Obama and the Beast of Europe — StandingWatch #176

On Thursday, July 24, Senator Barack Obama gave his long-awaited speech in Berlin, Germany, but not all liked his demand for more European military involvement in Afghanistan. Would a military buildup in Europe be good for America and the rest of the world? And what role will religion play in all of this–given the fact that a separation between Church and State is unknown in Europe?

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Current Events

American Economy MUCH MUCH WORSE Than Assumed

Bloomberg reported on July 21:

“American Express Co., the biggest U.S. credit-card company by purchases, withdrew its 2008 earnings forecast after second-quarter profit fell 37 percent on worse-than-expected consumer defaults… Profit from continuing operations declined to $655 million… ‘By almost any measure, the U.S. economy and business environment are much weaker than the assumptions’ the company had in January, Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Chenault said today in a conference call. ‘Unemployment rates took the largest jump in over twenty years. Home prices declined at the fastest rate in decades and consumer confidence is at one of its all-time low points.’ The U.S. economic slowdown worsened in June, affecting even American Express’s wealthier cardholders with high credit scores…

“American Express, Capital One Financial Corp. and Discover Financial Services shares have dropped by more than a third in the past year as consumers have a harder time repaying debt of all kinds… Discover, based in Riverwoods, Illinois, said last month that profit from continuing operations in the quarter ended May 31 fell 19 percent to $202 million.”

The Associated Press reported on July 22:

“Wachovia Corp. reported a surprisingly large second-quarter loss Tuesday, deflating Wall Street’s hopes that the nation’s big banks are weathering the credit crisis well. The nation’s fourth-largest bank by assets said it lost $8.86 billion, is slashing its dividend and eliminating 10,750 positions after losses tied to mortgages soared. Even excluding one-time items, the results substantially missed Wall Street estimates…

“Late Monday, Wachovia announced plans to leave the wholesale mortgage lending business. And beginning Friday, the company will no longer offer mortgages through brokers, joining other lenders making similar moves to exit the troubled sector. Big banks, such as Bank of America Corp. and National City Corp., have stopped making loans through brokers entirely, relying instead on their loan officers.”

In a related article, The Associated Press reported on July 22:

“A federal rescue of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost taxpayers as much as $25 billion, Congress’ top budget analyst said Tuesday… [Treasury Secretary Henry M.] Paulson said that Fannie and Freddie have issued $5 trillion in debt and mortgage backed securities. Of that amount more than $3 trillion is held by U.S. financial institutions and over $1.5 trillion is held by foreign institutions, making the stabilization of the two companies essential to the global economy… Paulson said that housing was at the ‘heart of our nation’s economy.’ He added that a key to turning the housing market around was bringing home buyers back into the market, an area where he said Fannie and Freddie needed to play a critical role to provide mortgage financing.

“The effort to provide support to the two mortgage giants follows the government’s involvement in dealing with the near-collapse of Bear Stearns in March when the Federal Reserve provided a $30 billion loan to facilitate the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan.”

How much longer can the Federal Reserve “bail” out banks and thereby deplete its FDIC fund of an estimated amount of $75 billion? How soon are taxpayers going to be asked to “help” in the form of higher taxes and other hidden “incentives”? Surely, this country is facing a gigantic economic storm of unparalleled proportions in recent times–with all of our politicians being absolutely unable and helpless to weather it.

God HAS declared far in advance that this IS going to happen–all gainsaying and scoffing of so-called experts and an uninformed and indifferent public notwithstanding. The reason is that we do NOT OBEY God and that this country has been turning its back on God FAR TOO LONG. Now, man is going to reap what he has been sowing.

For more information, please read our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound

Worldwide Economy in Mortal Danger

The Telegraph wrote on July 21:

“It feels like the summer of 1931. The world’s two biggest financial institutions have had a heart attack. The global currency system is breaking down. The policy doctrines that got us into this mess are bankrupt. No world leader seems able to discern the problem, let alone forge a solution. The International Monetary Fund has abdicated into schizophrenia…

“Oil has queered the pitch. So has America’s fatal reliance on foreign debt… China, Russia, petro-powers and other foreign states own $985bn of US agency debt, besides holdings of US Treasuries. Purchases of Fannie/Freddie debt covered a third of the US current account deficit of $700bn over the last year. Alex Patelis from Merrill Lynch says America faces the risk of a ‘financing crisis’ within months. Foreigners have a veto over US policy…

“The coalitions in Belgium and Austria have just collapsed. Germany’s left-right team is fraying… This is the healthy part of Europe… Finance minister Pedro Solbes said Spain is facing the ‘most complex’ economic crisis in its history.”

Coming–Worldwide Water Shortage

The Economist wrote on July 19:

“SO WORLD markets are short of oil, and supplies of food are running thin. The prices of all sorts of basic commodities are soaring, and now there may also be reason for many to worry about the most fundamental of necessities—water. Some experts believe so, at least, and they are spreading doom-laden warnings of a Malthusian crisis in the world’s water supply.

“Goldman Sachs, an investment bank which likes to ponder the future of the world, recently suggested that a global lack of water could prove to be a bigger threat to mankind than rising food prices or the depletion of energy resources. Sir Nicholas Stern… points to some big local problems, for example in the Himalayas, where melting glaciers risk disrupting supplies of usable water in the region, just as many underground aquifers are drying up. He argues that water—at least the fresh sort—is not a renewable resource…

“Global water consumption is doubling every 20 years says Goldman Sachs. According to Sir Nicholas, in many places supplies are running short as rising consumption cannot be matched by fresh rainfall. As a result, suggests Goldman Sachs, the price of water is bound to rise…”

Coming–Worldwide Flu Pandemic

The Independent wrote on July 21:

“The world is failing to guard against the inevitable spread of a devastating flu pandemic which could kill 50 million people and wreak massive disruption around the globe, the [British] Government has warned… The Government’s evidence appeared in a highly critical report… which attacked the World Health Organisation (WHO) as ‘dysfunctional’…

“The Government said: ‘While there has not been a pandemic since 1968, another one is inevitable.’ Ministers said it would… leave up to 75,000 people dead in Britain and cause ‘massive’ disruption.”

Obama Wants MORE Troops–Not Less…

The Associated Press reported on July 19:

“Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama started a campaign-season tour of combat zones and foreign capitals, visiting with U.S. forces in Kuwait and then Afghanistan — the scene of a war he says deserves more attention and more troops… Obama advocates ending the U.S. combat role in Iraq by withdrawing troops at the rate of one to two combat brigades a month. But he supports increasing the military commitment to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has been resurgent and Osama bin laden is believed to be hiding…”

Jerusalem the Capitol of Israel?

AFP wrote on July 23:

“Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed to forge an ‘unshakeable’ bond with Israel if he becomes the next US president and warned a nuclear Iran would pose a ‘grave threat’ which the world must forestall. The Democratic White House hopeful hailed Israel as a ‘miracle’ as he courted Jewish voters at home… The Illinois senator also tried to convince the Palestinians, during a short trip to see the conflict from the other side, on the occupied West Bank, that he would sponsor a vigorous peace effort if elected…

“The senator reiterated his vow to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon, but defended his offer of talks with leaders from the Islamic Republic, promising to use ‘big carrots and big sticks. A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,’ Obama said…

“Obama also said that he had not backed down from his comment that Jerusalem should not be divided, which he made before the US Jewish lobby last month, sparking anger among Palestinians… ‘I continue to say that Jerusalem will be the [capitol] of Israel. I have said it before and will say it again… but I’ve also said that it is a final status issue’ that must be decided by negotiation. Obama’s original comment was seen by some observers as prejudging final status peace talks, and his campaign has since said that it was poorly worded.”

Israeli Attack on Iran Inevitable?

The Jerusalem Post wrote on July 16:

“An Israeli attack on Iran seems inevitable. If it succeeds, it will return to Israel its deterrent power and send a clear message to the saber-rattling jihadists that they were too early in beginning the countdown for the disappearance of the Jewish state.

“If it fails, or fails to achieve the majority of its objectives, it could amount to an act of national suicide. Fanatical Muslims on every side will be encouraged by the failure and outcome of an Iranian retaliation which would cause heavy damage to the whole center of our country… A non-nuclear Israeli attack on Iran would be a ‘surgical’ operation… Iran has the motivation to destroy Israel, and if it is allowed to gain nuclear weapons it will not need an excuse to do so…

“Let us try a scenario in which Israel carries out a successful attack, with or without active American help, on a few key Iranian reactors. Such an operation would not completely destroy Iran’s nuclear capability, but it would badly wound its national and Islamic pride.

“The Iranian people, including the opposition would, at least in the initial stage, rally around the ruling mullahs. The price of oil would soar, Israel would be blamed for the destruction of the West’s economy, and Europe might go so far as to impose sanctions on Israel, with or without a UN decision.

“Moreover, being an easy target, Israel would have to brace for the inevitable Iranian retaliation. Iran would attack with the Shihab 3 ballistic missiles that carry a warhead of up to one ton and have an accuracy of 50 meters-100m. Israel has an answer to a limited number of these missiles, of which Iran has probably a few hundred. It has no answer to all the missiles that would be launched against it from three fronts.

“Theoretically, Iran can deliver 1,000-1,500 tons of the most modern explosives within a few days. The long-range missiles that have been supplied to Hizbullah via Damascus, and the arsenal that has been massed by Hamas in Gaza, which includes missiles that can reach Beersheba, must also be taken into consideration.

“There is no question that these two organizations will move into action together with Iran, and it is not impossible that Hizbullah would attempt the invasion of Israel proper to gain a local victory by occupying a border village, killing inhabitants and kidnapping a few over to Lebanon.”

German Politicians Warn Obama

Der Spiegel Online reported on July 21:

“In the run-up to Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin, leading foreign and security policy experts for Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) are warning the United States presidential candidate against making any far-reaching demands on the Germans.

“‘Obama should only ask of us what we are able to deliver,’ Niels Annen — a member of Germany’s federal parliament, with the left wing of the SPD — told SPIEGEL ONLINE Monday. ‘We won’t increase our number of troops.’

“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet, however, has approved a plan to increase the number of troops from Germany’s armed forces in Afghanistan by 1,000 to 4,500 soldiers. All troop deployments of the Bundeswehr require a mandate from the German parliament, which is expected to consider the issue in the autumn. And SPD party chief Kurt Beck made clear over the weekend that 4,500 was the ceiling of what could be expected from Germany…”

Will Europe’s Adulation of Obama Soon End?

On July 21, Der Spiegel Online wrote about Germany’s Adulation of Barack Obama, which may end very soon. The magazine reported:

“Germans have fallen in love with the man many in Europe have come to see as the anti-Bush — the man who many hope will steer America back toward the path of peace, love and happiness. Almost three-quarters of Germans would vote for Obama were they given the opportunity to do so; in France, that number approaches 90 percent…

“… The financial daily Handelsblatt… looks at what Berlin might expect from Obama’s speech. ‘With the speech at the Siegessäule on Thursday, a new phase is beginning. And there are a number of signs pointing to the fact that those pleasantly anticipating an Obama presidency might not be quite as euphoric should he get elected. The reasons are clear: Obama’s superstar status in Germany is based primarily on two factors. One is the fact that he is not George W. Bush…. The second is that Obama has remained quite vague until now: Everyone can see in him what he or she wants. But now the senator from Illinois is beginning to mold a concrete foreign policy. Soon, it will be clear what ‘change’ really means. Obama wants to withdraw from Iraq but at the same time he wants to bolster troops in Afghanistan… Obama, should he become the superpower’s next president, will not suddenly transform into a dove. He too will use the US military to reach his political goals.'”

“An American Idol in Germany”

In a related and unnecessarily lengthy, laborious and almost tiresome article of July 21, titled, “An American Idol in Germany,”  Der Spiegel Online wrote about Europe’s perception of Barack Obama as a savior of mankind–a perception which might soon disappear. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“Europeans have fallen in love with the Democrat, mostly because he’s not Bush. But they may not like what they hear this week… He will be in Berlin this Thursday, when Germans will hail him as a magician with the ability to transform a gloomy world into a brighter place. Never before has there been so much excitement in Germany over the visit of a presumed US presidential candidate. Obama may be running for the White House, but judging by the commotion, one would think that he had already advanced two steps further and were the president of the world.

“Which is precisely the issue. Obama raises hopes that he will not just change America, but politics as a whole. Obama is the hope of a Western world filled with concerns… It is time for leadership. And only one man inspires the kind of confidence that would enable him to assume this leadership: Barack Obama…

“Chancellor Angela Merkel was also a candidate for the global presidency once. But by now it has become clear that she even has trouble leading her coalition government at home. Obama will be visiting a country that lacks leadership… it’s no wonder that many a German sees the charismatic American as a savior… While Germany looks forward to being spellbound by Obama this week, the magician’s allure has already begun to fade in America…

“Perhaps the ‘honeymoon’ will last a little longer with Obama, says Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, a CSU foreign policy expert. But, Guttenberg adds, the ‘fracture point’ will be reached no later than the NATO summit in the spring of 2009, when the new US president, be it Obama or McCain, outlines exactly how he envisions trans-Atlantic cooperation in the future — and that will include US demands that Germany send more troops to embattled southern Afghanistan.

“Most US experts at research institutions share this assessment. They warn of exaggerated expectations. They warn against discounting McCain and the experience he brings to the table. And they warn of Obama’s lack of experience, speculating that the presidency could very well turn out to be a rude awakening for the Democratic candidate…

“Just how Obama feels about the Europeans becomes clear from chatting with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security advisor under former President Jimmy Carter and a current advisor to the Obama campaign… ‘I think the Europeans have to decide whether they want to be a global power or not,’ says Brzezinski. Should they decide they do, Brzezinski’s message continues, they will be called upon to assume their fair share of the decision-making process, responsibility and the financial burden.

“Suffering, of course, would also be a part of that. More than 4,500 Americans have died and more than 30,000 have been wounded, many of them severely, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Only recently, President Bush invited a group of war invalids to join him for a jog at the White House. Bush posed for photographers next to the wounded soldiers, as they stood there on prosthetic metal legs and plastic feet. The war on terror would not cease under a President Obama. Bush’s foreign policy meant tanks, aircraft carriers and bombers. Obama’s foreign policy would be focused on diplomacy, reconstruction aid and, if this doesn’t work, tanks, aircraft carriers and bombers…

“In the 60 years since the end of World War II, there has been only one president who, with the exception of an attempt to liberate hostages, did not command a military campaign. That president was the hapless Jimmy Carter. All others have taken greater or lesser advantage of their powers as commander-in-chief of the US Armed Forces. In this regard, there have been few distinctions between Republicans and Democrats. Under Obama, the tone might be different than it has been under the stubborn President Bush, but the larger foreign policy substance likely would not be…”

In a related article, Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 24:

“Meanwhile, the foreign policy spokesman for Chancellor Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats, Eckart von Klaeden, told RBB-Inforadio public radio he didn’t share the expectation of many German politicians that there would be a major shift in foreign policy under Obama. ‘Regardless whether it is a President McCain or a President Obama, people will quickly determine that the trans-Atlantic relationship will not be transformed to the degree that many are expecting.'”

We share this assessment, in spite of Obama’s meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, during which the “restoration of Transatlantic ties” was discussed (see AFP, dated July 24). Regardless of who the next American President will be, the relationship between Europe and the USA will NOT improve. For more information, please read our free booklets, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America,”and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

Obama Speaks in Berlin

On July 24, Barack Obama gave his long-awaited speech in Berlin. The “Superstar,” as Der Spiegel Online called him, spoke to an estimated crowd of more than 200,000 people, according to Bild Online. He said a few things which Europeans and especially Germans might NOT have wanted to hear, including his allusion to the need of the continuance of the war in Afghanistan and the necessity of Europeans to send more troops. It was observed that the crowd was more enthusiastic when they came than when they left. The Associated Press reported on July 24:

“Before an enormous crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to ‘defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it’ as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.

“‘The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand,’ Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city. ‘The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand,’ he said…

“He drew loud applause when he talked of a world without nuclear weapons and again when he called for steps to counter climate change. Obama mentioned Iraq, a war he has opposed from the start, only in passing. But in discussing Afghanistan, he said, ‘no one welcomes war. … But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe’s borders is a success’…”

AFP added on July 24:

“The strikingly audacious speech, in a fevered atmosphere in Berlin’s famed Tiergarten, took the White House race out of US borders in a way never seen before, and was designed to portray Obama as a leader with unique global appeal… Despite its soaring cadences however, the speech was short on specifics… The Illinois senator rebuked both his country and Europe for blaming one another for strains in their relations…

“In a speech that risked being seen as presumptuous, considering Obama will not even face US voters for another three months, he warned of a world where partnership was not a choice but the only means of survival… He promised America under his watch would be serious about tackling global warning, a huge concern in Europe and a cause of rifts between the continent and the United States during the Bush administration. But he also signalled he would demand Europe live up to its side of the bargain, asking for more help in the struggle against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. ‘America cannot do this alone,’ Obama said.”

Europe Pressures Ireland

The EUObserver wrote on July 24:

“The Italian senate’s unanimous support for the Lisbon treaty on Wednesday (23 July) should help force Ireland into a revote, Italian politicians said, with Ireland looking increasingly likely to stand out as the only EU country not to ratify the text… Twenty one out of 27 EU states have definitively ratified the EU treaty despite the Irish No vote in a referendum in June. The Spanish, German and Polish parliaments have also approved the text, which now awaits the signatures of the respective heads of state…

“Meanwhile, France is pushing Ireland to hold a second vote, with President Nicolas Sarkozy on his visit to Dublin on Monday suggesting that the June 2009 European Parliament elections would be a good time for another referendum on Lisbon.

“The EU summit in October will see the next major discussion of the future of the EU treaty, with Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin pledging to give ‘clarity’ on Ireland’s plans in December.”

However, the article by the EUObserver is somewhat misleading. Deutsche Welle correctly reported on July 24:

“The Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty has left the bloc searching for a new way to move forward as the treaty must be unanimously ratified in order to go into effect. [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel was one of the driving forces behind the new treaty under Germany’s EU presidency in the first half of last year.

“The treaty faces obstacles in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. German President Horst Koehler has said he will await a decision by the Constitutional Court on the treaty’s compatibility with the German Constitution before signing into law the necessary legislation, which has been passed by both houses of parliament.”

The Bible clearly shows that ultimately, ten core nations or groups of nations will lead Europe, and they will, in turn, give their power and authority to a charismatic political leader.

The European “Beast” Overtakes the USA…

The EUObserver wrote on July 16:

“Mark Schapiro – an American investigative journalist of some twenty years’ standing and the editorial director of the Center for Investigative Journalism – believes… that we can date the eclipse of the United States by the European Union quite precisely indeed – 25 June, 2004.

“On that day, some 200 million Europeans went to the polls to elect their representatives to the European Parliament, consolidating the union’s ascendancy. Europe’s parliament leap-frogged the US Congress in size of population represented, with an additional two member states, Romania and Bulgaria, boosting the numbers still further to almost half a billion people in 2007. Even more critically, in 2005, the GDP of the EU overtook that of the States.

“‘The EU is now the single largest trading partner with every continent except Australia,’ he writes in his recent book, Exposed, which considers the massive global economic power shift that has occurred as a result of these changes. He looks at how companies and state governments in the US, China and the rest of the world increasingly take their legislative lead – whether willingly or dragged kicking and screaming – on issues such as environmental standards, health and safety regulation and consumer protection not from Washington, but Brussels.”

Shapiro was quoted in the article, as follows:

“The world is changing, and it’s changing in dramatic ways in a number of different arenas. What’s interesting is that the role of the United States is shifting very sharply, independent of Iraq. Let’s not even talk about Iraq – which has also delivered a body-blow to American power in the world – let’s just look purely at the level of economics. In 2005, the US was supplanted as the world’s largest single market by the EU, and that was reported to us by our own CIA in their World Factbook…

“US corporations along with other companies are increasingly reliant on foreign markets to sustain their profitability. For many American firms, that means Europe… all these firms, which had become quite expert at influencing the rule-making apparatus in the United States through lobbying in congress and campaign contributions – suddenly had this new beast to deal with – the EU… This is indeed a self-interested political beast…”

The choice of the word “European beast” is quite interesting–since the Bible uses the same expression for the final political European revival of the ancient Roman Empire–as well as for the human leader of that revival (Revelation 13:1-4, 18). For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Update 354

Salt and Commitment

On Saturday, July 26, 2008, Kalon Mitchell and Michael Link will give split sermons, titled, respectively, “Salt” and “Commitment.”

The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org at 12:30 pm Pacific Time (which is 2:30 pm Central Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

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I Can Help

by Dave Harris

“Can you help me?”

Parents and teachers have this question asked of them very frequently, but most of us don’t often hear these words from others. In fact, our generation is noteworthy for its lack of willingness to voluntarily reach out and assist others–even in times of great peril.

In two appalling examples of calloused indifference, news programs in this country showed a man who was the victim of a hit and run accident, while in another case a woman sitting in a hospital emergency room collapsed and died. In both of these cases, people around ignored these helpless individuals.

Love for others–that is, outgoing concern that is on a par with love for self–is becoming increasingly rare. Jesus spoke of our day and among the many warnings He gave, what He said about the way society would behave is finding its tragic fulfillment: “‘And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold'” (Matthew 24:12).

We must not let that happen to us, and a point to consider is our own approach when we see an opportunity to help others. It is really a matter of the way we think about those with whom we come into contact–that is, our “neighbor.”

The apostle John taught about love, and his writings show us how to prevent our own love from growing cold–he states: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10-11).

Take careful note that God FIRST loved us, and by that we learned to love–both to love God and others! In fact John very clearly states, “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NASB).

Rather than only waiting to be asked for help, we can develop an attitude and approach built upon the idea that “I can help.” Why think this way? Because it will help us to be the kind of person that really fulfills the Christian way of living.

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American Economy MUCH MUCH WORSE Than Assumed

Bloomberg reported on July 21:

“American Express Co., the biggest U.S. credit-card company by purchases, withdrew its 2008 earnings forecast after second-quarter profit fell 37 percent on worse-than-expected consumer defaults… Profit from continuing operations declined to $655 million… ‘By almost any measure, the U.S. economy and business environment are much weaker than the assumptions’ the company had in January, Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Chenault said today in a conference call. ‘Unemployment rates took the largest jump in over twenty years. Home prices declined at the fastest rate in decades and consumer confidence is at one of its all-time low points.’ The U.S. economic slowdown worsened in June, affecting even American Express’s wealthier cardholders with high credit scores…

“American Express, Capital One Financial Corp. and Discover Financial Services shares have dropped by more than a third in the past year as consumers have a harder time repaying debt of all kinds… Discover, based in Riverwoods, Illinois, said last month that profit from continuing operations in the quarter ended May 31 fell 19 percent to $202 million.”

The Associated Press reported on July 22:

“Wachovia Corp. reported a surprisingly large second-quarter loss Tuesday, deflating Wall Street’s hopes that the nation’s big banks are weathering the credit crisis well. The nation’s fourth-largest bank by assets said it lost $8.86 billion, is slashing its dividend and eliminating 10,750 positions after losses tied to mortgages soared. Even excluding one-time items, the results substantially missed Wall Street estimates…

“Late Monday, Wachovia announced plans to leave the wholesale mortgage lending business. And beginning Friday, the company will no longer offer mortgages through brokers, joining other lenders making similar moves to exit the troubled sector. Big banks, such as Bank of America Corp. and National City Corp., have stopped making loans through brokers entirely, relying instead on their loan officers.”

In a related article, The Associated Press reported on July 22:

“A federal rescue of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost taxpayers as much as $25 billion, Congress’ top budget analyst said Tuesday… [Treasury Secretary Henry M.] Paulson said that Fannie and Freddie have issued $5 trillion in debt and mortgage backed securities. Of that amount more than $3 trillion is held by U.S. financial institutions and over $1.5 trillion is held by foreign institutions, making the stabilization of the two companies essential to the global economy… Paulson said that housing was at the ‘heart of our nation’s economy.’ He added that a key to turning the housing market around was bringing home buyers back into the market, an area where he said Fannie and Freddie needed to play a critical role to provide mortgage financing.

“The effort to provide support to the two mortgage giants follows the government’s involvement in dealing with the near-collapse of Bear Stearns in March when the Federal Reserve provided a $30 billion loan to facilitate the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan.”

How much longer can the Federal Reserve “bail” out banks and thereby deplete its FDIC fund of an estimated amount of $75 billion? How soon are taxpayers going to be asked to “help” in the form of higher taxes and other hidden “incentives”? Surely, this country is facing a gigantic economic storm of unparalleled proportions in recent times–with all of our politicians being absolutely unable and helpless to weather it.

God HAS declared far in advance that this IS going to happen–all gainsaying and scoffing of so-called experts and an uninformed and indifferent public notwithstanding. The reason is that we do NOT OBEY God and that this country has been turning its back on God FAR TOO LONG. Now, man is going to reap what he has been sowing.

For more information, please read our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound

Worldwide Economy in Mortal Danger

The Telegraph wrote on July 21:

“It feels like the summer of 1931. The world’s two biggest financial institutions have had a heart attack. The global currency system is breaking down. The policy doctrines that got us into this mess are bankrupt. No world leader seems able to discern the problem, let alone forge a solution. The International Monetary Fund has abdicated into schizophrenia…

“Oil has queered the pitch. So has America’s fatal reliance on foreign debt… China, Russia, petro-powers and other foreign states own $985bn of US agency debt, besides holdings of US Treasuries. Purchases of Fannie/Freddie debt covered a third of the US current account deficit of $700bn over the last year. Alex Patelis from Merrill Lynch says America faces the risk of a ‘financing crisis’ within months. Foreigners have a veto over US policy…

“The coalitions in Belgium and Austria have just collapsed. Germany’s left-right team is fraying… This is the healthy part of Europe… Finance minister Pedro Solbes said Spain is facing the ‘most complex’ economic crisis in its history.”

Coming–Worldwide Water Shortage

The Economist wrote on July 19:

“SO WORLD markets are short of oil, and supplies of food are running thin. The prices of all sorts of basic commodities are soaring, and now there may also be reason for many to worry about the most fundamental of necessities—water. Some experts believe so, at least, and they are spreading doom-laden warnings of a Malthusian crisis in the world’s water supply.

“Goldman Sachs, an investment bank which likes to ponder the future of the world, recently suggested that a global lack of water could prove to be a bigger threat to mankind than rising food prices or the depletion of energy resources. Sir Nicholas Stern… points to some big local problems, for example in the Himalayas, where melting glaciers risk disrupting supplies of usable water in the region, just as many underground aquifers are drying up. He argues that water—at least the fresh sort—is not a renewable resource…

“Global water consumption is doubling every 20 years says Goldman Sachs. According to Sir Nicholas, in many places supplies are running short as rising consumption cannot be matched by fresh rainfall. As a result, suggests Goldman Sachs, the price of water is bound to rise…”

Coming–Worldwide Flu Pandemic

The Independent wrote on July 21:

“The world is failing to guard against the inevitable spread of a devastating flu pandemic which could kill 50 million people and wreak massive disruption around the globe, the [British] Government has warned… The Government’s evidence appeared in a highly critical report… which attacked the World Health Organisation (WHO) as ‘dysfunctional’…

“The Government said: ‘While there has not been a pandemic since 1968, another one is inevitable.’ Ministers said it would… leave up to 75,000 people dead in Britain and cause ‘massive’ disruption.”

Obama Wants MORE Troops–Not Less…

The Associated Press reported on July 19:

“Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama started a campaign-season tour of combat zones and foreign capitals, visiting with U.S. forces in Kuwait and then Afghanistan — the scene of a war he says deserves more attention and more troops… Obama advocates ending the U.S. combat role in Iraq by withdrawing troops at the rate of one to two combat brigades a month. But he supports increasing the military commitment to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has been resurgent and Osama bin laden is believed to be hiding…”

Jerusalem the Capitol of Israel?

AFP wrote on July 23:

“Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed to forge an ‘unshakeable’ bond with Israel if he becomes the next US president and warned a nuclear Iran would pose a ‘grave threat’ which the world must forestall. The Democratic White House hopeful hailed Israel as a ‘miracle’ as he courted Jewish voters at home… The Illinois senator also tried to convince the Palestinians, during a short trip to see the conflict from the other side, on the occupied West Bank, that he would sponsor a vigorous peace effort if elected…

“The senator reiterated his vow to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon, but defended his offer of talks with leaders from the Islamic Republic, promising to use ‘big carrots and big sticks. A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,’ Obama said…

“Obama also said that he had not backed down from his comment that Jerusalem should not be divided, which he made before the US Jewish lobby last month, sparking anger among Palestinians… ‘I continue to say that Jerusalem will be the [capitol] of Israel. I have said it before and will say it again… but I’ve also said that it is a final status issue’ that must be decided by negotiation. Obama’s original comment was seen by some observers as prejudging final status peace talks, and his campaign has since said that it was poorly worded.”

Israeli Attack on Iran Inevitable?

The Jerusalem Post wrote on July 16:

“An Israeli attack on Iran seems inevitable. If it succeeds, it will return to Israel its deterrent power and send a clear message to the saber-rattling jihadists that they were too early in beginning the countdown for the disappearance of the Jewish state.

“If it fails, or fails to achieve the majority of its objectives, it could amount to an act of national suicide. Fanatical Muslims on every side will be encouraged by the failure and outcome of an Iranian retaliation which would cause heavy damage to the whole center of our country… A non-nuclear Israeli attack on Iran would be a ‘surgical’ operation… Iran has the motivation to destroy Israel, and if it is allowed to gain nuclear weapons it will not need an excuse to do so…

“Let us try a scenario in which Israel carries out a successful attack, with or without active American help, on a few key Iranian reactors. Such an operation would not completely destroy Iran’s nuclear capability, but it would badly wound its national and Islamic pride.

“The Iranian people, including the opposition would, at least in the initial stage, rally around the ruling mullahs. The price of oil would soar, Israel would be blamed for the destruction of the West’s economy, and Europe might go so far as to impose sanctions on Israel, with or without a UN decision.

“Moreover, being an easy target, Israel would have to brace for the inevitable Iranian retaliation. Iran would attack with the Shihab 3 ballistic missiles that carry a warhead of up to one ton and have an accuracy of 50 meters-100m. Israel has an answer to a limited number of these missiles, of which Iran has probably a few hundred. It has no answer to all the missiles that would be launched against it from three fronts.

“Theoretically, Iran can deliver 1,000-1,500 tons of the most modern explosives within a few days. The long-range missiles that have been supplied to Hizbullah via Damascus, and the arsenal that has been massed by Hamas in Gaza, which includes missiles that can reach Beersheba, must also be taken into consideration.

“There is no question that these two organizations will move into action together with Iran, and it is not impossible that Hizbullah would attempt the invasion of Israel proper to gain a local victory by occupying a border village, killing inhabitants and kidnapping a few over to Lebanon.”

German Politicians Warn Obama

Der Spiegel Online reported on July 21:

“In the run-up to Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin, leading foreign and security policy experts for Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) are warning the United States presidential candidate against making any far-reaching demands on the Germans.

“‘Obama should only ask of us what we are able to deliver,’ Niels Annen — a member of Germany’s federal parliament, with the left wing of the SPD — told SPIEGEL ONLINE Monday. ‘We won’t increase our number of troops.’

“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet, however, has approved a plan to increase the number of troops from Germany’s armed forces in Afghanistan by 1,000 to 4,500 soldiers. All troop deployments of the Bundeswehr require a mandate from the German parliament, which is expected to consider the issue in the autumn. And SPD party chief Kurt Beck made clear over the weekend that 4,500 was the ceiling of what could be expected from Germany…”

Will Europe’s Adulation of Obama Soon End?

On July 21, Der Spiegel Online wrote about Germany’s Adulation of Barack Obama, which may end very soon. The magazine reported:

“Germans have fallen in love with the man many in Europe have come to see as the anti-Bush — the man who many hope will steer America back toward the path of peace, love and happiness. Almost three-quarters of Germans would vote for Obama were they given the opportunity to do so; in France, that number approaches 90 percent…

“… The financial daily Handelsblatt… looks at what Berlin might expect from Obama’s speech. ‘With the speech at the Siegessäule on Thursday, a new phase is beginning. And there are a number of signs pointing to the fact that those pleasantly anticipating an Obama presidency might not be quite as euphoric should he get elected. The reasons are clear: Obama’s superstar status in Germany is based primarily on two factors. One is the fact that he is not George W. Bush…. The second is that Obama has remained quite vague until now: Everyone can see in him what he or she wants. But now the senator from Illinois is beginning to mold a concrete foreign policy. Soon, it will be clear what ‘change’ really means. Obama wants to withdraw from Iraq but at the same time he wants to bolster troops in Afghanistan… Obama, should he become the superpower’s next president, will not suddenly transform into a dove. He too will use the US military to reach his political goals.'”

“An American Idol in Germany”

In a related and unnecessarily lengthy, laborious and almost tiresome article of July 21, titled, “An American Idol in Germany,”  Der Spiegel Online wrote about Europe’s perception of Barack Obama as a savior of mankind–a perception which might soon disappear. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“Europeans have fallen in love with the Democrat, mostly because he’s not Bush. But they may not like what they hear this week… He will be in Berlin this Thursday, when Germans will hail him as a magician with the ability to transform a gloomy world into a brighter place. Never before has there been so much excitement in Germany over the visit of a presumed US presidential candidate. Obama may be running for the White House, but judging by the commotion, one would think that he had already advanced two steps further and were the president of the world.

“Which is precisely the issue. Obama raises hopes that he will not just change America, but politics as a whole. Obama is the hope of a Western world filled with concerns… It is time for leadership. And only one man inspires the kind of confidence that would enable him to assume this leadership: Barack Obama…

“Chancellor Angela Merkel was also a candidate for the global presidency once. But by now it has become clear that she even has trouble leading her coalition government at home. Obama will be visiting a country that lacks leadership… it’s no wonder that many a German sees the charismatic American as a savior… While Germany looks forward to being spellbound by Obama this week, the magician’s allure has already begun to fade in America…

“Perhaps the ‘honeymoon’ will last a little longer with Obama, says Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, a CSU foreign policy expert. But, Guttenberg adds, the ‘fracture point’ will be reached no later than the NATO summit in the spring of 2009, when the new US president, be it Obama or McCain, outlines exactly how he envisions trans-Atlantic cooperation in the future — and that will include US demands that Germany send more troops to embattled southern Afghanistan.

“Most US experts at research institutions share this assessment. They warn of exaggerated expectations. They warn against discounting McCain and the experience he brings to the table. And they warn of Obama’s lack of experience, speculating that the presidency could very well turn out to be a rude awakening for the Democratic candidate…

“Just how Obama feels about the Europeans becomes clear from chatting with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security advisor under former President Jimmy Carter and a current advisor to the Obama campaign… ‘I think the Europeans have to decide whether they want to be a global power or not,’ says Brzezinski. Should they decide they do, Brzezinski’s message continues, they will be called upon to assume their fair share of the decision-making process, responsibility and the financial burden.

“Suffering, of course, would also be a part of that. More than 4,500 Americans have died and more than 30,000 have been wounded, many of them severely, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Only recently, President Bush invited a group of war invalids to join him for a jog at the White House. Bush posed for photographers next to the wounded soldiers, as they stood there on prosthetic metal legs and plastic feet. The war on terror would not cease under a President Obama. Bush’s foreign policy meant tanks, aircraft carriers and bombers. Obama’s foreign policy would be focused on diplomacy, reconstruction aid and, if this doesn’t work, tanks, aircraft carriers and bombers…

“In the 60 years since the end of World War II, there has been only one president who, with the exception of an attempt to liberate hostages, did not command a military campaign. That president was the hapless Jimmy Carter. All others have taken greater or lesser advantage of their powers as commander-in-chief of the US Armed Forces. In this regard, there have been few distinctions between Republicans and Democrats. Under Obama, the tone might be different than it has been under the stubborn President Bush, but the larger foreign policy substance likely would not be…”

In a related article, Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 24:

“Meanwhile, the foreign policy spokesman for Chancellor Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats, Eckart von Klaeden, told RBB-Inforadio public radio he didn’t share the expectation of many German politicians that there would be a major shift in foreign policy under Obama. ‘Regardless whether it is a President McCain or a President Obama, people will quickly determine that the trans-Atlantic relationship will not be transformed to the degree that many are expecting.'”

We share this assessment, in spite of Obama’s meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, during which the “restoration of Transatlantic ties” was discussed (see AFP, dated July 24). Regardless of who the next American President will be, the relationship between Europe and the USA will NOT improve. For more information, please read our free booklets, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America,”and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

Obama Speaks in Berlin

On July 24, Barack Obama gave his long-awaited speech in Berlin. The “Superstar,” as Der Spiegel Online called him, spoke to an estimated crowd of more than 200,000 people, according to Bild Online. He said a few things which Europeans and especially Germans might NOT have wanted to hear, including his allusion to the need of the continuance of the war in Afghanistan and the necessity of Europeans to send more troops. It was observed that the crowd was more enthusiastic when they came than when they left. The Associated Press reported on July 24:

“Before an enormous crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to ‘defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it’ as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.

“‘The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand,’ Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city. ‘The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand,’ he said…

“He drew loud applause when he talked of a world without nuclear weapons and again when he called for steps to counter climate change. Obama mentioned Iraq, a war he has opposed from the start, only in passing. But in discussing Afghanistan, he said, ‘no one welcomes war. … But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe’s borders is a success’…”

AFP added on July 24:

“The strikingly audacious speech, in a fevered atmosphere in Berlin’s famed Tiergarten, took the White House race out of US borders in a way never seen before, and was designed to portray Obama as a leader with unique global appeal… Despite its soaring cadences however, the speech was short on specifics… The Illinois senator rebuked both his country and Europe for blaming one another for strains in their relations…

“In a speech that risked being seen as presumptuous, considering Obama will not even face US voters for another three months, he warned of a world where partnership was not a choice but the only means of survival… He promised America under his watch would be serious about tackling global warning, a huge concern in Europe and a cause of rifts between the continent and the United States during the Bush administration. But he also signalled he would demand Europe live up to its side of the bargain, asking for more help in the struggle against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. ‘America cannot do this alone,’ Obama said.”

Europe Pressures Ireland

The EUObserver wrote on July 24:

“The Italian senate’s unanimous support for the Lisbon treaty on Wednesday (23 July) should help force Ireland into a revote, Italian politicians said, with Ireland looking increasingly likely to stand out as the only EU country not to ratify the text… Twenty one out of 27 EU states have definitively ratified the EU treaty despite the Irish No vote in a referendum in June. The Spanish, German and Polish parliaments have also approved the text, which now awaits the signatures of the respective heads of state…

“Meanwhile, France is pushing Ireland to hold a second vote, with President Nicolas Sarkozy on his visit to Dublin on Monday suggesting that the June 2009 European Parliament elections would be a good time for another referendum on Lisbon.

“The EU summit in October will see the next major discussion of the future of the EU treaty, with Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin pledging to give ‘clarity’ on Ireland’s plans in December.”

However, the article by the EUObserver is somewhat misleading. Deutsche Welle correctly reported on July 24:

“The Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty has left the bloc searching for a new way to move forward as the treaty must be unanimously ratified in order to go into effect. [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel was one of the driving forces behind the new treaty under Germany’s EU presidency in the first half of last year.

“The treaty faces obstacles in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. German President Horst Koehler has said he will await a decision by the Constitutional Court on the treaty’s compatibility with the German Constitution before signing into law the necessary legislation, which has been passed by both houses of parliament.”

The Bible clearly shows that ultimately, ten core nations or groups of nations will lead Europe, and they will, in turn, give their power and authority to a charismatic political leader.

The European “Beast” Overtakes the USA…

The EUObserver wrote on July 16:

“Mark Schapiro – an American investigative journalist of some twenty years’ standing and the editorial director of the Center for Investigative Journalism – believes… that we can date the eclipse of the United States by the European Union quite precisely indeed – 25 June, 2004.

“On that day, some 200 million Europeans went to the polls to elect their representatives to the European Parliament, consolidating the union’s ascendancy. Europe’s parliament leap-frogged the US Congress in size of population represented, with an additional two member states, Romania and Bulgaria, boosting the numbers still further to almost half a billion people in 2007. Even more critically, in 2005, the GDP of the EU overtook that of the States.

“‘The EU is now the single largest trading partner with every continent except Australia,’ he writes in his recent book, Exposed, which considers the massive global economic power shift that has occurred as a result of these changes. He looks at how companies and state governments in the US, China and the rest of the world increasingly take their legislative lead – whether willingly or dragged kicking and screaming – on issues such as environmental standards, health and safety regulation and consumer protection not from Washington, but Brussels.”

Shapiro was quoted in the article, as follows:

“The world is changing, and it’s changing in dramatic ways in a number of different arenas. What’s interesting is that the role of the United States is shifting very sharply, independent of Iraq. Let’s not even talk about Iraq – which has also delivered a body-blow to American power in the world – let’s just look purely at the level of economics. In 2005, the US was supplanted as the world’s largest single market by the EU, and that was reported to us by our own CIA in their World Factbook…

“US corporations along with other companies are increasingly reliant on foreign markets to sustain their profitability. For many American firms, that means Europe… all these firms, which had become quite expert at influencing the rule-making apparatus in the United States through lobbying in congress and campaign contributions – suddenly had this new beast to deal with – the EU… This is indeed a self-interested political beast…”

The choice of the word “European beast” is quite interesting–since the Bible uses the same expression for the final political European revival of the ancient Roman Empire–as well as for the human leader of that revival (Revelation 13:1-4, 18). For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

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Why did Jesus refuse to confirm the Old Testament law to stone the woman caught in adultery?

The particular passage in question is found in John 8:3-11. It reads, in context (emphasis added):

“Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, IN THE VERY ACT. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’ This they said, TESTING HIM, THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING OF WHICH TO ACCUSE HIM. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first’ [better: ‘let Him throw THE first stone’]. And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, BEING CONVICTED BY THEIR CONSCIENCE, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.'”

We need to understand that Jesus did NOT come to destroy the law (Matthew 5:17-20). He did not come to declare that the Ten Commandments were obsolete and that adultery was no longer a sin. At the same time, the passage in John 8 points out that the scribes and Pharisees came to test or tempt Him, so that they could accuse Him. In what way was this a test?

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible points out:

“Had our Lord condemned the woman to death, they might have accused him to Pilate, as arrogating to himself the power of life and death, which the Romans had taken away from the Jews [compare John 18:31]; besides, the Roman laws did not condemn an adulteress to be put to death. On the other hand, if he had said she should not be put to death, they might have represented him to the people as one who decided contrary to the law, and favored the crime of which the woman was accused.”

We also need to keep in mind that Christ had not come in the flesh to condemn or destroy, but to save human life (compare Luke 9:56). It was simply not His purpose to get involved in the affairs of this world. For instance, He refused to become judge or arbitrator over those who fought over their inheritance (compare Luke 12:13-14).

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible points out:

“Christ came not into the world to act the part of a civil magistrate, and therefore refused to arbitrate a case, or be concerned in dividing an inheritance… Nor did he come into the world to condemn it, but that the world, through him, might be saved [John 3:17]…”

Christ expects this same kind of approach and conduct from His disciples today. He told Pilate that His servants–either His angels or His disciples–would not fight, as His Kingdom was not (and still is not) of this world (John 18:36). That is one reason why Christ’s disciples are opposed to joining the military or voting in governmental presidential elections or serving on a jury.

We should note that Christians, who live under the conditions of the New Covenant, are NOT to carry out or participate in any way in the execution of criminals. As we explain in our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound”:

“God gave Israel certain national laws, for instance in Deuteronomy 16 and 17, dealing with the punishment and, in certain cases, the execution of criminals. Converted Christians are servants of the New Covenant, which gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6). They are not to judge or condemn another person. Christ said that he who is without sin may cast the first stone (John 8:7). At the same time, we are told that nobody can claim to be without sin (1 John 1:8). Therefore, Christians are not to participate, for instance as jurors, in the judicial systems of this world. In addition, the Church today is not to carry out the death penalty, either. Rather, the ministry is to preach today reconciliation and eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:18–21).”

Under Old Testament law, both the adulteress AND the adulterer had to be stoned (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22), if they had been convicted based on the accusations of at least two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6). In addition, the witnesses had to cast the first stones (Deuteronomy 17:7). We can see from the foregoing that the situation before Christ did not even come close to such a “trial” and “conviction” and “sentencing,” as required by the law.

First, even though the woman was allegedly caught in the very act of adultery, the accusers did not present the man. Secondly, when Christ challenged them by pointing out their hypocrisy, they all disappeared, so that Christ and the woman were left without any accuser. No valid or legal judgment was pronounced by any competent judge, and even if it had been, the witnesses had disappeared so that the sentence could not have been carried out.

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible states: “They had accused her, but they had not proceeded to the act expressive of judicial condemnation.”

Based on all of these factors, Christ told the woman that He did not condemn her to death either. Barnes elaborates:

“This is evidently to be taken in the sense of judicial condemnation, or of passing sentence as a magistrate, for this was what they had arraigned her for. It was not to obtain his opinion about adultery, but to obtain the condemnation of the woman. As he claimed no civil authority, he said that he did not exercise it, and should not condemn her to die.”

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible adds the following thoughts: “It would have been strange if Jesus, when he was not a magistrate, and had not the witnesses before him to examine them, and when she had not been tried and condemned by the law and legal judges, should have taken upon him to condemn her.”

Compare also Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: “The law appointed the hands of the witnesses to be first upon the criminal, and afterwards the hands of all the people, so that if they fly off, and do not condemn her, the prosecution drops.”

However, Christ admonished the woman not to continue sinning. Even though Christ did not claim “civil authority,” He nevertheless showed that He “regarded the action of which they accused her as sin” (Barnes), and He commanded her to cease from sinning–especially from the act of adultery. If we apply Christ’s comments, that He was not “condemning” the person, in a spiritual sense, we have to conclude that Christ forgave the woman her sins. God forgives us upon true repentance (compare Acts 2:38; Acts 17:30; 1 Kings 8:33-40). Christ, knowing our thoughts and hearts (compare Luke 5:22), could and would have seen that the woman before Him had deeply repented of her sin, and so Christ forgave her. We find, in similar instances, that Christ forgave sins upon repentance (compare Luke 7:36-50). At the same time, Christ cautioned the woman caught in the act of adultery, not to return to her former adulterous conduct (compare John 5:14).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

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Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock

This week, Norbert Link video-recorded the Feast sermon to be played during the Feast of Tabernacles 2008 in Tucson.

A new StandingWatch program has been posted on StandingWatch, Google Video and YouTube. It is titled, “America’s Financial Crisis.” In the program, Norbert Link is discussing that recently, the U.S. federal government took control of the Pasadena, California, based IndyMac Bank, signifying the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. The largest U.S. mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also in big financial trouble. The third largest U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch is $10 billion in debt. More than 300 U.S. banks might fail over the next few years. The US. is facing a global crisis to fund its $700 billion (!) account deficit. Especially Europe is upset with America’s irresponsible financial dealings and is looking for alternatives. What DOES the future hold for all of us?

Three StandingWatch programs in the German language were posted on our German Website  and on YouTube, discussing a potential War with Iran; Ireland’s Vote on the Lisbon Treaty; and the recent Mission to Mars.

The following video-recorded sermons by Edwin Pope were posted on Google Video:

Bible Study–Inherit the Promises Through Faith and Patience, May 13, 2006

Bible Study–God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness, March 18, 2006

The following video-recorded sermons by Norbert Link were posted on Google Video:

Bible Study–The Good Samaritan, July 19, 2008

Bible Study– Abraham, Part 1, January 5, 2006

Bible Study–Abraham, Part 2, January 21, 2006

Bible Study–Who Is Your Lord?, November 26, 2005

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This Life

This Life
by Kalon Mitchell

We live in a world of get and of debt. Nationally, the United States of America is going backwards literally by the second. And so it is, as I sit here writing this article for the Youth Forum, that I wonder what I will do with my life. I have an amazing wife and of course our furry animal family. But there is more that we both would like. That is children and a house to raise them in.

As I stop to think about others my age, I see that more and more young people are going back to live with their parents after they get out of college because they cannot afford to be out on their own. Gas prices are going up. Food prices are going up. Life as we know it is exploding out of control. Will I ever be able to have children; will I be able to afford a home? These questions go through my head a lot. How will I afford to raise a family?

But unlike many of these young people whom I am around, I thankfully have something that they do not at this time–and that is the help of God. God has said numerous times throughout the Bible that He is here to help me and to shower me with good things. But what is it that I must do? Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. That is the key. No matter what, I must be striving to live up to the standards set forth by God. If I do this, then I will have nothing to worry about because God will take care of me, in accordance with His Will.

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How This Work is Financed

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

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

Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank

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

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

Donations can be sent to the following addresses:

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

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

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

The Good Samaritan

Why did Christ’s “Parable of the Good or Merciful Samaritan,” as recorded in Luke, chapter 10, have such a tremendous impact on the society of His time? What was so revolutionary and provocative about this parable, which teaches us how to love our neighbor? Why is it still so relevant and meaningful for us today? Who were the Samaritans? Do they still exist? Why did many of the Jews hate them so much? And how did Jesus show that He refused to be a part of that kind of antagonism and prejudice?

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America’s Financial Crisis — StandingWatch #175

Last Friday, the U.S. federal government took control of the Pasadena, California, based IndyMac Bank, signifying the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. The largest U.S. mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also in big financial trouble. The third largest U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch is $10 billion in debt. More than 300 U.S. banks might fail over the next few years. The US. is facing a global crisis to fund its $700 billion (!) account deficit. Especially Europe is upset with America’s irresponsible financial dealings and is locking for alternatives. What DOES the future hold for all of us?

View this now on StandingWatch or GoogleVideo or YouTube.

Current Events

America’s Banks Are Failing–The Handwriting IS On the Wall

The Associated Press reported on July 11:

“The last thing the Bush White House and the rest of the country needed in these economically trying times was another financial crisis. But they got one. The Republican administration and Democratic-run Congress now are facing the possibility that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, once staid and stable, could need a bailout or even go under. Their default would send shock waves through already distressed financial markets, drive the U.S. economy further into recession territory and make it even harder for people to obtain mortgages or refinance their homes…

“Bush told reporters that [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson had briefed him on financial markets and ‘assured me that he and (Federal Reserve Chairman) Ben Bernanke will be working this issue very hard. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are very important institutions,’ Bush said.

“Bush, the first U.S. president with an MBA degree, may have been assured, but investors apparently weren’t. They dumped stocks in response to the woes of Freddie and Fanny, pushing the Dow Jones industrials at one point below the 11,000 mark for the first time in two years before recovering slightly. The two companies’ stocks are now at their lowest levels in 16 years, down 80 percent from just a year ago.”

Please make sure to watch our recent StandingWatch program on YouTube titled, “Coming–The Great Depression?”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–an “Unmitigated Disaster”

Bloomberg reported on July 14:

“The U.S. Treasury Department’s plan to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is an ‘unmitigated disaster’ and the largest U.S. mortgage lenders are ‘basically insolvent,’ according to investor Jim Rogers. Taxpayers will be saddled with debt if Congress approves U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s request for the authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Rogers is betting that Fannie Mae shares will keep tumbling…

“‘I don’t know where these guys get the audacity to take our money, taxpayer money, and buy stock in Fannie Mae,’ Rogers, 65, said in an interview from Singapore. ‘So we’re going to bail out everybody else in the world. And it ruins the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet and it makes the dollar more vulnerable and it increases inflation.’… The U.S. economy is in a recession, possibly the worst since World War II, Rogers said. ‘They’re ruining what has been one of the greatest economies in the world,’ Rogers said… ‘[They] are bailing out their friends on Wall Street but there are 300 million Americans that are going to have to pay for this.”’

US Government Not to Expect to Help More Lenders

The Associated Press reported on July 13:

“The U.S. government is signaling it won’t throw a lifeline to struggling financial companies – except for mortgage linchpins Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – marking a shift to a new and potentially more volatile phase of the credit crisis.

“Such an approach could mean beaten-down investment banks like Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and regional banks must now fend for themselves as they try to recover from billions of dollars in mortgage-related losses. That is bound to unnerve Wall Street, already anxious as it awaits financial companies’ earnings reports that are expected to be down a stunning 69 percent from a year ago when all the numbers are in…

“‘The credit crisis has obviously entered into a new phase – the government has one bailout left in them, and this is it,’ said Jeffrey Gundlach, chief investment officer of TCW Group in Los Angeles, which invests $160 billion. ‘One consequence of Freddie and Fannie is that other firms are allowed to go under,’ he said.”

IndyMac Bank Seized by Federal Regulators

The Los Angeles Times reported on July 12:

“The federal government took control of Pasadena-based IndyMac Bank on Friday in what regulators called the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Citing a massive run on deposits, regulators shut its main branch three hours early, leaving customers stunned and upset…

“Based on a preliminary analysis, federal authorities said the takeover of IndyMac, which had $32 billion in listed assets, would cost the FDIC between $4 billion and $8 billion. Regulators said deposits of up to $100,000 were safe and insured by the FDIC. IndyMac’s failure had been widely expected in recent days. As the bank was shuttering offices and laying off employees to cope with huge losses from defaulted mortgages made at the height of the housing boom, nervous depositors were pulling out $100 million a day. The bank’s stock price had plummeted to under $1 as analysts predicted the company’s imminent demise.

“The takeover of IndyMac came amid rampant speculation that the federal government would also have to take over lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together stand behind almost half of the nation’s mortgage debt.”

Reuters reported on July 14:

“IndyMac Bancorp Inc customers lined up outside a branch at the company’s headquarters on Monday, hoping to withdraw their money after regulators seized what was once one of the largest mortgage lenders in the United States… IndyMac is the fifth U.S. banking company to fail this year, and the largest since the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis… Gerard Cassidy, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, on Sunday estimated that 300 U.S. banks might fail over the next three years because of credit losses and tight capital markets…”

U.S. Economic Tempest Overtakes Europe

On July 16, Der Spiegel Online re-published the following article from the New York Times:

“Spain, Ireland and Denmark are either in a recession or on the brink. Italy is stagnating. France is weakening fast. And Germany, the sturdy locomotive of European growth, is suddenly faltering — dashing most residual hopes that Europe could escape the upheaval in the United States. On Tuesday, an influential poll of German investors by the Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim found that confidence had plummeted to its lowest level since the survey was started in 1991…

“While most economists had predicted that Europe would suffer fallout from the financial market chaos and the broader American malaise, the speed of the deterioration has been surprising… The tense mood in the United States is pushing investors to sell dollars and seek refuge in the euro. For all the storm clouds here, Europe still looks like a safe harbor in comparison to the United States… Still, the strong euro — combined with high oil prices — is exacting a toll on Europe’s export machine.”

How long will Europe allow the weak U.S. dollar to damage or destroy its economy? When will Europe begin to make drastic changes? For sure, it can’t be too long from now. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Temporary Rebound of the U.S. Dollar

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 17:

“The greenback staged a surprising, though brief, rally when oil prices fell. But don’t mistake an uptick for a bottom.

“On July 15, traders in Europe knocked the dollar to an all-time low of $1.6020 to the euro and a three-month low against the British pound. It was hardly a surprise: Investors around the world were appalled by the US government’s need to rescue the multitrillion-dollar mortgage behemoths, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, last weekend… The Asian markets duly punished banks that held Fannie and Freddie paper.

“But to the surprise of many traders, instead of plunging to uncharted depths, the dollar managed to bounce back and was trading at about 1.584 to the euro on July 16. ‘A lot of hedge funds were confused by the price action,’ says Stephen Jen, currency strategist at Morgan Stanley in London.

“Jen and other analysts think several factors have helped — at least, so far — to keep the dollar from going into the out-of-control downward spiral that many fear could be coming. For one thing, the greenback is already quite cheap, especially against the euro, making investors wonder how much lower it can go. But what may be even more important is that the wave of economic misery that began in the US last year is clearly starting to hit European economies, as well.

“… the dollar’s decline is hurting the US, because the weakness is being passed along to consumers in the form of higher energy prices, which, among other things, have largely negated the Bush Administration’s tax rebates.

“Awareness in the markets that intervention [of the U.S. government] is a growing possibility is probably another reason the dollar didn’t plunge further on July 16. The sharp selloff in oil prices that began on July 15 was also positive for the dollar. Indeed, the fact that the greenback kept its head above water could signal a turn, or at least a temporary bottom. But don’t count on it.”

US Faces Global Funding Crisis

The Telegraph wrote on July 15:

“Merrill Lynch has warned that the United States could face a foreign ‘financing crisis’ within months as the full consequences of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage debacle spread through the world. The country depends on Asian, Russian and Middle Eastern investors to fund much of its $700bn (£350bn) current account deficit, leaving it far more vulnerable to a collapse of confidence than Japan in the early 1990s after the Nikkei bubble burst. Britain and other Anglo-Saxon deficit states could face a similar retreat by foreign investors…”

President Bush Backs Israeli Plan for Strike on Iran

The Sunday Times wrote on July 13:

“President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official. Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an ‘amber light’ to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.

“’Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,’ the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support.

“Nor is it certain that Bush’s amber light would ever turn to green without irrefutable evidence of lethal Iranian hostility. Tehran’s test launches of medium-range ballistic missiles last week were seen in Washington as provocative and poorly judged, but both the Pentagon and the CIA concluded that they did not represent an immediate threat of attack against Israeli or US targets.

“’It’s really all down to the Israelis,’ the Pentagon official added. ‘This administration will not attack Iran. This has already been decided. But the president is really preoccupied with the nuclear threat against Israel and I know he doesn’t believe that anything but force will deter Iran.’ …

“Senator Barack Obama’s previous opposition to the war in Iraq, and his apparent doubts about the urgency of the Iranian threat, have intensified pressure on the Israeli hawks to act before November’s US presidential election. ‘If I were an Israeli I wouldn’t wait,’ the Pentagon official added…

“The one thing that all sides agree on is that any strike by either Iran or Israel would trigger a catastrophic round of retaliation that would rock global oil markets, send the price of petrol soaring and wreck the progress of the US military effort in Iraq… How genuine the Iranian threat is was the subject of intense debate last week, with some analysts arguing that Iran might have a useable nuclear weapon by next spring and others convinced that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is engaged in a dangerous game of bluffing…

“Obvious targets would include Iran’s Isfahan plant, where uranium ore is converted into gas, the Natanz complex where this gas is used to enrich uranium in centrifuges and the plutonium-producing Arak heavy water plant. But Iran is known to have scattered other elements of its nuclear programme in underground facilities around the country. Neither US nor Israeli intelligence is certain that it knows where everything is.”

Whom to Believe…?

Reuters reported on July 11:

“An Israeli military spokesman described as ‘utterly baseless’ media reports on Friday about Israeli warplanes secretly training in U.S.-controlled Iraq for possible attacks on neighbouring Iran. The Baghdad government and the Pentagon similarly played down a report, carried on the website of the Jerusalem Post and quoting a Iraqi news network, that Israeli jets were practising in Iraqi airspace and landing on U.S. airbases in the country… Recent months have seen a flurry of high-level contacts between Israel and the United States, which accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge.

“The talks have stoked global speculation that the allies are planning pre-emptive military strikes… The Iraqi report carried by the Jerusalem Post referred to an airbase in western Anbar province near the town of Haditha. The airbase is controlled by the U.S. military. The Israeli newspaper said it could not confirm the veracity of the report.

“Security for Anbar is still formally in the hands of the U.S. military, although control is expected to be transferred to Iraqi security forces soon. Iraq has security control over nine of its 18 provinces.”

Iran and the Bomb

The Wall Street Journal wrote the following on July 15, voicing the opinion that military confrontation in the near future between Israel and Iran appears more and more likely–perhaps with the support of the USA. Please make sure to watch our new StandingWatch program on YouTube, titled, “”Is War With Iran Coming Soon?

“Iran’s test salvo of ballistic missiles last week together with recent threatening rhetoric by commanders of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards emphasizes how close the Middle East is to a fundamental, in fact an irreversible, turning point.

“Tehran’s efforts to intimidate the United States and Israel from using military force against its nuclear program, combined with yet another diplomatic charm offensive with the Europeans, are two sides of the same policy coin. The regime is buying the short additional period of time it needs to produce deliverable nuclear weapons, the strategic objective it has been pursuing clandestinely for 20 years.

“Between Iran and its long-sought objective, however, a shadow may fall: targeted military action, either Israeli or American… If Iran reaches weaponization… the Middle East, and indeed global, balance of power changes in potentially catastrophic ways. And consider what comes next for the U.S.: the Bush administration’s last six months pursuing its limp diplomatic efforts, plus six months of a new president getting his national security team and policies together. In other words, one more year for Tehran to proceed unhindered to ‘the point of no return.’

“We have almost certainly lost the race between giving ‘strong incentives’ for Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and its scientific and technological efforts to do just that. Swift, sweeping, effectively enforced sanctions might have made a difference five years ago. No longer…

“That is why Israel is now at an urgent decision point: whether to use targeted military force to break Iran’s indigenous control over the nuclear fuel cycle at one or more critical points… The alternative is Iran with nuclear weapons, the most deeply unattractive alternative of all… What will the U.S. do if Israel decides to initiate military action?…

“Israel sees clearly what the next 12 months will bring, which is why ongoing U.S.-Israeli consultations could be dispositive. Israel told the Bush administration it would destroy North Korea’s reactor in Syria in spring, 2007, and said it would not wait past summer’s end to take action. And take action it did… we should be intensively considering what cooperation the U.S. will extend to Israel before, during and after a strike on Iran. We will be blamed for the strike anyway, and certainly feel whatever negative consequences result, so there is compelling logic to make it as successful as possible. At a minimum, we should place no obstacles in Israel’s path, and facilitate its efforts where we can. These subjects are decidedly unpleasant. A nuclear Iran is more so.”

Could Iran Strike Europe with Missiles?

Reuters wrote on July 15:

“The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Iran has the ability to launch a ballistic missile capable of hitting sections of eastern and southern Europe… Older versions of the Shahab-3 have a 800-mile (1,300-km) range. But a new extended version is believed to have a range of up to 1,250 miles, making it capable of hitting targets as far away as Greece, Serbia, Romania and Belarus.”

“Two Coffins for a Murderer”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 16:

“Some had hoped that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev [Israeli soldiers who were abducted in the 2006 raid] still lived. But on Wednesday, a deal negotiated by German intelligence led to Hezbollah handing over two coffins with their remains. In exchange, Israel turned over a brutal murderer — and a bit of its dignity… ‘Today is a great victory for the resistance movements and for Hezbollah,’ said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. ‘It shows that the only successful way to free the prisoners is by kidnapping soldiers’…

“That Olmert and his cabinet… agreed to the deal on Tuesday was largely attributable to the government’s weakness domestically. For months, the prime minister has been plagued by corruption investigations…”

Chaos and Upheaval in Belgium

Der Spiegel Online reported on July 16:

“Chaos has returned to Belgium’s capital: The government has collapsed, the prime minister has offered his resignation. German newspapers on Wednesday wonder if the linguistically divided country will ever get its act together. The Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme threw in the towel late on Monday night, saying he could not force through a consensus between the Flemish and French-speaking coalition partners…

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘In terms of economics, Belgium is the most successful “failed state” of all time. Its per capita income is way ahead of Germany, the world’s leading exporter… Belgium can continue to flourish without a national government for the simple reason that the cabinet doesn’t have to decide much anyway. Most authority has devolved to the regions … The central government is left to deal with foreign policy, defense and finance policy — all issues that are increasingly taken care of at the EU level… The Belgian government still controls spending on social welfare. And this is where the conflict has blown up between the two language groups, because rich Flanders wants to pay less for poorer Wallonia…’

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘Belgium had always prided itself on being a model for Europe: exemplifying, through the art of compromise and the virtue of tolerance, how nations and cultures can exist peacefully side by side. The country can no longer claim this. The latest political crisis sees the kingdom moving towards the limits of being governable… The question is how much solidarity people are prepared to show when times are tough… In the end it’s all about money.'”

EU’s Galileo Satellite for Military Use

Deutsche Welle reported on July 10:

“The European Parliament in Strasbourg approved by 502 votes to 83 the military use of the European Union’s Galileo satellite. The bill, proposed by German conservative politician Karl von Wogau, aims to create a space surveillance system to watch out for space debris and other threats. It was approved on Thursday, July 10. Changes to the bill proposed by the Greens to use the system purely for civilian purposes were rejected. Secure, independent and sustainable access to space was a basic requirement for the EU, the text of the draft bill said.

“The system was about acquiring information so that the EU could prevent conflicts, be effective during crises and increase world security by, for example, monitoring the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. ‘The EU and NATO are expressly called upon to start up a strategic dialogue on the politics of space and missile defense,’ the text of the bill said.”

America’s Shrinking Influence in the World

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 11:

“There is little consensus on whether the G-8 summit can be seen as a success for the climate. What is certain is that US President George W. Bush had little part in the efforts to save the world. He didn’t lead, he only followed — and the American superpower never before looked as small as it did this week… the president doesn’t want to understand and he doesn’t even want to go for a walk. That’s why at the meeting of the world’s eight most industrialized nations the most powerful man in the world had to have the world explained to him by seven less powerful leaders.”

“This Bud Is For the EU”

The Associated Press reported on July 14:

“The maker of the King of Beers has agreed to go to work for the Belgian brewer InBev SA. Anheuser Busch Cos. said early Monday it had agreed to a sweetened $52 billion takeover bid from InBev, creating the world’s largest brewer… InBev is the world’s second-largest beer-maker, narrowly behind SABMiller. Swallowing Anheuser-Busch sees it leap ahead, capturing half of the U.S. beer market and a fifth of China and Russia… To some in St. Louis, losing Anheuser-Busch to a foreign buyer meant losing a little bit of history. From college buildings to theme parks to offices to the stadium where the Cardinals play baseball, the Busch name is virtually everywhere in the Gateway City.”

Religion and War

USA Today published an interesting article on July 14 about religion and war. Although much of the article must be rejected as inaccurate interpretation, here are a few worth-while excerpts:

“The specter of violent religion certainly hangs over us in these times, especially when it comes to certain followers of the world’s two dominant religions. Christian and Muslim conflict-mongers drone on against ‘Islamic terrorists’ and ‘Christian infidels,’ respectively, while violence continues erupting in the name of Islam, and conservative Christian figures in America… urge violent solutions to foreign policy problems…

“Yes, there appears to be considerable truth to the oft-heard claim that Christian-Muslim co-existence must be achieved lest our collective future turn out brief and brutal…

“As demonstrated by James Carroll’s powerful and dark new documentary, Constantine’s Sword, Christians over the centuries have too often wielded religion as a lethal weapon. Today that dubious distinction is most strongly associated with violent extremists from the Muslim world, who invoke Islam in terrorist strikes that have killed many thousands of innocents… Judaism, too, has had its spasms of violence, as have other major faiths and sects…

“So how we will know religion in the final analysis? By its peace or by its violence? The scriptures have had their say. It’s now up to the believers  — through their words and works  — to settle the account.”

Focus on the Bigger Picture

As had been announced in recent Updates, Paul L. Voss, a long-time deacon in the Church of God, died from cancer on his birthday, May 23, 2008. He was 76 years old. Following the memorial service on Sunday, July 13, a private inurnment service with full military honors was conducted on July 14. Before he became a member of the Worldwide Church of God, Paul had joined the Navy and fought in the Korean War. Lieutenant Commander Ralph Sage, SWOUSN, retired U.S. Navy Third Class Petty Officer and long-time friend of Paul and his family since 1974, had been invited to explain to those in attendance the symbolic meaning of the flag-folding ceremony.

Most had never heard of the religious and ethical principles associated with that ceremony. Before the flag was presented to Joan Voss, it was folded twelve times. The different folds symbolized, among others, our belief in eternal life; our weaker nature, “for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for divine guidance”; “in the eyes of the Hebrew citizens… [the glorification of] the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”; and “in the eyes of the Christian citizens, [a representation of] an emblem of eternity and [glorification of] God the Father, The Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.”

Of course, some of these symbols do not agree with biblical teaching (such as the reference to the Trinity in the last phrase, and other statements not mentioned herein). However, it could be seen that there were certain values attached to the original flag-folding ceremony, which, in today’s world, have been lost and forgotten.

In the subsequent spiritual message, I emphasized the fact, among other things, that we have entered the Biblical times of the “beginning of sorrows”–a time filled with violence, war, hatred, terrorism, economic hardship, food rationing, famine, and disease epidemics–and that much worse times will arrive soon. I explained that man’s feeble attempts–however well-intentioned they might be–will never free this world from war, pain, suffering and death, but that God WILL do so, in His due time. I also pointed out that man’s sin–the transgression of God’s spiritual Law of Love towards God and neighbor–has caused–and is causing–all the evils which we experience today.

The prospects of a great depression for the United States and the entire world is becoming more and more a real possibility. Banks have begun to falter and fail in the USA, and experts tell us that within the next few years, more than 300 American banks could go bankrupt. Another war with Iran before the end of this year, which may be started by Israel with the support of the USA, appears more and more likely. Such a war and its terrible consequences of the loss of human life and the astronomical rise of oil prices, in combination with other prevailing circumstances, could bring the USA to its knees with lightening speed.

Are we watching world events and praying that God will find us worthy to escape all these things which will surely come to pass? Man and man’s institutions will not be able to protect us, and our money will soon be without value. Only GOD can give us true security.

Some feel today that they do not need to focus on prophecy–that they do not need to watch world events–that the Church of God does not need to continue to preach the warning message of the soon-coming Great Tribulation and the good news of the Kingdom of God in all the world as a witness. They think that it is ONLY necessary to care for the Church–to “prepare the Bride.” However, this is a selfish and short-sighted approach. We can compare it with the servant who received a talent and hid it in the ground, rather than using it for the benefit of OTHERS.

God did not call us today so that we can GET salvation. Rather, we have a JOB TO DO. God gave His Church a commission to warn this world UNTIL the very end of time. This idea of just preparing the Bride ignores the fact that only those who are involved in Christ’s Work of preaching the gospel and feeding the flock are the ones who overcome the most and prepare the best for Christ’s return. Those who neglect to do so might NOT be protected during the terrible times to come, and they are NOT preparing themselves in the right way for the return of Christ.

Man will continue to try to solve the world’s problems in the way he has done for the last 6,000 years, but man has utterly failed in succeeding. This world’s problems can only be solved–and they WILL be solved–through a “mighty hand from somewhere”–the “stone… cut out of the mountain without hands” (Daniel 2:45). Jesus Christ–the Stone and the Rock (Matthew 7:24-25; Matthew 21:42; 1 Corinthians 10:4)–will return to this earth in a very few years from now to “set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). And you and I have the tremendous and awesome privilege to announce His coming to the world, and to rule with and under Christ in the Kingdom of God, IF we qualify: “Then the kingdom and dominion And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him” (Daniel 7:27).

ARE we qualifying? Or do we ignore world events, as they are unfolding in front of our very eyes in the light of Biblical prophecy? Have we become indifferent–tasteless, worthless salt? We are supposed to be the salt of the earth. But Christ warned all of us, in Luke 14:34-35, when He said: “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be salted? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Rather than placing our trust in man and man’s accomplishments–his financial institutions, his weaponry, his political systems and leaders–we MUST place our trust and confidence in GOD. And we must DO what He commands us to do, even if human reasoning might try to persuade us otherwise. If our individual involvement in the Work of God might seem “little” and “insignificant,” it counts mightily in the eyes of God. He knows that the one who is faithful in little will be faithful in much.

Are you faithful in little? Are you ever striving to overcome your shortcomings, while focusing on the bigger picture–the soon-coming return of Jesus Christ to make an end to man’s mis-rule and to establish the glorious Kingdom of God here on earth? If you do, BLESSED are you (Matthew 25:34).

Update 353

The Good Samaritan

On Saturday, July 19, 2008, Norbert Link will give the sermon, titled, “The Good Samaritan.”

The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org at 12:30 pm Pacific Time (which is 2:30 pm Central Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

Back to top

Focus on the Bigger Picture

by Norbert Link

As had been announced in recent Updates, Paul L. Voss, a long-time deacon in the Church of God, died from cancer on his birthday, May 23, 2008. He was 76 years old. Following the memorial service on Sunday, July 13, a private inurnment service with full military honors was conducted on July 14. Before he became a member of the Worldwide Church of God, Paul had joined the Navy and fought in the Korean War. Lieutenant Commander Ralph Sage, SWOUSN, retired U.S. Navy Third Class Petty Officer and long-time friend of Paul and his family since 1974, had been invited to explain to those in attendance the symbolic meaning of the flag-folding ceremony.

Most had never heard of the religious and ethical principles associated with that ceremony. Before the flag was presented to Joan Voss, it was folded twelve times. The different folds symbolized, among others, our belief in eternal life; our weaker nature, “for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for divine guidance”; “in the eyes of the Hebrew citizens… [the glorification of] the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”; and “in the eyes of the Christian citizens, [a representation of] an emblem of eternity and [glorification of] God the Father, The Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.”

Of course, some of these symbols do not agree with biblical teaching (such as the reference to the Trinity in the last phrase, and other statements not mentioned herein). However, it could be seen that there were certain values attached to the original flag-folding ceremony, which, in today’s world, have been lost and forgotten.

In the subsequent spiritual message, I emphasized the fact, among other things, that we have entered the Biblical times of the “beginning of sorrows”–a time filled with violence, war, hatred, terrorism, economic hardship, food rationing, famine, and disease epidemics–and that much worse times will arrive soon. I explained that man’s feeble attempts–however well-intentioned they might be–will never free this world from war, pain, suffering and death, but that God WILL do so, in His due time. I also pointed out that man’s sin–the transgression of God’s spiritual Law of Love towards God and neighbor–has caused–and is causing–all the evils which we experience today.

The prospects of a great depression for the United States and the entire world is becoming more and more a real possibility. Banks have begun to falter and fail in the USA, and experts tell us that within the next few years, more than 300 American banks could go bankrupt. Another war with Iran before the end of this year, which may be started by Israel with the support of the USA, appears more and more likely. Such a war and its terrible consequences of the loss of human life and the astronomical rise of oil prices, in combination with other prevailing circumstances, could bring the USA to its knees with lightening speed.

Are we watching world events and praying that God will find us worthy to escape all these things which will surely come to pass? Man and man’s institutions will not be able to protect us, and our money will soon be without value. Only GOD can give us true security.

Some feel today that they do not need to focus on prophecy–that they do not need to watch world events–that the Church of God does not need to continue to preach the warning message of the soon-coming Great Tribulation and the good news of the Kingdom of God in all the world as a witness. They think that it is ONLY necessary to care for the Church–to “prepare the Bride.” However, this is a selfish and short-sighted approach. We can compare it with the servant who received a talent and hid it in the ground, rather than using it for the benefit of OTHERS.

God did not call us today so that we can GET salvation. Rather, we have a JOB TO DO. God gave His Church a commission to warn this world UNTIL the very end of time. This idea of just preparing the Bride ignores the fact that only those who are involved in Christ’s Work of preaching the gospel and feeding the flock are the ones who overcome the most and prepare the best for Christ’s return. Those who neglect to do so might NOT be protected during the terrible times to come, and they are NOT preparing themselves in the right way for the return of Christ.

Man will continue to try to solve the world’s problems in the way he has done for the last 6,000 years, but man has utterly failed in succeeding. This world’s problems can only be solved–and they WILL be solved–through a “mighty hand from somewhere”–the “stone… cut out of the mountain without hands” (Daniel 2:45). Jesus Christ–the Stone and the Rock (Matthew 7:24-25; Matthew 21:42; 1 Corinthians 10:4)–will return to this earth in a very few years from now to “set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). And you and I have the tremendous and awesome privilege to announce His coming to the world, and to rule with and under Christ in the Kingdom of God, IF we qualify: “Then the kingdom and dominion And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him” (Daniel 7:27).

ARE we qualifying? Or do we ignore world events, as they are unfolding in front of our very eyes in the light of Biblical prophecy? Have we become indifferent–tasteless, worthless salt? We are supposed to be the salt of the earth. But Christ warned all of us, in Luke 14:34-35, when He said: “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be salted? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Rather than placing our trust in man and man’s accomplishments–his financial institutions, his weaponry, his political systems and leaders–we MUST place our trust and confidence in GOD. And we must DO what He commands us to do, even if human reasoning might try to persuade us otherwise. If our individual involvement in the Work of God might seem “little” and “insignificant,” it counts mightily in the eyes of God. He knows that the one who is faithful in little will be faithful in much.

Are you faithful in little? Are you ever striving to overcome your shortcomings, while focusing on the bigger picture–the soon-coming return of Jesus Christ to make an end to man’s mis-rule and to establish the glorious Kingdom of God here on earth? If you do, BLESSED are you (Matthew 25:34).

Back to top

America’s Banks Are Failing–The Handwriting IS On the Wall

The Associated Press reported on July 11:

“The last thing the Bush White House and the rest of the country needed in these economically trying times was another financial crisis. But they got one. The Republican administration and Democratic-run Congress now are facing the possibility that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, once staid and stable, could need a bailout or even go under. Their default would send shock waves through already distressed financial markets, drive the U.S. economy further into recession territory and make it even harder for people to obtain mortgages or refinance their homes…

“Bush told reporters that [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson had briefed him on financial markets and ‘assured me that he and (Federal Reserve Chairman) Ben Bernanke will be working this issue very hard. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are very important institutions,’ Bush said.

“Bush, the first U.S. president with an MBA degree, may have been assured, but investors apparently weren’t. They dumped stocks in response to the woes of Freddie and Fanny, pushing the Dow Jones industrials at one point below the 11,000 mark for the first time in two years before recovering slightly. The two companies’ stocks are now at their lowest levels in 16 years, down 80 percent from just a year ago.”

Please make sure to watch our recent StandingWatch program on YouTube titled, “Coming–The Great Depression?”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–an “Unmitigated Disaster”

Bloomberg reported on July 14:

“The U.S. Treasury Department’s plan to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is an ‘unmitigated disaster’ and the largest U.S. mortgage lenders are ‘basically insolvent,’ according to investor Jim Rogers. Taxpayers will be saddled with debt if Congress approves U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s request for the authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Rogers is betting that Fannie Mae shares will keep tumbling…

“‘I don’t know where these guys get the audacity to take our money, taxpayer money, and buy stock in Fannie Mae,’ Rogers, 65, said in an interview from Singapore. ‘So we’re going to bail out everybody else in the world. And it ruins the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet and it makes the dollar more vulnerable and it increases inflation.’… The U.S. economy is in a recession, possibly the worst since World War II, Rogers said. ‘They’re ruining what has been one of the greatest economies in the world,’ Rogers said… ‘[They] are bailing out their friends on Wall Street but there are 300 million Americans that are going to have to pay for this.”’

US Government Not to Expect to Help More Lenders

The Associated Press reported on July 13:

“The U.S. government is signaling it won’t throw a lifeline to struggling financial companies – except for mortgage linchpins Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – marking a shift to a new and potentially more volatile phase of the credit crisis.

“Such an approach could mean beaten-down investment banks like Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and regional banks must now fend for themselves as they try to recover from billions of dollars in mortgage-related losses. That is bound to unnerve Wall Street, already anxious as it awaits financial companies’ earnings reports that are expected to be down a stunning 69 percent from a year ago when all the numbers are in…

“‘The credit crisis has obviously entered into a new phase – the government has one bailout left in them, and this is it,’ said Jeffrey Gundlach, chief investment officer of TCW Group in Los Angeles, which invests $160 billion. ‘One consequence of Freddie and Fannie is that other firms are allowed to go under,’ he said.”

IndyMac Bank Seized by Federal Regulators

The Los Angeles Times reported on July 12:

“The federal government took control of Pasadena-based IndyMac Bank on Friday in what regulators called the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Citing a massive run on deposits, regulators shut its main branch three hours early, leaving customers stunned and upset…

“Based on a preliminary analysis, federal authorities said the takeover of IndyMac, which had $32 billion in listed assets, would cost the FDIC between $4 billion and $8 billion. Regulators said deposits of up to $100,000 were safe and insured by the FDIC. IndyMac’s failure had been widely expected in recent days. As the bank was shuttering offices and laying off employees to cope with huge losses from defaulted mortgages made at the height of the housing boom, nervous depositors were pulling out $100 million a day. The bank’s stock price had plummeted to under $1 as analysts predicted the company’s imminent demise.

“The takeover of IndyMac came amid rampant speculation that the federal government would also have to take over lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together stand behind almost half of the nation’s mortgage debt.”

Reuters reported on July 14:

“IndyMac Bancorp Inc customers lined up outside a branch at the company’s headquarters on Monday, hoping to withdraw their money after regulators seized what was once one of the largest mortgage lenders in the United States… IndyMac is the fifth U.S. banking company to fail this year, and the largest since the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis… Gerard Cassidy, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, on Sunday estimated that 300 U.S. banks might fail over the next three years because of credit losses and tight capital markets…”

U.S. Economic Tempest Overtakes Europe

On July 16, Der Spiegel Online re-published the following article from the New York Times:

“Spain, Ireland and Denmark are either in a recession or on the brink. Italy is stagnating. France is weakening fast. And Germany, the sturdy locomotive of European growth, is suddenly faltering — dashing most residual hopes that Europe could escape the upheaval in the United States. On Tuesday, an influential poll of German investors by the Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim found that confidence had plummeted to its lowest level since the survey was started in 1991…

“While most economists had predicted that Europe would suffer fallout from the financial market chaos and the broader American malaise, the speed of the deterioration has been surprising… The tense mood in the United States is pushing investors to sell dollars and seek refuge in the euro. For all the storm clouds here, Europe still looks like a safe harbor in comparison to the United States… Still, the strong euro — combined with high oil prices — is exacting a toll on Europe’s export machine.”

How long will Europe allow the weak U.S. dollar to damage or destroy its economy? When will Europe begin to make drastic changes? For sure, it can’t be too long from now. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Temporary Rebound of the U.S. Dollar

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 17:

“The greenback staged a surprising, though brief, rally when oil prices fell. But don’t mistake an uptick for a bottom.

“On July 15, traders in Europe knocked the dollar to an all-time low of $1.6020 to the euro and a three-month low against the British pound. It was hardly a surprise: Investors around the world were appalled by the US government’s need to rescue the multitrillion-dollar mortgage behemoths, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, last weekend… The Asian markets duly punished banks that held Fannie and Freddie paper.

“But to the surprise of many traders, instead of plunging to uncharted depths, the dollar managed to bounce back and was trading at about 1.584 to the euro on July 16. ‘A lot of hedge funds were confused by the price action,’ says Stephen Jen, currency strategist at Morgan Stanley in London.

“Jen and other analysts think several factors have helped — at least, so far — to keep the dollar from going into the out-of-control downward spiral that many fear could be coming. For one thing, the greenback is already quite cheap, especially against the euro, making investors wonder how much lower it can go. But what may be even more important is that the wave of economic misery that began in the US last year is clearly starting to hit European economies, as well.

“… the dollar’s decline is hurting the US, because the weakness is being passed along to consumers in the form of higher energy prices, which, among other things, have largely negated the Bush Administration’s tax rebates.

“Awareness in the markets that intervention [of the U.S. government] is a growing possibility is probably another reason the dollar didn’t plunge further on July 16. The sharp selloff in oil prices that began on July 15 was also positive for the dollar. Indeed, the fact that the greenback kept its head above water could signal a turn, or at least a temporary bottom. But don’t count on it.”

US Faces Global Funding Crisis

The Telegraph wrote on July 15:

“Merrill Lynch has warned that the United States could face a foreign ‘financing crisis’ within months as the full consequences of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage debacle spread through the world. The country depends on Asian, Russian and Middle Eastern investors to fund much of its $700bn (£350bn) current account deficit, leaving it far more vulnerable to a collapse of confidence than Japan in the early 1990s after the Nikkei bubble burst. Britain and other Anglo-Saxon deficit states could face a similar retreat by foreign investors…”

President Bush Backs Israeli Plan for Strike on Iran

The Sunday Times wrote on July 13:

“President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official. Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an ‘amber light’ to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.

“’Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,’ the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support.

“Nor is it certain that Bush’s amber light would ever turn to green without irrefutable evidence of lethal Iranian hostility. Tehran’s test launches of medium-range ballistic missiles last week were seen in Washington as provocative and poorly judged, but both the Pentagon and the CIA concluded that they did not represent an immediate threat of attack against Israeli or US targets.

“’It’s really all down to the Israelis,’ the Pentagon official added. ‘This administration will not attack Iran. This has already been decided. But the president is really preoccupied with the nuclear threat against Israel and I know he doesn’t believe that anything but force will deter Iran.’ …

“Senator Barack Obama’s previous opposition to the war in Iraq, and his apparent doubts about the urgency of the Iranian threat, have intensified pressure on the Israeli hawks to act before November’s US presidential election. ‘If I were an Israeli I wouldn’t wait,’ the Pentagon official added…

“The one thing that all sides agree on is that any strike by either Iran or Israel would trigger a catastrophic round of retaliation that would rock global oil markets, send the price of petrol soaring and wreck the progress of the US military effort in Iraq… How genuine the Iranian threat is was the subject of intense debate last week, with some analysts arguing that Iran might have a useable nuclear weapon by next spring and others convinced that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is engaged in a dangerous game of bluffing…

“Obvious targets would include Iran’s Isfahan plant, where uranium ore is converted into gas, the Natanz complex where this gas is used to enrich uranium in centrifuges and the plutonium-producing Arak heavy water plant. But Iran is known to have scattered other elements of its nuclear programme in underground facilities around the country. Neither US nor Israeli intelligence is certain that it knows where everything is.”

Whom to Believe…?

Reuters reported on July 11:

“An Israeli military spokesman described as ‘utterly baseless’ media reports on Friday about Israeli warplanes secretly training in U.S.-controlled Iraq for possible attacks on neighbouring Iran. The Baghdad government and the Pentagon similarly played down a report, carried on the website of the Jerusalem Post and quoting a Iraqi news network, that Israeli jets were practising in Iraqi airspace and landing on U.S. airbases in the country… Recent months have seen a flurry of high-level contacts between Israel and the United States, which accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge.

“The talks have stoked global speculation that the allies are planning pre-emptive military strikes… The Iraqi report carried by the Jerusalem Post referred to an airbase in western Anbar province near the town of Haditha. The airbase is controlled by the U.S. military. The Israeli newspaper said it could not confirm the veracity of the report.

“Security for Anbar is still formally in the hands of the U.S. military, although control is expected to be transferred to Iraqi security forces soon. Iraq has security control over nine of its 18 provinces.”

Iran and the Bomb

The Wall Street Journal wrote the following on July 15, voicing the opinion that military confrontation in the near future between Israel and Iran appears more and more likely–perhaps with the support of the USA. Please make sure to watch our new StandingWatch program on YouTube, titled, “”Is War With Iran Coming Soon?

“Iran’s test salvo of ballistic missiles last week together with recent threatening rhetoric by commanders of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards emphasizes how close the Middle East is to a fundamental, in fact an irreversible, turning point.

“Tehran’s efforts to intimidate the United States and Israel from using military force against its nuclear program, combined with yet another diplomatic charm offensive with the Europeans, are two sides of the same policy coin. The regime is buying the short additional period of time it needs to produce deliverable nuclear weapons, the strategic objective it has been pursuing clandestinely for 20 years.

“Between Iran and its long-sought objective, however, a shadow may fall: targeted military action, either Israeli or American… If Iran reaches weaponization… the Middle East, and indeed global, balance of power changes in potentially catastrophic ways. And consider what comes next for the U.S.: the Bush administration’s last six months pursuing its limp diplomatic efforts, plus six months of a new president getting his national security team and policies together. In other words, one more year for Tehran to proceed unhindered to ‘the point of no return.’

“We have almost certainly lost the race between giving ‘strong incentives’ for Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and its scientific and technological efforts to do just that. Swift, sweeping, effectively enforced sanctions might have made a difference five years ago. No longer…

“That is why Israel is now at an urgent decision point: whether to use targeted military force to break Iran’s indigenous control over the nuclear fuel cycle at one or more critical points… The alternative is Iran with nuclear weapons, the most deeply unattractive alternative of all… What will the U.S. do if Israel decides to initiate military action?…

“Israel sees clearly what the next 12 months will bring, which is why ongoing U.S.-Israeli consultations could be dispositive. Israel told the Bush administration it would destroy North Korea’s reactor in Syria in spring, 2007, and said it would not wait past summer’s end to take action. And take action it did… we should be intensively considering what cooperation the U.S. will extend to Israel before, during and after a strike on Iran. We will be blamed for the strike anyway, and certainly feel whatever negative consequences result, so there is compelling logic to make it as successful as possible. At a minimum, we should place no obstacles in Israel’s path, and facilitate its efforts where we can. These subjects are decidedly unpleasant. A nuclear Iran is more so.”

Could Iran Strike Europe with Missiles?

Reuters wrote on July 15:

“The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Iran has the ability to launch a ballistic missile capable of hitting sections of eastern and southern Europe… Older versions of the Shahab-3 have a 800-mile (1,300-km) range. But a new extended version is believed to have a range of up to 1,250 miles, making it capable of hitting targets as far away as Greece, Serbia, Romania and Belarus.”

“Two Coffins for a Murderer”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 16:

“Some had hoped that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev [Israeli soldiers who were abducted in the 2006 raid] still lived. But on Wednesday, a deal negotiated by German intelligence led to Hezbollah handing over two coffins with their remains. In exchange, Israel turned over a brutal murderer — and a bit of its dignity… ‘Today is a great victory for the resistance movements and for Hezbollah,’ said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. ‘It shows that the only successful way to free the prisoners is by kidnapping soldiers’…

“That Olmert and his cabinet… agreed to the deal on Tuesday was largely attributable to the government’s weakness domestically. For months, the prime minister has been plagued by corruption investigations…”

Chaos and Upheaval in Belgium

Der Spiegel Online reported on July 16:

“Chaos has returned to Belgium’s capital: The government has collapsed, the prime minister has offered his resignation. German newspapers on Wednesday wonder if the linguistically divided country will ever get its act together. The Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme threw in the towel late on Monday night, saying he could not force through a consensus between the Flemish and French-speaking coalition partners…

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘In terms of economics, Belgium is the most successful “failed state” of all time. Its per capita income is way ahead of Germany, the world’s leading exporter… Belgium can continue to flourish without a national government for the simple reason that the cabinet doesn’t have to decide much anyway. Most authority has devolved to the regions … The central government is left to deal with foreign policy, defense and finance policy — all issues that are increasingly taken care of at the EU level… The Belgian government still controls spending on social welfare. And this is where the conflict has blown up between the two language groups, because rich Flanders wants to pay less for poorer Wallonia…’

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘Belgium had always prided itself on being a model for Europe: exemplifying, through the art of compromise and the virtue of tolerance, how nations and cultures can exist peacefully side by side. The country can no longer claim this. The latest political crisis sees the kingdom moving towards the limits of being governable… The question is how much solidarity people are prepared to show when times are tough… In the end it’s all about money.'”

EU’s Galileo Satellite for Military Use

Deutsche Welle reported on July 10:

“The European Parliament in Strasbourg approved by 502 votes to 83 the military use of the European Union’s Galileo satellite. The bill, proposed by German conservative politician Karl von Wogau, aims to create a space surveillance system to watch out for space debris and other threats. It was approved on Thursday, July 10. Changes to the bill proposed by the Greens to use the system purely for civilian purposes were rejected. Secure, independent and sustainable access to space was a basic requirement for the EU, the text of the draft bill said.

“The system was about acquiring information so that the EU could prevent conflicts, be effective during crises and increase world security by, for example, monitoring the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. ‘The EU and NATO are expressly called upon to start up a strategic dialogue on the politics of space and missile defense,’ the text of the bill said.”

America’s Shrinking Influence in the World

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 11:

“There is little consensus on whether the G-8 summit can be seen as a success for the climate. What is certain is that US President George W. Bush had little part in the efforts to save the world. He didn’t lead, he only followed — and the American superpower never before looked as small as it did this week… the president doesn’t want to understand and he doesn’t even want to go for a walk. That’s why at the meeting of the world’s eight most industrialized nations the most powerful man in the world had to have the world explained to him by seven less powerful leaders.”

“This Bud Is For the EU”

The Associated Press reported on July 14:

“The maker of the King of Beers has agreed to go to work for the Belgian brewer InBev SA. Anheuser Busch Cos. said early Monday it had agreed to a sweetened $52 billion takeover bid from InBev, creating the world’s largest brewer… InBev is the world’s second-largest beer-maker, narrowly behind SABMiller. Swallowing Anheuser-Busch sees it leap ahead, capturing half of the U.S. beer market and a fifth of China and Russia… To some in St. Louis, losing Anheuser-Busch to a foreign buyer meant losing a little bit of history. From college buildings to theme parks to offices to the stadium where the Cardinals play baseball, the Busch name is virtually everywhere in the Gateway City.”

Religion and War

USA Today published an interesting article on July 14 about religion and war. Although much of the article must be rejected as inaccurate interpretation, here are a few worth-while excerpts:

“The specter of violent religion certainly hangs over us in these times, especially when it comes to certain followers of the world’s two dominant religions. Christian and Muslim conflict-mongers drone on against ‘Islamic terrorists’ and ‘Christian infidels,’ respectively, while violence continues erupting in the name of Islam, and conservative Christian figures in America… urge violent solutions to foreign policy problems…

“Yes, there appears to be considerable truth to the oft-heard claim that Christian-Muslim co-existence must be achieved lest our collective future turn out brief and brutal…

“As demonstrated by James Carroll’s powerful and dark new documentary, Constantine’s Sword, Christians over the centuries have too often wielded religion as a lethal weapon. Today that dubious distinction is most strongly associated with violent extremists from the Muslim world, who invoke Islam in terrorist strikes that have killed many thousands of innocents… Judaism, too, has had its spasms of violence, as have other major faiths and sects…

“So how we will know religion in the final analysis? By its peace or by its violence? The scriptures have had their say. It’s now up to the believers  — through their words and works  — to settle the account.”

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Why did Jesus ask John just prior to His death to take care of His mother Mary?

Some have concluded that Jesus was Mary’s only child, and that He therefore asked John to take care of His mother after His death, as there was nobody else in His immediate family who could have done so. However, this is not what the Bible teaches.

We read in John 19:25-27:

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother… When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”

Almost every biblical scholar agrees that the “disciple whom Christ loved” was the disciple John (Compare for additional references, John 13:23; 20:2; 21:7). Especially in John 21, John identifies himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (compare verses 20-24).

The fact that Jesus entrusted John, who was possibly one of His nephews [compare comments in the “People’s New Testament”], with the care of His mother, does not mean, however, that Mary did not have other children. The Bible clearly reveals that Mary and Joseph had additional children, AFTER Jesus was born.

Our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery,” proves this fact in great detail in chapter 3, “Christ’s Relatives,” on pages 28-30. You might want to read the entire passage in the booklet, but here are just a few highlights:

“The ‘Virgin Birth’ is clearly taught in Scripture. However, the Bible does not teach that Mary stayed a virgin for the rest of her life. We read in Matthew 1:25 that Joseph ‘did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.’ The word ’till’ or ”until’ signifies that after the birth of Jesus, Joseph DID ‘know her,’ that is, he did have a sexual relationship with her…

“Luke 2:6–7 confirms this: ‘So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son…’ The Greek word for ‘firstborn’ is, ‘prototokon.’ It means, ‘first-born,’ but it does not describe an only child. The word for ‘only-born’ is ‘monogenes.’ In Luke 7:12, the word ‘monogenes’ is used, when describing a person who was ‘the only son of his mother.’

“The Jews knew that Jesus was not the only son of Mary. They knew very well that Jesus had brothers and sisters. We read the account in Matthew 13:53–56: ‘Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s Son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?”‘…

“Some teach that Christ’s ‘brothers’ were in fact Christ’s cousins. This is the official position of the Roman Catholic Church, although this has recently been criticized by Catholic scholars who have concluded that the brothers were, in fact, Christ’s real brothers and not His cousins. The word for brother is ‘adelphos.’ This Greek word is used in Matthew 1:2 and 4:21, clearly referring to literal brothers. The word for cousin is ‘exadelphos,’ meaning ‘from brothers.’ When the Jews pointed out in Matthew 13 that Christ’s brothers were with them, they used the word ‘adelphos,’ not the word ‘exadelphos.’

“Some propose that the brothers and sisters mentioned in Matthew 13 were Christ’s spiritual brothers and sisters, not His physical siblings. But… the Bible makes a clear distinction between Christ’s physical brothers and His spiritual brothers. In addition… Christ’s physical relatives did not believe in Him and so they could not possibly have been referred to as Christ’s spiritual brothers and sisters.”

Why, then, did Jesus ask John, rather than His brother James, to take care of Mary?

We need to realize that at the time of Jesus’ death, none of His brothers believed in Him. Also, John was the ONLY disciple who stayed with Christ until He died–showing His dedication and bravery and the intimate relationship between Christ and His disciple whom He loved. Christ KNEW that John would take care of His mother–more than His half-brothers would have been able or willing to do–and that from the very moment (or the “same hour”) of His death.

Even though the Bible does not specifically and expressly say why Jesus chose John, there are several important hints. Most commentaries which understand that Jesus HAD brothers and sisters, also give plausible explanations, based on Scripture, as to WHY Christ entrusted His mother to His beloved disciple who BELIEVED in Him–rather than to one of His brothers who did NOT believe in Him at that time of His death.

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible points out, in John 19:26, that Jesus said, in effect:

“‘… take that disciple whom my power shall preserve from evil for thy son; and, while he considers thee as his mother, account him for thy child.’ It is probable that it was because the keeping of [Mary] was entrusted to him that he was the only disciple of our Lord who died a natural death, God having preserved him for the sake of the person whom he gave him in charge. Many children are not only preserved alive, but abundantly prospered in temporal things, for the sake of the desolate parents whom God hast cast upon their care. It is very likely that Joseph was dead previously to this.”

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible elaborates, as follows:

“This was an honour put upon John, and a testimony both to his prudence and to his fidelity. If he who knows all things had not known that John loved him, he would not have made him his mother’s guardian. It is a great honour to be employed for Christ, and to be entrusted with any of his interest in the world… It would be a care and some charge to John; but he cheerfully accepted it, and took her to his own home, not objecting the trouble nor expense, nor his obligations to his own family, nor the ill-will he might contract by it… [Some commentaries say] that she lived to remove with him to Ephesus.”

Tradition and historical records report that John was later accompanied on his missionary travels by an elderly woman, who–it is felt–was none other than Mary, the mother of Jesus.

We might also add that John had more writing to do. At least five writings of his have been preserved and are part of the Holy Scriptures. He wrote the “gospel of John” (of which Mary was undoubtedly a good source of information), three letters (1 John; 2 John; and 3 John) and finally the last book of the Bible–the book of Revelation, while banished to the isle of Patmos.

It is true, that ultimately, as we explain in our afore-mentioned booklet, at least three of Christ’s four brothers came to the faith (James, Simeon and Jude, who wrote the letter of Jude). Perhaps Jose or Joseph became converted, too. We are also informed that James became a very influential leader in the early Church, and that he wrote the letter of James. But that happened LATER. Before then, Christ’s brothers were unbelieving and hostile toward Christ (compare John 7:5). They might have been envious and even perhaps hateful toward Him. He referred to them as enemies within His own household–being without honor in His own home.

At the time of the crucifixion, Christ did not think that Mary needed to experience further agonies from her own family. It was more than enough that she had to observe the brutal death of her beloved Son–feeling the sword piercing through her own soul also (Luke 2:35). Christ, in His wisdom and foresight, entrusted His mother to the care of John, knowing that he would be able to provide for her the physical and spiritual needs which Mary needed the most at that difficult time in her life.

As explained in our afore-mentioned booklet, tradition tells us that James, after his conversion and leadership role in the early church in Jerusalem, experienced a violent death in his faithful service to Christ. IF Mary was still alive by that time, a further transition of care for her would have been necessary. Christ, foreseeing this, entrusted the care of His mother to John, knowing that John would die long AFTER the death of His mother.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

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Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock

A new StandingWatch program has been posted on StandingWatch, Google Video and YouTube.  It is titled, “Is War With Iran Coming Soon?” In the program, Norbert Link is discussing the fact that we are hearing more and more the warning that Israel may strike Iran militarily before the end of this year. Is this possible or likely? What consequences would such an attack have for the United States and the rest of the world? Does the Bible give us any information as to what IS going to happen?

The following video-recorded sermon by Norbert Link was posted on Google Video:

Bible Study–In the Name of Jesus Christ, November 11, 2005

We are preparing for a free Public Bible Lecture, to be conducted by Norbert Link on September 7, 2008, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Collins, Colorado. The lecture will address developments in the United States and Europe in the light of biblical prophecy. More information will be forthcoming.

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How This Work is Financed

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

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

Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank

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

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

Donations can be sent to the following addresses:

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

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

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

Is That In the Bible? Man’s Holidays and God’s Holy Days

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To Request a FREE hard copy of this booklet, please write to: contact@eternalgod.org

Introduction

Overview

Have you ever questioned the source of your beliefs? Do you base your beliefs on family or societal traditions, or do you base them on sound biblical doctrine? Do you know what the Bible teaches in regard to the beliefs you hold dear? Is it possible that you believe something that the Bible does not teach, or that you actually reject what the Bible does teach? Is it possible that you are deceived?

The Bible tells us that the whole world is deceived (Revelation 12:9).

And so, it should come as no surprise that many of man’s beliefs, customs, ideas and teachings are not based on God’s Word, the Bible, but, instead, on human concepts and traditions, which actually have their roots in the “god of this world”—Satan the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4, Authorized Version). There is no truth in Satan, and even though he masquerades himself as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), God calls him and his demons “the rulers of the darkness of this age” (Ephesians 6:12).

Satan is presently the “ruler of this world.” Unfortunately, he has not been a good and righteous ruler. Just the opposite! He has suppressed the truth, and has blinded and deceived mankind through his wrong philosophies and religions—in fact, from the very beginning of mankind’s existence.

Are you blinded and deceived? Are you willing to become “undeceived?” If so, keep reading.

In this first booklet in a series called, “Is That In the Bible?,” we will discuss the holidays of man and the Holy Days of God. We will show which days we are instructed to keep and which days we are instructed to reject—or, which we might be motivated to reject—presenting biblical proof so that you will no longer be deceived by Satan, the present, temporary god of this world.

Chapter 1 – Man’s Holidays…

Overview

The list of holidays that have been created by man is endless, and the celebratory practices vary widely in different countries and cultures. While we do not have the time nor space to review all of man’s holidays—it seems that the world itself might not be able to contain the books that would have to be written—we will discuss some of the more prevalent and widely celebrated ones known among professing Christian societies. The same principles can then be applied to other holidays invented by man that are not covered in this booklet.

Easter

Easter is a holiday that purports to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Is this truth or fiction? Would you be shocked to learn that Easter is NEITHER Christian, nor does it memorialize the death and resurrection of our Savior?

We will show you that Christ was neither crucified on a Friday, nor was He resurrected on a Sunday. If He had been, He would not be our Savior, as He would not have fulfilled the ONLY SIGN that HE gave for His Messiahship—that of being dead and buried in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (Matthew 12:38–40). The period from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning, traditionally accepted by most professing Christians, simply does NOT constitute 72 hours! Some claim that “three days and three nights” only refer to parts of the day and night. However, Jesus defined the daylight portion as including 12 hours (John 11:9), distinguishing, in John 11:10, the “night” from the day. Therefore, “three days and three nights” clearly refer to 72 hours.

[As the above example shows, when interpreting Scripture, a cardinal rule is that one must read Scripture in context with, and in addition to, other relevant Scripture, particularly in the case of hard-to-understand passages or where one passage appears to contradict another passage. The Bible never contradicts itself, compare John 10:35.]

The truth is, Christ was crucified and buried late on Wednesday and was then resurrected late on Saturday, just before sunset—the REAL 72-hour period of three days and three nights referred to in Matthew 12.

Christ Not Resurrected on Easter Sunday

We read in Matthew 28:1–6 (Authorized Version): “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it… And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for HE IS RISEN, AS HE SAID.”

We note from this passage that Christ was already resurrected by the time the women came to the grave. We are told that they appeared “in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.” Many commentaries point out that this phrase discusses the END of the SABBATH, that is, Saturday evening or late afternoon, and NOT Sunday morning. The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament renders this verse in this way: “Now late on Sabbath, as it was getting dusk toward (the) first (day) of (the) week, came Mary the Magdalene…”

A.T. Robertson’s Harmony of the Gospel comments: “This phrase once gave much trouble, but the usage of the vernacular Koine Greek amply justifies the translation. The visit of the women to inspect the tomb was thus made before the Sabbath was over (before 6 p.m. on Saturday).”

Cockrell, “Three Days and Three Nights,” states: “When does the Bible say that Jesus rose from the dead? The two Marys came to the tomb ‘in the end of the sabbath’ ([Matthew] 28:1). The Sabbath always ended at sunset: ‘From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath’ (Lev. 23:32). Then they went to the tomb before sunset on Saturday. Jesus had risen from the dead before their arrival ([Matthew] 28:1–8)…”

The Elberfelder Bible reads: “But late at the Sabbath, in the dawn of the first day.” It comments: “Days started at sunset.” (See discussion below.)

The revised Zürcher Bible of 1942 states: “After the Sabbath, when it was shining (lightening up) towards the first day of the week…” It adds the following comments: “For the Jews a day began with sunset. The expression [in] Luke 23:54, ‘The Sabbath lightened up…’ [The Authorized Version states: “The Sabbath drew on” or “drew near”] does not mean that the morning began, but that lights were kindled for the evening…”

Other passages confirm that Christ was resurrected long before Sunday morning. We read that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb on the first day of the week, when it was still dark, and Jesus was already resurrected by that time (John 20:1). This means that Christ was not resurrected on Sunday morning, at sunrise, but that He had already been resurrected “while it was still dark.”

Therefore, the concept that we must honor Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday is biblically unfounded.

Christ Not Crucified on Good Friday

Just as Easter Sunday celebrations are unbiblical, so also are Good Friday celebrations, because Christ was neither resurrected on Sunday, nor was He crucified on Friday. The day Christ was crucified was actually on Wednesday.

Cockrell, “Three Days and Three Nights,” points out: “According to the Bible, Jesus Christ arose before sunset on Saturday… Having shown from Matthew 28:1 that Jesus rose from the grave as the Sabbath ended at sunset and the first day of the week began, this would put the crucifixion on Wednesday at sunset… According to the gospel writers, Jesus died at the ninth hour (3:00 p.m. our time) and was buried about sunset that same day… If Jesus was buried at sunset on Wednesday and arose at sunset on Saturday, He fulfilled the sign of Jonah [compare Matthew 12:38–40]. He would have been in the grave Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night—a full ‘three nights.’ He would have been in the grave during the daylight of Thursday, Friday and Saturday—a full ‘three days.’ All together a full ‘three days and three nights.’ Thus we have a literal fulfillment of the words of Christ in Matthew 12:40.”

Numerous commentators have confirmed and agree with the historical and biblical fact that Jesus Christ died and was buried on a WEDNESDAY. Please note the following selection:

Donald Grey Barnhouse, Eternity, June 1958: “… ancient Christian traditions, attested to by the Didascalia Apostolorum as well as by Epiphanius and Victorinus of Petau (who died in 304 A.D.), [give] Tuesday evening as the date of the Last Supper and prescribes a fast for Wednesday to commemorate the capture [and subsequent trial and crucifixion] of Christ.”

W.L. Pettingill, Bible Questions Answered, p. 182: “To us it is perfectly obvious that crucifixion was on Wednesday.”

Finis Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, page 13, note on Matthew 12:40: “Christ was dead for three full days and three full nights. He was put in the grave Wednesday just before sunset and was resurrected at the end of Saturday at sunset.”

R. A. Torrey, Difficulties and Alleged Errors and Contradictions in the Bible, 1907, pp. 104–109: “… the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified was Wednesday… everything in Scripture is perfectly harmonized by Wednesday crucifixion.”

James A. Walther, The Chronology of Passion Week, in Journal of Biblical Literature, June 1958: “References in the Didascalia, in Epiphanius, in Victorinus of Petau… support the Tuesday [night] Passover dating and the subsequent arrest of Jesus in the morning hours of Wednesday.”

Finally, the Companion Bible, published by Oxford University Press, explains in its Appendix 156 that Christ was crucified on a Wednesday.

Also of interest is the prophecy in Daniel 9:27 that the Messiah would be killed “in the middle of the week; i.e., on a Wednesday, and that by His death, He would “bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”

How, then, are we to understand John 19:30–42, which says that Christ was crucified on the “preparation day before the Sabbath,” that is, on Friday?

A careful review of this passage provides the answer. We read: “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. Therefore, because it was THE PREPARATION DAY that the bodies should not remain on the cross ON THE SABBATH (FOR THAT SABBATH WAS A HIGH DAY), the Jews asked Pilate… that they might be taken away… After this, Joseph of Arimathea… asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus… So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus… also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with the spices… Now in the place where He was crucified there was… a new tomb… So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ PREPARATION DAY, for the tomb was NEARBY” (verses 30–31, 38–42).

We will focus here on the meaning of the “preparation day.” Some claim that the “preparation day” in this Scripture refers to the day before the weekly Sabbath, and so they teach that Christ was crucified on Friday.

Those who claim that the preparation day refers only to the day before the weekly Sabbath overlook the fact that the word “Sabbath” can refer to the weekly Sabbath, as well as to any of the seven annual Holy Days, which are also called Sabbaths in the Bible (compare Leviticus 16:29–31; 23:24, 26–32, 34–35, 39). Annual Sabbaths can fall on any day in a given week. The Elberfelder Bible admits that a biblical reference to “the preparation day” can apply to the day before the weekly Sabbath OR the day before an annual Sabbath or Holy Day, stating that the preparation day mentioned in John 19:31 was “a weekday before the [weekly] Sabbath or [an annual] Festival.”

However, the reference in John 19:31 is to the preparation day of an annual Holy Day or Festival—the First Day of Unleavened Bread—NOT of the weekly Sabbath. The Bible says in John 19:31 that “that” particular Sabbath was a “high day”—an annual Holy Day. In the crucifixion year, that particular annual Holy Day or HIGH Sabbath fell on Thursday.

It is abundantly clear from the Bible, as well as historical records, that Jesus Christ was not crucified on “Good Friday” and resurrected on “Easter Sunday.” For further proof, please read our free booklet, “Jesus Christ—A Great Mystery.”

Origin of Easter and Easter Customs

What about Easter and its customs? Where did this celebration come from? And how did it come to be associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

“Easter” is the name of the pagan goddess of Spring who was worshipped under the names “Eastre,” “Eostre,” “Astarte,” “Ostara,” “Ishtar” and “Istar.” It is from these names that our modern word “Easter” is derived. Especially the name “Ishtar” is associated with the Babylonian “Queen of Heaven.” The egg-laying Easter hare or Easter rabbit and colored Easter eggs were associated—as symbols of fertility—with Eastre, the pagan goddess of Spring.

In addition, the pagans celebrated, at Easter time, the passion and resurrection of pagan gods who died on a Friday and came to life again on the following Sunday. Some of these gods are known as Marduk, Attis and Mythra.

Arthur Weigall writes in “The Paganism in our Christianity”: “The clergy… could not prevent the people in various countries celebrating the great holiday at Easter in honor of the resurrection of Attis and other gods.”

“The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets” has this to say about “Attis”: “Attis’ passion was celebrated on the 25th of March, exactly nine months before the festival of his birth, the 25th of December… The day of Attis’ death was black Friday… The god died and was buried. He descended into the underworld. On the third day [a Sunday] he rose again from the dead.”

Have you ever wondered why it is commonly believed—contrary to the Bible—that Christ died on Friday and rose on Sunday? Here you have the answer! It is clearly derived from the worship of the pagan god, Attis.

Note that the early Church did not keep Easter. The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, Vol. 8, p. 828, confirms that “there is no indication of the observance of the Easter Festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic fathers.”

Arthur Weigal and other historians confirm that the Catholic Church adopted pagan festivals, such as Easter, “to Christian ideas,” rather than suppressing them. Calvin, for example, considered the annual church festival of Easter to be so paganized, that at one point, he did not observe it either.

Many Scriptures command us not to worship the one true God in the way of the pagans. The Bible also specifically condemns the worship of the “queen of heaven” in Jeremiah 7:18 and other places. The Ryrie Study Bible identifies the queen of heaven with the “Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar”—in other words, with Easter.

Jeremiah 10:2 tells us: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles.” Lamsa states in an annotation that the word “way” describes “religion.” Note, too, that true religion is referred to as the “Way” (compare Acts 9:2). Deuteronomy 12:29–32 commands us not to “inquire after their [that is, pagan] gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way.” The Ryrie Study Bible comments: “The Israelites were not even to inquire about the worship of the Canaanites, lest they be tempted to incorporate aspects of it into their worship of God.”

It is, therefore, abundantly clear from both biblical and historical records that true Christians are not to participate in Easter celebrations. It is pagan, and it cannot be Christianized.

Christmas

Many people think they celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25, but Christ was not born on December 25, nor could He have been born then, or anywhere near that date. What proof can we offer?

Christ Not Born on December 25

The fact that shepherds were living out in the fields (compare Luke 2:8), and that a public enrollment was conducted at the time of Christ’s birth (compare Luke 2:1–7), clearly proves that Christ could not have been born anywhere near December 25. Sheep were never in the field during the winter months. From the middle of October until the middle of March, the sheep would be kept inside stables or barns. During that time, there was too much rain and wind, and even frost and snow.

The newspaper Wynne Progress published an article on December 21, 1967, entitled, “The Christmas Story,” in which it pointed out numerous discrepancies between the biblical record and Christmas traditions. It stated, “As for the date of December 25, that was chosen by the church during the fourth Century A.D… The choice seems to have been dictated… by a desire to Christianize the Roman revel that marked the winter solstice. The biblical evidence plainly indicates that Jesus was born during the late summer or early fall. That is the time of year when Palestinian shepherds take their flocks into the field to graze at night.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury said that the Christmas story of the “Three Wise Men” was nothing but a “legend.” The British Daily Telegraph reported on December 20, 2007: “Dr Rowan Williams has claimed that there was certainly nothing to prove there were three of them [the Magis] or that they were kings. He said the only reference to the wise men from the East was in Matthew’s gospel and the details were very vague. Dr Williams said: ‘Matthew’s gospel says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that’s all we’re really told. It works quite well as legend.’

“The Archbishop went on to dispel other details of the Christmas story, adding that there were probably no asses or oxen in the stable. He also argued that Christmas cards which showed the Virgin Mary cradling the baby Jesus, flanked by shepherds and wise men, were misleading. As for the scenes that depicted snow falling in Bethlehem, the Archbishop said the chance of this was ‘very unlikely’. He added that Jesus was probably not born in December at all. He said: ‘Christmas was when it was because it fitted well with the winter festival.’”

Christmas Celebrations Long Before Christ

Christmas celebrations took place long before the birth of Christ. The purpose of the celebrations was to honor pagan deities, such as the Persian sun god Mithras, who was born on December 25.

The German magazine, P.M., published an article several years ago, entitled, “Can You Imagine to Believe in Mithras?” In the article it was stated:

“Mithras is the name of that transcendent being from whom they expect salvation. And each year in the winter they celebrate his birthday: in the night of December 25 with a sort of service, which we could call today midnight mass… The birthday of Jesus was declared [by Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nice in 325A.D.] to be on the same day on which Mithras was supposedly born… Until then, Christians had not celebrated Christmas.”

In fact, early Christians refused to celebrate Christmas, as they considered it to be a pagan feast. Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Vol. 3, explains: “The celebration of Christmas on December 25 in the church begins only in the middle of the 4th century. Until then, the opposition against it was in some cases very severe…, since it was considered a pagan custom to celebrate with festivities the birthdays of kings.”

Christmas carols, Christmas gifts, Christmas candles and Christmas cakes, as well as the Christmas tree, are all of pagan origin, and had been used to worship pagan gods and goddesses. Please notice the following in regard to the Christmas tree:

Jeremiah 10:2–5 reads: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not learn the way [Note in the Lamsa Bible: ‘Religion’] of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.”

Here we find a description of the Christmas tree. Some have said that Jeremiah 10 only talks about a wooden idol that was carved out of a tree, but that it does not refer to decorating a Christmas tree, per se. However, the pagans believed that their gods—Attis, Osiris, Dinosus—lived as tree spirits in pine trees. They believed that their gods actually changed into those trees, and they carried these sacred trees to a certain place of worship, decorated them, and adored them as deities.

Jeremiah 10 condemns any kind of religious worship that includes the decoration of a pine tree or a “green tree” (1 Kings 14:23), as well as the religious doctrines associated with such customs. Lamsa continues Jeremiah 10:8 as follows: “But altogether the vain doctrines of wooden image worship shall be utterly destroyed and consumed.”

Gradually, the Roman Catholic Church “adapted” those pagan customs to make the Christian faith more attractive to Gentiles. Quoting from Earl W. Count, 4000 Years of Christmas: “The [Roman Catholic] Church finally succeeded in taking the merriment, the greenery, the lights, and the gifts from Saturn [a Roman sun god patterned after the Persian sun god Mithras] and giving them to the Babe of Bethlehem.”

The age-old question is, however, why is it so important to know that Christmas and its customs were a pagan invention? What is wrong with “Christianizing” those pagan customs? We might not be able to bring Christ BACK into those customs (as He was never part of them in the first place), but why can’t we bring those customs to Christ and use them to worship Him in that way?

Simply, because the Bible prohibits us from doing so. The concept of adding pagan practices to godly worship, known as “syncretism,” is condemned throughout Scripture.

In short, we read God’s command to Israel in Deuteronomy 12:29–32, as quoted before, that “you do not inquire after their [pagan] gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way…”

What could be clearer? God commands us NOT to worship Him in the way the Gentiles worshipped their gods. Christmas was a pagan festival in honor of pagan gods. God FORBIDS us to worship Him in that way. We read in Matthew 15:7–9 that we worship Christ IN VAIN when we teach “as doctrines the commandments of men” or pagans.

For further proof that true Christians are not to participate in Christmas celebrations, please read our free booklet, “Don’t Keep Christmas.

Halloween

The Bible is very clear that a true Christian must not, under any circumstances, celebrate Halloween.

Halloween is deeply rooted in pagan and occult worship services and ceremonies. It was later “adopted” by the Catholic Church, which gave it a “Christian” mantle. However, its Satanic and demonic rites remain and are evidenced even in today’s Halloween customs.

The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1959, has this to say about “Halloween”:

“…the occasion shows clear connections with the religion of the Druids in pre-Christian Ireland and Scotland. The Celtic year ended on October 31, the eve of Samhain, and was celebrated with both religious and agrarian rites. For the Druids, Samhain was both the ‘end of summer’ and a festival of the dead. The spirits of the departed were believed to visit their kinsmen in search of warmth and good cheer as winter approached… Divination and auguries for the new year were practiced at Samhain. These magical practices concerned such questions as [to] who would die during the next year… It was also an occasion when fairies, witches and goblins terrified the populace…

“THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT THAT THE [CATHOLIC] CHURCH SOUGHT TO ELIMINATE OR SUPPLANT THE DRUID FESTIVAL OF THE DEAD BY INTRODUCING THE ALTERNATIVE OBSERVANCE OF ALL SAINTS’ DAY ON NOVEMBER 1. This feast was established to honor all saints, known or unknown, BUT IT FAILED TO DISPLACE THE PAGAN CELEBRATION OF SAMHAIN… By the end of the middle ages, the celebration of Allhallows [sic] Eve was an established part of the annual calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. However, after the Reformation, Protestants REJECTED this feast ALONG WITH OTHER IMPORTANT ONES SUCH AS CHRISTMAS AND EASTER.”

Other sources point out that Halloween was not celebrated in the United States until about 1845 when thousands of Irish emigrants flooded into New York. Today, it is said to be the “second highest grossing money maker” in the United States outside Christmas.

We are told by historians that there is a clear historical relationship between the Celtic concepts of resurrection, Roman Catholic responses to it, and the modern American holiday of Halloween.

We are also told that the Celts and their Druids believed that on October 31, the night before their New Year, the “Lord of the Death” gathered the souls of the evil dead, and that ghosts, evil spirits and witches roamed about. In order to honor the Sun God (Belenus), and to frighten away the evil spirits, large bonfires were lit. It was also believed that Samhain was a time when the division between the two worlds became very thin, when hostile supernatural forces were active and ghosts and spirits were free to wander as they wished. Samhain was the supreme night of demon celebrations. Spirits of the dead were believed to rise out of their graves, trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Frightened villagers tried to appease them by offering them gifts of fruit and nuts. This is the origin of the present day “trick-or-treat.”

Masks were worn to hide oneself from the spirits of the dead, or to frighten demons and scare them away. This constitutes the origin of today’s custom on Halloween to masquerade as devils, imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures. As the “Plymouth District Library” states, “When Christianity came to the British Isles, it became the eve of All Hallows [sic] or All Saints’ Day, but the old traditions remained. That’s why youngsters wear masks when they go out trick-or-treating and it is also why the hollowed-out jack-o’-lantern has a [mask-like] face.”

We are also informed that “jack-o’-lantern,” the festival light for Halloween, is the ancient symbol of a damned soul. Originally the Irish carved out turnips or beets as lanterns as representations of the souls of the dead or of goblins freed from the dead. When the Irish emigrated to America, they found an abundance of pumpkins to substitute the hard-to-find turnips. They began to cut pumpkins with faces representing demons, which were originally intended to frighten away evil spirits. Additional popular symbols of Halloween are bats, owls and black cats. They were originally feared because people believed that these creatures could communicate with the spirits of the dead, or that witches could turn themselves into them, especially black cats.

Considering the origin of Halloween and its customs, who can deny, as one Christian author wrote, “that virtually all of the symbols of Halloween are evil? Witches, monsters, ogres, vampires, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, devils and demons all portray evil… When America and the world celebrates the Festival of Samhain and the powers of darkness by masquerading as evil creatures or decorating our homes, schools, businesses and churches with occult symbols, Satanic power is glorified… When Christians participate in Halloween, it sends a message to children that witchcraft, demonism, Satanism, and the occult are something fun, entertaining and harmless… Some children develop a fascination with the supernatural which leads them later into more sinister occult practices… What’s wrong with Halloween? It does not have even one single redeeming virtue. It is a custom born out of pagan superstition. It is a demon-inspired, devil-glorifying, occult festival. It is an evening holy unto evil, death, and divination…”

The Bible, in fact, commands us to have nothing to do with the devil or his evil forces of darkness (compare 1 Thessalonians 5:21–22; Ephesians 5:10–12). Paul warns us that we must not attempt to partake of the cup of the Lord and of the cup of demons (1 Corinthians 10:21). We are also warned not to try to communicate with the dead (Deuteronomy 18:9–14). Witchcraft, in all of its different forms and variations, is abominable and sinful (1 Samuel 15:23; Galatians 5:20)!

Halloween is nothing else but a festival of, and for, the devil and his evil forces of darkness. True Christians must have no part in it!

New Year’s Day

New Year’s Day celebrations are linked to pagan customs and even demonic activities. Professor Philippe Walter’s book, “Christianity—the Origins of a Pagan Religion,” copyright 2003, 2006, makes several startling statements about the real origins of New Year’s Day, as well as its customs.

Walter explains the pagan belief that, by the end of December, and on “New Year’s Day” (January 1), “fairies… enter the homes of those who worship them… One must take pains to prepare the meal that should be offered to them in a clean and isolated room…”

A German magazine, P.M., wrote the following about New Year’s Day, and the customs associated with New Year’s Day, in an article entitled, “What is Special About New Year’s?”:

“There is no objective reason, why January 1 is a better day for the new year than any other day. The Macedonians began the new year in the Autumn, and the ancient Greeks in the middle of the Summer, at a new moon.

“January 1 as the beginning of the new year goes back to Roman arbitrariness. Consul Fulvius Nobilor was prevented in 153 B.C., because of a war, to begin his rulership on March 15, which had been the day of the new year up until then. Therefore, the Consul transferred the day of the new year to January 1, which was more convenient for him.

“This date was accepted by Julius Caesar and has endured thanks to the Julian calendar, as it was favorable for new beginnings. After all, the double-faced Roman God Janus was the protector of the month of January. Pope Gregory XIII, who corrected the Julian Calendar for us, maintained January 1 as New Year’s Day. But the Chinese and the Arabs still determine New Year’s today by using the moon-calendar. And according to the Jews, their civil New Year—Rosh Ha-Shanah—is in September/October.

“The civil celebrations of New Year’s took place for a long time on January 6, the [perceived] day of the [so-called] holy three kings.

“In 1742, a decree of the Pope transferred church celebrations of the new year to January 1; at the same time, this day was declared to be a fast day, in order to counteract the ‘unchristian’ actions between the years. For between Christmas and January 6, the ghosts became active. When winter storms howled around the houses of the Germanic tribes, Wotan’s [Wodan’s] wild hunt was present—a frightening train of gods, demons and ghosts of the dead. …

“These ghosts were driven away with big fires and cracks of whips. The ancients placed sacrificial offerings and gifts for the demons in front of their doors….

“Christianity could not eradicate those pagan customs. Quite to the contrary… The cracks of whips changed with the invention of black powder to fireworks…

“Why do we still have to drive away—symbolically—ghosts with mortar shots and rockets? Why do we still maintain those New Year’s rites? Psychologists explain this with…the power of tradition, with superstition…This word reminds us of what is ‘standing above,’ what is ‘still there’, what has endured from the pagan past and from the ancient fears of man.”

The article also explained that “Christian” celebrations in Munich, Germany, on New Year’s Day are held with choirs and trumpets to “awake the new sun.”

Another source tells us that New Year’s Day rituals included purgations, purifications, exorcisms, extinguishing and rekindling fires and masked processions. Often exorcisms and purgations were performed with much noise as if to scare away the evil spirits. In China, Ying, the forces of light, fought Yang, the forces of darkness, with cymbals, noisemakers and firecrackers.

It should be easily seen WHY it is wrong for TRUE Christians to participate in New Year’s Day customs.

April Fool’s Day

The origin and history of April Fool’s Day [also spelled as “April Fools’ Day”] or “All Fools’ Day,” are not entirely clear. Many explanations have been advanced to explain its origin.

Most commentaries and researchers maintain that the modern celebrations of the day developed in 1582, in France. As the most common story goes [even though some dispute this explanation, see discussion below], prior to that year, the new year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25. The celebration culminated on April 1. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX, the Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year’s Day was moved to January 1. In France, however, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on “fools’ errands” or trying to trick them into believing something false.

April Fool’s Day was later introduced to the American colonies.

In Scotland, April Fool’s Day is actually celebrated for two days. It is also known as “April Gowk,” “Gowkie Day” or “Hunt the Gowk.” “Gowk” is Scottish for “cuckoo”—an emblem of simpletons. The second day is also known as “Taily Day.”

Mexico’s counterpart of April Fool’s Day is actually observed on December 28. In Portugal, April Fool’s Day is celebrated on the Sunday and Monday prior to the Lenten Season, with the traditional trick being to throw flour at one’s friends.

In spite of the “modern” origins of the day, many historians agree that the day has clearly ancient roots. We are told that ancient cultures, including those as varied as the Romans and the Hindus, celebrated New Year’s Day on April 1. The Encyclopedia Britannica points out:

“What seems certain is that it is in some way or other a relic of those once universal festivities held at the vernal equinox, which, beginning on old New Year’s Day, the 25th of March, ended on the 1st of April. This view gains support from the fact that the exact counterpart of April-fooling is found to have been an immemorial custom in India. The festival of the spring equinox is there termed the feast of Huli, the last of which is the 31st of March, upon which the chief amusement is the befooling of people by sending them on and fruitless errands.”

Other sources tell us that throughout antiquity, numerous festivals included celebrations of foolery and trickery. One source, “April Fool’s Day: Early Roots,” gives the following noteworthy report:

“The Saturnalia, a Roman winter festival observed at the end of December, was the most important of these [celebrations of trickery]. It involved dancing, drinking, and general merrymaking. People exchanged gifts, slaves were allowed to pretend that they ruled their masters, and a mock king, the Saturnalicius princeps (or Lord of Misrule), reigned for the day. By the fourth century AD the Saturnalia had been transformed into January 1 New Year’s Day celebration, and many of its traditions were incorporated into the observance of Christmas…

“Northern Europeans observed an ancient festival to honor Lud, a Celtic god of humor. And there were also popular Northern European customs that made sport of the hierarchy of the Druids… During the Middle Ages, a number of celebrations developed which served as direct predecessors to April Fool’s Day. The most important of these was the Festus Fatuorum (the Feast of Fools) which evolved out of the Saturnalia. On this day (mostly observed in France) celebrants elected a mock pope and parodied church rituals. The church, of course, did its best to discourage this holiday, but it lingered on until the sixteenth century. Following the suppression of the Feast of Fools merrymakers focused their attention on Mardi Gras and Carnival.”

A German source, “Faz.Net,” points out that neither the Jews nor the Muslims participate in the custom of April Fool’s Day. Tagesschau.de wrote on April 1, 2002, that there are 800 theories regarding the origin of “April Fool’s Day,” and stated that the Catholic Church “has no problem” with its celebration.

Dr. Manfred Becker-Huberti explained: “Even though the first April prank has only been recorded in Germany in 1631, the custom seems to be much older. It can be found amongst all Indo-Germanic tribes… One possible origin can be found in the Roman feast of Quirinalia, or of the Indian feast of Huli, during which fools cast out winter and demons. The best explanation is that it derives from a spring festival, like the German “Fastnacht” [“Fastnacht” is part of the German Carnival. The original “Fastnacht” was also celebrated for the purpose of casting out winter and demons]… In honor of [the Greek goddess] Venus, a feast of deception was celebrated in the spring. April 1 was her special day, and that is the reason why she was also called ‘Aprilis.’ The name of the Indian goddess of love, ‘Maja,’ has the meaning of ‘deception.’”

The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, by James Hastings, points out:

”The origin of the practice is obscure… it was widely prevalent at the close of the 16th century. It seems difficult, therefore, to accept the theory that it was due to the transference of New Year’s Day from the First of April to the First of January… The similarity of the fooling in India and the Celtic lands of Western Europe, taken together with affinities in religion and folklore…, points to a common origin in very early times… The First of April was kept in ancient Rome as the Feast of Venus and Fortuna Virilis… It is to some Celtic form of this worship of Venus on the First of April that the origin of All Fools’ Day must be traced… All Fools’ Day may therefore be the relic of a Spring Festival of Llew [a Sun-god of Celtic mythology].”

Even though the roots of April Fool’s Day may not be known precisely, the evidence strongly indicates that it is of pagan origin and that it was even celebrated as part of pagan worship services. We are told, however, in Jeremiah 10:2–3, that we are not to learn the ways of the Gentiles or “heathen” in the Authorized Version, as they are useless and in vain. In addition, God condemns foolish jesting in Ephesians 5:4, where we read, in the Authorized Version, that neither “foolish talking, nor jesting” should be named among us. The New King James Bible and the Life Application Bible clarify that the meaning is, “coarse jesting” or “coarse joking.”

We are admonished in God’s Word not to behave like “fools.” Proverbs 10:23 reads, in the Authorized Version: “It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.”

An additional warning against participating in April Fool’s Day celebrations and activities can be found in Proverbs 26:18–19: “Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, Is the man who deceives his neighbor, And says, ‘I was only joking!’”

Considering all the evidence of the origin of April Fool’s Day available to us, as well as the very nature of the celebrations and activities accompanying that Day, we must conclude that true Christians should refrain from participating in it.

Valentine’s Day

Centuries before Christ, the ancient Romans celebrated the evenings of February 14th and February 15th as an idolatrous and sensual festival in honor of Lupercus, the “hunter of wolves.” The Romans called the festival “Lupercalia.” In her book, “Customs and Holidays Around the World,” Lavinia Dobler states on page 172: “It was not until the reign of Pope Gelasius that the holiday became a ‘Christian custom.’ As far back as 496, Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia on February 15th to St Valentine’s Day on February 14th.”

The Encyclopedia Britannica states on page 336 in its 15th edition, volume 10: “St Valentine’s day as a lovers’ festival and the modern tradition of sending valentine cards have no relation to the saints but, rather, seem to be connected either with the Roman (sexual) fertility festival of the Lupercalia (February 15th) or with the mating season of birds.”

The Encyclopedia Americana states that “this pairing off was, of course, linked with sexual immorality.”

According to the most common explanation, the celebration of Valentine’s Day originated as a pagan tradition in the third century. During this time hordes of hungry wolves roamed outside of Rome where shepherds kept their flocks. The God Lupercus was said to watch over the shepherds and their flocks and keep them from the wolves. Every February the Romans celebrated a feast called Lupercalia to honor Lupercus so that no harm would come to the shepherds and their flocks.

Also during Lupercalia, but in honor of the goddess Juno Februata, the names of young women were put into a box and names were drawn by lot. The boys and girls who were matched would be considered partners for the year, which began in March. This celebration continued long after wolves were a problem to Rome. As Christianity became prevalent, priests attempted to sugarcoat and cover with a Christian mantle old heathen practices. To Christianize the ancient pagan celebration of the Feast of Lupercus, the church officials changed the name to St. Valentine’s Day.

In his book, “Christianity—the Origins of a Pagan Religion,” French scholar and professor of medieval French literature, Philippe Walter, states the following on pages 76–78:

“… the [Catholic] church invented the figures of saints—both men and women—who both borrowed the names of their pagan predecessors and possessed mythical attributes similar to those of their pagan models. This is why we cannot be surprised at worship devoted today to certain mysterious saints—including Saint Valentine. In fact, along with the time of year of his celebration, the initial syllable of his name—val—compels us to establish a potential link with the mythology of Carnival… It is curious that February 14 is celebrated in five regions to commemorate no fewer than five distinct saints all bearing the name Valentine… This phenomenon points to the camouflaging of paganism—most specifically, the rites and myths commemorated on this date in the pagan calendar—in several regions [namely, Rome, Italy; Terni, Italy; Toro, Spain; Puy; and Africa]…”

Alexander Hislop explained in his book, “Two Babylons,” that Valentine was a common Roman name. Roman parents often gave the name to their children in honor of the famous man who was first called Valentine in antiquity. That famous man was Lupercus, the hunter. Who was Lupercus? Why should he also have borne the name “Valentine” among the heathen Romans? The Greeks called Lupercus by the name of “Pan.” The Semites called Pan “Baal”—mentioned so often in the Bible—and this name was merely another name for Nimrod, the “mighty hunter” (Genesis 10:9). The hunter Nimrod was the Lupercus—or wolf hunter—of the Romans. “St Valentine’s Day” was originally a day set aside by the pagans in his honor.

Nimrod—Baal or sun god of the ancient pagans—was said to have been born at the winter solstice. In ancient times the solstice occurred on January 6th and his birthday therefore was celebrated on January 6th. Later, as the solstice changed, it was celebrated on December 25th and is now called Christmas. It was the custom of antiquity for the mother of a male child to present herself for purification on the 40th day after the day of birth. The 40th day after January 6th—Nimrod’s original birthdate—takes us to February 15th, the celebration of which began on February 14th—the Lupercalia or St Valentine’s Day. On this day in February, Semiramis, the mother of Nimrod, was said to have been purified and to have appeared for the first time in public with her son as the original “mother and child.”

Valentine’s Day is one of those pagan days that have become part and parcel of the fabric of today’s society. It is clear that Valentine’s Day—whichever way you look at it—has paganism written all over it. Paganism is not to be entertained by the people of God. God commands us not to worship Him in the way that the pagans worshipped their gods. Therefore, true Christians are not to participate in the celebration of Valentine’s Day.

Mother’s Day

The Bible is very explicit that we are to honor our parents at all times. For example, Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:1–3 make this Christian duty very clear. Jesus Christ honored His mother on a continuous basis.

To “honor” or “remember” our mother just on one particular day in the year, while forgetting to do so in day-to-day living, would, of course, be wrong. The world tries to make up for the forgetfulness to always honor one’s parents by dedicating a day to mothers. As Christians, we are to honor our parents at all times! This fact alone, though, would not preclude a Christian from participating in Mother’s Day celebrations.

However, the Bible makes it very clear that we are not to learn the religious ways or customs of the Gentiles or “heathen” by embracing those customs in our own Christian lives (Deuteronomy 12:29–32; Matthew 15:7–9; 2 Corinthians 6:14–17). We are not to keep holidays such as Christmas, Easter, New Year’s or Valentine’s Day because of their pagan origin and the embracing of those days by the Catholic Church in their religious worship.

When reviewing the history of Mother’s Day, we must note the many countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany and Australia, which celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May; while on the other hand, England celebrates their Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday in Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter).

Pagans kept a “Mother’s Day” in ancient times for the purpose of honoring their goddesses. However, the mere fact that pagans did so would not preclude Christians from keeping Mother’s Day today, unless a clear connection can be shown between those pagan customs and our modern practices.

The Encyclopedia Britannica, edition 1959, points out regarding “Mother’s Day” celebrations in Great Britain:

“Mother’s Day, a festival derived from the custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Formal mother worship, with ceremonies to Cybele, or Rhea, the great Mother of the Gods [sic], was performed in the Ides of March throughout Asia Minor. With the coming of Christianity this developed into worship of the ‘Motherchurch,’ the celebration occurring on mid-Lent Sunday, when children returned home with gifts for parents, especially the mother.”

Cheri Sicard writes in “The History of Mother’s Day”:

“The earliest Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece, honoring Rhea, the Mother of the [gods] [Rhea is the mother of Zeus. She is also the sister of Cronus, who has been identified as the Baal of the Bible]. The Romans called their version of the event the Hilaria, and celebrated on the Ides of March by making offerings in the temple of Cybele, the mother of the gods. Early Christians celebrated the festival on the fourth… Sunday of Lent in honor of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. In more recent times, relatively speaking—England in the 1600s—the celebration was expanded to include all mothers with ‘Mothering Sunday’ being celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter). Besides attending church services in honor of the Virgin Mary, children returned home from the cities with gifts, flowers, and special Mothering Day cakes that were important parts of the celebration.”

When “Mothering Sunday” was originally kept in England, people brought gifts to the church where they were baptized. They would then also bring gifts, such as cakes, to their mothers. The “Mothering Day” cakes were normally so-called “Simnel Cakes,” which, in early times, were marked with a figure of Christ or Mary, to show their religious significance (compare Book of Days, Vol. 1, p. 337).

Many sources point out that the pagan worship of mother goddesses in Greece and Rome was later adopted by Christianity, foremost in England, to incorporate such paganism and to give it a “Christian” mantle. The worship of the Roman Mother goddess Cybele is especially interesting in this context. The Encyclopedia Britannica points out, under “Great Mother of the Gods”:

“Though her cult sometimes existed by itself, in its fully developed state the worship of the Great Mother was accompanied by that of Attis. The cult of Attis never existed independently… The main public event in the worship of the Great Mother was the annual festival, which took place originally April 4.” The article continues to explain that a special day was set aside, “March 24, dies sanguinis, a day of mourning, fasting and abstinence, especially sexual, commemorating the sorrow of the mother for Attis [who had been killed].” Our free booklet, “Don’t Keep Christmas,” explains the Attis cult in more detail.

The above-mentioned article continues that the “importance” of the Cybele cult “in the history of religion is very great, for her cult, like the other mystic worships, at once formed a rival to Christianity and acted as a steppingstone to it.”

As already mentioned, the day became known in England as “Mothering Day” or as “Mid-Lent Sunday.” It was first applied to the worship of “Mother Mary,” and then also to the “MotherChurch,” “the spiritual power that gave life and protected them from harm,” as one source puts it. Custom began to dictate that a person visit the church of his/her baptism on “Mothering Day.” People attended the “mother church” of their parish, laden with offerings. Gradually, the custom was applied to honoring our real mothers as well. However, the religious concept of the day was emphasized throughout.

In England, King Henry III (1216–1239) officially established the first “mothering Sunday,” in March, to remember the Church as the religious mother.

When studying the history of Mother’s Day in continental Europe, we find that a “mothering day” was also kept there, in mid-Lent. Later, Mother’s Day was officially celebrated in Germany in 1923 on the second Sunday in May, apparently due to Mother’s Day celebrations in the United States (that had been introduced in continental Europe through the Salvation Army) and the influence of German florists. In 1933, it was made an official holiday in Germany by the Nazi regime, in honor of the “Arian” mother.

In her article, “Between Ideology and Commerce,” Isabella Marboe points out that in Austria, “Mother’s Day” celebrations in May were connected with the tradition of the worship of “Mother Mary.” It was especially the Catholic Church, according to Monroe, that strongly supported the establishment of “Mother’s Day” in Austria. In 1926, Ignaz Seipel stated in his “Mother’s Day speech”: “It looks like something new, to introduce a special day to honor our mother. For the believing Catholic this is nothing new at all, as he has always celebrated days in worship of Mary as days to honor his mother.”

The official version of the recent history of the establishment of Mother’s Day in the U.S. is fairly well known to many. It is taught that Miss Anna Jarvis (1864–1948) originated Mother’s Day, to honor her mother who had died on May 9, 1905. She started a campaign, which led to a resolution, passed by Congress on May 10, 1913, to make the second Sunday in May a national holiday, “dedicated to the memory of the best mother in the world—your mother.” In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation, designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

However, there is more to the story. In fact, Anna Jarvis was not the first, nor the only one, who had voiced the idea of establishing a Mother’s Day in the United States.

For instance, Julia Ward Howe had talked about a special “Mother’s Day” as early as 1858. She had kept it in a private special celebration in 1872. Howe is the author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She grieved for the many young lives that had been killed during the Civil War. She proposed to celebrate a “Mother’s Day of Peace.” In addition, she had made at least two extended trips to Europe between 1843 and 1850. During her last trip, she spent almost one year in Rome. In Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Declaration, it is stated, “From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, ‘Disarm, Disarm!’… Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.”

In addition, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis, wife of a Methodist pastor and mother of Anna Jarvis, had likewise been affected by the Civil War. She proposed a special Mother’s Day celebration, which she called a “Mother’s Friendship Day,” to heal the wounds and the bridges between the “Blue” and the “Gray.”

Anna Jarvis continued to advocate the idea of a special Mother’s Day. On May 10, 1907, she held a special memorial service for her mother (who, as mentioned, had died in 1905). In 1910, West Virginia became the first state to recognize Mother’s Day. At the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Minn., in 1912, a delegate from a local church introduced a resolution recognizing Anna Jarvis as the founder of Mother’s Day. It was also suggested at that time that the second Sunday in May be observed as Mother’s Day.

The religious connection with and influence of the establishment of the American Mother’s Day cannot be denied. The modern U.S. Mother’s Day started in the Methodist-EpiscopalChurch, through the effort of Anna Jarvis. It had to be observed on a Sunday. Some had proposed any Sunday (for example, Frank H. Hering of Indiana, who is also called the “Father of Mother’s Day”), while others proposed the second Sunday in May. On the first official church memorial of Jarvis’ mother, on May 10, 1908, the bells of the church which had been attended by her mother, and who had taught Sunday school there, rang 72 times—since Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis had been 72 years old when she died.

One year prior to this, her daughter had preached a sermon in the local church to honor her mother. She finished the sermon that the preacher had begun. “Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church” in Grafton, West Virginia, is therefore now recognized as the “mother church” of Mother’s Day in the United States.

In Calgary, Canada, George Kerby of the CentralMethodistChurch delivered a touching sermon on the very first Mother’s Day in that territory.

Sources also point out that the early way of keeping Mother’s Day in the United States was similar to the way with which it was kept during “Mothering Day” in England—including attending on that day the church of one’s baptism—and only gradually, “other sentiments were added.”

It might be worthwhile noting that Anna Jarvis spent the rest of her life trying to undo what she had done. Enraged by the commercialization, Jarvis filed a lawsuit in 1923 to stop a Mother’s Day festival. She was later arrested for disturbing the peace when she learned that a War Mother’s Day Convention was selling white carnations—Jarvis’ symbol for mothers—to raise money. She spent most of her fortune that she had inherited from her mother to fight a holiday she had helped establish to honor her mother. She told a reporter that she regretted ever having started Mother’s Day.

In this lengthy section, we have tried to state the facts, as they have become available to us. We feel that the knowledge of these facts is necessary to make an individual, conscientious and personal decision, whether or not to observe—or to continue celebrating—Mother’s Day. One will have to decide, individually, whether the evidence is sufficient or not to establish a direct and immediate connection between pagan origins, the influence of the Catholic Church and Protestant churches, and our modern custom of celebrating Mother’s Day—especially in the United States, Canada and continental Europe. We must emphasize that, in any event, the personal decisions which each Christian must make in his or her life, must be made based on personal faith and conviction, knowing that whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Such a decision must be based on a determination whether or not a particular holiday is derived from pagan customs in connection with the worship of foreign gods. If it is, the observance of such a holiday needs to be avoided.

Father’s Day

One source (“About,Inc.”) describes the modern origin of Father’s Day in this way: “The modern origin of Father’s Day in the United States is not clear. Some say that it began with a church service in West Virginia in 1908. Others say the first Father’s Day ceremony was held in Vancouver, Washington. The president of the Chicago branch of the Lion’s Club, Harry Meek, is said to have celebrated the first Father’s Day with his organization in 1915; and the day that they chose was the third Sunday in June, the closest date to Meek’s own birthday.

“Regardless of when the first true Father’s Day occurred, the strongest promoter of the holiday was Mrs. Bruce John Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Dodd felt that she had an outstanding father [Mr. Smart]. He was a veteran of the Civil War. His wife had died young, and he had raised six children without their mother. In 1909, Mrs. Dodd approached her own minister and others in Spokane about having a church service dedicated to fathers on June 5, her father’s birthday. That date was too soon for her minister to prepare the service, so he spoke a few weeks later on June 19th. From then on, the state of Washington celebrated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day… States and organizations began lobbying Congress to declare an annual Father’s Day. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson approved the idea, but it was not until 1924 when President Calvin Coolidge made it a national event…”

The holiday was made official in 1972 by President Richard Nixon (see below).

The Daily Beacon, Volume 90, Number 5 (June 14, 2002), elaborated: “In 1909, as Smart [i.e., Mrs. Bruce John Dodd, daughter of Mr. Smart] was listening to a sermon celebrating Mother’s Day, she thought of her father… Smart wanted a day to honor fathers with special religious services, special meals, small gifts and flowers. After sharing her idea with local religious leaders…, a resolution was passed to observe a Father’s Day.”

Biography.com concurs, “… The inspiration behind the celebration of a Father’s Day is owed at least partly to its slightly earlier counterpart, Mother’s Day.” The article also points out that Smart had the idea of setting aside a Father’s Day, when hearing a sermon on the “merits of setting aside a day to honor one’s mother” (Compare, too, PageWise, Inc., 2002, “History of Father’s Day”).

Hallmark Press Room” explains, under “Father’s Day 2003”: “Father’s Day is always the third Sunday in June… Father’s Day is the fourth-largest card-sending occasion with nearly 90 million Father’s Day cards expected to be given this year in the United States… Smart’s daughter [Mrs. Bruce John Dodd] got the idea for Father’s Day in 1909 while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church. She encouraged local churches to institute a Father’s Day observance the following year on one Sunday in June, the month of her father’s birth… The holiday was made official in 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed a presidential resolution that declared Father’s Day as the third Sunday in June.”

Apart from its obvious connection with Mother’s Day and its religious church background, is there any evidence that Father’s Day is of pagan and/or Catholic origin?

The Laboratorium writes under “Happy Father’s Day”: “Father’s Day was originally a pagan holiday, the Great Sky-Father’s Day. Part of the week of celebrations leading up to the summer solstice, the day was given over to celebrating the Sky-Father’s providing for his human children with rich gifts of sun and rain. Gifts of sacrificial goats and sheep (recognizable by the festive ribbons bound about their necks) were supplemented with prayers for his continued guidance in the human journey towards spiritual adulthood.

“The precise transition to the Father’s Day we know today is lost in the mists of time, but it seems that several generations of CHRISTIAN PRIESTS gradually ATTEMPTED TO NEUTRALIZE THE PAGAN RITUALS by focusing on the literal steps of the ceremonies, rather than their spiritual meanings. The passing of celebratory garlands from sons to fathers was retained, and reemphasized as the central act of the great Sky-Father’s celebration, rather than the sacrifices and prayers. As part of this reinterpretation, the practice of tying ribbons was moved from the animals to the fathers, and appears to be recognizably the origin of the custom of giving ties on Father’s Day.”

The connection with pagan and/or Catholic origins becomes even clearer, when considering modern Father’s Day celebrations and customs in certain European countries. In Palermo, Italy, Father’s Day is celebrated on March 19 in order to honor “Holy Joseph.” On that day, old furniture, tables and other items are burned. As “Bank4Fun” explains, “this custom is derived from the Worship of the Sun, which has an historical origin in Palermo.”

In Austria, Father’s Day, which is celebrated in June, is a Christian CHURCH holiday. In Germany, “Father’s Day” has been celebrated, since 1936, on the same day as “Ascension Day.” This CATHOLIC holiday, also known as “the Day of the Lord,” is always kept on a Thursday—40 days, or on the 5th Sunday, after Easter—to celebrate Christ’s ascension. On this day, men visit restaurants, consuming a lot of alcohol, while it is unfashionable to travel with a woman on that day. “Glaube Aktuell” and Professor Gottfried Rehm, Fulda, explain that these restaurant visits, as well as Catholic processions on that day, have their origins in Germanic customs, when men drank alcohol and asked their gods to bless the harvest for the year. Others, such as doctor of theology, Manfred Becker-Huberti, point out that the Father’s Day celebrations might be derived from honoring Pope Leo III (795–816).

Studying these facts in conjunction with the section on “Mother’s Day,” we must again emphasize that it is the personal decision of each Christian whether or not to keep those days. His decision must be based on personal faith and conviction, knowing that whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23).

Thanksgiving Day

The following discussion pertains mostly to our American readers, but it includes helpful guidelines and illustrations for non-Americans in order to determine how to view the celebration of similar holidays in other countries.

The first observance of the Thanksgiving Festival in America occurred in early November or December of 1621 (historical sources vary on the exact time), when the Governor of Plymouth Colony, William Bradford, appointed a three-day feast. That observance was established to show gratitude to the Almighty as that difficult year drew to an end and the harvest was plentiful.

While this was not the first Thanksgiving in America (thanksgiving services were held in Virginia as early as 1607), it was America’s first Thanksgiving Festival.

Pilgrim Edward Winslow described the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving in these words: “Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling [bird hunting] so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They… in one day killed as much fowl as… served the company almost a week… Many of the Indians [came] amongst us and… their greatest King, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought… And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are… far from want.”

The Pilgrims had left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620, sailing for a new world that offered the promise of both civil and religious liberty. One source tells us that the Pilgrims were Separatists, America’s Calvinist Protestants, who rejected the institutional Church of England. They believed that the worship of God must originate in the inner man, and that corporate forms of worship prescribed by man interfered with the establishment of a true relationship with God. The Separatists used the term “church” to refer to the people, the Body of Christ, not to a building or institution.

Following that first observance, the colonists continued to celebrate days of thanksgiving annually, in recognition of the blessings received of this new land. The first Thanksgiving to God in the Calvinist tradition in Plymouth Colony was actually celebrated during the summer of 1623, when the colonists declared a Thanksgiving holiday after their crops were saved by much-needed rainfall.

This day has been preserved and continued by Presidents of the United States who believed, more or less, in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Bible, as a source of national greatness and integrity. In 1789, America’s first President, George Washington, issued a Thanksgiving proclamation in honor of the new Constitution. He stated, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”

God illustrates this principle in Deuteronomy 17:18–19. He specifically shows that it is His desire that the leaders of nations govern based upon the principles and laws of the Bible.

Abraham Lincoln recognized the need for the people to stay close to God if they would continue to receive the blessings, which were being afforded them by the Almighty.

In early July of 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg had occurred, taking some 60,000 American lives, and President Lincoln traveled to the battlefield four months afterward, in November, to deliver the “Gettysburg Address.” He later explained: “When I left Springfield [to become President] I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.”

On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day; a day set aside to give God thanks for the blessings He continued to bestow upon America.

President Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation, which was passed by Congress, stated the following: “The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart, which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence….

“Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore.

“Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”

That proclamation was repeated for the following 75 years by every subsequent president, until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving Day up one week earlier than had been tradition, to appease merchants who wanted more time to feed the growing pre-Christmas consumer frenzy. Folding to congressional pressure two years later, Roosevelt signed a resolution returning Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November, as Congress in 1941 permanently set the fourth Thursday of each November as America’s national day of Thanksgiving.

But would God have true Christians keep this day as a national holiday, since this is not a day He established and specifically requires in Scripture?

We have examples of national holidays established by the Jews and recorded in Scripture for historical purposes—days, which were not instituted specifically by God. Thus, the fact that Thanksgiving Day was established by man, does not, in itself, make it wrong for a Christian to celebrate such a day.

In John 10:22–23, we find Jesus attending the “Feast of Dedication,” which was established by the Jews to commemorate the purification of the Temple at Jerusalem. That feast was celebrated on the anniversary of the day that the re-establishment of divine worship occurred, after Antiochus Epiphanes had been vanquished and the Temple had been purified. This occurred around 165 A.D.

Thus, Christ’s attendance at that annual holiday clearly illustrated that it was not wrong to attend and celebrate a national holiday established for the right purposes. There was nothing ungodly in celebrating this holiday and giving special thanks to God on that day!

Esther and Mordecai established the Feast of Purim to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews from Haman (Esther 9), and the Bible does not condemn them for this.

A very significant point here is that we do not find pagan origins in the Jewish holidays of the “Feast of Dedication” or the “Feast of Purim.” That is true also in relation to the establishment of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Of course, the early pilgrims celebrated their first Thanksgiving Day in 1621 together with Native Americans, but they did so to thank God—not pagan gods—for His protection and blessing. Neither did they do it to follow Roman Catholic practices; in fact, they had left Europe to find religious freedom in the New World. By contrast, Christmas, Easter, Halloween or other festivals, as described in this booklet, were originally celebrated in honor of pagan gods and pagan traditions.

It appears from the foregoing that it is not necessarily wrong for true Christians to participate in Thanksgiving Day observances. At the same time, it cannot be denied that Thanksgiving Day celebrations originated with professing Christian pilgrims, whose understanding of true Christianity differed sharply from that of the Bible. But, they did understand that Christians are duty-bound to give thanks to God Almighty for His blessings, and subsequent leaders of this country shared in that common belief.

On the other hand, if someone is conscientiously opposed to celebrating Thanksgiving Day, he must not violate his own conscience in this regard (seeing that God does not command Thanksgiving Day observances), as everything “not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

Birthday Celebrations

The Bible specifically mentions two birthday celebrations of kings, ending with the deaths of certain individuals (John the Baptist and Pharaoh’s chief baker, compare Mark 6:21–27 and Genesis 40:20–22). There is another possible reference to birthday celebrations in Job 1:4: “And his [Job’s] sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.” The German Menge Bible explains that this is a reference to the “birthdays” of Job’s sons (A similar expression is used in Job 3:1, referring to Job’s day of birth). The children’s conduct prompted righteous Job to “sanctify them,” for he said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts” (Job 1:5).

Job’s reaction is interesting. He did not feel that the children HAD sinned by celebrating their birthdays, but that they MIGHT have sinned. On the other hand, we do not find any biblical record that righteous people celebrated their own birthdays—nor do we find that Jesus Christ celebrated His birthday or that He told His disciples to celebrate it.

A birthday celebration with its accompanying elaborate parties and the giving of expensive gifts tends to emphasize the attitude of get and vanity—rather than the way of give, which Christians are to follow. God’s Word condemns the glorifying of oneself. Compare Galatians 5:26: “Let us not be desirous of vainglory” (Authorized Version). It appears that Job was concerned that his children might have engaged in selfish and vainglorious conduct during their birthday celebrations.

Josephus, a Jewish first-century historian, wrote: “Nay indeed the law does not permit us to make festivals at the births of our children” (Against Apion, book 11, 26). It would therefore appear that many or most Jews in Christ’s day did not keep birthdays.

On the other hand, there is a difference between elaborate birthday celebrations and the acknowledgment that someone has become a year older. Obviously, the date of one’s birth is not pagan (regardless of whether one recognizes and counts by the Hebrew or the Roman calendar). It is not wrong and does in fact obey the command to honor our parents, to call, visit or send a modest gift to our parents on the day of their birth. Likewise, there are certain milestone years in the lives of young persons that can be acknowledged, such as reaching the age of 14, 16, 18 or 21. (For instance, the Jews have traditionally acknowledged the fact when a boy turns 14.) Also, in ancient Israel, young men being 20 or older were considered old enough to go to war, and a census was held to record the ages of the people (compare Numbers 1:2–3).

The distinction between simple acknowledgments and elaborate celebrations of birthdays may not always be that clear. God has given us a spirit of a sound mind (compare 2 Timothy 1:7), and if we are honest with God and ourselves, we will learn how to please Him better in everything we do (compare Ephesians 4:13). As long as the principles stated herein are adhered to and problems such as the danger of supporting vainglory and vanity are avoided, acknowledgments of certain birthdays of special people close to us are individual decisions.

However, we must keep in mind, once again, that we must not violate our own conscience in this regard, as everything “not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

Sunday Celebrations

Pagans worshiped the sun on Sunday (Sun’s day). It was a heathen festival in honor of the sun god. Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary says that Sunday was so “called because the day was anciently dedicated to the sun or to its worship.” The North British Review, Vol. 18, p. 409, calls Sunday “the wild solar holiday of all Pagan times.” The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia points out that Sunday—the Dies Solis of the Roman calendar—was the day of the sun because it was dedicated to the sun.

Webster writes in his book “Rest Days,” on page 270: “What began, however, as a Pagan ordinance, ended as a Christian regulation…” Schaff’s Church History states on page 375: “Not a few pagan habits crept into the church concealed by new names. This is conceded by the most earnest of the Fathers. Leo the Great speaks of Christians in Rome who worshiped the sun… In the celebration of Sunday, as it was introduced by Constantine, and still continues on the whole continent of Europe, the cultus of the old Sun god Apollo mingles with the remembrance of the resurrection of Christ.”

The Persians worshipped the sun god Baal under the name of “Mithra” or “Mithras,” and through Persian and Roman influence, nominal confessing “Christians” adopted Sunday worship in lieu of the Sabbath. They simply replaced Sunday worship of Baal or Mithra with Sunday worship of “Christ.”

The German “P.M.” magazine published a few years ago an article, entitled, “Can You Imagine to Believe in Mithras?” It began this way: “An early day in the year 180 A.D. A usual Sunday in the harbor town of Ostia in front of the gates of Rome. Commotion in the different parts of town. Everywhere we see groups of men moving through the narrow village quarters… But no one takes note of them… Everyone knows where the men go to: It is Sunday, the day of the Sun—the men are going to services. Are they Christians? Do we experience here a typical scene from the early days of this religion? No—the men worship another god. Mithras is the name of that transcendent being from whom they expect salvation… Mithras was the main god of the Roman legions… It was Emperor Constantine who was pushing in the Council of Nice (which is in Turkey today) in 325 to unite his subjects under one faith… Although the emperor himself belonged to the cult of the sun worship (he was only baptized on his deathbed), he decided on Christianity as the common confession for all the Romans. In order to make the new religion acceptable for the followers of Mithras, he declared Sunday as the common day of rest for all of his empire…”

Listen to this additional explanation from Esme Wynne-Tyson’s “Mithras, The Fellow in the Cap,” as stated on pp. 22 and 24: “From the first, Mithras was equated with the Sun and with light… In brief, he is a pagan Christ… Mithras was… the Sun-God… Sunday… was consecrated to him, and known as the Lord’s Day long before the Christian era.”

John M. Robertson wrote in “Pagan Christs, Studies in Comparative Hierology,” on pp. 305, 306, 327: “The first day of the week, Sunday, was apparently from time immemorial consecrated to Mithra…”

Note this remarkable quote from H.G. Well’s, “The Outline of History,” on page 543: “It would seem the Christians adopted Sunday as their chief day of worship instead of the… Sabbath, from the Mithraic cult.”

Sunday was a day dedicated to the worship of pagan gods. True Christians should not have anything to do with such practice.

But—Didn’t Paul Keep Sunday?

He did not. Some quote a passage in Acts 20:7 to “prove” that he did. But a closer look at this Scripture reveals that it does not teach that Paul kept Sunday as the day of worship.

It reads: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” This Scripture does not say that Paul observed Sunday, the first day of the week, as a day of worship. If this was an example for us today, we would be starting the service on Saturday night, not on Sunday morning. In addition, verse 11 shows Paul preached and talked to them until dawn. Again, using this passage as a command for us today, we would have to have worship services from Saturday night until Sunday morning.

Next, we realize that the breaking of bread (as mentioned in Acts 20:7) was not a religious service, but merely the eating of a meal. Acts 27:33–38 proves this. Notice Paul’s situation. He was a Roman prisoner in the midst of many Gentiles on board a ship (Acts 27:1–2). Obviously Paul was not holding a religious service. The men ate for their health (verses 33–34).

David Stern writes in Jewish New Testament Commentary (1991), on page 227: “Many Christians assume that [breaking bread] refers to ‘taking communion’… However, the context is not twentieth-century Christianity but first-century Judaism, and for the Jews then, as now, fellowship was mediated by meals. To say that the early Messianic Jews broke bread is to say neither more nor less than that they ate together.”

Acts 20:7 does not describe a regular service. Notice the context. Paul was en route from Greece to Jerusalem (Acts 20:2–3, 16). Since he did not know when he would see the brethren again, he wanted to teach them as much as possible. The people were more than willing to listen. So, after the Sabbath Paul remained behind to teach the brethren, while his ship sailed around the peninsula (verse 13). He continued talking with them until midnight, and continued, after a short meal, until daybreak (verse 11). After Paul had stayed as long as he could, he left them and walked across the peninsula to meet the boat (verses 13–14). He “worked” on that Sunday by taking this long walk of some 19 miles!

There is nothing in the above Scripture to indicate it was Paul’s custom to observe Sunday. In fact, all through the book of Acts we see it was Paul’s custom to observe the Sabbath (Acts 17:2; 13:14–15, 42–44).

Ancient Israel Kept Sunday—But Shouldn’t Have

It is true that ancient Israel kept Sunday, but God condemned them for it.

Even though the Bible nowhere states explicitly that the ancient house of Israel kept Sunday, it is very clear from the implicit record that they did. It is also clear that God punished them severely for this practice. We know that they abandoned the weekly Sabbath—the seventh day of the week (from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset). This was one reason why they went into slavery. We also know that they were guilty of idolatry; e.g., Baal worship. Historical records prove that Baal—the pagan sun god—was worshipped on his day, Sunday—the first day of the week. In fact, Baal was worshipped under many different names throughout man’s history.

For instance, we find the following comments in “Funk and Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia,” under “Baalbek,” a town in Eastern Lebanon: “The name, which means ‘City of Baal,’ is derived from the early association of the town with the worship of Baal, a local sun deity whom the ancient Greeks identified with their sun god, Helios; the Greeks and Romans called the town Heliopolis, ‘City of the Sun.’”

We find that under King Jeroboam of Israel, they began to worship Baal. We read in 1 Kings 12:28 that the king “made two calves of gold,” telling the people that they were “your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

Later, in 2 Kings 17:16–17, we find this revealing statement: “So they left ALL the commandments of the LORD their God [including the Sabbath commandment and the injunction against committing idolatry], made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshipped all the host of heaven, AND SERVED BAAL. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD…”

The fact that they turned to Baal worship is proof in itself that they began to observe his day—the first day of the week; i.e., Sunday. Some 200 years later, God rebuked the house of Israel through the prophet Hosea, comparing it with a fallen or unfaithful woman: “‘I will punish her For the DAYS of the Baals to which she burned incense… But Me she forgot,’ says the LORD” (Hosea 2:13).

The commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explains the expression “DAYS of BAALS” as follows: “the days consecrated to the Baals, or various images of Baal in different cities, whence the names Baal-gad, Baal-hermon, etc.” These “days” included Sunday, as well as other pagan holidays.

Returning to King Jeroboam, note what else is revealed about him in 2 Kings 17:21–23: “Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight… So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria…”

It appears, therefore, that Jeroboam’s GREAT sin, as well as ALL THE SINS, which he did and which were adopted by the house of Israel, included the abolishment of the Sabbath and the adoption of Sunday worship. The Bible says that they continued with that practice, until God punished them severely by carrying them away—into Assyrian slavery (compare Ezekiel 20:12–13, 18–20, 23–24).

But—Are we not to keep Sunday in honor of Christ’s resurrection?

Some claim that Jesus was resurrected on Sunday morning, and that we therefore must keep Sunday, instead of the weekly Sabbath. First of all, even IF Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, that still does not permit us to abrogate God’s commanded Sabbath worship (see discussion below) and replace it with Sunday.

But then, as we saw earlier in this booklet, Christ was NOT resurrected on Sunday morning. Therefore, there is no biblical basis to celebrate Sunday, instead of the weekly Sabbath.

Chapter 2 – …And God’s Holy Days

Overview

Man’s holidays are inventions of the human mind, and many of them are of pagan origin. Some, however, are neutral. Even though they are not commanded in Scripture, they are not necessarily prohibited, either expressly, or based on spiritual principles. Still, it is the obligation of an individual Christian not to violate his conscience—which must be in harmony with God’s Word—when deciding whether or not he should participate in celebrations of such humanly devised holidays, as long as they are neutral and as long as their customs are not of pagan origin in connection with the worship of foreign gods.

Christians, however, are not free to reject their observance of God’s commanded Holy Days. They are, in fact, duty-bound to keep them, and their refusal to do so constitutes sin.

What, exactly, then, are those Holy Days that God commands His people to keep, even today?

Weekly Sabbath

God commands His people to worship Him on the Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset)—NOT on Sunday.

Listed below are seven proofs, which, when taken together, show that the Sabbath is still in effect and is to be observed by Christians today.

  1. Mark 2:27–28—The Sabbath was made specifically for man, and Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, not some other day.
  2. Genesis 2:2–3—The Sabbath was made by God at the same time man was made, and was set apart as holy time for all mankind, forever.
  3. Exodus 16—Israel had lost the knowledge of the Sabbath during their time of slavery in Egypt, so God showed them which day it was by means of special miracles, thereby re-emphasizing the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy.
  4. Exodus 20: 8–11—The Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments.
  5. Luke 4:16—Jesus kept the Sabbath.
  6. Acts 17:2—Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, also kept the Sabbath.
  7. Isaiah 66:23—The Sabbath will be kept in the future when God’s Kingdom will be ruling on the earth.

It is interesting to note that in Acts 15, the apostles and elders had come together because of various disputes that had to be cleared up. If there was any question concerning the Sabbath or the annual Holy Days, surely it would have been a point of discussion at that meeting. But there is no mention of a discussion pertaining to those days.

We must conclude that true Christians are to keep the Sabbath today.

But—Wasn’t the Sabbath made only for the Jews?

It is not correct that the Sabbath was made for the Jews only. The Sabbath is mentioned in the very second chapter of the Bible, where God set it aside as HOLY, to be USED by man for a HOLY purpose.

God created the Sabbath at the time He created man. We read in Genesis 2:2–3, “He RESTED on the seventh day from all His work…Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work.” The word for “rested,” in the Hebrew, is “shabath,” and it means, according to Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, “to cease, rest, keep Sabbath.” God initiated the Sabbath at the time of the creation of man, by RESTING, or ceasing from His work, and He “sanctified” that day; that is, He “set it aside for a holy purpose.”

Later, we read in Exodus 20:11 that God “rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the SABBATH day and hallowed it.”

Also, we read that God made the Sabbath for MAN—not only for the Jews or the Israelites (Mark 2:27).

The reason that God had to re-introduce the Sabbath to the people at the time of Moses (recorded in Exodus 16), is that they had just been released from over 400 years of slavery in Egypt, where they had FORGOTTEN to keep the Sabbath. They were under hard bondage and were forced to work every day, obviously not being allowed to keep the Sabbath. So, in time, they got used to not keeping it. Note what God said to Moses, after they had gone out on the Sabbath to gather manna for the first time: “HOW LONG do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath…” (Exodus 16:28–29). The people had not kept God’s Sabbath for a very LONG time—that is why God is asking, “HOW LONG do you refuse” to keep it holy?

But—Didn’t Paul abolish the Sabbath?

Paul did not teach that the Law of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1–17; Deuteronomy 5:1–22)—including the Sabbath command (Exodus 20:8–11; Deuteronomy 5:12–15)—was done away. Some cite Galatians 3:10–13 as a basis for teaching that the “law” was abolished when Jesus died, and that we are cursed when we keep the Ten Commandments.

Galatians 3:10–13 reads: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith.’ Yet the law is not of faith, but ‘the man who does them shall live by them.’ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’).”

In Galatians 3:10–13, Paul speaks about the “works of the law.” In reading this passage, we must consider the context to see what specific law it refers to. It is important to realize that the Bible uses the word “law” in many different ways. For instance, it can refer to the spiritual LAW of the Ten Commandments, or to ritual temporary laws or regulations that pertain to sacrifices, washings and other physical instructions.

Anyone was cursed who did not continue in everything that was written in the Law, including the physical regulations or works of the law, pertaining to washings, rituals and sacrifices.

Paul, then, introduces an additional thought in Galatians 3:19 when he says that the law was added because of transgression. That statement refers to that part of the law, which has to do with sacrifices and other rituals, as well as the curses, or penalties, for violating God’s spiritual Law.

The “law,” mentioned in Galatians 3:19, was ADDED “four hundred and thirty years” after God’s covenant with Abraham (compare verse 17). It was added because of transgression (verse 19). The Bible teaches that SIN is the transgression of the LAW (1 John 3:4, Authorized Version). The Law of the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath commandment, existed since the creation of Adam and Eve. But because the people had sinned by transgressing the spiritual LAW of the Ten Commandments (Romans 7:14), as well as the statutes and judgments that embellish those righteous commandments, ANOTHER “law” was ADDED—the temporary physical law dealing with sacrifices and other rituals.

Paul’s use of the word “law” in the third chapter of the book of Galatians, then, does not relate to the Ten Commandments at all, but to an altogether different set of rules—the sacrificial law SYSTEM, which was added some time after Moses had brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt (compare Jeremiah 7:21–23).

Paul uses the same language in Romans 5. A careful analysis shows that he speaks there, again, about two sets of laws—the Ten Commandments, and the sacrificial system, which was ADDED because of sin. In Romans 5:12–14, Paul says: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin [death came through sin, because death is the penalty for sin, compare Romans 6:23], and thus death spread to ALL men, because ALL SINNED—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. NEVERTHELESS death REIGNED from Adam to Moses…).”

Paul says here that ALL sinned; that all incurred the DEATH penalty BECAUSE they had sinned; and that there is no penalty if there is no law. THEREFORE, SINCE there was a death penalty, there had to be a LAW. But then, Paul says that that condition—the death penalty—already existed before the “law” was in the world. How clear, then, that he is talking about TWO different sets of law! The law that came into the world at the time of Moses had to be different from the law that already existed from the time of Adam.

Paul continued in verse 20: “Moreover the law entered [Conybeare: “was ADDED”] that the offense might abound.” What law entered? What law was added? NOT the Law of the Ten Commandments, which was in force and effect since Adam, but the sacrificial law system which “entered” or was “added” more than 430 years after Abraham’s covenant with God.

The Bible does not contradict itself. One Scripture does not “break” or “make of no effect” another Scripture (John 10:35)!

A law was added because of transgressions. This law cannot be the Ten Commandments. Rather, because people had transgressed the Law of the Ten Commandments, an additional law was given to the people. Paul’s statement that the law was added because of transgression (Galatians 3:19), and that a law “entered” the world AFTER sin and death were already in the world (Romans 5:12–14, 20), refers to that part of the physical law that has to do with sacrifices and other rituals. Because the people had sinned by transgressing the spiritual LAW of the Ten Commandments, as well as those statutes and judgments which embellish those righteous commandments, ANOTHER “law” was ADDED and came into the world—the temporary physical law dealing with sacrifices and other rituals.

But—Didn’t Paul say that he was free from the law of the Sabbath?

One of the Scriptures that has been used by some to support their false claim that Paul no longer taught obedience to God’s Law of the Ten Commandments—including Sabbath observance—is 1 Corinthians 9:20–21. This is, however, not at all what Paul was saying here.

Let us read, in context, the entire passage, as stated in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23:

“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.”

Paul recognized the ongoing validity of God’s Law (especially the Ten Commandments, which includes the command to keep the Sabbath holy). They are not “old covenant laws.” In fact, to call them such reveals total ignorance as to what a covenant is. A covenant is simply a contract, which is based on law—it does not bring law into existence. When a covenant becomes obsolete, this does not affect the laws on which the covenant is based. To term certain laws “old covenant laws” is just an idle and futile attempt to somehow make those laws obsolete.

We should note that Paul did keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days, even in the presence of Gentiles. In fact, Paul even COMMANDED the Gentiles to keep the Sabbath, the Holy Days and the dietary laws.

What, then, did Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 9:20–21?

As we saw in previous sections of this booklet, the New Testament makes it clear that certain SACRIFICIAL laws are no longer binding today. Paul calls them “a tutor” in Galatians 3:24. This ritual law, which is referred to as a “LAW,” “was added because of transgression” (Galatians 3:19). Sin is the transgression of the Law (1 John 3:4)—the Ten Commandments (James 2:8–12). We see, then, that the Ten Commandments—the “LAW”—had to be in effect BEFORE the sacrificial law system was added, as that was added BECAUSE OF transgression. The sacrificial system with its ritualistic rules is no longer necessary to be kept. At the same time, it would NOT be SINFUL to keep it while in the presence of Jews. Therefore, when Paul was with Jews, he would not offend them by refusing to keep their customs. He would not keep those customs, of course, when he was with Gentiles, as those customs or ritualistic laws are no longer binding. Paul DID make clear, however, that he DID teach and keep the spiritual LAW of God (Romans 7:14) that IS still binding, including ALL of the Ten Commandments (Matthew 19:17–19).

Notice how the “Nelson Study Bible” explains 1 Corinthians 9:19–23:

“Paul put his ministry of the gospel above his personal desires. He was willing to conform to the customs of other people, whether Jew or Gentile, in order to bring them to Christ. For example, in order to relate to the Jews in Jerusalem he made a Nazarite vow in the temple (Acts 21:23, 24). Around those who were under the Law—the Jews—Paul obeyed the Law. Around those who were outside the Law—the Gentiles—Paul did not observe JEWISH CUSTOM. Paul clarified this, however, lest anyone misunderstand his actions. He obeyed GOD’S LAW through obedience toward Christ.”

The New Bible Commentary concurs, referring to the ritualistic sacrificial law as the “Mosaic” law:

“Paul has surrendered more than his right to personal subsistence. Though he is free from all men, i.e. in no sense bound by the standards or fashions of others, he is prepared to make himself a slave to all, and conform to their standards or fashions, providing no real principle is at stake, in order to win as many as possible… So when among Jews he acts as a Jew, conforming to their customs under the Mosaic law (Acts 16:3; 18:18; 21:26), though as a Christian he himself is no longer obliged to keep that law (cf. Gal. 2:11–21). Similarly he is ready to identify himself with those who are not bound by the Jewish law, i.e. Gentiles; though he adds an important proviso. Gentiles not only disregard the Mosaic law [our comment: that part of the law of Moses that is ritual and no longer binding], but may also refuse to recognize any divine commandments [our comment: the Ten Commandments with its statutes and judgments—including the Sabbath, the annual Holy Days, and the dietary and tithing laws].”

Paul never taught others to sin, and he was careful that he did not sin, either. He would have never disobeyed God by breaking His Law, only to “win” the Gentiles. He was NOT without God’s Law, although he did no longer preach as binding and mandatory physical circumcision or other sacrificial rituals, as those—temporary—laws had been abolished by God in the New Testament. At the same time, he did not offend his Jewish audience by violating their customs and traditions, as long as he could keep them without sinning against God.

Finally, although he was not “under the law,” he became as one “under the law,” so that he might win those under the law. The term “under the law” refers to its penalty. When we sin, the penalty of sin—death—is hanging over us like the sword of Damocles. Through the Sacrifice of Christ, our repentance and our belief in and acceptance of His Sacrifice, we can have forgiveness of our sins; that is, we won’t have to die anymore. The death penalty is no longer hanging over our heads. In order to win those who had not yet accepted Christ’s Sacrifice, Paul became as one of them. He showed them compassion and sympathy, rather than condemning and offending them. He became as one under the penalty of the Law, as he understood what it was like to live in sin, being cut off and separated from God.

Paul never taught that any of God’s abiding laws could be broken. He taught, “It is the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath” (Hebrews 4:9; Lamsa translation). Those who want to REFUSE to keep God’s spiritual Law, including the weekly Sabbath, twist certain Scriptures and invent arguments to justify their sinful conduct. They do this, however, “to their own destruction” (compare 2 Peter 3:14–16).

But—Didn’t Christ come to abolish the Law, including the Sabbath command, by fulfilling it for US?

Christ’s statement that He came to FULFILL the Law does NOT mean that He did away with it—quite the CONTRARY is correct.

Notice what Christ said in Matthew 5:17: “Do NOT think that I came to DESTROY the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy BUT to fulfill.” Christ did not say here that He had come to destroy the Law. Neither did He say that “fulfilling” the Law meant, “destroying it,” because if that was true, Christ’s statement would read: “I did not come to destroy the Law but to destroy the Law.” This would make no sense.

In the Greek, the word for “fulfill” is “pleroo.” It is true that this word can designate completion or even cessation—but as will be pointed out, it can also mean a continued activity of carrying out something—depending on the context. For instance, in Luke 7:1, the word “pleroo” is used in the sense of “end” or “conclude”: “Now when He concluded all His sayings…” In Acts 19:21, the Greek word is translated as “accomplished”: “When these things were accomplished…” (The Authorized Version says “ended” in both passages.)

However, in the majority of cases, the Greek word “pleroo” conveys the meaning of “filling up” or “making full,” with the concept of continuing to carry out a specific task (compare Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible).

In Matthew 3:15, it is used in this context: “…it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

In Philippians 2:2, Paul states, “…fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love.” Further, Paul reminds the saints in Colosse that he became a minister to “fulfill the word of God” (Colossians 1:25), and he admonishes Archippus to “take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it” (Colossians 4:17). None of these passages convey the thought that something has ended. Rather, the obvious understanding is that something should be continued to be filled with meaning, or to be brought to perfection. God’s spiritual Law, as defined in the Ten Commandments, the statutes and the judgments, “stand[s] fast forever and ever” (Psalm 111:7–8), and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away “than for one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke 16:17). A tittle is the smallest stroke in a Hebrew letter.

Christ did not come to do away with God’s spiritual Law of the Ten Commandments! He stated in Matthew 5:17 that He had NOT come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it—to magnify it, to exalt it and make it more honorable (Isaiah 42:21), to fill it up with its intended meaning, to show how to keep it perfectly in the flesh.

The apostle James silences those who claim that we today do not have to keep ALL of God’s Ten Commandments. Let’s read his decisive answer in James 2:8–12: “If you really fulfill [that is, keep] the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep [or, fulfill] THE WHOLE LAW, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of ALL. For He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a TRANSGRESSOR of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

In this passage, the Greek word for “fulfill” is “teleo,” but the intended meaning is obviously the same: We are to continue fulfilling or keeping the Law—not ceasing to keep it. This conclusion is clear when we understand what sin is—and that we have to repent of sin to obtain eternal life.

What, exactly, is it that we need to repent of? Simply put, we must repent of the sins we have committed. What is sin? The biblical definition is: “…sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4, Authorized Version). Which law? The Law of God’s Ten Commandments. James calls it the “royal law according to the Scripture” (James 2:8). It defines our love toward God and our love toward neighbor. When we break even one of the Ten Commandments, we are guilty of having broken them all and have become a transgressor of the Law (James 2:10–11).

The Law of the Ten Commandments is a spiritual Law, as Paul explains in Romans 7:14, because it regulates not only our actions, but also the motives and intents of our heart. We sin when we commit adultery (Exodus 20:14), but we also sin when we DESIRE or COVET the wife of another man (Exodus 20:17), or when we look at another woman with the desire to commit adultery with her (Matthew 5:28). Additionally, we sin when we kill someone (Exodus 20:13), though we have already sinned by violating God’s spiritual Law of the Ten Commandments when we even HATE another human being (Matthew 5:21–22; 1 John 3:15).

Clearly, Christ did not come to do away with God’s Law; otherwise, there would be no more sin and we would not need to repent of anything. But Christ said that we have to REPENT and believe the gospel (Mark 1:14–15). Even after His physical death, the resurrected Christ commanded His disciples that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name” (Luke 24:47). And Peter proclaimed that same message, which is recorded in Acts 2:38. Christ had come to FULFILL the Law, that is, He kept it PERFECTLY, giving us an example that we “should follow His steps” (compare 1 Peter 2:21). He did not keep the Law FOR us, so that we don’t have to keep it anymore. Rather, as He told a young rich ruler: “If you want to enter into life, KEEP the commandments” (compare Matthew 19:17).

The teaching of the Bible is consistent. In order to inherit eternal life, we must keep God’s Law—the Ten Commandments—as well as the statutes and judgments that define and explain the Ten Commandments even further. Christ did not come to “fulfill” the Law by doing away with it or by destroying it. Rather, Christ came to “fulfill” the Law by making it more honorable (Isaiah 42:21), by MAGNIFYING it, by showing us HOW to obey it, both in the letter AND in the SPIRIT. This includes ALL of God’s commandments—including the keeping of the Fourth Commandment, which enjoins us to keep God’s Sabbath holy (Exodus 20:8).

But—Doesn’t Paul say in 2 Corinthians 3:3–11 that the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, are abolished?

Some believe that 2 Corinthians 3:3–11, especially verse 7, teaches that the Ten Commandments, which were written on tablets of stone, ceased to be in force and effect when Jesus Christ died on the cross (compare Ryrie Study Bible, footnote to 2 Corinthians 3:7). However, a careful reading of the entire passage does not uphold such an erroneous teaching.

Let us review the entire passage of 2 Corinthians 3:3–11, in context:

“(3)… clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (4) And we have such trust through Christ toward God. (5) Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, (6) who has also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (7) But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, (8) how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? (9) For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. (10) For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. (11) For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.”

It is important that we carefully analyze this passage, so that we do not reach wrong conclusions.

God made a covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai. We read in Exodus 24:1–8 that the covenant was sealed with blood. When that happened, the covenant was final and could not be altered. The law of the covenant was written in a book, the “Book of the Covenant” (verse 7; compare Hebrews 9:19–20). At that time, the sacrificial system was not a part of the Law—those ritual provisions had not been given yet—and they were not written in the Book of the Covenant. The only sacrifice that is mentioned as a required sacrifice is the Passover (Exodus 23:18; Exodus 12). Yet, even this Passover sacrifice found its fulfillment in the death of Jesus Christ. Christians do not now offer lambs in sacrifice for Passover—rather, Paul shows: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

But ritual laws were added at the time of Moses, including the laws regarding the Levitical priesthood and penalties, or curses, for violations of God’s spiritual Law, and those did find their way into the Book of the Covenant, which is also called the Book of the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 28:58, 61; 29:20–21, 27, 29; 31:9). This Book of the Law was placed outside or beside the ark of the covenant (Deuteronomy 31:24–26). The tablets with the Ten Commandments, however, were placed inside the ark (Deuteronomy 10:4–5; Hebrews 9:4).

Later, all the laws that had been written by Moses into the Book of the Law were engraved on massive stones (Deuteronomy 27:2–3, 8; Joshua 8:30–32, 34). The laws that were written on the stones included the Ten Commandments, along with the statutes and judgments, and also the rules and regulations regarding sacrifices and other rituals. We find a reference to those stones and the laws that had been engraved on them in 2 Corinthians 3:7–8, “But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious… how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?”

The reference to the ministry of death includes the death penalty for violating God’s spiritual Law. The penalties were first written in the Book of the Law of Moses and then engraved on massive stones. Since Christ died for us, we don’t have to pay the death penalty, if we repent of our sins and obtain forgiveness.

The ritual sacrificial laws, which were among the laws written on stones, could not forgive sins—they only reminded the sinners of their sins. The Levitical priesthood was, in that sense, a ministry of death, as people would still not be able to obtain eternal life, even though they brought sacrifices.

With this background, let us again carefully review verses 3 and 7 of 2 Corinthians 3. In verse 3, reference is made to the Ten Commandments, which were written “on tablets of stone.” Christians today are to keep the Ten Commandments in their hearts; that is to say that it is not sufficient to possess tablets of stone which include the Ten Commandments, but rather that we have to internalize them and obey them “from the heart.”

Verse 7, however, does NOT refer specifically or exclusively to the Ten Commandments. As stated above, the “ministry of death, written and engraved on STONES,” refers to massive stones (compare again Deuteronomy 27:2–3, 8; Joshua 8:30–32, 34) on which ALL of God’s laws were written—not just the Ten Commandments, which are spiritual and eternal, but also temporary ritual laws regarding washings and sacrifices. While the two tablets with the Ten Commandments did not include any penalties, the subsequent massive stones did.

Let us compare the different Greek words which are used in verses 3 and 7, when describing the “tablets of stone” (referring to the Ten Commandments) and the “ministry of death… engraved on stones” (referring to the entire law, including physical temporary regulations pertaining to sacrifices and washings).

The Greek word for “of stone” in verse 3 is, “lithinos” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, No. 3035), and means, literally, “made of stone” or formed out of stones. The word is used in Revelation 9:20, describing idols made out of stone. The Greek word for engraved “on stones,” in verse 7, is, “lithos” (Strong’s No. 3037), and it describes complete stones—not something made of stone. It is also rendered as “millstone” in Luke 17:2. The tablets with the Ten Commandments were taken from stones—the tablets did not constitute complete stones. But later, all of God’s laws—permanent as well as temporary rules—were engraved on complete, massive stones. To reiterate: The Ten Commandments were written on TABLETS OF STONE—the laws of the Book of Moses, including the penalties for sin, were engraved on COMPLETE, MASSIVE STONES.

The Ten Commandments, as well as other permanent and temporary laws, were WRITTEN in a book—the Book of the Law of Moses. Verse 7 makes reference to this fact, when it says, “…WRITTEN and engraved on stones.” Quite literally, the meaning is that all of the laws were first “reduced to writing” (“en grammasin” in Greek) and then “engraved” (“entupoo” in Greek) “on stones” (“en lithos” in Greek).

Thus, 2 Corinthians 3:7–8 could be paraphrased as follows, to clarify the intended meaning:

“But if the ministry of death, which was first written in the Book of the Law of Moses and later engraved on massive stones, was glorious, even though it would cease one day—so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance (after he saw God’s form), which glory also passed away—how will the ministry of the Spirit, which will endure forever, not be more glorious?”

God’s true ministers today do not administer the death penalty for sin—they do not fulfill the ancient Levitical priesthood’s role and function of a “ministry of condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:9). Rather, God’s true ministry today teaches that sinful man can receive forgiveness of sin through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God’s ministry today also teaches that man must keep the Ten Commandments. Man can only do this, however, through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within him, which is received after repentance, belief, baptism and the laying on of hands by God’s true ministers. In other words, God’s ministry is a “ministry of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 3:9), teaching man how to obtain righteousness and how to live righteously.

2 Corinthians 3:2–11 does not teach that the Ten Commandments are abolished. Quite to the contrary, the passage teaches that the Ten Commandments must be kept today, including the Sabbath commandment.

They must, however, be kept in the Spirit; that is, they must be applied in our lives with their spiritual intent, as Christ clearly explained in Matthew 5–7. In doing so, we can escape death and inherit eternal life. If we refuse to do so, Christ’s warning in John 3:36 is still applicable for us today: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him (Revised Standard Version).”

But—Didn’t Paul say that all that is required is to believe in Jesus? Therefore, isn’t it true, then, that the keeping of the Sabbath is no longer necessary?

It is, indeed, correct that Paul told the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And it is also true that we MUST believe in Christ, as only in His name can we find salvation (compare Acts 4:12). However, Paul did not say that belief in Christ is ALL that we must have. Rather, belief in Christ is only the starting point. Notice how the record in Acts 16 continues, in verses 32–33:

“Then they [Paul and Silas] spoke the WORD of the LORD to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes [The jailer responded to Paul’s teaching of the Word of God by showing kindness to Paul.] And immediately he and all his family were baptized [They had repented of their sins and showed their faith by baptism, so that they could receive the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, compare Acts 2:38].”

Paul did not preach, and the jailer did not understand him to preach, that ALL that was required of him was simply to believe that Jesus was the Christ. Rather, his belief had to be accompanied by obedience to Christ’s words, as manifested by his actions.

Jesus tells us in John 15:14: “You are My friends if you DO whatever I COMMAND you.” He continued in verse 17: “These things I COMMAND you, that you LOVE one another.”

The jailer showed LOVE to Paul when he washed his stripes and gave him food to eat (Acts 16:33–34). Paul tells us in Romans 13:8–10 that when we love each other, we FULFILL God’s LAW of love. He says in verse 9: “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

In other words, if we LOVE our neighbor enough so that we don’t kill him or steal from him, or lie to him or about him, or covet what he has, or commit adultery with his wife [which are all injunctions contained in the Ten Commandments], we FULFILL God’s Law. We read in 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 3:23 explains: “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, AND LOVE one another.”

As discussed before, when a young man asked Christ what to do to inherit eternal life, Christ told him: “But if you want to enter into life, KEEP [or OBEY] the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). He proceeded to list some of the Ten Commandments to show which commandments He was talking about (verses 18 and 19). And James would later explain that we break ALL of the Ten Commandments when we break even one of them (James 2:8–11). As the Ten Commandments define love to God and neighbor, we don’t show the love of God in our lives when we transgress His Law.

Paul did not tell the Philippian jailer that all he had to do was just believe in Jesus Christ. James tells us that even the demons believe in God (James 2:19). Rather, Paul was teaching that we need to OBEY God, once we come to believe in Him.

We read Paul’s word in Romans 1:5: “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship FOR OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH.” He also stated in Romans 16:26: “… [the mystery] has been made manifest… according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH.”

Acts 6:7 reports about the beginning of the New Testament Church: “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were OBEDIENT TO THE FAITH.”

As quoted before, we read in John 3:36 (correctly translated from the Greek, compare the Revised Standard Version): “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does NOT OBEY the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.”

When the Bible talks about the right kind of faith needed to inherit eternal life, it equates faith with obedience. Faith alone in Christ, which does not manifest itself in an obedient lifestyle to God’s Law, is NOT enough.

In fact, Paul tells us in Romans 2:8 that God will pour out “indignation and wrath” on those who “are self-seeking and do NOT OBEY the truth, but obey unrighteousness.” And “truth” is defined as “all Your commandments” (Psalm 119:151). Paul reiterates in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 that God will take “vengeance on those who… do NOT OBEY the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In Romans 6:17, 22, Paul states: “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin [remember, sin is defined as the “transgression of the LAW,” 1 John 3:4, Authorized Version], yet you OBEYED from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered… having become SLAVES of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and THE END, everlasting life.” The New International Version renders Romans 6:22 in this way: “But now that you… have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”

Further proof that our faith must be accompanied by OBEDIENCE can be found in Peter’s first letter. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:2 to the “elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, FOR THE OBEDIENCE and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” He continues in verse 22: “Since you have purified your souls in OBEYING THE TRUTH through the Spirit in SINCERE LOVE of the brethren, LOVE one another fervently with a pure heart.”

Peter also admonished the brethren to conduct themselves as “OBEDIENT CHILDREN, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (verses 14–15). Again, in 1 Peter 4:17, we are warned about the fate of those who do “NOT OBEY the gospel of God.”

We will only inherit salvation and eternal life, if we obey God! This is very clearly expressed in Hebrews 5:8–9 where we read that even Christ “learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation TO ALL WHO OBEY HIM.”

Just as Christ obeyed God’s commandments, so must we (John 15:10). Only if we DO the will of our Father in heaven, that is, only if we cease practicing lawlessness, will we enter God’s Kingdom (Matthew 7:21–23). The MERE confession that we believe in Christ, will NOT be enough (verse 21)!

Peter made it very clear that we must obey God at all times, even if that means—in rare instances—disobeying man (Acts 5:29). Normally, we must of course obey and be subject to governing authorities (compare Romans 13:1–7). Peter also clarified that God will give His Spirit—which is a guarantee that we WILL inherit eternal life (Ephesians 1:13–14)—only to those who OBEY God (Acts 5:32).

If we want to inherit eternal life, we must obey the Ten Commandments—including the Sabbath commandment.

Paul Commands God’s People to Keep the Weekly Sabbath

The account in Hebrews 3 and 4 speaks about the failure of ancient Israel to enter the Promised Land of Canaan, and the fact that Christians must be careful to avoid making the same mistakes, so that they CAN enter the future Millennial rest—the spiritual Promised Land, so to speak. At the same time, Paul draws an additional analogy between the weekly Sabbath and the Millennial rest at the end of man’s rule, comparing the coming Millennial rest with a Millennial “Sabbath” of 1000 years. Several Scriptures indicate a 7000-year plan of God, which is comprised of a “week” of seven 1000-year “days.” God gave man about 6000 years (or six “days” of 1000-years each) to prove that man, under Satan’s influence, cannot rule himself. These first six “days” of 1000 years each will be followed by the seventh “day” of 1000 years, called the Millennium, during which Christ and His elect will rule this earth (compare Revelation 20:4–6; 2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 90:4).

In Hebrews 3, Paul addresses ancient Israel’s disobedience in the wilderness, under the direction of Moses. Moses “was faithful in all his house” (Hebrews 3:2)—but the Israelites hardened their hearts (v. 8), and did not enter God’s physical rest of the Promised Land of Canaan at that time (v. 11). Rather, their corpses fell in the wilderness (v. 17) because of their “evil heart of unbelief” (v. 12) and because of their disobedience (vv. 18–19). Paul warns us that we could fall, if we are not careful (v. 12), although we are today led by Jesus Christ who is Head over His house—“whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end” (v. 6).

Using this analogy, Paul goes on to tell us in Hebrews 4:1 that “a promise remains of entering His rest.” Although Joshua did lead ancient Israel into the Promised Land of Canaan (Hebrews 4:8), this entrance was only a forerunner, which foreshadowed the final Millennial rest still ahead of us. Paul points out that even after ancient Israel had entered the Promised Land of Canaan under Joshua, David still spoke of a future rest (v. 7)—the rest of the Millennium when God rules here on this earth through His Son, Jesus Christ, and through the Church of God, then made immortal.

We also have a rest on a weekly basis—the weekly Sabbath. Paul states that as God rested from His work on the seventh day (Hebrews 4:4), so man is to rest from his work on the weekly Sabbath, and during the Millennial Sabbath at the end of man’s worldly rule—when the first 6000 years of God’s plan for creation have expired. Just as the weekly seventh day of God’s re-creation ended God’s work, so the weekly Sabbath is a commanded rest from our work, and the Millennial Sabbath of 1000 years will end the rule of man, presently under Satan’s influence, to be replaced by God’s rule. (For proof that Genesis 1:2–31; 2:3 describe the re-creation of the earth—and not its original creation—please read our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults?”)

In this context, Paul states that we must continue to keep the weekly Sabbath (Hebrews 4:9), since it foreshadows the Millennial rest to come.

Hebrews 4:9 reads, correctly translated, “It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath” (Lamsa). While Paul does say that we need to rest on the weekly Sabbath, he also mentions a future, permanent rest in verse 11: “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that [final] rest.” He is still speaking of a future rest (“katapausis” in Greek), but he tells us at the same time that we can experience a foretaste of this future rest on a weekly basis when we keep the Sabbath (“sabbatismos” in Greek, in Hebrews 4:9). This weekly Sabbath rest foreshadows the Millennial rest still to come, and it points back to God’s rest during the re-creation week. We can already cease today from our work on a weekly basis when we keep the Sabbath, looking forward to the time when the whole world will be able to enjoy a life of peace and “rest” from hate, strife and war.

Paul’s point is this: When we do not keep the weekly Sabbath, we are not being diligent to enter the real rest yet to come (vv. 9, 11). We will make the same mistake as ancient Israel did. We will endanger ourselves to “fall according to the same example of disobedience” (v. 11).

On the other hand, if we rest from our work on a weekly basis, by keeping the Sabbath, just as God rested from His work during the week of re-creation, we will ultimately enter God’s final rest. When we have entered that final rest (“katapausis” in Greek), we will have been made immortal, and we will have completely ceased from “our” human works, as God did cease from His works on the first weekly Sabbath—at the end of the re-creation week (v. 10).

Weekly Sabbath to Be Kept From Sunset to Sunset

Even though our Western societies reckon days from midnight to midnight, and some even define a day as the period from morning to night, this is a purely human invention. The Bible is very clear that days are to be counted from sunset to sunset. For instance, the Sabbath, the last day of the week, is to be counted from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

God has revealed in His Word exactly when the Sabbath starts and when it ends. God reckons each day—including the Sabbath—beginning at sunset and continuing until the following sunset. Today, we would say that the Seventh-Day Sabbath starts Friday evening, when the sun sets, and lasts until Saturday evening, at sunset.

We know from the Jewish people when to keep the Sabbath. It is the Jews to whom God committed His revelations or His “oracles,” as Paul clearly explains in Romans 3:1–2. These “oracles of God” included the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as the knowledge of the week and of the Sacred Calendar. The Jews preserved the knowledge of which day is the seventh day of the week. Without an understanding of when a week begins and ends, we would not have been able to tell, from the Bible alone, which day the seventh day of the week actually is. Today, the Jews keep the Sabbath on Saturday, beginning Friday evening, at sunset. Nobody questions today that the Sabbath, as preserved by the Jews, is the seventh or last day of the week. All understand that Sunday is the first day of the week—although there have been some attempts in Europe to actually change the calendar in order to deceitfully pretend as if Sunday, and not Saturday, was the seventh day of the week.

The Bible reveals that days start and end at sunset, in the evening. Notice Genesis 1:5: “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” Note the comment by the Ryrie Study Bible to this passage: “… Jewish reckoning began the day with eventide (Lev. 23:32). This may be the reason for the order here…”

Many Scriptures associate the meaning of the word “evening” with “sunset.” For instance, a period of one day regarding a ritualistic, temporary law is noted in Leviticus 22:6–7: “The person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening… And when the sun goes down he shall be clean.” (Note the same definition in 2 Samuel 3:35.) Further, we are told in Leviticus 23:32 to keep God’s Sabbath “from evening to evening.”

In regard to the meaning of “evening,” also notice Deuteronomy 16:6: “… at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover, at twilight [lit., between the two evenings], at the going down of the sun…” The first evening—when days start and end—is sunset. The second evening is nightfall, when it is really dark. The Passover had to be sacrificed on the 14th day of the first month, at twilight—between the two evenings—“at the GOING DOWN OF THE SUN.”

Rienecker’s Lexikon zur Bibel [“Rienecker”] correctly explains, under “evening”: “Until evening (Leviticus 15:5; Judges 20:26) means the entire day, as the new day begins with sunset.”

Rienecker explains, under “day”: “The day as part of the week and the month… lasted for the Israelites from one sunset to the next sunset (Exodus 12:18; Leviticus 23:32); within this unity the hours of the night preceded the daylight hours (compare ‘evening-mornings’ [in] Daniel 8:14; compare the Greek word ‘nychthaemeron,’ literally ‘Night-Day,’ = the time of 24 hours, 2 Corinthians 11:25).”

The biblical passages of Exodus 12:18 and Leviticus 23:32, as quoted by Rienecker, establish that days start and end at SUNSET. Exodus 12:18 reads: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.”

Verse 19 explains that the entire duration lasted for seven days, that is, from the evening (or sunset) of the fourteenth day (when the fifteenth day started) until the evening of the twenty-first day (when that day ended and the twenty-second day started). The seven days of unleavened bread FOLLOW the Passover, which is to be observed on the 14th day—from the beginning of the fourteenth day, at sunset, until the end of the fourteenth day, at sunset (compare Exodus 12:6). Notice that the Passover falls on the fourteenth day (from sunset to sunset), but that the Days of Unleavened Bread begin on the fifteenth day—24 hours later (Numbers 28:16–17).

Leviticus 23:32 describes the annual Holy Day of Atonement, which the Jews today call Yom Kippur. It is stated: “It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest; and you shall afflict your souls [i.e., fast]; on the ninth day of the month at evening, FROM EVENING TO EVENING, you shall celebrate your Sabbath.” The New International Version renders this verse: “… From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your Sabbath.”

But, this entire period, from the evening or sunset of the ninth day, until the evening or sunset of the tenth day, is defined as “the tenth day,” as Leviticus 23:27 clearly shows: “Also the TENTH day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement.” This proves that the Bible reckons days from evening or sunset to evening or sunset.

It is clear from the biblical record that according to God, days are counted from sunset to sunset—and not from midnight to midnight, or by any other method. Therefore, we are to keep His Holy Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

God’s Annual Holy Days

The Bible teaches that we are to observe certain weekly and annual Holy Days, during which time we are to attend Church services and to refrain from secular labor, including school, college or university attendance, and we are to dedicate and devote our time and our minds to worship, spiritual study, prayer, fellowship with Church members, and physical rest. We are setting forth below, in a very brief summary, these weekly and annual Holy Days:

The Weekly Sabbath

The seventh-day weekly Sabbath is observed from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. The day symbolizes God resting on the seventh day—after having recreated the surface of the earth in six days—as well as the forthcoming Millennium, which is also referred to as a Sabbath that will last for 1,000 years (Leviticus 23:3; Exodus 20:8–11, Hebrews 4:3–11).

Passover

The Passover is observed once a year, in the evening, by engaging in a footwashing service as an example of humility in accordance with Christ’s example, and by partaking of unleavened bread and wine, which symbolize physical and spiritual healing, as well as forgiveness of sin. The entire service symbolizes a remembrance of Christ’s death (Leviticus 23:5, Luke 22:14–20; John 13:1–5; 1 Corinthians 11:20–29).

The Days of Unleavened Bread

The Days of Unleavened Bread are observed once a year by not partaking of any food prepared with leavening for a period of seven days following the Passover. This partaking of unleavened bread symbolizes the commitment to live a sinless life (Leviticus 23:6–8; Acts 20:6; 1 Corinthians 5:7–8, showing that leaven can symbolize sin).

Pentecost

The Feast of Pentecost is observed once a year. This day symbolizes the coming of God’s Holy Spirit for the purpose of converting those who are called by God at this time (Leviticus 23:15–16, 21; Acts 2:1–4; 20:16; 1 Corinthians 16:8).

The Feast of Trumpets

The Feast of Trumpets is observed once a year. This day symbolizes the soon coming return of Jesus Christ to this earth (Leviticus 23:24–25; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16), and also our resurrection and change to immortality—to be born again into the Kingdom or Family of God (1 Corinthians 15:42–54; 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17; John 3: 3, 5–8).

Atonement

The Day of Atonement is observed once a year by refraining from partaking of any and all solid food or liquid for a period of 24 hours. This day symbolizes the time when those who are called by God during this life have received at-one-ment with God; and those who can receive at-one-ment with God after Christ’s return; as well as the transfer of sin to Satan as the one who is ultimately responsible for all sin (Leviticus 16:1–34; Leviticus 23:27–32; Acts 27:9—in this passage, the word “Fast” refers to the Day of Atonement, as the margin of the New King James Bible explains).

The Feast of Tabernacles

The Feast of Tabernacles is observed once a year, for seven consecutive days, by attending one of the Church’s designated sites around the world. This period symbolizes the reign of Christ for 1,000 years—together with His saints who have been changed to immortality—during which time Satan will be bound and the entire world will be living under the government of God (Leviticus 23:33–35; Daniel 7:27; John 7:2–8, 10–14; Revelation 20:4).

The Last Great Day

The Last Great Day, which immediately follows the Feast of Tabernacles, is observed once a year. This day symbolizes a 100-year period called the “Great White Throne Judgment,” during which ALL persons who have ever lived and who were not called by God for salvation during this life, will have their first opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior (Leviticus 23:36; John 7:37; Revelation 20:11–12). At the end of that period, there will be a judgment during which all people who have ever lived and who have refused to accept Christ as their Savior, will be finally condemned to eternal death and destroyed in Gehenna fire. They will not live in eternal torment, but they will be burned up (Revelation 20:13–15). For more information on God’s annual Holy Days, please read our free booklets, “God’s Commanded Holy Days,” “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days” and “The Meaning of God’s Fall Holy Days.”

But—Are the annual Holy Days really still to be observed today? Were they not part of the sacrificial system, which has been done away?

Some claim that we don’t have to keep God’s annual Holy Days any more because they were supposedly part of the sacrificial system, and when that system was done away, the Holy Days were done away as well.

Note the error of that argument in reading Jeremiah 7:22–23: “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’”

God did not establish a sacrificial system for them at the time He brought them out of Egypt. The sacrificial system was instituted some time after God spoke the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. God DID command them, when He brought them out of Egypt, to walk in ALL His ways. God commanded them—while they were still in Egypt—to keep the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread from then on. Therefore, God’s annual commanded convocations and His Holy Days are clearly different from the sacrifices and must still be kept today by God’s people.

We should point out here that, later on, sacrifices were not only given on the annual Holy Days, but also on the weekly Sabbath, and, as a matter of fact, on every day—in the morning and in the evening. Those who claim that the annual Holy Days do not have to be kept today because they were part of the sacrificial system [which they were not], yet still keep the weekly Sabbath [although sacrifices were given on that day as well], do have a problem with consistency. So do those who keep Sunday “holy,” as sacrifices were also given on that day.

The weekly Sabbath and all of God’s annual Holy Days stand and fall together. They are all part of the same package. We read in Leviticus 23:1–2: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.”’” Note that all the Holy Days that follow (including the annual Passover) are designated as the “feasts of the Lord.” They are ALL holy convocations.

In addition, some of the annual Holy Days are specifically called “Sabbath.” In reference to the Feast of Trumpets, God says in Leviticus 23:24: “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.’” In the original Hebrew, the word for “sabbath-rest” is “shabbathon,” meaning “Sabbath” (Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible). The Authorized Version translates this word correctly with “sabbath.” The above-cited rendering of the New King James Bible, “sabbath-rest,” does convey, quite accurately, the intended meaning of the word “Sabbath.”

We find that Leviticus 23:27 and 32 also describe the annual Holy Day of Atonement as a “Sabbath.” We read in the Authorized Version: “Also unto the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls… It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”

Notice a third example in Leviticus 23:39, which refers to the annual Holy Days of the First Day of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last or Eighth Day: “Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath” (Authorized Version).

As mentioned earlier in this booklet, the First Day of Unleavened Bread—an annual Holy Day—was also referred to as “Sabbath,” in John 19:31.

We see, then, that God’s annual Holy Days, as well as the weekly Sabbath, must be observed by true Christians today. Note, as further proof, the additional facts presented in the following sections.

Jesus Christ Kept the Annual Holy Days

Those who proclaim to be followers of Christ, yet claim that they do not need to keep the weekly Sabbath, nor the annual Holy Days, should think about the fact that Jesus Christ Himself kept both the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days. We are specifically told in John 2:13 and in Luke 22:1–15 that Christ kept the Passover. We are also told in John 7:2–14 that Christ kept the Feast of Tabernacles. In addition, John 7:37–39 points out that He kept the Last Great Day—“the last day, that great day of the feast.” Since Christ kept these annual Holy Days, in addition to the weekly Sabbath, there is no reason to assume that He did not keep the other Holy Days as well.

The Early Apostles Kept the Annual Holy Days

After Christ’s death and resurrection, the apostles and the New Testament Church followed Christ’s example and continued to observe the annual Holy Days. We are specifically told that the early Church kept the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread (1 Corinthians 5:6–8). We are also told that Luke wrote the book of Acts to Theophilus, a Gentile, who had become a Christian. Luke makes reference, in Acts 12:3–4 and Acts 20:6, to the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When Luke wrote this, he took it for granted that Theophilus—a Christian with a Gentile background—knew about these annual Holy Days. If the Gentiles were not required to keep those days, Luke’s reference to these days in a report to a former Gentile would make little sense.

We can also clearly see from the Bible that the New Testament Church kept the Feast of Pentecost. Acts 2:1 reports that it was on the day when the Church was assembled together, that they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts 20:16 that Paul wanted to keep the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem. He had kept it all along, whether in Jerusalem or not. He would still have kept it, of course, even if he had not been able to arrive in Jerusalem on time.

The early Church continued to keep the Day of Atonement as well. In Acts 27:9, we find a reference to “the Fast.” This describes the Day of Atonement, as the margin of the New King James Bible points out. It also gives parallel Scriptures from Old Testament passages that deal with the Day of Atonement. (The Scriptures quoted in the margin are Leviticus 16:29–31; 23: 27–29; and Numbers 29:7.)

Annual Holy Days Will Be Kept in the Future

Looking to the future, through God’s Word, we can see that His annual Holy Days will be kept by all of mankind.

In the Millennium, God will deal with those nations and peoples who refuse to keep His Holy Days. Zechariah 14:16–19 describes, in very vivid terms, the punishment of nations and individuals in the Millennium who refuse to keep the Feast of Tabernacles: “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations… shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”

Yes, the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept by everyone—not only by the Jews!

The Bible clearly reveals then, that the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days of God, are to be kept by true Christians today.

But—Isn’t Colossians 2:16–17 proof that the weekly and annual Sabbaths are no longer binding today?

In the New King James Bible, Colossians 2:16–17 reads as follows: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival [margin: “feast day”] or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

Does this passage mean that the Christians in Colossaedid not keep the Sabbath or the Holy Days, and that Paul was essentially telling them not to worry about the fact that they didn’t keep them?

Let’s first look at the phrase, “the substance is of Christ.” The word “is” is not in the Greek. It was added by the translator in an attempt to make the meaning clearer; however, this addition has, to the contrary, confused and perverted the meaning. Without the word “is” in that particular phrase, it simply states, “…but the substance of Christ.” What is the substance of Christ?

The Body of Christ

The literal meaning for the word “substance” is “body.” The Greek word here is “soma” and is otherwise translated as “body” throughout the New Testament, and especially in the letter to the Colossians (Notice, for instance, Colossians 1:18; 1:24; 2:19; and 3:15).

With that understanding, let us turn again to Colossians 2:16–17, where Paul says: “Let no one judge you… regarding a festival or Sabbaths… but the body of Christ.” In other words, let no one, except the body of Christ—the Church—judge in those matters. The Church—the body of Christ—the preserver of the truth—CAN, and should, judge in that regard.

The Colossians were criticized by their opponents, not by Paul, when they kept the Sabbath and the Holy Days (Note that Paul refers to “Sabbaths”; that is, to both the weekly and the annual Sabbath or Holy Days.) Paul is essentially saying to them: I am speaking on behalf of the Church when I tell you that you should continue keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days, as this is what the Church has judged and resolved to do, based on the Scriptures.

Colossae was a predominately Gentile city, although some Jews undoubtedly lived there as well. The Christian converts in Colossae had begun to keep the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days, and Paul essentially told them: “Don’t listen to your former friends and your relatives who try to convince you not to keep those ‘Jewish traditions’—but rather, listen to what the Church is telling you.”

A Shadow of Things to Come

What did Paul mean when he described these things as being a shadow of things to come?

The weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days have tremendous meaning for us today. They foreshadow events to occur in the future at a time when the whole world will be ruled by Christ and taught by Him to keep God’s Law—including the weekly and annual Sabbaths—as God’s people already do today.

Rather than doing away with the keeping of the Sabbath and Holy Days, Colossians 2:16–17 teaches the exact opposite. It teaches us not to worry about people who say that we should not do so, but rather to concern ourselves with the truth of the matter, which is being taught by Christ’s Body—the Church.

How NOT to Keep the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days

Some tried to convince the Gentile Christians in Colossae to cease from keeping the weekly and annual Sabbaths. Others went to the opposite extreme—they tried to convince the Gentile Christians in Colossae that they had to fast on the weekly and annual Sabbaths.

Since both the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days are Feast days, the Christians in Colossae kept them, of course, as FEAST days. They would eat and drink on those days (except, of course, during the “Fast”—on the Day of Atonement). Some, though, apparently criticized them for that, teaching that no eating and drinking should take place on any of those days.

Colossians 2:16, correctly translated from the Greek, states: “Let no one judge you regarding eating and drinking.” Paul is addressing here the ACT of eating and drinking, not the KIND of food and drink being partaken of. Some critics felt, however, that Christians should fast on those days, rather than eating or drinking anything. Notice Paul’s reference to this kind of self-imposed ascetic, or austere, religion in Colossians 2:20–23 (“…why… do you subject yourselves to regulations—‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?”).

Paul told the Colossians to continue keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days in the same way as they were doing it, rather than listening to those who were trying to tell them not to do it at all, or not to keep them as feast days.

Rightly understood, Colossians 2:16–17 proves that true Christians must continue to keep the weekly Sabbath and God’s annual Holy Days as Feast Days.


NEW MOON CELEBRATIONS

Some Christians teach the observance of new moon celebrations. Does the Bible enjoin Christians to follow such a practice?

According to the Hebrew calendar, a month starts with a new moon. While there are express and clear commandments in the Bible to celebrate, today, God’s weekly Sabbath and His annual Holy Days (see the pertinent sections in this booklet), there is no command in the Bible enjoining us to celebrate, at this time, the beginning of the new months—or new moons. The early New Testament Church continued to keep and celebrate the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days, but we do not have any biblical record indicating that they celebrated the new moons.

Some refer to Colossians 2:16 as proof that new moons were celebrated by Christians in New Testament times (Please see the discussion on Colossians 2:16 in this booklet). However, Paul is not talking about “new moons” in Colossians 2:16, but he is referring to a very particular new moon. This statement does not refer to just all “new moons,” but to one very special annual Holy Day—the Feast of Trumpets, which fell on a new moon, and which had to be, and still has to be, observed in accordance with Biblical injunctions.

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible points out: “Or of the new moon… The new moon in the beginning of the month Tisri (October) was the beginning of their civil year, and was commanded to be observed as a festival ([Leviticus 23:24–25]).”

In ancient times, some assembled on the occasion of each new moon, with the blowing of trumpets signifying the beginning of a month (Numbers 10:10). Calendars were not available to everyone in ancient Israel the way we have them today. Rather, the priesthood was entrusted with the responsibility to determine when a new month would start, and then make it known to the people.

Some form of ceremony took place on the day of a new moon to let the people know that a new month had begun. Some used the occasion to have a feast on that day (1 Samuel 20:5, 18, 24), although, as mentioned, the Bible nowhere commands that new moons have to be celebrated in that way. We read that offerings were to be given on new moons (2 Chronicles 31:3; Ezra 3:5; Nehemiah 10:33), but such offerings (sacrifices) are, of course, no longer required today. Even in ancient Israel, we do not find that God commanded the celebration of new moons, per se, that is, unconnected to the giving of sacrifices. On the other hand, we do find that the keeping of the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days was set in place before the sacrificial system was introduced, and that they are to be kept today, even though sacrifices are no longer necessary

It was, however, necessary in ancient times to somehow mark the beginning of the month, as it was not always easy for everyone to independently observe the new moon, due, perhaps, to clouds or heavy rain. By actually conducting a certain ceremony at the appearance of a new moon, the general population was sufficiently informed so as to prepare for any approaching seasons or annual Holy Days, which are counted and determined by the appearance of the new moon. For instance, as mentioned, the annual Feast of Trumpets is celebrated on a new moon (compare Psalm 81:3)—the first day of the month. Ten days later, the annual Day of Atonement is kept, and then the annual Feast of Tabernacles begins fifteen days after the Feast of Trumpets.

It appears that in the process of time, the ancient celebrations of new moons had reached proportions that were not accepted by God. He tells us in Isaiah 1:14, “Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” Apparently, new moons were even observed in the same way that Sabbaths were observed, with prohibitions against engaging in merchandising (compare Amos 8:5). There is, however, no such prohibition for new moons in Scripture.

Today, it is not necessary to mark the beginning of each new month with feast celebrations, the blowing of trumpets, or an assembly. We have calendars available that list, well in advance, the dates of the appearance of each new moon throughout the year.

It is true that the Bible indicates that at the beginning of the Millennium, new moons will be kept in conjunction with the bringing of sacrifices (Ezekiel 45:17, 46:1, 3, 6; Isaiah 66:20–23). It is clear from Scripture, however, that God does not command His people today to celebrate new moons.

Although some Christians today may feel compelled to add new moon observances and celebrations, it is not commanded, nor does it relate to the original purpose that the priesthood fulfilled in marking this time period. Furthermore, some tend to wear this added observance as a badge of self-righteousness. Extraneous observances, such as this and the recent movement to inculcate so-called “sacred names” as a part of their religious worship, are in danger of doing what Jesus Christ warned about, when He spoke of the “leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees”; that is, their “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (compare Matthew 15:3–9; 16:6, 12).


But—Isn’t Romans 14:5 proof that we do not have to keep the weekly and the annual Sabbaths today?

Romans 14:5 reads: “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.”

Note carefully the context here. Romans 14:2–3 is addressing the consumption of vegetables and meat (“For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables”). Some thought that they must not eat meat. They had become vegetarians for religious reasons. Part of the reason for their decision might have been that the meat, which could be purchased in the market, was probably offered to idols. Knowing this, some had a conscience problem with eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols (compare 1 Corinthians 8:1–13).

The context in Romans 14:5 is the consumption of certain foods. Paul addresses the fact that some esteem a certain day above another. In the very next verse, he shows the connection between the consumption of food and the regard for days. He says in verse 6: “He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.”

What is the connection between eating food and observing days?

The connection here is conscience. Paul talks about new Church members who still had a weak conscience and thought they had to FAST on particular days. That is, they thought they could not just fast on ANY weekday of their choice, but that it could only be done on particular designated days. (Note again verse 6, “… he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat.” The context of the discussion is FASTING.) Others understood that one can fast on ANY day of the week, and that God does not enjoin us, except for the Day of Atonement, to fast on a specific day during the week.

This is the reason Paul says, “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike.” The context is eating and drinking and fasting. Paul is really saying in verse 6, “He who observes [or better, “regards,” as the Authorized Version has it] the day [as a fast day] observes [or regards] it to the Lord; and he who does not observe [or regard] the day [as a Fast day] observes [regards] it to the Lord, too, because the one who does not eat on that day, does it to the Lord, and the one who does eat on that day does it to the Lord, too, as he thanks God for the food he partakes of.” Paul’s point is to not judge another for the way they worship God, as long as it is done on the basis of Scripture.

Surprising as it may sound to those who read Romans 14:5 with preconceived notions, the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days are not even addressed there. Certain commentaries agree that Paul did not have the Sabbath or the Holy Days in mind when he wrote Romans 14:5. Both the Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Book 10, page 146), and Hasting’s Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, point out that Jews and Gentiles had set aside specific days on which to fast [we might think of the Pharisee in Luke 18:12, who was proud because he fasted two times a week], and that Paul was only addressing the issue of prescribed fasting in Romans 14:5.

But—Isn’t Galatians 4:10 proof that the weekly and the annual Sabbaths are no longer in force today?

Galatians 4:10 reads: “You observe days and months and seasons and years.”

The interpretation given by opponents of Sabbath-keeping is that Paul was rebuking the Galatians for still keeping God’s Sabbath and God’s Holy Days. Is that what Paul meant? We need to look at the context in which it was written, and we also need to notice an important principle, in order to properly understand Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Whom is Paul addressing?

When Paul addresses Jews, he says, “we,” since he himself is a Jew from the house of Benjamin (Philippians 3:5). When Paul talks to Gentiles, he says, “you,” because Paul was not a Gentile. Now notice this distinction in the following examples:

  • In Galatians 3:23–25, he uses the words “we” and “our” four times, referring to himself and other Jews.
  • In Galatians 3:26–29, however, he uses the word “you” five times, referring to non-Jews, or Gentiles.

Returning, then, to the fourth chapter of the letter to the Galatians, we notice that the entire passage, beginning with verse 8 and including verse 10, is addressed to non-Jews or Gentiles, as Paul consistently uses the word “you.” In Galatians 4:8–9, Paul reminds the Galatians that prior to their conversion they did not know God, but instead, served pagan gods. (By contrast, when Paul addresses the Jews, he makes clear that they did know—to an extent—the true God; compare Galatians 2:15, “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles…” Also compare Romans 9:3–5, “…my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain… the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God…”). Paul is clearly not addressing Jews in Galatians 4, but rather Gentiles.

These Gentiles had come to a knowledge of the true God upon conversion, but after that initial understanding, they returned to those “beggarly elements” (compare Galatians 4:9) that they had originally worshipped, by observing again “days and months and seasons and years” (verse 10). This practice cannot refer to God’s Sabbath and Holy Days, as those had not even been known, let alone observed, by the Gentiles before their conversion. Rather, Paul is talking here about pagan festivals and practices, which are known today or associated with Christmas, Easter or Halloween.

In addition, Paul would not be addressing God’s Sabbath and Holy Days here, as those days do not come from “beggarly elements,” but were, in fact, initiated by GOD. Paul would NEVER have said that the Sabbath or the Holy Days were derived from “beggarly elements.”

Some claim that the converted Gentiles in Galatia had begun to keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days only because Jews allegedly induced them to do so, and that Paul was now opposing this practice. This claim is false, however, because we read in verse 9 that the Galatians turned AGAIN to the weak and beggarly elements (“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?”). The Galatians had RETURNED to what they had done BEFORE they became Christians. Jewish influence on them AFTER their conversion is clearly NOT what Paul is addressing here.

What then, specifically, did Paul have in mind when speaking about the Gentile practice of “observ[ing] days and months and seasons and years”? To answer that question, we need to first consider the meaning of the word “observe.”

The Greek word for “observe” is “paratereo.” Some commentators point out that the “observation” that Paul is addressing here, is done in a superstitious way, which just does not fit when talking about God’s Sabbath and the Holy Days. It does, however, fit in connection with astrology and Gnostic speculations. Looking at it from that point of view, we can see that Paul was talking about an observation of times and seasons that were controlled by heavenly bodies and spirits.

Observation of Seasons or Times

Let us focus in more detail on the observation of seasons, or “times,” as more correctly translated in the Authorized Version (“Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years”). Looking for the biblical explanation, we will read some other Scriptures pertaining to this subject.

In Leviticus 19:26, we read, in the Authorized Version: “Ye shall not eat anything with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.”

We find the same prohibition in Deuteronomy 18:10, in the Authorized Version: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.” (Compare, too, Deuteronomy 18:14, Authorized Version).

Literally, it means, “to observe the clouds.” This practice is associated with divination by the observation of the clouds. The study of the appearance and motion of the clouds was a common way of foretelling good or bad fortune.

This superstitious observation of times was often accompanied by lighting candles and decorating the doors with garlic. Its connection was clearly demonic. Note in 2 Chronicles 33:6, in the Authorized Version: “[Manasseh] caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit [a demon], and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.”

Observation of Days

Paul also rebuked the Galatians for observing days. The Greeks, for example, did observe days to worship their dead. On those days, no work was to be done. Actually, both the Greek and the Roman calendars designated one-third of all the days as days of misfortune. On those days, one could not perform any political or legal activities and the people were supposed to abstain from any private pleasures. One was not to engage in war on those days, or marry, or travel.

Observation of Months

Paul also addressed the superstitious practice of observing months. The pagan world had set aside certain months for the worship of their gods. Pagan festivals were kept during the months of April and October to honor the goddess Apolla, while the highest Greek god, Zeus, was worshipped during the months of February and June. The month of April was also set aside for the worship of the god Artemis. The wine god, Baccus, was honored during the month of January.

Observation of Years

Finally, Paul rebuked the Galatians for the observance of years. Indeed, certain years had been set aside for worship activities by the Greeks and the Romans. For example, the Olympic Games were already being celebrated at that time in certain yearly intervals, but they were accompanied with pagan worship and rites.

In conclusion, Paul was not talking about God’s Sabbath and the Holy Days; but rather, he was concerned about the Galatians returning to pagan worship customs—celebrating, AGAIN, the heathen days, months, seasons and years.

The testimony of the Bible—both of the Old Testament and the New Testament—is clear and convincing: True Christians are duty-bound to observe God’s weekly and annual Holy Days. For more information on the duty of true Christians to observe, still today, the weekly and annual Sabbaths of God—and how to do it—please read our free booklets, “God’s Commanded Holy Days,” “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days” and “The Meaning of God’s Fall Holy Days.”

Conclusion

In this booklet, we have presented to you the facts pertaining to some of MAN’s more popular holidays, as well as ALL of GOD’s Holy Days. While man’s holidays are based on tradition—not on God’s Word—that fact alone does not compel us to not keep any of them, although many of them are undoubtedly to be avoided because of their pagan origins. True Christians do have an obligation—before God—to decide which human holidays they can participate in without violating God’s Word and their own individual conscience.

On the other hand, God’s Holy Days are timeless, and Christians are not permitted to refuse to keep any of those days, as it would be blatant unwillingness to obey their Maker! All will be judged by God based on His Word—NOT based on human reasoning or societal traditions.

Do not repeat the mistake the Jews made during the time of Christ. They had done away with the commandments of God so that they could keep their own traditions. If you do that, then you will be worshipping Jesus Christ “in vain” (Mark 7:7–8).

Current Events

Iran Fools the West–How Much Longer?

The New York Sun reported on July 7:

“The West’s current diplomatic strategy — offering endless incentives to Iran, hoping it will change its behavior — is little more than an exercise in self-delusion…

“Western diplomats reportedly are ‘disappointed’ at Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki’s written response over the weekend to the most recent incentive package that the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, offered to Iran. Disappointed? The Iranian response should have been foreseeable to anyone who’s been paying attention.

“Reading Mr. Solana’s package of benefits, Israel’s Ephraim Sneh told me, ‘I thought it was being offered to Sweden’… [and] not a terrorist regime that has thumbed its nose at U.N. Security Council resolutions. But the mullahs will react to the new generous package as they always have, he predicted last week. ‘Iran will fool the West to buy time, and the West will allow itself to be fooled,’ Mr. Sneh, a former deputy defense minister, said. Sure enough, European diplomats swore that they could detect ‘new language’ in statements from Iranian officials…

“Their statements were vague enough to raise hopes for a breakthrough. But then the nonanswer came in writing: The mullahs made it clear that they have no intention whatsoever of suspending their enrichment of uranium, as the Security Council has demanded. Instead, they offered more negotiations. Surprised? Was any other outcome possible?

“Meanwhile… anonymous Israel Defense Force sources and Pentagon officials predicted an Israeli military strike before the end of President Bush’s term. But some missing pieces of data might render such an attack ineffective, the Sunday Telegraph reported yesterday. Gaps in Israeli intelligence on the precise locations and vulnerabilities of Iran’s facilities emerged…, the Telegraph reported…

“Even if someone like Osama bin Laden were to go berserk tomorrow and attack the Iranian nuclear facilities, America and Israel would immediately be seen as the culprits. With dependents such as Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, and Syria in the east, Iran would certainly retaliate and shower Israeli cities with missiles. Attacks on U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, as well as a possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 70% of the world’s oil passes, would no doubt cause considerable discomfort here, as well.”

America’s and Iran’s War Games and Threats

Reuters reported on July 7:

“Iran started war games on Monday and its president rejected a demand by major powers that it stop enriching uranium as ‘illegitimate,’ showing no sign of backing down in a stand-off over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Missile units of the elite Revolutionary Guards’ naval and air forces began war games, Iranian news agencies said, hours after the U.S. Navy said it had begun exercises in the Gulf.

“Speculation about an attack on the world’s fourth biggest oil exporter over its nuclear program rose after a report last month said Israel had practiced such a strike. Fears of military confrontation helped send world oil prices to record highs…

“The Revolutionary Guards’ head said in remarks published in late June that Tehran would impose controls on shipping in the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it was attacked. The U.S. Navy last week vowed that Iran would not be allowed to block the Gulf waterway which carries crude from the world’s largest oil exporting region.”

Reuters added on July 8:

“Iran will hit Tel Aviv, U.S. shipping in the Gulf and American interests around the world if it is attacked over its disputed nuclear activities, an aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader was quoted as saying on Tuesday.”

Iran “Tests” Nine Missiles–But Were They Really Nine?

Iran Missle Test

On July 9, AFP reported the following:

“Iran on Wednesday test-fired a missile it said is capable of reaching Israel, angering the United States amid growing fears that the standoff over the contested Iranian nuclear drive could lead to war. The Shahab-3 was among a broadside of nine missiles fired off simultaneously at 8:00 am (0330 GMT) from an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert…”

The International Herald Tribune elaborated, on July 9:

“State-run media, quoted by Western news agencies, said the tests near the Strait of Hormuz included long- and medium-range missiles, among them a new version of the Shahab-3, which Tehran maintains can hit targets 2,000 kilometers, or 1,250 miles, away… At the same time, U.S. and British warships have been conducting naval maneuvers in the Gulf – apparently within range of the launch site of the missiles tested Wednesday.”

According to an article in Der Spiegel Online, dated July 10, a spectacular photograph, issued by the Iranian government and showing four missiles being fired on Wednesday, was nothing but a digital forgery. At least one of the four missiles–the second one from the right– was allegedly “added” on the picture. The magazine also stated in a related article that commentators feel that the alleged reach of the Iranian missiles is “weigh overblown.”

Iran Fires More Missiles–and Oil Prices Jump

The Associated Press added on July 10:

“Iran test-fired more long-range missiles overnight in a second round of exercises meant to show that the country can defend itself against any attack by the U.S. or Israel, Iranian state television reported Thursday. The weapons have ‘special capabilities’ and included missiles launched from naval ships in the Persian Gulf, along with torpedoes and surface-to-surface missiles…

“The report came hours after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran that Washington will not back down in the face of threats against Israel. ‘We are sending a message to Iran that we will defend American interests and the interests of our allies,’ Rice said Thursday in Georgia at the close of a three-day Eastern European trip.”

The International Herald Tribune reported on July 10:

“The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned Thursday that oil prices would see an ‘unlimited’ increase in the case of a military conflict involving Iran, because the group’s members would be unable to make up the lost production… Iran, the second-largest producing country in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia, produces about four million barrels of oil a day out of the daily worldwide production of close to 87 million barrels.”

Iran Divides Obama and McCain…With No Real Solution in Sight

AFP reported on July 9:

“Democrat Barack Obama Wednesday called for aggressive diplomacy with Iran while Republican John McCain warned against making any concessions, as Tehran’s missile tests jolted the White House race. The presidential rivals used Iran’s test of a missile capable of reaching Israel to sketch sharply divergent approaches on foreign policy.

“Senator Obama said Iran ‘must suffer threats of economic sanctions with direct diplomacy opening up channels of communication so we avoid provocation, but we give strong incentives for the Iranians to change their behavior… Part of the problem that we’ve got right now is that we’ve been basically farming out the diplomatic activity to the Europeans. We’ve got to be actively engaged,’ Obama said.

“Senator McCain issued a statement following the tests implicitly criticizing Obama’s engagement strategy, which Republicans argue is naive and dangerous. ‘Working with our European and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy,’ McCain said… McCain also said the tests shows the United States needs effective missile defense ‘now and in the future,’ including the planned missile defense sites in the Czech Republic and Poland…

“The Bush administration, which has not ruled out military action against Iranian atomic facilities, condemned the missile tests. ‘Iran’s development of ballistic missiles is a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and completely inconsistent with Iran’s obligations to the world,’ White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. He expressed concern that Iran’s ballistic missiles could be used as ‘a delivery vehicle for a potential nuclear weapon.'”

Iran–A Frightening Intolerant Tyranny

The Jerusalem Post reported on July 8:

“A new law has been passed by the Iranian parliament extending use of the death penalty to online crimes. Previously, only people charged with insulting Islam or drug trafficking had been sentenced to death. In accordance with the new law, bloggers and website editors can be sentenced to death for crimes such as… apostasy… Blogging about subjects such as minority rights and freedom of speech and religion has already carried a risk. In 2005, blogger Mojtaba Saminejad was tried before a local court in Teheran charged with insulting the prophets, which carries the death penalty. He was eventually acquitted…”

Monkeys Used in Iran for Research Involving Biological Weapons?

The Sunday Times reported on July 6:

“Hundreds of endangered monkeys are being taken from the African bush and sent to a ‘secretive’ laboratory in Iran for scientific experiments. An undercover inquiry by The Sunday Times has revealed that wild monkeys, which are banned from experiments in Britain, are being freely supplied in large numbers to laboratories in other parts of the world. All will undergo invasive and maybe painful experiments leading ultimately to their death…

“The revelation will fuel speculation that the monkeys may be used for research involving biological weapons. Primates are typically used by scientists wishing to test both the effectiveness of germ warfare agents and defences against them… According to US intelligence, the pharmaceutical industry in Iran has long been used as a cover for developing a germ warfare capability.”

Iraq Pressures USA to Withdraw

The Associated Press reported on July 8:

“Iraq’s national security adviser said Tuesday his country will not accept any security deal with the United States unless it contains specific dates for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces. The comments by Mouwaffak al-Rubaie were the strongest yet by an Iraqi official about the deal now under negotiation with U.S. officials. They came a day after Iraq’s prime minister first said publicly that he expects the pending troop deal with the United States to have some type of timetable for withdrawal.

“President Bush has said he opposes a timetable. The White House said Monday it did not believe Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was proposing a rigid timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals.”

Russia Threatens Military Response to U.S. Missile Defense Deal

Times On Line reported on July 9:

“Russia threatened to retaliate by military means after a deal with the Czech Republic brought the US missile defence system in Europe a step closer. The threat followed quickly on from the announcement that Condoleezza Rice signed a formal agreement with the Czech Republic to host the radar for the controversial project.

“Moscow argues that the missile shield would severely undermine the balance of European security and regards the proposed missile shield based in two former Communist countries as a hostile move. ‘We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement… The radar agreement still has to pass through the Czech parliament where the government only has a slim majority.”

Barack Obama to Visit Germany

Der Spiegel Online reported on July 8:

“Barack Obama wants to hold a keynote speech on trans-Atlantic relations in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate during his visit later this month… A July 24 date has been set by the campaign for a Berlin visit… ‘During this campaign, Senator Obama has been criticized for his lack of interest in Europe,’ an Obama campaign adviser with knowledge of the planning for the trip told SPIEGEL ONLINE. ‘This trip is partly a response to this… The memory of John F. Kennedy’s famous Berlin speech is still alive. Berlin is a bridge between East and West, and the German-American relationship is very strong…’

“Former US President John F. Kennedy was given a rousing reception by the people of West Berlin during his visit in 1963 when he held his famous ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech in front of the town hall in Berlin’s Schöneberg district — which lies several miles from the Brandenburg Gate. The German government has already announced that it would give Obama a warm welcome but also voiced concern that an Obama speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate may be misinterpreted as German interference with the US election campaign.

“… he won’t shy away from some ‘tough love’ in his speech, said the advisor, noting that he would spell out clearly that Europe needs to assume more international responsibility, especially in Afghanistan, and perhaps in Iraq as well… Obama will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel. His advisors are also trying to make time for a meeting with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, partly to get a better understanding of both camps in Germany’s grand coalition government — Merkel being a conservative Christian Democrat and Steinmeier a center-left Social Democrat.

“The German government is treading carefully. Merkel and Steinmeier want nice pictures with the Democrat who is highly popular in Germany. But they can’t take sides too openly in the US election campaign… Merkel’s office on Monday diplomatically declared that it was greatly looking forward to Obama’s visit. But, it added, Republican contender John McCain was of course most welcome anytime as well.”

Der Spiegel Online added on July 10:

“Barack Obama’s campaign team has responded to Angela Merkel’s apparent discomfort over his bid to hold a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. A spokesman for the chancellor said his choice to hold the speech at the historic setting was ‘odd’ and that Merkel has ‘little sympathy for the Brandenburg Gate being used for electioneering and has expressed her doubts about the idea.’… Ultimately, the decision on whether Obama can speak at the Brandenburg Gate will be made by the government of the city of Berlin. According to report in the Friday edition of the Hannoverschen Neuen Presse newspaper, city officials in Berlin’s Mitte district have reserved the Brandenburg Gate for the Democratic Party politician on July 24. Mayor Klaus Wowereit has also expressed his support for using the site for Obama’s speech.”

Worldwide Food, Fuel and Financial Crises–Man-Made Catastrophes

On July 4, 2008, the EUObserver reported the following:

“As the head of the World Bank [Robert Zoellick] warns world leaders that the planet is entering the ‘danger zone’ with millions thrown into extreme poverty by the twin food and fuel crises, a leaked report from his organisation shows that biofuels have pushed up global food prices by 75 percent – a much bigger role in the disaster than previously thought… ‘What we are witnessing is not a natural disaster – a silent tsunami or a perfect storm. It is a man-made catastrophe and as such must be fixed by people,’ [Mr. Zoellick] said in the letter.”

The EarthTimes wrote on July 6:

“The global financial crisis could lead to losses of 1,600 billion dollars for financial institutes, according [to] a report in the Swiss Sunday newspaper SonntagsZeitung. It quoted a confidential study by the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates as saying losses for banks holding risky assets could be four times greater than the 400 billion dollars previously estimated… The value of such risky assets is 26,600 billion dollars, according to the hedge fund. The losses would amount to 1,600 billion dollars if these assets were valued at market rates and not in the form of securitization, the newspaper said.”

“The U.S. Dollar Is Mighty No More”

The Associated Press reported on July 7:

“The almighty dollar is mighty no more. It has been declining steadily for six years against other major currencies, undercutting its role as the leading international banking currency. The long slide is fanning inflation at home and playing a major role in the run-up of oil and gasoline prices everywhere… Everything made in America — from goods to entire companies — is near dirt cheap to many foreigners. Meanwhile, American consumers, both those who travel and those who stay at home, are seeing big price increases in energy, food and imported goods.

“The dollar has lost roughly a quarter of its purchasing power against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners from its peak in 2002. Since oil is bought and sold in dollars worldwide, the devalued dollar has made the recent surge in energy prices even worse for Americans, leading to $4 gasoline in the United States…

“The loss of the dollar’s purchasing power and international respect has some experts worrying that the euro might one day replace the dollar as the so-called primary reserve currency. And that could trigger a dollar rout as foreign governments and international investors flee from U.S. Treasury bonds and other dollar-denominated investments.

“Making matters worse: The gaping U.S. current-account deficit — the amount by which the value of goods, services and investments bought in the U.S. from overseas exceeds the amount the U.S. sells abroad — and the low levels of domestic savings means that foreigners must purchase more than $3 billion every business day to fund the imbalance. Since roughly half of the nation’s nearly $10 trillion national debt is held by foreigners, mostly in Treasury bills and bonds, such a withdrawal could have enormous consequences…

“The dollar has fallen so far, it will be difficult to halt or reverse its slide. U.S. efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia and other major oil-producing nations to increase their production — and help ease pressure on both oil prices and the dollar — have brought scant results…”

“Conflicting” Messages of the British Government

The Independent reported on July 7:

“The Government is to launch a campaign to stamp out Britain’s waste food mountains as part of a global effort to curb spiralling food prices. Supermarkets will be urged to drop ‘three for two’ deals on food that encourage shoppers into bulk-buying more than they need, often leading to the surpluses being thrown away. The scandal of the vast mountains of food that are thrown away in Britain while other parts of the world starve is revealed in a Cabinet Office report today. It calls for a reduction in food waste: up to 40 per cent of groceries can be lost before they are consumed due to poor processing, storage and transport…

“Gordon Brown said he would make action to tackle the soaring cost of food a priority at the G8 summit starting today in Japan. ‘If we are to get food prices down, we must do more to deal with unnecessary demand, such as by all of us doing more to cut our food waste which is costing the average household in Britain around £8 per week,’ he told journalists on board the plane to the summit.”

However, as the Telegraph reported on July 8, Mr. Brown’s conduct at the summit was in sharp conflict with his words:

“Gordon Brown and his fellow world leaders have sparked outrage after it was disclosed they enjoyed a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner at the G8 summit where the global food crisis tops the agenda. The Prime Minister was served 24 different dishes during his first day at the summit – just hours after urging the world to reduce the ‘unnecessary demand’ for food and calling on British families to cut back on their wasteful use of food…

“The dinner consisted of 18 dishes in eight courses including caviar, smoked salmon, Kyoto beef and a ‘G8 fantasy dessert’. The banquet was accompanied by five different wines from around the world including champagne, a French Bourgogne and sake.

“African leaders including the heads of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Senegal who had taken part in talks during the day were not invited to the function…

“Dominic Nutt, of Save the Children, said: ‘It is deeply hypocritical that they should be lavishing course after course on world leaders when there is a food crisis and millions cannot afford a decent meal to eat.’… The Prime Minister’s spokesman declined to comment on the menus.”

Anglican Bishops and Members to Flock to Catholic Church?

The Sunday Telegraph wrote on July 6:

“Senior Church of England bishops have held secret talks with Vatican officials to discuss the crisis in the Anglican communion over gays and women bishops. They met senior advisers of the Pope in an attempt to build closer ties with the Roman Catholic Church… Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was not told of the talks and the disclosure will be a fresh blow to his efforts to prevent a major split in the Church of England.

“In highly confidential discussions, a group of conservative bishops expressed their dismay at the liberal direction of the Church of England and their fear for its future. They met members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the most powerful of the Vatican’s departments, the successor to the medieval Inquisition, which enforces doctrine and was headed by Pope Benedict XVI before his election.”

Meanwhile, Sky News reported on July 7:

“The Church of England’s ruling body has voted to go ahead with the ordination of women bishops… Sky News correspondent Mike McCarthy said: ‘It’s a historic and very significant moment for the Church of England. The real test now is how many people will leave (the Church). There are certainly going to be many wrestling with their consciences.’… A total of 1,333 clergy have threatened to leave the Church of England if they are not given legal safeguards to set up a network of parishes that would remain under male leadership.”

Deutsche Welle reported on July 8 that “The Vatican has strongly criticised the Church of England’s plan to ordain women bishops, describing it as a historic break from Christian doctrine that will drive Anglicans and Catholics further apart.”

The Telegraph added on July 8:

“The Bishop of Ebbsfleet… Andrew Burnham, is to lead his fellow Anglo-Catholics from the Church of England into the Roman Catholic Church… Bishop Burnham, one of two ‘flying bishops’ in the province of Canterbury, has made a statement asking Pope Benedict XVI and the English Catholic bishops for ‘magnanimous gestures’ that will allow traditionalists to become Catholics en masse. He is confident that this will happen, following talks in Rome with Cardinal Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Kasper, the Vatican’s head of ecumenism…

“Bishop Burnham hopes that Rome will offer special arrangements whereby former Anglicans can stay worshipping in parishes under the guidance of a Catholic bishop. Most of these parishes already use the Roman liturgy, but there may be provision for Anglican prayers if churches request it. Anglican priests who are already married will not be barred from ordination as priests, though Bishop Burnham would not be able to continue in episcopal orders, as he is married and there is an absolute bar on married bishops in the Roman and Orthodox Churches.”

The Powers of the Vatican Court

CNN reported on July 5:

“A fake priest was caught trying to hear confessions in St. Peter’s Basilica and was tried by a Vatican tribunal, a Vatican judge said in an interview published Saturday. Judge Gianluigi Marrone, who is a member of the court system of the independent Vatican city-state, said the man was wearing clerical garb and carried documents alleging that he was a priest… ‘It was a case of usurping an ecclesiastical title, and thus he was tried by our tribunal,’ the judge added…

“[He] didn’t say when the incident happened, what the tribunal’s verdict was or if the man received punishment… Last year, Italian news reports said that… the Vatican court system issued a drug conviction, giving a former employee of the Holy See a four-month suspended sentence for possession of cocaine.”

Why the World Will NOT End in 2012

AOL published the following on July 6, under “Weird News”:

“Survival groups around the world are gearing up and counting down to a mysterious date that has been anticipated for thousands of years: Dec. 21, 2012. Across the United States, Canada and throughout Europe, apocalyptic sects and individuals say that is the day that the world as we know it will end…

“Ancient Mayan societies, known for their advanced mathematics and astronomy, followed a ‘long count’ calendar that lasted 5,126 years. When their charts are translated to the Gregorian calendar, the international standard used today, time runs out on Dec. 21, 2012.

“Believers say there are other links besides just the Mayan calendar that portend catastrophe. The sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years on the same day, which marks the winter solstice. Some say that will disrupt the energy flow to Earth, or that the high rate of sunspots or sun flares that NASA has predicted for 2012 could affect Earth magnetic fields. Scientists have tried to squash the doomsday scenario as another empty prophesy, but it’s clear there are thousands who consider the possibility of a worldwide catastrophe occurring on that date very real…

“Searching for ‘2012 the end of the world’ on Google brings up nearly 700,000 hits. More than 6,500 video posts about the day have been posted on YouTube… ‘These prophecies of doom really don’t have any basis in what we know about the Maya,’ said Stephen Houston, an anthropology professor at Brown University and an expert in Maya hieroglyphic writing. ‘The Maya descriptions barely talk about this event.’ He said the Mayans saw their calendar coming to an end on the date, but then starting over without any catastrophes.'”

Jesus said very clearly that we do NOT know the time of His return and the end of the present civilization. So, we can dogmatically say that it will not be on or about December 21, 2012. Christ said He would return at a time when we DON’T expect it!

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