Update 1123

On, August 10, 2024, Frank Bruno will present the first split sermon, titled, “Seeking Joy Through Faith,” and Eric Rank will present the second split sermon, titled, “Are You Really Free?”

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.

Paradoxically, our lives are at the same time vanishingly diminutive and immensely important. Considering the enormity of creation, our lives occupy a mere moment in time. We are a mote in the universe. The impact we might make with the greatest of possible achievements in the history of man quickly fades from memory. Yet, in the grand plan of God, the Creator of everything, our lives are so significant that He would have still sent His Son as a Sacrifice for our sins if we had been the only person alive needing salvation. We are so small and the events in our lives are so trivial, yet our lives in the eyes of God are so awesome as to be of eternal importance.

Day to day, it helps to consider this paradox. In the good moments when we might have feelings of pride in our achievement, it helps to remember that what we have done is miniscule when zooming out to see the bigger picture. More emphatically, anything that we might be able to accomplish is only possible with God’s help. On the opposite end of the spectrum, in difficult times when we might face seemingly impossible circumstances, it helps to remember that our problems will eventually pass. Even if we face the most extreme situation of a threat against our life, it helps to know that in God’s great plan, this life is just a temporary physical existence that will give way to an eternal one. Accepting that our lives are relatively small and insignificant helps temper pride and cope with difficulty. Yet, believing that we are so important to God that He sacrificed His only Son so that we can live with Him eternally in glory is infinitely revitalizing!

It is a great relief when we understand the Truth of God’s plan and how we play a role in it. The experiences we now have that cause us to abound in joy or cower in grief lose their power to control us because we know there’s something much greater to look forward to. The Spirit of God is the only thing that makes it possible to understand the magnitude of God’s plan. “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). The future that we have is beyond the capacity of the physical man to comprehend without God’s Spirit. When we have the Truth inspired by the Holy Spirit working in our lives, it will function as a powerful guide. Knowing what God has prepared for us makes our hardships bearable and keeps our physical delights in their place.

Even though we understand God’s awesome plan, made possible through the Holy Spirit, what’s even more amazing is that we only have a glimpse of what the future holds. We can abstractly understand eternity and what it means to become glorified, but we are incapable of experiencing it right now. Without that experience, there’s only so much that we can know. “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Therefore, if we can only begin to comprehend what God has in store for us now while we are bound by our physical existence, how much greater will that glorious life actually be? The future God has planned defies all imagination.

Contemplating the greatness of God’s Truth must influence our perspective. The greatness of God’s plan for us does not need to diminish the meaning of the real experiences we have. We don’t have to be in denial throughout our lives believing that our experiences are of no value. On the contrary, the hardships and the good times alike are experiences meant to train us. Growing in our calling involves going through it all. Remember that Jesus Christ came to this Earth fully human as we are, so that He could experience life and suffer as we do. Just because we have eternal life to look forward to doesn’t mean that our lives now aren’t valuable. Rather, we understand how to keep it in perspective. Suffering in this life is difficult. But relatively speaking, our suffering now is insignificant in comparison to our great future. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). The experiences that we have now give us the opportunity to develop our relationship with God, which will lead us to glory so great that it will lift the weight of all our prior suffering.

We must spend whatever time we have left on this Earth growing closer to God and working ever closer to perfection. We have the hope of eternity to guide us through the good times and the bad, so that we don’t go astray. We have a great future to look forward to, and we have the privilege now to understand it. “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

by Norbert Link

We begin with the controversial prisoner swap with Russia and focus especially on Germany’s questionable conduct in the matter; continue with further outrageous and abominable occurrences at the Olympics, including biological men beating up women in women’s boxing competition and Macron’s statement that he was proud of the terrible Olympic opening ceremony, while the Vatican issued a belated timid and almost apologetic “condemnation” of the blasphemies committed during that ceremony.

We continue with examples of Kamala Harris’ “word salad” and her flip-flopping on major issues; Pelosi’s hypocrisy and Kamala Harris’ left-wing running mate Tim Walz; and we address the disaster in Venezuela which some commentators feel was the logical consequence of the Biden Administration’s failed policy.

We address Google’s play with fire; and we speak on the explosive situation in the Middle East, with the world waiting for the next devastating event. We also report an incredible occurrence in Ireland pertaining to a Jewish rabbi.

We speak on the turmoil in the UK, which was linked to a mass stabbing earlier last week allegedly by a 17-year-old Rwandan-heritage second-generation immigrant. The perpetrator killed three young girls and injured many others. While the left-wing politicians and the mass media were quick to blame “right-wing extremists” for the riots, we publish several articles questioning this common narrative and asking for the real causes of these terrible events. We also wonder whether the UK is on the way to censorship and dictatorship.

Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Why the Riots in the UK?”

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

Germany’s Deal With the Devil

AFP wrote on August 2:

“Germany’s release of a convicted murderer in order to facilitate the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War has garnered praise from Washington but stirred controversy at home. Those freed in the deal include US journalist Evan Gershkovich, several high-profile Russian opposition figures and five German nationals who were being held in Russia and Belarus. But of the countries who released Russian prisoners in return, Germany has had to pay a particularly high price, setting free a man [Krasikov] who committed murder in broad daylight in the center of Berlin…

“German TV channel NTV reported that there had been rows between Scholz’s office and the justice ministry over Krasikov’s case. According to other reports in the German press, the justice ministry eventually ordered prosecutors to suspend Krasikov’s sentence to enable his deportation. Some in judicial circles reportedly felt this was a case of inappropriate political meddling in the legal process.

“The German section of human rights organization Amnesty International condemned the ‘bitter taste’ of the deal and the fact that it had created an equivalence between ‘a murderer… convicted in a fair trial’ and ‘people who have just exercised their right to free speech’…  An opinion piece in Germany’s Bild tabloid said that while the release of rights activists and German citizens in Russia was to be welcomed, ‘the perverse message given to the Russian people is that Putin is a hero [for] saving murderers.’… Michael Roth, the head of the German’s parliament’s foreign affairs committee and member of Scholz’s Social Democrats, summed up Berlin’s decision on X: ‘Sometimes for reasons of humanity you have to do a deal with the devil.’…

“The Spiegel weekly reported that Thursday’s swap came after ‘several months’ of negotiations between the CIA, Germany’s BND intelligence agency and the Kremlin. The swap was originally envisioned to include Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died [was murdered by Putin] in an Arctic prison in February…”

An old German proverb says; If you want to eat with the devil, you must have a long spoon (“Wer mit dem Teufel essen will, muss einen langen Löffel haben.”)

More Fraud, Disgrace and Abomination at the Olympics

Breitbart wrote on August 2:

“Another controversial [biologically male] boxer who had been disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) defeated a female opponent at the Paris Olympics on Friday… Lin Yu-Ting is the second of two boxers that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed to fight as females despite their failures in the IBA’s gender test, which caused the world boxing organization to disqualify them for sanctioned bouts last year… Imane Khelif, the first competitor who had failed the IBA’s chromosome test, had so overmatched Italian boxer Angela Carini that the latter forfeited the match on Thursday after only 46 seconds in the ring.

“In 2023, the International Boxing Association (IBA) President Umar Kremlev explained his organization’s decision to disqualify Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting and Algeria’s Imane Khelif from competing in the IBA’s 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championships… ‘Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women. According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes…’”

This is so sick, abominable and patently unfair. But in France, everything seems to go. Note the next two articles.  

The Dangerous Nonsense of Men “Competing” in Women’s Sports

The New York Post wrote on August 2:

“In the past Khelif has been deemed to be ‘biologically male’…  But that doesn’t seem to have been a problem for the IOC. Which perhaps isn’t surprising at an Olympics which started with an opening ceremony focused on a bizarre veneration of bearded ladies and balls-out drag-queens. For years campaigners and female athletes have warned about the presence of biological men in women’s sports. In recent years this has covered almost every known field

“…it is striking how little sympathy these actual women have got. And how often they have been made into the controversial ones. Instead of people standing up for their rights and for the right to say things that absolutely everybody said until about five years ago. Young women who have worked all hours to get to their peak performance capability have kept having their dreams dashed. Time and again they took the silver or bronze medal or missed the podium altogether… Unsurprisingly it was the more violent sports that first alerted some people to the fact that there was a real problem here….

“With every day even Google, Wikipedia and other online sources try to rewrite the past, erasing the real names of people who have ‘transitioned’ and pretending that they were always a woman. Or that at the most the person had been ‘assigned male at birth.’ As though this was the act of a bigoted and ignorant doctor who just wanted to screw with the certification procedure.

“Well, in Paris yesterday, we saw the illogical and evil endpoint of all this. Angela Carini, who has trained hard for years, managed just 46 seconds in the ring opposite Imane Khelif. The ‘fight’ consisted of Khelif punching Carini hard in the face — twice. It was unclear at first if the Italian’s nose had been broken. Clearly in agony Carini shouted ‘This is unjust.’ As the ref tried to make her shake hands with the ‘victorious’ Khelif, Carini rightly refused.”

Sadly, obviously being under pressure from superiors, Carini subsequently stated that she “wants to apologize” to her opponent for how she handled the moments after the fight, continuing, “”I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”

It’s a totally wrong decision by a woke IOC, and sorrow for Khelif is thoroughly misplaced. Khelif had no business competing in this women’s sport.

Macron Proud of Olympic Opening Ceremony

Reuters wrote on August 2:

“French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday offered his support to the artists behind the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony… and praised their ‘audacity’, adding that the show had made France proud. French authorities have opened an investigation into death threats targeting the artistic director of the ceremony Thomas Jolly, after he was harassed online over a tableau that appeared to parody Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece ‘The Last Supper’…

“Macron said: ‘His audacity did a lot of good to a lot of people… the ceremony showed that France respected artistic freedom.’”

God is most certainly not proud of what is happening in France during the Olympics. And THAT is what counts, not the unqualified opinion of a losing left-wing French President.

Vatican Finally Speaks Out

The New York Post wrote on August 4:

“The Vatican broke its silence Saturday on the controversial drag performance that mocked Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic ‘Last Supper’ painting during the 2024 Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony last week… ‘The Holy See was saddened by certain scenes at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games and cannot but join the voices raised in recent days to deplore the offense done to many Christians and believers of other religions,’ it said in an… evening press release…

“Olympics officials initially denied that the performance was based on Da Vinci’s painting — but a spokesperson later confirmed the painting was artistic director Thomas Jolly’s inspiration… At the center was an ornately dressed woman with a large silver headdress that resembled a halo as depicted in paintings of Jesus…”

The belated Vatican’s press release was rather tame and sounded almost apologetic.

Harris “Steals Nomination”, “Destroys Democracy”

Breitbart wrote on August 2:

“The Democratic National Committee (DNC) officially nominated Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential candidate on Friday, alienating 14 million Democrats who voted for President Joe Biden during the Democrat primary. The DNC began its virtual roll call on Thursday to nominate Harris, preempting its convention later in August. The process was scheduled to take up until Monday, the Associated Press reported, but it finished days early…

“Harris was the only candidate eligible to receive votes after the party closed the qualifying process Tuesday. The expeditious coronation underscored the speed at which Democrats moved to coronate Harris, who received exactly zero presidential primary votes in her political career. Harris dropped out of the 2020 presidential race before the Iowa caucuses and did not enter the race in 2024 until Biden endorsed her.

“Speculation suggests Biden endorsed Harris to enact revenge on party bosses for threatening to oust him from the race with the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Biden ‘privately’ and ‘repeatedly’ questioned the authenticity of Harris during the 2020 campaign.”

We are told that Harris and Trump are in a virtual tie. Some claim that Harris’ “success” is only temporary and will diminish once the honeymoon period is over. We will see.

Flip-Flopping Harris’ Word Salads…

Breitbart wrote on August 2: 

“Vice President Kamala Harris delivered one of her infamous word salads when speaking unscripted about Thursday’s prisoner swap with Russia… ‘This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy,’ Harris rambled with a serious face while waving her hands: It was the second awkward statement in 24 hours. Harris accidentally called herself ‘president’ on Thursday…

“Perhaps the gaffes are why Harris appears to be avoiding questions from the media… Another reason Harris could be avoiding the media is out of fear of answering questions about her radical-left policies. The vice president already appears to be back-peddling on many policies, though the flip-flops were given by anonymous aides. Harris no longer supports ‘a federal job guarantee,’ an anonymous Harris campaign spokesperson told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. The New York Times reported Monday, citing anonymous campaign officials, that she also now (1) supports fracking, (2) wants to increase funding for the border, (3) does not want to require people to sell their assault weapons back to the government, and (4) no longer supports ‘a single-payer health insurance program.’”

Is Harris trying to copy Biden with her gaffes? Her back-peddling is noticeable because, as we reported before, all the radical left-wing policies listed above were CLEARLY supported by Harris in the past… at least so she said. So is she now trying to deceive the voters?

Nancy Pelosi’s Abominable Hypocrisy

On August 5, the New York Post published the following commentary by Piers Morgan:

“It’s an open secret in Washington that Pelosi just did to Joe Biden what Marcus Brutus did to Julius Caesar. Of course, she didn’t actually kill him. But she did kill his political career. She appointed herself chief assassin, albeit one who continued to support him publicly while knifing him in the back behind the scenes…

“Yet on Sunday, there was his assassin, Nancy Pelosi, popping up on ‘CBS News Sunday Morning’ to call for him to be added to Mount Rushmore, the great American stone shrine to democracy that features 60-foot faces of four truly great American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln…

“What Biden really knows is that one of his closest friends in politics, someone he’s known and worked with for 40 years, and who, like him, is a devout Roman Catholic who carries rosary beads in her pocket, pounced on him at his most vulnerable moment and devoured him like a ravenous jackal feasting on the still-twitching carcass of an elderly bison. And in that moment, Nancy Pelosi revealed who she really is — a ruthless, conniving, mercilessly disloyal female version of Marcus Brutus…

“There is no record, yet, of what Biden said as he realized his own game was up. But it wouldn’t surprise me, given their shared knowledge of Latin phraseology from their faith, if it was three simple words: ‘Et tu, Nancy?’”

Harris as President—Proof of the Perversity of Our Age?

The New York Post wrote on August 6:

“Harris has no personal following. Why should she? She wasn’t going anywhere. She has no entourage of trusted experts to enlighten her on the issues… Her personality, in public, is comical, and in private it hasn’t exactly been a magnet to party activists or intellectuals. By all accounts, her staff hate her and go running for the doors at the first opportunity. Her name isn’t closely identified with a particular cause or issue…

‘She’s a pretty terrible politician. She underperformed as a vote-getter in deep blue California. She self-detonated before the first primary when, in 2020, she sought the presidential candidacy on her own merits… she’s a wretched debater…

“Harris is like that feather in the wind at the end of ‘Forrest Gump.’ She’s a historical accident. That, in less than four months, she could be the most powerful human on Earth, decider between war and peace, her manicured fingers flitting casually over the nuclear button, fills me with awe and astonishment over the inscrutable perversity of our age.”

Kamala Harris’ Running Mate Tim Walz—a Radical Left-Wing Extremist?

The New York Post wrote on August 7:

“Tim Walz actually is a radical progressive — and he’s got the record to prove it…  His aggressive lockdowns of Minnesota during COVID included a hotline for Minnesotans to snitch on their neighbors… After Georg Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis cop, Walz sat by and watched his state’s largest city burn [by BLM]… A 2022 Walz bill to give ‘hero pay’ to frontline pandemic workers ended up paying thousands of dead people; an audit found that only 60% of recipients definitely qualified for the money… Walz himself had text messages mysteriously vanish in violation of public records laws…

“All of this has been amply reported in the Minnesota media. The national press doesn’t even need to investigate Walz. It just needs to read the coverage by its own local print and TV affiliates. After his party gained a one-seat majority in the state senate in 2022, Walz embraced nearly every insane idea it rammed through the legislature… Walz signed a law mandating ‘antiracist’ education in ‘ethnic studies’ in elementary, middle and high schools and compelling critical race theory training for teachers while forcing schools to record the race of every student who is given recess detentions to prevent ‘institutional racism.’ Meanwhile, nearly half of the state’s public school students can’t read at grade level.

“Walz made Minnesota a ‘refuge’ for … transgender surgeries on minors…  The state went so pro-abortion — enshrining a ‘fundamental right’ to abortion until the moment of birth — that it repealed laws requiring informed consent for abortions and even repealed the law making it illegal to coerce women into abortions…

“Minneapolis still struggles to hire cops, and has lost 40% of its police force since 2020. Walz raised gas, sales, payroll, car license, and online delivery taxes and fees to pay for it all… Given how the national press coverage of Harris has brushed aside her left-wing record and let her get away without answering questions or doing interviews, she must be hoping that Walz and his record will get the same treatment.”

Trump said that the Harris-Walz ticket will take the United States straight into communism if they win the 2024 election (The New York Post, dated August 7).

Why Walz Is “Weird”

The New York Post wrote on August 8:

“Let’s see how weird the Democrats’ new leadership is: 

“… It’s weird that Walz dawdled for three days while Minneapolis burned before calling in the National Guard during the 2020’s BLM-antifa riots…  It’s weird that Harris and Walz base their campaign on “freedom” yet he was the most authoritarian governor in the country during the pandemic, ruling by decree for 15 months, enforcing draconian shutdown orders, mask mandates and curfews. 

“It’s weird that Walz tells Republicans to ‘mind your own damn business’ when he created a COVID telephone ‘snitch line’ so that people could inform on their neighbors who breached his draconian COVID restrictions. It’s weird that Walz defended censorship of COVID dissenters by telling MSNBC: ‘There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech especially around our democracy.’ It’s weird that Walz signed laws allowing teenagers to be sterilized and genitally mutilated without parental consent and called it ‘gender-affirming care.’ It’s weird that Walz signed into law a new definition of ‘sexual orientation’ that deleted an exemption against pedophilia. 

“It’s weird that Walz has turned Minnesota into a ‘trans refuge’ with a law that removes children from parents who don’t agree to their kids’ sex-change surgery and hormone treatment… It’s weird that Walz has turned Minnesota into an ‘abortion mecca’ with no time limit up to the moment of birth and sometimes beyond, and no requirement that minors inform their parents…”

Venezuela’s Debacle Caused by Biden Administration

Newsmax wrote on August 2:

“John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Newsmax on Friday that the disputed presidential election in Venezuela was ‘largely’ caused by President Joe Biden’s administration. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this week claimed victory in what the United States has called a ‘deeply flawed’ presidential election, the official results of which have been disputed by the country’s opposition party and independent observers.

“Bolton… said, ‘… What we’re seeing now is deja vu all over again. This is just like what happened in the 2018 election that Maduro stole back then. And now, six years later … he’s stealing it again.’ Bolton said the Trump administration ‘tried in 2018 and 2019 to support the opposition, Juan Guaido, we recognized as the president … as picked by the National Assembly pursuant to Venezuela’s constitution, but it was not enough’…

“Bolton said the Biden administration ‘made a huge mistake some months back’ by removing ‘the economic sanctions that were still in place under the guise of Maduro having a free and fair election.’ Bolton said, ‘It was never going to happen. So now we see the inevitable outcome.’…”

Can anyone believe the incompetence of the Biden Administration, including of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? Trump suggested, with apparently good reason, that Harris is even more incompetent than Biden, if that was even possible.

Shutting Down Google?

Newsmax wrote on August 2:

“Former President Donald Trump suggested Congress could shut down Google for alleged bias and censorship. The Big Tech giant has been criticized for how its search engine performed with inquiries related to the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump. Google’s search bar and artificial intelligence tool would not produce results connected to the shooting.

“‘Google has been very bad. They’ve been very irresponsible. And I have a feeling that Google is going to be close to shut down because I don’t think Congress is going to take it. I really don’t think so,’ Trump told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo in an interview broadcast Friday. ‘Google has to be careful.’”

Terror Threats in Austria

Deutsche Welle reported on August 7:

”Taylor Swift’s promoter, Barracuda Music,  called off shows by the US performer in Vienna later this week after law enforcement in Austria announced the arrests of two people suspected of planning to attack the concert venue... Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called the cancellation of the concerts a ‘bitter disappointment’ for Swift’s fans, albeit adding ‘the situation surrounding the apparent planned terror attack in Vienna was very serious.’… law enforcement had arrested two people, the primary suspect a 19-year-old male, on suspicion of planning ‘a terrorist attack against events in Vienna’… Taylor Swift concerts in Austria’s largest football stadium were among the main suspect’s potential targets…

“Police seized chemical substances from the main suspect’s apartment and had pre-emptively cleared houses and part of a nursing home nearby, fearing the potential for explosives to be present, the Interior Ministry said… both the suspects had become radicalized online and taken concrete steps looking to prepare attacks. The young man, he said, had pledged allegiance to the self-styled ‘Islamic State’ terror group…”

Israel to Be Attacked on Tisha B’Av?

The Jerusalem Post wrote on August 3:

“Iran reportedly plans to attack Israel on the day of Tisha B’Av, when Jews mourn the loss of the first and second Temples. Western intelligence sources told Sky News Arabia that they had evidence Iran plans to attack Israel on Tisha B’Av in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which begins on August 12 and ends on August 13, the site reported on Friday. Iran’s attack will reportedly be coordinated with Hezbollah…

“On Tisha B’Av, Jews lament the destruction of the first and second Temples. During the annual event, there is fasting, mourning and a practice of self-denial… The report indicates that there is an emotional and psychological impact in targeting Israel on the holy day of mourning. The report claimed that Jewish Israelis may feel particularly vulnerable on this day – adding an additional layer of psychological torment…

“Enemy states and entities have focused their attacks on Jewish holidays in the past, as was the case on October 7, which fell on Simchat Torah [the Last Great Day, following the Feast of Tabernacles] and Shabbat, and the Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement] War in 1973. There is also reportedly a symbolic reason for attacking this date, reviving historical traumas and replaying the images of destruction. Finally, Iran allegedly hopes that attacking on this day would bring an element of surprise. While security may be occupied with their own religious rituals or settling disagreements, they may be unprepared for a military attack.”

Breitbart added on August 3:

“The Jerusalem Post reported speculation that Iran would attack on the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, a day of mourning on which the destruction of the First and Second Temples is commemorated by fasting… The State of Israel itself is sometimes referred to by Jews as the ‘Third Temple,’ an association that Iran is likely exploiting as a form of psychological warfare.”

A Bomb or a Rocket?

Deutsche Welle reported on August 3:

“Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a ‘short-range projectile’ launched from outside of his accommodation in Tehran, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.  ‘This terrorist operation was carried out by firing a short-range projectile with a warhead of about 7 kilograms — causing a strong explosion — from outside the accommodation area,’ the Guards said in a statement.  The Guards again blamed Israel for [the] killing, adding that it was ‘supported by the United States.’…

“German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the prospect of sending German soldiers to the Middle East to protect Israel was ‘completely inconceivable to me right now.’… The United States on Friday said that additional warships and fighter jets would be sent to the region to protect US forces and defend Israel.”

Earlier, it was reported, especially by the New York Times, that Haniyeh was killed by a remotely detonated bomb which had been smuggled into the compound where Haniyeh was staying. Inasmuch as the explosion became a source of tremendous embarrassment for the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps], a new explanation had to be given—that of a short-range projectile launched from the outside—to make the IRGC less culpable, and to blame Israel and the USA.

According to the Jewish Chronicle, Haniyeh was assassinated by Israel through the use of the bomb which “was placed on the day of the explosion, at 4:23 pm – some nine hours before it was activated when Haniyeh entered his room. The explosion, which was set off remotely by a robot, took place after midnight, at exactly 01:37 am local time.”

Russia Helping Iran With Military Hardware?

Hindustan Times wrote on August 4:

“Russian cargo planes carrying weapons are allegedly flying to Iran amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. Reports on August 4 suggested constant Russia-to-Iran cargo flights with military hardware. However, neither Russian nor U.S. authorities immediately reacted to the reports about the flights.

“Meanwhile, the U.S. is boosting military deployment in the Middle East to defend its ally Israel in case of an Iranian attack.”

Rabbi Arrested in Ireland for Circumcising

JTA wrote on August 2, 2024:

“Ireland’s small Jewish community is in turmoil after a British rabbi who had been hired to circumcise local babies was arrested and charged with practicing medicine without a license. The rabbi, Jonathan Abraham, was arrested on Tuesday and denied bail after a judge said that his 10 children and home base in London made him a flight risk. He faces up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to £130,000 ($166,000). Ireland’s chief rabbi, Yoni Wieder, confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Abraham remained jailed as Shabbat began in Dublin on Friday.

“Earlier, Wieder issued a statement saying that he was actively working to support Abraham and to make sure that Irish Jews continue to have access to a ritual considered essential in Jewish observance… The arrest comes at a sensitive time for Jews in Ireland, which has been home to intense pro-Palestinian sentiment during the Israel-Hamas war…

“Ireland permits mohels, or ritual circumcisers, to do circumcisions for Jews, but does not allow them to perform the same procedures on non-Jews.”

This world is becoming crazier and crazier. Anti-Semitism in Ireland is clearly on the rise… and not only there, of course.

Turmoil in the UK

Deutsche Welle reported on August 3:

“Riots erupted Friday evening for a third night in the United Kingdom, linked to a mass stabbing earlier in the week that killed three young girls… Some of the crowd shouted insults about Islam, while others chanted in support of Tommy Robinson, a far-right, anti-Islam campaigner and activist, local media reported.

“… far-right social media channels have been awash with false claims that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat. Police have emphasized that the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was born in Britain… Mosques across the country have also been put on an increased state of alert, the Muslim Council of Britain said.”

Daily Mail wrote on August 3:

“Widespread disruption has torn through the country this week in the wake of the Southport stabbings, where three little girls were tragically killed. The riots in cities including London and Hartlepool are thought to be triggered by misinformation spread online as to the identity of the teenager suspected of killing Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine. Axel Rudakubana, 17, who was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, was eventually named as the suspect in a bid to stop the chaos. Southport locals – including Elsie’s mother – have desperately pleaded for the violence to stop to no avail…

“Sunderland residents woke up to carnage after riots tore through the city, setting a police station on fire and injuring officers in a night of ‘unforgivable thuggery’ which saw a Citizen’s Advice centre go up in flames…”

It was feared that civil unrest would be the outcome of the unfettered mass immigration that the UK has had to put up with in recent years. It’s been a tinderbox waiting to be lit for some time now.   The UK continues to deteriorate. These are sad times but foreseeable by some, but not by many politicians, it would appear. Note the analysis in the next articles.

Southport Riots Did Not Happen in a Vacuum

The Sun wrote on August 3:

“THIS week’s riots in Southport and elsewhere were, of course, reprehensible. To attack a mosque where ordinary Muslims go to pray would have been wrong even if it had been in response to an attack by Islamic terrorists. That those lobbing bricks at the police and setting their vehicles alight were acting on disinformation makes them look foolish as well as disgraceful. But if Britain’s liberal elite had been deliberately trying to drive people into the arms of the rabble-rousers they could not have done a better job of it. They have done everything they can to fuel the underlying sense that the white working class is being treated very differently from the rest of the population.

“On Thursday, the Prime Minister held a press conference in which he lost no time in asserting that the Southport riots were ‘clearly driven by far-right hatred’. He refused to acknowledge that any of those who took to the streets might have been motivated by reasonable concerns about the safety of children. No, each and every one of them were just ‘far-right’ thugs trying to spread hate. Nor, by the way, did Keir Starmer mention in his press conference other recent cases of public disorder which had nothing to do with the far right, such as the machete fight in Southend on Tuesday night, the attack on police at Manchester Airport last week nor the riots in the Harehills area of Leeds. Those equally concerning events don’t seem to feature even nearly as prominently on the radar of the liberal left because they don’t feed its preferred narrative that Britain is a happy, diverse community spoiled only by hate mongering on the part of the far right…

“The same seems to have happened on multiple occasions when working-class communities have protested, whether it be against low-traffic neighbourhoods, London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone or Covid lockdowns.

“All have been dismissed as being incited by ‘far-right’ conspiracy theorists…

“I haven’t heard anyone in power admit it, but there is an unfortunate backstory which may explain why people reacted to the killing of three girls (not to mention the injuries and mental trauma inflicted on many others) by seeking out a mosque. For years, police, social services and other agencies failed properly to investigate gangs of men of Pakistani heritage who had been raping and sexually exploiting girls in Rotherham, Rochdale and elsewhere. Again, it cannot be emphasised strongly enough that it is very wrong to project the crimes of the rapists on to Britain’s Pakistani population as a whole — that is the point at which legitimate demand for justice spills over into racism. But when these gangs were eventually brought to justice, it became clear from their trials that police and social services had been doing the opposite — they had been influenced by what the then Home Secretary Theresa May called ‘institutional political correctness’ in failing to take the victims’ allegations seriously enough. As the former Labour minister Denis MacShane put it ‘there was a culture of not wanting to rock the multicultural community boat’…

“If people feel they cannot trust what the police and other authorities do and say they will end up gravitating towards other voices who do appear to be representing their interests. Racists are to be condemned…

“But the Government needs to recognise that the Southport riots did not happen in a vacuum…”

Very well put. And this approach to blindness in the left eye can be seen all over the Western world, including in the USA.

Starmer Under Serious Attacks

Breitbart wrote on August 4:

“British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has vowed that police have his full support in taking on ‘extremists’ as anti-mass migration protests and riots have broken out across the United Kingdom following the mass stabbing at a children’s dance party in Southport earlier this week. Facing a full-blown crisis less than one month into office, recently elected leftist Prime Minister Starmer gathered top cabinet ministers on Saturday as unrest erupted in dozens of towns and cities throughout the UK, in many cases in typical Labour Party strongholds in the north of England, in response to the slaying of three young girls and the stabbing of eight others, including children, allegedly by a 17-year-old Rwandan-heritage second-generation immigrant on Monday…

“The hardline rhetoric from the left-wing PM, who has characterised the protests and riots as ‘far-right,’  on the outpouring of rage and violence has been contrasted to his response during the deadly and deeply destructive Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, when he infamously took the knee in solidarity with the Marxist movement and described those involved as ‘people rightly demanding justice’. The government has also faced criticism for refusing to discuss footage posted on social media appearing to show violent responses from large groups of Muslim or leftist counter protesters.

“The prime minister’s response to his first crisis of his expected five-year term has been heavily criticised by the Reform UK party of Nigel Farage, who accused Starmer of failing to address the root cause of the anger, which is mass migration. On Friday, Farage’s deputy, Boston and Skegness MP Richard Tice, said, ‘Many millions of concerned British citizens are furious at lawless Britain. Children being slaughtered. Machete mobs abound. Soldiers being stabbed. Police violently attacked in airports. Instead of empathy, Keir Starmer labelled folk as “far-right”. Out of touch, clueless.’

“However, others have demanded that the government go farther, including Tory leadership candidate and former Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has called on Starmer to recall Parliament to hold an emergency session on the unrest. One of the more extreme takes on the crisis came from former Labour MP and current government advisor on political violence, Baron Walney, John Woodcock, who argued that the government should consider a coronavirus-style lockdown to stamp out the uprising if it continues to persist…”

Incredible. Some left-wing politicians stop at nothing when it involves suppression of freedom and liberty of their citizens.

The Public Wants Answers!

Express wrote on August 4:

“Prime Minister Starmer has been urged by the Tory chairwoman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners to acknowledge the widespread discontent which she says is fuelling protests across the UK this week.

“In remarks initially shared on her organisation’s website, Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said it was time for an honest discussion about the underlying factors. Her statement, which appeared to have been deleted from the site, was today shared by the Conservative Post website and triggered criticism from Liberal Democrat MP for Winchester Danny Chambers and Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal.

“She said: ‘The government must acknowledge what is causing this civil unrest in order to prevent it. Arresting people, or creating violent disorder units, is treating the symptom and not the cause.’

“The questions these people want answering; what is the government’s solution to mass uncontrolled immigration? How are the new Labour government going to uphold and build on British values? This is the biggest challenge facing Sir Kier Starmer’s government, and its bitten quickly.’

A challenge Britain’s left-wing government is most certainly not willing to address.

UK on the Way to Censorship and Dictatorship?

Daily Mail wrote on August 7:

“Social media chiefs are also under fire for allowing disinformation to flourish after the Southport attack, including false claims about the identity of the suspect. Amid the worst rioting in the UK for more than a decade, the PM has warned that anyone stoking violence on the internet can be prosecuted and face prison. Sir Keir has also engaged in a war of words with Elon Musk… over the riots. But one of his most senior ministers, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, has admitted the world’s richest man is ‘accountable to no one’…

“Mr Musk used his X social media site to reply to a post that blamed ‘mass migration and open borders’ for unrest in the UK. Mr Musk… claimed ‘civil war is inevitable’ following the violence in the UK.  He also branded the PM as ‘Two Tier Keir’… [as it is claimed that] UK police treat some groups more harshly than others…

“Sir Thomas Winsor, who previously served as Her Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary, rejected Mr Musk’s suggestion of ‘two-tier policing’ in the UK… He also demanded that major tech firms should have to be licensed before they can operate in the UK. This would allow a regulator to put firms ‘out of business’ if they breach the terms of their licence, he said. Sir Thomas called for ‘criminal liability’ for top bosses at social media companies who tolerate ‘harmful material’ and an incitement of crimes on their sites…”

Sounds like communist China or Russia.

Breitbart added on August 7:

“Musk has effectively embodied the role of chief troll of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, branding the leftist leader as ‘Two Tier Keir,’ over allegations that the British government has been policing violence and riots from mostly working class white British men differently than the Muslim community in the country, which has also taken to the streets en masse over the past week in large and sometimes violent gangs. Responding to Starmer’s vow that his government will ‘not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities,’ Musk replied on his social media platform: ‘Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on all communities?’

“Musk has also highlighted the history of British authorities overlooking criminality among Muslim populations, including the Rotherham grooming gang scandal, in which at least 1,400 young girls were systemically sexually abused and trafficked by members of the city’s Pakistani community for years. The local authorities knew about the issue, but ignored them over fears of ‘racial tensions’ that could stem from arresting minority-community paedophiles. Musk questioned whether such crimes were still being committed and overlooked in Britain…

“… the Tesla chief suggested that civil war in England was ‘inevitable’ given the cross-party multi-decade agenda of allowing ‘incompatible cultures’ to be ‘brought together without assimilation’ through the importation of millions of foreigners into the country…

“The fervour of the new Labour government to clamp down on social media may foreshadow a legal battle with Elon Musk’s X and other firms. Last year, the Conservative-in-name-only government of Rishi Sunak passed the Online Safety Act, vastly expanding the state’s ability to police the internet. While the law has yet to come into effect, it will empower British broadcasting regulator Ofcom to impose fines of up to £18 million ($22 million) or 10 per cent of global annual turnover, depending on which is higher, against social media companies that fail to censor to the standards of the British government. The impending restrictions could see free speech vastly curtailed in the UK and potentially even see companies like X choose to withdraw entirely from the country.”

Lessons for Germany?

Nius wrote on August 5:

“If in Great Britain, where people are generally very friendly and open-minded towards strangers, anger over immigration policy erupts as it currently does in cities from London and Liverpool to Manchester to Leeds and Bristol, all alarm bells should ring in Germany too. What is currently driving people onto the streets is not just the triple murder in Southport…

“Migrants from the Islamic world and Africa in particular stand out due to their low educational qualifications, high crime rates and lack of willingness to integrate. A phenomenon that is known in other European countries such as Sweden, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Austria, where the problems are the same and where politics, as in Great Britain, did a lot to downplay the fatal consequences of unchecked migration. Parallel societies, gang wars, the growing influence of Islam and increasing anti-Semitism are just some of the obvious problems…

“There are around four million Muslims living in Great Britain, and in Germany there are probably at least six million. To a large extent, they put a strain on the social systems here and there, and the lower classes in particular bear the direct consequences of mass immigration: the newcomers settle in their neighborhoods, which is reflected in the situation at schools and in the eroding security in public spaces. Ordinary people compete with migrants for living space and jobs, and the more immigrants come, especially from Islamic cultural areas, the more the feeling of being at home in their place of residence disappears. A forced cultural and social change that is bound to cause bad blood sooner or later…

 “In Hamburg, for example, houses were built according to the latest standards just for ‘refugees’, while people who have ‘lived here for a long time’… and who are paying for the astronomically high costs of migration with their tax money are desperately looking for apartments. At the same time, they notice how Muslims reject our society, demonstrating in tens of thousands on our streets and squares for the terrorist Hamas or calling for the caliphate. This can’t go well in the medium term…”

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

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

The Bible uses the concept of “God’s Work” or the “Work of God” in many different ways. But as we will see, they all harmonize or complement each other; there is no contradiction. We will show how great God is and how His masterplan is being worked out here below.  

In this first installment, we will begin to address God’s Work in the context of the prophetic revival of the ancient Roman Empire in Europe and, in connection therewith, the preaching of the gospel in the world as a witness, because both concepts are necessary to lead to the soon-coming return of Jesus Christ to establish God’s Kingdom here on earth.

In our free booklet, “Evil Empires and Evil People—Wild Beasts of the Bible,”  we state the following:

“In Daniel 7, four great world-ruling empires (called ‘kingdoms’ in Daniel 2 and 7) are described, which are seen by Daniel in a vision as four wild beasts…  When Daniel saw the vision, only the first empire was in existence—the Babylonian Empire, which was symbolized as a lion (verse 4). It was to be followed by the Medo-Persian Empire, which was symbolized as a bear (verse 5). It, in turn, was to be replaced by the Greco-Macedonian Empire, which was symbolized by a leopard with four heads and four wings (verse 6). In his vision, Daniel also saw a fourth vicious beast with ten horns (verse 7). Although the exact identity of that beast is not revealed, nor is it identified by name, it is unanimously accepted by biblical scholars and historians that the fourth empire, which subdued the third beast, represents the Roman Empire. It was to exist, through numerous revivals, until the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God here on earth (verses 19–27).

“After its fall, the Roman Empire would be revived ten times. Revelation 13 describes the Roman Empire as a beast with seven heads and ten horns. Quoting from our free booklet, ‘The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation’: ‘The beast with the seven heads and ten horns was like a leopard, with feet of a bear and a mouth of a lion (Revelation 13:2)… Comparing [the] four beasts in the book of Daniel [chapter 7] with the one beast in Revelation 13, we can see that the beast in Revelation is a conglomeration of those four beasts in Daniel. It has seven heads, because it combines the head of the lion, the head of the bear, the four heads of the leopard, and the head of the fourth beast with ten horns.’

“As mentioned, virtually all Bible scholars confirm the historical fact that the fourth beast in Daniel 7 was the Roman Empire. The beast in Revelation 13 describes the continuation of the Roman Empire, through its ten revivals.  Continuing with quoting from our booklet: ‘According to Daniel 7:24, ten kings were to arise out of the Roman Empire… the beast or the Roman Empire would have ten successive resurrections or revivals… The first three resurrections or revivals of the Roman Empire after its fall occurred under Geiseric of the Vandals; Odoacer of the Heruli; and Theodoric of the Ostrogoths… The actual ‘healing’ of the deadly wound [compare Revelation 13:3] signifies the fourth resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire, which occurred in 554 A.D., when Justinian, who was heavily influenced by his Roman Catholic wife, defeated the Ostrogoths and marched into Rome. He united the Eastern and Western parts of the ancient Roman Empire and restored the entire Empire…

“‘The fifth resurrection occurred under Charlemagne in 800 A.D.; the sixth under Otto the Great in 962 A.D.; the seventh under Charles V of Hapsburg in 1530 A.D.; and the eighth under Napoleon (which lasted from 1804 A.D. until 1814 A.D., when Napoleon abdicated at the battle of Leipzig). Following Napoleon, two more resurrections were to occur, as the fourth beast in Daniel 7 and the beast in Revelation 13 had TEN horns.

“‘The ninth resurrection happened under Mussolini and Hitler. We are observing right now the beginning of the tenth and final resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire in continental Europe…’

“The last seven revivals of the ancient Roman Empire would be a unification between church and state (compare Revelation 17). The last revival, under the beast and the false prophet, will only last for a very short time, and it and its leaders will be destroyed by the returning Jesus Christ ‘and given to the burning flame’ (Daniel 7:11)… When Christ returns, the final revival of the Roman Empire (the fourth beast of Daniel 7) which is also called ‘Babylon,’ will be burned with fire (Revelation 17:16; 18:8–9)—as will be the human leaders (Revelation 19:20).”

With this background, let us now address the question what this has to do with the Work of God. We know from Revelation 13:2 that it is Satan, the dragon, who gives his power and authority to the beast—the Revived Roman Empire and the final leader of that Empire, and we also read in Revelation 9:11 that the final revival will have over it, as their king, “the angel of the bottomless pit,” whose name is, in English, Destruction and Destroyer. This describes Satan as well. Still, Satan can only do what God allows, and even though many times God does not presently intervene in human affairs, He will do so when He must make sure that His masterplan will be fulfilled. And the final rise of the ancient Roman Empire and its conduct in the end time IS part of His prophesied masterplan—His “Work.”

Continuing with quoting from our free booklet, “Evil Empires and Evil People—Wild Beasts of the Bible,”:

“An interesting reference to the beast—especially the final revival of the ancient Roman Empire—can be found in the book of Habakkuk which deals with the modern Chaldeans or Assyrians.

“Isaiah 23:13 tells us that the ancient Assyrians founded the land of the Chaldeans. And so, it will be the modern Assyrians—mainly the German-speaking peoples—who will lead the final resurrection of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ (For instance, as we have seen, the German Otto the Great and the Austrian Charles V. were previous emperors of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ or ‘the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.’ Arguably this is also true for Charlemagne or Charles the Great, who was crowned as Emperor in the German city of Aachen and who is viewed by the Germans as a German, by the French as a Frenchman, and by the Belgians as a Belgian. In addition, the collaboration of the Austrian Adolf Hitler and the Italian Benito Mussolini with several popes constituted the sixth revival of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’).

“In ancient times, the Chaldeans were Babylon’s religious leaders, astrologers and magicians. Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible says about the ancient Chaldeans: ‘A people still of late mean and low, famous only for their soothsaying, divination, and judicial astrology; but now become a powerful and warlike people, rising up under the permission of Providence to universal monarchy, and who would quickly add Judea to the rest of their dominions…’

“Even though a partial fulfillment of Habakkuk’s entire prophecy can be seen in ancient Judah’s captivity through the Babylonians, due to Judah’s transgressions (compare verse 4), Habakkuk’s prophecy of Babylonian warfare is clearly awaiting an end-time fulfillment…

“Habakkuk 1:5–10 reads as follows: ‘Look among the nations and watch–Be utterly astonished! For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you. For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty nation Which marches through the breadth of the earth, To possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful… They all come for violence… They gather captives like sand. They scoff at kings…’”

This statement is critically important to understand. God says that HE will WORK A WORK in our time—the WORK of raising up the modern Chaldeans for the purpose of attacking and destroying the modern descendants of the Houses of Israel and Judah.

In our free booklet, “The Rise and Fall of Germany and Europe“, we say:

“In Habakkuk’s days, God used the ancient Chaldeans to punish Israel. In our time, God will use the modern Chaldeans to punish the Houses of Israel and Judah. The Chaldeans were the backbone of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Ezra 5:12; 2 Kings 25:1, 5; 2 Chronicles 36:17). In Daniel 2, the word is also applied to the Babylonian priestly class, who also engaged in divination, astrology, and magic or sorcery. In Babylon’s sphere of influence, the Chaldeans also had a religious function—mainly because the planetary orbits were interpreted as the expression of the will of deities that had to be fathomed.

“In late antiquity, the name Chaldeans was used almost exclusively for the Babylonians and became primarily a designation for astrologers, since Babylon was considered a leader in the field of astrology. The ‘Chaldean Oracles’ of the 2nd century were considered a popular book of divination. They also believed very strongly in the power of demons…

“In our time, the Chaldeans describe modern Babylon—a religious, political, economic and military power. It is the final and last resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire—a collaboration between church and state—under the leadership of a charismatic leader—the beast or the king of the North or King Jareb of (modern) Assyria who will work together with the ‘false prophet’—a powerful religious leader. Under the beast’s leadership and the influence of the false prophet, the modern Chaldeans will invade ‘dwelling places that are not theirs’ (Habakkuk 1:6). This occupying force under the modern Assyrian leader is also described in Isaiah 10:13–14 and in Daniel 11:41–44. In a way, the final resurrection of the Roman Empire occurs because of Israel’s wickedness (compare also Isaiah 10:6).”

In the next installment, we will discuss in more detail how God will use the coming King of Assyria to punish the Houses of Israel and Judah—as being part of God’s end-time Work. To be clear, unless these prophesied events were to occur, Jesus Christ could NOT RETURN.

For now, let us mention one other aspect of God’s end-time Work, which we alluded to before, and which must likewise be fulfilled in order to make Christ’s Return possible.

In our free booklet “Evil Empires and Evil People—Wild Beasts of the Bible,” we point out that Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, later quoted the passage in Habakkuk 1:5–10, referring to God’s raising up modern Chaldeans to punish the Houses of Israel and Judah, but he gives it an additional all-important meaning and application. We state:

“Paul later quoted these words and applied them as a warning to the people in his time and age who would reject the gospel message. We read in Acts 13:32–41: ‘And we declare to you glad tidings–that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He raised up Jesus… David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. BEWARE therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets COME UPON YOU: ‘Behold, you despisers, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, A work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.’”

Note that Paul applies Habakkuk’s prophecy of doing an “unbelievable” Work in our days, to the preaching of the gospel, including the all-important role of Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind, and also including a warning of not rejecting that message and of impending national disaster in these last days. Continuing:

“God said through Habakkuk that His Work—the end-time preaching of the gospel—would be powerful, but short. Romans 9:28 confirms this, saying: ‘For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a SHORT WORK upon the earth.’

“The Bible prophesies that at the time when the powerful preaching of the gospel message is being revived, modern Chaldea or Babylon will rise once again in Europe as the seventh and very SHORT-lived resurrection of the ancient ‘Holy Roman Empire’—a combination of church and state—when the (religious) fallen woman will be once more riding the (political and military) beast (compare Revelation 17, especially verses 10 and 12). God will use modern Babylon in a literal SWIFT blitzkrieg to punish the modern houses of Israel and Judah for their transgressions (compare also Isaiah 29:13–14). But God will then punish modern Babylon (Habakkuk 2:8)—a system less righteous than modern Israel and Judah (compare Habakkuk 1:12–13).”

When we see the rise of the final revival of the ancient Roman Empire in Europe under a charismatic political and military leader of German or Austrian descent, God’s Church will be busy, with renewed strength, to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God in all the world as a witness, and then the end of this present evil civilization will come (Matthew 24:14). As God’s WORK of reviving the final resurrection of the Roman Empire will be short-lived, and as modern Babylon will act swiftly, so God’s WORK of preaching the gospel, through His Church, will also be short-lived, and God will even cut it short and finish it in righteousness. It is therefore extremely important to understand what God expects of all of us in His Church today—in these end times—just prior to Christ’s return.

(To be continued)

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

“The Middle East in Turmoil Again!” is the title of a recent StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is the summary:

The Middle East seems to be always in trouble, but this time, it’s different. Not only because of the many enemies surrounding and attacking Israel, including Iran and the many terrorist organizations under Iran’s leadership, but also because of NATO member Turkey’s abominable actions under President Erdogan. While he is threatening the invasion of Israel, NATO remains silent, and Germany is still considering him as a “valuable friend.” Bible prophecy has much to say about Germany’s and Turkey’s aggressive conduct towards Israel, which will lead to total disaster for all parties concerned.

“Why the Riots in the UK?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is the summary:

The widespread riots in Southport, England, and throughout the country did not happen in a vacuum. They were predictable, but most politicians were willfully ignorant and did not want to face reality. It appears that Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government are still not willing to address the true causes. What are the lessons other countries can learn from these events, especially the USA?

A new AufPostenStehen program, presented by Norbert Link, covers the same topic. Title in German:  “Warum die Unruhen im Vereinigten Königreich?”

A new Member Letter (August 2024) has been written. Elder Frank Bruno writes about our unique opportunity to have membership in the Body of Christ—the Church of God.

“Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen,” is the title of our newest booklet, which has now been sent to the printer in preparation for distribution.

“Sind Sie überrascht von der Feuerprobe?” last Sabbath’s German sermonette by Robert Muhr, is now posted. Title in English: “Are You Surprised by the Trial by Fire?”

“Comfortable With the Uncomfortable,” last Sabbath’s sermonette presented by Michael Link, is now posted. Here is the summary:

God’s laws are considered “uncomfortable” for everyone who doesn’t want to obey Him. But if we obey God and keep ALL His commandments and know what God promises to all those who believe and are diligent, then this is how we can be “comfortable.”

“Why Will God Soon Plague Mankind?” last Sabbath’s sermon presented by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is the summary:

A terrible time full of plagues is prophesied for this world. It is called the Day of the Lord in the Bible—a period of time that reveals God’s wrath towards humanity. But why are both the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, so angry that they will pour out terrible plagues on the people of the end times?  And how can that be when God is personified love? What is the ultimate purpose of the plagues of God on the Day of the Lord?