On June 30, 2018, Robb Harris will present the sermonette, titled, “Hungering for the Unknown,” and Dave Harris will present the sermon, titled, “Is This the Time of the End?”

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.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These are the famous memorable words that Thomas Jefferson laid down back in 1776 as the core values of the United States of America in what is known as the Declaration of Independence. They still stand at the head of the US Code to this day.

However, the present day does not seem to harmonize with this statement, as we see corruption all around us. This comes as no surprise, as this has been going on for many, many years, but we see how things are getting worse—not just here, but the whole world is affected.

This Declaration is supposed to be the foundation of the United States. It is remarkable that God has created all of us equally, meaning that we all have the ability and the same choice to follow Him and His Way of Life. God has called out specific people at this time, like you and me within the Church of God, with the special responsibility of proclaiming the Truth, but the time will come when every single person will ultimately have the chance to know and understand what we are experiencing now.

When it comes to what we believe in, no one should be able to take that away from us, as long as we are determined, making sure that our choices are the correct ones. This country still enjoys freedom of religion, but the way things are going, that may very well not be the case anymore for long, as the Book of Revelation shows. We also read in 2 Peter 2:18-22 how false teachers will deceive many people, and this is something that we in the Church need to be cautious about as well.

As quoted above, three specific words are mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, and God talks about the same specific words that we should abide by and experience, namely Life, Liberty and Happiness. God tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 that the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

God explains to us what it is that we need to be doing to draw closer to God in order to gain our freedom. It is quite simple but difficult to do by human standards. Notice what Christ said in John 8:32-36: “‘And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’”

Laws change in this world. Since the Declaration was written, so many things have happened in the meantime. Times are not getting any better, as more and more laws are created or changed that affect society, which is certainly not in accordance with God’s spiritual laws or the Way that He operates. God’s spiritual Law has been the same then, now and will continue so in the future. “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25). Do we want to be part of this perfect Law?

Christ has to make us free through the repentance that God the Father offers us. When we sin, we are not free but slaves to sin. However, one may think that we are also slaves when we submit to God and His Way. But there is a big difference. Being a “slave of sin” does not bring forth good fruit, and it will lead to death. Being “slaves to righteousness” brings everlasting life. Which one do we choose? If we want to have our freedom, we must obey God (compare Romans 6:16-19). And only when Jesus Christ returns to establish His Kingdom here on earth will we finally experience TRUE freedom and liberty.

We can say that we have signed our very own Declaration of Independence, but not of this world. We have devoted our lives to God; we look to divine protection and our lives are in God’s hands, for our citizenship is not of this world (Philippians 3:17-21).

God asks us to choose life and reject death (Deuteronomy 30:15-16, 19-20). The life that God is offering us is everlasting life (Matthew 19:17). It requires that we keep His commandments.

This, in turn, leads to true happiness. Proverbs 29:18 says, “…happy is he who keeps the law.” In John 13:17, Christ confirms that we are happy when we do the right things (Authorized Version). And Psalm 144:15 says that “happy are the people whose God is the LORD!”

When Thomas Jefferson wrote about Life, Liberty and Happiness, he had our physical condition in mind. God is using the same words but He is not just referring to our physical life, but also, and more importantly, to our eternal existence.

by Norbert Link

We report on the election of Tayyip Erdogan as the autocratic President of Turkey and his strained relationship with the state of Israel and the USA; address a new European “Military Force” and the concept of core Europe in light of the ongoing devastating migrant situation; and speak on the “end of global Britain” and the fear of a major financial crunch because of Brexit.

We also address the US Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the US travel ban against seven countries; report on a widely-unknown negative consequence of the tax reform bill for churches; and address the escalation of a coming trade war and the unparalleled deteriorating and increasingly hostile relationship between Europe and the USA. In this context, please view out new StandingWatch program, titled, “Soon! The Bible Prophesies WAR Between Europe and the USA!” 

We conclude with an article about the failure of the UN and the FDA’s approval of the first drug derived from Marijuana.

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

Erdogan Declares Victory in Turkey

Reuters reported on June 25:

“Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party claimed victory in Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary polls on Sunday… [it] ushers in a powerful new executive presidency long sought by Erdogan… Critics say it will further erode democracy in the NATO member state and entrench one-man rule… Under the new constitution, he could serve a further term from 2023, taking him to 2028…

“Turkey held Sunday’s elections under a state of emergency declared after a failed military coup in July 2016 that Erdogan blamed on… U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen… Since the coup attempt, Erdogan has waged a sweeping crackdown on Gulen’s followers in Turkey, detaining some 160,000 people…”

Breitbart wrote on June 26:

“Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh phoned Erdogan Sunday evening… Haniyeh congratulated Erdogan and said he would dispatch a delegation to Turkey in the coming days, and indicated a willingness to deepen ties with Ankara, the statement said.

“…Erdogan has been among Hamas’s strongest supporters on the world stage, and Turkey under him has been accused of harboring leaders of the terror group and allowing it to launder money for militant activities.”

Hamas has been declared by the US as a terrorist organization with the goal to eradicate the state of Israel.

Erdogan More Successful in Germany Than in Turkey

Deutsche Welle reported on June 25:

“Nearly two-thirds of the Turkish community in Germany cast votes for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sunday’s election, far more than the support he averaged in Turkey…

“In Berlin… calls of ‘Recep Erdogan, our leader’ could be heard… In Dortmund… Erdogan supporters with Turkish flags shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is Great) and slogans against the Kurdish militant group PKK. Marco Bülow, a member of the Bundestag for Dortmund with the Social Democrats, wrote on Twitter: ‘Sorry, but that makes me sick.’”

Erdogan’s Autocratic Powers

Deutsche Welle reported on June 25:

“Turkey no longer has a prime minister. The president… is now chief executive. [He] is responsible for appointing and dismissing vice-presidents, ministers and senior officials… parliament has no say in these matters… The president can issue decrees that become legally binding once they are published in the government’s official bulletin. Parliamentary approval is not needed. If parliament does adopt a related law, the decree then becomes invalid…

“… the president effectively controls parliament… [He] appoints six of the 13 members of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, which in turn appoints judges and prosecutors. Parliament, where the president is majority leader, chooses the council’s other members… Turkey’s military courts have already been abolished.”

Washington’s Chilly Reaction

AFP wrote on June 26:

“Washington’s chilly reaction to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s election victory and consolidation of his presidential powers reflect expectations that no thaw in US-Turkish ties is imminent. Erdogan’s position as Turkey’s leader remains strong, but his parliamentary majority now depends not just on his own AKP party but also on the nationalist MHP — no friend to America… And in particular, Erdogan is now even less likely to bend on his key beef with Washington: Turkey’s determined opposition to the Pentagon’s continued support for Kurdish militia inside Syria…

“Despite being a leading NATO ally, Turkey has entered into an understanding to buy Russia’s advanced S-400 air defense system, in defiance of US sanctions on Moscow.”

Turkey—biblical Edom—is prophesied to take a very hostile stance against “Israel”—both the Jewish people and the USA, the UK and other English-speaking nations which are modern descendants of the ancient house of Israel.

The New European Military Force

The Guardian wrote on June 25:

“Nine EU member states have agreed to establish a European military force for rapid deployment in times of crisis… Spearheaded by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the joint enterprise will allow national armed forces across Europe to coordinate and react swiftly together.

“Ministers from France, Germany, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Spain and Portugal signed a letter of intent in Luxembourg on Monday. Since the election of its new government, Italy has backtracked on its initial support, but Rome has not ruled out the country’s future involvement…

“The development has caused some anxiety within Nato, where officials are concerned about any duplication of roles and distancing by European nations from the US… The European Intervention Initiative is outside the EU’s structures, so will allow for full UK involvement after Brexit…”

Back to Core Europe?

The Independent wrote on June 25:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will seek direct deals with separate EU states on migration … ‘There will be bilateral and trilateral agreements… not always wait for all 28 members,’ she said… French President Emmanuel Macron offered his backing for Ms Merkel’s proposal, saying the solution should be ‘European’ but it could just be several states together.

“Rome has started turning away ships with migrants rescued at sea… Hungary and Poland have refused to host any arrivals. Now backed by Austria, they want to end any further discussion on rules for sharing them out across the bloc…

“A poll published in Germany on Sunday showed the dispute was weakening support for Merkel’s coalition and pushed the AfD to its highest ratings…”

Euractiv wrote on June 25:

“The recent EU mini-summit on migration held on 24 June has reaffirmed more openly than ever before the fundamental dissensions and schism among member states, if not among EU institutions themselves, in the field of migration and asylum policy. A two-speed EU migration policy would be the best solution to keep EU unity…

“… What is often overlooked by most commentators today is that old-time member states such as Denmark and the United Kingdom, in particular, have consistently opted out of a range of provisions in the area of EU home affairs, the Schengen acquis and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, not to mention several other EU instruments in the fields of justice, employment and social policy, over the past two decades…”

A core Europe or a two-speed Europe is clearly prophesied to occur in the not-too-distant future.

A Humanitarian Tragedy

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 27:

“A rescue boat stranded for days in the Mediterranean carrying over 200 migrants was finally allowed to dock in the capital of Malta… The Lifeline, a vessel for German NGO Mission Lifeline, had been waiting to be allocated a port for six days after rescuing 234 migrants off the coast of Libya last Thursday…

“[Maltese Prime Minister Joseph] Muscat said that once in port, the ship would be impounded and the crew placed under investigation for allegedly operating illegally – including violating rescue protocols and operating without the correct registration…

“Lifeline is run by a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Dresden called Mission Lifeline. The ship has been stranded at sea since June 21… The refusal by Italy and Malta to open their ports to the ship – and the haggling among EU states over how to distribute the migrants – showed a hardening of positions [of] EU leaders…  Earlier this month, Italy and Malta both refused to let a French humanitarian ship dock, which forced some 630 migrants to travel an additional 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) to Spain…”

AFP wrote on June 27:

“German migrant rescue group Mission Lifeline Wednesday denied breaking the law…

“Italy and France have accused the charity of acting illegally by refusing to hand the shipwrecked migrants over to the [Libyan] coastguard during the June 21 rescue, arguing that such operations play into the hands of human traffickers. But Lifeline argued that the migrants would not be safe in Libya, where they have faced abuse and rape in holding centres…

“Lifeline said it followed the principle of non-refoulement under international law that forbids returning asylum seekers to a country where they likely face persecution…”

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 26:

“Mediterranean countries are all in the same boat: they don’t want ships carrying rescued refugees to dock at their ports. That approach poses a big problem for aid organizations…

“Repeated cases of refugee rescue boats being turned away from European ports have sparked anger among aid workers and religious authorities…

“Prior to their upcoming summit, EU leaders have held intense discussions with respect to a unified European migration policy… Migrants are to be deterred from embarking on the hazardous passage across the Mediterranean in the first place… Someone who has slim prospects of being rescued from their inflatable dinghy may not embark on the journey at all – that’s the ministers’ reasoning, in a nutshell…

“The number of refugees who completed the passage across the Mediterranean to Italy has decreased to 16,400 during the first half of 2018, compared to 73,000 during the first half of 2017. At the same time, the number of people from Africa who cross over to Spain has increased sharply. At least 635 people are known to have drowned this year on the route between Libya and Italy…”

This is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, and beyond the ability of man to solve. The conflict between the hardening of the European governmental position and the effort of aid organizations to rescue those in need is bound to escalate. It seems that migrants are always losing. Note the next article.

Worldwide Migrants Problem

Daily Mail wrote von June 25:

“Algeria has denied mistreating migrants amid claims it has abandoned more than 13,000 in the Sahara Desert over the past 14 months – including pregnant women and children. The country has been accused of expelling the migrants without food or water and forcing them to walk, sometimes at gunpoint, under a blistering sun before being left to die. Officials from the International Organisation for Migration have warned of a looming ‘catastrophe’…

“Migrants from across sub-Saharan Africa – Mali, the Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Niger and more – are part of the mass migration toward Europe, some fleeing violence, others just hoping to make a living. Many then attempt perilous attempts to cross the Mediterranean to Italy or Spain… Untold numbers die [or they] simply vanished in the Sahara.

“A European Union spokesman said the EU was aware of what Algeria was doing, but that ‘sovereign countries’ can expel migrants as long as they comply with international law…

“Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has called for processing centres to be set up south of Libya’s borders as a way to block attempts by migrants to cross the Mediterranean… Salvini… bluntly told foreign charities to stop rescuing migrants off the North African coast…”

These are appallingly inhuman proposals and actions.

Nazis Abducted about 400,000 “Aryan”-Looking Children

Handelsblatt Global wrote on June 22:

“A trial by a victim of Nazi Germany’s policy of abducting ‘Aryan’-looking children in occupied Eastern Europe shows the lasting pain suffered by families torn apart by cruel governments… The plaintiff, Hermann Lüdeking, is suing the German government for a crime committed in the early 1940s. As Nazi Germany occupied much of Europe, the SS kidnapped hundreds of thousands of blond-haired, blue-eyed children who fit the regime’s racist ideals. The children were brought into ‘assimilation camps’ where they were ‘Germanized,’ robbed of their identities and eventually given up for adoption to loyal Nazi couples… Many of those children never saw their real families again. Estimates vary, but it is usually stated that up to 400,000 ‘Aryan’-looking children were taken from their families in Eastern Europe and Nazi-occupied Norway. Half of all the abductions took place in Poland.

“Mr. Lüdeking… was 6 years old when the Germans abducted him. He still remembers the day when, months later, ‘an elegant woman with a hat’ turned up at his Nazi-run orphanage and chose him. From then on, Maria Lüdeking, a senior member of a Nazi women’s organization, was his ‘mother.’ Some 76 years later, her ‘son’ is still fighting for justice… He found his Nazi adoption paperwork, which referred to him as Roman Roszantowski, born in Poland in 1936. But even that birth name probably is fake. The Nazis were good at covering their tracks, and post-war Germany was all too eager to sweep war crimes under the carpet…”

A lesson from history! The Bible shows that in the future, slavery and abductions will become wide-spread among many “civilized” countries.

Hostility Towards Christians Accelerating Worldwide

One News Now wrote on June 22:

“… more and more nations are targeting believers in Christ than any other faith… Across the globe, peacefully practicing one’s faith as a Christian is becoming more and more scarce… Some of the biggest suppressors of religious freedom were found to come at the hands of state officials governing over tens or hundreds of millions of citizens.

“Laws prohibiting the freedom to practice one’s faith continue to rise for more than half of the nations of the world.”

Scripture tells us that a worldwide martyrdom of true Christians will occur in the future. The hostility against “Christianity” in general will of course include antagonism against true Christians who will be considered as sects or cults—being unworthy of protection.

Watch China

Former German Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Joschka Fischer wrote on June 22 in Project Syndicate:

“It is now clear that the twenty-first century is ushering in a new world order…

“Europe and the North Atlantic dominated the global economy for four centuries… Though the US remains the world’s leading superpower, China has emerged as both a new and ancient geopolitical force. With a population of 1.4 billion people and an enormous domestic market, China is already challenging the US as the world’s economic, political, and technological leader…

“Anyone who has ever visited the corridors of power in Beijing knows that Chinese leaders have their own map of the world. On it, China – the ‘Middle Kingdom’ – lies at the center, while Europe and the US drop off the left and right sides, respectively. In other words, the US and Europe… are already… consigned to the margins…”

The Bible predicts that many Far Eastern nations, including China and Russia, will form a union in competition to the West. They are called in Scripture the “kings of the East.”

“The End of Global Britain”

Project Syndicate wrote on June 25:

“In the two years since the Brexit referendum, the United Kingdom’s global influence has been significantly diminished…

“Since the June 2016 Brexit referendum, British foreign policy seems to have all but collapsed…

“Since World War II, Britain’s close relationships with continental Europe and the US have served as the two anchors of its foreign policy. But now, both lines have essentially been severed… a Europe without Britain’s traditional leadership, judgment, and diplomacy will be a lesser Europe. And Britain, by its own hand, risks being reduced to a footnote.”

Major Financial Crunch on the Horizon?

Business Insider wrote von June 27:

“A major financial crunch on contracts worth almost £30 trillion ($39.7 trillion) could be on the horizon in March next year, the Bank of England warned on Wednesday. The UK’s central bank used its latest Financial Stability Report… to warn that Britain’s impending exit from the European Union could have a huge impact on over-the-counter derivative markets…

“The Bank of England’s warning comes amid growing tensions between UK and EU financial authorities… ‘Firms cannot take for granted that they continue to operate as at present nor can they rely on as yet unrealised political agreements or public policy interventions,’ Andrea Enria, the EBA’s chair said, warning that banks need to ‘speed up’ their preparations for a cliff-edge EU exit.”

Iranians Protest Against their Regime

CBN wrote on June 26:

“… thousands of Iranians take part in a second day of protests against the Islamic regime… Iran’s currency, the rial, has plummetted in recent days against the US dollar prompting thousands of Iranians to protest in front of Parliament and on the streets of Tehran…

“‘This protest in Iran is significant,’ said Dr. Mike Ansari… ‘It is the traders of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar that have taken to the streets protesting the rising prices and the plummeting value of Iran’s currency.’ Ansari… said traders at the sprawling Grand Bazaar have historically played a significant role in the political affairs of the Islamic republic. ‘Remember, it was this group of traders who were extremely influential in Iranian politics in 1979 when they economically backed the uprising, the revolution against the Shah, and brought Ayatollah Khoemeni to power,’ Ansari noted.

“Iranians chanting ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to America’ are a common occurrence. Monday’s protests were different… thousands of angry protesters [were] chanting, ‘Death to Palestine’ and ‘Death to Syria,’ an apparent reference to Iran’s military engagement in Syria and funding of the terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. ‘Most Iranian families are facing grave economic hardship,’ Ansari said. ‘The prices of milk, eggs, meat, bread have skyrocketed, yet Iranian people are witnessing their government investing millions of dollars in expensive regional disputes in Iraq, Syria, Yemen to increase its regional influence, while [Iranian people] go hungry,’ Ansari added…”

Supreme Court Upholds Trump’s Travel Ban

ABC reported on June 26:

“The Supreme Court has upheld President Donald Trump’s travel ban in one of the most highly anticipated decisions of this year, saying the ban is ‘squarely within’ the president’s authority. The Court’s 5-4 ruling that the third iteration of Trump’s controversial proposal… is constitutional comes after two previous attempts by the administration to bar immigration to the United States from certain foreign countries.

“That newest iteration of the travel ban is a presidential proclamation signed on Sept. 24, 2017, that indefinitely restricted most travel from the countries of Chad, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen—linking the restrictions to those countries’ purported vetting deficiencies. In April, The U.S. lifted travel restrictions on Chad… Trump said in a statement the ruling is a ‘tremendous victory’ for the American people…

“The court ruled in favor of the administration, Chief Justice John Roberts writing ‘…the Government has set forth a sufficient national security justification to survive rational basis review. We express no view on the soundness of the policy. We simply hold today that plaintiffs have not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their constitutional claim…

“‘The Proclamation is expressly premised on legitimate purposes: preventing entry of nationals who cannot be adequately vetted and inducing other nations to improve their practices. The text says nothing about religion,’ Roberts said. ‘Plaintiffs and the dissent nonetheless emphasize that five of the seven nations currently included in the Proclamation have Muslim-majority populations. Yet that fact alone does not support an inference of religious hostility, given that the policy covers just 8% of the world’s Muslim population.’”

Newsmax wrote on June 26:

“Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday the Supreme Court’s decision upholding President Donald Trump’s travel ban ‘is right to the Constitution’…  ‘This is about people who want to come into the country and have no rights under the American Constitution,’ the Harvard Law School professor emeritus [said]… Dershowitz also slammed Democratic attacks on the Trump administration, citing the call by California Rep. Maxine Waters for Americans to ‘absolutely harass’ White House officials while they are off duty or out in public spaces…

“‘We’ve become a very divided country. Anything that Trump does, whether it be recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or negotiating with North Korea, he can do no right when it comes to extremists on partisan grounds — and for some extremists on the other side, President Trump could do no wrong…”

The Week wrote on June 26:

“The Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s travel ban Tuesday, but in the process it quietly overturned its 1944 ruling that the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II was constitutional. The case, Korematsu v. United States, was invoked in the dissent, but ‘whatever rhetorical advantage the dissent may see in doing so, Korematsu has nothing to do with this case,’ the majority opinion said.

“The majority went on to argue that the ‘forcible relocation of U.S. citizens to concentration camps, solely and explicitly on the basis of race, is objectively unlawful and outside the scope of presidential authority,’ adding: ‘Korematsu was gravely wrong the day it was decided, has been overruled in the court of history, and — to be clear — has no place in law under the Constitution.'”

Tax Reform Requires Churches to Pay Huge Tax for Some Fringe Benefits

Newsmax wrote on June 26:

“The Republican tax reform passed in December is requiring churches, hospitals, colleges and other historically tax-exempt organizations to begin paying a 21 percent tax on some types of fringe benefits they give their employees…

“Many non-profit organizations are stunned to learn of the tax, which has been little noticed and could cost them tens of thousands of dollars. Many of the groups say it will be a significant financial burden, as well as an administrative one, as they previously did not have to deal with the IRS… Even though many are still unaware of the change, more than 600 churches and other groups have already signed a petition demanding the change be repealed…

“The main benefits affected are transportation-related, like free parking in a garage and subway and bus passes, as well as targeting meals provided to workers… Many nonprofits say they are confused over how exactly the tax works, with churches, for example, asking how they are supposed to calculate the value of parking spaces for employees… The Treasury is now working on regulations detailing how the tax will work, even though the groups are supposed to have already been paying the tax every quarter since it went into effect on Jan. 1…”

As many churches and other nonprofit organizations would be affected by these rules, which Congress was reportedly not even aware of when they passed the law, it is hoped that they will be rescinded as soon as possible.

Trump Germany’s Enemy?

Der Spiegel wrote on June 20:

“Vladimir Putin operates in the shadows. The Russian president controls a clever disinformation campaign with the aim of upsetting the populations of Western countries, discrediting their institutions, dividing society, influencing elections and ultimately causing the collapse of liberal democracy. Nevertheless, there are still many people who continue to believe that Putin is innocent and that the claims are merely the malicious fabrications of Western intelligence agencies. Is it all just a conspiracy theory?

“Regarding Donald Trump’s intentions, by contrast, there can no longer be any doubt… Trump acts quite openly. And now, the American president has turned his attentions toward launching a disinformation campaign against Germany. He is doing so as a way of justifying his morally repugnant refugee policies to the American people…

“In an unprecedented step into German domestic affairs, the U.S. president seized on the current disagreements within Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition about refugee policy. The German people were ‘turning against their leadership,’ he tweeted gleefully, and followed that up with a blatant lie, saying ‘crime in Germany is way up.’ Europe, he intimated, had made the big mistake of letting in millions of people who had ‘violently’ changed the culture.

“Apart from the fact that this is all lies, the author is a man who bears more responsibility than any other for the ongoing, brutal attempts to rip down all that has been laboriously built up since World War II. In a second tweet, Trump then repeated his lie about rising crime rates in Germany and said that ‘officials do not want to report these crimes.’ It reads like a speech that could be held at a right-wing extremist rally in Dresden… The claim – leveled without a shred of proof – that the German government and its officials would deliberately keep the true extent of criminality from the citizens of Germany should not go without consequences. His open support for German right-wing populists is nothing less than a blatant attack by a foreign power on this country’s government. It is a direct attempt by the White House to destabilize the Federal Republic of Germany.

“Angela Merkel has been far too restrained in her reaction to this threat. The chancellor simply responded that the crime figures recently presented by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer speak for themselves. Those statistics show that crime has in fact gone down slightly. And if there is one person in German politics who could never be accused of whitewashing crime statistics, it is Seefhofer, who is currently looking for any excuse possible to take an even harder line on migration.

“No, this U.S. president was never a partner. He is a hostile opponent. We should finally start to treat him as such and act accordingly… relations to this U.S. government should be reduced to a bare minimum. It is also no longer necessary to pretend to be on friendly terms. Germany and the European Union should abandon polite self-restraint when dealing publicly with Trump and his government… We have long known that we could no longer rely on the United States under Donald Trump. Now, though, it has become clear that we have to protect ourselves from him.”

Some may claim that we publish this article because we want to support Europe and reject Trump. This would be untrue. We do NOT take any political side nor do we speak for or against a political candidate or a political party or the policy of a particular country; in fact, we could not care less about politics. The reason why this article is highly explosive is the fact that it represents the view point of the majority of Germans and Europeans. And this shows that—and why—it is no longer inconceivable that—and why—open hostilities will break out between the USA and Europe, under German leadership. The Bible has long ago prophesied that in the end times, a NUCLEAR WAR will be fought between those two power blocs… and that Europe will attack the USA militarily. The following articles give further credence to this conclusion.

Trade War Escalating—Harley-Davidson Announces Production Outside USA

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 25:

“In a regulatory filing on Monday, Harley-Davidson said each of its motorcycle[s] shipped to the European Union would cost about $2,200 (€1,880) more after the bloc raised its levies on imported US bikes to 31 percent from 6 percent on June 22. This would cost the company about $90 million to $100 million annually, the manufacturer said and added that it was striving to absorb rather than pass extra costs on to customers in the medium-term.

“In order to avoid the impact of higher EU tariffs on its sales, the company also announced that it would be ‘implementing a plan to shift production of motorcycles for EU destinations from the US to its international facilities.’… The Milwaukee-based company sold almost 40,000 motorcycles in the EU last year, generating revenue second only to the United States…

“Harley-Davidson is the first American manufacturer to detail the financial impact of the escalating trade tensions between Washington and its allies… Daimler, which also produces its premium Mercedes cars in the US, said its 2018 profits were expected to be hit by higher Chinese tariffs on imports of American-made cars.”

In response, President Trump tweeted the following on June 26:

“Early this year Harley-Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand. That was long before Tariffs were announced. Hence, they were just using Tariffs/Trade War as an excuse… A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end – they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!… Harley must know that they won’t be able to sell back into U.S. without paying a big tax!”

The concern is that other American firms may follow Harley-Davidson’s example.

“US President Insists EU Will Drop Its Retaliatory Tariffs. Brussels Has No Plans to Do So.”

Politico wrote in June 26:

“In the escalating trade war with the U.S., Brussels has a clear message for Donald Trump: It’s not backing down… French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Europe was ready for Round Two if Trump really wanted it. ‘If the United States hits us again with a 20 percent increase on cars, we will respond again…

“Even in Berlin… the view is now that there can’t be any offer to Trump… If Trump does impose tariffs on European cars — which he threatened to do if Brussels doesn’t remove certain tariffs and trade barriers — the EU would likely debate further countermeasures…”

The Associated Press wrote on June 27:

“European Council President Donald Tusk says the European Union must prepare for the worst due to the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, as a trade war looms between Washington and Brussels. In a letter to EU leaders Wednesday, Tusk wrote that ‘trans-Atlantic relations are under immense pressure due to the policies of President Trump.’ Tusk… said that ‘unfortunately, the divisions go beyond trade.’ He wrote: ‘It is my belief that, while hoping for the best, we must be ready to prepare our Union for worst-case scenarios.’”

One must ask the question as to what is meant with a “worst-case scenario.” Again, we are NOT publishing these articles about the trade conflict to take political sides but rather to show how biblical prophecy is being fulfilled, predicting the growing antagonism of Europeans towards the USA; the total isolation of the USA in the world; and the increasingly deteriorating relationship between the USA and its allies. One might say, “You have said it often enough, so we do not need to hear it again and again.” However, we are quick to forget and need to be constantly reminded as to what is happening, showing that it is in fulfillment of God’s faithful Word.

The UN Has Failed

On June 20, Bild Online published the following interview with “Carla del Ponte (71) [who] was the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from 1999 to 2007. For four years, she was also responsible for investigating war crimes in Rwanda. Following several years as Ambassador to Argentina, she became member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria… the Swiss native explains how the UN’s inactivity in the face of the atrocities in Syria, which have even amounted to genocide, drove her to despair”:

“When you’ve been investigating horrible crimes like those in Syria, there has to be a tribunal at the end, an international court of justice… However, the international community – the UN Security Council, to be more precise – does not want this tribunal. Syria is a member of this committee. The ambassador is allowed to spread his stupid ideas there. The UN, who likes to consider itself the world’s conscience, prefers to watch and do nothing…

“Russia and China with their right to veto [prevented al-Assad and his henchmen from being brought to court]. Russia used to support al-Assad’s father. Now they are standing by a war criminal. Don’t forget that Russia is selling weapons. In seven years of war, you need a lot of weapons… the UN has failed. It has failed completely when it comes to the protection of human rights… Human rights violations are happening everywhere in the world. In Africa, in Yemen. Half of the states who are members of the Human Rights Council violate human rights themselves. We urgently need a reform. Countries that violate human rights every day must be kicked out of the UNHRC. The right to veto must go…”

When asked whether it is correct to say that “there is only a thin, cracked layer of civilization that covers the darkness that’s slumbering in every human being,” she answered:

“I tend to agree. Take Rwanda as an example. Neighbours who lived and even ate together all the time suddenly killed each other with machetes. This hatred was the consequence of brainwashing. The same thing that Milosevic did in Yugoslavia. Although I very much hope that something like this is not possible in my home country, I cannot exclude the possibility…”

The assessment of the UN’s failure is very true. No human attempt to bring peace has ever succeeded. It will require the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom and the Government of God to usher in lasting peace on earth.

FDA Approves First Drug Derived from Marijuana

The Website of statnews.com reported on June 25:

“The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the country’s first drug derived from marijuana, a medication that treats two rare and devastating forms of epilepsy. The drug, GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, is made of cannabidiol, or CBD, a component of marijuana that does not give users a high. It is given as an oil, and in clinical trials, it was shown to reduce the number of seizures by about 40 percent in patients with Dravet or Lennox-Gastaut syndromes…

“Before GW can market Epidiolex, though, the Drug Enforcement Administration will have to reclassify CBD, which in this case, because it comes from marijuana, is considered a Schedule I drug, meaning it has no medical value and a high risk of abuse. The agency is expected to do so within 90 days…

“Many families have moved to states where marijuana is legal medically or recreationally so they could treat their children with CBD on their own…”

It is hoped that medical marijuana will be reclassified so that the present unnecessary controversy between the Federal government and the states on this issue will cease once and for all.

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.

Let us review some Scriptures that reveal that the unrighteous will NOT be in the Kingdom of God

1 Corinthians 6:9-11: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?   Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

We read here that some Church members used to behave in a wrong and sinful manner but we also read in Proverbs 26:11: “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly,” meaning that some Church members could turn back to their former life. Therefore, anyone who has gone off the straight and narrow way and has not repented and got back on track will not be in the Kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2: “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” Paul says they have to hold fast to that which he preached to them.

Hebrews 10:26: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” So again, anyone who has been converted can still go off track and sin willfully and will not be continuing in the Truth. For such a person, the consequences are dire.

2 Peter 2:20-22: “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’”

It Does Matter What We Do!

In Romans 2:5-11, we read about God’s righteous judgment:  “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;  but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For there is no partiality with God.”

This passage is very clear about those who obey the Truth and their reward and those who do not obey the Truth.

Romans 6:15-19: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” This passage clearly shows that we are slaves to whom we obey—God or sin.

Romans 8:13-14: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” We must put the deeds of the body to death; i.e., it truly DOES matter what we do!

Galatians 6:7-8: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

People who emotionally “gave their heart to the Lord” at a crusade or at some other time did not really repent, and unless they do, they will not be in God’s Kingdom. But even those who became converted may have drifted away from the Truth or may have even deliberately turned their back on that which they once embraced, and as such, are no longer Christians.  Of course, if they were called by God, then they can repent and it is God’s wish that they do so, but they will be held responsible for their actions, whatever course they may take.

So, putting all of these Scriptures together, the Bible tells us the following:

When Peter was asked what they should do, he said: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). It was not just an emotional experience—a one-off experience.  Repent means to be sorry for past sins and implicit in it is that we will try and avoid such sins in the future.  After repentance and belief in Christ’s Sacrifice and in the gospel of the Kingdom of God, then what do we have to do?

• We should be baptized followed by the laying on of hands.
• We have to develop and practice an ongoing godly behavioural pattern.
• We must not look back to our former life (compare Luke 9:62: “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’”)
• We have to surrender our lives to God and He must come first (see Luke 14:26-27).
• It becomes clear that being saved (salvation) is not a once in a lifetime experience but a process that lasts throughout our lives.
• And we must endure to the end or we can lose out.

Jesus reproved those who were hypocrites, as we read in Luke 6:46: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” We have to follow the instructions that we are given and keeping the Commandments of God is of paramount importance.

It is critical to make these further observations.

1. We can lose our crown of life.

Revelation 2:10: “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Faithfulness to God is a requirement and the only conclusion from this verse is that those who were being saved, but weren’t faithful unto death, would not receive the crown of life!

Revelation 3:11: “Behold, I come quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” This verse clearly shows that we can lose out and can lose our crown.

2. At the end time, the love of many will grow cold.

Matthew 24:12: “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” The love mentioned here is “agape” which is godly love and applies to Church members.  Unconverted people of this world do not have godly love within them and, because of lawlessness, the love of many in the Church will grow cold. When that happens, those who lose this godly love will not make it into the Kingdom of God unless they repent quickly of this and return to fully following the Way of God.

3. There will be a falling away from the Truth at the end of the age.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.” The time frame is obviously the end time as it talks about the man of sin or the false prophet, and in verse 10 is a very telling verse in the context of the “once saved, always saved” belief of some.  It states: “… and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” The love of the Truth is vital to our salvation; without it, we will lose out!

1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” Departing from the faith, for whatever reason, will be a terrible position to be in unless there is true repentance.

Hebrews 6:4-6: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” Interestingly, this is one of many Scriptures that proponents of “once saved, always saved” quote as part of their proof saying that it is “an often misunderstood passage” and then go on to make assertions that don’t stack up with what the Bible reveals.

To avoid falling away, it is imperative that we must persevere in God’s Truth giving God thanks for our calling. Having a laid back approach to what God expects of us and never uncompromisingly carry out our individual and collective responsibilities could well lead to Christ saying: “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:23).

One writer asked the following:

“Why would our arch enemy, the devil, tempt Christians to sin if our future sins are all forgiven and could never be imputed to us? In fact, the devil would be wasting his time if no sin could ever be charged against the believer! The devil obviously believes what the OSAS (once saved, always saved) teachers want us to believe, for he is ever trying to get us to yield to his temptations. Jesus told us to pray to not be led into temptation (Matthew 6:13). Why would the Lord want us to pray daily about such if sin could not be imputed to the believer anyhow?”

It is a very dangerous thing to think that “once saved, always saved” is approved by biblical instruction.  One English entertainer once said that he was told that he should “give his heart to the Lord” which he did, and that he didn’t have to change anything. The Bible clearly says otherwise.

Can true Christians lose their salvation? Yes!  Once saved, always saved? The Bible gives an emphatic NO to that question.

If we’re saved now and we can’t lose out whatever we do, where’s the motivation? Why continue to grow and overcome? There would be no need, as the matter would be unchangeable, irrespective of our future behaviour. However, the Scriptures clearly tell us that we must grow and overcome AND endure to the end.

2 Peter 3:18: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” This doesn’t indicate that nothing else needs to be done after conversion!

One passage of Scripture that proponents of “once saved, always saved” use is in John 10:27-29 which reads as follows: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” But to follow is a continuous tense and we need to continue to follow Jesus to receive eternal life – we mustn’t grow weary and give up.

In Philippians 1:6 we read: “… being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” To achieve this goal, we need to stick to the process that was started when we were baptised and keep repenting, growing and overcoming with God’s help and that way the good work that was begun in us, God will complete at Christ’s return.

1 John 1:7-9: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God will forgive our sins but we do have to repent and confess them.

In our booklet “Are You Predestined to be Saved?,” we read the flowing on page 71:

“WE WILL SUCCEED! True Christians ought to have a continual attitude of thankfulness and appreciation to God for both the physical blessings and spiritual blessings that He gives us.  There is one most fundamental reason WHY we CAN be truly thankful to God.  That reason is the PROMISE that we who are called, WILL make it into God’s Kingdom!   Yes, God has called us to SUCCEED. If God had any doubt whether or not we would succeed, He would not have called us in this day and age. God is SURE and CERTAIN that we will make it! How certain are WE? Let us notice God’s absolute conviction that YOU, if you are one of God’s begotten children, WILL make it into His kingdom.

“Realize first, that, as far as God is concerned, it is already a done deal.  Only ONE person can stop you from qualifying, and that person is YOU!  As we saw in the last chapter, it IS possible for those who are truly called to salvation, to commit the ‘unpardonable sin.’ That is why the concept, ‘once saved—always saved,’ is wrong.  We were saved from our past sins (Matthew 1:21; compare Romans 3:25); we are being saved right now (Acts 2:47); and we will be saved in the future—when Christ returns (Romans 5:10). Only the one who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).  We need to conquer our fears and doubts, and that is why we need to overcome our carnality that tempts us to return to this world. BUT, in God’s eyes, this battle WILL BE won!  It is not impossible to succeed!  To the contrary, it is certain that we WILL succeed, as long as we let God live and rule our lives.  And THAT is WHY we can be truly thankful, always, now and forever!“

It might come as somewhat of a surprise to some that when a person is saved and becomes a righteous person, he can die spiritually if he leaves the Way of the Life that he has been called to.   We must remember that at the dawn of civilisation, Satan tempted Eve in the garden of Eden and said “you will not surely die” but she did, although she lived a long time after this action that she took.

In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 18, we read the following in verses 24-26:

“But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.

“Yet you say, ‘The way of the LORD is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies.”

This a revealing piece of Scripture showing that a righteous man can turn away from righteousness and die in his iniquity because there is no repentance of his sins.  “Once saved, always saved” is shown to be a false concept from these verses in the book of Ezekiel.

In John 8:51, Jesus said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word he shall never see death.” This must be about spiritual death as all men die at some time. That is how we must live and those who were once saved and stray away from their calling will be lost – not once saved, always saved!

So, recapping, there are 3 aspects to salvation as the Scriptures clearly reveal:

• We are saved now.
• We are being saved.
• And to be finally saved, we must endure to the end.

As previously mentioned, there are many writers who present the case for the fallacy of the “once saved, always saved” debate, giving voluminous evidence to prove their stance but, inevitably, there will be counter arguments and discussions put forth by the adherents of this belief. As we said at the beginning of this series, this subject is one where there are many proponents on both sides of the debate who can present their case powerfully, but the Church of God has, historically, had the understanding that is shown in this presentation.

The real Christian life is a life of overcoming, of spiritual growing. The concept of “once saved, always saved” is clearly wrong and unscriptural.

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

compiled by Dave Harris

“Soon! The Bible Prophesies WAR Between Europe and the USA!” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

Even though this might still be difficult or even impossible for many to comprehend, the Bible clearly reveals that prior to Christ’s return, a terrible war will be fought between Europe and the USA. Reviewing the facts, we can see that preparatory movements are already in place to bring about what Scripture calls the “Great Tribulation.” Without taking any political position, we are just telling you what God’s Word is revealing to you, and if Jesus were not to return to shorten those coming days, no human being would survive.

“Are you Already Born Again?” is the title of a new StandingWatch Talking Points, presented by Pastor Rene Messier. Here is a summary:

Many professing Christians think they are already born again, and they readily share their convictions with others, presenting what would seem to be a convincing case for the need to be “born again” in this life. In reality, they miss one of the most important teachings of the Bible—what man’s ultimate potential is and how to attain it.

“Sagt uns Christus, dass seine Rückkehr nahe ist?” is the title of this Sabbath’s German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Does Jesus Tell Us that His Return Is Near?”

“The Prophet Elijah in the Past, the Present and the Future,” last Sabbath’s sermon, presented by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Remarkable events occurred in the life of ancient Elijah, and they are written down for us today for our learning, admonition and example. There are those who believe that Elijah did not die, but that he is still alive today in heaven or someplace else, and that we will soon return to do a powerful Work, prior to Christ’s Second Coming. What does the Bible tell us about these ideas? How are we to understand that Elijah will come before the terrible Day of the Lord?

On June 23, 2018, Norbert Link will use the time for the sermonette and the announcements to discuss current events in the light of biblical prophecy. He will also present the sermon, titled, “The Prophet Elijah in the Past, the Present and the Future.”

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 last week’s Editorial, Mr. Brian Gale asked whether we are sighing and crying over all the abominations that are done in our countries. He specifically addressed the results of a referendum to repeal Ireland’s abortion ban, legalizing and legitimizing the murder of innocent children. Another abominable development which we should all sigh and cry about is US Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ current policy of “zero tolerance” regarding illegal immigrants, leading to the forceful separation of young children from their parents and the internment of the children in detention or concentration camps.

Do we understand HOW mean-spirited and ungodly this policy is? Or have we become so hard-hearted and indifferent to the misery of the weak that we cannot even grasp the enormity of such terrible conduct?

President Trump and his administration have come under unusually strong vocal attacks by Democrats and Republicans alike, and even his own wife, Melania, as well as former first lady Laura Bush did condemn the practice. Mrs. Bush called the practice “immoral” and “cruel.” She wrote: “These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history.” First lady Melania Trump said through a spokesperson that she hates to see children separated from their families, and that a country needs to be “governed with heart,” obviously implying that presently, the USA is not.

American Catholic and evangelical leaders, including Cardinal DiNardo and Franklin Graham, condemned the practice; and even Mr. Sessions’ own church, the United Methodist Church, rejected it as well in no uncertain terms. So did Orthodox Jews and the other major Jewish religious movements.

Bowing to political pressure, President Trump issued an executive order on June 20, claiming that it will keep migrant families together. But this order did not abandon or reverse the “zero tolerance” policy. And while the order, if it survives legal challenges, might prevent temporarily the separation of parents and children, it would in effect “lock up immigrant parents and their children together, indefinitely.”

Europeans are watching these unfolding events with horror, but many are guilty of similar atrocities, be it in their mind, in word or even in action. In a compelling article, Handelsblatt Global asked the question whether Europe had lost its soul in the refugee crisis. Pointing at the hypocrisy of French president Emmanuel Macron; the criminal prosecution in France and Belgium of law-abiding citizens who assist illegal immigrants in any way; and questionable methods in Denmark, the author states: “It won’t be long until someone suggests barring them from certain professions altogether,” alluding to Germany’s Nazi regime prohibiting Jews to carry out many designated jobs and occupations.

Today, law-abiding citizens in the USA, including ministers, are also being threatened with legal actions if they were found to help illegal aliens (“harboring a criminal” is the offensive phrase which is being used).

Focusing on the informal alliance of right-wing politicians in Germany, Austria and Italy, the author of the Handelsblatt Global article states, “A right-wing axis from Berlin to Rome–that sure has a ring to it.” Again, the suggested parallel to Nazi Germany, Nazi Austria and Nazi Italy in World War II is unmistakable.

When Jews tried to escape Nazi Germany, America and many other countries refused to take them in, and as a consequence, they were among the millions of Jews who were murdered in concentration camps. Today, many persecuted refugees flee the atrocities in their homelands and seek shelter in Europe and the USA, but again, they may not be allowed to come in and find protection in countries which claim to be willing to help others in need.

Mr. Sessions, with the support of the White House, claimed that the Bible justifies his actions. He said with a smirking smiley face: “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order.”

The Truth is that God NEVER ordained any government or political leader for the purpose of violating the letter or the spirit of HIS Holy Word. In fact, the Apostle Peter tells us, as he told the Sanhedrin, that true Christians have to obey God RATHER than man, and we are NOT to obey men if they demand something of us which is against the Law of God. As many Christian leaders have pointed out, including those who normally support the Trump agenda, the policy of “zero tolerance” and the criminalization of illegal immigrants with the consequence of taking young children away from their parents is a “radical departure from the Christian religion” and “goes against pretty much the entire Bible.” They also stated that we are “sometimes morally obligated not to follow” the laws of the land.

I liked very much the following comment by one writer: “If you had all the power in the world, maybe you would also hear a serpent dipping its smooth body down from some shadowy bough to say: God wants you to do whatever you like with your power, and whatever you do with it is good.”

After all, this is Satan’s world, and he calls good evil and evil good. He pretends to be an angel of light, but he is, and always will be, the prince and power of darkness. What should make our blood boil is when misguided politicians dare to blaspheme God by misquoting His Holy Word in an effort to justify their ungodly behavior.

But thanks be to God that this terrible mismanagement of human rule and the total abandonment of true godly values will end soon, because it can’t be long now until Christ returns to destroy the abominations and atrocities of this evil world. We are called out of this world to qualify for the Kingdom of God–to rule mankind with righteousness, mercy and love. Are YOU qualifying now? Are you developing the mind of Christ and the way of His thinking in your life, or are you still finding any justification and redeeming value in satanically inspired policies which are totally against anything that God stands for? Because if and as long as you do, God would not want you to be in His Kingdom.

by Norbert Link

In this issue, we are reporting on the controversy pertaining to the Trump Administration’s and Attorney General Sessions’ “zero tolerance” policy regarding illegal immigration, leading to the separation of children from their parents and the internment of the children in temporary detention centers. An executive order by President Trump, claiming to put an end to such internment, might make things worse, not better. We also address Mr. Sessions’ and the White House’s misinterpretation of the biblical teaching in this regard. At the same time, we point at Europe’s and Germany’s struggle with their immigration issues, which could even lead to a premature departure of Angela Merkel as German Chancellor. In this context, please view our new StandingWatch program, “How Does Trump’s Executive Order Help Innocent Children?” 

Among other things, we address the ongoing mutual imposition of tariffs and the likelihood of a worldwide trade war, which might result in military actions; and we report on the current position of Pope Francis on issues such as abortion, homosexuality and the family.

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

America’s Immigration Policy Condemned

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 15:

“Nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their families at the US-Mexico border in six-weeks. Despite wide condemnation, the Trump administration defended the policy, saying it was just enforcing the law. Due to an increasing number of migrant children in government custody, officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration confirmed on Friday that a temporary encampment near the US-Mexico border in Texas had been built…

“The startling figure is a result of a new directive from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who on April 6 announced a ‘zero tolerance’ policy on immigration that would refer all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. Cases that involved families were typically sent for civil deportation proceedings. These allow children to remain with their parents. The new directive eliminates that option and has led to the separation and internment of the children in temporary shelters.

“The Trump administration has come under fire for both the criminalization of all immigration cases and the family separations… House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans distanced themselves from the White House, saying they were not comfortable with family separations…”

Current and Former First Ladies Condemn Sessions’ “Zero Tolerance” Policy

The Huffington Post wrote on June 18:

“Former first lady Laura Bush issued a rare castigation of the Trump administration on Sunday, calling family separations at the U.S. border with Mexico ‘immoral’ and drawing parallels to World War II internment camps. Bush’s editorial in The Washington Post mirrored growing criticism of the Justice Department’s new policy to prosecute as many people as possible who cross the border illegally. The move, announced last month by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has already resulted in a massive spike in children being separated from their parents. Last week, DHS announced that nearly 2,000 kids had been separated from their parents during a six-week period ending last month. Many are currently being held in juvenile detention centers.

“Bush wrote: ‘I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart. Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history… it is our obligation to reunite these detained children with their parents — and to stop separating parents and children in the first place. People on all sides agree that our immigration system isn’t working, but the injustice of zero tolerance is not the answer.’

“First lady Melania Trump appeared to offer her own criticism of the policy on Sunday, telling CNN through a spokeswoman that she ‘hates to see children separated from their families’ by immigration authorities… ‘She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.’”

Europe Condemns…

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 20:

“In Europe, Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy has been met with fierce criticism. British Prime Minister Theresa May said images of migrant children held in cage-like units were ‘deeply disturbing.’ ‘A person’s dignity does not depend on them being a citizen, a migrant or a refugee,’ Pope Francis, a staunch supporter of migrant rights, said in a tweet. ‘Saving the life of someone fleeing war and poverty is an act of humanity.’”

The Telegraph added on June 19:

“Asked if Theresa May thought it was acceptable to cage children, the prime minister’s spokesman said: ‘The welfare and safeguarding of children is at the heart of our immigration policy. We do not separate child refugees or asylum seekers from their families.’”

Trump Administration to Be Blamed for the Refugee Debacle

Business Insider wrote on June 18:

“The Trump administration has repeatedly denied that its policy is to separate children from their parents when families cross the US border illegally. But its own internal documents contradict that… President Donald Trump had previously tried to blame the policy on the Democrats, but over the weekend his secretary of homeland security, Kirstjen Nielsen, flat-out denied that such a policy existed.

“‘We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period,’ Nielsen tweeted. But the Department of Homeland Security does separate children from their parents at the border, and it just put out a press release about it on Friday, explaining its new ‘zero tolerance’ policy for border crosses…

“Nielsen continued: ‘For those seeking asylum at ports of entry, we have continued the policy from previous Administrations and will only separate if the child is in danger, there is no custodial relationship between “family” members, or if the adult has broken a law.’”

According to the Trump Administration’s new policy of “zero tolerance,” every adult who is illegally entering the USA has broken the law and is now being treated as a criminal (as mentioned above, this was NOT the case before). Therefore, the statement by Nielsen is patently misleading.

Also, the Week wrote on June 18:

“The policy… sees an average of two children separated from their families at the border every hour.”

Trump Unrepentant?

Newsmax wrote on June 18:

“Facing rising outrage from some Republicans as well as Democrats over the forced separation of migrant children and parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump dug in Monday, again blaming Democrats and declaring he would keep the U.S. from becoming ‘a migrant camp.’…

“‘The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,’ he added. ‘Not on my watch.’”

The Week wrote on June 19:

“President Trump on Tuesday defended his administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy against growing outrage over the separation of nearly 2,000 migrant children from their parents… ‘When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away,’ he said. ‘People that come in violate the law, they endanger their children in the process, and frankly, they endanger all of our children.’”

“Trump Team Keeps Misrepresenting”

 Deutsche Welle wrote on June 19:

“Thrice in two days has the administration of US President Donald Trump made misleading claims about Germany. Just a few hours after the president falsely stated that the crime rate in Germany had risen and that Germans were scared of immigrants, Attorney General Jeff Sessions mistakenly told an interviewer that the camps for migrant children at the US-Mexico border should not be compared to Nazi concentration camps because the Nazis  ‘were keeping the Jews from leaving the country.’

“The fact notwithstanding that many Germans detest any comparison to the Holocaust… the reaction in Germany is sure to be one of swift condemnation, just as it was to Trump’s tweet about crime on Monday…

“Despite Sessions’ claims, as has been well-documented, in late 1941 the Nazis began deporting millions of Jews from across Europe to death and concentration camps they had constructed across the continent. Even Fox News later [reported] that Sessions was immediately criticized as being tone-deaf in his response…”

However, the Trump-friendly Fox News network has come under increasing attack for its “coverage” of the immigration disaster. Ingraham said on Monday evening’s The Ingraham Angle that the child detention centers are “essentially summer camps [or] boarding schools.” And Ann Coulter called the migrant children “actors.” These comments are indeed horrible and disgusting.

Christian Leaders Condemn Sessions’ Interpretation of the Bible

The Huffington Post wrote on June 15:

“Attorney General Jeff Sessions seems to think Jesus would love his policy of separating immigrant families at the border. Christian leaders say otherwise.

“‘While protecting our borders is important, we can and must do better as a government, and as a society, to find other ways to ensure that safety,’ Cardinal Daniel Nicholas DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement. ‘Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral.’ ‘Disgraceful,’… Franklin Graham, son of the late and influential Rev. Billy Graham and a supporter of President Donald Trump, said in a Tuesday interview. ‘It’s terrible to see families ripped apart, and I don’t support that one bit.’

“Even Sessions’ own church, the United Methodist Church, is rejecting what he is doing. ‘Tearing children away from parents who have made a dangerous journey to provide a safe and sufficient life for them is unnecessarily cruel and detrimental to the well-being of parents and children,’ reads a statement signed by Bishop Kenneth Carter, president of the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church.

“… the attorney general hit another nerve Thursday when he claimed the Bible justifies his actions. ‘Concerns raised by our church friends about separating families’ are not ‘not fair or logical,’ he said in a speech in Fort Wayne, Indiana. ‘I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order.’

“White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders backed up Sessions’ claims later that day, calling it ‘very biblical to enforce the law.’

“HuffPost asked some Bible scholars what they make of Trump administration officials invoking Scripture to defend their immigration policy. ‘It makes my blood boil,’ said Matthew Schlimm, a professor of the Old Testament at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in Iowa. ‘Sessions has taken the passage from Romans 13 completely out of context… Anyone with half an ounce of moral conviction knows that tearing children away from parents has nothing to do with love.’…

“James Martin, a Jesuit priest and the editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America, said Sessions’ actions are in fact the opposite of the Bible’s teachings about caring for the poor and being compassionate. ‘I cannot imagine anyone in his or her right mind thinking Jesus would approve of ripping children from their parents,’ Martin said in a Friday interview on MSNBC. ‘It goes against pretty much the entire Bible in the ethos of Jesus, and it’s deeply un-Christian.’”

The Washington Post wrote on June 15:

“Here, whether deliberately or unknowingly, Sessions and Sanders radically depart from the Christian religion, inventing a faith that makes order itself the highest good and authorizes secular governments to achieve it. In Christianity as billions of faithful have known it, order and lawful procedures are not ‘good in themselves’ and it is not ‘very biblical’ to ‘enforce the law’ whatever it might be… meaning Christians are sometimes morally obligated to follow civil laws and are sometimes morally obligated not to…

“As Sessions himself observed quoting James Madison in a lengthy October 2017 memorandum on federal protections concerning religious liberty, ‘the duty owed to one’s Creator is “precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society.”’ Sessions can either believe that or believe what he and Sanders said Thursday, but he can’t believe both…

“Any number of scriptural passages are available here, though less useful for Sessions’s purposes. From Deuteronomy 10: ‘For the Lord your God . . . loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.’ Or from Jeremiah 7: ‘If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place . . . then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever’…

“If you had all the power in the world, maybe you would also hear a serpent dipping its smooth body down from some shadowy bough to say: God wants you to do whatever you like with your power, and whatever you do with it is good.”

Orthodox Jews Condemn Sessions’ Interpretation of the Bible

JTA wrote on June 14:

“The Orthodox Union released a statement criticizing the Trump administration’s policy of separating the families of illegal immigrants after they cross the U.S. border… ‘As an Orthodox Jewish organization whose values are anchored in those of the Torah and Jewish history, we are deeply concerned about any steps taken that affect families and the parent/child relationship,’ read the statement by O.U. President Moishe Bane.

“Because children cannot be prosecuted with adults, they are reclassified as unaccompanied minors and taken away, either to mass children’s shelters or foster homes… Religious groups across the spectrum, Jewish and not, have opposed the policy…

“On Thursday, 26 Jewish groups, including the three other major Jewish religious movements, signed a letter opposing the family separation policy. The statement was organized by the Anti-Defamation League. ‘This policy undermines the values of our nation and jeopardizes the safety and well-being of thousands of people,’ the letter says. ‘As Jews, we understand the plight of being an immigrant fleeing violence and oppression. We believe that the United States is a nation of immigrants and how we treat the stranger reflects on the moral values and ideals of this nation.’”

JTA added on June 20:

“A group representing children hidden during the Holocaust slammed the U.S. border policy of separating families seeking asylum. ‘Separation of the family for us is probably the worst thing that ever happened to us,’ said Rachelle Goldstein, who was separated from her parents in Belgium when she wasn’t even 3 years old…

“‘When you take a child away from the parents, from the home, from everything that they know, they are never the same,’ Goldstein said…, adding that many children separated from their parents during the Holocaust had still not overcome the trauma.”

75 Former U.S. Attorneys Condemn Sessions’ Policy

The Huffington Post wrote on June 19:

“A bipartisan group of former U.S. attorneys has penned an open letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling on him to end the Trump administration’s highly controversial family separation policy at the border. The 75 former U.S. attorneys condemned the zero tolerance policy, announced by Sessions in May, under which children are put into shelters while parents facing prosecution for illegally crossing the border into the United States are jailed. ‘Your Zero Tolerance policy has resulted in the unnecessary trauma and suffering of innocent children,’ they wrote in a letter published Monday on Medium. ‘We also emphasize that the Zero Tolerance policy is a radical departure from previous Justice Department policy, and that it is dangerous, expensive, and inconsistent with the values of the institution in which we served,’ they continued…

“Although President Donald Trump and several members of his administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have repeatedly claimed the family separation policy must be enforced, legal experts, including this group of attorneys, have challenged such an assertion. ‘As former U.S. Attorneys, we know that none of these consequences  ― nor the policy itself  ―  is required by law,’ they wrote in their letter to Sessions. ‘Rather, its implementation and its execution are taking place solely at your direction, and the unfolding tragedy falls squarely on your shoulders.’…

“Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Trump could ‘stop the policy with one phone call’ during an appearance Friday on CNN. ‘If you don’t like families being separated, you can tell [the Department of Homeland Security] to stop doing it,’ Graham said. Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), whose district includes a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, also criticized the policy… ‘This is clearly something that the administration can change,’ he added. ‘They don’t need legislation to change it.’”

Trump Signs Order that He Says Will Keep Migrant Families Together

After all the condemnation, as quoted above, President Trump gave in for political reasons and signed an executive order, which he originally said he would not and could not do. Trump’s reverse position (some call it, Trump’s defeat) must be viewed in light of the midterm election which Republicans were concerned of losing if Trump’s and Sessions’ controversial policy of separating children from their parents and incarcerating the children in detention camps would not be changed. We need to point out, however, that in spite of all the hype and claims about ruling with a heart, the “zero tolerance” policy itself was NOT changed. And as it will be shown, the executive order might make matters worse, not better.

CNBC wrote on June 20:

“President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that he says will keep migrant families together during detention on the U.S.-Mexico border. The president backed down from his administration’s policy of splitting migrant families, which for days the White House insisted could only end through congressional action. Facing a nationwide uproar and bipartisan calls to at least temporarily end the practice, the president said he ‘didn’t like the sight or feeling of families being separated.’ [It was admitted by Republicans that the “sight” of the disturbing images hurt them deeply politically.]

“Trump said he will not end the administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy of criminally prosecuting every adult who crosses U.S. borders illegally, including those seeking asylum. The White House also will keep pressure on Congress to pass legislation that meets Trump’s goals of halting the separation practice, funding his proposed border wall and limiting legal immigration… The order did not appear to address how the government would go about reuniting families.

“Here’s what the executive order would do, according to text circulated by the White House:

“It orders Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen ‘to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations’ to keep families together during criminal proceedings. The measure says the administration does not have to keep families together ‘when there is a concern’ that detaining a child with a parent ‘would pose a risk to the child’s welfare.’ It directs Attorney General Jeff Sessions to file a request with a federal district court in California to change a legal settlement that curbs the government’s ability to keep children in detention. It orders Sessions to prioritize criminal proceedings for cases involving families.”

There are surely very many loopholes and uncertainties contained in that order. And as the next article shows, it’s highly improbable that it will be successful—in fact, it might make matters worse.

Trump’s Executive Order Highly Suspect

The Huffington Post elaborated on the new Executive Order, as follows:

“President Donald Trump’s plan to stop his administration’s policy of separating immigrant children from their families seems simple: Lock up immigrant parents and their children together, indefinitely.

“But there’s no evidence that Trump has the legal authority to make his wish reality. His plan, issued in an executive order on Wednesday, conflicts with a 2015 court ruling that required the government to release child migrants from detention after 20 days. Trump can’t dismiss federal judges’ rulings by decree. So his executive order will trigger a massive showdown between his administration and human rights activists in court…

“Trump administration officials have insisted that they enacted the family separation policy in part because of a 2015 court order over a 1997 court settlement called the Flores agreement. The Flores agreement and the ensuing 2015 ruling limit the length of time that children can be detained, including with their parents. Most detained immigrant children must be released within about 20 days to continue their deportation proceedings outside of detention. In the past, the federal government has generally released the children’s mothers from family detention along with them rather than splitting them up [which is known as the “catch and release” policy. It has been wrongly claimed by the Trump administration that most of those who were released disappeared and never showed up in court. However, about 75 % did appear in court.]…

“… according to his order, parents being prosecuted will be locked up with their kids in most circumstances while criminal proceedings go forward ― and even after, while they pursue immigration cases. Those proceedings can take years.

“The order conscripts the entirety of the federal government into mass immigrant family detention…

“It’s hard to predict how the courts might rule… U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who presides over the case, repeatedly hammered the Obama administration with harshly worded rulings in the years that it tried to expand family detention to deal with an influx of Central Americans seeking asylum.”

Too Little Too Late

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 21:

“Trump’s migrant family separations reversal too little, too late… Trump bowing to pressure does nothing for the children already taken from their families. The likelihood that they’ll be reunited with their parents swiftly – if at all – looks grim. US administration officials said on Wednesday that they had no plan on how to bring them back together…”

Are Republicans Intentionally Blinding Themselves?

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 21:

“A poll published on Monday… showed that two-thirds of Americans were against separating children from their parents, but a majority of Republican voters supported the idea…

“… no one in this administration and only a few of the Republicans who control Congress are prepared to stand up to Trump… Trump’s policy of separating children from their parents served as a litmus test for conservatives who traditionally viewed themselves as the defenders of family unity…

“There was no huge outcry from the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan about the fact that a Republican government instituted a policy that mandates taking children away from their parents.

“Instead, many defended the policy while others obfuscated or tried to rationalize the issue for themselves… Together, the episode was just the latest sign that the GOP is now fully the party of Trump.

“That does not bode well for the future of the country. If taking away children from their parents is not enough for Republicans to break with… [President Trump]. What is? It’s a troubling prospect to consider.”

Indeed it is!

USA Withdraws From UN Human Rights Council

JTA wrote on June 19:

“The Trump administration has withdrawn the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Council because of its bias against Israel. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, jointly announced the pullout on Tuesday evening. ‘The Human Rights Council is an exercise in shameless hypocrisy,’ Pompeo told the media…

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the departure ‘courageous.’…

“The George W. Bush administration refused to join the council when it was established in 2006 as a successor to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights… The Obama administration joined the council, arguing that its presence was a more effective means of defending Israel on the council and of addressing human rights abuses elsewhere…”

Kim Jong Un in China Again

The Week wrote on June 19:

“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in China on Tuesday for a two-day visit, his third trip since March. Kim briefed Chinese President Xi Jinping on his recent summit with President Trump, and Xi said he was ‘very pleased’ with Kim’s performance at the meeting, CNN wrote. Kim and Trump agreed to work together toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Trump also offered to guarantee the security of the North Korean regime and promised to end ‘war games’ with South Korea, which both North Korea and China have criticized as provocative.”

China Announces Retaliatory Tariffs

CNBC wrote on June 15:

“The Chinese State Council’s commission on tariffs and customs said in an online statement that a 25 percent tariff will take effect July 6 on agriculture products, automobiles and ‘aquatic products.’

“The tariffs counter the United States Trade Representative’s announcement earlier on Friday that the U.S. will initially impose an additional 25 percent tariff on 818 Chinese imports worth about $34 billion on July 6.”

Trump’s Tariffs Could Bite Americans and the Rest of the World

The New York Times wrote on June 16:

“As the Trump administration imposes tariffs on allies and rivals alike, provoking broad retaliation, global commerce is suffering disruption… As the conflict broadens, shipments are slowing at ports and airfreight terminals around the world. Prices for crucial raw materials are rising. At factories from Germany to Mexico, orders are being cut and investments delayed. American farmers are losing sales as trading partners hit back with duties of their own.

“Workers in a Canadian steel mill scrambled to recall rail cars headed to the United States border after Mr. Trump this month slapped tariffs on imported metals.

“… history has proved that trade wars are costly while escalating risks of broader hostilities. Fears are deepening that the current outbreak of antagonism could drag down the rest of the world…

“The United States last year imported more than $600 billion in goods and services from Canada and Mexico, the two other nations in the North American Free Trade Agreement — a deal Mr. Trump has threatened to blow up. Americans bought more than $500 billion in wares from China, and another $450 billion from the European Union. Collectively, that amounts to nearly two-thirds of all American imports…

“Sixteen years ago, when President George W. Bush put tariffs on steel, imports fell substantially. Such memories now stoke modern-day fears… economists and business leaders note that many imports are components that are used to manufacture goods at American factories.”

EU Retaliates with Tariffs

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 20:

“A raft of retaliatory tariffs from the European Union on US products will come into effect on June 22. The EU’s list of targets reads like a summary of emblematic American exports, including motorbikes and jeans.

“The retaliatory measure comes in response to US tariff hikes on steel and aluminum that were imposed on EU member countries on June 1, with the White House citing grounds of national security… The agreed EU countermeasures will initially target a list of US goods worth $3.2 billion (€2.8 billion), most of which will be hit with import duties of 25 percent.

“The products affected by the move range from agricultural produce such as rice and orange juice to jeans, bourbon, motorbikes and various steel products…

“Canada and Mexico have also announced their own similar countermeasures just as an even greater trade spat pits the US against China. Together, the current battles have raised the specter of a global trade war, spooking financial markets that fear major consequences for the world economy.”

Turkey Retaliates with Tariffs

Newsweek wrote on June 21:

“Turkey implemented $266.5 million in tariffs against the United States on Thursday… The Turkish tariffs affect American imports of coal, paper, walnuts, almonds, tobacco, unprocessed rice, whiskey, automobiles, cosmetics, machinery equipment and petrochemical products.

“Bloomberg reported that the tariffs impact 19 percent of the $9.4 billion in products the U.S. sends to Turkey.”

CNN Money added on June 21:

“Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said in a statement: ‘We cannot and will not allow Turkey to be wrongly blamed for America’s economic challenges.’

“… India said this month that it plans to move ahead with retaliatory tariffs, too.

“Turkey is the world’s eighth largest steel exporter… The United States was Turkey’s top market for steel in 2017.”

Will President Trump wake up to reality before it is too late for America?

Sit Up at Attention and Listen to Trump

Politico wrote on June 16:

“President Donald Trump… likes the way dictators do business. ‘He speaks, and his people sit up at attention,’ Trump said on Friday morning of North Korean despot Kim Jong Un… ‘I want my people to do the same.’…

“Fox’s Bret Baier reminded the president of Kim’s record earlier this week… that Kim is ‘clearly executing people.’ But the president blew Baier off. ‘He’s a tough guy. Hey, when you take over a country, tough country, tough people, and you take it over from your father I don’t care who you are, what you are, how much of an advantage you have. If you could do that at 27 years old, I mean, that’s one in 10,000 that could do that,’ Trump explained…”

So did Adolf Hitler.

Germany’s New US Ambassador Must Navigate Trump-Merkel Divide

“Amid deeply strained ties between Washington and Berlin, Emily Haber, Germany’s new US ambassador, has her work cut out for herself… Haber… will be Germany’s first female envoy to Washington when she officially starts her post later this month…

“Haber, who earlier in her career was posted in Russia and Turkey, also served for several years as deputy minister in the foreign ministry, where she played a key role representing Germany in the negotiations that lead to the Iran nuclear accord — another thorny topic that necessitated working closely with Washington…”

Trump Gets Involved in German Immigration Battle, Angers Germany and Misrepresents the Facts

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 18:

“The US president has waded into the ongoing standoff between Chancellor Angela Merkel and her interior minister over migration. But his claim that crime in Germany ‘is way up’ doesn’t tally with official statistics…

“US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that Germany’s leaders were losing the support of the public over the migration issue. His untimely comments come amid a deepening split between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leader of her coalition ally, Horst Seehofer, over asylum policy and border controls.

“Trump told his Twitter followers: ‘The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition.’ The US leader went on to say that ‘Crime in Germany is way up’ before adding that there had been a ‘big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!’ In a warning to the American electorate, Trump warned: ‘We don’t want what is happening with immigration in Europe to happen with us!’

“Trump’s comments are certain to irk German ministers, especially as Europe’s largest economy recently reported the lowest crime figures in more than 25 years. The number of crimes fell almost 10 percent in 2017 over the previous year. A 22 percent reduction in non-German suspects was also noted. Separate studies suggest that Iraqi and Syrian refugees in Germany are less likely to commit crimes, as they don’t want to spoil their chances of obtaining asylum…

“Rolf Mützenich, foreign affairs expert for the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), cautioned Trump against interfering in German politics. ‘As the American ambassador has done previously, Trump is trying to sway the domestic political debate in favor of right-wing conservatives and populist elements in Germany,’ he told DW. ‘We will not change our constitutional principles and precepts of European cooperation learnt from history to align with the “America First” policy in Washington.’”

President Trump has a unique talent to meddle when he should keep out of it; thereby making more and more enemies out of former friends.

Merkel Has Two Weeks

Handelsblatt Global wrote on June 18:

“With the migrant crisis stoking tensions in the EU and within her government, Angela Merkel has two weeks to broker complicated compromises. Without a deal, her days as chancellor could be numbered.

“Angela Merkel’s rebellious interior minister appears to have given her more time to work out a European solution to the refugee crisis, and possibly to save her disunited government. Writing in a German Sunday newspaper, Horst Seehofer said that tough decisions on migration must be taken at the European Union summit at the end of this month, but stressed that his CSU party had no desire to see the governing coalition fall apart.

“Such are the tensions within Ms. Merkel’s government that this was regarded as a conciliatory statement, giving the green light to the German chancellor to plunge into bilateral negotiations with other EU leaders ahead of the summit… The one thing everyone can agree on is that this is a daunting diplomatic challenge, even for Ms. Merkel, the virtuoso of fudge and compromise…

“Mr. Seehofer is a senior figure in the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU). On migration, he has long been a thorn in the chancellor’s side, including through his informal alliances with right-wing leaders in Austria, Hungary and Poland… The party faces Bavarian regional elections in October. With its polling numbers weak, it wants to combat the threat of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD). The CSU has ruled Germany’s second most-populous state since the Second World War, but could lose its absolute majority this time around.”

Deutsche Welle added on June 18:

“The German constitution guarantees the right to asylum to anyone persecuted for political reasons, while the Dublin convention stipulates that everyone’s application be checked on a case-by-case basis. That means migrants have a right to be heard if they claim asylum, even if they don’t have valid travel documents…

“Critics and political pundits, including former Interior Minister Gerhart Baum, have described Seehofer’s proposal as illegal, not to mention a reckless destabilization of Merkel’s new government… If Seehofer were to impose border controls unilaterally using his authority as interior minister, Merkel could overrule him using her constitutional power as chancellor. But that scenario would likely lead to Seehofer’s resignation, a collapse of the government coalition, and new elections…

“Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder, a rival of Seehofer in the CSU, has questioned the efficacy of the upcoming EU summit, because, he claimed, no European agreement had been reached in the last three years…”

First Planned Biological Bomb Attack on Germany Confirmed

Handelsblatt Global wrote on June 20:

“German authorities have now confirmed what many feared: The 29-year-old Tunisian man arrested last week in Cologne was creating a deadly biological weapon he intended to use for a terrorist attack somewhere in the country…

“Various Islamist groups… have published instructions on the internet on how to make biological weapons from the deadly toxin ricin…

“The substance kills the body’s cells by preventing them from creating vital protein. It is far deadlier than cyanide, with no antidote; just a few milligrams are enough to kill a person when injected, inhaled or swallowed.

“As early as World War I, the United States tested ricin as a potential weapon, mixed together with ammunition or spread as a dust, but never deployed it. The substance is still subject to global biological and chemical weapons conventions…

“The Bild newspaper… claims American security officials tipped off German investigators…

“A father of four with a wife who converted to Islam, Sief Allah H. came to Germany in 2016. Media has reported that he has sympathies with the Islamic State…

“Currently, Germany has 770 people classified as a threat. Many of them are believed to have entered the country during the refugee influx in 2015 and 2016.”

This new shocking development is not going to help Angela Merkel.

Has Europe Lost Its Soul in the Refugee Crisis?

Handelsblatt Global wrote on June 18:

“How convenient it would have been if the 629 migrants rescued by SOS Méditerranée on the MS Aquarius had drowned instead. Sure, it would have been awful. But the deaths would quickly have been a mere statistic of the kind we have got used to. The media would have churned out a few chilling headlines, and then moved on. This or that European politician would have uttered the usual platitudes. Most wouldn’t have bothered at all. And everybody would have just gone on with their lives, once again oblivious to the corpses at the bottom of the sea, anonymous and faceless like dust under a rug.

“But the migrants aboard the Aquarius did not drown. Unlike the 10,000 women, men and children who went missing while attempting to reach European shores in the past three years, they got lucky. A French NGO patrolling the Mediterranean had plucked them out of their overcrowded dinghies, where they were facing certain death. Among the migrants are seven pregnant women and over 100 children or minors. Most of them are from sub-Saharan Africa.

“The case of the Aquarius has since cascaded through the politics of the European Union. Italy’s new populist government closed its ports to the ship, international obligations and human decency be damned. Malta didn’t let the Aquarius dock either. Fortunately, Spain’s new prime minister finally stepped in and offered the Aquarius a safe harbor in Valencia. The Africans got there on Sunday, after a week-long odyssey in precarious conditions.

“All the while, the French president cast aspersions rather than lifting a finger. Emmanuel Macron criticized Italy’s ‘cynicism and irresponsibility’ for not taking in the boat people. Never mind that several French ports were much closer than Valencia. In fact, Paris quashed an offer by Corsican regional authorities for the Aquarius to dock there. Italy was furious at Macron’s hypocrisy.

“This is the same Emmanuel Macron who, in January of last year, praised Angela Merkel because she had ‘saved our collective dignity’ by allowing Germany to take in hundreds of thousands of migrants during the refugee crisis of 2015… Since he took power, Mr. Macron has done little to end the asylum stalemate in the EU… Paris has taken in less than 10 percent of the 9,816 refugees from Italy it had agreed on under an EU resettlement scheme from 2015. It has closed its long border with Italy to migrants headed north, leaving hundreds stranded outside of the resort town of Ventimiglia. Untold numbers have died in the Alps, trying to make the perilous crossing that’s off the well-trodden paths in order to avoid being caught.

“It gets worse. The French government has prosecuted law-abiding citizens for the crime of assisting immigrants after they entered the country on foot… France is not alone in its appalling behavior. Belgium, too, is prosecuting citizens under the controversial ‘crime of solidarity’ towards illegal migrants. Denmark confiscates the valuables of anybody who has the temerity to apply for asylum there. Last month, a center-right minister in Copenhagen suggested that Muslims in certain jobs should be banned from working during Ramadan. It won’t be long until someone suggests barring them from certain professions altogether.

“And Germany… The country that saved the continent’s dignity three years ago is now so transfixed by its own xenophobic far right that the question of whether to allow in a few thousands of relatives from the refugees’ home countries caused coalition talks to fail last year. And now the government is on the verge of collapse because right-wingers want to crack down even harder on immigration. In neighboring Austria, a young and ambitious chancellor who governs with the far right has called for an ‘axis of the willing’ with Italy and Germany to combat illegal immigration. A right-wing axis from Berlin to Rome — that sure has a ring to it.

“So maybe the Axis should live up to its name and bring in warships to sink the migrants’ dinghies. Nothing short of this will stop desperate people with nothing to lose from attempting to come to Europe. No one embarks on a dangerous journey across the Sahara and then on unseaworthy boats without a truly compelling reason.

“Or perhaps EU politicians should instead grow a conscience and stop selling their souls for a few far-right votes. Pedro Sánchez of Spain has put Mr. Macron, Ms. Merkel and Italy’s Matteo Salvini to shame. Spain is a troubled country — it has high unemployment, a struggling economy and is mired in its worst political crisis in decades as Catalonia tries to secede. And with the Moroccan coast clearly visible from its southernmost region, it is also on the front line of the refugee crisis. More than 10,000 migrants arrived there by sea this year alone. Yet most Spaniards don’t blame immigrants for all their ills or vote for far-right parties to keep them out. The Spanish prime minister didn’t think twice about doing the right thing.

“So if Spain can do it, why not the rest of the EU?… Europe is the richest continent in the world and certainly can handle a few thousand migrants in a dignified manner… If France and other EU countries had respected their pledges to support Italy instead of bickering, the far right probably wouldn’t be in power in Rome now…”

The hypocrisy of some European leaders is indeed appalling.

“Italian Jews Recall Holocaust-Era Law in Condemning Plan to Register Country’s Roma”

JTA wrote on June 19:

“Italy’s Jewish community condemned a call by the country’s hardline interior minister to take a census of Italy’s Roma, or Gypsy, population. The Union of Italian Jewish Communities, or UCEI, said in a statement issued Tuesday that the call by Matteo Salvini to create a ‘registry’ of Roma in Italy recalled the anti-Semitic legislation introduced by Italy’s fascist government on the eve of the Holocaust in 1938…

“Salvini’s ‘announcement of a possible, specific census of the Roma population in Italy worries us and reawakens memories of the racist measures taken just 80 years ago and, sadly, increasingly forgotten,’ the UCEI statement said… The UCEI statement said there was no ‘search for consensus, no anxiety about public order that justifies the disturbing proposal to single out specific social categories of citizens, to censor them and subject them to special security policies reserved only for them.’”

Strong Earthquake Hits Japan

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 18:

“A 6.1 magnitude quake hit the western city [of Osaka] during the morning commute. It was the largest since records began in 1923… the earthquake struck at 8.a.m. local time… at a depth of about 13 kilometers (8.1 miles)…

“The train and subway service in and around Osaka, including the bullet train to Tokyo, was suspended while checks were made… About 80 flights from and to Osaka were canceled… It is expected to take eight to 12 days to resume piped gas supplies to more than 110,000 residents in the Osaka region…

“A major manufacturing center, Osaka is the headquarters for companies including Panasonic and Sharp. Production at the Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota car plants was temporarily suspended when the quake hit. Osaka is due to hold the G20 meeting in June 2019.”

A foretaste of worse things to come.

Scientist Searches for Loch Ness Monster DNA

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 17:

“A New Zealand scientist has traveled to Loch Ness in Scotland with a team to collect water samples from the lake that may give clues as to what creatures are lurking in its waters — including the legendary monster that has allegedly been sighted more than 1,000 times in the past 1,500 years… ‘Maybe there is something extraordinary out there,’ geneticist Neil Gemmell of the University of Otago told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

“Professor Gemmell said the water samples he had taken would be assessed for ‘monster DNA’… The first sighting of a strange creature in Loch Ness, a lake in northern Scotland, is attributed to Saint Columba, who brought Christianity to Scotland in the sixth century. But the most recent was on March 26 this year by a US couple.

“Many people who claim to have seen the creature describe it as a long-necked reptilian being, which has led to theories that Nessie, as the monster has affectionately been named, could be a plesiosaur left over from the age of dinosaurs. The animal is thought otherwise to have been extinct for at least 66 million years. Other theories say Nessie could be a sturgeon or a Wels catfish, though none have ever been caught in the lake.”

For more information on the Loch Ness creature, please read our free booklet, “Heavens and Earth—Before and After the First Man.”

Koko Dies

The New York Post wrote on June 21:

“Koko, the thoughtful gorilla who captivated the world through her ability to use sign language and revealed an empathetic side to great apes, has died. She was 46… Koko… could sign more than 1,000 words…

“Her remarkable ability to sign landed her on the cover of National Geographic twice – in 1978, in a photo she took of herself in a mirror, and again in 1985, with an image of her mourning the death of one of her pet kittens.

“Throughout her life, Koko adopted several felines, using sign language to give them names like All Ball, Lipstick and Smoky…

“In 2012, she stunned scientists by playing wind instruments, including the recorder, harmonica and party-favor whistles – an ability that showed primates can learn to control their breathing…”

Pope Francis Defines Family and Equates Abortion to Nazi-Era Race Purification

The Wall Street Journal wrote on June 17:

“Pope Francis likened abortion to Nazi eugenics practiced ‘with white gloves,’ and said the only real families are those based on marriage between a man and a woman, using uncharacteristically blunt language on two controversial moral issues.

“Addressing an Italian family association on Saturday, the pope equated the contemporary termination of pregnancies in response to fetal maladies or defects discovered through prenatal testing to the policies of Hitler’s Germany. ‘Children should be welcomed the way they come, the way God sends them to us, the way God allows, even if sometimes they are ill. I’ve heard that it’s fashionable—or at least habitual—to perform certain exams in the early months of pregnancy, to see if the baby is unwell or comes with a certain problem,’ the pope said. ‘And to have an easy life, one does away with an innocent,’ he added.

“The pope also rejected the concept of nontraditional families not based on heterosexual marriage. ‘Today—it hurts to say it—one speaks of “diversified” families: different types of family …but the human family as the image of God, man and woman, is only one. Only one,’ the pope said…

“Pope Francis’ remarks were consistent with traditional Catholic teaching yet unusually strong for a pope who has generally played down medical and sexual ethics and taken a strikingly conciliatory approach to gay people…”

Pink News added on June 17:

“It had been hoped that the Pope was in the process of softening the Catholic Church’s position on LGBT rights, particularly as it was just last month that he told Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay survivor of sexual abuse by a prominent Chilean priest: ‘God made you like this and loves you like this and I don’t care.’… The Pope also praised spouses who stay with unfaithful partners, hoping for them to stop cheating on them instead of asking for a divorce. ‘Many women – but even men sometimes do it [with wives] – wait in silence, looking the other way, waiting for their husband to become faithful again,’ he said. This, he added, was ‘the sanctity that forgives all out of love.’

“Conspiracy theorist and alt-right host Alex Jones, whose InfoWars YouTube channel has 2.3 million subscribers, went on an alarming rant after the Pope’s more accepting comments last month… Jones then told his followers that the pontiff was ‘as close as you’re gonna get to Satan in the flesh.’…

“But the Pope gave notice that he wasn’t upturning thousands of years of Church doctrine just days after speaking to Cruz, when he reportedly used a private meeting to warn bishops in Italy that they should reject any applicants to the priesthood who they suspect might be gay…”

The double-talk of Pope Francis is mind-boggling.

Compulsively Playing Video Games a Mental Health Condition?

Medical Press wrote on June 18:

“… the U.N. health agency [WHO] said Monday that compulsively playing video games now qualifies as a mental health condition…

“WHO said classifying ‘gaming disorder’ as a separate addiction will help governments, families and health care workers be more vigilant and prepared to identify the risks. The agency and other experts were quick to note that cases of the condition are still very rare, with no more than up to 3 percent of all gamers believed to be affected…

“Dr. Joan Harvey, a spokeswoman for the British Psychological Society, warned that the new designation might cause unnecessary concern among parents. ‘People need to understand this doesn’t mean every child who spends hours in their room playing games is an addict, otherwise medics are going to be flooded with requests for help,’ she said…

“The American Psychiatric Association has not yet deemed gaming disorder to be a new mental health problem…

“Dr. Mark Griffiths… guessed that the percentage of video game players with a compulsive problem was likely to be extremely small—much less than 1 percent—and that many such people would likely have other underlying problems, like depression, bipolar disorder or autism… Griffiths said playing video games, for the vast majority of people, is more about entertainment and novelty…”

It seems WHO has nothing better to do than to waste their time with such ridiculous research and misleading conclusions.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

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

In our Update number 663, dated 21st November 2014, was an editorial by Mr. Michael Link, entitled “Once Saved, Always Saved?” We will continue with that presentation to provide additional information on this important subject.

There are a number of theological subjects that evoke much discussion and debate on both sides of the argument, and “once saved, always saved?” is one of those.

“Can true Christians lose their salvation?” is a very good question to ask and is one that arouses much debate back and forth about whether someone who believes they are saved will always be saved irrespective of their actions after “giving their heart to the Lord.”   There are many who see the fallacy of the “once saved, always saved” concept whilst there are many others who share a diametrically opposite theological stance on this subject and who, no doubt, use many of the same Scriptures but interpret them differently.

So, what is the Truth of the matter?

In this series on the subject, we won’t be able, nor do we wish to try and emulate those who have spent a lot of time putting together so much material but to look at it by a sound review that comes to a conclusion that we believe to be entirely scriptural.

One very short tract about this matter spoke about “eternal security” and one telling phrase in their explanation is as follows: “You see, when you were saved, you died to sin and changed masters. Instead of serving sin, you now serve Christ. You are not free to do as you like; you are now free to do the Lord’s will.  Any true believer who tries to ‘live as they like’ will be chastened by their Father and any professing Christian who ‘lives like the devil’ and gets away with it, is only proving they were never saved in the first place.”

That sounds good at face value but it means that everyone who, for whatever reason, falls away from the Truth must be regarded as someone who was never saved in the first place – they believe that every last one of them, however much they were once on fire for the Truth, was never converted.

The ”once saved, always saved” approach is a popular one and one that emotionally is very easy to accept! It conveys a message that little is required on our part beyond “accepting” the Sacrifice Christ made for us. However, such teachings are deceptive and misleading because they completely overlook clear and important biblical instructions regarding that which God holds us accountable for in the process of salvation. The Bible reveals that Jesus didn’t do everything for us.  To enter the Kingdom of God, there are specific things we must do – and on a regular basis.

One example of how this “once saved, always saved” issue could not be correct is in the case of the apostle Paul. He was a giant of the New Testament Church and thoroughly converted but he said that even he could be lost.  Paul says, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified (adikomos).”  This word is translated “castaway” in the Authorized Version (1 Corinthians 9:27). Paul is clearly saying that he could lose out if he had strayed from the Way of Life that he had been called to.  In Matthew 7:13-14, this Way of Life is referred to in this way: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  A few verses later, in Matthew 7:21-23, we read “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

This passage might address those who were never converted but thought that they were, supposing to work for Christ, which they in fact never did. But it is also possible that they were converted at one time but lost their salvation, and Christ never knew them in the sense that He could never be sure how they would act. In any event, this is a stark warning that we must live the Way of Life to which we have been called.

In his valedictory, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 that he was faithful until the end: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” Paul said that he had finished the race. He had been faithful to the end. He had made it, showing that it was necessary to do these things throughout his life.

In Hebrews 2:1 we read: “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.” Proponents of the “once saved, always saved” concept try to minimise what disqualified really means but in 2 Corinthians 13:5 we read: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified (adikomos).”  Therefore, if you are disqualified, Jesus Christ is not (any longer) in you which is something that must be, in order to be a true Christian.

There are three aspects of salvation, and these are:

1. We are saved now.   After we repent and are baptised, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).   At that point, we are saved from the penalty of death from our past sins.   However, it doesn’t mean that we are finally saved and that we could not lose the salvation which we did receive.
2. We are being saved – it is a process of growing in grace and knowledge.
3. To be finally saved, we must endure to the end.

Webster defines salvation as: “The saving of man from the spiritual consequences of sin; especially deliverance from sin and eternal damnation.” We read this: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).   In the Authorized Version, it states that “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

1. We are saved now!

Let us look at some Scriptures which reflect this position.

1 Corinthians 15:2: “… you are saved IF you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.”  Holding fast indicates that salvation can be lost. We are saved now but must remain saved by steadfast continuance in the Word of God.

Ephesians 2:5: “even when we were dead in trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” The Greek says here, “you are in a saved state.” Not merely, “you are being saved.” However, it doesn’t just stop there and it isn’t just a simple case of belief and faith. There are conditions which we will discuss later.  As long as we are growing, overcoming and being faithful to God we are in a “saved state” but this state can be lost if we leave “the narrow way,” as Jesus pointed out in Matthew 7:13-14.

Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Again, we are saved now, but that faith must be living faith because faith without works is dead (James 2:17; see also verses 14-26 which discuss this whole issue). This is not a once and for all scenario where salvation can’t be lost, as it would contradict ALL of the other Scriptures that clearly teach that salvation is a process.

In 2 Timothy 1:9 we read the phrase “who has saved us.” We are saved at the time, but can lose out if “we neglect so great a salvation” (please see Hebrews 2:3).

Titus 3:5: “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Again, we are saved at the time, but can lose out if “we neglect so great a salvation” – as referenced previously.   We are in a special category and our salvation is sure if we continue faithfully following God and His ways.

2. We are being saved!

Acts 2:47: “… And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” This is indicating a process. The Authorized Version says: “… such as should be saved.” This is a conditional tense – indicating conditions and not a fait accompli.

1 Corinthians 1:18: “… but to us who are being saved (indicating a process) it is the power of God.”

2 Corinthians 2:15: “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved (again indicating a process) and among those who are perishing.”

3. To be finally saved, we must endure to the end!

Matthew 10:22: “… But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

Matthew 24:13: “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

Mark 13:13: “… But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

Mark 16:16: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved…”

In Colossians 1:21-23, we read about the apostle Paul reminding the brethren, both then and now, that we have to continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, not a lukewarm “Christian” who has strayed far from the course that God intends that we pursue earnestly. It reads: “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

1 Timothy 1:19: “… having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.” If a ship is no longer seaworthy, it sinks.

Hebrews 3:6: “… but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

In Hebrews 3:12-14, it does talk about the possibility of church members departing from the living God but needing to be steadfast to the end: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”

Hebrews 6:15, when talking about Abraham, states: “And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.” Had Abraham not patiently endured, he would not have obtained the promise. Endurance is vital.

Hebrews 10:36: “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”

In Hebrews 12:1, 4, we read: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us… You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”

God wants Christians to continually strive to put sin out of their lives. If we are to become Spirit-born members of God’s Family, we must prove that we will obey God here and now by striving with all of our heart, mind and strength, and together with God’s help, to put sin out of our lives and keep it out! It’s a full-time job that continues for the rest of our natural lives.

2 John 1:8: “ Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.”

Revelation 2:26: “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.” The very obvious indication here is that those who don’t overcome and don’t keep His works until the end will not be in the Kingdom of God and will not have power over the nations.

Revelation 3:10: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” It is a command of God to persevere as the Scripture here clearly reveals.

Let us look at an analogy that someone gave that may be helpful.  Supposing that you were shipwrecked, along came another ship and you were saved. This wouldn’t mean that once saved, always saved, as you could be shipwrecked for the second time and would need to be rescued once again. You were originally saved and needed to make sure that you continued to avoid getting into a position where you could be shipwrecked again. Likewise, we are in the process of being saved but we can lose out. We must make sure that we continue in the faith. Our salvation is sure if we continue faithfully but is lost if we neglect it (Hebrews 2:3).

(To Be Continued)

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

compiled by Dave Harris

“How Does Trump’s Executive Order Help Innocent Children?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

After a worldwide outcry over the “zero tolerance” policy of the Trump administration, criminalizing all illegal immigrants and leading to the separation of young children from their parents and the internment of the children in detention camps, President Trump signed an executive order, claiming that it will keep migrant families together. But does the executive order help the children, or does it make matters worse? Is the European condemnation hypocritical as they are engaging in similar conduct? Why are our immigration systems so broken and what does the Bible have to say about all of this? Is Attorney General Jeff Sessions right when he stated that Romans 13 commands us to obey the laws of the government? Must we obey all laws, even though they might violate the letter or the spirit of God’s Word?

“Hat Christus die steinernen Tafeln mit den 10 Geboten abgeschafft?” is the title of this Sabbath’s German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Here is the summary for the German sermon. Title in English:  “Did Jesus Abolish the Tablets of Stone With the Ten Commandments?”

“God’s Children,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Michael Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

What are the requirements to actually be considered God’s children? Do we have to do more than just “believe” in Jesus Christ and what does that all entail? What is the difference between “born again” and “begotten” children of God?

“Joy of Living Today,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Kalon Mitchell, is now posted. Here is a summary:

We are told as Christians that we need to be joyful. In fact one of the fruits of the Spirit is Joy! But what does it mean to be joyful in a Christian way? How can we achieve in obtaining this crucial part of God’s Spirit? What does it take and what are the consequences for not obtaining it and then also for it dwelling in our lives?

On June 16, 2018, Michael Link will present the sermonette, titled, “God’s Children,” and Kalon Mitchell will present the sermon, titled, “Joy of Living Today.”

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.

There is a wonderful piece of Scripture that very clearly defines what a true Christian’s attitude should be, and we find this in Ezekiel 9:4: “… the LORD said to him, ‘Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.’”

“Sigh,” as defined in Strong’s #584, means “to groan,” “to mourn,” and “to moan.” “Cry,” as defined in Strong’s #602, also means “to groan,” and to “to shriek.” It means that this is not just a cursory look at the world’s evils, mumbling something about how bad things are, but then carrying on with life as if nothing had happened. We can certainly become accustomed to the manifold sins of the world and inured and uncompassionate because we see so much of what is going on through the ubiquitous news media where the unacceptable becomes acceptable through constant application and usage. We can, in short, have a much lower threshold of what is right and wrong, if we’re not careful, through the brainwashing and availability of news, 24 hours a day.

The Scripture quoted above refers to abominations in the city of Jerusalem. However, this can be extended to cover any and all societies and places where abominations are prevalent but are seen as being the norm. We read in Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” In this sin-sick world, Satan has cleverly manipulated the thinking of man to accept that which is unacceptable to God and make it totally acceptable. How very clever he is, as the people of God know only too well.

Of course, we have to know what is abominable to God, and 1 John 3:4 states that “sin is the transgression of the law” (Authorized Version) and “…by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

One commentator stated that “Some people can see sin right before their eyes, they can hear it around them, they can live amidst it, but they can never sigh and cry over it because they refuse to allow God’s law to be the standard of their behaviour.” But it must be our standard.

That brings me to one of the latest events where we should all, in the Church of God, “sigh and cry over all the abominations” that we see in front of us.

On Saturday, 26th May 2018, the final results of the referendum to repeal Ireland’s abortion ban was approved by a big majority. In 2015, in another vote, this same country approved same-sex marriage by a landslide. It is remarkable as this is a Catholic country which has defied the teaching of their church. There was unbridled joy by so many young people in that country that was seen in print and on television. It was as if they had just won a world war or some other mighty achievement and, it would appear, that the enormity of what they had done was missed by those who voted for abortion on demand. I suspect that many who were celebrating would also have been among the number of those protesting at the killing of innocent women and children in war. They simply don’t see that abortion is murder and is just as bad as killing others in warfare. It is a double standard that they are oblivious to. ALL killing is wrong as the 6th Commandment of God reveals to all who have an ear to hear.

We cannot sigh and cry if we are unaware of what is happening in the world today. We need to keep ourselves continually updated in what is happening and be amongst those who have compassion on the plight of others and grieve over the problems we can see in every corner of the world. In Ireland, it was the attitude that was so concerning! There didn’t seem to be one iota of concern for the good and wellbeing of the unborn, just the celebration of women being able to make a choice in terminating a life and seen as their “right” and “entitlement”.

Of course, there are many more abominations for us to sigh and cry over as the world descends into chaos. As the great tribulation nears, additional appalling abominations will surface or increase. What we are seeing today, and what we saw in Ireland, is just another manifestation of the power and influence of Satan who convinces the world that sin is acceptable.

The good news is that his time is short and the coming of God’s Kingdom is near.

by Norbert Link

In this special edition, we are discussing the two most recent summits involving the USA. The diametrically opposite results of Donald Trump’s summits with US trading partners in Canada and with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore show how prophecy is marching on, if we have eyes to see. The distinctions between America’s friends and allies and America’s enemies become increasingly blurred.

Europeans are determined to take matters into their own hands, while America becomes marginalized and isolated. A trade war is on the horizon, and maybe more than that. Please view our most recent StandingWatch program, titled, “US Summits in Singapore and Canada—with Opposite and Frightening Prophetic Results.” 

We are also reporting on President Trump’s declaration to support overdue changes regarding the federal prohibition of medical Marijuana; the possible come-back of former President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz; an ongoing dangerous situation for Angela Merkel; Austria’s crackdown on mosques and imams; adopted and contemplated regulations within the EU pertaining to data protection and copyright laws; Italy’s commitment to the euro; a hypocritical resolution of the UN condemning Israel; and Israel’s and America’s pride for gay parades. We are pointing out in our comments that developments are happening right now which we have declared to occur for a long time.

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

North Korean Summit

The Japan Times wrote on June 12:

“In a vaguely worded agreement signed at their unprecedented summit Tuesday in Singapore, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inked what Trump said was a ‘comprehensive document’ declaring that Kim’s regime would ‘work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula’ while committing to a ‘lasting and stable peace.’

“In exchange, Trump committed to provide ‘security guarantees’ to Kim — including a halt to joint military exercises… But the agreement… offered few specifics about how the two sides would reach these goals, while also leaving ‘complete denuclearization’ undefined…

“Trump, however, did note that the U.S. would be halting its war games… adding that this would save the U.S. ‘a tremendous amount of money.’ He also suggested that South Korea had failed to contribute enough money and said the drills would be ‘inappropriate’ as the U.S. and North Korea negotiate a new relationship.”

Newsmax added on June 12:

“President Donald Trump rocked the region with the stunning announcement Tuesday that he was halting annual U.S.-South Korean military drills — and wants to remove the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the South… The remarks contradicted countless previous declarations by U.S. political and military officials over the years that the drills are routine, defensive and absolutely critical.”

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 12:

“North Korea’s abysmal human rights record, which previous US administrations have sharply criticized, was not even mentioned in the declaration. ‘We wish he [Trump] had covered detention facilities and prison camps [in North Korea],’ Arnold Fang, an expert at Amnesty International, told DW…”

Time will tell where this will lead. We should note, however, that in the not-too-distant future a power bloc of Far Eastern nations will form, consisting of countries such as China, Russia, Japan, India, Pakistan, and, in all likelihood, a united Korea. (In this context, note our quoted article below, titled, “A World without the USA.”)

These collaborating “kings of the East” will be hostile towards the West, and vice versa. The “success” of the summit in Singapore stands in blatant contrast to the failure of the G-7 summit in Canada, as the many articles, quoted below, will show.

How North Korea Describes the Summit with President Trump

ABC News June 13:

“All of the media, limited as it may be, in North Korea is controlled by the state…

“North Korea’s newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, featured a series of pictures of Trump and Kim Jong Un shaking hands and standing side by side on its front page Wednesday. The headline reads, ‘A summit meeting of the century that pioneered a new history in DPRK-US relations,’ with a subheadline of ‘A joint statement adopted.’ Overall, the paper reads as if complete denuclearization was not a major issue… The article mentions ‘denuclearization’ — without the word ‘complete’ — only once, in a paragraph buried in context… The article ran across four pages out of the six-page newspaper with 33 color photos from the summit.

“North Korean TV’s most famous newsreader Ri Chun Hee, also known as the ‘Pink Lady,’ announced the results of the Trump-Kim summit on Wednesday at 4 a.m. ET, specifically highlighting Trump’s ‘intention to halt the U.S.–South Korea joint military exercises … offer security guarantees to the DPRK and lift sanctions against it as mutual relations improve.’

“Details about sanctions being lifted is unclear, as Trump specifically said they would not be lifted in a press conference following the summit…”

Trump’s Tweets: North Korea No More Threat to the World and America’s Real Enemy is the Free Press such as CNN and NBC

Newsmax wrote on June 13:

“President Donald Trump declared that North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat, even though Kim Jong Un hasn’t committed to a timetable for giving up his weapons. ‘Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office,’ Trump said on Twitter…

“Trump and Kim’s summit produced a historic handshake and a joint statement that committed North Korea to ‘complete denuclearization’ without providing any details about how that would happen. U.S. defense analysts have said Kim retains as many as 60 nuclear bombs and a range of missiles, including some he says can strike the U.S. ‘Before taking office people were assuming that we were going to War with North Korea,’ Trump said in another tweet. ‘President Obama said that North Korea was our biggest and most dangerous problem. No longer – sleep well tonight!’”

CNS wrote on June 13:

“Criticizing some of the liberal media’s coverage of the U.S-North Korea summit on denuclearization, President Donald Trump said ‘Fake News’ outlets NBC and CNN are trying to ‘downplay’ the summit… and added that America’s ‘biggest enemy is Fake News’ which is ‘so easily promulgated by fools!’”

When they say, “Peace, Peace”, there is NO PEACE!

 The G-7 Summit

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 8, 2018 [prior to the beginning of the G-7 summit]:

“The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, the EU and Mexico due to ‘national security’ concerns has enraged US allies and threatens to unleash a trade war… The scale of the crisis between the United States and the other G7 members was highlighted early, when, in off-the-cuff remarks, Trump suggested Russia be allowed to rejoin the elite club of rich nations after it was expelled from the G8 following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea… European members of the G7 agreed that conditions were not ripe for Russia to be readmitted as long as the Ukraine crisis was not resolved.”

Newsmax wrote on June 9, 2018 [during the G-7 summit]:

“U.S. trading partners have been furious over President Donald Trump’s decision last week to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico as part of his ‘America First’ agenda. Some countries have retaliated with their own levies on U.S. imports…

“While G7 leaders confronted Trump with a slew of data on imports and exports in a bid to sway his thinking, Trump countered (with) his own numbers and held his position that the United States was at a disadvantage on international trade…

“Trump’s ‘America First’ message to allies has hardened since he brought hardline national security adviser John Bolton on to his team…”

Trump in Warrior Form

The Associated Press reported on June 10:

“Insulting the host, alienating allies and threatening to suspend business with other countries: President Donald Trump was in full trade-warrior form for the weekend summit of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies in Canada.

“The president’s acrimony raised the risk of a trade war that could spook financial markets, inflate prices of goods hit by tariffs, slow commerce, disrupt corporations that rely on global supply chains and jeopardize the healthiest expansion the world economy has enjoyed in a decade.

“Leaving the conclave in Quebec on Saturday, Trump threatened to ‘stop trading’ with America’s allies if they defied his demands to lower trade barriers. And he shrugged off the risk that his combative stance would ignite escalating tariffs and counter-tariffs between the United States and its friends — the European Union, Canada, Japan and Mexico…”

Total Blowup—Trump Refuses to Sign Joint Statement of G7

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 9:

“The summit between the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Britain and Italy was one of the most fractious ever… a deep rift was highlighted as host Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended the summit by saying he would move forward with retaliatory tariffs against the United States starting on July 1. He called US tariffs on its ally under the pretext of national security ‘kind of insulting’ and said Canada would not be ‘pushed around.’…

“Only hours later Trump took to Twitter to assault the Canadian prime minister’s ‘false statements’ and instructed US representatives to renege on the US endorsement of the joint communique. He also said he would be looking to impose tariffs on car imports into the United States.  Trudeau’s office responded later, saying they were focused on what was accomplished at the G7 summit and that the prime minister said nothing at the press conference that he hadn’t mentioned ‘before – both in public, and in private conversations with the President.’

“… the summit showed the United States was increasingly isolated…”

The New York Times wrote on June 9:

“With a petulant tweetstorm from Air Force One, Mr. Trump all but blew up the Group of 7 nations that the United States has led for more than four decades and essentially declared open political war on America’s closest neighbor… The blowup left the United States alienated from its allies even more than it had been entering into the summit meeting…

“Mr. Trump’s unvarnished post-summit Twitter insults aimed at Mr. Trudeau… left the Canadian-American relationship at its most overtly hostile since, perhaps, the War of 1812. Indeed, Mr. Trump had already clashed with Canada before the summit meeting by reportedly accusing it of burning down the White House during that war (it was really the British)…”

Wars Begin with Words—“Special Place in Hell for Trudeau”?

Fox News reported on June 10:

“There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door,” [White House Director of Trade Policy Peter] Navarro said. “And that’s what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did…’”

The New York Times wrote on June 12:

“Peter Navarro, one of President Trump’s top trade advisers, said on Tuesday that it was a mistake to suggest that ‘there is a special place in hell’ for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, offering a rare apology from a White House that almost never walks back heated rhetoric… While Mr. Navarro backed down from his attack, Mr. Trump did not, continuing on Tuesday to accuse Mr. Trudeau of acting in bad faith and trying to take advantage of the United States.”

European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted in response: “There is a special place in heaven for Justin Trudeau.”  British Prime Minister Theresa May “is fully supportive of Trudeau and his leadership,” a senior UK government source said.

Canada Condemns Trump

Reuters wrote on June 11:

“Canada’s House of Commons on Monday unanimously condemned the personal attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by U.S. President Donald Trump and his surrogates… Lawmakers… gave a standing ovation for the government’s response to the Trump administration’s verbal attacks on Trudeau… While the agreement of legislators who are normally opposed on most fronts was remarkable, the anger also spread to pundits, officials, celebrities and ordinary citizens as Canadians vowed consumer boycotts of American goods and brainstormed insults of Trump on social media.”

France and Germany Condemn Trump’s Angry Behavior

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 10:

“The French president’s office has said there is no place for anger and insults in international cooperation…

“[German] Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Sunday the US president’s tweets had destroyed trust and Europe should answer by staying even closer together…”

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 10:

“Germany’s Angela Merkel… told German broadcaster ARD that Trump’s ‘withdrawal via Twitter is of course sobering and a little depressing’…  Saturday’s events only reinforced the chancellor’s commitment to forging a stronger, more unified European Union. Europe must take its fate into its own hands and no longer ‘imprudently’ follow the US, Merkel said.

“The chancellor also announced during Sunday’s interview that, just like Canada, the EU was also preparing counter-measures to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. ‘We won’t let ourselves be ripped off again and again,’ Merkel said, taking on an unusually combative tone…’”

Trump’s Figures All Wrong?

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 12:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday struck back at President Donald Trump’s repeated complaints over the US’ trade deficit. Merkel pointed out the US actually runs a significant account surplus with Europe if one factors services into the equation.

“Several German economists have long made similar arguments. The chancellor also stressed that German direct investment into the US was significantly higher than the other way around.”

The Associated Press agreed, stating on June 10:

“Economists and trade analysts note that the rules of world trade rules aren’t as one-sided as the president argues. According to the World Bank, America’s average tariff is 1.6 percent, the same as the EU’s, only slightly higher than Japan’s 1.4 percent and double Canada’s 0.8 percent…”

So did Newsmax in an article, dated June 11:

“MarketWatch has pointed out that Trump has significantly overstated the U.S. trade deficit with the EU. And the web site of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative even refutes the main thrust of Trump’s argument, stating that ‘two-way U.S.-EU trade has been roughly balanced over time and the very high levels of foreign investment accounted for by each in the other’s markets means that the transatlantic economy is arguably the most integrated on Earth.’”

USA and Europe on Collision Course

Handelsblatt Global wrote on June 10:

“The failed G7 summit has made it more likely that a trade war between the US and other countries will escalate, a leading German economist, Ifo president Clemens Fuest, said.”…

“For the first time ever, Germany is developing a strategy on how to deal with the US, because Berlin has lost faith that its current policy of ‘damage control’ [no] longer works with Donald Trump’s administration. Currently, political strategies only exist for adversaries, such as Russia and China…

France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire urged Germany to support France in reforming the EU and euro zone, otherwise the region might become too weak to cope with Donald Trump’s administration and China.”

“Time for Europe to Fill US Vacuum, Says ex-Danish PM”

The EUObserver wrote on June 11:

“In the wake of a disastrous G7 summit where US president Donald Trump all but broke off the Western alliance, the EU should… prepare to take over global leadership. That is the message on Monday (11 June) by a former member of the EU leaders club… ‘If we don’t find solutions we will be irrelevant,’ warned Denmark’s Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a year ahead of the next European elections…”

Trump’s and White House’s Rhetoric “Worsened”

Newsmax wrote on June 11:

“President Donald Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron that the European Union is worse than China on trade during a meeting at the White House in April… The rhetoric has only worsened in the days since, with White House officials insulting G7 leaders and Trump himself doubling down on his threats.

“International officials have in response been highly critical of Trump, as have many in Congress, including Republican Sen. John McCain, who slammed the president in a tweet.”

In Trump, Some Fear the End of the World Order

The Washington Post wrote on June 9:

“As each day brings a new series of punches and counterpunches between President Trump and longtime U.S. partners, the question appears to be moving beyond the realm of the academic… ‘What worries me most . . . is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged,’ European Council President Donald Tusk said… What is surprising, Tusk said, is that the challenge is driven not by the ‘usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor, the U.S.’

“Trump’s actions, he said, ‘play into the hands of those who seek a new post-West order where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist.’ Tusk’s usual suspects certainly include China and Russia…

“Trump… often describes countries that have been historically aligned with the United States, including Germany, France and Canada, as ‘so-called allies’ who take advantage of the nation…

“‘…where I’m wringing my hands is the 2020 presidential election,’ said Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, which advises investors about the impact of politics on risks and opportunities in foreign markets. ‘If President Trump is reelected… then during his second term, we have to worry about the end of the liberal world order,’ Kupchan said. ‘A second term would allow him enough time to do irreparable damage to liberal institutions, to the WTO [World Trade Organization] and Bretton Woods,’ the 1944 conference where the current international financial system was created, which was quickly followed by the establishment of the United Nations…

“Americans have long had a love-hate relationship with Europe and foreigners in general, along with a strong current of belief that others have taken advantage of U.S. beneficence, sentiments that Trump has been more than willing to exploit…”

Angela Merkel’s Dark View of the World

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 5:

“The chancellor has made frequent excursions into history lately. Indeed, the Peace of Augsburg also came up four weeks ago during her visit to the residence of the German ambassador in Washington. The treaty initiated a 60-year phase of peace between Protestants and Catholics after the bloody turmoil of the Reformation and it initially seemed as though people had finally come to their senses. But that image turned out to be a deceptive one. In 1618, a war began unlike any the Continent had ever seen before. By the time the inferno ended 30 years later, large parts of Germany had been depopulated and many cities left in ruins.

“To Merkel, the Peace of Augsburg is much more than some distant historical date. Rather, it is a warning of just how thin the varnish covering civilization really is. Just as people in the late 16th century were erroneous in their belief that the Peace of Augsburg would be enduring, we could be just as mistaken today in the belief that the postwar order, with all its treaties and alliances, serves as a guarantee that the scourge of war will not return…

“For her, [Donald Trump] is a man who has turned back the historical clock to zero hour and casts doubt on everything that has united the West for decades: NATO, trade agreements and the United Nations. Many in the German government had hoped that Trump wouldn’t be so bad once he was actually sworn in. But Merkel is no longer under any illusions. Trump is implementing his campaign promises, no matter how asinine they might be, as if going down a checklist…

“She feels everything needs to move much faster, in Europe and in Germany, which can’t even manage to build an airport in its capital city — in stark contrast to a China that can build entire metropolises from scratch within just a few years. During her trips to China, there is always a hint of appreciations for the Chinese government… China is governed from the top down.

“Something has to happen, Merkel said with concern as she traveled back to Berlin, impressed by the drive of Beijing’s leaders. And then, in the same breath, she went on to explain why nothing could happen: because her hands are tied by German federalism…”

But this will change soon. A European power bloc will emerge which will NOT be a democracy.

A World Without the USA

The Website of lobelog wrote on June 8:

“Given the unpredictability of US policy, imagine a South Korea/China/North Korea/Japan agreement that leads to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, mutual security commitments, greater exchange between the two Koreas, increased economic support for North Korea, and South Korean request for the US to withdraw its troops. The US would be effectively marginalized…

“How might unhappy European allies respond, over time?… By strengthening, for the first real time, their security forces in the European Union, as opposed to the NATO framework…

“The world is in the midst of a power shift that is resetting roles and relationships in a fundamental way. The impact of the Trump doctrine may be to accelerate these changes, leading to the emergence of new actors, processes and institutions where the US does not lead, and a very different perspective on the US role…”

Amazing! All of this is what we have been saying for quite a long time, based on biblical prophecy, and this article, quoted above, was written BEFORE Mr. Trump announced his desire to withdraw American troops from South Korea. Also note the next article.

Russia, China and Other Allies Make Show of Unity

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 8:

“Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Beijing on Friday, with both men hailing the importance of working together strategically… The meeting underscored a growing closeness at a time of prickly relations with the US for both countries…

“Putin said he and Xi had enjoyed fruitful talks… ‘Cooperation with China is one of Russia’s top priorities and it has reached an unprecedented level.’… Moscow is increasingly looking to China for investment after a sharp decline in relations with the West after the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. China is seeking allies amid growing criticism of its militarization of the South China Sea and continued accusations of human rights breaches and unfair trade practices.”

AFP wrote on June 9:

“Chinese President Xi Jinping will open late Saturday a two-day regional security summit attended by Russia, Iran and other allies confronting rising tensions with the US over trade and Washington’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal… world leaders arrived Friday for the 18th annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security bloc led by China and Russia. Its member states also include four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics, Pakistan and India. Iran is an observer member.

“Though not officially on the agenda, analysts say that one key topic of discussion this year may focus on whether Iran will be allowed to ascend from its position as an SCO observer to become a full member state — a development it has sought since 2008 but has been unable to achieve while subject to UN sanctions…

On June 10, Bloomberg News ran an article with the following headline: “China, Russia Solidify Growing Eastern Bloc as Trump Rattles G-7.”

Trump To End Federal Ban on Marijuana?

Breitbart wrote on June 8:

“President Donald Trump told a gaggle of reporters Friday that he will ‘probably’ support efforts by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) to end the federal ban on marijuana in states that have legalized it. ‘I support Sen. Gardner… We’re looking at it. But I probably will end up supporting that, yes.’

“President Trump has taken a hard line against drugs. In March, he proposed that the death penalty be made available in prosecutions of drug traffickers. Earlier this year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed an Obama-era policy of not enforcing the federal marijuana ban in states that had voted to legalize the drug for medicinal or recreational use, allowing federal prosecutors in each state to use their own discretion.

“In response to that decision, Garnder threatened to hold up future nominations for positions in the Department of Justice. He backed down after he said Trump had agreed not to intervene in states that had legalized the drug, and said privately that he would support Garnder’s legislation. Friday’s statement, however, was the first time Trump had made that support public…”

Newsmax added on June 9:

“President Donald Trump said Friday that he was inclined to support a bipartisan effort in Congress to ease the U.S. ban on marijuana, a proposal that would dramatically reshape the nation’s legal landscape for pot users and businesses. The federal ban that puts marijuana on the same level as LSD and heroin has created a conflict with about 30 states that have legalized pot in some form, creating a two-tiered enforcement system at the state and federal levels. The legislation would ensure states have the right to determine the best approach to marijuana within their borders, but some U.S. restrictions would remain, including sales of non-medical pot to people under 21…

“The president’s remarks place him in conflict with his own Justice Department and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who staunchly opposes marijuana. He lifted an Obama administration policy and freed federal prosecutors to more aggressively pursue cases in states that have legalized marijuana. Asked about the measure in an interview with Colorado Public Radio, Sessions said, ‘We’ll see how far it goes and how much support there is. … My view is clear: The federal law remains in effect nationwide, just as it does for heroin and cocaine.’…

“The bill would change the definition of marijuana in federal drug law to exclude industrial hemp, which like marijuana is part of the cannabis plant family but doesn’t contain the THC that gives pot users the high. Hemp produces the non-intoxicating cannabinoids, or CBDs…”

Hopefully, these changes will be made soon, as it is ignorant and unconscionable to place MEDICAL marijuana in the same category as LSD and heroin.

Germany Elected to UN Security Council

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 8:

“The United Nations has voted to give Germany a two-year seat on the Security Council… Germany was voted onto the United Nations Security Council for the sixth time on Friday [since it became a UN member in 1973], after it secured a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly.

“Germany and Belgium will be joined by South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia as the new faces on the Security Council for 2019 and 2020. Sweden, the Netherlands, Ethiopia, Bolivia and Kazakhstan are set to leave the council at the end of this year after completing their two-year term. The other five temporary seats not up for election this year are held by the Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland.

“The Security Council is made up of five permanent members with veto powers — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — and 10 temporary members elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. Every year, five countries are elected by secret ballot. A seat on the Security Council is viewed as the pinnacle of diplomatic achievement, as it gives countries a strong voice in matters concerning international peace and security. The council is also the only UN body with the power to impose sanctions and authorize the use of military force.”

Comeback of Martin Schulz?

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 6:

“Some Social Democrats want their ex-leader to take another turn as a candidate — this time for the 2019 European elections. He has the Brussels experience…

“Former party leader and chancellor candidate Martin Schulz had one of the most meteoric rises in recent German political history — and an equally steep and speedy fall. When Schulz handed over leadership of the center-left SPD to Andrea Nahles earlier this year, it seemed to be a safe assumption that Schulz’s time in the political spotlight was over.

“However, a suggestion last month from Berlin Mayor Michael Müller has set off a round of chatter that Schulz may yet have another turn as a candidate in front of him… Schulz [has] already built up a profile in Brussels through his two decades in the European Parliament: he served as the body’s president from 2012 to 2017. As a candidate and SPD leader in last year’s federal elections, Schulz frequently promoted greater European integration, calling for what he referred to as the ‘United States of Europe.’

“It wasn’t just Müller who backed the idea of Schulz as the center-left’s leading candidate and would-be European Commission president, a position currently held by Jean-Claude Juncker. The SPD’s Seeheimer Circle, known as the more centrist and pragmatic wing of the party, also ‘wholeheartedly’ endorsed the idea. ‘Europe is his topic,’ Johannes Kahrs, the group’s spokesman, told Der Spiegel. ‘Martin Schulz is known across Europe, esteemed, connected, and can and will advance Europe.’

“… German political experts acknowledge that Schulz is by far the SPD politician with the biggest profile on the European political stage… ‘Martin Schulz has obvious shortcomings, but also several advantages: he’s somebody who’s highly qualified, who knows everybody in Europe and everything about Europe, and feels at home in Brussels,’ Marcel Dirsus, a political scientist at the University of Kiel, told DW…”

We have said from the outset that we did not believe that Schulz’s political career was over.

 Are Merkel’s Days as German Chancellor Numbered?

Handelsblatt Global wrote on June 13:

“Angela Merkel faces fresh trouble from her Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union, over her stance on the refugee question. This time around, though, the chancellor looks more isolated than ever, as more and more Christian Democrats side with the hardline Bavarians, abandoning their leader.

“As the dispute escalates, the stakes are growing and could eventually bring Ms. Merkel’s chancellorship to an end. The issue is already dividing Europe, a split that’s now being exacerbated by the Bavarian CSU leader, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, as he allies himself with other European leaders who oppose Ms. Merkel’s asylum policy…

“The ongoing feud between Ms. Merkel and Mr. Seehofer over immigration flared up again suddenly on Monday when the chancellor rejected the interior minister’s proposal to turn refugees away at the German border if they had already applied for asylum in another European country…

“On Tuesday, CDU lawmakers in the Bundestag overwhelmingly supported Mr. Seehofer’s plan during an internal debate within the party’s parliamentary group… In all, ‘75 percent of the group support Mr. Seehofer’s plan,’ said Andreas Mattfeldt, a CDU politician from Lower Saxony. He said in the nine years he has been in the Bundestag, ‘I have never seen so many politicians voice their disapproval of the chancellor’s position so clearly.’…

“On Tuesday, Mr. Seehofer invited Mr. Salvini, his hardline Italian counterpart, to Berlin next week to discuss a joint proposal to protect the EU’s external borders. Mr. Salvini is not just any interior minister. A member of the anti-immigration League party, Mr. Salvini was behind Italy’s decision to close its ports to a rescue ship carrying 629 migrants at the weekend. The far-right politician was sworn in last month with a pledge to deport 500,000 migrants from his country. According to Italian officials, Mr. Salvini and Mr. Seehofer are in ‘full agreement’ on security and immigration.

“On Wednesday, Mr. Seehofer… chose… to meet with another chancellor — from Austria. Sebastian Kurz is another long-standing Merkel critic and thus a natural ally for Mr. Seehofer. Although his proposal to reject migrants at Germany’s borders would cause Austria major problems, both politicians opted to ignore this difference, and emphasize instead their agreement on how to defend the EU’s borders…”

Deutsche Welle added on June 14:

“Germany’s conservative bloc may be coming apart at the seams, as its Bavarian wing lines up behind Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and against the chancellor. It’s the greatest challenge ever to Merkel’s authority.”

Austria’s Crackdown on Imams and Mosques

AFP wrote on June 8:

“Austria said Friday it could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families and would shut down seven mosques as part of a crackdown on ‘political Islam’, triggering fury in Ankara… Even Austria’s opposition parties were broadly supportive of Friday’s announcement, with the centre-left Social Democrats calling it ‘the first sensible thing this government’s done’…

“Turkey’s relations with Austria have long been strained, most recently when Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he would ban Turkish politicians from campaigning in Austria for upcoming elections. Around 360,000 people of Turkish origin live in Austria, including 117,000 Turkish nationals. Last week Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked Kurz, saying: ‘This immoral chancellor has a problem with us’…”

Erdogan’s reference to Kurz’s immorality might have been in regard to the fact that Kurz has been living together for many years with his girlfriend, without being married.

Daily Mail wrote on June 8:

“… other European far-right leaders welcomed the announcement. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French Front National, said on Twitter: ‘Austria is taking things in hand and showing that “when you want to, you can!’”’ Matteo Salvini, head of Italy’s League and interior minister in the new government, also tweeted his approval, saying: ‘Those who exploit their faith to endanger a country’s security should be expelled!’

“… The government recently announced plans to ban girls in elementary schools and kindergartens from wearing headscarves, adding to existing restrictions on veils.”

Results of Germany’s New Data Protection Law

Bild Online reported on June 9:

“Because of fear of warning notices and fines because of the Data Protection Law, over 70 percent of small and medium size companies either limited their digital activities or abandoned them altogether.

“2,400 German companies were surveyed, and 40% did limit their Online activities to some extent, while 26 percent did so to a large extent. Almost 3 percent abandoned such activities completely.”

Intrusive European Copyright Law Next?

The New York Post wrote on June 8:

“The proposed [EU] regulation will force websites to filter out text, audio, photos and video shared by users against an ever-expanding database of copyrighted works… privacy advocates warn the rules… violate the fundamental rights of internet users and could be used to excessively censor the web… A campaign against the law says the proposals could ‘destroy the internet as we know it.’ ‘Should Article 13 of the Copyright Directive be adopted, it will impose widespread censorship of all the content you share online,’ it said…

“Meanwhile, non-profit The Electronic Frontier Foundation and 56 other rights organizations sent an open letter to European lawmakers in October highlighting their issues with Article 13. ‘Article 13 appears to provoke such legal uncertainty that online services will have no other option than to monitor, filter and block EU citizens’ communications if they are to have any chance of staying in business,’ it read.”

Europe becomes more and more an autocratic power bloc, as prophesied in the Bible.

More Censorship and Restrictions of Free Speech Coming in Germany?

The Guardian wrote on June 13:

“The head of Germany’s most powerful cultural body has called for the plug to be pulled on the nation’s multitude of political talkshows for a year… Olaf Zimmermann, who heads the German cultural council… said public broadcasters needed to step back and rethink a format that has helped cement gloom-ridden public attitudes towards refugees and Islam, and propelled the Alternative für Deutschland party into parliament at last September’s election…

“For their part, the AfD… have been deeply critical of the extent to which they are excluded from TV debates. Last week that impression was only intensified after Alexander Gauland, the party’s leader, had his invitation to appear on Hart Aber Fair withdrawn in protest at his description of the Nazi era… AfD supporters reacted to the ban with fury on social media, calling it part of a campaign to squeeze the party off the airwaves…”

Italy Commits to Euro

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 10:

“Italy’s new Finance Minister Giovanni Tria has said the government aims to stick with the euro and also cut debts levels. His words should help assuage fears of an Italian spending splurge and exit from the EU currency… ‘The position of the government is clear and unanimous. There is no question of leaving the euro,’ Tria said, adding that the government would work actively to prevent the likelihood of such an event…

“Tria’s words echoed those of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who earlier this week said a departure from the euro was ‘not up for discussion.’”

We have repeatedly announced dogmatically that Italy will not abandon the Euro.

Hypocritical UN Condemns Israel

Deutsche Welle reported in June 14:

“The UN General Assembly on Wednesday adopted by a sweeping majority a resolution condemning Israel for killing Palestinians in Gaza and rejected a US attempt to pin the blame on Hamas. The resolution put forward by Algeria, Turkey and the Palestinians secured 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8 votes against and 45 abstentions…

“The resolution deplores Israel’s use of ‘excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force’ against Palestinians, particularly in Gaza. Australia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Togo and the Solomon Islands joined the United States and Israel in voting against the resolution. Germany abstained…

“The resolution did condemn rockets fired from Gaza into Israel, but did not explicitly mention Hamas. About 70 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza on May 29, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system… Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the General Assembly before the vote that in supporting the Arab and Islamic backed resolution UN members were supporting a ‘terrorist organization’ and ‘empowering Hamas.’

“The United States sought to add an amendment to the resolution blaming Hamas for ‘inciting’ violence. The amendment received 62 votes in favor, with 58 against and 42 abstentions. However, it failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to be adopted. US Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution biased against Israel. ‘For some, attacking Israel is their favorite political sport…’

“General Assembly resolutions are non-binding and there is no veto, but they carry political weight…”

JTA wrote on June 13:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement thanked Haley for her defense of Israel. ‘The U.N.’s incessant focus on Israel not only brings shame to the organization, it also draws attention away from so many other pressing issues that demand the attention of the international community,’ he said…

“In a similar scenario in December, the General Assembly approved a resolution condemning the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv by a wide margin after the United States vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council. Nine countries voted against [that] resolution, including Israel, the United States, Guatemala, Honduras and Togo, and 35 abstained, including EU member states Poland, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Latvia. The rest of the European Union was among the 128 nations that voted in favor.”

Tel Aviv’s 20^th Annual Pride Parade

JTA wrote on June 8:

“A crowd of 250,000 attended Tel Aviv’s 20th annual Pride Parade, which featured a performance by Israeli Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai. At least 30,000 foreign tourists attended the parade on Friday morning… The event, which topped last year’s overall attendance by some 50,000, according to estimates, is held in congruence with LGBTQ Pride Month. The parade also featured a tribute to longtime LGBTQ activists, as well as a performance by the Israeli-Arab diva Nasreen Qadri…

“‘I am proud of everyone who is marching in the #TLVPride Parade in support of… diversity and… equality,’ tweeted U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman (who was appointed to the post by Donald Trump). ‘Promoting, protecting and advancing human rights – including the rights of #LGBTI persons – has long been the policy of the United States.’”

Nothing to be proud of.

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.

A: One does not have to go searching very far on the Internet to find people who are taking the writings of the Old Testament out of context and finding fault with the words of God. People will go to any extreme to rule out the need for God and His laws. The issues that people take umbrage with range from murder, sacrifices (including human sacrifices), slavery to rape, just to name a few. Some say that the Old Testament was harsh in its exacting. But they fail to realize it was mainly dealing with people’s hardness of heart.

Quoting from our Q&A:  “God revealed the law of the Ten Commandments to the people, but since they did not have the Holy Spirit, they were unable to keep the spiritual intent of the law. However, God expected them to keep at least the letter of the law, but they were also disobedient in that regard. They sinned gravely, and sin is the transgression of the spiritual law (1 John 3:4). Because of their sinful conduct, God introduced a sacrificial system of ritual laws and regulations to remind them of their sins and to make physical amends (Hebrews 10:1-4). This system of ritual laws was only temporary (Hebrews 10:8-10). It included the laborious task of offering animal sacrifices, and sometimes it included very rigorous physical penalties, such as death by stoning. Dealing with carnal human beings, God knew that only harsh measures could prevent them from totally rebelling against Him and from living a terrible life of depravity and violence (compare Ecclesiastes 8:11). Nevertheless, even those measures did not help, and they ultimately became totally and completely corrupt (Ecclesiastes 9:3).

“It was never God’s desire to ‘force’ people to obey Him. It was never His desire to introduce harsh physical penalties for disobedience. He never wanted a sacrificial system. He did not desire animal sacrifices, but rather, that men lived in a way that such sacrifices [and penalties] would not be necessary (Psalm 40:6; 50:8-14; 51:16-17).

“God had created man as free moral agents, with the faculty of deciding for himself whether or not to follow God’s rules. God had offered Adam and Eve the gift of the Holy Spirit (symbolized by the Tree of Life), but they rejected that gift and ate instead from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, representing the concept of determining and deciding for themselves what seemed right to them. The consequence was that man began to call good evil, and evil good (Isaiah 5:20), ending up in his unspeakable depravity and his destruction in a worldwide flood (Genesis 6:5-7).“

We can easily see that many of the things that happened in the Old Testament were not what God wanted. When trying to discredit the Bible, people don’t and cannot see the entire plan of God laid out. They have no clue that God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8; 1:8-12). God doesn’t change. He still expects the Ten Commandments to be followed, both in the letter, but more importantly, in the spirit. For instance, Christ made clear that it is not only wrong to murder someone, but hatred is equally forbidden.

Nor do people realize that there is a distinction between the ritual laws introduced in the Old Testament, which had reached their finality and were abolished when Christ died for us, and the spiritual law, which is still in place. Christ did NOT come to abolish the entirety of God’s Law, but rather, Christ came to magnify the Law through the Holy Spirit. (For more detailed explanation, please read our free booklet, “Old Testament Laws Still Valid Today?”). For the last 6,000 years or so, man has been allowed to reap the rewards of his own choices. The Old Testament helps to show that the ways in which people chose to act and the things that they chose to do were not necessarily right. 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, speaks about the warnings to Israel. Verse 11 says: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

In some cases, God expressly condemned certain conduct, such as human sacrifices. In other cases, the Bible just reports the events without specifically stating that the particular human conduct was wrong, but the reader is supposed to know that it was wrong, when it clearly violated the Ten Commandments and the statutes and judgments, defining the Ten Commandments even more (for instance, when people lied). Sometimes, the Bible may give us additional information or hints, when stating that there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. God had simply permitted human beings to make their choices, without intervening and preventing them (for instance, in the case of polygamy or slavery). In still other situations, God even used wrong choices (such as warfare) to bring about His specific purpose (for instance, to fulfill His unconditional promise to Abraham to bring his descendants into the Promised Land).

People fail to see that when the children of Israel in the Old Testament obeyed and heeded the teachings of God, they were blessed, healed, and taken care of all around. For instance, look at King Solomon who had peace in his kingdom. There was no reason for war and all the atrocities that come along with war, because God kept it peaceful.

But then the opposite is true as well. Hebrews 3:9-11; Isaiah 53:6; and Jeremiah 4:16-22 are just a few Scriptures, outlining the problems that ensued because of Israel’s and Judah’s lack of following after the laws of God.

In 1 Peter 3:15 we are told that we must be able to give an answer for the things we believe. If we don’t know the answer to some of these errors, then we could be led away from the knowledge of the Truth. It can be easy to be swayed by people who sound like they know what they are talking about. Many arguments against the Bible found on the Internet are attempting to disprove and discredit the Bible in any perceivable or dishonest way, without showing any understanding of the Scriptures (compare Jeremiah 23:36; 2 Peter 3:16). Matthew 24:10-12 points out that this type of conduct will increase as we move towards the end of this age. Notice that because of the growth of wickedness or lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. This love for the Truth is quickly replaced with hate, iniquity and vileness.

It is the responsibility of God’s true Church to teach the Truth to its members and to others in general, as we read in Ephesians 4:11-15:

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints… till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God… that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head—Christ…”

At the end of the day, we must accept the guidance of God’s true ministers when they explain to us the Word of God in the light of the Scriptures (compare Acts 8:31; Romans 10:14-15) , and we all must individually study the Word of God for clarity and understanding in the matters mentioned earlier in this Q&A. We must understand where we stand individually in relation to God’s words and commands. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 shows us why we must make the effort to study. If we truly claim to be Christians and say we believe the Bible, we must understand what the Bible says in many different areas of life and be able to back it up with Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15).

Lead Writer: Kalon Mitchell

compiled by Dave Harris

“US Summits in Singapore and Canada—With Opposite and Frightening Prophetic Results,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

The diametrically opposite results of Donald Trump’s summits with US trading partners in Canada and with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore show how prophecy is marching on… if we have eyes to see. The distinctions between America’s friends and allies and America’s enemies become increasingly blurred. Events are being set in motion right now which are not accidental, but which might determine your future—including your physical and spiritual survival.

“Was sagt uns der Prophet Daniel über die Endzeit?” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “What Does the Prophet Daniel Tell Us About the End Time?”

“Renewal of Your Mind,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Kalon Mitchell, is now posted. Here is a summary:

What does the Bible really mean when it talks about renewing our minds? What are we doing every day to renew our minds in relation to our Christian calling? Does it really make that much of a difference how we think? Does God command it?

“God or Man—Part 2?” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Michael Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

How do we correctly manifest love towards our neighbor? Are there laws or biblical teachings which man doesn’t consider to be sinful when God clearly does? In this second part, the next 6 commandments will be covered which describe the love towards our neighbor, or fellow man.