White House has been dealt a stunning new blow on Obamacare sign-up numbers with reports showing that only about half of the people ‘enrolled’ at healthcare exchanges in various states have actually paid their premiums. With the March 31 deadline for enrollment just seven weeks away, the number of sign-ups in federal and state marketplaces has slowed down to an alarming figure since the sudden surge in the latter part of December and early January.

“But the bigger problem for the Obama administration is that roughly 50 percent of consumers who had supposedly enrolled for President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform have missed their payment deadline for January 1.”

House and Senate Raise Debt Ceiling

Breitbart wrote on February 12:

“According to an analysis by the Senate Budget Committee Republican staff, the national debt when the debt ceiling comes back into effect [on March 15, 2015] will be $18.2 trillion, about $1 trillion more than the current, $17.2 trillion debt…

“After House Republicans failed to agree on a plan to include spending cuts and reforms in their debt ceiling bill, Speaker John Boehner brought a ‘clean’ debt ceiling increase to the House floor yesterday, which passed with mostly Democrats and 28 Republicans.

“The Senate just advanced its version of the legislation, voting to invoke cloture on the bill by a vote of 67-31… The vote puts the bill on the fast-track to a signature from President Obama.”

Deutsche Welle added on February 12:

“… [the] bill which will allow the US to continue borrowing normally for the next 13 months, also known as ‘raising the debt ceiling’…  the US Treasury will be able to pay its current debts, estimated at more than $17 trillion (12.5 trillion euros) until March 15, 2015.”

IRS to Tax American Gold Medalists

On February 7, 2014, the Drudge Report linked an article from the website of Americans For Tax Reform, stating this:

“As 230 U.S. Olympic athletes gear up to compete in the 2014 Winter Games, the only thing colder than the slopes at Sochi is the fact that any prizes awarded by the U.S. Olympic Commission (USOC) will be taxed by the IRS. Many Americans don’t realize that the U.S. taxes income earned abroad, and as such even the winnings of Olympic athletes are subject to the reach of the IRS.

“The USOC awards prizes to U.S. Olympic medal winners: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze. Relative to each athlete’s income tax bracket, some top earners such as Shaun White could end up paying over a third (39.6 percent) of their winnings to the IRS.

“Additionally, because the U.S. is one of only a handful of developed countries that tax income earned abroad, it is likely America’s competitors will not be subject to such a tax. Taken together – the tax on Olympic athletes and the tax on income earned abroad – it can be said the U.S. has officially ‘earned the Gold’ for having one of the most backwards and illogical tax codes in the world.”

Amen to that last comment.

Sweeping Changes for Same Sex Couples in Justice Department

Reuters wrote on February 8:

“Attorney General Eric Holder plans widespread changes within the U.S. Justice Department to benefit same-sex married couples, such as recognizing a legal right for them not to testify against each other in civil and criminal cases, according to excerpts of a speech on Saturday. The changes are designed to keep pushing for gay rights in the United States after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year said the federal government cannot refuse to recognize same-sex marriages carried out in states that allow them.

“U.S. law has long included a ‘spousal privilege’ that protects communications between a husband and wife so they cannot be forced to be incriminating witnesses against each other in court. In addition to extending the privilege to same-sex couples in situations involving the Justice Department, Holder said he plans to put same-sex couples on the same legal footing as opposite-sex couples in other areas, including how certain debts are handled in federal bankruptcy proceedings and visitation policies at federal prisons.

“‘In every courthouse, in every proceeding, and in every place where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of the United States, they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, protections, and rights as opposite-sex marriages under federal law,’ Holder said in the speech excerpts released in advance…

“Holder will also make same-sex married couples equally eligible for death benefits paid to the surviving spouses of law enforcement officers who have died on duty and for benefits from the September 11 victims’ compensation fund, according to the speech excepts. The Justice Department runs both programs…

“Only 13 U.S. states have legalized gay marriage. In states where same-sex marriage is not legal, spousal privilege for same-sex couples is not guaranteed. In politically conservative Kentucky, for example, a state judge in September denied a woman’s request for spousal privilege to shield her from testifying against her partner in a capital murder case.”

Worldwide Disagreements of Catholics with Their Church

The Washington Post wrote on February 8:

“Most Catholics worldwide disagree with church teachings on divorce, abortion and contraception and are split on whether women and married men should become priests, according to a large new poll released Sunday and commissioned by the U.S. Spanish-language network Univision. On the topic of gay marriage, two-thirds of Catholics polled agree with church leaders.

“Overall, however, the poll of more than 12,000 Catholics in 12 countries reveals a church dramatically divided: Between the developing world in Africa and Asia, which hews closely to doctrine on these issues, and Western countries in Europe, North America and parts of Latin America, which strongly support practices that the church teaches are immoral. The widespread disagreement with Catholic doctrine on abortion and contraception and the hemispheric chasm lay bare the challenge for Pope Francis’s year-old papacy and the unity it has engendered…

“19 percent of Catholics in the European countries and 30 percent in the Latin American countries surveyed agree with church teaching that divorcees who remarry outside the church should not receive Communion, compared with 75 percent in the most Catholic African countries.

“30 percent of Catholics in the European countries and 36 percent in the United States agree with the church ban on female priests, compared with 80 percent in Africa and 76 percent in the Philippines, the country with the largest Catholic population in Asia.

“40 percent of Catholics in the United States oppose gay marriage, compared with 99 percent in Africa.

“The poll… focused on 12 countries across the continents with some of the world’s largest Catholic populations. The countries are home to more than six of 10 Catholics globally…

“Seventy-eight percent of Catholics across all countries surveyed support the use of contraceptives, which violate the church’s teaching that sex should always be had with an openness toward procreation… More than 90 percent of Catholics in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Spain and France support the use of contraception. Those less inclined to support it were in the Philippines (68 percent), Congo (44 percent) and Uganda (43 percent). In the United States, 79 percent of Catholics support using contraception… The poll also showed 66 percent of Catholics opposing same-sex marriage, with majorities in eight of the 12 countries surveyed agreeing with church doctrine…

“Critics say [Pope Francis’] solicitation of opinions wrongly gives the appearance that Catholicism is a democracy. Others… say there’s no evidence that he would touch doctrine… Any change would be a complex undertaking, as Catholics are going in many directions… Catholics in Brazil, the most populous Catholic country, widely reject some core church teachings but are seeing a surge in men becoming priests for the first time in decades. Filipino Catholics… support church teachings on some social issues but have a powerfully charismatic faith that isn’t focused on being in step with church leaders.”

It has always been the policy of the Roman Catholic Church to open its doors to people of all kinds of different beliefs, convictions and persuasions, placing a “Christian” mantle on their pagan worship. This type of syncretism is one reason for the utter confusion within the Church.

Final Draft Agreement Between Catholic Church and Palestine

Zenit wrote on February 7:

“A Holy See-Palestinian commission announced Thursday that there is ‘great satisfaction’ at progress toward the final draft of an agreement that will regulate aspects of Church life and activity in the Holy Land…  The talks were chaired by Hanna Amireh, member of Executive Committee of the PLO and head of the Presidential Higher Committee for Church Affairs of the State of Palestine, and by Archbishop Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See.

“‘The discussions took place in a cordial and constructive atmosphere,’ the Holy See reported…  ‘The Palestinian side expressed its warm welcome to Pope Francis in view of his upcoming visit to the Holy Land.’”

Catastrophic Ice Storm in the USA

BBC News wrote on February 12:

“A ‘catastrophic’ ice storm wreaking havoc in the American South is now poised to pummel the eastern seaboard, say forecasters. More than 350,000 people are reportedly without power and 3,300 US flights have been cancelled due to ice and strong winds… North Carolina and Virginia are bracing for up to 1ft (30cm) of snow as the storm rolls north… The National Weather Service said it was an event of ‘historical proportions’, drawing comparisons with similar weather systems that struck the Atlanta area in 2000 and 1973…

“North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory urged residents to ‘stay smart’, asking people to charge their mobile phones and find batteries for radios and flashlights in anticipation of power cuts. Traffic was snarled in the state, especially in the city of Raleigh, as the snow began to fall in the early evening and prevented crews from clearing roads.”

The Weather Channel added on February 12:

“Winter Storm Pax continued its second wave of wintry weather Wednesday, dumping freezing rain and sleet across a wide area that could experience catastrophic conditions for a prolonged period of time. In North Carolina, snowfall led to a disastrous commute Wednesday afternoon in Raleigh and Charlotte…”

“Meanwhile, a Deluge in the UK…”

The Daily Mail wrote on February 8:

“A wave bigger [than] the hamlet of Sennen Cove, in West Cornwall, was seen crashing over the cliffs today as a series of devastating storms swept in bringing gales of up to 80mph. There are more than 300 low-level flood alerts and nearly 200 medium-risk flood warnings in place across Wales and southern and central England as north as Hull – two of them pose ‘a danger to life’. Today’s storms are expected to be at least as severe as those which caused widespread destruction across southern England last week leaving swathes of the country under water.”

BBC News added on February 12:

“Further flooding is expected in parts of the UK, as forecasters warn stormy weather could bring the ‘strongest’ winds of winter and a month’s rainfall in the coming days.”

One member of UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party – “get the UK out of Europe” party) said that because of homosexuality etc., the country was having all these problems. The Guardian newspaper wrote on February 10 that “A UKIP councillor who blamed the Christmas and new year floods on the passage of gay marriage laws has been suspended from the party, Ukip said on Sunday, reversing an earlier view that he was entitled to his opinion.  Henley-on-Thames councillor David Silvester, who defected from the Tories in protest at David Cameron’s support for same-sex unions, said he had warned the prime minister of ‘repercussions’ if gay marriage went ahead.   He was suspended by Ukip after defying a request not to do further interviews on his beliefs following his initial claims made in a letter to a local newspaper. The move came as leader Nigel Farage launched a clearout of ‘extremist, nasty or barmy’ views from the party ahead of polls in May.”

This is just a tiny foretaste of what is to come when the nation is truly told about its sins! 

Appalling Conduct Towards European Zoo Animals

The Associated Press reported on February 9:

“Copenhagen Zoo killed a 2-year-old giraffe and fed its remains to lions as visitors watched, ignoring a petition signed by thousands and offers from other zoos and a private individual to save the animal. Marius, a healthy male, was put down Sunday using a bolt pistol… Visitors, including children, were invited to watch while the giraffe was then skinned and fed to the lions… the zoo, which now has seven giraffes left, followed the recommendation of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria to put down Marius… because there already were a lot of giraffes with similar genes in the organization’s breeding program.

“The Amsterdam-based EAZA has 347 members, including many large zoos in European capitals… EAZA membership isn’t mandatory, but most responsible zoos are members of the organization… [The] zoo had turned down offers from other ones to take Marius and an offer from a private individual who wanted to buy the giraffe for 500,000 euros ($680,000)… [The zoo] turned down an offer from Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Britain, which is a member of EAZA, because Marius’ older brother lives there and the park’s space could be better used by a ‘genetically more valuable giraffe.’… Copenhagen Zoo also turned down an offer from a zoo in northern Sweden, because it was not an EAZA member…

“EAZA said it supported the zoo’s decision to ‘humanely put the animal down and believes strongly in the need for genetic and demographic management within animals in human care.’ However, the organization Animal Rights Sweden said the case highlights what it believes zoos do to animals regularly. ‘It is no secret that animals are killed when there is no longer space, or if the animals don’t have genes that are interesting enough,’ it said in a statement…

“Elisa Allen, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in the U.K., said Marius’ case should serve as a wake-up call for anyone who ‘still harbors the illusion that zoos serve any purpose beyond incarcerating intelligent animals for profit…  Giraffes rarely die of old age in captivity, and had Marius not been euthanized today, he would have lived out his short life as a living exhibit, stranded in a cold climate, thousands of miles away from his true home.’”

This kind of animal cruelty and the destruction of perfectly healthy animals for arbitrary or no reasons won’t be allowed anymore, when Christ rules on this earth.

It is interesting to look at the definition of this phrase. One of many definitions that can be found on the Internet makes the point well:

”They say that if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will leap out right away to escape the danger. But, if you put a frog in a kettle that is filled with water that is cool and pleasant, and then you gradually heat the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until it is too late.   The frog’s survival instincts are geared towards detecting sudden changes.

“This is a story that is used to illustrate how people might get themselves into terrible trouble.  This parable is often used to illustrate how humans have to be careful to watch slowly changing trends in the environment, not just the sudden changes. It’s a warning to keep us paying attention not just to obvious threats but to more slowly developing ones.”

Looking at all the evidence to see whether the story is true or not is not within the compass of this particular Q&A.   The analogy raises a very interesting way that society, under the sway of Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2), brings about the change it desires, even if the process is over the long term.   Examples of this will show how true the analogy can be. 

First of all, let us look at homosexuality which is roundly condemned in the Bible.  Genesis 18 and 19 show that this was one of a number of sins for which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Other passages on the subject include Leviticus 18:22; 20:13. In Scriptures such as Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12; and 2 Kings 23:7, the Hebrew term “qedeshim” is used for “perverted” persons, describing those practicing sodomy and prostitution in religious rituals. New Testament passages include Romans 1:25-27, 32 (condemning those who even approve of such acts); 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; and Revelation 21:8.  We are admonished to live by every Word of God (Matthew 4:4), and so these references must be taken seriously.

In England, Henry VIII introduced the first legislation under English criminal law against sodomy with the Buggery Act of 1533, making buggery (a British English term, which is very close in meaning to the term sodomy) punishable by hanging—a penalty not lifted in England and Wales until 1861.

In the UK, the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was an Act of Parliament which decriminalized homosexual acts in private between two men, both of whom were 21 years of age or older.   Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 stated that a local authority “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”   However, it was repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland as one of the first pieces of legislation enacted by the new Scottish Parliament, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain.

The politicians feel that homosexuals should have “equality” in law, and it is their reasoning for approving behaviour, which is an abomination in the sight of God.   It seems that anyone now citing biblical proof stating that this practice is wrong could be guilty of a “hate” crime showing how far we have come in such a degenerate society.

So we can very briefly see that in the UK, it was an offence punishable by hanging until that act was repealed, then it was still illegal until 1967, then promotion of homosexuality was banned in schools, then repealed, and many politicians apologised for this as they saw public opinion moving quite quickly in the direction of approval and then civil partnerships and now same-sex “marriages”.   All this took many decades, even hundreds of years to get from the death penalty to men “marrying” men and women “marrying” women, and all the time, public opinion was being manipulated and softened towards the acceptance of this ungodly practice.   For the biblical teaching on this subject, please see our Q&A #184 on 11th March 2005, entitled “The Biblical Teaching on Homosexuality”.

Next we may look at abortion.   Wikipedia states that “The Abortion Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom legalising abortions by registered practitioners, and regulating the free provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS). Apparently this was introduced in order to reduce the amount of disease and death associated with illegal abortion.”

Abortions were made legal in the United States in a landmark and controversial 1973 Supreme Court judgement, often referred to as the Roe v Wade case.   On the “Women’s History website” it states that “While many celebrated the decision, others, especially in the Roman Catholic Church and in theologically conservative Christian groups, opposed the change.  ‘Pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’ evolved as the most common self-chosen names of the two movements, one to outlaw most abortions and the other to eliminate most legislative restrictions on abortions.”

The BBC reported in 2009 that “The Church of England encourages people to think through the issue of abortion very carefully and recognises that each individual will have differing views on the subject.  However, the Church’s governing body, The General Synod, has passed resolutions on the matter which provide a coherent Church of England position.  The Church of England combines strong opposition to abortion with a recognition that there can be – strictly limited – conditions under which it may be morally preferable to any available alternative.  The Church of England shares the Roman Catholic view that abortion is ‘gravely contrary to the moral law’.”

Figures in a UK newspaper report on 25th May 2010 stated that there were 189,100 abortions in 2009 for women living in England and Wales.  A total of 48 women had had seven or more abortions.  Most of these were funded by the National Health Service (NHS) which paid for 94 per cent of all terminations.  The report said that the figures could reignite the debate into whether some women use abortion as a form of contraception, rather than a last resort to unplanned pregnancy.

Over the years attitudes have changed, little by little, regarding abortion, and it is now commonplace in many countries around the world.   What was once seen as a shocking thing is now considered part of everyday life in many countries.   Over time, with plenty of publicity and exposure, most have now accepted that this is the right thing to do in some or many circumstances.   The Bible tells us that it is always wrong (Please read our free booklet “Are You Already Born Again?” and view the StandingWatch programme, “Why Abortion Is Murder in God’s Eyes,” dated 13th November 2013).

Another area where the frog in boiling water analogy has been very effective is the concept of “living together or co-habiting”.   In our weekly Update #199, dated 24th June 2005, we quoted from “Psychology Today” as follows:  “Thirty or 40 years ago, cohabitation was relatively rare, mainly the province of artists and other questionable types, and still thought of as ‘living in sin.’  In 1970 only about 500,000 couples lived together in unwedded bliss.   Now, nearly 5 million opposite-sex couples in the United States live together outside of marriage; millions more have done it at some point… Some evidence indicates that women have less control over the progress of the cohabiting relationship.   She may assume they’re on the road to marriage, but he may think they’re just saving on rent and enjoying each other’s company… Cohabiting men may carry their uncertainty forward into marriage, with destructive consequences. A 2004 study… found that men who had lived with their spouse pre-maritally were on average less committed to their marriages than those who hadn’t…”

Since this report some nine years ago, co-habitation has continued to flourish and is now an unquestioned part of society.   Fifty years ago it would have been completely unacceptable, seen as “living in sin,” but over the years, opposition has gradually dwindled away and very few seem to question it any longer.   However, the Bible has much to say about fornication – for a full explanation, please see our Q&A #226, “Does the Bible Permit Adultery and Pre-Marital Sex?”

One other secular matter is a prime example of the frog in boiling water principle working effectively.   After Princess Diana died in 1998, much was made of Prince Charles’s extra marital affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.   A plan was put in place to have her accepted, as there was much hostility towards her at that time.  

After several years of the marketing of Camilla, she and Prince Charles married in 2005.   At the time, one report stated that “The couple have had to make some controversial adjustments in the hope of gaining public acceptance for the marriage, most notably the pledge that if Charles becomes King, Camilla won’t be named Queen, instead she’ll carry the title of Her Royal Highness, the Princess Consort.”   Another report stated that “If you go back five years ago, the memory of Diana was still very fresh.  And it’s still reasonably fresh with a lot of people, seven and a half years after her death.  And it would’ve been wrong five years ago to go through it.”

Since then, the propaganda machine has been in continuous action, so that now, contrary to public opinion in 1998 and 2005, polls show that she is now accepted in her position as the Duchess of Cornwall. 

In a report in 2012 about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, these comments were made:   “Only 10 years ago she attended the Golden Jubilee Party at the palace and sat in the background behind the Royal Family trying not to ignite controversy over her relationship with the heir to the throne.  For years she was the ‘other woman’, but yesterday Camilla’s increased prominence demonstrated she has been truly accepted as part of the Windsors’ future in the Queen’s new slimmed-down version of the Royal Family.  Her Majesty’s decision to have Camilla sitting in the Landau’s seat in the absence of Prince Philip, who was suddenly taken ill, emphatically told the country her daughter in law is now an important part of ‘The Firm’.  This was reaffirmed by Camilla’s appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony with the Queen, Charles, William, Kate and Harry just a few moments later, as well as her seat just one along from the Queen in the royal box during Monday’s rock extravaganza.”

The spin doctors were given a task that, over the years, they have accomplished in getting her accepted by those who were initially opposed to her place in the Royal Family.

Please note this reference taken from page 5 of our free booklet “Should You Fight in War?”:  “Notice that NOT seeking peace and pursuing it is labeled as ‘evil.’  Refraining our tongues from evil means to refrain from speaking evil about our enemy.  Each war begins with words, with propaganda, with hateful comments about others, until a government’s decision to attack and fight against a foreign country – the enemy – seems to be justified in the eyes of the citizens. As a prime example, Adolph Hitler could never have convinced many Germans to approve of ‘total war,’ if his propaganda machine, under Joseph Goebbels, had not carefully prepared them, far in advance, for such a viewpoint.”

These examples show how public opinion can be manipulated, given time.  It probably goes a good way to explaining Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”   It appears that almost anything can be addressed, changed or manipulated, given enough time, and with Satan in charge of our society at this time, we should not be surprised.

Unfortunately, man always seems to think that he knows best when God’s Word says differently.  The old saying that it is “a cinch by the inch but hard by the yard” is an excellent way of getting acceptance of an unpopular matter, usually over a protracted period of time.   Let us never forget that the frog in boiling water analogy can be very effective in getting this point across.  Also let us never forget that it is a tool that Satan uses very successfully, even in the Church, as we saw in the 1990’s, when destructive heresies were subtly introduced, and as we have seen subsequently, when many in the Church of God forsook most, if not all of the truth which they had once seemingly understood (For a full explanation of these horrible events, please read our free booklet, “Are You Already Born Again?” ).

We have to be very careful that we are not taken in, particularly in the Church, by “the frog in boiling water” analogy!

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (UK)

A new member letter has been written by Rene Messier. In this letter, Mr. Messier examines the stark condition of society in the nations of the modern House of Israel–showing the urgency for finishing the Work God has given to His Church.

“Rebellion in the Christian Church?,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The results of a worldwide survey for Catholics reflect a devastating disagreement between teaching and practice. This can also be observed in most other churches in mainstream Christianity. But who is right, and who is wrong? Is it right or wrong to divorce, to use contraceptives, to have sexual relationships outside of marriage, or to endorse abortion, self-sex marriages and homosexual practices? While Pope Francis is viewed as a reformer, retired Pope Benedict is “the fixed star of the traditionalists” in the Catholic Church, “setting the standard” for them today. What does this all mean, also in light of the prophesied “false prophet” to manifest himself within traditional Christianity in the next few years?

Church of the Eternal God Facebook Page (link to https://www.facebook.com/ChurchoftheEternalGod)

We encourage you to take a look at and “like” our Facebook page – not only is it a great place to see our latest articles, audio recordings and videos, but you can also help us extend our reach by sharing and liking our content (From: September Danforth Prentice).

“Wie den Krieg abschaffen?'” is the title of a new German sermon asking and answering the question as to how we could get rid of war. Title in English: “How to Abolish War?” This is the second in a new series of German sermons in which Norbert Link addresses choices which lead to war or to peace.

The files for our booklet, “Hidden Secrets in the Bible” are ready to be sent to the printer.

“Old Testament Laws—Still Valid Today?,” is the title of a new booklet, written by Norbert Link, which has entered the second stage of review. Here is the opening paragraph of the Foreward:

“Do the Old Testament laws apply to us today? How can we determine if they do, and to what extent? The answers to these questions require careful consideration of the Scriptures in order to fully appreciate why God gave these laws in the first place and what, if anything, they mean for us today.”

On February 8, 2014, Dave Harris will give the sermon, titled, “Why Together?”

The services can be heard 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.

President Barack Obama’s otherwise forgettable State of the Union Address 2014 ended with a carefully staged emotional conclusion, prompting  an “ear-splitting, two-minute standing ovation” from “Congress and the Joint Chiefs of Staff” (Time, January 28). In presenting the recovering 30-year old Army Sergeant 1st Class Cory Remsburg, who, more than four years ago, “ended up floating in an Afghan canal after a roadside bomb detonated nearby with an ear-shattering explosion, sending shrapnel into his brain and right eye, and putting him into a three-month coma,” patriotic feelings and the admiration for America’s military overshadowed for a brief moment the dire and foreboding state of the Union—and with it the sobering realization of the inevitable downfall of our nation which President Obama’s speech could in no way negate or sugar-coat.

When I watched the theater-like circus on television, many questions and emotions ran through my head. I felt sorry for Cory Remsburg—not only for his serious injury and his long road of recovery and for him being used as a spectacle to score some points in the President’s speech—but I also felt sorry for all the Congress men and women and all the others in attendance, and for the overwhelming majority of the American people who, being swept away by falsely understood emotional nationalism, applauded conduct which God simply does not support.

Time Magazine wrote on January 28 that “Sgt. 1st Class Remsburg joined the Army on his 18th birthday, after his father, Craig—a retired Air Force Reserve firefighter—refused to sign the papers for him to join on his own at age 17. Now his father, sitting next to him Tuesday night, and stepmother, Annie, are Remsburg’s caretakers, as he continues his long march, back to being all that he can be.”

And so, we are continuously being confronted with war-related tragedies in the lives of young people—which also affect parents, grandparents, family members and friends—which need not have happened in the first place. But as long as we cheer for war and fighting in war, these terrible situations will continue.

Following the above-mentioned article by Time magazine, some published comments from readers were rather interesting. For instance this one:  “The applause would seem sincere if many of those same individuals had been as enthusiastic about keeping troops out of harm’s way to begin with.”

Another reader said: “What is missing here is the story.  This story has no point.  Guy got injured and is now recovering and coming home.  I’m left wondering what… Obama has to do with anything.”

This last comment prompted an emotional reaction from another reader: “The story is that our military are sacrificing for this nation and other nations in the free world.  The price many of them pay is life long.  The price others pay is permanent. That is the story.”

Herein lie the delusion and the dilemma. Where in the Bible do we read that our nation should sacrifice our young men and women to be maimed or killed in war? Human sacrifice is strongly condemned by God, and so are ALL our human wars.

The website reason.com published this insightful comment:

“The most emotionally powerful moment in Barack Obama’s State of the Union address was also its most morally dubious. The nation’s commander in chief drew attention to a wounded warrior while eliding any responsibility for placing the young man in harm’s way… The government under Republican and Democratic presidents has spent virtually the entire 21st century sending young men and women to fight in ill-defined and unsuccessful elective wars. That’s bad enough, but then to use them as props in political speeches? That’s positively obscene…. What exactly was Remsburg – or any of his fellow soldiers – fighting for in Afghanistan? The president didn’t offer any explanation in his State of the Union address and you’d search his past speeches in vain for a clear and compelling reason, too.”

Even though The Associated Press misconstrued the President’s presentation of Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg as non-political, it had to admit the following in its article of January 29:

“The president used the moment to help draw attention to the sacrifices and stories of wounded veterans who try each day to rebuild bodies and minds torn apart by war… One of those who have fallen is Wendy Holland’s son, Robert Sanchez, 24, who died in the same explosion that wounded Remsburg.”

Robert Sanchez–another young man who died uselessly and needlessly in an ill-defined war. But what we must understand—and what, sadly, our “patriotic” and war-torn nation is simply refusing to acknowledge, is that ALL our wars are wrong. The Bible is full of warnings for us not to fall into the trap of an emotionally motivated approval of human conduct which God condemns.

Jesus Christ gave us this very powerful commandment: “Put your sword in its place, for ALL who take the sword will PERISH by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). The Apostle Paul is telling us in Romans 3:15, 17 that our feet are swift to shed blood, and that we have not known the way to peace. Christ told the Jews at His time that the things that make for peace were hidden from their eyes (Luke 19:42). They are still hidden from our eyes today—from this entire nation and from ALL nations around the world.

Man’s conviction that we can bring peace through war is so misleading, so faulty and so terribly wrong. When Christ returns to this earth to set up the righteous government of God, He will instruct man in the way to peace. Man’s heart will change and be open to correction and sound teaching, and then man will destroy his weapons of war and replace them with instruments of peace (Isaiah 2:4). Man will begin to understand then what true Christians must understand, uphold and exemplify today. They are to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), seeking peace and pursuing it (1 Peter 3:11). They are to be counselors of peace—not war (Proverbs 12:20), and they are to preach the gospel of peace (Romans 10:15; Isaiah 52:7). They are to live in peace, and THEN the God of peace will be with them (2 Corinthians 13:11).

The question is: Are we doing this?

We begin with developments in the Middle East and Afghanistan and continue with reports about Germany, Russia and Ukraine.

We speak of the frightening creation of a most powerful laser weapon; point out biblical interest –and the lack thereof–of the population in some American cities; and address the demand of many Roman Catholics for reforms in their church.

Other articles report on new findings pertaining to “mad” Ludwig II, king of Bavaria; individual penalties in Obamacare regulations; and the deadly danger of third-hand smoke; and we conclude with weather conditions in Britain, California and Indonesia.

Israeli Prayers Against John Kerry

rt.com wrote on January 31:

“Thousands of Israeli Jewish hardliners gathered at the Western Wall imploring God to throw a wrench in a peace plan proposed by US Secretary of State John Kerry, which would see a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem and other territorial compromises. Police say around 2,000 people attended the gathering in Jerusalem’s Old City, where participants called on God to strike fear in the hearts of those who might cause harm to the land of Israel. Housing Minister Uri Ariel and other members of the far-right Jewish Home party, which forms part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition but fiercely opposes a two-state solution, were in attendance.

“In a not-so-veiled reference to Kerry’s role in peace negotiations, Ariel said ‘thousands of people came to pray for the people of Israel, to strengthen the government and the one who stands at its head, that he may be able to stand firm against the different pressures coming from the other side of the ocean,’ Israeli National News reported… Kerry, who is set to visit Israel for the 11th time in under a year, has enraged hardliner Israelis with a peace plan that reportedly includes an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and a future Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital… Moshe Cohen, of the Beit El settlement, who was one of the Western Wall event’s organizers, told AFP: ‘Kerry’s plan endangers us since he wants to separate between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.’…

“Discomfort over Kerry’s plan and the alleged influence he is yielding over Netanyahu has led some in the Israeli government to accuse Kerry of anti-Semitism.  Knesset member Motti Yogev from the right-wing Bayit Yehudi Party told Israeli Radio that Kerry’s ‘anti-Israeli roots’ preclude him from being a fair mediator… Yogev said most senior officials from Netanyahu’s center-right Likud party agree with him…

“Earlier this month, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon was forced to apologize after calling Kerry’s drive for peace as ‘messianic’ and ‘obsessive.’… Meanwhile, Netanyahu sparked a crisis in his governing coalition Sunday by saying that Jews currently living in the West Bank would live under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority (PA)… New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman… who is viewed as being exceptionally close to the Obama administration, said Kerry has been ‘fanatically relentless’ but also ‘highly sophisticated’ in his attempts to bring both sides together. He says Netanyahu is clearly aware ‘that some kind of two-state solution is necessary for Israel’s integrity as a Jewish democratic state, with the healthy ties to Europe and the West that are vital for Israel’s economy,’ but is ‘deeply skeptical about Palestinian intentions.’”

The Telegraph added on February 2:

“John Kerry, the US secretary of state, triggered an angry backlash from Israeli leaders on Sunday after warning Israel faces an economic boycott if it failed to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians… Yuval Steinitz, the intelligence and strategic affairs minister and a close ally of Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said America’s top diplomat was ‘holding a gun to [Israel’s] head’…

“Naftali Bennett, the industry minister and leader of the far-Right Jewish Home party, said: ‘We expect of our friends in the world to stand by our side against the attempts to impose an anti-Semitic boycott on Israel, and not to be their mouthpiece.’ His comments were echoed by Adi Mintz, a senior official in the Settler’s Council, who accused Mr Kerry of ‘an anti-Semitic initiative’. ‘The anti-Semites have always resorted to a very simple method – hit the Jews in their pockets,’ he told Israel’s Channel 10 TV station. Mr Netanyahu was more restrained, telling Sunday’s cabinet meeting that efforts to impose a boycott were ‘immoral and unjust’ and doomed to fail.”

The relationship between the USA and Israel is bound to deteriorate more and more. To label John Kerry as an anti-Semite is absolutely preposterous.

The Unending Conflict in the Middle East

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 31:

“World War I may have ended in 1918, but the violence it triggered in the Middle East still hasn’t come to an end. Arbitrary borders drawn by self-interested imperial powers have left a legacy that the region has not been able to overcome… In no other theater of World War I are the results of that epochal conflict still as current as they are in the Middle East. Nowhere else does the early 20th century orgy of violence still determine political conditions to the same degree. The so-called European Civil War, a term used to describe the period of bloody violence that racked Europe from 1914 onwards, came to an end in 1945. The Cold War ceased in 1990. But the tensions unleashed on the Arab world by World War I remain as acute as ever. Essentially, the Middle East finds itself in the same situation now as Europe did following the 1919 Treaty of Versailles: standing before a map that disregards the region’s ethnic and confessional realities.

“In Africa, Latin America and — following the bloodletting of World War II — Europe, most peoples have largely come to accept the borders that history has forced upon them. But not in the Middle East. The states that were founded in the region after 1914, and the borders that were drawn then, are still seen as illegitimate by many of their own citizens and by their neighbors… No group of countries, particularly given their small sizes, has seen so many wars, civil wars, overthrows and terrorist attacks in recent decades. To understand how this historical anomaly came to pass, several factors must be considered: the region’s depressing history prior to World War I, the failure of the Arab elite and the continual intervention by the superpowers thereafter, the role of political Islam, the discovery of oil, the founding of Israel and the Cold War.

“Perhaps most important, however, was the wanton resolution made by two European colonial powers, Britain and France, that ordered this part of the world in accordance with their own needs and literally drew ‘A Line in the Sand,’ as the British historian James Barr titled his 2011 book about this episode [also referred to as the] ‘Peace to End All Peace,’ as Fromkin’s book is called.

“… the unresolved conflicts left behind by World War I, combined with the spill-over effects from the catastrophic World War II in Europe — the founding of Israel, the Cold War and the race for Persian Gulf resources — added up to a historical burden for the Middle East. And they have resulted in an unending conflict — a conflict that has yet to come to an end even today, almost 100 years after that fateful summer in 1914.”

Actions always have results. What we are seeing in the Middle East has of course been prophesied to occur—but this does not in any way justify past conduct of world powers which at least contributed to the current disaster.

Kerry Admits to Failure of US Policy in Syria

The Washington Times wrote on February 3:

“Two senators said Secretary of State John Kerry admitted to them behind closed doors that the White House position and policy on Syria was failing. He made the startling admission during private remarks to 15 congressional members, said two senators who were in the room, The Daily Beast reported. ‘[Kerry] acknowledged that the chemical weapons [plan] is being slow rolled, the Russians continue to supply arms, we are at a point now where we are going to have to change our strategy,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was in the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, The Daily Beast said. The other senator in the room who confirmed the discussions: John McCain, the outlet reported.

“Mr. Kerry also reportedly told the congressional members that he thinks Syria President Bashar Assad is not keeping his promise to turn over chemical weapons as scheduled and that neither the Geneva peace talks nor the Russians were proving helping in forging a peace deal, The Daily Beast said.”

Another US attempt in foreign policy which is failing. Also note the next article.

US Failed Road Building Policy in Afghanistan

The Washington Post wrote on January 30:

“They look like victims of an insurgent attack — their limbs in need of amputation, their skulls cracked — but the patients who pour daily into the Ghazni Provincial Hospital are casualties of another Afghan crisis. They are motorists who drove on the road network built by the U.S. government and other Western donors — a $4 billion project that was once a symbol of promise in post-Taliban Afghanistan but is now falling apart. Western officials say the Afghan government is unable to maintain even a fraction of the roads and highways constructed since 2001, when the country had less than 50 miles of paved roads. The deterioration has hurt commerce and slowed military operations. In many places, the roads once deemed the hallmark of America’s development effort have turned into death traps, full of cars careening into massive bomb-blast craters or sliding off crumbling pavement…

“Since 2012, the United States has refused to fund the Afghan government’s road maintenance projects because it has no faith in the country’s ability to perform even simple tasks, such as dispatching a contractor to fill in a pothole or repaving a stretch of highway. Despite those concerns, the U.S. government is still building new roads in Afghanistan, multimillion-dollar projects whose funds were allocated years ago…

“Before the U.S. invasion in 2001, almost all of Afghanistan’s roads — mostly Soviet-built — had been destroyed by war and neglect. The new, U.S.-built highways seemed to be a godsend for this impoverished nation. But the projects became notorious for their exorbitant costs and poorly implemented contracts. Sometimes, money landed in the hands of the Taliban in exchange for a tacit cease-fire during road construction…”

More Devastating Revelations About the NSA

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 5:

“It wasn’t only Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone that was on the NSA’s target list… Now it appears that, in addition to eavesdropping German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile communications, the National Security Agency was also eavesdropping on Gerhard Schröder’s phone while he was still chancellor. On Tuesday night, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and NDR reported that Schröder had appeared on the so-called National Sigint Requirement List, a list of people and institutions named for targeting by the intelligence agency whose telephone communications should be monitored…

“The reports cite unnamed US government and NSA insider sources claiming that Schröder was declared a target for monitoring because of his critical position on US preparations for a war in Iraq. A person with knowledge of the action is quoted as saying that the US had reason to believe that Schröder would not help lead the alliance toward success…

“In Germany, the revelations appeared to create new tensions in German-American relations. Speaking to SPIEGEL ONLINE, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas, of Schröder’s center-left Social Democratic Party, accused the NSA of conducting indiscriminate mass surveillance…

“When SPIEGEL reported in October 2013 that Angela Merkel’s mobile phone had been tapped — even as far back as 2002, when she headed the conservative Christian Democratic Union party before becoming German’s leader — the article prompted massive outrage in Berlin. Further stories showed that the US intelligence service had also been eavesdropping on numerous other world leaders. In a speech addressing the NSA scandal, US President Barack Obama pledged that his agencies would no longer eavesdrop on the leaders of allied countries in the future. However, he at the same time imposed conditions that still give the intelligence agencies plenty of room for maneuver…

“In their reports, Süddeutsche and NDR claim the NSA was tasked not only with collecting metadata, but also information about when and with whom each target was speaking. The contents of telephone calls and SMS messages were also captured. And this appears to have applied to both Merkel and Schröder.”

Germany Gives Britain a Lukewarm Reception

The Local wrote on February 3:

“Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier gave a lukewarm reception on Monday to Britain’s hopes of EU treaty change, days after France poured cold water on any renegotiation of London’s membership. Speaking after he met his British counterpart William Hague, Steinmeier said Europe’s economic powerhouse Germany appeared to have different views on the issue of changing the 28-member EU’s treaties. Prime Minister David Cameron’s hopes of renegotiating Britain’s relationship with the EU had largely rested with Germany, after President Francois Hollande of France said last week that treaty change was ‘not a priority’…

“Under pressure from eurosceptics in his Conservative party, Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain’s position in the EU and put the new deal to a referendum in 2017, provided that he wins the next election in May 2015. Cameron in particular wants to repatriate some powers from Brussels, as well as giving extra legal powers to protect the 10 member countries including Britain that do not use the euro currency…”

The UK will not stay within the EU, and it will never adopt the Euro.

Most Germans Opposed to Bigger Military Role

AFP wrote on January 31:

“Most Germans oppose a bigger role for their military in the world’s trouble spots despite a push by the country’s new defence minister, a poll released Friday indicated. Asked whether they would support more deployments of Bundeswehr forces to crisis regions, 61 percent said ‘no’ versus 30 percent who would back such moves… Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new defence chief Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview last weekend that Germany should engage more strongly in Africa by sending additional military trainers to Mali and supporting the French intervention in Central African Republic… The remarks triggered a debate in a country still marked by its militaristic past…”

Even though the majority of the people might not want a bigger military role of their country, sadly, prophecy reveals that, in part due to pressure from other nations, Germany is going to become a very powerful military might. See the next article.

Merkel to Extend German Military Engagement in Afghanistan?

Deutsche Welle reported on February 5:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday recommended to parliament that it extend Germany’s military deployment in Afghanistan until late December, the planned end of the NATO-led international combat mission. The Bundestag parliament is due on February 21 to make decisions on whether to mandate German military deployments, including 10 further months for Afghanistan and a plan to send extra personnel to train Mali’s army…

“Shortly after the cabinet session, it was reported that Germany’s new defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, had set out on a visit to Africa. Her destinations were not disclosed… Germany began a major reorganization of its Bundeswehr armed forces in 2010. The reform foresees 185,000 soldiers of which up to 10,000 could be deployed abroad on internationally mandate missions.”

Russia Warns Ukrainian Opposition

BBC News wrote on February 3:

“Russia has urged Ukrainian opposition leaders to end their campaign of ‘ultimatums and threats’ and to step up negotiations with the government. Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow was concerned by activists’ attempts to ‘inflame’ the situation.

“Protesters in Kiev have repeated their calls for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych, who is now back at work after four days of illness. The EU and US are considering a big loan to help debt-laden Ukraine… It’s an understatement to say that the plan depends on a number of variables. President Yanukovych’s acceptance of the plan – if it is offered – is one of the main ones. Another is the reaction to the protesters on Kiev’s streets, who might not welcome the possibility of a ‘national unity’ government, which leaves Mr Yanukovych in power…

“European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso insisted that the EU was not going to enter into a ‘bidding competition’ with Russia to win Ukraine’s loyalty. Russia promised a $15bn (£9bn) aid package to Ukraine last year, but has indicated the next tranche will not be given until a new government is formed, following the resignation of the prime minister and cabinet last week.”

Ukraine will ultimately turn to Russia and disassociate from Europe.

Most Powerful Laser Weapon Fired

Mail On Line wrote on February 3:

“Lockheed Martin fires most powerful portable LASER weapon it has ever created in hi-tech race to replace missiles… It is a weapon that could mean the end of traditional missiles. Lockheed Martin revealed it has tested the a 30-kilowatt electric fiber laser, the highest power ever fired.

“The firm says the weapon could eventually be mounted on jets, tanks and fighter planes – and will more than triple in strength before being used in combat… The project has received funding from the US Army, which is also working with Boeing on a laser mounted weapon.”
 
Man has still not learned that his weapons of war will only bring destruction. As he advances in his developments of more and more powerful weapons, he is fast approaching the prophesied threat of total self-annihilation.

Bible Mindedness in American Cities

Time wrote on January 22:

“America, you may have a new Sodom and Gomorrah. The two least ‘Bible-minded’ cities in the United States are the adjacent metros of Providence, R.I., and New Bedford, Mass., according to a study out Wednesday from the American Bible Society. The study defines ‘Bible-mindedness’ as a combination of how often respondents read the Bible and how accurate they think the Bible is…

“Tennessee… is the most devout [state] in the union. Chattanooga was found to be the most Bible-minded city in America, a title it won from last year’s victor, Knoxville… ‘Not surprisingly, many cities in the East Coast continued to rank as the least Bible-minded in 2013,’ says a press release.

“Surprisingly, that den of sin called New York City didn’t make the top ten least Bible-minded cities, coming in at 89th in the list of 100. Suspecting New York’s large Jewish population may have rescued it from the bottom ten, TIME inquired as to whether the Torah counted as the Bible for the purposes of the survey. A spokesperson said questioners left it up to respondents to determine what they considered to be the sacred text, but the question asked was, ‘How many times do you read the bible outside of church or a synagogue?’”

In an accompanying chart, “Bible-minded” cities were listed in Missouri and Alabama, while least “Bible-minded” cities were identified in California and Iowa.

Catholic Church in Need of Reform?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 3:

“The Vatican last year sent out a survey to Catholics around the world focusing on attitudes to sex and sexuality. The responses are now in — and they show that the Church is badly in need of reform. Can Pope Francis meet such expectations?…

“SPIEGEL has taken a closer look at the mood in all 27 German dioceses… The outcome is devastating for the guardians of pure doctrine… Even in conservative Bavaria, 86 percent of Catholics do not believe it is a sin to use the pill or condoms, both condemned by the church. A look into the congregations reveals that Rome could soon be facing a wave of protest unlike anything the Vatican has experienced in a long time.

“… could it be that while the tone has changed at the Vatican, the substance remains unchanged? The Argentine pope has not eliminated or even softened a single dogma of his rigid church, even though he has the power to do so…

“The most contentious issue is the church’s strict prohibition of contraception, which almost all Catholics ignore… The Vatican’s notion that couples should only live together and have sex after marriage is equally outdated. Living together before marriage ‘is an unmistakable reality today,’ notes the Diocese of Augsburg. The same conclusions are drawn throughout the alphabet of dioceses, ending with Würzburg, where ‘about 90 percent of all couples practice cohabitation ‘ad experimentum’…

“Hardly anyone among the faithful understands how the various prohibitions are supposed to fit together. To begin with, couples are not supposed to have sex before marriage. Once they are married, they are not permitted to use birth control. And if the marriage fails, the church has other objections. Many Catholics are especially incensed over the treatment of people who have been divorced and then remarried, which, according to the wording of the survey, places them in ‘irregular marriage situations’ and excludes them from communion…

“Another group the church accused of committing sins also enjoys considerable support from the base: homosexuals. ‘Many Christians cannot understand this attitude,”’ the staff of Cologne’s Cardinal Joachim Meisner concluded after reading the survey responses they received…

“Finally, many Christians took advantage of a unique opportunity to tell the pope how they felt about issues that were not even included in the survey. One is the vow of chastity for the clergy… The parishioners [want] to see the church do away with mandatory celibacy.

“… the public pays little attention when the Vatican… energetically defends Catholic doctrine. The church’s new leader has already sent the relevant signals to the Roman Catholic community. ‘I am a son of the church,’ he reassured the curia…

“The retired pope [Benedict]  is the fixed star of the traditionalists in the Roman Catholic Church. His residence, the Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church) monastery, is only a few steps from St. Peter’s Basilica, set idyllically in the Vatican gardens. It forms the intellectual center of old Catholicism. Joseph Ratzinger keeps the strict worldview of his era alive through his presence alone. Benedict was in poor health during the weeks following his resignation. He suffered from heart and circulatory ailments, was emaciated and weak and plagued by depression. Many in his circle were convinced that he was dying. But then he recovered. His ideal of a spiritual church as an antithesis to a secularized, uninhibited society is very much alive. For the conservative establishment, Ratzinger continues to set the standard today.

“Of course, the retired pontiff keeps a low profile when it comes to the public… The old elites are not as discreet…

“A year of decisions is beginning for Francis and his church. Will the calls for attention from the basis be heard behind the thick walls of the Vatican? Can laypeople expect the church to change in accordance with their wishes?… Even Francis’s open-minded advisers are concerned that he will be unable to put the genie back into the bottle. Marcello Semeraro is the secretary of Pope Francis’ ‘crown council,’ the group of eight cardinals from around the world tasked with advising the pope on reforms. Semeraro does everything he can to dampen the overwhelming expectations of ordinary Catholics…”

This article raises quite a few interesting topics. First of all, we should clearly see that Catholic members are totally confused about right and wrong standards. Even where the Church is right, they disagree, as they have become more and more liberal.

For example, the church is absolutely right to speak out against sex before marriage and living together without being married, and it is also right in not justifying homosexual behavior. On the other hand, the church is wrong when prohibiting divorce for any reason or the use of birth control methods; and when it compels celibacy for priests.

We should not expect that major doctrinal reforms will occur in the Catholic Church. It is also noteworthy that the article refers to prior Pope Benedict as someone who is still exerting an important influence. We should not hastily dismiss him as a powerful force within the church.

UN “Interferes” in Church Matters?

BBC News wrote on February 5:

“The UN has said that the Vatican should ‘immediately remove’ all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers. The UN watchdog for children’s rights denounced the Holy See for adopting policies which allowed priests to sexually abuse thousands of children. In a report, it also criticised Vatican attitudes towards homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

“The Vatican responded by saying it would examine the report – but also accused its authors of interference…

“The Vatican has always given precedence to Church law, called Canon Law, over local criminal law in dealing with ecclesiastical crime. It does not easily tolerate interference by civil authorities in ecclesiastical matters. The recent case of a senior Vatican diplomat, a Polish archbishop, who was suddenly recalled to Rome from his post in Santo Domingo after serious police accusations of sexual abuse of minors there is a case in point. The Vatican has refused an extradition request by justice authorities in Poland and says an internal police investigation is under way inside Vatican City…

“The Vatican has denied any official cover-up. However, in December it refused a UN request for data on abuse on the grounds that it only released such information if requested to do so by another country as part of legal proceedings.”

Sadly, the UN is not the body with any credibility in spiritual matters, which is emphasized by that fact that even though they are right in strongly deploring child abuse by the Catholic clergy, they are wrong in advocating abortion and homosexuality.

Was Bavarian King Ludwig II Really Mad?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 31:

“People have long believed that Bavarian King Ludwig II, the man responsible for building the famous castle of Neuschwanstein, was mentally ill. Indeed, he was dethroned for that very reason. But a recent study casts doubt on that diagnosis.

“When the fate of the king of Bavaria was placed into his hands, Bernhard von Gudden was a highly regarded figure in medical circles. Not only had the doctor perfected a machine that could cut human brains into fine slices for research purposes. But he had also made a name for himself in the area of psychiatry… Still, the psychiatrist thoroughly botched his most famous case. The doctor, together with several colleagues, provided the following diagnosis: ‘He is teetering like a blind man without guidance on the verge of a precipice.’ The king in question was Ludwig II, the most famous of Bavaria’s monarchs, both for his moniker of ‘Mad King Ludwig’ and for the fact that he built several picturesque castles that still dot the southern German state today, including the famous Neuschwanstein at the foot of the Alps.

“Gudden et. al. declared Ludwig II unfit to conduct government business. The diagnosis led to Ludwig’s being dethroned on June 10, 1886. Three days later he — and, mysteriously, Gudden — drowned in what is now called Lake Starnberg, located just south of Munich.

“But how accurate was this drastic medical report? Did it stem from a proper examination that lived up to medical standards of the time? And who had an interest in Ludwig II being toppled? These questions have now been addressed by a group led by Mannheim-based psychiatrist Heinz Häfner. Their findings, recently published in the journal History of Psychiatry, contradict the conclusions reached by Gudden. Häfner says that at no time did the king’s behavior ‘provide reliable evidence of his purported mental illness.’

“Many historians have refrained from questioning the conclusion that the king from the House of Wittelsbach was mentally ill. After all, Ludwig gave his contemporaries ample reasons to question his sanity. He plunged his kingdom into massive debt with his megalomaniac construction projects… Ludwig hadn’t just angered his family and come close to driving his country to financial ruin. He also embarrassed the Bavarian royal family at every opportunity. War Minister Joseph Maximilian von Maillinger, for example, was forced to leave office in 1885, partly because the gay monarch couldn’t refrain from recruiting his lovers from a cavalry unit, the Bavarian Chevau-légers.

“As such, Gudden’s misguided diagnosis was far from unwelcome. The lethal outcome was probably unintended, but couldn’t be ruled out given that Ludwig faced the prospect of being confined to a royal cell in the Berg palace on the shores of Lake Starnberg, with barred windows, doors with observation slits and no handles. Harsh treatment for a man whose behavior these days would be regarded at worst as the product of a personality disorder. It is a diagnosis that countless people live with these days, without being locked away.”

Obamacare’s Individual Penalties

Market Watch wrote on February 2:

“Starting this year, the Obamacare law imposes a penalty on individuals who fail to have so-called minimum essential health insurance coverage for any month. This coverage requirement is commonly called the individual mandate, and the penalty is the cost for failure to comply. You will owe the penalty if you don’t have minimum essential coverage for yourself and your dependents. Minimum essential coverage includes certain government sponsored programs (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program), eligible employer-sponsored plans, plans obtained in the individual market, certain grandfathered group plans, and other coverage specified by the Feds. However, if you fit into one of [numerous] categories, you are exempt from the penalty… You are supposed to pay any penalty you owe with your Form 1040 for the year—starting with your 2014 return which you will file sometime next year.

“However, the only enforcement mechanism is that the government can subtract any unpaid penalty from your federal income tax refunds. So if you’re not owed a refund for 2014 or a later year, there will never be any consequences for not paying the penalty. (You aren’t subject to criminal prosecution, and the IRS cannot put a lien or levy on your income or assets.).”

Dangerous Third-Hand Smoke

CBS wrote on February 3:

“Exposure to surfaces and objects that have been saturated in cigarette smoke, labeled as ‘third-hand smoke,’ is just as deadly as smoking the cigarette itself. A new study from the University of California, Riverside finds that the third-hand smoke that has soaked into the surfaces, objects and environment around people becomes increasingly toxic over time. Third-hand smoke is defined as the second-hand smoke that is allowed to settle on objects in any environment. Non-smoking children, co-workers, spouses and friends of smokers breathe in such carcinogens left in rooms exposed to smokers…

“The researchers note that smoking tobacco remains a worldwide cause of serious health threats for smokers and nonsmokers alike, affected approximately 1.5 billion people globally…  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 440,000 deaths each year in the U.S., which is about one-in-five deaths. The CDC notes that smoking causes more deaths annually than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries and firearm-related incidents.

“CDC data shows that exposure to secondhand smoke has “immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and can cause coronary heart disease.” Secondhand smoke causes an estimated 46,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the United States among nonsmokers. Past research has shown that older children whose parents smoke get sick more often, their lungs grow less and wheezing, coughing are more common in children who breathe secondhand smoke.”

As we can see from this article, first-hand, second-hand and third-hand smoke are a terrible curse with bad consequences for the smokers and others. How can we deny the fact that smoking is harmful, and that it causes harm (not just displeasure) to others? In what way can smoking be a reflection of love towards neighbor and self? It is clearly sinful in the eyes of God.

Deluge in England

The Guardian wrote on February 1:

“The deluge that has engulfed southern and central England in recent weeks is the worst winter downpour in almost 250 years… The rainfall… in January was greater than for any winter month since daily recording began there in 1767, and three times the average amount… the region from Devon to Kent and up into the Midlands suffered its wettest January since its records began in 1910.”

On some cities it will rain… but sadly, far too much…

Drought in California

Newsmax wrote on February 2:

“California’s three-year drought could end up being the area’s worst in 500 years, forcing even tougher restrictions on residents who have been cutting back on showers and farming already. On Friday, the State Water Project, which is the main distribution system of municipal water in California, announced it would not be allocating any water from its reservoirs to local agencies this spring. It is the first time it has taken such action in its 54-year history. Drinking water for 25 million people and irrigation for 1 million acres of farmland will be affected… A snow survey Thursday in the Sierra Nevada showed a snowpack of only 12 percent of normal… Reservoirs are lower than in 1977, one of the state’s previous worst drought years.

“With forecasts still calling for no rain, 17 rural communities that provide water to 40,000 people could run out of [it] within 60 to 120 days… And air pollution in Los Angeles, which had been declining over the past 10 years, is on the rise without rain to clean the air. Bans have been put on fireplace wood burning to combat the problem.”

The Associated Press wrote on February 2:

“Amid California’s driest year on record, the nation’s leading agricultural region is locked in drought and bracing for unemployment to soar, sending farm workers to food lines in a place famous for its abundance. One-third of the Central Valley’s jobs are related to farming. Strains on water supplies are expected to force farmers to leave fields unplanted, creating a ripple effect on food processing plant workers, truck drivers and those who sell fertilizer, irrigation equipment and tractors.”

… while there will be no rain on other cities…

Volcano Eruption in Indonesia

Reuters wrote on February 1:

“Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano erupted and killed at least 11 people on the western island of Sumatra on Saturday, the first time it is known to have claimed any lives, a senior government official said. The volcano has becoming increasingly active in recent months, regularly spewing columns of ash several kilometres into the air. The government has evacuated tens of thousands of residents near the area…

“Sinabung is one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in the world’s most populous country, which stands along the ‘Ring of Fire’ volcanic belt around the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Indonesia’s most deadly volcanic eruption in recent years was of Mount Merapi, near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta in central Java. It erupted in late 2010, killing more than 350 people.”

… and eruptions of volcanoes and other terrible natural disasters will continue, as we are nearing the return of Jesus Christ.

As will be explained herein, many have taken this statement to justify anti-Semitic sentiments, or to explain horrible incidents like the Holocaust when millions of Jews were killed in gas chambers. But is it possible that a “curse,” which is placed by parents on their children and future generations, can automatically bring about such terrible results? Some turn for an explanation to the “curse” which God placed on parents and children who “hate” Him. 

In a previous Q&A, we asked and answered the question what it means that God will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him (compare Exodus 20:5), and explained that this does not contradict Scriptures such as Deuteronomy 24:16, stating that children are not to be put to death for their fathers, but that a person “shall be put to death for his own sin.”

We pointed out that the children will only be punished if they themselves are sinning, stating: “The Companion Bible comments to Ezekiel 18: 4, 20: ‘Descendants were not punished for the sins of their ancestors unless they persevered in their ancestors’ sins.’ The same thought is expressed in Exodus 20. Note that Exodus 20:5 speaks of those ‘who hate Me.’ Soncino points out that the phrase, ‘of those that hate Me,’ applies to the children, i.e. God will punish the children if they [the children] hate Him. Soncino comments, too, that the punishment will be brought upon the children, ‘when they retain the evil deeds of their fathers.’”

We also explained that “the conduct of the parents may have a lot to do with the fact whether their children or grandchildren love or hate God. The sins of the fathers do affect future generations — and so does the penalty for sin… When Adam and Eve sinned, the penalty imposed on them affected all mankind. Through their sin, they cut themselves – and man – off from God. Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), and since all have sinned, all have incurred the death penalty for sin (Romans 5:14). One might say that the sin of Adam and Eve affected, at the very least, the third and fourth generation, but since Cain sinned, his sin affected the next four generations, and so on. The effect of sin is cumulative. Finally, sin had become so all-encompassing that God decided to destroy the entire world in a flood.

“Christ, in showing the evil influence of their parents and their own culpability in their continued hate of God, pointed out in Matthew 23:31-36, how the principle of Exodus 20:6 was fulfilled in the persons of the scribes and Pharisees at Christ’s time.”

We also stressed that the “vicious cycle of sin, penalty, and death can be interrupted, however, when a person turns to God, repents, and obtains forgiveness.” Norbert Link’s recent sermon, “The Fate of Our Children,” explains this topic in much detail, showing that “God determined to call some in this day and age to have a special relationship with Him. This includes the children of called-out parents. Whether they may realize it or not, parents have a tremendous influence on their children and grandchildren—in good and bad ways.”

In light of this concept, let us return to Matthew 27:25. In the context of that passage, Pilate washed his hands and stated that he was “innocent of the blood of this just Person,” Jesus Christ.   In response, the crowd yelled, “His blood be on us and on our children,” demanding His death by crucifixion.

Many commentaries feel indeed that this saying had automatic consequences for their future generations.

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary writes: “The Jews’ curse upon themselves has been awfully answered in the sufferings of their nation.”

The Pulpit Commentary says: “A mad and impious imprecation, the fulfillment of which quickly commenced, and has continued unto this day. The terrible events connected with the destruction of Jerusalem, the overthrow of the theocracy, and the eighteen centuries of exile and dispersion, bear witness to the reality of the vengeance thus wantonly invoked.”

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible writes: “… his blood was in the sense they wished it; and for the shedding of it, wrath came upon them to the uttermost, in the entire destruction of their nation, city, and temple, and very remarkable it is, that great numbers of them were put to death by crucifixion; and very likely some of those very persons, that were so clamorous for the crucifying of Christ; and if not, at least their children; five hundred of the Jews and more, were sometimes crucified in a day, whilst Titus was besieging the city; till at length there wanted ‘room for crosses’, ‘and crosses for bodies’, as Josephus (u) says, who was an eyewitness of it: and to this day, this dreadful wish of the blood of Christ upon them, is to be seen in their miserable, abject, and captive state; and will be, until such time that they look to him whom they have pierced, and mourn…”

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says: “The Jews had no right to call down this vengeance on their children, but, in the righteous judgment of God, it has come upon them. In less than forty years their city and temple were overthrown and destroyed. More than a million of people [sic] perished in the siege. Thousands died by famine; thousands by disease; thousands by the sword; and their blood ran down the streets like water, so that, Josephus says, it extinguished things that were burning in the city. Thousands were crucified suffering the same punishment that they had inflicted on the Messiah… To this day, also, the curse has remained. They have been a nation scattered and peeled; persecuted almost everywhere, and a hissing and a byword among people. No single nation, probably, has suffered so much; and yet they have been preserved. All classes of people, all the governments of the earth, have conspired to overwhelm them with calamity, and yet they still live as monuments of the justice of God, and as proofs, going down from age to age, that the Christian religion is true – standing demonstrations of the crime of their fathers in putting the Messiah to death, and in calling down vengeance on their heads.”

Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible says: “If this man be innocent, and we put him to death as a guilty person, may the punishment due to such a crime be visited upon us, and upon our children after us! What a dreadful imprecation! and how literally fulfilled!… they fell victims to their own imprecation, being visited with a series of calamities unexampled in the history of the world. They were visited with the same kind of punishment; for the Romans crucified them in such numbers when Jerusalem was taken, that there was found a deficiency of crosses for the condemned, and of places for the crosses. Their children or descendants have had the same curse entailed upon them, and continue to this day a proof of the innocence of Christ, the truth of his religion, and of the justice of God.”

The People’s New Testament says: “His blood be on us. That is, let us have the responsibility and suffer the punishment. A fearful legacy, and awfully inherited. The history of the Jews from that day on has been the darkest recorded in human annals.”

Wesley’s Notes say: “His blood be on us and on our children – As this imprecation was dread, fully answered in the ruin so quickly brought on the Jewish nation, and the calamities which have ever since pursued that wretched people, so it was peculiarly fulfilled by Titus the Roman general, on the Jews whom he took during the siege of Jerusalem. So many, after having been scourged in a terrible manner, were crucified all round the city, that in a while there was not room near the wall for the crosses to stand by each other. Probably this befell some of those who now joined in this cry, as it certainly did many of their children: the very finger of God thus pointing out their crime in crucifying his Son.”

This will suffice. Even though the human mind might hastily conclude that the sufferings of the Jews are the direct result of a curse uttered by parents for them and future generations, such interpretation is not biblical. However, the consequences of this kind of interpretation have indeed been terrible. Adolf Hitler used this Scripture and the concept that the “Jews killed Christ” to exterminate millions of them during the Holocaust. Others, prior to him, had used the same “justification” for their horrible and ungodly deeds towards the Jews. But what is forgotten is the fact that the Jews were persecuted long before the death of Christ—we may recall that in the book of Esther, all the Jews would have been killed if it had not been for Esther’s intervention. Clearly, Satan was behind that attempt to exterminate the Jewish people to make prophecy “fail,” by trying to prevent the birth of Jesus Christ—knowing that He would be a descendant of the house of Judah.

The Nelson Study Bible comments that “The destruction of Jerusalem was one of the results of this sin [the curse uttered by the parents].” For proof, the commentary points at Matthew 23:32-39. However, that passage describes the results of the sins of those who were involved—it does not inflict a curse on innocent children who do not participate in the evil life style of their parents. In addition, we should realize that this was not a curse uttered by God, but a curse uttered by ignorant people. God is not bound by such a curse. To the contrary, we read that no one can curse or effectuate a curse on someone whom God does not curse (Numbers 23:8).

Recognizing the injustice of categorically condemning all future generations to a terrible curse uttered by some of their ancestors, some commentaries take a more differentiated point of view. The New Bible Commentary: Revised states that the “saying has been wrongly used in later generations to persecute the Jews.” The Broadman Bible Commentary agrees, saying: “Verse 25 has unfortunately been used in anti-Semitism, and such use is to be deplored. Jesus was crucified by Romans at Jewish initiative, but not all Jews then supported the crime, and Jews today are no more guilty than any other people. Jesus died on account of the sins of the world, not of the Jews alone.”

This is indeed true. Christ came to die for all men—Jews and Gentiles—and all of us are guilty of His death, because all of us have sinned, and the wages of sin is death. In addition, our sins—not unfriendly words uttered by ignorant men—bring about curses in our lives. Christ came to free us from sin and the death penalty through the shedding of His precious blood, and to remove from us the curse of eternal death (For more information, please read our free booklet, “Jesus Christ—a Great Mystery.”). It is also a fact that this is Satan’s world, and that Satan is anxious to destroy all of mankind. Millions of people have died in wars, famines, disease epidemics and “natural” catastrophes, and millions of Christians were murdered during the times of the Inquisition. As explained in this Q&A, we suffer the consequences of our own misconduct, and we are only responsible for the misconduct of our parents if we adopt their life style and make it our own.  To say that Jews were singled out by God and persecuted and killed throughout history because of a curse uttered by some Jews at the time of Christ’s death is equally as wrong as to hold the current generation of Germans responsible for the crimes of some of their fathers and grandfathers against the Jews and others during Nazi Germany.

We should also focus on another possibility as to how to understand Matthew 27:25. Even though the Jews who uttered these terrible words were misled and meant them as a rejection of Christ to be applied to them and their children—apparently not realizing what they were saying—God might have inspired the recording of these statements to point out quite a different concept. For instance, we read that the high priest recommended the death of Jesus Christ, as “it is expedient to us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:49-50). He meant that Jesus should die so that the Romans would not come in to destroy Judah, but God inspired this saying for quite a different reason. As John 11:51-52 explains: “Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.”

In that sense, some commentaries understand the saying in Matthew 27:25 in a similar way. The One Volume Bible Commentary by J.R. Dummelow refers to the Jews’ saying also as “a blessing upon believers, on whom the blood of Jesus came for sanctification, and the remission of sin, compare John 11:50.” Indeed, when the blood of Jesus covers our sins, this will have a positive influence on our children. When a parent is becoming converted and accepts the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the remission of his sins, his children become “holy” or “sanctified” (1 Corinthians 7:14); that is, they are being set aside for the holy purpose of realizing their potential of entering into a relationship with God. In that sense, the “curse” of the parents in Matthew 27:25 could perhaps be understood, in God’s eyes, as the (unrealized) cry for a blessing for them and their children.

God will answer that cry. He will soon send Jesus Christ to this earth to offer all of mankind—Jews and Gentiles alike—the gift of eternal life and freedom from sin and the curse of eternal death. That is why we are to pray daily for the coming of God’s Kingdom (Matthew 6:10).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

“ALL WRONG—Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design!,” is the title of a new compelling StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:
 
On February 4, 2014, a debate took place between two proponents of the (atheistic) Evolution concept and of Creationism. The subsequent responses were telling—TV Evangelist Pat Robertson rejected “Young Earth Creationism” and stated that he believes in God-guided Evolution—a position which is also embraced by the Catholic Church. Others felt that “Old Earth Creationism” and “Intelligent Design” (ID) should have been discussed as alternatives. This program shows that all of these concepts are wrong, and explains what the Bible REALLY SAYS about the origins of the earth and of man.

“Krieg oder Frieden?,” is the title of the first installment of a new series of German sermons in which Norbert Link addresses choices which lead to war or to peace.

Also, Mr. Link has written a new German member letter. It addresses the need to make reservations at the Feast 2014 Hotel in Germany and includes the German translation of our recent Q&A on not adding to or deleting from God’s Word.

The Hilton Garden Inn at Pismo Beach, California, is this year’s location for the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day observance in the US.  We reserved 15 rooms with more available, as needed. Please contact us as soon as possible and tell us that you want to stay in the hotel. We are composing an assignment list. Once this intial sign-up is complete, we will add detailed information about the hotel on the CEG website.