Worldwide Lack of True Leadership
Politico wrote on March 16:
“Welcome to politics’ darkest hour. If the coronavirus outbreak has taught us anything beyond the necessity of careful hygiene, it’s that the first victim of a pandemic is leadership. At no time in the past 75 years… have global leaders so utterly failed to deliver.
“… Few may have expected inspired leadership from U.S. President Donald Trump… Even so, his fumbling of a national address on the emergency, followed by his trademark blame-shifting… will be remembered as a low point in American political leadership…
“Boris Johnson… has sounded more like the Grim Reaper. ‘Many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time,’ he said in a televised address on Friday, insisting that his government has ‘a clear plan.’ Trouble is, the strategy underlying that plan… appears to have unnerved more people than it has reassured, fueling fears that Johnson has no plan at all…
“The German chancellor [Angela Merkel]… left management of the pandemic to her youthful health minister, Jens Spahn… The government’s response to the crisis has been marked by crossed wires and confusion…”
The leaders of this world have been failing miserably.. .and not only in regard to the coronavirus. Very soon, a strong charismatic political military dictator will arise in Europe… and the world will blindly follow and even “worship” him.
Worldwide Economic Destruction
Newsmax wrote on March 17:
“Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley economists… declare[d] that the coronavirus has triggered a global recession, with the debate now focusing on its likely length and depth… The outlook could darken even further if the virus lasts longer than anticipated, or wields greater economic pain — given factories, schools, restaurants and shops are closing around the world…”
Reuters wrote on March 17:
“As governments in the United States and Europe start shutting restaurants and schools, as well as asking people to stay home, several investors are concerned the current crisis could snowball into something bigger than a recession, including a credit crisis, or even a depression.”
We have warned of the possibility of a coming global depression for quite some time.
Destruction of U.S. Economy
Politico wrote on March 16:
“The early signals from the coronavirus crisis point to a scale of damage unseen in the modern U.S. economy: the potential for millions of jobs lost in a single month, a historic and sudden plunge in economic activity across the nation and a pace of sharp market swings not seen since the Great Depression…”
The Drudge Report wrote on March 18 that the Dow Jones closed at 19,804 on the day when Trump was sworn into office, and that the index crashed below that on March 18, meaning all the gains since the Trump inauguration were wiped out.
Restrictions of Free Movement of Americans
CNN wrote on March 16:
“The White House advised all Americans to avoid groups of more than 10 and urged older people to stay at home altogether in a set of new guidelines… ‘We’ll see what happens, but they think August, could be July, could be longer than that,’ Trump said of the time when life might return to normal in the United States… The guidelines… will remain in place for 15 days, officials said.
“Included in the new guidance was a recommendation for all Americans to stay away from bars, restaurants and food courts and to avoid discretionary travel. The guidelines also suggest closing schools and canceling all social visits in homes. Some officials have warned that further attempts to limit Americans from traveling domestically could have a dire effect on the economy. Those arguments have been countered by health officials… Still, the guidelines issued on Monday were only recommendations and not mandates…”
Politicians follow the guidance of “health experts,” who have been admitting time and again that they really don’t know anything specific about the virus either. When the blind follow the blind…
Martial Law in the USA
Newsmax wrote on March 18:
“President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will invoke a federal provision not used since the Korean War that allows the government to marshal the private sector in response to the coronavirus pandemic…
“Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly announced that the U.S.-Canada border would be closed, except for essential personnel and for trade…
“Trump likened the effort to the measures taken during World War II and said it would require national ‘sacrifice.’”
ABC7 wrote on March 16:
“Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling for all California bars to close amid the coronavirus emergency and asking all Californians age 65 and older and those with chronic conditions to isolate themselves at home… Newsom’s call for the shutdowns was described as ‘guidance‘ rather than a legal order by the government…”
What an incredible “guidance” or, as other papers termed it, “encouragement” by a governor.
But it may get much worse. Fox News reported on March 18 that California is preparing for the worst case scenario, considering imposing martial law which “would take the extraordinary step of replacing the usual laws with military authority, with the possible suspension of civil liberties like freedom of association and movement.”
Our world is becoming—quite literally—a global prison camp. Spiritually, we have been imprisoned or held captive by Satan from the time of Adam and Eve’s sin.
Schools to Stay Closed
Politico wrote on March 17:
“California’s schools will likely stay closed for the rest of the academic year over coronavirus concerns, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday in a jaw-dropping prediction for families barely settling into new weekday routines with children at home… If it holds true, more than 6 million California public school students would remain home for an unprecedented length of time unless the state finds alternatives.
“Nearly 99 percent of the state’s schools have closed, though Newsom has not issued a state mandate requiring them to do so, citing concerns about the impact on low-income families… Earlier Tuesday, Kansas became the first U.S. state to officially close schools for the remainder of the academic year.”
It can be expected that the rest of the country will follow these panic-stricken examples. What a nightmarish scenario.
Hopeless Ignorance
Daily Mail wrote on March 18:
“The Surgeon General [Jerome Adam] warned on Wednesday that it could take longer than 15 days to slow the spread of coronavirus but that Americans must ‘pitch in’ and do their part now to stay home and self-isolate if they want the deadly disease to die… Some… are calling for harsher action, like a two-week national shutdown to force people indoors.
“There has not been a clear cut answer on how long Americans will have to continue living in this current state of crisis. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said the current state of crisis could last nine months, whereas experts overseas say it could even longer…”
This is just one example to show the hopeless ignorance when it comes to the virus, and the futile attempts to deal with it.
Americans Prepare for Social Unrest and Civil War
The Guardian wrote on March 16:
“Sales of guns and ammunition are soaring across the US as fears of possible social unrest amid the coronavirus crisis are prompting some Americans to turn to firearms as a form of self-protection…
“Larry Hyatt, owner of one of the country’s largest gun shops… the Guardian that the scenes of mass buying at his store were virtually unprecedented. ‘This is only the second time in my 61 years of business that we’ve seen anything like this,’ he said, adding that the first occasion was the aftermath of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut in 2012.
“Hyatt said that the type of guns being bought was reflective of the fear prevalent among customers. There was almost no interest in hunting rifles. Instead, people were opting for target guns and there was big demand for AR-15 semi-automatic assault-style rifles. Asked why he thought the spike was happening, Hyatt replied: ‘Financial meltdown, pandemic, crime, politics … you throw it all into the pot, and you have one hell of a mess.’…
“Firearms are already the second most prevalent killer of children in the US after car crashes. In the 14- to 17-year-old bracket, gun injuries are the highest single cause of death…”
It seems like, people are getting mad in an attempt of self-destruction.
Restriction of Free Movements of Brits
Express wrote on March 15:
The Sun reported on June 17 that Boris Johnson, in employing “war-time” measures, asked that “OVER a million people should stay inside their homes for 12 weeks and everyone else must avoid going out… The over 70s, those who are pregnant, and anyone with underlying health conditions (around 20million Brits) should try not to leave their homes if they can, and avoid crowded spaces immediately.”
The website of ageuk.org reported:
“People aged over 70, pregnant people, and people with underlying health conditions are being asked to stay at home and avoid unnecessary, close contact with other people for up to 12 weeks by 21-22 March.”
Europe Closes External Borders
Deutsche Welle wrote on March 18:
“All 27 EU member states on Tuesday evening committed to implementing travel restriction measures… EU member states have said they will temporarily restrict non-essential journeys to travelers from [other] countries to the bloc… The purpose of the new restrictions is to keep individual EU states from closing their national borders…
“Several EU member states have already closed their national borders. The commission hopes the new restrictions will encourage them to lift internal border control measures.”
This is such a juvenile approach, and it is also, in part, in obvious retaliation of Trump’s European travel ban directed towards the European Schengen zone as well as the UK and Ireland. In response, on March 19, the US State Department issued the highest (level four) international travel warning and urged Americans not to travel abroad under any circumstances and to return home if they are already abroad.
Frightening Developments in Europe
The Guardian wrote on March 17:
“The EU has endorsed the strictest travel ban in its history as France joined Italy and Spain in full lockdown… some member states, including Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, unilaterally began imposing border checks… Charles Michel, the president of the European council, said: ‘We are confronting… a long and difficult crisis…’
“Emmanuel Macron… said on Monday night the country was ‘at war’, announcing that the army would help move patients to hospitals and 100,000 police would check the new regulations were being observed… Anyone leaving their home must complete a legal document downloaded from the interior ministry’s website, or written out by hand, declaring on their honour that they are out for one of the permitted reasons…
“The struggle against the coronavirus was an ‘economic and financial war’ that will last for some considerable time, [French finance minister Bruno] Le Maire said. ‘It will be lengthy and it will be violent … this war will require us to mobilise all our forces,’ he said.”
Terrible images of dictatorial countries and their inhumane actions from the past and present are coming to mind.
Also, the following was reported by Breitbart on March 18:
“The Prime Minister of France warned that if the United Kingdom doesn’t enact stricter measures to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Britons will be banned from travelling to France.”
Europe’s hostility towards the UK will increase.
Nation of Israel Asks Vatican to Restore Temple Vessels
Breaking Israel News reported on March 15:
“… the Nation of Israel requests that the Vatican immediately return to Jerusalem the Temple vessels that have been stored in Rome for nearly 2000 years… Josephus Flavius, a first-century Roman-Jewish scholar of priestly descent, reported that the Temple artifacts were indeed taken to Rome and placed in Vespasian’s Temple of Peace, completed in 75 CE.
“Since that time, there have been several unverified sightings of the Menorah in the Vatican… In the second half of the 12th century, a Spanish Jew known as Benjamin of Tudela… claims in his journal that the Jews of Rome knew that the Temple vessels were hidden in a cave in the Vatican…
“It should be noted that on Sunday, the Waqf (Muslim authority) ordered the silver-domed al Aqsa Mosque and the gold-domed Dome of the Rock closed until further notice. Jews are still visiting their holiest site, the Temple Mount.”
The relationship between Israel and the Vatican, which was never good, will dramatically deteriorate.
Israel Government Still in Limbo
Times of Israel wrote on March 16:
“Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz vowed on Monday to cobble together a coalition ‘within days’ after President Reuven Rivlin tasked the centrist alliance leader with forming a government…
“The ceremonial tapping of Gantz to form the government came hours after Rivlin hosted the Blue and White leader along with Netanyahu for a three-way summit Sunday evening in an effort to encourage the two men to form an emergency unity government amid the coronavirus outbreak… Rivlin’s proposal this time was based on the previous offer, but reportedly gives Netanyahu a full year as prime minister before handing the baton to Gantz…”
Much could happen within a year. Also, Netanyahu announced on March 19: “The government will approve tonight emergency regulations to limit movement. You are ordered to stay at home… This isn’t a request, this isn’t a recommendation, but a binding requirement that will be enforced.”
This emergency declaration has been strongly condemned in Israel, as have been newly-rolled out regulations that allow the government to track mobile phones of individuals with coronavirus or suspected of being infected..
Syrian War Has Caused Death, Misery and Ruin
Deutsche Welle wrote on March 15:
“… the ongoing war in Syria entered its tenth year to little fanfare on Sunday… the decade-long conflict has displaced 11 million people, killed more than 384,000, including 116,000 civilians, and created an international humanitarian crisis with no end in sight… Last week, the UN wrote on Twitter that ‘a decade of fighting has brought nothing but ruin and misery. There is no military solution…’’
While the world is occupied with the coronavirus, millions of people suffer from displacement, ruin, misery and death in war. The world ignores this serious problem and stands idly by.
The Jerusalem Post wrote on March 17:
“Turkey sends flights to evacuate its own citizens [from the EU] while it denies health care to [140,000] asylum seekers who flee to Greece amid unprecedented EU closures.”
Locust Plague Coincides with Coronavirus
Times of Israel wrote on March 16:
“A plague of locusts the likes of which have been unseen for over 30 years is about to hit Africa and the Middle East. Adding to the perfect biblical storm, the current coronavirus pandemic is affecting travel of international experts and in-country gatherings for training to combat the locust threat…
“The Desert Locust… ‘is the most destructive migratory pest in the world,’ according to the Locust Watch website. As depicted in the Book of Exodus, when the highly mobile swarms of Desert Locust form, ‘they are ravenous eaters who consume their own weight per day, targeting food crops and forage’…
“The current widespread breeding in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia represents ‘an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods at the beginning of the upcoming cropping season,’ writes the Locus Watch website… It appears that the hardest hit countries will include Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iran, Pakistan, and Sudan…
“Not all regions of the Middle East will be affected, however. Despite the proximity to the Jewish holiday of Passover… it appears that the swarms will not hit Israel or the country’s crops.”
Pandemics and worldwide famine are prophesied.
What Religious “Scholars” (Don’t) Know
The Washington Post wrote on March 17:
“This is not the end of the world, according to Christians who study the end of the world… Could this be a sign of the apocalypse? It sure might feel apocalyptic. But not if you ask Christian writers and pastors who have spent years focusing their message on the Book of Revelation — the New Testament’s final book.
“… many evangelical leaders interpret it to mean that Jesus will return to Earth, believers will be raptured to heaven and those left behind will suffer seven dreadful years of calamities… Jeff Kinley, a writer of books on biblical prophecy… pointed… to Jesus’ words about the events before the end times in Luke 21:11: ‘There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.’ ‘I think he’s referring to a future time,’ Kinley said. ‘I don’t think this is an actual fulfillment of that.’ The Bible is very specific about what will happen before the End Times, Kinley says, and those events haven’t all unfolded yet. For one major thing, the ancient temple in Jerusalem is supposed to be rebuilt first.
“Gary Ray, a writer for the prophecy website Unsealed, agreed: He and his fellow evangelical End-Times writers are focused on what is happening with holy sites in Israel, not disease… In Ray’s opinion, these portents should send non-Christians rushing toward the Bible, so they can convert while there is still time before the Christians are raptured and everyone else has to endure the wretched seven years…
“One reason for all these relatively rosy assessments from people who might otherwise be doomsday prophesiers? It might be… the president, who is very popular among evangelical Christians…
“James Beverley, a professor at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, said he found… that charismatic and Pentecostal prophets, who normally think the End Times are near, have been less likely to forecast doom during the Trump administration. ‘Some are saying that Satan is the source of evils like the virus, but the doom and gloom message is missing. There is such a positive view on Trump and such strong wishes for his reelection that there is deep hope that the virus will die out, a strong economy will return and Trump will defeat the Democratic nominee,’ Beverley wrote in an email. ‘It is stunning how optimistic charismatic prophets are since Trump won in 2016.’”
As it is almost always the case, the article reflects the opinions of biblical “scholars” which might include some few parcels of truth with a whole big bag of errors. Try to pick out for yourself where you can find the small pieces of truth and the many huge errors in the article.
Mind Control in Our “Free” Societies
Daily Mail published on March 14 the following article by one of their journalists:
“It was a bright, cold day in Oxford and everywhere I looked, rainbow flags flapped and fluttered in the sharp wind. They flew from the ancient colleges along the High Street. They flew from the Town Hall…
The mere act of suggesting that there is anything oppressive about these banners will ensure that I am convicted of ‘homophobia’… It is startling to recall walking down the same street more than 50 years ago, when nobody had ever thought of rainbow flags and this was still a free country…
“A huge change in sexual morality of all kinds was cleverly presented as mainly being the liberation of homosexuals from persecution… Britain is full of people who have never wholly agreed with the great sexual revolution which has overtaken us in the past 30 years, and is now embraced by the Conservative Party and the churches.
“But even in private they hesitate to say so… For they know a terrible thing. If they are denounced, they could lose their livelihoods… We also have an embryonic Thought Police patrolling Twitter. And we have increasingly ferocious official lying…
“Some sort of national emergency – a major terror attack, an economic collapse, perhaps even a devastating epidemic – will at some point speed up our descent into a semi-totalitarian dusk. The Civil Contingencies Act already gives government astonishing powers to rule by diktat if it can think of a good enough excuse…
“There is no barricade of law which stands between us and the introduction of an unfree society. There is no major party which can be relied [on] to oppose such a change, provided it can be dressed up as being in the interests of ‘security’, of ‘equality and diversity’ or of not offending people…
“How long before students all over Britain will note the appearance of rainbow flags each February, and think that it has always been so, and that there never was another opinion?”
Biblical standards are disappearing in our societies… and woe to those who want to uphold them.
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.
