On July 13, 2019, Kalon Mitchell will present the sermonette, titled, “Anticipation For What?” and Michael Link will present the sermon, titled, “Right and Wrong Righteousness.”

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

In our daily lives, we have a plan.  We plan on getting things done. We make plans for the day and for the week and, in general, future plans to achieve our goals.  We may not always fulfill them, but our plan is to do so.  There may be several hurdles over which we need to jump to get to that finish line, and perhaps thoughts of giving up may come into our minds, but then we catch ourselves veering away and no matter how difficult it may be at times, we ultimately end up sticking to the plan.  Just as we have a plan to accomplish whatever goals we may have, God also has a plan for us!

So how is it then that the trials we go through seem to be so overwhelming at specific times, but soon thereafter, we are able to get through them?  We have help!  God is there to guide us and through the power of prayer with faith, we place it all in God’s hands. He knows! He knows our struggles. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, and so does Satan.     Satan knows where we are vulnerable, which is why we are tested and tempted time and time again. As we know this, we are to “count it all joy when [we] fall into various trials knowing that the testing of [our] faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3).  Verses 6-8 tells us that we are to ask God in faith for help without doubting, for the one who doubts will not receive anything from God, for such a person is unstable in all his ways.

Christ can relate to what we all go through since He had experienced the same trials and temptations. In Matthew 13:31-32, we read about the parable of the mustard seed stating that, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

As we explain in our Q&A on the mustard seed, “The spiritual application of this parable is very clear. Christ compared the Kingdom of God with a very small seed, as it begins in a very small way. It is like a little bit of leaven, which will ultimately leaven the whole world (Matthew 13:33). Today, the gospel of the Kingdom of God is not accepted by very many, and very few–the firstfruits–respond to its message and become converted. Once they receive the Holy Spirit, they are begotten children of God and of His Kingdom–which is the Family of God that will rule on this earth, when Christ returns. Ultimately, the knowledge of God will cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea. The government of Christ will increase and will have no end.”

As we can see, the purpose for us today is quite clear for we have been chosen as the pioneers to be part of God’s plan.  And even though we struggle often and sin continuously, God is very merciful and forgiving WHEN we have recognized our sins and ASK for forgiveness. He does not give up on us but He sticks to His plan for us to succeed.  When we go through our trials, we may react the wrong way at first, but when we recognize this and ask God for help, He will help us to get through our trials in some way or another. Let us keep this in mind and let us strive to be victorious so that God will count us worthy to enter His Family. He called us to carry out and accomplish His plan for and in us, and He will do so as long as we don’t draw back.

by Norbert Link

We begin with ongoing disagreements between Germany and the USA, this time pertaining to ground troops in Syria; continue with Iran’s second major breach of the 2015 nuclear deal while Russia, China and Europe blame the USA for Iran’s conduct; and address Gibraltar’s detention of a Syrian oil tanker allegedly laden with Iranian oil.

Focusing on Russia, we report on Ukraine’s desire to speak with Russia over Crimea; Putin’s meeting with Pope Francis [please view our new StandingWatch program,“Trying to Appease Russia?”]; and the prevention of a nuclear catastrophe for which Russia would have been held responsible.

We address concerns regarding Angela Merkel’s health; the new leadership of Greece; the terrible immigration policies of the USA and—worse yet—Europe; strains in the “special relationship” between the USA and the UK over leaked comments made by the UK’s ambassador to the US; and the harsh fine imposed on British Airways for being the victim of criminal hackers. We also quote several court cases rendering judgments against the Trump administration.

Addressing Israel and the Middle East, we report on the “pro-Israel evangelical conference” which is strongly supported by the Trump Administration; and the discovery of the ancient Philistine city of Ziklag where David found refuge for a while.

In other news, we speak on the controversial plan to dump 1.5 tons of rat poison on the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco; the real danger from asteroids colliding with earth; and the shaky situation of Southern California in light of major earthquakes.

We conclude with conflicts within the Catholic Church; the dangerous LGBT ideology; and potentially good news from Australia regarding “religious discrimination.”

Germany Rejects US Call for Syria Troops

AFP wrote on July 7:

“Discord broke out in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition Sunday, after the United States urged the country to send ground troops to Syria as Washington looks to withdraw from the region. ‘We want ground troops from Germany to partly replace our soldiers’ in the area as part of the anti-Islamic State coalition, US special representative on Syria James Jeffrey had told German media…. Jeffrey, who was visiting Berlin for Syria talks, added that he expects an answer this month…

“A clear rejection of the American request came from Merkel’s junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD)… But deputy conservative parliamentary leader Johann Wadephul told news agency DPA that Germany should ‘not reflexively reject’ the US call for troops… Wadephul [is] seen as a candidate to succeed Ursula von der Leyen as defence minister if she is confirmed as European Commission chief…

“The US appeal comes after Trump has repeatedly urged Berlin to increase its defence spending, last month calling Germany ‘delinquent’ over its contributions to NATO’s budget… Former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (SPD) told business newspaper Handelsblatt on Saturday that Trump wanted ‘vassals’ rather than allies. ‘I’d have liked the federal government to tell him once or twice that it’s none of his business’ how much Germany spends on defence, Schroeder said. ‘This isn’t a banana republic here!’”

Deutsche Welle reported on July 8:

“German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said on Monday that Germany would not increase its military presence [in Syria]… ‘[This] means no ground troops,’ Seibert said… [However] CDU party leader and possible Angela Merkel successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer is prepared to negotiate Germany’s contribution in Syria…”

As the media reports, Germany’s current official stance, if maintained, is likely to anger President Donald Trump.

Iran Announces Second Breach of 2015 Nuclear Deal

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 7:

“The Iranian government on Sunday said it would once again breach the 2015 nuclear deal by raising its enrichment of uranium beyond limits agreed with several world powers. [The permitted enrichment level is 3.67%]… Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the move was a countermeasure to ‘US economic terrorism.’… The decision comes less than a week after Iran acknowledged breaking the deal’s 300-kilogram (661-pound) limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile.

“Sunday’s announcement was immediately condemned internationally, with Germany saying they were ‘extremely concerned’ at the news…

“Israel accused Tehran of starting a ‘march’ towards nuclear weaponry. ‘The enrichment of uranium is made for one reason and for one reason only: it’s for the creation of atomic bombs,’ said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ‘The leaders of the P5+1 [the United States, Germany, France, Britain, China, and Russia] … committed themselves to snap back sanctions the minute Iran did that. It just did. Where are you?’…

“Germany and other EU countries have sought to keep the accord alive by developing a money transaction system known as INSTEX that allows Iran to circumvent US sanctions and continue doing business internationally. But Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed the mechanism because it does not include Iran’s oil sector.”

Deutsche Welle added on July 8:

“Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday gave the other signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal a final 60 days to find ways to counter United States sanctions against Tehran or it would implement its third deliberate violation of the accord… Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov said… Sunday’s announcement by Iran was one of the ‘consequences’ of the US abandoning the deal. China was another signatory to put blame on the US, saying that ‘unilateral bullying’ by the Americans was the cause behind the escalating Iran nuclear crisis.”

Tehran has also said that it would keep reducing its commitments every 60 days unless the other signatories protect Iran from US sanctions.

Newsmax added on July 8:

“Iran threatened on Monday to restart deactivated centrifuges and ramp up its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity as its next potential big moves… Enriching uranium up to 20% purity would be a dramatic move, since that was the level Iran had achieved before the deal was put in place… It is considered an important intermediate stage on the path to obtaining the 90% pure fissile uranium needed to make a bomb.”

According to Der Spiegel, dated July 8, experts felt that before the deal was made, Iran could produce a bomb within weeks or months. Since then, Iran claimed that they destroyed the enriched and purified fissile uranium needed to produce the bomb. Whether this is really true is anybody’s guess, as foreign inspectors were not allowed to visit all the different Iran sites, and Iran is now referring to “deactivated” centrifuges which they are willing to restart.

Gibraltar Detains Syrian Oil Tanker

AFP wrote on July 6:

“Iran demanded Friday that Britain immediately release an oil tanker it has detained in Gibraltar, accusing it of acting at the bidding of the United States… Authorities in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory on Spain’s southern tip at the western entrance to the Mediterranean, said they suspected the tanker was carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions…

“The Grace 1 was halted in the early hours of Thursday by police and customs agencies in Gibraltar, aided by a detachment of British Royal Marines. Gibraltar’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that the vessel can be held for 14 more days, the territory’s attorney general said…

“In a statement, Britain’s Foreign Office said it welcomed Gibraltarian authorities ‘acting to enforce the EU Syria sanctions regime’… Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told reporters the vessel was detained at the request of the United States. But Gibraltar insisted it acted of its own accord… Russia said the tanker’s detention was a ‘targeted action aimed at further complicating the situation around Iran and Syria’…

“White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, a champion of the hawkish policy towards Tehran, tweeted the interception of the supertanker was ‘excellent news’. According to specialised shipping trade publication Lloyd’s List, which analyses vessel-tracking data, the 1997-built ship is laden with Iranian oil.”

The Church of God has believed and proclaimed for a long time that ultimately, Gibraltar will end up belonging to Spain.

Ukraine Wants to Talk to Russia

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 8:

“Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the recently elected president of Ukraine, invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to resume peace talks to solve the ongoing conflict between their respective countries on Monday… Zelenskiy proposed: ‘I suggest the following lineup for talks: me, you, US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron.’

“Zelenskiy was also clear about the topic of the meeting: ‘Let’s discuss who Crimea belongs to and who isn’t in the Donbass region.’ Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov… said the proposal would be reviewed…

“Zelenskiy and Putin have never met, but during his inaugural address in May, the Ukrainian president vowed that resolving his country’s conflict with Russia would be his top priority. The conflict began in March 2014, when pro-Russian separatists staged an uprising in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region after pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovich was forced to flee the country in February 2014. The actions took place shortly after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in February and March 2014, sparking international condemnation.

“Since then, some 13,000 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine. Russia has strongly denied any involvement in the region, despite ample evidence that it has continually shipped arms and troops into the area. Though peace talks involving Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany resulted in the so-called Minsk Agreements in 2014 and early 2015, both sides have violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement, and the situation remains at an impasse… The EU has been unapologetically supportive of Ukraine, issuing sanctions against Russia in an effort to force its hand. [European Council President Donald] Tusk underscored the deteriorating state of the situation, saying ‘The tragedy in eastern Ukraine continues with disastrous humanitarian consequences for local people trapped by Russia’s war.’”

Finally, Ukraine will become part of Russia.

“Pope” Putin Meets with Pope Francis

The New York Times wrote on July 4:

“Pope Francis is viewed by many European liberals as the greatest moral voice against the resurgence in populism and the demonization of migrants. But for many European nationalists, anti-migration politicians and opponents of gay rights, the real spiritual strongman of their movement is the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, their alternate pope. So when Mr. Putin visited the Vatican on Thursday, it was more than a mere meeting — their third — between the two men. Rather it was a tête-à-tête between the standard bearers of competing views of Christianity on the European continent as ideological polarization between nationalists and liberals cleaves the West…

“Mr. Putin has many fans in Italy, including the country’s de facto leader, Mr. Salvini, who has publicly professed admiration for the Russian leader… The most devout Putin followers talk of the Russian leader in mystical terms, comparing him to the Katechon, a Greek word referring to a force that keeps the Antichrist at bay… Amid this backdrop, Francis has been careful not to antagonize Russia by taking sides in the conflict in Ukraine, or between the Ukrainian Orthodox churches…”

Church Militant wrote on July 8:

“For Putin, the meeting… represented a way to reify his stature as a global leader. For Francis, the meeting represented a way to gain leverage in his relationship with populist, anti-migration Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and in negotiating better relations with the Russian Orthodox Church — as well as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church…

“In January, Ukraine broke from the Russian Orthodox Church it had been tied to for more than four centuries and started its own independent Orthodox Church… Bartholomew I, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, to which Ukraine had been loyal until 1686, recognized the independence of [the] Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In response, the Russian Orthodox Church… said it would no longer recognize the Istanbul-based patriarch. Putin sided with Cyril, patriarch of Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church…”

Potential Nuclear Planetary Catastrophe Averted?

Bloomberg wrote on July 9:

“The 14 sailors who died during a fire last week on a nuclear-powered Russian military submarine prevented a ‘planetary catastrophe,’ a top naval officer said at their funeral… Russia broke three days of secrecy July 4 and confirmed that the stricken underwater research vessel was nuclear-powered… Russian authorities had previously refused to say whether the country’s worst naval incident in more than a decade involved a nuclear-powered vessel. They have also refused to say what type of craft was involved, with the Kremlin calling the information ‘absolutely classified.’…

“The vessel is linked to a secret nuclear-submarine project known as Losharik…The fire was Russia’s most serious naval incident since 20 people died on a Nerpa nuclear submarine in 2008… Russia’s worst post-Soviet naval disaster occurred early in Putin’s presidency, in August 2000, when 118 crew died on the Kursk nuclear submarine that sank in the Barents Sea after an explosion. The authorities were also accused of a cover-up.”

This shows how quickly our planet can be threatened by nuclear catastrophes.

Merkel’s Health Cause for Concern?

The Associated Press wrote on July 10:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s body shook visibly at a public event for the third time in less than a month on Wednesday… Merkel shook as she stood at a military honors ceremony alongside Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne outside the chancellery in Berlin, listening to the two countries’ national anthems. It followed similar episodes on June 18 and June 27. As in both those cases, the incident started as she stood still without talking…

“Merkel, who has been German leader since 2005, turns 65 on July 17. She suggested that the psychological impact of the first incident was responsible for the subsequent episodes… Public figures’ health is generally regarded as a private matter in Germany and the country’s privacy laws are very strict on that type of information. It is not publicly known if Merkel has any health problems…

“A spokeswoman for Merkel… declined to comment on whether there had been any other shaking episodes beyond the three publicly known ones. Merkel said last year that she won’t seek a fifth term as chancellor and won’t seek any other political job after her current term ends in 2021.

“She gave up the leadership of her center-right party after a pair of poor state election performances that followed a rocky start to her fourth-term government. She has shown no sign since of wanting to give up the chancellorship before her term is up.”

Greece Has a New Leader

The Associated Press wrote on July 8:

“Conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis was being sworn in as Greece’s new prime minister Monday, a day after his resounding win over left-wing Alexis Tsipras, who led the country through the tumultuous final years of its international bailouts. Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party won 39.8% of the vote, giving him 158 seats in the 300-member parliament, a comfortable governing majority. Tsipras’ Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, garnered 31.5%. The extremist right-wing Golden Dawn, Greece’s third largest party during the height of the financial crisis, failed to make the 3% threshold to enter parliament.

“Mitsotakis will have to move fast to deal with the myriad of problems still plaguing the economy… Greece’s economy shrank by a quarter and poverty and unemployment levels soared during the country’s nearly decade-long financial crisis… The country’s debt stands at about 181% of annual GDP…

“‘New Democracy’s clear victory in Greece’s parliamentary elections yesterday will be welcomed by investors,’ said economics consultancy Capital Economics in a research note. ‘But it will not be a game changer for the economy, not least because the government will still be constrained by its membership of the single currency and its “surveillance” agreement with the EU… [The] enhanced surveillance’… bears a striking resemblance to a bail-out program… the government will get further relief on the cost of servicing its public debt only if it sticks to tight fiscal policy.’”

It is not clear at all whether Greece will be part of the final ten European nations or groups of nations resurrecting the ancient Roman Empire.

America’s and Europe’s Outrageous Immigration Policy

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 4:

“It’s easy to criticize Washington’s migration policies as inhumane, but the approach taken by the European Union is even more outrageous. Politicians in the EU outsource the horrors and wash their hands of any guilt…

“A father and his daughter lie dead on the bank of the Rio Grande, entwined in an embrace, after drowning in their attempt to reach the United States… They came from El Salvador and had attempted to swim across the border and the image of their bodies went around the world last week. It is absolutely heart-breaking… In the United States, the photo triggered a response similar to the one in Germany in 2015, when pictures of the deceased three-year-old Alan Kurdi, whose body washed up on the beach in Turkey, made the rounds…

“In addition came the revelations last week that U.S. authorities in Texas exposed around 300 children to inhuman conditions in cells with open toilets in the middle of the room and a lack of soap, clothing and food… Trump’s pick as the next director to lead the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency once said that when he looks into the eyes of detained migrant children, he sees future gang members… Without a doubt, America is no longer the country that was once proud to offer a new home to immigrants from around the world….

“Today’s migration policies in the European Union are even more brutal than those pursued by Donald Trump… the Europeans have entered into pacts with Libyan militias that operate horrific camps where torture and rape are commonplace, and they work together with the so-called Libyan coast guard, which is little more than a militia at sea. Sea rescue operations in the Mediterranean have practically been shut down, and Italian hardliner Matteo Salvini is no longer allowing private rescue ships to come ashore in the country.

“… This year alone, just under 600 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean, a figure that is far greater than the number who have died along the U.S.-Mexican border. The horrors of the EU’s migration policies aren’t playing out in front of the cameras — they are unfolding in North Africa and on the high seas…

“Despite the suffering, the situation in the Mediterranean Sea is quite convenient for countries in northern Europe… the EU is selling its soul… the EU member states, the German government included, aren’t making any serious efforts to deal with the issue. Instead, they’ve outsourced the horrors and washed their hands of any guilt. Which is why it is only a matter of time before the next iconic image of dead immigrants will shock people around the world — without changing anything.”

A change to these horrible developments will only happen after Jesus Christ has returned to this earth.

Strains in Special Relationship between USA and UK

The Hill wrote on July 8:

“President Trump on Monday said he would ‘no longer deal with’ the U.K.’s ambassador to the U.S. [Sir Kim Darroch] after leaked cables revealed the diplomat’s blunt assessment of the Trump administration. Even as Trump bristled at being criticized in secret diplomatic notes, he went after outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, who expressed ‘full faith’ in Darroch, over her handling of Brexit. ‘What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way,’ Trump wrote, adding that ‘the good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister.’

“Darroch wrote in secret cables to top officials in London that Trump is viewed as ‘insecure’ and ‘incompetent.’ He said there are doubts in Washington about whether the White House ‘is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional, less unpredictable, less faction-riven, less diplomatically clumsy and inept.’ The British government has expressed regret to Trump administration officials for the leak…

“The cables were published by U.K. newspaper The Mail on Sunday, providing fresh evidence of strains in the so-called ‘special relationship’ between the U.S. and U.K. during Trump’s presidency.”

The Associated Press wrote on July 8:

“British officials said they were hunting for the culprit behind the leak, which was both an embarrassment to Prime Minister Theresa May’s government and a major breach of diplomatic security… The documents were intended for senior U.K. ministers and civil servants. Government officials think the mole will be found among British politicians or officials, not in foreign governments or among people who aren’t British…”

Axios wrote on July 8:

“As the ambassador to a top U.S. ally, Darroch meets regularly with senior officials in the Trump administration. May will be replaced later this month, probably by the Trump-friendly Boris Johnson. If this is more than a passing dispute, Johnson will have to decide between standing by Darroch and the British diplomatic service, or making an early goodwill gesture to Trump by choosing a favorable replacement…

“Darroch, a highly regarded career civil servant, was due to leave Washington at the end of this year… The real surprise here isn’t the contents of the private messages Darroch sent back to London, but the fact that they leaked to the Mail on Sunday tabloid in the first place. There has been frantic speculation about the motives behind the leak.”

It will have to be seen whether this is only a temporary impasse between the USA and the UK or the sign of an ongoing phenomenon. Note the next article.

Britain’s Ambassador to the US Sir Kim Darroch Quits after Boris Johnson Refused to Support Him

The Sun wrote on July 10:

“BRITAIN’S ambassador to the US Sir Kim Darroch has sensationally quit today after being embroiled in a Donald Trump leak storm… Sir Kim wrote: ‘The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like. I am grateful to all those in the UK and the US, who have offered their support during this difficult few days. This has brought home to me the depth of friendship and close ties between our two countries…’

“MPs have… come forward to support Sir Kim – including Theresa May, who said it is a ‘matter of deep regret’ that Sir Kim felt it necessary to stand down. It is understood the PM did not want him to resign and had urged him to stay – but he made it clear to her his mind was made up as he thought his position had become untenable following Trump’s decisions to bar him from attending key events and working together. She even sent a written note supporting him this week, her spokesperson said earlier.

“Foreign Secretary and leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt, who had stood by Sir Kim, said he was ‘deeply saddened’ by his decision. In a statement, he added: ‘For 42 years, Sir Kim served his country with the utmost dedication and distinction. I profoundly regret how this episode has led Sir Kim to decide to resign. He deserves to look back upon his career as a servant of Britain with the greatest satisfaction and pride.’

“Mr McDonald [Simon McDonald, the most senior official at the Foreign Office] said this lunchtime that it was the first time a friendly government has refused to deal with a British envoy – after Donald Trump said he’d no longer work with the ambassador following the leaks. He told MPs this afternoon: ‘It was his judgement that as long as he remained in Washington he would remain a target and his family with him … Nothing like this has ever happened before.’…

“Friends say Sir Kim decided the game was up last night after watching Boris Johnson [refuse] to back him during a live TV debate last night. The Tory leadership candidate refused several times to say he would keep Sir Kim in his post if he became prime minister…

“Labour MP Ben Bradshaw said on Twitter: ‘The shameful forcing out of Kim Darroch after Johnson failed to back him shows Johnson as PM would be nothing more than Trump’s lap dog. What a humiliating prospect for our United Kingdom.’… But Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, a friend of Mr Trump, said it was ‘the right decision’.”

The Guardian added on July 10:

“Darroch’s decision will put pressure on Johnson, who was criticised by some Conservatives after the leadership debate for refusing to give Darroch his support even as his rival, Jeremy Hunt, said he would expect the ambassador to stay in post until his planned retirement. When pressed on the point, Johnson gave only mild criticism of Trump and said a good relationship with the US was ‘of fantastic importance’. Sir Alan Duncan, a Foreign Office minister, said Johnson had thrown Darroch ‘under the bus to serve his own personal interests’ and accused him of ‘contemptible negligence’.”

British Airways Fined

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 8:

“British Airways has been fined 183.4 million pounds ($230 million, €205 million) by the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) [under the new UK Data Protection Act] after computer hackers stole customer data last year… The ICO said the penalty was the biggest it had ever handed out and the fine was the first to be made public under new rules.

“British Airways revealed in September 2018 that computer hackers had carried out a ‘sophisticated, malicious criminal attack’ on the airline’s website and app, and obtained the credit card details of some 380,000 customers. The airline promised to ‘fully reimburse’ affected customers…

“Airlines have become frequent targets for cyberattacks in recent years, due to their hyperconnected service models, which allow passengers to easily book and pay for flights. Passengers also have to include passport data and credit card information when booking a flight online. There were about 1,000 cyberattacks per month reported by airlines in 2016…”

The penalty imposed on British Airways, which the airline has vowed to fight, seems to be unduly harsh, given the fact that unscrupulous evil hackers have been committing crimes on the airline and its customers.

US Courts vs. Trump

npr wrote on July 9:

“A federal appeals court in Manhattan says President Trump cannot block critics from his Twitter account, calling it ‘unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.’ In a 29-page ruling on Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court’s decision that found that Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked certain Twitter users, because he uses his Twitter account ‘to conduct official business and to interact with the public.’ By preventing critics from accessing his feed, the president is barring them from participating in what the judges deemed a public forum.”

The Washington Post wrote on July 9:

“A federal judge in New York on Tuesday denied a bid from the Justice Department to replace the team of lawyers on the case about the census citizenship question…

“U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman denied the formal, legal bid to do so. ‘Defendants provide no reasons, let alone “satisfactory reasons,” for the substitution of counsel,’ Furman wrote. He also noted that a filing in the case was due from the department in just three days, and that the department had previously pushed for the matter to be moved along quickly.”

Subsequently, Trump abandoned his “effort to have a citizenship question added to the 2020 census, instead instructing federal agencies to provide the Commerce Department with records on citizenship… The Supreme Court last month ruled that the administration could not add the citizenship question to the census for now…” (The Week, July 11, 2019). The Independent wrote that Trump has “capitulated” and has suffered “a major defeat” in the matter.

npr added on July 11:

“President Trump announced Thursday he would sign an executive order to obtain data about the U.S. citizenship and noncitizenship status of everyone living in the United States… his executive order will direct all U.S. agencies to provide the Department of Commerce all information they have on U.S. citizenship, noncitizenship and immigration status…

“Trump appears to be doing what the Census Bureau encouraged over a year ago… Some of the steps Trump outlined are already underway. The Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security… had already entered into agreements with the Census Bureau to provide the bureau with information on noncitizens.”

This is a somewhat frightening development. Why and for what purpose is information needed about LEGAL noncitizens?

The Associated Press wrote on July 8:

“An appeals court on July 3 upheld a freeze on Pentagon money to build a border wall with Mexico, casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s ability to make good on a signature campaign promise before the 2020 election.

“A divided three-judge panel of the ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with a lower court ruling that prevented the government from tapping Defence Department counterdrug money to build high-priority sections of [a] wall in Arizona, California and New Mexico.”

Trump’s Top Officials to Speak to pro-Israel Evangelicals Conference

JTA wrote on July 8:

“Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton are set to address the annual Christians United for Israel conference, a sign of how much President Donald Trump values pro-Israel evangelicals.

“Pence, Pompeo, Bolton as well as ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt, the top U.S. Middle East negotiator, will speak Monday and Tuesday at the conference taking place in Washington D.C. Such a broad array of top senior foreign policy and security officials is rare for pro-Israel groups.

“Trump has on multiple occasions noted that the pro-Israel evangelical community has shown the most appreciation for his Israel-related actions, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, defunding the Palestinians, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights…

“Other notable speakers [are] an array of Republicans from the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. No Democrats appear on the schedule.”

The article also published a picture of Pastor John Hagee shaking hands with Vice President Mike Pence at the Christians United for Israel annual conference on July 17, 2017. Hagee and other evangelicals believe strongly that an end-time third temple will be built in Jerusalem prior to Christ’s return, and they seem to suggest that Trump will be instrumental in some way in helping to build that temple.

Biblical City of Ziklag Found

The Jerusalem Post wrote on July 8:

“Researchers from a joint expedition including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, believe that they have discovered the famous biblical city of Ziklag, a Philistine city where a young David sought refuge from King Saul…

“About a thousand square meters were excavated; the find revealed evidence of Philistine settlement dating from the 11th-12th century BCE. Large stone structures were uncovered, including finds characteristic of Philistine culture. Stone vessels and metal vessels found on the site are similar to finds from this period, discovered in the past in excavations of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron and Gat, all ancient Philistine cities…

“A rural settlement from the time of King David, dating to the beginning of the 10th century BCE, was discovered above the remains of the Philistine settlement, which was destroyed by a fire. There were dozens of complete pottery vessels found in the remains of buildings, identical to those found in the fortified Jewish city of Khirbet Qeiyafa…

“The name Ziklag gives clues as to the origin of its inhabitants. It is not a local Semitic name but a Philistine name, further proof that the Philistines were not native to the area but migrated to the land of Israel from Europe. [Based on DNA testing, some believe that the ancient Philistines came to the Middle East from southern Europe more than 3,000 years ago].

“Ziklag is mentioned several times in the Bible, most famously in the Book of Samuel, when the young David is granted refuge from King Saul by the Philistine King Achish of Gat. David appears to have been awarded Ziklag as a vassal state, under the protection of Achish, and he used it as a base for raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. According to the Book of Samuel, the city was destroyed by the Amalekites and the population was enslaved.

“After King Saul is killed in battle with the Philistines, David leaves Ziklag, traveling to Hebron to be anointed King of Israel.”

More historical proof that the Bible is accurate in everything.

Dumping 1.5 Tons of Rat Poison on the Farallon Islands?

The Los Angeles Times wrote on July 7:

“For most humans, life on these jagged islands off the coast of San Francisco would be a nightmare: Waves lash the shore with treacherous force, the stench of guano fills the air, and the screech of seagulls is so loud that resident scientists wear earplugs to bed. But wildlife thrive on ‘the Devil’s Teeth’ – the name given to the Farallon Islands by sailors over a century ago. The islands boast one of the world’s largest breeding colonies for seabirds… and their beaches are covered with lolling sea lions and seals. The waters surrounding the islands teem with 18 species of whales and dolphins.

“The islands also host tens of thousands of house mice – an invasive species that is wreaking havoc on the native ecosystem… The explosive growth in mice has attracted burrowing owls, who not only eat the mice but also prey upon the storm-petrels, a rare bird with a declining population.

“The federal government contends that the only way to get rid of the mice is to drop 1.5 tons of rat poison pellets from a helicopter onto the islands. But Bay Area conservationists are worried that the poison, an increasingly controversial rodenticide called brodifacoum, will kill other species and make its way up the food chain… The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that manages the Farallones, acknowledges that while some non-target species will likely be killed in the process, broadcasting poison over the islands is a tried-and-true method of tackling rodent infestations. Biologists say that the long-term benefits will far outweigh any collateral damage…

“Critics insist there is reason to be wary of brodifacoum, an anticoagulant that causes internal bleeding. Mountain lions in California have been found dead with the rodenticide in their systems after eating small prey that ingested the poison. California outlawed consumer use of the poison in 2014… Critics do not refute that the mice need to go. But they do not buy the federal government’s insistence that rodenticide is the best way to get the job done…

“Alison Hermance, director of communications at Wildcare, a wildlife hospital in San Rafael, has seen firsthand how rat poison has affected local species. The organization began testing livers of patients – hawks, owls, foxes, coyotes – about 10 years ago for brodifacoum. They found that 76% of the 600 animals had been exposed to the poison. ‘People don’t recognize that this is a much bigger issue,’ said Hermance, who called the Farallones poison plan ‘ludicrous’…”

It very well seems to be.

“The Asteroid Peril Isn’t Science Fiction”

The Wall Street Journal wrote on July 5:

“Even if we managed to spot a small but dangerous asteroid heading for Earth, we currently have no means to stop it…

“Many scientists argue that the most effective way to deal with a threat from a small asteroid would be to send up an unmanned spacecraft armed with a nuclear explosive device (they hesitate to call it a bomb) to blow it up or nudge it off course. Nuking an incoming asteroid is also the preferred Hollywood method… but the nuclear option faces serious hurdles in the real world…

“In December 2018… a 30-foot-wide asteroid exploded in the atmosphere over the Bering Sea with the explosive force of a dozen Hiroshima atomic bombs—but except for a few satellites and sensor systems, no one noticed…

“Hundreds of thousands of… near-Earth asteroids, both large and small, haven’t been identified. We have no idea where they are and where they are going. On Feb. 15, 2013, a relatively small, 60-foot-wide asteroid traveling at 43,000 mph exploded in the atmosphere near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, sending out a blast wave that injured 1,500 people. No one had seen the asteroid coming…

“Nor is it clear that we could deflect a small but dangerous asteroid heading our way even if we did spot it. No asteroid-deflection method has ever been tested in real-space conditions—and, as [a scientific] conference’s war game demonstrated, using untested technology always entails a risk that the mission could go terribly wrong…

“Earth has been hit millions of times by powerful asteroids, and it will inevitably be hit again—whether two centuries from now or next Tuesday. So it isn’t a question of whether humankind will have to confront the prospect of a destructive asteroid hurtling our way; it is only a question of when.”

In the war game scenario, even though the asteroid was “blown up,” preventing it from hitting Denver, a piece hit New York and wiped out Manhattan.

Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake Strikes California

The Week wrote on July 5:

“ A magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked Southern California on Friday evening, just one day after a 6.4-magnitude temblor struck the same area. Friday’s quake was reportedly felt as far north as Sacramento, as far east as Las Vegas, and as far south as Mexico. There are reports of damaged buildings and roads, fires, and several injuries.

“The seismic activity was the largest in Southern California [for] at least 20 years and was followed by multiple aftershocks, some of which surpassed magnitude 5.0. More aftershocks are expected and could reportedly occur for years… The fault causing the quakes appears to be growing, scientists said.”

The 6.4 quake is now considered a foreshock to Friday’s 7.1 earthquake. Also, the earthquakes had no effect on diminishing the magnitude of potential earthquakes along the San Andreas fault. If anything, their magnitude would have been increased. This means, it is still an ongoing concern with ever increasing likelihood that the long overdue “big one” with a potential magnitude of 9 or higher and causing waves up to at least 20 meters high will strike California’s West Coast residents in the near future. The last time there was a strong earthquake on the San Andreas fault was 1906 when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the San Francisco area, causing widespread damage and thousands of deaths.

Why Comparatively Little Damage in Ridgecrest?

The Los Angeles Times wrote on July 10:

“Ridgecrest suffered far less damage than cities hit by less powerful quakes in recent years, including Napa and Paso Robles, where older buildings in the downtown areas crumbled amid the shaking. Experts were quick to point out that last week’s quakes would have proved far more devastating had they been located near bigger cities filled with more susceptible buildings. ‘You take a 7.1 and put it into the Hollywood fault or Newport-Inglewood fault in Long Beach — we’re going to see substantially different levels of damage,’ said Ken O’Dell, president of the Structural Engineers Assn. of Southern California…

“Many cities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties haven’t required fixes to brick buildings, a vulnerability Californians have known about for a century… There are at least 1 million of… vulnerable homes in California, but Ridgecrest has very few… Some of the worst damage was to mobile homes, which often are not secured to their foundations…

“The happenstances of geology and geography also worked in the town’s favor. The magnitude 7.1 earthquake started at an epicenter 10 miles northeast of central Ridgecrest. But it occurred on a fault that focused the worst shaking waves away from Ridgecrest and Trona, to the northwest and southeast, respectively, of the epicenter, and into sparsely populated areas…”

German Catholics Storm out of Sermon Urging Forgiveness for Predator Priests

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 5:

“Retired [Roman Catholic] priest Ulrich Zurkuhlen caused consternation in the city of Münster, northwest Germany, when he dedicated his sermon to the concept of forgiving priests who had sexually abused minors. Zurkuhlen’s remarks come at a difficult time for the Roman Catholic Church, as it grapples with continued allegations, from various parts of the world, of priests’ predatory conduct and church attempts to cover it up.

“In 2018, the German Bishops’ Conference published a report revealing that 1,670 priests, roughly 4.4% of clerics, had abused 3,677 people between 1946 and 2014 in Germany.

“The controversial sermon took place in the Holy Spirit Church of Münster… parishioners were incensed, with some 70 members of the congregation walking out in protest. Several parishioners reportedly interrupted the 79-year-old Zurkuhlen and tried to argue with him… the situation became chaotic and the priest was not able to finish the sermon…

“Stefan Rau, a fellow priest of the Holy Spirit Church, regretted Zurkuhlen’s position…”

Rau said he believes forgiveness isn’t the duty of abuse victims. In addition, the bishop of Münster, Felix Genn, has reportedly asked Zurkuhlen to stop preaching. However, if there is genuine repentance on the part of the pedophile priest, a true Christian has the duty to forgive him. This is true for every sin which is sincerely repented of. Otherwise, God will not forgive us our sins either.

Ten-Year-Olds Tell the Teacher About LGBT Ideology

Life Site News reported on July 1:

“A 10-year-old [and her classmate were] suspended from school for a week after asking [their] teacher permission to be excused from participating in a ‘Pride Month’ LGBT lesson… Susan Papas… who banned the children from the school… has been reported to the local authorities for what amounts to an unlawful act…

“Kaysey… says she was kept in detention for five hours from 10am to 3pm. Kaysey’s and Farrell’s version of the story, which differs widely from what their teacher and the head of their school alleged, has been corroborated by their classmates.

“‘This is why parents are beginning to see the dangers of the imposition of the new sexual and gender ideology that does not permit dissent even from  innocent ten year old children,’ said Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is aiding the two students and their families in this matter. ‘This incident highlights again just how aggressive and intolerant the LGBT agenda can be… An ideology that has to resort to such heavy-handed tactics to force ten-year-old children to accept something that instinctively they do not, only highlights how life-crushing that ideology is… When bullies know that right is not on their side they resort to coercion and intimidation…’”

Out of the mouth of “babes”…

Some Potentially Good News from Australia

CNA wrote on July 6:

“Australia’s coalition government has proposed the introduction of legislation that would make it unlawful to discriminate against people on the ground of their religious belief or activity… It would be made clear that religious groups cannot be required to make their property available for same-sex marriage celebrations… The government wants to make religious belief and activity a protected class, like race or sex. It also hopes to ensure that groups rejecting same-sex marriage are not stripped of their charitable status…

“When same-sex marriage was legalized in Australia in 2017, efforts to include amendments that would protect religious freedom failed during parliamentary debate… Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney noted last year that ‘we cannot take the freedom to hold and practice our beliefs for granted, even here in Australia,’ and that ‘powerful interests now seek to… strip us of charitable status and protections.’”

It is even shocking to contemplate that a church might lose its charitable status for stating plainly what the Bible condemns.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

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

We find many times in the Old Testament a description of the Promised Land as a land flowing with milk and honey. The first reference can be found in the episode when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush. He told Moses in Exodus 3:8 that He would deliver His people “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.” This promise was later repeated many times, for instance in Numbers 14:8; Deuteronomy 31:20; and Ezekiel 20:15. Commentaries tell us that the promise referred to the fertility and bounty that awaited God’s chosen people. The mention of “milk” suggested that Israel’s livestock (consisting of cattle, sheep and goats) could find much pasture; and the reference to “honey” implied the bountiful farmland available where bees had plenty of plants from which to produce nectar. “Honey” could also refer to the sweetness of dates that grew in the land. All of this would mean that the promise included both richness and fertility.

The website gotquestions makes the following comments:

“God called the new land ‘good and spacious.’ The Hebrew word translated ‘good’ means ‘pleasant, beautiful, and fruitful, with economic benefits’… at the same time with promoting the goodness of the land, God mentions the enemies in the land that must be overcome. The nations displaced by Israel from the land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ were significant in number, and they valued that land enough to fight and die for it.

“Later, we have the record of the ten faithless spies who were sent into the Promised Land by Moses. The ten spies disagreed that Israel was able to conquer the inhabitants of the land, but they did agree on this: it was a land… flowing with milk and honey. This is what they told Moses in Numbers 13:27.  The ‘fruit’ the spies showed Moses was a single cluster of grapes that had to be carried on a pole between two men (verse 23). They also brought some pomegranates and… figs from Canaan.”

God made a covenant with the nation of Israel during the time of Moses, which included God’s promise to bring the nation into the Promised Land. Moses told the people in Deuteronomy 9:5 why this was to happen: “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

This same reason was also explained to the nation of Judah by Jeremiah in chapter 11, verses 3-5:  “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, “Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,” that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them “a land flowing with milk and honey,” as it is this day.’”

We explain in our booklet “And Lawlessness Will Abound”:

“God made a covenant with the nation of Israel at the time when He brought them out of slavery to fulfill His unconditional promise that He had made, through a covenant or agreement, to Abraham, later to Isaac, and then to Jacob. But… God expected of the nation to obey Him—at least in a general way. Since God never offered them the gift of the Holy Spirit, He knew that they could not obey Him in the same way we can today. Still, God expected obedience to an extent. In fact, when they refused to do so, He expelled them from the land.”

Similarities to the Promised Land can be seen with the Garden of Eden–a perfect paradise filled with bountiful trees and fruits and plants, the place where Adam and Eve really had it all. But due to their disobedience, they were expelled from the garden, in a sense a land “flowing with milk and honey.”

Quoting again from gotquestions:

“There are many areas in Israel that are in fact barren and infertile but this does not negate the fact that this land overall is flowing with milk and honey. There are many areas of Israel that are extremely fertile and produce many types of fruits and vegetables. The area north of present-day Israel is biblical Mesopotamia, also known as the ‘Fertile Crescent,’ which is just that—fertile (and crescent-shaped). It is also true that the Bible records severe drought and famine in the land of Israel, but those times were connected to God’s judgment on the sinful people (Deuteronomy 11:16-17; 1 Kings 18:1-2, 18)…

“God’s description of the Promised Land as ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ is a beautifully graphic way of highlighting the agricultural richness of the land. God brought His people out of slavery in Egypt to a prosperous land of freedom and blessing and the knowledge of the Lord.”

God had originally created a beautiful world.  Unfortunately, due to man’s greed and sinful conduct, the world is being destroyed in many ways and man as a whole has taken for granted what God has created.  Because of this, God is angry and mankind will be punished once more in the future.  We read that Christ will come to destroy those who destroy the earth (Revelation 11:18).

But Christ will also restore all things again in the not-too-distant future, including the beauty of our planet. We state in our booklet “Human Suffering, Why.. and How Much Longer?” 

“Isaiah 49:8 explains that Christ, the Messenger of the New Covenant, will come to ‘restore this earth’ to its original beauty. The earth was so beautiful when it was created, that the angels praised God for it. They shouted for joy when they saw its awesome beauty (compare Job 38:4–7). This earth was not created void and empty. God is the Author of beauty and harmony. Whatever He does is beautiful and, indeed, reflects His character of light and brightness and splendor and glory.

“And so, Christ will RESTORE beauty to our planet.

“Christ will also restore those from the nations of Israel and Judah who have remained alive, as well as from all the other nations (Isaiah 49:6). Christ will restore the remnant of Israel by bringing them back into the Promised Land. Today, only a very small percentage of the houses of Israel and Judah live in the Promised Land. Only some of the Jews (descendants of Judah, Levi and Benjamin) live there, and virtually no one of the descendants of the house of Israel. But the Promised Land, as we know it today, is not the kind of land that God had envisioned. Today, it is a land filled with violence, hatred and war. But once Christ has returned and has begun His rule, the Promised Land will be changed into a land flowing with milk and honey again, as it once was—a land of prosperity, beauty, peace, and abundance for everyone (Joel 2:23–27).”

We can also understand some spiritual lessons from God’s promise to His physical people to provide them with a land flowing with milk and honey. In 1 Peter 2:2, a parallel is drawn between milk and God’s Word, and honey is likewise compared with God’s Word in Psalm 119:103.

As God has revealed His Word to us, if we are converted Christians, we must feed on it on a daily basis. As God’s Spirit is compared with rivers of living water, flowing into us and out of us, so God’s Word must be for us like milk and honey, flowing to us and from us.

We should not take for granted what God has done in our lives; the fact that He called us out of this world and made us understand His Word, so we can live a way that is pleasing in God’s eyes, preparing for a future time when we will be involved with beautifying this planet once again–not just a land but a whole planet flowing with milk and honey.

The nation of Israel at the time of Moses had God on their side who took them out of slavery and the land of Egypt in miraculous ways.  Yet they were quick to forget when they were in the wilderness, and they resorted to sinful conduct, due to a lack of faith and the willingness to obey. But God was merciful time and time again and gave them opportunities to obey, but finally, He had enough and many of His people were killed. With just a few exceptions, nobody who had been freed from Egypt was able to enter the Promised Land due to their disobedience and lack of faith.  They had taken for granted what God was trying to give them.

As spiritual Israelites, those whom God has truly called out of this world, we were also once “slaves” of this world, which is ruled by Satan. We are to flee from our carnal nature and to get rid of our old man–our sinful carnal desires–to become something better, to become renewed, to become a new man. Through our proper baptism, we received God’s Holy Spirit and became begotten children of God’s Family.  We still live in this world but we shouldn’t be a part of this world. Rather, we are to be a part of Christ and His spiritual Body, to live a life pleasing to God, based on what He commands. We will still be faced with trials, temptations and difficulties which we need to overcome as we continue to travel on this narrow road which leads us to our “Promised Land,” while we are inheriting the promises that God has in store for us – everlasting life in God’s rich and prosperous Kingdom and Family.

Lead Writer: Michael Link

compiled by Dave Harris

A new Member Letter (July 2019) is now posted and copies have been mailed to our subscribers. In this letter, Elder Robb Harris draws attention to our urgent need to not allow ourselves to drift away from God and fall back into the world.

“Trying to Appease Russia?” is the title of a special new StandingWatch program, present by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

Many desperate attempts are being made today to appease Putin’s Russia. Will any of these attempts succeed? What does the Bible prophesy about the future relationship between Russia and the EU, Ukraine, the Roman Catholic Church and the USA?

Here is some information about our ever-enlarging German website—which you can find at: https://www.ewigengottes.de/

In addition to our German sermonettes, sermons and AufPostenStehen Programs, as well as occasional editorials, articles and Q&As, we are posting installments of our German translation of our Zechariah booklet, to be published as a German booklet upon completion (Buch Sacharja, seven parts so far), as well as German translations of our member letters (under Mitgliederbrief) and of portions of our Current Events (under Weltnachrichten).

We are currently running Google Ads which highlight our new booklet, “How Can We Know that Christ’s Return Is Near?”  Here is more information as presented in last week’s Update 883:

“WHY Christ’s Return IS NEAR Indeed!” is the title of a special new StandingWatch program, present by Evangelist Norbert Link. This program introduces our newest booklet, “How Can We Know that Christ’s Return Is Near?” Here is a summary:

How can we be so SURE that Christ’s return is near? Why is Christ’s soon-coming return the only hope for mankind’s survival? What are many different news events PROVING to us that Christ will return very soon? Our new free booklet, “How Can We Know that Christ’s Return Is Near?” gives you answers to these all-important questions. Please be sure to watch the short VIDEO at the END of this program.

In addition, a promotional video presented by Michael Link is included with the StandingWatch program and features the booklet. This video, titled, “How Can We Know that Christ’s Return Is Near?” is also posted.

“Glauben Sie dem Teufel?” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Do You Believe the Devil?”

“Salt of the Earth,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Brian Gale, is now posted. Here is a summary:

This message looks at 4 different aspects of salt and compares it to God’s people who are the “the salt of the earth” and who must not lose their savour!

“The Devil is Loose!” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Satan’s wrath is great, as he knows that he has only a short time. But he is still the god of this evil world, the prince of darkness, who walks about like a roaring lion, seeking his victims in order to destroy them. He is a murderer, a liar, a deceiver, a fraud, an accuser and a tempter, and so are his servants and ministers who are acting on his behalf, even though many may think that they serve the true God. Those who were able to free themselves from Satan’s clutches through the understanding of the Truth and become again his victims are walking towards their spiritual and perhaps even physical death. This sermon will show from the Bible how Satan has inflicted misery and pain on so many people, but it also emphasizes that with God’s help, we will conquer the Devil.

On July 6, 2019, we will present Brian Gale’s pre-recorded sermonette, titled, “Salt of the Earth,” and Norbert Link will present the sermon, titled, “The Devil Is Loose.”

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

The use of plastic, paper and other packaging material is at an all-time high; and by extension, so is the waste of these products. For many years, the United States and other countries shipped much of their “recycling’” to China. Since 2017, China has stopped taking most recyclables, causing back-ups of trash and an increasing cost to cities which have recyclable programs. Growing up in the 90’s, everything was about recycling, but now we are starting to see the side effects, as no one wants to deal with the massive amount of waste. Many news articles show the negative impact recycling has had on the earth.

This is only one small instance of what we as human beings are doing to this earth. One only has to do a little research on-line to see the massive impact we are having on the destruction of this earth. From wrong farming practices to deforestation, when one looks at all the bad things that are happening as a whole, it can be depressing and demoralizing.

We know from Scripture that the end times will be terrible and brutal. Things we are seeing today will continue to grow worse. There is no end in sight either. So many of today’s wrongs are based on greed and feeding into people’s desire to get “more”. Our new free booklet “How Can We Know That Christ’s Return Is Near?” goes into great detail in looking at the signs of the times and helps to show how close Christ’s return is, when considering the things that are happening in the world. The wholesale destruction of the earth is but one facet.

God created earth and gave instruction to Adam and Eve to care for and to protect the earth. God is not pleased with the practices that we now see in effect.  Revelation 11:18 states: “The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

We look forward to the coming Kingdom of God, when these practices will be changed; when people will learn from God how to properly take care of the earth; and when God will help to make massive changes for our planet. How excited does the plan of God make us? When we see the tremendous amount of things going wrong, does this cause us depression and fear? Or does it cause us to draw closer to God (James 4:8; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Jeremiah 29:13-14; Isaiah 55:6-7)? We should belong to those in the latter category, looking for and hastening the day of Christ’s return (2 Peter 3:11-13).

This world has nothing of real value to offer to us. We must come to the point where we see the issues and the errors of this life and really work for and pray for Christ’s return. When we observe the shambles of this world, compared with what God is saying will happen once the Kingdom of God is set up, it should cause us to really dig into what matters most. Christ’s admonition in Matthew 6:33 to “seek first the Kingdom of God” and what that means should be foremost in our lives. This life will attempt to distract us and sidetrack our efforts. But if we are awake and aware of what is happening around us, we will understand that our efforts in doing what is right and needed are not in vain, and that this is exactly what God wants and expects of us.

by Norbert Link

We begin with an article about America’s patriotism and continue with alarming developments pertaining to Iran and the real possibility of a military confrontation between Iran and Israel and perhaps even the USA, while the relationship between the USA and the EU over Iran and other problems is becoming more and more unfriendly. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Why Christ’s Return IS NEAR indeed!”

We report on new developments regarding the prophesied Third Temple; an unprecedented meeting in North Korea between President Trump and Kim Jong Un; talks between President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping regarding their trade war; continuing problems pertaining to the American-European trade war; the rather pitiful attempts by world leaders to appease Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; and the different positions of the USA and the rest of the world pertaining to climate change.

We speak on Europe’s historic economic deals with South American countries and with Vietnam; the fiasco surrounding Europe’s appointments of its new EU leaders; and we run excerpts from an interesting article on Boris Johnson who is expected to be Britain’s next Prime Minister. We also address Germany’s growing far-right terror.

We conclude with a deeply distressing development involving Italy’s far-right government and its shameful and appalling arrest of the German captain of a Dutch migrant rescue ship. This incident could turn out to be of great political consequences and the ongoing rejection of Italy’s current leadership by many European countries, including Germany and France, as well as the German Protestant Church and the Vatican.

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

Has America Lost Its Patriotism?

The New York Post wrote on July 3:

“American patriotism has just reached a record low…

“America is a radical idea that had never come close to being implemented before — a broad-based democracy with government engineered for the purpose of zealously protecting our natural, or God-given, rights… As late as 1870, only 40% of the men in Britain were entitled to vote. Voting in America was not universal until women got the vote in 1920, but the US was miles ahead of everybody else in allowing its people to be heard.

“Even more important, the US was and is miles ahead when it comes to allowing its people to speak. In Britain, people can and do get thrown in jail for things they’ve said on Twitter… A 2014 headline in The Guardian reads, ‘Is it right to jail someone for being offensive on Facebook or Twitter?’ No, it isn’t right. It is in fact quite wrong, and in America it is unthinkable because we have the world’s strongest protections for speech.

“The First Amendment, like everything else about America, has not always worked perfectly (Woodrow Wilson threw Eugene V. Debs in jail under the Sedition Act for opposing World War I) but is a great and noble ideal…

“A Gallup survey notes that 150 million people, or one out of 25 adults on the planet, would move to the US if they could. That’s more than the next four countries combined. ‘America remains unusually attractive to people from all over the world — in a way to which no other country compares,’ Gallup reported.

“Everybody knows America is number one, which is why, even among the hating class of Americans, no one ever leaves… On July 4, 1776, we began setting up the greatest opportunity for human flourishing the world has ever known…”

And still, American patriotism, which is the love for our country, is at an all-time low. The Bible has prophesied this. It says that because of our many sins, God will “break the pride of [our] power” (Leviticus 26:19).

Iran Breaches Deal with Europe and other Powers

The Associated Press wrote on July 1:

“Iran announced on Monday it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under its 2015 deal with major powers, its first major step in violation of the deal since the United States pulled out of it more than a year ago.

“The step could have far-reaching consequences for diplomacy at a time when European countries are trying to pull the United States and Iran back from the brink of war, less than two weeks after Washington aborted air strikes at the last minute.

“The Europeans… had pleaded with Iran to keep within its parameters… The move is a test of European diplomacy after French, British and German officials had promised a strong diplomatic response if Iran fundamentally breached the deal.

“Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said Britain was urgently considering its next moves along with its partners, and urged Iran to ‘reverse this step.’ Her foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said he was ‘deeply worried’ by Iran’s announcement…

“Iran announced in May that it would speed up production of enriched uranium in response to the Trump administration sharply tightening sanctions against it that month… In the two months since the U.S. sanctions were tightened, the confrontation has taken on a military dimension, with Washington blaming Tehran for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf region, and Iran shooting down a U.S. drone. Trump ordered air strikes in retaliation, only to call them off minutes before impact.

“The nuclear deal imposes limits both on how much enriched uranium Iran can hold and on how pure its stocks can be, a pair of related thresholds intended to keep Tehran from amassing enough material, in a sufficiently refined state, to make a nuclear bomb.

“… Iran’s next move would be to enrich uranium slightly beyond the 3.67% maximum purity allowed under the deal, a threshold Tehran has previously said it would cross on July 7. That could be seen as a bigger breach than Monday’s announcement that it holds too much material at a permissible purity…

“Israel, which considers the Iranian nuclear program an existential threat, has backed Trump’s hard line, as have U.S. allies among the rich Arab states of the Gulf, which consider Iran a foe and benefit from having its oil kept off markets…”

It has been speculated, for instance by The Week, dated July 1, that because of Iran’s breach, Europe will impose sanctions on Iran. However, while European leaders expressed their “extreme concern,” they have already rejected the possibility of inflicting sanctions.

Will Israel Strike Iran?

Express wrote on July 1:

“The USA has raised alarm over concerns that Israel could soon drag the country into a war with Iran, after the Islamic Republic breached the limit on its uranium stockpiles… The breach comes less than a day after senior US allies of the White House had warned that Israel would strike Tehran as soon as the uranium limit was breached…

“Republican Senator, and key Trump ally, Lindsey Graham told CBS: ‘The most likely war would be between Israel and Iran if the Iranians started to reprocess and enrich beginning July the 7th in a manner that would accelerate their path to a bomb. He urged President Trump to prepare to send the ‘strongest signal possible’ to Iran once the government in Tehran fulfills its threat to breach the limits on uranium supply…

“The Republican claimed the recent moves by Tehran will place Iran on a ‘pathway’ to a nuclear bomb — something that could pose a national security threat to both the US and Israel. He warned that a full-blown war could break out between Israel and Iran if Tehran restarted its nuclear program.”

Iran has stated that Israel would be destroyed “in half an hour” if the USA were to attack Iran. By implication, the same threat would exist if Israel were to strike Iran. Even though this threat could be considered as hyperbole, the Bible says that Israel will receive a wound or a military defeat in the very near future. It will then try unsuccessfully to obtain help from Germany.

US Will Sanction Every Country Importing Iranian Oil

Reuters and the Algemeiner wrote on June 28:

“The United States will sanction any country that imports Iranian oil and there are no exemptions in place, the US special envoy for Iran said on Friday… Tehran has been selling increased volumes of petrochemical products at below market rates in countries including Brazil, China and India since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil exports in November…”

The Washington Post wrote on June 28:

“The U.S. special representative for Iran said Friday that European companies have a choice: Do business with the United States or do business with Iran, as Europe announced that a new system to allow trade with Tehran was in place…

“Meeting Friday with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, Trump urged the German leader to join the United States in keeping up ‘maximum’ pressure on Iran, the White House said. But Europe is doubling down on the nuclear deal. Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden released a statement Friday stressing the importance of preserving the pact, describing it as a ‘major contribution to stability in the region.’”

The Iran debacle will further alienate the EU and the USA.

No Congressional Approval Needed for War with Iran

The Huffington Post wrote on June 28:

“The Senate failed to pass an amendment Friday that would have forced President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before going to war with Iran, leaving in place broad powers for the president to launch military action…

“It’s unlikely that the amendment would have neutralized Trump’s ability to strike Iran. The president, for instance, could have declared a national emergency in order to justify military action, or he might have refused to sign the defense authorization bill.”

This was clear from the outset. Trump can launch military strikes, and no one can stop him.

How Iran Could Retaliate

National Interest wrote on June 29:

“Iran cannot use sanctions to punish America, but it can inflict economic pain by threatening the valuable shipping lanes running from Persian Gulf ports, through the straits of Hormuz, and into the Gulf of Oman…

“The north-eastern half of the Gulf coast is Iranian territory, meaning Iranian units can stage fast boats and long-range missile batteries for attacks at any point along that roughly 1,000-mile coastline…

“Iran couldn’t ‘win’ a war versus the United States… but it could cause losses in amounting to tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in disrupted trade, and a terrible toll in human lives, not just drones and damaged tanker hulls…

“The Pentagon certainly has no appetite for an invasion and occupation of Iran, which has twice the population of Iraq. A prolonged air war—the more likely outcome—could kill thousands, and deplete stocks of expensive standoff-range missiles, without necessarily succeeding at destroying Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile technologies in their hardened underground shelters.

“Meanwhile, Iran would retaliate with asymmetric warfare across the Persian Gulf, the Middle East and potentially beyond. Nor could the United States necessarily control the duration of the war…”

A Biblical Book of Trump?

JTA wrote on June 27:

“It isn’t news that Sheldon and Miriam Adelson are big fans of President Donald Trump. The Republican mega-donors gave millions to Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. But Miriam Adelson took it one step further on Thursday. The Israeli-American physician compared the president to biblical prophets in an article in which she asked why he has not enjoyed higher support among American Jews. ‘That this has not been the case… is an oddity that will long be pondered by historians,’ Adelson wrote in an article for Israel Hayom, of which she is the publisher.

“‘Scholars of the Bible will no doubt note the heroes, sages, and prophets of antiquity who were similarly spurned by the very people they came to raise up.’ She went on to say she wished there would be a biblical book named after Trump in the future. ‘Would it be too much to pray for a day when the Bible gets a “Book of Trump,” much like it has a “Book of Esther” celebrating the deliverance of the Jews from ancient Persia?’ Adelson asked. Last year, Trump honored the Israeli-born Adelson with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, noting her career in medicine and philanthropy.”

It is very possible that Trump might play a further role in assisting with the building of the prophesied third Temple in Jerusalem.

Towards the Third Temple

Breaking Israel News ran the following headline on July 1:

“Trump’s Israel Ambassador Sledgehammers his Way to the Third Temple.”

The article continued:

“President Donald Trump’s Israel envoy including Ambassador David Friedman and Middle East Advisor Jason Greenblatt hammered through the final wall to reconnect a 2,000-year-old road that Ancient Jews used to bring sacrifices up to the Second Temple to sounds of the shofar in the background.

“The City of David discovered the ‘Pilgrim’s Road’ which was used by Israelites during the Second Temple period (516 BCE-70 CE) to bring sacrifices from the Valley of Siloam up to the Temple Mount, the site of the Second Temple and the Third Temple (which has not yet been built)…

“‘In the past six years, we’ve been working on excavating intensively,’ says Archaeologist Dr. Joe Uziel.  ‘The Pilgrim Street which led from the Siloam Pool up to the Temple Mount, about 600 (656 yards) meters long, 8 meters (8.7 yards) wide would have housed the thousands of pilgrims which arrived in Jerusalem from surrounding areas in order to take part in the ceremonies on the Temple’ Uziel added.”

The Jordan Times added on July 1:

“Jordan on Sunday condemned Israel’s opening of the so-called ‘pilgrim’s road’ tunnel, dug from beneath the village of Silwan to reach Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, warning against such irresponsible acts and violations that increase tensions.”

Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Why Christ’s Return IS NEAR indeed!”

Trump and Kim Jong Un Together Again

 nbc News reported on June 30:

“Taking an unprecedented step onto North Korean soil, President Donald Trump announced Sunday that Washington and Pyongyang will relaunch stalled nuclear talks… Side-by-side with Kim in the heavily-fortified demilitarized zone, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to cross the 1953 armistice line separating North and South Korea, then joined Kim for a roughly 50-minute meeting. ‘Stepping across that line was a great honor,’ Trump said, later adding that it was ‘something incredible.’… He even invited Kim, who rarely leaves the country, to visit him at the White House…”

Deutsche Welle added on June 30:

“Experts have warned that North Korea may never agree to fully give up its nuclear ambitions, which they say Pyongyang views as vital for regime survival.”

So far, previous meetings between Trump and Kim Jong Un have been pretty unsuccessful.

The Huffington Post added on June 30:

“Pope Francis on Sunday praised President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un… for taking the step to meet. The Catholic leader said he hoped the ‘significant gesture’ would be a stepping stone to the resolution of conflicts in the Korean peninsula and worldwide…

“‘I salute the protagonists, with a prayer that such a significant gesture will be a further step on the road to peace, not only on that peninsula, but for the good of the entire world,’ Francis continued…”

There will be no lasting peace on this earth until Jesus Christ returns.

Donald Trump Tries to Appease Putin

The Huffington Post wrote on June 28:

“The G-20 summit marked Trump’s first formal meeting with Putin since last July’s controversial Helsinki meeting, and his first since special counsel Robert Mueller finished his report concluding that Russia had meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“Asked whether he would discuss the interference problem with Putin, Trump smirked and wagged his finger at the Russian president, saying, ‘Don’t meddle in the election.’ Putin and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both laughed.”

However, it’s not funny, but very sad. Trump’s attempts to appease Putin won’t work. Putin’s Russia will never be a true friend of Trump or the USA. On the other hand, no war is prophesied between Russia and the USA before Christ’s return, but there WILL BE a nuclear war between Russia and other Far Eastern nations and Europe.

Europeans Surrender to Russia

The EUobserver wrote on June 27:

“Earlier this month, Russian air forces targeted hospitals in Syria, EU institutions presented evidence that Russian actors spread divisive material ahead of the European elections in May, and Dutch prosecutors indicted three Russians and one Ukrainian for complicity in murdering 298 people by downing flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.

“Despite all this, European governments have handed the Council of Europe (CoE) to Russia this week… For Russia, the council’s surrender… is a huge foreign policy success. For the council, it is a disaster…”

Only in the future will Europe realize what Russia and other Far Eastern countries are really up to, and then Europe, being frightened by rumors of war preparation, will respond with great anger and launch a military attack, setting in motion a full-fledged nuclear war, which Europe will lose.

Cozying up to Saudi Arabia

The Associated Press wrote on June 29:

“For many he’s an international pariah, but you wouldn’t know it by the lavish reception Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has received at the G-20 summit this week. He beamed as he stood front and center, sandwiched between President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for a group photo. He exchanged an impish grin as he sat down next to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He posed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and a group of flag-waving kids ahead of an earlier signing ceremony for $8 billion in deals.

“Even as rebukes pile up elsewhere — a U.N. expert has called for an investigation of his alleged role in the killing of a prominent journalist, and a growing number of Americans are questioning their nation’s support for his kingdom and its role in the war in Yemen — some leaders in Osaka have gone out of their way to make sure the prince feels comfortable…

“Trump, who has long been loath to scold authoritarian leaders for human rights abuses, seemed to go out of his way at times to shepherd Prince Mohammed, at one point patting him on the back as they walked together. As the two sat down over breakfast Saturday, Trump praised his ‘friend’ for taking steps to open up the kingdom and extend freedoms to Saudi women.

“Trump initially ignored reporters’ questions about the prince’s alleged role in Khashoggi’s death, but when pressed later at a news conference he called the killing ‘horrible’ while claiming that ‘nobody so far has pointed directly a finger at the future king of Saudi Arabia.’… Following a monthslong inquiry, Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, recently said she’d concluded that Khashoggi was a victim of a ‘deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible.’”

The Guardian wrote on June 29:

“Theresa May has raised concerns about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the humanitarian cost of the conflict in Yemen during a face-to-face meeting with the Saudi crown prince at the G20 summit in Osaka… May’s demeanour as she met the crown prince did not appear as frosty as it did when she met Vladimir Putin on Friday…”

America vs. Rest of the World re “Climate Change”

The Times wrote on June 29:

“Theresa May has clashed with Donald Trump as she demanded world leaders take tougher action to combat climate change. The US president snubbed May’s attempt to get world leaders to ‘raise their ambition’ on climate change and refused to reverse his position on the landmark 2016 Paris agreement.

“America was the only country not to recommit to the Paris accord at the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka, despite May pushing for the ‘strongest wording we can deliver’…”

France 24 added on June 29:

“After copious disputes, the Group of 20 major economies Saturday agreed to disagree on climate change, with the USA dissenting from a commitment to carry out the 2015 Paris climate change agreement… the grouping said ‘signatories to the Paris Agreement reaffirmed their commitment to its full implementation in fighting climate change, referring to the 19 members except the US…”

Trump, Xi Revive Trade Talks at G-20 Summit

The Week wrote on June 29:

“President Trump on Saturday said that trade negotiations with China are ‘back on track’ after he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for 80 minutes in Osaka, Japan, during the G-20 summit. Trump agreed [to] delay new tariffs on Chinese goods and to scale back restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei, allowing U.S. firms to sell high-tech equipment to the company. In exchange, Trump said Beijing has agreed to buy large amounts of U.S. farm products.

“As for Huawei, Trump said his administration would hold meetings to discuss the company, which is on the so-called entity list meaning that U.S. companies cannot provide it with U.S.-origin technology without government approval. But Trump said his discussions with Xi revolved around equipment that doesn’t involve ‘a great national-emergency problem.’”

Al Jazeera News wrote on June 29:

“… there was no agreement [between the USA and china] to comprehensively roll back the punitive tariffs that the two sides have imposed on one another’s goods…”

Ongoing Trade War between USA and EU

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 2:

“Just days after reaching a truce over trade with China, the US government on Monday increased pressure on Europe in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies. The United States could hit European Union products with $4 billion (€3.5 billion) in tariffs according to a statement on Monday… The commodities affected includes sausages, hams, pasta, olives and many European cheeses…

“The proposal would be a retaliatory measure due to a dispute with the EU over ‘subsidies on large civil aircraft,’ the press release confirmed. The US and the EU have been embroiled in tit-for-tat threats regarding tariffs on planes, tractors and food for well over a decade, but this has ramped up significantly under the nationalistic Trump administration.”

EU and South American Countries Agree on Historical Free Trade Treaty

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 28:

“The European Union and the Mercosur bloc of four South American countries — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay — have agreed to draft wording for a free-trade deal after almost 20 years of talks, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday. He said the historic deal was ‘sending a strong signal,’ calling it the ‘largest trade agreement the EU has ever concluded.’…

“Talks intensified after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States on a protectionist platform. That forced the EU halt talks with the US and look elsewhere to shore up trade partnerships. The EU has recently signed trade agreements with Canada, Mexico, and Japan. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted on the historic nature of the agreement from the G20 summit in Japan, writing, ‘This will be one of the most important trade agreements of all time and will bring enormous benefits to our economy.’…

“The treaty must now be approved by the European Parliament and individual member states. That could prove contentious. Some countries, such as France, fear a flood of South American beef on European markets. Environmental groups, who now hold greater sway in the new European Parliament also fear the deal could fuel further deforestation in South America.”

Europe is becoming more and more an extremely influential economic powerhouse, while the USA is left increasingly in the cold.

EU and Vietnam Agree on Trade Deal

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 30:

“The European Union has signed a landmark free trade deal with Vietnam… paving the way for tariff reductions on 99% of goods… The EU has described the free trade deal as ‘the most ambitious free trade deal ever concluded with a developing country.’…

“The agreement still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament. Some EU… lawmakers oppose such deals with Vietnam because of the country’s poor human rights record (including the incarceration of political prisoners who posted ‘anti-governmental’ criticism on Facebook).

“Vietnam has one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia… The EU is Vietnam’s second-largest export market after the United States…”

When the issue is economic advantage, everything else is being put on the back burner.

Meet Boris Johnson–the Next British Prime Minister?

The Editorial Board of the New York Times wrote on June 29:

“The bombastic and narcissistic former mayor of London and foreign secretary is the favorite to become the next prime minister. Brexit, here we come.

“The front-runner to become Britain’s next prime minister is a portly white man with unkempt blond hair, an adoring base of supporters, disdain for Europe, a dodgy private life and a loose relationship with truth and principle. There are also differences between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, but the similarities have been much noted in some European circles, with no small misgivings…

“Like Mr. Trump with his tweets and rants, Mr. Johnson delights his followers with outrageous statements that they take as straight talk…

“It strains credulity that the European Union would reopen the agreement or that any wholly new set of terms for leaving the union would pass Parliament — or that the E.U. would show any sympathy and patience for Mr. Johnson, whom the French newspaper Le Monde called a ‘small-scale Trump.’…”

Newsmax added on June 30 that Boris Johnson stressed his readiness to quit the EU without a deal by October 31.

MEPs Shock EU Parliament

Express wrote on July 2:

“Brexit Party MEPs shocked the opening session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg by turning their backs on the EU anthem. The MEPs from Nigel Farage’s party kicked off their time at the European Parliament in dramatic fashion. The 29 Brexiteer MEPs carried out the orchestrated move as soon as the Ode to Joy began to play…

“Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden defended the Brexit Party stunt… ‘For years the European Union has said that it doesn’t have the ambition to be a state… It is States that have an anthem. I’m sorry but I don’t recognise a state called Europe, I want to see a Europe of independent nation states.’…

“Speaking in Strasbourg, leader Nigel Farage promised a ‘turquoise takeover’ if Brexit is not delivered… ‘We are here to be defiant. We shouldn’t be here at all. We are hoping we are only going to be here until October 31… At the moment, we are cheerful because we won the election. We are the biggest party in the whole of Europe – how about that?’”

Europe’s New Parliament President

The Local wrote on July 3:

“Newly-elected European Parliament President David Sassoli is a former television journalist who turned to politics ten years ago as a centre-left MEP. Parliament on Wednesday chose the 63-year-old social democrat to succeed another Italian, Antonio Tajani, an ally of Silvio Berlusconi from the right-wing EPP group.

“His election means Italy keeps one of its three key European jobs, following the departure of European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. The sober intellectual will not be an ally of the populist coalition currently ruling in Rome.”

Ursula von der Leyen to Replace Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission President?

The Guardian wrote on July 3:

“Ursula von der Leyen, the nominee to lead the European commission, [received] a mixed reaction to her historic appointment [Her actual final parliamentary confirmation is supposed to take place on July 16, but it is not guaranteed at all.]

“Germany’s defence minister was a surprise choice to lead the commission, as EU leaders struggled to reach a compromise during three days of summit talks dedicated to finding people to lead the EU’s most important institutions.

“Von der Leyen needs to win support from a majority of members of the European parliament in order to take over the reins from Jean-Claude Juncker on 1 November… [She] would be the first woman to lead the EU executive in its 62-year history… her appointment has been heavily criticised by Socialist and Green MEPs.

“Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács… also boasted of the defeat of Manfred Weber, the centre-right candidate to become European commission president, who was the first choice of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

“Socialist MEPs meeting in Strasbourg on Tuesday reacted with fury when reports emerged of the Von der Leyen compromise… In 2018, the German Bundestag launched an investigation into suspected nepotism and errors by Von der Leyen in the awarding of contracts. The minister admitted last year her department had made mistakes in allocating contracts worth millions of euros to external consultants… Von der Leyen has generated negative reviews from army chiefs.

“Her appointment was part of a package that included proposing Christine Lagarde for the European Central Bank. The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, will take over from Donald Tusk as president of the European council. The Spanish foreign minister, Josep Borrell, will be the EU’s foreign policy chief, the third person to hold the role.

“The Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout tweeted that the ‘very disappointing deal’ was old Europe at its worst. ‘A backdoor deal with candidates emerging to please the national leaders from Germany, France and Spain. This is not the change that was promised to European voters,’ he said.”

Deutsche Welle added on July 3:

“Von der Leyen’s nomination to lead the EU’s executive body has been widely criticized in her home country. Leading [German] lawmakers [across Germany’s political spectrum] have called it a ‘farce’ and a ‘victory for backroom politics.’…

“Von der Leyen’s candidacy was endorsed by all EU leaders apart from German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a European Council vote on Tuesday. Merkel abstained because her domestic coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), refused to give their approval.”

If the socialists, the liberals and the Greens were to vote against von der Leyen, then she won’t be confirmed. In that case, another “compromise” candidate would have to be nominated and, according to Bild Online, the “chaos would be complete.” Former European President Martin Schulz gave an exclusive interview to Bild, explaining why Europe’s democracy is “damaged.”

Germany’s New Far-Right Terror

Der Spiegel wrote on June 27:

“The recent politically motivated assassination of a prominent local leader in Germany has raised concern about the growing threat of far-right extremism in the country… What has been described in recent years as increasing disinhibition and brutalization has reached a new level… In fact, it has long been apparent that far-right violence is escalating…  Germany’s armed forces, the Bundeswehr, is dealing with its own string of right-wing extremist incidents…”

The Guardian wrote on June 28:

“A group of German rightwing extremists compiled a ‘death list’ of leftwing and pro-refugee targets by accessing police records, then stockpiled weapons and ordered body bags and quicklime to kill and dispose of their victims…

“The 30-odd members of the group reportedly had close links to the police and military, and at least one member was still employed in the special commando unit of the state office of criminal investigations…”

The fact that German public officials are sympathizers of or even collaborators with extreme right-wing groups is indeed very disconcerting, and begs the question as to whether we are going to see a repeat of what happened before and when Hitler came to power.

Italy Arrests German Captain

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 29:

“Italian police have arrested the German captain [Carola Rackete] of a migrant rescue ship after she docked at the port of Lampedusa [with 40 migrants remaining on board]… Sea-Watch 3 entered the Italian port of Lampedusa without authorization early Saturday following a two-week standoff between the charity ship’s captain and Italian authorities…

“Italy had refused the German rescue ship port entry since it picked up 53 migrants who were floating on an inflatable raft off the Libyan coast on June 12. After waiting at sea for an invitation from Italy or an EU state to accept the ship, Rackete decided to head to Lampedusa, where she was blocked by Italian government vessels…

“Rackete’s arrest comes after… Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal had agreed to host the estimated 40 African migrants remaining on the ship….”

AFP added on June 29:

“While five European countries on Friday agreed to take in the migrants, permission for the Dutch-flagged Sea-Watch 3 to enter port and disembark the migrants did not come. Sources at the interior ministry, headed by Italy’s far-right Matteo Salvini, said he was waiting for precise guarantees on ‘numbers, timelines and means’ of the migrant redistribution before allowing them off…

“‘I have decided to enter the harbour, which is free at night, on my own,’ [Rackete] added… ‘It’s been almost 60h since we declared a state of emergency. No one listened. No one took responsibility. Once more it’s up to us… the charity said on Twitter… the Dutch-flagged Sea-Watch 3 has been stuck in the Mediterranean, during a heatwave, since rescuing… migrants drifting in an inflatable raft off the coast of Libya on June 12… On Wednesday, after over two weeks at sea, and as tempers on the small boat frayed, Rackete decided she had no choice but to enter Italian waters illegally to bring the remaining migrants to safety.”

This entire tragic affair reminds us of events prior to World War II, when countries refused to allow a ship entering their harbor transporting Jews who were fleeing from Nazi-Germany. That refusal was shameful then, and today’s repetition of these events is shameful now. Even though some European countries finally declared that they would permit the migrants to enter their country, the objectionable conduct of the far right “Catholic” Italian government continues.

Italy’s Far-Right Government under Attack

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 30:

“German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas commented on the incident, saying that rescuing must not be ‘criminalized.’ ‘It a humanitarian duty to save lives,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘It is on the Italian judiciary to swiftly clarify the accusations.’ [He also wrote: ‘Sea rescues must not be outlawed’].”

The Local added on June 30:

“[Maas’] position was echoed by Luxembourg counterpart Jean Asselborn, while French Foreign Minister Christophe Castaner said that Italy’s decision to close its ports to those rescued at sea ran counter to maritime law.

“… Salvini, who heads the far-right League party, welcomed Rackete’s arrest. ‘Mission accomplished,’ he tweeted. ‘Law-breaking captain arrested. Pirate ship seized, maximum fine for foreign NGO,’ said Salvini, whose hardline immigration stance has boosted his popularity…”

The Associated Press wrote on June 30:

“[German] Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has criticized Italy over the arrest of German sea-watch captain Carola Rackete. In the summer interview of ZDF he questioned the actions of the government in Rome against the sea rescue. …

“‘It could be that there is Italian legislation, when a ship may call at a port, Steinmeier said… ‘Only: Italy is not just any state. Italy is in the middle of the European Union, is the founding state of the European Union. And that’s why we can expect a country like Italy to handle such a case differently.’ …

“From Germany, the captain reached a wave of solidarity. The TV presenters Jan Böhmermann and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf called for donations for the maritime rescue service. That worked: By Sunday afternoon, more than half a million euros already came together. ‘With the events of recent days, this inhumane, cold-blooded and unscrupulous policy has reached a new low,’ said Böhmermann…

“On Sunday, even Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser spoke up. ‘People who save lives should not be arrested. People who kill and sow and promote hatred and suffering should,’ he tweeted…

“According to Vatican News, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin also said that human lives must be saved in any case and in whatever way. This must be ‘the pole star that guides us, everything else is secondary’…

“The Council President of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, called Rackete’s arrest ‘a shame for Europe’. ‘A young woman is arrested in a European country because she has saved human lives and wants to bring the rescued people safely ashore,’ said the regional bishop. This makes him sad and angry.”

The positions of the Vatican and the Evangelical Church are biblical and absolutely correct. Some few politicians in Germany don’t agree, including representatives from the “liberal” FDP and—not surprisingly—from the “far-right” AfD, stating that Rackete’s arrest was “justified” and that she was a “common left-wing criminal.”

 Italy’s far-right Matteo Salvini responded to the many international concerns regarding his actions that he does not care about those, and that Germany, for instance, should mind its own business.

Deutsche Welle reported on July 2:

“Italian judge Alessandra Vella on Tuesday ruled that Sea-Watch captain Carola Rackete had not acted against the law when she refused to comply with a ban on entering Italy’s territorial waters… the judge [said] Rackete was ‘doing her duty saving human lives.’…”

While Germany and other countries reacted with relief, the Italian government and especially far-right (some say “extreme”) Interior Minister Matteo Salvini responded that he was “appalled” and that the court order was a travesty of justice, damaging Italy,  and that the “Italian justice system” will have to be changed.

It can be expected that sooner or later, Germany, France and other European countries will clash with the dangerous direction of Italy’s government and Italy’s terrible economic conditions, especially now that Europe’s new European Parliament President David Sassoli, an Italian social democrat, is not a supporter of the current Italian government.

The Local reported on July 3: “The European Commission said on Wednesday it has for now decided against taking disciplinary action against Italy over its high public deficit after the government in Rome pledged to rein it in.”

It will be interesting to observe what the outcome will be… as Italy will definitely be part of the final configuration of the ten nations or groups of nations of core Europe.

Just the Tip of the Iceberg…

The EUObserver wrote on July 3:

“Well beyond the situation in Italy, the criminalisation of solidarity has spread across Europe and entrapped both NGOs and ordinary citizens, including lifeguards, fire-fighters, doctors, priests, journalists, teachers and volunteers.

“… at least 158 people… have been investigated or formally prosecuted from 2015 to 2019… The criminalisation of solidarity has claimed victims in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. All these cases can be related to one EU law—the 2002 Facilitation Directive—which fails to distinguish between human smuggling and humanitarian assistance.

“Individuals across Europe are being investigated and charged with smuggling, money laundering, membership in a criminalisation organisation, even espionage. Everyday acts of kindness – giving someone food, water, a ride, a phone call, a place to sleep – are being turned into illegal acts.

“Donating food and water is what Hungarian pastor Gabor Ivanyi did, only to become the first volunteer criminalised in Hungary.  Offering shelter has led to charges against priests in Germany, Italy and Switzerland as well as journalists and mayors in other European countries. The most recent target was pastor Norbert Valley, who was arrested in the middle of a church service.

“Driving a pregnant woman in labour to the nearest hospital is what Benoit Ducos did. Simply offering a ride has led to cases against academics, writers and retirees in Denmark, France and Greece. First responders have been stopped from doing their job, including medical staff and firefighters like Spanish firefighters Manuel Blanco, Julio Latorre, Miguel Roldan and Quique Rodríguez…

“In Greece, the jailing of volunteer lifeguards on Lesvos scared away most other civilian emergency rescuers… European citizens have donated millions to life-saving NGO boats, which are now being detained, confiscated and consumed by massive legal fees and fines.

“One of Europe’s few female boat captains, Pia Klemp, faces up to 20 years in prison in Italy for the work of her boat Luventa…

“These cases are just the tip of the iceberg… Just last week, Italy’s Salvini government adopted a decree to fine NGO boats €10,000-50,000 per person rescued and to spend €3m on undercover investigations of them.

“[Many are concerned] by the EU’s lack of action. All people have a right to dignity and all European citizens have the fundamental right to help.”

This is scandalous and godless indeed. We must ask this question: Would Jesus Christ have refused to help people in need because the human government would have told Him so? We all should know the answer.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

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

We have seen in the previous two Q&A’s that abortion at any time, after human life has been conceived in the mother’s womb, is a sin and murder in the eyes of God.

On the website “gotquestions” we read: “Science tells us that human life begins at the time of conception. From the moment fertilization takes place [fertilization, a synonym for conception, is defined as the action or process of fertilizing an egg, female animal, or plant, involving the fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygote. See definition of zygote below], the child’s genetic makeup is already complete. Its gender has already been determined, along with its height and hair, eye and skin color. The only thing the embryo needs to become a fully-functioning being is the time to grow and develop.

“More importantly, God reveals to us in His Word that not only does life begin at conception, but He knows who we are even before then (Jeremiah 1:5). King David said this about God’s role in our conception: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb . . . your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:13, 16).”

From the website “answers in genesis,” we read: “The initial event along the road of human development is fertilization. Twenty-three chromosomes from the mother and 23 chromosomes from the father are combined at the time of fertilization. At this point, the genetic makeup of the individual is determined. At this time, a unique individual, known as a zygote, begins to exist. But is this zygote human? [A zygote is defined as the cell formed by the union of a male sex cell (a sperm) and a female sex cell (an ovum)].

“This zygote then divides again and again. Some cells develop into the placenta and are essential for implantation. Other cells develop into the anatomical parts of the baby.  The number of cells increases rapidly, and the name changes as the number increases. By the time this rapidly dividing ball of cells arrives in the uterus, it is called a blastocyst. Implantation in the uterine wall normally occurs about six days after fertilization.”

Although not born again in this life, we are already begotten children of God and heirs (Romans 8:16-17). This is on the spiritual level and it is exactly the same on the physical level.

We published a Q&A over 15 years ago entitled, “Will an aborted fetus live again?” Below is some of the information contained previously:

• David said that God knew him while still in the womb. Psalm 22:9-10 says: “But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.  I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God.”  Since God knew him in the womb, this suggests that God had given him the human spirit while still in the womb.
• Isaiah was inspired to write in Isaiah 49:1: “Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The Lord has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.” The same conclusion applies as per the previous reference above.

• In speaking of Jacob in Hosea 12:3, God says: “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God.” We read in Genesis 25:22 that “the children STRUGGLED TOGETHER within her”; and Genesis 25:26 states that Jacob “took hold on Esau’s heel” — that is, he did not want Esau to come out first. As we saw, Hosea 12:3 clarifies that Jacob had already taken Esau’s heel “in the womb.” It is also interesting that some translations (Elberfelder Bible; Lamsa; Luther; Zuercher) render Hosea 12:3 in this way: “He DECEIVED his brother in his mother’s womb…” Others translate this verse as follows: “In the womb he tried to supplant [or, supplanted] his brother…” (NRSV; REB; NAB; Tanakh; Moffat). Regardless of which translation we use, they all seem to indicate motivation through the human spirit.  We read that these two brothers are not described as bits of “biological material” as one writer put it, rather that they already possessed identity and significant  purpose –  they were to become two great leaders, the progenitors of two vast nations (Genesis  25:23).  The  omniscient  God  already  possessed  the foreknowledge of the entire lifespan of these two boys – from womb to tomb  –  and  He  communicated  something  of  it  to  their mother.
• In reference to John the Baptist, we read in Luke 1:15: “For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” Since he had the Holy Spirit, while still in his mother’s womb, he must also have had the human spirit, while still in his mother’s womb; that is, prior to his birth. In verses 41-44 of this chapter of Luke, we read in the Authorized Version: “And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy [Spirit]: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.” Again, there appears to be motivation through the human spirit by – in John’s case – the power of God’s Holy Spirit within him.
• When the angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream, he said to him: “… do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). The angel was giving to Joseph the understanding that the LIFE which was within Mary was of God! Christ already “lived” in His mother’s womb, prior to His human birth. As with John the Baptist, Jesus Christ had the Holy Spirit from His mother’s womb, beginning with the very moment of His conception. Unlike John, who had only a measure of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ had the Holy Spirit in its fullness, without measure (compare John 3:34 in the Authorized Version). Since He had the Holy Spirit in His mother’s womb, He must have had the human spirit in his mother’s womb as well.
• Judges 13 relates the birth of Samson.  In verse 5 we read: “For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” In verse 7, there are particular instructions to Samson’s mother: “And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”” This was necessary because, as a Nazirite, Samson was to have a restricted diet hence the reason why his mother had such limitations so as not to pass on anything to her unborn child, at any time, during her pregnancy.  Right from conception, it had to be right!

It is therefore biblically sound to conclude that a human being receives from God the spirit in man at the time of conception within the mother’s womb, thus giving him what we understand as human intellect. (Unlike Christ and John, who received the Holy Spirit in the mother’s womb, we receive today the Holy Spirit as adults, after our conversion, repentance, and proper baptism and the laying on of hands by an ordained minister of God).

Therefore, based on the Scriptures we have examined, a fetus already receives the spirit in man at conception, and is therefore a living HUMAN BEING, and if it is aborted at any time prior to birth, the spirit in man will return to God. At the time of the resurrection, God will place the spirit of the (aborted) fetus in a newly created body. This means that the fetus will receive the opportunity to live again, through a resurrection from the dead. The resurrected child will then have the opportunity to qualify to enter into the Kingdom of God, which opportunity has been given to us today. (But none of that justifies the abortion of the innocent fetus, as there are no godly reasons to take the life of an innocent adult human being either.)

For more information on this astonishing aspect of God’s plan, please read our free booklet “God’s Commanded Holy Days.”

In conclusion, here are three anomalies that are worth considering.

1. The Daily Telegraph on May 31, 2008 printed this item:

“A decorator has been jailed for 23 weeks after amassing one of the largest collections of wild bird eggs ever uncovered.

“Richard Pearson turned a bedroom in his home into an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ devoted to his collection of 7,715 eggs, all of which are protected under law.  His haul contained eggs from Britain’s rarest nesting birds including the golden eagle, little tern, osprey, black-necked grebe, avocet, black-tailed godwit, stone curlew, chough, peregrine falcon and red-throated diver.

“What an evil society we live in when bird’s eggs are protected but not the unborn child in the womb!”

2. It is mind-boggling to realise that we live in an age where society believes that it’s acceptable to KILL unborn children, yet unacceptable to lay a hand on a child for the sake of correction.
3. Also, if an abortion goes wrong with a long term pregnancy and the baby is actually born, then the medical will then fight to save the “born” life that they were trying to kill as an “unborn” child.  What a nonsense and muddled thinking.

God’s Word is very clear – “You shall not kill,” as we read in Exodus 20:13.   Abortion is murder; the killing of innocent, as yet unborn children, falls very firmly into that category.

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

compiled by Dave Harris

“WHY Christ’s Return IS NEAR Indeed!” is the title of a special new StandingWatch program, present by Evangelist Norbert Link. This program introduces our newest booklet, “How Can We Know that Christ’s Return Is Near?” Here is a summary:

How can we be so SURE that Christ’s return is near? Why is Christ’s soon-coming return the only hope for mankind’s survival? What are many different news events PROVING to us that Christ will return very soon? Our new free booklet, “How Can We Know that Christ’s Return Is Near?” gives you answers to these all-important questions. Please be sure to watch the short VIDEO at the END of this program.

In addition, a promotional video presented by Michael Link is included with the StandingWatch program and features the booklet. This video, titled, “How Can We Know that Christ’s Return Is Near?” is also posted.

“Wie Satan bekennende Christen verführt!” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “How Satan Deceives Professing Christians.”

“Schwächen machen uns stärker,” is the title of last Sabbath’s new German sermonette, presented by Michael Link. Title in English: “Weaknesses Make Us Stronger.”

“You Are Not Alone,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

“Are we alone in the universe?” is the question. But if the answer is that “you are not alone,” how will mankind respond? What if God is the One Who answers?

“Retaining Our Hope in the Growing Darkness,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Robb Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

We live in a world that increasingly walks away from God. Mankind reaches out to find answers to the growing problems they face but very few seek Godliness. We must, like Noah, continue to proclaim the Truth of God through our actions and attitudes. Our hope in the plan of God is the only rock that will keep us above the sins and approaching judgement for mankind.

On June 29, 2019, Dave Harris will present the sermonette, titled, “You Are Not Alone,” and Robb Harris will present the sermon, titled, “Retaining Our Hope in the Growing Darkness.”

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.

It is amazing that over the years, so many members of God’s Church family just simply walked away from the great promised rewards ahead. Of course, they found various reasons and excuses for their inexcusable conduct:

Real or imagined personal or other offenses, including from officials in the Church; feelings that prophecies were not being fulfilled fast enough; unwillingness to accept doctrinal changes, such as how to determine Pentecost; rejecting the authority which Christ placed in the Church, while feeling themselves superior; rejection of tithing, as giving one tenth back to God was considered to be unaffordable; pressures from their mates, parents, children or schools; loving the pleasures of the world more than God’s Sabbaths and Festivals; and finally, just wanting to fit in with those around them.

People who never grow to love all of God’s Way will find excuses in the end to leave. The responsibility of God’s true ministers in the body of Christ is to help in facilitating growth in God’s grace and knowledge, proving by the Bible what is correct, and to change any error in order to please God, not men.

God never promised that entering into the Kingdom was going to be an easy sled ride down a gradual slope Quite the opposite is true. It is rather through much suffering that we can inherit eternal life.

Matthew 5:11 tells us: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.”

Matthew 10:23 adds: “ When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

Luke 21:12 reads: “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and  persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.”

In the end time, true Christians are almost guaranteed to experience some form of persecution, trials and tests, and some will even be martyred.

Look at what some of God’s true servants went through in the past, as Hebrews 11:32-39 explains:

“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

“Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise…”

Notice, they did not receive the promise of eternal life and the inheritance of the Kingdom of God at that time, but they will in the future, together with us if we hold fast and endure to the end.

Very tough times are coming so it is important to be mentally prepared and remain close to God Who is our only true protection.

Notice also John 16:2: “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”

If we have to go through serious trials, we must not be offended, but we must always bear in mind that God will not try us beyond our abilities. 1 Corinthians 10:13 gives us this promise: “No temptation [or serious trial] has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear.”

Even though trials and tests are coming, we must make sure that with God’s help, we do not fall into the category of those who walk away. We must be ready to accept God’s Will in all our trials and put all our trust in Him. We must cement His truth in our heart. We can grow in our relationship with God through daily prayer and Bible study. Then we will not be looking for excuses to leave when times get hard, and ultimately, we will receive our great rewards in the Kingdom of God.

by Norbert Link

We begin with interesting articles showing how close we had come last week to an American war with Iran [please view our new StandingWatch program, “Coming—US War With Iran?”], continue with further hostile developments pertaining to the USA and Iran as well as several reports reflecting America’s unwillingness and its “lost appetite” for getting involved in any military confrontations in the Middle East; speak on the possibility that Israel might strike Iran; and report on Russia’s serious threats against the USA.

We address the current turmoil in Ethiopia; Europe’s unwillingness to negotiate any further with Britain on Brexit; a major blow for Turkey’s President Erdogan; and we publish excerpts from a thought-provoking article about Spain’s role in Europe, the diminishing role of Denmark and other Israelite countries in Europe; and an unprecedented heatwave in Europe.

We conclude with reports exemplifying the appalling immoral conditions in the Western world—from a “Hail Satan” prayer in Alaska’s government to the overbearing and intrusive (unbiblical) jury system (as manifested in Britain); Prince William’s support for the gay community; and an abominable British court ruling ordering the abortion of a child against the wishes of a mentally handicapped mother and the child’s grandmother. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Abominable! Court Orders Abortion Despite Mother’s Objection.”

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

Fox News vs. Trump: “His Story on Iran Does Not Add Up”

Breitbart wrote on June 21:

“Friday on Fox News Channel’s ‘Shepard Smith Reporting,’ Chris Wallace, anchor of ‘Fox News Sunday,’ said President Donald Trump’s story on why he called off a military strike against Iran, didn’t ‘hold together.’… Wallace said, ‘I talked to a former top national security official in an earlier Republican administration who says this just doesn’t add up.’ He continued, ‘The president would have been fully briefed by the generals as to, if you hit target A, here are the dangers, or here is the possible collateral damage. So the idea that the president, ten minutes before the actual go…  you’re learning for the first time that there were going to be 150 casualties, seems pretty unlikely and certainly not the way it’s been done in the past.’

“Smith said, ‘The explanation — as you said — just doesn’t make sense.’

“Wallace said, ‘It doesn’t hold together. The timeline for when he learned information and when he decided to act doesn’t make a lot of sense. In a sense, maybe that’s the biggest problem. You can argue if you don’t want to strike, don’t strike. If you want to strike, do strike. But don’t send mixed messages that confuse not only your enemies but even your allies and people here in this country, as to what you’re going to do.’

“Smith said, ‘And then tweet out your whole thought process of American foreign policy and intervention.’”

President Trump responded on Saturday that he had been briefed in general as to casualties, but that he wanted to know the specifics. His relationship with the conservative and generally pro-Trump Fox News network has recently seen some upheavals. The interesting news to be taken from the incident is that, according to some comments in news reports, the USA has “lost its appetite” for getting involved in any military confrontations and wars in the Middle East (also note the next article). This vacuum will be filled by a politically and religiously unified Europe which will powerfully intervene in the Middle East in the not-too-distant future.

Did Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Help Prevent War With Iran?

On June 21, the New York Times published an article with the following headline:

“Urged to Launch an Attack, Trump Listened to the Skeptics Who Said It Would Be a Costly Mistake…”

The article continued:

“He heard from his generals and his diplomats. Lawmakers weighed in and so did his advisers. But among the voices that rang powerfully for President Trump was that of one of his favorite Fox News hosts: Tucker Carlson.

“While national security advisers were urging a military strike against Iran, Mr. Carlson in recent days had told Mr. Trump that responding to Tehran’s provocations with force was crazy. The hawks did not have the president’s best interests at heart, he said. And if Mr. Trump got into a war with Iran, he could kiss his chances of re-election goodbye.

“However much weight that advice may or may not have had, the sentiments certainly reinforced the doubts that Mr. Trump himself harbored as he navigated his way through one of the most consequential foreign policy decisions of his presidency… The concerns that Mr. Trump heard from Mr. Carlson reflected that part of the presidential id that has always hesitated at pulling the trigger… Mr. Trump has at times pulled back from the use of force, convinced that America has wasted too many lives and too much money in pointless Middle East wars and wary of repeating what he considers the mistakes of his predecessors.

“As Mr. Carlson and other skeptics have argued, a strike against Iran could easily spiral into a full-fledged war without easy victory. That, Mr. Trump was told, was everything he ran against. And so the president struggled into the early evening, committed to taking action to demonstrate resolve right up until the moment he decided against it and called off the warplanes and missile launchers…

“Mr. Trump was given a list of at least a dozen strike options generated this month after there were attacks on tankers in the region. The list was then narrowed down to at least two alternatives. Among the targets would be facilities like radar and missile batteries… the casualty estimate played to the concerns that Mr. Trump had shared with Mr. Carlson and other skeptics of military action in the Middle East.

“Gen. Jack Keane, a retired Army vice chairman who is close to the Trump White House, said another factor came into play during the deliberations — the president was told that the attack on the drone was really a mistake, as Mr. Trump had publicly suggested to reporters early in the day. ‘The president got some additional information that the Iranian national leaders were frustrated or furious with the tactical commander who made the decision to shoot down the American drone,’ General Keane said in an interview…

“General Keane said it was unclear whether the commander who ordered the downing of the drone was operating within his authority or was a rogue figure. But either way, he said, it impressed upon Mr. Trump that he would be risking a dangerous escalation over what was not intended to be an attack by Iran’s top leaders… it contributed to the decision, which he said was mainly driven by the casualty concern…

“By this point, time was running out… Mr. Trump scrubbed the mission. The decision made, the military ordered ships and planes in the region to stand down. At the White House, Mr. Trump turned on his television to watch the opening of Mr. Carlson’s 8 p.m. show, where he heard what surely must have sounded like vindication. Onscreen, Mr. Carlson declared that ‘foreign wars have ended in dismal failure for the United States.’

“While no decision had been announced yet, Mr. Carlson praised Mr. Trump for resisting military intervention in Iran. ‘The same people who lured us into the Iraq quagmire 16 years ago are demanding a new war, this one with Iran,’ he said. ‘The president, to his great credit, appears to be skeptical of this — very skeptical.’ If he kept the television on, though, Mr. Trump would have heard a radically different message from another friend on Fox at 9 p.m. With the news of Mr. Trump’s decision still not public, Sean Hannity declared that Mr. Trump may have ‘no choice’ but to ‘bomb the hell out of them.’

“For one night, at least, that would not be true. But the battle for Mr. Trump’s ear is not over.”

The German mass tabloid, Bild Online, ran an article on June 23, repeating the scenario set forth by the New York Times, adding:

“US-expert and political scientist Christian Hacke said: ‘Trump has gained the respect of the political center. It was a genius move, because this way, he still holds the reigns in his hands. He is constantly being underestimated, especially in Germany. More and more, he turns out to be a crafty and shrewd politician engaged in power politics, and a manipulator.’”

US Struck Iranian Military Computers

The Associated Press wrote on June 23:

“U.S. military cyber forces launched a strike against Iranian military computer systems on Thursday as President Donald Trump backed away from plans for a more conventional military strike in response to Iran’s downing of a U.S. surveillance drone… Two officials told The Associated Press that the strikes were conducted with approval from Trump. A third official confirmed the broad outlines of the strike…

“The cyberattacks — a contingency plan developed over weeks amid escalating tensions — disabled Iranian computer systems that controlled its rocket and missile launchers, the officials said. Two of the officials said the attacks, which specifically targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps computer system, were provided as options after Iranian forces blew up two oil tankers earlier this month…

“The action by U.S. Cyber Command was a demonstration of the U.S.’s increasingly mature cyber military capabilities and its more aggressive cyber strategy under the Trump administration. Over the last year U.S. officials have focused on persistently engaging with adversaries in cyberspace and undertaking more offensive operations…”

Further US Sanctions Against Iran

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 24:

“President Trump signed an executive order on Monday that imposes what he says are ‘hard-hitting’ new sanctions against Iran. The new sanctions will specifically target Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials…

“US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the measures ‘go after the supreme leader’s office and lock up literally billions more in assets.’”

Trump Tells Other Countries to Protect Their Own Gulf Shipping

Agence France-Presse (AFP) wrote on June 24:

“President Donald Trump on Monday told other countries to protect their own Gulf oil shipments, declaring that the United States has only limited strategic interest in the dangerous region. In a pair of tweets, Trump said US aims regarding Iran boil down to ‘No Nuclear Weapons and No Further Sponsoring of Terror.’ As for Iran’s threats to shut sea lanes used to transport a large portion of the world’s oil exports through the Persian Gulf, Washington is not concerned, Trump said.

“Stating that the United States is now the world’s biggest energy producer, thereby weaning itself off decades of dependence on Middle Eastern oil, Trump said ‘we don’t even need to be there.’ And the US military should not be depended upon to keep the narrow sea routes along Iran’s coast free. ‘Why are we protecting the shipping lanes for other countries (many years) for zero compensation,’ he asked. ‘All of these countries should be protecting their own ships on what has always been a dangerous journey.’… Trump’s tweets add to his record of seeking a wider drawdown of the US diplomatic and military footprint around the world.”

Exactly as prophesied in the Bible!

Israel Might Strike Iran

The Conversation wrote on or about June 21:

“Israel, which has faced threats to its national security since its founding as a Jewish homeland in the Middle East in 1948, is known to take aggressive, preventive action to protect itself – including by launching preemptive strikes on neighboring nations it perceives as threatening. If international relations with Iran grow more volatile, Israel could take dramatic, unilateral action against its neighbor and longtime adversary…

“Israel has a counterproliferation policy, called the Begin Doctrine, which allows it to wage preventive strikes against enemies with weapons of mass destruction programs. Using the Begin Doctrine as a justification for preemptive strikes, the Israeli government has for decades quietly decimated nuclear and chemical facilities across the Middle East.

“When President Saddam Hussein’s potential nuclear military ambitions raised concerns in 1981, the Israeli government destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor in a surprise attack called Operation Opera… In 2007, Israel responded to Syria’s failure to report its uranium processing by striking a nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region. The United States, which was reportedly informed ahead of the attack, made no effort to stop Israel.

“Israel has also been accused of sponsoring the assassinations of at least four Iranian nuclear scientists since 2010. The incidents have never been fully investigated, and Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the targeted killings.

“Israel has also deterred nuclear proliferation in the Mideast using less lethal, more high tech strategies. In 2008 and 2009, Israel used computer malware called Stuxnet to disrupt Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The program infected the software that controlled centrifuge speed at the Natanz nuclear plant, alternately speeding up and slowing down the machines that produce enriched uranium to cripple production of the material. The Obama administration secretly supported the cyberattacks… Decades after Israel’s 1981 attack on Iraq’s nuclear plant, President Bill Clinton called it ‘a really good thing.’…

“Iran’s Islamic fundamentalist government is openly hostile to Israel… If the nuclear deal ruptures further and Iran does restarting uranium enrichment, Israel might launch targeted airstrikes against it… Of course, potential Israeli attacks on Iran present… serious risks. Because most of Iran’s reactors are in full operations, air strikes may mean cutting off the power supply to Iranian citizens and could release large amounts of radioactive contaminants into the air.

“Iran, a militarily well-equipped country, would surely retaliate against any Israeli attacks. That, too, would trigger a conflict that would spiral throughout the Middle East…”

The Bible tells us that Israel will receive a wound in the near future. This might describe military defeat. We need to watch as to how this will unfold.

Christians without Influence in the Holy Land

Zenit wrote on June 21:

“Christians in the Holy Land may exist, but they have lost the influence they used to have in international politics, says Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem. In an exclusive interview with ZENIT in Amman, Jordan, the Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem, residing in Jordan, affirmed this…

“‘Jordan is a central point of the Middle East… I think each government is interested in having the journalist, having journalism, under its protection, at the service of the regime, more than at the service of the truth, or of the reality… These were journalists from all over the world, including from Italy, Germany. They understood the sensitivity related to Israel and the Holy Land. Yet, they used to qualify: “I do not know if I will be able to publish all that you say…

“‘It is great if we [Christians] can exist and continue to live in the Holy Land, to be a small element, salt, salt to the society, salt to the earth. However, regardless, we do not have influence like we did before. In government, our presence is so reduced. We cannot change [politics]… The issue is also that this question of Christians leaving the Holy Land, does not interest the international politics… Their existence or nonexistence does not matter to the international politics…

“‘We have until now, thank God, Christian people, Christian families, but we do not have any longer, a Christian government…”

All of this will change in due time, and the Catholic Church will again have a huge influence in the Holy Land, including Israel. Note the next article.

Strong Israeli-Vatican Ties

The Algemeiner wrote on June 21:

“New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan said this week that ties between Israel and the Vatican have ‘quite literally made the world a better place’… Dayan recalled that Theodor Herzl had unsuccessfully sought to get support from Pope Pius X in 1914 for the effort to create a Jewish state in Palestine.

“A century later, he noted, Pope Francis not only visited Israel, but laid a wreath at Herzl’s grave. That tribute to the father of modern Zionism, Dayan said, resulted from the ‘century-long dialogue’ between the Catholic Church and State of Israel.”

The past role of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land should not be underestimated.

Russia Warns the USA… and Follows through with Action

The Sun wrote on June 24:

“Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday that US plans to deploy missile systems near the Russian border risks a nuclear standoff on a par with the height of the Cold War. The Cuban missile crisis erupted in 1962 when the Soviet Union responded to a US missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba – just miles from the US coastline. It sparked a tense 13-day standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The crisis was defused when Soviet ships headed for Cuba turned back in the face of a US naval blockade. Eventually, the Soviet Union agreed to remove its missiles from Cuba in return for the US promising not to invade Cuba…

“Russian President Vladimir Putin made similar remarks in February. He warned that Moscow would match any US move to deploy new nuclear missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own missiles closer to the US… The warning came as one of the Russian navy’s most advanced warships entered Havana’s harbour on Monday. It docked at the port used until this month by US cruise lines – with tourists seen taking photos of the imposing vessel. The Admiral Gorshkov… is armed with cruise missiles, air defence systems and other weapons. The frigate… is part of Russia’s Northern Fleet.”

European Cowardice —Russia Back in Good Graces

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 25:

“The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has voted in favor of restoring Russia’s voting rights, five years after they were revoked over its illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula… The assembly voted 118 in favor and 62 against, with 10 abstentions…

“The head of Ukraine’s delegation… said the decision sends a ‘very bad message’ to Moscow and others. ‘Do what you want, annex another country’s territory, kill people there, and you will still leave with everything,’ he said.

“Germany and France reportedly pushed through a compromise that would allow Moscow to return to the Council of Europe. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the compromise would ensure ‘millions of Russians the protection of the European Court of Human Rights.’”

Europe and especially Germany and France told Russia this: You can illegally invade another country, without fear of any repercussions.

Germany Faces Backlash

Deutsche Welle reported on June 27:

“Pro-democracy advocates, a former CIA officer and world chess champion Garry Kasparov have slammed the German government’s response to Russia’s voting rights being reinstated in the Council of Europe… ‘Russia belongs in the Council of Europe — with all the rights and obligations that entails,’ German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement on Twitter. ‘This is good news for Russia’s civil society.’

“The statement, which was posted in German as well as excerpted in English, racked up hundreds of comments, including from rights activists and prominent Kremlin critics. Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion and a former leading figure in the Russian opposition, issued a scathing critique of the decision.

“In a series of tweets, he compared it to the appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1938 after he seized the Sudetenland and said the move was likely linked to the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project with Russian state gas producer Gazprom that will deliver gas from Russia directly to Germany. ‘… Appeasing a dictator and rewarding aggression will make things worse, it always has,’ he said.

“‘Are you kidding me?’ wrote John Sipher, a former CIA officer who ran the US intelligence agency’s Russia operations, later adding: ‘shame.’ Alice Stollmeyer, executive director of the pro-democracy initiative Defending Democracy, said that either the German government is ‘still naive or it is willing to sell our values.’ ‘I don’t know which is worse,’ she added.”

It appears that the German government is willing to “sell our values” for pecuniary gain. Kasparov’s comparison to the appeasement of Adolf Hitler is worthy of consideration.

Trump Delays Deportation Order for Two Weeks

Breitbart wrote on June 22:

“President Donald Trump suspended Saturday his threat to deport millions of illegal immigrants, after previewing a renewed enforcement surge. ‘At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border,’ Trump wrote on Twitter. ‘If not, Deportations start!’…

“There are currently 1.7 million illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America living in the United States with deportation orders or a pending deportation order, according to federal data.”

Trump’s concept is this, and it is brilliant: If Republicans and Democrats can’t come up with a solution, which is highly unlikely, it will be their fault.

Fox News Anchor Shephard Smith Attacks Trump Administration

Breitbart reported on June 24:

“Monday on Fox News Channel, anchor Shepard Smith criticized the Trump administration for their alleged treatment of migrant children. Smith said, ‘Dirty and hungry children sleeping on concrete floors without blankets, toothpaste, soap or diapers. Some kids found covered in mucus. Some 3-year-olds being cared for by 7-year-olds and 8-year-olds. Horrifying. Both President Trump and Vice President Pence defended the treatment of migrant children. Yesterday, the VP tried to shift the blame to Democrats in Congress.’

“He continued, ‘Just last week, a Justice Department attorney argued that they don’t necessarily need to provide migrant children with soap and toothbrushes for them to be safe and sanitary. Soap and toothbrushes not necessary for safe and sanitary conditions.’ Smith concluded, ‘Soap and toothbrushes are not optional for children in detention. They are necessary. Were these particular children prisoners of war rather than innocent children, failure to provide those necessities would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Yet President Trump claims his administration is doing a fantastic job under the circumstances.’”

If true, these would indeed be terrible and inhumane conditions for innocent children. 

But note the next article.

Newsmax reported on June 27:

“The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan, Senate-drafted, $4.6 billion measure to care for migrant refugees detained at the southern border, capping a Washington skirmish in which die-hard liberals came out on the losing end in a battle with the White House, the GOP-held Senate and Democratic moderates.

“The emergency legislation, required to ease overcrowded, often harsh conditions at U.S. holding facilities for migrants seeking asylum, mostly from Central American nations like Honduras and El Salvador, passed by a bipartisan 305-102 vote. Trump has indicated he’ll sign it into law.”

Turmoil in Ethiopia

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 24:

“Amhara’s state president, his adviser, and the state attorney general — all three were killed on Saturday, as people in military uniform stormed the local government offices in the Amhara state capital Bahir Dar. A little later Ethiopia’s army chief of staff, Seare Mekonnen, and a retired general were killed by Seare’s own bodyguard — an attack that Ethiopia’s government believes to be related.

“All of this was reported by the office of the prime minister, including announcements by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed himself, or state media. Since Saturday internet lines have been cut and state-run media have been the primary source of information… State sources have reported that General Asaminew was shot dead outside Bahir Dar on Monday.

“… Ethiopia has been rocked by regional and political tension.  Since he has come into power just over a year ago, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has cracked down on high-ranking military personnel allegedly involved in corruption, torture, and other crimes…

“While Abiy and his government still have overall control over the country, the weekend’s events have created a certain degree of uncertainty. Elections set for May 2020 [will probably not take place]…

“Abiy should have done more to condemn the ethnic tensions within the countries… According to the United Nations, at least 2.4 million people have been displaced by the ethnic tension in Oromo, Amhara, and Tigray regions.”

No Further Brexit Negotiations

The EUObserver wrote on June 21:

“EU council chief Donald Tusk said Friday the EU was ‘looking forward to working together with the next UK prime minister’, but that the ‘withdrawal agreement is not open for renegotiation’. He added that the EU wants to avoid a disorderly Brexit and establish a close future relationship.

“‘We will enter into talks, but we underline yet again, that the withdrawal agreement has been negotiated,’ German chancellor Angela Merkel said.”

Concern Over Angela Merkel’s Health

The Telegraph wrote on June 27:

“Concern is growing over the health of Angela Merkel after the German Chancellor was overcome by a shaking fit for the second time in a little over a week on Thursday. Eight days after footage showed Ms Merkel desperately trying to maintain composure as she shook from head to foot at a reception for the Ukrainian president, she has suffered another bout of trembling.

“Footage from Thursday morning shows Ms Merkel’s legs shaking as she stands through a swearing-in ceremony in Berlin for the country’s new justice minister, Christine Lambrecht. Ms Merkel can been seen clutching her arms in an attempt to control herself while glancing uncomfortably to her side. An aide then offers her a glass of water which she turns down. The chancellor looks wobbly throughout the entire video of roughly one minute and ten seconds, which was shared by the German Press Association.

“According to journalists present at the occasion, the 64-year-old quickly regained her composure after the ceremony was over. Ms Merkel’s office immediately moved to dampen speculation that the incident was the symptom of an underlying health problem.”

Major Blow for Erdogan

The Associated Press reported on June 23:

“The opposition candidate for mayor of Istanbul celebrated a landmark win Sunday in a closely watched repeat election that ended weeks of political tension and broke the long hold President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party had on leading Turkey’s largest city… Imamoglu narrowly won an earlier mayoral election on March 31, but Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, AKP, challenged the vote over alleged irregularities… The voided vote raised concerns domestically and abroad about the state of Turkish democracy…

“Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, Ankara office director of the German Marshall Fund, argued … Erdogan is already facing… ‘a perfect storm’ this summer. Erdogan was already at odds with Western allies over Turkey’s plans to buy the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system and its challenge of EU-member Cyprus over natural gas drilling rights.”

Watch Spain

Politico wrote on June 24:

“The days of Spain playing a bit role in Brussels are finally coming to an end. Madrid has a great opportunity to shape EU politics and policies over the next five years… [The] U.K…. is tearing itself apart over Brexit… Benelux, the Netherlands especially, has lost its enthusiasm for an ever-closer union. And the Franco-German alliance is casting around for new partners to champion closer cooperation on defense, migration and the future of the euro… such a partner is close at hand. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has become the de facto leader of European social democracy, the second biggest political family in both the European Council and the Parliament…

“His interest in the Continent is reflected in his Europe team: His economy minister, Nadia Calviño was a director general in the European Commission; his foreign affairs minister, Josep Borrell, was president of the European Parliament; and Luis Planas, his agriculture minister, was Spain’s permanent representative in Brussels. Other top officials are strong pro-Europeans who understand the workings of the EU machine… What will give the prime minister leverage on the European stage… is a strong pro-European consensus among Spaniards. The country’s Euroskeptic party, Vox, suffered a big defeat in last month’s European election with only 6.2 percent support…

“All signs point in the direction that Spain will not only be shaping the bloc’s politics, with appointments in key EU decision-making positions, but charting the course when it comes to policy too. Sánchez’s sherpa, José Manuel Albares, recently disclosed Spain’s strategic agenda for the next Commission, which highlights [these] priorities: completing the European monetary union, strengthening Europe’s social policies… a greater global role for the EU, a bigger EU budget and more fiscal harmonization. Here, of course, cooperation with Germany and France will be crucial, but Spain will also have to find key allies in smaller member states…”

Non-Israelite European Countries (such as Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain) seem to displace more and more those of Israelite descent in the political arena, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. France is still very much in the lead as well, but France, which is to a large part a descendant of Reuben, is described as unstable as water. Note the next article.

Denmark Turns Left

The Guardian wrote on June 26:

“Social Democrats leader, Mette Frederiksen, 41, said late on Tuesday night that after three weeks of negotiations, she had reached agreement with three leftist parties to form the one-party minority government, a common arrangement in Denmark. But reports suggest she had to give ground on several of her party’s controversial hardline immigration measures to reach the agreement with her leftwing partners and form the third centre-left government in the Nordic region this year.

“… negotiations aimed at securing the parliamentary backing of the three other parties in the traditional leftist ‘red bloc’ – the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), Socialist People’s party and Red Green Alliance – took 20 days, the longest negotiation period since 1988.”

“Social Democratic parties also came to power earlier this year in Finland and Sweden,” according to Reuters, dated June 26.

Unprecedented Heat Wave in Europe

The Weather Channel reported on June 26:

“A heat wave currently baking western Europe has already set new all-time June record highs… Germany recorded its hottest June temperature on record, Wednesday, with a high of 38.6 degrees Celsius (101.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in Coschen, near the Polish border about 65 miles southeast of Berlin… The previous German June heat record had stood for almost 72 years. Fifty-one German reporting stations set new June heat records Wednesday…

“Clermont-Ferrand, France, topped out at 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday afternoon, setting an all-time record high for any month of the year. Several locations in Switzerland also set all-time record highs for any calendar month…

“Highs ranged from the 90s to low 100s in parts of Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland on Wednesday… The heat will continue into this weekend across parts of the continent…

“Wildfire danger will also increase to extreme levels by this weekend in parts of Europe because of the hot, dry conditions… Heat waves are especially dangerous when they occur early in the summer, before people have had time to adapt to the seasonal heat…

“Europe’s biggest heat-wave catastrophe occurred in the first two weeks of August 2003. Great Britain saw its first 100-degree Fahrenheit readings in more than 300 years of recordkeeping, and similar temperatures were widespread across Europe. Adding the various national counts implies that more than 50,000 people died as a result of the 2003 European heat wave. Later estimates brought the toll as high as 70,000, though the exact number is difficult to discern. No heat wave in global history has produced so many documented deaths…”

Are these warning signs for Europe of much worse things to come?

Abominable “Hail Satan” Prayer in Alaska Government Meeting

Breitbart wrote on June 21:

“The official, Iris Fontana — who also happens to be a member of the Satanic Temple — delivered an invocation ahead of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting Tuesday, sealing the prayer with ‘Hail Satan.’… Almost a dozen people walked out in protest, including Mayor Charlie Pierce…

“Technically, the satanic prayer was permissible due to pushes from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alaska.

“KSRM reports: ‘In October, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the borough’s previous prayer policy violated the State Constitution. The lawsuit was brought on by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska. The previous policy only allowed certain groups to deliver the invocation. The borough then passed a resolution to amend their policy at their meeting on November 20 to broaden the scope of eligible invocation providers to better reflect the diversity of beliefs in the borough.”…

“The Satanic Temple made headlines in April after the IRS announced that it recognized it as a ‘church,’ thereby giving it tax-exempt status.”

A society allowing this kind of blasphemy is DOOMED.

Appalling Jury Duty System

The Sun wrote on June 22:

“Carly Hull, 29, was told by Judge Barbara Mensah that jury service was the only public service the state asks people to do in peacetime… The judge… told Hull: ‘On the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings when people gave up their lives to ensure the freedoms we have in this country of a fair trial and of innocent until proven guilty, you think you can impose a selfish attitude to jury service.’

“Hull, of Cook Road in Stevenage, was summoned before the judge having failed to attend for jury service earlier this month. She had first been called in February, but had jury service deferred until 3 June after she said she had childcare problems. Hull… told Luton Crown Court’s jury office that she had forgotten the date and had not received a letter telling her to attend. The jury officer again deferred her service until 10 June, but the judge said she then said that was not enough time to get childcare…

“Jury service is a vital part of the criminal law system of the UK and anyone over the age of 18 can be summoned to be a juror. Summons are based on the electoral role and in most circumstances you can face a fine of £1,000 if you don’t attend. You can defer your jury service if you can’t attend on the dates for which you’ve been summoned, but you have to give other dates in the next 12 months when you can attend instead…

“[Hull’s husband] is taking unpaid leave for five days next week to look after the children. [Hull] has also arranged for her mother, who works at the Lister Hospital, to look after the children if the jury service is extended… [The judge said:] ‘If you are not here on Monday, the court will take more stringent action — you could go to prison.’”

It is clear that Hull did not act wisely or diligently enough in this case. It has also become clear as to how overbearing, intrusive and ridiculous the entire (unbiblical) jury system has become… both in the UK and the USA. The judge’s unqualified comparison between jury duty and D-Day is appalling.

Prince William: Absolutely Fine by Me if My Children Came Out as Gay

Daily Mail wrote on June 26:

 “Prince William today said he would wholeheartedly support his children if they were gay as he spoke to young people disowned by their own parents because of their sexuality. The future king, 37, is the first royal to open up on the subject and admitted he had recently discussed it with his wife Kate. But the prince also confessed he worried that George, five, Princess Charlotte, four, or Louis, one, could also be ‘persecuted’ if they were gay because they are third, fourth and fifth in line to the throne, respectively.

“The Duke of Cambridge was visiting a LGBT charity in east London that helps young people forced on to the streets because of their sexual orientation or for being transgender… His words have been praised on social media by campaigners who believe his comments will be well received.

“One tweet: ‘The wonderful thing is that Prince William is the sort of person, that can and will help stop the bullying that children who are LGBTQ or a different in schools and in society’. Another wrote: ‘How wonderful that the future King is using his influence and platform to be an ally for the lgbtq community… [He] said it would be ‘absolutely fine by me’ if in the future Prince George, five, Princess Charlotte, four, or Louis, one, came out as gay or lesbian… His visit comes ahead of the annual Pride in London parade… It is not the first time the Prince has become involved in LGBT issues. Three years ago, he appeared on the cover of the gay magazine Attitude…”

God looks at this quite differently!

Abominable—British Court ORDERS Abortion

Fox News reported on June 22:

“A British judge ordered Friday that an abortion be performed on a mentally disabled woman who is 22 weeks pregnant, despite objections from the woman and her mother. Justice Nathalie Lieven admits in the ruling of the ‘heartbreaking’ case that it’s an ‘immense intrusion’ to order the abortion against the woman’s will, but argued that it’s in the best interest of the woman…

“The unnamed woman, a Roman Catholic, reportedly has developmental disabilities and the mental age of a 6- to 9-year-old. She has been described as being in her 20s and is in the care of an NHS trust, as part of the country’s National Health Service. The woman’s mother, a former midwife, opposes the abortion procedure and told the court that she could take care of the child with the support from the daughter, Sky News reported. A social worker who works with the woman also said the pregnancy should not be terminated.

“But the judge said the woman didn’t have the mental capacity to make her own decisions even it look like she wanted to continue the pregnancy. ‘I think she would like to have a baby in the same way she would like to have a nice doll,’ she said, pointing out that she didn’t fully comprehend what having a baby entails. She added that having a child would be more traumatic for the woman than aborting it, as she wouldn’t be able to take care of the child due to the risk posed by her mental health problems and it would have to be put in a foster care.”

An appalling and abominable decision, in which the “best interest” clause has been terribly abused. No consideration whatsoever for the LIFE of the unborn child! This reminds us of horrible decisions in Nazi Germany. A society allowing these kinds of decisions is DOOMED.

Abominable Abortion Decision Overturned by Court of Appeal

The Sun wrote on June 24:

“A COURT ruling that a woman with the mental age of a child must have an abortion against her will has been overturned after her mum said she would care for the baby… Yesterday, the woman’s mum, a Catholic and former midwife, challenged the initial court order issued on Friday, insisting that she would look after the baby on her daughter’s behalf. John Sherrington, a bishop in the Catholic diocese of Westminster called the original ruling ‘sad and distressing.’ He added that it ‘raises serious questions about the meaning of “best interests” when a patient lacks mental capacity and is subject to the court’s decision against her will.’…

“The three judges on the Court of Appeal didn’t explain why they ruled against proceeding with the abortion and said they would give their reasons at a later date…

“Three specialists, an obstetrician and two psychiatrists made the decision, concluding that giving birth and having a child would be detrimental to the woman’s psychiatric health... ‘To force abortion on any person is abhorrent and to do so in the name of medicine and in the complete defiance of the religious and cultural values of the mother concerned calls into question the structures of law and justice in our society,’ said John Deighan, deputy chief executive of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children…

“Before the court’s decision on Monday, John Sherrington said: ‘Forcing a woman to have an abortion against her will, and that of her close family, infringes her human rights, not to mention the right of her unborn child to live in a family that has committed to caring for this child…'”

Thankfully, this abominable decision was overturned, but what is shocking and frightening is that an indifferent judge of the “Court of Protection” can even make such a decision without any regard for the life of the unborn child.

Breitbart added on June 24:

“‘Thank God, humanity has prevailed,’ said Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, reacting to the news of the decision of the Court of Appeals. ‘Courts simply do not have the authority to order the killing of a baby,’ Pavone added… ‘Now it’s time for all of us to resist the injustice of abortion in whatever way it rears its ugly head.’…

 “In a statement, Clare McCarthy of Right to Life UK, addressed the concerns of Lieven’s pro-abortion rights background. ‘Justice Lieven’s background as a lawyer in numerous abortion advocacy cases calls into question her fitness to adjudicate in this case,’ she said. ‘The fact that this case relates directly to abortion and the fact that the Judge has a strong background of pro-abortion advocacy, undermines the impartiality of the judiciary.’

“In the U.S., Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) condemned Lieven’s ruling on Twitter: ‘If story accurate 22 week pregnant disabled woman is being required to undergo a forced abortion by UK court. The U.S. should offer her & her mother a visa. And why are the voices who always talk about a woman’s right to choose so quiet on this?’

“Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser called the decision for forced abortion a ‘horrific violation of the human rights of both unborn children and their mothers.’ ‘Justice Lieven’s order reeks of eugenics and is the type of oppression one would expect to see under a totalitarian regime, like China’s brutal state-enforced population control,’ the pro-life leader added. ‘Such a ruling could not occur in a vacuum – it exposes a culture of devaluation of human life and prejudice toward individuals with disabilities, right up to the most elite levels of society.’”

Sadly, we could not agree with that more. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Abominable! Court Orders Abortion Despite Mother’s Objection”

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

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

In the previous Q&A, we have looked at alleged and purported “reasons” for abortions, the many questions raised about this issue, the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973, abortion statistics in the USA and worldwide, the Hippocratic oath, recent events in Alabama and elsewhere in the USA about abortion bans and probable appeals against such legislation and democratically elected women ignoring President Trump’s statement about abortion while they glory in their own “success.”

We will now look at the Scriptural evidence to see when life begins while dismissing arbitrary times, depending on different thoughts, ideas and assumptions of many different people.

First of all, we read in Exodus 20:13: “You shall not kill.”  This is pretty straightforward, one would think, but something that never seems to enter the equation when discussing abortion.  Perhaps some think that a conceived child is not a member of the human race until it is born; perhaps others don’t particularly care while others may not even think about it too much but whatever it is, it is wrong to kill the unborn.

Let us now review the soul and the spirit in man.  A living soul is defined as any living thing composed of flesh and blood including animals.  A dead soul is a dead thing, a corpse; it could refer to a person or an animal. The spirit in man elevates humans above animals.

Job 32:8: “But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.”

Zechariah 12:1: “The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:”

This spirit empowers the human brain with intellect and mind power as we read in 1 Corinthians 2:11: “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?   Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”

Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [literally, a living soul].”

In Genesis 6:17, 7:15 and 7:22, we read about the breath of life. This kick starts the self-sustaining, independent, physio-chemical existence of all newborn flesh whether human or animal.

Ecclesiastes 11:5: “As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes all things.”

Genesis 46:15: “These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.” Leah’s sons and daughters listed who made it to Egypt were 33, yet only 32 names given.

Numbers 26:59: “The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.”  Levi had a daughter, not listed, who was born in Egypt – Jochebed who was the mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam.   Levi’s wife must have been pregnant at the time and wasn’t named and yet God made sure that she was counted as a person making the journey. She was already conceived, but not yet born!

Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The presence of blood exemplifies life.

Exodus 21:22-25: “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.   But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”   If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman and there is lasting harm to the woman (some claim, and/or to the child), then you shall give life for life, that is, a much higher compensation.  We see that the life of an unborn child was important to God and to some, it was considered equal to that of an adult. (For a thorough discussion of this passage, see our free booklet, “Old Testament Laws—Still Valid Today?”, pages 49-56).

Psalm 139:15-16: “My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”   This was obviously in the womb!

Author John R Ling observed as follows: “Human life is a continuum from fertilisation until natural death.  Neither the Bible nor biology knows of any stage or event that is so definitive that it can be said, ‘Before this, I  was  not,  now  I  am.’   In other words, there is a demonstrable continuity throughout each human life.  This continuity theme is beautifully expressed in three ways in Psalm 139:13-16.  First, King David acknowledges God’s creational oversight of his earliest days:  ‘For  you  created  my  inmost  being;  you knit me together in my mother’s womb.’  It is God the Creator who directs and purposes the beginning of prenatal life [that is, life during pregnancy and before birth].  Second, there is the repetitive use of the personal pronouns, ‘I’ and ‘me’.  This usage establishes the continuity of life between the adult David and  the  just-conceived  David,  as  both  the  writer  and  the  subject  of  this  Psalm.    At whatever stage and whatever age, whether in the womb or on the throne, it was always David.  In other words, once fertilisation has occurred, there is a real, live human being, whether it is David or you, launched onto the continuum of zygote-morula-blastocyst-embryo-fetus-unborn child-born baby-infant-toddler-youth-teenager-adult.  Scripture and biology simply reinforce one another.

“These  verses  of  Psalm  139  are  a  remarkable  articulation  of  God’s  intimate  involvement  in  the  conception,  continuance  and consummation of every individual human life.  Each of us is a work of God.”

We can also see from the Bible that both John and Jesus were real persons in the womb. Would those who advocate abortion really dare to claim that it would have been acceptable for them to be aborted?

There are other Scriptures which show that human beings are considered as such even before they were born, therefore abortion would have been killing a human being, had this been the situation in the following cases:

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”   This also seems to suggest that God gave Jeremiah the human spirit at the time of conception – before He actually began to form him in his mother’s womb.

Isaiah 44:24 talks about God as “your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb.”

Paul says in Galatians 1:15 that God “had set [him] apart before [he] was born.”

We also read in Job 33:4: “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

A correct understanding of the “born again” process can help us understand the physical parallel – begettal, gestation and birth.   Please see our free booklet “Are You Already Born Again?” for much more information on this matter.

We read in Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

Also, in 2 Corinthians 5:5: “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

The Holy Spirit is imparted at the conception of spiritual life. The human spirit is imparted at the conception of physical life

Therefore abortion, AT ANY TIME, is murder.

(To be continued)

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

compiled by Dave Harris

“Coming—US War with Iran?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The Huffington Post wrote on June 21: “The night we almost went to war.” What had happened and what will be the outcome? Many are afraid America will go to war with Iran in the near future, while hoping that it won’t happen, and some signs seem to indicate indeed an extremely uncertain and volatile situation. However, the Bible suggests a totally different scenario.

“Abominable! Court Orders Abortion Despite Mother’s Objection,” is the title of the latest StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

An absolutely terrible court decision was rendered in England by a pro-abortion judge, ORDERING an abortion although the 22 weeks pregnant Catholic mother and her mother objected, with the rationale that because six “psychiatric specialists” recommended abortion and the mother was mentally disabled, it was in her “best interest” to abort the child. Fortunately, a Court of Appeals overturned this inhuman judgment, but in what kind of an indifferent society do we live, allowing such a court decision to become possible in the first place.

“Muss man seine Eltern immer ehren?” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Do We Always Have to Honor our Parents?”

“Die Zeit,” the German sermonette presented last Sabbath by Robert Kintzi, is now posted. Title in English: “Its Time.”

“A Legacy Left,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

For good or bad we are all establishing a legacy, and for those called to the Truth the consequences will be eternal. What legacy are we leaving?

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

Pride is an abomination in God’s eyes. Yet, this attribute is closely associated with confidence. How can we overcome the sin of pride and practice humility without damaging the healthy confidence we need to succeed in life?