On February 28, 2015, Norbert Link will give the sermon, titled, “The Mystery of the Holy Spirit.”

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.

Each year our neighbors go south to Arizona for the winter. They spend weeks packing their trailer with all they need for their trip. They also prepare their home for an extended absence. Part of that preparation is having neighbors check their house regularly and contact them if problems arise.

With all that they do to prepare for their yearly trip, time, chance and preparation is all they can rely on. How different it is for us brethren! When we make our annual trips to God’s Holy Feasts, we are promised protection of our physical possessions: “For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year” (Exodus 34:24).

God knows the intentions of our hearts and the draw we have towards our physical possessions. He gives us His word that we don’t have to worry about them. But this promise is not to gather more unto ourselves—quite the opposite! He wants us to forget about our physical riches and focus on treasure that doesn’t fade away—God, His Spirit, eternal life and our reward.

Christ warned His disciples that Christians could not serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). But in the same passage He also strengthened them saying, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26).

We must decide where we are truly putting our trust. No amount of insurance or the best planning can save what is really valuable. We must never let the weight of worrying about our physical valuables blind us to our greatest treasure—the Spirit of God. Dwelling on the passing treasures of the world is like relying on the teachers Peter warned us about: “These false teachers promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of immorality; whatever overpowers you, enslaves you” (2 Peter 2:19, Common English Bible). We are slaves to God, with everlasting life and our eternal reward within our grasp. Never let that treasure go.

We begin with an insightful article on the absolute futility of war; report on the historical fallacy of the opinion that Islam had any positive influence on America’s founding fathers; speak on Muslim immigration in America and dangerous developments in Austria; quote an article addressing the next two years for America and the rest of the world; and speak on Ukraine’s terrible future economic prospects while the new “cease-fire” agreement with Russia does not hold. We also address compulsory military service in that context.

We continue quoting an article about a potential controversial deal between the USA and Iran which would leave Israel out in the cold; report on the cowardly attitude of some Republican Presidential candidates regarding same-sex marriages; and address Angela Merkel’s meeting with Pope Francis and Europe’s shaky relationship with Greece.

We speak on the overlooked and neglected eradication of the German city of Pforzheim by the Allies at the end of World War II, showing again the horrible consequences of war especially for the innocent victims; address Holocaust deniers; and conclude with reporting on an alarming invasion of huge mutant rats all over the UK, as well as on the danger of Yoga.

“War Is a Solution to Nothing”

The Huffington Post wrote on February 22:

“As President Barack Obama presented his proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to Congress, he declared, ‘I do not believe America’s interests are served by endless war, or by remaining on a perpetual war footing.’ Yet Obama’s proposal asks Congress to rubber-stamp his endless war against anyone he wants, wherever he wants. Obama has launched 2,300 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since August 8, 2014.

“In his six years as president, he has killed more people than died on 9/11 with drones and other forms of targeted killing in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia — countries with which the United States is not at war. Obama’s proposed AUMF contains some purported limitations, but their vagueness amounts to a blank check to use U.S. military force in perpetuity… [It] contains no geographical limitation. It would authorize the use of military force anywhere in the world…

“But even if Congress were to authorize Obama’s wars in Iraq and Syria, those wars would still violate the UN Charter. The charter requires all states to settle their disputes peacefully, and to refrain from the use of armed force except when acting in self-defense or with the blessing of the Security Council. The Syrian government has not consented to Obama’s bombing in Syria.

“And although the Iraqi government has blessed Obama’s bombing campaign, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ‘is a puppet government that Obama installed and therefore has no authority under international law to consent to U.S. military operations in Iraq,’ according to law professor Francis Boyle… Indeed, ISIS is a direct outgrowth of the U.S. invasion and installation of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim who viciously killed, disappeared and tortured Sunni Muslims after most U.S. troops pulled out…

“We need to stop using military force as a solution to everything — indeed, it is a solution to nothing… We cannot rely on Congress or the president to reverse the course of rampant U.S. militarism…”

For more information, please read our free booklet, “Should You Fight in War?” 

The Founding Fathers and Islam

Breitbart wrote on February 20:

“‘Here in America,’ Obama stated, ‘Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding.’… [He] stated in 2006, ‘Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.’… [He] said in April 2009, ‘Although, as I mentioned, we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values…’

“That does not mean that there were no Muslims in America at the founding — many African slaves were originally Muslim, and were forcibly converted from that faith. But to say that Islam as a religion has been ‘woven into the fabric of our country since our founding’ is simply false. The first wave of Muslim immigrants to the United States did not begin until well after the Civil War. The first mosque in the United States was not built until 1915, by most reports.

“Islam had zero impact on the founders or their philosophy – less than zero, given that the founders despised the religion, or what they knew of it. President Obama fictionalized this history at an Iftar dinner in 2012: ‘… Thomas Jefferson once held a sunset dinner here with an envoy from Tunisia — perhaps the first Iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago. And some of you, as you arrived tonight, may have seen our special display, courtesy of our friends at the Library of Congress — the Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson. And that’s a reminder, along with the generations of patriotic Muslims in America, that Islam — like so many faiths — is part of our national story.’

“Well, not so much. That magical ‘first Iftar’ was a meeting between Sidi Solima Mellimelli, an emissary of the brutal Barbary pirates, and the president. Jefferson had over Mellimelli in an attempt to bribe him into submission after the USS Constitution captured ships from the [bay] of Tunis. Mellimelli requested food, lodgings, and concubines. Jefferson already knew of Islam, having been educated in 1786 after Barbary pirates attempted to blackmail America into monetary tribute. At that time, the Barbary emissary justified piracy with reference to the Koran, according to a report from Jefferson: ‘The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners.’

“John Quincy Adams, writing of these negotiations, stated: ‘The precept of the Koran is perpetual war against all who deny that Mahomet is the prophet of God. The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike, by fraud, or by force.’

“Quincy Adams would later lament, ‘Such is the spirit, which governs the hearts of men, to whom treachery and violence are taught as principles of religion.’… philosophers upon whom the founders relied had similarly negative views of Islam. Montesquieu wrote that the Turks were despotic. William Blackstone wrote that religion could be used for despotism, as shown by ‘terrible ravages committed by the Saracens in the east, to propagate the religion of Mahomet.’…

“The historical record demonstrates that Islam had virtually no role in the foundation of the early Republic outside of being used as a negative comparison point for freedom and self-government. President Obama is obviously rewriting history…”

The idea that Islam had a determining role or positive influence on America’s founding fathers is laughable and plain ridiculous. The question must be asked as to why President Obama keeps bringing up Islam in a positive way, while refusing to attack and strongly condemn radical Islam and to identify the ISIS hordes as “Islamic terrorists” (see the next articles).

“The Wave of Muslim Immigration Is Not Going to Stop”

The website of investors.com reported on February 19:

“France, Belgium and now even liberal Denmark regret letting in so many immigrants from Muslim countries. Their swelling Islamic communities have become breeding grounds for terrorists. So why is the U.S. opening the floodgates to foreign Muslims?… Vice President Joe Biden assured Muslim groups… that the ‘wave’ of Muslim immigration is ‘not going to stop.’…

“Between 2010 and 2013, the Obama administration imported almost 300,000 new immigrants from Muslim nations — more immigrants than the U.S. let in from Central America and Mexico combined over that period… Many of the recent Muslim immigrants are from terrorist hot spots like Iraq, where the Islamic State operates. From 2010-2013, Obama ushered in 41,094 Iraqi nationals from there. Now the State Department says it will quadruple the number of refugees brought here from Syria, where IS is headquartered…

“Top U.S. counterterror officials say terrorists could easily slip into the country from Iraq and Syria, in spite of promised screening procedures for such refugees… House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul called the new policy ‘a federally sanctioned welcome party to potential terrorists.’…

“The British press is reporting that IS has threatened to release a huge wave of migrants from Libya across the Mediterranean disguised as refugees to cause chaos in Europe. Who’s to say they aren’t setting a similar immigration bomb for America? Authorities can’t even get a handle on homegrown IS jihadists who are already in America… The FBI director says he’s got open cases against IS suspects in every state but Alaska. More than 100 American Muslims have hooked up with the vicious terror group in Syria or Iraq, and at least a dozen fighters already have returned to America and may be forming sleeper cells to attack the homeland…

“After an influx of Syrian and other Muslim immigrants, a recent poll found that 40% of Germans say they don’t feel at home in their own country thanks to ‘Islamization.’”

Austria Passes Dangerous “Law on Islam”

Reuters reported on February 25:

“Austria’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that seeks to regulate how Islam is administered, singling out its large Muslim minority for treatment not applied to any other religious group. The ‘Law on Islam’ bans foreign funding for Islamic organizations and requires any group claiming to represent Austrian Muslims to submit and use a standardized German translation of the Koran.

“The law met with little opposition from the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population, was backed by Austria’s Catholic bishops, and was grudgingly accepted by the main Muslim organization. But it upset Turkey’s state religious establishment. ‘We want an Islam of the Austrian kind, and not one that is dominated by other countries,’ said Sebastian Kurz, the 28-year-old conservative foreign minister – formally the minister for foreign affairs and integration – who is easily Austria’s most popular politician.

“Austria’s half a million Muslims make up about 6 percent of the population and are overwhelmingly the families of Turkish migrant workers. Many of their imams are sent and financed by Turkey’s state religious affairs directorate, the Diyanet. Mehmet Gormez, head of the Diyanet, said before the law was passed that ‘with this draft legislation, religious freedoms in Austria will have fallen back a hundred years’.

“Austria’s biggest Islamic organization, IGGiO, accepted the law, but its youth arm opposed it, as did the Turkish-financed Turkish-Islamic Union in Austria (ATIB), which runs many mosques and has vowed to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court…”

Deutsche Welle added on February 25:

“Austria’s parliament has banned funding of some Muslim clergy by countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Two years in the works, a law passed Wednesday requires Austria’s 450 Muslim groups to demonstrate a ‘positive approach toward society and the state’ to continue receiving official licensing…

“‘I say that Islam does not belong to Austria, neither culturally nor historically,’ FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache said in parliament on Wednesday. [He and his party voted “No” to the new law.] He had wanted the law to require imams to preach in German and to ban burqas and minarets…’”

These are indeed VERY dangerous developments. With all of this faulty and flawed reasoning, other religious minorities can be easily targeted as well.

“Obama Is on a Rampage”

The New York Post wrote on February 22:

“He can’t bring himself to call Islamic terrorists what they are, but President Obama finally said something with which we can all agree. Speaking of his remaining time in office, he said: ‘Two years is a long time.’… ‘Two years is also the time in which we’re going to be setting the stage for the next presidential election and the next 10 years of American policy,’ he told wealthy ­donors in San Francisco. ‘So I intend to run through the tape and work really hard, and squeeze every last little bit of change.’

“That makes the next two years extremely dangerous. Not just for Americans, but also for people around the world who count on us for their security and well-being. It is party time for the bad guys. Imagine you are the head of Islamic State or al Qaeda. Or you are Vladimir Putin, the head of China or the ayatollah of Iran. You know Obama has spent six years shrinking America’s footprint and abandoning allies, leaving behind the vacuums you are filling. It’s already a bonanza, and his vow to double down over the next two years means you will never get a better opportunity to make more hay…

“To cite one example, what if Putin isn’t content with the parts of Ukraine he’s taking and wants a piece of the Baltic states? Unlike battered Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania belong to NATO, and its treaty obliges all members to ­respond if one is attacked. Given Obama’s fondness for ‘leading from behind,’ Putin probably assumes America would do nothing if he gobbled up the ­Baltics. If Putin does that and gets away with it, NATO would be kaput. It protected Europe from the Soviet Union and Russia since World War II, but it would die a quick death if peripheral members were carved up with impunity. Not incidentally, such a move would consign millions of people to life ­under Russia’s boot.

“The domestic implications of a rogue Obama rampage are less dramatic, but not less radical. From the economy to regulations on business and the Internet, he could do so much damage that would take years to correct, if correction were possible. Consider immigration. The ruling by a Texas federal judge to temporarily halt the president’s executive order on mass amnesty is leading open-border advocates to vow they won’t be stopped. Threats of violence hang in the air…”

America is in trouble, domestically and internationally. This is all in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. For more information, view our recent StandingWatch program, “Why America’s and Europe’s Betrayal of Ukraine?”.  Note also the next article on Ukraine.

Ukraine at the Brink of Bankruptcy Amidst Ongoing Fighting

The Washington Post wrote on February 23:

“Ukraine’s currency touched record lows Monday as continued violence in the rebel-held east fueled pessimism about the country’s economic future. The currency slump came as the Ukrainian military said it will not pull back its heavy arms from the front lines until attacks by pro-Russian rebels cease altogether… A pullback of heavy weaponry is a key step in a cease-fire deal reached this month, but both sides have said that fighting is continuing, casting doubt on efforts to quell the 10-month-old conflict…

“Ukraine’s currency has dropped 42 percent this month and is down 69 percent in the year since President Viktor Yanukovych fled office after months of pro-European street protests. The Ukrainian central bank on Monday announced new measures to stem the losses, imposing limits on the ability of Ukrainian businesses to purchase foreign currency…

“The plunge calls into question Ukraine’s ability to repay money borrowed from global creditors. The central bank’s reserves of foreign currency are depleted, raising the prospect that the nation could soon go bankrupt… Germany, the primary Western driver of the cease-fire deal, said Monday that it was losing hope about the peace plan’s prospects… The currency plunge came a day after a bombing at a pro-Ukrainian rally in the government-controlled city of Kharkiv that killed two people. A third victim, a 15-year-old boy, died Monday of wounds suffered at the rally, city authorities said. A spate of attacks in Ukrainian-held cities has sparked fears even in areas far away from the harshest fighting in the east.”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 25:

“Secretary of State John… Kerry told lawmakers in Washington during congressional hearings that Russia and pro-Moscow separatists were not respecting the Minsk ceasefire plan… Kerry had said a day earlier that Moscow was telling ‘lies … to my face’ about its activities in eastern Ukraine…”

Now Compulsory Military Service in Lithuania because of Fear of Russia

The Times wrote on February 24:

“Lithuania today announced the return of military conscription to counter the immediate threat to its security posed by mounting Russian aggression in the region. The move is the latest indication of rising tension in the Baltic States which, like Ukraine, border Russia and contain significant Russian minority populations. Michael Fallon, the British Defence Secretary, said last week that President Putin poses a ‘real and present danger’ to the three former Soviet nations, all of them now members of Nato and the European Union.”

The Guardian added on February 24:

“Lithuania, like its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia, was occupied for five decades by the Soviet Union before regaining independence in 1991. It abolished conscription in 2008, four years after joining Nato…

“The three Baltic nations have watched with increasing trepidation as Moscow has flexed its muscles, with a recent increase of reported airspace violations in the region where part of Lithuania’s border runs along the Russian Kaliningrad enclave with important military bases.

“Last month, the defense ministry published a booklet advising citizens how to react in case of war, prompted by what the defense minister, Juozas Olekas, called ‘Russia’s aggression against its neighbors, presently in Ukraine.’”

We can expect that other European countries will re-introduce compulsory military service when they feel threatened by a real or imagined enemy. The same could be true for the USA. It is therefore important that young Christian men and women who claim to be conscientious objectors are thoroughly familiar with the biblical teaching on war and military service and that they have a personal sincere conviction, based on Scripture, preventing them to join the military or to fight in war. In our Statement of Beliefs, we point out the following under “Relationship with God”:

“We believe that a Christian’s duty to God is of a superior and higher nature than our duty arising from any human relationship (Acts 4:18-20; 5:27-29). We therefore, following Biblical commands and principles, do not participate in voting for national elections or jury duty, and we do not join the military. On the other hand, we do not object to participation in civil service. If compelled by governments to enlist, we refuse to serve in any capacity that would violate the spirit of the sixth commandment against murder (Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 12:17-21).”

Obama or Netanyahu— “Now We Know Who to Believe on Iran”

The Times of Israel’s David Horovitz wrote on February 23:

“In an op-ed on February 9, I suggested that Israel’s opposition leader, Isaac Herzog, should stand alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Congress on March 3, to underline ‘their common conviction that the regime in Tehran cannot be appeased and must be faced down.’ On Monday evening, as details of the looming US-led deal with Iran emerged from Geneva, Israel’s most respected Middle East affairs analyst, Channel 2 commentator Ehud Ya’ari, made precisely the same suggestion. So problematic are the reported terms of the deal, Ya’ari indicated, that Israel’s two leading contenders in the March 17 elections, Netanyahu and Herzog, need to put aside their differences and make plain to US legislators that the need to thwart such an accord crosses party lines in Israel and stands as a consensual imperative.

“After anonymous sources in Jerusalem leaked to Israeli reporters in recent weeks the ostensible terms of the deal being hammered out, various spokespeople for the Obama administration contended that the Netanyahu government was misrepresenting the specifics for narrow political ends. They sneered that Israel didn’t actually know what the terms were. And they made the acknowledgement — the astounding acknowledgement for a United States whose key regional ally is directly and relentlessly threatened with destruction by Iran — that the Obama administration is consequently no longer sharing with Jerusalem all sensitive details of the Iran talks.

“And yet among the terms of the deal being reported by the Associated Press from Geneva on Monday are precisely those that were asserted in recent weeks by the Israeli sources, precisely those that were scoffed at by the Administration. Centrally, Iran is to be allowed to keep 6,500 centrifuges spinning, and there will be a sunset clause providing for an end to intrusive inspections in some 10-15 years. If anything, indeed, some of the terms reported by the AP are even more worrying than those that were leaked in Jerusalem: ‘The idea would be to reward Iran for good behavior over the last years of any agreement,’ the AP said, ‘gradually lifting constraints on its uranium enrichment program and slowly easing economic sanctions.’ There is also no indication of restrictions on Iran’s missile development — its potential delivery systems.

“In his TV commentary on Monday night, Ya’ari highlighted that the deal could further embolden Iran as it expands its influence throughout this region, and he noted that the isolation of Iran even by Israel’s key allies was already cracking, with the firmly pro-Israel foreign minister of Australia, Julie Bishop, announcing an imminent visit to Tehran — the first Australian foreign minister to make such a trip in a decade.

“Ya’ari also noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency has made clear that it lacks the tools to effectively monitor the kind of nuclear program that Iran will be allowed to maintain under the emerging deal — incapable, that is, of ensuring that Iran does not fool the West as it has done in the past.

“The devil of such deals is generally in the detail. But the devil, here, is in the principle as well — the principle that the P5+1 is about to legitimize Iran as a nuclear threshold state. From there, it will be capable of rapidly breaking out to the bomb, well aware that the international community lacks the will to stop it.

“The Obama administration would evidently like to believe that 10-15 years from now, the ayatollahs will be gone, Iran will have a different leadership, and the threat of what Netanyahu has repeatedly called ‘the most dangerous regime in the world attaining the most dangerous weapon in the world’ will have passed. But if the deal now taking shape is indeed finalized, the chances of the regime being ousted from within, or effectively confronted from without, will drastically recede. This deal, indeed, will help cement the ayatollahs in power, with dire consequences for Israel, relatively moderate Arab states, and the free world.

“It goes without saying that this weekend’s developments in Geneva have only bolstered Netanyahu’s determination to sound the alarm before Congress next Tuesday. It’s also still clearer today why the Obama administration has been so anxious to query his motives and seek to discredit his concerns. I headlined my February 9 op-ed ‘Who to believe on Iran: Obama or Netanyahu?’ I think we know now.”

Tensions Between White House and Netanyahu Intensify

The Washington Post wrote on February 25:

“Tensions between the White House and Benjamin Netanyahu intensified Wednesday as top administration officials condemned the Israeli prime minister’s plan to address Congress next week, while Netanyahu accused six world powers, including the United States, of ‘giving up on their commitment’ in negotiations to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“The unusually public spat marked one of the lowest points in a relationship that has long bonded the two countries. Although the new round of recriminations reflected the frosty personal relations between President Obama and Netanyahu, it came at a critical juncture in multilateral talks…

“The latest volley of high-level criticism began when national security adviser Susan E. Rice… condemned Netanyahu’s decision to accept the invitation of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to appear at a joint session of Congress shortly before the Israeli elections… Netanyahu fired back. ‘I respect the White House and the president of the United States, but on such a critical topic that could determine whether we exist or not, it is my duty to do everything to prevent this great danger to the state of Israel,’ Netanyahu said…

“No love has been lost between Obama and Netanyahu. ‘This is clearly the most dysfunctional relationship between an American and Israeli leader,’ said Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Wilson Center and a former U.S. negotiator and adviser to both Republican and Democratic administrations. Moreover, he said, ‘the durability is troubling.’ He said that earlier tensions preceded incremental peace accords but that Obama and Netanyahu remain far apart on basic issues and that Kerry’s efforts to bring Israel and Palestinians together failed…

“Meanwhile, leaked details about Iran nuclear negotiations have made many lawmakers more interested in what Netanyahu has to say…”

Republicans: Gay Marriages Not Worth Fighting Against…

The Huffington Post reported on February 22:

“A divide over gay marriage is emerging in the potential Republican presidential primary field, with candidates falling into one of two camps: those who want to admit defeat on a key social cause and move on, and those who want to keep fighting… A narrow majority of Republican voters polled in early caucus and primary states… said it was unacceptable for candidates to oppose gay marriage… Some GOP analysts worry that a noisy gay marriage debate could pose a threat to the party’s eventual nominee, if it means that Republicans are unable to attract young voters…

“Thirty-six states, including the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, have legalized gay marriage since Massachusetts became the first to do so more than a decade ago. Nearly 72 percent of the US population now lives in a state where gay marriage is legal. The Supreme Court is expected to decide this summer whether gay marriage should be permitted nationwide…

“To be sure, none of the potential Republican candidates have come out in support of same-sex unions. But several, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, have softened their rhetoric, seeking to turn the focus to other issues and avoid alienating voters over a lost cause…

“Others planning to run are not ready to yield. They insist their socially conservative principles are more important than political pragmatism or public opinion, and they plan to make gay marriage a central topic in the 2016 debate. ‘It’s like asking someone who’s Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli,’ former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee… recently told CNN…

“Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is pushing for a constitutional amendment that would leave it up to states to define marriage, and would prevent the federal government from getting involved. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former US senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and former Texas governor Rick Perry have also been among the most vociferous opponents of gay marriage…

“In a new NBC News and Marist College poll, about half of Republican voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina say candidates who oppose gay marriage are ‘mostly’ or ‘totally’ unacceptable…

“Governor Chris Christie, who supports civil unions but not gay marriage, said last year that the issue had been ‘settled’ in New Jersey. Although Democrat Hillary Clinton supports gay marriage, she has also said that it should be left up to the states to decide. For her the issue is complicated by the fact that her husband, President Clinton, signed into law several pieces of legislation that gay-rights groups oppose, including the Defense of Marriage Act, which barred same-sex couples from receiving federal marriage benefits. The Supreme Court ruled DOMA unconstitutional in 2013.”

In light of this cowardice and hypocrisy, the question ought to be asked as to why true Christians would even want to vote in governmental presidential elections.

“German Chancellor Merkel Meets with Pope Francis”

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 21:

“Pope Francis has received German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a private audience at the Vatican. The talks focused on the fight against poverty and international crises, including the conflict in eastern Ukraine… Angela Merkel described the talks as ‘enriching’ and wide-ranging, covering the alleviation of poverty, the role of women in developing countries, equality, and Germany’s agenda for the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit in the southern German state of Bavaria in June.

“Germany currently chairs the G7 group of major industrialized states, consisting of Germany, the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Italy and Britain. Russia had been a part of what was formerly known as the G8, before it was excluded over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region…

“Following her audience with the pope – the second since he was appointed – Merkel met Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and German ambassador to the Holy See, Annette Schavan. Schavan, a former German education minister, was considered one of Merkel’s close confidantes before she resigned from her post amid a plagiarism scandal in 2013.”

This relationship between Germany and the Vatican is quite interesting, in the light of biblical prophecy. For further information, please read our free booklet, “The Ten European Revivals of the Ancient Roman Empire.”

A European Army?

News.at wrote on February 25 that German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday in a speech that she hopes for a European army. She added that she does not believe that it will be accomplished soon. The Austrian website also mentioned that SPÖ-EU-deputy Josef Weidenholzer advocated recently the creation of a European army.

Der Spiegel Online had published an interview with Ursula von der Leyen on January 28, stating that “Germany has been heavily criticized in recent years for not doing its share in hotspots around the world. [von der Leyen] says that it is time for Berlin to take more responsibility. She also dreams of a European army.”

Quite to the surprise of many observers, the creation of a European army is in no way that far off.

“Greek Bailout Extension Receives Mixed Reactions Across Europe”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 21:

“Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government agreed on Friday to receiving a four-month extension of their bailout, but no money to tide Greece over in the meantime…

“Liberal Danish newspaper Politiken wrote on Saturday that Europe had ‘avoided an unpredictable period with a weak economy by means of a temporary solution.’ The paper also criticized the eurozone members and governments for ‘giving Greece cheap loans to enable them to continue, in the belief that no eurozone country could ever face real problems.’ Although Denmark is a member of the European Union, it is not part of the 19-member euro common currency zone and continues to use Danish krones.

“Conservative Austrian paper Die Presse also warned on Saturday that ‘the compromise in Brussels was only half the battle,’ adding that the decision as to whether Greece leaves the eurozone will take off again in just a few months…

“German economist Hans-Werner Sinn, the head of the Munich-based Ifo economic institute, went as far as saying Greece should leave the eurozone…”

BBC News reported on February 24:

“Eurozone finance ministers have approved reform proposals submitted by Greece in order to obtain a four-month extension of its bailout. The Eurogroup said it had agreed to begin national procedures – parliamentary votes in several states to give the deal final approval. The measures offered by Greece include combating tax evasion and reforming the public sector…

“However, International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Christine Lagarde expressed reservations about the reform proposals…

“This is, in reality, a short-term fix for an economy in which public debt is unsustainable and growth negligible. And in four months’ time, Greece will be back at the top of the agenda as the eurozone attempts to work out a long-term strategy for its most debt-stricken member.”

The Destruction of Pforzheim—“the Dresden Nobody Knows About”

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 23:

“At the 70th anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden [which caused the death of about 25,000 people—not 600,000, as some falsely claim], even the German president showed up. In Pforzheim, a site of comparable destruction, no high-rankers were present – just people out to promote peace… Thousands of people gathered here on the Platz des 23. Februar (February 23 Square) to remember the day their city was obliterated in 1945…

“The 22 minutes [of hellfire] was figurative for inconceivable suffering and destruction. Between 19:50 and 21:12 local time on February 23, 1945, RAF aircraft dropped 1575 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs on Pforzheim, setting off a firestorm that is widely seen as one of the most devastating in military history. According to official statistics, 17,600 people died, and tens of thousands of others were injured. The market square and old town area were destroyed and completely depopulated. In the entire city, over 80 percent of the architecture that existed in 1945 was defaced, making Pforzheim, proportionally speaking, the worst instance of destruction at the end of WWII.

“The allied destruction in Dresden and Hamburg has been well documented and remains in the public consciousness today, both in Germany and abroad. But Pforzheim doesn’t…

“The city of 80,000 did not possess any major munitions factories or heavy industry at all, although a tube-rolling plant owned by Metalindustrie Richter was in operation in Pforzheim at the time of the bombing. However, there were a host of technical manufacturing plants and factories that produced, among other things, periscope optics and radio and radar components for German submarines. The city was also a major road and rail communications center within the Baden area.

“Does this justify its almost complete annihilation?…

“A year after the end of WWII, author Alred Döblin, one of Germany’s most important modernists, wrote of Pforzheim: ‘Utterly vanished from the surface of the earth, razed completely to the ground, smashed to bits and pieces. No soul left here. Pforzheim – you have been wiped from the world’s atlas.’”

War is so useless and wrong… and it affects so many totally innocent people. Those who advocate war and “glory” in the fighting “for their country” should realize that their glorying is not good (1 Corinthians 5:6). Rather, war is a curse, leading to destruction (Romans 3:15-16). In doing so, they do not know the way to peace, nor is there any fear of God before their eyes (verses 17-18).

Holocaust Deniers Imprisoned in Germany

The Local reported on February 25:

“Sylvia Stolz, 51, was sentenced [by a Munich, Germany, court] to 20 months’ imprisonment for telling an anti-censorship congress in Switzerland in 2012 that the ‘so-called Holocaust’ under Adolf Hitler’s National-Socialist (Nazi) Party had never been legally defined or proven…. In an almost 100-minute address, video footage of which was used as evidence in her trial, Stolz stated before a crowd of 2,000 people there was no hard evidence of either Nazi plans or orders ‘to partially or wholly destroy Jewry’.

“Therefore it was in itself a breach of the law that people like her who defended others put on trial for Holocaust denial should be prosecuted, she argued. Denial of the Holocaust is illegal in Germany and several other EU countries. Stolz, whose husband is a jailed Holocaust denier, was sentenced on the same charge in 2008 and served three years and three months in a Bavarian jail before she was released in 2011. The following year she accepted an invitation to speak at a conference organized in Switzerland by the ‘Anti-Censorship Coalition’ (AZK).

“Three months after the event, a Swiss lawyer filed a criminal complaint, accusing her of transgressing Swiss race law by stating that the Holocaust was unproven in court and that findings on its location and time, perpetrators, methods and numbers killed were lacking. At Wednesday’s final hearing of the case at the Munich District Court, Judge Martin Rieder rejected the defendant’s claim that she was protected by her rights to freedom of speech. Hardly any other event in world history had been so well researched and documented as the extermination of Jews in Europe by the National Socialists, Rieder told the court…

“As well as a count of ‘incitement of the people’, Stolz’s sentence included time for unauthorized use of an official title. Documentation was produced which carried her name and a lawyer’s stamp, despite the fact that she was barred from practising after her earlier conviction. Stolz was previously jailed for statements she made while defending Ernst Zündel, a German publisher known for his Holocaust denials. Zündel was jailed in 2007 for the offence.

“Six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust by the Nazi regime and its allies. Hundreds of thousands of members of other minorities, including Sinti and Roma, disabled and homosexuals also died in Nazi death camps.”

One might indeed question the constitutionality, wisdom and necessity of a law prohibiting the denial of the Holocaust and imprisoning those who do. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the Holocaust did take place, and that millions upon millions of Jews and others, including ethnic and religious minorities, were brutally murdered by demonic Nazis. If true Christians were to deny those facts, they would be guilty of lying. The Bible tells us that true Christians will be persecuted for their belief and for righteousness sakes, but they are not to be found as evildoers—and lying is a terrible sin which is abhorred by God.

Majority of British Voters want to Leave the EU

Daily Mail wrote on February 22:

“More than half of [British] voters want to leave the European Union, a surprise new opinion poll shows. Some 51 per cent of people want to sever ties with Brussels, while 49 per cent want to remain in the EU… It comes as Norway warned Britain not to copy its own situation outside the EU, which leaves it unable to influence key economic rules it must abide by to trade with the 28-nation bloc.”

UK Plagued by Super Rats as Big as Cats

Mail On Line reported on February 22:

“… pest controllers revealed the shocking epidemic of mutant rats – some as big as cats – across the UK. The rodents, which have been seen across the country over the past year, are twice as large as normal species and cannot be killed with traditional substances… Last week, experts warned of a plague of super rats after it was revealed that pest control budgets have been slashed by a quarter by local authorities…

“The species has developed a genetic mutation which means substances approved by the EU to control rat populations has no effect on them… So-called ‘super rats’ are expected to outnumber humans two to one by next year. Genetic testing… has revealed that some rodents have developed a mutation that allows them to survive conventional poisons. In counties including Berkshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Kent, all the rats tested were found to have immunity to poison… In Southampton, 75 per cent of the rodents were found to have the genetic mutation.”

Historic Snowstorms in Boston

CBS reported on February 25:

“Boston eclipsed 100 inches of snow in a season for just the second time in recorded history Wednesday morning. Overnight snow showers brought the season total to 101.8 inches. That’s less than 6 inches shy of the all-time record of 107.6 inches set in the winter of 1995-96.

“Boston has smashed several snowfall records, including snowiest February and snowiest all-time month, as one snowstorm after another pummeled New England. It’s also been one of the coldest months ever, breaking the record in Boston for most sub-freezing days ever seen in February.

“The never-ending snow and cold has crippled the region’s public transportation system, collapsed roofs and has schools scrambling to make up all the snow days.”

As we pointed out in Update #673, Boston is one of America’s least Bible-minded cities.

Beware of Yoga

The Huffington Post wrote on February 25:

“Pat Robertson has some words of caution for anyone considering taking up yoga. Responding to a viewer’s question posed during Tuesday’s episode of ‘The 700 Club,’ Robertson claimed that the ancient mindfulness practice tricks people into ‘praying to a Hindu deity.’ During yoga lessons, he said, participants unknowingly repeat mantras ‘in Hindu’… ‘You don’t know what the Hindu says, but actually it’s a prayer to a Hindu deity…’ Robertson argued. ‘So you’re saying ‘kali, kali, kali,’ but you’re praying to a Hindu deity.’

“Yoga has a long and ancient connection to Hindu spirituality, but modern practice is often divorced from these religious roots… Swami Narayanda, director of the Sivananda Yoga Vendanta Center, told The Huffington Post in December: ‘The goal is to achieve better physical, mental and spiritual health and to achieve happiness through achieving peace of mind.’”

There is no question that Yoga is extremely dangerous when it involves repeating mantras, which are indeed the names of Hindu deities. The same is true for other Indian meditation methods, including Transcendental Meditation (TM). But even if the saying of Hindu words is not involved, the declared goal of achieving “spiritual health” through Yoga sounds very problematic.

At one time, the disciples asked Jesus Christ whether it would be just the FEW who would be saved and inherit eternal life (Luke 13:23).

Christ’s answer was illuminating and perplexing at the same time, when He responded: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for MANY, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (verse 24).

At first glance, this might seem to indicate that most will not end up in the Kingdom of God; especially in light of His further statement in verse 28 that there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.”

In addition, this conclusion might even find further support in Christ’s statement in Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are MANY who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are FEW who find it.”

He added in Matthew 7:21-22: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. MANY will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

This warning is compounded by Christ’s sober end-time prediction in Matthew 24:4-5, 9-13:

“… Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive MANY… Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then MANY will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive MANY. And because lawlessness will abound, the love [Greek: agape–godly love–which had been poured out into their hearts by the Holy Spirit which had been given them, Romans 5:5] of MANY will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

2 Peter 2:1-2 adds: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And MANY will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.”

Finally, Christ said in Matthew 22:14: “For MANY are called, but FEW are chosen.” Compare also Matthew 20:16 and Mark 10:31. So one could jump to the conclusion that indeed only the few will be saved, while many—the majority—will end up in the lake of fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

On the other hand, several statements in the Bible seem to contradict this apparent conclusion.

In Matthew 8:11, Christ said this (as a parallel passage to Luke 13:28, quoted above):

“And I say to you that MANY will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The angel Gabriel told Zacharias that his son, John the Baptist, “will turn MANY of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:16). Likewise, we read that Jesus’s “blood of the new covenant” “is shed for MANY for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24). Hebrews 9:28 adds: “… Christ was offered once to bear the sins of MANY…” Isaiah 53:11-12 adds: “By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify MANY, for He shall bear their iniquities… He bore the sin of MANY…”

We read in Romans 5:19: “For as by one man’s [Adam’s] disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s [Christ’s] obedience MANY will be made righteous.” Romans 8:29 adds that Christ “might be the firstborn among MANY brethren.” We read in Hebrews 2:10: “For it was fitting for Him [God the Father], for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing MANY sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation [Jesus Christ] perfect through suffering.”

Paul even states in Romans 11:26: “And so ALL Israel will be saved.”

We read the following description about the saints: “Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn MANY to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). We read in Daniel 12:10: “MANY shall be purified, made white, and refined…”

We also read this in Zechariah 2:11: “MANY nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people…”

Just prior to the beginning of the Day of the Lord of about one year before Christ’s return, 144,000 Israelites will be sealed on their foreheads (Revelation 7:1-8; in Revelation 14:1 it is said that 144,000 are with the Lamb, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads). In addition, John sees in a vision a great multitude which no one can number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the Lamb; they came out of the Great Tribulation and had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, serving God day and night (Revelation 7:9-15).

To summarize at this point, we quoted Scriptures indicating that many will be saved; while we also quoted others Scriptures to the effect that many will depart from the faith, or that they were never known by Christ in the first place.

How are we to explain this apparent contradiction?

First, we need to realize that the word “many” is to be understood in context. It does not necessarily have to describe the vast majority of a group of people, or of all of mankind.

We read in Acts 12:12 that Peter “came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where MANY were gathered together praying…”

In 1 Corinthians 11:30, Paul described the status of the brethren in Corinth, saying: “For this reason [because they did not properly discern Christ’s Sacrifice, when they partook of the symbols of bread and wine] MANY are weak and sick among you, and MANY sleep [having died prematurely].”

We also read that at the time of Jesus’ death, “the graves were opened; and MANY bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matthew 27:52-53). Verses 55-56 point out that “MANY women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James [the Less] and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.”

In addition, Mark 14:56 informs us that at the time of Christ’s illegal “trial,” “MANY bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.”

So, we need to look at the use of the word “many” in context. For instance, when we read that many brethren in Corinth had partaken of the Passover symbols in an unworthy manner, we are informed that a sizeable group had done so; this passage does not have to mean that the majority had acted in that way.

In addition, we must realize that the Bible speaks of different times, when referring to the calling and salvation of men. In this day and age, only very few are called—they are referred to as the firstfruits. (Please see our Q&A on “firstfruits.” )

Therefore, it is correct that TODAY, many will in some way try to “get” eternal life, but they will not succeed, because their day of salvation has not come yet. Only the few—because they are called to salvation in this day and age—will “find” the way to eternal life. The “many” will continue to go the way that leads to destruction… but this does not mean that it will be eternal destruction with no chance for change. Rather, once their eyes are opened, many will respond and turn from the way to destruction to the way of life.

But today, only the few, in comparison, will find it, as they are called and drawn by the Father. From those, few are chosen for very specific positions, or those “many” who were “called” were never called for salvation. Please see our Q&A on the issue of being called and chosen; and review the box in our free booklet, “Are You Predestined to Be Saved?,” titled, “Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen,” on pages 52-54. But even from these comparatively few, many might very well depart from the faith just prior to and during the beginning of the Great Tribulation, at least for a while, but we also read that just prior to the Day of the Lord, many, including perhaps many of those who had temporarily “given up,” will become zealous and worthy of God’s calling.

The vast majority of mankind will be called during the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment (the second resurrection). It is then when “all” Israel shall be saved. The word “all” can mean, the vast majority. It does not exclude exceptions. (See our Q&A on the meaning of the word “all” in the Bible). Those who were not called in this life will be called in the next. Some will commit the unpardonable sin and end up in the lake of fire, to be burned and destroyed. (For more information on the destruction of the wicked, please read our free booklet, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?”, especially pages 22-40). That is why we read that Christ died for the sins of MANY—not for the sins of everyone, because some will refuse to repent and reject Christ’s Sacrifice for the remission and forgiveness of their sins. Those who commit the unpardonable sin and face their ultimate fate in the third resurrection will weep and gnash their teeth in anger and hate, as we read in Luke 13:28, but that passage does not say that “many” will be in that last and final resurrection, to be destroyed in the lake of fire.

Rather, we read that “many” will be in the Kingdom, together with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but that the sons of the Kingdom will be cast into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Again, it does not say here that “many” sons of the Kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. But a few undoubtedly will be—these “sons of the kingdom” were the physical Israelites and Jews, to whom had been given the promises (compare Romans 9:3-4). Some of them had also been offered salvation but they had rejected it. Christ warned some of the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes at His time that they were walking on thin ice and that they were in danger of committing the unpardonable sin, because they rejected Christ, knowing that He had come from God, but they taught instead that He was demon-possessed (Mark 3:28-30).

Many may think that they are called today, and might even believe that they act on behalf of Christ, working miracles or casting out demons in His name, but in reality, they are not doing anything of the kind. Their “miracles” might have been “lying wonders,” as they were receiving help from the “god of this world,” Satan the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4), without knowing or realizing it. Demons were not cast out at all, but they might have left voluntarily for a while to deceive the people. In any event, Christ will declare to them that they were not acting for Him because they were guilty of committing lawlessness—the transgression of the law.

But this does not mean that they – the “many” – will be thrown into the lake of fire. Rather, once they come to their senses and realize that they had lived in sin (falsely believing and teaching that Christ had come to do away with the law); that they had not represented Christ; and that they had not prophesied or done anything in His name—that is, with His authority; then they will receive their opportunity for salvation and qualification for the Kingdom of God.

God is not unfair. He will give everyone his or her opportunity, in His due time, to respond to His call for salvation. Those few who are called today have a great responsibility to make their calling and election sure because they will NOT get “a second chance.” Paul admonishes and cautions them:

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away… how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…?” (Hebrews 2:1-3).

Rather, this is the confidence and attitude God’s chosen people must have: “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:39).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

A new marketing campaign that will include press releases and Facebook ads has begun. “When and How Will Christ Return?” is the first featured publication, with other aspects of the work of the Church, such as StandingWatch, to follow. September Danforth-Prentice, with a background in media support, is helping in this endeavor as the Church seeks an even broader audience for the message we must proclaim.

“HEAVENS AND EARTH…BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRST MAN!” has been sent to graphic designer, Shelly Bruno, to finalize for printing. We anticipate that this newest booklet, written by Norbert Link, will be available in April.

“War Is a Solution to Nothing!” is the title of a new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

Why is war so wrong? Why is it a curse in God’s eyes? Two of many examples given in this program show beyond a doubt why God is totally opposed to man’s fighting in war.

“Erfolgreiche Gebete um Schutz vor Versuchung!” is the new German sermon for this coming Sabbath. This new sermon continues the series on successful prayers, covering in this installment the request,” … do not lead us into temptation,” and it points out why this rendering is wrong, and what Jesus actually meant with His statement. Title in English: “Successful Prayers for Protection from Temptation.”

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

Do you know God? Does God know you? Many people claim to have a personal relationship with God, but do they really have it? Understanding the nature of your relationship with God will help you to build and maintain that relationship in ways that are crucial to your future.

Please remember to pray for God’s guidance during our upcoming 2015 Church Conference. We will meet in San Diego, California, beginning Friday, March 20th and continue through Tuesday, March 24th.

On February 21, 2015, Eric Rank will give the sermon, titled, “Knowing 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.

In the 80’s, a co-worker told me that he liked going down to the Vancouver airport to watch planes take off from the perimeter road located to the south of the runway, going north and south.

Planes departing in this direction fly over a body of water, and from the road one can get a really good view of the take-offs. One hot summer day, he was watching a Boeing 747 taking off. He was aware that there is a point on a runway called the point of no return. Pilots know about it, even though it is not marked by a big sign and pointing arrow. When that point is reached, the pilot can still abort the takeoff safely in case of an emergency, without running out of runway. Once this point is passed, he must attempt the take off.

My co-worker observed that the Boeing 747 was lumbering down the runway, not gaining much lift due to the hot summer air which is thinner than cold air, and it passed the point of no return. The plane was not lifting off and was running out of runway. It slowly gained a bit of elevation, but with the wheels still down, he thought the wheels would hit the perimeter barbwire fence around that part of the airport. This would have caused the plane to crash into the water of the Bay.

The pilot retracted the wheels way before he normally would do, and the plane cleared the fence. Once over the water, the air being a bit cooler and more dense, the plane slowly began to get more lift, but it seemed that it took forever to gain enough altitude to make its turn towards its destination.

This episode may remind us of our experience with sin, because there is a point of no return that we should be aware of. This process is outlined in the book of James:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:13-15).

First we are drawn away by our own desires or tempted by our desires and enticed; that is, sin doesn’t look so bad, in fact, it looks good. Notice, once the desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, so the time to put on the brakes is before it conceives because by then one may be in danger of passing the point of no return. After conception, our desires give birth to sin—not to immortal life, but to sin—and when sin is fully grown, it brings forth death. It is like a little leaven which grows until the whole body is leavened. Likewise, the end result of sin is death from which, if not repented of, there could be no return. That is why it is important to control our desires and to resist sin early on.

We know that Christ was tempted in all things, yet He never sinned. Hebrews 4:14-15 tells us:

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Christ never passed the point of no return—for Him, it was never a close call. He never allowed desires to take hold of or conceive and settle in His mind, and He never allowed them to give birth to sin. Since He could overcome temptation, we can do likewise, when Christ lives in us, helping us to attain that state of being free from sinful behavior. Let us never lose sight of the fact that with Christ’s help, we can overcome temptation and abort actions leading to sin, and if desires have conceived and have given birth to sin and death, we must quickly repent by “retracting the wheels” and attempting the lift-off from and rising above sin, so as to avoid going beyond the point of no return.

We report on memorial events in Dresden—70 years after the Allied decision to firebomb the city, destroy tens of thousands of buildings and kill up to 25,000 citizens and refugees fleeing the advancing Soviet Red Army. The apologetic comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury met strong condemnations from UK politicians and others—showing that even after a generation has passed, bad memories continue; and the mutual feelings between Germany and the UK are by no means as friendly as some would like them to be.

We continue with interesting articles about Angela Merkel who may either end up as one of the great successful leaders of Europe—or as a person who tried, but failed miserably. In light of America’s weakness and indecisiveness, the question on the minds of many Europeans is whether she can save Ukraine and Greece—and whether her assurances to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Jews are safe in Germany will be supported and confirmed by the facts.

We report on the latest developments pertaining to the murderous and demonically-possessed Isalmist terrorist group ISIS; as well as the abominable Islamist attacks in Denmark and Egypt’s swift response—while America is “sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time.”

Concentrating on the USA, we speak of an alleged looming mega-drought with potentially disastrous consequences; comment on the congressional confusion regarding President Obama’s intentionally vague “war authorization” request; point out medical hypocrisy, conflict of interests and judicial incompetency regarding demands for mandatory vaccination; report on America’s first openly bisexual governor in Oregon; and conclude with a piece on the absurd and quite dangerous belief in reincarnation.

70 Years after the Bombing of Dresden

The Associated Press reported on February 14:

“The Allied decision to firebomb Dresden… has long been a source of controversy. At the time, the Allies hoped the attack on a city deep in the German heartland would hit hard at civilian morale and help force the Nazis to capitulate. Some historians, however, said the destruction was a tragic waste of human life and cultural patrimony — with little to no effect on the outcome of the war.

“Speaking at a memorial event in the rebuilt center of the city Friday, German President Joachim Gauck assured dignitaries from Britain and other former Allied nations: ‘You should know that we bear no lasting grudge.’

“The raids that began on February 13, 1945, left the city littered with corpses, and tens of thousands of Dresden’s buildings had been turned to rubble, including its famous opera house and museums in the historic old city. The baroque Church of Our Lady appeared initially to have survived, but, weakened by the intense heat, it collapsed two days after the bombing under its own weight…

“It was not just the bombs dropped by the waves of British and US bombers that wreaked devastation. The fire made superheated air rise rapidly, creating a vacuum at ground level that produced winds strong enough to uproot trees and suck people into the flames. Many Dresden residents died of collapsed lungs… [About] 25,000 people were killed in the attack.”

Deutsche Welle added on February 14:

“Seventy years ago, [on February 13, 1945,] Allied bombers attacked Dresden… As the bombs rained down on the city, its churches and palaces were turned to rubble. Up to 25,000 people – many of them refugees fleeing the advancing Soviet Red Army – died in the inferno that raged in the city for days…

“The bombings were intended to break the German population’s morale – a decision that to many was incomprehensible, given that the war had long been decided and Dresden’s economic and strategic importance was relatively minimal…”

The Local wrote on February 14:

“German President Joachim Gauck warned Friday against a cult of victimhood over the World War II destruction of the city of Dresden 70 years ago. ‘We know who started the murderous war,’ the head of state said in a remembrance church service. ‘And that’s why we will never forget the victims of German aggression, even as we remember the German victims today… A country that perpetrated the monstrosity of genocide could not expect to emerge with impunity and undamaged from the war that it had started.’”

Archbishop of Canterbury “Apologizes” for Dresden… and Is Strongly Criticized

The Daily Mail reported on February 13:

“The Archbishop of Canterbury last night issued an extraordinary apology for the British bombing of Dresden during the Second World War. In what was immediately criticised as an insult to the young men who gave their lives to defeat the Nazis,… Justin Welby told the German people of his ‘profound feeling of regret and deep sorrow’ over the attack. His comments at a ceremony in Dresden to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombings came amid a growing row about BBC coverage of the commemoration in which Britain was described as ‘worse than the Nazis’ over the raids that killed thousands at the end of the war.

“Former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth criticised the Archbishop, saying: ‘I do not hear Angela Merkel apologising for the Blitz.’…

“Archbishop Welby said the bombing of Dresden, which killed an estimated 25,000, ‘diminished all our humanity’. But he made no reference to the 55,573 British aircrew killed in the struggle to overthrow Hitler, nor to the German bombing of London and Coventry.

“Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘These remarks do sound to me like an apology. For the Archbishop to make an apology for our defeat of Hitler is bizarre. I would have thought the last thing we should be doing is apologising. We should be praised for defeating Hitler. These words are an insult to the young men who gave their lives in the defeat of Germany.’

“The Archbishop – whose great uncle Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal was one of the main architects of Britain’s campaign of bombing German cities – told the congregation he thought it was ‘miraculous’ that they were welcoming him given the ‘brutal and devastating’ nature of the attack. ‘Over three days in February allied bombers brought death and destruction on a scale and with a ferocity it is impossible to imagine,’ he said.  ‘Much debate surrounds this most controversial raid of the allied bombing campaign. Whatever the arguments, events here 70 years ago left a deep wound and diminished all our humanity. So as a follower of Jesus I stand here among you with a profound feeling of regret and deep sorrow.’

“The references to profound regret and deep sorrow sparked furore among veterans and Conservative politicians already angered by BBC news reports on the anniversary dominated by graphic accounts of the deaths of German victims. An interview with a British prisoner of war – who called the bombing of Dresden a ‘war crime’ – was repeated several times.

“Sir Gerald, a Tory MP, said: ‘Our wartime military commanders, Winston Churchill, and the men of Bomber Command should not be held to blame for the deaths of civilians such as those in Dresden. That was the fault of the German people who failed to remove Hitler and his evil regime. It is very unfortunate that the Archbishop felt unable to pay tribute to the heroism of the young men of Bomber Command, half of whom gave their lives so that the German people could ultimately be liberated from Hitler’s tyranny.’

“Of the BBC coverage, military top brass, RAF veterans, politicians and historians said it ignored the atrocities committed by Hitler and the military justifications for the attack…”

Can Merkel Save Europe?

On February 14, Der Spiegel Online published a lengthy article on Angela Merkel’s role in Europe and the future of Ukraine. We are bringing you the following insightful and revealing excerpts:

“With intense focus during dozens of hours of telephone conversations and negotiations across the globe, the German chancellor helped wrest a cease-fire from the belligerents. It is a fragile deal full of question marks, one which can only succeed if all parties dedicate themselves to adhering to it. Whether that will be the case is doubtful. The Minsk deal is brief respite. Nothing more. But it is a success nonetheless…

“Above all were questions of international diplomacy: … What is the correct path: American weapons deliveries or European diplomacy? And, perhaps most crucial of all, the focus was on European emancipation: Is Europe able to solve its own conflicts without help from the United States?

“The exertions of Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier make it clear that Germany has recognized its responsibility in Europe and in the world. One year ago, German President Joachim Gauck demanded that German foreign policy become more assertive in addressing international conflicts. It is a plea that Merkel and Steinmeier have answered in recent weeks.

“The Ukraine crisis has changed German politics and it has changed Merkel as well. The German leader… is making moves she would have avoided in the past… The Ukraine crisis has changed Merkel’s view of reality…

“Should both sides adhere to the cease-fire, time will be won. That isn’t much, but it is a far cry from nothing… The Minsk deal also bought valuable time for US President Barack Obama. He recently stood up to the hawks in Washington and rejected the idea of delivering weapons to Ukraine. But during Merkel’s visit to the American capital on Monday, he told her that were the Minsk talks to fail, he would no longer be able to contain the weapons delivery discussion. It came across almost as an ultimatum.

“Internally, Vice President Joe Biden had previously thrown his support behind supplying Ukraine with weapons, as had Secretary of State John Kerry… The American NATO General Philip Breedlove believes that missile defense systems are absolutely essential to defend against Russian artillery and also believes Ukraine should be provided with drones.

“But the Ukrainians are currently unable to operate such high-tech equipment. They would have to receive extensive training from American advisers. That, though, would essentially make the US a party to the conflict, as Obama well knows. Which is why he was hesitant following his talks with Merkel, saying only that which American presidents always say in such moments: ‘What I’ve asked my team to do is to look at all options.’…

“American weapons deliveries, on the other hand, don’t impress Putin one bit. On the contrary: Were US weapons and military trainers to turn up in Ukraine, the Russian people, 85 percent of whom already support Putin, would unanimously stand behind their president, one Kremlin insider, who does not belong to the hawkish camp, says. ‘Plus, we would be happy to see American weapons quickly fall into the hands of the separatists as captured loot.’…

“The Ukrainian army was unprepared for the war in the east. Whereas Russia completely modernized its military recently, Ukraine scrapped or sold off much of the equipment it had inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed and radically reduced the size of its military, dismissing two-thirds of its soldiers. The weapons now being used by Ukrainian troops fighting in the east are far inferior to those possessed by the separatists.

“At the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian army had some 130,000 troops according to the most optimistic estimates, with half of them fulfilling their compulsory military service. Now, many young men are doing their best to avoid conscription altogether by heading overseas… the Ukrainian army is slowly disintegrating, demoralized by the separatist advances and short on personnel…

“Russia has likely already achieved its minimum goal, that of preventing Ukraine from joining NATO or the European Union…

“[Merkel] is now drawing parallels between Ukraine and the construction of the Berlin Wall… East Germany is serving as an illustration that there are situations where nothing can or should be done. Even the Americans weren’t prepared to use military means to protect the people of East Germany in 1961, Merkel said in Munich. ‘I don’t blame them,’ she added. It was simply realistic…

“Some see Merkel as being weak. US Senators in particular have voiced criticism of her approach, even uttering the unflattering word ‘appeasement,’ a reference to the Munich Agreement of 1938, which handed part of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler’s Nazis…

“She is afraid of a proxy war over Ukraine between the nuclear powers of US and Russia… Obama wasn’t of a mind to reject her approach… [He] told Merkel that he is happy about every problem that doesn’t land on his desk. Indeed, he is a president who gives Merkel room, and a chance, to make her own foreign policy, a European foreign policy… she resisted American calls for arming the Ukrainian army… It was also a Merkel who did exactly what Germans expect from her: Fight for peace, search for compromise with the Russians and resist the Americans. All of that conforms nicely to the present mood in Germany. Along the way, she also patched up relations with France, restoring the German-French axis by including Hollande. That is good for Europe…

“But the price of the chancellor’s realpolitik is a high one, and Ukraine is paying it. Merkel already told the Ukrainian president weeks ago that the West wasn’t prepared to go to war for the country. Now, though, it has become clear that the West is willing to accept Ukraine’s partition. Ukraine hasn’t just lost the Crimean Peninsula, it has now also lost territories in the east.

“Officially, Merkel has continued repeating two mantras: The first is that there is no military solution. The second is that Ukraine’s territorial integrity will not be sacrificed. They are both lovely sentences, but they are unfortunately not reconcilable. If the West doesn’t intend to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity with military means, then that integrity exists only on paper… The West will accept that Moscow will define at least part of Ukraine as being within its sphere of influence.

“It is always good when the weapons go quiet, but Merkel has achieved little beyond that. Separatist leaders along with a determined Putin, who knows that the West is not prepared to spill the blood of its soldiers to defend Ukraine’s integrity, have shown her the limits of her influence…”

Angela Merkel Meets Pope Francis

Zenit reported on February 13:

“Steffen Seibert, the Berlin government spokesman, announced that German Chancellor Angela Merkel would be meeting Pope Francis on February 21^st… [The Pope] and Chancellor Merkel are expected to discuss several issues including interreligious dialogue, globalization, international crisis and the role of Europe in the world. Chancellor Merkel last visited Pope Francis in May 2013, two months after [his] election to the papacy.

“Chancellor Merkel  is scheduled to meet with French President Francois Hollande prior to her meeting with the [Pope] to discuss her country’s presidency of the G7 as well as developments in Ukraine.”

Fighting Ongoing in Ukraine

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 14:

“Pro-Russian rebels are pushing on with an offensive in eastern Ukraine despite an imminent planned ceasefire, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday. It reported 120 separate attacks by the rebels in the past 24 hours, and said fierce fighting was continuing around the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve, which has formed a focus of the separatists’ offensive in recent weeks.

“Separately, officials in the port city of Mariupol said a number of artillery attacks hit areas nearby in the morning. Ukrainian authorities fear that separatists may want to capture the city in a bid to establish a corridor between mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed 11 months ago.

“The violence comes as a truce is due to come into effect at midnight on Sunday… Fears are growing that the truce will have no chance to take hold as separatists try to gain as much territory as possible before it goes into effect. A previous ceasefire called in September failed to bring any significant let-up in violence. Reports… of heavy weaponry entering eastern Ukraine from Russia over the past few days have also fueled doubts as to whether the creation of a heavy weapons-free zone as envisaged by the latest agreement will go ahead.”

Deutsche Welle added on February 16:

“Fighting continues to rage around the eastern Ukrainian town of Debaltseve – in spite of a European-brokered peace deal. Western leaders have appealed for both sides to respect the ceasefire… Both pro-Russia separatists and the Ukrainian government continue to insist that they are committed to the truce negotiated last week. Chancellor Merkel, the driving force behind the deal reached early Thursday after all-night negotiations in the Belarusian capital Minsk, described the situation on Monday as ‘fragile.’ She appealed for the ceasefire to be respected.”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 18:

“Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine attacked the city of Debaltseve forcing Ukrainian troops to pull out of the city. The move has led some to call the ceasefire in Ukraine into question… US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Secretary of State John Kerry had urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call earlier on Wednesday to stop Russian and separatist attacks on Ukrainian forces in Debaltseve…

“‘We want to shape this European peace order together with Russia, not against Russia,’ German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her first comments since pro-Russian separatists captured the railway hub of Debaltseve… Merkel added, however, that she couldn’t ignore Moscow’s violations of international law. ‘We cannot wave our principles – and the annexation of Crimea for example is a violation of international law,’ the chancellor said…

“Ukraine’s general armed forces has reported at least 22 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and more than 150 wounded in fighting with pro-Russian separatists in Debaltseve over the past three days… ‘The ceasefire has not been respected,’ said [NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg, who added that the refusal of the separatists to respect the ceasefire is a threat to the Minsk agreement.”

When they will say, Peace, peace!, then there will be no peace!

US Senators Accuse Germany of Weakness

The Local wrote on February 18:

“The German government said on Wednesday that pro-Russian rebels’ advance into the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve was a serious breach of ceasefire terms agreed last week in Minsk…

“The news came as American senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of giving in to Russian President Vladimir Putin too easily. They said that it was ‘inexcusable to stick to a failed ceasefire agreement’ that Russia and its ‘proxies’ continued to ignore. ‘In the absence of greater Western support for Ukrainian forces, a Russian-imposed military solution is exactly what will continue to unfold,’ the senators said.

“There had been continued fighting between pro-government troops and surrounding rebel forces over the vital railway junction in recent days, despite the ceasefire having officially come into effect at midnight on Sunday… In a phone call with US Vice-President Joe Biden, Poroshenko also renewed his appeal for American weapons to arm his men for the fight against the rebels.”

Putin’s Victory in Ukraine Against a Weak West

The Editorial Board of the Washington Post wrote the following on February 18:

“VLADIMIR PUTIN’S latest victory in Ukraine is turning into a rout. Having already induced Western leaders to endorse a peace plan that virtually guarantees continued Russian control over parts of two provinces, the Russian ruler ordered a large Ukrainian force holding Debaltseve, a key crossroads in the region, to surrender. His forces, including regular Russian army troops, then assaulted the city in brazen violation of a cease-fire. On Wednesday morning, Ukrainian forces withdrew from Debaltseve under fire, suffering a devastating defeat that will further destabilize the shaky Kiev government of Petro Poroshenko.

“Mr. Putin was so pleased that he indulged in some taunting of the Ukrainians. ‘Of course, it’s always bad to lose,’ he said at a news conference Tuesday. ‘It’s always a hardship when you lose to yesterday’s miners or yesterday’s tractor drivers.’ That was another lie, of course — the forces who seized Debaltseve were not former Ukrainian workers but Russian regulars; one Western reporter encountered soldiers who had been dispatched from Siberia.

“What about Western leaders, who just last week solemnly declared they would hold Russia accountable if the new deal were violated? All agreed there had been, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman put it, ‘a massive violation’ of the cease-fire agreement. But there was little visible movement toward imposing meaningful consequences. Instead, officials in Brussels echoed a White House statement that said ‘the costs to Russia will rise’ if it ‘continues to violate’ the agreement. That suggested only that additional aggression by Mr. Putin would get a response, maybe.

“Given the West’s weakness, more aggression seems likely… The takeover of Debaltseve will go a long way to consolidate the breakaway puppet state he is building in eastern Ukraine…

“Meanwhile, Mr. Poroshenko will be rocked politically by the latest costly blow to a Ukrainian army that lacks the weapons to stop Russian tanks. He will find it even harder to explain to Ukrainians why they must accept the harsh economic austerity measures his government recently agreed to in exchange for desperately needed international financing. Yet he still has scant hope of obtaining significant new aid or arms supplies from the United States; the White House seized on the supposed peace accord as one more reason to postpone meaningful action.

“Mr. Obama has frequently boasted of leading a collective U.S.-European response. But he stood back last week as Ms. Merkel and French President François Hollande negotiated the giveaway of eastern Ukraine to Mr. Putin. When the European Union announced a small round of new sanctions against Russian officials Monday, before Debaltseve fell, the Obama administration did not join in. Rather than lead, the president appears to have ceded the Ukraine crisis to Germany, with predictably poor results.

“European leaders will not stop Russian aggression without a determined U.S. president. Ukrainians must be wondering how much more of their country must fall to Russian troops for Mr. Obama to set aside his ‘strategic patience.’”

Ukraine will fall into Russian hands, and neither America nor Europe will prevent it…nor do they seem to even have the will power trying to do so.

US-Iran Deal in the Making?

Reuters reported on February 14:

“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has responded to overtures from U.S. President Barack Obama amid nuclear talks by sending him a secret letter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday… Obama’s letter suggested the possibility of U.S.-Iranian cooperation in fighting Islamic State if a nuclear deal was secured, the paper said, quoting the diplomat… Khamenei said this week he could accept a compromise in the nuclear talks and gave his strongest defense yet of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s decision to negotiate with the West, a policy opposed by powerful hardliners at home…

“The nuclear talks with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are aimed at clinching an accord that would ease Western concerns that Tehran could pursue a covert nuclear weapons program, in return for the lifting of sanctions that have ravaged the Iranian economy. Negotiators have set a June 30 final deadline for an accord, and Western officials have said they aim to agree on the substance of such a deal by March.

“Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to address the U.S. Congress on Iran on March 3 – to the annoyance of the Obama administration – has vowed ‘to foil this bad and dangerous agreement.’”

“European Jews – Move to Israel!”

JTA wrote on February 15:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Jews in Europe to move to Israel in the wake of an attack on a synagogue in Copenhagen. ‘Extremist Islamic terrorism has struck Europe again, this time in Denmark. We send our condolences to the Danish people and to the Jewish community in Denmark,’ Netanyahu said Sunday at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

“‘Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews and this wave of terrorist attacks – including murderous anti-Semitic attacks – is expected to continue. Of course, Jews deserve protection in every country but we say to Jews, to our brothers and sisters: Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe. I would like to tell all European Jews and all Jews wherever they are: Israel is the home of every Jew.’

“Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, in a statement released Sunday said that the terror attacks in Copenhagen ‘demonstrate what we have said for years: Israel and the Jewish people have been victims of this terror primarily because they are at the forefront of the terror war being waged against the west and the entire free world.’…

“The suspected gunman was killed Sunday in a shootout with police…”

AFP added on February 15:

“[Netanyahu] had made a similar call after three days of bloodshed in Paris that started with the January 7 attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo where 12 people were gunned down, followed the next day by the shooting death of a policewoman just outside the city. On January 9, the gunman who killed the policewoman took hostages at a kosher supermarket in Paris and four Jews were killed during a police commando raid.”

European Leaders Upset, but Are They in Denial?

Daily Mail wrote on February 16:

“Zvika Klein, a reporter for Jewish news outlet NRG, silently walked in the city [of Paris] for ten hours wearing a kippah – also known as a yarmulke – on his head and a tzitzit (ritual tassels) and filmed the public’s reaction using a hidden camera. The shocking clip shows antisemitism is rife in the French capital as he is seen being harassed and intimidated.

“As he wanders around neighbourhoods wearing the garments associated with the Jewish faith, he is spat at, threatened and even called a ‘dog’. It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the mass emigration of Jews from Europe to escape the rising tide of antisemitic terror attacks.

“His comments sparked fury from Jewish groups and were promptly refuted by the leaders of France, Germany and Denmark. But Mr Klein’s video shows, in Paris, Jews ‘are barred from entering certain areas’. ‘Jews prefer to stay inside in the evening,’ he says. ‘It is safer at home.’”

USA Defends Greece; Warns Europe and Germany; Bailout Talks Collapse

The Telegraph wrote on February 14:

“The Obama administration has leapt to the defence of Greece, warning Germany and Europe’s creditor powers that they must meet Athens half-way to avert a potentially dangerous rupture and a euro break-up… each [side] is in a different cognitive universe on the core dispute over austerity and debt relief…

“The chief critique by US officials and the International Monetary Fund is that Germany is pursuing a balanced budget at a time when the eurozone is still struggling to recover from a six-year slump that is proving more intractable than the equivalent years in the Great Depression… the White House’s confidence in the macro-economic judgement of the [European] policy elites is near exhaustion.”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 16:

“Talks aimed at extending Greece’s bailout package – and preventing a Greek exit from the eurozone – came to a halt less than four hours after negotiations got underway on Monday in Brussels. ‘Everyone’s disappointed,’ a dispirited Austrian Finance Minister Hans Jörg Schelling said after the inconclusive Eurogroup meeting…

“A new opinion poll showed that nearly 70 percent of Greeks want a ‘fair’ compromise with international lenders, while 30 percent said that Athens should stand tough even if it means reverting to the drachma currency. The poll, however, also found that 81 percent want to stay in the eurozone. This comes as investment bank JP Morgan reported that deposit outflows in Greece have picked up, with some 2 billion euros fleeing Greek banks every week.”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 18:

“Athens is to submit a formal request for a loan extension on Thursday, according to Greek officials. The application is also expected to ask for tough austerity conditions to be removed. Greece’s current 240-billion-euro ($273-billion) bailout program will expire on February 28. The country says an extension is the only way to avoid a possible default, and eurozone exit… The nation has received two major bailouts since 2010…

“Germany, who has been a vocal critic of increasing aid to Greece, said it was not open to making changes. ‘Simply saying, “we need more money again and we’re not going to do anything anymore,” and then insulting people, that absolutely won’t work,’ Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on German television on Tuesday…

“Any changes to the current bailout program would have to first be approved by various European parliaments, including Germany…

“Without an extension Greece’s cash reserves are expected to begin running dry on February 24. At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, EU finance ministers set conditions for its continued financial support of Athens, including Greece leaving reforms in place. Greece has signaled its desire to overturn many of these measures, including raising the minimum wage.

“But Germany’s Schäuble said doing this would ruin any chance of Greece getting its requested delay granted. ‘It can’t and won’t be the case that you go for an extension without the agreed reforms,’ he said on Tuesday.”

ISIS at Doorsteps of Europe

The Independent reported on February 16:

“The beheading of 21 Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya has brought Isis to the doorstep of Europe. The mass murder… realised long-held fears of militants reaching the Mediterranean coast. Isis started in Iraq and now controls swathes of adjoining Syria, including along the Turkish border, as part of its so-called Islamic State. Its ideology has spread much further, with pledges of allegiance from terrorist groups in Egypt, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen and now Libya.

“Days before Isis released its gory video depicting the Egyptians’ beheadings, Libya’s former Prime Minister warned that the group would soon reach the Mediterranean and even Europe if order was not restored in the country. Ali Zeidan said Libya’s fractured government and easy access to weapons seized during the fall of Colonel Gaddafi made it more susceptible to the activities of jihadists… ‘(Isis) are growing. They are everywhere,’ he added… ‘It will be a big war in the country [of Libya] and it will be here in Europe as well.’”

According to Breitbart, dated February 16, a masked ISIS leader said the following on a video before his demonically-possessed fanatical Islamist fellow terrorists brutally murdered the Egyptian captives:

“Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of Al-Sham and Dabiq’s plain, chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross for a long time, and today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message…  The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood… And we will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission, the promise of our Prophet…”

These brain-washed Isalmist terrorists—followers of radical Islam–are clearly under the total control of Satan the devil.

Egypt Responds

The Associated Press reported on February 16:

“Egypt bombed Islamic State militants in neighboring Libya on Monday and called on the United States and Europe to join an international military intervention in the chaotic North African state after extremists beheaded a group of Egyptian Christians. The airstrikes bring Egypt overtly into Libya’s turmoil, a reflection of Cairo’s increasing alarm. Egypt now faces threats on two fronts — a growing stronghold of radicals on its western border and a militant insurgency of Islamic State allies on its eastern flank in the Sinai Peninsula — as well as its own internal challenges.

“Islamic State group weapons caches and training camps were targeted ‘to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers,’ a military statement said. ‘Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield to protect and safeguard the security of the country and a sword that cuts off terrorism.’ The announcement on state radio represents Egypt’s first public acknowledgement of military action in post-Moammar Gadhafi Libya, where there has been almost no government control.

“Libya is where the Islamic State group has built up its strongest presence outside Syria and Iraq…”

As Jordan did before when a Jordanian hostage was brutally burned alive by cowardly masked Isalmist terrorists, so Egypt took up the fight as well—while America and Europe watch from the outset and participate, if at all, with providing dangerous Kurdish rebels with weapons (while refusing to provide the Ukrainian army with weapons), and conducting unsuccessful air strikes which are extremely expensive and accomplish next to nothing.

Further Horrendous Atrocities by Murderous ISIS

Newsmax reported on February 17:

“Reports Tuesday that the Islamic State burned to death 45 people in Iraq just days after posting a video showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians proves that ‘we’re witnessing atrocities that were reserved for the Dark Ages,’ Los Angeles author Johnnie Moore told Newsmax. ‘Just as soon as you think it can’t get worse, it gets worse,’ said Moore…  ‘My concern is that it’s going to get worse and worse and worse,’ he said.

“Pete Hoekstra, the former Michigan congressman who once chaired the House Intelligence Committee, said the deaths clearly reflect an emboldened Islamic State. ‘What the radical jihadists are learning is that for much of the West, the response is temporary, and it is restrained,’ he told Newsmax. ‘It’s one thing to go after these folks with limited airstrikes — but if you really want to stop these folks, everyone agrees that you’ve got to get boots on the ground, you’ve got to find these folks, and you’ve got to either capture them or kill them. It’s not a complex formula, but that doesn’t happen,’ Hoekstra said.”

On the other hand, note this article by Newsmax, dated February 17:

“Iraq, Syria and Yemen could become part of a ‘new Iranian empire’ if the U.S.-led coalition is successful in defeating the Islamic State (ISIS), former New York City Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani [said]…  ‘If you allow Iran to help you defeat ISIS, which we seem to be doing … one [enemy] gone, and (allow) a new Iranian empire, which is what the Iranians are trying to do and have been trying to do from the beginning — nobody’s looking at that, and they should,’ Giuliani said Tuesday.”

Mega-Droughts for the USA?

The Independent wrote on February 13:

“Since the turn of this century, the US south-west has spent more than a decade in drought. Last year was the warmest on record in California, which is in the middle of its driest spell for more than 400 years. But according to a new scientific study, that’s nothing compared to what comes next.

“In the paper, published by the journal Science Advances, researchers from Nasa and Columbia and Cornell universities warn that a vast swathe of the US, including the south-west states and the central plains, should prepare for ‘unprecedented drought conditions’ unlike anything in the past 1,000 years… The long-term dry conditions could devastate the region’s agricultural capability, decimating both crops and cattle herds, and sending some food prices sky-rocketing. It would directly affect more than 60 million people from San Diego to San Antonio and from Oakland to Omaha, who depend on increasingly scant water resources and on infrastructure designed during an abnormally moist 20th century…

“The scientists said the effects of a mega-drought, which would be especially pronounced in desert cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix, should be considered a slow-motion natural disaster, of a piece with earthquakes or hurricanes. Data discovered in tree rings shows that between the ninth and the 14th centuries, the region also endured lengthy periods of intense drought…

“A mega-drought would lead to major water shortages, which would cause vegetation to dry up, bringing about regular, massive wildfires in Arizona and California. But while the drought in California and its neighbouring states has grabbed recent headlines, the study suggests a far larger area would be hit, encompassing all, or parts, of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana…

“According to the study, there is a greater than 80 per cent chance of a mega-drought of 35 years or longer occurring in the US this century, unless swift and aggressive action is taken to alleviate the speed and impact of climate change, which would lower the risk. The authors said their research differed from other recent reports in its level of certainty about future droughts because they had taken into account the rise in carbon emissions.”

One has to be careful with the conclusions of this study, as they rely heavily on the assumption that “made-made” global warming or climate change will continue to raise the temperatures. Nevertheless, the Bible predicts that within a few years, vast areas in the USA will be plagued by unparalleled hunger and famine, due to droughts.

Congressional Chaos Over Obama’s War Authorization

Bloomberg wrote on February 12:

“Congress is flummoxed about how to deal with President Barack Obama’s proposed authorization for war against the Islamic State… All week, Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate have been meeting behind closed doors to strategize on the White House’s proposal, which places vague limits on the use of ground troops, allows the president to expand the war to any country, and sunsets in three years. Many Republicans want to give Obama (and his successor) more flexibility; many Democrats want to tighten restrictions.

“Both parties acknowledge the need for some bipartisan support for their ideas. But neither leadership has figured out how to craft a coalition that can muster 60 votes in the Senate and 218 in the House…

“For months, the Obama administration and Congress have had an unspoken agreement; both sides publicly called for a new war authorization while neither side actually pushed the issue out of a mutual comfort with the status quo. Now that the White House has made its move, Congress is forced to respond, but infighting among lawmakers could result in a failure to exert the oversight power they claim to wield.

“For the White House, it’s actually a win-win. If Congress manages to pass something, it will be seen as a bipartisan endorsement of the president’s war, despite widespread discontent with how he is actually prosecuting it. If Congress balks, the president retains even more flexibility to fight the war than he is asking for, and Congress will have ensured its own irrelevance in the debate.”

Hypocrisy in the Medical Field over Measles Vaccinations

Medical Kidnap wrote on February 16:

“The New York Times has published an opinion piece from a pro-vaccine doctor who earns millions of dollars in royalties from the sale of childhood vaccines. The title of the article is: ‘What Would Jesus Do About Measles?’ According to this medical doctor [Dr. Paul Offit who is practicing in Philadelphia], Jesus would force everyone to vaccinate their children for the sake of the ‘greater good.’ This pharmaceutical industry insider is calling on all states in the U.S. to remove the religious exemptions for vaccines that currently exist in 48 states.

“Could the day come in the United States of America where parents who refuse to vaccinate their children will have their children removed from their home by force and injected with vaccines they do not approve of against their desire? Yes. Not only could it happen, it already has happened.

“In 1991, Philadelphia had a measles outbreak that reportedly infected 1400 people. Nine children reportedly died during this time, and seven of them reportedly were from two ‘fundamentalist Christian churches’ where most members did not vaccinate their children. So during the media frenzy surrounding the measles and the MMR combo vaccine that includes measles, much like we are seeing today over the Disney outbreak in California, public health officials stepped in and convinced a court to allow them to take the children from their parents and force them to be vaccinated… [even though] a religious exemption to vaccination had been on the books in Pennsylvania for about a decade…

“As is the case today, not everyone who came down with the measles in 1991 was unvaccinated. Some of the cases occurred among those fully vaccinated as well. The vaccine is not a 100% guarantee that it will prevent the measles, and there are documented cases showing that the measles vaccine itself can ‘shed’ and cause measles among those fully vaccinated…

“This is not the first time Dr. Offit has used a highly publicized health outbreak to try to further his agenda of removing all vaccine exemptions. Dr. Paul Offit holds a patent on a vaccine he developed with Merck [the company under attack for allegedly falsifying test results and purportedly committing other illegal acts, as we reported in Update #674], and has earned millions of dollars in royalties. When Sharyl Attkisson still worked for CBS, she ran a story with then anchor Katie Couric about his massive conflict of interest: Dr. Offit has gone on record stating that he believes a baby can handle as many as 10,000 vaccines during infancy.

“In addition to his repeated calls to end all vaccine exemptions, he has gone on record to state that all information on the risks and dangers of vaccines should be censored from the media, and that journalists who question vaccines should go to ‘journalism jail.’ Is this man really qualified to answer the question ‘What would Jesus do about measles?’”

If all of this is correct, then Dr. Offit would be a disgrace for the medical profession—and so would be that infamous judge for the legal profession who issued a totally unconstitutional order in 1991 in Philadelphia. For a thorough look on this misunderstood topic, please view our recent StandingWatch program, “‘Measles Outbreak’—Blaming the Unvaccinated.” 

This video program is also available in German, as an AufPostenStehen broadcast, titled, “Sind Impfgegner Schuld am Masernausbruch?” 

Another Outrageous Decision by a “Family” Judge

ABC Eyewitness News reported on February 17:

“A woman who was brutally beaten by her ex-fiance has been ordered to write letters to the man. Natalie Allman, 29, was left with her throat slashed and bruises on her face. But in her town in England, a judge ruled that she must stay in contact with her ex and send him letters and pictures of their children. If she doesn’t, she could go to jail for contempt of court.

“Allman was ordered to send her ex three letters a year, updating him on their twin sons, even though the brutal attack happened in front of the children. She’s also been ordered to save the letters he’s writing to the boys.”

First Openly Bisexual Governor in American History

The Washington Post wrote on February 13:

“Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown (D) will become the first openly bisexual governor in U.S. history when Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) resigns Wednesday. An open LGBT governor has never been elected, although New Jersey did have an openly gay governor briefly in 2004, after Gov. Jim McGreevey (D) came out as gay and admitted an affair with a man he had appointed to a key job. He resigned three months later.

“Brown is married to husband Dan Little; she has publicly discussed her bisexuality in past campaigns. She is already arguably the highest-ranking bisexual elected official in America; Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) became the first bisexual member of Congress in 2013. There are about 525 openly LGBT public officials in office at all levels of government, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. Most of them are Democrats… and only about 20 are Republicans.

“This will also be the second time in Brown’s career she has taken office because of a resignation. Her start in politics came in 1991 when she was appointed to the state House following the resignation of Rep. Judy Bauman (D), who left office because she was appointed to an executive position. Brown served in the House until 1997, when she won a seat in the Oregon state Senate. In 2008, she was the first woman to serve as Oregon Senate majority leader, and later that year she was elected secretary of state…

“But Brown isn’t without her own controversy. Even as Kitzhaber’s personal troubles were mounting late last month, she was facing questions about having written to the FCC endorsing Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable after having received campaign contributions from Comcast — a letter that was reportedly written in large part by a Comcast lobbyist. Comcast has given Brown $9,500 since 2009, according the National Institute of Money in State Politics.”

The Associated Press added on February 13:

“Kate Brown, who is widely considered to be to the left of the departing Democratic governor… will not assume office until Wednesday, when Kitzhaber’s resignation takes effect. He is stepping down amid suspicions that his fiancée used their relationship to land contracts for her green-energy consulting business.”

It seems, there is a lot of corruption going on in the state of Oregon.

Reincarnation and Its Appalling Teachings

Breitbart wrote on February 13:

“Veteran actress Shirley MacLaine drew the ire of Jewish groups Thursday after passages from her recently published book suggest that the six million Jews and others who died in the Holocaust were ‘balancing their karma’ by paying for sins in a previous life. MacLaine, 80, also compared Stephen Hawking to Jesus, writing that just as Jesus chose martyrdom, Hawking ‘chose to live’ with a debilitating disease…

“Of Holocaust victims, MacLaine writes: ‘What if most Holocaust victims were balancing their karma from ages before, when they were Roman soldiers putting Christians to death, the Crusaders who murdered millions in the name of Christianity, soldiers with Hannibal, or those who stormed across the Near East with Alexander? The energy of killing is endless and will be experienced by the killer and the killee.’

“Later, MacLaine claims that her ‘friend’ Stephen Hawking [an atheist who teaches that the universe created itself] chose to give himself amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) so that he could devote all of his energy to scientific pursuit.

“Jewish groups and disability charities were quick to condemn the comments made by MacLaine [who] is notorious for her opinions on reincarnation; according to the Telegraph, MacLaine has claimed to be a Japanese geisha in a previous life, and that she seduced Charlemagne in yet another. She also reportedly believes her dog Terry is a reincarnation of Anubis, the Egyptian god of the afterlife.”

One may shake his head over such nonsense, but what kind of “religion” is such an unbiblical belief in reincarnation, which allows for these kinds of horrific and appalling conclusions?

Are there prophecies about the Jews returning to the land of Israel to form a nation, in the present-day?

The modern State of Israel was established May 14, 1948. This event was the culmination of a vote in 1947 by the newly formed United Nations. The Israeli nation was born in spite of international opposition and the bitter resentment of Israel’s Arab neighbors.

The Bible reveals an earlier occurrence which finds parallels when some captive Jews were allowed to return from Babylon to rebuild the Temple and the Jewish nation. In this case, God very specifically told the Jewish people that He would make it possible for them to return:

“For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place” (Jeremiah 29:10).

Daniel the prophet came to understand this prophecy, and he stated:

“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:1-2).

The fulfillment of God’s promise is recorded in the Book of Ezra:

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:1-4).

God prepared for these events! The Book of Isaiah contains an astounding prophecy which actually names Cyrus and commissions him to perform God’s Will regarding Judah’s return from captivity and the re-establishment of the Jewish nation (compare Isaiah 44:28; 45:1-5, 13). Isaiah prophesied over 150 years before the time of Cyrus!

Now why was it important to God that the Jewish remnant should return to the land of Israel following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of God? The answer centers on the first appearance of the Messiah!

Jesus Christ was born of a human mother of the tribe of Judah (Luke 3:23-38; Hebrews 7:14). Many Old Testament prophecies point to Jesus, and they are very specific about Him coming to His own people of Judah to begin His redemptive work:

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:10-11; compare Mark 6:1-6; Luke 4:16-30; Acts 3:12-18).

Even though the entire world which had been made by Him rejected Him, special emphasis is also being given here to the Jewish people—“His own”—who did not and still do not accept Him.

The rejection of Jesus Christ by the rulers of Judah proved to be devastating to the nation—just as it was in the time of Jeremiah’s warnings to the people of God’s impending judgment! Note what Jesus prophesied for the city of Jerusalem because of their refusal to repent:

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

Here, Jesus provides a key to begin unlocking the answer as to whether or not a modern nation of Judah would once again be established. Jesus metaphorically addresses the city of “Jerusalem” as representative, that is, as the seat of government for the nation of Israel—specifically, the ruling tribe, Judah (Genesis 49:10; 1 Chronicles 28:4). By what He said, then, we can understand that Jerusalem will exist at the time of Jesus’ return to earth.

History gives us a record of the destruction of the Temple of that time, which occurred in 70 AD. Subsequently, the entire Jewish nation was driven out of the land of Israel, and the Jews became a scattered, remnant people, grouped together by ethnicity and religion in countries all around the world. However, the prophecies of Jesus must and will be fulfilled!

Jesus also told His disciples to watch for the prophesied “‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (Matthew 24:15). This prophecy refers to the inner sanctuary in the Temple of God, which is behind the veil and is called “the Most Holy Place” (Ezekiel 41:4). This has not yet been fulfilled! Numerous prophecies indicate that a new Temple of God will arise in Jerusalem, and this is a task which Jews will complete—just as they have done in the past. In the Book of Haggai, a prophecy is given which far transcends reference to the rebuilding of the Temple that occurred in his time:

“For thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:6-9).

In Genesis 49, Jacob presented to his twelve sons prophecies of their circumstances “in the last days” (Genesis 49:1; verses 2-28). In Revelation 7, twelve of the tribes of Israel are sealed for special protection from God during the horrific events leading to the return of Jesus Christ. Among those sealed is the tribe of Judah (verse 5). By these references we can establish the continued existence of the tribe of Judah. Regardless of the mindless hatred against Jews, they have and will continue to exist—and, in the future reign of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords over all the earth, Jews will be among the most highly cherished and respected people (Zechariah 2:12; 8:23).

Now let’s examine some more remarkable prophecies about the existence of a Jewish nation with the capital of Jerusalem in our time:

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it” (Zechariah 12:2-3).

At no other time in history have “all nations of the earth” gathered against Jerusalem as is now happening! For prophecy to be fulfilled, Jerusalem, ruled by the Jewish people, has become the object of world attention.

Another critical prophecy is finding fulfillment in the deteriorating relationship between the State of Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States—all three nations are among the modern descendants of the sons of Jacob:

“Manasseh (USA) shall devour Ephraim (UK), and Ephraim Manasseh; Together they shall be against Judah (STATE OF ISRAEL). For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still” (Isaiah 9:21).

The strategic ties between these sons of Jacob are further described in a prophecy in Zechariah 11:14 in which the “brotherhood” between Israel and Judah is broken.

These, along with many other prophecies in the Bible, attest to the existence of a modern nation of Jewish people—now called the State of Israel—with Jerusalem as its capital city.

Finally, there remains an ominous fact for the people of the State of Israel and for Jerusalem—destruction and captivity will come! Consider this end-time prophecy, something that has not yet happened, and the scale described is nothing short of global war:

“Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The CITY shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the CITY shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the CITY” (Zechariah 14:1-2).

The Bible speaks in many places of Jesus Christ returning to this earth, and He will return to the city of Jerusalem—to the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4; Acts 1:11), and enter the Temple of God in Jerusalem (Malachi 3:1; even though this passage also refers to Christ’s Second Coming to His spiritual Temple—the Church—it includes His Coming to a physical Temple which will still be built in Jerusalem). And although great trials are ahead before this occurs, the Holy Land will then find peace—for Jews and for all the House of Israel (Zechariah 1:17).

Consider, also, how God’s peace will then be available to everyone:

“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).”

The modern State of Israel with its capital—Jerusalem—is and will continue to fulfill prophecies leading to the return of Jesus Christ, and this time, the Jewish people will recognize Him for Who He is—the Savior of the World!

Lead Writer: Dave Harris

A new Member Letter (February 20, 2015) has been written by Eric Rank. In this letter Mr. Rank addresses Christian growth—both the good and fruitful growth from God’s Holy Spirit and that kind of bad growth which occurs when we drift from the Truth of God.

“WHY America’s and Europe’s Betrayal of Ukraine?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The last “cease-fire” agreement pertaining to Ukraine is dead, and the war in Ukraine continues. Europe is accused of following an appeasement policy towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia, as the Allies did towards Adolph Hitler in regard to Czechoslovakia. America is accused of “disengagement,” “weakness” and unproductive “strategic patience.” Vladimir Putin is looked upon as the only winner who wants to annex more countries and who is quite successful in pushing the US and Europe further and further apart. The West stands condemned as having broken an international treaty promising to protect Ukrainian territorial integrity. WHY is all of this happening? Is God working out a plan which brings about end-time prophecies?

“Crusades and Inquisition Justifiable?” is the title of another StandingWatch program, presented by Mr. Link. Here is a summary:

President Obama’s controversial comparison at a prayer breakfast meeting between ISIL’s demonical murders and “Christian” atrocities has prompted some prominent Catholics to “justify” the crusades and to “explain” the inquisition. These are alarming and deeply disturbing developments, in light of biblical prophecy.

“Sind Impfgegner Schuld am ‘Masernausbruch’? ” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program, which covers the same topic as the recent SW program on measles and the unvaccinated.

“Erfolgreiche Gebete… um Brot und Sündenvergebung,” is the title of this week’s German sermon. This continues our series on successful prayers. This installment is titled, “Successful Prayers… for Bread and Forgiveness of Sin.”

“Dreams and Visions,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Robb Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Dreams and visions have played an important role in God’s interaction with man. Our thoughts hold power in how we communicate with God as well, and are crucial in our spiritual development.

On February 14, 2015, Robb Harris will give the sermon, titled, “Dreams and Visions.”

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.

Roughly defined, selfies are self-portraits in the digital age. With the advent of social media—such as Facebook, for instance—people seem more willing to reveal themselves in a public way. Using the camera on a cell phone to take a “selfie” has made the process virtually instantaneous.

There is an obvious spiritual counterpart in the making of selfies. We all want to project an acceptable image of our Christianity to others, but is what we think we are transmitting actually what others perceive? That is, are we only fooling ourselves, while others see us as we are?

There is a Church of God which doesn’t know that it is “‘wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.’” In fact, a member of this group would say, “‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’” (Revelation 3:17). What Jesus Christ sees in these Christians is not what they see in themselves!

Let me make this more applicable for us by asking a question—how would you describe a self-righteous person? Consider:

Self-righteous individuals are presumptuously arrogant along with being self-willed and right in their own eyes; they practice “fixing” others while ignoring their own problems; they have a spirit of defiance and disrespect—stubbornly resisting guidance.

Perhaps the most glaring shortfall of self-righteous people is that they are weak! Christians who hold onto and sustain the vanity of self-righteousness are blocking themselves from God:

“‘But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word’” (Isaiah 66:2).

Whether we realize it or not, we are all transmitting “selfies” to others in ways far more important than what might be captured by a camera. If we rely on God for our righteousness and not ourselves, then our “picture” will be acceptable to the Father, Jesus Christ, our brethren—and even to ourselves!

We begin with an eye-opening excerpt from an article about America’s worldwide wars; address the extremely volatile situation regarding Russia and Ukraine and show how the relationship between Germany and the USA is rapidly deteriorating over the issue of defensive weapons for Ukraine—notwithstanding nice, but misleading photo-ops and political “assurances.”

We report on the ridiculous reactions to Pope Francis’ correct statements pertaining to child rearing; his planned historic address to the US Congress; and appalling comments by Catholics on the crusades and the Inquisition in response to President Obama’s remarks at a National Prayer Breakfast meeting.

We continue with the ongoing hysteria regarding the measles “outbreak” and unconstitutional attempts by legislators to abolish personal and religious exemptions against vaccinations.

We conclude with recent revelations that scientists willfully “adjusted” official temperature records to support their allegations of man-made global warming; an article about the destruction of insects due to pesticides; and a report about the legal confusion in Alabama regarding same-sex marriages, due to a controversial refusal by the US Supreme Court to put on hold same-sex marriages in Alabama and a subsequent contradictory injunction by the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

A World at War

The Huffington Post wrote on February 9:

“The true State of the Union, and the state of the world, in 2015 can be described in one word: precarious. Despite our wealth, our technological knowhow, our global social media, we are a world at war…

“The real world is different from the imagined one of the mass media, and the happy talk of too many politicians… Though we are just 5 percent of the world’s population, we are directly involved in most of its wars… It is because the US can’t stop itself from sticking its nose into other people’s business.

“How in the world did the US get engaged in a non-stop thirty-year war in Afghanistan? How in the world did the US end up funding Muslim fundamentalists in that country and end up creating Al-Qaeda? How did the US get caught in a 25-year non-stop war with Iraq, leading to the deaths of half a million Iraqi Civilians? What in the world is the US doing trying to topple the Syrian Government through covert CIA operations, thereby stoking a civil war that has destroyed Syria’s irreplaceable antiquities of the world’s earliest civilizations, taken the lives of more than 200,000 Syrians, and opened the path to ISIS?…

“War is spreading, and the US is the key country that is spreading it…”

Putin a 20^th Century Tyrant?

The Independent wrote on February 8:

“The West must stand up to Russia over Ukraine or Europe could descend into a major war for the first time since 1945, diplomats warned today… [John Herbst,] former US ambassador to Ukraine predicted that Estonia and the other Baltic states – all members of Nato – could be Vladimir Putin’s next targets if he is allowed to hold on to territory won by force…

“The Estonian President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, compared Western inaction against Russia with the appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1938, when Nazi Germany was allowed to seize parts of the former Czechoslovakia… ‘We know from history that appeasement will never satisfy those that are being appeased,’ he said. ‘Munich ’38 I think should be a lesson to all of us even today.’

“British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond accused Mr Putin of ‘acting like some mid-20th century tyrant’…

“US Senator John McCain said ‘defensive arms’ should be sent to the Kiev government as a matter of urgency. ‘The Ukrainians are being slaughtered and we’re sending them blankets and meals. Blankets don’t do well against Russian tanks,’ he said.

“Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported today that German intelligence estimated up to 50,000 soldiers and civilians had been killed during the conflict, nearly 10 times higher than Kiev’s estimate…”

Heated Exchange between Germany and USA –Fragile Transatlantic “Consensus”

Reuters reported on February 7:

“Germany’s Angela Merkel warned on Saturday that sending arms to help Ukraine fight pro-Russian separatists would not solve the crisis there, drawing a sharp rebuke from a leading U.S. senator who accused Berlin of turning its back on an ally in distress. The heated exchange at a security conference in Munich pointed to the fragility of the transatlantic consensus on how to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over a deepening conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 5,000…

“The German leader… flatly rejected the idea that sending weapons to Kiev… would help resolve the conflict. Speaking after Merkel, U.S. Senator Lyndsey Graham, a Republican hawk… said it was time for [Merkel] to wake up to the reality of what he called Moscow’s aggressions. ‘At the end of the day, to our European friends, this is not working. You can go to Moscow until you turn blue in the face. Stand up to what is clearly a lie and a danger,’ Graham said. He accused Merkel of turning her back on a struggling democracy by rejecting down Kiev’s request for arms…”

Bild Online reported on February 7 that US Senator John McCain said on German TV and in German newspapers that Merkel should apologize to the Ukrainian families of 5,000 dead soldiers for not helping them and for being responsible for Russian murders and atrocities by refusing to send defensive weapons to Ukraine. He also said that “one could get the impression that Merkel is without a clue or that it does not matter to her that people are being slaughtered in Ukraine.”

According to the paper, “his final attack culminated in the allegation of Merkel’s appeasement policy. The senator compared Merkel’s refusal to send weapons to Ukrainians with the fatal international behavior towards Hitler’s Germany in the thirties before the Second World War. Historians believe that strong reactions in due time would have stopped Hitler’s morbid ambitions.”

Die Welt Online wrote on February 7 about the “German-American Dissension on Open Stage,” continuing: “The Americans do not understand why Germany refuses to give weapons to a people that are defending their freedom against aggressors (but) Merkel remains firm.”

US Weapons for Ukraine?

The New York Times wrote on February 9:

“President Obama said he was weighing providing lethal weapons to Ukraine to help Kiev defend against Russia’s aggression if diplomatic efforts fail to defuse the tensions there… ‘The prospect for a military solution to this problem has always been low,’ Mr. Obama said, given the extraordinarily powerful military that is at the disposal of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and the length of Russia’s border with Ukraine.

“Nevertheless, at a joint news conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the White House Monday, the president said it was clear a set of steep sanctions against Russia ‘has not yet dissuaded Mr. Putin from following the course that he is on.’ He said that had prompted him to ask his team to ‘look at all options,’ including providing an array of defensive weapons to bolster Ukraine’s forces. ‘I have not made a decision about that yet,’ Mr. Obama said.

“Most European countries, including Germany and France, oppose sending arms, arguing that doing so would only make the conflict worse… The issue has threatened to cleave what has until now been a united front among the United States and its European allies over how to respond to the Ukrainian conflict, which has been stoked by a steady supply of weapons and soldiers from Russia…”

In spite of the typical political façade allegedly portraying unity between the USA and Germany, the reality is quite different, as the previous articles have shown. Also note the next article.

The New Minsk “Agreement” – Not Worth the Paper It Is Written On?

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 12:

“Leaders from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine agreed on a ceasefire deal to end 10 months of fighting in eastern Ukraine. The deal is set to go into effect on Sunday. There were, however, concerns after Kyiv’s army reported seeing [50] tanks and [40]  missile launching systems crossing into its territory from Russia even while the peace talks were taking place…”

The Washington Post wrote on February 12:

“[Ukraine’s] Poroshenko is likely to face opposition to offer pardons for those involved in the fighting since many government supporters see the rebels as responsible for sparking the violence. Pushing through a new constitution — including offering greater self-rule to rebel regions — also will require broad support from lawmakers in Kiev… On the separatist side, meanwhile, a pledge to disband ‘all illegal groups’ may face stiff resistance…

“The agreement was signed by lower-level representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian governments… the national leaders themselves did not sign any such deal, and instead supported a nonbinding statement of support for peace. That suggested they were not willing to commit fully that the deal would be successful…

“The fundamentals of the deal appeared to be largely the same as a tattered September cease-fire agreement that was never fully observed and has fallen apart completely. Since then, thousands more people have died, and rebels have captured hundreds of square miles of additional territory.”

The Telegraph wrote on February 12:

“The new agreement in Minsk fails to resolve one of the central issues at stake, namely the presence of thousands of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory… the new agreement merely states that ‘foreign armed formations’ and ‘military equipment’ will leave the ‘territory of Ukraine’. No timetable is given and no deadline is set… the latest Minsk agreement requires no real concessions from Vladimir Putin. Instead, the proposals for a ceasefire and a withdrawal of heavy artillery impose disproportionate obligations on Ukraine.”

Bild Online wrote on February 12:

“Not even the greatest optimist believes that the new agreement will lead to a durable peace in Ukraine… ‘I have no illusions. We have no illusions,’ the Chancellor [Merkel] said… Foreign Minister Steinmeier refused to speak of a ‘breakthrough.’ He said he had hoped for more…

“Experience speaks against the idea that the cease-fire will hold… There is no indication that Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko changed the aggressive power-hungry Putin into an apostle of peace. There is therefore no indication that Putin will change his politics. But there is every indication that Putin can be much more happy with the results than the other three participants… Putin has won time and can determine now when he will start further escalations…”

Die Zeit Online added: “Putin collects his winnings… He is not interested in the end of the war. He wants the conflict to continue…”

Die Welt Online agreed: “There is only one winner—Putin.”

“Obama and Merkel Should Not Try to Fool Anyone”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 10:

“Merkel, the politician, probably has no other choice than to present a united front, in case Obama decides in the end to deliver desperately needed weapons to the struggling Ukrainian army. Obama and Merkel, however, shouldn’t be trying to fool anybody. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long ago noticed the small crack in the Western alliance, and he knows how to use it to his advantage. Putin will try to push the US and Europe further and further apart, bit by bit.

“An agreement between the US and Europe is now more important than ever. Not only in the conflict with Russia, but also in the fight against the so-called ‘Islamic State,’ in nuclear talks with Iran, the Middle East conflict and in Afghanistan. Since World War II, the world has rarely seen so many highly volatile conflicts. And everywhere, Americans and Europeans are depending on each other. Consensus and functional crisis management is almost essential for survival…

“In the US, Merkel is seen as the one person that held Europe together in the conflict with Russia. She has led Germany back to the political world stage. It’s up to her. The American president finally has that long-awaited phone number – already sought after by Henry Kissinger – which he can call if he wants to talk to Europe’s key decision maker: the German chancellor…

“Angela Merkel, who understands Russia well, has recently admitted that she has no answer here. And so the question whether or not to deliver arms to Ukraine does no more than highlight complete helplessness…”

“Brave Decisions Are Needed!”

The EUObserver wrote on February 10:

“Once again in history, Ukraine has become the bloodiest place on the continent. Russian military aggression has already claimed 5,358 lives, according to the most recent UN report, and made around a million Ukrainians homeless. Despite all the diplomatic efforts and concessions meant to appease Russia, there is no end to the bloodshed on the horizon. The Minsk protocol – last year’s ceasefire accord – is dead.

“The cause of death is clear: Russian aggression against Ukraine has bigger goals than the current territorial gains in Crimea and in the Donbas region in east Ukraine. The failure of peace efforts does not come as a surprise. Since September, Russia has been pouring heavy modern weaponry into Donbas on a scale unprecedented in modern day military conflicts. It was clear that such a military buildup was not intended to respect the ceasefire. For many long months, world leaders pretended to see no hard evidence of direct Russian aggression…

“The recent, massive offensive by Russia-controlled militants and regular Russian troops against the Ukrainian army marks the end of illusions about a ‘diplomatic solution’ in many capitals… Instead of hastily ruling out a military response to the conflict back in March 2014, the US president should have found courage to declare that his country will honour its obligations under the Budapest security memorandum – a 1994 treaty on protecting Ukrainian territorial integrity in return for its renunciation of its nuclear arsenal, which was co-signed by the US, France, the UK, and Russia… Instead, the Budapest memorandum has become a symbol of the failure of non-proliferation initiatives and of international law. Russia broke its obligations under the memorandum, and Western governments didn’t respect theirs.

“Crimea was de facto sacrificed. But this kind of ‘diplomacy’ only further encouraged Kremlin aggression… Meanwhile, in Ukraine, which suffered from Russian colonialism for centuries, even the most pro-Western politicians can hardly hide their disappointment with the West’s leniency towards Russia.

“Last March, it would have been hard to imagine that it would take almost a year for a country under attack to establish in world public opinion that it is being invaded, not by some unknown masked men but by irregular and regular armed Russian forces. But even today Putin ‘understanders’ in the West find a way to deny proven facts, manipulate public opinion, and mislead their nations… many do not trust the mediation by European leaders. They remember the outcome of similar mediation in Georgia’s war with Russia in 2008…

“The West’s refusal to send arms is increasingly seen as a betrayal both of Ukraine and of the principles on which Western democracies are supposed to function… Putin has shifted the world into a brutal, new era. He created a new precedent of international relations with no rules or laws… Ukraine needs brave decisions from its partners.”

Europe’s Losing Battle with Russia Regarding Ukraine

The Local wrote on February 11:

“Merkel, Hollande, Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroschenko are meeting in the Belarusian capital, with the European leaders hoping they can revive a ceasefire agreement signed there just six months ago in September 2014… Merkel has become the de-facto lead negotiator for Europe… Germany stands at the centre of the fractious Western coalition supporting the pro-European government in the Ukrainian capital Kiev… Germany has its own reasons for trying to defuse the conflict as, along with France, it has significant economic ties to both Russia and Ukraine…

“There was news last night that Obama had telephoned Putin to warn the Russian leader there would be ‘costs’ if he continued supporting ‘aggressive acts’ in eastern Ukraine. He directly accused Putin of sending troops, weapons and financial support to the separatists…

“But even with western arms deliveries, the Kiev government is set to run out of money in just a few months, as a temporary agreement with Russia over gas supplies comes to an end… Putin’s best interest is to drag out the conflict for as long as possible, and he appears for now to have the will and the means to do it…”

Ultimately, Ukraine and Russia will join forces against Europe, according to biblical prophecy.

“Germany to Become Leading Power in Europe to Solve Big European Problems”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 9:

“The current endeavors by the chancellor and foreign minister, and Germany’s willingness to take over the chair of the OSCE next year, indicate that Germany is ready to take on a more important role in matters of peace and conflict.

“Germany is in a good position to be a leading power in Europe to try to solve the big European problems we have at the moment, and it’s very useful that Germany is doing this together with France.”

“Pope’s ‘Smack’ Approval Draws Ire in Germany”

The Local wrote on February 6:

“In a general audience dedicated to the role of fathers, the Pontiff said a good father is one who can forgive and disciplines with firmness while not discouraging the child. ‘One time, I heard a father in a meeting with married couples say “I sometimes have to smack my children a bit, but never in the face as to not humiliate them”’, said Pope Francis.  ‘How beautiful. He knows the sense of dignity! He has to punish them but does it justly and move on,’ he added.

“In an interview with N-24 broadcaster, head of the DKSB said that the Pope’s words were incredibly damaging. ‘He is a world leader with a global audience,’ said Paula Honkanen-Schoberth. ‘It damages children’s rights around the world.’…

“Manuela Schwesig added her own ire to the comments from the Holy See. ‘There is no “dignified” hitting of children,’ tweeted the Minister of Families, Women and Children on Friday. ‘There should be no misunderstanding: Any violence against children is unacceptable.’

“The Catholic Church, in a follow-up statement, said the Pope was not advocating for beating children, but for ‘helping someone to grow and mature.’… The German Bishops Conference simply said ‘We don’t speak for the pope.’”

This reflects a total lack of balance. The Pope’s statements were 100% correct, and left-wing liberals and voter-friendly politicians are not going to change this one iota. It is hoped that at least in this case, the Vatican is not going to back paddle even more and “explain” away what the Pope has said.

Historic Address to US. Congress by Pope Francis in September

UPI reported on February 5:

“Pope Francis will deliver an unprecedented address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Sept. 24, House Speaker John Boehner announced Thursday. The Pope will make his first visit to the United States to attend the World Meeting of Families, to be held in Philadelphia, and confirmed in January he would also visit New York, where he will address the United Nations, and Washington. Although several popes have delivered speeches to the United Nations, an address to Congress would be historic.

“Boehner, a Catholic, offered an invitation to the Pope in March, saying he ‘has inspired millions of Americans with his pastoral manner and servant leadership, challenging all people to lead lives of mercy, forgiveness, solidarity, and humble service.’”

We wonder whether the White House was “consulted” before the invitation was extended to the Pope to speak to Congress, and if not, whether President Obama, Vice President Biden [a Catholic] and other Democrats will refuse to attend, as they have threatened to do so in the case of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Terrible Crimes in the Name of Religion

The Washington Post reported on February 6:

“Remarks made by President Obama at Friday’s National Prayer Breakfast proved divisive to some… Obama pointed out how Christianity has been invoked in the past to justify hideous deeds… ‘remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,’ Obama said…

“But were Obama actually in the market for a historical parallel to describe the Islamic State, there are safer options. Indeed, Iraq’s top Christian cleric already suggested it last year when lamenting the ravages of the extremist militants, who had overwhelmed cities, desecrated holy sites and slaughtered innocents. ‘How in the 21st century could people be forced from their houses just because they are Christian, or Shi’ite or Sunni or Yazidi?’ Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako asked…  ‘This has never happened in Christian or Islamic history. Even Genghis Khan or Hulagu didn’t do this,’ he said.

“He was talking about the Mongols, who led by Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, crushed the once powerful Abbasid Caliphate and ravaged its capital in Baghdad in the mid-13th century… It was at this historic and landmark city that the Mongols arrived in 1258. Their army, estimated at over 150,000 soldiers, stood before the city that was just a shadow of the great capital of the Muslim world of the 800s. The siege began in mid-January and only lasted two weeks. On February 13th, 1258, the Mongols entered the city of the caliphs.

“A full week of pillage and destruction commenced. The Mongols showed no discretion, destroying mosques, hospitals, libraries, and palaces. The books from Baghdad’s libraries were thrown into the Tigris River in such quantities that the river ran black with the ink from the books… In 1400, another Mongol army overran the great city of Aleppo, in what’s now Syria… The victorious Mongols, according to some accounts, piled a mountain of skulls outside the city gates.

“The scale of devastation and upheaval wrought by the Mongols also carries a historical echo — the Islamic State, which has emerged amid the collapse of Middle Eastern states, is redrawing the political map of the region, not unlike the Mongol conquests seven centuries ago.”

It is true that the Mongols behaved like ravenous beasts, like the demonically-inspired murderers of the Islamic State do today, and it is also interesting that the Bible prophecies that the descendants of the ancient Mongols will play another predominant role in future wars to come (note for instance Ezekiel 38 and 39—compare our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy,” pages 24-25). But this does not in any way excuse the violent behavior of the Roman Catholic Church, even though some would like to try.

On February 6, The Fox News channel broadcast a highly offensive edition of “The Sean Hannity Show,” during which the ridiculous proposition was propagated by two Catholic guests, including a priest (and which was supported by Hannity, a Catholic) that the crusades were justified as a defensive war against Muslims. The question is answered in the next article whether the same argument will also be made for the horrible crimes of the Inquisition perpetrated by the Catholic Church–or for the slaughter of religious minorities such as the Waldensians, because they would not subject themselves to the religious credos of the Pope.

Crusades and Inquisition Justified???

On February 6, Breitbart published the following outrageous and grossly inaccurate comments in one of their articles:

“Historically speaking, the Crusades were a response to Islamic aggression in Europe and the Middle East; the Inquisition… was designed to regularize executions rather than leaving them to the will of the masses. Christians undoubtedly pursued horrible brutalities against people, including innocent Jews. However… [quoting a writer, Goldberg, with approval] ‘Christianity, even in its most terrible days, even under the most corrupt popes, even during the most unjustifiable wars, was indisputably a force for the improvement of man…’”

These kinds of statements are appalling and 100% wrong. To state that the Inquisition was designed to regularize (!) executions is grotesque and perverse. But it reveals a deeply troubling and dangerous thought process of those who are willing to advocate persecution, injustice, torture and war for “religious reasons.” We hasten to point out that President Obama’s comments about “Christianity” were misplaced for the reason alone that the Inquisition and the Crusades were not established and carried out by true Christians. Rather, true Christians were many times the victims of such horrible crimes.

Don’t Justify the Crusades!

The Daily Beast wrote on February 10:

“[There is] a shocking belief held by many Christian conservatives: that the Crusades weren’t really so bad.

“… the Crusades were one of the worst episodes in history: marauding Christian soldiers massacring everyone in sight. Especially Jews… the Crusades were a dark chapter in Christian history, with extraordinary violence carried out in Christ’s name… between one and three million people died in the Crusades (including the Crusaders)…

“Perhaps the leading theme in [some] literature is that ‘The Crusades—despite their terrible organized cruelties—were a defensive war’…

“In fact, the Crusaders massacred, massacred, and massacred some more. They massacred Jews in the Rhineland, Albigensian heretics in Spain, Muslims in the Holy Land… whitewashing of one of the most bloody periods in world history is troubling on many levels…”

How Bad They Really Were…

The Town Talk wrote on February 7:

“The Crusades lasted almost 200 years, from 1095 to 1291. The initial spark came from Pope Urban II, who urged Christians to recapture the Holy Land (and especially the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem) from Muslim rule. Like the promise of eternal life given to Muslim martyrs, Crusaders were promised absolution from sin and eternal glory.

“… Along the way, the Crusaders massacred. To take but one example, the Rhineland Massacres of 1096 are remembered to this day as some of the most horrific examples of anti-Semitic violence prior to the Holocaust…  The Jewish communities of Cologne, Speyer, Worms, and Mainz were decimated…

“Although most of us regard the Inquisition as a particular event, it actually refers to a set of institutions within the Roman Catholic Church that operated from the mid-13th century until the 19th century. One actually still survives, now known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was directed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before his 2005 election as Pope Benedict XVI.

“These institutions were charged with prosecuting heresy — and prosecute they did, executing and torturing thousands of suspected witches, converts from Judaism (many of whom had been forced to convert), Protestants and all manner of suspected heretics, particularly in the 15th and 16th centuries.

“… the Inquisition… used torture as a method of extracting confessions. Methods included starvation, burning victims’ bodies with hot coals, forced overconsumption of water, hanging by straps, thumbscrews, metal pincers, and of course, the rack… all of this was meant to be for the victim’s own good: better to confess heresy in this life, even under duress, than to be punished for it in the next…”

The “Insane” Measles Hysteria Is Continuing and Worsening

The LA Times wrote on February 4:

“A group of state [Democratic] lawmakers [in California] announced legislation Wednesday that would abolish an exemption from the mandate that children get vaccinated before they enter school if it conflicts with their parents’ personal beliefs… Gov. Jerry Brown signaled that he was open to such a bill…

“The legislation does not address children who are completely home-schooled. It would still allow children to avoid vaccination for medical reasons including allergic responses and weak immune systems. The mandate only applies to children attending public or private schools.

“Currently, 13,592 children have personal belief affidavits on file; of those, 2,764 were identified as based on religious beliefs. Pan said if the bill passes, the religious exemption would also disappear…

“Currently, two states, Mississippi and West Virginia, do not allow exemptions except for medical reasons, and 46 states allow exemptions based on religious beliefs…

“Any proposal to eliminate the personal belief exemption is ‘absolutely insane,’ according to Alan Phillips, a North Carolina attorney who has represented clients in California and other states seeking exemptions…

“Eliminating the personal belief exemption is opposed by Matthew B. McReynolds, senior staff attorney at the conservative Pacific Justice Institute, a Sacramento-based organization that advocates for parental rights and religious freedoms. ‘It’s concerning to me that the measles outbreak seems to have prompted some hysteria and this seems like a pretty sweeping approach to what really is a very limited problem that could be addressed in other ways,’ McReynolds said… He also said parents who lose the ability to be exempted on religious grounds could have cause to challenge that change on grounds it violates their First Amendment rights.”

Attorneys Alan Phillips and Matthew B. McReynolds are absolutely correct: To enact any law eliminating religious exemptions against vaccinations is in fact “absolutely insane” and constitutes quite clearly a blatant violation of the US Constitution. To even entertain such nonsensical avenue is revealing an unbelievable disrespect for religious minorities in this country. Please view our recent StandingWatch program, presented by Attorney and Evangelist Norbert Link, titled “Measles Outbreak”– Blaming the Unvaccinated?”

Man-Made Global Warming—a Gigantic Scientific Fraud?

The Telegraph wrote on February 7:

“When future generations look back on the global-warming scare of the past 30 years, nothing will shock them more than the extent to which the official temperature records – on which the entire panic ultimately rested – were systematically ‘adjusted’ to show the Earth as having warmed much more than the actual data justified… this wholesale manipulation of the official temperature record… has become the real elephant in the room of the greatest and most costly scare the world has known. This really does begin to look like one of the greatest scientific scandals of all time.”

Climate Depot wrote on February 8:

“Meteorologist Anthony Watts on ‘adjusted’ U.S. temperature data: ‘In the business and trading world, people go to jail for such manipulations of data.’”

The Worldwide Massacre of the Monarch Butterflies

The Washington Post wrote on February 9:

“Threatened animals like elephants, porpoises and lions grab all the headlines, but what’s happening to monarch butterflies is nothing short of a massacre. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service summed it up in just one grim statistic on Monday: Since 1990, about 970 million have vanished.

“It happened as farmers and homeowners sprayed herbicides on milkweed plants, which serve as the butterflies’ nursery, food source and home… Monarch butterflies are a keystone species that once fluttered throughout the United States by the billions. They alighted from Mexico to Canada each spring on a trek that required six generations of the insect to complete. Afterward, young monarchs… fly back, resting, birthing and dining on milkweed…

“The extinction of certain butterfly species is not unheard of. The blueberry-colored Xerces blue disappeared from San Francisco years ago, and recently Fish and Wildlife announced that two subspecies — the rockland skipper and Zestos in South Florida — haven’t been seen since 2004 and are probably extinct. On top of that, pesticide use has also caused a collapse of other pollinators — wasps, beetles and especially honeybees.”

And so, rather than preserving God’s creation, man has been systematically destroying it…

Legal Confusion in Alabama Over Same-Sex Marriages

The Associated Press reported on February 10:

“The Supreme Court is inappropriately signaling it intends to clear the way for gay marriage across the nation, Justice Clarence Thomas complained Monday in a stinging dissent to the court’s refusal to block the start of same-sex marriages in Alabama. Bitterly objecting to Monday’s action, Thomas provided a rare insider’s perspective on the widely held view that the court’s embrace of gay marriage is a done deal. Thomas filed a dissenting opinion [which was joined by Justice Antonin Scalia] after his colleagues rejected Alabama’s plea to put a hold on same-sex marriages in the state until the Supreme Court resolves the issue nationwide in a few months.

“He criticized his fellow justices for looking ‘the other way as yet another federal district judge casts aside state laws,’ rather than following the customary course of leaving those laws in place until the court answers an important constitutional question… many legal commentators have predicted not only the case’s outcome this spring (in favor of same-sex marriage), but the vote (5-4) and the author of the majority opinion (Justice Anthony Kennedy). The number of states in which gay and lesbian couples can marry has nearly doubled since October, from 19 to 37, largely as a result of terse Supreme Court orders that allowed lower court rulings to become final and rejected state efforts to keep marriage bans in place pending appeals.”

The Washington Post reported on February 10:

“A federal judge on Tuesday said she will consider whether to require a local official to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, a day after dozens of counties refused to comply with a ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Alabama.

“U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade, who last month struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban, set a hearing on the new matter for Thursday in Mobile. Lawyers for about a dozen couples have asked Granade to clarify that her previous ruling applies to the probate judge in Mobile County, where couples were turned away when they sought marriage licenses Monday.

“Gay rights advocates hope a favorable decision by Granade, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, will force other probate judges around the state to fall in line. More than 40 of these judges refused this week to give licenses to gay couples. The advocates are also looking for Granade’s ruling to serve as a repudiation of Roy Moore, the chief justice of the state supreme court who had called on local officials to ignore the federal ruling making gay marriage legal…

“The stalemate eased somewhat on Tuesday, with probate judges in about 10 counties who had refused to issue licenses changing course and opening their doors to everyone. Among those places was Elmore County, just outside the capital Montgomery. John Enslen, the probate judge there, said he decided not to issue marriage licenses on Monday after receiving a letter late Sunday from Moore, who had written to all probate judges ordering them not to issue marriage licenses to gay couples despite the federal ruling. Enslen said he changed his mind later in the day Monday after reading the U.S. Supreme Court opinion, leading him to believe that same-sex marriage will probably become legal across the nation…

“But he wasn’t happy about it. Enslen said he opposes same-sex marriage; and while he will issue licenses, he will stop performing wedding ceremonies for anyone, heterosexual or homosexual…”

Both the Old and the New Testament use the word “Hebrew” in several passages. However, the word has different meanings, depending on the context.

Technically, the first time the word “Hebrew” is used is in Genesis 14:13, where it is applied to Abram, in connection with the defeat of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah in battle and the captivity of Lot. We read: “Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew…”

Commentaries give several explanations for the use of this word in this passage.

The Ryrie Study Bible says:

“Abraham was the first person to be referred as a Hebrew, an ethnic designation that his descendants derived from him. The word comes from the name of his ancestor, Eber (11:10-14). It also had a wider use as a general designation for nomadic people like Abraham, who would have been considered a migrant by the Canaanites, since he came from Ur and Haran.”

The Nelson Study Bible adds the following:

“Here is the first use of the word Hebrew in the Bible. It comes from the name Eber, first mentioned in the table of nations in ch. 10 [compare Genesis 10:21]. The word is related to a verb meaning ‘cross over’ or ‘pass through,’ perhaps reminding us that Abram ‘passed through’ or ‘crossed over’ from another place in order to obey the Lord’s command.”

Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, writes:

“This is an unusual use of the word ‘Hebrew.’ Elsewhere in biblical stories it is used to identify Israelites only when one is speaking among foreigners. It is not the standard term for the people, which is rather ‘Israelite’… Perhaps it is used here because there are not yet any other Israelites around, and Abraham himself is a foreigner.”

This explanation is not entirely correct. First, there were other Israelites around (for instance, Lot and his family); and second, there are incidents where the word “Hebrew” is applied to Israelites when one is NOT speaking among foreigners, even though the use is related (see below in regard to the term, “Hebrew slave”).

A very convincing and comprehensive explanation is given by Rienecker, Lexikon zur Bibel. The commentary points out that the word “Hebrew” is derived from Eber, a descendant of Shem, one of Noah’s sons. One of the descendants of Eber is Abram [Genesis 11:16-26]. It is then explained that the word “Hebrew” can also refer to one “who has passed over” and who ‘”came from beyond’ (the River Euphrates), which applies to Abraham (compare Joshua 24:2, 3).” It continues: “Later, Joseph and his brothers in Egypt are referred to as Hebrews (Genesis 39:14, 17; 41:12; 43:32), and Joseph calls his homeland the land of the Hebrews (Genesis 40:15). The word distinguished the sons of Jacob as belonging to a people which is different from the natives, but we cannot determine exactly how all-encompassing the term Hebrew was at that time.”

It is then pointed out that subsequently, the word is used exclusively for Israelites, and always in opposition to peoples of non-Israelite descent. This applies first to the Egyptians (Exodus 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6, 7,11, 13), and Moses emphasizes in front of Pharaoh that he is acting pursuant to the command of “the LORD God of the Hebrews” (Exodus 3:18; 5:3; [7:16; 9:1; 10:3]); then [the term “Hebrews” applies] at the time of [Samuel and] Saul and the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:6, 9; 14:11; 29:3; [13:7, 19; 14:21] and at the time of Jonah in comparison with the foreign sailors (Jonah 1:9)…”

Rienecker also points out that the word “Hebrew” is applied to Israelite servants or slaves (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; Jeremiah 34:9, 14). We should note that in Jeremiah, “Hebrew slave” is described as “Jewish brother.” The commentary continues to state that the Hebrew slave is distinguished from non-Israelite slaves and that the life of a Hebrew slave must be viewed in light of the fact that all Israelites had been slaves in Egypt (Deuteronomy 15:15). Friedman adds that “Hebrew slave” had become “a fixed phrase through assonance: the two words ‘slave’ [ebed] and ‘Hebrew’ [ibri] begin with the same two letters” (since there are no vowels, but only consonants, in the Hebrew language).

In the New Testament, the distinction between Hebrews and non-Hebrews was also known, which caused problems in the early Church. We read in Acts 6:1: “Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.” The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jewish Christians who had adopted Greek culture, or they were Greek “proselytes” who had converted to Judaism (compare our Q&A about the Day of Pentecost); and the “Hebrew” Jews—Hebrew-speaking Jewish Christians—looked down on them and were not willing to treat them with the same respect. The apostles solved this problem by ordaining deacons to look after all the brethren in the congregation.

We also find that the apostle Paul uses the term “Hebrew” to identify his physical lineage, in defense against those who questioned his appointment as an apostle and minister of God. He says in 2 Corinthians 11:22: “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I? Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.”

We see that he uses the terms “Hebrew”, “Israelite” and “seed of Abraham” in the same context, showing his physical heritage (Compare also Romans 11:1).

Paul adds in Philippians 3:5 that he was “circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee…”

Here, he is explaining that he is a descendant of Benjamin, one of the twelve sons of Israel. We know that under Solomon’s son, the house of Judah separated from the house of Israel. The house of Israel consisted of ten tribes, which later became known as the LOST ten tribes, since they never returned to the Promised Land after their Assyrian captivity. The ten tribes of Israel consisted of the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim (son of Joseph) and Manasseh (son of Joseph). Note that Joseph—one of the sons of Israel—was divided up into two tribes—Ephraim and Manasseh. We see a similar “division” in Revelation 7:4-8, where Manasseh is mentioned as well as Joseph (referring to Ephraim). The house of Judah consisted of the tribes of Judah, Levi and Benjamin, and they returned to the Promised Land after their Babylonian captivity. Paul is making the point that he is not only an Israelite and a Hebrew, but also a descendant from the tribe of Benjamin; meaning that he belongs to the house of Judah. As the descendants of the house of Judah (Judah, Benjamin and Levi) were identified as “Jews,” Paul referred to himself as a Jew, compare Galatians 2:15.

Throughout the New Testament, distinctions are made between physical Jews and physical Greeks, but we need to understand that “Greeks” is representative for all non-Jewish and non-Israelite “nations” or “Gentiles.” A big controversy existed in the early New Testament Church as to whether or not “Greeks” could become members of the Church, and Peter had to receive God’s instruction in a vision to allow this, without requiring them first to become physically circumcised. The issue was settled during the ministerial conference in Acts 15, but even following this decision, some still wanted to compel the non-Jewish Christians to be circumcised and adopt the traditions of the Jews, as we can see, for example, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

At the same time, Paul emphasizes that there is neither Jew nor Greek or Gentile—neither circumcision nor uncircumcision (Romans 3:29-30; 9:24; 10:12; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Galatians 3:28), but that all converted Christians—regardless of their physical heritage—are spiritual children of Abraham and spiritual Jews and Israelites (Romans 2:28-29; Galatians 5:6; 6:16); which means that converted Christians are spiritual Hebrews as well, having become “foreigners” in this world who are waiting for a better world to come, when God will establish His government on this earth. Converted Christians have passed from death to life; they have passed through this world and have left it behind. There is no need for Christians to engage in any of the Jewish traditions or rituals which are not taught in the Bible; or which were superseded by the death of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible says that in God’s eyes, only those who are spiritual Israelites or Jews (or Hebrews) and who “are of the faith of Abraham” (Romans 4:16) are of the [spiritual] seed of the patriarch Abraham—the first to be named a “Hebrew” (Romans 9:6-9; compare Galatians 3:29).

In this context, it is important to read how Paul continues his statement in Philippians 3:7, after just having set forth his physical lineage as “a Hebrew of the Hebrews”: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Jesus Christ.”

Paul emphasizes the fact that even though he was very much aware of his physical lineage and even though he had a strong desire to see the Jews—his “countrymen according to the flesh”—accept God’s Way of Life (Romans 9:1-5; 10:1), he never allowed this desire to prevent him from preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. He said that he became a Jew to the Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles so that he might gain some (compare 1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

We need to also understand the purpose for his letter to the Hebrews, which was apparently written at the beginning or the middle of the sixties. The Jews had continued to bring animal sacrifices, and it appears that Jewish Christians might have participated in this practice. And so, Paul explained in his letter to the Hebrews that sacrifices were no longer necessary, since Christ’s death constitutes the ultimate Sacrifice; and that very soon, the temple would be destroyed (in 70 A.D.) so that animal sacrifices were no longer possible (compare Hebrews 9:9-10; 10:8-9, 11, 18). But he comforted them by saying that they should not worry about this, as the need for animal sacrifices ceased anyhow when Christ died.

Converted Christians are spiritual Israelites, Jews and Hebrews. They are, in God’s eyes, the true descendants from the spiritual seed of Abraham. They are to reflect in their lives the faith and obedience of Abraham (James 2:21-24), and they can do so, as Jesus Christ, their High Priest, lives in them through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 2:20).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

“Heavens and Earth… Before and After the First Man!” a new booklet written by Norbert Link, is currently being reviewed in preparation for printing with distribution anticipated during the Spring Holy Days.

The Passover will be observed on Thursday evening, April 2, 2015, after sundown; the first Day of Unleavened Bread (A Holy Day) is Saturday, April 4, 2015; and the last Day of Unleavened Bread (a Holy Day) is Friday, April 10, 2015. The weekly Sabbath immediately follows. Please remember to pray for God’s guidance during our upcoming Church Conference.

We will meet in San Diego, California, beginning Friday, March 20^th and continue through Tuesday, March 24^th.

“Neu! Erfolgreiche Gebete—Gottes Reich und Gottes Wille,” is the new German sermon for this coming Sabbath. This continues the series on the outline of prayer in Matthew. This part addresses the coming Kingdom of God and our responsibility in this regard, and the Will of God in our lives. Title in English: “Successful Prayers–God’s Kingdom and God’s Will.”

“Enemies of Faith,” the sermon given by Mike Link last Sabbath, is now posted. Here is a summary:

How strong are we when it comes to our faith and when our faith is being tested, will we give in to the enemies of faith? What are these enemies of faith?

“Evolution or Creation?” the sermonette presented by Norbert Link the past Sabbath, has been posted and here is a summary:

Are plants, animals and humans the product of an evolutionary process which began by accident when an organic soup was bombarded by gases from the universe? Was Darwin correct when he called man nothing more than a walking amoeba? Why are there living fossils? Did man evolve from apes? Was Neanderthal an ape or a man–or was he a missing link?  Is the Radio Carbon method correct which scientists use to determine the age of remains? Would the Bible allow for the existence of a Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot?