On Saturday, June 7, 2008, Rene Messier will give the sermon from Oregon, titled, “Doctrine.”

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.

On Sunday, June 8, 2008, is Pentecost.

Dave Harris will give the sermon in the morning from Colorado, titled, “The Other Sheep.” Norbert Link will give the sermon in the afternoon from California, titled, “By This We Know.”

The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org at 9:00 pm Pacific Time and at 12:30 pm Pacific Time (which is 11:00 pm and 2:30 pm Central Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

The Church of God is going to celebrate the annual Holy Day of Pentecost on Sunday, June 8, 2008, remembering the unique event when God poured out the Holy Spirit on the New Testament Church in 31 A.D. (Acts 2:33). When Christ’s disciples received the Holy Spirit on that day, observers mocked, thinking that they had become “full of new wine” (Acts 2:13). The Bible tells us, however, that they were “all FILLED with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). And so must we be today–on a continuous basis.

Before our conversion, the following description of the carnal human mind applied to us as well: We were “filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness…” (Romans 1:29).

But now, with the mind of Christ in us (Philippians 2:5; 1 Corinthians 2:16), we must be quite different. We are now to be “FULL of goodness, FILLED with all [Godly] knowledge” (Romans 15:14) and “FULL of mercy and good works” (James 3:17). In other words, we must be full of God’s Holy Spirit.

When Jesus was here on earth, He was “FILLED with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 4:1), and therefore, He was “FULL of grace and truth” (John 1:14). We read about some of His disciples being described in similar ways. In Acts 6:3, Peter asked the brethren to “seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, FULL of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.” One of the men chosen was “Stephen, a man FULL of faith and the Holy Spirit” (verse 5). He is also described as a man “FULL of faith and power” (verse 8)–characteristics which are all part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Timothy 1:7). Even at the time when he was facing certain death, Stephen was “FULL of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:55). Likewise, Barnabas was “a good man, FULL of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24).

This does not happen automatically. We can become and continue to be full of God’s Spirit, but it takes effort. We must persistently and daily strive to become filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us that our “inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16)–through a continuous and daily “supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:19). We need to draw near to God daily, and then God will draw near to us (James 4:8), by granting us His Holy Spirit ABUNDANTLY (Titus 3:4-6).

How often do the affairs and cares of this world, the deceit of riches and the pleasures of life take top priority over our relationship with God? We must be careful that we do not–slowly but surely–grieve and, in time, even quench the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). In the famous parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins, ALL of them had begun to slumber and sleep (Matthew 25:5). When the “midnight cry” was heard, announcing that Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, was coming, they all trimmed their lamps (verse 7). Unfortunately, the five foolish virgins had to realize that their lamps were going out because they did not have enough supply of oil (Matthew 25:8). They were not filled with or full of the Holy Spirit.

None of us should want to be in that category when the day of Christ’s return arrives. The time to prepare is now. 2 John 8 encourages us to look to ourselves, “that we do not lose the things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.” Being filled with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, our reward will be full, and “an entrance will be supplied to [us] abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11).

America’s Historical Moment–Obama Declared Democratic Presidential Candidate

As it was reported on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.

In a remarkable and unusually strong speech on Wednesday morning at a vast annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC), Obama presented himself as a tough candidate and vowed unwavering support for Israel, coupled with a willingness to use everything within his power–a phrase that he repeated loudly three times to add emphasis–to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He also stated that America must take the lead in dealing with Iran, as Europe has failed to bring about any acceptable solutions.

AFP added the following in its article of June 4:

“Barack Obama said Wednesday that Jerusalem must remain the ‘undivided’ capital of Israel… Obama said in the strikingly pro-Israel speech that the US bond with the Jewish state was ‘unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable for ever,’ adding he was speaking from his heart as a ‘true friend’ of Israel… Obama warned Islamist movement Hamas must renounce violence, pledged to stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself at the United Nations and to provide the Jewish state the means to guarantee its security… ‘There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations.'”

In its article of June 4, USA Today quoted the following additional comment from Obama’s speech: “…’let there be no doubt: I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel. Sometimes there are no alternatives to confrontation.'”

Will European-American Relationships Improve Under a New U.S. President?

Many German commentators and newspapers don’t think so.

Deutsche Welle published the following comment on June 3:

“Lots has been written about the world’s infatuation with Obama, here and elsewhere. With Obama’s candidacy assured, however, how he is perceived by an international audience and what is expected of him becomes more important… A lucid analysis of Obama’s international role and its possible problems offers Constanze Stelzenmüller of the German Marshall Fund of the United States: Entitled The Dalai Obama, Stelzenmüller writes that Germans’ high hopes for an Obama victory are not unfounded, but they may still be disappointed…

“Even if Obama defeats McCain and becomes President, the end of the euphoria is foreseeable writes Stelzenmüller. ‘Obama will call on the help of Germany and the rest of Europe to combat authoritarian regimes worldwide. Iran, NATO in Afghanistan, engagement on Europe’s borders, diplomacy in the Middle East, and perhaps stabilization assistance in Iraq. As an idealist, Obama hopes his appeal to Europe’s sense of responsibility, but if that fails, he must continue as a realist – without Europe.'”

Other German newspapers agree with this assessment. Der Spiegel Online stated the following on June 5, 2008:

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

“‘America is ready for a change and possibly even for a historic transformation … But regardless who gets elected president in November, the change is not going to be as earth-shattering as people expect… In terms of foreign policy, there won’t be a major shift under McCain or Obama — not even a rapid withdrawal of American soldiers from Iraq…’

“In the Hamburg weekly newspaper Die Zeit, journalist Josef Joffe writes: ‘The zeitgeist is blowing for Obama — even if not as strongly in Asia, Africa and Latin America as it is in Western Europe. But an optical illusion may be influencing our opinions: the comforting idea that the real problem is George W. Bush and not America. Out with cowboys and in with change and hope, and then we’ll be able to love America once again.’

“‘So, why is this a mental delusion? First, because anti-Americanism is older than the younger Bush. Second, because Obama (probably) comes, but the superpower stays. America, this modern steam hammer of a nation, is fundamentally a destroyer.

“‘In Old Europe, we’d prefer to take things a bit easier — and, no wonder, after all the catastrophes of the 20th century. And that’s why we don’t want (what former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder once described in his election campaign as) “American conditions.” We also don’t want any American demands about reinforcing the military in Afghanistan or hard sanctions against Iran or civilian assistance in Iraq, which both Obama and McCain would request.'”

2008–Already Deadliest Tornado Year Since 1998

The Associated Press reported on May 28:

“With the year not even half done, 2008 is already the deadliest tornado year in the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S. record for the number of twisters in a year, according to the National Weather Service. Also, this year’s storms seem to be unusually powerful. But like someone who has lost all his worldly possessions to a whirlwind, meteorologists cannot explain exactly why this is happening…

“And it’s not just more storms. The strongest of those storms — those in the 136-to-200 mph range — have been more prevalent than normal, and lately they seem to be hitting populated areas more…

“Global warming cannot really explain what is happening… While higher temperatures could increase the number of thunderstorms, which are needed to trigger tornadoes, they also would tend to push the storm systems too far north to form some twisters…”

Islamic Terrorists Envision Devastation of America After Nuclear Attack

The Daily Mail wrote on May 30:

“Washington is laid to waste. The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead. This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb.

“The computer-generated image below was posted on an Islamic extremists’ website yesterday.

“It appeared as rumours swept the Internet that the FBI was warning that an Al Qaeda video was about to be released urging militants to use weapons of mass destruction to attack the West… One message with the Washington picture said: ‘The next strike’s in the heart of America…’… Last night FBI sources said Al Qaeda was desperate to get its hands on a weapon of mass destruction, be it nuclear, chemical, or biological…”

U.S. Invasion of Iraq Has Failed–Why?

USA Today reported on May 28:

“Too often during this current occupation, Iraqis have been treated as mere pawns in a geopolitical game between the United States and the Baathists or the jihadists. We have surged our military forces and poured billions into the reconstruction but have made relatively little effort to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis by involving them in a common endeavor.

“Instead, we’ve conveyed the sense that the United States is in Iraq for its own interests and not those of the Iraqis. We fight the terrorists there so we don’t fight them here, we say. That may or may not be so, but… democracies are built not by the force of arms or a flood of dollars, but by an active demonstration of faith in the common bonds of humanity.”

Chuck Hagel: “New Great Leaders Will Arrive”

On June 3, Der Spiegel Online published an interview with U.S. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. We are bringing you the following excerpts from the interview:

“We invaded Iraq, we are occupying Iraq and we have made Iraq dependent on us. By our actions we have done terrible damage to our own country and undermined our interests in the world… Our first moral obligation is to our own people whom we keep sending back to Iraq again and again. Four-thousand US soldiers have given their lives, over 30,000 have been wounded, many seriously. I just got an e-mail today from the father of a helicopter pilot. His son is going back to Iraq for the fifth time. That is not acceptable…

“We need to get out [of Iraq], but responsibly. Much depends on how we are going to engage Iran. That spills over into the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. It spills over into Lebanon. It spills over into the relationship with Syria. We need a regional strategy, and in my view that means a permanent Middle East conference in which all Middle East nations participate. The longer we stay in Iraq, the more difficult it becomes to implement such a process. Many of the Arab nations don’t trust us…

“What has American involvement accomplished so far? The Middle East is as combustible and as complicated as it has ever been. Our policy has been disastrous.. We have to use our economic and also our cultural strength. Trust is the crucial currency in international relations. We willfully diminished the value of this currency and we now have to rebuild it. Trust is more important than anything else…

“A strong America is in the interest of the world. I often meet with foreign leaders and they know that the world is more dangerous when America is stumbling, bumbling and weak. America should lead, but through consensus and common interests…

“We are the greatest debtor nation in the world. We have an enormous trade deficit… you cannot continue to spend $600 billion a year that you do not have. We are spending $3 billion a week in Iraq alone…

“Today, I don’t see any great global leaders of the stature of Reagan, Kohl, Mitterand and Thatcher. They were important, whether you agreed with them or not. But as [former German Chancellor Helmut] Schmidt also told me in my office, there will come a time when we will find those new leaders again.”

Think the U.S. Economy Is Bad? It Will Get MUCH Worse!

The New York Times wrote on June 1:

“Struggling as we are with the housing bust, the credit crunch, shrinking consumption, rising unemployment and faltering business investment, we can be forgiven for thinking that all the big shoes have dropped. There is another one up there, however, and it is about to come down.

“State and city governments have yet to shrink the economy; indeed, they have even managed to prop it up. They have quietly maintained their spending at pre-crisis levels even as they warn of numerous cutbacks forced on them by declining tax revenues. The cutbacks, however, are written into budgets for a fiscal year that begins on July 1, a month away. In the meantime the states and cities, often drawing on rainy-day savings, have carried their share of the load for the national economy.

“That share is gigantic. At $1.8 trillion annually in a $14 trillion economy, the states and municipalities spend almost twice as much as the federal government, including the cost of the Iraq war. When librarians, lifeguards, teachers, transit workers, road repair crews and health care workers disappear, or airport and school construction is halted, the economy trembles. None of that, or very little, has happened so far, not even in California, despite a significant decline in tax revenue.

“’We are looking at a $4 billion cut to public schools and deep cuts that will result in thousands of Californians losing their health care,’ said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, offering a preview of coming hardships. ‘But the reality is we have not pulled money off the streets yet.’

“Quite the opposite, the states and municipalities have increased their spending in recent quarters, bolstering the nation’s meager economic growth. Over the past year, they have added $40 billion to their outlays, even allowing for scattered spending freezes and a few cutbacks in advance of July 1. Total employment has also risen. But when the current fiscal year ends in 30 days (or in the fall for many municipalities), state and city spending will fall, along with employment — slowly at first and then quite noticeably after the next president takes office.”

New Law on Global Warming Would Create Giant Tax, Critics Say

The Associated Press reported on June 3:

“The Senate began what is expected to be a weeklong, contentious debate Monday over legislation to combat global warming by mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases… The Senate measure, which has wide Democratic and some Republican support, would cap U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, cutting them by 18 percent by 2020 and by two-thirds by mid-century. It would specifically target refineries, power plants, factories and transportation for 70 percent reductions…

“Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called it ‘a giant tax on virtually every aspect of the economy,’ and accused Democrats of being ‘laughably out of touch’ in taking up the bill when the country is reeling from $4 a gallon gasoline and other high energy costs. President Bush said at a White House event that the measure amounted to ‘a huge spending bill fueled by tax increases’ and that it ‘would impose roughly $6 trillion in new costs on the American economy.'”

Myanmar’s Military Junta Prevents Aid for Their People

The Associated Press reported on June 3:

“More than 1 million people still don’t have adequate food, water or shelter a month after a devastating cyclone swept through Myanmar, and it’s not clear what the military junta is doing to help them, the United Nations said Tuesday.

“Humanitarian groups say they continue to face hurdles from Myanmar’s military government in sending disaster experts and vital equipment into the country. As a result, only a trickle of aid is reaching the storm’s estimated 2.4 million survivors, leaving many without even basic relief. Aid groups are unable to provide 1.3 million survivors with sufficient food and clean water, while trying to prevent a second wave of deaths from malnutrition and disease, the U.N. said in its latest assessment report…

“Myanmar’s xenophobic military regime left survivors to largely fend for themselves. It barred foreigners from the delta until last week and refused entry to U.S. and French aid-laden naval vessels, which have been idling off the country’s coast.”

AFP added on June 4:

“US warships laden with supplies for Myanmar’s cyclone victims will sail away after the junta refused their help, even as aid workers Wednesday pleaded for more help… The United Nations estimates that of the 2.4 million survivors in need of food and shelter, 1.1 million have received no foreign aid.”

Worldwide Food Price Crisis

AFP wrote on June 3:

“UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for a huge rise in food production Tuesday as world leaders opened a summit on the food price crisis that threatens hunger, poverty and conflict worldwide…

“Prices have doubled in three years, according to the World Bank, sparking riots in Egypt and Haiti and in many African nations. Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt have all imposed food export restrictions. Rising use of biofuels, trade restrictions, increased demand from Asia to serve changing diets, poor harvests and increasing transport costs have all been blamed for the price rise.

“World Bank President Robert Zoellick has said two billion people across the world are struggling with high food prices, and 100 million extra people in poor countries may be pushed into poverty by the crisis… Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda urged fellow leaders to release excess stockpiles of food to ease shortages in poorer countries, offering more than 300,000 tonnes of imported rice held by Japan.”

Worldwide Fuel Crisis

The Independet wrote on May 31:

“All around the world, in a multitude of ways, the soaring price of oil is hurting rich and poor alike…

“The number of Britons in ‘fuel poverty’ – 10 per cent of their income goes on energy – is thought to have reached four million… Malaysia has told petrol stations to stop selling fuel to Singapore-registered cars…

“Africa is at the sharp end of the oil shock and the inter-related surge in food prices. With millions living on the tiny margin between subsistence and starvation, fuel costs can quickly become a matter of life and death… There are also growing fears that rapidly increasing fuel prices could have a knock-on effect for aid agencies in countries such as Ethiopia, which are struggling to pay for fuel. This week the Red Cross said in its annual report that rising oil and food costs would mean it now needs much more money than last year just to keep the same level of aid distribution. Africa remains the largest area of Red Cross spending, accounting for 45 per cent of the field budget in 2007…

“In Egypt, petrol prices have risen by as much as 40 per cent in a year. Yemen has been rocked by riots in the south, which is home to only a fifth of its 22 million population but produces 80 per cent of the country’s oil. Young men and separatists, angry that very little of the nation’s oil wealth has trickled down to ordinary people in the south, have been protesting since April, raising concerns that Islamic militants could exploit the unrest in the notoriously fractious country…

“In Gaza this week, where fuel shortages have long been a major source of seething discontent due to rationing by Israel and Hamas, Palestinians were forced to fill their cars with olive oil instead of diesel… Iran is acutely vulnerable to rises in fuel prices because, despite being the world’s second largest producer, it is still forced to import about 40 per cent of its petrol because of a lack of refining facilities. Protests last year over fuel prices brought in rationing, which is still in place in Tehran and other major Iranian cities.”

Germans Don’t Want Darwin Questioned

Deutsche Welle reported on June 4:

“A Swiss firm has announced plans to construct a ‘Genesis Land’ in the Heidelberg area. But local politicians and theologians don’t like the prospect of becoming home to an anti-Darwin amusement park… According to the developers’ plans, Genesis Land would feature a ‘life-sized’ Noah’s arch, a ride simulating the Biblical Flood and a 3-D animated retelling of the New Testament… The project’s Web site says it aims to ‘communicate Biblical history and a Biblical message in a modern, experience oriented way.’…

“But religious and political representatives from the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg are less than enthusiastic… ‘A project like this only gets in the way of our attempts to spread the faith,’ Hansjörg Hemminger, the Wuerttemberg Protestant Church’s Spokesman on World Views told the newspaper Die Welt.

“Civic planners, too, are against Genesis Land. ‘Such a project isn’t going to get any support from us,’ Raban von der Malsburg, the official in charge of construction in Heidelberg, told the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung newspaper. Christoph Trinemeier, the director of a regional association, shares the belief that creationism wouldn’t enhance the area’s reputation. ‘Scientists from the entire world live and do research at the most modern level in our region,’ he said to the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung as grounds for opposing Genesis Land.

“But the project is still very much in the planning stage and may never become reality.”

The Theory of Evolution is wrong. Our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution–a Fairy Tale for Adults” proves from Scripture, WHY it is a human fabrication, without any scientific basis whatsoever. Please watch in this regard our latest StandingWatch program, “Is There Life on Mars?” View it on StandingWatch or Google Video or YouTube.

Tissue from Dead People to Create Cloned Stem Cells

On June 1, 2008, The Sunday Times wrote the following:

“Scientists [in the UK] are to be permitted to use tissue from dead people to create cloned human stem cells for research, under a legal change put forward by the government. Health ministers have proposed that laboratories should be allowed to use stored human tissue to create cloned embryonic stem cells without the explicit consent of the tissue donor. This would allow research to be done on tissue donated for medical research as long as 30 years ago. Scientists would also be able to use cells from people who have died since they donated their tissue or who cannot be contacted. Many laboratories have banks of stored tissue which act as DNA libraries…”

“Hate Crimes” in Canada…

WorldNetDaily reported on June 5 about hate crimes in Canada:

“A priest is being investigated as a potential criminal under a federal ‘hate crimes’ law for quoting from the Bible, and he’s being targeted using a Canadian provision under which no defendant ever has been acquitted, according to a new report.

“Pete Vere, a canon lawyer and Catholic journalist, has reported on the prosecution of Father Alphonse de Valk, a pro-life activist known across Canada, by the Canadian Human Rights Commission – ‘a quasi-judicial investigative body with the power of the Canadian government behind it’ – at CatholicExchange.com. ‘What was Father de Valk’s alleged “hate act”?’ Vere wrote.

“‘Father defended the [Catholic] Church’s teaching on marriage during Canada’s same-sex ‘marriage’ debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages – many of who are non-Catholics and non-Christians – Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman,’ he wrote.

“The new case comes just as columnist and author Mark Steyn, and Maclean’s magazine which published an excerpt from his ‘America Alone’ book, are on trial before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for similar ‘offenses.’… That case revolves around Joseph’s claims the defendants depicted Muslims as ‘a violent people’ with a religion that is ‘violent.'”

… and in Britain…

The Telegraph reported on June 2, 2008:

“A police community support officer ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham. The evangelists say they were threatened with arrest for committing a ‘hate crime’ and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned. The incident will fuel fears that ‘no-go areas’ for Christians are emerging in British towns and cities…

“The preachers, both ministers in Birmingham, were handing out leaflets on Alum Rock Road in February when they started talking to four Asian youths. A police community support officer… interrupted the conversation and began questioning the ministers about their beliefs. They said when the officer realised they were American, although both have lived in Britain for many years, he launched a tirade against President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“[One of the ministers] said: ‘I told him that this had nothing to do with the gospel we were preaching but he became very aggressive. He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam… West Midlands Police, who refused to apologise, said the incident had been ‘fully investigated’ and the officer would be given training in understanding hate crime and communication.”

… and in Continental Europe

The Associated Press reported on June 3:

“Brigitte Bardot was convicted Tuesday of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France. A Paris court also handed down a $23,325 fine against the former screen siren and animal rights campaigner. The court also ordered Bardot to pay $1,555 in damages to… [a] leading French anti-racism group known as MRAP…

“In [a] December 2006 letter to Sarkozy, now the president, Bardot said France is ‘tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts.’ Bardot, 73, was referring to the Muslim feast of Aid el-Kebir, celebrated by slaughtering sheep.

“French anti-racism laws prevent inciting hatred and discrimination on racial or religious… grounds. Bardot had been convicted four times previously for inciting racial hatred.”

These laws are on the books in many parts of Europe. Since they are prohibiting “inciting discrimination on religious grounds,” the time is drawing nearer when religious organizations will be prosecuted in Europe for teaching the Biblical truth about “orthodox Christianity” and especially the history and the prophesied future of Babylon the Great and the woman riding the scarlet-colored beast, as mentioned in Revelation 17 and 18.

For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

The answer to all of these questions is a resounding, “No.”

Regarding pictures, images or statues of Christ (including those which picture Him on the cross), we clearly read that we are not to have images of God (Exodus 20:4). Since Jesus is God (John 1:1; Hebrews 1:8; Titus 2:13), the creation and use of images or pictures of Christ violates this express prohibition.

Some say that this commandment does not prohibit us to portray Christ when He was a man, and not God. Even though Christ became fully man and fully flesh, He nevertheless did not cease to be the Personage that He had always been before–the Son of God, the second member in the God Family. That is why He, when here on earth, was called “Immanuel” or “God with us,” and that is why people, recognizing this fact, worshipped Him in the flesh.

In addition, Paul tells us that we are not to know Jesus Christ any longer according to the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:16), as He is now again a glorified, all-powerful and divine God being. He is depicted in Revelation 1:14, 16 with eyes as a flame of fire and as the sun shining in full strength. Pictures which show Christ today, even as a man, are totally inaccurate, even from a human standpoint. They portray Christ with long hair, although Paul said that it is a shame for a man to wear long hair (1 Corinthians 11:14). And even though Christ was a Jew, pictures today show Him with features which have no resemblance to Jewish men, but which give Him an effeminate appearance, instead.

When addressing the cross and its worship or use in religious services or at home, we should realize that the Bible does not even say that Christ was nailed to a cross, as it is pictured and portrayed today. In every case when the word “cross” is used in the Authorized Version or the New King James Bible, the Greek word is “stauros.”

According to Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, the meaning of that word is simply, “stake.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible agrees, defining “stauros” as a “stake or post, as set upright,” continuing that it could refer to a pole or a cross.

Bullinger’s Companion Bible states in Appendix 162 under “The Cross and Crucifixion”:

“In the Greek N.T. two words are used for ‘the cross’ on which the Lord was put to death. (1) The word ‘stauros’; which denotes an upright pale or stake, to which criminals were nailed for execution; (2) The word ‘xulon’, which generally denotes a piece of a dead log of wood, or timber, for fuel or for any other purpose… As this latter word ‘xulon’ is used for the former ‘stauros’, it shows us that the meaning of each is exactly the same. Our English word ‘cross’ is the translation of the Latin ‘crux’; but the Greek ‘stauros’ no more means a ‘crux’ than the word ‘stick’ means a ‘crutch’. “

The word “xulon” is translated many times in the Authorized Version or the New King James Bible as “tree,” for instance in 1 Peter 2:24, stating that Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree (compare, too, Acts 10:39; 13:29).

The Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by Vine adds the following, when discussing the kind of death which Christ endured:

“… stauros denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross.”

Since the Greek in the New Testament does not state that Christ died on a cross, as we know it today, how did this idea enter orthodox Christianity? Here is what happened:

Alexander Hislop writes in his book, The Two Babylons, pp. 197, 199:

“The same sign of the cross that Rome now worships was used in the Babylonian Mysteries, was applied by paganism to the same magic purposes, was honored with the same honors. That which is now called the Christian cross was originally no Christian emblem at all, but was the mystic Tau of the Chaldeans and Egyptians–the true original form of the letter T–the initial of the name of Tammuz… There is hardly a Pagan tribe where the cross has not been found. The cross was worshiped by the Pagan Celts long before the incarnation and death of Christ… It was worshiped in Mexico for ages before the Roman Catholic missionaries set foot there, large stone crosses being erected, probably to the ‘god of rain.’ The cross was widely worshiped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah… “

We have found pictures, showing Assyrian, Egyptian, Hindu and Greek gods and goddesses associated with crosses. The ancient Greek goddess Diana is shown with a cross over her head–very similar to the portrayal of the “Virgin Mary” by many medieval artists.

Vine adds that the shape of a “two-beamed cross” had ” its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd century A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.”

In addition, it is true that the Romans used a two-beamed cross as one of their methods of crucifixion, but it is highly unlikely that that method was used in the case of Christ. The Encyclopedia Britannica writes in its 11th edition, volume 7, on page 506:

“Two methods were followed in the infliction of the punishment of crucifixion. In both of these the criminal was first of all usually stripped naked, and bound to an upright stake, where he was so cruelly scourged with an implement, formed of strips of leather having pieces of iron, or some other hard material, at their ends, that not merely was the flesh often stripped from the bones, but even the entrails partly protruded, and the anatomy of the body was disclosed. In this pitiable state he was re-clothed, and, if able to do so, was made to drag the stake to the place of execution, where he was either fastened to it, or impaled upon it, and left to die.”

Regarding another method, the encyclopedia states that:

“After the scourging, the criminal was made to carry a cross beam to the place of execution, and he was then fastened to it by iron nails driven through the outstretched arms and through the ankles. Sometimes this was done as the cross lay on the ground, and it was then lifted into position.”

As pagans already worshiped the cross as we know it today, before they entered the Catholic fold; as the Roman Church allowed them to continue to worship the cross–only now in association with Christ; and as the Romans used a two-beamed cross as one of their methods of crucifixion, it can be easily seen how the Roman Church was able to convince an unsuspecting world that THAT was the method of Christ’s crucifixion.

However, as mentioned, it is highly unlikely that Christ was killed in that way. In the New Testament, the word for “stauros” is equated with a “tree”–and never with a two-beamed “cross.” Also, Christ had to carry His “cross” (“stauros”) to Golgotha (Matthew 27:32; John 19:17). Some commentaries say that this was only the cross beam–that is, only a small part of the “cross.” However, the Bible does not seem to support this. We read that Christ carried His “cross”; that subsequently, Simon a Cyrenian was compelled to bear “His cross” (Mark 15:21); and that after His crucifixion had begun, His mother and other relatives stood “by the cross of Jesus” (John 19:25). In all these passages, the same word “stauros” is used in the original Greek for “cross”—with no indication of just different parts of the “cross” being described at different times.

In addition, Christ told us to carry our “cross” (Matthew 10:38; 16:24) as He had carried and endured His “cross” (Hebrews 12:2). If He only carried a portion of the “cross,” then that analogy would break down, as we are to carry our entire “cross”–not just portions of it.

We also read that Christ compared the manner of His death with the way in which Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14). Numbers 21:9 tells us how Moses did it: “So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it ON A POLE; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” The bronze serpent was placed on a solid pole, consisting of one piece–indicating the kind of pale or stake on which Christ died.

Since we don’t even know for sure the exact method of Christ’s crucifixion, but since we DO know that the “cross”–as orthodox Christianity uses it today “in memory of Christ”–was worshiped by pagans in connection with their pagan idols, we should not use it at all, nor even wear it as an amulet. The “Christian” use of the cross did not begin until the time of Constantine, and there is no evidence that God’s true Church has ever used cross symbols for any purpose.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

A new StandingWatch program (#168) has been posted on StandingWatch, Google Video and YouTube.

The program is titled, “Is There Life on Mars?” In the program, Norbert Link points out that with astonishing accuracy, the Phoenix Mars Lander reached the Red Planet on May 25, 2008–exactly as planned. The 422 million-mile journey, which began on August 4, 2007, costs us about 420 million dollars. Is this well-spent money? Scientists are hopeful to discover conditions favorable for life on Mars, either now or once upon a time. They would like to find some evidence for the evolution of life on Mars. But is there even evidence of evolution of life here on earth?

A new member letter was written and sent out this week. In the letter, Norbert Link discusses the fact that we must use God’s Holy Spirit to bring about peace, unity and reconciliation. The letter also discusses what we must do to avoid becoming disunified and confused.

As we announced last week, Paul Voss, a long-time deacon in God’s Church, died on May 23, 2008, at his home in Oregon. A memorial service for Paul will be conducted on Sunday, July 13, 2008, at 1:00 pm, followed by a potluck, at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 2701 East 8th Street, (Paradise Valley), National City, California 91950. All family members and friends are invited to attend.

In his autobiography, volume 1, pages 299-300, Herbert W. Armstrong recounted a story from the late 1920’s of the head librarian of the technical and science department of a very large library. That librarian believed in the theory of evolution. “Mr. Armstrong,” she said, “you have an uncanny knack of getting right to the crux of a problem. Yes, I have to admit you have chopped down the trunk of the tree. You have robbed me of PROOF! But, Mr. Armstrong, I still have to go on believing in evolution… I am so STEEPED in it that I could not root it from my mind.”

That episode reminds me of the old saying that “there are none so blind as those who WON’T see.”

We can gasp at such an attitude, but can we be the same? At times, we can easily–far too easily–refuse to see or apply clear biblical instruction. Love covers all sins  (Proverbs 10:12), but we can disseminate gossip to the hurt of others. Love suffers long and is kind (1 Corinthians 13:4), but we can be unkind in our approach to others. We are told to bridle our tongue (James 1:26), but how often are we steeped in ingrained behavior so that we tolerate our own wrong actions?

The Bereans proved that which was so (Acts 17:11). This was a positive approach whereas, today, there are some who look at things in a negative way. They search the literature of others in order to expose “error” as they see it. Some can be self appointed “watchmen,” but Jesus gave us solid teaching about the plank and the speck (Matthew 7:3-5). When this is mentioned in sermons, letters, editorials, personal comments or in any other written form, there can be those who indulge in such activities–like the evolutionist–who continue in their ways. They are seemingly unable to see that it can apply to them (and indeed to all of us), and they refuse to root out such actions that are both unhelpful and sinful.  

Let us ALL see OUR shortcomings and failings in whatever areas they may be, and not be blind to their significance. Unfortunately, there may be those who read this Editorial who have a form of spiritual blindness or arrogance that may not allow them to see that they may be missing the mark.

The Church of God will be celebrating the Feast of Pentecost on Sunday, June 8. It was on the Day of Pentecost when God poured out His Spirit on the New Testament Church–God’s same Spirit that is available today to His called-out-ones. Let us make sure that we exercise God’s Spirit in our everyday lives and that the problems mentioned in this Editorial do not apply to us. And that the phrase “there are none so blind as those who WON’T see” simply does not describe us!

The USA Is in a Lonely Spot…

Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 27:

“Reality has taught America a bitter lesson. Years after the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the wars in those countries are still raging… The United States is in a lonely spot, even in the West. When Tony Blair resigned as British prime Minister, the US lost its last European vassal. In Asia, home to half the world’s population, America has many military bases but virtually no friends. To make matters worse, the weak dollar has made oil-rich Moscow and Tehran both strong and impudent.”

Shift in Global Power NOT in America’s Favor

The New York Times wrote on May 21:

“There has been much debate in this campaign about which of our enemies the next US president should deign to talk to. The real story, the next president may discover, though, is how few countries are waiting around for us to call. It is hard to remember a time when more shifts in the global balance of power are happening at once — with so few in America’s favor…

“[In] ‘The Post-American World,’ by Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, [the following is discussed:]

“Mr. Zakaria’s central thesis is that while the US still has many unique assets, ‘the rise of the rest’ — the Chinas, the Indias, the Brazils and even smaller nonstate actors — is creating a world where many other countries are slowly moving up to America’s level of economic clout and self-assertion, in every realm…”

None of this should surprise us. We have warned for decades that this development would come upon us. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America”

U.S. Housing Slump Continues to Deepen

The Associated Press reported on May 27:

“U.S. home prices dropped at the sharpest rate in two decades during the first quarter, a closely watched index showed Tuesday, a somber indication that the housing slump continues to deepen.

“Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller said its national home price index fell 14.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the lowest since its inception in 1988. The quarterly index covers all nine U.S. Census divisions.”

In a follow-up article, the Associated Press reported on the same day:

“Sales of new homes rose in April for the first time in six months although the unexpected increase still left activity near the lowest level in 17 years.

“The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new homes rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units. But the government revised March activity lower to show an even bigger drop of 11 percent to an annual rate of 509,000, which was the weakest pace for sales since April 1991…

“The Commerce report showed that the median price of a new home sold in April dropped to $246,100 in April, down 4.2 percent from April 2007… Many analysts don’t expect to see a rebound in prices until sometime next year.”

“USA Already In Recession”

On May 28, Der Spiegel Online published a revealing interview with US billionaire Warren Buffett. Buffett does not share the optimism of some regarding an alleged recent improvement of the U.S. economy. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“I do believe that we are already in a recession. Maybe not according to the economists’ definition. That would require two consecutive quarters of negative growth. We haven’t reached that point yet. But people are already feeling the effects of the recession. It will be deeper and last longer than many believe.

“… the Germans know something about business. In fact, the strong euro works against Germany. But if an exporting nation like Germany is still strong, it proves that the supply and quality are right.”

The Associated Press reported on May 29:

“Consumers — whose spending is the economy’s lifeblood — are feeling the pressure from the economy’s problems. They increased spending at just a 1 percent pace in the first quarter. That was the slowest since the last recession in 2001. Consumers are pulling back as high energy and food prices leave them with less money to spend on other things. Falling home values are making many homeowners feel less wealthy and less inclined to spend. And, the credit crunch has made it harder to finance big-ticket purchases…

“Even if economic activity strengthens later this year, the unemployment rate — now at 5 percent — is expected to climb to 6 percent or higher early next year… An inflation measure linked to the GDP report showed that prices grew at a rate of 3.5 percent in the first quarter… Excluding food and energy prices, ‘core’ inflation increased at 2.1 percent pace in the first quarter… The core inflation figure… is still outside the Fed’s comfort zone. The upper level of the Fed’s inflation tolerance is 2 percent… Looking forward, inflation pressures could get worse given surging food and energy prices.”

No Freedom of Conscience for California County Clerks?

The Associated Press reported on May 20:

“The city attorney said Monday that county workers authorized to perform marriage ceremonies must be willing to conduct same-sex marriages under last week’s landmark court ruling, regardless of their personal views on homosexuality. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said in similar letters to the Secretary of State and Los Angeles County Supervisors that any policy that would allow certain workers to conduct only marriages between a man and a woman would be inconsistent with Thursday’s state Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriages in California… ‘County clerks have no legal standing to grant county employees the authority or ability to choose which marriage they wish not to officiate at, based on their personal views or biases,’ he wrote.”

German Government Can’t Rule Effectively

More and more German newspapers and magazines admit now what we have stated from the outset in the pages of this weekly Update: That the German grand coalition under Angela Merkel is unable to rule effectively. Note the following article:

Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 27:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government will limp on to the next general election in 2009 but is too divided to rule the country effectively… The Social Democrats’ decision on Monday to nominate political professor Gesine Schwan to challenge conservative President Horst Köhler in Germany’s presidential election next May (May 23, 2009) has angered Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and rammed another nail in the coffin of their grand coalition government…

“Merkel’s left-right government is unlikely to fall because neither party will dare to withdraw from the coalition and risk being blamed for its collapse. Both the Social Democrats (SPD) and the CDU know that German voters would punish the perceived culprit at the ballot box. Nevertheless, this government is now too weak and divided to take any major decisions in the remaining 16 months of its term, say commentators…

“The left-wing Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘The coalition crisis will remain absurd because neither the conservatives nor the SPD will dare to break it up. After all, they haven’t got any alternative coalition partners, and an early election can be ruled out because it would undermine the credibility of both parties if they dissolved parliament prematurely yet again. But this grand coalition won’t be taking any more major decisions. Or put another way: this government has turned into a non-government organization, with immediate effect… The grand coalition was no successful model for Germany…'”

Germany Without Leadership

Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 27:

“Politically, Germany seems rudderless these days. The government and the ruling parties’ leaders are unable to get their projects through or no longer have any policies to agree on.

“… what is the grand coalition good for? What will it do with its remaining 18 months? The government only has two grand projects, a difficult budget and an even more difficult healthcare reform program. The government lacks the strength to tackle any more than that…”

High Gasoline Prices in Europe

Time magazine reported on May 28:

“American motorists are understandably grumbling over skyrocketing oil prices as the summer travel season approaches. But their pain hardly registers against the rage afoot in Europe these days. Fishermen, truck drivers, and farmers are threatening to bring entire economic sectors to a halt with protests against crippling fuel costs. The wave of angry action is expected to spread further across Europe in coming days, despite efforts by political leaders to feel the pain and figure out what, if anything, they can do to alleviate it.

“Strikes and blockades staged over the past three weeks by French fishermen spread this week to Spanish ports; Italy, Portugal, and Greece expect more of the same on Friday as mariners seek to force national governments to offset marine diesel prices, which have shot up by 40% since January. Single boat owners and entire trawler fleets face a real threat of bankruptcy…

“On Tuesday, hundreds of British truck drivers in London and Cardiff brought traffic to a crawl in a campaign to get their government to lower taxes on diesel fuel, which now costs over $11 per U.S. gallon (3.8 liters). Other businesses owners who rely heavily on gas use – including farmers, ambulance and taxi drivers, and private bus companies – have joined the protest movement or are preparing to do so.

“Those labor protests reflect the hit millions of Europeans are taking at the gas pump. As American drivers groan over prices nearing $4 a gallon, the French are paying $8.67 for a gallon of super, compared to $7.10 in January, 2007. A gallon of diesel in French gas stations averages $8.54, up from $5.35 just a year ago. And in the U.K. diesel costs $11.50 per gallon, compared to around $3.90 in the U.S. Across the European Union, the average cost of a gallon of gas runs to about $8.70 – more than twice what Americans are shelling out to fill ‘er up. And Europe’s dizzying fuel costs would be even worse if it weren’t for the considerable appreciation of the euro and the British pound against the dollar over the past year, which has partially off-set the price escalation in dollar-traded oil.

“One big reason for the difference is that European governments put a much higher tax burden on fuel than the U.S. does. State and federal taxes currently make up just 11% of the pump price in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration; in France and the U.K., taxes account for an average of around 70%.

“Given the growing chorus of angry protests, it isn’t surprising that leaders across Europe have begun scurrying for ways to provide some relief at the pump. But their margin for maneuver is limited. On Tuesday, for example, French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed suspending most value added tax (VAT) on gas, a measure he said would mean as much as $267 million in savings per quarter to those hit hardest by fuel price increases… But as Sarkozy himself acknowledged, no nation among the European Union’s 27 member states can make such a move without the unanimous approval of the others.”

How Europeans Would Vote in U.S. Presidential Election

The Telegraph reported on May 29:

“Senator Barack Obama emerged as Europe’s favourite candidate for America’s presidency today when a poll conducted for Telegraph.co.uk gave him 52 per cent support across five of the world’s richest nations, including Britain. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, received only 15 per cent of the vote in [an] unprecedented survey covering Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.

“The poll also found a striking level of anti-American feeling in every country. A clear majority of Russians – 56 per cent – believe the US is a ‘force for evil’ in the world. In Britain, only 33 per cent see America as a ‘force for good’.

“Opinion towards America has become steadily more hostile throughout the presidency of George W Bush, with the Iraq war probably being the single most important factor. Mr Bush’s unpopularity appears to have rubbed off on Republican presidential candidates in general. This might explain why Mr McCain, a strong supporter of the Iraq war, is the least popular potential president in all the countries surveyed.

“Meanwhile, Mr Obama, the only consistent opponent of the Iraq war in the race for the presidency, commands a clear lead. He is especially popular in Italy, where a remarkable 70 per cent would vote for him if they could. In France, historically the European country with the strongest anti-American sentiment, 65 per cent would back Mr Obama. In Germany, the Democratic Senator would get 67 per cent of the vote – while Mr McCain would receive a derisory six per cent. Mr Obama appears to have made less of an impact in Britain than elsewhere in Europe. A relatively modest 49 per cent of Britons would vote for him, while 14 per cent would back Mr McCain – twice the totals favouring the Republican candidate in Germany or France.”

“Hezbollah Triumphs in Lebanon”

The Associated Press reported on May 26:

“Lebanon’s new president got a red carpet welcome Monday, but was quickly thrust into the political thicket as Hezbollah’s leader warned against any efforts to disarm his Iranian-backed guerrilla group. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah delivered his stern message after military bands and an honor guard saluted President Michel Suleiman on his first day on the job… The Shiite militant group has rejected demands it disarm, insisting its weapons are needed to protect Lebanon from Israel…

“Pro-Western political groups, which hold a small majority in parliament, have repeatedly called for a defense arrangement that would eventually integrate Hezbollah’s fighters and weapons into the national army. Hezbollah rejects the idea…”

Der Spiegel Online reported on May 29:

“A new civil war has been averted in Lebanon, and Israel and Syria are back at the negotiating table. But Hezbollah is stronger than ever, and its arsenal is brimming with weapons — partly because the United Nations monitoring program has failed…

“Hezbollah has further expanded its position as a state within a state… Hezbollah and its allies… are expected to receive 11 cabinet posts in the new government of national unity to be formed in Beirut. This bloc will be large enough to veto any cabinet decisions in the future. Most of all, the Qatar agreement allows Hezbollah to keep its weapons, a sensitive issue that all parties to the talks were quick to remove from the agenda…

“Various intelligence services have long been warning of Hezbollah’s regaining strength. Intelligence experts believe that the militia replenished, and even doubled, its arsenal after the summer war against Israel in 2006. Hezbollah is now believed to have 27,000 medium-range missiles, some of which could even reach Tel Aviv… The weapons were purchased with the help of funds from Iran and Syria. In 2007 alone, Hezbollah is believed to have received anti-tank weapons and rocket launchers worth $800 million (€516 million) from Tehran. The weapons were delivered overland through Syria.

“Observers consider it a foregone conclusion that [Hezbollah’s leader] Nasrallah is both capable and willing to engage in a new round of fighting with Israel. Political scientist Saad-Ghureib believes that it is not a question of if, but when, this could occur.”

“Unwinnable War in Afghanistan”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 29:

“Forty nations are embroiled in an unwinnable war in Afghanistan. Anyone who travels through the country with Western troops soon realizes that NATO forces would have to be increased tenfold for peace to be even a remote possibility.”

The article continued:

“Good days are in short supply in Afghanistan, a country at war — or involved in several wars, to be exact. There is constant fighting on many fronts, hard and soft. The newspapers, and there are many of them in Kabul now, serve up pages of chaotic images every day. Their reports are about bombs and drinking water, holy warriors and wheat prices, NATO air attacks and schoolbooks, kidnapped children, refugees and bandits.

“Almost seven years have passed since the overthrow of the Taliban regime, and in those seven years half of the world has tried to bring a better future and, most of all, peace to this new country, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. As part of the NATO military operation known as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), 40 nations have 60,000 soldiers deployed in the country. There are 26 United Nations organizations in Afghanistan, and hundreds of private and government agencies are pumping money, materials and know-how into the country’s 34 provinces. But anyone seeking success stories or asking about failures will encounter reports that do not seem to be coming from the same country…

“There is no peace anywhere in Afghanistan, not even in the north, which officials repeatedly insist has been pacified… The United States and Europe have stumbled their way into a new type of international war, one in which all of today’s global and regional powers are involved…

“Since the fall of the Taliban regime almost seven years ago, the country’s opium harvest has been more abundant in almost each successive year. Last year, 93 percent of the heroin traded in the world came from Afghanistan… For fear of triggering hostility against foreign troops among the local population, the powers that be agreed early on that the Afghans would have sole responsibility for waging the drug war, with no NATO involvement whatsoever.”

And There WILL BE Earthquakes in Different Places…

On May 25, AFP wrote the following:

“A major quake such as the one that left at least 60,000 dead in southwestern China this month can trigger other earthquakes half way around the world, according to a study released Sunday… A team of geologists in the United States found that 12 out of 15 major quakes — registering a magnitude of 7.0 or higher — since 1990 generated surface waves that set off smaller seismic events in fault systems on distant continents… The terrible December 2004 mega-quake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, for example, provoked seismic events as far away as Alaska, California and Ecuador.

“There is a better than 95 percent likelihood that the earthquake rate in distant areas will be much higher in the immediate aftermath of a big quake than before or after, the study found. And while the seismic movements triggered by far away quakes were generally smaller — in the three-to-five magnitude range — there is no reason they could not be as big or bigger than the first.”

When the “Big One” Hits…

The Associated Press wrote on May 21:

“The ‘Big One,’ as earthquake scientists imagine it in a detailed, first-of-its-kind script, unzips California’s mighty San Andreas Fault north of the Mexican border. In less than two minutes, Los Angeles and its sprawling suburbs are shaking like a bowl of jelly. The jolt from the 7.8-magnitude temblor lasts for three minutes –15 times longer than the disastrous 1994 Northridge quake.

“Water and sewer pipes crack. Power fails. Part of major highways break. Some high-rise steel frame buildings and older concrete and brick structures collapse. Hospitals are swamped with 50,000 injured as all of Southern California reels from a blow on par with the Sept. 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina: $200 billion in damage to the economy, and 1,800 dead. Only about 700 of those people are victims of building collapses. Many others are lost to the 1,600 fires burning across the region — too many for firefighters to tackle at once.

“A team of about 300 scientists, governments, first responders and industries worked for more than a year to create a realistic crisis scenario… The scenario is focused on the San Andreas Fault… [which] is the source of some of the largest earthquakes in state history, including the monstrous magnitude-7.8 quake that reduced San Francisco to ashes and killed 3,000 people in 1906…”

Even though these are frightening figures, it appears that they are far too conservative and optimistic. The reality will be MUCH grimmer–and who is to say that the earthquake which WILL hit Southern California in the not-too-distant future [and much sooner than 30 years from now] will not exceed a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale? The Bible predicts terrible calamities in the USA and around the world. Notice Jesus’ warning in Luke 21:11, 25-26:

“And there will be GREAT earthquakes in VARIOUS places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven… And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on earth DISTRESS OF NATIONS, with PERPLEXITY, the SEA AND THE WAVES ROARING; men’s hearts failing them from FEAR AND EXPECTATION of those things which ARE COMING on the earth, for the powers of the heavens WILL BE shaken.”

For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord“

The answer to this question might be quite surprising to some who have never heard the truth before. The fact is, a Roman soldier KILLED Christ by piercing His side with a spear. Notice what happened.

The following is excerpted from our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery,” pages 78 and 79:

“How Did Christ Die?

“… Christ died by shedding His blood (Mark 14:24), and it is through His precious shed blood that we can be saved (1 Peter 1:18–19).

“When we read Matthew’s account, in the New King James Bible, we will not find exactly how Christ died. The reason is that this translation omits a crucial verse, at the end of Matthew 27:49. Several translations, as well as many old manuscripts, have retained this missing verse. For instance, verses 49 and 50 read in the Moffat translation: ‘But the others said, “Stop, let us see if Elijah does come to save him!” (Seizing a lance, another pricked [better, pierced] his side, and out came water and blood.) Jesus again uttered a loud scream, and gave up his spirit.’

“The Fenton Bible translates the missing verse as follows: ‘But another taking a spear pierced His side, when blood and water came out.’

“A.T. Robertson, Harmony of the Gospels, states in a footnote to Matthew 27:49: ‘Many ancient authorities add: And another took a spear and pierced his side, and there came out water and blood.’

“The Revised Standard Version, and the New Revised Standard Version, add the following footnote: ‘Other ancient authorities insert, And another took a spear and pierced his side, and out came water and blood.’

“The Vaticanus–a Greek New Testament written in the 300’s A.D.–contains the missing verse as well. It reads: ‘And another took a spear and pierced his side and there came forth water and blood.’ The Sinaiticus Codex also contains the verse, and so does the Codex Ephraemi. According to The Testament in Greek, by Wescott and Hort, published in 1896, the missing verse also appears in most Syrian, Egyptian, Armenian, Gothic, and Ethiopic translations. It also appears in Origen’s work [around 200 A.D.]. Walton’s Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, published in 1657, claims, in Vol. VI, on page 6 of the appendix, that this missing verse was still a marginal reading of the Greek text when the King James Version was made.”

Do we know WHY the inspired passage in Matthew 27:49 was deleted from the sacred text? The deletion occurred when a spurious version of the book of Matthew, which was allegedly written by Barnabas, was found, which did not include the passage in Matthew 27:49. Note the following excerpts from Westcott and Hort:

“In a letter partially preserved in Syriac… [Severus] mentions the reading [of the missing passage] as having been vigorously debated at Constantinople in connexion with the matter of the patriarch Macedonius, when the… [spurious] copy of… Matthew’s Gospel said to have been discovered in Cyprus with the body of… Barnabas in the reign of Zeno (?477) was consulted and found not to contain the sentence in question … at Constantinople the holy Gospels were by command of the emperor censored,” and the passage in question was deleted from the sacred text of the gospel according to Matthew.

Of course, no emperor–nor ANY MAN, for that purpose–has any divine authority to add to or delete from the Word of God. And so, God saw to it that the missing passage WAS preserved–and anyone with an open mind can read it today in its original form.

To continue with our quote from our booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery“:

“We need to take note of an additional passage in John’s account. We read in John 19:32–34: ‘Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.’

“This Scripture, the way it is rendered, seems to say that the soldier pierced Christ’s side after He had already died. However, the word ‘pierced’ is in the aorist tense in the original Greek, designating a kind of action, not the time of action. It describes an action done at a single moment, and not continuously, but it does not tell us when the action takes place. Only the context can make this clear. Therefore, in John 19:34, the passage could also be correctly translated as, ‘But one of the soldiers HAD PIERCED His side with a spear.’ From the missing verse in Matthew 27:49, we know that John 19:34 has to be translated, in fact, in the past tense.”

There is, in addition, another possibility as to how to read this particular passage in John 19:30-34. It has been suggested that the original inspired ORDER of verses 30 – 34 was subsequently changed, and that the original reading of these verses was as follows:

“(30a) So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ (34) But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. (30b) And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (31) 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 their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (32) Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. (33) But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.”

To conclude from our afore-mentioned booklet:

“Christ shed His blood and died when a soldier pierced His side… We also read, in Luke 2:34–35: ‘Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul ALSO), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”‘ Finally, Isaiah 53:5 prophesied about Christ: ‘But He was wounded [margin, pierced through] for our transgressions.’ The New Testament record confirms that this is how Christ died.”

Christ died when a soldier pierced His side with a spear. This fact is also confirmed in other passages in the Old and the New Testament. Zechariah 12:10, in referring to the return of Jesus Christ, elaborates on the importance of the exact nature of Christ’s death, stating: “… then they will look on Me whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

Some might argue that the reference to Christ being pierced might apply just to His hands and feet. The fact that His hands and feet were pierced is most certainly included. Psalm 22:16, 18 gives the following prophecy regarding the suffering Christ: “They pierced My hands and My feet… They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

However, the piercing includes much more, and is primarily describing the very nature and moment of His death–not only the time several hours before, when His crucifixion began. Christ CRIED out when the soldier pierced His side with the spear.

And so, we read in Revelation 1:7: “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

We are saddened to report that Paul Voss died peacefully at 2:30 am on Friday morning, May 23 (his 76th birthday), after battling with painful cancer for a while. Norbert and Johanna Link were able to visit with Paul in Oregon on Wednesday evening, as well as with his wife Joan and Paul’s family and all the brethren in Oregon. Norbert anointed Paul, praying that God would relieve him from his pain and suffering. Joan reports that after the anointing, Paul fell asleep, had apparently no more pain, and never woke up until he died.

We are planning a memorial service for Paul in or near San Diego, California, on Sunday, July 13. More details as to the exact time and place will be announced soon.

All our members were spared from the recent tornado in Colorado. However, the tornado did a lot of damage in the city of Windsor, 15 miles south or southeast of Fort Collins, where many of our members live. Its path took it just about 5 miles east of Fort Collins, as it moved toward the northwest. Its original path, as shown on the map, would have brought it right into Fort Collins, but it changed its path before reaching the city.

A new StandingWatch program (#167) has been posted on StandingWatch or Google Video or YouTube.

The program is titled, “Corrupt Communication–Why Not?” In the program, Norbert Link asks the question whether your language reveals your character. Do your words benefit or offend others? Do you blaspheme God with foul conversation? Are you using God’s name in vain? Do you know what words NOT to use in your daily talk?

Each of our recent StandingWatch programs, “Food Shortage in the USA” and “Coming–The Great Depression,” have been viewed more than 2,000 times on YouTube.

We realize that there are negative influences in our life that make our walk in the Way considerably more difficult. The problem is that this situation can be compounded by the fact that we do not accept responsibility for our own actions, but rather place blame where it does not belong.

We know that Satan is alive, active and doing everything possible to cause us to stumble. We also have others at large who can sway us in the wrong direction, whether intentionally or not. But what if the person we are looking at in the mirror is the only one at fault?  

One of the signs that we are sinning is when we blame others. If  we put the culpability on Satan and society and dismiss our own guilt, we will not be able to grow in the areas that are inhibiting us. We will continue to make the same type of errors, if not the same exact one.  

We should start looking inwardly first, before imputing sin elsewhere. We should ask God to open our eyes and show us the responsibility that lies with us. In order to move forward and “go on to perfection,” we must be ready and willing to accept our part–especially in our own wrongdoing.

War Profiteers–USA, Russia and Germany

Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 16:

“According to a recent study, only the United States and Russia export more military goods than Germany — and the supposedly pacifist nation leads the EU in such sales. The rise in weapons profits is part of a global trend. Once one of the world’s most aggressive powers, Germany today likes to project a pacifist image. From the German army’s reluctance to fight abroad to a foreign policy that promotes peaceful intentions and global harmony, Germany regards itself as a model the world should follow.

“But a report released yesterday by the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), a German think tank, reveals a different side of Germany’s relationship to war… Germany, it turns out, exports nearly a billion euros worth of military goods each year ($1.55 billion) to developing countries. In fact, the BICC estimates, Germany’s total defense sales in 2006 made it the world’s third largest arms exporter. ‘That makes Germany the European Union’s biggest military goods exporter…'”

Trouble for the Germans in Afghanistan

On May 19, Der Spiegel Online reported:

“German special forces had an important Taliban commander in their sights in Afghanistan. But he escaped — because the Germans were not authorized to use lethal force. The German government’s hands-tied approach to the war is causing friction with its NATO allies.”

The article continued:

“The Taliban commander is regarded as a brutal extremist with excellent connections to terror cells across the border in Pakistan… He is also thought to be behind one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan’s history, the Nov. 6, 2007 attack on a sugar factory in the northwest province of Baghlan. The attack killed 79 people, including dozens of children and many parliamentarians and other politicians, as they celebrated the factory’s reopening.

“Germany’s KSK special forces have been charged with capturing the terrorist, in cooperation with the Afghan secret service organization NDS and the Afghan army… The dangerous terrorist escaped. It would, however, have been possible for the Germans to kill him — but the KSK were not authorized to do so.

“… even in a time of growing threats in Afghanistan, Berlin is sticking to its ‘principle of proportionality,’ stressed one high-ranking official in the Defense Ministry. A fugitive like the Baghlan bomber is not an aggressor and should not be shot unless necessary, the official explains. Soldiers from Britain’s British Special Air Service or the US’s Delta Force are less bothered about such hair-splitting. For them, this is a war in which it comes down to ‘kill or be killed,’ say sources in military circles in Kabul. The ‘targets’ are identified, tracked down and — often with the help of laser-guided weapons systems — ‘eliminated.’ The Germans have considerable misgivings about such an approach…

“The case of the Baghlan bomber is not the end of the story. More trouble has been brewing for the Germans in Afghanistan… The battalion will be relieving the Norwegian Quick Reaction Force in northern Afghanistan as of July 1. Then, at the latest, the Germans will be on the frontline.”

Germany is DESTINED to become the leading player within a United States of Europe; and as such, it WILL play a major MILITARY role on the world scene. However, this will not be good news. For further information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Germany and Iran–A Crazy Relationship

The Wall Street Journal wrote on May 15:

“[Germany’s] position toward Tehran seems to be at a crossroads. The ‘grand coalition’ government looks at Iran through different prisms. While Chancellor Angela Merkel argues for tougher sanctions if necessary to stop the Iranian bomb, Germany’s foreign policy establishment, including a key advisor to Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, preaches accommodation, even a ‘strategic partnership’ with Iran.

“The diplomatic dissonance is striking. In March, Ms. Merkel declared in what has been called a historic speech to the Israeli parliament that she won’t shy away from ‘using additional, tougher sanctions to convince Iran to stop its nuclear program.’ If we Europeans were to shrink from tougher sanctions, said the Christian-Democratic chancellor, ‘we would have neither understood our historical responsibilities nor developed an awareness of the challenges of our time.’ This clear statement was welcomed in Israel and the U.S.

“Not so in Germany itself. ‘Sanctions get us nowhere!’ countered Christoph Bertram in the weekly Der Spiegel last month. ‘Chancellor Angela Merkel should not back every Israeli warning of catastrophe.’ Mr. Bertram’s voice carries weight. He used to head the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and later the German Foundation for Science and Politics, a think tank that advises the government and parliament on foreign policy. According to Mr. Bertram, the West must recognize ‘the immense advantage of a close and cooperative relationship with this country [Iran].’…

“Amid these politically uncertain times, business relations between the two countries are strong. After slowing between 2005-2007, German exports surged 13% in January. With Ä3.6 billion of goods going to Iran last year, backed by Ä500 million of export guarantees from Berlin, Germany is the world’s second largest exporter to Iran, and its products crucial for Iran’s economic survival… Germany is Iran’s No. 1 supplier of almost all types of machinery except for power systems and the building sector, where Italian manufacturers dominate the Iranian market…

“An unbridgeable gap lies between Ms. Merkel’s promise and the geopolitical approach of her domestic opponents, primarily among Social Democrats but also in her own party. While the German proponents of tougher sanctions seek an alliance with the West in order to confront Islamist terror, the ‘partner’ proposal implies a strategic alliance with Islamism and an estrangement — to say the least — from America and Israel.”

Germany’s Conscription Policy–Fundamentally Unfair

“A 21-year-old man has begun a hunger strike to protest his conscription into the army. The case throws the spotlight anew on Germany’s conscription policy, which many view as unfair. Mathias Schirmer, stationed at a Bundeswehr base in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania, has refused to eat for a week, saying conscription is ‘not compatible with democracy and freedom as well as with human rights.’  

“According to the German Peace Society, Schirmer was ordered to report to the Bundeswehr on April 1. When he did not show up, he was picked up by military police and sent to a base in the town of Viereck in north-eastern Germany. But Schirmer refused to wear a uniform… He rejects both military service or civilian alternative service, which is an option for conscripts who do not want to serve in the armed forces. After 12 days of confinement to his quarters, Schirmer was sentenced to a further 21 days of detention. As his standpoint did not change, the military imposed a 21-day arrest sentence on him, which began on May 9. It was then that he began the hunger strike… The Bundeswehr has said releasing Schirmer from his duty can only be decided once his 21-day sentence is completed, or if ‘other circumstances’ arise… There is one other conscientious objector serving a sentence in Germany, although he is not on a hunger strike.

“The cases are likely to again raise the question of the fairness of Germany’s conscription program. For years, fewer then one-third of those of draft age are called into the armed forces. Calls regularly go out that the Bundeswehr should be converted into a voluntary, professional body. Most of Germany’s major NATO partners have done away with mandatory service. However, the federal government in Berlin has resisted calls to do away with conscription all together…”

For a short time, it seemed that Germany HAD learned a temporary lesson after it had caused the terrible devastation of World War II, PROHIBITING conscription in Germany. Later, however, under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, that prohibition was lifted and, regrettably, a mandatory draft was instituted which remains in force and effect to this very day. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Should You Fight in War?” Also, make sure to read the next article, titled, “The Curse of War.”

The Curse of War

AFP wrote on May 16:

“Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American US military recruiters love… Chiroux joined the army straight out of high school nearly six years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant. He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines before he was honorably discharged and placed in the reserves.

“As a reservist, he was due to be deployed next month in Iraq. On Thursday, he refused to go. ‘I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq,’ Chiroux said in the sun-filled rotunda of a congressional building in Washington. ‘My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation… I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation,’ he said, as a dozen veterans of the five-year-old Iraq war looked on…

“Former army sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith told the landmark hearing of ‘lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis.’ He spoke of the psychologically fragile men and women who return from Iraq to find little help or treatment offered from official circles… Some 300,000 of the 1.6 million US soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or both, an independent study showed last month.

“A group of veterans in the packed hearing room gazed blankly as their comrades’ testimonies shattered the official version that the US effort in Iraq is succeeding. Almost to a man, the testifiers denounced serious flaws in the chain of command in Iraq.

“Luis Montalvan, a former army captain, accused high-ranking US officers of numerous failures in Iraq, including turning a blind eye to massive fraud on the part of US contractors. Ex-Marine Jason Lemieux told how a senior officer had altered a report he had written because it slammed US troops for using excessive force in the face of a feeble attack — they took four rounds of enemy fire. Goldsmith accused US officials of censorship.” 

“You Will Hear of Wars and Rumors of Wars…”

The Jerusalem Post wrote on May 20:

“US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday. The official claimed that a senior member of the president’s entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.

“However, the official continued, ‘the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’ was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic, for the time being.

“The report stated that according to assessments in Israel, recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah de facto established control of the country, was advancing an American attack. Bush, the officials said, opined that Hizbullah’s show of strength was evidence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s growing influence. They said that according to Bush, ‘the disease must be treated – not its
symptoms.”

In a follow-up article, the magazine added on May 20:

“The White House on Tuesday flatly denied an Army Radio report that claimed US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term. It said that while the military option had not been taken off the table, the administration preferred to resolve concerns about Iran’s push for a nuclear weapon ‘through peaceful diplomatic means.'”

Lebanon Braces for War

Time Magazine wrote on May 20:

“Almost as soon as Lebanon’s leaders boarded planes for Qatar on Friday for talks to resolve their most dangerous political showdown since the end of the civil war, the Lebanese took a collective sigh of relief. Not because anyone thinks that peace is about to break out, but because Lebanon is arguably safer as long as most of the top men are out of town…

“Unfortunately for the Lebanese, their leaders are almost certainly coming back soon, and probably without a workable agreement. That’s because 18 months into the stalemate between the U.S. and Saudi-backed government, on the one hand, and the Syrian and Iranian supported opposition on the other, the differences between the two camps appear to be irreconcilable for now…

“With a vacuum in government – a new president is yet to be elected – the streets are reasserting themselves. Already the country is dividing up neighborhood-by-neighborhood, town-by-town, with gangs forming to protect their turf and screen outsiders. Unable to confront Hizballah directly, Sunni gangs may be tempted to seek revenge on Shi’ite civilians. Al-Qaeda-inspired groups are clamoring to come to Lebanon and kill Shi’ites, just as they have done in Iraq…”

How Burma’s Military Junta Blackmails the Submissive West

Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 15:

“The stubbornness of Burma’s military junta puts the West into a hopeless situation. If the international community wants to provide relief to victims of Cyclone Nargis, then it has to play by the regime’s rules. But the West’s submissiveness sends a dangerous signal to despots everywhere.”

The article continued:

“Everyone wants to help. And everyone needs to help, if thousands more deaths from disease and hunger are to be prevented. But nobody is able to help — at least as long as the regime does not want them to. Support for the victims of the disaster can only take place in cooperation with the junta, not in opposition to it. That’s something that Burma’s military rulers have made abundantly clear to the world… Burmese generals are able to dictate the conditions under which aid can be given…

“US first lady Laura Bush and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed themselves with strong words at the beginning of the crisis. Now Western diplomats are expressing an equally strong submissiveness. ‘We cannot make any more criticisms,’ says one Western diplomat, who preferred not to be identified. ‘If we did so, the door through which further relief supplies to the cyclone victims must past could slam shut.’… So no criticism of the junta, then. No critical words about a police state, where citizens are always put in second place — even after a devastating cyclone, in which, according to the latest estimates, as many as 250,000 people may have died…

“If many people’s lives are at risks, then criticizing the government becomes taboo: This is the uncomfortable subtext of the new soft Burma policy. It is also an all-too-reassuring signal to despots everywhere. It appears possible that the regime will now be given carte blanche for as long as the victims’ situation remains precarious. However one should not forget that it was precisely the mismanagement by the Burmese junta that greatly aggravated the crisis situation in the Irrawaddy Delta…

“The administration of US President George W. Bush may have taken a hard line on Burma in the past. But now it is taking a strikingly passive stance… The Germans have not done much better.”

Vladimir Putin–The New Russian Tsar

The Daily Mail wrote on May 17:

“As ex-President Putin settles in to his new role as Prime Minister, he has every reason to congratulate himself. After all, he has not only written the script for his constitutional coup d’etat, but staged the play and given himself the starring role as well. Of course, he has given a walk-on role to Dmitry Medvedev, his personally anointed successor.

“But the transfer of power from Putin to his Little Sir Echo, Medvedev, and the show of military strength with those soldiers and clapped-out missiles in Red Square on Victory Day which followed it last week, made it clear who is really in charge. No decision of any significance for the Russian people or the rest of us will be made in the foreseeable future without the say – so of Medvedev’s unsmiling master…

“Despite the fact that Putin’s Russia is increasingly autocratic and irredeemably corrupt, the man himself – their born-again Tsar – is overwhelmingly regarded as the answer to the nation’s prayers. Russia has a bloody and tormented history. Its centuries of suffering – its brutalities, its wars and revolutions, culminating in the collapse of communism and the anarchic buffoonery of the Yeltsin years – have taken a terrible psychological toll. Cynicism and fatalism which eat away at the human psyche have wormed their way into the very DNA of the Russian soul. In a nation that has not tasted and – with very few exceptions – does not expect or demand justice or freedom, all that matters is stability and security. And, to a degree, Putin has delivered these twin blessings. But the price has been exorbitant…

“An autocratic and resurgent Russia that feels bruised and threatened is an unstable beast. The Kremlin’s growing rapprochement with Beijing (the adversaries of a generation ago are now not only major trading partners, but conduct joint military exercises) shifts the balance of power in the world. And as life on earth becomes less and less secure, with evermore people competing for a dwindling supply of vital resources, Russia, as an energy giant, is once again a big player on the world stage. Make no mistake, we are in for a very bumpy ride.”

Catholic Church Must “Evangelize,” Pope Says

Zenit wrote in May 18:

“The evangelizing mission of the Church remains ‘urgent and necessary,’ Benedict XVI told members of the general assembly of the Pontifical Missionary Works… he reaffirmed that ‘the whole Church is missionary by nature’ and that ‘mission regards all Christians.’… [He] invited every local Church to collaborate with other Churches, becoming the interpreter of a ‘mission of communion.’ ‘… Mission is a duty about which one must say “Woe to me if I do not evangelize” (1 Corinthians 9:16),’ the Pope added, citing the words of the Apostle Paul…”

Will the Adoration of “the Virgin Mary” Unite Catholics and Protestants?

Catholic.Net reported the following in its February-March 2008 edition:

“When Anglicans and Catholics agreed in May 2005 that Marian dogmas were consonant with Scripture, few guessed the accord would signal a veritable Marian regeneration. Yet, in the nearly three years that have followed, the increasing acceptance of Mary among Christians has been witnessed in everything from theology to pop culture… Mary’s inspiration has been most spectacular, however, in the process of conversion.

“In a move that amazed evangelical Protestants and Catholics alike, and continues to rock Christian blogs, Francis Beckwith resigned his high-profile post as president of the Evangelical Theological Society, revealing that he was returning to full communion with the Catholic Church… ‘Many Protestants are asking: Can we honor Mary in a way that’s not so adoring as Catholics but acknowledges that she was the greatest Christian?’ he said… ‘The necessity of the Immaculate Conception protects the Church from second-guessing Christ’s divinity and humanity; it protects us against Docetism and Arianism. Evangelicals are realizing this’… Protestants have returned to the Church Fathers with renewed vigor to understand the devotion proper to Mary.”

The Bible prophesies that most Christian denominations WILL unite with the Roman Catholic Church. They will adopt Roman Catholic teaching, and they will acknowledge the pope as their spiritual leader. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.” Also, note the next article on Pastor Hagee’s apology to the Catholic Church.

Hagee Apologizes for Anti-Catholic Remarks

The Associated Press reported on May 13:

“John Hagee, an influential Texas televangelist who endorsed John McCain, apologized to Catholics Tuesday for his stinging criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and for having ’emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews.’

“Hagee’s support for McCain has drawn cries of outrage from some Catholic leaders who have called on McCain to reject Hagee’s endorsement. The likely Republican nominee has said he does not agree with some of Hagee’s past comments, but did not reject his support. In a letter to William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, Hagee wrote: ‘Out of a desire to advance a greater unity among Catholics and evangelicals in promoting the common good, I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.’…

“Hagee has cited the Inquisition and the Crusades as evidence of anti-Semitism within the Catholic church and has suggested that Catholic anti-Semitism shaped Adolf Hitler’s views of Jews. ‘In my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms, I have often emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholics and Protestant relations with the Jews,'” Hagee wrote. ‘In the process, I may have contributed to the mistaken impression that the anti-Jewish violence of the Crusades and the Inquisition defines the Catholic Church. It most certainly does not.”

“Hagee has often made references to ‘the apostate church’ and the ‘great whore,’ terms that Catholics say are slurs aimed at the Roman Catholic Church. In his letter, Hagee said he now better understood that the Book of Revelation’s reference to the Catholic Church as ‘the apostate church’ and the ‘great whore’ are ‘a rhetorical device long employed in anti-Catholic literature and commentary.’ He stressed that in his use, ‘neither of these phrases can be synonymous with the Catholic Church.’…

“In a statement posted in the Catholic League’s Web site, Donohue added: ‘What Hagee has done takes courage and quite frankly I never expected him to demonstrate such sensitivity to our concerns.'”

Frankenstein in the Making…

Times On Line wrote on May 19:

“British scientists will be allowed to research devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s using human-animal embryos, after the House of Commons tonight rejected a ban.

“An amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill that would have outlawed the creation of ‘human admixed embryos’ for medical research was defeated in a free vote by a majority of 160… A second amendment, that would have banned the creation… of ‘true hybrids’ made by fertilising an animal egg with human sperm, or vice-versa, was also defeated by a majority of 63.”

Gay Marriages–A Blessing or a Curse?

AFP reported on May 17:

“California’s Supreme Court quashed a ban on gay marriage in a historic ruling here Thursday, effectively leaving same-sex couples in America’s most populous state free to tie the knot. In an opinion that analysts say could have nationwide implications for the issue, the seven-member panel voted 4-3 in favor of plaintiffs who argued that restricting marriage to men and women was discriminatory. ‘Limiting the designation of marriage to a union “between a man and a woman” is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute,’ California Chief Justice Ron George said in the written opinion…

“Legal analysts say Thursday’s court ruling could have wide-ranging implications for other US states, noting the California Supreme Court’s history of landmark rulings. ‘The California Supreme Court’s example is often emulated and it often is sort of a groundbreaker,’ said David Cruz, a law professor at the University of Southern California and an expert in constitutional law. ‘In the 20th century California was the first state to strike down laws against inter-racial marriage. They did that 19 years before the US Supreme Court got around to it.'”

Reuters added on May 17:

“As gay and lesbian couples made plans to marry, activists opposed to the California Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage said on Friday they would escalate efforts for a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexuals. An amendment to the state constitution would override Thursday’s decision, which superseded state laws from 1977 and 2000 that defined marriage as a union between a man and woman. Californians could vote in November on an amendment cementing that definition in the state constitution.”

An appalling article and “commentary” was published on May 18 by Erica Jung on the left-liberal Website of HuffingtonPost.com, stating:

“I’ve never understood the objection to gay marriage… In the past, gay people had to adopt their lovers to leave them their goodies… All sorts of legal mumbo-jumbo was required because marriage was forbidden. And why? Because a BIGOTED OLD BIBLE SEEMED TO IMPLY that God made Adam and Eve — not Adam and Steve — as the anti-gay faction likes to say.

“I’ve often found that gay people are better at marriage than straight people. They don’t get all bent out of shape about sex for sex’s sake. At least this is true for gay men. And they don’t run to bust up a perfectly cozy union because one member of the couple — or both — has a fling. Some couples are faithful and some not. And they seem to practice this without the territoriality and hypocrisy of mixed-sex couples. Actually, THEY SHOULD BE OUR ROLE MODELS IN MARRIAGE. They take it far more seriously than straight people — perhaps because it was forbidden for so long.

“So hurrah for California and Massachusetts. Let’s hope the anti-gay lunatic fringe eventually sees GAY MARRIAGE IS A BLESSING not a curse. It certainly PROMOTES STABILITY AND FAMILY. AND IT’S CERTAINLY GOOD FOR KIDS.”

Of course, in our liberal Western society, it has become increasingly unpopular to uphold the STANDARDS OF THE BIBLE. It is much safer and acceptable to embrace opinions like the one above. But let us ask this question: What has our nation come to when unbiblical and ungodly opinions like the one quoted above become accepted? The Bible calls marriage a blessing and condemns sexual relationships outside the sanctity of marriage. The Apostle Paul said very clearly that no practicing homosexual will inherit the Kingdom of God! No left-winged liberal commentator, calling good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20), will change the mind of Almighty God.

No wonder that the Bible has this to say about our modern western societies, and especially the United States of America, Canada and Great Britain:

“Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked Him to anger… They have turned away backward… The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints… Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good…” (Isaiah 1:4-5, 16-17).

If you want to learn the TRUTH of God in this matter, rather than the human philosophy of misguided commentators, newspaper reporters and newscasters, politicians, sociologists, lawyers and judges, please read our free booklet, “The Keys to Happy Marriages and Families.”

Philippians 1:12-18 reads, in context:

“But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ EVEN FROM ENVY AND STRIFE, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ FROM SELFISH AMBITION, NOT SINCERELY, supposing to add infliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether IN PRETENSE or in truth, CHRIST IS PREACHED; and in this I REJOICE, YES, AND WILL REJOICE.”

We see from the context of the passage that the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached even by those who did so with improper motives. Paul did not address a situation when a false Christ or a false gospel was preached. He pronounced a CURSE on all those who did or would be doing so (Galatians 1:6-9; compare 2 Corinthians 11:4). Here, ministers preached the truth–but some preached the truth with improper motives!

WHY did Paul rejoice, then? He did NOT rejoice over the fact that those ministers had improper motives–but he DID rejoice that the true gospel was preached. There is a FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE: The preaching of the gospel helped OTHERS, who heard the truth–but it did NOT help those ministers who preached “from selfish ambition” and “in pretense.”

Some–if not many–ministers in the modern Church of God did preach the gospel to others at one time, but they did NOT do so with a true and sincere heart. They might have acted in that way as part of their job description with their human organization–acting within the course and scope of their employment–to secure or maintain a paying job and/or to just gain prestige within the Church. But when the time of trial and testing came, they failed miserably, leaving the truth behind and adopting error and apostasy (compare 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:3-4)–again sometimes in order to maintain their job or their “position.” They were not sincere to begin with–they were mere hirelings (compare John 10:11-13). Sadly, this is still true today for some. There are those who taught the truth; subsequently adopted error and taught heresy; lost their job with their employer who propagated such apostasy; had a sudden “awakening”; got employed by another Church organization; and “rediscovered” the truth which they are now teaching. BUT, is it wrong to ask: HOW SINCERE were they then, and HOW SINCERE are they now?

What we have been observing in recent years in the Church of God is not different from what Paul is describing in the first chapter of the letter to the Philippians. Yes, as Paul rejoiced then, so we should rejoice today when the truth is being preached–but this does NOT in any way exculpate or justify those who preach the truth with IMPROPER motives.

The Life Application Bible explains Philippians 1 as follows:

“Paul had an amazingly selfless attitude. He knew that some were preaching to build their own reputations, taking advantage of Paul’s imprisonment to try to make a name for themselves. Regardless of the motives of these preachers, Paul rejoiced that the gospel was being preached. Some Christians serve for the wrong reasons. Paul wouldn’t condone, nor does God excuse, their motives, but we should be glad if God uses their message regardless of their motives.”

The Nelson Study Bible adds:

“Those preaching from envy and strife were not heretics… But apparently they were jealous of the attention Paul received, and they determined to sow seeds of dissension in order to cause him trouble.”

Note, too, the following comments from John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible:

“… [These ministers did not act because] of ‘envy’ to Christ, whom they preached, but of envy to the apostle; they envied his gifts, his usefulness and success in the ministry; and he being now in bonds, they thought it a proper opportunity to exert themselves… hoping they should meet with the same success, and gain great honour and applause in the church…”

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible elaborates:

“It would seem… there was a party which was jealous of the influence of Paul, and which supposed that this was a good opportunity to diminish his influence, and to strengthen their own cause…”

The commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown agrees, stating:

“Some indeed [were] preaching Christ even for envy, that is, to carry out the envy which they felt towards Paul… they wished through envy to transfer the credit of its progress from him to themselves.”

Finally, The Broadman Bible Commentary gives the following succinct explanation:

“There is no hint that Paul’s rivals were considered heretical… in question was not the soundness of their gospel but their motives. These may have been jealous of the attention given Paul, even as a prisoner… Presumably Paul’s opponents thought that their success would afflict Paul by making him jealous. To the contrary, Paul could rejoice that they at least proclaimed Christ, even if for unworthy motives. This is not to discount the importance of motive, but it is to recognize that the gospel has its own power even when proclaimed by people lacking in motive and character.”

Jesus Christ faced a very similar kind of issue during His ministry. He constantly warned about the approach of the scribes and Pharisees; however, He also recognized that they were fulfilling a role for which God would hold them accountable:

“Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; FOR THEY SAY, AND DO NOT DO'” (Matthew 23:1-3).

The preaching of those ministers of Paul’s day might in fact have helped others—but it did not do THEM any good. The same can be said today. True ministers of God must preach the gospel and feed the flock with a pure and clean heart–their motives must be sincere and in furtherance of the Will of God. Ministers are not to look for prestige and human glory; they are not to embrace titles that are reserved for God; or which they are not qualified to possess. Still, if and when the truth is preached, we should rejoice–but we should not, even in our minds, justify their wrong motives and REASONS for preaching the gospel–including such motives as pride, self-aggrandizement, envy towards others, recognition within the Church or community; or the desire for a position and a well-paid job.

For more information and further discussion on Philippians 1 and related passages, please watch our recent sermon, which is posted on Google Video, titled, “Envy – A Deadly Poison”

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Norbert and Johanna Link  traveled to Portland, Oregon, this week to visit brethren in the area. Long time member and deacon, Paul Voss, is suffering from terminal cancer, and the Links were able to visit the Voss family. The health of Mr. Voss is extremely fragile, and prayers on his behalf as well as for his family are deeply appreciated.

This is a brief report regarding our Internet advertisement campaign in the USA. We have sent out so far in excess of 80 copies of our booklet on “Human Suffering;” over 35 copies of our booklet on “The Mysteries of the Bible,” and over 95 copies of our booklet on “And Lawlessness Will Abound.” Over 70 people requested to be placed on our email list for receipt of our weekly Update.

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

Bible Study: Envy–A Deadly Poison (May 17, 2008)

Eric and Shana Rank are happy to announce the birth of their second son, Nolan Sterling Rank. Nolan was born on May 19th, 2008 at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, CO without complication. The Rank family is currently home and enjoying the warmth and glee of a newborn child.