In light of the ongoing crisis pertaining to Greece, some have proclaimed that the eurozone will fall apart and the euro will be abolished. It has even been suggested that European core nations will create their own currency. However, economic, political and spiritual reasons show that none of this will happen.
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Paul’s Letter to the Galatians – How To Understand It
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Introduction
Our focus in this booklet is on Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which is perhaps one of the most misunderstood writings in the Bible. We have presented this subject in the style of an in-depth Bible study, which we think students of the Bible will find very interesting and revealing.
Before starting our study of Galatians, though, we will briefly address the equally misunderstood concepts of salvation, justification and righteousness. The correct understanding of these foundational concepts is vital in order to fully comprehend and appreciate Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
Rather than introducing each section with a definition of the biblical terms, “salvation,” “justification” and “righteousness,” we are presenting these concepts in such a way that their true meaning will ultimately emerge.
Part 1 – The Mystery of Salvation
Many professing Christians do not seem to understand exactly what salvation is, how to attain it, and whether it can be lost. In order to correctly understand what salvation is, one needs to put aside any preconceived ideas and study the scriptural references that God Himself has provided for our learning.
Luke 18:25–26 makes it very clear that only God can grant us salvation. Salvation belongs to God, and therefore, salvation can only come from God (Revelation 7:9–10; 19:1).
The Bible tells us that it is God the Father who is our Savior and who grants us salvation (compare 1 Timothy 4:10). At the same time, we are told that God the Father grants us salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. No one can come to Christ unless the Father draws that person (John 6:44), and no one can come to the Father except through Jesus Christ. There is no salvation in any other but in Jesus (Acts 4:12). He is the only door to salvation (John 10:9, 1).
As the Father sent Jesus Christ as Savior into the world, so both the Father and Jesus Christ are our Saviors (John 3:16–17; 1 John 4:14;
1 Timothy 1:4; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10; Jude 25).
The Bible teaches that God the Father wants all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3–5). He offers us salvation by His grace—undeserved pardon (Ephesians 2:4–5, 8–9; Titus 2:11–14). Salvation is a GIFT—it is not anything that we can earn.
Salvation comes through the hearing of the Word of God—the gospel message of the Kingdom of God (Acts 11:13–14; 1 Corinthians 15:1–2; Ephesians 1:13; 2 Timothy 3:14–15).
But hearing alone is not enough. We must also believe the gospel message of our salvation (1 Corinthians 1:21; Luke 8:4–5, 11–12; Romans 1:16; Hebrews 10:39; Acts 16:25–34). BUT we must have living and obedient faith, not dead and disobedient faith (Hebrews 5:9; James 2:14–17; Romans 1:5; 16:25–27; Acts 6:7).
Once we hear and believe the gospel message, we are commanded to be baptized for the remission of our sins (Mark 16:15–16; Luke 1:76–77). Baptism is an outward sign of our repentance, and when we are properly baptized, we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38)—the down payment or guarantee or earnest or deposit of our salvation (Ephesians 1:13–14; 2 Corinthians 5:5).
The Ryrie Study Bible includes the following annotation to Ephesians 1:13–14: “earnest = deposit, down payment. The presence of the Spirit is God’s pledge that our salvation will be consummated.”
Salvation is a process. The Bible tells us that we were saved; that we are being saved; and that we will be saved. Let’s understand.
First, we were saved and are saved. Romans 8:23–24 says that “we ARE saved by hope”; that is, for a certain hope—the redemption of our body. 2 Timothy 1:9 says that God “hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace.”
We also read in Titus 3:4–7 that God “saved us” by His mercy through baptism, and that He gave us the Holy Spirit, that “being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
To indicate the ongoing process of our salvation, we also read that we are being saved.
Acts 2:47 says, in the correct rendering of the New King James Bible, that “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Compare also, in the correct rendering of the New King James Bible, 1 Corinthians 1:18 (“who are being saved”); and 2 Corinthians 2:15 (“who are being saved”).
But the Bible also tells us that our salvation is still in the future; that is, that we shall be saved in the future (Matthew 10:22; 24:12–13; Mark 13:13). This shows that “salvation” is not static, but that it is a process.
Romans 5:8–10 says that we were reconciled to God by Christ’s death, and that we shall be saved by His life. It is our potential to inherit salvation in the future (Hebrews 1:14), at the time of Christ’s return (Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5).
This means, then, that WE CAN forfeit our salvation. We can judge ourselves unqualified or disqualified to inherit salvation (compare Hebrews 2:1–3; Luke 13:23–27; compare also the admonition in Philippians 2:12 to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling).
Our salvation deals with what we were saved from, and what we will be saved for.
We were saved from sin and being a sinner (Matthew 1:21; 1 Timothy 1:15), and from the penalty for sin, which is death (James 5:19–20; Romans 6:23).
But as we mentioned, this is an ongoing process.
We were saved from sins that are past (Romans 3:25: “… Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [atoning sacrifice] through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”).
We are also becoming righteous in that we are no longer habitual sinners as we were in the past, no longer practicing those things which are contrary to God’s way of life [for a definition and thorough discussion of righteousness, see part 3 of this booklet]. It is actually the living Christ in us who fulfills the righteous requirements of the law in and through us (Romans 8:3–4, New King James Bible).
But this does not mean that we become sinless overnight—that we will not slip and fall on occasion. We will sin from time to time, but when this happens, we can again claim the sacrifice of Christ and obtain forgiveness of our sins on a continuing basis. This process shows how we are being saved (1 John 1:8–9).
When Paul sinned after his conversion, he recognized that he had to be saved or delivered from his body of death through Jesus Christ (Romans 7:24–25).
Our salvation also deals with what we are being saved for; namely, everlasting and eternal life (1 Timothy 1:16) in the Kingdom of God. Matthew 19:16–30 shows that ultimate salvation, eternal life and entering the Kingdom of God are synonymous and identical expressions to describe our future.
Herbert W. Armstrong, “What Do You Mean—Salvation,” copyright 1961, 1973, described the process of our salvation in these words, on page 21:
“Salvation is a matter of what you become—not where you shall go! God’s purpose is to change you—from your vile character to HIS glorious character—not to change the place where you are!…
“You have been converted—changed in mind, concept, attitude, direction of way of life—you are begotten as a child of God—you have now eternal life abiding in you—as long as you continue in contact and fellowship with God (I John 1:3)—all by God’s grace as His gift, and not anything you have earned by your works; and now if you continue overcoming, growing spiritually—and all this actually through God’s power—you shall inherit the Kingdom of God, and be made immortal to live forever in happiness and joy!”
Part 2 – The Mystery of Justification
Why are people confused about the biblical teaching of justification—the concept of becoming right with God? Why do people think that they are justified by and because of their conduct—because they earned it or deserved it? Why do others think that our justification has nothing to do with how we live?
The Bible shows us that no law—and none of our deeds and works— can justify us. If we violate just one of the Ten Commandments, we have thereby sinned and incurred the penalty for lawbreaking. Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4), and the penalty for sin is death, as Romans 6:23 tells us.
Let us assume that a person commits murder—a crime deserving of the death penalty. His subsequent righteous acts do not eradicate or abolish the death penalty. He can only be delivered from execution by a pardon through the governor or other governmental authority.
By the same token, all of us have sinned (Romans 5:12–14; 3:9, 19, 23). No matter how perfectly we may have kept God’s law after we broke it, the death penalty for our sins is still hanging over our heads. Our law-keeping of today cannot justify or annul our law-breaking of yesterday. The law does not justify us. Only God’s GRACE—the forgiveness of the death penalty—can do that.
The Bible does not teach that we don’t have to keep the law of the Ten Commandments anymore—just the opposite is true. But the Bible does tell us that the curse for our breaking the law—the death penalty—has to be removed from us—and that cannot happen through the law, but only through GRACE.
Let us understand that the natural or carnal person CANNOT keep the law—or live without sin (Romans 8:7). Even after our conversion, we still sin because we have not yet fully overcome our sinful carnal nature (Romans 7:14–19).
Each sin brings a curse on us—the curse of death (Galatians 3:10). We are cursed and guilty of death if we break only one of the commandments of the law. The Living Bible renders Galatians 3:10: “Cursed is everyone who at any time breaks a single one of these laws that are written in God’s book of the Law.”
Our past sins are not justified by our righteous acts of today (Galatians 2:16; 3:21). But it was never the purpose of any of God’s laws to justify us. NO law can do that.
Rather, as Romans 3:20 points out, by the law is the knowledge of sin. The Living Bible says: “…for the more we know of God’s laws, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying them; his laws serve only to make us see that we are sinners.”
The purpose of the law is to reveal to us what sin is. It defines sin for us (Romans 2:18). In the rendering of the Living Bible: “Yes, you know what he wants; you know right from wrong and favor the right because you have been taught his laws from earliest youth.”
We read in Romans 7:7 that Paul could not have known sin except through the law. The New International Version says: “For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, Do not covet.”
To repeat, no law can justify us. It does not forgive us of the sins we have committed by breaking the law. Man cannot justify himself. As Galatians 5:4 tells us: if we try to become justified by law, we fall from grace. Only God can justify us through grace.
HOW, then, does God justify us through grace?
Upon repentance and belief in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God forgives us our sins, thereby removing the curse of the death penalty from us.
We read in Romans 4:25 that Christ died for our offenses and was raised FOR our justification (so also, in addition to the Authorized Version, the Revised Standard Version and the New International Version).
Romans 5:8–10 adds that we were justified and reconciled to God through Christ’s death, but that we will be saved by His life. It is Christ’s life in us that continues to justify us and that saves us.
We read in Romans 3:24–26, in the New King James Bible, that we are “being justified.”
Romans 2:13 points out this ongoing process of justification, stating that the doers of the law shall be justified—in the future, as explained in this booklet.
However, our law-keeping—regardless of what law we are talking about—does not justify us. To repeat, the reason is that our law-keeping today does not justify our lawbreaking of yesterday. This not only applies to our past sins prior to our conversion—it applies to us today as well. Every time we sin, we need forgiveness—which we can only receive by GRACE.
No one can be justified by the physical works of bringing physical sacrifices or engaging in other physical rituals, such as certain washings. And no one can be justified either by keeping God’s spiritual law—the Ten Commandments—because one violation brings upon us the penalty of death. That death penalty can only be removed by faith, through GRACE—the unmerited forgiveness of our sins through our belief in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
In other words, we must have faith that God will remove the penalty for our sin—which is ETERNAL death—which we have incurred and which we are incurring every time we sin. This forgiveness is strictly BY a GIFT—not by anything which we do—apart from our being truly sorry that we have violated God’s law and by accepting Christ’s FREE sacrifice for our forgiveness.
However, even though we are not justified by works, good works or good deeds (same word in the Greek) are important when it comes to our future (compare Romans 2:6–8).
We are no longer obligated today to keep the sacrificial ritual works of the law. We are, however, obligated to keep the spiritual commands or works of the Spiritual Law—the Ten Commandments. But that all by itself does not justify us.
Some have concluded that since we are not justified by good works, we are not obligated to perform good works.
But this conclusion is in error. Let us read James 2:14–20 in the Living Bible:
“Dear brothers, what’s the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren’t proving it by helping others. Will THAT kind of faith save anyone…? Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all—it is dead and useless… Without good works you can’t prove whether you have faith or not; but anyone can see that I have faith by the way I act… Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.”
We must have living and obedient faith in order to be justified, and that on a constant basis. Paul says in Romans 4:12 that we must “walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham.”
Faith, which is necessary to be justified, does not void or annul God’s command to keep His laws. Paul says in Romans 3:31 that we do not make void the law through faith. The Revised Standard Version renders the last phrase as, “We uphold the law.” We can only keep the law of love because God’s love is in us (Romans 5:5).
Christ justifies us on a continuing basis. But we must believe in Him and His power—we must believe that He lives in us; that He can and will justify us; that we CAN keep the law through Him; and that we can obtain forgiveness when we fail and slip.
We read in Galatians 2:16–17, 20:
“(16) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith OF Jesus Christ, even we have believed IN Jesus Christ, that we might be justified [again, notice the process!] by the faith OF Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified… (17) We seek to be justified by Christ… (20) I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; YET NOT I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the GRACE of God; for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead [died] in vain.”
But how does Christ’s faith in us justify us?
We need Christ’s faith—a strong unshakable conviction that we WILL obtain forgiveness when we sin and repent and claim Christ’s sacrifice as payment for our sins; KNOWING that His sacrifice is necessary and sufficient for our forgiveness and justification.
Let us allow Christ to fulfill in us the MYSTERY of our justification.
Part 3 – The Mystery of Righteousness
Christ justifies us when we sin, but He also gives us His righteousness. To understand this relationship, we must realize that the Greek words for justification and righteousness are related.
The important point to realize is that Christ must make us righteous. We read in Romans 9:31–32; 10:3, that the ancient Israelites tried, unsuccessfully, to make themselves righteous. But in doing so, they rejected God’s righteousness. They tried it on their own, apart from God, but they failed.
Righteousness has everything to do with obeying God’s law. Christ freed us from the penalty of the law—not from the law itself. We are expected to keep the law. But humans are incapable of keeping the law. They must have help from God to do so. The fact that the living Jesus Christ, dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit, is keeping the law in and through us is expressed in Romans 8:4. Luther translates Romans 8:4: “…so that the righteousness, demanded by the Law, would be fulfilled in us.”
It is actually Christ, dwelling in us, who fulfills the law through us—if we allow Him to do so, and if we don’t resist His lead.
The Living Bible translates Romans 8:4–9:
“So now we CAN obey God’s laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us… those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God… You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of God living in him, he is not a Christian at all).”
We can only keep the righteous requirements of the law, IF Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit, and IF we follow Christ’s lead. Christ must keep the law in and through us. He condemned sin in His flesh—and we must allow Him to condemn sin today in our flesh.
Romans 3:21–22 talks about the “righteousness of God which is by faith OF Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.”
We need to believe in Jesus; that Jesus is the Son of God; that He died for us; that His sacrifice forgives our sins and removes our death penalty—but that belief is just the beginning. The faith necessary for salvation is Christ’s faith—the faith OF Christ—living in us and enabling us to keep the law.
The Bible teaches that the faith of Christ—Christ’s faith in us—makes us righteous. Those who believe in Christ must have the faith OF Christ living IN them.
Philippians 3:9 says: “… and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith OF Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 clarifies that we are to become the righteousness of God in Christ.
It is only through Christ living in us that we can keep the righteous requirements of the law. Faith in Jesus and His sacrifice is just the beginning. Belief in Christ’s sacrifice deals with justification and forgiveness of sin. But to live righteously, we must have the faith of Christ living in us, which is making us righteous. True righteousness is a GIFT from God. We need to seek God’s righteousness—not our own—and it is THAT godly righteousness which God offers to us—by GRACE—and in which we have to walk.
We are to seek the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness (Matthew 6:33)—the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). We read in Isaiah 54:17 that the righteousness of the servants of the LORD is from God. As mentioned, Philippians 3:9 explains that Paul’s righteousness is not his own, but through the faith OF Christ—the righteousness which is of God by faith.
Romans 5:17 says that we receive righteousness and grace as a gift. Compare also Romans 5:18–19, 21.
Christ’s faith and love in us enable us to keep the righteous requirements of God’s law, and they thereby declare us to be righteous.
Romans 8:10 says that if Christ lives in us, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
It is the love of God which is “shed abroad in our hearts” by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), which fulfills the law in and through us. After all, the love of God is defined as the keeping of God’s law (1 John 5:3). So, again, it is God’s love, which enables us to fulfill or keep His law. And as long as we keep the law of love, we remain in the state of righteousness. We read in Deuteronomy 6:25 that this IS our righteousness that we keep His commandments.
When we slip and fall, we obtain forgiveness, after repentance, so that we can continue on our path toward salvation, justification and righteousness.
How does Christ’s faith in us make us righteous? In the same way that it made Abraham righteous. We already saw that when we sin, Christ’s faith in us justifies us. It makes or declares us to be righteous or just. But it also enables us to stay righteous by not sinning.
This is a process. Let’s consider Abraham.
Abraham had to grow in faith. He had to become strong in faith. He was not perfect in faith from the very beginning. Abraham sinned at times because of lack of faith. He lied because he was afraid to tell the truth. He took matters into his own hands, rather than waiting in faith for God to act for him.
At first, he did not have, or he did not use abundantly, the faith of Christ, which motivates us to keep God’s law. First, the faith of Christ worked with him, and then, after his conversion, it worked in him. Yes! Abraham was converted—he changed and became more and more obedient to God. (For further proof that Jesus Christ was indeed the Being within the God Family who dealt directly with Abraham and ancient Israel, please read our free booklet, “God Is A Family.”)
The faith of Christ in us is a living, obedient faith, which brings forth good works. We are called upon to uphold the OBEDIENCE of the faith (Romans 1:5; 16:26). It is the kind of faith, which Abraham had. His faith started with faith in God, but it had to grow—in effect, the faith OF Christ had to join his faith, so that his faith became more and more the faith OF Christ. Abraham’s human faith had to be superseded more and more by godly faith.
But he had to grow in that faith, which he did. He grew in learning how to totally and completely rely on God, in faith, knowing that whatever God promises, He can and WILL do.
Romans 4:20–21 remarks about Abraham, in the Revised Standard Version, that “… he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
The Living Bible says: “He believed God, for his faith and trust grew ever stronger…”
The more he grew in faith, that is, the more he allowed Christ’s faith in him to guide and lead and motivate him, the more he became obedient to God’s law. And the more he kept God’s law, the more he grew in faith. Another way to say it is that Abraham became more and more convinced that he did not have to sin, that God would help him stay obedient.
In fact, Abraham became more and more convinced, as the apostle Paul was (Galatians 2:20), that it was no longer he who was living his life, but rather it was the living Christ dwelling in him who lived His life in him. And the more he LET Christ live in him—the more he allowed Christ’s faith to live in him—the more he overcame his sins and faults and shortcomings.
This is how Christ’s faith in him enabled him to keep the law and to thereby remain in the state of righteousness. But since Christ was doing it, Abraham lived the righteousness of God—not his own righteousness.
That is how Christ’s faith in us makes us righteous, enabling us, inspiring us, motivating us and encouraging us to keep the righteous requirements of the law—by allowing Jesus Christ to do it for and through us. We become righteous and we are able to stay righteous, IF we allow Christ to let His love in us flow out of us, toward God and toward others, thereby fulfilling God’s law of love.
If we do this, then the mystery of righteousness is being fulfilled in us.
Part 4 – The Mystery of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
Paul’s letter to the Galatians has been quoted over the centuries for proof that the Ten Commandments are no longer in effect. As we will show in this verse-by-verse Bible study, nothing could be further from the truth.
The exact date when the letter was written is somewhat unclear, though it could have been penned as early as 52 or 53 A.D., or perhaps around 58 A.D.
As we will explain, the purpose of Paul’s letter is to show, among other issues, how we can obtain justification. The purpose was not to show that the Ten Commandments were abolished. Rather, Paul was determined to prove that we cannot earn justification or salvation through our works.
Let us study together the entire letter to understand what Paul is saying.
Galatians, Chapter 1
We read Paul’s words in Galatians 1:1–5, as follows:
“(Verse 1) Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) (Verse 2) And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: (Verse 3) Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, (Verse 4) Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Verse 5) To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
We see that at the very beginning, Paul identifies himself as an apostle. He was made an apostle by Jesus Christ—not by man—but this is not to say that God did not use men to ordain him to the office and rank of apostle (see Acts 13:1–3; 14:4, 14; 1 Timothy 2:7). Christ established His Church, and ministerial ranks within the Church, for the purpose of teaching and preaching the truth, ordaining others, baptizing new converts, laying hands on them, anointing the sick, along with many other responsibilities.
In verse 3, Paul emphasizes the role of God the Father. As Christ said, we are to pray to the Father, for His is the glory forever. The Father is “greater” than Christ (John 14:28), and Christ came not to do His own will, but the will of God the Father.
In verse 4 Paul shows that Christ, in accordance with the will of the Father, is willing to deliver us from this evil world or age—this present evil civilization or society. There are three worlds or ages mentioned in Scripture: the world which once existed but was destroyed in the flood (2 Peter 3:5–6); this present evil world; and the world to come (Hebrews 2:5; Ephesians 1:20–21).
And, Paul introduces his overall theme at the very beginning of his letter. In verse 3, he mentions GRACE—which is God’s unmerited pardon for us. It is because of GRACE that we can obtain forgiveness; be delivered from the present evil world; and inherit salvation and eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
Continuing with Galatians 1:6–7:
“(Verse 6) I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (Verse 7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
Paul is addressing here, not necessarily the gospel about Christ, but the gospel OF Christ—that is, Christ’s gospel; the gospel, which He brought and preached.
He went on to explain, in Galatians 1:8 and 9:
“(Verse 8) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Verse 9) As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
Paul insists that the gospel that He preached was the very same gospel that Jesus Christ brought and preached. What was the gospel that Jesus Christ preached?
Clearly, Christ preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God (compare Mark 1:1, 14–15; Matthew 9:35; Luke 4:43; 8:1; 9:11; Acts 1:3).
It was the same gospel that Paul preached (compare Acts 14:21–22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 30–31).
It was also the same gospel that the other apostles and elders and deacons preached (see Luke 9:2; compare also Luke 9:60; Acts 8:12).
Finally, it is that same gospel that is to be preached to the world just prior to Christ’s return (compare Matthew 24:14).
Paul goes on to say in Galatians 1:10:
“(Verse 10) For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
Paul addresses the important fact that we cannot be men pleasers and God pleasers at the same time, when there is a conflict.
Continuing in Galatians 1:11:
“(Verse 11) But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.”
That is, the gospel of the Kingdom of God is not invented by man. It is a message from God the Father that has to be revealed. In Paul’s case, Christ taught him directly, as is stated in verse 12—apparently, while he lived in Arabia (see below, in verse 17).
Paul states in Galatians 1:12–14:
“(Verse 12) For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Verse 13) For ye have heard of my conversation [conduct] in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted [tried to destroy] it: (Verse 14) And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.”
The term, “Jews’ religion” is rendered as “Judaism” in the New King James Bible. This term is only used twice in the Bible—and both times in the book of Galatians. Paul identifies it with the “traditions of my fathers.” This terminology is used in Matthew 15:1–9 and in Mark 7:1–13.
Paul, as a Pharisee, had thought that he could earn justification and righteousness by keeping the traditions of the fathers; that is, the “Jews’ religion” or Judaism. This term does not refer to Old Testament laws, but to traditions, invented by the Pharisees, such as ritual washings and other man-made regulations.
We present here a few examples of the regulations that the Pharisees had come up with regarding Sabbath keeping, which show what a burden they were on the people. For instance, it was prohibited to carry any food which weighed as much as a dried fig. Only the weight of half a dried fig or an olive was allowed (Talmud: Tractate Shabbath, Folios 28a, 70b, 71a). It was also prohibited to carry a piece of paper, or more than one swallow of milk, or enough oil to anoint a small part of the body (Shabbath, 78a, 76b). If a fire broke out on the Sabbath in a person’s home, he could only carry out the necessary food for the Sabbath and only “necessary” clothes (Shabbath 120a).
Surprisingly perhaps, Orthodox Judaism today still imposes similar restrictive and burdensome Sabbath regulations. Notice the following article from ABC News, which reported on October 26, 2009:
“Rabbinical ruling causes havoc as Orthodox Jews debate fate of Sabbath elevators… The Jewish day of rest has become a bit more labor-intensive for Yosef Ball. The Orthodox Jew and his wife are no longer using elevators custom-built for the Jewish Sabbath, ever since a rabbinical ruling last month outlawed them. Instead, they have been hiking up seven flights of stairs to get home each Saturday, lugging with them their five young children and a double stroller…
“Jewish law, or halacha, forbids the use of electrical items on the Sabbath. But for decades rabbis have allowed special elevators that automatically stop at every floor without the riders pushing any buttons, permitting Orthodox Jews to ride them and live in high-rise buildings. The ruling last month by one of Israel’s leading rabbis, calling the elevators a no-go, has reignited a vigorous debate over the lifts, forcing Orthodox Jews living on top floors to decide if they’re up for the steep hike home from synagogue on Saturdays.
“The Orthodox community has long been divided over the elevators. Opponents say that while the riders push no button, the weight of the passengers still increases the amount of electricity required to power the lift, thus violating Jewish law…
“The ruling, decreed last month, is the latest in a series by Israeli rabbis on the minutiae of applying Jewish law to daily life. Top rabbis can count tens of thousands of followers who abide by their rulings. Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the revered 99-year-old scholar who signed the elevator ruling, has been behind other controversial decisions before. In September, he proclaimed Jews could not wear Crocs shoes on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, because they were deemed too comfortable for the somber fasting holiday…
“The elevators are just one of several electric devices that rabbis have found loopholes for, allowing their use. Religious families can use timers for their lights and special hot plates to warm food as long as those hot plates were not switched on or off during the Sabbath.”
No wonder that Jesus chastised the religious rabbinical leadership of His time for having made the Sabbath a burden through their pharisaical rulings. What would He say today? Obviously, He would not approve of such modern twisted unbiblical Sabbath decrees either.
Paul makes clear that following these kinds of rules can never impress God. In fact, in zealously obeying and following these kinds of rules, Paul was motivated to persecute the true church of God (verse 13).
He continues in Galatians 1:15:
“(Verse 15) But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace”
Paul had been known by God since or before his birth. The same is true for Jeremiah and David. The same is true for true Christians today. God says that all those who are called in this day and age were predestined before their birth to be called (compare Romans 8:28–30). This does not mean that they are automatically saved. They are only called for salvation—their opportunity is today—but they are still to overcome and qualify for the gift of eternal life.
Paul knows that God called him by His grace—by His unmerited pardon. Paul did not DESERVE to be called. Nobody deserves to be called. God calls according to His plan—and when someone is not called by God, he cannot come to Christ (compare John 6:44, 65).
Continuing in Galatians 1:16:
“(Verse 16) To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:”
Paul understands that God called him to reveal His Son IN Paul; that is, Christ would live IN Paul and guide and direct him. How would He live in Paul? Through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, as we read in Acts 9:17–18.
And with the power of Christ’s Spirit in him, Paul preached mightily the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the Gentiles (compare Acts 20:22–25; 26:15–18).
Paul goes on to say in Galatians 1:17–24:
“… (Verse 17) Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. (Verse 18) Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. (Verse 19) But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. (Verse 20) Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. (Verse 21) Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; (Verse 22) And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ: (Verse 23) But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. (Verse 24) And they glorified God in me.”
It appears that Paul was instructed personally by Jesus Christ, when dwelling in Arabia (verse 17). In verse 19, Paul identifies James, the brother or half-brother of Jesus Christ, and the author of “the letter of James,” as an “apostle.” He then relates that Christians glorified God who is living in Paul, for preaching “the faith.”
“Preaching the faith” includes the message that we must believe or have faith in the gospel. And the gospel of the Kingdom of God includes, of course, the message that we must have faith in God and His power, because it is impossible to please God without faith.
Galatians, Chapter 2
Paul continues his narrative in Galatians 2:1–2:
“(Verse 1) Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. (Verse 2) And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.”
After he had seen Peter and James, and after he had visited the regions of Syria and Cilicia, Paul was inspired to return to Jerusalem, together with Barnabas and Titus, to communicate with the apostles regarding his preaching. Paul did not regard himself as having an understanding of everything. He knew that the Christian way of life requires growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), so he conferred with the other apostles to make sure that he understood and preached the truth of the gospel correctly—and as we saw, there is only ONE gospel.
Continuing in Galatians 2:3–5:
“(Verse 3) But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: (Verse 4) And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: (Verse 5) To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”
Paul begins here to introduce the issue of physical circumcision. That issue had been decided and settled during the ministerial conference in Jerusalem, as reported in Acts 15. It was understood and decreed that a Gentile did not need to be circumcised to become a baptized member of the Church of God.
But some Jews, claiming to be Christians but who were instead “false brethren” (verse 4), continued to insist that circumcision was still necessary. Apparently, they also taught that other ritual temporary laws contained in the Book of Moses had to be kept as well, and it seems they also taught that the Jews’ religion or Judaism—the tradition of the fathers—had to be upheld.
Paul says in verse 4 that they came to spy out the liberty in Christ. He refers to the liberty from sin; the liberty or freedom from the curse or the penalty for breaking the law, which is death; real freedom which Jesus promised all of us when He said: “When the Son of Man makes you free, you are free indeed” (compare John 8:31–36). But as Peter points out, in 1 Peter 2:16, our freedom cannot be used as justification for sinful conduct. We are freed from the penalty of the law, not from the need to obey the law.
Paul insists, in verse 4, that false brethren had come in and taught wrong doctrines to bring true members into bondage. Peter warned in 2 Peter 2:18–19, that while those false brethren were promising “liberty,” they were slaves of corruption and in bondage to sin.
Having received God’s true liberty and walking in liberty does not mean ignoring or transgressing the law of God. Quite to the contrary! Psalm 119:45 says: “For I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts” (New King James Bible).
Paul says that these false brethren were determined to bring others into “bondage.” That Greek word is also used in 2 Corinthians 11:20. It means, “to enslave thoroughly.”
The context of the use of the word “bondage” is the falsely alleged, continued need for physical circumcision. What Paul wants to convey in this context is the following idea:
If we think we have to be circumcised and have to fulfill certain temporary Old Testament rituals and have to follow Judaism and the traditions of men in order to obtain justification and righteousness, then Christ died in vain for us. His sacrifice did not do us any good and we are still in our sins—still in bondage to sin—not really free from the penalty of sin, which is death.
Peter said in Acts 15 not to place a yoke on Gentiles and not to trouble them by insisting that they must be circumcised and must keep all of the temporary rituals in the law of Moses. He pointed out that the Gentiles were receiving repentance (Acts 11:18) and salvation from God through grace—just as the converted Jews had obtained repentance through God’s grace—and grace is not of works.
Continuing in Galatians 2:6–14:
“(Verse 6) But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me: (Verse 7) But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of [better: for, compare New King James Bible] the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of [for] the circumcision was unto Peter; (Verse 8) (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of [better: to, compare New King James Bible] the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) (Verse 9) And when James, Cephas [Aramaic for Peter], and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. (Verse 10) Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward [eager] to do.
“(Verse 11) But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. (Verse 12) For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. (Verse 13) And the other Jews dissembled [played the hypocrite] likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation [hypocrisy]. (Verse 14) But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?”
The truth of the gospel requires no separation between Jews and Greeks. All are to be ONE in Christ. God is not a respecter of persons, compare Acts 10:34–35; Romans 2:11; 1 Peter 1:17.
But Peter set the wrong example. As it is stated in verse 12, he still feared those who were of the circumcision. The understanding prior to the conference in Acts 15 had been that a Jew was not to eat with uncircumcised Gentiles (compare Acts 10:28; 11:2–3). But God had revealed to Peter that that understanding was wrong and that it had no place in the Church of God.
What does Paul mean, in verse 14, that Peter was compelling Gentiles to live as Jews?
Peter was “compelling them” by first sitting and eating with Gentiles—thereby living after the manner of Gentiles—but then separating from the Gentiles when Jews came, as IF there still WAS a separation and as if there still WAS a need for Gentiles to be circumcised and to keep all the Jewish rituals. That is, he was inducing them or coercing them to think that they should perhaps adopt those customs and be circumcised.
Paul continues in Galatians 2:15:
“(Verse 15) We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles…”
The law and the covenants [both the Old Covenant at Mount Sinai and the New Covenant] and the oracles [certain oral understanding that had been preserved; for example, the Hebrew calendar and the structure of the seven-day week] had been given to Israel and the Jews. The Jews had the law of the Ten Commandments and could therefore understand what sin was, which is defined as the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). They should have lived by the law, which they did not.
Jesus had said to them: You have the law, but no one keeps the law (compare John 7:19). And Paul said that even though the Jews had the law, they dishonored God by transgressing the law (Romans 2:23).
Continuing in Galatians 2:16:
“(Verse 16) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
Paul makes very clear that no kind of law-keeping can justify us or make us righteous. The reason is, that just one sin we commit makes us unrighteous, and only the blood of Christ can justify us or make us righteous again, by forgiving that sin.
But note carefully that Paul speaks in verse 16 about the faith IN Christ and the faith OF Christ.
Not only our faith in Christ is required for our justification, but also the faith of Christ. It is Christ’s faith that lives in us that makes us righteous.
It is of course true that we must have faith in Christ—including in His name, identity, role and function, His message, and His sacrifice (Acts 3:16; 20:21; 24:24; John 3:14–15; 5:24; 11:24; 12:46). Before we receive the Holy Spirit, which God gives us only after repentance, belief, proper adult baptism (Acts 2:38) and the laying on of hands through God’s true ministers (Hebrews 6:2; Acts 8:14–20)—our faith IN Christ is the ONLY kind of faith we can have.
But even this is not a “dead” faith, but a “living” faith—it is that kind of faith that manifests itself through works of OBEDIENCE (James 2:14, 17, 22, 26; Romans 1:5; 16:26; Acts 6:7). John 3:36 reads, correctly translated: “He who believes IN the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not OBEY the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (compare Revised Standard Version). In fact, without living, obedient faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ, we cannot even receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32).
Once we receive God’s Holy Spirit, and with it a “measure of faith” (Romans 12:3), Jesus Christ’s living FAITH begins to reside in us. As we allow Christ to lead and direct our lives more and more, we also allow His faith in us to become more and more powerful. Not that Christ’s perfect and boundless faith needs to grow or become more effective, but WE grow to the extent that we allow Him and His faith in us to motivate us and lead us.
Remember that Jesus could not do many miracles because of the lack of faith of the people (compare Mark 6:5–6; Matthew 13:58). It is through Christ’s faith in us that we can become more and more obedient and perfect. But if we refuse to take advantage of and use Christ’s faith in us, we will not grow toward perfection.
Returning to Galatians 2:16, please note that the New King James Bible, as well as most other modern translations, including the New International Version, the Revised Standard Version and the Living Bible, incorrectly use the words “faith IN Christ,” rendering the passage as follows:
“… knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith IN Jesus Christ, even we have believed IN Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith IN Christ and not by the works of the law” (New King James Bible).
This false rendition is very damaging, as it totally clouds the biblical truth that we must have the faith OF Christ in us, and it is the faith OF Christ, which justifies us. It is the living Jesus Christ, dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit, who makes us perfect through HIS faith. OUR faith IN Christ, even though necessary, could NEVER accomplish this.
Therefore, the rendering of Galatians 2:16 in the Authorized Version, as quoted above, is accurate.
Additional passages also show that we must have the faith OF Christ, LIVING IN US, in order to inherit eternal life.
Note, for example, Galatians 3:22, which is rendered incorrectly in the New King James Bible and other modern translations, but which is translated correctly by the Authorized Version:
“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith OF Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”
Ephesians 3:12 reads, in the Authorized Version (note that many modern translations, including the New King James Bible, again mistranslate this passage): “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith OF HIM.” The Greek word for “HIM” is in the genitive (expressing possession or origin), so that the translation “OF HIM” is correct.
It is Christ, through His Spirit, who dwells in our hearts through faith (compare Ephesians 3:16–17). He is the author and finisher of faith (compare Hebrews 12:2; please note that the word “our” in “our faith” was added by the translator and is not in the original).
Another passage that has been mistranslated in most modern versions, including the New King James Bible, but that has been accurately rendered in the Authorized Version, is Philippians 3:9:
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is THROUGH THE FAITH OF CHRIST, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
Notice too that the New King James Bible translates James 2:1 correctly, as follows: “My brethren, do not hold the faith OF our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.” This rendering is correct, as the Greek words for “Lord Jesus Christ” are in the genitive.
Notice also Revelation 2:13. Christ says to the church in Pergamos: “I know your works… And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny MY FAITH…”
Notice, too, Revelation 14:12: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith OF Jesus.”
In this instance, the New King James Bible and the Revised Standard Version render the passage correctly—while other modern renditions mistranslate this passage as well. Those, then, who KEEP God’s commandments AND the faith OF Jesus Christ, which dwells in them, will be saved. It is absolutely necessary that Christ’s faith dwells in us and motivates us to endure, persevere, and continue in our godly walk to inherit the Kingdom of God and eternal life.
The difference between our faith in Christ and Christ’s faith or the faith of Christ in us is one of degree. OUR faith is not free from doubt or fear, while CHRIST’S FAITH knows no doubt or fear. It is, therefore, important to let Christ’s faith in us guide and lead our life. Christ is making us perfect—if we let Him—and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
In addition, Paul states in Galatians 2:16 that we cannot be justified by the works of the law. In this context, Paul is referring to physical labor or the hard works of rituals under the Mosaic law. He is not speaking here of the Ten Commandments, which are not physical, but spiritual (Romans 7:14). Those Old Testament rituals, such as washings, which were required three times a day, were a substitute for the Holy Spirit. They taught the Israelites the habit of obedience.
However, it is also true that we cannot be justified by our works or deeds of the law of the Ten Commandments.
Continuing in Galatians 2:17:
“(Verse 17) But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.”
Sin is the transgression of the law. The fact that we still sin from time to time shows that Christ must justify us continuously.
Also, some say that in the Greek it reads: “If we WERE found sinners [that is, in the past, prior to our conversion], is Christ therefore a minister of sin?” In that case, Paul conveys the idea that Jesus justified us by forgiving us our past sins.
In either case, Christ does not become a minister of sin in that He forgave our past sins prior to conversion and that He forgives our present sins after conversion; rather, He justifies us by forgiving and taking away our sin.
Paul goes on to say in Galatians 2:18:
“(Verse 18) For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.”
Paul is trying to convey the thought that when he again breaks the law, which he broke before, then he is again a transgressor, as sin is the transgression or the breaking of the law.
In addition, Paul is also emphasizing here that the church had understood that physical circumcision was no longer necessary, and that the wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles had been broken down. When Peter appeared to build up again that wall of separation, which had been destroyed, he became a transgressor—he sinned against his Gentile brother by causing him offense.
Continuing in Galatians 2:19:
“(Verse 19) For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.”
The law of the Ten Commandments teaches us what sin is. Through the law comes the knowledge of what sin is (Romans 3:20). Through that knowledge of the law, we realize that we have broken it. We realize that we deserve death. But Christ came to die for us. In accepting His sacrifice, we no longer are under the power of the law to execute us.
A better translation of the original Greek in verse 19 is: “I died to the law” (compare New King James Bible); that is, Paul says that he died to its PENALTY. The law had no more power or claim over him to execute him, as the penalty for law-breaking—DEATH—had been forgiven. Paul had been pardoned. Christ died for Paul so that Paul could have forgiveness of sin, and so that he could live for Christ and God the Father in newness of life.
Paul is explaining that he achieved or accomplished none of this on his own, but that it was granted to him through the grace of God—through the power and help of Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us in Romans 3:19 that those under the law; that is, under its penalty, are guilty. When we don’t break the law, we are not under the law—we are not subject to its penalty—we are not guilty. The law tells us what sin is. The law is made for the sinner so that the sinner can cease sinning (compare 1 Timothy 1:8–16).
In 1 Corinthians 15:31, Paul says that he dies daily; that is, he dies daily to sin and his desires to sin, so that he can live in righteousness.
In Romans 6:1–2, Paul says again that we died to sin (again, sin is the transgression of the law) in order to live in righteousness. We are no longer under the law—under its penalty. We died to the law. We are now under grace, which is God’s favor or unmerited pardon.
Paul then says in Galatians 2:20:
“(Verse 20) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Paul says that he was crucified with Christ. He DIED in baptism. He was resurrected to live a new life in Christ. He now lives “by the faith OF Christ.” It is now Christ’s faith that lives in him. And that new life is separate from the way of sin. We are dead to sin to live for righteousness. Compare Romans 6:3–14.
In regard to the phrase, “faith of the Son of God,” in Galatians 2:20, the original Greek here is a little bit more complicated. Literally translated, it says, according to “Interlinear”: “… yet I live, no longer I, but lives in me Christ; but which I now live in flesh, in faith I live, that of the Son of God.”
Some say that the rendering should be, “in faith I live, IN that of the Son of God,” adding the word “IN” to imply that we live through OUR faith IN the faith OF Christ. But the word “IN” is not in the original. It is more compelling, from the context and the structure of the sentence, to state that we live in faith WHICH IS the faith of the Son of God. Notice again the literal rendering, word for word: “in faith I live, THAT OF the Son of God.”
Continuing in Galatians 2:21:
“(Verse 21) I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
Righteousness does not come through the law. It comes through God’s grace, in at least two ways: When we sin, God makes us righteous again or justifies us through the forgiveness of our sin upon repentance. Since forgiveness is by grace, righteousness does not come through the law.
Also, Christ IN us fulfills the righteous requirements of the law in us when we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit (compare Romans 8:3–4). And it is also by God’s grace—not by the law—that Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, righteousness does not come through the law, but by Christ living in us, as our merciful LIVING High Priest. He gives us the power to overcome sin and to remain righteous.
We are righteous as long as we keep the law. We become unrighteous when we break the law, and it is Christ’s shed blood which justifies us or makes us righteous, when we repent of our sin and obtain forgiveness. Compare 1 John 1:6–10.
Galatians, Chapter 3
Having explained how we can—and cannot—obtain justification and righteousness, Paul continues the theme in Galatians 3:1–9:
“(Verse 1) O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? (Verse 2) This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Verse 3) Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? [i.e., by your our own doing?] (Verse 4) Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
“(Verse 5) He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Verse 6) Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. (Verse 7) Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. (Verse 8) And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. (Verse 9) So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”
Paul explains that faith is important for our justification and righteousness. But he is not speaking of dead faith—faith without works—but he is emphasizing living faith—faith, which is evidenced by works. It requires obedience to the truth (compare verse 1).
Paul explains that we do not receive the Holy Spirit by our works, but by faith in God the Father and in His Son Jesus Christ. We do not receive the Holy Spirit by the physical ritual works of the law, either. But true faith WILL RESULT in good works. God does not give the Holy Spirit to those who refuse to OBEY HIM (Acts 5:32).
In James 2:21, we read that Abraham was justified by works, and James 2:24 adds that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. However, Paul says in Romans 4:2–3 that Abraham was not justified by works, but by faith.
Is there a contradiction?
No, but we must understand that Paul and James talk about two different things.
James condemns theoretical, esoteric, dead faith which is not accompanied and manifested by works or good deeds. He condemns that kind of faith which even the demons have (James 2:19). That dead faith which does not show good works will justify nobody (James 2:17–18, 20, 22).
Although James emphasizes deeds or works, he is really trying to show the difference between dead faith and living faith (verse 26). Only living faith (faith accompanied by works) can justify us. When James says that man is justified by works and not by faith only, he means to say that man is justified by living, practical, outflowing, obedient faith, and not by dead, useless, theoretical, loveless, disobedient faith.
To put it differently, James addresses people who think that their intellectual, theoretical faith in God and Jesus is enough, and that nothing further—no good works and no obedience to the law—needs to accompany their faith.
Paul, on the other hand, addresses people in Romans 4:2–3, and in Galatians 3:5–9, that had fallen into the other ditch—the opposite extreme. They believed that their good works would justify them and make them righteous; that they could obtain justification on their own, by how they lived—that they did not need God or faith in Christ’s sacrifice to obtain forgiveness and justification.
That Paul and James agree on the necessity of LIVING obedient faith for our justification has been clearly understood by Rienecker, Commentary to the Bible, stating:
“… the works through which faith becomes perfect and without which it is dead [according to James] are the same works for which we were created in Christ so that we should walk in them [according to Paul, compare Ephesians 2:10]. The one who refuses to grant necessary help to his neighbor [according to James] has also in Paul’s judgment denied the faith [see his statement in 1 Timothy 5:8].”
Paul continues in Galatians 3:10:
“(Verse 10) For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”
Paul conveys the thought that nobody kept all the physical works of the law, including all of its rituals, washings or sacrifices. In addition, nobody even kept all of God’s spiritual commandments of the Ten Commandments and its judgments and statutes. Therefore, everybody is under the curse or penalty of the law, which is the second death for spiritual sin or which might be physical death or other physical penalties for civil or criminal infractions.
But Paul is not saying here that the entire law is no longer binding on us. He is just talking about the means of justification.
Note the context of the passage that Paul quotes when he says: “Cursed is everyone that does not continue in all things written in the book of the law.” We find that passage in Deuteronomy 27:2–3, 8, 15–26.
When reading that passage, it is obvious that there is nothing wrong with those injunctions listed therein. They are clearly still binding on Christians today.
In verse 10 of Galatians 3, Paul also refers to the “book of the law.” That book included the spiritual timeless law of the Ten Commandments, the statutes and judgments, but also the temporary passing law of the sacrificial system and the rituals (as substitutes for Christ’s sacrifice and for the Holy Spirit). That book of the law is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 31:24–26.
The book of the law included permanent and temporary laws. Old Testament Israel had to keep them all. But we are no longer obligated today to keep the temporary laws, but we are still very much obligated to keep the spiritual laws.
Continuing in Galatians 3:11:
“(Verse 11) But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.”
Paul explains that Christ will justify us when we have faith that He will, and we will then live by faith; that is, by HIS faith living in us.
Continuing in Galatians 3:12:
“(Verse 12) And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.”
However, just one act of disobedience will incur the death penalty, and the man who strictly lives in the law, without faith in God’s forgiveness for his repented sins, will cease “living”—he will die with that unrepented sin.
Continuing in Galatians 3:13:
“(Verse 13) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”
The curse of the law is the penalty for breaking or violating the law. Christ redeemed us from the curse or penalty of the law—not the law—as He became a curse for us, in that He took our sins upon Himself and paid the penalty for our sins on our behalf. He thereby redeemed us or set us free from the penalty of death, which we brought upon ourselves by sinning—breaking the law.
Paul continues in Galatians 3:14–19:
“(Verse 14) That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Verse 15) Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. (Verse 16) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
“(Verse 17) And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. (Verse 18) For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. (Verse 19) Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.”
This passage has confused quite a few commentators and scholars. What law does Paul refer to here in verse 17, which was “430 years after” the covenant was made? The covenant is the one of promise to Abraham (Genesis 17:1–2), so the approximate time frame for this law “430 years after” the covenant, refers to the time just after Israel’s exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:40). But what law does Paul have in mind?
Paul is not talking about the law of the Ten Commandments, which was in existence since Adam and Eve.
The Bible consistently teaches that people transgressed the Ten Commandments long before the “law” mentioned in Galatians 3 came into existence.
We read in 1 Timothy 2:14 that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” Eve sinned when she violated God’s law. This means that God’s law of the Ten Commandments was already in effect long before Abraham or Moses, because Paul tells us in Romans 4:15, “…where there is no law there is no transgression.” And when we sin, we are “convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:9).
Adam and Eve transgressed the law of the Ten Commandments when they took of the forbidden fruit. They sinned by disobeying God, by stealing from Him and by lying to Him about it. They also committed idolatry by following Satan, desiring to have something that was not theirs. Later, Cain sinned by murdering his brother Abel (Genesis 4:7–8). The men of Sodom were “sinful” against God (Genesis 13:13) in violating His commandments and principles pertaining to marriage (Genesis 18:20).
God prevented two pagan rulers, both referred to as Abimelech, from sinning against Him by having an adulterous relationship with Abraham’s and Isaac’s wives (Genesis 20:6; Genesis 26:10). Later, Joseph refused to commit adultery with Potiphar’s wife, knowing that this would be a sin (Genesis 39:7–9). Jacob sinned by deceiving, or lying to, his father Isaac (Genesis 27:35). Jacob knew that stealing was sinful (Genesis 30:33; 31:39). Joseph later explained that kidnapping a person was stealing and therefore sinful (Genesis 40:15). His brothers understood, too, that stealing was sinful (Genesis 50:17; Genesis 44:8).
Fornication was understood to be a sinful act long before God spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel (Genesis 34:7, 31; 38:24). Murder also was declared to be sinful (compare also Genesis 49:6–7), and the midwives refused to kill the Israelite baby boys because they feared God (Exodus 1:16–17).
Prior to arriving at Mount Sinai, God clearly identified the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath as a law that had to be obeyed (Exodus 16:4–5, 22–30). After all, it had been in effect since Adam and Eve were created (Genesis 2:2–3).
We see, then, that the Ten Commandments were in force and effect since the creation of man. In breaking them, man sinned and fell into transgression. And because of such transgression, another law was later added, as we read in Galatians 3:19.
This (temporary) law was ADDED because of transgression—but where there is no law, there is no transgression. The law of the Ten Commandments was transgressed, and because of that, another law—that of the sacrificial system and the washings and rituals—was added, AFTER the Israelites had transgressed against God by building a golden calf.
Paul tells us the same in Romans 5:13–14, which reads in the New King James Bible: “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Paul tells us clearly that there was already sin in the world BEFORE “the law” came. Sin, we know, is the transgression of the LAW. Therefore, there was a law in effect that was broken before this additional “law” came. So, the law that came or was added must have been different from the law that was already broken. In fact, this particular law [the law of sacrifices] was added because another law [the Ten Commandments] had been transgressed.
We also read, in Romans 5:14, about the transgression of Adam. Adam sinned—sin being the transgression of the law. Others sinned too—although perhaps not to the same degree that Adam sinned—because we read in Romans 5:14 that death reigned from Adam to Moses. Romans 6:23 tells us why death reigned: “For the wages of sin is death.” When we sin or transgress God’s law, we have to pay a penalty—death. This is confirmed by the apostle James in James 1:15: “…sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
Please also note that Paul says in Galatians 3:19 that the law which was added because of transgression was ordained by angels. The Ten Commandments were not ordained by angels: When God spoke the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai, He spoke them directly, not through angels. But apparently, the sacrificial system and washings were given to Moses through angels.
Continuing in Galatians 3:20:
“(Verse 20) Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.”
While the law of the sacrifices and other rituals was apparently given to the mediator Moses through angels, the law of the Ten Commandments was given directly by God. It was God who taught the Ten Commandments directly to Adam and Eve before they sinned, and it was God who uttered the Ten Commandments directly to Moses and the people of Israel. Paul makes the point that God did it Himself—not through the help of mediators.
Continuing in Galatians 3:21:
“(Verse 21) Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
No law—whether it is a spiritual or a temporary law—can GIVE life. The purpose of the law—any law—is to define for us (spiritual) sin or physical transgressions or infractions.
Continuing in Galatians 3:22–23:
“(Verse 22) But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. (Verse 23) But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.”
Paul says that the Jews were kept under the law. A better rendering can be found in the New King James Bible which says that we—the Jews—were “kept under guard by the law.” That is, ancient Israel and Judah were kept under guard by the ritual law of physical works, washings, and sacrifices.
Continuing in Galatians 3:24–25:
“(Verse 24) Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [or tutor] to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Verse 25) But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
Paul is saying that we are no longer under the tutor or that we are no longer kept under guard by the law of sacrifices and washings.
Paul explains in Hebrews 10:1–10 that the Old Testament sacrifices were given to bring sin to remembrance (verse 3)—not to forgive sin. But when faith in Christ’s sacrifice came, which brings forgiveness, sacrifices and washings were no longer necessary (compare Hebrews 9:9–10).
In addition, Paul makes the point that we must be justified by faith. Our law-keeping—regardless of whether it is the keeping of the sacrificial system or the keeping of the Ten Commandments—can’t justify us. Only faith in Christ’s sacrifice and God’s forgiveness for our sins—as well as Christ’s faith in us—justify us.
Paul goes on to say in Galatians 3:26–28:
“(Verse 26) For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Verse 27) For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Verse 28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Paul emphasizes again this all-important point: We have all been baptized into Christ and have put on Christ (compare Romans 6:1–6). There is no more separation between Jew and Greek—physical circumcision is not necessary for Gentiles to be accepted by God.
Paul concludes the chapter as follows, in Galatians 3:29:
“(Verse 29) And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Christ is Abraham’s Seed. If we are Christ’s, then we, too, are Abraham’s seed, through Christ. And as Abraham’s seed, we are heirs together with Abraham. As James 2:5 explains, we are heirs of eternal life in the Kingdom of God when we love God. And the love of God is defined as keeping His commandments (1 John 5:3).
To be Abraham’s seed and heirs, we also must have Abraham’s faith—which was actually the faith OF Christ dwelling IN Abraham.
Obviously, we have not entered into our inheritance yet. We are heirs, but not inheritors. Still, we are to be living in such a way that we are no longer subject to this evil world, as Paul continues to point out in the subsequent chapters in his letter to the Galatians.
Galatians, Chapter 4
Paul states in Galatians 4:1–3:
“(Verse 1) Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; (Verse 2) But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. (Verse 3) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:…”
Some commentaries interpret this passage to mean that Paul is attacking the Ten Commandments, saying that they kept us in bondage. However, this is clearly not what Paul is talking about. He is not talking about any Old Testament laws here, but that we all were in bondage “under the elements” or “rudiments” of the “WORLD”—that present evil world that he had referred to in the first chapter of Galatians.
He makes similar statements in Colossians 2:8, 20 and also in Galatians 4:9, again talking about the elements or rudiments of the world, which he describes as “philosophy” and “empty deceit,” and the “tradition of men.”
Paul is talking about the way we lived before we were converted—following the rules, regulations, customs, traditions and philosophies of the world, which is presently ruled by Satan the devil.
Continuing in Galatians 4:4–5:
“(Verse 4) But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Verse 5) To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
Christ had to be made UNDER the law—subject to its penalty—as Christ never sinned. He never was under the law—its penalty—due to His conduct; rather, He had to be placed or made under the law, so that He could pay the penalty of sin for us. We came under the law—its penalty—through our conduct, so Christ had to be MADE UNDER the law, in order to redeem us who were under the law—its penalty.
And why?
To give us SONSHIP! The Authorized Version translates verse 5, erroneously, as “adoption” (compare, too, Romans 8:15), but the correct rendering is “sonship.” God is not only “adopting” us “as sons,” by granting us certain privileges and possessions, but He is reproducing Himself—His very divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)—in us. When we receive His Holy Spirit, we are BEGOTTEN sons and daughters of God, and when we are changed into spirit at the time of Christ’s return, we are then BORN AGAIN children of God—not just adopted children, but children with the very same NATURE and MIND of God (Philippians 2:5).
Continuing in Galatians 4:6–8:
“(Verse 6) And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Verse 7) Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Verse 8) Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.”
Paul is not talking here about Jews, but he is discussing Gentiles who served idols, which by nature are not gods. It is God’s nature to BE God. It will be our nature—as His very children—to BECOME God. But those idols are not and will never be “gods,” by nature. People might declare them to be gods, and worship them as such, but they are not gods by nature.
Paul continues in Galatians 4:9–10:
“(Verse 9) But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? (Verse 10) Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.”
Paul is not talking here about Old Testament laws. The Galatians never kept these. But Paul said in verse 9 that they wanted to return AGAIN to the weak and beggarly elements of the WORLD. He says in verse 9 that they desired again to be in bondage to them. What he means is, they desired again to serve those beggarly elements or rudiments—but in doing so, it would bring them again into bondage to them (compare Romans 6:16).
Paul then states in verse 10 that they returned to their former practice of observing days, months, times and years. These Gentiles had come to a knowledge of the true God upon conversion, but after that initial understanding, they returned to those “beggarly elements” (compare Galatians 4:9) that they had originally worshipped, by observing again “days and months and seasons and years” (verse 10). This practice cannot refer to God’s Sabbath and Holy Days, as those had not even been known, let alone observed, by the Gentiles before their conversion. Rather, Paul is talking here about pagan festivals and practices, which are known today as, or associated with, such observances as Christmas, Easter or Halloween.
In addition, Paul would not be addressing God’s Sabbath and Holy Days here, as those days do not come from “beggarly elements,” but were, in fact, initiated by GOD. Paul would NEVER have said that the Sabbath or the Holy Days were derived from “beggarly elements.”
Some claim that the converted Gentiles in Galatia had begun to keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days only because Jews allegedly induced them to do so, and that Paul was now opposing this practice. This claim is false, however, because we read in verse 9 that the Galatians turned AGAIN to the weak and beggarly elements. The Galatians had RETURNED to what they had done BEFORE they became Christians. Jewish influence on them AFTER their conversion is clearly NOT what Paul is addressing here.
Some commentators point out that the “observation” that Paul is addressing here, is done in a superstitious way, which just does not fit when talking about God’s Sabbath and the Holy Days. It does, however, fit in connection with astrology and Gnostic speculations. Looking at it from that point of view, we can see that Paul was talking about an observation of times and seasons that were controlled by heavenly bodies and spirits.
When speaking of observation of times, Paul was aware of the following passages:
In Leviticus 19:26, we read: “Ye shall not eat anything with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.” We find the same prohibition in Deuteronomy 18:10: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.” (Compare, too, Deuteronomy 18:14).
Literally, it means, “to observe the clouds.” The study of the appearance and motion of the clouds was a common way of foretelling good or bad fortune.
This superstitious observation of times was often accompanied by lighting candles and decorating the doors with garlic. Its connection was clearly demonic. Note 2 Chronicles 33:6: “[Manasseh] caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit [a demon], and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.”
Paul also rebuked the Galatians for observing days. The Greeks, for example, did observe days to worship their dead. On those days, no work was to be done. Actually, both the Greek and the Roman calendars designated one-third of all the days as days of misfortune. On those days, one could not perform any political or legal activities, and the people were supposed to abstain from any private pleasures. One was not to engage in war on those days, or marry, or travel.
Paul also addressed the superstitious practice of observing months. The pagan world had set aside certain months for the worship of their gods. Pagan festivals were kept during the months of April and October to honor the goddess Apolla, while the highest Greek god, Zeus, was worshipped during the months of February and June. The month of April was also set aside for the worship of the god Artemis. The wine god, Baccus or Bacchus, was honored during the month of January.
Finally, Paul rebuked the Galatians for the observance of years. Indeed, certain years had been set aside for worship activities by the Greeks and the Romans. For example, the Olympic Games were celebrated at that time in certain yearly intervals, but they were accompanied with pagan worship and rites.
Paul continues in Galatians 4:11–12:
“(Verse 11) I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. (Verse 12) Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.”
What does Paul mean in verse 12 with, “As I am”? Well, Paul did not worship idols and did not observe pagan practices. He says, according to the Authorized Version’s rendition: “I am as ye are”; but the word “are” was supplied by the translator, so the phrase would be better rendered as: “I am as ye should be”; that is, you should stay away from observing pagan practices, as I am not observing them either.
When Paul says, “Ye have not injured me at all,” he refers to the fact that when he came to them to preach the gospel, they did not reject him or did not inflict any harm on him. Why would Paul have even mentioned that possibility? The very next verse provides the answer—he is referring to his appearance.
He states in Galatians 4:13:
“(Verse 13) Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.”
Notice how the commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explains this passage:
“… how through infirmity—rather, as Greek, “Ye know that because of an infirmity of my flesh I preached,”… He implies that bodily sickness, having detained him among them, contrary to his original intentions, was the occasion of his preaching the Gospel to them.”
Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible states:
“The apostle seems to say that he was much afflicted in body when he first preached the Gospel to them…”
That Paul suffered indeed from an infirmity seems to be shown in passages such as 2 Corinthians 10:10; 2 Corinthians 12:7, and Galatians 6:11.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown comment on Galatians 6:11: “Owing to his weakness of eyes (Gal. 4:15) he wrote in large letters. So Jerome.”
Continuing in Galatians 4:14:
“(Verse 14) And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.”
The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary states:
“… my temptation—The oldest manuscripts read, ‘your temptation.’ My infirmity, which was, or might have been, a ‘temptation,’ or trial, to you, ye despised not, that is, ye were not tempted by it to despise me and my message.”
Paul continues to state in Galatians 4:15–17:
“(Verse 15) Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. (Verse 16) Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? (Verse 17) They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.”
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says:
“They zealously affect you—the false teachers made a show of zeal toward the Galatians, or professed affection for them in order to gain them as their followers. They were full of ardor, and professed an extraordinary concern for their welfare—as people always do who are demagogues, or who seek to gain proselytes…
“Yea, they would exclude you—Margin, ‘Us.’ … The word ‘exclude’ here probably means, that they endeavored to exclude the Galatians from the love and affection of Paul. They would shut them out from that, in order that they might secure them for their own purposes.
“If the reading in the margin, however, should be retained, the sense would be clearer. ‘They wish to exclude us, that is, me, the apostle, in order that they may have you wholly to themselves. If they can once get rid of your attachment to me, then they will have no difficulty in securing you for themselves.’ …
“The main idea is clear: Paul stood in the way of their designs. The Galatians were truly attached to him, and it was necessary, in order to accomplish their ends, to withdraw their affections from him. When false teachers have designs on a people, they begin by alienating their confidence and affections from their pastors and teachers. They can hope for no success until this is done; and hence, the efforts… to undermine the confidence of a people in the ministry, and when this is done there is little difficulty in drawing them over to their own purposes.
“That ye might affect them—Their first work is to manifest special interest for your welfare; their second, to alienate you from him who had first preached the gospel to you; their object, not your salvation, or your real good, but to secure your zealous love for themselves.”
The commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown adds the following regarding the phrase, “they would exclude you”: “’They wish to shut you out’ from the kingdom of God (that is, they wish to persuade you that as uncircumcised Gentiles, you are shut out from it), ‘that ye may zealously court them,’ that is, become circumcised, as zealous followers of themselves.”
Continuing in Galatians 4:18–21:
“(Verse 18) But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. (Verse 19) My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, (Verse 20) I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. (Verse 21) Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?”
Paul is not saying here that they desired to be under the law in the sense that they wanted to be under the penalty of the law. They did not desire to die because of their sins. But they seemed to desire to live again their old way of life (which brings forth death)—or they desired to follow wrong teachers believing that they must be circumcised in order to be saved.
But as we saw, circumcision does not justify us—nor do even the Ten Commandments. In violating just one of the Ten Commandments, we have sinned and incurred the death penalty. What saves us is Christ’s sacrifice, by which God forgives us our sins and removes the penalty—but we can’t keep on sinning so that grace may abound.
To put it differently, if we desire to break God’s law of the Ten Commandments, we are again under the law; that is, under or subject to its penalty. Also, if we desire to obtain justification apart from Christ, we are still under or subject to the penalty of the law, as we can only become justified through Christ.
Furthermore, Paul is using the word “law” in different ways in verse 21. To be “under the law” means, under its penalty; when he then says, “hear the law,” he means the five books of Moses.
Continuing in Galatians 4:22–24:
“(Verse 22) For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. (Verse 23) But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. (Verse 24) Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which engendereth to [brings forth] bondage, which is Hagar.”
Most commentaries will tell you that Paul is addressing here the Old and the New Covenant, and conclude that the Old Covenant with all its laws has been abolished. However, Paul is not speaking here about the Old Covenant. Rather, he is describing in his allegory (verse 24) two ways of life—a “covenant” with death and a “covenant” with life. When we are in Christ, we are no longer under the penalty of the law. We are no longer in “bondage” (verse 24) to death.
We read in Isaiah 28:15, 18 that carnal people made a covenant with death, thinking they could escape death even though they lived wrongly. But we can only escape death through our acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice.
Hagar’s son Ishmael was born according to the flesh. However, Sarah’s son Isaac was born according to promise, symbolizing, in this allegory, the gift of the Holy Spirit which would ultimately be in Isaac.
Paul could not have talked here about the Old Covenant, because at the time of Hagar, the Old Covenant under Moses was not even made.
Continuing in Galatians 4:25–26:
“(Verse 25) For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. (Verse 26) But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”
This passage shows too that Paul is not talking here about the Old Covenant. At the time of the Old Covenant, Jerusalem “which now is” was not part of it, nor was it even part of Israel’s possessions or territory.
When talking about “Jerusalem above”—the heavenly Jerusalem—Paul is referring to that city which God is building for His disciples, and which will descend to earth to become a dwelling place for the Father and the Son and the born-again Spirit beings of the immortal God Family. This is the city with foundations for which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob waited (Hebrews 11:10). It signifies eternal life, as only immortal Spirit-born children of God will dwell in it.
“Jerusalem below” signifies death in Paul’s allegory, as at this point, no human made immortal lives there. The time of our immortality is still in the future. Those who live in the present city of Jerusalem are subject to death.
Continuing in Galatians 4:27:
“(Verse 27) For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband.”
Paul shows that ultimately, all will be called to salvation, and most will qualify for the Kingdom of God and eternal life. Today, though, most are not called—hence the allegory of the heavenly Jerusalem being presently barren. But she will bring forth many children in the future—many more than a physical husband could produce. So, ultimately, life will triumph over death.
Continuing in Galatians 4:28–31:
“(Verse 28) Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. (Verse 29) But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. (Verse 30) Nevertheless what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. (Verse 31) So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”
Paul is describing in his allegory our spiritual battle, which goes on in our mind. God’s Spirit in us wars against our flesh. Our flesh “persecutes” the Spirit of God and must therefore be cast out (compare James 4:4–5, 8; Romans 6:1–4; 8:5–9; and Colossians 2:11–13).
Paul also points out, in verse 31, that we are no longer children of the bondwoman—children of bondage to death—if we let Christ live in us. It is Christ who sets us free from sin and death.
Galatians, Chapter 5
In this chapter, Paul continues his allegory of the two covenants—the bondwoman and the freewoman—the way of death and the way of life.
He states in Galatians 5:1:
“(Verse 1) Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
Paul is not talking in verse 1 about the Old Covenant or even the sign or covenant of circumcision (Acts 7:8), because the Galatians had never been part of the Old Covenant, nor were they part of the covenant of circumcision—so they could not AGAIN be entangled with the “yoke of bondage.”
Rather, Paul continues his theme of addressing two ways of life. He explains that we must walk by the Spirit, which sets us free, not by the flesh, which brings us into bondage.
To summarize Paul’s interesting points in his allegory: As we have to cast out the fleshly desires and our human nature, Abraham had to cast out the bondwoman and her son (Galatians 4:30). And why? Because the son of the bondwoman, who was born according to the flesh, persecuted the son of the freewoman, who was born according to the Spirit (verse 29). And Paul continues to allegorize by saying that this is also the case today (same verse).
How? It occurs when God’s Spirit in us wars with our flesh. Paul said that he did not do what he wanted to do, but that he gave in at times to his flesh, following its desires (Romans 7:13–25). As our flesh “persecutes” our Spirit-begotten minds, so we must cast out the flesh and its desires, including temptations which might originate with Satan or this world.
Paul had two ways of life in mind: He addressed those people who lived according to the flesh, while thinking that they could do so without having to pay a penalty for their deeds—and those who lived according to the Spirit, having their eyes on the heavenly Jerusalem which would become their place of abode on a new earth when it would descend from heaven.
In his allegory, Paul compared Hagar and Ishmael with those who made a covenant with death. This would include all peoples who have not been called by God today to salvation, including, of course, the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. They all are or were “under death”—even though they might have hoped and believed that they were not, and that they were saved, as long as they lived in accordance with the dictates of their own hearts and conscience.
On the other hand, God is offering those whom He is calling in this day and age the opportunity to live a different way of life—they CAN live according to the Spirit of promise, but they must conquer their own flesh and “leave it behind” (compare Romans 6:1–4; 8:5–9; Colossians 2:11–13). As Abraham and Sarah, as well as Isaac, were called to salvation, so they had to separate themselves from everything, which stood in their way toward their salvation. This is also true for us today.
Beginning with the next verse, Paul returns to the false concept of physical circumcision as a requirement for our justification. He states in Galatians 5:2–4:
“(Verse 2) Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. (Verse 3) For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. (Verse 4) Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
In these verses, Paul addresses those who were teaching the Galatians, that they must be circumcised to obtain justification and salvation. But Paul says in verse 2 that if the Galatians feel that they must be circumcised for their salvation, then Christ will profit them nothing and they have rejected grace (verse 4).
He then argues that if they think they must be circumcised as a necessary prerequisite for their justification, then they would be duty-bound to keep ALL of the law. They could never sin, as one sin would make them unjust or unrighteous. But in trying to do this, they reject God’s grace—the NEED for God’s help and forgiveness.
Circumcision, as part of the law of Moses, would be useless even in the thinking of those advocating it, unless ALL of the law, including all of the rituals, washings and sacrifices, were also kept. In other words, those who insisted on circumcision as a necessary prerequisite for justification and salvation would be inconsistent unless they also taught the necessity to keep all the law, including all of the (temporary) sacrifices, rituals and washings. In trying to do this on their own, which attempt is destined to failure, they fell from grace. They rejected God’s forgiveness for their sins.
Paul continues in Galatians 5:5:
“ For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”
We need God’s Spirit in us in order to be able to please God. And when we sin, Christ’s faith IN us makes us righteous. It is through Christ’s faith that we can have the hope to be made righteous.
Continuing in Galatians 5:6:
“ For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.”
Paul says here that it is totally immaterial, for the purpose of obtaining salvation, whether one is or is not physically circumcised. Rather, Paul says it is necessary to have faith. Paul is not advocating or teaching dead faith, but he requires living faith—faith that is evidenced by works; faith that produces something—and it is love which motivates faith to manifest itself through works.
Continuing in Galatians 5:7–11:
“(Verse 7) Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? (Verse 8) This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. (Verse 9) A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. (Verse 10) I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. (Verse 11) And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offense of the cross ceased.”
Notice that Paul speaks in verse 7 of the need to obey the truth. It is not enough to know the truth and to believe in it, but we must obey it. And so, we read of the obedience to the faith (Romans 1:5; 16:26; Acts 6:7). Just “believing” is not enough in Paul’s teachings.
Paul emphasizes again in verse 8 that God must call us into the truth (compare John 6:44, 65), and he warns in verse 9 against evil influences, comparing those with a little leaven, which leavens the whole lump. Referring to the annual Festival of the Days of Unleavened Bread, which picture leaven as being symbolic of sin and the unleavened lump as being symbolic of righteousness, Paul warns that just one unrepented sin, if it remains unchecked and not dealt with, can ultimately destroy our own life and it can negatively influence or “defile” the whole body of Christ—the Church of God.
In verse 10, Paul expresses his conviction that he has confidence in them “through the Lord,” that they will not continue to disobey the truth. This echoes his statement in Philippians 1:6 (“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”). This is remarkable, considering the extent to which the Galatians had slipped back into old habits and wrong pagan practices. But Paul makes clear that God is not giving up easily on people—and neither should we.
Paul also explains in verse 11 that if he was to preach the necessity of circumcision to obtain justification, he would not suffer persecution from false brethren. But since he preached instead the “cross”—the death of Christ—he was persecuted because that message was offensive to them. The “offense of the cross” conveys the truth that Jesus had to DIE so that through His grace, we can obtain forgiveness, justification, righteousness and salvation. This very concept was offensive—a stumbling block and foolishness—for Jews and Greeks who were looking for miraculous “signs” and intellectual “wisdom” (compare 1 Corinthians 1:22–23).
Continuing in Galatians 5:12–13:
“(Verse 12) I would they were even cut off which trouble you. (Verse 13) For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”
Paul’s wish in verse 12 regarding those false teachers who perverted the truth most likely means “that the authors of these errors and disturbances were [to be] excluded from the church” (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible).
In verse 13, Paul reiterates again that we have been called to true liberty—freedom from unnecessary burdens and pagan customs, as well as from Judaism or the restrictive traditions of the fathers, and especially from sin and death. But he emphasizes that our freedom does not give us a license to sin, by letting sin rule in our fleshly members.
Albert Barnes Notes’ on the Bible explains it this way: “You are called to liberty, but it is not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. It is not freedom from virtuous restraints, and from the laws of God. It is liberty from the servitude of sin… not freedom from the necessary restraints of virtue.”
Rather, Paul states that we must overcome sin—which is always selfish—with outgoing love by serving others.
Continuing in Galatians 5:14:
“(Verse 14) For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Having introduced in the previous verse “love,” which IS the keeping of God’s commandments (1 John 5:3), Paul continues to summarize the law as love toward neighbor. He speaks of “all the law,” as it relates to our relationship with man.
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible states: “The apostle of course here alludes to the Law in regard to our duty to our fellow-men, since that was the point which he particularly enforces.”
The last six of the Ten Commandments show us how to love our neighbor. In Romans 13:8–10, Paul writes: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible states regarding Romans 13:8:
“Love is a debt. The law of God and the interest of mankind make it so… [Paul] specifies the last five [actually, last six] of the ten commandments, which he observes to be all summed up in this royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself…
“… it is a sin not only to devise evil against thy neighbour, but to withhold good from those to whom it is due; both are forbidden together… This proves that love is the fulfilling of the law… for what else is that but to restrain us from evil-doing, and to constrain us to well-doing? Love is a living active principle of OBEDIENCE to the whole law.”
The New Bible Commentary: Revised, agrees, stating: “This conclusion does not invalidate the Ten Commandments in the interest of a nebulous, existential ‘Love, and do as you please’… Love… is the spirit in which we are to keep the law; but we need the law’s particulars and prescriptions to give body and definition…”
John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible writes:
“… to love one another… is the only debt never to be wholly discharged; for though it should be always paying, yet ought always to be looked upon as owing… For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law… of the decalogue; that part of it particularly which relates to the neighbour; the second table of the law… for fulfilling the law means DOING it, or acting according to it; and so far as a man loves, so far he fulfils, that is, DOES it…”
Continuing in Galatians 5:15–18:
“(Verse 15) But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. (Verse 16) This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (Verse 17) For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Verse 18) But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”
Paul describes again (especially in verse 17) two ways of life, as he had done earlier in his allegory of the two covenants. We can choose to walk in the Spirit (verse 16), which will motivate and empower us to KEEP the law of love, and when we do, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh which will induce us to sin and to break the law (compare 1 John 3:4: “Sin is the transgression of the law.”).
But if we chose, instead, to walk in the flesh, we don’t show love, but selfishness, and we will engage in biting and devouring one another (verse 15). Vincent’s Word Studies adds: “Partisan strife will be fatal to the Christian community as a whole. The organic life of the body will be destroyed by its own members.”
And Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says: “… in their contentions they would destroy the spirituality and happiness of each other; their characters would be ruined; and the church be overthrown. The readiest way to destroy the spirituality of a church, and to annihilate the influence of religion, is to excite a spirit of contention.”
To walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh is a constant struggle, as Paul explains in verse 17. There is a battle going on in our minds between God’s Spirit and our fleshly desires. And as Abraham had to cast out the bondwoman, so we have to cast out those fleshly desires. When we are led by God’s Spirit and do the things which are pleasing in God’s sight, we are no longer “under the law” (verse 18). When we walk after the Spirit and are led by it, we will keep the law. And since and as long as we don’t break it, we are not under the penalty of the law.
Continuing in Galatians 5:19–21:
“(Verse 19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (Verse 20) Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, (Verse 21) Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Far from teaching the concept of “once saved, always saved,” Paul admonishes the Galatians to remember that we won’t inherit the Kingdom of God, if we refuse to walk in the Spirit and rather choose to live in and by the flesh. Paul had introduced the gospel or good news of the Kingdom of God early on in his letter, and now he explains that we won’t inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of God, if we practice sin by breaking the law.
And so, Paul lists numerous sins—sinful conduct—which, if practiced as a way of life and not bitterly repented of, will keep us out of the Kingdom of God.
We would like to quote from Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, in order to perhaps convey a better feel for the kind of SINS Paul is listing here:
“Adultery—Illicit connection with a married person [and, we might add, illicit connection of a married person with a married or unmarried person].
“Fornication—Illicit connection between single or unmarried persons…
“Uncleanness—Whatever is opposite to purity; probably meaning here… unnatural practices; sodomy, bestiality.
“Lasciviousness—Whatever is contrary to chastity; all lewdness.
“Idolatry—Worshipping of idols; frequenting idol festivals; all the rites of Bacchus, Venus, Priapus, etc., which were common among the Gentiles.
“Witchcraft—… in all spells and enchantments… drugs were employed… So spells and incantations were used sometimes for the restoration of the health; at others, for the destruction of an enemy…
“Hatred—Aversions and antipathies, when opposed to brotherly love and kindness.
“Variance—Contentions, where the principle of hatred proceeds to open acts; hence contests, altercations, lawsuits, and disputes in general.
“Emulations—Envies…; that is strife to excel at the expense of another; lowering others to set up one’s self; unholy zeal, fervently adopting a bad cause, or supporting a good one by cruel means…
“Wrath—Turbulent passions, disturbing the harmony of the mind, and producing domestic and civil broils…
“Strife—Disputations… or strife about words.
“Seditions—Divisions into separate factions…
“Heresies—Factions; parties in the Church… scandals, offenses or stumbling-blocks.
“Envyings—Pain felt, and malignity conceived, at the sight of excellence or happiness. A passion the most base and the least curable of all…
“Murders—… Murder signifies the destruction of human life; and as he who hates his brother in his heart is ready to take away his life, so he is called a murderer…
“Drunkenness—… even the cares of the world, when they intoxicate the mind…
“Revellings—Lascivious feastings, with obscene songs, music, etc….”
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible concludes that those who practice these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God, as they “are not children of God, and therefore cannot inherit the kingdom which belongs only to the children of the Divine family.”
Continuing in Galatians 5:22–23:
“(Verse 22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (Verse 23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
When we exemplify the fruit of the Spirit, we are not violating the law of God. The law of God is not against the fruit of the Spirit; it does not say: You must not have love, faith or joy.
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible states:
“Against such there is no law—That is, there is no law to condemn such persons. These are not the things which the Law denounces. These, therefore, are the true freemen; free from the condemning sentence of the Law, and free in the service of God. Law condemns sin.”
Notice, too, that the characteristics listed are all called the “fruit,” not the “fruits” of the Spirit. When we are led by God’s Holy Spirit, ALL of these characteristics should be present.
We would like to quote again from Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible to convey a better feel for the characteristics of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian:
“Love—An intense desire to please God, and to do good to mankind; the very soul and spirit of all true religion; the fulfilling of the law…
“Joy—The exultation that arises from a sense of God’s mercy communicated to the soul [the person] in the pardon of its iniquities, and the prospect of that eternal glory…
“Peace—The calm, quiet, and order, which take place in the justified soul [person], instead of… doubts, fears, alarms, and dreadful forebodings… Peace is the first sensible fruit of the pardon of sin…
“Long-suffering—… bearing with the frailties and provocations of others, from the consideration that God has borne long with ours… bearing up also through all the troubles and difficulties of life without murmuring…
“Gentleness—Benignity, affability; a very rare grace, often wanting… A good education and polished manners, when brought under the influence of the grace of God, will bring out this grace with great effect.
“Goodness—The perpetual desire and sincere study, not only to abstain from every appearance of evil, but to do good to the bodies and souls of men [that is, the entire being, including body and mind and spirit] to the utmost of our ability. But all this must spring from a good heart—a heart purified by the Spirit of God…
“Faith—… here used for fidelity [or faithfulness]—punctuality in performing promises, conscientious carefulness in preserving what is committed to our trust, in restoring it to its proper owner, in transacting the business confided to us, neither betraying the secret of our friend, nor disappointing the confidence of our employer.
“Meekness—Mildness, indulgence toward the weak and erring, patient suffering of injuries without feeling a spirit of revenge… the entire opposite to anger.
“Temperance—Continence, self-government, or moderation, principally with regard to sensual or animal appetites. Moderation in eating, drinking, sleeping, etc.”
Continuing in Galatians 5:24:
“(Verse 24) And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections [or passions] and lusts.”
When we were baptized in Christ, our old man died. It was crucified with Christ so that we can live as a new man or person. When we came out of the watery grave, we received the Holy Spirit of the Father and of Christ to walk in it, in newness of life.
Paul goes on to say, in Galatians 5:25–26:
“(Verse 25) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Verse 26) Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
The commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explains verse 25 as follows, in quoting the original Greek:
“’If we live… BY the Spirit, let us also walk… BY the Spirit.’ … ‘Life by (or ‘in’) the Spirit’ is not an occasional influence of the Spirit, but an abiding state, wherein we are continually alive, though sometimes sleeping and inactive.”
Paul admonishes us in verse 26 not to be or become vain glorious—“boasting of our attainments; vaunting ourselves to be superior to others; or seeking honor from those things which do not possess moral good; in birth, riches, eloquence” (Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible).
Paul says that they are not to “provoke one another.” In other words, they are not to “provoke those whom they regard as inferiors by a haughty carriage and a contemptuous manner toward them. They look upon them often with contempt; pass them by with disdain; treat them as beneath their notice; and this provokes on the other hand hard feeling, and hatred” (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible).
Also, we are not to envy one another either, perhaps on account of their superior wealth, rank, talent, or learning (compare Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible).
Galatians, Chapter 6
After explaining how not to treat our fellow man and especially our brethren in the church, Paul continues to explain how we are to treat them—and how we might be able to help them when they need help.
He states in Galatians 6:1–2:
“(Verse 1) Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (Verse 2) Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
When we are “spiritual” and are led by God’s Spirit and are therefore displaying the characteristics of meekness—which is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit—then we are in a position to help a brother who is overtaken in a fault. Paul is not speaking of false brethren and teachers who, living in sin, had come in to destroy the body of Christ, but Paul is referring to a brother who has slipped and needs help—perhaps without even recognizing it—to get back on track.
We are told to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24–25, New King James Bible).
Before We talk to a brother who is overtaken in a fault, we ought to make sure that we pray first to God for His wisdom and intervention (1 John 5:16). And then, we ought to show “compassion” and “fear” and “humility,” when we try to help and correct our brother, knowing that unrepented sins may grow like cancer (Jude 22–23; 2 Timothy 2:16–26). In doing this, we will bear “one another’s burdens.” When we are called upon to help in such a way, we must not shrink back from such responsibility (Proverbs 24:10–12; 27:5–6; 28:23).
At the same time, Paul warns us not to forget our own weaknesses, including the possibility that we could also slip. Otherwise, we might be tempted to deal with the erring brother too harshly and severely (compare James 2:13).
When we follow Paul’s admonitions of helping others who are in need of help, then we will fulfill the law of Christ. Christ came to fulfill the law, by filling it up with meaning, showing the original spiritual intent. He showed us how to love God and neighbor to the fullest extent. This we can only do when Christ’s Spirit lives in us.
Christ told His disciples, in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” He added in John 15:12: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
In order to love each other AS Christ loved us, we need to have God’s love in us—which we receive through the Holy Spirit living in us. Compare Romans 5:5, 8–10.
Continuing in Galatians 6:3–5:
“(Verse 3) For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. (Verse 4) But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. (Verse 5) For every man shall bear his own burden.”
Paul is pointing out, in verse 3, that those who think they could not slip in the same way as their brother in verse 1, should realize that they, too, could sin in the same manner (compare 1 Corinthians 10:12; see also Romans 11:20).
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible explains:
“They who feel secure, and think it impossible that they should sin, are not safe. They may be wholly deceived, and may be nothing, when they have the highest estimate of themselves. They may themselves fall into sin, and have need of all the sympathy and kindness of their brethren… He deceiveth himself—He understands not his own character.”
When we think that our own strength, talents and accomplishments will save us from sin, we need to realize that we “are nothing” apart from God (verse 3).
In addition, Paul is telling us in verse 4 that we are to prove or examine our own work—how we are doing in light of God’s Word and His law—and that we should not compare ourselves with others (see 2 Corinthians 10:12–13). When our ways are in harmony with God’s standard, then we can rejoice, based on our lives, rather than on the fact that we think, comparatively speaking, that we are not doing as badly as others (see Luke 18:9–14, especially verse 11). Others are not our standards. We are not to compare ourselves with the brother who slipped and whom we are to help, but we are just to look at ourselves when evaluating how we are doing.
In the same context, Paul says in verse 5 that we all shall bear our own burden. Is this a contradiction to verse 2, where Paul said that we are to bear one another’s burden? No. Notice the following explanation by the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary:
“For… each man shall bear his own ‘burden,’ or rather, ‘load’ (namely, of sin and infirmity), the Greek being different from that in [verse 2]. This verse does not contradict [verse 2]. There he tells them to bear with others’ ‘burdens of infirmity’ in sympathy; here, that self-examination will make a man to feel he has enough to do with ‘his own load’ of sin, without comparing himself boastfully with his neighbor. Compare [verse 3:] Instead of ‘thinking himself to be something,’ he shall feel the ‘load’ of his own sin: and this will lead him to bear sympathetically with his neighbor’s burden of infirmity.”
Also, in realizing our own burden of sin, we appreciate that because of God’s grace, we can obtain help from God and forgiveness of sin and a good and undefiled conscience (Hebrews 10:22). We should always remember that we can lighten our burden by taking Jesus’ load upon us—knowing that His yoke is “easy” and His burden is “light” (Matthew 11:28–30). And as this applies to us, it applies likewise to our brother who slipped and fell.
In Galatians 6:6–10, Paul goes on to introduce a related topic, that of doing good:
“(Verse 6) Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him [share with him] that teacheth in all good things. (Verse 7) Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Verse 8) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Verse 9) And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Verse 10) As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary explains the connection between what Paul said in the previous verses, and what he is saying now:
“From the mention of bearing one another’s burdens, he passes to one way in which those burdens may be borne—by ministering out of their earthly goods to their spiritual teachers… Each shall bear his own burden; BUT I do not intend that he should not think of others, and especially of the wants of his ministers.”
Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible adds:
“Contribute to the support of the man who has dedicated himself to the work of the ministry, and who gives up his time and his life to preach the Gospel. It appears that some of the believers in Galatia could receive the Christian ministry without contributing to its support. This is both ungrateful and base… It is unjust.”
But Paul’s admonition is not limited to supporting the ministry. God expects all of us to do good unto all when we have opportunity—especially unto our spiritual brethren. Again, in verses 7 and 8, Paul points out the incongruity between the way of our flesh and the way of God’s Spirit in us.
WE WILL REAP WHAT WE SOW! When we sow to our flesh by following the demands of our flesh—including a refusal to do good—then we will ultimately reap of our flesh destruction. If we sow to God’s Spirit in us by following its lead and doing good without wavering or hesitation, and not losing heart, then we will inherit of the Spirit eternal or everlasting life.
Continuing and concluding in Galatians 6:11–19:
“(Verse 11) Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. (Verse 12) As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. (Verse 13) For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
“(Verse 14) But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Verse 15) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. (Verse 16) And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. (Verse 17) From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. (Verse 18) Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.”
Paul concludes his letter by re-introducing themes and concepts, which he had discussed throughout his letter. Pointing at his own sickness and physical infirmities (verse 11), and apparently also at his wounds that stemmed from the many beatings which he had to endure (verse 17; compare 2 Corinthians 11:23–25), he emphasizes that part of his persecution resulted from his message of the cross and the fact that circumcision is no longer required (verses 12, 15).
Paul also points out that those who require circumcision so that they don’t have to endure persecution (verse 12), don’t keep the law themselves (verse 13)—that is, not all the law, and most certainly not the Ten Commandments.
Paul continues to explain that the essence of the message of the gospel of the Kingdom of God is HOW we are able to inherit the Kingdom. It has to do with HOW WE WALK (verse 16); that we must live as a “new creature” (verse 15); that the world is crucified to us and we are crucified to the world (verse 14); and that we are now the Israel of God (verse 16); that is, spiritual Israel—as distinguished from the Israel according to the flesh.
As spiritual Israelites and spiritual Jews, we are to have the same faith of Christ that Abraham had. Further, and most importantly, inheriting the Kingdom of God and obtaining salvation have to do with the fact that God the Father and Jesus Christ forgive us our sins; and justify us; and make us and keep us righteous—by GRACE (verse 18).
As long as we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in us, we will keep God’s law and obtain mercy when we slip (verse 16). Jesus Christ will forgive us upon our repentance, and His blood will cleanse us from all sin and all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7, 9).
And so, as Paul started with the concept of grace (Galatians 1:3), so he ends with it in the very last sentence of his letter. The correct understanding of grace is so very important. It is not license to sin, but it is God’s help for us to be able to live apart from sin.
Conclusion
The highly misunderstood biblical concepts of how to attain justification, righteousness, and salvation, and whether there is a conflict between law and grace, have led to terrible consequences. Millions are deceived in thinking that they no longer have to keep the Ten Commandments and certain statutes and judgments, while others assume that they can earn their salvation by trying on their own to obey God. Then there are those who despair because they think that their sins could never be forgiven, focusing on their shortcomings and concluding that they could never be saved.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians makes clear that we cannot qualify for God’s Kingdom without His grace. He also explains that certain rituals, including sacrifices, washings and circumcision, are no longer necessary, and they most certainly cannot justify us. At the same time, Paul shows that we must strive to obey God—that we must leave behind the ways and wrong customs of this world and that we must overcome the temptations of our flesh.
If we think that we can never “lose” salvation—no matter how we live—then we are wrong. If we think that we must justify ourselves and make ourselves righteous, we will fail. If we think that it is our faith alone that will justify us and make us righteous, then we are misled. But when we allow the faith of Christ, dwelling in us, to justify us, and when we permit the living Christ to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law in us, then we will succeed.
Yes, we are duty-bound to keep God’s spiritual law, but it is God’s grace that enables us to do so. And yes, we will, from time to time, miss the mark and violate God’s law and sin, even after conversion, but it is God’s grace that will grant us forgiveness and enable us to continue—until the day of Christ’s return.
Current Events
No Crisis With Different Weather Conditions…
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 17:
“The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull has brought European aviation to a near-standstill in the worst disruptions since 9/11… But if the weather had only been a little different, the whole crisis might never have happened…
“One volcano achieved what hurricanes, terrorists and flu viruses never managed — Heathrow, Paris, Frankfurt, Schiphol and all of Europe’s other major hubs came to a standstill on Friday afternoon. Airlines cancelled 17,000 flights [just on Friday]… Losses for airlines are estimated at [1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion), according to Deutsche Welle, April 22]…
“One factor exacerbating this eruption was the fact that the rising magma mixed with ice in the crater. As the blazing hot lava hit the 200-meter (650-foot) thick glacier, the ice turned explosively to steam… Weather also conspired against Europe. Just as the volcano was erupting, the North Atlantic jet stream was passing over Iceland from the northwest, carrying myriad sharp-edged particles on a collision course with Europe’s air fleets.
“‘It’s as if it’s jinxed,’ says Helmut Malewski, who is tracking the ash cloud at Germany’s National Meteorological Service’s central forecasting office. ‘The wind blew from the east all winter. But just now, when the volcano goes active, it blows from the northwest.’ Dryness was another factor. ‘One strong rainstorm over the North Sea would have washed out the ash and helped us dramatically,’ Malewski says…
“The Katla volcano, barely 25 kilometers to the east, has enormously higher explosive power. It also has a rather nasty habit of erupting shortly after Eyjafjallajökull. The last major eruption of Eyjafjallajökull lasted for two years, ending in 1823 when Katla erupted like a massive cannon… So far, Katla hasn’t reacted…
“But there’s still another fire-spewing giant in the area — Heckla. ‘That volcano erupts, with a regularity that astonishes geologists, every 10 years,’ says Thomas Walter of the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam. ‘It is long overdue.’ Such chain reactions are not uncommon for volcanic mountain ranges, especially in Iceland…”
“Escape from Europe”– Wide-Ranging Consequences of Volcanic Eruption…
The Associated Press reported on April 19:
“Stranded travelers are piling into buses, trains and high-priced taxis in a frantic scramble to accomplish an increasingly tricky mission: Escape from Europe. Spain was becoming a dream destination not for its beaches and monuments but simply by virtue of the fact it’s one of the few European countries unaffected by the ash cloud…
“A German rental agency on Sunday was asking more than 1,000 euros — close to $1,400 — for a car one-way from Belgrade, Serbia, to Munich, while another firm demanded 1,850 euros ($2,500) for a Madrid to Brussels rental. In Stockholm… about 50 clients had willingly paid prices of up to 34,000 kronor — nearly $5,000 — to different European destinations from which they had a chance to fly home. Legions of other travelers were simply stranded…
“The ash also caused diplomatic headaches. President Barack Obama was forced to miss the Polish president’s weekend funeral… Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud also delayed bailout talks in Athens on Monday regarding Greece’s economy, leaving the country to watch its borrowing costs hit another record high…”
This shows how difficult it might become in the future to “escape” from dangerous areas. Today, we are talking about just ONE volcanic eruption. Just imagine the additional damage caused by coinciding big earthquakes with huge tidal waves, as well as volcanic eruptions by several volcanoes. Sadly, the Bible prophesies that terrible calamities will strike this planet very soon, combined with outright nuclear war between power blocs and nations having gone mad. Christ spoke of a coming “Great Tribulation”–an unparalleled time of devastation in man’s history or future. He said that if He were not to return, no human being would be saved alive. But He will return, in time, to destroy those who destroy the earth.
War Against Jews With No Borders
The Jerusalem Post wrote on April 19:
“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke at Remembrance Day ceremonies on Monday, comforting and commending the families of the fallen… President Shimon Peres, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and Chief Justice Dorit Beinish were also in attendance.
“Netanyahu opened his speech with a personal story of his time in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. He described two young soldiers that served with him: ‘Zohar Link was a handsome and charismatic young man. He was a counselor in the Shomer Hatza’ir youth movement, played the harmonica, loved photography, loved nature. Who knows where he would have gone with his personality? David Ben-Hemo was an intelligent, handsome boy, an excellent athlete, curious, sensitive and modest. He captivated me from the moment I met him. I believe he had a bright future ahead of him.’
“Link and Ben-Hemo were wounded while preparing for a military operation… ‘[David] died in my arms, before we reached the hospital. Zohar died shortly after. I will never forget these moments; both of them remained 19 years old forever.’
“Netanyahu continued with the story of his brother, Yoni Netanyahu, who was killed in the famed 1975 Entebbe rescue operation, which he commanded… ‘We are a nation that seeks peace and prays for peace. Our one hand is outstretched towards peace, we all want peace in our hands, and the other holds the sword of David, in order to protect our nation against those who seek to harm us,’ Netanyahu said…
“Barak spoke concurrently with Netanyahu, at the Kiriat Shaul Military Cemetary in northern Tel Aviv. ‘We stand here, in front of this long row of tombstones, which are the tangible witnesses to the price you paid in blood, dear families, for our nation to live in its land…’ He continued: ‘22,684 fallen is the necessary price, that we did not want, the price of sovereignty in Israel, in this generation…’
“Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky led a ceremony in honor of the 200 Jews killed in anti-Semitic attacks around the world, since the establishment of the State of Israel. ‘Our enemies understand that our strength comes from the… entire Jewish people’s identification with the State of Israel,’ Sharansky said. ‘Therefore, the war against the State of Israel and the Jewish people has no borders. Our enemies attack us not only in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv, but also in Argentina, France, England and Bombay.’”
Israel Celebrates 62nd Independence Day
Haaretz wrote on April 20:
“U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders sent Israel greetings and warm wishes on the occasion of the country’s 62nd Independence Day. The relationship between Israel and the U.S. ‘will only be strengthened in the months and years to come,’ Obama said in a special statement. ‘Minutes after David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence, realizing the dream of a state for the Jewish people in their historic homeland, the United States became the first country to recognize Israel,’ Obama said… Obama also said his administration would continue to work toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…
“Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, sent a letter to President Shimon Peres calling for a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Other world leaders including Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Russian President Dmitry Mevedev, German President Horst Koehler, the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix, Mexican President Felipe Calderon… and Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf also sent greetings to Israel for Independence Day.
“Turkish President Abdullah Gul also wrote to Peres, saying, ‘I would like to take this opportunity to repeat and confirm our desire to advance relations with Israel on a basis of mutual interests and by contributing to peace and stability in the Middle East.’ On Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said… ‘The United States will continue to stand with you, sharing your risks and helping shoulder your burdens, as we face the future together…'”
Nice words, but reality paints a different picture. As we reported in recent Updates, including in Update #438, dated April 16, 2010, the United States of America, Europe and the rest of the world are distancing themselves more and more from the state of Israel. As the next article shows, some in Israel sense this danger, but they really do not have or offer any lasting solution. In fact, there ARE NO human solutions, but the Bible shows that it is GOD who must intervene, which He will.
Jerusalem the Eternal Capital of State of Israel
Haaretz wrote on April 20:
“Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Israel and that it will never be divided – ‘neither directly nor indirectly.’
“Addressing a group of foreign diplomats at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, the foreign minister quoted a speech made by former prime minister Menachem Begin, explaining that Begin’s remarks reflected the connection that Jews around the world feel toward Jerusalem – a connection that still exists today…
“The foreign minister also addressed reports of possible future demands on behalf of the U.S. administrations that Israel and the Palestinians make certain moves towards a peace settlement… In response to this, Lieberman said Tuesday that ‘any attempt to force a solution on us without building a foundation of trust between the two sides will only deepen the conflict. Peace can’t be forced – it must be built.’
“Lieberman’s remarks echoed the sentiments voiced by several officials who spoke about the capital in ceremonies marking Memorial Day and Independence Day on Monday and Tuesday. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said during a ceremony in Jerusalem on Monday that ‘we won’t apologize for the building of Jerusalem our capital.’ Rivlin dedicated a significant portion of his speech to the ‘attack on Jerusalem’…”
The Bible prophesies that Jerusalem will be attacked–not only with words, but quite literally. Zechariah 12:2-3, 8-9 quotes God as saying: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it… In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem… It will be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”
Gaddafi: “Obama of Arab Sudanese and Muslim Descent”
Israel National News reported on April 18:
“Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi blessed U.S. President Barack Obama as a ‘friend’ over the weekend in a speech published by the London-based al-Hayat newspaper, labeling him ‘an African from Arab descent, from Muslim descent’… The Libyan leader [said:] ‘He knows he is a son of Africa. Regardless of his African belonging, he is of Arab Sudanese descent, of Muslim descent…’
“’The Arabs hate America, there is no doubt. There is not an Arab that loves America,’ he admitted, ‘and even the leaders who the United States considers allies or friends, hate it. The external love is merely hypocrisy or pragmatism.’ Gaddafi blamed ‘Palestine’ for the hatred, saying ‘The Palestinians today are like the Jews of the past – dispersed in exile and persecuted. Now the Palestinians are at a point where they deserve to have the United States on their side and not on the side of the Israelis.’
“The Libyan leader has been campaigning for a one-state solution – to be called ‘Isratine’ – in which the so-called ‘Right of Return’ would be implemented for millions of foreign-born Arabs, descendants of those who fled the area during the 1948 War for Independence. The bi-national state that would be created in Gaddafi’s vision would be a democratic, nuclear-free country populated equally by Arabs and Jews, and would not be a Jewish nation. Israel, in its current form, would cease to exist.”
This is quite an interesting proposal, as it reflects the gist of a prophecy found in Psalm 83, relating to a confederacy of certain nations against Israel, with the goal, as verse 4 states, to “let us cast them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
U.S. Supreme Court Evades Issue of Obama Eligibility
WorldNetDaily reported on April 17, 2010:
“U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a House subcommittee that when it comes to determining whether a person born outside the 50 states can serve as U.S. president, the high court is ‘evading’ the issue. The comments came as part of Thomas’ testimony before a House appropriations panel discussing an increase in the Supreme Court’s budget earlier this week.
“Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., actually raised the question first amid a discussion on racial diversity in the judiciary. ‘I’m still waiting for the [court decision] on whether or not a Puerto Rican can run for president of the United States,’ said Serrano, who was born in the island territory…
“Yet after Serrano questioned him on whether or not the land’s highest court would be well-served by a justice who had never been a judge, Thomas not only answered in the affirmative, but also hinted that Serrano would be better off seeking a seat in the Supreme Court than a chair in the Oval Office.
“‘I’m glad to hear that you don’t think there has to be a judge on the Court,’ said Serrano, ‘because I’m not a judge; I’ve never been a judge.’ ‘And you don’t have to be born in the United States,’ said Thomas, referring to the Constitution, which requires the president to be a natural-born citizen but has no such clause for a Supreme Court justice, ‘so you never have to answer that question.’
“‘Oh really?’ asked Serrano. ‘So you haven’t answered the one about whether I can serve as president, but you answer this one?’ ‘We’re evading that one,’ answered Thomas, referring to questions of presidential eligibility and prompting laughter in the chamber…
“Justice Thomas had previously resurrected a case challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president not based on his birthplace, but on whether Obama, a child born to a foreign national and admitting dual citizenship, would still be eligible under the Constitution’s Article 2, Section 1 ‘natural-born citizen’ requirement…
“Hints of division within the Supreme Court on the issue existed as far back as December 2008, as Justice David H. Souter had initially denied the case a hearing, but Justice Thomas agreed to bring it back for review. The case did not, however, obtain the required approval of four justices to move it forward to a full hearing. So far, the Supreme Court has not yet heard any case challenging Obama’s eligibility on any grounds.”
Arizona House Requires Obama’s Birth Certificate for Re-Election
The Associated Press reported on April 20:
“The Arizona House on Monday voted for a provision that would require President Barack Obama to show his birth certificate if he hopes to be on the state’s ballot when he runs for re-election. The House voted 31-22 to add the provision to a separate bill. The measure still faces a formal vote. It would require U.S. presidential candidates who want to appear on the ballot in Arizona to submit documents proving they meet the constitutional requirements to be president.”
The issue of President Obama’s eligibility will not go away, even though Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike wished it would, for different reasons. But as the pressure intensifies to get some clearance and closure, so will be the verbal attacks and scoffing remarks from politicians and newscasters from the left, the middle and the right, feeling very uncomfortable with the entire issue. Whatever the truth, it is becoming an embarrassing testimony to the world that the USA is not even able (or willing) to establish the eligibility of its own President.
Germany’s Afghan Dilemma
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 19:
“The presence of German troops in Afghanistan has never been popular back home but with the deaths of seven soldiers in two weeks, public opposition to the mission looks likely to grow. Berlin is now facing increasing pressure to justify the eight-year deployment…
“Yet the German government is not only contending with the public’s distrust of the mission which began in 2002. There is also increased pressure on Germany from its NATO allies to become even more involved in Afghanistan…
“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘With every dead German soldier in Afghanistan, the calls for an immediate withdrawal grow louder. This reflex shows that the German public is still not clear about the character of the mission. The politicians are largely to blame. Since the beginning of the mission eight years ago they suppressed a realistic description of the situation… Deaths, injuries, battles and heavy weaponry — none of these suit the picture that was painted back then…
“‘New heavy weaponry is unlikely to do much against the Taliban… They are too imprecise to use against insurgents who operate under the cover of the civilian population… These weapons increase the risk of civilian casualties. And that does not suit US Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s strategy of giving priority to the protection of the civilian population…
“‘There are very good grounds for arguing that the entire Afghanistan mission is wrong. However, those who decided to send soldiers have to equip and arm them adequately for such a mission. And anyone who backs McChrystal’s concept has to send more troops rather than howitzers. However, politicians find it easier to talk about war and send heavy weaponry than to actually explain what this is all about: a war-like situation, in which there will be a high number of casualties…’
“The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘Why are German soldiers in Afghanistan at all?… As the chancellor and her government are still sticking to the military mission there it is their duty to explain it. But she has failed to do so…’
“Former German government spokesman Thomas Steg, a member of the SPD, writes a guest editorial for the Handelsblatt business daily: ‘… The majority of Germans cannot see what the purpose of the mission is… A premature withdrawal would damage NATO credibility, and that of Germany within the alliance. The warning that Germany may isolate itself must be taken very seriously…'”
Deutsche Welle added on April 22, 2010:
“Defense Minister Guttenberg said… sacrifices would have to be made… ‘The new strategy is as dangerous and risky as the entire Afghanistan mission,’ he said… Guttenberg also confirmed that Germany would continue operating in a position of leadership in Afghanistan, adding that Berlin remained committed to the mission despite dwindling public support at home… With over 4,000 troops, Germany has the third largest military contingent in Afghanistan behind the United States and Great Britain.”
In a related article, Deutsche Welle reported on April 22 about Chancellor Merkel’s questionable and weak attempts to justify continued German participation in the Afghan war:
“Thursday’s plenary session in the Bundestag opened on a somber note, as tributes were paid to the 43 German soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan… Chancellor Merkel… used her address to reiterate the importance of the German mission in Afghanistan. She said ‘no one was underestimating’ how dangerous this mission is for Germany’s soldiers… She urged the people and parliament to support the mission… The chancellor also said the mission conformed with both international law and the German constitution. She said to withdraw would be ‘irresponsible’ as Afghanistan would sink into chaos and anarchy…
“Chancellor Merkel said the German soldiers killed in Afghanistan had paid the ultimate price trying to bring democracy and security to the country. She called on parliamentarians to support their efforts, so that ‘girls can go to school, the streets are safe…That’s our mission in Afghanistan’…
“Merkel’s address was met with sporadic applause from her parliamentary colleagues, although several members shouted out dissent during the speech. This dissent in the chamber reflects the unpopularity of the war in Afghanistan. The government has been under increasing pressure to justify efforts in Afghanistan to a skeptical German public. In the most recent public opinion poll, 62 percent of those asked said they wanted Germany to withdraw troops from NATO’s Afghanistan campaign.”
Mainstream German politicians–excluding the extreme Left–support a continuation of German participation in the Afghan war, for fear that otherwise Germany might become isolated. But as Der Spiegel wrote on April 22, US General Stanley McChrystal, who was visiting Germany this week, “revealed a refreshingly realistic view of the Afghanistan conflict. His message: We can win the mission, but that’s not a given.”
In spite of this uncertainty and the lack of public support, German Defense Minister von Guttenberg has promised further equipment and weaponry (but not yet more troops), thereby pushing Germany further and further into continuing military engagement in foreign lands, and that not (just) for “defense” purposes. As the Bible prophesies, this development will backfire and it will have terrible repercussions for the entire world.
Demands for a United States of Europe
The Daily Mail and the EUObserver reported recently about two radically different imagined scenarios regarding the future of the euro.
The Daily Mail wrote on April 16:
“Germany may be poised to quit the euro to set up a smaller monetary union because of the Greek crisis, according to a leading City economist… Joachim Fels, co-chief global economist at investment bank Morgan Stanley in London, warned the Greek rescue proposal sets a ‘bad precedent’ for eurozone member states and makes it more likely that the euro area ‘degenerates into a zone of fiscal profligacy, currency weakness and higher inflationary pressures’. Mr Fels suggested Berlin may be ‘better off with a harder but smaller currency union’.”
However, the EUObserver, while pointing out the dangers regarding the survival of the euro, discussed a totally different scenario. The EUObserver wrote on April 21:
“A Citigroup note to clients has warned that the eurozone is likely to fall apart unless the European Union’s member states fuse both on the fiscal and political level. ‘Europe needs to stand up and decide if it is going to be a “United States of Europe” or a “patchwork quilt” of independent states,’ reads a note by Tom Fitzpatrick, chief technical analyst at Citigroup in New York.”
As the Bible prophesies that continental Europe–modern “Babylon”–will become for a while the most powerful economic bloc on earth, the common currency of the euro for entire Europe is necessary. The creation of a new additional and separate currency for ten European nations or groups of nations (which are described in Revelation 17 and Daniel 2), is just not feasible in the light of biblical prophecy. Consequently, the proposal, as discussed by the EUObserver, has some interesting and convincing merit; namely, that the present crisis pertaining to Greece and perhaps other European countries will FORCE Europe to totally unite as an economic and political (and military) power bloc.
German Bishop Mixa Tenders Resignation
On April 22, Der Spiegel reported about German media reactions to the announcement of German Bishop Walter Mixa’s resignation:
“Embattled German Bishop Walter Mixa submitted his offer to resign to the Vatican on Wednesday amid allegations that he physically abused children and misappropriated church funds… His move followed a highly publicized request from two German bishops, urging him to temporarily step down from his position until the investigations have run their course. In Thursday’s newspapers, German editorialists welcomed news of Mixa’s offer to resign, saying his role as a representative of the church had become untenable among the flurry of accusations.
“The conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘Right now, Mixa is ill-suited to play the role of pastor and head of a large diocese. He has continued to refuse to give candid explanations, preferring to hide behind vague pleas for forgiveness for everything and nothing…’
“The center-left Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘These days, in real life, the word “Catholic” stands for physically abusive or lustful priests. People are leaving the church in droves…’
“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes… ‘Finally. Finally, Walter Mixa, the bishop on the edge, is stepping down. He is clearly not resigning because he has realized that he cannot reasonably perform the duties of his office as long as it is unclear how violently he … struck children in his care and how deeply he dug into the coffers of the local orphanage foundation. Rather, he is stepping down because the pressure on him has become too great… That — and not his individual deeds — is the reason why Mixa is resigning. Anyone who thinks this way should not be a bishop.”
This Week in the News
The tremendous damage and upheaval caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland is still accumulating. As AFP pointed out on April 21, “Passengers from around the world dozed on floors and huddled in blankets at London’s Heathrow airport Wednesday, still waiting to get home after days of misery even after the flight ban was lifted.” Deutsche Welle added on April 22 that “since the start of the airport closures last Thursday, three million passengers have had their flights cancelled… With airports and airlines now open for business, it is estimated it could take days, or even weeks to clear the backlog of passengers.”
Der Spiegel points out that if weather conditions had been slightly different and if the weather had not “conspired against Europe,” none of the terrible consequences would have been felt in Europe. It is truly remarkable that just at the moment the volcano began to erupt, the wind changed directions and began to blow the ash cloud towards Europe. Given the fact that according to the Bible, spiritual forces influence and control the weather, we leave it to the reader to ponder whether this was mere “coincidence.” In addition, a real danger exists that two adjacent volcanoes might erupt as well.
Israel celebrated this week its “Remembrance Day” or “Memorial Day,” as well as its “Independence Day.” Congratulations from world leaders notwithstanding, articles point out that, according to the predominant thinking in Israel, the “war against the State of Israel and the Jewish people has no borders” and that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Israel and that it will never be divided.”
In an interesting twist, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi praised President Obama as a friend, stating that “regardless of his African belonging, he is of Arab Sudanese descent, of Muslim descent.” At the same time, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a House subcommittee that the U.S. Supreme Court is “evading” the issue of Barack Obama’s eligibility as President, while the Arizona House voted for a provision that would require Mr. Obama to show his birth certificate if he hopes to be on the state’s ballot when he runs for re-election.
We continue with a report on Germany’s ongoing Afghan debacle. Seven German soldiers were killed within the last two weeks, and the German public is becoming increasingly vocal against continued German participation in the war. The German media argues that the government is partly or mainly to be blamed, as it has never explained the reason for the mission which began in 2002. At the same time, it is being suggested that “a premature withdrawal” would damage Germany within the NATO alliance, and that “the warning that Germany may isolate itself must be taken very seriously.”
We report about a discussion on the future of the euro and demands for a fiscally and politically unified United States of Europe. The Bible shows indeed that such a unity of continental Europe will occur in the not-too-distant future. We conclude with German reactions to the resignation of German Bishop Mixa.
How Important Are You?
You might think this is a somewhat silly question. Me–important? Especially during times of personal trials and disappointment, frustration and feelings of failure and despair, you might perhaps conclude it would have been better for you and everyone around you if you had never been born–like James Stewart’s desperate character felt temporarily in his famous movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
However, you would be wrong! God created you for a purpose. And who is to count the many people you are influencing in your life–for good or for worse?
During my wife’s and my vacation in Yugoslavia during the first year of our marriage, we saved a young girl from drowning. We have never heard of her again, but sometimes wonder what happened to her. Did she marry and have children? What became of her children?
So many events and occurrences in our personal lives are interconnected. My father (who died several years ago at the age of 95) told me that he stared death in the face at least twice, when fighting at the Russian front during World War II. He was convinced that somehow, his life was spared in a way which cannot be explained naturally. I am very thankful that it was, because otherwise, he would not have married; would not have had children; and his son–yours truly–would not have come into existence; would not have married; would not have children; and our grown-up married daughter would not give birth to her first child in a very few days from now.
Do we see how our lives are important for the lives of others? And that is not only true in the most obvious sense!
Our way of living influences and affects others. King David said that he had never seen the children of a righteous person begging for bread. His son, King Solomon, explained that the children of a righteous person would have a sure place of safety. God said in the Ten Commandments that He would extend His mercy with a righteous person for a “thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is, at least in part, the case because a truly converted person will train his children in the way they should go, and his influence will be for their good. God said about Abraham that he would teach his children to obey God.
Sadly, the reverse is also true. In the same context of the Ten Commandments, God said that the iniquity of the fathers would be visited upon their children “to the third and fourth generation of those who hate” Him (Exodus 20:5). This shows us how lengthy and involved our negative influence can be on our descendants. This is even true for righteous parents, when they slip up. Abraham lied about his wife Sarah, saying that she was his sister, and his son Isaac would later repeat the same lie about his wife Rebekah.
But if God calls you today to understand and live His truth, then you are also very important in God’s eyes for additional reasons. God predestined you before the foundation of the earth to choose you in this day and age for salvation. Out of all the billions of people alive today, He foreknew and called you, requiring of you to answer His call and to stay faithful until the end of your life.
Some have been trying to run away from their calling. They may think that it is really not that important. Jonah tried to “flee from the presence of the LORD,” unwilling to fulfill His mission; Jeremiah attempted to refuse to do God’s Will for him, claiming he was too young; Moses was at first unwilling to obey God, alleging he was not a good speaker. Amos might have felt he was not qualified, seeing that he was “just” a sheepbreeder. But in every case, God showed them otherwise, and they came to understand the importance of their calling.
God tells you never to give up; never to surrender; never to throw in the towel; never to look back. Your calling today is far too important. And with your calling comes responsibility. You can either hasten or delay the very return of Jesus Christ. Yes, you! That’s how important you are in the eyes of God. Peter says in regard to Christ’s promise of His Second Coming: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us [or “you,” according to the NIV and the RSV], not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Realize the importance of your way of living: Your refusal to repent at this time could delay the return of Christ! Think about that one. Do you feel as important about yourself as God does? At the same time, we can accelerate Christ’s coming. In the same context, Peter says: “… what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord…” (2 Peter 3:11-12).
God’s patience is not limitless. There will come a time when a tree which does not bear fruit, will be cut down and thrown into the fire, and when there “should be delay no longer” (Revelation 10:6). In the meantime, view yourself as an important future member of the Family of God, and realize that your life is not the product of “random chance.” God gave you your life for a reason! Never think that you don’t count, or that it is immaterial how you live. The potential fate of millions of people may be in your hands.
Update 439
| Live Services | Take Warning! |
|---|---|
| Editorial | How Important Are You? |
| Current Events | This Week in the News |
| Q&A | What will happen to the spirit in man of those who die the second death? |
| The Work | Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock |
| Forums | A Physical Reminder |
Live Services
Take Warning!
On April 24, 2010, Dave Harris will give the sermon, titled, “Take Warning!”
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.
Editorial
How Important Are You?
by Norbert Link
You might think this is a somewhat silly question. Me–important? Especially during times of personal trials and disappointment, frustration and feelings of failure and despair, you might perhaps conclude it would have been better for you and everyone around you if you had never been born–like James Stewart’s desperate character felt temporarily in his famous movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
However, you would be wrong! God created you for a purpose. And who is to count the many people you are influencing in your life–for good or for worse?
During my wife’s and my vacation in Yugoslavia during the first year of our marriage, we saved a young girl from drowning. We have never heard of her again, but sometimes wonder what happened to her. Did she marry and have children? What became of her children?
So many events and occurrences in our personal lives are interconnected. My father (who died several years ago at the age of 95) told me that he stared death in the face at least twice, when fighting at the Russian front during World War II. He was convinced that somehow, his life was spared in a way which cannot be explained naturally. I am very thankful that it was, because otherwise, he would not have married; would not have had children; and his son–yours truly–would not have come into existence; would not have married; would not have children; and our grown-up married daughter would not give birth to her first child in a very few days from now.
Do we see how our lives are important for the lives of others? And that is not only true in the most obvious sense!
Our way of living influences and affects others. King David said that he had never seen the children of a righteous person begging for bread. His son, King Solomon, explained that the children of a righteous person would have a sure place of safety. God said in the Ten Commandments that He would extend His mercy with a righteous person for a “thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is, at least in part, the case because a truly converted person will train his children in the way they should go, and his influence will be for their good. God said about Abraham that he would teach his children to obey God.
Sadly, the reverse is also true. In the same context of the Ten Commandments, God said that the iniquity of the fathers would be visited upon their children “to the third and fourth generation of those who hate” Him (Exodus 20:5). This shows us how lengthy and involved our negative influence can be on our descendants. This is even true for righteous parents, when they slip up. Abraham lied about his wife Sarah, saying that she was his sister, and his son Isaac would later repeat the same lie about his wife Rebekah.
But if God calls you today to understand and live His truth, then you are also very important in God’s eyes for additional reasons. God predestined you before the foundation of the earth to choose you in this day and age for salvation. Out of all the billions of people alive today, He foreknew and called you, requiring of you to answer His call and to stay faithful until the end of your life.
Some have been trying to run away from their calling. They may think that it is really not that important. Jonah tried to “flee from the presence of the LORD,” unwilling to fulfill His mission; Jeremiah attempted to refuse to do God’s Will for him, claiming he was too young; Moses was at first unwilling to obey God, alleging he was not a good speaker. Amos might have felt he was not qualified, seeing that he was “just” a sheepbreeder. But in every case, God showed them otherwise, and they came to understand the importance of their calling.
God tells you never to give up; never to surrender; never to throw in the towel; never to look back. Your calling today is far too important. And with your calling comes responsibility. You can either hasten or delay the very return of Jesus Christ. Yes, you! That’s how important you are in the eyes of God. Peter says in regard to Christ’s promise of His Second Coming: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us [or “you,” according to the NIV and the RSV], not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Realize the importance of your way of living: Your refusal to repent at this time could delay the return of Christ! Think about that one. Do you feel as important about yourself as God does? At the same time, we can accelerate Christ’s coming. In the same context, Peter says: “… what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord…” (2 Peter 3:11-12).
God’s patience is not limitless. There will come a time when a tree which does not bear fruit, will be cut down and thrown into the fire, and when there “should be delay no longer” (Revelation 10:6). In the meantime, view yourself as an important future member of the Family of God, and realize that your life is not the product of “random chance.” God gave you your life for a reason! Never think that you don’t count, or that it is immaterial how you live. The potential fate of millions of people may be in your hands.
Current Events
The tremendous damage and upheaval caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland is still accumulating. As AFP pointed out on April 21, “Passengers from around the world dozed on floors and huddled in blankets at London’s Heathrow airport Wednesday, still waiting to get home after days of misery even after the flight ban was lifted.” Deutsche Welle added on April 22 that “since the start of the airport closures last Thursday, three million passengers have had their flights cancelled… With airports and airlines now open for business, it is estimated it could take days, or even weeks to clear the backlog of passengers.”
Der Spiegel points out that if weather conditions had been slightly different and if the weather had not “conspired against Europe,” none of the terrible consequences would have been felt in Europe. It is truly remarkable that just at the moment the volcano began to erupt, the wind changed directions and began to blow the ash cloud towards Europe. Given the fact that according to the Bible, spiritual forces influence and control the weather, we leave it to the reader to ponder whether this was mere “coincidence.” In addition, a real danger exists that two adjacent volcanoes might erupt as well.
Israel celebrated this week its “Remembrance Day” or “Memorial Day,” as well as its “Independence Day.” Congratulations from world leaders notwithstanding, articles point out that, according to the predominant thinking in Israel, the “war against the State of Israel and the Jewish people has no borders” and that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Israel and that it will never be divided.”
In an interesting twist, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi praised President Obama as a friend, stating that “regardless of his African belonging, he is of Arab Sudanese descent, of Muslim descent.” At the same time, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a House subcommittee that the U.S. Supreme Court is “evading” the issue of Barack Obama’s eligibility as President, while the Arizona House voted for a provision that would require Mr. Obama to show his birth certificate if he hopes to be on the state’s ballot when he runs for re-election.
We continue with a report on Germany’s ongoing Afghan debacle. Seven German soldiers were killed within the last two weeks, and the German public is becoming increasingly vocal against continued German participation in the war. The German media argues that the government is partly or mainly to be blamed, as it has never explained the reason for the mission which began in 2002. At the same time, it is being suggested that “a premature withdrawal” would damage Germany within the NATO alliance, and that “the warning that Germany may isolate itself must be taken very seriously.”
We report about a discussion on the future of the euro and demands for a fiscally and politically unified United States of Europe. The Bible shows indeed that such a unity of continental Europe will occur in the not-too-distant future. We conclude with German reactions to the resignation of German Bishop Mixa.
This Week in the News
No Crisis With Different Weather Conditions…
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 17:
“The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull has brought European aviation to a near-standstill in the worst disruptions since 9/11… But if the weather had only been a little different, the whole crisis might never have happened…
“One volcano achieved what hurricanes, terrorists and flu viruses never managed — Heathrow, Paris, Frankfurt, Schiphol and all of Europe’s other major hubs came to a standstill on Friday afternoon. Airlines cancelled 17,000 flights [just on Friday]… Losses for airlines are estimated at [1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion), according to Deutsche Welle, April 22]…
“One factor exacerbating this eruption was the fact that the rising magma mixed with ice in the crater. As the blazing hot lava hit the 200-meter (650-foot) thick glacier, the ice turned explosively to steam… Weather also conspired against Europe. Just as the volcano was erupting, the North Atlantic jet stream was passing over Iceland from the northwest, carrying myriad sharp-edged particles on a collision course with Europe’s air fleets.
“‘It’s as if it’s jinxed,’ says Helmut Malewski, who is tracking the ash cloud at Germany’s National Meteorological Service’s central forecasting office. ‘The wind blew from the east all winter. But just now, when the volcano goes active, it blows from the northwest.’ Dryness was another factor. ‘One strong rainstorm over the North Sea would have washed out the ash and helped us dramatically,’ Malewski says…
“The Katla volcano, barely 25 kilometers to the east, has enormously higher explosive power. It also has a rather nasty habit of erupting shortly after Eyjafjallajökull. The last major eruption of Eyjafjallajökull lasted for two years, ending in 1823 when Katla erupted like a massive cannon… So far, Katla hasn’t reacted…
“But there’s still another fire-spewing giant in the area — Heckla. ‘That volcano erupts, with a regularity that astonishes geologists, every 10 years,’ says Thomas Walter of the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam. ‘It is long overdue.’ Such chain reactions are not uncommon for volcanic mountain ranges, especially in Iceland…”
“Escape from Europe”– Wide-Ranging Consequences of Volcanic Eruption…
The Associated Press reported on April 19:
“Stranded travelers are piling into buses, trains and high-priced taxis in a frantic scramble to accomplish an increasingly tricky mission: Escape from Europe. Spain was becoming a dream destination not for its beaches and monuments but simply by virtue of the fact it’s one of the few European countries unaffected by the ash cloud…
“A German rental agency on Sunday was asking more than 1,000 euros — close to $1,400 — for a car one-way from Belgrade, Serbia, to Munich, while another firm demanded 1,850 euros ($2,500) for a Madrid to Brussels rental. In Stockholm… about 50 clients had willingly paid prices of up to 34,000 kronor — nearly $5,000 — to different European destinations from which they had a chance to fly home. Legions of other travelers were simply stranded…
“The ash also caused diplomatic headaches. President Barack Obama was forced to miss the Polish president’s weekend funeral… Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud also delayed bailout talks in Athens on Monday regarding Greece’s economy, leaving the country to watch its borrowing costs hit another record high…”
This shows how difficult it might become in the future to “escape” from dangerous areas. Today, we are talking about just ONE volcanic eruption. Just imagine the additional damage caused by coinciding big earthquakes with huge tidal waves, as well as volcanic eruptions by several volcanoes. Sadly, the Bible prophesies that terrible calamities will strike this planet very soon, combined with outright nuclear war between power blocs and nations having gone mad. Christ spoke of a coming “Great Tribulation”–an unparalleled time of devastation in man’s history or future. He said that if He were not to return, no human being would be saved alive. But He will return, in time, to destroy those who destroy the earth.
War Against Jews With No Borders
The Jerusalem Post wrote on April 19:
“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke at Remembrance Day ceremonies on Monday, comforting and commending the families of the fallen… President Shimon Peres, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and Chief Justice Dorit Beinish were also in attendance.
“Netanyahu opened his speech with a personal story of his time in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. He described two young soldiers that served with him: ‘Zohar Link was a handsome and charismatic young man. He was a counselor in the Shomer Hatza’ir youth movement, played the harmonica, loved photography, loved nature. Who knows where he would have gone with his personality? David Ben-Hemo was an intelligent, handsome boy, an excellent athlete, curious, sensitive and modest. He captivated me from the moment I met him. I believe he had a bright future ahead of him.’
“Link and Ben-Hemo were wounded while preparing for a military operation… ‘[David] died in my arms, before we reached the hospital. Zohar died shortly after. I will never forget these moments; both of them remained 19 years old forever.’
“Netanyahu continued with the story of his brother, Yoni Netanyahu, who was killed in the famed 1975 Entebbe rescue operation, which he commanded… ‘We are a nation that seeks peace and prays for peace. Our one hand is outstretched towards peace, we all want peace in our hands, and the other holds the sword of David, in order to protect our nation against those who seek to harm us,’ Netanyahu said…
“Barak spoke concurrently with Netanyahu, at the Kiriat Shaul Military Cemetary in northern Tel Aviv. ‘We stand here, in front of this long row of tombstones, which are the tangible witnesses to the price you paid in blood, dear families, for our nation to live in its land…’ He continued: ‘22,684 fallen is the necessary price, that we did not want, the price of sovereignty in Israel, in this generation…’
“Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky led a ceremony in honor of the 200 Jews killed in anti-Semitic attacks around the world, since the establishment of the State of Israel. ‘Our enemies understand that our strength comes from the… entire Jewish people’s identification with the State of Israel,’ Sharansky said. ‘Therefore, the war against the State of Israel and the Jewish people has no borders. Our enemies attack us not only in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv, but also in Argentina, France, England and Bombay.’”
Israel Celebrates 62nd Independence Day
Haaretz wrote on April 20:
“U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders sent Israel greetings and warm wishes on the occasion of the country’s 62nd Independence Day. The relationship between Israel and the U.S. ‘will only be strengthened in the months and years to come,’ Obama said in a special statement. ‘Minutes after David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence, realizing the dream of a state for the Jewish people in their historic homeland, the United States became the first country to recognize Israel,’ Obama said… Obama also said his administration would continue to work toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…
“Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, sent a letter to President Shimon Peres calling for a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Other world leaders including Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Russian President Dmitry Mevedev, German President Horst Koehler, the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix, Mexican President Felipe Calderon… and Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf also sent greetings to Israel for Independence Day.
“Turkish President Abdullah Gul also wrote to Peres, saying, ‘I would like to take this opportunity to repeat and confirm our desire to advance relations with Israel on a basis of mutual interests and by contributing to peace and stability in the Middle East.’ On Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said… ‘The United States will continue to stand with you, sharing your risks and helping shoulder your burdens, as we face the future together…'”
Nice words, but reality paints a different picture. As we reported in recent Updates, including in Update #438, dated April 16, 2010, the United States of America, Europe and the rest of the world are distancing themselves more and more from the state of Israel. As the next article shows, some in Israel sense this danger, but they really do not have or offer any lasting solution. In fact, there ARE NO human solutions, but the Bible shows that it is GOD who must intervene, which He will.
Jerusalem the Eternal Capital of State of Israel
Haaretz wrote on April 20:
“Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Israel and that it will never be divided – ‘neither directly nor indirectly.’
“Addressing a group of foreign diplomats at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, the foreign minister quoted a speech made by former prime minister Menachem Begin, explaining that Begin’s remarks reflected the connection that Jews around the world feel toward Jerusalem – a connection that still exists today…
“The foreign minister also addressed reports of possible future demands on behalf of the U.S. administrations that Israel and the Palestinians make certain moves towards a peace settlement… In response to this, Lieberman said Tuesday that ‘any attempt to force a solution on us without building a foundation of trust between the two sides will only deepen the conflict. Peace can’t be forced – it must be built.’
“Lieberman’s remarks echoed the sentiments voiced by several officials who spoke about the capital in ceremonies marking Memorial Day and Independence Day on Monday and Tuesday. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said during a ceremony in Jerusalem on Monday that ‘we won’t apologize for the building of Jerusalem our capital.’ Rivlin dedicated a significant portion of his speech to the ‘attack on Jerusalem’…”
The Bible prophesies that Jerusalem will be attacked–not only with words, but quite literally. Zechariah 12:2-3, 8-9 quotes God as saying: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it… In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem… It will be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”
Gaddafi: “Obama of Arab Sudanese and Muslim Descent”
Israel National News reported on April 18:
“Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi blessed U.S. President Barack Obama as a ‘friend’ over the weekend in a speech published by the London-based al-Hayat newspaper, labeling him ‘an African from Arab descent, from Muslim descent’… The Libyan leader [said:] ‘He knows he is a son of Africa. Regardless of his African belonging, he is of Arab Sudanese descent, of Muslim descent…’
“’The Arabs hate America, there is no doubt. There is not an Arab that loves America,’ he admitted, ‘and even the leaders who the United States considers allies or friends, hate it. The external love is merely hypocrisy or pragmatism.’ Gaddafi blamed ‘Palestine’ for the hatred, saying ‘The Palestinians today are like the Jews of the past – dispersed in exile and persecuted. Now the Palestinians are at a point where they deserve to have the United States on their side and not on the side of the Israelis.’
“The Libyan leader has been campaigning for a one-state solution – to be called ‘Isratine’ – in which the so-called ‘Right of Return’ would be implemented for millions of foreign-born Arabs, descendants of those who fled the area during the 1948 War for Independence. The bi-national state that would be created in Gaddafi’s vision would be a democratic, nuclear-free country populated equally by Arabs and Jews, and would not be a Jewish nation. Israel, in its current form, would cease to exist.”
This is quite an interesting proposal, as it reflects the gist of a prophecy found in Psalm 83, relating to a confederacy of certain nations against Israel, with the goal, as verse 4 states, to “let us cast them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
U.S. Supreme Court Evades Issue of Obama Eligibility
WorldNetDaily reported on April 17, 2010:
“U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a House subcommittee that when it comes to determining whether a person born outside the 50 states can serve as U.S. president, the high court is ‘evading’ the issue. The comments came as part of Thomas’ testimony before a House appropriations panel discussing an increase in the Supreme Court’s budget earlier this week.
“Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., actually raised the question first amid a discussion on racial diversity in the judiciary. ‘I’m still waiting for the [court decision] on whether or not a Puerto Rican can run for president of the United States,’ said Serrano, who was born in the island territory…
“Yet after Serrano questioned him on whether or not the land’s highest court would be well-served by a justice who had never been a judge, Thomas not only answered in the affirmative, but also hinted that Serrano would be better off seeking a seat in the Supreme Court than a chair in the Oval Office.
“‘I’m glad to hear that you don’t think there has to be a judge on the Court,’ said Serrano, ‘because I’m not a judge; I’ve never been a judge.’ ‘And you don’t have to be born in the United States,’ said Thomas, referring to the Constitution, which requires the president to be a natural-born citizen but has no such clause for a Supreme Court justice, ‘so you never have to answer that question.’
“‘Oh really?’ asked Serrano. ‘So you haven’t answered the one about whether I can serve as president, but you answer this one?’ ‘We’re evading that one,’ answered Thomas, referring to questions of presidential eligibility and prompting laughter in the chamber…
“Justice Thomas had previously resurrected a case challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president not based on his birthplace, but on whether Obama, a child born to a foreign national and admitting dual citizenship, would still be eligible under the Constitution’s Article 2, Section 1 ‘natural-born citizen’ requirement…
“Hints of division within the Supreme Court on the issue existed as far back as December 2008, as Justice David H. Souter had initially denied the case a hearing, but Justice Thomas agreed to bring it back for review. The case did not, however, obtain the required approval of four justices to move it forward to a full hearing. So far, the Supreme Court has not yet heard any case challenging Obama’s eligibility on any grounds.”
Arizona House Requires Obama’s Birth Certificate for Re-Election
The Associated Press reported on April 20:
“The Arizona House on Monday voted for a provision that would require President Barack Obama to show his birth certificate if he hopes to be on the state’s ballot when he runs for re-election. The House voted 31-22 to add the provision to a separate bill. The measure still faces a formal vote. It would require U.S. presidential candidates who want to appear on the ballot in Arizona to submit documents proving they meet the constitutional requirements to be president.”
The issue of President Obama’s eligibility will not go away, even though Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike wished it would, for different reasons. But as the pressure intensifies to get some clearance and closure, so will be the verbal attacks and scoffing remarks from politicians and newscasters from the left, the middle and the right, feeling very uncomfortable with the entire issue. Whatever the truth, it is becoming an embarrassing testimony to the world that the USA is not even able (or willing) to establish the eligibility of its own President.
Germany’s Afghan Dilemma
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 19:
“The presence of German troops in Afghanistan has never been popular back home but with the deaths of seven soldiers in two weeks, public opposition to the mission looks likely to grow. Berlin is now facing increasing pressure to justify the eight-year deployment…
“Yet the German government is not only contending with the public’s distrust of the mission which began in 2002. There is also increased pressure on Germany from its NATO allies to become even more involved in Afghanistan…
“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘With every dead German soldier in Afghanistan, the calls for an immediate withdrawal grow louder. This reflex shows that the German public is still not clear about the character of the mission. The politicians are largely to blame. Since the beginning of the mission eight years ago they suppressed a realistic description of the situation… Deaths, injuries, battles and heavy weaponry — none of these suit the picture that was painted back then…
“‘New heavy weaponry is unlikely to do much against the Taliban… They are too imprecise to use against insurgents who operate under the cover of the civilian population… These weapons increase the risk of civilian casualties. And that does not suit US Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s strategy of giving priority to the protection of the civilian population…
“‘There are very good grounds for arguing that the entire Afghanistan mission is wrong. However, those who decided to send soldiers have to equip and arm them adequately for such a mission. And anyone who backs McChrystal’s concept has to send more troops rather than howitzers. However, politicians find it easier to talk about war and send heavy weaponry than to actually explain what this is all about: a war-like situation, in which there will be a high number of casualties…’
“The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘Why are German soldiers in Afghanistan at all?… As the chancellor and her government are still sticking to the military mission there it is their duty to explain it. But she has failed to do so…’
“Former German government spokesman Thomas Steg, a member of the SPD, writes a guest editorial for the Handelsblatt business daily: ‘… The majority of Germans cannot see what the purpose of the mission is… A premature withdrawal would damage NATO credibility, and that of Germany within the alliance. The warning that Germany may isolate itself must be taken very seriously…'”
Deutsche Welle added on April 22, 2010:
“Defense Minister Guttenberg said… sacrifices would have to be made… ‘The new strategy is as dangerous and risky as the entire Afghanistan mission,’ he said… Guttenberg also confirmed that Germany would continue operating in a position of leadership in Afghanistan, adding that Berlin remained committed to the mission despite dwindling public support at home… With over 4,000 troops, Germany has the third largest military contingent in Afghanistan behind the United States and Great Britain.”
In a related article, Deutsche Welle reported on April 22 about Chancellor Merkel’s questionable and weak attempts to justify continued German participation in the Afghan war:
“Thursday’s plenary session in the Bundestag opened on a somber note, as tributes were paid to the 43 German soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan… Chancellor Merkel… used her address to reiterate the importance of the German mission in Afghanistan. She said ‘no one was underestimating’ how dangerous this mission is for Germany’s soldiers… She urged the people and parliament to support the mission… The chancellor also said the mission conformed with both international law and the German constitution. She said to withdraw would be ‘irresponsible’ as Afghanistan would sink into chaos and anarchy…
“Chancellor Merkel said the German soldiers killed in Afghanistan had paid the ultimate price trying to bring democracy and security to the country. She called on parliamentarians to support their efforts, so that ‘girls can go to school, the streets are safe…That’s our mission in Afghanistan’…
“Merkel’s address was met with sporadic applause from her parliamentary colleagues, although several members shouted out dissent during the speech. This dissent in the chamber reflects the unpopularity of the war in Afghanistan. The government has been under increasing pressure to justify efforts in Afghanistan to a skeptical German public. In the most recent public opinion poll, 62 percent of those asked said they wanted Germany to withdraw troops from NATO’s Afghanistan campaign.”
Mainstream German politicians–excluding the extreme Left–support a continuation of German participation in the Afghan war, for fear that otherwise Germany might become isolated. But as Der Spiegel wrote on April 22, US General Stanley McChrystal, who was visiting Germany this week, “revealed a refreshingly realistic view of the Afghanistan conflict. His message: We can win the mission, but that’s not a given.”
In spite of this uncertainty and the lack of public support, German Defense Minister von Guttenberg has promised further equipment and weaponry (but not yet more troops), thereby pushing Germany further and further into continuing military engagement in foreign lands, and that not (just) for “defense” purposes. As the Bible prophesies, this development will backfire and it will have terrible repercussions for the entire world.
Demands for a United States of Europe
The Daily Mail and the EUObserver reported recently about two radically different imagined scenarios regarding the future of the euro.
The Daily Mail wrote on April 16:
“Germany may be poised to quit the euro to set up a smaller monetary union because of the Greek crisis, according to a leading City economist… Joachim Fels, co-chief global economist at investment bank Morgan Stanley in London, warned the Greek rescue proposal sets a ‘bad precedent’ for eurozone member states and makes it more likely that the euro area ‘degenerates into a zone of fiscal profligacy, currency weakness and higher inflationary pressures’. Mr Fels suggested Berlin may be ‘better off with a harder but smaller currency union’.”
However, the EUObserver, while pointing out the dangers regarding the survival of the euro, discussed a totally different scenario. The EUObserver wrote on April 21:
“A Citigroup note to clients has warned that the eurozone is likely to fall apart unless the European Union’s member states fuse both on the fiscal and political level. ‘Europe needs to stand up and decide if it is going to be a “United States of Europe” or a “patchwork quilt” of independent states,’ reads a note by Tom Fitzpatrick, chief technical analyst at Citigroup in New York.”
As the Bible prophesies that continental Europe–modern “Babylon”–will become for a while the most powerful economic bloc on earth, the common currency of the euro for entire Europe is necessary. The creation of a new additional and separate currency for ten European nations or groups of nations (which are described in Revelation 17 and Daniel 2), is just not feasible in the light of biblical prophecy. Consequently, the proposal, as discussed by the EUObserver, has some interesting and convincing merit; namely, that the present crisis pertaining to Greece and perhaps other European countries will FORCE Europe to totally unite as an economic and political (and military) power bloc.
German Bishop Mixa Tenders Resignation
On April 22, Der Spiegel reported about German media reactions to the announcement of German Bishop Walter Mixa’s resignation:
“Embattled German Bishop Walter Mixa submitted his offer to resign to the Vatican on Wednesday amid allegations that he physically abused children and misappropriated church funds… His move followed a highly publicized request from two German bishops, urging him to temporarily step down from his position until the investigations have run their course. In Thursday’s newspapers, German editorialists welcomed news of Mixa’s offer to resign, saying his role as a representative of the church had become untenable among the flurry of accusations.
“The conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘Right now, Mixa is ill-suited to play the role of pastor and head of a large diocese. He has continued to refuse to give candid explanations, preferring to hide behind vague pleas for forgiveness for everything and nothing…’
“The center-left Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘These days, in real life, the word “Catholic” stands for physically abusive or lustful priests. People are leaving the church in droves…’
“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes… ‘Finally. Finally, Walter Mixa, the bishop on the edge, is stepping down. He is clearly not resigning because he has realized that he cannot reasonably perform the duties of his office as long as it is unclear how violently he … struck children in his care and how deeply he dug into the coffers of the local orphanage foundation. Rather, he is stepping down because the pressure on him has become too great… That — and not his individual deeds — is the reason why Mixa is resigning. Anyone who thinks this way should not be a bishop.”
Q&A
What will happen to the spirit in man of those who die the second death?
In our last Q&A (in Update #438, dated April 15, 2010), we explained that God gives every person, apparently at the time of conception, a “spirit,” which the Bible calls the “spirit in man.” This spirit is not a soul–the person is the soul–nor is it a conscious being. When the person or the soul dies, the spirit in man returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). It is being stored in heaven until the time of that person’s resurrection.
We also explained that the spirit in man has recorded all there is about the person–including his appearance, his thoughts and his deeds. It can be compared with a video cassette or a DVD, which only comes “to life,” when placed in a VCR or a DVD player and when the play button is pushed. Following this analogy, God uses the spirit in man to resurrect or better recreate the body of the person at the time of his resurrection.
In the First Resurrection, the person, who during his lifetime had also received God’s Holy Spirit in addition to the human spirit, will be resurrected as an immortal spirit being. Those in the Second and Third Resurrections will be raised as physical beings, and it is again the “vehicle” of the spirit in man which God will use to create new physical bodies, based on what the human spirit has recorded and stored.
What, then, is going to happen to the human spirit of those who are going to be thrown in Gehenna fire to be burned up? We saw in the last Q&A that those are the ones who have committed the unpardonable sin. They will be destroyed and totally annihilated. It will be as if they had never existed. The soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4)–and unless the soul repents of its sins, it will die the second, final and eternal death.
We read in Revelation 21:4 that after the Third Resurrection, no more death will exist–that is, no physical human being will any longer exist who could die. By that time, those who qualified for the Kingdom of God (in the First and the Second Resurrections) have been changed into immortal Spirit beings, and those who disqualified themselves have been destroyed in the lake of fire.
Does this only refer to the body–the soul–of such a person who died the eternal death, or also to his human spirit? Will their human spirit go once again back to God in heaven, or will it, too, be destroyed and cease to exist?
In attempting to answer this question, we need to say from the outset that the Bible does not specifically state what will happen to the human spirit of those who will die the second and final death from which there is no resurrection. But there are some indications which we might want to look at.
As explained, God gives the human spirit to a person to bestow on him intellect and intelligence, distinguishing him from the animal world. It also records man’s appearance, personality and memories, to be used at the time of the resurrection.
Since there is no further resurrection for those who die the eternal death, and since the very being of those in the Third Resurrection is totally extinguished (with no memory of their prior existence remaining), we might ask why the human spirit would continue to exist even on an unconscious basis.
We read in Revelation 4:11 that God has created all things–visible and invisible–and that they exist and were created by His Will. Therefore, God could most certainly will to end the existence of whatever He has created, if He so chooses. The question is, will He?
We know that God will not do so in regard to angels. We read that God has created angels as immortal beings–they cannot die (compare Luke 20:36). The same is true for demons, as they are fallen angels. But this is talking about conscious beings–not something which is unconscious.
On the other hand, we have explained that Spirit beings and “spiritual things” cannot die. In that sense, “Spirit” is incorruptible. The question is whether the spirit in man would fall under the category of a “spiritual THING.”
Let us quote from our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:
“Romans 8:18-23 tells us very clearly what those invisible things will be: ‘For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption INTO the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption [sonship], the redemption of our body.’
“We saw in verse 21 that the creation will be delivered from corruption ‘into’ (‘eis’ in Greek) the glorious liberty of the children of God… The Revised Standard Version writes: ‘…the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and OBTAIN the glorious liberty of the children of God’…
“This physical creation, patterned after God’s spiritual creation, waits to be delivered from corruption to obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. The glorious freedom, which the universe will receive, includes freedom from death. In that new universe, DEATH will be unknown, and so will decay and corruption.
“We will be changed into Spirit. Spirit endures. Spirit cannot die or decay. Spirit remains. Spirit is INCORRUPTIBLE. The universe will obtain that same freedom from decay, corruption and death. In order to obtain such freedom from death and corruption, this universe will have to be changed into SPIRIT, as we also will be changed into Spirit beings. In this way, the new heavens and the new earth will remain, for only the things that the human eye cannot see will remain…
“Every physical thing will have been destroyed in the all-encompassing fire that burns up the earth and dissolves the physical universe, as we read in 2 Peter 3:11. This will include those humans who have willfully refused to live God’s way of life…
“God will restore a condition that existed at the beginning of His creation when He first created spirit beings and spiritual things. Ultimately, all physical things, which have been patterned after things in the Spirit world, will be changed into spiritual things…”
The question is, do these “spiritual things” include the “spirit in man” (and “the spirit of animals,” see below)? If so, they could not cease to exist. In that case, the spirit of those who will be destroyed in the Third Resurrection would go again back to God, but it would have to be “empty.” It would have to be compared with a cassette or a DVD, the contents of which had been erased. Nothing that had been recorded would be left–no memory would remain of their personality, their thoughts, their ideas or actions, not even of their outward appearance. It would indeed be as if they had never existed.
But is this the way it will work?
Does the Bible tell us more about the “fate” of the spirit in man of those who die the eternal death in the Third Resurrection?
We need to realize that there are all kinds of spirits. There are Spirit BEINGS. God is a Spirit Being. And so, there is God’s Holy Spirit–emanating from both the Father and Jesus Christ. It is through the Holy Spirit of God that both the Father and the Son dwell in us (John 14:23). That Spirit, although not a person, is clearly eternal and immortal, because it emanates from GOD–and GOD is immortal and eternal. As God cannot die, so His Spirit cannot be extinguished. We read that we can quench the Holy Spirit WITHIN US (1 Thessalonians 5:19)–but that does not mean that somehow God’s Holy Spirit would cease to exist. This is just referring to the dwelling of His Holy Spirit IN US. When a person loses the Holy Spirit–that is, when God withdraws from that person by removing His Holy Spirit from such a person–then of course THAT portion of the Holy Spirit does not “die”–since it was part of GOD all along.
When we become immortal Spirit beings in the Family of God, we too–everything that we will be–will be eternal. That is, our “human” spirit will become eternal as will be our “bodies”–they will be spiritual or Spirit bodies–and we, as eternal beings, will have God’s eternal Holy Spirit abiding in us forever. We will be GOD–full-fledged members of God’s Family.
There are other spirit beings–angels and demons. And they too, possess a spirit. But again, their spirit is eternal, if you please, as THEY are immortal beings. They cannot die, and neither can their spirit, which is emanating from them, be destroyed .
Then there is the human spirit which distinguishes man from the animals (1 Corinthians 2:11). But there is also an animal spirit (compare Ecclesiastes 3:19). We explain in our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution–a Fairy Tale for Adults,” that animals have a spirit, too, but it is NOT the same as the human spirit. Still, we read in Genesis 7:21-22 that all flesh outside Noah’s Ark died in the Flood–birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing, AND every man; that is, “ALL in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on dry land, died.”
But neither the spirit in man nor the animal spirit are conscious “entities,” nor are they the same as the Holy Spirit of God or the spirits of angels. And while the Bible DOES say that the spirit of man returns to God when man dies, at least in this time and age, prior to Christ’s return, the question regarding the “fate” of the animal spirit at the time of the death of the animal was purposefully left unanswered.
In order to address the question of what might happen to the human spirit of those who will die the second death, let us consider whether the Bible tells us WHEN God creates the human spirit.
Isaiah 42:5 says that God, after having created the heavens and the earth, gives breath to the people on it, and “spirit to those who walk on it.” But there is no breath in a particular person prior to his existence, and by extension, there would not be any spirit either. That is, neither the breath nor the spirit of man exist prior to the “creation” of that particular person. We also read in Zechariah 12:1 that God FORMS the spirit of man within him. Again, this seems to imply that God actually creates in man the human spirit when man comes into existence.
The connection between God’s breath and the spirit in man is also expressed in Job 32:8. The New Jerusalem Bible translates Job 32:8, “There is, you see, a spirit residing in humanity, the breath of God conferring intelligence.”
We also discussed in the last Q&A, when explaining the biblical concept of the soul, that Paul prayed that God would preserve blamelessly spirit and soul and body of a converted Christian (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Paul wished that God would preserve blameless the Christian’s human spirit, his temporary physical life and his physical flesh. All of these “components” are mentioned together, to describe the entire being. In addition, 1 Corinthians 5:5 says about a Christian who sinned gravely to “…deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
But what if that spirit cannot be “saved”? The fact that Paul prayed to God to “preserve blameless” the body, soul AND spirit of a person shows that it is possible that body, soul AND spirit may not be preserved “blameless”–or not at all. And if they are not preserved, then they cease to exist.
Realize that the human spirit of the incorrigible sinners will still be in heaven at the time just prior to the Third Resurrection. This proves, in passing, and as will be explained more fully below, that there must be a Third Resurrection; otherwise, their spirit would remain in heaven, while those incorrigible sinners would stay buried in their graves. Some, who believe in the First and the Second Resurrections, have wondered why there should be an additional Third Resurrection and asked whether God could not just leave those who committed the unpardonable sin dead and buried in their graves.
However, Christ said in John 5:28-29 that ALL who are in their graves will come forward when they hear the voice of the Son of Man, and we read in Daniel 12:2 that some who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake to shame and everlasting contempt. We also read in 1 Corinthians 15:22 that all who died in Adam will be made alive in (or by) Jesus Christ.
In addition, there must be a final Third Resurrection to everlasting condemnation, when the spirit in man is placed back in the (newly created) physical body of the person here on earth, as otherwise, the spirit in man would remain in heaven, and with it the recording of the personalities and thoughts and memories.
A strong hint at the final fate of the spirit in man of those who are going to be destroyed in the Third Resurrection can be found in Isaiah 57:16. The New King James Bible translates: “For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made.”
The commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explains correctly that the “spirit” in the passage refers to the spirit in man–not the Holy Spirit of God. This should be evident as the Holy Spirit would never “fail”–whatever may be meant with that phrase. In referring to a passage of Numbers 16:22, where God is referred to as “the God of the spirits of all flesh,” the commentary states that the word “spirit” in Isaiah 57:16 refers to “the human spirit which went forth from Me (Numbers 16:22).”
Isaiah 57:16 implies, then, that the spirit in man could fail. But what is meant with the word, “fail”? Could it mean, “cease to exist”? If so, this would show that “spiritual things” do not include the spirit in man or in animals.
The Hebrew word is “ataph” and has a variety of meanings. According to Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, it conveys the thought of “to be feeble” or “to be covered.” The Authorized Version translates this word at times also as, “to be overwhelmed,” or “to hide self.”
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible states that the word actually means, “to shroud, i.e. to clothe… hence (from the idea of darkness) to languish–cover (over), fail, faint, feebler, hide self, be overwhelmed, swoon…”
It is obvious that very few of these meanings would make any sense in the context of the statement in Isaiah 57:16. After all, it is both the soul AND the spirit that could “fail” or “faint.” We know that the (incorrigible, corruptible) soul, when God contends forever, will die the eternal death and will be extinguished. But what about the spirit?
German translations point out that the word “ataph” can also mean “cease to exist, get destroyed, become annihilated.” For example, the German Luther Bible; the Elberfelder Bible; the Menge Bible; the Schlachter Bible and the Pattloch Bible all use the expression, “verschmachten,” which is a word describing the death of a person in the desert, who is dying of thirst.
Some English-speaking translations agree. The Amplified Bible renders Isaiah 57:16 as follows (brackets in the original):
“… for [where it not so] the spirit [of man] would faint and be consumed before Me, and [My purpose in] creating the souls of men would be frustrated.”
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible comments regarding Isaiah 57:16:
“The simple meaning seems to be, that if God should continue in anger against people they would be consumed. The human soul could not endure a long-continued controversy with God. Its powers would fail; its strength decay; it must sink to destruction.”
If the concept of “dying” is conveyed in this passage in Isaiah 57:16, then it would indicate that not only the soul, but also the spirit in man CAN be extinguished and cease to exist; and if so, that would have to be the obvious “fate” of the human spirit of those in the Third Resurrection.
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
The Work
Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock
A new member letter was sent out this week and posted on the Web. In the letter, Rene Messier reminds us of the lessons from the Passover season and looks forward to the Day of Pentecost.
Our new booklet “The Authority of the Bible” has reached the second review cycle.
In addition to our advertisement campaign in the USA, offering our free booklet, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?”, we have also begun running ads in Canada and Great Britain, offering our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound.”
A new German SW program was posted on the Internet and on our website, www.aufpostenstehen.de. It is titled “Turiner Grabtuch–Fälschung oder Wahrheit?” [“The Shroud of Turin–Forgery or Authentic?”].
A new German sermon was posted on the Web. It is the fourth (and last) part of the series on Sickness and Healing, and is titled, “Krankheit und Heilung, Teil 4” [“Sickness and Healing, Part 4”].
Forums
A Physical Reminder
by Connie Grade
In the physical preparation for the keeping of the recent Feast Days of Unleavened Bread, my husband and I tried diligently to physically remove any leaven we could find in our living quarters. We vacuumed our cars and our home, including the chairs, the couch and closets, removing any leavening agents we found. We made sure we had gone through all the kitchen cabinets, thoroughly cleaning the stove, the freezer and the refrigerator. As we cleaned, we attempted to read labels on containers that might contain leavening agents and throw away the items.
We felt pretty sure we had found and removed all leaven from our dwelling, and that we had emptied the vacuum sweeper bag.
On the day before the last Day of Unleavened Bread, we were cleaning up after having had breakfast. One of the brethren had stayed over with us and was helping with the clean-up. I had gone into another part of the house, and when I returned a few minutes later, my husband and our guest were standing in the kitchen, having just put everything away. I noticed that they had a strange look on their faces, and then I saw something sitting on the kitchen counter. To my horror there sat a jar of baking yeast!
I immediately asked, “Where did that come from?” They pointed to the refrigerator. I could not believe it! Apparently, when cleaning the refrigerator, I had removed everything from it in order to wipe it out and then sorted through everything making sure (or so I thought) that nothing with leaven was placed in it. Well, guess what? I put the jar of yeast back into the refrigerator as this is where I normally keep the yeast.
What a tremendous lesson for me to learn from this! It reminded me in my analysis that perhaps some sins can become such a part of my life that I don’t readily recognize them or that somehow I am able to just gloss over them because I have allowed myself to become “comfortable” with them. It was not only embarrassing for “someone else” to find my “physical” sin but to also realize how easily I could overlook the absolute obvious.
I had become comfortable with looking at that jar of yeast over the past few months and didn’t even recognize it when time came to put it out of our home. It just shows I am unable to become sinless without the help of our Great God. I was reminded that I have to ask Him to “show” me what needs to be removed from my life every day and to reveal to me what I cannot see.
How This Work is Financed
This Update is an official publication by the ministry of the Church of the Eternal God in the United States of America; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom.
Editorial Team: Norbert Link, Dave Harris, Rene Messier, Brian Gale, Johanna Link, Eric Rank, Michael Link, Anna Link, Kalon Mitchell, Manuela Mitchell, Dawn Thompson
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Soon–All Nations Against Jerusalem?
Will the Jews begin soon to offer sacrifices and build a third temple on the Temple Mount? Is former New York mayor and Democrat Ed Koch correct when he warns that it is President Obama’s policy to create an alliance with Arab states against Israel? And what is behind Muammar al Gaddafi’s concept of a new bi-national state, called “Isratine,” and Egypt’s attempts to rally U.N. support against Israel?
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Obama’s Nuclear Proliferation Summit
The Associated Press reported on April 12:
“Presidents, prime ministers, and top officials from nearly 50 countries mingled Monday on the threshold of President Barack Obama’s nuclear proliferation summit, the largest assembly a U.S. leader has hosted since the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945. Obama wants world leaders to confront the threat of nuclear arms falling into the hands of terrorists — a specter he labels ‘the single biggest threat to U.S. security.’ And he’s looking at the high-profile security forum here to help him reach his goal of ensuring that all nuclear materials worldwide are secured from theft or diversion within four years…
“At an unofficial parallel conference of more than 200 international nuclear experts, participants said too many around the world don’t share the concern that nuclear terrorism is an urgent threat… American nonproliferation expert Robert Gallucci told the conference he believes it’s ‘probable’ over time that terrorists will detonate an atomic weapon in a city somewhere…”
Burma–A New Nuclear Foe?
Yahoo! News wrote on April 14:
“Even as President Obama won agreement from world leaders this week to block the spread of nuclear weapons, the United States is facing a new—and unexpected—nuclear foe: Burma… Intelligence officials fear the paranoid, iron-fisted generals who run Burma see a nuclear program—and ultimately, a nuclear bomb—as a way of securing their hold on power forever…
“While most of Burma’s 50 million people live in shocking poverty, the country is rich in natural resources; the junta earns hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the sale of natural gas, hardwood and the fabled Burmese rubies cherished by the global gem dealers. Although it denies interest in a nuclear weapon, Burma does not hide all of its nuclear ambitions. In 2007, it signed an agreement with Russia for the construction of a small nuclear reactor on Burmese soil…
“Last June, Japanese authorities announced that they had broken up a criminal smuggling ring that was attempting to export a high-tech magnetometer to Burma…
“In 2007, Burma and North Korean restored diplomatic and military relations after a 24-year break… The alliance between the Burmese and North Koreans brings together two of the world’s most isolated, repressive and,—some would say—loony governments.”
U.S. Economy in Great Danger
Die Zeit, a highly respected German newspaper, wrote on April 8:
“The U.S. Economy is facing a new downfall.” The article continued:
“Careful–Appearance is deceptive. The seed of coming problems has been sown and can already be seen in part. But: One has to be willing to see them… The Middle class is not doing good… Smaller banks have no access to governmental financial help, as all the money has been given to the big banks. The consequence is that credit for the middle class is tremendously suffering… The recovery only affects a few big companies– the majority has still huge problems…”
Discussing the unparalleled rise of the price of copper (8000 dollars for one ton) and the rise of oil and the possibility that a barrel of oil will soon cost 150 dollars, the article said: “Such increase of over 40 percent within 12 months has in the past always led to a recession.”
The Deceitful New Health Care Bill
The Los Angeles Times reported on April 13:
“Public outrage over double-digit rate hikes for health insurance may have helped push President Obama’s healthcare overhaul across the finish line, but the new law does not give regulators the power to block similar increases in the future. And now, with some major companies already moving to boost premiums and others poised to follow suit, millions of Americans may feel an unexpected jolt in the pocketbook. Although Democrats promised greater consumer protection, the overhaul does not give the federal government broad regulatory power to prevent increases.
“Many state governments — which traditionally had responsibility for regulating insurance companies — also do not have such authority. And several that do are now being sued by insurance companies… At least in the short term, regulators will be able to do little more than require insurers to publicly explain why they want to raise rates. Consumer advocates think that will not be an effective deterrent against premium increases such as the 39% hike that Anthem Blue Cross sent some California customers last year.
“… congressional rules prevented Democratic leaders from including the rate control provision in the final healthcare package… Prior approval requires insurers to submit proposed rate increases to regulators… Insurers cannot raise premiums without explicit permission from the regulator.
“Some states have given prior approval authority to their insurance commissions and have used it to force down premiums… California… does not have the power to block health plan increases… A handful of states, such as Missouri, do not even require insurers to publicly disclose rate hikes.
“The new federal healthcare law would step up oversight of health insurers in states with such limited regulation. The bill directs the secretary of Health and Human Services to work with state regulators to develop a process for reviewing proposed premium increases to determine if they are unreasonable. Insurers that propose such hikes would be required to post justifications on their websites. Stepping up regulation doesn’t promise to be easy…”
That certain health insurance companies are free to operate in a mafia-like fashion and are permitted to bleed its customers to death by increasing annual premiums in excess of 30 % is of course an abomination and a testimony for the terrible state this country is in. It also shows the complete lack of competency of certain state regulators who should have prevented these hikes from occurring. But it is also an outrage that Washington’s political spin machine has misrepresented what the new health care law would or would not accomplish, and the American people are facing a rude awakening.
“Obama Not Qualified to Be President”
Canada Free Press reported on April 12:
“On page 31 in the transcribed text of the March 25, 2010 session of the Kenyan Parliament, there is a brief statement by the Kenyan Minister for Lands (Mr. Orengo). What Mr. Orengo says is nothing short of a bombshell, and yet not a mention has been made anywhere in the mainstream media. I think, for obvious reasons.Here is the text of the salient portion:
“‘… If America was living in a situation where they feared ethnicity and did not see itself as a multiparty state or nation, how could a young man born here in Kenya, who is not even a native American, become the President of America? It is because they did away with exclusion’…
“Since the first report of Barack Hussein Obama’s doubtful heritage surfaced, those citizens brave enough to swim upstream have been ridiculed, defamed, derided and denounced, and not just by uberliberals such as those infesting the halls of MSNBC, but by members of their own political demographic… at the very least a congressional inquiry into our sitting President’s birth record should be instigated…
“Consider NPR, National Public Radio, not a common hotbed of conservative opinion. NPR reported Obama’s birthplace as Kenya, not Hawaii. During the presidential campaign, Michelle Obama, one who should know where her husband was born, listed Kenya as Obama’s birthplace… No less a personage than the Kenyan Ambassador to the U.S. confirmed Mrs. Obama’s assertion, using the phrase that Barack Hussein Obama’s origins in Kenya were ‘well-known’. This was backed up by the Kenyan Parliament on the day after the 2008 election. On November 5, 2008, the Kenyan Parliament refers to Obama as a ‘son of the soil’.
“That phrase may mean little in U.S. English, but in African culture it means a lot… it means that the current sitting American President is a Native Kenyan, not American…
“It seems to me that the assertions by the Kenyan Parliament are more than serious enough to warrant action… I cannot accept the suggestion that this statement of fact was anything other than just that… Barack Hussein Obama is not qualified to be the U.S. President.”
“Merkel’s Difficult Friendship with Obama”
Der Spiegel Online reported on April 12:
“Angela Merkel is traveling across America this week. It’s a country she loves, but the German chancellor is still having trouble connecting with Barack Obama. Her political style couldn’t be any more different from that of the US president. She’s fighting to prevent the US from disregarding or dominating the Europeans…
“The two years in which Merkel has interacted with Obama have been filled with tension… He is precisely the president she didn’t want to see in office… At the moment, the partners on both sides of the Atlantic are disappointed with each other. Whenever the Americans want something from the Germans, they are guaranteed to be turned down: on prisoners from Guantanamo, on sending significantly more soldiers to Afghanistan and on new economic stimulus programs.
“Merkel, on the other hand, was repeatedly appalled last year at how inconsiderate the Americans were of German or European interests. Whenever she spoke to Obama about climate protection, he was only concerned with the consequences for the United States. When the Americans settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan, they didn’t ask their allies first. Merkel also suspects that the United States is not interested in reining in the financial industry…”
As we have pointed out for many years, the relationship between the USA and Germany and continental Europe will consistently deteriorate in these last days.
Germany’s War in Afghanistan
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 12:
“Germans have a difficult relationship with war, for obvious reasons. But the current government’s attempts to play down the war in Afghanistan are cowardly. It’s time for Germany to face reality and initiate an open debate about the purpose of its mission… For quite some time, the key question has been what the Germans actually can and want to do to help change things for the better in Afghanistan. The answer is that militarily they can do practically nothing. The reason for this is not that their soldiers are poorly trained or that their equipment leaves something to be desired. Germany’s military restraint reflects a conscious policy — one that aims to keep the war in Afghanistan from becoming a political problem back home.
“Chancellor Angela Merkel is keeping her distance from the war… Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is conspicuous by his deafening silence. Thus, when the German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, said that there is a situation in Afghanistan that would colloquially be called war, his choice of words was perceived as an act of liberation.
“Yes, there is a state of war in Afghanistan, that poor and mistreated country in the world’s most dangerous region. War is terrible. War kills civilians, including women and children. War also often changes the soldiers that fight it. There is no such thing as a just war because unjust things always happen, often accompanied by atrocities and barbarity. Yet asymmetrical wars against terrorists and insurgents are clearly an integral part of the 21st century. And sometimes, despite all reservations, fighting a war is the right thing to do…
“It is a good thing that Germany, mindful of its 20th century past, has a difficult relationship with war. Its governments, however, tend either towards dramatic exaggeration — as with former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who used Auschwitz as an argument for the Kosovo war — or towards dramatic downplaying, as Merkel and Westerwelle are currently doing…
“Today it is simultaneously more difficult and easier to justify the war in Afghanistan. It is more difficult because many illusions concerning democracy and stability in the country have been shattered. At the same time, it is easier because there is general agreement that Afghanistan should not fall again into the hands of the Taliban and al-Qaida. An even worse scenario would be if Pakistan, a nuclear power, were to be left at the mercy of extremists…
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel… has to take political responsibility. This starts with the simple acknowledgment that Germany is conducting a war in Afghanistan that the chancellor feels is right. The long phase of understatement is over. The distant war has come home to Germany, and, after the period of fleeing from reality, it is now high time that Germans talk openly about war and death.”
All propaganda aside–when a left-liberal magazine like Der Spiegel advocates German participation in war, it is high time to wake up.
And the Afghan War Drags On…
The Sunday Times wrote on April 12:
“Nato plans for a massive operation in southern Afghanistan suffered a major setback yesterday when soldiers opened fire on a bus, killing four civilians [including one woman] and injuring at least a dozen more… The shootout yesterday morning sparked angry protests. Elders inside the city said what little faith people still put in the coalition had evaporated.
“‘The operation hasn’t even started yet, but every day they kill civilians,’ said Haji Wali Jan. ‘Even they must know a bus is full of civilians? If they are afraid of a bus how can they continue with an operation in Kandahar?’… Securing Kandahar city – the country’s first capital and the spiritual home of the Taleban – is seen as a key test of Barack Obama’s 30,000 soldier surge…
“The bullet riddled bus is the latest in a long and bloody line of civilian casualty incidents which threaten to undermine public support for the presence of foreign troops. President Hamid Karzai, who has wept in public demanding Nato stop killing innocent people, issued a statement condemning the attack and offering his condolences to the victims yesterday.”
…And On…
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 15:
“Four German soldiers are reported dead in an attack on a military patrol in Afghanistan, less than two weeks after a deadly ambush in the same region… the soldiers were attacked with shoulder-fired rockets during a patrol between Kunduz and Baghlan. An as yet unknown number of Bundeswehr troops have been seriously injured.
“The attack came a day after German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg made a surprise visit to Afghanistan…
“The government in Berlin appeared this week to be taking steps to better equip its troops. On Thursday the Financial Times Deutschland reported that the government planned to order 60 Eagle IV armored vehicles from Swiss manufacturer Mowag. Another 90 will be ordered in 2011 according to current government plans, the paper reported.
“During his visit on Wednesday, Guttenberg had already pledged to improve the soldiers’ equipment. He promised to send two large armored howitzers, TOW anti-tank missiles and additional Marder armored personnel carriers.
“About 4,500 German troops are stationed in Afghanistan now. They currently have around 975 armored vehicles from various manufacturers… but… Guttenberg wrote that 600 of the vehicles needed to be replaced in light of an increased threat from roadside bombs and other attacks.
“Guttenberg said in the letter that the armored vehicles were needed as quickly as possible — especially considering the government’s plans to bolster the number of Bundeswehr troops in Afghanistan to 5,350. German involvement in Afghanistan remains a controversial topic for voters.”
Poland–A Firm U.S. Ally
The Associated Press wrote on April 11:
“Poland, a nation of 38 million people, is by far the largest of the 10 formerly communist countries that have joined the European Union in recent years. Last year, Poland was the only EU nation to avoid recession and posted economic growth of 1.7 percent. It has become a firm U.S. ally in the region since the fall of communism — a stance that crosses party lines. The country sent troops to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and recently boosted its contingent in Afghanistan to some 2,600 soldiers.
“U.S. Patriot missiles are expected to be deployed in Poland this year. That was a Polish condition for a 2008 deal — backed by both Kaczynski and Tusk — to host long-range missile defense interceptors. The deal, which was struck by the Bush administration, angered Russia and was later reconfigured under President Barack Obama’s administration. Under the Obama plan, Poland would host a different type of missile defense interceptors as part of a more mobile system and at a later date, probably not until 2018.”
Poland–A Secure Part of the EU
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 12:
“As the world mourns the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and the 95 other victims of [an] airplane crash in western Russia on Saturday, German commentators are having a hard time agreeing on what Kaczynski’s legacy will be for Poland and its foreign relations.
“After being seen off by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Smolensk, the coffin carrying the body of Polish President Lech Kaczynski arrived at Warsaw’s military airport Sunday, where it was greeted by tens of thousands of mourning Poles, including his identical twin brother, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and his daughter Marta.
“Kaczynski was one of the 96 Poles — including dozens of political, military and religious leaders — who died Saturday when his aging Polish government Tupelov airplane crashed in thick fog while trying to land at the Smolensk airport in western Russia. The delegation was traveling to nearby Katyn to commemorate the 70th anniversary of a 1940 massacre in which the Soviet Union’s secret police executed more than 20,000 Polish military officers and intellectuals. Russian investigators who have examined the plane’s flight recorders have not been able to determine that there were any technical problems with the plane and instead suspect pilot error may have been involved in the crash.
“Poland has declared a week of national mourning, and its acting president, Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, has said that he will soon call for early elections, which must be held by late June. A funeral for the deceased president will not be held until the body of his wife, Maria, has been identified and returned to Poland. Identifying the bodies is expected to take two to three days and require the use of DNA analysis. In Russia, which Poland has long viewed as its historical oppressor despite recent moves toward reconciliation, President Dmitry Medvedev declared a national day of mourning.
“In Monday’s newspapers, German commentators mourn the victims of the crash while musing on Kaczynski’s legacy. They don’t seem to agree on whether he kept Poland in the past or brought it forward, or whether recent improvements in Polish-Russian relations were happening because of or in spite of him.
“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… Perhaps the country can now succeed in doing what its politicians and intellectuals have failed to do in the post-Cold War period — reconcile the nation with its past, help Poles arrive at a common understanding of their own history and depoliticize this history. Kaczynski belonged to the group of politicians that is so obsessed with the past that it continues to divide the Polish people and make Poland a problematic partner in Europe… Poles should understand the catastrophe as an appeal to free themselves from the chains of their own history… Poland doesn’t need any more victims. It has found its place in Europe…’
“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘One of the key thrusts of Lech Kaczynski’s presidency was keeping alive the memory of the crimes that Germany and the Soviet Union committed against the Poles in the 20th century…’
“The conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘… Poland is more secure and stable than ever. It is part of the EU and NATO, a beneficiary of America’s protective umbrella and no longer has to fear being ground down between Germany and Russia… While the majority of other national economies, and particularly European ones, have contracted, the Polish economy has continued to grow… Poles can be proud of what they have achieved in the last 20 years. And, from that, they should draw the energy and the confidence they’ll need to get past this horrific loss as well…'”
In a related article, Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 11:
“Germany had taken a complacent attitude toward its small and supposedly weak eastern neighbor. It advocated for Poland’s EU membership and believed that to be enough penance for the Nazis’ crimes… Germany is Poland’s most important trading partner and in the western part of the country especially, German mayors meet with their Polish counterparts and Polish businesses work together with their German neighbors every day.”
Controversy in Poland
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 15:
“Controversy has erupted in Poland over a decision not only to bury President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, among the most august in the country’s history, but also to bury them at all before the investigation of the airplane crash that killed them has been closed…
“If all goes according to plan, they will be buried in a state funeral Sunday at the 1,000-year-old Wawel Cathedral, whose crypt has been the resting place for Polish monarchs and national heroes for over 600 years. Still, the decision to do so — which, according to the AP, the Kaczynski family made along with Catholic church without public debate or a vote in parliament — has sparked a wave of protests… The crux of their argument is that, despite his tragic death, the often-controversial president does not merit a place among the most esteemed figures in the country’s history.
“In Thursday’s newspapers, German commentators tend to agree with the protestors, attributing the decision to the surge of emotion spawned by the tragedy. They also worry that burying him before the investigation is complete will merely provide more fodder for the suspicious.
“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘The overwhelming majority of Poles viewed Kaczynski as an often blundering president who was not held in high regard by Poland’s European neighbors…’
“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘… While he was alive, no one in Poland would have thought of granting him a place among the kings and intellectuals in Poland’s history. The only thing elevating him to this level is the swelling of emotion felt in the core of Polish society.'”
“Poland–How To Move On…?”
On April 11, Deutsche Welle quoted the following additional comments from German newspapers:
“In an editorial, the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag called Kaczynski’s untimely death ‘a dagger in the heart.’ The Berlin-based newspaper paid tribute to his legacy, while acknowledging the often difficult relationship he had with fellow European heads of state. ‘This little man quite often drove Angela Merkel and many other European leaders to the edge of reason with his mix of provinciality, unpredictability and cunning,’ an editorial stated. ‘Yet this little man, he actually did something very big in Poland.’
“Meanwhile, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper concentrated on the ‘cynical twist of fate’ that the crash occurred en route to the Katyn memorial service to commemorate Poles massacred by Soviet troops in World War II. ‘The big moments in recent Polish history are almost all tainted with blood,’ the paper said.
“The daily Bild am Sonntag ran the headline ‘Poland, we are crying with you,’ on the front page. Inside, the paper devoted its first eight pages to the tragedy, including a full-page picture of the crash scene. In their online coverage of the tragedy, Bild.de quoted the Polish ambassador to Germany, Marek Prawda, who openly wondered about the future of the Polish politics. ‘A big part of the Polish political class is no longer there,’ Prawda told the paper. ‘It raises the question of how we will move on…'”
Israel Mourns for Poland
Haaretz reported on April 11:
“Israel’s leaders on Sunday expressed deep sorrow over the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, calling him a true friend of the Jewish people and praising his efforts to heal the scars of the Holocaust. The Nazis erected their major death camps on occupied Polish soil – killing more than 3 million Jews, most of them from Poland. That strained Polish-Israeli relations after World War II.
“In recent years, ties improved dramatically and Israel considered the Kaczynski-led Poland to be among its staunchest European allies… The outpouring of grief was not limited to leaders. Ordinary Israelis flocked to the Polish Embassy in Tel Aviv to light candles and lay flowers.”
Preparing for the Third Temple on the Temple Mount
A-7 News reported on April 13:
“Moslem leaders [of the Palestinian Authority] repeatedly claim that the Temple Mount – the holiest site in Judaism, where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac, where the two Holy Temples stood, and where the third is to be rebuilt – has no Jewish history or background… Similarly, Islamic Movement chief Raed Salah has said, ‘We reiterate for the 1,000th time that the entire Al-Aqsa mosque [on the Temple Mount], including all of its area and alleys above the ground and under it, is exclusive and absolute Moslem property, and no one else has any rights to even one grain of earth in it.’
“Jordan, too, has not waived its demands for sovereignty and responsibility over the Temple Mount. Jordanian government minister Abdel Salam Abbadi said last week that Jordan’s 1988 decision to disconnect from Judea and Samaria did not mean that it detached itself from Jerusalem and the holy sites…
“To counter this approach… various Jewish groups in Israel seek to cement the Jewish bonds to the Temple Mount. They visit the Mount whenever possible, attempt to secure rights for Jews to visit and pray there, arrange marches outside the Temple Mount gates, and raise Temple Mount awareness with events, classes, pamphlets, exhibits and more.
“Among them are The Temple Institute, the Organization for the Renewal of the Temple, the Sanhedrin, the Organization for Human Rights on the Temple Mount, and others… The Organization for the Renewal of the Temple has initiated a petition/letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, urging him to add the Temple Mount to his new list of sites preserved as National Heritage sites. The letter states that though ‘the Temple Mount is the holiest site in the world for the Jewish people, yet the Muslim authorities, aided by Israel Police, systematically deny the right of religious expression on the Mount to all non-Moslems. On numerous occasions the High Court of Justice has upheld the Jewish people’s right to pray at the site, yet the police continue to prevent this. Furthermore, Jewish visitors are harassed and degraded… Please, end this travesty and allow Jewish freedom of expression at the Temple Mount. I urge you include the Temple Mount in your “Heritage Plan” of sites significant to the Jewish people.’
“The Temple Institute, engaged in education, research, and development towards the Holy Temple in accordance with Biblical law, recently held its 29th annual Temple Institute Passover Symposium… Issues discussed included questions such as, ‘Will massive digital screens allow worshippers to observe the work of the High Priest from a great distance? Will computers be used to keep track of the sacrifices, public and private? Will special impurity-proof buses be used to transport Passover pilgrims and their Paschal offerings?'”
Obama’s Attacks on Israel
On April 12, Newsmax published the following article by former New York Mayor and Democrat Ed Koch:
“I weep as I witness outrageous verbal attacks on Israel. What makes these verbal assaults and distortions all the more painful is that they are being orchestrated by President Obama. For me, the situation today recalls what occurred in 70 A.D. when the Roman emperor Vespasian launched a military campaign against the Jewish nation and its ancient capital of Jerusalem.
“Ultimately, Masada, a rock plateau in the Judean desert, became the last refuge of the Jewish people against the Roman onslaught. I have been to Jerusalem and Masada… The Jews of Masada committed suicide rather than let the Romans take them captive. In Rome itself, I have seen the Arch of Titus with the sculpture showing enslaved Jews and the treasures of the Jewish temple with the menorah, the symbol of the Jewish state, being carted away as booty during the sacking of Jerusalem…
“The most recent sacking of the old city of Jerusalem — its Jewish quarter — took place under the Jordanians in 1948 in the first war between the Jews and the Arabs, with at least five Muslim states — Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq — seeking to destroy the Jewish state.
“At that time, Jordan conquered East Jerusalem and the West Bank and expelled every Jew living in the Jewish quarter of the old city, destroying every building, including the synagogues in the old quarter and expelling from every part of Judea and Samaria every Jew living there so that for the first time in thousands of years, the old walled city of Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank were ‘Judenrein,’ a term used by the Nazis to indicate the forced removal or murder of all Jews. Jews had lived for centuries in Hebron, the city where Abraham… pitched his tent and where he now lies buried, it is believed, in a tomb with his wife, Sarah, as well as other ancient… patriarchs and matriarchs…
“My loyalty and love is first to the U.S. which has given me, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants, so much. But, I have also long been cognizant of the fact that every night when I went to sleep in peace and safety, there were Jewish communities around the world in danger. And there was one country, Israel, that would give them sanctuary and would send its soldiers to fight for them and deliver them from evil, as Israel did at Entebbe in 1976.
“I weep today because my president, Barack Obama, in a few weeks has changed the relationship between the U.S. and Israel from that of closest of allies to one in which there is an absence of trust on both sides… our closest ally, the one with the special relationship with the U.S., has been demeaned and slandered…
“I believe President Obama’s policy is to create a whole new relationship with the Arab states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, and Iraq as a counter to Iran, the Tyrannosaurus Rex of the Muslim world, which we are now prepared to see in possession of a nuclear weapon… I am shocked by the lack of outrage on the part of Israel’s most ardent supporters… Members of Congress in both the House and Senate have made pitifully weak statements against Obama’s mistreatment of Israel, if they made any at all. The Democratic members, in particular, are weak…
“To those who call me an alarmist, I reply that I’ll be happy to apologize if I am proved wrong. But those who stand silently by and watch the Obama administration abandon Israel, to whom will they apologize?”
Obama’s Far-Reaching Shift
The New York Times wrote on April 15:
“It was just a phrase at the end of President Obama’s news conference on Tuesday, but it was a stark reminder of a far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement. When Mr. Obama declared that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a ‘vital national security interest of the United States,’ he was highlighting a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests.
“This shift… is driving the White House’s urgency to help broker a Middle East peace deal…”
Hungary Shifts to the Right
Der Spiegel Online reported on April 13:
“The people of Hungary shifted to the right in their general election on Sunday, evicting the Socialists from government after eight years, handing the center-right Fidesz party of Viktor Orban a strong mandate to form a government and making the far-right Jobbik party the third-strongest force in parliament…
“German media commentators are worried about the resurgence of nationalism in Hungary and wonder whether its political system is strong enough to cope with the hate-filled polarization that has swept the country. The Jobbik party got some 17 percent after campaigning on a deeply xenophobic platform. Commentators said Jobbik makes the Freedom Party of the late Jörg Haider, the Austrian populist, and Dutch right-winger Geert Wilders seem moderate.
“Left-wing Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘Twenty years after the end of the collectivist dictatorship, Hungary has turned into a grubby hive of nationalism in which far-right blood and soil ideologies are flourishing, pseudo-democrats are hailing the glorious history of the Magyars and militant racists are fighting against an allegedly “overflowing” number of foreigners and ethnic minorities living in the country by parading around the streets with machetes and Molotov cocktails…’
“‘The right-wing extremists of the Jobbik party and their militant followers from the New Hungarian Guard have been engaging in unabashed badgering of homosexuals, Roma and Jews. They raid districts where Roma people live and are campaigning for the restoration of Greater Hungary by demanding the incorporation of all the provinces of Romania, Slovakia, the Ukraine and Serbia in which Hungarian ethnic minorities live…
“‘The incoming prime minister, Viktor Orban, and his Fidesz party… gave the right-wing extremists the feeling of being secret allies in the fight against the post-communist Socialists, and the sense that they may even one day be allowed to join government. When Jörg Haider’s Freedom Party joined the government in Austria there was an uproar in Europe. The Hungarian Fidesz party is even more right-wing than Haider’s people in many respects. Europe has ignored this development far too long…’
“Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘The former model country Hungary is a prime example of what can go wrong if reforms are carried out too late…’
“Conservative Die Welt writes: ‘Hungary has been unable to escape the clutches of a difficult history that has been laced with defeat and has therefore fuelled national resentments. It’s worrying that more than two-thirds of Hungarians have opted for parties that either toy with right-wing populism or are openly reactionary. The crisis, which is not just economic, has brought the ghosts of the past back onto the political stage. The propaganda of aggressive self-pity has worked, and last Sunday was a black day for minorities such as the Roma. Europe can only hope that the electoral success of the right-wing extremists will serve as a warning to the new prime minister, Viktor Orban. He must now clearly distance himself from the ghosts that he himself has helped to awaken.’
“Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘Hungary hasn’t developed a sense of democracy or any enthusiasm for the parliamentary system…’
“Berlin daily Tagesspiegel writes: ‘The victory of the national conservative Viktor Orban and the entry of the far-right protest party Jobbik into the Budapest parliament are a desperate and resigned reaction to a miserable economic situation, a rapid rise in debt and increasing social dislocation in the country. They are of course also a punishment for the Socialists, who ruled for eight years and destroyed themselves as a serious political force… Central Europe is part of the whole of Europe once again. But its political structures aren’t stable enough to withstand the severest political quakes. Hungary is in the process of putting the new era of freedom and self-determination to a dangerous test.'”
Hungary, as an integral part of a united Europe, may be a precursor of things to come…
The Euro Jumps…
The Sunday Times wrote on April 12:
“The euro surged to a one-month high and stock markets in Asia rallied today as traders welcomed a €30 billion (£26.5 billion) loans package [at well below the market rate] for Greece, agreed by the currency’s [Eurozone] member countries to help the country tackle its debt crisis.
“The euro surged to $1.3691 against the dollar, its highest level since mid-March, although concerns about the long-term nature of Greece’s debt burden and worries about how the loans package would be implemented limited its gains… A further sum will be available from the International Monetary Fund as part of the package, understood to be between €10 billion and €15 billion.”
The BRIC Nations–A New Power Bloc
The Indian edition of Zeenews.com reported on April 14:
“The BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — are set to wrestle with international pressure to back sanctions against Iran when they hold the second-ever summit in Brazil at the end of the week. The diplomatic issue is expected to be raised at the Friday gathering in Brasilia, along with other matters involving the four countries, which together represent 40 percent of the world’s population and which have emerged as an increasingly powerful bloc on emerging economies. The meeting is sandwiched between a Washington summit early this week on nuclear security, and a looming UN Security Council vote on whether to broaden sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
“The United States, Britain, France and Germany have been urging the BRICs to support sanctions against Iran… Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States are the five permanent council members whose power of veto mean they must support or at least abstain on any sanctions resolution. Brazil is a temporary UN Security Council member with no veto power, but it is one of Iran’s biggest defenders at the world body’s top table — and therefore the focus for lobbying by the Washington and other Western capitals.
“Thus far, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has shown no sign of acquiescing, even after a trilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday…
“The BRIC nations together accounted for nearly half the world’s growth this decade, and 16 percent of the world’s economic output, according to the IMF.”
We can expect to see a growing world influence, especially in political, economic and MILITARY matters by the “BRIC” nations.
More Strong Earthquakes
Foodconsumer reported on April 11: “The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in the Solomon Islands on Sunday April 11, 2010 at 08:40 p.m.”
Sky Channel reported on April 11:
“Is it almost time for the big one? We’ve seen a string of large earthquakes in the last year. Haiti, Japan, Mexico, Southern California… and now Spain. Early Monday morning in Granada, Spain (Sunday evening on our east coast), a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck. The epicenter of the quake was 15 miles southeast of… Granada, and about 230 miles south of Madrid. Major damage has not been reported and is not likely considering the tremor was at a depth of 400 miles. Geophysicist Susan Potter said that ‘when an earthquake is deeper, the seismic energy is absorbed by the Earth. So there will be less damage expected in the epicenter area’. We’re wondering if these quakes will continue, and where the Earth will decide to shake next…”
Subsequently, the Associated Press reported on April 14:
“A series of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous Tibetan area of western China on Wednesday, killing at least [600] people and injuring more than 10,000 as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, officials said. Many more people were trapped, and the toll was expected to rise.
“The largest quake was recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey as magnitude 6.9… The USGS recorded six temblors in less than three hours, all but one registering 5.0 or higher. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the largest quake’s magnitude at 7.1.”
Volcanic Eruption in Iceland
Deutsche Welle reported on April 15:
“Hundreds of people in Iceland were evacuated and flights across northern Europe were grounded Thursday after a volcanic eruption in southern Iceland. The eruption, on Wednesday, melted part of a glacier, triggering flash floods and causing property damage…
“Airlines canceled flights in Britain, Norway, Sweden and Denmark due to poor visibility and the possible damage that volcanic ash can cause to aircraft engines. German flag carrier Lufthansa said it was halting some flights as airspace over parts of northern Germany was closed to civilian air traffic.
“Flights in and out of London Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, as well as other British airports were canceled until at least 17:00 GMT, including many transatlantic flights. In Scotland, the airports in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh were also closed. Travel delays to Europe were reported as far away as San Francisco in the United States… Airports in Sweden, Norway and Denmark were closed indefinitely as a giant cloud of ash and smoke affected visibility in the region. About 100,000 passengers in Norway were stranded at Oslo airport due to the disruptions… The cancellations were also expected to spread to France, Belgium, the Netherlands and northwestern Russia starting Thursday afternoon…
“This is the second volcanic eruption in Iceland in a month. The earlier eruption, at the same glacier in March, was the first since 1823 and spewed lava for weeks.”
BBC News added on April 15:
“Up to 4,000 flights are being cancelled with airspace closed in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark among others… The volcano is still spewing ash and the wind direction is expected to continue bringing clouds into UK and European airspace for some time to come.
“The UK’s airspace restriction was the worst in living memory, a Nats spokesman said. Some 600,000 people are thought to have been affected.”
The Telegraph wrote on April 15:
“Volcanic ash, which consists of the pulverised rock and glass created by the eruptions, can jam aircraft machinery if a plane flies through the plume, shutting down the engines. Ash can also be sucked into the cabin itself, contaminating the passengers’ environment as well as damaging the plane’s electronic systems.”
The Catholic Church’s Misconduct
The Associated Press and MSNBC reported on April 14:
“In an investigation spanning 21 countries across six continents, The Associated Press found 30 cases of priests accused of abuse who were transferred or moved abroad. Some escaped police investigations. Many had access to children in another country, and some abused again.
“A priest who admitted to abuse in Los Angeles went to the Philippines, where U.S. church officials mailed him checks and advised him not to reveal their source. A priest in Canada was convicted of sexual abuse and then moved to France, where he was convicted of abuse again in 2005. Another priest was moved back and forth between Ireland and England, despite being diagnosed as a pederast, a man who commits sodomy with boys…”
The Wall Street Journal wrote on April 15:
“Pope Benedict XVI for the first time addressed the Vatican’s handling of the sex-abuse crisis, saying the Church should ‘do penance’ in response to recent public attention to its ‘sins’… ‘We Christians, even lately, have often avoided the word “penance”… Now, under the eyes of the world that speaks of our sins, we see that doing penance is grace and we see how penance is necessary,’ he added. The excerpts of the pope’s homily did not specifically mention sex-abuse by priests.”
Even when trying to at least indirectly address the grave misconduct of the Vatican, the pope resorts to unbiblical and ungodly concepts such as “penance”–something which the Bible nowhere teaches.
Homosexuality to Blame for Pedophilia?
Der Stern wrote on April 13:
“The ‘foreign minister’ of the Vatican [Cardinal Secretary Tarcisio Bertone, also referred to in the article as the right hand of the Pope] defended again the criticized celibacy within the Catholic Church and blamed instead homosexuality for the crimes perpetrated on the children.”
The article continued:
“Bertone says that scientific results justify his opinion: ‘Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and paedophilia, but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and paedophilia. That is the truth and the problem.'”
Reuters reported on April 14:
“Gay groups and politicians condemned Pope Benedict’s number two on Wednesday for calling homosexuality a ‘pathology’ and linking it directly to sexual abuse of children. The comments made by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone during a visit to Chile… and the controversy they caused, were splashed on mainstream Italian newspapers on Wednesday. The French foreign ministry and in some Catholic blogs that support the pope also condemned the cardinal’s remarks…
“Gay rights activists reacted with derision and outrage. ‘This is a scientific absurdity. The World Health Organization calls homosexuality a variation of human behaviour. It is paedopholia that is a pathology, a crime, not homosexuality,’ said Franco Grillini, a former parliamentarian who was at the vanguard of Italy’s gay rights movement.’
“A front-page editorial in Rome’s left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper titled ‘The Confusion in the Church’ said Bertone’s comments would end up causing the Church more ‘harm to itself, not homosexuals.’ Bertone was also criticized by Alessandra Mussolini, a right-wing parliamentarian whose grandfather, wartime Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, sent gays into internal exile. ‘You can’t link sexual orientation to paedophilia . . . this link risks becoming dangerously misleading for the protection of children,’ Mussolini said.
“ArciLesbica, Italy’s main lesbian rights group, accused the Vatican of using ‘violent and deceptive statements’ to divert attention from its abuse scandal and said Italian parents should consider removing their children from Church-run institutions.”
It is of course true that most pedophiles are homosexuals, but not all homosexuals are pedophiles. To try to exculpate FORCED celibacy is denying one of the problems for pedophilia. Rather than making necessary changes in unbiblical doctrines, the Catholic Church is determined to continue its wrong practices, which are based on paganism and human traditions. And as critics of the church are becoming louder and more vocal, so will the church in its response.
In a clumsy attempt to “clarify” its position, the Vatican only added insult to injury. BBC News reported on April 14:
“A spokesman provided ‘data’ to support the claim, but also said Church leaders were not trying to make assertions of a ‘psychological or medical nature’… Vatican spokesman… Lombardi insisted the cardinal had not been making an assertion, but also detailed its ‘statistical data’ on the abuse of minors by priests… ‘Church authorities do not consider it their responsibility to make general statements of a specifically physiological or medical character, which is why they naturally refer back to experts’ study and ongoing research on the subject,’ he said.”
This is stunning! The Catholic Church is unwilling to say what SIN is–rather leaving it to “experts” to explain the reasons for sinful conduct!!!
To Arrest and Try the Pope?
Deutsche Welle reported on April 12:
“Richard Dawkins, the British scientist and Christopher Hitchens, the British-American author and journalist – both vocal atheists – support efforts to ascertain whether Pope Benedict XVI can be arrested and tried when he comes to Britain in September. Hitchens is paying lawyers to look into the possibility of prosecuting the pope for crimes against humanity in the wake of the sex abuse scandal that has embroiled the Catholic Church worldwide. While Dawkins is not contributing financially, he says on his Web site that he ‘wholeheartedly supports it.’
“Hitchens has hired human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC and solicitor Mark Stephens from the London law firm Finers, Stephens Innocent, who both believe they can make a case against the pope. ‘It is clearly a crime against humanity to be complicit in the cover-up of a crime against humanity, and that would be susceptible to being heard before the ICC [International Criminal Court] in The Hague,’ Stephens told Deutsche Welle.
“‘The alternative is, if and when the pope comes to this country [the UK] in the autumn, individuals who have been abused will be able to bring criminal proceedings in the criminal courts of the UK,’ he explained. Robertson also believes that the Holy See can no longer ignore international law. The Catholic Church’s cover-up of cases of abuse in Ireland, for example, he writes in the British newspaper The Guardian, ‘amounts to the criminal offence of aiding and abetting sex with minors.’
“Pope Benedict is to be in Britain from September 16-19, the first papal visit to the country since 1982. Stephens argues that the pope is not a head of state, so he does not have to be granted immunity from prosecution, and could, therefore, be arrested on British soil. ‘The Vatican is not a country, as you and I understand it, it’s not a member of the UN, the US prevented it from becoming a member of the United Nations,’ he told Deutsche Welle…
“The Catholic Church has been rocked by allegations of sexual abuse in the US, Ireland, Austria and, most recently, the pope’s native Germany… A recent poll by the newsmagazine Focus shows that the majority of Germans have no faith in the Roman Catholic Church and a quarter of the Catholics surveyed are considering leaving the Church in the wake of the recent revelations…”
All legalese and atheist thinking aside, such a lawsuit, even if it were to be permitted to be pursued, should be destined to failure, as the Vatican is viewed as a state or a country, and the pope is considered as the head of the Vatican STATE. IF a British court were to rule otherwise and actually try the Pope, this would result in condemnation from the entire “Christian” world. Of course, stranger things have happened… After all, the Bible prophesies that ultimately, Britain, the USA and the state of Israel will be hated by all other nations.
Contaminated Vaccines
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) wrote on April 7:
“On March 22, 2010, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials adhering to the precautionary principle advised American doctors to suspend use of Rotarix vaccine until the agency finds out why DNA from a swine virus… was found in the live rotavirus vaccine… Rotarix is a genetically engineered vaccine… created by isolating human rotavirus strain infecting a child in Cincinnati and using African Green monkey kidney cells to produce the original viral seed stock from which all Rotarix vaccine has been made…
“Contamination of vaccines with animal viruses is not new. In the 20th century, polio vaccines given to tens of millions of people worldwide were contaminated with simian virus 40 (SV40), which was found to cause cancer in animals and is associated with human brain, bone and lung cancers but the government denies SV40 is causing those cancers in humans…
“There has been controversy about the link between experimental polio vaccines tested in Africa in the 1950’s and 1960’s that were contaminated with a monkey virus… Soon after the polio vaccine trials in Africa… HIV… emerged… Many questions about the failure of researchers and technology to screen for monkey viruses in those vaccines remain to this day…
“Vaccine manufacturers have long used cell material that comes from the bodies of mammals, including humans, monkeys, cows, pigs, dogs and rodents, as well as birds or insects to make vaccines now in use or to make experimental vaccines. There is an inherent risk of contamination with viruses and other microbes (or DNA from those microbes) that can escape detection during the vaccine development, testing, licensing, manufacturing and oversight process…
“In searching for ways to make seasonal influenza vaccines in a faster, easier and less expensive way than relying on chicken eggs for production, drug companies have experimented with using dog kidney cells and human fetal retinal cells. However, these cell lines have been documented to cause tumors in animals, especially dog kidney cells…
“There are lots of questions about how the manufacturer of Rotarix vaccine and the FDA both missed the pig virus DNA contaminating the original seed stock and all doses of Rotarix vaccine given to more than one million American children in the past few years… What about the significance of finding bird viral DNA in measles vaccine and the monkey viral DNA in RotaTeq vaccine?…
“The contamination of Rotarix vaccine is only the latest in a long history of vaccine contamination issues that require a re-examination of the way vaccines are made and tested… The big question people are asking is: why do drug companies making vaccines continue to use cells from animals, birds and insects that can be contaminated with viruses and other adventitious agents that are hard to detect? The FDA was right to suspend use of Rotarix vaccine until they know more. Hopefully, this serious vaccine production and testing issue will be addressed immediately by vaccine manufacturers. If not, the next pandemic or serious health problem affecting large populations may be one that comes out of a vaccine lab.”
Drugs, Poisons and Heavy Metals in Our Meat
The Huffington Post wrote on April 15:
“Washington dumped some more bad news Friday afternoon when the USDA’s Office of Inspector General issued a damning and unsettling report on the department’s ‘National Residue Program for Cattle.’ It found gaping holes in the safety of American beef production, including residue of drugs, poisons and heavy metals in the meat we eat.
“It’s a stomach-turning, chilling read… ‘Based on our review, we found that the national residue program is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for harmful residues,’ the USDA’s oversight office wrote. The audit revealed that USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), along with the FDA and EPA, ‘have not established thresholds for many dangerous substances (e.g., copper or dioxin), which has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce.’
“Even worse, the federal government does not attempt to recall meat, ‘even when its tests have confirmed the excessive presence of veterinary drugs,’ the audit said… some US beef is contaminated with heavy metals like copper and arsenic, antibiotics like Flunixin, penicillin, and Ivermectin, and a host of pesticides – all of which are used in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), better known as factory farms.”
This Week in the News
While President Obama is hosting a nuclear proliferation summit, being aware that “nuclear terrorism is an urgent threat” to U.S. and world security, and while Burma is arising as a new potential nuclear foe, the highly prestigious German paper, “Die Zeit,” warns that the US is stirring towards another recession (or to say it more accurately, that the US is actually facing a prolonged continuation of its current recession). And while the new health care bill poses more questions than it answers, concerns are raised again regarding Barack Obama’s eligibility as President, given the fact that the Kenyan Parliament and the Kenyan Ambassador to the US claim that Mr. Obama was not born in Hawaii, but in Kenya.
In addition, the relationship between President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel leaves much to be desired. Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 14: “US President Barack Obama came to power promising to unite the nation. Now he has divided it even more than his predecessor George W. Bush.”
Germany is confronted with the grim reality of having to admit its active participation in the “unjust” and highly unpopular Afghan war, which is increasingly costing lives.
Turning our attention to the tragedy involving the death of the Polish elite, commentators have a hard time agreeing on what the future will hold for the grief-stricken country of Poland. Up until now, Poland has been considered as a strong ally of the United States, Israel and Europe. With a new Polish leadership, relationships with Europe will become even stronger, but the Bible predicts that the friendship between Europe, including Poland, and the United States and Israel will soon grow cold.
While Israel mourns the death of a strong ally, preparations in Israel are ongoing for the building of the Third Temple and the beginning of weekly sacrifices. At the same time, voices are heard warning against Obama’s attacks on Israel and a dramatic shift of Obama’s policy against Israel.
Hungary is experiencing a move to the right, and as if to silence the critics and gainsayers of the euro, Europe’s currency surged to a one-month high against the U.S. dollar. At the same time, the “BRIC” nations are emerging as a new power bloc and a potential threat for Europe.
More strong earthquakes were experienced in the Solomon Islands, in Spain and in China, prompting Sky Channel to ask: “Is it almost time for the big one?… We’re wondering if these quakes will continue, and where the Earth will decide to shake next…” And the eruption of a volcano in Iceland shows how fragile our civilization is, and how natural disasters can easily paralyze our way of living.
We report about the ongoing sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church; the continuing failure of that church to effectively deal with the issue; and an announcement that atheists in England are supporting efforts to ascertain whether Pope Benedict XVI can be arrested and tried when he comes to Britain in September, for “having committed a crime against humanity” in respect to the sex abuse scandal. In this world of political intrigue, it is of course highly doubtful that a British court would allow those claims to go forward and for the pope to be prosecuted, as so far, no American court has been found which is actively pursuing to try the nagging question whether Barack Obama is even eligible to be President under the U.S. Constitution.
We conclude with reports on contaminated vaccines and poisons and heavy metals in our meat–showing how fragile and destructive our “civilization” really is.
Update 438
Live Services
Numbers in the Bible–Ambassadors
On April 17, 2010, Kalon Mitchell and Michael Link will give split sermons, titled, respectively, “Numbers in the Bible” and “Ambassadors.”
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.
Editorial
A Hundredfold in this Life
by Brian Gale (United Kingdom)
My wife and I recently attended our annual church conference in Colorado, USA, along with a number of others. I was reminded of Matthew 19:29 which states: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit everlasting life.”
When we were called, most of us had problems with our spouse, family, friends or job. This was part of the ongoing testing process that we go through so that God can see how committed we are to Him and His way. That process continues today and will for the rest of our life.
It can be hard, it can be difficult, but we are promised a “hundredfold” in this life and the opportunity to inherit eternal life. In fact, eternal life will exceed all of our expectations because of our limited knowledge and capacity to understand all that God has in store for us. But we can appreciate the “hundredfold” that we can receive in this life.
At our conference my wife and I, and others, were treated royally by all of the brethren in Colorado and Mr and Mrs Dave Harris opened up their home to us, and others, for nearly a week. They showed great hospitality to us and other visitors during this time. We were likewise treated with the same generosity of spirit by the brethren in San Diego whom we have got to know over the years. If I mentioned everyone who had shown kindness to us during our trip, the list would indeed be a long one.
Our church family around the world falls into the “hundredfold” category. Over the last 36 plus years we must have met and known hundreds upon hundreds of church brethren which, for us, certainly fulfils this part of Matthew 19:29. Most members who have been in the church for some years will probably be able to say exactly the same thing.
What a blessing it has been – something that we may never have thought about too much when we started attending church many years ago. Looking back we can see how blessed we have been and how profitable it has been to know, learn from and enjoy the company of like-minded brethren. A blessing indeed and one that we should never underestimate – it is just one of the many blessings when following the ways of God.
Let us make sure that we never take this for granted but appreciate the fact that we have been given a “hundredfold” in this life.
Current Events
While President Obama is hosting a nuclear proliferation summit, being aware that “nuclear terrorism is an urgent threat” to U.S. and world security, and while Burma is arising as a new potential nuclear foe, the highly prestigious German paper, “Die Zeit,” warns that the US is stirring towards another recession (or to say it more accurately, that the US is actually facing a prolonged continuation of its current recession). And while the new health care bill poses more questions than it answers, concerns are raised again regarding Barack Obama’s eligibility as President, given the fact that the Kenyan Parliament and the Kenyan Ambassador to the US claim that Mr. Obama was not born in Hawaii, but in Kenya.
In addition, the relationship between President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel leaves much to be desired. Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 14: “US President Barack Obama came to power promising to unite the nation. Now he has divided it even more than his predecessor George W. Bush.”
Germany is confronted with the grim reality of having to admit its active participation in the “unjust” and highly unpopular Afghan war, which is increasingly costing lives.
Turning our attention to the tragedy involving the death of the Polish elite, commentators have a hard time agreeing on what the future will hold for the grief-stricken country of Poland. Up until now, Poland has been considered as a strong ally of the United States, Israel and Europe. With a new Polish leadership, relationships with Europe will become even stronger, but the Bible predicts that the friendship between Europe, including Poland, and the United States and Israel will soon grow cold.
While Israel mourns the death of a strong ally, preparations in Israel are ongoing for the building of the Third Temple and the beginning of weekly sacrifices. At the same time, voices are heard warning against Obama’s attacks on Israel and a dramatic shift of Obama’s policy against Israel.
Hungary is experiencing a move to the right, and as if to silence the critics and gainsayers of the euro, Europe’s currency surged to a one-month high against the U.S. dollar. At the same time, the “BRIC” nations are emerging as a new power bloc and a potential threat for Europe.
More strong earthquakes were experienced in the Solomon Islands, in Spain and in China, prompting Sky Channel to ask: “Is it almost time for the big one?… We’re wondering if these quakes will continue, and where the Earth will decide to shake next…” And the eruption of a volcano in Iceland shows how fragile our civilization is, and how natural disasters can easily paralyze our way of living.
We report about the ongoing sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church; the continuing failure of that church to effectively deal with the issue; and an announcement that atheists in England are supporting efforts to ascertain whether Pope Benedict XVI can be arrested and tried when he comes to Britain in September, for “having committed a crime against humanity” in respect to the sex abuse scandal. In this world of political intrigue, it is of course highly doubtful that a British court would allow those claims to go forward and for the pope to be prosecuted, as so far, no American court has been found which is actively pursuing to try the nagging question whether Barack Obama is even eligible to be President under the U.S. Constitution.
We conclude with reports on contaminated vaccines and poisons and heavy metals in our meat–showing how fragile and destructive our “civilization” really is.
This Week in the News
Obama’s Nuclear Proliferation Summit
The Associated Press reported on April 12:
“Presidents, prime ministers, and top officials from nearly 50 countries mingled Monday on the threshold of President Barack Obama’s nuclear proliferation summit, the largest assembly a U.S. leader has hosted since the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945. Obama wants world leaders to confront the threat of nuclear arms falling into the hands of terrorists — a specter he labels ‘the single biggest threat to U.S. security.’ And he’s looking at the high-profile security forum here to help him reach his goal of ensuring that all nuclear materials worldwide are secured from theft or diversion within four years…
“At an unofficial parallel conference of more than 200 international nuclear experts, participants said too many around the world don’t share the concern that nuclear terrorism is an urgent threat… American nonproliferation expert Robert Gallucci told the conference he believes it’s ‘probable’ over time that terrorists will detonate an atomic weapon in a city somewhere…”
Burma–A New Nuclear Foe?
Yahoo! News wrote on April 14:
“Even as President Obama won agreement from world leaders this week to block the spread of nuclear weapons, the United States is facing a new—and unexpected—nuclear foe: Burma… Intelligence officials fear the paranoid, iron-fisted generals who run Burma see a nuclear program—and ultimately, a nuclear bomb—as a way of securing their hold on power forever…
“While most of Burma’s 50 million people live in shocking poverty, the country is rich in natural resources; the junta earns hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the sale of natural gas, hardwood and the fabled Burmese rubies cherished by the global gem dealers. Although it denies interest in a nuclear weapon, Burma does not hide all of its nuclear ambitions. In 2007, it signed an agreement with Russia for the construction of a small nuclear reactor on Burmese soil…
“Last June, Japanese authorities announced that they had broken up a criminal smuggling ring that was attempting to export a high-tech magnetometer to Burma…
“In 2007, Burma and North Korean restored diplomatic and military relations after a 24-year break… The alliance between the Burmese and North Koreans brings together two of the world’s most isolated, repressive and,—some would say—loony governments.”
U.S. Economy in Great Danger
Die Zeit, a highly respected German newspaper, wrote on April 8:
“The U.S. Economy is facing a new downfall.” The article continued:
“Careful–Appearance is deceptive. The seed of coming problems has been sown and can already be seen in part. But: One has to be willing to see them… The Middle class is not doing good… Smaller banks have no access to governmental financial help, as all the money has been given to the big banks. The consequence is that credit for the middle class is tremendously suffering… The recovery only affects a few big companies– the majority has still huge problems…”
Discussing the unparalleled rise of the price of copper (8000 dollars for one ton) and the rise of oil and the possibility that a barrel of oil will soon cost 150 dollars, the article said: “Such increase of over 40 percent within 12 months has in the past always led to a recession.”
The Deceitful New Health Care Bill
The Los Angeles Times reported on April 13:
“Public outrage over double-digit rate hikes for health insurance may have helped push President Obama’s healthcare overhaul across the finish line, but the new law does not give regulators the power to block similar increases in the future. And now, with some major companies already moving to boost premiums and others poised to follow suit, millions of Americans may feel an unexpected jolt in the pocketbook. Although Democrats promised greater consumer protection, the overhaul does not give the federal government broad regulatory power to prevent increases.
“Many state governments — which traditionally had responsibility for regulating insurance companies — also do not have such authority. And several that do are now being sued by insurance companies… At least in the short term, regulators will be able to do little more than require insurers to publicly explain why they want to raise rates. Consumer advocates think that will not be an effective deterrent against premium increases such as the 39% hike that Anthem Blue Cross sent some California customers last year.
“… congressional rules prevented Democratic leaders from including the rate control provision in the final healthcare package… Prior approval requires insurers to submit proposed rate increases to regulators… Insurers cannot raise premiums without explicit permission from the regulator.
“Some states have given prior approval authority to their insurance commissions and have used it to force down premiums… California… does not have the power to block health plan increases… A handful of states, such as Missouri, do not even require insurers to publicly disclose rate hikes.
“The new federal healthcare law would step up oversight of health insurers in states with such limited regulation. The bill directs the secretary of Health and Human Services to work with state regulators to develop a process for reviewing proposed premium increases to determine if they are unreasonable. Insurers that propose such hikes would be required to post justifications on their websites. Stepping up regulation doesn’t promise to be easy…”
That certain health insurance companies are free to operate in a mafia-like fashion and are permitted to bleed its customers to death by increasing annual premiums in excess of 30 % is of course an abomination and a testimony for the terrible state this country is in. It also shows the complete lack of competency of certain state regulators who should have prevented these hikes from occurring. But it is also an outrage that Washington’s political spin machine has misrepresented what the new health care law would or would not accomplish, and the American people are facing a rude awakening.
“Obama Not Qualified to Be President”
Canada Free Press reported on April 12:
“On page 31 in the transcribed text of the March 25, 2010 session of the Kenyan Parliament, there is a brief statement by the Kenyan Minister for Lands (Mr. Orengo). What Mr. Orengo says is nothing short of a bombshell, and yet not a mention has been made anywhere in the mainstream media. I think, for obvious reasons.Here is the text of the salient portion:
“‘… If America was living in a situation where they feared ethnicity and did not see itself as a multiparty state or nation, how could a young man born here in Kenya, who is not even a native American, become the President of America? It is because they did away with exclusion’…
“Since the first report of Barack Hussein Obama’s doubtful heritage surfaced, those citizens brave enough to swim upstream have been ridiculed, defamed, derided and denounced, and not just by uberliberals such as those infesting the halls of MSNBC, but by members of their own political demographic… at the very least a congressional inquiry into our sitting President’s birth record should be instigated…
“Consider NPR, National Public Radio, not a common hotbed of conservative opinion. NPR reported Obama’s birthplace as Kenya, not Hawaii. During the presidential campaign, Michelle Obama, one who should know where her husband was born, listed Kenya as Obama’s birthplace… No less a personage than the Kenyan Ambassador to the U.S. confirmed Mrs. Obama’s assertion, using the phrase that Barack Hussein Obama’s origins in Kenya were ‘well-known’. This was backed up by the Kenyan Parliament on the day after the 2008 election. On November 5, 2008, the Kenyan Parliament refers to Obama as a ‘son of the soil’.
“That phrase may mean little in U.S. English, but in African culture it means a lot… it means that the current sitting American President is a Native Kenyan, not American…
“It seems to me that the assertions by the Kenyan Parliament are more than serious enough to warrant action… I cannot accept the suggestion that this statement of fact was anything other than just that… Barack Hussein Obama is not qualified to be the U.S. President.”
“Merkel’s Difficult Friendship with Obama”
Der Spiegel Online reported on April 12:
“Angela Merkel is traveling across America this week. It’s a country she loves, but the German chancellor is still having trouble connecting with Barack Obama. Her political style couldn’t be any more different from that of the US president. She’s fighting to prevent the US from disregarding or dominating the Europeans…
“The two years in which Merkel has interacted with Obama have been filled with tension… He is precisely the president she didn’t want to see in office… At the moment, the partners on both sides of the Atlantic are disappointed with each other. Whenever the Americans want something from the Germans, they are guaranteed to be turned down: on prisoners from Guantanamo, on sending significantly more soldiers to Afghanistan and on new economic stimulus programs.
“Merkel, on the other hand, was repeatedly appalled last year at how inconsiderate the Americans were of German or European interests. Whenever she spoke to Obama about climate protection, he was only concerned with the consequences for the United States. When the Americans settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan, they didn’t ask their allies first. Merkel also suspects that the United States is not interested in reining in the financial industry…”
As we have pointed out for many years, the relationship between the USA and Germany and continental Europe will consistently deteriorate in these last days.
Germany’s War in Afghanistan
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 12:
“Germans have a difficult relationship with war, for obvious reasons. But the current government’s attempts to play down the war in Afghanistan are cowardly. It’s time for Germany to face reality and initiate an open debate about the purpose of its mission… For quite some time, the key question has been what the Germans actually can and want to do to help change things for the better in Afghanistan. The answer is that militarily they can do practically nothing. The reason for this is not that their soldiers are poorly trained or that their equipment leaves something to be desired. Germany’s military restraint reflects a conscious policy — one that aims to keep the war in Afghanistan from becoming a political problem back home.
“Chancellor Angela Merkel is keeping her distance from the war… Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is conspicuous by his deafening silence. Thus, when the German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, said that there is a situation in Afghanistan that would colloquially be called war, his choice of words was perceived as an act of liberation.
“Yes, there is a state of war in Afghanistan, that poor and mistreated country in the world’s most dangerous region. War is terrible. War kills civilians, including women and children. War also often changes the soldiers that fight it. There is no such thing as a just war because unjust things always happen, often accompanied by atrocities and barbarity. Yet asymmetrical wars against terrorists and insurgents are clearly an integral part of the 21st century. And sometimes, despite all reservations, fighting a war is the right thing to do…
“It is a good thing that Germany, mindful of its 20th century past, has a difficult relationship with war. Its governments, however, tend either towards dramatic exaggeration — as with former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who used Auschwitz as an argument for the Kosovo war — or towards dramatic downplaying, as Merkel and Westerwelle are currently doing…
“Today it is simultaneously more difficult and easier to justify the war in Afghanistan. It is more difficult because many illusions concerning democracy and stability in the country have been shattered. At the same time, it is easier because there is general agreement that Afghanistan should not fall again into the hands of the Taliban and al-Qaida. An even worse scenario would be if Pakistan, a nuclear power, were to be left at the mercy of extremists…
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel… has to take political responsibility. This starts with the simple acknowledgment that Germany is conducting a war in Afghanistan that the chancellor feels is right. The long phase of understatement is over. The distant war has come home to Germany, and, after the period of fleeing from reality, it is now high time that Germans talk openly about war and death.”
All propaganda aside–when a left-liberal magazine like Der Spiegel advocates German participation in war, it is high time to wake up.
And the Afghan War Drags On…
The Sunday Times wrote on April 12:
“Nato plans for a massive operation in southern Afghanistan suffered a major setback yesterday when soldiers opened fire on a bus, killing four civilians [including one woman] and injuring at least a dozen more… The shootout yesterday morning sparked angry protests. Elders inside the city said what little faith people still put in the coalition had evaporated.
“‘The operation hasn’t even started yet, but every day they kill civilians,’ said Haji Wali Jan. ‘Even they must know a bus is full of civilians? If they are afraid of a bus how can they continue with an operation in Kandahar?’… Securing Kandahar city – the country’s first capital and the spiritual home of the Taleban – is seen as a key test of Barack Obama’s 30,000 soldier surge…
“The bullet riddled bus is the latest in a long and bloody line of civilian casualty incidents which threaten to undermine public support for the presence of foreign troops. President Hamid Karzai, who has wept in public demanding Nato stop killing innocent people, issued a statement condemning the attack and offering his condolences to the victims yesterday.”
…And On…
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 15:
“Four German soldiers are reported dead in an attack on a military patrol in Afghanistan, less than two weeks after a deadly ambush in the same region… the soldiers were attacked with shoulder-fired rockets during a patrol between Kunduz and Baghlan. An as yet unknown number of Bundeswehr troops have been seriously injured.
“The attack came a day after German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg made a surprise visit to Afghanistan…
“The government in Berlin appeared this week to be taking steps to better equip its troops. On Thursday the Financial Times Deutschland reported that the government planned to order 60 Eagle IV armored vehicles from Swiss manufacturer Mowag. Another 90 will be ordered in 2011 according to current government plans, the paper reported.
“During his visit on Wednesday, Guttenberg had already pledged to improve the soldiers’ equipment. He promised to send two large armored howitzers, TOW anti-tank missiles and additional Marder armored personnel carriers.
“About 4,500 German troops are stationed in Afghanistan now. They currently have around 975 armored vehicles from various manufacturers… but… Guttenberg wrote that 600 of the vehicles needed to be replaced in light of an increased threat from roadside bombs and other attacks.
“Guttenberg said in the letter that the armored vehicles were needed as quickly as possible — especially considering the government’s plans to bolster the number of Bundeswehr troops in Afghanistan to 5,350. German involvement in Afghanistan remains a controversial topic for voters.”
Poland–A Firm U.S. Ally
The Associated Press wrote on April 11:
“Poland, a nation of 38 million people, is by far the largest of the 10 formerly communist countries that have joined the European Union in recent years. Last year, Poland was the only EU nation to avoid recession and posted economic growth of 1.7 percent. It has become a firm U.S. ally in the region since the fall of communism — a stance that crosses party lines. The country sent troops to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and recently boosted its contingent in Afghanistan to some 2,600 soldiers.
“U.S. Patriot missiles are expected to be deployed in Poland this year. That was a Polish condition for a 2008 deal — backed by both Kaczynski and Tusk — to host long-range missile defense interceptors. The deal, which was struck by the Bush administration, angered Russia and was later reconfigured under President Barack Obama’s administration. Under the Obama plan, Poland would host a different type of missile defense interceptors as part of a more mobile system and at a later date, probably not until 2018.”
Poland–A Secure Part of the EU
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 12:
“As the world mourns the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and the 95 other victims of [an] airplane crash in western Russia on Saturday, German commentators are having a hard time agreeing on what Kaczynski’s legacy will be for Poland and its foreign relations.
“After being seen off by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Smolensk, the coffin carrying the body of Polish President Lech Kaczynski arrived at Warsaw’s military airport Sunday, where it was greeted by tens of thousands of mourning Poles, including his identical twin brother, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and his daughter Marta.
“Kaczynski was one of the 96 Poles — including dozens of political, military and religious leaders — who died Saturday when his aging Polish government Tupelov airplane crashed in thick fog while trying to land at the Smolensk airport in western Russia. The delegation was traveling to nearby Katyn to commemorate the 70th anniversary of a 1940 massacre in which the Soviet Union’s secret police executed more than 20,000 Polish military officers and intellectuals. Russian investigators who have examined the plane’s flight recorders have not been able to determine that there were any technical problems with the plane and instead suspect pilot error may have been involved in the crash.
“Poland has declared a week of national mourning, and its acting president, Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, has said that he will soon call for early elections, which must be held by late June. A funeral for the deceased president will not be held until the body of his wife, Maria, has been identified and returned to Poland. Identifying the bodies is expected to take two to three days and require the use of DNA analysis. In Russia, which Poland has long viewed as its historical oppressor despite recent moves toward reconciliation, President Dmitry Medvedev declared a national day of mourning.
“In Monday’s newspapers, German commentators mourn the victims of the crash while musing on Kaczynski’s legacy. They don’t seem to agree on whether he kept Poland in the past or brought it forward, or whether recent improvements in Polish-Russian relations were happening because of or in spite of him.
“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… Perhaps the country can now succeed in doing what its politicians and intellectuals have failed to do in the post-Cold War period — reconcile the nation with its past, help Poles arrive at a common understanding of their own history and depoliticize this history. Kaczynski belonged to the group of politicians that is so obsessed with the past that it continues to divide the Polish people and make Poland a problematic partner in Europe… Poles should understand the catastrophe as an appeal to free themselves from the chains of their own history… Poland doesn’t need any more victims. It has found its place in Europe…’
“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘One of the key thrusts of Lech Kaczynski’s presidency was keeping alive the memory of the crimes that Germany and the Soviet Union committed against the Poles in the 20th century…’
“The conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘… Poland is more secure and stable than ever. It is part of the EU and NATO, a beneficiary of America’s protective umbrella and no longer has to fear being ground down between Germany and Russia… While the majority of other national economies, and particularly European ones, have contracted, the Polish economy has continued to grow… Poles can be proud of what they have achieved in the last 20 years. And, from that, they should draw the energy and the confidence they’ll need to get past this horrific loss as well…'”
In a related article, Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 11:
“Germany had taken a complacent attitude toward its small and supposedly weak eastern neighbor. It advocated for Poland’s EU membership and believed that to be enough penance for the Nazis’ crimes… Germany is Poland’s most important trading partner and in the western part of the country especially, German mayors meet with their Polish counterparts and Polish businesses work together with their German neighbors every day.”
Controversy in Poland
Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 15:
“Controversy has erupted in Poland over a decision not only to bury President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, among the most august in the country’s history, but also to bury them at all before the investigation of the airplane crash that killed them has been closed…
“If all goes according to plan, they will be buried in a state funeral Sunday at the 1,000-year-old Wawel Cathedral, whose crypt has been the resting place for Polish monarchs and national heroes for over 600 years. Still, the decision to do so — which, according to the AP, the Kaczynski family made along with Catholic church without public debate or a vote in parliament — has sparked a wave of protests… The crux of their argument is that, despite his tragic death, the often-controversial president does not merit a place among the most esteemed figures in the country’s history.
“In Thursday’s newspapers, German commentators tend to agree with the protestors, attributing the decision to the surge of emotion spawned by the tragedy. They also worry that burying him before the investigation is complete will merely provide more fodder for the suspicious.
“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘The overwhelming majority of Poles viewed Kaczynski as an often blundering president who was not held in high regard by Poland’s European neighbors…’
“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘… While he was alive, no one in Poland would have thought of granting him a place among the kings and intellectuals in Poland’s history. The only thing elevating him to this level is the swelling of emotion felt in the core of Polish society.'”
“Poland–How To Move On…?”
On April 11, Deutsche Welle quoted the following additional comments from German newspapers:
“In an editorial, the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag called Kaczynski’s untimely death ‘a dagger in the heart.’ The Berlin-based newspaper paid tribute to his legacy, while acknowledging the often difficult relationship he had with fellow European heads of state. ‘This little man quite often drove Angela Merkel and many other European leaders to the edge of reason with his mix of provinciality, unpredictability and cunning,’ an editorial stated. ‘Yet this little man, he actually did something very big in Poland.’
“Meanwhile, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper concentrated on the ‘cynical twist of fate’ that the crash occurred en route to the Katyn memorial service to commemorate Poles massacred by Soviet troops in World War II. ‘The big moments in recent Polish history are almost all tainted with blood,’ the paper said.
“The daily Bild am Sonntag ran the headline ‘Poland, we are crying with you,’ on the front page. Inside, the paper devoted its first eight pages to the tragedy, including a full-page picture of the crash scene. In their online coverage of the tragedy, Bild.de quoted the Polish ambassador to Germany, Marek Prawda, who openly wondered about the future of the Polish politics. ‘A big part of the Polish political class is no longer there,’ Prawda told the paper. ‘It raises the question of how we will move on…'”
Israel Mourns for Poland
Haaretz reported on April 11:
“Israel’s leaders on Sunday expressed deep sorrow over the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, calling him a true friend of the Jewish people and praising his efforts to heal the scars of the Holocaust. The Nazis erected their major death camps on occupied Polish soil – killing more than 3 million Jews, most of them from Poland. That strained Polish-Israeli relations after World War II.
“In recent years, ties improved dramatically and Israel considered the Kaczynski-led Poland to be among its staunchest European allies… The outpouring of grief was not limited to leaders. Ordinary Israelis flocked to the Polish Embassy in Tel Aviv to light candles and lay flowers.”
Preparing for the Third Temple on the Temple Mount
A-7 News reported on April 13:
“Moslem leaders [of the Palestinian Authority] repeatedly claim that the Temple Mount – the holiest site in Judaism, where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac, where the two Holy Temples stood, and where the third is to be rebuilt – has no Jewish history or background… Similarly, Islamic Movement chief Raed Salah has said, ‘We reiterate for the 1,000th time that the entire Al-Aqsa mosque [on the Temple Mount], including all of its area and alleys above the ground and under it, is exclusive and absolute Moslem property, and no one else has any rights to even one grain of earth in it.’
“Jordan, too, has not waived its demands for sovereignty and responsibility over the Temple Mount. Jordanian government minister Abdel Salam Abbadi said last week that Jordan’s 1988 decision to disconnect from Judea and Samaria did not mean that it detached itself from Jerusalem and the holy sites…
“To counter this approach… various Jewish groups in Israel seek to cement the Jewish bonds to the Temple Mount. They visit the Mount whenever possible, attempt to secure rights for Jews to visit and pray there, arrange marches outside the Temple Mount gates, and raise Temple Mount awareness with events, classes, pamphlets, exhibits and more.
“Among them are The Temple Institute, the Organization for the Renewal of the Temple, the Sanhedrin, the Organization for Human Rights on the Temple Mount, and others… The Organization for the Renewal of the Temple has initiated a petition/letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, urging him to add the Temple Mount to his new list of sites preserved as National Heritage sites. The letter states that though ‘the Temple Mount is the holiest site in the world for the Jewish people, yet the Muslim authorities, aided by Israel Police, systematically deny the right of religious expression on the Mount to all non-Moslems. On numerous occasions the High Court of Justice has upheld the Jewish people’s right to pray at the site, yet the police continue to prevent this. Furthermore, Jewish visitors are harassed and degraded… Please, end this travesty and allow Jewish freedom of expression at the Temple Mount. I urge you include the Temple Mount in your “Heritage Plan” of sites significant to the Jewish people.’
“The Temple Institute, engaged in education, research, and development towards the Holy Temple in accordance with Biblical law, recently held its 29th annual Temple Institute Passover Symposium… Issues discussed included questions such as, ‘Will massive digital screens allow worshippers to observe the work of the High Priest from a great distance? Will computers be used to keep track of the sacrifices, public and private? Will special impurity-proof buses be used to transport Passover pilgrims and their Paschal offerings?'”
Obama’s Attacks on Israel
On April 12, Newsmax published the following article by former New York Mayor and Democrat Ed Koch:
“I weep as I witness outrageous verbal attacks on Israel. What makes these verbal assaults and distortions all the more painful is that they are being orchestrated by President Obama. For me, the situation today recalls what occurred in 70 A.D. when the Roman emperor Vespasian launched a military campaign against the Jewish nation and its ancient capital of Jerusalem.
“Ultimately, Masada, a rock plateau in the Judean desert, became the last refuge of the Jewish people against the Roman onslaught. I have been to Jerusalem and Masada… The Jews of Masada committed suicide rather than let the Romans take them captive. In Rome itself, I have seen the Arch of Titus with the sculpture showing enslaved Jews and the treasures of the Jewish temple with the menorah, the symbol of the Jewish state, being carted away as booty during the sacking of Jerusalem…
“The most recent sacking of the old city of Jerusalem — its Jewish quarter — took place under the Jordanians in 1948 in the first war between the Jews and the Arabs, with at least five Muslim states — Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq — seeking to destroy the Jewish state.
“At that time, Jordan conquered East Jerusalem and the West Bank and expelled every Jew living in the Jewish quarter of the old city, destroying every building, including the synagogues in the old quarter and expelling from every part of Judea and Samaria every Jew living there so that for the first time in thousands of years, the old walled city of Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank were ‘Judenrein,’ a term used by the Nazis to indicate the forced removal or murder of all Jews. Jews had lived for centuries in Hebron, the city where Abraham… pitched his tent and where he now lies buried, it is believed, in a tomb with his wife, Sarah, as well as other ancient… patriarchs and matriarchs…
“My loyalty and love is first to the U.S. which has given me, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants, so much. But, I have also long been cognizant of the fact that every night when I went to sleep in peace and safety, there were Jewish communities around the world in danger. And there was one country, Israel, that would give them sanctuary and would send its soldiers to fight for them and deliver them from evil, as Israel did at Entebbe in 1976.
“I weep today because my president, Barack Obama, in a few weeks has changed the relationship between the U.S. and Israel from that of closest of allies to one in which there is an absence of trust on both sides… our closest ally, the one with the special relationship with the U.S., has been demeaned and slandered…
“I believe President Obama’s policy is to create a whole new relationship with the Arab states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, and Iraq as a counter to Iran, the Tyrannosaurus Rex of the Muslim world, which we are now prepared to see in possession of a nuclear weapon… I am shocked by the lack of outrage on the part of Israel’s most ardent supporters… Members of Congress in both the House and Senate have made pitifully weak statements against Obama’s mistreatment of Israel, if they made any at all. The Democratic members, in particular, are weak…
“To those who call me an alarmist, I reply that I’ll be happy to apologize if I am proved wrong. But those who stand silently by and watch the Obama administration abandon Israel, to whom will they apologize?”
Obama’s Far-Reaching Shift
The New York Times wrote on April 15:
“It was just a phrase at the end of President Obama’s news conference on Tuesday, but it was a stark reminder of a far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement. When Mr. Obama declared that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a ‘vital national security interest of the United States,’ he was highlighting a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests.
“This shift… is driving the White House’s urgency to help broker a Middle East peace deal…”
Hungary Shifts to the Right
Der Spiegel Online reported on April 13:
“The people of Hungary shifted to the right in their general election on Sunday, evicting the Socialists from government after eight years, handing the center-right Fidesz party of Viktor Orban a strong mandate to form a government and making the far-right Jobbik party the third-strongest force in parliament…
“German media commentators are worried about the resurgence of nationalism in Hungary and wonder whether its political system is strong enough to cope with the hate-filled polarization that has swept the country. The Jobbik party got some 17 percent after campaigning on a deeply xenophobic platform. Commentators said Jobbik makes the Freedom Party of the late Jörg Haider, the Austrian populist, and Dutch right-winger Geert Wilders seem moderate.
“Left-wing Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘Twenty years after the end of the collectivist dictatorship, Hungary has turned into a grubby hive of nationalism in which far-right blood and soil ideologies are flourishing, pseudo-democrats are hailing the glorious history of the Magyars and militant racists are fighting against an allegedly “overflowing” number of foreigners and ethnic minorities living in the country by parading around the streets with machetes and Molotov cocktails…’
“‘The right-wing extremists of the Jobbik party and their militant followers from the New Hungarian Guard have been engaging in unabashed badgering of homosexuals, Roma and Jews. They raid districts where Roma people live and are campaigning for the restoration of Greater Hungary by demanding the incorporation of all the provinces of Romania, Slovakia, the Ukraine and Serbia in which Hungarian ethnic minorities live…
“‘The incoming prime minister, Viktor Orban, and his Fidesz party… gave the right-wing extremists the feeling of being secret allies in the fight against the post-communist Socialists, and the sense that they may even one day be allowed to join government. When Jörg Haider’s Freedom Party joined the government in Austria there was an uproar in Europe. The Hungarian Fidesz party is even more right-wing than Haider’s people in many respects. Europe has ignored this development far too long…’
“Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘The former model country Hungary is a prime example of what can go wrong if reforms are carried out too late…’
“Conservative Die Welt writes: ‘Hungary has been unable to escape the clutches of a difficult history that has been laced with defeat and has therefore fuelled national resentments. It’s worrying that more than two-thirds of Hungarians have opted for parties that either toy with right-wing populism or are openly reactionary. The crisis, which is not just economic, has brought the ghosts of the past back onto the political stage. The propaganda of aggressive self-pity has worked, and last Sunday was a black day for minorities such as the Roma. Europe can only hope that the electoral success of the right-wing extremists will serve as a warning to the new prime minister, Viktor Orban. He must now clearly distance himself from the ghosts that he himself has helped to awaken.’
“Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘Hungary hasn’t developed a sense of democracy or any enthusiasm for the parliamentary system…’
“Berlin daily Tagesspiegel writes: ‘The victory of the national conservative Viktor Orban and the entry of the far-right protest party Jobbik into the Budapest parliament are a desperate and resigned reaction to a miserable economic situation, a rapid rise in debt and increasing social dislocation in the country. They are of course also a punishment for the Socialists, who ruled for eight years and destroyed themselves as a serious political force… Central Europe is part of the whole of Europe once again. But its political structures aren’t stable enough to withstand the severest political quakes. Hungary is in the process of putting the new era of freedom and self-determination to a dangerous test.'”
Hungary, as an integral part of a united Europe, may be a precursor of things to come…
The Euro Jumps…
The Sunday Times wrote on April 12:
“The euro surged to a one-month high and stock markets in Asia rallied today as traders welcomed a €30 billion (£26.5 billion) loans package [at well below the market rate] for Greece, agreed by the currency’s [Eurozone] member countries to help the country tackle its debt crisis.
“The euro surged to $1.3691 against the dollar, its highest level since mid-March, although concerns about the long-term nature of Greece’s debt burden and worries about how the loans package would be implemented limited its gains… A further sum will be available from the International Monetary Fund as part of the package, understood to be between €10 billion and €15 billion.”
The BRIC Nations–A New Power Bloc
The Indian edition of Zeenews.com reported on April 14:
“The BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — are set to wrestle with international pressure to back sanctions against Iran when they hold the second-ever summit in Brazil at the end of the week. The diplomatic issue is expected to be raised at the Friday gathering in Brasilia, along with other matters involving the four countries, which together represent 40 percent of the world’s population and which have emerged as an increasingly powerful bloc on emerging economies. The meeting is sandwiched between a Washington summit early this week on nuclear security, and a looming UN Security Council vote on whether to broaden sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
“The United States, Britain, France and Germany have been urging the BRICs to support sanctions against Iran… Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States are the five permanent council members whose power of veto mean they must support or at least abstain on any sanctions resolution. Brazil is a temporary UN Security Council member with no veto power, but it is one of Iran’s biggest defenders at the world body’s top table — and therefore the focus for lobbying by the Washington and other Western capitals.
“Thus far, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has shown no sign of acquiescing, even after a trilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday…
“The BRIC nations together accounted for nearly half the world’s growth this decade, and 16 percent of the world’s economic output, according to the IMF.”
We can expect to see a growing world influence, especially in political, economic and MILITARY matters by the “BRIC” nations.
More Strong Earthquakes
Foodconsumer reported on April 11: “The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in the Solomon Islands on Sunday April 11, 2010 at 08:40 p.m.”
Sky Channel reported on April 11:
“Is it almost time for the big one? We’ve seen a string of large earthquakes in the last year. Haiti, Japan, Mexico, Southern California… and now Spain. Early Monday morning in Granada, Spain (Sunday evening on our east coast), a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck. The epicenter of the quake was 15 miles southeast of… Granada, and about 230 miles south of Madrid. Major damage has not been reported and is not likely considering the tremor was at a depth of 400 miles. Geophysicist Susan Potter said that ‘when an earthquake is deeper, the seismic energy is absorbed by the Earth. So there will be less damage expected in the epicenter area’. We’re wondering if these quakes will continue, and where the Earth will decide to shake next…”
Subsequently, the Associated Press reported on April 14:
“A series of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous Tibetan area of western China on Wednesday, killing at least [600] people and injuring more than 10,000 as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, officials said. Many more people were trapped, and the toll was expected to rise.
“The largest quake was recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey as magnitude 6.9… The USGS recorded six temblors in less than three hours, all but one registering 5.0 or higher. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the largest quake’s magnitude at 7.1.”
Volcanic Eruption in Iceland
Deutsche Welle reported on April 15:
“Hundreds of people in Iceland were evacuated and flights across northern Europe were grounded Thursday after a volcanic eruption in southern Iceland. The eruption, on Wednesday, melted part of a glacier, triggering flash floods and causing property damage…
“Airlines canceled flights in Britain, Norway, Sweden and Denmark due to poor visibility and the possible damage that volcanic ash can cause to aircraft engines. German flag carrier Lufthansa said it was halting some flights as airspace over parts of northern Germany was closed to civilian air traffic.
“Flights in and out of London Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, as well as other British airports were canceled until at least 17:00 GMT, including many transatlantic flights. In Scotland, the airports in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh were also closed. Travel delays to Europe were reported as far away as San Francisco in the United States… Airports in Sweden, Norway and Denmark were closed indefinitely as a giant cloud of ash and smoke affected visibility in the region. About 100,000 passengers in Norway were stranded at Oslo airport due to the disruptions… The cancellations were also expected to spread to France, Belgium, the Netherlands and northwestern Russia starting Thursday afternoon…
“This is the second volcanic eruption in Iceland in a month. The earlier eruption, at the same glacier in March, was the first since 1823 and spewed lava for weeks.”
BBC News added on April 15:
“Up to 4,000 flights are being cancelled with airspace closed in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark among others… The volcano is still spewing ash and the wind direction is expected to continue bringing clouds into UK and European airspace for some time to come.
“The UK’s airspace restriction was the worst in living memory, a Nats spokesman said. Some 600,000 people are thought to have been affected.”
The Telegraph wrote on April 15:
“Volcanic ash, which consists of the pulverised rock and glass created by the eruptions, can jam aircraft machinery if a plane flies through the plume, shutting down the engines. Ash can also be sucked into the cabin itself, contaminating the passengers’ environment as well as damaging the plane’s electronic systems.”
The Catholic Church’s Misconduct
The Associated Press and MSNBC reported on April 14:
“In an investigation spanning 21 countries across six continents, The Associated Press found 30 cases of priests accused of abuse who were transferred or moved abroad. Some escaped police investigations. Many had access to children in another country, and some abused again.
“A priest who admitted to abuse in Los Angeles went to the Philippines, where U.S. church officials mailed him checks and advised him not to reveal their source. A priest in Canada was convicted of sexual abuse and then moved to France, where he was convicted of abuse again in 2005. Another priest was moved back and forth between Ireland and England, despite being diagnosed as a pederast, a man who commits sodomy with boys…”
The Wall Street Journal wrote on April 15:
“Pope Benedict XVI for the first time addressed the Vatican’s handling of the sex-abuse crisis, saying the Church should ‘do penance’ in response to recent public attention to its ‘sins’… ‘We Christians, even lately, have often avoided the word “penance”… Now, under the eyes of the world that speaks of our sins, we see that doing penance is grace and we see how penance is necessary,’ he added. The excerpts of the pope’s homily did not specifically mention sex-abuse by priests.”
Even when trying to at least indirectly address the grave misconduct of the Vatican, the pope resorts to unbiblical and ungodly concepts such as “penance”–something which the Bible nowhere teaches.
Homosexuality to Blame for Pedophilia?
Der Stern wrote on April 13:
“The ‘foreign minister’ of the Vatican [Cardinal Secretary Tarcisio Bertone, also referred to in the article as the right hand of the Pope] defended again the criticized celibacy within the Catholic Church and blamed instead homosexuality for the crimes perpetrated on the children.”
The article continued:
“Bertone says that scientific results justify his opinion: ‘Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and paedophilia, but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and paedophilia. That is the truth and the problem.'”
Reuters reported on April 14:
“Gay groups and politicians condemned Pope Benedict’s number two on Wednesday for calling homosexuality a ‘pathology’ and linking it directly to sexual abuse of children. The comments made by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone during a visit to Chile… and the controversy they caused, were splashed on mainstream Italian newspapers on Wednesday. The French foreign ministry and in some Catholic blogs that support the pope also condemned the cardinal’s remarks…
“Gay rights activists reacted with derision and outrage. ‘This is a scientific absurdity. The World Health Organization calls homosexuality a variation of human behaviour. It is paedopholia that is a pathology, a crime, not homosexuality,’ said Franco Grillini, a former parliamentarian who was at the vanguard of Italy’s gay rights movement.’
“A front-page editorial in Rome’s left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper titled ‘The Confusion in the Church’ said Bertone’s comments would end up causing the Church more ‘harm to itself, not homosexuals.’ Bertone was also criticized by Alessandra Mussolini, a right-wing parliamentarian whose grandfather, wartime Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, sent gays into internal exile. ‘You can’t link sexual orientation to paedophilia . . . this link risks becoming dangerously misleading for the protection of children,’ Mussolini said.
“ArciLesbica, Italy’s main lesbian rights group, accused the Vatican of using ‘violent and deceptive statements’ to divert attention from its abuse scandal and said Italian parents should consider removing their children from Church-run institutions.”
It is of course true that most pedophiles are homosexuals, but not all homosexuals are pedophiles. To try to exculpate FORCED celibacy is denying one of the problems for pedophilia. Rather than making necessary changes in unbiblical doctrines, the Catholic Church is determined to continue its wrong practices, which are based on paganism and human traditions. And as critics of the church are becoming louder and more vocal, so will the church in its response.
In a clumsy attempt to “clarify” its position, the Vatican only added insult to injury. BBC News reported on April 14:
“A spokesman provided ‘data’ to support the claim, but also said Church leaders were not trying to make assertions of a ‘psychological or medical nature’… Vatican spokesman… Lombardi insisted the cardinal had not been making an assertion, but also detailed its ‘statistical data’ on the abuse of minors by priests… ‘Church authorities do not consider it their responsibility to make general statements of a specifically physiological or medical character, which is why they naturally refer back to experts’ study and ongoing research on the subject,’ he said.”
This is stunning! The Catholic Church is unwilling to say what SIN is–rather leaving it to “experts” to explain the reasons for sinful conduct!!!
To Arrest and Try the Pope?
Deutsche Welle reported on April 12:
“Richard Dawkins, the British scientist and Christopher Hitchens, the British-American author and journalist – both vocal atheists – support efforts to ascertain whether Pope Benedict XVI can be arrested and tried when he comes to Britain in September. Hitchens is paying lawyers to look into the possibility of prosecuting the pope for crimes against humanity in the wake of the sex abuse scandal that has embroiled the Catholic Church worldwide. While Dawkins is not contributing financially, he says on his Web site that he ‘wholeheartedly supports it.’
“Hitchens has hired human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC and solicitor Mark Stephens from the London law firm Finers, Stephens Innocent, who both believe they can make a case against the pope. ‘It is clearly a crime against humanity to be complicit in the cover-up of a crime against humanity, and that would be susceptible to being heard before the ICC [International Criminal Court] in The Hague,’ Stephens told Deutsche Welle.
“‘The alternative is, if and when the pope comes to this country [the UK] in the autumn, individuals who have been abused will be able to bring criminal proceedings in the criminal courts of the UK,’ he explained. Robertson also believes that the Holy See can no longer ignore international law. The Catholic Church’s cover-up of cases of abuse in Ireland, for example, he writes in the British newspaper The Guardian, ‘amounts to the criminal offence of aiding and abetting sex with minors.’
“Pope Benedict is to be in Britain from September 16-19, the first papal visit to the country since 1982. Stephens argues that the pope is not a head of state, so he does not have to be granted immunity from prosecution, and could, therefore, be arrested on British soil. ‘The Vatican is not a country, as you and I understand it, it’s not a member of the UN, the US prevented it from becoming a member of the United Nations,’ he told Deutsche Welle…
“The Catholic Church has been rocked by allegations of sexual abuse in the US, Ireland, Austria and, most recently, the pope’s native Germany… A recent poll by the newsmagazine Focus shows that the majority of Germans have no faith in the Roman Catholic Church and a quarter of the Catholics surveyed are considering leaving the Church in the wake of the recent revelations…”
All legalese and atheist thinking aside, such a lawsuit, even if it were to be permitted to be pursued, should be destined to failure, as the Vatican is viewed as a state or a country, and the pope is considered as the head of the Vatican STATE. IF a British court were to rule otherwise and actually try the Pope, this would result in condemnation from the entire “Christian” world. Of course, stranger things have happened… After all, the Bible prophesies that ultimately, Britain, the USA and the state of Israel will be hated by all other nations.
Contaminated Vaccines
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) wrote on April 7:
“On March 22, 2010, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials adhering to the precautionary principle advised American doctors to suspend use of Rotarix vaccine until the agency finds out why DNA from a swine virus… was found in the live rotavirus vaccine… Rotarix is a genetically engineered vaccine… created by isolating human rotavirus strain infecting a child in Cincinnati and using African Green monkey kidney cells to produce the original viral seed stock from which all Rotarix vaccine has been made…
“Contamination of vaccines with animal viruses is not new. In the 20th century, polio vaccines given to tens of millions of people worldwide were contaminated with simian virus 40 (SV40), which was found to cause cancer in animals and is associated with human brain, bone and lung cancers but the government denies SV40 is causing those cancers in humans…
“There has been controversy about the link between experimental polio vaccines tested in Africa in the 1950’s and 1960’s that were contaminated with a monkey virus… Soon after the polio vaccine trials in Africa… HIV… emerged… Many questions about the failure of researchers and technology to screen for monkey viruses in those vaccines remain to this day…
“Vaccine manufacturers have long used cell material that comes from the bodies of mammals, including humans, monkeys, cows, pigs, dogs and rodents, as well as birds or insects to make vaccines now in use or to make experimental vaccines. There is an inherent risk of contamination with viruses and other microbes (or DNA from those microbes) that can escape detection during the vaccine development, testing, licensing, manufacturing and oversight process…
“In searching for ways to make seasonal influenza vaccines in a faster, easier and less expensive way than relying on chicken eggs for production, drug companies have experimented with using dog kidney cells and human fetal retinal cells. However, these cell lines have been documented to cause tumors in animals, especially dog kidney cells…
“There are lots of questions about how the manufacturer of Rotarix vaccine and the FDA both missed the pig virus DNA contaminating the original seed stock and all doses of Rotarix vaccine given to more than one million American children in the past few years… What about the significance of finding bird viral DNA in measles vaccine and the monkey viral DNA in RotaTeq vaccine?…
“The contamination of Rotarix vaccine is only the latest in a long history of vaccine contamination issues that require a re-examination of the way vaccines are made and tested… The big question people are asking is: why do drug companies making vaccines continue to use cells from animals, birds and insects that can be contaminated with viruses and other adventitious agents that are hard to detect? The FDA was right to suspend use of Rotarix vaccine until they know more. Hopefully, this serious vaccine production and testing issue will be addressed immediately by vaccine manufacturers. If not, the next pandemic or serious health problem affecting large populations may be one that comes out of a vaccine lab.”
Drugs, Poisons and Heavy Metals in Our Meat
The Huffington Post wrote on April 15:
“Washington dumped some more bad news Friday afternoon when the USDA’s Office of Inspector General issued a damning and unsettling report on the department’s ‘National Residue Program for Cattle.’ It found gaping holes in the safety of American beef production, including residue of drugs, poisons and heavy metals in the meat we eat.
“It’s a stomach-turning, chilling read… ‘Based on our review, we found that the national residue program is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for harmful residues,’ the USDA’s oversight office wrote. The audit revealed that USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), along with the FDA and EPA, ‘have not established thresholds for many dangerous substances (e.g., copper or dioxin), which has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce.’
“Even worse, the federal government does not attempt to recall meat, ‘even when its tests have confirmed the excessive presence of veterinary drugs,’ the audit said… some US beef is contaminated with heavy metals like copper and arsenic, antibiotics like Flunixin, penicillin, and Ivermectin, and a host of pesticides – all of which are used in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), better known as factory farms.”
Q&A
What does the Bible teach about the "spirit in man"? Is that human spirit the same as an immortal soul?
The Bible does indeed teach that every human being has a spirit, but that spirit is neither immortal nor a soul.
I. The Spirit in Man
We discuss the biblical concept of the “spirit in man” extensively in our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution–a Fairy Tale for Adults”.
In this Q&A, we are quoting the following excerpts:
“Most people know nothing about the existence of the spirit in man—even many religious people—lay persons and theologians alike. When they read passages in the Bible describing the spirit in man, they assume the Bible is talking about the soul. But the soul is not a non-physical component of the human being. The soul, according to the Bible, is totally physical. The Bible does not teach the concept of an immortal soul. Rather, we read in Ezekiel 18:4, ‘The soul who sins shall die.’ The word ‘soul’ in the Bible refers to the living body of both man and animals…
“In the book of Isaiah we are told that each human being has a spirit within him. ‘Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it…’ (Isaiah 42:5).
“We also learn that God sometimes influences man’s spirit for His purpose. We could say that God inspires or motivates a person by ‘stirring up’ the spirit in that person. Note 1 Chronicles 5:25-26, ‘And they [Israel] were unfaithful to the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria…He carried the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into captivity.’
“Another example is found in 2 Chronicles 21:16-17, ‘Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians…And they came into Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, and also his sons and his wives.’
“Later, when God saw to it that His word and promise would be fulfilled to rebuild the destroyed city of Jerusalem and the temple, He inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue a decree, permitting the Jews who were captured in Babylon, to return to Jerusalem. Both 2 Chronicles 36:22 and Ezra 1:1 record what exactly happened. ‘Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah.”‘ Even King Cyrus realized that God had influenced his spirit to make this proclamation.
“But the work of rebuilding the destroyed temple progressed very slowly. There was a lack of leadership to motivate the people to accomplish the task at hand. Let’s read how God intervened, in Haggai 1:4, ‘So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel…, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua…and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.’
“The Bible strongly indicates that God gives the human spirit at the time of conception, and then takes it back at the time of death. We read in Zechariah 12:1, ‘Thus says the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.’ Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, ‘Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.’ When the spirit in man leaves a person, that person is dead. James 2:26 says, ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also’…
“Understand though, that when a man dies and his spirit returns to God, that spirit does not continue to live consciously, apart from the body. Rather, God ‘stores’ it, so to speak, in heaven, until He unites it at the time of the resurrection of man with a new spiritual or physical body. The concept that man’s soul is immortal is as wrong as the concept that man’s spirit continues to live consciously after death…
“Note Ecclesiastes 9:4-6, ‘But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope… For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing…Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished…’ And verse 10, ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.’ In other words, there is no conscious activity after a person dies. The spirit does not continue in the realm of consciousness…
“The spirit in man records all the human characteristics of the person, as well as his or her outward appearance. At the time of the resurrection, the spirit of the dead person is combined with a new body of the dead person. This means, all the experiences and memories and ideas of the former life are back in the resurrected individual, and the resurrected person will also look the same way he or she did in their former life…
“When a person dies, his body returns to dust. But the spirit of man in him has recorded the appearance of the person, the personality, the personal attributes, and God gives the spirit of that person back into the newly created physical body.
“Let’s read Luke 8:49-55, ‘While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher. But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid, only believe, and she will be made well.” When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James and John, and the father and the mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately’…
“One of the writers of the Psalms, Asaph, also understood that it was the spirit within him that motivated him to think and gave him intelligence. He says in Psalm 77:6, ‘I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search.’ King Solomon, who wrote the books of Proverbs, likewise confirmed that it is the spirit in man that grants human understanding and is responsible for self-awareness. He says in Proverbs 20:27, ‘The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.’ The New Jerusalem Bible renders this verse, ‘The human spirit is the lamp of Yahweh—searching the deepest self’…
“Paul says in Romans 8:14-16, ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God [the Holy Spirit], these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear [a reference here to Satan, the god and spirit of this world], but you received the Spirit of adoption [or better, sonship] by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit [God’s Holy Spirit] Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.’
“Paul speaks very clearly about two spirits—the spirit of man and the Holy Spirit. Notice in 1 Corinthians 2:11 and 14, ‘For what man knows the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God… But the natural man [a person who does have the spirit of man, but who does not have the Holy Spirit of God] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.'”
As mentioned, each person has a human spirit which God gives to each human, apparently at the time of conception, and which goes back to God in heaven when the person dies. This spirit is not the person, nor is it immortal or eternal, nor does it have a conscious existence when the person dies.
It is THAT spirit in man which God uses when He resurrects the person from the dead. In this context, we must understand that converted Christians, who have ALSO received God’s HOLY SPIRIT in addition to the human spirit, will be resurrected to eternal life, while unconverted humans will be resurrected at a later time to PHYSICAL life. For more information on the resurrections and the function of the human spirit in that process, please read our Q&A’s on the “three resurrections” and the misunderstood concept of the so-called “bodily” resurrection.
II. The Soul
As mentioned in the quotes above, pertaining to the “spirit in man,” the human spirit is not identical with the soul. In fact, the Bible distinguishes between soul and spirit–but neither is immortal. We are setting forth pertinent excerpts regarding the New Testament teaching of the mortality of the soul from our free booklet, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?”:
“The Greek word translated as ‘soul’ in the New Testament Scriptures is ‘psyche’… As in the Old Testament, we find proof in the New Testament that animals are called ‘souls’ and that those souls can die. Revelation 8:9 states, ‘And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.’ The word for ‘creatures’ is ‘psyche’ in the Greek. So we could say, ‘The souls in the sea that had life, died.’ Although men are included, the primary emphasis here is on sea animals.
“Revelation 16:3 applies the word again to sea animals. Notice, ‘And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea’…
“The New Testament also reveals that people are souls. Souls are not something within the people—rather, souls are people. In 1 Corinthians 15:45, when talking about the resurrection from the dead, Paul quotes from the book of Genesis, telling us what man is and how man came into existence. We read, ‘And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul [‘psyche’].” But this living soul, as well as all other living souls since Adam, died, and have to be made alive again (cp. v. 22). They have to be ‘raised up’ (vv. 35, 42)…
“In the 18th chapter of Revelation, the commercial side of the modern city of Babylon is described. In Verse 13, some of the items are listed with which modern merchants will trade, ‘…And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls [‘psyche’] of men.’ We see that they will trade with people—not only with slaves, but also with ‘free’ men. They are not trading with some immortal element within the men…
“Note, too, Revelation 18:14, ‘And the fruits that thy soul [‘psyche’] lusted after are departed from thee.’ Again, the soul is equated with lusts for physical food, and with special feelings. It is the person, of course, who has those desires and feelings, but special emphasis is given to the psychological aspect of a person here, describing it as the ‘soul.’ (Interestingly, the English word ‘psychological’ is, in fact, derived from the Greek word ‘psyche.’)
“When these psychological aspects are to be emphasized, the word ‘soul’ is sometimes used in combination with other human aspects—but this does not make the ‘soul’ an immortal element or entity within the man… We read in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, ‘And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit [Greek ‘pneuma’] and soul [Greek ‘psyche’] and body [Greek ‘soma’] be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
“In dividing the person into three aspects or ‘components,’ Paul did not address the issue as to whether some of the aspects were mortal or immortal. Rather, the ‘spirit’ of the person describes his mind [the human spirit or spirit in man], the ‘body’ describes his physical flesh, and the ‘soul’ describes his ‘temporary physical life.’ The Christians were asked to preserve blameless their minds, bodies and lives…
“We read in Acts 15:26, ‘Men… have hazarded their lives [‘psyche’] for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ This is clearly a reference to physical life—it could not refer to any immortal soul, as the idea of an eternal soul within the person would of course not allow that the person could endanger his or her ‘immortal soul’ by standing up for Jesus Christ—quite the opposite would be the case…
“Let’s notice what Matthew 10:28 does say: ‘And fear not them which kill … the body [‘soma’], but are not able to kill… the soul [‘psyche’]: but rather fear him which is able to destroy… both soul [‘psyche’] and body [‘soma’] in hell [‘gehenna’]’… We need not fear man who can only kill us, taking away our physical lives. That is all man can do—man cannot prevent God from resurrecting us from death to give us life again. Instead, we must fear God, who not only can take away our physical lives, but who can also throw us—both ‘body and soul’—into ‘hell’ [‘gehenna’], taking away our opportunity for eternal life…
“The word ‘gehenna’ and the very concept of it are derived from the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem in which the corpses of dead people, mainly criminals, would be burned up. It is another expression for the ‘lake of fire’ in Revelation 20:15, in which all who have acted wickedly, and who have refused to repent, will be thrown into, to be burned up or ‘devoured.’ (Remember that Hebrews 10:27… tells us that the wicked wait for God’s fiery indignation that will ‘devour’ them.)…
“Those who sin deliberately, willfully and maliciously, God will resurrect to physical life to throw them—their physical body and their soul or their ‘life’—into ‘gehenna’ or the lake of fire (Revelation 20:13–15; 21:8). They won’t burn there forever—rather, they will be burned up. They are the ‘chaff,’ that will be ‘burned up’ with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12)—that is, no human can quench it… they ‘shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up… that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.’ (Malachi 4:1). They will become ashes under the feet of the righteous (Malachi 4:3); it will be as if they had never existed (Obadiah 16).”
In conclusion, the spirit in man is not the soul, but it is residing IN the human soul and body, and it goes back to God when the soul dies–when the temporary physical LIFE ends–and when the body–the physical flesh–ceases to function and begins to decay.
When the soul dies–when physical life ends–and when the body begins to decay, what happens to the “spirit in man,” which goes back to God when man dies? God will use it in the process of the resurrection of the person–He will use the spirit in man to create new–spiritual or physical–bodies. But while beings with spiritual bodies will live forever, beings with physical bodies will be subject to death–they will only be given a temporary existence. While many physical human beings will fulfill their potential and will be ultimately changed into spirit beings, some will commit the unpardonable sin and die the second death in the “gehenna” fire. They will never become immortal, but they will be destroyed and annihilated. What will then happen to their human spirit? This question will be addressed in the next Q&A.
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
The Work
Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock
A new StandingWatch program was posted on the Web, titled, USA Antagonizes Europe. The program addresses the following “shocking news”: “The US is ruling out a nuclear response to non-nuclear attacks, but Obama is criticized by the left and the right.” “USA and Russia sign a new arms reduction agreement, forcing Europe to look at their own defense strategies.” “Europe outraged over American misconduct in Iraq.” “German soldiers forsaken by US Air Force in Afghanistan.” What does it all mean in the light of biblical prophecy?
A new German sermon was posted on the Web, titled, “Krankheit und Heilung, Teil 3” (“Sickness and Healing, Part 3”). It is also posted on our German website, www.aufpostenstehen.de.
Forums
Changing Direction
by Cali Harris
Coming out of the Spring Holy Days, the idea of changing direction has been on my mind. As with every year, I’ve been thinking about leaving sin behind and walking toward obedience–basically, making small and big direction changes in my life. This hasn’t been limited only to my spiritual life, but has also trickled into the rest of my life.
I recently changed topics for my thesis in my graduate program. This meant that I chose to walk away from four semesters worth of work, research, discussions with professionals in the field and even completion of a business plan that related to my original topic. It was hard to change direction–but I know that my new thesis topic will be a much better choice for my education and future.
Timing-wise, I think it’s interesting that I was confident enough to change direction in my thesis now. Perhaps I needed to go through the Spring Holy Days in order to be open to this change… and I suspect that God was leading this change of direction all along.
How This Work is Financed
This Update is an official publication by the ministry of the Church of the Eternal God in the United States of America; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom.
Editorial Team: Norbert Link, Dave Harris, Rene Messier, Brian Gale, Johanna Link, Eric Rank, Michael Link, Anna Link, Kalon Mitchell, Manuela Mitchell, Dawn Thompson
Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank
Our activities and literature, including booklets, weekly updates, sermons on CD are provided free of charge. They are made possible by the tithes, offerings and contributions of Church members and others who have elected to support this Work.
While we do not solicit the general public for funds, contributions are gratefully welcomed and are tax-deductible in the U.S. and Canada.
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