On March 26, 2016, Kalon Mitchell will present the sermonette, titled, “How Do We Love God?,” and Norbert Link will present the sermon, titled, “What’s Next for America and Europe?”

The live services are available, over video and audio, at http://eternalgod.org/live-services/ (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time; 8:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time; 9:30 pm Central European Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

One of my favorite Scriptures about the Millennium which shows what conditions will exist in Jerusalem in the future, is in the eighth chapter of the book of Zechariah, verses 3-5:

“Thus says the LORD: ‘I will return to Zion, And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, The Mountain of the LORD of hosts, The Holy Mountain.’  Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Old men and old women shall again sit In the streets of Jerusalem, Each one with his staff in his hand Because of great age. The streets of the city Shall be full of boys and girls Playing in its streets.'”

Christ promises here that He will return to Jerusalem, and we also get a glimpse of conditions there when old men and women will sit in the streets and young boys and girls will play there without fear of harm.

What a contrast as to what we see there today, with terrorists attacking citizens, setting off bombs which kill innocent men, women and also children, while young Palestinians are not only taught to hate the Jews, but also, how to stab them to death.

Things will only get worse until the return of Christ, when a new mindset will be instilled in people, causing totally different conditions.

Jeremiah 30:18-20 tells us:

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, And have mercy on his dwelling places; The city shall be built upon its own mound, And the palace shall remain according to its own plan. Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.  Their children also shall be as before, And their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all who oppress them.”

Eventually, there will be peace in the region which has been impossible to achieve under the current rulers in the area, because of the absolute hatred for the Jews and the desire of some of the surrounding Arab nations to completely annihilate the state of Israel.

But this will change, as we read in Jeremiah 31:33-34:

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

For conditions to improve in the Middle East, a change of heart and attitude is needed for all the nations in the area, and then, and only then, will there be peace in that part of the world, and in all countries. Let us pray that those wonderful days are not too far in the future.

We begin with a Russian warning hinting at a coming nuclear war in Europe (which, sadly, will indeed occur in the future), speak on Russia’s desire to complete the building of an historic bridge between Crimea and Russia (which has been a long-time dream and ambition of Russian leaders); and point out that in accordance with some strategists, the employ of more than 450,000 Western soldiers would be needed to prevent a chaos in the Middle East (The Bible predicts that a huge European military intervention will occur soon.)

We continue with disturbing accounts on Israel’s involvement in toppling Egypt’s president Morsi and President Obama’s controversial accusations that the current Libyan crisis was caused by European leaders, especially David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy.

We report on the troublesome popularity of Germany’s right-wing anti-migrant party AfD (Alternative for Germany), and of Geert Wilders, the Dutch leader of the right-wing anti-immigration Freedom Party.

We quote the most recent unintelligible comments by Pope Francis pertaining to the European migrant crises, and we discuss extensively the deal reached between the EU and Turkey, which many observers feel is not only immoral, but also patently illegal.

A British research organization (“Economist Intelligence Unit”) found that Donald Trump, if he became president, would be a global danger to the economy and security. Others disagree, especially in light of the most recent terrorist attack in Belgium, for which the barbarous murderers of ISIS claimed responsibility. Quite a few articles are published in this edition on this controversial man, as well as President Obama’s failure in dealing with ISIS. You might also view our most recent StandingWatch program on this issue, titled, “Why the West Is to Be Blamed for ISIS Terror Attacks.”  

We also publish articles on Hillary Clinton’s problems. We continue with articles on President Obama’s visit in Cuba; China’s financial troubles; the controversial Easter dating; transgender ideology (which has been labeled as mental disorders); religious change in the USA; and the long history of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

We conclude with an article about the Neanderthals, proving again their truly modern human origin.

Nuclear War Likely in Europe

Reuters wrote on March 19:

“The East-West standoff over the Ukraine crisis has brought the threat of nuclear war in Europe closer than at any time since the 1980s, a former Russian foreign minister [Igor Ivanov] warned on Saturday… While Russia and the United States have cut their nuclear arsenals, the pace is slowing. As of January 2015, they had… over 7,000 nuclear warheads each, about 90 percent of world stocks…

“In remarks that are likely to alarm European and NATO diplomats seeking a political solution to the separatist conflict in Ukraine that has killed more than 9,000 people since April 2014, Ivanov also said Europe and Russia have little chance of a broader reconciliation… adding that Russia could not be the eastern flank of a ‘failed greater Europe’ [and] that Russia’s destiny was now as the leader of a greater Eurasia stretching from Belarus to the Chinese border.”

The Bible prophesies that, ultimately, a nuclear war will break out between a powerful European Empire and a strong Russia in collaboration with other Far Eastern nations.

Historic Bridge Between Russia and Crimea?

Daily Mail reported on March 18:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to ‘hang’ an official in Crimea if a bridge between the illegally annexed region and Russia is not completed. The former KGB officer was visiting the region on the second anniversary of the occupation of the peninsula (on March 16, 2014)  which is also claimed by Ukraine. The international community condemned the Russian invasion of Crimea and has subjected Moscow to a range of economic sanctions…

“The Russian president told reporters at the construction site about the ‘historic mission’ of the planned 12-mile long bridge… According to the Tass news agency, Putin claimed the first plans to build a bridge between the Taman and Crimean peninsulas [were] attempted under Tsar Nicholas II in 1910, but the First World War stopped the construction. Soviet engineers attempted another bridge which was abandoned at the outbreak of the Second World War.

“Putin claimed: ‘Nazi invaders tried to build a bridge here. Their intention was to build a bridge that would last for decades and the Russian command took a decision not to bomb this section to spare what had been done.’ However, this bridge was destroyed by ice. He claimed: ‘Our predecessors understood the importance of this bridge between Crimea and the Caucasus and have been trying to implement this project. Let us hope we will be the ones to fulfill this historic mission…

“Putin’s determination to build a bridge linking Crimea with Russia is regarded as confirmation he has no intention [of] returning the area to Ukraine… cities around Russia prepared to celebrate the second anniversary of what Moscow calls the reunification of Crimea, which was part of Russia until 1954…

“Putin’s approval rating among Russians is at its highest in four years and 95 percent of Russians support Crimea’s annexation…

“Building the bridge, at a cost of £2.12 billion, and supporting Crimea will impose additional burdens on Russia’s shrinking state budget, which has been hammered by a collapse in global oil prices – the country’s main export… ‘The annexation of Crimea was an obvious mistake, which the Kremlin and the majority of Russian people will not recognise for a long time. But we continue to pay for it,’ Russian business daily Vedomosti wrote in an editorial on Friday…”

More than 450,000 Western Soldiers Needed in the Middle East

Daily Mail wrote on March 18:

“Last week in Washington, I met an old friend who is one of the smartest strategy wonks I know… During our conversation, he offered some speculations about what could happen to our world over the next decade or two which made my hair stand on end.

“He predicts that the seismic turbulence in the Middle East will continue, and indeed worsen, unless or until the West is willing to commit stabilisation forces to the region. He calculates that an army of the order of magnitude of 450,000 men would be necessary, to have any chance of success…

“The most obvious lesson of history is that events and threats always take us by surprise. Consider the shocks we have experienced in modern times. Almost nobody expected the Irish Troubles; the Argentine invasion of the Falklands; the collapse of the Soviet Union; the dramatic rise of Muslim extremism; the 9/11 attacks in New York and 7/7 bombings in London; the global banking disaster of 2007-8; the break up of the Middle East that began with the 2003 Iraq invasion…

“Everything that has happened since shows that Fukuyama was as wrong as could be. Across large swathes of the globe, authoritarian regimes flourish like the green bay tree. Democracy has never looked rockier, even in the United States. My think-tank friend in Washington observed last week: ‘Democracy only works where there is a broad consensus about the distribution of wealth and power.’ And it is because this consensus faces unprecedented stresses in consequence of migration in Europe, that he believes some factions may resort to violence, even outright war.

“It seems foolish to dismiss this warning out of hand. The threat posed by mass population movement is huge and intractable… 77 million Turks will have the right to travel all the way to Calais unhindered…

“The entire Middle East is in a ferment, and it is impossible to see any reason why peace should be restored any time soon…

“The principal charge against Europe’s leaders today is that none of them… has begun to come clean with us about the enormity of the challenge. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared a towering figure until August, when she made her disastrous unilateral commitment to open her country’s doors.”

The Bible tells us: When they say, “Peace, Peace,” there will be no Peace.

Israel Helped in Overthrowing Egypt’s Morsi

Global Research wrote on March 18:

“Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon admitted in his speech at the annual AIPAC conference, the largest Zionist lobby supporting Israel in the US, that the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi and the installation of Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi was planned, in cooperation with generals in the Egyptian and Gulf armies and intelligence agencies… [He] also explicitly said: ‘We decided to allow General Al-Sisi, who was the defence minister at the time, to take over power by mobilising the army in order to become a president. The West should consider this of strategic interest for them as well.’

“This is not the first testimony made by the Israeli occupation’s generals and rabbis regarding the need to keep Al-Sisi as president of Egypt in order to serve Israel’s interests. The archive of relations between the two countries is full of flattery and statements of complete support for this government…”

For the future relationship between Egypt and Israel, please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.”

Obama and Cameron at Odds over Libya

The Daily Mail wrote on March 20:

“Obama slammed European leaders [including Cameron] in a major foreign policy interview [regarding Libya.]… Mr Cameron… said ‘everyone has to take responsibility’ for the failure to stop the north African nation slipping into chaos, becoming a gateway for the migrant crisis and foothold for ISIS on Europe’s doorstep…

“The remarkable insight into the US President’s critical view of Mr Cameron’s foreign policy revealed Mr Obama believed Britain and France were too happy to rely on the US to deal with conflicts on Europe’s doorstep. And he warned Mr Cameron last summer that the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and America would be lost if he refused to commit the UK to spending the Nato target of 2 per cent of GDP on defence… Mr Obama said he wanted Mr Cameron and the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy to take charge of the campaign to oust Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi in the spring of 2011 instead of relying on the US acting ‘unilaterally’…

“He even went as far as describing the likes of Britain and France as ‘free riders,’ adding later that he had told Mr Cameron that ‘free riders aggravate me’ when he had told the PM: ‘You have to pay your fair share’… In a damning assessment of Mr Cameron’s record in Libya, Mr Obama said bluntly that the intervention ‘didn’t work’…

“Mr Obama… admitted it had been a mistake to trust Mr Cameron and Mr Sarkozy. ‘When I go back and I ask myself what went wrong, there’s room for criticism, because I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya’s proximity, being invested in the follow-up,’ Mr Obama said…

“In the interview, Mr Obama also cited Britain as a ‘major factor’ in his decision not to enforce the ‘red line’ on the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. The President called off at the last minute a planned attack in response to the gassing as he decided to refer the issue to a vote in Congress. Mr Obama said: ‘A… major factor was the failure of Cameron to obtain the consent of his parliament.’”

The Controversial Demands of Germany’s AfD

Daily Mail wrote on March 20:

“The far right party which made huge gains in Germany’s regional elections is planning broad new policies designed to crack down on Islamic practices. Among the measures Alternative for Germany (AfD) hopes to ratify are bans on mosque minarets, women wearing burqas in public and the Jewish and Muslim practice of male circumcision.

“The strong gains made by the anti-immigration party in three German state elections last Sunday stunned Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party… It emerged last week that German magazine Compact, which espouses the AfD views, has seen a rise in popularity as it shares the party’s ideology… Some of its recent headlines include Asylum Chaos, Dictatorship Merkel, Vote Her Out, The Better Chancellor – a reference to AfD co-leader Frauke Petry – and Fair Game Woman, an allusion to sexual assaults by North African migrants…

“Compact editor-in-chief Juergen Elsaesser, an outspoken fan of Russian President Vladimir Putin, argues that Petry would make a better chancellor than Merkel…”

Red warning signs should go up, when reading all of this.

The Netherlands’ Geert Wilders Faces Another Trial for “Hate Speech”

Deutsche Welle reported on March 18:

“The leader of the right-wing anti-immigration Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, faces trial for 2014 election campaign comments about Moroccans. Meanwhile, his party leads the polls with elections due within a year. The charges date back to the 2014 European election campaign, in which he repeatedly called for ‘fewer Moroccans’ in the Netherlands. At one rally, he asked supporters if they wanted more or fewer, prompting chants of ‘Fewer! Fewer!’ Wilders smiled, and responded: ‘We’ll take care of that.’

“The prosecution argues that this constitutes hate speech, saying that this case against Wilders is stronger than a previous one, in which his comments pertained to the religion of Islam, not a specific group of people…

“Koen Vossen, a lecturer for the political science department at the University of Nijmegen… [states that] Wilders is effectively arguing that he was making a policy pledge. Take his proposals to send criminals with dual nationality back to their home countries, plus reduced migration from Islamic countries, and the upshot for the Netherlands would be fewer Moroccans…

“Treading this fine linguistic line is something of a trademark of Wilders’ politics. With his Freedom Party (PVV) currently leading the polls in the Netherlands, and elections due within the year, the 52-year-old also said recently that if his party were excluded from the next ruling coalition, then his supporters would not tolerate this and might revolt. ‘So then, if people attack him, saying he’s calling for revolution, he replies: “No, listen to what I said. I don’t want there to be a revolt, I said that it might happen if people exclude me from the coalition,’” Vossen explains. ‘He is very good at this: always making remarks that are very controversial, evoking lots of anger, discussion and media attention; but at the same time, it’s always possible to defend them. That’s what he’s doing now, in court, and I think that it will be really difficult to convict him.’…

“Certainly, the trial has not yet hurt Wilders’ approval ratings – with his PVV party polling 10 points clear of any other political grouping in the country. Conservative Prime Minister Marc Rutte, currently in a ‘grand coalition’ with historical rivals the Social Democrats (PvdA), has until March 2017 to call elections; Vossen believes the established parties will wait as long as possible, hoping for a change in the political wind. ‘The refugee crisis was extremely inconvenient for the government,’ he notes, saying Wilders has moved his rhetoric further to the right in recent months, not unlike Germany’s AfD…”

Some of the statements regarding Geert Wilders bear an obvious resemblance to Donald Trump. However, the arguments of the prosecution are ridiculous, which does not help anyone. Claiming that Wilders’ comments, as quoted in the article, would constitute hate speech, is simply preposterous. On top of it, it was reported that many of the prosecutions’ affidavits of alleged witnesses were “fake”; that they were drafted by the police and others; and that they were signed by “witnesses” who did not even speak the native language. Sadly, these tactics and show trials will only raise Wilders’ popularity in the Netherlands.

Pope Francis’ Address—Quite a Stretch

The Associated Press wrote on March 20:

“Pope Frances has blessed palm fronds and olive branches held by faithful in St. Peter’s Square as Holy Week ceremonies begin at the Vatican.

“The pontiff in his Palm Sunday homily lamented what he called the ‘indifference’ of all those who don’t want to take on the responsibility of deciding the destiny of refugees flooding into Europe. He offered a comparison to what happened before Jesus’ crucifixion, when local authorities washed their hands of his fate and passed the decision on to others.”

However, that is not at all what the Bible says.

Migrant Deal Between the EU and Turkey

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 19:

“The EU and Turkey have sealed a deal to end the migrant flow… All migrants arriving illegally on European shores from this Sunday on are to be returned to transit country Turkey, starting on April 4…

“From Sunday on, the EU may ship any migrant arriving in Europe via the Aegean Sea back to Turkey… In return for any Syrian refugees the EU ships back from Greece to Turkey, the EU will take in one Syrian refugee currently in Turkey. This number, however, is to be capped at 72,000…

“The European Union has agreed to speed up talks concerning Turkey’s EU membership, meeting a key Turkish demand. However… Turkey had requested that five so-called chapters of the EU accession talks be opened, but the EU has merely agreed to open one. That chapter – on budget and financial issues – is relatively less important than the rest…

“The EU remains cagey about Turkey’s demand that all visa restrictions on its citizens traveling to the Schengen passport-free travel zone be lifted by the end of June…

“Ankara had wanted an additional 3 billion euros ($3.33 billion) to better care for Syrian refugees, on top of the 3 billion euros already pledged by the EU in the fall. But the EU has only said it will ‘speed up’ the disbursement of these funds, and has vaguely held out the prospect of making more money available…

“Resettling refugees has proven a very thorny issue among EU member states. So far, they have only committed to taking in 18,000 people. To fulfill the EU concession to take in up to 72,000 refugees from Turkey, a further 54,000 places will have to be found throughout the EU. Hungary and Slovakia have made it clear that these will not be found in their countries…

“Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greece needed some 2,000 additional lawyers and judges to deal with asylum requests and returns to Turkey, but he said his country could only muster 270… Human rights organizations fear there will be mass returns of migrants without a fair and individual assessment of asylum requests. After the deal was announced, NGO Oxfam called it a ‘further step down the path of inhumanity.’ Amnesty International echoed the harsh criticism.”

Immoral and Illegal

In a related article, Deutsche Welle raised in its article of March 19 the “illegal” aspect of the deal:

“The EU has finally agreed on its elusive goal: a European solution to the refugee crisis. And it turns out to be the Turkish solution that Chancellor Merkel came up with as a last political resort…

“But what a price Europe is paying for this deal. It effectively outsources the protection and care of the majority of refugees from the Middle East to Turkey. On paper, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will commit to keeping international legal obligations and respecting the rights of refugees in accordance with the Geneva Convention. But since when is the autocrat in Ankara known for keeping his promises?…

“The EU, however, will have lost all leverage should Turkey begin to push people back into Syria or Iraq – or if it leaves them begging and starving in the streets of Izmir and Istanbul… the Europeans will be mere onlookers in this drama… Sultan Erdogan… ridicules all admonishments to respect freedom of the press, opposition rights and demands to restart peace talks with the Kurds…

“Europe… is turning itself into a fortress that will be inaccessible to large numbers of refugees… Apart from all the practical problems of implementing this deal and its precarious legal standing, the pictures of Syrian refugees stuck in Turkey’s border regions or Iranians and Afghans looking in vain for protection will come to haunt us. The criticism of human rights organizations holds true: This deal is dangerous, illegal and inhumane.”

The Guardian added on March 19:

“Human rights organisations have hailed a ‘dark day for Europe’ after a controversial deal between Turkey and the European Union aiming to stem the number of refugees fleeing across the Aegean Sea was reached in Brussels… Human Rights Watch condemned the situation as a ‘new low’ and said the proposed conditions put the ‘very principle of international protection for those fleeing war and persecution at stake’…

“Save the Children said that almost 90 per cent of Syrians and 80 per cent of Iraqis have their asylum application granted, making any division on the basis of nationality ‘arbitrary and illegal’. The UN raised similar concerns, saying ‘blanket returns’ would not be consistent with international or European law.

“Amnesty International’s UK director, Kate Allen, said: ‘This is a dark day for the Refugee Convention, a dark day for Europe and a dark day for humanity… It’s absolutely shameful to see leaders seeking to abandon their legal obligations. Forcing refugees back into the hands of the very smugglers they just came from so they can have another go at exploiting them is obviously madness. There’s no way anyone should herald this as a solution.’

“The Overseas Development Institute, which has conducted research on why refugees choose to migrate, warned that the deal is ‘unlikely to work’ to stop the crisis. Marta Foresti, the think-tank’s Director of Governance and Security, said: ‘Our research shows refugees and migrants do not make the decision to leave their home lightly, are willing to take significant risks and will not be deterred by the policies and restrictions of EU countries. Those excluded from the deal will continue to try different, more dangerous routes if the border between Turkey and Greece is shut to them. The EU has failed to provide a humane or pragmatic response to the crisis, what is now needed is leadership at the global level.’”

Hillary Clinton’s Email Debacle Won’t Go Away that Easily

The New York Post wrote on March 20:

“FBI chief James Comey and his investigators are increasingly certain that presidential nominee Hillary Clinton violated laws in handling classified government information through her private email server, career agents say. Some expect him to push for charges, but he faces a formidable obstacle: the political types in the Obama White House who view a Clinton presidency as a third Obama term. With that, agents have been spreading the word, largely through associates in the private sector, that their boss is getting stonewalled, despite uncovering compelling evidence that Clinton broke the law.

“Exactly what that evidence is… has not been disclosed… as FBI director, Comey can only recommend charges to the hacks in the Obama Justice Department. Indeed, many law enforcement officials who know the FBI chief and the bureau’s inner workings believe the evidence would have to be overwhelming for Comey to even recommend charges, much less for DOJ to pursue them… Just how close Comey is to any recommendation… is difficult to know. But agents believe the probe is nearing an end. A State Department staffer who set up Clinton’s email server, for instance, was recently granted immunity from prosecution to provide Comey’s team with evidence…

“Most officials know private email servers are easier to hack into than secure government servers. They also know that even documents not labeled ‘classified’ may be top secret. That’s why they’re supposed to be sent only through government accounts. Those who don’t follow those rules, like former CIA Director David Petraeus, have faced consequences. Another matter for Comey & Co.: whether Clinton comingled her official State Department business with her role at the Clinton Foundation, and whether she wiped clean messages that show her using her office at State for foundation work.

“Law enforcement sources also say Comey’s record as a prosecutor shows he has zero tolerance for such abuses… FBI sources say [Comey] has no backing from President Obama and Attorney General Loretta Lynch to recommend charges against the former secretary, since a Clinton presidency may be the best chance to preserve the Obama legacy. That leaves Comey in a bind: Does he do what is politically expedient and deny the reality that Clinton’s email server activities violated the law, or follow the evidence to wherever it takes him?”

Bill Clinton Slams Barack Obama

The American Mirror wrote on March 21:

“Bill Clinton is either losing it, or he’s ramping up his attacks on President Obama. Neither is good news for Hillary Clinton. During a speech in Spokane, Washington on Monday, Clinton seemed to tear down Obama to boost his wife.

“‘Literally from the time I met her till we talked yesterday, she is the best change maker I have ever known… if you believe we can all rise together, if you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us… you should vote for her,’ Clinton said.”

Hillary Clinton will not be too happy about her husband’s statements.

US Democrats in Germany Back Sanders over Hillary

The Local wrote on March 21:

“The majority of American Democrats living in Germany voted for Bernie Sanders in a global primary held this month, showing greater success for the senator abroad than he’s having Stateside. Sanders secured roughly 69 percent of the 2,917 votes cast in Germany, compared to 27.5 percent for Hillary Clinton… The Vermont senator also won with a clear majority worldwide at 69 percent of the vote…

“The group will send 13 delegates and eight super-delegates this year to the Democratic National Convention, which is more than the state of Wyoming’s total of 18. Sanders picked up nine pledged delegates in the global primary, while Clinton secures an additional four delegates.”

Trump a Danger for World’s Economy and Security?

NBC News reported on March 17:

“A British research organization has warned that a Donald Trump presidency could have a dangerous impact on the world economy, increasing the potential of Islamic terror attacks and of a trade war with Mexico and China.

“The Economist Intelligence Unit released its updated global risk assessment, ranking the election of Trump a 12 on a scale of one to 25 — the same number it assigned to the possibility that jihadi terrorism would destabilize the global economy.

“The firm pointed to a number of reasons, including Trump’s hostility toward free trade, his accusing China of being a ‘currency manipulator,’ his advocating the killing of terrorists’ families, and his proposal to move troops into Syria to fight ISIS and take its oil.

“This appeared to be the first time the EIU had rated a presidential candidate’s election as a global risk… The organization ranks risks by impact and probability. A Trump presidency bore high impact, but moderate probability, the EIU said. ‘Although we do not expect Mr. Trump to defeat his most likely Democratic contender, Hillary Clinton, there are risks to this forecast, especially in the event of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil or a sudden economic downturn,’ the authors wrote.

“Other global threats on the list included a ‘sharp economic slowdown in China,’ a collapse of investment in the oil sector, the break up of the European Union, the further rise of jihadi terrorism, and Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria leading to ‘a new “cold war.’”…

“Also Wednesday, the Washington Post editorial board called for the Republican Party to aim for [a] brokered convention to prevent a Trump nomination, arguing that Trump ‘presents a threat to American democracy.’…”

However, the more institutions and papers write and speak against Trump, the more his popularity rises within the USA. It must also be stated that some, if not many of the “global threats” listed by the EIU are really not relevant or will not come to fruition (such as the clearly wrong prognostication of a break-up of the EU or the expectation that Trump would be defeated by Clinton and that a Trump presidency had only a “moderate probability”). This shows that the EIU may not be as informed as they are portrayed to be.

Incredible Hate and Violence of Anti-Trump “Demonstrators”

The Washington Post wrote on March 21:

“Brandon Tatum, an officer in the Tucson Police Department, went to a Trump rally on Saturday as a civilian to see what was going on. In a subsequent video, he said he thought there was going to be “a full-fledged riot” at the event — but not because of Trump’s supporters. The protesters were the problem, Tatum said. ‘These people were acting so outrageous,’ he said…

“Tatum said he went to the rally at the Tucson Arena dressed in civilian clothes — a black shirt and khakis — to hear what Trump had to say… But at the door, he said, protesters were ‘verbally violent’… ‘I could not believe what I saw,’ said Tatum, who is African American.

“Someone in the crowd was wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood, Tatum said, and people were ‘cussing and screaming’ and tackling one another to the ground… ‘People were directly yelling at me as if I’m a criminal…’

“On Saturday morning, protesters blocked traffic leading to a Trump rally near Phoenix… Hours later, protesters in Tucson formed a human wall in front of the entrance to a second rally site…

“Tatum said Trump had rented out the venue and, therefore, had the legal right to remove people from the event. It was the violent protesters who were violating people’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly, he said.”

Trump Scores Big at AIPAC

JTA wrote on March 21:

“Donald Trump… earned an enthusiastic response to his speech at AIPAC’s [American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s] annual conference… [He] softened two positions that have created unease among pro-Israel activists — his insistence on remaining ‘neutral’ in brokering Israeli-Palestinian peace and his refusal to commit to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“On Jerusalem, Trump vowed to move the American embassy to the city, ‘the eternal capital of the Jewish people.’ And he said the Palestinians must accept as a given the closeness of the U.S.-Israel relationship. ‘The Palestinians must come to the table knowing that the bond between the United States and Israel is absolutely unbreakable,’ Trump said. ‘They must come to the table willing to accept that Israel is a Jewish state and it will exist forever as a Jewish state.’

“Trump opponents who had said they would protest the speech because of his broadsides against minorities and his sanctioning of political violence were not visible during his speech, which earned repeated standing ovations.

“Trump’s enthusiastic embrace of pro-Israel orthodoxy appeared to resonate with the AIPAC activists in the Verizon Center arena, and the loud applause was not the only indication. Immediately following Trump’s speech, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, his closest rival in the presidential race, scored Trump for pledging neutrality on Israel and for not promising to ‘shred’ the Iran deal upon election. Both gibes fell flat.

“Trump delivered broadsides against his likely rival in the general election, Hillary Clinton, calling her a ‘total disaster’ and blaming her for last year’s Iran nuclear deal. The line earned laughter and applause, although Clinton’s speech, earlier in the day, was well received.

“Trump’s biggest applause line was when he began a sentence, ‘President Obama, in his final year – yay!’ AIPAC led opposition last year to the Iran nuclear deal and clashed repeatedly with the Obama administration in its unsuccessful bid to get Congress to nix the deal.”

It is amazing how the mass media tries to downplay Trump’s impact. Deutsche Welle reported on March 21, that “Trump has received a lukewarm response from pro-Israeli advocates” at the AIPAX meeting. This is clearly not the case, as the Jewish JTA reported (see above). Rather, Trump received enthusiastic approval from the Jewish audience. To try to stop Trump with lies will not work. And while Trump won big on Tuesday in Arizona’s election, he lost big against Ted Cruz in Utah.

Trump vs. Germany?

The Washington Post wrote on March 21:

“Donald Trump outlined an unabashedly noninterventionist approach to world affairs Monday, telling The Washington Post’s editorial board that he questions the need for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has formed the backbone of Western security policies since the Cold War… Trump said he advocates a light footprint in the world. In spite of unrest abroad, especially in the Middle East, Trump said the United States must look inward and steer its resources toward rebuilding domestic infrastructure… For the first time, Trump also listed members of a team chaired by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that is counseling him on foreign affairs and helping to shape his policies: Keith Kellogg, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Walid Phares and Joseph E. Schmitz.

“… on the subject of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, [Trump]  said America’s allies are ‘not doing anything.’ ‘Ukraine is a country that affects us far less than it affects other countries in NATO, and yet we’re doing all of the lifting,’ Trump said. ‘They’re not doing anything. And I say: “Why is it that Germany’s not dealing with NATO on Ukraine? Why is it that other countries that are in the vicinity of Ukraine, why aren’t they dealing? Why are we always the one that’s leading, potentially the third world war with Russia.”’

“Trump said that U.S. involvement in NATO may need to be significantly diminished in the coming years, breaking with nearly seven decades of consensus in Washington. ‘We certainly can’t afford to do this anymore,’ Trump said, adding later, ‘NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we’re protecting Europe with NATO, but we’re spending a lot of money.’… He questioned the value of massive military investments in Asia and wondered aloud whether the United States still was capable of being an effective peacekeeping force there…”

The German boulevard press does not like Trump’s statements. Bild Online reported on March 21: “Trump Attacks Germany” (apparently for his suggestion that Germany should do more regarding Ukraine) and on March 22: “Trump Speaks of World War III.” They also stated on March 21 that Trump’s vocabulary is that of a fifth-grader. This accusation is obviously ridiculous.

Terror Attack in Belgium–“Is Trump So Wrong?”

On March 22, Mail Online published the following article by Piers Morgan (former “America Has Talent” judge and CNN moderator):

“How many more? That’s all I could think this morning as news broke of yet another ISIS terror attack, this time in Brussels. How many more innocent men, women and children are going to be blown to pieces by these murderous bastards? How many more airports, train stations, sports stadiums, restaurants or concert halls will be obliterated in a hail of suicide bombs and bullets? How many more world leaders will wring their hands on national television afterwards and spout pointless platitudes about the ‘poor brave victims’ and ‘heroic emergency services’? How many taunting, gleeful claims of responsibility will the despicable perpetrators of these evil crimes be able to issue?…

“The inherent problem which causes it, chaotic war-torn instability in the Middle East, is getting worse, not better; just as the financial and military resource of the enemy is growing greater, not reducing. Yet just as the world is crying out for strong decisive leadership, there is none.

“America has a demob happy President Obama eeking out his last few months in office. A man whose infamous ‘leading from behind’ philosophy to foreign policy has been partly responsible for the war in Syria raging uncontrollably for five years – allowing fundamentalism to ferment. Obama has zero interest in doing anything tangible to really deal with ISIS. This is now parked in the tray marked ‘next president’s problem.’

“Europe, meanwhile, is splintering at the seams, ravaged by an unprecedented migration crisis that nobody seems to have a clue how to handle. German chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to let a million migrants into its country is already seen to be an utter disaster. France, reeling from two horrendous attacks in Paris, is understandably highly fearful of yet more terror coming its way. Belgium officials effectively conceded today that they have no real way to protect themselves against the ISIS threat. A fact surely born out by the fact that today’s onslaught in Brussels happened right when the city most expected it, following the capture of Paris attacks suspect Saleh Abdeslam three days ago.

“Britain, surely a target anytime soon, is on red alert but its warring politicians are too distracted by the upcoming EU referendum in June to pay anything more than lame lip service to terrorism. So nobody seems to be doing anything concrete to stop ISIS, or even suggesting a new way to do so given the spectacular lack of success to date.

“Well almost nobody.

“By coincidence, I had an interview scheduled today with the world’s most controversial man, Donald Trump, for my UK show, Good Morning Britain. It was set up a couple of weeks ago, but the timing was eerily prescient. Here is one man who definitely has a plan to deal with ISIS terrorism. Several plans in fact. The problem is that people don’t like them. Well, a lot of people don’t anyway.

“Trump, current front-runner for the Republican nomination, wants to hit ISIS ‘so hard they never recover’… He also wants a short-term ban on Muslims entering the U.S. until, as he puts it, ‘we figure out what the hell is going on?’ And he wants to torture suspects like Abdeslam with techniques like water-boarding to try and extract information about future attacks. Oh, and he wants to build a giant wall to stop illegal immigrants pouring over the Mexican border into America…

“Trump told me countries must tighten their borders in light of these terror attacks, especially to anyone related to an ISIS fighter in Syria. Is he so wrong?

“He told me he wants law-abiding Muslims to root out the extremists in their midst, expressing his bafflement and anger that someone like Abdeslam was able to hide for so long in the very part of Brussels he had previously lived. Is he so wrong?

“He told me America must make it far harder for illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. and thinks European countries should follow suit. Is he so wrong?

“He told me he believes there are now areas of many major European cities which have become poisonous breeding grounds for radicalized Islamic terror. Is he so wrong?

“I didn’t feel I was talking to a lunatic, as many seem to view Trump. I saw a guy, a non-politician unfettered by PC language restraints, who is genuinely furious at the devastation which ISIS is wreaking, and seriously concerned for the security of his fellow Americans and indeed, the citizens of Europe.

“His plans for tackling this extraordinarily dangerous threat to the world have been widely condemned as ‘bigoted’ and ‘racist’. But although I publicly criticised him for the Muslim short-term ban suggestion, I’ve known Trump for ten years and I don’t believe he’s a racist… And right now, he firmly believes that ISIS will murder countless more Americans and Europeans if somebody somewhere doesn’t stand up and punch them hard in the face.

“Someone prepared to stop spewing politically-correct niceties after these attacks, hoping nobody gets offended, and actually DO something. Let’s be honest with ourselves, right now ISIS is winning this war and will continuing committing utter carnage on our streets on an ever graver and more barbaric scale until they are stopped.

“I don’t have the answers to how to do that. But I don’t hear any good ideas coming from any world leaders at the moment either, and it’s their highly paid jobs to work it out. Instead, I see a global paralysis driven by fear, confusion and woeful lack of leadership. And it will only get worse.

“Hate Donald Trump all you like, but at least he seems to recognise the magnitude of the threat and at least he has firm proposals for how to try to defeat it. They may not win him the Politically Correct Pontificator of the Year award. But how many more scenes like this morning’s appalling images from Brussels are we going to tolerate before we try a non-PC option to beat these disgusting excuses for human beings?

“At the end of our interview, I asked Donald Trump to send a message to the large majority of non-violent, decent Muslims who are as disgusted by these attacks as the rest of us. ‘I have great respect for Muslims,’ he said, ‘I have many friends that are Muslims. I’m just saying that there is something with a radicalized portion that is very, very bad and very dangerous. I would say this, to the Muslims, when they see trouble, they have to report it, they’re not reporting it, they’re absolutely not reporting it and that’s a big problem.’ Is he so wrong?”

ISIS Ready to Attack Europe

The Associated Press wrote on March 23:

“The Islamic State group has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum carnage, officials have told The Associated Press.

“The network of agile and semiautonomous cells shows the reach of the extremist group in Europe even as it loses ground in Syria and Iraq. The officials… described camps in Syria, Iraq and possibly the former Soviet bloc where attackers are trained to attack the West. Before being killed in a police raid, the ringleader of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks claimed he had entered Europe in a multinational group of 90 fighters, who scattered ‘more or less everywhere.’…

“Estimates range from 400 to 600 Islamic State fighters trained specifically for external attacks… Some 5,000 Europeans have gone to Syria.”

President Obama’s Failed “Strategy” Regarding ISIS

The New York Times wrote on March 22:

“It is not working. President Obama’s slow-but-steady strategy to defeat the Islamic State… is doing nothing to dent the charismatic appeal of the militant group, disrupt its propaganda or prevent it from killing Europeans.

“The Brussels attacks that left at least 30 people dead at the city’s international airport and a subway station adjacent to the European Union headquarters — the symbolism could scarcely be more potent — came just four days after the capture in the Belgian capital on Friday of Salah Abdeslam. He was the sole survivor among the 10 men believed to have perpetrated the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris a little more than four months ago.

“The Islamic State claimed responsibility. The Brussels slaughter bore its hallmarks — an apparently retaliatory attack, carried out by members of a large Belgian cell, many of them trained in Syria, all living in a European country that has permitted Islamist terrorists to infiltrate its neighborhoods. The message was clear: We can still hit you at will. Nothing that Western governments have done since Paris has changed that…

“Since the Paris attack, Obama has insisted that an anti-Islamic State coalition with European and other allies is getting the job done… The president has suggested that more radical military action to crush the militants — essentially the deployment of infantry — would drag the United States into another Middle Eastern war and increase the appeal of the Islamic State… This is a very high-risk policy… It allows the Islamic State to strut its pure evil in and from Raqqa. The Obama approach posits that the Islamic State can be beaten before European and American societies are undermined. Again today, speaking in Havana, he said, ‘We will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all around the world.’ But the president does not say when victory will come against these forces he declined to identify, and time counts… [the] ponderous wait-them-out approach to the murderous fanatics of the caliphate looks like capitulation.”

Obama in Cuba

The Guardian wrote on March 21:

“President Raúl Castro of Cuba demanded that Barack Obama hand back Guantánamo Bay and fully end the US trade embargo as their historic first summit in Havana witnessed an unexpectedly spirited clash of political values. Despite emotional scenes of reconciliation that earlier saw the Star Spangled Banner played to spine-tingling effect by a Cuban band in Revolution Square, the two leaders made clear that rapprochement had only come so far. ‘There are profound differences between our countries that will not go away,’ said Castro as he turned the tables on the question of human rights and criticised the US for its failures to ensure universal healthcare and equal pay for women… The Cuban leader also angrily rejected questions by a US journalist who questioned his country’s human rights record… When asked why Cuba still held political prisoners, a visibly irritated Castro responded by asking: ‘What political prisoners? Give me a list of the political prisoners and I will release them immediately…’

“Obama agreed that the two countries still had much to disagree about and said the two had ‘frank and candid’ exchanges during nearly three hours of bilateral meetings earlier on Monday. ‘After five very difficult decades, the relationship between our two countries will not be transformed overnight,’ said the US president. ‘We continue to have significant differences … and that includes democracy and human rights…’

“‘Cuba’s destiny will not be decided by the United States or any other country,’ Obama added…  Obama’s conciliatory remarks – in which he predicted Congress would soon lift the embargo – may anger critics back home, who claim he has given away too much for too little by restoring diplomatic relations without guarantees of political reform… Many thorny issues remain unresolved. Cuba is adamant that no full rapprochement is possible unless the US lifts its embargo and returns the US navy base at Guantánamo Bay. Neither are acceptable to the Republic-controlled US Congress…”

Sadly, in his typically apologetic manner, President Obama said that he ‘“personally would not disagree’ with some of Cuban President Raul Castro’s criticisms of America,” according to the Weekly Standard on March 21. He spoke in Cuba during a press conference for less than a minute on the terrorist attack in Belgium and then went to a baseball game with President Castro …

Nothing Learned

Newsmax added on March 24:

“President Barack Obama came under bitter attack Wednesday for doing the tango and taking in other pleasures on his visits to Cuba and Argentina amid the deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels… In Buenos Aires on Wednesday, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were coaxed onto the dance floor by professional tango dancers at a state dinner hosted by Argentine President Mauricio Macri…

“Obama played golf on Martha’s Vineyard in September 2014 after making a quick statement condemning the beheading of Foley, a freelance journalist from New Hampshire, by Islamic State terrorists. He later admitted that the move was a mistake after widespread outrage by critics.”

Even the German media reported about President and Mrs. Obama’s conduct with disgust.

Will China’s Economic Bubble Burst?

 Quartz wrote on March 22:

“The US subprime boom that eventually would trigger the 2008 global financial crisis started when lenders pushed outsized home loans on people without the wherewithal to pay them back. These homeowners were often so cash-strapped that they made tiny down payments on their properties. When home prices fell and loans went bad, banks and investors holding the loans, and financial investments build off them had to eat massive losses. One corner of China’s property market is starting to look very similar. That’s because Chinese home buyers are borrowing huge amounts of money to pay for down payments through the country’s hard-to-track shadow banking system…

“Normally, to get a mortgage in China, homebuyers need to put down at least 20% of a home’s value, and more in some big cities. But in recent years, these new players have stepped in, making it possible for someone with no savings at all to take out a mortgage…

“China’s top leadership is worried [pointing] out parallels between China’s situation and the US subprime crisis, [stating that it] could lead to a financial disaster… borrowing money to cover home down payments [is] not allowed… the problem has already grown to many billions of dollars… Even as China’s economic growth has slowed, outstanding mortgage loans have continued to grow. Chinese bank-issued home loans rose to 14 trillion yuan ($2.2 trillion) in 2015, 6% faster than the previous year…”

The Convoluted Hotchpotch of Easter Dating

The Independent wrote on March 21:

“Easter is fast approaching as Lent draws to a close and the festival takes place this Sunday 27 March… Easter’s date fluctuates every year. This year, the date is the earliest for almost a decade…

“As a general rule, it falls on the first Sunday which follows the first full moon after 21 March. The convoluted system is the product of a mix of Hebrew, Roman and Egyptian culture and calendars. The Egyptians based their calendar on the movement on the Sun, which was adopted by Roman and then Christian culture. However, Judaism used one based on the phases of the moon, which Islam also incorporates.

“Easter’s date fluctuates due to an attempt to harmonise these solar and lunar calendars. However, the issue is further complicated as there is no one fixed way to calculate Easter. Rather, more than a dozen different formulas exist. Many people have called for the system to be simplified to reduce confusion. In 1928 an Easter Act was passed which fixed the date as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. However, the law did not catch on and very few people adopted it. It has never been enforced by the Government and has largely been forgotten.

“The most common date for Easter is 19 April, making this year’s date very early. The earliest it can be is 22 March. However, it has not fallen on this date since 1818 and won’t fall here again until 2285. The latest day on which Easter can fall is 25 April. This last happened in 1943 and will next come round in 2038.”

The pagan festival of Easter has really nothing to do with true Christianity, and it is actually a dangerously dark and sinister holiday. For more information, please view our new StandingWatch program, “The Dark Side of Easter.” 

Transgender Ideology “Mental Disorder” and “Child Abuse”

Breitbart wrote on March 21:

“In a strongly worded statement…, the professional association of pediatricians says ‘a person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking.’ It describes such thinking as [a] problem that exists in the mind and not the body and ‘it should be treated as such.’ The college of pediatricians is joining a heated debate that increasingly pits concerned parents against school teachers, administrators, legislators, and transsexual advocates who are pushing the trans agenda in grade-schools, city governments, state governments, and the federal government.

“A wave of ‘non-discrimination’ bills are appearing around the country that require public women’s restrooms to accommodate men who think they are women and even those who consider themselves ‘gender non-binary,’ that is, men who appear to be men but who say there are neither male or female…

“The statement points out that such gender confusion should be treated as a psychological disorder called ‘gender dysphoria’ and is ‘a recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V).’

“The group is most concerned about the regimen of drugs that are given to children to block puberty. ‘Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.’

“Rates of suicide among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex change reassignment surgery are ‘twenty times greater’ than the rest of the population even in such trans-friendly places as Sweden. The doctors argue that ‘Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.’”

The transgender ideology is indeed the product of a spiritually unhealthy mind. Please view our “controversial” and not necessarily highly popular StandingWatch program, “God’s Viewpoint on Transgender and Homosexual Individuals.”  

Religious Change in the USA

The Atlantic wrote on March 20:

“In the United States, fewer young Americans identify as religious or attend regular services than members of any other living generation… Religion is no longer the mode through which many people live their lives…

“But even as the country is becoming somewhat less religious, it is also becoming more religiously diverse… Immigrants are introducing their cultural practices into so-called old-time religion…

“Religious choices… create some of the most intense and hate-filled conflicts in American politics…  This might include the choice of who to marry, whether to convert, and how to spend a Friday night or Sunday morning. Some face the dilemma of staying in a religion that upholds tenets with which they disagree, or leaving a religion they love… The way young Americans wrestle with these choices will not only shape their futures. It will shape the future of the country.”

The Bible says that end-time America will totally reject the true God.

The Long Sad History of Anti-Semitic “Conspiracy” Theories

The Guardian wrote on March 19:

“Whenever I hear Jews announce their hatred of Israel’s very existence, I suspect that underneath their loud bombast lies a quiet plea to the Islamists and neo-Nazis who might harm them: ‘I’m not like the others. Don’t pick on me.’…

“Whether the antisemitic conspiracy theory is deployed by German Nazis [including German Neo-Nazis] or Arab dictators, French anti-Dreyfusards or Saudi clerics, the argument is always the same. Democracy, an independent judiciary, equal human rights, freedom of speech and publication – all these ‘supposed’ freedoms – are nothing but swindles that hide the machinations of the secret Jewish rulers of the world…  The ‘Israel lobby’ controls western foreign policy. Israel itself is the ‘root cause’ of all the terrors of the Middle East, from the Iraq war to Islamic State. Polite racism turns the Jews, once again, into demons with the supernatural power to manipulate and destroy nations. Or as the Swedish foreign minister, Margot Wallström, who sees herself as a feminist rather than a racial conspiracist, explained recently, Islamist attacks in Paris were the fault of Israeli occupiers in the West Bank.

“Or consider the otherwise bizarre indulgence of ultra-right religious extremists by people who otherwise describe themselves as liberals and leftists. As someone who warned… about the growing darkness on the left, I am pessimistic about the chances of change…  they will have to learn to treat all racisms equally. They will need to make a brief acquaintance with European history and understand that the left has no guaranteed immunity from fascistic ideology. They will have to see antisemitism for what it is and understand why it always leads to despotism and despair…”

Rightly understood, the ideology of anti-Semitism has had a field day in radical left philosophies. Stalin’s Russia persecuted the Jews, as did other Communist countries. So did Hitler’s Germany. But even though it is normally “described” as a radical right-wing philosophy, the term Nazi actually means “national SOCIALIST.”

Neanderthals Were Modern Human Beings!

Reuters reported on March 19:

“Scientists said on Friday an analysis of genetic information on about 1,500 people from locations around the world indicated at least four interbreeding episodes tens of thousands of years ago, three with our close cousins the Neanderthals and one with the mysterious extinct human species known as Denisovans. People living on the remote equatorial islands of Melanesia represented the only population found to possess an appreciable level of Denisovan genetic ancestry. These Melanesians, like most human populations, also had Neanderthal genetic ancestry…

“Denisovans, discovered in the past decade, are known only from a pinky finger bone and two teeth from a northern Siberian cave.”

This would again prove that Neanderthals (and Denisovans, if they really existed) were human beings (homo sapiens), and not ape-like creatures. For more information and proof, please read our free booklet, “Heavens and Earth… Before and After the First Man.” 

The House of Judah rejected Jesus Christ when He first came to them—a fact foretold and indeed fulfilled! Yet, it was from among His countrymen—Jewish men and women—that Jesus first found those who came to believe that He was “‘…the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Mathew 16:16).

There was a sense of expectancy for the appearing of the Messiah in the time of Herod the king. Luke, chapter 2, and Matthew, chapter 2, recount events which occurred in the land of Judea following the birth of Jesus—all pointing to prophecies about the Messiah. These things were known— they were spoken of by many people (compare Luke 2:17).

It was knowledge of the Messianic prophecies which drew the attention of those who did follow Christ:

“Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’” (John 1:45).

The apostle Paul identified himself as “‘…a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee’” (Acts 23:6). For a time Paul did not believe Jesus to have been anything more than a dangerous cult leader. Note what he says of himself:

“For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers” (Galatians 1:13-14).

However, when Jesus miraculously appeared to Paul, He commissioned him to proclaim the gospel:

“Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed, and said, ‘Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?’ But Saul (Paul) increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 9:20-22).

Note how Paul proved what he taught:

“[F]or he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 18:28).

Some Jews believed what Paul taught:

“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.’ And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas” (Acts 17:1-4).

Most Jews rejected what Paul taught:

“On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles’… But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region” (Acts 13:44-46, 50).

Later in his ministry, being a prisoner, Paul was taken to Rome. Nonetheless, he was still able to teach those who came to him. Among those were leaders of the Jews in Rome (Acts 28:17), and Paul spoke to them:

“So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved” (Acts 28:23-24).

To address the specific question of the Q&A, Paul explained why most of the Jews did reject Jesus, and he used the analogy of the veil that Moses had to place over his face due to the glory of his countenance following his presence before God:

“But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).

Paul made clear that the rulers killed Jesus because they did not understand the wisdom of God:

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8).

Christ confirmed this fact, praying to God the Father to forgive His murderers, because “they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).

On the other hand, it is true that the Pharisees had some knowledge about the Person of Christ. Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, came to Christ by night and told Him: “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him” (John 3:2).

Still, they rejected Him because they were envious and did not want to lose their positions in the community (Matthew 27:18; John 11:48). They even accused Him of casting out demons through the power of Satan, which caused Christ to give them a stern warning, since they knew better (Matthew 12:22-32).

The apostle Peter boldly preached to the Jews about Christ, showing again that the Jews were “ignorant” as to who Christ was:

“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses… Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled” (Acts 3:13-15, 17-18).

The people did not really understand who Christ was. Christ asked His disciples: “What do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” The disciples answered: “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or some of the prophets.” When Jesus asked them: “But who do you say that I am?”, Peter answered: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Christ responded that this revelation had to come from God the Father; otherwise, he would not have understood this either (compare Matthew 16:13-17).

Because of the healing of a man who had been lame from his birth, Peter and John were arrested and brought before Jewish leaders in Jerusalem:

“And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, ‘By what power or by what name have you done this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the “stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.” Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’” (Acts 4:5-12).

Stephen was brought before the council of the Jews for preaching about Jesus (Acts 6:15), and in his address to these leaders of the Jewish nation, he sharply rebuked their obstinate rejection of God:

“’You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it’” (Acts 7:51-53).

What Stephen said so enraged the Jews that they murdered Stephen (compare Acts 7:54-60). The Jewish leaders had also opposed what Jesus said, and they plotted His death—which was agreed to by the Jewish people (compare Acts 2:23, 36) and carried out by the Romans. The New Testament records the fact that Jesus was rejected by the House of Judah:

“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11).

In responding to the Jews and their leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus challenged their lack of understanding, for He consistently revealed Himself by referring to prophecy:

“’You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me… Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?’” (John 5:39, 45-47).

Following His resurrection, Jesus proved His own identity by what was written in the Old Testament. Here is what Jesus said to His disciples: “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27); and, “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me’” (Luke 24:44).

In unsparing words, Jesus denounced the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees—the religious leadership in Judea (compare Matthew 23). Even in His blistering rebuke, Jesus also pointed to a future time when “His own” would not reject Him:

“‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”’” (Matthew 23:37-39).

Indeed, the Jewish people who lived under the rule of the Roman Empire looked for a Savior for deliverance, and they applied the Messianic prophecies to their own circumstances instead of what was actually revealed in the Word of God. Also, the religious leaders in Judea were unwilling and unable to turn to God. They failed to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” at the preaching of John the Baptist (compare Matthew 3:7-10). With premeditated evil, they plotted the death of Jesus (compare Matthew 26:3-4) and rejected Him as their King (compare John 19:1-22).

Finally, consider these words from Jesus Christ—directed squarely at the Jews of His time and for all of us:

“‘…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.” For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men–the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do’” (Mark 7:6-9).

Most of the Jewish people and their leaders rejected Christ because of a lack of understanding as to who He was. They were “willfully ignorant” (2 Peter 3:5, Authorized Version).

It is the same today. Most Jews, as well as most people around the world, do not really know God the Father and Jesus Christ, because the true knowledge as to who and what God is has been hidden from them (John 16:3). As a consequence, Christ’s true disciples are rejected by the world and will have to endure persecution (Matthew 24:9; John 15:18-21).

Lead Writers: Dave Harris and Norbert Link

A new Member Letter (March 21, 2016) has been mailed to our subscribers. In this letter, Eric Rank addresses the urgent need for us to examine our actions and to make certain that we are bearing fruit pleasing to God. This letter is also posted on our website.

“Why the West Is to Be Blamed for ISIS Terror Attacks,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The ISIS terror attacks in Brussels, Belgium, have reinforced the conviction of many observers that the Western world has utterly failed in its fight against radical Islam. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are at the forefront of blame and criticism, especially regarding their mishandling of the “disastrous” migrant crises, the “uncontrollable” war in Syria and the “ill-advised” Iran deal. How did Western leaders contribute to the rise of ISIS? Will we see further terrorist attacks in Europe and in the USA? In this program, we show you from the Bible WHY we find ourselves in such a precarious situation. We also offer you a free booklet, explaining Old Testament prophesies for our modern time.

A new Global Trailer with Pastor Brian Gale was posted on our YouTube channel globalchurchsw BG. The program is titled, “The Mysteries of the Bible”

Here is a summary:

We must let the Bible tell us just what the gospel is, because, there is only one gospel. Many have turned away from the true gospel of God AND Christ, and have replaced it with a counterfeit. This happened early in the New Testament Church, at the time of Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it has continued ever since.

Another Global Trailer with Pastor Brian Gale was posted on our YouTube channel, titled, “Should You Fight in War?” 

Here is a summary:

Throughout this booklet, we will consider some interesting quotes from famous persons who might have understood something regarding the issue of war and peace, which sadly, most people have failed to comprehend. However, regardless of the conclusions of our discussion, one fact should be clear: Every war has terrible consequences, both economically and in terms of human suffering and pain.

“ENGEL, DÄMONEN UND DIE GEISTIGE WELT,” is the title of our new German booklet. It is now posted on our German website, and it has been sent to the printers.

“Liebe aus ganzem Herzen,” is the title of this week’s German sermon. Title in English: “Love With All Our Heart.”

“Face It,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Living as a Christian tests us.. It involves ongoing correction, change and growth. The challenge for us is to become truly submissive to God.

“Let God Fight the Battles,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Eric Rank, is now posted. Here is a summary:

When we encounter situations of conflict, it might be tempting to take matters into our own hands and leave God out of the picture. The Bible teaches that it is important for us to bring God into our lives to help in times of conflict, but also to faithfully turn matters into His hands to take care of the situation for us. We can be relieved to know that God is willing to fight our battles, but only if we let Him.

On March 19, 2016, Dave Harris will present the sermonette, titled, “Face It,” and Eric Rank will present the sermon, titled, “Let God Fight the Battles.”

The live services are available, over video and audio, at http://eternalgod.org/live-services/ (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time; 8:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time; 9:30 pm Central European Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

On February 19th 2016 we had the spectacle of Mr David Cameron negotiating the UK’s position in the European Community. After two days of wrangling with the other 27 leaders of the EU, they came up with a declaration, which was the culmination of Mr Cameron’s extensive tour of Europe as he tried to persuade the other leaders about the renegotiated terms for the UK.

Without going into the details, which have been picked over for more than a month now, I would like to comment on the spectacle that unfolded before our eyes. Being in the UK gave us a grandstand view with the media in a frenzy.

Large luxurious limousines glided sedately towards the entrance to the conference hall with the usual carpet in full view. Some leaders addressed a huge press corps, and others just went straight into the hall. The size of the media presence was mightily impressive.

Of course, I have no idea about the sincerity of any of the players in this drama as only God knows the heart of each one of us, and it was plain to understand that getting all 28 leaders to agree was not going to be easy. However, these leaders and all of their support staff became much sought after for their views about how negotiations were proceeding and what their particular country’s views on the UK’s demands were. It became a media circus reminding me of that song “There’s no business like show business”.

It was all so very carefully orchestrated, there was a sense of theatre, egos were out in force, celebrity status afforded all the players and it was the best show in town.

In spite of all of this posturing and positioning, it is God who will work out all of the details according to His purpose, not the politicians who always have to compromise on their beliefs and requirements to obtain agreements. But God never compromises!

Sir Winston Churchill once said that “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others” and in human terms that may well be correct. There may be many more such conferences when the strong, charismatic leader in Europe emerges, and then there will be an even greater sense of theatre. It will be a time when there will be no negotiations, just the use of raw power.

That time may not be that far away.

We begin with staged and organized anti-Trump “demonstrations” by the (radical) left and gullible students at the Trump rally in Chicago and at other places, while commenting on the dishonest reporting of the mass media and the pitiful attempts of Donald Trump’s competitors to get a political advantage, showing again the deeply corrupt and despicable methods of politics at its lowest level. The irony is that all of these events might help, rather than hurt Trump. It is becoming more and more certain that Trump will win the popular vote as the Republican nominee. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled “How NOT to Stop Trump!” We also report on China’s and Japan’s views on America. 

We continue with surprising and disturbing facts on Ted Cruz and the stunning success of Germany’s anti-migrant party AfD, while Angela Merkel suffered a devastating defeat.

We report on the continuing rift between the USA and Israel and point at an article by the Telegraph about the undesired effects of the terrible deal between President Obama and Iran. We speak on the horrible fruits of war in Syria; Putin’s surprising announcement to withdraw troops from Syria; and the curse of nuclear power plants, by pointing at the failed attempts by the Japanese to come to grips with the highly radioactive fuel at the damaged Fukushima’s nuclear reactors.

We conclude with interesting articles about the Catholic Church and the origin of the name “America.”

An Organized Assault on Free Speech by the Radical Left

Breitbart wrote on March 12:

“We Warned You: Chicago Trump Shutdown Is Just the Beginning… last night’s battle in Chicago may come as a shock, but it should come as no surprise.

“No other news organization has documented the rise and origins of the groups behind Friday night’s madhouse as thoroughly as the team at Breitbart News. From its origins being exposed in the film Occupy Unmasked before the election cycle to covering and exposing every aspect of the new Black Lives Matter incarnation, we’ve given readers the intellectual ammunition to understand the dangerous rise of the new American left in the Obama era…

“The enemy here is the organized institutional left… Black Lives Matter will not back down or rest until it is either stopped by someone gutsy enough to call them out or until it gets what it wants: a bloody revolution leading to a socialist/anarchist America… There’s a battle for the soul of our nation.”

When Donald Trump decided to cancel his rally in Chicago on Friday night, due to imminent threats and the danger of violent actions by the organized (radical) left, sadly, the “reporting” of the mainstream media was predictable. The antagonism towards Trump was to be expected by left-liberal stations such as CNN, NBC and of course MSNBC, but it also included conservative outlets such as Fox News. All of this was pitiful and appalling at the same time. Comments by Republican competitors Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich, blaming the victim (and frontrunner) Donald Trump as the responsible perpetrator for violent anti-Trump “demonstrations,” was ridiculous and bordered on the fictitious narrative of the left, including by socialists and communists, but they also showed their willingness to capitalize on every opportunity they can get to secure a few more votes. (That Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama would seize on the opportunity to blame Trump was of course foreseeable.) This is politics at its lowest level.

However, all the negativism will only help Trump, as Breitbart pointed out on March 12:

“Supporters of [Cruz and Rubio] took to social media to slam the freshman senators for blaming leftists shutting down a Trump Chicago rally on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump… Cruz supporters, incensed by the Texas senator’s blame game, stormed social media to express their anger… Rubio fared little better… [Some Rubio supporters were] just as angry as former Cruz supporters.”

Members of the Church of the Eternal God and its corporate affiliates do not participate in politics and its rotten and corrupt political maneuvering; they neither vote nor endorse anyone as their political candidate. (Note the Editorial in last week’s Update). We are here to report the news in the light of biblical prophecy, and it has become apparent to us for quite some time that Trump MIGHT very well be predestined to become the next US President [and not Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz]—so that biblical prophecy can be fulfilled. For more information, please request a copy of our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Who IS to Be Blamed for the Violence?

Breitbart UK wrote on March 13:

“I’ve been saying it for a while now, the mainstream media, alongside the politicians running against Donald Trump on both sides, are creating the conditions in which it would be totally ‘understandable’ if there were an attempt on Trump’s life… First, they made Donald Trump the enemy of this race… Then… Mr. Trump started attracting serious support. And the primary victories came. And the other candidates dropped out…

“Now Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler. Because people raise their hands at his rallies… That must make them Nazis. Forget that Mrs. Clinton’s supporters have done the same thing…

“Mr. Trump, like Mr. Farage [in the UK], has been portrayed as the progenitor of violence, despite the fact that Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters shut down his rally in Chicago last night. And despite the fact that someone tried to jump Mr. Trump on stage in Ohio… The problem, to these people, is Mr. Trump. Not their own… violent tendencies…

“And it’s quite clear who is to blame for all of this… It’ll be the fault of the Hitlerizing media. It’ll be the fault of the groups who shut down his events, and made him an easy target. And it’ll be the fault of those who would rather defend President Barack Obama’s record as the ‘first black president’ instead of conceding that he has divided your country more than he has united it… Something very bad could be about to happen.”

It is indeed very sad that because of paid-for tumults, which are organized by the left, and because of the unfair propaganda of the liberal and conservative mass media, Donald Trump’s life could indeed be in danger.

“Republican Wimps Absolve the Rioters”

On March 14, WND published the following article by Pat Buchanan:

“Friday evening’s Donald Trump rally in Chicago was broken up by a foul-mouthed mob that infiltrated the hall and forced the cancellation of the event to prevent violence and bloodshed. Brownshirt tactics worked. The mob, triumphant, rejoiced.  And the reaction of Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich? All three Republican rivals blamed – Donald Trump.

“With his ‘dangerous style of leadership,’ Trump stokes this anger, mewed Rubio, ‘This is what happens when a leading presidential candidate goes around feeding into a narrative of bitterness and anger and frustration.’ Rubio implies that if Trump doesn’t tone down his remarks to pacify the rabble, he will be responsible for the violence visited upon him.

“Kasich echoed Rubio: ‘Donald Trump has created a toxic environment (that) has allowed his supporters and those who sometimes seek confrontation to come together in violence.’ But were the thousands of Trump supporters who came out to cheer him that night really looking for a fight? Or were they exercising their right of peaceful assembly?

“Cruz charged Trump with ‘creating an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discord,’ thus offering absolution to the mob.

“Friday night cried out for moral clarity. What we got from Trump’s rivals was moral mush that called to mind JFK’s favorite quote from Dante: The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. As news outlets have reported, Friday’s disruption at the University of Illinois-Chicago auditorium was a preplanned assault. Behind it were the George Soros-funded MoveOn.org, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, Hispanics hoisting Mexican flags and cop-haters carrying filthy signs to show their contempt for police.

“People for Bernie, a pro-Sanders outfit, tweeted, ‘[This] wasn’t just luck. It took organizers from dozens of organizations and thousands of people to pull off. Great work.’ Now, Sanders did not order this assault on the civil rights of Trump supporters. But MoveOn.org has endorsed him, and ‘Bernie’ signs and T-shirts were everywhere among the disrupters. Hence, he has a duty to disavow this conduct and those who engaged in it…

“Can one imagine how the media would pile on Trump if working-class white males in Trump T-shirts invaded a Hillary Clinton rally and shut it down?…

“Given their ‘victory’ in Chicago, MoveOn.org and its allied nasties will try to replicate it, again and again. And as Americans came to despise the ’60s radicals, they will come to despise them. And, as in the 1960s, the country will take a turn – to the right. America has changed from the land we grew up in. But she is not yet ready to allow ugly mobs screaming obscenities at Trump and his folks inside and outside that hall in Chicago, or their paragons like socialist Bernie Sanders, to take over the country…”

China’s Anti-Trump (and Anti-American) Propaganda

China’s state-owned newspaper Global Times wrote on March 14:

“Donald Trump, front-runner to be the GOP’s candidate for the upcoming US presidential election, encountered a major protest at his campaign event in Chicago on Friday evening… Trump’s mischief has overthrown a lot of conventional norms of US political life. His remarks are abusively racist and extremist, which has left an impression on the US public that he is intentionally overthrowing political correctness.

“Trump’s rise was not anticipated by most analysts and observers. At the beginning of the election, Trump, a rich, narcissist and inflammatory candidate, was only treated as an underdog. His job was basically to act as a clown to attract more voters’ attention to the GOP. However, knocking down most other promising candidates, the clown is now the biggest dark horse…

“The rise of Trump has opened a Pandora’s box in US society… Big-mouthed, anti-traditional, abusively forthright, he is a perfect populist that could easily provoke the public… The rise of a racist in the US political arena worries the whole world… He has even been called another Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler by some Western media.

“Mussolini and Hitler came to power through elections, a heavy lesson for Western democracy… Even if Trump is simply a false alarm, the impact has already left a dent… The US had better watch itself for not being a source of destructive forces against world peace, more than pointing fingers at other countries for their so-called nationalism and tyranny.”

The Huffington Post reported on March 14:

“The Shanghai Morning Post, a local [Chinese] newspaper owned by the Communist Party… accused Trump of continually making ‘empty promises’ to solve a string of social problems… It also added that Trump’s looks and hairstyle were ‘obviously bizarre.’ ‘If [Trump] really wins, it will be hard to imagine what will become of the United States,’ the editorial concluded. Chinese outlets have not shied away from commenting on Trump in the past. After former Republican candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson endorsed Trump on Friday, China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the country’s Communist Youth League, published an op-ed the next day titled, ‘Who Can Stop “Madman” Trump’s Leading Pace?’”

It seems that dictatorial Communist China, which tramples civil rights and liberties of its citizens under foot and which is taking advantage of the USA, is becoming really anxious and concerned about Trump, taking his threats (including high tariffs for imported goods) much more seriously than many Americans are willing to do.

Japan Worried About the USA

The Financial Times wrote on March 15:

“Japan regards the US military presence as crucial to its long-run security position given China’s rise, and counts on the US nuclear umbrella to deter attack by the regime in North Korea. ‘Still fresh in our memory is the tremendous damage another Washington outsider, Jimmy Carter, did to East Asia’s security equation,’ said one foreign policy figure with ties to the Abe government. ‘Had Carter indeed withdrawn US troops from the Korean peninsula at the peak of the cold war, the world as we know it might well not have existed.’…

“On TPP [Trans-Atlantic Partnership]… they worry that Mr Trump’s rhetoric will make it hard for Congress to ratify the deal, whoever wins. As well as the direct benefits from greater trade, the Abe administration regards TPP as one of its best tools for forcing the Japanese economy to reform in areas such as agriculture…

“Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, recently toughened her rhetoric on TPP… She wants tougher ‘rules of origin’ standards, which specify where motor parts must come from for a vehicle to enter the US tax-free.

“Tokyo regards access to the US car market as its main gain from TPP… The growing threat that TPP will fail in the US casts a shadow over Japan’s own debate about ratification, which is due to start after the budget passes this month…”

Trump on the Road to Victory

The New York Times wrote on March 16:

“Donald J. Trump’s series of victories on Tuesday extended his delegate lead and forced Senator Marco Rubio of Florida out of the presidential race. Mr. Trump’s path to winning enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination is not assured, but he is in a strong position…

“If Mr. Trump maintains his current level of support in the remaining races, he would almost certainly secure the nomination.

“After Tuesday’s contests, no other candidate retains a real chance of capturing the delegates required to win the nomination outright. Mr. Rubio dropped out, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio is too far behind, and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas would need to win the vast majority of the remaining delegates — a near impossibility.

“But Mr. Trump still needs to win most of the remaining delegates to avoid a contested convention. If he continues his current performance and wins a series of key states — like Arizona, California and New York — he would get the needed delegates. Mr. Trump will probably need to win California, which has 172 delegates. California is winnable for Mr. Trump, but it could be a difficult state for him… If Mr. Trump loses California, he could miss the delegate cutoff.

“Exit polls have indicated that most of Mr. Rubio’s support could be distributed to Mr. Trump’s competitors. Say 80 percent of Mr. Rubio’s voters go to Mr. Cruz. This would cut into Mr. Trump’s delegate lead. But even that may not prevent Mr. Trump from winning the key states — like California — that ensure him enough delegates.”

Breitbart added on March 16:

“Wednesday on CNN’s ‘New Day,’ Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was asked by show co-host Chris Cuomo about the possibility he could be denied the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Cleveland later this summer. Trump said he expected to have enough delegates before heading into the convention, but added that if he were just shy of the 1,237 requited to clinch the nomination and was ultimately denied it, there could be the possibility of ‘riots.’…

“Now, if you disenfranchise those people and you say, well I’m sorry but you’re 100 votes short, even though the next one is 500 votes short, I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen, I really do. I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it but I think bad things would happen…’”

Ted Cruz—a Pentecostal and the Anointed One?

East Orlando Post wrote on March 10, 2016:

“While Ted Cruz proudly proclaims he is an Evangelical Christian, his campaign takes pains to hide the truth that Cruz and his pastor father, Rafael Cruz are Pentecostal Christians, a fact further hidden by having Ted and Heidi Cruz’s belong to the congregation of First Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church in Houston, as their home church. Both Cruz’s parents, his father Rafael, a Cuban-born immigrant, and his mother Eleanor, born in Wilmington, Delaware, grew up in Catholic families. Both were among the millions that left the Catholic Church since the 1960s to embrace Pentecostalism, a Christian movement estimated to make up 4.4 percent of the U.S. population, accounting for some 13 percent of evangelical churches in the United States…

“Pentecostals believe [in the] unintelligible human utterances of [a] Pentecostal evangelist to be understood by foreigners who do not speak the Pentecostal evangelist’s language… Religion reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey, writing in the Washington Post on March 25, 2015, was [one] of the first to recognize Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign logo and the purifying tongue-of-fire logo used commonly to identify Pentecostal churches…

“Rafael Cruz, at the Pastor Larry Huch’s New Beginnings mega-church in Bedford Texas, outside Dallas, on Aug. 26, 2012, in a Dominionist sermon proclaimed his son, Ted Cruz, to be the ‘anointed one,’ a Dominionist Messiah who would bring God’s law to reign… God anoints priests to work in the church directly and kings to go out into the marketplace to conquer, plunder, and bring back the spoils to the church. The reason governmental regulation has to disappear from the marketplace is to make it completely available to the plunder of Christian ‘kings’ who will accomplish the ‘end time transfer of wealth.’ Then ‘God’s bankers’ will usher in the ‘coming of the messiah.’ The government is being shut down so that God’s bankers can bring Jesus back…

“During a 2012 sermon at the New Beginnings Church in Bedford, Texas, Rafael Cruz described his son’s political campaign as a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy… The elder Cruz told the congregation God would anoint Christian ‘kings’ to preside over an ‘end-time transfer of wealth’ from the wicked to the righteous. After this sermon, Larry Huch, the pastor of New Beginnings, claimed Cruz’s recent election to the U.S. Senate was a sign he was one of these kings… Rafael Cruz believes Christians must take dominion over seven aspects of culture: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government.

“By identifying Ted Cruz as the ‘anointed one,’ Rafael Cruz has designated his son as what he believes is God’s choice to lead an evangelical coup d’etat…”

What unspeakable utter nonsense…

Merkel’s BIG Defeat in Germany’s State Elections

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 13:

“Exit polls suggest significant success for the populist right-wing AfD in three key state elections. Chancellor Merkel’s CDU saw losses in two out of three states, which have been attributed to her refugee policies. The right-leaning AfD managed to enter all three state parliaments, winning double-digit percentage results in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. More than 12 million Germans were eligible to vote in the polls to elect new regional parliaments in the three states.

“According to exit polls the AfD won 23 percent [24 percent according to Bild Online] in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, making it the second largest party after the ruling CDU, which managed to win 29 percent. The SPD meanwhile seems to have been dwarfed to around eleven percent [10 % according to Bild]…

“DW-analyst Simon Young said Germany was seeing a consolidation of support for the right-wing party across the country…

“According to early figures in Baden-Württemberg the ruling Green Party gained a substantial 32 percent, while the CDU, which ruled the state for almost six decades until 2011, lost a dramatic 11 percent bringing it out to 27.5 percent. The AfD also managed to win 13.1 percent [14.9% according to Bild] in this state putting [it] in third place before the SPD, currently the junior coalition partner in government, which fell to 13 percent…

“The so-called ‘Super Sunday’ is largely billed as a referendum on Merkel’s open door policy towards refugees, which saw more than a million people arrive in Germany last year. The policy has proven divisive, both among the German public and within Merkel’s CDU…

“The AfD still leader Frauke Petry told German public radio: … ‘This election shows that numerous voters are turning their backs on well-established parties’… The populist right-wing AfD campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, and has sought to scoop support from voters disillusioned with the Merkel government’s stance on refugees.”

Bild Online wrote on March 13:

“Election Debacle… Horror Day for Merkel and Gabriel [SPD]… This election result will cause a political earthquake… a disaster for the CDU… Merkel must be prepared for further controversies within her party and from the [Bavarian] CSU… The big winner is the AdF.”

The Local added on March 13:

“AfD has arrived on the political scene at a fortuitous moment… ‘AfD has become a national German party,’ said the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Opinion polls suggest that AfD might even capture seats in the lower house of parliament in elections in 2017 in what would be an unprecedented success for such a movement… Mainstream parties have stridently refused any sort of television debate with AfD members. But [an] analyst believes that the taboo surrounding such right-wing populism could be soon shattered.

“Some believe that the chancellor herself is to blame for pushing a middle ground politics that tries to be all things to all people… Die Welt daily went as far as to say that ‘AfD is Merkel’s child’ because the CDU has ‘ditched its identity’.”

Are Merkel’s Days Numbered?

The Local wrote on March 14:

“Sunday’s state elections have caused an earthquake in German politics. What does this mean for the future of Angela Merkel, her conservative party and the policy which will become her enduring legacy – welcoming refugees?… Merkel will have to decide by the summer whether she wants to stand as the Spitzenkandidat (top candidate) for the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, in the 2017 national elections.”

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote on March 14 that even though the AdF received many votes, Merkel appears to be “relaxed” as a “charismatic antagonist” (“ein charismatischer Widersacher”) is still missing, who could lead the protest against her policy.

The Punishment of Angela Merkel and the Rise of the AfD

Daily Mail wrote on March 13:

“Angela Merkel is punished in crucial state elections as far-Right party wins big vote with call to stop flow of refugees… German voters turned to the far right in droves yesterday in a damning verdict on Angela Merkel’s open door border policy. In regional elections she was humiliated by the anti-immigrant AfD – Alternative for Germany – party. Formed just three years ago, it has surged in popularity following Mrs Merkel’s decision to roll out the red carpet for more than a million migrants…

“Analysts said the regional poll… was a ‘worst case scenario’ for the embattled chancellor ahead of a general election next year. The timing made it a virtual referendum on Germany’s refugee policy. It will also be seen as an indictment of the failure of Europe’s ruling classes to acknowledge the public’s fears about migration. Mrs Merkel’s welcome for arrivals from Syria, other parts of the Middle East and North Africa, has caused chaos across the continent… there was outrage when gangs of migrant men were involved in organised sex attacks on women in Cologne and other cities on new year’s eve.

“One by one, EU states have thrown up border fences to stop the flow of arrivals – leading to the slow collapse of the Schengen passport-free zone. Austria is one of several countries to limit numbers in defiance of Brussels.

“Mrs Merkel, who has failed to win support for a Europe-wide quota system to share out refugees, last week masterminded a deal for Turkey to take back migrants landing in Greece. In return, Ankara would be handed up to £3.9billion, EU countries would accept quotas of Syrian refugees from Turkey and all 75million Turkish citizens would be allowed visa-free travel around continental Europe. On Thursday Mrs Merkel insisted that imposing a limit on refugee numbers was a ‘short-term pseudo-solution’ and that only a ‘concerted European approach’ would bring down numbers. Germany has attempted to return economic migrants to ‘safe’ countries such as Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro but still risks being overwhelmed.

“Last night millions of voters showed they have lost faith in the chancellor’s policies… middle-class voters are deserting the Christian Democrats and other establishment parties… The tabloid Bild newspaper ran the headline yesterday ‘AfD shocks Germany!’…

“The far right victory came despite attacks by leading establishment politicians. Mrs Merkel described AfD as a ‘party that does not bring cohesion in society and offers no appropriate solutions to problems, but only stokes prejudices and divisions’… Sigmar Gabriel of the Social Democrats accused AfD of having a ‘linguistic affinity’ with the Nazis.

“The Tagesspiegel newspaper said that the party drew in racists and anti-semites and suggested many former members of the neo-Nazi NPD ‘and other right wing parties are attracted to it’…

“Germany’s AfD… started out at as an anti–EU, anti–euro party sceptical of the power of Brussels and the ‘superstate’ project beloved of most of the Fatherland’s citizens. Its destiny was almost certain to be that of a protest party until the refugee crisis came along and propelled it on to the national stage in a way no–one predicted… AfD is seen by many in Germany to be linked to Pegida, a xenophobic movement which draws thousands onto the streets of the city of Dresden every Monday…

“The current leader of AfD is an East German-born female scientist. But the parallels with Angela Merkel end there. Frauke Petry believes that German police should ‘if necessary’ shoot at migrants seeking to enter the country illegally. She was lambasted for saying so in January but a poll found nearly 30 percent of the electorate agreed… Its latest big win makes it more powerful than ever.”

International Press Review

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 14:

“Here in Germany, reporters called it a ‘black election Sunday,’ with one commentator smelling a ‘whiff of Weimar’ in the AfD’s successes…

“Spanish daily El Pais described Sunday’s election results as a ‘political earthquake’ in Germany…

“Le Figaro’s Berlin correspondent Nicolas Barotte described the results as a ‘nightmare’ for… Merkel…

“Similarly, British paper The Times said that Merkel ‘was given a bloody nose by voters’…

“Swiss daily Blick told its German-speaking readers that ‘Germany is torn,’ calling the ballots a twin vote of no-confidence – both in terms of refugee policy and grand coalition government more generally… The Neue Zürcher Zeitung similarly saw a ‘warning shot towards Berlin’ and next year’s federal elections in Sunday’s results, calling them a ‘clear signal of [voter] dissatisfaction’…”

Further Rift between Israel and USA

Business Insider wrote on March 10:

“President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in the midst of yet another public conflict. Earlier this week, the Israeli prime minister announced that he was canceling a planned trip to the US because of the limited window in which it would have been possible for him to meet with Obama. Netanyahu was supposed to address the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Meanwhile, Obama leaves for a historic visit to Cuba on March 18.

“Neither side disputes that a meeting could have taken place before Obama’s departure to Cuba. Instead, the Israeli side apparently decided that it wasn’t interested in a meeting… Netanyahu’s relationship with Obama has soured over a range of issues…

“Israel and the US are currently negotiating a memorandum of understanding that will help determine the next decade of US military assistance to the country.

“Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama wants to take one more shot at advancing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process before he leaves office, an effort that The Journal reported could include the US endorsement of a UN Security Council resolution outlining a final-status outcome to the conflict. From Israel’s perspective, such a move would unacceptably coerce concessions outside the context of direct negotiations with the Palestinians…”

The relationship between the USA and Israel is prophesied to deteriorate. Also note the next article.

Will Rocky American-Israeli Relationship Continue?

The New York Times wrote on March 15:

“For the last eight years, President Obama and Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, have disagreed over Iran, Israeli settlements and just about every other issue. The Democratic Party has meanwhile drifted further from Israel. Its candidates in this year’s election are Bernie Sanders, who boycotted Mr. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last year, and the more likely nominee, Hillary Clinton, whose history of thorny relations with Israel’s prime minister began in the mid-1990s, when her husband clashed with the first Netanyahu government, and continued through her tenure as Mr. Obama’s secretary of state…

“Mr. Netanyahu and his colleagues in one of Israel’s most hawkish coalitions ever have been biding their time, waiting for Mr. Obama to vacate the White House in the hopes that he’d be replaced by a Republican with whom they could finally see eye to eye. That shouldn’t come as a surprise: Polls regularly show that Republicans are much more supportive of Israel than Democrats, and Republican candidates tend to hold positions — on issues from Iran to the Palestinians — that parallel those of a majority of Israeli voters…

“Israel depends on an America that asserts itself abroad. Israel needs bipartisan support. It needs stable, predictable American foreign policy. It desires candidates who sing Israel’s praises as often and as loudly as they can. Mr. Trump, who looks poised to capture the Republican Party’s nomination, offers Israel none of those. Mr. Netanyahu has every reason to be concerned and disappointed by what the American political system has produced this election cycle.

“On foreign policy, Mr. Trump certainly uses muscular language. He says he would ‘bomb the hell’ out of the Islamic State. That’s a welcome change from Mr. Obama, whose equivocations about the use of force have made America look weaker in the eyes of Israel’s enemies. And Mr. Trump has also been in line with the Netanyahu government in condemning the nuclear deal with Iran. But many of Mr. Trump’s statements on foreign policy suggest he has an isolationist streak. Last September, for example, he said: ‘Russia wants to get rid of ISIS. We want to get rid of ISIS. Maybe let Russia do it. Let them get rid of ISIS. What the hell do we care?’ That poses a problem for Israel: The last thing Israel wants is an America that refuses to lead.

“That is, except when it comes to Israeli-Palestinian relations, because if there’s anywhere the Netanyahu government might want to see a hands-off America, it would be on that issue. But here, Mr. Trump suddenly wants to take the lead. He promises he would broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians and assures that he would do it as a ‘neutral guy.’ For Israel ‘neutral’ is a code word with one meaning: unsupportive. In fact, ‘neutral’ is how Israelis tend to describe Mr. Obama’s policies by way of expressing displeasure. There are other ways Mr. Trump echoes the Obama administration: He has hinted that the lack of progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with Israel’s lack of enthusiasm rather than, as Mr. Netanyahu and most Republicans believe, because the Palestinians aren’t a serious partner for peace.

“And then, of course, there is Mr. Trump’s unpredictability… Sometimes he promises to destroy the Islamic State, other times he wants to leave the task to Russia. He criticizes the Iran deal, but unlike some other Republican candidates, doesn’t say he will ‘rip it up’ if he is elected.

“In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has repeatedly called himself Israel’s ‘biggest’ and ‘best’ friend. When it comes to Israel-United States relations, friendship is a word with many definitions. Early in his presidency, Mr. Obama said that his role as ‘a friend to Israel is partly to hold up a mirror and tell the truth’ when he disagreed with its policies. It’s no wonder that these days, the American president and his Israeli counterpart often look more like adversaries than friends.

“Israel’s government hoped a new president would restore a more traditional definition of friendship — one based on mutual trust and support. But if the choice comes down to Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump, that’s unlikely. From a President Clinton, Israel’s hawkish government would come under more of the same pressure it received from the Obama administration. From a President Trump … anything is possible.

“The rocky relations of the Obama era have damaged the American-Israeli alliance and eroded Israel’s standing in Washington and around the world…”

President Obama Nominates Jewish Judge to Supreme Court

JTA wrote on March 16:

“President Barack Obama nominated to the Supreme Court a Jewish judge, Merrick Garland, who is currently the chief of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

“Garland, 63, a Chicago native, has worked in Washington since the 1970s, first as a Supreme Court clerk, then a private lawyer, an assistant U.S. attorney and, since 1997, a federal judge.

“Obama made the announcement on Wednesday morning in the White House Rose Garden about his pick to fill the Supreme Court seat held by Antonin Scalia, who died last month. Republicans have vowed to block any Obama nominee, saying the vacancy on the nation’s highest court should be filled by the next president. The U.S. Senate, which is controlled by a Republican majority, must confirm any Supreme Court pick…

“Garland is a graduate of Harvard Law School and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. In 1987, he married fellow Harvard graduate Lynn Rosenman in a Jewish ceremony at the Harvard Club in New York. Rosenman’s grandfather, Samuel Rosenman of New York, was a state Supreme Court justice and a special counsel to two presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

“Garland’s father, Cyril Garland, was born in Omaha but hailed from a Latvian Jewish immigrant family. He ran an advertising business out of the family home and died in 2000. Garland’s mother, Shirley Garland, who is still living, at one point served as director of volunteer services at the Council for Jewish Elderly in Chicago.

“If confirmed, Garland would be the fourth Jewish justice on the nation’s highest court, which is comprised entirely of Jews and Catholics. The three current Jewish members of the Supreme Court are Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elana Kagan and Stephen Breyer.”

Jewish Transgender Woman Obama’s Senior Liaison to LGBT Community

JTA wrote on March 14:

“Less than a year after becoming the first openly transgender person to serve in the White House, a Jewish woman been promoted to serve as its senior liaison to the LGBT community. Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, a Honduras native who was raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, by Jewish parents, will serve as the White House’s ‘lead point of contact’ for LGBT groups…

“Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Freedman-Gurspan’s former employer, praised the appointment…

“Freedman-Gurspan, who is in her late 20s, was ‘a powerful leader for trans inclusion’ in her Brookline synagogue, Temple Beth Zion, according to the Jewish LGBT advocacy group Keshet. She also was active in the Jewish Student Union as an undergraduate at St. Olaf College in Minneapolis.

“Although Freedman-Gurspan was the first transgender White House staffer, another Jewish woman, Amanda Simpson, was the first transgender individual to hold a position in the U.S. executive branch. President Barack Obama appointed Simpson in 2010 to senior technical adviser in the Bureau of Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce.”

Incredible!

Obama’s Deal with Iran Responsible for More Wars in the Middle East

The Telegraph wrote on March 12:

“Barack Obama’s ill-advised nuclear deal with Iran has kickstarted a new arms race. There is now a genuine risk that Saudi Arabia and its allies will become involved in a dangerous military confrontation with Iran…

“Iran’s decision to test-fire two ballistic missiles emblazoned with the legend ‘Israel must be wiped out’ in Hebrew is not the sort of reassuring conduct one would expect from a country that claims it wants better relations with the outside world. Timed to coincide with US Vice President Joe Biden’s tour of the Gulf states and Israel, the missile launches will not only be seen as an unnecessarily provocative act of aggression by countries like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. They are also deeply embarrassing for the Obama administration, which is still trying to reassure its allies in the Gulf and Israel that its controversial nuclear deal with Tehran has ended Iranian attempts to build nuclear weapons – for the time being, at least.

“Only a few weeks ago naive enthusiasts of President Obama’s nuclear deal claimed that gains made by so-called moderates in Iran’s recent elections for the majlis, or parliament, as well as the Assembly of Experts, demonstrated Iran was well on the way to reform and a more transparent system of government. What these modern-day fellow travellers – and they include many leading lights in our own Foreign Office [in the UK] – fail to appreciate is that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s uncompromising Supreme Leader and guardian of Iran’s Islamic revolution, personally vetted all of the candidates. Thus only those with impeccable revolutionary credentials were allowed to stand. So much for Iran’s new spirit of reform.

“For, despite the modest gains made by these so-called reformers, the fact remains that the real power in Iran lies with the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), whose duty is both to defend and export Iran’s revolutionary values throughout the Muslim world – with special focus on neighbouring Arab states. Not only do the Revolutionary Guards control a significant percentage of the Iranian economy – including the country’s vast oil reserves. They are also responsible for Iran’s defence and security policy which, contrary to Washington’s confident predictions in the wake of the nuclear deal, has led to a significant upsurge in Iranian meddling in neighbouring Arab states. The fear now among pro-Western Arab leaders is that Iran will embark on a military build-up funded by the estimated $150 billion Tehran is set to receive as a result of the sanctions being lifted.

“The missile tests will certainly be seen by many regional leaders in that context, particularly as many Western intelligence experts are convinced the missiles are being designed specifically to carry nuclear warheads. In addition to continuing to develop its ballistic missile programme, Tehran last month also concluded a deal with Russia to improve its missile defences. One of the more obvious failings of Mr Obama’s nuclear deal is that it allows Iran, a country which the CIA says once had an illicit nuclear weapons programme, to continue development work on its ballistic missiles. Washington no doubt believes there is no harm in Tehran building missiles that can strike at the heart of Europe when it does not have the means to fit them with nuclear warheads…

“Not surprisingly, the Gulf states have now embarked on developing a multi-billion pound anti-missile shield of their own. If nothing else, Mr Obama’s legacy to the Middle East will have been to initiate a new arms race. In Israel, too, intelligence officials take the same view about Iran’s long-term nuclear ambitions, which no doubt explains Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent decision to cancel his proposed visit to Washington later this month… For the past two weeks Saudi Arabia has been hosting the Middle East’s biggest-ever military exercise – Operation Desert Thunder. An estimated 20 Muslim nations have taken part in the exercise which is aimed at strengthening the ability of the Saudi-led coalition to defend itself against the growing threat posed by Islamist-inspired terror groups, such as Daesh. But the possibility should not be ruled out that one day these same forces could be used to defend Sunni Arab regimes from the threat posed by Shia Iran.

“In Yemen, Saudi Arabia is already fighting a proxy war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, while Riyadh has made no secret of its determination to secure the overthrow of the pro-Iranian regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the Obama administration continues to hail the merits of its nuclear deal with Iran, which it insists will form the centrepiece of Mr Obama’s legacy when his presidency concludes later this year. Yet if Iran continues with unprovoked acts of aggression, such as its latest test-firing of ballistic missiles, then there is a genuine risk that Saudi Arabia and its allies will become involved in a direct, and far more dangerous, military confrontation with Iran. And that is most certainly not the kind of legacy Mr Obama had in mind when he concluded his ill-advised deal with the ayatollahs.”

As it has been pointed out, this deal with Iran was one of the worst “deals” ever made in the history of the United States. But God prophesied in His Word that in these end times, the leaders of the USA and the UK, as well as Canada, would be “blind” to reality.

Regarding the differences between Sunnis and Shias, the paper wrote:

“The split between Sunnis and Shias begins with the death of the prophet Mohammed in 632 AD, and the battle to succeed him as the first Muslim caliph. Sunnis say his brother-in-law Abu Bakr was the rightful heir; Shias say it should have been his son-in-law, Ali. The two groups differ over the nature of the Mahdi (or messiah), the role of Islamic law in society, the correct way to pray, and which texts beside the Quran are canon. Sunnis are the largest group, comprising 80 to 90 per cent of Muslims and spread across the Islamic world from Pakistan to North Africa. Shias are a minority in most places – they were persecuted under the caliphs and the Ottomans – but hold power in Iran, where theirs is the state religion, and Iraq, where they form two thirds of the population. The conflict has ebbed and flowed for centuries now; it won’t end soon.”

The Toll of Syria’s Cursed War

AFP wrote on March 11:

“Syria’s war has killed more than a quarter of a million people, uprooted over half the population and left much of the country in ruins since it erupted five years ago…

“Among those killed are around 80,000 civilians, including 13,500 children. Far more people are feared dead, however, with an unknown number killed in detention at the hands of the government, rebels or jihadists. UN investigators in February accused the regime of “extermination” in its jails and detention centres. Handicap International, a French non-governmental organisation, said earlier this month that one million people had been wounded in the war. And a Syrian aid group in January denounced the incessant bombing of medical facilities in the country, where it said 177 hospitals had been destroyed and nearly 700 health workers killed since 2011.

“In January, the United Nations said that 13.5 million people out of a pre-conflict population of 23 million had been forced from their homes. The charity Save the Children said this month that at least 250,000 children are living under siege, with many forced to eat animal feed or leaves to survive… About 4.7 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries… Most of the refugees are in neighbouring countries, notably Turkey, which has become the biggest host country with more than 2.7 million on its soil… It is followed by Lebanon with over one million. More than two thirds of these live in ‘extreme poverty,’ according to the UN. Over 630,000 people have taken refuge in Jordan… Around 225,000 Syrians have fled to Iraq and 137,000 to Egypt.

“The refugees face poverty, health problems and growing tensions with local communities. Many live in makeshift camps and face significant restrictions on integration. While the vast majority of refugees remain in the region, hundreds of thousands have tried to make the perilous journey to Europe, though not all reached its shores alive.

“Experts say the conflict has set Syria’s economy back by three decades, with almost all its revenues cut off and most of the infrastructure destroyed… The education and health systems are in ruins. Exports have plunged by 90 percent since 2011… According to the oil minister, direct and indirect losses in the oil and gas sector amount to $58 billion (52 billion euros)… Syria is living almost without electricity, with 83 percent of lighting no longer working.”

These are some of the CURSES of war. Why would ANY decent human being, let alone a true Christian, advocate or engage in war? Thankfully, when Jesus Christ returns and establishes God’s righteous government on earth, wars with all their curses will be things of the past.

Russia Announces Withdrawal from Syria

Bloomberg wrote on March 14:

“Russia said it will start withdrawing forces from Syria in a surprise move… Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military intervention last year in support of Assad turned the tide in Syria’s five-year civil war, said the partial pullout should begin on Tuesday. A Russian air base and a naval facility will continue to function, he said in Moscow. Assad didn’t request the withdrawal, said Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov…

“For Putin, who’s worked with the U.S. to promote diplomacy in Syria even though the two powers backed opposite sides in the war, it’s an opportunity to display peacemaking credentials while preserving the gains Assad’s army made under Russian air cover…

“Putin and President Barack Obama discussed the Russian plan to withdraw troops by phone on Monday, the White House said. Obama welcomed the reduction in violence since the U.S. and Russia helped broker a truce last month, but said that ‘continuing offensive actions by Syrian regime forces risk undermining’ both that truce and the Geneva talks…

“The Syrian presidency said on Twitter that Russia had promised to continue supporting Syria’s fight against terrorism. The definition of who’s a terrorist in Syria, as well as Assad’s future role, has been at the root of the disagreement between Russia and the U.S., which says moderate rebels against the regime have also been targeted by Putin’s intervention…

“Salem al-Muslet, a spokesman for the main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee, said Russia is largely to blame for the current state of the conflict…

“The U.S. has softened calls for Assad’s removal in recent months… Putin’s latest announcement is ‘a symbolic gesture to sweeten the opposition’s pill, because Assad is clearly not going to go away even if Russia slightly reduces its operations,’ said Anton Lavrov, an independent Russian military analyst… At talks in Geneva earlier on Monday, there were few signs that Assad or the opposition are willing to make major compromises… Syria’s regime is indicating that it will only accept a limited role for the opposition in government, and that discussing Assad’s position is a ‘red line.’

“Putin said that the Russian bombing campaign had allowed the Syrian army to ‘take the initiative on nearly all fronts.’… Viktor Ozerov, head of the defense committee in the upper house of Russia’s parliament, said by phone that if the Syrian army isn’t capable of finishing off Islamic State, ‘we can come back.’”

The CURSE of Nuclear Power Plants… Notice Japan’s Terrible Example

Reuters wrote on March 9:

“The robots sent in to find highly radioactive fuel at Fukushima’s nuclear reactors have ‘died’: a subterranean ‘ice wall’ around the crippled plant meant to stop groundwater from becoming contaminated has yet to be finished. And authorities still don’t know how to dispose of highly radioactive water stored in an ever mounting number of tanks around the site. Five years ago, one of the worst earthquakes in history triggered a 10-meter high tsunami that crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station causing multiple meltdowns. Nearly 19,000 people were killed or left missing and 160,000 lost their homes and livelihoods. Today, the radiation at the Fukushima plant is still so powerful it has proven impossible to get into its bowels to find and remove the extremely dangerous blobs of melted fuel rods…

“The fuel rods melted through their containment vessels in the reactors, and no one knows exactly where they are now. This part of the plant is so dangerous to humans, Tepco has been developing robots, which can swim under water and negotiate obstacles in damaged tunnels and piping to search for the melted fuel rods. But as soon as they get close to the reactors, the radiation destroys their wiring and renders them useless, causing long delays… Each robot has to be custom-built for each building…

“What to do with the nearly million tonnes of radioactive water is one of the biggest challenges, said Akiro Ono, the site manager. Ono said he is ‘deeply worried’ the storage tanks will leak radioactive water in the sea – as they have done several times before…”

Nuclear power plants are a great danger to the welfare and even survival of mankind.

Catholic Church Faces Deep Crisis

Newsmax wrote on March 16:

“Pope [Emeritus] Benedict XVI warns that the Catholic Church is facing a ‘deep crisis’ following reforms of the Second Vatican Council that was held in the 1960s…  Among Benedict’s concerns are the belief that other religions are equal to Christianity in obtaining salvation and the change in dogma that lessens fears that one’s eternal salvation can be lost. ‘The missionaries of the 16th century were convinced that the unbaptized person is lost forever,’ Benedict said. ‘After the [Second Vatican] Council, this conviction was definitely abandoned. The result was a two-sided, deep crisis. Without this attentiveness to the salvation, the Faith loses its foundation.’

“As for the universalist view that all those outside the Catholic Church can be saved, which was adopted after Vatican II, Benedict asks, ‘Why should you try to convince the people to accept the Christian faith when they can be saved even without it?’ The view also prevents Catholics themselves from seeing a need to practice their faith, he said…

“Even less acceptable, Benedict said, ‘is the solution proposed by the pluralistic theories of religion, for which all religions, each in its own way, would be ways of salvation and, in this sense, must be considered equivalent in their effects.’”

How America Got Its Name

The Local wrote on March 11:

“Christopher Columbus is often credited with first ‘discovering’ the Americas for Europe, despite the fact that [he] thought he was somewhere in Asia most of the time. But back in the 16th century, another man who also braved the Atlantic around the same time was believed by many across Europe to have been the first European on New World soil. So it makes sense that North and South America would derive their names from that clever cartographer and adventurer, Amerigo Vespucci.

“But it wasn’t Vespucci himself who gave this land its current name…  Around 1502, a letter by Vespucci entitled Mundus Novus (New World) was published and reprinted across Europe. It described his voyage to South America between 1501 and 1502 and recognized that this was previously unknown land…

“By 1507, Martin Waldseemüller, a German cartographer, was tasked by academics in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France with creating an updated world map, based in part on Vespucci’s findings, along with the help of fellow German Matthias Ringmann. The two wanted to pay tribute to Vespucci and decided to use the feminine version of the navigator’s Christian name, Americus. ‘Now indeed these regions are fairly well known and Amerigo Vespucci has found another, fourth part, for which I see no reason why anyone could properly disapprove of a name derived from that of Amerigo, the discoverer, a man of sagacious genius,’ they wrote in commentary about the map. A suitable form would be Amerige, meaning [in Greek] Land of Amerigo, or America, since Europe and Asia have received women’s names.’

“But rather than going for the Greek ending they made it Latin. So over what we now call Brazil, Waldseemüller wrote for the very first time ‘America’… The two young Germans never intended the title to apply to the entirety of the land mass, but the map’s uniqueness made it highly in-demand, also serving as the model for the world’s first printed globe.

“But not long after the maps became a smash hit, Waldseemüller regretted it and tried to take back the name America. He ultimately lost confidence in Vespucci as being the first European to set foot in the New World and on a 1513 map, he called the territory ‘Terra Incognita’ or ‘Unknown Land’ instead… But… he could not undo the ripple in history that he had set into motion. The name America caught on and by 1538, Gerardus Mercator made the first map applying the term to both North and South America.”

In biblical prophecy, the USA is not known as “America,” but as Manasseh, a son of Joseph and grandson of Israel, or as the modern “house of Israel” (together with other English-speaking countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).

In the last Q&A, we discussed the fact that even though God’s law is written in the heart of a true Christian, that does not mean that he or she can ignore written rules defining and explaining God’s law.  We concluded by saying that we must follow God’s law, including its written rules, from the heart (Romans 6:17), and that we can only do so if God’s Spirit dwells in us.

In this Q&A, we will discuss the practical consequences when God’s law is written in our hearts.

In Old Testament times, God revealed the law of the Ten Commandments to the people, but since they did not have the Holy Spirit, they were unable to keep the spiritual intent of the law. However, God expected them to keep at least the letter of the law, but they were also disobedient in that regard. They sinned gravely, and sin is the transgression of the spiritual law (1 John 3:4). Because of their sinful conduct, God introduced a sacrificial system of ritual laws and regulations to remind them of their sins and to make physical amends (Hebrews 10:1-4). This system of ritual laws was only temporary (Hebrews 10:8-10). It included the laborious task of offering animal sacrifices, and sometimes it included very rigorous physical penalties, such as death by stoning. Dealing with carnal human beings, God knew that only harsh measures could prevent them from totally rebelling against Him and from living a terrible life of depravity and violence (compare Ecclesiastes 8:11). Nevertheless, even those measures did not help, and they ultimately became totally and completely corrupt (Ecclesiastes 9:3).

It was never God’s desire to “force” people to obey Him. It was never His desire to introduce harsh physical penalties for disobedience. He never wanted a sacrificial system. He did not desire animal sacrifices, but rather, that men lived in a way that such sacrifices [and penalties] would not be necessary (Psalm 40:6; 50:8-14; 51:16-17).

God had created man as free moral agents, with the faculty of deciding for himself whether or not to follow God’s rules. God had offered Adam and Eve the gift of the Holy Spirit (symbolized by the Tree of Life), but they rejected that gift and ate instead from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, representing the concept of determining and deciding for themselves what seemed right to them. The consequence was that man began to call good evil, and evil good (Isaiah 5:20), ending up in his unspeakable depravity and his destruction in a worldwide flood (Genesis 6:5-7).

God is a Kingdom—the Family of God ruling over creation. At this point, the God Family consists of the Father and the Son. God wants to enlarge His Family through man. God cannot sin because He does not want to sin. It is totally against His character to sin. He is love (1 John 4:8), and love is the keeping of His commandments (1 John 5:3). God does not keep the law because of fear of punishment for violating His law. He keeps the law because of love, KNOWING that His law is the only way to happiness and peace. He has purified His words (His law) seven times (Psalm 12:6) so that He can be absolutely sure that His law is perfect, right, good and complete (Romans 7:12). It cannot be improved (compare Psalm 18:30).

God wants His people to develop the same attitude towards His law. They too must become convinced that it is always right, and when they disagree on a given point, they are always wrong. When we have reached that conclusion and become persuaded of the goodness of God’s Word, we will want to follow it from the heart. But we won’t be able to do so automatically or obey without fail, because there is still a war going on in our members (Romans 7:14-24). Many times, we may want to do what is good, but the evil within us has not completely died.

However, to the extent that we embrace God’s law and have it written in our hearts, we will begin to do what is right, without having to be forced to do so, or because we are living in fear of punishment. When we have fear, then God’s law in us has not reached perfection, because God’s perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

When that point is reached, then we do not need to have anyone teach us the law anymore because we have now internalized it (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:11). We will do what is right, and we don’t need to have someone to tell us what is right (1 John 2:27; compare John 14:26). When God’s law is written in our hearts, then we will not listen to and follow those who want to deceive us and teach us that the law has been done away with (1 John 2:26). However, we will not always obey (there is no one who does not sin, compare 1 John 1:8, 10; 1 Kings 8:46; and Ecclesiastes 7:20 in the Living Bible), and we may not always be totally and perfectly firm in our conviction, and then it is needful and necessary that God’s ministers point out to us and remind us again as to what is the truth about sin, and how to avoid sinning on our way to perfection (Ezekiel 44:23-24; Ephesians 4:11-16). Even though we are taught by God to love one another (1 Thessalonians 4:9), this teaching was communicated to us through God’s ministers (Romans 10:14-15), and it sometimes needs to be reiterated by the ministry; further, we would not understand this teaching unless God had given His Holy Spirit into our hearts (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible states to 1 John 2:27:

“…and ye need not that any man teach you; not that they were perfect in knowledge, for no man is absolutely, only comparatively so, in this life; or that they needed not, and were above and exempt from the instructions of Christ’s faithful servants; for John himself taught them, and to teach and instruct them was the end of his writing this epistle to them; but the sense is either that they needed not the teachings of these men before mentioned, the antichrists, liars, and seducers, being better taught, and having an unction by which they knew all things; or they needed not to be taught as if they were babes in Christ, as unskillful in the word of righteousness, but so as to increase in spiritual knowledge, and go on to perfection, and be established in the present truths, at least so as to be put in remembrance of them…  this passage does not militate against the external ministry of the Gospel, or human teachings according to that perfect rule and declaration of the whole mind and will of God…”

When God writes His law in the hearts of men, then they will respond. In the Millennium, Christ will teach the people about the horrors of war (Isaiah 2:3), but that teaching alone will not necessarily convince everyone that they should stop going to war. At the beginning of the Millennium, hordes from the East will still want to fight. And so, God will supernaturally intervene and stop that potential fight (Ezekiel 38:1-13). People will be led to the understanding that war is wrong and also completely unnecessary, as God will fight our battles for us (compare Exodus 14:14). And to the degree to which God’s law against murder, war and killing is being written in their hearts, they do not want to learn war anymore, and they will destroy their weapons of war and exchange them with useful agricultural tools (Isaiah 2:4).

They do not do this because they are forced to do this; rather, they will do so because they accept the fact that God’s law tells them that this is the only right way; and since God’s law has become part of their character, they will be following it willingly and joyfully. This, in turn, will motivate others to do likewise, and we will not see war throughout the remainder of the Millennium, until Satan is released from prison for a short while (Revelation 20:7). When this happens, then those human beings, who are alive at that time, will follow Satan’s evil devices and his deception, and they will be wanting to fight again in war (Revelation 20:8-9). They never had God’s law against war written in their hearts. They might have refrained from fighting in war because nobody else did, but when they will be given an opportunity, they will choose to fight.

God wants us to embrace and internalize His law of love (Romans 13:8-10). God desires that we obey His law willingly and cheerfully—without compulsion or fear of punishment. God will not bring us into His Family, if we only obey Him because we have to. God lives the Way of give, because love is the outgoing concern for the welfare and benefit of others. And so, God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)—someone who loves to give willingly (compare Exodus 25:2). God loves someone who understands that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). God has always loved His Son (Matthew 3:17), but He GAVE Him for the salvation of the world (John 3:16). In addition, Christ laid down and GAVE His life for us (John 10:17; Mathew 20:28). Nobody forced the Father and the Son to do this; they did it willingly and joyfully for our benefit. We are to be living sacrifices as well (Romans 12:1), giving of ourselves to others. Somebody who gives, but does it grudgingly and under compulsion, does not really live the WAY of give and does not really have God’s love in his heart (compare Romans 5:5). Such a person wants to really live the way of get, and he will do so once the opportunity presents itself.

When God’s law is written in our hearts, then we will live the Way of love and of give, and we will do so joyfully and happily. We will love the truth (compare 2 Thessalonians 2:10) and we will love God’s law (Psalm 119:97). We will love to honor and praise God as our ONLY God, rather than choosing other gods and using God’s Name in vain; and we will love to keep God’s weekly and annual Holy Days. We will love to honor our parents; to always tell the truth; to give to others rather than stealing from them; and to respect the marriage of others rather than committing adultery with our neighbor’s husband or wife. We will love to give others joy and happiness rather than killing them; and to rejoice when others are blessed, sharing actively in their joy, rather than envying them and being willing to take from them what they have.

God owns everything, and He wants to give and share everything with us. His law is written on His heart, and He wants to write it on our hearts too. We must allow Him to do so, and then we will be fulfilling God’s law by loving Him with ALL of our heart, and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

The 2016 Church Conference will be conducted in San Diego, California. Arrival date is April 7th with departure scheduled for April 13th.

“How NOT to Stop Trump” is the title of the newest StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

All attempts to stop Donald Trump from becoming the Republican nominee have failed so far. In fact, they have backfired. Even though the recent events in Chicago have been terribly misrepresented by the mainstream media, they only helped Trump to gain popularity. The “organized institutional left” and the GOP establishment are “unified” in their attempts to fight Trump, but without any apparent success. Will the GOP risk a break-up of their own party at a contested or brokered convention in July, by deciding against Trump and the will of the Republican voters?  Whom do people actually vote for? Do they vote for a candidate or a delegate, and what is the huge difference? Will America become great again? The Bible says it will, and we explain what is going to happen in our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

“The Dark Side of Easter,” is the title of a special new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. This is another in our series which will be accompanied with special announcements and press releases. Here is a summary:

Where did Easter come from? Many believe Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but Easter existed long before Christ was even born. So what do Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Easter cakes and Easter sunrise services have to do with Christ? Most historians agree that Easter was originally a pagan festival, but many overlook its really dark and sinister side. Does it matter to God whether or not you keep Easter?

“Ein Christ ohne schriftliche Gebote?” is the title of this week’s German sermon. Title in English: “A Christian Without Written Commandments?”

“Feeding on Sin,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Robb Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The world takes God for granted and assumes that the Creator is unnecessary. This mindset is fed by mankind’s desire for self-glorification.  The state in which we find ourselves thinking in those terms is achieved by a lifetime of godless choices.

“It’s All about Work!” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Stunning, unimaginable accomplishment is described in the Word of God. It is about the work of God—the things He has done, continues and even plans into the endless future of eternity!

On March 12, 2016, Robb Harris will present the sermonette, titled, “Feeding on Sin,” and Dave Harris will present the sermon, titled, “It’s All About Work!”

The live services are available, over video and audio, at http://eternalgod.org/live-services/ (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time; 8:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time; 9:30 pm Central European Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

Retired Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, a Seventh-Day Adventist and former Republican contender for the Presidency, was quoted in the press as follows:

“I believe Christians in this country can easily determine the next president of the United States and all other national and local leaders, should they simply show up at the polls. When we do vote, We The People will once again solidify our commitment to the Judeo-Christian values upon which our nation was founded… being a person of faith does not delete the responsibility to take part in the society in which you’re living.’”

As long-time readers know, members of the Church of the Eternal God and its international affiliates have been refusing to vote in governmental elections, being convinced that based on the Bible, they must not do so. On the other hand, let me say that I AM voting this year, and let me show you who my candidate is whom I fully support.

First, let me state some of the important characteristics of my candidate. When I vote for someone, I must be convinced that he fulfills these (and many other) requirements, so that I can endorse him completely and totally… with a one hundred percent approval rate.

My candidate who gets my vote must teach against war. He must be able to convince the people that they must not advocate and participate in war either (Isaiah 2:3-4; 9:6-7; 26:12; Psalm 46:9; 68:30).

My candidate must be able to judge with righteousness, not based on hearsay, innuendo, rumors or exaggerations, and no unrighteousness must be in him (Isaiah 11:3-4; Psalm 92:15).

My candidate must be faithful in anything he says or does (Isaiah 11:5). Whatever he promises, he must keep (Isaiah 46:11; Psalm 105:42). It must be impossible for him to lie (Hebrews 6:18). There must be no deceit in his mouth (1 Peter 2:21-22). He must follow the standards which he has announced and put forth, even though they may not be in accordance with the ideas of others (Matthew 20:1-15). He must not change his opinion when it is politically expedient to do so (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19).

While he must be truly gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29), he must not fail in what he has purposed to do until he has established true justice in the land (Isaiah 42:4).

How many contenders for the American Presidency do you know who would qualify to be my candidate? I know of none.

And still, I will vote this year, as I did in previous years. I will vote for the ONLY candidate who meets my requirements. I am talking about Jesus Christ, of course. And this is what we read in Psalm 118:8-9:

“It is better to trust in [and vote for] the LORD Than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in princes.”

We begin with quoting from some revealing articles about the European perception of the American status quo… and its foreseeable future. We also report on the fights within the Republican Party (GOP) and the desperate attempt by the GOP establishment to stop Donald Trump… being willing to use whatever means they deem to be necessary. However, this has already seriously backfired on the GOP establishment.

We speak on Hillary Clinton’s legal troubles and continue with more controversial comments by Pope Francis and the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe which has led to decreasing support for Angela Merkel and the German political establishment and an increase of popularity for the German AdF, a right-wing populist anti-migrant party.

We report on the EU’s shaky deal with Turkey and dictatorial measures by Turkey under its autocratic ruler. We speak on deeply troublesome measures of the FBI; report on Nancy Reagan’s death; vaccination requirements in Jewish camps; Israel’s first transgender beauty pageant; and a new Israel study claiming that “forty-eight percent of Jewish-Israelis agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel.’”

We discuss the retraction of a scientific paper daring to speak of a “Creator,” showing again the attempts of the scientific community to brain-wash gullible people; and we conclude with a revealing article about fraud committed by the vast majority of “street beggars.”

The Changing Face of the USA

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 6:

“History is being written right now in America. That is always exciting. But in this case it is also dramatic. An entire country is changing before our eyes. Though he may not have started it, Donald Trump is the man who is now speeding up and steering this process in a very dangerous direction. Like a bulldozer on a rampage, he is destroying the foundations of this freedom-loving and once so self-assured nation…

“The country seems rotten, like a once mighty tree that is leaning precariously. It remains to be seen if it can weather the gathering storm or will come crashing down. In the eyes of a growing number of voters, the country’s elite, which only thinks of itself, is also rotten. It is an elite that, despite the country’s economic well-being, has starved the middle-class and robbed them of the fruits of their labor. The fact that more and more Americans are growing angry is understandable…

“Trump is the tough guy many people feel could finally change things… By ‘Super Tuesday’ at the latest, it has been clear that Trump’s message is reaching broad swaths of American voters in a way that no other Republican has been able to do, with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan. Women and men, blacks and whites, young and old, rich and poor, in southern as well as northern states: everyone is getting the message.

“Trump’s success says a lot about Americans and about the state of the nation. But what can be inferred from these messages is not good. Not good for America and not good for Germany and America’s other allies.

“The country is changing… Global responsibility is being replaced by nationalist egocentricity…

“At the moment many people are asking ‘why?’ But explanations so far are at best akin to tentative attempts to describe an unknown landscape. Even in Washington, with its corps of political professionals, erudite think tanks, well-traveled diplomats and seasoned journalists, even here there are no answers to be found – only silence.

“… who is to say that this virus will stop at the party’s borders? It is also not a forgone conclusion that Hillary Clinton, should she be her party’s nominee, will be able to derail the increasingly likely Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.”

The wording is quite interesting about America’s “rottenness” or “sickness,” as this is exactly the terminology used by God about the modern House of Israel—mainly the USA and the UK—as well as the House of Judah (compare Isaiah 1:4-6; 5:24; Hosea 5:12).

Republican Contested Convention in July?

Bloomberg wrote on March 4:

“Donald Trump’s dominant performance on Super Tuesday, which included victories in seven of 11 states, has prompted a swift and sudden shift in strategy among anti-Trump forces within the Republican Party. Rather than narrow the field, many now believe the only way to stop him is for the current candidates to stay in, deny Trump the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, and force a contested convention in July…

“With no clear nominee, there would be a contested convention in July. If no candidate secures 1,237 votes on the first ballot, many delegates obliged to vote for Trump would be free to back someone else on subsequent ballots… The party hasn’t faced a contested convention since 1976, and it was resolved on the first ballot…

“During a blistering speech Thursday calling Trump ‘a fraud’ who must not be president, Romney all but endorsed the strategy, encouraging major candidates to stay in the race and urging voters to back anyone but Trump…

“Given his broad base of support among voters—young and old, men and women, rich and poor, moderate and conservative—[Trump is] seen as unlikely to be overtaken by any candidate…

“The new strategy to stop Trump hinges heavily on March 15, and requires victories by Rubio and Kasich in their winner-take- all home states—Florida awards 99 delegates and Ohio awards 66 delegates…

“The idea of trying to snag the nomination from Trump at the convention has already proven controversial on the right. Figures like Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of Fox News’s parent company 21 First Century Fox, and Republican strategist Alex Castellanos argue that the GOP should rally around Trump if he continues to lead the pack. ‘Trump has earned the nomination,’ Castellanos told the Washington Post Wednesday. ‘He won it, fair and square and we should respect that. Donald Trump whipped the establishment and it is too late for the limp GOP establishment to ask their mommy to step in and rewrite the rules because they were humiliated for their impotence.’

“John McCain, the party’s 2008 nominee, echoed Romney’s criticisms of Trump in a statement on Thursday, and called on Republican voters ‘to think long and hard about who they want to be our next Commander-in-Chief and leader of the free world.’

“If there is a contested convention, the chances of chaos are high…”

It is interesting that both Romney and McCain, previous Republican nominees and prototypes of the Republican establishment, have failed in their past efforts to become President.

Romney the Nominee at Brokered Convention?

The Washington Post wrote on March 6:

“Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, refused Sunday to rule out becoming the nominee again this year at a brokered convention, though he insisted he couldn’t imagine that happening. ‘I don’t think anyone in our party should say, “Oh no, even if the people of the party wanted me to be president, I would say no to it.” No one is going to say that,’ Mr. Romney said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’

“Speculation abounded that Mr. Romney was setting himself up for a surprise nomination last week when he unleashed a brutal denouncement of front-runner Donald Trump, urging voters to support anyone but the billionaire real estate mogul in upcoming primaries to force a contested convention this summer in Cleveland, Ohio.”

Republicans Revolt Against GOP Establishment

The New York Times wrote on March 4:

“From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear.

“In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr. Romney four years ago rebelled against his message and plan… The furious campaign now underway to stop Mr. Trump and the equally forceful rebellion against it captured the essence of the party’s breakdown over the past several weeks: Its most prominent guardians, misunderstanding their own voters, antagonize them as they try to reason with them, driving them even more energetically to Mr. Trump’s side…

“Steve Forbes, the publisher and two-time Republican presidential candidate, summed up the mood… ‘Parties,’ he said, ‘don’t usually commit suicide,’ suggesting the party was well on its way with Mr. Trump. The problem, for figures like Mr. Forbes and Mr. Romney, is that Mr. Trump’s supporters seem profoundly uninterested at the moment with the image, expectations or traditions of the Republican Party… They are, in many cases, hostile to it… Voters have not taken kindly to the recommendation [by Mr. Romney], describing the request as a patronizing directive from an elite figure who thoroughly misunderstands their feelings of alienation from the political system…

“Conservative talk radio shows lit up Friday with incensed callers who said they were ‘livid,’ ‘mad’ and ‘on the verge of tears’ as they listened to Mr. Romney scoldingly describe what he called Mr. Trump’s misogyny, vulgarity and dishonesty, and urged them to abandon him… In interviews across the country, Republican voters suggested that Mr. Romney’s move was presumptuous and described him as out of touch and ineffectual… Frustrated Republicans seized on Mr. Romney’s status as a party insider who was insulated from the realities, indignities and rage of average Americans headed to the polls this year…”

Germany’s Vice Chancellor Attacks Trump

The Local wrote March 6:

“Germany’s Vice Chancellor [and economy minister] Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday that US billionaire Donald Trump, frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, poses a threat to peace, social cohesion and prosperity. Gabriel labelled the brash real estate mogul a ‘right-wing populist’ who, like Marine Le Pen of France and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, promises voters unsettled by globalisation a return to a protected ‘fairytale world’.

“Whether Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen or Geert Wilders—all these right-wing populists are not only a threat to peace and social cohesion but also to economic development,” the centre-left Social Democrat told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.”

Foreign Diplomats Voicing Alarm about Trump

Reuters reported on March 7:

“Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials.

“Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump’s statements…

“U.S. officials said it was highly unusual for foreign diplomats to express concern, even privately, about candidates in the midst of a presidential campaign. U.S. allies in particular usually don’t want to be seen as meddling in domestic politics, mindful that they will have to work with whoever wins.

“Senior leaders in several countries… have already made public comments criticizing Trump’s positions…

“There are also concerns abroad that the United States would become more insular under Trump, who has pledged to tear up international trade agreements and push allies to take a bigger role in tackling Middle East conflicts. ‘European diplomats are constantly asking about Trump’s rise with disbelief and, now, growing panic,’ said a senior NATO official…”

European Far Right Groups Are Looking at Trump

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 4:

“The list of groups and individuals supporting Donald Trump’s candidacy reads like the Who’s Who of the international extreme right: The leader of the Dutch Freedom Party Geert Wilders, the founder of France’s Front National Jean-Marie Le Pen, the head of Italy’s Lega Nord Matteo Salvini, Greece’s Golden Dawn party, as well as the Ku Klux Klan and the black supremacists of the Nation of Islam in the US… Trump’s radical statements on issues near and dear to the extreme right, such as illegal immigration – but also his delivery and tone – have hit a nerve with Europe’s far right….

“Trump, however, is not supported by all groups on the far right. More established parties, such as Norway’s Progress Party, which is part of the government there, or Denmark’s People’s Party, the country’s second largest party, have distanced themselves from Trump… they deem him simply too controversial and too far to the right.

“That same split is apparent in France, where Trump has been endorsed by the founder of Front National, Jean-Marie Le Pen, but not by his daughter, current Front National leader Marine Le Pen…

“Trump’s status as a political outsider has only added to his appeal among Europe’s far right… Trump is the perfect study in political campaigning in the 21st century… Trump’s efforts at reaching out to particular groups in society, notably the working class and people who feel left behind by globalization can be easily applied to a European context as well.”

Legal Trouble for Hillary Clinton?

LawNewZ reported on March 3:

“The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server just took a very significant turn, legally speaking… the U.S. Department of Justice (likely through a federal judge) granted immunity to Clinton’s aide Bryan Pagliano who helped set-up her privately maintained email server. We checked in with our legal sources from former federal prosecutors (both Republicans and Democrats) to Washington D.C. insiders, most agree that the immunity deal is a serious step in the FBI’s investigation for several reasons…

“Pagliano’s immunity is likely the result of what’s called a ‘proffer.’ A proffer is an agreement between a prosecutor and a witness to provide information about a crime, with the assurance he won’t be prosecuted. It’s kind of like a sneak peak of what the prosecutors will get if the witness ends up giving testimony… Generally speaking, the government is not going to offer immunity unless the information they are getting in return is beneficial to their investigation…

“However, it is important to note, an immunity deal doesn’t necessarily mean someone will end up getting indicted… While immunity agreements are somewhat routine in federal investigations, not all federal investigations involve the Democratic presidential front runner. So every step along the way does matter… Whether Clinton’s campaign will admit it or not, an immunity deal is, at the very least, a clear indication that the FBI is moving forward with their investigation at a very rapid pace.”

The Latest “Wisdom” of Pope Francis

Newsmax wrote on March 4:

“Pope Francis referred to an ‘Arab invasion’ during a speech to a French Christian group this week, adding that Europe has been enhanced by previous influxes of people. The pontiff also noted that Europe has seen many invasions over the course of its history… Europe has been facing huge waves of migrants and asylum seekers, many of them from Syria and Iraq…

“‘Today we can talk about an Arab invasion,’ the Roman Catholic leader said in the comments dated Thursday. ‘It is a social fact.’

“L’Osservatore Romano reported the pope hastened to add Europe has always been able to ‘go forward and find itself enhanced by the exchange among cultures,’ after saying that Europe is the ‘only continent that can bring about a certain unity to the world.'”

The Bible clearly states that Europe will try to bring unity to the world, but this attempt will end up in chaos and war.

Macedonia Closes Borders

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 9:

“Macedonia has closed its borders completely to migrants, a police official has said. This makes it the fourth nation [in addition to Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia] to do so in just a day, effectively shutting off the path used by many refugees to cross Europe.

“This decision leaves more than 400 people with nowhere to go in a no man’s land between Serbia and Macedonia, refusing to return to Macedonia and barred entry to Serbia.”

German AfD Condemns Cameron

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 9:

“The MEPs from Germany’s populist Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) party face expulsion from its conservative alliance in the European Parliament that includes British Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party. Following a meeting on Tuesday evening, the European Conservative and Reformists Group (ECR) released a brief statement about its two AfD members Beatrix von Storch and Marcus Pretzell… which read: ‘The ECR Bureau met this evening and has invited the AfD to leave the ECR Group before March 31, otherwise a motion will be tabled to expel them at its next meeting on April 12.’… no reasons were given…

“But von Storch and Pretzell apparently won’t go quietly. In a scathing statement posted on her Facebook page, von Storch condemned the ECR meeting as a ‘farce.’… ‘German and British representatives presented themselves as lackeys of Merkel and Cameron.’…

“The AfD sees the threat… as a cynical strategic move that would benefit… the German chancellor and the British PM – ahead of crucial domestic votes for the two leaders. The AfD is currently polling in double figures in all three states holding regional elections this Sunday – Baden-Württemberg, Saxony-Anhalt and Rhineland-Palatinate – so it could help Merkel to see them damaged in public.

“Meanwhile, Cameron, who is campaigning for Britain to remain in the European Union in a referendum this summer, is likely to be keen to cut ties with the AfD… According to the AfD, Cameron needs a ‘rotten compromise to deceive his voters in the referendum on the Brexit one last time.’ ‘Cameron can’t achieve substantial reforms of the European agreements… So why should he work together with the AfD, the only party in Germany that is working towards substantial reforms of the European agreements?’ The pair also accused the British PM of wanting German tax money to be able to fund ‘short-term referendum gifts’ for British voters.

“The ECR, which represents 75 MEPs, was born of the uncertainty over the EU… The group’s stated aim is ‘urgent reform’ of the EU, while many of the AfD’s positions suggest a complete re-ordering of the bloc. The ECR was founded in 2009 as a more skeptical conservative alternative in the EP to the European People’s Party group (EPP), which includes Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, and which has 216 MEPs.”

German AfD on the Rise

The Local wrote on March 9:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party risks a drubbing at key state elections Sunday as voters punish the German leader for her liberal refugee policy, while the right-wing populist AfD eyes major gains as it scoops up the protest vote. More than 12 million voters are due to elect three new regional parliaments…  in the so-called Super Sunday polls. The elections are the biggest since a record influx of refugees to Germany, and disgruntled voters are expected to seize on the opportunity to hit the ruling coalition where it hurts…

“Merkel has been under intense pressure to change course and shut Germany’s doors after 1.1 million refugees — many of them Syrians — arrived in Europe’s biggest economy last year alone. But she has resolutely refused to impose a cap on arrivals, insisting instead on common European action that includes distributing refugees among the EU’s 28 member states… public opinion towards her stance was divided, and AfD has capitalised on the darkening mood…

“In what could be a preview of Sunday’s polls, local election results published Monday in Hesse show support for AfD reaching 13.2 percent, propelling it to become the third biggest party in the western state. Although the upstart party has seats in five regional parliaments and is represented in the European Parliament, it has so far made its biggest gains in former communist eastern states that still lag western Germany in jobs and prosperity. But its inroads into western states have sparked alarm in a Germany mindful of its Nazi past…

“Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel warned voters that ‘we have a lot to lose if we deal carelessly with social stability and democracy’. Merkel herself described AfD as a ‘party that does not bring society together and offers no appropriate solutions to problems, but only stokes prejudices and divisions’, while Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble branded them a ‘shame for Germany’.

“Some 142 civic groups, including police unions, Jewish and Muslim organisations and aid groups, also published a joint appeal urging voters to turn up at the polls as a show of strength ‘against all forms of hate, racism, prejudices or violence’.”

Somehow, this fight of the German political establishment against the AdF reminds us of and seems to mirror the fight of the American Republican establishment against Donald Trump.  

Is ECB Chief Mario Draghi to Be Fired?

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 10:

“He’s done it again. Believe it or not, ECB chief Mario Draghi has lowered interest rates yet again. The benchmark refinancing rate now stands at zero-point-zero percent, meaning the expropriation of savers isn’t only continuing – it’s getting worse.

“The central bank’s controversial asset-purchasing program will be expanded. Instead of buying bonds worth 60 billion euros ($66.8 billion) per month, the ECB is now going to purchase 80 million euros’ worth. The program will now also entail buying corporate bonds. The bogus monetary policy of Mario Draghi continues.

“The problem for Europe’s top guardian of the euro is that none of his previous measures has had a tangible, positive impact. On the contrary, inflation, which Draghi has wanted to push up by printing more and more money, still hovers around zero. And the eurozone economy isn’t really picking up much either…

“The owners of the huge amount of cheap money available have been looking for other ways to invest as you can’t just let it rest under your pillow. The result is that big bubbles are in the process of forming, whether in the real estate market, the art market or elsewhere.

“So, what exactly is pushing Draghi to pump even more money into markets, if his plan has failed miserably thus far?… And why does he stubbornly stick to an inflation target of little under 2 percent? It pretty much looks like an artificial target now…

“What Draghi is doing comes close to running amok. Cheap money destroys trust in the long term and makes people addicted. It also prompts eurozone governments to delay required reforms. The patient isn’t healed automatically by administering a greater dose of the same medication. The redistribution of money from the north to the south is continuing.

“For highly indebted eurozone nations such as Spain, Portugal or Greece, Draghi’s policy is a blessing. For the eurozone as a whole the iceberg is approaching the eurozone’s Titanic fast… the Italian would be well-advised to take his leave soon.”

EU Deal with Turkey Under Attack

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 9:

“EU parliamentarians across party lines have expressed grave reservations about a deal aimed at curbing migration to Europe. Many questioned whether the agreement with Ankara violated international conventions…

“The EU-Turkey deal lauded by German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a possible ‘breakthrough’ in the refugee crisis met with sometimes massive criticism after being presented to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. The deal… would see Ankara take back migrants and asylum seekers trying to cross to Europe. In return, the EU would resettle one Syrian refugee for everyone that had been forced to return to Turkish soil.

“In addition, Turkey is to receive billions of euros in financial aid to care for the migrants and refugees, and has been promised additional concessions such as visa-free access to the EU for Turkish citizens… Some EU parliamentarians slammed the agreement with Turkey as an inhuman trade-off…

“Guy Verhofstadt, the president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group…  said the deal gave Erdogan ‘the keys to the gates of Europe’… [He] said the agreement meant that Turkey had too much control over who was classed as a refugee and thus allowed to enter the EU. A Kurd from Iraq, for example, could be denied access to the EU… He also predicted that the deal would backfire, with migrants looking for other routes to the EU, such as through Italy, Albania, Malta or Bulgaria.

“Parliamentarians also warned about giving too many concessions to Turkey and its increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under fire for recent government takeovers of opposition media and attacks on Kurds [note the next article].

“Several conservative politicians, on the other hand, supported the plan.”

Turmoil in Turkey after Government’s Dictatorial Measures Against Freedom of Press and Religion

Reuters reported on March 5:

“Turkish police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Saturday to disperse protesters outside the country’s biggest newspaper [“Zaman”] after authorities seized control of it in a crackdown on a religious group whose leader the government accuses of treason.

“A court on Friday appointed an administrator to run [Zaman]… Rights groups and European officials condemned the takeover, seeing it as proof the government silences dissident views… European Parliament President Martin Schulz tweeted the takeover was ‘yet another blow to press freedom’…

“In Berlin, Norbert Roettgen, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the German Bundestag and a senior lawmaker in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said: ‘Not only the violent action against a critical newspaper, but also the fact that the government takes over the whole paper is a severe blow by the Turkish leadership against the freedom of press.’

“Critics have accused the European Union of largely turning a blind eye to Turkey’s worsening rights record because it needs its help curbing the record flow of refugees and migrants…

“Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the raid on Zaman and its sister publications amounted to a ‘government takeover.’ It is ‘nothing but a veiled move by the president to eradicate opposition media and scrutiny of government policies,’ said Emma Sinclair-Webb, HRW’s senior Turkey researcher.”

God does not have many good things to say about end-time Turkey, biblical Edom.

Big Brother not only in Turkey: FBI Spying on US School Children

Salon wrote on March 6:

“Under new guidelines, the FBI is instructing high schools across the country to report students who criticize government policies and ‘western corruption’ as potential future terrorists, warning that ‘anarchist extremists’ are in the same category as ISIS and young people who are poor, immigrants or travel to ‘suspicious’ countries are more likely to commit horrific violence.

“Based on the widely unpopular British ‘anti-terror’ mass surveillance program, the FBI’s ‘Preventing Violent Extremism in Schools’ guidelines, released in January, are almost certainly designed to single out and target Muslim-American communities. However, in its caution to avoid the appearance of discrimination, the agency identifies risk factors that are so broad and vague that virtually any young person could be deemed dangerous and worthy of surveillance, especially if [he or] she is socio-economically marginalized or politically outspoken. This overwhelming threat is then used to justify a massive surveillance apparatus, wherein educators and pupils function as extensions of the FBI by watching and informing on each other.

“The FBI’s justification for such surveillance is based on McCarthy-era theories of radicalization, in which authorities monitor thoughts and behaviors that they claim to lead to acts of violent subversion, even if those people being watched have not committed any wrongdoing. This model has been widely discredited as a violence prevention method, including by the U.S. government, but it is now being imported to schools nationwide as official federal policy…

“According to the FBI’s educational materials for teenagers, circulated as a visual aide to their new guidelines, the following offenses constitute signs that ‘could mean that someone plans to commit violence’ and therefore should be reported: … ‘Using several different cell phones and private messaging apps’; and ‘Studying or taking pictures of potential targets (like a government building).’…

“‘Animal Rights Extremists and Environmental Extremists’ are placed alongside ‘white supremacy extremists’, ISIS and Al Qaeda as terrorists out to recruit high school students. The materials also instruct students to watch out for extremist propaganda messages that communicate criticisms of ‘corrupt western nations’ and express ‘government mistrust.’…

“The agency warns that online gaming ‘is sometimes used to communicate, train, or plan terrorist activities.’ Encryption, ominously referred to as ‘going dark,’ is often used to facilitate ‘extremism discussions,’ the agency states. In reality, encryption is a commonly used form of protection against government spying and identity theft and is often employed to safeguard financial transactions…

“The document and supplementary educational materials warn of a broad array of threats, including anti-abortion and white supremacist extremists. The Jewish Defense League is listed alongside Hizbollah and Al Qaeda as an imminent danger to young people in the United States… Cultural and religious differences, as well as criticisms of western imperialism, are repeatedly mentioned as risk factors for future extremism…”

This mass surveillance plan reminds us of dictatorial practices in Nazi Germany or in former East Germany under Russian control. The Obama Administration’s claim of preserving liberty and freedom has become a joke… and a dangerous one at that. At the same time, deeply disturbing comments from the Republican side are also of grave concern.

FBI’s Case Against Apple Fraudulent?

The Guardian wrote on March 9:

“Edward Snowden, the whistleblower whose NSA revelations sparked a debate on mass surveillance, has waded into the arguments over the FBI’s attempt to force Apple to help it unlock the iPhone 5C of one of the San Bernardino shooters. The FBI says that only Apple can deactivate certain passcode protections on the iPhone, which will allow law enforcement to guess the passcode by using brute-force.

“Talking via video link from Moscow to the Common Cause Blueprint for a Great Democracy conference, Snowden said: ‘The FBI says Apple has the ‘exclusive technical means’ to unlock the phone. Respectfully, that’s bull…’

“Snowden then went on to tweet his support for an American Civil Liberties Union report saying that the FBI’s claims in the case are fraudulent.”

In its report from March 7, the ACLU explained that the FBI could easily unlock the iPhone, concluding that the FBI was acting fraudulently:

“The FBI wants us to think that this case is about a single phone, used by a terrorist. But it’s a power grab: law enforcement has dozens of other cases where they would love to be able to compel software and hardware providers to build, provide, and vouch for [a] deliberately weakened code… If they win, future software updates will present users with a troubling dilemma. When we’re asked to install a software update, we won’t know whether it was compelled by a government agency (foreign or domestic), or whether it truly represents the best engineering our chosen platform has to offer.

“In short, they’re asking the public to grant them significant new powers that could put all of our communications infrastructure at risk, and to trust them to not misuse these powers. But they’re deliberately misleading the public (and the judiciary) to try to gain these powers. This is not how a trustworthy agency operates. We should not be fooled.”

Nancy Reagan Died

NBC News wrote on March 6:

“Nancy Reagan, one of the most high-profile and influential first ladies of the 20th century, has died. She was 94.  The cause of death was congestive heart failure… ‘We remain grateful for Nancy Reagan’s life, thankful for her guidance, and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again,’ President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama said in a statement. Barbara Bush, another influential former first lady, said in a statement: ‘Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan, and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more. George and I send our prayers and condolences to her family.’…

“Reagan was an actress when she met Ronald Reagan in the early 1950s, then an actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild, according to a White House bio… They wed on March 4, 1952. Daughter Patti was born in October of that year and son Ron followed in 1958. Reagan already had a daughter, Maureen, and an adopted son, Michael, from his marriage to actress Jane Wyman.  Their marriage lasted 52 years, until Ronald Reagan’s death in 2004.

“While Ronald Reagan was governor of California from 1967 to 1975, Nancy Reagan worked with numerous charitable groups, and spent hours visiting veterans, the elderly, and the emotionally and physically handicapped… When her husband became president of the United States, First Lady Reagan continued her interest in these groups, and arguably became best known for her ‘Just Say No’ program fighting against drug abuse among youth.

“When Ronald was shot in 1981 by a would-be assassin, Nancy rushed to his side immediately, and later endured his nearly decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. In recent years she broke with fellow Republicans in backing stem cell research as a way to possibly find a cure for Alzheimer’s.”

Newsmax added on March 6:

“As Reagan’s wife, political partner and adviser, she became one of America’s most potent first ladies…  Some critics lambasted Nancy Reagan as a meddlesome ‘dragon lady,’ derided her anti-drug campaign and ridiculed her for consulting an astrologer to schedule presidential events.

“President Reagan called this view of his wife ‘despicable fiction,’ saying in 1987: ‘The idea that she is involved in governmental decisions and so forth and all of this, and being a kind of dragon lady – there is nothing to that.'”

Vaccination Requirements in Jewish Camps

Even though taking the “politically correct” approach that vaccinations for children is a “must,” JTA nevertheless admits the following in its article of March 3 [we omitted the article’s polemic comments and those highly disputable opinions from doctors of the drug industry requiring vaccinations]:

“Some Jewish camps… stick to state vaccination laws, many allowing for personal or religious exemptions. California… joined West Virginia and Mississippi as one of only three states that outlaw personal or religious vaccine exemptions after passing a contested bill last summer… In 2014, the prominent Orthodox Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky called vaccines a ‘hoax.’ JTA found last year that a range of private Jewish day schools had low student vaccination rates due to the personal or religious exemption [beliefs]…

“Tamarack Camps’ announcement [not to allow any unvaccinated children to attend their camps] immediately started an online dispute. Dr. David Brownstein, the medical director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in West Bloomfield, Michigan — the upscale heart of Detroit’s Jewish community  — called the policy ‘draconian’ in a blog post the next day. ‘Perhaps Camp Tamarack is unaware that over $3 billion has been awarded by the Federal Government to children and adults injured by vaccines,’ Brownstein wrote. ‘I would like to see where Jewish law says it is safe to inject a neurotoxin into a baby or any living being.’…

“Tamarack Camps’ decision also caused a bit of a stir in and around the metro Detroit Jewish community. Dr. Kathy Erlich, a Jewish pediatrician against strict vaccine laws who worked in the camp’s medical clinic, resigned. And Miller, who wrote about Tamarack’s decision for Time, said at least one family left the camp over the policy.”

“Israel’s First Transgender Beauty Pageant Slated for May”

JTA wrote on March 3, 2016:

“Nearly 30 transgender Jews and Arabs auditioned Thursday at a Tel Aviv club for a place in the Miss Trans Israel pageant… Finalists will compete at a pageant in May, and the winner will represent Israel at the Miss Trans Star International pageant to be held in Spain in August.

“Israel is widely considered the most gay-friendly country in the Middle East, and gays openly serve in its military… at least one openly transgender soldier is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

“However, in the halls of government, gay Israelis have long faced a firewall of religious parties that have blocked pro-LGBT legislation. Gay couples cannot marry, adopt children or have surrogate pregnancies in Israel, though the government does recognize adoptions and gay marriages performed abroad.”

New Survey on Divided Israel

JTA wrote on March 8:

“Coming just three years after Pew’s much-discussed study of Jewish-Americans, the Israel study depicts a country divided by religion and ethnicity, where Jews of opposing religious outlooks rarely associate and marriages that cross the Jewish-Arab divide almost never happen.

“Israel is 81 percent Jewish and 19 percent non-Jewish, according to the survey. Among the Jews, half are secular…

“Forty-eight percent of Jewish-Israelis agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel.’ Slightly fewer (46 percent) disagreed or strongly disagreed. Support for removal draws largely from right-wing Israelis. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of self-identified right-wing Jews agreed that Arabs should leave Israel, as did 71 percent of religious Zionists and 59 percent of the haredi Orthodox. Among left-wing Jews, 10 percent said yes to forcible transfer…

“Sixty-one percent of Jewish-Americans say ‘Israel and an independent Palestinian state can coexist peacefully,’ according to Pew’s 2013 survey, while only 43 percent of Jewish-Israelis feel similarly. Sixty-one percent of Jewish-Israelis say God gave Israel to the Jews, a view that even 51 percent of non-Orthodox Israelis endorsed. Only 40 percent of Jewish-Americans agree…

“Israelis are also more religious than Jewish-Americans. More than a quarter of Israelis attend weekly services, compared to about one-tenth of the Americans. Half of Jewish-Israelis believe in God with absolute certainty, compared to one-third of Jewish-Americans, and nearly half of Jewish-Israelis don’t handle money on Shabbat, while almost all Jewish-Americans do…

“Israelis vary widely in their religious observance. Most religious Israelis pray daily, while their secular counterparts can go years without setting foot in a synagogue. One quarter of Jewish-Israelis say they observe no religious traditions… Nearly all Jewish-Israelis attend a Passover seder and almost two-thirds keep a kosher home, including one-third of secular Israelis. By contrast, only 22 percent of Jewish-Americans keep a kosher kitchen. Four-fifths of Israelis, including two-thirds of secular Jews, refrain from eating pork. Nearly half of Israel’s Russian-speaking Jews (47 percent) do eat pork…

“On the whole, Jewish-Israelis maintain a broad definition of who is a Jew. Solid majorities believe someone can deny God’s existence, work on Shabbat, harshly criticize Israel and still be Jewish. But an overwhelming majority draws the line at believing in Jesus as the messiah. Only 18 percent of Jewish-Israelis — and 19 percent of haredim — say a Jew can believe in Jesus and remain Jewish. In the United States, fully one-third of Jews say belief in Jesus is compatible with being Jewish…”

As JTA reported on March 8, the survey has been strongly criticized by governmental officials and others as being inaccurate, but Alan Cooperman, the Pew study’s lead author, stands by the results.

Shocking–Scientific Paper Being Retracted because of Reference to the “Creator”

The Independent wrote on March 4:

“The paper… was written by a team of four researchers, three from Huazhong University in China, and one from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Published in the PLOS ONE journal, the fairly conventional study looked at the mechanics of how we grasp things, and involved the measurement of the hand movements of 30 participants…

“In the opening sentences of the study, it claims the link between muscles and hand movements is the product of ‘proper design by the Creator.’ Later, it says human hand coordination ‘should indicate the mystery of the Creator’s invention,’ and concludes by again claiming the mechanical architecture of the hand is the result of ‘proper design by the Creator.’

“Naturally, the multiple references to intelligent design in a reputable journal like PLOS ONE have stoked anger in the scientific community, and many people, including researchers who work as editors for the publication, are now calling for it to be retracted…”

The Independent then published the following Update:

“The journal has now announced the paper will be retracted.

“Commenting on the website, it wrote: ‘The PLOS ONE editors have followed up on the concerns raised about this publication… In light of the concerns identified, the PLOS ONE editors have decided to retract the article, the retraction is being processed and will be posted as soon as possible. We apologize for the errors and oversight leading to the publication of this paper.'”

This is again ample testimony of a God-defying abominable practice of scientists and the influence which they have on gullible people.  A world, being held captive by Satan, is of course not permitted to consider the possibility that God might have created man. In God’s inspired and infallible book, the Bible, it is declared that those scientists are “fools” and lack spiritual discernment and understanding, and we are warned not to believe their false and blasphemous teachings of the atheistic or agnostic hypothesis of evolution.

Does It Pay to Beg?

Daily Mail reported on March 4:

“The next time you’re despairing at the state of the world, here’s what you need to do. Catch a train to Wolverhampton, and sit down on a patch of damp pavement opposite the church of St Peter’s Collegiate. You’ll need to wrap up warm, and remember to bring a plastic cup. Make yourself a cardboard sign, nothing fancy, then go and sit cross-legged and wait. Within minutes, your spirits will be lifted by the overflowing milk of human kindness.

“That’s what I did on Thursday, following reports that a beggar in the West Midlands town was earning £300 to £500 a day. I couldn’t believe this to be true. In London, maybe, but Wolverhampton? Where the average salary is £18,500? Ridiculous! Yet no sooner had I plonked myself down at 7.50am than I saw how it might be possible…

“You may think me cynical — a London professional posing as homeless. But I was genuinely trying to understand why people with homes — and presumably with a fighting chance of getting a job — instead choose to beg in the cold. And, of course, all the money I raised has gone to a local Wolverhampton homeless charity (I paid for breakfast myself).

“Of course, many homeless people have genuine reasons for being on the streets. They often have dreadful background stories — drug addiction, domestic abuse, mental health issues and countless other problems. But there is a worrying rise in rogue beggars, people who aren’t actually rough sleeping, who have dawned upon the depressing truth that you can make more money on the streets than toiling away for the minimum wage of £6.70 an hour.

“This week, it was reported that only one in five beggars is genuinely homeless, while many are doing it to top up their benefits or even incomes from work. The Mail ran a story about a man who was caught on film clambering back into his £40,000 Audi sportscar, after a day begging in Newquay, Cornwall. In another case, a conman pretended to be an ex-paratrooper to earn £5,000 over six months by begging in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, last year. One woman admitted begging after leaving her office job each day to pay for a new kitchen. Then there’s the claim by a local Labour councillor that one beggar pretending to be homeless was making up to £500 a day — the equivalent of £2,500 a week — on the streets of Wolverhampton…

“The advice from experts and homeless charities is typically not to give money to beggars as it perpetuates the root problems of alcohol, drugs and dependency. John Bird, the founder of the Big Issue, wrote very passionately in this paper how giving money ‘locks the beggar in a continuing downward spiral of abject dependency and victimhood, where all self-respect, honesty and hope are lost.’ Mr Bird, who has dedicated his life to helping Britain’s homeless — estimated to number 3,569 — is no doubt right…

“I’m sorry to say, begging involves a lot of deception. For example, if you have raised enough money to buy yourself breakfast after just ten minutes, you can’t truthfully carry on claiming to be hungry… One bizarre man came over to loiter with me, moaning that he was being kept waiting in the cold by a student he was due to meet. He then said he was going to a gay bar later on. Perhaps he thought I was a rent boy. I shuddered to think what might happen to vulnerable young men in this situation. I shuffled off, fast… at the rate of money I was making — £12-£13 an hour — I’d have enough to check into a hotel by the evening, and buy myself a decent bottle of Cabernet Shiraz…”

Since the law of God is in our hearts, do we still need any written rules? Are we not to live by the Spirit, and not by the letter?

It is a common misconception, and a very deceitful one at that, that Christians are not in need of any written rules, as (so it is claimed) they will automatically do what is right, since the law of God is written in their hearts. With this dangerously deceptive concept, traditional Christianity attempts to justify their claim that Christ came to do away with the rules and regulations of the Ten Commandments of the “Old Testament.” They state that today, Christians will just need to follow some nebulous and ill- or non-defined spiritual principles, without the need of any written rules. They even claim that this is so, as we are not to follow the letter of the law, but the Spirit.

As we will see, the fact that God’s law is written in our hearts does not mean that there are suddenly no more written rules, which define the law of God. Rather, what is meant by this is that the written rules have become an integral part of the person; the true Christian has internalized these rules and identifies him- or herself with them. To put it differently, the written rules have become an inward part of the Christian; they have become part of his or her character; they identify the Christian and describe his or her personality and very being.

For instance, Deuteronomy 6:6-7 states, in connection with the pronouncement of the Ten Commandments: “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

Deuteronomy 11:18 states, in connection with the second giving of the Ten Commandments: “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul…”

Proverbs 3:3 says: “Let not mercy and truth forsake you… WRITE them on the TABLET of your heart…”

Proverbs 6:21 states that we are to BIND a particular law continually upon our heart. The context is the command and admonition against adultery, compare verses 20, 22-24, 27-29.

Today, God’s Holy Spirit in us reminds us of God’s law, and the law of God is being written on our hearts and minds. Romans 5:5 says that the love of God, which is defined as keeping the commandments (1 John 5:3), is poured out IN our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 8:10 describes the New Covenant, and true Christians—spiritual Israelites (Galatians 6:16)—are living already today under the conditions of the New Covenant:

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and WRITE them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

God’s law must be written in our hearts. But notice, it is still God’s spiritual law (Romans 7:14)—which is defined and described by the words and the RULES of the Ten Commandments—which is WRITTEN in our hearts.

We explain in our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound,” that the New Covenant is not a covenant without written rules; just the opposite is true. We read in Hebrews 8:6 that the New Covenant is “established” on better promises. The New Revised Standard Version says here, “enacted through better promises.” The New Jerusalem Bible states, “founded on better promises.” The Greek word, translated as “established,” “enacted” or “founded,” is “nomotheteo.” The word “nomos” means, “law.”

In Hebrews 7:11, the same word “nomotheteo” is translated as “received the law.” In James 4:12, the noun “nomothetes” is used in the Greek and rendered there as “Lawgiver.” In Romans 9:4, the related Greek word “nomothesia” is translated as “giving of the law.”

Hebrews 8:6 tells us that Jesus Christ is Mediator of a better covenant, which, having better promises, including the promise of the Holy Spirit and eternal life in the God Family, is BASED or ENACTED or FOUNDED on God’s given law. The New Covenant is based on God’s spiritual law, but not on laws that God has decreed are no longer valid. The New Covenant is not based, for example, on the sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, and other rituals and washings.

Paul does not say anything differently in 2 Corinthians 3:3-11. We discussed this passage in detail in Appendix A of our free booklet, “Old Testament Laws–Still Valid Today?”

For the purpose of this Q&A, we just need to focus on verses 3-6:

“(3)… clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (4) And we have such trust through Christ toward God. (5) Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, (6) who has also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life…”

In verse 3, reference is made to the Ten Commandments, which were written “on tablets of stone.” Christians today are to keep the Ten Commandments in their hearts. They are written on the TABLETS of our hearts. It is not sufficient to possess tablets of stone which include the Ten Commandments. It is not enough to just know about the Ten Commandments, or perhaps even to memorize them.  Rather, we are to internalize the Commandments.

The Israelites had the law written on tablets of stone (2 Corinthians 3:2–3). These tablets of stone never became part of their being—they never entered their hearts. As the tablets were of stone, so were their hearts. That is the reason why God, in a New Covenant, replaces our stony hearts with hearts of flesh, so that we can walk in God’s statutes and do them (Ezekiel 11:19).

2 Corinthians 3:3-6 does not teach that the Ten Commandments are abolished. Quite to the contrary, the passage teaches that the Ten Commandments must be kept today. However, they must be kept in the Spirit; that is, they must be applied in our lives with their spiritual intent.

Paul reiterates the same in Romans 7:6, which reads:

“But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

We must realize that Christ came to EXALT the law and make it honorable (Isaiah 42:21). He came to teach His followers the spiritual application of the law, going beyond the application of the letter.

For instance, we read in Matthew 5:21-22 that we sin already and are guilty of murder when we hate someone. Under the letter of the law of the Ten Commandments, we would only be guilty of murder if we actually killed someone. But serving God in the newness of the Spirit, we are already guilty of murder when we have the wish to kill another person, because we are filled with hate and rage towards him or her.

When we keep the law in the Spirit, we are to look beyond the letter and keep the law in accordance with the spiritual intent. This COULD also mean that sometimes, the letter might appear to prohibit something, when viewed with the carnal mind, but it does not really do so, when considering the spiritual intent.

A good example is the way in which the carnal Pharisees and Sadducees taught the people about the Sabbath. They applied the law quite literally, from a very carnal view point, but since they did not have the Holy Spirit and since they did not have God’s law written in their hearts, they did not understand and teach the spiritual intent.

We explain in detail in our free booklet, “God’s Commanded Holy Days,” how the carnal religious leaders at the time of Christ had made a burden out of the Sabbath, rather than a blessing. Jesus Christ restored the original intent of the Fourth Commandment, using much of His time to show us how to observe the Sabbath. The fact that the Sabbath had to be kept was not in doubt, but Christ had to show—by words and deeds—how to keep it.

Quoting from the above-stated booklet:

“We read in Matthew 12:1–8: ‘At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord… of the Sabbath.”

“This important episode teaches us a great deal about the right attitude toward observing the Sabbath. First of all, Christ points out that it is not the Pharisees—or any human being for that matter, but only God Himself, through His Son Jesus Christ—who is to tell us how to keep the Sabbath as far as what is permitted and what is prohibited. This is not just a matter of pointing at a particular statement in the Bible. One has to focus on the context and on the spiritual application.

“Christ was chiding the Pharisees for being merciless. They did not allow the disciples to pluck heads of grain on the Sabbath, even though they were hungry. Christ compares this situation with David when he and his men ate from the showbread because they were hungry. The law against eating from the showbread was not given, however, for a situation where someone was hungry and had nothing else to eat. Likewise… the commandment against work did not apply to the priests who brought sacrifices at that time, nor to God’s ministers today who engage in ministerial functions on the Sabbath…”

When we keep the rules and regulations of the law of God in the Spirit, we keep them in accordance with their spiritual intent, which might mean that we have to be more “restrictive” or more “permissive” than the mere letter. The rules of God’s spiritual law are written in our hearts; they have become part of our inner being. Isaiah 51:7 tells us that God’s people “who know righteousness,” are those “in whose heart is My law.” David exclaimed that God’s law was in his heart (Psalm 37:31). But at the same time, we read that he meditated on God’s statutes (Psalm 119:23); and that he did not forget God’s law (verse 61).

He obviously read the written “rules” of God’s Law in the Bible; the idea is plainly ridiculous that he rejected any written rules and believed that he was just “automatically” doing what was right, because God’s law was in his heart.

Paul spoke about the fact that we need to obey God’s teaching “from the heart” (Romans 6:17). We can and will do so, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit within us, when God has written His law in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

“Punishment For Our Sins,” is the title of our newest booklet—authored by Norbert Link. This has been sent to the printer, and it is also now posted on our webpage. The booklet will be distributed in mid-April to those who are on our mailing list. If you would like to receive a free copy, please make your request to:

Church of the Eternal God
PO Box 270519
San Diego, California 92198

We are saddened to announce the death of longtime Church of God member, Phyllis Gregg. Mrs. Gregg, who was eighty-two at the time of her death, had been in poor health the past few years, and she had been living in an assisted living facility in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

The 2016 Church Conference will be conducted in San Diego, California. Arrival date is April 7^th with departure scheduled for April 13^th.

This past Sunday, a monthly Tech Team meeting was conducted via SKYPE. Hosted by Eric Rank, special emphasis was devoted to improvements for placement of the StandingWatch programs—both on our own website and YouTube. Additional plans were made for presentations at the April Church Conference.

“The Dark Side of Easter,” is the title of a special new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. This is another in our series which will be accompanied with special announcements and press releases. Here is a summary of the program:

Where did Easter come from? Many believe Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but Easter existed long before Christ was even born. So what do Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Easter cakes and Easter sunrise services have to do with Christ? Most historians agree that Easter was originally a pagan festival, but many overlook its really dark and sinister side. Does it matter to God whether or not you keep Easter?

“Missverständnisse über die Taufe,” is the title of this week’s German sermon. Title in English: “Misconceptions about Baptism.”

“Important World and Church News,” an introductory presentation given last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

In this special message, we are discussing relevant developments on the world scene in the light of biblical prophecy, including the migrant crisis in Europe; surprising facts about Donald Trump; Apple’s fight with the FBI; and deeply disturbing revelations regarding smart phones. We are also addressing the biblical concept of the footwashing ceremony during the annual Passover observance and explain why unbaptized persons should not participate in the same.

“Are You in a Heavenly Place?” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Are you going to heaven when you die? Are Enoch, Elijah and David right now in heaven? Are you already “in heaven”? Are you sitting today in a “heavenly place”? In what way has God blessed us with spiritual blessings in “heavenly places”? How is God’s Church to reveal God’s wisdom to powers in “heavenly places”? How are we to fight wicked spirits in “heavenly places”?