Current Events

Chaos After U.S. Decline?

On February 11, 2012, The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy article, titled, “Why the World Needs America.” Even though we do not agree with everything written in the article and disagree quite strongly with certain statements, which we do not quote herein, the following excepts are interesting and worth repeating:

“The downfall of the Roman Empire brought an end not just to Roman rule but to Roman government and law and to an entire economic system stretching from Northern Europe to North Africa… Many of us take for granted how the world looks today. But it might look a lot different without America at the top… After the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, British control of the seas and the balance of great powers on the European continent provided relative security and stability…

“With the outbreak of World War I, the age of settled peace and advancing liberalism… collapsed into an age of hyper-nationalism, despotism and economic calamity… The collapse of the British and European orders in the 20th century did not produce a new dark age—though if Nazi Germany and imperial Japan had prevailed, it might have—but the horrific conflict that it produced was, in its own way, just as devastating…

“Would the end of the present American-dominated order have less dire consequences?…The present world order was largely shaped by American power and reflects American interests and preferences. If the balance of power shifts in the direction of other nations, the world order will change to suit their interests and preferences… For several decades, the balance of power in the world has favored democratic governments. In a genuinely post-American world, the balance would shift toward the great-power autocracies. Both Beijing and Moscow already protect dictators like Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. If they gain greater relative influence in the future, we will see fewer democratic transitions and more autocrats hanging on to power…

“The ancient democracies of Greece and the republics of Rome and Venice all fell to more powerful forces or through their own failings… If and when American power declines, the institutions and norms that American power has supported will decline, too. Or more likely, if history is a guide, they may collapse altogether as we make a transition to another kind of world order, or to disorder. We may discover then that the U.S. was essential to keeping the present world order together and that the alternative to American power was not peace and harmony but chaos and catastrophe—which is what the world looked like right before the American order came into being…”

With the loss of US power, this world will indeed change dramatically. Power blocs in Europe and the Far East will develop, which will plunge this world into a terrible and unprecedented series of wars.

No Real Solution

The Los Angeles Times wrote on February 14:

“President Obama released a budget proposal for the coming fiscal year that offers no real solution to the United States’ long-term fiscal problems. This country is hardly Greece, but Washington’s current policies put it on a path to accumulate far too much debt…

“Congress makes the ultimate decisions about taxes and spending, so the annual budget proposal from the White House typically serves as the opening bid in a months-long debate. This president, however, has waited for Republicans and Congress to go first on the tougher fiscal issues. On Monday, Obama even called on Congress to reverse one of the more difficult decisions it had made, which was to impose $1.2 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts on discretionary programs over the next decade.

“…even if lawmakers were to adopt all of Obama’s deficit-cutting measures, they wouldn’t go far enough to set the budget on a path toward balance… All told, his proposal comes up about $2 trillion short of the savings his own deficit-reduction commission called for over 10 years… the government needs a better plan for putting its fiscal house in order than Obama offered Monday.”

And in spite of sweeping irrational promises from Republican candidates to balance the budget, the inescapable truth is that, no matter who runs this country, the economic situation of the USA is doomed.

EU-US Relationship

The EUObserver wrote on February 14:

“With pressure coming from every direction, the EU and the US now, more than ever, need an honest discussion about their partnership… The electoral year in the United States poses a challenge to Europeans… Regardless of who will sit in the Oval Office for the next four years, three issues will take precedence on the transatlantic agenda.

“First, amidst the budgetary cuts in the US, any future global police-type military operations will be carried out more selectively. But when the US national interest is under threat, shrewd accounting goes out the window. In any confrontation between Israel and Iran, the US will be forced to prove its ‘iron clad commitment to Israel’s security.’ Although Obama remains committed to the diplomatic path to stop Iran from getting its hands on nuclear [weapons], he has not taken any options off the table.

“His Republican competitors speak even more openly about military intervention, accusing Obama of failing to ‘show Iran that [the US] ha[s] the capacity to remove them militarily from their plans to have nuclear weapons.’ Any military confrontation in the region will have direct implications for Europe, including military involvement if Iran retaliates.

“Second, concerns about the growing importance of China – and an increasing fear of China – in the US will need to be addressed… To act as an economic bulwark to China’s regional dominance, Obama proposed an ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership and intends to create a Trade Enforcement Unit to investigate unfair trade practices. But these plans have caused uneasiness among Europeans who are afraid that similar moves will be interpreted as a direct challenge to China, in turn launching new competition in the region.

“Even more worrying is the language of Republican contenders calling for a strong military capability in the Pacific and deepening cooperation with India and other regional allies.

“Finally, normalising relations with Arab countries and the Muslims will remain a huge challenge.

“Despite the many efforts of the Obama Administration, the US presence in Afghanistan and its clear position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict still make Muslims sceptical of the US intentions… his Republican opponents underline Israel’s growing security problems and call for increasing the level of military assistance and co-ordination (Romney) while at the same time describing the Palestinians as ‘an invented people’ (Gingrich). Such statements cause consternation among Europeans…

“How Washington responds to these challenges will no doubt have serious implications for Europe. But instead of hoping for the best, Europeans should finally get their act together and focus on three major objectives: launching a comprehensive review of the European Security Strategy; adopting a credible and enforceable strategy for Asia; and consolidating policies towards the southern neighbourhood and Palestinian statehood. What we have instead is a catalogue of half-measures. The establishment of the European External Action Service was a messy exercise but it cannot be used indefinitely as an excuse for inaction and a lack of policies…”

The relationship between the USA and Europe is bound to deteriorate, and Europe will begin to unify even stronger in political and military matters. Please also note the next article.

EU—a Full-Fledged Political Union in the Future

The EUObserver wrote on February 14:

“European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has told the Chinese public that the EU will become a fully-fledged ‘political union’ after the financial crisis… ‘I want to make this very clear to Chinese public opinion… Is the European Union really going to progress? I say: “Yes. No doubt about it” … Precisely because of the problems in the euro area the conclusion has been to further integrate and to complete the monetary union with a fiscal union and, I believe, in the future toward a political union.’”

Italy—a Future Major EU Driver

The EUObserver reported on February 15:

“Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti charmed all major political parties in the European Parliament on Wednesday (15 February), pledging to defend EU institutions at a time when national governments are increasingly blaming Brussels for austerity… His speech… was aimed at restoring his country’s standing as one of the founding members of the EU and the euro after years of political penumbra under his controversial predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi.

“The new Italy – in the words of Monti, a former banker and economics professor – will be committed not only to austerity, but also to growth and will not just ‘passively transpose EU guidelines, but wants to be a major driver of these guidelines.’ It is in this ‘spirit’ that he invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Rome on Friday, for talks which will ‘focus on the community method and recognise the priority of EU institutions’…

“He also pointedly switched to English when criticising a ‘deeply superficial insular culture that naively might believe EU integration means a superstate’ after the UK vetoed crisis-related changes to the EU Treaty last December.”

The EU and Greece

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 10:

“Many observers are losing faith in the idea that Greece can be saved even if the second bailout goes through. With unemployment at 20.9 percent and the economy in its fifth consecutive year of recession, it is unclear how Greece will ever be able to generate growth or begin to pay down its debt…

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘The Greek misery has no end… Greece presents a desolate picture, in terms of its economic structures, competitiveness, social cohesion and political system. In other parts of the world, it would be called a failed state. It is time that the Europeans admit that fact and take the necessary action. Whether the resulting conclusion is that Greece can no longer be saved from bankruptcy, or whether it should be persuaded — or forced — to leave the euro zone, is ultimately a question of math… No finance minister knows the answer, and no economist can calculate it reliably. This uncertainty is deadly, both for the markets and for countries. It must be ended quickly.’

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘The EU partners and the Greek government have a baleful fear of the truth. Which is the following: Greece cannot actually be saved (with the current approach), not by slashing the minimum wages, and not with cuts in salaries, which are supposed to remain frozen until the country has lowered its unemployment rate from nearly 21 percent to 10 percent. But where will the new jobs come from?…’

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘Greece is currently trying to do something impossible: which is to reform the economy in the midst of a deep depression. That simply doesn’t work.’

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘The agreement reached in Athens between the Greek government and the international donors … has not prompted high hopes on either side. Greece promised what it had to, in order to get the new aid package. And the troika acted as if it — against its better judgment — actually believes that the Greek economy can be healed. But the pictures of the demonstrations and the burning German flags show that they didn’t reckon with the Greek population. Ultimately, the crucial thing is not the politicians’ willingness to carry out reforms … but the will of the people. And the Greeks seem unwilling and unable to accept, for the sake of the stability of the single currency, cuts that go far beyond what we in Germany have ever experienced in terms of austerity measures… From an economic perspective, the country needs to leave the euro zone, because it is economically too weak and its administrative structures are too underdeveloped to be able to keep up with the others…’

“The financial daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘During the poker game with their creditors, the Greeks have been acting as if they had a joker up their sleeve. That joker was the threat of declaring bankruptcy and triggering a panicked chain reaction among investors. … But that isn’t a trump card. The main victims of a disorderly bankruptcy would be the Greeks themselves. But the troika has also been deceiving the audience of the Greek drama with numerical trickery that is easy to see through… The question of how Greece is supposed to return to growth despite the harsh austerity measures remains the troika’s secret. Both sides are lying through their teeth. … The only way to ‘save’ Greece is through an orderly national default…’”

The Associated Press reported on February 14:

“Two steps forward, one step back. So goes the frenzied effort across Europe to bail out Greece and save it from a potentially devastating default on its debts. A meeting of the finance chiefs of the 17 euro countries to discuss Greece’s second multibillion bailout planned for Wednesday was called off after Athens failed to deliver on several demands made by its partners in the currency union… Tensions between Athens and other European capitals have hit new highs this week…

“Greece is still optimistic that it will eventually get the bailout… But after keeping Greece alive through bailout loans for almost two years — and seeing the country repeatedly miss its targets — some of the richer euro countries like the Netherlands or Germany are reluctant to commit new money without firm assurances…”

The Financial Times added on February 15:

“The battle of wills between Athens and its eurozone lenders intensified on Wednesday, with Greece’s finance minister accusing ‘forces in Europe’ of pushing his country out of the euro while his German counterpart suggested postponing Greek elections and installing a new government without political parties.”

As we have said from the outset, Greece might leave the Eurozone, but the euro won’t collapse.

Will Israeli Attack on Iran Be Unsuccessful?

y-Net News reported on February 12:

“Two weeks after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reportedly said Israel is likely to strike Iran in the spring, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière said an Israeli attack will be unsuccessful. According to the minister, ‘a success of an Israeli strike on Iran nuclear facilities is highly unlikely and (will cause) obvious political damage’…

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met on Saturday with Hamas prime minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, who is visiting Tehran. ‘The world will witness Iran’s major nuclear achievements soon’ said Ahmadinejad. Haniyeh met with supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Sunday. In the meeting Khamenei promised Iran’s support for the Palestinian resistance…”

In Any Event, It Would Be Terribly Complicated…

USA Today wrote on February 13:

“If Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, the strike would probably take the form of a complex air assault involving scores of planes that would have to penetrate Iranian air defenses and attack up to a couple of dozen targets simultaneously, analysts say. ‘This would be way more sophisticated than anything that’s ever been done before,’ said Charles Wald, a retired Air Force general who led the coalition air campaign in Afghanistan that helped topple the Taliban. By contrast, Israel’s strike on Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor in 1981 and an attack in Syria in 2007 were simpler operations that required Israel to hit a single above-ground target. Neither country had sophisticated air defense capabilities…

“Iran’s nuclear facilities are dispersed throughout the country, some of which are being hardened to withstand bomb blasts, said Colin Kahl, a Georgetown professor and former Pentagon official overseeing Middle East policy. Pilots would face a network of radar and anti-aircraft missiles designed to protect Iran’s airspace… Wald said the Israelis would either have to use aerial refueling or land somewhere en route to refuel. It’s not known whether any country would provide permission or whether Israel could set up a covert refueling facility in the desert… Flying over Iraq is the most direct route for Israeli pilots. Since the U.S. withdrawal, Iraq is not capable of effectively protecting its airspace, which potentially would give Israel a way to reach Iran while maintaining an element of surprise…

“Israel has large bombs capable of penetrating bunkers, but some analysts say they need more sophisticated munitions to help knock out some of the well-protected facilities… Analysts say timing on a strike would be critical, since a lengthy operation would raise the likelihood of U.S. opposition and could trigger a wider conflict…

“The United States should be prepared for an Iranian counterstrike, Wald said. Iran has medium-range missiles that could reach Israel, Kahl said… Iran’s navy could interfere with commercial shipping in the narrow Strait of Hormuz, disrupting the world’s oil supplies. In 2009, about 17% of all oil traded worldwide went through the narrow strait… Iran would probably use its surrogates, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to attack Israel…”

USA: “We Will Stop Iran”

Newsmax reported on February 12:

“Iran has increased the number of small, fast patrol craft in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, some of which have been outfitted with a large warhead for a suicide run at U.S. vessels, the U.S. Navy’s top Gulf commander said… The U.S. Navy would move to stop any Iranian attempt to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz or Persian Gulf as an ‘act of war’ the international community wouldn’t tolerate…

“The U.S. has four Avenger-class mine-sweeping ships in the Gulf… The U.K.’s Royal Navy has another four vessels… U.S. officials… estimated in 2008 that Iran possessed as many as 5,000 mines… The inventory also includes as many as 600 advanced mines bought from Russia, such as the MDM-3, which can be dropped from an aircraft…”

However, an easy and swift victory of the US Navy over Iranian naval forces is not assured by any means. It is being admitted that Iran could make life difficult for the US Navy. Note the next article.

Reuters reported on February 12:

“Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks… Iran now has 10 small submarines…

“Military experts say the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf – which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers – is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran’s navy. But ever since al Qaeda suicide bombers in a small boat killed 17 sailors on board the destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a port in Yemen in 1996, Washington has been wary of the vulnerability of its huge battleships to bomb attacks by small enemy craft.”

Has It Already Begun?

ABC News wrote on February 14:

“With Iran allegedly striking out at Israeli citizens and Jewish targets around the world, Israeli and American security officials in the U.S. are on high alert. Israeli officials told ABC News that the level of personal security on high-ranking Embassy officials as well as other, lower profile officials in the U.S. is at its highest in at least five years, a response to what they called ‘a coordinated series of attacks’…

“Federal officials… noted that in cities like New York and Washington, D.C., ‘the targets are much harder’ than in countries like India, Georgia and Thailand, where Iran has allegedly attacked or attempted to attack in the past two days. But they also added that Iran can be ‘belligerent.’

“Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University in D.C., agreed that the recent incidents in India, Georgia, Thailand and Azerbaijan have ‘all the hallmarks of a concerted campaign’ that could extend to U.S. soil. ‘The recent attack on a Saudi official in Washington shows a willingness to attack in the United States,’ said Cilluffo…”

Iran Threatens Europe!

The New York Times wrote on February 15:

“Besieged by international sanctions over the Iranian nuclear program including a planned oil embargo by Europe, Iran warned six European buyers on Wednesday that it might strike first by immediately cutting them off from Iranian oil. Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said the threat was conveyed to the ambassadors of Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal in separate meetings at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran…

“‘Iran warns Europe it will find other customers for its oil,’ the Islamic Republic News Agency said. ‘European people should know that if Iran changes destinations of the oil it gives to them, the responsibility will rest with the European governments themselves.’… The European Union has been one of Iran’s biggest markets for oil, taking about 18 percent of total Iranian petroleum exports in 2011. Among the European Union members, the biggest buyers have been Italy, Spain and France…

“The Iranians also announced new advances in their nuclear program, including escalation of Iran’s enrichment practices, which if accurate could serve to further aggravate tensions… President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presided over ceremonies to mark advances in Iran’s nuclear program, partly to project an image of Iranian defiance against the Western sanctions. The new advances include centrifuges that Iran said were capable of enriching uranium at a much faster rate, and the insertion of the first domestically produced nuclear fuel rod into a nuclear reactor in Tehran.”

No “Arab Spring” for Egypt’s Women

Deutsche Welle reported on February 12:

“Side-by-side with fellow male protesters, Egypt’s women stood on Tahrir Square demanding freedom and democracy. But due to the military regime and the rise of Islamic factions the situation of women is deteriorating… The military is brutal in their treatment of women… The military regime is also trying to keep women from taking political office…

“The new parliament is even considering revoking the so-called Personal Status Law that women had been fighting for for years. If successful, it would mean that women could no longer divorce – only men would have the right to do so. Women would also lose the right to bring up their children beyond the age of nine. Fathers could then take away their children aged nine, not 15 as the law states now…”

So much for freedom, liberty and equality in the new Egypt…

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Threatens USA and Israel

CNS News reported on February 13:

“A top Muslim Brotherhood official has warned that any cuts in U.S. aid to Egypt could affect Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel…

“Egyptian judges have referred 16 Americans and 27 others linked to NGOs [Non-Governmental Organizations] for trial, accusing them of using foreign funds to encourage disruptive protests… On Capitol Hill, the chorus of senior lawmakers calling for aid to Egypt to be suspended over the affair is growing, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that the funds could be in jeopardy…

“‘This is only the beginning of the anti-American populism/nationalism/Islamism we are going to be seeing in Egypt from now on,’ Mideast expert Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel, wrote in a column Sunday. ‘What’s amazing is that nobody is pointing out that if an Egyptian government is willing to risk U.S. aid and have a confrontation on this small issue, what are they going to do regarding big issues?’ Rubin said. ‘What happens when the Egyptian government moves toward Islamism or helps Hamas fight Israel on some level?…’”

Reuters added on February 15:

“State-run newspapers splashed accusations of a U.S. plan to spread ‘anarchy’ in Egypt across their front pages on Tuesday… the headlines marked another low in the crisis between Washington and Cairo triggered by the investigation into U.S.-based non-governmental organisations that has led to criminal charges against Americans who have been prevented from leaving the country…The spat is one of the worst in more than 30 years of close U.S.-Egyptian ties…”

The Associated Press stated on February 15:

“Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday threw its weight behind the country’s military-backed government in an escalating dispute with the U.S. over the funding of pro-democracy groups… On Wednesday, the Brotherhood – whose political arm controls the largest bloc of seats in Egypt’s parliament – praised officials carrying out the crackdown and said it supported their ‘nationalist position.’ The Brotherhood said it ‘rejects all forms of pressure the U.S. is exerting,’ the statement published on the group’s website said.”

The USA and its allies supported strongly the “Arab Spring” movement. Since then, it has become obvious—which should have been clear from the outset—that the movement gave birth to the rise of radical Islamists, who are strongly opposed to the West and any style of Western democracy, and who are also very hostile towards Israel. Again, America’s foolish foreign policy has helped create a Frankenstein monster…

Shocking—Interpol Accused of Collaborating with Saudi Arabia over Islamist Radical Fanaticism

National Review reported on February 10:

“Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation’s red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on the prophet’s birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The posting, which was later deleted, read: ‘I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don’t understand about you … I will not pray for you.’

“More than 13,000 people joined a Facebook page titled ‘The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari’. Clerics in Saudi Arabia called for him to be charged with apostasy, a religious offence punishable by death…”

The Australian added on February 12:

“Malaysia has deported [to Saudi Arabia] a young Saudi journalist wanted in his home country over a Twitter post about the Prophet Mohammed, defying pleas from human rights group who said he faced execution… Kashgari’s detention sparked outrage from human rights groups, with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urging Malaysia not to send him back to face severe punishment and possibly a death sentence.”

When fundamentalists and fanaticism rule, such incredible and despicable conduct can be expected. When a “Christian” organization like Interpol lends a hand to such conduct, this is outrageous and speaks volumes of the indifference and blindness of our Western societies.

Enormous Ancient Goldmine of Queen of Sheba Found

The Guardian reported on February 11:

“Almost 3,000 years ago, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopia and Yemen, arrived in Jerusalem with vast quantities of gold to give to King Solomon. Now an enormous ancient goldmine, together with the ruins of a temple and the site of a battlefield, have been discovered in her former territory… Sheba was a powerful incense-trading kingdom that prospered through trade with Jerusalem and the Roman empire.

“The queen is immortalised in Qur’an and the Bible, which describes her visit to Solomon ‘with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold and precious stones … Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices’… Her story is still told across Africa and Arabia, and the Ethiopian tales are immortalised in the holy book the Kebra Nagast. Hers is said to be one of the world’s oldest love stories. The Bible says she visited Solomon to test his wisdom by asking him several riddles. Legend has it that he wooed her, and that descendants of their child, Menelik – son of the wise – became the kings of Abyssinia.”

Please read our Q&A on Ethiopia and the Queen of Sheba.

Whitney Houston Played “Russian Roulette”—Meds and Alcohol Don’t Mix

Newsmax Health wrote on February 13:

“The death of Whitney Houston from an apparent drug and alcohol interaction was shocking to her fans, but Ozzie Delgado, the pharmacy director of Cleveland Clinic Florida, says it’s a tragedy he has seen played out many times. ‘The problem is that, when people drink, they think they have a tolerance level. But that tolerance level can vary on a given day, depending on what you’ve eaten, for example, so you really don’t know what your threshold is,’ Delgado tells Newsmax Health. Combining certain medications with drinking is ‘like playing Russian roulette,’ he warns.

“Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel room on Saturday. Although the results of the toxicology report on Houston could take weeks, reports say the singer was found dead in her bathtub after drinking while also taking Xanax. According to Delgado, Xanax (alprazolam), a common anti-anxiety drug, is particularly dangerous when combined with alcohol. ‘Xanax belongs to a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, all which have a side effect called temporary amnesia. So now you have temporary amnesia and you’re compounding it with alcohol,’ he notes. ‘As a result, you can lose track of the amount of alcohol you are drinking, and you lose consciousness. It’s a snowball effect… The drug slows your respiratory rate and, when you add alcohol, it slows your respiratory rate even more. You stop breathing at a normal rate, you stop oxygenating your body, and then your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen…’ Houston had struggled with drug addiction for years before her death.

“Xanax isn’t the only drug that can get you into trouble, says Keith Veltri, who is clinical pharmacy manager at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y. ‘There are a lot of medications that, specifically when mixed with alcohol, can depress the respiratory system and cause drowsiness…’ He says he believes such drugs are over-prescribed, especially anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax and Valium. ‘Generally, Valium or Xanax for insomnia should only be taken for three weeks, or anxiety for four months…’

“But it isn’t only the anti-anxiety drugs (which are also prescribed for epilepsy) that can be dangerous when used with alcohol. Similar problems can also arise with prescription antidepressants such as Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, and Wellbutrin, which is also prescribed for smoking cessation. Drugs used to fight insomnia, whether prescription or over-the-counter, also can be deadly when combined with alcohol. In addition, anti-psychotics such as Amplify, Seroquel, Risperdal, Haldol, and Thorazine should never be taken with alcohol. Patients should avoid drinking while taking painkillers such as oxycontin, morphine, and codeine, he says.

“It isn’t only prescription drugs that can be dangerous. Delgado says that care should also be taken if you’re using a cough preparation that contains dextromethorphan, as many common over-the-counter cough syrups do. ‘People should be concerned with any of these medications that have “DM” in the name,’ says Delgado. ‘When it comes to a lethal interaction with alcohol, most people don’t realize that it can take only one drug to do this,’ he says. ‘This is a common problem and many people have died. It’s just magnified when it happens to a Hollywood star.’ Performers who have died after mixing drugs and alcohol include rock stars Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones, actor Alan Ladd, and country singer Hank Williams…”

Whether or not Whitney Houston—a practicing Baptist–died because of drug and alcohol interaction, the combination of alcohol and drugs—whether illegal or even legal, as well as prescription and non-prescription drugs—can many times become deadly. It is a shame that a supposedly Christian nation like the USA and its citizens and Hollywood “icons” do not follow the Bible even in its most elementary injunctions and principles—that it is God who made our bodies which should become holy—rather than being abused.

Birth Control Fight—Hypocrisy Galore

The Los Angeles Times wrote on February 15:

“Since President Obama moved to require Catholic hospitals and universities to offer their employees contraceptive health benefits, Republicans have rushed to accuse the administration of an unprecedented attack on religious freedoms. None has been more forceful than former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who accused Obama of ‘a direct violation of the 1st Amendment.’ But years before the current partisan firestorm, GOP lawmakers and governors around the country, including Huckabee, backed similar mandates.

“Twenty-two states have laws or regulations that resemble, at least in part, the Obama administration’s original rule. More than a third had some Republican support, a review of state records shows. In six states, including Arkansas, those contraceptive mandates were signed by GOP governors.

“In Massachusetts in 2006, then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed a healthcare overhaul that kept in place a contraceptive mandate signed by his Republican predecessor. Now the GOP presidential candidate is calling the Obama rule an ‘assault on religion.’ At the federal level, President George W. Bush never challenged a similar federal mandate imposed in 2000…

“Congressional Republicans are pushing legislation to exempt all employers from providing contraceptive coverage if it goes against their beliefs. In 2000, when Iowa became one of the first states to enact a contraceptive mandate, the Republican Legislature overwhelmingly backed the bill, which has no exemption for religious employers of any kind…

“In Arizona, state Rep. Linda Binder, a pro-choice Republican, formed a bipartisan coalition to push her bill, which exempted churches but not other church-affiliated institutions, through the Republican-controlled Legislature. Then-Gov. Jane Hull, a Republican and a Catholic, signed the measure into law. In New York, a similar law also won GOP support in the Legislature. It was signed in 2001 by Gov. George E. Pataki, another Republican.

“Four years later, the Arkansas law easily cleared that state’s Legislature, with help from Republican lawmakers, including two GOP cosponsors. Huckabee signed it in April 2005. He defended the law in a statement. ‘Religious employers are not required to comply with this policy,’ he said. ‘My position is, and always has been, that religious entities shouldn’t be forced to pay for contraception.’ But like the original federal regulation proposed by Obama, the Arkansas law did not exempt church-affiliated hospitals and universities. It exempts only ‘religious employers’ that are nonprofit organizations whose primary mission is ‘the inculcation of religious values,’ and primarily employ people who share the same religion, a standard few Catholic hospitals meet.”

To top it all, arch-conservative Catholic Republican Presidential candidate (father of seven children) Rick Santorum stated in an interview in 2006 that any kind of contraceptives (including those preventing pregnancies) are “harmful to women” and “harmful to our society.”

ABC News printed his most recent “clarifications” on the matter in its article, dated February 15, 2012:

“And his personal position against contraception has solidified… he said he disagrees with others in the Christian faith who believe that contraception is OK. ‘It’s not OK because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be,’ he said. ‘They’re supposed to be within marriage, they are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal, but also, but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act. And if you can take one part out that’s not for purposes of procreation, that’s not one of the reasons, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women, so why can’t you take other parts of that out? And all of a sudden, it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure. And that’s certainly a part of it—and it’s an important part of it, don’t get me wrong—but there’s a lot of things we do for pleasure, and this is special, and it needs to be seen as special.’”

To be very clear on this, this view point is opposed to the teachings of the Bible. To say that God prohibits birth control, preventing pregnancies, within the confines of marriage, and that the sexual act must always include the purpose of procreation and cannot be done for “mere pleasure” within marriage, is not only against biblical teaching; it is also an irresponsible position. But this concept finds, sadly, its origins in the biblical record about the Garden of Eden, when the first man and his wife became ashamed of their sexuality, considering it as evil, even though God declared that everything that He had made was good. It was  Satan—not God–who convinced Adam and Eve that sex was dirty and could only be viewed as somewhat “acceptable,” if it was to be used merely for procreation.

Divorce—The Terrible Suffering of Innocent Children

Zenit wrote on February 10:

“Each year in the United States over a million children are the innocent parties to the divorce of their parents. While divorce also hurts the parents it is the children who particularly suffer…  As would be expected, divorce affects the ability of parents to relate to their children. One study found that the stress caused by divorce damages the relationship between children and their mothers for as many as 40% of divorced mothers. This insufficiency is more marked by the time children are in high school and college…

“Another aspect… is the effect of divorce on religious practice among children. They found that following divorce, children are more likely to cease practicing their faith. This lessening of religious practice means that children suffer from a lack of the beneficial effects of religion, in areas as diverse as marital stability, education, income, and physical and mental health… At the level of elementary school there is an immediate decline in academic performance. At high school level children from intact families have significantly better test scores compared to children of divorced parents. One example in the study was that by the age of 13 there is an average difference of half a year in the reading ability between children of divorced parents and children from intact families.

“Other research cited included a study that found children from divorced families were 26% more likely to drop out of secondary school compared to children brought up in intact families… Divorce not only imposes costs on families but also on government and society. Children of divorced families are considerably more likely to engage in delinquent behavior, to be involved in fighting, robberies, and substance abuse…

“Higher levels of child abuse and neglect are further consequences of divorce… With the high level of divorce in recent times these debilitating consequences will continue to be played out in the years to come. Not a comforting thought as Western society continues to witness continued attacks on family life and attempts to re-define marriage.”

No wonder God thunders at us that “He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence… Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16).

This Week in the News

We begin with alarming trends manifesting the inevitable political and economic downfall of the United States of America, discuss the fragile relationship between the EU and the USA; Europe’s ambitions; and the volatile relationship between the EU and Greece.

We continue to warn of the frightening development pertaining to Iran. We relate the fact that a victory for Israel against Iran in a violent confrontation is far from certain and that the cocky attitude of the USA might suffer some serious humiliation. In addition, we see now that Iran is beginning to threaten Europe!

We report on the “Arab Spring” in Egypt, which is becoming a nightmare for Egypt’s women and the USA and Israel; and we speak of a shocking allegation that allegedly Interpol collaborated with Saudi Arabia in support of deadly Islamist radical fanaticism.

We also convey an interesting archaeological discovery regarding the legendary goldmines of the Queen of Sheba; comment on Whitney Houston’s death and the deadly interaction of alcohol and many illegal and even legal drugs, including prescription and non-prescription drugs; give an example of typical political hypocrisy; address the unbiblical teaching that all contraceptives are wrong; and conclude with a report on the terrible consequences of divorce on innocent children.

Update 529

A Good Minister of Jesus Christ

On February 18, 2012, Dave Harris will give the sermon, titled, “A Good Minister of Jesus Christ.”

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.

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The Giving Way

by Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), and His life was one dedicated to that very end. God the Father “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

What examples both God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, set for all those who follow their calling to God’s way of life. Giving is demonstrated by God’s actions, and His Word is replete with examples. They set the standard in giving, and we are to follow that lead in our own lives.

When Paul addressed the Aeropagus, he spoke about the attributes of God when he said: “Nor is He worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything since He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25).

We have been taught in the Church, for decades, that there are two ways of life – that of the “give” way and that of the “get” way. But how giving are we?

We know that there are many that receive from us our weekly Update either by e-mail or a hard copy through the post, our monthly letters, sermon tapes and CD’s, new booklets and other material. But it does take money to keep giving away, free of charge, all of this material to all who ask—and far too many recipients outside the Church seem to take our service of love for granted.

Church members, inevitably, understand the principles of tithing and giving. Perhaps it never enters the minds of those who have received material from us for years that we rely on such income to be able to continue to give. Some, of course, may just not be able to give due to difficult financial circumstances. But for those who are serious about God’s way of life and who are capable of paying their share in the proclamation of the gospel, giving is a must.

How are we doing? Do we practice the give way? If so, then Scripture tells us that we are only doing what we ought to do. “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done that was our duty to do’” (Luke 17:10). If we are not practicing the give way, then it is time to reconsider our approach. We are responsible for the knowledge that we have been given!

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We begin with alarming trends manifesting the inevitable political and economic downfall of the United States of America, discuss the fragile relationship between the EU and the USA; Europe’s ambitions; and the volatile relationship between the EU and Greece.

We continue to warn of the frightening development pertaining to Iran. We relate the fact that a victory for Israel against Iran in a violent confrontation is far from certain and that the cocky attitude of the USA might suffer some serious humiliation. In addition, we see now that Iran is beginning to threaten Europe!

We report on the “Arab Spring” in Egypt, which is becoming a nightmare for Egypt’s women and the USA and Israel; and we speak of a shocking allegation that allegedly Interpol collaborated with Saudi Arabia in support of deadly Islamist radical fanaticism.

We also convey an interesting archaeological discovery regarding the legendary goldmines of the Queen of Sheba; comment on Whitney Houston’s death and the deadly interaction of alcohol and many illegal and even legal drugs, including prescription and non-prescription drugs; give an example of typical political hypocrisy; address the unbiblical teaching that all contraceptives are wrong; and conclude with a report on the terrible consequences of divorce on innocent children.

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Chaos After U.S. Decline?

On February 11, 2012, The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy article, titled, “Why the World Needs America.” Even though we do not agree with everything written in the article and disagree quite strongly with certain statements, which we do not quote herein, the following excepts are interesting and worth repeating:

“The downfall of the Roman Empire brought an end not just to Roman rule but to Roman government and law and to an entire economic system stretching from Northern Europe to North Africa… Many of us take for granted how the world looks today. But it might look a lot different without America at the top… After the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, British control of the seas and the balance of great powers on the European continent provided relative security and stability…

“With the outbreak of World War I, the age of settled peace and advancing liberalism… collapsed into an age of hyper-nationalism, despotism and economic calamity… The collapse of the British and European orders in the 20th century did not produce a new dark age—though if Nazi Germany and imperial Japan had prevailed, it might have—but the horrific conflict that it produced was, in its own way, just as devastating…

“Would the end of the present American-dominated order have less dire consequences?…The present world order was largely shaped by American power and reflects American interests and preferences. If the balance of power shifts in the direction of other nations, the world order will change to suit their interests and preferences… For several decades, the balance of power in the world has favored democratic governments. In a genuinely post-American world, the balance would shift toward the great-power autocracies. Both Beijing and Moscow already protect dictators like Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. If they gain greater relative influence in the future, we will see fewer democratic transitions and more autocrats hanging on to power…

“The ancient democracies of Greece and the republics of Rome and Venice all fell to more powerful forces or through their own failings… If and when American power declines, the institutions and norms that American power has supported will decline, too. Or more likely, if history is a guide, they may collapse altogether as we make a transition to another kind of world order, or to disorder. We may discover then that the U.S. was essential to keeping the present world order together and that the alternative to American power was not peace and harmony but chaos and catastrophe—which is what the world looked like right before the American order came into being…”

With the loss of US power, this world will indeed change dramatically. Power blocs in Europe and the Far East will develop, which will plunge this world into a terrible and unprecedented series of wars.

No Real Solution

The Los Angeles Times wrote on February 14:

“President Obama released a budget proposal for the coming fiscal year that offers no real solution to the United States’ long-term fiscal problems. This country is hardly Greece, but Washington’s current policies put it on a path to accumulate far too much debt…

“Congress makes the ultimate decisions about taxes and spending, so the annual budget proposal from the White House typically serves as the opening bid in a months-long debate. This president, however, has waited for Republicans and Congress to go first on the tougher fiscal issues. On Monday, Obama even called on Congress to reverse one of the more difficult decisions it had made, which was to impose $1.2 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts on discretionary programs over the next decade.

“…even if lawmakers were to adopt all of Obama’s deficit-cutting measures, they wouldn’t go far enough to set the budget on a path toward balance… All told, his proposal comes up about $2 trillion short of the savings his own deficit-reduction commission called for over 10 years… the government needs a better plan for putting its fiscal house in order than Obama offered Monday.”

And in spite of sweeping irrational promises from Republican candidates to balance the budget, the inescapable truth is that, no matter who runs this country, the economic situation of the USA is doomed.

EU-US Relationship

The EUObserver wrote on February 14:

“With pressure coming from every direction, the EU and the US now, more than ever, need an honest discussion about their partnership… The electoral year in the United States poses a challenge to Europeans… Regardless of who will sit in the Oval Office for the next four years, three issues will take precedence on the transatlantic agenda.

“First, amidst the budgetary cuts in the US, any future global police-type military operations will be carried out more selectively. But when the US national interest is under threat, shrewd accounting goes out the window. In any confrontation between Israel and Iran, the US will be forced to prove its ‘iron clad commitment to Israel’s security.’ Although Obama remains committed to the diplomatic path to stop Iran from getting its hands on nuclear [weapons], he has not taken any options off the table.

“His Republican competitors speak even more openly about military intervention, accusing Obama of failing to ‘show Iran that [the US] ha[s] the capacity to remove them militarily from their plans to have nuclear weapons.’ Any military confrontation in the region will have direct implications for Europe, including military involvement if Iran retaliates.

“Second, concerns about the growing importance of China – and an increasing fear of China – in the US will need to be addressed… To act as an economic bulwark to China’s regional dominance, Obama proposed an ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership and intends to create a Trade Enforcement Unit to investigate unfair trade practices. But these plans have caused uneasiness among Europeans who are afraid that similar moves will be interpreted as a direct challenge to China, in turn launching new competition in the region.

“Even more worrying is the language of Republican contenders calling for a strong military capability in the Pacific and deepening cooperation with India and other regional allies.

“Finally, normalising relations with Arab countries and the Muslims will remain a huge challenge.

“Despite the many efforts of the Obama Administration, the US presence in Afghanistan and its clear position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict still make Muslims sceptical of the US intentions… his Republican opponents underline Israel’s growing security problems and call for increasing the level of military assistance and co-ordination (Romney) while at the same time describing the Palestinians as ‘an invented people’ (Gingrich). Such statements cause consternation among Europeans…

“How Washington responds to these challenges will no doubt have serious implications for Europe. But instead of hoping for the best, Europeans should finally get their act together and focus on three major objectives: launching a comprehensive review of the European Security Strategy; adopting a credible and enforceable strategy for Asia; and consolidating policies towards the southern neighbourhood and Palestinian statehood. What we have instead is a catalogue of half-measures. The establishment of the European External Action Service was a messy exercise but it cannot be used indefinitely as an excuse for inaction and a lack of policies…”

The relationship between the USA and Europe is bound to deteriorate, and Europe will begin to unify even stronger in political and military matters. Please also note the next article.

EU—a Full-Fledged Political Union in the Future

The EUObserver wrote on February 14:

“European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has told the Chinese public that the EU will become a fully-fledged ‘political union’ after the financial crisis… ‘I want to make this very clear to Chinese public opinion… Is the European Union really going to progress? I say: “Yes. No doubt about it” … Precisely because of the problems in the euro area the conclusion has been to further integrate and to complete the monetary union with a fiscal union and, I believe, in the future toward a political union.’”

Italy—a Future Major EU Driver

The EUObserver reported on February 15:

“Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti charmed all major political parties in the European Parliament on Wednesday (15 February), pledging to defend EU institutions at a time when national governments are increasingly blaming Brussels for austerity… His speech… was aimed at restoring his country’s standing as one of the founding members of the EU and the euro after years of political penumbra under his controversial predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi.

“The new Italy – in the words of Monti, a former banker and economics professor – will be committed not only to austerity, but also to growth and will not just ‘passively transpose EU guidelines, but wants to be a major driver of these guidelines.’ It is in this ‘spirit’ that he invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Rome on Friday, for talks which will ‘focus on the community method and recognise the priority of EU institutions’…

“He also pointedly switched to English when criticising a ‘deeply superficial insular culture that naively might believe EU integration means a superstate’ after the UK vetoed crisis-related changes to the EU Treaty last December.”

The EU and Greece

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 10:

“Many observers are losing faith in the idea that Greece can be saved even if the second bailout goes through. With unemployment at 20.9 percent and the economy in its fifth consecutive year of recession, it is unclear how Greece will ever be able to generate growth or begin to pay down its debt…

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘The Greek misery has no end… Greece presents a desolate picture, in terms of its economic structures, competitiveness, social cohesion and political system. In other parts of the world, it would be called a failed state. It is time that the Europeans admit that fact and take the necessary action. Whether the resulting conclusion is that Greece can no longer be saved from bankruptcy, or whether it should be persuaded — or forced — to leave the euro zone, is ultimately a question of math… No finance minister knows the answer, and no economist can calculate it reliably. This uncertainty is deadly, both for the markets and for countries. It must be ended quickly.’

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘The EU partners and the Greek government have a baleful fear of the truth. Which is the following: Greece cannot actually be saved (with the current approach), not by slashing the minimum wages, and not with cuts in salaries, which are supposed to remain frozen until the country has lowered its unemployment rate from nearly 21 percent to 10 percent. But where will the new jobs come from?…’

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘Greece is currently trying to do something impossible: which is to reform the economy in the midst of a deep depression. That simply doesn’t work.’

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘The agreement reached in Athens between the Greek government and the international donors … has not prompted high hopes on either side. Greece promised what it had to, in order to get the new aid package. And the troika acted as if it — against its better judgment — actually believes that the Greek economy can be healed. But the pictures of the demonstrations and the burning German flags show that they didn’t reckon with the Greek population. Ultimately, the crucial thing is not the politicians’ willingness to carry out reforms … but the will of the people. And the Greeks seem unwilling and unable to accept, for the sake of the stability of the single currency, cuts that go far beyond what we in Germany have ever experienced in terms of austerity measures… From an economic perspective, the country needs to leave the euro zone, because it is economically too weak and its administrative structures are too underdeveloped to be able to keep up with the others…’

“The financial daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘During the poker game with their creditors, the Greeks have been acting as if they had a joker up their sleeve. That joker was the threat of declaring bankruptcy and triggering a panicked chain reaction among investors. … But that isn’t a trump card. The main victims of a disorderly bankruptcy would be the Greeks themselves. But the troika has also been deceiving the audience of the Greek drama with numerical trickery that is easy to see through… The question of how Greece is supposed to return to growth despite the harsh austerity measures remains the troika’s secret. Both sides are lying through their teeth. … The only way to ‘save’ Greece is through an orderly national default…’”

The Associated Press reported on February 14:

“Two steps forward, one step back. So goes the frenzied effort across Europe to bail out Greece and save it from a potentially devastating default on its debts. A meeting of the finance chiefs of the 17 euro countries to discuss Greece’s second multibillion bailout planned for Wednesday was called off after Athens failed to deliver on several demands made by its partners in the currency union… Tensions between Athens and other European capitals have hit new highs this week…

“Greece is still optimistic that it will eventually get the bailout… But after keeping Greece alive through bailout loans for almost two years — and seeing the country repeatedly miss its targets — some of the richer euro countries like the Netherlands or Germany are reluctant to commit new money without firm assurances…”

The Financial Times added on February 15:

“The battle of wills between Athens and its eurozone lenders intensified on Wednesday, with Greece’s finance minister accusing ‘forces in Europe’ of pushing his country out of the euro while his German counterpart suggested postponing Greek elections and installing a new government without political parties.”

As we have said from the outset, Greece might leave the Eurozone, but the euro won’t collapse.

Will Israeli Attack on Iran Be Unsuccessful?

y-Net News reported on February 12:

“Two weeks after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reportedly said Israel is likely to strike Iran in the spring, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière said an Israeli attack will be unsuccessful. According to the minister, ‘a success of an Israeli strike on Iran nuclear facilities is highly unlikely and (will cause) obvious political damage’…

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met on Saturday with Hamas prime minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, who is visiting Tehran. ‘The world will witness Iran’s major nuclear achievements soon’ said Ahmadinejad. Haniyeh met with supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Sunday. In the meeting Khamenei promised Iran’s support for the Palestinian resistance…”

In Any Event, It Would Be Terribly Complicated…

USA Today wrote on February 13:

“If Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, the strike would probably take the form of a complex air assault involving scores of planes that would have to penetrate Iranian air defenses and attack up to a couple of dozen targets simultaneously, analysts say. ‘This would be way more sophisticated than anything that’s ever been done before,’ said Charles Wald, a retired Air Force general who led the coalition air campaign in Afghanistan that helped topple the Taliban. By contrast, Israel’s strike on Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor in 1981 and an attack in Syria in 2007 were simpler operations that required Israel to hit a single above-ground target. Neither country had sophisticated air defense capabilities…

“Iran’s nuclear facilities are dispersed throughout the country, some of which are being hardened to withstand bomb blasts, said Colin Kahl, a Georgetown professor and former Pentagon official overseeing Middle East policy. Pilots would face a network of radar and anti-aircraft missiles designed to protect Iran’s airspace… Wald said the Israelis would either have to use aerial refueling or land somewhere en route to refuel. It’s not known whether any country would provide permission or whether Israel could set up a covert refueling facility in the desert… Flying over Iraq is the most direct route for Israeli pilots. Since the U.S. withdrawal, Iraq is not capable of effectively protecting its airspace, which potentially would give Israel a way to reach Iran while maintaining an element of surprise…

“Israel has large bombs capable of penetrating bunkers, but some analysts say they need more sophisticated munitions to help knock out some of the well-protected facilities… Analysts say timing on a strike would be critical, since a lengthy operation would raise the likelihood of U.S. opposition and could trigger a wider conflict…

“The United States should be prepared for an Iranian counterstrike, Wald said. Iran has medium-range missiles that could reach Israel, Kahl said… Iran’s navy could interfere with commercial shipping in the narrow Strait of Hormuz, disrupting the world’s oil supplies. In 2009, about 17% of all oil traded worldwide went through the narrow strait… Iran would probably use its surrogates, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to attack Israel…”

USA: “We Will Stop Iran”

Newsmax reported on February 12:

“Iran has increased the number of small, fast patrol craft in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, some of which have been outfitted with a large warhead for a suicide run at U.S. vessels, the U.S. Navy’s top Gulf commander said… The U.S. Navy would move to stop any Iranian attempt to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz or Persian Gulf as an ‘act of war’ the international community wouldn’t tolerate…

“The U.S. has four Avenger-class mine-sweeping ships in the Gulf… The U.K.’s Royal Navy has another four vessels… U.S. officials… estimated in 2008 that Iran possessed as many as 5,000 mines… The inventory also includes as many as 600 advanced mines bought from Russia, such as the MDM-3, which can be dropped from an aircraft…”

However, an easy and swift victory of the US Navy over Iranian naval forces is not assured by any means. It is being admitted that Iran could make life difficult for the US Navy. Note the next article.

Reuters reported on February 12:

“Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks… Iran now has 10 small submarines…

“Military experts say the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf – which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers – is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran’s navy. But ever since al Qaeda suicide bombers in a small boat killed 17 sailors on board the destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a port in Yemen in 1996, Washington has been wary of the vulnerability of its huge battleships to bomb attacks by small enemy craft.”

Has It Already Begun?

ABC News wrote on February 14:

“With Iran allegedly striking out at Israeli citizens and Jewish targets around the world, Israeli and American security officials in the U.S. are on high alert. Israeli officials told ABC News that the level of personal security on high-ranking Embassy officials as well as other, lower profile officials in the U.S. is at its highest in at least five years, a response to what they called ‘a coordinated series of attacks’…

“Federal officials… noted that in cities like New York and Washington, D.C., ‘the targets are much harder’ than in countries like India, Georgia and Thailand, where Iran has allegedly attacked or attempted to attack in the past two days. But they also added that Iran can be ‘belligerent.’

“Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University in D.C., agreed that the recent incidents in India, Georgia, Thailand and Azerbaijan have ‘all the hallmarks of a concerted campaign’ that could extend to U.S. soil. ‘The recent attack on a Saudi official in Washington shows a willingness to attack in the United States,’ said Cilluffo…”

Iran Threatens Europe!

The New York Times wrote on February 15:

“Besieged by international sanctions over the Iranian nuclear program including a planned oil embargo by Europe, Iran warned six European buyers on Wednesday that it might strike first by immediately cutting them off from Iranian oil. Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said the threat was conveyed to the ambassadors of Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal in separate meetings at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran…

“‘Iran warns Europe it will find other customers for its oil,’ the Islamic Republic News Agency said. ‘European people should know that if Iran changes destinations of the oil it gives to them, the responsibility will rest with the European governments themselves.’… The European Union has been one of Iran’s biggest markets for oil, taking about 18 percent of total Iranian petroleum exports in 2011. Among the European Union members, the biggest buyers have been Italy, Spain and France…

“The Iranians also announced new advances in their nuclear program, including escalation of Iran’s enrichment practices, which if accurate could serve to further aggravate tensions… President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presided over ceremonies to mark advances in Iran’s nuclear program, partly to project an image of Iranian defiance against the Western sanctions. The new advances include centrifuges that Iran said were capable of enriching uranium at a much faster rate, and the insertion of the first domestically produced nuclear fuel rod into a nuclear reactor in Tehran.”

No “Arab Spring” for Egypt’s Women

Deutsche Welle reported on February 12:

“Side-by-side with fellow male protesters, Egypt’s women stood on Tahrir Square demanding freedom and democracy. But due to the military regime and the rise of Islamic factions the situation of women is deteriorating… The military is brutal in their treatment of women… The military regime is also trying to keep women from taking political office…

“The new parliament is even considering revoking the so-called Personal Status Law that women had been fighting for for years. If successful, it would mean that women could no longer divorce – only men would have the right to do so. Women would also lose the right to bring up their children beyond the age of nine. Fathers could then take away their children aged nine, not 15 as the law states now…”

So much for freedom, liberty and equality in the new Egypt…

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Threatens USA and Israel

CNS News reported on February 13:

“A top Muslim Brotherhood official has warned that any cuts in U.S. aid to Egypt could affect Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel…

“Egyptian judges have referred 16 Americans and 27 others linked to NGOs [Non-Governmental Organizations] for trial, accusing them of using foreign funds to encourage disruptive protests… On Capitol Hill, the chorus of senior lawmakers calling for aid to Egypt to be suspended over the affair is growing, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that the funds could be in jeopardy…

“‘This is only the beginning of the anti-American populism/nationalism/Islamism we are going to be seeing in Egypt from now on,’ Mideast expert Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel, wrote in a column Sunday. ‘What’s amazing is that nobody is pointing out that if an Egyptian government is willing to risk U.S. aid and have a confrontation on this small issue, what are they going to do regarding big issues?’ Rubin said. ‘What happens when the Egyptian government moves toward Islamism or helps Hamas fight Israel on some level?…’”

Reuters added on February 15:

“State-run newspapers splashed accusations of a U.S. plan to spread ‘anarchy’ in Egypt across their front pages on Tuesday… the headlines marked another low in the crisis between Washington and Cairo triggered by the investigation into U.S.-based non-governmental organisations that has led to criminal charges against Americans who have been prevented from leaving the country…The spat is one of the worst in more than 30 years of close U.S.-Egyptian ties…”

The Associated Press stated on February 15:

“Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday threw its weight behind the country’s military-backed government in an escalating dispute with the U.S. over the funding of pro-democracy groups… On Wednesday, the Brotherhood – whose political arm controls the largest bloc of seats in Egypt’s parliament – praised officials carrying out the crackdown and said it supported their ‘nationalist position.’ The Brotherhood said it ‘rejects all forms of pressure the U.S. is exerting,’ the statement published on the group’s website said.”

The USA and its allies supported strongly the “Arab Spring” movement. Since then, it has become obvious—which should have been clear from the outset—that the movement gave birth to the rise of radical Islamists, who are strongly opposed to the West and any style of Western democracy, and who are also very hostile towards Israel. Again, America’s foolish foreign policy has helped create a Frankenstein monster…

Shocking—Interpol Accused of Collaborating with Saudi Arabia over Islamist Radical Fanaticism

National Review reported on February 10:

“Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation’s red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on the prophet’s birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The posting, which was later deleted, read: ‘I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don’t understand about you … I will not pray for you.’

“More than 13,000 people joined a Facebook page titled ‘The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari’. Clerics in Saudi Arabia called for him to be charged with apostasy, a religious offence punishable by death…”

The Australian added on February 12:

“Malaysia has deported [to Saudi Arabia] a young Saudi journalist wanted in his home country over a Twitter post about the Prophet Mohammed, defying pleas from human rights group who said he faced execution… Kashgari’s detention sparked outrage from human rights groups, with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urging Malaysia not to send him back to face severe punishment and possibly a death sentence.”

When fundamentalists and fanaticism rule, such incredible and despicable conduct can be expected. When a “Christian” organization like Interpol lends a hand to such conduct, this is outrageous and speaks volumes of the indifference and blindness of our Western societies.

Enormous Ancient Goldmine of Queen of Sheba Found

The Guardian reported on February 11:

“Almost 3,000 years ago, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopia and Yemen, arrived in Jerusalem with vast quantities of gold to give to King Solomon. Now an enormous ancient goldmine, together with the ruins of a temple and the site of a battlefield, have been discovered in her former territory… Sheba was a powerful incense-trading kingdom that prospered through trade with Jerusalem and the Roman empire.

“The queen is immortalised in Qur’an and the Bible, which describes her visit to Solomon ‘with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold and precious stones … Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices’… Her story is still told across Africa and Arabia, and the Ethiopian tales are immortalised in the holy book the Kebra Nagast. Hers is said to be one of the world’s oldest love stories. The Bible says she visited Solomon to test his wisdom by asking him several riddles. Legend has it that he wooed her, and that descendants of their child, Menelik – son of the wise – became the kings of Abyssinia.”

Please read our Q&A on Ethiopia and the Queen of Sheba.

Whitney Houston Played “Russian Roulette”—Meds and Alcohol Don’t Mix

Newsmax Health wrote on February 13:

“The death of Whitney Houston from an apparent drug and alcohol interaction was shocking to her fans, but Ozzie Delgado, the pharmacy director of Cleveland Clinic Florida, says it’s a tragedy he has seen played out many times. ‘The problem is that, when people drink, they think they have a tolerance level. But that tolerance level can vary on a given day, depending on what you’ve eaten, for example, so you really don’t know what your threshold is,’ Delgado tells Newsmax Health. Combining certain medications with drinking is ‘like playing Russian roulette,’ he warns.

“Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel room on Saturday. Although the results of the toxicology report on Houston could take weeks, reports say the singer was found dead in her bathtub after drinking while also taking Xanax. According to Delgado, Xanax (alprazolam), a common anti-anxiety drug, is particularly dangerous when combined with alcohol. ‘Xanax belongs to a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, all which have a side effect called temporary amnesia. So now you have temporary amnesia and you’re compounding it with alcohol,’ he notes. ‘As a result, you can lose track of the amount of alcohol you are drinking, and you lose consciousness. It’s a snowball effect… The drug slows your respiratory rate and, when you add alcohol, it slows your respiratory rate even more. You stop breathing at a normal rate, you stop oxygenating your body, and then your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen…’ Houston had struggled with drug addiction for years before her death.

“Xanax isn’t the only drug that can get you into trouble, says Keith Veltri, who is clinical pharmacy manager at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y. ‘There are a lot of medications that, specifically when mixed with alcohol, can depress the respiratory system and cause drowsiness…’ He says he believes such drugs are over-prescribed, especially anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax and Valium. ‘Generally, Valium or Xanax for insomnia should only be taken for three weeks, or anxiety for four months…’

“But it isn’t only the anti-anxiety drugs (which are also prescribed for epilepsy) that can be dangerous when used with alcohol. Similar problems can also arise with prescription antidepressants such as Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, and Wellbutrin, which is also prescribed for smoking cessation. Drugs used to fight insomnia, whether prescription or over-the-counter, also can be deadly when combined with alcohol. In addition, anti-psychotics such as Amplify, Seroquel, Risperdal, Haldol, and Thorazine should never be taken with alcohol. Patients should avoid drinking while taking painkillers such as oxycontin, morphine, and codeine, he says.

“It isn’t only prescription drugs that can be dangerous. Delgado says that care should also be taken if you’re using a cough preparation that contains dextromethorphan, as many common over-the-counter cough syrups do. ‘People should be concerned with any of these medications that have “DM” in the name,’ says Delgado. ‘When it comes to a lethal interaction with alcohol, most people don’t realize that it can take only one drug to do this,’ he says. ‘This is a common problem and many people have died. It’s just magnified when it happens to a Hollywood star.’ Performers who have died after mixing drugs and alcohol include rock stars Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones, actor Alan Ladd, and country singer Hank Williams…”

Whether or not Whitney Houston—a practicing Baptist–died because of drug and alcohol interaction, the combination of alcohol and drugs—whether illegal or even legal, as well as prescription and non-prescription drugs—can many times become deadly. It is a shame that a supposedly Christian nation like the USA and its citizens and Hollywood “icons” do not follow the Bible even in its most elementary injunctions and principles—that it is God who made our bodies which should become holy—rather than being abused.

Birth Control Fight—Hypocrisy Galore

The Los Angeles Times wrote on February 15:

“Since President Obama moved to require Catholic hospitals and universities to offer their employees contraceptive health benefits, Republicans have rushed to accuse the administration of an unprecedented attack on religious freedoms. None has been more forceful than former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who accused Obama of ‘a direct violation of the 1st Amendment.’ But years before the current partisan firestorm, GOP lawmakers and governors around the country, including Huckabee, backed similar mandates.

“Twenty-two states have laws or regulations that resemble, at least in part, the Obama administration’s original rule. More than a third had some Republican support, a review of state records shows. In six states, including Arkansas, those contraceptive mandates were signed by GOP governors.

“In Massachusetts in 2006, then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed a healthcare overhaul that kept in place a contraceptive mandate signed by his Republican predecessor. Now the GOP presidential candidate is calling the Obama rule an ‘assault on religion.’ At the federal level, President George W. Bush never challenged a similar federal mandate imposed in 2000…

“Congressional Republicans are pushing legislation to exempt all employers from providing contraceptive coverage if it goes against their beliefs. In 2000, when Iowa became one of the first states to enact a contraceptive mandate, the Republican Legislature overwhelmingly backed the bill, which has no exemption for religious employers of any kind…

“In Arizona, state Rep. Linda Binder, a pro-choice Republican, formed a bipartisan coalition to push her bill, which exempted churches but not other church-affiliated institutions, through the Republican-controlled Legislature. Then-Gov. Jane Hull, a Republican and a Catholic, signed the measure into law. In New York, a similar law also won GOP support in the Legislature. It was signed in 2001 by Gov. George E. Pataki, another Republican.

“Four years later, the Arkansas law easily cleared that state’s Legislature, with help from Republican lawmakers, including two GOP cosponsors. Huckabee signed it in April 2005. He defended the law in a statement. ‘Religious employers are not required to comply with this policy,’ he said. ‘My position is, and always has been, that religious entities shouldn’t be forced to pay for contraception.’ But like the original federal regulation proposed by Obama, the Arkansas law did not exempt church-affiliated hospitals and universities. It exempts only ‘religious employers’ that are nonprofit organizations whose primary mission is ‘the inculcation of religious values,’ and primarily employ people who share the same religion, a standard few Catholic hospitals meet.”

To top it all, arch-conservative Catholic Republican Presidential candidate (father of seven children) Rick Santorum stated in an interview in 2006 that any kind of contraceptives (including those preventing pregnancies) are “harmful to women” and “harmful to our society.”

ABC News printed his most recent “clarifications” on the matter in its article, dated February 15, 2012:

“And his personal position against contraception has solidified… he said he disagrees with others in the Christian faith who believe that contraception is OK. ‘It’s not OK because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be,’ he said. ‘They’re supposed to be within marriage, they are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal, but also, but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act. And if you can take one part out that’s not for purposes of procreation, that’s not one of the reasons, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women, so why can’t you take other parts of that out? And all of a sudden, it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure. And that’s certainly a part of it—and it’s an important part of it, don’t get me wrong—but there’s a lot of things we do for pleasure, and this is special, and it needs to be seen as special.’”

To be very clear on this, this view point is opposed to the teachings of the Bible. To say that God prohibits birth control, preventing pregnancies, within the confines of marriage, and that the sexual act must always include the purpose of procreation and cannot be done for “mere pleasure” within marriage, is not only against biblical teaching; it is also an irresponsible position. But this concept finds, sadly, its origins in the biblical record about the Garden of Eden, when the first man and his wife became ashamed of their sexuality, considering it as evil, even though God declared that everything that He had made was good. It was  Satan—not God–who convinced Adam and Eve that sex was dirty and could only be viewed as somewhat “acceptable,” if it was to be used merely for procreation.

Divorce—The Terrible Suffering of Innocent Children

Zenit wrote on February 10:

“Each year in the United States over a million children are the innocent parties to the divorce of their parents. While divorce also hurts the parents it is the children who particularly suffer…  As would be expected, divorce affects the ability of parents to relate to their children. One study found that the stress caused by divorce damages the relationship between children and their mothers for as many as 40% of divorced mothers. This insufficiency is more marked by the time children are in high school and college…

“Another aspect… is the effect of divorce on religious practice among children. They found that following divorce, children are more likely to cease practicing their faith. This lessening of religious practice means that children suffer from a lack of the beneficial effects of religion, in areas as diverse as marital stability, education, income, and physical and mental health… At the level of elementary school there is an immediate decline in academic performance. At high school level children from intact families have significantly better test scores compared to children of divorced parents. One example in the study was that by the age of 13 there is an average difference of half a year in the reading ability between children of divorced parents and children from intact families.

“Other research cited included a study that found children from divorced families were 26% more likely to drop out of secondary school compared to children brought up in intact families… Divorce not only imposes costs on families but also on government and society. Children of divorced families are considerably more likely to engage in delinquent behavior, to be involved in fighting, robberies, and substance abuse…

“Higher levels of child abuse and neglect are further consequences of divorce… With the high level of divorce in recent times these debilitating consequences will continue to be played out in the years to come. Not a comforting thought as Western society continues to witness continued attacks on family life and attempts to re-define marriage.”

No wonder God thunders at us that “He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence… Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16).

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Why did Paul have Timothy Circumcised?

In Acts 16:1, we meet up with Paul during his travels north and west of Jerusalem in modern day Turkey. While here, Paul meets an up-and-coming disciple we know as Timothy.  Timothy had a good reputation among the brethren in the area – in the cities of Lystra and Iconium in particular. Paul was impressed with him as well and invited Timothy to join him on his travels through the region. However, before they commence their travels together, Paul has Timothy circumcised (Acts 16:3). While this might not seem like a significant detail, it is important to examine in context because the implications are significant.

Reading Acts 16:1-3 in context, “Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.”

What makes this a notable event is that circumcision was a serious point of contention at the time. Holding fast to the traditions of their forefathers, some converted Jews had previously insisted that circumcision was a necessary ritual to be performed on the membership of the Church, some Pharisees in particular (Acts 15:5). Clearly, the individuals insisting upon the ritual did not understand the salvation made available to the Gentiles, and all men, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In fact, many Jews had such strong feelings about the need for circumcision that they later sought to kill Paul because he had brought Greeks into the temple (Acts 21:28-31). Paul was intimately aware of the real conflict taking place over this issue.

Circumcision was such a divisive issue at the time, even in the church, that the “apostles and elders came together to consider this matter” at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:6). This meeting was largely held to clarify the reasons why circumcision was not necessary for salvation. In attendance at the meeting was Peter, who helped clarify the truth of the matter. “And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: ‘Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they’” (Acts 15:7-11). Among other decisions made at the meeting, the fact that circumcision was not necessary for salvation was firmly established and documented.

With the clear doctrine that “in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6), why did Paul still have Timothy circumcised? Paul certainly knew and believed that it was not necessary for his salvation—in fact, he taught strongly that it would be wrong to be circumcised if it was done with the concept that it was necessary for salvation. The reason is included in the same statement about the event, stating that it was “because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”

The Nelson Study Bible explains:

“Salvation was not the issue here. Instead Timothy became circumcised so that God could use him to reach all people—even the Jews—with the message of the gospel.”

The New Bible Commentary: Revised added:

“Paul circumcised him; so that he might be the more useful in the work of the gospel… He fought against any suggestion that Christians should be circumcised in order to complete their salvation; but circumcision in itself, he held, was religiously indifferent [1 Corinthians 7:19; Galatians 5:6; Galatians 6:15]. Timothy had been brought up by his Jewish mother and grandmother to be a Jew religiously in every point but circumcision. Moreover, as his mother was a Jewess, he ranked as a Jew in Jewish eyes…”

Timothy was circumcised because Paul wanted him to be used effectively for the preaching of the gospel. While it is not necessary for salvation, it is not wrong to perform.

As stated earlier, Paul knew all too well that the Jews he came in contact with had difficulty accepting the doctrine of not requiring circumcision. Since Timothy was a Jew, and since Paul wanted Timothy to help preach the Gospel to them, it was an advantage for Timothy to be circumcised. Paul knew that the Jews would give him more respect and accept him if he was. For the sake of building the Church and bringing more people to salvation, Paul acted wisely without compromising the laws of God. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 we read about the approach he took, “… and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law…” Paul chose to adapt to those he came in contact with, without compromising the truth, in order to help bring them to salvation. By circumcising Timothy, he became accepted as a Jew, and avoided unnecessary disputes.

Even though circumcision was not necessary for salvation, Paul did not want Timothy to become a stumbling block to the Jews. As Paul advises, “But beware, lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.” (1 Corinthians 8:9) In this regard, Timothy was successful. The result of this was that “the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily” (Acts 16:5). While adapting to the customs of the community was effective in this situation, blind conformity to the incomplete understanding of others for the sake of keeping the peace is not what Paul wanted to do. In fact, he came out very strongly against those who conformed to customs at the expense of the truth.

Paul had a strong contention with Peter who went too far in compromising the truth in order to not offend converted Jews. Peter had not totally overcome his prior habit of removing himself from meals with Gentiles when Jews arrived (compare Galatians 2:11-12). Among the faults with this behavior was the false impression it gave to the converted Gentiles, causing them to believe that they were inferior to converted Jews and rejected by them. Paul was upset with Peter and other converts, who “were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:14). Peter was causing an incorrect doctrine of disassociation between Jews and Gentiles to perpetuate. Paul was very strong in his belief that the truth should not be misrepresented. In an effort to avoid offending others, the truth of the gospel must not be compromised.

The circumcision of Timothy was an action performed to prevent unnecessary conflict. In the same way, it did not cause conflict or confusion. Timothy was a Jew, and therefore it was not inappropriate for him to become circumcised. Paul and Timothy understood that the physical act of circumcision had nothing to do with any spiritual requirement for salvation. In a similar situation, when Paul was going into Jerusalem with Titus, a Greek, he did not have him circumcised, because it would have given the wrong impression – that Gentiles need to be circumcised in order to obtain salvation (Galatians 2:3). The point of discernment is in knowing when the truth is being compromised.

In practical terms today, we can extend the principle in our own lives by having a willingness to make further sacrifices that may help us build a proper relationship with people around us. If an action is in accordance with, and not in conflict with the laws of God, and it helps to present ourselves in a respectable light to others who are learning about the truth without giving a false impression, it is not wrong to do it. In fact, a practice is appropriate and good if it does not violate God’s laws and helps others come to true salvation.

Lead Writer: Eric Rank

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Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock

Individual reservations for the Feast 2012 with the Hilton Garden Inn in Pismo Beach, California, can commence on Friday, February 24, 2012. The hotel has been provided with a list of our members who are planning to attend. Further information will be forthcoming in the next Update, and those who have committed to attending with us will be individually contacted.

A new StandingWatch program was posted on YouTube and on our Website www.standingwatch.org. It is titled, “Foolish Science.” God created man to cultivate and take care of the environment. But man disobeyed and rejected God, while deciding on his own how to live. Today, God-defying scientists create genetically modified mosquitoes, which pose a real threat to humans, and carnal minds manufacture the most deadly form of the bird flu, which is now able to jump from birds to humans. Thankfully, this crazy, Satan-inspired world will soon come to an end, and when man undergoes a total change of his thinking, he will experience soundness and peace after 6,000 years of sickness, hatred and war.

Two new radio programs (Numbers 11 and 12) were recorded this week, titled, “Paradise—Lost and Found” and “Return to the Promised Land.” They will be broadcast, respectively, beginning Sunday, March 11 and March 18, 2012. Our radio broadcasts are being posted on our Website, www.standingwatch.org.

A new German sermon was posted on YouTube, titled, “Der Kampf um Jerusalem” (The Battle for Jerusalem”).

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To Nourish and Strengthen

by Laura Harris

In the book “The Unhealthy Truth: How Food is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It,” Robyn O’Brien discusses how companies have manipulated our food supply through genetic engineering and chemical additives.  These changes in our food system are linked to recent increases in allergies, cancer and other medical maladies, particularly in children.  In his sermon last year entitled “Signs of the Times,” Michael Bannen described the desecration of God’s perfect food source in the name of corporate greed. 

This revelation hit home when my family was diagnosed with food allergies, and we had to significantly modify our eating habits.  Instead of providing nourishment, the foods we ate were hurting us.  We have eliminated many common ingredients, such as wheat, dairy and eggs, from our daily consumption.  Although we are just beginning this dietary transformation, we are seeing some improvements in our health. 

To my chagrin, I have taken the food we eat for granted.  Often times I hear prayers that end with a blessing on the upcoming meal, yet I did not give it much thought or reflection.   Now more than ever, asking God to nourish and strengthen our bodies through the food He has provided has greater meaning for me.  I cannot take God’s blessings lightly, even the daily meal.

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How This Work is Financed

This Update is an official publication by the ministry of the Church of the Eternal God in the United States of America; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Team: Norbert Link, Dave Harris, Rene Messier, Brian Gale, Johanna Link, Eric Rank, Michael Link, Anna Link, Kalon Mitchell, Manuela Mitchell, Dawn Thompson

Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank

Our activities and literature, including booklets, weekly updates, sermons on CD are provided free of charge. They are made possible by the tithes, offerings and contributions of Church members and others who have elected to support this Work.

While we do not solicit the general public for funds, contributions are gratefully welcomed and are tax-deductible in the U.S. and Canada.

Donations can be sent to the following addresses:

United States: Church of the Eternal God, P.O. Box 270519, San Diego, CA 92198

Canada: Church of God, ACF, Box 1480, Summerland, B.C. V0H 1Z0

United Kingdom: Global Church of God, PO Box 44, MABLETHORPE, LN12 9AN, United Kingdom

The Truth About Marriage

Can there be marriage between members of the same gender? Should people live together before they get married? Should one get married at all? If married, can they ever get a divorce? Did God establish marriage just for the purpose of procreation? Are contraceptives wrong? Did Mary remain a virgin until she died? Who told man that his natural state in marriage was sinful and dirty, and that Adam and Eve had to be ashamed of it?

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Current Events

Russia and China Veto UN Resolution Against Syria—“Security Council Should Be Abolished”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 6:

“In the end, the joint resolution drafted by the Arabs, Europeans and Americans failed, and the killing continued in Syria… The resolution didn’t even contain any sanctions. The text of the resolution had already been watered down before the vote in response to considerable pressure from Russia. Ultimately, Moscow still refused to support it — making the tone of the conversations in Munich on Sunday even angrier.

“Pointing to Russia and China, Yemeni Nobel Peace Price [sic] recipient Tawakkul Karman lamented: ‘In the name of the Arab youth, I condemn the position of these countries. They support the criminal regime of Bashar Assad.’ Kenneth Roth, the head of… Human Rights Watch, added that the actions of Russia and China had made the Security Council ‘irrelevant.’ US Senator Joe Lieberman railed that the Chinese and the Russians… had now isolated themselves in the international community, just as Assad himself had done.

“Moscow doesn’t seem particularly moved by the outrage over its veto… Russia is firmly sticking to its support of Assad… Damascus purchases Russian rockets, Yak-130 fighter jets and it cooperates on a large scale with Russian energy companies… Beijing also continues to work together with the Assad regime…

“US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a grim scenario if Assad remains in office: ‘More bloodshed, increasing resistance by those whose families are being killed and whose homes are being bombed, and a greater likelihood that Syria will descend into civil war.’”

Der Spiegel Online published the following related article on February 6:

“… the international community remains divided after Saturday’s move by Russia and China to veto a United Nations resolution condemning the violence in the Middle Eastern country. Syrian opposition leaders expressed outrage over the veto… On Monday, the US moved to close its embassy in Damascus and withdraw its diplomats and staff because of instability in the country.

“Speaking at a joint press conference in Paris after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, ‘France and Germany will not abandon the Syrian people. We will not accept that the international community remains blocked.’ Russia and China, however, have staunchly defended their positions…

“Editorialists in the German press on Monday unanimously condemn the veto, saying it sends a worrying signal about the reliability of Russia and China as future partners in international affairs…

“The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘It is a disgrace that Russia and China have cast their veto against a resolution that contained neither sanctions nor a weapons embargo. It didn’t authorize military intervention either. It merely condemned the genocidal behavior of the Assad regime. The fact that even this was too much for the rulers in Moscow and Beijing reveals a lot about their mindset and their authoritarian view of government. It’s almost as if they are saying that a dictator should be allowed to wage war against his own population… For Syria that means the killing and the civil war will go on…’

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘… the West and the Arab League certainly won’t be able to stand back and watch Assad put down the protests for much longer. They must build a new forum to organize resistance to the regime without Russia and China…’

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘…The Russian and Chinese government’s decisions make a mockery of the Security Council… When the Security Council cannot even agree to verbally criticize the merciless slaughter of citizens by a dictator’s clique, then it has revealed itself to be redundant. The shelved resolution should, in the future, be used as a reminder that this body has squandered its opportunity. The way the Security Council is composed should be abolished along with the right to a veto.’”

A coalition between Russia and China, hostile to European interests, is clearly forming. There are also more and more voices advocating the abolishment of the Security Council and even the entire UN, which have indeed been irrelevant, while replacing them with a more “competent” body.

Syria and Russia vs. the Arab League and the West

BBC News reported on February 7:

“Gulf Arab states say they are expelling Syrian ambassadors in their countries and recalling their envoys from Syria. The Gulf Cooperation Council said Syria had rejected Arab attempts to solve the crisis and end 11 months of bloodshed. The US closed its embassy in Syria on Monday, and several European countries have recalled their ambassadors. The moves came as Syrian government forces continued their fierce assault on the restive city of Homs, and Russian officials visited Damascus.

“Separately Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, denied reports that he had threatened Qatar’s prime minister during talks at the UN last week. Someone was trying to drive a wedge between Russia and the Arab world, he said.”

Germany Expels Syrian Diplomats

Deutsche Welle reported on February 9:

“German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Thursday that he was expelling four members of the Syrian embassy in Berlin, after two men were arrested for allegedly spying on opponents of the Syrian regime. Diplomatic sources said there were ‘clear indications’ that the four were guilty of ‘acts not in accordance with diplomatic law.’… Westerwelle summoned the Syrian ambassador to discuss the arrests. ‘The position of the federal government was made unmistakably clear at this meeting that the possible action against the Syrian opposition in Germany will not be tolerated,’ the ministry said.”

“Deja Vu as Russia Gas Cuts Hit Eight More EU Countries”

The EUObserver wrote on February 3:

“Eight EU countries have joined Italy in noting a sharp drop in Russian gas supplies, in events recalling the massive 2009 crunch. Gazprom deliveries to Austria and Slovakia reportedly fell by 30 percent on Thursday (2 February). Shipments to Poland fell 7 percent and Czech distributor RWE Transgaz said deliveries are ‘several’ percent lower than normal. The European Commission on Friday added that Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Romania have also been affected.

“The cuts began in Italy on Tuesday. Earlier this week it reported a 10 percent drop, but the figure hit 20 percent on Thursday.  Member states created special reserves after the 2009 gas crunch – which cost EU firms hundreds of millions of euros and which saw blackouts in some former Communist EU countries in the middle of a harsh winter. But there are signs the 2012 crunch could also get nasty.”

Deutsche Welle added on February 7, 2012:

“From France to Ukraine, Europe continues to freeze under a continental cold spell. Add a Russian gas shortage to the mix and you’ve got a problem – though one that’s being felt differently around the EU. The European Commission came out Tuesday (February 7) with a mollifying announcement regarding the flow of Russian gas to western Europe… The Commission gave further reassurance that everything was under control, saying that supplies had returned to normal in a number of EU member states.

“However, the tone in one of those member states, Italy, is entirely different at the moment. Officials were said to be holding emergency talks in Rome on Tuesday to ensure that gas supplies could keep homes heated. The death toll from the cold snap in Italy has hit 26, making it the hardest hit among all western European nations… Italy has far less gas on reserve than its northern EU compatriot, Germany, which is one of the reasons why Germany – despite having its supplies cut by Russia – isn’t suffering as much… What’s more, a country located as far south as Italy isn’t built to cope with the cold as well as Germany… Indeed, Italian demand for gas has reached record heights…

“Russia’s state-owned Gazprom gas supplier rejected calls on Tuesday to make up for last week’s shortages by sending extra supplies, with both the company and the Russian government saying Russia had its own gas problem to deal with amid the cold snap… Gas prices in Europe have indeed soared this week, with the UK recording its highest levels since winter 2006…”

Europe will not sit back idly for long if it feels continuously threatened and provoked by Russian conduct—especially if such conduct affects the European economy.

Iran–Waiting for the Mahdi

WorldNetDaily wrote on February 5:

“Amid crippling sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, Iran is continuing to prepare itself for war against the West, and now is warning of a coming great event.  ‘In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated,’ Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, is warning. Khamenei, speaking to hundreds of youths from more than 70 countries attending a world conference on the Arab Spring just days ago, told a cheering crowd in Tehran that ‘Allah’s promises will be delivered and Islam will be victorious.’ The countries represented included Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, all of which have been involved in the Arab Spring…

“Many clerics in Iran have stated that Khamenei is the deputy of the last Islamic messiah on earth and that obedience to him is necessary for the final glorification of Islam… Khamenei has been heard to say that the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, is near and that specific actions need to be taken to protect the Islamic regime for upcoming events.”

On February 5, the Tampa Tribune published the following article:

“Iran is an overwhelmingly Islamic nation, and almost all Iranians belong to the Twelver sect of the Shia branch of Islam. This sect awaits the return of the 12th Imam, or Mahdi, a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammed anointed by Allah himself. According to the Twelvers, the Mahdi has been in hiding in caves since the 9th century… but he will return just before the Day of Judgment. According to the Hadith, his return will be preceded by three years of chaos, violence and cataclysmic events. He will rule over the world for a period of seven years, eliminate all tyranny and oppression, and usher in an era of peace…

“Some Twelvers, including the current president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameinei, believe that they are to prepare the way for the return of the Mahdi. In order to do so, they are to bring on the state of chaos and destruction, which will precede the Madhi’s return. The worse things get; the faster they win…”

The literal belief in a Mahdi at a time of great upheaval is without any doubt of tremendous importance and significance, if one wants to understand the motives and actions of the Iranian leadership.

Iran Ready to Destroy Israel?

WorldNetDaily wrote on February 5:

“The Iranian government, through a website proxy, has laid out the legal and religious justification for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its people. The doctrine includes wiping out Israeli assets and Jewish people worldwide… Because Israel is going to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran is justified in launching a pre-emptive, cataclysmic attack against the Jewish state, the doctrine argues.

“On Friday, in a major speech at prayers, Khamenei announced that Iran will support any nation or group that attacks the ‘cancerous tumor’ of Israel.”

The hatred of the Iranian leadership towards Israel is unabated. As the next article shows, other non-Christian and non-Jewish nations, such as Pakistan, are apparently willing to support Iran in case of war.

Will Pakistan Help Iran?

Y-Net News wrote on February 5:

“Is the world counting down to ‘D-Day’? After US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta estimated that Israel would attack Iran by June, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned government officials against  ‘Iran chatter,’ a  European diplomat based in Pakistan said that if Israel attacks, Islamabad will have no choice but to support any Iranian retaliation. The diplomat’s statement raised the specter of putting a nuclear-armed Pakistan at odds with Israel, which is widely believed to have its own significant nuclear arsenal.

“To some, the greatest risk of an attack was to the moribund world economy. Nick Witney, former head of the EU’s European Defense Agency, said ‘the political and economic consequences of an Israeli attack would be catastrophic for Europe’ since the likely spike in the price of oil alone ‘could push the entire EU, including Germany, into recession’… Witney… added that ‘the Iranians would probably retaliate against European interests in the region, and conceivably more directly with terrorism aimed at Western countries and societies.’”

Germany’s position is really dubious in this matter. Will they turn against Israel if it were to attack Iran?

USA Sanctions Against Iran Increase

Newsmax reported on February 6:

“President Barack Obama ordered a freeze on all Iranian government and central bank assets held in the U.S. or any foreign branch of a U.S. entity… Previously, only assets belonging to sanctioned Iranian entities or individuals were frozen. The order signed by the president yesterday blocks all property and interests in property belonging to the Iranian government, its central bank, and all Iranian financial institutions, even those that haven’t been specifically designated for sanctions by the U.S. Treasury.

“Longstanding U.S. regulations already prohibited American citizens or entities from virtually all direct and indirect transactions involving Iran or the government of Iran, aside from those exempted under general licenses for transactions involving food, medicine, remittances and humanitarian relief. The measure was mandated as part of Iran sanctions legislation that was passed by Congress and signed by the president Dec. 31.”

USA and Israel At Odds Over Iran

The New York times wrote on February 8:

“Amid mounting tensions over whether  Israel will carry out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program the United States and Israel remain at odds over a fundamental question: whether Iran’s crucial nuclear facilities are about to become impregnable… The difference of opinion over Iran’s nuclear ‘immunity’ is critical because it plays into not just the timing — or bluffing — about a possible military strike, but the calculations about how deeply and quickly sanctions against Iran must bite.”

Argentina vs. Britain

The Telegraph wrote on February 8, 2012:

“‘The sending of a destroyer to accompany the Royal heir is a militarisation of the South Atlantic,’ Mrs Kirchner said. ‘We will present a complaint to the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, as this militarisation poses a grave danger to international security.’ Mrs Kirchner said the Falklands was not only a ‘regional issue’ but had become a ‘global cause’…

“Tensions have increased to their highest level since the end of the conflict 30 years ago as the Duke of Cambridge, a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot, began a six week tour of duty in the islands at the weekend… The Royal Navy also announced last week it was sending its most powerful warship, HMS Dauntless, to the South Pacific…

“Argentina has received the backing of Latin American countries for its claim of sovereignty over the remote, wind-lashed islands, which were occupied by Britain in 1833. The dispute erupted into warfare April 2, 1981 when Argentine troops seized the islands, only to be routed in a 74-day war that claimed the lives of 649 Argentines and 255 Britons.

“Diplomatic friction between Argentina and Britain has intensified since 2010, when the Government authorised oil exploration in the waters near the islands.”

The once bright star of the British Empire is surely sinking…

Greek Deal Reached… Or Has It?

Deutsche Welle reported on February 9:

“Greek political leaders have clinched a deal on austerity measures required so as to receive a second package of international loans… The talks had dragged on for several days. Cuts to state and private pensions worth some 300 billion euros ($398 billion) had been amongst the most contentious measures. The deal was inked as eurozone finance ministers gathered in Brussels ready for further talks on Greece… The euro, safe haven German sovereign bonds and several stock exchanges responded positively to the news… Greek and European leaders have been working against the clock, as the government in Athens needs fresh capital to meet a 14.5-billion-euro bond repayment due on March 20.”

Der Spiegel Online added on February 9:

“The highly indebted euro-zone country is close to insolvency, and the government in Athens appears to be willing to meet most of the demands made by the troika, comprised of the EU, IMF and European Central Bank (ECB), responsible for determining if Greece has fulfilled its aid requirements…

“German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble… expressed skepticism that the agreement reached in Athens would be enough to secure funding… Europe had increased pressure on Greece in the final rounds of negotiations after earlier talks failed to produce a breakthrough. A spokesperson for European Commissioner for Currency and Monetary Policy Olli Rehn pushed all sides to hurry in order to prevent a Greek default…

“Overnight, the party chiefs… agreed to reduce the minimum wage by 22 percent… The country is also expected to eliminate 15,000 jobs in the public sector by the end of the year. And in the private sector, all wages are to be frozen for as long as it takes to reduce the current unemployment rate of 21 percent down to 10 percent…”

In a related article, Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 9:

“In Greece, a consensus has developed as to who is to blame for the country’s economic misery. Age old stereotypes are flourishing. Georgios Trangas had launched into a tirade — yet again. He… stared into the camera and turned to his favourite subject: the Germans, and how they are cold-bloodedly shoving Greece into the abyss. ‘Germany doesn’t care that 3 million pensioners are dying here,’ he raged. The sentence is one of his more harmless utterances on this evening. But such verbal artillery is hardly out of the ordinary on the Athens television broadcaster Extra 33, a channel full of angry broadsides against the ‘German occupiers’…

“The problem, of course, is that Trangas… is on primetime television… Trangas is a cult figure. What he says carries a certain amount of weight in Greece. He quickly reduces complex problems to mere slogans and just as rapidly identifies who is to blame. And only seldom are those responsible to be found in his own country…

“Trangas is a master of hyperbole, and has won many viewers with his tirades. But his core message is one that many in Greece share. Seeing the EU as the ‘Fourth German Reich’ is hardly a novelty in the country — and one almost has the feeling that the sentiment against Germany grows more poisoned by the day. Indeed, just this week, the associations representing doctors, lawyers and structural engineers met in Athens and agreed on a unified boycott of products from Germany. Just how the boycott will be put into practice is not yet clear. But it could mark the beginning of a broader anti-Germany movement. Already, the burning of German flags, and the display of swastikas, has become de rigueur at anti-austerity demonstrations in Greece.”

These anti-German feelings don’t bring about much sympathy in Germany—given the fact that the consensus is that Greece is to be blamed for their current problems—not Germany. In fact, most Germans are angry with their own government, feeling that Germany is already doing far too much for Greece. It is not unlikely that Greece won’t be part of the final configuration of core Europe.

Human Rights Take a Back Seat to Sovereignty

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 3:

“An international court ruled on Friday that Germany cannot be held liable for paying reparations to the descendents of victims of a massacre perpetrated during World War II in Italy. The verdict has implications far beyond Nazi-era war crimes, and was welcomed by countries far and wide. It sounds like a paradox: Germany takes Italy to court and wins — and Rome is secretly pleased with the ruling. In addition, several other governments around the world are breathing a sigh of relief on Friday. After all, had the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled differently, people in Afghanistan or Ethiopia, in the Balkans or in Libya, would have been able to take countries to court whose soldiers committed war crimes on their soil. It is a situation that governments everywhere wanted to avoid.

“And now they have. The ICJ ruling threw out a 2008 decision by the highest Italian appellate court which sought to force Germany to pay reparations to the families of victims of World War II-era war crimes… Human rights organization Amnesty International said in a statement that the ruling was a ‘great step backwards in the protection of international human rights.’… And in the future, the families of Afghan, Iraqi or Ethiopian victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by foreign countries will have no more legal recourse than did the Italians and Greeks in the case decided on Friday in The Hague.”

Der Spiegel Online wrote in its headline, “Human Rights Take a Back Seat to Sovereignty.” Fortunately, the time is soon coming to an end when sovereign countries or individuals, including politicians and diplomats, can hide behind the cloak of “immunity,” thereby preventing just and fair prosecution of and punishment for their deeds and conduct.

Constitutional Right for Same-Sex Couples to Marry?

The Wall Street Journal wrote on February 7:

“A federal appeals court panel here ruled Tuesday that California’s voter-mandated ban on gay marriages was unconstitutional, in a closely watched case that eventually could lead the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. In a 2-1 vote, the panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said California’s 2008 law, popularly known as Proposition 8, had used the state’s initiative power to target a minority group and take away a right the group possessed, without legitimate reason.

“Doing so, wrote Judge Stephen Reinhardt in an 89-page majority opinion, violated the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause… Tuesday’s decision is likely just the second stop in a battle that could next be appealed to an expanded 11-judge panel of the same court—or directly to the Supreme Court… Proposition 8 defined marriage in the California state constitution as between one man and one woman…

“Six states, plus the District of Columbia, now permit same-sex marriages… Gay marriage has become a political lightning rod. President Barack Obama has stopped short of supporting gay marriage but has backed other gay-rights legal concerns. The major Republican presidential candidates, except Ron Paul, have signed a pledge saying they are committed to a federal Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In a poll of U.S. adults last fall by the Associated Press and the National Constitution Center… 53% of respondents said the government should give legal recognition to marriages between people of the same sex.”

Nightmare Scenario—Genetically Modified Mosquitoes

ABC News reported on February 4:

“A British biotech lab has released huge numbers of genetically modified mosquitoes in an effort to combat dengue fever… They buzz very, very quietly… Their victims can’t hear them until it’s almost too late… The insects in question are female yellow-fever mosquitoes, some of the most dangerous animals on the planet. In addition to the illness after which they were named, they also transmit the dengue virus.

“Dengue fever is on the rise worldwide and spreading faster than any other insect-borne viral disease. Every year, female mosquitoes infect at least 50 million people in tropical and subtropical regions (the males don’t bite). More than 20,000 of their victims — most of them children — succumb to their illness. The mosquitoes at the lab near Oxford serve a rather different purpose: To save human lives. Scientists have implanted a gene they hope will wipe out these mosquitoes’ wild cousins. When males from the lab mate with wild females, their larval offspring die within a short space of time. The lab insects have been produced to commit infanticide…

“The yellow-fever mosquitoes from Milton Park have since been released in Malaysia… They specialize in feeding on humans [and] are also currently buzzing around near the city of Juazeiro in eastern Brazil. Mosquitoes are due to be released in other dengue-plagued countries too, including Panama, India, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. They could also soon turn up in Key West, Florida, as early as March; preparations there are underway…

“The problem is that genetically-modified female mosquitoes can still bite humans. This means the protein which kills their own larvae might be injected into humans when the mosquitoes suck their prey’s blood, with unknown consequences for the human organism…”

One must wonder how far man will go in the name of science to fool around with God’s creation—not knowing or realizing what kind of Frankenstein monster they are creating. Note also the next article.

Nightmare Scenario—Scientists Create Most Deadly Form of Bird Flu

The Daily Mail wrote on February 8:

“Details of secret experiments by scientists who have created the most deadly form of bird flu in the lab will inevitably be leaked – potentially into the hands of terrorists.. When H5N1 bird flu erupted over seven years ago, out of the 584 people known to have caught it, 335 died. What stopped it from becoming a world-wide killer was its inability to jump from birds to humans easily.

“However, a mutation of the virus was made by Ron Fouchier and his team at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam in Holland, which was just as deadly and passed easily between ferrets, the animal that best indicates whether humans will catch it. In December, the NSABB asked the journals Nature and Science to censor publication of the study, and similar research conducted by American scientists, setting off a furious debate in the scientific and public health communities.

“The move followed a voluntary 60-day suspension of a study into the virus by the researchers themselves, who became worried that their work could lead to a pandemic. Fears were raised that the engineered viruses may escape from the laboratories… or possibly be used to create a bioterror weapon. In a letter published in Nature and Science, 39 scientists defended the research as crucial to public health efforts.”

One must wonder what kind of a sick mind would want to create such a deadly sickness—and that in the name of science and the “greater good.”

Global Warming Threat Incontrovertible?

Newsmax reported on February 5:

“An editorial signed by 16 prominent scientists in the Wall Street Journal takes sharp issue with calls for drastic action against global warming, asserting that the threat is far from ‘incontrovertible’ as alarmists claim… The ‘most inconvenient’ fact cited by the scientists is the lack of global warming over the past 10 years… Why then does the call for action against global warming persist? The scientists say: Follow the money. ‘Alarmism over climate is of great benefit to many, providing government funding for academic research and a reason for government bureaucracies to grow,’ they declare…

“Temperatures in some areas in Europe on Thursday sank to minus 26.5 F. Parts of the Black Sea froze near the Romanian coastline and rare snow fell on Croatian islands in the Adriatic Sea.”

It seems, money rules… no matter what. But NOT for much longer!!!

Trouble for Mitt Romney from Catholics and Evangelicals?

Newsmax reported on February 7:

“Mitt Romney is vociferously attacking a provision in Obamacare requiring religious employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — but the healthcare bill he enacted as governor of Massachusetts also contained that requirement. C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, told the Boston Globe that Romney’s criticism of President Obama is hypocritical because as governor he did not lift the state-level requirement of contraception coverage. ‘The initial injury to Catholic religious freedom came not from the Obama administration, but from the Romney administration,’ Doyle said. ‘President Obama’s plan certainly constitutes an assault on the constitutional rights of Catholics, but I’m not sure Gov. Romney is in a position to assert that, given his own very mixed record on this.’…

“Romney GOP presidential rival Newt Gingrich also has attacked Romney over the birth control provision. ‘The Obama administration is raging a war against the Catholic Church,’ Gingrich said on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ last week. ‘Well guess what? Mitt Romney’s Romneycare — he specifically refused to exempt Catholic hospitals, he specifically cut funding for kosher meals for Jewish senior citizens in Medicaid in Massachusetts. There are a lot of parallels between these two guys. Romneycare and Obamacare are essentially the same… In the long run, the Republican Party is not going to nominate the founder of Romneycare, a liberal Republican who is pro-abortion, pro-gun control, and pro-tax increase.’”

But one will have to wait and see whom the deeply divided GOP will nominate—especially in light of ultra-conservative Roman Catholic Rick Santorum’s surprising and unexpected victory in three states.

Newsmax wrote on February 8, 2012:

“A resurgent Rick Santorum made a clean sweep in presidential contests Tuesday night that showed the importance Christian activists hold within the GOP. He took Colorado by a narrow margin… won Minnesota’s Republican caucuses with ease [and] was victorious as well in a nonbinding Missouri primary…”

The Washington Post added on February 8:

“In the aftermath of Rick Santorum’s clean sweep of Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Mitt Romney is still, in fact, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. But the lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy among conservatives foreshadows a potentially ugly road ahead to Tampa and general election problems if he is nominee…

“The arguments advanced by Romney advisers are not incorrect. He did not spend real money in these states. He did not campaign in them very much. There were no delegates awarded in any of the three. Missouri was simply a beauty contest. Arizona and Michigan, whose primaries are at the end of the month, look favorable for Romney. Super Tuesday offers more opportunities to win. Santorum and Newt Gingrich have limited resources…

“The issue is not whether Romney has been significantly derailed from his path to the nomination, but rather what kind of nominee he might be and what kind of party would be behind him… But that methodical path they [supporters] describe also could give him the nomination while leaving his party fractured, the base uninspired and his opponents bitter and slow to reconcile… Republicans are fervent in their desire to defeat the president in November but can’t work up much enthusiasm for their own candidates…

“Two of his victories came on friendly turf: New Hampshire, where proximity to Massachusetts helped Romney; and Nevada, where the sizeable Mormon population was a great asset. On more neutral terrain, he owes his success in considerable part to the power of negative campaigning. He almost won Iowa, and came close only after he and the super PAC behind his candidacy spent millions trashing Gingrich with negative ads. His victory in Florida came after another heavy investment in negative ads aimed at the former speaker…

“After South Carolina, Gingrich thought the contest would come down to him versus Romney. Santorum now will try to become the lone alternative to Romney. For that reason, Gingrich was the other big loser Tuesday night…”

Roman Catholics May Prevail Against President Obama

Newsmax reported on February 7:

“Roman Catholic pressure to get the Obama administration to back down from its insistence that they provide free contraceptives in their healthcare plans appeared to be paying off on Tuesday. Now the White House may be ready to work with the church to find a way to get around the mandate, said David Axelrod, a top adviser to President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign…

“Axelrod said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had already given churches an exemption to the mandate, against the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine. ‘The question now is about these extended affiliated institutions … and there are tens of thousands – hundreds of thousands – of women who work in these hospitals and universities who are not Catholic or they may be Catholic and they use birth control…

“The administration’s insistence that religious organizations provide insurance that covers contraceptives – including abortifacients such as the morning-after pill – has led to claims that Obama is anti-religion. Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism in 2008, said last week, ‘The Obama administration is raging a war against the Catholic Church.’

“Fellow Catholic candidate Rick Santorum said the church should have fought harder against the whole Affordable Health Care Act. ‘I told the Catholic bishops years ago when they were … promoting Obamacare, be careful what you wish for,’ he said. ‘They got what they deserved.’

“Catholic bishops wrote letters that were read to parishioners from the pulpit over the weekend. ‘We cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law,’ was the message in the letter from many of the bishops… But whether the bishops have the backing of their followers is unclear. A USA Today poll released Tuesday showed that 58 percent of Catholics support compulsory contraceptive insurance. That figure rose to 62 percent among Catholic women.”

This whole matter is a two-edged sword. First, mandated compulsory healthcare coverage is morally wrong and also unconstitutional, in our opinion. Secondly, to demand covering abortifacients such as the morning-after pill is likewise wrong, as such a pill kills human life. On the other hand, contraceptives preventing impregnation are perfectly alright and in that regard, the Catholic Church’s teaching is unbiblical. What is interesting to see is the tremendous political influence of the Catholic Church in the USA. At the same time, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party was very reluctant to make any commitments or concessions in favor of the Catholic bishops in an interview with CNN on February 8.

This Week in the News

We begin with interesting developments involving Syria, Russia and China on the one hand, and the EU and the USA on the other hand. An alliance between China, Russia, Syria and other Middle Eastern nations against the EU and the USA is becoming more and more obvious. We are also reporting on Russia’s refusal to provide the EU with much needed oil.

Turning our attention again to Iran, we note that Iran is preparing for war, apparently even with the intent of launching a “pre-emptive strike against Israel.” Pakistan has declared that they will come to the help of Iran if Israel were to attack. Again, we see certain potential coalitions forming against the West and Israel, while Germany’s position on the matter of Iran remains murky, and the USA and Israel disagree with each other. We are also reporting on a rift between Argentina and Great Britain and the most recent developments in Greece.

Focusing on social issues, we read about a controversial decision pertaining to German conduct in World War II, which decision is nevertheless welcomed by the EU. We also hear about a decision of one of the most liberal courts in the USA, regarding same-sex marriages; learn about a nightmare scenario in respect to genetically modified mosquitoes and the creation of a deadly bird flu; comment on America’s divided and disillusioned GOP; and conclude with a piece showing the tremendous political influence of the Roman Catholic Church organization in the United States.

Update 528

The Church of God

On February 11, 2012, Robb Harris will give the sermon, titled, respectively, “The Church of God.”

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.

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When the Answer Is “No”

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When we have come before God in prayer asking fervently, obediently, faithfully, humbly and persistently for something … what are we to do when God says, “No”?
 
First, we can realize that we are in good company.  God has said “No” to many notables in the Bible: David, when he wanted to build the temple; Paul, regarding the thorn in the flesh; and even Jesus when He asked that the cup be taken from Him.  If God has said it on occasion to this most illustrious group, then surely we can expect that He is going to be saying it to us at times. 
 
As we look back on the many things that we have prayed about, we may realize that this is already the case – perhaps many times over.  What next then?  We need to accept it, learn from it, and move on.
 
Obviously “No” is not the answer we wanted, and it may even be difficult for us to swallow.  This is not the time to lack faith or get upset.  Understanding that our God is all-knowing and a loving Father, we should realize that He knows and does what is best for us.  If God is completely and totally in charge of our life, then we can take solace and comfort in the fact that the right things are going to happen at the right time. 
 
Even though we get a negative as an answer, it is really a positive.  God does not capriciously reply to our prayers.  When He says “No,” it is for a reason and a purpose.  His hope is that a good result will come out of it.  We should pray, “Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths” (Psalm 25:4). We need to learn from the way that God is working in our life, so that we may continue to grow in the Godly righteous character He is trying to facilitate in us.
 
When we petition God, it is for His Will to be done in our lives – and now that we can better understand it, all that is left is for us to move on in the direction that God is guiding us in, and not on the route we thought to take.
 
God sees us and hears us (Psalm 34:15, 17), and His arm is not too short that He cannot save us (Isaiah 59:1).  Know this!  Keep it in mind!  In the end, God’s ultimate goal is to see us make it into His Family, and He will do what it takes to make sure that we are with Him in the end.

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We begin with interesting developments involving Syria, Russia and China on the one hand, and the EU and the USA on the other hand. An alliance between China, Russia, Syria and other Middle Eastern nations against the EU and the USA is becoming more and more obvious. We are also reporting on Russia’s refusal to provide the EU with much needed oil.

Turning our attention again to Iran, we note that Iran is preparing for war, apparently even with the intent of launching a “pre-emptive strike against Israel.” Pakistan has declared that they will come to the help of Iran if Israel were to attack. Again, we see certain potential coalitions forming against the West and Israel, while Germany’s position on the matter of Iran remains murky, and the USA and Israel disagree with each other. We are also reporting on a rift between Argentina and Great Britain and the most recent developments in Greece.

Focusing on social issues, we read about a controversial decision pertaining to German conduct in World War II, which decision is nevertheless welcomed by the EU. We also hear about a decision of one of the most liberal courts in the USA, regarding same-sex marriages; learn about a nightmare scenario in respect to genetically modified mosquitoes and the creation of a deadly bird flu; comment on America’s divided and disillusioned GOP; and conclude with a piece showing the tremendous political influence of the Roman Catholic Church organization in the United States.

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Russia and China Veto UN Resolution Against Syria—“Security Council Should Be Abolished”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 6:

“In the end, the joint resolution drafted by the Arabs, Europeans and Americans failed, and the killing continued in Syria… The resolution didn’t even contain any sanctions. The text of the resolution had already been watered down before the vote in response to considerable pressure from Russia. Ultimately, Moscow still refused to support it — making the tone of the conversations in Munich on Sunday even angrier.

“Pointing to Russia and China, Yemeni Nobel Peace Price [sic] recipient Tawakkul Karman lamented: ‘In the name of the Arab youth, I condemn the position of these countries. They support the criminal regime of Bashar Assad.’ Kenneth Roth, the head of… Human Rights Watch, added that the actions of Russia and China had made the Security Council ‘irrelevant.’ US Senator Joe Lieberman railed that the Chinese and the Russians… had now isolated themselves in the international community, just as Assad himself had done.

“Moscow doesn’t seem particularly moved by the outrage over its veto… Russia is firmly sticking to its support of Assad… Damascus purchases Russian rockets, Yak-130 fighter jets and it cooperates on a large scale with Russian energy companies… Beijing also continues to work together with the Assad regime…

“US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a grim scenario if Assad remains in office: ‘More bloodshed, increasing resistance by those whose families are being killed and whose homes are being bombed, and a greater likelihood that Syria will descend into civil war.’”

Der Spiegel Online published the following related article on February 6:

“… the international community remains divided after Saturday’s move by Russia and China to veto a United Nations resolution condemning the violence in the Middle Eastern country. Syrian opposition leaders expressed outrage over the veto… On Monday, the US moved to close its embassy in Damascus and withdraw its diplomats and staff because of instability in the country.

“Speaking at a joint press conference in Paris after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, ‘France and Germany will not abandon the Syrian people. We will not accept that the international community remains blocked.’ Russia and China, however, have staunchly defended their positions…

“Editorialists in the German press on Monday unanimously condemn the veto, saying it sends a worrying signal about the reliability of Russia and China as future partners in international affairs…

“The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘It is a disgrace that Russia and China have cast their veto against a resolution that contained neither sanctions nor a weapons embargo. It didn’t authorize military intervention either. It merely condemned the genocidal behavior of the Assad regime. The fact that even this was too much for the rulers in Moscow and Beijing reveals a lot about their mindset and their authoritarian view of government. It’s almost as if they are saying that a dictator should be allowed to wage war against his own population… For Syria that means the killing and the civil war will go on…’

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘… the West and the Arab League certainly won’t be able to stand back and watch Assad put down the protests for much longer. They must build a new forum to organize resistance to the regime without Russia and China…’

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘…The Russian and Chinese government’s decisions make a mockery of the Security Council… When the Security Council cannot even agree to verbally criticize the merciless slaughter of citizens by a dictator’s clique, then it has revealed itself to be redundant. The shelved resolution should, in the future, be used as a reminder that this body has squandered its opportunity. The way the Security Council is composed should be abolished along with the right to a veto.’”

A coalition between Russia and China, hostile to European interests, is clearly forming. There are also more and more voices advocating the abolishment of the Security Council and even the entire UN, which have indeed been irrelevant, while replacing them with a more “competent” body.

Syria and Russia vs. the Arab League and the West

BBC News reported on February 7:

“Gulf Arab states say they are expelling Syrian ambassadors in their countries and recalling their envoys from Syria. The Gulf Cooperation Council said Syria had rejected Arab attempts to solve the crisis and end 11 months of bloodshed. The US closed its embassy in Syria on Monday, and several European countries have recalled their ambassadors. The moves came as Syrian government forces continued their fierce assault on the restive city of Homs, and Russian officials visited Damascus.

“Separately Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, denied reports that he had threatened Qatar’s prime minister during talks at the UN last week. Someone was trying to drive a wedge between Russia and the Arab world, he said.”

Germany Expels Syrian Diplomats

Deutsche Welle reported on February 9:

“German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Thursday that he was expelling four members of the Syrian embassy in Berlin, after two men were arrested for allegedly spying on opponents of the Syrian regime. Diplomatic sources said there were ‘clear indications’ that the four were guilty of ‘acts not in accordance with diplomatic law.’… Westerwelle summoned the Syrian ambassador to discuss the arrests. ‘The position of the federal government was made unmistakably clear at this meeting that the possible action against the Syrian opposition in Germany will not be tolerated,’ the ministry said.”

“Deja Vu as Russia Gas Cuts Hit Eight More EU Countries”

The EUObserver wrote on February 3:

“Eight EU countries have joined Italy in noting a sharp drop in Russian gas supplies, in events recalling the massive 2009 crunch. Gazprom deliveries to Austria and Slovakia reportedly fell by 30 percent on Thursday (2 February). Shipments to Poland fell 7 percent and Czech distributor RWE Transgaz said deliveries are ‘several’ percent lower than normal. The European Commission on Friday added that Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Romania have also been affected.

“The cuts began in Italy on Tuesday. Earlier this week it reported a 10 percent drop, but the figure hit 20 percent on Thursday.  Member states created special reserves after the 2009 gas crunch – which cost EU firms hundreds of millions of euros and which saw blackouts in some former Communist EU countries in the middle of a harsh winter. But there are signs the 2012 crunch could also get nasty.”

Deutsche Welle added on February 7, 2012:

“From France to Ukraine, Europe continues to freeze under a continental cold spell. Add a Russian gas shortage to the mix and you’ve got a problem – though one that’s being felt differently around the EU. The European Commission came out Tuesday (February 7) with a mollifying announcement regarding the flow of Russian gas to western Europe… The Commission gave further reassurance that everything was under control, saying that supplies had returned to normal in a number of EU member states.

“However, the tone in one of those member states, Italy, is entirely different at the moment. Officials were said to be holding emergency talks in Rome on Tuesday to ensure that gas supplies could keep homes heated. The death toll from the cold snap in Italy has hit 26, making it the hardest hit among all western European nations… Italy has far less gas on reserve than its northern EU compatriot, Germany, which is one of the reasons why Germany – despite having its supplies cut by Russia – isn’t suffering as much… What’s more, a country located as far south as Italy isn’t built to cope with the cold as well as Germany… Indeed, Italian demand for gas has reached record heights…

“Russia’s state-owned Gazprom gas supplier rejected calls on Tuesday to make up for last week’s shortages by sending extra supplies, with both the company and the Russian government saying Russia had its own gas problem to deal with amid the cold snap… Gas prices in Europe have indeed soared this week, with the UK recording its highest levels since winter 2006…”

Europe will not sit back idly for long if it feels continuously threatened and provoked by Russian conduct—especially if such conduct affects the European economy.

Iran–Waiting for the Mahdi

WorldNetDaily wrote on February 5:

“Amid crippling sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, Iran is continuing to prepare itself for war against the West, and now is warning of a coming great event.  ‘In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated,’ Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, is warning. Khamenei, speaking to hundreds of youths from more than 70 countries attending a world conference on the Arab Spring just days ago, told a cheering crowd in Tehran that ‘Allah’s promises will be delivered and Islam will be victorious.’ The countries represented included Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, all of which have been involved in the Arab Spring…

“Many clerics in Iran have stated that Khamenei is the deputy of the last Islamic messiah on earth and that obedience to him is necessary for the final glorification of Islam… Khamenei has been heard to say that the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, is near and that specific actions need to be taken to protect the Islamic regime for upcoming events.”

On February 5, the Tampa Tribune published the following article:

“Iran is an overwhelmingly Islamic nation, and almost all Iranians belong to the Twelver sect of the Shia branch of Islam. This sect awaits the return of the 12th Imam, or Mahdi, a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammed anointed by Allah himself. According to the Twelvers, the Mahdi has been in hiding in caves since the 9th century… but he will return just before the Day of Judgment. According to the Hadith, his return will be preceded by three years of chaos, violence and cataclysmic events. He will rule over the world for a period of seven years, eliminate all tyranny and oppression, and usher in an era of peace…

“Some Twelvers, including the current president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameinei, believe that they are to prepare the way for the return of the Mahdi. In order to do so, they are to bring on the state of chaos and destruction, which will precede the Madhi’s return. The worse things get; the faster they win…”

The literal belief in a Mahdi at a time of great upheaval is without any doubt of tremendous importance and significance, if one wants to understand the motives and actions of the Iranian leadership.

Iran Ready to Destroy Israel?

WorldNetDaily wrote on February 5:

“The Iranian government, through a website proxy, has laid out the legal and religious justification for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its people. The doctrine includes wiping out Israeli assets and Jewish people worldwide… Because Israel is going to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran is justified in launching a pre-emptive, cataclysmic attack against the Jewish state, the doctrine argues.

“On Friday, in a major speech at prayers, Khamenei announced that Iran will support any nation or group that attacks the ‘cancerous tumor’ of Israel.”

The hatred of the Iranian leadership towards Israel is unabated. As the next article shows, other non-Christian and non-Jewish nations, such as Pakistan, are apparently willing to support Iran in case of war.

Will Pakistan Help Iran?

Y-Net News wrote on February 5:

“Is the world counting down to ‘D-Day’? After US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta estimated that Israel would attack Iran by June, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned government officials against  ‘Iran chatter,’ a  European diplomat based in Pakistan said that if Israel attacks, Islamabad will have no choice but to support any Iranian retaliation. The diplomat’s statement raised the specter of putting a nuclear-armed Pakistan at odds with Israel, which is widely believed to have its own significant nuclear arsenal.

“To some, the greatest risk of an attack was to the moribund world economy. Nick Witney, former head of the EU’s European Defense Agency, said ‘the political and economic consequences of an Israeli attack would be catastrophic for Europe’ since the likely spike in the price of oil alone ‘could push the entire EU, including Germany, into recession’… Witney… added that ‘the Iranians would probably retaliate against European interests in the region, and conceivably more directly with terrorism aimed at Western countries and societies.’”

Germany’s position is really dubious in this matter. Will they turn against Israel if it were to attack Iran?

USA Sanctions Against Iran Increase

Newsmax reported on February 6:

“President Barack Obama ordered a freeze on all Iranian government and central bank assets held in the U.S. or any foreign branch of a U.S. entity… Previously, only assets belonging to sanctioned Iranian entities or individuals were frozen. The order signed by the president yesterday blocks all property and interests in property belonging to the Iranian government, its central bank, and all Iranian financial institutions, even those that haven’t been specifically designated for sanctions by the U.S. Treasury.

“Longstanding U.S. regulations already prohibited American citizens or entities from virtually all direct and indirect transactions involving Iran or the government of Iran, aside from those exempted under general licenses for transactions involving food, medicine, remittances and humanitarian relief. The measure was mandated as part of Iran sanctions legislation that was passed by Congress and signed by the president Dec. 31.”

USA and Israel At Odds Over Iran

The New York times wrote on February 8:

“Amid mounting tensions over whether  Israel will carry out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program the United States and Israel remain at odds over a fundamental question: whether Iran’s crucial nuclear facilities are about to become impregnable… The difference of opinion over Iran’s nuclear ‘immunity’ is critical because it plays into not just the timing — or bluffing — about a possible military strike, but the calculations about how deeply and quickly sanctions against Iran must bite.”

Argentina vs. Britain

The Telegraph wrote on February 8, 2012:

“‘The sending of a destroyer to accompany the Royal heir is a militarisation of the South Atlantic,’ Mrs Kirchner said. ‘We will present a complaint to the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, as this militarisation poses a grave danger to international security.’ Mrs Kirchner said the Falklands was not only a ‘regional issue’ but had become a ‘global cause’…

“Tensions have increased to their highest level since the end of the conflict 30 years ago as the Duke of Cambridge, a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot, began a six week tour of duty in the islands at the weekend… The Royal Navy also announced last week it was sending its most powerful warship, HMS Dauntless, to the South Pacific…

“Argentina has received the backing of Latin American countries for its claim of sovereignty over the remote, wind-lashed islands, which were occupied by Britain in 1833. The dispute erupted into warfare April 2, 1981 when Argentine troops seized the islands, only to be routed in a 74-day war that claimed the lives of 649 Argentines and 255 Britons.

“Diplomatic friction between Argentina and Britain has intensified since 2010, when the Government authorised oil exploration in the waters near the islands.”

The once bright star of the British Empire is surely sinking…

Greek Deal Reached… Or Has It?

Deutsche Welle reported on February 9:

“Greek political leaders have clinched a deal on austerity measures required so as to receive a second package of international loans… The talks had dragged on for several days. Cuts to state and private pensions worth some 300 billion euros ($398 billion) had been amongst the most contentious measures. The deal was inked as eurozone finance ministers gathered in Brussels ready for further talks on Greece… The euro, safe haven German sovereign bonds and several stock exchanges responded positively to the news… Greek and European leaders have been working against the clock, as the government in Athens needs fresh capital to meet a 14.5-billion-euro bond repayment due on March 20.”

Der Spiegel Online added on February 9:

“The highly indebted euro-zone country is close to insolvency, and the government in Athens appears to be willing to meet most of the demands made by the troika, comprised of the EU, IMF and European Central Bank (ECB), responsible for determining if Greece has fulfilled its aid requirements…

“German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble… expressed skepticism that the agreement reached in Athens would be enough to secure funding… Europe had increased pressure on Greece in the final rounds of negotiations after earlier talks failed to produce a breakthrough. A spokesperson for European Commissioner for Currency and Monetary Policy Olli Rehn pushed all sides to hurry in order to prevent a Greek default…

“Overnight, the party chiefs… agreed to reduce the minimum wage by 22 percent… The country is also expected to eliminate 15,000 jobs in the public sector by the end of the year. And in the private sector, all wages are to be frozen for as long as it takes to reduce the current unemployment rate of 21 percent down to 10 percent…”

In a related article, Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 9:

“In Greece, a consensus has developed as to who is to blame for the country’s economic misery. Age old stereotypes are flourishing. Georgios Trangas had launched into a tirade — yet again. He… stared into the camera and turned to his favourite subject: the Germans, and how they are cold-bloodedly shoving Greece into the abyss. ‘Germany doesn’t care that 3 million pensioners are dying here,’ he raged. The sentence is one of his more harmless utterances on this evening. But such verbal artillery is hardly out of the ordinary on the Athens television broadcaster Extra 33, a channel full of angry broadsides against the ‘German occupiers’…

“The problem, of course, is that Trangas… is on primetime television… Trangas is a cult figure. What he says carries a certain amount of weight in Greece. He quickly reduces complex problems to mere slogans and just as rapidly identifies who is to blame. And only seldom are those responsible to be found in his own country…

“Trangas is a master of hyperbole, and has won many viewers with his tirades. But his core message is one that many in Greece share. Seeing the EU as the ‘Fourth German Reich’ is hardly a novelty in the country — and one almost has the feeling that the sentiment against Germany grows more poisoned by the day. Indeed, just this week, the associations representing doctors, lawyers and structural engineers met in Athens and agreed on a unified boycott of products from Germany. Just how the boycott will be put into practice is not yet clear. But it could mark the beginning of a broader anti-Germany movement. Already, the burning of German flags, and the display of swastikas, has become de rigueur at anti-austerity demonstrations in Greece.”

These anti-German feelings don’t bring about much sympathy in Germany—given the fact that the consensus is that Greece is to be blamed for their current problems—not Germany. In fact, most Germans are angry with their own government, feeling that Germany is already doing far too much for Greece. It is not unlikely that Greece won’t be part of the final configuration of core Europe.

Human Rights Take a Back Seat to Sovereignty

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 3:

“An international court ruled on Friday that Germany cannot be held liable for paying reparations to the descendents of victims of a massacre perpetrated during World War II in Italy. The verdict has implications far beyond Nazi-era war crimes, and was welcomed by countries far and wide. It sounds like a paradox: Germany takes Italy to court and wins — and Rome is secretly pleased with the ruling. In addition, several other governments around the world are breathing a sigh of relief on Friday. After all, had the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled differently, people in Afghanistan or Ethiopia, in the Balkans or in Libya, would have been able to take countries to court whose soldiers committed war crimes on their soil. It is a situation that governments everywhere wanted to avoid.

“And now they have. The ICJ ruling threw out a 2008 decision by the highest Italian appellate court which sought to force Germany to pay reparations to the families of victims of World War II-era war crimes… Human rights organization Amnesty International said in a statement that the ruling was a ‘great step backwards in the protection of international human rights.’… And in the future, the families of Afghan, Iraqi or Ethiopian victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by foreign countries will have no more legal recourse than did the Italians and Greeks in the case decided on Friday in The Hague.”

Der Spiegel Online wrote in its headline, “Human Rights Take a Back Seat to Sovereignty.” Fortunately, the time is soon coming to an end when sovereign countries or individuals, including politicians and diplomats, can hide behind the cloak of “immunity,” thereby preventing just and fair prosecution of and punishment for their deeds and conduct.

Constitutional Right for Same-Sex Couples to Marry?

The Wall Street Journal wrote on February 7:

“A federal appeals court panel here ruled Tuesday that California’s voter-mandated ban on gay marriages was unconstitutional, in a closely watched case that eventually could lead the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. In a 2-1 vote, the panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said California’s 2008 law, popularly known as Proposition 8, had used the state’s initiative power to target a minority group and take away a right the group possessed, without legitimate reason.

“Doing so, wrote Judge Stephen Reinhardt in an 89-page majority opinion, violated the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause… Tuesday’s decision is likely just the second stop in a battle that could next be appealed to an expanded 11-judge panel of the same court—or directly to the Supreme Court… Proposition 8 defined marriage in the California state constitution as between one man and one woman…

“Six states, plus the District of Columbia, now permit same-sex marriages… Gay marriage has become a political lightning rod. President Barack Obama has stopped short of supporting gay marriage but has backed other gay-rights legal concerns. The major Republican presidential candidates, except Ron Paul, have signed a pledge saying they are committed to a federal Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In a poll of U.S. adults last fall by the Associated Press and the National Constitution Center… 53% of respondents said the government should give legal recognition to marriages between people of the same sex.”

Nightmare Scenario—Genetically Modified Mosquitoes

ABC News reported on February 4:

“A British biotech lab has released huge numbers of genetically modified mosquitoes in an effort to combat dengue fever… They buzz very, very quietly… Their victims can’t hear them until it’s almost too late… The insects in question are female yellow-fever mosquitoes, some of the most dangerous animals on the planet. In addition to the illness after which they were named, they also transmit the dengue virus.

“Dengue fever is on the rise worldwide and spreading faster than any other insect-borne viral disease. Every year, female mosquitoes infect at least 50 million people in tropical and subtropical regions (the males don’t bite). More than 20,000 of their victims — most of them children — succumb to their illness. The mosquitoes at the lab near Oxford serve a rather different purpose: To save human lives. Scientists have implanted a gene they hope will wipe out these mosquitoes’ wild cousins. When males from the lab mate with wild females, their larval offspring die within a short space of time. The lab insects have been produced to commit infanticide…

“The yellow-fever mosquitoes from Milton Park have since been released in Malaysia… They specialize in feeding on humans [and] are also currently buzzing around near the city of Juazeiro in eastern Brazil. Mosquitoes are due to be released in other dengue-plagued countries too, including Panama, India, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. They could also soon turn up in Key West, Florida, as early as March; preparations there are underway…

“The problem is that genetically-modified female mosquitoes can still bite humans. This means the protein which kills their own larvae might be injected into humans when the mosquitoes suck their prey’s blood, with unknown consequences for the human organism…”

One must wonder how far man will go in the name of science to fool around with God’s creation—not knowing or realizing what kind of Frankenstein monster they are creating. Note also the next article.

Nightmare Scenario—Scientists Create Most Deadly Form of Bird Flu

The Daily Mail wrote on February 8:

“Details of secret experiments by scientists who have created the most deadly form of bird flu in the lab will inevitably be leaked – potentially into the hands of terrorists.. When H5N1 bird flu erupted over seven years ago, out of the 584 people known to have caught it, 335 died. What stopped it from becoming a world-wide killer was its inability to jump from birds to humans easily.

“However, a mutation of the virus was made by Ron Fouchier and his team at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam in Holland, which was just as deadly and passed easily between ferrets, the animal that best indicates whether humans will catch it. In December, the NSABB asked the journals Nature and Science to censor publication of the study, and similar research conducted by American scientists, setting off a furious debate in the scientific and public health communities.

“The move followed a voluntary 60-day suspension of a study into the virus by the researchers themselves, who became worried that their work could lead to a pandemic. Fears were raised that the engineered viruses may escape from the laboratories… or possibly be used to create a bioterror weapon. In a letter published in Nature and Science, 39 scientists defended the research as crucial to public health efforts.”

One must wonder what kind of a sick mind would want to create such a deadly sickness—and that in the name of science and the “greater good.”

Global Warming Threat Incontrovertible?

Newsmax reported on February 5:

“An editorial signed by 16 prominent scientists in the Wall Street Journal takes sharp issue with calls for drastic action against global warming, asserting that the threat is far from ‘incontrovertible’ as alarmists claim… The ‘most inconvenient’ fact cited by the scientists is the lack of global warming over the past 10 years… Why then does the call for action against global warming persist? The scientists say: Follow the money. ‘Alarmism over climate is of great benefit to many, providing government funding for academic research and a reason for government bureaucracies to grow,’ they declare…

“Temperatures in some areas in Europe on Thursday sank to minus 26.5 F. Parts of the Black Sea froze near the Romanian coastline and rare snow fell on Croatian islands in the Adriatic Sea.”

It seems, money rules… no matter what. But NOT for much longer!!!

Trouble for Mitt Romney from Catholics and Evangelicals?

Newsmax reported on February 7:

“Mitt Romney is vociferously attacking a provision in Obamacare requiring religious employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — but the healthcare bill he enacted as governor of Massachusetts also contained that requirement. C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, told the Boston Globe that Romney’s criticism of President Obama is hypocritical because as governor he did not lift the state-level requirement of contraception coverage. ‘The initial injury to Catholic religious freedom came not from the Obama administration, but from the Romney administration,’ Doyle said. ‘President Obama’s plan certainly constitutes an assault on the constitutional rights of Catholics, but I’m not sure Gov. Romney is in a position to assert that, given his own very mixed record on this.’…

“Romney GOP presidential rival Newt Gingrich also has attacked Romney over the birth control provision. ‘The Obama administration is raging a war against the Catholic Church,’ Gingrich said on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ last week. ‘Well guess what? Mitt Romney’s Romneycare — he specifically refused to exempt Catholic hospitals, he specifically cut funding for kosher meals for Jewish senior citizens in Medicaid in Massachusetts. There are a lot of parallels between these two guys. Romneycare and Obamacare are essentially the same… In the long run, the Republican Party is not going to nominate the founder of Romneycare, a liberal Republican who is pro-abortion, pro-gun control, and pro-tax increase.’”

But one will have to wait and see whom the deeply divided GOP will nominate—especially in light of ultra-conservative Roman Catholic Rick Santorum’s surprising and unexpected victory in three states.

Newsmax wrote on February 8, 2012:

“A resurgent Rick Santorum made a clean sweep in presidential contests Tuesday night that showed the importance Christian activists hold within the GOP. He took Colorado by a narrow margin… won Minnesota’s Republican caucuses with ease [and] was victorious as well in a nonbinding Missouri primary…”

The Washington Post added on February 8:

“In the aftermath of Rick Santorum’s clean sweep of Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Mitt Romney is still, in fact, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. But the lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy among conservatives foreshadows a potentially ugly road ahead to Tampa and general election problems if he is nominee…

“The arguments advanced by Romney advisers are not incorrect. He did not spend real money in these states. He did not campaign in them very much. There were no delegates awarded in any of the three. Missouri was simply a beauty contest. Arizona and Michigan, whose primaries are at the end of the month, look favorable for Romney. Super Tuesday offers more opportunities to win. Santorum and Newt Gingrich have limited resources…

“The issue is not whether Romney has been significantly derailed from his path to the nomination, but rather what kind of nominee he might be and what kind of party would be behind him… But that methodical path they [supporters] describe also could give him the nomination while leaving his party fractured, the base uninspired and his opponents bitter and slow to reconcile… Republicans are fervent in their desire to defeat the president in November but can’t work up much enthusiasm for their own candidates…

“Two of his victories came on friendly turf: New Hampshire, where proximity to Massachusetts helped Romney; and Nevada, where the sizeable Mormon population was a great asset. On more neutral terrain, he owes his success in considerable part to the power of negative campaigning. He almost won Iowa, and came close only after he and the super PAC behind his candidacy spent millions trashing Gingrich with negative ads. His victory in Florida came after another heavy investment in negative ads aimed at the former speaker…

“After South Carolina, Gingrich thought the contest would come down to him versus Romney. Santorum now will try to become the lone alternative to Romney. For that reason, Gingrich was the other big loser Tuesday night…”

Roman Catholics May Prevail Against President Obama

Newsmax reported on February 7:

“Roman Catholic pressure to get the Obama administration to back down from its insistence that they provide free contraceptives in their healthcare plans appeared to be paying off on Tuesday. Now the White House may be ready to work with the church to find a way to get around the mandate, said David Axelrod, a top adviser to President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign…

“Axelrod said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had already given churches an exemption to the mandate, against the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine. ‘The question now is about these extended affiliated institutions … and there are tens of thousands – hundreds of thousands – of women who work in these hospitals and universities who are not Catholic or they may be Catholic and they use birth control…

“The administration’s insistence that religious organizations provide insurance that covers contraceptives – including abortifacients such as the morning-after pill – has led to claims that Obama is anti-religion. Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism in 2008, said last week, ‘The Obama administration is raging a war against the Catholic Church.’

“Fellow Catholic candidate Rick Santorum said the church should have fought harder against the whole Affordable Health Care Act. ‘I told the Catholic bishops years ago when they were … promoting Obamacare, be careful what you wish for,’ he said. ‘They got what they deserved.’

“Catholic bishops wrote letters that were read to parishioners from the pulpit over the weekend. ‘We cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law,’ was the message in the letter from many of the bishops… But whether the bishops have the backing of their followers is unclear. A USA Today poll released Tuesday showed that 58 percent of Catholics support compulsory contraceptive insurance. That figure rose to 62 percent among Catholic women.”

This whole matter is a two-edged sword. First, mandated compulsory healthcare coverage is morally wrong and also unconstitutional, in our opinion. Secondly, to demand covering abortifacients such as the morning-after pill is likewise wrong, as such a pill kills human life. On the other hand, contraceptives preventing impregnation are perfectly alright and in that regard, the Catholic Church’s teaching is unbiblical. What is interesting to see is the tremendous political influence of the Catholic Church in the USA. At the same time, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party was very reluctant to make any commitments or concessions in favor of the Catholic bishops in an interview with CNN on February 8.

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What will Christ do after the defeat of the human armies in the decisive battle in the Kidron Valley, just outside Jerusalem?

We explained in the last Q&A regarding Christ’s battle with hostile armies at the time of His return, that Jesus Christ will come back “on clouds”; that His holy angels will accompany Him; that He will be met “on clouds” in the air by His saints—true, converted Christians who will be resurrected and changed to immortality at the time of His return; and that all will descend together on the same day to the Mount of Olives to make an end of deceived hostile human armies and their leaders (Revelation 19:11-21; Zechariah 14:1-15). After that, Christ will deal with the real author of destruction and deception—Satan the devil along with his demons.

We read in Revelation 20:1-3:

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold on the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.”

We read that Satan will be thrown into the “bottomless” pit. As we will see, that same fate awaits all the demons under his control. We write on pages 53 and 54 in our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World,” under “The Fate of Satan and His Demons”:
 
“… a full one-third of God’s angels sinned in times past, thus becoming demons. God did not prevent them from sinning. He created them as free moral agents and He knew that they could sin. The angels who sinned are presently in chains of darkness, to be reserved for future judgment (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). They are living today in a state of darkness. They are spiritually imprisoned by their own perversions… They are not literally imprisoned and jailed at a certain place. Rather, they are roaming to and fro on this earth. Satan is compared to a roaring lion, walking about, to see whom he can devour (1 Peter 5:8).
 
“Demons are waiting for their judgment. Demons asked Christ whether He had come to ‘torment’ them ‘before the time’ (Matthew 8:29). Luke 8:31 adds that they begged Christ not to command them ‘to go out into the abyss.’ At this point in time, they are not yet in that ‘abyss.’ Satan is not in it either; rather, he will be placed in it at the beginning of the Millennium (Revelation 20:1–3, 7—the word ‘abyss’ is translated there as ‘bottomless pit’).
 
“What is the ‘abyss?’ The word is used in Romans 10:7, where we read, ‘Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).’ In Romans 10, the ‘abyss’ is used as an analogy in association with the dead who are buried. It is also used as an analogy in Luke 8 and in Revelation 20. When Satan and his demons will be placed in the ‘abyss’ at the beginning of the Millennium, they will be as good as dead—unable to influence and deceive the nations any longer during that time period (compare Revelation 20:3). The fact that they won’t be able to destroy others will give them spiritual torment—that is why they asked Christ whether He had come to torment them before ‘the time.’
 
“Satan’s spiritual torment, and that of his angels, will continue. After a time period called the Great White Throne Judgment, Satan and his demons will be cast into the lake of fire, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:10; Matthew 25:41). Their torment will be spiritual, as they will see all of their evil works destroyed by fire (compare 2 Peter 3:10–13), and their influence on others will be gone forever. Their final fate might be revealed in Jude 13, referring to ‘wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.’ Compare, too, 2 Peter 2:17.”
 
Even though only Satan the Devil is specifically mentioned in Revelation 20:1-3, it is obvious that the demons are included. This becomes also clear when reviewing carefully the fate of Satan and his angels at the time when the Millennium ends. Revelation 20:10 says that the Devil will be cast in the lake of fire, and that “they” will be tormented day and night. Some claim that the reference is to the beast and the false prophet, but this is not the case. Rather, the torment relates to Satan and his demons. We write in our free booklet, “Is That in the Bible? The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation,” on pages 139-140, under “Lake of Fire Prepared for Satan and His Angels”:

“Let us quote again from the Revised English Bible, to note how they continue their rendition of Revelation 20:10: ‘Their seducer, the Devil, was flung into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been flung to be tormented day and night for ever.’ Of course, by not placing a comma after ‘had been flung,’ they give the impression that it is the beast and the false prophet who will be tormented forever and ever. But since the clause, ‘where the beast and the false prophet had been flung,’ is clearly an inserted thought—a relative sentence—the rendering should obviously include a comma after ‘had been flung,’ making it clear that it is the DEVIL who is to be tormented day and night forever. We see, then, that the translation of the Revised English Bible should read: ‘Their seducer, the Devil, was flung into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been flung, to be tormented day and night for ever.’…
 
“… we [need to]  understand for WHOM the lake of fire was prepared… We read in Matthew 25:41 that the lake of fire was ‘prepared for the devil and his angels.’ Therefore, it will be the devil and his demons who will be tormented in the lake of fire, for as long as that lake exists. Since spirit beings cannot die (compare Luke 20:36), they will be tormented—in a spiritual way—while being confined to the lake of fire, when they come to the realization that they are unable to deceive man anymore, and when they see all their ‘works’ and evil ‘accomplishments’ replaced by the good and prosperous ways of God…”
 
The New King James Bible translates that after the Devil is cast into the lake of fire, “THEY will be tormented day and night.” We explain in our aforementioned booklet:
 
“The Bible uses that way of speaking on occasion. Note one example of this ‘figure of speech’ in the report of the demons possessing the herd of swine. In the record of Matthew, we are clearly told that Christ dealt with TWO demon-possessed men (Matthew 8:28–32). However, in the record of Mark, we are only told about ONE demon-possessed man (Mark 5:1–13). It is obvious, then, that the one man mentioned in Mark was the spokesman or leader of the other man, mentioned in Matthew. In the same way, the devil in Revelation 20:10 is the leader or representative of all the demons, mentioned or referred to in the latter part of the same sentence.”
 
The same is true for Revelation 20:1-3, which mentions that Satan—the ruler of the demonic world—will be bound in the abyss or bottomless pit for a thousand years. Even though only the ruler over the demons is mentioned here, the demons themselves are included as well. Conversely, in another passage (discussed below), only demons are mentioned, but there, Satan, their ruler and the highest of all the demons, is also included.

The capture of Satan is symbolically portrayed by the Day of Atonement—one of God’s seven annual Holy Days. For more information on the importance of that day which is still to be observed today, please read chapter 3 of our free booklet, “The Sacrificial System and the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.” We state the following on page 51 regarding an ancient procedure in Old Testament times–the removal of the “Azazel Goat,” which pictures Satan the Devil:
 
“Leviticus 16:21 explains that Aaron had to lay both his hands on the head of the Azazel goat; confess over it all the iniquities, sins and transgressions of the Israelites; put them on the head of the Azazel goat; and send it away alive into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. Leviticus 16:22 continues to instruct that the Azazel goat, bearing all the iniquities of the Israelites, was to be let go alive in an uninhabited land—a wilderness. Modern Babylon, a city built on seven hills, and, at the same time, a description of a military, religious and economic system—symbolizing the end-time generation of this evil world—will become such a wilderness (compare Isaiah 13:19–22; Revelation 18:2).

“The removal of Satan is described in Revelation 20:1–3: ‘Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He [the angel, pictured by the suitable man who took the Azazel goat into the wilderness] laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan [pictured by the Azazel goat], and bound him for a thousand years; and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. [This is pictured by the fact that the Azazel goat was not killed, but placed alive in the wilderness, far away from the camp of Israel.]’”

What exactly is that bottomless pit, mentioned in Revelation 20:1-3, where Satan and his demons will be bound? It is not a mystical fiery “hell” way down under the surface of the earth—such a “hell” simply does not exist, and nowhere in the Bible is it remotely mentioned. Even the lake of fire in which Satan and his demons will be cast before the Great White Throne Judgment begins, will be ON the earth—not UNDER the earth.

Now note again the reference to modern Babylon in Revelation 18:2: “And he [an angel] cried mightily with a loud voice, saying ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of DEMONS, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird.”

In this passage, Satan is also included as the highest demon and the ruler over the demons.

What, then, is the relationship between the bottomless pit or the abyss and the wilderness of the modern city of Babylon, which is built on seven hills?

We write the following in chapter 7 of our free booklet, “The Book of Zechariah—Prophecies for Today,” on pages 55-56, when addressing Zechariah’s seventh vision, pertaining to a wicked woman in a basket, which pictures the modern system and city of Babylon (please read the entire chapter 7):

“Some commentaries identify the woman in the basket [in Zechariah 5:5-11] as the woman or harlot riding the beast, as described in the book of Revelation. There, she is called ‘Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth’ (Revelation 17:5). She is also described as a religious city built on seven hills (Revelation 17:9, 18, New International Version, Living Bible)—in other words, Babylon the great, in the book of Revelation, signifies a false religious, political, military and economic system…

“We read that the woman, personifying worldwide wickedness or iniquity, is confined to a basket or container, but she is trying, unsuccessfully, to escape from her prison (verses 7–8). This gives us the time setting of Zechariah’s vision—it describes the woman’s future judgment—which will occur when Jesus Christ returns. The modern CITY of Babylon the great—as well as the SYSTEM which it represents—will be destroyed with fire (Revelation 18:8, 21; 19:3). Depending on the translation, it will become a ‘dwelling place’ or a ‘habitation’ or a ‘house’… or a ‘home’ (New International Version) of ‘demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird’ (Revelation 18:2).

“This fact explains why two women with wings of a stork (Zechariah 5:9)—perhaps angels—carry the imprisoned woman to the land of [Shinar or] Babylon, to build a house or dwelling place for her (verse 11)… The two women will assist in removing ‘wickedness’—the wicked system—from this earth… wickedness will be placed ‘forever in Babylon’ (compare Geneva Study Bible); that is, the burned and destroyed location and area of the modern city of Babylon will become a ‘house’ for demons during the time of the Millennium…”

We see, then, that the abyss or the bottomless pit, where Satan and his demons will be shut up, describes the destroyed areas where currently the modern city of Babylon is situated. We read that the modern city of Babylon will never be rebuilt and inhabited again (Isaiah 13:19-22).

After Satan and his demons are confined to the bottomless pit or abyss of the wilderness of modern Babylon, unable to deceive the nations anymore during the time of the Millennium, Jesus Christ will proceed with freeing the enslaved peoples of  the modern houses of Israel and Judah. We will address these events in more detail in a subsequent Q&A.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

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Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock

A new member letter was written and sent out this week. In the letter, Brian Gale addresses the present worldwide lack of competent leadership, warns of worse times to come, and presents the solution to all of our problems.

A new StandingWatch program was posted on YouTube and on our Website www.standingwatch.org. It is titled, “The Predestined Future of Europe.” Why did some proclaim correctly more than 80 years ago what is happening in Europe right now? Why did they understand the Bible, while others did not? Why is it that today some announce accurately the future of Europe, while most are oblivious as to its destiny? While speaking of the euro crisis or a socialist Europe, they are blind as to what the Bible says.

Norbert Link’s new video-recorded sermon, “The Heavenly Signs and the Day of the Lord,” was posted on YouTube.

Two new radio programs (Numbers 9 and 10) were recorded this week, titled, “Satan’s Imprisonment” and “Europe’s Future.” They will be broadcast, respectively, beginning Sunday, February 26 and March 4, 2012. Our radio broadcasts are being posted on our Website, www.standingwatch.org.

A new German sermon was posted on YouTube, titled, “Die Zerstoerung Europas.” (“The Destruction of Europe”).

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How This Work is Financed

This Update is an official publication by the ministry of the Church of the Eternal God in the United States of America; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Team: Norbert Link, Dave Harris, Rene Messier, Brian Gale, Johanna Link, Eric Rank, Michael Link, Anna Link, Kalon Mitchell, Manuela Mitchell, Dawn Thompson

Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank

Our activities and literature, including booklets, weekly updates, sermons on CD are provided free of charge. They are made possible by the tithes, offerings and contributions of Church members and others who have elected to support this Work.

While we do not solicit the general public for funds, contributions are gratefully welcomed and are tax-deductible in the U.S. and Canada.

Donations can be sent to the following addresses:

United States: Church of the Eternal God, P.O. Box 270519, San Diego, CA 92198

Canada: Church of God, ACF, Box 1480, Summerland, B.C. V0H 1Z0

United Kingdom: Global Church of God, PO Box 44, MABLETHORPE, LN12 9AN, United Kingdom

Foolish Science

God created man to cultivate and take care of the environment. But man disobeyed and rejected God, while deciding on his own how to live. Today, God-defying scientists create genetically modified mosquitoes, which pose a real threat to humans, and carnal minds manufacture the most deadly form of the bird flu, which is now able to jump from birds to humans. Thankfully, this crazy, Satan-inspired world will soon come to an end, and when man undergoes a total change of his thinking, he will experience soundness and peace after 6,000 years of sickness, hatred and war.

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The Heavenly Signs and the Day of the Lord

Once the Great Tribulation has started, mankind will experience terrible cosmic disturbances, followed by the great and awesome Day of the Lord, which is symbolized by the last or seventh seal. That seal consists of seven trumpets. In this sermon we will discuss the first six of these trumpets.

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Current Events

Coming—Worldwide Disease Epidemics and Pandemics

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 27:
 
“Antibiotics were once the wonder drug. Now, however, an increasing number of highly resistant — and deadly — bacteria are spreading around the world…
 
“The bacteria are transmitted via the skin, through towels, clothing or direct body contact. All it takes is a small abrasion to provide them with access to a victim’s bloodstream. Festering pustules develop at the infection site, at which point the pathogens are also capable of corroding the lungs. If doctors wait too long, patients can die very quickly… The two bacteria, ha-MRSA and ca-MRSA, are only two strains from an entire arsenal of pathogens that are now resistant to almost all available antibiotics. Less than a century after the discovery of penicillin, one of the most powerful miracle weapons ever produced by modern medicine threatens to become ineffective…
 
“With the spread of ESBL-forming bacteria, reserve antibiotics have to be used more and more frequently, thereby allowing new resistances to develop. In fact, there are already some pathogens that not even the drugs of last resort in the medical arsenal can combat… This rapid spread has caused many to wonder whether more and more people… will soon die of infectious diseases that were supposedly treatable, as happened in centuries past. Unfortunately, there are many indications that this might ultimately be the case… The World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned against an impending medical catastrophe…
 
“In fact, the carelessness with which doctors and farmers are jeopardizing the effectiveness of one of the most important groups of drugs borders on lunacy. Some 900 metric tons of antibiotics are administered to livestock each year in Germany alone. Instead of treating only those animals that are truly sick, farmers routinely feed the medications to all of their animals. Likewise, some 300 metric tons of antibiotics are used to treat humans each year, far too often for those merely suffering from a common cold… This large-scale use inevitably leads to the spread of resistant bugs… Still, even more responsible prescribing practices will hardly be able to stop the advance of resistant bacteria in the long term. What’s more, no new antibiotics can be seen on the horizon. Only four pharmaceutical companies worldwide are still working on developing new agents…”
 
Other media reports show the increasing ineffectiveness and counter-productiveness of antibiotics. Surely, Christ’s predictions that we will hear more and more about end-time diseases and pandemics are coming to pass…

The World’s Biggest Political Battle

Der Spiegel wrote on January 26:

“The battle lines are being drawn in what is undoubtedly the world’s biggest political battle — the election of an American president. Incumbent Barack Obama used his annual State of the Union speech in front of Congress on Tuesday to outline the foundations of his campaign…

“Die Zeit writes: ‘Obama remains a politically vulnerable president. … And the criticism from the Republicans is also not completely unjustified…’

“The center-left Frankfurter Rundschau writes: ‘… the US has developed into a class society. More so than in Germany, anyone’s future prospects depend on where they come from. Only those with affluent and well-educated parents… even [have] a shot at having… a career…’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘With the demand for a minimum tax for the rich, (Obama) is breeding resentment among the successful entrepreneurs and investors who are the engine of economic development… With minimum taxes and increased industry control, he will not win back manufacturing jobs for America.’”

Der Spiegel added on January 27:

“The US Republican candidates’ debate in Florida quickly devolved into a horror show of absurdities on Thursday night as candidates argued about immigration and moon colonies. Mitt Romney was branded the winner, but the real losers were the viewers, the truth and politics in general… CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer tried to heighten the drama by asking absurd questions about US colonies on the moon, Swiss bank accounts, and Puerto Rican statehood, not to mention which of the four candidates’ wives would make the best first lady… The most important topic for voters, the economy, wasn’t addressed at all.

“At the end, the commentators declared Romney the winner (because he bit the hardest) and Gingrich the loser (because he didn’t bite back hard enough). Santorum was termed the ‘new’ challenger (because he attacked everyone), and Paul became the funny uncle. But the real loser was the political system… Those who follow this race daily may have long since lost perspective on how absurd it is… Maybe the best solution came from Paul, who said: ‘Well, I don’t think we should go to the moon. I think we maybe should send some politicians up there.’”

We feel ALL politicians should be sent up there… Subsequently, Mr. Romney won the election in Florida, but Mr. Gingrich–who reached a distant second place– vowed to continue fighting until the bitter end. The very next day, both politicians resumed their personal attacks against each other, and the other two remaining Republican contestants, Messrs. Santorum and Paul, chipped in as well.

Cameron Critical of European Court of Human Rights

Israel National News reported on January 27:

“British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech before the Council of Europe, the 47 nation grouping that is responsible for the European Court of Human Rights. Britain has been discomfited by the court’s activism and decisions. A recent parliamentary study found that Britain lost 75% of the cases in which it was sued…

“Britain’s major complaint is a serious one. The UK is concerned about court rulings on immigration that prevented the country from protecting its citizens against terrorism. Terrorists who had entered the country illegally could not be deported… Another problematic area is the penchant of the European Court of human rights to review cases that have gone through the entire appeals process in the national courts, adding yet another tribunal. The court ‘should not undermine its own reputation by going over national decisions where it does not need to.’”

Britain’s frustration with the institutions of the EU will continue.

Tough Smacking Laws Need to Be Relaxed

Great Britain’s Press Association wrote on January 29:

“Legislation surrounding the smacking of children needs to be relaxed so working-class parents can instil discipline in their homes without fearing prosecution, according to a senior Labour politician. MP for Tottenham David Lammy claimed Labour’s 2004 decision to tighten up the smacking law was partly to blame for last summer’s riots, which erupted in his north London constituency.

“In an interview with LBC Radio, the former education minister said: ‘Many of my constituents came up to me after the riots and blamed the Labour Government, saying: “You guys stopped us being able to smack our children”… These parents are scared to smack their children and paranoid that social workers will get involved and take their children away.’

“Mr Lammy… said working-class parents should be able to physically discipline their children to prevent them from joining gangs and getting involved in knife crime. Current legislation, enforced under The Children Act of 2004, says parents are allowed to smack their offspring without causing the ‘reddening of the skin’. Previously they could use ‘reasonable chastisement’ with a judge deciding if they had over-stepped the mark. However, since the 2004 amendments the decision has been left to social workers…

“The politician argued parents in Tottenham had to raise their children ‘with knives, gangs and the dangers of violent crime just outside the window’, but ‘no longer feel sovereign in their own homes’, because of the laws. ‘The ability to exercise their own judgment in relation to discipline and reasonable chastisement has been taken away,’ he added.”

Indeed, man’s ways ARE foolishness to God.

Victory for Merkel

The Financial Times wrote on January 30:

“Twenty-five of the European Union’s 27 countries have signed up to a German-inspired treaty enshrining tougher fiscal rules to help underpin the euro. But Berlin was warned that there were limits to how much sovereignty governments could be expected to surrender for the sake of fiscal discipline… The continued debate over Greece’s future came as Ms Merkel was handed a symbolic victory in her months’ long drive to include tough budget limits into the fabric of the single currency. But Berlin lost a second signatory at the summit when the Czech Republic announced it would join the UK by not agreeing to the pact.

“David Cameron… said he would not block signatories from using EU-wide institutions. But he warned he would take legal action if the new treaty undermined British interests. Ratification by Germany’s most important partner in the eurozone also became more complicated as Mr Sarkozy said he would not ask the French assembly to approve the treaty before April’s presidential election. Mr Sarkozy’s likely opponent, Socialist François Hollande, has said he would seek to renegotiate the pact, but Ms Merkel said she did not believe France would back away from the commitment.”

Deutsche Welle added on January 31:

“Twenty-five of the European Union’s 27 member states agreed to a fiscal unification pact that would cede much control of national budgets over to Brussels… The United Kingdom had already declined to take part in the so-called ‘fiscal compact,’ which, among other things, would require countries to introduce balanced budget rules into their laws or constitutions. The Czech Republic also said it would not sign the agreement.”

The Wall Street Journal added:

“Leaders of 25 European Union governments agreed Monday night on what some billed as a historic pact to move to closer fiscal union and signed off on the details of a permanent bailout fund for the euro zone…”

The EU Says “No” to German-American Merger

Der Spiegel reported on January 2:

“The European Commission has vetoed a planned merger between Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext stock exchanges, saying that it would have created a quasi-monopoly in certain kinds of trading… It would have been the world’s largest stock-exchange company… According to the Commission, the two companies control more than 90 percent of the trade in European exchange-traded financial derivatives… Deutsche Börse reacted to the decision with disappointment. ‘This is a black day for Europe and for its future competitiveness on global financial markets,’ said the company’s executive board in a statement. ‘The EU Commission’s decision is based on an unrealistically narrow definition of the market that does no justice to the global nature of competition in the market for derivatives.’

“The two companies can still appeal the decision before the European Court of Justice. The head of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Duncan Niederauer, recently said that he would not rule out legal action against a veto. It was the third attempt by Deutsche Börse and NYSE to merge. The Frankfurt-based Deutsche Börse would have owned 60 percent of the proposed new company, and the NYSE 40 percent… The US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had already cleared the merger.”

The EUObserver added:

“… the German firm reacted furiously to [the] announcement… The story is not over yet, with Deutsche Boerse expected to shortly make a bid for the London stock exchange…”

A prophecy about Europe in Daniel 2 comes to mind, saying that “they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay” (verse 43). Still, to make Germany angry may not be a smart move for European countries… and neither is the impression that Germany is giving as wanting to become the master of Europe… Please note the next article…

Europe Afraid of Germany

“The EU summit on Monday was overshadowed by a new upsurge in fears of German domination following reports over the weekend that Berlin was proposing dispatching an EU commissioner to Athens to seize control of the Greek budget… Greek newspaper Ta Nea published a cartoon of Merkel holding Greece like a marionette under the headline ‘Nein! Nein! Nein!’… Economic data released on Tuesday underlined that Germany is doing far better than its European partners. German unemployment fell to a record low of 6.7 percent in January while joblessness in the euro zone rose to 10.4 percent in December, the highest rate since June 1998.

“German media commentators say Germany has a right to insist on fiscal discipline in Europe but needs to tread more lightly in its rhetoric, and must refrain from proposals that insult its partners…

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘… Countries in crisis can’t be transformed into protectorates…’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘Germany has the strongest economy by far in the EU, and its lead is growing. It is also the most populous country, which isn’t insignificant in democratic terms. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the German government is making use of this clout; that’s legitimate. But Germany isn’t the hegemon of Europe. It isn’t the hesitant or even steamrolling hegemon who flattens the other members of the EU and/or euro zone. The union of the Europeans doesn’t work that way. It isn’t geared to systematic domination or subordination…

“‘If Germany is to lead, as most partners want it to or say they want it to, this leadership cannot simply consist of giving orders… Greek public shouldn’t stupidly call the chancellor a Nazi, and should draw the right conclusions from a grandiose failure. And despite all the fuss being made: The country has de facto already surrendered its budget autonomy.’

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘Germany stands where it never wanted to stand again after 1945: as the dominant power in the middle of Europe. Its attempts to achieve this with cannons and tanks in the 20th century ended in apocalypses of blood and fire, but that’s precisely why that Germany no longer exists. No country succumbed to the temptation of nationalism more terribly than Germany; in its collective memory, the crimes it committed across Europe still weigh heavily.

“‘True, it is a disgrace to exploit that fact today, even in Greece, whose political parties drove the state to ruin. But it should teach the German government not to confuse firmness with the arrogance of power when it comes to the euro crisis. Because this power is very real, and it is causing fear. The idea to impose an austerity commissioner on Greece was insensitive…

“‘In truth, this worst crisis since the start of the European Union shows how vital that union is. It shows that a common currency, the free movement of goods, open borders and friendship among peoples can’t be taken for granted. These are historically unique achievements of a continent whose peoples settled their disputes by waging war up until two generations ago… Germany must convince rather than dictate. It is just as dependent on Europe as the Greeks.’”

The Local added on February 2:

“A eurosceptic British MEP provoked the German head of the European Parliament chairman to cut off his microphone after comparing Germany’s proposed plans for Greece’s finances to the Nazi occupation of the country. The move by parliament president Martin Schulz prompted Nigel Farage to storm out of the Brussels chamber on Wednesday.

“Farage, who heads the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) likened Germany’s proposal for EU control of Greece’s public spending to placing it under control of a ‘Gauleiter’ – a Nazi administrator in charge of a region during the Third Reich. His microphone was eventually turned off by Schulz, a German Social Democrat, at which point Farage ‘had no option but to walk out of the chamber in disgust,’ his spokesman said in a statement.

“The comment provoked uproar, especially among German MEPs, with Green Party representative Reinhard Bütikofer accusing the UKIP leader of spreading, ‘hatred in the European Parliament’ and ‘hatred between European peoples.’ Farage later said he was only repeating a word being used in the British media… The UKIP party does not support Britain being a member of the European Union, and if newly appointed president Schulz decides to take punitive action against Farage, he could face a fine.”

Germany’s Interests in Africa

German Foreign Policy reported on January 20:

“The German Foreign Ministry is warning that unrest in Nigeria could escalate. The German government is ‘very worried’ about developments in that country, declared the Africa Commissioner in the German Foreign Ministry. For years, Nigeria has been the scene of violent upheavals in the Niger Delta and more recently has been marked by an escalation of attacks by Islamist organizations. Over the past few weeks, a nationwide general strike has paralyzed the country, during the course of which, government repressive forces have killed at least nine people.

“The widespread impoverishment of broad sections of the population in this country rich in petroleum and natural gas is the primary reason for these protests. Germany is interested in more than only Nigeria’s natural resources; Germany also attributes significant geo-strategic importance to Nigeria, as a western proxy in African conflicts as well as a deputy in fighting against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
 
“Apprehension is now growing in government circles in Berlin, that Nigeria could be politically destabilized, which, in the eyes of Germany, would reduce its geostrategic usefulness. By intensifying cooperation with Abuja, the German government is attempting to counteract this development.”

The Rhein-Neckar Zeitung reported on January 23 that Nigeria is becoming chaotic and is facing civil war due to the threats and terrorist activities of Islamists—especially the radical Boko Haram organization, which is advocating the creation of an Islamic state and the enforcement of Sharia law. They want to prohibit Western culture and Christianity. In 2011 alone, they murdered more than 3,000 people and injured more than 10,000 people in Nigeria. Their attacks are mainly focused on Christians.

Watch Ethiopia

The BBC News wrote on January 28:

“The African Union has inaugurated its newly built headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The entire $200m (£127m) project was funded by China as a gift to the AU, as Beijing continues to strengthen its influence in Africa. In front of African leaders a huge golden key was handed over and the 100m high building was officially opened. The tower overlooks a vast conference centre where African heads of state are expected to meet for years to come… The new AU building dominates the skyline of Addis Ababa and is the city’s tallest building…

“Trade between China and Africa has increased more than six-fold during the past decade to $120bn (£76bn) in 2011. China is interested in Africa’s natural resources and in return is investing huge sums in African infrastructure. Roads are being built by Chinese firms at a staggering rate… While other rich nations impose conditions before aid is given, China’s relationship with African countries is strictly a business one, he says… In Ethiopia, many jobs have been created through Chinese-funded projects. Chinese cars are being made in Ethiopian factories and China is also building a light railway across Addis Ababa.”

China’s involvement in Africa and especially Ethiopia is quite interesting. In the past, Ethiopia was identified as the king of the South, mentioned in Daniel 11, pushing at the king of the North [the revived Roman Empire in Europe]. It is unclear whether this prophecy, which has been fulfilled under Mussolini, is dual. Recently, Ethiopia was mentioned in the news in respect to a highly controversial kidnapping of German citizens in that country. We also know that the relationship between China and Europe will constantly deteriorate.

German Diplomat Named EU Special Representative for Middle East Peace Process

Germany.info reported on January 23:

“German diplomat Andreas Reinicke, until now German ambassador in Damascus, will become the EU special representative for the Middle East peace process. The appointment was agreed by the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on January 23. He will play a key role in bringing both sides back to the negotiating table, according to Catherine Ashton, EU high representative for foreign affairs.

“Reinicke is considered one of the most experienced Middle East experts in the German Foreign Office, having been stationed at both the embassies in Tel Aviv and Ramallah and heading up the Middle East section at the Foreign Office headquarters in Berlin. In addition to the EU’s long-standing efforts to help achieve a peaceful solution in the Middle East, Germany is also working bilaterally to support a peaceful solution. The German Government has had numerous political talks with representatives of the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority. The Middle East is one of the region’s most frequently visited by the Federal Foreign Minister and the Federal Chancellor.”

Germany’s influence and involvement in the Middle East is prophesied to continue and increase.

The Iranian Threat

Israel National News reported on January 27:

“The current U.S.-led push to force Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions through steadily increasing economic and diplomatic pressure is beginning to show results and it would be ‘premature’ to resort to military force, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said on Thursday… He said the U.S. was increasing its economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran while making  preparations—if there was no other option—for a possible military intervention into the country… The London Times reported this week that Israeli officials told Dempsey that Israel would give President Barack Obama no more than 12 hours’ notice if and when it attacks Iran. The Netanyahu government also will not coordinate with the United States an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to the report.”

As the next article shows and as the dpa reported on January 24, the EU also announced wide-ranging “extraordinary” economic sanctions against Iran. Beginning with July 1, 2012, all oil imports into Europe from Iran are prohibited. According to the Figaro in Paris, the sanctions are prepared to preempt an Israeli attack on Iran. A most ridiculous position was taken by the Tagesanzeiger in Zurich, stating on January 25: “The crisis can only be avoided if the EU is willing to strengthen the regime in Tehran.”

Iran’s Reaction to EU Sanctions

Deutsche Welle reported on January 29:

“Iranian lawmakers have delayed a retaliatory halt in oil exports to Europe despite their fury over the EU’s embargo on imports of Iranian oil. The EU is pressing Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions. Iranian energy commission spokesman Emad Hosseini said the plan by Iranian lawmakers to fast-track a bill through parliament on Sunday to choke off oil exports to Europe has been put off until next Friday…

“Eighteen percent of Iranian oil exports go to EU countries, mainly to Italy, Spain and Greece. The EU embargo enacted on January 16 applies in phases. It banned new import contracts but gave those three EU nations until July to find alternative suppliers… Saudi Arabia has said it could make up for shortfalls, but that could be complicated by repeated Iranian threats to close the Gulf region’s export channel, the Strait of Hormuz. The United States, which has two aircraft carrier groups in the region, has warned Iran via diplomatic channels not to cross a red line… ”

Israel Contemplating Military Action Against Iran

The Telegraph wrote on January 27:

“Reviving Western concerns that his government is still contemplating unilateral military action against Iran, Ehud Barak gave one of the clearest signs yet that Israel’s support for new US and EU sanctions remains strictly limited. ‘We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear,’ he told the World Economic Forum in Davos. ‘And even the American president and opinion leaders have said that no option should be removed from the table. It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them’…

“Israel’s fears that it might soon be too late to launch military action were bolstered earlier this month when Iran announced that it had begun to enrich uranium at its Fordow plant, which is buried so deep within a mountain it may be impossible for Israeli warplanes or missiles to destroy. Mr Barak’s ministry believes that once the bulk of uranium enrichment is carried out at Fordow, Iran will be in the immunity zone. Israel also reckons that Iran could be in a position to build a bomb within months… The EU agreed this week to an embargo on importing oil from Iran, but said it would phase in the sanctions over six months…”

The Washington Post wrote on February 2:

“Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has a lot on his mind these days, from cutting the defense budget to managing the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. But his biggest worry is the growing possibility that Israel will attack Iran militarily over the next few months. Panetta believes there is strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June — before Iran enters what Israelis described as a ‘zone of immunity’ to commence building a nuclear bomb. Very soon, the Israelis fear, the Iranians will have enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon — and only the U.S. could then stop them militarily. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t want to leave the fate of Israel dependent on American action…

“Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak may have signaled the prospect of an Israeli attack soon when he asked last month to postpone a planned U.S.-Israel military exercise that would culminate in a live-fire phase in May. Barak apologized that Israel couldn’t devote the resources to the annual exercise this spring. President Obama and Panetta are said to have cautioned the Israelis that the United States opposes an attack… This U.S. policy… might open a breach like the one in 1956, when President Eisenhower condemned an Israeli-European attack on the Suez Canal. Complicating matters is the 2012 presidential campaign, which has [Republican] candidates clamoring for stronger U.S. support of Israel… senior Americans doubt the Israelis are bluffing…”

It appears more and more likely that Israel will soon resort to military action against Iran.

Iranian Soldiers for the Mahdi

WorldNetDaily wrote on January 25:

“Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has held several secret meetings with his economic and military advisers in recent days to prepare for the possibility of war with the United States. Sources report the preparations are to include the execution of those Iranians who oppose the regime. Khamenei has been heard to say that the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, is near and that specific actions need to be taken to protect the Islamic regime for upcoming events… Selected forces within the Revolutionary Guards and Basij reportedly have been trained under a task force called ‘Soldiers of Imam Mahdi’ and they will bear the responsibility of security and protecting the regime against uprisings. Many in the Guards and Basij have been told that the 12th Imam is on earth, facilitated the victory of Hezbollah over Israel in the 2006 war and soon will announce publicly his presence after the needed environment is created…

“Journalists, writers and publishers who are deemed to be against the regime would be arrested and punished. Even high religious authorities who do not fully support Khamenei will be put under surveillance and dealt with if they become outspoken about the direction of the country. Several journalists already have been arrested in the past week. In a recent speech, Khamenei hinted of a warlike environment and warned those clerics who might doubt his direction of the country that their survival is tied to the survival of the Islamic regime. Many Iranians who resent the regime resent the religion it promotes, so even opposition clerics might not fare well…

“The plan by the leader calls for total control of Tehran, the capital where the presence of the Basij and Hezbollah militias would be quite visible so that no one would dare to challenge the regime…Khamenei’s extraordinary measures are based either on an understanding that war could be imminent or that the regime has decided to announce it has nuclear capability and is getting ready for a possible reaction from Israel or America.

“Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, an influential cleric and a radical Twelver, previously had stated that Khamenei ascends to the sky every year to take direction from Imam Mahdi, and sources close to the cleric have disclosed that Khamenei has been ordered by Imam Mahdi to continue with the nuclear program despite worldwide objection as it will facilitate his coming. Last March, a Iranian secret documentary, ‘The Coming Is Upon Us,’ was revealed to depict Khamenei as the mythical figure who creates the environment for the reappearance of Mahdi by leading Iran to destroy Israel.”

With this fundamentalist view point, it should be obvious that “negotiations” or sanctions will not dissuade Iran. Quite to the contrary, the religious powers appear to be determined to continue provoking Israel and the West, to bring about an all-encompassing war in the region. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Why Sanctions Against Iran Will Not Help.”

Turkey and Arab Nations Support Hamas

Israel National News reported on January 27:

“Hamas’ Gaza chief Ismail Haniyeh’s recent official tour opened the door to financial cooperation between the terror group and Turkey, a high-ranking Hamas official told the Al-Sharq newspaper on Thursday. The official told the newspaper that Turkey has agreed to carry out a project to support Hamas and rebuild Gaza. According to the official, Hamas will open an official office in Turkey in the coming weeks.

“Iran recently cooled its relations with Hamas, after Hamas refused to support Syrian president Bashar Assad. Despite the cool relations, however, Haniyeh indicated Wednesday he has added Iran to the itinerary of his next international tour… The addition of Iran to Haniyeh’s itinerary comes after Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent Haniyeh a letter on Tuesday congratulating him on the anniversary of Hamas’ victory over Fatah in its bloody June 2007 seizure of Gaza.

“Hainyeh recently returned from his first official tour since Hamas violently took over Gaza in 2007. In addition to Turkey, during the tour he also visited Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan.”

Turkey’s relationship with Israel will become more and more hostile, while it will associate and collaborate with Israel’s enemies.

Unrest in Iraq

The New York Times wrote on January 28:

“Since the United States military withdrew from Iraq in the middle of last month, 434 Iraqis have been killed in attacks across the country, according to security officials, one of the highest tolls for that amount of time in the past few years… the wave of violence over the past five weeks has unnerved Iraqis who fear that their leaders, embroiled in a political fight with one another, are not prepared to thwart attacks without help from the Americans… The attacks, which have been aimed mainly at Shiites, have also raised questions about whether the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq has regained its footing…”

The USA has failed to accomplish its goal to bring peace, freedom and democracy to Iraq. It leaves behind a deeply divided country, which is feared to descend into civil war.

Fierce Violence in Syria

Deutsche Welle reported on February 1, 2012:

“Fierce clashes have swept across Syria killing 59 people… the death toll was heaviest in Damascus where 24 civilians were killed, along with six army deserters. Fifteen soldiers were reported killed in the city of Homs. Nearly 200 people are thought to have died in the unrest over the past few days.

“The fresh violence comes as Russia continues to say it will vote against a UN Security Council draft resolution condemning the Syrian regime. Kremlin officials say the current draft does not rule out military intervention or forced regime change in Syria… Morocco introduced the draft resolution calling for the formation of a unity government that would lead to ‘transparent and free elections.’ The outline says there will be no military intervention in Syria as there was in Libya last year.”

In spite of the wording of the draft resolution, Russia is objecting, showing that its motives are quite different from what is being alleged. Nevertheless, the U.N. buckled to Russia’s demands, as BBC News wrote on February 2:

“Diplomats at the UN Security Council have watered down a resolution on Syria in an apparent attempt to overcome Russian objections to an earlier draft. The new text drops explicit reference to a call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power, a key part of an Arab League plan… The revised draft… also removes a paragraph calling on member states to act to prevent the flow of arms into Syria. This was another clause opposed by Russia even though it does not impose an arms embargo…

“Human rights groups and activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began in March… US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had earlier said Council members must decide whether they supported the Syrian people or ‘a brutal, dictatorial regime’. Russia, a key ally of Syria, has continued to send weapons for use by the Assad government despite the uprising. In Moscow, a top defence ministry official said there were no plans to halt such deliveries.”

“Democracy” in Egypt?

The New York Times wrote on January 26:

“Building tensions between the United States and Egypt flashed into the open Thursday when Cairo confirmed that it had barred at least a half-dozen Americans from leaving the country and the Obama administration threatened explicitly to withhold its annual aid to the Egyptian military. The travel ban came to light on Thursday after the International Republican Institute, an American-backed democracy-building group, disclosed that the Egyptian authorities had stopped its Egypt director, Sam LaHood, at the Cairo airport on Saturday before he could board a flight to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Mr. LaHood is the son of Ray LaHood, the secretary of transportation and a former Republican congressman from Illinois…

“Just a day before Mr. LaHood was detained temporarily, President Obama had warned Egypt’s leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, that this year’s American military aid hinged on satisfying new Congressional legislation requiring that Egypt’s military government take tangible steps toward democracy, said three people briefed on the conversation. Mr. Obama referred specifically to the criminal inquiry into several democracy-building groups with foreign financing, including the Republican Institute…

“State Department officials said that it was the first time in three decades that American military aid to Egypt was at risk. That aid, $1.3 billion a year, has always been sacrosanct as the price the United States pays to preserve Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel… Now Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, is required to certify that Egypt is making democratic progress… before releasing the aid this fiscal year. Representative Frank R. Wolf, a Republican from Virginia who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said… ‘This is out of control… If the administration follows the law, there’s no way they can continue the aid.’”

Islamists received 70 percent of the votes in the first “free” parliamentary election. A confrontation with Israel is feared. The recent turmoil during the first session of the Egyptian parliament with Islamic majority, and the election of a member of the radical Muslim brotherhood as President of Parliament shows how far removed Egypt is from any resemblance to democracy—and it manifests the threat that new Egypt poses for the West. The violent outbreak at a soccer game on Wednesday is not the kind of peaceful democratic behavior that the Egyptians were thought to embrace.  Almost 80 people died and about 1,000 were injured in the city of Port Said, Egypt, after fans rushed the field following a game against a rival team.

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