Update 504

This phrase is batted about by people who make a claim to Christianity, yet have no biblical concept of what they are actually saying or how to achieve that goal. For openers, being a true Christian requires a calling from God. One cannot just decide on the spur of the moment at some evangelical assembly, to become a Christian by “giving one’s heart to the Lord.”

By definition, a true Christian is one in whom God’s Holy Spirit dwells, and who follows its lead. There are steps and a process to follow. One is called; repents, that is, turns away from sin; believes in Jesus Christ’s Sacrifice and the gospel of the Kingdom of God; and is baptized. We read in Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

Even the Holy Spirit just does not fall upon someone at repentance, but hands must be laid on the person after the baptism, and this must not be done by just anyone, but only by one of God’s true ministers.

Acts 8:18 tells us: “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money.” Notice, it was by the laying on of the apostles’ hands that the Holy Spirit was received.

Christ said it was possible to worship Him in vain, as Mark 7:6-7 points out: “He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. AND IN VAIN THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.”’”

Notice again, the ones who were worshipping God in vain knew who God was and what He requires of us; that is, they apparently kept the Sabbath and the Holy Days, but their worship became in vain because they added so many petty regulations which were unnecessary, and they abrogated other godly commandments, such as the injunction to honor our parents. They had added man-made provisions, putting obstacles in the righteous path, so it became burdensome, and they had “liberalized” certain godly commandments, declaring them to be superfluous.

Religions of this world are following the god of this world, Satan the devil (Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4). We know that this situation will be corrected once Christ returns to this earth, removes Satan and reveals the truth to mankind on what is acceptable worship to God.

But what about all so-called Christian churches? If they don’t teach and observe God’s commandments and accept the biblical truth as to who and what God is, they are following Satan’s deceptions—even though in many cases, they are not even aware of it. For instance, the Bible does not support Sunday worship or the keeping of Christmas, Easter and the rest of pagan-based holidays, which only steer away from the true God and His plan for mankind.

We are either true and believing, or nominal and professing Christians. By our fruits we will be known. What kind of a Christian are you?

In this edition, we report about the worldwide lack of true leadership, including in the USA and Europe; the historic and unprecedented downgrading of the US credit ratings and its worldwide consequences, prompting papers to ask whether the end of America has come; the equally unprecedented loss of American troops in Afghanistan; and Iran’s intentions to launch a cyber-attack on America.

We continue with an article explaining how the allies stood idly by when the Berlin Wall was erected; speak of the ongoing violent riots in Great Britain; and conclude with comments on the mass murder in Norway and an appalling report of so-called Christian scholars rejecting the Bible account on Adam and Eve.

“A World Crying Out for Strong Leadership”

The Daily Mail wrote on August 8:

“Over the past month, even an economic illiterate with half a brain could have seen this economic meltdown coming… A woeful lack of leadership across the Western world is making a perilous situation worse. Markets hate uncertainty and they sense no one is in control.

“German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy are in denial about the true scale of the debt problem. The International Monetary Fund, which is supposed to enforce austerity measures on recalcitrant nations, is paralysed. First its boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned over lurid rape allegations, now his successor Christine Lagarde (who is not a trained economist) is embroiled in a corruption inquiry.

“Italy’s clownish premier Silvio Berlusconi has allowed his nation’s debt to reach 120 per cent of GDP… and Spain is blighted by impotence pending an election next month.

“President Obama, having thrown a trillion dollars into a failed bid to stimulate growth, has largely retreated to the White House and seems interested only in being re-elected. And here [in Great Britain], our political masters… ignored the crisis for weeks before the Commons broke for summer…

“The situation cries out for leadership – for someone with foresight and willpower to take the initiative…”

Sadly, the Daily Mail and other papers don’t realize what they are asking for, because a strong leader will arise very soon in Europe… but with terrible consequences for the entire world… But as the next article shows, leaders such as President Obama are no longer respected. His attempt to calm investors back-fired badly, showing a total lack of confidence in his leadership.

President Obama Speaks, and the U.S. Markets Dive…

The Washington Post reported on August 8:

“President Obama sought to reassure jittery investors… [He] spoke after markets worldwide plunged Monday, as intensifying fears about the global economy drove panicked selling in the United States, Europe and Asia. The markets continued to dive after Obama’s address, a sell-off that amounted to Wall Street’s worst day since the throes of the 2008 financial crisis…

“Immediately following Obama’s remarks, U.S. markets continued to lose ground. As he began speaking, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 426 points… At day’s end, the Dow had plunged 635 points…”

Lowering USA’s Top Credit Rating… What Does It All Mean?

The Associated Press wrote on August 7:

“Standard & Poor’s has taken the unprecedented step of lowering the top credit rating that the U.S. has held for nearly a century… The ratings agency downgraded its rating on the federal government’s long-term debt one level from the top AAA grade to AA+.

“Long-term debt includes notes and bonds that come due in more than one year. They have terms ranging from two to 30 years. Short-term debt includes Treasury bills that have terms ranging from a few days to 52 weeks. The rating on the government’s short-term debt was not downgraded. Of the $9.4 billion in publicly traded U.S. government debt, 72% is long-term…

“[The] downgrade is a warning to buyers of bonds and other debt that the chance that they won’t get their money back has increased, however slightly…The 10-year Treasury note is considered the basis for all other interest rates, so higher rates on that and other long-term U.S. debt could lead to borrowing costs on everything from mortgages to car loans. That would also make it more expensive for state and local governments, companies and consumers to borrow money…

“The spending cuts Democrats and Republicans agreed on were relatively modest. More difficult, comprehensive cuts were pushed to the future. S&P also notes that the possibility of new revenue, for instance from tax increases, appears more remote than before. The rancor around the agreement also made it more clear how far apart Democrats and Republicans are… The two other major agencies [Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch Ratings] haven’t taken action yet…

“The S&P has given the U.S. a AAA rating since 1941. The U.S… has only faced the threat of a downgrade once. In 1995, when Bill Clinton was president, a similar default loomed and the credit rating agencies warned of a downgrade. At the time, the country had $4.9 trillion in debt — nearly $10 trillion less than now. Once Congress resolved that debt crisis a year later, the credit agencies removed their warning…

“Britain, Germany, Australia, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Finland are among those that have the top rating… Analysts say it could be tough for the U.S. to regain the AAA rating soon especially given its current economic challenges. S&P officials implied that it will take years to see a meaningful change in the U.S. fiscal situation and in the government’s ability to cut the budget.”

For a full and unbiased analysis of America’s horrible economic situation, and why we ever got there, please view our StandingWatch program, “USA—A Nation Without Understanding.”

Further Downgrades Coming…?

Newsmax and Reuters reported on August 7:

“Standard & Poor’s Managing Director John Chambers said Sunday there is a 1-in-3 chance of a further U.S. credit rating downgrade over the next six months to two years… Meanwhile, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he expects the stock market slide to continue… [He] said the downgrade ‘hit a nerve’ and is damaging to the psyche of the country…”

Greenspan also said that there is no possibility that the USA will ever go bankrupt and unable to pay their bills, as they can always print more money. What he failed to mention is that the more money is being printed, the less its value will become. Many in Germany, for example, remember the time of inflation after World War I, when Germans could not even buy a loaf of bread for 1 million Reichsmarks.

China Pleads for New Global Reserve Currency

Newsmax and Reuters reported on August 6:

“China said Washington only had itself to blame… [It] roundly condemned the United States for its ‘debt addiction’ and ‘short sighted’ political wrangling and said the world needed a new stable global reserve currency. ‘China, the largest creditor of the world’s sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets,’ the Xinhua commentary said.

“It urged the United States to cut military and social welfare expenditure. It also said further credit downgrades would very likely undermine the world economic recovery and trigger new rounds of financial turmoil… British business minister Vince Cable backed China’s call for a new stable global reserve currency but said that for the moment the U.S. dollar remained key.”

But the U.S. Dollar won’t remain key for long. Surprising as it may sound, especially in light of the current Eurozone crisis, the Bible shows that the euro will become the world’s strongest currency.

China Not Immune

Deutsche Welle reported on August 8:

“China, Russia and India, three countries plagued by widespread poverty and famine in the 20th century, are now among the 12 largest economic powers… But even these emerging nations are susceptible to the turbulence in the international financial markets… The greatest danger for emerging markets lies where domestic markets are dominated by foreign investments… inflation is on the rise and an overhyped market threatens.

“‘I can only warn of Chinese stock,’ said Vincent Strauss, manager of the Magellan Fund.  He told Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday edition that he did not believe China would manage to get a grip on inflation. ‘The country is overinvested,’ he said… ‘China is an accident waiting to happen,’ Strauss said…

“Europe and the US are flooding the markets with capital that pushes inflation in the emerging markets. As a result, these nations are forced to raise interest rates, a move that puts the brakes on growth… A look at the stock indexes in select emerging nations shows how growth has declined as a result of its dependency on crisis-ridden global markets: in China, key stock has dropped 6.5 percent in value since the beginning of the year while Poland, Taiwan and Turkey recorded double-digit losses. With a loss of 15.6 percent, India ranks second behind Brazil with a minus of 23.6 percent.”

Is This the End of America?

On August 7, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote:

“Those who believe in the decline of the United States of America now have another date to refer to: Aug. 5, 2011 — the day when America’s credit rating was downgraded. The US now has to deal with a blow that, in addition to its direct financial consequences, is of historical significance… On top of that, its political system is unable to cope with today’s challenges. Is this the beginning of the end of the US as a superpower?

“It is to be hoped that the downgrade leads to an end of the political blockade and causes the budgetary and financial policy objectives and priorities of the president and Congress to converge. For that to happen, however, the US will need a president who can really lead and not just give nice speeches. … The decisions that the president, Congress and voters make will also determine how long the US can continue to hold the pole position in world politics. The US will surely not give up its claim to the leadership role, but it will no longer have the resources, or the will to deploy those resources, which it needs in order to enforce its leadership everywhere.”

America’s leadership is ending. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Fiscal Armageddon

Moneynews.com reported on August 9:

“The United States is quickly approaching a fiscal Armageddon and the players in Washington — specifically Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke — don’t understand what is happening or know what [to] do about it, world renowned investor and author Jim Rogers tells Newsmax.TV. The chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc. predicted more problems in the financial markets in the next few years and said any halt in the decline of stocks was just a ‘temporary bottom.’ He said that while America was not at the brink of a fiscal Armageddon right now, the nation is likely to default on its obligations in the future…

“‘It is astonishing America is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world…’ Rogers said… [He also mentioned] that despite what economists say, the country has not left the recession and a depression could happen… Rogers does not see the United States getting its triple-A bond rating back in his lifetime and thought a default of some type was inevitable.”

More Bad News for the USA—Deadly Loss for American Troops in Afghanistan

USA Today wrote on August 6:

“Insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite unit as the Navy SEALs who killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden… It was the deadliest single loss for American forces in the decade-old war against the Taliban. The downing, in which seven Afghan commandos were also killed, was a stinging blow to the lauded, tight-knit SEAL Team 6 months after its crowning achievement. It was also a heavy setback for the U.S.-led coalition as it begins to draw down thousands of combat troops fighting what has become an increasingly costly and unpopular war.

“None of the 22 SEAL personnel killed in the crash were part of the team that killed bin Laden in a May raid in Pakistan, but they belonged to the same unit…The strike is also likely to boost the morale of the Taliban in a key province that controls a strategic approach to the capital Kabul… The deaths bring to 365 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan and 42 this month.”

Reuters added on August 11:

“A roadside bomb killed five American troops in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the U.S. military said, less than a week after American forces suffered their worst single loss of the Afghan war when Taliban insurgents shot down a helicopter… At least 50 foreign troops have been killed so far in August.

“Violence is at its worst in Afghanistan since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001, with record civilian casualties and high levels of foreign troop deaths during the first half of 2011.”

No matter what America is doing these days, all seems to go wrong. We should be able to see clearly that God has withdrawn His blessings from our nation. The reasons should be plain, when considering what the Bible says about righteous and unrighteous lifestyles.

Iran Plans Cyber Attack Against USA

WorldNetDaily wrote on August 7:

“Iran is planning to retaliate against the United States for the sabotage against its nuclear program, according to an editorial in the Kayhan newspaper, the mouthpiece of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei… Specifically, Iran is looking into launching a cyber attack against U.S. electrical grid systems.

“Iranian officials are furious over the July 23 assassination of nuclear scientist Dariush Rezai-Nejad, who was working on electric detonators for the Iranian nuclear program, which can be used on missiles or nuclear bombs. He was the third Iranian nuclear scientist assassinated since 2009… The frustration over acts of sabotage started with the computer virus Stuxnet in which 1,000 of Iran’s centrifuges at the Natanzs nuclear facility were destroyed and had to be replaced. The virus also attacked the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which has resulted in repeated delays in it joining the country’s power grid…

“The editorial accuses the Americans, with the help of Israelis and Germans, of creating the Stuxnet virus to attack the Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities… Earlier this year Iranian officials announced that Iran’s cyber war campaign would be activated under the Passive Defense Organization of Iran, which openly recruited hackers who would support the goals and ideals of the radicals ruling Iran…

“According to reports from the U.S. Department of Energy, America’s power grid remains vulnerable to cyber attack, a result of slow implementation of computer security standards. A successful cyber attack on the North American power grid systems could disrupt the economy and possibly create a national trauma.”

How the Allies Betrayed Germany…

On August 8, 2011, Der Spiegel Online re-published an article from August 23, 1961, describing how the Western allies failed to prevent the building of the Berlin Wall. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“East Germany began building the Berlin Wall on Aug. 13, 1961. A scathing article published by SPIEGEL 10 days later captures the outrage of West Berliners’ over the Allies’ failure to intervene. As the 50th anniversary of the barrier’s construction approaches, we revisit our archive… Originally published on Aug. 23, 1961, this article from the DER SPIEGEL archive was originally entitled, ‘City Commanders: They Didn’t Hear a Thing’…

“Both the border crisis and the crisis of trust began almost simultaneously — in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, Berlin’s Black Sunday, when Soviet Army tanks rolled towards the sector borders and the Western powers were hardly able to conceal their lack of concern for the latest Berlin crisis. The American, English and French militaries took little notice of Ulbricht’s gathering troops… Certainly the Allied passivity can’t be explained by the claim that they were surprised by Ulbricht’s swift attack. Indeed, the opposite is true. Already 48 hours ahead of the Soviet march on the sector border, all American forces in Berlin had been ordered to maintain a heightened state of alert… In fact, the American military mission at the Soviet supreme command in Potsdam was able to tell the American headquarters in Heidelberg of the troop movements already on Aug. 7…

“The disappointment of the embittered Berliners over the tepid reaction of their Western protectors grew so great that last Wednesday — 88 hours after the transformation of the Soviet zone into a concentration camp — special security measures were implemented to control the protest rally arranged by West Berliner Senator for the Interior Joachim Lipschitz at the Schöneberg district town hall. Some 12,000 West Berlin police were ordered to use water cannons and rubber truncheons to stop demonstrations that cropped up at Potsdamer Platz, the Brandenburg Gate and even at the American headquarters in the district of Zehlendorf.

“Once again, popular speaker [and subsequent German chancellor] Willy Brandt was unable to conceal his disappointment in the Allies’ complacency in front of the masses. ‘Today I openly expressed our thoughts in a letter to the President of the United States, John Kennedy,’ the mayor said. But this letter contains such harsh criticism that neither the West Berlin Senate, nor Washington deemed its publication opportune…

“Meanwhile, Ulbricht’s functionaries in East Berlin are showing the first symptoms of unbridled arrogance. ‘Have you heard that Brandt called for help from the Allies?’ East Berlin’s star propagandist and television host Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler recently asked his viewers. Answering his own question, he said: ‘Yes, I heard, but the Allies didn’t.’”

This is truly a shameful report on the Allies’ unwillingness to prevent the erection of the Berlin Wall. Now the Berlin Wall is no longer in existence (but it did not come down because of American or British action; in fact, originally, all of the American, British and Russian leaders tried to prevent the unification of Germany), but the memory of many Germans remains in what they would describe as the betrayal of their Western Allies, especially America and Britain.

Germany Proposes Unelected ‘Stability Council’ for EU

The EUObserver wrote on August 10:

“Germany has proposed the creation of a new EU ‘overseer’ that would crack the whip and impose sanctions on countries that do not adhere to rigid budget discipline and pro-business labour policies. The country’s economy minister, Philipp Roesler, on Tuesday (10 August) told reporters that the bloc should create a new EU institution, a ‘stability council’, of unelected supervisors that would ensure member states that stick to budget temperance and limit debt and keep in check debt growth.

“This council should be given the power to slap sanctions on countries to ensure they cut their deficits and monitor use of financial assistance… The stability council would be independent of voters so as to avoid “political pressure” and could impose sanctions automatically. Roesler said that Germany would be bringing the proposal to the next meeting of EU finance ministers.”

This proposal, if adopted, comes closer and closer to what the Bible says will ultimately happen in Europe—a non-elected “official” will be given unrestrained power and authority by ten core European nations or groups of nations.

Riots in Great Britain

The Associated Press reported on August 7:

“New unrest erupted on north London’s streets late Sunday, a day after rioting and looting in a deprived area amid community anger over a fatal police shooting [of Mark Duggan, a black man]… The violence has cast a pall over a city preparing to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

“‘I hope people will have a fantastic Olympics no matter what happened last night,’ London Mayor Boris Johnson said in a telephone interview with BBC television, trying to assure the world his city was safe. Others weren’t so sure, suggesting that the riots had exposed incipient tensions at a time of sharp public sector cutbacks and economic uncertainty.

“‘This is just a glimpse into the abyss,’ former Metropolitan Police Commander John O’Connor told Sky News. ‘Someone’s pulled the clock back and you can look and see what’s beneath the surface. And what with the Olympic Games coming up, this doesn’t bode very well for London’…

“Tottenham has a history of unrest. It was the site of the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots, a series of clashes that led to the savaging stabbing of a police officer and the wounding of nearly 60 others – brutally underscoring tensions between London’s police and the capital’s black community…”

“Riots Reveal the Decay of British Society”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on August 10:

“After the fourth night of riots in England, observers are asking what is behind the wave of violence. German commentators argue that the unrest reflects a deep-seated malaise at the heart of British society. Britain is searching for answers after four consecutive nights of riots that have shocked the country and led to hundreds of arrests.

“Prime Minister David Cameron, who cut short his vacation in Italy in reaction to this week’s violence, was due to chair a meeting of Cobra, the British government’s emergency council, on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed. He has recalled the British parliament, which will meet on Thursday to discuss the rioting, the worst violence of its kind in Britain since race riots in the 1980s.

“London was relatively quiet on Tuesday night, following the deployment of around 16,000 police in trouble spots around the city. Many businesses closed early on Tuesday amid fears of unrest. Violence spread to an increasing number of towns and cities around England, however, including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, where groups of young men in hooded tops looted shops and set fire to cars and buildings. In one of the most serious incidents, a police station in Nottingham was firebombed. Violence was also reported in Wolverhampton, Leicester, Bristol and Gloucester…

“The authorities have been shocked by the scale of the rioting. ‘This has been senseless on a scale I have never witnessed before in my career,’ commented Garry Shewan, assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester police…

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… In no other country in Europe is inequality as cemented in society as in the United Kingdom… The riots are in no way a purely British problem. There is social distress all across Europe…’

“The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘… Yes, miserable social conditions can be miserable, but they are no justification for lawlessness. The police must not give the streets over to the rioters. The politicians, who are responsible for the police, should at least consider whether the “softly-softly” approach of the British police is appropriate — or an invitation to brutal street criminality’…

“The financial daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘The riots reveal fundamental societal problems that extend far beyond London and England… The riots reveal the decay of society at its edges, brought on by deeply cemented inequality, the erosion of social norms, great frustration and a lack of opportunity for the lower class… The riots show that some people simply take pleasure in violence, which they engage in without inhibitions when given the opportunity.’

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘… The British elite has systematically compromised itself in recent years. They claimed to be a role model, or at least trustworthy. In the economic crisis the financial establishment declared bankruptcy, and British politicians became mired in the expenses scandal of 2009. Then this year the media and politicians have been damaged by the Murdoch scandal. When the country’s elites don’t take the law seriously, why should we? No question is more dangerous for a society.’

“The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘The country has lost faith in every authority: the banks, politicians, the media, the police. The corruption has reached even the smallest unit — the family. There is a generation growing up without values of any kind…’

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘The unrest in London is a form of hooliganism by losers who are living in a society which no longer has anything left to offer losers. Among the arsonists are people who no longer possess any values. They’ve gotten used to drawing money from the state and they complain when the handouts stop coming as generously as they did in the past. This is a problem that, within the foreseeable future, many more Europeans are going to be confronted with, including many young people. This is because most European countries have been living far beyond their means… In part, the peace in Europe of the past 66 years has also been bought through increasingly generous welfare states. But those days are over. The strength of Europe’s democracy will now be measured based on how sustainably societies change their values to reflect that reality.’”

It’s Race!

The Telegraph wrote on August 10:

“What colour is Mark Duggan?… finally, Toby Young’s Telegraph blog post on the riots was published [explaining that Mark Duggan was black]. Is Toby Young the only  journalist out there who will dare say that these riots are about race? Still, one paper did carry a photo of Mr Duggan. When I saw the photo, it confirmed what I knew instinctively: black youths once again have set London alight.

“Some of the black kids I used to teach will tell you that the riots are absolutely justified. A number of adults would agree with them. Everywhere I read that the protest was understandable because ‘people are very angry’. I’d like to know what they’re angry about. Mark Duggan is dead. He was shot by the police in a shootout. Duggan was in a minicab and shots were fired from both the cab and the police elsewhere. A police officer was hurt in the incident and a bullet was found lodged in a police radio.

“Either Duggan was shooting at the police or the driver of the minicab was. Either Duggan was in the wrong place at the wrong time and his death is a terrible tragedy – he was caught in the crossfire – or he shot at the police and the police defended themselves. Whatever the explanation, the police did not kill this man in cold blood…

“[A policeman] explained that about 80 per cent of gun crime took place in the black community… Then he told me that 80 per cent was black on black gun crime, and that of the remaining 20 per cent about 75 per cent involved at least one black person: black shooting white, or white shooting black… on the whole the whites who were involved in these shootings tended to be from Eastern Europe.

“… the news about the Tottenham riots doesn’t mention race… Problems cannot be addressed unless people are willing to tell the truth. As with so many other things in this country, we stick our heads in the sand and refuse to speak out about it.”

Britain Lost Her Values…

The Daily Mail wrote on August 11:

“So now the chickens have well and truly come home terrifyingly to roost. The violent anarchy that has taken hold of British cities is the all-too-predictable outcome of a three-decade liberal experiment which tore up virtually every basic social value. The married two-parent family, educational meritocracy, punishment of criminals, national identity, enforcement of the drugs laws and many more fundamental conventions were all smashed by a liberal intelligentsia hell-bent on a revolutionary transformation of society…

“Clearly, there is some as yet unidentified direction and co-ordination behind the anarchy. But what is so notable and distressing is that, after the first day when adults were clearly involved, this mayhem has been carried out in the main by teenagers and children, some as young as eight. The idea that they should not steal other people’s property, or beat up and rob passers-by, appears to be as weird and outlandish to them as the suggestion that they should fly to the moon.

“These youths feel absolutely entitled to go ‘on the rob’ and steal whatever they want. Indeed, they are incredulous that anyone should suggest they might pass up such an opportunity. What has been fuelling all this is not poverty, as has so predictably been claimed, but moral collapse. What we have been experiencing is a complete breakdown of civilised behaviour among children and young people.

“… at the very heart of these problems lies the breakdown of the family. For most of these children come from lone-mother households. And the single most crucial factor behind all this mayhem is the willed removal of the most important thing that socialises children and turns them from feral savages into civilised citizens: a father who is a fully committed member of the family unit… successive generations are being brought up only by mothers, through whose houses pass transitory males by whom these women have yet more children — and who inevitably repeat the pattern of lone and dysfunctional parenting…

“And this breaking of the family was further condoned, rewarded and encouraged by the Welfare State, which conceives of need solely in terms of absence of money, and which accordingly subsidises lone parenthood and the destructive behaviour that fatherlessness brings in its train… All of this was compounded still further by the disaster of multiculturalism… That meant children were no longer taught about the nation in which they lived, and about its culture…

“In similar vein, all criminal wrongdoing was excused on the basis that the criminal couldn’t help himself, as he was the victim of circumstances such as poverty, unemployment, or as yet illusory cuts in public spending. The human rights of the criminal became seen as more important than the safety and security of his victims. Punishment became a dirty word…

“Britain was once an ordered society that was the envy of the world… Can Broken Britain be put together again?… Repairing this terrible damage also means, dare I say it, a return to the energetic transmission of Biblical morality. When church leaders… start preaching, once again, the moral concepts that underlie our civilisation, and when our political leaders decide to oppose the culture war that has been waged against that civilisation rather than supinely acquiescing in its destruction, then — and only then — will we start to get to grips with this terrible problem.

“Until then, within the smouldering embers of our smashed and burned-out cities, we can only look upon the ruins of the Britain we have so dearly loved; the Britain that once led the world towards civilisation, but is now so tragically leading the way out.”

To preach and live the true biblical values is indeed the only way to success. But there is little hope that prior to the Great Tribulation, Britain will return to the God of the Bible whom they have forsaken.

World Reacts With Shock

Mail On Line wrote on August 10:

“The world’s media reacted with shock and horror to the riots that have swept Britain, with London portrayed as ‘a lawless city’. The story made front pages around the globe, and was among the top items on TV news shows in dozens of countries.

“Germany led the way, with Der Spiegel magazine comparing London to the capital of Somalia. ‘The television images dominating screens this week could be right out of Mogadishu,’ it wrote… In newspapers, TZ in Munich asked: ‘What has gone wrong with Britain? Like the Sex Pistols said, it truly is anarchy in the UK.’

“The tabloid Bild summed up the feelings of many with the headline: ‘Chaos reigns in London!’ On its website, other stories were titled ‘England in flames’ and ‘London’s night of horror’.

“Many looked ahead to next summer, with the respected Süddeutsche Zeitung warning that ‘fears are concentrated on the Olympics’. Countries including Canada and Australia were left stunned that the kind of unrest seen in Greece and France had befallen Britain…”

God has prophesied that Great Britain will be severely punished because of unrighteous violent and immoral conduct. For an in-depth analysis of Great Britain’s society in the light of biblical prophecy, please view our recent StandingWatch program, “Britain’s Watergate Scandal…Why?”

“Global Warming Link to Drowned Polar Bears Melts…”

Human Events wrote on August 11:

“Polar bears drowning in an Alaskan sea because the ice packs are melting—it’s the iconic image of the global warming debate. But the validity of the science behind the image—presented as an ignoble testament to our environment in peril by Al Gore in his film An Inconvenient Truth—is now part of a federal investigation that has the environmental community on edge.
 
“Special agents from the Interior Department’s inspector general’s office are questioning the two government scientists about the paper they wrote on drowned polar bears, suggesting mistakes were made in the math and as to how the bears actually died, and the department is eyeing another study currently underway on bear populations.
 
“Biologist Charles Monnett, the lead scientist on the paper, was placed on administrative leave July 18.  Fellow biologist Jeffrey Gleason, who also contributed to the study, is being questioned, but has not been suspended.”

Oslo’s Mass Murderer Not a Christian

Newsmax reported on July 30:

“Bill O’Reilly was not pleased with the New York Times’ labeling of Anders Behring Brevik, the 32-year-old mass murderer who took at least 76 innocent lives as a ‘Christian Extremist.’ In his column, he notes that the ‘killer is not attached to any church, has no history of Christian activity, has openly criticized the Protestant philosophy, and has committed acts counter to all Christian teaching.’

“’Anders Brevik did not kill in the name of Jesus,’ O’Reilly argues. ‘… He is simply a murderer… anything that diminishes Christianity is fair game to be promoted. Every newsworthy sin committed by a Christian is highlighted with a sneering reference to hypocrisy…’”

For a full, fair and correct analysis of the mass murders in Oslo, please view our StandingWatch program, “What’s Behind the Norway Massacres?”

Christian Scholars Reject the Bible

NPR wrote on August 9:

“According to the Bible (Genesis 2:7), this is how humanity began: ‘The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.’ God then called the man Adam, and later created Eve from Adam’s rib. Polls by Gallup and the Pew Research Center find that four out of 10 Americans believe this account. It’s a central tenet for much of conservative Christianity, from evangelicals to confessional churches such as the Christian Reformed Church.

“But now some conservative scholars are saying publicly that they can no longer believe the Genesis account. Asked how likely it is that we all descended from Adam and Eve, Dennis Venema, a biologist at Trinity Western University, replies: ‘That would be against all the genomic evidence that we’ve assembled over the last 20 years, so not likely at all.’ Venema says there is no way we can be traced back to a single couple. He says with the mapping of the human genome, it’s clear that modern humans emerged from other primates as a large population — long before the Genesis time frame of a few thousand years ago…

“Venema is a senior fellow at BioLogos Foundation, a Christian group that tries to reconcile faith and science… And Venema is part of a growing cadre of Christian scholars who say they want their faith to come into the 21st century. Another one is John Schneider, who taught theology at Calvin College in Michigan until recently. He says it’s time to face facts: There was no historical Adam and Eve, no serpent, no apple, no fall that toppled man from a state of innocence.

“‘Evolution makes it pretty clear that in nature, and in the moral experience of human beings, there never was any such paradise to be lost,’ Schneider says. ‘So Christians, I think, have a challenge, have a job on their hands to reformulate some of their tradition about human beginnings.’

“To many evangelicals, this is heresy. ‘From my viewpoint, a historical Adam and Eve is absolutely central to the… claims of the Christian faith,’ says Fazale Rana, vice president of Reasons To Believe, an evangelical think tank that questions evolution. Rana… has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Ohio University… Rana and others believe in a literal, historical Adam and Eve for many reasons. One is that the Genesis account makes man unique, created in the image of God — not a descendant of lower primates. Second, it tells a story of how evil came into the world, and it’s not a story in which God introduced evil through the process of evolution, but one in which Adam and Eve decided to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit.”

Of course, the Genesis account is accurate, and those who deny it while adopting the “god of Evolution” are called “fools” in the Bible. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults?”

A new StandingWatch program was posted on our Web site (www.standingwatch.org) and on YouTube, titled, “USA–A Nation Without Understanding.” When we raised the debt ceiling to an unprecedented amount, we only pushed off the day of reckoning. We have become a laughing stock and an embarrassment to the rest of the world. The Bible strongly condemns what we are doing, and it also shows us why we are a nation void of right counsel.

Our new booklet, “Germany in Prophecy” was received from our printer and will be sent out in the USA and Canada next week with our new monthly member letter. Booklets were also sent from the USA to our British office for distribution.

Norbert Link’s video-recorded sermon, “How To Recognize Sin,” was posted on YouTube and on our Web site (www.standingwatch.org).

A new German sermon was posted on the Web, titled, “Saudi Arabien in der Bibel, Teil 1.”

Please feel free to proceed with making reservations for the Feast of Tabernacles 2011 with the Hilton Garden Inn at 601 James Way, Pismo Beach, CA 93449. When you call under 1-805-773-6020, please make sure that you mention that you are attending the Feast convention of the Church of the Eternal God. Further information is available on our Web site (www.eternalgod.org), under “Feasts.”

by Shelly Bruno

Lately, my thoughts often turn to the Feast of Tabernacles. Celebrating the Feast has always been a highlight of my year—a sort of pivotal point. As a kid, it usually meant a wonderful time spent with family and friends, and the exhilarating trip to Toys R Us with a one hundred dollar bill (that equals a lot of Barbie accessories, by the way). Although I’m anxious for the Feast this year, I’m trying to refrain from rushing the days away to get there.

My new goal is to use each day to the best of my ability. Some days seem to rush by: get up, make breakfast, get dressed, run errands, make dinner, and go to bed. Next day: repeat. Of late I’ve wondered what I’ve accomplished each day. Some days it feels like little more than existing. But I can do better. I need to do better.

This thought process has taken me even further. There is a much more meaningful point in my future: the time I hope to enter God’s Family. I know how many days are left before we celebrate the Feast, but I don’t know how many days I have left as a physical person. If I fail to use each day I’m given to grow, mature and prepare, then I won’t be ready. While I’m eager to enter God’s Family, I don’t have control of that timeframe. What I do control is focusing on my spiritual growth each day.

While I work on perfecting my new goal, I hope to get a lot of practice. The Feast is just 63 days away, and that’s a deadline I can put on the calendar with great anticipation. As I check those days off, I need to live and expect that entering God’s Family is not far beyond that—the ultimate pivot point.