On February 16th, 2013, Norbert Link will give the sermon, titled, “Europe—an Economic Power Bloc.”
 
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). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

Joseph Ratzinger, or Pope Benedict XVI as he is known, shocked much of the world this week by breaking with tradition.  He is willingly stepping down from his office as opposed to dying in it like his predecessors have for the last 700+ years.  Perhaps even more surprising, is the plethora of criticism that has followed what most consider a conservative reign.

Der Spiegel said that “his papacy failed to introduce much-needed reforms.” The Süddeutsche Zeitung writes that he has “no understanding for the third millennium” and that the “church is no longer triumphant, nor is it combative” and “has seldom needed reform as badly as it does at the end of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy.” Die Tageszeitung, echoing similar sentiments, wrote, “It would be good if Pope Benedict XVI was the last of his kind. And if the history books could soon write: ‘The Pope’s resignation heralded a new era, the Catholic Church had understood that it could not continue as before.'”

How does the old adage go, “be careful what you wish for, because you might get it?”

The Bible predicts that there will be a great religious leader that comes from a land in the midst of the seas and from a city that sits on seven mountains.  This is none other than Rome!  And of course the religious leader of Rome is the Pope.  The issue at hand here that many do not realize is that the great religious leader that is prophesied to come out of Rome is none other than the False Prophet.

This Pope will teach wrong doctrines and be anti-law. He will do signs and lying wonders, even making fire come from heaven. These miracles will easily fool the masses, those who will take the “mark of the beast.”  He will sit in the “inner sanctuary”, and it appears that he will be sitting in a literal temple in Jerusalem at that time and even claim to be God.  For more on the coming temple of Ezekiel, please see our new Q&A and listen to our sermon on false prophets (see below).

Through direct influence from Satan and demon possession, this man will accomplish these things and more.  He will also be able to influence world leaders — to the point that they will gather at Armageddon in preparation to foolishly fight Christ at His return.

Knowing that this is the case and that these exact events will happen, we, as Christians, are still strongly admonished to avoid being deceived by the “man of sin,” the False Prophet. Paul implies that we could succumb to the wiles of this man when he writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first….” This apostle identifies this harbinger as the end time. He actually prophesies that there will indeed be another apostasy, a move from true Christianity to false religion and that this will be at the time of this last leader of “Babylon the Great.” 

The Words of the Bible are written for our benefit, to aid us in the days ahead. Not just this particular caution, but all the testimony of God. We must hear them and live them and love them in order to prevent what will inevitably befall many (1 Corinthians 10:11-12; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Will this next pope indeed be “the one?” We don’t know, but need to watch.

For more information on this subject, please view this week’s StandingWatch program, “Peter of Rome–The Last Black Pope?” and listen to how to identify a false prophet, in the sermon entitled, “Unprophetable.”

We begin with reporting on the Pope’s announcement that he will retire by the end of February; address the ongoing discussion on the controversial and perhaps illegal use of drones and potentially tyrannical and autocratic measures of governments; continue with threats for this earth from outer space; report on a major snow storm hitting the USA and Canada; quote from recent statements comparing the USA with ancient Rome; and speak of further European discoveries of horse meat in “beef” products.

Turning to the Middle East, we address the troubling situation in Egypt and Iraq, as well as America’s planned controversial and potentially ineffective Missile Shield; and conclude with developments in Europe, proving again the leadership role of Germany.

Present German Pope Resigns

On February 11, the New York Times wrote the following:

“Citing advanced years and infirmity, but showing characteristic tough-mindedness and unpredictability, Pope Benedict XVI shocked Roman Catholics on Monday by saying that he would resign on Feb. 28, becoming the first pope to do so in six centuries… Benedict’s papacy was overshadowed by clerical abuse scandals, a case involving documents leaked from within the Vatican itself and tangles with Jews, Muslims and Anglicans. In his handling of the sexual abuse crisis, critics said that his failures of governance were tantamount to moral failings… Father Lombardi said that the pope would continue to carry out his duties until Feb. 28 at 8 p.m., and that a successor would probably be elected by Easter, which falls on March 31…

“The church’s 265th pope, Benedict was the first German to hold the title in half a millennium, and his election was a milestone toward Germany’s spiritual renewal 60 years after World War II and the Holocaust. At 78, he was also the oldest new pope since 1730…”

A Divisive Figure

Der Spiegel wrote on February 11:

“Ever since his appointment in April 2005, Benedict XVI has been a divisive figure. The euphoria over the election of a Bavarian pope that first swept Germany has long since receded. With all due respect to the first pope to voluntarily step down in hundreds of years: In the eight years he held office, the pope did more to polarize than to unify Catholics in his country of birth… Here in Germany, his election led to an increasing split within the Church. On the one side were the disappointed advocates of long-overdue reform. On the other were the fundamentalists, the upholders of tradition and self-appointed guardians of the faith who wanted to turn the clock back to before the Second Vatican Council and sought salvation in an authoritarian and hierarchical Church of the past…

“Some in Germany are already speaking of a schism within the Conference of Bishops. During his years in office, Pope Benedict boosted the reactionary wing of the Catholic community, with its frequently obscure splinter groups, more than his predecessor did — be it with his approaches to the ultra-conservative Pius Brothers, his scolding of renegade theologians or his fondness for the Traditional Mass. His efforts to address the abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church all over the world were too little, too late. Neither in the United States, Ireland nor Germany did he and his bishops manage to regain the trust subsequently lost.  Under a German pope, no less, the Church’s reputation arrived at an all-time low in Germany in early 2013. According to a study conducted by the Sinus Institute, even the most loyal Catholics don’t trust their own bishops. Once hailed as a sophisticate, the head of the Church morphed into a leader who lurched on the international stage from one unfortunate mishap to another…

“Benedict’s resignation, however, now reshuffles the cards. Power structures could shift as a result, however slightly, when a new pope, possibly even one from another continent, blesses the world from St. Peter’s Basilica this Easter. It is a prospect that fills many leading Catholics in Germany with hope, others with fear. The pope, though, has taken some steps to ensure that his political legacy will continue in Rome — particularly through his appointment of former Regensburg Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller. As the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Müller is a rough and ready guarantee of strict orthodoxy on central Vatican positions. And just a short time ago, Benedict elevated his private secretary, Georg Gänswein, to the status of bishop.

“… many in Germany have long yearned for an end to the Ratzinger era, no matter who might succeed him. It remains to be seen whether German bishops will have more confidence than before to follow a more independent path. But there will certainly be more room for risk taking. Indeed, Benedict’s resignation offers the Catholic Church in Germany a new chance to free itself from torpor created by this paternalistic pope and to perhaps finally find a way to begin resolving the deep crisis facing German Catholics.”

The Search for a Successor

As the Catholic Church is preparing for the election of a new pope, opinions vary widely as to whether the upcoming election will be inspired by the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary—or whether it will be simply the product of politicking and human agreements under the sway and influence of the current pope, or perhaps even the “dark side.”

The Associated Press reported on February 11:

“The announcement… will also allow Benedict to hold great sway over the choice of his successor. He has already hand-picked the bulk of the College of Cardinals — the princes of the church who will elect the next Pope — to guarantee his conservative legacy and ensure an orthodox future for the church…

“The last Pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants. The most famous resignation was Pope Celestine V in 1294; Dante placed him in hell for it…

“[Benedict] called it prophetic that a German followed a Polish pope — with both men coming from such different sides of World War II…”

The Guardian wrote on February 11:

“By the time the conclave begins, there is likely to be at least some consensus over the leading contenders. But Catholics believe that, once behind the shut doors of the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals are guided to their decision by God directly in the guise of the Holy Spirit. Anything becomes possible.”

In his resignation, the pope wrote: “… let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff.”

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 11:

“In terms of church politics, Pope Benedict XVI’s eight-year tenure was a period of transition. But he did leave his own mark by appointing nearly half of the cardinals who will now elect his successor…”

The Washington Times wrote on February 11:

“It will be the first conclave to take place with a previous pope still alive since the one that selected Boniface in 1294, and it is clear Benedict will yield great influence over a conclave in which every voting cardinal was appointed either by Benedict or by John Paul with the counsel of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict’s name before he became pope. It is unlikely that Benedict will make a single utterance about the conclave once he steps down, but Vatican experts said cardinals will know that whatever decision they make will be judged by the man he replaced. ‘A strong figure like Benedict will be in the [conclave] even if he is not there physically,’ said the Rev. Alistair Sear, a retired church historian. ‘He will be in their thoughts as they cast their votes.’”

The Washington Post wrote on February 11:

“In the 13th century, the position was vacant for 31 / 2 years… In some ways, the selection of a new pope will have more potential to influence the future of Catholicism than the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then 78, in 2005…

“The list is highly speculative. Unlike in a presidential race, Vatican practice for centuries has barred public discussion about possible successors while a pope is alive, or anything that even whiffs of open campaigning. Italians make up a quarter of the cardinals who will participate in the voting meeting, or conclave, in March. Europeans make up more than half. Since this pope is alive, the cardinals are in unchartered waters and will probably meet in small groups to quietly brainstorm and discuss the possibilities until the conclave begins.

“That’s when they will decide what kind of theologian they want, what kind of manager, what kind of communicator. Do they want to try to revive the powerful and secularizing West or turn toward the developing world, where two-thirds of Catholics now live? Even within regions, there is huge diversity. For example, some African Catholics aren’t as orthodox on contraception, which can protect from AIDS, but are conservative on homosexuality…

“Catholic debate in the United States often centers on issues such as whether the church should allow the ordination of women or married priests. But those are not the debates of the cardinals, all of whom were picked by Benedict or his like-minded predecessor, Pope John Paul II. They are in agreement on such matters as allowing female priests, contraception, or equality for gays and lesbians: no, no and no.”

“Will a Black Pope Replace Benedict?”

On February 11, Newsmax ran an article with the above-cited headline, continuing:

“With the shocking announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will be stepping down at the end of the month, all eyes are now on the men who are being considered to replace him and become the 266th Pope. Many within the Roman Catholic Church believe the time has come for a non-European to ascend to the papacy. Here is a look at some of the front-runners:

“Peter Turkson (Ghana, age 64) is the one of the top African candidates. Head of the Vatican justice and peace bureau, he is spokesman for the Church’s social conscience and backs world financial reform… 

“Francis Arinze (Nigeria, age 80) is also a strong African contender. He is Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, having served as prefect from 2002 to 2008. He is the current Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni, succeeding Joseph Ratzinger in 2005…

“In addition, there is a large and growing Catholic population in Latin America to consider. The region already represents 42 percent of the world’s 1.2 billion-strong Catholics, the largest single block in the Church, compared to 25 percent in Europe.”

The “Prophecy” of an Ancient Bishop

Newsmax wrote on February 13:

“Ancient Catholic prophecies by a revered Irish bishop end with the chilling prediction that the next Pope to be selected by the College of Cardinals to fill Benedict XVI’s place will be the last Pope. St. Malachy, an Archbishop of Armagh who died in 1148, left behind a list of 112 Popes that has amazed some with its remarkable accuracy. Malachy used a short phrase in Latin to describe each Pope, beginning with Celestine II and ‘From a castle on the Tiber.’ That Pope’s birth name was Guido di Castello. More recently, he described Pope John Paul I with the phrase: ‘From the midst of the moon.’ His reign, which began in 1978, began with the moon half full and lasted only one month — or one moon. He was followed by Pope John Paul II by the Latin expression ‘Laboris Solis’ — or translated ‘From the labor of the sun’ — an expression meaning a solar eclipse.  As it turned out, John Paul II was the only known pope to be born on the day of a solar eclipse — and he was buried on the day of a solar eclipse.

“A near total eclipse was seen across Europe on May 18, 1920, the day he was born in Poland. And on April 8, 2005, the day of the Pope’s funeral, a partial solar eclipse blotted out most of the sun and darkened a wide area of the world, from the South Pacific to the Western Hemisphere. For the next Pope, Benedict XVI, St. Malachy wrote: ‘Glory of the olive.’ Before the Pope was selected, some suggested a Benedictine would be elected because the order is sometimes referred to as the Olivetans, whose name ultimately derives from the Mount of Olives in the New Testament. A Benedictine was not selected. However, upon his election as pontiff, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger chose the name Benedict after St. Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictine Order.

“St. Malachy described only one more Pope after Benedict, ‘Petrus Romanus’ or ‘Peter the Roman.’ The Irish prophet wrote: ‘In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city (Rome) will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people.’  Some believe the prophecy could foretell the destruction of the Church, or the world, and play into Christian prophecy as revealed in the book of Revelation which suggests a final battle between good and evil…

“According to a traditional account, Malachy was summoned to Rome by Pope Innocent II in 1139, and while there he purportedly experienced a vision of future Popes. He recorded the vision in his cryptic phrases and this manuscript was left in an archive and forgotten until its rediscovery in 1590…”

Please see our new StandingWatch program, “Peter of Rome–The Last Black Pope?” If that “prophecy” was indeed genuine,  it was not a prophecy given by God. And one cannot trust demonic prophecies. Even though demons may know aspects of the truth and the future, they are also liars and deceivers.

Cartoons and Lightning

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 13:

“The day before it happened, a German page-a-day calendar prophesied the pope’s resignation, and then lightning struck St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Were these mysterious events just coincidence or a sign from God? On Monday morning he tore off a page from his daily calendar, just like any other day. But then a bit later he heard the news on the radio: Pope Benedict XVI was resigning.  ‘I was a bit shocked,’ says Jürgen Holtfreter. Certainly the announcement came as [a] shock to many, but Holtfreter was positively mystified. The calendar he had updated was his own — a page-a-day cartoon calendar called ‘Karicartoon’ that he produces each year. The cartoon that he tore away from the day before, Sunday February 10, happened to be of the pope winning the lottery. ‘Holy sack of straw!,’ the pope thinks as he sees all of his numbers come up on the televized lottery results. Then, the thought bubble became prophetic. ‘I’m quitting tomorrow!’ it reads. And then, as though the cartoon had predicted the future, Pope Benedict XVI announced he was stepping down.

“Holtfreter says the 2013 calendar was finished around Easter of 2012. It was a coincidence ‘as unlikely as a lottery win,’ says cartoonist Katharina Greve, who originally created the prophetic drawing about a year and a half ago for the German weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung… The cartoon wasn’t the only strange coincidence on that day, though. On Monday evening, two photojournalists and a BBC video captured stunning images of a bolt of lightning striking St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican late on Monday afternoon after the pope’s announcement. And this after one of his senior cardinals, Angelo Sodano, had made the widely quoted comment that Benedict’s move was a ‘bolt of lightning in a clear blue sky.’  Mere coincidences, or a message from beyond?”

German Reactions

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 12:

“Pope Benedict XVI told almost no one that he was preparing to become the first pope in 719 years to resign from the papacy. His advisors were taken by surprise, as were the cardinals attending a papal consistory on Monday, a gathering they believed had been called for a trio of canonizations. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was present, called the announcement ‘a bolt of lightning in a clear blue sky.’ But the pope’s brother, Georg Ratzinger, knew. He knew the exact date and even the time when Joseph, three years his junior, was going to announce his resignation…

“Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… Only in his departure has Benedict broken the chains of tradition. Everywhere else, he left those chains alone, or even strengthened them… As a bridge builder, he was never able to reach the other side of the bridge. As such, the question remains at the end of his papacy: transition to what? Nobody knows…’

“Conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘… One should… recognize that there are good reasons for strengthening the earthly institution of the church as an antipode to the current zeitgeist and its unavoidable relativization of values. One should understand why he cannot say yes to gay marriage and why he cannot embrace Protestantism. The church’s dilemma is simple: If it refuses to bend to the times, it will lose members; if it does bend, it will lose them anyway…’

“Center-right daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘… Benedict saw himself confronted with powers in the church that darkened the light of faith, dampened hope and perverted love. The long episode of sexual abuse fell over the papacy of Benedict XVI and over the entire church like a devilish shadow… In one facet, Benedict is similar to his predecessor Pope John Paul II. Both had their difficulties in dealing with the Roman Curia and with the machinations of the cardinals. John Paul II escaped by travelling the world, Benedict XVI retired to the world of his books…’

“Left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung’s front page is largely blank on Tuesday, but for the words ‘Gott Sei Dank,’ or ‘Thank God.’ Below the fold is an editorial entitled ‘Even Worse than Expected.’ ‘It is good that this pope is gone, because nothing is good. Not in the Vatican and certainly not in the rest of the global church. During his eight-year papacy, Pope Benedict XVI managed to outdo even the worst fears harbored by Catholics in Germany. As God’s deputy, Benedict showed little interest in facing the numerous sexual abuse crimes within his own institution. Nor did he wish to confront the fascist organization Opus Dei. Whether the topic was women, homosexuals, rape or human rights, it is hard to be more reactionary than this pope proved to be. The papal visit to the home of Martin Luther also served to cement the schism and destroyed all hope for a long overdue rapprochement between the two large Christian churches. It would be a good thing if Pope Benedict XVI were the last of his kind…’”

But he won’t be. The next pope will continue in the traditions of his predecessor.

Tyranny in America?

On February 7, 2013, Newsmax reported:

“As a senator, Barack Obama decried George W. Bush’s use of presidential war powers to prosecute the war on terror. As president, Obama has embraced those powers and promoted the preemptive use of drones to target al-Qaida operatives. That’s the thrust of an editorial in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal that accuses the administration of ‘hypocrisy.’…

“The editorial comes after the leaking of a confidential 16-page Justice Department memo asserting that the U.S. can order the killing of American citizens it deems a threat. The ‘white paper’, obtained by NBC News, states that Americans and others can be targeted if they are believed to be ‘senior operational leaders’ of al-Qaida or ‘an associated force,’ even if there is no evidence that they are engaged in an active plot to attack American interests. Drone strikes in Yemen in September 2011 killed al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, both American citizens ‘who had never been indicated by the U.S. government or charged with any crimes,’ NBC reported.

“The Justice Department memo states: ‘The condition that an operational leader present an “imminent” threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future.’ Rather, it claims, an ‘informed, high-level’ American official may determine that the targeted American has been recently involved in activities posing a threat of violent attack and ‘there is no evidence suggesting that he has renounced or abandoned such activities.’…

“The editorial also comes two days after The New York Times reported that a clandestine U.S. drone base was built in Saudi Arabia to carry out strikes against al-Qaida operatives in neighboring Yemen. The Times and other news organizations say they knew about the base for some time but had not revealed its existence at the request of U.S. officials.”

These developments are indeed deeply disturbing and frightening, and it appears to be thoroughly unconstitutional to grant autocratic powers to an “‘informed, high-level’ American official” to order the assassination of suspected American citizens without charges, trials or conviction under the disguise of a “war” on terror. One can’t help but begin to draw comparisons with dictatorial leaderships, such as Egyptian President Morsi’s attempts to gain autocratic powers.

On February 8, 2013, Newsmax reported:

“Administration Documents providing legal coverage for drone strikes on Americans are just more of the ‘tyrannical’ ways the president is using his executive powers to run the government, warns Gen. Paul Vallely. The retired general…  told Newsmax TV…  that using drones is nothing new, but President Barack Obama’s authorization to use them against Americans is ‘what’s in question’… 

“Vallely said he’s…  concerned, as are many other Americans, that Obama has granted himself broader powers without consulting Congress through his use of executive orders and classified documents. ‘We have growing here a tyrannical form of government which is supposed to be a shared government with Congress, the White House, and the courts . . . They’re trying to consolidate power solely within the White House and the executive branch while at the same time diminishing the court’s input,’ he said. Vallely noted, however, that Congress in his view is ‘inept and weakened’ and therefore won’t shut off funding for the drone program despite ‘what we see happening.’”

The American People “rebelled” against the “tyranny” of the British King. Some warn that they will be “rebelling” soon against the “tyranny” of the American President.

The Dire Prospects of Drone Warfare

Der Spiegel wrote on February 8:

“Germany’s government recently announced plans to do a 180-degree policy shift by deploying armed drones in combat. It argues that remote-controlled killing machines are no different than any other weapons… Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière has spoken, and it’s apparently no big deal. ‘In ethical terms,’ he says, ‘a weapon should always be viewed neutrally’… Franz Josef Strauss… [ancient] predecessor at the Defense Ministry, said weapons aren’t evil, just their use — and even then only sometimes. That was in the 1950s, when Strauss was trying to equip the new Bundeswehr, Germany’s postwar military, with nuclear weapons.

“The Basic Law, as Germany’s constitution is called, allows Germans to cite reasons of [conscience] in refusing to take up arms for the country, thereby respecting their opposition to weapons on ethical grounds. In fact, the very first section of the constitution’s very first article says respecting ‘human dignity’ is ‘inviolable’ and elevates it to the status of the supreme ‘duty of all state authority.’

“The question is: Can a country with a constitution like Germany’s justify the acquisition of remote-controlled killing machines? The quick shooters among experts in the international laws on warfare aren’t at all troubled by the issue… However, pacifists aren’t the only ones warning about the killer machines… As long as they were part of an organized legal order of war, weapons were used in regrettably violent, yet still legitimate conflicts between those who held the state’s monopoly on the use of force… The war was thought about in terms of a battle between nations rather than a hunt for humans. Likewise, at the domestic level, having armed agents go after private individuals was viewed as a task solely reserved for the police…

“To the horror of international law experts, drawing such differences has been almost impossible ever since US President George W. Bush declared his ‘War on Terror’ just days after the 9/11 attacks. The hunt for terrorists is a hunt for individuals… In civilized countries that respect the human dignity of their opponents, criminals are detained before a trial rather than executed without one… The ‘new wars’… could very well usher in the demise of the political order of sovereign states that has been in place since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. But what could replace it? A global police state?…

“In all of this, one can also not exclude the possibility that one of de Maizière’s new killing machines will execute a suspected terrorist fighter right outside the defense minister’s own front door. Indeed, Germany’s highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court, has ruled that the Bundeswehr can also employ its weapons in German territory under exceptional circumstances entailing a worst-case scenario…”

The same discussion, which is being held in the USA, has reached Germany as well. Can a civilized government use drones to kill its own citizens in their own countries, who are merely suspected of illegal activities? And will a (global) police state be the inevitable result? A freaky and eerie memory of dictatorial regimes such as Stalin’s Russia or Hitler’s Nazi Germany seems to be raising its ugly head… See the next article.

Drones Under Attack—“Unconstitutional and Unethical Killings”

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 9:

“They can stay in the air for more than 24 hours – controlled remotely from the ground, and they fly where terrorists are suspected. In the past few days, the unmanned high-tech aircraft known as drones have been making headlines in the US, as well as in Europe. Almost daily, new aspects of remote-controlled killing are emerging in the debate. It has now become known that Saudi Arabia has housed a secret base for US drones for two years. Iran, meanwhile, has published aerial photographs that the country alleges came from a US drone. The Iranians say they intercepted the unmanned RQ-170 aircraft along the border with Afghanistan in December 2011.

“Because of the use of drones, John Brennan, President Obama’s closest counterterrorism adviser and nominee for head of the CIA, had to listen to harsh criticism from senators and vociferous protesters during his confirmation hearings. Above all, it is the number of innocent victims that critics object to. According to the independent Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London, about 3,000 people have been killed by drone strikes in Pakistan since 2004, including at least 470 civilians. The victims include American citizens, such as the radical Islamist Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in 2011 in an attack in Yemen. In 2010, a German citizen known solely as Bünyamin E. in press reports was killed by a US drone. He had traveled to a mountainous region in northwest Pakistan, an Islamist stronghold.

“People in Germany have voiced numerous ethical concerns over the use of drones. ‘If the decision over life and death is handed over to a computer, no one is responsible in the end for the people who are dying,’ said Niklas Schörnig, a peace researcher at the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Studies, in an interview with DW. In this way, Schörnig believes the officer who launches the drone, but does not fire the weapon, can distance himself from the act just as easily as the programmer.

“The use of drones with missiles is highly controversial under international law. From the American perspective, the country is in an armed conflict against Al-Qaeda, Schörnig said. The reasoning: Because Al Qaeda operates worldwide, it is necessary to take action globally against the terror network. But European international law rejects these arguments. ‘Such attacks happen in a legal vacuum,’ Wolfgang Neskovic told RBB public televison. Neskovic, a legal expert and independent member of the German parliament… said, ‘International law contains no legal basis for the killing of alleged terrorists outside a combat situation. In the case of Pakistan, for example, so far no western country has officially announced that it is a war zone or that this is an armed conflict within the meaning of international law.’ Neskovic added that the targeted killing of suspected terrorists is like ‘a death sentence without trial.’

“These accusations have gathered strength thanks to a new paper published by the US government. Television station NBC has already published a short form of the report, which shows how the rules for the killing of US citizens can be laid down. According to the document, it is sufficient if the government determines that the US citizen has been involved in relevant ‘activities.’ Schörnig is not surprised by that statement. On the one hand, the US government insists that it uses restraint when approaching the targeted killing of terrorists and has so-called kill lists, which the president must authorize personally. But, Schörnig adds, ‘If you look at the extent of drone attacks on suspected Al-Qaeda members in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, you can see that these were always much more extensive than the American rhetoric suggests.’

“Götz Neuneck, of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, is especially critical of the White House’s information policy, saying, ‘There is a lack of transparency in this sector. We do not really know anything. Who is now making what decision and on what basis?’… In addition, Schörnig adds, ‘There are studies that clearly show that the population at home considers this type of warfare unethical,’ Neuneck said. The drones are invisible and kill seemingly indiscriminately. In the regions where drones have flown over, that leads to trauma and terror.’”

Asteroid Close to Earth

On www.space.com, the following was reported on February 8:

“At 2:26 p.m. EST… on Feb. 15, the asteroid 2012 DA14 will fly within 17,200 miles (27,680 kilometers) of Earth. This is lower than the communications satellites that orbit 22,000 miles (35,800 km) above the equator. The asteroid will not hit the Earth on this orbital pass, but asteroid 2012 DA14 is about the size of the object that hit Siberia in 1908 (the ‘Tunguska Event’). The asteroid was discovered on Feb. 23, 2012… It is about half the size of a football field…

“The asteroid passes at a sharp angle to the path of the satellites… The asteroid’s current orbit is similar to the Earth’s, but tilted. Asteroid 2012 DA14 passes Earth twice per orbit, but February’s pass is the closest approach for many decades…”

The Atlantic Wire reported on February 7:

“In fact, the so-called DA14 asteroid will be such a close call that the force of Earth’s gravity will actually cause the asteroid to ricochet off those orbits, creating more distance between the asteroid and our planet… At 17,100 miles away, the DA14 will become the largest object ever (on record) to fly so close to Earth and not hit it. Which is really good news since it’s traveling eight times faster than a speeding bullet. Scientists say that it could take out a satellite or two, however…

“Although 17,100 miles is a lot of miles in terms of space distance, for an asteroid half the size of the International Space Station to zip by so closely is a little breath-taking… DA14’s projected path brings it just one-thirteenth the distance to the moon from Earth, less than seven roundtrip flights from New York to Los Angeles. If it hit us, the resultant explosion would have the force of a 2.5-megaton atomic bomb…

“This record breaking brush with cosmic inevitability is just a reminder that we’re sometimes on the wrong end of the galaxy’s shooting range and never completely safe from [a] world-ending event… as Yeomans put it, ‘There are lots of asteroids we are watching where we haven’t yet ruled out an Earth impact.’ But, thankfully, the one that will zip by on February 15 is not one of them. Not this time around anyways.”

Even though THIS asteroid will not hit the earth, the Bible predicts that in the future, other asteroids will.

Solar Super Storm Will Hit the Earth

The Independent wrote on February 8:

“A solar ‘superstorm’ could knock out Earth’s communications satellites, cause dangerous power surges in the national grid and disrupt crucial navigation aids and aircraft avionics, a major report has found. It is inevitable that an extreme solar storm – caused by the Sun ejecting billions of tonnes of highly-energetic matter travelling at a million miles an hour – will hit the Earth at some time in the near future, but it is impossible to predict more than about 30 minutes before it actually happens, a team of engineers has warned.

“Solar superstorms are estimated to occur once every 100 or 200 years, with the last one hitting the Earth in 1859. Although none has occurred in the space age, we are far more vulnerable now than a century ago because of the ubiquity of modern electronics, they said. ‘The general consensus is that a solar superstorm is inevitable, a matter not of “if” but “when?”’ says a report into extreme space weather by a group of experts at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London.

“In the past half century, there have been a number of ‘near misses’ when an explosive ‘coronal mass ejection’ of energetic matter from the Sun has been flung into space, narrowly bypassing the Earth. In 1989 a relatively minor solar storm knocked out several key electrical transformers in the Canadian national grid, causing major power blackouts. Similar solar storms significantly increased atmospheric radiation levels in 1956, 1972, 1989 and 2003, the experts found.”

The Bible predicts the occurrence of cosmic disturbances and heavenly signs prior to Christ’s soon-coming return.

Major Snowstorm Hits USA and Canada

BBC wrote on February 9:

“A major snowstorm has brought swathes of the north-eastern US and eastern Canada to a standstill, leaving about half a million homes without power. High winds and blizzard conditions have emptied the centre of Boston and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has banned all non-essential traffic. More than 600,000 homes and businesses are without power in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut…  A nuclear power station in Massachusetts also lost power and was forced to shut down…

“Airlines cancelled more than 5,000 flights – including all those to and from the three major airports in New York City – and the train operator Amtrak has suspended nearly all services north of the city.

“Canadians on the Atlantic Coast are also bracing for blizzards after heavy snow fell on Ontario… Fuel shortages were being reported from Connecticut to New York City as motorists queued at petrol stations to fill up vehicles, generators and snow blowers.”

America Like Ancient Rome

Newsweek reported on February 8:

“World-renown pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson told conservative radio and television host Armstrong Williams on Friday that his attacks on the nation’s ills in his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast this week were not directed at President Barack Obama… [but they were] ‘directed at the situation that is going on in our nation and how we can solve it’…

“Opening his remarks with quotations from the Old Testament books of Proverbs and Second Chronicles, the neurosurgeon blasted the nation’s $16.4 trillion debt, its cumbersome tax system–and its ‘inefficient’ health care system.

“President Obama showed no reaction to Carson’s attacks, simply sitting stoically at the dais table. First Lady Michelle Obama also was in attendance. ‘Our deficit is a big problem,’ said Carson… ‘Sixteen-and-a-half trillion dollars. You think that’s not a lot of money? Count one number per second. You know how long it would take to count to 16 trillion? 507,000 years. More than half-a-million years to get there. What about our taxation system?… So complex, there is no one who can possibly comply with every jot and tittle of our tax system. If I wanted to get you, I can get you on a tax issue…’

“He then discussed the biblical principle of tithing. ‘God has given us a system. He didn’t say, “If [your] crops fail, don’t give me a tithe.” He didn’t say, “If you get a bumper crop, give me a triple-tithe.” So, there must be something inherently fair about proportionality. You make $10 billion, you put in a billion. You make $10, you put in $1… But some people say, “That’s not fair because it doesn’t hurt the guy who made $10 billion as much as the guy who made $10”–but where does it say that you have [to] hurt the guy? He just put a billion dollars in the pot. We don’t need to hurt him…’

“As for health care, he began, ‘We need to have good health care for everybody, but we have to figure out efficient ways to do it… When a person is born, give him a birth certificate, an electronic medical record, and a health savings account (HSA) to which money can be contributed — pretax — from the time you’re born ’til the time you die. When you die, you can pass it on to your family members… For the people who are indigent who don’t have any money, we can make contributions to their HSA each month because we already have this huge pot of money. Instead of sending it to some bureaucracy, let’s put it in their HSAs. Now, they have some control over their own health care.’

“In his interview with Williams on Friday, Carson said… likened the United States to the ancient Roman civilization. ‘The Roman Empire was very, very much like us,’ he told Williams. ‘They lost their moral core, their sense of values in terms of who they were. And after all of those things converged together, they just went right down the tubes very quickly. When you look at America, it’s not too hard to see great similarities. We’ve spread ourselves all over the place. We have incredible expenses. We don’t adjust–and, consequently, we expand the deficit and the debt and entitlement programs, and not living within our means and not adjusting programs and not adjusting people’s expectations. When it comes to wanting things, people don’t really care about the national debt… They don’t really care about the future; they just care about, “Give me my check so I can eat next week.”’”

Please read our recent member letter of January 11, 2013 , pointing out in much more detail the similarities between America and ancient Rome. 

State of the Union

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 13:

“President Obama should have stuck to the adage that less is usually more. Instead of focusing on specific issues, the president presented a long domestic to-do list. Judging by that list, he has his work cut out for him, a sign that not all is well with the state of the union, contrary to his optimistic opening.

“Where to begin? Budget spending needs to be reined in, Medicare is in desperate need of reform, and tax loopholes need to be closed. America needs to create more jobs, especially in the industrial sector, while vocational training needs an overhaul and climate change must be combated. And the list goes on: the country’s decrepit infrastructure, immigration policy, election laws and gun laws.

“In a nutshell, we’ve heard it all before. There were few concrete proposals, although he did lay out his plans to increase the minimum wage to $9. He also gave Congress an ultimatum on climate change, saying he would resort to executive actions if lawmakers dragged their feet. But therein lies the problem. Republicans dominate the House of Representatives and are unlikely to show any willingness to compromise – apart from possibly on immigration reform. In his response to Obama’s speech, Florida’s Republican Senator Marco Rubio repeated the Republican mantra: less government is the panacea, and the president is the problem. That sounds like four more years of political stalemate.

“In terms of foreign policy, Obama made a few fleeting remarks. The withdrawal from Afghanistan will go ahead as planned. Some 34,000 troops are set to come home by early next year. The president stressed that any future US military intervention would be a last resort, applicable also to the fight against al Qaeda. The world, he said, should no longer rely on the US to pull the chestnuts out of the fire.

“Ahead of his Israel trip next month, Obama reiterated his support, an obligatory statement to avoid any type of criticism. There were brief admonitions for North Korea and Iran, and reassurances that the administration’s controversial drone program was, is and would continue to stand on a sound legal footing. He also pledged to work together with Russia to further reduce the two countries’ nuclear arsenals. There was good news for Europe with Obama’s announcement to intensify talks about a trans-Atlantic trade pact, notwithstanding the fact that his agenda is driven by domestic interests, namely creating more American jobs… his window of opportunity is closing. Congressional elections are coming up in two years…  his to-do list can be seen as a legacy for his successor – and as a sobering analysis of America’s status quo.”

America is in BIG trouble.

Findus Beef Lasagna up to 100% Horsemeat

On February 8, 2013, sky.com reported:

“Tests on Findus beef lasagne have revealed that some of the ready meals were made entirely from horsemeat. Findus analysed 18 of its beef lasagne products and found 11 meals contained between 60% and 100% horsemeat, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said… All food companies have been told to test their beef products, with the FSA saying it was ‘highly likely’ that criminal activity was to blame for the contamination.

“Consumers who have purchased the ready meals – produced by French food supplier Comigel on behalf of Findus – have been advised by the FSA not to eat them and return them to the shop they were bought from. Retail giant Tesco and discount chain Aldi have already withdrawn a range of ready meals produced by Comigel over fears they contained contaminated meat.

“Findus UK has already started a full recall of its lasagne products. It withdrew its 320g, 360g and 500g lasagne meals from supermarket shelves as a precautionary measure earlier this week. It came after Comigel alerted Findus and Aldi that their products ‘do not conform to specification’. It advised them to remove Findus beef lasagne and Aldi’s Today’s Special frozen beef lasagne and Today’s Special frozen spaghetti Bolognese… Tesco also decided to withdraw its Everyday Value spaghetti bolognese, which is produced at the same Comigel site.”

The Sun wrote on February 8:

“Downing Street described the latest incident as ‘distasteful’ but stressed there was no evidence of a health risk and urged consumers to follow the FSA advice… Findus last night admitted it had no idea how LONG the products had been on sale or how MANY families had bought them… The findings — which raised the spectre of human food being contaminated with vets’ drugs — are a major humiliation for the Government…

“Red-faced officials at the Food Standards Agency have urged families who bought the ready meals to take them back to shops unopened.  And they ordered Findus to check whether the lasagne contained phenylbutazone — an animal painkiller linked to harmful effects, including potentially causing cancer, in humans.”

Breitbart wrote on February 8:

“Findus, a frozen foods manufacturer, has acknowledged that the frozen lasagna it offers has been using 100 percent horsemeat—and it all comes from France. The French company Comigel pounded the horsemeat into the lasagna in its plant in Metz.

“Great Britain’s Food Safety Agency (FSA) is checking all beef products on the shelves to look for horsemeat, which is banned in Britain but widely eaten in France. Meanwhile, Findus told stores to remove all three sizes of its beef lasagna from stores… Horsemeat can contain the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, which was banned when research showed one person in 30,000 could have serious side effects to it.

“The Labour Party’s Shadow Food and Farming Secretary, Mary Creagh, was furious with the British government, saying: ‘People do not feel they can trust what it says on the label. The Government’s handling of this has been appalling. Unless they come out on the front foot and show leadership, we won’t have a meat processing industry left.’”

CNN reported on February 11:

“High-stakes lawsuits, overlapping investigations and a bitter battle over blame are spreading across Europe in the wake of a scandal that has rocked the meat industry.

Horse meat was discovered in products that are supposed to be 100% beef, sold in Sweden, the United Kingdom and France. On Sunday, a major company under scrutiny called one of its suppliers a ‘villain’ responsible for the fraud. The supplier, in turn, insisted it was ‘fooled’ by a subsupplier… the discovery was a new shock to an industry already reeling from a bombshell last month when Irish investigators found horse and pig DNA in numerous hamburger products.

“Swedish food producer Findus has been a focus of the uproar… Findus is only one of several companies that receive products from Comigel. Others include Axfood, Coop and ICA, which have recalled some meat products in Sweden, and Aldi, which has pulled some products from shelves in Britain. Six big French retailers — Auchan, Casino, Carrefour, Cora, Picard and Monoprix — said Sunday that they were recalling lasagne and other products… While Findus has begun legal action in Sweden, Findus France previously said it will file a legal complaint Monday against a Romanian business that is part of the supply chain…  Aldi said tests on random samples demonstrated that the withdrawn products contained between 30% and 100% horse meat.

“The revelations have revolted many meat eaters in the United Kingdom, where horse meat is generally considered taboo, although it is commonly eaten in neighboring France, as well as countries including China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Italy. The discovery of pig DNA in beef products is of particular concern to Jews and Muslims, whose dietary laws forbid the consumption of pork products. Jewish dietary laws also ban the eating of horse meat. The UK Justice Ministry confirmed last week that a number of meat pies and similar items supplied to prisons in England and Wales were labeled and served as halal — prepared in compliance with Islamic dietary law — but contained traces of pork DNA…

“Horse meat is not commonly eaten in the United States, but the country does export it to Canada and Mexico. Congress passed a bill in November 2011 that lifted a 5-year-old ban on the slaughter of horses for meat in the United States.”

The Local added on February 11:

“British watchdog the Food Safety Association said that there could be a chance of horse meat in ready-made products on sale in Germany as experts found it in food on sale in UK branches of German supermarket chain Aldi.”

Der Spiegel Online and Bild Online speculated on February 8 and 9 that Findus’ contaminated “beef” products were also sold in other European countries, including Germany. The Bible prohibits the human consumption of horsemeat, as it poses a health risk, regardless of uninformed statements by medical “experts” such as the FSA.

“Horse Meat Scandal Gallops On”

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 13:

“No one knows the actual magnitude of the current horsemeat scandal at this point, nor who is responsible… Greenpeace spokesman Jürgen Knirsch said the horsemeat scandal shows how insufficient the labeling of food is in Germany. The supply chain is obscure, he told DW… Germany has many horse lovers and eating horse meat is simply taboo…”

The Local wrote on February 13:

“The Consumer Protection Ministry in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) said that a Luxembourgian distributor has been delivering products thought to contain horse meat ‘on a large scale across Germany and NRW.’ Deliveries had been made between November 2012 and January 2013, not only to a wide range of supermarkets but also to other food production companies.”

The Daily Star wrote on February 13:

“HORSES killed at a British slaughterhouse were turned into doner kebabs, it was alleged last night. Officials from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) raided two UK meat plants yesterday. They were probing whether either plant was linked to 100% horse kebabs and burgers that have been discovered. It comes amid fears that old racehorses, even pet ponies, may have ended up in fast food restaurants across Britain as kebabs as well as beefburgers. The raids took place at the Peter Boddy slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorks, which allegedly supplied horse carcasses to Farmbox Meats in Aberystwyth, Wales.”

Egypt’s Hard-Line Muslim Clerics

The Globe and Mail wrote on February 7:

“One hard-line Muslim cleric on an Egyptian TV station justified sexual assaults on women protesters. Others issued religious edicts saying opposition leaders must be killed. Television screeds by ultraconservative sheiks are raising fears of assassinations here a day after a top anti-Islamist politician was gunned down in Tunisia… The office of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his prime minister denounced the edicts and the top prosecutor began an investigation into one of the clerics.

“The TV screeds by the clerics reflect the fury with which some ultraconservatives have reacted to nationwide protests against Mr. Morsi, which turned into deadly clashes as police cracked down on the demonstrators… Egyptians saw a series of assassinations of top statesmen and writers after religious edicts were issued against them back in 1990s during a bloody Islamic extremist insurgency.”

When Islamists come to power and pronounce evil things, the people suffer and hide (compare Proverbs 28:12, 15-16, 28; 29:2; 11:11).

Iraq Next?

The Washington Post wrote on February 8:

“In an echo of the Arab Spring protests that have overturned regimes elsewhere in the region, angry residents have been staging weekly demonstrations against the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, calling, among a host of other demands, for him to step down and for Iraq’s U.S.-brokered constitution to be replaced. The Friday protests have also drawn huge crowds in towns and cities elsewhere across the Sunni provinces, as the passions of the Arab Spring collide with the bitter legacy of the Iraq war.

“The demonstrations first erupted in December in response to the detention of the bodyguards of a Sunni minister in Maliki’s coalition government, which reinforced widespread Sunni perceptions that the premier is intent on eliminating his Sunni political rivals. But the protests have evolved into a far deeper expression of the many grievances left unresolved when U.S. forces withdrew a little over a year ago, ranging from abuses committed disproportionately against Sunnis by the Iraqi security forces to what Sunnis perceive to be an unequal distribution of power among the sects.

“With their huge turnouts, these largely peaceful protests have the potential to present a far bigger challenge to Maliki’s hold on power than the violent and stubbornly persistent insurgency, which continues to claim scores of lives every month without any discernible impact on the political process. At a time when civil war is raging in neighboring Syria the demonstrations also risk becoming embroiled in the wider regional conflict already spilling beyond Syria’s borders…

“The Islamic State of Iraq, the umbrella extremist group affiliated with al-Qaeda, is seeking to exploit the heightened tensions. In a statement last week, it called on Sunni protesters to take up arms against the Shiite government. The group has intensified the pace of its attacks in recent weeks, targeting Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis in what looks like an attempt to capitalize on the heightened tensions and reignite the sectarian war that engulfed the country from 2006 to 2007. In the most recent attack Friday, at least 36 people died in bombings against Shiite marketplaces and a taxi stand in Baghdad, Karbala and Hilla.”

The “Arab Spring”—a wrong term for a disastrous movement—will continue to spread with devastating consequences for Western nations, especially the USA.

“Flaws Found in US Missile Shield against Iran”

The Times of Israel and The Associated Press reported on February 9:

“Secret US Defense Department studies cast doubt on whether a multibillion-dollar missile defense system planned for Europe will ever be able to protect the US from Iranian missiles as intended, congressional investigators said Friday… proposed fixes could be difficult. One possibility has already been ruled out as technically unfeasible. Another, relocating missile interceptors planned for Poland and possibly Romania to ships on the North Sea, could be diplomatically explosive.

“The studies are the latest to highlight serious problems for a plan that has been criticized on several fronts. Republicans claim it was hastily drawn up in an attempt to appease Russia, which had opposed an earlier system. But Russia is also critical of the plan, which it believes is really intended to counter its missiles. A series of governmental and scientific reports has cast doubt on whether it would ever work as planned.

“At a time that the military faces giant budget cuts, the studies could prompt Congress to reconsider whether it is worthwhile to spend billions for a system that may not fulfill its original goals… The military has considered deploying interceptors on ships, but the Navy has safety concerns that have not yet been resolved. The suggestion of attempting intercepts from ships on the North Sea would likely aggravate tensions with Russia. That could put it right in the path that some Russian ICBMs would use, further reinforcing Russia’s belief that it, not Iran, is the target of the system…”

It seems that America’s problems are mounting and increasing continuously…

Worldwide Condemnation of North Korean Nuclear Test

Deutsche Welle reported on February 12:

“North Korea has confirmed that it has conducted a third nuclear test after monitoring agencies detected an ‘explosion-like’ quake. The test, which defied United Nations sanctions, has prompted international condemnation… The isolated country is banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions from developing nuclear and missile technology following previous tests in 2006 and 2009. Following Tuesday’s test, South Korea’s mission to the UN called an emergency Security Council meeting to be held in New York later in the day. South Korea holds the presidency of the 15-nation council this month.

“The European Union’s foreign policy coordinator, Catherine Ashton condemned the test… German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle condemned the test ‘in the strongest possible terms,’ a statement released by Westerwelle’s office said. ‘Further sanctions against the regime in Pyongyang should now be considered.’ UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the nuclear test as ‘deplorable’… Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the test must not be tolerated. US President Barack Obama described North Korea’s nuclear test as a ‘highly provocative act.’ ‘The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants further swift and credible action by the international community. The United States will also continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies,’ a White House statement said. North Korea’s communist neighbor and closest ally, China, expressed ‘firm opposition’ to the nuclear test.’”

Merkel Leads Europe… but the Opposition Grows…

The Local wrote on February 8:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday successfully convinced EU leaders to cut the bloc’s budget for the first time in its six-decade history, following marathon talks in Brussels… Negotiating for nearly 26 hours with little break, Merkel, backed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, led a sustained push for the EU budget for 2014-2020 to share in the austerity national governments are facing. The tentative agreement would trim spending by three percent over the rest of the decade…

“France, along with Italy, fought to protect spending it sees as essential to boost growth and jobs at a time of record unemployment, but indications early Friday were that Paris could live with the deal. ‘It is not a fantastic compromise deal but it is acceptable,’ said a French diplomatic source…

“But there is another important hurdle still to clear – the European Parliament must approve the deal and lawmakers have already made clear they are in no mood for more austerity. Parliament head Martin Schulz said bluntly on Thursday that he and the assembly would not accept a budget which would compromise EU programmes and undercut its future. ‘That’s called a deficit. I won’t sign a deficit budget anymore,’ he said.”

Unification of Europe under ten core nations is prophesied. Even though constituting a mighty military power bloc, these nations will still attempt to gain individual political advantages and pursue their own goals, as iron does not really mix with clay (Daniel 2:40-43).

There is compelling biblical evidence that this will be accomplished by the modern Jewish State of Israel. In spite of the current seemingly overwhelming obstacles, a Temple dedicated to God is destined to once again arise in Jerusalem.

The setting for the Book of Ezekiel is of particular interest.

Ezekiel, a member of the priestly family of Buzi (Ezekiel 1:3), was taken to Babylon from Judah in 597 B.C. It was in this period of captivity that Ezekiel received visions from God. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 586 B.C., and some of Ezekiel’s prophetic messages addressed these events; however, the greater part of his prophecies were for future fulfillment!

The fact that God was sending Ezekiel “‘to the children of Israel’” (Ezekiel 2:3) and that God had made him “a watchman for the house of Israel’” (Ezekiel 33:7) points to a period that far transcends his own lifetime.

The House of Israel, as the tribes exclusive of Judah, Levi and parts of Benjamin were known, had been removed from their land long before Ezekiel lived. 2 Kings, chapter 17, provides the record of this occurrence—culminating, approximately, in 721 B.C.

Yet, Ezekiel’s messages from God were to be proclaimed to Israel and to Judah in spite of the fact that both nations were at that time devastated and scattered as captives among other empires.

Couched in the oftentimes enigmatic context of prophecy, the visions Ezekiel witnessed have very specific application for our time—especially those found beginning in chapter forty of the Book of Ezekiel.

While much of these last eight chapters of Ezekiel very clearly depict the beginning period following Jesus Christ’s return and the establishment of His rule in Jerusalem, great detail is rendered concerning the Temple He will enter. In fact, there is what amounts to an architectural plan one could use to actually build this structure.

Note these specific instructions given to Ezekiel:     

“And the man said to me, ‘Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see’” (Ezekiel 40:4).

Also:

“‘Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and perform them’” (Ezekiel 43:10-11).

Before the Tabernacle was constructed by the Israelites, Moses was given very exact details by God concerning how it was to be done:

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying… “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it’” (Exodus 25:1, 8-9; compare verse 40; Numbers 8:4; also noted in Hebrews 8:5).

Before the Temple was constructed, God revealed the plans to King David, who, in turn, gave them to his son, Solomon:

“‘Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.’ Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the vestibule, its houses, its treasuries, its upper chambers, its inner chambers, and the place of the mercy seat; and the plans for all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, of all the chambers all around, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries for the dedicated things; also for the division of the priests and the Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the articles of service in the house of the LORD… ‘All this,’ said David, ‘the Lord made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans.’ And David said to his son Solomon, ‘Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God–my God–will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD’” (1 Chronicles 28:10-13, 19-20).

Even before this magnificent Temple of God was destroyed by the Babylonian Kingdom, God revealed through the prophet Isaiah that His House would stand again in Jerusalem—He did this, even calling by name the yet unborn Gentile king who would implement this:

“‘… Who says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be built,’ And to the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid’”’” (Isaiah 44:28).

In the beginning of the Book of Ezra, we find the fulfillment of this prophecy:

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem’” (Ezra 1:1-4).

God had also caused Jeremiah to write to the captives in Babylon to assure them that their nation would be restored:

“‘For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place’” (Jeremiah 29:10).

In both the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we have a record of the remnant of the House of Judah who returned to the land of Israel and who rebuilt the Temple of God and the City of Jerusalem—including its defensive walls. The Gentile rulers neighboring Judah stood in opposition and tried to stop the Jews. Among their many actions, they complained in a letter sent to King Darius, but the king’s answer was in support of the rebuilding:

“Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God ON ITS SITE” (Ezra 6:7).

While the Temple of God was rebuilt on the original location as that of Solomon’s construction, it did not compare in size and grandeur:

“But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off” (Ezra 3:12-13).

God, through the prophet Haggai, responded to those who were so disappointed with the Temple then being constructed:

“In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying: ‘Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying: “Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,” says the LORD; “and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,” says the LORD, “and work; for I am with you,” says the LORD of hosts’” (Haggai 2:1-4)

Now the place for the building of Solomon’s Temple had been clearly manifested by God. This happened when David numbered Israel. However, David’s foolish action in numbering the people was a great sin before God:

“So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the LORD looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, ‘It is enough; now restrain your hand.’ And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite” (1 Chronicles 21:14-15).

This account also states that David was instructed to “…go and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite” (verse 18).

God accepted David’s offerings and in the events of this occurrence the location for the Temple of God was revealed to David:

“Then David said, ‘This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel’” (1 Chronicles 22:1).

Solomon followed his father’s instruction and built the Temple of God where God had revealed that it should be placed:

“Now Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite” (2 Chronicles 3:1).

Mount Moriah is also linked to Abraham, for it was to this area of what would become part of the City of Jerusalem that Abraham brought his son Isaac to offer in sacrifice:

“Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’” (Genesis 22:2).

Jerusalem is associated with Melchizedek in an earlier account involving Abram’s rescue of Lot:

“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he gave him a tithe of all” (Genesis 14:18-20).

(Regarding the identity of Melchizedek, please refer to our booklets, “God Is A Family” and “Jesus Christ—a Great Mystery.”)

Psalm 76, verse 2, shows that Salem corresponds to Jerusalem when identifying the place of God’s Temple: “In Judah God is known; His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is His tabernacle, And His dwelling place in Zion.”

We must understand from the foregoing accounts that the place where God’s Temple will be built in the future has historical precedence! Even more importantly, the Word of God shows that He very specifically chose the site that would be His dwelling place, and prophecy indisputably establishes that this will not change!

Before going into the prophecies about a future Temple being built in Jerusalem, let’s examine the Temple of God enlarged through Herod.

“In the 18th year of his reign (20-19 B.C.) Herod obtained the reluctant consent of his subjects to his ambitious scheme for [enlarging and beautifying] the temple [and] its courts. The former was finished in eighteen months by a thousand priests trained for this special purpose, the courts in eight years, but the complete reconstruction occupied more than eighty years, lasting almost till the final breach with Rome, which culminated in the destruction of the sacred edifice by the soldiers of Titus in A.D. 70” (Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition; The Temple of Herod; page 607).

“The Jerusalem temple is the focus of many NT events. The birth of John the Baptist was announced there (Luke 1:11-20). The offering by Joseph and Mary at the circumcision of the baby Jesus was brought there. Simeon and Anna greeted Jesus there (2:22-38). Jesus came there as a boy of 12 (2:42-51) and later taught there during His ministry…” (Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary; Herod’s Temple; page 1567).

A point to be made about the Temple of God that existed during the lifetime of Jesus Christ is that Jesus recognized this structure as God’s or the Father’s House—we have two examples of Jesus forcefully defending the Temple, one in the beginning of His ministry and another instance shortly before His death:

“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’” (John 2:13-16).

“So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations”? But you have made it a “den of thieves”’” (Mark 11:15-17).

Because of the terrible sins of the nation of Judah, Jesus foretold that Jerusalem would soon be destroyed:

“Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation’” (Luke 19:41-44).

In addition, Jesus revealed that the Temple of God would suffer the same fate in the first century:

“Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!’  And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down’” (Mark 13:1-2).

That destruction came upon the City of Jerusalem along with its Temple in 70 A.D. Judah as a nation ceased to exist at that time. Throughout the centuries several attempts have been made to re-establish the Temple in Jerusalem, but all have failed!

The Dome of the Rock was completed about 691 A.D., and it is considered one of Islam’s most important shrines. It, along with the Al-Aqsa Mosque, now occupies the place that is biblically known as Mount Moriah—the very same location of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite and the place where the temples built by Solomon and Zerubbabel as well as the additions done by Herod once existed.

Now surrounded by the Jewish State of Israel, the Dome of the Rock is also the place where the future Temple of God prophesied by Ezekiel is appointed to stand!

(To Be Continued)

Lead Writer: Dave Harris

A new member letter has been written by Rene Messier. In this letter, Mr. Messier shows how the United States, Canada and other nations are destroying themselves through their wrong and ungodly actions. He also reminds us of the role Christians have in these closing days of human government.

“Peter of Rome–The Last Black Pope?” is the title of the new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: The surprising and unprecedented resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has opened up the floodgates of prophetic speculation and conspiracy. Will the next pope be black? Will he be the last pope? Will he be appointed by God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary or demons, or just through human politicking and manipulations under the sway and influence of the current pope? Is there any validity to the obscure prophecies of Malachy, an Irish priest and Kabbalist? Should we consult mediums or listen to demonic predictions to find out the future?
 
“Gottes Lohn für unsere Arbeit” is the title of this week’s Geman sermon presented by Norbert Link. The English title is “God’s Reward for Our Labor.”

“When Will Russia Attack Israel?” remains one of our most popular YouTube videos–This StandingWatch program has received in excess of 129,500 viewings!

The most-viewed German APS program, so far, appears to be “Die Turkei in der Prophezeiung” (“Turkey in Prophecy”), with in excess of 50,000 views, followed by programs about the swine flu and the economic crisis, with views in excess of 30,000 each.

The funeral of Nancy Burns, mother of Andrew Burns, took place on Thursday, February 14, 2013, at the Brakespear Crematorium in Ruislip which is just north of London. Nancy would have been 99 on 30th March this year, and she was widowed for many years. She had 4 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Brian Gale conducted the service and about 50 people attended. The Eulogy was given by Andrew Burns, and a few words were spoken by his cousin who was a bridesmaid at Nancy’s wedding. There were three different Church of God fellowships represented at the funeral as well as from other churches.

Although not a baptized church member, Nancy had attended Sabbath services at times and the Feast of Tabernacles for a number of years with Andrew.  She was a lovely, caring individual who will be sadly missed by all who knew her.

On February 9th, 2013, Robb Harris and Eric Rank will give split sermons, titled, respectively, “Determined to Endure” and “Support.”
 
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). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

When analyzing the recent apostasy in the Worldwide Church of God after Herbert Armstrong’s death, why was Satan’s first attack on the Church directed towards the true teaching about “being born again”?

Satan is not stupid and his agenda and desires are and were to be worshipped as god and to replace the one true God as the supreme Commander of the universe. Satan is very subtle and an expert in deception and lying.

The commission of the end-time Church is to preach and publish the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world as a witness, and to feed the flock and baptize those whom God is calling and to help the Body of Christ, collectively and individually, to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

At the very core of this gospel is the correct knowledge and understanding about “being born again” and that God is reproducing Himself through mankind. When we receive the Holy Spirit at the time of our true baptism as adults, we become “begotten” members of God’s Family, but we are not yet born. Once we are born again, at the time of Christ’s return, we will be God and enter the Kingdom and Family of God as immortal Spirit beings.

The dismantling and/or changing of this understanding was crucial in Satan’s eyes to corrupt the Church, since that knowledge also includes the fact that Christ will come to establish God’s rule on this earth and to replace the rule of Satan and the demons over this present evil world, and that we, as God’s immortal sons and daughters, will be ruling mankind under Christ in the world tomorrow.

Corrupting this understanding was similar to placing a virus in a computer. Christ is the Head of the Church and if we think of the Church as a body, it stands on two legs. Applying this spiritual analogy to two legs of important doctrines, Satan proceeded in attempting to cut off one leg–that being in our case the doctrine of “born again.” Those who adopted this false understanding became inhibited, but they were still able to “stand” to an extent. To completely make them fall, Satan had to cut off both legs. And so, Satan proceeded in trying to cut off the other leg—again, in our analogy, this second leg being the doctrine about the nature of God.

The knowledge that God is a ruling Kingdom and Family, currently consisting of two members, is crucial to the true gospel, since it also helps us to understand our ultimate destiny.

Slowly turning that correct understanding to the pagan and unbiblical doctrine of the Trinity was like cutting the second leg from the body which caused the body to fall, and our former Church organization and its “obedient” members have never recovered from that fall.

These two doctrines are crucial for us to stand as a Church, and they are also crucial for the gospel message to be properly understood. In order to survive spiritually, we must never let go or compromise in any godly teaching, and that is especially true in regard to these and other foundational doctrines.

Our former Church association once had the knowledge of God’s truth, but they forsook virtually all of it through compromise and deception, and unfortunately, many members followed that corrupted path of their deceived and deceiving leadership, and much confusion and splintering have been the consequence ever since. This must serve as a warning for all of us, not to fall again for Satan’s evil devices.

We begin with quoting controversial statements from President Obama and reporting on the haunting curses of his new Healthcare experiment; address the ongoing controversy regarding drone and cyber wars; continue with America’s foolish endeavor to provide radical Egypt with fighter jets and Egypt’s and Iran’s attempts to unite the Muslim world against Israel; and speak of the brainwashing tactics of Evolution-believing scientists and God-defying secularists.

We report on monumental ecumenical and political developments involving the Catholic Church, Protestant churches and Palestine; report on a dramatic switch of Catholic policy in Germany; continue with a growing trend in Europe to verbally and physically attack “Zionists” and to rid themselves of “unwelcome” Jews, while refusing to identify Hezbollah as a terrorist group; and conclude with articles on a major earthquake and tsunami in the South Pacific; the detestable bribes in major soccer games in Europe, Africa, Asia and South and Central America; and Carnival celebrations in Germany.

The President Speaks… Who Is Listening?

USA Today wrote on February 3:

“President Obama said Sunday the economy is poised for growth, but not if Washington ‘dysfunction’ gets in the way. ‘Washington cannot continually operate under a cloud of crisis,’ Obama told CBS News in his annual Super Bowl Sunday interview. He urged Congress to avoid an upcoming series of automatic spending cuts. Obama… also urged the Boy Scouts of America to drop its ban on gays, expressed concern about the safety of football, and said he would not hesitate to order women into combat…

“The president spoke just days after news that the economy shrunk slightly in the fourth quarter of 2012, a development Obama attributed to a sharp drop in defense spending brought on by uncertainty over the ‘fiscal cliff’ and other political disputes. The White House and Congress forestalled the fiscal cliff — a series of automatic tax hikes and budget cuts — with a New Year’s Day agreement that raised income tax rates on households that make more than $450,000 per year. The deal also deferred automatic spending cuts for two months, to the start of March.”

President Obama’s contradictory statements do not seem to be convincing. He speaks out against violence in football and unrestricted access to assault weapons, but has no hesitation ordering women into combat. He predicts economic growth, while the economy shrunk in 2012. He blames Congress for our economic situation, while willing to increase spending. He proposes lifting the ban on gays in Boy Scouts, while endorsing liberties and freedom for everyone… but denies the Boy Scouts their freedom to exclude gays. In this context, please read the next article.

Religious Groups Object to Boy Scout Changes

The Wall Street Journal reported on February 6:

“The Boy Scouts of America’s national executive board said Wednesday that it is delaying a vote on changes to the group’s ban on gay scouts and leaders, amid pressure from religious groups that say more discussion is needed… ‘After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America’s National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy,’ the Scouts said in a statement…

“Some of the religious leaders were opposed to the change, while others supported it… Last summer, the Scouts reaffirmed the ban, saying it was ‘absolutely the best policy’…  The Scouts have been under pressure from gay-rights activists, who over the past year have gathered more than a million signatures through online petitions to end the ban. Some corporate sponsors pulled funding because of the ban…”

Obamacare’s Disaster and “Hidden” Curse

Breitbart wrote on January 31, 2013:

“The IRS has begun implementing Obamacare; starting in 2014, ‘people who choose not to buy insurance and don’t qualify for an exemption from the mandate will have to pay a fine of $95.’ The $95 penalty will increase to $695 in 2016, and continue to grow thereafter at a ‘pre-determined’ rate.
 
“Households that do not earn enough to pay federal income tax are exempt from the penalty of the mandate, as are persons who are temporarily unemployed or transitioning from one job to another. The current rules of the healthcare overhaul also say that if you have insurance ‘for one day of a month,’ it will count as having coverage for that entire month.”
 
On January 31, 2013, CNS News reported:

“In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year. Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS. The IRS’s assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.

“The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan. ‘The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000,’ the regulation says. Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare–after Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Under the law, the penalty for not buying health insurance is supposed to be capped at either the annual average Bronze premium, 2.5 percent of taxable income, or $2,085.00 per family in 2016… the IRS calculates that a family earning $120,000 per year that did not buy insurance would need to pay a ‘penalty’ (a word the IRS still uses despite the Supreme Court ruling that it is in fact a ‘tax’) of $2,400 in 2016…”

Ignorant left-wing liberals and socialists embraced and welcomed the Obamacare regulations as a great accomplishment, while nobody had actually read the bill. They are being surprised more and more by the hidden curses and disastrous concepts of this ill-conceived adventure which are bound to contribute to the economic downfall of our country.

Drone War At High Risk

NBC News reported on February 6:

“Legal experts expressed grave reservations Tuesday about an Obama administration memo concluding that the United States can order the killing of American citizens believed to be affiliated with al-Qaida — with one saying the White House was acting as ‘judge, jury and executioner’… The experts said the memo… threatened constitutional rights and dangerously expanded the definition of national self-defense and of what constitutes an imminent attack. ‘Anyone should be concerned when the president and his lawyers make up their own interpretation of the law or their own rules,’ said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and an authority on international law and the use of force. ‘This is a very, very dangerous thing that the president has done,’ she added.

“…the memo… specifically says the government is not required to have ‘clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future.’… Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional lawyer who writes about security and liberty for the British newspaper The Guardian, described the memo as ‘fundamentally misleading,’ with a clinical tone that disguises ‘the radical and dangerous power it purports to authorize. If you believe the president has the power to order U.S. citizens executed far from any battlefield with no charges or trial, then it’s truly hard to conceive of any asserted power you would find objectionable,’ he wrote.”

While many conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats support the Obama Administration’s use of drones to kill “the enemy”—including American citizens abroad—CNN, normally very supportive of President Obama, asked the pertinent question on February 6 where it will end—if it is permitted today to kill American citizens abroad without any charges, trial and conviction, only because they are SUSPECTED of terrorist activities, will the government soon be willing to kill “suspicious” American citizens INSIDE the USA?

Cyberattacks at High Risk

Deutsche Welle reported on February 6:

“Media reports claim that the US is secretly claiming the right to launch pre-emptive cyberattacks in ‘credible threat’ scenarios… Many were surprised when the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post announced recently that they had been hit for over four months by cyberattacks, in part coming from China. Perhaps more alarmingly, the US Department of Homeland Security said that one power station had been knocked out for weeks by a cyberattack, though it declined to say which. The US has of course launched a number of digital onslaughts of its own, most notably on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. And that attack was not risk-free, as the so-called Stuxnet virus injected into Iranian systems ended up being leaked onto the Internet and copied millions of times.

“A number of security firms and analysts have warned that cyber warfare will escalate in 2013, with some warning that it could be only a matter of time before a cyberweapon takes lives like any other weapon would…  ‘A [cyberattack] perpetrated by nation states or violent extremist groups could be as destructive as the terrorist attack of 9/11,’ Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last October. ‘Such a destructive cyber terrorist attack could paralyze the nation.’ That view appeared to be confirmed by a report in the New York Times on Sunday (03.02.2013), which indicated that the arsenal of cyber weapons now at the disposal of the US and other nation-states is larger than most suspect. ‘There are levels of cyberwarfare that are far more aggressive than anything that has been used or recommended to be done,’ one official told the paper on condition of anonymity…

“That begs many questions – such as: who is able to order such attacks, and under what circumstances? According to the officials quoted in the New York Times, the answer to the first question is pretty clear – only the president… the answer to the second question – the definition of when an attack may be carried out – remains deliberately vague… a secret legal review seen by the New York Times suggests that President Barack Obama has the power to order a pre-emptive strike, if the US has credible evidence of an imminent digital attack…”

In light of the government’s dealings with drones, the President’s perceived authority to order cyberattacks is also a frightening and little assuring scenario.

“Those Who Live by the Sword…”

Fox News reported on February 5:

“After a public backlash, former presidential candidate Ron Paul used his Facebook page to clarify controversial comments he made Monday about the Navy SEAL who was killed at a Texas gun range over the weekend. On Monday, Paul, 77, took cyber heat for a tweet he sent out following the news of the veteran’s death. Paul wrote: ‘Chris Kyle’s death seems to confirm that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword”’…

“Paul… offered a clarification on his Facebook page. He wrote: ‘As a veteran, I certainly recognize that this weekend’s violence and killing of Chris Kyle were a tragic and sad event. My condolences and prayers go out to Mr. Kyle’s family. Unconstitutional and unnecessary wars have endless unintended consequences. A policy of non-violence, as Christ preached, would have prevented this and similar tragedies…’

“Paul has spent much of his congressional career denouncing military intervention overseas. He publicly opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and called them unconstitutional… Kyle, who had four tours in Iraq, was the most lethal sniper in the U.S. He had 160 confirmed kills and received 14 different awards and decorations, including two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals…”

Egypt Receives U.S. Fighter Jets

Reuters reported on February 3:

“The United States has delivered four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, Egypt’s military and a U.S. military delegation said on Sunday, highlighting military links between the two countries despite Egypt’s political upheaval. A statement from the American embassy in Cairo said a U.S. delegation and Egypt held a joint ceremony on Sunday to mark the arrival of the jets, the latest of 224 F-16s delivered to Egypt. “

“U.S. aid, which has brought criticism in the U.S. Congress, has given the United States leverage over Egypt for decades and given its warships preferential access to the Suez Canal… Part of a group of 20 F-16s, the four jets arrived in January, with the rest due later in 2013, Egyptian media reported.”

America’s political blindness continues. It has not learned from its past mistakes. It is continuing to feed the Frankenstein monster of its own creation.

Iran Wants Ties with Egypt

The Washington Post reported on February 5:

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday as Iran’s first leader to visit Egypt since the two nations ended diplomatic relations in 1980, another sign of the regional shifts triggered by the Arab Spring. But although the countries’ ties have thawed since the overthrow of Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak, key differences — including opposing views on the conflict in Syria — make the prospect of fully restored relations distant…

“Iran cut off diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1980 over the latter’s recognition of Israel, and Mubarak, who cultivated ties with the West, was deeply suspicious of Tehran’s influence. But Morsi traveled to Iran in August for a Non-Aligned Movement meeting, and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has begun advancing the idea that Iran’s 1979 revolution was, as he put it last summer, ‘a role model for these popular movements’ that have risen up during the Arab Spring. As he left Tehran for Cairo, where he is scheduled to attend an Islamic conference, Ahmadinejad told reporters that his purpose was to ‘try to prepare the grounds for cooperation between the two great nations of Iran and Egypt’…

“Their governments share opposition to Israel and intense interest in the Syrian conflict…The most immediate divergence between the nations is their view of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which Iran supports and Egypt condemns… Still, some observers say Egypt is looking to maintain at least cordial ties with the Islamic republic, which it recognizes as a major regional player and worthwhile economic partner.”

Egypt Asks Muslim Countries to Unite Against Israel

The Times of Israel wrote on February 6:

“Egypt’s Islamist president on Wednesday told leaders of Islamic countries that there will not be regional peace until a Palestinian state is founded, and called on them to unite against Israel. Speaking at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in Cairo, Mohammed Morsi said that ‘there won’t be peace in the Arab region unless the Palestinian people receive their rights and unless the brutal assault [on them] ends and the Palestinians receive their freedom and have a separate homeland and sovereign state.’

“The means of obtaining that objective, he told OIC leaders, was unified action by Muslim states against Israel. ‘We must cooperate to stop Israel’s hotheaded takeover of the Palestinian territories,’ he said. ‘The Palestinian issue is the central issue… it is the cornerstone for stability [in the Middle East]. The aspiration is to found a sovereign state whose capital is Jerusalem, and [we] are obliged to do it.’”

Brainwashing Through Evolution

The Guardian wrote on January 31, 2013:

“Four US states are considering new legislation about teaching science in schools, allowing pupils to be taught religious versions of how life on earth developed in what critics say would establish a backdoor way of questioning the theory of evolution. Fresh legislation has been put forward in Colorado, Missouri and Montana. In Oklahoma, there are two bills before the state legislature that include potentially creationist language…

“The moves in such a wide range of states have angered advocates of secularism in American official life… Over the past few years, only Tennessee and Louisiana have managed to pass so-called ‘academic freedom’ laws of the kind currently being considered in the four states…

“Intelligent design, which a local school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, had sought to get accepted as legitimate science, [was defeated in a landmark court case in 2005 and] asserts that modern life is too complex to have evolved by chance alone…”

While the unscientific and thoroughly atheistic evolution concept is being taught to the minds of our children with the obvious attempt to brainwash them, the biblical and godly truth of creation is being rejected by secularists and scientific agnostics.

Monumental Decision Regarding Ecumenical Relations

The Huffington Post wrote on January 31:

“In a monumental occasion for ecumenical relations, the U.S. Roman Catholic church and a group of Protestant denominations plan to sign a document on Tuesday evening to formally agree to recognize each other’s baptisms. Catholic leaders will join representatives from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Christian Reformed Church in North America, Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ at the ceremony in Austin, Texas, to sign the agreement…

“Currently, the Protestant churches recognize Roman Catholic baptisms, but the Catholic church does not always recognize theirs. The mutual agreement on baptisms, a key sacrament in the churches, has been discussed between denominational leadership for seven years and hinges in part on invoking trinity of the ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ during the baptism…

“The Roman Catholic church as a whole has generally recognized the baptisms of most mainstream Christian denominations since the Second Vatican Council, a series of historic church meetings from 1962 to 1965, but the formal baptism agreement is the first of its kind for the U.S. church.

“According to a prior statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was released in 2010 when bishops were deliberating the agreement, the understanding between the churches ‘affirms that both Catholic and Reformed Christians hold that baptism is the sacramental bond of unity for the Body of Christ, which is to be performed only once, by an authorized minister, with flowing water, using the Scriptural Trinitarian formula of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”’…

“The Austin newspaper reported that Tuesday’s agreement says that ‘for our baptisms to be mutually recognized, water and the scriptural Trinitarian formula ‘Father, Son, and Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19-20) must be used in the baptismal rite.’”

The Bible predicts that the Protestant churches, which separated from the Catholic Church during the Reformation or subsequently, will return to the mother church of Rome and become again part of a worldwide religious system. However, this system is not in accord with major biblical doctrines. For instance, the Trinity is nowhere taught in Scripture, and the biblical concept and “formula” of baptism is totally different from the baptism practiced by the Catholic and Protestant churches. Please read our free booklet, “Baptism—A Requirement for Salvation?”

Coming—Agreement Between Holy See and Palestine

On January 31, 2013, VIS reported:

“Following the bilateral negotiations held in past years with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), an official meeting took place in Ramallah, Palestine on 30 January 2013, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine. The talks were headed by Dr. Riad Al-Malki, minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine, and Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, under-secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States.

“The Parties exchanged views regarding the draft Agreement under discussion, especially the Preamble and Chapter I of the mentioned Agreement. The talks were held in an open and cordial atmosphere, the expression of the existing good relations between the Holy See and the State of Palestine. The Delegations expressed the wish that negotiations be accelerated and brought to a speedy conclusion. It was thus agreed that a joint technical group will meet to follow-up.”

According to the Bible, the Catholic Church will involve itself more and more in the political affairs in the Middle East, thereby taking the side of countries and movements opposed to the state of Israel.

Catholic Archbishop of Germany Allows Morning-After Pill in Cases of Rape

The Local wrote on February 5:

“Clergy across North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on Monday backed the Archbishop of Cologne’s controversial decision to allow doctors in Catholic-run clinics in the western German state to prescribe rape victims the morning-after pill.

“Archbishop Josef Cardinal Meisner caused a stir in Church circles last week when he said the morning-after pill was, in certain circumstances, not morally objectionable. Bishops of the Münster, Aachen, Essen and Paderborn dioceses officially gave him their support on Monday… In the instance of rape, medication that stopped pregnancy by halting the division of cells had the Archbishop’s blessing. Chemical abortion pills, however, remained unacceptable in the eyes of the Church.

“Two Catholic clinics in NRW came under fire in January after it emerged that they refused in December a woman who had been raped the morning-after pill. Their reasoning was that their medical treatment of the woman would result in ending a pregnancy, which is against Church doctrine.”

The Pope has not officially spoken on this rather startling development in the German Catholic Church.

Jews Not Welcome!

The Spectator wrote on January 29:

“Should Jews leave Britain?… David Ward, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East, used the opportunity provided by Holocaust Memorial Day to punish the Jews for the Holocaust:

“‘Having visited Auschwitz twice – once with my family and once with local schools – I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza.’

“And on the day itself the Sunday Times saw fit to publish a cartoon by the witless Gerald Scarfe showing the Prime Minister of the Jewish state building a wall consisting of bloodied and dying Palestinians. Much of the comment on these latter cases has focused on the ‘inappropriateness’ of running an anti-Semitic cartoon or making an anti-Semitic comment so close to Holocaust Memorial Day. I cannot help thinking that this is missing the point…

“There is absolutely no connection between, for instance, the liquidation of hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto and the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. There is absolutely no connection between the situation in Gaza and the herding of six million Jews into concentration camps. The wonder then is not over Scarfe or Ward’s sense of timing, but why at any point in any year they would be so keen to spread lies and to bait Jews by comparing the actions of the Jewish state with those of a genocidal doctrine of Nazism which sought to annihilate the Jews.

“Rupert Murdoch has apologised for the Scarfe cartoon and Ward now seems to be reluctantly towing what Liberal Democrat party line can be held… What sort of future is there in Britain for Jews?… what is becoming increasingly clear is that the price of that future is that Jews will increasingly be expected to distance themselves from Israel. There is a fair amount of evidence from the Jewish community suggesting that this process is already underway. Once it is complete then those ‘good’ anti-Israel Jews will be able to proclaim victory…”

These are remarkable words in the light of biblical prophecy. We read in the book of Zechariah, in the 14th chapter, that in the end time, Judah will fight against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:14, Revised Standard Version), speaking of those Jews who escaped captivity by supporting the Gentile armies, compare Daniel 11:32.

In addition, there is a tendency in Europe to establish countries which will be “free from Jews” (“Judenfrei”), as Kopp Online reported already on July 19, 2012. According to that article, all Norwegian Jews left their country because of fear of growing anti-Semitism. Regular attacks against Jews were reported in Sweden, France, Belgium and The Netherlands, leading, as a consequence, to a mass exodus of Jews from those countries. The anti-Jewish decision of a court in Germany pertaining to circumcision must be viewed in this light. There may be a temporary “cease-fire” arrangement, due to a German law permitting circumcision under certain circumstances, but it is, in effect, nothing else but the temporary calm before the next storm. Please view our recent StandingWatch program, “Worldwide Attacks on Israel.”

Europe–a Free-Fire Zone for Iran and Hezbollah?

On February 5, the Washington Post wrote the following:

“On Tuesday, the Bulgarian government confirmed what most of the world has known for months: The bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in the Black Sea resort of Burgas last July 18 was carried out by members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization. The results of an official investigation present leaders of the European Union with a reality that will be difficult to ignore. They must decide whether to allow a terrorist attack on E.U. territory to go unpunished or to sanction a movement that is both an Iranian proxy and the dominant party in the Lebanese government.

“The case for sanctions is a strong one. The Burgas attack, which killed five Israelis and wounded more than 100, was not an isolated incident but part of a campaign of terrorism against Israeli, U.S. and gulf state targets by Hezbollah and the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to a new report by Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the two groups decided in January 2010 to launch a campaign of violence aimed at punishing Israel for the assassination of Iranian scientists and deterring an attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

“Since then the Quds Force has, among other things, plotted to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Washington and the U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, and it has attacked an Israeli diplomat’s wife in India. Hezbollah has attempted attacks on Israeli tourists in Cyprus, Greece and Thailand as well as in Bulgaria. Mr. Levitt says that more than 20 terror attacks by Hezbollah or the Iranian force were detected between May 2011 and July 2012; fortunately, almost all failed or were disrupted.

“Israel participates in this shadow war, too: Five Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years. The United States has sponsored cyberattacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. But nothing justifies Hezbollah’s attempts to murder tourists; one of those killed in Bulgaria was a pregnant woman. Nor should a democratic community such as the European Union tolerate terrorist attacks on its territory by an established organization such as Hezbollah, which seeks recognition as a legitimate political movement worthy of governing Lebanon.

“The United States, which long ago designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, has been pressing European leaders to do the same so that the group’s funds in European banks and other financial assets can be targeted. Several governments, led by France, have resisted; they worry that sanctions could further destabilize Lebanon or subject European peacekeepers in the south of that country to reprisals. Bulgaria’s findings should end the debate. Inaction would mean accepting that Europe can be a free-fire zone for Iran and its proxies.”

The Times of Israel added on February 6:

“Now that a Bulgarian investigation has confirmed that Hezbollah is responsible for the bus bombing last July in Burgas that killed six civilians, more and more voices are demanding that the European Union place the Shiite group on its list of terror organizations. EU officials said Wednesday they would reassess their stance, but experts remain doubtful that anything will change.

“The West didn’t need a Bulgarian police report to know Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Even Turkey includes Hassan Nasrallah’s militia in its official list of terrorist groups. So why is it that the EU refuses to state the obvious, and thereby help prevent terrorism and save lives?

“Officially labeling Hezbollah a terrorist entity… requires unanimity among the EU’s 27 member states… ‘We know that the French government has until now been reluctant to back other European countries with respect to Hezbollah. But Burgas has shown that Islamist terrorism is not just happening in Mali, it is not just happening in the Middle East, it is also happening right here in Europe, and it must be stopped,’ said Ronald Lauder, the head of the World Jewish Congress…

“Among policy analysts it is indeed clear that the French are behind the EU’s refusal, and had actually been pressuring Bulgarian authorities not to name Hezbollah so as not to up the pressure on them. But why is France so reluctant to call a spade a spade? After all, the country has experienced firsthand the deadly effects of Hezbollah terrorism. In 1983, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah’s predecessor organization, sent two suicide bombers to attack American and French troops in Beirut. Among the 299 dead were 58 French paratroopers, in what is said to have been the single worst military loss for Le Grande Nation since the end of the Algerian War in 1962…

“One often-quoted argument says Hezbollah is also a political party and therefore Europe shies away from categorizing it as a terror group. But the EU’s terror list does include Hamas, which won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, as well as the militant Communist Party of the Philippines, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other groups that are involved in their countries’ political systems.

“Obviously, there must be other reasons for the stubbornness of the French and their supporters, Germany among them. According to Matthew Levitt, the director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s counterterrorism and intelligence program, the Europeans are afraid to stir up a hornet’s nest. ‘Hezbollah is not very active in Europe. The Europeans feel that if you poke Hezbollah or Iran in the eye then they will do the same to you. If you leave them alone, then maybe they will leave you alone,’ Levitt said… But none of these are sufficient reasons to stall efforts to label Hezbollah a terrorist group, argues Levitt…

“Hershco, the Begin-Sadat Center expert, seemed to believe that not much would change. ‘The report is very embarrassing for the French but they will stick to their policy, trying to keep good relations with the Lebanese government — and Hezbollah is the strong party there,’ she said. As long as France hides behind the absence of near-unattainable unanimity and doesn’t clearly take a stand, the EU’s ‘Common Position 2001/931/CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism’ is unlikely to be amended to include Hezbollah. In other words, if France sticks to its guns, so will Hezbollah — literally. ‘Failure to [list the organization as a terrorist group] will only give these killers the opportunity to further organize, recruit, raise funds, and carry out additional terrorist attacks across the continent,’ Royce, the chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, said. ‘The EU’s indefensible policy on Hezbollah makes defending all of us from Iranian-backed terrorism even more difficult.’”

Magnitude 8.0 Earthquake in South Pacific Generates Tsunami

Fox News and The Associated Press reported on February 6:

“A powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake off the Solomon Islands generated a tsunami of up to 5 feet that killed at least 5 people, a hospital official says, while the death toll is feared to rise as officials inspect dozens of damaged homes… Solomons officials reported two 1.5-meter (4 foot, 11 inch) waves hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging between 70 and 80 homes and properties… Dozens of aftershocks stronger than magnitude 5 followed the quake…

“The tsunami formed after a magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck near the town of Lata, on Santa Cruz in Temotu, the easternmost province in the Solomons, about a 3-hour flight from the capital, Honiara. Temotu has a population of around 30,000. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami of about a meter (3 feet) was measured in Lata wharf…

“More than 50 people were killed and thousands lost their homes in April 2007 when a magnitude-8.1 quake hit the western Solomon Islands, sending waves crashing into coastal villages. The Solomons comprise more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people. They lie on the ‘Ring of Fire’ — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world’s quakes occur.”

Hundreds of European and Non-European Football (Soccer) Matches Rigged

The EUobserver reported on February 5:

“A ‘sophisticated organised crime operation’ stretching all the way to Asia bribed officials and rigged over 380 football [soccer] matches in Europe, generating some €8 million in profit, EU’s police agency (Europol) has uncovered… the sheer size of the illegal profits ‘threatens the very fabric of the game’. A total of 425 football officials, players and serious criminals from more than 15 countries are suspected of being involved. Some €2 million were paid out in bribes.

“Europol said it used intelligence from 13,000 emails connecting the dots between suspects and establishing the links with organised crime networks in Asia. Several prosecutions have already started, with 14 people convicted in Germany. Among the 380 rigged matches in Europe between 2008 and 2011 are World Cup and European Championship qualification matches, two UEFA Champions League matches and several top-flight matches in European national leagues. Another 300 suspicious matches were identified outside Europe, mainly in Africa, Asia, South and Central America.

“‘We have evidence for 150 of these cases and the operations were run out of Singapore with bribes of up to €100,000 paid per match. Even two World Championship Qualification matches in Africa, and one in Central America, are under suspicion,’ a German police officer present at the briefing said Monday… The ringleaders are of Asian origin, working closely together with European facilitators. During the investigation, links were also found to Russian-speaking and other criminal syndicates. Europol would not name any individual clubs, but its chief said ‘it would be naive and complacent to think’ that no English clubs were involved.”

Carnival in Germany

Deutsche Welle reported on February 7:

“A week of partying in what is commonly known as the year’s ‘fifth season’ has begun in Germany’s western Rhineland region… The Rhineland Carnival is held each year in the last week before Lent, which is the 40-day religious period before Easter observed by Christians around the world. Between Thursday morning and Ash Wednesday, the Rhineland is transformed by day-upon-day of partying complete with costumes, copious amounts of alcohol and carnival parades… The biggest parade is to be held on Monday, which is known as Rose Monday, through the streets of downtown Cologne. Tens of thousands line the parade route each year to catch sweets thrown from the crowd from revelers on the passing floats. Those same floats are often used to poke fun at German politicians.

“Although the Rhineland is regarded as being at the heart of Carnival in Germany, it is also celebrated in other regions of the country, in which it sometimes goes by different names, such as Fasching, as it is known in the south…

“Carnival in Germany mobilizes millions of people who spend billions of euros every year. The celebration, often referred to as ‘the fifth season’ because of its huge economic clout, differs commercially from other events like Halloween where people also wear costumes but spend far less… The carnival season generates annual revenues of almost 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion), according to data provided by the German Carnival Association (BDK), which has 2.6 million enthusiasts organized in some 4,700 clubs. But it’s not only these groups that are in a spending mood during the days of what many call ‘complete madness.’ Carnival bastions such as Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz attract millions of visitors to the delight of hotels and catering businesses. Carnival tourism alone generates three-digit-million-euro revenue… In fact, some 3,000 firms with more than 40,000 employees rely completely on carnival sales…”

The Local added on February 7:

“According to the tradition of Weiberfastnacht, or the ‘Wenches Carnival,’ hoards of women in the largely Catholic region descend on city halls at exactly 11:11 am to snip off men’s ties to show them who’s really boss. Always on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, the day is also known as Fat Thursday, when men generally wear old ties in anticipation of losing this symbol of their manhood, a humiliation that is also traditionally soothed with a kiss. In Düsseldorf, the women traditionally stage the mock arrest of the city’s mayor, while in Cologne the triumvirate of presiding fools, or Dreigestirn, takes hold of the keys to the city. Thousands of costumed clownish revellers known as Narren took to Cologne’s streets despite extremely chilly weather… But Trier has decided to ease into Karneval this year, instituting a ban on booze in the old town until 7pm on Thursday. The city is hoping to avoid a repeat of teenage excesses last year, when 60 youths suffered injuries and alcohol poisoning.”

We produced a new StandingWatch program in the German language, addressing the origin of carnival and its customs, and showing that it is not godly to participate in it.

In Daniel 7, four great world-ruling empires are described, which are seen by Daniel in a vision as four beasts. When Daniel saw the vision, only the first empire was in existence—the Babylonian Empire, which was symbolized as a lion (verse 4). It was to be followed by the Medo-Persian Empire, which was symbolized as a bear (verse 5). It, in turn, was to be replaced by the Greco-Macedonian Empire, which was symbolized by a leopard (verse 6). In his vision, Daniel also saw a fourth beast with ten horns (verse 7). Although not identified by name, it is unanimously accepted by biblical scholars and historians that the fourth empire, which subdued the third beast, represents the Roman Empire. It was to exist until the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God here on earth (verses 19-27).

We know from Revelation 13 that after its fall, the Roman Empire would be revived ten times.

Again, quoting from our free booklet, “The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation”:

“The beast with the seven heads and ten horns was like a leopard, with feet of a bear and a mouth of a lion (Revelation 13:2). In the book of Daniel, chapters 2, 5, 7 and 8, we are told that, beginning with the ancient Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, there would arise four world-ruling empires on this earth—the Babylonian Empire (Daniel 2:36), the Medo-Persian Empire under Cyrus, Xerxes and others (Daniel 5:28), the Greco-Macedonian Empire under Alexander the Great and his generals (Daniel 8:20–21), and finally, a fourth Empire (Daniel 2:33; 7:7). In Daniel 7:3–24, these four empires or kingdoms are compared with a lion, a bear, a leopard with four heads, and a terrible beast with ten horns (Daniel 7:7).

“Comparing these four beasts in the book of Daniel with the one beast in Revelation 13, we can see that the beast in Revelation is a conglomeration of those four beasts in Daniel. It has seven heads, because it combines the head of the lion, the head of the bear, the four heads of the leopard, and the head of the fourth beast with ten horns. Virtually all Bible scholars confirm the historical fact that this fourth beast was the Roman Empire…

“According to Daniel 7:24, ten kings were to arise out of the Roman Empire… the beast or the Roman Empire would have ten successive resurrections or revivals… The first three resurrections or revivals of the Roman Empire after its fall occurred under Geiseric of the Vandals; Odoacer of the Heruli; and Theodoric of the Ostrogoths… The actual ‘healing’ of the deadly wound [compare Revelation 13:3] signifies the fourth resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire, which occurred in 554 A.D., when Justinian, who was heavily influenced by his Roman Catholic wife, defeated the Ostrogoths and marched into Rome. He united the Eastern and Western parts of the ancient Roman Empire and restored the entire Empire… The fifth resurrection occurred under Charlemagne in 800 A.D.; the sixth under Otto the Great in 962 A.D.; the seventh under Charles V of Hapsburg in 1530 A.D.; and the eighth under Napoleon (which lasted from 1804 A.D. until 1814 A.D., when Napoleon abdicated at the battle of Leipzig).

“Following Napoleon, two more resurrections were to occur, as the fourth beast in Daniel 7 and the beast in Revelation 13 had TEN horns. The ninth resurrection happened under Mussolini and Hitler. We are observing right now the beginning of the tenth and final resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire in continental Europe…”

The last seven revivals of the ancient Roman empire would be a unification between church and state (compare Revelation 17). The last revival, under the beast and the false prophet, will only last for a very short time, and it and its leaders will be destroyed by the returning Jesus Christ “and given to the burning flame” (Daniel 7:11). For more information on these startling prophesies, please read also our free booklets, “Germany in Prophecy,” “Europe in Prophecy,” “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord,” and “The Book of Zechariah.”

Again, quoting form our free booklet “The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation”:

“In chapter 17 [of the book of Revelation], a woman is described, riding a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns (verse 3)… The seven heads of the beast, which are also identified as kings or kingdoms, are the seven LAST resurrections of the Roman Empire… Six of those seven last resurrections, under the influence of the woman, have already happened… They were:

“…The Imperial Restoration in 554 A.D. under Justinian. This occurred at the behest of the Roman pontiff or pope, especially Pope Pelagius and, to a lesser extent, previous Pope Vigilius;

“…The Carolingian Empire under Charlemagne. He was crowned in 800 A.D. by Pope Leo III. His empire was called the ‘Holy Roman Empire’;

“…The German Empire under Otto the Great. He was crowned in 962 A.D. by Pope John X. His empire was called the ‘Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’;

“…The German-Austrian Empire under Charles V. of Hapsburg. He was crowned in 1530 by Pope Clemens VII;

“…The French Empire under Napoleon the Great. He was crowned in 1804 by Pope Pius VII; and

“…The comparatively insignificant Italian-German resurrection under Mussolini and Hitler (compare Revelation 17:10–11)… Neither Mussolini nor Hitler were crowned by a Pope (as Justinian had not been, either); nevertheless, a close partnership existed between the Catholic Church under Pope Pius XII and Italy and Germany. This partnership can be seen by Mussolini’s signing the Lateran Treaty with the papacy in 1929, establishing papal sovereignty of the Vatican City, affirming Roman Catholicism as the only religion of Italy and, in turn, having the papacy officially recognize Mussolini as the rightful Italian governor. Further, the Vatican signed a concordat with Hitler in 1933, protecting the rights of the Church under Nazi regime and giving Hitler’s government an outward semblance of legitimacy.

“…The last or tenth resurrection of the Roman Empire, or the seventh resurrection of the ‘Holy’ Roman Empire under religious control, is still ahead of us. It will consist of ten European nations—ten core nations of a United States of Europe. It will be short-lived…”

When Christ returns, the final revival of the Roman Empire (the fourth beast of Daniel 7) , which is also called “Babylon,” will be burned with fire (Revelation 17:16; 18:8-9)—as will be the human leaders (Revelation 19:20).

But how are we to understand, in this context, Daniel 7:12, referring to the three beasts in existence prior to the Roman Empire. Even though they had long disappeared by the time of the destruction of the final revival of the Roman Empire—which is even now still in the future—we read: “As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominions taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.”

While the modern Roman Empire—the coming United States of Europe under the leadership of ten core nations–will be suddenly and quickly burned with fire at the time of Christ’s return (Daniel 7:11), the prior three empires were swallowed up, gradually, by the Roman Empire. When John saw the beast in Revelation 13, it described the Roman Empire which was in existence at his time, which had absorbed the characteristics of the previous three beasts (the lion, the bear and the leopard, compare verse 2). The three beasts—the former kingdoms—“survived as nations, but without power” (“The One Volume Bible Commentary” by Dummelow). Or, as the Nelson Study Bible puts it, “Though these nations [Babylon, Persia and Greece] passed away, their ‘dominion’ was inherited by their respective successors.”

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible explains that the three beasts “…were not cut down, destroyed, and consumed as the fourth beast was… They were superseded, or they no longer exercised power. They no more appeared exerting a control over the nations. They still existed, but they were subdued and quiet. It was possible to discern them, but they no longer acted the conspicuous part which they had done in the days of their greatness and grandeur. Their power had passed away. This cannot be difficult of interpretation. We should naturally look for the fulfillment of this in the fact that the nations referred to by these first three beasts were still in being, and could be recognized as nations, in their boundaries, or customs, or languages; but that the power which they had wielded had passed into other hands.

“Yet their lives were prolonged [or] ‘a prolonging in life was given them.’ That is, they were not utterly destroyed and consumed as the power of the fourth beast [will be] after the solemn judgment. The meaning is, that in these kingdoms there would be energy for a time. They had life still; and the difference between them and the kingdom represented by the fourth beast was what would exist between wild animals subdued but still living, and a wild animal killed and burned…”

This is the correct understanding of Daniel 7:11-12, which is also shared by other commentators.

For instance, Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible adds:

“As concerning the rest of the beasts….. The other three which represent the Babylonian, Persian and Grecian monarchies: they had their dominion taken away; not at this time when the fourth beast, or Roman empire, is destroyed, but long ago; and not together, but successively; the dominion was taken away from the Babylonians, and given to the Persians; and then their dominion was taken away, and given to the Grecians; and after that the dominion of the Grecians was taken away from them, and given to the Romans: the prophet having observed what became of the fourth beast, he was most intent upon, just in a few words takes notice of the fate of the other three, before this:

“yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time: these monarchies did not at once become extinct, as the fourth beast or monarchy will, but by degrees… whereas, when the fourth monarchy is destroyed, all rule and authority will be put down, and the kingdom be given to Christ and his saints…”

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament states:

“The ‘remaining [three] beasts’ are… the first three beasts which arose out of the sea before the fourth… the four world-kingdoms symbolized by those beasts follow each other in actual history, so that the earlier is always overthrown by that which comes after it, yet the dominion of the one is transferred to the other… the statement of Daniel 7:12 is that the first three beasts also had their dominion taken away one after another, each at its appointed time; for to each God gave its duration of life, extending to the season and time appointed by Him…”

The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary agrees, but adds a few more striking comments to show that true Christians today are not to concentrate on ruling in this world today, but rather, on preparing to rule in the Kingdom of God, during the Millennium, after Christ’s return:

“… the rest of the beasts-that is, the [first[ three, had passed away not by direct destroying judgments, such as consumed… the fourth beast. They had continued to exist but their ‘dominion was taken away’; whereas the fourth beast shall cease utterly, superseded by Messiah’s kingdom… It is striking, the fourth monarchy, though Christianized for fifteen hundred years past, is not distinguished from the previous heathen monarchies, or from its own heathen portion. Nay, it is represented as the most God-opposed of all, and culminating at last in blasphemous Antichrist [better: the beast and the false prophet]. The reason is: Christ’s kingdom now is not of this world…

“Rome was worldly while heathen, and remains worldly, though Christianized. So the New Testament views the present æon or age of the world as essentially heathenish, which we cannot love without forsaking Christ… The object of Christianity is… to rule with Him in His millennium… This is to be our hope, not to reign in the present world course… There must be a ‘regeneration’ of the world, as of the individual, a death previous to a resurrection, a destruction of the world kingdoms…”

We also need to focus on the statement in Daniel 7:12 that the lives of the three beasts were “prolonged for a season and a time.” According to the Nelson Study Bible, this phrase is “an idiom for an indefinite period.” The Soncino Commentary explains in more detail that the words “a season and a time” are “synonymous terms signifying an unspecified period known only to God.”

In our free booklet, “Are You Predestined to Be Saved?”, we state:

“We are told in Acts 17:26-28, that God has decreed, in advance, the times of nations, prior to their existence: ‘And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being…’

“The Bible emphasizes God’s foreknowledge in regard to the life span of certain nations and their leaders. For instance, we read in Genesis 15:13, 16, that God told Abraham that the children of Israel (not yet in existence) would be afflicted in Egypt for ‘four hundred years,’ and that in the ‘fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites [which were possessing the land at the time] is not yet complete.’ God allotted a certain time to the Amorites to live in the land, but when that time had expired, Israel would drive them out and possess the land.

“We are also told, in Daniel 7:12, that certain world-ruling empires would exist for a certain, pre-determined time. In that prophecy, these Gentile empires are described as ‘beasts.’ We read: ‘As for the rest of the beasts…, their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.’ Other translations make the intended meaning clearer. The Menge Bible says: ‘Their duration of life was fixed for time and hour.’ Die Grosse Bibel states: ‘They kept their lives until a determined time.’ The Elberfelder Bible translates: ‘Duration of life was given to them until the time and hour’… The Bible tells us, in Revelation 13:5, that the revived Roman Empire would exist exactly for ‘forty-two months’ since the healing of its deadly wound (compare verse 3). History confirms that it did in fact reign for 1,260 years (42 prophetic months consist of 1,260 prophetic days or years), from the healing of the ‘deadly wound,’ under Justinian, in AD 554, until the fall of Napoleon I, in AD 1814. After Napoleon’s fall, two more resurrections of the ancient Roman Empire were to occur. One has already occurred—the last and final one is shaping up right now in Europe.”

And so, we see how accurately Bible prophecy was fulfilled—and we can be assured that the prophecies for the future will be fulfilled in God’s due time. We do not know the exact times or seasons and the day or the hour of Christ’s return and the end of this present evil age, but judging from the signs of the time, we know that it must be near.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

A new StandingWatch program, titled, “Slavery in the Bible,” is now available. Evangelist Norbert Link examines what the Bible actually reveals about the practice of slavery. Summary: Why was there slavery in the Old Testament? Why didn’t the early apostles condemn slavery? Will there be slavery in God’s Kingdom and the Millennium? How should Christians view the concept of slavery today?

This program will also be broadcast on radio, beginning Saturday, March 2, 2013.

“Strafen und Sklaverei in der Bibel” is the title of this week’s German language sermon. The title in English would be: “Penalties and Slavery in the Bible.” It addresses the physical penalties in the Old Testament, such as the death penalty and certain types of restoration for different kinds of theft, and the concept of slavery in the Old and New Testament, as well as the meaning of the word “law” in Galatians and the role of Christians in this world.

“Karneval oder Fasching—Harmloser Spass?” is the new AufPostenStehen program. Following the suggestion of one of our German members, Mr. Norbert Link recorded a German APS program regarding carnival (origin, history, customs), in light of the Bible, which begins this year on February 7. The English title would be, “Carnival—Harmless Joy?”

Due to its widespread observance in Germany, this program on “Karneval” has already received an encouraging response (over 1,300 views).

by Phyllis Bourque

Lifetime achievement awards are given by various organizations to honor excellence in a given field of endeavor. One such recent honoree in the recording industry was to be Patti Page, who was regarded as a living legend, selling more than 100 million records throughout a career that spanned 7 decades, making her one of the biggest selling female recording artists in history. She touched the hearts of many generations with her smooth tranquil style of singing.

In considering my lifetime thus far, I can list many achievements, none of which, however, have gained any notoriety beyond my little corner of the world, and certainly would not garner any such award. My accomplishments are of importance primarily to myself, and perhaps a few select friends and/or family members.  Even at that, their significance was only for the moment; i.e., a token medal for solo flute competition in high school and participation in band. (Who is impressed with that but me?)

The only thing I can think of that could be regarded as a worthy lifetime achievement is my personal conversion—a righteous response to my calling—taking on God’s character. But even then, I cannot credit myself with any degree of success in this regard, because it is God who called me in the first place, and it is He who is working in me, even giving me the desire and the ability to do what He has called me to do. Therefore, the accomplishment is His.

Patti Page knew of the upcoming awards presentation, but she died before the actual event was held. She will, of course, be honored posthumously. However, the spiritual correlate for me is to be diligent in my daily response to God so that I do not die spiritually before He gives me His gift of eternal life and my appropriate award.

Yes, I think that with God’s continual help, my conversion will surely be my lifetime achievement. I wonder if God considers His marvelous work of changing His human creation to His spirit-born offspring as being His eternal lifetime achievement…just wondering…

On February 2nd, 2013, Dave Harris will give the sermon, titled, respectively, “Last Chance!”

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). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

Everyone likes a good story. Whether it is real or fiction, human beings seem to have an affinity for liking stories. There are so many mediums by which we tell stories. We do it through books, movies, radio, TV, Internet or by mouth. Since the creation of man, people have been recording history and stories. One of the greatest examples is the story about Noah and the Ark. It is interesting that many societies have similar stories about a worldwide flood. Of course, the names change and details vary, but it is unique that this same enduring story exists in so many diverse places. This helps to prove the authenticity of the Bible. But more than this, we need to ask the question: Why did God make us wired to enjoy stories?

Narrative is a potent and persuasive tool, and it has the ability to shape beliefs and change minds.  Advertisers have long taken advantage of narrative persuasion by sprinkling likable characters or funny stories into their commercials. The point is, when you can connect to a story, it makes it personal. That’s when it takes on meaning. It becomes real.

Growing up in God’s Church, I remember “studying” YOU lessons for the very young. The beginning ones were like coloring books in which I learned about stories in the Bible. These stories gained depth and got bigger in scope, as I made my way through the subsequent lessons. They did more than just teach the basics of the Bible. They helped to captivate the imagination of my young mind and to build an awareness of the basic truths of the Bible.  As an adult, I still love the story aspect that the Bible lays out for us. 

It is so important that parents teach the Bible to their children from a young age (Psalm 78: 1-8). Children need an awareness of the basic truths of the Bible, as they are growing up!  (Deuteronomy 6: 1-9; 11:16-19; Exodus 10: 2; 12:24-26; Ephesians 6: 4.)

Parents are to teach their children true knowledge—including the knowledge of God; of the Creator and His vast creation; of His authority and rulership over the creation He brought into being and now sustains; of the invisible yet unstoppable spiritual laws that He set in motion to regulate relationships and to produce happiness, peace and everything good; of the biblical definition of sin as simply being the transgression of these laws operating for our good; of God’s purpose being worked out here below, and of His plan for working it out; of the biblical revelation of Christ and what He means to us today; and of the vital connection between, on the one hand, case histories, incidents and experiences, and, on the other hand, God’s overall purpose and the Gospel.

But it is not just children who need these stories. Even the more “mature” members in God’s Church need them. Matthew 18: 3 tells all of us to be “converted and become as little children.” All of us need to be meek and humble enough to be willing to listen to the stories of the Bible. They are there for us to use and to learn from.

We begin with reporting on the continuing debate regarding Britain’s future in or outside the EU; concentrate on “religion” in its several facets and the danger of “collaboration” between any religion and state in this day and age; pose the question as to whether gun ownership and gun violence are in accordance with either the New or the Old Testament of the Bible; address briefly the issue of violence in sports; speak of appalling and/or frightening developments in and pertaining to Iran and Egypt, as well as Israel; address events in The Netherlands and Germany; and conclude with despicable, but telling comments by Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi.

Britain At Odds with EU

The Associated Press wrote on January 24:

“British Prime Minister David Cameron wants nothing to do with a United States of Europe, an idea that’s gaining currency as the countries that use the euro struggle to fix their debt crisis. But what if it’s a choice between a single country called Europe or a splintered continent? Cameron is determined to avoid that scary scenario. A day after he shook up Europe’s political landscape by offering British citizens the prospect of a vote on whether to stay in the 27-country European Union, Cameron insisted Thursday he wants Britain to remain a part of the bloc but that more unification would not be the answer…

“Many in the EU, particularly among the 17 countries that use the euro, are on a drive for closer political unification, and that’s raised particular concerns recently in Britain, which has often viewed the bloc through a business prism. ‘If you mean that Europe has to be a political union, a country called Europe, then I disagree,’ said Cameron… But many politicians in Europe think closer political ties are exactly what is needed to maintain continental unity… Some even think Europe’s end-game has to be to resemble the United States of America. Countries would be so tied together in their economic and social fabric to make war inconceivable.

“… many European leaders refuse to publicly acknowledge that a British exit is a possibility… Britain’s relations with Europe have been strained since the end of World War II. It did not join the European Steel and Coal Community, the forebear of what would later become the European Union, in 1951. Britain later realized there were benefits accruing from joining up with some of its wartime friends and foes, and joined the evolving European bloc in the 1970s. It has stood against many efforts to forge closer ties, notably the creation of the euro, but was at the forefront of the drive to create a single market.”

Europe’s coming political and military unification is clearly prophesied.

Britain No Longer a Leading Nation in the EU—-To Be Replaced by Poland?

The EUobserver wrote on January 25:

“Britain has lost its place in the club of leading EU nations with France and Germany over its plan to hold a referendum on EU membership, the Polish foreign minister has said. ‘The Prime Minister [the UK’s David Cameron] has shifted his country’s position in the EU hierarchy. From a country which was a natural member of the triumvirate capable of ruling the EU, Great Britain has moved to the category of a country of special concern, which should be treated with care in case it does something unwise, harms itself and leaves the Union. It means the group which holds power in the Union will have a different shape,’ Radek Sikorski [said]…

“He said Poland could take Britain’s place over the next decade.  ‘We would have to continue reforms and join the eurozone, then we could be the ones in the group of three, or five, countries which have the biggest say in the EU,’ he added… He also said Cameron’s two conditions for holding the vote – renegotiating the EU treaties and repatriating some EU powers to the UK – ‘seem unlikely to happen.’ But he added that – referendum or no referendum – the British leader has shown he wants no part in further EU integration. ‘Cameron said very clearly: “We’re not interested in a political union, we want to take care of our own interests and retreat to our island.” But the rest of the continent does want political union because it’s indispensible to save the euro and to protect our place on the world arena,’ Sikorski said.”

The days of Britain’s stay in the EU are indeed numbered, and Poland might very well become quite influential as one of several leading core nations of the EU, under Germany’s direction. In this context, recent revelations and facts regarding Poland may not be in favor of Polish-British relationships.

The Guardian revealed on January 30 that in regard to horsemeat in “beef” hamburgers, a “Polish supplier at the heart of the scandal has been selling beef ‘filler’ to an Irish meat processor for over a year,” and “The Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine… announced earlier this week that their tests had shown that the horsemeat was probably being imported from Poland.”

In addition, Mail Online reported on January 31 that “Polish is Britain’s second language and nearly one in five people in London only speak English as a second tongue.”

While former Prime Minister Tony Blair has become increasingly unpopular in his homeland, Mail Online reported on January 30:

“In Britain, his ‘open door’ immigration policies have been criticised by all sides. But in Poland, which was transformed by entry into the EU, Tony Blair is feted as a hero. And yesterday the former Prime Minister was handed a special award for helping hundreds of thousands of Poles come to live in the UK… Around 700,000 eastern Europeans migrated to the UK from eight former communist nations when they were admitted to the European Union in 2004 – despite ministers predicting only 15,000 a year would arrive. Between December 2003 and December 2010 the Polish-born population of the UK increased from 75,000 to 532,000. Latest census figures reveal that the number of Poles living in Britain now stands at 625,000.

“Tory MP Philip Hollobone raged last night: ‘This award is entirely appropriate. Tony Blair presided over the biggest wave of immigration this country has seen since the Norman conquest, 2.5 million net migrants came in to the UK while he was in charge and Britain will never be the same again.’”

The British people might agree with the last statement and that the award to Tony Blair was “entirely appropriate.” since many would not agree with what Tony Blair did. Mr. Hollobone’s statements are to be viewed as a strong criticism of Tony Blair.

Scientology Destroys People with Crazy Ideas and Dangerous Methods?

The Website of salon.com reported on January 26:

“The great-grandson of the founder of Scientology said… Scientology specifically tries to rope in celebrities… DeWolf said Elvis Presley turned down an offer to join Scientology… Scientology ‘works through electrified hypnosis. It works through past life regression therapy… But to meet people who’ve been out of the cult… you want to ask them about Xenu and aliens — but the fact is these are smart people. They’ve just been completely destroyed,’ said DeWolf.”

That is indeed weird—but the people of this world want to believe just about anything, as long as it is not in accordance with the Bible.

Is The Catholic Church “Riding” the Government?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 24:

“Catholic facilities are increasingly sealing themselves off, often behaving as if they were part of a state within a state; a cosmos subject to its own rules, which are monitored by the pope and his bishops… Every year, Catholic dioceses receive billions in funds from obligatory taxes paid by church members. But when it comes to scandals, such as when sexual abuse is systematically covered up and remains uninvestigated for years, citizens have little influence and are left to experience how the church energetically defends its special rights…

“The church… is the second-largest employer in the country, after the government. It dictates the kind of life its doctors, educators, teachers and cleaning women are allowed to lead. It determines how children are raised… Germany has gradually entrusted the churches with large parts of its social welfare system… Between 90 and 100 percent of the funding for most of the Catholic Church’s social facilities comes from the government. Nevertheless, politicians and citizens have rarely tried to exert their influence…”

The Bible tells us about the dangers of collaboration between European states and the Catholic Church—which will even drastically increase in the future.

Some Jewish Thoughts on a Chief Rabbi

Jewish Ideas Daily wrote on January 23:

“Come September, both England and Israel will install new chief rabbis…The position of chief rabbi dates far back in Jewish history. In the Middle Ages, when Jews were treated as a corporate body, the chief rabbi served not only as the judge, scholar, and supreme religious authority for his community, but frequently bore responsibility for collecting its taxes as well. Many a chief rabbi, as a result, was appointed or confirmed directly by the king.

“Chief rabbis today confine their authority to the religious realm, but their role is never purely ceremonial. Inevitably, they must also devote themselves to promoting their own brand of Judaism (usually some variety of Orthodoxy) over all the others. Israel’s chief rabbinate, in recent years, has sought to undermine more liberal approaches…

“America is unusual in never having had an official chief rabbi. In 1888, a short-lived Association of American Orthodox Hebrew Congregations imported Rabbi Jacob Joseph of Vilna to serve as chief rabbi of New York, but that effort ended disastrously… A few Orthodox rabbis in other American cities did, for a time, carry the title ‘chief rabbi,’ based on their learning and status. One or two even pretended to the title ‘chief rabbi of the United States.’ But none ever achieved recognition outside his own Orthodox circle.

“As a matter of law, the First Amendment precludes the government from recognizing one religious authority as ‘chief’ over another… the creation in America of a government-protected form of Judaism under the authority of a chief rabbi was clearly impossible…

“Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, America’s foremost 20th-century Modern Orthodox thinker… turned down the invitation to serve as Israel’s chief rabbi, because, he explained in 1964, he ‘was afraid to be an officer of the State.’ As England and Israel prepare to install new chief rabbis, Rabbi Soloveitchik’s decision deserves to be remembered. ‘A rabbinate linked up with the state,’ he warned, ‘cannot be completely free.’”

This kind of collaboration between religion and state has never produced good fruits in this day and age. Rabbi Soloveitchik’s objections are indeed worthwhile considering.

“Is Gun Ownership Christian?”

The Washington Post wrote on January 25:

“57 percent of white evangelicals live in homes where someone owns a gun (compared, for example, with 31 percent of Catholics.) And more startling, even after 20 first-graders were slaughtered in Connecticut at the hands of a madman with an assault rifle, 59 percent of white evangelicals continue to oppose tighter restrictions on gun laws.

“An obvious question occurs in light of these results: How do such Christians reconcile their stalwart commitment to the Second Amendment with their belief in a gospel that preaches nonviolence?… ‘If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also,’ [Jesus] says, in the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible is mute on the matter of guns, of course, but it is impossible to imagine that Jesus would find anything good to say about them…

“More than 500 children were killed in accidental gun deaths in 2011. As… Gary Hall preached at Washington National Cathedral last week, ‘If we want to stand with Jesus and Martin Luther King, we’ve also got to stand with those who, like them, die by means of violence. . . . That may sound like a hard truth, but for a Christian, there’s no way around it.’”

True Christians ought to be able to see that gun violence and the teachings of Jesus Christ are indeed totally incompatible. Many Jewish thinkers who strictly argue from the pages of the Old Testament, agree as well… note the next article.

Some Jewish Thoughts on Guns…

Jewish Ideas Daily wrote on January 22:

“The transformation of swords into plowshares represents the end of war and the beginning of the messianic era (Isaiah 2:4)…

“The Bible forbids the use of certain metal instruments to construct an altar (Exodus 20:21); the reason, in one interpretation, is that those same instruments may be used to shorten life, while worship on the altar is meant to extend life. Similarly, the Sages forbade entering the Sanctuary with a sword… a restriction later interpreted by medieval Jewish law to forbid bringing sharp knives, apparently used by traveling merchants for protection, into a synagogue…  many rabbis believe that handling guns is prohibited on Shabbat… unless for saving lives…

“The same logic makes the notion of using guns for recreation, like hunting, totally alien to Jewish law… to use weapons to kill animals for fun… is to imitate biblical villains like Nimrod and Esau, not our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…

“In the same way… the glorification of weaponry is foreign to Jewish thought… the Sages, in line with Isaiah’s messianic vision, banned bearing weapons in public on Shabbat, even as an ornament, since ‘they are merely shameful.’ Very few historical sources refer to Jews wearing arms as ornaments…”

In this context, we might also remember that King David was not allowed to build the temple, as he was a man of war who had shed blood. Only Solomon, a “prince” of peace, was permitted to build the temple. But violence is not restricted to guns, as the next article shows.

President Obama: “Football a Violent Sport”

The Washington Times wrote on January 27:

“President Obama took a swipe at football in a new interview, saying he would “have to think long and hard” before letting his hypothetical son play the dangerous sport. ‘I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence,’ Mr. Obama told The New Republic in its Feb. 11 issue. ‘In some cases, that may make it a little bit less exciting,’ he said. ‘But it will be a whole lot better for the players, and those of us who are fans maybe won’t have to examine our consciences quite as much.’”

We agree with President Obama on his assessment of the violence in football and also in other “sports,” and the need for change.

Iran’s Brutal Islamist Dictatorship and Persecution of Christians

The Associated Press and Fox News reported on January 27:

“Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, an American imprisoned in Iran on charges of evangelizing, was sentenced this morning to eight years in prison. According to the American Center for Law and Justice, Abedini was verbally sentenced in Tehran by Judge Pir-Abassi, known as the ‘hanging judge,’ to eight years in prison for threatening the national security of Iran through his leadership in Christian house churches. He will serve the time in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, known as one of the most brutal. The evidence, the ACLJ reports, was based on Abedini’s activities primarily during the early 2000s, when house churches were not considered a threat in Iran.

“‘This is a real travesty – a mockery of justice,’ Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the ACLJ, who represents Pastor Saeed’s wife and children living in the U.S., said in a statement. ‘From the very beginning, Iranian authorities have lied about all aspects of this case, even releasing rumors of his expected release. Iran has not only abused its own laws, it has trampled on the fundamentals of human rights. We call on the citizens of the world to rise up in protest. We call on governments around the world to stand and defend Pastor Saeed.’…

“The 34-year-old father of two denied evangelizing in Iran and claims he had only returned to his native land to help establish an orphanage. Authorities pulled him off a bus last August and threw him into the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. The exact crimes he is accused of only became public on Monday, when the prosecutor outlined charges that Abedini undermined the Iranian government by creating a network of Christian house churches and that he was attempting to sway Iranian youth away from Islam.

“‘This trial apparently is focused on 13 years ago, when Pastor Saeed converted from Islam to Christianity,’ Sekulow said in a statement to FoxNews.com last week… Although the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said earlier this month that the administration was troubled over Abedini’s imprisonment. ‘We remain troubled by the case of U.S. citizen Saeed Abedini, who was arrested by Iranian officials more than three months ago on charges relating to his religious beliefs,’ Vietor said. ‘We call upon Iranian authorities to release him immediately.’”

It is very comforting and reassuring to know that the USA is “troubled” by this travesty of Iran’s Gestapo-like methods. As Fox News correctly put it on January 27: “…there has been little public repudiation from President Obama… why the irresponsible neglect from the bully pulpit of the White House? … Is the Obama White House fearful of confronting Iran?… This administration has proven over and over again to be unwilling to take on Islamist ideologies and defend their victims on the front lines… [its policy] is leading more and more to the lonely abandonment of icons of religious freedom inside Iran.”

But Iran’s dangerous modus operandi gets even worse. See the next article.

Ahmadinejad’s Call for Muslim Unity to Eradicate “Zionism”

The Times of Israel wrote on January 27:

“Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the Muslim world to unite to eradicate Zionism, which he called ‘corrupt, uncultured and murderous’ Sunday. Ahmadinejad spoke in Tehran to the 26th International Islamic Unity Conference, which coincided with International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Muslim nations around the world should pursue ‘specific aims’ toward unity, Iran’s semi-official PressTV quoted the president as saying…

“‘Under [the] circumstances [in which] the corrupt, uncultured and murderous Zionists are occupying and killing oppressed people, we should not sit idly by,’ [he reportedly said]… The existence of deep rifts and dissension among various sects within the Muslim world got short shrift from Iran’s leader, who stated that ‘an incomplete understanding of the Quran’ was the reason for such differences.”

One can only imagine what the Muslim world would look like if all Muslims would follow Ahmadinejad’s crazy interpretations and his dangerous understanding of the Quran.

Kissinger Warns of Nuclear War in Middle East

Newsmax reported on January 27:

“Former U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel Peace laureate Henry Kissinger is warning that the United States and Israel are very close to facing a crisis with a nuclear-arming Iran. The 89-year-old Kissinger told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that such a crisis — a full-fledged atomic war — would be ‘a turning point in human history,’ the BBC reported. ‘There has emerged in the region, the current and most urgent issue of nuclear proliferation. For 15 years, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] have declared that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable, but it has been approaching,’ he said.

“ ‘In a few years, people will have to come to a determination of how to react, or the consequences of non-reaction. I believe this point will be reached in a very foreseeable future,’ he added… The most important thing, Kissinger said, was for the West to prevent letting things get so bad that Israel is forced to act alone… If Tehran gets nuclear weapons, regimes across the Middle East and Africa will want them, too, Kissinger said…”

Explosion at Iran’s Nuclear Plant?

Israel National News reported on January 28:

“Iran has denied reports that surfaced over the weekend about an explosion at its underground Fordo nuclear plant… On Friday, the American WND website reported that an explosion had occurred deep within Fordo.

“According to the report, the explosion which took place last Monday destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground. The report of the blast was passed on to WND by Hamidreza Zakeri, formerly with the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security. Zakeri said that the blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security forces enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran-Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast, the source said.

“Iran admitted in the past it was moving more centrifuge machines for enriching uranium to the underground Fordo facility, which is carved into a mountain to protect it against possible attacks. The existence of the facility near Qom only came to light after it was identified by Western intelligence agencies in September 2009. The UN’s nuclear watchdog has already confirmed that Iran begun enriching uranium at the plant.

“Israeli officials on Sunday said they did not know whether there was any truth to the reports on the explosion. The reports came after Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the United States has plans for surgical strikes against Iran as a last-ditch measure if Tehran refuses to stop its development of a nuclear weapons capability.”

The White House denied the accuracy of the report as well. However, without any doubt, there are many secret operations and developments going on behind the political scene that are publically denied.

The World Against Israel?

Israel National News reported on January 31:

“The United Nations says Israel must withdraw all of its citizens from the regions of Judea and Samaria. The recommendation came in a report issued Thursday by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which has a history of passing numerous biased resolutions condemning Israel for various alleged ‘crimes’ each year…

“In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, ‘The Human Rights Council has sadly distinguished itself by its systemically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel. This latest report is yet another reminder of that’… At least half a million Israelis live in Judea, Samaria and areas of Jerusalem restored to the capital during the 1967 Six Day War.”

Israeli Strike in Syria—Is a New War Coming?

The Times of Israel wrote on January 31:

“Iran threatened that a reported Israeli strike in Syria would have ‘grave consequences for Tel Aviv’ on Thursday, days after saying that an attack on Syria would be seen as an attack on Iran… On Wednesday, Damascus said Israeli planes struck a ‘research facility’ northwest of the Syrian capital. The accusation came after reports from foreign news sources earlier in the day saying Israel hit a weapons convoy near the Syria-Lebanon border that was transferring arms to the terror group Hezbollah… Iran is a major backer of both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

“The Jamraya research center is… a crucial element of Syria’s missile program, and… it is also home to a chemical weapons facility… Officials [in Israel] have said in the past that it would act to keep chemical weapons or other arms from being transferred to Hezbollah…

“Russia, Syria’s strongest international ally, said Moscow is taking ‘urgent measures to clarify the situation in all its details. If this information is confirmed, we have a case of unprovoked attacks on targets in the territory of a sovereign state, which grossly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable,’ Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement… Earlier Thursday, Hezbollah condemned the attack… Lebanon and the Arab League slammed Israel for the attacks, calling them a violation of the [country’s] sovereignty…

“US officials told The New York Times on Wednesday that Israel notified the United States about the reported airstrike. MK Tzachi Hanegbi, who is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stopped short of confirming Israel’s involvement in the strike. Hanegbi hinted, however, that Israel could carry out similar missions in the future…”

The Jerusalem Post added on January 31:

“Syrian state television accused Israel of bombing a military research center at Jamraya between Damascus and the nearby border. Syrian rebels disputed that, saying their forces had attacked the site.”

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 31 that Israel’s press (including Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz) and the civilian population are afraid of and are preparing for a new war with Syria and Lebanon.

Not “Politically Expedient” to List Terrorist Group Hezbollah as Terrorists?

JTA reported on January 29:

“Hezbollah may not be included on the European Union’s list of terrorist groups even if it did bomb Jewish tourists in Bulgaria, the EU’s top counter-terrorism official [Gilles de Kerchove] reportedly said… According to Israel, the Lebanon-based Hezbollah was behind the bombing on July 19 in Burgas, which targeted a bus of Israeli tourists and left five Israelis and one Bulgarian dead.

“U.S. and Israeli officials have said the EU should blacklist Hezbollah if the Bulgarians find it guilty of perpetrating the attack. Its inclusion would make it illegal for Hezbollah sympathizers in Europe to send money to the group, which the United States and Israel list as terrorist… [Kerchove] noted there is ‘no consensus’ among EU states on whether listing Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government, would be useful or not.”

Egypt’s President Morsi—Arch Enemy of Israel

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 28:

“Is Mohammed Morsi a peacebroker or a virulent anti-Semite? A former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who has known Morsi for 13 years, believes that behind the Egyptian president’s veneer of goodwill towards Israel lies a deep-seated hatred… the Egyptian president, who is visiting Berlin this week and will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel, a champion of Israel, appears to be a man with two faces… In mid-January… Western diplomats and politicians saw… a man filled with hate for the ‘Zionist entity,’ the term Islamists use for the Jewish state. An almost three-year-old video… depicts an Islamist who is practically foaming at the mouth, as he rants about the Israelis in an interview with an Arab network. Speaking in a deep and firm voice, he calls them ‘bloodsuckers’ and ‘warmongers,’ and says that there can be no peace with these ‘descendants of apes and pigs.’

“It was apparently more than just a regrettable moment of madness for Morsi, claims a prominent former member of the Muslim Brotherhood. After all, he says, the current president served as general inspector of the Muslim Brotherhood for years, which put him in charge of the group’s online service. That service includes quotes about Israelis and Jews that testify to the same hatred as the lapses in the video.

“Despite outrage internationally and at the White House over the video, Morsi was unperturbed by the furor over his remarks. In the end, his spokesman said that Morsi’s words had been taken out of context, but offered no further explanation or apology…

“The current president became the general inspector of the organization [Muslim Brotherhood] in 2007… In this capacity, Morsi would have been partly responsible for the anti-Jewish propaganda on the website, which featured the ‘banner of jihad’ at the time and saw ‘Jews and Zionists as archenemies’… Morsi gave a self-promoting interview in May 2009. Referring to the Israelis, the current president said: ‘They all have the same nature. They are equally shaped by shrewdness, deception and hate.’ He added that their only objectives are ‘killing, aggression and subjugation.'”

Morsi is not only determined (not unlike Iran’s Ahmadinejad) to go to war with and eradicate Israel; he is also determined to maintain his Islamist Presidency in Egypt with all means. The USA and Europe are willingly blind towards the true nature of Egypt’s newest dictator.

Egypt Denies the Holocaust

Mail Online wrote on January 30:

“A senior figure close to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi provoked outrage today after claiming the Holocaust was a myth invented by the United States. Fathi Shibab-Eddim, who is responsible for appointing editors of all the state-run newspapers, claimed the six million Jews killed by Hitler had actually been moved to America.

“His comments came as the world marked Holocaust Remembrance day on Sunday and little more than a week after it emerged that President Morsi himself had once described Jews as ‘descendants of apes and pigs’.

“Shibab-Eddim said: ‘The myth of the Holocaust is an industry that America invented. U.S. intelligence agencies in co-operation with their counterparts in allied nations during World War II created it [the Holocaust] to destroy the image of their opponents in Germany and to justify war and massive destruction against military and civilian facilities of the Axis powers, and especially to hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bomb.’

“His views have sparked fears that the Egyptian Government, like Iran’s, has significant elements that refuse to acknowledge one of the best-documented genocides in history. The bizarre claims will also be especially concerning for Israel, which had fostered good relations with President Morsi’s predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011 following days of violent protests.

“Efraim Zuroff, Israel Director of the Jerusalem-based Simon Weisenthal Center, whose mission is to defend against anti-Semitism and teach the lessons of the Holocaust to future generations, [said] that Shibab-Eddim’s views showed a dangerous mindset. He said: ‘Obviously, if a person in that position makes that ridiculous claim it is of concern. The sad truth is that these views are relatively common in the Arab world and are the result of ignorance on one hand and of government-sponsored Holocaust denial on the other hand’… there are fears that Morsi may prove to be a radical Islamist…”

Morsi’s Rule with an Iron Fist

Deutsche Welle reported on January 29:

“Two years after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, thousands protest against his successor. They feel betrayed and demand a government of national unity. Enraged demonstrators, armed police, violence on the streets: the television pictures are reminiscent of February 2011, when thousands of Egyptians demanded the overthrow of the regime. They refused to give up until the dictator Hosni Mubarak was gone. Now we see the same pictures, but the leader of the government is Mohammed Morsi – and he doesn’t seem to be ready to go.

“Morsi has responded to the deadly rioting by imposing a state of emergency in three cities. On Monday (28.01.2013) he announced that the military would be deployed in an attempt to restore calm, and that the army would take on police duties until the forthcoming parliamentary elections. That development has brought the opposition onto the streets, saying it reminds them of the tyranny of the Mubarak regime.

“Morsi’s disparate opponents are united by one thing: they want a state that keeps a certain distance from religion. According to Gudrun Krämer, professor of Islam Studies at the Free University of Berlin, ‘The opposition doesn’t want the state or society to be dominated by Islam as interpreted by the Islamists. But that doesn’t mean that they are secularists or non-believing Muslims.’ Krämer sees two main tendencies among Morsi’s opposition. One group, centered on former presidential candidate Hamdin Sabahi, rejects an Islamist state and demands a separation between the state and religion, as well as a state welfare policy. A second group, meanwhile, also rejects any further Islamization, but also wants to see economic problems solved and demands the right of greater consultation and participation…

“Morsi can rely on the Muslim Brotherhood… The prominent opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohammed ElBaradei tweeted, ‘Until the president takes responsibility for the recent bloodshed and promises to set up a government of national salvation and an independent authority to amend the constitution, any dialogue would be a mere waste of time.’”

As the Bible has prophesied long ago—Egyptians will fight against Egyptians in their own land. But more is revealed to come. Please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.”

Germany Turns Blind Eye To Morsi

The Local wrote on January 30:

“Merkel told a joint press conference in Berlin with President Mohamed Morsi that Germany wanted a successful transformation process in Egypt, where Morsi took over last year, and was ready to help… Merkel said Morsi’s visit — his first to Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, since his election in June — was appreciated, albeit shortened, given the ‘not easy’ political situation at home… Morsi told reporters that Egypt would have ‘rule of law’ and be a state that allowed the exchange of opinions, and spoke of ties with Germany based on respect of different interests ‘without interference in domestic affairs’… Egypt’s military chief on Tuesday warned that the political crisis could lead to the collapse of the state.”

These developments are interesting, as it is prophesied that Germany and Egypt will work together for a while against Israel, before they become enemies.

Europe’s Present Wars

Italy’s La Repubblica reported the following on January 28:

“Remarkably for a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Europe has been at war for close to 15 years: in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, in Libya, and today in the Sahel… On the eve of elections in Italy [in February] and in Germany [in September] the lack of discussion over a subject as important as war is astonishing. Because a conflict is occurring elsewhere, it is not discussed. Yet, war permeates deep into our bones, and has done so for a long time.

“Because it lacks a common political government, the European Union is not leading the war but it is, nonetheless, now part of its daily routine. If we add the never-ending fight against terrorism to the fighting that spread throughout the Balkans at the end of the 20th Century, Europeans have been sporadically participating in armed conflicts for the past 14 years. At first, these were the object of heated debates: are these wars really necessary? And if not, what are we fighting for? Are they truly for humanitarian reasons or are they destructive? And what assessment are we to make of the War on Terror at the global level: has it reduced or increased terrorism?

“Political leaders are not answering these questions and no European country is raising the issue of a Union that has nothing to say on the question of war because it is too focused on its currency. Entering blindly into a new neo-colonial war, Europe is advancing into a fog-filled future…

“War – often bloody and rarely fruitful – is never called by its true name. It moves forward hidden behind a mask: an initiative that will stabilise countries that have collapsed and bring them democracy and, most of all, one that will be short and not costly. This is the case with the war that began on January 13 in Mali, which is led by the France of François Hollande with the feeble support of African troops and the – retroactive – support of France’s European allies.

“In violation of the Treaty of Lisbon (articles 32 and 347), there was no prior discussion. We are almost always thrown into war. We even have someone… to thank France, while immediately explaining that Paris will have to go it alone ‘in the absence of a European military force’…

“Much of what we read about the war is false: it does not call for reflection on the event but rather for us to, passively, take note and to consider the conflicts as isolated cases without any relation to each other… In these recent conflicts, we have learned nothing from the errors of the past, because these were systematically not discussed…

“The collapse of the situation in Mali would have been avoidable if Europeans had paid more attention to the country… Failures in Afghanistan engendered the Libyan conflict, while the half-failed Libyan effort is responsible for the situation in Mali. The problem is that each new conflict begins without any critical analysis of previous conflicts. In Libya, complacency continued until the assassination, in Benghazi, of the United States Ambassador, Christopher Stevens, on September 11, 2012. It took this event to demonstrate that many of Gaddafi’s militia troops – Tuaregs or Jihadists – had moved into the Azawad region. And that the war was not over, but that it was about to rise from its ashes in Mali.

“In the past seven years, the number of democracies in Africa has fallen from 24 to 19. This is a failure for Europe and for the West…”

America’s Failure in Mali

Deutsche Welle reported on January 30:

“For years, the US trained the Malian army to fight militants based in the Sahel desert. But Washington’s efforts have faced a major reversal, with armed Islamists now threatening Mali’s survival as a state. As French forces have swept through northern Mali in a campaign to flush out Islamist militant groups from the region’s major population centers, the United States has backed France’s military intervention, offering Paris transport and refueling planes as well as intelligence support. But these modest contributions belie a much deeper American involvement in a region where militants are making inroads against governments shaken by popular unrest.

“Situated on a critical juncture between North and West Africa, Mali has been a focus of US counterterrorism efforts. The Malian armed forces have just 7,000 personnel in a country three times the size of Germany. Islamist militant groups have exploited the security vacuum to take refuge in Mali’s northern desert expanse… with the focus on counterterrorism, little attention was paid to the political dynamics in Mali. The US and its European allies heralded the country as a model democracy on a continent where coups and corruption were all too common…  ‘The US government was blind to many of the real problems that were going on in the country,’ [an expert] said… The militant groups Washington had sought to contain had established a sanctuary and began implementing Shariah law.

“While France has hastily intervened to stop an Islamist advance toward Bamako and reclaim the north, the US has suspended its military relations with the Malian government and called for a political solution…”

Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands Will Abdicate the Throne in Favor of Prince Willem-Alexander

CNN reported on January 28:

“Queen Beatrix spent 33 years on the throne and will be succeeded by her son, the Prince of Orange, Prince Willem-Alexander. She ascended to the throne when Queen Juliana abdicated on her 71st birthday, on April 30, 1980. Beatrix announced Monday that she will step aside on April 30.

“Beatrix was born January 31, 1938, and when World War II reached Holland the family fled to London. Juliana, Beatrix and her sister Irene then moved to Ottawa, Canada. Beatrix married German diplomat Claus von Amsberg on March 10, 1966, in Amsterdam. They have three sons, Willem-Alexander, born in 1967, Friso, born in 1968, and Constantijn, born in 1969. Friso was injured in an avalanche at an Austrian ski resort last year. She has eight grandchildren.

“Her husband died in 2002 aged 76. He overcame early Dutch wariness — in a country where the German occupation in WWII was still fresh in the national memory — to become one of the most popular members of the Dutch royal family .

“Under the Dutch Constitution the king or queen is head of state but politically neutral. The head of state also signs all new acts of Parliament, and plays a role in the formation of new governments.

“Prince Willem-Alexander, 45, was educated in Wales and Holland where he earned a history degree at Leiden University. He served in the Dutch Royal Navy from August 1985 to January 1987… He is married to Princess Máxima, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has a degree in economics and has worked for HSBC and Deutsche Bank. The couple, who met at a party, were engaged in March 2001 and they were married in February 2002.

“The relationship — like his mother’s marriage — sparked initial controversy when it emerged that Maxima’s father had been a minister during the 1976-1983 Argentinean military dictatorship. He agreed to stay away from the wedding. They have three daughters, Princess Catharina-Amalia, Princess Alexia and Princess Ariane. When Willem-Alexander becomes king, 9-year-old Catharina-Amalia will be next in line.”

What is interesting is the German descent of Prince Willem-Alexander.

Hitler’s Rise to Power Eighty Years Ago

The Local wrote on January 30:

“Germany on Wednesday marks Adolf Hitler’s rise to power 80 years ago… In a black-and-white photo… the Führer [is] saluting the crowd from the chancellery window on the evening of January 30, 1933, after earlier having been made chancellor and been charged by president Paul von Hindenburg with forming a new government… ‘The hour has come! We are at Wilhelmstrasse (the site of the chancellery at the time). Hitler is chancellor of the Reich. Like in a fairytale,’ wrote Joseph Goebbels, who was to become Nazi propaganda chief, in his diary on January 31, 1933… the Reichstag [was] going up in flames the following month and then the first measures [were] taken against the Jews on April 1, with the start of a boycott of Jewish shops, doctors and lawyers. ‘Germans, defend yourselves! Don’t buy from Jews,’ a poster state[d]…

“Andreas Nachama, director of The Topography of Terror, said the arrival of the failed painter from Austria at the helm of power in Germany was an ‘incision’ in history, although nobody at the time thought he would last. However the parliamentary system of the Weimar Republic failed to find a stable majority and Hitler, on the back of over-simplified themes, rallied millions of unemployed and people who had lost everything in the economic crisis…

“The 80th anniversary has sparked much interest in Germany – a novel that imagines Hitler’s return to modern-day Berlin entitled ‘He’s Back’ (Er Ist Wieder Da) has become a bestseller here… Just ahead of the anniversary, Merkel said in her weekly podcast that Germany had ‘an everlasting responsibility for the crimes of National Socialism, for the victims of World War II, and above all, for the Holocaust’. ‘We’re facing our history, we’re not hiding anything, we’re not repressing anything. We must confront this to make sure we are a good and trustworthy partner in the future, as we already are today, thankfully,’ Merkel said.”

In spite of the hope of well-meaning politicians and many Europeans, the terrible atrocities of the past are prophesied to repeat themselves… and even much worse…

Berlusconi and Mussolini—“Disgrace” for Italy or True Reflection?

Reuters reported on January 27:

“Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi triggered outrage from Italy’s political left on Sunday with comments defending fascist wartime leader Benito Mussolini at a ceremony commemorating victims of the Nazi Holocaust. Speaking at the margins of the event in Milan, Berlusconi said Mussolini had been wrong to follow Nazi Germany’s lead in passing anti-Jewish laws but that he had in other respects been a good leader… ‘Obviously the government of that time, out of fear that German power might lead to complete victory, preferred to ally itself with Hitler’s Germany rather than opposing it,’ he said. ‘As part of this alliance, there were impositions, including combating and exterminating Jews,’ he told reporters. ‘The racial laws were the worst fault of Mussolini as a leader, who in so many other ways did well,’ he said, referring to laws passed by Mussolini’s fascist government in 1938…

“Berlusconi’s comments overshadowed Sunday’s commemoration of thousands of Jews and others deported from Italy to the Nazi death camps of eastern Europe. They were condemned as ‘disgusting’ by the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which is leading in the polls ahead of the February 24-25 election. ‘Our republic is based on the struggle against Nazi fascism and these are intolerable remarks which are incompatible with leadership of democratic political forces,’ said Marco Meloni, the PD’s spokesman for institutional affairs. Antonio Ingroia, a former anti-mafia magistrate campaigning at the head of a separate left-wing coalition, said Berlusconi was ‘a disgrace to Italy’… Faced by the onslaught of criticism, Berlusconi later issued a statement saying he had always condemned dictatorships and regretted not having spelled that out in his earlier remarks…

“However, it was not the first time Berlusconi has defended Mussolini, whose status in Italy remains deeply ambiguous 67 years after he was executed by communist partisans while trying to flee to Switzerland in April, 1945. Many Italian politicians, including the speaker of the Lower House of parliament, Gianfranco Fini, come from the ranks of the old Italian Social Movement (MSI) which grew out of the fascist party, although Fini and others have renounced the far right. Others, including Francesco Storace, Berlusconi’s candidate for president of the Lazio region, have stayed true to what they see as the ‘social-right’ tradition of the fascist movement.

“Monuments to Mussolini, who came to power in 1922, still dot many Italian cities, including Rome, where a column to Il Duce stands close to the city’s main football stadium, within a stone’s throw of the foreign ministry… Mussolini’s government persecuted Italy’s Jewish population, which was then estimated to number about 40,000… The 1938 laws imposed oppressive restrictions on Jews and some 10,000 are estimated to have been deported from Italy between September 1943 and March 1945. Most of them died in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland… acts ranging from anti-Jewish graffiti to chants at football matches occur periodically [in Italy].”

Mussolini was as evil and demon-inspired or -possessed as Hitler. Berlusconi’s attempts to re-write history are truly appalling and despicable.

In the previous Q&A, we answered the question as to what was in the ark of the covenant—just the tablets with the Ten Commandments, or also the pot with manna and Aaron’s rod? We pointed out that the latter two items could have been placed inside the ark at one time, but were later removed, perhaps through the Philistines or the men of Beth Shemesh. The question might be asked how this would be possible. Isn’t it true that no one could touch the ark without being killed—as the example with Uzzah is supposed to prove? If so, would not anyone be killed immediately, when touching the ark, before being able to remove items from the ark?

It is important to note God’s instructions pertaining to the ark, and why Uzzah was punished and killed on the spot.

It is correct that only the Levites could carry the ark in a very specified way, and that they were not allowed to touch any of the holy things (Numbers 4:15,19-20; Exodus 25:13-16). When David had the ark transported, but not in the prescribed way (compare 1 Chronicles 13:7), Uzzah saw how the ark started to slip, and he “put his hand to the ark” (1 Chronicles 13:9-10) and was killed. 

At the same time, we read that the Philistines (non-Levites) took the ark and placed it in the temple of Dagon, and that they sent it later to other cities, but they were not killed in the process (1 Samuel 5). They clearly moved the ark without being authorized to do so, and even touched it (1 Samuel 6:8, 11). As a consequence, they were plagued by God, but not killed.

Why then was Uzzah killed?

Note the following explanation by the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary:

“Fearing that the ark was in danger of being overturned, Uzzah, under the impulse of momentary feeling, laid hold of it to keep it steady. Whether it fell and crushed him, or some sudden disease attacked him, he fell dead upon the spot… It is of importance to observe the proportionate severity of the punishments attending the profanation of the ark. The Philistines suffered by diseases, from which they were relieved by their oblations, because the law had not been given to them [1Sa 5:8-12]… But Uzzah, who was a Levite, and well instructed, suffered death for his breach of the law. The severity of Uzzah’s fate may seem to us too great for the nature and degree of the offense. But it does not become us to sit in judgment on the dispensations of God; and, besides, it is apparent that the divine purpose was to inspire awe of His majesty, a submission to His law, and a profound veneration for the symbols and ordinances of His worship.”

Note also Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary:

“Uzzah was struck dead for touching the ark. God saw presumption and irreverence in Uzzah’s heart. Familiarity, even with that which is most awful, is apt to breed contempt.”

To add to this, note the disturbing account in 1 Samuel 6:15, 19, when God struck the men of Beth Shemesh of Israel for looking into the ark, after it had been returned to the Israelites by the Philistines:

“The Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on a large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the LORD… Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people (or, as the margin has it, “He struck seventy men of the people and fifty oxen of men”), and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.”

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible writes:

“And he smote the men of Bethshemesh,…. That is, God smote them, though they had received the ark with such expressions of joy, and had offered sacrifices on account of it; yet sinning in one particular after mentioned, which was highly resented, they were smitten by him… because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; which was forbidden the Levites, Numbers 4:20. [O]ut of curiosity these men opened the ark, to see whether the Philistines had taken anything out of it, or put anything into it; and this, when in the tabernacle, being only to be seen by the high priest; and supposing they should never have the like opportunity again, to look upon the tables of the law which were in it, took it; and the rather they might be emboldened to this action, since it had been in the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, who had profaned it; and as yet not restored to its pristine purity, holiness, and place: even he smote of the people fifty thousand and seventy men…”

The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary writes:

“… he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark-In the ecstasy of delight at seeing the return of the ark, the Beth-shemesh reapers pried into it beneath the wagon cover; and instead of covering it up again, as a sacred utensil, they let it remain exposed to common inspection, wishing it to be seen, in order that all might enjoy the triumph of seeing the votive offerings presented to it, and gratify curiosity with the sight of the sacred shrine. This was the offense of those Israelites (Levites, as well as common people), who had treated the ark with less reverence than the Philistines themselves.”

The Nelson Study Bible adds:

“The Lord brought judgment upon certain men of Beth Shemesh who were guilty of the presumptuous sin of gazing into the ark. They had shown a lack of reverence for the holy things of God and had directly violated Mosaic Law (Num 4:20).”

In the case of the people of Beth-Shemesh, God acted forcefully because of their presumptuous discontent for His instructions, which were clearly spelled out for them. But we don’t read that God killed them immediately when they touched the ark, nor was their death an automatic consequence of their touching the ark—an additional action of God was of course required; and so it appears that He reacted when they opened the ark and perhaps even removed the pot of manna and Aaron’s rod from it, as some commentaries suggest. Note that 1 Samuel 6:19 states that God struck the men AFTER they had looked into the ark—requiring of course that they first touched and opened it.

God is not a respecter of person, and His spiritual law (including the Ten Commandments) is valid and universal and must be obeyed by everyone. That was also true for temporary ritual laws which were given to Israel (but not to Gentiles), but at the same time, God inflicts punishment and varying penalties by considering all circumstances, including motives and a lack of understanding and repentance—which should prove to true Christians, among many reasons, why they could not possibly be involved in the judicial systems of this world, by serving as judges or jurors, as they would not be allowed to take these spiritual aspects into consideration.

Whether the men of Beth-Shemesh removed the pot with manna and Aaron’s rod, before being struck, or whether the Philistines had done so, or whether it occurred during another unrecorded event, it is entirely possible that at one time, these items were in the ark, while at the time of the dedication of the second temple, there was nothing in the ark except the tablets with the Ten Commandments (Hebrews 9:4; 1 Kings 8:9). At the same time, as explained in the previous Q&A, it is also possible that the pot with manna and Aaron’s rod were never IN the ark of the covenant, but simply close to, before or BESIDE it.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

“Worldwide Attacks on Israel” is the title of our new StandingWatch program. Presented by Evangelist Norbert Link, this very insightful program reveals what Bible prophecies indicate for Israel’s immediate future. Summary: We are seeing increasingly worldwide hostilities against Jews and anti-Semitic feelings. The hateful and mad utterings of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad and Egypt’s President Morsi are no exceptions.  Denial of the Holocaust becomes more wide-spread, not only in the Arab world. Still, America and Europe continue to collaborate with and militarily support Israel’s enemies. Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi defends Benito Mussolini, and the attention to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power 80 years ago is a grim reminder of what can happen if we are not circumspect. The storm clouds are clearly forming. What does the Bible say about all of this?

This program will also be broadcast on radio, beginning Saturday, February 23, 2013. We just signed a one-year contract for an additional radio station. Beginning Saturday, February 2, 2013, we will also broadcast our programs on KCNW – Kansas City, from 10:45-11:00 am. The first program will be “Japan and Germany—Pacifists No More,” followed on Saturday, February 9, 2013, by “Should a Christian Smoke Marijuana?”

“You Will Be Rewarded!” is the video recorded sermon from last Sabbath, presented by Nobert Link. Summary: God is not unfaithful that He should forget your sacrifices for Him. He promises you that He will reward you for it. However, you must be diligent that you do not lose the gift of eternal life and your full and exceedingly great reward.

Here is the summary of this week’s German sermon, “Neu! Gottes Alte Gesetze—Wie Weit Noch Gueltig? Teil 2,” continuing the discussion of the validity (or lack of it)  of certain Old Testament laws, including temporary ritual laws of washing, as well as tassels, and ongoing laws of clean and unclean meat, transvestites, different kinds of seed, garment of different sorts, and livestock breeding with another kind.

Feast of Tabernacles Site for Germany:

We have secured a Feast site (hotel with hall for up to 90 people) in the Black Forest. Hotel prices are under negotiation—we will know more by next week. But they already blocked the hall for us. Please DO NOT make any individual hotel reservations at this point, but this is where we have been led to go for this 2013 FOT: http://www.tannenhof-hotel.com/

The hotel is in Lauterbach, Germany, which is one hour from Stuttgart and one hour from Zuerich, and 3 hours from Frankfurt and also 3 hours from Munich. Titisee is very nearby (we kept the feast for years in Lenzkirch or Ruebuehl or Schluchsee, which are all in the general neighborhood). We are told that those who would be flying in could go to Stuttgart, which would be the nearest major airport. To drive from London, we are told, can be done within a day for sure.

When Johanna and Norbert Link are in Germany in March, they will visit the facility, but by that time, all negotiations should have been completed successfully. All the German members and those who have expressed interest in the German Feast of Tabernacles site have been contacted in order to get their commitment for the finalization of our plans. If you should be interested, please contact Johanna Link (Johanna.Link@cox.net).

Our Church Conference for 2013 will begin on Friday, April 12th, and last until Tuesday, April 16th. This year, meetings will be conducted in Fort Collins, Colorado.