Update 981

On July 10, 2021, Eric Rank will present the sermonette, titled, “What’s Your Reason Why?” and Dave Harris will present the sermon, titled, “WHY Prophecy?”

The live services are available, over video and audio, at http://eternalgod.org/live-services/ (12:30 pm Pacific Time; 1:30 pm Mountain Time; 2:30 pm Central Time; 3:30 pm Eastern Time; 8:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time; 9:30 pm Central European Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

In this chaotic world of upside-down values, we have witnessed in the UK yet another example of what priorities are important to a national politician who has been at the forefront of the nation’s approach to the Covid pandemic. Matt Hancock, the UK’s Health Secretary, was caught acting in a compromising situation leading to the revelation of his adulterous affair, and it resulted in him losing his high profile job.

The BBC reported that “his resignation and apology followed photos published by the Sun newspaper showing him in an embrace with a colleague, Gina Coladangelo.  The paper says the photos of the pair – both of whom are married – were taken inside the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on 6 May 2021.”

The Sun newspaper added on the 25^th June 2021 that “Matt Hancock has today broken his silence to admit he ‘breached social distancing rules’ – but failed to apologise to his wife of 15 years after his explosive affair was revealed by The Sun.”

Politicmag.net added that the “Labour Party chairwoman Annaliese Dodds said of Mr Hancock: ‘He set the rules. He admits he broke them. He has to go.’”

What so many were complaining about was that “social distancing rules” were breached.

Much of the nation’s anger could be summed up by one of his constituents who said: “We’ve done what’s been asked of us for more than a year, and he betrayed all of us. He has broken his own rules and our trust. He simply could not be trusted anymore.”

Tim Stanley wrote in the Daily Telegraph on 28^th June 2021: “It says something about how morally twisted the 21st century is that Matt Hancock resigned not over adultery but over breaking social distancing rules, as if the latter is more serious than the former. In the 24 hours between exposure and resignation, during which he obviously thought he might be able to cling on, he described his affair as a ‘personal matter’ and the PM [Boris Johnson] considered the ‘matter closed.’ Mr Hancock was using adultery as a shield, as if the subject were so sensitive, almost sympathetic, that society would draw a veil over it.”

Priorities today don’t take into account God’s instruction on morality.   You can cheat on your husband or wife, you can father several children outside marriage, you can live together without getting married (fornication), you can practice, as a way of life, homosexuality and other perverted forms of behaviour, you can marry a person of the same sex, and in general, society just regards this as normal and acceptable behaviour.   But break someone’s made up social distancing rules and the flack flies.   Priorities wrong yet again.

It is going to take the great tribulation, God’s wrath and the return of Jesus Christ to get man’s attention.  It is the only way that there can be a response to the quagmire of ungodly behaviour which is now mainstream and part of society’s moral, or rather immoral, DNA.  Unfortunately, this story is replicated many times around the world on a daily basis, and much worse, too.   Satan has this world in the palm of his hand, and only Christ’s return will alter the landscape.

We must continue to pray for God’s Kingdom to come soon, when true standards of righteous behaviour will be required.   Only that event will reverse what we currently experience and the time when Satan’s influence will be removed for the benefit of all of mankind!

by Norbert Link

We report on the selective and hypocritical “reporting” of America’s mainstream media, using the Hunter Biden scandal as an example; address another potential witch hunt involving Donald Trump; speak on the refusal of the US Supreme Court to hear an important LGBT case; and report on class action lawsuits against Big Tech.

We address the assassination of Haiti’s president; the terrible suffering of the people of Lebanon and hopeless attempts by the EU to better the situation; Putin’s ridiculous and at the same time extremely dangerous attempts to rewrite history and whitewash Stalin’s mass murders and atrocities; and another huge Russian cyber-attack on US firms.

We point out expressed medical concerns regarding COVID 19-vaccinations of young people and the persecution of the unvaccinated, while more and more national, state and local governments impose mandatory vaccinations.

We speak on Angela Merkel’s last official visit to the UK and the growing demand by the American travel industry to get rid of Biden’s travel ban. We also address the growing divide between Eastern and Western EU members [in this regard, please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “The Divided EU–East and West”] and report on a “trigger warning” requirement in a UK university regarding the discussion of “sensitive” issues in class.

We conclude with the claim that a pig-human hybrid organ has been created for the purpose of transplantation.

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

President Biden Seemed to Have Known about His Son’s Shady Business Dealings

The Ron Paul Institute published on July 3 the following article by Law Professor Jonathan Turley:

“We have previously discussed the concerted and often embarrassing blackout in the media on stories involving Hunter Biden’s influence peddling during his father’s tenure as Vice President. That includes the burying of the laptop story and the growing contradictions over his father’s denial of any knowledge or involvement in his shady business dealings. Even recent reports that Hunter may have paid prostitutes with his father’s account were blacked out by mainstream media… Now, however, there is a major allegation that Hunter used access to his father to seal previously unknown deals with Mexican businessmen…

“As in the past, Americans interested in such stories have had to rely on the foreign press or a couple [of] domestic sites for such information. The new emails include references to the use of Air Force II by Hunter Biden to pursue the deals — a similar pattern revealed with regard to the China dealings. The emails detail a number of visits to Mexico, including a February 2016 flight on Air Force II with his father…

“It obviously does not sound… good if you are a reporter who has been repeatedly assured by President Biden that he had no knowledge or involvement in any dealings with Hunter. That was previously refuted by various sources…

“The new emails contain additional information directly contradicting President Biden… Hunter arranged for then Vice President Biden to have dinner on April 16, 2015 with his Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakhstani business associates…

“It is clear that Hunter Biden was selling access and influence. It appears that Joe Biden was aware of that effort. That is very serious. If these emails are false, this is a major story. If they are true, this is a major scandal…”

The selective and hypocritical reporting of America’s mainstream media is stunning…

Another Witch Hunt?

The Associated Press wrote on July 2:

“Companies give perks to their employees all the time. Many top executives at Fortune 500 companies have access to a corporate jet for personal use, a company apartment, or an expense account for fancy meals. Even lower-level employees regularly get access to perks like tuition reimbursement or cash to join a gym. But the extravagant perks prosecutors say the Trump Organization lavished onto its CFO Allen Weisselberg — apartments, cars, cash for holiday tips, tuition for his grandchildren to name a few — are well beyond the level of compensating a valued employee, some tax law experts said…

“Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump and his allies have tried to frame the indictment against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization as a ‘witch hunt’ by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats. They have said the perks involved were standard for successful American companies…

“The indictment alleges that this wasn’t just a matter of Weisselberg failing to report his pay properly. It says the Trump Organization, as a company,  was complicit…. But that doesn’t mean the allegations, which will require proof of willfulness, will be easy to establish in court. ‘That’s really going to be the burden that the DA’s office is going to have to prove is that there was a scheme here, and that it wasn’t just a series of mistakes or misunderstandings,’ [one tax expert said].”

In addition, clients have a reasonable expectation that their accountants advise them properly and keep suitable accounting records. To construe criminal liability in the case at issue sounds extremely far-fetched.

US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear LGBT Case

RT wrote on July 2:

“The US Supreme Court has passed on hearing a case that would have settled whether businesses are entitled to refuse services for same-sex marriages on religious or free speech grounds. Declining to consider the appeal brought by a Washington state florist, the Supreme Court on Friday deferred to earlier state court rulings on the case.

“In 2013, Barronelle Stutzman refused to provide flowers for the same-sex wedding of two male customers because it violated her ‘relationship with Jesus Christ.’ The couple took her to court over the matter, and state judges ruled that she had broken a law prohibiting businesses from discriminating against people due to their sexual orientation. The Washington Supreme Court backed that decision…

“Prior to the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case, Stutzman’s lawyers argued that ‘these First Amendment violations must stop’ and that the justices should rule that ‘religious people should be free to live out their beliefs.’”

Passing the buck to somewhat liberal Washington state courts, as the US Supreme Court did, does not help to establish the law.

Trump Sues Big Tech in Class Action Lawsuits

Newsmax reported on July 7:

“Former President Donald Trump has announced class-action lawsuits against tech giants Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube parent company Google, over their ‘unlawful’ censorship of him and other conservatives, after the social media giants banned him from posting in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol…

“The actions are being supported by the America First Policy Institute, headed by former Trump officials Linda McMahon and Brooke Rollins… Trump is banned from Twitter and will not be eligible to return to Facebook for two more years…

“But even before Jan. 6, Trump took aim at Dorsey and Zuckerberg, along with Big Tech, signing an executive order meant to limit legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for the content users post on their platforms [and from banning or censoring users]. President Joe Biden revoked Trump’s order in May…”

The New York Post added on July 7:

“[Trump said:] ‘We’re asking the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate halt to stop social media companies’ illegal and shameful censorship of the American people.’… Trump accused the big tech companies of violating Americans’ First Amendment rights by selectively censoring information… Trump added that he’s asking the court to impose punitive damages against the companies… [and] that the team is looking to reform Section 230 [of the Communications Decency Act], which legally protects social media companies from content their users post and how they moderate their platforms…

“Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.)… and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have both introduced legislation in Congress aimed at reeling in the power of big tech companies. Members of both political parties in Congress historically supported reforms to laws governing Big Tech firms such as Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter. For example, both President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) backed repeal of Section 230…”

Haitian President Jovenel Moise Assassinated

Deutsche Welle  wrote on July 7:

“The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, 53, was shot and killed in his private residence, the interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced… [He] has called a state of siege in Haiti and closed the international airport… ‘The president was assassinated at his home by foreigners who spoke English and Spanish,’ Joseph told AFP, labeling the assassination a ‘hateful, inhumane and barbaric act.’…

“The Dominican Republic announced it was closing the border that it shares with Haiti on the island Hispaniola… The US Embassy announced it would be closed Wednesday due to the deteriorated security situation in Haiti…

“The President of Colombia called the murder a ‘cowardly act’… British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he was ‘shocked and saddened by the death of President Moise. He called the murder ‘an abhorrent act’…  Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez appealed for Haiti’s ‘political unity to get out of this terrible trauma that the country is going through.’ Finally, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen wished Haiti’s first lady [who was also injured in the attack]  ‘a prompt recovery’. As Haiti is one of the few countries that recognizes Taiwan separate from China, he added that his island nation stood ‘together with our ally Haiti in this difficult time.’”

Sanctioning Lebanon?

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 2:

“Lebanon continues to unravel as its economic and political crisis worsens. The country has not had a government for almost a year now and its economy is in the process of collapsing after decades of mismanagement and corruption… It is estimated that almost half of all Lebanese now live below the poverty line thanks to the ongoing crisis…  around 77% of Lebanese households don’t have enough food or enough money to buy food…

“Most Lebanese blame their leaders for the crisis. After the end of Lebanon’s almost 15-year-long civil war in 1990, peace negotiations divided power between 18 religious sects there. The peace deal effectively set the stage for decades of corruption and the resulting near-collapse of the Lebanese banking system.

“… the German Embassy in Lebanon confirmed that the EU was looking into sanctions against Lebanese leaders. France had already taken some steps unilaterally and began blocking visas for some Lebanese officials in April this year.

“‘I think European governments feel pretty desperate and there’s a lot of frustration,’ Julien Barnes-Dacey, head of  the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said. ‘But I don’t think the question is really one of whether [imposing sanctions] is tough enough, it’s a question of whether they will be effective.’…

“Joseph Bahout, the director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs based at the American University of Beirut, agreed… As an example, he cited the French ban on visas. ‘They [the members of the Lebanese elite] usually have two or three passports and they just enter Europe through another country, like Italy,’ Bahout noted. ‘Then we see pictures of them shopping in Paris or Nice.’

“Imposing sanctions could also be dangerous, added Shahin Vallee, head of the geo-economics program at the German Council on Foreign Relations… ‘either you sanction all Lebanese politicians as a block or you do targeted sanctions,’ he said. ‘But then you could create an imbalance in the political system. Sanctions could backfire.’ ‘In choosing politician X over politician Y, the EU would be setting some against others,’ Bahout agreed.”

It seems that in this world, there is nothing but political problems without any tangible and lasting solutions.

Russians and Ukrainians One People

JTA wrote on July 1:

“Vladimir Putin… suggested that Israel offered a good model for his designs on Ukraine…

“Essentially he suggested that Slavic peoples take a cue from Israelis and unite as one people despite different ethnicities, origins and maternal languages… adding that Ukrainians and Russians ‘are generally one people.’…”

And that “one people” will combine their efforts to fight against continental Europe.

Putin’s Ridiculous Attempts to Rewrite History

Daily Mail wrote on July 2:

“Vladimir Putin has made it illegal to compare the Soviets to the Nazis… [His] uncompromising view whitewashes Stalin’s tyranny, his early alliance with Hitler in carving up Poland and the genocidal terror of the Great Purge.

“Putin signed the bill last night which bans the publication of material which draws parallels between the ‘aims and decisions’ of the Soviets and the Third Reich, and anything which denies the Red Army’s ‘decisive role’ in defeating Hitler…

“The claim is bound to infuriate former Soviet states like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which say they were occupied by the Red Army and forced to join the Soviet Union.”

Putin’s persecution of those who want to tell the truth and his attempts to rewrite history are not only ridiculous, but they are also extremely dangerous. Note the next two sections.

Stalin and Hitler both Responsible

In a related article, Daily Mail wrote:

“In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, agreeing on Soviet and German spheres of influence across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland… After Hitler invaded Poland on September 1 the Soviets moved in from the east, seizing great tracts of territory agreed upon in a secret clause. Poland was crushed between the vice of Moscow and Berlin. More than three million people perished in Nazi-occupied Poland and an estimated 500,000 in the Soviet occupied part. Stalin also annexed eastern Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Romania; he also attacked Finland and extorted territorial concessions.

“Over the next two years the Soviet Union and Germany signed economic pacts, with Moscow supplying raw materials to the German war machine including 865,000 tonnes of oil and 1.5 million tonnes of grain. In exchange, Berlin shipped locomotives, turbines, generators, diesel engines and vital military intelligence to Moscow. Stalin received plans for naval cruisers, destroyers, heavy naval guns and samples of the Nazi’s latest warplanes, including Messerschmitt fighters and Junkers ‘fast bombers.’…

“The talks eventually collapsed because of the intransigence of Hitler and Stalin over access to territories including Finland, as well as Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Hitler remarked to his top brass that Stalin ‘demands more and more’, ‘he’s a cold-blooded blackmailer’ and ‘a German victory has become unbearable for Russia’ so that ‘she must be brought to her knees as soon as possible.’ Hitler attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, tearing up existing treaties, in an attempt to conquer Communism… The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, founded after the Cold War to help keep peace in Europe, has said the Soviet Union was equally responsible for WWII, which claimed 50 million lives…”

Please view our recent StandingWatch program, “Germany’s Invasion of the Soviet Union… but let’s stick to the Truth!”

Hitler’s and Stalin’s Atrocities

Daily Mail also published this related article:

“Stalin’s Great Purge, taking place from 1937 – 1938 is estimated to have killed between 600,000 to 1.2 million. Political opponents and ethnic minorities were summarily executed, while others were sent to gulags where they died in horrendous captivity in Siberia… some historians have put the total as high as 6 to 10 million, this being across his entire despotic tenure from 1922 to 1953…

“The Holocaust was Hitler’s systematic murder of six million Jewish men, women and children, around two thirds of Europe’s Jewish population…

“The Holodomor, or the Hunger, was [Stalin’s] mass starvation of an estimated 3.5 million in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933. When famine struck across the Soviet Union that year, the Ukraine was pillaged by the army and secret police who stole the harvest and all the food in villagers’ homes. Ukrainians dropped dead in the streets, lay dying and rotting in their houses, and some women became so desperate for food that they ate their own children…

“The Nazi Hunger Plan was devised to steal food from the Soviet Union and give it to soldiers and civilians to continue fuelling the German war effort… Historian Timothy Snyder estimates that ‘4.2 million Soviet citizens (largely Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians) [were] starved by the German occupiers in 1941–1944.’

“Between 1929 and the year of Stalin’s death in 1953, 18million men and women were transported to Soviet slave labour camps in Siberia and other outposts of the Red empire – many of them never to return. Prisoners worked in the most extreme climates, facing temperatures of -20C (-4F)… By the time the last Soviet gulag closed its gates, millions had died. Starvation was not uncommon, as prisoners were barely fed enough to sustain such difficult labour. Other prisoners were simply dragged out to the woods and shot by guards…

“From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps across occupied Europe. The camps were run exclusively by the SS… The first camps were filled with many of Hitler’s political opponents… Many were killed in gas chambers, others died of starvation, in extreme working conditions, while others were killed by firing squad and by hanging…”

This is so terrible, showing the cruelty of man.

Another Russian Cyber Attack

The Sun wrote on July 5:

“RUSSIAN hackers REvil have demanded a $70 million ransom in Bitcoin for a decryption key, after a cyberattack that targeted 1,000 US firms. The breach, which is the largest ransomware attack on record, has reportedly hit the IT systems of up to 1 million companies across the globe, by breaching the systems of US-based software firm Kaseya…

“The demand was posted on a blog typically used by the REvil cybercrime gang – a group with links to Russia, that is considered to be among the cybercriminal world’s most prolific extortionists…

“US President Joe Biden was on Saturday branded ‘weak’ against Vladimir Putin, after hundreds of US companies were hit by the breach. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted on the weekend: ‘Remember when President Biden gave Putin a list of things that were supposed to be off-limits for cyber attacks? What he SHOULD have said is that ALL American targets are off-limits.’…”

Of course, Putin denies all responsibility, and Biden’s demands of just keeping some American firms off limits did not help one bit.

Military Action against Cyber Attackers?

CPO Magazine wrote on July 5:

“NATO’s proposed response [to cyber-attacks] could involve military action against perpetrators… EU NATO members could turn to the alliance to address specific security incidents originating from specific countries such as Russia and China.”

Before military action is employed, one would need to know where the perpetrators are located. It appears that at this point, NATO has no clue.

Dr. Merlone Speaks out against COVID Vaccinations for Young Adults and Children

Life Site News wrote on June 30:

“As many colleges throughout the nation mandate students to be injected with experimental COVID-19 gene-therapy vaccinations… the inventor of the mRNA technology behind at least two of the vaccines said a risk-benefit analysis doesn’t justify the jabs for young adults, and certainly not for those under 18 years of age.

“Dr. Robert Malone, who was a guest on Tucker Carlson Tonight last week, recently had his voice suppressed on YouTube discussing these topics, though, as Carlson asserted, he ‘may be the single most qualified person on planet earth to discuss this subject,’ and thus, ‘we think he has a right to speak.’

“The physician’s primary concern is that there is still insufficient data for anyone, including the young, to be able to exercise sufficient informed consent regarding the reception of these experimental biological agents. ‘[O]ne of my concerns is that the government is not being transparent with us about what [the] risks are,’ he said. ‘I know that there are risks. But we don’t have access to the data and the data haven’t been captured rigorously enough so that we can accurately assess those risks. And therefore, for folks like your audience, you, and me, we don’t really have the information that we need to make a reasonable decision.’

“‘[Therefore], I am of the opinion that people have the right to decide whether to accept vaccines or not, especially since these are experimental vaccines,’ Malone said, affirming the fact that the vaccines are not FDA-approved, but only authorized for emergency use…

“When asked by the Fox News host if the benefits of the injections outweigh the risks, Malone said that in the case of younger Americans, ‘I have a bias that the benefits probably don’t outweigh the risks in that cohort… I can say that the risk-benefit ratio for those 18 and below doesn’t justify vaccines…’

“While many young people are essentially required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the fall in order to attend school, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) best estimate is that those under 20 years of age have a 99.997 percent survival rate if infected with COVID-19.

“Further, CDC data released last Friday reveals reports of 387,087 total adverse events in the United States following injections of experimental COVID-19 gene therapy vaccines, including 6,113 deaths and 31,240 serious injuries, between Dec. 14, 2020, and June 18, 2021.”

But the mass media and certain physicians and governments are vigorously promoting vaccinations for young people, while suppressing those with different opinions and attacking those who refuse to get vaccinated.

Healthy 13-year old Boy Dies of Apparent Complications from Covid Vaccine

Detroit Free Press wrote on July 5:

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the case of a 13-year-old Saginaw County boy who died in his sleep three days after getting his second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in mid-June… The boy… lived in Zilwaukee and had just completed eighth grade when he got his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine June 13 at a Walgreens store, said… his aunt… [He] had no known underlying medical conditions. He complained of common post-vaccine symptoms, she said, in the two days between his immunization and death, which included fatigue and fever…

“The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices found that among adolescents and young adults who got the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, there appears to be an association with… cases of myocarditis and pericarditis. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle that can affect heart rhythm and its ability to pump. Pericarditis is inflammation of the sac or pericardium around the heart.

“… complications have been reported at a rate of 12.6 per million among people ages 12-39 within 21 days after a second dose of the vaccine… Some cases have been reported after the first vaccine dose as well.”

These are terribly frightening figures.

The Unvaccinated Under Attack

CNN wrote on July 3:

“Unvaccinated people do more than merely risk their own health. They’re also a risk to everyone if they become infected with coronavirus, infectious disease specialists say. That’s because the only source of new coronavirus variants is the body of an infected person…

“‘Unvaccinated people are potential variant factories,’ Dr. William Schaffner… told CNN Friday. ‘The more unvaccinated people there are, the more opportunities for the virus to multiply,’ Schaffner said… it has to replicate to do that. An unvaccinated person provides that opportunity.”

In addition, Dr. Fauci claimed that over 99% of those who died of Covid in June [he alleged that 10,000 died of Covid in June] were unvaccinated. And so, let the witch hunt against unvaccinated people begin!!! Note the next article.

Mandatory Vaccinations

Medical Press wrote on July 5:

“A growing number of countries and territories around the world are forcing people… to be vaccinated against COVID-19… In the Vatican, the world’s smallest state, vaccinations were made obligatory for residents and workers in February, with those refusing liable to be sacked…

“Several countries or territories have imposed vaccinations on certain sections of the population. Italian doctors and health workers in the public and private sector must get vaccinated or face being banned from working directly with patients…

“On June 16 the British government announced all care home staff in England will need to be fully vaccinated. If approved by parliament, the new legislation means anyone working in a care home must have two doses of a vaccine from October unless they have a medical exemption…

“Some 60 percent of all service industry workers in Moscow—just over two million people—were ordered to be fully vaccinated by August 15… other localities have taken similar measures, including… Saint Petersburg…

“The city of San Francisco… will require all municipal employees to be vaccinated or they could face penalties up to and including dismissal… More than 150 employees at the Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas have already been fired or resigned after failing to comply with orders to get a shot…

“[France] is working on a draft law to force health workers to be jabbed…”

Worldwide totalitarian dictatorships and liberty-depriving measures are on the rise as NEVER before. Please view our recent News and Prophecy program from June 26, titled, “The World’s March towards Totalitarianism.” 

Merkel’s Last Official Visit to UK

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 2:

“Angela Merkel has said she will [be] taking a ‘step by step’ approach to the new relationship with the United Kingdom after Brexit. The German leader was also non-committal when asked if UK prime ministers could be invited to European Union summits as an attempt to repair ties in the post-Brexit era…

“Chancellor Merkel has said she expects travel between Germany and the United Kingdom to be made easier soon. ‘I assume that in the foreseeable future, those who have been vaccinated twice will be able to travel again without having to go into quarantine,’ Merkel told the press conference that followed her talks with Johnson. Germany currently requires travelers from the UK to undergo a 14-day quarantine period…

“Chancellor Merkel said she and Johnson had discussed the Northern Ireland Protocol and that pragmatic solutions were needed… Prime Minister Johnson said there remained a lot of issues to resolve with regard to Northern Ireland.”

These vague assumptions and assurances by Merkel are unfortunately all too common. Let us pray for GOD’s intervention—in spite of what men and women might want to do.

Get Rid of the Travel Ban!

The Hill wrote on July 5:

“The Biden administration is coming under pressure to ease travel bans for international tourists… critics say the administration needs to move faster, slamming travel bans as unrelated to the spread of COVID-19 and raising concern about the loss of revenue from international business travel, summer vacations and foreign students trying to arrive before the fall semester.

“The administration’s travel bans are ‘frozen in time,’ said Steve Shur, president of the Travel Technology Association, a trade organization that partners with online travel agents, airlines and hotels…

“Travel into the U.S. from abroad is largely shut down, with exceptions for American citizens returning from abroad, family members of U.S. citizens and individuals from exempted groups such as international students. The U.S.-entry bans target travelers from China, Iran, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil and South Africa. In April, President Biden banned travel from India…

“But experts say picking and choosing countries based off of COVID-19 infections is arbitrary because the disease, including the… delta variant, is already entrenched in the U.S….

“While the U.S. has working groups with the E.U., Mexico, Canada and U.K. about safely reopening travel, hopes for a planned U.S. and U.K. travel corridor for the summer appear to be shelved… ‘The Biden administration is in no hurry … and the chances of anything happening before August now seem to be zilch,’ a person familiar with the U.K. discussions told the Financial Times last week. Advocates for the travel industry are deeply frustrated…”

It is amazing how unrealistically the US government is dealing or not dealing with urgent matters.

Slovenia—Thorn in Brussel’s Side

Express wrote on July 3:

“Slovenia’s increasingly strained relations with Brussels will undoubtedly be underscored for the next six months as Prime Minister Janez Jansa prepares to be a thorn in Brussels’ side during his presidency of the EU. The Slovenian leader has been in charge of the rotating EU presidency for just three days and he already lashed out at the EU’s treatment of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

“Mr Jansa said on Friday that the Hungarian leader must be allowed to express his ideas about the European Union’s future, warning that the bloc would ‘continue to shrink’ if people are excluded from the debate. His comments were a further sign of a growing alliance between the nationalist leaders of Slovenia, Hungary and Poland that is worrying more liberal countries in the EU.

“Mr Orban faced criticism at an EU summit last week over a Hungarian law banning schools from using materials seen as promoting homosexuality, with French President Emmanuel Macron referring to a fundamental ‘East-West divide’… In western capitals, the increasingly assertive coalition of eastern leaders is being watched with concern. Some academics believe an ‘Eastern European Union’ is emerging…”

RT added on July 4:

“Sandwiched between Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia, Slovenia is a tiny country of 2.1 million people. However, for the next six months, it will set the agenda of the European Council… [Prime Minister] Jansa… proclaimed that Slovenia is not ‘a colony’ of the EU to be dictated to…”

This is an interesting development as according to biblical prophecy, ten core nations or groups of nations will develop from the current EU, consisting of 27 member states.

Orban and the Colonial European Empire

Express wrote in a related article on July 3:

“Hungarian… Prime Minister Viktor Orban… has rejected criticism from the EU of a law against the portrayal of homosexuality, saying it was the behaviour of colonisers. Mr Orban said: ‘They want to tell us how to live our lives and how to behave.’ According to the law passed in June, minors in Hungary are no longer allowed to have access to information about homosexuality, transsexuality and gender reassignment. Only depictions of heterosexual lifestyles are permitted in curricula, films and advertisements that are accessible to people under the age of 18…

“Seventeen EU countries have requested that Hungary be brought before the European Court of Justice because of the law… The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte suggested that Mr Orban should decide whether Hungary wants to adhere to the EU’s fundamental values or leave the Union. ‘This is a colonial approach,’ Mr Orban told public radio on Friday…

“Several leading European newspapers have refused to run a paid advertisement signed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, saying they do not want to give space to a politician they accuse of subverting human rights and press freedom. The one-page ad says that Brussels is building a ‘super-state,’ denounces what it calls the ‘European Empire’, calls for the strengthening of national parliaments and stands up against closer European integration.”

The Times of Malta; the Belgian newspaper De Standaard and the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter refused to run the ad, in addition to two other newspapers in Belgium, La Libre Belgique and De Morgen. It was printed by newspapers Le Figaro in France, ABC in Spain, Jyllands-Posten in Denmark and Mlada fronta Dnes in the Czech Republic.

Trigger Warnings for Certain Topics in Class at British University

Daily Mail wrote on July 5:

“Fury has erupted after University of Reading lecturers were told to issue trigger warnings to students if classes contain ‘distressing’ content… But critics slammed the move saying that Britain’s universities are descending into ‘an educational Dark Age’…

“The full list of topics that will lead to a ‘trigger’ warning at the University of Reading [includes:]

“Sexual Assault; Abuse; Child abuse/paedophilia/;Incest; Animal cruelty or animal death; Dissection; Self-harm and suicide; Eating disorders and body hatred; Violence; Pornographic content; Kidnapping and abduction; Death or dying; Pregnancy/Childbirth; Miscarriages/Abortion; Blood; Mental illness and ableism; Racism and racial slurs; Sexism and misogyny; Classism; Hateful language directed at religious groups (e.g., Islamophobia, antisemitism); Transphobia and trans misogyny; Homophobia and heterosexism.”

While some of the topics, if discussed improperly, are indeed sensitive, to include other topics in the trigger warning system is plainly ridiculous and uncalled for. In addition, it is not clear as to why there should be a trigger warning in the first place when classes discuss certain topics. Why would doing so be distressing per se?

Creation of Pig-Human Hybrid Organ?

The Jerusalem Post wrote on July 4:

“A team of Israeli researchers have developed a hybrid organ – an organ from a pig with ‘human’ blood vessels – that they believe could help alleviate the shortage of transplant organs. There have been many attempts to implant animal organs in humans but this has largely been unsuccessful, mostly due to acute rejections, explained Dr. Shahar Cohen of Beilinson Hospital, whose team developed the hybrid organ.

“The main trigger of an organ rejection is the internal lining of its blood vessels, he said. This coating is the point of contact between the transplanted organ and the recipient’s body. ‘We looked for a way to produce an alternative coating that does not cause rejection,’ Cohen told The Jerusalem Post… Cohen’s team removed the coating from the pigs’ blood vessels and replaced it with a more ‘friendly’ coating to the human immune system that was engineered in the laboratory from human placenta cells, which, as far as is known, do not trigger rejection…

“‘We remove the pig’s internal layer of blood vessels and replace it with a “human layer,” thereby humanizing the blood vessels of the organ and generating a hybrid organ – a pig organ with humanized blood vessels. This is the way to surmount the barrier to pig organs in humans.’ He said the team chose to use placenta cells because the placenta is the ‘ideal organ that connects two human beings and plays a key role in maintaining the connection between mother and fetus.’… Next, he said, the researchers plan to perform their first hybrid organ transplants in animals and in about five years Cohen hopes that the first human transplant can be performed…”

Where will it end?

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.

Have you ever thought about what was a prophet? Why did God provide them? What was their job? How much do we know about them? How much success did they have? We intend to expand our view of a prophet from what is traditionally thought.

There were many prophets mentioned in the Bible, from possibly the first one mentioned in the book of Genesis, namely Enoch, although he was not specifically named as a prophet. We do not find this out about him until we read the book of Jude in verse 14: “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints…’” The first person actually named by God as a prophet was Abraham (Genesis 20:7). The last person specifically identified and named as a prophet, Agabus, is mentioned in Acts 21:10-11. He prophesied that the Jews would bind Paul and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

So, what was a prophet? Sometimes they went by the name seer which appears to be an older word for prophet. 1 Samuel 9:9 says: “(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: ‘Come, let us go to the seer’; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.).” In this instance Samuel admitted he was the seer that Saul was looking for (1 Samuel 9:19). However, earlier in 1 Samuel 3:20, we find that Samuel was also called a prophet of the LORD.

According to Strong’s concordance, the Hebrew word for prophet means an inspired man – one that prophesies. The Hebrew word for seer can mean one who sees visions which is appropriate for a prophet. The Greek word for prophet means a foreteller of events or an inspired speaker. So, the Hebrew and Greek terms are quite similar.

Unfortunately, there is no glossary in the back of the Bible to look up what God meant by prophet. So, the only way we can find what a prophet is, is to see from examples what these men and women did as prophets and prophetesses.

Was a prophet an old man with a beard and a staff, similar to Moses in the film “The Ten Commandments”, going around foretelling the future, or was there more to a prophet? In fact, Moses certainly was a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15), as was his brother Aaron (Exodus 7:1), and his sister Miriam was a prophetess (Exodus 15:20), and they would have all been eighty years or older at the time of the beginning of the exodus. We know this because Moses was the youngest of the three, and he was eighty years old at the time (Exodus 7:7).

Actually, a prophet could be of varied age. Some began as a prophet when they were young like Samuel (1 Samuel, chapter 3) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5-10). Some worked for fifty or sixty years prophesying. Others may only have had one event recorded in the Bible and were never mentioned again. Some were not even named. They also were from various tribes. Ezekiel and Jeremiah were priests from the tribe of Levi whereas Samuel was a judge from the tribe of Ephraim, and David, the king, was from the tribe of Judah. (Acts 2:29-30 informs us that David was a prophet.) Amos was a sheep breeder and tender of sycamore fruit (Amos 7:14). Daniel was a Jewish captive in a high government position in Babylon. So, God chose whomever He wanted to be a prophet, regardless of tribe, profession or age—whomever was appropriate for the task at hand.

There were also four prophetesses named: Miriam; Deborah who was also a judge (Judges 4:4); Huldah (2 Chronicles 34:22); and Anna of the tribe of Asher (Luke 2:36). There was also one unnamed prophetess, the wife of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:3). So, God, at times, chose women for the role. For some reason Josiah sent Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah, and others to the prophetess Huldah rather than to Jeremiah for instruction after finding the book of the law. At that time, Jeremiah had been a prophet for at least five years.

A good biblical definition of a prophet is God’s spokesman. A prophet conveys God’s messages according to God’s purposes at the time. Some prophecies could be very limited and short term. Jonah’s prophecy simply stated: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). Other prophecies could be very long term, e.g. considering Daniel, Isaiah and others. Some of their prophecies are still to be fulfilled. A prophet fulfilled an appointed called office, with the calling coming directly from God. Anybody who appoints himself to the office of prophet who has not been called by God to that position would be a false prophet.

A prophet is often thought of as somebody who gives predictive prophecy. In actual fact, that was not the main job of most prophets. Moses did give predictive prophecies (Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, for example). However, his job was mainly to lead the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. There were many different types of prophets. However, they were all zealous for everything of God, if they were true prophets.

What did they do during their life? Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). That makes him God’s spokesman and therefore he could be considered a prophet. He preached for around seventy-five years while building the ark, but how many people listened to him and believed God? Possibly Shem and maybe Japheth believed him. This was not a good result for all that preaching as we would count results. And yet, God used him as a witness, not to convert people.

Samuel fulfilled the role of both a prophet and a judge. He anointed Saul and David as kings. Therefore, he effectively had a governmental position. As a young boy, he was to tell Eli of his judgement by God, even though he did so hesitantly (1 Samuel 3:11-18). As an older man, he rebuked Saul for his sins.

David as king had what appears to be official government positions under him, being the prophet Nathan and the seer Gad (2 Chronicles 29:25). Both of these men had to have courage to tell the king he was wrong, especially in that day when the king had the power of life and death over his subjects. Nathan told him how he had sinned in his affair with Bathsheba and Gad told him of his sin in numbering Israel. Both of these prophets wrote books (1 Chronicles 29:29), but God did not preserve them as a part of Scripture.

What was God’s requirement for a prophet? He was to be a witness for God. He had to be courageous. He had to speak out powerfully, and some of the prophets who did so were martyred, so it was not a job that was desirable from a physical point of view. They rebuked kings and leaders and some suffered physically. Elijah was threatened with his life by Jezebel after he had executed the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 19:2).

A prophet was not primarily a predictive preacher. He was mainly a preacher of righteousness. Any appointed office he had was coincidental to his role as a prophet. Most did not do miracles, although Moses and Aaron did some to show Pharaoh who God was working through. Most did not explain dreams for the future, except for Daniel and, for instance, Joseph, Jacob’s son, even though the Bible does not expressly say that Joseph was a prophet.

Prophets came to be more general teachers of the people, like John the Baptist (Matthew 11:13). He prepared the people for the coming of Jesus Christ, who, of course, was also called a prophet by Moses. In Matthew 21:11 we read that the multitude said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

As an example, let us look at the writer of the longest book in the Bible as we now have it, Jeremiah (while counting Hebrew rather than English words). He ministered for over forty years. He produced the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations. In forty years, he wrote 57 chapters. But apart from his writings, he had a very full life.

According to history, after the Babylonian captivity occurred, Jeremiah was given his freedom and ended up in Ireland with the king’s daughters. This is not mentioned in the Bible. But what is mentioned is that he delivered many prophecies from God, contended against false prophets, was put in prison and in a dungeon where he sank into the mud. Attempts were made to kill him. He was kidnapped and taken to Egypt. His life was not plain sailing but was full of activity, and not necessarily pleasant. After being released from prison, he went right back to preaching righteousness. He never gave up because of fear for his life, even though he had his moments of despair and discouragement, as did Elijah. Of course, he had the promise from God in Jeremiah 1:8 that God would deliver him and that he should not be afraid.

Ninety percent of the lives of the prophets was not recorded. Predictive prophecies were only a minor part of their job. Their main job was instructing the people and their leaders how to live. Considering Isaiah, he wrote a book of sixty-six chapters with much prophesying of the future, but in his over sixty years of being a prophet, he engaged in many other activities, only some of which we can read about.

In actual fact, God intended the job of teaching righteousness to be that of the Aaronic priesthood (Leviticus 10:10-11). But often times, they were not righteous. As mentioned above, Samuel told Eli of God’s judgement upon him especially because he did not restrain his vile sons. Later, the prophet Malachi rebuked the priests for despising God’s name (Malachi 1:6-8).

Actually, there was one prophet who had a great response from his preaching. When Jonah preached in Nineveh, the whole city believed God and fasted. Even the farm animals were made to fast (Jonah 3:5-9). This was a result that Jonah had hoped would not happen.

We know only what God wants us to know about them, with a little extra from history. But a lot of what they did day to day was not recorded. We know very little about most of their lives. However, there is mention of groups of sons of the prophets at Bethel and Jericho associated with Elijah and Elisha, but the relationship is not fully clear whether it was educational or something else.

The true prophets of God were very successful as God counts success. As we count it, some could be considered failures, but God’s requirements were to preach His message, and as they did that faithfully, they were totally successful.

Prophets and the prophetic office are mentioned in the New Testament, but as far as we are aware, there have been no men or women in the position of prophets in our time. When God has need of them in the future, He is well able to provide them. After all, we read in Ephesians 4:11-12 that Jesus Christ gave to His Church “some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”  We also know that in the future, two Witnesses will prophesy for 3 ½ years (Revelation 11:3-6).

Much, if not most, of the Bible was written by prophets, beginning with Moses and ending with Malachi in the Old Testament. Interestingly, in the New Testament, we are informed in Acts 13:1: “Now in the Church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” Saul, who later was named Paul, had been teaching powerfully in the synagogues, so he fulfilled the role of a teacher, but he is also referred to as a prophet in the above-quoted Scripture. When we look at his writings, he made many prophetic statements, so he also fulfilled the role of a prophet as well as an apostle. This means that at least fourteen books in the New Testament were written by a prophet. We would also assume that the apostle John was a prophet, even though he is not expressly identified as such. Still, he wrote the book of Revelation and he was commanded to prophesy about many peoples and kings (Revelation 10:8-11). We do not read about any prophetess since the beginning of the New Testament church, even though some women “prophesied” or spoke under inspiration.

To those of us who have access to the Hebrew Bible, they may notice that in the original order of the Old Testament books, the book of Daniel is not included in the section of the prophets but in the section of the writings.  This is believed to be because all the other prophets worked among the tribes of Israel and Judah and prophesied mainly (but of course not exclusively) to and about them. However, Daniel’s prophecies are mainly about Gentile nations and kings, only occasionally mentioning Israelite people as the activities of the Gentiles would impact upon them. There is another major difference. In most of the other prophetic books and historical books, the expressions “Thus says the LORD” and “The word of the LORD came to me” are used very frequently. They are used when God is announcing something. However, they are never used in the book of Daniel except once in reference to Jeremiah. This shows a considerable difference between Daniel and the other prophetic books, even though the book of Daniel is very clearly a prophetic book, which has to be read together with the prophetic book of Revelation.

So, to answer the question, what was the role of a prophet? Their roles were many and varied. God raised them up to fulfill His purpose at certain times—mostly to correct the leaders and the people when they were straying from God’s Way of Life. They were also used to prophesy future events, often as warnings of what would happen to nations and people when they displeased God. Finally, they wrote much of God’s revelation to man to be recorded forever.

For further information, please read our Q&A, “Are there any true prophets in God’s Church today?”

Lead Writer: Paul Niehoff (Australia)

compiled by Dave Harris

Our annual Church Conference (July 18-19, 2021) will be conducted via SKYPE and will include participants from Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

“The Divided EU—East vs. West?” is the title of our newest StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link.  Here is a summary:

How divided is the EU? Why are especially Western European nations concerned about a fundamental “East-West divide”? Could the developments pertaining to Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and other Eastern European nations have anything to do with biblical end-time prophecies in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation?

“What’s behind the Indictment against the Trump Organization and its CFO?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

When reading reports from the left-liberal and the conservative press, you are getting quite a different perspective as to what is happening regarding the indictment of the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg. This is also true for the alleged motives of the prosecution and the nature of the charges. Some say that “any political motivation in getting to former President Donald Trump might backfire and have the opposite result.”

“Verhärte Dein Herz nicht,” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Don’t Harden Your Heart.”

“Der Weg eines Kriegers,” is the title of last Sabbath’s German sermonette, presented by Christian Mrosek. Title in English: “The Way of a Warrior.”

“A Confused World in Denial—Comments on News and Prophecy, July 3, 2021,” the first message presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

We point out the fight between many Western and Eastern European nations over “core values,” especially involving Germany, France, Hungary and Poland; the fact that the USA did not win a major war since World War II and won’t do so prior to Christ’s return; the Pope’s attack on “false preachers”; the indictment of the Trump organization and emails pertaining to Hunter Biden, directly contradicting President Biden; Hitler’s and Stalin’s atrocities and shared responsibilities for World War II; Angela Merkel’s last official visit to the UK; lockdowns in Australia; and Dr. Robert Malone’s and many other doctors’ concerns regarding coronavirus shots. We also speak on missed opportunities in our Christian lives and godly education in the World to Come.

“With Liberty and Justice For All,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Kalon Mitchell, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The United States was founded on the idea that there would be liberty and justice for all.

As we near the time of Christ’s return, we find ourselves living in a world that is increasingly unfair and unjust. Will we ever live to see a time where there is true liberty and justice for everyone? Can it happen in this world?

We will observe the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day for 2021, in Rapid City, South Dakota, and near Düsseldorf, Germany.  If you would like more information, check out our websites: https://www.eternalgod.org/feasts/  ; https://www.ewigengottes.de/wir-uber-uns/laubhuttenfest-2021/