French Election and Europe
Deutsche Welle reported on April 25:
“The runoff election in France [on May 7] pits diametrical visions for Europe against each other: Liberal-socialist Macron and populist-conservative Le Pen. For Brussels, the outcome can mean any number of things… A President Emmanuel Macron will carry European integration forward. Under Marine Le Pen, France would likely distance itself from its neighbors, double down on borders and get rid of the euro. Such a political earthquake could rattle the EU far more than Brexit…
“European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his colleagues were celebrating Sunday night [April 23]. Macron winning the most votes was a sigh of relief for European leaders. ‘The much-anticipated domino effect following the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election has not, so far, materialized. And the European project has won,’ Britain’s Guardian newspaper wrote the day after the vote…”
We do not expect that Marine Le Pen will win, nor have we ever felt that way. Prophecy strongly suggests that the end-time “European project” will be run by Germany and France.
Russia Prohibits Jehovah’s Witnesses…. Persecution of Religious Minorities Ongoing
Christianity Today reported on April 20:
“It’s official. Jehovah’s Witnesses can no longer practice their faith freely in Russia, where the Supreme Court on Thursday declared the pacifist religious organization an ‘extremist group’ and banned all of its activity. The judge ordered all 395 local chapters and its Russian headquarters to close and authorized the government to seize all property. Under the ruling, distributing copies of the Watchtower, discussing their beliefs in public, or even worshipping at a meeting hall has become a crime…
“To human rights and religious freedom advocates around the world, the move comes as a major blow. While ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin have put ongoing scrutiny on all non-Orthodox faiths, this case represents the first time the country has banned a registered religious group…The Jehovah’s Witnesses Administrative Center has 30 days to appeal to a three-person panel at the Supreme Court, but Jehovah’s Witnesses say they anticipate serious problems, regardless of any pending appeal. Jehovah’s Witnesses added that, if necessary, they will take their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
“‘If Jehovah’s Witnesses are persecuted, then that means later “on the block” will come other religious movements—for example, Protestant churches,’ law professor Anatoly Pchelintcev told Portal-Credo, an Orthodox news site. ‘For the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Armageddon has arrived, and the faithful of other religions await the apocalypse.’
“The crackdown on Jehovah’s Witnesses follows rising nationalist furor in Russia and a skepticism toward groups associated with the West. ‘The treatment of the Jehovah’s Witnesses reflects the Russian government’s tendency to view all independent religious activity as a threat to its control and the country’s political stability,’ according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which condemned Russia’s ongoing campaign against the group. ‘This approach dates back to the Soviet period and impacts other religious groups, including peaceful Christians and Muslims.’”
Russia’s Modern Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Independent wrote on April 20:
“Jehovah’s Witnesses first registered as a religious group in Russia in 1991 and registered again in 1999, but have been targeted repeatedly by authorities in a wide-ranging crackdown on religious freedom.
“Russia changed its legal definition of extremism in 2006, removing requirements for violence or hatred but stating the ‘incitement of….religious discord’ as criteria, leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses with the same legal status as Isis or Nazis. The group’s international website was blocked in Russia two years ago over alleged extremism, with the group’s Bibles banned the following year, while a local chairman was jailed for two years on charges of possessing ‘extremist literature’ in 2010.”
Russia’s Persecution of Jehovah’s’ Witnesses because of their Stance on Voting, Violence and the Military
The Washington Post added on April 20:
“After years, even decades, of persecution against the religious group, the Kremlin moved to get rid of the denomination for good. In February, Jehovah’s Witnesses were labeled ‘extremists’ and locked out of their offices. Then Kremlin officials launched a legal effort to ban the faith. That case quickly wound its way to the Supreme Court, where Justice Ministry attorney Svetlana Borisova said the Christian group posed a ‘threat’ to ‘public order and public security.’… After six days of hearings, the Supreme Court sided with the government on Thursday. They ruled that the group’s St. Petersburg headquarters and 395 churches could be seized and liquidated. All church activities, including worship and door-to-door evangelizing, were banned. Those who defy the ruling face a fine of several thousand dollars and six to 10 years in prison…
“In the Soviet era, religion… was officially banned…
“Experts like Alexander Verkhovsky, who monitors extremism in Russia, say there is no evidence that Jehovah’s Witnesses are a public threat… ‘But they are seen as a good target. They are pacifists, so they cannot be radicalized, no matter what you do to them.’… The church’s 170,000 Russian members don’t vote, won’t serve in the military and refuse to attend national celebrations that glorify violence. That means they often avoid state-sponsored rallies celebrating, say, the annexation of Crimea. That’s a problem for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is naturally suspicious of groups with pro-Western sympathies (the sect is based in the United States). It’s also a way for him to show support to the Russian Orthodox Church…”
Russia’s Orthodox Church Major Player in Suppression of Jehovah’s Witnesses
The New York Times added on April 20:
“The ruling, which confirmed an order last month by the Justice Ministry that the denomination be ‘liquidated’… had been widely expected. Russian courts rarely challenge government decisions, no matter what the evidence…
“Hard-line followers of Russia’s dominant faith, the Orthodox Church, have lobbied for years to have Jehovah’s Witnesses outlawed or at least curbed as a heretical sect, but the main impetus for the current campaign to crush a Christian group active in Russia for more than a century seems to have come from the country’s increasingly assertive security apparatus. Founded in the United States in the 19th century, Jehovah’s Witnesses has its worldwide headquarters in the United States and, along with all foreign-led groups outside the control of the state, is viewed with deep suspicion by Russia’s post-Soviet version of the KGB: the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses shuns political activity and has no record of even peaceful — never mind violent — hostility to the Russian authorities. But it has faced growing hostility from the state since President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia began his third term in 2012 and put the Orthodox Church at the center of his push to assert Russia as a great military and moral power.
“The denomination suffered relentless persecution by the KGB during the Soviet era, and after more than a decade of relative peace following the collapse of Communism in 1991, it again became a target for official harassment under a 2002 anti-extremism law. That law makes it illegal for any group, other than the Orthodox Church and other traditional religious institutions, to proclaim itself as offering a true path to religious or political salvation.”
Russia’s blatantly illegal actions towards the Jehovah’s Witnesses are a preview of much more religious persecution to come.
Turkey’s Erdogan “Wins” Referendum
The Sun wrote on April 18:
“RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, the President of Turkey, once said that democracy was like a bus. He would ride it to the destination he wanted. Once there he would get off. On Sunday Erdogan got off the bus. Taking his country with him. This is a tragedy for Turkey. But it is a deep problem for Britain and Europe too. Erdogan’s direction of travel has been clear ever since the start of his dramatic political ascent more than two decades ago, when he was Mayor of Istanbul. In public as well as private it was clear he had an Islamist view of the world. For decades he remorselessly rolled back the secular advances his country made almost a century ago. As he became Prime Minister, journalists and other critics were thrown in prison. The role of religion in politics grew.
“Then Erdogan moved from Prime Minister to President. And Turkey — which had once seemed a beacon of potential progress in the Islamic world — began to roll backwards. Last summer a coup was staged. And ‘staged’ may be the right word. Within hours, lists were produced of thousands of judges and others allegedly involved. It was the perfect pretext for Erdogan to tighten his grip on the army, the judiciary and every other wing of state that had avoided his grasp.
“Sunday’s referendum on increasing the President’s powers may have been a ‘vote’ only in the way last year’s events were a ‘coup’. But in any case, the public were said to have voted for what Erdogan wanted, effectively making him sovereign over Parliament and every other part of the state. His progress from democrat to sultan is complete.
“Among those who should feel shame for this are all those who spent the years of Erdogan’s rise arguing for his country’s entry into the EU. On a visit to Turkey in 2010 our then Prime Minister, David Cameron, told Erdogan: ‘Turkey deserves its place at the top table of European politics — and that is what I will fight for.’ As late as last year Cameron restated that it was UK government policy to lobby for Turkey to join the EU. The present Government’s crazy policy is that although Britain is leaving the EU we will continue to argue for Turkey to join…
“Other governments across Europe have argued for Turkish membership. Only in recent months have they taken anything like a realistic stance on what Erdogan has actually been doing. This was partly because of Turkey’s role in improving — or worsening — the migration crisis…”
Erdogan Defies Europe
Newsmax added on April 18:
“A defiant Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan denounced the West’s ‘crusader mentality’ on Monday after European monitors criticised a referendum in which he won sweeping new powers… Opponents accuse him of leading a drive towards one-man rule in Turkey, a NATO member that borders Iran, Iraq and Syria and whose stability is of vital importance to the United States and European Union… [Erdogan] said it was not important if the EU suspended Turkish accession talks. Germany, home to several million Turks, said it was up to Erdogan himself to heal the rifts that the vote had exposed.”
President Trump Congratulates Erdogan on His Win as a Dictator
The Telegraph wrote on April 18:
“US president Donald Trump called his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to congratulate him on winning the referendum boosting his powers, the White House said on Monday… The reaction from Mr Trump contrasts with EU leaders… ‘President Trump thanked President Erdogan for supporting this action by the United States, and the leaders agreed on the importance of holding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable,’ the statement continued.”
The outcome of the referendum will increase the brutal and inhumane persecution of everyone in Turkey who is not a strong supporter of dictator Erdogan, while the West will sit idly by… especially in light of Turkey’s “help” with the migrant crisis and Turkey’s membership in NATO. Daniel 11 prophecies that Europe will not overpower modern Turkey at first, but other Scriptures show that subsequently, Europe will fight against Turkey. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.”
The USA Uses the “Mother of all Bombs”
The Daily Mail wrote on April 14:
“The US dropped its largest non-nuclear weapon on ISIS in Afghanistan… The GBU-43, otherwise known as the Mother of All Bombs, or MOAB unleashes a devastating fireball that incinerates and vaporizes anything within 30 feet when it first detonates. In the milliseconds following the initial blast in Afghanistan, all the oxygen would have been forced out of the tunnels and for hundreds of feet around, literally sucking the life out of ISIS terrorists, suffocating them as their lungs imploded. Then, in a flash the fiery shockwave would have radiated outwards at the speed of sound for up to a mile, causing huge blunt force trauma injuries to anyone caught in its path, leveling buildings and trees. Ears would have been left bleeding… and internal organs battered by the sheer force of the shockwave. The blast would also have caused many within two miles of the blast to lose their hearing.
“Anyone caught inside the tunnels would have been crushed as the force of 19,000 pounds of highly complex explosives caused them to collapse on top of the ISIS terrorists. Anyone left alive would have been shocked and left in awe by the sight of a terrifying mushroom cloud – the psychological scars staying with them forever.
“The Pentagon estimates that 800 ISIS terrorists were in the area. Its frightening power was unleashed by the United States for the first time on Thursday when it was dropped on an ISIS camp in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province, in order to obliterate underground tunnels used by the terrorists. A crater left by the blast is believed to be more than 300 feet wide after it exploded just six feet above the ground…”
We publish this article to show the terrible weapons which man has at his disposal.
