On August 28, 2010, Eric Rank will give the sermon, titled, “Fear and Faith.”

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.

I love to watch “magicians.” To be sure, I don’t like fakes or charlatans–or hypnotists or those whose performances make you wonder whether they are under some kind of spiritual influence or have “extra” help–especially if they claim that this is the case.

But I like to watch those who are really good “illusionists.” I know that there is an explanation for their tricks, but I am baffled by the way they present them–apart from the fact that I can’t really figure out how they do it.

Then, of course, there are “magicians” who put on a bad performance. Their “tricks” are easily discernable and predictable. We can quickly see through them–especially when they make mistakes, such as pulling a white rabbit out of a hat when it should have been a white dove.

However, I don’t like to watch or listen to ANY of the church “magicians” or “illusionists.” Most of their performances are poor or just plain fakes. Some claim that they may have special speculative insight information, but I wonder about the source–especially when their speculation contradicts Scripture. There are those who like to dazzle others with their “unique” understanding, proclaiming that their mere human speculation is tantamount to godly revelation. Many times, we can immediately see through their illusions and magic tricks, but at other times, they seem to be more subtle.

In my last Editorial (“The Day of Christ’s Return“), I showed that Jesus Christ, in the Holy Bible, proclaims that only the Father knows the “day” or the “hour” or the “times” or the “seasons” of Christ’s return. If we can believe it–not even Christ knows the exact year of His Second Coming. In fact, trusting in the accuracy of Christ’s very own words, His return will come as an UNEXPECTED surprise to everyone–including His disciples.

It was noted that someone responded to my editorial by writing on the Internet: “I am not claiming that I know the exact year… just that Jesus likely does… When will Jesus return? 2018 or 2019?”

Can we see through this cheap magic trick? Jesus “likely” does know? So does He, or doesn’t He? And insofar as the self-proclaimed humility of that “magician” is concerned, he does not claim that he knows–except that, with a revealing twinkle in his eye, he suggests that he does know–it’s 2018 or 2019!!!

If you are not convinced yet, why don’t you join the circus of church illusionists and toss or pick up some more coins. Because competing church magicians have postulated other years–2012 or 2014 or 2017. Some recently announced a year for Christ’s return, which by now has already passed. So, their illusions were just that–illusions!

By default, somebody will happen to be correct one of these days, as we know, from the signs of the time, that Jesus’ return IS near. But some, with great swelling words of emptiness, are even trying to become hypnotists, attempting to draw a following after themselves due to their “humbly” professed “insight” knowledge.

What many of those church magicians, illusionists, performers, hypnotists or plain fakes don’t seem to realize is that they need to focus on something altogether different–as we all must do. Rather than trying to be a self-proclaimed recipient of “hidden knowledge” as to the exact year and month and day of Christ’s return (which knowledge is restricted to the Father), they should concentrate on what it takes to be able to stand before Christ when He returns. Many, I fear, are forgetting the weightier matters of the law. To be a church magician or illusionist, merely pulling black rabbits of speculations out of a little shabby hat, won’t cut it. We must not forget that obedience and faith is much more important than “insight” knowledge. And those who believe that they can disbelieve the Father’s and Jesus’ words and still be in God’s Kingdom, may have a surprise awakening coming.

PS You might want to read my Editorial from June 5, 2009, titled, “The Last Days…”

The German press reported on America’s withdrawal from Iraq and nearly universally concluded that Washington’s image has suffered; that America did not win the Iraq war; that America’s leadership role in the Middle East is over; and that no peace is in sight for Iraq. In other words, that the war was wrong, useless and a complete failure.

We are focusing on President Obama’s loss of popularity in the USA and abroad, and reporting about serious consequences of a conversion from Islam to Christianity under Muslim law. We also report on the economic downfall of the United States, with voices being heard now that we are in a great DEPRESSION.

We write about the increasing threat of Israel’s military action against Iran, due to Iran’s provocative actions and Russia’s dubious role in the matter.

We conclude with an interesting article in USA Today about the Second Coming of Christ, mixing some truth with a lot of error.

Iraq War Damaged American Credibility

Der Spiegel Online wrote on August 20:

“Has American credibility been severely damaged by the Iraq War? One day after the last US combat unit left the country, some in the German press say that it has. Commentators are pessimistic about Iraq’s ability to cope alone.

“It has been seven and a half years since Shock and Awe, the military campaign launched by US and UK forces to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. On Thursday, the last US combat unit crossed the border into Kuwait with far less fanfare than when those first coalition forces arrived in March 2003…

“Yet the cost of the war has been enormous both financially and in terms of human lives. Over 4,400 US troops and 100,000 Iraqi civilians died during the conflict. And the country is by no means completely pacified, with sectarian and ethnic tensions still present and insurgents thought to be regaining strength…

“According to a US-Iraq military pact from 2009, US troops must be out of the country by Jan. 1, 2012 yet last week Robert Gates, Obama’s defense secretary, said that if a new Iraqi government is formed ‘and they want to talk about beyond 2011, we’re obviously open to that discussion.’ Those comments are not likely to have been welcomed by much of the Democratic party, which faces tough midterm elections in November. The US public is weary of almost a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq and Obama, who is up for re-election in 2012, will have to tread carefully.

“Just last week Iraq’s military commander, Lieutenant-General Babakir Zebari, caused consternation when he said his troops would not be in a position to protect the country until 2020 and that Washington should keep its forces in Iraq until then.

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… The invasion of Iraq was wrong, unjust and damaging. For the Iraqi people one inscrutable, violent regime has been replaced by another. And the promises of freedom and democracy are worthless if they can’t run a generator or help buy food. This practical disillusion is paired with the strategic defeats that America has suffered… the US has also weakened itself, where it was classically strong: as a hard power. America showed itself to be helpless during the worst years of the Iraq civil war and incapable of dealing with the complex insurgency… America’s claim to leadership is broken, its credibility severely damaged. The world has become more confusing and less safe. That is the legacy of this war.’

“The business daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘The Iraqi Army is hardly in a position to provide security. The people will have to suffer much bloodshed in the future because the roots of terrorism have not been dealt with. Iraq is not able to deal with this by itself. It still doesn’t have a functioning government after the elections in March. This double vacuum provides a fertile breeding ground for extremist groups. Washington has suffered terrible damage to its image in the Middle East. Iraq is not pacified and the Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan because the US concentrated its military capacity in Iraq. Neighboring Iran is playing cat and mouse on the nuclear issue while peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is out of reach. The Iraqis have few grounds for optimism. The US is not only leaving behind a security gap, but also a political mess. The institutional structures are too weak and the army too inexperienced to prevent the country from descending into chaos and anarchy.’

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘… The war is far from over, never mind [who] won… Around 50,000 American soldiers are staying in Iraq and contrary to what the government seems to be suggesting, they are full-fledged soldiers who will attack if need be. The Iraqi soldiers and police are not able to provide security everywhere in the country … and the number of terrorist attacks has increased recently, while five months of attempts to form a government have failed so far’…

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘The Anglo-American war in Iraq and the subsequent occupation was a severe breach of international law. The collected justifications by the Bush and Blair governments for the war were lies from the beginning. A later attempted justification was the deposing of Saddam Hussein, a dictator who the West and the Soviet Union had backed in the late 70s and armed for his war against the Islamic revolutionary regime in neigboring [sic] Iran. What price was paid for the overthrow of Saddam? Over 100,000 civilians have died as a direct consequence of the war and other acts of violence since March 2003. In Iraq 4,419 US soldiers lost their lives and tens of thousands came home injured or with terrible trauma. The Pentagon budget since 2003 for the war and occupation was over $740 billion. Some experts put the actual cost for the US economy at $3 trillion. Yet despite these huge costs and victims, Iraq is neither pacified in the long-term nor politically stable.'”

America won its last war a long time ago. It has not won the Iraq war, nor will it win the Afghan war, nor any other war to come. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Obama vs. Bush

Newsmax wrote on August 22:

“When George W. Bush departed the White House on Jan. 20, 2009, he left as one of the most unpopular presidents in history. At the time, a Gallup poll found President Bush tallied a mere 34 percent approval. That put him only slightly above the two most unpopular presidents in the era of modern polling: Harry Truman (32 percent when he left office), and Richard Nixon (22 percent when he resigned in disgrace in August 1974.)

“Close to two years into President Barack Obama’s term, Bush’s mojo with the American public appears on the rise… Nationally, Obama continues to be the more popular politician. Gallup’s latest poll shows Obama’s favorability at 52 percent, compared with Bush’s 45 percent. Yet, these numbers show steady improvement for the one-time Texas governor who led the nation’s ‘war on terror.’

“Since March 2009, Bush’s Gallup rating has climbed 10 points. Obama’s favorability during the same period: down by more than 20 points… For the moment, Bush’s Rocky Balboa-like comeback is happening despite the fact that Bush left the country in the worst financial shape since the Great Depression and ramped up social spending to dizzying heights while nearly doubling the national debt and embroiling the nation in two foreign wars.

“The cause for this GOP windfall could be because of the fact that Obama seems to have fallen so far short of the ‘hope and change’ message he promised voters. His actions during his first two years have alienated independent voters in a manner that go well beyond any of Bush’s errant ways.”

America’s leadership is no longer respected, regardless as to who might lead.

Jewish Voters Disassociate Themselves from Obama

In a related article, Newsmax reported on August 22:

“Barack Obama won nearly 80 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008, but his support among Jews has been declining in part because of concerns over his Israeli policies. A study of Jewish voters by McLaughlin & Associates this past spring found that only 42 percent of respondents would support Obama’s re-election, while 46 percent said they would support another candidate.

“Among Orthodox Jews, 69 percent would likely support another candidate, and just 17 percent would back Obama. Among those affiliated with Conservative Judaism, only 38 percent would support Obama, as would a slim majority of Reform Jews, 52 percent.

“Overall, 50 percent said they approved and 39 percent disapproved of Obama’s handling of American relations with Israel. ‘We are not only witnessing a sharpening of the divide within the community, but a radicalization of the Jewish political right, accompanied by a corresponding disengagement of the Jewish liberal sector from the Israel discourse,’ The Jewish Journal observed in an Aug. 10 article… ‘Not only worried about their own economic status, this constituency is deeply concerned by what they observe as the erosion of support for Israel’…

“Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, tells Newsmax: ‘The majority of Jews now realize that this guy is bad for Israel, let alone bad for America.'”

The relationship between America and the state of Israel will steadily deteriorate.

Islam’s Laws and “President Apostate?”

On August 20, 2010, the Drudge Report re-published an article, which had been originally published on May 12, 2008, stating the following:

“Senator Obama is half African by birth and Africans can understandably identify with him. In Islam, however, there is no such thing as a half-Muslim. Like all monotheistic religions, Islam is an exclusive faith. As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant.

“Of course, as most Americans understand it, Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He chose to become a Christian, and indeed has written convincingly to explain how he arrived at his choice and how important his Christian faith is to him. His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is ‘irtidad’ or ‘ridda,’ usually translated from the Arabic as ‘apostasy,’ but with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim’s family may choose to forgive).

“With few exceptions, the jurists of all Sunni and Shiite schools prescribe execution for all adults who leave the faith not under duress; the recommended punishment is beheading at the hands of a cleric, although in recent years there have been both stonings and hangings.

“… in Iran in 1994 the intervention of Pope John Paul II and others won a Christian convert a last-minute reprieve, but the man was abducted and killed shortly after his release. Likewise, in 2006 in Afghanistan, a Christian convert had to be declared insane to prevent his execution, and he was still forced to flee to Italy.

“Because no government is likely to allow the prosecution of a President Obama — not even those of Iran and Saudi Arabia, the only two countries where Islamic religious courts dominate over secular law — another provision of Muslim law is perhaps more relevant: it prohibits punishment for any Muslim who kills any apostate, and effectively prohibits interference with such a killing.”

Based on this fact and other factors, we cannot expect that the relationship between the Obama administration and the Muslim world will steadily improve.

America IS in a Depression!!!!

CNBC wrote on August 24:

“Positive gross domestic product readings and other mildly hopeful signs are masking an ugly truth: The US economy is in a 1930s-style Depression, Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said Tuesday… then as now… signs of recovery were unsustainable and only provided a false sense of stability, said Rosenberg.

“Rosenberg calls current economic conditions ‘a depression, and not just some garden-variety recession,’ and notes that any good news both during the initial 1929-33 recession and the one that began in 2008 triggered ‘euphoric response.’

“‘Such is human nature and nobody can be blamed for trying to be optimistic; however, in the money management business, we have a fiduciary responsibility to be as realistic as possible about the outlook for the economy and the market at all times,’ he said…

“Rosenberg’s warning comes as a slew of major analysts—Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan among them—have slashed GDP projections for 2010 to the 1.5 to 2 percent range. Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said in a speech Tuesday that the risk of a double-dip recession has escalated. He said government programs to help distressed homeowners have been ineffective and aren’t helping the pivotal housing sector recover.

“The dour outlooks come on the same day that the National Association of Realtors said home sales reached a 15-year low in June, dousing hopes that the industry had reached a bottoming point. Rosenberg points out that the ‘overall economic malaise’ has come despite aggressive efforts by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy through rate cuts…”

CNBC added on August 24:

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average will lose about half of its value over the next couple of years… according to Charles Nenner, founder and president of Charles Nenner research. Stocks are currently in a bear-market rally, and looking at charts and past trends, unemployment and leading indicators suggest the Dow will drop to 5,000 in the next two to two-and-a-half years, Nenner told CNBC in an e-mail.

“Deflation will arrive… pushing the Dow lower… ‘Things look really bad for the next 10 years,’ Nenner said.”

As we are apparently experiencing a depression–not unlike the one in 1929–please listen again to our StandingWatch program, “Coming–The Great Depression?” giving helpful tips as to how to cope in such dire circumstances.

Iran’s “Ambassador of Death”

The Associated Press reported on August 22:

“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday inaugurated the country’s first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft, calling it an ‘ambassador of death’ to Iran’s enemies. The 4-meter-long drone aircraft can carry up to four cruise missiles and will have a range of 620 miles (1,000 kilometers)…

“The ceremony came a day after Iran began to fuel its first nuclear power reactor, with the help of Russia, amid international concerns over the possibility of a military dimension to its nuclear program… Referring to Israel’s occasional threats against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Ahmadinejad called any attack unlikely, but he said if Israel did, the reaction would be overwhelming. ‘The scope of Iran’s reaction will include the entire… earth,’ said Ahmadinejad. ‘We also tell you — the West — that all options are on the table.'”

The Jerusalem Post and the Associated Press wrote on August 21:

“Nationwide celebrations were planned for Saturday’s fuel loading at Bushehr. ‘I thank the Russian government and nation, which cooperated with the great Iranian nation and registered their name in Islamic Iran’s golden history,’ Salehi said. ‘Today is a historic day and will be remembered in history.’

“Iran says it plans to build other reactors and says designs for a second [reactor] in southwestern Iran are taking shape. The Bushehr project dates backs to 1974, when Iran’s US-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi contracted with the German company Siemens to build the reactor. The company withdrew from the project after the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the shah.

“The partially finished plant later sustained damages after it was bombed by Iraq during its 1980-88 war against Iran. Before making the Russian deal to complete Bushehr, Iran signed pacts with Argentina, Spain and other countries only to see them canceled under US pressure.”

“Israel Says Iranian Reactor Use ‘Totally Unacceptable'”

y-net news, Reuters and AFP reported on August 21:

“Israel on Saturday denounced Iran’s fueling up of its first nuclear power plant as ‘totally unacceptable’ and called for more international pressure to force Tehran to cease any uranium enrichment. Israel, widely assumed to be the only Middle East country to have nuclear weapons, has said a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to its existence, raising concerns Israel could attack Iran’s nuclear sites… Also on Saturday, US State Department spokesman Darby Holladay said the reactor ‘underscores that Iran does not need an indigenous enrichment capability if its intentions are purely peaceful.'”

Bild Online added the following on August 22:

“There is evidence that Iran is working on a rocket which could reach Berlin… According to unverified reports, the US aircraft carrier ‘USS Truman’ is heading towards the Persian Gulf, rather than Afghanistan… Professor Michael Wolffsohn (Military University Munich): ‘I have not the slightest doubt that Israel will attack before Iran has the bomb. When we add two and two, we can see that Israel and perhaps also the USA are preparing for the event of emergency.'”

Welt Online added on August 22:

“It is a terrible signal that Russia supports this development in Iran… And it is further proof that Russia has been playing the hypocrite for years… According to the New York Times, the American government is trying to persuade Israel that there is no immediate present danger emanating from Iran, because the country would need one more year to build the bomb. It is a mystery what is supposedly comforting regarding this. It would mean that Iran can only be stopped militarily and that such an attack would happen within a year, at the latest… The Iranian messages this weekend prove all by themselves why Iran must never be allowed to have the bomb.”

It is likely, as we have said for years, that Israel will attack Iran and that as a consequence, an outright war in the Middle East will ensue. The Bible says in Hosea 5:13 that in the future, Judah or the state of Israel will receive a wound. It also says that Judah will not find rescue or help as God will “take them away” (verse 14). Does this wound refer to Israel’s attack on Iran and Iran’s retaliation (with the possible help of others) and the world’s condemnation of Israel?

Israel Prepares for War Against Iran

WND wrote on August 22:

“While Israel is hoping for a peaceful resolution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the Jewish state is also preparing for ‘a time of war,’ declared a Knesset member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party… Likud Knesset Member Danny Danon… the deputy speaker of Israel’s parliament… hinted that Israel may take action if the world does not stop the Iranian nuclear threat, recalling Israel’s lone strike on Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981.

“Stated Danon: ‘We are ready for all scenarios, and we are able to defend our civilian population. I cannot tell you how long we can wait more. But we prefer to wait and see if the international bodies are acting, or [whether] it will be only the burden of Israel, like it was in the early ’80s, when the great leader, Menachem Begin, [made] the great decision to bomb the nuclear reactor in Iraq.'”

Al-Qaida Prepares for Israel-Iran War

The Jerusalem Post wrote on August 20:

“Al-Qaida is ready to exploit a war ‘by the Jews against Iran,’ the Sunni group’s second-in-command in Yemen, Saeed al-Shehri, said in an audio message this month, according to the Daily Beast.

“The mostly Shi’ite nation of Iran is an enemy to Al-Qaida, and al-Shehri predicted that after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear installations, Iran would blame Saudi Arabia – which reports say may let Israel fly through its airspace to attack Iran – and use the opportunity to seize the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

“Al-Shehri said Israel would then seize territory from surrounding Arab nations to establish ‘the greater state of Israel,’ and the Sunni Arab population of the Middle East would be trapped between the ‘Jews in the Middle East and Iran in the Peninsula,’ the Daily Beast reported.

“According to the Daily Beast, Al-Qaida would benefit from an Israel-Iran war because if Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear installations, Iran would use its proxies to lash back at Americans in the Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Daily Beast is a news aggregator and original content website owned by a former Wall Street Journal editor.”

Iran Prepared to Supply Lebanon with Weapons Against Israel

Haaretz reported on August 25:

“Iran is prepared to sell weapons to Lebanon if Beirut asks for help in equipping its military, the Islamic Republic’s defense minister said Wednesday. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi’s comments come one day after the leader of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, called on the Lebanese government to formally seek military assistance from Iran.

“‘Lebanon is our friend,’ Vahidi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. ‘If there is a demand in this respect, we are ready to help that country and conduct weapons transactions with it.’ In a televised speech on Tuesday, Nasrallah vowed that his Iranian-backed group could help secure the aid for Lebanon’s poorly equipped army.

“The Hezbollah leader made his suggestion after a U.S. congressman suspended $100 million of American military aid to Lebanon earlier this month over concerns the weapons could be used against Israel and that Hezbollah may have influence over the Lebanese army.

“Lebanon’s government has since opened an account at the central bank to receive donations to help it purchase weapons for the military. But Beirut is not entirely dependent on U.S. military assistance, and has turned to other countries, including Russia and Arab nations, for assistance in the past.

“Iran is a key supporter of Hezbollah, believed to funnel it weapons and millions of dollars in funding, though Tehran denies arming the Shiite group. Hezbollah, also closely allied to Syria, boasts a heavy arsenal of rockets capable of reaching deep inside Israel.”

The End Is Near–But What End?

USA Today wrote on August 23:

“When some Christians look into the near future, they see a wondrous fate for themselves and fellow evangelical believers: a rapture in which God sweeps the true Christians up to heaven. According to this reading of the bible’s Book of Revelation, what awaits those on the wrong side of the ecclesiastical line is not so wondrous: seven years of unimaginable suffering, war and destruction that ends with the Second Coming of Jesus.

“Opinion surveys over the past decade show that more than half the American public believes that the end times are coming. A new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press finds that roughly four in 10 Americans believe the Second Coming will happen by 2050. Those enraptured by the rapture tend to view current events through the lens of biblical prophesy, reading everything from the Obama election to the oil disaster in the Gulf Coast as fulfillment of one or another cryptic passage from Revelation…”

The Bible does not teach a “rapture,” nor a period of seven years of “unimaginable suffering.” For the truth on what the Bible really teaches, please read our free commentary, “Is That in the Bible?–The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation.”

In John 17:13, we read: “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they [His disciples] may have MY JOY fulfilled in them.”

Joy is one ingredient of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22; compare 1 Thessalonians 1:6). When Christ, through the Holy Spirit, lives in us, then HIS joy is in us and will remain in us, and our joy will become more and more full or fulfilled (John 15:11). As we need to ask God the Father for the daily renewal of the Holy Spirit, so we need to ask for the fullness of God’s and Christ’s joy in our lives (compare John 16:24). It is God who can fill us with all joy (Romans 15:13)–even and especially in times of trials and difficulties. It is possible for us, then, to rejoice always (1 Thessalonians 5:16; compare 2 Corinthians 6:10).

We must be careful, however, not to confuse godly and right joy with worldly and wrong “joy.” Solomon rejoiced in his labor, but it was the wrong kind of labor (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11). The ancient Israelites rejoiced in the works of their hands–but it was the work of building the golden calf (Acts 7:41). It would be the wrong kind of joy to trust in great physical wealth (Job 31:24-25, 28), or to rejoice when our enemies are destroyed or fall (Job 31:29; Proverbs 24:17-18). It would also be wrong to rejoice about our sinful ways (compare James 4:8-9).

When Christ works with us and when He lives in us through the Holy Spirit, then our joy will be godly and right. We rejoice because we know the truth about the kingdom of God (Matthew 13:44). We rejoice in the truth of God (1 Corinthians 13:6). We rejoice over God’s statutes (Psalm 19:8). We rejoice over the way of God’s testimonies (Psalm 119:14). And we rejoice over God’s Word in general, appreciating and embracing it as great treasure (Psalm 119:162). Jeremiah said that God’s Word was the joy of his heart (Jeremiah 15:16).

With Christ’s joy in us, we rejoice over the fact that we belong to God–that God is our Father and that we are His children. We rejoice that our names are already written in God’s Book of Life (Luke 10:20), and that we have fellowship with God the Father and His Son and our brethren (1 John 1:1-4). We also rejoice over the fact that we are to inherit God’s glory (Romans 5:1-2).

In addition, we rejoice because we understand that at the time of our resurrection and change, we will enter into God’s joy–we will experience the very same joy which God has. His kingdom is defined and described as “joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17); and we will enter into the joy of our Lord (Matthew 25:21). There will be exceeding joy–or fullness of joy–when we stand in God’s presence (Jude 24-25; Psalm 16:11). Even though these passages talk about experiencing God’s joy in the future, the knowledge and anticipation of that experience can give us already today exceeding or “inexpressible” joy (1 Peter 1:8).

Christ’s joy in us must be put to use. We do something with it. We serve God joyfully today, especially, but not exclusively, on the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days (Deuteronomy 16:13-15; Ezra 6:22; Nehemiah 12:43; Isaiah 56:7; but compare also Deuteronomy 28:47). We pray to God with joyful lips (Psalm 63:5). In addition, we rejoice when we put our trust in God and when we love Him (Psalm 5:11), and when we are righteous (Psalm 33:1). Put differently, God and the things of God are to be our exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

With this kind of joy dwelling in us, we should even be joyful in times of trials, when we focus on our eternal future and not on our present temporary problems. We should leap for joy when men persecute us because we are righteous and serve God (Luke 6:22-23; Acts 5:40-41). We should rejoice in our trials, knowing that we partake of Christ’s suffering, so that we can partake of His exceeding joy, when His glory is revealed (1 Peter 4:12-13). We should rejoice in our trials, knowing that they help us to become more perfect (James 1:2-4). We should even endure joyfully the plundering of our goods, knowing that a better and enduring possession is awaiting us (Hebrews 10:32, 34).

Paul was exceedingly joyful in all his tribulation (2 Corinthians 7:4), knowing that we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). He wanted to finish his race with joy (Acts 20:22-24), even though he knew that “chains and tribulations” were awaiting him. He knew that those who sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126:5), and that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

Christ’s joy in us must endure. We cannot receive God’s Word with joy, only to stumble when persecution comes (Matthew 13:20-21). We cannot be like those who only rejoiced in John the Baptist’s presence for a while (John 5:35). Rather, we must hold fast the rejoicing of the hope firm to the very end (Hebrews 3:5-6).

To fully appreciate Christ’s joy in us, and how it works, we must realize that it is not selfish, but outgoing. Even when we rejoice that we understand the truth and have fellowship with God, we ought to realize that this is for a greater purpose. God called us today to train us to become teachers to teach others His truth when the time comes. Our salvation is not selfish–God is saving us today for a purpose. We are to help in proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God in all the world as a witness, making it thereby possible for Christ to return and establish that very Kingdom here on earth to bring truth and peace and understanding and prosperity to this miserable and down-trodden hopeless humanity.

Jesus rejoiced and thanked the Father that He revealed His truth to “babes” (Luke 10:21). He was willing to become a man and to die for us, “for the joy that was set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus was willing to set aside His divine attributes for a while, so that we could have eternal life with Him in the Family of God. This thought and this anticipation filled Him with joy, which was so strong that it motivated Him to suffer and die for us to make our salvation possible.

Jesus’ joy was in His true disciples as well. They greatly rejoiced when they heard about the conversion of Gentiles (Acts 15:3). Paul was filled with joy when he looked at the faith of those in Philippi, being confident that they would make it into the Kingdom (Philippians 1:3-6). He said that the brethren fulfilled his joy when they were likeminded (Philippians 2:1-2). He said that even though he had to die, the brethren should rejoice with him, knowing that they would see each other again at the “Day” of Christ’s Second Coming (Philippians 2:14-18). Paul rejoiced when he heard about the steadfastness of the faith of the brethren (Colossians 2:5). He said that the faithful enduring brethren were his joy and crown of rejoicing (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20).

John said too that he had no greater joy than to hear that the brethren–his spiritual “children”–walked in truth (3 John 4). We even read that there is joy in heaven when a sinner repents (Luke 15:7). God and the angels rejoice when a sinner turns to God and lives righteously. And that, in turn, should fill us with joy – we, too, should rejoice with God and the angels when a sinner repents and turns to the truth.

A true Christian is a happy person. He has so much for which he should be thankful. What a terrible tragedy it would be if he gave up and replaced the joy which he once had with feelings of doom and gloom. There is really no reason for a true Christian to despair or become depressed. When we have the joy of God in our lives, we should be glowing examples of joy and happiness.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

A new StandingWatch program was posted on the Web, titled, Germany Is Back–Why Now?: . Germany is called “Europe’s growth locomotive” and is experiencing a “little job miracle.” The New York Times speaks of “core Europe, led by Germany.” Der Spiegel recalls the “miracle” of Germany’s postwar reconstruction. At the same time, the U.S. economy looks bleak, and the U.S. government has spent so far in fiscal 2010 “$1.169 trillion more than it made.” “Analysts” are surprised about these events, but we need not be. God is working out His plan, as He has set it forth in His Word, the Bible.

A new German AufPostenStehen program was posted on the Web, titled, “Sodoms Loveparade, Teil 2” [“Sodom’s Love Parade, Part 2”].

A new German sermon was posted on the Web, titled, “Gideons Leben” [Gideon’s Life”].

Our new booklet, “To The Ephesians,” has entered the first review cycle.

On August 21, 2010, Robb Harris will give the sermon, titled, “Endurance.”

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.

Money can be such a sensitive matter; whether it’s about earning it or spending it. But we have to have the right approach to it – using it as a commodity, not worshipping it as a god. Scripture has something helpful to say about this: “For the love of money is a root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

In our free booklet “Tithing Today?,” the opening paragraph on page 1 states: “MONEY—a sensitive subject for many people.  Those who have money, don’t want to part with it.  Those who don’t have it, long for it.  Yet from the time of man’s creation on this earth, God has given instructions on tithing—paying ten percent of our income to God who gave it in the first place.”
 
It further states, starting at the bottom of the first page: “Many people who have learned that tithing is still valid for us today, and who have begun to tithe, have noticed inexplicable financial, physical and spiritual blessings in their lives. This is because God promises physical and spiritual blessings if one is obedient to Him, and that includes obedience to His command to tithe.”

I was reading an article by investment adviser a while ago and was intrigued by his comments, when he wrote the following:

“Aspirational spenders are above-average-income earners who yearn to possess the lifestyle of the truly wealthy but do not earn enough money to do so.  Instead, they employ credit card and home equity loan debt to acquire the trappings of wealth — fancy cars, vacation homes, designer purses, designer suits etc. They actively pretend (self-delude is a better word) that they are rich. This becomes an all-consuming pantomime of self-delusion, as more and more money is required to fuel this facade of wealth. The aspirational spender typically earns between $100,000 and $150,000 per year. This is 2½ to 4 times greater than the national average income. In fact, it is more than enough of an income to get wealthy on within a 10-15 year period.  But these people never do develop real wealth.  Their incomes continue to grow, and they make terrific employees and are usually very good at their jobs, but their desires are always one step ahead of their income.”
 
I wonder, though, whether this attitude affects MOST PEOPLE, whatever their income? If not, why do so many have so much debt? It could simply be because their expenditure exceeds their income and they do not “cut their cloth accordingly.” Do any of us in the church have such problems? If we tithe faithfully, God promises to bless us, but we still have to do our part by being responsible. We have to make sure that, as much as it depends on us, we live within our means and are able to pay our bills and our debts.  

We are coming up to the Feast of Tabernacles in just over a month’s time. Have all wage earners in the church been faithful in tithe paying and tithe saving? Saving second tithe for the Feast is a requirement to make sure that we can spend our second tithe for oxen, sheep, wine or similar drink, for whatever our heart desires (compare Deuteronomy 14:23-26).  

Being faithful in paying the first tithe means that we will further God’s Work in proclaiming to a dying world the message about the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Our second tithe will help us to have a wonderful Feast of Tabernacles–picturing the coming Kingdom of God which the church has been preaching with the use of God’s first tithe.  

When we see how first and second tithes work together, we should have no problem in being faithful in the sensitive matter of tithing! Please remember that God is always watching our actions and attitudes.

President Obama’s controversial statements about the right and the wisdom of Muslims to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York have angered and divided the nation even more. If the president’s motives were to propagate religious tolerance in this country, then he achieved the opposite. His hosting of a Ramadan dinner in the White House did not help, either–considering that he previously abandoned the National Day of Prayer. Following Mr. Obama’s statements and subsequent clarifications and re-clarifications, local opposition to the erection of mosques increased. One church in Florida announced that it will hold a “Koran-burning” on September 11. We are reporting about some interesting facts pertaining to Ramadan and Mr. Obama’s upbringing.

In addition, many Hispanics feel betrayed by Mr. Obama and his administration, as well as the Republican Party, due to perceived broken promises pertaining to immigration reform.

China is moving away from the U.S. dollar in lieu of the euro, and voices are being heard again reporting about and advocating a two-speed Europe under German leadership. Pat Buchanan warns that the USA, due to its mountainous debt and unreasonable spending on non-essential governmental workers in Washington D.C., is a nation on the way out.

Disagreements between President Obama and General David Petraeus regarding Afghanistan are surfacing. Die Tageszeitung wrote: “… The war in Afghanistan doesn’t just reveal the impotence of the Americans — It also shows the impotence of President Obama.'”

Former U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton warns that Israel might attack Iran within the month of August, even though he is skeptical that this will happen, and Haaretz speculates that Israel might attack Iran within a year, even without a green light from Washington. We are also reporting about Iraq’s uncertain future, following this week’s continuing withdrawal of American troops.

It was announced that a “new superbug from India could spread around the world — in part because of medical tourism — and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.”

Russia’s wildfires are still burning out of control–notwithstanding the cover up by the Russian government–and the catastrophe in Pakistan has been described as unprecedented, with nationwide destruction reportedly eclipsing the scale of ruins witnessed in previous natural disasters, such as the Asian tsunami of 2004, the 2008 earthquake in China and the earthquake in Haiti in January of 2010.

Bad news is just accelerating. Several major earthquakes struck this week, including near Jackson, Wyoming (4.3); in Sicily, Italy (4.5); in Ecuador (6.9); and in Guam (7.2).

We conclude with two articles by the German left-liberal magazine, Der Spiegel, testifying to the incredible lack of the upholding of Christian morals in that country.

Obama: Muslim Rights

The Washington Post wrote on August 13:

“President Obama said on Friday that he supports the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York, saying that opposing the project is at odds with American values. ‘Let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country,’ he said at a White House ceremony marking the traditional breaking of the daily Ramadan fast, according to prepared remarks. ‘That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.'”

Obama: Muslim Wisdom

Politico wrote on August 14: 

“The White House on Saturday struggled to tamp down the controversy over President Barack Obama’s statements about a mosque near Ground Zero… Obama’s comments placed him squarely in the middle of the controversy over a Muslim group’s plans for a mosque near the site of the 2001 attack – and in turn, transformed an emotion-laden local dispute in New York into a nationwide debate overnight.

“Republicans pounced, amid early signs that the issue would seep into some state and congressional contests… And Democrats – at least the ones willing to comment at all — could barely contain their frustration over Obama’s remarks, saying he had potentially placed every one of their candidates into the middle of the debate by giving GOP candidates a chance to ask them point-blank: Do you agree with Obama on the mosque, or not? That could be particularly damaging to moderate Democrats in conservative-leaning districts…

“Adding to the political problem for Democrats were the mixed messages out of the White House. Obama’s comments Friday night… were widely reported as offering support for the specific mosque project in question near Ground Zero.

“But on Saturday, Obama seemed to contradict himself, telling reporters at one point, ‘I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about…’

“That impromptu answer to a TV reporter… prompted a second attempt to clarify his initial statement, this time from spokesman Bill Burton. ‘Just to be clear, the President is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night,’ Burton said. ‘…What he said last night, and reaffirmed today, is that if a church, a synagogue or a Hindu temple can be built on a site, you simply cannot deny that right to those who want to build a mosque.’

“White House officials later said that Obama was simply saying that since there was no local ordinance that would prevent construction of the mosque, he believed local officials made the right decision to allow it to go forward… The Friday statement and Saturday clarification were consistent in a literal sense, but they sent sharply different signals that called into question how clearly the president thought through his intervention in the controversy or how his words would echo.

“The legal right to build the mosque is one even many critics of the mosque have not contested—claiming mainly that the project was inappropriate on grounds of taste and local sensitivities and therefore should be strongly discouraged.”

Obama Nationalizes the Debate

The Wall Street Journal wrote on August 16:

“The dispute over the mosque is just the most prominent in a series of debates around the country where Muslim groups have sought to build mosques. In the community of Temecula, Calif., where a proposed mosque has sparked an intense dispute, Mr. Obama’s comments spurred a surge of letters to local newspapers decrying his statements. Pastor William Rench of Calvary Baptist Church, next door to the proposed mosque site, said he now expected opposition to the mosque plan to harden.

“‘It will galvanize their desire for resistance to the mosque,’ he said. ‘It confirms in their minds the idea that Mr. Obama seems to be more accommodating to the Islamic world than he is for the Christian representation in America.’ Mr. Rench said former President George W. Bush, who also spoke of Islam as a peaceful religion, might have made similar statements, but Mr. Rench said he disagreed with those views…

“In Tennessee, where the growing Muslim community wants to build a larger mosque in Murfreesboro, Darrel Whaley of Milton said the president’s remarks angered him. A local pastor at Kingdom Ministries Worship Center, Mr. Whaley has spoken at county meetings against plans for the mosque and recreational facilities.

“Asked how the president’s comments might influence the local debate over the Islamic center, Mr. Whaley said Mr. Obama ‘didn’t help it any, that’s for sure.’ Mr. Whaley said he was concerned that ‘if Islam comes in with the Sharia law, there’s not going to be any such thing as religious freedom’…

“On the national political stage, Mr. Obama’s comments drew fire from Republicans… Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.)… said the president was ‘insensitive’ to what Americans feel on the issue… Mr. Berntsen, a former senior Central Intelligence Agency officer who served in Afghanistan, said a mosque near Ground Zero would become a national security risk. ‘He missed the point that people found this offensive because it’s very, very close to Ground Zero,’ he said. ‘That mosque will become a magnet for militants. They will be drawn there in large numbers, and they will seek to impose themselves on that mosque, regardless of who the leaders are.'”

Obama Divides the Nation

AFP wrote on August 13:

“US President Barack Obama’s endorsement of a controversial plan to build a mosque just blocks from Ground Zero poured fuel Saturday on a raging debate over religious freedom and sensitivities over the 9/11 attacks… On Saturday the group 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America, which represents some relatives of attack victims, said it was ‘stunned’ by the president’s remarks. Obama ‘has abandoned America’… Building the mosque ‘is a deliberately provocative act that will precipitate more bloodshed in the name of Allah,’ the group claimed…

“A CNN/Opinion Research poll earlier this month showed that 68 percent of Americans opposed the Islamic center plans, while only 29 percent favored them… Self-described ‘liberal Muslim’ Farzana Hassan, a Canadian, told Fox News on Saturday that she believes the Islamic center’s location is ‘provocative. This is highly insensitive to the sentiments of the people who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks,’ said Hassan, who has written books on Islam.

“Obama said the Al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks do not represent Islam. ‘It is a gross distortion of Islam,’ the president said late Friday… The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a US advocacy group, said it welcomed Obama’s ‘strong support for Muslim religious rights’… One of those reacting Saturday was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. ‘I applaud President Obama’s clarion defense of the freedom of religion,’ Bloomberg said in a statement. The proposed site ‘is as important a test of the separation of church and state as we may see in our lifetime,’ he said.

“Passions over the issue run high across the country. A Florida church has already said it will hold a ‘Koran-burning’ on September 11 — which this year coincides with Eid al-Fitr, the end-of-Ramadan holiday.”

“Muslim Power Over the West”

The British paper, Daily Express, published the following opinion by Leo McKinstry, August 16:

“The proposal is a deliberate act of provocation against America and Judaeo-Christian civilisation. The reason that the hijackers were determined to destroy the Twin Towers was because they were seen as a graphic symbol of American enterprise. Once the mosque is erected, it will become a symbol of Islamic triumphalism, an assertion of Muslim power over the West….

“Tolerance is a one-way street when it comes to Islam. Muslims constantly demand that our society respects their sensitivities… Yet, as the Ground Zero controversy shows, there is no reciprocal concern shown by Muslims for indigenous cultures.

“For all President Obama’s blather about bridge-building, the fact is Islam is an ideology that spells misery, oppression and misogyny wherever it gains power….

“The Ground Zero mosque is indicative of a climate of appeasement and self-loathing that has gripped the political class in the West. It is grotesque that, in the name of freedom, our leaders refuse to challenge a doctrine that would destroy our freedoms. Here in Britain, the supine state has allowed domestic terrorism, forced marriages, child sex trafficking, immigration abuses and honour killings to flourish for fear of being labelled ‘racist’.

“In America, the results have been just as deadly, as shown by the case of Major Nidal Malik Hasan. Despite his declared support for Islamic terrorism, US army top brass refused to act against him. Then, in November last year, he shot dead 13 of [his] colleagues. None of those men would have died if the destructive creed of multi-culturalism had not been so strong. Tolerance in the face of extremism is killing our society. The  9/11 attacks should have galvanised the west. Instead, 10 years later, it is looking like our death knell.”

Obama Hosts Ramadan Meal

The Hill reported on August 13:

“President Obama will host an iftar — the special evening meal observed during Ramadan — on Friday night in the White House dining room. Obama participated in a similar gathering last year.

“Celebrations like iftar dinners ‘remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings,’ Obama wrote in a statement Wednesday. ‘Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality … a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.'”

Ramadan–Peace and War

Foreign Policy wrote in its July/August 2010 edition:

“Although not quite the global consumer behemoth that is Christmas, Ramadan comes in a respectable second… Today, in Aceh, Indonesia, failure to observe Ramadan is punishable by flogging; in 2009, Egypt’s Interior Ministry began enforcing edicts that made daytime eating during the holy month a misdemeanor offense… The Prophet Mohammed waged the Battle of Badr, the very first Muslim war against Meccan ‘infidels,’ during Ramadan in 624. The 1973 conflict that Israelis call the Yom Kippur War is known to Egyptians, Jordanians, and Syrians — who launched their surprise attack while fasting — as the Ramadan War. More recently, in Iraq, the month of Ramadan has seen dramatic upticks in sectarian violence and attacks on U.S. troops, reaching a high of more than 1,400 incidents in 2007. But Ramadan has also complicated military maneuvers: During the battle of Tora Bora, some of the Afghan fighters closing in on Osama bin Laden insisted on going home at dusk to break the fast…

“Secular dictators have long used the holiday to shore up their sagging religious legitimacy. Turkmenbashi, the late neo-Stalinist ruler of Turkmenistan, pardoned 8,145 prisoners during Ramadan in 2005; autocrats from Damascus to Algiers have followed the same playbook. Saddam Hussein, who cynically tried to style himself an Islamist during his regime’s latter years, twice made Ramadan cease-fire offers to Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War. And in 2008, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Libya during Ramadan, Muammar al-Qaddafi refused to shake her hand, citing Muslim strictures against touching women while fasting — all the while surrounded by his cohort of amazonian female bodyguards. It highlighted, once again, how the Islamic holy month has always been a mix of the sacred and the profane.”

Obama’s Upbringing in Islam

The Drudge Report re-published on August 16 an interesting piece by the New York Times, dated March 6, 2007, focusing [supportively] on Mr. Obama’s upbringing and explaining, to an extent, his apparent fascination with and support of Islam.

The article stated:

“‘I was a little Jakarta street kid,’ [Obama] said… He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics — and more likely to be aware of their nationalism — if he once studied the Koran with them.

“Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated… Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as ‘one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.’

“Moreover, Mr. Obama’s own grandfather in Kenya was a Muslim. Mr. Obama never met his grandfather and says he isn’t sure if his grandfather’s two wives were simultaneous or consecutive, or even if he was Sunni or Shiite…”

Interestingly, it was just published by Time magazine that about 25% of Americans believe that Mr. Obama is a Muslim…

Muslim Watch?

AFP wrote on August 10:

“Muslims around the world could be setting their watches to a new time soon when the world’s largest clock begins ticking atop a soaring skyscraper in Islam’s holiest city of Mecca.

“Saudi Arabia hopes the four faces of the new clock, which will loom over Mecca’s Grand Mosque from what is expected to be the world’s second tallest building, will establish Mecca as an alternate time standard to the Greenwich median.”

Hispanics Feel Betrayed by Both Parties

Newsmax reported on August 15:

“Hispanic voters largely supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election after he vowed… that he would draft an immigration reform bill during his first year in office.

“More than a year has come and gone, no immigration bill has been forthcoming, and Obama is increasingly coming under criticism from Hispanic media figures…

“Members of the Obama administration ‘know they are in trouble with the Hispanic community, and the problem in November is the Hispanic vote may be up for grabs again,’ [Univision anchor Jorge] Ramos told Politico. ‘My fear is they might not vote. They don’t feel protected or supported by either party.’”

California–Only a Short Sigh of Relief?

The Associated Press reported on August 16:

“A federal appeals court put same-sex weddings in California on hold indefinitely Monday while it considers the constitutionality of the state’s gay marriage ban. The decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, trumps a lower court judge’s order that would have allowed county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday… The court plans to hear the case during the week of Dec. 6…

“A different three-judge panel than the one that issued Monday’s decision will be assigned to decide the constitutional question… Currently, same-sex couples can legally wed only in Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.”

Euro vs. Dollar

Bloomberg reported on August 16:

“China, whose $2.45 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves are the world’s largest, is turning bullish on Europe and Japan at the expense of the U.S… The nation has been buying ‘quite a lot’ of European bonds… China’s position may make it harder for the greenback to rebound…

“Concern the U.S. economy is faltering was underscored by the Federal Reserve on Aug. 10…

“Asian central banks holding some 60 percent of the world’s foreign-exchange reserves are turning away from the dollar. Concerned about weakening U.S. growth and the Treasury’s record borrowing, they are switching toward euro assets to safeguard reserves…

“The Dollar Index’s 5.2 percent drop in July, the biggest decline in 14 months, failed to dissuade most foreign-exchange forecasters from predicting the greenback will strengthen against the euro and yen by December…

“‘China has confidence in Europe’s economy, in the euro, and the euro area,’ Yu said [Yu is a member of the state-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences].”

A Two-Speed Europe

The Wall Street Journal wrote on August 16:

“A two-speed Europe has always been unacceptable to advocates of the European project. Insistence on a one-speed Europe might, only might, prove to be a feasible political policy. But when it comes to economics, a two-speed Europe is here, and is here to stay for a long while.

“Germany is in the midst of an export-led boom that saw its economy grow at an annual rate of over 8% in the second quarter, the fastest pace since reunification in 1990. Profits are good and employers are hiring or adding hours to those working part time… Opponents of further fiscal and monetary stimulus are saying that Germany’s rather spectacular performance is due at least in part to the budget-balancing policies initiated by Chancellor Angela Merkel—no Obama-style borrow-and-spend for Europe’s new Iron Lady.

“But Germany is not euroland. It is easy to dismiss what we have come to call the periphery countries (Greece, Spain, Ireland, Portugal), but their combined GDP almost equals that of Germany. And they are in trouble. Greece is in recession: its economy contracted at a rate of 6% in the second quarter, while both Spain and Portugal grew at annual rates of less than 1%.”

International Business Times added on August 16:

“‘The recovery in core Europe [particularly Germany and France] is happening quickly and at a fast pace,’ Guillaume Menuet and Silvia Ardagna, European economists at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch… said. But they clarify that Germany and France did not experience recessions due to home-based problems nor did they experience a collapse of housing bubbles. ‘Recessions in these countries were triggered by the U.S. financial crisis,’ they stated.

“For example, Germany’s economy suffered directly from the collapse of global growth and trade. Then, as effective economic policies started having an effect on the economies across the globe, world demand and trade picked up and Germany was positioned to benefit from it. In addition, the depreciation of the euro further boosted German exports.

“The peripheral nations of Europe, which are in much worse shape than the ‘core’ countries of the euro zone, had a different path into and out of the recession. ‘Peripheral countries had their own domestic imbalances that were exacerbated by the global crisis,’ Menuet and Ardagna said. ‘So they have to work hard to solve their structural issues, and economic recovery will come later and at a slower pace.’”

For more information on Europe’s future, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

A Nation on the Way Out

On Friday 13, Pat Buchanan wrote on humanevents.com:

“A nation whose national debt is approaching the size of its gross national product, that goes abroad to borrow money to keep non-essential workers on government payroll is a nation on the way down and out… As long as this Congress and White House remain in power, a U.S. default on its national debt is inevitable. The only question is when…

“We have a situation where private sector workers in Middle America are being taxed, their children being driven ever deeper into debt to China, so government employees who have greater job security than they do, and earn more in pay and benefits than they will ever earn, can stay in Fat City. And folks wonder why so many Americans detest government…

“U.S. government workers, who enjoy the greatest job security of any Americans, now earn twice as much in pay and benefits as the average American. This is not the D.C. some of us grew up in. Nor is this all Obama’s doing. For most of the fat years of the federal work force came while Washington was being run by a Congress of Big-Government Conservatives and a White House of Bush-Cheney Republicans. No wonder the tea party is targeting both parties.”

Afghanistan–and No End in Sight

Der Spiegel wrote on August 17:

“General David Petraeus… has suggested that Barack Obama was too optimistic in setting a 2011 withdrawal date. German commentators argue that Petraeus is simply being realistic… Observers have interpreted Petraeus’ remarks as something of a broadside aimed at Obama… In a further sign of what may turn into an intense political battle in the US over the future of the Afghanistan war, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Los Angeles Times there was ‘no question in anybody’s mind’ that the US would begin reducing troop levels in 2011. Gates also suggested in a separate interview with the magazine Foreign Policy that he would leave office in 2011…

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘The White House is unlikely to find Petraeus’ comments amusing. The new commander in Afghanistan doubts whether the withdrawal can start next year. … The general has taken a stance in direct opposition to the president… In the struggle for power within the US administration, he will take advantage of the fact that Obama can not afford to lose another commander in Afghanistan — especially not one of Petraeus’ stature.’

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘The timeframe originally set by Obama was unrealistic and overly ambitious…’

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘Petraeus has his own interests which are totally reasonable. He does not want to leave Afghanistan as the commander of an unsuccessful force. He wants a military victory… But Petraeus will not succeed with his strategy. The withdrawal will begin, because the voters want it. That may be unwise, but it’s too late to change the general public’s opinion. Mistakes were made in Afghanistan over a period of years. It’s now time to pay the price.’

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘… The war in Afghanistan doesn’t just reveal the impotence of the Americans — It also shows the impotence of President Obama.'”

For more information on the future of the USA, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Israel’s Attack on Iran Imminent?

Newsmax wrote on August 13:

“News that Russia will load nuclear fuel rods into an Iranian reactor has touched off a countdown to a point of no return, a deadline by which Israel would have to launch an attack on Iran’s Bushehr reactor before it becomes effectively ‘immune’ to any assault, says former Bush administration U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton. Once the fuel rods are loaded, Bolton told Fox News on Friday afternoon, ‘it makes it essentially immune from attack by Israel. Because once the rods are in the reactor an attack on the reactor risks spreading radiation in the air, and perhaps into the water of the Persian Gulf.’

“Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared in March that Russia would start the Bushehr reactor this summer. But the announcement from a spokesman for Russia’s state atomic agency to Reuters Friday sent international diplomats scrambling to head off a crisis. The story immediately became front-page news in Israel, which has laid precise plans to carry out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities while going along with President Obama’s plans to use international sanctions and diplomatic persuasion to convince Iran’s clerics not to go nuclear…

“Bolton cited the 1981 Israeli attack on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor outside Baghdad and the September 2007 Israeli attack on a North Korean reactor being built in Syria. Both of those strikes came before fuel rods were loaded into those reactors…According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, IAEA inspectors will be on hand to observe the fuel-rod loading process that is now scheduled to begin Aug. 21.”

The Jerusalem Post added on August 17:

“Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said he didn’t see ‘any signs whatsoever that President Obama would make the necessary decision’ to strike Iran’s nuclear reactor, speaking in an interview with Israel Radio Tuesday. Bolton claimed Israel has only three days to strike before Russia ‘begins the fueling process for the Bushehr reactor this Friday,’ after which any attack would cause radioactive fallout that could reach as far as the waters of the Persian Gulf.”

The German magazine, Focus, wrote on August 17 that Bolton said he was very skeptical that Israel would indeed attack Iran within the next few days. He was fearful that the opportunity to do so had already passed.

Will Israel Attack Iran Without a Green Light from USA?

Haaretz reported on August 10:

“Israel might attack Iranian nuclear sites within a year, if Iran stays the current course and the U.S. administration doesn’t succeed in persuading Israel’s leadership that U.S. President Barack Obama is ready to stop Iran by force if necessary, so argues Jeffrey Goldberg in Atlantic magazine’s September cover story, obtained by Haaretz ahead of publication.

“Based on dozens of interviews the Atlantic correspondent conducted in recent months with Israeli, American and Arab officials, Goldberg came to the conclusion that the likelihood of an Israeli strike has crossed the 50 percent mark. And Israel might not even ask for the famous ‘green light’ from the U.S. – or even give couple of false pre-attack alerts, so that Washington won’t try to stop the unilateral operation…

“The repercussions of such a strike, which could include the bombing of the Iranian facilities in Natanz, Qom, Esfahan, and maybe even the Russian-built reactor in Bushehr, are less than clear… The results might be dire: It’s likely that the Israeli air force won’t have much time to waste in Iran, as Hezbollah will probably retaliate against Israel in the North and the fighter jets will be needed there. The unilateral operation might throw relations between Jerusalem and Washington into an unprecedented crisis, and might even unleash full-scale regional war with possible economic repercussions for the whole world, not to mention the cost of human lives.

“According to Goldberg, for Israel the red lines are clear. The end of December is Netanyahu’s deadline to estimate the success of ‘non-military methods to stop Iran’…  For Netanyahu, it’s clear the bomb will not only strengthen Iran’s proxies, but will undermine Israel’s status as a safe haven for Jews, embolden terrorists all over the word, and make the Arab countries more reluctant to make peace with Israel.”

For more information on the future of the state of Israel, please read our free booklet, “The Book of Zechariah–Prophecies for Today!”

Iraq’s Uncertain Future

Deutsche Welle reported on August 19:

“Iraqis have been looking forward to the day when United States forces pack up and go home ever since the 2003 invasion led to 150,000 US soldiers being deployed in their country. They’ve been living with an occupying army for over seven years. Even after sovereignty and the responsibility of governance were returned to Baghdad, US forces remained. Many Iraqis who were happy to have seen the dictator Saddam Hussein removed by the Americans soon came to resent the continued US presence. Many blamed them for the instability which followed Saddam’s demise. To this day, most hold Washington largely responsible for the lack of basic services and the insecurity that continues to make everyday life in Iraq a dangerous struggle.

“Strangely enough there is a growing chorus of voices being raised in concern now that the Americans are actually leaving. The United States has been slowly withdrawing its forces from Iraq for months as part of President Obama’s commitment to bring US combat troops home by 2011. With the last combat brigades crossing into Kuwait on Thursday, 50,000 troops will remain behind in 94 bases. With just a third of the invasion force left and with only a year to go before the US ‘status of forces’ agreement with Iraq runs out, Iraqis should be planning their street parties. And yet, there is a growing air of trepidation as the troops leave and an even more concerned eye looking toward the final pullout date in 2011.

“With the political situation in Iraq still unresolved some six months after disputed presidential elections paralyzed the country’s government and with terrorist and insurgent attacks making the July 2010 death toll of 525 the highest in two years, the thought of a dramatic reduction in US personnel is making some Iraqis nervous.

“‘US combat troops leave Iraq in a state of political paralysis following the March 2010 parliamentary elections, and a precarious and fragile ‘stability’ predicated more on an uneasy maintenance of a status quo than on any durable or sustainable gains in security,’ Dr. Kristian Ulrichsen, an Iraq expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told Deutsche Welle.

“‘In this sense both the political and security situations are extremely fragile and could be reversed by any number of issues which remain unresolved…’

“Nadim Shehadi, an Iraq expert at the Middle East programme at Chatham House, believes the US withdrawal may create a new power struggle in Iraq… ‘There is only one thing worse than having the US as your enemy and that is to have the US as your friend – this will be the scenario when the US withdraws’…

“Even the country’s military leaders are concerned that the 2011 end date is coming too fast for Iraq’s security forces. Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, Iraq’s most senior military commander, has even mooted the possibility of US forces staying on until 2020, a date when Iraqi forces are expected to be fully ready.

”The main calls for continued US troop deployment in Iraq have come from Kurdish officials such as Zebari who have many reasons for wanting the US military to remain in position,’ Ulrichsen said. ‘Regular clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga militia and the Iraqi military have occurred. In almost every instance, the US has sided with the Kurdish Regional Government in political and military affairs, and Kurdish leaders fear that the loss of their powerful external protector will leave them alone to face the Iraqi central government which may attempt to reassert centralized political and military control throughout all Iraqi territorial boundaries. That could threaten civil war.’

“‘There’s a risk of fighting between Shia and Sunni factions restarting when the US leaves but probably the single biggest concern is violence between the Arabs and the Kurds,’ Richard Gowan, an Iraq expert with the European Council for Foreign Affairs, told Deutsche Welle… ‘The most worrying scenario is that rising violence could lead Turkey to intervene militarily, given its own concerns over Kurdish separatism.’

“US commanders and strategists have also privately considered the possibility of staying on in Iraq, especially when the Iraqi Army is so obviously incapable of repelling an external attack, battling the Kurds in the north or keeping al Qaeda or other militant groups from taking advantage of sectarian rivalries and over-running the country.

“Despite this, it is unlikely President Obama will sanction any extension to the deployment of US troops in Iraq. There is far too much at stake politically for the US president to renege on one of his strongest promises. Obama’s credibility is at stake not only over the assurances he made to US citizens to bring the troops home but also to the agreement he made with the people of Iraq… However, by committing to his own deadlines and fulfilling his promises, some experts say Obama is cutting out of Iraq with the job unfinished and that the US is leaving Iraq in such a parlous situation that the country could destabilize the wider region, making it a state of concern much like in the days of Saddam Hussein…

“‘The US has been unable to resolve deep political tensions inside Iraq. In part that reflects the very naive and ill-informed attitude to Iraq adopted by the Bush administration, which thought expelling Saddam was 90 percent of the job,’ [Gowan said].” 

Self-Inflicted Worldwide Sickness?

NewsDaily wrote on August 11:

“A new superbug from India could spread around the world — in part because of medical tourism — and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.

“Researchers said on Wednesday they had found a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in South Asia and in Britain… who received recent medical care in India, a country where people often travel in search of affordable healthcare.

“NDM-1 makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems. Experts say there are no new drugs on the horizon to tackle it… ‘India also provides cosmetic surgery for… Europeans and Americans, and it is likely NDM-1 will spread worldwide,’ the scientists wrote in the study.”

Wildfires–Russia’s Cover Up

Der Spiegel Online reported on August 16:

“As the Russian wildfires continue to burn, the Kremlin’s spin machine is in high gear, as the government attempts to cover up the true scale of the disaster. The country’s leadership duo, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, have been using the same PR stunts and propaganda gimmicks they have relied on in the past…

“A total of 505 existing wildfire hotspots were still blazing on Friday. While the Emergency Situations Ministry was already announcing that the fires were being brought under control, the heat had sparked new fires at 245 new locations. To make matters worse, it is primarily in areas contaminated with radioactivity that firefighters still have to battle the flames.

“It was only last week that the government admitted that fires have been burning since mid-June in the very districts that were contaminated with radionuclides following the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine in 1986.

“…the lies, cover-ups and manipulation will continue in Moscow. Nobody actually knows how many victims have succumbed to the fires and the smog over the past weeks. Hospital physicians have been banned from diagnosing ‘heatstroke’ as a cause of death…

“Russia is burning… it appears that Russia, which is supposedly becoming strong once again, has no firetrucks, no firefighting aircraft, no forestry workers and no geographical maps to locate the areas that require extinguishing. These are essentially consequences of Putin’s policies. It was the former KGB colonel who… abolished governor elections.

“Since 2004, in order to ‘more effectively’ deal with emergency situations, the governors have all been handpicked. The most important thing is that they should be loyal and do what Moscow says… Russian governors are not primarily concerned about their subjects, because the people don’t elect them and, of course, cannot remove them from office. Instead, the governors’ main objective is to make a good impression with the Kremlin.”

Pakistan–Unprecedented Disaster

The Los Angeles Times reported on August 16:

“U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that the floods ravaging Pakistan are the worst disaster he has witnessed… The Pakistani government and international relief organizations have been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, which has killed more than 1,600 people and damaged or destroyed more than 722,000 houses…

“The United Nations has said that $460 million is needed to supply displaced Pakistanis with shelter, clean drinking water and emergency healthcare, but only $93 million has been raised so far. According to the U.N., as many as 6 million flood victims have yet to get access to food and drinking water.

“Ban surveyed flood-damaged regions of the country Sunday, and afterward said the destruction he saw eclipsed the scale of ruin he witnessed in natural disasters with far higher death tolls: the Asian tsunami of 2004, the 2008 earthquake in China and the earthquake in Haiti in January…

“Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani said this weekend that as many as 20 million people have been left homeless by the floods, regarded by Pakistani leaders as the worst disaster to strike the country…

“Fueled by record-breaking monsoon rainfall, the floods washed away homes, roads, bridges, hospitals and schools in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, then moved south into Punjab and Sindh provinces, destroying millions of acres of farmland and wiping out entire villages. Over the weekend in Sindh province, officials evacuated 300,000 people from the city of Jacobabad, about 60 miles west of the Indus River.

“The government has been harshly criticized for what many flood victims say has been a sluggish response.

“With the disaster now in its third week, the threat of waterborne disease has become a major concern. U.N. officials on Sunday said Pakistan’s Health Ministry has yet to confirm any cases of cholera, backtracking from statements Saturday that one cholera case had been confirmed in the northwest. Left untreated, cholera can lead to severe dehydration and death.

“However, outbreaks of cholera are common in large floods. Guido Sabatinelli, the World Health Organization’s representative in Pakistan, said the massive scale of the disaster makes it possible that health workers could encounter thousands of cases. ‘We could have up to 140,000 cases of cholera,’ Sabatinelli said. ‘We are preparing ourselves for that.'”

The Bible prophesies the increase of worldwide disasters. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Is That in the Bible? The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation.”

Germany’s Poor State of Moral Affairs

On August 13, Der Spiegel Online published the following commentary, giving testimony to the lack of upholding Christian standards within large portions of Germany’s population:

“Germans have many things they can be proud of. One is the fact that the mayor of Berlin is openly gay. And so is the current foreign minister.

“Anyone who remembers… the words the conservative Bavarian politician Franz-Josef Strauss uttered in 1970, when he said ‘I’d rather be a cold warrior than a warm brother’ (in German, the term ‘warm brother’ is slang for ‘gay man’), knows that a society’s stance toward homosexuals is a measure of how civilized it is…

“Most Germans couldn’t care less whether a politician is gay, straight, a vegetarian or an avid cyclist. Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), wasn’t voted into office and appointed as the country’s foreign minister because he’s gay, nor is he in his current position despite his homosexuality. Voters simply didn’t care about his sexual preference one way or another. And that — one would hope — won’t change until the day he is voted out of office again…

“But now Westerwelle has outed himself, not as a gay man, but as a diplomat. He has announced that he will not take his partner with him on trips to countries where homosexuality is a crime. Why? Because ‘we want to promote the concept of tolerance in the world. But we also don’t want to achieve the opposite by behaving imprudently’…

“Westerwelle’s words are an example of moral hara-kiri in slow motion, and they’re a disgrace for Germany. Homosexuality is a statutory offence in at least 75 countries, but the penalties for being gay run the gamut from the mild to the severe. The love between two men is punishable by death in Iran, Sudan, Yemen, Mauritania, Somalia, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia…”

On August 18, Der Spiegel Online reported the following, quoting just one sensible voice (of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) within the midst of confusing nonsense:

“Germany’s highest court has ruled that gay couples in civil partnerships are entitled to the same inheritance tax rights as married couples. Most of the German press welcomes the ruling, with many editorials arguing that the next step is full income tax equality…

“The conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘… Rather, reforms like this are a way of implementing the equality principle in our constitution, which forbids treating people worse because of their sexual orientation. It is good when people are there for each other. When homosexuals do this in committed partnerships, they should be treated as married partners and have the same right to benefit from the assets of the deceased in cases of death.’

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘… There is no reason why lesbians and gay men should not be taxed together with their partners just like heterosexual married couples, instead of being treated as single people… Regardless of whether one considers the institution of marriage to be modern or outmoded, as long as there are marriages, then there should be no difference made between homosexuals and heterosexuals.’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘The convictions of the majority are decisive in a democracy — except when the Constitutional Court speaks. It has now decided that homosexual partnerships should have the same inheritance rights as marriages. It was particularly easy for the court to brush aside a constitutional principle that for decades had privileged marriage… It looks like marriage will gradually really need that “particular protection of the state”‘…

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… The lawmakers have to differentiate between couples with and without children. Not, however, whether the couple is made up of a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and a man.'”

The Bible is clear: The Christian marriage between a man and a woman is sanctified in God’s eyes, and every other sexual relationship is not. The Bible speaks with godly authority. You can prove that the Bible is God’s Word, which is in force and effect for you. Please read our newest free booklet, “The Authority of the Bible.”

In our last Q&A, we explained that God did not give Satan or his demons the power to heal human beings. In this Q&A, we want to explain “miraculous healings,” “caused” by Satan, which, upon further scrutiny, prove to be not true healings at all.

In our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World,” we wrote the following in Part 2, “The World of Demons,” on pages 42-44, 51:

“We must not underestimate the power and influence of Satan and his demons. The Bible tells us that Satan ‘deceives the whole world’ (Revelation 12:9). His biggest deception, no doubt, is to convince unsuspecting man that he does not even exist. He deceives others by pretending that he is an ‘angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11:14). Many preach as ‘his ministers,’ transforming themselves ‘into ministers of righteousness’ (verse 15).

“John later said that ‘many deceivers have gone out into the world’ (2 John 7), and he warned us in 1 John 4:1 to ‘…test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.’ Christ prophesied for the end time that ‘…false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect’ (Matthew 24:24).

“Satan and his demons can show great signs and wonders. It is prophesied that Satan will ultimately give his power to a religious leader who will work ‘signs… by which he deceived’ the people (Revelation 19:20). False religious teachers, inspired by demons, might even be able to accurately foretell the future (Deuteronomy 13:1–4; Acts 16:16–19).

“Satan has the power to inspire people to go to war (Job 1:9–15; Revelation 16:13–14; Revelation 20:7–10). He has the power to throw down fire to consume man and beast (In Job 1:16, people felt that God brought this fire, but the context shows that Satan was the power behind it). As the ‘prince of the power of the air’ (Ephesians 2:2), he can bring destruction through mighty winds…

“There are many Scriptures that prove that Satan or demons can possess animals and people, forcing them to do terrible things (Luke 22:3; John 13:27). Demon-possessed people can be extremely violent (Matthew 8:28) and self-destructive (Mark 5:2–5). They lose all sense of decency (Luke 8:27).

“The Bible also shows that demons can possess or influence people to make them spiritually, psychologically, and physically sick. Even Paul was sick because ‘a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me’ (2 Corinthians 12:7). Through the influence of demons, people can be mute, deaf and dumb (Mark 9:17, 25), epileptic (Matthew 17:15–18), and infirm (Luke 13:11, 16). When a demon leaves such a person, it may appear as if the person has been healed from a physical sickness…

“Sorcery, witchcraft, hypnosis, and certain meditation practices are further methods of Satan to overpower the mind of a human being and to make him or her into a helpless victim…

“In Job 2:1–7, we are told that Satan obtained permission from God to bring terrible sickness upon Job, but he was not allowed to kill him. Again, we see that Satan must act within the limits given to him by God.”

Based on these comments, we should be able to see that even though Satan does not have the power to heal, it might appear that sick people are “healed” when Satan removes sicknesses from them with which he had inflicted them in the first place. But this has nothing to do with true godly healing.

It is also explained in Scripture that such Satanic or demonic withdrawal (leading to the perception of “healing”) might be very temporary. When Jesus Christ cast out demons, He would give the command to that demon not to return into the human being, and the healing of the sickness, initially caused by Satan or that demon, would be permanent. Compare, for example, Mark 9:25:

“… Jesus… rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!'”

On the other hand, when a demon voluntarily departs or goes out of a person, he may return together “with other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is WORSE than the first” (Matthew 12:43-45; compare Luke 11:24-26). These kinds of “voluntary departures” are not permanent “exorcisms,” nor do they constitute physical healing.

In addition, Satan or his demons could make someone physically or mentally sick, without actually possessing a person. In the case of King Saul, the demon would plague him at times, coming and leaving, but while the wicked spirit severely influenced him, King Saul acted irrationally and with extreme violence.

Satan wants to deceive people, and he is a liar and the father of lies, as well as the destroyer. He does not really have the welfare of people in mind. He would not truly heal people, even if he HAD the power to do so, except for the purpose of deception. Since he does not have the power to heal, he deceives mankind by pretending that he heals people. He and his demons will “cooperate” with religious preachers, giving the appearance that these false ministers have power to heal, by voluntarily withdrawing from sick people whom they had made sick in the first place.

As we read above, Satan is pretending to be an angel of light, and “his ministers” are transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness. Satan gives power to his servants and ministers to show great signs and wonders to deceive. They will be working LYING wonders, including apparent healings and exorcisms. It may appear as if God had used those ministers to heal a person or cast out a demon, but in reality, these “signs and wonders” by satanic ministers are LIES.

We read in Luke 13:11-16, that Satan, through a “spirit of infirmity,” had inflicted a woman for eighteen years with a sickness, causing her to bend over and being unable to raise herself up. But since Satan and his demons are inferior to God, Jesus cured the woman by casting out the demon, and that spiritual and physical healing was permanent.

On the other hand, demons may not always cooperate with those who pretend to work miracles by using the name of Christ, without having obtained godly authority to do so. This is especially true for those unordained persons who claim to be followers of Christ and think they can cast out demons. You might want to read what happened to some who tried to do this, as described in Acts 19:13-16.

We also need to state that some people may think they were healed while they were not, and others, claiming, testifying and “witnessing” their healing, are just simply frauds, being in conspiracy with fraudulent “faith healers,” whose goal it is to draw a paying following after themselves.

It is true, of course, that the mind of a person can have such a powerful influence on the body that a person may in fact experience physical improvement. God has put in motion automatic laws, pertaining to sickness and healing. The body can regenerate itself to an extent. When we cut ourselves with a knife, the wound will heal after a while. The same is true for psychosomatic symptoms, which might cause physical problems. Envy and jealousy can make us sick, quite literally. Once these wrong feelings are being dealt with, a revival of the body may be the automatic consequence.

But these are laws that are set in motion by God–they have nothing to do with the working of Satan or his demons. If, however, a person who is experiencing a natural improvement attributes the same to some kind of a healing power caused by “miracle-working holy water” or actions by a minister who is in reality a minister of Satan, then that person has inadvertently fallen into the trap of Satan’s deceptions.

We do take note of the fact that God has intervened to heal people in different ways and in different circumstances. For instance, He healed Naaman who followed the instructions of Elisha and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan (compare 2 Kings 5). In John 5 we read about the Pool of Bethesda that existed in Jerusalem and that was used by God in similar fashion to point to Himself as the true Healer (Psalm 103:3). In fact, Jesus came to this location and healed a man who had been infirm for thirty-eight years, showing that the Father had given to Him the power to heal–something He did for many sick people during His ministry, and the very thing that He commissions and empowers His true ministers to continue (Please see our free booklet, “Sickness and Healing–What the Bible Tells Us”).

We don’t want to deny the fact that God, in His mercy, might heal sick people who pray to Him, even though they do not really know Him. Or, true servants of God may pray for someone who is sick, and although the sick person might not know God, God might hear the prayers of His servants and heal the sick person. But in any case, such healing would be of God, not of Satan. Sadly, in far too many cases, people who were healed by God don’t give God the glory, but attribute their healing to false gods, “saints in heaven,” the “Virgin Mary,” far-Eastern powers or other such sources.

In addition, it appears likely that Satan or his demons may give the ability to some persons not to feel pain (we might think of certain gurus who walk on fire with their bare feet or who pierce themselves with spears or cut themselves with knives), or who, through the influence of satanic forces, appear to be able to make others sick by pronouncing a curse on them (we might think of the horrible practice of Voodoo sorcery and witchcraft, etc.).

Again, when these demonically inspired or possessed sorcerers “lift their curse,” the sick person may recover due to the fact that the demonic influence, which caused the “curse” of sickness, might cease, at least for a while. It should be clearly seen, however, that none of these evil practices have anything to do with the workings of the Holy God of the Bible.

We are to test the spirits whether they are of God. “Healing waters” are not of God, and neither are false ministers (pretending to be servants of God). Even though they might offer to pray for the sick (sometimes right over television) or they misappropriate the biblical concept of an anointed cloth and offer to send a “healing cloth,” they are in truth ministers of Satan, and any ensuing “healings” are neither genuine, nor are they of godly origin.

The Bible tells us how we can distinguish a servant of God and a servant of Satan. For one, he must understand and teach the truth about who and what God was, is and will be; as well as who and what Jesus Christ was and what He did; what He is doing today; and what He will do in the future (John 1:1-2, 5, 14; Hebrews 1:1-4; 1 John 2:22-23; 4:2-3, 14-15; 5:6; 2 John 7; Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:14; 2 Peter 3:1-12). In addition, he must understand and teach the righteous law of God (Isaiah 8:16, 20; 1 John 2:4; 3:10). Otherwise, there is no light and godly power in such a person, and whatever he or she may do in regard to “healing” is tantamount to ungodly deception.

Christ warned, however, that some of the lying miracles and signs shown by the human instruments of Satan, claiming to be godly “teachers,” “preachers,” “ministers,” “priests,” “faith healers,” “evangelists,” “prophets” or “apostles,” will appear so real that even God’s very elect could be deceived, if it were possible. We must be careful not to fall for such deception, and reject any and all kinds of fellowship with Satan and his evil works of darkness (2 John 9-11; Ephesians 5:8, 11; 2 Corinthians 6:14, 17).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Norbert Link’s video-taped sermon, “Letter to the Ephesians, Part 8,” was posted on the Web

A new German sermon was posted on the Web, titled, “Simsons Leben” [“The Life of Samson”].