This Week in the News

The Chinese-US Disaster in Alaska

Breitbart wrote on March 19:

“The meeting [when Chinese diplomats were lecturing their American counterparts on human rights and democracy] took place in Alaska Thursday between American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan,  Yang Jiechi, a member of China’s Communist Party’s Politburo; and the country’s top diplomat and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi… During the first in-person meeting between the Biden administration and Chinese officials, Beijing indicated that it would do what it wants, irrespective of U.S. and its allies’ concerns… China’s top diplomat, Yang, went on to attack America’s democracy, urging the United States ‘to stop advancing its own democracy in the rest of the world… Many people within the United States actually have little confidence in the democracy of the United States, and they have various views regarding the Government of the United States,’ he said. Saying that the U.S. is mistreating blacks, he blasted human rights in America.

“Yang declared: ‘In human rights, we hope that the United States will do better on human rights. … The challenges facing the United States in human rights are deep-seated. They did not just emerge over the past four years, such as Black Lives Matter. It did not come up only recently. So we do hope that for our two countries, it’s important that we manage our respective affairs well instead of deflecting the blame on somebody else in this world. He also criticized America for ‘invading’ other nations while accusing China of doing the same.

“Yang said: ‘We do not believe in invading through the use of force, or to topple other regimes through various means, or to massacre the people of other countries, because all of those would only cause turmoil and instability in this world… So we believe that it is important for the United States to change its own image …’

“After the meeting, an unnamed U.S. official accused China of ‘grandstanding,’ Politico reported.”

And what about Chinese blatant civil rights violations towards and concentration camps for minorities? China has shown its utter lack of “respect” for the USA.

Joe Biden a National Security Risk?

Fox News wrote on March 19:

In Friday’s ‘Hannity’ opening monologue, Fox News host Sean Hannity sounded the alarm that President Joe Biden’s recent gaffes and [three-times] stumble while boarding Air Force One have become ‘a nightmare scenario.’… ‘

 “‘Honestly, I watched this. It was sad. You got to almost feel sorry for Joe Biden. From what we can clearly observe now on pretty much a daily basis, he is obviously not doing well. He wasn’t doing well on the campaign. And the scary part of it is, now this is a national security issue… The whole world can see what we see every day, including hostile regimes, hostile actors and America’s enemies. Look at Vladimir Putin, openly mocking the President of the United States of America, challenging him to a debate and then saying ‘I hope you’re better, I hope you’re feeling better, good health.’ The Chinese are now literally spitting at the U.S. and our public image on a public stage like they did yesterday. It was a disaster. Then we had groveling and another apology tour beginning. The mullahs in Iran, they are emboldened…’

“Hannity noted that the media [in the US] has been largely silent on Biden’s tripping incident, contrasting that with wall-to-wall coverage of then-President Donald Trump gingerly walking down a ramp following an event in West Point, New York. He played clips of Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough criticizing Trump and theorizing about his fitness for office…”

The Daily Mail on March 19 added:

“Major left-leaning U.S. press outlets are largely avoiding mention of President Joe Biden’s repeated stumbles as he boarded Air Force One, while many foreign publications are devoting prominent coverage to the incident…. In contrast to the lack of interest in Biden’s stumbles, mainstream U.S. outlets heavily covered an incident last year, in which Trump took mincing baby-steps down a ramp at West Point, which he later explained was ‘very slippery.’ Although Trump did not stumble during the incident, it sparked rampant speculation about his health and criticism over his capacities, including from Biden himself. ‘Look at how he steps and look at how I step,’ Biden said in September 2020, in a clip featured on CNN. ‘Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. OK? Come on.’ ‘Trump’s West Point walk sparks questions about his health,’ read one CNN headline. ‘Trump tries to explain his slow and unsteady walk down a ramp at West Point,’ a Washington Post headline ran. ‘Unsteady appearance prompts new scrutiny of Trump’s health,’ read the headline of an MSNBC article, which also highlighted Trump’s use of two hands to sip a cup of water at the West Point event.

“The contrast drew accusations of a double standard from some conservatives and Trump supporters, who accused the U.S. press of covering up the awkward incident… The fall does nothing to reduce concern for and speculation over Biden’s cognitive health which has grown in recent months thanks to a series of mix-ups on his behalf. The White House and Biden’s camp routinely play down concerns about his health and insist he is fit to lead.

“Biden is the oldest President in history; Ronald Reagan was 77 when he left office and he was 69 when he was elected. Trump was 70 when elected and was 74 when he left office earlier this year.”

It was later “explained” by the White House that Biden slipped because of the heavy wind. However, there was only a very slight breeze. It has been speculated for quite a while on social media that Biden suffers from dementia and/or other physically and mentally-destabilizing conditions, and that he will soon have to resign in favor of Kamala Harris whom he has referred to several times as “President Harris.”

The Sun added on March 19:

“[Conservative commentator ] Candice Owens has claimed Joe Biden is suffering from dementia and that led to his fall while climbing the stairs of Air Force One… Owens tweeted: ‘It’s difficult to fall 3 times while going up a flight of steps… Biden has dementia but let’s wait for CNN to tell us this is just another adorable gaffe!’…

“The President has not taken a cognitive test for dementia and his medical and surgical history released in 2019 made no reference to him suffering from the condition. But his frequent gaffes have been picked up by political opponents as evidence of impaired mental ability, with Donald Trump previously tweeting the Democrat had dementia after forgetting Mitt Romney’s name.

“A poll found that nearly 40 per cent of registered American voters believe Biden has ‘some form of dementia’.”

Coming… New Epidemics

The Washington Standard published on March 16 the following commentary by Michael Snyder:

“What would you do if a coronavirus that is much more contagious than regular COVID and that makes people much sicker than regular COVID started to spread all over the globe?  Well, we are being told that is precisely what is now happening.  Technically, P1 is a ‘variant’ of the COVID virus that has paralyzed the entire planet over the past year, but it is proving to be far more dangerous. Over the past week, the spread of P1 in Brazil has caused people to drop dead at a staggering pace… Vast numbers of healthy young adults are being hospitalized, and that fact has prompted the health secretary of Sao Paulo to refer to P1 as ‘a different pandemic from the one we saw last year’…

“P1 appears to evade immunity conferred by previous COVID infection… the P.1 variant could evade immunity from previous Covid-19 infection by up to 61%. “P1… has already spread to a whole bunch of other countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, Mexico, Italy and India…

“If we could barely handle COVID, how are we going to be able to handle P1? And if we can’t handle P1, what in the world is going to happen when a pestilence that is much, much worse comes along? Of course, pandemics are just one element of the ‘perfect storm’ that is now upon us. We live in very troubled times, and what we have experienced so far is just the very beginning.”

The Bible prophesies that in these end times, there will be pandemics and disease epidemics of which we cannot be healed.

Ineffective and Dangerous Vaccines

On March 16, Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, a vaccine developer, claimed that during a pandemic, we must not have mass vaccinations as it will put great pressure on the virus to mutate to survive the vaccine. That the vaccine does not kill the virus but only prevents the sickness it causes. That the patient still is able to transmit the virus to others. Bossche is also mentioned in the article below.

LewRockwell wrote on March 17:

“The vaccines are the source of a new mutation that is being blamed on the Brazilian, South African, UK or any other ‘variant’ diversions… It’s worth noting, that we are dealing with a 100%-synthetic cocktail… the vaccines don’t do what they’re supposed to do. They neither prevent one from contracting Covid nor do they stop the infection from spreading to others… They do, however, relieve Covid symptoms for which they are reportedly 95% effective. But that’s not why people get vaccinated. Most people get vaccinated because they think it will prevent them from getting sick and dying…

“Is Dr. Vanden Bossche right? Is our ‘extensive and erroneous human intervention’ (the vaccines) ‘going to wipe out large parts of our human population’? Have these vaccines turned ‘a relatively harmless virus into a bioweapon of mass destruction?’ Have the ‘current COVID-19 vaccines… increasingly turn vaccine recipients into asymptomatic carriers who are shedding virus’?? Are we now facing the biggest and most deadly public health disaster in history? We believe he is right…

“Let’s [also] say, for the sake of argument, that [Dr. Gilad] Atzmon is right. Let’s say, there is, in fact, ‘a close correlation between mass vaccination, cases and deaths.’ And let’s also say that ‘This correlation points at the possibility that it is the vaccinated who actually spread the virus or even a range of mutants that are responsible for the radical shift in symptoms above.’

“Is that even possible? Can people who have been vaccinated become super-spreaders of a more virulent and lethal form of the virus? Yes, they can. They can become carriers of a more deadly strain of the infection and kill hundreds of others they come in contact with before dying themselves…”

The Covid Blog wrote on March 12:

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recently admitted that Pfizer, Moderna and other experimental shots neither stop the spread of COVID-19, nor prevent you from getting the virus. The agency said in a press release that fully vaccinated Americans must ‘continue to take these COVID-19 precautions when in public.’ That includes wearing masks, staying six feet apart from other people, and avoiding large crowds.

“Pfizer’s CEO, Moderna’s chief medical officer, and Dr. Anthony Fauci have also all admitted that these shots do not stop the spread of COVID-19.  You are not alone if you’re now asking yourself rhetorically, ‘then what is the point of getting these shots?’ There are also real-life events further demonstrating that experimental mRNA and viral vector shots do nothing to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“Two staff members and 10 residents tested positive for COVID-19 this week at the Cottonwoods Care Centre, according to CBC TV. The publicly-funded retirement facility has 221 total beds. The report says 82% of residents were fully vaccinated as of February 15. Two-thirds of staff were fully vaccinated. Thus, the proverbial ‘two-week waiting period’ for alleged immunity had passed. Eight of the confirmed cases were fully-vaccinated.”

However, Senator and physician Rand Paul disagree with these conclusions. Note the next article.

Rand Paul Rips Fauci

Fox News reported on March 19:

“White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci ‘is not being honest with the American public’ about when to wear masks, Sen. Rand Paul [said]. Paul joined host Tucker Carlson one day after the senator challenged Fauci to present hard evidence that people should wear face masks even after receiving the coronavirus vaccine. At one point, Paul called Fauci’s double-masking ‘theater’, which visibly annoyed the immunologist…

“Paul told Carlson Friday that Fauci presented ‘no scientific evidence’ to make the case for wearing masks after people have been vaccinated. ‘There was Dr. Fauci’s opinion, his conjecture that someday there might be a [coronavirus] variant that escapes the control of the vaccine and becomes a pandemic and hospitalizes and kills people,’ he said. ‘But there is no evidence it has happened. He thinks it might happen, so you need to wear the mask until he’s sure that things that might happen are not going to happen.’

“Paul went on to describe Fauci as ‘unconcerned about liberty’, adding that the burden should be on him and other bureaucrats to prove their dictates and recommendations are necessary. ‘There are no news reports or scientific studies saying, after vaccination, that there is some sort of widespread contagion that people [who are] vaccinated are spreading the disease,’ he said.”

It remains to be seen what is and will be happening. In any event, the future looks bleak. Note the next article.

Suicide among American Youth on the Rise

The American Institute for Economic Research wrote on March 20:

“Before Covid, an American youth died by suicide every six hours. Suicide is a major public health threat and a leading cause of death for those aged under 25 — one far bigger than Covid. And it is something that we have only made worse as we, led by politicians and ‘the science,’ deprived our youngest members of society — who constitute one-third of the US population — of educational, emotional and social development without their permission or consent for over a year.

“And why? For what? We were scared. We were scared for our lives and those of people we love. And, like your average German-on-the-street in the 1930s and 40s, we believed that doing what we were told and supporting the national cause would save us and our families. The reality is we sacrificed others without a second thought. We have sacrificed our youths’ lives and future livelihoods…

“Covid poses minimal risk to healthy individuals under 65, and is even less of a threat to youths (those aged under 25). In fact, preliminary data suggest Covid accounted for barely 1.2% of all deaths in the under-25 age group…  the other 98.8% of deaths that had nothing to do with Covid…

“… compared to 2018 and 2019 deaths per 100k, 2020 saw one extra death among those under age five, an additional 1.5 deaths among those aged 5 to 14, and a whopping 23 additional deaths among those aged 15 to 24. Overall, deaths per 100k in this age group jumped from 106.4 per 100k in 2019 to 131.7 per 100k during 2020. That’s an increase of 23% — and Covid only accounts for 1.2% of total deaths in ages 0–24 years.”

These are terrible statistics. Suicides of children, teens and young adults… what a tragedy.

Anti-Lockdown Demonstrations all Over Europe

The Associated Press wrote on March 20:

“Protests against government measures to rein in the pandemic… were reported in several… countries across Europe, including [Germany,] Austria, Britain, Finland, Romania and Switzerland. More than 20,000 people participated in the protest in the central German city of Kassel, where there also were confrontations between the demonstrators and counter-protesters… Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday Germany will have to… reverse some recent relaxations of restrictions

“In London, demonstrators opposing the U.K.’s months-long lockdown defied police who warned of potential fines and arrest for violating prohibitions on most group meetings… In Finland, police estimated that about 400 people without masks and packed tightly together gathered in the capital, Helsinki, to protest government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions… Before the Helsinki rally, some 300 people chanting slogans like ‘Let the people speak!’ and carrying placards with phrases such as “Facts and numbers don’t add up” marched through the streets of the city…

“More than a thousand anti-vaccination protesters took to the streets in Romania’s capital of Bucharest… In Austria, about 1,000 protesters participated in demonstrations against the government’s virus measures near Vienna’s central train station… In Switzerland, more than 5,000 protesters met for a silent march…”

Merkel’s Defeat

On Tuesday, the German government announced further lockdowns during the Easter holiday period. Due to extreme outrage, Angela Merkel was forced to reverse this decision. Here is the rundown of the events:

Deutsche Welle reported on March 23:

“Germany is extending the current lockdown through April 18, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced early Tuesday. The country will enter an even stricter lockdown from April 1 to April 5 over the Easter holiday period, when shops, including grocery stores, will largely have to close…‘We are having a de facto Easter lockdown,’ Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder told reporters… Stephan Weil, Lower Saxony’s state premier,… spoke of ‘five days of hard lockdown over Easter.’ ‘Firms should not produce anything, traveling to work should only take place when it is absolutely necessary. Public life in Germany and human interactions should be reduced to the absolute minimum…’

“Professor Andrew Ullmann, spokesman for the German parliament’s health committee [said:] ‘What I’m really concerned about is that we are running from one lockdown to the next lockdown… with no perspective for our population…’”

Bild Online wrote on March 23:

“Storm of Protest after Corona summit. No plan, no clue, no courage. Do Merkel, Soeder & Co. still know what they are doing?”

Bild also said this on March 24:

“In the pandemic, the chancellor and the prime ministers are trying to impose their power more and more unabashedly. The Corona Summits are now feasts of patronizing! With how many guests can a family celebrate Easter? With two, three, four? Which shops are allowed to open on Holy Saturday? None at all, just supermarkets, all? What an undignified legislative horse trading in regards to our fundamental liberties and freedoms! As if it were all about harassing the citizens with ever new measures.”

Die Welt added this commentary on March 24:

“What has become of us? Are we a joke? The decisions… prove: Germany is failing. The rulers, an overwhelmed cohort incapable of solving the crisis, are moving further and further away from the electorate in the pandemic. That won’t go well for long in a liberal democracy.”

Merkel’s government realized that they had gone too far. So this happened next:

Merkel Forced to Backtrack and Apologize

 Deutsche Welle reported on March 24

In a turnabout move, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told state premiers in a video call that there would not be a strict lockdown over Easter after all… During a press conference, Merkel said the Easter lockdown was formed ‘with the best of intentions,’ but on closer analysis, the planned shutdown risked doing more harm than good… Christian Lindner, party leader of the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP), tweeted that Merkel should put a vote of confidence to the Bundestag…”

Reuters wrote on March 24:

“[Merkel’s] comments came against a backdrop of growing public frustration with the conservative-led government over the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and extended lockdown measures… A poll released on Wednesday showed public support for Merkel’s conservatives slumping to its lowest in over a year ahead of a national election in September…”

The Daily Mail added on March 24:

“Despite the U-turn, more than 37million Germans could be facing curfews and forced to wear masks in their own cars under other measures agreed at the talks…”

What complete lunacy. Merkel & Co. have reached the end of their ropes, reflecting utter helplessness and incompetence, unwilling to face reality and to step aside. Trust in the federal and state governmental leaders is at an all-time low. A desire for “productive” change is everywhere. Also note the next article.

Jens Spahn under Scrutiny over Mask Purchases

Deutsche Welle reported on March 21:

“Last year, Germany’s Health Ministry ordered over half a million masks from a company that Jens Spahn’s husband works for [Spahn is openly gay.] The reports have raised eyebrows as Merkel’s conservatives continue to get hit by scandals… The mask deal was first reported on by German news magazine Der Spiegel. According to the report, a media company called Hubert Burda Media GmbH sold the Health Ministry some 570,000 masks in April last year — when supplies were low and protective masks were thin on the ground. The report also revealed that Spahn’s husband, Daniel Funke, holds a high-level position in Burda’s Berlin offices. The company confirmed the purchase to news agency dpa, saying the ministry paid the firm around €909,452 ($1.08 million)…

“The reports on Sunday came amid growing scandals and accusations of graft against Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union. Alfred Sauter, former state justice minister for Bavaria, announced on Sunday that he was giving up his CSU party posts after he came under investigation for corruption over mask procurement contracts. Sauter denies any wrongdoing in the case.

“Last month, prosecutors opened a case against senior CSU lawmaker Georg Nüsslein, accusing him of accepting hundreds of thousands of euros to lobby for a mask supplier. Another lawmaker, CDU parliamentarian Nikolas Löbel, also resigned over a separate mask scandal. Prosecutors are likewise looking into his business deals with mask procurement.

“Other conservative lawmakers have resigned over corruption allegations not related to the pandemic, including MP Tobias Zech. The CSU lawmaker resigned on Thursday after reports emerged he did PR work for a political party in Macedonia. The continuous stream of scandals and corruption allegations have hit the conservatives hard just six months before Germany’s general election…”

Britain’s Attack on Von der Leyen and the EU

Express wrote on March 20:

“Has there ever been a better advert for Brexit than this week’s tyrannical, Stalinist rant from the EU’s lost-the-plot boss, Ursula von der Leyen? The woman, who sounds like she’s gone completely mad, has for months headed the worldwide smear campaign against the AstraZeneca vaccine and actively encouraged its suspension. Yet, this week she’s screaming that the EU will commandeer doses destined for us and other countries and then invoke Article 122, allowing the bloc to seize AZ factories along with its patents and control of its production. A pointless exercise obviously because if the EU was too stupid to order enough vaccines it sure… isn’t capable of actually making them.

“Of course none of the threats will ever amount to anything because the consequences would be catastrophic. This is just bluff and bluster from an incompetent leader whose politically motivated blame game has spectacularly backfired and now she doesn’t know what to do. So, she does what the bloc has always done – she threatens. Trouble is, now the world, and especially Britain, sees those threats for what they are – the mark of a blundering, floundering organisation that has failed the only real test it’s ever had, and now feels the ground beneath it crumbling.

“Still, it’s beyond belief that the EU, which is sitting on seven million unused doses of the AZ vaccine, is prepared to go to any lengths to seize every other available dose. This is despite the fact it’s spent months telling the world it’s useless and it kills people. The upshot now, as Covid spirals out of control throughout much of Europe and lockdowns are back, is millions of its citizens are still too scared to have it and hundreds of thousands of unused vaccines are being destroyed thanks to the EU’s killer propaganda.

“Does anyone in the EU actually care about saving lives? Or is it all about scoring points and discrediting Britain and all things British? Yes, this farce is about the EU trying to cover up its own incompetence in not procuring enough vaccines. But it’s also about the bloc’s obsession with trying to hurt us… Britain has so far given 28 million jabs – more than France, Italy, Germany and Portugal combined. And the EU doesn’t like that so it’s desperate to discredit our inoculation programme even if it costs the lives of EU citizens and people all over the world. If it was called the Paris or the Stuttgart vaccine not the Oxford vaccine it would have been a whole different story.

“But this obsession with trying to destroy us had President Macron telling everyone it was ineffective as Chancellor Merkel refused to have it because she said it didn’t work in older people. Then came the claims about it causing blood clots… How must the citizens of those countries feel now, seeing that the EU is playing politics with their lives in order to shore up the bloc’s power and keep safe the jobs of their unelected, overpaid EU masters? ‘All options are on the table,’ said Ursula this week. Well let’s hope those options include her being kicked out before needless numbers of EU citizens die thanks to her towering incompetence.”

This article reflects the ongoing animosity between the UK and the EU, with no hope for healing of any kind. Note the next articles.

Express wrote on March 20:

“Given the EU’s long track record of incompetent and shambolic rule, a Eurocrat [von der Leyen] has to hit spectacular levels of uselessness to be deemed sackable… Her threat to invoke wartime-style emergency powers to block vaccines from being exported out of the EU was meant as a show of strength at a time of crisis. Instead, it has left Brussels looking desperate… Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab likened her threat to the actions of a dictatorship, showing contempt for the international rule of law.”

Deutsche Welle reported on March 20:

“The European Union could stop AstraZeneca from exporting its COVID-19 vaccine from the bloc if the British-Swedish pharma company does not meet its supply obligations, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in comments published on Saturday…”

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 21:

Despite earlier promises, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has said the bloc cannot donate COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries while it struggles with its own supply. The UK slammed the move as ‘counterproductive.’… Von der Leyen had strongly campaigned for providing vaccines to people worldwide back in spring 2020…

“The EU has accused the UK of imposing its own de facto export ban. The claim was vigorously denied by the UK, however, there is no evidence to suggest that the UK has exported any COVID vaccines at all, as it relies on complex legal arrangements with manufacturers.”

While the fight between the EU and the UK continues, von der Leyen is becoming more and more unpopular within the EU itself.

Status Report on Britain

The European Council on Foreign Affairs wrote on March 19:

“Brexit has not got off to a flying start. UK goods exports to the European Union fell by more than 40 per cent in January; a new row has erupted over UK ministers’ propensity to breach the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol unilaterally; and the government’s incomplete preparations have forced it to delay the introduction of checks on incoming EU goods, to avoid empty supermarket shelves…

Confidence in the US security guarantee has evaporated – not least in the UK, where a startling 74 per cent agreed that ‘Europe can’t always rely on the US; we need to look after our own defence capabilities’…  Britons are warming to Biden’s America, but the United States remains less trusted than other key security partners, such as Canada, Australia, Germany, and Japan, and is considered a less important relationship than our partnership with the European Union…

“Britain’s national finances are in free-fall… National debt has now exceeded £2 trillion (some 100 per cent of GDP – the worst fiscal position for 70 years) and continues to rise…”

Crazy… Barbeques Cause Global Warming

The Sun wrote on March 19:

“Brighton and Hove City Council has come under fire over the controversial proposal to stop holidaymakers and residents enjoying using the grilling stations in all beaches, parks and open spaces. The Green Party-run authority says disposable barbecues are partly to blame for the world’s rising CO2 levels. It says the move is part of the direction for action on climate change with the aim of making the seaside resort carbon neutral by 2030.

“But the plans have been condemned by residents and tourists alike who have accused the Green-run council of being ‘the worst type of woke’ and trying to kill the summer tourism trade…Every year around 10million holidaymakers and day trippers flock to Brighton and Hove with many enjoying a beer and a barbecue on the beach. The tourism industry supports more than 20,000 jobs and brings in an estimated £850million to the city…”

If one thinks that THAT is crazy, note the next article.

Church of England Institutionally Racist?

Daily Mail wrote on March 19:

“The Church of England is set to introduce a 30 per cent quota for ethnic minority candidates on its leadership programme and carry out anti-racism training, it emerged last night. Officials are also planning to provide information giving context to church statues which may have caused ‘pain or offence’ as part of plans to tackle discrimination.

“Only one of the 42 diocesan bishops come from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. A taskforce was set up last year by the Church after Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said he was ‘sorry and ashamed’ that ‘we are still institutionally racist’. The ‘Lament to Action’ report also calls for an overhaul of education within CofE schools as well as plans to ‘deal with’ controversial statues and monuments.”

According to the Daily Mail, dated March 18, a movement has started in the UK to do away with masculine and feminine terms, as they “reinforce historic gender stereotypes.” Rather, it is suggested that “a move to ‘Mx’ is more of a general term that could replace Mr, Mrs, or Miss… to avoid any offence.” Also, the head of Kew Gardens, Richard Deverell, defends his decision to “decolonize” his botanical paradise, naming and shaming plants from countries that profited from exploitation. 

Jewish Sacrifices and the Temple Service

Israel 365 wrote on March 17:

“During a virtual conference on Wednesday, Rabbi Aryeh Stern, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, ruled that the Korban Pesach (Passover sacrifice) is incumbent upon the Jewish people today… The rabbi concluded that in his opinion, it is possible for us today to perform the Passover sacrifice even before the construction of the Temple. This is based on the principle [that] the normal rules that prohibit the Kohanim (priests) and public from performing Temple rituals while in a state of ritual impurity are not applicable regarding the need to bring a sacrifice for the sake of the public…

“Rabbi Aryeh Lipo, the secretary of the Sanhedrin, agreed with the conclusion of Rabbi Stern, adding that it is entirely correct according to Halacha to renew the Temple service immediately. He added that one clear purpose of the Temple service was to cope with epidemics.

“Rabbi Hillel Weiss, the former spokesman for the Sanhedrin told Israel365 News, ‘The only thing preventing the Jewish People from performing the Passover sacrifice is the Israeli government. If the government decides to allow it, we must be ready to go up and begin the service… Now we must do what is required, and for now that means being ready to begin the Temple service.’”

The Bible prophesies that the Jews will begin to bring animal sacrifices, which will then be suppressed by an invading European power bloc. It is possible that these sacrifices will begin before the building of the third temple has commenced or has been completed, but they will be brought in anticipation of the third temple.

Election Results in Israel

JTA wrote on March 23:

“With the vast majority of votes counted from Tuesday’s Israeli election, it appears that neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his opponents have a clear path to forming a government… as it stands Wednesday, the tally shows a split between Netanyahu’s allies and his opponents in Israel’s parliament, the 120-seat Knesset. Two parties remain uncommitted to either group….

“Should no candidate be able to assemble a coalition, which is what happened twice in 2019, Israel holds a repeat election. The results don’t point to any obvious majority coalition… the shape of the next Israeli government, and the identity of the person who leads it, may be unclear for quite some time.”

The Jerusalem Post wrote on March 24:

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be able to form a government, according to preliminary results from 97% of the regular polling stations… unless he gains support from the Arab-Islamist Ra’am Party…”

Coming… Fight between Biden and Catholic Church?

CNA wrote on March 18:

“HHS has authority over a broad range of concerns—federally-funded adoption agencies, regulation of the abortion pill, refugee resettlement, anti-human trafficking efforts, global health, and family planning, to name a few. Health policy also intersects with the work of the Catholic Church, which historically has had a large and heavy footprint on U.S. health care. Perhaps in no other area, aside from education, does the Church work more with the broader society.

“An estimated one in six hospital beds in the U.S. is in a Catholic hospital, according to the ACLU. Catholics provide adoption and foster care services around the country, and help resettle refugee families. They operate shelters for human trafficking survivors. Catholic doctors, nurses, and foster mothers may work anywhere in the healthcare system, not just at Catholic institutions…

“It is also true that in health care, the ‘culture war’ battles are raging the hardest. A number of groups—chief among them the ACLU—have for years been pushing for contraceptives, abortions, same-sex marriages, and gender-transition procedures to become the norm in health care and family life, whether or not religious organizations agree. An administration which is willing to aggressively back abortion, marriage redefinition, and gender ideology could pick a lot of fights with Catholic organizations—and that is exactly what happened under the Obama administration… many Catholic institutions will be counting up the myriad of Obama-era ‘culture war’ fights that could reignite—and burn hotter than ever before.”

On the other hand, it is reported that Jesuit Pope Francis is happy with Joe Biden, the second Catholic President in America’s history.

Pope Francis Battles Liberals and Conservatives

The Wall Street Journal wrote on March 20:

“Pope Francis is struggling to manage powerful bishops in the U.S. and Germany, two groups at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, as he tries to advance his progressive agenda without jeopardizing the unity of the Catholic Church. The election of President Biden, a progressive Catholic whom some U.S. bishops want to censure for his support of abortion rights, has exacerbated longstanding tensions between the pope and the largely conservative American episcopate. U.S. church leaders have resisted promoting the pope’s priorities of social and economic justice and care for the environment over opposition to abortion and defense of religious freedom.

“On the left, the pope is trying to rein in German bishops who—encouraged by the pope’s liberalizing gestures on topics including sexuality, ecumenism and the role of women—are pressing for changes that go further than Pope Francis is comfortable with, and that conservatives warn could cause a schism. Pope Francis’ most recent attempt to restrain the Germans came in this week’s Vatican document forbidding clergy to bless same-sex unions , a practice supported by some leading German bishops…

“Following Mr. Biden’s election, Pope Francis broke protocol by phoning to congratulate the president-elect. But on inauguration day, Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, president of the USCCB, said, ‘Our new president has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage and gender.’ Meanwhile, some bishops say Mr. Biden’s abortion stance makes him ineligible to receive the Eucharist

“Meanwhile in Germany, bishops and leading lay Catholics are engaged in a national synod considering major changes to church life, including the possibility of women clergy, married priests and changes to church teaching on sexuality… Conservative bishops in both the U.S. and Germany have warned that the German synod could lead the church into a split with the rest of the Catholic world… The [Vatican’s] statement [prohibiting the blessing of same-sex marriages] drew defiant reactions from clergy in Germany and beyond, including Austria and Belgium, with some priests vowing to bless gay couples despite the prohibition.

“… Vatican offices have also recently issued statements that rule out giving Communion to Protestants or allowing laypeople to administer parishes on an equal basis with priests, both ideas popular with German bishops.

“Despite disappointment in Germany with the statement on gay couples, liberals there retain an overwhelmingly positive view of the pope, said Ludwig Ring-Eifel, head of the German bishops’ news agency KNA. ‘The perception goes somewhat like this: Francis has opened all the doors which [Popes John Paul and Benedict] had previously declared closed on gays, on celibacy, on intercommunion. But the conservatives in the Vatican still stand in his way, and he alone is too weak to complete the revolution,’ Mr. Ring-Eifel said.”

Marvel’s First Gay Captain America… and more…

Daily Mail wrote on March 17:

“Marvel Comics has unveiled its very first gay Captain America. The character, named Aaron Fischer, will feature in The United States of Captain America – a new comic book series set for release on June 2. Marvel released images of Fischer on Wednesday, touting him as the first openly queer character in Captain America’s 80-year history. “‘Marvel Comics is proud to honor Pride Month with the rise of this new LGBTQ+ hero,’ the company said in a statement.

“Writer Joshua Trujillo has penned the debut issue in the new series which introduces Fischer… ‘He stands for the oppressed and the forgotten. I hope his debut story resonates with readers and helps inspire the next generation of heroes.’… Fischer was illustrated by Jan Bazaldua, who is a transgender artist…. Fischer also has multiple piercings, including a bull piercing in his nose. Comic book fans were thrilled by the announcement, with many taking to Twitter to share their excitement…

“Marvel has been diversifying its comic book characters in recent years. Thor comics have already featured a trans female character named Sera who descends from a group of male angels, before going on to assume a female identity.”

Chinese Propaganda and German Cowardness

Breitbart wrote on March 10:

“A German children’s book that stated that the coronavirus came from China has been pulped after the publisher caved to pressure from Communist Party diplomats and local Chinese people. The book which was published in the summer of last year is entitled ‘A Corona Rainbow for Anna and Moritz.’ The book tried to help children understand the radically different world they found themselves in following the pandemic.

“In the picture book, the children’s father says: ‘The virus comes from China and has spread out from there across the whole world,’ according to The Times. The book was based on advice from a tropical medicine institute in Hamburg. Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that the virus emerged from Wuhan, in Central China, the communist regime has consistently denied this, even promulgating unfounded conspiracies such as the U.S. military bringing the virus into China.

“The CCP has also tried to attempt to liken the use of the phrase ‘China virus’ — favoured by former U.S. President Donald Trump — to racism, though the CCP has not made the same objections over the use of the so-called ‘UK variant’.

“A social media campaign from Chinese people in Germany saw many take to Amazon to give the book a one-star rating, claiming the book was ‘spreading racism among children in Germany’. Some Chinese residents also vowed to launch legal claims against the publisher and to protest against ‘racism and discrimination’. The campaign was later picked up by the Chinese consulate in Hamburg, who ‘lodged solemn representations against the publisher’.

“An article from the CCP mouthpiece The Global Times said: ‘The Chinese community believes a simple apology is not enough and asked for the recall of the book’… the Carlsen publishing house apologised and decided to destroy copies of the book

“Communist China is no stranger to book burning and other censorious tactics stretching back to the time of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, in which countless religious icons, buildings and books were destroyed by the young Red Guards…’”

We can have gay and transgender heroes in comics, but children’s books must not speak about the coronavirus coming from China…

Stupidity in Canada too…

Newsmax wrote on March 19:

“A Canadian man has been arrested for violating a court order that prevented him from speaking publicly about his teenager’s gender transition… the man is father to a gender non-conforming biological female 15-year-old who identifies as transgender. The teen prefers the use of male pronouns. However, the man has repeatedly called the teen his daughter, despite the court forbidding it. He has also reportedly referred to the teen with the pronouns ‘’she’ and ‘her’… the man is against the teen undergoing ‘gender affirmative’ medical procedures…

The court ordered the dad not to stand in the way of the teenager’s hormone therapy and to try to better comprehend gender dysphoria… The judges said the man must acknowledge and refer to his child as a boy and by the name the teen has chosen. The father can also state his feelings to family, close friends and close advisers, provided they don’t work for the media… the justices added the father’s rejection of his child’s chosen gender caused the teen ‘significant pain’ that has ‘resulted in a rupture of what both parties refer to as an otherwise loving parent-child relationship.’

“The teen has said he identified as a boy since age 11 and began exploring transition treatment when he [she] was 13. The man claimed… the child had complex problems. But he said the court blamed them all on gender dysphoria… The man… said that the child had intense crushes on two male teachers and also made a suicide attempt.

“The man… blasted the left for his situation…  ‘I am fighting the far left based on a civil disobedience defense!’’ he reportedly wrote. ‘I am now back in court for a five-day criminal trial that will last at least five days … From April 12-16. That trial that could land me in jail for up to five years for speaking truth about state sponsored child abuse. FYI … I am blocked from sharing any videos at this time that oppose the sterilization of children!’”

How must God feel about such blatant violations of His laws and principles? Sodom and Gomorrah come to mind for sure.. but it’s even getting worse.

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.

Update 965

Get to Work / God-Who-Forgives

On March 20, 2021, Eric Rank will present the sermonette, titled, “Get to Work,” and Dave Harris will present the sermon, titled, “God-Who-Forgives.”

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.

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Free Speech or No Free Speech, That Is the Question!

by Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

In the Current Events section of our weekly Update no. 961 on February 19th 2021, there was an item headed “Black List for LGBT-‘Hate’ Groups,” which included the following comments:

“C-Fam wrote on February 12:

“‘The UN rights office is collecting the names of anyone who opposes the LGBT agenda in any way. Politicians, religious leaders, and organizations from around the world who defend life and family will likely be put on a blacklist by the UN office for human rights. The drastic new measure may be used to impose sanctions on pro-family advocates and expose them to terrorist attacks…

“‘In the broadly worded prompt, the UN rights office asks for examples of “public expressions or statements by political and/or religious leaders” who challenge LGBT rights… The UN rights office is especially focused on religions of pro-life and pro-family groups. It asks for any “examples where the concept of gender has been used in religious narratives or narratives of tradition, traditional values or protection of the family” in opposition to new LGBT laws and policies.’”

This was interesting as I had been reading a book entitled “Trigger Warning – Is the Fear of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech?,” where the author, Mick Hume, makes this excellent analysis:

“More recent struggles for freedom and equality in Western societies were just as intimately bound up with freedom of speech. The demand for free speech, the right for their voices to be heard, has proved central to the struggles for women’s emancipation, gay liberation and racial equality in the UK and US. There is a grim irony in the fashion… for feminist, trans or anti-racist activists today to demand restrictions on free speech as a means of protecting the rights of the identity groups they claim to represent. Without the efforts of those who fought for more free speech in the past, these illiberal activists would not be free to stand up and call for less of it in the present.”

Mr Hume went on to say that “we are living in the age of the reverse-Voltaires… Voltaire was a pioneer of free speech in eighteenth-century Enlightenment France. Voltaire is credited with one of the great historical sayings on the subject: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’ The cri de coeur [that is, the passionate outcry, as of appeal, entreaty or protest] of today’s hardcore offence-takers turns his principle inside out: ‘I know that I’ll detest and be offended by what you say, and I will defend to the end of free speech my right to stop you saying it.’ The reverse-Voltaires do not wish to dispute ideas or arguments that offend them. They would deny the other person’s right to say it in the first place.”

Put another way, those who have used the right to free speech in the first place are happy to have done so in pursuit of their agenda, and when that has been achieved, they then try and close down any comment, discussion or debate on that very same subject. Freedom of speech or no free speech, we all know which! It can also be called the cancel culture.

Game, set and match to them, or so they think. Perhaps for the time being, but there is coming a time when this nonsense will simply come to a grinding halt. There will be no need for family groups to defend their position nor will those promoting LGBT rights and other ungodly practices be allowed to function in such a capacity. Rather, they will learn and understand how wrong they had been all along.

The Truth given to us by God in His Word which is casually and callously discarded by those who seem to think that they know better, will become the norm, and society in the soon-coming Kingdom of God will practice the way that leads to a properly ordered society and happiness at every turn. Those of us who have been called to the knowledge of this Truth look forward eagerly to such a time!

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by Norbert Link

We begin with reports on safety concerns regarding the vaccine AstraZeneca and its suspended use by numerous countries; and report on scandals in Germany and a major hit Angela Merkel took in Sunday’s state elections.

We continue with an eye-opening article about the dangerous rise of dictatorships worldwide and the demise of democracy in over 100 countries [please view our new StandingWatch and AufPostenStehen programs in this regard]; address an alleged massive Chinese cover-up regarding the origin and outbreak of the coronavirus; and speak on the political downfall of Governors Newsom and Cuomo.

We address the “crisis” or “challenge” at the US-Mexican border and the ongoing unrest and violence in Oregon.

We also speak on two European states which have opened branches of their embassies in Jerusalem; and point out another diplomatic row between Israel and Jordan. We also report on a new alleged discovery of Dead Sea scrolls.

We conclude with the Vatican’s announcement not to bless same-sex unions, and more stupidity from England.

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

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Safety Concerns for Vaccine

Bloomberg wrote on March 12:

“The World Health Organization called for immunizations with AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine to continue after [many] countries suspended use of the shot over safety concerns… after concerns emerged in Austria last weekend, when the country stopped using some supplies of AstraZeneca’s vaccine as a precaution following reports of a death and illness among recipients. In rapid succession, Denmark, Italy and Norway followed suit, pointing to instances of blood clotting potentially linked to batches of the product. Thailand has suspended AstraZeneca vaccinations.

“The moves threaten to derail Europe’s already stuttering vaccine rollout, which trails campaigns in the U.K. and U.S. and could prolong the social and economic pain of the pandemic. They follow complaints from Europe that Astra isn’t delivering enough doses, along with age restrictions that many countries put on the shot in January before recently clearing it for all adults…

The Guardian reported on March 14 that Ireland is suspending the use of the vaccine “as a precautionary measure following further reports of blood clots in people who have received it, this time from Norway… Ireland cited a report into a death and three hospitalisations in Norway that came out on Saturday.” Other countries include Iceland and Bulgaria. Subsequently, it was announced that the Netherlands, Germany and France and Sweden also suspended the use of the vaccine “as a precaution.”

On March 13, MSN reported that “President Joe Biden’s administration is holding on to its stockpile of AstraZeneca PLC vaccines, even though the shot isn’t authorized for U.S. use… the U.K.-based company has begun manufacturing doses in the U.S. to fill an order for 300 million shots the American government placed last year… An AstraZeneca executive told CNBC last week that the company expects to have 30 million doses ready to ship when the shot receives authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.”

Deutsche Welle reported on March 16:

“The EU regulatory body… is ‘still firmly convinced that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19 with its associated risk of hospitalization and death outweigh the risk of these side effects,’ Executive Director Emer Cooke [said]…”

Dramatic Escalation between EU and UK over AstraZeneca’s Vaccine

The Sun wrote on March 17:

“In a dramatic escalation of their furious row with the pharma giant, EU boss Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc could even suspend patents on the lifesaving jab so anyone could produce it – but critics branded the threats ‘Stalinist.’ In a bombshell intervention, the raging German said she did not rule out triggering emergency powers to ‘make sure Europeans are vaccinated as soon as possible’ – warning ‘all options are on the table’. And in an astonishing broadside aimed at Britain she warned the bloc may restrict vaccine shipments to countries whose rollouts are going far better than its own. Her explosive comments come despite several EU nations pulling the plug on the very same jab earlier this week…

“The remarks reignited a fuming war of words between Britain and the EU…

“The massive row comes after 20 EU countries fully or partially suspended the use of the AZ vaccine over unsubstantiated blood clot fears this week. In Germany doctors at one vaccination centre were reported to have been brought to tears by having to destroy a batch of unused vaccines, describing the situation as a ‘disaster beyond all expectations’… The head of Italy’s medicines agency railed against the move as a ‘political choice’ and vowed to resume vaccinations at a greater than ever pace as soon as possible. Meanwhile in Poland – which has not suspended use of the jab – a top adviser to the PM suggested a commercially motivated ‘disinformation’ campaign designed to benefit AZ’s rivals was behind the decisions.”

Reuters added on March 17:

“The European Union on Wednesday threatened to ban exports of COVID-19 vaccines to Britain to safeguard scarce doses for its own citizens facing a third wave of the pandemic that would jeopardise plans to restart travel this summer… Von der Leyen said the flow of vaccine products was smooth with the United States but aired frustration over lack of deliveries from AstraZeneca in Britain…

“The situation threatens plans announced by the Commission to launch ‘green digital certificate’ that would collate information on vaccinations, tests and COVID recovery to let travellers cross borders freely again.”

Quite an interesting contradiction, as Europe wants more AstraZeneca vaccines while suspending its use.

Europeans Resume Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine

 Deutsche Welle wrote on March 18:

Germany, France and several other EU countries on Thursday have decided to continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) deemed the shot ‘safe and effective’…  Germany will resume administering the jab on Friday, according to Health Minister Jens Spahn. The vaccine, however, will come with new advice on potential side effects…

“France, Italy, Latvia, Bulgaria and Slovenia will also move forward with the AstraZeneca vaccine following the EMA’s guidance. French Prime Minister Jean Castex plans to receive the AstraZeneca shot on Friday to boost public confidence in the vaccine… Spain will reintroduce AstraZeneca vaccinations on Wednesday, but will exclude some demographic groups to minimize health risks. 

“Lithuania will resume using the AstraZeneca jab on Friday… Norway and Sweden will keep the AstraZeneca vaccine suspended as their public health bodies assess the situation… Norwegian Institute of Public Health director Camilla Stoltenberg told reporters [that] it was ‘premature’ to come to a final conclusion on the vaccine.  Sweden has said it ‘needs a few days’ before coming to a decision on the jab.”

Secret Contracts and Corruption in the EU?

Express wrote on March 12:

“AUSTRIA has accused some EU states of having ‘secret contracts’ for coronavirus vaccines in a snub to the bloc’s shambles jabs programme. In a fiery intervention, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz claimed Covid vaccines are not being distributed evenly within the EU. He called for greater transparency because some countries had been able to get ahead after receiving more doses than they were due under the bloc’s pro-rata system. Mr Kurz has held talks with his counterparts from Greece, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic to compare the vaccine delivery figures…

“Mr Kurz suggested there has been a ‘bazaar’ for life-saving vaccines within the EU, with secretive side agreements reached between a ‘steering board’ and drugs giants.”

Money makes the world go around. Several German politicians had to resign when it became known that they had allegedly manipulated the system by profiting financially, having received payments for brokering face mask procurement deals.

In addition, Deutsche Welle wrote on March 12:

“A year ago, Germany was effusively praised for its coronavirus response. Nobody would think to do that now. If anything, the international view today is a mixture of astonishment and schadenfreude… Germany has morphed from model student to pandemic problem child in short order, fighting failure in a number of subjects.”

Merkel Takes Major Hit in Regional Elections

The Guardian wrote on March 15:

“Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats face questions over… the impact of a corruption scandal involving face mask production following historic defeats in German regional elections on Sunday – just six months before a national vote. Merkel’s successor as chancellor is due to be chosen by the voters in September and the CDU’s worst ever results in the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, which were once considered its strongholds, have increased pressure on the party to work out how it can regain the confidence of the public in time.

“In the wealthy southern state of Baden-Württemberg, the CDU’s result slumped to just 24%, way behind its main rival, the pro-environmental Greens, who made gains to secure 33%. The CDU had previously ruled the state from 1953 for almost 58 years. In Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany, the CDU vote fell by more than four points to 28%, with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) securing victory with 36%.

“The CDU has had to face up to the fact that a corruption scandal involving alleged kickbacks over face mask procurement, which led to the resignation of three MPs within a week, in the run-up to the votes, has seriously damaged its image… A sluggish nationwide vaccine rollout,  which has been largely blamed on Merkel and her health minister Jens Spahn’s decision to allow the European commission to take control of orders, is also thought to have contributed to voter distrust…

“The fact that the CDU has returned such historically bad results, which have plunged the party into its worst crisis for years two months after electing a new party leader, Armin Laschet, has raised serious questions as to whether he is the right candidate to take it forward…

“Sunday’s state elections kicked off what has been labelled ‘superwahljahr’ or ‘super election year’, to include further votes in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in June, Lower Saxony and Berlin in September and culminating in the federal election on 26 September, together with elections in the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Thuringia on the same day…”

Newsmax added on March 14:

“The results are also a blow to CDU party chairman Armin Laschet, who took pole position in the race to succeed Merkel by winning the CDU leadership two months ago… Soeder, the leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), is the preferred conservative candidate for chancellor among German voters… Soeder and Laschet want to settle the candidacy matter by May 23. No German chancellor has ever come from the CSU.”

AFP wrote on March 14:

“‘This is a dark hour for the CDU,’ said Die Welt daily, while Die Zeit newspaper called it ‘a disaster’… The Greens… could emerge as kingmakers in September’s elections.”

Interesting developments in Germany…

Dictatorships on the Rise all over the World

On March 12, 2021, the American Institute for Economic Research published the following report:

 “… few people have recognized how pandemic-spurred crackdowns have devastated democracy around the world. Emergency proclamations have entitled presidents and other government officials to seize vast new powers previously forbidden to them. Government bureaucrats became a new priesthood that could sanctify unlimited sacrifices merely by invoking dubious statistical extrapolations of future perils.

“In October, Freedom House issued a report…  which warned that since the pandemic started, ‘the condition of democracy and human rights has worsened in 80 countries.’[According to new estimates, the number has climbed since then to at least 100 countries.] Abuses of power have been propelled by a presumption that government officials are entitled to all the power they claim to need to keep people safe.

“When the pandemic arrived in America… New York Governor Andrew Cuomo set the standard when he effectively declared that he was entitled to inflict any burden on his state’s residents to ‘save just one life.’ Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer prohibited anyone from leaving their home to visit family or friends. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti banned people from walking or bicycling outside. More than ten million jobs were lost thanks to lockdowns, a major reason why life expectancy in the United States last year had its sharpest plunge since World War Two.

Australia imposed some of the most heavy-handed restrictions. In August, the state of Victoria dictated an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew for the Melbourne area and prohibited people from venturing more than three miles from their residence…

Britain unleashed some of the most absurd restrictions. In June, it prohibited couples who live in different homes from having sex indoors…

New Zealand has imposed four separate lockdowns in its pursuit to banish the virus from the island, repeatedly placing residents in the capital city under house arrest. In October, the government announced it was creating ‘quarantine centers’ for anyone who tests positive and refuses to obey government orders…

“In Uganda… only the government may hand out food aid. Anyone else who does so can be charged with murder… since they might do it in a disorderly way, attract crowds and thereby spread the coronavirus…

“In Kenya, police killed at least 15 people during brutal crackdowns on alleged violators of lockdown decrees. Amnesty International declared that the Covid-19 pandemic provided ‘the perfect storm for indiscriminate mass violence’ by the police…

“Many regimes have expanded the definition of ‘fake news’ to justify repression.

“An Associated Press article in January explained why Californians were denied access to the information that determined the fate of their freedom: ‘State health officials said they rely on a very complex set of measurements that would confuse and potentially mislead the public if they were made public.’ But many data-driven dictatorial policies relied on data that was either fraudulent, politically contrived, or laughably inaccurate…

“The pandemic’s precedents pose a long-term peril for liberty around the globe… the media in some Western nations were the biggest cheerleaders for obliterating limits on political power…

“Federal judge William Stickman IV declared in September, ‘Broad population-wide lockdowns are such a dramatic invasion the concept of liberty in a free society as to be nearly presumptively unconstitutional.’ But unless there is a similar stark ruling from the Supreme Court, shutdowns could return whenever politicians can panic enough citizens with some new threat… The pandemic painfully illustrated how government officials can always concoct the data to justify whatever decree they itch to issue…  Covid-19 crackdowns are a warning for people to be wary of oppressive governments regardless of their purported mandate. The world doesn’t need any more Cage Keeper Democracies where citizens’ ballots merely designate who will place them under house arrest.”

This article is by no means exclusive. Many European countries, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, could also be mentioned with their dangerous and autocratic lockdown measures.

In his first prime time address to the nation, President Biden stated that “if we do our part,” then “there is a good chance” Americans will be able to have “small” events by Independence Day. He clarified that he does not mean large events with lots of people together, but that there is a good chance that “your families, and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbeque” (compare Breitbart, March 11). Apart from the fact that the President has no constitutional authority to make or enforce such proclamations, in a segment of the “Ingraham Angle” on Fox News, Senator Rand Paul ridiculed the naivety of the President and his lack of contact with reality, stating that such meetings “in our backyards” have taken place for a long time all over the country, with or without the President’s blessing.

Paul also compared Dr. Fauci with a “Greek philosopher” who tells “noble lies” to help the “ignorant” public “because he doesn’t think you are smart enough to make any of these decisions on your own.” Paul also stated: “You can sequentially look at the date when each mandate was passed and when it got ratcheted up. You can look at the incidence of the disease, and what you find is they were proportional, meaning the more mandates we got, the more disease we got. The mandates did not cause the disease but there is no evidence the mandate slowed down the disease at all” (see Fox News, March 13).

Massive Cover-Up of COVID-19 Origin?

Fox News reported on March 13:

“[David Asher] the State Department’s former lead investigator who oversaw the Task Force into the COVID-19 virus origin tells Fox News that he not only believes the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but that it may have been the result of research that the Chinese military, or People’s Liberation Army, was doing on a bioweapon… He believes the Chinese Communist Party has been involved in a massive cover-up during the past 14 months. ‘And if you believe, as I do, that this might have been a weapons vector gone awry, not deliberately released, but in development and then somehow leaked, this has turned out to be the greatest weapon in history,’ Asher said… ‘You’ve taken out 15 to 20 percent of global GDP. You’ve killed millions of people. The Chinese population has been barely affected. Their economies roared back to being number one in the entire G20.’…

“‘China has been involved in this type of virus research since 2003, the SARS outbreak,’ according to Miles Yu, the State Department official who co-wrote a recent op-ed in the WSJ with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the virus origins. ‘China’s biosafety standard is really low and is very dangerous. So this is an accident waiting to happen.’”

Numerous theories exist as to the origin of the virus, including the Chinese population’s consumption of infected bats and other unclean animals.

On March 15, The Times of Israel and AFP reported:

 “Experts believe that SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, originally came from bats, and jumped into humans via an intermediate animal. However, samples from tens of thousands of wild, domestic and farm animals in the region revealed no trace of the virus. The scientists are also uncertain as to where and when the outbreak started, though the Wuhan cases remain the earliest known…

‘There was conduit (back) from Wuhan to the provinces in south China where the closest relative viruses to SARS-CoV-2 are found in bats,’ Daszak [of the WHO team] told an event hosted by Britain’s Chatham House think-tank last week… The team also did not rule out transmission through frozen meat — imported frozen food packages being Beijing’s favorite theory [saying that frozen wild meat from neighboring provinces remained a ‘very valid option.’

“The idea of a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology — a hypothesis promoted by former US president Donald Trump’s administration — is ‘the least likely on the list of our hypotheses,’ said [a team member]… However, back in Geneva, in the face of clouds of suspicion that continued to hang over the mission, WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted all hypotheses remained on the table

“Trump had accused the WHO of being China’s puppet. Though his successor Joe Biden has changed the tone towards the UN health agency since becoming US president in January, Washington has continued to voice serious concerns about the WHO investigation, and has pushed Beijing to provide more information…”

Recall Looms for Gavin Newsom

Deadline wrote on March 11:

“Late Wednesday night, the group organizing the recall of California Governor Gavin Newsom announced it had collected over 2 million signatures… About 1,500,000 signatures are needed to trigger a recall election under state law…

“Organizers have until March 17 to gather signatures. Election officials have until April 29 to verify them. If there is a recall election, it will most likely be in November and feature just two questions on the ballot: ‘Should Gavin Newsom be recalled?’ and another asking voters to choose a replacement…

“The governor has been barnstorming the state for weeks visiting Covid-19 vaccination clinics and announcing the reopenings of schools in the state, theme parks, restaurants and generally loosening the restrictions that have many Californians so angry.”

Democratic Governors Newsom and Cuomo (see below) misused their powers to such an extent that their political survival is now on the line.

Walls Closing in for Andrew Cuomo

The Associated Press wrote on March 12:

“Facing unprecedented political isolation, a defiant New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo insisted on Friday that he would not step down in the wake of sexual harassment allegations and condemned the sprawling coalition of Democrats calling for his resignation as ‘reckless and dangerous.’… The embattled governor’s comments came on the day his party in New York and beyond turned sharply against him following allegations of harassment as well as sweeping criticism of Cuomo for keeping secret how many nursing home residents died of COVID-19 for months… A majority of Democrats in the state legislature and 21 of the state’s 27 U.S. House members have called on him to step down…

“Never before has the brash, 63-year-old Democratic governor, the son of a New York governor himself, been more politically alone… The state Assembly allowed an impeachment investigation into Cuomo on Thursday as lawmakers investigate whether there are grounds for his forcible removal from office.”

By March 12, seven women have claimed inappropriate sexual conduct by Cuomo towards them. More than 30 women who have worked or interacted with Cuomo allegedly confirmed that bullying was a defining element of his management style (New York magazine, March 12). Cuomo has denied all of the allegations. His brother Chris, moderator at CNN, was prohibited by the network to speak about his brother Andrew. The following high-ranking Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler as well as Adam Schiff and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), called on Cuomo to resign. Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden spoke on the issue as well, but refused to demand Cuomo’s resignation. Biden said Cuomo should resign if harassment and sexual misconduct allegations are confirmed. He added that he thinks Cuomo will probably end up being prosecuted.

Joe Biden under Attack

The Daily Mail wrote on March 12:

“Biden’s flights of fantasy: President WRONGLY claimed that Covid-19 cost more lives ‘than WWI, WWII, Vietnam and 9/11 combined’ and MISLED the public on timelines of Trump’s response to the virus and number of vaccine doses he ordered…

“What unity, Joe? Biden marks passage of $1.9T COVID bill with Rose Garden ceremony featuring NO Republicans…”

None of the Republicans had voted for the COVID-19 bill, claiming that it included billions upon billions of dollars for unrelated “gifts” (pork) in support of numerous Democratic pet projects. This country has never been as divided since the Civil War, as it is today.

“Still No Crisis?”

The Daily Mail wrote on March 13:

“In recent days, more than [3,600] unaccompanied teens and children have been held in Customs Border Patrol (CBP) detention centers designed for adults with most children spending on average 108 hours in the facilities – much higher than the 72-hour limit.

“The surge comes after Biden lifted a policy that had forced migrants to remain in Mexico while awaiting legal hearings to enter the US. This has fueled an influx of migrants but facilities and shelters cannot cope with the rise in demand. Children at the Donna facility in south Texas are reportedly going hungry and are only able to shower once a week as the center is at 729% of its legal capacity.

“However the official line coming from the Biden administration continues to be that there is no crisis, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki refusing to be drawn into saying the word Thursday…”

A crisis because of the government’s own making…

Deutsche Welle reported on March 14:

“The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered the government’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help care for a rising number of migrant children… to make sure the children are safely accommodated and transferred to people who will take care of them, such as relatives already in the US… The order comes as hundreds of children arrive at the border every day in what is fast becoming a major humanitarian challenge for President Joe Biden…

“The increased influx of minors comes after Biden reversed some of the restrictive migration policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump. The danger of coronavirus infection in shelters is an additional headache for US immigration authorities… The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is meant to take in such children after they have been processed by border authorities, is also overwhelmed, with some 8,800 unaccompanied children in custody… There have been reports of parents sending their children across the border from Mexico unaccompanied.”

Unrest in Oregon

The Daily Mail wrote on March 13:

“Cops detain an ENTIRE block of Antifa protestors on the second night of chaos in Portland: Activists smash windows in ugly clashes with the police…

“The ugly scenes occurred Friday after a group of activists assembled to march against the Department of Homeland Security. One local journalist claimed that between 100 and 150 protesters started making their way through the city’s Pearl District and began ‘breaking the glass of businesses’ and ‘attacking’ anyone who was filming them.”

On Thursday, according to The Daily Mail, Antifa protestors had set fire to American flags and smashed windows of the courthouse. Further violence was reported Friday night. The violence did not stop with the change of the Presidency.

Czech Republic and Hungary Open Branches of their Embassies in Jerusalem

JTA wrote on March 12:

“The Czech Republic opened a branch of its embassy in Jerusalem, becoming the second EU member state to make such a move after Hungary… The Czech Foreign Ministry has told journalists that the new mission is not a recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, which the United States in 2017 recognized but the European Union and many other countries and international bodies have not pending Israeli peace talks with the Palestinians.

“But observers… have argued that the  mission’s opening cannot be seen separately from the debate about the status of Jerusalem… Rudolf Jindrak from the [Czech] presidential office described this as a highly significant symbolic step and the president’s spokesman, Jiri Ovcacek, even connected it directly with the effort to move the embassy there…”

The refusal of the EU to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has wide-ranging prophetic consequences.

Diplomatic Row between Israel and Jordan

Times of Israel wrote on March 13:

“Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi on Friday lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a canceled visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount by Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein. Safadi confirmed that Jordan held up granting Netanyahu overflight permission in retaliation, causing him to postpone a planned visit to the United Arab Emirates.

“The diplomatic spat underscored… tensions between the two neighbors that have simmered for years… Hussein had been set to visit the Temple Mount on Wednesday for Lailat al-Miʿraj, a holiday marking a journey undertaken by the Prophet Muhammad. Safadi accused Israel of violating an agreement on the arrangements for the visit, while Israel has said Hussein arrived with heavier security than promised…

“Under their 1994 peace treaty, Israel recognizes Jordan as the custodian of the Temple Mount, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount is the holiest place in Judaism and the site of the third holiest shrine in Islam. Israel captured the Temple Mount and Jerusalem’s Old City from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War. However, it allowed the Jordanian Waqf to continue to maintain religious authority atop the mount, where Jews are allowed to visit, but not to pray.

“Netanyahu said Israel straightened out matters with Jordan and that he would visit the UAE soon…

“[It was] also reported the US told the UAE to scale back Netanyahu’s trip, before it was canceled, due to concerns over interfering in Israel’s March 23 elections… [a] news report said Netanyahu wanted to sign a peace treaty with Sudan while in Abu Dhabi, but the US told the UAE hosting such a ceremony would amount to election interference.

“Hebrew media reports on Wednesday suggested Netanyahu may have also been hoping to meet Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and/or Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the trip, which was scheduled to be held 12 days before Israel holds its fourth national election in two years….”

Discovery of More Dead Sea Scrolls

ABC News reported on March 16:

“Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago. The fragments of parchment bear lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum and have been dated around the first century based on the writing style, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. They are the first new scrolls found in archaeological excavations in the desert south of Jerusalem in 60 years.

“The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of Jewish texts found in desert caves in the West Bank near Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s, date from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D… The roughly 80 new pieces are believed to belong to a set of parchment fragments found in a site in southern Israel known as the ‘Cave of Horror’ — named for the 40 human skeletons found there during excavations in the 1960s — that also bear a Greek rendition of the Twelve Minor Prophets…

“The fragments are believed to have been part of a scroll stashed away in the cave during the Bar Kochba Revolt, an armed Jewish uprising against Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, between 132 and 136…”

Skepticism as to the age is in order as the article also stated that “the exhibit included far older discoveries of no lesser importance found during its sweep of more than 500 caves in the desert: the 6,000-year-old mummified skeleton of a child, an immense, complete woven basket from the Neolithic period, estimated to be 10,500 years old…”

This is highly questionable, as man was only created by God about 6,000 years ago.

Vatican Won’t Bless Same-Sex Marriages

The Associated Press reported on March 15:

“The Vatican [with the approval by Pope Francis] decreed Monday that the Catholic Church won’t bless same-sex unions since God ‘cannot bless sin’… [The Vatican] distinguished between the church’s welcoming and blessing of gay people, which it upheld, but not their unions. It argued that such unions are not part of God’s plan and that any such sacramental recognition could be confused with marriage… Catholic teaching holds that marriage, a lifelong union between a man and woman, is part of God’s plan and is intended for the sake of creating new life. Since gay unions aren’t intended to be part of that plan, they can’t be blessed by the church, the document said… Francis has endorsed providing gay couples with legal protections in same-sex unions, but that was in reference to the civil sphere, not within the church.

“… the head of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said the new document would be incorporated into the German discussion, but he suggested that the case was by no means closed… Other commentators noted that Catholic Book of Blessings contains rites of blessings that can be bestowed on everything from new homes and factories to animals, sporting events, seeds before planting and farm tools.”

CNN added on March 15:

“… the Holy See referred to homosexuality as a ‘choice,’ described it as sinful and said it ‘cannot be recognized as objectively ordered’ to God’s plans… The decision is a setback for Catholics who had hoped the institution would modernize its approach to homosexuality…

“The statement says that gays and lesbians, as individuals, may receive a blessing if they live according to Church teaching. But blessing same-sex unions, the Vatican said, would send a sign that the Catholic Church approves and encourages ‘a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God.’… In a commentary provided with the Monday statement, the Vatican insisted that ‘the negative judgment on the blessing of unions of persons of the same sex does not imply a judgment on persons.’”

The Bible teaches that homosexual practices are sinful, but the Vatican’s double-talk and inconsistent practices are more confusing than helpful.

More Stupidity from England… Men Under Curfew?

The Daily Mail wrote on March 11:

Men should be banned from being outdoors after 6pm to ‘make women a lot safer’ after the abduction and suspected murder of Sarah Everard in London, a Green Party peer has suggested. Baroness Jones made the comment in a discussion in the House of Lords during a debate on domestic violence.

“The issue of women’s safety has been again thrust into the spotlight following the disappearance of 33-year-old Ms Everard as she walked home to Brixton from her friend’s home in Clapham, south-west London, on March 3…

“[Baroness Jones] calls for a curfew echoed those made during the Reclaim The Night rallies in the 1970s, when members of the Women’s Liberation Movement took to the streets in the wake of the Yorkshire Ripper murders. Baroness Jones added later on Twitter her solution was ‘better than the Met telling women to stay indoors,’ following reports of officers cautioning women to be careful… [Jones] came third in the 2012 election won by Boris Johnson.”

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.

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What events recorded in the Book of Exodus concerning the Passover period are still relevant to Christians?

The importance of this period relates to the covenants God made with Abraham—which included God’s promise to deliver Abraham’s future descendants from slavery:

“Then He said to Abram: ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions’” (Genesis 15:13-14).

The time did come when God began to fulfill His promise to save the people of Israel, and God chose Moses to lead the nation out of Egypt:

“And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt’” (Exodus 3:7-10).

God revealed Himself to Moses, saying, “‘I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’” (Exodus 3:6). Likewise, God told Moses to tell the children of Israel about God and what He was going to do:

“‘Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, “The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, ‘I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey’”’” (Exodus 3:16-17).

That the Israelites of that time were anticipating help from God—especially the “elders of Israel”—seems apparent based on their traditional knowledge of God’s relationship with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. For Joseph had left instructions for his bones to be carried to the land God had promised (Genesis 50:24-25). Also, Stephen spoke of how Moses, before God revealed Himself to him, considered himself as one who might save Israel from Egyptian slavery:

“For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25).

But God did deliver the people out of slavery, and He did use those whom He chose for this responsibility. This is important to understand, and we will see how the events of the Passover were enacted through God’s instructions and followed by Moses and the people. Also, consider how God memorializes His actions in delivering Israel, as noted in Micah 6:4, “‘For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam’”; and Psalm 103:7, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.”

With great power God brought terrible destruction to the nation of Egypt. In a series of relentless plagues, Egypt was so decimated that even Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “‘Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?’” (Exodus 10:7).

Yet, a final plague, the tenth, did cause Pharaoh to free the Israelites, but Egypt paid a bitter price:

“Then Moses said, ‘Thus says the LORD: “About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel”’” (Exodus 11:4-7).

Just as God warned through Moses, so the firstborn of Egypt died:

“And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock” (Exodus 12:29).

God gave very specific and detailed instructions to Moses and Aaron regarding the observance of the Passover, calling it “‘the Passover sacrifice of the LORD’” (Exodus 12:27). This included the institution of His calendar, insofar as the order of the months are concerned, with instructions of when and how to observe the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Note chapters 12 and 13 in this regard).

While both the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread had specific meaning for the Israelites of that time, their observance was instituted as part of God’s choosing them to be His nation with implications for successive generations, as well. In fact, God specifically commanded that the observance of these holy times to be continued:

“‘So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day [the first Day of Unleavened Bread] I will have brought [or better: “I brought,” compare NIV, RSV] your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance’” (Exodus 12:17).

“‘And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this [Passover] service [of eating the Passover lamb].  And it shall be, when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” that you shall say, “It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households”’” (Exodus 12:24-27).

Shortly after leaving Egypt, God revealed the weekly Sabbath day (Exodus 16) to Israel. Even though the Sabbath was in force and effect since the creation of the first man, it seems that Israel had forgotten about it, while in Egyptian slavery. Three months following their departure from Egypt, God spoke His commandments from Mount Sinai and made a covenant with the children of Israel. We see that God was accomplishing much more than freeing the Israelites from captivity:

“And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:  “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel’” (Exodus 19:3-6).

After forty years and just before his death, Moses once again reminded Israel of God’s purpose in saving them from captivity in Egypt and making them His chosen people:

“‘For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments’” (Deuteronomy 7:6-9).

Returning to the events in Exodus 12 and 13, we find a remarkable testimony about how the children of Israel responded to God’s instructions about the Passover through Moses and Aaron:

“Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did” (Exodus 12:28); and, “Thus all the children of Israel did; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did” (Exodus 12:50).

That remarkable attitude of careful obedience to God on Israel’s part serves as an example for Christians, today. However, they left another, regretful example, because the thankfulness for God’s mighty intervention on their behalf soon waned into outright rebellion. Moses confronted Israel about this, and it is left as a warning we should heed:

“Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD” (Deuteronomy 9:7).

The Passover and the annual Holy Days of God, along with the weekly Sabbath, have been observed throughout the generations but only rarely with the commitment and zeal that God has commanded. Following the reigns of David and Solomon over all Israel, the Holy Days of God lost their place in the lives of the now divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel.

Israel in particular, under the rule of Jeroboam, was led into idolatry and rejected God’s rule over them. From that state of rebellion, the ten-tribe nation of Israel never recovered and was eventually driven into national captivity (2 Kings 17).

Judah, on the other hand, experienced times when a righteous king arose and restored national obedience to God. In particular, both King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30) and King Josiah (2 Kings 23) restored true worship of God in Judah. That restoration centered on re-establishing observance of the annual Holy Days of God—especially, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Following their return from Babylonian captivity, the Jews once again observed the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ezra 6:19-22); also, the Feast of Tabernacles was kept again (Nehemiah 8). Weekly Sabbath observance was strictly practiced under the strong leadership of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13).

That brings us to the New Testament times of Jesus. It is not within the scope of this Q&A to review all the references about Jesus and His disciples observing the weekly Sabbath and annual Holy Days, but note carefully that they indeed kept what God had commanded.

Jesus Christ observed and brought full meaning to “the Passover sacrifice of the LORD” as mentioned in Exodus 12:27. He instituted a different way for His followers—those who are baptized members of the Church of God—to keep this Feast. Here are Paul’s instructions—just as He received from Jesus:

“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; 24 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).

It should be more than obvious that we, as Christians, must keep the Passover just as Christ has commanded.

It is important to consider what Jesus said to His disciples during this Passover service. He referred to the future in God’s Kingdom, when the elect of God would be with Him:

“‘But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom’” (Matthew 26:29).

The events surrounding the first Passover are absolutely and profoundly relevant to true Christians, today! The knowledge and observance of all that God has commanded separates us from this world—a world held captive to sin through the powerful deception of Satan the Devil (1 John 5:19).

“But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Romans 6:17).

Like Israel of old, God has chosen us, but our calling from God is to enter His Family and to be given eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Let’s never lose sight of this incomparable opportunity:

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Lead Writer: Dave Harris

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Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock

compiled by Dave Harris

“Coming… A Worldwide Dictatorship,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The whole world is being prepared today for accepting a global autocratic dictatorship. Its beginning is already manifesting itself on the world scene. Do you know what is happening, and why, and that the Bible has prophesied this end-time development thousands of years ago?

“Eine weltweite Diktatur kommt!,” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program. Presented by Norbert Link, this video covers the same topic as described in the English version. 

“Unsere Hindernisse überwinden,” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon which is presented by Michael Link. Title in English: “Overcome Our Obstacles.” 

“Are Jews and Christians at Odds with Jesus Christ?” is the title of our newest booklet. This has been sent to graphic artist, Shelly Bruno, in preparation for printing. While this will be posted to our website, hard copies will be available upon request.

A new member letter has been written by Eric Rank who discusses what is really important for true Christians in light of the upcoming Passover and Spring Holy Days. The letter will be distributed next week to our members and subscribers. 

“Die Ewigkeitsklausel,” is the title of a split sermon presented last Sabbath in Germany by Thilo Hanstein. Title in English: “The Eternity Clause.”

“Stehen wir alleine vor Problemen?” is the title of a split sermon presented last Sabbath in Germany by Christoph Sperzel. Title in English: “Are We Facing Problems Alone?”

“Fatigue,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Kalon Mitchell, is now posted. Here is a summary:

What happens when you are in a role where there are a lot of alerts always coming at you? The natural tendency is to start to ignore important issues. What happens when this occurs to us as Christians? How do we combat this?

“The Leaders and Followers,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Michael Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

What makes a good leader and what are the responsibilities they must uphold to be considered as such?  What are the roles of a follower and how do the followers and the leaders complement one another?

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How This Work is Financed

This Update is an official publication by the ministry of the Church of the Eternal God in the United States of America; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Team: Norbert Link, Dave Harris, Rene Messier, Brian Gale, Johanna Link, Eric Rank, Michael Link, Anna Link, Kalon Mitchell, Manuela Mitchell, Dawn Thompson

Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank

Our activities and literature, including booklets, weekly updates, sermons on CD are provided free of charge. They are made possible by the tithes, offerings and contributions of Church members and others who have elected to support this Work.

While we do not solicit the general public for funds, contributions are gratefully welcomed and are tax-deductible in the U.S. and Canada.

Donations can be sent to the following addresses:

United States: Church of the Eternal God, P.O. Box 270519, San Diego, CA 92198

Canada: Church of God, ACF, Box 1480, Summerland, B.C. V0H 1Z0

United Kingdom: Global Church of God, PO Box 44, MABLETHORPE, LN12 9AN, United Kingdom

This Week in the News

Safety Concerns for Vaccine

Bloomberg wrote on March 12:

“The World Health Organization called for immunizations with AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine to continue after [many] countries suspended use of the shot over safety concerns… after concerns emerged in Austria last weekend, when the country stopped using some supplies of AstraZeneca’s vaccine as a precaution following reports of a death and illness among recipients. In rapid succession, Denmark, Italy and Norway followed suit, pointing to instances of blood clotting potentially linked to batches of the product. Thailand has suspended AstraZeneca vaccinations.

“The moves threaten to derail Europe’s already stuttering vaccine rollout, which trails campaigns in the U.K. and U.S. and could prolong the social and economic pain of the pandemic. They follow complaints from Europe that Astra isn’t delivering enough doses, along with age restrictions that many countries put on the shot in January before recently clearing it for all adults…

The Guardian reported on March 14 that Ireland is suspending the use of the vaccine “as a precautionary measure following further reports of blood clots in people who have received it, this time from Norway… Ireland cited a report into a death and three hospitalisations in Norway that came out on Saturday.” Other countries include Iceland and Bulgaria. Subsequently, it was announced that the Netherlands, Germany and France and Sweden also suspended the use of the vaccine “as a precaution.”

On March 13, MSN reported that “President Joe Biden’s administration is holding on to its stockpile of AstraZeneca PLC vaccines, even though the shot isn’t authorized for U.S. use… the U.K.-based company has begun manufacturing doses in the U.S. to fill an order for 300 million shots the American government placed last year… An AstraZeneca executive told CNBC last week that the company expects to have 30 million doses ready to ship when the shot receives authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.”

Deutsche Welle reported on March 16:

“The EU regulatory body… is ‘still firmly convinced that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19 with its associated risk of hospitalization and death outweigh the risk of these side effects,’ Executive Director Emer Cooke [said]…”

Dramatic Escalation between EU and UK over AstraZeneca’s Vaccine

The Sun wrote on March 17:

“In a dramatic escalation of their furious row with the pharma giant, EU boss Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc could even suspend patents on the lifesaving jab so anyone could produce it – but critics branded the threats ‘Stalinist.’ In a bombshell intervention, the raging German said she did not rule out triggering emergency powers to ‘make sure Europeans are vaccinated as soon as possible’ – warning ‘all options are on the table’. And in an astonishing broadside aimed at Britain she warned the bloc may restrict vaccine shipments to countries whose rollouts are going far better than its own. Her explosive comments come despite several EU nations pulling the plug on the very same jab earlier this week…

“The remarks reignited a fuming war of words between Britain and the EU…

“The massive row comes after 20 EU countries fully or partially suspended the use of the AZ vaccine over unsubstantiated blood clot fears this week. In Germany doctors at one vaccination centre were reported to have been brought to tears by having to destroy a batch of unused vaccines, describing the situation as a ‘disaster beyond all expectations’… The head of Italy’s medicines agency railed against the move as a ‘political choice’ and vowed to resume vaccinations at a greater than ever pace as soon as possible. Meanwhile in Poland – which has not suspended use of the jab – a top adviser to the PM suggested a commercially motivated ‘disinformation’ campaign designed to benefit AZ’s rivals was behind the decisions.”

Reuters added on March 17:

“The European Union on Wednesday threatened to ban exports of COVID-19 vaccines to Britain to safeguard scarce doses for its own citizens facing a third wave of the pandemic that would jeopardise plans to restart travel this summer… Von der Leyen said the flow of vaccine products was smooth with the United States but aired frustration over lack of deliveries from AstraZeneca in Britain…

“The situation threatens plans announced by the Commission to launch ‘green digital certificate’ that would collate information on vaccinations, tests and COVID recovery to let travellers cross borders freely again.”

Quite an interesting contradiction, as Europe wants more AstraZeneca vaccines while suspending its use.

Europeans Resume Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine

 Deutsche Welle wrote on March 18:

Germany, France and several other EU countries on Thursday have decided to continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) deemed the shot ‘safe and effective’…  Germany will resume administering the jab on Friday, according to Health Minister Jens Spahn. The vaccine, however, will come with new advice on potential side effects…

“France, Italy, Latvia, Bulgaria and Slovenia will also move forward with the AstraZeneca vaccine following the EMA’s guidance. French Prime Minister Jean Castex plans to receive the AstraZeneca shot on Friday to boost public confidence in the vaccine… Spain will reintroduce AstraZeneca vaccinations on Wednesday, but will exclude some demographic groups to minimize health risks. 

“Lithuania will resume using the AstraZeneca jab on Friday… Norway and Sweden will keep the AstraZeneca vaccine suspended as their public health bodies assess the situation… Norwegian Institute of Public Health director Camilla Stoltenberg told reporters [that] it was ‘premature’ to come to a final conclusion on the vaccine.  Sweden has said it ‘needs a few days’ before coming to a decision on the jab.”

Secret Contracts and Corruption in the EU?

Express wrote on March 12:

“AUSTRIA has accused some EU states of having ‘secret contracts’ for coronavirus vaccines in a snub to the bloc’s shambles jabs programme. In a fiery intervention, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz claimed Covid vaccines are not being distributed evenly within the EU. He called for greater transparency because some countries had been able to get ahead after receiving more doses than they were due under the bloc’s pro-rata system. Mr Kurz has held talks with his counterparts from Greece, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic to compare the vaccine delivery figures…

“Mr Kurz suggested there has been a ‘bazaar’ for life-saving vaccines within the EU, with secretive side agreements reached between a ‘steering board’ and drugs giants.”

Money makes the world go around. Several German politicians had to resign when it became known that they had allegedly manipulated the system by profiting financially, having received payments for brokering face mask procurement deals.

In addition, Deutsche Welle wrote on March 12:

“A year ago, Germany was effusively praised for its coronavirus response. Nobody would think to do that now. If anything, the international view today is a mixture of astonishment and schadenfreude… Germany has morphed from model student to pandemic problem child in short order, fighting failure in a number of subjects.”

Merkel Takes Major Hit in Regional Elections

The Guardian wrote on March 15:

“Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats face questions over… the impact of a corruption scandal involving face mask production following historic defeats in German regional elections on Sunday – just six months before a national vote. Merkel’s successor as chancellor is due to be chosen by the voters in September and the CDU’s worst ever results in the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, which were once considered its strongholds, have increased pressure on the party to work out how it can regain the confidence of the public in time.

“In the wealthy southern state of Baden-Württemberg, the CDU’s result slumped to just 24%, way behind its main rival, the pro-environmental Greens, who made gains to secure 33%. The CDU had previously ruled the state from 1953 for almost 58 years. In Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany, the CDU vote fell by more than four points to 28%, with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) securing victory with 36%.

“The CDU has had to face up to the fact that a corruption scandal involving alleged kickbacks over face mask procurement, which led to the resignation of three MPs within a week, in the run-up to the votes, has seriously damaged its image… A sluggish nationwide vaccine rollout,  which has been largely blamed on Merkel and her health minister Jens Spahn’s decision to allow the European commission to take control of orders, is also thought to have contributed to voter distrust…

“The fact that the CDU has returned such historically bad results, which have plunged the party into its worst crisis for years two months after electing a new party leader, Armin Laschet, has raised serious questions as to whether he is the right candidate to take it forward…

“Sunday’s state elections kicked off what has been labelled ‘superwahljahr’ or ‘super election year’, to include further votes in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in June, Lower Saxony and Berlin in September and culminating in the federal election on 26 September, together with elections in the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Thuringia on the same day…”

Newsmax added on March 14:

“The results are also a blow to CDU party chairman Armin Laschet, who took pole position in the race to succeed Merkel by winning the CDU leadership two months ago… Soeder, the leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), is the preferred conservative candidate for chancellor among German voters… Soeder and Laschet want to settle the candidacy matter by May 23. No German chancellor has ever come from the CSU.”

AFP wrote on March 14:

“‘This is a dark hour for the CDU,’ said Die Welt daily, while Die Zeit newspaper called it ‘a disaster’… The Greens… could emerge as kingmakers in September’s elections.”

Interesting developments in Germany…

Dictatorships on the Rise all over the World

On March 12, 2021, the American Institute for Economic Research published the following report:

 “… few people have recognized how pandemic-spurred crackdowns have devastated democracy around the world. Emergency proclamations have entitled presidents and other government officials to seize vast new powers previously forbidden to them. Government bureaucrats became a new priesthood that could sanctify unlimited sacrifices merely by invoking dubious statistical extrapolations of future perils.

“In October, Freedom House issued a report…  which warned that since the pandemic started, ‘the condition of democracy and human rights has worsened in 80 countries.’[According to new estimates, the number has climbed since then to at least 100 countries.] Abuses of power have been propelled by a presumption that government officials are entitled to all the power they claim to need to keep people safe.

“When the pandemic arrived in America… New York Governor Andrew Cuomo set the standard when he effectively declared that he was entitled to inflict any burden on his state’s residents to ‘save just one life.’ Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer prohibited anyone from leaving their home to visit family or friends. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti banned people from walking or bicycling outside. More than ten million jobs were lost thanks to lockdowns, a major reason why life expectancy in the United States last year had its sharpest plunge since World War Two.

Australia imposed some of the most heavy-handed restrictions. In August, the state of Victoria dictated an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew for the Melbourne area and prohibited people from venturing more than three miles from their residence…

Britain unleashed some of the most absurd restrictions. In June, it prohibited couples who live in different homes from having sex indoors…

New Zealand has imposed four separate lockdowns in its pursuit to banish the virus from the island, repeatedly placing residents in the capital city under house arrest. In October, the government announced it was creating ‘quarantine centers’ for anyone who tests positive and refuses to obey government orders…

“In Uganda… only the government may hand out food aid. Anyone else who does so can be charged with murder… since they might do it in a disorderly way, attract crowds and thereby spread the coronavirus…

“In Kenya, police killed at least 15 people during brutal crackdowns on alleged violators of lockdown decrees. Amnesty International declared that the Covid-19 pandemic provided ‘the perfect storm for indiscriminate mass violence’ by the police…

“Many regimes have expanded the definition of ‘fake news’ to justify repression.

“An Associated Press article in January explained why Californians were denied access to the information that determined the fate of their freedom: ‘State health officials said they rely on a very complex set of measurements that would confuse and potentially mislead the public if they were made public.’ But many data-driven dictatorial policies relied on data that was either fraudulent, politically contrived, or laughably inaccurate…

“The pandemic’s precedents pose a long-term peril for liberty around the globe… the media in some Western nations were the biggest cheerleaders for obliterating limits on political power…

“Federal judge William Stickman IV declared in September, ‘Broad population-wide lockdowns are such a dramatic invasion the concept of liberty in a free society as to be nearly presumptively unconstitutional.’ But unless there is a similar stark ruling from the Supreme Court, shutdowns could return whenever politicians can panic enough citizens with some new threat… The pandemic painfully illustrated how government officials can always concoct the data to justify whatever decree they itch to issue…  Covid-19 crackdowns are a warning for people to be wary of oppressive governments regardless of their purported mandate. The world doesn’t need any more Cage Keeper Democracies where citizens’ ballots merely designate who will place them under house arrest.”

This article is by no means exclusive. Many European countries, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, could also be mentioned with their dangerous and autocratic lockdown measures.

In his first prime time address to the nation, President Biden stated that “if we do our part,” then “there is a good chance” Americans will be able to have “small” events by Independence Day. He clarified that he does not mean large events with lots of people together, but that there is a good chance that “your families, and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbeque” (compare Breitbart, March 11). Apart from the fact that the President has no constitutional authority to make or enforce such proclamations, in a segment of the “Ingraham Angle” on Fox News, Senator Rand Paul ridiculed the naivety of the President and his lack of contact with reality, stating that such meetings “in our backyards” have taken place for a long time all over the country, with or without the President’s blessing.

Paul also compared Dr. Fauci with a “Greek philosopher” who tells “noble lies” to help the “ignorant” public “because he doesn’t think you are smart enough to make any of these decisions on your own.” Paul also stated: “You can sequentially look at the date when each mandate was passed and when it got ratcheted up. You can look at the incidence of the disease, and what you find is they were proportional, meaning the more mandates we got, the more disease we got. The mandates did not cause the disease but there is no evidence the mandate slowed down the disease at all” (see Fox News, March 13).

Massive Cover-Up of COVID-19 Origin?

Fox News reported on March 13:

“[David Asher] the State Department’s former lead investigator who oversaw the Task Force into the COVID-19 virus origin tells Fox News that he not only believes the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but that it may have been the result of research that the Chinese military, or People’s Liberation Army, was doing on a bioweapon… He believes the Chinese Communist Party has been involved in a massive cover-up during the past 14 months. ‘And if you believe, as I do, that this might have been a weapons vector gone awry, not deliberately released, but in development and then somehow leaked, this has turned out to be the greatest weapon in history,’ Asher said… ‘You’ve taken out 15 to 20 percent of global GDP. You’ve killed millions of people. The Chinese population has been barely affected. Their economies roared back to being number one in the entire G20.’…

“‘China has been involved in this type of virus research since 2003, the SARS outbreak,’ according to Miles Yu, the State Department official who co-wrote a recent op-ed in the WSJ with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the virus origins. ‘China’s biosafety standard is really low and is very dangerous. So this is an accident waiting to happen.’”

Numerous theories exist as to the origin of the virus, including the Chinese population’s consumption of infected bats and other unclean animals.

On March 15, The Times of Israel and AFP reported:

 “Experts believe that SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, originally came from bats, and jumped into humans via an intermediate animal. However, samples from tens of thousands of wild, domestic and farm animals in the region revealed no trace of the virus. The scientists are also uncertain as to where and when the outbreak started, though the Wuhan cases remain the earliest known…

‘There was conduit (back) from Wuhan to the provinces in south China where the closest relative viruses to SARS-CoV-2 are found in bats,’ Daszak [of the WHO team] told an event hosted by Britain’s Chatham House think-tank last week… The team also did not rule out transmission through frozen meat — imported frozen food packages being Beijing’s favorite theory [saying that frozen wild meat from neighboring provinces remained a ‘very valid option.’

“The idea of a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology — a hypothesis promoted by former US president Donald Trump’s administration — is ‘the least likely on the list of our hypotheses,’ said [a team member]… However, back in Geneva, in the face of clouds of suspicion that continued to hang over the mission, WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted all hypotheses remained on the table

“Trump had accused the WHO of being China’s puppet. Though his successor Joe Biden has changed the tone towards the UN health agency since becoming US president in January, Washington has continued to voice serious concerns about the WHO investigation, and has pushed Beijing to provide more information…”

Recall Looms for Gavin Newsom

Deadline wrote on March 11:

“Late Wednesday night, the group organizing the recall of California Governor Gavin Newsom announced it had collected over 2 million signatures… About 1,500,000 signatures are needed to trigger a recall election under state law…

“Organizers have until March 17 to gather signatures. Election officials have until April 29 to verify them. If there is a recall election, it will most likely be in November and feature just two questions on the ballot: ‘Should Gavin Newsom be recalled?’ and another asking voters to choose a replacement…

“The governor has been barnstorming the state for weeks visiting Covid-19 vaccination clinics and announcing the reopenings of schools in the state, theme parks, restaurants and generally loosening the restrictions that have many Californians so angry.”

Democratic Governors Newsom and Cuomo (see below) misused their powers to such an extent that their political survival is now on the line.

Walls Closing in for Andrew Cuomo

The Associated Press wrote on March 12:

“Facing unprecedented political isolation, a defiant New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo insisted on Friday that he would not step down in the wake of sexual harassment allegations and condemned the sprawling coalition of Democrats calling for his resignation as ‘reckless and dangerous.’… The embattled governor’s comments came on the day his party in New York and beyond turned sharply against him following allegations of harassment as well as sweeping criticism of Cuomo for keeping secret how many nursing home residents died of COVID-19 for months… A majority of Democrats in the state legislature and 21 of the state’s 27 U.S. House members have called on him to step down…

“Never before has the brash, 63-year-old Democratic governor, the son of a New York governor himself, been more politically alone… The state Assembly allowed an impeachment investigation into Cuomo on Thursday as lawmakers investigate whether there are grounds for his forcible removal from office.”

By March 12, seven women have claimed inappropriate sexual conduct by Cuomo towards them. More than 30 women who have worked or interacted with Cuomo allegedly confirmed that bullying was a defining element of his management style (New York magazine, March 12). Cuomo has denied all of the allegations. His brother Chris, moderator at CNN, was prohibited by the network to speak about his brother Andrew. The following high-ranking Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler as well as Adam Schiff and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), called on Cuomo to resign. Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden spoke on the issue as well, but refused to demand Cuomo’s resignation. Biden said Cuomo should resign if harassment and sexual misconduct allegations are confirmed. He added that he thinks Cuomo will probably end up being prosecuted.

Joe Biden under Attack

The Daily Mail wrote on March 12:

“Biden’s flights of fantasy: President WRONGLY claimed that Covid-19 cost more lives ‘than WWI, WWII, Vietnam and 9/11 combined’ and MISLED the public on timelines of Trump’s response to the virus and number of vaccine doses he ordered…

“What unity, Joe? Biden marks passage of $1.9T COVID bill with Rose Garden ceremony featuring NO Republicans…”

None of the Republicans had voted for the COVID-19 bill, claiming that it included billions upon billions of dollars for unrelated “gifts” (pork) in support of numerous Democratic pet projects. This country has never been as divided since the Civil War, as it is today.

“Still No Crisis?”

The Daily Mail wrote on March 13:

“In recent days, more than [3,600] unaccompanied teens and children have been held in Customs Border Patrol (CBP) detention centers designed for adults with most children spending on average 108 hours in the facilities – much higher than the 72-hour limit.

“The surge comes after Biden lifted a policy that had forced migrants to remain in Mexico while awaiting legal hearings to enter the US. This has fueled an influx of migrants but facilities and shelters cannot cope with the rise in demand. Children at the Donna facility in south Texas are reportedly going hungry and are only able to shower once a week as the center is at 729% of its legal capacity.

“However the official line coming from the Biden administration continues to be that there is no crisis, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki refusing to be drawn into saying the word Thursday…”

A crisis because of the government’s own making…

Deutsche Welle reported on March 14:

“The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered the government’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help care for a rising number of migrant children… to make sure the children are safely accommodated and transferred to people who will take care of them, such as relatives already in the US… The order comes as hundreds of children arrive at the border every day in what is fast becoming a major humanitarian challenge for President Joe Biden…

“The increased influx of minors comes after Biden reversed some of the restrictive migration policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump. The danger of coronavirus infection in shelters is an additional headache for US immigration authorities… The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is meant to take in such children after they have been processed by border authorities, is also overwhelmed, with some 8,800 unaccompanied children in custody… There have been reports of parents sending their children across the border from Mexico unaccompanied.”

Unrest in Oregon

The Daily Mail wrote on March 13:

“Cops detain an ENTIRE block of Antifa protestors on the second night of chaos in Portland: Activists smash windows in ugly clashes with the police…

“The ugly scenes occurred Friday after a group of activists assembled to march against the Department of Homeland Security. One local journalist claimed that between 100 and 150 protesters started making their way through the city’s Pearl District and began ‘breaking the glass of businesses’ and ‘attacking’ anyone who was filming them.”

On Thursday, according to The Daily Mail, Antifa protestors had set fire to American flags and smashed windows of the courthouse. Further violence was reported Friday night. The violence did not stop with the change of the Presidency.

Czech Republic and Hungary Open Branches of their Embassies in Jerusalem

JTA wrote on March 12:

“The Czech Republic opened a branch of its embassy in Jerusalem, becoming the second EU member state to make such a move after Hungary… The Czech Foreign Ministry has told journalists that the new mission is not a recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, which the United States in 2017 recognized but the European Union and many other countries and international bodies have not pending Israeli peace talks with the Palestinians.

“But observers… have argued that the  mission’s opening cannot be seen separately from the debate about the status of Jerusalem… Rudolf Jindrak from the [Czech] presidential office described this as a highly significant symbolic step and the president’s spokesman, Jiri Ovcacek, even connected it directly with the effort to move the embassy there…”

The refusal of the EU to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has wide-ranging prophetic consequences.

Diplomatic Row between Israel and Jordan

Times of Israel wrote on March 13:

“Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi on Friday lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a canceled visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount by Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein. Safadi confirmed that Jordan held up granting Netanyahu overflight permission in retaliation, causing him to postpone a planned visit to the United Arab Emirates.

“The diplomatic spat underscored… tensions between the two neighbors that have simmered for years… Hussein had been set to visit the Temple Mount on Wednesday for Lailat al-Miʿraj, a holiday marking a journey undertaken by the Prophet Muhammad. Safadi accused Israel of violating an agreement on the arrangements for the visit, while Israel has said Hussein arrived with heavier security than promised…

“Under their 1994 peace treaty, Israel recognizes Jordan as the custodian of the Temple Mount, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount is the holiest place in Judaism and the site of the third holiest shrine in Islam. Israel captured the Temple Mount and Jerusalem’s Old City from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War. However, it allowed the Jordanian Waqf to continue to maintain religious authority atop the mount, where Jews are allowed to visit, but not to pray.

“Netanyahu said Israel straightened out matters with Jordan and that he would visit the UAE soon…

“[It was] also reported the US told the UAE to scale back Netanyahu’s trip, before it was canceled, due to concerns over interfering in Israel’s March 23 elections… [a] news report said Netanyahu wanted to sign a peace treaty with Sudan while in Abu Dhabi, but the US told the UAE hosting such a ceremony would amount to election interference.

“Hebrew media reports on Wednesday suggested Netanyahu may have also been hoping to meet Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and/or Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the trip, which was scheduled to be held 12 days before Israel holds its fourth national election in two years….”

Discovery of More Dead Sea Scrolls

ABC News reported on March 16:

“Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago. The fragments of parchment bear lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum and have been dated around the first century based on the writing style, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. They are the first new scrolls found in archaeological excavations in the desert south of Jerusalem in 60 years.

“The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of Jewish texts found in desert caves in the West Bank near Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s, date from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D… The roughly 80 new pieces are believed to belong to a set of parchment fragments found in a site in southern Israel known as the ‘Cave of Horror’ — named for the 40 human skeletons found there during excavations in the 1960s — that also bear a Greek rendition of the Twelve Minor Prophets…

“The fragments are believed to have been part of a scroll stashed away in the cave during the Bar Kochba Revolt, an armed Jewish uprising against Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, between 132 and 136…”

Skepticism as to the age is in order as the article also stated that “the exhibit included far older discoveries of no lesser importance found during its sweep of more than 500 caves in the desert: the 6,000-year-old mummified skeleton of a child, an immense, complete woven basket from the Neolithic period, estimated to be 10,500 years old…”

This is highly questionable, as man was only created by God about 6,000 years ago.

Vatican Won’t Bless Same-Sex Marriages

The Associated Press reported on March 15:

“The Vatican [with the approval by Pope Francis] decreed Monday that the Catholic Church won’t bless same-sex unions since God ‘cannot bless sin’… [The Vatican] distinguished between the church’s welcoming and blessing of gay people, which it upheld, but not their unions. It argued that such unions are not part of God’s plan and that any such sacramental recognition could be confused with marriage… Catholic teaching holds that marriage, a lifelong union between a man and woman, is part of God’s plan and is intended for the sake of creating new life. Since gay unions aren’t intended to be part of that plan, they can’t be blessed by the church, the document said… Francis has endorsed providing gay couples with legal protections in same-sex unions, but that was in reference to the civil sphere, not within the church.

“… the head of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said the new document would be incorporated into the German discussion, but he suggested that the case was by no means closed… Other commentators noted that Catholic Book of Blessings contains rites of blessings that can be bestowed on everything from new homes and factories to animals, sporting events, seeds before planting and farm tools.”

CNN added on March 15:

“… the Holy See referred to homosexuality as a ‘choice,’ described it as sinful and said it ‘cannot be recognized as objectively ordered’ to God’s plans… The decision is a setback for Catholics who had hoped the institution would modernize its approach to homosexuality…

“The statement says that gays and lesbians, as individuals, may receive a blessing if they live according to Church teaching. But blessing same-sex unions, the Vatican said, would send a sign that the Catholic Church approves and encourages ‘a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God.’… In a commentary provided with the Monday statement, the Vatican insisted that ‘the negative judgment on the blessing of unions of persons of the same sex does not imply a judgment on persons.’”

The Bible teaches that homosexual practices are sinful, but the Vatican’s double-talk and inconsistent practices are more confusing than helpful.

More Stupidity from England… Men Under Curfew?

The Daily Mail wrote on March 11:

Men should be banned from being outdoors after 6pm to ‘make women a lot safer’ after the abduction and suspected murder of Sarah Everard in London, a Green Party peer has suggested. Baroness Jones made the comment in a discussion in the House of Lords during a debate on domestic violence.

“The issue of women’s safety has been again thrust into the spotlight following the disappearance of 33-year-old Ms Everard as she walked home to Brixton from her friend’s home in Clapham, south-west London, on March 3…

“[Baroness Jones] calls for a curfew echoed those made during the Reclaim The Night rallies in the 1970s, when members of the Women’s Liberation Movement took to the streets in the wake of the Yorkshire Ripper murders. Baroness Jones added later on Twitter her solution was ‘better than the Met telling women to stay indoors,’ following reports of officers cautioning women to be careful… [Jones] came third in the 2012 election won by Boris Johnson.”

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.

Get to Work / God-Who-Forgives

On March 20, 2021, Eric Rank will present the sermonette, titled, “Get to Work,” and Dave Harris will present the sermon, titled, “God-Who-Forgives.”

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.

Update 964

Fatigue / The Leaders and Followers

On March 13, 2021, Kalon Mitchell will present the sermonette, titled, “Fatigue,” and Michael Link will present the sermon, titled, “The Leaders and Followers.”

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.

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Still Committed?

by Michael Link

Those of us who are members of the Church of God made an important decision in our lives, when we decided to become a part of God’s Church, to become a part of Christ, His spiritual Body, knowing that we must live differently than the rest of the world, as we would be set apart from the world—which involves our commitment. This is our pledge, our dedication. So, when we commit ourselves to do something, we have to follow through, or else we could be considered dishonest, and even unreliable.  Once we say yes, we have to do it, unless circumstances are different and a change is justified.  Christ said in Matthew 5:37 to let our yes be yes and our no be no.

We all have goals in life to which we are committed. If there is something we are trying to pursue and are serious about it, do we keep trying or will we give up soon after we have started?  But we also go through trial and error. If something is not working out the way we want it to, it may be that God is trying to tell us something, perhaps teaching us a lesson, and our desires may not even be in accordance with His Will.  Being successful involves hard work and commitment.

Living in this world is difficult and living God’s Way of Life is difficult because we are constantly bombarded with temptations, and some could certainly be directed at our greatest weaknesses which we need to overcome by constantly having God involved in our lives. We commit ourselves to Him by living His Way of Life.  An important decision we had to make to show our commitment at our baptism will be reflected upon once again very shortly when we partake of the Passover, showing our continued dedication to God’s Way of Life.

In preparation for and at the moment of our baptism and ever since, we knew as soon as we made that commitment, that our lives would be changed and that there would be no turning back. Our lives would become increasingly difficult, yet at the same time, we would experience a change—a positive change. We knew that we were granted the gift of God’s Holy Spirit the moment we were baptized, for we are considered holy. We have God’s special protection, and we grow in wisdom and strength, to bring us closer to the fulfillment of God’s master plan for us. There is no need to fear and when we doubt, there are several Scriptures we can turn to for reassurance, reminding us that God is with us and gives us strength (compare Isaiah 41:10, 13; Deuteronomy 31:6; Psalms 103:1-10).  We shouldn’t be afraid of what’s going on in this world today, but we must be committed to God’s Way, and if we are, we can see what He promises us.

There is a responsibility that we must endure because in order to live God’s Way of Life, we must fear Him. What we fear is breaking His commandments, breaking our commitment we have with God. We were committed to the Truth as soon as we were baptized. Because we know these things, we have to ask ourselves how committed we are now to the Truth and God’s Way of Life?  Do we have faith that God will protect us during these terrible times we are going through and will continue to go through, and that God will show mercy to us? When God gives us a command, will we comply or will we complain? Without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6), and we have to be consistent with what God tells us. We can’t agree with something that God says and then at the same time disagree with something else that God commands us. We do not want to be lukewarm which is described in the 3rd chapter of the Book of Revelation, but rather, we must listen to God’s Word and we must take it to action.

Just as we have faith in God, God at the same time is faithful to forgive us our sins when we ask for forgiveness. Unfortunately in this world today, there isn’t a whole lot of faith in God, and God is left out of the picture when decisions are made. They may mean well and think what they are doing is justified, but as soon as they go against what God says, by thinking they are doing the right thing, they are taking matters into their own hands. Many also think that they are teaching God’s Word, but they are not. God does not approve of false teaching! We see in 1 Timothy 6:3-5 what today’s world is all about: “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wrangling’s of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.”

We know that we have to have a tremendous amount of faith to live God’s Way, and it should be easy for us to do this because we know firsthand what the Bible promises and what is going to happen. So, when we committed ourselves to God at our baptism, we knew what we were getting into.

We have to be careful that we don’t slip and lose focus but stay committed at ALL times because Satan is always ready to catch us off guard. We should all realize the importance of our individual commitment we have with God and with each other. Christ said to His Church in John 15:12: “This is My commandment, that you love ONE ANOTHER as I have loved you.”

The decision we each made to be baptized was a crucial necessity if we want to be in God’s Kingdom, by receiving God’s Holy Spirit so we can receive everlasting life. This will always be perceived as a mystery in this world until Christ’s return, but we in God’s Church have been given the gift to understand this now, and are expected to keep this understanding and act upon it until the end.

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by Norbert Link

We address Israel’s fight against Iran’s alleged ambition to acquire nuclear weapons; Europe’s search for new leadership and Germany’s dissatisfaction with its current leaders; and the rising threat of wild animals during the corona pandemic and further news on travel restrictions to Germany.

We continue with the ongoing turmoil and controversy involving Britain’s royal family and Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s highly explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey; and the accusation that America, in taking Meghan’s side, is trashing the British monarchy. Also, voices are being heard stating that the survival of the Commonwealth is at risk. In this context, please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, Any prophetic fallout from Harry’s and Meghan’s interview?”

We also speak on further disagreements between Russia and Germany.

We point out intense earthquake and volcano activities around the globe and the frequency of strong tornadoes in the USA which is unparalleled in the rest of the world.

We report on a vote by the Swiss population to ban burqas.

We speak on censorship in the USA; the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the last pending case alleging voter irregularities; a strange and popular statue of Trump as Buddha on a Chinese shopping portal; and we conclude with the House’s passing of the $1.9 trillion spending bill and the fear of a coming crash in the USA, due to the country’s unprecedented debts, which would be so much more devastating than the Great Depression.

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

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Against the Entire World

Newsmax reported on March 4:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told supporters he would ‘stand against the entire world’ to stop the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu’s comments were a change for the prime minister, who had been careful in discussing the nuclear pact… President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal in 2018… ‘The international reality has changed,’ said Netanyahu, undoubtedly referring to Biden having replaced Trump. ‘There is an intention to go back to this dangerous deal. I am the only one who will stand against the entire world.’…

“France, Germany and the United Kingdom have backed off a plan to censure Iran for not cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency…”

The Jerusalem Post added on March 6 that “Netanyahu told… Kamala Harris in a late-night phone call on Thursday that he will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons…”

It does appear that Israel might find itself alone with respect to the Iran deal.

US Warns Its Allies in Middle East

The Jerusalem Post wrote on March 5:

“The Biden administration issued a warning this week to its allies in the Middle East not to oppose US policies and not to seek military solutions to the region’s problems. ‘We do not believe that military force is the answer to the region’s challenges, and we will not give our partners in the Middle East a blank check to pursue policies at odds with American interests and values,’ it said in a document posted on the White House website that outlined its global strategic interests.

“The document, titled, ‘Interim National Security Guidelines,’ was published as Israel has increasingly spoken of the possibility that it might have to use force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the IDF was updating a military plan to strike Iranian nuclear sites if necessary

“Israel and the US are also at odds over West Bank settlement activity, with Israel believing it has the right to build on territory that will one day become part of sovereign Israel. The Biden Administration believes that much of that territory should be part of the permanent boundaries of a Palestinian state and holds that settlement activity prevents the resumption of negotiations for a two-state resolution to the conflict.”

The American warning to Israel is far too obvious than to be ignored.

Macron and Draghi

Express wrote on March 2:

“EMMANUEL MACRON might have found a replacement for Angela Merkel in Mario Draghi as the new Italian Prime Minister sees eye-to-eye with the French leader on EU defence and security… Italian newspaper Il Foglio claimed the pair united on various themes during [a] virtual meeting, ranging from vaccine protectionism to strengthening defence and security…

“This would be the perfect opportunity for the French President to take the leadership of the EU once Angela Merkel leaves the national and European political scene…”

Neither Macron nor Draghi will lead the final European revival of the ancient Roman Empire, consisting of ten nations or groups of nations.  

German Health Minister Spahn Must Go!

Bild Online wrote on March 5:

“At first there were too few masks, then too little vaccine, and now we are dawdling with the quick tests. Now even Der Spiegel just boiled over. ‘It’s enough, Mr. Spahn,’ was the headline of an article in the Hamburg news magazine, and the author continued: ‘Actually, two resignations are due.’

“Whom does Der Spiegel author Dirk Kurbjuweit mean in his editorial? Chancellor Angela Merkel (66, CDU) and Health Minister Jens Spahn (40, CDU)! ‘The main responsibility lies with the Chancellor,’ the author writes. ‘Merkel’s overall balance sheet as Chancellor is spoiled.’ However, Jens Spahn’s situation is even ‘worse.’ Because: ‘As health minister, he is also responsible for the debacle.’

“In the case of Merkel, her resignation would lead to a political crisis in the middle of the pandemic, and because of the imminent general election, there would probably be no stable government until the end of the year. ‘That doesn’t make the situation any better,’ Der Spiegel says. ‘For the Minister of Health, however, this pragmatic-political objection does not apply. Spahn no longer belongs in this office.’

“It also said that ‘The crisis policy of the federal and state governments has become a ‘farce’. ‘Is that really Germany?’ the author asks in astonishment, looking at the government’s crisis management. ‘Organizing, doing business intelligently, that was always considered a strength of the Germans. And now almost nothing works smoothly, of all things in the pandemic, in the struggle for life and death. What’s going on here?’

“His diagnosis: ‘Germany, it has to be said, is currently being ruled terribly badly by the Federal Chancellor, by the group of Prime Ministers, and by some ministers, namely Health Minister Jens Spahn. That must have consequences.’”

By that standard, just about all health ministers and governmental leaders all over the world must go, given the absolute fiasco they have created and are responsible for. And so they should resign. Of course they won’t, and it takes the return of Jesus Christ to make an end to man’s mismanagement. In the meantime, beware when Germans are becoming unhappy with their government.

German Travel Restrictions

The Local wrote on March 9:

“The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) changed the risk classification of the United States on March 7th. The US was previously classed as a ‘high incidence area’ by the RKI… now it’s a ‘risk area’ – which is used by German authorities to describe a region with an increased risk of infection… However, entry from the US is only permitted in a few narrow exceptions. Proof of urgent need to travel is required, German authorities say…

“If you are a German resident from the US, or fall into one of the exception categories, you still face strict testing and quarantine measures.

“All travellers must have a negative Covid-19 test result at the latest 48 hours after they enter Germany. It must be presented to authorities if they request it. Some individual airlines may however still say that travellers have to present a coronavirus negative test result before boarding is allowed…

“Testing is still mandatory even if travellers are vaccinated or have recovered from a coronavirus infection…

“People returning from ‘risk zones’ are required to self-isolate for 10 days after they arrive. The quarantine can usually be ended with a negative coronavirus test result taken at the earliest five days after arriving in Germany… Everyone entering Germany is also required to register online.”

Covid-19 Lockdowns and Wild Animals

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 5:

“In London and other major cities across the UK, rat sightings have soared during the pandemic. The British Pest Control Association (BPCA)… said its members reported a 51% hike in rodent activity during the first lockdown last spring, and a 78% increase in November after the next lockdown.

“Typically, rats avoid humans and make drains and sewers their homes. However, as a result of shuttered businesses and deserted high streets, the creatures are out in full force and making restaurants, pubs and empty buildings their new habitat as they look for other sources to satisfy their dietary needs…

“Thousands of macaques… roam the streets of Lopburi in Thailand… Usually well-fed by tourists, the monkeys have been finding snacks hard to come by during the pandemic. They’ve even engaged in intertribal warfare over scraps, fighting in the streets and historic temples… There are tens of millions of [stray dogs] roving [India’s] streets and slums; a law has made it illegal to kill or maim the animals… Strays are also common in Istanbul — the city on the Bosporus… counts more than 200,000 free roaming cats and dogs…

Rodents are known to carry and transmit diseases such as… Leptospirosis [a bacterial disease ], Salmonella, Listeria, Toxoplasma gondii [a parasite that forms cysts and can affect a number of body organs], and Hantavirus [which can cause potentially deadly diseases such as hemorrhagic fever or a pulmonary syndrome]…”

God says that many people will die due to the wild beasts of the earth.

In addition, according to an article by the Ron Paul Institute, dated March 9,Stanford University Medical School professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is featured in Newsweek Magazine condemning the lockdowns across the United States to fight the virus, calling them the biggest mistake ever made by public health authorities. A new study released by…  the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)… appears to bolster Dr. Bhattacharya’s claim.”

Royal Family in Turmoil

Deutsche Welle reported on March 8:

“Prince Harry and Meghan… talked about the struggles of living in the royal family in a highly-anticipated interview with US television personality Oprah Winfrey… Meghan said the family and the people who run the institution are separate. She said the Queen has always been ‘wonderful’ to her, always making her feel welcome… She added that while the palace was ready to lie to protect other members of the family, ‘they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.’… Meghan said there were concerns about how ‘dark’ her child would be… [Oprah later clarified that the persons allegedly raising this issue were NOT the Queen and Prince Philipp.] Meghan said she told the palace that she needed help for mental health concerns: ‘I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.’…

“Prince Harry said separation from the British royal family had been very difficult for him and Meghan. ‘My biggest concern was history repeating itself,’ Harry said, apparently referring to his mother Princess Diana, who was hounded by the British press and died at age 36 in a car crash in Paris…

“Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s grandmother, gave a televised address on Sunday, hours before the interview was aired. In a pre-recorded message from London, the British monarch talked about the importance of ‘dedication to duty’ in an address to mark Commonwealth Day… The couple stepped away from royal duties in March 2020, complaining about the British tabloids’ treatment of Meghan. They cited what they described as bullying and racist attitudes toward the duchess, who is biracial…”

Bild Online wrote on March 7:

“That there could ever be again peace in the [royal] family seems to be impossible now… all bridges have been burned…”

Deutsche Welle added on March 8:

“Birgit Maass, DW’s London correspondent, said it was unclear if Buckingham Palace would give an official statement. [Subsequently, Buckingham Palace did issue an official statement, see articles below.] ‘There would only be statement if individual members of the palace were attacked,’ she said. However, the couple was careful to avoid naming individuals during the interview. ‘It’s a tough one for the palace’ Maass said. ‘There will be a fear in the royal family that it could be tainted, but the queen still is somebody who is very popular as head of state,’ Maass said, adding that questions remain about the future of the royal family near the end of Elizabeth’s reign.”

This scandal is reminiscent of the scandal pertaining to Princess Diana and her interview. Whomever one wants to believe and however one wants to evaluate it, the reputation and institution of the Royal Family has suffered another severe blow. Some papers have stated that while Americans don’t care too much for the concept of the British monarchy, many Brits look at the Royal Family almost as holy and tabu, which must never be criticized.

“America Is Trashing Britain”

The Hollywood Reporter wrote on March 8:

“Britain’s notorious tabloid press was apoplectic with rage towards Meghan Markle and Prince Harry after their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night….

“After dismissing the interview as a ‘sideshow’… The Daily Mail devoted well over twenty stories related to the special on its website on Monday morning… The Daily Mail and its sister publication The Mail on Sunday have been particularly virulent in their coverage of the Sussexes, the latter paper was recently ordered by a British judge to publish a front-page statement declaring Markle’s victory in her copyright claim against the newspaper over its publication of a letter to her estranged father.

Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, another long-time and very public critic of Markle, opened his show by repeatedly suggesting that Prince Harry had ‘spray-gunned’ his family with the revelatory interview and that it was ‘so disloyal’… ‘as Prince Phillip lies in hospital.’ ‘America is trashing our country and trashing our monarchy now,’ Morgan said.”

Predictably, the reaction in America was much more sympathetic towards Harry and Meghan. Express reported on March 8 that the White House praised Meghan for her courage to speak about her struggles with mental health, stating that these comments risk opening a rift between Joe Biden’s administration and the UK political establishment.” Following a hot debate with co-hosts on Good Morning Britain, Piers Morgan walked off the set and subsequently resigned, after saying that he does not believe that Meghan Markle was indeed suicidal. Most British viewers seem to agree with Morgan.

Royal Response Insufficient?

The Associated Press wrote on March 10:

“Buckingham Palace’s statement on Prince Harry and Meghan’s allegations on racism and mistreatment has failed to quiet the controversy, with some observers criticizing the royal family for failing to forcefully condemn racism and suggesting that the couple’s version of events may not be accurate. ‘Too little, too late’ was the verdict of royal commentator Peter Hunt, who also criticized the palace’s 61-word statement for saying the issue would be dealt with privately as a family matter…  ‘The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,’ the palace said. ‘The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.’

“The comments were the palace’s first word since the interview rocked the royal family — and touched off conversations around the world about racism, mental health and even the relationship between Britain and its former colonies…

“Fallout from the interview is likely to only fuel the debate over the future of the monarchy and its role both in Britain and the other countries around the world for which the queen serves as head of state… The queen remains the head of state for 15 countries, most of which were once part of the British Empire, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and island nations in the Caribbean.

Other countries, which are part of the Commonwealth, include Malta and Cyprus, South Africa and many other African nations, such as Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania.

Commonwealth At Risk?

Express wrote on March 10:

“Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have put the Commonwealth at risk after former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said the bombshell interview bolstered his case for breaking away from the British monarchy… He told ABC: ‘After the end of the Queen’s reign, that is the time for us to say, ‘OK, we’ve passed that watershed. Do we really want to have whoever happens to be the head of state, the King or Queen of the UK, automatically our head of state?’’

“Mr Turnbull led the Australian Republican Movement from 1993 to 2000. In 1999, the Australian public voted to keep the monarchy. While the Queen’s role is mostly ceremonial, she does have the power to sack the Prime Minister, which happened in 1975.

“New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has previously expressed republican views but said the country was unlikely to break from the British monarchy in the near future…

“[For Commonwealth Day,] Prince Charles delivered a speech focused on the devastating effects of the pandemic but also hailed the Commonwealth’s efforts to fight climate change and protect its wildlife.”

Russia’s RT under attack in Germany

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 5:

“A dispute between Berlin and Moscow over the establishment of a Russian state-backed TV channel in Germany heated up on Friday after the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the German government of violating press freedoms. The dispute arose regarding the channel RT — formerly Russia Today — the German offshoot of which announced a plan in January to set up a television station in Germany by the end of the year… RT, based in Moscow, already offers services in English, Spanish, Arabic and French. RT DE, as the German-language offshoot is called, launched its website in 2014…

“Tensions spiked on Thursday when Maria Sakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, accused the German government of forcing Commerzbank to close accounts belonging to RT DE until the end of May in an attempt to stifle ‘freedom of expression and freedom of the press’… Berlin denied that it had any involvement in the closure of the RT accounts…”

“2021 on Track to become record-breaking year of major earthquakes, volcanoes”

Israel 365 wrote on March 7:

“Though the past year has been replete with troubling news items that include a pandemic and hotly contested US Presidential election, the earth shaking beneath our feet seems to have gone unnoticed.

“In the first 65 days of this year, 42 major quakes, magnitude 6 or higher, have shaken the planet. The year with the largest total was 2010, with 24 major earthquakes greater than or equal to magnitude 7.0. In 2011, a total of 207 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or higher shook the earth, culminating in a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that caused the catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear reactor and the concurrent 9.1 magnitude earthquake in Tohuka, Japan that killed over 20,000 people. Powerful earthquakes shook the Kermadec Islands region of New Zealand on Thursday, setting off tsunami warnings.

“But attention should be paid to less dramatic geologic rumblings as well. Iceland was hit by more than 18,000 earthquakes in the past week including a magnitude 7.3 earthquake, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake, and a magnitude 8.1 earthquake. In addition, authorities are warning that two volcanoes in a densely populated region of the country could erupt at literally any moment.

The number of earthquakes is increasing.  In the first 65 days of 1921, exactly one century ago, only seven major earthquakes, magnitude 6 or higher were recorded globally according to the USGS DataBase. In the same period last year, a total of 24 major quakes, magnitude 6 or higher were recorded around the globe. Back in 2019, just 20 major quakes had been reported up to March the 6th, just 50% of this year’s total. In 2018, a total of 24 major quakes were reported in the first 65 days of the year and in 2017 just 15. 24 major earthquakes were recorded in the beginning of 2016 and in 2015, just 18…

“But earthquakes aren’t the only concern. Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna in Sicily, erupted seven times in the past two weeks. A large eruption started at Sangay volcano, Ecuador on Saturday. An earthquake swarm shook Mount Hood, a potentially active stratovolcano near Portland, Oregon for 45 minutes last week… Mount Sinabung in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province began erupting last Tuesday, sending volcanic materials as high as 16,400 feet into the sky with authorities recording 13 times when it released ash clouds. Three weeks ago,  Fuego volcano, located 50 kilometers away from the capital city of Guatemala, started to erupt. As of yesterday 43 volcanoes around were erupting or showing signs of activity… Since January 20, 2021, 1,722 weak earthquakes were detected under the Pinatubo Volcano in the Philippines.”

Increased earthquakes here and there and other natural catastrophes are part of the “beginning of sorrows,” according to the words of Jesus Christ.

US Has More Tornadoes than any Other Country

CNN wrote on March 7:

“The US averages over 1,150 tornadoes every year. That’s more than any other country. In fact, it’s more than Canada, Australia and all European countries combined… Other countries experience tornadoes, including Germany, Australia, South Africa, eastern China, Japan, Bangladesh, Argentina, and more. Europe as a whole is comparable to the size of the US, but there is a vast difference in number of tornadoes and tornado fatalities…

“Outside of the US, Canada actually ranks second on the list for most tornadoes, with an average of 100 per year…”

Increasing Catastrophes, especially for the USA, ARE prophesied.

Swiss Voters Approve Ban of Wearing Burqas in Public

The New York Post wrote on March 7:

“Swiss voters narrowly approved on Sunday a proposal to ban face coverings, both the niqabs and burqas worn by a few Muslim women in the country and the ski masks and bandannas used by protesters. The measure will outlaw covering one’s face in public places like restaurants, sports stadiums, public transport or simply walking in the street. It foresees exceptions at religious sites and for security or health reasons, such as face masks people are wearing now to protect against COVID-19, as well as for traditional Carnival celebrations. Authorities have two years to draw up detailed legislation.

“Two Swiss cantons, or states, Ticino and St. Gallen, already have similar legislation that foresees fines for transgressions. National legislation will put Switzerland in line with countries such as Belgium and France that have already enacted similar measures. The Swiss government had opposed the measure… It argued that the ban could harm tourism — most Muslim women who wear such veils in Switzerland are visitors from well-heeled Persian Gulf states, who are often drawn to Swiss lakeside cities…

“Supporters of the proposal… argued that the full-face coverings symbolize the repression of women and said the measure is needed to uphold a basic principle that faces should be shown in a free society like Switzerland’s.

“In the end, 51.2% of voters supported the plan. There were majorities against it in six of Switzerland’s 26 cantons — among them those that include the country’s three biggest cities, Zurich, Geneva and Basel, and the capital, Bern. SRF public television reported that voters in several popular tourist destinations including Interlaken, Lucerne and Zermatt rejected it. Backers included the nationalist Swiss People’s Party, which is the strongest in parliament. The committee that launched the proposal is led by a lawmaker from the party, Walter Wobmann, and also initiated a ban on the construction of new minarets that voters approved in 2009.”

While wearing face masks, including double face masks, is encouraged and required, burqas and ski masks are prohibited. Insanity rules the world.

Censorship in the USA

The Ron Paul Institute published an article on March 4 which originally appeared in the Washington Times. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“… how can Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,’ or Laura Ingalls Wilder’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ series, or J.M. Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’ [survive,] each with their own set of perceived and real stereotypes and slurs? Even Roald Dahl’s original ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ has inspired criticism over the depiction of the Oompa Loompas as jungle-dwellers. Let’s not forget Margaret Mitchell’s ‘Gone With the Wind,’ in all its slavery glory, or Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist,’ in all its anti-Semitic glory, or Lynne Reid Banks’ ‘The Indian in the Cupboard,’ in all its — well, the title speaks volumes on that one…

“The list is endless. The list can be endless. Even the Bible speaks to the enslavement of various peoples.

“Are we to turn off all the offensive to our ears, in some sort of — futile — attempt to whitewash, er, erase, not just history, but fancy and fiction and flights of imaginations?… This is about the shape of censorship things to come. It’s about a growing acceptance of blotting out all offenses, in the hope that ignoring offenses means the offenses don’t occur — in fact, that they never did occur. That’s erasing history. That’s living a lie…

“Word is next up are L. Frank Baum’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ series.  Let the burning begin. The trouble, of course, will be to know the exact point to extinguish the fire…”

Terrible memories of book burnings in Nazi Germany come to mind, and the banishment of books in East Germany after the Russians took over. Not to speak of all the prohibited books in dictatorships all over the world. In times past, it was prohibited by the Catholic Church to read the Bible. Where is all of this going…?

Newsmax published on March 8 an article by Alan Dershowitz. We are bringing you the following excepts:

“If cancel culture were to accept the notion that a person should be totally cancelled based on only a portion of his output, we would have to comb the libraries, book stores and eBook sites for offenders. Near the top of the list would be Fyodor Dostoevsky, perhaps the greatest writer of modern times. In addition to his monumental novels such as ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ and ‘Crime and Punishment,’ he wrote an essay that could easily have been mistaken for a chapter straight out of ‘Mein Kampf’ by Adolph Hitler. In his essay on ‘The Jewish Question,’ he rails against the Jewish faith, culture, and people. He claims that Jews hoard gold so that they can easily carry it with them to the promised land. He accuses them of duel loyalty, deception and other sins…

“Should Renoir be cancelled because of his sexist and degrading views toward women— he said they belonged only in the kitchen and bedroom—which are reflected in some of his paintings? Or for his racism and anti-Semitism? What about Picasso?

“The list of people who have expressed bigoted views in their writings includes Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser, T.S. Eliot, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Margaret Sanger, Walt Disney, Malcolm X and Roald Dahl

“The disgraceful treatment accorded Kate Smith is a case in point. The totality of this great singer’s career was positive, but she was cancelled, as was her stirring rendition of God Bless America, because it was discovered that when she was young she recorded several songs that by today’s standards contained racially insensitive lyrics (which she didn’t write)…”

The concept of “cancel culture,” as described herein, is a dangerous development. And it seems to be growing continuously. Note the next article.

Breitbart wrote on March 9:

“Children can no longer watch DumboPeter PanSwiss Family Robinson, and The Aristocats on Disney’s Disney+ streaming service while using the ‘Kids Profile’ mode, which filters out titles flagged with content warnings — including scenes now deemed racist… it is now up to parents if they want their children to watch the cartoons.”

Parents should be knowledgeable about what their children watch anyhow. But the underlying motive by the Disney enterprise is of course quite too obvious.

U.S. Supreme Court Disposes of Last Trump Case re Election Results

Thomson/Reuters reported on March 8:

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday disposed of the last of three cases brought to the justices by former President Donald Trump challenging his election loss, ending his legal efforts to hold onto power. The court without comment rejected Trump’s appeal challenging thousands of absentee ballots filed in Wisconsin…

“The court on Feb. 22 turned away Trump’s other two appeals — a second Wisconsin challenge and one relating to voting in Pennsylvania…

“It already was clear that the high court… had no intention to intervene in the cases and others filed by his allies because it did not act before Congress on Jan. 6 certified Biden’s victory…

“Trump continues to claim that the Nov. 3 presidential election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud and irregularities. Republicans are focusing on those allegations in… an effort to impose new voting restrictions in numerous states.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to review any of those cases will make many Trump supporters very unhappy.

Trump Buddha Statue

meaww.com wrote on March 10:

“Trump Buddha statues sell like hot cakes on Chinese shopping portal Taobao…  While the statue shows Trump with his trademark hairdo, it has, uncharacteristically, a rather peaceful expression on his face. His hands are seen resting on his lap, referencing the traditional iconography of Buddhist statues in China. As per an Insider report, the figurine’s description says: ‘Trump, who knows Buddhism better than anyone.’”

First a golden statue of Trump at CPAC 2021, and now this. And Trump knows Buddhism better than anyone???

House Passes $1.9 Trillion Spending Bill

MSN wrote on March 10:

“The House Wednesday passed a $1.9 trillion spending package, sending the bill to President Biden [President Biden signed the bill on Thursday]… Not a single Republican voted for the bill. The measure will provide a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks, enhanced weekly unemployment benefits and expanded child tax credits… Democrats passed the bill over the objections of all House Republicans, who said the package was too expensive and dedicated mostly to wasteful spending unrelated to the pandemic…

“The legislation, Republicans argued, dedicates about 9 percent of funding to combating Covid-19 and just one percent to production and distribution of the critical vaccines… But Democrats argued the massive spending package is exactly what the nation is demanding after a year of Covid-19 and goes even further to alleviate longstanding poverty…”

An American Crisis Greater than the Great Depression?

Ron Paul wrote the following on March 8 in the Ron Paul Institute:

“According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), 2021 will be the second year in a row in which the federal debt exceeds Gross Domestic Product (GDP). CBO also projected that this year’s federal deficit will be 2.3 trillion dollars, which is 900 billion dollars less than last year. However, CBO’s projections do not include the 1.9 trillion dollars ‘stimulus’ bill Congress is likely to pass. [Subsequently, it was passed and signed by the President]. The CBO’s report was largely ignored by Congress and the media…

“The overreaction to coronavirus is a cause of the explosion in federal spending and debt we have witnessed over the last year. However, federal spending already greatly increased from January 2017 until the lockdowns. This spending growth occurred under a Republican president, a Republican Senate, and, from 2017 to 2019, a Republican House…

“Republican hypocrisy in claiming to care about spending and debt only when a Democrat sits in the Oval Office is one reason why Democrats can so easily disregard debt… Unless the government changes course, America will experience a crisis greater than the Great Depression. The crisis will include a final rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. There will also be much increased price inflation

“Those who know the truth [need to] ensure they and their families are protected when the crash comes…”

 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.

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Who determines what is right and wrong?

This is a fundamental question that affects every facet of life. If there is no God, then everything is determined by man. It seems that the consensus of opinion in society is that concepts of right and wrong are just a matter of personal choice.

Dr J Slattery, writing specifically about sexual matters, stated the following:

“In today’s culture, right and wrong are sorted through a grid of what we perceive as being the best for ourselves and our fellow humans. Essentially, human beings are now ‘god,’ with the authority to determine our own moral compass. With this type of humanistic worldview, morality is defined as ‘do no harm.’ Ethics and morality are measured by whether or not people are harmed. ‘She’s not hurting anyone, so how could she be doing something wrong?’ From this perspective, Christians who stand against gay marriage, for example, are thought to be doing harm. They are ‘hurting’ people who want to celebrate the gay lifestyle. In contrast, those who want to participate in gay marriage are viewed as doing no harm.”

In today’s secular society, God and His Word are neither thought about nor consulted when laws are enacted. The consensus is that when it comes to morality which can be defined as “principles of right and wrong,” there are those who believe that there are no absolutes, merely personal preferences and these can be different in varying cultures.   It is because man wants to do his own thing that he dismisses God, and the standards expected of a God-fearing individual don’t apply to them as they don’t believe in a superior Being who created everything we see.

On the website, truthnet.org, we read: “…the problem is that Christianity proclaims there are absolute moral norms that apply to all persons in all places at all times. Relativism denies there are moral norms. If relativity is true then Christianity is false. If there is no basis for right and wrong, then Christianity is a meaningless set of values. If relativity is false, then there must be an objective source of what is right or wrong.”

This same writer asked this question:

“Why is there a right and wrong? Have you ever asked yourself this question? What makes something right and what makes something wrong? Imagine a world, where you could do whatever you want? No one to stop you from your heart’s desire, if you like the car you just take it! If someone offends you, you have the right to hurt or even kill them. What’s the problem with this scene?

“Well if you are like me, you might think, ‘What if I am on the other side?’ What if I am the guy who owned the car or I am the guy who offended the person?’ The world would be a chaotic place to live if everybody got their heart’s desire. What is the basis of rules? Who said it’s wrong to steal, murder or rob? The real question being asked is who determines our morality, and why should we care?”

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher wrote that If God doesn’t exist, everything is permissible.” And that is what the liberal, permissive and atheistic element in our society is determined to achieve, and just look at the chaotic state that exists around the world. The world denies God and His way at their peril, and judgment cannot be that far away now for this God-hating world and its determined ignorance of the way that God wants us to live for our own good.

In 2012, Ben Kinchlow wrote an article, entitled, “Who Decides What’s Right and Wrong?” Below are just a few brief excerpts from his thought-provoking article.

“Doing right: Actions which are fair, proper, good, upright, righteous, virtuous, moral, ethical, honorable, honest, lawful, legal.

“Doing wrong: Actions which involve crime, lawbreaking, lawlessness, criminality, misconduct, misbehavior, malpractice, corruption, immorality, sin, sinfulness, wickedness, evil, vice, iniquity, villainy, offense, felony, wrong, misdeed, misdemeanor, fault, peccadillo, transgression.

“Now I have a few questions: Says who? Who sets the standards for right and wrong? Who gives them the right to establish these standards? Suppose we disagree on our definitions of right or wrong … who are you to decide for me? Based on what?

“Remember when sodomy was not only wrong but a crime? Who suddenly decided it was not only right, but now legal? And who has the right to declare pornography as wrong or illegal? Doesn’t that interfere with my rights? Who gives them that right?

“Why can Saudi Arabia say homosexuals should be put to death if homosexuality is OK in the United States? If NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) thinks sex with boys, including 8-year-olds or younger, is OK, who can say it isn’t?

“Did anyone come up with the answers to some questions I asked in an earlier column: Should lawbreakers be prosecuted just because they don’t agree with society’s standards of behavior? Is anything truly right or wrong, really legal or illegal? Does it all just depend on whether one agrees or disagrees?

“If we all began as an electromagnetically charged single-cell product of lifeless slime, evolving, like other life forms, with no reason or purpose other than survival of the fittest, why should I be subjected to another life form’s delineation of right or wrong?

“If no One is in charge, isn’t everyone?”

What an excellent question to ask those who think that man is in charge of all law-making processes. They believe that they are, but look at the state of society when mankind is left to its own devices. No one in their right mind could possibly accept that societies around the world are law-abiding and shining lights for others to follow!

It is not a new phenomenon. We read in Judges 17:6 and 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” In fact, it goes back even further than that.

In the garden of Eden, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). We know that Satan tempted Eve as we read in chapter 3, and she made the decision not to do as God had instructed but, with the help of the serpent, made her own decision, and Adam followed that poor example. It was a case, right at the dawn of civilisation, that man wanted to make his own rules and do his own thing.

After just over 1600 years of man ignoring God and making up his own rules, the wickedness of man had become so great that God said that He had regretted making man (Genesis 6:7), and the flood came and man was destroyed except for Noah and his family. We know that man again followed the cunning of Satan, “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), and man, today, still wants to live by his own rules, laws and regulations.

What you may consider right for you may not be right for another person. It cannot be that each person makes up his own rules and regulations to live by as there would be chaos, and no one set of rules would be accepted by everyone; hence the reason why the nations’ rulers and legislators enact laws and put them on the statute book for all citizens to live by. In a way, that makes sense as everyone knows what is and what isn’t acceptable, but the system fails when God is ignored because He has our best interests at heart. He is the Creator of us all and, consequently, knows far more than man will ever know.

Proverbs 21:2 tells us that “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes…” This is repeated in Proverbs 16:2, in this fashion: “All the ways of man are pure in his own eyes.” In Jeremiah 17:9 we read: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

As already mentioned above, we read in Judges 21:25 and in Judges 17:6 that when there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The Benson Commentary observes: “There were elders (Judges 21:16), who had some authority, and there was a high-priest (Judges 20:28), but there was no supreme governor, such as Moses and Joshua were, and after them the judges, and none that had power sufficient to punish public wrongs, whoredoms, and idolatries, and thereby check the progress of vice and profaneness, and keep the people in order. It is a natural inference from hence, that men ought to be extremely thankful for lawful authority: and, if they would preserve their felicity, ought to be zealous to support that authority, as well as to discourage all licentious approaches toward its dissolution.”

“What are the fruits?” is always a very good question to ask about anything that man does, and we can see that there have been 6,000 years of disobedience to the great Creator God. Man, following the lead of Satan the devil, has had a history of wars, killing, cruelty, barbarism, inhumanity, persecution, depravity, wickedness and so much more.   When we compare the “fruit of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5:22-23 (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control), we see the difference between God’s Way and the way of the world, and the chasm between the two is enormous.

The true Christian will not, and cannot, just accept the law of man when it contradicts instruction from the Word of God.

The great Creator God set the standard for absolute Truth, and it is His authority that establishes that Truth. When Jesus was on earth, He said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). When Jesus was praying for His disciples, He said, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:16-17).

Therefore, God’s Word is Truth; that is, the source that a Christian must consult to find out what God has to say on any given matter. Let us look at just four examples of conflict with what society now accepts legally and as the norm, and what the Bible has to say on these four matters. There are many more, but these examples will clearly show how deeply man has sunk into depravity, compared to what God instructs and expects.

Abortion has now been legalised in many countries around the world. The Centre for Reproductive Rights, an organization dedicated to promoting abortion around the world, estimates that 60% of the global population lives in countries where abortion is broadly legal. During the years 2010-2014, it was estimated that 546 million abortions per year were carried out worldwide. For an explanation as to why abortion is wrong, please see our booklet “Are You Already Born Again?”

Homosexuality is roundly condemned in the Bible, but is now accepted in many countries around the world as being normal. Please see our booklet God’s Teachings on Sexual Relationships,” pages 95-105, to see the biblical instruction and condemnation on this issue.

Couples living together rather than being married is another commonly accepted practice, but is against God’s clear instructions. Please see our booklet “God’s Teachings on Sexual Relationships,” chapter 6, entitled “Cohabitation or Common Law Marriage.”

A family was defined by God, and again this issue is covered in the booklet mentioned above, God’s Teachings on Sexual Relationships,” on pages 75-79. Man has re-defined marriage and family to suit his own requirements, which is certainly at odds with the Bible.

Is man right on these, and many other issues, or should we always and solely look to God for His wise instruction? Secularists and atheists would say the former and true Christians, the latter.

Most people live by their own rules and accept society’s rules without too much thought as to whether they are acceptable in the sight of God. Some others, even church members, may, at times, try and change the meaning of Scripture so that it can fit into what they want it to mean to suit their own particular sinful lifestyle (compare Romans 1:25). However, we must never forget that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Too many Christians today are prepared to compromise with God’s Word because they are not separate from the world and its customs when they should be living by God’s standards and setting the example that is required of them (compare Matthew 5:13-16). Some may think that God’s Way is too hard, boring or not what excites them, and if that is the case, it may be that they are not convinced about the “Way of Life” which is the lot of a true Christian.

Many may want to indulge their own desires, have a fear of what others may say or just be ignorant of the true Way of God, and so they weakly compromise. They should have known that following God and His Way is the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14). When such people compromise, they will, inevitably, follow the way of the world and its laws and edicts, and God’s Way will be either ignored or discarded. Right and wrong will then be decided by them and the society they willingly accept!

Who is the ultimate authority in all moral matters? Is it the created – man – with all of his imperfections and lack of wisdom and Godly knowledge, or is it the Creator God of the Bible who was the One who created us all? The answer is that God reveals what is right and wrong in His Word—the Bible. Put as simply as we can, God decides what is right and wrong in His Word, and that must be our guide to life.

Only God has the right to decide what is good and evil.

As the Church of God has said many times, if the law of the land is in conflict with the law of God, then we must follow God’s Way and be willing to suffer for righteousness sake which might even include not violently resisting any punishment or sentence that the state dishes out for such an infringement to its man-made law. In order to see what a Christian’s duty and responsibility is in this regard, please read our free booklet, Obeying God Rather Than Men,” pages 44-45. We must always strive to do as God instructs and remember that God’s Word is our basis for living and our instruction manual for life.

Psalm 119:105 is a good Scripture to finish this Q&A with: “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

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Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock

compiled by Dave Harris

 A Tech Team meeting was conducted via SKYPE on Sunday, March 7, 2021. Hosted by Eric Rank, discussions centered on fine tuning the Church website graphic designs and with planning for different Internet services to host our live broadcasts.

We are saddened to announce the death of Martha Bittle, a member who lived in Arkansas. Her daughter, Lois Nelson, wrote saying her Mother died peacefully knowing that she was in God’s hands, and that Mrs. Bittle faithfully looked forward to her resurrection in God’s Family.

“Any Prophetic Fallout from Harry and Meghan’s Interview?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: 

The bombshell interview with Oprah has prompted many different emotional reactions all over the world. This program does not address at all who is right or wrong. But it focuses on interesting developments which might be a preview of things to come. The Bible has much to say about the future of Britain’s monarchy and the Commonwealth. 

“Israel’s and Germany’s Future—Comments on News and Prophecy, March 6, 2021,” the first message presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Benjamin Netanyahu told supporters that due to the “changed international reality,” he is the only one who will stand “against the entire world” in regard to the Iran question. In response, the USA warned Israel and others in the Middle East not to oppose US policies. Also, Germans are very unhappy with Angela Merkel and Health Minister Jens Spahn, and Der Spiegel Online asked for Spahn’s resignation. What could all of this mean in the light of biblical prophecy?

“Why the Footwashing Ceremony at Passover?” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Baptized Members of the Church of God partake each year at Passover evening of the symbols of bread and wine, but they also participate in the footwashing ceremony. Why did Christ introduce the footwashing ceremony, and what does it mean for us today? How do we understand Christ’s statements in response to Peter’s initial refusal to accept Christ’s washing of his feet? And is there a relationship between the correct baptism, which only occurs once in a lifetime of a converted person, and the footwashing ceremony which is being observed annually?

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How This Work is Financed

This Update is an official publication by the ministry of the Church of the Eternal God in the United States of America; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Team: Norbert Link, Dave Harris, Rene Messier, Brian Gale, Johanna Link, Eric Rank, Michael Link, Anna Link, Kalon Mitchell, Manuela Mitchell, Dawn Thompson

Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank

Our activities and literature, including booklets, weekly updates, sermons on CD are provided free of charge. They are made possible by the tithes, offerings and contributions of Church members and others who have elected to support this Work.

While we do not solicit the general public for funds, contributions are gratefully welcomed and are tax-deductible in the U.S. and Canada.

Donations can be sent to the following addresses:

United States: Church of the Eternal God, P.O. Box 270519, San Diego, CA 92198

Canada: Church of God, ACF, Box 1480, Summerland, B.C. V0H 1Z0

United Kingdom: Global Church of God, PO Box 44, MABLETHORPE, LN12 9AN, United Kingdom

Fatigue / The Leaders and Followers

On March 13, 2021, Kalon Mitchell will present the sermonette, titled, “Fatigue,” and Michael Link will present the sermon, titled, “The Leaders and Followers.”

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.

This Week in the News

Against the Entire World

Newsmax reported on March 4:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told supporters he would ‘stand against the entire world’ to stop the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu’s comments were a change for the prime minister, who had been careful in discussing the nuclear pact… President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal in 2018… ‘The international reality has changed,’ said Netanyahu, undoubtedly referring to Biden having replaced Trump. ‘There is an intention to go back to this dangerous deal. I am the only one who will stand against the entire world.’…

“France, Germany and the United Kingdom have backed off a plan to censure Iran for not cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency…”

The Jerusalem Post added on March 6 that “Netanyahu told… Kamala Harris in a late-night phone call on Thursday that he will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons…”

It does appear that Israel might find itself alone with respect to the Iran deal.

US Warns Its Allies in Middle East

The Jerusalem Post wrote on March 5:

“The Biden administration issued a warning this week to its allies in the Middle East not to oppose US policies and not to seek military solutions to the region’s problems. ‘We do not believe that military force is the answer to the region’s challenges, and we will not give our partners in the Middle East a blank check to pursue policies at odds with American interests and values,’ it said in a document posted on the White House website that outlined its global strategic interests.

“The document, titled, ‘Interim National Security Guidelines,’ was published as Israel has increasingly spoken of the possibility that it might have to use force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the IDF was updating a military plan to strike Iranian nuclear sites if necessary

“Israel and the US are also at odds over West Bank settlement activity, with Israel believing it has the right to build on territory that will one day become part of sovereign Israel. The Biden Administration believes that much of that territory should be part of the permanent boundaries of a Palestinian state and holds that settlement activity prevents the resumption of negotiations for a two-state resolution to the conflict.”

The American warning to Israel is far too obvious than to be ignored.

Macron and Draghi

Express wrote on March 2:

“EMMANUEL MACRON might have found a replacement for Angela Merkel in Mario Draghi as the new Italian Prime Minister sees eye-to-eye with the French leader on EU defence and security… Italian newspaper Il Foglio claimed the pair united on various themes during [a] virtual meeting, ranging from vaccine protectionism to strengthening defence and security…

“This would be the perfect opportunity for the French President to take the leadership of the EU once Angela Merkel leaves the national and European political scene…”

Neither Macron nor Draghi will lead the final European revival of the ancient Roman Empire, consisting of ten nations or groups of nations.  

German Health Minister Spahn Must Go!

Bild Online wrote on March 5:

“At first there were too few masks, then too little vaccine, and now we are dawdling with the quick tests. Now even Der Spiegel just boiled over. ‘It’s enough, Mr. Spahn,’ was the headline of an article in the Hamburg news magazine, and the author continued: ‘Actually, two resignations are due.’

“Whom does Der Spiegel author Dirk Kurbjuweit mean in his editorial? Chancellor Angela Merkel (66, CDU) and Health Minister Jens Spahn (40, CDU)! ‘The main responsibility lies with the Chancellor,’ the author writes. ‘Merkel’s overall balance sheet as Chancellor is spoiled.’ However, Jens Spahn’s situation is even ‘worse.’ Because: ‘As health minister, he is also responsible for the debacle.’

“In the case of Merkel, her resignation would lead to a political crisis in the middle of the pandemic, and because of the imminent general election, there would probably be no stable government until the end of the year. ‘That doesn’t make the situation any better,’ Der Spiegel says. ‘For the Minister of Health, however, this pragmatic-political objection does not apply. Spahn no longer belongs in this office.’

“It also said that ‘The crisis policy of the federal and state governments has become a ‘farce’. ‘Is that really Germany?’ the author asks in astonishment, looking at the government’s crisis management. ‘Organizing, doing business intelligently, that was always considered a strength of the Germans. And now almost nothing works smoothly, of all things in the pandemic, in the struggle for life and death. What’s going on here?’

“His diagnosis: ‘Germany, it has to be said, is currently being ruled terribly badly by the Federal Chancellor, by the group of Prime Ministers, and by some ministers, namely Health Minister Jens Spahn. That must have consequences.’”

By that standard, just about all health ministers and governmental leaders all over the world must go, given the absolute fiasco they have created and are responsible for. And so they should resign. Of course they won’t, and it takes the return of Jesus Christ to make an end to man’s mismanagement. In the meantime, beware when Germans are becoming unhappy with their government.

German Travel Restrictions

The Local wrote on March 9:

“The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) changed the risk classification of the United States on March 7th. The US was previously classed as a ‘high incidence area’ by the RKI… now it’s a ‘risk area’ – which is used by German authorities to describe a region with an increased risk of infection… However, entry from the US is only permitted in a few narrow exceptions. Proof of urgent need to travel is required, German authorities say…

“If you are a German resident from the US, or fall into one of the exception categories, you still face strict testing and quarantine measures.

“All travellers must have a negative Covid-19 test result at the latest 48 hours after they enter Germany. It must be presented to authorities if they request it. Some individual airlines may however still say that travellers have to present a coronavirus negative test result before boarding is allowed…

“Testing is still mandatory even if travellers are vaccinated or have recovered from a coronavirus infection…

“People returning from ‘risk zones’ are required to self-isolate for 10 days after they arrive. The quarantine can usually be ended with a negative coronavirus test result taken at the earliest five days after arriving in Germany… Everyone entering Germany is also required to register online.”

Covid-19 Lockdowns and Wild Animals

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 5:

“In London and other major cities across the UK, rat sightings have soared during the pandemic. The British Pest Control Association (BPCA)… said its members reported a 51% hike in rodent activity during the first lockdown last spring, and a 78% increase in November after the next lockdown.

“Typically, rats avoid humans and make drains and sewers their homes. However, as a result of shuttered businesses and deserted high streets, the creatures are out in full force and making restaurants, pubs and empty buildings their new habitat as they look for other sources to satisfy their dietary needs…

“Thousands of macaques… roam the streets of Lopburi in Thailand… Usually well-fed by tourists, the monkeys have been finding snacks hard to come by during the pandemic. They’ve even engaged in intertribal warfare over scraps, fighting in the streets and historic temples… There are tens of millions of [stray dogs] roving [India’s] streets and slums; a law has made it illegal to kill or maim the animals… Strays are also common in Istanbul — the city on the Bosporus… counts more than 200,000 free roaming cats and dogs…

Rodents are known to carry and transmit diseases such as… Leptospirosis [a bacterial disease ], Salmonella, Listeria, Toxoplasma gondii [a parasite that forms cysts and can affect a number of body organs], and Hantavirus [which can cause potentially deadly diseases such as hemorrhagic fever or a pulmonary syndrome]…”

God says that many people will die due to the wild beasts of the earth.

In addition, according to an article by the Ron Paul Institute, dated March 9,Stanford University Medical School professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is featured in Newsweek Magazine condemning the lockdowns across the United States to fight the virus, calling them the biggest mistake ever made by public health authorities. A new study released by…  the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)… appears to bolster Dr. Bhattacharya’s claim.”

Royal Family in Turmoil

Deutsche Welle reported on March 8:

“Prince Harry and Meghan… talked about the struggles of living in the royal family in a highly-anticipated interview with US television personality Oprah Winfrey… Meghan said the family and the people who run the institution are separate. She said the Queen has always been ‘wonderful’ to her, always making her feel welcome… She added that while the palace was ready to lie to protect other members of the family, ‘they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.’… Meghan said there were concerns about how ‘dark’ her child would be… [Oprah later clarified that the persons allegedly raising this issue were NOT the Queen and Prince Philipp.] Meghan said she told the palace that she needed help for mental health concerns: ‘I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.’…

“Prince Harry said separation from the British royal family had been very difficult for him and Meghan. ‘My biggest concern was history repeating itself,’ Harry said, apparently referring to his mother Princess Diana, who was hounded by the British press and died at age 36 in a car crash in Paris…

“Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s grandmother, gave a televised address on Sunday, hours before the interview was aired. In a pre-recorded message from London, the British monarch talked about the importance of ‘dedication to duty’ in an address to mark Commonwealth Day… The couple stepped away from royal duties in March 2020, complaining about the British tabloids’ treatment of Meghan. They cited what they described as bullying and racist attitudes toward the duchess, who is biracial…”

Bild Online wrote on March 7:

“That there could ever be again peace in the [royal] family seems to be impossible now… all bridges have been burned…”

Deutsche Welle added on March 8:

“Birgit Maass, DW’s London correspondent, said it was unclear if Buckingham Palace would give an official statement. [Subsequently, Buckingham Palace did issue an official statement, see articles below.] ‘There would only be statement if individual members of the palace were attacked,’ she said. However, the couple was careful to avoid naming individuals during the interview. ‘It’s a tough one for the palace’ Maass said. ‘There will be a fear in the royal family that it could be tainted, but the queen still is somebody who is very popular as head of state,’ Maass said, adding that questions remain about the future of the royal family near the end of Elizabeth’s reign.”

This scandal is reminiscent of the scandal pertaining to Princess Diana and her interview. Whomever one wants to believe and however one wants to evaluate it, the reputation and institution of the Royal Family has suffered another severe blow. Some papers have stated that while Americans don’t care too much for the concept of the British monarchy, many Brits look at the Royal Family almost as holy and tabu, which must never be criticized.

“America Is Trashing Britain”

The Hollywood Reporter wrote on March 8:

“Britain’s notorious tabloid press was apoplectic with rage towards Meghan Markle and Prince Harry after their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night….

“After dismissing the interview as a ‘sideshow’… The Daily Mail devoted well over twenty stories related to the special on its website on Monday morning… The Daily Mail and its sister publication The Mail on Sunday have been particularly virulent in their coverage of the Sussexes, the latter paper was recently ordered by a British judge to publish a front-page statement declaring Markle’s victory in her copyright claim against the newspaper over its publication of a letter to her estranged father.

Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, another long-time and very public critic of Markle, opened his show by repeatedly suggesting that Prince Harry had ‘spray-gunned’ his family with the revelatory interview and that it was ‘so disloyal’… ‘as Prince Phillip lies in hospital.’ ‘America is trashing our country and trashing our monarchy now,’ Morgan said.”

Predictably, the reaction in America was much more sympathetic towards Harry and Meghan. Express reported on March 8 that the White House praised Meghan for her courage to speak about her struggles with mental health, stating that these comments risk opening a rift between Joe Biden’s administration and the UK political establishment.” Following a hot debate with co-hosts on Good Morning Britain, Piers Morgan walked off the set and subsequently resigned, after saying that he does not believe that Meghan Markle was indeed suicidal. Most British viewers seem to agree with Morgan.

Royal Response Insufficient?

The Associated Press wrote on March 10:

“Buckingham Palace’s statement on Prince Harry and Meghan’s allegations on racism and mistreatment has failed to quiet the controversy, with some observers criticizing the royal family for failing to forcefully condemn racism and suggesting that the couple’s version of events may not be accurate. ‘Too little, too late’ was the verdict of royal commentator Peter Hunt, who also criticized the palace’s 61-word statement for saying the issue would be dealt with privately as a family matter…  ‘The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,’ the palace said. ‘The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.’

“The comments were the palace’s first word since the interview rocked the royal family — and touched off conversations around the world about racism, mental health and even the relationship between Britain and its former colonies…

“Fallout from the interview is likely to only fuel the debate over the future of the monarchy and its role both in Britain and the other countries around the world for which the queen serves as head of state… The queen remains the head of state for 15 countries, most of which were once part of the British Empire, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and island nations in the Caribbean.

Other countries, which are part of the Commonwealth, include Malta and Cyprus, South Africa and many other African nations, such as Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania.

Commonwealth At Risk?

Express wrote on March 10:

“Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have put the Commonwealth at risk after former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said the bombshell interview bolstered his case for breaking away from the British monarchy… He told ABC: ‘After the end of the Queen’s reign, that is the time for us to say, ‘OK, we’ve passed that watershed. Do we really want to have whoever happens to be the head of state, the King or Queen of the UK, automatically our head of state?’’

“Mr Turnbull led the Australian Republican Movement from 1993 to 2000. In 1999, the Australian public voted to keep the monarchy. While the Queen’s role is mostly ceremonial, she does have the power to sack the Prime Minister, which happened in 1975.

“New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has previously expressed republican views but said the country was unlikely to break from the British monarchy in the near future…

“[For Commonwealth Day,] Prince Charles delivered a speech focused on the devastating effects of the pandemic but also hailed the Commonwealth’s efforts to fight climate change and protect its wildlife.”

Russia’s RT under attack in Germany

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 5:

“A dispute between Berlin and Moscow over the establishment of a Russian state-backed TV channel in Germany heated up on Friday after the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the German government of violating press freedoms. The dispute arose regarding the channel RT — formerly Russia Today — the German offshoot of which announced a plan in January to set up a television station in Germany by the end of the year… RT, based in Moscow, already offers services in English, Spanish, Arabic and French. RT DE, as the German-language offshoot is called, launched its website in 2014…

“Tensions spiked on Thursday when Maria Sakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, accused the German government of forcing Commerzbank to close accounts belonging to RT DE until the end of May in an attempt to stifle ‘freedom of expression and freedom of the press’… Berlin denied that it had any involvement in the closure of the RT accounts…”

“2021 on Track to become record-breaking year of major earthquakes, volcanoes”

Israel 365 wrote on March 7:

“Though the past year has been replete with troubling news items that include a pandemic and hotly contested US Presidential election, the earth shaking beneath our feet seems to have gone unnoticed.

“In the first 65 days of this year, 42 major quakes, magnitude 6 or higher, have shaken the planet. The year with the largest total was 2010, with 24 major earthquakes greater than or equal to magnitude 7.0. In 2011, a total of 207 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or higher shook the earth, culminating in a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that caused the catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear reactor and the concurrent 9.1 magnitude earthquake in Tohuka, Japan that killed over 20,000 people. Powerful earthquakes shook the Kermadec Islands region of New Zealand on Thursday, setting off tsunami warnings.

“But attention should be paid to less dramatic geologic rumblings as well. Iceland was hit by more than 18,000 earthquakes in the past week including a magnitude 7.3 earthquake, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake, and a magnitude 8.1 earthquake. In addition, authorities are warning that two volcanoes in a densely populated region of the country could erupt at literally any moment.

The number of earthquakes is increasing.  In the first 65 days of 1921, exactly one century ago, only seven major earthquakes, magnitude 6 or higher were recorded globally according to the USGS DataBase. In the same period last year, a total of 24 major quakes, magnitude 6 or higher were recorded around the globe. Back in 2019, just 20 major quakes had been reported up to March the 6th, just 50% of this year’s total. In 2018, a total of 24 major quakes were reported in the first 65 days of the year and in 2017 just 15. 24 major earthquakes were recorded in the beginning of 2016 and in 2015, just 18…

“But earthquakes aren’t the only concern. Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna in Sicily, erupted seven times in the past two weeks. A large eruption started at Sangay volcano, Ecuador on Saturday. An earthquake swarm shook Mount Hood, a potentially active stratovolcano near Portland, Oregon for 45 minutes last week… Mount Sinabung in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province began erupting last Tuesday, sending volcanic materials as high as 16,400 feet into the sky with authorities recording 13 times when it released ash clouds. Three weeks ago,  Fuego volcano, located 50 kilometers away from the capital city of Guatemala, started to erupt. As of yesterday 43 volcanoes around were erupting or showing signs of activity… Since January 20, 2021, 1,722 weak earthquakes were detected under the Pinatubo Volcano in the Philippines.”

Increased earthquakes here and there and other natural catastrophes are part of the “beginning of sorrows,” according to the words of Jesus Christ.

US Has More Tornadoes than any Other Country

CNN wrote on March 7:

“The US averages over 1,150 tornadoes every year. That’s more than any other country. In fact, it’s more than Canada, Australia and all European countries combined… Other countries experience tornadoes, including Germany, Australia, South Africa, eastern China, Japan, Bangladesh, Argentina, and more. Europe as a whole is comparable to the size of the US, but there is a vast difference in number of tornadoes and tornado fatalities…

“Outside of the US, Canada actually ranks second on the list for most tornadoes, with an average of 100 per year…”

Increasing Catastrophes, especially for the USA, ARE prophesied.

Swiss Voters Approve Ban of Wearing Burqas in Public

The New York Post wrote on March 7:

“Swiss voters narrowly approved on Sunday a proposal to ban face coverings, both the niqabs and burqas worn by a few Muslim women in the country and the ski masks and bandannas used by protesters. The measure will outlaw covering one’s face in public places like restaurants, sports stadiums, public transport or simply walking in the street. It foresees exceptions at religious sites and for security or health reasons, such as face masks people are wearing now to protect against COVID-19, as well as for traditional Carnival celebrations. Authorities have two years to draw up detailed legislation.

“Two Swiss cantons, or states, Ticino and St. Gallen, already have similar legislation that foresees fines for transgressions. National legislation will put Switzerland in line with countries such as Belgium and France that have already enacted similar measures. The Swiss government had opposed the measure… It argued that the ban could harm tourism — most Muslim women who wear such veils in Switzerland are visitors from well-heeled Persian Gulf states, who are often drawn to Swiss lakeside cities…

“Supporters of the proposal… argued that the full-face coverings symbolize the repression of women and said the measure is needed to uphold a basic principle that faces should be shown in a free society like Switzerland’s.

“In the end, 51.2% of voters supported the plan. There were majorities against it in six of Switzerland’s 26 cantons — among them those that include the country’s three biggest cities, Zurich, Geneva and Basel, and the capital, Bern. SRF public television reported that voters in several popular tourist destinations including Interlaken, Lucerne and Zermatt rejected it. Backers included the nationalist Swiss People’s Party, which is the strongest in parliament. The committee that launched the proposal is led by a lawmaker from the party, Walter Wobmann, and also initiated a ban on the construction of new minarets that voters approved in 2009.”

While wearing face masks, including double face masks, is encouraged and required, burqas and ski masks are prohibited. Insanity rules the world.

Censorship in the USA

The Ron Paul Institute published an article on March 4 which originally appeared in the Washington Times. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“… how can Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,’ or Laura Ingalls Wilder’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ series, or J.M. Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’ [survive,] each with their own set of perceived and real stereotypes and slurs? Even Roald Dahl’s original ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ has inspired criticism over the depiction of the Oompa Loompas as jungle-dwellers. Let’s not forget Margaret Mitchell’s ‘Gone With the Wind,’ in all its slavery glory, or Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist,’ in all its anti-Semitic glory, or Lynne Reid Banks’ ‘The Indian in the Cupboard,’ in all its — well, the title speaks volumes on that one…

“The list is endless. The list can be endless. Even the Bible speaks to the enslavement of various peoples.

“Are we to turn off all the offensive to our ears, in some sort of — futile — attempt to whitewash, er, erase, not just history, but fancy and fiction and flights of imaginations?… This is about the shape of censorship things to come. It’s about a growing acceptance of blotting out all offenses, in the hope that ignoring offenses means the offenses don’t occur — in fact, that they never did occur. That’s erasing history. That’s living a lie…

“Word is next up are L. Frank Baum’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ series.  Let the burning begin. The trouble, of course, will be to know the exact point to extinguish the fire…”

Terrible memories of book burnings in Nazi Germany come to mind, and the banishment of books in East Germany after the Russians took over. Not to speak of all the prohibited books in dictatorships all over the world. In times past, it was prohibited by the Catholic Church to read the Bible. Where is all of this going…?

Newsmax published on March 8 an article by Alan Dershowitz. We are bringing you the following excepts:

“If cancel culture were to accept the notion that a person should be totally cancelled based on only a portion of his output, we would have to comb the libraries, book stores and eBook sites for offenders. Near the top of the list would be Fyodor Dostoevsky, perhaps the greatest writer of modern times. In addition to his monumental novels such as ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ and ‘Crime and Punishment,’ he wrote an essay that could easily have been mistaken for a chapter straight out of ‘Mein Kampf’ by Adolph Hitler. In his essay on ‘The Jewish Question,’ he rails against the Jewish faith, culture, and people. He claims that Jews hoard gold so that they can easily carry it with them to the promised land. He accuses them of duel loyalty, deception and other sins…

“Should Renoir be cancelled because of his sexist and degrading views toward women— he said they belonged only in the kitchen and bedroom—which are reflected in some of his paintings? Or for his racism and anti-Semitism? What about Picasso?

“The list of people who have expressed bigoted views in their writings includes Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser, T.S. Eliot, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Margaret Sanger, Walt Disney, Malcolm X and Roald Dahl

“The disgraceful treatment accorded Kate Smith is a case in point. The totality of this great singer’s career was positive, but she was cancelled, as was her stirring rendition of God Bless America, because it was discovered that when she was young she recorded several songs that by today’s standards contained racially insensitive lyrics (which she didn’t write)…”

The concept of “cancel culture,” as described herein, is a dangerous development. And it seems to be growing continuously. Note the next article.

Breitbart wrote on March 9:

“Children can no longer watch DumboPeter PanSwiss Family Robinson, and The Aristocats on Disney’s Disney+ streaming service while using the ‘Kids Profile’ mode, which filters out titles flagged with content warnings — including scenes now deemed racist… it is now up to parents if they want their children to watch the cartoons.”

Parents should be knowledgeable about what their children watch anyhow. But the underlying motive by the Disney enterprise is of course quite too obvious.

U.S. Supreme Court Disposes of Last Trump Case re Election Results

Thomson/Reuters reported on March 8:

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday disposed of the last of three cases brought to the justices by former President Donald Trump challenging his election loss, ending his legal efforts to hold onto power. The court without comment rejected Trump’s appeal challenging thousands of absentee ballots filed in Wisconsin…

“The court on Feb. 22 turned away Trump’s other two appeals — a second Wisconsin challenge and one relating to voting in Pennsylvania…

“It already was clear that the high court… had no intention to intervene in the cases and others filed by his allies because it did not act before Congress on Jan. 6 certified Biden’s victory…

“Trump continues to claim that the Nov. 3 presidential election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud and irregularities. Republicans are focusing on those allegations in… an effort to impose new voting restrictions in numerous states.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to review any of those cases will make many Trump supporters very unhappy.

Trump Buddha Statue

meaww.com wrote on March 10:

“Trump Buddha statues sell like hot cakes on Chinese shopping portal Taobao…  While the statue shows Trump with his trademark hairdo, it has, uncharacteristically, a rather peaceful expression on his face. His hands are seen resting on his lap, referencing the traditional iconography of Buddhist statues in China. As per an Insider report, the figurine’s description says: ‘Trump, who knows Buddhism better than anyone.’”

First a golden statue of Trump at CPAC 2021, and now this. And Trump knows Buddhism better than anyone???

House Passes $1.9 Trillion Spending Bill

MSN wrote on March 10:

“The House Wednesday passed a $1.9 trillion spending package, sending the bill to President Biden [President Biden signed the bill on Thursday]… Not a single Republican voted for the bill. The measure will provide a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks, enhanced weekly unemployment benefits and expanded child tax credits… Democrats passed the bill over the objections of all House Republicans, who said the package was too expensive and dedicated mostly to wasteful spending unrelated to the pandemic…

“The legislation, Republicans argued, dedicates about 9 percent of funding to combating Covid-19 and just one percent to production and distribution of the critical vaccines… But Democrats argued the massive spending package is exactly what the nation is demanding after a year of Covid-19 and goes even further to alleviate longstanding poverty…”

An American Crisis Greater than the Great Depression?

Ron Paul wrote the following on March 8 in the Ron Paul Institute:

“According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), 2021 will be the second year in a row in which the federal debt exceeds Gross Domestic Product (GDP). CBO also projected that this year’s federal deficit will be 2.3 trillion dollars, which is 900 billion dollars less than last year. However, CBO’s projections do not include the 1.9 trillion dollars ‘stimulus’ bill Congress is likely to pass. [Subsequently, it was passed and signed by the President]. The CBO’s report was largely ignored by Congress and the media…

“The overreaction to coronavirus is a cause of the explosion in federal spending and debt we have witnessed over the last year. However, federal spending already greatly increased from January 2017 until the lockdowns. This spending growth occurred under a Republican president, a Republican Senate, and, from 2017 to 2019, a Republican House…

“Republican hypocrisy in claiming to care about spending and debt only when a Democrat sits in the Oval Office is one reason why Democrats can so easily disregard debt… Unless the government changes course, America will experience a crisis greater than the Great Depression. The crisis will include a final rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. There will also be much increased price inflation

“Those who know the truth [need to] ensure they and their families are protected when the crash comes…”

 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.

News and Prophecy / Why the Footwashing Ceremony at Passover?

On March 6, 2021, Norbert Link will present the sermonette about News and Prophecy and the sermon, titled, “Why the Footwashing Ceremony at Passover?”

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.

Update 963

News and Prophecy / Why the Footwashing Ceremony at Passover?

On March 6, 2021, Norbert Link will present the sermonette about News and Prophecy and the sermon, titled, “Why the Footwashing Ceremony at Passover?”

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.

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Where’s the Goalpost?

by Rene Messier (Canada)

With everything going on in the world and with every day bringing some new development, usually in a negative way, we have to wonder how long this madness is going to go on.

With the event of Donald Trump vacating the White House, for some of us who held the belief that it all was going to end in 1975, it brings back memories of the goalpost being moved.

It appeared like there was going to be a second term for Mr. Trump beginning in 2021 and that he would during that term be somehow involved with the building of the temple in Jerusalem which would usher in events leading up to the great tribulation and the return of Christ after the tribulation. All of that appears now to be pushed sometime into the future, and can lead some of us to be somewhat rattled at the prospect of things going on for several more years.

I recall that in 1971, during a ministerial visit, we told the minister we were planning to buy a house. His response was, “Why bother, we are fleeing next year,” to which I responded, “We will just have to sell it when the time comes.” Well, that never happened and some brethren left the church over it. Some had delayed pursuing further education or having dental work done and as a result lost their zeal.

The Truth is, we don’t know when all the end-time events are going to be fulfilled; in fact, it might not be in my lifetime as I am getting close to eighty. There are quite a few of us in our late seventies and early eighties. Does that mean we throw in the towel and give up? No, we push on till the end. We endeavor to persevere till the task we have been given individually is complete, since whether we see Christ return or we die before His return, if we remain faithful to the end, our reward of eternal life is sealed.

Paul, more than most, went through trials that would really discourage the average person, and he did it all for the hope of the resurrection which is our hope. When he realized that Christ would not return in his lifetime, this was his summary: “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).

This promise stands true for all who endure to the end, so let’s ensure we focus on that and not be discouraged because it appears the return of Christ is a little further off than what we may have anticipated.

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by Norbert Link

We begin with reporting on efforts in Europe and elsewhere to create a covid passport and speak on Germans’ dissatisfaction with Angela Merkel’s performance regarding the coronavirus crisis.

We address America’s airstrike against Syria and the reaction of Republicans and Democrats, with Ron Paul calling it an impeachable offense; and we point out America’s reluctance to sanction Saudi Arabia’s crown prince over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, due to political expedience.

We warn of a coming hyperinflation; and we report on Donald Trump’s comeback.

We address the US Supreme Court’s final decision regarding indoor religious services in California; and speak on a proposed law in Denmark which would restrict religious liberties and freedoms.

We speak on the discussion pertaining to Europe with or without NATO; and Israel’s strong objection to an Iran deal propagated by Europe and the USA; as well as the refusal of the Palestinian Authority to grant Israel any access to the Al Aqsa Mosque, under any circumstances.

We report on Russia’s persecution of its dissidents; speak on Pope Francis’ comments regarding the Flood [please view in this regard our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Pope Warns of a Worldwide Flood”]; Pope emeritus Benedict’s concerns about Joe Biden; the late or missing US mail; the nonsense of gender neutrality regarding toys for boys and girls; and we report on the largest-ever cocaine bust in Europe.

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

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Covid Passports by this Summer?

Breitbart wrote on February 26:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that there is a unanimous agreement within the European Union on implementing a coronavirus vaccine passport, during a virtual meeting of EU member states on Thursday. The German leader said that ‘everyone agreed that we need a digital vaccination certificate,’ following the meeting of European leaders. Merkel said that such a system could be implemented as soon as the summer, but claimed that the introduction of a vaccine passport ‘does not mean that only those who have a vaccination passport are allowed to travel,’ according to the German broadcaster DW.

“European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Israel’s implementation of ‘Green Passes’, a system in which the government tracks and documents an individual’s vaccination history in order to facilitate travel or to attend synagogues, theatres, concerts, or to go to the gym… The embattled EU president did note that member states will ‘have to act fast’ in order to implement a vaccine passport before the summer. To date, the European Union has only inoculated eight per cent of its population…

“The failure to vaccinate a significant portion of the population has led to concerns that vaccine passports would be discriminatory. Angela Merkel admitted as much this week…  Southern EU member states, such as Spain, Italy, and Greece have been pushing for the adoption of a COVID pass, in order to facilitate travel…  Other countries, such as France, have expressed concerns about discrimination as well as the lack of evidence over whether vaccinated people can still transmit the Wuhan virus

“There is a growing push within Britain’s notionally conservative government for the adoption of a vaccine passport, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggesting earlier this week that Brits might be required to carry health passes to even make simple domestic visits like going to the pub or the theatre… Cabinet Minister Michael Gove will be heading up the government’s research into adopting a vaccine passport system, despite definitively stating in December that Brits would not be required to provide proof of vaccination to go to the pub.”

The conservative German paper, Die Welt, wrote on February 26 that at first it went rather slowly, and now there is a rush, especially through Jens Spahn, to create a vaccination passport. The paper had this headline: “Then the limitations of freedom rights can hardly be justified.” (“Dann lässt sich die Begrenzung der Freiheitsrechte kaum noch begründen.“)

Merkel Meltdown

Express reported on February 27:

“Germany has been under a strict coronavirus clampdown since December, which has seen non-essential shops and schools along with pubs and restaurants forced to shut up shop. [Merkel] had been in favour of extending the lockdown as a result of the emergence of more contagious Covid strains. She has warned the country that it could face a ‘third wave’ if restrictions are lifted too quickly. However, regional leaders have decided to defy the Chancellor and take matters into their own hands.

“Even her staunchest lockdown supporter, Bavarian leader Markus Söder, is said to be at odds with her position. Several of the country’s regions will now allow limited opening of businesses from Monday, such as garden centres, florists and nail parlours. Ms Merkel appears to be losing public support for her hard stance on lockdown.

“According to a poll conducted by the German TV channel ZDF, 56 percent supported plans to partially ease restrictions, whereas 41 percent were opposed…”

Bild Online charged Merkel with ruling from a high-rise building, without any personal contact with people, thereby forgetting their needs and suffering.

More Lockdowns in Germany… Will this Madness Never End?

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 2:

“Germany’s national government and states are set to extend the COVID-19 lockdown by three weeks, to March 28, according to a draft document seen by DW… According to the draft text, up to five adults from two households would be allowed to gather from March 8, with up to 10 adults allowed in areas with low infection rates. Under current rules, each household can only socialize with one other person. The German government is also expected to appeal to citizens to avoid domestic and foreign travel over the Easter period…

“Most shops have stayed closed since tighter restrictions were introduced on December 16. Restaurants, bars, sports and leisure venues have all been closed since November 2. Hotels…  are currently closed to all but business travelers.”

Germany’s AfD Under Surveillance

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 3:

“Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) have placed the Alternative for Germany (AfD) under surveillance, according to local media.

“That designation gives state agents more powers for surveillance in certain circumstances, including potentially tapping the party’s communications.

“The BfV refused to comment on media reports from Der Spiegel magazine, the DPA news agency and public broadcaster ARD. The Interior Ministry, which oversees the BfV, said it would neither confirm nor deny them. The BfV is apparently unable to announce the decision officially because of an ongoing legal dispute.”

This move is highly problematic, as the AfD constitutes the largest opposition party in parliament.

Catholic Bishops Warn of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

Forbes wrote on March 2:

“The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—the official group representing the church in the U.S.—urged Catholics Tuesday to avoid taking the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine if other options are available, saying the J&J vaccine ‘raises questions about the moral permissibility’—even though Johnson & Johnson has stated it did not use fetal tissues in its vaccine.

“The directive says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be avoided since it was ‘developed, tested and is produced with abortion-derived cell lines.’ In a statement to Forbes, Johnson & Johnson said ‘there is no fetal tissue’ in its vaccine, adding the company used an ‘engineered cell-line system that enables the rapid production of new viral vaccines to combat many of the most dangerous infectious diseases,’ though it did not offer further specifics on its process.

“Pfizer and Moderna, on the other hand, did not use abortion-derived cell lines in production, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas—chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities—said in a statement. The J&J vaccine was approved for U.S. use on Saturday, and has been touted as a major step in vaccinating the population since the vaccine only requires one shot, while the other two approved so far both require two doses.

“The statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is the most significant opposition the J&J vaccine has coming from an official body of the Catholic church…

“The Vatican released a statement in December after questions were raised over vaccine ethics, in which it asserted ‘it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses’ in cases where ‘ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines are not available.’”

U.S. Airstrike Against Syria

Breitbart wrote on February 26:

“President Joe Biden authorized his first military action on Thursday: airstrikes on facilities in Syria used by militias linked to Iran. The airstrikes came in response to attacks on American personnel in Iraq… some [were] questioning whether the airstrikes were authorized under the existing Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Others noted that the airstrikes mark a 180-degree turn for Biden and members of his administration.

“Last year, Biden was among those who criticized President Donald Trump’s airstrike on Iranian terrorist General Qasem Soleimani. He called it ‘a hugely escalatory move in an already dangerous region,’ and claimed — falsely, as it turned out — that the attack would provoke, rather than deter, the Iranian regime. ‘We could be on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East,’ Biden said — wrongly, again, as peace deals soon emerged. Vice President Kamala Harris, then a Senator from California, was also critical of airstrikes by President Trump on the Syrian regime after the U.S. found evidence that dictator Bashar al-Assad was still using chemical weapons: ‘I strongly support our men and women in uniform and believe we must hold Assad accountable for his unconscionable use of chemical weapons. But I am deeply concerned about the legal rationale of last night’s strikes.’

“White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who had served in the Obama administration, objected to Trump’s initial airstrike in Syria in 2017… ‘Also what is the legal authority for strikes? Assad is a brutal dictator. But Syria is a sovereign country.’”

The Week added on February 26:

“Some Democrats are criticizing U.S. airstrikes in Syria, while many Republicans are praising President Biden’s move… While Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the limited scope of the airstrikes ‘aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq,’ many Democrats expressed concerns on Friday that the move has done just the opposite, and argued it was unconstitutional without congressional authorization. Many Republicans, meanwhile, called the U.S. response a necessary deterrent that was proportional. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the action, saying ‘there was a thorough, legal response’ and the Defense Department briefed congressional leadership in advance.”

npr wrote on February 26:

“… Democratic lawmakers on Friday sought justification from the Biden administration for Thursday’s airstrikes in Syria…

“‘The American people deserve to hear the Administration’s rationale for these strikes and its legal justification for acting without coming to Congress,’ Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said… ‘Offensive military action without congressional approval is not constitutional absent extraordinary circumstances. Congress must be fully briefed on this matter expeditiously.’…

“Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont warned against the president overreaching in his powers to declare military actions. ‘While the President has a responsibility to defend the people of the United States, our Constitution is clear that it is the Congress, not the President, who has the authority to declare war,’ he said…

“Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California made a similar argument: ‘We cannot stand up for Congressional authorization before military strikes only when there is a Republican President,’ he said. ‘The Administration should have sought Congressional authorization here. We need to work to extricate from the Middle East, not escalate.’…

“In 2017, just a few months into then-President Trump’s administration…  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [asked] for immediate debate over congressional authority for any future military action.”

Even Adam Schiff said that Biden’s notification of congressional leaders prior to the strike was inadequate. At least 22 people were killed in Thursday’s airstrikes.

Airstrike on Syria… an impeachable Offense?

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on March 1:

“As with Presidents Obama and Trump before him, however, Biden’s justification for the US strike and its targets is not credible. And his claim that the US attack would result in a ‘de-escalation’ in the region is laughable. You cannot bomb your way toward de-escalation. Biden thus joins a shameful club of US leaders whose interventions in the Middle East, and Syria specifically, have achieved nothing in the US interest but have contributed to the deaths of many thousands of civilians.

“President Trump attacked Syria in 2018 in what he claimed was retaliation for the Assad government’s use of chemical weapons against its own citizens. The Trump Administration never proved its claim. Logic itself suggests how ridiculous it would have been for the Syrian president to have used chemical weapons in that situation, where they achieved no military purpose and would almost certainly guarantee further outside attacks against his government.

“Trump’s 2018 attack only added to the misery of the Syrian people, who suffered under US sanctions and then suffered President Obama’s ‘Assad must go’ intervention that trained and armed al-Qaeda affiliated groups to overthrow the government. Trump’s airstrike on Syria did nothing to further real American interests in the region. But sending in 100 Tomahawk missiles to blow up a few empty buildings did a great deal to further the bottom line of missile-maker Raytheon. Interestingly, Biden’s Secretary of Defense came to the Administration straight from his previous position on the board of… Raytheon…

“The Democrats wasted four years trying to remove Trump from office under the bogus ‘Russiagate’ lie and then the equally ridiculous and discredited claim that Trump led an insurrection against the government on January 6th. Yet when Trump started raining bombs down on Syria with no Congressional declaration of war or even authorization, most Democrats stood up and cheered…

“In fact, initiating a war against a country that did not attack and does not threaten the United States without Congressional authority is an impeachable offense. But both parties – with a few exceptions – are war parties.

“President Biden should be impeached for his attack on Syria, as should have Trump and Obama before him. But no one in Washington is going to pursue impeachment charges against a president who recklessly takes the United States to war… Isn’t it strange how we’ve heard nothing about ISIS for the past couple of years, but suddenly the mainstream media tells us the ISIS is back and on the march? When President Biden says ‘America is back,’ what he really means is ‘the war party is back.’ As if they ever left.”

 These are words only very few are willing to hear. But war is wrong, no matter under what President, and it is condemned by God.

Biden backpedals on Sanctioning Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince over Khashoggi’s Murder

The Week wrote on February 26:

“The U.S. on Friday released a report publicly pinning the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist who criticized the crown while writing for The Washington Post, was killed and dismembered in 2018 after entering Turkey’s Saudi consulate. The crown prince had been suspected of ordering the killing, and U.S. intelligence affirmed that in a declassified report.

“The report is not new, and is largely based on CIA intelligence gathered in 2018. President Biden’s administration also announced new sanctions against Saudi operatives who were allegedly involved in the killing, but not against the crown prince, as The New York Times reports the president has ‘decided that the price of directly penalizing’ him is ‘too high.’”

CNN added on February 26:

Despite promising to punish senior Saudi leaders while on the campaign trail,  President Joe Biden declined to apply sanctions to the one the US intelligence community determined is responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“The choice not to punish Prince Mohammed directly puts into sharp relief the type of decision-making that becomes more complicated for a president versus a candidate, and demonstrates the difficulty in breaking with a troublesome ally in a volatile region… It was a far cry from a comment in November 2019, in which Biden promised to punish senior Saudi leaders in a way former President Donald Trump wouldn’t.”

More broken promises. Even left-liberal news sources can see that. Also note the next article.

Left-Liberal Washington Post Criticizes Biden

Newsmax wrote on February 26:

“A Washington Post editorial Friday criticized President Joe Biden for failing to sanction Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for approving the murder of the newspaper’s former columnist, Jamal Khashoggi. Friday’s Post op-ed was entitled ‘Mohammed bin Salman is guilty of murder. Biden should not give him a pass.’…  The Post then called out the new president for not putting in place any kind of official government punishment against MBS. The newspaper’s op-ed board suggested a travel ban and asset freeze on the prince.

“‘That President Biden has chosen not to pursue that course suggests that the “fundamental” change he promised in U.S.-Saudi relations will not include holding to account its reckless ruler, who consequently is unlikely to be deterred from further criminal behavior,’ the op-ed board said. According to the op-ed, without imposed penalties, MBS will feel strengthened to kill more dissidents at home and abroad…”

Hyperinflation Coming?

Newsmax published on February 26 an article with the following headline: “Biden Stimulus Could Push US Into Devastating Hyperinflation.”

The article continued:

“Economic experts are waving red flags to Congress and the Biden administration, warning that if the United States continues on its present course of profligate spending coupled with extreme business lockdowns, we could be heading to a period of hyperinflation.

“How hyper? Some are thinking of the German Weimar Republic, when people reportedly used wheelbarrows of cash to buy groceries.”

China Warns of “Side Effects” of US Economic Stimulus

scmp.com wrote on March 2:

“The ‘side effects’ of aggressive economic stimulus policies in the United States and other developed countries have started to surface in the US stock market, China’s top financial regulator warned on Tuesday, saying officials in Beijing were ‘very worried’ that foreign asset bubbles could burst soon. Guo Shuqing, Communist Party secretary of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), identified the US market – the world’s largest – as the greatest bubble risk in the global economy when asked on Tuesday.

“His comments are the latest in a string of warnings made by policymakers in Beijing about mounting external financial threats and their potential impact on the Chinese economy. They also come as the US Congress moves closer to passing President Joe Biden’s US$1.9 trillion pandemic aid package, which would add to nearly US$4 trillion in US economic stimulus unleashed last year and liberal liquidity provided to American financial markets to support growth by the Federal Reserve…

“Former Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei said in February that Washington was transferring its debt burden to the rest of the world through its economic aid programme… Some analysts have expressed concerns that the American package will plough money into a global economy already awash in liquidity, with the extra funds ending up in China, resulting in imported inflation.”

Trump Remains Dominant Force in GOP

On February 27, The Associated Press published an article with the following headline: “Trump the Dominant Force at Conservative Conference.”

The article continued:

“A conference dedicated to the future of the conservative movement turned into an ode to Donald Trump as speakers declared their fealty to the former president and attendees posed for selfies with a golden statue of his likeness. As the Republican Party grapples with deep divisions over the extent to which it should embrace Trump after losing the White House and both chambers of Congress, those gathered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday made clear they are not ready to move on from the former president — or from his baseless charges that the November election was rigged against him.

“‘Donald J. Trump ain’t going anywhere,’ said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz…  Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo… drew among the loudest applause and a standing ovation when he bragged about challenging the election certification on Jan. 6… ‘We cannot — we will not — go back to the days of the failed Republican establishment of yesteryear,’ said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis…  ‘We will not win the future by trying to go back to where the Republican Party used to be,’ echoed Florida Sen. Rick Scott… ‘If we do, we will lose the working base that President Trump so animated…’ Donald Trump Jr. lit into Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican, who has faced tremendous backlash for her vote to impeach Trump for inciting the Capitol riot…

“[Trump] was present in spirit in the form of a large golden statue erected in a merchandise show booth, where attendees could pose for pictures with it.”

A golden statue of Trump’s likeness? Terrible memories of Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue in Daniel 3 come to mind. Some have also drawn a parallel to the golden calf in Exodus 32. Compare also 1 Kings 12:28.

Trump Returns

Newsmax wrote on February 28:

“Putting to rest talk of a third party to break off from the GOP, former President Donald Trump said there will be only the Republican Party united, all the way… The speech to CPAC was Trump’s first public appearance since he left office 39 days ago…

“In a straw poll, 97% of attendees approved of his leadership of the party, 70% want him to run again and 55% said he was their preferred candidate in 2024. Trump’s rousing reception at the most important conservative gathering on the calendar highlights just how much Trump has transformed the movement in just five years…”

Fox News added on 2-28:

“Trump did not declare a 2024 run, although he did say he might consider beating Democrats ‘for a third time”’– in reference to his claim that he won the 2020 election… He predicted that a ‘Republican president will make a triumphant return to the White House [in 2024].’ ‘And I wonder who that will be, I wonder who that will be?’ he said to cheers from the crowd. ‘Who, who, who will that be I wonder?’”

In a subsequent interview with Newsmax, Trump said he had not decided yet as to whether or not he will run in 2024, but he said that if he did, then he could not imagine someone else who could win.

Former Vice President Mike Pence breaks his silence

The Week wrote on March 3:

“Former Vice President Mike Pence broke his silence Wednesday with an op-ed in The Daily Signal, criticizing congressional Democrats for their voter reform push and giving new life to former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Despite being a central target of the mob that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 because of his refusal to answer Trump’s call to somehow block the Electoral College certification, Pence claimed the election was ‘marked by significant irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside election law.’

“Without outright calling the 2020 vote fraudulent, Pence framed its outcome as uncertain to argue that Congress should not pass HR 1, the For the People Act, which includes measures such as required early voting and same-day voter registration in every state. Pence called the bill ‘an unconstitutional power grab.’”

California’s Churches Must Be Allowed to open for Indoor Services

East Bay Times wrote on February 26:

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected Santa Clara County’s ban on indoor worship services, ordering California’s only holdout to fall in line with the rest of the state… By a 6-3 vote, the court ruled that the county must allow indoor worship services to resume at 20% capacity in Santa Clara County, calling an earlier decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to allow the county to keep its ban in place ‘erroneous.’…

“Following the high court’s lifting of California’s statewide ban on indoor religious services, Santa Clara County argued that it was not subject to the ruling because it prohibited all indoor gatherings — regardless of whether they’re related to religion — rather than instituting a specific ban on indoor religious services.”

Denmark Tries to restrict Religious Liberties

UG Christian News wrote on February 4:

“Christian Churches in Denmark are pushing back against a new draft law that requires all sermons in foreign languages to be translated into the country’s native language (Danish) and submitted to the government for approval… The bill has the backing of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen… It is unclear whether the law would require sermon translations to be sent to the government before or after being given…

“Anglican Bishop Robert Innes of the European diocese said… [that the] proposal also has practical problems… arguing it is not feasible to translate a weekly sermon delivered extemporaneously. ‘Preachers don’t always write full text of their sermons, they might write notes,’ Innes said. ‘They might preach extempore as the archbishop of Canterbury sometimes does and there are questions of idiom and nuance which requires a high level of skill in translation of course. It is a high bar. It is a skilled art and it is an expensive skill as well.’ ‘We do not only hold services on Sundays, but also baptisms, weddings and funerals, throughout the week,” Rajah Scheepers, who serves as pastor of St. Petri church in Copenhagen told media. ‘It is not realistic to expect that we simultaneously translate all these gatherings or that we translate them in advance.’…

“Catholic churches, too, oppose the idea. Anna Mirijam Kaschner, general secretary and spokeswoman of the Nordic bishops’ conference, reportedly said the proposed law would harm religious liberty. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge reiterated his concerns on 26 January [saying] that: ‘This proposed legislation is contrary to specific provisions of the freedom of religion or belief, enshrined in international human rights law.’ Sources say the cost of translating sermons for the nation’s non-Danish-speaking congregations will be a staggering 37.4 million Danish krone ($6,069,589) per year, the Danish National Church’s Interchurch Council [estimated].”

Europe… with or without NATO?

On February 26, RTL Today republished an article by AFP, as follows:

“EU leaders agreed Friday that the bloc should take more responsibility for its own security, insisting Brussels needs to be a strong partner for NATO and the United States… ‘We want to act more strategically, to defend our interests and to promote our values,’ European Council President Charles Michel tweeted after a video summit. ‘We need to increase our ability to act autonomously and strengthen our cooperation with our partners.’

“NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joined the summit to talk up cooperation in the face of worries the EU’s drive could undermine the US-backed alliance at a time new President Joe Biden is looking to strengthen it… ‘It makes it absolutely obvious that we need to work together,’ (Stoltenberg said).

“France is championing a push for ‘strategic autonomy’ — arguing the coronavirus pandemic, a resurgent Russia and former US leader Donald Trump’s threats to cut off allies show Europe has to be able to stand alone. ‘In the face of increased global instability, the EU needs to take more responsibility for its security,’ the leaders said in their official conclusions…

“EU ambitions on common defence have gathered steam in recent years, and all but two nations signed up to the landmark PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation) pact in 2017 to increase cooperation. The departure of Britain from the European Union saw the bloc lose some military and diplomatic heft, but also removed a fierce opponent of anything that might lead to a European army from the Brussels conversation.

“The EU is seeking to implement a multibillion-euro fund to co-finance industrial defence projects and the five-billion-euro European Peace Facility (EPF), allowing it to provide military equipment and assistance to partner countries.

“But key questions remain on how these projects will be implemented and the future of EU efforts. The bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is trying to define a ‘strategic compass’ so all nations can have a more united vision. ‘We need to find a common understanding of the challenges and threats to European Union … in order to propose ways to tackle them all together,’ he said.”

While France questions the NATO alliance, Germany gives lip service for their strong support. But that may change soon.

EU and Iran Deal vs. Israel

The Times of Israel wrote on February 26:

“The top European Union diplomat supervising the international agreement aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions called Friday for a concerted effort to reinvigorate the pact even as Tehran appears to be reneging on some of its commitments… Iran this week effectively set a deadline to lift the US sanctions within three months, after which it said it would erase surveillance footage of its nuclear facilities. It has also limited some monitoring of its activities, which the EU says are meant to help ensure that Tehran’s nuclear work is peaceful. The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has also reported that Iran has added 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 20% to its stockpile as of Feb. 16 — far past the 3.67% purity allowed under the JCPOA….

Netanyahu on Thursday said he has told Biden that he will do whatever it takes to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, regardless of whether Washington reenters the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. ‘I told him, with or without an agreement, my obligation as the prime minister of Israel, as the prime minister of the Jewish state, is to prevent a recurrence of the terrible things that have been done to our people,’ he said in an interview with Channel 13. ‘There is a regime whose flagship goal is to destroy us. I will do everything I can, everything in my power, to prevent it from attaining nuclear weapons,’ he said.”

Israel may find itself all alone in this challenge.

No Access of Jews to Al Aqsa Mosque

Israel Today wrote on February 26:

“Israel this week sought to install a vaccine station on the Temple Mount inside the clinic of the Al Aqsa Mosque. The idea was to provide vaccines for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and especially those coming from the West Bank on Fridays in order to pray at the third holiest site in Islam.

“The request [was] decisively rejected by both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, an Islamic religious trust that controls and manages Islamic edifices on the Temple Mount compound. It was reported that the request even reached the hands of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The reaction was furious, stating that they refuse to allow Israel any kind of access to the Al Aqsa Mosque.

“Israel’s request made clear that all of the paramedics administering the vaccine would be Arab and that none of Israel’s national symbols would be in sight. In addition, the request promised that the Muslim worshippers would not know that the station was provided by Israel. But the Israeli assurances were of no avail.“

This fanatical resistance will backfire.

Russia’s Persecutions

Bloomberg wrote on February 28:

“Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who survived a chemical poisoning last year that he called a Kremlin attempt to kill him, has begun serving his two-and-a-half-year sentence at a notorious penal camp… The jail, where inmates are housed in barracks and typically do manual labor, is classified as a ‘red zone’ where the administration controls every aspect of life…

“Konstantin Kotov, an opposition activist who was freed in December after 1 1/2 years at the same prison, said he was subjected to constant intimidation. This included repeated punishment for so-called infringements such as not saluting a prison guard or borrowing someone’s gloves — with those that his relatives sent him not being delivered — as well as isolating him from other inmates…

“Navalny received the sentence for failing to check in with the authorities while recovering in Germany from the near-fatal nerve agent attack in August. Western governments have also blamed the Kremlin for the poisoning, while Russian authorities deny any role…

“Navalny’s arrest in mid-January when he returned to Russia provoked the biggest anti-Kremlin protests in years and was condemned by the European Union and the U.S…. Authorities cracked down on the demonstrations last month, detaining more than 11,000 people and prosecuting key Navalny allies.”

Deutsche Welle added on March 2:

“The US on Tuesday slapped sanctions on Russian individuals and entities…

“The EU imposed bans on travel and froze the assets in Europe of Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Igor Krasnov, the prosecutor general, Viktor Zolotov, head of the National Guard, and Alexander Kalashnikov, head of the Federal Prison Service… US Treasury Department said the US was also imposing sanctions on Krasnov and Kalashnikov… The US Treasury also announces sanctions on Alexander Bortnikov, director of Russia’s federal security service, Andrei Yarin, head of presidential policy directorate, and deputy defense ministers Alexei Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov…

“Brussels said Bastrykin, Krasnov, Zolotov and Kalashnikov were listed ‘over their roles in the arbitrary arrest, prosecution and sentencing of Alexei Navalny, as well as the repression of peaceful protests in connection with his unlawful treatment.’ A senior US official has stated: ‘The intelligence community assesses with high confidence that officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service FSB used a nerve agent known as Novichok to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on August 20, 2020.’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview released Tuesday Washington intends to “take the appropriate actions as we see fit to make very clear that this kind of conduct is unacceptable for us, and we’ll do it with our allies and partners.”…

“The EU, which already had imposed sanctions against a small number of Russian officials, is expected to announce more sanctions. The US has also said it plans to respond soon to the Russian hack of federal government agencies and US corporations which exposed potentially sensitive information to the Kremlin.”

Russia announced that they will reciprocate regarding the “largely symbolic” sanctions (US News, March 2).

Pope Warns of a Worldwide Flood

Daily Mail wrote on March 2:

“Pope Francis has warned that mankind is facing a second great flood caused by climate change unless leaders act to fix corruption and injustice. The 84-year-old said that, in the story of the great flood in the Bible, God used his wrath to punish injustice and ‘clean up’ the world. He then added that humanity is facing another ‘great deluge, perhaps due to a rise in temperature and the melting of glaciers. [That is] what will happen now if we continue on the same path,’ he said…

“While discussing justice, Francis brings up the example of the biblical flood which destroyed the world except for Noah – who was deemed virtuous enough to survive. The flood itself may have been a myth, Francis says, but it is used as an example to show how God uses wrath to punish injustice and right wrongs in the world.”

God said very clearly that no worldwide flood will ever come upon the earth again (Genesis 9:11, 15), but since Pope Francis believes that the flood might have been a myth (even though Jesus believed in it, Matthew 24:37-39, and so did Peter, 2 Peter 3:5-6), Pope Francis would not believe God’s clear words in the Bible either.

Pope Emeritus Benedict on Biden

Newsmax wrote on March 3:

“Pope emeritus Benedict XVI is expressing concerns about President Joe Biden’s position on abortion and tendency to fall in line with the Democratic Party platform. ‘It’s true, he’s Catholic and observant,’ Benedict told Italian publication Corriere della Sera on Monday. ‘And personally, he is against abortion. But as president, he tends to present himself in continuity with the line of the Democratic Party … and on gender policy, we still don’t really understand what his position is.’

“Biden, only the second Catholic president, after John F. Kennedy, is at odds with traditional Catholic teaching when it comes to his pro-choice stance on abortion and policies regarding sexual orientation and gender identity…

“The president revoked the Mexico City policy, which banned U.S. foreign aid for organizations promoting abortion abroad, and picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who the Times called a ‘pro-choice crusader,’ as his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary. Biden also supports the Equality Act— which would make sexual orientation and gender identity protected characteristics in civil rights law — that some Republicans say would curtail religious liberties.

“Benedict, who became the first pope to resign in almost 600 years, also commented on his decision to step down in 2013, The Tablet reports. ‘It was a difficult decision, but I made it in full awareness, and I believe I did the right thing,’ the retired pope said. ‘Some of my slightly “fanatical” friends are still angry, they didn’t want to accept my choice. I think of the conspiracy theories that followed it … They don’t want to believe in a conscious choice. But my conscience is clear.’”

Our Late or Lost Mail

The Washington Post wrote on February 26:

“Mark Currie of Virginia had three checks snagged in postal delays in three months. In New Jersey, Lois Fitton says she was forced to pay interest on a credit card balance because the bill never arrived. Jim Rice says two insurance companies canceled policies for his property management business in Oklahoma after the payments got lost in the mail.

“As the service crisis at the U.S. Postal Service drags into its eighth month, complaints are reaching a fever pitch. Consumers are inundating members of Congress with stories of late bills — and the late fees they’ve absorbed as a result. Small-business owners are waiting weeks, even months, for checks to arrive, creating cash-flow crunches and debates on whether to switch to costlier private shippers. Large-scale mailers, such as banks and utilities, are urging clients to switch to paperless communication, a shift that would further undercut the agency’s biggest revenue stream.

“The growing outcry adds another dimension to the agency’s myriad crises: a clogged processing and transportation network, severe staffing shortages and $188.4 billion in liabilities. The prolonged performance declines have eroded the reputation of one of the few government agencies that boast generations of broad public support…

“The agency’s delivery times have sunk to historic lows… In most states, it took at least five days for a piece of first-class mail — such as a bill or paycheck — to arrive last month… the mail slowdowns — especially for credit card bills and payments — threaten to further burden American consumers already weighed down by debt…”

If you had ever wondered why your mail was so late or did not arrive at all…

Toys to be Neutral-Gender under Penalty of Hefty Fines

Fox Business wrote on February 25:

“California lawmakers are considering a bill that would penalize department stores for separating children’s toys, clothing and other items by gender… department stores with 500 or more employees would be subject to a $1,000 fine if they do not ‘correct a violation of these provisions within 30 days of receiving written notice of the violation.’ Stores would not have to change their products, but the products could not be displayed based on how they have ‘traditionally been marketed for either girls or for boys.’…

“The bill comes amid growing pushback by consumer advocacy groups to make toys more gender neutral…

“Hasbro, the company that’s made the potato-shaped plastic toy for nearly 70 years, announced this week it is giving the ‘Mr.’ Potato Head a gender-neutral new name: Potato Head. The change will appear on boxes this year… Barbie, for example, has tried to shed its blonde image and now comes in multiple skin tones and body shapes. The Thomas the Tank Engine toy line added more girl characters. And American Girl is now selling a boy doll.”

What complete and utter nonsense

“Europe’s largest-ever cocaine bust worth billions”

The New York Daily News wrote on February 24:

“Billions of dollars-worth of drugs have been seized in Europe’s largest-ever cocaine bust. More than 50,700 pounds of coke were seized by German and Belgian authorities in the operation, which spanned over a week… The bust is also being hailed as one of the largest single seizures in the world. German officials found more than 17 tons of cocaine in containers that arrived in Hamburg from Paraguay

“Dutch authorities then started investigating the recipient of the shipment, discovering 11 containers heading to Antwerp from Panama. These containers supposedly held mackerel, pineapple, squid, and wood. On Saturday, Belgian authorities discovered another 15,873 pounds of cocaine in the container transporting wood…”

What health damage that would have caused.

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.

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Understanding the Wording of Some Church Hymns

The Worldwide Church of God Bible Hymnal which was originally published in 1974 (“Hymnal”), is, and has been for a long time, an integral part of our weekly Sabbath and annual Holy Day services. In the opening notes of the Hymnal, headed, “How This Hymnal Came to Be,” Mr Herbert W Armstrong gave the historical background, and below are a few of the observations he made:

“It is… scriptural to sing hymns. Jesus sang hymns. After His last Passover, it is recorded, ‘And when they had sung [a] hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives’ (Matthew 26:30). I knew that the Psalms were, in fact, songs—or hymns. It was clear in my mind that God’s people should sing God’s inspired words, not man’s uninspired and often unscriptural words. But the Bible has not preserved nor revealed to us the music. God has left it to us to compose the music.

“When we moved to Pasadena to found Ambassador College, in 1947, I asked my brother (Dwight Armstrong) to devote full time to setting the words of Psalms-and/or any other Scripture – to music in the four part harmony of hymns. For some little time the Church, then small, sang the first 12 or 15 hymns that had been composed. The Church grew, and so did the number of hymns sung with God’s own inspired words.

“It is, indeed, a happy achievement to have, at last, God’s own hymnal for God’s own Church.”

It is interesting to review those hymns where the meaning can be, at first glance, a little difficult to fully understand. In this Q&A, we will look at three examples.

Hymn 78 is entitled, “He Shall Reign Forevermore!” It is taken from Psalm 102. In the New King James Bible, the sub-heading of this Psalm is that it is “A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint to the LORD.” Verses 1 and 2 read: “Hear my prayer, O LORD, And let my cry come to You.  Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; Incline Your ear to me; In the day that I call, answer me speedily.”

In verses 6 and 7, we read: “I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake, And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.”

In hymn 78, it reads in the second verse: “Like a melancholy sparrow, Like a pelican alone,” but what does it really mean? How many times have we sung this without fully understanding what we were singing?

We find an interesting note about the authorship of Psalm 102 in Wikipedia:

“Midrash Tehillim quotes Rabbi Pinchas, who notes that in some psalms David calls himself by name, as in ‘A prayer of David’ (e.g. Psalm 17 and 86), but here he calls himself ‘the afflicted’, as in ‘A prayer of the afflicted’. Rabbi Pinchas explains that when David foresaw the righteous men who would descend from him— Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Isaiah— he called himself David. But when he perceived the wicked men who would be his descendants— Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon—he called himself ‘the afflicted.’”

It would seem that David is the author, but what does he convey in the psalm?

Poole writes about the Pelican:

“Pelican, or, bittern, as the same word is translated (in the Authorized Version), Isaiah 34:11, Zephaniah 2:14. It is a solitary and mournful bird, as also the owl here following is.”

Spurgeon adds:

“Pelican, owl: ‘The Psalmist likens himself to two birds which were commonly used as emblems of gloom and wretchedness.”

Poole continues about the sparrow:

“… this Hebrew word doth not only signify a sparrow, but in general any bird, as Leviticus 14:4, Deuteronomy 14:11, Daniel 4:12, 14, 21. And so it may here design any one or more sort of birds which used to sit alone, watching and mourning upon house-tops.” (Compare hereto enduringword.com).

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible adds:

“The Jews had flat roofs upon their houses, and here birds of solitude would come and sit alone in the night season, to which the psalmist likens himself; being either forsaken by his friends and acquaintance; or, being in melancholy circumstances, he chose to be alone, mourning over his sorrowful state and condition.”

Dr. W. M. Thomson elaborates:

“A sparrow alone upon the house-top. When one of them has lost its mate — a matter of every-day occurrence — he will sit on the house-top alone, and lament by the hour his sad bereavement.” Dr. Thomson says that he has often heard a sparrow which had lost its mate, uttering “by the hour” its sad lament, seated upon a housetop (“The Land and the Book,” p. 43).

Suffice to say that this was a time when king David was overwhelmed. Many of the 150 Psalms are laments. The pelican was a representation of being alone and thoroughly discouraged but he does finish up the Psalm in a very positive way. Verse 28 reads: “The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You.”

A second example is Hymn number 89: “O Give Thanks Unto Our God.” In the 3rd verse, it reads: “All nations compassed me about; compassed me like bees. But the Eternal is my strength; In His name I cut them off.”

This is adapted from Psalm 118:10-12, which reads: “All nations surrounded me, But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me, Yes, they surrounded me; But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.”

The Pulpit Commentary opines:

“Verse 11. – They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about (comp. Psalm 88:17). The special compassing about alluded to is probably that in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, when not only the Babylonians but the Syrians, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites took part in hostilities against Israel (2 Kings 24:2; Psalm 137:7). But in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them. The threefold repetition of this trenchant phrase (verses 10, 11, 12) lends it vast additional force. It is no casual utterance, no mere wish, or thought begotten of a wish, but a deep and firm conviction.

“Verse 12: They compassed me about like bees; i.e. in vast numbers, and with intense energy, and a furious desire to injure (comp. Deuteronomy 1:44)…”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible observes as follows:

“They compassed me about like bees… In great numbers; as a swarm of bees, which, being irritated and provoked, will fly upon persons in a body, and with great fury; to which the Amorites and the Assyrian army were compared, Deuteronomy 1:44. They will attack horses and kill them, as Aristotle says; and places besieged have been delivered by throwing out hives of bees among the besiegers: and yet as they are feeble creatures, so by striking they lose their sting; and either die very quickly, or however become useless.”

In the Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, they state that “the heathen of every kind (in the Aramaic and Arabic with) are both bees and wasps, which make themselves especially troublesome in harvest time.”

The Independent newspaper reported this interesting item in December 2020:

“In late November 2020, two flights were delayed in India after the planes were surrounded by a huge swarm of bees. The incidents took place at Kolkata airport, first on 29 November, delaying a Vistara flight by around an hour, and again on 30 November. Firefighters were called to the scene and had to deploy a water cannon to disperse the insects.

“In the first instance, the bees amassed around the plane just before boarding was due to start for the service to Delhi. ‘Within minutes, lots of bees had settled on the plane as though ready to build a hive,’ a Vistara spokesperson told The Times of India. ‘Water jets had to be sprayed for a good 30 minutes to dislodge them. The flight ultimately took off at 6.30pm instead of 5.30pm.’

“The disruption wasn’t over though. Just 16 hours later, the bees were back, swarming around yet another Vistara flight, this time bound for Port Blair. The bees congregated just above the cargo bay door, making it impossible for baggage handlers to load passengers’ luggage into the hold. The fire department was called out again, and the flight departed an hour later than schedule, at 11.30am, after the water cannon had been successfully deployed for a second day running.

“In September 2019, a swarm of bees covered a plane’s cockpit windshield, delaying the flight by almost two hours.”

We should realise that bees, part of God’s wonderful creation, are a necessity as part of the natural order.

“Bees are some of the hardest working creatures on the planet, and because of their laborious work ethic, we owe many thanks to this amazing yet often under-appreciated insect.  Our lives – and the world as a whole – would be a much different place if bees didn’t exist. To illustrate this fact, consider these numbers: bees are responsible for pollinating about one-sixth of the flowering plant species worldwide and approximately 400 different agricultural types of plant” (onegreenplanet.org).

There is no doubt that bees [as well as wasps and hornets], in certain circumstances, can be seriously troublesome, and in this analogy in Psalm 118, they are shown in this light.

A third example is the hymn, “Praise You the Lord!”, on pages 112-113 in the Hymnal, which is one of the most upbeat hymns that we have.

This hymn was adapted from Psalm 148 – sub-headed in the New King James Bible as “Praise to the LORD from Creation.”

In this psalm of just 14 verses, we see that praise to the LORD from heavenly things are contained in the first 4 verses with reasons why this should be done in verses 5-6. We then read that those on the earth should praise the LORD in verses 7-12 with, again, reasons why in verses 13-14.

We can surely understand that the righteous angels would praise God (verse 2). In the hymn, it reads: “Praise Him, ye angels, Praise Him, ye hosts…” But what about the sun and moon and stars, mentioned in verse 3? In the hymn, it says: “And praise Him, ye sun, moon and stars in the heights.”

In John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, we read:

“The sun praises the Lord, the Creator of it, by doing the work constantly it is appointed to do; to rule by day, and give light and heat to the earth, and the inhabitants of it; and so is the cause of man’s praising the Lord for the benefits they receive from it; for its enlightening, warming, and refreshing rays; and for the precious fruits brought forth by it and so the moon likewise doing its office, ruling by night, and reflecting the light of the sun upon the earth, and producing precious fruits, also praises its Maker, and is the occasion, of others praising him;

“…The stars of light which are very beneficial in the night season, especially to mariners and travellers, and shed their benign influences upon the earth and things in it; which are a means of praising the Lord, and in their way they do it.”

George Horne wrote that “Though they have neither speech nor language, and [lack] the tongue of men, yet by their splendour and magnificence, their motions and their influences, all regulated and exerted according to the ordinance of their Maker, do, in a very intelligible and striking manner, declare the glory of God.”

Likewise, the sea creatures in verse 7 show in their way the praise and glory of God (Psalm 102:24-26). In verse 8, the fire, snow, hails, cloud and stormy winds display greatly the power, majesty, and glory of God; and in verses 9-10, mountains, fruitful trees and beasts are described which are all very beneficial to mankind, thereby figuratively giving praise to God; see Isaiah 55:12.

The rest of this psalm is about earthly and human praise and the instruction is clear; we are to give praise to the One who is deserving of such praise.

In hymn 112, it is expressed in these terms:

“Heaven of heavens, waters above; Praise the Eternal let all praise His Name!… Praise ye the Lord! Ye mammals and deeps too, Fire, hail and windstorms fulfilling His word! Vapours of snow all hills, too, and mountains, All cedars and fruitful trees, let’s praise His Name! Wild beasts and cattle, birds and all reptiles, Earth’s kings and judges, all people and chiefs; Young men and maidens, old men and children, All praise ye the Name of our God evermore!”

Philippians 2:9-11 gives us the news of a wonderful future event:

“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Psalm 148 is a testament to God’s creative power—not the appallingly ridiculous and ungodly evolutionary theory which is nothing less than man trying to explain creation without a creator because they do not want to acknowledge a superior Being who created all things.

We have looked at just 3 hymns in this Q&A–Psalms 102, 118 and 148 out of a hymnal containing well over 100 hymns. Beautiful and descriptive Scripture conveying meaning in an easily understood form can help us to appreciate the great God and His ways. When we don’t quite understand what we are singing in the hymns that are available to us, then researching the meaning can be a very worthwhile exercise and allow us to understand more clearly what has been written.

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

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Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock

compiled by Norbert Link

“Pope Warns of a Worldwide Flood” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

In referring to the “story of the great flood in the Bible,” Pope Francis said that “humanity is facing another ‘great deluge, perhaps due to a rise in temperature and the melting of glaciers.’” He continued that the “biblical flood which destroyed the world except for Noah… may have been a myth.”

What does the Bible say about Noah’s flood and the possibility of another deluge in our time?

Our new booklet, “Are Jews and Christians at Odds with Jesus Christ?” is nearing completion of our review team.

“Die Bedeutung der Fusswaschung am Passaabend” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “The Meaning of the Footwashing Ceremony at Passover.”

“Anpassung an Veränderungen” is this Sabbath’s new German sermonette, presented by Michael Link. Title in English: “Adapting to Change.”

“Wuensche und Erwartungen” is the German sermonette from last Sabbath, presented by Daniel Blasinger. Title in English: “Wishes and Expectations…”

“Adapting to Change” is the title of last Sabbath’s sermonette, presented by Michael Link. Here is a summary:

Times have changed and the way we live now is much different than it used to be one year ago. How are we to adapt to changes that man is trying to put into place without having to contradict God’s way of life?

“What God’s Church Needs to Do!–Comments on News and Prophecy” is the title of Norbert Link’s special message from last Sabbath. Here is a summary:

We are told to cry aloud and spare not. This includes, pointing at and proclaiming prophetic developments in the light of biblical prophecy. And we must do so boldly and with conviction. Some don’t do this at all; others want us to give a watered-down Laodicean-type message, where anything goes. But this is not what we must do.

Parallels With Ancient Israelites  is the title of last Sabbath’s sermon, presented by Kalon Mitchell. Here is a summary:

We live in the 21st century! We are modern and sophisticated! And yet we find ourselves living in a time of great fear and cascading catastrophic tribulation that is growing worse. When we look at the Bible, can we see parallels, especially when we review Israel and what God did with them? How does what they went through parallel our time now?

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How This Work is Financed

This Update is an official publication by the ministry of the Church of the Eternal God in the United States of America; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Team: Norbert Link, Dave Harris, Rene Messier, Brian Gale, Johanna Link, Eric Rank, Michael Link, Anna Link, Kalon Mitchell, Manuela Mitchell, Dawn Thompson

Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank

Our activities and literature, including booklets, weekly updates, sermons on CD are provided free of charge. They are made possible by the tithes, offerings and contributions of Church members and others who have elected to support this Work.

While we do not solicit the general public for funds, contributions are gratefully welcomed and are tax-deductible in the U.S. and Canada.

Donations can be sent to the following addresses:

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United Kingdom: Global Church of God, PO Box 44, MABLETHORPE, LN12 9AN, United Kingdom

This Week in the News

Covid Passports by this Summer?

Breitbart wrote on February 26:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that there is a unanimous agreement within the European Union on implementing a coronavirus vaccine passport, during a virtual meeting of EU member states on Thursday. The German leader said that ‘everyone agreed that we need a digital vaccination certificate,’ following the meeting of European leaders. Merkel said that such a system could be implemented as soon as the summer, but claimed that the introduction of a vaccine passport ‘does not mean that only those who have a vaccination passport are allowed to travel,’ according to the German broadcaster DW.

“European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Israel’s implementation of ‘Green Passes’, a system in which the government tracks and documents an individual’s vaccination history in order to facilitate travel or to attend synagogues, theatres, concerts, or to go to the gym… The embattled EU president did note that member states will ‘have to act fast’ in order to implement a vaccine passport before the summer. To date, the European Union has only inoculated eight per cent of its population…

“The failure to vaccinate a significant portion of the population has led to concerns that vaccine passports would be discriminatory. Angela Merkel admitted as much this week…  Southern EU member states, such as Spain, Italy, and Greece have been pushing for the adoption of a COVID pass, in order to facilitate travel…  Other countries, such as France, have expressed concerns about discrimination as well as the lack of evidence over whether vaccinated people can still transmit the Wuhan virus

“There is a growing push within Britain’s notionally conservative government for the adoption of a vaccine passport, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggesting earlier this week that Brits might be required to carry health passes to even make simple domestic visits like going to the pub or the theatre… Cabinet Minister Michael Gove will be heading up the government’s research into adopting a vaccine passport system, despite definitively stating in December that Brits would not be required to provide proof of vaccination to go to the pub.”

The conservative German paper, Die Welt, wrote on February 26 that at first it went rather slowly, and now there is a rush, especially through Jens Spahn, to create a vaccination passport. The paper had this headline: “Then the limitations of freedom rights can hardly be justified.” (“Dann lässt sich die Begrenzung der Freiheitsrechte kaum noch begründen.“)

Merkel Meltdown

Express reported on February 27:

“Germany has been under a strict coronavirus clampdown since December, which has seen non-essential shops and schools along with pubs and restaurants forced to shut up shop. [Merkel] had been in favour of extending the lockdown as a result of the emergence of more contagious Covid strains. She has warned the country that it could face a ‘third wave’ if restrictions are lifted too quickly. However, regional leaders have decided to defy the Chancellor and take matters into their own hands.

“Even her staunchest lockdown supporter, Bavarian leader Markus Söder, is said to be at odds with her position. Several of the country’s regions will now allow limited opening of businesses from Monday, such as garden centres, florists and nail parlours. Ms Merkel appears to be losing public support for her hard stance on lockdown.

“According to a poll conducted by the German TV channel ZDF, 56 percent supported plans to partially ease restrictions, whereas 41 percent were opposed…”

Bild Online charged Merkel with ruling from a high-rise building, without any personal contact with people, thereby forgetting their needs and suffering.

More Lockdowns in Germany… Will this Madness Never End?

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 2:

“Germany’s national government and states are set to extend the COVID-19 lockdown by three weeks, to March 28, according to a draft document seen by DW… According to the draft text, up to five adults from two households would be allowed to gather from March 8, with up to 10 adults allowed in areas with low infection rates. Under current rules, each household can only socialize with one other person. The German government is also expected to appeal to citizens to avoid domestic and foreign travel over the Easter period…

“Most shops have stayed closed since tighter restrictions were introduced on December 16. Restaurants, bars, sports and leisure venues have all been closed since November 2. Hotels…  are currently closed to all but business travelers.”

Germany’s AfD Under Surveillance

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 3:

“Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) have placed the Alternative for Germany (AfD) under surveillance, according to local media.

“That designation gives state agents more powers for surveillance in certain circumstances, including potentially tapping the party’s communications.

“The BfV refused to comment on media reports from Der Spiegel magazine, the DPA news agency and public broadcaster ARD. The Interior Ministry, which oversees the BfV, said it would neither confirm nor deny them. The BfV is apparently unable to announce the decision officially because of an ongoing legal dispute.”

This move is highly problematic, as the AfD constitutes the largest opposition party in parliament.

Catholic Bishops Warn of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

Forbes wrote on March 2:

“The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—the official group representing the church in the U.S.—urged Catholics Tuesday to avoid taking the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine if other options are available, saying the J&J vaccine ‘raises questions about the moral permissibility’—even though Johnson & Johnson has stated it did not use fetal tissues in its vaccine.

“The directive says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be avoided since it was ‘developed, tested and is produced with abortion-derived cell lines.’ In a statement to Forbes, Johnson & Johnson said ‘there is no fetal tissue’ in its vaccine, adding the company used an ‘engineered cell-line system that enables the rapid production of new viral vaccines to combat many of the most dangerous infectious diseases,’ though it did not offer further specifics on its process.

“Pfizer and Moderna, on the other hand, did not use abortion-derived cell lines in production, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas—chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities—said in a statement. The J&J vaccine was approved for U.S. use on Saturday, and has been touted as a major step in vaccinating the population since the vaccine only requires one shot, while the other two approved so far both require two doses.

“The statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is the most significant opposition the J&J vaccine has coming from an official body of the Catholic church…

“The Vatican released a statement in December after questions were raised over vaccine ethics, in which it asserted ‘it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses’ in cases where ‘ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines are not available.’”

U.S. Airstrike Against Syria

Breitbart wrote on February 26:

“President Joe Biden authorized his first military action on Thursday: airstrikes on facilities in Syria used by militias linked to Iran. The airstrikes came in response to attacks on American personnel in Iraq… some [were] questioning whether the airstrikes were authorized under the existing Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Others noted that the airstrikes mark a 180-degree turn for Biden and members of his administration.

“Last year, Biden was among those who criticized President Donald Trump’s airstrike on Iranian terrorist General Qasem Soleimani. He called it ‘a hugely escalatory move in an already dangerous region,’ and claimed — falsely, as it turned out — that the attack would provoke, rather than deter, the Iranian regime. ‘We could be on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East,’ Biden said — wrongly, again, as peace deals soon emerged. Vice President Kamala Harris, then a Senator from California, was also critical of airstrikes by President Trump on the Syrian regime after the U.S. found evidence that dictator Bashar al-Assad was still using chemical weapons: ‘I strongly support our men and women in uniform and believe we must hold Assad accountable for his unconscionable use of chemical weapons. But I am deeply concerned about the legal rationale of last night’s strikes.’

“White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who had served in the Obama administration, objected to Trump’s initial airstrike in Syria in 2017… ‘Also what is the legal authority for strikes? Assad is a brutal dictator. But Syria is a sovereign country.’”

The Week added on February 26:

“Some Democrats are criticizing U.S. airstrikes in Syria, while many Republicans are praising President Biden’s move… While Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the limited scope of the airstrikes ‘aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq,’ many Democrats expressed concerns on Friday that the move has done just the opposite, and argued it was unconstitutional without congressional authorization. Many Republicans, meanwhile, called the U.S. response a necessary deterrent that was proportional. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the action, saying ‘there was a thorough, legal response’ and the Defense Department briefed congressional leadership in advance.”

npr wrote on February 26:

“… Democratic lawmakers on Friday sought justification from the Biden administration for Thursday’s airstrikes in Syria…

“‘The American people deserve to hear the Administration’s rationale for these strikes and its legal justification for acting without coming to Congress,’ Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said… ‘Offensive military action without congressional approval is not constitutional absent extraordinary circumstances. Congress must be fully briefed on this matter expeditiously.’…

“Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont warned against the president overreaching in his powers to declare military actions. ‘While the President has a responsibility to defend the people of the United States, our Constitution is clear that it is the Congress, not the President, who has the authority to declare war,’ he said…

“Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California made a similar argument: ‘We cannot stand up for Congressional authorization before military strikes only when there is a Republican President,’ he said. ‘The Administration should have sought Congressional authorization here. We need to work to extricate from the Middle East, not escalate.’…

“In 2017, just a few months into then-President Trump’s administration…  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [asked] for immediate debate over congressional authority for any future military action.”

Even Adam Schiff said that Biden’s notification of congressional leaders prior to the strike was inadequate. At least 22 people were killed in Thursday’s airstrikes.

Airstrike on Syria… an impeachable Offense?

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on March 1:

“As with Presidents Obama and Trump before him, however, Biden’s justification for the US strike and its targets is not credible. And his claim that the US attack would result in a ‘de-escalation’ in the region is laughable. You cannot bomb your way toward de-escalation. Biden thus joins a shameful club of US leaders whose interventions in the Middle East, and Syria specifically, have achieved nothing in the US interest but have contributed to the deaths of many thousands of civilians.

“President Trump attacked Syria in 2018 in what he claimed was retaliation for the Assad government’s use of chemical weapons against its own citizens. The Trump Administration never proved its claim. Logic itself suggests how ridiculous it would have been for the Syrian president to have used chemical weapons in that situation, where they achieved no military purpose and would almost certainly guarantee further outside attacks against his government.

“Trump’s 2018 attack only added to the misery of the Syrian people, who suffered under US sanctions and then suffered President Obama’s ‘Assad must go’ intervention that trained and armed al-Qaeda affiliated groups to overthrow the government. Trump’s airstrike on Syria did nothing to further real American interests in the region. But sending in 100 Tomahawk missiles to blow up a few empty buildings did a great deal to further the bottom line of missile-maker Raytheon. Interestingly, Biden’s Secretary of Defense came to the Administration straight from his previous position on the board of… Raytheon…

“The Democrats wasted four years trying to remove Trump from office under the bogus ‘Russiagate’ lie and then the equally ridiculous and discredited claim that Trump led an insurrection against the government on January 6th. Yet when Trump started raining bombs down on Syria with no Congressional declaration of war or even authorization, most Democrats stood up and cheered…

“In fact, initiating a war against a country that did not attack and does not threaten the United States without Congressional authority is an impeachable offense. But both parties – with a few exceptions – are war parties.

“President Biden should be impeached for his attack on Syria, as should have Trump and Obama before him. But no one in Washington is going to pursue impeachment charges against a president who recklessly takes the United States to war… Isn’t it strange how we’ve heard nothing about ISIS for the past couple of years, but suddenly the mainstream media tells us the ISIS is back and on the march? When President Biden says ‘America is back,’ what he really means is ‘the war party is back.’ As if they ever left.”

 These are words only very few are willing to hear. But war is wrong, no matter under what President, and it is condemned by God.

Biden backpedals on Sanctioning Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince over Khashoggi’s Murder

The Week wrote on February 26:

“The U.S. on Friday released a report publicly pinning the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist who criticized the crown while writing for The Washington Post, was killed and dismembered in 2018 after entering Turkey’s Saudi consulate. The crown prince had been suspected of ordering the killing, and U.S. intelligence affirmed that in a declassified report.

“The report is not new, and is largely based on CIA intelligence gathered in 2018. President Biden’s administration also announced new sanctions against Saudi operatives who were allegedly involved in the killing, but not against the crown prince, as The New York Times reports the president has ‘decided that the price of directly penalizing’ him is ‘too high.’”

CNN added on February 26:

Despite promising to punish senior Saudi leaders while on the campaign trail,  President Joe Biden declined to apply sanctions to the one the US intelligence community determined is responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“The choice not to punish Prince Mohammed directly puts into sharp relief the type of decision-making that becomes more complicated for a president versus a candidate, and demonstrates the difficulty in breaking with a troublesome ally in a volatile region… It was a far cry from a comment in November 2019, in which Biden promised to punish senior Saudi leaders in a way former President Donald Trump wouldn’t.”

More broken promises. Even left-liberal news sources can see that. Also note the next article.

Left-Liberal Washington Post Criticizes Biden

Newsmax wrote on February 26:

“A Washington Post editorial Friday criticized President Joe Biden for failing to sanction Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for approving the murder of the newspaper’s former columnist, Jamal Khashoggi. Friday’s Post op-ed was entitled ‘Mohammed bin Salman is guilty of murder. Biden should not give him a pass.’…  The Post then called out the new president for not putting in place any kind of official government punishment against MBS. The newspaper’s op-ed board suggested a travel ban and asset freeze on the prince.

“‘That President Biden has chosen not to pursue that course suggests that the “fundamental” change he promised in U.S.-Saudi relations will not include holding to account its reckless ruler, who consequently is unlikely to be deterred from further criminal behavior,’ the op-ed board said. According to the op-ed, without imposed penalties, MBS will feel strengthened to kill more dissidents at home and abroad…”

Hyperinflation Coming?

Newsmax published on February 26 an article with the following headline: “Biden Stimulus Could Push US Into Devastating Hyperinflation.”

The article continued:

“Economic experts are waving red flags to Congress and the Biden administration, warning that if the United States continues on its present course of profligate spending coupled with extreme business lockdowns, we could be heading to a period of hyperinflation.

“How hyper? Some are thinking of the German Weimar Republic, when people reportedly used wheelbarrows of cash to buy groceries.”

China Warns of “Side Effects” of US Economic Stimulus

scmp.com wrote on March 2:

“The ‘side effects’ of aggressive economic stimulus policies in the United States and other developed countries have started to surface in the US stock market, China’s top financial regulator warned on Tuesday, saying officials in Beijing were ‘very worried’ that foreign asset bubbles could burst soon. Guo Shuqing, Communist Party secretary of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), identified the US market – the world’s largest – as the greatest bubble risk in the global economy when asked on Tuesday.

“His comments are the latest in a string of warnings made by policymakers in Beijing about mounting external financial threats and their potential impact on the Chinese economy. They also come as the US Congress moves closer to passing President Joe Biden’s US$1.9 trillion pandemic aid package, which would add to nearly US$4 trillion in US economic stimulus unleashed last year and liberal liquidity provided to American financial markets to support growth by the Federal Reserve…

“Former Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei said in February that Washington was transferring its debt burden to the rest of the world through its economic aid programme… Some analysts have expressed concerns that the American package will plough money into a global economy already awash in liquidity, with the extra funds ending up in China, resulting in imported inflation.”

Trump Remains Dominant Force in GOP

On February 27, The Associated Press published an article with the following headline: “Trump the Dominant Force at Conservative Conference.”

The article continued:

“A conference dedicated to the future of the conservative movement turned into an ode to Donald Trump as speakers declared their fealty to the former president and attendees posed for selfies with a golden statue of his likeness. As the Republican Party grapples with deep divisions over the extent to which it should embrace Trump after losing the White House and both chambers of Congress, those gathered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday made clear they are not ready to move on from the former president — or from his baseless charges that the November election was rigged against him.

“‘Donald J. Trump ain’t going anywhere,’ said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz…  Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo… drew among the loudest applause and a standing ovation when he bragged about challenging the election certification on Jan. 6… ‘We cannot — we will not — go back to the days of the failed Republican establishment of yesteryear,’ said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis…  ‘We will not win the future by trying to go back to where the Republican Party used to be,’ echoed Florida Sen. Rick Scott… ‘If we do, we will lose the working base that President Trump so animated…’ Donald Trump Jr. lit into Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican, who has faced tremendous backlash for her vote to impeach Trump for inciting the Capitol riot…

“[Trump] was present in spirit in the form of a large golden statue erected in a merchandise show booth, where attendees could pose for pictures with it.”

A golden statue of Trump’s likeness? Terrible memories of Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue in Daniel 3 come to mind. Some have also drawn a parallel to the golden calf in Exodus 32. Compare also 1 Kings 12:28.

Trump Returns

Newsmax wrote on February 28:

“Putting to rest talk of a third party to break off from the GOP, former President Donald Trump said there will be only the Republican Party united, all the way… The speech to CPAC was Trump’s first public appearance since he left office 39 days ago…

“In a straw poll, 97% of attendees approved of his leadership of the party, 70% want him to run again and 55% said he was their preferred candidate in 2024. Trump’s rousing reception at the most important conservative gathering on the calendar highlights just how much Trump has transformed the movement in just five years…”

Fox News added on 2-28:

“Trump did not declare a 2024 run, although he did say he might consider beating Democrats ‘for a third time”’– in reference to his claim that he won the 2020 election… He predicted that a ‘Republican president will make a triumphant return to the White House [in 2024].’ ‘And I wonder who that will be, I wonder who that will be?’ he said to cheers from the crowd. ‘Who, who, who will that be I wonder?’”

In a subsequent interview with Newsmax, Trump said he had not decided yet as to whether or not he will run in 2024, but he said that if he did, then he could not imagine someone else who could win.

Former Vice President Mike Pence breaks his silence

The Week wrote on March 3:

“Former Vice President Mike Pence broke his silence Wednesday with an op-ed in The Daily Signal, criticizing congressional Democrats for their voter reform push and giving new life to former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Despite being a central target of the mob that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 because of his refusal to answer Trump’s call to somehow block the Electoral College certification, Pence claimed the election was ‘marked by significant irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside election law.’

“Without outright calling the 2020 vote fraudulent, Pence framed its outcome as uncertain to argue that Congress should not pass HR 1, the For the People Act, which includes measures such as required early voting and same-day voter registration in every state. Pence called the bill ‘an unconstitutional power grab.’”

California’s Churches Must Be Allowed to open for Indoor Services

East Bay Times wrote on February 26:

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected Santa Clara County’s ban on indoor worship services, ordering California’s only holdout to fall in line with the rest of the state… By a 6-3 vote, the court ruled that the county must allow indoor worship services to resume at 20% capacity in Santa Clara County, calling an earlier decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to allow the county to keep its ban in place ‘erroneous.’…

“Following the high court’s lifting of California’s statewide ban on indoor religious services, Santa Clara County argued that it was not subject to the ruling because it prohibited all indoor gatherings — regardless of whether they’re related to religion — rather than instituting a specific ban on indoor religious services.”

Denmark Tries to restrict Religious Liberties

UG Christian News wrote on February 4:

“Christian Churches in Denmark are pushing back against a new draft law that requires all sermons in foreign languages to be translated into the country’s native language (Danish) and submitted to the government for approval… The bill has the backing of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen… It is unclear whether the law would require sermon translations to be sent to the government before or after being given…

“Anglican Bishop Robert Innes of the European diocese said… [that the] proposal also has practical problems… arguing it is not feasible to translate a weekly sermon delivered extemporaneously. ‘Preachers don’t always write full text of their sermons, they might write notes,’ Innes said. ‘They might preach extempore as the archbishop of Canterbury sometimes does and there are questions of idiom and nuance which requires a high level of skill in translation of course. It is a high bar. It is a skilled art and it is an expensive skill as well.’ ‘We do not only hold services on Sundays, but also baptisms, weddings and funerals, throughout the week,” Rajah Scheepers, who serves as pastor of St. Petri church in Copenhagen told media. ‘It is not realistic to expect that we simultaneously translate all these gatherings or that we translate them in advance.’…

“Catholic churches, too, oppose the idea. Anna Mirijam Kaschner, general secretary and spokeswoman of the Nordic bishops’ conference, reportedly said the proposed law would harm religious liberty. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge reiterated his concerns on 26 January [saying] that: ‘This proposed legislation is contrary to specific provisions of the freedom of religion or belief, enshrined in international human rights law.’ Sources say the cost of translating sermons for the nation’s non-Danish-speaking congregations will be a staggering 37.4 million Danish krone ($6,069,589) per year, the Danish National Church’s Interchurch Council [estimated].”

Europe… with or without NATO?

On February 26, RTL Today republished an article by AFP, as follows:

“EU leaders agreed Friday that the bloc should take more responsibility for its own security, insisting Brussels needs to be a strong partner for NATO and the United States… ‘We want to act more strategically, to defend our interests and to promote our values,’ European Council President Charles Michel tweeted after a video summit. ‘We need to increase our ability to act autonomously and strengthen our cooperation with our partners.’

“NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joined the summit to talk up cooperation in the face of worries the EU’s drive could undermine the US-backed alliance at a time new President Joe Biden is looking to strengthen it… ‘It makes it absolutely obvious that we need to work together,’ (Stoltenberg said).

“France is championing a push for ‘strategic autonomy’ — arguing the coronavirus pandemic, a resurgent Russia and former US leader Donald Trump’s threats to cut off allies show Europe has to be able to stand alone. ‘In the face of increased global instability, the EU needs to take more responsibility for its security,’ the leaders said in their official conclusions…

“EU ambitions on common defence have gathered steam in recent years, and all but two nations signed up to the landmark PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation) pact in 2017 to increase cooperation. The departure of Britain from the European Union saw the bloc lose some military and diplomatic heft, but also removed a fierce opponent of anything that might lead to a European army from the Brussels conversation.

“The EU is seeking to implement a multibillion-euro fund to co-finance industrial defence projects and the five-billion-euro European Peace Facility (EPF), allowing it to provide military equipment and assistance to partner countries.

“But key questions remain on how these projects will be implemented and the future of EU efforts. The bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is trying to define a ‘strategic compass’ so all nations can have a more united vision. ‘We need to find a common understanding of the challenges and threats to European Union … in order to propose ways to tackle them all together,’ he said.”

While France questions the NATO alliance, Germany gives lip service for their strong support. But that may change soon.

EU and Iran Deal vs. Israel

The Times of Israel wrote on February 26:

“The top European Union diplomat supervising the international agreement aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions called Friday for a concerted effort to reinvigorate the pact even as Tehran appears to be reneging on some of its commitments… Iran this week effectively set a deadline to lift the US sanctions within three months, after which it said it would erase surveillance footage of its nuclear facilities. It has also limited some monitoring of its activities, which the EU says are meant to help ensure that Tehran’s nuclear work is peaceful. The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has also reported that Iran has added 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 20% to its stockpile as of Feb. 16 — far past the 3.67% purity allowed under the JCPOA….

Netanyahu on Thursday said he has told Biden that he will do whatever it takes to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, regardless of whether Washington reenters the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. ‘I told him, with or without an agreement, my obligation as the prime minister of Israel, as the prime minister of the Jewish state, is to prevent a recurrence of the terrible things that have been done to our people,’ he said in an interview with Channel 13. ‘There is a regime whose flagship goal is to destroy us. I will do everything I can, everything in my power, to prevent it from attaining nuclear weapons,’ he said.”

Israel may find itself all alone in this challenge.

No Access of Jews to Al Aqsa Mosque

Israel Today wrote on February 26:

“Israel this week sought to install a vaccine station on the Temple Mount inside the clinic of the Al Aqsa Mosque. The idea was to provide vaccines for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and especially those coming from the West Bank on Fridays in order to pray at the third holiest site in Islam.

“The request [was] decisively rejected by both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, an Islamic religious trust that controls and manages Islamic edifices on the Temple Mount compound. It was reported that the request even reached the hands of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The reaction was furious, stating that they refuse to allow Israel any kind of access to the Al Aqsa Mosque.

“Israel’s request made clear that all of the paramedics administering the vaccine would be Arab and that none of Israel’s national symbols would be in sight. In addition, the request promised that the Muslim worshippers would not know that the station was provided by Israel. But the Israeli assurances were of no avail.“

This fanatical resistance will backfire.

Russia’s Persecutions

Bloomberg wrote on February 28:

“Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who survived a chemical poisoning last year that he called a Kremlin attempt to kill him, has begun serving his two-and-a-half-year sentence at a notorious penal camp… The jail, where inmates are housed in barracks and typically do manual labor, is classified as a ‘red zone’ where the administration controls every aspect of life…

“Konstantin Kotov, an opposition activist who was freed in December after 1 1/2 years at the same prison, said he was subjected to constant intimidation. This included repeated punishment for so-called infringements such as not saluting a prison guard or borrowing someone’s gloves — with those that his relatives sent him not being delivered — as well as isolating him from other inmates…

“Navalny received the sentence for failing to check in with the authorities while recovering in Germany from the near-fatal nerve agent attack in August. Western governments have also blamed the Kremlin for the poisoning, while Russian authorities deny any role…

“Navalny’s arrest in mid-January when he returned to Russia provoked the biggest anti-Kremlin protests in years and was condemned by the European Union and the U.S…. Authorities cracked down on the demonstrations last month, detaining more than 11,000 people and prosecuting key Navalny allies.”

Deutsche Welle added on March 2:

“The US on Tuesday slapped sanctions on Russian individuals and entities…

“The EU imposed bans on travel and froze the assets in Europe of Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Igor Krasnov, the prosecutor general, Viktor Zolotov, head of the National Guard, and Alexander Kalashnikov, head of the Federal Prison Service… US Treasury Department said the US was also imposing sanctions on Krasnov and Kalashnikov… The US Treasury also announces sanctions on Alexander Bortnikov, director of Russia’s federal security service, Andrei Yarin, head of presidential policy directorate, and deputy defense ministers Alexei Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov…

“Brussels said Bastrykin, Krasnov, Zolotov and Kalashnikov were listed ‘over their roles in the arbitrary arrest, prosecution and sentencing of Alexei Navalny, as well as the repression of peaceful protests in connection with his unlawful treatment.’ A senior US official has stated: ‘The intelligence community assesses with high confidence that officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service FSB used a nerve agent known as Novichok to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on August 20, 2020.’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview released Tuesday Washington intends to “take the appropriate actions as we see fit to make very clear that this kind of conduct is unacceptable for us, and we’ll do it with our allies and partners.”…

“The EU, which already had imposed sanctions against a small number of Russian officials, is expected to announce more sanctions. The US has also said it plans to respond soon to the Russian hack of federal government agencies and US corporations which exposed potentially sensitive information to the Kremlin.”

Russia announced that they will reciprocate regarding the “largely symbolic” sanctions (US News, March 2).

Pope Warns of a Worldwide Flood

Daily Mail wrote on March 2:

“Pope Francis has warned that mankind is facing a second great flood caused by climate change unless leaders act to fix corruption and injustice. The 84-year-old said that, in the story of the great flood in the Bible, God used his wrath to punish injustice and ‘clean up’ the world. He then added that humanity is facing another ‘great deluge, perhaps due to a rise in temperature and the melting of glaciers. [That is] what will happen now if we continue on the same path,’ he said…

“While discussing justice, Francis brings up the example of the biblical flood which destroyed the world except for Noah – who was deemed virtuous enough to survive. The flood itself may have been a myth, Francis says, but it is used as an example to show how God uses wrath to punish injustice and right wrongs in the world.”

God said very clearly that no worldwide flood will ever come upon the earth again (Genesis 9:11, 15), but since Pope Francis believes that the flood might have been a myth (even though Jesus believed in it, Matthew 24:37-39, and so did Peter, 2 Peter 3:5-6), Pope Francis would not believe God’s clear words in the Bible either.

Pope Emeritus Benedict on Biden

Newsmax wrote on March 3:

“Pope emeritus Benedict XVI is expressing concerns about President Joe Biden’s position on abortion and tendency to fall in line with the Democratic Party platform. ‘It’s true, he’s Catholic and observant,’ Benedict told Italian publication Corriere della Sera on Monday. ‘And personally, he is against abortion. But as president, he tends to present himself in continuity with the line of the Democratic Party … and on gender policy, we still don’t really understand what his position is.’

“Biden, only the second Catholic president, after John F. Kennedy, is at odds with traditional Catholic teaching when it comes to his pro-choice stance on abortion and policies regarding sexual orientation and gender identity…

“The president revoked the Mexico City policy, which banned U.S. foreign aid for organizations promoting abortion abroad, and picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who the Times called a ‘pro-choice crusader,’ as his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary. Biden also supports the Equality Act— which would make sexual orientation and gender identity protected characteristics in civil rights law — that some Republicans say would curtail religious liberties.

“Benedict, who became the first pope to resign in almost 600 years, also commented on his decision to step down in 2013, The Tablet reports. ‘It was a difficult decision, but I made it in full awareness, and I believe I did the right thing,’ the retired pope said. ‘Some of my slightly “fanatical” friends are still angry, they didn’t want to accept my choice. I think of the conspiracy theories that followed it … They don’t want to believe in a conscious choice. But my conscience is clear.’”

Our Late or Lost Mail

The Washington Post wrote on February 26:

“Mark Currie of Virginia had three checks snagged in postal delays in three months. In New Jersey, Lois Fitton says she was forced to pay interest on a credit card balance because the bill never arrived. Jim Rice says two insurance companies canceled policies for his property management business in Oklahoma after the payments got lost in the mail.

“As the service crisis at the U.S. Postal Service drags into its eighth month, complaints are reaching a fever pitch. Consumers are inundating members of Congress with stories of late bills — and the late fees they’ve absorbed as a result. Small-business owners are waiting weeks, even months, for checks to arrive, creating cash-flow crunches and debates on whether to switch to costlier private shippers. Large-scale mailers, such as banks and utilities, are urging clients to switch to paperless communication, a shift that would further undercut the agency’s biggest revenue stream.

“The growing outcry adds another dimension to the agency’s myriad crises: a clogged processing and transportation network, severe staffing shortages and $188.4 billion in liabilities. The prolonged performance declines have eroded the reputation of one of the few government agencies that boast generations of broad public support…

“The agency’s delivery times have sunk to historic lows… In most states, it took at least five days for a piece of first-class mail — such as a bill or paycheck — to arrive last month… the mail slowdowns — especially for credit card bills and payments — threaten to further burden American consumers already weighed down by debt…”

If you had ever wondered why your mail was so late or did not arrive at all…

Toys to be Neutral-Gender under Penalty of Hefty Fines

Fox Business wrote on February 25:

“California lawmakers are considering a bill that would penalize department stores for separating children’s toys, clothing and other items by gender… department stores with 500 or more employees would be subject to a $1,000 fine if they do not ‘correct a violation of these provisions within 30 days of receiving written notice of the violation.’ Stores would not have to change their products, but the products could not be displayed based on how they have ‘traditionally been marketed for either girls or for boys.’…

“The bill comes amid growing pushback by consumer advocacy groups to make toys more gender neutral…

“Hasbro, the company that’s made the potato-shaped plastic toy for nearly 70 years, announced this week it is giving the ‘Mr.’ Potato Head a gender-neutral new name: Potato Head. The change will appear on boxes this year… Barbie, for example, has tried to shed its blonde image and now comes in multiple skin tones and body shapes. The Thomas the Tank Engine toy line added more girl characters. And American Girl is now selling a boy doll.”

What complete and utter nonsense

“Europe’s largest-ever cocaine bust worth billions”

The New York Daily News wrote on February 24:

“Billions of dollars-worth of drugs have been seized in Europe’s largest-ever cocaine bust. More than 50,700 pounds of coke were seized by German and Belgian authorities in the operation, which spanned over a week… The bust is also being hailed as one of the largest single seizures in the world. German officials found more than 17 tons of cocaine in containers that arrived in Hamburg from Paraguay

“Dutch authorities then started investigating the recipient of the shipment, discovering 11 containers heading to Antwerp from Panama. These containers supposedly held mackerel, pineapple, squid, and wood. On Saturday, Belgian authorities discovered another 15,873 pounds of cocaine in the container transporting wood…”

What health damage that would have caused.

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.

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