On August 15, 2015, Norbert Link will present the sermonette, titled, “Why You Must Watch!” and Kalon Mitchell will present the sermon, titled, “Importance of Words.”

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.

Fort Collins, Colorado, has consistently been ranked one of the top places to live in the United States.  I would agree!  Having lived here for over 30 years, I have witnessed a lot of growth as many others have flocked to this city and surrounding area.  With this influx of people, I have also seen a recent skyrocket of property costs, an increase in traffic congestion and many other problems that plague “Big” cities.  Once a hidden gem, Fort Collins is drawing to itself more people than its infrastructure can handle.  If these growth pains aren’t addressed, the reasons that drew people to move to Fort Collins will fade away.

Christ spoke a parable about a master who gave a great supper (starting in Luke 14:15) in which many were invited and few of those actually came. The master told his servants to go out and pull anyone that was around into the house for the supper so, as Christ said, “that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23).  This speaks to the Will of God the Father who “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). After Christ spoke that parable, Luke recounts that great multitudes followed after Christ (Luke 14:25).  It’s to this great multitude that was flocking to Him that Christ gives another important parable.  Christ states, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it” (Luke 14:27-28).

Each of us has heard the call, by God’s Will and inspiration, to seek and desire His Truth.  Our minds have been opened to see THE greatest gem the creation has known—Christ.  Isaiah understood this and also was inspired to give us a warning.  “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily’” (Isaiah 28:16).  Simply desiring to follow after Christ is not enough to keep us retaining this knowledge.  Many in this world call upon the name of Christ, but few are doing what it takes to be heard by Him.

Christ finished the parable in Luke stating, in simple terms, the requirements in following Him, “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33).  Do we have that mindset, that willingness?  We all agree how great it is to live with this knowledge, to have our minds opened by God and to retain His Spirit.  But do we show our gratitude in everything we do—as examples of those with God’s Spirit?

In front of another great multitude that was following Christ, He spoke a parable of a sower (starting in Luke 8:4).  He explained to His disciples that while many would be drawn to the Word of God, some would not have their hearts truly committed (verse 12), some would fall away because of temptation (verse 13), and others would be unwilling to give up worldly pursuits (verse 14).  Christ concludes the parable speaking to us! “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15).

We retain this wonderful spiritual understanding only as long as we are willing to sow spiritual fruits.  If we aren’t acting like Christ, then Christ isn’t part of our lives. Each of us carries the responsibility of laying a good foundation and maintaining it.  Only then can we expect the great treasure of God’s Knowledge to increase in our lives, and only then will our calling not fade away!

In this issue, we are focusing on events pertaining to Donald Trump and his fight with the Republican political establishment and Fox News. To be clear, we are not endorsing or promoting ANY political candidate for the Presidency; nor do we take any political position. In fact, we are against voting in governmental elections, as true Christians are not to be part of this world and God commands them to separate themselves from the political affairs of this world. This month’s new member letter is addressing this point as well.

 However, we are duty-bound to report news developments in the light of biblical prophecy. Ever since Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency, we have been observing an interesting and quite unusual phenomenon. Even though Trump has made outrageous statements which would have disqualified any other candidate, those rules do not seem to apply to Trump. In fact, his popularity seems to be rising consistently.

 The Republican establishment and the conservative media do not know what to do with him. The more they attack, the more it seems to back-fire on them.

 We do not say that Trump will or will not be able to go all the way, but it is clear that he has struck a nerve. The American people are fed up with the political correctness of candidates who are afraid of addressing real issues.

 In the light of biblical prophecy, these developments are remarkable. The Bible is clear that due to the sins of the people and their leaders, the USA is doomed. The world will hate America more and more and a United States of Europe will finally launch a successful military attack against the USA. It is obvious that a weak, apologetic and indecisive American leadership would not induce a major power bloc to begin a war with the USA. Rather, America would continue to become a laughing-stock that no one would treat seriously. But it would be quite a different story with a strong American leader who would try to “make America great again,” while “antagonizing” the rest of the world in the process.

 It is therefore incumbent for us to watch these remarkable developments, as they are unfolding.

Other news in this issue address astonishing revelations in Hillary Clinton’s emails regarding David Cameron and a possible Brexit; the fight over the Iran deal; the situation in Greece; Germany’s gain of 100 billion euros from the Greece crisis; ongoing violence in and surrounding Turkey; growing religious Zionism in Israel; the wait for a red heifer; the call of British and German governments for a crackdown on migrants; the fear that Putin is preparing for war against Germany; China’s devaluation; the disaster of Durango; and further nonsense regarding “gender equality” and human marriages with machines, as well as frightening developments regarding “robot armies.”

Donald Trump—the Winner

Breitbart wrote on August 7:

“Whatever you might think about how well Donald Trump did in Thursday night’s Republican Primary debate, there is no question the billionaire businessman is winning the most important part of the process: the post-debate spin. The Narrative on almost all the morning shows centered primarily around how Fox News was gunning to take out Trump. If anything, debate co-moderator Megyn Kelly is taking on the most damaging post-debate water.

“The very first debate question, asked by Bret Baier, was obviously aimed directly at Trump. For weeks, Trump has refused to dismiss the idea of running as a third party candidate should he lose the GOP nomination. When Baier asked the field of ten to raise their hand if they would not agree here and now to support whoever won the nomination, regardless of what you might think of the question, the whole world knew a target was being placed on Trump’s back…

“Kelly grilling Trump over tweets calling women ‘pigs’ and ‘slobs’ is being singled out Friday morning as a hatchet job. This spin is obviously going to work in Trump’s favor in a primary where voters are thoroughly and rightly disgusted with both the media and the Republican establishment…

“Kelly attacked Trump from the premise that he’s a sexist. The truth, though, is that Trump calls everyone names… Like him or not, Trump is playing political hardball by his own rules. And so far, it’s taken him this far.”

 According to polls by the Drudge Report and Breitbart, Trump turned out to be the WINNER of the debate. The New York Times admitted as well that Trump was the winner, as did Time Magazine and the Washington Post. A Morning Consult tracking online national poll, which was published on August 10, found Trump increasing his lead to 32 percent—21 percentage points ahead of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who garnered 11 percent.

According to Deutsche Welle, dated August 10, “Bombastic presidential candidate Donald Trump suffered no damage to his support among Republican party voters following a controversial performance at a recent debate, a new poll revealed Monday. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Trump with the support of 24 percent of Republican voters, maintaining a big lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump’s closest rival, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, trailed with 12 percent, down from 17 percent just before the debate. No other candidate garnered more than 8 percent in the poll…”

Bloomberg wrote on August 7 that “Fox News Couldn’t Kill Trump’s Momentum and May Have Only Made It Stronger.” The Washington Post published an opinion piece, stating that Trump avoided “the one mistake that could have seriously damaged his insurgent campaign: sounding like a professional politician. For that reason alone, he seemed… the clear winner.”

 An interesting report appeared in Germany’s mass tabloid, “Bild.” According to the on-line article, Fox-Chief Rupert Murdoch (84) tried to prevent his network, Fox News, and his papers (including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post) from reporting positively about Trump. But Murdoch’s Top-Journalist, Fox’s Chairman of the Board Roger Ailes (75), disagreed and saw to it that positive reports were continued to be published about Trump. The paper added that it became obvious that during the debate, the moderators followed Murdoch’s lead. However, the paper also wrote that during the debate, Trump looked like the winner, but that nobody so far has won a Republican pre-election, while being opposed by Fox News. Still, the paper concluded: “But with Trump, much develops differently anyhow.“

 But as we show below, Fox News does not seem to be opposed to Trump any longer. The war seemed to have ended, and Trump turned out to be the winner.

 The German magazine Focus commented that Trump survived the inquisition and stood his ground. Der Spiegel Online added that about 24 million viewers watched the debate (an unprecedented occurrence for political debates), which was largely due to Donald Trump. The magazine stated that Trump is one of the most likely Republican candidates for the run for the White House, but that the final word as to who will represent the GOP will be decided in several pre-elections within the party.

Piers Morgan Comes to Trump’s “Defense”

Newsmax wrote on August 7:

 “Tough-talking billionaire Donald Trump ‘created merry h… in the first GOP debate’ Thursday night, and though ‘he may not be everyone’s cup of tea’ he is nonetheless ‘single-handedly destroying the modern cult of political correctness’ with ‘his hugely entertaining, deeply provocative campaign,’ journalist and former CNN talk show host Piers Morgan writes in the Daily Mail. ‘It was classic Trump: he was at times hilariously funny, brash and super-confident, combative and aggressive, and played both the live audience and the far bigger TV audience like a rock star,’ according to Morgan, who won the 2008 season of Trump’s NBC show ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’

“Trump, Morgan continued, ‘just refused to play by the normal rules … as he has done since he declared his candidacy. And let’s be honest, whether you love him or hate him, isn’t it fantastically refreshing to see someone stomping around the political arena who DOESN’T behave like a robotic, media-trained, timid little mouse?’

“During Morgan’s month taping ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ he never witnessed Trump be ‘racist, sexist or homophobic despite boardroom sessions lasting up to four hours at a time with people of all colours, creeds, sexes and sexuality… He is not the dumb, ranting bigot many would like to portray him as. He’s a smart, cunning, alert showman who knows what it takes to win,’ all characteristics that Morgan says lead many to believe Trump would make an excellent president…

“Most Americans…  want someone who can stand up for them and their country in an increasingly difficult, hostile world. In Trump, many of them… see a man who would undeniably do that, hence his huge lead in the polls.’”

Trump’s Days Are Far From Over

Bild Online asked the question on Sunday: “Is Trump’s Campaign Dead?” Some Republican contenders claimed that Trump’s days were over. They could not be more wrong! After being confronted with an unexpected backlash from many viewers, Fox News back-paddled.

 According to Newsmax, dated August 10, “Fox News chief Roger Ailes appears to have stepped in to smooth things over,” by calling Trump, inviting him to appear again on Fox News, to which Trump agreed, and allegedly promising him that “he would be treated fairly by Fox News.” CNN quoted Ailes’ as follows: “I assured him that we will continue to cover this campaign with fairness and balance. We had a blunt but cordial conversation and the air has been cleared.”

 Trump turned out to be the winner against Fox. This fact became obvious in Fox’s follow-up coverage, which was very “accommodating” to Trump. We should realize that the “Trump phenomenon” is of much greater importance than many suspect. It will not go away soon—if at all.

“When It Comes to Jewish Ties, Nobody Trumps Trump”

 JTA wrote on August 7:

“Among the expansive field of Republican presidential candidates on display in the party’s first [debate] Thursday night, Donald Trump may be the most closely connected to the Jewish people. Trump is from New York, works in professions saturated with Jews and long has been a vocal supporter of Israel. His daughter and two grandchildren are Jewish [and] the executive vice president of his organization is Jewish…

“Given his myriad Jewish associations, Trump is not an unfamiliar face in Jewish circles. He has served as a grand marshal at New York’s annual Salute to Israel Parade. After Hurricane Katrina, he was among a group of celebrities who decorated Jewish federation tzedakah boxes to be auctioned off to support hurricane disaster relief. And in February, he was honored with an award at the annual gala for the Algemeiner, a right-wing Jewish news organization…

“Before the 2013 Israeli election, Trump recorded a video message endorsing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu… By the same token, Trump has made clear he believes President Barack Obama is bad for Israel and has questioned how American Jews could support the president. ‘I have many Jewish friends that support Obama and I say, “Why?” and they can’t explain why. They support him, they give him money, they give him campaign contributions,’ Trump told radio host Michael Savage in February. ‘This is the worst enemy of Israel.’…

“Trump’s record suggests he’s far from a Republican ideologue… Overall, Trump doesn’t appear to have very many fixed policy positions. Unlike the other Republican candidates, he has no policy section on his campaign website.

“When Ivanka Trump introduced her father at the Algemeiner dinner six months ago, she said, ‘He has used his voice often and loudly in support of Israel, in support of developments within Israel, in support of security for Israel and in support of the idea of the Israeli democracy.’ One thing is certain of Donald Trump: As long as he stays in this campaign, he will continue to use his voice often and loudly.”

Clinton’s Approval Rate Declining

 According to Newsmax, dated August 10, a “recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll found that Clinton’s favorability rating dropped to 37 percent, from 44 percent, between June and July… the results of a Post-ABC poll found Clinton’s favorability ratings had fallen to their lowest since April 2008, when she first ran for president. The poll found that 52 percent of Americans said Clinton is not trustworthy, ‘a 22-point swing in the past year,’ according to the Post, which noted that Clinton support from both independents and Democrats had diminished.”

In addition, Clinton is now agreeable to turning over her private server to the FBI, while mcclatchydc.com reported on August 11:  “The inspector general for the Intelligence Community notified senior members of Congress that two of four classified emails discovered on the server Clinton maintained at her New York home contained material deemed to be in one of the highest security classifications – more sensitive than previously known.”

The Associated Press reported on August 12: “The inspector general for the intelligence community had told Congress that potentially hundreds of emails containing classified information are among the cache that Clinton provided to the State Department.”

The Times of Israel reported on August 10 that Hillary Clinton “spoke publicly for the first time since the Republican debate… She said [Trump’s appalling] remarks should not overshadow the rest of the Republican candidates’ policies dealing with women.”

She added that she was supporting unequivocally Planned Parenthood and advocated women’s right to choose. Marco Rubio ruled out abortion for any reason. According to Breitbart, dated August 11, Trump said in an interview with CNN that he would not fund the abortion aspects of Planned Parenthood, but would be open to the idea of funding non-abortion services of Planned Parenthood. He was also in favor of the rape, incest, and life of the mother exceptions for abortion.

Clinton’s Email Messages Speak of UK’s Exit from Europe

 The Daily Mail wrote on August 3:

“David Cameron was branded ‘unsure, inexperienced, oblique and largely uncommitted’ on foreign policy by a key aide to Hillary Clinton, it has emerged. A series of emails sent by Sidney Blumenthal, an adviser in Bill Clinton’s White House, painted a bleak assessment of Mr Cameron’s positioning on the world stage before he became Prime Minister. The remarks were revealed in a slew of emails from a private system used by Mrs Clinton when she was US secretary of state…

“An email sent in October 2009, barely six months before Mr Cameron became Prime Minister… suggests Mr Cameron might be unable to stop his party from taking Britain out of the European Union… Mr Blumenthal, who was an aide to Bill Clinton during his time in the White House, said Mr Cameron’s foreign policy was largely driven by his ‘need to keep his party behind him’ on issues such as Europe… ‘His future problem is that he does not want to be the leader who takes Britain out of Europe but he is putting himself in a position where he may not be able to prevent his party doing so.’

“Downing Street sought to play down the impact of the highly-critical messages being sent to someone who now wants to take the White House. A spokesman said: ‘The special relationship between the UK and the United States is as strong as ever and the president recently acknowledged the importance of the alliance to the US.’

“In another email, Mr Blumenthal warned that the UK-US alliance was being destroyed by ‘the Obama administration’s denigration of the UK’ and the president’s indecision over Afghanistan…”

High-Ranking Democrats Oppose Obama’s Deal with Iran

JTA wrote on August 6:

“Two of the most watched Jewish lawmakers in Congress announced they will vote to disapprove of the Iran deal. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., both said Thursday evening they had considered the issue carefully before their decision. ‘Advocates on both sides have strong cases for their point of view that cannot simply be dismissed,’ Schumer said in a statement obtained by the New York Times. ‘This has made evaluating the agreement a difficult and deliberate endeavor, and after deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval.’

“Schumer, a Jewish lawmaker from New York who is poised to become his party’s leader in the Senate in 2017, and Engel, the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives, had come under intense pressure from the White House and critics of the deal both because of the intensity among some Jewish New Yorkers and because of their influence as unabashed supporters of Israel. ‘The answers I’ve received simply don’t convince me that this deal will keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands, and may in fact strengthen Iran’s position as a destabilizing and destructive influence across the Middle East,’ Engel was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“Congress has a window until the end of September to kill the deal, but opponents of the deal must garner two thirds majorities in both chambers to overcome President Barack Obama’s pledged veto. Most Republicans want to kill the deal, making the battleground for votes among Democrats. MoveOn, a liberal group that backs the deal, announced within minutes of Schumer’s declaration that it would launch a donor strike targeting the Democrats’ Senate reelection committee…”

Schumer wrote the following in an open letter, which was published by JTA:

 “I will vote to disapprove the agreement, not because I believe war is a viable or desirable option, nor to challenge the path of diplomacy. It is because I believe Iran will not change, and under this agreement it will be able to achieve its dual goals of eliminating sanctions while ultimately retaining its nuclear and non-nuclear power. Better to keep U.S. sanctions in place, strengthen them, enforce secondary sanctions on other nations, and pursue the hard-trodden path of diplomacy once more, difficult as it may be.”

 Other top Jewish Democrats in the US House of Representatives who refused to be intimidated, announced that they will also vote against the deal: Reps. Nita Lowey and Steve Israel, both of New York, and Ted Deutch of Florida announced their opposition on Tuesday afternoon (August 4). In addition, the second Ranking Democrat of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), announced his opposition to the deal on Friday.

 Sherman was an opponent to the Iraq war. Other prominent Iraq war opponents who oppose the Iran deal include Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz.

 Newsmax added on August 10 that “Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman has been named chairman of United Against Nuclear Iran, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and advocacy group that opposes the nuclear deal recently negotiated with Iran by the Obama administration.”

A New Greece Deal?

 The EUObserver reported on August 11:

“The Greek government and its creditors reached a deal on a third bailout programme on Tuesday morning (11 August). ‘An agreement has been reached. Some minor details are being discussed right now’, a Greek official told the Reuters press agency…

“The news has not yet been confirmed by Greece’s creditors – the EU, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)… The Greek parliament is expected to be recalled from its summer recess to vote on the prior actions on Thursday… The exact amount of the bailout was not known Tuesday morning, but discussion[s] were on a programme of up to €86 billion…

“Several obstacles remain before Greece can effectively receive the bailout, however. First, the deal will have to be endorsed by eurozone finance ministers, either at a meeting or by conference call probably on Friday. Then it will have to be ratified by several eurozone parliaments, including the German Bundestag. Doubts remain about Germany’s willingness to sign a bailout agreement before all issues are settled…

“It was not clear on Tuesday morning if the IMF would participate in the bailout. It earlier said several times it would not do so if there was no restructuring of the debt, which it considers unsustainable. But Germany… wants the IMF to participate.”

The Telegraph added on August 11:

“Greece has agreed [to] the broad terms of a new three-year bail-out deal with its international lenders, though experts warned that severe austerity demands mean the country’s fiscal targets remained ‘utterly unachievable’.”

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 12:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson Steffen Seibert… added that Germany needed more time to thoroughly review the 400-page text outlining fiscal and policy measures… ‘So one can say that the agreement goes in the right direction. But at this hour it is not yet possible to say whether we are at the point where we can start the national process, in other words call for a vote in the Bundestag,’ Seibert concluded.”

Germany’s mass tabloid Bild Online wrote on August 12 that pursuant to information received by Bild, the German government will reject the Greece deal, which is scheduled to be discussed by the EU Finance Ministers on Friday. But Bild has been wrong before. Officially, it was reported that Germany needs more time to evaluate. One will have to wait and see.

Germany Gained 100 Billion Euros from Greece Crisis

 The Local wrote on August 10:

“Germany, which has taken a tough line on Greece, has profited from the country’s crisis to the tune of €100 billion ($109 billion), according to a new study on Monday. The sum represents money Germany saved through lower interest payments on funds the government borrowed amid investor ‘flights to safety’, the study said. ‘These savings exceed the costs of the crisis — even if Greece were to default on its entire debt,’ said the private, non-profit Leibniz Institute of Economic Research in its paper…

 “Germany, the eurozone’s effective paymaster, has demanded fiscal discipline and tough economic reforms in Greece in return for consenting to new aid from international creditors. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has opposed a Greek debt write-down while pointing to his own government’s balanced budget. The institute, however, argued that the balanced budget was possible in large part only because of Germany’s interest savings amid the Greek debt crisis… The bonds of other countries — including the United States, France and the Netherlands — had also benefited, but ‘to a much smaller extent’.”

Violence In and Surrounding Turkey

Deutsche Welle reported on August 11:

“Turkish air force has conducted airstrikes against Kurdish militants in the border regions of the country… The military jets targeted Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in a series of overnight raids, the army announced on Tuesday… Also on Tuesday, a Turkish soldier was killed in the country’s restive southeast, in the attack army blamed on PKK militants.

“The latest bout of violence follows a police station bombing in Istanbul on Monday, which the government also claimed to be the work of Kurdish militants. Later, a group of gunmen fired on police inspecting the scene of the explosion. In addition, Kurdish forces targeted the security forces in southeastern Sirnak with a roadside bomb, and a Marxist group reportedly fired at the American consulate in Istanbul…”

Religious Zionism Growing in Israel?

 The Jerusalem Post wrote on August 7:

“Yuval Diskin, the former director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), warned on Friday that ‘religious Zionism is on its way to taking control of the State of Israel.’

“In a lengthy post on his Facebook page, the onetime Shin Bet chief wrote: ‘The “two-state solution” is emerging before our eyes amongst us Jews – there is the State of Judea, which is de facto being established alongside the State of Israel… These are two states in which the differences between them is only growing, and this chasm is becoming irreversible,’ Diskin wrote.

“The former Shin Bet head posted the notice in response to the deadly arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma last week that is alleged to have been committed by Jewish extremists in the West Bank. ‘Religious Zionism does not constitute the majority in the State of Israel, but as a very significant elite it has succeeded in making a vital contribution to the establishment, de facto of course, of the State of Judea, and it is now on its way to consolidating (in a democratic manner) its hold on the State of Israel,’ Diskin wrote. ‘This is, without a doubt, a victory for the ideology of religious Zionism, but it’s a pyrrhic victory,’ he wrote. ‘It’s a tragic victory’…”

Waiting for the Red Heifer

 The Times of Israel wrote on August 9:

 “… for the past few years, a number of rabbis have rolled up their tzitzit and stepped into rubber boots in a quest to create the ideal farm for a small herd of holy red heifers, called in Hebrew parah adumah. Red heifers were slaughtered as sacrifices in the Temple and the ashes were used in purification rituals, especially for people who had become impure through contact with dead bodies…

“What has made a modern-day red heifer an impossibility thus far lies in this description in the Book of Numbers, Chapter 19: ‘This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.’

“Cows that are raised on commercial dairy farms are subjected to all sorts of blemish-causing conditions, including ears pierced with a numbered tag, cuts or bruises from roughhousing with other cows or contact with broken fences, and ulcers from ingesting metal accidentally mixed into cheap cattle feed. Even a vaccination could count as a blemish. Additionally, cows on commercial farms are used for work, which… is forbidden according to the red heifer criteria…

“The Temple [Institute] is in the process of importing frozen embryos from Red Angus cows in the United States – deemed most likely to create progeny that are completely red – in order to create the first herd of red heifers for ritual use in Israel. It is called a ‘red heifer’ because the cow must be female, but it can never have given birth…

“The Temple Institute recently launched [a] fundraising campaign to raise more than $125,000 in donations. Each frozen embryo costs approximately NIS 3,000 ($800). Thus far, implanting embryos in cows in Israel has had about a 30 percent success rate. The Agriculture Ministry does not allow the importation of live cattle due to the threat of cattle-borne diseases such as hoof and mouth or mad cow disease, so any farmer who wants to raise a breed of cow not available in Israel must use frozen embryos…

“[Rabbi Chaim Richman, the international director and co-founder of the Temple Institute] said that the organization’s focus on building ritual objects ready for use in the Third Temple does not have a messianic agenda and does not aim to hasten an eschatological end of days. Richman points out that one-third of the 613 commandments of Judaism are related to the Temple…

“More than one million people have visited the Temple Institute’s exhibition of the 70 ritual objects it has built according to specifications in the Torah… The Temple Institute’s most well-known object is a candelabra, or menorah, that stands in a plaza of the Old City near the Western Wall…

“But the Temple Institute is not alone in planning for a red heifer. There are reports of red heifers all the time…The Temple Institute has already had a small success, with the birth of a few completely red cows from the frozen embryos. There was only one problem: they weren’t red heifers. They were red bulls.”

Some associate the arrival of a red heifer with the appearance of the Messiah. But biblically, there is no connection. Please read our Q&A on the issue of the “red heifer.”

British and German Governments Call for Crackdown on Migrants

The EUObserver wrote on August 10:

“The British and German governments have called for a new crackdown on economic migrants…

“Philip Hammond, the British foreign secretary, told the BBC… that ‘large numbers of pretty desperate migrants marauding around’ the Channel Tunnel entrance in France pose ‘a threat to … security’. He said the EU must ‘resolve the problem’ by deporting more people… But he said EU asylum laws make people ‘pretty confident’ that if they enter EU territory, they will get the right to stay…’

“In Germany, Volker Kauder, a senior figure in the ruling centre-right CDU party, targeted Western Balkan asylum seekers.  He told the Die Welt newspaper, also on Sunday, that ‘whoever comes from Kosovo, should be sent back home within a month’. Manfred Weber, the German leader of the centre-right EPP group in the European Parliament, told press the EU should reimpose visa regimes on Kosovo and Serbia. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, also said the list of ‘safe countries of origin’ in the Western Balkans, which excludes Kosovo and Montenegro, should be extended, making it more difficult for people to claim protection…

“The anti-migrant rhetoric is not new in the UK, where the PM, David Cameron, in July, spoke of a ‘swarm of people’ coming across the Mediterranean. It also isn’t new in Germany, Greece, and Italy, or at the EU level, where migrants have been likened to ‘slaves’ and labelled as potential ‘terrorists’.”

“Hardliner de Maizière Visits Migrant Processing Center

Deutsche Welle reported on August 11:

“Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière was in the Bavarian town of Deggendorf on Tuesday to visit a processing center for migrants seeking to enter Germany through the Balkans. De Maizière, who has been outspoken about reducing the number of asylum applications from Kosovo, Serbia, and Albania, visited the rural town near the Austrian border to acquaint himself with the procedures of the center.

“Made up of 50 containers turned into offices, the office photographs, registers, and performs medical examinations on some of the hundreds of migrants detained each day on Bavarian trains and highways. Germany faces an unprecedented influx of migrants from war-torn areas in the Middle East and Africa, and has sought to reduce migrants from eastern Europe by declaring some nations there ‘safe’ countries of origin and turning their citizens back. Germany expects to process around 450,000 asylum applications during the course of 2015.

“Later on Tuesday de Maizière was set to meet with the German Police Union, which has called for the reintroduction of international borders within Europe, and more staff to deal with the rising number of refugees. ‘From a policing point of view, a return to border controls would be the best of all measures,’ Rainer Wendt, union chairman, told a local newspaper.

“Europe abolished passport checks inside what is called the Schengen Zone – 26 EU member countries alongside Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Although migrants are legally bound to remain in the first EU country they set foot in, the lack of borders within the Schegen area prompts them to try their luck on international trains or roads to reach destinations thought to be most favorable.

“As a result, police have stepped up passport checks in border areas and on European flights. The union had said it planned to show de Maizière the ‘catastrophic conditions’ for overworked police due to the demands of increased migration.”

What Is Putin Up To?

 Bild Online reported on August 11, 2015 that during the Russian military exercise which is being conducted in Kaliningrad (500 kilometers from Berlin), bombs and transporters are carrying the designation, “To Berlin” and “for Stalin.”

 The paper stated that both “labels” were war cries used by the Russians in their fight against Nazi Germany. Observers do not feel that these labels were only attached because of nostalgia, but that they show dangerous tendencies of Putin and the Russian military.

The Telegraph wrote on August 12:

“Russia and Nato are actively preparing for war with one another amid the greatest build-up of military tension in Europe since the end of the Cold War, a new report says. Rival exercises by the Russian armed forces and Nato have led to several near-miss incidents that could result in confrontation between the two sides…”

China’s Devaluation

The Washington Post wrote on August 12:

“China’s currency slid for a second day on Wednesday, sending more shockwaves through global financial markets and raising fresh questions about the credibility of the country’s economic management.

“The surprise moves by China to allow more market forces to set currency rates — an effective devaluation at the moment — have also deepened speculation about the true strength of the world’s second-largest economy after recent jolts including a stock market plunge.

“The sense that the Communist Party was an almost infallible steward of the nation’s economy took a battering during the stock crash in June and July. A few weeks later, China’s economic data — showing growth steady at 7 percent despite widespread signs of a slowdown — were widely derided by analysts as inaccurate and overblown…

“Over two days, China’s currency, known as the yuan or renminbi, was down 3.5 percent, sparking headlines about a global currency war and threatening to fan trade tensions with the United States. The currency shake-up has spilled far beyond China to drag down world financial markets…

“China’s decision to free up its exchange rate appeared to come in response to repeated urging from the International Monetary Fund — as well as from the United States. It appeared designed, experts said, to bolster the case for the yuan’s acceptance as a global reserve currency, and specifically its inclusion in the Special Drawing Rights basket alongside the dollar, euro, yen and pound.”

Newsmax added on August 11:

“Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday said China’s devaluation of the yuan would be ‘devastating’ for the United States as the global currency war entered a new and critical phase. ‘They’re just destroying us,’ the billionaire businessman, a long-time critic of China’s currency policy, said in a CNN interview… Earlier on Tuesday, China devalued its currency following a series of poor economic data in the yuan’s biggest fall since 1994. Some said this could signal a long-term slide in the exchange rate.

“China has been a frequent theme for Trump since he entered the 2016 presidential campaign, promising to be a tougher negotiator with Beijing in order to bolster the U.S. economy.”

The Disaster of Durango… with Many More to Come

 The Los Angeles Times wrote on August 10:

“Shock, sadness and anger have gripped this pretty college town [Durango] in southwestern Colorado as residents struggle to understand the slow-moving environmental disaster that has transformed their crystal clear Animas River — or the River of Souls, translated from its Spanish name — into a ribbon of mustard yellow sludge. The tragedy in Durango underscores the persistent menace of defunct hard-rock mines, lingering like cancers across the American landscape…

“On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency was supervising the draining of contaminated water from the defunct Gold King Mine above the town of Silverton. The water suddenly surged, overwhelming the crew and spilling into a tributary leading to the Animas River. The EPA initially estimated the spill at 1 million gallons, but tripled it to 3 million gallons Sunday. A slew of heavy metals — cadmium, aluminum, copper and perhaps even arsenic — turned the water a sickly fluorescent yellow. Local officials immediately ordered the river shut down…

“Durango and La Plata County proclaimed states of emergency Sunday… Meanwhile, the plume has flowed downstream to Aztec and Farmington, N.M., and is expected to reach the San Juan River, Lake Powell and eventually the Colorado River…

“The danger posed by mines was laid out in a 1993 report from the Mineral Policy Center, a Washington think tank dedicated to identifying threats to natural resources. The study said there were about 557,650 of these sites in 32 states and 50 billion tons of untreated waste covering public and private land. The waste included arsenic, asbestos, cadmium, cyanide and mercury. ‘Mine effluents have already polluted 12,000 miles of the nation’s waterways and 180,000 acres of our lakes and reservoirs and are a growing threat to underground aquifers,’ the report said.

“About 40% of all Western headwater streams are polluted by old hard-rock mines, the EPA has said. Colorado has 22,000 such mines, ranking third behind Arizona and Nevada. Cleaning them up is difficult because the owners are often dead or unknown. Even if they are alive, many fear making matters worse by trying to remedy the situation, as the EPA just did.

“Early mining techniques were all about speed and efficiency, with little or no regard for the environmental consequences. For example, the Sierra Fund’s 2008 report titled ‘Mining’s Toxic Legacy’ said that millions of gallons of mercury were used to extract gold from ore and that untold tons of waste rock were left to leak their toxic contents into rivers and streams…”

On August 12, denver.cbslocal.com reported:

“After the Gold King Mine spilled 3 million gallons of waste water into the Animas River, experts are concerned about the health of the river as well as the health of residents. People who live along the Animas River could be ingesting the contaminated water in any number of ways, from drinking it to showering in it, and the fear is how much exposure those people have had.

“Scientists fear effects from the yellow plume of waste water could linger well after the river regains its natural color. ‘Remember, this is mine waste, it’s heavy. It’s going to sink to the bottom of these streams, it’s going to get into the layer at the bottom,’ said Dr. Dan Teitlebaum. He is a toxicologist who says the elements in the water can pose the risk of illness. The waters were loaded in lead, copper, cadmium, and arsenic, some of which can cause cancers in prolonged exposures…

“Wildlife officials have been quick to show fish that have survived the event, but Teitlebaum says that’s not necessarily an indication that everything is safe. ‘If you’re going to eat those brown trout that somebody’s catching in that river, what are the arsenic levels going to be? What are the lead levels going to be? We don’t know!’ said Teitlebaum.

“He said health concerns in the river are just beginning, even as it appears to look more normal. When asked if it’s possible for that much pollution in a river to have no effect, Teitlebaum said, ‘Everything is possible. Is it likely? I think not.’”

Gender Equality–More Nonsense by TARGET

People.com wrote on August 10:

“On Friday, Target announced it will begin removing gender-based labeling from its stores, particularly in departments like toys and bedding, which are often separated by ‘Boys’ and ‘Girls’ signs. ‘As guests have pointed out, in some departments like toys, home or entertainment, suggesting products by gender is unnecessary,’ reads a statement from the company. “Right now, our teams are working across the store to identify areas where we can phase out gender-based signage to help strike a better balance.’ The move comes after an increase in complaints over the past year from families who feel ‘frustrated or limited by the way things are presented,’ the statement reads…

“The company points out that the kids’ bedding area, for example, doesn’t need to suggest if certain patterns and colors are for boys or girls, but rather ‘just kids.’ The same applies to the toy aisles, where Target will also ‘remove reference to gender, including the use of pink, blue, yellow or green paper on the back walls of our shelves.’”

What’s Next? Marriage with Robots?

 On August 10, slate.com published the following article:

“The Supreme Court’s recent 5–4 decision… legalizing same-sex marriage across the United States has already spawned speculation about ‘what will be next’ in expanding marital rights. As the Supreme Court noted, ‘[t]he history of marriage is one of both continuity and change. That institution … has evolved over time.’ Interracial marriage, equality between husband and wife, and same-sex marriage were all excluded for long periods of time under our Constitution but now have been sanctioned and protected by the courts. While these changes have come slowly, and courts are unlikely to take the next step in expanding marital rights for some time, the courts are probably not finished expanding the legal definition of marital rights.

“A New York Times op-ed published shortly after the Supreme Court’s same-sex decision said that the court’s logic could eventually lead to recognition of polygamy or plural marriages, an argument also made by Chief Justice John Roberts in his dissenting opinion. This slippery-slope argument has also been used to contend that the court’s decision will open the door to legal recognition of bestiality or incest.

“Robot-human marriages might be next on the list. Probably not soon, admittedly, but it nevertheless will be an inevitable part of our future. Indeed, some critics of same-sex marriage, including some conservative Christian opponents of gay marriage, have argued that the court’s recognition of same-sex marriage would inevitably lead to robotic-human marriages. There has recently been a burst of cogent accounts of human-robot sex and love in popular culture… Or just look at the marketplace. Sex ‘dolls’ have become more and more realistic in appearance and touch, and one company recently announced that it was developing a sexbot with artificial intelligence that can talk back and express emotions…

“The era of love and sex with robots has begun and will continue to accelerate going forward, even if it remains a minority choice for the next couple of decades. But with sex and love will come calls for the right to marry…

“From a strictly legal perspective… the court’s decision… contains arguments and dicta that could be used to make the case for or against robot-human marriage. Of course, as a practical matter, the legal legitimacy of robot-human marriage is not going to be recognized anytime soon. Most people (including judges) presumably think robot-human relationships are absurd and twisted. But that was once also the case for interracial marriage and same-sex marriage. Of course those advances involved sanctioning the love and relationship of two human beings, regardless of their race or sexual preferences, which is arguably quite distinct from recognizing human-machine marriage. But as robots become more and more humanlike in their appearance and behavior, this distinction may eventually erode away.

“The Supreme Court itself recounted the long, difficult road to get to the point where the law (and most of society) could now recognize same-sex marriage. First, advocates had to overcome the classification of same-sex relations as an illness. Then they had to declassify it as a crime. And then finally… the right to marry people of the same sex was finally legally recognized.

“The path to recognition of robot-human marriage is likely to be equally, if not more, lengthy, torturous, and contested. But as the court emphasized at the close of its opinion… the issue comes down to the ‘fundamental right’ of a person in a free society to choose the nature of the relationships and lifestyle they choose to pursue, providing they do not unreasonably harm others in exercising their choices. Robot-human marriage is not about robot rights; it is about the right of a human to choose to marry a robot. While few people would understand or support robot-human intimacy today, as robots get more sophisticated and humanlike, more and more people will find love, happiness, and intimacy in the arms of a machine. Robot sex and love is coming, and robot-human marriage will likely not be far behind.”

What a SICK society we are living in…

Rise of Brain-Controlled Robot Armies

Daily Mail wrote on August 12:

“… the future of warfare could see robot armies controlled using just a commander’s mind. China has been training students at a military academy to use headsets that detect and interpret the brain activity of the wearer, allowing them to control the machines. At a demonstration at the People’s Liberation Army Information Engineering University in Zhengzhou, students used the device to send robots trundling in different directions. They were also able to turn the robot’s heads and get them to pick up objects… The technology is being developed at the military academy’s laboratory for brain-machine coordination.

“Among the other projects being developed at the laboratory are drones that can also be controlled using a brain headset… [This] has raised fears it could also be used for warfare. Rather than having to put its soldiers into the battlefield, China could exploit the technology to send mind-controlled robots into action… Researchers elsewhere have been developing similar technology to help amputees control robotic prosthetic arms.”

Regarding the last statement, CNBC wrote on August 12:

“Scientists have created a machine that’s able to have babies. Sort of. In an experiment designed to show how robots can learn and evolve, researchers in Cambridge and Zurich programmed a robot arm—or ‘mother’—with an algorithm to create a device made out of blocks containing motors—its ‘child’.”

First of all, we must understand that it is GOD who heals us, and He does so because of Christ’s supreme Sacrifice.

In our free booklet, “Sickness and Healing–What the Bible Tells Us,” we point out the following in this regard, beginning on page 44:

“The Bible teaches that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ clearly includes physical healing… He was beaten and tortured before He died… We already touched upon the pivotal Scripture of Isaiah 53:3–5… ‘A Man of sorrows [margin, pains] and acquainted with grief [margin, sickness]… Surely, He has borne our griefs [margin, sicknesses], And carried our sorrows [margin, pains]… He was wounded [margin, pierced through] for our transgressions, He was bruised [margin, crushed] for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes [margin, blows that cut in] we are healed.’

“This aspect of Christ’s sacrifice, that His body was brutally beaten and crushed, pierced through and viciously wounded, deals with our physical healing. This fact is confirmed in Matthew 8:16–17 where we read: ‘When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”‘”

However, we are also told that there are certain requirements which WE must fulfill in order to be granted godly healing. In future Updates, we will discuss some of these important requirements.  In this Q&A, we will limit ourselves to the role of the ministry in the healing process. Even though it is God who heals, it is clearly revealed that He is using His true ministers in the process.

We say the following in our above-mentioned booklet on pages 25-26:

“We read in Ezekiel 34:4 that ministers who were supposed to ‘heal’ God’s sick flock, refused to do so: ‘The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.’…

“We note, too, that Zechariah 11:16 prophesies that there will arise a very influential and powerful shepherd in the land ‘who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand.'”

Even though these passages speak foremost of spiritual healing and reconciliation with God, they CAN also be applied to physical healing. It is the duty of God’s true ministers to fulfill their role in the physical healing process, as instructed by God.

We continue to point out in our booklet, beginning on page 31, that God healed many times through His apostles and ministers:

“We find that when Christ’s disciples anointed a sick person with oil, the sick person was healed (compare Mark 6:12–13). In order to receive the benefit of God’s healing today, God’s ministers are instructed by God to anoint sick persons with oil (James 5:14)…

“We are told that people were healed when they touched the aprons or handkerchiefs from Paul’s body (Acts 19:12). Based on this Biblical example, God’s ministers use a variation of that ‘method’ today—they may anoint a cloth with oil, pray over it, and send it to the sick person who lives too far away from a minister to make a personal visit…

“God’s ministers today lay their hands on the sick person’s head, then they anoint him or her with oil, setting him or her apart to receive God’s power of healing. Christ said in Mark 16:18 that sick people will recover when His ministers lay their hands on the sick. When they send a cloth, they place their hands on the anointed cloth while praying to God for healing for the sick person…”

We might want to elaborate here on the particular wording in Acts 19:11-12, where we read: “Now God worked unusual miracles BY THE HANDS OF PAUL, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them…”

The reference to the “hands of Paul” seems to indicate that Paul laid his HANDS on the apron, anointed it with a drop of oil and prayed over it, before sending it to the sick. This is the exact method used by God’s ministers today. They anoint a small linen cloth with a drop of oil as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, lay their hands on the cloth and pray over it on behalf of the sick person to whom the cloth will be sent. Mention will be made in the prayer as to the specific nature of the sickness, for which healing is requested. When the sick person receives the cloth, he or she is asked to place it on his or her head and pray to God that He would heal him or her from the sickness. Following the prayer, the cloth should be disposed of in order to prevent any future (superstitious) use or “idolization.” The cloth has no magical significance, and it is not to be confused with any “miracle water” or other unbiblical “tools” or “procedures” for alleged healing (none of which originate with the true God of the Bible).

We also explain in our booklet that under certain circumstances, God’s ministers will honor anointing requests by sick persons outside the Church of God. We state, beginning on page 54:

“The Bible is very clear that God heals sick people who try to obey God and who have faith that He will heal them. He tells us in Exodus 15:26, ‘If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.’…

“We find that Christ healed many people who were not converted… After the New Testament Church began in 31 A.D., as Acts 2 reports, God continued to use the apostles and elders to heal people who were not members of the body of Christ, some of whom were even demon-possessed (Acts 5:12–16; 8:5–8; 28:7–9)… Paul later healed a man who had been a cripple from his mother’s womb, after Paul had observed him ‘intently,’ seeing that ‘he had faith to be healed’ (Acts 14:9).

“Many times, healing may be one of the means for God to lead a person to total surrender to Him—or it might be a witness for others to turn to God (compare Acts 9:32–35). In particular, children of parents in the church, as well as unconverted mates, may experience healing, sometimes in unusual ways, so that their faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ may be strengthened…

“If a sick person asks one of our ministers for anointing or an anointed cloth, believing that God will heal them, they will receive what they request. God commanded His servants to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God and to ‘heal the sick’ (Matthew 10:8; Luke 9:2; 10:9). If a sick person has the faith in God to be healed, they should take advantage of the tremendous benefit that God bestows on us to heal us from our sicknesses and diseases. Our sicknesses are important in God’s eyes. If we are suffering with a sickness, let us ask God for His intervention. After all, He is the God Who heals us!”

The question arises as to how often one should be anointed by God’s ministers or request an anointed cloth for the same sickness. While the concept of anointing can be trivialized, a request for repeated anointing pertaining to the same sickness can be made and should be honored, unless obvious circumstances to the contrary would render this ill-advised. Those circumstances could be seen in a lack of understanding regarding the nature of healing–thinking perhaps that the request for anointing is the same as taking a pill against pain. Another possibility barring repeated anointing for the same sickness could be seen in an obvious lack of faith of the sick person in God’s healing power; an unwillingness to reconcile with other human beings; or a conscientious and rebellious refusal to obey God’s laws (These concepts will be discussed in future Q&A’s).

Apart from this, we read in God’s Word that in some cases, repeated prayers were made to God for His intervention and healing for the same situation. These examples can be used in an analogous way for repeated requests for healing of the same sickness.

We read in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 that Paul asked God three times to remove from him “a thorn in the flesh.” Most commentaries feel that Paul is referring to a sickness, perhaps Malaria or a serious eye problem, and that he asked God three times for healing in a formal way; perhaps by asking God’s ministry to anoint him. In this particular case, however, God decided not to heal Paul, as his sickness served an important purpose (verses 9-10).

We read in 1 Kings 17:17-24 that Elijah prayed three times to God to revive a dead child; and 2 Kings 4:29-35 reports on Elisha’s repeated prayers and other “procedures” to revive a dead child. Naaman’s leprosy was healed, following Elisha’s specific instructions to wash himself seven times in the Jordan river (2 Kings 5:10-14). We also read that Christ healed a blind man after first spitting on his eyes and putting His hands on him, and then putting His hands on him a second time (Mark 8:22-25).

Faith in God’s healing is absolutely necessary, but sometimes God may not intervene immediately because He wants to test our patience. Even after having received anointing, it is necessary, while we might not be healed immediately, to continue praying to God “day and night” for His merciful intervention (Luke 18:7). We read in James 5:16: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

It would be ill-advised to think that we do not need God’s ministry in order to be healed. The Bible teaches the opposite, and we must obey God in all things. God commands us in James 5:14-15: “Is anyone among you sick? LET HIM CALL FOR THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH, and let them pray over him, anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord WILL raise him up…”

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

“Do You Know the Jesus of the Bible?” is the title of our newest booklet, written by Norbert Link. We are reviewing this for publication in the very near future.

A new Member Letter, sent to our members and coworkers, is now posted. In this letter, Eric Rank addresses the powerful influence of pride and compromise and warns that Christians must constantly evaluate and be on guard against the attitudes which are characterized in the message to Laodicea.

“Does God Travel?” is the intriguing title of a new sermon prepared by Evangelist Norbert Link. This has been pre-recorded on DVD, and it will be played in both the US and German Feast sites.

(NOTE: If you would like to receive our monthly letter or other publications, please make your request by contacting us through our web page: www.eternalgod.org )

“The Trump Phenomenon—How To Explain It!” is the title of a new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

No matter what Donald Trump is saying or doing, he has so far emerged as the uncontested winner in just about every battle or controversy, and his popularity is rising. Why is this so? How can the Trump phenomenon be explained? Could it be that God has a hand in it, and that events are taking place to fulfill biblical prophecy for the end time? It is important that you know the truth.

“Wie Jesus sich als Mensch Verhielt,” is the title of this week’s German sermon. Title in English: “How Jesus Conducted Himself as a Human Being.”

“Wait for God,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

From the beginning, people have refused to patiently obey God, and the consequences for such rebellion have proven to be very tragic! How can we take these lessons to heart and learn to wait for God?

As a reminder, here are the dates for the Fall Holy Days:

September 14— Feast of Trumpets

September 23—Day of Atonement

September 28 through October 4—Feast of Tabernacles

October 5—Last Great Day

by Phyllis Bourque

Many years ago, when my daughter was attending the local community college, she and I had an arrangement where I would drop her off at the college on my way to work, then pick her up on my way home. It worked well for the most part, though she often had to endure a longer day than necessary, due to me occasionally staying later at work.  Since there were no cell phones then, I had no way of letting her know I would be late.

She was usually happy when I arrived at the end of the day; however, I noticed there were times when she was silently mad and wouldn’t engage in conversation. When I tried to find out what was wrong, she offered no reason. I was puzzled as to this behavior of sometimes being happy, sometimes unhappy… with me, apparently.

One day it finally hit me. I noticed that her happiness was directly connected with me picking her up at the appointed time, and her unhappiness was connected with the days that I stayed later at work. In her mind, she couldn’t count on me to be there as we had initially arranged, though she was unable to express it at that time.

Once I understood the connections, I made a point of not staying later at work, and what a difference it made in her disposition! She was always happy to see me and was eager to share her day!

In the years since, I have noticed a similar behavior in myself, whereas I am happy when I can count on someone, and unhappy when I can’t. When it was important, I have tried to explain the need to be reliable, but I also questioned my own reliability in terms of whether or not people can count on me. In fact, and more importantly, I have questioned whether God can count on my spiritual commitment.

I can easily claim to count on God and His promises, but can He count on me and my verbal promises? Can He count on me to follow up my words with appropriate actions? Can He count on my endurance in the race He has called me to run? Interesting questions that only I can answer, and if the answer is “No,” I need to make whatever corrections are necessary to be able to answer: “Yes! He can count on me.”

On August 8, 2015, Dave Harris will present the sermonette, titled, “Wait for God,” and Robb Harris will present the sermon, titled, “Sunday Sabbath?”

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.

Have you ever wondered just how God now looks upon our current status? We know we received at baptism a small down-payment, as it were, of God’s Holy Spirit, and we have a responsibility to grow in grace and knowledge and to remain faithful to our calling until Christ returns or we die, ensuring our future in the Kingdom of God as the Father’s sons and daughters.

In God’s mind we are already in His Kingdom. Only we can prevent ourselves from entering  the Kingdom. Christ said He would never forsake us; that is, He would always be there for us through thick and thin. We are called upon to do what is necessary to “make it” into God’s Kingdom and His Family.  When the Kingdom is established on earth, we bear full responsibility if we are not in it.

Those of us who are fathers knew that when our spouse was pregnant, a child would be born into this world unless there was a miscarriage. Barring this, there was no question in our minds that our baby would be born.

A baby is protected in the womb. It is also nourished with a rich supply of blood which carries the oxygen required for cell growth and nourishment through the umbilical cord until the baby is full-term and born.  At that time the cord is cut and the baby is on its own, being separate from the mother, even though it still requires care and nourishment.

The Church is similar to a mother’s womb in that the members are protected, nourished and cared for. The Church’s responsibilities were laid out for us by Christ, when He admonished Peter in the book of John to “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). This is a way for the Church to demonstrate love for God and neighbor.

We also read in John 21:15: “So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Feed My lambs.’” This would include younger and newer Church members of the flock.

Peter was also told to tend the sheep, which involves caring for and protecting the sheep: “He said to him again a second time, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend My sheep’” (John 21:16).

The ministerial responsibility towards God’s sheep and His lambs–the members of God’s Church–is plainly laid out for us in 2 Timothy 4:1-2:

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

This admonition was to Timothy, an Evangelist in God’s Church, and it must also be applied to the entire Church ministry today. Notice, Timothy was to “convince” by using the Scriptures to prove a biblical point. He was to “rebuke” when necessary—not that the sheep should be browbeaten, but on occasion, they would need correction just as a loving father would correct his children. He was to “exhort”; that is, encourage the members to stand firm and not compromise.

How was he to do this? With “all longsuffering”; that is, with Godly patience and love, and with continued “teaching” without wavering.

This is admonition to the ministry to help Church members in their growth and edification. Those who think they no longer need a true minister to teach them because they are spiritually mature and can just stay home and listen to a mixed bag of messages are making a grave mistake, which could lead to their disqualification from entering the Kingdom of God.

How long do you think a baby would survive if it would decide after four months in the womb that it does not need the mother anymore? And if it were to leave the womb and cut off the umbilical cord–the source of its food and nourishment? It would not survive for long. There is a lesson here for any of those independent Christians who have rejected true Church authority and feel they are perfectly fine in their “self-sufficiency” and that they no longer need God’s true and dedicated ministry.

The fact is: God works through His ministers to feed and take care of the Church members. Rejection of this fact is rejection of God’s government here on earth. If one cannot be subject to the Church now, how can God use one in His Kingdom?

As I mentioned earlier, in God’s mind we are already in the Kingdom, and failure to be there in the future would be totally our fault–not God’s. Let’s appreciate what God has established in regards to the Church which is to care for and feed the members, to ensure that they will be ready to meet Christ when He returns. We must individually fight against becoming a spiritual miscarriage, which could occur when we reject Church government which was established by Christ in the Church for the benefit of the flock.

We begin with reporting on the continuing migrant problem which the UK and France are facing; address Puerto Rico’s anticipated default; speak on President Obama’s anti-Semitic remarks in the context of the Iran Deal and Mike Huckabee’s explosive response; address Hillary Clinton’s deep personal and economic interest in Planned Parenthood and her potentially illegal conduct pertaining to her email communications; Joe Biden’s potential run for the Presidency and Ben Carson’s evasive answers; and we publish a strong apologetic reply of a Catholic priest to Cardinal Dolan’s attack on Donald Trump.

 While pointing out the dilemma of America’s corrupt political class, Germany’s popular leader Angela Merkel is apparently willing to run for a fourth term as Chancellor.

 We conclude with articles on the terrible atrocities committed in Czechoslovakia and Poland against innocent German civilians after World War II; Pope Francis’ comments on divorce within the Catholic Church; and the Vatican’s fascination with alien life forms and its claim that the Bible is “not a scientific book.”

A New Fence in Calais?

The EUobserver wrote on July 29:

“The UK has offered France some €10 million to help build a new fence in Calais after there were around 2000 attempts by migrants to enter the Eurotunnel Monday… French police said another 1,500 attempts were made on Tuesday night (28 July)… The money will help pay for a new 2km fence at the Eurotunnel site at Coquelles. The UK has already paid around €5 million to put up barriers at the site.

“The Eurotunnel company, which manages the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, says it wants millions more in compensation from both governments because of the disruptions… An estimated 3,000 migrants are camped in and around the port, known as the ‘jungle’… Those unable to pay smugglers opt to take matters in their own hands and attempt to scramble onto the back of lorries. Many risk their lives in the process… Aid agencies say the situation has… become worse with some describing the squalid living conditions and desperation of the migrants camped around the port ‘as catastrophic’… The new state-sanctioned site has no running water, no electricity, and no toilet facilities…”

Migrant Chaos in Britain and France to Continue

Express wrote on August 1:

“THE Calais migrant crisis causing misery for holidaymakers and businesses will last all summer, David Cameron warned yesterday. The Prime Minister issued his gloomy prediction after chairing an emergency Whitehall meeting to discuss plans to tackle the chaos that is causing havoc on both sides of the Channel… Mr Cameron said Britain planned to send more sniffer dogs and fencing to France. But many feared the minimal response to an escalating crisis was just a ‘sticking plaster’ answer to a massive problem.

“Last night, David Cameron and French President François Hollande spoke about the migrant situation in Calais… Thousands of desperate migrants from Africa and the Middle East are gathered in squalid conditions in Calais from which they are trying every day and night, sometimes with young children, to hitch a perilous ride to Britain on trains and lorries. The chaos has been made worse by striking French ferry workers protesting at job cuts, who yesterday continued their wildcat action by burning tyres to block a road in Calais…

“New laws to tackle illegal working and abuse of the asylum system will be fast-tracked in a bid to deter migrants from coming while Britain and France will jointly put on flights to return migrants to their home countries… Meanwhile there were renewed calls for a longer term solution to the fact that thousands of migrants from countries like Syria, Iraq, Libya, Eritrea and Somalia are crowding into boats to struggle over the Mediterranean seeking a new life in Europe. Thousands then head for Calais in a bid to reach Britain instead of seeking permission to stay in other EU countries.

“Calais police union representative Gilles Debove said various factors made the UK a magnet for the migrants: ‘In Great Britain, the migrants can work without a residency permit or identity card and they can work illegally. In France, we have a police force trained to fight against such illegal work and in the UK you don’t have any police force tracking these people who work in the black market.’

“Labour former Cabinet minister Jack Straw blamed the Schengen agreement, which Britain is not in but which lets people travel freely between EU states that are part of the arrangement once they reach the zone. ‘You now see the price that Europe is paying, as well as the UK is paying for this completely open border arrangement… They need to face up to the consequences of Schengen. My understanding is there is provision in Schengen to reinstitute border controls if it is necessary.’”

Puerto Rico to Default?

The Associated Press reported on July 31:

“Puerto Rico’s government said Friday it would not make a $58 million bond payment due on the weekend and warned that the general fund will run out of liquidity by November if no action is taken… Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla warned several weeks ago that the government and state agencies cannot repay the $72 billion in public debt that hangs over the U.S. territory, which is struggling with a nearly decade-long economic slump.

“Puerto Rican officials contend that failure to make Saturday’s payment will not constitute a default because it involves moral obligation bonds, which means there is no legal requirement to repay them. But economists reject that argument. ‘It is a default no matter how they try to disguise it,’ said Sergio Marxuach, policy director at the Center for the New Economy, a Puerto Rico-based think tank. Marxuach and other economists said bondholders could file a lawsuit as soon as next week as a result of the nonpayment, which they said would be the first default in the history of the U.S. territory.”

Obama’s Anti-Semitic Accusations

Breitbart wrote on July 31:

“President Barack Obama is using anti-Jewish language to sell the Iran deal… On Thursday, Obama led a conference call with left-wing activists in which he repeatedly railed against his political opponents by using the old canard of rich Jews using their money to exert control… Obama railed against ‘well-financed’ lobbyists, as well as the ‘big check writers to political campaigns,’ and  ‘billionaires who happily finance super-PACs.’ He complained about ‘$20 million’ being spent on ads against the deal—a subtle reference to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC–whose support he had repeatedly courted when running for office).

“Some of Obama’s references were thinly-veiled attacks on specific (Jewish) individuals—columnist Bill Kristol, for example, the Weekly Standard publisher and former New York Times resident conservative who served in the George H.W. Bush administration, and also helps run the Emergency Committee for Israel, which opposes the Iran deal; or billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who is a prodigious Republican benefactor, super PAC donor, and well-known hawk on Israel issues.

“On the call, Obama twice accused his opponents of being the same people “responsible for us getting into the Iraq war.“ That sweeping, and largely false, characterization of the opponents of the Iran deal repeats the sensational accusations of The Israel Lobby, a widely discredited 2007 book that accused a group of pro-Israel, and largely Jewish, individuals and organizations of pushing the U.S. into war with Iraq, and seeking to drag America into a new war with Iran.

“Obama’s deliberate, and jarring, choice of words clearly worried even some sympathetic Jews… a Republican who did the same thing would be criticized as anti-Semitic…

“On the call, Obama’s case for the agreement was weak. He claimed it has the most rigorous inspections regime ever—ignoring the fact that unlike the inspections under the New START treaty, the Iran deal excludes Americans from participating. He said that while it was possible military force might be needed if Iran raced to the bomb after the deal expired in 15 years, the U.S. would be better prepared for war then—ignoring the likelihood that Iran would be, as well…”

It was also mentioned in the press on August 5 that in a subsequent phone call, President Obama shared his “frustration” with Jewish leaders in the USA regarding the “inaccurate” Jewish reporting on the Iran deal.

Huckabee Responds to Obama’s Anti-Semitic Language

Breitbart wrote on July 31:

“GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee is responding to Breitbart News’ Joel Pollak’s recent report about President Obama using anti-Jewish language in order to boast his Iran deal. The former Arkansas governor says: ‘Instead of blasting his critics with personal attacks, President Obama needs to open up his eyes. The last time the world ignored these types of threats against Jews, millions died, and it shouldn’t take a mushroom cloud over Israel for Obama to realize that “taking Iran’s word for it,” is idiotic and absolutely insane…’

“Huckabee continued, ‘If Congress approves this agreement, President Obama will go down in history as the architect of a dangerous deal that triggered senseless death and a nuclear arms race across the Middle East.’…  Huckabee recently made headlines and was attacked by the mainstream media, Obama, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, and fellow GOP candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, when he referenced the Holocaust when expressing his disapproval over Obama’s deal with Iran.

“The backlash from the left and the establishment didn’t prove to harm Huckabee [who] saw an increase in social media support and visitors to his campaign website after he made his statements against the Obama Administration and the deal with Iran.”

The attacks on Huckabee’s statements that the Iran deal will march Jews to the door of the ovens are ludicrous. Huckabee warned against the consequences of the Iran deal and in no way compared Obama with Hitler, as some critics have maliciously claimed. For more information, please view our new StandingWatch program, “The Secret Iran Deal–What They Are Hiding From You!”

Huckabee Responds to Malicious Accusations Against Him

On July 31, USA Today published the following editorial by Mike Huckabee:

“The world said ‘never again’ after the Holocaust, yet today, some refuse to take Iran’s evil threats seriously. Hillary Clinton directly attacked me this week and said my comments about Iran were ‘offensive.’  President Obama said they were ‘ridiculous’ and ‘sad’. What’s offensive, ridiculous and sad is that Obama and Clinton are more upset about my comments than Iran’s threat to kill millions of Jews and then direct their missiles at the United States.

“Iran has the blood of American soldiers and civilians on its hands. For decades, Iranians have murdered Jews, Christians and Muslims across the world… Iran has been crystal clear. Iran’s… leaders and politicians have directly called Israel a ‘barbaric, wolflike and infanticidal regime’ that must be ‘erase[d]’ and ‘wiped off’ the map. They have threatened to ‘replace Israel…with a big Holocaust.’

“Tehran’s tyrants can be trusted no more than Goebbels or the Gestapo. The last time the world ignored these types of threats against Jews, millions died… After negotiating a deal with Adolf Hitler in 1938, Neville Chamberlain claimed he secured ‘peace in our time’. One year later, Hitler’s tanks rolled into Poland and Europe descended into war…

“Sadly, this administration signed a nuclear deal that injects $150 billion into Iran’s economy. Why would we reward the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism with money, power, global recognition and a path to a nuclear weapon?…

“We should be prosecuting Iranian officials for genocide and crimes against humanity, not allowing them to enrich uranium to be used to build a bomb. My words might be too brash for President Obama, but they echo the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘The Ayatollahs in Iran, they deny the Holocaust while planning another genocide against our people,’ he said.  The nuclear deal with Iran ‘signals that the lessons of the Holocaust have not been learned.’ Netanyahu is a Winston Churchill in a world full of Chamberlains…

“While Congress can stop this deal, sadly, they are heading home for an August recess. This is no time for a vacation. This is not a political battle between Democrats and Republicans. Many courageous Democrats refuse to wave the white flag and betray our ally…”

Huckabee Against Planned Parenthood, Same-Sex Marriage and Abortion

Newsmax wrote on July 31:

“Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told Newsmax TV on Friday that ‘there would be no funding for Planned Parenthood’ if he were elected to the White House next year… ‘There’s nothing that they do, which is very little for women’s health, that couldn’t be done by better and more responsible providers rather than these butchers who are out there justifying and defending the slaughter of children and the selling of their parts. It’s time for us to get honest… Let’s end this scourge of abortion,’ he added. ‘Fifty-five million unborn children have died in what ought to be the safest place in the world, in a mother’s womb. We, as a culture, as a civilization, need to come to grips with the evil of this practice — and we need to end it.’

“Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, told Hayworth that he feared that last month’s Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage would lead to the federal government ordering pastors to perform such unions. ‘It’s headed in that direction,’ he said. ‘Churches losing tax-exempt status, economic terrorism already being applied to people across America, fines of $135,000 to a wedding-cake maker for the simple and just denial of making a wedding cake for a same-sex couple…  ‘There is no legislation that has ever passed Congress signed by a president that authorizes same-sex marriage — and there’s nothing in the Constitution…’

“At two campaign stops in Iowa Thursday, Huckabee said he’d ‘invoke the 5th and 14th amendments for the protection of every human being’ to stop abortions – and suggested he’d consider using the FBI or federal forces to do so, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports. Both amendments contain due process protections against depriving people of life without due process of law. Huckabee argued the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was wrong to cite the right to privacy as a reason for allowing abortion. ‘Privacy doesn’t allow you to take a life,’ he said… At a second event, asked if he’d use the FBI or federal troops to stop abortion, he replied: ‘We’ll see, if I get to be president.’”

Hillary Clinton’s Deep Personal and Economic Interests in Planned Parenthood

Breitbart wrote on July 31:

“A new report released jointly by PACs America Rising and Women Speak Out… chronicles the longstanding relationship between Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Planned Parenthood. Though Clinton was first quoted as saying she found the Planned Parenthood videos depicting the organization’s officials describing the sale of aborted baby organs as ‘disturbing,’ the former Secretary of State tweeted out her support for the nation’s largest abortion provider on Thursday: ‘Proud to stand w/Planned Parenthood & for access to quality, affordable healthcare for women, men & young people.’

“‘What’s really “disturbing” are Hillary Clinton’s long financial connections to Planned Parenthood,’ said Joe Pounder, spokesman for America Rising, in a press release. ‘Like any Clinton associate, all you need to do is follow the money to discover how deep Clinton’s Planned Parenthood ties go. That’s exactly why you will never see Clinton criticize the group—her personal interests run too deep.’ ‘Planned Parenthood’s brutal abortion business has been laid bare for all to see and Americans are repulsed,’ said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Women Speak Out PAC. ‘Hillary Clinton must immediately renounce her Margaret Sanger Award, Planned Parenthood’s highest honor, and return the tens of thousands of dollars she’s accepted from them.’”

New Disgusting Video About Planned Parenthood’s Practices

Newsmax reported on August 4:

“The Center for Medical Progress, the anti-abortion group that has released recordings of Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting and selling of organs of aborted babies, has released a fifth video that deals with using ‘intact fetuses’ and the organization’s ‘diversification of the revenue stream’…  The video is ‘repulsive and unconscionable,’ said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after the fifth video from the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast clinic in Texas was released.

“AP reports that footage shows people touring the clinic as they pretended to be from a company that procures fetal tissue for research. Not only were the individuals shown recently collected fetuses, but the video also shows a Planned Parenthood official, Melissa Farrell, director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, discussing intact fetuses. ‘Just depending on the patient’s anatomy, how many weeks, where it’s placed in the uterus … we’re going to potentially be able to have some that will be more or less intact, and then some that will not be,’ she tells an interviewer…

“Planned Parenthood has previously stated that rather than selling the body parts and organs for profit, Planned Parenthood will ‘donate’ human remains to for-profit and non-profit entities. However, the latest video shows a Planned Parenthood official stating, ‘we’ve had studies in which the company, or in the case of the investigator, has a specific need for a certain portion of the products of conception and we take that into our contract, and our protocol, that we follow this. So we deviate from our standard in order to do that. If we alter our process and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, then we can make it part of the budget, that any dissections are this, and splitting the specimens into different shipments is this. I mean, it’s all just a matter of line items,’ she adds later…

“The first four videos that were released by the anti-abortion group has caused an uproar amongst conservatives and has ultimately led to a fight to defund Planned Parenthood. According to The Hill, despite court orders blocking the release of some of the videos, Daleiden’s group is planning to release other videos that are not affected by the court ruling.

“On Monday afternoon, a standalone Republican-led bill to defund Planned Parenthood failed to defeat a Democratic filibuster, securing 53 votes in favor and 46 against. While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised no government shut downs on his watch, presidential candidate Donald Trump says the ‘only way to get rid of Planned Parenthood money is to shut the government down.’”

Growing Human Organs in Mice

Breitbart reported on August 5:

“Medical researchers are growing human organs in mice by implanting dead human baby organs into rodents, a practice that stands to gain greater scrutiny in light of undercover videos exposing what appears to be Planned Parenthood affiliates selling aborted baby parts to medical procurement companies like StemExpress.

“In a fourth video released from the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), Planned Parenthood personnel can be seen sifting through aborted baby parts allegedly to show what parts can be salvaged and sold. These mice or rats are created by removing a human organ such as a kidney from a dead human baby and implanting it into a mouse or rat for the purpose of medical research…

“StemExpress is a primary buyer of baby parts from Planned Parenthood… [It is] claimed that all donors consent to donating the aborted baby parts… Questions have arisen, however, over whether the mothers donating are truly ‘informed’ as required under parameters for organ donation…

“While the mothers may not be receiving direct compensation, the undercover investigative videos documenting Planned Parenthood affiliates show what appears to be financial dealings between these abortion providers and medical waste procurement dealers such as StemExpress. Ethical questions over these experiments have also arisen over creating a potential incentive to induce a pregnant woman to choose abortion. After Center for Medical Progress videos began hitting the media, StemExpress promptly acquired a restraining order against CMP regarding further release of videos that involve StemExpress.”

For more information, please watch our new StandingWatch program, “Planned Parenthood—Just the Tip of the Iceberg.”

Hillary Clinton’s Potentially Illegal Email Conduct

Newsmax reported on July 31:

“Republicans Friday slammed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton amid revelations that she kept classified documents from five government agencies on her private server and that many [emails]… newly released by the State Department had been censored because the Obama administration deemed the information too sensitive to make public…

“David Kendall, Clinton’s attorney, has back-up copies of the emails on a thumb drive in his Washington office. This also has sparked outrage among GOP legislators — and some analysts said Friday that storing the emails on the private [server] and thumb drive might be illegal… That Clinton kept the emails on her private server — and, with Kendall now holding the back-up copies — may violate federal laws governing the storage and removal of classified information, national security attorney Edward MacMahon Jr. said. ‘In most situations like this, you’d expect that a warrant would be issued and that the Marshals and the feds — FBI, somebody — would go and get that thumb drive and take it somewhere where it would be considered safe by the government,’ MacMahon told Fox News…

“Federal law describes the illegal removal and storage of classified information as when someone ‘knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location,’ Fox reports… Friday’s release brings the volume of emails made public by the State Department to about 12 percent of the 55,000 pages Clinton had turned over to department lawyers earlier this year. That falls short of the 15 percent goal set by a court ruling in May, a lag the State Department attributed to interest by the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community in the possible compromise of classified information.”

The Observer reported on August 1:

“[F]ederal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has… given the State Department only a week—until August 7—to get some answers from Hillary Clinton, and her top aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills—under penalty of perjury… Judge Sullivan reopened the case when he learned that Clinton and her staff used personal email accounts to conduct government business. This is a flagrant violation of the Federal Records Act and jeopardizes national security—prompting rapidly escalating concerns of countless ramifications internationally, nationally, and criminally…

“Now the State Department must produce for the court’s docket its correspondence with and between Mrs. Clinton, Ms. Abedin, and Ms. Cheryl Mills regarding the government records in their possession; identify what servers, etc. the State Department has; require Ms. Clinton, Ms. Abedin and Ms. Mills to state under oath whether they have produced all responsive materials; and, have Ms. Abedin and Ms. Mills describe the extent to which they used Ms. Clinton’s server for government business…”

The Washington Post reported on August 4:

“The FBI has begun looking into the security of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private e-mail setup, contacting in the past week a Denver-based technology firm that helped manage the unusual system, according to two government officials…”

Newsmax added on August 4:

“[F]ormer New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief Edward Klein… said he… believes Clinton is in ‘a kind of race against time.’ ‘Which is going to come first, is she going to be able to sew up the nomination by just throwing more money, more organization at the primaries so that she is unbeatable – or will a criminal indictment come down from the Justice Department [over her personal email system while Secretary of State] before that fact?’ Klein said. ‘And they’re [the Clinton camp] very concerned about which is going to come first.’”

Did Joe Biden Promise His Son to Run for the Presidency?

The New York Times wrote on August 1:

“Joe Biden is… talking to friends, family and donors about jumping in. The 72-year-old vice president has been having meetings at his Washington residence to explore the idea of taking on Hillary [Clinton] in Iowa and New Hampshire… going through the crucible of the loss of his oldest son, Beau, to brain cancer made the vice president consider the quest again. As a little boy, Beau helped get his father through the tragedy of losing his beautiful first wife and 13-month-old daughter in the car crash that injured Beau and his brother, Hunter.

“When Beau realized he was not going to make it, he asked his father if he had a minute to sit down and talk… He tried to make his father promise to run, arguing that the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values…

“It could be awkward for President Obama, who detoured from the usual route — supporting your vice president — and basically passed the torch to Hillary. Some in Obama’s circle do not understand why he laid out the red carpet for his former rivals. ‘He has no idea how much the Clintons dislike him,’ said one former top White House official. But the president has been so tender and supportive to his vice president ever since learning that Beau was sick, it’s hard to say how he will react…”

Cardinal Dolan Attacks Trump

On July 30, Breitbart published the following apology of Catholic Priest Marcel Guarnizo regarding a written attack by Cardinal Timothy Dolan against Donald Trump:

“This week, Cardinal Timothy Dolan took to the New York Daily News to write an incoherent and defamatory political hit piece against Donald Trump. As a Catholic priest, I can only say it is embarrassing to have a Cardinal so blatantly and unfairly trying to associate Mr. Trump with the worst kinds of racism imaginable. I offer an apology on behalf of so many Catholics who are outraged by the dirty politics of Cardinal Dolan.

“Ever so ‘cleverly,’ Dolan makes clear that in his opinion Trump is the revival of nativism, ‘an organized, white, Protestant antagonism towards the Catholic immigrant,’ which for Dolan is just a more recent incarnation of the KKK and other racist organizations–an absurd claim–and perhaps one of the most ignorant statements and mean-spirited remarks I have ever seen a bishop state publicly. The more than clear implication by Dolan that Trump is a white supremacist reaches levels of defamation that even the most liberal media has not dare trod.

“Dolan should perhaps realize that the continued race bating in this country by President Obama and others is immoral and destructive to the social fabric of our nation…  Dolan’s words are unbecoming of a bishop and are not factual… This is the same bishop who is silent about the recently revealed atrocities of Planned Parenthood, who did little to defend marriage and has done absolutely nothing about pro abortion politicians in his diocese receiving communion and remaining falsely in good standing in the Catholic Church…

“Dolan seems jovially unaware of the social unrest that lax immigration laws are causing in France, England and other nations in Europe. It is not Catholic or Christian to advocate for irresponsible immigration. Immigration to be of any help to immigrants and the host country, requires order, knowledge and balance… If Dolan were to say something sensible about politics to Catholics he should perhaps state the obvious: no Catholic in good conscience can vote for the Democratic party, a party that supports funding Planned Parenthood, opposes marriage, and is seen to be devastating the social fabric of this nation while bringing economic ruin to a once prosperous country…”

The Dilemma of the American Political Class

Breitbart wrote on July 31:

“A new National Journal survey of ‘Republican insiders’ finds that 57 percent of these political professionals think Donald Trump will bow out of the Presidential race before the Iowa Caucuses. This survey probably says more about the state of the Republican political class than anything about the 2016 race or Republican voters. Interestingly, 65 percent of ‘Democrat insiders’ believe Trump will compete in the Iowa Caucuses in February next year. The survey results could easily be dismissed as both groups answering what they hope will happen…

“The easiest political prediction to make is that the Trump campaign will implode after some impolitic remark. To date, though, that hasn’t been the case, despite a full-throttled assault by the media and DC’s political class. Trump currently leads all national polling in the race. His lead has apparently increased even after he made off-the-cuff remarks criticizing Sen. John McCain’s war record. That he has gained support after those remarks should be a sobering wake-up call to the political class.

“Peggy Noonan, the Republican establishment’s Greek chorus, has woken up to the realization that the Trump phenomenon — and it is exactly that — is real. She understands something the political class doesn’t: ‘His rise is not due to his supporters’ anger at government. It is a gesture of contempt for government, for the men and women in Congress, the White House, the agencies.’…

“True, the national polling this summer is of little consequence to the actual race once voting starts. That said, Trump is polling very strongly in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first states to vote early next year. Further, it is hard to imagine any new information coming to light that will blunt Trump’s raw appeal to a significant section of Republican voters. Trump has lived his life in the public eye for decades. His bombastic, off-the-cuff, outrageous demeanor is already baked into the cake. Voters know all of this about him and a large number of them don’t particularly like him, but they like less the thin intellectual gruel that has been served up by the political class for the last several years.

“This is the real threat of the Trump campaign. As Noonan observes: ‘American political establishment, take note: In the past 20 years you have turned America into a nation a third of whose people would make Donald Trump their president. Look on your wonders and despair.’”

The American political class and establishment have failed miserably. Trust in American politicians has reached an all-time low, which is due to the dishonest and corrupt behavior of politicians.

Ben Carson’s Disappointing Response as to Whom to Obey

Newsmax reported on August 2:

“Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says that whether the Bible has authority over the U.S. Constitution depends on the specifics. Carson was posed the question during an appearance on ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday… Moderator Chuck Todd told Carson he was ending with a ‘simple question … Does the Bible have authority over the Constitution?’

“Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon and devout Seventh-day Adventist, paused before replying, ‘That is not a simple question… I think probably what you have to do is ask a very specific question about a specific passage of the Bible and a specific portion of the Constitution,’ Carson said. ‘I don’t think you can answer that question other than out of very specific context.'”

This is a sad and disappointing response, but it is typical for those who want to be politically correct… However, Ben Carson has a history of giving evasive answers, or of apologizing for or “clarifying” controversial statements (such as his comments on homosexuality). The answer to the question at issue is VERY clear. We must obey God rather than man. If there is a conflict between the US Constitution and the Bible,  we MUST obey the Bible.

Northern Ireland’s Persecution of a Christian Pastor

Breitbart wrote on August 6:

“The Belfast pastor who said Islam was ‘satanic’ and ‘heathen’ is to make his first appearance in court today. The elderly man, who is in ill health, faces up to six-months in jail for making the remarks.

“Pastor James McConnell, 78, made the comments in May 2014 during a sermon that was broadcast live on the Internet… Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service has said he violated the 2003 Communications Act by ‘sending, or causing to be sent, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message or other matter that was grossly offensive.’…

“The pastor has refused to give any admission of guilt… He said: ‘It is a battle of free speech…’

“Meanwhile, the local Muslim ‘community leader’ pushing for his prosecution – who has used the controversy to leverage government into supplying land for a mega-mosque – has expressed sympathy for Islamic State (IS) but has been left alone by the law.”

Such travesty of justice is repulsive and abominable.

Merkel to Run for Fourth Term?

Reuters wrote on August 1:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has ruled Germany since 2005, has decided to run for a fourth term and has started planning her 2017 re-election campaign, according to an unsourced report on Saturday in Der Spiegel news magazine… Merkel, who has guided Europe’s biggest economy through the 2008 financial crisis and euro zone turmoil, regularly ranks as one of Germany’s most popular leaders, which is unusual for a sitting chancellor.

“There are no term limits in Germany and the last CDU chancellor, Helmut Kohl, ruled for 16 years before losing his bid for a fifth term in 1998 to Gerhard Schroeder of the Social Democrats (SPD). Neither were as popular among voters as Merkel. In a country that cherishes stability after the Weimar Republic’s chaos contributed to Hitler’s rise, Merkel is only the eighth post-war chancellor. Her CDU has no obvious successor…

“Merkel is so popular in Germany that one SPD leader, Schleswig-Holstein state premier Torsten Albig, said recently the SPD should not bother putting up a candidate to run against her in 2017…”

Not yet, anyway.

Incredible Atrocities Against Innocent Germans AFTER World War II

The Local wrote on July 30:

“Seventy years ago on Friday, a munitions depot exploded in [the] Czechoslovakian town [of Ústí] … The explosion happened in the afternoon of July 31st, 1945. Around 27 people were killed, including seven Czechs. World War II had ended just weeks before – and Czechoslovakia had begun to forcibly expel over two million Sudeten Germans who lived in the country. So when the explosion happened, rumours quickly spread that the Germans were responsible. What followed was a massacre.

“All ethnic Germans had been forced to wear white armbands, making them easily recognizable – and on the day of the explosion, German men, women and children were mercilessly beaten and killed. Some were shot dead. Others were thrown into the River Elbe and then shot at while they tried to swim to safety… Those responsible for the massacre were Revolutionary Guards (a post-war Czech paramilitary group) alongside Soviet and Czech soldiers, as well as around 300 Czech civilians who had just arrived from Prague by train…

“The massacre was part of something much wider… and what happened in Ústí was… only one of many violent examples of what historians and German expellees call the wilde Vertreibungen (fierce expulsion) of Germans from countries such as Czechoslovakia… The massacre divided the two countries for decades – with ongoing controversy as to why exactly it occurred… Since the German expulsion from Czechoslovakia, the Czech government has refused German calls for compensation for these refugees – several thousand of whom died in the expulsion.

“But in 1997, the German-Czech Declaration was founded. The agreement saw both sides state that they would ‘not allow past legal and political issues to be a burden’ on the relationship between the two countries…”

The article continued to point out that more than 5,000,000 Germans were expelled from Poland, “which was one of the largest and most organized ethnic cleansings in modern history outside of India and Pakistan.” War is SO wrong and leads to indescribable suffering of innocent victims. NO ONE wins in war, and EVERY country is guilty of inflicting horrible pain, suffering and death on the helpless elderly, women and children. This is Satan’s world, and NO war fought by human beings in ANY country can be described as just and godly.

Pope Francis and the Catholic Church’s Teaching on Divorce

The Associated Press reported on August 5:

“Pope Francis declared on Wednesday that divorced Catholics who remarry, as well as their children, deserve better treatment from the church, warning pastors against treating these couples as if they were excommunicated. Catholic teaching considers divorced Catholics who remarry are living in sin and are not allowed to receive Communion…

“Francis’ emphasis on mercy in church leadership has raised hope among many such Catholics that he might lift the Communion ban. Catholics who divorce after a church marriage but don’t take up a new union, such as a second marriage, can receive Communion. The Vatican this fall is holding a month-long follow-up meeting on family issues, after a similar gathering last year left divorced Catholics who remarry hoping in vain that a quick end to the ban would have resulted from those discussions…

“‘People who started a new union after the defeat of their sacramental marriage are not at all excommunicated, and they absolutely must not be treated that way,’ Francis told pilgrims and tourists at his first general audience after a summer break. ‘They always belong to the church.’ The church, he said, must be one of ‘open doors.’

“The pope acknowledged that church teaching considers ‘taking up a new union’ after divorce wrong. ‘The church knows well that such a situation contradicts the Christian sacrament’ of marriage…

“Other than being widowed, the only possible way for Catholics who marry in the church to remarry is receiving an annulment. That long, complicated process essentially involves examining whether the marriage never existed in the first place. Grounds for annulment include refusal by a spouse to have children. Previous pontiffs had complained that annulments in some places, notably in the United States, were being granted too liberally.”

The problem is that the Catholic Church’s teaching on divorce is not biblical. The Bible does allow for divorce and re-marriage, under limited circumstances, even for a converted Christian.

Vatican: “God May Have Created Alien Life Forms”… “Bible Not a Scientific Book”

AFP wrote on July 31:

“On a leafy hilltop near the papal summer home of Castel Gandolfo sits the Vatican’s Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, where planetary scientists mix the study of meteorites and the Big Bang theory with theology. Boasting a prestigious research centre at the University of Arizona in the United States, the institute has never shied away from asking whether there could be life on other planets and is thrilled with the discovery of an ‘Earth 2.0’.

“Astronomers hunting for a planet like ours announced to huge excitement last week that they have found the closest match yet, Kepler 452b, which is circling its star at the same distance as our home orbits the Sun. Around 60 percent larger than Earth, it sits squarely in the Goldilocks zone of its star, where life could exist because it is neither too hot nor too cold to support liquid water, according to the US space agency NASA.

“The discovery ‘is great news’, the Observatory’s Argentine director Jose Funes told AFP, despite the fact that scientists suspect increasing energy from the planet’s ageing sun might now be heating the surface and evaporating any oceans, making life difficult… Kepler 452b is 1,400 light-years away — an impossible distance to cover using mankind’s current technology. NASA may have made history this year with a Pluto fly-by, but it took nine years for its probe to get there despite the planet being under six light hours away. The fastest spaceship in the Solar System, it would take some 11 million years to reach the Earth’s cousin…

“What is clear, [Funes] says, is that while God may have created aliens and planets similar to Earth, there can be no second Jesus… ‘The bible is not a scientific book. If we look for scientific responses to our questions in the bible, we are making a mistake,’ he said. ‘It answers great questions, like “what is our role in the Universe?”‘ But such answers can also come from exploring the stars, he said…”

This rejection of the Holy Scriptures is pathetic. For TRUE understanding on these matters, please read our free booklets, “Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults?” and “Heavens and Earth… Before and After the First Man.”

 In addition, the comment never seems to be made by those proponents of space exploration about cost.  The amount of money spent on such projects is astronomical and could be used for far more immediate practical benefits for the 7 billion people currently living on earth.   Also, as we cannot conduct ourselves properly on the earth that God gave us and that 6,000 years of appallingly bad stewardship of a wonderful gift given to man amply prove, do they think that expanding man’s occupation of other parts of the galaxy would be any different?   Of course, it won’t happen, but if it did, it would be a repetition of the historical bad management that is there for all who have eyes to see.   How different it will be in the Kingdom of God.

When the Holy Spirit first came upon the house of Cornelius, those in attendance were amazed. “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also” (Acts 10:44-45). Why were “those of the circumcision” amazed? What made this event astonishing? As it turns out, the inclusion of the Gentiles in the calling of God is something that many in the early New Testament times did not believe would happen. However, as we will find out, it has always been God’s plan to offer the gift of the Holy Spirit and salvation to all men, Jews and Gentiles alike.

The reference to those of the circumcision applies primarily to the Jews who had become Christians, and now received the Holy Spirit. The fact that these people were Jewish by heritage helps to explain their astonishment. Until this moment, the Holy Spirit was primarily received under very special circumstances by others written about in the Bible before Christ. Since the establishment of the ancient Houses of Israel and Judah, most, but not all, of the people who received the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times were of the House of Israel, but now the Holy Spirit was offered on a larger scale to those outside the Houses of Israel and Judah. For this reason the Jews were amazed – other than circumcised Gentiles who had become Proselytes and part of the community of Judah, they didn’t think that people with a non-Israelite heritage would be given the Holy Spirit. This event was a revelation of one of the mysteries of the Bible, that salvation will be offered to the Gentile, just as it is to the Jew and the Israelite.

In another Q&A about the presence of Arabs in Jerusalem at the Day of Pentecost, we learn that until the moment when Cornelius received the Holy Spirit, only Jews, Proselytes who had converted to Judaism, and Samaritans (compare Acts 8) had received it. We stated: “It is… NOT correct to conclude that only native Jews were present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D, when the New Testament Church of God began. There were also Proselytes in attendance, including Arabs… Paul, after his conversion, went to Arabia (Galatians 1:17) and stayed there for a while, perhaps, as Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible suggests, to associate with those Arabs who had been converted on the Day of Pentecost.”

Because of these facts, it is easy to see how Jews of that time might come to the conclusion that only Jews and Proselytes might receive the Holy Spirit. That is why the event of Cornelius receiving the Holy Spirit is so momentous.

Even Peter was confused and amazed by this revelation. He received a vision about it, showing him that “‘What God has cleansed you must not call common’” (Acts 10:9-16). Initially, Peter did not understand the meaning of this vision and was perplexed by it. Shortly after receiving the vision, Peter traveled to meet Cornelius, who wished to hear the Gospel preached. Being Jewish, Peter knew that affiliating with Gentiles was condemned by Jewish tradition (compare a later event in Galatians 2:11-12), and to be in this situation with Cornelius must have put him out of his comfort zone. Regardless, after witnessing the Holy Spirit coming upon the house of Cornelius, he understood that the salvation offered to man extended to those who historically had been considered unclean.

When the Jews at Jerusalem heard of this event, they were outraged. However, after explaining the revelation of the mystery to them, they too were enlightened to the depth of the plan of God. “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life’” (Acts 11:18). The mystery of the inclusion of Gentiles in the plan of salvation was being revealed. No longer was it limited to the Jew, Israelite, and Proselytes, but it was now made available to all those willing to repent of sin, and become baptized. It still took some time for this young Church to come to the realization that physical circumcision was not a requirement to become part of the Body of Christ, but the process of accepting Gentiles as fellow brethren had begun.

Peter began revealing the mystery, and Paul continued. As he wrote letters to the churches and delivered his ministry, Paul revealed the mystery that the gift of salvation is extended to Gentiles as well as Jews, Israelites, and Proselytes. To the Church of Ephesus he wrote about how this mystery, “that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6), was not made known to the sons of men in other ages, but was now revealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:5). The fact that now Gentiles could become part of the same spiritual body had immense significance then and it is just as significant now.

We explain this as follows in our free booklet, “The Mysteries of the Bible,” chapter 4:

“… the mystery of Christ not only relates to who and what Christ was and is, but also, what Christ does… God must reveal this mystery to us in His Word, and He does reveal it.

“Ephesians 3:1–7 explains: ‘For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power.’

“The mystery of Christ includes the fact that Jesus Christ is selecting people from all nations to be placed in His spiritual body, His Church, to become fellow heirs of God’s promise—the inheritance of the Kingdom of God. God the Father gives the Spirit of His Son to all those whom He wants (Galatians 4:6)—not just to those who are physical descendants of the tribes of Israel and Judah (and even the modern identity of Israel and Judah is a mystery to most people).

“In Colossians 1:24–28, Paul sheds further light on the mystery of Christ—that Christ, through the Holy Spirit, lives in all whom God the Father has called, and that He is making us perfect to attain to His glory in God’s Kingdom.

“He tells us: ‘I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints [‘the initiated’]. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Jesus Christ.’”

Paul explains the analogous mechanics of this mystery to the Romans as well. He writes about salvation of the Jews and the Gentiles, “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:11). He then proceeds to explain how Gentiles have been figuratively grafted onto a growing root and thereby becoming partakers of the gift of salvation offered to spiritual Israel (compare Romans 11:13-26). It is clear in reading this explanation that God intended for all mankind to be saved. This was already made clear in the Old Testament symbolism of the two unleavened loaves of bread at the Day of Pentecost. Please review our free booklet on “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days.”

Paul realized the significance of this mystery, that no man is excluded from the potential of being saved. “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:27-28). We see the inclusive nature of these statements, that “every man” is included in the plan.

It is also interesting to note that even though the apostles revealed this mystery that Gentiles are included in the gift of salvation, it is referenced by Jesus Christ. He was aware of the wide-ranging effect of His inevitable sacrifice extending to the Gentiles. “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). Jesus reveals the inclusiveness of the plan of God to include other followers in His plan, referring to the Gentiles, and bring everyone together into one spiritual body.  (Compare Ephesians 2:11-18 and our free booklet, “Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians,” explaining this passage.) Even though this was a mystery to the early Christian churches, Jesus Christ knew that this was part of the plan from the beginning.

The mystery of the salvation of the Gentiles was a huge revelation to the early Church. The impact is massive in that all of mankind is included. It is amazing to reflect on the absolute mercy offered. God does not show partiality to man (Acts 10:34), and making the gift of His Holy Spirit and the gift of salvation available to all who turn to God is proof of God’s grace.

Lead Writers: Eric Rank and Norbert Link

As a reminder, here are the dates for the Fall Holy Days:

September 14— Feast of Trumpets

September 23—Day of Atonement

September 28 through October 4—Feast of Tabernacles

October 5—Last Great Day

“The Secret Iran Deal–What They Are Hiding From You!” is the title of a new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The Iran Deal has been labeled as the “historic deal of the century,” which will bring peace to the Middle East. It has also been described as “catastrophic” and “idiotic,” which is “marching Israelis to the door of the oven.” There are many aspects within the deal and its many secret side deals which the US government refuses to reveal to the American public. In this program, we will show you numerous widely-unknown facts, proving that America’s leadership has given away “the whole store,” while receiving NOTHING in return and having become a laughing stock of the Iranians. This is all in line with biblical prophecy, and YOU need to know what YOU can do, individually, to escape the inevitable downfall of the USA. We are offering our free booklet, “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

“Planned Parenthood—Just the Tip of the Iceberg” is the title of the most recent StandingWatch program. Here is a summary:

The horrible atrocities which are being committed by Planned Parenthood and other organizations in harvesting and selling body parts of aborted fetuses are a terrible testimony of the evil times we are living in, while the spineless and hypocritical political establishment is doing nothing to change this. However, these abominable actions are just the tip of the iceberg. Are YOU an indifferent passive or even an active part of a conspiracy to destroy human life?

“Hat Gott Gefühle und Emotionen?” is the title of this week’s German sermon. Title in English: “Does God Have Feelings and Emotions?”

A new German AufPostenStehen program has been recorded, titled, “Wissen Sie, Wer der Wahre Gott Ist?” Title in English: “Do You Know Who Is the True God?” We are offering two of our newly-printed German booklets on the Trinity and on God being a Family.

“Where to Begin?” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Eric Rank, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Faced with impossible circumstances, a natural human response is to become stymied, not knowing what to do. At times, there may be many options to consider, yet none may be right. Since the calling of a Christian is a call to action we need to know where to begin, especially when facing the seemingly impossible.

“Set Your Hope in God,” the sermon present last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

When we face an uncertain future filled with potential trials—or when great opportunities lie before us, what should we do? There are astounding promises in the Word of God for Christians, and we can confidently turn to Him as we fulfill our calling to salvation.

On August 1, 2015, Eric Rank will present the sermonette, titled, “Where to Begin?,” and Dave Harris will present the sermon, titled, “Set Your Hope in God.”

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.

There are times in the march of biblical history when the actions of individuals, nations and even the world itself have brought about the direct intervention of God. Rather than receiving His blessings, people have suffered God’s punishment for their unrestrained and shameless rebellion against Him.

One such fateful instance culminated in the fall of the House of Judah and national captivity by the Chaldeans:

“And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chronicles 36:15-16).

They went too far to escape their punishment!

Now, the modern descendants of the House of Israel—especially, the United Kingdom (Ephraim), the United States of America (Manasseh) and the State of Israel (Judah)—parade their defiance against the righteous laws of God, refuse to be governed by His precepts found in His written Word, the Bible, and day-by-day embrace every unspeakable evil!

Recently, in America, videos surfaced detailing the practices of abortion as sponsored by an organization called, “Planned Parenthood.” The vileness of what was revealed is shocking, but the cavalier statements about the murder and treatment of human fetuses represent an evil from the depths of darkness and depravity!

Violence brought about God’s punishment in the Flood; sexual depravity caused God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah; rebellion led to God’s rejection of the ten tribes of Israel and, subsequently, of Jerusalem and Judah; again, just a few decades following the appearance of Jesus Christ, Rome destroyed the nation of Judah and the City of Jerusalem!

Look around you—these sins are rampant, today! In fact, they are growing by leaps and bounds! There seems to be no turning away from evil, and the might and authority of God are not even considered as possible solutions!

America has been occupying the world stage as a world power—a leader among nations. Before, the United Kingdom held that position. In both cases, these nations bore responsibility to God for reflecting a biblical morality, but even though their conduct always fell “short of the glory of God,” it has reached an abominable level today. Our nations don’t even know the true God of the Bible!

It seems to be far too late for the nation of America to escape punishment from God! Indeed, the spiritual sun has set on the British Empire, and the State of Israel is repeating the sins that led to its destruction in times past!

Weighing the national sins of our people against those found in the biblical record, can we recognize the urgency we face? It is time for anyone who understands to repent, to turn to God and to seek His mercy and protection—before it is too late!

“‘I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible’” (Isaiah 13:11).

We begin with reports dealing with the fallout over recently revealed abortion atrocities by Planned Parenthood; cover more news about the unsettling “Iranian Deal”; present articles highlighting events in Turkey, Greece and the UK, and President Obama’s meddling comments during his African trip.

 Additional articles deal with the Boy Scouts of America’s decision to allow gay leadership; ominous weather warning for Britain; and more speculation about Pope Francis.

House Chickens Out on Planned Parenthood Scandal

 Breitbart wrote on July 29:

“The House is leaving for its summer recess until September 8 without voting on legislation to defund Planned Parenthood in the wake of the recent gruesome videos released of the abortion giant’s practice of harvesting the body parts of aborted babies for sale to biomedical companies… Thousands of Americans participated in rallies across the nation Tuesday to urge their state and federal lawmakers to investigate and defund Planned Parenthood in the wake of the revelations in the videos.

“Rep. Diane Black… condemned the chamber for its failure to pass the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015, a measure she introduced and for which there are 150 cosponsors, only one of which is a Democrat, Rep. Dan Lipinski…

“Black said on the House floor: ‘I stand here profoundly disappointed that the House will leave town today without taking a vote on my legislation to defund Planned Parenthood. Over the past two weeks, we’ve all seen the gruesome videos showing the heartless depravity of this organization. We issued statements, we made passionate floor speeches, and we pledged action. Now, our constituents would like to know when we’re going to follow through on that promise. Today, I’m reminded of the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act,”’ she added.

“Black, who has been a nurse for over 40 years and is a member of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, concluded by saying, ‘[W]e have a moral obligation to defund Planned Parenthood, and we must do it now – not when the politicians and pundits think it is most politically expedient.’

“Though House Republican leaders have lambasted the videos, The Hill reports they have indicated legislation to defund Planned Parenthood would not likely come up for a vote in the near future. The Senate, nevertheless, is expected to vote next week on a legislation effort led by Sen. Rand Paul… that would defund Planned Parenthood. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell… confirmed Tuesday that the Senate will vote next week to eliminate the $540 million in taxpayer funding the nation’s largest abortion provider receives.

“At least one Republican senator, Sen. Susan Collins… said Wednesday… that until she knows more, she will oppose ending federal support to Planned Parenthood.”

There is really NO true leadership in the USA, and an appalling lack of morality and moral values in ALL political parties…

 The Fight Against Planned Parenthood

 Breitbart wrote on July 24:

“[Sen. Rand] Paul tried to get the floor to stand up and offer an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood and another one to arm servicemen and women on military bases. He intended to offer these measures as amendments to the highway bill that is currently on the Senate floor. Whoever was presiding over the floor refused to recognize Paul to offer his amendments…

“Paul isn’t taking this lying down. He is… currently circulating a petition to go around the Senate leaders and force a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood anyway. Paul is calling pro-life leaders to join him in this crusade, and some pro-life leaders are already whispering that this may be the perfect time to strike at Planned Parenthood. If he succeeds, it would of course be a massive rebuke of McConnell’s leadership of the GOP majority in the Senate…

“Planned Parenthood gets over $500 million a year in taxpayer funding. Senate sources also say that in addition to Paul’s effort to go around McConnell for a vote to defund Planned Parenthood, more damning videos—like the ones showing the organization’s executives sought to sell baby body parts for cash or for a Lamborghini sports car—may be coming, though it’s unclear when the videos will come out…

“If Paul can get the necessary support from his colleagues for these measures, a vote could come this week on this bill to defund Planned Parenthood either as an amendment to the highway bill or as a stand-alone piece of legislation.”

 Clinton Supports Planned Parenthood

 ABC News reported on July 29

“Hillary Clinton has staunchly defended Planned Parenthood in the wake of recently released videos that an anti-abortion group claims to show employees with the organization discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue.  But, in a new interview, she calls the graphic videos ‘disturbing’ and says there should be a national investigation into that practice… Clinton, however, did not waiver in her overall support of the organization…

“Clinton made the remark on the same day the Center for Medical Progress released a third video which it says shows the harvesting of fetal tissue, as well as current and former Planned Parenthood employees discussing the procedures and pricing.

“Several Republicans — including many GOP presidential candidates — have cited these videos as a reason why Planned Parenthood should lose federal funding. And Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul has called for Clinton to return the group’s donations to her campaign. In response to the claims of illegal behavior in the video, Planned Parenthood has asserted that all of its actions are legal as well as ethical…

“Clinton, who is pro-choice, has vowed to defend Planned Parenthood over the weekend, even adding in a new line to her campaign stump speech. ‘I will defend a woman’s right to choose,’ Clinton said in Iowa and New Hampshire this week, ‘and I will defend Planned Parenthood.’”

Why can’t we all see that God HATES what is going on in this country, and that the murder of MILLIONS of innocent babies will NOT go unpunished?

 March the Jews to the Door of the Oven?

 On July 26, CNN wrote the following:

“President Barack Obama is marching Israelis to ‘the door of the oven’ by agreeing to the Iran nuclear deal, Mike Huckabee said Sunday… ‘This president’s foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven,’ Huckabee said. He continued: ‘This is the most idiotic thing, this Iran deal. It should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and by the American people. I read the whole deal. We gave away the whole store. It’s got to be stopped.’…

“Huckabee and other GOP presidential candidates have pledged to undo the deal, which the United States and five other world powers struck with Iran this month after weeks of negotiations in Vienna…”

 Kerry on the Defensive

 The New York Post wrote on July 24:

 “Secretary of State John Kerry had an ‘intense exchange’ when he tried to sell the Iran nuclear deal to skeptical Jewish leaders in New York on Friday. A day after GOP senators blasted him for getting ‘fleeced’ by Iran, Kerry faced another tough crowd in a closed-door meeting with about 120 Jewish leaders at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations…

“Kerry spoke from a podium and fielded pointed questions from a crowd of Israel supporters concerned that the deal could allow Iran to get relief from sanctions while still maintaining some nuclear infrastructure that could threaten Israel… One critic was former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, Kerry’s former Senate colleague, who ‘made some impassioned comments’…

“Earlier, at the Council of Foreign Relations, Kerry said Israel would get the blame if Congress votes down the nuclear deal… That line of argument didn’t go over well with the Jewish leaders….

“In his speech at the Foreign Relations group, Kerry also went after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he hasn’t offered a real alternative to a deal he has been denouncing for months… Kerry also warned Israel would be making a huge mistake if it took unilateral military action against Iran.”

 Kerry Won’t Reveal Iran Side Deals to American People

 The Weekly Standard wrote on July 29:

“Secretary of State John Kerry testified on Capitol Hill today the U.S. government will not be revealing the contents of secret side deals with Iran to the American people. Senator Tom Cotton wanted to know why it can’t be made public.  ‘I’d like to stick with you, Secretary Kerry,’ Cotton said. ‘Why can’t we confirm or deny the content of these agreements in public? Why is this classified? It’s not a sensitive U.S. government document.’

“’Because we respect the process of the IAEA and we don’t have their authorization to reveal what is a confidential agreement between them and another country,’ said Kerry. Cotton said, ‘So the ayatollahs will know what they agreed to but not the American people?’ Kerry said that members of Congress would be able to learn about it in a classified briefing.”

 There is evidently something to hide, and it is not what the American people would like!

“Iran: Obama Administration Lying About Nuclear Deal”

freebeacon.com reported on July 30:

“Senior Iranian officials are accusing the Obama administration of lying about the details of the recent nuclear accord in order to soothe fears among U.S. lawmakers and Americans about the implications of the deal, which will release billions of dollars to the Islamic Republic while temporarily freezing its nuclear program, according to reports from Iran’s state-controlled media.

“As Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior Obama administration figures launch a full-court press to convince Congress to approve the  deal, Iranian leaders are dismissing the rhetoric as ‘aimed at domestic consumption.’…

“When addressing claims this week by the administration that the deal shuts down Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, Iranian officials scoffed and said that the Obama administration is misleading the public in order to sell the deal…”

The Times of Israel added on July 30:

“Iran will not allow American or Canadian inspectors working for the U.N. nuclear watchdog to visit its nuclear facilities, an official said in remarks broadcast by state TV on Thursday.

“Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will only allow inspectors from countries that have diplomatic relations with it.”

 

 Turkey Strikes Against ISIS and PKK

Deutsche Welle reported on July 27:

“Turkey says its warplanes have struck ‘Islamic State’ sites in Syria for a second straight night. Turkish jets also struck Kurdish PKK camps in Iraq. The twin strikes will complicate the US-led air campaign against IS.

 “On Saturday, Turkey risked double-fronted warfare against ‘Islamic State’ (IS) and Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, respectively. IS and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are themselves bitter foes. Ankara’s change of tack follows a suicide bombing last Monday that shook Turkish society.”

Strikes against the Kurds will complicate the situation regarding USA, which considers the Kurds as their allies in the fight with ISIS.

Greece Not Ready to Leave the Euro

The Huffington Post wrote on July 20:

“Like many people following the negotiations between Greece and its creditors, I was inclined to see Wolfgang Schauble, Germany’s finance minister, as the villain of the story. After all, Mr. Schauble insisted on severely punitive measures for Greece as a condition for continuing support from the European Central Bank (ECB). He appeared to be the bad cop relative to others in the negotiations, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was willing to make at least some concessions to keep Greece in the euro. But a more careful analysis arguably leads to the opposite conclusion.

“Schauble did not argue for throwing Greece out of the euro simply as a punitive measure, although he quite obviously disapproved of the way Greece had run its budget and its economy. He argued, quite possibly sincerely, that at least a temporary departure from the euro zone would be the best path forward for Greece… This divorce process was clearly not the first best solution. That would have involved restructuring Greek debt while keeping Greece in the euro, but none of the major actors among the creditors seriously considered such proposals…

“The Greek government had not prepared itself for the process of leaving the euro. Perhaps the world will be surprised and the deal it reached with its creditors will provide a basis for renewed growth. But if not, it may want to get back in touch with Mr. Schauble.”

 UK Government Accused of Trying to Buy Influence with US Power Family

Daily Mail wrote on July 25:

“Tens of millions of pounds of UK aid money has been siphoned through charities linked to Hillary Clinton, it emerged last night. British politicians – including Gordon Brown – stand accused of diverting huge amounts of cash through the organisations after falling under the spell of the US presidential candidate and her husband Bill. At least £50 million of taxpayer-funded foreign aid money has gone to Clinton charities, which are at the centre of allegations in the US that foreign governments used donations to buy influence.

“The UK is one of the biggest donors, handing over more than £20 million last year alone to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), an organisation chaired by former President Bill, 68, and whose board includes the couple’s daughter Chelsea, 35. Since 2011, a total of £48.9 million has gone into the coffers of this charity alone.”

The Bible prophesies that in these end times, especially the UK and the USA will try to “buy” friends and allies, but this plan will backfire.

Obama Urges UK to Stay in the EU 

Deutsche Welle reported on July 23:

 “US President Barack Obama said Britain must remain in the European Union to maintain its global influence. In previous interviews Obama has avoided taking a stance on such issues. ‘Having the UK in the EU gives us much greater confidence about the strength of the transatlantic union, and is part of the cornerstone of the institutions built after (the second world war) that has made the world safer and more prosperous,’ Obama said.

“‘We want to make sure that the United Kingdom continues to have that influence,’ he added… Obama said that Britain was the US’ ‘best partner’ because of its willingness to project power beyond its ‘immediate self-interests to make this a more orderly, safer world.’”

With these derogatory comments about continental Europe, President Obama stepped again into a wasp’s nest.

 German Influence in Africa

German Foreign Policy wrote on July 22:

“Parallel to the escalating crises in Greece and Ukraine and the participation or involvement in various wars in the Arab world, the German government is intensifying its efforts to enhance its political and military influence on the African continent. German companies are seeking lucrative business opportunities in booming Angola at the ‘Angola/Germany Economic Forum’ ending today in the country’s capital Luanda. Despite its persistent efforts, so far, German trade relations with Angola have not achieved a real breakthrough, whereas Berlin has already made progress in its military cooperation with Luanda. In late 2014, both countries signed an agreement on a ‘partnership’ in military policy followed by a joint military exercise in March 2015. Angola is considered useful as an ally for implementing Germany’s geo-strategic interests in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has been massively upgrading its military apparatus and thereby become a challenge to South Africa’s claim to continental hegemony…

“More than twenty German companies are currently present in the country, including the Frankfurt-based Commerzbank AG and the Swabian technology company Bosch. The Gauff Engineering Company, in Nuremberg, is participating in important infrastructure projects…

“For Germany, Angola’s arms buildup offensive is considered an ideal alternative to South Africa, with which Berlin had maintained a relatively intensive military cooperation. Pretoria’s ties to the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), which in the long run is a challenge to the West’s hegemony, has made it increasingly unreliable in German eyes – not least of all in the context of the West’s current conflict with Russia…”

The fact that German-South African relationships are deteriorating is interesting in light of biblical prophecy indicating that continental Europe, under German leadership, will develop a hostile attitude towards the descendants of the ancient house of Israel, including South Africa.

Obama Clashes with Kenyan President over Gay Rights

The Telegraph wrote on July 25:

“Barack Obama… has directly challenged his host Uhuru Kenyatta, the Kenyan president, on the issue of gay rights, suggesting that ‘bad things happen’ when countries don’t accept their citizens’ right to be homosexual.

“Mr Obama said that as an African-American, he was ‘painfully aware’ of what it was like to be treated as a lesser citizen in law in his own country and that such discriminatory policies ended up on the wrong side of history. ‘When you start treating people differently, not because of any harm they’re doing anybody but because they’re doing different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode, and bad things happen,’ Mr Obama told reporters at State House in Nairobi. ‘And when government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits start to spread. I am unequivocal on this. The idea they are going to be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop.’

“But Mr Kenyatta, who was warned by senior members of his party not to comment on the issue in the run-up to Mr Obama’s historic visit, insisted gay rights in conservative Kenya was a ‘non-issue’… The tense exchange came during an unusually frank press conference in which Mr Obama raised concerns about endemic corruption holding back the economic growth of Kenya, where his father was born…

“Mr Obama also explained his failure to visit his ancestral home until now, six years into his presidency, saying he ‘didn’t want to play favourites’ but admitting that International Criminal Court charges facing Mr Kenyatta over post-election violence in 2007 were of concern to the United States. The ICC recently dropped the charges against Mr Kenyatta citing witness intimidation and a lack of evidence. Separate ICC charges still face his deputy, William Ruto. Before Mr Obama’s arrival, there had been questions whether he would meet Mr Ruto, who has waded into the homosexual debate by decrying the ‘dirty’ practice. Mr Obama shook Mr Ruto’s hand during an unguarded moment at State House that was captured by the Kenyan presidency photographer and posted on Twitter.”

It is exactly the attitude expressed by President Obama which will contribute to the downfall of the USA… where bad things happen…

Boy Scouts Under Attack

Thomson/Reuters reported on July 28:

“A decision by the Boy Scouts of America to allow gay leaders was met with indignation by the largest U.S. Protestant group on Tuesday along with criticism from a leading gay rights group that the move did not go far enough.

“About 70 percent of the roughly 100,000 U.S. Boy Scout units are sponsored by religious institutions, and many said the Monday decision runs counter to the moral standards set by the 105-year-old youth organization. ‘We express consummate sadness that this once vibrant organization continues to cave to social pressure, compromising its long-held, constitutionally protected tenets,’ said Roger ‘Sing’ Oldham, a spokesman for the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention. Even though the decision permits religious organizations to exclude gay adults in keeping with their beliefs, other major conservative church groups also criticized the change, which took effect with the vote Monday by the National Executive Board.

“The largest sponsor of Boy Scout units, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has said it was ‘deeply troubled’ by the move, adding the Mormons’ ‘century-long association with Scouting will need to be examined.’… The Catholic Church, another leading sponsor of troops, on Tuesday said in a statement it was concerned with the ‘practical implications’ of allowing gay leaders but remains committed to its relationship with the Irving, Texas-based Scouts… The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, called for the Scouts to drop the opt-out religious exemption and become fully non-discriminatory…

“The Boy Scouts’ president, former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, called for the change in May, saying continuation of the blanket ban on gay Scout leaders was ‘unsustainable’. Gates helped end the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy that barred openly gay individuals from serving. Earlier, corporate sponsors such as Lockheed Martin and Intel dropped funding for the organization to protest policies considered discriminatory. Membership in the Boy Scouts has been steadily declining over the past decade, but the 2013 decision to allow gay youth contributed to a steeper drop of 7.4 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to organization figures.”

 Britain Threatened with Terrible Winter Storms?

Express wrote on July 25:

“THE STRONGEST El Nino in recorded history could lead to Britain being battered by SIX MONTHS of violent storms… Climate scientists warned temperatures in the Pacific have increased by THREE degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks as ocean winds have weakened. The so-called El Nino phenomenon, which has a huge impact on the world’s weather, has only been stronger twice before in recorded history – the last time in 1997, when a series of violent 100MPH Atlantic storms slammed into the UK. And experts claimed this year’s El Nino is STILL strengthening and could soon break all historical records with the extreme weather patterns lasting until next Spring – meaning Britain could face one of the worst winter storm seasons in living memory…

“The current El Nino event is under the watchful eye of meteorologists across the world as it can devastate farming and fish harvests. AccuWeather’s global weather centre said the world could be facing the strongest El Nino in 50 years. It threatens storms in parts of the US including California, heavy rain and floods in western Australia and an unsettled UK winter… Confidence continues to grow that this El Niño will be one of the stronger El Niños over the past 50 years… El Niño typically reaches its peak during the December through February period… The strongest El Niño on record since the beginning of the 20th century occurred during 1997-98.”

 Pope Francis the “Antichrist”?

In July 29, the Drudge Report posted a link to the following article by Charisma Link:

“… why do so many people think-or at least ponder-that the Latin American pontiff is the Antichrist (or at least the end-time False Prophet mentioned in Revelation 19:20)? It could be for some of the same reasons his popularity is declining. His approval rating in the United States has dropped from 76 percent a year ago to 56 percent today, according to Gallup. Indeed, even Roman Catholics are cooling off to Francis, the first-ever Jesuit pope who emerged as a darling among the evangelical community when he took over for the retiring Benedict. Some Pentecostal onlookers suggested he was Spirit-filled. And Kenneth Copeland and James Robison met privately with the pope in Rome and exchanged high-fives…

“Reuters’ Scott Malone points out: ‘The decline comes as Francis has changed the focus of his public remarks from that of his immediate predecessors, concentrating less on the Church’s opposition to abortion and gay marriage and spending more of his time discussing social inequity and poverty.’ Francis has been vocal about the evils of capitalism while backing off conservative views about homosexuals, asking, ‘Who am I to judge?’ He’s even called for a New World Order more than once…

“Francis has warmed up to Islam like no other pope before him. In a historic first, Francis opened the door to Muslim prayers and Quran readings at the Vatican last year. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres joined the pontiff in the Vatican gardens for a prayer meeting… Some saw this as a precursor to the one world religion.

“Protestant feathers really got ruffled when the washingtonpost.com.co and others falsely reported that Francis said the Quran and Holy Bible are the same… Although it seems unlikely that the pope actually said that… the fact that so many Christians took it as truth without a second blink is telling. He’s said and done enough other shocking things to make this statement believable in the ears of many believers…

“More than 50 years ago, a Jesuit priest predicted the resignation of Pope Benedict-to the day-and now Tom Horn, who worked with Cris Putnam to unveil a 900-year-old prophecy buried in the library at the Vatican that describes a series of 112 popes, and others are looking at his research.

“‘Was he divinely inspired? Was he demonically inspired?’ Horn asks. ‘Because we know demons know things about times and dispensations, too…’”

Indeed, they are, and since they are lying spirits, one never knows when they tell the truth…

The Bible teaches that those who die and have qualified as “first fruits” will be raised in the first resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-26; Revelation 20:4-6). Many false concepts exist as to the nature of the first resurrection. The Bible teaches that the first resurrection is a resurrection to eternal, immortal life—to an existence in the spirit realm, when converted men and women become born-again members in the Kingdom and Family of God. We are told that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50), and that in the first resurrection, we will have incorruptible spiritual bodies, when we are “raised in glory” (verses 42-44).

Jesus Christ was the very first who was raised in the first resurrection (Acts 26:23)—being the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). His followers will be resurrected in the same way as He was, at the time of His return (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).

The Christian world is filled with horrible misconceptions about the first resurrection. In a Christian book pertaining  to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the following description of the RESURRECTED Christ was given:

“[Mary Magdalene] backed out of the tomb… and found her way partially barred by a terribly disfigured man whom she supposed had to be the keeper of the garden…  There was something about that one eye—the other seemed to be almost closed with terrible bruises and livid wounds, the lips torn and blue, and the skin pallid. It was Jesus!”

These descriptions totally negate the fact that Jesus Christ was resurrected as a glorified Spirit being who did not and does not have a physical body. The Bible does not support the concept that He was resurrected as a physical being who was glorified later when He ascended to heaven. Rather, we read in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44:

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.  It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

When Christ was resurrected, after having been dead and buried in the grave for three days and three nights, He was raised AS a glorified Spirit being. He was not resurrected as a physical human being and then subsequently glorified. Rather, at the exact time and the very moment of His resurrection, His physical body, which had not seen decay or corruption, was changed into a spiritual body. Christ was resurrected in glory. He ascended to heaven in glory. We read in 1 Timothy 3:16, that Christ was received up in glory, with a glorified spiritual body. As a Spirit being, He does not have a disfigured body.

We understand, of course, that the glorified Jesus MANIFESTED Himself as a human being after His resurrection, but NOT in the way as described in the above-quoted book. He did not manifest Himself to Mary in a disfigured state. It is true that He later appeared to the apostles and “doubting Thomas” with wounds in His hands and at His side to convince them that it was He (John 20:24-29; Luke 24:39-40), but there is not the slightest hint that He did so on other occasions. And it is of course absurd to think that He, as a Spirit being, still carries with Him in His spiritual body the physical wounds inflicted upon Him when He was a human being.

The confusion regarding the nature of the first resurrection is even magnified by statements in other commentaries, such as the “Compact Bible Commentary” of the “Nelson’s Compact Series,” which states the following regarding 1 Thessalonians 4:16:

“Clearly the [first] Resurrection will be a PHYSICAL resurrection in which BODILY existence will be restored… The resurrected bodies of Christians will be like that of Christ… incorruptible and immortal, and yet they will be bodies of FLESH and BONE…”

This statement is terribly wrong and quite frankly, blasphemous, but many Christians believe in it, as they do not understand the clear teaching of the Bible.

As mentioned, the first resurrection is NOT a physical resurrection, and the resurrected bodies of Christians will NOT be bodies of FLESH and BONE. This very concept is preposterous.

We stated the following in a recent Q&A, titled, “Do you teach a resurrection of the physical body?”

“Regarding the resurrection of those who died ‘in Christ,’ that is, in whom God’s Holy Spirit dwelled when they died, we read that they are resurrected with an immortal SPIRITUAL body. God will raise them up to spiritual, immortal and eternal life. God will not first resurrect their dead ‘physical bodies’ and then ‘change’ them into spiritual bodies. Rather, God will resurrect or raise the Christians with spiritual bodies, as the Bible clearly indicates…

“When God the Father resurrected Jesus Christ, He changed His physical body (which was still in the grave) into a spiritual body. That is why Christ could later walk through closed doors, and why He could make Himself visible and invisible, as He pleased. We should also note that Christ, when He again became a Spirit being, which is invisible to the human eye, could manifest Himself as a human being, even so much so that He appeared to have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39-40). Of course, as a Spirit being, He did not really have flesh and bone, but He was able to manifest Himself in such a way. Jesus did speak of ‘a spirit’ not having flesh and bones as He did (verse 39). However, He was speaking of demonic spirits not being able to manifest themselves in the flesh. (Compare our free booklet, ‘Angels, Demons and the Spirit World,’ pages 42-43). We have the example of Christ and two angels appearing as men and eating a meal in the time of Abraham (Genesis 18:1-8). This example shows that God (Christ in the Old Testament account) and faithful angels could manifest themselves in the physical domain as men.”

When Christ was resurrected, He was resurrected with a body composed of SPIRIT, not matter. He was NOT resurrected with a physical body. That would have been quite impossible as with a physical body, He could not have gone through closed doors, nor could He have made Himself invisible. He just manifested Himself occasionally as a physical being, but even then, we must realize that He did so at times “in another form” (Mark 16:12).

We can find a description of the resurrected Christ in His glorified state in numerous passages of the Bible, and none of them implies that He has a physical body. For instance, we read in Revelation 1:14-16: “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice the sound of many waters… and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength…” (Compare also Revelation 2:18). A similar description of Christ, as He appeared in glory prior to His temporary existence as a human being, can be found in Ezekiel 1:26-28. This describes also His glorified state today, as the Father glorified Christ in His resurrection with the glory which He had with the Father before the world was (John 17:5).

And it is that same glory which will be bestowed on us in the first resurrection (1 John 3:1-2; Romans 8:18; 1 Corinthians 15:49).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Norbert and Johanna Link and Margaret Adair have returned home following travelling over five-thousand miles to be with brethren in California, Oregon, British Columbia and Colorado. They will be observing the Fall Holy Days in Germany, so this trip was an especially important opportunity to encourage and strengthen members in these visits.

“Lehnen Juden Jesaja 53 ab?” is the title of this week’s German sermon. Title in English: “Do Jews Reject Isaiah 53?”

“By The Book,” the sermonette given last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Recent events in the Church of God have given rise to people who all claim that they are following God’s lead—that they are going by the book, the Bible. Really?

“The Sufferings of the Apostle Paul,” the sermon given last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Paul had to endure much hardship, but he never gave up. This sermon discusses many of his trials, including his unjust arrests and illegal imprisonments; several attempts to murder him; numerous false accusations against him by Jews and Greeks; and many conspiracies by unbelieving Jews with the declared goal of assassinating him. But Paul knew that his trials served a godly purpose. And we will see how he received strength to endure victoriously, becoming worthy for the Kingdom of God.

by Delia Messier

Have you ever heard a song or a piece of music so beautiful that you felt you had died and “went to heaven”?

Years ago I had been so sick that I had to be hospitalized for 6 weeks. Two specialists said that I was the sickest person they had seen in 9 years. I was in so much pain and then I flat-lined! My heart and lungs stopped functioning!

What I remember was a voice calling me from far away, and it slowly got louder and louder. I felt no pain then, but frustration for being disturbed! The voice calling me kept persisting and I wanted it to stop. I then recognized that it was my husband calling me, and thought “why does he not leave me alone?” I tried and tried so hard to answer and could not do so, until I finally yelled “What?”— so I thought, but in reality, it was a soft “what” —according to my husband — and the pain was back.

When I had flat-lined, which I think means that I had “died,” I saw no lights. There was no light at the end of a tunnel! There was nothing!  I can describe it as, or, like a dreamless sleep. It took me several long months to be well again.

Today I can say from this experience, that I truly know and believe that the dead know nothing, but that death is a dreamless sleep. But when Christ returns and I am resurrected or changed to immortality, then I will see the lights and hear the most beautiful music and songs unimaginable—not in heaven, but here on earth.