On April 5, 2008, Brian Gale will give the sermon.

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.

God told Joshua in Joshua 1:6-7 to be “strong and of good courage.” Being physically strong gives us physical courage. More importantly, spiritual strength gives us spiritual courage and encouragement. We know that when our ways please God, He backs us up and gives us needed spiritual strength to fulfill our individual responsibilities.

The reason we can have the assurance of God’s help is that God promises never to leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). This is the same promise He made to Joshua in Joshua 1:5: “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor FORSAKE you.” This means, through thick and thin–in good times and in bad times. In that we can have confidence!

The other side of the coin is this: When we are weak physically or spiritually, we can easily get discouraged. And then, we can become targets for our adversary–Satan the devil–to influence our thinking and thereby affecting the way we conduct ourselves.

How can we, as God’s people, remain on the strong and encouraging side of the coin? One way is to follow the admonition in 1 Peter 5:6-7, to humble ourselves under the MIGHTY hand of God and to cast ALL (not some of) our care upon Him, KNOWING that He CARES for us.

If we can bear this truth in mind in the face of trials and adversity, we will strengthen our resolve not to get discouraged, but rather, to remain powerful in the LORD.

As long as we are strong and of good courage, doing His Will in our lives, we can be assured of the fulfillment of God’s promise never to leave us nor to forsake us–because He cares for us and our potential to be in His Kingdom. He has an “investment” in us, so to speak. So let us “pay” God “back” for His goodness, by making sure that we remain faithful, hopeful and confident–being strong and of good courage.

Merkel Not to Attend Olympics–At Odds With Brown

The Guardian wrote on March 29:

“The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, yesterday became the first world leader to decide not to attend the Olympics in Beijing. As pressure built for concerted western protests to China over the crackdown in Tibet, EU leaders prepared to discuss the crisis for the first time today, amid a rift over whether to boycott the Olympics. The disclosure that Germany is to stay away from the games’ opening ceremonies in August could encourage President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to join in a gesture of defiance and complicate Gordon Brown’s determination to attend the Olympics.

“Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, became the first EU head of government to announce a boycott on Thursday and he was promptly joined by President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic, who had previously promised to travel to Beijing… Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister, confirmed that Merkel was staying away. He added that neither he nor Wolfgang Schäuble, the interior minister responsible for sport, would attend the opening ceremony.

“Hans-Gert Pöttering, the politician from Merkel’s Christian Democratic party who chairs the European parliament, encouraged talk of an Olympic boycott this week and invited the Dalai Lama to address the chamber in Strasbourg… ‘I cannot imagine German politicians attending the opening or closing ceremonies [if the Tibetan crackdown continued],’ he said. Merkel enraged the Chinese leadership a few months ago by receiving the Dalai Lama in Berlin for private talks. Brown is to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader when he visits Britain in May, but is determined to be in Beijing…”

Germany and USA At Odds

Der Spiegel Online wrote on March 28:

“US President George W. Bush wants to bring more Eastern European countries into the military alliance at the upcoming NATO summit. But Germany is thwarting his plans, because of concerns about Ukraine and Georgia — and in deference to Russia.

“German objections dominate the debate over NATO expansion in the final days leading up the military alliance’s summit meeting in the Romanian capital Bucharest. James Goldgeier, a member of the National Security Council in the administration of former US President Bill Clinton, told SPIEGEL ONLINE: ‘I am amazed at how openly the current differences between Berlin and Washington are being aired. In February it was the German role in Afghanistan. Now it’s about the issue of NATO expansion, in which Germany quite openly orchestrated the resistance to Ukraine and Georgia. This is relatively unusual in advance of this sort of summit.’

“Goldgeier’s words ring especially true when one considers the importance of the issue for the Bush administration. NATO expansion is one of the few strategies it took over almost seamlessly from the Clinton administration. ‘Bush absolutely wanted to get the acceptance process for Georgia and Ukraine underway in Bucharest,’ says Goldgeier…”

These developments are quite interesting in light of Biblical prophecy. For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Not All Happy at NATO Summit–and Germany Prevails Against the USA

Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 3:

“A disappointed Macedonia warned Thursday that its failure to join NATO could lead to instability in the region. While Ukraine and Georgia were also rejected, the two countries welcomed the pledge that they would one day be part of the alliance.”

The article continued:

“A dejected Macedonian delegation walked out of the NATO summit in Bucharest after Greece succeeded in vetoing Macedonia’s membership bid on Thursday… Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told reporters that 90 percent of his people supported membership and that he and his officials needed to show their solidarity with their people. ‘Macedonia’s delegation will leave the summit because they see it as necessary to being together with our people today. This is a difficult time for a small nation.’…

“Two other failed bids for NATO membership ended on a happier note on Thursday. Although NATO refused to grant Ukraine and Georgia a so-called Membership Action Plan (MAP), the alliance held out the prospect that the two countries would become members one day in the future and promised to review their progress in December… Germany and France had blocked giving the two countries MAP status now, despite fierce pressure from Washington, arguing that neither met NATO’s criteria. Public support for membership in Ukraine is barely 30 percent, while Georgia is locked in a conflict with separatists in two of its provinces…”

In a related article, Der Spiegel Online commented on April 3 on the German-French successful strategy to defeat President Bush. The magazine stated:

“The first day of the NATO summit saw France and Germany combine forces to thwart the membership ambitions of Ukraine and Georgia. They stood firm in their opposition despite the mounting pressure from US President George W. Bush to admit the two former Soviet republics… US President George W. Bush suffered a first setback when he failed to persuade the alliance to open the door to Ukraine and Georgia for membership. France and Germany stood firm in their opposition…”

More Trouble Between USA and Germany Over Afghanistan

Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 3:

“Earlier this week, it seemed as though US President Bush [was] softening his tone regarding Germany’s presence in Afghanistan. Now, though, it seems that such hopes might have been premature.”

The article continued:

“Often a major thorn in Germany’s side for his demands that Berlin take on a greater combat role in Afghanistan, Bush’s tone in a recent interview with German daily Die Welt had seemed full of comprehension for the political difficulties facing Chancellor Angela Merkel. In the interview, he indicated he would no longer ask Berlin to send combat troops to the more dangerous southern part of Afghanistan. The US President said he recognized that the German people, and by extension the German parliament, would be unable to stomach such a demand…

“But on Wednesday morning the joy about this new tone from Bush was revealed as being premature… The alliance would have to ‘maintain its resolve and finish the fight,’ Bush said. And then he repeated his old line: ‘We expect our NATO allies to shoulder the burden necessary to succeed.’… There he was again, the old Bush, the one who wants more engagement from the Europeans — and from Germany. And more clearly than ever, Bush also demanded that a tough line be taken against Iran and Syria. He was also uncompromising in his insistence that Ukraine and Georgia be promised membership of the NATO club…

“When it comes to Afghanistan, there is no denying the US has a strong argument. The US, Great Britain, Canada and Australia are providing around 60 percent of the 43,000 ISAF soldiers in Afghanistan. And they have suffered a disproportionate number of casualties since the fighting started in 2001. While those countries stationed in the south and east of the country have lost around 650 troops, the other nations, including Germany in the north, have only lost 115…

“It is clear that Berlin’s hopes for an end to the debate were naive. Even if it were true that Bush had grown tired of the discussion with Berlin and had simply given up, all of his potential successors — both Democrats and Republican — have made it clear that when it comes to the demands for more Europeans to go to the frontline in Afghanistan, there will be continuity in Washington… German commanders have dropped their opposition to taking part in operations in the western or eastern parts of the country, should the need arise…

“The position of Supreme Allied Commander Europe… will soon need to be filled. The new man set to take over this extremely important strategic position is the current top commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus. That’s not exactly a signal from Washington that it intends to end its aggressive line in Afghanistan.”

NATO Endorses Missile Defense System for Europe

The Associated Press reported on April 3:

“President Bush won NATO’s endorsement Thursday for his plan to build a missile defense system in Europe over Russian objections. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it a ‘breakthrough agreement’ for the military alliance. ‘Now it is clearly understood in the alliance that the challenges of the 21st century, the threats of the 21st century, make it necessary to have missile defense that can defend the countries of Europe,’ Rice told reporters at the NATO summit. Progress on missile defense represented perhaps the biggest boon to Bush from the NATO summit. Russia has fiercely opposed it.”

AFP added on April 3:

“The United States and the Czech Republic said they reached agreement Thursday on the stationing in the Czech Republic of a US missile defense radar strongly opposed by Russia. ‘This legally-binding agreement calls for the stationing of a US radar in the Czech Republic to track ballistic missiles,’ they said in a joint communique… The US plan calls for deploying 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a targeting radar in the Czech Republic by 2012 in response to what Washington says is a growing ballistic missile threat from Iran… NATO leaders agreed that the proliferation of ballistic missiles [poses] a threat…”

Coming–Worldwide Disaster for Banks

Der Spiegel Online wrote on March 29:

“For months, experts have been wondering just how bad the ongoing finance crisis might turn out to be. Now, Germany’s Federal Financial Services Authority, known as BaFin, thinks it has the answer… an internal BaFin report says that shortfalls at finance institutions worldwide could end up totalling $600 billion (€380 billion). The shortfall comes as a result of ill-advised speculation on the US subprime market and resulting jitters in markets worldwide. BaFin says that its prognosis is merely a worst-case scenario. ‘Given what we know about the current situation on the markets, we presume that a total of $430 billion is more probable,’ the 16-page report says.

“The paper also lists losses that have already been admitted to by various credit institutions: a total of $295 billion. Some 10 percent of those shortfalls are accounted for by German banks. Should that share of the damage remain constant, German banks can expect losses to be as high as $60 billion. BaFin experts fear that the finance crisis will spread to other sectors of the economy. The turbulence could hit ‘other financial institutions outside of the banking sector,’ the paper says. The report lists hedge funds, insurance companies and retirement funds as being at risk.”

“USA 2008: The Great Depression”

The Independent wrote on April 1:

“Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families. Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s… Emblematic of the downturn until now has been the parades of houses seized in foreclosure all across the country, and myriad families separated from their homes. But now the crisis is starting to hit the country in its gut. Getting food on the table is a challenge many Americans are finding harder to meet…

“Michigan has been in its own mini-recession for years as its collapsing industrial base, particularly in the car industry, has cast more and more out of work. Now, one in eight residents of the state is on food stamps, double the level in 2000… At least six states, including Florida, Arizona and Maryland, have had a 10 per cent increase in the past year. In Rhode Island, the segment of the population on food stamps has risen by 18 per cent in two years.”

“Why Americans Never Vote For What They Really Want”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 2:

“American voters are a contradictory bunch: They say they want social welfare, but don’t want to pay for it. They claim they are left-leaning, but vote for center-right candidates. Only candidates who can appeal to both sides stand a chance… America is divided, but not just into North and South, black and white, poor and rich. The two Americas appearing on the pollsters’ radar screens lie close together in the political brain of the individual voter. The findings are clear: the desires of American citizens contradict their fundamental convictions.

“The overwhelming majority of Americans are troubled by the social injustices in their country. They dream of a nation in which bridges do not collapse and with a school system in which drug dealers are not the main authority figures. No one doubts that, politically at least, they want to see these shortcomings corrected… When it comes to putting these ideas into practice, Americans quickly lose their wistful gazes…

“Voters come up with… schizophrenic responses when asked about the Iraq war. The majority believes that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, but that the United States is a safer place today than it was then. The majority of citizens favors withdrawal, but is convinced, or at least considers it likely, that the United States will still win the war first…

“…  What a sharp contrast with the European way of thinking. When the government announces new benefits for citizens, the typical European thinks: ‘I’m getting something new.’ But the average American thinks: ‘It’s going to cost me something.’… One would think that voters would eventually have to make a decision, at least by election day. But even that isn’t quite true. Although Americans will elect only one candidate, they will want it to be the one who embodies both personalities. Ideally, the winning candidate will combine idealism and fundamental conviction… This explains why campaign advisors always make sure that their respective presidential candidates are ready to use soft words and reach out to the other side.”

EU Membership Is Costing British Taxpayers £6 Billion

The Daily Mail wrote on March 29:

“The bill to British taxpayers for EU membership is expected to almost double next year to £6.1billion, according to figures buried in the Budget. This year, Britain will pay £4.1billion net to the EU – £800million more than the £3.3billion forecast by the Treasury. The difference would have been enough to pay the salaries this year of nearly 32,000 nurses, 8,000 doctors or 28,800 soldiers, or to cut taxes by £25.31 per taxpayer… This year’s increase has been caused by extra demands for funding by new EU members, including Bulgaria and Romania. But the figures show how Britain’s contribution to the EU budget will continue to shoot up as the Government’s surrender in 2005 of billions of pounds of rebate payments begins to bite. Margaret Thatcher won the rebate in 1984.

“Shadow Europe Minister Mark Francois said: ‘These figures show how Britain is paying more and more to the EU while our taxes are going up and our public finances are in a mess. We can now see just how damaging Gordon Brown’s cave-in was when he gave away £7billion of Britain’s rebate in return for nothing at all. Brown isn’t getting Britain value for money in the EU. He’s ramming through the renamed EU Constitution without the promised referendum. Gordon Brown has failed to stand up for Britain in Europe.'”

“Implementation of Biofuels Plan a Disaster”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 3:

“Germany wanted to lead the way in the use of bioethanol on its roads… Germany’s enthusiasm for biofuels is in question this week after estimates were released that well over a million vehicles on German roads would be unable to run on gasoline containing a higher mixture of bioethanol. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel had planned to introduce a requirement that gasoline sold in Germany contain 10 percent green ethanol made from plants, a mixture known as E-10. But he said in an interview with the Stuttgarter Nachrichten that, should more than 1 million vehicles be unable to run on the higher mixture, the regulation would be abandoned… The German automobile club ADAC on Wednesday responded by claiming that up to three million cars would be unable to run on E-10. The group demanded that Gabriel’s plans be abandoned immediately. Germany’s Association of Automobile Importers on Thursday threw its hat into the ring as well, claiming that over 1 million vehicles would be affected…

“But not everyone is so sure of the new numbers. Until now, Gabriel’s ministry had assumed that the number of cars affected would be closer to 375,000… The plan, championed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, would cut emissions 40 percent by 2020 at a cost of €3.3 billion ($5.2 billion)… German dailies on Thursday take a look at the impending debacle.

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘What the federal government and special interest groups once thought was a win-win strategy, hasn’t done so well in the court of public opinion recently. After the sweeping euphoria accompanying climate protection last year, this and other recent projects show that the devil is in the details. Voters get angry when they are asked to bear the brunt of additional costs. A year and a half before the next federal election, promoting climate protection at any cost has become too great of a political risk.’… The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘The idea was a good one, but its implementation was a disaster…'”

Muslims More Numerous Than Catholics

Reuters reported on March 30:

“Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said on Sunday… Muslims made up 19.2 percent of the world’s population and Catholics 17.4 percent…[The Vatican said] that if all Christian groups were considered, including Orthodox churches, Anglicans and Protestants, then Christians made up 33 percent of the world’s population — or about 2 billion people. The Vatican recently put the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people. It did not provide a figure for Muslims, generally estimated at around 1.3 billion.”

One Great World Religion Coming?

CNA wrote on March 28:

“A proposal for religious dialogue presented by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has prompted warm reactions from several Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders in what could be a major development in inter-religious relations, the Associated Press reports. ‘The idea is to ask representatives of all monotheistic religions to sit together with their brothers in faith and sincerity to all religions as we all believe in the same God,’ King Abdullah said Monday night…

“King Abdullah said he presented the idea to Pope Benedict XVI when he visited the Vatican in November of last year.  Saying the Pope had ‘warmly welcomed’ him in ‘a meeting of a human to a human which I would never forget,’ the king said he aimed ‘to seek the consent of Allah according to what he ordered in the religions: the Torah, Bible and Quran.’… The king said he planned to hold conferences to learn the opinion of Muslims from other parts of the world, after which he would meet with ‘our brothers’ in Christianity and Judaism ‘so we can agree on something that guarantees the preservation of humanity against those who tamper with ethics, family systems and honesty.’

“Specifics of the proposal remained unclear, such as whether Israelis could take part in the initiative and whether restrictions on religious freedom in Saudi Arabia could be relaxed.  The kingdom bans non-Muslim worship services and objects of veneration from other religions, including crosses and Bibles. Under Saudi law, the conversion of a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death.”

In a related article, CBS wrote on April 3, under the headline: “Pope To Visit NYC Synagogue For Passover”:

“Pope Benedict XVI will visit a synagogue led by a rabbi who survived the Holocaust during his first papal trip to the United States, the nation’s bishops said Thursday. Benedict’s visit will be just the third visit by any pope to a synagogue in the 2,000 year history of the Roman Catholic Church. It is this second visit to a synagogue as pontiff… Separately, the pope has scheduled a meeting with Jewish leaders and representatives of other faiths for April 17 in Washington… Benedict will address the U.N. the morning of April 18…

“The pope has been reaching out to Jews, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. Some tensions arose recently over a Good Friday prayer the pope revived from the old Latin rite that had historically been used as an excuse for violence and discrimination against Jews. Benedict revised the prayer to address Jewish fears, but some Jewish leaders worried that the changes did not go far enough. Benedict is visiting the United States for the first time as pontiff from April 15-20, with stops in just two cities, Washington and New York. He will meet with President Bush at the White House, address the presidents of Roman Catholic colleges and universities, and hold Masses at Nationals Park and Yankee Stadium.”

Human-Animal Embryos

BBC News reported on April 1:

“Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK, the BBC can reveal. The embryos survived for up to three days and are part of medical research into a range of illnesses… The Catholic Church describes it as ‘monstrous’. But medical bodies and patient groups say such research is vital for our understanding of disease… [The embryos] were created by injecting DNA derived from human skin cells into eggs taken from cows ovaries which have had virtually all their genetic material removed.”

Times On Line added on April 2:

“The admixed embryos created by the Newcastle group are of a kind known as cytoplasmic hybrids, or cybrids, which are made by placing the nucleus from a human cell into an animal egg that has had its nucleus removed… The ultimate aim is to grow these for six days, and then to extract embryonic stem cells for use in research… It is already illegal to culture human-animal embryos for more than 14 days, or to implant them in the womb of a woman or animal, and these prohibitions will remain in the new legislation.”

California Homeschooling Development

The California Catholic Daily reported the following on March 26:

“The following is an announcement from the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Association. On March 25, the California Court of Appeal granted a motion for rehearing in the In re Rachel L. case—the controversial decision which purported to ban all homeschooling in that state unless the parents held a teaching license qualifying them to teach in public schools. The automatic effect of granting this motion is that the prior opinion is vacated and is no longer binding on any one, including the parties in the case.”

This is not necessarily correct, as worded. To grant a motion for rehearing just means, without more, that the prior decision may have been STAYED–not vacated–if so decided by the Court, pending the outcome of the new trial.

The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He BROKE it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is [meaning “represents”] My body which is BROKEN for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'”

John 19:31-37 reports that at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, a soldier pierced His side with a spear and killed Him. When other soldiers came to break the legs of Christ and the two robbers, they noticed that Christ had already died. Therefore, they did not break His legs. Verse 36 informs us that “these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, ‘Not one of His bones shall be broken.'”

It is important that we realize the different words used in the Greek for the English word, “broken.” In John 19:36, the Greek word for “broken” [in the phrase, “Not one of His bones shall be broken”] is “suntribomai,” meaning “to be wholly broken.” Also, when we read that the soldiers came to break the legs of the crucified victims (in verses 32 and 33), the word is “katagnumi,” meaning “to break down.”

However, the word for Christ’s “broken” body, in 1 Corinthians 11:24, is “klaomai,” which is derived from the word “klao,” (just meaning, “to break”). “Klao” is also used in 1 Corinthians 11:24 (“He broke” the bread), and in 1 Corinthians 10:16 (“The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”).

The use of different Greek words shows that there is no contradiction. Even though Christ’s bones were not wholly broken or broken down, His body was clearly “broken” for us, which is signified by the “broken” Passover bread.

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

“… for though a bone of him was not broken… his skin and flesh were torn and broken by blows with rods and fists, by whippings and scourgings, by thorns, nails, and spear…”

Some claim that the word “broken” in 1 Corinthians 11:24, referring to Christ’s broken body, is not contained in some old manuscripts, but even they admit that it needs to be supplied, in context with the broken bread. For instance, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown state: “The oldest manuscripts omit ‘broken,’ leaving it to be supplied from ‘brake.'” Others add the word “given” instead of “broken,” but this seems to be insufficient when analyzing the context: Christ did BREAK the bread and then gave it to the disciples, explaining that the BROKEN bread symbolized His body.

In any event, old Greek manuscripts DO include the word “broken” in 1 Corinthians 11:24, when referring to Christ’s body, and the Authorized Version, which is based on the so-called “textus receptus,” does include it in its translation. It is also included in the Greek Text of Stephens [or Stephanus], together with the Interlinear Literal Translation.

The broken Passover bread has tremendous symbolic meaning for us today. As we explain in our booklet, “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days“:

“The bread which Christ ate, and which He wanted His disciples to partake of, was unleavened bread, symbolizing Christ’s sinless life. When Christ broke the unleavened bread and handed it to the disciples to eat, it foreshadowed the pain and suffering He would have to endure, being beaten and pierced with a [spear] at the cross. THE BROKEN BREAD includes healing from physical pain, sickness and injury (Isaiah 53:4–5; Psalm 103:1–3; Matthew 8:16–17).

“In addition, the broken bread symbolizes spiritual healing or reconciliation with God, as man’s sins separate him from the Father (1 Peter 2:21–25; Colossians 1:19–22). Man must also be spiritually reconciled or ‘healed’ with each other. If we devour each other (Galatians 5:14–15), we can’t expect to receive physical healing from God.

“We must pray fervently, in faith, for our physical healing, calling for the elders of the Church to be anointed, while at the same time asking for forgiveness of our transgressions and sins against God and against each other that might have caused or contributed to our physical sickness (James 5:14–16).”

When we pray for God’s healing for our sicknesses, we are to remember Christ’s broken body and the excruciating suffering and pain He endured on our behalf. It is through the Sacrifice of Christ’s broken body that we can obtain physical healing from our sicknesses and injuries. Isaiah 53:4-5 tells us, in the Jewish Tanakh translation:

“Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God; But he was wounded because of our sins, Crushed because of our iniquities. He bore the chastisement that made us whole, And by his bruises we were healed.”

The margin of the New King James Bible clarifies that the meaning for “wounded” is “pierced through,” and the “bruises” or “stripes” describe “blows that cut in.” We were and are healed by Christ’s “stripes”–when He was scourged or flogged with a Roman scourge (possibly TWICE), and when He endured the pain inflicted upon Him through thorns, brutal blows on the head, nails and the piercing spear of the Roman soldier (John 19:1; Matthew 27:26, 29-30; John 20:25; compare too Isaiah 50:6). For more information on the terrible events of Christ’s suffering and crucifixion, please read our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery.”

We must never forget, or be indifferent or negligent about the fact, that Christ allowed His body to be broken FOR US–for the healing of OUR sicknesses and infirmities.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

We want to thank all of you for your prayers for a successful conference, which ended Wednesday, April 2. Your prayers were surely answered, and Norbert Link will give a report during services on this Sabbath, April 5. A pre-Passover member letter, including a detailed report on the conference, is being prepared.

On March 29, 2008, Rene Messier will give the sermon, titled, “Hierarchical Government.”

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 Friday, March 28, we will begin our week-long annual conference. We have been asking you to pray for its success. But how should you pray, exactly? Which petitions, in particular, should you include in your daily prayers?

Jesus Christ asked us to pray for the soon-coming Kingdom, and that God’s Will be done on earth (Matthew 6:10). He also reminded us to ask the Father for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11); that is, for our daily physical and spiritual needs. We understand that God’s Kingdom will NOT come, unless it is proclaimed first in all the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14), and unless the Bride of Christ–His Church–has made herself ready (Revelation 19:7; 2 Peter 3:9). If we want to be useful tools in God’s Work, we MUST strive to overcome our weaknesses and sins. Since God has assigned to us the task of participating in His great and awesome endeavor–His two-fold commission for the Church–here are some areas to include in your daily prayer for a successful conference:

— Pray for God’s guidance and revelation of His Will regarding current and new projects of the Church–to provide open doors for us to preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12). For instance, we are going to discuss ways to produce German video and French audio programs, as well as placing our English video programs with additional Internet providers. We will also discuss new advertisement projects, and how to become more known and effective, in general, by and for our present and future readership and audience. All of this will require God’s direction to make right decisions in this regard, as well as much time and additional laborers.

— Pray for God’s guidance in deciding which new booklets and other literature should be produced in 2008, to help our fellow-man to understand and grow in the Truth of God.

— Pray that God shows us how to spend wisely His money, which He has entrusted to us. What new equipment needs to be bought in furtherance of the preaching of the gospel and feeding the flock? What other expenses will be necessary or expedient to fulfill God’s commission? As we said at the outset of establishing the Church of the Eternal God, we will not go into debt. We will not commit to or “spend” money which God has not yet given us. We trust that God will give us our daily bread–including our needs for doing the Work and feeding the flock in accordance with His Will (compare Matthew 10:7-10; 1 Timothy 5:17-18; 1 Corinthians 9:14).

— Pray for the financial blessing of the Work and that God will send laborers into His harvest (Matthew 9:37-38), so that we can carry out endeavored projects, according to God’s Will. This would include praying for physical blessings for our members and co-workers; for the securing and maintaining of good jobs; and for their healing or protection from sickness, which could prevent some of becoming or staying gainfully employed. At the same time, pray to God to provide His Work with more co-workers, and to impress on His people the need to be faithful in regular tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:8-10; Leviticus 27:30). Pray to God to bless the annual Holy Day offerings, which are to be given seven times a year, commencing with two Holy Days during the Days of Unleavened Bread, which will be observed shortly after the conference (Please review our booklet, “The Meaning of God’s Fall Holy Days,” on pages 58-60).

–Pray that our discussions and implementation of Feast site preparations for the Feast of Tabernacles 2008 in the USA will be successful, and that God will clearly show and provide us with the location where HE wants HIS name to be placed for us (Deuteronomy 12:5).

— Pray for God’s Wisdom as to how to deal with other Church organizations within the Body of Christ, as well as how to deal administratively with problems which might arise within our own fellowships.

— And finally, please pray that God will give all of us, whom He has called in this day and age, the unwavering zeal and enthusiasm for His Work (compare John 2:17; Revelation 3:19)–the most important task ANYONE could be engaged in–to announce the soon-coming end of this present terrible and EVIL world, and a so much better world to come. God has promised us that He will provide us with what we NEED (Philippians 4:19)–individually and collectively–when we SEEK Him and HIS righteousness FIRST (Matthew 6:31-34). We can absolutely trust in His promise–because God CANNOT lie (Titus 1:2)–as long as WE do our part.

So please, stay involved! Pray daily for a successful conference. There is so much to pray about. You might think of additional areas, which are not mentioned in this Editorial. Just make your requests known to God on high (Philippians 4:6)–and God, in accordance with His Will, has promised to grant us the desires of our hearts, if we fully believe Him, without doubting (1 John 5:14-15; James 1:6-7).

The Pope Angers Jews–But the Real Issue Is Overlooked

Deutsche Welle reported on March 23:

“German Jews accused the pope Thursday of allowing anti-Semitic sentiment to fester in the Catholic Church by refusing to abolish the disputed ‘Prayer for the Jews’ in the Latin mass for Good Friday… Berlin rabbi Walter Homolka said Jews found its message deeply offensive… Homolka has joined some 1,600 other rabbis around the world in formally protesting against the prayer. But he said their calls have fallen on deaf ears at the Vatican…

“The old prayer calls on God to ‘remove the veil from [the] hearts’ of the Jews and to end ‘the blindness of that people that acknowledging the light of thy truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness.’ A new version published last month removes any reference to the veil or the allusion to blindness but does retain the call for conversion, asking God to ‘illuminate their hearts, that (they) acknowledge Jesus Christ is the savior of all men.’… The vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Salomon Korn, told the daily Frankfurter Rundschau that Jews expected more sensitivity from a German pope due to the country’s Nazi past.”

On March 21, Der Spiegel Online published an interview with rabbi Homolka, who stated the following:

“It is insulting to Jews that the Catholic Church, in the context of Good Friday of all things, is once again praying for the illumination of the Jews, so that we can acknowledge Jesus as the savior… Given the weight of responsibility that the Catholic Church has acquired in its history with Judaism, most recently during the Third Reich, this is completely inappropriate and must be rejected to the utmost degree… He [the pope] indicates that he believes that the path to salvation, even for Jews, can only go through Jesus, the savior. This opens the floodgates for the conversion of Jews… The Catholic Church does not have its anti-Semitic tendencies under control… [This is] a theological statement that Jews cannot help but perceive as aggressive and crass.

“… any approach to the possibility of a mission by the Church to convert Jews is essentially a hostile act — a continuation, on a different level, of Hitler’s crimes against the Jews. These are strong but honest words… the controversial Good Friday Prayer completely ignores the unique status of the Jews as God’s chosen people. God called us Jews to be a ‘light for the nations,’ so we certainly do not require illumination by the Catholic Church. The younger sister has clearly struck the wrong chord here… Jesus put forward his arguments within the context of an internal Jewish dialogue. What the Church turned this into was something completely different. It made Jesus the rabbi into a deity. On top of that, it claims that the crucifixion of this rabbi is relevant to my personal salvation. Such teachings would have been news to Jesus.

“… a collective expectation of Judaism to acknowledge Jesus as savior is a heavy imposition… Good Friday this year will be a black day in relations between Jews and Catholics… Relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community suddenly face a crucial test of the sort that hasn’t been seen in decades.”

These comments are quite interesting for several reasons:

It cannot be denied that the Catholic Church has pursued in the past a course of violent persecution of all those who refused to convert to their belief system–refusing to turn to the “Virgin Mary” or any other of the Catholic doctrines, including the belief in a Trinity, an immortal soul, purgatory or an ever-burning hell fire, or the belief that the righteous go to heaven when they die.  None of these concepts are taught in Scripture, and a refusal to accept those was and is clearly justified. Martin Luther did not fare much better, when he wrote polemic anti-Semitic tirades, which he directed against Jews and all those who keep the Sabbath. It is therefore understandable that the Jewish community looks with great suspicion at a Catholic prayer which brings back to mind the terrible times of persecution–not just during the Nazi era, but also, for example, the Spanish Inquisition.

On the other hand, it must not be overlooked that the Bible teaches that there is NO OTHER WAY to salvation than through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). Jesus Himself declared that He was the ONLY way to God the Father (John 14:6; 10:7-9, 26-28). The Bible does not justify those who reject Jesus as their personal Savior, warning instead that we cannot inherit salvation through any other “god” or human savior (compare Matthew 24:24). Certainly, the way to God does not require membership within the Catholic Church–but it does not allow for rejection of the true Jesus of the Bible, either. For Scriptural references, please note Romans 11:7-10, 25; 1 Corinthians 1:22-23; Luke 2:34; Luke 19:12-14; John 1:11.

For more information on the crucial role of Jesus Christ for man’s salvation, please read our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery.”

German Jews Sue Google and YouTube

Der Spiegel Online wrote on March 21:

“The Central Council of Jews in Germany on Thursday requested that a Hamburg court issue a cease-and-desist order against Google for disseminating what it claims are anti-Semitic videos that incite ‘racial hatred and discrimination’ on its YouTube Web site… ‘The radical right-wing scene is using YouTube, massively, as a platform,’ said Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the Central Council of Jews, the umbrella organization of Germany’s Jewish communities. ‘We are accusing Google, with its YouTube video platform subsidiary of being an accomplice to inciting racial hatred and discrimination.’

“YouTube’s main line of defense against extremists videos is self-policing by its online community. If users spot an inappropriate video that has been uploaded by one of the service’s millions of users, they can report it with the click of a mouse. ‘These complaints are then handled by (YouTube) employees who have been trained to deal with them,’ said [Google Germany spokesman Kay] Oberbeck. Once a video has been banned, YouTube has technology that can identify it and prevent it from being uploaded again in the future.”

If THAT is YouTube’s main line of defense, then that defense will fail, as their technology does not prevent the upload of previously deleted videos. On the other hand, Google and YouTube are very careful not to allow anti-Semitic propaganda to be posted on their sites, and the claim that they are an “accomplice to inciting racial hatred and discrimination” appears overblown and legally flawed.

The Pope Angers Muslims

Reuters reported on March 24:

“The Easter baptism of an Italian Muslim [Egyptian-born journalist Magdi Allam] by Pope Benedict was a provocative act that raises questions about the Vatican’s approach to Islam, a leading participant in Christian-Muslim dialogue [Aref Ali Nayed] said on Monday… Commentators in Algeria and Morocco echoed Nayed’s view, saying Allam’s conversion was a personal affair but his attacks on Islam and his headline-grabbing baptism by the pope strained relations between Muslims and the Catholic Church…

“Mohamed Yatim, commentator for the Moroccan daily Attajdid, called the high-profile baptism ‘a new provocation for the Islamic world and part of a trend that has intensified in recent years with the caricatures of the Prophet’… The Saudi daily al-Watan reported the baptism on its front page and described Allam as someone who ‘worked tirelessly to attack Islam’ and was close to pro-Israel groups… Christophe Roucou, the French Catholic Church’s top official for relations with Islam, also questioned the publicity surrounding Allam’s conversion. ‘I don’t understand why he wasn’t baptized in his hometown by his local bishop,’ he said.”

Hybrid Human-Animal Embryos

Reuters reported on March 21:

“Research using hybrid human-animal embryos for experiments is ‘monstrous’ and should be banned, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said on Friday… In an interview with BBC radio on Friday, he added: ‘This is Frankenstein science and it must be stopped.'”

The Daily Mail added on March 23:

“Gordon Brown is facing an unprecedented challenge to his authority over plans for embryo research. As many as 12 ministers could quit if ordered to back a Bill allowing the creation of part-human, part-animal embryos for medical research. The Prime Minister is determined to pass the legislation – which will also abolish the need for IVF clinics to consider a child’s need for a father and allow the creation of ‘saviour siblings’ to cure sick brothers and sisters…

“The Association of Medical Research Charities and the Genetic Interest Group, which between them represent more than 200 patient charities, said the research ‘could greatly increase our understanding of serious medical conditions affecting millions’. They said hybrid embryos – created using the ‘shell’ of an animal embryo with adult human DNA added – could help address a shortage of donated human embryos for research.”

The discussion continues and seems to escalate. As the Daily Mail reported on March 24:

“Fertility expert and television scientist Lord Robert Winston has accused senior members of the Catholic church of lying… [He] has told the Daily Telegraph: ‘[Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s] statements are lying. They are misleading and I’m afraid that when the Church, for good motives, tells untruths, it brings discredit upon itself.’…

“Today a leading Church of England bishop added his voice to those who describe the proposals as immoral. The Bishop of Lichfield…, Jonathan Gledhill, said: ‘It’s a very important part of our society and a very important part of the Christian faith that you should have respect for human embryos. If you stop obeying God you start to limit the rights of human beings and this is a case in point… A society has to be judged by the way that it treats its poorest and most vulnerable and weakest. And what can be weaker than an unborn child?… On all sides of this debate we abhor the treatment of patients, for instance, by the Nazis and we have decided not to permit cloning humans…'”

Britain’s Jaguar and Land Rover to Be Sold to New Indian Owners

The Daily Mail reported on March 26:

“Two of Britain’s most famous motoring marques – Jaguar and Land Rover – are set to be sold today to new Indian owners in a £1billion deal. The luxury British car-makers are being hived off by current American owners Ford to Indian industrial conglomerate TATA. The Indian giant… already owns Britain’s Tetley Tea and Corus steel-to-hotels conglomerate that already employs nearly 300,000 people in 85 counties… The ultimate automotive Indian take away also marks yet another sell-off of Britain’s automotive ‘crown jewels’. It follows MG and Rover being [sold] to the Chinese, Aston Martin to the Kuwaitis, Bentley to Germany’s Volkswagen and Rolls-Royce and the Mini to BMW.”

“The End of Britain as We Know It “

Christian Science Monitor reported on March 24:

“You might want to take that vacation in England just as soon as you can – before its 1,000-year run as a sovereign nation comes to an end. This winter, 27 nations of the European Union (EU) signed the Treaty of Lisbon… for England (Britain, actually) the Treaty of Lisbon isn’t that appetizing. That’s because, if ratified, it will become the decisive act in this creation of a federal European superstate with its capital in Brussels. Britain would become a province… And that’s no small humiliation for a country that gave the world English and saved Western civilization in the Battle of Britain in 1940.

“The Eurocrat elite in Brussels might not admit it, but the Treaty of Lisbon is essentially a constitution for a ‘country’ called Europe… But British resistance is stirring. In a recent series of minireferendums, almost 90 percent of voters gave the Lisbon Treaty an emphatic thumbs down and demanded a nationwide referendum.

“If all 27 nations ratify the treaty this year, it will begin to come into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. The British will then be expected to transfer loyalty and affection to the EU… With its flag, anthem, currency, institutions, regulations, and directives, the EU has long been indistinguishable from a nation-state-in-waiting. Now the Lisbon Treaty gives it those requisites of nationhood it’s always lacked: a president, a foreign minister (and diplomatic corps), a powerful new interior department, a public prosecutor and full treaty-making powers. Add to those its common system of criminal justice, an embryonic federal police force, and the faintly sinister-sounding European Gendarmerie Force, and what this union becomes is a monolithic state with great power pretensions. Most alarmingly, though, is that the Lisbon Treaty can be extended indefinitely without recourse to further treaties or referendums…

“… in 1961 the Anti-Common Market League had warned that signing the Treaty of Rome (which created the Common Market) ‘would mean a permanent, irrevocable loss of sovereignty and independence’ and that Britain’s affairs ‘would increasingly be administered by supranational bodies … instead of by our own elected representatives’… Perhaps only Queen Elizabeth II can rescue her realm from the baleful Treaty of Lisbon. She could veto it when it comes to her for royal assent and – sensationally – declare that she’s not prepared to see her proud, independent, liberty-loving country swallowed up by an arrogant, authoritarian, and unloved European superstate… This is about national survival.”

Update on American Presidential Elections

AFP reported on March 25:

“Democrat Hillary Clinton on Tuesday revived the row over the fiery racial rhetoric of Barack Obama’s former pastor, saying she, unlike her White House rival, would have left his church. Clinton’s decision to reignite the controversy came as she battled to shrug off her own embarrassment, after admitting that her claims that she dodged sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia in 1996 as first lady were untrue… The furor [surrounding Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright] prompted Obama to give a landmark speech on racial reconciliation last week which appeared to quiet the storm. But Republican commentators denounced him for refusing to disown Wright, and the drama, which some analysts say could hurt Obama with working-class white voters, looks set to be a general election issue if he wins the nomination.”

AFP reported the following on March 26:

“Republican White House pick John McCain Wednesday broke with President George W. Bush on glaring disputes that soured relations with US allies, but said America had a moral duty to stay in Iraq. The Arizona senator grabbed the spotlight as the Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama took another negative lurch, while the former first lady vowed to fight on all the way to the party’s August convention.

“‘Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed,’ McCain said in a major foreign policy address here… ‘I detest war. It might be the worst thing to befall human beings, but it is wretched beyond all description,’ the former Vietnam prisoner of war said. ‘Whatever gains are secured, it is loss the veteran remembers. Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war,’ he told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council… ‘We have incurred a moral responsibility in Iraq. It would be an unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our character as a great nation, if we were to walk away from the Iraqi people,’ he said. Such a ‘premature’ and ‘irresponsible’ US exit would consign Iraqis to horrendous violence, ethnic cleansing and possibly genocide, McCain said…

“McCain, who endured torture in Vietnam, said he would close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, which has sparked outrage in Europe, and would outlaw torture and treat suspected terrorists humanely… ‘The bonds we share with Europe in terms of history, values and interests are unique. Americans should welcome the rise of a strong, confident European Union as we continue to support a strong NATO.’ Again with an eye on major European powers, McCain called for a successor to the Kyoto accord on climate change, and a cap-and-trade system to cut greenhouse gas emissions. McCain had harsh words for Moscow’s ‘nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks’ and he renewed his call for Russia to be ejected from the Group of Eight industrialized nations.”

Unfortunately, the “rise of a strong, confident European Union” is NOT good news for the USA and Britain. For more information, please read our free booklets, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America,” “Europe in Prophecy,” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

Breach of Passport Files of All Three Presidential Candidates

ABC News reported on March 21:

“An embarrassed State Department admitted today that the passport files of all three presidential candidates — Sens. John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — have been breached by its employees… In a rapid series of escalating admissions, State Department Secretary Condoleezza Rice called Obama to apologize. She then had to call Clinton to apologize as well. And by noon, the department held a news conference to concede that McCain’s personal file had also been improperly accessed… All three employees worked for private companies hired by the State Department… The passport files would provide basic information like birth dates and background on where candidates have traveled. But the files would also include sensitive information like Social Security numbers, which could be used to track down credit reports and other personal information…

“Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton issued a statement Thursday evening referring to the Obama revelation, saying, ‘This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years. Our government’s duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes.’…

“According to one official, such breaches have happened several times before with nonpolitical celebrities. On at least two other occasions during the last eight months, contractors were fired for accessing records of Hollywood celebrities, the official said.”

Constitutional Gun Rights With Restrictions?

The Christian Science Monitor wrote on March 21:

“During oral arguments March 18 on a historic case, a majority of the Supreme Court indicated it sees gun ownership as a right. Nonetheless, their ruling, due by July 1, will also likely restrain such a right… Just on its own, a ruling that… gives Americans the same inalienable right to gun ownership as to freedom of speech could send shock waves into the campaigns for president and Congress – campaigns that have largely dodged talk of gun limits up to now. In a country that sees an average of 80 gun deaths a day and, recently, mass killings by firearms almost once a year, this ruling probably won’t settle the debate.

“The nation has gnawed on the Second Amendment for two centuries with no clear-cut decision by the high court. Yet a majority of the justices may now claim historical clairvoyance on the framers’ intent regarding militias and gun ownership. And they may overreach for grammatical acuity into the amendment’s ambiguous, oddly punctuated wording. (‘A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.’)

“… Chief Justice John Roberts warned against an ‘all-encompassing’ ruling that would apply to every gun law. One reason for such hesitation may be a key argument from the National Rifle Association that an absolute gun right is necessary to allow citizens to rise up against a future ‘tyranny’ in this democracy. That threat of insurrection could even apply against a Supreme Court that denies a right to bear arms… The court might recall last year’s shootings at a Missouri city council by a man out to avenge the perceived wrongs of government. Five officials died. Recognizing an absolute right to guns could kill other rights and give freedom to deny other freedoms.

“The NRA has paid out nearly $20 million in campaign donations since 1990, and Democrats decided after the 2000 election that it’s better not to speak strongly for restraints on gun ownership… Right or no right, politicians are now more constrained by the political power of the NRA than the courts, but that may soon change…”

The U.S. Economy–HOW BAD Is It Really?

The Associated Press reported on March 23:

“For months, Americans have been subjected to a sort of economic water torture–a maddening drip of bad news about jobs, gas prices, sagging home values, creeping inflation, the slouching dollar and a stock market in bumpy descent. Then came Bear Stearns. One of the five largest U.S. investment banks nearly collapsed in a single day before the government propped it up by backing emergency loans and a rival stepped in to buy it for a paltry $2 per share.

“To the drumbeat of signs that seemed to foretell a traditional recession, this added a nightmarish specter… Americans are nervously wondering about retirement savings, interest rates, jobs that had seemed safe. They are surveying the economic landscape and asking: Just how bad is it? They are peering over the edge and asking: How far down? And the scariest part of all? No one can say for sure…

“By the end of 2007, 36 percent of consumers’ disposable income went to food, energy and medical care, a bigger chunk of income than at any time since records were first kept in 1960, according to Merrill Lynch… People are treating themselves less often. The National Restaurant Association says 54 percent of restaurants reported declining traffic in January, and the government says eating at home increased last year for the first time since 2001… Financial planners say that more than ever, parents are calling for advice on how to deal with grown children who have moved back in with Mom and Dad after losing a job or just to save money…

“On top of an economy that was already groaning under the weight of a downturn, Bear Stearns came down like an anvil. It tied together so much of what’s wrong with today’s economy–the housing crash, the credit crunch and a loss of confidence among investors and consumers alike…

“Nearly 9 million households now have upside-down mortgages, and for the first time ever, aggregate mortgage debt is bigger than the total value of homeowner equity–bigger by $836 billion… Nearly 90 percent of chief financial officers of global public companies don’t see an economic recovery coming until 2009…

“So what’s the way out?… Already, the Fed has slashed interest rates. It has cut the closely watched federal funds rate, the overnight lending rate for banks, six times since September, from 5.25 percent to 2.25 percent–two-thirds of the cut coming in the last two months alone. But the Fed can’t work alone. Upcoming tax rebates for millions of people and tax breaks for businesses may give a little relief, but economists think that something will have to be done soon to slow down the number of foreclosures, a cornerstone of the economy’s woes.”

Epic Financial Crisis Should Be at Center of U.S. Election Debate–But It Isn’t!

On March 24, The New York Times published the following article by Paul Krugman, which was republished by Der Spiegel Online:

“We’re now in the midst of an epic financial crisis, which ought to be at the center of the election debate. But it isn’t…

“Now, I don’t expect presidential campaigns to have all the answers to our current crisis — even financial experts are scrambling to keep up with events. But I do think we’re entitled to more answers, and in particular a clearer commitment to financial reform, than we’re getting so far. In truth, I don’t expect much from John McCain, who has both admitted not knowing much about economics and denied having ever said that. Anyway, lately he’s been busy demonstrating that he doesn’t know much about the Middle East, either. Yet the McCain campaign’s silence on the financial crisis has disappointed even my low expectations…

“On the Democratic side, it’s somewhat disappointing that Barack Obama, whose campaign has understandably made a point of contrasting his early opposition to the Iraq war with Hillary Clinton’s initial support, has tried to score a twofer by suggesting that the war, in addition to all its other costs, is responsible for our economic troubles. The war is indeed a grotesque waste of resources, which will place huge long-run burdens on the American public. But it’s just wrong to blame the war for our current economic mess: in the short run, wartime spending actually stimulates the economy. Remember, the lowest unemployment rate America has experienced over the last half-century came at the height of the Vietnam War.

“Hillary Clinton has not, as far as I can tell, made any comparably problematic economic claims. But she, like Mr. Obama, has been disappointingly quiet about the key issue: the need to reform our out-of-control financial system…

“America came out of the Great Depression with a pretty effective financial safety net, based on a fundamental quid pro quo: the government stood ready to rescue banks if they got in trouble, but only on the condition that those banks accept regulation of the risks they were allowed to take… Now, the shadow banking system is facing the 21st-century equivalent of the wave of bank runs that swept America in the early 1930s. And the government is rushing in to help, with hundreds of billions from the Federal Reserve, and hundreds of billions more from government-sponsored institutions… you don’t have to be an economic radical… to see that what’s happening now is the quid without the quo…

“Now, the securities and investment industry is pouring money into both Mr. Obama’s and Mrs. Clinton’s coffers. And these donors surely believe that they’re buying something in return. Let’s hope they’re wrong.”

Worldwide Financial Crisis

Deutsche Welle reported on March 22:

“One of Germany’s most respected economists… Peter Bofinger called the current financial crisis the worst in decades [and the biggest crisis since 1945]…  Bofinger, a member of Germany’s independent Council of Economic Experts, said Berlin cannot treat the credit crisis lightly, although he differentiated between the situation in Germany and the United States. ‘The (economic) upswing in Germany is not an upswing bought on credit,’ he said. ‘Where there is no credit bubble, there can’t be a credit burst.’… The Green Party has weighed in, calling for state intervention to prevent future crises. It wants to see the establishment of new regulatory guidelines for financial markets that would encourage transparency and put effective controls in place. ”

In a related article, Deutsche Welle wrote on March 18:

“Germany’s finance minister said politicians, central banks and loaning institutions have to work together to overcome the global financial crisis… Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck… said Germany had a better chance of withstanding the crisis than the American economy, calling it more ‘robust.’…  German economists said they expected market turmoil to have negative effects on the country’s economy… Threats to Germany’s economy cannot be attributed to a single cause, according to Juergen Thumann, head of the Federation of German Industries. ‘It is the influence of the weak dollar, rising oil prices, falling US economy and financial crisis that is making the situation difficult for companies,’ he told the daily Berliner Zeitung on Tuesday.”

Chinese Police Crush Tibetan Demonstration–Shooting at Monks and Nuns

TimesOnLine wrote on March 24:

“Hundreds of monks, nuns and local Tibetans who tried to march on a local government office in western China to demand the return of the Dalai Lama have been turned back by paramilitary police who opened fire to disperse the crowd. Local residents of Luhuo said two people – a monk and a farmer – appeared to have been shot dead and about a dozen were wounded in the latest violence to rock Tibetan areas of China… China says it has acted with the utmost restraint in response to the unrest…

“The Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in India said today that the death toll in the clashes had risen to 130, but they gave no breakdown or details of the casualties. Foreign journalists have been barred from approaching any Tibetan areas where unrest has been reported, and the numbers are extremely difficult to verify.”

Overall Death Toll in Iraq Rises to 4,000 Americans

The Associated Press reported on March 24:

“The overall U.S. death toll in Iraq rose to 4,000 after four soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad, a grim milestone that is likely to fuel calls for the withdrawal of American forces as the war enters its sixth year… The Associated Press count of 4,000 deaths is based on U.S. military reports and includes eight civilians who worked for the Department of Defense… One widely respected tally by Iraq Body Count, which collects figures based mostly on media reports, estimates that 82,349 to 89,867 Iraqi civilians have lost their lives in the conflict.”

Developments in Pakistan Worry Washington

The Christian Science Monitor wrote on March 24:

“In naming its candidate for prime minister Saturday, the party of Benazir Bhutto has taken a further step toward sidelining Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf… With the public still firmly against Musharraf and his allies now out of power, each success of the new government leaves him more isolated. Musharraf has been an American ally in its war on terrorism, but his weakening position could certainly affect the way the United States battles Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives. The new ruling coalition has stressed the need for dialogue with militants – a position that reflects public opinion but may not be welcome by Washington…

“In the coming days and weeks, the new government promises to begin a process that could spell the end of Musharraf’s era all together. Within 30 days of assuming power, the parliament will reinstate the judges sacked by Musharraf when he declared a state of emergency Nov. 2… The expectation is that if the judges are restored, they will invalidate Musharraf’s presidency… Musharraf has few tools to prevent the ruling coalition. He can disband parliament, but that would likely lead to enormous public upheaval – something the US wants to avoid.”

Reuters added on March 24:

“The National Assembly elected Yousaf Raza Gilani prime minister [on Monday]… In a challenge to the increasingly isolated Musharraf, Gilani ordered the immediate release of judges detained after the president declared emergency rule and he also called for a U.N. investigation into Bhutto’s assassination on December 27… Gilani, a soft-spoken but resolute man, was jailed in 2001 by the Musharraf government on charges of making illegal appointments. He said the charges were aimed at pressuring him to abandon Bhutto, which he refused to do. He was freed in 2006…

“The United States and other Western allies fear more instability in their nuclear-armed ally, which is already facing a campaign of attacks by al Qaeda-inspired militants, if there is confrontation between the president and the new government.”

 

The use of the term “Lord’s Supper” for our observance of the New Testament Passover is not biblical–and it only adds to the confusion surrounding the CORRECT observance of the New Testament Passover.

We pointed out the following in a previous Q&A (Update #88; compare also Update #189, under “Feasts”):

“The Passover was kept once a year — ‘as a memorial.’ On the night when Christ was betrayed, He kept the Passover. The Passover was at that time celebrated as a supper — that is why it is called in Scripture ‘the Lord’s Supper.’ We are today to continue keeping the Passover, but not as a meal — not as ‘the Lord’s Supper.’ We are to only partake of the symbols of bread and wine on the Passover night — we do not eat a full meal during the Passover service. In fact, we are told that we must ‘discern the Lord’s body’ — we must distinguish the symbols of bread and wine from an ordinary meal (1 Corinthians 11:29). 1 Corinthians 11:20, 34 tells us, ‘Therefore when you come together in one place, it is NOT to eat the Lord’s Supper… But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home.’ (As an aside, nowhere does the Bible speak about ‘communion,’ during which we are to partake of bread and/or wine).”

In Update #336, we explain in detail why the Church of God does not observe today the Passover together with a meal. For that reason alone, it would be inappropriate to call the Passover “the Lord’s SUPPER.”

In addition, some who use the term “Lord’s Supper” for the Passover are confusing two separate events–the Old Testament Passover, when the death angel went through Egypt and PASSED OVER the Israelites, and the Night to Be Much Remembered or Observed, which occurred about 24 hours LATER, when Israel LEFT Egypt. The Church of God remembers this event of Israel’s exodus as well, and it has been keeping IT–but NOT the previous Passover observance–with a meal.

Let us note the distinction between these two events, which are set aside by a period of about 24 hours.

In a previous Update on Exodus 12:14, it was pointed out:

“The evidence that the Passover was and is to be kept at the BEGINNING of Nisan or Abib 14, not at the end, is overwhelming [The first month of the year, in accordance with the Hebrew Calendar, is called Abib or Nisan. Abib, the original name, means ‘sprouting’ or ‘budding.’ The name Nisan was adopted following the Babylonian captivity. The first month is comparable to the Roman calendar period of March-April, and begins, in Biblical terms, with a new moon.]… Christ and His disciples kept the PASSOVER at the BEGINNING of the 14th, and they should have known when to keep it. Further, the death angel went through Egypt on the night of the 14th, not the 15th, and that event is called Passover because the death angel passed over the Israelites, when he saw the blood at the doors of their houses (Exodus 12:27)… Passover [and this has to include the actual event of the death angel’s PASSING OVER the Israelites] was on the 14th — not the 15th (Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 28:16). Also, the Israelites were not to leave their houses until morning (Exodus 12:22), and still we read that they left Egypt by night (Deuteronomy 16:1). Since it could not have been the night of Nisan 14, it had to be the next night — of Nisan 15.”

While the Israelites had to stay in their houses to observe the Passover at the beginning of Nisan 14, they left Egypt the following night, the night of Nisan 15, on the very first Day of Unleavened Bread (Remember that days start and end with sunset according to the Hebrew calendar). It was THAT night–which occurred about 24 hours AFTER the Passover–which was ALSO to be kept as a memorial, in addition to Passover.

Exodus 12:40-42 reads, in the Authorized Version: “… even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt: this is that NIGHT of the Lord to be OBSERVED. . . .” The New King James Bible calls it “night of solemn observance.” The Revised Standard Bible refers to it as a “night of watching.” Others render the phrase, “night of vigil,” or “night to be remembered.” German translations say mainly, “night of watching” (“Nacht des Wachens”).

Exodus 13:9 calls Israel’s exodus from Egypt–including the entire seven Days of Unleavened Bread and the “Night to Be Much Observed” at the beginning of the first Day of Unleavened Bread–a “memorial and a sign” (compare verse 3). As mentioned, the Days of Unleavened Bread begin 24 hours AFTER the Passover.

The origin of the Night to Be Much Remembered or Observed is also explained as follows in our booklet, “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days“:

“… the Bible makes a definite distinction between the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Both are annual Feast days, to be kept once a year. The Passover is to be observed at the beginning of the 14th day of the first month (which month is called Abib or Nisan), according to the Hebrew calendar (Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 28:16)…

“The First Day of Unleavened Bread is to be observed once a year at the beginning of the 15th day of the first month, according to the Hebrew calendar (Leviticus 23:6; Numbers 28:17)…

“It was during the Passover night—the night of the 14th day of the month—that the death angel passed over the Israelites who were in their houses (hence the name ‘Passover’), while killing the firstborn of the Egyptian households (Exodus 12:6–13). But it was on the 15th day, ‘on the day AFTER the Passover’ or one entire day LATER, that the Israelites went out of Egypt, and it is on THAT day (at the beginning of the 15th day of the first month) that Church members celebrate the Night To Be Much Observed—’a night of solemn observance to the LORD’—when they gather together for an evening meal. On that occasion, they reflect on the events of the exodus of ancient Israel when they came out of physical slavery in Egypt, and the spiritual exodus by Church members from their slavery of sin (Exodus 12:42; Numbers 33:3)…

“The name, The Night to Be Much Observed, has been used by Church of God members in modern times. This title is taken from the Authorized Version as translated in Exodus 12:42: ‘It is a night to be much observed (‘Shim-moor,’ meaning night watch, watching, vigil) unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.’

“The Church of God continues to keep this beginning part of the first Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—after sundown, which marks the start of the time God has established for His people to keep. Exodus 13, verses 3 through 10, explicitly casts God’s instructions as an ongoing regulation for those who seek to obey Him—note, in particular, verse 10: ‘You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.’”

Church members continue to have a meal during the Night to Be Much Observed. However, even though this occasion marks the beginning of an annual Sabbath–the First Day of Unleavened Bread on Nisan 15–it itself is not conducted as a Church service. Rather, members gather together for a meal in smaller groups in the privacy of their homes or at other private and appropriate locations. The Church of God conducts Church services during the subsequent daylight portion of the first Day of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:16; Leviticus 23:7).

The Church of God keeps the New Testament Passover exactly at the same time when Jesus kept it–at the BEGINNING of Nisan 14. Since Christ changed the Passover observance from that of eating a meal to that of partaking in a footwashing ceremony and partaking of the symbols of unleavened bread and red wine (not grape juice), His Church is following such directives. Paul told the Church at Corinth not to eat a meal in Church at Passover, but to eat at home. Instead, God’s Church partakes of a meal the following night, memorializing Israel’s exodus from Egypt which symbolizes spiritual Israel’s exodus from sin (For more information on this astonishing parallelism and symbolism, please read the pertinent sections in our afore-mentioned booklet on God’s Spring Holy Days).

It is therefore misleading to call the New Testament Passover the Lord’s Supper–as this might imply that a “supper” or “evening meal” should be eaten at Passover. This is not the case–Christ, our Passover Lamb, replaced the Old Testament Passover ceremonies with New Testament observances, as described. Members of the Church of God partake of an evening meal the following night, which is known today as the Night to Be Much Remembered or Observed.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Our new booklet, “Is That in the Bible?–Man’s Holidays and God’s Holy Days,” has been posted on the Web.

Norbert Link’s video-taped sermon, “Bible Study–The Life of Samson” (June 3, 2006), was posted this week on Google Video.

A new StandingWatch program (#162) has been posted on StandingWatch, Google Video and YouTube. It is titled, “Is Homeschooling For You?” In the program, Norbert Link discusses the fact that in California, a legal battle has begun, due to a decision by the Court of Appeals, holding that parents who are not credentialed to teach, do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children. The Governor and others have declared that they will fight this decision or change the laws. But what about homeschooling? What are some of the potential pitfalls to be aware of? On the other hand, what is your responsibility as parents when you send your children to private or public schools? You need to know the answers to these all-important questions.

On March 22, 2008, Brian Gale will give the sermon, titled, “The Church Does Not Have Perfect People.”

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.

Close counts in playing marbles, horseshoes and for certain other games. As used in our daily conversation, close means to be near in space or time.

But just being close doesn’t count if we want to know and believe the truth!

False teachers come close to the truth. They may even say some things that are partially true, but this is done to promote what is untrue. Paul had to contend with this counterfeit element within the Church of God:

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

No created being was closer to God than Satan. He is identified as one of the original covering cherubs who were at the throne of God (Compare Ezekiel 28:14). But being close to God was not enough. Satan chose a course of life that drove him away from God. Jesus said this about Satan:

“‘…He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it’” (John 8:44).

Our Christianity faces constant assault from Satan, and he does it by his deceiving lies. His success has been all too pervasive, but not complete. John makes this contrast about us—if we are the true followers of Jesus Christ:

“We KNOW that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we KNOW that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may KNOW Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 5:19-20).

Being called to the knowledge of the truth of God sets us free from the lies of Satan and from those who represent him (Compare John 8:32). For us to know the truth and to know to reject the lies, Jesus Christ, “…gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4).

Considering this, we must constantly examine what we believe and with what fervency we hold on to the truth we have received! Being just close, in this endeavor, is NOT enough!

Iraq–After Five Years of American Occupation

On March 17, 2008, Der Spiegel Online reported the following:

“The situation in Iraq on the eve of the anniversary of ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ has both opponents and supporters of the American military campaign puzzled. The body of a Catholic archbishop is found near the northern city of Mosul, and yet the US embassy in Baghdad is holding a flea market as if it were peacetime. There has been a slight rise in the number of attacks again… The United States has been in Iraq longer than it fought in World War II. The conflict is getting long in the tooth… the war has already cost the country at least $3 trillion…
 
“How the country proceeds in Iraq will be decided, at least in part, by American voters this November. If they elect Republican John McCain as president, they may have to get used to a US presence in Iraq for another 100 years, as McCain has suggested. Meanwhile, the Democratic presidential candidates are urging a pullout of US troops. But neither side has thought of a peaceful way to resolve the political problems among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.”

The Associated Press commented on March 16:

“Sometime soon, the U.S. military will suffer the 4,000th death of the war in Iraq.

“When the 1,000th American died in September 2004, the insurgency was just gaining steam. The 2,000th death came as Iraq held its first elections in decades, in October 2005. The U.S. announced its 3,000th loss on the last day of 2006, at the end of a year rocked by sectarian violence. The 4,000th death will come with the war further out of the public eye, and replaced by other topics on the front burner of the U.S. presidential campaigns.

“Analysts say the 4,000 dead, while an arbitrary marker, could inject the war debate back into the campaign season, particularly with the war’s fifth anniversary on Thursday. Or, with overall violence lower in Iraq, the milestone could pass with far less public discussion than in past years. Last year was the deadliest for American troops in Iraq, with 901 troops killed. As of Sunday, at least 3,988 Americans have died in Iraq…

“The number killed in Iraq is far less than in other modern American wars. In Vietnam, the U.S. lost on average about 4,850 troops a year from 1963-75. In the Korean war, from 1950-53, the U.S. lost about 12,300 soldiers a year… Soldiers and analysts alike say the impact of the deaths in Iraq has been largely lost on many Americans who have no personal connection to the war.”

CBS News reported on March 18:

“One the eve of the five-year anniversary of the start of the war with Iraq, [64 percent of] Americans continue to think the results of the war have not been worth the loss of American lives and the other costs of attacking Iraq…”

NO WAR, fought by humans, is “worth it.” But WHEN will mankind learn this bitter lesson? For more information, please read our free booklet, “Should YOU Fight in WAR?”

Iraq War–Doubts about America’s Future

The Christian Science Monitor wrote on March 20:

“The Iraq war has been perhaps America’s bitterest lesson since Vietnam in the realities of war and geopolitics – profoundly altering ordinary citizens’ sense of their country, its essential abilities, and the overall role it plays in the world. Poll after poll shows that Americans are worried about US troops. They’re distressed at the war’s rising human and financial cost and are fully aware of the globe’s rising tide of anti-Americanism. Most of all, they may be confused – unsure of how the United States got here, uncertain about what to do next, and in doubt about how, and when, the conflict will end… The bottom line may be that today many in the US view the Iraq invasion as a mistake they don’t want to see repeated…”

Disastrous Conditions in Iraq

AFP reported on March 20:

“The US-led war on Iraq that toppled the brutal regime of dictator Saddam Hussein entered its sixth year on Thursday with millions of Iraqis still battling daily chaos and rampant bloodshed.

“On March 20, 2003, US planes dropped the first bombs on Baghdad. Within three weeks, invading troops toppled Saddam but left US forces battling a resentful and rebellious people… US President George W. Bush defended the war that has already cost his administration more than 400 billion dollars but admitted the human cost was high… The top UN official in Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, told AFP in an interview that time is running out for Iraqi leaders to resolve differences hampering the political progress… Hans Blix, the former chief UN weapons inspector, in an article for Britain’s Guardian newspaper, slammed the Iraq war as a ‘tragedy — for Iraq, for the US, for the UN, for truth and human dignity.’

“On the streets of Baghdad, fear of Saddam’s hated secret police has been replaced by a new terror. Americans ‘brought our way things we never knew like terrorism and the killings we see on the streets,’ [according to one Iraqi observer]… The International Committee of the Red Cross said the plight of millions of Iraqis who still have little or no access to clean water, sanitation or health care was the ‘most critical in the world.’… The economy, the main concern of Iraqis after security, is also a wreck. Unemployment is running at between 25 and 50 percent, according to government figures… public services as water and electricity have yet to be fully restored, despite billions of dollars having been spent on often badly managed reconstruction projects.”

Europe and the Iraq War

The EUObserver wrote on March 20:

“It has been five years since the United States began its military operation dubbed ‘Iraqi Freedom’. The war resulted in a deep rift in transatlantic relations, caused a split within the European Union and made Iraqis the single largest group seeking refuge in Europe… Several countries, led by France and Germany, were opposed to US-led invasion, while others took part. At the time, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld exacerbated the divisions by saying: ‘Germany has been a problem and France has been a problem.’ … Since 2003, a number of EU countries such as Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia and the Netherlands have withdrawn their soldiers from the violence-torn country, mainly due to public opinion.  At the same time, troops from Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Romania and the Czech Republic remain deployed in Iraq…

“In general, it is estimated that six million people inside Iraq need urgent humanitarian assistance as a result of the conflict. Some 2.5 million are internally displaced, while an additional two million are hosted by neighbouring countries such as Syria and Jordan.”

Americans Have A Right to Own Guns

The Associated Press reported on March 18:

“Americans have a right to own guns, Supreme Court justices declared Tuesday in a historic and lively debate that could lead to the most significant interpretation of the Second Amendment since its ratification two centuries ago… a majority of justices appeared ready to say that Americans have a ‘right to keep and bear arms’ that goes beyond the amendment’s reference to service in a militia…

“The court has not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: ‘A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’  The basic issue for the justices is whether the amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

“A key justice, Anthony Kennedy, seemed to settle that question early on when he said the Second Amendment gives ‘a general right to bear arms.’ He is likely to be joined by Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas – a majority of the nine-member court.”

And so, America’s fascination with guns will continue. And so will killing and death. Let us all pray that the day will soon arive when all people will recognize the utter uselessness of guns and weapons, and when they will “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4).

Financial Crisis in the USA–Worst Since World War II

On March 16, The Financial Times published an article by Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, commenting on the present economic crisis in the USA. Even though his future predictions for a recovery are to be judged as being highly optimistic and unrealistic, his comments pertaining to the present disaster are worthwhile noticing:

“The current financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of the second world war… The American housing bubble peaked in early 2006, followed by an abrupt and rapid retreat over the past two years. Since summer 2006, hundreds of thousands of homeowners, many forced by foreclosure, have moved out of single-family homes into rental housing, creating an excess of approximately 600,000 vacant, largely investor-owned single-family units for sale. Homebuilders caught by the market’s rapid contraction have involuntarily added an additional 200,000 newly built homes to the ’empty-house-for-sale’ market…

“Single-family housing starts have declined by 60 per cent since early 2006, but have only recently fallen below single-family home demand… The pace of liquidation is likely to pick up even more as new-home construction falls further. The level of home prices will probably stabilise…That point, however, is still an indeterminate number of months in the future.

“The crisis will leave many casualties… In the current crisis, as in past crises, we can learn much, and policy in the future will be informed by these lessons. But we cannot hope to anticipate the specifics of future crises with any degree of confidence.”

Is the USA “On Top of the Situation”???

It would be reassuring to know–in light of such incredible and irresponsible financial debacle–that America is on “top of the situation.” If we could only believe it! This is what The Associated Press wrote on March 17:

“President Bush, trying to ease turmoil in financial markets, said Monday that his administration is ‘on top of the situation’ in dealing with the slumping economy. ‘One thing is for certain, we’re in challenging times,’ the president said after meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and other senior economic advisers. ‘But another thing is for certain: we’ve taken strong decisive action.’ The president commended the Fed for its urgent actions over the weekend. He said that ‘we’ve shown the country and the world that the United States is on top of the situation.’… Repeating his reassurances to the country, the president said that in the long run, the economy is going to be fine. Bush spoke on a day of turmoil and plunging prices on global financial markets. Oil prices hit a record in Asian trading, U.S. stock index futures fell sharply and the dollar hit record lows.”

The Associated Press published this follow-up article on March 18:

“President Bush traveled a fair distance from Friday to Monday, and not just to New York and back to the White House. One day, he warned the economy could land ‘in a ditch’ if the government engaged in big bailout-type help for people losing their homes because they gambled, unwisely or unknowingly, on the now-collapsed subprime mortgage market. On the other, he endorsed the Federal Reserve’s move to provide $30 billion in backing for the rescue of one of Wall Street’s largest investment banks, needed because Bear Stearns Cos. risked too much in that very sector.

“Meanwhile, throughout the economy’s recent turbulent times — lost jobs, sky-high gasoline prices, plunging home values, a free-falling dollar, shaken consumer confidence, a growth slowdown and possibly even a recession — Bush has projected an air of unwavering optimism, even joviality. He is the nation’s biggest economic cheerleader at a time of deep uncertainty…

“It all has some people shaking their heads. Is there a disconnect here? Does the president get how this might feel to the little guy? Is there a different standard for the big financial community and the strapped homeowner facing foreclosure?…

“Democrats are struggling for the right note, too. They assumed the somewhat awkward position of criticizing Bush for going too far and not far enough at the same time. They want more direct help for homeowners, such as changing the bankruptcy code to allow judges to adjust mortgage rates… Bush rejects the bankruptcy plan and other ideas like it… Last month, he surprised some people by saying he was unaware that some analysts were predicting $4-a-gallon gasoline by summer.”

The Freefall of the U.S. Dollar

WorldNetDaily wrote on March 18:

“The European Union has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s No. 1 economy due to the continued dramatic fall of the dollar… The U.S. Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, for 2007 is officially estimated at $13,843,800 billion. The 2007 GDP for the 15 EU countries is estimated at 8,847,889 billion euros…  That means when the euro yesterday topped $1.56, the EU officially became the largest economy in the world… As the [Federal Reserve] continues to lower rates to stimulate the sagging economy, the dollar is increasingly abandoned, hitting new lows almost every day against other major currencies.”

Most Americans Think We Are in a Recession and Worry About a Depression

USA Today wrote on March 18:

“More than three in four Americans think the country is in a recession, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll over the weekend shows, reflecting a crisis of confidence that economists say could make the economy worse… Seventy-six percent of those polled said the economy is in recession, compared to 22% who said it’s not. Not since September 1992, two months before President George H.W. Bush lost re-election, have so many Americans said the economy was in such bad shape… Asked if the nation could slip into a depression lasting several years, 59% said it was likely, and 79% said they were worried about it. A recession is an economic downturn that usually lasts at least six months; a depression is longer, deeper and more broadly dispersed.”

Americans have every reason to worry about a depression. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

High Honors for Chancellor Merkel in Israel–But Why?

On March 17, Der Spiegel Online raised the question whether the high honors bestowed on Chancellor Merkel during her visit in Israel–and the good relationships between the two countries–are bought by Germany’s silence about Israeli excesses over the years. The magazine stated:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has become Israel’s staunchest ally in Europe. This week, the country has pulled out all the stops to welcome the German leader. Back home, though, many wish Merkel would finally speak up about Israeli excesses in the Gaza Strip…

“Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert personally met his guest at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday — an honor that until now he has only bestowed on George W. Bush. Merkel then helicoptered down to the Negev Desert to visit the grave of David Ben Gurion, the father of modern Israel. There, she was hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres. On Monday, Olmert accompanied Merkel to the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, where foreign dignitaries normally lay a wreath alone. ‘The chancellor’s visit has the same status as a visit by the US president,’ Olmert’s chief of staff told an advance delegation…

“When the Israeli army attacked the Gaza Strip in early March and over 120 Palestinians died, Merkel said nothing. Even the pope called for both sides to immediately cease all hostilities. And Merkel made no comment when Olmert’s government announced two weeks ago — contrary to previous promises — that Israel would again begin expanding settlements in the occupied territories. Even a year and a half ago, the chancellor refrained from directly displaying any unease with Israel’s military operation in Lebanon. When the Israeli air force killed four UNIFIL soldiers, she merely expressed her ‘deep regret.’ Other European statesmen like France’s then President Jacques Chirac vehemently condemned the incident…

“Merkel’s policies remain controversial. Critics say that Germany is sacrificing its credibility among Arab countries. And even in Israel, Germany’s policy of unconditional solidarity has at times been viewed with astonishment. In Germany, it is primarily Merkel’s coalition partners who are muttering about her politics… Even members of Merkel’s own Christian Democratic Union and its sister party the Christian Social Union, warn of a growing sense of annoyance among the Arab states…

“It remains to be seen whether these exceptional close ties will eventually lead to a ‘normal’ relationship between the two countries, one that naturally includes both mutual criticism and solidarity. The new Israeli ambassador in Berlin, Yoram Ben-Zeev, recently experienced just how ill at ease Germans can be on the topic of Israel when he spoke with a group of journalists in Munich. During clashes with alleged terrorists in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces had just killed 120 Palestinians, including many civilians, but none of the reporters asked any questions about the incident.”

Merkel in Israel–But Not Everyone Is Pleased…

AFP wrote on March 18:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday pledged Germany’s unwavering support for Israel in a landmark address to parliament, as she wrapped up a visit 60 years after the Jewish state was founded in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust. ‘Germany will never abandon Israel but will remain a true friend and partner,’ said Merkel, the first German head of government to address the Knesset, an honour usually reserved for heads of state. ‘Germany and Israel are, and will always remain, linked in a special way through the memory of the Holocaust,” said Merkel… ‘The Holocaust fills us Germans with shame’…

“‘I say clearly and unequivocally: the Qassam (rocket) attacks by Hamas must stop,’ she said in reference to attacks on southern Israel by militants in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave run by the Islamist Hamas movement… The German visitor drew loud applause when she opened her address in Hebrew, saying: ‘I thank you for the honour of allowing me to address the Knesset.’ But the fact she delivered the rest of her speech in German ruffled feathers among MPs in a country where the memory of the Nazi murder of six million Jews still runs deep. Several lawmakers stayed away from the chamber in protest. ‘I know the last sounds heard by my grandparents and my uncles … were those of the German language,’ Arieh Eldad, an MP of the far-right National Union-National Religious Party said earlier in the day. Addressing the controversy, Merkel explicitly thanked the deputies for allowing her to speak in German…

“Merkel’s three-day visit was designed to reiterate support of Israel by its most important political and trading partner in Europe. On Monday, Hamas, which is pledged to Israel’s destruction, slammed the German leader for ignoring the ‘holocaust’ perpetrated by Israel in the impoverished territory. Merkel’s statements ‘reflect a moral degradation… by supporting without failure an entity that commits massacres against Palestinian children, women and the elderly,’ Hamas said in a statement. Earlier this month, an Israeli army blitz on Gaza, launched in response to rocket fire, killed more than 130 Palestinians, including several dozen children and other civilians. Five Israelis were also killed.”

The present unique friendly relationship between Germany and Israel will not continue. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

“Merkel More One-Sided Than Bush in the Middle East”

This is the assessment of some German commentators, pertaining to Chancellor Merkel’s most recent trip to Israel. Der Spiegel Online reported on March 19:

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:… ‘The fact that Hamas’ rule in the Gaza Strip and the rocket attacks on Israeli towns are condemned by the European Union goes back in particular to… Germany’s EU presidency under Merkel. But Germany has to take pains not to repeat Bush’s capital mistake of acting on behalf of one side in the peace process. In her speech the Palestinians were hardly mentioned. Merkel has to protect her independence and criticize Israel for its occupation and settlement polices… The Israeli army is carrying out an asymmetrical war against the comparatively small groups, and as recently demonstrated in the Gaza Strip, applies disproportionate force. The pope has even called for an end to the violence, but Merkel stays silent and doesn’t want to interfere. But the majority of Palestinians are not terrorists and like the Israelis, want to live in peace. The creation of the two-state solution also belongs to Germany’s reason of state: a safe Israel and safe Palestine, without Jewish settlements’…

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘(Merkel) did not meet with a single Palestinian. This amount of ignorance about the Palestinian side is unusual. Merkel is acting even more one-sidedly than George W. Bush, who recently also met with President Mahmoud Abbas as a matter of course… True responsibility towards Israel and its own past would involve a policy that did not atone for its sins at the expense of the Palestinians, but instead exerted pressure on Israel to change its (self-) destructive policy.'”

Israel Prepares for War With Syria and Iran

The Jerusalem Post wrote on March 17:

“In the face of a possible escalation with Syria and Iran’s efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, parts of the country will shut down next month in what security officials say will be the largest emergency exercise in Israel’s history. The drill, which is being organized by the newly-established National Emergency Authority, will take place over five days starting on Sunday, April 6.

“But first, on Tuesday, a first-of-its-kind hospital emergency exercise will take place to see how Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center would cope with a Grad missile hitting a five-story hospitalization building and an outpatient clinic’s laboratory filled with toxic chemicals and a fire breaking out, requiring patients to be lowered from the roof…

“On the first day of the drill [in April], Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will convene the cabinet in Jerusalem in response to an ‘enemy attack’ and to decide on an Israeli response… The rescue services will drill mass evacuations from ‘hit zones’ – including mock chemical and biological attacks – and hospitals will drill their ability to provide medical treatment to thousands of wounded… All government ministries will participate in the exercise and they will hold a drill on one day during which they will direct all of their personnel to enter bomb shelters. Civilians will be asked to locate the public bomb shelter closest to their homes.”

China’s Brutal Crackdown

Der Spiegel Online reported on March 17 about the most recent outbreak of violence in Tibet:

“Tanks in the street of Lhasa, burning cars on the Roof of the World and thousands of soldiers brandishing assault rifles, imposing peace at the barrel of a gun — it is as if China was an imploding banana republic. On top of that, there are unknown numbers of dead on both sides. This, surely, is not the new China — a gleaming economic powerhouse — that Beijing wanted to present to the world before its celebration of the century: the 2008 Olympic Games.

“In fact, the situation is turning into a nightmare. The horror is worst for the locals, who in the next few days will be dragged out of their homes and subjected to terrible punishments and torture. The promise that Beijing will uphold human rights in the run-up to the Olympic Games has now gone out the window..

“In reality, the Chinese government isn’t at all interested in an amicable solution to the conflict. Instead, Beijing is using the Chinese populace as its most potent weapon, in the form of a resettlement policy that has seen tens of thousands of ethnic Chinese relocated to Tibet in recent years — and the resulting assimilation of the region… The Dalai Lama, for his part, has unfortunately been unable to find an adequate political strategy to counter Beijing’s cultural imperialism. As a monk living in exile who is dedicated to non-violence, his options are limited…

“China sees Tibet as a ‘domestic affair’ and as such is not willing to listen to council from outside its borders. Furthermore, America’s human rights record of the last few years has made it easy for China to follow an aggressive course.”

AFP added on March 20:

 “Thousands of soldiers were seen in Lhasa on Thursday amid reports of a huge military build-up, as the Dalai Lama expressed fears China’s crackdown on Tibetan protesters had caused many casualties. Long military convoys were on the move in Tibet while troops also poured into nearby provinces, after a week of violent unrest against China’s rule of the Himalayan region…

“A week of protests against China’s 57-year rule of Tibet erupted into rioting in Lhasa last Friday. Demonstrations have since spilled over into nearby Chinese provinces with sizeable ethnic Tibetan populations… The unrest has been a public relations nightmare for China in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics in August, an event the nation’s communist rulers had hoped would showcase a harmonious country.

“While no government has called for a boycott of the Games, China has faced increasing international pressure to resolve the unrest peacefully and to hold talks with the Dalai Lama… China has banned foreign journalists from Lhasa and tried to block them from the nearby western provinces of China, where a spate of violent protests have taken place over the past week.”

New Violence in Kosovo

Der Spiegel Online reported on March 17:

“United Nations police and security forces clashed on Monday with Serb demonstrators in [Mitrovica in] Kosovo in the [worst] violence since Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence on Feb. 17… The European Commission urged restraint after the clashes…

“Mitrovica, which is divided into an ethnic Albanian part and an ethnic Serbian enclave, has been a center of ethnic tension since Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, and Serbs wanting to take control of UN-run institutions in Kosovo have protested daily outside the courthouse in recent weeks. Serb protestors have prevented ethnic Albanian judges from going to work at the court, which has been controlled by the UN since the end of the war in Kosovo in 1999. Kosovo Serbs also recently tried to take control of a railway line in northern Kosovo, where most of Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs live.

“Monday’s rioting… poses a serious challenge to the authority of NATO, the UN and the new European Union mission to Kosovo. Serbia considers Kosovo’s declaration of independence to be illegal under international law, a position which is supported by Russia. Most EU member states and the US, however, have recognized Kosovo’s independence.”

AFP added on March 17:

“UN police were forced to withdraw Monday from the Serb-populated part of this flashpoint Kosovo town after coming under attack as they stormed a court occupied by Serbs opposed to independence… Northern Kosovo has a 40,000-strong Serb population who are divided from the mainly ethnic Albanian south by the Ibar River, which passes through Mitrovica. The clashes came on the four-year anniversary of the March 2004 anti-Serb riots by ethnic Albanians in which 19 people were killed and dozens of mediaeval Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed or damaged.”

Switzerland To Sign Huge Iran Gas Deal

The Jerusalem Post wrote on March 16:

“Swiss energy giant EGL is set to sign a 25-year deal in Teheran on Monday to buy 5.5 billion cubic meters of Iranian natural gas per year, starting in 2011, for a reported €18 billion. The contract will be the second largest European gas deal… In April, the Austrian energy company OMV signed letters of intent with Iran valued at €22 billion to supply Europe with gas, but that contract has yet to be finalized… Critics of the growing number of European-Iranian oil and gas deals argue that Teheran can use the profits for a nuclear weapons program… [All of this] comes at a sensitive time because a number of European Union countries and the US are trying to restrict trade with Iran’s energy and banking sectors.”

Homeschooling Debate in California Continues…

The San Diego Union Tribune wrote on March 17:

“Families who educate their children at home have been gaining a powerful band of supporters since a recent court decision that severely restricts most home schooling in the state. California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled Feb. 28 that it is illegal for parents without teaching credentials to home-school their children.

“Officials from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell have vowed to protect home schooling as a legitimate choice for families who want an alternative to traditional schools. California Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-La Mesa, has introduced a resolution calling on the state Supreme Court to reverse the decision…

“The ruling caught the home-schooling community off guard because it was not the result of an organized campaign targeting them. The decision stemmed from a child-welfare dispute involving two children who were home-schooled – along with siblings – by their mother. The children were enrolled in independent-study programs at Sunland Christian School, a Los Angeles County school for home-schoolers.

“On Friday, the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal organization representing the school, filed a motion for rehearing with the courts. ‘If that is denied, then we will be filing an appeal with the state Supreme Court in the first week of April,’ said Brad Dacus, president of [the] institute…

“Although the state does not keep records on the number of students who are home-schooled, estimates indicate as many as 200,000 California children receive their education this way. Countywide, experts estimate that up to 4,000 students [in San Diego county] are home-schooled.”

We find that, in New Testament times, certain local congregations apparently had a Passover meal in Church before partaking of the Passover symbols of bread and wine, as can be seen in the passage in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (Authorized Version):

“Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not…”

When discussing this passage, many commentaries conclude that at least some New Testament churches–like the one in Corinth–had a practice of eating a meal in Church on Passover eve, before partaking of the symbols of bread and wine. (Please note that many of the commentaries refer to the Passover with incorrect terms, such as, “Holy Communion” or “Eucharist.” An upcoming Q&A will also explain why the terminology of “Lord’s Supper” for the Passover today is misleading.)

The Broadman Bible Commentary states that “Verses 17-22 and 33-34 indicate that a meal was eaten at the time [when] the Lord’s Supper was observed… it appears that the Lord’s Supper is separate from the main meal and is taken after the meal has been eaten… “

The Ryrie Study Bible agrees: “The early Christians held a love feast in connection with the Lord’s Supper, during which they gathered for a fellowship meal.”

The New Bible Commentary: Revised adds: “In the early days the observance of the sacramental acts of the Holy Communion took place in connection with a common meal or ‘love feast’ (Jude 12) in imitation of the Last Supper.”

Commentaries are divided on the question whether local congregations should have observed the New Testament Passover in this way at all; that is, whether they should have had a meal in Church before partaking of the Passover symbols. When focusing on Paul’s statement, “This is not to eat the Lord’s Supper”, the commentary of Adam Clarke points out: “They did not come together to eat the Lord’s Supper exclusively, which they should have done, and not have made it a part of an ordinary meal.”

Other commentaries conclude that at least the way it was done in Corinth was wrong, so that Paul instructed them not to continue in that practice.

The commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown writes:

“‘… there is no such thing as eating the Lord’s Supper; ‘it is not possible’ where each is greedily intent only on devouring ‘HIS OWN supper,’ and some are excluded altogether, not having been waited for, where some are ‘drunken,’ while others are ‘hungry’. The love-feast usually preceded the Lord’s Supper (as eating the Passover came before the Lord’s Supper at the first institution of the latter). It was a club-feast, where each brought his portion, and the rich, extra portions for the poor; from it the bread and wine were taken for the Eucharist; and it was at it that the excesses took place, which made a true celebration of the Lord’s Supper during or after it, with true discernment of its solemnity, out of the question.”

It adds: “‘at home.’ That is the place to satiate the appetite, not the assembly of the brethren.”
Matthew Henry’s Commentary agrees:

“In this passage the apostle sharply rebukes them for much greater disorders than the former, in their partaking of the Lord’s supper, which was commonly done in the first ages, as the ancients tell us, with a love-feast annexed, which gave occasion to the scandalous disorders which the apostle here reprehends.”

The People’s New Testament writes, commenting on 1 Corinthians 11:22: “‘What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in?’ The practice is rebuked. The place to eat… was at home.”

So, we see that Paul PROHIBITED the brethren in Corinth to have a Passover meal in Church, before partaking of the Passover symbols. Paul told them to eat at home, before coming to Church to partake of the New Testament Passover symbols (compare verse 34, Authorized Version: “And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye may not come together unto condemnation.”). This fact alone should tell us that it is therefore not mandatory to have a Passover meal in Church prior to partaking of the Passover symbols; otherwise, Paul could not have told them to eat at home. He would have SINNED when telling them that; and God would not have inspired it to be written down as a command in the Bible–and He would not have preserved it for us today–IF God had required of His disciples to eat a Passover meal in Church prior to partaking of the New Testament Passover symbols.

The fact that some New Testament Church congregations might have had that practice does not prove that it had to be done in that way. For instance, the early New Testament Church still offered sacrifices until the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., although it was no longer necessary to do so. It was not sinful to offer sacrifices, nor was it sinful NOT to do so. Even though Paul had clearly explained that sacrifices were no longer necessary, he himself subsequently brought sacrifices for the sake of unbelieving Jews (compare Acts 21:20-26).

The same can be said about circumcision. The early New Testament Church made the administrative decision, during a ministerial conference, as reported in Acts 15, that circumcision was not necessary in order to become a Church member. At the same time, the practice of circumcision was not sinful–Paul circumcised Timothy for the sake of unbelieving Jews (compare Acts 16:1-3). However, he did NOT circumcise him because he felt that circumcision was in any way necessary for salvation. He made it very clear that it was not. In fact, he stated that if someone felt that it was, then Christ died in vain for such a person, and that Christ’s death profited him nothing (Galatians 5:2). As will be discussed, the same is true when we think it is necessary to have a Passover meal (including the prior killing and roasting and the subsequent eating of a Passover lamb), together with partaking of the New Testament Passover symbols of bread and wine.

We can also ascertain that in Old Testament times, New Moons were celebrated–even though the Bible does not command this. Therefore, it is of course not sinful NOT to celebrate New Moons.

When focusing on a Passover meal in Church, though, additional considerations must be taken into account. It is true that in Old Testament times, beginning with Moses and the Israelites in Egypt, one Passover lamb was slain for each household, and the Passover lamb was eaten at home, in individual houses, as part of a family meal. However, as can be seen from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, this was no longer true in New Testament times, when the Passover ceremony was observed by some in Church–not in private homes. Further, Christ did not only change the symbols of the Old Testament Passover (by introducing footwashing and the symbols of bread and wine, and replacing thereby the Passover lamb, see below), He also changed certain aspects of the Passover observance: He did NOT partake of the Passover with His family in the privacy of His home, but He observed it with His twelve apostles in a “rented” facility. Neither the wives nor family members of the twelve apostles were present, nor was Mary, the mother of Jesus, nor were any of His brothers and sisters and other relatives.

It has been said that Jesus observed the Passover only with His apostles, because He was away from home, perhaps on a missionary journey or a baptizing tour, while the rest of His disciples and family members were still at home, and not in Jerusalem, so that they could not have participated with Jesus at His last Passover. However, the Bible does not support this conclusion at all. We read that Christ was accompanied by many of His disciples (male and female) when He was on “missionary travels”; and we also read that His mother and other family members and disciples WERE present in Jerusalem to observe the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Please note that Mary and other relatives and disciples were assembled at the cross, or looking at it from afar, after the Passover evening and before the first day of Unleavened Bread began (Matthew 27:55-56; Luke 23:49; John 19:25-27). It specifically says in Mark 15:41 that many of His female disciples had come up with Him to Jerusalem. To claim that they only reached Jerusalem AFTER the Passover eve is contradicted by Scripture. Mary and Joseph, for instance, kept the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem, together with their children, as was their CUSTOM–and they arrived in Jerusalem before the Passover began, and they stayed in Jerusalem for all the DAYS of the Feast (compare Luke 2:41-43; Exodus 12:15).

Further, we read that we are to “eat” Jesus Christ–the New Testament Passover Lamb–by partaking of the SYMBOLS of bread and wine. There is no hint that we are still to kill and eat lambs, in addition (compare 1 Corinthians 5:7). As mentioned, if we were to insist that we ought to do that, then we would go backwards–as those Jews did in Galatia who insisted that Gentiles need to become circumcised. Paul said that with such an approach, Christ will profit us nothing (Galatians 5:2, 6; compare 1 Corinthians 7:19).

We should realize that at times, physical observances (“shadows of things to come”) may end, when the spiritual purpose has been completely achieved, which purpose was foreshadowed by the physical observance (compare Hebrews 10:1-10; Galatians 3:24-25, referring to the sacrificial law which foreshadowed things and events which by now HAVE come to pass). At the moment of the complete spiritual fulfillment, the necessity of the physical observance, foreshadowing that fulfillment, might have ceased. (However, this is not to imply, as some have erroneously concluded, that the Sabbath or the annual Holy Days are no longer to be observed, as, allegedly, the “spiritual reality” of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ, has come. Nowhere in Scripture do we find such an analogy. See discussion below.)

Jesus Christ–our Passover lamb–died for us; hence, it is no longer necessary to kill a lamb which foreshadowed THE Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. By analogy, remember that Israelites placed blood on their doorposts in Egypt to be protected from the death angel; however, there is no evidence that they ever did so again during subsequent Passover celebrations [NOR, that they ever did so BEFORE the events in Egypt]. The purpose of the blood on the doorposts–protection from the death angel–was limited to that one spectacular event in Egypt and had been achieved during that first Passover night. Although we are commanded to keep today the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, partly as a memorial of what God did for Israel in Egypt, we are not commanded to place blood on the doorposts of our houses.

There is another important reason why it could be dangerous to eat a Passover meal while partaking of the bread and wine. That reason is that the Passover bread must be DISTINGUISHED from an ordinary meal–it must NOT be viewed as part of an ordinary meal. Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 not to eat the bread and drink the wine in an unworthy manner. Rather, we must examine ourselves and then partake of the Passover symbols in a worthy manner. We must “discern” the Lord’s body (verse 29), which is–in the context of that passage–symbolized by the bread. As we break and eat a small piece of unleavened bread, we meditate on the fact that Christ’s physical body was beaten for our transgressions–so that we can obtain healing from our physical sicknesses. In order to AVOID the danger NOT to discern the Lord’s body; NOT to reflect on the symbolic meaning of the piece of the Passover bread; NOT to just treat it as part of an ordinary meal; the apostle Paul tells us to eat at home first, if we are hungry (verse 34). We are NOT to eat the Passover bread to satisfy our hunger.

The commentary of Jamiesson, Fausset and Brown explains: “… not discerning-not duty judging: not distinguishing in judgment (so the Greek: the sin and its punishment thus being marked as corresponding) from common food…”

The Geneva Study Bible adds: “The supper of the Lord was instituted not to feed the belly, but to feed the soul with the communion of Christ, and therefore it ought to be separated from common banquets.”

It is therefore strongly recommended that we eat at home to satisfy our hunger BEFORE we come to Church services to partake of the New Testament Passover symbols of bread and wine. But as will become clear below, we should not prepare and eat a time-consuming elaborate meal at home, just prior to attending Passover services. [For further explanations on that important aspect of the Passover service, please read our free booklet, “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days.”]

Ultimately, it all boils down to an administrative issue–to a question which needs to be decided by the Church, so that there is no confusion in the body of Christ. Paul said that it is the Church that must determine and “judge” how to keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Colossians 2:16-17 says, correctly translated from the Greek (compare the Authorized Version, which is close to the Greek, but not totally accurate): “Let no man therefore judge you in eating and drinking, or in respect of an holiday, or of a new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body of Christ.”

It is the body of Christ–the Church of God (Colossians 1:18)–which is to judge, HOW to keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Paul said: “Let no one judge you… but the body of Christ”; in other word, let the body of Christ–the Church–judge or determine this issue.

As we explain in more detail in our booklet, “God’s Commanded Holy Days,” and in our new booklet, “Is That in the Bible?–Man’s Holidays and God’s Holy Days,” the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days are still to be kept today. They are, in part, memorials of what God did in the past, and they are foreshadowing certain future events (the spiritual fulfillment of those “things” has not yet come–compare Hebrews 4:1-11). This is still true in respect to those who have been called today into God’s truth–and it is most certainly true for the vast majority of mankind, who will be called during the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:4-6, 11-12).

It was the Church–the “body of Christ”–that made the administrative decision, based on Scripture, that it was not wrong to eat and drink on the Sabbath and the Holy Days (with the exception of the Day of Atonement), even though some were judging the brethren in Colossae for doing so, wrongly insisting that they had to fast on all of those days.

It was the Church which made the administrative decision, in Acts 15, that Gentiles didn’t have to be circumcised.

And it was the Church which, through the apostle Paul, explained to the Jewish Christians, for instance in the book of Hebrews, that they did not have to offer sacrifices anymore, or participate in Temple worship and services.

The Church of the Eternal God and its international affiliates, the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada, and the Global Church of God in the UK, have made it clear from their inception that they will follow the teachings of Mr. Armstrong, as long as they are not contradicted by Scripture. Our Statement of Beliefs reads, under “Doctrinal Foundation”: “The major doctrines of the Church are those, which were taught by Herbert W. Armstrong, derived from the Biblical teachings as followed by God’s faithful servants, and originally established by Jesus Christ through the founding of His Church in the time of His chosen early apostles. Since we are to increase in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, we are committed to review and alter any of our teachings, if and when proven to be wrong by the Bible.”

Under Mr. Armstrong, the Church never had a “Passover meal” in services, combined with the partaking of the symbols of eating bread and drinking wine. Part of the reason for the Church’s practice and decision was Paul’s explicit prohibition of a Passover meal in Church prior to the solemn occasion of partaking of the New Testament Passover symbols.

Based on the foregoing discussion, we conclude that the practice of the Church, as established under Mr. Armstrong, is to be upheld.

The Passover evening is one when we reflect on the supreme Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what He did for us; it also focuses on the terrible hours of His arrest, trial and subsequent death. The elaborate preparation and the eating of a “family” meal in Church [or even at home, see above] just prior to partaking of the Passover symbols does not seem to be appropriate for such a solemn, deeply meaningful and thought-provoking occasion. The preparation of an elaborate meal in Church [or at home] just prior to Passover would also mean added work and labor, especially for the ladies, forcing them to focus on physical matters such as time-consuming and elaborate cooking, thereby diverting their attention from the real spiritual meaning of the solemn New Testament Passover evening. As one lady said, “There would be no rest for the women and they would be so tired that the whole purpose would be in vain. We could not even reflect on the true meaning of the Passover night.”

In conclusion, the Church of the Eternal God and its corporate affiliates continue to adhere to the decade-long practice of the Worldwide Church of God, which was established under Mr. Armstrong, to conduct a Church service, on Passover evening, during which we participate in the footwashing ceremony and during which we partake of the symbols of bread and wine. At that time, we reflect on the supreme love and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, rather than allowing ourselves to be detracted by a family meal in Church, which would be accompanied by inherent dangers, as the example of the Corinthian Church has shown.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Our new booklet, “Is That in the Bible?–Man’s Holidays and God’s Holy Days” has been sent to the printer in Canada.

Several of Norbert Link’s video-taped sermons were posted this week on Google Video. They are:

“Bible Study–Pride Precedes Punishment” (March 15, 2008)

“Bible Study — Why Is God Angry?” (May 21, 2005)

A new StandingWatch program (#161)  has been posted on StandingWatch, Google Video and YouTube. It is titled, “New Seven Mortal Sins.” In the program, Norbert Link discusses the British Telegraph’s report on the Vatican’s announcement that there are seven new mortal or deadly sins–one of which is to pollute the earth. The paper’s statement continued that if the faithful don’t confess these sins to their priest and obtain forgiveness, they will be tortured in hell for all eternity. But is this what the Bible teaches? Are there mortal and not-so-mortal sins; is forgiveness obtained through confession to a priest; and is an ever-burning hellfire the fate of unrepentant sinners? The answers from God’s Holy Scriptures might surprise and shock you.

by Shelly Bruno

That’s a favorite saying of mine—one I use when I feel the appropriate moment arises. It’s my secret weapon. Something I find useful when I see a situation where someone is in doubt. It’s such a simple statement, but one that can wield a powerful impact. It can simply erase doubt.

I’ve been using it a lot on my husband lately. He’s interviewing for a new job and has experienced stress and consternation about it—worrying about what so-and-so might say or think, and doubting the outcome of the situation. “It’s not up to them,” I quickly submit. And I believe it. “They” aren’t in charge of the outcome, God is. And it’s easy for me to see that God will indeed control the results. I have no doubt.

That is, as long as the situation involves others.

Lately I’ve noticed that doubt is inserting itself into my own life. Creeping in here and there when I least expect it. Creating worries where there shouldn’t be any. And these worries, whether rational or not, have cast a serious shadow of doubt. How can I rid myself of it? What do I need to do? Is my secret weapon failing me?

Maybe I can’t really “do” anything. I can worry all day long but that won’t change a thing. I can, however, change where I put my faith. I can still believe “it’s not up to them,” but more importantly I should accept that it’s not entirely up to me, either. I have to let go of my own doubtfulness and turn my worries over to God.

So as I continue my crusade to erase doubt, I think I’ll change my secret weapon. “Me,” “them” or “they” don’t really matter, because ultimately, “it’s up to Him!”