I love the springtime. The air is cool, but the sun offers warmth that invigorates. The scent of flowering trees fills the air for about one week, and then gives way to the growth of other beautiful flowers planted on the ground. It’s a splendid time of year, offering unique moments to appreciate when one slows down long enough to observe and enjoy God’s created beauty.

There is something about the springtime that I don’t love so much, however. Weeds. Those unsightly plants love the springtime even more than I do, and they prove it by competing mightily against the pretty ones. In fact, the dandelions barely wait until the snow has melted before tagging the yard with yellow dots in random patterns. Such rude behavior makes it nearly impossible to get ahead of them in order to prevent their growth.

Through the years of being a homeowner, I’ve learned that there is only one thing that is effective in fighting the annual battle against weeds. As much as I’ve tried hoping and wishing that the weeds in the yard would go away or just die, I have proven to myself time and again that these methods simply have no effect. It turns out that hard work is the only thing that can tame the wild growth of weeds. Whether the work is spent pulling, researching chemicals and carefully applying a lethal dose, or even paying someone else to take care of the problem, hard work is necessary to keep a yard under control. There’s simply no way around it.

It should be no surprise that most things that are truly valuable take work in order to achieve. The example of a well-groomed yard is trivial in comparison with that which really matters, however. The Bible is clear that the promise of everlasting life for a Christian takes diligent work in learning to become obedient and overcome sin. We are reminded by Jesus Christ that the easy paths and the wide gates are the ones that lead to destruction, but the narrow gate that is difficult to find is the one that leads to everlasting life (compare Matthew 7:13-14). Even though eternal life is a gift that is freely given to us through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our efforts still need to be applied in proving to God that we are willing to learn obedience and righteous behavior. It takes work to overcome sin. It takes work to build up our relationship with God. If we choose to neglect our calling, we risk our own lives in potentially falling away.

If we have been called out of the world by God, “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Timothy 1:9), we have a very special gift to care for. If we want to please God and prove to Him how valuable our calling is to us, there is one way to succeed. Only through hard work will we be able to turn away from sin and learn righteousness. The Bible also reminds us that there is a benefit to our efforts as well – “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (compare Hebrews 11:6). We are fortunate to have the gift of eternal life to be made available to us, but even beyond that, our tireless work in living by the Truth will be rewarded with great responsibility and roles of leadership in the Kingdom of God (compare Luke 19:15-19).

Not everyone will agree with the headline of this editorial, but it points out a FACT, as CLEARLY prophesied in the Bible. Some cannot comprehend this, as God has not opened their eyes. After all, the Holy Spirit is a spirit of prophecy, and only those who are being led by God’s Spirit will grow in God’s understanding, and the more we submit to God and are obedient to Him, the more our minds will be opened to the prophetic Truth. We read that God does not do anything unless He reveals it first to HIS servants the prophets (which includes God’s ministers speaking under inspiration). God will most certainly not reveal His Truth to false prophets or those who falsely CLAIM to be prophets.

A wild accusation has been made against us that we do not preach what the Worldwide Church of God taught on the subject of the Third Temple. Selected articles from 1979 and 1981 were quoted to support this claim. In the articles, it was emphasized that Christ will come back to His glorious temple—the Church of God (Haggai 2:9; Malachi 3:1). And that is of course very true. On the other hand, do those Scriptures negate the teaching that there will ALSO be a physical Temple in existence when Christ returns? Are those truthful who quote from SOME Church articles which seem to hold a particular position, while ignoring other Church articles which hold a different position? Are those truthful who quote selectively from some articles, out of context, only to cement their own opinion on a matter? Of course not—such conduct is misleading.

The point is, in an article which quotes from a speech from Herbert Armstrong in 1981, he said this (as quoted from the Internet):

“[Christ] shall suddenly come to His temple.’ What kind of a temple is He coming to? Are the Jews going to tear down the Dome of the Rock and build a new temple? Oh no! You see no evidence of anything like that happening. I know the people well enough that if the Jews over there were going to do anything like that they would certainly have mentioned that to me. But, He will ‘suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant [which] you delight in.’ A holy temple! Christ is coming to His Church! Christ is coming to His temple! And the Church is the temple. Do we see that? The Church is the temple.”

We should be able to see that Mr. Armstrong believed that Christ’s Second Coming was very near, and since he did not see any evidence for the building of a physical temple at that time, he concluded that it would not happen. However, Christ still has not returned yet, and today, more than 35 years later, events have changed dramatically, as we have been pointing out in our weekly Updates.

The same must be said about a statement which the Church published in The Plain Truth on August 1979, which reads: “It is inconceivable that the Israelis, in the present international turmoil over their possession of old Jerusalem, could ever demolish the Arab Moslem Dome of the Rock—now on the site of Solomon’s temple—and build a new one there of greater splendor and glory than Solomon’s! However, as the second temple Zerubbabel was building was a typical forerunner of the temple to which Christ shall come, even so Zerubbabel was the typical forerunner of one Christ would use in building the far more glorious temple to which Christ shall come in His GLORY!”

Note, the context is again “the present international turmoil over their possession of old Jerusalem.” The timing of the writing was almost 40 years ago.

What has been conveniently overlooked or suppressed are statements in Church articles which clearly pronounced that a THIRD temple WILL BE built prior to Christ’s return–or, which left this question purposefully unanswered.

In Die Reine Wahrheit of October 1967 (German edition of The Plain Truth), it was stated on page 10 (in the article, “2,300 Evenings and Mornings”): “Yes, a temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, as incredible as it may sound.” In The Good News magazine, November-December 1987, the following was stated on page 12 in “A Sealed Prophecy,” at least implying the existence of a Temple before Christ’s return: “The ‘sanctuary’ is to be ‘trampled underfoot.’… the taking away of daily sacrifices and trampling of a sanctuary underfoot is yet a future event. We are nearing the fulfillment of these amazing prophecies about the Temple Mount in Jerusalem…”

In a two-part series in The Good News, February and March 1985, titled, “Coming… A Temple in Jerusalem?”, the answer to this question was purposefully left open. Many issues were raised—pro and con—but no position was taken in these two articles, one way or another.

However, we should also take note of the fact that in times past, the Church taught dogmatically that a Temple would be built before Christ’s return (and it is simply dishonest to suppress this fact when it does not fit into one’s paradigm; or, if one is unaware of these articles, then his research is sloppy and unreliable).

In Herbert W. Armstrong’s editorial in The Plain Truth, June 1967, titled, “Jews take Jerusalem!”, the following was stated (as quoted from the Internet):

“There will be a Jewish Temple built in Jerusalem, with animal sacrifices once again being offered… It is going to take some time to build such a Temple… For a long time the Jewish people have had in mind the rebuilding of the Temple, though they keep it pretty secret. And it must be built on the exact site of Solomon’s Temple. The wealthiest Jews in the world, in the United States, Britain, France and other parts of the world, are going to pour money into that…

“So now, putting the two accounts of Jesus’ Olivet prophecy together, Matthew 24 and Luke 21, two things are to occur, just before the Great Tribulation. 1) There will very soon be a Temple in Jerusalem, with daily sacrifices once again being offered. But the ruler of the soon-coming resurrected ‘Holy Roman Empire,’ a political-military union of ten European nations–will stop the daily sacrifices and profane the Holy Place in the Temple; and 2) Jerusalem will be surrounded and captured [Zechariah 14:1-2] by the… armies of the European Empire, already starting to rise now out of the Common Market. They will invade Jerusalem, and take charge of the Temple…

“This European power, resurrecting for a very short while the Roman Empire, will take over the city of Jerusalem [Zechariah 14:2]. They will take the Temple, and plant the palace of their headquarters there. With this coming military leader, pictured in Revelation 17 as the symbolic ‘beast,’ will be a supreme religious leader, called ‘the False prophet,’ [Rev. 16:3; 19:20; 20:10] and the ‘man of sin.’ So will you turn next to II Thessalonians 2:3-4:

“‘Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day’–the Day of the Lord, verse 2–’shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.’

“So there will have to be the Temple there!… And they will put there the ‘abomination’ of which the statue of Jupiter Olympus, placed by Antiochus Epiphanes was the type…

“Then Revelation 11 shows there will be a Temple in Jerusalem, at the time of the two witnesses, who preach for three-and-one-half years, ending at Christ’s coming. Also the prophecy of II Thessalonians 2 shows there will be a Temple.

“So putting all these prophecies together, it is plain the Israelis must soon flood over the ‘no-man’s land’ of the divided city of Jerusalem, and take at least the territory where the ancient Temple stood, and then start to build a Temple.”

The Scriptures which Mr. Armstrong cited in his editorial and many other biblical passages prove convincingly that a Third Temple WILL be built. It is true that the position of the Church, in the past, may not have always been consistent on this point. It is therefore important that we realize that we must always believe the Bible. We have produced several booklets which PROVE to you THAT the Bible PROPHESIES the building of the Third Temple prior to Christ’s return. We challenge you to read them for yourselves. They are, for example: “The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation”; “The Book of Zechariah”; “The Ten European Revivals of the Ancient Roman Empire” and “The Fall and Rise of the Jewish People.” And please continue to read our weekly Updates and view our StandingWatch programs which regularly inform you about ongoing developments in the Middle East and Jerusalem.

On a recent annual trip to the Far-East to see family, I was reminded of God’s admonition to the ancient Israelites when He told them in Deuteronomy 12:2-3: “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place.”

God wanted them to worship Him in the right way and anything other than true worship of Him was not to be tolerated. This would be, and always is, for our own benefit as the people of God. They usually failed to do this and a prime example was King Solomon who, despite his unique wisdom given as a gift from the great God, fell short in this regard. We read in 1 Kings 11:3-8 how Solomon’s wives turned him away from the true God to follow false religion. That is a sobering reality of how Satan can use circumstances to trap the people of God who are not watchful to the wiles he consistently uses.

There are many instances when God told His people to rid themselves of false worship. I was reminded of these examples as I saw so many pagan shrines in the land that my wife and I were visiting where they seem to be obligatory for every hotel, housing and apartment facilities, and many residents take it upon themselves to put such a shrine in their own garden. They seemed to be everywhere.

Of course, God doesn’t instruct us today to go and remove these shrines in the lands far away from where we live. Nor are we instructed today to remove public shrines or idols in the lands where we live, but we ARE told that we must not have these in our own personal dwellings. In fact, in the UK, the USA and many countries in Europe, we have our own equivalents today. In many church buildings up and down these lands are relics and icons which supposedly represent Christianity but, of course, don’t do so. They are the equivalent of the groves and high places of thousands of years ago. I have seen shrines in the USA along roads; shrines of a supposedly Christian nature but are not when judged by the standards of God.

Yet again, I was reminded of how far man has fallen from the true worship of the true God. What I have mentioned so far is replicated in many other countries around the world. We live in a world separated from God and only His true Church has the answers.

The time is coming when almost everything will change and false religious worship, with all of its accessories, will be very high on the list for replacement, and with immediate effect. That time cannot come quickly enough for the dedicated and faithful people of the one true God.

With increased frequency and callousness, men and women are choosing death as an easy way out of hardships. For an ever-growing number of people, sustained and meaningful purpose for one’s life is unattainable. Suicide is nothing new but the merciless desire to snuff out the lives of others is becoming more common.

Just this week a young man shot and killed his mother and friend as they slept. After the murders he wrote on Facebook, “What I look forward to is the nothingness after death. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about murder, wondering what it feels like. But I’ve barely felt anything.”  He was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot within a day or so of the murders.

Last month a female couple, whose lifestyle demonstrated utter confusion of godly principles, drove off a cliff with their 6 adopted children.  While the motives aren’t known, the circumstances point to the car being intentionally driven off the cliff.

To try and understand why people choose these actions is to try and understand the mind of Satan. We are warned to distance ourselves from him by drawing closer to God, “But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men’” (Mark 8:33). Throughout human existence, mankind has proven to have a complete lack of foresight without godly direction.  Relying on our own direction leaves us unprepared and susceptible to the deceiver. Satan is single-minded in his intentions towards man and we are warned to “[b]e sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Without God, man can do little to stop reflecting the attitudes of Satan.  Exposure to these views long enough will lead to deception and, ultimately, death.  Christ was clear on the end result of a godless life manipulated by the Devil. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

The path laid before us is difficult only because we have such a proclivity to stumble onto that broad road leading towards destruction.  Like each of us, King David had that same tendency, but he understood how to find light in the darkness: “Your word is a lamp to my feet  And a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). God’s Word is THE choice and the only means to attain understanding, purpose and most importantly, the path to eternal life.

Are we living in a state of fear?  With all the news of death and destruction we hear about on a daily basis, do we sometimes worry if this could happen to us?  Could we be a victim of a shooting or bomb tragedy, or even be involved in a serious car accident or plane crash, just as an example?  Do we have God’s protection at all times?

Do we fear the future of what is to come, when things are going to get worse, much worse than what we hear about now?  When it comes to the spiritual side of things, do we fear that we aren’t qualified enough for God to protect and save us from the impending disasters?  If we feel that way, it’s about time we change that way of thinking and be ready, prepare ourselves spiritually and we better make sure that we are counted worthy so we can have that protection and more importantly, be a part of the Kingdom of God.

God has created us with the ability to be led by His Holy Spirit within us, which can only be obtained through proper baptism, and through this power, we can obtain wisdom and understanding to discern between real and perceived dangers, also knowing what is right and what is wrong.  We have free will and we do make choices and hopefully we make correct choices as we continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ and use more and more of the Spirit given to us by God.  He has given us the choice to live with worldly fears, apprehension and suffering, or to embrace a Godly fear which leads to wisdom, courage and everlasting joy (2 Timothy 1:7).

God hasn’t given us a “spirit of fear” in the worldly sense, but, for our benefit, He has put the emotion of fear in our minds as a consequence of sin.  We will be faced with fears, whether physical or spiritual, when terror strikes the earth in various ways. We will be in the middle of it, we will be tested, and we will have to fight our fears over Satan’s clever tactics; and we know that we can defeat him because God says we can, as God gives us the tools to arm ourselves (Ephesians 6:11-12).

It is God’s Word which gives us His perspective about fear as stated in 1 John 4:18: “Perfect love casts out fear.”  If God doesn’t give us a Spirit of fear and we know that He loves us perfectly, why are we still afraid?  We must learn to fight fear with “fear”—and it’s this other kind of fear that is the cure for our uncontrolled fears: The fear of the Lord.  If we obey God and put our trust, faith and confidence in Him, then there shouldn’t be any reason to be afraid, to fear what the future will bring because He will protect us, as He has promised He would.  Christ has given us peace and the whole world does not understand this peace that Christ is referring to, but in due time, they will (compare John 14:27).

We don’t need to fear the world because we understand what it means to fear, respect and revere God.  When we have the fear of the Lord, it means we look upon God with high esteem, an attitude accompanied by obedience, knowing, as it says in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”

As we approach Passover, we are admonished by God to examine ourselves in order to partake of the Passover in a worthy manner, lest we fall under condemnation:

“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27).

This self-examination is required since we have a tendency to get so involved in our work, marriages and other activities that we generally don’t take the time to see how we are doing spiritually and we at times let things slip.

Since the Days of Unleavened Bread picture putting sin out of our lives for seven days, it shows that completely putting sin out is not an easy task which can be accomplished in one day; rather, we have to really work at it.

Examining oneself requires that we honestly evaluate how we are doing spiritually. Have we made headway in being more like Christ and walking in His footsteps? Are we closer to God than last year? Have we overcome rather than succumbed to sin? Have we replaced bad habits with good habits? Have we replaced sin with righteousness?

It’s easy to let things slip a bit, humanly speaking, in letting down in prayer, study, meditation and fasting which are the tools for maintaining a good relationship with God—all of which is needed so that we can grow spiritually stronger.

Satan, the accuser of the brethren, is always looking for opportunities to trip us up and get us to sin. A little bit of compromise is like a little leaven (sin) which leavens the whole lump.

Satan is compared to a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). A lion does not attack a healthy animal knowing it reduces his chance of success. He looks for a weak, wounded or young animal, since they cannot escape so easily.

If we are strong spiritually and close to God, Satan will leave us alone, but we have to resist him as admonished by James:

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

We are in a better position to accomplish this if we are drawing closer to God and not relying on our own strength. It’s a spiritual battle we are fighting, and we must be spiritually armed and ready.

Let’s ensure we are doing a thorough self-examination and making the effort to put sin out of our lives in order to partake of this Passover in a worthy manner.

This coming weekend for most of the United States we are going to experience that wonderful time when the time will shift forward an hour, and we will lose an hour of sleep. But in return we will gain more daylight hours. For most of us this time is welcomed as the days grow longer, and we seemingly have more time for accomplishment.

Now the truth is that there are still only 24 hours in a day. In John 11:9-10 Christ says that if we walk during the day we will not stumble. Of course Christ here is speaking in spiritual terms. But the application is meaningful. We are facing each day more and more spiritual darkness in this world. It can get overwhelming and disheartening to see things going from one bad event to another. So how do we stay positive and focused?

Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, keenly warns the brethren of that time (as well as ours) that they should know that they are not of the darkness, but rather, they should, with steadfastness seek to stir up the light in themselves and to push out the darkness.

We are coming up rather quickly now to the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. How ready will we be for this time? What will you do individually to make SURE that you are ready to take the Passover in a meaningful way? Notice in verse 9 of the previously quoted scripture, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Do we truly appreciate and take into account the great plan that God has in store for each of us? We have to realize and know that God can and wants to help us overcome ALL problems that we encounter in our lives.

It really comes down to the choice of what do we want. We can choose to serve ourselves and our own wants and desires, but we will suffer the consequences and end up as those who will be thrown out into “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 25:30). Or we can choose to remove those things which separate us from God and draw closer to Him.  Ephesians 5:8 reminds us that while we ONCE were in the darkness, we are now to walk as “children of Light.” Truly the times of spiritual darkness are continuing to rise around us. Let us stand up for the truth and righteousness no matter what lies ahead for us. If we put this into our minds and hold on, then God will see to it that we make it—as He has promised:

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

My oldest grandson is now a teenager. In a way, it is a bit shocking. I was so used to viewing him in the familiar ways I had become accustomed to. Suddenly, though, he is taller than his mother, his voice has changed and he simply seems dramatically more mature. Things happen that way when we aren’t really paying close attention. It is something we all experience in the passage of time. That, however, is a critical danger we must avoid when it comes to the fulfillment of prophecy!

Without providing exact dates, Jesus Christ gave us a timetable based on events we should be watching—specifically revealed in chapter 24 of Matthew. A key to understanding these sweeping occurrences is what Jesus clearly specified:

“‘Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near–at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place’” (Matthew 24:32-34).

Many times I have heard it said or read that someone always claims that their generation will see the end of the age. Discounting the truth of what Jesus prophesied doesn’t change the fact that His words will be fulfilled—of that, Jesus was very explicit, saying, “‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away’” (Matthew 24:35). He continues to warn us to “‘watch’” and to be “‘ready’” (Matthew 24:42, 44).

The question, then, is this—are we living in the final generation which will witness the return of Jesus Christ? The evidence from God’s Word and the events taking place right now proclaim an unmistakable, YES! But here is a vital point for us to deeply grasp—we are already far along and the end draws closer!

Beyond just knowing about the end of the age, we must be engaged in the events of this time, and for us, that means we stay zealously involved in God’s Work. Are you doing this? Then take this as a bit of a reminder—come on, keep up!

The ability to forecast the future is beyond all human capacity. Nobody knows with exact certainty what will happen tomorrow, and even less in the days that follow. We can make predictions based on assumptions, but the variability of life ultimately changes the exact outcome. Certainly, all of us are able to share our own experiences to offer evidence to confirm this fact.

I am personally reminded of the unpredictability of life during my morning routine throughout the week. Every day I wake up to an alarm that’s set for the same time, and that’s when things begin to vary. Between the time that the alarm goes off and my arrival at work, the same general preparations take place, but the way in which the morning events develop are widely different. My children wake up at different times, with different moods, each one of the six members of our family affecting one another. The ingredients on hand for breakfasts and packed lunches are a bit different every day, requiring a variable amount of creativity in the morning. And with babies under the age of two, my wife and I need to be ready to respond to the capricious whimsy of busy toddlers as well. Each morning has two simple goals; prepare the family for work and school, and leave the house on time. Yet, I am amazed at how every single day takes on a level of unpredictability that cannot be controlled. Any attempt at predicting the detail of the morning is futile.

Even though the details of our lives cannot be predicted, there are some events that we can faithfully and confidently expect. The prophecies of the Bible provide us with God’s plan, outlining the changes that must take place in our world. Knowing that God cannot lie, and that He reveals His plans through His prophets, the words of the Bible therefore provide us with a map of the future that cannot be altered. As we read in Amos 3:7, “Surely the LORD God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets.” With knowledge of a certain future that we can trust and rely on even more than our daily routines, it begs a question. What are we doing in our lives to be part of God’s plan? If we have the courage, we may also ask the more poignant question; what do we need to be doing differently?

One individual in the Bible asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, believing that he had done well in working to be obedient to the law. In Matthew 19:20-22, the deeper question is asked of Jesus, “The young man said to Him, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” In this example, the rich young ruler knew enough about the certainty of God’s plan to understand the need for obedience. However, he learned in this instance that his dedication must be undivided as well. This is exactly what we need to do today.

There is no doubt that God’s plan will come to fruition. Those who have dedicated their lives to God, living in obedience through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, will become members of God’s Family. It’s a wonderful promise to understand! If we know that the time when Jesus Christ will return to this earth to establish God’s Kingdom is rapidly approaching, are we changing our lives accordingly? What are the reasons for our change? Do we merely change the way that we live because time is short? Or do we change the way that we live because we love God? There is a subtle difference in the way these questions are asked and answered. The way that we approach our role in being worthy of God’s promise makes a difference. Whether time is short or not, our approach should be identical.

Our desire to obtain the promise of eternal life must be exclusively driven by the love for God’s Truth, and not by any deadline or selfish gain. The rich young ruler was instructed to dedicate his entire life to following Christ, which troubled him deeply. With any part of life left undedicated to righteous conversion, we will be deficient in our efforts to please God. Nothing must matter more to us than living according to God’s instructions. If we are able to do this, we will find ourselves so busy with God’s Work that the change in our plans in life will be minimal as the time of Christ’s return approaches. The proximity of Christ’s return makes no difference in the righteousness required of us, even though the realization that the time is short can and should motivate us to live more righteously (cp. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31).

While we cannot predict the future in the details of our lives, we can absolutely trust in the plan of God to be fulfilled. With the knowledge of these certain events which will take place, our dedication to godly righteousness must be unwavering. However, our motives make a difference in our ability to succeed. When we are driven to change our lives because we love God’s Way of Life more than anything else, our hearts are right where they need to be. As Jesus admonishes, “‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Last week’s events in Germany serve as a striking example as to HOW DIRTY politics is. Much of the world breathed a sigh of relief when Germany’s two leading parties, the CDU and the SPD, finally reached a grand coalition agreement under Angela Merkel (CDU) and Martin Schulz (SPD), thereby ending an historic time of political limbo after Germany’s election in September. But soon afterwards, due to political maneuvering within his own party, Schulz was forced to declare that he would not accept the contemplated role of foreign minister within the new government.

The German press recognized the true motives at play. Much blame was placed on Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) who presently holds the office of foreign minister in a “caretaker position”. Bild Online wrote on February 9 that Gabriel was using dirty tricks against Schulz; that the same party delegates who had voted for Schulz were now blackmailing him and used him as cannon-fodder; and that the entire situation confirmed almost every possible perception of the meanness and lack of principles in politics.

Bild added that a power struggle had engulfed the SPD; that Schulz was given an ultimatum; and that Gabriel hinted at an alleged agreement between him and Schulz that he would remain the foreign minister in consideration of giving the position of party chief to Schulz. But the German press claims that Gabriel only resigned as the leader of his party in order to escape responsibility if the grand coalition talks would fail (and most observers predicted at the time that they would fail).

In all fairness, even though Schulz had originally declared that he and his party would not be a part of a German government under Merkel, due to the intervention of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), he changed his mind [or broke his word, depending on one’s viewpoint]… but so did all the major players in his party, including Sigmar Gabriel. And there can be no doubt that he worked out a masterful deal for the SPD. The Local wrote on February 7: “The SPD managed to wangle the Foreign Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Labor Ministry out of the talks. They appear to have done pretty well for themselves there… The only question is – with so many key ministries going to the other parties – what have the CDU kept for themselves?” The answer: Merkel managed to get the chancellorship… for herself.

With these many key positions for the SPD, that party should have been thankful to Schulz. Instead, they dropped him like a hot potato. The Telegraph commented on February 9 that “Mr. Schulz, a former European parliament president, was briefly talked of as Germany’s next chancellor when he returned from Brussels to enter national politics. He was elected SPD leader with 100 per cent support in 2016 and the country was gripped by ‘Schulzmania’ in the early part of last year. But he led the party to its worst ever result in September’s election. His political career is now almost certainly over…”

The German press echoed those sentiments. Bild Online wrote that Schulz is facing the end of his political career which began with 100 percent and ended with nothing, slipping “from 100 to Zero.”

We don’t share this conclusion. We had predicted that Donald Trump, when he announced his candidacy, would become the President of the USA, even though very few agreed with us at the time. We had predicted that Merkel and Schulz would hammer out a grand coalition agreement when most felt the opposite and thought that Merkel would enter a coalition with smaller parties, without the SPD (the so-called “Jamaica coalition”), and failing this, new elections would be held. We had said that Schulz would play an important role within the new German government. We still feel the same, even though the almost unanimous political viewpoint disagrees. Whether Schulz’s political career is indeed over will have to be seen. In the past, many politicians were viewed at one time as “yesterday’s news,” but they made spectacular comebacks. Just think of Napoleon, Mussolini, and last, but not least, Adolf Hitler. And so, historically, strange and unexpected things have happened in the dirty business of politics, and just maybe, the deadly wound which Schulz received might be healed in the future, which would indeed surprise the whole world.

We all know that politics is mean—rotten to the core. The recent example in Germany only supports this universal truth. Politicians are motivated and driven by lies, betrayal, backstabbing and broken words and promises, while totally lacking in principle and godly character. As the Bible says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Politics is like a prostitute who embraces her lovers, but only as long as she can use them. Why is that so? Simply, because the originator of politics is none other than Satan the Devil—a dirty, mean, lying being without any principles or godly character. Satan rules this world. He designs the evil politics of this world, and he influences and inspires those who are engaged in this field. Nothing good will ever come out of it. That is why true Christians must have NOTHING to do with it. Rather, they ought to pray for God’s Kingdom to come very soon which will end, once and for all, the dirty business of politics.