On March 20, 2010, Brian Gale will give the sermon from California, titled,”The Strangers That Are Among You.”

The services can be heard at www.cognetsertvices.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.

Jesus corrected Peter, and this occurrence is recorded in John 21. Peter’s reaction was very typical of the way people sometimes also act.

Trying to redirect the focus, Peter then asked Jesus about John’s fate:

“Peter, seeing him (John), said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’” (John 21:21).

How many times have we watched young children pull the same tactic? When trouble comes and correction is given to one child, oftentimes, the retort to parents is to try and share the blame with a brother or sister.

In reality, we all have to fight this very human tendency.

Becoming a Christian means that we have taken a place in the Family of God, and this means that we will be receiving correction from God. In Hebrews 12, verses 3 through 17, the vital importance of God’s chastening is explained. It would be to our advantage to believe what is written and to apply these words to ourselves—especially, consider verse 11:

“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Jesus answered Peter’s attempt at self-justification by saying that how He was working in John’s life was really not a matter of concern for Peter. Rather, Jesus, in a very direct manner, simply said to Peter, “‘…You follow Me’” (John 21:22).

When our correction comes, and it most certainly will, let’s also be “trained by it,” and not look for someone else to share our blame. When it is our turn to answer for our own shortcomings, let’s resolve to not start our response with words such as, “what about…?”

Jesus likewise tells us, “‘YOU FOLLOW ME!’”

The controversy surrounding Greece’s problems continues, and even though some critics suggest that the euro will be abandoned, we can safely say, based on biblical prophecy, that this won’t happen. Several articles, quoted below, state quite categorically that the euro is here to stay, even though they do not conceal the fact that the euro is built on lies, and that some EU countries–especially Germany–will emerge within the EU, “calling the shots as Europe’s de facto lender”… and leader. 

At the same time, we see Germany’s current government in disarray, and the popularity of Germany’s recent “rising star”–Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg–is diminishing. Time magazine informs us that “Germans are disgruntled.” Nevertheless, Germany has become the world’s third largest weapons dealer.

The sex scandal of the Roman Catholic Church is continuously widening. In a feeble attempt to counteract the charges, “the Vatican has rallied around the pontiff, claiming that ‘certain elements’ had launched a targeted campaign to discredit the Catholic Church.” This reaction was undermined by the statement of the chief exorcist of the Catholic Church, claiming that “the devil is in the Vatican.”

The British Telegraph wonders whether President Obama has reached the end of his road; other articles report that US-Israeli relations are at an all-time low; an article by the Sacramento Bee magnifies the incredible incompetence of U.S. governmental agencies; The Times warns of Putin’s desire for a resurging powerful Soviet Union; and media reports suggest that the USA and/or the EU will take military action against Iran with or without U.N. approval.

“No Alternative to the Euro”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on March 12:

“Another general strike in Greece shut the financially beleaguered nation down on Thursday. But… now nobody [in Germany]… believes there is any danger to the euro’s long-term survival.

“In the Financial Times Deutschland, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble writes in a signed editorial: ‘… There is no alternative to the monetary union. The euro has established itself as the second most important currency in the world, and as a currency in which to invest…'”

The Euro–Built on a Lie–But Predestined to Stay…

Der Spiegel Online wrote on March 9:

“The notion that the European common currency is based on nothing but a series of lies is now taking its toll. All of the founders of the euro knew that the new currency could only be stable if all member states committed themselves to sound financial policy and, in the long run, spent only as much as they collected in tax revenue. But many ignored this principle right from the start… The first lie was soon followed by the second. The euro-zone members had promised to support the common currency with a common policy. The problem was that they were not prepared to make good on their promise.

“… a second Europe, which remains largely concealed from the public, currently exists in parallel to the public Europe of summit meetings, government statements and official visits…

“Since joining the euro zone, the 16 euro countries have violated the deficit rule, under which net new debt cannot exceed 3 percent of GDP, 43 times. Most of the infractions have occurred in the last two years. Greece is at the top of the list of violators…

“On the one side are the EU’s heavyweights, headed up by Germany. The new currency has made them more competitive, and they now produce far more than they consume. On the other side are countries like Spain and Ireland, which attracted large amounts of foreign capital, and where wages and asset prices rose rapidly…

“Many now feel vindicated, including Harvard Professor Martin Feldstein, a prophet of the euro’s demise for many years… But such considerations are naïve. It’s possible that the euro was indeed introduced too soon. But that is by no means an argument to abolish it prematurely. It is clear that a fracture in the monetary union would not just be a political disgrace, but also an economic catastrophe. For 10 years, European businesses and banks have become accustomed to a uniform European basis of calculation. Reversing it would trigger economic disruptions so severe that the Greek crisis pales by comparison.

“Europe doesn’t need a new currency. What Europe does need is the culture of stability, transparency and credibility that its governments have promised citizens, but have never created. Although the euro zone has a common monetary policy, it lacks a shared financial and economic policy… Even if the Germans are far from supporting a European economic government, as the French have long advocated for the euro zone, the German government believes that cooperation on economic policy must be coordinated far more closely and intensified in the future…

“The recent crisis shows, however, that even small countries can jeopardize the entire common currency project. ‘European leaders are now realizing that the members of the monetary union are all in the same boat,’ says one senior Brussels diplomat, ‘and that its members, for better or worse, are dependent on each other.'”

A European Two-Class System? — But No Exit from the Eurozone

Reuters wrote on March 8:

“When they negotiated the 1991 Maastricht Treaty, Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand and Jacques Delors believed that European Monetary Union would lead inevitably over time to a closer political union with more federal governance. But the flaws revealed by Greece’s fiscal jam seem more likely to hasten a two-class system in which ‘grown-ups,’ led by Germany, exert ever more control over wayward ‘children’ such as Greece, but accept no reciprocal scrutiny…

“Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso proposed last week giving the EU executive new powers… French President Nicolas Sarkozy has seized on the Greek crisis to revive ideas of a ‘European economic government’ that would coordinate member states’ economic policies and keep the euro exchange rate competitive against the dollar and the yuan. But Germany, the biggest economy, has made clear it does not want EU surveillance of its own export-oriented policies, which generate big current account surpluses that economists say are partly responsible for widening imbalances in the euro zone…

“A two-class euro zone has been a reality since 2004, when EU budget discipline rules applied more strictly to small countries were suspended, then rewritten to avoid sanctions against France and Germany after they repeatedly breached the deficit limit. The Greek crisis has strengthened that trend, whether or not Athens ends up being bailed out by its partners… Any financial support for Greece is likely to be an ad hoc arrangement, with Germany calling the shots as Europe’s de facto lender of last resort. Berlin would attach draconian conditions to deter potential emulators.

“This two-class euro zone will likely cause resentment and aggravate mistrust between large and small member states, and between North and South. It may be how power works in the real world, but the EU was created to do things differently…

“The… most improbable option is that a country might be tempted to walk away from the euro zone. The price of a euro exit would be enormous in devaluation, extra borrowing costs, diplomatic isolation, unemployment, loss of purchasing power and at least short-term loss of investment. Strikingly, there is no serious discussion of this in Greece or other euro states under pressure.

“Debate about temporary or permanent exits from the euro is largely confined to countries and people who opposed monetary union all along and forecast it would end in tears.”

German Government in Disarray

Time Magazine wrote in its latest edition, dated on March 22:

“When Germany’s Deputy Chancellor and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle held a briefing for reporters in Berlin last month, he arrived exuding an aura of defiance and ebullience. It didn’t last… Five months after Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party began forming a new center-right government with Westerwelle’s probusiness Free Democratic Party (FDP), the alliance that was billed as a marriage made in heaven is on the rocks. The government has been riven by infighting, bitter personal rivalries and squabbles over policy direction. The partisan bickering has grown so bad it threatens complete inertia…

“Merkel’s main headache is Westerwelle, whose various job titles seem to have given him carte blanche to be the government’s unofficial troublemaker. Finding himself holding the balance of power following 11 years in opposition, the ambitious politician is enjoying his first taste of power. Even though his main job is Foreign Minister, Westerwelle has flexed his muscles on domestic issues from tax reform to health care to nuclear power…

“One recent crunch came when Westerwelle launched a blistering attack on Germany’s cherished welfare state, criticizing handouts for the long-term unemployed. Raising welfare benefits smacks of socialism, Westerwelle wrote in the daily Welt newspaper on Feb. 11. ‘Whoever promises the people effortless prosperity encourages late Roman decadence.’ The FDP leader went on to argue that those who work should always get more than the unemployed and that young jobless Germans should take up community work like shoveling snow…

“Criticism of the welfare state touches a raw nerve among Germans. They have jealously guarded social benefits since they were introduced by Otto von Bismarck, the ‘Iron Chancellor,’ in the 1880s. Bismarck’s system — designed to win over workers and increase productivity — guaranteed every citizen social insurance, including a pension, national health insurance and disability benefits. Westerwelle thinks that should change, and is also pushing for lower taxes and a new simplified tax system… Merkel was not amused…

“The government’s bickering is set against the backdrop of the ongoing economic crisis, which remains the key issue for voters. Germany may be officially out of recession but Europe’s biggest economy is struggling to get back on its feet… Germans are disgruntled.”

Even though it is perceived that presently there is no alternative to the current German government, stranger things have happened. It only takes the manifestation of a powerful charismatic leader who would seemingly be able to bring back order and direction to a disorderly government. Some have suggested that Germany’s Defense Minister Guttenberg might be such a man–but as the next article shows, this analysis seems to be far-fetched and unsupportable by the current facts.

German Defense Minister Guttenberg’s Star Is Sinking

Deutsche Welle reported on March 13:

“German Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg has been sharply criticized for sacking a general who wrote him a letter asking for the reason why Military Inspector General Wolfgang Schneiderhan was sacked in last year. ‘It looks like the heads of disagreeable oddballs are rolling just because they have a different opinion than the minister,’ Green party speaker Omid Nouripour told the daily Mitteldeutsche Zeitung… Following Schneiderhan’s dismissal in November 2009, Brigadier General Henning Hars, a former military attache to Washington, wrote a letter to the defense minister asking why the high-ranking officer had been dismissed. Hars also asked Guttenberg for his assessment of the controversial Kunduz air raid, which killed a large number of civilians in northern Afghanistan last September. Hars did not receive a response to his letter.

“Defense Minister Guttenberg then used his right to move General Hars into involuntary retirement, according to a report in the Tagesspiegel newspaper. A few days ago, Hars received his discharge papers from German president Horst Koehler… “Rainer Arnold, a spokesman for the opposition Social Democratic Party, criticized Guttenberg’s decision. ‘Of course a minister can send a general into retirement if he has no confidence in him,’ Arnold told the newspaper Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger. ‘But I have the impression that it’s the military leaders who do not have any more confidence in the Minister,’ Arnold added.”

Praised as the rising star in German politics, Guttenberg has come increasingly under attack for his controversial actions, especially pertaining to Germany’s participation and conduct in the Afghan war. The German press, like Der Stern, recently portrayed him as a showman with much talk and little substance.

Germany Third Largest Weapons Dealer

The Local reported on March 15:

“Germany has doubled its arms exports over the last five years, making it the world’s third largest weapons dealer after the United States and Russia, according to a new study released on Monday. Sales of mainly submarines and armoured vehicles helped Germany capture 11 percent of the global arms market, compared to 30 percent and 23 percent for the United States and Russia, the study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

“Warships made up 44 percent of all arms exports, while armoured vehicles accounted for 27 percent… Fourteen percent of Germany’s arms exports went to Turkey, while Greece bought 13 percent and South Africa imported 12 percent… The growth is part of a worldwide increase of 22 percent in weapons sales in the last five years, particularly in the trade of extremely expensive fighter planes.

“SIPRI warned of an arms race in tense regions like the Middle East, North Africa, South America and South Asia. Meanwhile Greece has become one of the world’s top-five importers despite being on the verge of bankruptcy.”

If we were to include all the additional European arms exports, it stands to reason that Europe would probably be the world’s largest weapons dealer.

Widening Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal in Germany

Bild Online wrote on March 9:

“Germany has been shocked by the scandal surrounding the world-famous choir. Victims were forced to endure excessive force, including violence, whipping and perverse sex games from teachers and even headmasters.

“Many of them are still suffering today… producer and composer Franz Wittenbrink, who was at the Regensburg Cathedral choir boarding school until 1967, believes that the school staff did have some knowledge: In the school an ‘elaborate system of sadistic discipline connected to a sexual lust’ was in existence, according to ‘Spiegel’… ‘Everyone knew it,’ Wittenbrink added.”

Vatican Tries to Defend Pope in Sex Abuse Scandal

The Associated Press wrote on March 13:

“The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland. It also insisted that church confidentiality doesn’t prevent bishops from reporting abuse to police. The Vatican’s campaign to defend the pope’s reputation and resolve in combatting clergy abuse of minors followed acknowledgment by the Munich archdiocese that it had transferred a suspected pedophile priest to community work while Benedict was archbishop there.

“Benedict is also under fire for a 2001 church directive he wrote while a Vatican cardinal, instructing bishops to keep abuse cases confidential. Germany’s justice minister has blamed the directive for what she called a ‘wall of silence’ preventing prosecution… Irish bishops have said the document was widely taken to mean they shouldn’t go to police. And victims’ lawyers in the U.S. say the document shows the church tried to obstruct justice… The Catholic church in Switzerland has become swept up in the scandals.”

Deutsche Welle added on March 13:

“In a reaction to the widening pedophile scandal in Germany, the Vatican has rallied around the pontiff, claiming that ‘certain elements’ had launched a targeted campaign to discredit the Catholic Church… The pope’s former diocese in Bavaria on Friday said he was involved in a decision in 1980 to move a priest who was suspected of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy. Instead of undergoing therapy, the priest was assigned to a Munich parish without restrictions. Six years later, the priest was given a suspended jail sentence for child sex offenses during that period.

“The diocese claims this was a decision made by then-vicar general Gerhard Gruber, but the head of the Catholic lay reform movement in Germany, Christian Weisner, has rejected that interpretation, saying that due to the Church’s hierarchal structures, it was the pontiff – then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger – who was ultimately responsible.

“On Friday, the head of Germany’s Catholic Bishops Conference, Robert Zollitsch, briefed journalists about the situation in Germany, where more than 100 reports have emerged of abuse at Catholic institutions, including schools and one linked to the prestigious Regensburg choir run by the pope’s brother from 1964 to 1994…

“The recent raft of revelations prompted Weisner to express his disappointment that the pope had ‘not found any words of sympathy (for the victims), nor asked for forgiveness and reconciliation.’

“The president of the Central Committee of German Catholics, Alois Glueck, told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in an interview on Saturday that the Church needed new structures. He said it was time to consider whether ‘church-related conditions’ had promoted the abuse and that the issue of celibacy for priests should be re-examined…

“In another blow for the Catholic Church, an opinion survey conducted by the Emnid Institute for a German television news channel on Friday found that 86 percent of those polled had lost faith in the church leaderships’ willingness to pursue the sex abuse allegations.”

Forced Celibacy the Root of Evil…

Mail On Line wrote on March 11:

“In recent weeks the church has been rocked by a series of abuse scandals in Ireland, Holland and Germany [and Austria]… It is thought that many Catholic priests privately believe a married clergy is the obvious solution to a number of problems confronting the church, from the shortage of priests to the recent sex scandals.

“The celibacy rule for priests was not part of the early Christian Church but was introduced in the Middle Ages. A number of early Christian fathers were married, including St Peter himself, according to St Mark’s Gospel.”

“The Devil Is in the Vatican”

Times On Line wrote on March 11:

“Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that ‘the Devil is at work inside the Vatican’, according to the Holy See’s chief exorcist. Father Gabriele Amorth, 85… said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as ‘cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon’. He added: ‘When one speaks of “the smoke of Satan” [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and paedophilia.’

“He claimed that another example of satanic behaviour was the Vatican ‘cover-up’ over the deaths in 1998 of Alois Estermann, the then commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife and Corporal Cedric Tornay, a Swiss Guard, who were all found shot dead… A remarkably swift Vatican investigation concluded that Corporal Tornay had shot the commander and his wife and then turned his gun on himself after being passed over for a medal. However Tornay’s relatives have challenged this. There have been unconfirmed reports of a homosexual background to the tragedy and the involvement of a fourth person who was never identified…”

Bild Online added on March 11:

“The chief exorcist also spoke of an attack by Satan on Pope Benedict XVI (82): ‘The Pope fought with the Devil on Christmas Eve. Satan threw him to the ground.’ He was referring to an incident where Pope Benedict was attacked and pulled to the floor by a mentally unstable woman.”

For more information on the Roman Catholic Church — past, present and future — please read our free booklets, “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord,” “Europe in Prophecy” and “Is That in the Bible–the Mysteries of the Book of Revelation.”

The End of the Road for President Obama?

The Telegraph wrote on March 8:

“The descent of Barack Obama’s regime… has been swift and precipitate. It was just 16 months ago that weeping men and women celebrated his victory over John McCain in the American presidential election. If they weep now, a year and six weeks into his rule, it is for different reasons.

“Despite the efforts of some sections of opinion to talk the place up, America is mired in unhappiness, all the worse for the height from which Obamania has fallen… 15 million Americans, or 9.7 per cent of the workforce, have no job. Many millions more are reduced to working part-time. Whole areas of the country, notably in the north and on the eastern seaboard, are industrial wastelands. The once mighty motor city of Detroit appears slowly to be being abandoned, becoming a Jurassic Park of the mid-20th century; unemployment among black people in Mr Obama’s own city of Chicago is estimated at between 20 and 25 per cent. One senior black politician – a Democrat and a supporter of the President – told me of the wrath in his community that a black president appeared to be unable to solve the economic problem among his own people. Cities in the east such as Newark and Baltimore now have drug-dealing as their principal commercial activity…”‘

“Mr Obama benefited in his campaign from an idiotic level of idolatry, in which most of the media participated with an astonishing suspension of cynicism. The sound of the squealing of brakes is now audible all over the American press; but the attack is being directed not at the leader himself, but at those around him…

“The root of the problem seems to be the management of expectations. The magnificent campaign created the notion that Mr Obama could walk on water. Oddly enough, he can’t…

“There are lessons from the stumbling of Mr Obama for our own country as we approach a general election. Vacuous promises of change are hostages to fortune if they cannot be delivered upon to improve the living conditions of a people. The slickness of campaigning that comes from a combination of heavy funding and public relations expertise does not inevitably translate into an ability to govern. There is no point a nation’s having the audacity of hope unless it also has the sophistication and the will to turn it into action. As things stand, Barack Obama and America under his leadership do not.”

Biblical prophecy shows that America will not recover substantially from its present crisis. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Obama Disappoints Israelis and Palestinians

Der Spiegel Online wrote on March 15:

“Hopes were high in the Middle East when US President Barack Obama took office last year. But instead of progress toward peace, he has shown indecision and hesitancy. With many in the region united against Iran, he is in danger of letting a golden opportunity slip through his fingers…

“Never before had a US president enjoyed such trust in the Middle East — and gambled it away in such a short time. Obama has vacillated to an extent that has confused friend and foe alike…

“US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Jerusalem, where he assured his hosts of Washington’s ‘absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel’s security’ — only to discover, hours later, that the Israeli interior ministry had just approved the construction of 1,600 housing units for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. Biden was so angry that he showed up an hour-and-a-half late for a dinner with Netanyahu and his wife. ‘I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem,’ he said afterwards. ‘It is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now.’ It was undoubtedly a brazen insult to Israel’s powerful ally. Nevertheless, sympathy with the Americans has been muted. ‘Mr. Obama has himself to blame,’ the Financial Times remarked drily…

“Obama’s failure in the Middle East is but one example of his weakness, though a particularly drastic and vivid one. The president, widely celebrated when he took office, cannot claim to have achieved sweeping successes in any area. When he began his term more than a year ago, he came across as an ambitious developer who had every intention of completing multiple projects at once. But after a year, none of those projects has even progressed beyond the early construction phase. And in some cases, the sites are nothing but deep excavations…

“He set out to negotiate with Iran. He courted the regime… But the end-of-the-year deadline he had loudly proclaimed passed without incident, and yet Iran’s uranium centrifuges in Natanz and Qom are still up and running. Although Iraq held an election two Sundays ago, the results are so ambiguous, and the situation is so unclear, that Ray Odierno, the commanding general of US forces in Iraq, is thinking about delaying the withdrawal of his troops — which would represent yet another breach of Obama’s campaign promises.

“Obama has turned his attention to Afghanistan, sending an additional 30,000 troops to the country. But even that measure was announced and then withdrawn in the same speech. The troops were deployed in 2009, but their withdrawal is set to begin by mid-2011. By announcing his plans for the deployment and withdrawal of the troops at the same time, Obama didn’t exactly create the impression of supreme decisiveness among America’s enemies in Afghanistan…

“Obama can hardly count on gaining the support of allies, partly because he doesn’t pay much attention to them. The American president doesn’t have a single strong ally among European heads of state…

“In the Middle East, the irresolute Obama is missing an opportunity to bring about peace that he… will not be offered in its current form anytime soon. Never before in Israeli history have Jews and Arabs been as united as they are today, in the face of the Iranian nuclear threat. Indeed, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister has spoken openly of the need for a military strike against Iran.

“SPIEGEL has learned that Western intelligence services believe that the Saudis would even provide the Israelis with access to their airspace for such a strike… The Arab states are no longer the ones who benefit from the Middle East conflict. Instead, it is the Iranian leadership, whose ruthless rhetoric and nuclear program has the Arabs just as nervous as the Israelis.

“Nevertheless, Obama continues to stand alone on the world stage, seemingly without a goal and oceans removed from achieving a solution to the toxic Middle East conflict… The Palestinians no longer trust him, and the Israelis don’t take him seriously, as Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ‘apology’ to Vice President Biden demonstrated last week. Netanyahu said that he regretted the ‘unfortunate timing’ of the settlement announcement. Netanyahu’s spokesman claimed that the premier had not known about the settlement plans — one of the biggest construction projects in Jerusalem.

“It isn’t as if the US government had no leverage to convince Israel to at least make minor changes to its settlement policy. The Jewish state receives about $2.5 billion (€1.8 billion) in annual military aid alone from Washington. Some of Obama’s predecessors had no qualms about threatening Israel with cuts in aid. President Gerald Ford did it in 1975, because he felt that the Israelis were too inflexible in negotiations with Egypt. President George H.W. Bush held back $10 billion in US government loan guarantees until Israel agreed to participate in the planned Madrid peace conference. Even his son, President George W. Bush, froze some of the loan guarantees in 2003, when Israel began building a ‘security fence’ that penetrated deeply into Palestinian territory.

“Obama, on the other hand, has shied away from setting tough conditions for Israel. Many of his critics blame that stance on his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, 50. In Washington, every Democrat who would like to but doesn’t dare to criticize the president is turning against Emanuel. They see him as a dark Rasputin exerting his virtually hypnotic control over Obama. In Arab countries, many believe Emanuel is an Israel agent, and they cite his background as proof. The son of a Zionist underground fighter, he served in the Israeli army as a civilian volunteer, despite being an American citizen.

“Obama’s many mistakes in the Middle East are reflected in the low opinion of Emanuel held among Prime Minister Netanyahu’s staff members, who see him as a despicable figure. In their view, it was Emanuel who incited Obama against Israel and was responsible for Jerusalem’s and Washington’s troubles with the settlements.”

US-Israeli Relations at All-Time Low

The Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad wrote on March 15:

“Will Israel succeed in imposing its will on the United States again? Or will it be forced into compliance this time around?

“Last year, prime minister Netanyahu’s government ignored Obama’s demand to freeze the construction of settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories. Last May, American secretary of state Clinton emphasised that all construction had to stop… Last November, Netanyahu announced construction would indeed cease for ten months, but this freeze did not apply to East Jerusalem, where the foundations for some 3,000 homes had already been laid, and some other projects.

“Washington responded warmly to Israel’s offer. The small nation had succeeded in imposing its will on its biggest ally. Last week, the American vice president Joe Biden visited Israel to improve US-Israeli relations. The US had persuaded the Palestinians to return to negotiations with Israel, if only indirectly, even though construction of settlements continued. On the second day of Biden’s visit to Israel, its government announced it would be building another 1,600 homes in occupied East Jerusalem. Biden condemned the announcement, Netanyahu apologised (for the timing of the announcement, not for the construction itself) and, as far as Israel was concerned, the matter was now a thing of the past.

“But on Friday, secretary Clinton lambasted the Israeli prime minister over the phone, calling the Israeli act ‘deeply negative’ for American-Israeli relations. David Axelrod, one of president Obama’s chief political advisors, went even further, calling the Israeli move ‘an insult’ to the US which ‘undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region’ on the American TV-programme Meet the Press. ‘For this announcement to come at that time was very, very destructive,’ he added. The relationship between the two countries has rarely been as bad as it is now.

“This morning, Israeli officials and newspapers reported that the American government would not be satisfied until the entire construction project had been scrapped. This has put the Israeli prime minister in a tough spot. The Ramat Shlomo settlement is an orthodox-Jewish stronghold, and the construction project there is considered of utmost importance to his orthodox coalition partner Shas. It was Shas-minister Eli Yishai who announced the plans in the first place.

“Netanyahu needs the Shas’ support, otherwise his coalition might fall apart. But Netanyahu also needs the US’s support. Not only does it depend on the billions in economic and military aid, it also desperately needs the US’s political support against Iran’s nuclear programme which Israel considers an ‘existential threat.'”

How Ridiculous Can It Get?

The Sacramento Bee reported on March 14:

“It was every businessperson’s nightmare. Arriving at Harv’s Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. ‘They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,’ says Harv’s owner, Aaron Zeff. The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was … 4 cents.

“Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv’s with an obligation of $202.35.

“Zeff, who also owns local parking lots and is the president of the Midtown Business Association… [is] trying to figure out how penalties and interest could climb so high on such a small debt. He says he’s never been told he owes any taxes or that he’s ever incurred any late-payment penalties in the four years he’s owned Harv’s.

“In fact, he provided us with an Oct. 22, 2009, letter from the IRS that states Harv’s ‘has filed all required returns and addressed any balances due.’ IRS spokesman Jesse Weller isn’t commenting ‘due to privacy and disclosure laws.'”

This serves as just one example proving that human rule is bound to fail. Godly justice would never allow anything grotesque like the above to happen. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.”

Watch Putin’s Coming Soviet Union!

Times On Line wrote on March 9:

“The Soviet Union is gradually being rebuilt as Vladimir Putin eyes a return to the Kremlin. The man who declared the collapse of the Communist state to be the ‘greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century’ appears determined to forge a new empire.

“The latest evidence emerged in a suggestion by Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister in Mr Putin’s Government, that Russia may abolish the rouble and create a common currency with Kazakhstan and Belarus. The three states have already established a customs union and plan to form a single economic market by 2012. Mr Shuvalov said… that it would be modelled on the euro.

“The last time these countries had a common currency, of course, was in Soviet times. Mr Putin was quick to extend an invitation to join the customs union to Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s new pro-Russian President, when they met in Moscow on Friday. Were Ukraine to sign up, there would be a common economic space encompassing the ‘Big Four’ republics of the Soviet era, with a combined population of 213 million and stretching from the European Union to China. Its political, military and economic centre would be in Moscow, where Mr Putin is expected to reclaim the presidency in 2012 for up to 12 more years…

“Other ex-Soviet republics would find it hard to resist the gravitational pull of a single currency and economic space. Armenia’s economy is almost completely owned by Russian companies already… Russia’s history of political interference in its former Soviet satellites has no comparison in the EU.”

The Bible predicts that in these last days, a militaristic alliance, under Russian leadership, will become a mortal enemy to a united EU. The resurgence of the Soviet Union would be another piece of the prophetic puzzle, leading to Christ’s return, which we are commanded to watch.

EU: Iran Is Building Nuclear Weapons

Israel National News reported on March 3:

“The European Union announced Wednesday that it agrees with the position of the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons for military purposes. In a statement given to the Council of Trustees of the Atomic Energy Agency, the European Union said that Europe will support any action against the Iranian nuclear threat agreed upon by the UN Security Council.”

Deutsche Welle reported on March 13:

“Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said the EU remained committed to seeking a UN resolution on sanctions against Iran, but lacking that, the 27-nation block would take action on its own.”

A war in the Middle East, involving Israel and Iran, is likely to occur soon. And it is very possible that as a consequence, the EU will intervene in an effort to “bring peace” to the region.

“US Prepares for Total Destruction of Iran”

Scotland’s The Sunday Herald wrote the following on March 14:

“Hundreds of powerful US ‘bunker-buster’ bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran. The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 ‘Blu’ bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures. Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons.

“Although Diego Garcia is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, it is used by the US as a military base under an agreement made in 1971. The agreement led to 2,000 native islanders being forcibly evicted to the Seychelles and Mauritius… A shipping company based in Florida, Superior Maritime Services, will be paid $699,500 to carry many thousands of military items from Concord, California, to Diego Garcia…

“‘They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran,’ said Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London, co-author of a recent study on US preparations for an attack on Iran. ‘US bombers are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours,’ he added…

“For Alan Mackinnon, chair of Scottish CND, the revelation was ‘extremely worrying’. He stated: ‘It is clear that the US government continues to beat the drums of war over Iran, most recently in the statements of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. ‘It is depressingly similar to the rhetoric we heard prior to the war in Iraq in 2003.’

“The British Ministry of Defence has said in the past that the US government would need permission to use Diego Garcia for offensive action. It has already been used for strikes against Iraq during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars. About 50 British military staff are stationed on the island, with more than 3,200 US personnel. Part of the Chagos Archipelago, it lies about 1,000 miles from the southern coasts of India and Sri Lanka, well placed for missions to Iran.”

It is indeed correct that the Church of God keeps the Passover one day earlier than the Jews do today. The reason is that based on the Bible, the Jews keep the Passover one day too late.

This year, the Church of God keeps the annual Passover on Sunday evening, March 28, after sunset. However, the Jews keep the Passover, beginning on Monday evening, March 29, after sunset. As we said, they keep it one day too late. They keep the Passover when the Bible commands to keep the “Night to Be Much Observed”–two totally different and separate occasions.

Please notice our comments in our free booklet, “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days”:

“Today’s Jewish community is totally confused about the distinction between the Passover night and the Night to Be Much Observed. In fact, they keep the PASSOVER at the END of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th day [of the first Hebrew month of Nisan or Abib, according to the Hebrew calendar], TOGETHER WITH the Night to Be Much Observed, as if the two events were one and the same. But this is not according to Scripture. These are two separate events that are to be observed at two separate times… Scripture commands that the Passover is to be observed at the BEGINNING of the 14th day, while the Night to Be Much Observed is to be kept at the beginning of the 15th day—one entire day LATER! God said that at the END of the 14th day (or the beginning of the 15th day) unleavened bread is to be eaten until the END of the 21st day—that is, for seven days (Exodus 12:18).

“… the answer to the question of why the Church of God does NOT keep the Passover at the same time as the Jews, is simply because the Jews do NOT keep the Passover on the day as instructed in Scripture. The Church of God follows the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus and the apostles kept the Passover on the evening when Christ was betrayed (which would be [at the beginning of] Abib or Nisan 14)… this was one day earlier than the Jews keep it today. The Jews actually keep the first Day of Unleavened Bread (on Abib or Nisan 15), also called the ‘Night to Be Much Observed,’ AS the Passover, confusing the two occasions, by treating them as one and the same, and failing to see the distinction between the two…

“Although the Passover is at times referred to as a feast day (compare Leviticus 23:4–5), the Bible distinguishes between the day of Passover (on Nisan or Abib 14) and the seven Days of Unleavened Bread (on Nisan or Abib 15–21)…

“We find that Christ and His disciples kept the Passover on Nisan or Abib 14. At that time, the Passover was sometimes included in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but… the entire time was then counted as lasting eight days, not only seven (compare Matthew 26:17–20; Mark 14:12–18; Luke 22:1, 7–16). However, the distinction between the Passover evening and the seven Days of Unleavened Bread was still clearly understood (compare Mark 14:1–2).

“When the New Testament speaks of the FEAST during the spring season, it refers to the first Day of Unleavened Bread, not the Passover evening (compare John 13:1). During the Passover evening, Christ told His betrayer, Judas, to ‘do quickly’ what he had planned to do (John 13:27). Judas left the house, and the disciples thought that Jesus had asked him to buy those things they needed for the FEAST (compare John 13:29)—that is, the first Day of Unleavened Bread, which would start at sunset on Nisan 15—more than 20 hours later…

“The evidence that the Passover was, and still is, to be kept at the BEGINNING of Nisan or Abib 14, not at the end, is overwhelming. Christ and His disciples… kept the PASSOVER at the BEGINNING of the 14th, and they should have known when to keep it. Further, the death angel went through Egypt on the night of the 14th, not the 15th, and that event is called Passover because the death angel passed over the Israelites when he saw the blood at the doors of their houses (Exodus 12:27). ‘Passover’ [and this has to include the actual event of the death angel’s PASSING OVER the Israelites] was on the 14th—not the 15th (Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 28:16). Also, the Israelites were not to leave their houses during the Passover NIGHT until morning (Exodus 12:22), yet we read that they left Egypt by night (Deuteronomy 16:1). Since it could not have been the night of Nisan 14, it had to be the next night—Nisan 15.”

To elaborate on this, it is clear from Scripture and virtually undisputed that Jesus and His twelve apostles kept the PASSOVER during the week of Christ’s death AT THE BEGINNING of the 14th day of Nisan–not at the beginning of the 15th day of Nisan (compare Matthew 26:1-2, 17-20; Luke 22:1, 7-16.) It is also clear that already during Jesus’ time, some of the Jews kept the Passover one day too late (compare John 18:28). That is one of the reasons why it was called the “Passover of the Jews” (John 11:55)–not anymore “the Passover of the LORD” or the “LORD’s Passover” (Leviticus 23:5). However, we learn from history that the Samaritans kept the Passover at the right time–at the beginning of the 14th day of Nisan–when Jesus and the disciples kept it.

George Carlow wrote in “A Defense of the Sabbath,” ed. 1847, on page 108: “[The Jews] kept the Passover on the wrong day… If you say that the Jews kept the right day, you must say that Jesus kept the wrong day.”

But Jesus kept it on the right day–He was the One who instituted it in the Old Testament. He had told the disciples to prepare the Passover for Him, and when the evening had come, He said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). None of the disciples asked Him: “Why do we keep it one day too early?” They KNEW when the Passover was, as they had kept it with Jesus before–at the beginning of the 14th day of Nisan–not at the beginning of the 15th.

The Israelites left Egypt by night (Deuteronomy 16:1). But this could not have been during the Passover night, when the lamb was eaten and the death angel went through Egypt, as they were forbidden to leave their houses until morning (Exodus 12:22), and they were to burn in the morning what remained of the lamb (Exodus 12:10). The Bible is very clear that “night” and “morning” are opposites–NOWHERE does the Bible say that “morning” could be part of the “night” (compare Numbers 9:15-16; Deuteronomy 28:66-67; Joshua 8:9-10; 1 Samuel 15:10-12).

The Passover was to be slain “at twilight, at the going down of the sun” (Deuteronomy 16:5-6). But they left Egypt one day later, “on the fifteenth day of the month; on the day AFTER the Passover” (Numbers 33:3). Since they left Egypt by night (compare again Deuteronomy 16:1), it had to be the night AFTER the Passover, at the beginning of the 15th day–it could not have been during the night of the 14th day, as they were forbidden to leave their houses until morning.

AFTER the Passover night and DURING the daylight portion of the Passover DAY, they received from the Egyptians articles of silver and gold. Notice Exodus 12:35: “And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed [better: asked, demanded, required] of the Egyptians jewels of silver; and jewels of gold, and raiment” (Authorized Version. Some say, “had borrowed,” but this is an incorrect rendering). God had preordained that this would happen (Exodus 3:22). Subsequently, they left Egypt in the NIGHT of the First Day of Unleavened Bread–one full day AFTER the Passover.

We also read that the Passover lamb was to be slain “at twilight” on the 14th day of Nisan (Exodus 12:6). The Hebrew for “at twilight” is “ben ha arbayim” or “beyn haarbayim,” and means, literally, “between the two evenings.” Many commentators are confused on this phrase and conclude that it refers to the time between afternoon and sunset. This is wrong. Rather, the phrase refers to the time between sunset and dark (compare Moffat and the annotation of the German Menge Bible) or between sunset and complete darkness (compare the Imperial Bible Dictionary). The Revised English Bible says that it means, “between dusk and dark.”

Remember that the Passover had to be slain on the 14th day of Nisan, “at twilight, at the going down of the sun.” Since days begin and end with sunset, according to the Hebrew calendar, this had to happen AT THE BEGINNING of the 14th day, in order to be a PART of the 14th day. If it had occurred at the end of the 14th day, as the Jews believe, than in actuality, it would have occurred AFTER the 14th day had ended (after sunset, before nightfall); that is, at the beginning of the 15th day, after sunset. But the Bible says, it occurred on the 14th day; that is, “BETWEEN the two evenings”; i.e., AFTER sunset, but before nightfall.

The biblical evidence from both the Old and the New Testament shows overwhelmingly that the Passover was to be and must be kept at the beginning of the 14th day of Nisan–not at the end of the day. Consequently, this year, it is to be observed in the evening of March 28, after sunset. Those who keep it at the beginning of the 15th day (e.g., on March 29) do not keep the “Passover of the LORD,” nor do they follow Christ’s example as to when to keep it (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

A new member letter was written, posted on the Web, and sent out. In the letter, the ministry gives a report about the latest conference and reminds all of us to examine ourselves in preparation for the Passover.

Norbert Link’s new sermon, titled, “The Sufferings of the Christ,” was posted on the Web.

A new German sermon, titled, “Die Leiden des Christus,” was posted on the Web.

by Michael Link

There are times throughout the day when I get myself frustrated over petty things, which are rather insignificant and ridiculous. This happens mainly on the days I am at work.  I get myself caught up in the emotion when something doesn’t go as planned, and it can be discouraging at times, knowing that I should not react this way.

I try to correct myself when I am in a particular situation by praying to God, because I don’t want the situation to get out of hand, getting myself caught up with negative feelings–or worse, for it to become a bad habit.

So the question I ask myself is, what does it take to be happy and better yet, to stay happy?  It is challenging at times to remain positive, since it almost seems easier to let go and become discouraged because it doesn’t take a lot of effort to feel that way. 

Staying happy throughout the day, without letting any problems I may face affect me negatively, takes a lot of effort, and I know this because Satan does not stop in his mission to discourage me and try to make me miserable on occasion.

At the same time, God, as merciful as He is, shows Himself to be very forgiving and powerful when I ask for His strength. With that fact in mind, I can go about my day with a sense of relief, knowing that when I am tempted to become discouraged, asking God for help is what it takes to be and stay happy.

NOTE: There will be no weekly Update on March 5 and March 12, due to our annual conference.

On February 27, Norbert Link will give the sermon from California, titled, “But Let A Man Examine Himself…”

On March 6, Brian Gale and Rene Messier will give split sermons from Colorado, titled, respectively, “Power, Position and Influence,” and “The Rose.”

On March 13, Norbert Link will report from California on the conference, and he will also give the sermon.

All 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.

As mentioned above, due to our annual ministerial and Church conference in Colorado in early March, the publication of our weekly Updates will be discontinued for two weeks. The next issue will be published on March 18.

This gives all of us more time to concentrate on the very important issues which we need to discuss and decide upon–including our growing Internet activities; the publication of new booklets in 2010; clarifications on doctrinal issues pertaining to the “king of the South”; the future of the “spirit in man” for unpardonable sinners in the third resurrection; the use of an anointed cloth in regard to demons; today’s application of certain Old Testament laws; and perhaps most importantly, combating Laodicean attitudes in this last era of the Church of God.

Brethren and friends, we must never think that a superficial attitude may only exist and prevail in the lives of other organizations and individuals, or that it could not possibly sneak into “our” church or our personal lives. It may perhaps be easy to see in others a lack of zeal, dedication, perseverance or stick-to-itiveness; a failure to carry out tasks on time or at all; and the tendency to let things slip or to lose enthusiasm for the accomplishment of certain necessary projects. These problems in others may become obvious to us, but what about ourselves?

How much “on fire” are we–on a continuous basis?

Those of us who are baptized and converted members of the Church of God will be partaking of the annual Feast of Passover in about one month. We are admonished, especially during this time now, to examine ourselves. In my sermon this coming Sabbath, I will be speaking about self-examination, as it applies to our individual lives regarding our relationship with God and our fellow man.

In this Editorial, I would like to take an additional approach and ask some pertinent questions regarding our zeal and dedication for God’s WORK and the CHURCH of God. So, let’s evaluate a few things:

How diligent are we in regularly attending weekly Church Sabbath services? Or are there sometimes personal activities in our lives which seem to take preference over our regular commanded personal attendance before God?

How do we dress when we appear before God–the King and Ruler of the universe? (I am not just talking about attending personally in services, but also, when we participate in Sabbath services over the Internet.) How do we behave during services? Does our conduct show that we know and are constantly aware of the fact that we are in the presence of God and His holy angels, as well as Spirit-begotten brethren–future kings and queens in the very Family of God? Inappropriate clothing or disrespectful behavior during services not only disturb other brethren, but they also show indifference and carelessness for our very Maker and Sustainer.

How attentive are we during services? How diligent are we in studying the written material which this Work is publishing?  Are we habitually watching our weekly StandingWatch programs? Are we conscious of the fact that in doing so, we are fulfilling our responsibility as a co-worker in the Work of God?

Do we read and study the weekly Updates each week from the first to the last page? Or are they “too long” and “too wordy” for us? Do we think that we can afford skipping the Editorial, or the Current Events, or the Q&A, or the news from the Work? Do we think, for example, that we don’t have to read the Current Events section because we get the news anyhow from CNN or from MSNBC or from FOX or from newspapers and magazines? Granted, you might perhaps get some of the news if you searched the Internet for hours and read paper after paper–but even then, you are not going to get the news in the concentrated fashion and explained in the light of biblical prophecy, as you do when you read the Current Events (By the way, numerous hours each week go into the preparation of the Current Events section.)

Do we take the time to study–not just “read”– the Q&As? Do we open the Bible and look up every Scripture mentioned in the Q&A–as the minister has to do when he prepares the Q&A? Do we prove to ourselves that the things which are said are so? I know that some of you do this–but I dare to say that others don’t. So why is that? Do those who don’t, really think that they don’t NEED to do this?

How often do we PRAY for the success of this Work–that the preaching of the gospel may fall on fertile ground? How often have we prayed for God’s guidance and success for the upcoming conference? Do we regularly pray that God would bring workers into the harvest, which is indeed plentiful? Do we pray for one another, for the ministry, and dear brethren and friends, do you also pray for me, personally? Never ever think that I don’t need your prayers. I most certainly do!  

How faithful are we in regular tithing, contributions and Holy Day offerings? Not only is your financial support necessary to help this Work to continue to accomplish the task which God has given to us–much more importantly for us individually is the fact that our negligence or indifference in regular tithing is tantamount to robbing from God. I know, you might have heard this many times before, but how serious do you take it? Do we REALLY want to have to give an account or “justification” to God as to why we were “excused” from paying His tithe to Him? When you earn money, then you have “increase”–tithable income. To use it for yourself is stealing from God, pure and simple.

These are just a few examples to encourage you to continue on your journey of self-examination. Much more could be said–and will be said in the weeks ahead, prior to the Passover. Please use the time to pray, study, meditate and fast, so that you can show yourself approved by God as one of His co-workers who is and remains to be a zealous, dedicated, good and faithful servant.

This issue focuses heavily on events in Europe.

We begin this section by reporting on the collapse of the Dutch government, which was mainly caused by disagreements on how to proceed in Afghanistan. The highly unpopular Afghan war might force other individual European governments to either withdraw their troops or to risk political defeat. At the same time, the EU–as a unified entity–is getting more and more involved, politically and militarily, in countries such as Afghanistan.

Looking merely after its own economic interests, France struck a military deal with Russia, thereby antagonizing and frightening other European countries. Israel warns that Britain and the USA may be next in line to be accused of war crimes, and Europe is struggling to resolve the Greece debacle which is blamed to a large extent on secretive U.S. dealings. The German government is asking the Catholic Church to deal with its problems of sexual child abuse through deviant priests. At the same time, Germany’s female leader of the Protestant church resigned over an incident of drunk driving.

An interesting article discusses the Habsburg legacy, and we conclude with an admission of scientists that they make mistakes–showing that our trust must never be in science if it contradicts the Word of God.

Dutch Government Collapses Over Afghanistan

The collapse of the Dutch government will have wide-reaching consequences, not just for The Netherlands, but also for Europe and the future of the Afghan War. Sentiments against America’s insistence to continue the war will increase in Europe and force European governments to either follow public demands to withdraw their troops, or risk their political survival.

The EUObserver wrote on February 22:

“Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende said on Sunday… that his country’s troops are likely to be pulled out of Afghanistan by the end of this year, a move he said may prompt other wavering states – including EU members – to think about doing the same… The centre-right leader was speaking a day after his government collapsed over the issue. The Labour Party quit the coalition on Saturday, saying it could not agree to a Nato request to extend the Dutch mission beyond 2010…

“There is also tension between contributing countries. Germany, which has the third biggest contingent behind the US and the UK, has its troops mainly stationed in the less risky northern part of the country. Fighting is heaviest in the south. France, which has just over 3000 troops in Afghanistan last month said it will not be sending any more, while London is feeling the political toll of the high number [of] British soldiers who have died in Afghanistan – over 100 last year…

“The move is a set-back for US President Barack Obama, who has been arm-twisting EU nations to do more in Afghanistan since making it a key plank of his foreign policy…

“The collapse of the government could result in a swing to the right in the 16-million strong country, which has been suffering from tensions over how to treat its Muslim and wider immigrant communities… Polls show that the anti-immigration Freedom Party, which was second only to Mr Balkenende’s Christian Democrats in last June’s European elections, may gain the most from the coalition’s dissolution.”

German Reactions to the Dutch Debacle

On February 22, Der Spiegel Online reported on the reaction of the German press to the collapse of the Dutch government, and the Afghanistan mission in general:

“The Dutch government is the first to collapse in a dispute over NATO’s involvement in Afghanistan. German media commentators say other NATO member states could share the same fate if they continue to ignore growing public opposition to the mission. The home front, it seems, is starting to crumble… The Afghan mission is unpopular across Europe and other governments will get into trouble too if they keep on ignoring public concern, say editorial writers at leading German commentators.

“The Dutch withdrawal is expected to fuel public debate in Germany, which has over 4,000 troops in Afghanistan. The mission has become even more controversial since an air strike ordered by a German commander on two hijacked fuel trucks in the northern region of Kunduz killed several civilians, possibly dozens, in September 2009…

“Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“‘The alliance no longer seems able to muster and preserve the unity without which the war will scarcely be winnable. The political home front is crumbling at a time when the alliance is making a tremendous military and political effort to turn the situation in Afghanistan in its favor. This shows that the public and politicians are losing patience with the Afghanistan mission. The political class is now, for the first time, prepared to take the consequences. The Dutch government is the first to have stumbled and collapsed over the war…

“‘It is only a matter of time before the pressure in other capital cities becomes so great that politicians will be forced to choose between staying loyal to the alliance and their own political survival… The writing is on the wall. If NATO doesn’t soon outline a clear plan for its withdrawal, more and more national governments will organize their own pullout in response to public pressure. Even at the cost of doing lasting damage to the alliance.”

“Conservative Die Welt writes:

“‘The collapse of the government in The Hague could open the European floodgates. Madrid, just like Berlin, can no longer sell the Afghanistan operation as a peace mission. In Britain too, public support for the mission is increasingly brittle…’

“Left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes:

“‘The Netherlands was always regarded as a reliable partner in NATO and the EU. They were rewarded for their loyalty with top jobs in international organisations. The collapse of the coalition marks a break with that foreign policy tradition. Dutch policy has undergone a reversal and shows how domestic political calculations will in future dominate foreign policy…'”

It is perhaps interesting to speculate whether The Netherlands, as the prophetic Zebulon–a modern descendant of one of the tribes of the ancient House of Israel–will be or won’t be a part of the final ten nations or groups of nations, which are prophesied to rise in Europe just prior to Christ’s return. For the identity of modern nations in biblical prophecy, please read our Q&A on the matter.

The EU in Afghanistan

The EUobserver wrote on February 24:

“The EU’s new envoy to Afghanistan, Lithuanian diplomat Vygaudas Usackas, has said he aims to demonstrate that new member states are up to handling the bloc’s top overseas postings… Mr Usackas… will in April leave behind his family to go to Kabul, where he will take charge of around 80 staff as the EU Special Representative to Afghanistan and the head of the EU delegation in the Afghan capital.

“The move will see him become the second ever person from a new EU member state to lead one of the EU’s 136 foreign missions, six years after the 2004 round of enlargement. The first was by a Hungarian diplomat in Norway. But the Afghanistan job is of a different magnitude.

“Afghanistan is a theatre of war for over 110,000 foreign troops including armed forces from 25 EU states… But unlike in Lithuania, where public opinion supports the war, other EU countries are starting to pull out. It is also a huge recipient of EU aid, with around €8 billion pumped in by the European Commission and member states over the past eight years, and hosts one of the union’s fastest-growing police missions.

“Mr Usackas’ job will be to advise President Hamid Karzai on the conduct of parliamentary elections in autumn, to help build Afghan government structures in pacified territories, oversee the influx of aid and speak on behalf of the EU… The new EU envoy warned that Nato-caused civilian deaths, such as the incident in Uruzgan last Sunday which saw 27 casualties, are generating opposition to the international presence both inside Afghanistan and in Europe.”

Europe is getting more and more involved politically and militarily–including and especially in areas outside Europe.

Afghan War Unwinnable

BBC reported on February 23:

“Sixty-four per cent of British people think the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable, a BBC poll suggests… Only 27% agree that the government has given sufficient support to UK forces… The data was collected between 19-21 February 2010, while more than 1,000 British troops were taking part in Operation Moshtarak as part of a 15,000-strong Nato and Afghan offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Helmand province…

“63% of respondents to the Newsnight poll agreed when asked if they thought that whoever formed the next government after this year’s general election should commit to removing Britain’s armed forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2010. It is widely expected that a general election will take place in early May.

“When asked whether the war in Afghanistan was unwinnable, older people were gloomier than the young about the prospects of success. Seventy per cent of people aged 55 and over agreed that the war was unwinnable, compared with 58% of those aged 18-24. Otherwise, the response to this question was virtually unchanged since polling last November, suggesting that Operation Moshtarak might not have made an impact on the public.”

France’s Warship Sales to Russia “Very Risky”

The EUObserver wrote on February 19:

“Georgia on Thursday (19 February) warned Europe against a proposed French sale of warships to Russia, as it would allow Moscow to invade any former Soviet republic ‘within hours,’ echoing concerns raised by Baltic leaders that the deal is in breach of an EU code on arms trade. During a visit to London, President Mikheil Saakashvili said that the warship sale was ‘very risky’ and would ‘reward’ Russia’s continued military presence in Georgia’s breakaway provinces, in violation of a French-brokered ceasefire agreement after a brief war in 2008.

“Russia is negotiating a €500 million deal to buy at least one Mistral, an assault ship capable of carrying up to 16 helicopters and a 750-strong landing force. It has also expressed interest in three others.
 
“Mr Sarkozy has defended the sale, saying ‘one cannot expect Russia to behave as a partner if we don’t treat it as one.’ The deal would be a considerable boost for France’s Saint-Nazaire shipyard, which builds Mistrals…

“The Georgian leader also referred to remarks made last year by admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, the commander of Russia’s navy, who said that if his country had such a ship in 2008, it could have won the war against Georgia ‘in 40 minutes instead of 26 hours’… Vladimir Putin was now searching for a new conflict to underpin his bid to recapture the Russian presidency in 2012, Mr Saakashvili claimed.

“Baltic ministers last week also warned against the deal with Russia, which would be the first time a Nato country sells advanced military technology to the former Cold War enemy. There is no EU law governing arms sales by member states. But in 2008 the bloc adopted a political commitment not to sell weapons or components to countries which violate human rights, pose a risk to regional stability or hurt the security interests of EU allies. The code was signed into life by the French EU presidency four months after the Georgia war…

“Earlier this month, a Pentagon spokesman said the US’s ‘friends and allies’ in Eastern Europe had ‘good reason’ to be nervous about the deal. On Wednesday, Moscow signed a military treaty with the Georgian breakaway province of Abkhazia, which has access to the Black Sea. The deal includes setting up a Russian military base for at least 45 years. Moscow has currently about 1,700 troops in the self-declared independent province, despite the ceasefire agreement stipulating a scale-back in its military presence.”

Europe has had its history of signing pacts and making deals with Russia, only to break them later. There can be no doubt that Russia is on an aggressive course against nations which once belonged to the Soviet Empire. The Bible predicts that the relationship between the prophesied ten European nations or groups of nations and a power bloc under Russian and Chinese leadership will deteriorate and end in an out-right war.

“USA and Britain Are Next…”

A-7 News reported on February 24:

“Meeting with foreign ambassadors in the Knesset on Tuesday, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin (Likud) said, ‘If the trend doesn’t change, the U.S. and Britain will be next in line’ to pay the price for the world’s double standards, and for their willingness to fight, in the war against terrorism.

“‘According to the standards laid down by the Goldstone investigation,’ Rivlin said, ‘Winston Churchill should have been charged with war crimes, as should the American and British armies in Iraq. In the meanwhile, though, only Israel is paying the price of the double standard that does not differentiate between attacker and victim, or between terrorism and self-defense.’

“The Goldstone Commission, charged by the United Nations with investigating Israel’s counter-terrorist Cast Lead offensive against Hamas-run Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009, accused Israel of war crimes, attacks upon civilians, and the like. ‘If the trend doesn’t change,’ Rivlin continued, ‘the next in line to be accused will be the members of the militaries of Great Britain, the U.S., and the other countries of the free world.’

“Some 70 ambassadors and foreign representatives took part in the Knesset event, which dealt with the fight of the democratic countries against terrorism… Rivlin warned of another terrific loss of life such as occurred in World War II… ‘Terrorism is trying to paralyze and silence democracies fighting against it,’ the veteran Jerusalemite Knesset Member said… Rivlin called on the nations of the world to stand by Israel in its fight against terrorism – a struggle that he said is ‘beginning to take on dimensions of World War III.'”

“PIIGS to the Slaughter”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 22:

“As speculators attack the euro, Europe is facing a growing threat of national bankruptcies. The consequences would be dramatic for the whole of the continent, especially German banks, which are highly exposed to risky debt. EU politicians are willing to pay almost any price to help the beleaguered countries…

“Europe is indeed currently the hottest topic on the global financial markets. The value of the battered euro has been falling since the Greek government confessed to the actual scope of its debt — and since it became clear that things are not looking significantly better in the other PIIGS countries (the acronym refers to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain).

“There has never been this much uncertainty. No one knows whether the Greeks will manage to solve their problems, whether and how other countries will come to their aid, whether the crisis can be confined to Greece or whether it will spread like wildfire among the PIIGS — and end up tearing apart the European currency union…

“The financial industry is back to its old tricks, playing with the greatest possible amount of risk. In the past, it speculated with the debts of American homeowners and, as a result, triggered the biggest crisis in the world economy since the Great Depression of the 1920s. Now it is gambling with the debts of entire countries…

“It is no coincidence, however, that the speculators have not zeroed in on the dollar, the British pound or the yen. Although the United States, Britain and Japan are also groaning under the burden of their debt, the euro is much more vulnerable, for both historic and political reasons. The weak southern countries, members of the so-called Club Med, have always been seen as problem cases. They have lived beyond their means and neglected the need to be competitive, they have built up — partly in full view, partly cleverly hidden — enormous mountains of debt, and they have avoided hard-hitting reforms. These conditions existed before they became members of the euro zone, and they did not improve afterwards.

“The other euro countries looked the other way. Initially, before the establishment of monetary union, they looked away because they didn’t want to jeopardize their political goal of a European common currency. Later, it was because they themselves were benefiting from the euro. The German export economy, in particular, was able to expand continuously…

“The euro has been a success story until now. During the recent financial crisis, the common currency proved to be a blessing at first, particularly for the smaller countries. But as debt levels increased, the problems, previously suppressed, became more and more evident…

“US investment bank Goldman Sachs, in particular, has its finger in several pies at once: as an adviser to the beleaguered governments — and on the side of the hedge funds that are speculating against the Greeks. Goldman Sachs was also involved when the Greeks tried to hide their debts from Brussels. In 2002, the US bank helped them exchange a portion of their dollar and yen debts, worth $10 billion, into euro debts. Goldman even granted Greece a loan of €1 billion, which was never reported as such to Brussels, and collected €200 million for its efforts… even the new Greek government… cannot manage without the US investment bank…

“The situation would spin completely out of control if, in addition to Greece, countries like Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain got into difficulties… German banks are apparently the ‘principal creditors in Spain and Ireland, and the second-most important creditor in Italy’… Early last week, the German-French duo brought the remaining finance ministers in the euro group on board. Officially, all are still cloaked in silence and behaving as if bailouts will not be necessary. Nevertheless, the package of measures is beginning to take shape. The German Finance Ministry expects support for Greece to amount to between €20 billion and €25 billion. All the members of the euro group are expected to participate, including those, like Spain and Portugal, who also might find themselves needing help soon… The assistance is to consist partly of loans and partly of loan guarantees… the official version is that the participating countries will not assume any of Greece’s debt, which would be forbidden under the treaty. Instead, they will add new debt to the existing debt, something that the rules do not prohibit…

“The Finance Ministry officials are also thinking about creating a new institution… to handle future bailout efforts. This European fund would provide financing to countries in difficulty. It is still unclear how the new rescue fund will be financed. There are two conceivable options: Each member state’s contribution could be based on either its share of ECB capital or the level of its deficit. The second solution would be fairer: the worse a country’s financial policy, the higher its contribution. In other words, the biggest sinners would be required to pay the highest indulgence.

“Such an institution doesn’t exist yet, which means that European politicians will have to make do with what they have. The financial strength of the donor countries could soon be depleted. This could force ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet to buy up the debt of the countries facing bankruptcy — which is tantamount to printing money. Although this is prohibited under the Maastricht statutes, the EU finance ministers already demonstrated that the treaty could be amended if necessary when, in 2005, they stealthily relaxed the 3 percent criterion for government debt. Such a bailout would come at a high price: It would turn the European monetary union into an inflation union.”

The present European crisis, caused by Greece and blamed on U.S. banks, might be another stepping stone to the unification of ten leading and powerful European nations or groups of nations within larger Europe, as prophesied in Scripture. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Germany Urges Catholic Church to Come Clean on Child Abuse

Deutsche Welle reported on February 21:

“German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger leveled criticism at the Bishop of Augsburg, Walter Mixa, who she said was ‘hiding behind polemic excuses instead of contributing to clearing up’ the matter. The controversial bishop had previously told a local newspaper that the media and the ‘so-called sexual revolution’ were partly to blame for the problem of child abuse in society…

“The minister’s comments come to a backdrop of a widening scandal involving allegations of sexual molestation at Catholic schools throughout Germany dating back to the 1960s…

“Hamburg Archbishop Werner Thissen said the scandal was the result of ‘structural problems’ in the church… An association of Catholic lay people… has also called on bishops to come clean, and admit that cases that have come to light are not isolated.”

Der Spiegel Online added on February 24:

“The Catholic Church in Germany is under pressure as more and more cases of sexual abuse come to light. Now the government is demanding that the Church take rigorous action to investigate the incidents… But Benedict XVI remained silent…

“New allegations of abuse by members of the Catholic Church are emerging every day… Despite the apparent urgency of the situation, Germany’s highest-ranking Catholic… had been unavailable for comment for weeks during the scandal…

“In reacting to what is probably the biggest scandal within their ranks in decades, German bishops have seemed helpless and dazed, sometimes concerned about the victims, but often stubborn, out of touch with reality or ignorant — and generally confused…

“Even the German government is unequivocally calling upon Church leaders to take action — an extremely unusual approach in the context of the relationship between Church and state… The prevalent view within the clergy, however, is still that sexual assaults are isolated cases, the regrettable transgressions of brothers gone astray… At the same time, the many new suspected cases indicate that abuse of children and adolescents was apparently widespread throughout the Catholic world…

“Given their experiences, however, many victims have little confidence in an investigation conducted by precisely the institution that concealed the abuse, sometimes for years or even decades.”

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the Catholic Church will do to get itself out of this mess. Please watch our new StandingWatch program on this important issue, titled, “Why Catholic Sex Abuse?”

Head of German Lutheran Church Resigns Over Drunk Driving

Deutsche Welle reported on February 24:

“The head of the Lutheran Church in Germany, Margot Kaessmann, announced her resignation at a press conference on Wednesday after being pulled over for drunk driving days before… Her resignation as head of Germany’s Protestants and Hanover’s bishop is effective immediately, but she will remain a pastor in the local Hanover church…

“Police had stopped the 51-year-old, who was driving a car provided by the Church, for running a red light in Hanover on Saturday night. A test showed her blood alcohol level to be 0.154 percent, three times the legal limit for driving in Germany, prosecutors said.

“‘I am shocked at myself for committing such a grievous error,’ Kaessmann had told Bild newspaper. ‘I am aware how dangerous and irresponsible it is to drink and drive. I will accept the legal consequences’…

“Kaessmann was elected in October 2009 to be the first woman to head the Protestant Church in Germany, an umbrella organization that unites Germany’s 25 million Protestant Christians. She was a controversial choice, because she was divorced. Kaessmann was viewed as a modernizer and a supporter of improving ties with Catholics. She gained attention recently by calling for a pullout of German troops from Afghanistan, saying there was no such thing as a just war.”

The Habsburg Legacy

The Habsburg Empire was for many years a predominant force in continental Europe and constituted the seventh resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire and the fourth resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. Even though it is very unlikely, based on the facts set forth below, that the Habsburgs will ever come to political power again in Europe, stranger things have happened in history.

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 19:

“Many tourists take an underground detour to the Imperial Crypt, an internationally famed heritage site beneath the city of Vienna… When night falls, loneliness sweeps in around Leopold I. The deceased emperor lies inside his coffin… The man who lies buried beneath this dusty splendor was once the continent’s most powerful monarch. Leopold I reigned over the Holy Roman Empire for nearly half a century, beginning in 1658. He drove Turkish forces back from Vienna, defied King Louis XIV of France, and paved the way for an empire that stretched as far as the Netherlands, the Carpathian Mountains, Silesia, and Sardinia. Of the 146 Habsburg relatives to Leopold I who are interred in that part of the crypt open to the public, only Emperor Franz Joseph I reigned longer. But resting in his robust copper coffin since 1916, Franz Joseph I hasn’t yet needed to visit the workshop…

“The crypt provides one of the prime attractions within Vienna’s historic city center… Nearly 400 years’ worth of coffins and heart urns are collected here. Reform-inclined emperors lie alongside crowned warmongers, murder victims like Empress Elisabeth — better known by her nickname ‘Sisi’ — lie alongside suicides like her son Rudolf, who was the heir apparent. The remains of blue-blooded relatives from the houses of Bourbon, Parma, Burgundy and Aragon also rest here. The Habsburgs became a major power through their strategy of nonviolent annexation through marriage.

“Today, though, aside from the monks and the city of Vienna, only a ‘Society for the Preservation of the Imperial Crypt,’ with around a thousand members, sees to it that the deposed Habsburgs’ Valhalla, at least, still reflects the family’s former splendor. ‘We were dispossessed, so we didn’t even have funds available for restoration,’ complains Karl Habsburg, loyal grandson of the last emperor and now himself head of the House of Habsburg…

“Even 90 years after it enacted the Habsburg Law, the Republic of Austria still greets requests from the former dynasty with ‘limited enthusiasm’… The decision from April 3, 1919, still holds. The Habsburgs were dispossessed of private property held in family funds, denied the right to run for election, and forbidden to remain in Austria, unless they renounced in writing their claims to the throne and their affiliation with the deposed dynasty.

“Carl Ludwig, son of the last Habsburg emperor, was interred in the family crypt in January 2008. He refused his entire life to meet the full demands of the Habsburg Law, and paid for it with more than half a century of being denied entry to the country. Carl Ludwig was the younger brother of the heir to the throne, Otto von Habsburg, and took part in the Allied landing at Normandy in 1944 in an American uniform. He felt he had sufficiently proved his republican sentiments.

“Using the relics of the fallen dynasty as a tourist attraction but ostracizing the family’s heirs is typically Austrian, living descendents of the family argue. Michael Salvator Habsburg, a great-grandson of Emperor Franz Joseph I from the Tuscany line, has the same complaint. His ancestors, the historian says, relinquished their claim to the throne and remained in the country, yet still have not been rehabilitated…

“To this day, Vienna continues to supplement individual EU laws at the national level with conditions concerning the Habsburgs, as if a return to the throne remained a constant threat. Any remaining concerns that the republic is in danger of collapse, though, should be dispelled by the appearance of the elderly gentlemen who make up the Teutonic Master Guard Corps. They come every year on November 20, the anniversary of Franz Joseph’s death, to sing ‘God Save the Emperor’ in the Capuchin Church above the vault and then gather to pray in the crypt chapel below, within view of the vault’s last three empty marble plinths.

“It ‘doesn’t take much of a stretch of imagination’ to guess who is meant to take these last places of honor, Karl Habsburg commented shortly before his mother’s death two weeks ago. Karl’s father Otto, 97, has joked that the Capuchin monks seem to eye him with particular attentiveness during his visits to the crypt — ‘to take measurements for later’…

“What should be done, for example, with the monstrous copper coffin standing around uselessly at Vienna’s Central Cemetery? It was originally meant for Emperor Charles I, but he was buried in Madeira, where he was forced into exile. Since his beatification in 2004, the emperor’s resting place on the island has drawn more tourists than ever before. The autonomous Portuguese archipelago declines to transfer the tomb to the Imperial Crypt in Vienna…

“One gets a clearer sense of the ephemeral nature of things down here, adds Michael Salvator Habsburg. ‘The Christian Western world speaks out of the depths of the crypt,’ he says. ‘You can sense continuity and legitimation here.’ But things are different above ground, amid the daily life of the republic, Habsburg comments: ‘A government thinks first and foremost about its pension rights.'”

Scientists Retract Global Warming Study

The most important aspect in the following article is the fact that scientists openly admit that they make mistakes of such a magnitude that they can have wide-ranging consequences. It is high time that our “modern” and “sophisticated” civilization begins to place its trust and belief in God–rather than in erring scientists–and that it rejects scientific “knowledge” when it is in clear contradiction to the revealed Word of God–the Holy Bible.

The Guardian wrote on February 22:

“Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.

“The study, published in 2009… confirmed the conclusions of the 2007 report… It used data over the last 22,000 years to predict that sea level would rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century.

“At the time, Mark Siddall, from the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Bristol, said the study ‘strengthens the confidence with which one may interpret the IPCC results.’ The IPCC said that sea level would probably rise by 18cm-59cm by 2100, though stressed this was based on incomplete information about ice sheet melting and that the true rise could be higher.

“Many scientists criticised the IPCC approach as too conservative, and several papers since have suggested that sea level could rise more…

“Announcing the formal retraction of the paper from the journal, Siddall said: ‘It’s one of those things that happens. People make mistakes and mistakes happen in science.’ He said there were two separate technical mistakes in the paper, which were pointed out by other scientists after it was published. A formal retraction was required, rather than a correction, because the errors undermined the study’s conclusion.”

It is not. Paul clearly understood and taught that there is a Second Resurrection for all those who were never called to salvation in this life. This will include the multitude of the past and present houses of Israel and Judah, as well as the multitude of non-Israelite nations–the “Gentiles.” Paul knew that today, only very few –the “firstfruits” (compare Romans 8:23)–will be called to salvation and the pre-millennial First Resurrection to eternal life. Paul knew that the Second Resurrection will not be to eternal life, but to a physical temporary existence, but with the potential to qualify for eternal life.

Paul knew, of course, Old Testament passages which clearly describe the Second Resurrection of the entire house of Israel to physical existence. He was aware of Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the resurrection of the entire house of Israel to physical life is prophesied (see verse 11). He knew of Jesus Christ’s sayings in passages such as Matthew 12:41-42; 11:21-24; and 10:14-15, referring to the post-millennial (second) resurrection to (the Great White Throne) judgment of Gentiles and Israelites. Even though the book of Revelation had not been written by the time of Paul, he undoubtedly was familiar with the concept of the Second Resurrection and the Great White Throne Judgment, as described in Revelation 20.

Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15:20-24 that there would be an “order” of resurrections (see verse 23). He knew that only those in whom God’s Holy Spirit dwelled at the time of their death, would be in the First Resurrection to eternal life (Romans 8:11). He taught that all would die in Adam, and that all would be made alive in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:22). He taught the resurrection of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15). He himself wrote that God wants all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4).

At the same time, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:14 that true Christians will be raised up when Christ returns. In the Greek, it literally says that God will raise them up “from among the dead,” or, “out of the dead.” Again, in Philippians 3:10-11, the original Greek says in verse 11 that true Christians will be resurrected “out of the dead.” V.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words explains that the literal meaning is, “the out-resurrection from among the dead.” Paul taught that at the time of Christ’s return, only a few would be resurrected “out of” or “from among” all the dead; that is, only those who were called by God in this day and age and who had received the Holy Spirit. He knew that one must be preordained or predestined by God to be called today (compare Romans 8:28-30).

When Paul wrote that there would be an order of resurrections, he understood that most people would not be resurrected to immortal life at the time of Christ’s return, but that their resurrection to physical existence would occur 1,000 years later (compare Halley’s Bible Handbook, comments on Revelation 20; and The Nelson Study Bible, comments on Revelation 20).

Why then, did Paul make certain comments in chapters 9-11 in the book of Romans, which might prompt some to think that Paul did not know about the Second Resurrection? Referring to passages in Romans 9:1-5 and Romans 10:1, some might conclude that Paul, being unaware of the Great White Throne Judgment period, felt that it was his utmost responsibility to preach the gospel to save Israel from final condemnation; that he had to preach God’s Word to them so that “all Israel will be saved” there and then, after “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (compare Romans 11:26, 25).

However, apart from the fact that God sent Paul ultimately to the Gentiles, not the Israelites (compare Acts 13:46-48; 18:6; 28:28; Galatians 2:7-8), Paul DID understand the concept of the Second Resurrection, as we have seen. But this does not mean that he did not have a desire to see his countrymen being called to salvation during his time, since the First Resurrection is the “better” resurrection (compare Hebrews 11:35).

Those who enter that resurrection have “made it” into the Kingdom of God–they can never die anymore (Luke 20:35-36). However, this is not true for those in the Second Resurrection. They still will have to qualify at that time–they still can fall away–they still can be condemned in judgment (John 5:24). So, Paul felt a deep responsibility–as we all should have the same conviction of responsibility today–that he and the other ministers of God had to preach the gospel with all their might (1 Corinthians 9:16), so that God could call those Israelites and Gentiles whom He had preordained to call in this day and age. Paul said that no one could come to God and call on Him unless he believed in Him, and in order to believe in Him, he had to have heard of Him, and in order to hear of Him, there had to be true ministers of God, preaching and proclaiming the gospel (Romans 10:14-15).

But Paul knew that those Israelites and Gentiles who would not be called in this day and age would be called during the Great White Throne Judgment period–and it will be then that “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26). Paul quoted this passage in connection with Isaiah 59:20, speaking about the salvation of Israel AFTER Christ’s Second Coming–not before then.

This does not mean that every last single Israelite will ultimately inherit eternal life, as some, who have committed or will still commit the unpardonable sin, will have to die the second and eternal death in the lake of fire; but it appears that in the Second Resurrection, the overwhelming majority of Israelites and Gentiles will repent and be given an opportunity to receive the Holy Spirit; they will live a life of overcoming their own human nature (as Christians have to do today); and they will ultimately be changed into spirit beings.

Since they don’t have to overcome Satan at that time, and since Jesus Christ and the saints will have ruled on this earth for 1,000 years and will have transformed this planet into a beautiful and peaceful place, it stands to reason that the reward or extent of rulership responsibilities will be greater for those in the First Resurrection than those in the Second Resurrection. After all, true Christians today have to overcome Satan and this evil rotten society, in addition to their human nature.

This might also indicate why Paul had such great desire to see as many of his countrymen as possible qualify for the First Resurrection, and why he was conscious of the fact that he and the other ministers of God had to do everything possible in their power to fulfill their responsibilities of participation as co-workers in God’s ongoing plan of salvation. Still, however, all who will become born-again spirit members in God’s Kingdom and Family will rule forever and ever (Revelation 22:5).

For more information on the resurrections, please read chapter 22 (“The Resurrections”) of our free booklet, “Is That in The Bible? — The Mysteries of the book of Revelation!”

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

A new StandingWatch program was posted on StandingWatch and on YouTube, titled, “Why Catholic Sex Abuse?”

The German version of the same program, titled, “Warum Katholischer Kindermissbrauch,” was posted on YouTube.

A new German sermon, titled, “Wann ist das Jährliche Passa?” [“When Is the Annual Passover?”] was posted on the Web.

Our printer in England completed the printing of our new booklet, “Paul’s Letter to the Galatians–How to Understand it”, as well as the reprint of our booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”. The booklet on “Paul’s Letter to the Galatians…” will be sent automatically to our subscribers, together with the next member letter, by the middle of March.

by Shana Rank

On occasion, I will sit and ponder the sequence of events that might happen during the time of Jesus Christ’s return.  I don’t typically exclude myself from these events.  In fact, I am very much alive and absolutely astonished by what I see.  Lately though, I have meditated on a single question—will I see death before Christ’s return? Or will I be someone with an unparalleled opportunity—skipping death altogether, and being alive at Jesus Christ’s return.

God gave the Israelites an opportunity to escape from slavery by the Egyptians. As much as they may have believed God was in every facet of their exodus, I bet they were running for their lives—moving forward, yet fearful for their well-being. The Israelites must have been thinking the same thing—will I see death?  It is truly awesome for me to consider that the Israelites could eventually have made it into the Promised Land–but only the younger generation did. How much greater will it be for me when God’s Kingdom is set up here on earth?!

I know that even if I die, I will still be resurrected to eternal life if I have remained faithful. But how awesome would it be for me, not only to never see death, but also to actually experience the return of Jesus Christ. This opportunity might very well be before me!

On February 20, Eric Rank will give the sermon, titled, respectively, “The Seed.”

The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

I wonder if it ever occurs to those atheists and agnostics who either deny the existence of God or who have no view one way or another about His existence, that the concerns that they have about perceived “global warming” would, if true, actually PROVE the existence of that greater power that they deny exists? They become so involved in their cause that it may itself become a religion to them!

At the recent Copenhagen “climate change” conference, the leaders of many nations around the world gathered together to discuss this matter, but had great difficulty in coming to an agreement to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to levels that were agreed by all, and in an acceptable timescale. This was so that a rise in temperature, as anticipated by them, and that could prove disastrous, as they would see it, wouldn’t actually come to fruition.  

The sun is about 93 million miles away from the earth, which is the PRECISE distance to ensure that we have the various seasons and to ensure that we neither burn to a cinder nor freeze to death. And so we get the temperatures that have preserved human life on earth for the last 6,000 years.

You might be forgiven for thinking that those who deny God’s very existence might have thought through this dilemma? They don’t believe that there is an all powerful, intelligent Being Who has set things in order (compare Psalm 19:1; Isaiah 40:22; and Romans 1:20-22). Instead, they believe that this order in the universe was, and is, the product of blind chance. The word “blind” accurately describes their stance, rather than how the universe came into being.

They think that a few degrees can signal the end of civilization as they know it, but believe that the perfect distance of the earth from the sun is the product of blind chance! What folly – but this seems to have been the case with so many since Adam and Eve were first put in the Garden of Eden.

There will be a rude awakening for so many in the not-too-distant future when the Being they don’t believe exists will actually return to this earth.  And that will be good news for them as well as for all mankind, as they finally see how foolish they were to deny God’s very existence in the first place!

We begin by reporting on remarkable events in Europe. Due to a temporary decline of the euro and a surge of the dollar, voices were heard claiming the inevitable break-up of the euro zone. These voices do not understand biblical prophecy. The euro is here to stay, and it is predestined to become the most powerful currency of the world’s most powerful political and military entity. The EU has begun to show its new-found powers, as established in the Lisbon Treaty. In a surprising move which angered the USA, the European Parliament blocked an agreement with Washington on sharing European bank data.

Turning to events in Germany, the country’s coalition government is hopelessly divided. The (correct) position of Germany’s Vice Chancellor on the welfare “reform” is being openly criticized by the Chancellor and other high-ranking officials, and of course by the opposition. Politics can again be seen at its worst.

In the middle of the political turmoil in Germany, the Roman Catholic Church is facing another sex abuse scandal of perhaps historical proportions, while trying to “deal” with the sex scandal in Ireland. 

Focusing on the USA, with much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama is seriously considering using his executive powers in a wide variety of issues. This brings to light the unsettling question as to when democracy ends and dictatorship begins. The U.S. Marines leading one of NATO’s biggest offensives against the Taliban in Afghanistan are facing fierce resistance, and there are different opinions on how much progress NATO has made or will make.

Finally, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister expressed doubts about the usefulness of more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, demanding instead “a more immediate solution,” and Israel finds itself in trouble again with Britain, France, Germany and other nations.

Euro Flawed from the Beginning?

Mail-On-Line wrote on February 12:

“The European single currency is facing an ‘inevitable break-up’ a leading French bank claimed yesterday. Strategists at Paris-based Société Générale said that any bailout of the stricken Greek economy would only provide ‘sticking plasters’ to cover the deep- seated flaws in the eurozone bloc. The stark warning came as the euro slipped further on the currency markets and dire growth figures raised the prospect of a ‘double-dip’ recession in the embattled zone… Claims that the euro could be headed for total collapse are particularly striking when they come from one of the oldest and largest banks in France – a core founder-member… The euro slid almost 1 per cent to $1.357 yesterday, meaning it has lost 10 per cent of its value since November. The pound rose to 1.14 euros.

“David Cameron… told the Tories’ Scottish conference: ‘… If I am elected for as long as I am prime minister the United Kingdom will never join the euro.’ The French bank’s warning was echoed by Mats Persson, Director of the Open Europe think-tank, which campaigns for reforms in Brussels. He said: ‘The eurozone is facing a fully-fledged crisis. The Greece episode has made it painfully clear how flawed the euro project was from the very beginning…’

“Harvard University Professor Martin Feldstein, a long-standing skeptic on the euro, yesterday said the single currency ‘isn’t working’ because member governments have no incentive to keep their public debts under control. Axel Weber, President of Germany’s Bundesbank, warned the German economy will contract this year. The eurozone faces the danger of a ‘doubledip’ recession after Germany’s economy retreated into stagnation.

“Figures [from the European Commission] published yesterday revealed that the countries who have joined the euro collectively grew a mere 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year… The figures… are a blow to Britain’s embattled manufacturers, which count the eurozone as their biggest export market.”

However, this pessimistic viewpoint about the euro is refuted by others, pointing out that especially Britain should look at their horrific budget deficit, before blaming the eurozone, as the next articles show.

Britain Rejoices Over Decline of Euro–But Has Its Own Problems…

The LATimes wrote on February 13:

“It’s not hard to find some smug smiles in Britain these days as the rest of Europe grapples with a debt crisis that has cast doubt on the future of the euro. This island nation has fiercely resisted adoption of the single regional currency and has clung to the pound as a symbol of tradition and independence.

“Before a summit of European Union leaders this week, his usual Scottish dourness barely succeeded in masking Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s schadenfreude when he declared that the euro’s problems were for euro-using nations such as France and Germany to solve, not British taxpayers.

“But Britain is in no position to sit back and relax, much less crow, analysts say, not when its own economy is still in such shaky condition, its credit rating in danger of an embarrassing downgrade and its government sinking deeper into debt.

“The global downturn has hit Britain particularly hard, in part because of London’s status as an international financial center. Britain’s was the last of the major economies technically to emerge from recession, and that only barely: It grew by a tiny 0.1% in the final quarter of last year, and economists fear it could just as easily start contracting again.

“Like many other countries, including the United States, Britain went on a spending spree to stimulate demand during the recession’s darkest days, funding infrastructure projects and cash-for-clunkers-style rebates. And as elsewhere, that has compounded a budget deficit now at a level not seen since World War II.

“In fact, as a percentage of gross domestic product, Britain’s yawning deficit is close to that of Greece, whose 12.7% shortfall triggered the euro crisis. Athens’ deficit is more than four times the prescribed limit for countries in the so-called Eurozone and investor panic over a possible default has hammered the euro’s value…

“Just as Greece has unveiled an austerity plan to get its finances in order, Britain must soon bite the fiscal bullet as well. Exactly what and how deeply to cut is already shaping up as the dominant issue in the national election that must be held by early June. The opposition finance spokesman, George Osborne of the Conservative Party, caused a minor stir in December when he said that Britain might be on the same path to misery as Greece…

“As for Greece, Britain may yet be on the hook for bailing it out, despite distaste for the idea. If the EU as a whole, instead of just the Eurozone, decides to give credit assurances for Athens or to issue EU-wide bonds, then British taxpayers will have no choice but to be involved because Britain remains one of the 27 EU member states.”

In addition, BBC News reported on February 17 that the “UK inflation rate rose to 3.5% in January – the fastest annual pace for 14 months – from 2.9% the month before.” And Times on Line added on February 18 that “The [British] Government is on course to run up a higher budget deficit this year than Greece after dire figures on the public finances today showed that it borrowed £4.3 billion more than it received in taxes in January, the first time this has happened.”

The Strong Eurozone and Wrong US Politics

In a Spiegel interview, dated February 12, European Central Bank Chief Economist Jürgen Stark discussed the threat of a Greek bankruptcy, disruption in the euro zone and the growing problem of excessive national debts in countries that have adopted Europe’s common currency. We are bringing you the following excerpts from the interview:

“We have been in a global crisis for more than one-and-a-half years now. We still can’t say whether it’s over… There were many skeptics at the beginning of the currency union. Since then, the euro has experienced 11 successful years. However, the current crisis has shown that we are all moving in unknown terrain. For instance, the central banks have had to adopt measures that I would have considered to be impossible only two years ago. But all market players and currencies have been put to the same test since the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. That, by the way, happened on the other side of the Atlantic and led to the tsunami that then hit Europe.

“… the Greeks had a double-digit and not a single-digit budget deficit, which is close to 13 percent of the gross domestic product… Greece covered it up for a long time with an extremely generous spending policy… I would like to see better supervision. This is where Eurostat (the European Union’s statistical office) and the European Commission, in particular, can play a role. We should all learn from the mistakes of the past. Greece was living beyond its means. That has to be corrected now… [Greece] has to regain the confidence of the markets. Ireland was in a similar situation and has since regained some confidence… The responsibility for setting its house in order clearly lies with the Greek government…

“We began with 11 countries and we have 16 today. The euro zone was never a closed affair. The goal is and must continue to be that all 27 EU countries have the same currency in the end. However, this cannot result in the currency zone drifting apart… Great Britain has a budget deficit of the same magnitude as Greece’s. The US budget deficit is also more than 10 percent of GDP. All advanced economies are currently having problems. In fact, it is astonishing to see where most of the criticism of the euro is coming from at the moment… much of what they are printing reads as if they were trying to deflect attention away from problems in their own backyard.

“Yes, everyone is a sinner at the moment. But we also happen to be dealing with the consequences of the worst recession in 80 years. That’s one of the reasons so many governments have yielded to the enormous pressure, in some cases, to take on huge debts. A renaissance of the government’s role in the economy was celebrated. The politicians were proud that they could finally rescue something. But who will rescue the state in the end?… Things cannot be allowed to go so far that the state has to be rescued… We cannot take that approach [of the United States, where the Fed prints money and buys treasury bonds].”

Euro Is Here to Stay

This week, the EUObserver published the following comments:

“The financial turmoil arising from the Greek government’s indebtedness is likely to have a profound effect of the future constitutional development – and enlargement – of the European Union. So anyway it seems to me.  All the improbable articles in the British press about the threatened collapse of the euro and the end of civilisation as we know it are, in a sense, correct.  Apart, that is, from the euro collapsing.

“The euro will not collapse; it is one of the world’s reserve currencies, underpinned by the world’s largest trading block. And if in recent months there has been some readjustment against the dollar that is principally the result of the dollar recovering some of its value lost in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other Wall Street institutions.

“Greece – and a number of other countries in the European Union – are, as we know, burdened with unsustainable budget deficits and high levels of public debt.  Britain, though not in the eurozone, is among them.  Whether Britain’s public finances would have been in better order had she not – in an act of hubris – turned her back on the Single Currency project in 1997 and 1998 – is a moot point.

“What is certain is that the pound has in the last year or two lost some 20 per cent of its external value – something that impoverishes us all and whose lesson – (you can’t make yourself richer by devaluing) we thought had long been learned. Certainly Britain’s finances will not again meet the qualifying terms for joining the euro for many a long year to come…”

Based on biblical prophecy, we can safely say that the euro is here to stay, and that more and more European countries will join the eurozone. Interestingly, in all likelihood, countries like Britain and Sweden won’t accept the euro. There are prophetic reasons for this. For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy,” “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord,” and “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Greece and the Euro Zone

On February 15, Reuters reported the following:

“A majority of Germans want debt-ridden Greece to be thrown out of the euro zone if necessary and more than two-thirds oppose handing Athens billions of euros in credit, a poll published on Sunday showed. Vocal opposition to aid for Greece from members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition also grew at the weekend with several senior politicians expressing skepticism, especially as Germany’s own recovery is fragile… Merkel has adopted a cautious stance on support, saying while Greece will not be left on its own, it is up to Athens to sort out its own problems… Merkel’s coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) are even more resistant to helping Greece.”

The Associated Press reported on February 15:

“Germany has rejected the idea of setting up a special fund to bail out eurozone countries, like Greece, that run into budget trouble. Finance Ministry spokesman Michael Offer said Monday that a European Monetary Fund would not help a case such as Greece’s. He said there was ‘no way around’ painful austerity measures being pushed through by the Greek government.

“Offer said Greece must reduce its budget deficit by four percentage points this year and bring it down to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2012. That is in line with requirements for participation in the common currency. Greece’s debt trouble has shaken confidence in the 16-country currency union and pushed the euro to a nine-month low against the dollar.”

Whether Greece will remain a member of the euro zone will have to be seen. Bible prophecy indicates that Greece will cooperate with a united Europe and especially with the last ten nations or groups of nations, as described in Revelation 17, but it is unlikely that it will be one of the ten nations.

The EU Shows “Strength”

The Telegraph wrote on February 16:

“The European Union has shown its righteous wrath by stripping Greece of its vote at a crucial meeting next month, the worst humiliation ever suffered by an EU member state.

“The council of EU finance ministers said Athens must comply with austerity demands by March 16 or lose control over its own tax and spend policies altogether. It if fails to do so, the EU will itself impose cuts under the draconian Article 126.9 of the Lisbon Treaty in what would amount to economic suzerainty.

“While the symbolic move to suspend Greece of its voting rights at one meeting makes no practical difference, it marks a constitutional watershed and represents a crushing loss of sovereignty.”

A New Era of Strong EU Politics?

On February 12, Der Spiegel reported about the reaction of the German media pertaining to the decision of the EU Parliament to block an agreement with Washington on sharing European bank data.

The magazine wrote:

“The move marks a new era in EU politics, write German commentators, who largely agree that the European people now have more power as a result of the Lisbon Treaty… What looked on Thursday like a setback for the war on terrorism — to members of the Obama administration — was cheered in Europe on Friday as a victory for citizens’ rights. The European Parliament moved Thursday to reject a George W. Bush-era agreement that allowed United States authorities to inspect European bank transfers… The unambiguous vote — 378 to 196 — comes against a background of shifting power in the EU…

“A crucial development is that the EU’s new constitution — the so-called Lisbon Treaty, which came into effect on Dec. 1, 2009 — gave the popularly elected parliament new powers over EU policy, which the representatives on Thursday showed they were eager to use. One of those powers is the requirement that any international EU treaty must be given parliament’s stamp of approval before it can be ratified. Most German commentators on Friday welcome the vote as a sign of health, strength and democratic right in an EU that long suffered from a democratic deficit.

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… Some Washington officials will moan, but EU lawmakers have done a service to trans-Atlantic relations in the long run. Because now Washington will understand: Terrorism can be fought together, but not at the cost of European citizens’ rights…’

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘… The SWIFT controversy is a perfect chance for the parliament to prove its effectiveness… This revolt against the SWIFT agreement is a foretaste of decisions in the coming years, particularly on security. The European Council and European Commission will now have to take the parliament seriously.’

“Business daily Handelsblatt likewise writes: ‘Good news at last from Europe: The controversial SWIFT agreement between the EU and Washington has collapsed.'”

Europe is destined to become more and more powerful, and it is predestined to become a real challenge to the USA.

German Government Divided…

Deutsche Welle reported on February 12:

“Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister and vice-chancellor [as well as leader of Germany’s coalition party, FDP], remains defiant over controversial comments he made after the social welfare program Hartz IV was declared unconstitutional this week. After the ruling came out, Westerwelle said that the debate about Hartz IV had ‘socialist elements’ and that ‘those who promise effortless wealth, are inviting Roman decadence.’

“Germany’s highest court has ordered the government to recalculate the payments it makes under the Hartz IV program for the unemployed. The ruling has triggered a debate about whether to raise benefit payments for children, for example [Note: In Germany, every parent is paid a certain benefit amount for his child. The more children, the higher the payments.] Westerwelle’s comments sparked calls for an apology, but the foreign minister was sticking to his guns on Friday.

“‘Those who work must earn more than those who do not,’ he said in Berlin. ‘I must be allowed to say that in Germany. Everything else is socialism. I speak a language that people understand,’ he added. But chancellor Angela Merkel as well as coalition partners from the [Bavarian] Christian Social Union (CSU) have distanced themselves from Westerwelle…

“The opposition parties were even more vociferous in their anger. Social Democrat and premier of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Kurt Beck, said Westerwelle was completely off track and should apologize. He also called him ‘arrogant’ and said that ‘his (Westerwelle’s) comments are a slap in the face of those who work hard but do not earn enough to live without state benefits.’ [However, this is not really the issue of debate.] The Greens were also up in arms. ‘This stirring up of social unrest is undignified for a German foreign minister and vice chancellor,’ said Renate Kuenast, who is the leader of the Green party in parliament.

“Politicians from the Left party agree [with the Greens]… Union representatives also condemned the comments… But, perhaps most importantly, voters also seem to be going off the Free Democrats. ‘Westerwelle has lost his compass,’ said the head of the Forsa polling institute, Manfred Guellner.”

Guido Westerwelle responded by calling his critics “hypocrites,” as many of those attacking him are “responsible” for the current disaster. According to Deutsche Welle, dated February 17, “Merkel herself finally admonished her foreign minister at the CDU rally Wednesday evening, after days of no public comment on the matter. ‘I have made it clear that, what Guido Westerwelle said, is not my words,’ Merkel said. ‘It is not my style.'”

However, the article continued:

“‘It had to be said what needed to be said,’ Westerwelle told FDP supporters… Of course, as foreign minister he was obligated to follow a diplomatic tone when abroad. But, he said when in Germany, he would ‘continue to belong to the club of clear debate.’ ‘The left-wing zeitgeist may criticize me for it, but the fact remains: work has to be worth it and someone who works more has to get more than someone who doesn’t work at all,’ he said… Westerwelle at least got some support from the head of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), Horst Seehofer…”

Guido Westerwelle is correct in what he says. But since politics is not only dirty and hypocritical business in the United States and Great Britain, but also, of course, in Germany, his political “friends” and opponents criticise him because they fear a substantial loss of votes in the upcoming state elections. And so, one cannot permit vice-chancellor Westerwelle to express what many believe, but don’t dare to say, because it is just not “politically correct.”

However, it is FACTUALLY correct! Germany IS embracing socialist elements (as are the United States and Great Britain), and it IS “inviting Roman decadence”–which ultimately led to Rome’s fall. The Bible tells us in 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” As mentioned above, parents with many children [especially from certain ethnic minorities] can easily live from benefit payments for their children, coupled with unemployment and/or welfare payments and payments for housing. And it is the hard-working gainfully employed or self-employed German citizens who support and finance this system through the payment of heavy and stiff taxes.

Catholic Church Scandal Widens in Germany…

Deutsche Welle reported on February 15:

“A lawyer representing victims of a sex abuse scandal at Catholic schools in Germany said on Monday that the number of cases was three times higher than at first believed. News of the abuse allegations involving around 30 former pupils first surfaced in late January, when a former priest admitted that he forced boys to have sex at the elite Canisius College in Berlin from 1975 to 1983.

“Since the revelation, many more former pupils have come forward with allegations against clerics and laymen at Jesuit colleges and other Catholic schools across the country. The Jesuits have since issued an apology, admitting they covered up abuse that had taken place at schools in Berlin, Hamburg, St. Blasien, Goettingen and Hildesheim in the 1970s and 1980s. The worldwide order also confirmed cases in Spain and Chile.”

The San Diego Tribune reported on February 10:

“The Catholic Church faces yet another child abuse scandal, this time in Pope Benedict XVI’s native Germany. The scandal began last month with allegations that three priests at the elite Canisius Jesuit high-school in Berlin had sexually abused students in the 1970s and ‘80s. The magazine Der Spiegel also published an article last weekend that said nearly 100 clerics and lay people had been suspected of abusing children and teenagers nationwide since 1995.”

Catholic Church Scandal in Ireland…

Deutsche Welle reported on February 15:

“Pope Benedict XVI began talks on Monday with a delegation of Irish bishops summoned to the Vatican to discuss a child sex abuse scandal, which has shaken the Catholic Church in Ireland.

“The talks, which are to last two days, stem from a report last November about unchecked child abuse in the archdiocese of Dublin over a period of nearly 30 years. The Murphy Commission report detailed a litany of abuse perpetuated by priests against more than 300 victims and strongly criticized the Irish church’s handling of the situation…

“Revelations of pedophile priests also have rocked the Church in recent months after similar scandals in the United States and Australia… Anti-abuse campaigners, meanwhile, have called on Pope Benedict to visit Ireland to meet the victims of the pedophile scandal. Christine Buckley, herself an abuse survivor… criticized that many of the accused Irish priests had left Ireland and gone to countries such as Australia and America, where they continued their abuse.”

BBC News added on February 16:

“As the Roman Catholic Church prepares to celebrate the penitential rites of Lent, during which the faithful beg forgiveness for their sins, an unprecedented act of private penance has been held behind closed doors at the Vatican.

“Pope Benedict spent two days in one of the Vatican’s sumptuous marble audience halls closeted with 24 Irish bishops who both individually and collectively confessed to him their shortcomings and omissions in the paedophile clergy scandal which has shocked the entire Catholic world.

“… we know from the official Vatican communique issued at the end of this extraordinary crisis meeting that the Pope strongly condemned the child abuse scandal which has been the subject of an official Irish government inquiry… Pope Benedict did not spare his words in addressing his Irish bishops. He said that child abuse was a ‘heinous crime’ as well as a ‘grave sin’. He lambasted the bishops for failing to act effectively over cases of sexual abuse of young people.

“Seated at two long tables, the red-clad bishops were invited by the Pope to describe individually… how they had dealt with cases of priestly paedophilia in their own dioceses, and to explain why so many cases had been systematically covered up during a period of decades. Although four Irish bishops have tendered their resignations over the scandals, only one of them has had his resignation accepted by the Vatican…

“At stake is not only the credibility of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, but also a lot of Church money… The Vatican fears that just as in similar scandals of priestly paedophilia in other parts of the world, including the United States, claims by paedophilia victims in Ireland could eventually bankrupt several religious orders as well as individual dioceses…

“The sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy has been reported from many countries, and dealing with these scandals has in fact been a worldwide problem for the Pope… But the crisis within the Irish church goes deeper perhaps than in any other country with a significant Catholic population.”

The Associated Press and USA Today reported on February 18:

“Pope Benedict XVI told Irish bishops at a special summit meeting Tuesday to be courageous in confronting the pedophile priest scandal that has rocked that Catholic nation’s church, but took no action on victims’ demands the Vatican take some responsibility… activists troubled by what they contend is a pattern of Vatican denial of responsibility were branding the talks a failure…

“Victims had already warned the talks would be a failure unless the pope demanded resignations of bishops who had any role in concealing wrongdoing. They also demand that the pope accept in full the findings of the Irish investigations, which some church officials in Ireland have criticized as unfair.

“[Irish Church leader Cardinal Sean] Brady said Irish church leaders needed to do penitence for the scandal that would be ‘the equivalent of sackcloth and ashes’ and have a ‘change of heart.'”

President Obama Preparing to Use His Executive Power

The New York Times wrote on February 13:

“With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities. Mr. Obama has not given up hope of progress on Capitol Hill, aides said, and has scheduled a session with Republican leaders on health care later this month. But in the aftermath of a special election in Massachusetts that cost Democrats unilateral control of the Senate, the White House is getting ready to act on its own in the face of partisan gridlock heading into the midterm campaign…

“Any president has vast authority to influence policy even without legislation, through executive orders, agency rule-making and administrative fiat. And Mr. Obama’s success this week in pressuring the Senate to confirm 27 nominations by threatening to use his recess appointment power demonstrated that executive authority can also be leveraged to force action by Congress.

“Mr. Obama has already decided to create a bipartisan budget commission under his own authority after Congress refused to do so. His administration has signaled that it plans to use its discretion to soften enforcement of the ban on openly gay men and lesbians serving in the military, even as Congress considers repealing the law. And the Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with possible regulations on heat-trapping gases blamed for climate change, while a bill to cap such emissions languishes in the Senate…

“The use of executive authority during times of legislative inertia is hardly new; former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush turned to such powers at various moments in their presidencies… But Mr. Obama has to be careful how he proceeds because he has been critical of both Mr. Clinton’s penchant for expending presidential capital on small-bore initiatives, like school uniforms, and Mr. Bush’s expansive assertions of executive authority, like the secret program of wiretapping without warrants…

“Another drawback of the executive power strategy is that actions taken unilaterally by the executive branch may not be as enduring as decisions made through acts of Congress signed into law by a president…”

Those who might have thought that in times of crises, the USA could never become a dictatorship ruled by a few in office should perhaps reconsider.

War in Afghanistan

Reuters reported on February 15:

“U.S. Marines leading one of NATO’s biggest offensives against Taliban Islamic militants in Afghanistan are facing fierce resistance in some areas, bogged down by heavy gunfire, snipers and booby traps. Marine units have tried twice since Sunday to reach a bazaar in Marjah, the last militant stronghold in the country’s most violent province, Helmand, only to be pushed back. Coming under heavy gunfire and sniper attacks — one assault lasted over an hour — they were forced to call in Harrier jets and attack helicopters with Hellfire missiles.

“There have been conflicting assessments of how much progress NATO has made, but it seemed clear that the campaign to seize insurgent-held areas before a planned 2011 troop reduction could drag on for weeks… The assault, one of the biggest in the eight-year war, is the first test of U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban have made a steady comeback since a U.S.-led invasion ousted them in 2001.

“The Marines’ efforts to close in on Taliban snipers in Marjah’s bazaar came a day after the compound the U.S. troops are holding in the heart of the town was attacked several times, showing the Taliban are not confined to one area. Afghanistan is a top foreign policy issue for Obama so failure here could be seen as damaging to his presidency. Much of the operation’s success in Helmand province depends on whether the administration wins residents’ trust and Afghan troops are able to keep the Taliban from returning…

“NATO and the Afghan government’s credibility rests on limiting civilian casualties, and NATO commanders told Marjah residents to stay at home during the offensive. NATO rockets killed 12 civilians by accident on Sunday in the attack on Marjah, a farming area criss-crossed by canals, a breeding ground for insurgents and lucrative opium poppy cultivation, which Western countries say funds the insurgency.”

The Washington Post wrote on February 18:

“Although U.S. and Afghan forces have made steady inroads here since beginning the largest joint military operation of the war four days ago, they control only a few modest patches of this farming community, principally around the two biggest bazaar areas. Much of Marja has not yet been patrolled by troops on the ground, and video images from surveillance drones have shown Taliban fighters operating with impunity in those places.

“U.S. and NATO commanders were not certain whether the insurgents who have lorded over Marja for the past three years would stay and fight, or flee to parts of Afghanistan with fewer international security forces. It appears clear, however, that many Taliban members here have opted to stay — at least for now.

“That may mean many more weeks of arduous house-to-house clearing operations for Marines and Afghan forces in this 155-square-mile area, making this a far more complex and dangerous mission than initially envisaged…”

The Afghan war is dragging on. Conditions in the country are worse than they were before the invasion began eleven years ago.

Iran and Saudi-Arabia’s Ambiguous Stance

The Associated Press reported on February 15:

“Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Monday expressed doubts about the usefulness of more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Prince Saud al-Faisal told a news conference in the Saudi capital that the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions demands a more immediate solution than sanctions. He described sanctions as a long-term solution, and he said the threat is more pressing.

“The Saudi minister spoke at a joint appearance with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is in the Persian Gulf to shore up support for new sanctions against Iran. The Saudi minister also said efforts supported by the U.S. to rid the Middle East of nuclear weapons must apply to Israel… He didn’t identify a preferred short-term resolution.

“U.S. officials traveling with Clinton said privately they were uncertain what al-Faisal meant, since the Saudi government has been explicit in its support of sanctions against Iran. They said he appeared to be suggesting that sanctions may not be effective and that other action could be required.”

If he implies military actions against Iran, is he also implying military actions against Israel?

Israel In Trouble… Again…

The EUObserver wrote on February 18:

“The Israeli ambassadors to the UK and Ireland have been summoned to explain the use of fake passports by the hit squad that killed a senior Hamas leader in Dubai three weeks ago… the British Foreign Office has requested that the country’s ambassador to the UK ‘share information’ on how it was that six counterfeit versions of passports held by dual British-Israeli citizens came to be used in the operation…

“On 20 January, Mohammed al-Mabhouh, who was attached to the al-Qassam Brigades, the group’s military wing, and, according to Israeli sources, was the lead gun-runner from Iran to Gaza, died in mysterious circumstances in a Dubai hotel. The Dubai police investigating his death have revealed that Mr al-Mabhouh had been poisoned by eleven individuals travelling on European passports from the UK, Ireland, France and Germany…

“Separately, the case has widened to Austria, with Vienna on Wednesday announcing an investigation into the assassination after it was revealed that the killers used mobile phones with Austrian numbers.

“Israeli officials are concerned that the incident has opened a diplomatic rift between the Jewish state and the UK and that similar summonses could occur in Paris and Berlin, according to Haaretz, the Israeli daily newspaper. Dublin has suggested to London, Paris and Berlin that a joint investigation be carried out, according to one Israeli official.

“Meanwhile, foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said there was no proof that the Mossad was responsible for the murder, noting nevertheless Israel’s “policy of ambiguity” regarding its intelligence service. At a memorial rally for the slain Palestinian in Gaza on Wednesday, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal called on EU states to hold Israel to account… ‘Israel deserves to be placed on the terror list.'”

The Bible shows that Israel will be forsaken by all the nations, including its closest allies, the USA and Great Britain. Contrary to a wide-spread belief in a friendship agreement between Europe and Israel just prior to the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the Bible nowhere prophesies that there will ever be such an agreement.

Although the correct answer can be easily ascertained from the Scriptures, many commentaries are actually confused regarding the meaning of this passage. Paul said, in context, in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5:

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles–that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken from among you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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.”

Paul wrote this letter during the annual Festival of the Seven Days of Unleavened Bread (compare verses 6-8)–at a time when Church members were abstaining from eating leavened products and were instead partaking of unleavened products. In the Bible, leaven is sometimes compared with sin and pride–which puffs up. The ritual of abstaining from leaven for seven days reminds the members that they have to continuously come out of sin–after their previous sins were forgiven by our Passover, Jesus Christ (compare verse 7). But rather than really concentrating on living righteously, the members in Corinth had become proud and not only condoned, but also perhaps even–to an extent–approved of the terrible conduct of that particular member (compare Romans 1:32).

(For more information on the meaning of the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, please read our free booklet, “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days.”)

Paul said that it was “reported” to him that the man had “his father’s wife.” Some say that he lived together and engaged in continued sexual conduct with his stepmother. However, it appears that the sexual misconduct may have involved his real mother–as Paul said that even Gentiles abhorred this kind of action. Gentiles did not necessarily abhor sexual conduct with a stepmother, but most did reject sexual involvement with one’s own mother (even though, as it is known from the times of Roman decadence, even such misconduct was practiced by some Gentiles, and especially by wicked governmental leaders.)

In this context, Paul was saying that the elders of the local Church should have disfellowshipped the person, rather than tolerating his misconduct–especially, as it had become common knowledge amongst Church members. Apparently only a few reported this occurrence to Paul, since their local leaders were unwilling to deal with the situation.

This is Satan’s world. Before God called us out of this world, we were under Satan’s rule. When someone voluntarily leaves the Church or is disfellowshipped, he becomes once again very much subject to Satan’s influences. When the Church takes such drastic action, it is for the good of the Church as well as the excommunicated member, as it is always hoped that that person will see the error of his ways, while living again in this evil world, repent and return to God, while there is time. Fortunately, in the case of the member in Corinth, he did repent and was rightly accepted back into the fold (compare 2 Corinthians 2:3-11).

Paul made the following general comment in 2 Timothy 2:24-25: “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

It should be obvious that Paul was ordering the suspension or (temporary) excommunication of the sinning brother, with the hope that he might come to his senses, repent, escape the snare of the devil and his spiritual captivity to do Satan’s will, and return to the Church congregation in Corinth (as did happen in this case). Paul made this decision “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”–that is, with His power and authority. Christ, as the living Head of the Church, inspired Paul to make this decision, and He was backing it up. Paul said that he wanted to see the “spirit” of that person “saved” in the day of Christ’s return–strongly implying that this member had received the Holy Spirit, but was in danger of losing it–and that for that purpose, the “flesh” needed to be “destroyed.”

That is, his fleshly desires and his wrong sexual misconduct with his mother (or perhaps stepmother) had to be “destroyed”–his old man with his carnal nature, which died in the watery grave at his baptism but which had been allowed to resurface, had to be killed again. As the flesh and the spirit fight against each other (compare James 4:4-5; Romans 7:25), it is critical that the flesh would lose and the spirit would win. Sometimes, in order to even begin this fight and to end it victoriously, the Church may have to take drastic measures, including suspension, excommunication or disfellowshipment, with the hope that the person repents, swallows his pride, and returns to the Body of Christ.

This should be the clear understanding of the passage in 1 Corinthians 5:5, but it is amazing how far off and totally wrong most commentaries are, when trying to explain it.

Notice the following comments from Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible. He first stated correctly that even the Latin fathers understood this passage to refer to the procedure of “excommunication” (except that they misunderstood the kingdom of God, wrongly believing it to be the church), but he then offered a terrible misconception of what Paul was teaching:

“Beza, and the Latin fathers, suppose that this is only an expression of excommunication. They say, that in the Scriptures there are but two kingdoms recognized – the kingdom of God, or the church, and the kingdom of the world, which is regarded as under the control of Satan; and that to exclude a man from one is to subject him to the dominion of the other. There is some foundation for this opinion; and there can be no doubt that excommunication is here intended, and that, by excommunication, the offender was in some sense placed under the control of Satan.

“It is further evident that it is here supposed that by being thus placed under him [Satan] the offender would be subject to corporal inflictions by the agency of Satan, which are here called the ‘destruction of the flesh.’ Satan is elsewhere referred to as the author of bodily diseases. Thus, in the case of Job… A similar instance is mentioned in [1 Timothy 1:20], where Paul says he had delivered Hymeneus and Alexander to ‘Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme.’ …

“Many have supposed that by the ‘destruction of the flesh’ Paul meant only the destruction of his fleshly appetites or carnal affections; and that he supposed that this would be effected by the act of excommunication. But it is very evident from the Scriptures that the apostles were imbued with the power of inflicting diseases or bodily calamities for crimes… This was an extraordinary and miraculous power.”

As mentioned, this is a terrible misconception. It sounds as if Paul used some “voodoo” magic to “curse” others and to inflict sickness or diseases on them. This example illustrates how careful one must be when reading worldly uninspired commentaries, trying to gain from them insight and understanding of spiritual matters.

The explanations by the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary follow the same line of twisted reasoning as the previous one, except that they are much worse. Even their statement that the Corinthians had the power to excommunicate needs to be clarified in the sense that the ministry had that authority–but not all the members, and it was not done by majority vote either. But also note the additional outrageous annotations:

“Besides excommunication (of which the Corinthians themselves had the power), Paul delegates here to the Corinthian Church his own special power as an apostle, of inflicting corporeal disease or death in punishment for sin… Here it is… for the affliction of the body with disease, and even death…, so as to destroy fleshly lust…”

However, the commentary then explains correctly, but quite inconsistently, what Paul meant with the “destruction of the flesh”:

“The ‘destruction of the flesh’ answers to ‘mortify the deeds of the body’… Temporary affliction often leads to permanent salvation…”

Vincent’s Word Study comes closer to the truth, but even he allows, quite unnecessarily, for some kind of a “power” which went beyond excommunication, even though he is not willing to say what it is, and does not seem to support the ridiculous idea that Paul had and USED the power to inflict sickness and disease on others. He writes:

“To deliver… unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. On this very obscure and much controverted passage it may be observed: 1. That it implies excommunication from the Church. 2. That it implies something more, the nature of which is not clearly known. 3. That casting the offender out of the Church involved casting him back into the heathen world, which Paul habitually conceives as under the power of Satan. 4. That Paul has in view the reformation of the offender: ‘that the spirit may be saved,’ etc. This reformation is to be through affliction, disease, pain, or loss, which also he is wont to conceive as Satan’s work… Hence in delivering him over to these he uses the phrase ‘deliver unto Satan.'”

However, no special voodoo-like curse-inflicting power of the Apostle Paul is implied here. Paul is ordering excommunication–which the local ministry in Corinth had FAILED to carry out. The goal was for the person to see that continuing to live that way might mean, continuing to wither away and be ultimately burned in the lake of fire; and realizing this, to come to his senses and repent and change and mortify his fleshly desires; and to become subject to God, so that he could be allowed to return to the Church congregation in Corinth.

Paul had in mind the salvation of the person, so that at the time of Christ’s return, “in the day of the Lord Jesus,” he would be given the privilege to enter the Kingdom of God as a spirit member of the Family of God. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul ordered excommunication of the member who was openly practicing horrible sins in plain sight of the other Church members, who were also indirectly effected by that sinful conduct. The person had to learn to use the Holy Spirit to put to death the DEEDS of the BODY, so that HE would live (Romans 8:13). Even after baptism, we have to continuously “mortify” the members of our body, by putting off the old man.

In contrasting those unwilling to repent with converted Church members, Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:17-24:

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the LIFE of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

If we do this, then God promises us the following in 2 Peter 1:10-11:

“Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Our new booklet, “The Authority of the Bible,” has entered the first review cycle.

Norbert Link’s new message, “Scandals and Problems in Europe,” is on our Website and on blip.

A new German sermon, titled, “Der Mensch Prüfe Sich Aber…” [“But Let A Man Examine Himself…”], was posted on the Web.