On June 17, 2023, Frank Bruno will present the sermonette, titled, “Sandcastles and God’s Church,” and Eric Rank will present the sermon, titled, “Become Who You Are.”

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.

Most of us at some point in our lives have regretted something we’ve done, choices we’ve made, or perhaps things we did not do. The Greek word for regret is metamelomai, and interestingly, this also means to repent. We may also be familiar with the Hebrew meaning which is to sigh. It is truly a part of being a carnal being that we do not always consider the ramifications of our choices and actions in the moment. It is later as we reflect on the outcome that the path seems so clear and our decision so flawed. However, if we experience regret, we may be on the path of creating a positive outcome, that is to repent and alter our course.

This is what God wants from us: to follow His commandments, to love Him, and to rely solely on Him. In Psalm 51, verses 10-14, David speaks to God and implores Him as follows: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.”

David was ashamed and disgusted with himself for what he had chosen to do with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. He knew he had done wrong and broken his bond with God. He regretted his actions and repented before God.

God also can feel and understand regret. In Genesis 6, and in verses 5 and 6, we read this account of God’s righteous anger, and His sadness: ^“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”

The Creator felt the sadness and regret that we too experience when something we chose to do turned out badly, or not as we intended. This is significant in our relationship with God knowing that He understands us completely and stands by us despite our actions. This is not unconditional; however, we must recognize our sin and seek His forgiveness and His mercy. As with David, we must humble ourselves before God to receive that restoration.  We can ask God to help us turn our failure and our sin into something positive through our pain and repentance. Consider Paul’s letter to the Romans in Chapter 8, and verse 28:“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Through our repentance and the renewal of our relationship with God we can learn from our mistakes and strive for good.

Charles Dickens wrote these words in the 1800’s: “No space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunities misused”. The writer reminds us that regret is a common human emotion, and it can alter the course of one’s life, in a positive or a negative manner. For those called by God, it is important that we not dwell in the past but change our course, right our ship and stay close to our Creator.

There are two obvious examples of deep regret in our Bible that are instructive and can help God’s people avoid falling away from the Truth: in Luke 22, and in verses 60 to 62, we are transported to that moment after Jesus has been arrested and a man confronts Peter, stating that Peter must have been a follower of Jesus. Beginning in verse 60 we read: ^“But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are saying!’ Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the words of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So Peter went out and wept bitterly.”

Peter’s regret was overwhelming; he had rejected Jesus Christ, and he began to realize that he would never again walk with his Master or dine with Him as a human being. His regret for denying his Master was profound, and he wept. Peter would live with this regret, but he, with God’s help through the Holy Spirit, turned his human weakness into his zeal for the Church.

Similarly, Judas knew profound regret as well, but his story does not end well. We read this account in Matthew 27, and in verses 3-5: ^“Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ And they said, ‘What is that to us? You see to it!’Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.”

Judas understood what he had done and regretted his actions and his betrayal of Jesus Christ. This was necessary in God’s plan for our salvation through Jesus Christ, but the action consumed and destroyed Judas. Judas had “worldly sorrow,” not “godly sorrow” or true repentance (compare 2 Corinthians 7:9-10). This is what regret can do to us; it can consume us and prevent us from moving forward as Peter was able to do. The only answer for true Christians is to acknowledge our mistakes and change.

Repentance is a gift and God will accept our sincere remorse if it is coupled with a change of heart and obedience in our thoughts and actions. Those we’ve wronged may not accept our remorse but there too we must turn to God.

by Norbert Link

A large portion of this week’s Current Events section addresses the historical and unprecedented indictment and arraignment of a former US President and present contender for Presidency by the administration of his rival. Many have decried the blatant double standard of a “weaponized” Justice Department under President Biden, pointing out the obvious political motives behind the indictment and even alleging that the wrong President was impeached in the past, while the current President should have been, and probably will be in the future. It was also claimed that while the USA is trying to lecture totalitarian governments about democracy, it itself is perceived as a dictatorial Banana Republic under a corrupt leadership.

We also report about the disappearance of “moral norms” which were at one time upheld in America; giving further examples showing how corrupt the FBI is; addressing the question as to who sabotaged the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline and the Kakhovka hydro-electric dam and whether this intelligence information is being withheld from Congress and the public; discuss the possibility of a return of compulsory military service in Germany and France; address the resignation of Boris Johnson and the death of Silvio Berlusconi; and point out plans by Israel to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, which are met with an outcry by Israel’s enemies.

We conclude with new reports pointing out the uselessness of masks and vaccine mandates against Corona.

Throughout this section, we have underlined pertinent statements in the quoted articles, for the convenience and quick overview of the reader.

Trump Indictment… Similar to Corrupt Third World Countries?

LifeSiteNews wrote on June 9:

‘The Biden administration’s Department of Justice has taken the unprecedented step of indicting former U.S. President Donald Trump with violating federal law, making him the first occupant of the Oval Office to face such charges… The shocking move comes as Congressional Republicans were starting to present mounting evidence that Joe Biden was bribed with $5 million from an executive at Ukrainian energy company Burisma while serving as Barack Obama’s vice president, prompting some to question if the announcement was retribution…

“Numerous political pundits have compared the move to something corrupt third world countries engage in. ‘These bandits in the White House … want one party rule and they have used the Department of Justice and the FBI to get what they want,’ Mark Levin has said. This is ‘the most severe election interference on the part of the federal government that we have EVER seen!’ Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz exclaimed. ‘They can’t beat Trump at the ballot box,’ former Trump adviser Steve Bannon remarked.

“At a press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Thursday, Biden claimed he had no foreknowledge of the indictment… In recent months, Joe Biden’s FBI has taken a keen interest in targeting pro-lifers and Catholics…

“Many conservatives… maintain that the charges are part of a strategy hatched by the U.S. ‘Deep State’ to prevent Trump from being re-elected.”

Biden without foreknowledge? Who wants to believe that?

Trump Attacks Special Counsel Jack Smith

Fox News wrote on June 9:

“Former President Donald Trump attacked Special Counsel Jack Smith after his unsealed indictment shows the ex-commander-in-chief was charged with 37 counts of criminal wrongdoing over his handling of classified documents… Trump accused the prosecutor of being behind a 2013 controversy in which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was revealed to be targeting political groups, mainly those on the right, for increased auditing… ‘He went after Evangelicals and Great Americans of Faith. The United States had to apologize, and pay major damages for what this deranged lunatic did,’ Trump wrote…

“In his attack on Smith, Trump also cited the corruption case of ex-Virginia GOP governor Robert McDonnell. Smith successfully secured his conviction, though it was later overturned by the Supreme Court… ‘His wife is a Trump Hater, just as he is a Trump Hater—a deranged “psycho” that shouldn’t be involved in any case having to do with ‘Justice,’ other than to look at Biden as a criminal, which he is!’ Trump wrote…”

Biden Broke the Seal

Newsmax wrote on June 12:

“Going after a presidential political opponent has consequences, says former President Donald Trump. And now, he says, the gloves will come off. The ‘seal’ for going after your political opposition as the U.S. president is broken, Trump vowed Monday…

“Trump wrote: ‘… I will appoint a real special “prosecutor” to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the USA, Joe Biden, the entire Biden crime family, & all others involved with the destruction of our elections, borders, & country itself!’”

Trump also said that as newly-elected President, he will “obliterate” the “deep state.” Of course, he said earlier that he would go after Hillary Clinton (“lock her up”), which he never did…

The Espionage Act vs. the Presidential Records Act

Fox News wrote on June 13:

“Former President Trump cast his ‘sham’ federal indictment as ‘election interference’ by the Biden administration, slamming it as a ‘the most heinous abuse of power in the history of our country.’

“Trump, the current 2024 frontrunner, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Miami, Florida Tuesday to 37 federal felony counts… Trump… slammed Smith as a ‘deranged lunatic,’ and slammed President Biden for having ‘his top political opponent arrested and charged.’ He said he had undergone ‘political persecution like something straight out of a fascist or communist nation.’

“Trump said President Biden will ‘forever be remembered as not only the most corrupt president in the history of our country, but perhaps more importantly, the president, together with the band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists trying to destroy American democracy, channeling real anger and charging the President of the United States under the Espionage Act of 1917 [which]… has nothing to do with a former president legally keeping his own documents.’

“Trump defended himself, saying it is, instead, the Presidential Records Act [of 1978] that applies to his case… ‘The Presidential Records Act does not confer any mandate, duty or even discretional authority on the archivist to classify records under the statute,’ Trump said. ‘This responsibility is left solely to the President of the United States…’ [The Presidential Records Act governs the official records of Presidents and Vice Presidents that were created or received after January 20, 1981 (i.e., beginning with the Reagan Administration).]

“Trump slammed Biden—who is under special counsel investigation for his alleged improper retention of classified records—and Hillary Clinton, pointing to her destruction of classified emails. ‘Hillary Clinton broke the law and she didn’t get indicted,’ Trump said. ‘Joe Biden broke the law, and in many other ways, we’re finding out, and so far has not gotten indicted.’…

“Trump went on to point to former President Bill Clinton, saying he ‘lost the nuclear codes and absolutely nothing was done… Trump pointed to former President George W Bush, saying his White House ‘lost 22 million emails’…”

Many legal experts agree with Trump that the Presidential Records Act, and NOT the Espionage Act, is applicable here [Note the next article.]. If so, the indictment, which never mentioned the Presidential Records Act, should fail for that reason alone, but there are many other legal issues involved (for instance, the highly dubious piercing of the attorney-client privilege and Jack Smith compelling Trump’s attorneys to testify). Scholars feel that if there is ever a trial, it might not occur before the end of 2024, after the election.

A Destructive Trump Indictment

The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal published the following opinion piece on June 9:

“Americans will inevitably see this as a Garland-Biden indictment, and they are right to think so.

“… the indictment never mentions the Presidential Records Act (PRA) that allows a President access to documents, both classified and unclassified, once he leaves office. It allows for good-faith negotiation with the National Archives. Yet the indictment assumes that Mr. Trump had no right to take any classified documents… If the Espionage Act means Presidents can’t retain any classified documents, then the PRA is all but meaningless.

“In the court of public opinion, the first question will be about two standards of justice… The charges are a destructive intervention into the 2024 election…  Republicans who are tired of Mr. Trump might rally to his side because they see the prosecution as another unfair Democratic plot to derail him.

“If Republicans win next year’s election, and especially if Mr. Trump does, his supporters will demand that the Biden family be next…

“It was once unthinkable in America that the government’s awesome power of prosecution would be turned on a political opponent… However cavalier he was with classified files, Mr. Trump did not accept a bribe or betray secrets to Russia…”

Nor did he destroy sensitive documents, unlike Hillary Clinton. America has changed drastically… for the worse.

The Clinton Socks Defense

Breitbart wrote on June 14:

“Former President Donald Trump deployed a novel strategy Tuesday against charges of mishandling classified documents: the ‘Clinton Socks’ defense… The ‘Clinton Socks’ case…[ was related to an] infamous episode in which Bill Clinton stuffed 79 audio tape recordings in his sock drawer after his presidency. Clinton later claimed the tapes were personal records not subject to the President Records Act of 1978 (PRA), despite allegations they contained classified information and conversations with foreign leaders.

“Judicial Watch’s Michael Bekesha opined in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal that a President can choose what records to keep or return to the National Archives. Bekesha said he understood this well because, as he put it, ‘I know because I’m the lawyer who lost the “Clinton sock drawer” case.’ He noted that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and a federal judge in 2012 defined presidential records as anything left at the White House after a sitting president leaves office. The ‘Clinton Socks’ precedent could therefore provide a path for Trump to argue that the records seized from Mar-A-Lago were personal in nature, even if they contained sensitive information.

“… there are parallels between the two cases in that both former Presidents Clinton and Trump allegedly disclosed classified information in private meetings… The court’s opinion in the ‘Clinton Socks’ case states that the sole authority to classify records pursuant to the (PRA) rests solely with the president, and that the National Archives does not have any authority regarding classification, nor can it seize presidential records.

“… conservative radio host Mark Levin has pointed out, that the Espionage Act of 1917, which Trump is accused of violating, was not intended to apply to presidents. If it had been, then every president who took documents with him before the passage of the PRA in 1978 could have been prosecuted for ‘espionage.’…”

Republicans Rally Behind Trump

ABC News wrote on June 9:

“Republicans are rallying behind Donald Trump in the face of his historic indictment on federal charges. ‘The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s biggest adversary in the Republican primary, tweeted on Thursday. Sen. Tim Scott, another 2024 Trump challenger, decried ‘weaponization’ as he told Fox News: ‘What we see is a justice system where the scales are weighted.’

“House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledged to ‘hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable.’ ‘Today is indeed a dark day for the United States of America. It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him,’ McCarthy said… ‘The indictment creates, at the minimum, a serious appearance of a double standard and a miscarriage of justice…’ [Jim] Jordan wrote, calling the indictment ‘politically motivated prosecution.’…

“President Joe Biden… said Americans should trust the Department of Justice in light of attacks on it from Trump and others…”

Trusting the Department of Justice?

“Today It Is Trump; Tomorrow It Is You and Me”

International Family News (IFN) wrote on June 9:

“It looks like the Nazis have found a new home in the U.S. Department of Justice and the offices of state and city district attorneys who have been bought by George Soros. After the Soros-backed district attorney in New York City recently got an indictment against former President Trump on bogus charges, it has been announced that now the U.S. Department of Justice has gotten an indictment against Trump regarding a statute relating to document retention that has never been used against any sitting or former President.

“If anyone needed any more proof of a deep state trying to silence anyone who does not march in lock-step with the left-wing agenda, this is it. This is clear and simple election interference more reminiscent of a third-world dictatorship than the America I grew up in. And the scary thing is, if the deep state and Soros-backed district attorneys have no problem going after a former President on his way to likely winning the next U.S. Presidential election, they will have no problem going after you and me.

“… let us never forget the words of German Pastor Martin Niemöller in regard to Nazi Germany: ‘First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.’”

In Nazi Germany, many kept quiet, but many were also in favor of Hitler’s policies. Today in the USA, it is not much different, but even those who are opposed to the corrupt actions of the current government are asking themselves: What can really be done in such a totalitarian system? The answer is obvious to us: America’s ONLY hope is the return of Jesus Christ who will make a swift end to man’s misrule in the USA—and worldwide.

America’s Two Standards of “Justice”

The New York Post wrote on June 10:

“Based on a grand jury search warrant, federal agents raised Mar-a-Lago and the evidence they gathered was bolstered with FBI interviews of Trump aides, employees and even his lawyers.

“… if federal prosecutors had empaneled a grand jury and obtained a search warrant for Joe Biden’s properties and if FBI agents had put his aides, employees and lawyers under oath, scoured their phones and emails and confronted them with evidence to get them to talk, agents would have found that Biden knowingly kept classified documents for many years in his homes and offices, including in the four years between his being vice president and president. 

“Honest agents unencumbered by any political bias of their own or their bosses’ might also have discovered that Hunter Biden and other family members and associates had access to the supposedly secret documents and possibly used them in drawing up their lucrative business schemes with foreign officials and businesses.

“…had the Department of Justice empaneled a grand jury and executed a search warrant on Hillary Clinton’s home and offices in 2013 or 2014 and seized her private computer server, phones and electronic devices, along with the devices of her aides and interviewed her lawyers under oath, FBI agents would have found many thousands of unsecured critical documents that were still in her possession long after she left the Department of State. As it was, more than 2,000 documents deemed to be classified, top secret or confidential were recovered from her devices in 2015 and 2016, despite the fact that Clinton deleted some 33,000 emails she claimed were not work-related.

“… it is indisputable that Trump is being treated far more harshly than either Biden or Clinton were under very similar circumstances. All three kept classified documents where and when they shouldn’t have. Only one is being prosecuted.  All three ran for president, but only one had his campaign spied on by the FBI, an action later found to be unwarranted. And only one was the victim of nonstop FBI leaks to the media alleging collusion with a foreign power that helped undermine his presidency, even though many of the leaks were found to be misinformation. 

“Does it matter that the one person subjected to these extreme measures by the government and media is a Republican, while the other two are Democrats? Only a fool or a liar would deny the obvious…

“The Justice Department, with the knowledge of the Democratic White House, meddled in a presidential election with the aim of electing the Democrat and defeating — and perhaps prosecuting — the Republican…

“Biden appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland, who appointed [special prosecutor Jack] Smith. Whether he likes it or not, the buck stops on Biden’s desk, especially because Biden let it be known more than a year ago he wanted Trump prosecuted…

“Biden has a lot of dirty laundry himself, but Garland is protecting him… The Hunter Biden probe, now in its fifth year, reeks of favoritism, a charge leveled against it by IRS and FBI whistleblowers. The evidence of various crimes has been public for years, and Joe’s connection is provable. Nearly three years ago, he was identified as the ‘big guy’ scheduled to get a secret 10% cut in a multimillion-dollar family deal with Chinese communists. Those charges… were censored by Big Tech at the direction of the FBI…

“Then there’s the newest dimension to Joe’s likely misconduct — the discovery that the FBI has been sitting on a charge since 2017, and renewed at least twice since by an informant, that he accepted a $5 million bribe from a Ukrainian businessman. Reports say Hunter also got $5 million in the same deal, and there are suggestions the money came from the head of Burisma, the corrupt energy company that hired Hunter for its board of directors and paid him millions while Joe was Obama’s point man for Ukraine. 

“Where’s the grand jury on that case? Where are the subpoenas for Biden’s bank records and a house raid searching for evidence? Where is the media firestorm?… The possibility of Joe Biden’s guilt has many implications, including the specter that Congress impeached the wrong man in 2019… Had that been discovered then, Trump would have been re-elected and Biden would be the one facing criminal charges.”

The hypocrisy of the FBI, the Justice Department, the mass media and the Biden administration is appalling. But the last chapter on Trump AND Biden has not yet been written.

“A Bad Horror Movie?”

Ron Paul wrote in his weekly column on June 17:

“The Democrats and Donald Trump reminds me of a bad horror movie, where the hapless protagonists only make the monster stronger with each attempt to eliminate it. So goes the Democrats’ endless attempts to finally rid America of the ‘scourge’ of Donald Trump.

“Thanks to the Durham Report we now know they started even before Trump was elected president. Hillary Clinton’s campaign – with the full knowledge of the candidate and the sitting president, Barack Obama – cooked up a ‘dirty trick’ to portray Trump as an agent of Russia in their effort to deny Trump the White House.

“When that didn’t work they weaponized the FBI, CIA and the rest of the ‘deep state’ to undermine and hobble his presidency. They spied on Trump and his campaign staff using false information manufactured by the FBI.

“When that didn’t work they impeached him under the false charge that he sought foreign assistance for his 2020 re-election bid. This time a spy, in the person of NSC staffer Alexander Vindman, was sent to listen in on Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Zelensky and then make all manner of false charges against Trump based on it.

“Democrats were furious that Trump was less than enthusiastic about their plans to use Ukraine as a proxy to go to war with Russia. Vindman, though an active-duty US military officer, was of Ukrainian background and was loyal to the country of his origin rather than the country of his citizenship… Trump’s lack of enthusiasm for their ‘Project Ukraine’ infuriated Vindman and he sought his revenge against the US President.

“When that didn’t work they impeached Trump again over the false charge that he led an ‘insurrection’ against the US government on January 6, 2021. The more surveillance video we see of this ‘insurrection,’ the more it looks like a false-flag operation cooked up perhaps by Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Washington swamp to finally be rid of Trump. Hundreds of political prisoners have been held in solitary confinement on false accusations that they tried to overthrow the US government.

“When that didn’t work and Trump’s re-election numbers looked more and more favorable while Biden’s approval rating continued to linger in the political basement, the Democrats have now indicted him over some classified documents apparently discovered in his residence in Florida. The boxes and boxes of classified documents discovered at multiple Biden locations have disappeared into the memory hole with the help of the media. Nothing to see here.

“Suddenly Donald Trump, who polling suggests would obliterate Joe Biden in a fair US election, faces 100 years in prison! [Actually, about 400 years in prison!] Where else would you see the head of one political party arrest his main political opponent on cooked up charges? A banana republic!

“For those of us who love this country, it is truly shocking to see this abuse of power. But there’s one thing these dirty tricksters never seem to understand: the more false evidence and false charges they cook up against Trump, the stronger Trump becomes. With these outrageous and continuous attacks on Trump, the Democratic Party (and plenty of Republicans) has lost all credibility. When this plan fails, and it will, I am afraid to think what they might try next.”

Very insightful and factually accurate comments.

Tucker Carlson: They Are Lying to You!

Newsmax wrote on June 13:

“Tucker Carlson denounced the widespread anti-Trump effort to get former President Donald Trump… [in] his 13-minute monologue, his third episode of ‘Tucker on Twitter’… ‘The prosecution of Donald Trump is transparently political… Anyone that denies its happening is lying to you…

“Nobody with Trump’s views is allowed to have power in this country. Criticize our wars and you’re disqualified. If you keep it up, we’ll send you to prison. That’s the message Washington is sending.’

“Carlson denounced mainstream media bloviating… that U.S. defense is compromised ‘because Donald Trump took some classified documents home and didn’t immediately return them to the National Archives?… What a lie that is,’ Carlson said…”

Indeed!

Tucker Carlson: Moral Norms a Thing of the Past

LifeSiteNews wrote on June 9:

“Religious and ethical moral norms… are being rapidly undermined and replaced by ‘the people who run our country,’ argues Tucker Carlson in the second installment of his new show on Twitter…

“The former Fox News host… pointed out how formerly ‘it was taboo in this country to attack people on the basis of their race,’ but punishing them now ‘based on their skin color is not only permitted in modern America, it is mandatory for business and government and higher education, as long as the victims are white.’

“In addition, he provided the example of adultery having been considered a disqualifying factor for anyone seeking higher office as late as 1992, but Bill Clinton was the last presidential candidate who was required to face that standard, Carlson proposed.

“One by one, with increasing speed, our old taboos have been struck down… Stealing, flaunting your wealth, striking women, smoking marijuana on the street, shameless public hypocrisy, taking other people’s money for not working. All of these things used to be considered unacceptable in America. Not anymore.

‘So it probably shouldn’t surprise us that the greatest taboo of all is teetering on the edge of acceptability: child molestation,’ Carlson warned…

“This became more obvious due to an extensive Wall Street Journal ‘exposé about kiddy porn on Instagram’ earlier this week that Carlson observed. Despite the WSJ reporting how Instagram ‘helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage sex content,’ the most shocking aspect of this story was that nothing of any significance happened in response… ‘The Justice Department did not announce an investigation. Congress did not schedule hearings,’ he said.”

Rather than going after real criminals, the Justice Department is busy figuring out how to “get Trump.”

The CORRUPT FBI

Breitbart wrote on June 13:

“FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate admitted during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that the FBI redacted any mention of audio recordings of Joe and Hunter Biden in a document shown last week to Republican lawmakers in which an FBI informant alleged the Bidens were involved in a bribery scheme around 2015 and 2016...

“Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Monday revealed that the document which was a transcript of an FBI interview with an informant, contained references to 17 alleged audio recordings — 15 with Hunter Biden and two with then-Vice President Joe Biden. However, Grassley said, when the document was made available to the House Oversight Committee last week under pressure from Republicans, the references to the audio recordings had been deleted…

“Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)… [told the FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate:] ‘There are two very clear standards of justice in this country. We see it every single day. The American people see this every single day. They look at you and see a politicized entity that is weaponizing an agency of the federal government against the American people…’”

Newsmax added on June 13:

“Texas Sen. Ted Cruz [stated to Abbate] that ‘people are mad at the FBI. Because you are stonewalling and covering up serious allegations of evidence of corruption from the president… You know who isn’t concerned? Not a single Senate Democrat. We’re going to go through this whole hearing, not one Democrat will ask a question about this. You know who else isn’t concerned? The corporate media who is joining with the Democrats in covering up the evidence.’…

“Blackburn said that ‘there is only one conclusion that any serious person could draw: There is a two-tiered system of justice under this administration. The American people know that, if they aren’t loyal to Washington’s liberal political elite or if their last name doesn’t happen to be Biden or Clinton, they are at risk of being targeted.’”

Who Sabotaged the Nord Stream Pipeline and the Kakhovka Dam?

On June 9, The Ron Paul Institute republished the following article by Professor Jonathan Turley:

“The Washington Post is reporting that material leaked by Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, revealed that the Biden Administration knew three months ago that it was Ukraine that was planning to sabotage the Nord Stream pipelines. Teixeira is now criminally charged under the Espionage Act. [This is one way of how to suppress important information and keep it hidden from the public.] If true, the Administration withheld the information for months as the media widely speculated that Russia blew up its own pipeline. Russia accused the United States of approving the attack by Ukrainian forces.

“President Joe Biden was presumably informed by the intelligence agencies. Yet, as speculation continued and Russia pointed fingers [at Ukrainian] and the US, Biden told the public ‘the Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies. We will work with our allies to get to the bottom (of) precisely what happened. Just don’t listen to what Putin’s saying. What he’s saying we know is not true.’

“As Biden ‘worked with our allies to get to the bottom of what happened,’ the Administration knew that months previously it was told by a Ukrainian whistleblower that the CIA was told that a six-person team of Ukrainian special forces were planning to rent a boat, dive to the seafloor and blow up the Nord Stream project. The operation was reportedly led by Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces.

“It is not clear what president Volodymyr Zelenskiy knew or when he knew it. However, we knew of this report long before the pipeline was destroyed in the very way described by the whistleblower…

“Now a new environmental disaster is building after sabotaging the Kakhovka hydro-electric dam in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine. Russia has accused Ukraine  and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused ‘Russian terrorists.’

“This follows new evidence that Ukraine appeared responsible for the drone attack on the Kremlin recently. Zelenskyy also denied any involvement in that attack…

“Western countries have stressed that their military aid to Ukraine was premised on the country not attacking Russia on Russian soil. However, the larger question is whether such intelligence should be kept from Congress and the public when we have already spent over $75 billion on Ukraine.  

“It also raises a continued question over the Biden Administration withholding evidence that contradicts its national security claims…

“If Ukraine is engaging in sabotage against our other allies (and the environment), we have a right to know. If committed by Ukraine, the drone attack on the Kremlin was remarkably stupid. It threatened an escalation of the conflict with little obvious military advantage. With tens of billions of dollars going to Ukraine and a world teetering on the brink of a large conflict, we (and particularly Congress) need to know if our allies are telling us the truth or whether they are reliable allies. Likewise, if Zelenskyy did not know of these major operations, it is a fair question to ask who is really in charge of the country or whether Zelenskyy is engaging in willful blindness…”

These questions, and many more, deserve answers. Under the present administration and its past Modus Operandi, it is doubtful that America will ever get those answers.

Is Compulsory Military Service Returning in Europe?

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 11:

“After the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War in Europe, many countries abolished compulsory military service. But in the wake of the war in Ukraine, several are considering bringing it back… Germany suspended military service in 2011, but it can be reintroduced if the Bundestag determines there is a need for defense as stipulated by the country’s Basic Law…

“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected a proposal by his defense minister, Boris Pistorius, to introduce compulsory military service. However, there are calls for a national debate on the issue from across the political spectrum.

“The Bundestag’s commissioner for the army, Eva Högl, who is also from the ruling Social Democrats like Scholz and Pistorius, recently suggested that a mandatory year of service in military or civilian institutions should be discussed. She also said that members of the military should talk about their work in schools.” 

The article also pointed out that “France is currently debating a ‘light’ form of compulsory military service. President Emmanuel Macron introduced the Universal National Service in 2019, which enables young people to volunteer for a month and serve their country. The government is now considering making this compulsory for all French nationals aged 15-17.”

These are frightening and alarming developments. Based on biblical prophecy, we can expect that compulsory military service will be introduced in Germany, France and other European countries.

Boris Johnson Steps Down

npr wrote on June 9:

“Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson shocked Britain on Friday by quitting as a lawmaker after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament… Johnson quit after receiving the results of an investigation by lawmakers over misleading statements he made to Parliament about ‘partygate,’ a series of rule-breaking government parties during the pandemic… that breached pandemic lockdown rules…

“By quitting, he avoids a suspension that could have seen him ousted from his Commons seat by his constituents, leaving him free to run for Parliament again.”

BBC News reported on June 9:

“Boris Johnson is stepping down immediately as a Tory MP after receiving an advance copy of the Partygate report… In the former prime minister’s fiery resignation statement, he said the process was ‘the very definition of a kangaroo court’. Mr Johnson received a copy on Thursday and claimed it was ‘riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice’… He continued that the committee’s ‘purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts’.

“The statement went on to criticise the direction of the current conservative government. And Mr Johnson did not rule out a return to politics, saying ‘it is very sad to be leaving Parliament – at least for now’…”

Express added on June 9:

“Boris Johnson has resigned as an MP in dramatic fashion over what he and his supporters claim is a witch hunt against him. The former Prime Minister issued a shock statement just hours after his close ally Nadine Dorries announced she too was quitting Parliament in what now appears to be a coordinated move to force two damaging by-elections on Mr Sunak’s floundering government… forcing Mr Sunak to fight for his political life on a number of fronts…

“A close ally of Mr Johnson and former minister told the Daily Express: ‘… When this government falls apart – and it will – they will be begging Boris to come back… Sunak has no election mandate, no mandate from members, he is tearing up all the things we promised in the 2019 manifesto whether it is the Retained EU Law Bill, the Online Safety Bill, the Nationality and Borders Bill or the Northern Ireland Legacy Bill. Sunak has no moral authority and no policy platform.’”

Will Sunak fall and perhaps be replaced by Johnson?

Former Italian Leader Silvio Berlusconi Dies At 86

The Associated Press wrote on June 12:

“Adored, scorned, impossible to ignore in life, former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in death drew tributes even from his critics, and ever more lavish praise from admirers, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as prayers from Pope Francis…

“Putin hailed Berlusconi as a ‘patriarch’ of Italian politics and a true patriot who had improved Italy’s standing on the world stage… ‘Undoubtedly, he was a politician of the European and the world scale,’ Putin said. ‘There are few such people in the international arena now. He was a great friend of our people and did a lot to develop business, friendly relations between Russia and European countries.’ Berlusconi had expressed reservations about sanctions against Russian interests over the invasion.

“Former U.S. President George W. Bush…recalled Berlusconi as a ‘vibrant leader with a personality to match… He strengthened the friendship between Italy and the United States...’

BBC News wrote on June 12:

“Four times he was prime minister, and each time it seemed his political career was over, he managed to confound his critics and bounce back. Nine years after he was banned from public office for tax fraud, he was back in parliament, elected to Italy’s Senate before he turned 86 in September 2022… Berlusconi, who has died at the age of 86, was a media mogul, football club owner and billionaire businessman who never gave up on politics – and helped shape Italy’s image for decades…

“He also became notorious for his questionable sense of humour after a number of high-profile gaffes. On one occasion, he suggested a German MEP would have made a good concentration camp guard – and on another, claimed Mussolini was actually a benign leader. He dismissed these statements as jokes. However, he was also a long-time friend of Vladimir Putin and blamed Ukraine for Russia’s invasion when his own government was strongly behind Kyiv…”

Declaration of War: Israel Considers Altering Temple Mount “Status Quo”

Israel Today wrote on June 9:

“Hamas last night issued an official response to Israeli lawmaker Amit Halevi’s (Likud) proposal to change current policy on the Temple Mount. According to Halevi’s plan, the Temple Mount would be divided into Muslim and Jewish sections and control of the holy site by the Jordanian Waqf would end.

“Halevi suggests that Muslims should continue to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque on the southern end of the complex. ‘If they pray there, it doesn’t make the entire Temple Mount a holy place for Muslims’…  Halevi made it clear that the entire plateau is sacred to the Jews and the Dome of the Rock is where the Temple once stood. In addition, regulations for Jews who want to enter the Temple Mount would be changed. Halevi demands that Jews, like Muslims, be allowed to enter the Temple Mount through any available gate, which has not been the case so far.

“Hamas describes the plan as ‘aggression in an attempt to exert sovereignty over al-Aqsa in the context of the fascist occupation government’s religious war.’ Palestinian terror groups also called the plan a ‘declaration of war’ and threatened a ‘thunderous explosion.’ Hamas called on the Palestinian people to tighten their grip on Al-Aqsa. An organization that identifies with the Palestinian cause even published a threat against Halevi’s life in connection with his plan.”

The Temple Mount and the Al Aqsa compound will continue to be in the news, as violence in that area will increase.

Masks and Vaccine Mandates Against COVID Now Deemed USELESS

Fox News wrote on June 10:

“… experts have been calling into question the efficacy of face masks.  A recent study published by the prestigious Cochrane Library, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, dug into the findings of 78 randomized controlled trials to determine whether ‘physical interventions’ — including face masks and hand-washing — lessened the spread of respiratory viruses… ‘There is just no evidence that they [masks] make any difference. Full stop,’ Tom Jefferson, the study’s lead author, said in an interview.  When asked specifically about fitted N95 masks in health care settings, Jefferson said: ‘It makes no difference – none of it.’…

“A recent study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University concluded that COVID vaccine mandates in nine major cities didn’t appear to make a difference in terms of curbing cases of deaths from the pandemic. The study came after last year, a director of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer admitted at a hearing before the European Parliament that, at the time of its introduction, the COVID vaccine had never been tested for stopping transmission of the virus…”

Many have known this and stated it from the outset, but the mass media, in support of Big Pharma and certain governmental agencies, pursued and followed a different agenda.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

The answer is, probably more than most of us would have thought.   As we will see, when reviewed thoroughly, there are very many names, descriptions, attributes, functions and references that apply to Jesus Christ.

With this question, the first thing that may come to mind is the debate about what and how to call Jesus.   There are those who insist that it must be Yeshua.  Many others disagree:

On the website: https://biblescienceforum.com/ we read about the transliteration of Yeshua into the name Jesus.

Hebrew/Aramaic                   Yeshua                      

Greek                                    Ie-s-ous                     

Latin                                      Ie-s-us                        

English                                  Jesus                         

We might also add the following:

German                                  Jesus

French                                    Jésus

Spanish                                  Jesús

Italian                                      Gesù

In a Newsweek article from December 2018, we read the following: “Jesus Christ is celebrated as the reason for the season for many Christians–but is that his actual name? Due to the numerous translations the Bible has undergone, ‘Jesus’ is the modern term for the Son of God.

“His original Hebrew name is Yeshua, which is short for yehōshu’a. It can be translated to ‘Joshua,’ according to Dr. Michael L. Brown.” 

“Though his name may actually be Joshua, the name ‘Jesus’ wasn’t born out of creativity but also translation. When Yeshua is translated into Greek, which the New Testament is derived from, it becomes Iēsous, which in English spelling is ‘Jesus.’

“While some religious groups, like Messianic Jews, believe in worshipping Yeshua instead of Jesus, there doesn’t seem to be a complete right or wrong way to do it. It is said in the Bible that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord [will be] saved… (Romans 10:13). 

“Overall, the difference in names is due to translation. While a religious group may prefer one of the other, the Bible doesn’t explicitly deem one translation more respectful.”

To clarify, much more is involved for salvation than just calling on the name of the Lord, as a “magical formula.” We must understand that only in Jesus we can obtain salvation (Acts 4:12), but calling on and believing in Jesus is just the first step. It must be followed by repentance, believing in Jesus as our Savior for the remission of sins, believing in the gospel, proper baptism, the receipt of the Holy Spirit, and living a life of obedience to God until the day we die. 

We further read on the website oneforisrael.org: “It is true that his mother and friends called him Yeshua rather than Jesus, but if you know him as Jesus, does he mind that? Is it incorrect to call him Jesus? There are some who would argue till they’re blue in the face that it is critical to call him Yeshua and not Jesus, but Yeshua’s coming was also God’s time to take salvation to the gentiles. I believe that it was no accident that his name was disseminated in the international lingua-franca of the day: Greek. It was to go far and wide, to every nation on earth.”

On the website gotquestions.org, this matter is covered as follows (and we quote selectively for brevity):

“Yeshua is the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is ‘Joshua.’ Iesous is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is ‘Jesus.’ Thus, the names ‘Joshua’ and ‘Jesus’ are essentially the same; both are English pronunciations of the Hebrew and Greek names for our Lord. (For examples of how the two names are interchangeable, see Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8 in the KJV. In both cases, the word Jesus refers to the Old Testament character Joshua.)”

For clarification, the translation of the Authorized Version (KJV) of the word as “Jesus” is clearly wrong, as the Scriptures refer to “Joshua,” not “Jesus.” Still, the argument regarding the name as such is still valid. Continuing:

“Changing the language of a word does not affect the meaning of the word. We call a bound and covered set of pages a ‘book.’ In German, it becomes a buch. In Spanish, it is a libro; in French, a livre. The language changes, but the object itself does not. As Shakespeare said, ‘That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet’ (Romeo and Juliet, II:i). In the same way, we can refer to Jesus as ‘Jesus,’ ‘Yeshua,’ or ‘YehSou’ (Cantonese) without changing His nature. In any language, His name means ‘The Lord Is Salvation.’

“The Bible nowhere commands us to only speak or write His name in Hebrew or Greek. It never even hints at such an idea. Rather, when the message of the gospel was being proclaimed on the Day of Pentecost, the apostles spoke in the languages of the ‘Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene’ (Acts 2:9-10). In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was made known to every language group in a way they could readily understand. Spelling did not matter.

“We refer to Him as ‘Jesus’ because, as English-speaking people, we know of Him through English translations of the Greek New Testament. Scripture does not value one language over another, and it gives no indication that we must resort to Hebrew when addressing the Lord. The command is to ‘call on the name of the Lord,’ with the promise that we ‘shall be saved’ (Acts 2:21; Joel 2:32). Whether we call on Him in English, Korean, Hindi, or Hebrew, the result is the same: the Lord is salvation.”

As mentioned above, we know that when we read the promise that “we shall be saved” when we call “on the name of the Lord,” it is very much more than that as we have covered in many sermons and our literature over many years.  It has to become a Way of Life not just by a once-in-a-lifetime acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

What we have covered so far is just one question about Jesus’ Name.   But there are so many more descriptions of Jesus.

In his book “Names, Titles, and Metaphors of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Donald W. Parry lists “more than one hundred names, titles, and metaphors of the Lord, together with references from the Old Testament. And remember that the Lord is none other than the premortal Jesus Christ. Each name or title serves to describe God’s perfections, attributes, divine qualities, sacred character, or His mission to humankind. For example, ‘Beloved, Glorious Lord,’ ‘Righteousness,’ and ‘Wonderful’ describe divine qualities. ‘Fountain,’ ‘Stone,’ ‘Star,’ and ‘Water’ are metaphors that describe one or more aspects of His nature or character. ‘Advocate,’ ‘Judge,’ ‘King,’… set forth [some] of His roles in the plan of salvation. ‘God of Heaven,’… and ‘King over all the earth’ portray His exalted position, majesty, and omnipotence. ‘Redeemer’ and ‘Savior’ describe aspects of the atoning sacrifice.  

“A number of these names and titles appear only once in the Old Testament, but others are attested multiple times. The names Holy One of Israel, God, Lord, Lord God, Lord of hosts, and Redeemer, for instance, each appear a dozen or more times in the book of Isaiah. No doubt there are other names and titles that can be added to the list.” 

Another author attests that there are some 200 names and titles of Christ found in the Bible.

We will review just some of these descriptions and will refer, where applicable, to previous Q&As or booklets that we have available. While we may make quite a few comments under some headings, generally we will be brief and limit comments because of the number we will cover in this series.  It might be worthwhile for readers to review each one in more depth at their own leisure.

We will underline the description or name that is attributed to Jesus. 

1. Creator

The Scriptures show us the might and majesty of the One whom the Father used to create all things as we see in Colossians 1:16-17 where Paul was writing about the pre-eminence of Christ: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”   Also, see 1 Corinthians 8:6.  At the instruction of the Father, He was Creator.

In our booklet: “Do You Know the Jesus of the Bible?” we quote two commentaries, as follows on pages 4 and 5:

“Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible points out, regarding Colossians 1:16: 

“‘Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe; of all things visible and invisible; of all things that had a beginning, whether they exist in time or in eternity… he was prior to all creation, to all beings, whether in the visible or invisible world… Now, allowing… Paul to have understood the terms which he used, he must have considered Jesus Christ as being truly and properly God… Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things, therefore Jesus Christ must be, according to the plain construction of the apostle’s words, truly and properly God.’

“Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible comments on John 1:3:

“‘In this place it is affirmed that “creation” was effected by “the Word,” or the Son of God. In [Genesis 1:1], it is said that the Being who created the heavens and the earth was God. In [Psalm 102:25–28], this work is ascribed to Yahweh. The “Word,” or the Son of God, is therefore appropriately called “God”… he was the agent, or the efficient cause, by which the universe was made. There is no higher proof of omnipotence than the work of creation; and, hence, God often appeals to that work to prove that he is the true God, in opposition to idols… The Being, therefore, that “created” all things must be divine; and, since this work is ascribed to Jesus Christ, and as it is uniformly in the Scriptures declared to be the work of God, Jesus Christ is therefore equal with the Father.’”

In our recent booklet “God the Father is the Highest,” we read in our Introduction the following:

“There is a tendency in many churches to either under- or overemphasize the role and position of God the Father and of Jesus Christ. It is of tremendous importance that we understand the Truth in this regard, as it is revealed in the pages of the Bible. This booklet will show that God is a Family and a hierarchy, and this means, God the Father is the highest in the Godhead; He and Jesus Christ are NOT equal in authority. This understanding has tremendous importance for our daily Christian life.”

2. The Word

We read in John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” And in verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

In Genesis 1:1 we read about the creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Later in the chapter, after much creation, we see that the Father and the Word created man: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (verses 26-27).

God the Father created everything through Jesus Christ, the “Word” or the “Spokesman.” God the Father gave the command to Jesus; Jesus as the Spokesman or Executor uttered the word (Psalm 33:6; first phrase), and through the power of the Holy Spirit, creation occurred (Psalm 33:6, second phrase; the word “breath,” ruach in Hebrew, should be translated here as “spirit”; note also Psalm 104:30). 

(To be continued)

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

compiled by Dave Harris

A new Member Letter (June 2023) has been written and mailed to our subscribers. Brian Gale reflects on the pageantry of the recent crowning of King Charles the Third to remind us of the tremendous time ahead for Christians when Jesus Christ returns to establish the Kingdom of God when we, along with Him, will serve all of humanity.

“Spreng die Ketten dieser Welt,” last Sabbath’s sermonette given in Germany by Johann Schell, is now posted. Title in English: “Break the Chains of this World.”

“Death Grip on Life,” last Sabbath’s sermonette presented by Michael Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The term death grip refers to having a really tight hold on something and not letting go. Spiritually speaking, what is it that we need to hold on to firmly making sure that we don’t lose it?

“God’s Creation of the Animal World,” last Sabbath’s sermon presented by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Why are certain animals at times very cruel? Why do ferocious predators exist? Did God create them that way? Why are we plagued today with mosquitoes, poisonous snakes or even killer bees? What do we learn from the Bible about God’s dealing with animals in this present day and age? How does God communicate with animals today? What role will animals play in the end time and beyond?

On June 10, 2023, Michael Link will present the sermonette, titled, “Death Grip On Life,” and Norbert Link will present the sermon, titled, “God’s Creation of the Animal World.”

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.

Last year, I purchased an espresso machine that I use daily. I typically make three coffees a day, two for myself and one for my wife.

Before, I was using a hand grinder to grind my coffee fresh each morning. Each grind would take about 2 – 3 minutes to grind the beans fine enough to push hot water through it and make espresso. So, 2 – 3 minutes multiplied by 3 equals 6 to 9 minutes just in grinding the beans down.  (I have used the machine for nine months; 30×9=270 days) equals 2,430 minutes. If we divide that by 60 minutes, that is 40.5 hours.

So, I had spent almost the time of a full work-week (40 hours) grinding beans by hand! When I actually stopped to think about this fact, it shocked me! Even if it was only 2 minutes for each cup, it’s still about 27 hours. Now I have an electric grinder which automatically grinds the beans in about 30 seconds. This one device has shaved off minutes of making coffee each morning, essentially saving me days of time each year!

The right tool for the job saves time! I think this also iterates the fact that the little things that we do repeatedly over time build up. Good, bad, everything we do builds up and has effects.

What tools do we use in our Christian lives? Many of us have been in the Church of God for a very long time. But how much do we apply the tools of our trade? Are there areas where we are failing to apply the proper tools? Are we wandering aimlessly, using the wrong tools and getting bad results?

When God was giving instructions to Moses for the building of the traveling temple or tabernacle of God and the things to be placed therein and the garments needed to perform the service, all of it was intricate and it was to be built by craftsmen—people who knew what they were doing. These people didn’t just randomly have the ability. It says that they were skilled and then the Spirit of God led them. Exodus 28:3 states: “So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest.”

God hasn’t called us by random chance! God has called us and has given us the ability to accomplish what He needs us to do. Notice, Paul states in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  It is easy to get caught up in our daily lives, with everything that is going on around us, and to miss the bigger picture. The Bible doesn’t leave us without knowledge of what to do. If we are involving God in our ways, then it’s clear that He will show us the ways and open the doors for us.

When it comes to our Christian lives, what is it that we are doing daily?

We know we should be praying always. We know we should be studying the Bible. We know what we should be doing. But how much are we actually really turning over to God?

What we need to keep in mind at all times is that we are not here fighting against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). Rather, we are fighting daily against spiritual enemies that are trying to kill us—yes, physically, but more importantly, eternally. 

We can ONLY fight this fight by turning to our spiritual Helper and Guide. We need to realign ourselves with the proper tools to fight the battles and consider who our true enemy is. When we are not fully engaged and using the tools that God gives us, then Satan’s fog of confusion, deception and a whole host of other tools that he uses are active and are designed to cause us pain, grief and ultimately destruction. 2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us that Satan should not “take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

Our time here is limited. We are called now to do different tasks. Yet we ALL are in this struggle between life and death. We are each given the opportunity to take up and learn how to use the tools that God gives us. Ephesians 6:10-20 lays out for us the tools that are given to us. That then is our duty—to take them and to use them—to figure out how they find use and purpose in our lives. We should also realize that without these tools, it is impossible to win. Another area that comes to mind and that goes hand in hand with using these tools is learning how to utilize the fruit of the Spirit of God. The actions that come from this fruit is what is key. It is ONLY by studying—thinking about and really looking at our lives that we can come away with answers, with changes.

The tools that we have at our disposal are there for us to use at all times and in every situation that we find ourselves in—if we are in the mindset to do so. That really is what this life is about—being mindful of how we are living our lives. Time comes and goes; no matter, what we do. We should pay attention to how we are using the tools given to us because it will matter!

by Norbert Link

We begin with serious accusations against Joe Biden and the indictment of Donald Trump ON THE SAME DAY; articles and comments about the debt ceiling “deal”; continue with the fear that the US Government is becoming more and more totalitarian; and point out ridiculous and blasphemous attempts in Utah to prohibit the King James Bible [and other religious books] for elementary and middle school students. Please view in this regard our new StandingWatch program, titled, “The Bible Prohibited in Our School Libraries!”

We speak on medical concerns about the mental and physical fitness of President Biden; the differences between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump; open disagreement with Vladimir Putin on Russian state-approved television; and Putin’s “puppet,” Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

We address the decision of Switzerland, not to authorize the transfer of Swiss weapons to Ukraine; and Zelensky’s concerns about the return of Donald Trump.

We speak on the negative feelings of most Germans regarding their government; fears that Germany may be breaking down; Germany’s confrontation with left-wing extremism, and Germany’s problems with patriotism.

Please view in this regard our recent StandingWatch program, “The Ukraine War—Germany’s and Merkel’s Fault?” 

We also address Poland’s verbal attacks against France; the condemnation of Israel by ten European nations; and the swearing-in ceremony of Turkish President Erdogan.

We conclude with the Catholic’s view on the sign of the cross and concerns about electric cars.

Throughout this section, we have underlined pertinent statements in the quoted articles, for the convenience and quick overview of the reader.

Biden Accused; Trump Infected

 Newsmax wrote on June 8:

“An executive of the Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings paid then-Vice President Joe Biden $5 million as part of a bribery scheme, according to the FBI document that is part of the House Oversight Committee probe into the incident, Fox News reported Thursday.

“Biden’s son Hunter Biden was a member of the Burisma board.”

The New York Post wrote on June 8:

“Former President Trump says he has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he mishandled classified material by keeping hundreds of sensitive documents from his time in the White House at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida… ‘The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,’ Trump wrote… that went on to criticize President Biden’s handling of classified material. 

“‘I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States… I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!’ Trump wrote.  ‘This is indeed a DARK DAY for the United States of America. We are a Country in serious and rapid Decline…’”

On the same day President Biden is accused of obtaining illegal payments from Burisma, former President Trump gets indicted. The timing is far too obvious than to be ignored; especially since the prosecutor is a left-wing Democrat, and no criminal charges have been filed against Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and even Hillary Clinton, even though “investigations” involving them have been going on for many years. Many have reacted to the news by saying that America has indeed become a third world Banana Republic. 

Debt Ceiling Bill Enacted

ABC News wrote on June 1:

“The Senate on Thursday night passed legislation to lift the nation’s debt ceiling… The final vote was 63-36…

“Schumer painted the debt limit deal as a broad victory for Democrats late Thursday night during a press conference just after the legislation passed… Schumer’s comments come after an aggressive effort by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to cast the bill as a GOP victory. But Schumer pointed to the vote margins in the House and Senate, noting that the bill enjoyed more support from Democrats than it did from Republicans in both chambers…

“The Fiscal Responsibility Act, the product of weeks of contentious negotiation between Biden and McCarthy, will raise the $31.4 trillion debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025, while also implementing some caps on government spending and policy changes… The compromise legislation was met with opposition from wings of both parties — hardline Republicans and progressive Democrats…”

Biden signed the bill on Saturday, June 3.

What the suspension of the debt limit until January 1, 2025 means is that it “essentially gives the Treasury Department the latitude to borrow as much money as it needs to pay the nation’s bills during that time period, plus a few months after the limit is reached, as the department employs accounting maneuvers to keep up payments… the debt limit will be set at whatever level it has reached when the suspension ends… The suspension will kick the next potential fight over the nation’s debt load to 2025 — past the next presidential election” (The New York Times, dated June 2).

However, another fight is just around the corner, when federal funding is set to run out in October 2023. As the Huffington Post reported on June 3:

“Senate Republicans are demanding that Congress pass additional legislation to boost defense spending… such a bill could also prove convenient for sending additional money to Ukraine in its defense against Russia. Of course, any additional spending this year would need the approval of the GOP-led House, where skepticism of more aid to Ukraine runs rampant.

“Another part of the bill could cause chaos this year by automatically cutting defense and nondefense funding if lawmakers fail to wrap up the dozen bills to fund government agencies by the end of the year…

“Given the razor-thin margin Republicans have in the House, they’ll likely need Democratic help to pass the funding bills. And the Republican opponents of the debt limit deal meant to ease the annual budget process are unlikely to make things any easier.”

The US Government Becomes More and More Totalitarian

The Rutherford Institute wrote on or about May 31:

“To be convicted of seditious conspiracy, the charge levied against Stewart Rhodes who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for being the driving force behind the January 6 Capitol riots, one doesn’t have to engage in violence against the government, vandalize government property, or even trespass on property that the government has declared off-limits to the general public.

“… This is about the long-term ramifications of empowering the government to wage war on individuals whose political ideas and expression challenge the government’s power, reveal the government’s corruption, expose the government’s lies, and encourage the citizenry to push back against the government’s many injustices.

“This is about criminalizing political expression in thoughts, words and deeds. This is about how the government has used the events of Jan. 6 in order to justify further power grabs and acquire more authoritarian emergency powers. 

“This was never about so-called threats to democracy… Indeed, by the government’s own definition, America’s founders were seditious conspirators based on the heavily charged rhetoric they used to birth the nation.

“Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Marquis De Lafayette, and John Adams would certainly have been charged for suggesting that Americans should not only take up arms but be prepared to protect their liberties and defend themselves against the government should it violate their rights. Had America’s founders feared revolutionary words and ideas, there would have been no First Amendment, which protects the right to political expression, even if that expression is anti-government.

“No matter what one’s political persuasion might be, every American has a First Amendment right to protest government programs or policies with which they might disagree... Unfortunately, the government is increasingly losing its tolerance for anyone whose political views could be perceived as critical or ‘anti-government.’…

“For years now, the government has used all of the weapons in its vast arsenal—surveillance, threat assessments, fusion centers, pre-crime programs, hate crime laws, militarized police, lockdowns, martial law, etc.—to target potential enemies of the state based on their ideologies, behaviors, affiliations and other characteristics that might be deemed suspicious or dangerous…”

“Republicans Fiscally Irresponsible Act”

In his weekly column, Ron Paul wrote the following on June 5:

“The political and financial class breathed a sigh of relief when Congress passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The bill suspends the debt ceiling for two years, thus avoiding the establishment’s nightmare of a government default on its debt. Rather, it allows the government to continue adding trillions of dollars of debt that will be monetized by the Federal Reserve.

“Of course, this default will be felt by the people in the form of an inflation tax. This inflation tax may be the worst of all taxes, because it is both hidden and regressive. Politicians love to point the finger at greedy corporations, labor unions, and even consumers for increasing prices instead of taking responsibility for the legislation they pass that incentivizes the Federal Reserve to create more inflation.

“Republican supporters of the bill claim it begins to roll back the excessive spending of the Biden years. While the bill does rescind $28 billion of unspent COVID funds, it  just recycles that money into the Fiscal Year 2024 budget. Thus it does not save taxpayers a dime. The bill does cap domestic discretionary spending for Fiscal Year 2024 at $704  billion and spending for Fiscal Year 2025 at $711 billion. However, these caps come from a budget whose baseline includes the increased COVID spending. The bill only cuts spending by 0.1 to 0.2 percent of gross domestic product over the next two years  – assuming Congress does not reverse the cuts. Of course, it makes no attempt to actually cut spending, much less eradicate any illegitimate and unconstitutional government agencies, cabinet departments, or programs. 

“Even though ‘defense’ is the third largest item in the budget (behind social security, Medicare, and interest in the national debt), our annual military budget alone is more than the combined  budgets of the next ten biggest spending countries. The Fiscal Responsibility Act doesn’t take a penny away from the military budget; instead it matches President Biden’s request for a 3.2 percent increase.  This increase comes despite the fact that the Pentagon has never complied with the law requiring it to pass an audit.  

“Biden’s military budget is the largest in United States history and probably world history. Deep State Republicans like South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham never met a war he didn’t love.  Graham and his allies threatened to block passage of the bill unless the military spending was increased and more taxpayer money—and Ukraine and Russian lives — wasted in the Ukraine Russian conflict…

“The Fiscal Responsibility Act will result in increased government spending, debt, and deficits. It will also further erode the value of the United States Dollar, thus making it more likely that the US dollar will lose its world reserve currency status sooner rather than later…”

King James Bible Prohibited in US Schools

Newsmax wrote on June 2:

“The King James Bible is being removed from elementary and middle school libraries [for the 72,000-student Davis School District north of Salt Lake City, Utah] after a complaint that it contained passages describing sex and violence. High schools in the county will still be able to keep the scriptures on their library shelves.

“A three-person committee, appointed by the county school district to determine if the Bible is appropriate for students to see, found it contained vulgarity or violence…”

The Associated Press added on June 2:

“The committee published its decision in an online database of review requests and did not elaborate on its reasoning or which passages of the Bible it found overly violent or vulgar…

“The reviews are handled by a committee made up of teachers, parents and administrators in the predominantly conservative community where most people are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…

“Most members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints read the Bible along with other scriptures, including the Book of Mormon…

“The Bible has long found itself on the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books and was temporarily pulled off shelves last year in school districts in Texas and Missouri…”

This is the epitome of nonsense and appalling abomination… but the Bible has been prohibited before, including for many decades by the Catholic Church. Obviously, Satan has always been behind those movements to suppress the Truth of God’s Word.

Now the Book of Mormon?

The Salt Lake Tribune wrote on June 2:

“The Utah school district… received a new request Friday targeting another religious text: the Book of Mormon… The request calls for the book to be reviewed for containing violence, which includes battles, beheadings and kidnappings among its stories. Members of the faith believe the text was translated from golden plates by church founder Joseph Smith.

“The complaint is the latest in a snowballing process for reviewing school literature in Utah. A law was passed in 2022 to allow parents to submit requests for removal of books containing any ‘pornographic’ or ‘indecent material.’…

“Now with the Book of Mormon challenge, the district will form another committee to review that book to determine if it violates the law… [Davis spokesperson Christopher Williams] said there have not been complaints filed on other religious texts, such as the Quran….”

Biden Not Fit Mentally and Physically

The New York Post wrote on June 4:

“Texas GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician, is continuing to raise flags over President Biden’s health, concluding that he is ‘not fit mentally or physically’ after the president fell on stage Thursday during a commencement ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy… ‘I think his lack of physical ability and his physical decline is now starting to highlight the cognitive decline that we’ve been watching for so long now,’ Jackson said.

“‘It’s… becoming a national security issue for us… To think that this man thinks he can be president at the age of 86 when he’s 80 right now [and] could be in office for another six years is just malpractice on part of the White House in the West Wing to allow this to be happening, for him to even be talking about running for another term… Somebody needs to be held accountable. People like Jill Biden and people that surround him and are supposed to love him and care about him, they should be doing something about this, and they should be stopping this because it’s a shame.’…

“Jackson… said he does not ‘honestly think he can finish the time he’s got left, but should he finish that time, there’s no way this man can be our president for another four years.’

“Jackson previously served as the White House physician to former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and has repeatedly questioned whether Biden is cognitively fit for office…”

In a related article, the New York Post wrote on June 3:

“It was alarming to watch Joe Biden take a tumble Thursday at the Air Force Academy commencement. But the really scary thought is that if he had landed head-first, Kamala Harris would be sitting in the Oval Office. Talk about terrifying!… the sensible Americans who make up a majority of the nation would be living in fear of the human word salad playing with the nuclear football and the possibility that her cackle could be the soundtrack of Armageddon…”

Scary indeed…

Kennedy vs. Trump

Fox News reported on May 31:

“Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. lashed out at former President Donald Trump Tuesday, blasting him over what appears to be his deep ties to Big Pharma. ‘Donald Trump owns stock in Pfizer and J&J, who bought fancy tickets to his inauguration and placed pharma shills high in his administration,’ Kennedy tweeted, linking to a separate tweet from a journalist detailing what he framed as a number of conflicts of interest between Trump and the pharmaceutical industry during his time in the White House. ‘That’s how Washington works. It is not the exception, but the rule. It is a form of legalized bribery,’ Kennedy added. ‘This kind of thing is so normalized that a lot of people take it for granted as normal. I promise you, corruption will no longer be normal when I am President.’

“The journalist Kennedy referenced, Pedro Gonzalez of Chronicles Magazine, noted in his tweet Pfizer’s donation of $1 million to Trump’s presidential inauguration committee following his election victory in 2016. Gonzalez also pointed to the subsequent nominations of former Trump administration officials Scott Gottlieb and Alex Azar, and their connections to the pharmaceutical industry as an executive and lobbyist respectively…

“Gonzalez claimed Trump ‘killed’ plans for a vaccine safety commission, which he said would have included Kennedy, because of his connections to Big Pharma.”

And let us not forget that Trump’s unwise policy – to say the least – was largely responsible for lockdowns, prohibition of tourism entering the US, and other unreasonable Corona restrictions, and the push for unsafe vaccines. And Trump has not changed his mind, as the next article shows.

LifeSiteNews wrote on June 2:

“Former President Donald Trump doubled down yet again on his support of the COVID-19 jabs this week, dismissing the concerns of an Iowa voter who suggested the controversial shots resulted in her community having ‘lost people.’… It is not clear if she was referring to lost lives due to vaccine-related deaths or lost jobs due to vaccine mandates. ‘Everybody wanted a vaccine at that time,’ Trump responded. ‘And I was able to do something that nobody else could have done, getting it done very, very rapidly. But I never was for mandates. I was, I thought the mandates were terrible…’

“Trump’s refusal to acknowledge evidence of the shots’ risk has long been one of the biggest points of contention with former supporters… In January of this year, he dismissed potential safety issues by suggesting that ‘problems’ were in ‘relatively small numbers,’ while stressing that ‘some people say that I saved 100 million lives worldwide.’ At the time, mRNA technology pioneer and prominent COVID establishment critic Dr. Robert Malone revealed that he once filmed a video meant to encourage Trump to change his mind on the subject, but it had ‘no impact.’

“DeSantis too was an early supporter of the COVID vaccines, although the governor’s position has changed as more data about their harms has come to light. For more than a year, DeSantis and his administration have spoken about the ineffectiveness of the shots, and his administration began conducting its own studies, which concluded that they should not be taken by younger men. In December, the Florida Supreme Court approved DeSantis’s request for a grand jury investigation into the claims of the vaccines’ manufacturers….”

Better late than never…

OK! added on June 1:

“[Gonzalez also wrote:] ‘That’s also why Trump killed the vaccine safety commission Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was supposed to lead. That and the fact Trump cared more about the counsel of people like Bill Gates on vaccines than his own supporters…’

“According to a 2018 report by The Guardian, the group Trump killed was made of vaccine skeptics and was going to investigate a potential link between childhood vaccinations and autism. Kennedy claims he was contacted by the Trump White House to join the group, but then they went radio silent.”

Kennedy stated in an interview with Newsmax on June 2 that he is not against vaccines which are proven to be safe, but that for most of them, such proof has been lacking.

Trump Refused to Fire Fauci. Why?

Newsmax wrote on June 5:

“The campaign for Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is firing back at COVID-19 barbs hurled by Donald Trump, trolling the former president for refusing to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci... sharing a campaign video ad… The ad… cuts to then-President Trump talking about how he cannot fire Fauci during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns… ‘Today I walk in, I hear I’m going to fire him,’ Trump is shown during one of his 2020 pandemic daily press briefings. ‘I’m not firing him. I think he’s a wonderful guy.’

“The DeSantis War Room campaign ad then turns to multiple interviews where Trump admitted he did not fire Fauci because of ‘a firestorm on the left,’ saying he was not ‘allowed to,’ and even Trump admitting that Fauci was a problem. ‘Every time he goes on television there’s a bomb, but there’s even a bigger bomb if you fire him,’ Trump says in a TV interview in the ad…

“DeSantis has famously called Fauci ‘an elf’ who needed to be ‘chucked across the Potomac River.’…”

There can be no doubt that Trump’s refusal to fire Fauci was one of his biggest mistakes during his presidency.

Revocation of Johnson and Johnson COVID Vaccine

LifeSiteNews wrote on June 5:

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. The revocation happened officially due to the manufacturer’s own request…  The Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID inoculation is produced by its subsidiary Janssen Biotech and was authorized for emergency use on February 27, 2021…

“While J&J’s EUA was officially withdrawn because all the available doses in the U.S. have expired and the pharma giant decided to discontinue the product, the FDA and others have raised concerns about the safety of the J&J injection in the past.

“In May 2022, the FDA limited the use of the J&J COVID vaccine for some adults due to increased risk of blood clots. A year earlier, in April 2021, the FDA and CDC had temporarily put a ‘pause’ on the J&J shot after cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) occurred within a week or two after receiving the inoculation. 

“Moreover, in July 2021, the FDA added the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can cause paralysis, as a potential side effect of the J&J COVID shot after preliminary reports of GBS following vaccination had been recorded.

“‘The FDA should have revoked the emergency approval long ago because, first, there is no emergency and, second, J&J has an evidently unfavorable risk-benefit ratio,’ German author and university professor Stefan Homburg opined on Twitter. ‘But then the agency would have admitted its mistake. This is an elegant way to get out of it.’”

Open Criticism of Putin on Russia’s State TV

The Daily Mail wrote on June 1:

“A Russian politician has launched an extraordinary attack on Vladimir Putin, calling for the despot to be ousted from office and replaced during an appearance on state TV. Opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin, who has criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said on Russia’s NTV channel that Russians must choose a different leader in the country’s 2024 elections…

“It marked the first time anyone had called for Putin to be replaced on Russian state-approved TV since the war began in February 2022, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said. Nadezhdin said that under Putin’s rule, ‘there is no way for us to come back to Europe’…

“While Putin’s propagandists have openly criticised the state of Russia’s military and the war efforts, they have steered clear of condemning Putin – but Nadezhdin has done just that…”

Putin’s Puppet Belarus

Politico wrote on June 2:

“‘The only mistake’ Russia and Belarus made was ‘that we didn’t resolve this issue in 2014-2015, when Ukraine had no army and wasn’t prepared,’ Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said. In 2014, Russia illegally invaded Crimea and annexed it from Ukraine, and Kremlin-backed fighters seized territory in eastern Ukraine.

“Lukashenko’s comments… indicate that Lukashenko has fully embraced his transformation into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s puppet… helping Moscow launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and agreeing to host Russian nuclear weapons on his country’s soil…”

Belarus, or White Russia, is part of the biblical Medes, as are many Ukrainians. They will ultimately be united with Russia against Europe.

Switzerland Votes Against Arms Transfer to Ukraine

Bild Online wrote on June 1:

“The Swiss parliament has voted against a law that would have allowed third countries to transfer arms produced in Switzerland to Ukraine. On Thursday, the National Council in Bern voted 98 to 75 against the draft law known as ‘Lex Ukraine’.

“In view of the Russian invasion, a discussion has flared up about Switzerland’s traditional strict neutrality. Despite intense pressure from Kiev and its supporters, Switzerland refuses to allow countries in possession of Swiss-made weapons to export them to Ukraine.

“Applications from Germany, Spain and Denmark were rejected with reference to the Swiss War Physical Substance Act (Kriegsmaterialgesetz), which prohibits arms deliveries to war zones.”

EU Extends Import Restrictions on Ukrainian Grain

Bild Online wrote on June 5:

“The European Union (EU) extends restrictions on grain imports from Ukraine. The Brussels authorities announced that the trade restrictions will remain in place until September 15.

“The restrictions affect Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, where certain types of grain from Ukraine can no longer be traded freely. However, the transit of goods to other EU countries is permitted. Due to the Russian invasion, no tariffs are currently being levied on Ukrainian grain.”

Zelensky Concerned About Trump Re-Election

Breitbart wrote on June 4:

“In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted he has concerns about the possible re-election of Donald Trump next year, saying that he was unsure how exactly the Republican leader would have reacted had Russia invaded during his presidency. The Ukrainian head-of-state also praised the response of the Biden administration, which has regularly handed over billions of dollars worth of weapons aid to the Eastern European nation since Moscow’s invasion began last year.

“Asked how he felt about Donald Trump, Zelensky admitted that he was more comfortable with dealing with Biden and that the return of a Republican-led government could end up being difficult for his war effort… He also appeared uncomfortable with Donald Trump’s claim that he would be able to negotiate a peace settlement to the Ukraine War within 24 hours, adding that the 45th American leader did not seem to care that Ukrainian territory — namely Crimea — was being ‘occupied’ by Russia during his presidency after being illegally annexed under the Obama administration in 2014…”

Tucker Carlson’s First Independent Show

 Breitbart wrote on June 6:

“Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson released the first episode of his revamped talk show on Twitter Tuesday evening, criticizing the establishment’s unwavering support for the Ukraine war effort and its silencing of alternative narratives…

“Carlson opened his show by discussing reports that the Nova Kakhova dam in southern Ukraine blew up, and he criticized establishment media figures who quickly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin… ‘the Kokovka dam was effectively Russian, it was built by the Russian government. It currently sits in Russian-controlled territory,” Carlson noted. ‘The dam’s reservoir supplies water to Crimea, which has been for the last 240 years home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Blowing up the dam may be bad for Ukraine, but it hurts Russia more. And for precisely that reason the Ukrainian government has considered destroying it.’

“Carlson said a ‘fair person would conclude that the Ukrainians probably blew it up, just as you would assume they blew up the Nord Stream Russian natural gas pipeline last fall.’… Carlson also chided Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and presidential hopeful Nikki Haley (R) for their unwavering support of the Ukrainian war effort…”

Newsmax added that the show garnered about 80 million views, perhaps more.

 Most Germans Extremely Unhappy with their Government

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 2:

“Never before have voters in Germany been this unhappy with the current coalition government: Only one in five says they are doing a good job…

“The far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the main beneficiary. Its approval ratings have gone up by another 2% since May and, if elections were held now, would win 18% nationwide putting them on a par with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD. In several eastern states, the AfD has long been the strongest party…

“In the latest survey, the pollsters paid particular attention to the AfD sympathizers. They asked them what their main reason would be to vote for the far-right and found that it is mainly dissatisfaction with all the other parties, and especially the government. Only 32% claim to fully support the AfD’s policies.

“When asked about the issues that prompt them to vote for the AfD, an overwhelming majority of respondents named the far-right’s critical stance on immigration. 47% said they side with the AfD in its opposition to the government’s climate and environment energy policies, and 43% said they were concerned about the economy…

“Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has drafted a law to come into effect in 2024, mandating that all new heating systems installed would have to use 65% renewable energy instead of oil or natural gas… 49% [of voters] oppose it. 67% say they are worried that they won’t be able to shoulder the financial burden of installing the new heating systems.

“… Only 28% of respondents in the latest survey support the delivery of German fighter jets to Ukraine… Overall, support for weapons deliveries to Ukraine is declining, only a minority believes that the arms deliveries should be stepped up.

“The call for diplomacy is mounting: 55% now say the German government’s attempts at reaching negotiations to end the fighting should be intensified…”

Germany—Europe’s Economic Engine—Is Breaking Down”

On May 27, 2023, Bloomberg published the following article:

“Germany has been Europe’s economic engine for decades, pulling the region through one crisis after another. But that resilience is breaking down, and it spells danger for the whole continent.

“Decades of flawed energy policy, the demise of combustion-engine cars and a sluggish transition to new technologies are converging to pose the most fundamental threat to the nation’s prosperity since reunification. But unlike in 1990, the political class lacks the leadership to tackle structural issues gnawing at the heart of the country’s competitiveness…

“Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s make-shift coalition has reverted to petty infighting over everything from debt and spending to heat pumps and speed limits as soon as the risks of energy shortfalls eased. But the warning signals are getting hard to ignore…

“With Scholz’s messy three-way coalition racked with bickering, Germany is poised for instability…”

Left-Wing Extremism in Germany

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 3:

“Germany’s domestic intelligence agency says left-wing extremism is growing… left-wing violence was directed ‘primarily at the police and right-wing extremists, but also … at business enterprises, especially in the real estate sector.’…

“[The] domestic intelligence agency report saw a ‘high level of radicalization’ among violence-oriented left-wing extremists…”

Germany’s Problem with Patriotism

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 4:

“The problem of German patriotism is virtually as old as the Federal Republic itself, with scars from the wounded pride that came in the aftermath of World War II still felt today… Germany’s history obviously means that patriotism is always going to be deeply problematic…

“The German national colors — black, red and gold — have had a highly politicized history, and rarely served to unite all Germans in the same way that, say, the US Stars and Stripes or the British Union Jack always did.

“The black-red-gold colors were first waved by individual corps of the Prussian army fighting to liberate Europe from Napoleon. They established themselves as the German Confederation’s national colors in the early 19th century, and the flag itself was adopted by the national assembly following the 1848 revolutions, when national identity, liberty and individual rights became intertwined with an anti-monarchist surge.

“But the colors went out of fashion as Prussia’s power increased and the monarchy reasserted itself and in 1871, black, white and red became the colors of the new German Reich. The black-red-gold pattern was readopted by the Weimar Republic in 1919 after the fall of Kaiser Wilhelm II, only to be dropped yet again by the Nazis in 1934…

“Germans have become less squeamish about flying the national colors in the past two decades, especially when supporting the national sports teams…

“Yet in the past few years, the black-red-gold colors and the issue of patriotism have been increasingly co-opted by far-right political forces like the Islamophobic PEGIDA movement and the anti-immigration political party AfD, founded in 2013.

“[Germany’s biggest opposition party, the] CDU [is] trying to bring back ‘constitutional patriotism’. The CDU has now made it its business to win back national pride from the far right…”

Patriotism—or more accurately stated, nationalism—will see a comeback in Germany.

Poland Attacks France

Express wrote on June 3:

“Poland has slapped down French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent charm offensive to Eastern Europe amid suspicion in Warsaw that France is prepared to sell out Ukrainian territory in a peace deal with Russia. The fresh Polish criticism of Mr Macron comes just days after the French leader offered an olive branch to the countries of NATO’s Eastern flanks, openly admitting the region’s concerns over Russia had been ignored.

“Attacking both the French and German response to Putin’s barbaric war, Polish diplomat [and former Minister of Defense] Jacek Saryusz-Wolski [said:] ‘There is a huge appetite for freezing the conflict although not openly admitted. I think all the dreams of Macron and Scholz are to have peace at the prize of giving up part of the territory of Ukraine and to have the frozen conflict as you know which could last for decades. [Macron] says nice things, he is a master of lies…’”

Ten Nations Against Israel

The Times of Israel wrote on May 27:

“A consortium of diplomatic missions across Europe, led by the Office of the European Union Representative to the West Bank and Gaza, called on Israel to stop all demolitions of schools and other structures that were built with humanitarian help in the West Bank, and allow humanitarian organization workers to operate freely in the territory and in East Jerusalem.

“In a press statement Friday, the consulates general of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and the representative offices of Denmark, Finland, Germany and Ireland, as well as the EU office to the West Bank and Gaza, slammed Israel for the recent demolition earlier this month of an EU-funded school in the Palestinian village of Jubbet al-Dhib near Bethlehem, and the ‘threatened demolition of another 57 schools in the West Bank.’

“In early May, Israeli Civil Administration engineers razed the school in Jubbet al-Dhib, which Palestinians constructed in 2017 without a permit in the Herodium national park in the West Bank. The demolition followed a District Court ruling from March, in which the structure was defined as a safety hazard at risk of imminent collapse. The EU harshly criticized the move…”

Britain (Ephraim) is still mixing itself among the nations of the EU, as a burned unturned cake (Hosea 7:8), unaware or unwilling to admit that its prior power is gone (verse 9).

Erdogan Sworn In

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 3:

“Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in for his third consecutive term on Saturday after winning a runoff election last weekend… Erdogan’s new five-year mandate will allow him to continue pursuing an increasingly authoritarian program domestically while charting an independent path as a regional military power amid global crises…

“Afterwards, he will attend a ceremony at the Presidential Palace followed by a dinner attended by 21 heads of state and 13 prime ministers, as well as high-level officials from other countries like the United States and China… NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is due to attend the ceremony, and he will also hold bilateral talks with Erdogan on Sunday.

“Turkey has been in the spotlight after Finland and Sweden moved to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Ankara was among the last NATO members to ratify Finland’s membership in March. But it has held out on allowing Sweden to join over Stockholm’s reluctance to extradite exiled members of Kurdish groups that Turkey claims to be ‘terrorists’ with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“The NATO secretary general previously said his visit to Turkey aimed to ‘ensure the fastest possible accession of Sweden’ to the military alliance… ‘My message is that Sweden has delivered, and the time has come to ratify Sweden,’ Stoltenberg told reporters on Thursday.”

It is unclear in what way Sweden has “delivered.”

The Sign of the Cross

Aciafrica wrote on June 4:

“Each time that a Catholic makes the sign of the cross, it is a reminder that God is a communion of love, Pope Francis said Sunday… ‘God is love. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he [who exactly?] gave his life for us, so we make the sign of the cross,’ he said… Pope Francis pointed out that one way to picture the Holy Trinity is to think of ‘the image of a family gathered around the table, where life is shared.’…

“‘The invitation he [speaking of the Holy Spirit] extends to us, we might say, is to sit at the table with God to share in his love. This is what happens at every Mass, at the altar of the Eucharistic table, where Jesus offers himself to the Father and offers himself for us.’”

Such confusion and ignorance. The Holy Spirit is NOT God or a Person; God is NOT a Trinity; and Christ gave His life for us ONCE… He is not sacrificed every time when the “Eucharist” is taken.

The Problems With Electric Cars

Express wrote on June 4:

“Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson has written a very considered piece about why he feels ‘duped’ by the electric car trend and the realities of their overall impact on the environment… Rowan Atkinson… got an electric hybrid 18 years ago and his first all-electric car nine years later… [He wrote in the Guardian:] ‘When you start to drill into the facts, electric motoring doesn’t seem to be quite the environmental panacea it is claimed to be. The problem with the initiative is that it seems to be based on conclusions drawn from only one part of a car’s operating life: what comes out of the exhaust pipe.’

“He was writing in response to the government’s proposal to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030. He cited figures released by Volvo in the lead-up to the Cop26 climate conference. They revealed that greenhouse gas emissions in the production of an electric car were 70 per cent higher than in the manufacturing of a petrol one due to the resource-sapping lithium ion batteries… He pointed out that ‘solid-state’ batteries, which will revolutionise the game are ‘years away’ from going on sale…

“Aside from a love of cars, Rowan is actually fully qualified to offer his opinions on this. He studied electrical and electronic engineering at university before gaining a subsequent master’s in control systems…”

The Sun added on June 4:

“‘Electric motoring isn’t the environmental solution it is claimed to be,’ he wrote in an essay for the Guardian. He accused car makers of following a ‘fast fashion’ model and urged motorists to keep their vehicles for longer… Mr Atkinson claims when friends ask if they should make the switch to electric he asks them to ‘hold off for now’.

“Meanwhile, it’s been revealed recharging electric cars at public points costs more to run than petrol motors.”

And it takes a lot longer than just putting gasoline in your car. It has also been claimed by mechanics that electric cars are dangerous and that most essential parts are only manufactured in China.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

In our recent series on God’s love, we discussed God’s relationship with men and the question of whether God has unconditional love for all people. In this Q&A, we will address the question of whether God requires unconditional love between human beings, and if not, what does He require of His people?

We read that we must love our neighbor as ourselves (compare Matthew 19:19; 22:39; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8).

As we are to love our fellow man AS ourselves, do we have unconditional love for ourselves?

We read that we love and cherish our own flesh and that it would be highly unnatural to hate ourselves. Ephesians 5:29 states: “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.”

But this does not mean that we have unconditional love for ourselves. Paul said in Romans 7:15-25 that he hated what he was doing, when he sinned: “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do… I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice… O wretched man that I am!…”

Christ said that if we do not hate others and ourselves, we cannot be His disciples (compare Luke 14:26). We explained in a previous Q&A, this means loving less by comparison (compare the parallel account in Matthew 10:37). But some have also suggested that it could refer to the evil in ourselves and in others which we must hate.

Christ looked at people with anger, hating what they were doing and what they were (compare Mark 3:5). Christ had righteous anger. Many times, we do not reflect that kind of anger, and we are warned to be careful to control our anger, even when it is justified. James 1:19-20 tells us: “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Proverbs 16:32 adds: “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” And Ecclesiastes 7:9 elaborates: “Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.”

But there is time for righteous anger. Matthew 5:22 states the dangers we are in when we are angry with our brother “without a cause,” implying that there are justified occasions to be angry with our brother for a cause. But even then, we are admonished to control our anger. Ephesians 4:26-27 says:

“‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.”

Still, there are situations when we can and should be angry with our neighbor because of their conduct. Christ gives us this instructive parable in Luke 14:16-24: “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses… Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’… For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'”

Here, the master of the house [representative of God the Father] is described with righteous anger over the ingratitude of those who were invited to his supper. In Mark 12:1-9, the owner of the vineyard [again representing God the Father] destroys the evil vinedressers who had killed his son, and gave the vineyard to others. Even though these parables describe what God will do, they show that righteous anger is justified. David, a man after God’s own heart, expressed his anger over wicked evildoers in those dramatic terms, in Psalm 139:19-22:

“Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.”

David hated the evildoers with perfect hatred. Perfect hatred here means fully balanced, not unjustified or overblown hatred. As we explained in a previous Q&A, he did not hate the person as such, but he hated what the sinner was doing, as Paul hated it when he sinned, or one could say, he hated himself for sinning against God.

David explained in other passages that he hated the evil conduct of sinners. In Psalm 26:4-5, we read: “I have not sat with idolatrous mortals, Nor will I go in with hypocrites. I have hated the assembly of evildoers, And will not sit with the wicked.” He states in Psalm 101:3: “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me…”

All of these passages show that the concept of unconditional love does not apply when sin is involved. “Unconditional love” would mean loving a sinner unconditionally, no matter what the person is doing. That is the kind of tolerating, accepting, and approving wrong conduct. That is not the kind of love God speaks about. And that is not the kind of love God has for us. As we explained previously, when we live in sin, we do not stay in or keep ourselves in God’s love, either.

When Paul sinned, he had no unconditional love for himself. When others sinned in David’s presence, he did not have unconditional love for them, either.

Consider this:

Unconditional love would mean that a mother has to love the murderer and rapist of her child unconditionally; that a husband who is forced by kidnappers to observe the rape and torture and murder of his wife in front of his eyes must love those brutes and beasts unconditionally; that survivors of millions of innocent victims who were tortured and killed by the Nazis in concentration camps or who were slaughtered by Stalin have to love those loveless demonic murderers unconditionally; and the list could go on and on. Obviously, something would be very wrong with that concept.

There are of course times when we must love others unconditionally. We are to love and help others. The parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 is a prime example. The Samaritan–despised by the Jews–was willing to help a Jewish victim of robbers without any reservations.

We are to love even our enemies by helping them when they are in need. Matthew 5:43-48 reads:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be [better: become] perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

In this context, we could speak of unconditional love, because we do not say: I will only help you if and when you change your evil behavior. Rather, Christ tells us: Do good to those who hate you.

But even then, the result of our loving conduct towards our enemies could be that they will become ashamed of their evil conduct and perhaps change for the better. We read in Proverbs 25:21-22: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the LORD will reward you.”

Paul adds the following thoughts in Romans 12:17-21:

“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

But this does not mean, we always love them unconditionally, no matter what they do.

We are to forgive once they repent. We always have to have an attitude of willingness to forgive upon repentance, but this does not describe unconditional love. Repentance is a condition for forgiveness. But sometimes it is good to overlook sinful conduct, even without repentance, realizing that we are not to condemn others. Proverbs 17:9 states: “He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.”

We should try to make the best of a bad situation. This may apply to a not-so-harmonious relationship between husband and wife, or between parents and children or relatives. We are admonished, as quoted above from the book of Romans, to try to live peaceably with all men. Hebrews 12:14 says:

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”

Proverbs 19:11 says:  “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.”

We also read in Acts 17:30: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked…”, but notice how Paul continues: “… but now commands all men everywhere to repent.”

Overlooking sin does not mean forgiveness. Rather: God has overlooked the times of ignorance… not judging and condemning them yet… but now He demands repentance.

Neither does overlooking sins mean, unconditional love and unconditional willingness to work with someone, for instance in business, who has betrayed us in the past and has shown no signs of remorse, or who is a cheat and a liar and an embezzler. We are clearly told in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17:

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.’”

It is because of this incompatibility, that God gives us a physical example from the animal world in Deuteronomy 22:10: “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.” One reason for this admonition is because the step and pull of the two beasts are unequal.

There are other times when we must not overlook sin, which totally negates the concept of unconditional love.

We said this in part 2 of our series about God’s love towards us:

“God shows ‘tough love’ for us if there is a need for correction. He is not showing ‘unconditional’ love at that moment by saying: ‘I will let them do what they want to do, because of my unconditional love for them.’ That idea is false and related to the wrong concept that no matter what we do, we are already saved. We CAN lose our salvation (compare Philippians 2:12; Hebrews 2:1-4), and in that sense, we can lose God’s love in us when we rebel and turn against Him, while hating and despising Him, without a desire to return to Him.”

When Christ and Stephen asked for forgiveness for their enemies, that was not an unconditional request. They did not ask God to forgive them at that moment while they were still continuing to live in their sin of murder and rebellion against God, without any sign of remorse and repentance. Rather, they asked God, in effect, not to “hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60, New International Version) and to forgive them (Luke 23:34), once they would come to understanding and repentance. Jesus and Stephen knew, of course, that God would not forgive them without repentance. Peter knew this too. He later said to Christ’s murderers, in Acts 2:38: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He repeated the same message in Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…” Peter knew that their sins had NOT been blotted out yet and forgiven, as they had not yet repented.

Paul ordered the excommunication of an unrepentant sinner, in 1 Corinthians 5:1, 5, 9-13:

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles–that a man has his father’s wife!…deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus…

“I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner–not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person.’”

However, when the sinner repented, Paul asked the church members to welcome him back, as we read in 2 Corinthians 2:6-8: “This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.”

We also read that parents are to educate and discipline their children. For instance, we read in Proverbs 13:24: “He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.”

Parents are not to ignore the bad conduct and actions of their children. This would show a lack of love for them. They are to discipline their children, when needed. They are not to show “unconditional” love in such situations, but “tough” love.

We are also told to rebuke our neighbor, when this becomes necessary and when it is within the sphere of our influence and responsibility…again showing that the love which we have for our neighbor is not “unconditional” in the sense that we do not care and grieve about his sin.

Luke 17:3-4 says: “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

Proverbs 19:25 reads: “Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary; Rebuke one who has understanding, and he will discern knowledge.”

Proverbs 27:5 reads: “Open rebuke is better Than love carefully concealed.”

Proverbs 28:23 states: “He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward Than he who flatters with the tongue.”

Proverbs 9:8 says: “Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.”

Proverbs 17:10 states: “Rebuke is more effective for a wise man Than a hundred blows on a fool.”

Love manifests itself in openness, not in flattery.

To properly rebuke someone is not a sign of hate, but of love—but not of “unconditional” love.

Paul admonished the Evangelist Timothy to rebuke others, if necessary.

We read in 1 Timothy 5:20: “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.”

We also read in 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

Paul gave similar admonitions and instructions to Titus.

He wrote in Titus 1:10-14:

“For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.”

He added in Titus 2:15:

“Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.”

Rebuke may also be necessary so we do not become a partaker of another person’s sin. Leviticus 19:17 says: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.”

We must not be partakers of the sins of others, due to the incorrect belief that because of “unconditional love,” we ought to tolerate sin and just walk with the crowd, showing a friendly smiling face in plain sight of sin.

In 1 Timothy 5:22, Paul cautions Timothy: “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.”

We read in Jude 20-23:

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”

Ephesians 5:3-7 adds:

“But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.”

Also, note this admonition in 2 John 10-11: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

We said this about God’s love towards us in part 3:

“… when we are corrected by God, it is because He loves us and wants us to be in His Kingdom.

“Hebrews 12:4-6 states: ‘And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.’”

“Verse 10 explains the reason why God corrects us: “For they [that is, our human fathers, see verse 9]  indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.”

“Christ also tells those Church members in need of repentance in Revelation 3:19: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”

When it is within our sphere of influence and responsibility, especially as parents or ministers, we ought to behave likewise, while considering ourselves (compare Galatians 6:1). If we do not do this and instead tolerate or seemingly “embrace” sin because of “unconditional love,” giving the impression that we are one of them and agree with their lifestyle, we do not show the kind of love which God requires of His people.

If our silence could be misconstrued, God gives this thundering warning in Psalm 50:16-23:

“But to the wicked God says: ‘What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth, Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him, And have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, And your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you in pieces, And there be none to deliver: Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.’’

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

“The Bible Prohibited in Our School Libraries!” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The Bible has been prohibited temporarily in libraries of school districts in Texas and Missouri, and now, most recently, in some elementary and middle school libraries in Utah. Why is the Bible under attack? And who is really behind it?

“Der Krieg in der Ukraine—Merkels Schuld?” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “The Ukraine War—Merkel’s Fault?”

“Norbert Link—Bestandsaufnahme meines Lebens!” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Norbert Link—An Account of My Life.”

“Könnten wir heute Jesus Christus verleugnen?” the sermonette presented in Germany last Sabbath by Mike Richter, is now posted. Title in English: “Could we Deny Jesus Christ Today?”

“Joy—The Second Attribute of the Holy Spirit,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Paul Niehoff, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Joy is a part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But how can we be joyful in a time of great distress. The examples in the Bible show that people like Christ, Paul and David experienced joy, not because of their present circumstances but because they looked toward the Kingdom of God, when everything will be changed.

“Total Annihilation,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Rene Messier, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The world is heading towards total destruction and annihilation due to sin and unrighteousness. The effects of sin and not dealing with it are shown in this sermon.

On June 3, 2023, Paul Niehoff will present the sermonette, titled, “Joy–the Second Attribute of the Holy Spirit,” and Rene Messier will present the sermon, titled, “Total Annihilation.”

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 October last year (2022), my wife and I flew from Heathrow airport to Düsseldorf in Germany as part of our travel to the German Feast of Tabernacles site.   When we were in the lounge at the airport, waiting for the call to go to the gate for the flight, I saw someone I recognised.   As he passed me, he nodded, and I nodded back.   I recognised him as a famous footballer (soccer player) who had played for two of the top teams in England and was an international player for his country of birth (he was not English).  I had seen him play many times on television, and he was a top-class player.

I decided to engage him in conversation and found him very friendly, and he was happy to have a conversation about football that was interesting.   He was going to Germany on a scouting mission as he had been appointed as the coach of a European team a few months previously, after coaching other teams since his retirement.   I saw him again on board the aircraft and we again met up at the carousel waiting for our luggage to arrive.   We had a further conversation that was very stimulating and one that we, in the Church of God, could relate to.

He was quite animated about how he found it difficult to communicate properly with his players because of political correctness.  The gist of what he said was that, at times, he needed to get his message across when he could be straightforward with them but found that almost impossible because a wrong word here or there could be disastrous in the current climate.  He felt that he had to really measure his words in a way that would not offend his charges and that that could and did present problems.   In other words, the woke culture that society has been sleepwalking into has made his ability to coach the team properly, a real problem.

In the Church, we can sometimes think that we are the only ones who may struggle with the ridiculous suppression of freedom of speech that has engulfed society in the Western world.   So many have become sensitive and super-sensitive to the point where it can be difficult to communicate with others.  People can be “cancelled” if they disagree with the current societal ethos.

We know that if any of us state publicly that homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism and same-sex marriage are wrong according to the Bible, it can be construed as hate speech.   The LGBTQ+ groupings are not so constrained in their propagation of such appalling behaviour which God, the Creator of all mankind, says is abominable.

A recent example (one of many) of this woke nonsense occurred recently, in May 2023, when a coffee shop manager in the UK was filmed screaming at a customer for being “transphobic” after she used the word “lady” to describe a non-binary member of staff.  It ended up with the worker being filmed berating a woman and throwing her out of a branch of the chain, in footage which went viral.

We know from our recent Google advertising campaign that we have to be so careful, and inventive, to ensure that we can get our message across.  Many years ago, Mr Herbert Armstrong used to meet many leaders, some of whom were not from “Christian” countries, and he had to frame his words carefully.   We have to do the same today, without ever compromising or watering down the message, and much thought and work has to go into what and how we say things.

Nevertheless, we read in Isaiah 58:1: “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.”  We continue to do that today whilst we keep in mind how organisations work and how they push their liberal agendas.

Perhaps, sometimes, we can think that we are the only ones who struggle with this paralysing effect of correct English pronouncements by the woke brigade, but there are many who may or may not be religious who see that such restrictions are the enemy of free speech.   We are not the only ones, but we do have the most important task in the world today of announcing the soon-coming Kingdom of God when all of the nonsense we have to put up with today will become a thing of the past.

And it will be like that under perfect government for eternity!

by Norbert Link

We begin with an insightful article about the debt ceiling “deal”; continue with the “corrupt” IRS and “Democracy’s horror story,” as revealed by the Durham report; and with the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

We report on the Democratic presidential candidates Biden and Kennedy as well as Donald Trump’s most recent “pronouncements”; America’s ongoing COVID vaccine requirements for immigrants; its devastating housing market; and Europe’s furor with Elon Musk.

We speak on Erdogan’s highly controversial election victory and developments in Spain.

Turning to the Ukraine war, we address Angela Merkel’s alleged responsibility for the war; Olaf Scholz’s “assurance” that Western weapons will not be used by Ukraine on Russian territory; ridiculous comments by Zelenskyy; and the volatile situation in Kosovo; and we conclude with Germany’s somewhat typical reactions to perceived “anti-Semitism.”

Please view our new StandingWatch program, “The Ukraine War—Germany’s and Merkel’s Fault?” 

Throughout this section, we have underlined pertinent statements in the quoted articles, for the convenience and quick overview of the reader.

The Debt Ceiling “Deal”—Nothing to Boast About

The New York Post wrote on May 28:

“Kevin McCarthy trumpeted a debt-ceiling deal Sunday, but increasing debt another $4 trillion with minimal concessions is nothing to boast about… McCarthy’s one dealbreaker should have been his promise to defund President Biden’s massive $80 billion to turbocharge an already weaponized IRS. 

“This was the totemic centerpiece of his pitch to become speaker. It was the most memorable promise of the Republicans’ midterm campaign to win back the House… ‘Our very first bill will repeal the funding for 87,000 new IRS agents,’ McCarthy vowed…

“In the debt-ceiling deal… McCarthy has allowed the lion’s share of that extra IRS funding to remain unmolested: preserving $78.1 billion of the $80 billion…

“If anything, the IRS is worse today than it was during the Obama administration, when Lois Lerner presided over the targeted harassment of Tea Party groups and other conservatives. Not a single IRS employee was held accountable for the scandal. Lerner retired on a full pension without even a slap on the wrist. 

“This is the same IRS which went after journalist Matt Taibbi last December, three weeks after he started reporting on the so-called ‘Twitter Files,’ which revealed that censorship on the social-media platform had been coordinated by federal government agencies such as the FBI and CIA. On March 9, when Taibbi was testifying in Congress about, ironically enough, the weaponization of the federal government, IRS agents showed up unannounced at his New Jersey home…

“Under questioning from Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, the IRS has claimed it had concerns about ‘identity fraud’ with Taibbi’s 2018 and 2021 tax returns, and that he was sent two letters before the home visit. Yet Taibbi says he and his accountant never received any letters. 

“Even more ‘unnerving’ as Taibbi puts it, was the fact that an IRS case agent had compiled a dossier on him which included personal information such as his voter registration records and whether he had a concealed-weapons permit or a hunting or fishing license.  Unlike Hunter Biden, Taibbi didn’t owe the IRS any taxes and in fact was due a refund. And yes, this is the same IRS which removed its entire investigative team from Hunter Biden’s case on DOJ orders after two senior agents complained about DOJ interference…

“This is the IRS that is still getting almost $80 billion of taxpayer money to double down on its malfeasance in the countdown to the 2024 election — with the benign approval of the House Republicans who promised to stop it.”

This is an incredible scandal indeed.

Debt Ceiling Bill Passes

 CNBC wrote on May 31:

“A bill to raise the debt limit and cap government spending passed in the House by a wide margin late Wednesday, sending the bill to the Senate just days before Monday’s U.S. default deadline. The Fiscal Responsibility Act passed 314-117, with support from both Democrats and Republicans…

“The reaction from the White House was measured… For McCarthy, the vote was a personal victory worth celebrating… Yet amid the celebration, some Republicans were left fuming…

“The fact that McCarthy’s bill passed with 165 Democratic votes, yet only 149 from Republicans, came as a surprise to many… 71 Republicans bucked McCarthy and voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act [That is about a third of the GOP caucus]…

“The Fiscal Responsibility Act is the result of a deal reached between McCarthy and Biden, which essentially handed conservatives several ideological policy victories in exchange for their votes to raise the debt ceiling beyond next year’s presidential election and into 2025.”

This means, more Democrats voted for the bill than Republicans. The bill suspends the debt limit with no cap through Jan. 1, 2025, while also cutting non-defense spending; capping growth at 1% for the next two years; and proposing non-mandatory caps for the four years after.

DeSantis: “Abolish the IRS”

Newsmax wrote on May 28:

“The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has become ‘a corrupt organization’ and Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis would ‘chuck it out the window’ for a ‘single-rate’ taxation system. ‘So, the answer’s yes,’ DeSantis told ‘The Dana Show’ podcast on whether he would sign a law to abolish the IRS…

“When the Biden administration put in an expansion of the IRS with 87,000 new agents in place, DeSantis condemned it as a ‘middle finger to the American public.’ ‘Of all the things that have come out of Washington that have been outrageous, this has got to be pretty close to the top,’ DeSantis said last August…”

All these corrupt organizations such as the IRS, the FBI and the CIA should be abolished immediately. But there is more to be reported on the absolutely scandalous conduct of certain terribly corrupt American organizations and people. Note the next article.

The Durham Report: “Democracy’s Horror Story”

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on May 27:

“Hillary knew. She knew her campaign paid for Russian disinformation… to be washed through a report by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. She knew the information was false but could potentially allow her to win the election. Hillary lied to the FBI about all this, and lied to the American public...

“The FBI knew. They knew none of the information in the Steele Report could be corroborated, and they knew most of it was false. They turned a blind eye, purposefully and with the intent to defeat Donald Trump in the 2016 election… When Trump won the election anyway, the FBI continued to use this information to assault the loyalty and viability of President Trump and ultimately tried to use the information via the Robert Mueller investigation to impeach or indict Trump.

“Only one person went to jail for all this, a minor player named Kevin Clinesmith for providing false info to the FISA court. No changes are planned for the FBI. No charges are to be brought against Hillary Clinton. The Deep State came within an eyelash of bringing down an unwanted president as surely as they are believed to have done in Dallas ’63. Words were the weapon this time, not bullets.

“These are the conclusions of the final Durham report released last week… The Durham Report confirms on August 3, 2016, the Russiagate allegations were briefed to President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and FBI Director James Comey by CIA Director John Brennan at an Oval Office meeting. None of the men briefed, and none of the agencies involved, did anything to intercede in the FBI’s efforts alongside the Clinton Campaign to manufacture collusion between Trump and Russia…”

This is the current status of the United States of America. And God is extremely ANGRY about this. And so should we be!

Texas AG Ken Paxton Impeached

The Associated Press wrote on May 27:

“Texas’ GOP-led House of Representatives impeached state Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday on articles including bribery and abuse of public trust, a sudden, historic rebuke of a fellow Republican who rose to be a star of the conservative legal movement despite years of scandal and alleged crimes. The vote triggers Paxton’s immediate suspension from office pending the outcome of a trial in the state Senate and empowers Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to appoint someone else as Texas’ top lawyer in the interim…

“The 121-23 vote constitutes an abrupt downfall for one of the GOP’s most prominent legal combatants, who in 2020 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral defeat of Donald Trump. It makes Paxton only the third sitting official in Texas’ nearly 200-year history to have been impeached.

“Moments after the vote, Paxton’s office said the impeachment was ‘based on totally false claims’ and pointed to internal reports that found no wrongdoing…

“Texas’ top elected Republicans had been notably quiet about Paxton this week. But on Saturday both Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, came to his defense, with the senator calling the impeachment process ‘a travesty’ and saying the attorney general’s legal troubles should be left to the courts. ‘Free Ken Paxton,’ Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, warning if House Republicans proceeded with the process, ‘I will fight you.’”

Could Paxton’s stance on the outcome of the 2020 election have anything to do with his impeachment?

Kennedy a Thorn in Biden’s Flesh?

Fox News wrote on May 27:

“Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. may be here to stay as new polling shows Democratic voters are unenthusiastic about re-electing President Biden 2024… CNN’s most recent polling [is] showing the environmental lawyer controlling 20%… The Democratic National Committee announced it would not be hosting primary debates for the 2024 cycle…

“With enough money and support, Kennedy could potentially mount an independent campaign without the Democratic Party’s backing that could damage Biden’s re-election effort.

“Kennedy could be a spoiler in the election if he keeps his momentum up, plays his cards right and keeps up his media push that will likely take him to Twitter for an interview with billionaire owner Elon Musk. That possibility also becomes more of a reality should Williamson drop out of the race and the majority of her supporters fall into Kennedy’s camp.

“However enticing that path may be to some, becoming a presidential spoiler in America’s two-party system is a rare feat that requires that a candidate spend a lot of money… Still, Biden’s political bleeding serves as a warning to his campaign that his re-election is not as buttoned-up as the campaign may believe it is.”

Less and less Americans are enthusiastic about another four more years for Biden, especially with the real possibility, which is horrifying to many, that Kamala Harris might replace him midstream. Kennedy was asked whether he would support Biden if Biden were to be elected, and Kennedy’s answer was: I want to become President. I have no plan B. He also made some interesting statements, as the next article shows.

Kennedy Speaks Out Against Unconstitutional COVID Restrictions

Fox News wrote on May 26, 2023:

“Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that U.S. leaders have potentially set an ‘ugly precedent’ that hearkens back to the Civil War when President Lincoln was judicially admonished for suspending habeas corpus.‘…they suspended the First Amendment: religion; freedom of association when they did the lockdowns,’ he said.

“‘[They restricted] freedom of speech. They banned jury trials against vaccine companies – that’s [a violation of] the Seventh Amendment. They abolished property rights [which violates the] Fifth Amendment [when] they closed 3.3 million businesses with no due process, no just compensation, although there was no pandemic exception in the United States Constitution…’

“Kennedy said that at no previous time in history was the Bill of Rights so collectively suspended as it had been during the coronavirus pandemic… ‘So now we have this very, very ugly precedent… the government has withdrawn those mandates now, but they have not said “we’re never going to do it again” — And there’s a whole pipeline of new emergencies, whether it’s terrorism or all these new diseases,’ Kennedy said…

“‘The Constitution was written for hard times, and we need to restore that,’ Kennedy said. ‘There’s no excuse for suspending our Constitution. There certainly is not a pandemic exception in the Constitution.’

“Later in the interview, host Laura Ingraham asked if Kennedy would consider – should the GOP defeat the Democratic nominee – serving in a Republican administration. Kennedy said he ‘would think about that’ because he could do ‘a lot of good for the country’ in the Department of Health & Human Services.”

Ingraham responded: I hope you would.

More Dictatorial Requirements from the Biden Administration

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on May 25:

“On the first day of May, the Biden administration announced that, starting on May 12, mandates President Joe Biden had imposed that many individuals take experimental coronavirus ‘vaccine’ shots would be rescinded. The press release announcing the policy change included this listing of individuals who would be relieved of the mandates:

“‘Today, we are announcing that the Administration will end the COVID-19 vaccine requirements for Federal employees, Federal contractors, and international air travelers at the end of the day on May 11, the same day that the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. Additionally, HHS and DHS announced today that they will start the process to end their vaccination requirements for Head Start educators, CMS-certified healthcare facilities, and certain noncitizens at the land border.’

“Not mentioned were immigrants to America. On May 4, a short statement from the United States Department of State suggested immigrants would not have relief under the change, noting that ‘starting May 12, noncitizen nonimmigrant air passengers will no longer need to show proof of being fully vaccinated with an accepted COVID-19 vaccine to board a flight to the United States.’

“Indeed, a coronavirus shots mandate remains in place for immigrants six months old and older. In all, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) web page detailing this and other shots requirements for immigrants lists shots related to 16 diseases as mandated for US immigrants. Notably, no such US government mandates apply to people who obtained citizenship upon birth by being either born in America or the child of a US citizen. There are, though, varying shots mandates imposed by states as a condition of school attendance. While the CDC web page says that immigrants can request a waiver ‘based on religious or moral convictions,’ many immigrants will feel pressure not to do so, fearing making such a request will put at risk their immigration effort.

“Why keep subjecting immigrants to this pressure to take the coronavirus shots plus shots related to 15 other diseases? It can help keep out of America independent thinkers who are determined to make their own decisions on medical and other matters. It can also help cement in new immigrants’ thinking from the get-go that they must submit to the US government’s expansive desire to micromanage how people live their lives. Welcome to America; now do as you are told. The shots mandates for immigrants are also among the many examples of the US government helping pharmaceutical companies move their products and increase their profits.”

All of this is SO wrong… and another example of the oppressive and dictatorial nature of the authoritarian Biden Administration.

Trump Promises to Abolish Part of the Constitution

The Huffington Post wrote on May 31:

“Donald Trump vowed in a campaign video released Tuesday to end birthright citizenship on ‘Day One’ of his presidency if he wins the 2024 election.

The former president claimed the constitutional guarantee of U.S. citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, was ‘not working’…

“Trump, the current GOP front-runner, vowed to nullify the clause of the 14th Amendment via a simple executive order… ‘As part of my plan to secure the border on Day One, my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship,’ Trump said in the video…

“Trump also floated the idea when he was president… But he never acted on his vow.

“Section 1 of the 14^th Amendment states:

“‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.’

“In his new video, Trump didn’t detail exactly how he’d navigate the process of nullifying the right enshrined in the Constitution. He also didn’t explain why he reneged on his promise to do so during his first term in office.”

In fact, Trump announced in the past that he would end “chain immigration” and deport Dreamers. Even though he was not able to do so at the time, his ideas pertaining to immigration are quite frightening.

America’s Devastating Housing Market

MSN published the following article on May 27:

“Housing demand surged during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. People fled large cities, as ‘work from home’ allowed them to move to places where housing costs were lower and the quality of living was higher. Another driver of the phenomenon was historically low mortgage rates, which fell below 3% in some cases. This made homes more affordable. Those days are over.

“The average rate on a long-term mortgage averaged 6.57% last week. People without good credit will need to pay 7% or more. ABC reported… People who got 3% mortgage rates during the last decade will hang on to homes because they have relatively low payments. And people who cannot afford homes because of high-interest rates will stay out of the market. It is a perfect storm to keep the supply of housing low.

“Often, buyers do not understand how much a 7% mortgage costs them monthly compared with one at 3%. That is, until they make a calculation. A mortgage payment of $1,000 two years ago has changed to one that will likely be at least $1,500 today. As was the case in March, people can’t afford to buy houses–again.”

A terrible assessment. But the highly inflated bubble of astronomically high housing prices will burst soon.

EU Furious with Musk

Breitbart wrote on May 28:

“Elon Musk has pulled Twitter out of the EU’s ‘Code of Practice’, a pro-censorship project aimed at countering so-called ‘disinformation’ online, prompting fury from those in Brussels… Musk’s decision to pull Twitter out of the EU’s voluntary censorship programme appears to indicate a worsening tension between the company and the transnational union.

“Although the crusade against disinformation is voluntary for now… the bloc’s Digital Services Act will soon mandate that major social media companies preemptively censor certain content, statements, views and opinions deemed impermissible by Brussels.

“Under the coming regulations, any platform that refuses to abide by the rules risks massive fines, as well as facing a potential ban from operating within the union…”

This is just one example to show how autocratic and dictatorial the EU has become. And most Turks, living in Germany, have voted for autocrat Erdogan. As the following articles point out, Erdogan’s victory will only accelerate Turkey’s decline into more dictatorship.

Erdogan’s Authoritarian Dictatorship Will Continue and Worsen

Breitbart wrote on May 28:

“Longtime Turkish strongman leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared victory on Sunday evening in the second and final round of this year’s presidential election in the country…

“The voting ends a dramatic, and often violent, campaign that many international observers denounced as neither free nor fair. Erdoğan has been prime minister or president of the country for over 20 years and wielded that power to imprison political dissidents, shut down dozens of media outlets his regime could not control, and paralyze potential organized opposition movements against the AKP.

“In one of the Turkish government’s most egregious acts under the Erdoğan regime, police detained the head of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, shortly before the 2018 presidential election, forcing him to campaign from prison, where he remains to this day. Erdoğan made Demirtaş a campaign issue by branding him a terrorist, without evidence…

“The CHP accused the AKP of fraud in the first round of voting and of using violence to intimidate potential secularist voters…”

In spite of knowing all these things, hypocritical world leaders congratulated Erdogan on his victory. See the article below.

World Leaders Congratulate Erdogan

Time of Israel wrote on May 29:

“US President Joe Biden on Sunday congratulated Erdogan, tweeting: ‘I look forward to continuing to work together as NATO Allies on bilateral issues and shared global challenges.’ He made no mention of recent tensions in the bilateral relationship. [Of course not.] US Secretary of State Antony Blinken… praised Sunday’s high turnout rate and the country’s ‘long democratic tradition.’ [Was he joking?]

“Ties between Turkey and the United States have been tested in recent years, including over crackdowns on dissent, military operations in Syria, Erdogan’s close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin even amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and Ankara’s protestations over a bid by Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“Putin said Erdogan’s victory Sunday was ‘clear evidence’ that the Turkish people support his efforts to ‘strengthen state sovereignty and pursue an independent foreign policy.’ [To put it differently, They support Erdogan’s dictatorship, as many in Russia support Putin’s dictatorship.] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was counting on building the partnership between the two countries and strengthening cooperation ‘for the security and stability of Europe.’ [Zelensky looks for partners wherever he may think he can find them.. but he might become terribly disappointed.]

“Earlier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog also sent his congratulations to Erdogan, tweeting: ‘I am convinced that we will work together to strengthen and expand the good ties between Turkiye and Israel.’ [Now that is the epitome of hypocrisy.]… Palestinian terror group Hamas released a statement congratulating the longtime Turkish leader and hoped for a new era of ‘strengthening Islamic-Arab ties and support for the Palestinian issue.’ [Of course they would.] Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also released a statement hailing the incumbent’s victory…

“Erdogan, the country’s longest-serving leader, was tested like never before in what was widely seen as the country’s most consequential election in its 100-year history as a post-Ottoman republic…

Opposition supporters viewed the election as a do-or-die chance to save Turkey from being turned into an autocracy by a man whose consolidation of power rivals that of Ottoman sultans… Erdogan, a 69-year-old Muslim, is set to remain in power until 2028…”

This is not good news for Turkey [biblical Edom] or the Turkish people.

Spain to Dissolve Parliament; New Elections in July

Politico wrote on May 29:

“Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday said he would dissolve parliament and call for a snap election for July 23, a day after conservatives and the far right posted strong gains in regional and municipal polls. Spain was due to hold general elections by the end of the year, but the Socialist leader announced his decision to move up the date following Sunday’s local polls, which saw his party suffer heavy losses across the country… Sánchez took personal responsibility for his party’s poor showing in the municipal elections, which concluded with nearly all of the country’s largest cities in the hands of the centre-right Popular Party (PP), including longtime Socialist stronghold Seville…

“The decision to call an early general election is a bold one for Sánchez, who is wrapping up his four-year term at the helm of the first coalition government in the country’s history…

“Holding the national elections in late July also adds an all-bets-are-off element to the vote. A large number of Spaniards will be on vacation — and it’s unclear how many of them will be willing to go home to vote. While citizens can vote by mail, recent scandals involving the purchase of these ballots in some cities that means increased use of this system will likely be the source of turmoil. If the past few summers are any indication, Spaniards will also be voting in the midst of yet another prolonged, deadly heat wave, and at a time when wildfires often ravage the country’s interior. Participation could be heavily impacted by any of these factors and prove decisive for the outcome.

“The elections will also take place just three weeks after Spain takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. With the Socialist party polling 6 points behind the PP, there is a strong possibility that the rotating presidency may begin with Sánchez as prime minister but conclude with PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo as Spain’s head of government. That kind of shift could prove to be a major distraction in the midst of the last, full Council presidency prior to next year’s European Parliament election.

“These six months were meant to be a ‘golden’ period when much of this term’s landmark legislation is finalized, but the wrap-up of parliamentary activity in Brussels may ultimately be overshadowed by political turmoil in Madrid.”

Spain is to be expected to become one of the core nations of Europe which will then give their power to the “beast.” Developments in Spain are therefore of tremendous importance.

The Ukraine War—Angela Merkel’s Fault?

Ukraine Today wrote on May 26:

“German society is rethinking Merkel’s 16-year rule, which seemed like a golden age, but led to a nightmarish war. In April this year, Angela Merkel received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit for Germany, the country’s highest honor, previously awarded only to the first post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, and to the uniting chancellor of East and West Germany, Helmut Kohl. 

“The fact that Merkel was placed on a par with the creators of modern Germany forced German society to seriously reconsider its assessment of the seemingly successful 16-year rule of the first woman chancellor. Especially in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, writes The Wall Street Journal: ‘Merkel was a key architect of the agreements that made the economy of Germany and its neighbors dependent on energy imports from Russia. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine destroyed this strategic partnership, forcing Germany to look elsewhere for oil and natural gas, at a huge cost to businesses, government and households’, – notes the publication.

“… during the years of her rule, defense budgets were cut year after year. On the day of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the commander of the Bundeswehr, Lieutenant General Alfons Mays, said that the once powerful German army was now so weakened that it was no longer capable of repelling a Russian attack of this magnitude.

“Particularly outrageous for Germans today is the fact that after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, Merkel not only did not refuse to buy energy from the Kremlin, but worked to double her gas imports from Russia. Many German pundits and even former Merkel allies now believe that this alone gave Vladimir Putin the courage to launch a new invasion eight years later.

“‘At an event last year, Merkel recalled that after the annexation of Crimea, Putin told her that he wanted to destroy the European Union. But she continued to promote plans to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline despite US protests…

“The publication states that after leaving the post of chancellor and the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, Merkel did not admit mistakes and did not apologize for them…

“Another strategic mistake Merkel is called by many is her decision to completely abandon nuclear energy, which has just happened in stages to this day. The decision… made Germany even more dependent on Russian gas.

“It is Merkel who is considered to be the person who blocked the movement of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO membership in 2008…

“The WSJ notes that a number of experts are coming to exactly this conclusion: the failure of the West to draw red lines and continued economic cooperation with Germany prompted Putin to launch a full-scale attack in 2022…

“In April, Angela Merkel gave an interview to German journalists, in which she again stated that she considers her policy towards Russia to be correct and does not see her guilt in the fact that this policy led Europe to the largest war since the Second World War… At the same time, commenting on the realities of the internal agenda in Germany, Merkel lamented that the Germans today are more concerned about the war in Ukraine than climate protection issues.”

For a long time, Merkel had been completely overrated. Many in Germany should have seen what Merkel’s political agenda was all about, but did not see it or chose to ignore it. And the politic of appeasement regarding Russia is still continuing under Olaf Scholz. Note the next article.

Restricted Use of Weapons for Ukraine?

MSN published the following article on May 26:

“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that the weapons provided by Western countries to Ukraine must be used strictly on Ukrainian territory…

“When asked about the possibility of the hostilities moving to Russia, the heads of the Baltic states were less categorical than Scholz. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stressed that, according to the UN Charter, every country has the right to defend itself. ‘And this also means that Ukraine can use the weapons that have been given to them…’

“Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karinš pointed out that ‘it’s very clear that… Ukraine is in the business of defending its own country.’

“And Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonite said that ‘it’s quite strange to think that the war can only be in that other territory that you invaded, there might be incidents that happen on your own territory, as a matter of fact’.

“In February, Olaf Scholz stated that there was a consensus with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that weapons provided by the West would not be used to attack Russian territory.”

This is such a joke, propagated by a chancellor who seems to be living in a fantasy world.

Is This a Joke? “Zelenskyy Praises the Determination of Chancellor Scholz”

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 31:

“Zelenskyy has praised the ‘determination’ of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in providing aid to the war-torn country. Zelenskyy, in his nightly video message, said he spoke to Scholz by phone and thanked him for providing air defense systems that were crucial in saving the lives of many Ukrainians from attacks by Russia.

“‘And I thank Olaf, Mr. Chancellor, for his personal determination, which in many ways becomes the determination for all of Europe,’ he continued in the video message.”

The former comedian Zelenskyy has to be careful that he doesn’t return to his old line of work and becomes incredibly ridiculous and embarrassing. Procrastinating, hesitant and ineffective Chancellor Scholz shows no determination at all, and to assign a leading role to him in Europe is a blatant joke. In view of the dissatisfaction of many Germans with Scholz and his governing coalition, Mr. Zelenskyy should be careful not to lose all sympathy in Germany.

Die Welt reported on May 30:

“There were drone strikes in Moscow early Tuesday morning. Ukraine stressed that it had ‘nothing directly’ to do with it.”

Who is supposed to believe that?

Escalation in Kosovo

The Associated Press wrote on May 31:

“International efforts to defuse a crisis in Kosovo intensified Wednesday as ethnic Serbs held more protests in a northern town where recent clashes with NATO-led peacekeepers sparked fears of renewed conflict in the troubled region… The rising tensions have fueled concern about another war like the 1998-99 fighting in Kosovo that claimed more than 10,000 lives, left more than 1 million people homeless and resulted in a NATO peacekeeping mission that has lasted nearly a quarter of a century…

“Russia is a close Serbian ally, although Belgrade populist leaders claim to be seeking European Union membership… A former province of Serbia, Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence is recognized by Washington and most EU nations but not by Belgrade, Russia or China…

“Serbia put the country’s military on its highest state of alert and sent more troops to the border with Kosovo…

“The 1998-1999 war in Kosovo erupted when ethnic Albanian separatists launched a rebellion against Serbia, which responded with a brutal crackdown. The war ended after NATO bombing forced Serbia to pull out of the territory. The Balkan region is still reckoning with the aftermath of a series of bloody conflicts in the 1990s during the violent breakup of the former country of Yugoslavia.”

German Critic of Pandemic Restrictions Acquitted

JTA wrote on May 24:

“A German microbiologist… was acquitted on Tuesday of incitement to hatred for comments about Jews and Israel. In a 2021 campaign video for the fringe political party die Basis (The Basis), Sucharit Bhakdi, 74, a well-known critic of Germany’s pandemic restrictions, had said that the Jews had learned evil under Hitler and are utilizing it in Israel to spread more evil…

“Prosecutors… had argued that Bhakdi’s comments could lead to the targeting of Jews in Germany. But a judge concluded that it couldn’t be determined without reasonable doubt that Bhakdi had been spreading antisemitic hatred toward Jews, rather than a specific criticism of the Israeli government and its vaccination policies…

“Germany has strict laws about Nazi-themed hate speech…”

It is a fact that Israel had adopted some of the most radical Corona pandemic restrictions in the world.  

German Hysteria and Overreaction?

The New York Post wrote on May 26:

“British rocker Roger Waters defended himself Friday after German police launched an investigation into the Pink Floyd co-founder over the Nazi-style costume he wore to a concert in Berlin last week. ‘We are investigating on suspicion of incitement to public hatred because the clothing worn on stage could be used to glorify or justify Nazi rule, thereby disturbing the public peace,’ said Berlin police spokesman Martin Halweg.

“Waters donned a long black coat, black gloves and black sunglasses — complete with a red armband –- during a portion of his May 17 performance in which he fired an imitation machine gun at the crowd while flanked by men dressed in military regalia. ‘The clothing resembles the clothing of an SS officer,’ Halweg said.

“The 79-year-old defended his costume choice and said that it was a clear statement ‘in opposition to fascism, injustice, bigotry in all its forms.’ ‘My recent performance in Berlin has attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles… Attempts to portray those elements as something else are disingenuous and politically motivated. The depiction of an unhinged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in 1980.’

“Scores of Twitter users rushed to lambast the rocker, including the state of Israel. ‘Good morning to every one but Roger Waters who spent the evening in Berlin (Yes Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust,’ it wrote.

“Other German cities including Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne tried to cancel Waters’ concerts after Jewish groups accused him of anti-Semitism for his support of Palestine… ‘When I was a child after the war, the name of Anne Frank was often spoken in our house, she became a permanent reminder of what happens when fascism is left unchecked. My parents fought the Nazis in World War II, with my father paying the ultimate price,’ he said…

“The efforts to halt his performances across Germany were unsuccessful — the final tour date in the country is scheduled for May 28 in Frankfurt.”

One can certainly disagree with Waters’ conduct and methods, as well as with his political views, but it is ludicrous to investigate him because of “incitement to public hatred” against Jews, given his background and his family’s history. But this is another example of paranoia and hypocrisy, especially in Germany where politicians and media outlets are anxious to proclaim friendship with Israel and the Jews, while at the same time collaborating with the Palestinians against Israel.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

We recently had an e-mail from someone who had received our advertised booklet “The Fall and Rise of the Jewish People.” This person wrote:

“Thank you for your literature.  However, I am shocked and surprised that in Chapter 11 you refer to ‘God’s anger… In my experience God would not know anger – He is loving, kind and non-judgemental. You may be referring to the old testament of course in which God is portrayed as a human emotional being capable of such feelings. Thank God this beautiful power is far beyond that.”

The person then requested to be “unsubscribed” as a consequence. 

It is sad that due to ignorance, the clear teachings of the Bible are here being questioned.

In this Q&A, we will answer the two references that the writer makes about the God of the Old Testament and the assertion that God would not know anger.  

We have no reason to spend a lot of time on who was the God of the Old Testament, as we had numerous pieces of literature on the subject, including a Q&A entitled “Was Jesus Christ the God of the Old Testament?” which was in our weekly Update dated 6^th August 2021.

Just a few points from that Q&A should suffice, as follows:

“The Church of God has understood for many years that Jesus Christ was THE God of the Old Testament…

“Notice the dialogue and the reaction of the Jews to Christ’s words in John 8:56–58: ‘[Jesus said,] “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”’

“When Jesus said, ‘I AM,’ rather than, ‘I WAS,’ the Jews understood that He identified Himself as God—as ‘Yahweh,’ the ‘I AM’ or Eternal of the Old Testament. That is why they ‘took up stones to throw at Him’ (verse 59)…

“According to Biblical testimony, some did see ‘God’ in Old Testament times, and they did hear His voice. On the other hand, Christ and the apostles taught that no human has ever seen or heard the voice of ‘God.’ Since God does not contradict Himself in His Word, He is obviously talking about two different personages here. Indeed, the Bible clarifies that no one has ever seen God the Father (compare again John 5:37; 6:46). But some did see ‘God’—that is, the second being in the God Family—Jesus Christ, in His glorified state…

“The Jews at the time of Christ did not know—and most still don’t know today—that God is a Family, presently consisting of two God beings. Christ came to REVEAL the Father to them (Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22). The Jews thought they knew the Father, not realizing that the God of the Old Testament, who directly worked with and dealt with Israel, was Jesus Christ—not God the Father…

“In conclusion, the world has been cut off from God the Father, the HIGHEST of the Godhead, as well as the knowledge as to who God the Father and Jesus Christ are. The Father did not deal directly with mankind, and He was not generally worshipped by the overwhelming majority, including those who read but did not understand the Scriptures. No one has ever seen the Father or heard His voice. It was Christ who showed Himself to and dealt with the people. It was He who was THE God of the Old Testament.”

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 is a most telling passage of Scripture:

“Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”

Our correspondent said that “You may be referring to the old testament of course in which God is portrayed as a human emotional being capable of such feelings. Thank God this beautiful power is far beyond that.”

It appears to this person that the God of the Old Testament [who was Jesus Christ] was portrayed as an emotional human being, which is clearly not the case. Of course, mainstream church theology states erroneously that God the Father was the God of the Old Testament.

To look at the second area of this person’s disagreement with God’s Word is that it is asserted that “In my experience God would not know anger – He is loving, kind and non-judgemental.” In this context, the person refers to chapter 11 of our booklet, “The Fall and Rise of the Jewish People.”    Let us look at this at the beginning of that chapter, under the heading, “God’s Anger Against, and Mercy for, Judah”:

“The Bible tells us that in the near future, God will bring terrible punishment on the modern descendants of the ancient house of Judah, not because of the conduct of ancients, but because of their own conduct.

“Defeat in War and Captivity Prophesied for Judah

“In speaking of OUR day, God tells us that modern Jews WILL repent and accept the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, but only AFTER they have been held captive by foreign invaders.”

To say that God would not know anger is to ignore many passages in the Bible.

Biblegateway.com, under the heading “DICTIONARY OF BIBLE THEMES—1025 GOD, ANGER OF,” defines anger as follows: “The punitive and vindicatory reaction, legitimate and controlled, yet awesomely emphatic, of God the righteous judge to unrighteousness in his human creatures. Up to the present, the expression of God’s anger and wrath has had the purpose of drawing sinners to repentance and conversion, but this will not be the case at the final judgment.”

We know that, by definition, God is love.   One of many descriptions is given in 1 John 4:7-12:

^“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

God is love but that can be manifested in different ways as we will see.

BibleGateway.com gives a comprehensive list of the nature of God’s anger. They point out that it is fearsome, reluctant and short-lived; consistent with His righteous and merciful character; and that it fulfils God’s purpose. They also list the causes for God’s anger as idolatry and unbelief; disobedience and disloyalty; ungodly living; pride, arrogance and hypocrisy; complaints against, and opposition to, God’s purposes; injustice; and the rejection of God’s servants. They continue to show that God’s anger is revealed in present times and in a future “day of wrath” which is anticipated. They then list the consequences of God’s anger in that punishment will be experienced by rebellious people.

To meet the erroneous assertion that in the New Testament, God does not know anger,  the website quotes among many other Scriptures John 3:36; Romans 1:18-23; Romans 2:5, 8; Ephesians 5:6; Jude 14-15; Hebrews 10:29-31; Matthew 21:33-41; Matthew 18:34-35; and Matthew 25:28-30. 

This shows how ridiculous it is to make the assertion that “God would not know anger” as “He is loving, kind and non-judgemental.”

God’s wrath—both of the Father and of the Son—is also vividly described in the Book of Revelation. 

We read in Psalm 7:11 that “God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.” In this context, please read our Q&A, titled, “Would you please explain Psalm 7:11, which says that God is angry with the wicked every day. Why would God be angry.”

Please also note our Q&A about the wrath of God, explaining God’s anger and the causes for it in great detail, titled, “Can you explain what the Bible says about Wrath?” (Part 2) 

God judges and has to be “judgemental.” There is nothing wrong with being angry as long as it is righteous anger – and with God that must always be the case as He is perfect.    For example, Jesus was angry with the money changers in the Temple (compare Matthew 21:12-13).

In recent weeks we have run a three-part series of Q&As entitled “Does God Love Everyone?  Does the Bible Teach Unconditional Love?”     In repeating the notes from our correspondent: “In my experience God would not know anger – He is loving, kind and non-judgemental,” we see that such “understanding” goes against what the Bible tells us and we will quote, very briefly, from part 2 of our Q&A to prove that God does love and does judge all people:

“It is true that some will end up in the lake of fire. But even this does not prove God’s hatred for them. Sadly, there are those who have had their opportunity to choose righteousness and accept God’s love, but instead they have committed the ‘unpardonable sin.’ They knew and understood perfectly well that they had to submit to Christ, but they refused to do so. They became bitter, hateful, resentful and malicious. They made the unchangeable decision NEVER to repent. If a person has reached that stage that he cannot repent, because he has made the final decision NOT to WANT to repent, then God will not force repentance on such a person. God grants repentance, but a person must want to receive it. A person, though, who maliciously rejects Christ, would only continue to live in misery and pain–and that is why God will save such a person from eternal misery, by DESTROYING him or her in a lake of fire.”

Also, in part 3 of this series, we stated this:

“God’s love and His righteousness do not tolerate or justify an unrepentant sinner’s continued ungodly lifestyle. God sees how much suffering and pain for others the sinner’s conduct causes. And so, we read in John 3:36 (Revised Standard Version): ‘He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.’ Romans 1:18 adds: ‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…’

“And so, we read the following alarming pronouncement by Christ in Matthew 24:48-51: ‘But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“This evil servant is one who has committed the unpardonable sin, and whose fate it is to be thrown into the lake of fire where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth (compare Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50). But before he ends up in the lake of fire, he will be ‘cut in two.’ This ‘correction’ is not for the purpose of leading him towards salvation; rather, it is punishment for his evil deeds with which he influenced and tortured others, without a willingness to repent. His punishment reflects God’s love for others, as well as His righteousness, which demands that the sinner has to pay. It is clearly NOT a reflection of God’s ‘unconditional’ love for the incorrigible sinner.”

We can always have faith that God has a reason for what He chooses to do or not to do.  And He does get angry for all the right reasons and has to be “judgemental” in many ways.   To say otherwise is a denial of all that we read in the Word of God.

Lead Writers: Brian Gale (United Kingdom) and Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

“The Ukraine War—Germany’s and Merkel’s Fault?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

Was former German Chancellor Angela Merkel the main cause for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, as the Wall Street Journal claims, listing numerous facts for that allegation? Is the politic of appeasement continuing under Germany’s new Chancellor, Olaf Scholz? Will Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ill-advised recent praise for Scholz backfire, and is Zelenskyy in danger of losing all sympathy in Germany?

We are very pleased to announce the baptism of Marius Malastschenko in Germany on the Day of Pentecost. Elders Thilo Hanstein and Christoph Sperzel conducted the baptism.

Our new booklet, “The Rise and Fall of Germany and Europe,” was received from the printer and will be sent out to our subscribers early next week.

A new German booklet, “Die Autorität der Bibel,” translated from our English booklet, “The Authority of the Bible,” has been sent to graphic artist Shelly Bruno in preparation for printing.

“Müssen wir unseren Nächsten bedingungslos lieben?” is the title for this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Do We Have to Have Unconditional Love for Our Neighbor?”

“Ruhe und Gelassenheit,” last Sabbath’s sermonette in Germany by Robert Indlekofer, is now posted. Title in English: “Calm and Serenity.”

“Das Kreuz, das wir tragen,” the Offertory presented on the Day of Pentecost in Germany by Manuel Giermann, is now posted. Title in English: “The Cross We Carry.”

“Consider the Firefly,” last Sabbath’s sermonette presented by Brian Gale, is now posted. Here is a summary:

God tells us to consider many things in the Bible that are advantageous for us to think carefully about. This message looks at the firefly and is a physical example that can help us to see the bigger picture.

“A New Creation Through God’s Spirit of Power,” last Sabbath’s sermon presented by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

What is the connection between the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the Ten Commandments? What roles do the spiritually circumcised heart and the crucifixion of the old man and the creation of the new man play in all of this? Who or what is the new man, and what is the function of God’s Holy Spirit of power in the re-creation of converted Christians? And how can we be sure that we will be in God’s Kingdom?

“Extra,” the Offertory presented on the Day of Pentecost by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Going above and beyond what is expected or making a bigger effort than what is required certainly has application for Christians! Are we profitable servants in this regard? Do we serve God in extra ways?

“The Firstfruits,” the sermon presented on the Day of Pentecost by Eric Rank, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The Feast of Pentecost stands out as having a focus on firstfruits. When established in the time of Moses, the firstfruits were from the grain harvest. Following the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the relevance of firstfruits shifts to the elect in Christ. We review the references to firstfruits in the Bible, and delve into the question of why firstfruits are important in the plan of God.