On December 4, 2021, Paul Niehoff will present the sermonette, titled, “The Fig Tree,” and Rene Messier will present the sermon, titled, “Are You Fully Armed?”

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.

I read an excellent book some time ago entitled, “Affluenza – The All-Consuming Epidemic.”   It was an excellent presentation of the ills that beset so many today.

The book describes Affluenza as “a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.”

On page 109, with the chapter heading of “Dissatisfaction Guaranteed,” it quoted psychologist David Meyer who wrote: “More than ever, we have big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low morale, secured rights and diminished civility.   We excel at making a living but often fail at making a life.   We celebrate our prosperity but yearn for purpose.   We cherish our freedoms but long for connection.   In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger.”

Psychologist Jeremy Seabrook was also quoted on the same page where he opined: “The only chance of satisfaction we can imagine is getting more of what we have now.   But what we have now makes everybody dissatisfied.   So what will more of it do – make us more satisfied, or more dissatisfied?”

Those quotes certainly apply to so many in society today, and the book gives the symptoms, the causes and the necessary treatment in its 236 pages plus chapter end notes, bibliography and sources.

It got me to thinking how much the pursuit of “stuff” and material things may have rubbed off on some church members?   Do we have to discard our laptop computer that works perfectly well in order to get the latest version which we actually do not need?   Do we have to change our car every year so that it is up-to-date with the latest add-ons and options which we likewise do not need and which will be quite expensive to acquire?   Do we constantly buy clothes and shoes when our wardrobe may already be full to overflowing?   Do we have to have the latest mobile (cell) phone which may be very little different to the phone we have had for the last six months and which works perfectly well, and do we have to have the very latest fashions, clothes and gadgetry that the marketing gurus thrust before our eyes with a compelling sales pitch that such stuff are a must have or because “you’re worth it?”

Even Church of God people are not immune to the accumulation of “stuff” as well as maxed-up credit cards and bank overdrafts to facilitate this emphasis and “necessity” to indulge as the world does.   After all, we are subject, in the main, to all of the advertising that bombards society on a daily basis, and from every quarter, but we should have much more resistance than others because of the precious knowledge that God has so marvellously revealed to us.

On page 111 of this book is a quote from Donella Meadows who wrote “Beyond the Limits,” as follows:  “People don’t need enormous cars, they need respect.   They don’t need closets full of clothes, they need to feel attractive and they need excitement and variety and beauty.   People don’t need electronic equipment; they need something worthwhile to do with their lives.   People need identity, community, challenge, acknowledgement, love and joy.   To try to fill these needs with material things is to set up an unquenchable appetite for false solutions to real and never-satisfied problems. The resulting psychological emptiness is one of the major forces behind the desire for material growth.”

I’m not talking, of course, about necessities, those things that we truly need.  We need clothes and shoes, and in this day and age, most, at least in the Western world, need mobile phones, cars, electronic equipment and computers.  I’m emphasising that even members of God’s Church can, if they’re not on their guard, be distracted from their true goal in life if the here and now, and all of its excesses and glitzy attractions, take a grip of how we behave and function.   It is a very easy trap to fall into and can become a way of life contrary to that which we have been called into.

On page 118 of the book, “Affluenza – The All-Consuming Epidemic,” we read “today by virtue of a media-happy free market, it may now be possible for a person to travel from one week to the next without thinking an original thought unshaped by manipulative messages!   Much of the territory between our ears has now been commercially ‘colonised’.   The question is, if we get evicted from our own minds, who are we?”

Of course, church members are too wise to be caught out in the acquisition of stuff, aren’t they?   Are they?   One television advertisement I saw sold the benefits of being able to use their facility for things we want and for those things we may not need as well.   No wonder so very many people seem to be up to their eyes in debt!   But it is not just the debt issue but having the wrong emphasis that is even more worrying.

Scripture tells us not to love the world and all of its attractions which certainly includes unnecessary purchases and debt.   In 1 John 2:15-17, we read the following: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

If we follow the way of this dying world by greatly accumulating “stuff” that is not necessary, and spend ourselves into unnecessary debt, we may well be falling for yet another Satanic trap.  Rather than being content with our lot, we can easily succumb to the way of this world which continues down the secular path towards destruction.   Developing holy righteous character is what we should be about, not accumulating that which will disappear.

Right at the end of the book, they conclude with these thoughts.   “The bottom line is this.   When your time comes and your whole life flashes before you, will it hold your interest?   How much of the story will be about moments of clarity and grace, kindness and caring?   Will the main character – you – appear as large and noble as life itself, or as tiny and absurd as a cartoon figure, darting frantically among mountains of stuff?   It’s up to you, and indeed, it’s up to all of us.”

As we approach the December festive season, there will be huge amounts of money spent on “stuff” with many maxing up their credit card(s) for materialistic goods that may have temporary pleasure but with long-lasting consequences of unnecessary debt and all that that can bring.

We can never have “Godly Overload,” but it is a direction that would be much more profitable to pursue than all of the material pursuits of this world!

It’s about priorities, and let none of us be found wanting in this respect!

by Norbert Link

We begin with Putin’s “undeclared war” against Europe and fears that Russia will invade Ukraine very soon; and report on the goal of “Germany’s incoming Europhile left-wing government” to create a United States of Europe with a European Army.

We continue with the alleged reason for Biden’s hostility toward Hungary; speak about “Germany’s nuclear weapons”; and address the concept that America is becoming another socialist nation. We also publish an article speculating as to who would be Trump’s running mate if he was to run for President in 2024.

We report on Israel’s preparation for building the Third Temple; and Canada’s proposed radical pro-LGBT bill.

We speak on the discovery of a new Corona variant—the so-called Omicron variant, which has also been referred to as the Nu variant—and the resulting worldwide paranoia, including apparently quite meaningless dictatorial travel bans, even though the symptoms appear to be mild and non-threatening.

We also address the reasons why Biden is deeply unpopular, and why some feel that the departure of health “expert” Fauci is long overdue.

We continue to dedicate a large section of these Current Events to the incredibly frightening—but prophesied–move towards dictatorships all over the world, with special emphasis on Greece, Austria, Germany, Europe and Australia. We also report on the death of a famous TV Evangelist in the USA. In this context, please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “The Dictatorship of the Beast in the Book of Revelation.”  

We also report on the death of a famous TV Evangelist in the USA.

We conclude with the abuse of Catholic nuns in their convents. 

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

Putin’s Undeclared War against Europe

Financial Post wrote on November 26:

“… western leaders are waking up to the fact that Vladimir Putin has been waging an undeclared war against Europe and the west since 2014 when it annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine. This is because he has escalated his warfare. In August, he weaponized energy exports by throttling back natural gas shipments, creating shortages and enormous price hikes. Also during the summer, Putin’s proxy, Belarus, weaponized migration. Thousands of residents from the Middle East were encouraged to fly to Minsk, then were transported to the border with Poland where they were promised they could easily sneak into the European Union (EU).

“This gambit, designed to damage the EU, was impeded by Poland and Lithuanian troops. It gained world headlines as these migrants were caught, like human ping pong balls, between an odious regime in Belarus (likely urged by Russia) pushing them to break fencing and defy soldiers — and the Polish army using tear gas and water cannons to prevent a flood of illegal migrants…

“In April, Putin amassed about 100,000 troops, tanks and warships near Ukraine’s borders, and has continued this deployment despite requests by the United States and others to de-escalate… Putin… described the demise of the Soviet empire as the greatest ‘geopolitical catastrophe in history’ in a 2005 speech. Ever since, he has set out to reverse history… his ‘War’ against Europe has gone mostly unnoticed because he wages two kinds of warfare. He undertakes ‘hot wars’ or traditional conflicts but these are hidden and involve unidentified armed forces or operatives, who are former Russian military soldiers working as mercenaries. Hot wars against European nation-states included Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, both of which are now partially occupied by Russian ‘operatives’ — territories equivalent in size to the country of Bulgaria, or the State of Colorado.

“More commonly, Putin conducts ‘hybrid warfare’ against targets which also include the United States, all NATO members, and former Soviet vassal nations. In these battles, his arsenal includes cyber warfare, political sabotage, disinformation, propaganda, lawsuits, election intervention, diplomatic maneuvers, bombings, poisonings, assassinations, gaslighting, and most dramatically this year, the mobilization of forces capable of invading Ukraine as well as the weaponization of energy and migration…

“Putin’s biggest ‘recapture’ occurred in 2020 when Russia took control over Belarus without a single shot fired after its dictator lost re-election, rigged results and faced mass protests in the streets. Its leader, Alexandre Lukashenko, was only able to cling to power with Russian military and financial backing, and now takes orders from the Kremlin… winter approaches and he has inordinate leverage over Europe’s energy market. The reality is that Putin plays a long game, and tested the limits this year. But he will never end his war and hopefully Europe realizes this and will remain vigilant and fortified.”

The time will come when European powers, feeling threatened by Russia, China and other Far Eastern nations, will “react” militarily with terrible and devastating consequences.

Russia Expected to Invade Ukraine

Newsmax wrote on November 28:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the mass production of the Zircon hypersonic nuclear missile ahead of an expected offensive into Ukraine early next year, The Sun reported. Putin has said Zircon could fly at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 620 miles, according to The Associated Press. He has ordered the Zircon missile to be deployed in 2022 by the Russian Navy, boasting that it is ‘truly unparalleled … in the world,’ per The Sun.

‘There was a successful hypersonic missile test from a frigate in the White Sea on Nov. 18, following a submarine test a month earlier. The missiles have been in development for over 20 years and are considered a critical next step for Putin’s arsenal…

“Ukrainian commander Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Kyiv’s defence intelligence agency, said that Russia has planned an attack in late January that would involve some 100,000 Russian soldiers on 10 fronts… Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky recently alleged that Russian ‘representatives’ are planning to overthrow his government…, which Russia has denied, BBC reported.”

It is only a matter of time.

The United States of Europe

Express wrote on November 27:

“The new German government is pressing for further integration with the European Union in a move set to pave the way for a so-called ‘United States of Europe’…

“Social Democrat (SPD) leader and incoming Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed an historic three-way coalition this week with the Greens and Free Democrats.  The direction of the new regime has also started to take shape after the Green party’s co-leader Annalena Baerbock, an ardent europhile, was appointed foreign minister… The 40-year-old will help to shape overseas policy-making and her ideas are already being described as a blueprint for a ‘United States of Europe’…

“The prospect of a ‘United States of Europe’ is one that has been in the offing for several years – and ever since French President Emmanuel Macron spearheaded the idea of an EU Army… The EU27 began operating like one super-state during the coronavirus pandemic after President Macron and Angela Merkel led calls for a historic €750 billion rescue package to bail out the bloc. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also presided over coronavirus vaccine purchases for the entire bloc.”

Breitbart wrote on November 29:

“Germany’s incoming Europhile left-wing government has begun a push for a federalized European Union superstate and the creation of what has been unofficially dubbed the ‘United States of Europe’. The campaign for the creation of the superstate was enshrined in the coalition agreement between the three soon-to-be ruling parties, the Social Democrats (SPD), the Free Democrats (FPD), and the Greens, according to a report by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the German language paper of record in Switzerland.

“The agreement outlines the coalition’s commitment to supporting the ‘necessary treaty changes’ needed to ‘lead developments to a European federal state’. This is something Germany clearly sees itself as being responsible for doing… It also voices the coalition’s support… for an increase of ‘Europe’s strategic sovereignty… this means establishing one’s own ability to act in a global context and being less dependent and vulnerable in important strategic areas’, an oblique reference to an emerging single European foreign policy and an EU military…

“The idea for a federal ‘United States of Europe’ has been brewing for years, and was a major subject of discussion in the run-up to the UK Brexit referendum in 2016. Yet preparations for a federal Europe stepped up a gear in 2017 when the former President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, proposed that the bloc be turned into a federal state by 2025… European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen [stated] in September that the bloc needs to build the ‘political will’ to create an EU Army. German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer hailed the call for an EU Army, saying von der Leyen was right and that ‘Germany and France must lead.’”

The emergence of a powerful EU Army is sure.

Washington vs. Budapest

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on November 27:

“Ever since the Democrats took the White House, Washington and Budapest have been drifting ever further apart. But Biden needs to accept that just because Orban disagrees with him doesn’t mean he’s ‘undemocratic’.

“Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has expressed concerns that the United States will attempt to interfere in next year’s general election. The purpose of the underhand interference, Szijjarto believes, is to have sitting Hungarian PM Viktor Orban replaced by the United Opposition candidate Peter Marki-Zay, who is more ideologically aligned with the Biden administration…

“This is not the first time the Hungarian government has suggested America will intervene in next year’s election… The Hungarian government is unashamedly anti-globalist and believes in the sanctity of the sovereign nation. It is also very pro-family and a champion of Christian values. This is anathema to Biden, Brussels and the liberal press, which regularly, and lazily, label Orban ‘far-right’.

“Second, unlike Biden, Orban believes in strong borders, and, to this end, has built a wall to secure his country from another migrant crisis. In contrast, one of Biden’s first acts as president was to put a halt to the building of Donald Trump’s wall on the US’ southern border. The result has been a catastrophe…

“Third, there is the fact that Orban was close to Trump and made it clear he was rooting for his ally to win another term last year… The feelings of warmth are mutual…

“Next year’s Hungarian general election, to take place in either April or May, will determine the direction the nation will take…”

It does not appear very likely that Hungary will not be part of the EU.. .and maybe even the core European nations… but further hostility between Hungary and the USA can be expected.

Germany’s Nuclear Weapons

The Independent wrote on November 30:

“The president of Belarus has suggested his nation will take advantage of access it has to nuclear weapons via its Russian ally, should Nato decide to arm parts of Europe with similar machinery. It comes amid increasing tensions between Alexander Lukashenko and the EU over the current migrant crisis on the border shared by Belarus and Poland.

“Less than two weeks ago, Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary-general, announced in a statement that US nuclear weapons currently stationed inside Germany could well be moved to ‘other European countries’…  However, he added: ‘I expect that Germany will continue to be part of nuclear sharing, because it is so important for Europe.’

“… Mr Stoltenberg said in his speech on 19 November that Nato’s ‘aim is a world free of nuclear weapons’. But, he added, ‘as long as others have them, we must have them too’”.

And so, nuclear war IS coming.

Today’s America… another Socialist Country

Fox News reported on November 28, 2021:

“A Republican congresswoman from South Carolina [Nancy Mace] says President Biden’s Build Back Better plan includes $80 billion in funding to hire some 89,000 more IRS agents who will be tasked with ‘spying’ on Americans’ bank accounts like socialist countries around the world do…

“The Build Back Better Act’s investments in the IRS… would result in an estimated 1.2 million additional audits each year. Nearly half of the audits would impact families earning less than $75,000 a year. One quarter of the audits would affect Americans earning $25,000 or more per year.

“Mace predicted that the Build Back Better plan will only increase inflation, arguing that socialist spending will incentivize people not to work, worsening supply chain issues and raising taxes for average Americans already facing increased prices for groceries, gas and other goods….”

Trump’s Running Mate for 2024

The New York Post wrote on November 30:

“While former President Donald Trump has yet to formally announce a 2024 White House bid, he’s already stoking speculation about potential running mates… [Reportedly, the] 45th president will largely choose his campaign sidekick based on two factors: unconditional loyalty, and support for Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen by the Democrats.

“In June, [Trump said] that he would ‘certainly consider’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis… as a potential running mate. But a source quoted by Politico threw cold water on the possibility… ‘Trump sees him as a competitor…’

“Other names that sources have suggested based on recent interactions with Trump include Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, both of whom recently spoke with Trump at Mar-a-Lago… If Trump opts to select a female running mate, the outlet reports the list of contenders includes Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)… Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was once thought to be a possible VP candidate, but that is seen as increasingly unlikely due to her sharp criticism of Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“Some sources… suggest former acting national security adviser Ric Grenell… While Pence has publicly proclaimed that he and Trump are on good terms after the former president labeled Pence disloyal for not attempting to overturn the 2020 election results earlier this year, there is little chance the two would reunite for a third White House run. Trump is expected to formally announce his decision following the 2022 midterms, in which Republicans are favored to regain control of the House of Representatives after two years of Democratic control of the House, Senate and White House.”

Preparing for the Third Temple

Israel 365 wrote on November 30:

“On Monday, December 6, a reenactment of several Temple ceremonies will be held in Mitzpe Yericho. The reenactments will include a demonstration of the anointing of the High Priest, and the lighting of the Temple menorah. A new altar will be dedicated for use on the Temple Mount. Each ceremony is an essential element of the Temple service and practical efforts such as these are intended to prepare for the Third Temple.

“As Monday will be the last night of Hanukkah, a demonstration of the lighting of the temple menorah will be carried out. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple by the Hasmoneans in 164 BCE and the ceremony next week will recreate several aspects of that historic event.

“The gold menorah intended to be installed permanently in the Third Temple upon its construction is on display in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. Made to Biblical specifications, it is not portable and cannot be used for reenactments. Standing approximately six feet tall, it weighs half a ton, and contains 45 kilograms (approximately 99 lbs) of 24 karat gold valued at approximately three million dollars…

“A demonstration of the anointing of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) will also be held. Rabbi Baruch Kahana will serve as the Kohen Gadol for the purpose of this demonstration. Rabbi Kahana has served an essential role in educating Kohanim to serve in the Third Temple and has served as the Kohen Gadol in many of the Temple reenactments.”

The building of the Third Temple, prior to Christ’s return, is just a matter of time.

New Radical Pro-LGBT Bill in Canada

Life Site News wrote on November 30:

“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s liberals introduced yet another radical left-wing pro-LGBT bill that seeks to criminalize all forms of so-called ‘conversion therapy.’ Violators would face years in prison. On Monday, Trudeau’s Federal Liberal Party introduced Bill C-4 in the second effort made by the Liberals, after their first bill, C-6, was dropped earlier this year when Trudeau called for an election. While similar, the new bill is stricter, and is being touted as ‘among the most comprehensive in the world,’ with violators of the broad-scoped policy being subject to a prison term of up to five years.

“The bill not only seeks to criminalize ‘providing’ so-called conversion therapy to people, including adults actively seeking it out, but also intends to make illegal ‘knowingly’ causing ‘another person to undergo conversion therapy,’ advertising or promoting conversion therapy, removing a child from Canada for the purposes of undergoing conversion therapy, or receiving ‘financial or material’ benefit as a result of someone undergoing conversion therapy.

“Further, the bill applies a broad definition to the term ‘conversion therapy.’ The term includes ‘any practice, treatment or service designed to: change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual; change a person’s gender identity to cisgender; change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth; repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour; repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity; or repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth.’

“In effect, not only is attempting to reverse someone’s orientation from homosexual to heterosexual illegal, but so is any attempt to ‘repress or reduce’ homosexual or transsexual behavior, even if an adult asks for help to do so…

“Jack Fonseca, Political Operations Director for Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), told LifeSiteNews that ‘there are no protections whatsoever in Bill C-6 for parents or pastors who, for example, discourage a gender-confused child from identifying as transgender and try to help them be at peace with the body in which they were born.’”

God’s righteous wrath on modern Sodomite countries, such as Canada, will be poured out soon.

“Omicron Variant Symptoms ‘Unusual but Mild’”

Fox News reported on November 27:

“‘So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough.’ [Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a board member of the South African Medical Association] who first alerted authorities to the presence of the COVID-19 omicron variant reported that it presents ‘unusual but mild’ symptoms. ‘It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well,’ Coetzee explained… ‘ They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home.’…

“Tulio de Oliveira, the director of South Africa’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation…  criticized several countries – including the U.S., U.K., South Korea and various countries in Europe – for enacting travel restrictions on South Africa and several other African nations…”

Israel jumped on the hysteria bandwagon and banned all foreigners from entering Israel, after one case (!) had been confirmed in the country. Israel’s history of lockdowns is more than troubling.

Biden’s and Fauci’s Worse than Useless Travel Bans

The New York Post wrote on November 27:

“Critics took aim Saturday at White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and President Biden for their ‘worse than useless’ response to the… Omicron variant of COVID-19…  The Fauci-approved weekend-long delay in launching the ban on travel from Omicron-infected African countries angered City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI). ‘Why do people still take this man seriously?’ Borelli, the chamber’s new minority leader, asked. ‘Either this is a life or death emergency, or it doesn’t need to happen. It seems like this is a lockdown for the sake of lockdowns.’…

“Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) condemned the Biden administration’s too-little, too-late travel measure as ‘worse than useless.’ ‘Joe Biden and Tony Fauci push crushing restrictions on Americans—like masking two-year-olds—that are pointless,’ Cotton tweeted Saturday.”

Fauci is still being referred to in the mass media as “The United States’ top infectious disease expert” (Reuters, November 28). It is high time that this false description be altered. He said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Republicans like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) criticizing him were “lying” while he is “saving lives.” But Fauci’s continued misrepresentations, combined with numerous incompetent “opinions,” have been well documented.

Fauci’s Departure long Overdue

Newsmax wrote on November 28:

“Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Sunday called Dr. Anthony Fauci an ‘unelected technocrat who has distorted science and facts in order to exercise authoritarian control over millions of Americans’ after Fauci blasted Cruz for suggesting he be investigated for statements he made about COVID-19….

“Some Republicans, including Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., have accused Fauci of lying to Congress when he denied in May that the National Institutes of Health funded ‘gain of function’ research — the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential effect in the real world — at a virology lab in Wuhan, China. Cruz has urged Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Fauci’s statements…”

The New York Post added on November 29:

“[Fauci also said:] ‘So it’s easy to criticize… But they’re really criticizing science, because I represent science. That’s dangerous.’…  ‘The absolute hubris of someone claiming THEY represent science,” [Rand] Paul tweeted. ‘It’s astounding and alarming that a public health bureaucrat would even think to claim such a thing, especially one who has worked so hard to ignore the science of natural immunity.’

“The Biden administration has repeatedly stood by Fauci amid the criticism from Republicans…”

Breitbart wrote on November 30:

“Appearing Monday on the Fox News Channel’s ‘Hannity,’ Sen. Ted Cruz… referred to White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci as the ‘most dangerous bureaucrat’ in U.S. history… ‘Throughout this pandemic, he’s been dishonest, political, partisan, and the American people know it…”

The “Nu Variant” Hysteria in the UK

The Dossier wrote on November 26:

“The ‘Nu variant’ scare [which is officially named the “omicron” variant, after the 15^th letter of the Greek alphabet, thereby skipping the thirteenth and fourteenth letter, “Nu” and “Xi”] is coming from the same people and institutions that spawned the last COVID scare, and the one before that, and the one before that one, dating back all the way to the onset of COVID Mania.

“The corporate press and world governments have produced an incredible amount of noise about a claimed new COVID variant, the ‘Nu’ variant, which has been detected in South Africa and Botswana… there is no statistical cause for alarm over this new strain, which is one of over 100,000 mutations of the coronavirus…. a panicked narrative has already been seeded in the public. The U.K. in particular has driven the fear to new levels. The country has already added several African nations to its travel ban list, citing the new strain… it is not a coincidence that the U.K. is again the first mover on the ‘Nu strain’ front.

“The new variant hysteria originated at Imperial College UK, the home of a disgraced, corrupted academic modeling institution that proselytized lockdowns to the Western world. Throughout COVID Mania, Imperial has been the source of countless versions of ‘new strain’ propaganda. The institution does not only participate in shoddy modeling. It both foments the insanity and demands a series of totalitarian measures to deal with their faulty narrative creations…

“The current new strain panic comes at a time in Europe when COVID-19 cases are surging in the continent, despite the universal embrace of mRNA injections that were promised to resolve the COVID-19 problem. This ‘new strain’ has reportedly been found in Europe, driving the media’s narrative even further into the totalitarian abyss. With claims disseminated to the masses by Big Tech and world governments, the Gates Inc and China-influenced World Health Organization is sowing maximum panic and terror…

“Imperial College UK is the home of the infamous ‘doomsday models’ for COVID-19, which promised that millions of people would imminently be wiped off the earth if the Western world did not lock down in March of 2020 for COVID-19… Before Nu, the latest scariant, best known as the ‘Delta variant,’ had a similar viral marketing campaign behind its emergence.

“Notably, Imperial’s virology and epidemiology departments have received incredible amounts of funding from the Gates Foundation…  According to a review of their public records, Gates Inc has delivered close to $300 million dollars to the Imperial College London.”

It has been suggested that the WHO skipped “Xi” for naming the variant, as it is the name of the Chinese President, Xi Jinping. And that “Nu” sounds like “nothing.”

The Afrophobia of Omicron Travel Bans

The Washington Post wrote on November 29:

“The president of Malawi has described travel bans imposed by several nations… in response to a new strain of the coronavirus as ‘Afrophobia,’ joining other African leaders in condemning the restrictions… The bans have… angered political leaders in Africa who view them as hasty and unjustified – scapegoating countries that have been quick to come forward with information on a potentially dangerous new variant. South Africa’s health minister on Friday described the measures as ‘misdirected’ and ‘draconian.’…

“South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the travel bans and called for them to be lifted immediately. ‘The prohibition of travel is not informed by science. Nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant,’ he said in a televised broadcast. ‘The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to and also to recover from the pandemic.’”

No doubt about that.

Why Biden Is Deeply Unpopular

Fox News published on November 27 an article which was adapted from Tucker Carlson’s opening commentary on the November 26, 2021 edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight”:

“Joe Biden is deeply unpopular. The question is: why?… What we are witnessing under the Biden administration is something Americans will absolutely not forgive: the decline in our standard of living. Biden hasn’t just embarrassed the United States internationally, though he has certainly done that. Americans can overlook that… and hope for something better next time.

“A lot of things are happening and one of them is inflation. Inflation [is] a result of government policy. The Federal Reserve has devalued the U.S. dollar by printing too many U.S. dollars. Why are they printing them? To pay for more government spending. Spending that under the Biden administration is now literally out of control. There was a $10.1 trillion amount of spending obligations in fiscal year 2020… In 2019… the total was $6.6 trillion, still a lot, but very different than $10.1 trillion.

“More spending is on the way because we can spend any amount of money, we hold the world’s reserve currency. Biden’s so-called Build Back Better bill is estimated to cost over $5 trillion. The people who are printing this money, U.S. Congress, The Federal Reserve specifically, know they are making the problem worse. They don’t care…

“In the Biden administration, a host of bureaucratic agencies are suddenly in charge of your body… The White House believes that OSHA, for example, can tell you what to inject into your body. Get the injection or you’re fired. Just a few months ago the White House was saying the opposite of this. Vaccine mandates are illegal.

“JOE BIDEN: ‘I don’t think it should be mandatory, I wouldn’t demand it be mandatory, but I would do everything in my power. Just like I don’t think masks should be made mandatory nationwide.’

“JEN PSAKI: ‘Can we mandate vaccines across the country? No, that’s not a role that the federal government I think even has the power to make.’

“NANCY PELOSI: ‘We cannot require someone to be vaccinated. That’s just not what we can do [sic]. It is a matter of privacy to know who is or who isn’t.’

“ANTHONY FAUCI: ‘No. Definitely not. You don’t want to mandate and try and force anyone to take the vaccine, we’ve never done that. We don’t want to be mandating from the federal government to the general population. It would be unenforceable and not appropriate.’

“These people are reckless, crazy, and dishonest, and the people put up with it. After all that, of course they mandated the injection. They knew that was illegal and… they did it anyway. Then the airlines started canceling flights and health care workers disappeared because politicians know more about coronavirus than nurses?… Then we ran out of truck drivers to pick up goods from our ports. First responders were then fired. You couldn’t get an ambulance…

“Most people are very tired of it… The question is, how are we going to survive three more years of this? It’s a very good question.”

It has been reported that Biden is thinking of running again in 2024. And if he does not run, then the politician who is most popular among the Democrats would be Kamala Harris, followed by Michelle Obama. Words fail…

The Dictatorship of Greece

The Associated Press wrote on November 30:

“Residents in Greece over 60 years old will have to undergo mandatory vaccinations against coronavirus or face monthly 100-euro ($114) fines beginning next year, the prime minister announced Tuesday, declaring the country’s first general inoculation mandate… It will take effect on Jan. 16 and the fines will be added to tax bills… Roughly a quarter of the country’s adult population remains unvaccinated. Vaccination mandates were introduced over the summer for health care workers and fire service rescuers in Greece, with those failing to comply being suspended from their jobs indefinitely without pay…

“The opposition left-wing Syriza party accused the center-right government of… ‘targeting people over 60 … with punitive and financially debilitating measures that haven’t been implemented anywhere else in the world.’”

This is discriminatory STUPID dictatorship in the extreme.

Francis to Visit Greece

AFP wrote on November 30:

“Twenty years after the last papal visit to Athens sparked protests by monks, Pope Francis heads to the Greek capital on Saturday seeking to improve historically difficult relations between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches. Francis visited the island of Lesbos in 2016 but his trip to Athens, which will include a mass and meetings with Greece’s top cleric, Archbishop Ieronymos, is the first to the Greek capital by a pope since John Paul II came in May 2001.

“The Orthodox Church has been separated from the Catholic Church since the schism of 1054 between Rome and Constantinople, today’s Istanbul which was then the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

“Hardliners in Greece still blame the pope for the split, and for the Fourth Crusade that sacked Constantinople in 1204… Francis has already visited several majority Orthodox countries including Georgia, Armenia, Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia.”

This is a curious coincidence that at the time when Greece enacts terrible dictatorial measures, Pope Francis would visit the state to improve relationships with the Greek Orthodox Churches.  

The Dictatorship of Germany

The Associated Press and Breitbart wrote on November 30:

“Germany’s highest court on Tuesday rejected complaints against curfews and other restrictions imposed by federal legislation earlier this year in areas where the coronavirus was spreading quickly…

“The court found that the most controversial measures contained in the federal ‘emergency brake’ legislation that was in place from April until the end of June were in line with the constitution. Those included a 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew and school closures in areas with high coronavirus infection rates.”

How this could be constitutional is hard to decipher, and many legal experts are of a different mindset. But we know—don’t we?—that the Beast will arise in Germany or Austria. In biblical terms, Germany and Austria are one nation, anyhow.

Interesting were some of the comments to this article, published by Breitbart:

“They were looking at the 1933 version Constitution to come to this conclusion… The Germans can’t help themselves. No matter what they always side with the State… Germany has not come far from its Nazi roots… The gas ovens were also legal in Germany… Nothing new here. Next they will round up the new 21st century Jew, the unvaccinated… I fully envisage a day in Germany when Adolph Hitler will be fully rehabilitated, and the courts there will rule that everything he did was constitutional, so okay to do it all again… Germany apparently can’t learn from its own history… Watch out Germany, you have been down this path before… The top German courts have always been good at siding with authoritarian regimes… Remember the 30’s? Of course it was legal for the state to confiscate Jewish property…  It is obvious that the German ‘constitution’ is not created to empower people, rather grant tyrannical power to the ‘government’… German law also found nothing wrong with concentration camps and the extermination of 6 million Jews… It’s 1939 all over again.”

And many many more comments along the same lines… But most Germans are sound asleep, as the comments above recognize.

The New Dangerous German Chameleon— Chancellor-in-Waiting Olaf Scholz

Deutsche Welle wrote on November 30:

“Merkel’s designated successor Olaf Scholz is calling for a general vaccine mandate. Talking to Germany’s Bild television on Tuesday, the chancellor-in-waiting said he would like to see mandatory vaccinations ‘not too far away in the future, so I suggest beginning of February or March.’…

“The question of mandatory vaccination is considered controversial in Germany, partly due to forced medical treatments during the Nazi-era.”

Scholz also indicated that the unvaccinated should be punished with fines as they are to be blamed for the current corona situation. Merkel’s leadership regarding the coronavirus crisis was already bad enough. But with Scholz, unpleasant memories of the Nazi era come to light. It is noteworthy what we read in Wikipedia about Scholz:

“Scholz joined the SPD in 1975 as a student, where he got involved with the Jusos, the youth organization of the SPD. From 1982 to 1988, he was Deputy Federal Juso Chairman, and from 1987 to 1989 also Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. He supported the Freudenberger Kreis, the Marxist wing of the Juso university groups, and the magazine spw and promoted ‘overcoming the capitalist economy’ in articles. In it, Scholz criticized the ‘aggressive-imperialist NATO’, the Federal Republic as the ‘European stronghold of big business’…”

We had written this in our Update #991, quoting an article from Deutsche Welle of September 27:

““Scholz underwent a remarkable political transformation. As deputy chairman of the SPD youth organization Jusos, he was still a radical socialist in the 1980s…”

Allegedly, he “transformed” and left his dictatorial and autocratic Juso/Socialist/Marxist past behind. Did he really? In any event, the mass tabloid Bild Online accused Scholz and others of breaking their word.

Germans Brainwashed?

Breitbart wrote on December 1:

“People who are fully vaccinated will also be considered unvaccinated again if they do not take a booster dose within six months, Scholz added.

“A recent poll conducted by YouGov revealed that nearly seven out of ten adults in Germany support mandatory vaccinations, with less than a quarter saying they were against the coercive measure.”

Comments to this article were telling:

“Why do German politicians hate the people of Germany so much???… They show no fear of the LORD which is about all there is to save them at this point… But they fear the monster which they have helped to create… The fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom. They have neither.”

Breitbart wrote on December 2:

“Angela Merkel has announced a de facto lockdown of the unvaccinated, and that Germany’s parliament will soon vote on making vaccination mandatory….  the country will be barring the unvaccinated from events, leisure facilities, and all non-essential retail.”

Austria’s Chancellor Announces His Resignation

Deutsche Welle reported on December 2:

 “Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced he is stepping back from politics following the birth of his son… Kurz’s withdrawal from national political life comes as a surprise to Austria… Later on Thursday, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, a Kurz loyalist who took over when Kurz resigned from the chancellorship, announced he would not run for party leadership and announced his intention to resign as head of government… ‘I am… making my post as chancellor available as soon as the relevant course has been set within the party,’ he added.”

Europeans Brainwashed?

The Guardian wrote on December 1:

“The EU must now consider mandatory vaccination in response to the spread of the ‘highly contagious’ Omicron Covid variant  across Europe, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said… Von der Leyen said the EU’s 27 member states should rapidly deploy booster doses and a commission communique backed countries opting to temporarily enforce pre-travel PCR tests even within the bloc’s borders….

“There is growing momentum behind mandatory vaccination among the EU member states… On Wednesday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an EU health agency, said the potential benefits of vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 should also now be considered…”

And on and on it goes…

Quarantine Camps in Brainwashed Australia for the Unvaccinated

Armstrong Economics wrote on November 24:

“Rumors are swirling on the internet that the Australian Army is herding the unvaccinated population into ‘quarantine camps.’ The army is not currently hunting down the vaccinated, yet, but there is a suspicious amount of funds going toward these quarantine facilities. The Guardian has reported that $130 million was recently invested by the Northern Territory into the Howard Springs quarantine camp. Howard Springs was designed as a fly-in-fly-out workers’ camp, but the mainstream media is reporting that the camps will become redundant as home quarantine pilot programs have begun. If that were true, why is the government continuing to invest in Howard Springs?

“The Northern Territory hosts two main quarantine camps—Howard Springs and Alice Springs… People constantly compare conditions to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, but this is one example that is becoming dangerously close in nature. They have not begun killing off the unvaccinated population, but they have taken away their freedoms. ‘Residents’ at these hotels may not leave their rooms unless supervised by an authorized officer. That is much more akin to a prison than a hotel. Officers will ‘remind’ those held hostage by their government when they are disobeying the rules. Since COVID can spread on surfaces, people are not allowed to interact with those outside their immediate family. But it gets worse. The website states that family rooms are not always available…

“The poor children who are subjected to this traumatizing experience! Toys are not allowed. Visitors are not allowed. There is a chance children will be separated from their parents, guarded only by the state. Similar to a prison environment, cooking appliances are not available in these quarantine camps. Officers in hazmats suits feed their hostages three times per day by leaving the meals outside the room on the ground as another reminder of lost freedoms. Bottled water and toiletries are not available. The camps boast having limited wifi service, but it is safe to bet that online activities will be monitored. How could we allow such cruel human rights abuses to occur in plain sight? Sending millions of dollars to these camps indicates that they have no real plans to end this abuse…”

This is satanic! Satan’s world is being pushed into universal dictatorship and the establishment of concentration camps for the “undesired” population.

Famous Televangelist Reportedly Dies of Covid Complications

Newsweek reported on November 30:

“Marcus Lamb, a televangelist and founder of Daystar Television Network, has… died… after allegedly taking ivermectin to prevent infection….  Marcus’ wife, Joni Lamb, confirmed her husband died from COVID-19, saying that he had been hospitalized after his oxygen dropped and alternative treatments proved ineffective. Lamb [64], according to Joni Lamb, was diabetic…

“Marcus founded Word of God Fellowship in the early 1980s and created Daystar Television Network in the late 1990s. It’s since become the second-largest Christian network in the world, reaching more than 2 billion people worldwide.

“Throughout the pandemic, Daystar has hosted prominent anti-vaccine voices, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was barred from Instagram for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. On the network’s website, Daystar called vaccines the ‘most dangerous thing’ children face, and Daystar filed a petition to block President Joe Biden’s vaccine rule from going into place. In a court filing Daystar filed alongside the American Family Association, the two nonprofits called implementing a vaccine mandate a ‘sin against God’s Holy Word.’

“Daystar argued in the court filing that they have a ‘religious objection’ to forcing employees to ‘test their conscience’ about getting vaccinated. If the company was required to implement the policy, they claimed they would ‘wound the consciences’ of employees and ‘potentially cause them to sin.’

“People claiming a religious exemption to vaccine mandates often cite the fact that vaccines were developed and tested on fetal cell lines, which are based on aborted fetal cells but grown in labs. Fetal cell lines have also been used in the development of multiple common medications, including Tylenol, Benadryl and Claritin.

“Tributes began pouring out after news broke of Marcus’ death and Graham posted on Facebook that he was ‘shocked’ to learn Marcus died from complications of COVID-19…

“Ahead of his death, Marcus’ son, Jonathan, said there was ‘no doubt’ in his mind that his father’s COVID-19 battle was a ‘spiritual attack from the enemy…’”

Instagram’s barring Kennedy for “spreading misinformation” was more like barring him for spreading information which Instagram does not like to be heard. There is no doubt that the death of Marcus Lamb will be used to push vaccinations and malign the unvaccinated…

Abuse in Convents

Reuters reported on November 29:

“When young nuns at a convent in Eastern Europe told their Mother Superior that a priest had tried to molest them, she retorted that it was probably their fault for ‘provoking him’. When African nuns in Minnesota asked why it was always they who had to shovel snow they were told it was because they were young and strong, even though white sisters of the same age lived there too. As the Roman Catholic Church pays more attention to the closed world of convents, where women spend much of their time in prayer and household work, more episodes of psychological, emotional and physical abuse are coming to light…

“Marcela, a South American woman who joined an order of cloistered nuns in Italy 20 years ago when she was 19, recounts how the indoctrination was so strict that younger sisters needed permission to go to the bathroom and ask for sanitary products during their menstrual periods… Therese, a French woman, was told ‘you have to suffer for Jesus’ when she asked to be spared physically demanding chores because of a back condition…

“In 2018, the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano exposed the plight of foreign nuns sent by their orders to work as housekeepers for cardinals and bishops in Rome with little or no remuneration… Last year, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz… [said] he was shocked to discover that… former nuns had to resort to prostitution to live.”

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

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

The account of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist is recorded in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11 and Luke 3:21-22. The first chapter of John also mentions the context of when Jesus was baptized as told by John the Baptist (John 1:19-34).

It is important to understand the role of John the Baptist leading up to the baptism of Jesus.

A prophecy in Isaiah 40, verse 3, actually refers—in part—to John the Baptist: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness; ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A Highway for our God.’”

The religious leadership from Jerusalem sent to John the Baptist wanting to know who he was. John’s response was to quote Isaiah 40:3, saying that he was fulfilling this prophecy. He also said, “‘You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, “I am not the Christ,” but, “I have been sent before Him”’” (John 3:28).

Another dramatic prophecy is given in Malachi 4:5, which states: “‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.’”

While this prophecy incorporates most specifically the time of the return of Jesus Christ to establish the Kingdom of God, it also was applied to John the Baptist—note this exchange between Jesus and some of His disciples:

^“And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist” (Matthew 17:10-13; also, Mark 9:11-13).

Jesus very specifically identified John as fulfilling the Elijah type role:

“‘For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’” (Matthew 11:10-15).

Before John’s birth, the angel Gabriel told John’s father, Zacharias, that John would do an Elijah type work:

“‘For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’” (Luke 1:15-17).

Concerning the work of Elijah, it was to cause the people of Israel to seek God. Elijah fully understood this as he withstood the prophets of Baal:

^“And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again’” (1 Kings 18:36-38).

Both Elijah and John the Baptist completed the work given to them, but there is also an end-time fulfillment of the Elijah prophecies. We have addressed this in other Q&A’s and sermons, and you can find more information by typing the word “Elijah” in the search option, under “Q&A’s” at www.eternalgod.org

Here is a summary of John’s work and his message:

“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’” Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire’” (Matthew 3:1-10).

John also pointed to Jesus in his preaching:

“‘I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire’” (Matthew 3:11-12).

Also:

^“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is He of whom I said, “After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.” I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water’” (John 1:29-31).

Jesus was first revealed to Israel through being baptized by John:

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:13-17).

The baptism of Jesus by John was different than others baptized by John and his disciples. Following His baptism, the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus “in bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3:22). To be clear, Jesus had the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:34-35, Authorized Version) from His conception in Mary’s womb. Even though the Bible does not expressly state this, it is obvious when putting all the Scriptures together. We read that John the Baptist had the Holy Spirit “from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15), and Jesus, as God in the flesh, was more than John (compare again John 1:30). John was not the Light, but he came for a witness, to bear witness of the true Light, Jesus Christ (John 1:6-9). We read that Jesus, as a young child, “increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52), referring to the wisdom of God as a characteristic of the Holy Spirit. Most importantly, it was only through the Holy Spirit dwelling within Him without measure that He, who was fully flesh, was able to live a sinless life, because Jesus said that of Himself, He could do nothing (John 5:30).

When the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove at the time of His baptism, this might have been a sign to John the Baptist of who Jesus was (compare John 1:32-34), but it also was an anointing for the message Jesus would preach, which was different than that of John. Following His temptation by Satan, “…Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew  4:17). The Book of Mark adds this:

“Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14-15).

Later, when Paul encountered disciples in Ephesus, he asked them:

“… ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ So they said to him, ‘We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’ And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ So they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:2-6).

By having John the Baptist baptize Him, Jesus set the example for those who would believe in Him. Regarding His baptism, Jesus plainly told John, “‘…Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness’” (Matthew 3:15). Jesus showed, by His baptism, that His followers must be baptized too. He left us an example to follow His steps (1 Peter 2:21).

In addition, it appears that when Jesus was baptized, He received special powers from God to perform miracles (Acts 10:38: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power…”).  We do not read that Christ performed any miracles before His baptism. The first recorded miracle occurred in Cana, when He turned water into wine. This miracle is referred to as “the beginning of signs” (John 2:11). It followed a little later with His healing of a nobleman’s son, which is described as “the second sign that Jesus did” (John 4:54).

The act of baptism has symbolic meaning—it was in John’s ministry who performed a baptism of repentance (Matthew 3:11), and it is for Christians, as Paul so eloquently explains:

^“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection…” (Romans 6:3-5).

Likewise, the baptism of Jesus was symbolic of His death. He spoke figuratively of baptism in this way:

“But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50; also, Mark 10:38).

Baptism for Jesus had nothing to do with repentance or sin relative to Him. Jesus did not sin at all! (Compare 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5). He had nothing for which to repent. However, baptism for Christians requires prior repentance, obedience and belief in Christ as our Savior and in the gospel. It pictures the death of Christ as a sacrifice on our behalf (Romans 5:6-11; Hebrews 9:26).

Consider that Jesus used other representations to instruct us. Note what Paul wrote:

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist revealed Jesus to Israel, and John testified of Him that He was the Son of God, the Christ. Christ’s baptism pictured the death He would suffer, and it also served as an example for believers—those who would seek the Kingdom of God, for Jesus stated:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

Lead Writer: Dave Harris

compiled by Dave Harris

“The Dictatorship of the Beast in the Book of Revelation,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: 

The Book of Revelation tells us about an end-time dictator, called the beast, who will arise in Germany or Austria. There are historical forerunners in the persons of Charles the Great, Otto the Great, Charles V., and of course Adolf Hitler. But this time, there will be a difference in that we read that the whole world–not just some countries–will support, adore, worship and follow the beast. We should be able to see that this prophesied dictatorship is being prepared right now. And it’s again Austria and Germany which we must focus on.

“Die Diktatur des Tieres im Buch der Offenbarung” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program, presented by Norbert Link. This covers the same topic in German as described above.

A Tech Team Meeting was conducted on Sunday morning, November 28, 2021. Hosted by Eric Rank, plans for Update 1,000 were discussed along with selecting promotional and advertising outlets to feature StandingWatch programs.

We are pleased to announce the baptism of Gertrude Schobesberger last Sabbath in Germany. Elders Thilo Hanstein and Christoph Sperzel conducted the baptism. Welcome to the Church of God, Gertrude!

“Die heutige Verfolgung der Minderheiten,” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Michael Link. Title in English: “Today’s Persecution of the Minorities.”

“Neuer Mut, jetzt erst recht,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath in Germany by Marc Voeller, is now posted. Title in English: “New Courage, Especially Now!”

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

Continually measuring ourselves with Christ’s example, along with God’s help, is how we can grow to become truly mature Christians.

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

The life of a Christian requires sustaining love for the Truth. What does the Bible teach us that can help us maintain a thriving relationship with God? What can we do to stay engaged in our conversion?

On November 27, 2021, Dave Harris will present the sermonette, titled, “Measurable Growth,” and Eric  Rank will present the sermon, titled, “Staying Engaged”.

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.

Since this past Thursday was the day of Thanksgiving here in the United States, it seems kind of self-explanatory that this Editorial would in some way be about thankfulness.

I wonder how we embody thankfulness as Christians. This will be different for each of us as God works with us individually! I am curious though about the mindset that we are cultivating. What do we do on a continual basis in regards to being thankful? What do we have in place to make sure that we are giving thanks to God for everything? How often do we think about how important it is to God that we give Him thanks and praise?

Oftentimes, our thoughts are inward and self-pleasing. When this happens, we start to lean on ourselves or others around us, and we start to leave God out of our picture! This is the exact opposite to what God wants! God desires that we depend on Him for everything. When we are constantly looking to Him, we are going to be searching how we can please Him, how we can do things differently and better. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:17: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” If we are not in this mindset, then we are in a different mindset.

In a world that is permeated by Satan’s mindset of hate, greed, lust and a general dissatisfaction with life, I wonder how we approach each day and the things that we face. From personal experience, it is very, very easy not to remember the immense number of blessings that God gives us and just focus on the negatives that are happening in our lives!

I have to say that at times, I tend to look at the negatives in my life and dwell on them more than I should or more than is good or necessary. When we have challenging things happening in our lives, we should stop and think about the things or trials that we are going through and start turning to God MORE, so He can show us how to get through whatever it is that we are facing. In this regard, I think often about the Apostle Paul and ALL the things that he went through in his life. I especially find encouragement in what he says in Philippians 4:11-13, quoting from the NIV: “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything [or “all things,” according to the New King James Bible] through him who gives me strength.” The “secret” to being able to deal with WHATEVER we are given in this life, is found, I believe, in giving thanks and finding thanksgiving in ALL situations that we go through. We need to have full confidence and faith in God, knowing with certainty that He knows everything about us and cares about us. The Bible is replete with these truths. Notice in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Also, note this in Hebrews 13:5: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”

During tumultuous times, God asks us to focus on Him and His faithfulness to us, rather than being shaken in this conviction by our circumstances; to dwell on His promise to never leave or forsake us; and to trust Him to help us in every situation we face in life. If we can do this more and more, then we are going to grow as Christians. And this is truly what God wants and desires in us, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “… in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Finally, reading in Colossians 4:2, we find these timely words:  “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.”  I would say, at no other time in our current history should this be more apropos and useful to us than at this time. We are witnessing the world crumble around us, and we know that things will NOT get better, but drastically worse and worse. We must remain close to God asking for His protection, guidance and help in these times we are living; and we must do so with an attitude of thankfulness.

I would like to put forth a challenge for all of us. What would happen if we spent the first couple minutes when we wake up and the last minutes before we go to bed in giving thanks to God? What if instead of every time we went to complain, we stopped and thought about something we could give thanks to God for instead? Based on God’s Word, I would be willing to say that things would start to change for the better in our lives! When we find ways to be thankful, we bring our focus back to God which is where it should be!

by Norbert Link

We begin with frightening and deeply disturbing developments of potentially huge prophetic proportions in many countries around the world,  especially in Austria and Germany— known for their terrible past atrocities and dictatorships. We also publish an incredible article about Australia.

 Turning to the USA, we report on the unsuccessful “accomplishments” of the TSA [Transportation Security Administration]; the controversial and extremely “costly” “Build Bridges Better” spending bill; the Biden administration’s ongoing push for mandatory vaccinations regardless of the law; attempts to silence Robert Kennedy Jr. and his new book on Dr. Fauci and others; and the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse (please view in this context our new StandingWatch program, “Kyle Rittenhouse—Vigilante and Villain or Patriot and Hero?”). We also report on subsequent violent events which were clearly or at least somewhat related to the Rittenhouse’s acquittal.

We also report on extremely controversial plans in California regarding abortion and teachers.

We continue addressing events in England and Wales in relationship to Boris Johnson’s “competency”; Barbados’s intention to “remove” the Queen; and statements by Catholic bishops; and we speak on Russia’s ongoing plan’s to “annex” Ukraine and the military cooperation between Russia and China.

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

We HAVE Seen It Before!

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on November 18:

“Across Europe, from Germany to Italy, governments are placing millions under house arrest for the ‘crime’ of not being ‘fully’ vaccinated. While there is no public health justification for the move – we know from experts such as the CDC Director that the vaxxed continue to spread the virus – there is a distinct punitive intent. Those who do not follow the orders – as irrational as the orders [are] – are to be denied basic human rights. Haven’t we seen this movie before?”

Absolutely—in Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Russia, East Germany’s communist regime, and in other dictatorships. But most are blind and brainwashed. Warning voices are being ignored. History is repeating itself. Terrible times are ahead of us.

Austria’s Tyranny

The Associated Press reported on November 19:

“Austria announced a new national lockdown and a plan to mandate vaccinations as coronavirus infections hit a record high Friday, forcing the government to walk back promises that such blanket shutdowns were a thing of the past. Imposing a mandate would give Austria one of the world’s most stringent vaccine requirements. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said those who didn’t comply would likely be fined but gave no other details… Starting Feb. 1, the country will also make vaccinations mandatory — though the chancellor gave few details about what that meant or how it would work…

“When the lockdown takes effect early next Monday, restaurants, Christmas markets and most stores will close, and cultural events will be canceled. People will be able to leave their homes only for certain reasons, including buying groceries, going to the doctor or exercising. Wolfgang Mueckstein, the country’s health minister, said that kindergartens and schools would remain open for those who needed them, but all parents were asked to keep their children at home if possible…

“Government officials had long promised that vaccinated people would no longer face lockdown restrictions: Over the summer, then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz declared the pandemic ‘over’ for those who had received the vaccine…”

God never justifies broken promises. This is ungodly behavior. The Austrian government was in no way “forced” to break their word. To break one’s word is to lie. But it is good politics to lie. That is why a true Christian could not be a politician. Liars will not be in God’s Kingdom. Thank God for that.

The Daily Mail wrote on November 19:

“One of Austria’s main opposition parties has warned the country ‘is now a dictatorship‘ after the government vowed to make Covid vaccines mandatory for everyone from February next year to tackle a wave of Covid cases. Herbert Kickl, leader of the right-wing populist FPO party, slammed Friday’s announcement – which also plunged the country into full lockdown – branding it ‘unconstitutional’ and calling on the country’s top court to intervene… ‘we have reached a level with compulsory vaccination that nobody actually thought was possible…’ Even if the decision to lift the lockdown is taken, the ministers said unvaccinated people will be required to stay in lockdown longer….

“[Chancellor] Schallenberg [accused] the un-jabbed of launching an ‘attack on the health system.’ The move is likely to prove hugely controversial, coming after Austria locked down only unvaccinated people in a move dubbed ‘health apartheid’…”

The FPO’s stance on lockdowns and mandatory vaccination is being condemned as attacks on the health system and the vaccinated, and the FPO is indirectly labeled as an “enemy of the state.” And most Austrians are swallowing it.

Freedom for Austria

The Austrian newspaper Wochenblick wrote on November 23:

“Croatian President Zoran Milanovic is concerned about Austria. The fact that the Corona dictatorship now provides for the compulsory vaccination of Austrians from February reminds him of the 30s. Internationally, Austria is increasingly becoming a negative example. ‘The Nazis are coming back,’ headlines a Greek newspaper. A comparison that would even be illegal in Austria in accordance with the Prohibition Act (NS trivialization, §3h). Croatia’s President describes Austria’s path as ‘fascist’. That’s why he is summoning Vienna’s ambassador.

“According to media reports, Milanovic calls the Corona dictatorship in Austria a ‘catastrophe’. He wants to ‘express our deep concerns about the fundamental freedoms in Austria’ to the ambassador, as the corona restrictions envisaged by Austria’s policy are not scientifically justified and are only aimed at terrorizing people, according to Milanovic.

“‘For a long time, the politicians in the Balkans were lectured by Western Europeans. For example on the subject of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Now Croatia’s president is also speaking out about the human rights violations in this country. He explains: ‘If the Dutch and anyone else comment on Bosnia-Herzegovina every week, then I can also talk about Rotterdam.’ In Rotterdam, the people protested resolutely against the country’s lockdown dictatorship. What happened in Austria reminded him of fascism. People in Croatia are smarter than the Austrians and will therefore not impose a lockdown. ‘In Austria today, people who have not been vaccinated are forbidden from leaving the house. What is it, science or methods that are reminiscent of the 30s?’ explains Milanovic.

“‘The Nazis are coming again,” headlines an Athens newspaper, “Dimokratia.” Many people are inclined to compare the increasingly dictatorial Corona regime with National Socialism. It is unclear whether Croatia’s president is targeting the Christian-social Austrofascism of the 1930s or National Socialism. The former would be legally permissible and in fact, Austria had this experience of dictatorial leadership beyond the later National Socialist rule …

“If Austrians were to take up the comparison in the Greek newspaper, ‘The Nazis are coming again’, they would at least come close to NS-trivialization. A jury would ultimately decide whether they would even have to serve a prison term for it. Dr. Jaroslav Belsky had to experience a conviction according to §3h of the National Socialist Prohibition Act … He compared the Australian Corona camps with the historical concentration camps. But that doesn’t matter to the Athens newspaper ‘Dimokratia’. It even placed the Nazi comparison on the front page …

“People across Europe fear that our fate will happen to them too. The solidarity is great. Solidarity rallies have already taken place in London, Paris and Germany under the motto ‘Freedom for Austria’.”

It has also been reported that those who refuse to be vaccinated will be punished with heavy fines.

Germany’s Tyranny

Reuters wrote on November 19:

“Asked if Germany could rule out an Austrian-style full lockdown, [German Health Minister Jens] Spahn said: ‘We are now in a situation… where we can’t rule anything out… ‘A total lockdown for Germany would be extremely bad news for the economic recovery,’ said Ludovic Colin, a senior portfolio manager at Swiss asset manager Vontobel…

“Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday Germany will limit large parts of public life in areas where hospitals are becoming dangerously full of COVID-19 patients to those who have either been vaccinated or have recovered from the illness.”

Merkel’s recent comments that she justified and defended her prior unconstitutional lockdown with its restrictions in Germany were already great cause for concern. And nothing good can be expected from chameleon and double-tongued Jens Spahn. But most Germans are as blind as their Austrian neighbors. With the new government taking control, Spahn will exit the political arena soon, but perhaps not for good. Some are already predicting Spahn’s resurgence or comeback in the future (Handelsblatt, November 18).

Deutsche Welle wrote on November 19:

“The plans include mandatory daily testing for employees and visitors of care homes, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not. They also include ‘3G’ rules (vaccinated, recovered, or tested) requiring people to show proof of full vaccination or recovery or a valid negative COVID test result for workplaces and on public transport… Germany’s 16 states will be also able to retain and introduce protective measures. This includes restricting or prohibiting recreational, cultural, and sporting events, banning entry to healthcare facilities and the sale and public consumption of alcohol, and closing universities…

“German Green Party lawmaker and doctor Paula Piechotta said… ‘If we can’t achieve sufficient vaccination rates on a non-mandatory basis… ‘we have to talk about vaccine mandates…’”

The Green party, which will be part of the next contemplated government, has shown authoritarian tendencies in the past, especially with their ridiculous “green” policies. The article continues:

“Bavaria… imposed a lockdown on all districts that have a seven-day COVID incidence rate of over 1,000 per 100,000 people. Premier Markus Söder said there will be a ‘de facto lockdown’ for unvaccinated people by implementing the ‘2G’ rule across the state. The unvaccinated will lose access to even places like hairdressers, universities or adult education centers. There will also be contact restrictions, with the unvaccinated allowed to meet with a maximum of five people from two households. Even in areas with incidence rates lower than 1,000, there will be restrictions.

“For sports and cultural events, the number of spectators will be limited to 25% of the venue’s total capacity and the ‘2G+’ rule will apply — meaning even the vaccinated and recovered people will be required to produce an additional negative COVID test result. In retail stores, there will be a limit on the number of customers allowed inside: one customer per 10 square meters. All retail outlets and restaurants will also have to be closed by 10 p.m.”

The “free state” of Bavaria, as it calls itself, has always been known for being a place prone to dictatorship, having been “ruled” by dictators such as Franz Josef Strauss and others. Söder is most certainly no exception. So no surprise that Bavaria would jump ahead with authoritarian measures. And all under the disguise of concern for public health.

The Sun added on November 21:

“Germany is set to become the latest European nation to make vaccines compulsory… Ministers and experts said a move to make jabs mandatory was ‘unavoidable’… The country’s tourism czar Thomas Bareiß… [said to the] DPA news agency: ‘It is politically no longer justifiable that entire industries, retailers, restaurants, clubs, bars and the entire cinema, cultural and event scene live in a state of crisis prescribed by the state for 20 months and are faced with great existential fears, while others… take the freedom not to vaccinate.’”

So it’s the fault of the unvaccinated, as the Jews were blamed for everything which was wrong in Germany’s Third Reich. History is just repeating itself… Note the next article.

The Local reported on November 21:

“Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have docked the wages of unvaccinated players like star midfielder Joshua Kimmich who, along with four unimmunised teammates, is in quarantine over contact with Covid-infected individuals… The latest quarantine order risks inflaming an already heated debate over whether sports personalities should be required to take the jab… Kimmich, 26, had drawn sharp criticism since revealing he opted not to be vaccinated due to ‘personal concerns’… Under new rules taking effect from November 1st, employees who miss work because of a quarantine are no longer entitled to receive compensation if they are unvaccinated…

“German leaders this week decided new curbs to spur those holding out against the jab to change their minds. Those not immunised will have to provide negative tests to use public transport or go to the office. They will also be shut out of restaurants, sporting events and cultural shows in regions where the hospitalisation rate stands at above three patients per 100,000 over the past seven days.”

The fact that it has not been established that these vaccinations are even safe does not seem to bother governmental officials and company bosses.

Vaccine Mandate and Test Requirements

The Associated Press reported on November 24:”

“Germans faced a confusing array of pandemic rules, lax enforcement and a national election — followed by a drawn-out government transition during which senior politicians dangled the prospect of further lifting restrictions… Resistance to getting the shot… remains strong among a sizeable minority of the country. Vaccination rates have stalled at 68% of the population, far short of the 75% or higher that the government had aimed for… Older people who got vaccinated early in 2021 are also seeing their immunity wear off, making them vulnerable to serious illness again…

“Some German politicians are suggesting it’s time to consider a vaccine mandate, either for specific professions or for the population as a whole…  Merkel’s likely successor, current Finance Minister Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democrats, has refused to be drawn on whether he would back compulsory COVID-19 shots…  Together with the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, his party recently passed a law that replaces the existing legal foundations for pandemic restrictions with narrower measures, starting Wednesday. These include a requirement for workers to provide their employers with proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test….”

These “narrower measures” have already proved to be a nightmare for unvaccinated workers. Employers become increasingly hostile towards their unvaccinated employees. The test requirements have proven more than just an annoyance.  Beginning Wednesday, employees, depending on where they live, have to be tested DAILY, as the tests are only valid for 24 hours.  

Other European countries, such as Italy, of course, are following Austria’s bad dictatorial example. Reuters reported on November 24:

 “Italy is expected to restrict access to some indoor venues for people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19… The government will approve a decree allowing only those who are vaccinated or have recently recovered from the virus to enter venues such as cinemas, restaurants and hotels as of Dec. 6… The country is also likely to extend mandatory vaccination, already in force for healthcare workers, to teachers and police as of Dec. 15…”

Italy, Germany, Austria… the dictatorships of the past under Hitler and Mussolini are coming together again. But not only there. It’s a worldwide phenomenon, driven by paranoia, brain-washed masses, and the mass media (which Trump, in speaking about the mass media in the USA, just called fake news, corrupt news and the enemy of the people; see Newsmax, November 23).

Now Merkel’s Husband Speaks Out???

The Guardian wrote on November 23:

“Angela Merkel’s husband has accused unvaccinated Germans of ‘laziness’, amid calls for the introduction of mandatory coronavirus jabs to combat a dramatic rise in infections. ‘It is astonishing that a third of the population does not follow scientific findings,’ Merkel’s husband, Joachim Sauer, said in an interview with Italian newspaper la Repubblica and picked up by German daily Die Welt. ‘In part, this is due to a certain laziness and complacency of Germans,’ said Sauer, who seldom speaks in public. ‘The other group are people who follow a personal conviction, a kind of ideological reaction to what they consider a vaccination dictatorship,’ Sauer said…

“The outgoing chancellor, who is acting in a caretaker capacity and will probably be replaced by the finance minister Olaf Scholz next month, has repeatedly urged Germans to get vaccinated….”

Normally, Angela Merkel’s husband has been very quiet and has been living “in seclusion” all these years. For him to speak in public is very rare. In this case, it would have been better if he had stayed quiet as well, instead of making totally unfounded accusations. The persecution of the German federal and state governments against the unvaccinated and the dictatorial and unconstitutional measures and restrictions especially for the unvaccinated are bad enough.

How More Stupid Could It Get?

Bild Online wrote on November 23:

“The Thuringian Justice Committee lifted the immunity of the Thuringian AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke (49) in a meeting on Wednesday … According to reports, the investigation is about a speech that Höcke held in Merseburg (Saxony-Anhalt) and, according to the ‘Spiegel’ report, it ended with the words, ‘Everything for Germany’.

“Saxon-Anhalt Greens chief Sebastian Striegel filed a criminal complaint against Höcke on June 8th – because of the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations … Striegel referred to an opinion of the Scientific Service of the Bundestag, in which the use of the phrase ‘Everything for Germany’ in the context of a public speech was punishable because it was a slogan of the Nazi organization SA …”

This is silly beyond imagination.

Violent Demonstrations in the Netherlands

The Guardian wrote on November 20:

“In what the Dutch city’s mayor described as an ‘orgy of violence’, crowds of several hundred rioters torched cars, set off fireworks and threw rocks at police during the protests on Friday evening. Police responded with… shots and water cannon. Police said on Twitter on Saturday that 51 people had been arrested, about half of whom were under 18… rioters rampaged through the shopping district, starting fires and throwing stones and fireworks at officers… It was one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the Netherlands since coronavirus restrictions were first imposed last year. In January, rioters attacked police and started fires on the streets of Rotterdam after a curfew came into force.

“The Dutch justice minister, Ferd Grapperhaus, condemned the events. “The riots and extreme violence against police officers, riot police and firefighters last night in Rotterdam are disgusting to see,’ he said in a statement. ‘Protesting is a great right in our society, but what we saw last night is simply criminal behaviour. It has nothing to do with demonstrating.’…

“The government has said it wants to introduce a law that would allow businesses to restrict the country’s coronavirus pass system to people who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19, which would exclude people who test negative…”

The group that had organized and then canceled the Amsterdam rally on Saturday said on Facebook it acted because “last night, all hell broke loose in Rotterdam.” Two people were shot and killed during the demonstration. Far too often, demonstrations turn violent. Radical elements use otherwise peaceful demonstrations for their own purposes. Our advice: Stay away from demonstrations.

Demonstrations in many Countries

The Associated Press reported on November 20:

“Tens of thousands of protesters… marched through Vienna on Saturday after the Austrian government announced a nationwide lockdown… Demonstrations against virus restrictions also took place in Switzerland, Croatia, Italy, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands on Saturday… Protesters rallied against coronavirus restrictions and mandatory COVID-19 passes needed in many European countries to enter restaurants, Christmas markets or sports events, as well as mandatory vaccinations…

“[In Austria,] 35,000 protesters participated in different marches across the city, police said, adding that most didn’t wear masks. Police said several protesters were detained, but didn’t give specific numbers… A day after the Rotterdam rioting, thousands gathered on Amsterdam’s central Dam Square, despite organizers calling off the protest. They walked peacefully through the city’s streets… In Italy, 3,000 turned out in the capital’s Circus Maximus, a field where in ancient times Romans staged popular entertainment, to protest against ‘Green Pass’ certificates required at workplaces, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, sports venues and gyms, as well as for long-distance train, bus or ferry travel within Italy…

“In Northern Ireland, several hundred people opposed to vaccine passports protested outside the city hall in Belfast… Some protesters carried signs that have been widely criticized as offensive, comparing coronavirus restrictions to the actions of Nazi Germany. In Croatia, thousands gathered at in the capital Zagreb, carrying Croatian flags, nationalist and religious symbols, along with banners against vaccination and what they describe as restrictions of people’s freedoms.

“In France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin condemned violent protests in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, one of France’s overseas territories… Authorities were sending 200 more police officers to the island and on Tuesday will impose a nightly curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. Protesters in Guadeloupe have staged road blockades and set cars on fire. They denounce France’s COVID-19 health pass that is required to access restaurants and cafes, cultural venues, sport arenas and long-distance travel. They are also protesting France’s mandatory vaccinations for health care workers.”

AFP wrote on November 20:

“In Sydney, some 10,000 marched and there were protests in other major Australian cities against vaccine mandates applied to certain occupations by state authorities. ‘In Australia where a fanatical cult runs our health bureaucracies, they say it’s ok (to vaccinate children),’ right-wing politician Craig Kelly told the Sydney crowd to large cheers.”

The Associated Press wrote on November 21:

“Tens of thousands of people marched through central Brussels on Sunday to protest reinforced COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Belgian government… Many among the police estimate of 35,000 at the rally were also against the government’s strong advice to get vaccinated and any possible moves to impose mandatory shots.”

The demonstrations won’t change the agenda of governments in any way, but the worldwide unrest grows.

Incredible Dictatorship in Australia

Breitbart wrote on November 24:

“Quarantine camps for the unvaccinated. What for months has been dismissed as an idle conspiracy theory is now coming horribly true in Australia’s Northern Territory under the region’s tinpot dictator Michael Gunner. Gunner, the Northern Territory Chief Minister, has proudly boasted that 38 ‘close contacts’ of positive Covid cases have been transferred to quarantine camps in army trucks.

“Australia’s Northern Territory already had some of the strictest lockdown laws in the English-speaking world. The five allowable reasons for leaving your home are: buying food; exercising for up to two hours; caregiving; work; education.

“This latest move by Gunner, of Australia’s left-wing Labor party, represents a rapid escalation of bio-security totalitarianism. The people being targeted are indigenous Australians (otherwise known as Aborigines), an ethnic group which has been especially reluctant to take the Covid vaccine…

“To add insult to injury, quarantine camp prisoners are expected to pay top dollar for their ordeal. [Just to remind our readers, Nazi Germany charged family members for the incarceration and death of their loved ones in concentration camps.]

“Gunner was a hitherto unknown figure outside Australia’s Northern Territory… But his latest media statements have elevated him to global tinpot dictator notoriety status… [In a video, he has] declared war on the anti-vaxxers. According to his definition, this includes even people who have been vaccinated but who oppose his draconian measures. ‘If you are anti-mandate, you are absolutely anti-vax’, he said.”

Get Rid of TSA

Reason wrote on November 19:

“On this day in 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created… In the ensuing two decades, the TSA has proven itself skilled at harassing travelers and freaking out over pocketknives and water bottles while steadfastly failing at its assigned task of making air transportation any safer. The TSA, in short, is an awful example of government in action…

“The TSA launched with the passage of the Aviation and Transportation and Security Act on November 19, 2001. The new law nationalized passenger screening, which previously had been the responsibility of airlines. It’s not clear why anybody saw a need for the TSA, since it’s unlikely that a federal agency would have been any more successful than private contractors at predicting terrorists’ unprecedented use of aircraft as kamikaze weapons…

‘The TSA blog carries constant reports of weapons confiscated from people who forgot to remove them from carry-on bags. But the Homeland Security Red Teams in the 2015 test actively concealed forbidden items just as real criminals and terrorist would. The result was that ‘TSA agents failed 67 out of 70 tests, with Red Team members repeatedly able to get potential weapons through checkpoints.’ Two years later, a Red Team test at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport achieved the same 95 percent failure rate to detect explosives, weapons, and illegal drugs…

“But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of abject failure represented by the TSA. The agency repeatedly has been called out for spending vast amounts of money on unproven toys and techniques and then failing to assess their effectiveness—or just leaving them to gather dust…

“What the TSA is good at is high-visibility groping, scanning and confiscating. Making people drop their pants, take off their shoes, and surrender their shampoo annoys people in a way that says ‘we’re doing something’ without actually accomplishing anything… ‘Airport security has to change,’ Kip Hawley, one-time head of the TSA wrote in 2012. ‘The relationship between the public and the TSA has become too poisonous to be sustained.’…

“Instead of making headlines with reform, though, the TSA has become better-known for stealing money from travelers. In September, news reports called out the case of TSA working with other agencies to seize $27,600 from a Texas man, apparently because he was traveling to Oregon where marijuana is legal in conflict with federal law; he was never charged with a crime. Last year, the Institute for Justice reported that TSA and its sister agencies at Homeland Security ‘seized over $2 billion in currency at airports’ between 2000 and 2016.

“‘Law enforcement agencies routinely seize currency from travelers at airports nationwide using civil forfeiture—a legal process that allows agencies to take and keep property without ever charging owners with a crime, let alone securing a conviction,’ noted author Jennifer McDonald.

“After 20 years of failure, the Transportation Security Administration continues to waste resources, harass travelers, and actively mug air passengers. It is far more of a threat than the dangers from which it supposedly protects us. At long last, let’s put the agency out of our misery.”

Not to mention the incredible delays and long lines of passengers waiting in airports caused by a far-too-often indifferent TSA personnel .. .and that was even the case BEFORE the coronavirus debacle. Whenever the government puts its greedy and incompetent hands into the pie, disaster follows.

House Approves Biden’s “Build Back Better” Spending Bill

Breitbart wrote on November 19:

“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) yielded the floor on Friday morning at 5:11 a.m. after speaking for a record eight hours and forty-two minutes against the Democrats’ multi-trillion-dollar ‘Build Back Better’ social spending bill… McCarthy broke down the bill, attacking it for lavish spending on Democrats’ favored special interest groups while raising taxes on middle-class Americans — and providing an effective tax cut for the wealthy in high-tax, Democrat-run states.

“He noted that the bill… rejected Republican amendments, including one to prohibit funding from going to the Chinese Communist Party… McCarthy added that the country was at a ‘tipping point,’ and that the bill… represented a step toward socialist policies that had already failed in other countries, and government programs that could never be undone… Republicans rose to their feet in a standing ovation as McCarthy finally finished and the House chamber emptied…

“The House passed the $1.7 Build Back Better Act early on Friday morning, sending the bill to the Senate… The bill passed 220-213, with overwhelming Democrat support, and strong Republican opposition to the bill. Only one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), a swing district Democrat, voted against the bill. The legislation serves as the marquee legislation for President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. Biden pinned his legislative majority on passing dual infrastructure bills, the Build Back Better Act, and the $1.2 trillion so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill, otherwise known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Build Back Better Act would massively expand social welfare programs and fund major climate change programs…

“The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the legislation could cost as much as $4.91 trillion over ten years… President Joe Biden and other congressional Democrats have promised that the legislation would cost zero dollars…

“The legislation will go to the Senate, where it remains uncertain if moderate Democrats… will support the bill… Democrats cannot afford to lose one vote to pass the bill.”

This presupposes, of course, that RINOs [“Republicans in name only”] will not support the bill, as some did in regard to the equally controversial infrastructure bill.

The New York Post Editorial Board wrote on November 19:

“Overall, this bill remains a piece of junk — written, re-written and re-re-rewritten all year long with no eye on what the nation needs nor even whether it makes any sense, except as an effort to pass some of the left’s longstanding agenda while Democrats are in control. The games they’re playing to make it look not too fiscally irresponsible can’t change that.”

This astronomical ever-climbing irresponsible debt of the USA can never be repaid. The time will come when creditors might take matters into their own hands. The Bible warns us with a reason, in Proverbs 22:7: “The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant (or slave) to the lender.”

Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Despite Court Ruling

Life Site News reported on November 19:

“Days after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it will comply with a federal court order not to enforce the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on American businesses, the White House says it still wants businesses to carry out the mandate on their own. ‘Our message to businesses right now is to move forward with measures that will make their workplaces safer and protect their workforces from COVID-19,’ Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday… ‘That was our message after the first stay issued by the Fifth Circuit. That remains our message and nothing has changed.’ ‘We are still heading towards the same timeline’ of a January 4, 2021 deadline for implementation, she continued…

“Psaki’s comments do not carry the force of law, but appear to signal the administration’s intentions to continue informally pushing businesses to force vaccination on their employees regardless of the law.

“Meanwhile, evidence continues to mount undermining the vaccine mandate’s rationale, with a growing body of data indicating that the mass vaccination strategy for defeating COVID-19 has failed…  Noncompliance is further driven by significant unaddressed concerns about the vaccines’ safety, stemming largely from the fact that they were developed and released far faster than any previous vaccine….”

More Nonsense from the Biden Administration

The Associated Press wrote on November 22:

“Joe Biden will require essential, nonresident travelers crossing U.S. land borders, such as truck drivers, government and emergency response officials, to be fully vaccinated beginning on Jan. 22… A senior administration official said the requirement, which the White House previewed in October, brings the rules for essential travelers in line with those that took effect earlier this month for leisure travelers, when the U.S. reopened its borders to fully vaccinated individuals.

“Essential travelers entering by ferry will also be required to be fully vaccinated by the same date, the official said…

“The rules pertain to non-U.S. nationals. American citizens and permanent residents may still enter the U.S. regardless of their vaccination status, but face additional testing hurdles because officials believe they more easily contract and spread COVID-19 and in order to encourage them to get a shot.”

Incredible! Fauci’s Critics Should Be Brought “to Justice”?

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on November 23:

“Outgoing National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins told the Washington Post that critics of Fauci and his organization are spreading misinformation and should be ‘brought to justice.’

“He continues the ‘I am science’ argument of Fauci even as the multitude of flip-flops and failed promises have undermined public confidence.”

This is getting so stupid… but it’s well-organized dangerous stupidity. Note the next two articles.

Don’t Dare to Criticize Fauci!

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on November 23:

 “Fauci made another circuit through the adoring media yesterday, again accusing anyone of pointing out his lack of honesty and constant moving the goal posts of ‘killing people.’”

Silencing Kennedy

Life Site News wrote on November 22:

“Robert Kennedy Jr. shed light on the deep-seated corruption occurring within Big Pharma and the federal regulatory bodies, including their worrisome ties to billionaire population control advocate Bill Gates. In an  interview on November 15 with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Robert Kennedy Jr., [son of U.S. senator Robert Kennedy and] nephew of late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, detailed the decades-long corruption occurring within the pharmaceutical industry and the federal regulatory agencies. Included is the collusion between Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Gates pursuant to vaccine development, vaccine safety, mass vaccination programs, and legal immunity. ‘[The corruption] began in 1986 when they passed the Vaccine Act and gave complete shield from liability to all vaccine companies,’ Kennedy told Carlson. ‘So, if you’re a vaccine company and you injure somebody, no matter how grievous the injury, no matter how reckless your conduct, no matter how negligent you were, no matter how toxic the ingredient, nobody can sue you.’…

“Tying together Fauci, Gates, and the federal regulatory agencies, Kennedy outlined that in 2000, Fauci flew to Seattle to meet with Gates. During this meeting, they struck a partnership to ‘vaccinate all of humanity’…  With Gates using his large wealth to accumulate partial ownership in all major pharmaceutical companies, as well as significant influence over so-called philanthropic organizations and regulatory agencies, Kennedy stated that nothing goes through the WHO without ‘first being vetted by the Gates Foundation.’

“In effect, Kennedy says that Gates uses his foundation’s influence over the WHO to require countries to use the vaccines he is heavily invested in or they will no longer receive the money from the WHO that they require to operate…”

Kennedy released a new book, “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,” which is hitting the bestseller lists, but major networks (Fox News excluded) have refused to even talk about it. The book received the following review by thriftbook.com:

“When the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since November 1984 and the leading architect of ‘agency capture’–the corporate seizure of America’s public health agencies by the pharmaceutical industry–happen to be the same man, conflicts of interest arise. Wearing both hats, Dr. Anthony Stephen Fauci, tasked with managing the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, peddled and back-pedaled his prescriptions as Pharma profits and bureaucratic powers grew and public health waned. Working in tandem with his long-term partner, billionaire Bill Gates, to corral Americans toward a single vaccine solution to COVID, Dr. Fauci committed zero dollars to studying or promoting early treatment with various drug combinations that could dramatically reduce deaths and hospitalizations.

“Meanwhile, in an assault on our First Amendment guarantee of free speech, Dr. Fauci’s Silicon Valley and media allies dutifully censored criticism of his policies on mainstream social media and collaborated to muzzle any medical information about therapies and treatments that might end the pandemic and compete with vaccines. After effectively abolishing the First Amendment right to free speech, Dr. Fauci subverted our Seventh Amendment rights to jury trials by arranging to shield reckless and negligent pharmaceutical corporations from liability for injuries from any COVID countermeasures, including vaccines. His lockdowns targeted First Amendment religious freedom by closing churches–while keeping liquor stores open as ‘essential businesses’–and abolishing century-old religious exemptions to vaccination.

“Dr. Fauci’s enforced quarantine trampled the Constitutional rights of assembly, of association, and to petition the government, and our Fifth Amendment protection against uncompensated taking of private property. His arbitrary mask and lockdown diktats, without public hearings or rulemaking, strangled our Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment due process guarantees. His tracking and tracing initiatives bulldozed Constitutional rights to privacy and travel, and our Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless searches and seizures. Finally, readers will see how Dr. Fauci and Bill Gates, asserting biosecurity rationales, worked together to finance and promote the very gain-of-function experiments in Wuhan that may have released the COVID-19 pathogen.”

No wonder the Biden Administration, Big Pharma and the mass media do not want you to read this book, which, according to the publisher, is well researched with thousands of footnotes, presenting evidence for all of Robert Kennedy’s claims. By the way, Robert Kennedy is an American environmental lawyer.

Rittenhouse Not Guilty

The New York Post wrote on November 19:

“Not guilty on all counts: That verdict comes as no surprise to anyone who’d paid close attention to the Kyle Rittenhouse trial but may shock those who relied on horrifically biased media accounts. Nearly all the early media tropes proved false: He didn’t bring the gun across state lines; he had major roots in Kenosha including his day job and much of his family. He wasn’t a militia-wannabe but an aspiring cop/firefighter/EMT.

“Absolutely nothing suggests he was a ‘white supremacist,’ as no less than Joe Biden claimed right before last year’s election. And the men he shot were all attacking him when he pulled the trigger; all were white, and at least two had histories of violence. None of this makes him a ‘patriot’… But the evidence for self-defense was rock-solid.

“But for months, and even as the trial exposed these facts, the haters stuck to their narrative… The rank, politicized distortions of fact here — and in so many other recent incidents — should teach everyone once and for all not to trust instant analysis or agenda-driven reporting...

“May that lesson sink in widely, not least with the man in charge of upholding America’s institutions and leading the nation to unity.”

The mass media engaged in horrible reporting and misrepresentations, as was pointed out in our last Update. (On November 17, the New York Post listed 10 misrepresentations and outright lies by the mass media in this case.) In addition, important evidence about the prior criminal conduct of the persons Rittenhouse shot was suppressed (showing once again, by way of example, why conscientious Christians cannot possibly serve on a jury). But we also agree with voices like the one of Prof. Dershowitz who warned against idolizing Rittenhouse and making him out to be a hero (Newsmax, dated November 19). Further, although much in an article published by USA Today on November 18, prior to the verdict, is undoubtedly objectionable and wrong, one point is correct:

“What did this boy think would happen if he carried an AR-15-type rifle into the chaos that warm summer night?… Some people argue he’s a positive role model for other young people: He saw a problem. He took action. He stood up when the police stood down… We live in a society where guns have become a fetish for some people [who] claim they are protecting the public. It’s an illusion. And it’s dangerous… My father died 20 years ago. But I know exactly what he would say about the events in Kenosha… He would tell his teenage son: Don’t you ever do something so stupid. You stay home and stay out of trouble.”

Rittenhouse’s actions do NOT represent a positive role model for young people to follow. No matter what man’s law may say, Christ tells us not to take up the sword, but to put it away, because everyone who takes the sword will ultimately perish by it (Matthew 26:52). Using a gun on other people is wrong in God’s eyes. Please view our new StandingWatch program, “Kyle Rittenhouse—Vigilante and Villain or Patriot and Hero?” and read our free booklet, “Should YOU Fight in War?” Also, please read our free booklet, “The Ten Commandments.” 

Antifa: Take Up Arms!

The Washington Times reported on November 23:

“Some members of Antifa are responding to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse last week by getting guns themselves. According to social media posts collected by conservative journalist Andy Ngo, the violent leftist group sees as a threat to them Mr. Rittenhouse’s successful claim of self-defense in the shootings of three rioters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.

“‘Antifa accounts in Portland & beyond are terrified over the Rittenhouse acquittal because they’re afraid others will shoot them dead during an attack & have a legal argument for self-defense. They’re urging comrades to get guns immediately so they can kill before being killed,’ Mr. Ngo wrote on Twitter, providing multiple screenshots to support his claim.”

The Christmas Parade Murderer

The New York Post reported on November 24:

“The ex-con charged over the deaths of six people at a Wisconsin Christmas parade shared social media posts calling for violence against white people — and suggesting ‘Hitler was right’ for killing Jews…. [The messages] included numerous posts attacking cops, comparing them to Ku Klux Klan members and calling them ‘violent street gangs’ — as well as calling for violence toward white people, according to screenshots… Police have yet to announce a motive for Sunday’s carnage, but all six who died… were white…

“In his rap songs, Brooks also bragged that he was a ‘terrorist’ and a ‘killer in the city.’”

All Three Men Charged in Ahmaud Arbery’s Death Convicted of Murder

Newsmax reported on November 24:

“A jury Wednesday found Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William Bryan guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery outside of Brunswick, Georgia. Travis McMichael was found guilty on all nine charges, including malice murder after the jury deliberated for about 11 hours over two days. His father and Bryan were found guilty on counts of felony murder. Each of the three men faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole…

“The three men accused of Arbery’s Feb. 23, 2020, killing were initially cleared by the local district attorney. But after video of the deadly encounter was leaked, a public outcry led to the case being transferred to a different district attorney and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged the trio in May…

“Arbery, 25… was reportedly jogging in the Glynn County neighborhood where the McMichaels lived. McMichael said he sought out Arbery after his 65-year-old father told him ‘the guy who has been breaking in down the road’ had just run past their home… both McMichaels armed themselves before pursuing Arbery in their pickup truck. McMichael said Arbery initially stopped when he pulled up alongside him, but again took off running when McMichael told him police were en route.

“That began a sequence in which prosecutors say Arbery was chased and prevented from fleeing by two pickup trucks — the one with the McMichaels inside and another driven by the 52-year-old Bryan, who also videotaped the encounter. At some point, a struggle between Travis McMichael and Arbery ensued, and Travis McMichael admits to fatally shooting Arbery. ‘He had my gun,’ McMichael testified on Wednesday. ‘He struck me. It was obvious that he was attacking me, that if he would have gotten the shotgun from me, then this was a life-or-death situation, and I’m going to have to stop him from doing this, so I shot.’…

“Arbery’s family has claimed the incident was racially motivated and there have been allegations of racist language used by the defendants. Prominent Black civil rights activists such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton have made appearances in the courtroom, leading to a brief failed attempt by the defense to have the controversial leaders ejected from the proceedings.

“Numerous political leaders have commented on the trial, including President Joe Biden who tweeted on the one-year anniversary of the shooting: ‘A Black man should be able to go for a jog without fearing for his life. Today, we remember Ahmaud Arbery’s life and we dedicate ourselves to making this country safer for people of color.’ The comments appeared to prejudge the guilt of the defendants, continuing a trend of Biden remarking on cases that had not yet been decided by a jury, as he had done with Kenosha shooting defendant Kyle Rittenhouse.

“… The Arbery and Floyd deaths sparked a summer of social justice protests nationwide that were dominated by Black Lives Matter activists and, often, members of the left-wing group antifa. Frequently the events turned destructive or violent, resulting in several cities having businesses looted or burned down, countless assaults, and several deaths.”

California New Abortion Mecca?

Life News wrote on November 16:

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom is working to make his state the abortion center of the United States in anticipation of Roe v. Wade being overturned soon…  Newsom, a pro-abortion Democrat, recently asked a group of ‘reproductive health’ experts to come up with plans to make it easier for women from other states to come to California to abort their unborn babies… Currently, under Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, states are prohibited from protecting unborn babies from abortion before viability, about 22 weeks of pregnancy. If Roe goes, 26 states likely would ban abortions to protect unborn babies…

“Among other things, they want lawmakers to increase taxpayer funding for abortions through the state Medi-Cal program and create a fund to help pay for transportation, child care, hotel stays and other costs to encourage women to come to California to abort their unborn babies… [California] has more abortion facilities than any other state in the U.S. Newsom also recently signed a law that forces colleges and universities to provide abortions on campus.”

How can God bless a state like this? Note the next shocking article.

California’s Teachers Urge Recruiting Young Kids into LGBT Clubs

Daily Wire reported on November 19:

“Abigail Shrier, the author of the best-selling book ‘Irreversible Damage,’ revealed that at a late October meeting at a conference of California’s largest teacher’s union, the California Teachers Association (CTA), documents show teachers were encouraged to recruit students into LGBT clubs, urging them to ‘have the courage to create a safe environment that fosters bravery to explore sexual orientation.’ One teacher reportedly chortled, ‘We’re going to do just a little mind-trick on our sixth graders.’

“Additionally, Shier wrote, ‘Speakers went so far as to tout their surveillance of students’ Google searches, internet activity, and hallway conversations in order to target sixth graders for personal invitations to LGBTQ clubs, while actively concealing these clubs’ membership rolls from participants’ parents.’”

Boris Johnson Incompetent

Express wrote on November 19:

“The British public is furious with Boris Johnson.. with record numbers believing the Prime Minister is ‘incompetent’ according to a YouGov poll…. [It] shows a leap of faith made by the British public when the Prime Minister was elected in December 2019, with his competency rating sitting at more than 50 percent… those thinking the Prime Minister is competent [is] just 29 percent.”

Johnson can shake hands with Biden and Harris… And then we are told that Harris made history as the first woman…and woman of color… to occupy the office of [acting] President for 1 hour and 25 minutes while Biden was undergoing a procedure, requiring short anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy and medical exam. What lunacy.

Barbados to Remove the Queen

Bloomberg wrote on November 22:

“For the first time in three decades, Queen Elizabeth II is losing one of her many realms. On Nov. 30, Barbados, in the eastern Caribbean, will be removing the British monarch as its head of state and installing Governor General Sandra Mason as president…

“The move is largely symbolic, as Barbados has been a sovereign nation since 1966. But the transition underscores the growing independent streak in the Caribbean — home to nine of the 16 commonwealth realms, sovereign countries that have Queen Elizabeth as their head of state.  ‘The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind,’ Governor General Mason said last year, when the transition was announced…

“The last nation to leave the commonwealth realm was Mauritius in 1992. But Jamaica, the Bahamas, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have all considered ditching the monarchy…”

Catholics “Encouraged” to take Mass on Sunday

Premier Christian News wrote on November 20:

“Catholics in England and Wales are being encouraged to ‘look again’ at the activities they are doing on Sundays instead of going to Mass… such as sports or shopping, or other leisure and social activities… But the bishops also recognised that for some ‘there is legitimate fear in gathering together’ as the pandemic is not over and they acknowledged that not everyone ‘is yet in the position to fulfil the absolute duty to attend freely Sunday Mass.’…

“They concluded: ‘The Sunday Mass is the very heartbeat of the Church and of our personal life of faith. We gather on the “first day of the week,” and devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42).”

At least, they recognize that Sunday is the “first day of the week” and therefore not the biblical Sabbath, which is of course the last day of the week, even though the Catholic Church has been influential in changing the calendar, marking Sunday as the seventh day. In addition, breaking bread has nothing to do with attending worship services on Sunday and taking communion or participating in mass. Please see our Q&A on that topic. 

Russia’s Plan to Annex Ukraine

European Council of Foreign Affairs (ecf.eu) wrote on November 17:

“Russia is mobilising its forces… Moscow’s belief that the EU and US will not step in to protect Ukraine could lead it to take direct military action… Following an invasion of Ukraine, it would use [its forces] to control conquered territory, suppress dissent, and install puppet administrations. Their mobilisation is a sign that the Kremlin is at least considering the option of further incursions into Ukraine… This may hint towards a significantly more serious intention than simply a wish to appear threatening.

“Hostile Russian rhetoric towards Ukraine has increased over the last year. ‘Reintegrating’ Ukraine – the whole of Ukraine, not Donbas alone – into the Russian Empire is a declared aim of the Russian president. The impression of a weak West, underlined by the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, may convince Moscow that now is the time to wrap up its ‘unfinished business’ with Kyiv. The Kremlin may have been emboldened in this by its interpretation of the American position on Ukraine, particularly since senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland’s recent visit to Moscow. That trip likely left the impression that Washington would subscribe to Moscow’s interpretation of the Minsk agreement…

“And, finally, current events around Belarus tightly connect Ukraine’s security situation with the rest of Europe. This relates not only to the immediate stand-offs with migrant arrivals at the Belarus-Poland border, but to these major Russian military redeployments whose full nature is not yet clear. Were it to take Ukraine, an enlarged and confident Russia would then turn its sights on influencing the activities of it new nearest neighbours: the EU and its member states.”

Ukraine will fall into the hands of Russia… either forcefully or “peacefully”.

Russia Threatens to Destroy NATO Satellites over Ukraine

The Sun wrote on November 23:

“RUSSIA’S new weapon dubbed ‘Star Warrior’ has the West worried as it can blast satellites out of orbit at heights of up to 500 miles above Earth. Vladimir Putin’s state owned TV issued a chilling threat that Russia may deploy the system to destroy some 32 Western satellites to render Nato missiles useless. It comes after Putin used the weapon to destroy a redundant Soviet-era Tselina-D military reconnaissance satellite – blasting it into an orbital debris storm…

“State-controlled Russian Channel One TV host Dmitry Kiselyov – dubbed Putin’s ‘mouthpiece’ and ‘propagandist-in-chief’ – has claimed the satellite strike was a deliberate warning to the West not to cross the Kremlin’s red lines on Ukraine.  He boasted in the event of worsening relations, Russia could wipe out 32 GPS satellites crucial for Nato’s military operations, including the pinpointing of missile strikes.

“The warning comes as relations continue to worsen between Russia and the West amid fears that Putin may be about to invade Ukraine.

“… Russia deputy prime minister Yuri Borisov previously bragged that the Star Warrior weapons system has no counterpart in the West.”

Roadmap for Closer Military Ties between Russia and China

The Associated Press wrote on November 23:

“Russia’s defense chief on Tuesday signed a roadmap for closer military ties with China, pointing to increasingly frequent U.S. strategic bomber flights near both countries’ borders… Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe ‘expressed a shared interest in stepping up strategic military exercises and joint patrols by Russia and China,’ according to the Russian Defense Ministry. ‘China and Russia have been strategic partners for many years,’ Shoigu said… Wei praised Russia for successfully countering what he described as U.S. pressure and military threats…

“In August, Shoigu visited China to attend joint war games, which marked the first time that Russian troops had taken part in drills on Chinese territory. They were the latest in a series of war games in recent years, intended to underline increasingly close military relations between Moscow and Beijing. Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, have developed strong personal ties to bolster a ‘strategic partnership’ between the former Communist rivals as they both faced tensions with the West.

“Putin said last year that… Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability.”

Chinese New Hypersonic Weapon More Dangerous than Previously Thought

Israel 365 wrote on November 22:

“In July, China tested an unprecedented ability of its new hypersonic weapon; firing a separate missile while traveling at Mach 5… a new report reveals even more shocking details of China’s hypersonic capabilities that US military experts can’t even begin to understand…

“China’s hypersonic weapon that took the world by surprise in July had an additional ability. Capable of flying at five times the speed of sound while carrying a nuclear warhead, the weapon, essentially a space vehicle, fired a projectile in midflight. Experts are still unsure of how this was achieved and don’t even know what the purpose of the projectile was. The projectile fired midflight landed in the water and did not seem to have a target. Some conjectures suggest the projectile may have been electronic countermeasures capable of targeting an enemy’s missile defense systems while others suggest it may have been an air-to-air missile…

“The hypersonic glide vehicle tested by China in July was capable of bypassing the US’s air-defense systems by flying over the South Pole….”

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.

What you are referring to is the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) which was held in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021.  This event is a global United Nations summit about so-called climate change and how countries are planning to tackle it.

On the BBC website is an article entitled “Climate change: What is it and why is everyone talking about it?” https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/45880633

This website states that “When we talk about climate change, we are talking about global changes in the Earth’s average temperature.  The Earth’s average temperature moves up and down naturally, but it has been increasing more rapidly than it usually does. This change is impacting on the planet’s environment – which is everything natural around us; rivers, trees, plants, animals… everything!

“Scientists say many of the changes to the Earth’s climate are caused by human activity – this means things that humans are doing. Some of those things are: the burning of oil, coal and gas, waste, deforestation and urbanization and population growth.

“Scientists say the world is about one degree Celsius warmer than it was 300 years ago when the Industrial Revolution started and people began to work in factories. A very influential 2018 report by an international group of scientists said that if the planet’s temperature goes up by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, it will cause huge problems for the planet. Melting ice in places like the Arctic and Antarctic would lead to a rise in the Earth’s sea levels, flooding many coastal areas and islands. Extreme weather like heatwaves, droughts and storms would happen more often and become more severe.

“The 2018 report encouraged world leaders to make climate change a priority. It said countries needed to work together to limit the rise in temperature rise to 1.5 degrees and stop changes to the planet that would be a catastrophe for life on Earth.”

To clarify, we do not necessarily agree with the concept of man-made global warming or climate change, as presented by scientists and described in the above article. There are still many unanswered questions, including reports to the effect that data has been strongly manipulated to “prove” “man-made climate change.” Some scientists even go so far as to say that we are not overserving global warming, but rather another ice age. The late producer and inventor/originator of the American “Weather Channel” was a strong opponent of the concept of man-made climate change and filed numerous lawsuits to prove errors and misrepresentations, which all were dismissed when he died. The late famous writer Michael Crichton (“Jurassic Park”), who was also a doctor, challenged the concept of climate change as well.

We do not have to concern ourselves in this Q&A with the accuracy or inaccuracy of the concept of man-made climate change as it is the purpose of this Q&A to point out an altogether different problem.

We had a “talking shop” for 13 days with a rush at the end of the conference to agree to a deal acceptable to all those in attendance.

There have been many reports around the world about this conference, and for the sake of brevity we will just choose one report.   The Daily Mail reported on 14th November 2021 that “Cop26 president Alok Sharma today warned China and India they would have to ‘justify’ political scheming that hamstrung a global climate deal to protect their coal interests.   The Cabinet minister rounded on the Asian nations after the Glasgow summit last night agreed a watered-down deal on climate change following their last-gasp intervention. The Glasgow Pact was watered down at the last minute with the wording on a section covering unabated coal – the burning of coal without climate change mitigating technology – changed from ‘phase out’ to ‘phase down’, leading to angry responses from European and vulnerable countries. Mr Sharma, who appeared on the verge of tears and apologised for the change as Cop ended last night, insisted to Sky News that it had achieved ‘something remarkable’. But he added: China and India are going to have to justify to some of the most climate-challenged nations what happened.’”

There you have it in a nutshell.   Man’s inability to agree on something that they all felt was so important that so many of the world’s nations were gathered, but unable to agree fully on how to go about resolving the issue.

The world has many seemingly insurmountable problems but there is never the will with so many to look at this and many different issues that they all feel are crucial to man’s survival and for the common good.  Self-interest always seems to come to the fore.

What is the approach and understanding of the Church of God of which Jesus Christ is the Head?  True Christians are challenged to come out of the governmental and political systems of this world.

In our Q&A “Are Christians supposed to make this a better world?” we write:

“Jesus, during His earthly ministry, likened this world to a building. In Ephesians 2:20-22 the Church is likened to a building. Jesus, in referring to the present evil world, said it is built on a foundation of the sand of Satan’s way of vanity, covetousness, envy and jealousy, competition and strife, violence, rebellion, contention, unhappiness, suffering and death. THIS WORLD IS DOOMED TO CRASH! And great shall be the fall thereof.

“Jesus did not come to repair or remodel or make over this building — this world — this civilization. Its foundation is faulty — that of Satan. Its superstructure — its systems of government and legal systems of law and justice, its systems of faulty and materialistic education, its religions, its social systems and customs — all its superstructures faulty, producing discontent, unhappiness, contention, competition and strife leading to violence and destruction, anguish, suffering, poverty and death. Those are the supporting columns and beams of the superstructure of the building that is this world. Jesus did not come to reform this world — to bring it a ‘spiritual revival’ — to pray for it or to save it or any of its ways.” (see https://www.globalchurchofgod.co.uk/q-a-13266/)

The Church of God does not get involved in the politics of this world.   The fruits of it are plain to see and only the return of Jesus Christ can set right what is impossible with man in charge, ably guided and directed by Satan who is the god of this world (see 2 Corinthians 4:4).

As mentioned, we are not taking a position on the merits or demerits of the conference itself, nor on the accuracy or inaccuracy of reports, claims, scientific studies and records pertaining to “climate change,” but commenting on how it is impossible for man to fully come together in the perceived interest of all people – and the difference between the conference behaviour and its outcomes when viewed against biblical instruction.

And so, to the question: “Can true Christians learn anything from this conference?  There would have been many well-meaning people attending this conference but a good question to ask is “what were the fruits of it?”

(1) We are told to esteem others better or “higher” than self.  In Philippians 2:3-4 we read: “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better [higher] than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”  While this was information given to the Church, by extension, it is a principle that works with those outside the Church too.   There would have been those at the conference who were sincerely trying to resolve what they saw as grave issues for mankind but many others, as evidenced by what happened, were interested mainly in how it seemingly or allegedly affected themselves and their countries.   Selfishness, which we are not to engage in, was on show as representatives of so many countries displayed this in their own narrow self-interest.

(2) The governments of this world don’t have the answers to the continual rise of man’s insoluble problems.  We only have to look at the state of the world we live in to acknowledge that man is out of his depth through his own self-imposed dilemmas.   It will get so bad that Jesus said, as reported in Matthew 24:21-22: “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”   This clearly shows that things will get continually worse so that only the intervention of Jesus Christ will resolve man’s problems and put right the wrongs of the last 6,000 years.

(3) This conference highlighted man’s inability to look after this planet properly.   In Genesis 2:15 we read God’s instruction to our forefather, Adam: “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”   Right from the time of the creation of man, God expected him to look after that which had been given to him.   History confirms how badly mismanaged this world has been. This is true regardless of the issue of climate change. We read in Revelation 11:18 that Jesus Christ will return to “destroy those who destroy the earth.”

(4) The objectives that were agreed, it seems, reluctantly by some and were “watered down” to accommodate others, may still not be met by some countries showing that man is regularly unable to keep his word and commitments.   What trust can you put in such people when you know that what they say and do are often two different stories?  In Joshua 21:45 we read: “Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”   This shows that when God says something He can be trusted.   In 1 Thessalonians 5:24, we read: “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”   God’s Word is His bond.   Man fails on a daily basis in this regard.

(5) It appears that concerns raised at this conference are not new.   In our weekly Update number 997 dated 20th November 21, there was a section headed “The Climate Change Scare” which reads as follows:

“The Editorial Board of the New York Post wrote on November 12:

“For the past two weeks in Glasgow, Scotland, world leaders have gathered at COP 26,  the United Nations Climate Change Conference to listen to the same message: Disaster is just around the corner.

“[But] consider this news story from 1972: ‘We have ten years to stop the catastrophe,’ said the UN’s environmental protection boss… for more than 50 years, the United Nations and the media have regularly predicted we’re on the verge of calamity… In 1982, after the catastrophe failed to materialize, the New York Times covered the second UN conference on the environment, which opened ‘amid gloom’. The piece quotes Mostafa K. Tolba, executive director of the United Nations environmental program, as saying that if things aren’t fixed by the turn of the century — the year 2000 — the world would face ‘an environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible, as any nuclear holocaust.’

“In 1989, a senior UN environmental official [said] that if we didn’t fix climate change by 1999, we would have ‘Global disaster, nations wiped off the face of the earth, crop failures’… In 2004, the Guardian newspaper said a ‘secret report’ from the Pentagon to President George W. Bush said climate change would ‘destroy us.’ Among the predictions: Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas. Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world…

“As of 2019, the UN said ‘only 11 years left to prevent irreversible damage from climate change’… That gives us until 2030 — or 58 years after the warnings of 1972. Advocates for change believe if they just scream louder… they’ll get the world to agree to a complete upheaval of modern life and trillions in spending…”

“Buenos Aires Times wrote on November 11:

“Pope Francis warned time was ‘running out’ to save the planet while expressing regret at his absence from climate talks in Glasgow, in a letter published Thursday… ‘this occasion must not be wasted, lest we have to face God’s judgement for our failure to be faithful stewards of the world he has entrusted to our care,’ wrote Francis.”

It is interesting to read how often these issues have been raised in the last half-century and the noises now being made have all been made before.  Many can be “frightened” by the prognostications of doom and gloom but the true Christian doesn’t need to take note of the new religion of climate change activism.   God knows what is going on and what will be needed in the future and our trust must be in Him not in fallible human beings.

In light of the many failed scientific predictions regarding the dangers of climate change and its terrible consequences, the question could be asked as to how real it really is. But again, the concern of this Q&A is to address the inability of man to solve any real or perceived problems.

(6) How many times was God mentioned in this conference about these world crises?   Quite probably His Holy Name was mentioned more in blasphemy than in invoking His help and thanking Him for His wonderful creation.   Satan has done a wonderful job in hiding the truth from the world at large so that God is seen as irrelevant or non-existent to so many.   Anyone expounding the truth about God and His Master Plan of Salvation would have been seen as odd, eccentric, or even worse.   There is no fear of God today.   “They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest’” (Jeremiah 5:24).

In Romans 3:9-18, Paul gives a crushing indictment about the Jews and the Greeks at that time, and by extension, mankind right up until today: “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.’ ‘Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit’; ‘The poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary observes: “Here again is shown that all mankind are under the guilt of sin, as a burden; and under the government and dominion of sin, as enslaved to it, to work wickedness. This is made plain by several passages of Scripture from the Old Testament, which describe the corrupt and depraved state of all men, till grace restrain or change them. Great as our advantages are, these texts describe multitudes who call themselves Christians. Their principles and conduct prove that there is no fear of God before their eyes. And where no fear of God is, no good is to be looked for.”

Many will have been genuinely disappointed in the outcome of this long conference, but trust in and reliance on man is both unwise and misguided. The alleged concerns that delegates raised at this conference and all of the many real insurmountable problems that currently exist will not be eliminated by further conferences and agreements or man’s ingenuity, but only by the return of Jesus Christ who alone has the power and wisdom to resolve all of the issues that man has brought on himself.  And yes, Christians can learn from the recent climate change conference in that we must rely on and trust in God alone; and that man’s way and his thoughts need to be replaced by the righteous rule of Christ.

The Bible tells us not to trust in man, only God is totally trustworthy. Psalm 118:8-9 says: “It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in princes.  (Also see Psalm 40:3-4, Micah 7:5, Jeremiah 17:5.)

Scholars have identified 1,845 different biblical references to the second coming of Jesus Christ.   He will return to set up the Kingdom of God and, at last, human beings will learn the right way to live.   Based on what is happening in the world right now shows that that time is both necessary and imminent!

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

compiled by Dave Harris

“Kyle Rittenhouse—Vigilante and Villain or Patriot and Hero?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

Kyle Rittenhouse was charged in a closely watched televised trial with murdering two protestors and with other felonies. He was acquitted, even though the mass media and politicians have been guilty of horrible reporting and misrepresentations. And it is not over. This country is divided as never before in recent history. What can we learn from the trial and the underlying circumstances? Does the Bible address situations like these?

“Ein falscher Messias im Tempel Gottes?” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “A False Messiah in the Temple of God?”

“Sagt uns die Bibel, wie Satan aussieht?” is the title of this Sabbath’s German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Does the Bible Tell Us How Satan Looks?”

“Was kann uns von Gott trennen?”, the sermon presented in Germany last Sabbath by Thilo Hanstein, is now posted. Title in English: “What Can Separate Us from God?”

“Alleinstehend,” the sermonette presented in Germany last Sabbath by Dmitrij Niemann, is now posted. Title in English: “Single.”

“Trust and Be Grateful,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Frank Bruno, is now posted. Here is a summary:

We’ve had opportunities in the past few weeks to see our faith tested. We’ve also had the opportunity to rely on God and give up our futile human sense of control. In this Sermonette, we will explore several Scriptures that can provide the light for the path that we must follow as Christians. As we’ve heard in recent Sermons, being a follower of Jesus Christ requires that we trust in Him, and illustrates our gratitude by obeying Him.

“What May Be Known of God,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

God is not hiding! He reveals Himself in His written Word, in His Creation and in the lives of those called to salvation. But the wicked don’t even seek God—God is in none of their thoughts!

On November 20, 2021, Frank Bruno will present the sermonette, titled, “Trust and Be Grateful,” and Dave Harris will present the sermon, titled, “What May Be Known of God.”

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

When we hear and read about God’s children, can we actually put ourselves in that category?  Are we truly His children, and what does it mean?  After all, God did create everything, including all of mankind, and He loves His creation. He did say however at the time of Noah that He was sorry that He had created man, but that’s because He had a different plan in mind. He gave man a choice to obey Him, and man rejected God’s ways and, as a consequence, the whole world was corrupted (Genesis 6:6-12).

Therefore, He wanted to destroy everything on earth, and if it had not been for righteous Noah, mankind would not have been saved. And through Noah, mankind was spared, and God blessed him and his sons, and they were fruitful and multiplied on the earth (Genesis 9:1).

Now, that didn’t mean mankind was righteous from that point on, since the world has become corrupt again. We read in John 3:16 that God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, but another step was significant, because He goes on to say that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  So, does that mean that all we have to do is believe in Christ, and we are all saved and are considered God’s children?

Obviously, more is involved as the Bible points out in numerous Scriptures.  What do we know, actually know? The law of the 10 commandments has not been done away as we are to keep it still, which Christ makes very clear, for He didn’t come to do away with the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17-20).  We need to do more than just believe—we have to be doers and followers of the law as Christ says in 1John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

Many Christians consider themselves children of God because they believe they have been saved just based on the mere fact that they believe in Christ.  They claim that they are born again and that if you’re born again, you are considered a child of God.  But the Bible clearly states that a born-again person IS spirit and invisible to the human eye, and anyone who is still human cannot be born again (John 3:6, 8).

How we are to be children of God is expressed in 1 John 3:1-2, 6-8:  “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is… Whoever abides in Him does not [practice] sin. Whoever sins [practices sin] has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins [practices sin] is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

Those who are not being saved cannot be children of God as we notice in 1 John 3:10: “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

We have the opportunity right now, as begotten children of God, who have been chosen to come out of this world, to be a part of His Family.  And this step can only be done by receiving His Holy Spirit at the time of our baptism after we have truly repented from what we came out of, and after having believed in and obeyed the gospel of the Kingdom of God. And, we must continue to DO what God requires of us, as explained in Romans 8:13-17:

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of (sonship) by (which) we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The (Holy) Spirit (itself) bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

by Norbert Link

We begin with several articles discussing the vaccination mandates by the Biden Administration and other developments which are dividing this country (moving down the dangerous road of “fascism”), as never before in recent history, and which may lead to the extremely frightening prospect of civil war—a possibility which more and more observers contemplate. Please view our StandingWatch program on the topic, titled, “Is Civil War Coming?”

We continue with Trump’s claim that Pence should not have certified the election (using this as an example to show how the press continues to misrepresent the facts); point out (as the New York Post put it) the continuing lies of the Biden administration regarding Afghanistan; address CNN’s report on the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris debacle; the “outrageous” indictment of Steve Bannon; the Kyle Rittenhouse scandal, pointing out, once again, how the mass media deceives us; and speak on the “climate change scare.”

Addressing the lessons which we should have learned (but did not) from World War I, we report on the fear that Russia might invade Ukraine; Germany’s energy regulator’s decision to place the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on hold; Russia’s missile test in space; the intensifying crisis between Poland and Belarus; and the concern that China might invade and take over Taiwan; the anti-Semitic unity of the world against Israel; and the prospects of a united Europe, which is perceived to be a power of peace, while in reality, it will become an instrument of war.

We speak on persecutions against the unvaccinated in Austria and Germany; report on huge earthquakes which WILL strike; address attempts in the past (but just only in the past?) to create humanzees; and conclude with an article about the divisions within the Catholic Church and its membership regarding abortion and other issues.

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

US Court of Appeals Permanently Prohibits Biden Vaccination Mandate

Breitbart wrote on November 12:

“A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed its stay on President Joe Biden’s workplace vaccine mandate on Friday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a rule that would require businesses with at least 100 employees to mandate coronavirus vaccinations or implement frequent testing. Friday’s decision comes after the Fifth Circuit issued a stay on the OSHA rule last Saturday.

“On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department requested the appeals court lift the stay, arguing it would ‘likely cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day.’

“In its decision, the court ordered OSHA to ‘take no steps to implement or enforce the Mandate until further court order’  [stating:] ‘The Mandate is a one-size-fits-all sledgehammer that makes hardly any attempt to account for differences in workplaces (and workers) that have more than a little bearing on workers’ varying degrees of susceptibility to the supposedly “grave danger” the Mandate purports to address.’”

Newsmax added on November 12:

“‘The mandate is staggeringly overbroad,’ the opinion said… ‘The public interest is also served by maintaining our constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals to make intensely personal decisions according to their own convictions – even, or perhaps particularly, when those decisions frustrate government officials’… “

A Ping Pong Ball Might Decide Biden’s Vaccination Mandate

The Associated Press reported on November 16:

“Challenges to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers will be consolidated in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals… The Cincinnati-based court was selected Tuesday in a random drawing using ping-pong balls, a process employed when challenges to certain federal agency actions are filed in multiple courts.

“The selection could be good news for those challenging the administration’s vaccine requirement, which includes officials in 27 Republican-led states, employers and several conservative and business organizations… The challenges… were made this month in 12 circuit courts. Under an arcane system, it was up to the clerk of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict litigation to select a ping-pong ball from a bin to choose where the cases would be heard.

“It was a favorable outcome for Republicans. Eleven of the 16 full-time judges in the 6th Circuit were appointed by Republican presidents… It had not yet been determined which judges from the 6th Circuit will be on a three-judge panel to hear the case or whether it will be considered by all the judges….”

A ping pong ball as the decision-maker. It would be laughable if it was not so sad. In any event, this will end up in front of the Supreme Court, and no matter what decision will be rendered, it will antagonize Americans even more.

Why the Biden Mandate Makes No Scientific Sense

On November 12, the Ron Paul Institute republished the following article by Dr. Gilbert Berdine, associate professor of medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center :

“The scientific basis for the [Biden vaccination] mandate is dubious. We are told that the vaccine is effective and safe. If this assertion were true… anyone taking the vaccine would have nothing to fear from the unvaccinated. If the vaccine worked, then everyone taking the vaccine would be protected. Of course, the vaccine does not work for everyone… it becomes a judgment call whether the risk of vaccination is worth the benefit.

“Contrary to what is claimed on a daily basis, the vaccine is not safe… As of November 7, 2021, there were 2,725,582 adverse events…including 8,284 deaths, 9,726 life-threatening events, 9,580 permanent disabilities, 363… birth defects, 38,818 hospitalizations, 79,615 ER visits, and 121,100 doctor’s office visits attributed to the covid vaccines. These are only the risks we know about so far. Nobody knows what the adverse effects will be one, five, or ten years from now….

“How effective are the vaccines?… As of August 25, 2021, it takes over twenty-five hundred vaccinations to prevent a single death in the US…

“What would the effect of 100 percent vaccination rate be on the virus? Contrary to claims, the virus will not disappear. The next outbreak would occur within a year and would be 100 percent breakthrough cases with a vaccine-resistant strain. Then we would need another vaccine mandate, and another, ad infinitum.

“… proponents of mandates underestimate the degree of conviction of those who decline the covid vaccines. Wherever people are not permitted to remain unvaccinated…, a percentage of people will quit their jobs rather than be vaccinated… at least 10 percent of physicians and 20 percent of nurses will quit rather than be vaccinated… similar events in hospitals could precipitate a catastrophic collapse of the US healthcare system…

“The worst-case scenario is outright civil war. This is too horrible to contemplate, but this possibility is real. President Biden said his patience is wearing thin. That works both ways…”

Apart from the downfall of America’s economy and its social services, including the health-care system, civil war IS, sadly, a distinct possibility. Note the next article.

“Would America Survive a Civil War?”

Unherd wrote on November 12:

“Talk of insurrection, secession, civil conflict and civil war is no longer the chatter of the gullible and the mentally ill. It’s entering the fringes of polite society…

“[There is a] very common assertion: that a civil war, if waged on American soil, would be over quickly… The idea here is that the US military is so advanced, and has so many tanks, gunships, fuel air bombs, and drones, that the federal government is simply assured of victory. As such, a civil war is an unlikely or impossible scenario, given the dramatic imbalance of power between the state and even a numerically large, dissatisfied internal population. But this is a dangerous misconception. While the US military is indeed powerful and lavishly funded, it is a military designed to fight other states….

“… how likely is it that there will be some sort of civil conflict in the near or mid future for the United States? Unfortunately, the correct answer here may very well be that it is not terribly unlikely…

“The legitimacy of its elite has been shaken repeatedly, and faith in the electoral process itself is now rapidly declining among large segments of the electorate…

“Most ominously of all, however, looms the growing supply crisis. This crisis would be tolerable if it merely implied a lack of variety at the grocery store… But it is also creating havoc in the productive economy itself, denying farmers the spare parts to run their harvesters and car manufacturers the metals they need to make cars. The longer the crisis goes on, the more broken the economy will become, and the more painful the necessary reforms will be, once America’s elites truly wake up to the danger.

“If there is one time throughout history where civil wars are actually likely to occur, it is precisely when a delegitimated elite undertakes necessary reforms after letting underlying problems fester for decades. That is when states are at their weakest, and when they are vulnerable to the worst forms of internal disasters. Sadly, that might just be where America is headed today.”

Our StandingWatch program, “Is Civil War Coming?”, addresses this frightening scenario. Also note the next article, showing how divided this country has already become over coronavirus regulations, mandates and restrictions.

How Covid Regulations Divide the Country

Newsmax wrote on November 13:

“Sixty percent of vaccinated individuals say they are banning unvaccinated family members from seasonal festivities… A slightly higher number, 63%, said they are not comfortable having unvaccinated relatives at their parties. Some 14% of those surveyed said they would never get the vaccine because of concerns about its safety and side effects.

“Almost half of the unvaccinated respondents, 49%, said they are no longer communicating with family members who won’t understand their hesitancy and unwillingness to get the shot, with 22% of those saying they have already been banned from family gatherings… 16% of those surveyed ended three or more friendships during the pandemic, starting in March 2020.”

There is really nothing godly about this.

The Road to Fascism

On November 17, the Ron Paul Institute republished the following article by the Rutherford Institute:

“We are moving fast down the road to fascism. This COVID-19 pandemic has shifted us into high gear. The heavy-handed collusion between the Techno-Corporate State and the US government over vaccine mandates is merely the latest manifestation of the extent to which fascist forces are working to overthrow our constitutional republic and nullify the rights of the individual… Katrina Trinko writes for USA Today, ‘the government is turning employers—who are not paid by, nor work for, the government—into an army of vaccine enforcers.’

“You know who won’t suffer any harm as a result of these vaccine mandates? The Corporate State (manufacturers, distributors, and health care providers), which were given a blanket ‘get out of jail’ card to insulate them from liability for any injuries or death caused by the vaccines… This has long since ceased to be a debate over how best to protect the populace at large against an unknown pandemic. Rather, it has become a massively intrusive, coercive and authoritarian assault on the right of individual sovereignty over one’s life, self and private property…

“At a minimum, our right to individual sovereignty over our lives and our bodies is being usurped by power-hungry authoritarians; greedy, self-serving corporations; egotistical Nanny Staters who think they know what’s best for the rest of the populace; and a short-sighted but well-meaning populace which fails to understand the long-term ramifications of trading their essential freedoms for temporary promises of safety and security…

“This merely pushes us one step further down that road towards a total control society in which the government… gets to decide who is ‘worthy’ of being allowed to take part in society.

“Right now, COVID-19 vaccines are the magic ticket for gaining access to the ‘privileges’ of communal life. Having already conditioned the population to the idea that being part of society is a privilege and not a right, such access could easily be predicated on social credit scores, the worthiness of one’s political views, or the extent to which one is willing to comply with the government’s dictates, no matter what they might be… nothing good can come from totalitarian tactics—no matter how benevolent they appear—that are used to make us cower, fear and comply with the government’s dictates.”

Amen to that.

How Big Pharma PROFITS from the Vaccines

Medical Press wrote on November 16:

“Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna… will make pre-tax profits of $34 billion this year between them, which works out to over $1,000 a second, $65,000 a minute or $93.5 million a day [from their COVID-19 vaccines]…

“Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna have used their monopolies to prioritise the most profitable contracts with the richest governments…”

 According to the New York Times, the US is planning to invest billions of dollars in expanding COVID-19 manufacturing capacity to have at least a billion doses by the second half of next year.

Trump Says Pence Should have Refused to Certify “Fraudulent” Election

The Insider wrote on November 12:

“Former President Donald Trump claimed in a new interview that half of constitutional scholars agree that former Vice President Mike Pence could have overturned his 2020 election loss… ‘How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that?’ Trump told [Jonathan] Karl about Pence’s refusal to reject the election results when Congress met to certify them on January 6. ‘And I’m telling you: 50/50, it’s right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them.’

“… That push came after the dismissal of dozens of lawsuits by Trump’s legal team challenging the results… The Supreme Court, which holds a 6-3 conservative majority, also rejected a Trump-backed bid to invalidate the results in key swing states….

“Last month, a bipartisan group of former officials and lawyers sent a letter  to the California bar association calling for an investigation into [John] Eastman, the lawyer behind the memo that claimed Pence could overturn the election. The group said the state bar should look into whether Eastman violated attorney ethics by making false statements.

“Eastman also retired as a law professor at Chapman University after more than 150 faculty members called for his removal following the January 6 insurrection. “

To clarify some misleading and troublesome statements in the above article: NO court decided the issue of election fraud on the merits. Cases were dismissed strictly on procedural grounds, such as lack of standing. It is appalling to realize that an attorney can be “investigated” and can be forced to retire for stating legal opinions which might not be in conformity with [politically motivated?] majority views.

Team Biden’s Never-ending Lies

The Editorial Board of the New York Post wrote on November 13:

“Before his utterly botched Aug. 30 withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, President Biden made a solemn vow: ‘If there are American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out.’ Not only did he break that promise, we’re still learning just how badly he failed: Thousands upon thousands remain stranded.

“Foreign Policy magazine reports, citing an in-the-know congressional aide, that the State Department believes as many as 14,000 United States legal permanent residents remain in Afghanistan. Plus, Deputy Secretary of State Brian McKeon revealed at a Nov. 3 hearing that State knew of 289 US citizens stuck in Afghanistan as of Nov. 2, with a further 81 ready to depart — after 140 Americans had left in the prior week. That tracks with the 450 US citizens the Pentagon reported still being in the country at October’s end. But it doesn’t track with the lowball numbers that State and the White House have claimed [repeatedly, which was under 200 and likely closer to 100]…

“And this ignores the tens of thousands of Afghan allies [Biden] promised to evacuate, whom he instead left to face the wrath of the Taliban. Biden, in short, vowed to get everyone out while having no clue how many ‘everyone’ was. Like all his other promises and pronouncements, it was just meaningless noise.”

No wonder Biden’s popularity has now reached an unprecedented low—with only a 38% approval rate (according to Breitbart, dated November 14). According to another poll which was released on November 18, Biden’s approval rate dropped to 36 %. One wonders who those 36 % are who support Biden’s totally unsuccessful policies. 

The Biden-Harris Debacle

The New York Post wrote on November 15:

“Vice President Kamala Harris feels increasingly isolated inside the White House as her approval ratings plummet…  Despite their public show of unity, Biden and his right-hand woman have a dysfunctional relationship that has reached an ‘exhausted stalemate,’ according to CNN, which based its report on interviews with nearly three dozen insiders..

“At a time when the president would usually be expected to promote his vice president as a future replacement in the White House, Biden has instead been sidelining Harris as a potential liability, the report said. For their part, Harris’ allies are reportedly frustrated with the president for dumping politically fraught issues in her lap — including, infamously, the ongoing illegal immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border…

“Insiders told CNN the West Wing has been especially bothered by Harris’ handling of the border issue. The veep’s trip to Mexico and Guatemala was overshadowed by a disastrous interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt, in which Harris responded to Holt by noting that she hadn’t yet been to the frontier region by chuckling and joking: ‘And I haven’t been to Europe….

“CNN also reported that Harris did not attend most of the meetings Biden held with members of Congress as he attempted to secure passage of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill…

“The CNN report is not the first time Harris has been the focus of DC whispers. At the end of June, Politico reported that her office was ‘chaotic’…

“The revelations emerged days after a poll showed Biden with an approval rating of 37.8 percent, a new low for the president. However, Harris’ approval rating was 10 points lower, at 27.8 percent.”

Of course, the White House tried to dispute CNN’s report, but did so quite unsuccessfully. Breitbart wrote on November 15:

“The White House on Monday scrambled to support Vice President Kamala Harris from a damaging CNN report about her struggles… The sudden reaction to the CNN story from the White House prompted mockery, especially after [White House Press Secretary Jen] Psaki claimed Harris helped deliver on broadband and actually succeeded handling the migration crisis.”

A more ridiculous and blatantly untrue “defense” could hardly be imagined.

The “Outrageous” Indictment of Steve Bannon

Breitbart wrote on November 15:

“The Justice Department’s (DOJ) indictment of Steve Bannon is ‘outrageous,’ Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz… said…  Bannon… faces contempt charges after defying a subpoena from a House committee ostensibly investigating the events of January 6th.

“Dershowitz said, ‘It’s an outrageous indictment. I’ll tell you why it’s outrageous. You don’t indict somebody when you don’t know what the law is. Nobody knows whether or not Bannon has the right to refuse to answer if the president tells him not to.  That is a disputed question. That’s not a proper subject for criminal indictment.’ Retention of executive privilege by former presidents is a disputed legal question, Dershowitz stated. ‘… you don’t use the criminal justice system except after you’ve exhausted all the alternatives to try to find out what the law is,’ he said…

“‘If you’ve got 10 constitutional scholars in a room — not Larry Tribe, because he’s not a constitutional scholar, he’s a partisan advocate, he was a scholar, but he’s now an advocate — but if you’ve got 10 reasonable constitutional scholars in the room and you didn’t tell them whether the person was a Democrat or a Republican, it would go five-to-five whether or not a former president has the authority to instruct his former adviser not to turn material over and not to testify.’”

Of course, the whole “investigation” is deeply political.

The Kyle Rittenhouse Scandal—and How the Media Deceives You

Fox News published on November 16 an article, which was adapted from Tucker Carlson’s opening commentary on November 15, 2021:

“Just days after Rittenhouse was first arrested, that was back in August of 2020… PolitiFact… claimed that Kyle Rittenhouse had committed a crime by carrying a firearm in the state of Wisconsin. Here’s the quote. ‘It is against the law in Wisconsin for someone younger than 18 to possess a dangerous weapon. Period.’…

“The problem was it was a lie. In fact, under Wisconsin law, which apparently no one in any newsroom in America had even bothered to check, 17-year-olds are allowed to carry rifles as long as their barrels meet a minimum length requirement, and Kyle Rittenhouse’s rifle met that requirement. So no, Kyle Rittenhouse did not violate Wisconsin’s gun laws. Today, even the prosecution at the trial was forced to admit that. And so immediately, the judge dismissed the firearms charge…

“Joe Scarborough [from MSNBC said]: ‘We have a 17-year-old kid underage, said he bought an AR-15 because he thought it was cool. He drove across state, had his mother drive him across state lines. He appointed himself a militia member. He goes around and he ends up unloading, what, 60 rounds?

“’… consider how totally dishonest the summary you just heard is. Virtually every word is a lie.  Kyle Rittenhouse wasn’t a militia member. He was a lifeguard. Kyle Rittenhouse did not fire 60 rounds, not even close to that. He was not underage, as we just told you, He was not in illegal possession of his gun. But most amazing is the claim, which you’re hearing everywhere right now, that Kyle Rittenhouse is bad because he ‘drove across state lines.’… So the very same people who have told you for years that borders are by definition White supremacy now claim it’s some kind of moral offense for an American citizen to enter a contiguous state. You’re making it sound like Kyle Rittenhouse snuck into a foreign land under cover of darkness to murder people. That’s not quite what happened. If you look at the map, you can see Kyle Rittenhouse’s drive from his mother’s home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Our map says 17 miles, probably shorter than your commute to work every morning. As Kyle Rittenhouse explained on the stand last week, when mobs set fire to Kenosha, he had every reason to want to defend the city because his father lives there…

“Bet you didn’t know that, bet you hadn’t heard it on CNN. Nor have any of the people hyperventilating about crossing state lines explained why it’s OK for the BLM rioters and the Antifa creeps to come from around the country to burn Kenosha down, as many of them did…

“But if there’s one thing this trial has taught us, it’s how completely dishonest and totally misleading so many of the news accounts of what Kyle Rittenhouse did have been. We’ve known for more than a year, for example, how Rittenhouse first encountered convicted child rapist Joseph Rosenbaum, the first man he shot… Joseph Rosenbaum had just been released from a mental hospital and for some reason decided to join the riot. So first he lit a fire. Then he began to swing a chain like a weapon. When he saw Kyle Rittenhouse, he threatened to kill Kyle Rittenhouse. Then he chased Rittenhouse in a full sprint, cornered him, and then tried to snatch his gun from his hands. It was at that point that Rittenhouse fired… After shooting Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse tried to turn himself in to police, but he couldn’t because a mob howling for his death chased him down a city street.  One rioter knocked Kyle Rittenhouse to the ground, another smashed him in the head with a skateboard, and a third rioter drew a loaded pistol, which he was not allowed to have, unlike Kyle Rittenhouse, and pointed it in Kyle Rittenhouse’s face. So at no point was Kyle Rittenhouse the aggressor in the sequence of events. Every move he made was defensive…

“In this case, there is… no racial angle to the story… everybody involved in the story is the same color [white]… the only bigot on the scene appears to have been Joseph Rosenbaum [who] kept screaming the N-word… And yet it’s Kyle Rittenhouse who Joe Biden accused of being a White supremacist on the basis of no evidence whatsoever. And let’s hope at some point he gets sued for that… So if a White guy shooting another White guy is an example of racism, maybe you should tell us how. This is insane.”

We publish these remarkable excerpts to show you how the left-wing mass media, including MSNBC and CNN, is lying to you to support their racial agenda. Also, for many months the mass media intentionally suppressed the fact that all actors were white, so that many thought that Rittenhouse had shot two black men during BLM’s riots. This “reporting” is appalling.

The Climate Change Scare

The Editorial Board of the New York Post wrote on November 12:

“For the past two weeks in Glasgow, Scotland, world leaders have gathered at COP 26,  the United Nations Climate Change Conference to listen to the same message: Disaster is just around the corner.

“[But] consider this news story from 1972: ‘We have ten years to stop the catastrophe,’ said the UN’s environmental protection boss… for more than 50 years, the United Nations and the media have regularly predicted we’re on the verge of calamity… In 1982, after the catastrophe failed to materialize, the New York Times covered the second UN conference on the environment, which opened ‘amid gloom’. The piece quotes Mostafa K. Tolba, executive director of the United Nations environmental program, as saying that if things aren’t fixed by the turn of the century — the year 2000 — the world would face ‘an environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible, as any nuclear holocaust.’’

“In 1989, a senior UN environmental official [said] that if we didn’t fix climate change by 1999, we would have ‘Global disaster, nations wiped off the face of the earth, crop failures’… In 2004, the Guardian newspaper said a ‘secret report’ from the Pentagon to President George W. Bush said climate change would ‘destroy us.’ Among the predictions: Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas. Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world…

“As of 2019, the UN said ‘only 11 years left to prevent irreversible damage from climate change’… That gives us until 2030 — or 58 years after the warnings of 1972. Advocates for change believe if they just scream louder… they’ll get the world to agree to a complete upheaval of modern life and trillions in spending…”

Buenos Aires Times wrote on November 11:

“Pope Francis warned time was ‘running out’ to save the planet while expressing regret at his absence from climate talks in Glasgow, in a letter published Thursday… ‘this occasion must not be wasted, lest we have to face God’s judgement for our failure to be faithful stewards of the world he has entrusted to our care,’ wrote Francis.”

A Lesson from World War I

The Daily Mail wrote on November 12:

“Known originally as Armistice Day, Britain’s first day of remembrance was held on November 11, 1919, marking the first anniversary of the end of World War I…. But what was it all about, that first Great War? Why did it happen?  Today… understanding the causes of World War I has never been so important. As in the years before 1914, we live in an age of feverish uncertainty…

“With China challenging U.S. power in the Pacific, and Vladimir Putin and his clients rattling their sabres in Belarus and eastern Ukraine, who would bet against provocation escalating into war one of these days?… China has reasserted its claim to the U.S.-backed island of Taiwan, while the U.S. State Department has explicitly warned that Russian troops are massing on the border of Ukraine… The footage that emerged yesterday of Russian and Belarusian paratroopers taking part in unannounced military drills close to the Polish border — where thousands of migrants are gathering — is certainly little cause for comfort….

“Has the global situation ever been so unpredictable? And isn’t it possible that the resulting adventurism, hubris, fear and distrust could build into precisely the same kind of cataclysm that tore the world apart in 1914?…”

Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria/Hungary by a young fanatic in Sarajevo, and after blaming especially Serbia for the assassination and due to treaties between certain countries (not unlike the NATO treaties in existence today), war was proclaimed.  

Is Russia to Invade Ukraine?

Time wrote on November 11:

“The U.S. is raising the alarm with European Union allies that Russia may be weighing a potential invasion of Ukraine as tensions flare between Moscow and the bloc over migrants and energy supplies… Russia says military deployments on its territory are an internal matter and it denies any aggressive intentions, while accusing the U.S. of provocation by sailing warships in the Black Sea close to its territory this week…

“Ukraine and Russia have been in conflict since Putin responded to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution that ousted the pro-Moscow president by seizing Crimea. Russia also backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people… Some analysts argue that Putin may believe now is the time to halt Ukraine’s closer embrace with the West before it progresses any further… the recent Russian deployment has been covert, often taking place at night and carried out by elite ground units…

“The deputy speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Pyotr Tolstoy, declared that ‘all of Ukraine will be part of Russia and there won’t be any Ukraine’ in a debate broadcast on Russia’s NTV last month….”

Sooner than later, Russia and Ukraine will become “re-united.”

Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline on Hold

AFP wrote on November 16:

“Germany’s energy regulator said Tuesday it was temporarily halting the approval process for Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, saying the operating company [which is registered in Switzerland] first needs to become compliant with German law. The move is the latest setback for the 10-billion-euro project ($12 billion), which has been dogged by delays and become a geopolitical hot potato. The Baltic Sea pipeline is set to double Russian gas supplies to Germany, which the EU’s top economy says is needed to help it transition away from coal and nuclear energy. But opponents say the recently completed pipeline will increase Europe’s energy reliance on Russia.

“Crucially, the pipeline also bypasses Ukraine’s gas infrastructure, depriving the country of much-needed transit fees. [This is also true for Belarus]. The dispute comes as Europe, which receives a third of its gas from Russia, is battling surging energy prices just as the continent heads into the colder winter season. German consumers have been warned that prices for energy are at their highest levels – and will increase further… The certification procedure ‘will remain suspended until the main assets and human resources’ have been transferred from the Nord Stream 2 parent company to its German subsidiary, that will own and operate the German part of the pipeline, [the regulator] added.

“Critics have accused Moscow of intentionally limiting gas supplies to Europe and driving up prices in an effort to hasten the launch of Nord Stream 2, a claim Russia denies… Germany’s energy regulator has four months, until January 2022, to give its green light for Nord Stream 2. After that, the European Commission still needs to give its recommendation.”

Militarizing Space?

The Hill wrote on November 17:

“Russia’s missile test that struck a defunct space satellite has U.S. officials and lawmakers rattled over fears Moscow seeks to further militarize space, with calls to hold the Kremlin accountable. The satellite explosion created at least 1,500 pieces of trackable space debris and hundreds of thousands of smaller pieces, which officials say could threaten astronauts and other satellites… U.S. officials and lawmakers worry that the ground-launched missile, which hit a Soviet satellite sent up in 1982, is indicative of ramped-up Russian efforts to develop and test space-based systems and weapons.

“The Kremlin in recent years has sought to outpace the U.S. in the hotly contested space domain — often referred to as the new ‘Wild West’ — testing several anti-satellite weapons, lasers and other armaments that could prevent the effective use of American and allied satellites… While the United States and its allies have condemned the missile test, it is unclear what more they can do to respond to the move. There are no universal norms, rules or principles of responsible behaviors relating to threats by nation states to others’ space systems. Russia earlier this month opposed a United Nations resolution that would move to set up such guidelines…”

It is not enough that man has waged war on the earth… now space has become the new frontier…

Crisis between Poland and Belarus Intensifies

Express wrote on November 16:

“An ongoing geopolitical crisis between Poland and Belarus has seen the EU prepare further sanctions against Minsk which the bloc accuses of attempting to destabilise the EU by pushing migrants across the border illegally… The Polish government is working to build a wall on the border with Belarus…

“The EU Commission has offered to pay for two percent of the cost of the wall. In exchange, Poland would have to change its laws allowing for pushbacks of migrants. Warsaw would also have to allow Frontex, the EU’s border agency, to process asylum seekers on Polish territory. But the Polish government is refusing to budge to Brussels’ demands, despite the lucrative cash incentive….

“According to Polish authorities, more than 20,000 members of the police, border guard and army are reinforcing the border where migrants have gathered near the Polish town of Kuznica. An estimated 4,000 migrants are at the border and many say Belarusian authorities are not allowing them to return to Minsk.

“Poland’s ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said his country was facing a hybrid war… Belarus, a close Russian ally, said assertions it had fuelled the border crisis were ‘absurd’… “

China Threatens Australia and USA

The Daily Mail wrote on November 14:

“A former Chinese official has threatened Australia and the US with ‘Armageddon’ if the democratic allies move to protect Taiwan in a military conflict. Victor Gao, who… now serves as a mouthpiece for the government, warned western powers to stay out of China’s quest to annex the disputed territory…

“US President Joe Biden last month vowed American troops will stand in China’s way if any attempt is made to conquer the island. On Friday, defence minister Peter Dutton made similar remarks saying it would be ‘inconceivable’ that Australian troops wouldn’t back up the US if such a scenario played out in the region…

“Senator Jim Molan, who also climbed to the rank of Major General in the Australian Army, explained there are three possible scenarios of how China could take over Taiwan… One possibility is that China’s vast navy could set up a no-sail, no-fly blockade around Taiwan, slowing choking the island’s economy to death before seizing control. Another option is a sudden attack ‘Pearl Harbour’ type attack and the third possibility is a simultaneous combination of both strategies.

“If any of these situations played out he warns Australia would be ‘monstrously vulnerable’ because we have a ‘naïve faith that American military power is infinite and it’s not’.”

Even though a war between China and the USA or Australia is not prophesied in Scripture, the assessment that America’s military power is (no more) infinite is very true.

The World Against Israel

Israel 365 wrote on November 12:

“The largest rabbinic public-policy organization in the United States called the Biden administration’s decision to abstain from a U.N. General Assembly draft resolution that targeted Israel ‘quite disappointing.’ The text… demands ‘compensation’ for descendants of Palestinian refugees who lost property when they fled their homes, as well as an unlimited ‘right of return’ for Palestinian refugees to a sovereign Israel.

“Israel would cease being the world’s only Jewish state as a result of the resolution… Israel was the sole country that opposed the text, which passed the General Assembly on Tuesday 160-1 with nine abstentions from the United States, Canada, Cameroon, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Uruguay.

“Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), which represents more than 1,500 traditional Jewish leaders, said: ‘This resolution employed a blatantly anti-Semitic double standard, demanding “compensation” for Arabs who left as advised by the genocidal Arab League, but no similar compensation from Arab states for the endemic ethnic cleansing of Jews and confiscation of their property, much less a “right of return” to countries unsafe for Jews to enter. The [Biden] administration abstained on an issue of hate and bigotry… This is not moral leadership. The previous administration took the morally correct approach, and we did not expect its position to be so rapidly abandoned.’

“The Trump administration unequivocally voted against similar resolutions aimed at Israel while the Obama administration traditionally abstained from the same resolution, which comes annually before the General Assembly.”

To be clear, some of the following countries are party to the UN and the General Assembly and have therefore voted for the anti-Semitic resolution: Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, including many other Western European nations.

The United States of Europe

On November 9, the European Council of the European Union published the following speech of President Charles Michel at the Berlin Conference 2021:

 “I am deeply touched to speak to you, here in Berlin… Berlin… is [Europe’s] symbolic capital… The 21st century will be the century of Europe…

“[Europe is] the largest area of democracy and freedom in the world. The most advanced area of prosperity and social development… Our single currency, the euro, has become the second most traded currency in the world…

“Unity and strength, along with our ‘strategic autonomy’, are the keys to the future of Europe…

“Our countries and regions have diverse histories, languages, traditions, political and economic backgrounds. It is precisely this diversity that makes Europe extraordinarily rich. But it also makes our quest for unity particularly challenging. So we must strive to understand each other and respect our differences…

“The European Union is the world’s leading trading power…

“We are often asked the question: will Europe one day have its own European army? The prospect exists…  One thing is certain: we will one day have to face a major cyber-crisis or cyber-attack… Recent attacks have shown that the threats are global. And so are the attackers. It is therefore in the interest of Europeans to pool our efforts and to create defensive and deterrent cyber capabilities. This should start by establishing an EU system for cyber crisis management and response to large-scale attacks…

“Our cyber security is also intrinsically linked to the security of our resources in space… [We] must strengthen the synergies between the civil, space and defence industries…

“The European project takes time. Seventy years is still a young age for such a unique organisation like ours. We have already achieved a lot. Our experience shows that sometimes we can gain time by taking our time. And in other moments, it’s good to be pragmatic and speed up….”

Europe will not end up as a peaceful power bloc. When they say, “Peace, peace,” there is no peace.

Austria’s Lockdown for the Unvaccinated!

The Associated Press wrote on November 14:

“The Austrian government ordered a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people starting midnight Sunday to slow the fast spread of the coronavirus in the country. The move prohibits unvaccinated individuals older than age 12 from leaving their homes except for basic activities such as working, grocery shopping, going for a walk — or getting vaccinated…

“The lockdown affects about 2 million people in the Alpine country of 8.9 million people… It doesn’t apply to children under the age of 12 because they cannot yet officially get vaccinated… police have been asked to check people outside to make sure they are vaccinated. [Chancellor Alexander] Schallenberg [added] that additional officers would go on patrol to control the lockdown. Unvaccinated people can be fined up to 1,450 euros ($1,660) if they do not adhere to the restrictions…

“Schallenberg also called on people who have been vaccinated to get their booster shot, saying that otherwise ‘we will never get out of this vicious circle.’”

Reuters added on November 14:

“Austria is the first European country to reinstate the same restrictions on daily movements that applied during national lockdowns before vaccines were rolled out, though this time they only affect [the unvaccinated.]… The measures on Monday will extend those brought in a week ago which banned the unvaccinated from places including restaurants, hotels, theatres and ski lifts…

“Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said there will be thorough police checks and fines of up to 1,450 euros ($1,660) for breaches, and all interactions with the police will include checking people’s vaccination status. ‘As of tomorrow, every citizen, every person who lives in Austria must be aware that they can be checked by the police,’ Nehammer told the news conference… As of Monday non-essential shops… will be off-limits to the unvaccinated…”

If this does not remind us of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany and the persecution of the Jews and other minorities, nothing will. It almost appears as if Austria under Schallenberg is becoming more of an autocratic dictatorship than it had been under Sebastian Kurz. And what about Germany? Note the next article.

Duty to Get Vaccinated in Germany?

Deutsche Welle reported on November 12:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the unvaccinated have a duty towards society to get inoculated… ‘You have the right to get vaccinated. But, to a certain extent, you also, as a member of society, have the duty to be vaccinated to protect yourself and to protect others,’ she said.”

Where does this incredible “revelation” come from, given the fact that vaccinations do not even protect the vaccinated in far too many cases? And if they did, what then do they have to fear from the unvaccinated?

Huge Earthquake to Come

Express wrote on November 15:

“Earthquakes happen every day… there are around 20,000 of them around the globe each year, amounting to approximately 55 quakes each day. Many of these are small and go unnoticed, mere tremors.  Others, more than a seven on the Richter scale, cause utter devastation. On average there are about 15 earthquakes every year with a magnitude of seven or more.

“The Richter scale is not a linear but logarithmic. As the numbers go up by one the magnitude of the quake increases by a factor of ten… the scale of an earthquake is related to the length of the fault on which it occurs: the longer the fault, the larger the earthquake. To produce a magnitude 10.5 earthquake, there would need to be a fault line with a length of around 80,000 km. Given that the Earth’s circumference is only about 40,000 km, this would be highly unlikely. And so an earthquake with a magnitude of 20 seems impossible.

“Yet… there is one way that such an event could take place… [It] would be due to a massive asteroid impact… Tsunamis and volcanic eruptions would be taking place, more earthquakes would likely be triggered and the whole world would be falling apart [and] destroy the planet..”

“The largest earthquake ever recorded is the 1960 Valdivia earthquake. Various studies have established that it measured somewhere between a 9.4 and 9.6 on the Moment Magnitude Scale…”

This does not mean, of course, that much larger earthquakes did not happen before which were not recorded. In Revelation 16:18, we read about a future “great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.”

Creating Humanzees?

The Sun wrote on November 12:

“… during Russia’s Soviet era Josef Stalin poured money into sensational experiments which involved injecting human sperm into female gorillas – and, even more shockingly, inseminating human women with the seed of primates. Stalin ordered renowned scientist Ilia Ivanov to create an invincible breed of Red Army soldiers… the Kremlin chief demanded these mutant warriors be ‘resilient and resistant to hunger’. He said they should be of ‘immense strength but with an underdeveloped brain’…

“Scientist Ivanov had made his name at the turn of the century by perfecting artificial insemination in horses proving that the sperm of one male stallion could impregnate up to 500 females. He then… tried to create a super-horse by crossing the animals with zebras.

“The term ‘humanzee’ was coined later in the 20th century and refers to a human-chimp crossbreed…

“In 1924, Ivanov… managed to secure support from the Pasteur Institute in Paris who let him use a research station in Guinea, West Africa, for ape-breeding research… He managed to inseminate three chimps with human sperm but none of the beasts fell pregnant. Ivanov reported that African women had been seized to be impregnated with ape sperm, but no pregnancy resulted.

“Female gorillas were set to receive human sperm as well before the experiments were shut down. Ivanov then headed back to the Soviet Union where he set up an ape nursery with 20 chimps in the subtropical republic of Abkhazia, near Georgia. When his project failed, Ivanov was arrested in 1930. He became one of millions rounded up by paranoid Stalin and died in a labour camp in 1932….”

This is just SO sick! According to some reports, Hitler also tried unsuccessfully to create “humanzees.” Especially the experiments in Russia were conducted in the name of science to “prove” the accuracy of Darwin’s ungodly evolution theory.

Divisions within the Catholic Church

Thomson/Reuters wrote on November 14:

“U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops this week are expected to revisit whether President Joe Biden’s support for abortion rights should disqualify him from receiving communion, an issue that has deepened rifts in the church since the Democrat took office…

“Biden, the first Catholic president since John F. Kennedy, has said he personally opposes abortion but supports a woman’s right to choose. He has vowed to protect abortion rights in the face of increasingly restrictive laws enacted by states; last month, his administration called on the Supreme Court to block a Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks. The issue has divided the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and pitted more conservative Catholics against those who support the president’s views. Some 55% of Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 59% of the general population…

“The debate has sown further discord as the church struggles to retain a fractured membership. Nearly 20% of U.S. Catholics have left the church in the past two decades… as sexual abuse scandals involving predatory priests have emerged and members have increasingly disagreed on social issues.”

It is truly appalling that the majority of members of the biggest professing Christian organization believe abortion should be allowed in most cases, even though their leadership is opposed to it. What are they even doing in the Catholic Church?

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.

Exodus 32:15 reads:

“And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.”

The two tablets of the Testimony refer to the two tablets of stone, containing the Ten Commandments, which Moses carried in his two hands (cp. Exodus 32:19; Deuteronomy 9:15). But what is meant with the statement (only found in Exodus 32:15) that the two tablets were written on both sides?

Much confusion exists regarding this statement. This confusion is somewhat related to the confusion regarding the correct numbering of the Ten Commandments.

In chapter 3 of our free booklet, “The Ten Commandments,” we say the following about the different ways in which people have been numbering the Ten Commandments:

“There is… much disagreement as to HOW to number the Ten Commandments…  It was Augustine, a Catholic bishop of Hippo in North Africa, who, in the fourth century, combined the First and the Second Commandment as ONE commandment… In order to reach the number ten, he divided the last or the TENTH Commandment into two… the reason Augustine renumbered the Ten Commandments (by counting the First and the Second Commandment as just one commandment) was a strictly ‘political’ one. It was done for the purpose of allowing the worship of images and statues as part of the worship of God. But… THAT is EXACTLY what the Second Commandment prohibits. While the First Commandment prohibits the worship of anything else BUT God, the Second Commandment prohibits the worship of statues in connection with the worship of God…

“Augustine’s renumbering of the Ten Commandments, which has been adopted today by so many professing Christians, is in DIRECT CONTRADICTION to God’s inspired Word!…”

Regarding the connection between the numbering of the Ten Commandments and the question as to which commandments were written on each of the two tablets,  Rienecker, Lexikon zur Bibel, “Gebote, Zehn,” points out on page 439:

“Nothing is said about the size of the tablets with the words which were written on both sides; however, we know from findings that 2 tablets not yet 10 cm high would have been enough to include the text. … Philo, Josephus, the Talmud, Irenäus and others were of the opinion that each tablet contained 5 commandments, later the border was placed behind the 4th commandment … Corresponding to the different numbering, the tablets for Augustine contained 3 and 7, for Calvin 4 and 6 commandments…. However, [for the Sabbath commandment], only the words of Exodus 20 [not the words of the version of Deuteronomy 5] were written on the tablets.”

The reason for Calvin’s decision to place the first four commandments on one tablet, and the last six on the other tablet, was that the first four commandments, correctly numbered, describe our relationship with God, while the last six commandments describe our relationship with our neighbor. But as we saw, this division, as far as the two tablets is concerned, came rather late (under Calvin), while originally, each tablet was thought of containing five commandments.

The question then arises as to what is meant, precisely, with the statement that the “tablets were written on both sides, on the one side and on the other.”

Friedman, Commentary on the Bible, p. 282, writes:

“Does this mean: written on both tablets? Or written on both the front and the back of each tablet? The former seems too obvious to require this mention: of course it is written on both sides; otherwise, why have two tablets? So the point is precisely that they are written on both sides of each tablet. For pictural purposes (in art and film), it is preferable to put the commandments all on the same side of each tablet, but the text suggests otherwise. And we know of numerous ancient royal inscriptions and statues that were written on both sides, front and back.”Gill’s Exposition of the Bible adds:

“… the letters were written on both their sides, on the one side and on the other were they written; some think that the engraving of the letters was such, that it went through the stones, and in a miraculous manner the letters and lines were in a regular order, and might be read on the other sides… others think that the letters were written both within and without, like Ezekiel’s book of woes; that the same that was within side was written without, that so, when held up, they might be read by those that stood before and those that stood behind; but rather so it was that the whole was written within, some of the commands on the right, and some on the left, and so the tables [sic] might be clapped together as a book is folded.”

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary agrees with the last suggestion, saying:

“[God] wrote the ten commandments on these tables [sic], on both their sides, some on one table [sic] and some on the other, so that they were folded together like a book, to be deposited in the ark.”

However, this explanation does not seem to correspond with the plain text of Exodus 32:15, as quoted above.

Accordingly, Adam Clarke’s Commentary writes the following:

“‘The tables [sic] were written on both their sides’ — If we take this literally, it was certainly a very unusual thing; for in ancient times the two sides of the same substance were never written over. However, some [rabbis] suppose that by the ‘writing on both sides’ is meant the letters were ‘cut through’  the tables [sic], so that they might be read on both sides, though on one side they would appear reversed… We may conceive the tables [sic] of stone to have been thin slabs or a kind of slate, and the writing on the back side to have been a continuation of that on the front, the first not being sufficient to contain the whole… Or the same words were written on both sides, so that when held up, two parties might read at the same time.”

Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible seems to agree, elaborating:

“… therefore, lest men should annex anything of their own inventions, God filled both sides, so that nothing remained unwritten upon.”

Further comments can be found on the Internet, as follows:

“The question arises whether the commandments were divided between the tablets (as has generally been assumed) or whether the two tablets were identical copies of all Ten Commandments… since it was conventional to make duplicate copies of the treaty document for the suzerain and vassal respectively, and it is arguable that the sanctuary would be the appropriate place to deposit both the copy for God and that for the people.

“However, while it would make good sense to make duplicate copies and keep them in separate places for security, making duplicates and then keeping them in the same place (which is clearly what happened, if they were indeed duplicates) seems to be a rather [strange] procedure. Moreover, while it would be logical to keep God’s copy in the ark, and thus in the most holy place, keeping the people’s copy there as well would make it inaccessible to them and of little practical use. It would seem more probable that the pair of tablets kept in the ark were viewed as God’s copy of the covenant, and that one or more accessible copies were made for reference by the people and their leaders…

“The OT itself does not give any indication whether the two tablets were thought of as identical copies, or whether the material was divided between the two…”

As we can see, we cannot be sure as to what is meant with the statement in Exodus 32:15. What we do know is that God gave us Ten Commandments which He Himself wrote on two tablets of stone; and that the first four commandments regulate our worship of God, while the last six address our relationship with our neighbor.

It appears however that the two tablets did not just contain four or five commandments on their front side, while nothing was written on the back of the tablets (but so Matthew Poole’s Commentary, without explanation), as it says that the two tablets were written “on both sides, on the one side and on the other they were written.” The Authorized Version says: “…the tablets were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.” So also the JPS Tanakh 1917 rendition. The New International Version says, “…they were inscribed on both sides, front and back.” The revised Luther Bible 2017 says: “…die waren beschrieben auf beiden Seiten, vorn und hinten waren sie beschrieben.“ [“…they were written on both sides, they were written on the front and back.”] So the Neue Lutherbibel 2009; the Schlachter Bibel; the Elberfelder Bibel; the Zürcher Bibel; and the Menge Bibel.

Beyond this, insofar as the precise way is concerned in which the Ten Commandments appeared on the two tablets of stone, we are left to a large extent with assumptions, imaginations and speculations.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

“Sterbehilfe – ist sie bei Gott erlaubt?”, the sermonette presented last Sabbath in German by Jens Herrmann, is now posted. Title in English: “Euthanasia – Is It Permitted by God?”

“Stepping Into The Ring,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Kalon Mitchell, is now posted. Here is a summary:

As Christians we have to fight. We have to choose with what attitude we are going to face the never ending battles. It is never easy to spend time in the ring, but it is absolutely essential in our growth.

“The Two Trees in the Garden of Eden,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden (Paradise) which had two special trees—the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. While the LORD (Jesus Christ) told them that they could eat freely of the Tree of Life, He ordered them not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why? When they disobeyed, they hid from God. Why? Because of their sin, God did not allow them any longer to eat from the Tree of Life. Why? What did these trees stand for? Are the principles, symbolized by those two trees, still applicable to us today? What kind of a world would we have today if Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Life? Why is there a Tree of Life in heaven? And what do we know about the existence of Paradise in heaven long before the creation of man?

On November 13, 2021, Kalon Mitchell will present the sermonette, titled, “Stepping Into the Ring,” and Norbert Link will present the sermon, titled, “The Two Trees in the Garden of Eden.”

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.

People don’t like to think. The reasons why are not surprising when we consider what it takes to actively engage the mind. Thinking takes work, time, energy, concentration, and can even cause a modest amount of discomfort. I believe that we can all relate to some degree that it is often easier to find reasons to do anything else but think when we are faced with the need to think. Thinking is simply hard to do.

Knowing that it is difficult for people to actively engage their minds in mental exertion, we can see why people would rather believe in something “simple” even though it is wrong, rather than do the work of asking questions and seeking out the answers. It is more comfortable to believe in a simple explanation because it doesn’t require thinking.

However, quite often simple explanations focus only on a limited point of view, and reject anything that challenges such an explanation. Oversimplified explanations often get in the way of understanding the whole truth of a matter. This oversimplification is reductionism. Reductionist explanations sound good, but can be very misleading to people when a deeper understanding is needed.

Reductionist explanations can do great damage when applied in situations when more completeness is necessary. For example, if we believe that all we need to do to maintain a car is to put fuel in the gas tank, it won’t be long before no amount of gas will make it go. It is true that a car requires gasoline, but relying on an overly simplified solution that “for cars to function, they need gas” doesn’t paint the whole picture. We often need to consider more information when looking to understand how things work.

When we look at secular so-called Christianity today, it is easy to recognize reductionist reasoning in effect. People will hang all of their beliefs on a handful of Scriptures and ignore the others that contradict their belief without even realizing it. People can read over Scriptures, passages, chapters, and books in the Bible without taking the time to think about what the words mean, because thinking is hard work. For example, it is common for nominal Christians to quote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” and stop there. It is appealing to read one Scripture and build an entire body of doctrine around it. Taken alone, one would think that all a person has to do is believe in Jesus Christ to have everlasting life. Yet people don’t ask what it means to believe in Christ. As we know, there is a lot more to becoming a fully converted Christian than a mere belief in the existence of Jesus. But asking questions that challenge such an appealing and simple belief structure is inconvenient.

Of course, we cannot place all of the blame on people who don’t take the time to think about the teachings of the Bible. Not everyone is called in this age to understand the Truth. God calls whom He will today, which excludes the vast majority (compare John 6:44-45, John 6:65). However, the warning of falling into the trap of reductionist explanations applies even to converted members, and gravely so. If we choose to pass too quickly over the teachings of the Bible and the Church, through God’s ministry, without taking the time to make sure we understand why those teachings are true, we place ourselves in a slippery place. Developing our understanding of the Truth that will lead us to salvation requires searching the Scriptures for more collaborating evidence, not reducing explanations to less.

Developing our understanding of the Truth requires the entire Bible. You don’t need to take my word for it either! The Word of God expresses this instruction with great clarity. In Jesus Christ’s response to the temptation of Satan, He said, “… ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”’” (Matthew 4:4). We must take this to mean that all of the words of the Bible are there for us to use, and not ignore when the teachings are inconvenient to us, or when we might not yet understand what we learn. By using the entire Bible to help us build a complete understanding of the Truth, without corrupting it with the bias of our carnal nature, we will grow spiritually. But it takes some work to do it. “… For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:9-10).

Whether it is easy for us or not, it takes work to think and ask questions about what we learn if we want to develop our spiritual understanding. It is undoubtedly hard work to do. But we didn’t answer our calling from God because it would be an easy path for us. We answered our calling out of love for the Truth, knowing that this is the better way to live. We can be reassured that the work is worth the effort when we consider the instruction of Jesus Christ, “‘Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it’” (Matthew 7:13-14).

by Norbert Link

We begin with interesting developments in America’s legal system regarding the highly contentious vaccination mandate which the Biden administration wants to impose on over 100 million Americans; address the hotly debated issue of vaccinations for very young children; speak on America’s and the entire world’s swift march into totalitarianism; and list examples of highly embarrassing conduct or comments by America’s president.

We point out questionable conduct by the FBI and Biden’s alleged conflict of interest; address the new infrastructure bill of over 1 trillion dollars which may not be as it appears; and another contemplated tax-and-spending package of over 2 trillion dollars, which, if adopted, would send America further into the dark abyss of the ever-rising national debt.  We also speak on America’s economy and its latest unemployment numbers, which, again, are not as good as many would like or represent them to be.

We also address rising tensions between the USA and Israel; and Israel’s preparation for the Temple service and the building of the Temple, as well as the “anointing” of the coming “Messiah.” In this regard, please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “A False Messiah in the Temple of God?” 

Turning to Europe, we speak on the border crisis between Poland and Belarus; speculations about France’s temporary leadership of Europe; Germany’s increased worldwide military involvement;  the relationship between the EU and Ethiopia; Austria’s new dictatorial  measures; thoughts on why Hitler did not invade the UK; the fight for UK’s fishery; and some ridiculous comments by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

We conclude with attempts to create “meat” without animals; and Donald Trump’s apparent inability to keep quiet when he should.

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

Huge Setback for Biden’s Vaccine Mandate… for Now!

Deutsche Welle wrote on November 7:

“A US federal appeals court on Saturday issued a [temporary] stay on a decision by US President Joe Biden’s administration requiring tens of millions of Americans to be either vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID. Saturday’s ruling followed a backlash from conservative Republicans, who had vowed to overturn the rule. At least 27 states filed lawsuits challenging the requirement…

“The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals cited  ‘grave statutory and constitutional’ issues with the vaccine requirement. Louisiana Attorney General Landry said the action stops President Joe Biden ‘from moving forward with his unlawful overreach… The president will not impose medical procedures on the American people without the checks and balances afforded by the constitution,’ Landry said in a statement…

“The Biden administration is also being sued by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis… over rules requiring employees of federal contractors to be vaccinated.”

Breitbart added on November 6:

“The ruling does not create legal precedent, but it is an important victory for challengers as it could signal which way the court would go on the merits as the case moves forward…

“In a final item that bodes ill for the Biden administration, the panel of the New Orleans-based appeals court wrote that all future cases, appeals, motions, and petitions on this issue in that jurisdiction shall be assigned to that same three-judge panel under this docket number. The judges are Edith Jones – an appointee of President Ronald Reagan and one of the most respected and brilliant conservative federal appeals judges in the nation, and Kyle Duncan and Kurt Engelhardt, both appointed by President Donald Trump.”

Lawsuits Galore

The Associated Press reported on November 5:

“Attorneys general in 11 states filed suit Friday against President Joe Biden’s administration, challenging a new vaccine requirement for workers at companies with more than 100 employees. The lawsuit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government…

“Missouri was joined in the lawsuit by the Republican attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat, also joined in the suit, along with several private, nonprofit, and religious employers.

“The Daily Wire, a conservative media company, filed a challenge in federal court on Thursday. So did companies in Michigan and Ohio represented by a conservative advocacy law firm.”

With all these pending lawsuits and the Biden administration’s position that federal law supersedes state law in this case, the Supreme Court will surely have to get involved. What the divided Supreme Court will decide is anyone’s guess. In addition, as the next article shows, there are many states, run by Democrats, which enforce OSHA regulations, showing the existence of totalitarian rule in America. We include in this edition numerous articles which point out this troublesome fact.

What the New Biden Mandate Would Do

 The Associated Press wrote on November 5:

“The Biden administration’s sweeping new COVID-19 mandate will apply to 84 million workers at mid-size and large companies… A separate rule requires workers at health care facilities that receive federal Medicare and Medicaid payments to be vaccinated. This rule, from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will apply to 17 million workers at 76,000 health care facilities, including hospitals and long-term care facilities…

“Employers must give workers paid time off to be vaccinated and to recover from any side effects. Vaccinations will be paid for by the federal government, though employees may have to pay for testing… OSHA says it will enforce the new rules… by relying largely on whistleblower complaints and some limited spot checks… The agency said it will work with companies to have employees vaccinated but would fine them up to $13,653 for each violation. Companies must collect proof of employee vaccinations and keep records. And employers must prove that unvaccinated employees have taken tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and that the tests are properly administered…

“The rules do not apply to employees who work alone, at home or outdoors. In addition, workers may apply for religious or medical exemptions. Nicholas Hulse, an employment lawyer at Fisher & Phillips LLC, noted that companies that have issued their own vaccine mandates are already being deluged with requests to be excused from vaccine requirements. Normally, Hulse said, religious exemption requests are straightforward: Someone, say, requests Sundays off to attend church or observe a day of rest. Now, he said, it will be ‘difficult to tell if (anti-vaccine) beliefs are sincerely held, or are they just trying to use religion to get an accommodation?’…

“In 28 states and U.S. territories that enforce OSHA regulations, the new rule will cover both public and private employers. These states and territories are:

“Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming. In the remaining states and territories, public employees are not covered by the new mandate.

“…A Kaiser Family Foundation survey last month found that 37% of unvaccinated workers say they would leave their job if they were required to get jabbed or submit to weekly tests — a figure that rises to 70% if testing isn’t an option…

“Only 10 times has OSHA issued an emergency rule, which allows it to bypass normal administrative procedures, including the need to seek public comment. Until it issued an emergency rule in June covering COVID risks in the health care industry, it hadn’t done so in 38 years. And no wonder: The courts have overturned four emergency rules and partially blocked a fifth, according to a review by the Congressional Research Service. To fast-track its rules, the agency must show that it’s acting to protect workers from a ‘grave danger.’”

This approach by the Biden administration constitutes dictatorship to the extreme, no matter how courts will decide the issue. And this might not be all.

Breitbart wrote on November 4:

“The Biden-Harris administration on Thursday is weighing if they should expand the vaccine mandate for companies employing fewer than 100 employees… [OSHA] is ‘seeking comment to help the agency’ determine if smaller employers with fewer than 100 employees can implement a coronavirus vaccine mandate ‘without undue disruption.’”

And now, the Biden administration is even going after the children. Note the next article.

Vaccinating Young Children against Corona?

WND News Center wrote on November 3:

“A former surgeon at the John Hopkins Children’s Center is describing the Biden administration’s move to vaccinate young children for COVID-19 as a ‘giant experiment’, arguing there is no sufficient data to determine the long-term risks posed by the shots. ‘Do we want to put our children at risk, when we know that the risk of the disease to them is relatively small, but we don’t know what the future risks are? Why would we do a thing like that? It makes no sense whatsoever,’ said Dr. Ben Carson in a Sunday interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

“Carson, renowned for his innovative surgeries to save the lives of children, is former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. He previously served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump administration. Bartiromo asked Carson whether or not young children should receive the COVID-19 vaccine. ‘Absolutely not,’ he replied… Carson also pointed to studies showing natural immunity ‘is very, very effective.’

“Dr. Carson is supported in his opposition to child injections for COVID-19, with other health experts voicing their opinions on the matter. Dr. Martin Kulldorf, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, member of FDA and CDC scientific advisory committees stated: ‘I don’t think children should be vaccinated for COVID… COVID is not a huge threat to children.’

“Dr. Harvey Risch, professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine, had a clear vision of what he would do if schools mandate the vaccine. ‘If the child has chronic conditions that make their risk appreciable, then there is reason that they should be considered for vaccination. Other than that, if it were my child, I would (remove them from public school and) homeschool them,’ he stated.

“Meanwhile, Dr. Sunetra Gupta, infectious disease epidemiologist and professor of theoretical epidemiology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, argued against injecting children, who were ‘unlikely to benefit’ from such an intervention…

“Dr. Robert Malone, virologist and immunologist known for his work developing mRNA vaccine technology, declared ‘There is absolutely no scientific or medical justification for vaccinating children, in my opinion.’”

KUSI San Diego reported on November 3:

“The CDC recommended the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 years old on Tuesday, following the FDA’s authorization of its use for those in that age group.

“Dr. Kelly Victory, Emergency Medicine and Disaster Specialist, joined KUSI’s Ginger Jeffries on Good Evening San Diego to discuss what parents should consider before giving their children a COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Victory described that the risk of the vaccine far outweigh the risks of [not] vaccinating children with a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Parents should research this issue very carefully.

America’s Totalitarianism… Much Worse Than Imagined

The Ron Paul Institute republished an article by Children’s Health Defense, dated November 7:

“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. last month delivered a speech at the 2021 Ron Paul Institute ‘Pandemic and the Road to Totalitarianism’ conference. In his speech — described by the Ron Paul Institute as ‘a compelling indictment of the mad push to total control’ — Kennedy said the techniques used by government officials during the COVID pandemic to ‘edge people into subservience’ come straight out of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) manuals he researched for his book, ‘American Values.’…

“Kennedy described a recent simulation, Event 201, a pandemic ‘tabletop exercise’ that simulated a global pandemic nearly identical to COVID. The event took place in October 2019 at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security, facilitated the simulation. Bill Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, global health officers and people from social media groups, large pharmaceutical companies and global corporations attended or sent representatives.

“Kennedy said: ‘…They were simulating a pandemic, but they weren’t simulating a medical response to that pandemic. They were simulating a militarized response. How do you use that pandemic to, particularly in that Event 201, to impose censorship globally? And that’s what they were modeling.’

“Describing CIA operations and organized mind control programs at top universities… Kennedy said the same techniques are used in today’s lockdowns: ‘The most potent technique,,, was isolation … And they did this in sensory deprivation tanks … and also just locking people in solitary confinement. You can get [people] to do almost anything you want after a certain period of time. It will drive them mad… If a government can hide what it’s doing by censoring its opponents and silencing dissonants, it has license to do anything that it wants,’ Kennedy said.

“He said what happens when you have a population of fear, ‘you have the complete obliteration of critical thinking, and then people stop asking questions.’

“Kennedy described how the rules and regulations handed down during the pandemic have been manipulated to [the] point where no one recognizes the country as a democracy anymore. ‘So there are all these democratic protections that were waived… All of these things were imposed upon us by fiat — with no discussion, no science cited.’

“Kennedy cited parallels in books he’s read by George Orwell and science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein, with what he sees all over the civilized world… ‘what’s happening now is this lockstep imposition of totalitarian controls — not just in America, but in every one of the liberal democracies in the world, and all of the other countries in the world. ‘China moved into Hong Kong and banned the last democratic newspaper. Everywhere in the world, we see democracy and constitutional rights disappearing. And it all happened at once, as if it was planned.’…”

It is planned indeed by none other than Satan, the god and ruler of this world.

Joe Biden’s Presidency… Scary!

The New York Post wrote on November 4:

“President Joe Biden ‘may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department,’ the ACLU said, after [he] angrily called a report that Justice would give $450,000-per-person payoffs to illegal immigrant families separated at the border ‘garbage.’…

“So either: 1) Biden is unaware of the deal and the progressives that dictate all policy through Chief of Staff Rob Klain are doing it on their own. 2) Biden is lying. 3) Biden was told and forgot.

“All of these scenarios seem plausible; none inspire confidence in this president. Scary…”

Biden’s selective memory and his outright lies have been the topic of much discussion recently. Note the next articles.

Biden’s flip-flops

APP reported on November 6:

“US President Joe Biden said Saturday he supported compensation for families of immigrants separated from their children at the Mexican border under the ‘zero tolerance’ policy of Donald Trump… The US departments of Justice and Homeland Security have been negotiating with affected families who have sued the government, the Wall Street Journal reported in late October. It said payments could run as high as $450,000.

“Asked about that report on Wednesday, Biden said it was ‘garbage’… A White House spokesperson… later clarified that… Biden was ‘perfectly comfortable” with the idea of compensation’…”

Biden’s flip-flops are more than just embarrassing. What a terrible message of incompetence and ignorance is being given to America’s friends and enemies!

The White House and the left-wing mass media later tried to spin it (what else is new?) in saying that Biden was just objecting to the figure of $450,000. But that was NOT what Biden was asked and what he responded to.

Biden clearly not in charge

Fox News reported on November 6:

“Biden claimed he would be in ‘real trouble’ for taking another question from the press Saturday following remarks about the passage of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill… The president has a history of saying he will be in hot water with his staff for taking media questions… In April, the president again claimed he would be ‘in trouble’ if he continued to take questions from reporters after speaking about new federal health guidelines for mask wearing for vaccinated and non-vaccinated Americans…

“Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki has also said that Biden taking reporter questions’ is ‘not something we recommend.’“

Biden also stated repeatedly that before taking questions from reporters, he had been “instructed” as to whom to call upon. He is clearly not in charge… but who is? We are confronted with an utter picture of total confusion.

Biden and FBI in Cahoots by Illegally Raiding Homes of Journalists?

Fox News wrote on November 6:

“The FBI  raided the home of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe as part of a federal investigation into the ‘stolen’ diary of President Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden. The New York Times reported the raid took place early Saturday morning just days after the homes of two Project Veritas associates were also the subject of search warrants…

“Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett appeared on ‘Hannity’ Friday and stressed there’s a ‘huge difference’ between what Ashley Biden’s attorney has alleged that her diary was stolen versus what O’Keefe alleged about it being left behind in a room, saying ‘one’s a crime and the other one isn’t.’ ‘Project Veritas did the right thing,’ Jarrett told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. ‘They didn’t publish this because they couldn’t verify the authenticity of the documents, but the other conservative website did publish it but they claimed they did verify it. What is so bewildering about this is why in the world would the feds even [be] involved in it.’

“Jarrett insisted that even if the diary was the subject of a theft, it would be a ‘state crime’ rather than a federal crime and that the investigation, which allegedly began under Attorney General William Barr, has become an ‘enormous conflict of interest’ with President Biden now in office. ‘A journalist cannot be criminally prosecuted for publishing stolen material unless the journalist himself or herself is involved in the theft. There’s no indication of that,’ Jarrett said. ‘And the same is true of leaked classified information. Journalists have never been prosecuted for that, although the leakers have when they’re identified.. [This story is] deeply troubling. They would barge into the homes of two journalists armed with a search warrant signed off by a federal judge and the Department of Justice, presided over by Joe Biden, this smacks of a political investigation and potential prosecution.’”

Whatever happened to the FBI’s investigation of the alleged criminal acts by Biden’s son Hunter, with the alleged knowledge and/or collaboration of Joe Biden?

House Passes Infrastructure Bill

The Washington Post wrote on November 5:

“House lawmakers late Friday adopted a roughly $1.2 trillion measure to improve the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections… The bipartisan 228-to-206 vote… proved littered with political conflict, pushing to the limits a fractious party with still-widening ideological fissures. Democrats initially hoped to approve the infrastructure bill on Friday along with a separate, roughly $2 trillion proposal [the ‘Build Back Better Act,’] to overhaul the nation’s health care, education, immigration, climate and tax laws. Doing so would have advanced two spending initiatives that have been stalled on Capitol Hill for months.

“Instead, House Democrats started only to debate, but did not finalize, the $2 trillion tax-and-spending package. Facing new delays, that bill remained bogged down in the broader war between liberals, who are eager to spend now that they are in the majority, and moderates, who continue to question the fiscal impacts of the bill.

“In the end, it was a bipartisan coalition of Democrats with the aid of 13 Republicans that helped propel the infrastructure proposal to passage… The bill includes more than $110 billion to replace and repair roads, bridges and highways, and $66 billion to boost rail, making it the most substantial such investment in the country’s passenger and commercial network since the creation of Amtrak about half a century ago. Lawmakers provided $55 billion to improve the nation’s water supply and replace lead pipes, $60 billion to modernize the power grid and billions in additional sums to expand speedy Internet access nationwide.

“Many of the investments aim to promote green energy and combat some of the country’s worst sources of pollution. At Biden’s behest, for example, lawmakers approved $7.5 billion to build out a national network of vehicle charging stations… the package also allocates another roughly $50 billion to respond to emergencies including droughts, wildfires and major storms.

“… Democrats ultimately worked out an arrangement that allowed for the adoption of the infrastructure bill in exchange for a pledge from moderates that they would hold a vote on the other spending package [the’ Build Back Better Act’] by Nov. 15, providing the spending plan does not add to the deficit, as Democrats have promised… Still, the arrangement did not satisfy the entire party: Six left-leaning Democrats…  ultimately voted against the measure…

“To be sure, the final bill is far less than what the White House initially sought. And lawmakers jettisoned some of Biden’s plans to pay for the package, which he initially had hoped to finance through tax increases on wealthy Americans and corporations — unwinding the tax cuts enacted under Trump in 2017. Instead, Congress relied on a pastiche of mechanisms that experts predict may not raise as much as some lawmakers say, including new reporting requirements on cryptocurrency that could be subject to legal challenge….”

The Guardian wrote on November 6:

“Progress on Biden’s agenda comes at a particularly difficult moment for the president. His approval ratings have slumped amid concerns over rising inflation, an unshakable pandemic and a harried withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden departed for a pair of international summits without securing progress on domestic agenda, only to be met upon his return by news of his party’s poor showing in races across the country on Tuesday.

“In Virginia, a state he won by 10 points in 2020, Republicans won the governor’s race, and came much closer than expected to denying the Democratic governor of New Jersey a second term. The grim results helped jolt Democrats into action on Capitol Hill, where leaders hope enacting their ambitious agenda will help the party regain momentum and improve their electoral prospects ahead of next year’s midterm elections….”

So it’s all for votes? It has been pointed out that the Infrastructure Bill does little, if anything, for the average American who is struggling with having to pay for astronomically high gas prices and groceries. Also, the Damocles sword of the increasing national debt, which can never be repaid, is hanging over America. This is not even addressing the second contemplated bill—the tax-and-spending package called the Build Back Better Act—which would cost another 2+ trillion Dollars. The claim by Democrats that this would not add to the national deficit is just ludicrous.

America’s situation is hopeless. It will take the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of a righteous and sane government to clear up the mess.

“U.S. Economy added 531,000 Jobs in October”

This headline, as quoted above from Breitbart, does not tell the whole story.  Note the article by CNS News on November 5:

“The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday that 100,450,000 people in this country were not in the labor force in October, up 38,000 from the 100,412,000 in September… Persons who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force. This category includes retired persons, students, those taking care of children or other family members, and others who are neither working nor seeking work.

“Among those not in the labor force in October, 1.3 million persons said they were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic… In October, 3.8 million persons reported that they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic.”

Tensions between Israel and USA on the Rise

Israel 365 wrote on November 8:

“Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, formerly political opponents, closed ranks to oppose the Biden administration’s plan to open a consulate to the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem… ‘There is no place for an American consulate that serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem,’ Bennett said… ‘Jerusalem is the capital of Israel alone.’… emphasizing that ‘sovereignty in Jerusalem belongs to one country — Israel.’

“The issue of the consulate is just one piece in the growing divide between the current White House administration and Israel. Just two weeks ago, the State Department rebuked Israel for branding six NGOs as terror groups after it was discovered they had deep ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Israel claims that it has proof that while claiming to serve humanitarian functions, the organizations in fact funneled foreign funds to the terrorist organization.

“At the same time, the State Department condemned Israel for its recently published plans to allow Jews to build several housing units in Judea and Samaria, a region the Biden administration would like to reserve for a Palestinian state that is ethnically cleansed of Jews.

“Another rift is the efforts by the Biden administration to reinstate… the Iran nuclear deal… Nikki Haley, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations warned that Israel should not rely on the US to protect its security interests regarding Iran.  ‘If Israel makes the grave decision that its security depends on removing that threat, it should not wait for an American green light… If a politician supports the disastrous Iran deal, opposes moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, and is embraced by anti-Semites who support the [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement, then a pro-Israel group should have absolutely nothing to do with him or her.’”

Strong words, and really frightening developments.

Anointing Oil and a New Temple in Jerusalem

Israel 365 wrote on November 8:

 “The Sanhedrin is moving forward to prepare enough [special oil] to anoint the Messiah from the House of David who, when he returns, will rule over Israel in the Messianic era.

“Rabbi Hillel Weiss, the spokesman for the Sanhedrin…  emphasized that a Kohen Gadol (High Priest) and Temple utensils will be anointed when the Temple service begins, which does not need an actual Temple structure, only an altar… ‘We are now entering the time when the preparations for the Temple are almost complete,’ Rabbi Weiss said. ‘Now is the time for people to act, to show whether they will be part of the Temple or stand against the reappearance of God’s house in Jerusalem.’”

Also, daily animal sacrifices may begin in Jerusalem before a Temple is built, but the Temple will exist when the man of sin and lawlessness will occupy it, sitting in God’s Temple and proclaiming that he is God—perhaps saying that he is Jesus Christ who, he might claim, has returned. It is interesting in that context that Rabbi Weiss also announced that special oil is being prepared for the anointing of the returning Messiah. Of course, the real Messiah, Jesus Christ, will not be anointed by human beings… but a false Messiah might be. Further, most Jews do not believe in Christ as being the Messiah.

Crisis at Belarus-Poland Border

The Guardian wrote on November 10:

“The [outgoing] German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has asked Vladimir Putin to intervene in the crisis on the Belarus-Poland border… In a phone call, Merkel told Putin that the ‘use of migrants by the Belarusian regime was inhuman and unacceptable and asked [Putin] to influence the regime in Minsk’, said the chancellor’s spokesperson, Steffen Seibert. The conversation came hours after Poland’s prime minister accused Putin of ‘masterminding’ the crisis on Belarus’s border with the EU… Russia has denied any involvement and blamed Europe [Deutsche Welle added in this regard on November 10 that Russia and Belarus blame the EU and Poland “for refusing to help potential asylum seekers…, with large groups of migrants stuck on the border in dropping temperatures. Between 2,000 and 4,000 migrants, reported to be mostly Kurds, have set up a camp near the barrier after failing to break through the fence on Monday.”]

“Poland and Lithuania have declared a state of emergency on their borders with Belarus, where Lukashenko has been accused of ferrying asylum seekers from the Middle East to the EU’s borders as revenge for the bloc’s criticism of his crackdown on opposition… Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki… said Putin was determined to ‘rebuild the Russian empire’ and called the crisis at the border ‘a new kind of war, in which people are used as living shields’… Moscow has been an increasingly crucial ally for Belarus in the past year, backing Lukashenko after his brutal crackdown on protests and after his grounding of a Ryanair flight in May that set off a fresh round of sanctions and pushed Minsk further into isolation.

“EU countries have threatened new sanctions and accused Lukashenko of ‘human trafficking’ and ‘gangster-style’ tactics.”

Belarus or White Russia will continue to work with Russia against Europe. Ultimately, Ukraine will join Russia in that fight.

Europe’s Future?

The Economist wrote on November 8:

“The EU is divided when it comes to defence… A French-led summit on defence in the first half of 2022, with the European Commission as a cheerleader, will put the topic front and centre. Deciding how to treat America will be the main bone of contention. For France, America is an unreliable friend that ditches allies without warning in Afghanistan and snatches submarine contracts. For Poland and its eastern friends it is the only viable bulwark against Russian aggression…

“France will cement its role as the EU’s most influential government. Angela Merkel’s departure leaves a power vacuum at the top, which the French will happily try to fill. France has the rotating presidency of the EU for the first six months of the year, allowing it to shape the legislative agenda of the bloc…

“A test of French influence will be in the coming reforms to the Stability and Growth Pact. Resetting the rules, which dictate how much governments can spend, will be the main fiscal battle of 2022. France, Italy and Spain have long called for a loosening. Germany and the Netherlands insist things work perfectly well as they are. Sorting out the spending rules will be the most consequential decision taken by EU leaders in 2022…  the pact has provided neither stability nor growth: wide gaps in growth rates have emerged between northern and southern Europe in the past two decades, along with a subsequent political backlash. The EU gains its power from its economic clout…”

France might “lead” Europe for a short while… But it will be Germany which will ultimately lead. A united Europe is also described in the book of Revelation and elsewhere as an extremely rich economic power.

Germany’s Increased Military Involvement

Defense News wrote on November 5:

“The German Air Force is preparing to… deploy six Eurofighter aircraft, three Airbus A330 tankers and three A400M transport aircraft in support of Australia’s Pitch Black exercise, scheduled for Sept. 5-23, 2022… Germany is ready to play a bigger role in the Indo-Pacific region… This is the Air Force’s ‘first and biggest deployment’ of air assets to the Asia-Pacific region…

“This air deployment would follow the August 2021 deployment of the German Navy frigate Bayern. The ship is to spend six months at sea, with stops planned in 12 different ports including in Djibouti, Karachi, Diego Garcia, Perth, Guam, Tokyo and Shanghai. However, news outlet Deutsche Welle reported in September that China rejected the planned Shanghai stopover ‘after a period of reflection.’”

Joint European Military Force by Core Members Only?

 The Telegraph wrote on November 10:

“The European Union is considering controversial plans to allow the bloc to deploy a joint military force without the unanimous support of all its member states. Removing the need for unanimity would stop a country blocking the rapid reaction force of 5,000 troops from being sent to crisis situations independently of Washington and Nato… ‘Europe cannot afford to be a bystander in a world order that is mainly shaped by others,’ a draft of the document obtained by The Telegraph, said.

“[Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief] told a group of European newspapers smaller groups of member states could take joint action and ‘we cannot decide by unanimity every step of the process… Europe is in danger… All the threats we face are intensifying and the capacity of individual member states to cope is insufficient and declining.’… Brussels and Germany have long called for member states to be stripped of their effective veto on foreign policy such as EU sanctions so that the bloc can react more quickly to geopolitical challenges.”

EU and Ethiopia

Euractiv wrote on November 5:

“The EU is prepared to issue sanctions against those responsible for the war and humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray province, EU officials confirmed…

“A sanctions’ regime signed by US President Joe Biden covering those responsible for prolonging the conflict in northern Ethiopia, human rights abuses and obstruction of humanitarian access is now about to be implemented. Officials say it will include travel bans and asset freezes on ministers, military commanders and regional authorities, as well as restrictions on aid and assistance and prohibition of arms sales to either Eritrea or Ethiopia.

“In the meantime, the EU will continue to supply humanitarian aid, despite continued difficulties in aid reaching those in need… More than 400,000 people are estimated to be living in famine conditions in Tigray… and a hundred trucks are needed daily to provide critical humanitarian needs….

“The recent escalation of fighting in the Amhara region and the military advances of the TPLF and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), as well as aerial bombardment by the Ethiopian Airforce of Mekelle, the main town in Tigray, threaten to make the war a truly national conflict. The European Union has already responded to the blockade of Tigray by blocking $107 million in budget support…”

Ultimately, Europe and Ethiopia might find themselves involved in a military confrontation.

Austria’s Newest Dictatorial Measures

Deutsche Welle wrote on November 6:

“Starting Monday, Austria will ban unvaccinated patrons from entering cafes, restaurants and large events… Under new rules that go into effect nationwide on Monday, those who cannot provide proof of full vaccination will not be allowed to enter places like restaurants, bars and hairdressers.

“Unvaccinated people will also be barred from hotels, events with more than 25 people and ski lifts… ‘We’re going to have to tighten the reins on the unvaccinated,’ Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said…”

Especially Austria should be careful with dictatorial rule in light of their unpleasant history under Hitler.

Why Hitler Did not Invade the UK

Express wrote on November 5:

“Hitler completed the German invasion of France in June 1940 after British forces withdrew from Europe and evacuated from Dunkirk. After France fell to the Nazis, German air raids were then carried out across Britain from July 1940. The Royal Air Force eventually won the Battle of Britain, which resulted in the extension of World War 2 and the eventual defeat of Germany.

“However, after the invasion of France, the German leader also began plotting the invasion of England in July 1940… Germany never carried out the invasion of Britain and by 1941 the idea had been taken off the table..

“Files from German General Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus have been preserved in a Russian archive. Paulus, who had only recently been promoted to General, surrendered to the Soviet Union as he led an offensive on Stalingrad in 1943. While a Soviet prisoner of war, in 1946 he provided a detailed account of the Nazis’ plans to invade England…

“Friedrich Paulus cited four points as reasons for the permanent postponement: firstly, the risk of a ‘loss of prestige’ if the invasion had failed… Second, the hope that the mere threat of submarines and bombing would make Britain want peace. Thirdly, the… calculation of ‘not hurting the enemy’ in order to be able to forge an alliance later. Fourth, Hitler’s clear intention to attack the USSR since the summer of 1940.

“… Paulus… was one of the military leaders of the empire from late 1940 to early 1942… Paulus, who was Germany’s highest-ranking prisoner of war, was interrogated at length by the Soviets.”

Some of the reasons stated above were well-known for a long time. Another reason was that Hitler considered the British people as part of the “master race,” which he did not want to obliterate. The Bible shows, however, that in the future, Britain will be invaded and destroyed by a unified European power bloc.

The Fight for UK’s Fishery

Express wrote on November 5:

“[The UK fishing industry is] ready to be sacrificed in order to get the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement across the line… This week, even as President Macron temporarily delayed his threats to impose severe sanctions on the UK, Boris [Johnson] described the issue of fishing as ‘really vanishingly unimportant’ when compared to his pet project of COP26… While protecting the sovereignty of our waters may not be as flashy as standing up and making big speeches to billionaires and other world leaders, the Conservative Party won the votes of this country with promises to ‘Get Brexit Done’ and to protect our fishing industry…

“If for a moment Macron feels French interests are not being given top priority, he will resurrect threats of trade tariffs and cuts to energy supplies, regardless of what is agreed in any ongoing talks, especially as we get nearer to the French Presidential elections next year. It is clear, President Macron does not believe Boris Johnson cares enough about UK fishermen to take drastic action… The current attitude of simply trying to sweep problems under the carpet will not work, and the PM’s failure to keep his promises to the UK fishing industry will not be forgotten…

“For example, it’s about time the UK makes the payment of the so-called ‘Divorce Bill’ conditional on the resolution of fishing talks and the end to French threats? In 2021 alone we are set to send £7 billion to the EU, with £5 billion to follow in 2022. Why on earth should we send this money to a hostile foreign organisation which so obviously has no interest in being our true ‘friend and partner’?…”

PM Boris Johnson is acting very weakly and indecisively. He is no match for President Macron or continental Europe, and the future will prove this.

Ridiculous Comparison by Archbishop Welby

The Daily Mail wrote on November 6:

“Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has apologised for grotesquely claiming that the failure to act on climate change is worse than the failure to prevent Hitler’s murder of six million Jews.

“Britain’s ever-dwindling Christian community is crying out for a brave, compassionate leader focused on saving souls…”

The “fight” to combat climate change reaches more and more ridiculous levels.

“Real” Meat without Animals?

ABC News reported on November 5:

“Bay Area company Upside Foods opened a new lab Thursday designed to create real meat, but no animals will be present in this facility… Upside Foods says workers will take cells from animal tissue and create the meat inside their lab. They say they have a staff of 150 workers including dozens of scientists working on this type of cultivation… With their new lab, Upside Foods says the goal is to produce around 50,000 pounds of meat…

“‘The only things transported through our tubes are the cells and the meat,’ [Eric Schulze, Vice President of Product and Regulation] said. ‘Instead of growing a cow for 18 months before it hits the grocery store we can make the same meat in 14-21 days.’”

Sounds weird.

Trump Just Can’t Keep Silent

The Insider wrote on November 6:

“Former President Donald Trump baselessly claimed that Alec Baldwin might have purposefully shot crew members on the set of the movie ‘Rust.’ The  firing of a prop gun by Baldwin on set led to the death of the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injured the director, Joel Souza. ‘He’s a troubled guy. There’s something wrong with him. I’ve watched him for years. He gets into fistfights with reporters,’ Donald Trump told conservative radio host Chris Stigall in a podcast on Thursday. ‘He’s a cuckoo-bird, he’s a nutjob. And usually, when there’s somebody like that, you know, in my opinion, he had something to do with it.’

“… In the police affidavit, Baldwin said that he was told that the gun was not loaded. Trump added that he thought Baldwin had behaved irresponsibly by pointing the gun at a crewmember, whether it was loaded or not… Trump said on the podcast that if he had been handed a gun, he would first discharge it into the air to make sure it wasn’t loaded… Trump suggested that Baldwin might have loaded the gun that killed Hutchins…

“The former president went on to say that he thought Baldwin’s impersonation of him on Saturday Night Live over the years was ‘terrible’… ”

Trump seems to be unable to be silent when his silence would be called for.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

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

We should first of all realize that there are many reports from people claiming to have seen Satan face to face, while supposedly appearing to them as a man. However, the Bible indicates that Satan cannot materialize himself to the human eye.

In our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World,” we say this:

“It appears from Scripture that demons cannot materialize themselves the way that angels can. Demons cannot appear as men. They can, however, create an illusion, or an apparition that might look very real to people. Examples of those illusions would include the appearance of ‘ghosts,’ or of a ‘lady,’ claiming to be ‘Mother Mary.’

“We read in Job 4:12–16 about Eliphaz’ encounter with a spirit: ‘Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men. Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair on my body stood up. It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; then I heard a voice…’

“Eliphaz saw some kind of a form before his eyes but he could not discern the appearance of the spirit. This indicates that it was a demon, as the Bible does not show that God’s angels appear to man in such a way. It was something like an apparition—a phantasm. It was what the disciples thought they saw, too, when Jesus was walking on the water.

“Another encounter with a demon is recorded for us in 1 Samuel 28. This encounter is discussed in detail on pages 38 and 39 of our free booklet, ‘Do We Have an Immortal Soul?’  To summarize here, King Saul consulted a witch to find out his future. During a séance, the witch ‘saw’ a demon, who pretended to be the dead Samuel. Saul could not see the demon. The demon spoke through the witch to Saul. We note again that the demon did not materialize himself as a being with flesh and bones. Rather, it was an illusion.”

In another example, alluded to above, the disciples saw Jesus walking on water and were afraid, erroneously thinking it was a ghost or a spirit or an apparition (Mark 6:47-50).  They did not think at first that the incident was real, but just an illusion. In these illusions and “visions,” Satan may “appear” in the disguise of a human being, but that is not how he really looks. Likewise, Satan cannot show himself in our dreams. In that regard, please see our Q&A,

When it comes to the real appearance of Satan, he most certainly does not look as Hollywood might portray him in movies (not that we recommend ever watching these kinds of demonic horror flicks). Rather, he was created as a cherub. Known as Lucifer, he was a high-ranking angel, but he rebelled and sinned against God (Isaiah 14:12–15; Ezekiel 28:11–17). We say this in our above-mentioned booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“… before he was sent to earth, Lucifer had been trained in heaven before the very throne of God, and he had angels under his command. We read in Ezekiel 28:14 that he was the anointed cherub who covers. Recall that the cherubs covered the throne of God when God appeared to Moses in the Tabernacle. Also, we read in Ezekiel 28:14 that Lucifer was on the holy mountain of God in heaven (compare Hebrews 12:22). When he sinned by trying to ascend from this earth to heaven to dethrone God, he was cast out of the mountain of God (Ezekiel 28:16). Christ later said that He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18).”

Lucifer, who had been created as a bright morning star or lightbringer, became the prince of darkness. His whole mindset and attitude changed from love to hatred. This had undoubtedly consequences for this outward appearance. Even though he likes to appear as an angel of light, his real appearance is one of horrific and abhorrent hatred and darkness, if one could see him in his real state, as God can. Even on the human level, a person who is absorbed and eaten up by hatred will show this in his or her facial expressions.

The Bible gives us numerous descriptions of the appearance of cherubs in their glorified state. Quoting from our booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“We find a very detailed description of their appearance in the book of Ezekiel. We read in Ezekiel 1:5–14: ‘Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies… As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning.’

“We are later told that these four living creatures were ‘cherubim’ (Ezekiel 10:20–22). They were transporting a throne on which the ‘LORD’ sat. Notice Ezekiel 1:26–28: ‘And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it… This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.’ We are told, for instance, in Psalm 18:10 that the LORD ‘rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind.’

“Ezekiel 10:14 also reveals that the predominant facial features of a cherub are those of an ox. While we had read in Ezekiel 1:10 that the four cherubs had the face of an ox, a man, a lion, and an eagle, Ezekiel 10:14 lists those characteristics as the face a cherub, a man, a lion, and an eagle. Taken together, the Scriptures equate the predominant facial features of a cherub with that of an ox. Some have suggested that cherubs look mainly like oxen. Notice, though, that they are described with the ‘likeness of a man.’ Only their facial features and the soles of their feet are different from the ‘likeness of a man’ (in addition to the fact that they have wings)…

“Rienecker’s Commentary to the Bible points out that ‘cherubim appear where God is personally present or where He reveals Himself in His glory… The cherubim are witnesses of the personal presence of God on earth… Today, cherubs are pictured similar to the winged creatures, called “kurubu,” that have been dug out in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Syria.’ Some of these ‘kurubu’ look like creatures with a body of a lion, with wings, and with the head of a man, while others have the appearance of a man, with animal heads.”

However, the mere fact that in the incidents where cherubim are expressly described in the Bible, they do not have animal bodies, does not have to mean that none of the cherubs have an animal-like appearance.

There are other powerful angels which are described with spiritual bodies resembling different animals. We are quoting from our booklet on “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“… four very powerful angels—the ‘four living creatures’—are described in the fourth chapter of the book of Revelation in this way: ‘Before the throne [of God in heaven] there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”’ (Revelation 4:6–8).

“Here we are introduced to angelic beings that look like a lion, a calf, and a flying eagle. One angelic being has the face of a man, implying that the rest of his appearance may not resemble that of a man. In addition, all have six wings.”

The Bible speaks also of seraphim, and we say this in our booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“The word ‘seraphim’ means ‘burning’ or ‘noble.’ These beings are depicted as standing above God’s throne, each having ‘…six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew’ (Isaiah 6:2). The voice of a seraphim is so powerful that ‘…the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out’ (Isaiah 6:4). Isaiah 6:6 describes one of the seraphim as touching a burning coal with his hand.

“Whether this passage makes clear that seraphim look like men, is uncertain. The reference to ‘face,’ ‘feet’ and ‘hand’ might suggest this. On the other hand, the Hebrew word for ‘seraphim,’ ‘saraph,’ (compare Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, under ‘Seraphims’ and ‘Serpent’, Number 8314) is also used in other passages, describing dragons or serpents. We read in Isaiah 14:29, ‘Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper, And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.”’  The Hebrew word for ‘fiery serpent’ is ‘saraph.’ The New Jerusalem Bible gives the rendering, ‘a flying dragon.’ An additional passage can be found in Isaiah 30:6: ‘The burden against the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and anguish, From which came the lioness and lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent (‘saraph’ in Hebrew)…’

“Rienecker’s Commentary to the Bible states the following: ‘Passages such as Isaiah 14:29 and 30:6, describing flying seraphim (plural of saraph, translated by Luther as “flying dragon”, as well as Isaiah 6:2, 6, using the word to describe six-winged beings above the throne of God, go beyond the idea of an ordinary snake or serpent, and impress on the reader the concept of dragon-like creatures…”

It is interesting that seraphim are described as flying dragons or fiery flying serpents. Even though Satan is not identified as a seraph, but as a cherub, the parallelism is undeniable. Satan is described as a dragon. This does not seem to be a description of a person looking like a man. We read in Revelation 12:3 about Satan as “a great, fiery, red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.”

We also read that the dragon spewed water out of his mouth like a flood [apparently referring to human armies] to destroy God’s people (Revelation 12:15-16).

We understand of course that much of this is symbolic language. The Roman Empire and its ten revivals are portrayed as a beast with seven heads and ten horns, and with ten crowns on his horns (Revelation 13:1-3). Also, a woman is described sitting on a scarlet beast, having seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 17:3), depicting the last seven revivals of the Roman Empire under Roman Catholic rule and influence. We also read that the dragon gives his power to the beast, and who is being worshipped (Revelation 13:3-4). It is also the dragon who sends out demons to the kings of the East to assemble them at Armageddon (Revelation 16:13, 16). But there are distinctions between the description of Satan, the great fiery red dragon, in Revelation 12 and the beasts in Revelation 13 and in Revelation 17. Nowhere in the Book of Revelation are these two beasts referred to as dragons. Satan’s designation as a dragon may not all just be a symbolical description.

Rather than saying that Satan is described symbolically in a way similar to the beasts (the Roman Empire and its revivals), because he controls the beasts and his description is therefore patterned after the beasts, it appears more likely that the two beasts are depicted as “physical” patterns after their spiritual ruler—Satan—which would give us a clue as to how Satan might look in his spiritual state.

In addition, we should remember that Satan is also described in Revelation 12:9 as “the great dragon… that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.”  Compare also Revelation 20:2; 12:14-15.

In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul speaks of the serpent in the garden of Eden which beguiled Eve, clearly referring thereby to Satan the Devil.

In our free booklet, “Heavens and Earth—Before and After the First Man,” we say this:

“We read, for example, in Genesis 3:1 that ‘the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.’ While Satan is described as a serpent and as a dragon (Revelation 20:2), it appears that Eve was confronted by and spoke to a real serpent in the Genesis account. Satan gave the serpent a voice —in the same way that God gave a donkey a man’s voice to speak to the false prophet Balaam (Numbers 22:28; 2 Peter 2:16)…

“God punished the serpent, stating that it was more cursed than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field (Genesis 3:14). God pronounced punishment on a literal, physical serpent, as well as, of course, on Satan the devil who used the serpent.”

The punishment pronounced for both the serpent and Satan—the serpent of old—is interesting. In verse 14, we read: “On your belly you shall go…” When applied to Satan, God changed his appearance in the spirit world. Even if he stood upright before his temptation of Eve, that would not be the case anymore. Rather, he would be more like a dragon or a serpent, crawling on his belly. He would still walk [or move, travel, change his location] to and fro on earth, like a roaring lion, and he would also have wings with which he could fly. In fact, he will “fly” or ascend to heaven in our time to unsuccessfully try to replace God in heaven.

As the two beasts in the Book of Revelation are never described as dragons, so they are not described as serpents either, showing again the difference of descriptions between them and Satan (Further discussions in this regard can be found in our free booklet, “Evil Empires and Evil People—Wild Beasts of the Bible.” ).

Another hint regarding his present appearance can be gleaned from the book of Job, where Leviathan is being described. We say this in our booklet “Heavens and Earth—Before and After the First Man”:

“The description of Leviathan in the book of Job and in other places refers to a living animal… Some have said that the description of Leviathan in the book of Job is merely a description of Satan. However, clearly an animal is described in Job 41, not a spirit being (even though some of the characteristics of Leviathan might very well, in a symbolic sense, apply to Satan).

“We might also consider additional passages outside of the book of Job that refer to Leviathan. Psalm 74:14 says that God ‘broke the HEADS of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.’ Some might want to dismiss this passage as simply mythological, claiming that no known animal existed or exists with more than one head. This claim is not necessarily accurate. Even today, sometimes animals, due to mutation or birth defects, are born with more than one head, so there is no reason to believe that the passage in Psalm 74 must be understood in a mythological, rather than a literal way.

“Psalm 104:25–26 clearly identifies Leviathan as a real, living water animal, co-existing with man: ‘… The great and wide sea, In which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great. There the ships sail about; There is that Leviathan Which You have made to play there.’”

Having said this, it does not dismiss the possibility that the outward appearance of Satan is being described in the book of Job as well; and that Leviathan may be, to some extent, a physical pattern made after Satan, the spirit being. Viewed from that angle, note what God says about “Leviathan” in Job 41:18-21:

“His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; Sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, As from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth…”

The Bible tells us that Satan has the power to call down fire from heaven to kill people.

To summarize, it appears that the description of Satan as a great fiery red dragon and as the serpent of old is more than just a symbolic expression. Clearly, Satan does not look like an ordinary man, nor could he approach us as an ordinary human being. Even though the Bible is not dogmatic as to the way he looks, there are hints indicating his dreadful and terrible, and at the same time frightening appearance. It would be foolish to want to make contact with him, or to try to “see” him, but far too many are doing this in one way or another, perhaps without knowing it.

We want to conclude with this sober warning from our booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“Though many people don’t believe in the existence of Satan and demons, they are quick to dabble in the occult, being ignorant of the danger therein. Demons are called ‘familiar spirits’ because they want to familiarize themselves with man (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27). Haunted houses, poltergeists, séances, communication with the dead, and contacts with ‘aliens’ are all clearly of demonic origin. Satan and demons are destructive… Sorcery, witchcraft, hypnosis, and certain meditation practices are further methods of Satan to overpower the mind of a human being and to make him or her into a helpless victim. Whenever we give ourselves ‘over’ to another influence, we have become victims of the powers of darkness.”

To visualize Satan as a devouring fiery red dragon with several heads and as a vicious poisonous serpent might perhaps show us the seriousness of our fight with Satan and his demons (Ephesians 6:11-12)—it is not a laughing matter, and must not be taken lightly.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

A new Member Letter (November 2021) has been written and mailed to our subscribers. Pastor Brian Gale addresses the false “religion” of Evolution in contrast to belief in God, and he reminds us of the wonderful understanding that God has given to us in our calling.

“A False Messiah in the Temple of God?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: 

It was announced this week that a special oil was being prepared to anoint the returning Messiah from the house of David when He comes to His temple in Jerusalem. Why is this development remarkable? Will there be a physical temple prior to Christ’s return? Will He be anointed by men? Or is a great deception being prepared for the unsuspecting masses?

“Währt Ihre Leidenszeit zu lange?” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. “Title in English: Does Your Suffering Last TOO Long?”

“Was ist Wahrheit?” the sermonette presented last Sabbath in Germany by Johann Schell, is now posted. Title in English: “What is Truth?”

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

A new type of minority exists today where people are singled out due to the decision they make whether they want to be vaccinated or not which leads to various consequences.  As true Christians, we are familiar with what it is like to be a minority.  What is the difference between the “minorities” in the world and the “minorities” that God has chosen out of this world today?

“Does Your Suffering Last TOO Long?” the split-sermon presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The Bible speaks of longsuffering and gives us many examples of God’s followers who have suffered for a long time. And today, all of us are suffering too… some for comparatively shorter, and some for much longer periods. It may appear at times that our longsuffering is just lasting TOO long. So, what does God tell us about longsuffering?