On February 12, 2022, Norbert Link will present “Comments on News and Prophecy, February 12, 2022,” and the sermon, titled, “Does the Teaching of the Trinity Deny Jesus Christ?”

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.

The large-scale madness and stigmatization by governments all over the world is increasing more and more. Oftentimes it seems like a nightmare, but in fact, it is pure reality.

What happened between 1938 and 1945 is a scenario of ruthlessness without equality. When I contemplate what Hitler’s regime has done to the Jews and to fellow human beings who thought differently, it truly moves me to tears.

One would think that all this should have been buried and forgotten a long time ago, and that people would have become more reasonable. But the opposite is true.

Although every year in Germany, several memorial ceremonies about these darkest scenarios are held by those in power, who adorn themselves with justice and love and words like “We must never forget” and “This must never happen again”, the reality is quite different.

In October 2021, I saw coverage in the news about a very tragic court case in which a 96-year-old former typist from the concentration camp Stutthof had been charged by the public prosecutor’s office with aiding and abetting murder in more than 11,000 cases. The woman is said to have been a typist for the commandant Paul-Werner Hoppe between the years 1943 and 1945.

Der Tagesspiegel published the following article about this on September 30, 2021:

“96-year-old accused flees NS trial – and got caught. Irmgard F. was the commander’s typist in the Stutthof concentration camp. She did not appear at her trial. But she was caught and is now in custody.

“The bureaucrats of horror were efficient. The number of prisoners and killed persons in the Stutthof concentration camp was regularly reported to Berlin. Camp commander Paul Werner Hoppe dictated letters to the administrative headquarters of the Holocaust, the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt in Berlin-Lichterfelde. At the typewriter was Irmgard F. She typed the camp commander’s orders to the guard personnel and wrote the lists with the names of the prisoners who were deported to the Auschwitz death camp.

“Every correspondence with the SS administrative headquarters in Berlin passed over her desk, she said as a witness in a Nazi trial after the end of the war. Now the now 96-year-old must answer for herself before the Superior Court in Itzehoe.”

The Berliner Morgenpost reported the following on October 19, 2021:

“Irmgard F., who worked as a stenotypist at the Stutthof concentration camp between 1943 and 1945, is accused of complicity to murder in more than 11,000 cases. She [wears] a device on her wrist to monitor her location, like an electronic ankle monitor. ‘The defendant had knowledge of all events and happenings in the camp’, the prosecutor said. This resulted from the fact, that Irmgard F. was the right-hand woman of the camp commander Paul-Werner Hoppe and had written down all his orders, and instructions and all the commander’s correspondence had passed over her desk.

“Therefore, Irmgard F. had profound knowledge of the systematic killing of the prisoners in the camp ‘right down to the last detail’, the prosecutor said. In the indictment, she lists in detail the killing methods, that were the routine in the concentration camp. The neck-shooting facility, disguised as a medical examination room, in which 300 prisoners died during the defendant’s time of service. They had to stand against the wall in the belief that their height would be measured, but instead they were murdered by neck shot through an opening to the neighboring room.”

One must realize the fact, that this is an indictment taking place 76 years after the end of the war, and that the involved accusers are nowhere near contemporary witnesses at the time of this woman’s executive work and had not even been born and were in the world.

Moreover, this 96-year-old woman is charged with “complicity to murder in more than 11,000 cases.” While it is known that “300 prisoners died in the neck-shooting facility during the defendant’s time of service”, the origin of the exact number of 11,000 deaths seems quite questionable. Besides, this woman did what she may have been forced to do, and she was only a scribe anyway. It was not she, who murdered the people, and whether she approved it, no one can say.

This scenario of an accusation against a woman reminded me of an example when Christ was teaching in the temple and the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees brought a woman before Him, caught in the act of adultery, hoping of course that Christ would inflict a severe punishment. They said to Him, “‘…Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.  So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst” (John 8:4-9).

This example of self-righteousness is a bottomless pit because the world with its ruthless justice system, as it was then and still is today, is so immoderately arrogant and unjust that one cannot even put this whole event into words.

The same applies to today’s new “law guidelines” and “jurisdictions” regarding these absurd Corona measures. They are picking up so much speed that this reminds us exactly of the time back then at the beginning of 1938. Indeed, beginning on November 12, 1938, Jews were forbidden at that time to visit cinemas, theaters, operas, and concerts. Today, 84 years later, the same thing is happening again to people only because they think differently and refuse to get vaccinated. And the wheel of the invention of new restrictions does not stop; instead, life is made more and more unbearable for these people. They are judged, harassed, bullied, and incited. Even children are dragged into this torment and put into a trauma that they may very well not be able to get rid of for the rest of their lives. We are witnessing a jurisdiction of the irresponsible.

Most of these above-mentioned accusers are acting today in the same way that happened back then in 1938, possibly without even realizing what they are really doing, since this is Satan’s world. And no one knows how long this stigmatization will continue, for this may be just the beginning or even just a precursor of what is to come to the world, namely the great tribulation.

How long will WE in God’s Church have to endure suffering? Will WE be greatly reviled as true Christians for the sake of Christ’s name? And how will WE bear it then? What if WE are innocently accused and even sent to prison?

Christ warns against the unrighteousness of man. He tells us in Luke 21:12-15,17-19:

“‘But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist… And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls. “

Christ gives us such great hope for what lies ahead. It is neither the government nor the jurisdiction of men that can give us or take away true life. They can persecute us, treat us unjustly, accuse and condemn us; they can throw us into prison; and they can take away our physical life. But what they cannot do is to deny us eternal life. They cannot separate us from the love of Christ if we hold on to the hope which the Word of God gives us, and if we do not give up our faith and instead put our trust in GOD the Father and Jesus Christ, then this world can do NOTHING to us that would have eternal consequences.

Paul asked the church: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35).

And later, in verses 37-39, Paul says with deep conviction, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Christ also gives us great hope by telling us: “‘Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body [physical life] but cannot kill the soul [the potential of eternal life]… But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [eternal destruction in the Gehenna fire’” (Matthew 10:26-28).

When Christ tells us that nothing is covered, but that one day all the truth will come to light, we must understand that one day a great truthful trial will be held for mankind, with complete and righteous measure, to condemn and judge man’s unrighteousness.

God the Father will, through Jesus Christ, conduct this judgment and hold men accountable and punish them for their evil and unrighteous deeds.

Let us think once more about the example of the adulteress and what Christ ultimately said to her. “When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’” (John 8:10-11).

Christ acted here as a Man of love and divine understanding. He did not justify the sinful behavior of the adulteress, but He showed mercy. From this point of view, we should not try to whitewash these terrible acts of the world today, nor should we condemn them with an unmerciful measure. We should and must leave that to God. For God tells us, “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” (Romans 12:17-21).

We must not allow ourselves to be influenced by the deeds of the world, which Satan still has possession of at present, but must allow ourselves to be edified by every word of God and make the best of everything, according to our ability. It’s on us to wait hopefully for the coming of Jesus Christ so that He can welcome us at His coming, and we must hold fast to the confidence that God will judge righteously at His time.

Initial translation from the German: Daniel Blasinger

by Norbert Link

We begin with truly disgusting and abominable experiments conducted under Dr. Fauci’s direction. We are warning our readers: The articles published contain graphic language, but in the interest of truth and justice, we decided to quote some of the statements anyhow.

We continue with China’s record of horror while the dictatorial and mean-spirited murderous government celebrates the Olympic games; speak on further conflicts between Russia and Germany; Germany’s hypocritical conduct towards Lithuania and Ukraine; the help Biden gave to Putin; and Israel’s willingness to strike Iran even in case of a new or resurrected Iran deal.

We speak on the battle between Trump and Pence; the censuring of Cheney and Kinzinger by the Republican Party; and the insane electricity rates in San Diego.

We address a new striking report on the uselessness and dangers of lockdowns, which is being systematically ignored by the left-wing mass media; repulsive court decisions in Canada and America pertaining to the unvaccinated; developments regarding Canada’s “Freedom Convoy”; and numerous European countries lifting all or most corona restrictions, while authoritarian Austria enacts a vaccine mandate.

We speak on the reaction to Whoopi Goldberg’s comments regarding the holocaust and the Jewish “race,” and conclude with Pope Francis’s communion with the dead.

Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Why Canada’s Justin Trudeau Is so Dangerous.”

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

WARNING! Despicable Animal Experiments with Aborted Baby Parts under Fauci’s Direction

 Life News wrote on February 4:

“When it comes to the grisly use of aborted baby parts for dubious scientific research in America, a new report shows embattled NIH director Anthony Fauci is behind most of the funding. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which Fauci directs, is behind $27 million in taxpayer funding for research involving tissue or body parts from babies killed in abortions, or approximately 80% of the funding for all such research in the United States.”

In quoting from an article by Fox News, the paper wrote:

“‘The White Coat Waste Project (WCW), which opposes animal experimentation, looked through NIH data to uncover the scope of funding, which includes support for things like transplanting fetal lungs, liver and thymus into mice…  NIH expects to spend $88 million on this type of research in fiscal year… 22.’”

LifeSiteNews continued:

“Christine McPherson, Development Manager of WCW, said in a statement to Fox: ‘A majority of Republican and Democrat taxpayers don’t want to be forced to pay university white coats tens of millions of dollars each year to implant fingers, scalps, eyes and other parts from aborted human fetuses into monkeys and mice for nightmarish experiments.’

“Recently, the University of Pittsburgh continued to defend its gruesome experiments involving implanting aborted babies’ scalps onto rodents and other research with aborted baby body parts, citing a new investigation this week that found its research is ‘fully compliant’ with state and federal laws. [Republican legislators are still looking for answers, suggesting that the recent investigation was woefully inadequate.] The university commissioned the outside investigation last year after Judicial Watch and the Center for Medical Progress exposed evidence of babies potentially being born alive in abortions and other disturbing practices at the university. The evidence came from documents they obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through a Freedom of Information Act request…

“One horrific experiment at the university involved scalping second-trimester aborted babies and then implanting their scalps onto rodents to study the human immune system…

“The Center for Medical Progress and several doctors, including one who supports abortion, also pointed to documents and statements from university officials that suggest some aborted babies’ hearts still may be beating when their organs are harvested for scientific research….

“In a House Appropriations hearing in May, Fauci was asked about the NIAID’s funding of Pitt experiments grafting scalps from 18- to 20-week aborted fetuses onto rats, and if the agency is aware of where the fetuses come from. Fauci replied that the study went through ‘all the appropriate guidelines and oversight.’ [So, Fauci did not answer the question which is very revealing.]

“[David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress] skewered Fauci’s response as ‘outrageous,’ [saying] intact scalps used, which can be seen in pictures included in the study, are only obtainable at the size shown through a partial-birth abortion. ‘Intact heads’ would not be obtainable through ‘dismemberment abortion where the skull is going to be crushed,’ Daleiden explained.

“[The] University of Pittsburgh… has been using Americans’ tax dollars to become a ‘tissue hub’ for aborted baby body parts for scientific research for years. According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch and the Center for Medical Progress, the university… has received at least $2.7 million so far.”

WARNING! More Abominable Experiments

Fox News also wrote on February 4:

“Fauci’s institute has come under fire for research surrounding the coronavirus, among other things. More recently, WCW uncovered an experiment in which dogs were injected with cocaine. Other experiments involving humanized mice have surfaced.

“One study involved humanizing mice through ‘reconstitution with human fetal liver’… Another study… entailed studying fetal eye cells… Fetal lungs were also incorporated…. Besides attempting to grow fetal kidneys, Ganogen also experimented with placing fetal hearts in lab rats and posted a video of a fetal heart beating inside of a rodent…

“Last year, the Senate rejected an amendment geared toward criminalizing participation in research that created certain chimeras, or human-animal hybrids… ‘Dr. Fauci’s funding of research using aborted fetal tissue is disgusting and indefensible,’ said Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich…

“The University of Pittsburgh has also been suspected of utilizing trafficked or illegally obtained tissue…”

Let’s not forget Fauci’s despicable experiments on beagles.

The Herald-Tribune reported on November 9:

“These taxpayer dollars funded barbaric trials that involved injecting dozens of beagles with experimental drugs before murdering and dissecting them. To make matters worse, these beagles were puppies between the ages of six to eight months.

“Even more heinous, reports were also uncovered revealing that Fauci authorized the vocal cords of the beagles to be cut so that they could not cry while being tortured… In 2016 Fauci authorized experiments where infectious sand flies were strapped to beagles to feed on them for 22 months before the beagles were killed.”

The Sun added on December 30, 2021:

“In October, the non-profit organization White Coat Waste Project accused Fauci of funding a project that had beagles infected with disease-causing parasites in order to test an experimental drug. It claimed the beagle puppies were locked in cages with hungry sandflies that would eat them alive.

“The Hill reports that a bipartisan group of 24 House Representatives has written a letter demanding that Fauci answer to the claims by the nonprofit. The organization claims that as many as 44 beagle puppies were used as part of the cruel experiment in a Tunisia laboratory… ‘Our investigators show that Fauci’s NIH division shipped part of a $375,800 grant to a lab in Tunisia to drug beagles and lock their heads in mesh cages filled with hungry sandflies so that the insects could eat them alive,’ White Coat Waste told The Hill. ‘They also locked beagles alone in cages in the desert overnight for nine consecutive nights to use them as bait to attract infectious sand flies,’ they added.”

The liberal left-wing mass media was anxious to somehow rebut this story, although the NIH [National Institute of Health] admitted that some of the beagles had their vocal cords cut, insisting that the practice was common in scientific settings to reduce noise levels.

But consider this article, published by The Sun on December 30, 2021:

“Peta has accused the NIH and other labs of purchasing 5,000 beagle dogs and puppies over the past decade from Virginia-based supplier Envigo for experiments where the dogs were allegedly confined and some tortured. It also accused Envigo of running a ‘puppy mill’ where dogs were abused in conditions so bad that some of them died. An investigator from Peta claimed to have found 360 dogs dead, according to Fox News… Peta has claimed that Envigo keeps 5,000 beagles at the location and breeds around 500 puppies per month to sell for experimentation…

“[Fauci’s] spokesman told the Washington Post that the company believed that PETA’s allegations are ‘misleading and lacking important context’… adding that animal experimentation is ‘essential’ in developing medicines, vaccines, and other medical devices…”

Dr. Fauci should be fired immediately and be held accountable for these alleged terrible and inhumane experiments under his direction. Further, it should be obvious that Dr. Fauci has lost all credibility.

China’s Record of Horror

The Sun wrote on February 5:

“The world’s eyes have descended on Beijing as the glitzy opening ceremony kicked off the 2022 games. But hidden from view are the hideous human rights abuses allegedly carried out like clockwork by the regime. Gory executions, brutal torture and ‘concentration camps’ are just some the of vile measures the Communist regime has allegedly inflicted on its own people for decades… As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, it’s feared China will put on a glossy and carefully stage-managed image to the rest of the world as the Communists attempt to airbrush their horrendous history of show trials, executions, and some of the worst torture imaginable – let alone alleged genocide.

“Ahead of the games, China has been determined to crush any sign of dissent, and officials have warned that even foreign athletes who make political statements would be subject to ‘certain punishment’…

“In its 100 year history, the Communist party has run a murderous regime… Thousands are thought to perish each year at the bloody hands of authorities using firing squads, lethal injections and mobile death vans. The true numbers of those killed by the Communist Party are thought to be staggeringly high…

“With successive leaders over this period, the regime has crushed peaceful opposition with anyone falling foul of the Communist Party facing the abyss of mental or physical death… human rights groups believe China has detained more than one million Uyghur Muslims against their will over the past few years.

“Hundreds of thousands have been incarcerated in a network of what the state calls ‘re-education camps’ – but what has been branded by some as ‘concentration camps’. There is also evidence they are being used as forced labour in factories producing goods for well-known western brands… And from the 90s and into the 00s it is claimed China sought to ‘eradicate’ the Falun Gong religious movement…”

Terrible what evil people and governments, following Satan, are willing to do to their fellow man.

Russia Bans Deutsche Welle in Retaliation of Germany’s Ban of RT

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 4:

“A decision by the Russian government to shut down Deutsche Welle’s Moscow office and withdraw accreditation from the German broadcaster’s journalists in Russia came into effect on Friday at 9 a.m. local time… The Russian Foreign Ministry announced a day earlier that it was canceling DW’s broadcasting license in Russia, calling it a response to the ban of the Russian broadcaster RT DE in Germany….

“Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said if Germany moved to end the dispute over RT’s licensing, Moscow would respond in kind… German officials have called the comparison between RT and DW a false equivalence because DW is a taxpayer-funded independent public service broadcaster rather than a state-owned channel… German government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner on Friday condemned Russia’s DW ban…

“The European Union also slammed the ‘unjustified’ move by Russia… Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the decision would ‘represent a renewed strain on German-Russian relations.’”

On February 3, Deutsche Welle wrote the following in another article:

“Public broadcasters ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio all condemned the closure, saying it turned press freedom into a bargaining chip…

“Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed Germany was responsible for an attack on freedom of speech by not granting RT DE a broadcasting license, despite allowing Russian journalists to remain in Germany, attend press events and report from the country…”

Russia’s reaction to Germany’s ban of RT was somewhat predictable, but the sleepy and somewhat hypocritical German government did not see it coming, it seems.

German Troops to Lithuania, but not Ukraine

Deutsche Welle reported on February 6:

“Germany does not rule out sending additional troops to Lithuania, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said…  ‘We (Germany) are already making a very important contribution in Lithuania, where we are the only country in the European Union to have a battlegroup,’ Lambrecht said… Germany has been the leading nation in the NATO operation in Lithuania for five years and provides around half of the 1,200 men and women in the multinational unit.

“Lambrecht also defended Germany’s refusal to supply arms to Kyiv, after Ukraine’s embassy in Germany sent a list with requests to the foreign and defense ministries in Berlin.”

This is ridiculous German hypocrisy. But it all works out according to prophecy.

Scholz Went to Washington

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 7:

“Biden said there would be no chance of the project going ahead if Russian tanks and troops crossed the Ukraine border. ‘There will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it. I promise you we’ll be able to do that.’… When pressed on Nord Stream 2, Scholz avoided mentioning the project explicitly but repeated his message of solidarity….”

Deutsche Welle added on February 8:

“Despite presenting a unified front, their statements also revealed divisions in Berlin and Washington’s approach to Russia… there is discord between the two sides, particularly in regards to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and potential sanctions towards Russia… it’s unclear whether Germany will really be willing to shut down the controversial pipeline project…  [Deutsche Welle wrote in an accompanying article that, “with much of its natural gas imported from Russia, Berlin remains reluctant to commit to using the pipeline as a bargaining tool.”]

“Germany and the United States have not clearly stated ‘what kinds of sanctions will be imposed in the case of the Russian incursion.’… there seems to be ‘disunity’ not only between Germany and the US, but also other NATO allies… Germany’s neighbor, France, may also be willing to differ from common NATO and US positions when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine crisis… Macron also recently told French media that it is ‘legitimate’ for Russia to raise concerns about its security, an idea which has been roundly rejected by the US and NATO…”

The New York Times commented on Scholz’ meeting with Biden and the subsequent press conference: “On Ukraine, Germany Is Nowhere to Be Seen.” The Telegraph wrote: “Once again, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offers only evasions on Russia.” Bild Online spoke about a huge rift between Biden and Scholz.

How Biden Has Helped Putin

Express wrote on February 6:

“By scrapping America’s KeystoneXL Pipeline [on his first day in office] and imposing ‘harsh’ regulations on its gas industry, the US President has been accused of ‘letting Europe become more dependent on Russian gas’. KeystoneXL was a planned 1,179-mile (1,897km) pipeline running from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska. It was intended to join an existing pipe and could carry 830,000 barrels of oil each day… The [European] bloc already depends on Russia for 40 percent of its gas supplies…

“Mr Putin has been accused of deliberately slashing gas deliveries travelling into the EU through its vast network of pipelines… As Ukraine is a key transit country for Russia’s gas to reach the EU, there are fears gas could get cut amid the conflict…. having waived sanctions on a new [Nord Stream 2] gas pipeline [that will transit gas from Russia to Germany once it gets approved] back in May last year, Mr Biden was accused of taking a soft line on Russia.”

It is amazing how Mr. Biden’s decisions add to a prophetic picture which is so detrimental to America and its Western allies.

Russia Predicts Unification with Ukraine

Russian-sponsored and controlled RT wrote on February 6:

“Ukraine could ultimately join a union state with Russia and Belarus as soon as 15 years from now if ‘mistakes’ are avoided during the current crisis, President Alexander Lukashenko predicted in an interview with YouTube… The main problem is that the ongoing crisis is being stoked from across the Atlantic, he claimed, accusing Washington of actively pushing Kiev into a war with Russia…”

It won’t take 15 years until Russia and Ukraine are united.

Why Europe Needs an Army

The EUObserver wrote on February 8:

“The last few years have shown that the US cannot and does not want to be the policeman of the world anymore. Additionally, Russia and China seem to be aligning their strategies – one targeting Ukraine, and the other Taiwan.

“A military takeover would not only wipe two democracies off the earth, it would also hit Europe in its heart… The EU must… be careful not to make the same mistakes as the Roman Empire – which fell victim to decadence and the idea that its own security could be outsourced to others. Even in the European Union, countries hardly invest in their armed forces. Worse, many countries are opposed to a common European foreign and security policy. They remain stuck in the idea that the US will continue to keep us safe through Nato.

“This is naïve…

“It is therefore high time to make progress towards an European army based on a common foreign policy… A survey of European citizens has shown that the need for a European army is perceived as the most urgent.”

Israel Might Still Attack Iran even if there is a Deal

Time of Israel and The associated press wrote on February 6:

“Prime Minister Naftali Bennett implied Sunday that Israel could launch a military strike against Iran even if the Islamic Republic and world powers revive their 2015 nuclear deal… ‘Our position is well-known and clear: An agreement – according to the apparent terms – will damage the ability to deal with the nuclear program. Anyone who thinks that an agreement will increase stability is mistaken… It will temporarily delay enrichment but all of us in the region will pay a heavy, disproportionate price for it.’…

“On Friday, as US negotiators headed back to Vienna for what could be a make-or-break session. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed several sanctions waivers related to Iran’s civilian nuclear activities… Friday’s move lifts the sanctions threat against foreign countries and companies from Russia, China and Europe that had been cooperating with non-military parts of Iran’s nuclear program under the terms of the 2015 deal…”

Trump vs. Pence

Fox News wrote on February 4:

“Former Vice President Mike Pence delivered a speech in Florida Friday and pushed back against claims from former President Trump and his supporters that he had the ability to use his power to contest the 2020 presidential election. ‘There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress, I possessed unilateral authority to reject electoral college votes,’ Pence said in the speech to the Federalist Society. ‘And this week, our former president said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong… I had no right to overturn the election.’ Pence continued, ‘Frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.’

“Pence explained that ‘under Article II Section One, elections are conducted at the state level, not by Congress’ and that ‘the only role of Congress with respect to the electoral college is to open and count votes submitted and certified by the states.’..

“Pence also referred to the January 6 riot as a ‘dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.’..

“Pence’s comments come days after Trump voiced his belief that his vice president, via the Electoral Count Act, had the ability to send the electoral votes back to the states. ’The Vice President did have this right or, more pointedly, could have sent the votes back to various legislators for reassessment after so much fraud and irregularities were found,’ Trump said. ‘If it were sent back to the legislators, or if Nancy Pelosi, who is in charge of Capitol security, had taken my recommendation and substantially increased security, there would have been no “January 6” as we know it!’

“Pence’s speech comes as speculation about his 2024 presidential ambitions run rampant, as do questions about his current relationship with Trump following their vocal disagreement on the outcome of the 2020 election…”

Newsmax wrote on February 4:

“Former President Donald Trump clapped back on Friday night to comments made by his former vice president earlier in the day…  criticizing Pence’s statement to the crowd of conservative lawyers… ‘Just saw Mike Pence’s statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the Electoral Vote Count, other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected President as quickly as possible,’ Trump said. ‘Well, the Vice President’s position is not an automatic conveyor if obvious signs of voter fraud or irregularities exist. That’s why the Democrats and RINOs are working feverishly together to change the very law that Mike Pence and his unwitting advisors used on January 6 to say he had no choice.’

“The former president said that he was ‘right and everyone knows it,’ and that officials in both parties are attempting to change the rules to prevent a similar event from happening again. ‘The reason they want it changed is because they now say they don’t want the Vice President to have the right to ensure an honest vote,’ Trump said. ‘If there is fraud or large scale irregularities, it would have been appropriate to send those votes back to the legislatures to figure it out,’ he added. ‘The Dems and RINOs want to take that right away…’”

Trump has a point. If it is that clear that under the law, Pence could not have refused to certify the election, why then the anxious attempts to change the law?

Republican Party Censors Cheney and Kinzinger

Newsmax wrote on February 4:

“The Republican National Committee formally voted  Friday to censure Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., for participating in the House probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

“The resolution… read in part:

“‘The conference must not be sabotaged by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who have demonstrated, with actions and words, that they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022. Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger have engaged in actions in their positions as members of the January 6th select committee not befitting Republican members of Congress, which include the committee’s disregard for minority rights, traditional checks and balances, due process, and adherence to other precedent and rules of the U.S. House and which seem intent on advancing a political agenda to buoy the Democrat Party’s bleak prospects in the upcoming midterm elections.

“‘The Republican National Committee hereby formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic, and is inconsistent with the position of the Conference.’”

San Diego’s Highest Electricity Rate in the Nation

CBS8 wrote on February 3:

“San Diegans have been shocked by their recent power bills, and now CBS 8 has confirmed that we are paying higher rates than any other city in the country… ‘“The price per kilowatt is the highest in the country,’ said Edward Lopez, Executive Director of Utility Consumers’ Action Network (UCAN). ‘San Diego is even out-passing Hawaii, which is not even on the mainland’… A SDG&E spokesperson pointed to the 2007 wildfires started by the company’s power lines. He said that $3 billion has been spent since then hardening their system, including replacing wood poles with steel and undergrounding wires… Lopez questions why ratepayers have to foot the entire bill, getting no help from shareholders.

“SDG&E is owned by Sempra, a publicly traded company. In their most recent year-to-year figures, Sempra reported a profit of over $9 billion, but SDG&E recently raised our rates again…SDG&E is not allowed to simply raise rates on their own, they have to get permission from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)….”

CPUC is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. Five commissioners each serve staggered six-year terms as the governing body of the agency. Commissioners are appointed by the governor and must be confirmed by the California State Senate.

ABC 10 wrote on August 23, 23021:

“‘Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office exerted control over a powerful state agency… We do whatever the governor tells us to do, period,’ former CPUC executive director Alice Stebbins said. ‘You don’t do anything without [Gov. Newsom’s] staff reviewing it or talking to you or approving it….’”

So, why are Newsom and his staff approving obscenely high electricity rates?

Fox 5 San Diego added on February 1: “Customers across the county are experiencing sticker shock at their San Diego Gas & Electric bills this winter. One customer told FOX 5 their January SDG&E bill jumped to $700 from the normal $200 a month.”

It seems that on an average, customers’ bills were twice as high in February as in January.

Politicians more Dangerous than Covid

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on February 6:

“The denigration of the Canadian trucker protest convoy exemplifies how freedom is now the biggest villain of the covid-19 pandemic.

“A Washington Post cartoonist portrayed the trucker convoy as ‘fascism’ incarnate while another Post column derided the ‘toxic ‘Freedom Convoy.’” Anyone who resists any government command is apparently now a public enemy….

“Politicians like Trudeau and Biden, who fuel mass rage against any group that does not kowtow to officialdom, are sowing seeds of hatred that will proliferate long after the pandemic ends. In the long run, people have more to fear from politicians than from viruses.”

Sadly, this assessment rings very true.

Liberal Media Ignores Illuminating Report on COVID Restrictions

Fox News wrote on February 4:

“There has been a full-on media blackout of the new study outlining the ineffectiveness of lockdowns to prevent COVID deaths. According to a Johns Hopkins University meta-analysis of several studies, lockdowns during the first COVID wave in the spring of 2020 only reduced COVID mortality by .2% in the U.S. and Europe… the researchers wrote[:] ‘… lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.’

“However, the Johns Hopkins study received no mention on any of the five liberal networks this week… CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC all ignored the anti-lockdown findings after having spent much of the pandemic shaming red states with minimal restrictions and events deemed by critics as ‘superspreaders.’…

“The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, USA Today, Axios, Politico among other outlets also turned a blind eye to the findings…

“The researchers… analyzed the effects of lockdown measures such as school shutdowns, business closures, and mask mandates on COVID-19 deaths. ‘We find little to no evidence that mandated lockdowns in Europe and the United States had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality rates…’ The researchers also examined shelter-in-place orders, finding that they reduced COVID-19 mortality by 2.9%… The researchers concluded that limiting gatherings may have actually increased COVID-19 mortality… ‘often, lockdowns have limited peoples’ access to safe (outdoor) places such as beaches, parks, and zoos, or included outdoor mask mandates or strict outdoor gathering restrictions, pushing people to meet at less safe (indoor) places.’…

“Researchers also pointed out other unintended consequences of lockdowns, such as rising unemployment, reduced schooling, an increase in domestic violence incidents, and surging drug overdoses…”

Something which we have stated in our publications for over two years. Now some come to their senses, but the damage has been done.

Most of the Very Sick Are Fully Vaccinated

Israel National News reported on February 3:

“Prof. Jacob Giris, director of Ichilov Hospital’s coronavirus ward, said in a TV interview that many of the severe cases are vaccinated. ‘Right now, most of our severe cases are vaccinated,’ Giris told Channel 13 News. ‘They had at least three injections. Between seventy and eighty percent of the serious cases are vaccinated. So, the vaccine has no significance regarding severe illness, which is why just twenty to twenty-five percent of our patients are unvaccinated.’

“Giris also spoke at the cabinet meeting on Sunday and told ministers, ‘Defining a serious patient is problematic. For example, a patient with a chronic lung disease always had a low level of oxygen, but now he has a positive coronavirus test result which technically makes him a ‘serious coronavirus patient,’ but that’s not accurate. The patient is only in a difficult condition because he has a serious underlying illness.’”

Here goes the left-wing propaganda of the mass media.

Canada’s and America’s “Justice”?

The Blaze wrote on February 6:

“A Canadian judge ruled that an unvaccinated father cannot see his three children because he refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Justice Nathalie Godbout of the Court of Queen’s Bench ruled on Monday that the father from New Brunswick would lose custody of his children… [as] the unvaccinated posed a serious risk to the children…

“The mother and father [separated in 2019 and agreed to share custody]. They were also in disagreement about the children getting vaccinated. The mother wanted to get the children vaccinated when they became eligible in November, the father was against it. Godbout ruled that the mother could get the kids vaccinated without the father’s consent. The children reportedly received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine following the ruling on Monday…

“In December, another Canadian father lost custody of his 12-year old child after a Quebec judge ruled that it was in the child’s ‘best interest’ to bar the dad from seeing his child since he was unvaccinated. In August, a  Chicago mother temporarily lost custody of her child because she was unvaccinated against COVID-19.”

Canadians Fed Up With COVID Restrictions

The Denver Gazette wrote on February 4:

“A late January poll… found 54% of Canadians want to end [Covid] restrictions… That was up 14 percentage points from just a few weeks earlier… As COVID fatigue turns into angst, weary government leaders must decide whether it’s time to start treating the virus as an endemic disease, like seasonal flu… if Canada is any guide, there will likely be growing public pressure to remove restrictions…

“Trudeau… has shown no sign of reversing his government’s vaccine mandates… Yet the backlash is being felt by political leaders. Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, Trudeau’s primary rival in the 2021 election, was dumped by his caucus this week… For some, his refusal to embrace the protesters’ cause was another sign of weakness. After deposing him in a vote on Wednesday, a few went out and posed for pictures with the truckers.

“Quebec’s premier backed down on a threat to impose a special tax on unvaccinated residents. The government of Saskatchewan… said it will scrap all restrictions soon, including proof-of-vaccination requirements for public places.”

An Unholy Mess?

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on February 5:

“There is a narrow window — a month or two, maybe — for governments to declare ‘victory over the virus’ and roll back their segregation systems, mask-wearing mandates, ‘vaccine’ mandates, and the rest of the so-called ‘Covid restrictions.’ Many governments are already doing so, England, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Ireland, etc. They have seen which way the wind is blowing, and they are rushing to dismantle the New Normal in their countries before…. a convoy of angry truckers arrives at their doors.

“If they let that happen, they will find themselves in the unenviable position that Trudeau is now in. The Canadian truckers appear to be serious about staying there until their demands are met, which means Trudeau only has two options: (1) give in to the truckers’ demands, or (2) attempt to remove them by force. There’s already talk about bringing in the military. Imagine what an unholy mess that would be. Odds are, the military would disobey his orders, and, if not, the world would be treated to the spectacle of full-blown New Normal Fascism in action.

“Either way, Trudeau is history, as long as the truckers stand their ground. I pray they do not give an inch, and I hope the leaders of other New Normal countries, like Australia, Germany, Austria, Italy, and France, are paying close attention.”

Leftist Trudeau Under Attack, but Not Listening

Breitbart wrote on February 9:

“Leftist Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced jeers and insults in Parliament on Tuesday as he once again faced questions regarding his derision towards citizens who oppose civil rights violations tied to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic…

“Trudeau has repeatedly insisted he would not listen to any calls for lifting the mandates and restoring normal life to Canada. He has accused the protesters of racism and misogyny and equated them with Nazis in his statements in Parliament on Monday. The next day, he once again faced calls to meet with opposition leaders and bring an end to the onerous mandate regime currently in place. The interim leader of the Conservative Party, Candice Bergen, asked Trudeau if he would consider ending restrictions once again. ‘This cannot be a slow and dragged out process simply because of the prime minister’s ego, pride, or denial,’ Bergen said. ‘Canadians are too tired. Canadians need hope. So will the prime minister follow the science, follow the evidence, end the restrictions, end the mandates?’

“Trudeau did not answer the question, instead asserting, amid heckling and jeers, ‘we’re going to continue to follow the science, we’re going to continue to have Canadians’ backs, we’re going to continue to protect people’s lives.’ Bergen again asked him to answer the question, but upon his second attempt, the jeering became so loud that he stopped abruptly and sat down to wait for it to end. Amid the shouting, one voice could be heard saying, ‘Let him answer, he’s not good at it!’

“Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota admonished the chamber and confirmed that the shouting was, indeed, jeers. ‘The honorable leader of the opposition asked a question and she’s trying to hear, but she can’t hear it above all the heckling and shouting that’s going on,’ Rota scolded. The speaker did not succeed in silencing the shouting entirely but diminished it enough for Trudeau to finish his response, which was nearly identical to his first statement…

“On Monday, Bergen pressed Trudeau for an apology for his invective against those who choose not to receive a Chinese coronavirus vaccine. ‘Does he regret calling people names who didn’t take the vaccine?’ Bergen asked of Trudeau. ‘Does he regret calling people misogynist and racist… and being so divisive to individual Canadians that he might not… agree with, that he might have thought were wrong?’

“Trudeau responded by associating the protesters with Nazis…”

Sweden and other Countries lift COVID restrictions, but…

LifeSiteNews wrote von February 4:

“The Swedish government announced Thursday that it will be lifting all COVID restrictions by February 9… there will no longer be any limitations on how many people can gather at restaurants, sports stadiums, and other venues… In addition, Swedes will no longer be required to work from home, and travel restrictions between Sweden and other Nordic countries will be relaxed. Vaccine passport requirements, mask mandates on public transports, and social distancing will also be scrapped.

“Throughout 2020 and 2021, Sweden has been the source of heated debate for its management of COVID-19. It was one of very few countries which decided against going into lockdown. The government did not shut down schools or the economy, and did not remotely restrict individual freedoms to the degree seen in the United States and much of Europe…

“In announcing the lifting of its COVID restrictions, Sweden is now aligning itself with Denmark, which ended them on Tuesday, declaring that COVID was ‘no longer a dangerous disease’ for society’. Two other neighboring Nordic countries, Norway and Finland, have also announced the lifting of some of their COVID restrictions recently, as have a number of countries throughout Europe…

“While the relaxing or lifting of COVID restrictions in many places will come as good news for the millions of people throughout the world who have been protesting en masse against restrictions to their freedoms, leaders have suggested that the measures might come back in the future, or not be lifted at all, depending on the evolution of the pandemic and the appearance of potential new variants.

“Moreover, in virtually every country where restrictions are being relaxed or lifted, the decision is not only attributed to the herd immunity generated by the fast-spreading and mild omicron variant, but above all to the alleged efficacy of the COVID-19 ‘vaccines’ and booster shots.

“Despite the current relaxing of measures, leaders everywhere are still encouraging, if not legally obliging, people to get vaccinated with the mRNA gene therapy which has been associated with thousands of deaths and millions of adverse events worldwide. Unvaccinated people are also still being blamed for the fact that the pandemic is still ongoing, despite evidence showing that vaccinated people now account for a majority of cases and hospitalizations in many places.”

Austria Enacts Mandatory Vaccination as of February 5, 2022

Breitbart wrote on February 5:

“Just over two months after the draconian measure was first announced, Austria has made getting vaccinated against the Chinese coronavirus mandatory for all those over the age of 18 in the country. The new forced jab rules come into force from Saturday, but penalties for those who do not abide by the mandate will not come into effect until mid-March.

“According to a report by Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s Federal President, Alexander Van der Bellen, as well as Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer, successfully signed the bill into law on Friday morning…

“Herbert Kickl, who serves as leader of the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs — or Freedom Party of Austria — denounced the law, which he claimed would put Austria ‘on a par with authoritarian states’… Meanwhile, a post made by the party on social media declared that it will aim to support the nation’s unvaccinated against any mandate penalties… ‘We will exhaust all legal options and inform citizens how they can defend themselves against impending penalties.’

Some of Austria’s Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs—or Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ)—are also opposing mandatory vaccinations.

If the opposition grows, like in Canada, the current Austrian government might not be in power much longer.

Goldberg’s Jewish Race Comments

Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) wrote on February 2:

“Whoopi Goldberg waded into a charged discourse that has polarized the Jewish community — and those who seek to discriminate against them — for centuries… The genocide was not ‘about race,’ she said, it was instead about ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’ And it involved ‘two white groups of people.’

“The comments immediately went viral and struck a nerve, leading to what Goldberg described as a deluge of accusations of antisemitism and Holocaust denial… the storm reached a climax on Tuesday night when ABC decided to suspend Goldberg from ‘The View’ for two weeks ‘to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments’… Goldberg… attempted to clarify the situation… In her experience as a Black person, she said, race is something ‘I can see.’…

“Jews have long debated whether they are a ‘race’ or something else. Judaism is a religion, practiced by people of all varieties and races across the globe. But Jews do not have to be practitioners to regard themselves or be accepted by other Jews as Jews… Judaism also accepts converts.

“Taken all together, these various understandings have led Jews to regard themselves (and others to regard Jews) variously as a people, a nation, a tribe, a family and a faith…

“But Hitler, like many antisemites before him, specifically — and repeatedly, in writings and laws and speeches — labeled Jews as physically impure Slavic-descended race, in contrast to what he termed the blonde, blue-eyed genetically pure German Aryan race. Nazi propaganda promoted pseudoscientific ways to supposedly identify Jews — by the size of their nose and lips, or the shape of their heads, among other things.

“Hitler… wrote that the ‘Final Solution’ was inspired in part by his drive to create a more ‘pure’ and singular human race, rid of ‘Jewish’ and other impurities… the Jews were persecuted as a ‘race’ by their neighbors in Europe and elsewhere for centuries before Hitler outlined many of his ideas in ‘Mein Kampf’ in a jail cell in 1925…

“The majority of Jews in North America may be Ashkenazi Jews with roots in Eastern Europe, but Jews also descend from ancient communities in Ethiopia, India, China and beyond. Sephardic Jews come from communities in Northern Africa and what is now Spain and Portugal, while Mizrahi Jews come from the Middle East, including once vital communities in Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria and other countries….

“Thousands of Jews come from mixed-race and interfaith backgrounds, so even many Jews with Ashkenazi roots are not white…”

Arguments like these are often made to claim that Jesus, as a Jew, was not white. This is false. The genealogy of Jesus, through Mary, is clearly documented, and his ancestors were white. As the article above points out, many times the term “Jew” is referring to religion, rather than race.

Pope Francis’ Communion with the Dead

The National Catholic Register wrote on February 4:

“Pope Francis’ Wednesday audience drew a reaction from some who wondered whether he had intentionally included the damned in the communion of saints… The communion of saints includes the dead, said the Pope. ‘They too are in communion with us,’ he said…

“Pope Francis then raised an objection from a hypothetical speaker: ‘Let’s think about those who have denied the faith, who are apostates, who are the persecutors of the Church, who have denied their baptism…’

“The Pope responded: ‘Yes, these too. All of them. The blasphemers, all of them. We are brothers. This is the communion of saints. The communion of saints holds together the community of believers on earth and in heaven, and on earth: the saints, the sinners, all… In this sense, the relationship of friendship that I can build with a brother or sister beside me, I can also establish with a brother or sister in heaven,’ he said…”

Does communion with the dead also mean, communication with the dead?

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 the second part of this series, we started to look at an outline of biblical information to show just how important inter-personal relationships are with other human beings.

In this third part, we will review some Scriptures that show how we are to deal with others in our relationship with them.

How we are to deal with others in our relationship with them.

One of the most obvious places to start is in Exodus 20 where God gave Israel the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments are instructions about how humans should relate to God and the other six are about how people should treat and relate to each other. If these were taken seriously, all relationships would be unrecognisable to what we experience today where selfishness and self-serving predominate.

The Ten Commandments give a summary of how to love God and how to love our neighbour.  God gave additional statutes and judgments showing the practical application of the Ten Commandments.

For example, Exodus 22:21-22 tells us: “You shall neither mistreat a stranger [sojourner or foreigner] nor oppress him… You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.”

Rather than oppressing others, we ought to help them when we have opportunity. Deuteronomy 22:1-4 states:

“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you must not hide yourself. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again.”

We are to do a good turn for others wherever possible.

In addressing our relationship with other Church members, Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

There should be no semicolon in the phrase, “… love one another; as I have loved you.”  Rather, Christ is telling us that we ought to love our brethren in the same way as He has loved us.

Paul, when writing to the Galatians, outlined important principles of sowing and reaping and of not growing weary in well doing, and he finished by saying: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

Paul further wrote how he did everything he could to accommodate others to show them the way to salvation, without compromising God’s law, when he wrote: “…and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law;   to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:20-22).

First, he was determined in destroying the Church and having the members arrested and killed, but after his conversion, he was reaching out to others and was trying to do all he could to help others to be led to God’s Truth and to reach man’s ultimate potential—entrance into the Kingdom of God. His communication was out of love towards his fellow human beings. He knew of course that he could not convert or proselytize someone, but he wanted to make sure that he did not become a hindrance for those whom God would call to salvation.

John, the apostle whom Christ loved and who had a special relationship with Christ, addresses another important point in this context, writing:

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20).  This was central to the teaching that Jesus gave to all who listened to Him and wanted to follow Him. Unfortunately, down through the ages, lip service has so often been present but the substance ignored.

Notice the communication which Jesus had with one of the scribes:

“Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘Which is the first commandment of all?’ Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ [Christ summarized here the Ten Commandments.] So the scribe said to Him, ‘Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’  But after that no one dared question Him” (Mark 12:28-34).

Christ was also saying, in effect, that those who do not love God or their fellow man are far from the Kingdom of God. In fact, they were still walking in darkness even though they might have thought that they were walking in the light. This is especially true for Church members who hate their brethren (1 John 2:9-11).

Jesus said that He would judge the nations and gave this warning for those who did understand the Truth, but refused to live by it: “… for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me” (Matthew 25:35-36). He then went on to explain in verses 37-40: “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”  That’s quite a warning for those who are followers of Jesus Christ who gives us the blueprint for how we are to treat and deal with other brethren. It is quite a lesson in interpersonal relationship behaviour.

We have to be careful that we don’t upset or offend others unnecessarily.   We will probably know some people who can be touchy or sensitive; perhaps we ourselves can be like this at times, but the apostle Paul addresses this type of relationship in 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 where we read the following:

“But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols?  And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?   But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.  Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

This is a classic case of doing without by abstaining or forgoing what we might normally do for the sake of others who are weak in the faith and might be encouraged by our conduct (which is objectively faultless) to follow our example, but they would be doing so with a compromised conscience. Inasmuch as whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23), we must be careful by not encouraging others to sin against their conscience.  We should endeavour at all times, wherever possible, to have good relationships with others although at times, for many reasons, that may not be possible.  If it is not possible, let us ensure that we are not the responsible party in such a case.

Selflessness should be part of the way we react and behave in life as the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:33: “…just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” Again, Paul’s desire was that others would be saved, and he did not want to endanger that possibility by the way he conducted himself.

Jesus was hassled and harassed by the religious establishment of His time as they tried to trick Him into giving answers that would incriminate Himself.  “But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’  Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”’” (Matthew 22:34-40).  After the Sadducees failed, the Pharisees tried yet again to trap Jesus. However, Jesus was not taken by surprise or without an answer and gave a perfect summary of the foundation of all the law and the prophets for all of those who choose to follow Him.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, later explained: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well” (James 2:8).

Jesus gave instruction about those who are against us: “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 perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44-48).

On the same theme, further direction and guidance was given as we read in Luke 6:35 about this matter which cuts right across the grain of our human nature:  “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.”  Very often, when enemies see others reacting in this most unusual way, that of trying to do good to them or trying to be helpful, they can have a change of mind about them.

Paul, in quoting from Proverbs 25:21-22, tells us 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.”

One practical example can be found in Exodus 23:4-5: “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.”

If we are to treat our enemy that way, how much more are we to show love for our brethren, leading to unity. Psalm 133:1 is a key verse and very self-explanatory: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!”

The first part of Proverbs 18:24 states that “A man who has friends must himself be friendly,” showing that we shouldn’t be inward looking and “locking out” other people. However, many feel that this is not the best translation. The Ryrie Study Bible comments: “Probably better, ‘A man of (too many) friends will be broken in pieces.’ Indiscriminately chosen friends may bring trouble, but a genuine friend sticks with you through thick and thin.” It still remains true that we must act towards genuine friends in a friendly manner.

When relationship problems occur in a marriage, friendship, business and in so many other areas of life, the outcomes can be threatening, even disastrous.   Even in the Church we can have difficulties between members which can be distressing to the parties involved and may be resolved if the appropriate action is taken.

One passage of Scripture is often overlooked when there is sin involved, causing problems with inter-personal relationships within the Church. The modern phrase is conflict resolution and how we go about it.   We have covered this many times in sermons and in other literature but a brief reminder may be helpful. In Matthew 18:15-17 we read: “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’  And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

For a thorough discussion of conflict resolution between brethren  in Matthew 18:15-20, please see our Q&A, https://www.eternalgod.org/q-a-2853/  See also our Q&A on the power and authority of excommunication in Matthew 18:17.  https://www.eternalgod.org/question-and-answer-279/

On the other hand, our personal relationship with others may need to involve division and separation because of the Word of God. We explain this aspect in detail in our Q&A which addresses what it means to deny Christ, https://www.eternalgod.org/what-does-it-mean-to-deny-christ/, saying:

“Why would someone deny Christ? A major reason is because of persecution as a Christian, but JESUS warned that this would come:

“‘Remember the word that I said to you, “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me’” (John 15:20-21).

“When a person is called into the Truth, standing firm and not denying Christ will oftentimes be a great test. Again, this is something JESUS said would come—it is part of ‘counting the cost’ (Luke 14:28):

“‘Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to “set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law”; and “a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it’” (Matthew 10:34-39)…

“Finally, consider this ominous warning from JESUS:

“‘For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels’” (Mark 8:38).”

If we love others more than God and if we are compromising with God’s Truth, just to maintain a close or friendly personal relationship with others,  we deny Christ, and He will be ashamed of us when He returns.

In summary, our personal relationships with others must be pleasing in the sight of God.

(To be continued)

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

compiled by Dave Harris

“Why Canada’s Justin Trudeau Is so Dangerous,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: 

Recently, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s official statement about the death of Cuba’s Fidel Castro in November of 2016 resurfaced in the news, and his comments are indeed stunning and extremely revealing in light of what is happening in Canada right now. Trudeau’s declarations in 2016 were strongly condemned, but might reflect how Trudeau ticks. This program analyzes the actions of dictator Fidel Castro and compares them with what is happening in Canada right now. 

A Tech Meeting was held on February 6, 2021, via Google Meet. Conducted by Eric Rank, it was noted that our Sabbath live broadcast has greatly improved and additional equipment is being added to sustain this. Emphasis was presented for developing ad campaigns with further assignments given to achieve a target date in early March.

“Warum diese gottlose Welt der Niedertracht?” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Why this Godless World of Wretchedness?”

“Müssen Christen den Sabbat halten?” the sermonette presented last Sabbath in Germany by Tahir Coban, is now posted. Title in English: “Do Christians Have to Keep the Sabbath?”

“A World in Rebellion and Confusion –Comments on News and Prophecy, February 5, 2022,” the first message presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

When reviewing recent developments in the Western world and especially in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria and other Western nations, we find an abominable spirit of rebellion against God and His righteous and just Word. Christians must be aware of that and have a different mindset, if they want to have God’s protection.

“The Spirit Bears Witness,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

John tells us in his first letter that the blood, the water and the Spirit bear witness. Previous sermons discussed the blood and the water. In this sermon, we will concentrate on the Spirit, showing of what it bears witness,  and how and in what way “these three agree as one.

On February 5, 2022, Norbert Link will present “Comments on News and Prophecy, February 5, 2022,” and the sermon, titled, “The Spirit Bears Witness.”

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.

Eric Rank’s Sermonette a few weeks ago on the challenge of a prideful spirit stimulated many thoughts for me. As Mr. Rank shared his impressions, I too have allowed myself to bask in the glow of my own prideful humanity. I’ve learned that the things that I have succeeded at have been the result of God’s hand, and the moments that have not gone well were either lessons or challenges that I must learn or overcome. Still, this world celebrates success, and the pride that can accompany achievement can cause people to believe in the power of their inflated wisdom.

This is not to say that we cannot be pleased when we achieve something we’ve worked hard for. However, when being pleased becomes boastful, even with oneself, then we have indeed crossed the line in God’s eyes. We must acknowledge God’s supremacy in our lives.

I too have spoken about pride and on leadership, and the tendency for people to respond to a diligent and sincere leader, and not as much to a person who is in your face about his or her skills and victories. So, what is this factor that triggers the movement from sincerity to boastfulness? In a word: arrogance!

This editorial is not intended to be a commentary on specific leaders—but on the attitude that is so prevalent in the world, among the world’s leaders, and frankly—so many people. This is not a trait that is limited to one political party or movement. It is also an attitude that we’ve come to expect with popular sports and entertainment stars. But this character trait is not limited to the rich and famous, and to be fair, there may be humble people among them.

However, humility is not a virtue that this world generally appreciates. Society tends to consider humble people to be push-overs or worse. Yet even the Harvard Business School offers a course on the value of quiet power as a leadership skill. Now, a quiet person can still be an arrogant person, but humility and arrogance are typically opposite ends of the spectrum.

In the Book of Micah, we see the two types juxtaposed—on the one hand a boastful person suggesting that sacrifices and riches would impress God, and on the other hand a merciful, kind and just person who humbles himself before God.

We read in Micah 6, 6-8: “With what shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams Or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

Edgar Schein, professor emeritus at MIT Sloan School of Management and an expert on leadership and culture, once asked a group of his students what it meant to be promoted to the rank of manager. They said without hesitation, “It means I can now tell others what to do.” And yet, a management column in the Wall Street Journal offered a different headline: “The Best Bosses Are Humble Bosses.” The article referred to a study at Arizona State University in 2014 that reported that humble leaders “inspire close teamwork, rapid learning and high performance in their teams.” It even reported that one HR consulting firm was planning to introduce an assessment to identify personality traits that include “sincerity, modesty, fairness, truthfulness, and unpretentiousness.”

These are traits that would be unheard of in a political campaign. Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, Darth Vader and so many others are not characters that we describe as humble and forthright, but it is easy to build a movie plot around them. For some reason, this personality type is still integral in the eyes of many to the likelihood of success—whether the aim is good or evil.

In 1 Peter 5:5, we are told:”Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’”

It is troubling to witness politicians invoking God at will as a bludgeon against their rivals. Sadly, this is increasingly used as a method to illustrate superiority over the opposition. At the conclusion of the State of the Union address, the President asks that “God bless the United States of America”—but few understand that there is a contract that comes along with following God. Our part of the contract is straightforward: obeying Him and following His commandments. Can we obey God and be an arrogant person, out for him- or herself? We have our guidance in Mark 10:43-45:

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

God requires an attitude of service in His people—not arrogance. When we think of other faiths we may think of gold, and the finest fabrics, and some of the most exclusive real estate in the world. Leaders of these organizations live as monarchs and not as humble servants of God. John 13:14 illustrates what is expected of us: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

God sent His Son to save us as the ultimate sign of His love for us. This should humble us and cause us to evaluate our arrogance and self-righteous behavior. We must recognize that we are to be humble and caring towards one another and most certainly in our relationship with God the Father and His Son. We cannot impress God with material success, anything we do to achieve fame and notoriety, or anything we possess. What God demands of us is simple: obey Him and live as He commands.

by Norbert Link

We begin with the unparalleled “Freedom Convoy” by Canadian (and other) truckers against the coronavirus restrictions and mandatory vaccinations; report on Dr. Fauci’s and BLM’s many problems; and Germany’s attempts to censor “politically incorrect” platforms.

Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Germany’s March into its Prophesied Horrible Dictatorship.”

We continue to report at length about the deeply troubling developments pertaining to Russia and Ukraine, and the lack of confidence in Germany’s new government.  In this context, please watch our new presentation, “Germany is the Key?– Comments on News and Prophecy, January 29, 2022.” 

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

The Freedom Convoy

The Guardian wrote on January 28:

“Earlier this month, Canada began requiring any truckers arriving from the US be fully vaccinated against coronavirus. Those who are not vaccinated… are required to quarantine for 14 days…. A convoy of truckers and their supporters is set to converge on the Canadian capital in a protest which has spiralled from frustrations over vaccine mandates into calls for the repeal of all public health measures – and even the overthrow of the federal government.”

The USA imposed similar requirements for truckers entering the USA.

Breitbart wrote on January 27:

“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has labelled the anti-mandatory vaccination trucker convoy… a ‘fringe minority’ with ‘unacceptable views.’…

“Wednesday’s comments come after Canadian mainstream media outlets… have painted many of the truck convoy participants as having links to ‘far-right groups.’ The claim has been rejected by Tamara Lich, one of the Freedom Convoy organisers…

“The allegations are not the first time Canadian politicians or media have equated those against lockdowns or vaccination policies to white nationalists or far-right extremists. Last year in March, former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi claimed that anti-mask and anti-lockdown protestors were extremists…”

One wonders who the extremists are.  According to Fox News, dated January 28, the convoy of truckers is 70 kilometers or 43.5 miles long. Protests are now all over Canada, not just in Ottawa. For whole families to be out protesting in -20C to -30C for hours, they must be determined.

The Daily Mail wrote on January 30:

“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family have left their home in the national’s capital Ottawa for a secret location as up to 50,000 truckers gather to protest against the country’s vaccine mandate and Covid lockdowns. .. Trudeau said Friday that the truckers’ views — which he described as anti-science, anti-government and anti-society — posed a risk not only to themselves but to other Canadians as well… Despite security concerns, there have been no incidents at the rally…

“Elon Musk… tweeted praise for the truckers, saying: ‘If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny. ‘He’d earlier tweeted that ‘Canadian truckers rule’… As many as 32,000, or 20 percent, of the 160,000 Canadian and American cross-border truck drivers may be taken off the roads due to the mandate…

“In a list of demands, the organizers of the Freedom Convoy are calling for an end to vaccine passports and for the federal government to respect the rights of the unvaccinated. Trudeau hit the brakes on their demands. ‘What we are hearing from some people associated with this convoy is completely unacceptable,’ he said. ‘We know the way through this pandemic is to get everyone vaccinated.”

Who is “we”?

Breitbart wrote on January 29:

“Former President Donald Trump on Saturday praised the ‘freedom convoy’ of Canadian truckers protesting against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s coronavirus health mandates… ‘The Canadian truckers… who are resisting bravely these lawless mandates are doing more to defend American freedom than our own leaders by far,’ he said, speaking to a crowd in Conroe, Texas.

“He made clear that he supports the convoy’s movement, saying, ‘and we want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way.’”

What impact the demonstrating truckers will have on the Canadian government and even many Canadians who support draconian restrictions, is unclear.

The Calgary Herald wrote January 29:

“… the Canadian Trucking Alliance said on Sunday that they ‘strongly disapprove’ of the cross-Canada trucker protest and that the vast majority of Canadian truck drivers are vaccinated with estimates upwards of 90 per cent…”

Trudeau the Coward

Fox News wrote on January 31:

“Critics are slamming… Trudeau as a ‘coward’ for reportedly fleeing his residence in the country’s capital of Ottawa as a massive anti-vaccine mandate protest converged on the city. ‘What a complete coward. He won’t even face the citizens he has discriminated against,’ Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe tweeted. The protests have been peaceful, with most disturbances coming in the form of honking horns, chanting and dancing. ..

“Critics in both the U.S. and Canada lambasted and mocked the prime minister as ‘gutless’ and ‘cowardly’ for fleeing the protesters instead of addressing their concerns over health freedom. “

Of course, there were occasional incidents where monuments were defaced, which are now being used by the government to attack the truckers and launch criminal investigations. In all likelihood, these incidents were not even committed by any of the truckers but by elements who always appear at peaceful demonstrations to commit their despicable acts. According to the mass media, “violence” broke out at the Alta. Border, “after multiple trucks and tractors broke through police lines Tuesday afternoon.”  But  Alberta Premier Jason Kenney only said that “he received reports from the scene ‘of people aligned with the protesters assaulting RCMP officers, including in one instance trying to ram members of the RCMP, later leading to a collision with a civilian vehicle’” (The Western Producers, February 1).

In addition, Breitbart wrote on February 2:

“Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have confirmed to Breitbart News that no officers have been assaulted by protesters at the Alberta border blockade despite the assertion from the province’s Premier, Jason Kenney, that they had…. 

“As first reported by Rebel News, the assault claim was untrue, and RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters, who is on the ground in Coutts, independently confirmed to Breitbart News that no such assault took place, and the incident with the vehicle was an accident that occurred between civilians. ‘There were no RCMP officers assaulted,’ he said. ‘There was an assault that took place between two civilians. One of them was a protester who had been traveling the wrong way on a one-way lane of highway and then got in a collision with the innocent person. … But we haven’t had any assaults of police.’ According to Peters, the collision caused a fight to break out between the drivers.”

It can be expected that the truckers will be labeled by Trudeau’s  government once again as “dangerous and violent extremists.”  

Zero Hedge wrote on January 31:

“[The] Canadian Prime Minister was accused of hypocrisy when he suddenly was nowhere to be found late last week as a convoy of truckers rolled into Ottawa to protest the government’s COVID mandates. Many scoffed at Trudeau’s sudden disappearing when confronted by a massive crowd of protesters, many carrying signs mocking his comment that the truckers and their supporters were part of a “tiny fringe minority”.

“Making matters worse for the PM, Canadian media reported Monday morning that Trudeau had been diagnosed with COVID, despite receiving a booster dose early this month on Jan. 4. [He tweeted from his undisclosed location that he was feeling fine.]

“Is it possible to get infected with COVID while being boosted and in hiding? Or has Trudeau really been stricken with COWARD-19?”

Trudeau’s Berlin Wall of Covid Totalitarianism

Ron Paul wrote on January 31:

“We all remember where we were when the Berlin Wall came down. While it may have seemed that communist rule would go on forever, when the people decided that they had enough suddenly the wall fell. Just like that. Thus it is after two years of Covid authoritarianism that in Canada the largest truck convoy in history has smashed through the Berlin Wall of tyranny. I have watched as… Canada… turned into one of the most repressive countries on earth…

“Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had been basking in his ability to terrorize the population in the name of fighting a virus. He was so confident in his seemingly unlimited power that he felt he could ridicule any Canadian with different views. The prime minister said in a recent interview that unvaccinated Canadians were ‘extremists,’ ‘misogynists,’ and ‘racists.’

“When the Canadian truckers stood up to his tyranny and began their historic convoy to Ottawa, he thought he could continue ridiculing people…  Less than a week later, as tens of thousands of trucks began entering the capital with millions of supporters behind them, the ‘brave’ Canadian prime minister had fled the city and shuffled off to an undisclosed location…

“The Canadian mainstream media is obviously just as obedient to the regime as ours. They ignored the Freedom Convoy for as long as possible. There was almost no reporting. Then, when it became impossible to ignore, they began to attack and ridicule instead of trying to report it accurately. It was disgusting and almost comical to see a ‘reporter’ from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation suggest that the Canadian Freedom Convoy was cooked up by Putin and the Russians!…

“This protest is so important because it’s not limited to Canada. The truckers are being supported worldwide, and a similar convoy is being planned from California to Washington, DC. In a US where grocery store shelves are increasingly bare, the truckers have more leverage than the powers-that-be would like to admit. [The Daily Mail reported on January 31 that “Australian drivers have taken inspiration from a ‘Freedom Convoy’ in Canada to drive to Canberra and protest against vaccine mandates [as] Victoria’s Premier has warned booster shots will soon be mandatory. Protesters from all around the country arrived in the nation’s capital on Monday as part of the ‘Convoy to Canberra’ demonstration. The convoy of cars between Pheasants Nest, NSW and the capital trailed for several kilometres.”].

“If I were prime minister of totalitarian Australia or New Zealand – or most anywhere in Europe – I would be getting pretty nervous right now. Just as the Covid tyranny descended across the globe in a seemingly coordinated fashion, now that the Berlin Wall of the tyrants has been breached, it’s just a matter of time before the shockwaves are felt far and wide.”

Let’s hope Ron Paul is right. According to the Edmonton Sun, dated January 31, a remarkable change in attitude has happened, as “A majority of Canadians now say it is time to end COVID restrictions, according to an Angus Reid poll, a sharp increase from when the same question was asked in early January. The latest poll, taken Jan. 27-28, found 54% want restrictions to be lifted compared to just 39% who wanted restrictions lifted when the same question was asked two weeks earlier.”

We received the following report from one of our Canadian members:

“The things happening in our capital are on everyone’s mind here… a very special event, that the main media has basically blocked out, or if they say anything, they bash everyone there and pick on minute details. There has been NO violence, no arrests as per Ottawa police dept, in spite of the media and politicians describing the protesters as extremists. Many pastors at an open air service on Parliament Hill were telling our Prime Minister and the government to bring back God’s word to the parliament and schools.”

The Nonsense of Mandatory Vaccinations

LifeSiteNews wrote on January 28:

“Thrice vaccinated German politician Ricarda Lang (28) has tested positive for COVID-19 only hours after giving a speech in favor of mandatory vaccination at the German parliament Wednesday. Lang is currently running to become the leader of the Green party… Lang, who says she is bisexual, had done two rapid tests on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, both of which came back negative. On Wednesday night, after she gave a speech in support of mandatory vaccination in Germany, she received the results of a PCR test which came back positive… Lang claimed she had ‘no symptoms,’ which she attributed to the fact that she has been vaccinated three times against COVID-19…

“Meanwhile, far left member of parliament Sahra Wagenknecht, who is unvaccinated and one of the most outspoken German politicians in the fight against vaccine mandates, tested positive as well, and has no symptoms, either. Lang also argued that vaccination against COVID ‘protects very reliably against severe courses and death,’ despite the fact that fully vaccinated people actually represent a majority of hospitalizations in many countries…”

Breitbart wrote on January 28:

“Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) has tested positive for coronavirus, according to a statement from his office released on Friday night. The 74-year-old Senator, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, is asymptomatic. Romney’s wife, Ann, tested negative for coronavirus.”

Another Rock Star stands up to Vaccine Mandates

Breitbart wrote on January 28:

“Detroit rocker Kid Rock says if venues implement vaccine or mask mandates for concerts on his upcoming ‘Bad Reputation Tour,’ fans will ‘be getting your money back, because I won’t be showing up.’… Kid Rock noted that his tour ‘actually scratched Buffalo, New York, off the list because of that — and Toronto, Canada, and several other cities we were looking at.’…

“On Monday, Kid Rock released a politically charged song, titled, ‘We the People,’ bashing mandates in response to the Chinese coronavirus, and slamming President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci.”

Fauci should be in so much Trouble

Breitbart wrote on January 28:

“Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested his political opponents are ‘bad people’ and need to be healed by accepting his political opinions, the Washington Post reported Friday. While Fauci called a U.S. senator a moron during his last Senate committee hearing, he told the Post his political opponents are feeling ‘pain’ and ‘suffering’ and are ‘rebelling’ against society…

“The Post also interviewed Fauci’s old boss, Dr. Francis Collins, who recently resigned. Collins told the Post he is worried about Fauci being too focused on those who politically oppose Fauci’s opinions…

“Fauci’s political opponents have struck a chord with independents, according to polling. A majority of 53 percent of Democrats believe Fauci should resign from his position, while 46 percent said he should stay. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) have accused Fauci of lying to Congress about his financials and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) medical investments. President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser also reportedly owned a $10.4 million investment profile in 2020 that included Chinese companies.”

Apart from worrying signs of Fauci “losing it” mentally and his conflicting medical recommendations, he stands accused of suppressing reports suggesting that the Chinese virus was manufactured in labs, and he still has to account for allegedly supporting Chinese labs being engaged in gen-altering experiments and the despicable torturous experiments on beagles.  Fauci should resign for sure, and he must give an account for his alleged wrongdoings. Note the following article.

The New York Post wrote on January 28:

“Fauci… should be under federal investigation answering serious questions about his knowledge of the National Institutes of Health’s reckless funding of dangerous gain-of-function research of bat coronaviruses at China’s Wuhan lab via EcoHealth Alliance while overseeing the government agency.

“And [he] should be explaining shocking new information and emails obtained by Fox News’ ‘Special Report’ program exposing Fauci’s reported role in withholding vital information about the true origins of the suspected bioengineered coronavirus and subsequent alleged cover-up at the outset of the pandemic beginning in January 2020. The fact that [he] reportedly failed to disclose this critical information to the public is beyond frightening; it’s a dereliction of duty warranting his immediate dismissal and full investigation by authorities…

“Over the course of the pandemic, Fauci has been instrumental in getting social media networks and Big Tech to censor anyone spreading ‘misinformation’ about vaccines or lab leak ‘conspiracy theories’ while spreading misinformation himself to America and the world…”

BLM in Hot Water?

The Washington Examiner wrote on January 27:

“No one appears to have been in charge at Black Lives Matters for months. The address it lists on tax forms is wrong, and the charity’s two board members won’t say who controls its $60 million bankroll…

“BLM’s shocking lack of transparency surrounding its finances and operations raises major legal and ethical red flags…

“BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors appointed two activists to serve as the group’s senior directors following her resignation in May amid scrutiny over her personal finances. But both quietly announced in September that they never took the jobs due to disagreements with BLM…”

The New York Post wrote on February 2:

“California’s Department of Justice is pursuing Black Lives Matter over its murky $60 million coffers — warning the group’s shadowy leadership that it will be ‘personally liable’ for any fees or fines. The state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a formal warning to the controversial activist group on Monday… BLM was given 60 days to file tax and charity documents for 2020 — the year it previously confirmed  collecting a staggering $90 million, with at least $60 million left over after expenses and grants.”

CNN Boss Resigns in Disgrace

Fox News wrote on February 2:

“Embattled CNN boss Jeff Zucker walked away from the liberal network on Wednesday after failing to disclose a “consensual relationship” with a CNN staffer….

“Under Zucker, CNN has recently been plagued by scandals,  embarrassing headlines and struggles to attract an audience, leading critics to wonder if he would be shown the door once a planned merger between Warner Media and Discovery is finalized later this year. However, the sudden resignation before the potential deal was finalized sent shock waves across the media industry.”

Biden’s FCC Nominee Gigi Sohn

The New York Post wrote on January 29:

“Gigi Sohn’s journey to the Federal Communications Commission has seen more volatility than the Nasdaq… new, troubling details have emerged that could further taint her nomination to one of the country’s most important and powerful regulators of big business... Sohn, a vocal, progressive telecom lawyer and activist who co-founded an advocacy group funded by…  billionaire George Soros,  is being vehemently opposed by Senate Republicans. She has received at best lukewarm support from moderate Dems in the Senate, making her nomination a tough lift for the Biden administration.”

Wikipedia wrote the following about Gigi Sohn:

“Gigi Sohn has been married to her wife, Lara Ballard since August 2007… not much of her wife Lara’s life is known to the world… Gigi Sohn only has a daughter in terms of her children. She adopted her in 2004 even before marrying her wife Lara… the current whereabouts of her daughter are also not accessible along with her name and age. Biden’s nomination choices for his new government including Sohn have been termed as ground-breaking by NPR.”

German Government’s Fight against Telegram

Breitbart wrote on January 29:

“Nancy Faeser, Germany’s current Minister for the Interior, has distanced herself from previous threats she made against the popular encrypted messaging service, Telegram. The app has proved popular amongst the so-called ‘lateral thinker’ anti-lockdown movement within the country, and is frequently used to help organise and coordinate anti-lockdown protests in the Federal Republic.

“According to a report by Der Spiegel, Faeser had previously threatened to block the app from Germany over concerns to do with ‘hate speech’, as well as ‘violence and hatred on the internet’… The minister had also requested for Apple and Google to throw Telegram off of smartphone app stores over the messaging services transgressions, saying that both tech companies had a ‘social responsibility’ to do so.

“However, Faeser has suddenly stepped back on her fiery rhetoric, distancing herself from her previous remarks about shutting the service down in Germany. ‘Of course it’s not my goal to switch off Telegram,’ Der Spiegel reports Faeser as saying on Thursday, instead arguing that she was merely attempting to ‘increase the pressure’ on the company with her shutdown comments.

“While Germany’s political class may not approve of the app, the act of shutting off the service in Germany, according to Der Spiegel would be logistically very difficult. Russian authorities had reportedly tried — and failed — to shut out the messaging service from the country in 2018, resulting in nothing but embarrassment for the Kremlin as the app bypassed restrictions. Meanwhile, it seems doubtful whether the app will acquiesce to Germany’s demands for moderation, with two fine warnings sent to the company — which is located in Dubai — not receiving any response.

“Instead, the Federal Republic has begun looking at more direct approaches to the issue, with Der Zeit reporting that The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has set up a task force to deal with people who break the law on the platform.”

The question is, WHAT LAW are they referring to?

German Police Officers Raid School

LifeSiteNews wrote on January 31:

“A German school not registered with the government, where children were being taught in a mask-free environment, was closed following a raid by heavily armed police on January 20. The school had been set up by parents in an effort to protect their children from some of the most traumatic and long-term damaging effects of COVID restrictions such as mask mandates currently imposed on school children in Germany. According to local reports, the raid took place after the police was tipped that school-aged children were being taught at a private property in a small town near Erlangen in Bavaria during school hours.

“Following the raid, the city of Erlangen stated that the school, which was ‘operating without a permit,’ had been closed… there had been previous unsuccessful searches at the school, including an attempt by police to gain access to the building without a warrant… some 30 to 35 police officers successfully stormed the property in full gear, masked in black, and equipped with batons and automatic weapons. The entrance door of the school was broken open with a battering ram…

“The 15 children, aged 4 to 14, who were present on that day attempted to flee to the upper floor but were stopped by the officers. They were then separated from their parents and gathered on the second floor before being questioned individually for four hours… the police used intimidation tactics in order to obtain information from the children, telling them that they would be placed into juveniles’ homes if they refused to provide their names. The police also told the parents that they would have to file a missing person’s report before their children could be returned to them.

“Money and school equipment were also confiscated by the police. The city of Erlangen stated that any confiscated property would be returned following an investigation. In their previous schools, the children had been forced to wear a mask from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., even while using the restroom. When eating, the mask could only be lifted, but not removed completely. One of the mothers characterized this as a ‘torture method’ and reported that some children even fainted at home after having been forced to wear the mask all day… In Germany, children are forced to attend school in government-sanctioned environments. Private schools essentially follow a curriculum outlined by the government. Homeschooling is banned.”

Germany’s school system is an abomination.

Austria’s Growing Dictatorship

Bloomberg wrote on February 1:

“Austria is embarking on a dramatic public health experiment from Tuesday, with a controversial new law that makes Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for everyone.  Multiple European countries have stigmatized people who refuse a vaccine, but Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s government is going further and will start criminalizing holdouts.  Police will begin checking the vaccination status of people on the street and during traffic stops. Beginning in mid-March, offenders who haven’t had a shot will face fines rising to as much as 3,600 euros ($4,050).

“Political and public-health analysts suggest the policy is replete with risk. With opposition lawmakers rebelling and tens of thousands of protesters regularly thronging Vienna’s streets, Nehammer — less than two months in the job — is facing a huge test….

“Denmark, which has one of the highest vaccine rates in the world, last week reclassified Covid as no longer a threat to society.”

The West’s Capitulation to Russia

The Daily Mail wrote on January 24:

“If Russia does invade – and with thousands of troops and materiel massed on the border that could happen any day – the whole Western political class should hang their heads in shame. Through disunity and mixed messaging they have handed Putin a gift-wrapped opportunity to expand his autocratic empire at Ukraine’s expense.

“Guarantor of peace for more than 70 years, Nato is wracked with division. Germany is reluctant to offend Putin because it is a slave to Russian energy. French President Emmanuel Macron undermines the alliance further, describing it as ‘brain-dead’ and calling for the creation of an EU army… Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden says a ‘minor incursion’ might not be enough to justify the most extreme sanctions. Could there be a more open invitation?…

“If Europe fails Ukraine, Putin’s greedy eye will fall next on some other former Soviet state. We should have learned by now that appeasing tyrants never works.”

Deutsche Welle wrote on January 24:

“Germany, Austria and Hungary are more closely linked to the Russian economy than, say, Portugal or the Netherlands; and, because the EU requires unanimity to pass any political actions, the only thing that the European Commission has at the moment is a list of possible sanctions, tucked away in a drawer in Brussels…. [They]  would have to be coordinated with the United States and the United Kingdom, which has also announced unspecified plans for sanctions.”

American Troops to the Region

Deutsche Welle wrote on January 28:

“US President Joe Biden said Friday he will soon send a small number of US troops to bolster the NATO presence in Eastern Europe… ‘I’ll be moving troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term. Not too many,’ Biden told reporters.”

Newsmax added:

“The Pentagon has placed about 8,500 U.S. troops on stand-by for possible deployment to Europe amid Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine’s border.”

Politico stated:

“The president told reporters on Tuesday that he does not foresee U.S. troops moving into Ukraine.”

3,000 More US Troops to Europe

Fox News reported on February 2:

“Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters Wednesday that the current situation around Ukraine ‘demands that we reinforce the deterrent and defensive posture on NATO’s eastern flank… To be prepared for a range of contingencies, the United States will soon move additional forces to Romania, Poland and Germany,’ he said.

“Kirby announced that 1,000 American troops will be repositioned from Germany to Romania, while another 2,000 are set to be deployed to Europe from the U.S. in the coming days… These troops are separate from the 8,500 currently based in the U.S. who were placed last week ‘on a heightened preparedness to deploy’ if needed, Kirby added.”

Deutsche Welle clarified on February 2:

“Under the plan, the US will reportedly send about 2,000 American troops to Poland and Germany, while 1,000 troops would move from Germany to Romania…. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stressed they would not be fighting in Ukraine…. Following the announcement, the Kremlin said the deployment was a ‘destructive’ move.”

If they won’t be fighting in Ukraine, what’s the point?

While Johnson Acts, Biden Sleeps

The Sun wrote on January 29:

“AS UKRAINIAN mothers and grandfathers practise drills with wooden rifles to protect their homeland, Joe Biden once more sits on his hands and hopes. The US president who abandoned millions to starve in Afghanistan has again failed to truly stand up and be counted in the face of tyranny.

“It is into this moral void that Britain — freed from a paralysed EU led by a ­thoroughly compromised Germany — has honourably stepped… the PM [Boris Johnson] today vows to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression by land, sea, and air.

“Thankfully, he is not merely offering warm words. He has rightly pledged to double within days the number of UK Armed Forces in Eastern Europe — backed by fighter jets, rocket launchers and warships. It is a significant show of support for our threatened ally…

“Fundamental freedoms in the world are at risk – not to mention the lives of countless innocent Ukrainians. The stakes could not be higher.”

Biden’s Offers of Appeasement

The New York Post wrote von February2:

“The White House floated an offer to Russian President Vladimir Putin that would allow Kremlin access to key NATO bases in exchange for Moscow de-escalating tensions over its military buildup on Ukraine’s border.

“The proposal was included in Washington’s response last week to Moscow’s demands for so-called ‘security guarantees’ from the West, including barring Ukraine and other former Soviet states from becoming NATO members and rolling back forces from Eastern Europe. … The five-page US response also indicates willingness to discuss refraining from installing ground-based missile systems or deploy combat forces in Ukraine if Russia agrees to do the same. “

Putin’s Many Options

The Daily Mail wrote on January 28:

“Vladimir Putin is weighing up how to respond after the US and NATO rejected his security demands around Ukraine, with Biden warning an attack is likely to come in February when the ground freezes solid, allowing Putin’s tanks to roll in. If he’s right, that gives Zelensky just a few weeks to prepare his defenses, with the main question being: Where will Putin attack, and what will his targets be?

“MailOnline has pulled together expert opinion and open source information to lay out the strongman’s likely options, from cyberattacks and sabotage to assaults on ports, nuclear reactors, the seizure of key military bases and infrastructure such as powerplants and bridges. Defending all this is the daunting task facing Ukraine’s military, if Putin decides to take the plunge.”

The Daily Mail also published in its article charts with five options which Putin has to conquer Ukraine. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10442787/How-Putin-invade-Ukraine-amid-warnings-imminent-attack.html

Russia Sends Blood Supplies to Ukraine Border

Reuters wrote on January 28:

“Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine has expanded to include supplies of blood along with other medical materials that would allow it to treat casualties, in yet another key indicator of Moscow’s military readiness, three U.S. officials tell Reuters.

“Current and former U.S. officials say concrete indicators — like blood supplies — are critical in determining whether Moscow would be prepared to carry out an invasion, if Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to do so…

“The Pentagon has previously acknowledged the deployment of ‘medical support’ as part of Russia’s buildup. But the disclosure of blood supplies adds a level of detail that experts say is critical to determining Russian military readiness. ‘It doesn’t guarantee that there’s going to be another attack, but you would not execute another attack unless you have that in hand,’ said Ben Hodges, a retired U.S. lieutenant general now with the Center for European Policy Analysis research institute.”

Ukraine Gone in 48 Hours?

Express wrote on January 29:

“AN ALLY of Vladimir Putin claimed it would take the Kremlin no more than 48 hours to win over Ukraine in case of war.

“Konstantin Malofeev, a Russian tycoon said to be a sponsor of several pro-Kremlin Orthodox and ultra-conservative projects, claimed ‘open military conflict between Russia and Ukraine’ can only go one way given the massive ‘difference in military potential’ between the two. Calling the crisis a ‘suicidal conflict’, he largely blamed the West for it… ‘It will take 48 hours maximum, and we cannot talk about different fronts’…

“Mr Malofeev… considers NATO’s and its allies’ actions  a provocation rather than an attempt to stop the conflict from going any further. He claimed: ‘We consider Ukraine as a country temporarily occupied by the Anglo-Saxon special services, in which there is no sovereign power, which is completely under the control of these special services…’ Putin… wants under no circumstances [to] see Kyiv being made part of the [NATO] alliance.”

Germany the Key?

Express wrote on January 29:

“RUSSIA and Ukraine’s growing tension has an ‘80 percent chance’ of erupting into a full-blown conflict by the end of February, former US Army chief Ben Hodges warned… ‘The only thing that is going to stop it is if Germany and the rest of Europe are 100 percent force-squared against what Russia is doing. Germany is the key… Germany, they don’t have the self-confidence right now. They don’t know who they are in Europe.’

“He also suggested Vladimir Putin might look to wait until the end of February before pushing ahead with any military action in Ukraine… ‘The two big factors are the Beijing Winter Olympics, I don’t imagine he’s going to want to upstage his friend’s big show. He waited until the end of his Sochi Olympics in 2014 before he invaded Ukraine. The other thing, of course, is getting everything in place.’”

Focus wrote on January 29:

“The Western world is behind Ukraine – except for the Germans. The failed delivery of 5,000 steel helmets not only caused jokes in the US media, but also made the Americans doubt the federal government’s foreign policy abilities. ‘Is Germany a reliable US partner?’ – the ‘Wall Street Journal’ answered the question already in its headline with a clear ‘no’. The conservative daily newspaper is by no means alone with this opinion. Left- and right-wing US media currently seem to be in agreement: The American press reacted with astonishment and were in some cases stunned by Germany’s hesitant attitude to the Ukraine crisis. Open criticism of the federal government is getting louder and louder…

“[The New York Times] calls Olaf Scholz’ attitude towards Ukraine a ‘shambles’… Bloomberg News also describes the German chancellor as the ‘weakest link in the Ukraine crisis’ . .. ‘Berlin puts Russia’s interests ahead of those of the West’, according to the ‘Wall Street Journal’,[continuing:] Cheap natural gas and the appeasement of Putin are more important to the Germans than their solidarity with allied democracies. It is hardly understandable that President Joe Biden continues to call Germany America’s most important ally – there can no longer be any talk of a credible partner…

“The Germans as reliable allies – this image is becoming increasingly difficult to believe, NBC concludes, and wonders whether Germany’s focus is on its relations with America and Europe – or on those with Russia.”

If Germany is the key, then Ukraine is doomed.

Germany’s Ex Chancellor Supports Putin

Bild Online wrote on January 29, 2022:

“Ex-Chancellor and Putin friend Gerhard Schroeder (77, SPD) apparently no longer has any inhibitions when it comes to twisting the facts in the Ukraine crisis. While the world looks on in fear at the approximately 130,000 Russian soldiers who could invade Ukraine at any time, Schröder accuses Ukraine of fueling the conflict and provoking Putin’s revenge.

“‘I really hope that the saber-rattling in Ukraine will finally stop,’ he said on the podcast ‘The Agenda’. ‘What I have to hear there, also about blame being laid on Germany because of the reasonable rejection of arms deliveries, that sometimes knocks the bottom out of the barrel.’…

“Only someone can speak that way who makes a lot of money as top manager of the state-owned companies Nord Stream 2 and Rozneft. CDU’s foreign politician Norbert Röttgen described Schröder as ‘Putin’s paid henchman!'”

How the EU Can Become a Superpower

Euractiv wrote on January 27:

“The EU is losing its relative significance at the global stage every day; while we have the potential to be a superpower, it must be unlocked by necessary reforms, such as moving to qualified-majority voting in foreign affairs, according to Dr Federiga Bindi, expert on the EU’s foreign policy at a Citizens’ Panel of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE)…

“‘ As long as one country can block decisions, we will always go with the lowest common denominator. … Getting rid of unanimity is the number one priority in foreign and security policy… In terms of their individual military potential, even the strongest EU member states like France have puny armies compared to the rest of the world. In addition, maintaining separate armed forces is a huge waste of money… The reality is that our armed forces, at least at the leadership level, are already highly integrated. Their commanders genuinely talk to each other and work together. Still, we need more integration on the lower levels…”

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 the first part of this series, we looked at the relationship between God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.   In the second part, we will give an outline of biblical information to show just how important inter-personal relationships are with other human beings, and how bad relationships can be disastrous for everyone involved.

Relationships – Man’s interpersonal relationships with fellow man.

In Genesis 1:26, we read that God spoke about creating man who was to be made in His image with God’s end goal of reproducing Himself through man. As God is a Family, He wanted man to become part of His Family—to ultimately join Him in His Family as born-again immortal God beings. In Genesis 2:21-25, we read that a woman was made and that husband and wife, as well as their children, were to be a human family (compare Genesis 1:28). This was to be a physical pattern of the ultimate purpose of enlarging the God Family. However, Adam and Eve failed to obey God, and so there were conversations in chapter 3 where God spoke to Adam and his wife after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit and where, as a consequence, God expelled them from the Garden of Eden, thereby preventing them to eat from the Tree of Life and obtain God’s Holy Spirit and finally eternal life.

Since the dawn of civilisation, man’s relationship with fellow man has been a constant problem.  Adam obeyed Eve in eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which he should not have done, and the first child born to Adam and Eve was Cain who killed his brother Abel, because Abel’s works were righteous, while Cain’s works were evil (1 John 3:12). As mankind multiplied, so did the problems, and it became so bad that Noah was instructed to build an ark and that those on board that ark would be the only ones who would survive the Flood, and that was after only 1,650 years after the creation of man.

Why would this be so?

In his booklet “Military Service and War,” Mr Herbert Armstrong wrote the following on pages 10 and 11:

“There are the two broad, general philosophies or WAYS OF LIFE.

“God’s WAY is the WAY of LOVE (which is outgoing concern)—of being God-centered , loving and obeying God ahead of all else—and loving fellow man (including enemies) as one’s self. It is the way that believes Jesus when He says it is more blessed to GIVE than to receive (Acts 20:35). It is THE WAY of cooperation, helping, sharing.

“SIN is THE WAY of vanity, self-love, self-centeredness, selfishness, greed, competition, grasping, taking, getting, accumulating, acquiring; and of jealousy, envy, malice, resentment, strife, hatred, murder. It is the OPPOSITE of God’s way. It is the way of WAR.

“In the SIN WAY OF LIFE, love of SELF is balanced by an equal hostility or lack of concern for others—although the ‘empirical self’ usually includes those one feels allied with—such as wife or husband, one’s club, team, group, or country. In GOD’S WAY, concern for others is in equal balance to love of self.

“These are the two OPPOSITE WAYS OF LIFE—opposite ATTITUDES of HEART. One is the way of righteousness, the other the way of SIN.

“God is LOVE. His whole character is that of LOVE and OUTGOING CONCERN. HE IS THE GIVER of every good and precious gift. In love for us humans, God GAVE His Son – gave His Law that it might go well with us! God desires to GIVE each of us His Holy Spirit, and eternal life!

“This gives you the broad, general PRINCIPLE of God’s LAW—the basis and foundation of the Government of God.

“The entire Law may be summed up in the one word, LOVE. It is love toward God, and love toward neighbor—the two great commandments. The first four of the Ten Commandments define, in principle, HOW to love God. The last six, love toward fellow man. These, in turn, are applied in principle to specific cases.

“Military service, bearing arms (for use against humans), killing, war, is directly contrary to God’s Law in principle! It is not THE WAY of giving, sharing, helping, serving… The one specific point of God’s basic Law concerning war is the sixth of the Ten Commandments, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’”

(Please also read our free booklet, “The Ten Commandments,” and, especially in this context, chapter 9, “The Sixth Commandment,” as well as our free booklet, “Should YOU Fight in War?” ).

From these insightful observations, it becomes clear WHY we have had interpersonal relationship problems from the dawn of civilisation.

From the biblical record, there was rebellion and a self-centered attitude from the first family on earth right on to the time that Noah was given his commission.   This was brought about by man’s behaviour, as we read in Genesis 6:5: “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.” Adam and Eve took what was not theirs—they ate from the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge—and at the time of Noah, “the sons of God” –descendants from Adam and Eve’s son Seth—“took wives for themselves” from “the daughters of men”—descendants of the evil Cain (compare Genesis 6:1-2). These women were idol worshippers and of a different race, and God did not approve of such a marriage. As Eve looked at the Tree of Knowledge and “saw” “that it was pleasant to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6), so the descendants of Seth “saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful” (Genesis 6:2). In both cases, their desire for what was forbidden led to sinful and evil conduct. (For more information, please read our Q&A, “Did angels have sexual intercourse with women and thereby produce giants?”).

After the Flood, man again went his own way, as we read in Genesis 11 about the Tower of Babel, when men disobeyed God by assembling at one place, rather than filling the earth (Genesis 9:1; 11:4). God intervened, as we read in Genesis 11:6-9: “And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.  Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’  So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.  Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

So, God saw to it that they ultimately did what they were at first unwilling to do. God will always make sure that His plan is carried out.

As man was scattered all over the earth, again God and His Ways have generally been ignored with man’s governments holding sway and developing their own laws and ideas.   Other gods were of man’s own making with the usual results. All of this occurred, of course, under the inspiration of Satan who has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9).

Then God chose Israel to be His nation and, although there were some good times and mainly bad times in their history, as both the houses of Israel and Judah did what was right in their own eyes, disobeying God, the Messiah came through the lineage of Judah—one of the 12 tribes of Israel (compare Hebrews 7:14; Matthew, chapter 1; and Revelation 5:5).

Jesus came to fulfil (fill to the full, expand) the Law of God (compare Matthew 5:17-20), and while the true Church of God has always maintained the knowledge of God’s Law,  it has in these end times continued to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world as a witness, as Jesus Himself preached and emphasised that the Law of God must be kept.

Satan is the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). He is the same evil spirit, in serpent form, which lied to Eve and persuaded her to take of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which, as he claimed, God had selfishly withheld from them (see Genesis 3:1-7). This has been at the heart of all of the problems that man experiences with both himself and his fellow man.

(For more information on the two trees in the Garden of Eden, please read our free booklet, “Human Suffering, Why… and How Much Longer?,” and especially in this context, chapter 2, “The Two Trees.”).

Before we discuss in detail how we should, as Christians, react and behave, let us have a brief look at how people form their relationships in the first place, and why true and proper relationships are important. We read the following on the website of  theologyofwork:

“Many people form their closest relationships when some kind of work—whether paid or not—provides a common purpose and goal. In turn, working relationships make it possible to create the vast, complex array of goods and services beyond the capacity of any individual to produce. Without relationships at work, there are no automobiles, no computers, no postal services, no legislatures, no stores, no schools, no hunting for game larger than one person can bring down. And without the intimate relationship between a man and a woman, there are no future people to do the work God gives. Our work and our community are thoroughly intertwined gifts from God. Together they provide the means for us to be fruitful and multiply in every sense of the words.”

(To be Continued)

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

compiled by Dave Harris

“Germany’s March into its Prophesied Horrible Dictatorship,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: Germany’s March into its Prophesied Horrible Dictatorship – YouTube 

Do we realize how much Germany has already embraced a dictatorial system? This program gives some examples about Germany’s autocratic school system, from schools to governmental officials to judges, punishing and persecuting parents who are willing to follow God and obey His commandments. Most Germans are in support of the government’s dictatorial conduct, and the war against minorities on so many different levels  is escalating on a frightening scale. What can the individual Christian do?

“2022 in der Prophezeiung,” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “2022 in Prophecy.”

“Makellos,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath in Germany by Daniel Blasinger, is now posted. Title in English: “Flawless.”

“Germany is the Key?—Comments on News and Prophecy, January 29, 2022,” presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

With the probability of Russian invasion in Ukraine in February, Germany is being described as holding the key to stop Putin. But so far, Germany has done nothing to make a difference, and the left- and right-wing US media is astonished and stunned by Germany’s hesitant attitude. Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is viewed as the “weakest link” in the Ukraine crisis, and Germany is no longer perceived as a credible partner and a reliable ally.

“True Passion,” the first split sermon presented last Sabbath by Michael Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Is there anything that we are truly passionate about?  Are we enthusiastic about God’s law?  There are many examples of those who were truly passionate about God’s law, including God’s plan for mankind.

“Water,” the second split sermon presented last Sabbath by Kalon Mitchell, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Water – the most abundant resource on planet earth and the most widely used by humans. What does the Bible say about this precious resource and how does it tie into our Spiritual lives?  Is there anything we should know about what God plans to do with the water on this earth in the near future?

On January 29, 2022, Kalon Mitchell will present the first split-sermon, titled, “Water,” and Michael Link will present the second split-sermon, titled, “True Passion.”

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.

A while ago, someone rang and spoke to my wife as I was not available at the time.   The person said he would ring again later in the day.   The call did not happen.   I was musing on this matter as this was not the first time (nor the second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth time…) I had been let down by this person.

Actually, the lack of this phone call did not present a problem, but it could have done.   How many times have we stayed at home waiting all day for the workman to arrive, as agreed, for him not to turn up?   What about the time we took off work to make sure that someone turned up to do an urgent job and never arrived?

I remember the old joke about two promises we should never rely on – the cheques in the post and I’ll ring you back.   Funny, but not so funny when it actually happens to us when we are relying on someone else doing what they said they would do.

I recall a boss from many years ago who said he would do certain things and he had to be chased, reminded and nudged gently to do what he had said he would do.   I had over six years of being subjected to this approach, and it wore very thin over that period of time.

In “Tired Of Being Let Down? How To Hold People Accountable”, Margie Warrell states the following:

“When you decide not to call someone on their broken promise and ill-managed commitment, you’re, albeit inadvertently, being part of the problem. The one thing you can count on is to expect more of it. More broken promises. More turning up late. More cut corners. More well-worn excuses. More missed deadlines. And more of the stress, frustration and resentment you’d much rather avoid.

“If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated at someone who’s perpetually slack, or late, or unreliable then you’ll relate to some of the comments above. Many people value their promises cheaply or simply manage their commitments poorly. Others have a hard time holding people to account. It’s easier to just let it go and hope they’ll be more reliable next time.

“The problem is, they rarely are.”

When we’re let down by someone and the promise to follow through is not achieved, it might be a good idea to review whether we are guilty of doing this to others.   Do we say that we will get back to someone with an answer by a certain time and not achieve this?   Do we assure someone that we will answer their query within a certain time period?   Do we do anything at all where we let others down by not being true to our word or timescale?  If so, we need to change because this is a case of breaking our word and can be considered as lying.   Our intentions may be honourable, but the end product is unreliability.

It is not good, or godly, to be known as someone who cannot be relied upon to do as they say.

Wikipedia states that the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” is attributed to “Saint Bernard of Clairvaux” who wrote this around 1150 and so the problem has been around a long time!   They further state: “One meaning of the phrase is that individuals may have the intention to undertake good actions but nevertheless fail to take action.  This inaction may be due to procrastination, laziness or other subversive vice.  As such, the saying is an admonishment that a good intention is meaningless unless followed through.”

In a study published in 2017 (“Citizens’ Beliefs about Pledge Fulfilment” by Fraser McMillan/John Smith Centre), 20,000 specific campaign promises from 57 elections in 12 countries were reviewed, showing that over 85% of promises by governing parties at least were partly enacted in the years studied with the strongest “programme-to-policy linkage” found in the United Kingdom.   The observations seemed to be that that was pretty good but we must note that this percentage was “partly enacted” and the result was still only 85%, well short of what it should be.   There were lots of promises not kept or only partly kept.   For a man or woman of honour, that simply isn’t good enough and yet another reason why a true Christian must not be involved in the politics of this world!

It is inevitable in society today, which is very heavily influenced by Satan, “the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) and the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), that humanity, in general, follows the wrong way of Satan who is “a liar and the father of it” (compare John 8:44).   Bearing false witness which is lying breaks the ninth Commandment (Exodus 20:16), and, as the people of God, our word must be reliable and be our bond (For further information, please read our free 180 pages-long booklet, “The Ten Commandments”).

Let us make sure that we are as good as our word and always follow through, doing exactly what we say we will do.   Then and only then will others be able to totally trust what we say knowing that our word is reliable!

by Norbert Link

We report on developments pertaining to Russia and Ukraine, as well as Russia’s further ambitions and the “response” of the USA, the UK and continental Europe, especially Germany. In this context, please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Germany’s Troublesome Dependency on Russia.”  

We address developments pertaining to coronavirus restrictions and authoritarian measures, and interesting reactions, in the USA, Canada, Israel, Australia, Austria and Germany.

We discuss developments pertaining to the scandal-ridden Catholic Church.

We conclude with developments pertaining to controversial medical experiments and the abomination of abortion.

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

US Evacuates Ukraine

Fox News wrote on January 22:

“The State Department has ordered families of U.S. Embassy personnel in Ukraine to begin evacuating the country as soon as Monday, U.S. officials tell Fox News. Next week, the State Department is also expected to encourage Americans to begin leaving Ukraine by commercial flights, ‘while those are still available,’ one official said.

“Late Friday night, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine announced the first shipment of ammunition had arrived as directed by President Biden. U.S. officials say small arms ammunition constitute the bulk of the 200,000 pounds of what the State Department is calling lethal aid – needed by Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines. U.S. officials also tell Fox that Javelin anti-tank missiles are expected to arrive early next week from the Baltic states and from U.S. military stockpiles.

“Advanced Russian fighter jets have now arrived in Belarus, north of Ukraine.  The Pentagon is concerned that Ukraine’s capital is ‘now in the crosshairs,’ another official added. The U.S. government is planning to move ‘a ton’ of weapons and ammunition into Ukraine in the coming days, officials say.”

No More Normal Relationship with Russia?

Fox News wrote on January 22:

“Senate Judiciary Committee member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News that earlier Friday he met with former President Donald Trump and that the two had a frank discussion about the state of the country. Graham told ‘Hannity’ that both agreed President Biden has been a disaster as commander-in-chief, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin no longer fears a serious U.S. response to his geopolitical proclivities… ‘Putin realizes that under Biden, he can invade Ukraine and get away with it,’ he continued…

“‘But here’s what President Trump said to me today: Putin is realizing that Biden’s weak, but he doesn’t realize that Biden won’t be around in 2024 — so President Trump said today if they invade the Ukraine, the Russians will make it impossible for any future president to have a normal relationship with Russia...’”

Will Russia invade soon? In any event, we know from the Bible that ultimately, Russia and Ukraine will be united and fight Europe together.

What Is Russia Planning?

The Associated Press wrote on January 23:

“Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday rejected a British claim that Russia was seeking to replace Ukraine’s government with a pro-Moscow administration…

“‘The disinformation spread by the British Foreign Office is more evidence that it is the NATO countries, led by the Anglo-Saxons, who are escalating tensions around Ukraine,’ Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said…

“British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the information ‘shines a light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin thinking’… “

The Associated Press wrote on January 22:

“With tens of thousands of Russian troops positioned near Ukraine, the Kremlin has kept the US and its allies guessing about its next moves in the worst security crisis to emerge between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. Amid fears of an imminent attack on Ukraine, Russia has further upped the ante by announcing more military drills in the region. It also has refused to rule out the possibility of military deployments to the Caribbean…

“The military muscle-flexing reflects a bold attempt by the Kremlin to halt decades of NATO expansion after the end of the Cold War. In talks with the United States, Russia demands legally binding guarantees that the alliance will not embrace Ukraine and other former Soviet nations, or place weapons there. It also wants NATO to pull back its forces from countries in Central and Eastern Europe that joined the alliance since the 1990s…

“Putin has repeatedly asserted that Russians and Ukrainians are ‘one people,’ and says large chunks of Ukrainian territory are historic parts of Russia — arbitrarily granted to Ukraine by Communist leaders during Soviet times…

“In recent days, Putin also spoke by phone with the leaders of Nicaragua and Venezuela, and a Russian government plane was recently seen cruising between Cuba and Venezuela in a possible harbinger of the next Kremlin moves. After the US and its allies rejected Russia’s demands for a halt to NATO expansion, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov kept the door open for the deployment of military assets to Cuba and Venezuela.”

Putin will not stop with Ukraine.

EU not that Unified

The Guardian wrote on January 23:

“Behind the repeated assertions of unity, it is no secret that western allies are divided on how to respond to further Russian military aggression. Joe Biden’s comments that Nato allies would be ‘having to fight about what to do and not do’ in the event of a ‘minor incursion’ of Ukraine – comments that the White House subsequently rowed back on– were seen as undiplomatic, rather than untrue, in Brussels. In the EU, where sanctions have to be agreed by unanimity, differences are emerging. Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has expressed doubts about cutting off Russian banks from the Swift global payments system, one option under discussion. Poland and the Baltic states, however, think it is a mistake to take anything off the table.

“Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Germany over the weekend of not showing enough support for his country. Writing on Twitter, he expressed disappointment about Germany’s apparent hesitations on Swift, refusal to supply offensive weapons, as well as recent comments from the head of the German navy, who said Ukraine would never get Crimea back [He subsequently resigned.]… Michael Gahler, a German MEP from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union party [and] the parliament’s standing rapporteur on Ukraine, said it was ‘unfortunate’ that Germany was not delivering offensive weapons to Ukraine…

“But it is not just Germany that has raised questions about EU unity. Alarm bells were set off when it was announced last week that Hungary’s autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orbán, would meet Putin on 1 February to discuss a planned Russian-built nuclear power station in Hungary, the Sputnik vaccine and Hungary’s gas supply contracts…”

Germany not only refuses to send weapons to Ukraine, but also prohibits other European countries which have bought weapons from Germany, to send their weapons to Ukraine.

Is the West preparing for War with Russia?

Fox News wrote on January 24:

“NATO announced Monday that it will send fighter jets and ships to eastern Europe… Denmark will sail a frigate to the Baltic Sea and send four F-16 fighter jets to Lithuania. Spain is also sending ships to join NATO naval forces in the region and is considering sending fighter jets to Bulgaria, the statement read. France said it is willing to send troops to Romania, and the Netherlands also said it will send two F-35 fighter aircraft to Bulgaria in April.”

The Guardian added on January 24:

“The US administration was also ready [other reports say, “considering”] to increase its military presence in eastern Europe, Nato’s chief, a former prime minister of Norway, warned in a statement… Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European commission, announced that the EU would provide €1.2billion in loans and grants to Ukraine to help cover the financial cost of the conflict.”

The Daily Mail wrote on January 24:

“Boris Johnson delivered a stark message as he admitted that the prospects of averting a confrontation over Ukraine were ‘gloomy’. Russia has stirred the pot by announcing live-fire naval drills off the coast of Ireland next month… There are concerns that any escalation will send gas prices spiralling again, with threats of punitive sanctions against Moscow. Speaking on a visit to a hospital in Milton Keynes, Mr Johnson said: ‘The intelligence is very clear that there are 60 Russian battle groups on the borders of Ukraine, the plan for a lightning war that could take out Kyiv is one that everybody can see’…”

Germany and France vs. USA and UK

 The Guardian wrote on January 26:

“Germany and, to a lesser extent, France are in danger of dividing from the US and the UK… [There is]  a deep fissure going back decades about what Germany and France, as opposed to the Anglosphere, regard as the best way to handle Russia…

“In Britain, the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has been openly critical of Germany for leaving itself so dependent on Russia for energy, and Berlin’s recent refusal to allow Estonia to send German-manufactured arms to Ukraine...

“In the US, the German question is increasingly riling Republicans, leading to commentary in the Wall Street Journal with the headline ‘Is Germany a Reliable American Ally? Nein.’…

“… in the wake of Russia’s intervention in Georgia in the summer of 2008, the then German Social Democrat (SPD) foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier[now German President], warned Europe against sanctions that he said would shut doors to rooms it wanted to enter later. Although Merkel’s response to the invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was firm, Steinmeier… went to Moscow and proposed an economic partnership with Russia… Within a week of the invasion, the chief executive of Siemens was in Moscow…

“That remains the dominant thinking inside parts of the SPD. The current economics minister, Robert Habeck, whose ministry is responsible for sanctions, is opposed to cutting off Russian access to the Swift payments system…

“However, in recent weeks the compromises inherent in Ostpolitik [by SPD chancellor Willy Brandt] have come under challenge from a younger generation. Michael Roth, the SPD chair of the foreign affairs committee, argued his party had to escape the shadow of Brandt… Other ministers have insisted that energy, including the future of Nord Stream 2, cannot be removed from the list of potential sanctions, as it was in 2014.”

Notwithstanding some “lip services” to the contrary, Germany’s new Chancellor, Olaf Scholz (SPD), seems to be following the official party line of not willing to antagonize Russia in any way. 

Who is in Charge at the White House?

The New York Post Editorial Board wrote on January 23:

“It sure doesn’t look to be President Biden. The latest evidence came last week when chief of staff Ron Klain delivered a behind-the-scenes message to Democratic allies and staff, just hours after Biden’s disastrous news conference: The prez had failed to mention that his next Build Back Better bill would fund child and elder care, but Klain insisted it would.

“As Axios reported,  ‘Klain’s private comments are yet another indication the White House has a core set of priorities it plans to fight for’ … even if the president doesn’t know about it fully yet. Klain’s real message: Don’t worry, we staff will make sure Biden does what we say.

“Yet some in Congress want the actual president to take charge: Politico reports that moderate Democrats complain that Klain is ‘overly deferential to their liberal colleagues’ and want him out…”

Fox News added on January 24:

“NBC anchor Chuck Todd said Sunday that President Biden was in trouble with the American electorate following the release of a new NBC poll last week showing dismal approval ratings to kick off the midterm election year. During the opening segment on ‘Meet the Press,’ Todd… declared Biden’s 43% approval rating showed he’d ‘lost his identity,’ and was ‘no longer seen as competent and effective’ in the eyes of voters, spelling a potential ‘shellacking’ for Democrats  in November.”

Trump the 47th US President?

 The New York Post wrote on January 26:

“Donald Trump has confidently declared himself the “45th and 47th” US president. The former president made the remarks while playing a round of golf at one of his clubs… As Trump was filmed walking to the first tee, one of his playing partners could be heard saying: ‘Now on the tee, the 45th president of the United States.’ ‘The 45th and 47th,’ a grinning Trump quickly fired back…

“Trump hasn’t publicly said if he is planning to run for the White House again — but he has repeatedly teased a second campaign and has been holding rallies ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. He already holds a commanding lead over other potential Republican 2024 candidates, according to several polls conducted this month. In one Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump was leading Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 43 percentage points.”

Federal Judge Blocks Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers

The New York Post wrote on January 21:

“A Texas federal judge has blocked the Biden administration’s order for federal employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the latest setback to the administration’s pandemic response. The ruling… stated that ‘because the President’s authority is not that broad, the court will enjoin the second order’s enforcement,’ wrote [Judge Jeffey] Brown, who was nominated to the federal bench by President “Donald Trump.

“Brown cited the Supreme Court’s decision last week that prevented the administration from enforcing a requirement that all businesses with at least 100 employees mandate that workers get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing… Brown claimed the administration’s order for federal workers was a ‘bridge too far’ by allowing the White House ‘with a stroke of a pen or without the input of Congress, [to] require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment.’’…

“The DOJ has already appealed Friday’s ruling, sending its request to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

“The mandate, which was first announced by President Biden last September, ordered more than 3.5 million federal employees to be vaccinated or face termination — with some medical or religious exemptions. Unlike the vaccine requirement for private businesses, federal employees were not given the option to test weekly for COVID-19 instead of receiving the vaccine.”

In the meantime and in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, mentioned above, Starbucks announced that they are no longer requiring their employees to be vaccinated.

Biden Withdraws Vaccine Mandates for Large Employers

 CNN reported on January 25:

“The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday it will be withdrawing the vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard for businesses with 100 or more employees.”

Another defeat for Biden… deservedly so. 

USA with New Restrictions

Global News wrote on January 21:

“Starting Jan. 22, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will require all Canadian and non-U.S. individuals to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the country.

“This means anyone wanting to enter the U.S. at land borders or ferry terminals at the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders must provide proof of vaccination whether they are travelling for essential or non-essential reasons, DHS said in a release… These requirements do not apply to U.S. citizens [or] lawful permanent residents…”

More than a Quarter of Canadians Support Jail for Unvaccinated

LifeSiteNews wrote on January 21:

“A recent poll says that more than a quarter of Canadians support sending people who refuse COVID jabs to jail…  The poll also reported that 33% of Canadians believe the unvaccinated should not be allowed to renew their driver’s licenses, and two-thirds of Canadians are in favor of mandatory vaccines for everyone over the age of five.”

Global News wrote on January 25:

“… a majority of Canadians are in favour of imposing more restrictions on those who have not gotten the shots yet, according to new polling…. 67 per cent want the government to impose further measures on the unvaccinated population, with nearly half (49 per cent) of the respondents blaming the unvaccinated for prolonging the pandemic… 52 per cent said they were in favour of putting a tax on the unvaccinated…”

The article claimed that “Canadians have become increasingly polarized when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations, lockdowns and the pandemic in general.”

This shows where nasty and ridiculous propaganda leads. But Canada, once a free country, is becoming more and more dictatorial and authoritarian. Note the next article.

Outrageous Persecution of Christians in Canada

Fox News wrote on January 16:

“Thousands of clergy in North America devoted their sermons on Sunday to affirming biblical sexual morality in response to a new Canadian law some warn could effectively criminalize such teachings… The controversial legislation, which went into effect Jan. 8 after being fast-tracked through the Canadian Parliament in December without extensive debate, describes as a ‘myth’ the belief that heterosexuality and cisgender identity are preferable. Counseling that does not align with such a worldview now carries a potential five-year jail sentence.

“Critics claim the language of the bill is overly broad and could even encompass private conversations. Several pastors, including some who have recently been imprisoned in Canada for keeping their churches open in defiance of government health orders, explained to Fox News that they believe the scope of the new law could open the door to religious persecution.

“Leading the protest against the bill in the United States is Pastor John MacArthur, whose Grace Community Church in Los Angeles won an $800,000 settlement in September after tussling with state and county authorities for continuing to congregate in defiance of the government…

“MacArthur’s involvement in the initiative was in part because of an email he received from Pastor James Coates, who was the first Canadian clergyman to be imprisoned in the name of public health. When he refused to shutter his church in Edmonton last year, Coates spent more than a month in a maximum-security prison. Federal law enforcement later raided his church at dawn, locked it and barricaded it behind three layers of fencing.

“Pastor Tim Stephens, who was imprisoned twice last year for keeping his Calgary church open, also told Fox News that he believes persecution is going to increase in Canada and other Western countries. Stephens’ second arrest, which happened after a police helicopter found his church gathering outside, prompted Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to send a letter to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom… urging it to consider adding Canada to its watch list…

“Pastor Artur Pawlowski, a Polish Canadian pastor from Calgary who has faced repeated dramatic arrests after refusing to limit church attendance, described Bill C-4 as “straight from Soviet Russia.” … ‘I lived in a country that implemented laws like that,’ said Pawlowski, who met with U.S. lawmakers and warned large audiences last summer that Western governments increasingly resemble the communist regime in Poland he fled as a young man…

“Pastor Andrew Brunson, a missionary whose unjust imprisonment in 2016 plunged Turkey into a diplomatic feud with the United States, has been warning since his dramatic, high-stakes release in 2018 that he believes religious persecution is swiftly approaching in Western countries. Brunson, who now serves as special adviser for religious freedom at Family Research Council, told Fox News that he sees the issues around the Canadian law as part of ‘a dark wave of hostility’ that he believes is going to crash onto the church…

“Pastor Michael Thiessen, who is president of Liberty Coalition Canada, which began the initiative, told Fox News that he believes the government response to COVID-19 has helped prepare the way for such hostility… “A regime and agenda based on lies has to be coercive in order to maintain its power. It can’t rely on persuasion, truth, or beauty. So I anticipate further exile and punishment for non-conformists and those who will still stand and preach truth and reality in our time,’ he added.”

We hasten to add that the same developments can be seen in continental Europe, and especially in Germany, a so-called Christian nation, where government officials and their obedient agents, including their judges, behave anything but Christian.  

YouTube Removes Sermon about Sexuality as “Hate Speech”

 CBN News wrote on January 19:

 “Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, CA, preached a sermon Sunday about biblical sexuality... MacArthur said, ‘There is no such thing as transgender. You are either XX or XY, that’s it. God made man male and female. That is determined genetically, that is physiology, that is science, that is reality. On the one hand, the reality of that lie and deception is so damaging, so destructive, so isolating, so corrupting that it needs to be confronted, but on the other hand, that confrontation can’t exaggerate what already exists, which is a sense of feeling isolated in relationships,’ he said.

 “YouTube removed MacArthur’s sermon from its platform and told conservative commentator Todd Starnes  that MacArthur’s video presentation was ‘hate speech.’…

 “Jenna Ellis, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, who represented MacArthur when Los Angeles County tried to shut down Grace Church for defying pandemic-induced health orders, spoke out against YouTube’s censorship of MacArthur’s sermon.  ‘The big tech oligarchy in the United States is implementing the equivalent of Canada’s insane law by censoring truth and the right of pastors to teach the Bible,’ Ellis [said].  ‘If Americans don’t stop big tech, this new Regime will circumvent the Constitution to foreclose our fundamental rights to speak and exercise religion and the impact will be devastating.’

 “Critics worry the law will perpetuate religious persecution and could even govern private conversations. ‘Americans should be preparing for a time when pastors and religious leaders will face persecution for teaching the Word of God,’ Starnes warned.”

Bible Racist?

The Daily Mail wrote on January 22:

“One of Britain’s leading mental health clinics could face legal action after telling a student therapist to watch lectures saying that white people are unconsciously racist, that Christianity is a racist religion, and that the Bible can be blamed for racism because it contrasts ‘darkness’ and ‘light’.

“Amy Gallagher, a mental health nurse from south London, has spent more than £20,000 training to become a psychotherapist on a course run by the prestigious Portman Clinic in North London, part of The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust But now the 33-year-old is preparing a legal case, saying she believes the Trust is guilty of religious and racial discrimination against her as a white Christian… Ms Gallagher says it is particularly concerning that radical identity politics are now ‘leaking into the health service’.”

Fox News Hypocritical?

The Huffington Post wrote on January 22:

“Tucker Carlson was pummeled on social media Friday night after he compared vaccine requirements to protect Americans from COVID-19 to the barbaric experiments Nazis inflicted on Jews during World War II. Critics pointed out that Fox News has a vaccine requirement so Carlson is likely not worried about contracting COVID himself, even while he encourages his viewers not to get them.

“They also pointed out that, late last year, Fox ‘ghosted’ contributor Lara Logan after she compared White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci to infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele…”

Silly and Rude Conduct of American Airlines

The Washington Times wrote on January 21:

“An American Airlines plane headed to London was more than hour into its flight when its pilot decided to turn around and head back to the departure point, Miami, because a female passenger declined to wear a face mask… the airline then canceled the flight, screwing over 129 passengers who were told to exit, stage right, the plane in Miami, alongside the woman. And now American Airlines is patting itself on the back for a job well done…

“American, no doubt, is hiding behind the January 2021 announcement from the Federal Aviation Administration of a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for unruly passenger behavior — defined by this coronavirus crazed government we now have in place in the United States as anyone who dares disobey the government dictates. And plenty in America, too many in America, are probably on the side of the airline, saying American was just doing its job to keep passengers safe; American was just abiding the mandates put in place by the Joe Biden presidency; American was just simply trying to keep the peace and make sure all passengers were treated equally, fairly, equitably, safely, securely…

“Enough of the pretend care and concern on the part of businesses toward customers — care and concern that manifests in outright tyrannical crackdowns on freedoms and choice of customers… Let’s remember: these rules aren’t so much rules as fabricated dictates by overreaching bureaucrats… America has yet to see a federally passed law about face masking. We’re all still living under executive orders that were created out of fear and that continue on because of fear, bad science and the political exploitation of bad science.

“Besides, with American Airlines, there’s this consideration: the multibillion-dollar bailout it received, courtesy taxpayers. ‘American Airlines said it would receive $5.8 billion as part of the [bailout deal], with more than $4 billion in the form of grants and the remaining $1.7 billion as a low-interest loan,’ The New York Times wrote in March, 2021. ‘The airline also plans to apply for a nearly $4.8 billion loan from [the government]… That — so American could turn around and cancel hundreds of flights due to staffing issues, while taking big tax bucks. That — so American’s CEO, Doug Parker, could turn around and rake in $10 million plus in compensation while taking big tax bucks.

“And now that — so American can climb high and mighty and throw a hissy fit to boot a passenger for refusing to wear a face mask… Instead of booting this woman for refusing to comply with an unconstitutional demand from public servants, i.e., the political class, American Airlines ought to have extended her a red carpet for keeping the company in business. Biting the hand that feeds never ends well.”

This is an article which is rare in today’s mass media. The Washington Times is of course one of America’s most prestigious and established publications.

Routine Corona Vaccinations for Newborn Babies…

Israel Today wrote on January 23:

“Some of Israel’s top doctors are recommending that once the pandemic ends, the COVID-19 vaccine should be added to the regular vaccine regimen offered to children between birth and the age of five. Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, head of Israel’s doctors union and an advisor to the government on the coronavirus crisis, said this is the logical way forward…”

Israel 365 wrote on January 365:

“The Health Ministry plans on adding the Covid vaccine to the initial round of vaccines given to newborn babies in the hospital… In the meantime, Pfizer is undergoing clinical trials on infants to reduce the age of the vaccine from five years to six months.  Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the FDA could approve Prizer’s covid vaccine for children under the age of five by next month.”

Amazing what doctors come up with. Sadly, Israel has been one of the most radical proponents of dictatorial measures.

The Protection through Natural Immunity

The Associated Press wrote on January 22:

“A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that people who were both vaccinated and had survived a prior bout of COVID-19 were best protected from infection

“The study, that examined infections in New York and California last year, found that unvaccinated people with a past infection were a close second. By fall, when the more contagious delta variant had taken over but boosters weren’t yet widespread, that group had a lower case rate than vaccinated people who had no past infection.”

Frightening Numbers of Sickness in Military as Consequence of COVID Vaccinations?

The Blaze wrote on January 26:

“Data, transparency, and surveillance. That is what has been missing from the greatest experiment on humans of all time throughout this pandemic. Now, military medical whistleblowers have come forward with what they claim is perhaps the most accurate and revealing data set on vaccine safety one could possibly find… [presenting] data that, if verified, would signal extremely disturbing safety concerns about the vaccine… On Monday… Ohio attorney Thomas Renz, who has been representing clients suing the vaccine mandates, presented DOD medical billing data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) that paints a shockingly disturbing picture of the health of our service members in 2021…

“Drs. Samuel Sigoloff, Peter Chambers, and Theresa Long — three military doctors — revealed that there has been a 300% increase in DMED codes registered for miscarriages in the military in 2021 over the five-year average… the numbers tended to be remarkably similar in all those preceding years, including in 2020, which was the first year of the pandemic but before the vaccines were distributed. But then in 2021, the numbers skyrocketed, and the 2021 data doesn’t even include the months of November and December. For example, some public health officials speculate that COVID itself places women at higher risk for miscarriages. But the number of miscarriage codes recorded in 2020 was actually slightly below the five-year average (1,477)…

“Aside from the spike in miscarriage diagnoses… there was an almost 300% increase in cancer diagnoses (from a five-year average of 38,700 per year to 114,645 in the first 11 months of 2021). There was also a 1,000% increase in diagnosis codes for neurological issues, which increased from a baseline average of 82,000 to 863,000! Some other numbers…: myocardial infarction –269% increase; Bell’s palsy – 291% increase; congenital malformations (for children of military personnel) – 156% increase; female infertility – 471% increase; pulmonary embolisms – 467% increase.

“… one of the sworn declarations from one of the military doctors… states as follows, ‘It is my professional opinion that the major increases incidences of the above discussed instances of miscarriages, cancers, and disease were due to COVID-19 “vaccinations.”’…

“If these numbers are verified in the upcoming court cases, then absent some massive military insurance fraud or bizarre glitch in the system, it potentially paints a shocking picture of vaccine safety concerns…. Sen. Ron Johnson said at the Monday hearing that he put DOD on notice that it better not delete any of the data. ‘The Department of Defense, the Biden administration is on notice they must preserve these records and this must be investigated,’ said Johnson…

“Even if somehow these earth-shattering increases have nothing to do with the vaccines, isn’t it important that our government investigate what appears to be a catastrophic decline in the health of our active-duty fighting force?… The bottom line according to Renz is that the onus of proof is on the government, not on the military personnel and citizens being forced to take the shots. If the manufacturers are exempt from liability for government coercion to use their product, and the only pharmacological safety data we have is completely ignored, then where is the recourse of the people to redress safety concerns? In the opinion of the Ohio attorney, if the shots are safe and effective, then the Pentagon should have no problem explaining the source of these gargantuan increases in instances of numerous illnesses…”

One would think so. It is especially revealing that many in the military have refused to be vaccinated.

Austria Repeats History… Mandatory Vaccination for all Adults

Breitbart wrote on January 21:

“In a vote of 137 to just 33, the Austrian parliament has overwhelmingly voted to make vaccination against the Wuhan coronavirus mandatory for all residents over the age of 18… those who refuse to take the vaccine could face a fine of up to €3,600 (£2,994/$4,072), newspaper Kronen Zeitung reports.  Those who are not able to be vaccinated for medical reasons will be exempted from the mandatory vaccination along with pregnant women. Those who have recovered from the coronavirus will also be exempt for a period of six months after they recover.

“From mid-March Austrian police will also be checking vaccination status during routine checks and traffic stops and giving out fines to those who cannot prove they are fully vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus. Some officers have expressed concern regarding the enforcement of the vaccine mandate, stating that controls could damage their reputation in the eyes of the general public. ‘It is incomprehensible to me why the police are used here, in such an excess of controlling activity. I’m even talking about the fact that the police are used here for political purposes quite inappropriately!’ Werner Herbert, head of the police union AUF said.

“While the vast majority of the members of the Austrian parliament voted for the measure, the populist Freedom Party, led by firebrand Herbert Kickl, voted against the measure. ‘Today is a day of shame for the Austrian Parliament and for our democracy,’ Kickl stated on Facebook and added, ‘The FPÖ deputies have voted unanimously against this unjust law, which is the totalitarian low point… We will do everything possible to bring down compulsory vaccination with a majority of citizens.’

“Kickl has been a sceptic of the government’s policies to combat the coronavirus, including both the lockdown measures and the mandatory vaccine policy. ‘For us, it’s about voluntariness. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they want to be vaccinated or not. No Austrian should be forced to vaccinate,’ Kickl said earlier this week.”

Deutsche Welle reported on January 21:

“The move makes Austria the first EU country to pass a vaccine mandate, despite tens of thousands of angry citizens continuing to protest such measures in Austria and across Europe… Herbert Kickl… railed against the law Thursday during the parliamentary debate, claiming it ‘paves the way to totalitarianism in Austria.’ Kickl vowed that he would continue to personally refuse vaccination.

“Cancellor Karl Nehammer however, told reporters ‘Vaccination is an opportunity for our society to achieve lasting and continuous freedom, because the virus cannot restrict us any further.’

“Austria now joins Ecuador, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Indonesia and Micronesia as among the only countries in the world to have passed vaccine mandates.”

What a company! SHAME on Austria! Kickl gave an EXCELLENT speech during the parliamentary debate, showing the many lies of Austrian politicians and the march towards totalitarianism in Austria, but his warnings fell mostly on deaf ears.—as they did before when Austria was about to embrace Hitler. It is amazing and deeply disturbing that the Austrian chancellor describes totalitarian measures, which deprive the people of their freedom, as the way to achieve lasting and continuous freedom.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Others vs. Corona Vaccination Mandates

JTA wrote on January 24:

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. invoked Anne Frank while comparing COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the Holocaust, saying ‘none of us can hide’ today like the Jewish diarist could during World War II. ‘Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did,’ Kennedy said at a rally against vaccine mandates on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. ‘Today the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run, none of us can hide.’

“Kennedy, the son of former Sen. Robert ‘Bobby’ Kennedy, went on to list what he perceived as threats from ‘low-orbit satellites’ and 5G internet networks, and named Bill Gates among those posing a threat to privacy…”

WND added on January 24:

“Despite frigid temperatures, thousands of Americans showed up Sunday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to voice strong opposition to COVID-vaccine mandates. Kennedy hammered the companies that manufacture the experimental vaccines being mandated in many locations worldwide, with no legal liability. ‘You think they found Jesus suddenly … and they’re suddenly concerned with public health?’ he said. ‘These are the companies that gave us the opioid crisis. These are not good citizens, these are criminal enterprises.’

“He warned of what he called ‘turnkey totalitarianism,’ as dark powers look ‘to control every aspect of behavior.’…

“Kennedy was joined by doctors who have been censored by Big Tech as they warn of the dangers of the COVID shots. Among them was Dr. Robert Malone, one of the developers of the technology being used in today’s vaccines. ‘These vaccines do not prevent omicron infection,’ Malone declared….

“Kyle Warner, who was a professional mountain biker until he was severely injured by a COVID vaccine, also spoke at the event… Warner challenged President Joe Biden and health officials to hold a meeting with the victims of adverse reactions to the coronavirus vaccines. ‘Look them in their eyes, acknowledge their suffering, admit this is real, not just rare,’ Warner said. ‘Make the companies responsible for the damage they are causing. … to even consider requiring a vaccine that no one will stand behind is a total disgrace to the very idea of America.’…

“Rizza Islam, an author and minister for the Nation of Islam, said the devil is behind the current madness, saying ‘Satan [is] the one who has obviously declared war on all humanity.’”

Kennedy Apologizes … why?

“On Tuesday, [Kennedy] tweeted, ‘I apologize for my reference to Anne Frank, especially to families that suffered the Holocaust horrors. My intention was to use examples of past barbarism to show the perils from new technologies of control. To the extent my remarks caused hurt, I am truly and deeply sorry.’”

One gets sick and tired of people making appropriate comparisons only to apologize later because they might have hurt someone, as some Jewish organizations claimed. Apparently his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, who does not see eye to eye with Kennedy on the entire vaccination hysteria, objected as well. “Hines previously drew scrutiny after it was reported that she threw a holiday party at the couple’s California home and requested in the invitation that guests be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or test negative before arriving” (New York Post, January 24).

What Kennedy was expressing was clearly correct, noting the context.

Eric Clapton’s Fight against Corona Virus Mandates

The New York Post wrote on January 24:

“The 76-year-old musician … discuss[ed] how his life has changed since reluctantly taking AstraZeneca’s therapy in 2021… He claimed that he’d been duped into getting the COVID-19 jab by subliminal messaging in pharmaceutical advertising — and urged others not to fall for it…. Credited to Belgian psychologist Mattias Desmet, the theory essentially points to a sort of mind control that has taken over society, allowing for unscrupulous leaders to easily manipulate populations into, for example, accepting vaccines or wearing face masks… Clapton recalled ‘seeing little things on YouTube which were like subliminal advertising’…

“He said [van] Morrison, 76, complained that he wasn’t ‘allowed’ to freely object to vaccine requirements… Clapton also admitted that he’d given up on recent news media, which he described as ‘one-way traffic about following orders and obedience’… Despite making headlines, others in the music community have alienated him, Clapton said.”

It was recently reported in the press that Clapton played at a venue with vax mandate, even though he had said that he would not. It was later clarified that this news was bogus. We do not doubt the existence of subliminal messages in advertisement. But the real originator of the present hysteria is none other than Satan the Devil.

“This Justification Is a Scandal”

Bild Online wrote on January 21:

“The Australian federal court took four days to justify the expulsion of tennis star Novak Djokovic (34). Now the judges have said that the unvaccinated Serb’s presence could have fueled anti-vaccination sentiment in the country. They thus adopted the reasoning of the Immigration Minister, who described Djokovic as a potential threat to the security and order of Australia due to his vaccination skepticism… Djokovic had to leave the country because the government and judiciary are afraid of his opinion. And that’s despite the fact that he didn’t even come to Australia to spread his views – just to play tennis.

“The justification is reminiscent of politically motivated judgments that are actually unworthy of a democratic constitutional state like Australia. One of the defining characteristics of a free society is that everyone is free to express their opinion – without being disadvantaged or even punished for it. The fact that this cornerstone of democracy in Australia has now cracked is a sad side effect of the ‘NoCovid’ strategy there. after the government tried for two years to keep the number of infections low through tough lockdowns…

“It would have been easy for the judges to find plausible reasons for expelling the Serb, for example formal errors in his entry application or simply the principle of ‘equal rights for all.'”

But their main concern is not the violation of a technicality, but the suppression of opinions which do not fit into the political paradigm of the government. The same development can be seen in Germany… note the next article.

German Constitutional Minister against the Basic Law

Bild Online wrote on January 20:

“‘All Germans have the right to assemble peacefully and without weapons [and] without [prior] registration or permission,” says Article 8 of the Basic Law [“Grundgesetz”]. But Constitutional Minister Nancy Faeser (51, SPD) of all people seems to be questioning this right. Literally, Faeser wrote Wednesday evening on the social network Twitter: ‘I repeat my appeal: You can express your opinion without gathering in many places at the same time.’… Faeser calls on demonstrators to stop taking their protest to the streets.

“But who does the minister mean exactly?…

“‘The minister’s statement should be seen in the context of the corona protests and against the background of the dramatically high number of corona infections,’ a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior told BILD.

“At the same time, the Federal Minister of the Interior [Constitutional Minister] is a fervent advocate of public protest, of outdoor demonstrations and – also quite rightly! – public expressions of opinion. ‘I’m totally amazed at how many people took to the streets yesterday for climate protection…’ That was [in September of 2019,] before Corona. But even during the pandemic, she advocated demonstrations in public spaces and was even there several times. ‘Today I was in the Dannenröder forest as a parliamentary observer. Protest is legitimate…’, she tweeted in November of 2020. In February of 2021, she took part in a vigil for the victims of the right-wing terrorist attack in Hanau, laid a wreath at the site of the attack and commemorated the dead.”

But when it comes to protests against Corona, the left-wing political agenda is more than anxious and willing to violate the law.

The West Should Fight Dictatorships

Thomson/Reuters wrote  on January 21:

“Britain on Friday warned Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping that its allies would stand together to fight for democracy against dictatorships that it said were more emboldened than at any time since the Cold War. Speaking in Australia, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Britain and its allies in the ‘free world’ must respond together to global threats, deepen ties with democracies in the Indo-Pacific…

“Truss argued that the ‘Kremlin has not learned the lessons of history’ and that ‘invasion will only lead to a terrible quagmire and loss of life, as we know from the Soviet-Afghan war and conflict in Chechnya.’

“More than 15,000 Soviet troops died in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, while hundreds of thousands of Afghans perished. The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 led to more than 3,500 deaths among the international military coalition. Global aggressors ‘are emboldened in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War,’ Truss said in the speech. ‘They seek to export dictatorship as a service around the world,’ she added. ‘That is why regimes like Belarus, North Korea and Myanmar find their closest allies in Moscow and Beijing.’”

There is a deep bitter irony here: While the West and the “free world” claim they will fight dictatorships in Russia and China, it is they, and especially Australia, which are becoming more and more totalitarian.

No Plea Deal with Netanyahu

Axios wrote on January 24:

“Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been hoping to reach a plea deal on the corruption charges against him before Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit left office at the end of January, but Mandelblit has reportedly notified Netayahu’s lawyers that won’t be possible… The deal Mandelblit and Netanyahu had been discussing would have kept him out of prison but seen him banned from politics for seven years. Netanyahu broke his silence on the plea talks after they collapsed and said he’d never accepted the seven-year ban.

“In a video statement, Netanyahu resumed his attacks on the police and prosecution and claimed the case against him was collapsing and should already have been dismissed. In a nod to the intra-party fight that had begun over his potential replacement if he took the deal, Netanyahu said he’d stay on as leader of the Likud party and of the opposition.

“The plea deal is not totally dead but will be frozen for now. The highest-profile case in recent Israeli political history will now pass to the next attorney general, who has yet to be named…”

Earthquakes in Israel

The Times of Israel wrote on January 24:

“Some one million homes in Israel are at risk of collapse in case of an earthquake, the Kan public broadcaster reported.

“The report comes after two minor earthquakes shook northern Israel earlier this week around 12 hours apart. The first quake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale, struck late Saturday, while the other, at a magnitude of 3.5, was felt at around noon the following day…. At this point, Home Front Command officials and geological experts are not sure whether the earthquakes were an isolated incident or a prelude to a more powerful event…. a major earthquake is predicted to cause about 7,000 deaths and 145,000 injuries, with 170,000 people left homeless and 320,000 buildings damaged.”

It is interesting that the Bible prophesies an earthquake in Israel which will kill 7,000 people (Revelation 11:13).

The Scandal-Ridden Catholic Church

Chron wrote on January 21:

“Catholic Pope emeritus Benedict XVI committed ‘wrongdoing’ in the way he handled sexual abuse cases in his German archdiocese before he was pope, according to a church-commissioned investigation released Thursday. The German law firm that conducted the investigation said Benedict’s claims to have no direct knowledge of sexual abuse cases were not credible.

“The report amounts to a shocking and harsh condemnation of the retired pope – the first pope to resign his position before death in 600 years….

“Benedict is not the first pope among the nearly 270 in history whose scandals have caused Catholics and the Catholic Church headaches. The period between late 9th and 10th centuries saw some particularly bad popes… There was Pope Stephen VI, in power from May 896 to August 897. His predecessor was pope for only 15 days before dying, perhaps of gout or perhaps murdered by Stephen VI’s followers. Once installed, Stephen VI put his enemy – another of his predecessors – Pope Formosus, on trial, which was kind of weird considering Formosus had been dead for months. His corpse was dressed in papal vestments and propped up on a throne before being found guilty of perjury and other offenses, mutilated and tossed into a river. The people of Rome thought that was pretty gross, and they soon deposed and murdered Stephen VI.

“Then there was Pope Sergius III, pope from 904 to 911, who murdered his predecessors, bribed and threatened bishops and fathered an illegitimate child… This period also saw the papacy of John XII, who became pope at 18 in 955. He spent much of his time sleeping around and warring with rival factions… He died in 964 in the bed of a married woman, either of a stroke, being stabbed by the woman’s husband or thrown out the window by said husband, depending on which account you believe…

“Where other popes veered into lives of excess, Pope Paul IV, who led the church from 1555 to 1559, was controversial for his extreme austerity…  No one in Paul’s Rome had it worse than the Jews; he confined them to a ghetto, made them wear yellow hats whenever they left, and ordered dozens burned at the stake. He was so hated when he died that celebratory rioters tore down many of his statues; other statues were mocked with yellow hats.”

The Catholic Church claims that all popes are in direct succession of the Apostle Peter—a claim which is completely false.

Benedict Apologizes

Deutsche Welle wrote on January 24:

“Former Pope Benedict XVI has apologized for providing false information during a probe into sexual abuse in his old Munich archdiocese, his secretary said in a statement on Monday… The statement… said the false information was not given ‘with ill intent.’ Instead, it was blamed on an editing ‘oversight’ that occurred with Benedict’s written testimony to the inquiry.

“The former pope, 94, had told the inquiry that he had not been present at a 1980 meeting discussing a pedophile priest. He has now confirmed that he did attend the meeting but insisted that no decision had been made there about reassigning the priest to pastoral duties. ‘Rather, only the request to provide [the priest] with accommodation during his therapeutic treatment in Munich was granted,’ the statement said. Benedict was ‘very sorry’ for the mistake and said he hoped that it could be forgiven…”

Women Become more Influential in Catholic Church

Newsmax wrote on January 23:

“Pope Francis on Sunday for the first time conferred the lay Roman Catholic ministries of lector and catechist on women… he criticized those who need to have rigid regulations and ‘more rules’ in order to find God…

“Lectors read from scripture… and catechists teach the faith to children and adult converts…

“The change will be particularly important as a recognition for women in places such as the Amazon, where some are the de facto religious leaders of remote communities hit by a severe shortage of priests. The Vatican stressed that the roles are not a precursor to women one day being allowed to become priests… Francis has appointed a number of women to senior jobs in Vatican departments previously held by men.”

Transplant of Pig Kidneys into a Brain-Dead Human

NBC News wrote on January 20:

“In an operating room at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the surgical team was nervous but hopeful. It was Sept. 30, and they were attempting a medical first: implanting kidneys from a genetically altered pig into the abdomen of a human.  The lead surgeon, Dr. Jayme Locke, carefully sewed the first pig kidney into the patient, James Parsons, 57, a carpenter and father from Huntsville, Alabama.

“Days earlier, Parsons had been rendered brain-dead in an accident in a dirt bike race. A registered organ donor, he had long expressed a desire to his family to donate his organs after he died.”

Man playing God… where will it end…?

The Pro-Life Movement

Newsmax wrote on January 21:

“Actor Kirk Cameron told Newsmax on Friday that ‘more and more people’ in Hollywood are ‘coming to terms with the fact that equality begins in the womb.’… Cameron also mentioned how personal the issue of abortion is to his family, sharing how his wife, Chelsea Noble, and [their] first four children were adopted. ‘My wife is an adopted child. She was one doctor appointment away from not existing,’’ Cameron said.

“‘We adopted our first four children, and each of them were very close to not being here. And if my wife hadn’t been born, neither would our two natural-born children be here. And so my entire family of six kids and my wife I see not as mistakes, but as miracles, and I’m so glad and thankful for the pro-life community and their work, which resulted in me having this wonderful family.’’”

These are insightful comments showing the utter abomination of abortion.

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.

One of the great themes in the Bible is that of relationships – between God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, God and man, and between human beings themselves.  Pretty much everyone has relationships with other people unless they live on their own on a desert island, and so it should come as no surprise to anyone that it is a major theme running right through the Bible.   Unless we get these relationships right, we will have a miserable life, but much more importantly, the spiritual application is of paramount importance, as we get close to God, and stay close to Him, which will give us eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

This series of Q&As is but a brief overview on this subject, and we hope that it will prove helpful to all who read this information, and to those who decide to delve further into this matter.   There is so much more in the Bible than that which we will cover in this series.

Relationships – God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Right from the dawn of civilisation we read in the first book in the Bible that there was a relationship with God the Father and one other Personage, the “Logos” or “Spokesman.”  In Genesis 1:26, we read: “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.’”

There are those who take issue with the phrase “Let Us make man in Our image” dismissing the argument that it is about more than just one Person. This concern is addressed in our booklet “God is a Family” on pages 3-4:

“Some claim that the statement, ‘Let Us make man in Our image,’ does not reveal a plurality of persons in the Godhead, but that it is like an expression of a king who speaks of himself in the plural form. They point out, for instance, that the queen of England might say something like, ‘We have decreed…’ She is referring to herself, but she says, ‘we.’ This way of speaking is called ‘pluralis maiestatis’ or ‘pluralis maiestaticus.’

“The problem with applying this concept to God’s statements in Genesis 1 and 3 is that God did not use this kind of speaking in His inspired word, the Bible—in fact, the early Hebrews knew nothing about this way of speaking.”

The booklet then goes on to cover many more aspects about the relationship between the Father and the Logos—the “Word” and the Son of God, who became Jesus Christ, with subtitles such as “Jesus Was – And is – God!”; “Jesus Came to Reveal the Father”; “Who and What Was Jesus Before His Human Birth” and much more, and is very well worth reading or re-reading.

Let us look at some very pertinent Scriptures that show how important and close this relationship is and always has been.

In Revelation 13:8, we read: “And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Other translations render this phrase slightly differently, thereby implying that the Book of Life existed from the foundation of the world and that the names of true believers were written in that book before the world was founded. Both concepts are correct. We explain this in detail in our free booklet, “Are You Predestined to Be Saved?”

In any event, it was established or preordained or predestined from the foundation of the world (in fact, even prior to this) that Jesus Christ would come to this earth to die for our sins.

We read further that “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.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-3).   In verse 14, it reveals that the Word was Jesus Christ: “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.”

And so we can conclude quite clearly from these verses that the Word, Jesus Christ, had no beginning and was with the Father from eternity.  Micah 5:2 confirms this, saying that Jesus Christ—the One to be Ruler in Israel—will come “Whose goings forth are from old, From everlasting (literally, the days of eternity).”  In the letter to the Hebrews, it is explained that Jesus Christ—called “Melchizedek”—was and is “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life” (Hebrews 7:3).

And the two of them are a Family. They are both God beings, referred to as the Father and the Son.

Jesus came to this earth to preach the Kingdom of God and this was central to His ministry.  In Matthew 4:23, we read: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.”   He further taught: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).   There are well over 100 references to the Kingdom in the four gospel accounts.   This same gospel has to be preached today.

In our free booklet “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” we read, on page 2: “The Bible repeats time and again that Jesus Christ preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God. In fact, Christ’s whole message had to do with the Kingdom of God—WHAT it is, WHY we need to understand it, and HOW we can have a part in it.

“The Jews at the time of Christ were so upset about the message of the Kingdom of God that they killed Christ. Their understanding of what the Kingdom of God is, and who would be in it, was quite different from what Jesus taught. That is why they were so intent on killing Him.”

John 5:19 gives an insight into the close personal relationship that the Son had with His Father: “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.’”  The Son and the Father were united in love and purpose.  In John 14:9, Jesus is quoted as saying: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

In John 5:30, we read a statement which reveals the closeness of Father and Son: “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

The website of dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com says: “Jesus is the true representation of the immortal God in every aspect of His character and will. He is a visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation Who is able to genuinely say, ‘My food is to do the will of My Father’ and ‘Thy will not mine be done’. Philip had yet to understand that Jesus was the Word of God, made flesh, Who was with God in the beginning. He is the exact representation of God, Who had come to earth to reveal the Father to Adam’s fallen race.” Of course, we understand that man did not “fall”—it is Satan who fell like lightning from heaven (compare Luke 10:18).

Jesus came to earth not to do His own thing, but to do His Father’s Will.   We read this in several verses: “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work’” (John 4:34); and: “‘For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me’” (John 6:38).  We further read: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him’” (John 8:28-29).

Jesus always spoke as directed by His Father:   “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak” (John 12:49).   We also read in John 14:31: “But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.”

Jesus is immortal and came to this earth and preached about the Kingdom of God.  His Father commanded Him what to say; He always sought to do His Father’s Will, and copied what the Father does. This reveals very precisely and surely that the Father and Jesus Christ have the closest relationship that it is ever possible to have, being in total agreement and unity about everything.

The relationship between the Father and the Son has been in existence from before there was any beginning—before there was anything created—and they agree on all things.  We just have to think about the total agreement that they both had to have when working out their master plan of salvation for mankind and when creating the universe with every tiny detail agreed to completely.  We know that the return of Jesus Christ will be necessary at the end of this age (compare Matthew 24:22) but no one knows either the day or the hour when that will happen (see verse 36) except the Father.  The Father “knows” or better “decides” when that time has come; it is in His total, complete and sole authority to determine the timing. When the Father makes that decision, as He determines when that time has arrived, there will be no disagreement between the Father and the Son and Jesus will return just in time to save mankind from cosmocide. There is no competitive spirit between them and they are as one.   These remarkable examples in the Word of God give ample testimony to their close and unchanging relationship which will continue on throughout eternity.

The Father entrusted and entrusts Jesus with great responsibility: “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” (Colossians 1:16); and: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2).  In turn, Jesus fully trusted and trusts His Father; theirs was and is a fully reciprocal relationship.

As alluded to before, the relationship between the Father and the Son is one of love. In fact, all the aspects of their relationship, discussed herein, are based and founded on the fact that they love each other. We read in Matthew 3:17 the Father’s message about His Son to the people, which was communicated by an angel: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This message was repeated to Peter, James and John on the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17:5; compare 2 Peter 1:17). The Father loved and loves the Son (compare John 3:35; 5:20; 10:17; 15:9; 17:24, etc.)—He always has and He always will. At the same time, as already stated above, the Son loved and loves the Father (compare again John 14:31). That loving relationship will never end.

There is so much more information about our Saviour, Jesus Christ, but we have only referenced briefly that which is concerned with His relationship with His Father.

Our free booklets “Jesus Christ – A Great Mystery”;  “Do You Know the True Jesus of the Bible?”; “God is a Family;” and “Is God a Trinity?” are replete with so much more invaluable information.

(To be Continued)

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

compiled by Dave Harris

“Germany’s Troublesome Dependency on Russia,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: 

Historically, Germany’s relationship with Russia has been an odd one, ranging from “friendship” to financial and even military collaboration, reliance, appeasement, hostility and war. Today, it is no different. Germany’s current appeasement strategy is based, in part, on economic dependency from Russia. Nothing can show this more clearly than Germany’s conduct in the present conflict with Ukraine.  But Germany’s politics will have devastating consequences. Historically, Germany’s relationship with Russia has been an odd one, ranging from “friendship” to financial and even military collaboration, reliance, appeasement, hostility and war. Today, it is no different. Germany’s current appeasement strategy is based, in part, on economic dependency from Russia. Nothing can show this more clearly than Germany’s conduct in the present conflict with Ukraine.  But Germany’s politics will have devastating consequences. 

“Deutschlands bedenkliche Abhängigkeit von Russland,” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program, presented by Norbert Link. This video covers the same material as presented in English. 

“Gott oder der Mensch?, Teil 2” is the title for this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Michael Link. Title in English: “God or Man? Part 2”

We are very pleased to announce the baptism of Dominik Kaltenegger on last week’s Sabbath in Germany.  Ministers Thilo Hanstein and Christoph Sperzel conducted the baptism. Welcome to the Church of God Herr Kaltenegger!

“Die letzte Festung Satans,” the sermonette given last Sabbath in Germany by Robert Muhr, is now posted. Title in English, “Satan’s last stronghold.”

“All Not Lost,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Frank Bruno, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The very recent fires here in Boulder County ripped through the area at an astounding rate—described by emergency officials as the length and breadth of a football field every few seconds. In just hours nearly 1000 homes, pets, possessions, and many businesses were destroyed and impacted by flames and smoke. In this Sermonette we will consider God’s messages to those He calls, and how one can persevere despite great loss.

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

Blood is found everywhere in the Bible. What is the significance? What can we learn about blood that can help us understand our Salvation?