“Why is President Bush So Popular in the U.S.?”
This is a question which is puzzling to most Europeans. Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 29, 2004, that President Bush seems to gain popularity in the U.S. “in spite of the debacle in Iraq.” The magazine speculated that part of the reason might be Mr. Bush’s uncompromising stance on things, “regardless of whether he is right or wrong.” In addition, it was pointed out that another reason, which might be somewhat related, is his “missionary zeal of a crusader.” He was quoted as saying that it is “the holy duty of the President” to defend the nation; and that he is only a “messenger who prays for strength to do the Work of the Lord.” The magazine concluded: “These words are no coincidence. How can one criticize the messenger of the Lord?”
The New York Times added the following comments in its article, published April 15:
“Compare Kennedy with Mr. Bush, who conceded no errors and warned that any Vietnam analogy with Iraq — in this acid flashback moment when 89 U.S. troops have been killed in two weeks and when McNarummy is forcing up to 20,000 troops to stay in Iraq — ‘sends the wrong message to our troops and sends the wrong message to the enemy.’
“He reiterated that his mission is dictated from above: ‘Freedom is the Almighty’s gift to every man and woman in this world.’
“Given the Saudi religious authority’s fatwa against our troops, and given that our marines are surrounding a cleric in the holy city of Najaf, we really don’t want to make Muslims think we’re fighting a holy war. That would only further inflame the Arab world and endanger our overstretched military…”
We have pointed out for quite a while that most recent events involving the United States of America, Great Britain, the Middle East, and continental Europe, are no coincidence, but in furtherance of God’s plan to bring about the end of our present civilization. To learn more about the historic importance of current events, please read our free booklets: “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”
Europe Ahead of the U.S.
As Der Spiegel Online reported on April 27, 2004, Europe has now acquired the sad reputation of being a bigger exporter of weapons than the U.S. While the U.S. has exported and sold weapons in 2003 in the amount of $4.4 billion (which constitutes 23.5 percent of the world’s weapons exports), the EU exported weapons in the amount of $4.7 billion (or 25 percent of the world’s weapons exports). More than 80 percent of the European exports originated in France, Germany and Great Britain.
With 37 percent of the world’s weapons exports, Russia has become the world’s biggest exporter of weapons, having become as powerful and influential as during Communist times, before the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Has Noah’s Ark Been Found?
On April 27, World Net Daily reported that “a team of scientists, archaeologists and forensic experts plan to climb Turkey’s Mt. Ararat this summer in quest of evidence that will prove they have discovered Noah’s Ark. Satellite photos taken last year at the height of a record-warm summer, give Daniel P. McGivern confidence he has discovered the biblical icon. ‘These new photos unequivocally show a man made object,’ McGivern told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington… The U.S. Air Force took the first photographs of the Mt. Ararat site in 1949, Space.com said. The images allegedly revealed what seemed to be a structure covered by ice, but were held for years in a confidential file labeled ‘Ararat Anomaly.’ The government released several of the images in 1997, but experts say they are inconclusive. McGivern’s expedition follows an attempt in 2002 by Porcher Taylor, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Taylor used satellite imagery of the area, but photos taken in 2003 by DigitalGlobe’s Quick Bird satellite provide a unique view because last summer was Europe’s hottest since 1500.”
The paper pointed out, too, that “there are many who believe Noah’s Ark has already been found on a site several kilometers from Mt. Ararat, and say it’s faithful to the Bible account which states in Genesis 8:4 the ark rested ‘upon the MOUNTAINS of Ararat,’ not mountain. The Turkish government has proclaimed it to be Noah’s Ark, and a visitor’s center is open there.”
The New Europe
As the Drudge Report pointed out on April 30, 2004, mass celebrations all over Europe took place to welcome 10 new European nations to the “European House.” It stated: “Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians celebrated their former communist country’s entry into the European Union with midnight parties in the streets of Budapest as the EU welcomed 10 new states on Saturday.
“Fireworks lit up the sky above Heroes’ Square in the Hungarian capital as the national anthem was played, followed by Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, which is the EU’s anthem.
“‘Hungary has returned to Europe and the values which Hungary has held dear for more than 1,000 years,’ Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy said as a gigantic eight-meter (25-foot) hourglass was turned over to begin marking the nation’s time in the EU.
“Hungarians had kicked off celebrations with the tolling of a flower-shaped bell at noon Friday and then took to the streets for evening parties.
“‘We are finally triumphing over our misfortunes,’ Medgyessy said at the bell ceremony. ‘Our integration (into the EU) can be a historic turning point.’
“‘We were the gates of Europe already but now we will be that from the inside,’ he said.”
AFP added the following comments: “Europe stood proudly reunited almost six decades after it was split in two by the Cold War, as 10 nations in eastern Europe and the Mediterranean took their places in the European Union. The once-communist states of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia officially joined the EU family at the stroke of midnight Central European summer time… Mediterranean islands Cyprus and Malta joined them as well, rounding out what is indisputably the world’s BIGGEST single economic bloc, and a fledgling political force, with a total population of 455 million. ‘For Europe, today [May 1, 2004] marks the closure of one chapter and the opening of another new and exciting chapter in its long history,’ said Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, whose nation holds the rotating EU presidency.”
The paper continued: “Poland, by far the biggest of the 10 newcomers, marked its EU entry with the hoisting of the blue, yellow-starred EU flag at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Warsaw. ‘Welcome to a united Europe,’ President Aleksander Kwasniewski said. ‘Dreams are becoming a reality.’ [Der Spiegel Online added that Kwasniewiski also said: “We can be proud that we are changing Europe.”] In Prague, on a stage bedecked with EU flags, Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla called EU accession ‘the end of a long and difficult journey’ that began with the Prague Spring rebellion against Soviet domination in 1968… Germany hailed the moment by turning Brandenburg Gate — scene of jubilant scenes in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down — into one large beer garden.”
Associated Press stated on April 30: “Hundreds of thousands of people across the ‘new Europe’ celebrated with street festivals in a jubilant countdown Friday to the European Union’s historic enlargement… when the EU becomes a potential economic and political POWERHOUSE of 25 nations and 450 million citizens.” The article quoted Hans Gert Poettering, a German politician who leads the conservative faction in the European Parliament, as saying that the enlargement is the “EU’s greatest political success,” and that “it means that for the first time in European history peace can be ensured for the long term.'”
Sadly, in spite of such enthusiastic and euphoric comments, the Bible predicts quite a different development of the European power bloc. We also read that when they say, “Peace, peace,” there will be no peace (compare Jeremiah 8:11).
On May 1, 2004, Associated Press reported: “Former Czech President Vaclav Havel, the playwright who led the Velvet Revolution that ended communist rule in 1989, urged his countrymen to become ‘self-confident citizens of Europe.’ Czechs awoke Saturday [May 1, 2004] as members of a bloc ‘that is not a result of wars, that is not based on the violent domination of some over others, but which was born, evolves, strengthens and expands out of the free will of European nations,’ Havel said in Prague.” The article continued: “‘It creates an expanded market of 450 million consumers which will increase prosperity, trade, investment and jobs throughout the enlarged Europe,’ British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in an article published Friday in The Times newspaper of London. Blair pointed out that Britain’s trade with the eight new members from eastern Europe has doubled in the past decade as they shook off the remnants of communism and opened up their economies.”
According to AP, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stated that “greater trade across the enlarged Europe” will make Germans “not poorer, but richer.” BILD Online added, on April 30, that Schroeder said that Germany’s export to new Europe is already bigger than its export to the United States.
Zenit reported on April 29 about a pilgrimage of Catholic bishops of the European continent to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the “spiritual capital of Europe.” They pointed out that “the profound roots of a united Europe stem from the Franco-German reconciliation.” In addressing the European unification, they stated: “We Christians are convinced that God is the Lord of history and has manifested his lordship by sending His son, who died on the cross to gather those who are scattered. Precisely at Easter, when we pray for the community, we are following the plan of God, who desires reconciliation.”
According to Die Welt, of April 17, 2004, the “Catholic bishops of Poland told the Polish people to contribute with a Christian spirit to the building of Europe.”
Europe will ultimately be united under the spiritual and religious leadership of the Catholic Church, as many Biblical passages clearly reveal.
Europe’s Babel Tower
euobserver.com reported on April 28, 2004, about the European problems to communicate with each other. The article pointed out that “a union of 25 member states [operates] in 20 official languages… In comparison, the UN has just six official languages.”
The article continued that there are “simply not enough people who are proficient in [for example] both Lithuanian and Spanish… The cost of the EU’s translation service is set to rise to around 800 million euro a year… In principle, the three working — as opposed to the 20 official — languages of the EU are French, German and English… English is the most spoken foreign language in the new member states, followed by Russian and German… Europe is set to keep its BABEL TOWER for the foreseeable future. From 1 May, the Germanic (German, English, Danish, Dutch, Swedish), Romance (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese)and Greek languages will be joined by the Slavic (Polish, Slovak, Czech, Slovenian) and Baltic (Latvian, Lithuanian) tongues. The Finns will at last get some Uralic company and no longer be the only one speaking a non Indio-European language — they will be joined by the Estonians and the Hungarians while the Maltese will sit in linguistic isolation… But that is not the end of it. In a few years, Bulgarian, Croatian and Romanian could be added to the list of official languages.”
The Fruits of War
As if the US and Britain weren’t causing themselves enough grief already, pictures of soldiers treating captured Iraqi prisoners in such a detestable manner have been broadcast all over the world. Memories are long in that part of the world, and it may well contribute to what will happen in the near future in the coming captivity of modern Israel: ” ‘And the LORD will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you’ ” (Deuteronomy 28:68).
On the BBC a military official said of the British soldiers who did these things that they “were not worthy of the Queen’s dress.” A similar protestation has arisen from President George Bush by his indication that this isn’t the way Americans conduct themselves. However, this is certainly a true and accurate reflection of the fruits of war. Sadly, it is also a commentary on human nature run amuck and a further reason why this world is rushing headlong into the vortex of worldwide turmoil.
AIDS — an Ongoing Curse!
Bild Online published on April 16 some disturbing statistics on Aids. It titled its article: “People die of AIDS as never before!” It pointed out: “In 2003, three million people died of AIDS… 40 million are infected with the HIV virus, including 25 million children and teens. In 2003 alone, more than 14,000 people were infected with the HIV virus on a daily basis.”
The paper stressed, too, that not only homosexuals or drug users are infected, but that every fifth infected person is heterosexual. It added: “Nearly every second newly infected person is between 15 and 24 years of age. 3 million die yearly of AIDS — that means, 8,400 human beings die each day.”
Evolution and the Truth!
Following protests from Italian students and the Catholic conference of bishops, the Italian government announced that Evolution would no longer be taught in Italian schools to pupils, aged of 13 or younger, according to Der Spiegel Online of April 19. This decision caused a flood of protests from “renowned scientists and Nobel prize recipients,” stating that this prohibition “damaged the scientific culture.” As Der Spiegel Online reported on May 2, 2004, this protest prompted the Italian government to reinstate the teaching of Evolution to school children younger than 13.
The original protests by the students of the governmental party AGAINST Evolution were voiced in February, when a week-long anti-Evolution seminar was conducted, titled, “Evolution — a fairy tale for schools.” Pietro Cerullo, representative of the governmental party, had declared: “Darwin’s theory is important for the left. It developed when positivism existed in Europe, the forerunner of Marxism.”
The concept of Evolution is indeed false and unbiblical. The pressure and influence from scientists and other Nobel prize recipients cannot change the fact that the theory of Evolution is unproved and improvable — that it is, in fact, highly unscientific and IN OPPOSITION to established scientific facts. Please read our free booklet, “Evolution — a Fairy Tale for Adults.”
