No End To War?

Violence and war breed more violence and war. This is THE lesson of history, which man, cut off from God and following Satan’s evil devices, has not learned. God will send Jesus Christ to FORCE peace upon man — as man is UNWILLING, UNABLE and WILLFULLY IGNORANT as to how to bring peace to this war-stricken world.

The latest fighting in Iraq proves the point. As Associated Press reported on Monday, September 13, 2004, “U.S. warplanes pounded a suspected hide-out of al-Qaida-linked militants in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Monday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 29, officials and witnesses said. Seven of the victims died when a shell hit an ambulance, a hospital official said.”

Again, we see innocent bystanders being killed in war. This is nothing new. In fact, we have become so accustomed to these tragedies, having our conscience seared and our eyes blinded to these terrible atrocities, that we call innocent victims, FOR WHOM we may claim to fight, “casualties of war” — as if this were to provide any justification for it.

As Associated Press continued to point out, the recent outbreak of violence “came a day after a surge in violence killed 78 people and wounded about 200 across Iraq as insurgents hammered central Baghdad with intense mortar and rocket barrages and violence appeared to be out of control.”

Violence only produces more violence. And everyone who takes the sword of war will perish by the sword of war — unless he repents. It is not too late for this world — and individuals — to repent of our carnal, war-mongering attitudes. But it is getting late — very late, indeed. Christ warned us that God will destroy those who destroy the earth (Compare Revelation 11:17-18).

War in Iraq

With the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq, several nations have reconfirmed their respective positions, or have added new ones to the plate. According to Associated Press of September 10, “Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reasserted Germany’s right to disagree with the United States over Iraq, adding that it would be wrong to interpret his country’s opposition to the war as anti-Americanism…. Polls have generally shown that majorities in European countries, including Germany, reject the U.S. policy in Iraq.”

AFP reported on September 10 that “In Ankara, Turkey urged Washington to halt its ‘disproportionate’ use of force and said the government was following events with ‘great concern.'”

War on Terrorism a Failure?

As was reported by oneworld.net on September 8, 2004, a new report of Foreign Policy in Focus concluded that a “three-year ‘war on terrorism’… makes Americans more vulnerable rather than more secure.” The report also concluded that “Washington’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 has proven counter-productive to U.S. anti-terrorism efforts and that the administration has failed to protect likely future terrorist targets at home, such as seaports and chemical plants.”

The report was compiled by a task force of 23 experts, including former government officials who served under Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton; the general secretary of the National Council of Churches; an arms expert at the World Policy Institute in New York City; and a senior Pentagon official under Reagan.

The report noted that “the government currently is spending more money every three days on the war in Iraq than it has spent on ensuring the security of the country’s 361 commercial seaports over the past three years.”

According to the article’s summary of the report, “the administration has also taken a ‘hands-off approach’ to ensuring the security of much of the nation’s basic infrastructure, about 85 percent of which is owned or controlled by the private sector. The chemical industry, for example, has successfully stalled efforts at enhancing security at the 123 plants and facilities where a release of chemicals could threaten the lives and health of more than one million people, the report charges… On the foreign-policy front, the administration’s clear hostility to multilateral institutions has not only increased resentment towards the U.S. among foreign governments and their publics, but has also undermined prospects for arms-control efforts that are vital to efforts to control and reduce the global supply of weapons of mass destruction.”

Now it’s Russia’s Turn?

After the United States had developed and carried out the theory of pre-emptive warfare — meaning, that “we” strike first before “they” strike, when there is a perceived threat of attack — Russia has now declared that it will likewise embrace this new theory. Europe has been opposed to this concept.

Associated Press reported on September 12, 2004:

“Russia has the right to carry out pre-emptive strikes on militant bases abroad, Russia’s defence minister said Sunday, citing the recent school hostage crisis. He said Moscow and the United States see eye-to-eye on fighting terrorism. Sergei Ivanov did not say what countries might be possible targets for a strike…”

The article continued: “Ivanov told the NTV television channel he had spoken twice with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week, adding the U.S. administration was more receptive to Moscow’s arguments on how to fight terror than some European officials. ‘In that sense, it has been easier for us to find a basis for mutual understanding with the United States than with some of the European nations.’… In Sunday’s interview, Ivanov repeated an earlier statement that a ‘pre-emptive strike may involve anything, except nuclear weapons.'”

Many feel that the world has most certainly NOT become a safer place with the development of this new theory of warfare. And once a “pre-emptive strike” is launched, who is to say that nuclear weapons won’t be used, ultimately?

Germany Angry With Poland

As Associated Press reported on September 12, 2004, “On Friday the Polish parliament, in a nonbinding resolution, urged its government to present an estimate of wartime damage and seek reparations from Germany. It was a response to claims by some Germans for restitution of former property in Poland, which have drawn strong resentment.” In an attempt to appease Poland, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder “indicated in Warsaw last month that his government will advise courts to reject any German citizens’ claims against Poland.”

Whether Mr. Schroeder’s “advice” has any legal effect, is one question. Whether the Polish parliament’s resolution will be followed through or not, is another question. Associated Press reported, “The Polish government views the question of German reparations for World War II as closed, Warsaw’s ambassador to Germany said Sunday, indicating that it won’t follow a call by Polish lawmakers to seek compensation.”

According to the “Financial Times Deutschland,” this is not necessarily the position of Poland’s leader, President Kwasniewski. He said that the bill for the destruction of Warsaw and other Polish cities has not yet been presented.

Regardless, the damage has already been done. German politicians reacted with outrage to the nonbinding resolution of the Polish parliament. As Bild Online reported on September 12, 2004, the leader of Schroeder’s party, the SPD, called the resolution a “provocation.” The spokesman of the FDP said that both demands, from Germans and Poles, are “dangerous.”

Editor in Chief of Bild Online, Peter Boenisch, wrote this commentary:

“Here and there, … neo-national enemies of Europe are working. [Sixty] years ago, Hitler’s fanatic minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, who killed his own children at the end of the war, proclaimed, ‘When we step down, the world will tremble for another 1,000 years.’ Everyone, who endangers European collaboration today, instead of creating peace in Europe, helps Goebbels and his dark and morbid threats. And that, neither the Germans nor the Poles of the 21st century could possibly want.”

Tragically, a peaceful united Europe won’t stay peaceful. The world will be shocked when a finally established European resurrection of the ancient Holy Roman Empire will show its true colors.

China vs. Catholic Church

Reuters reported on September 11, that “the Vatican accused China Saturday of launching a fresh crackdown on Roman Catholics, upping the ante in its war of words against the Communist state.” The article continued: “China does not allow its Catholics to recognize the Pope’s authority and forces Christians to belong to state-backed patriotic associations if they want to worship openly… China broke links with the Vatican in the 1950s after expelling foreign clergy. The Vatican estimates it has about eight million followers in China, compared with about five million who follow the state-backed Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The [U.S.] State Department’s Annual Report on Religious Freedom, issued in December, rebuked China, saying that believers who did not belong to state-sanctioned groups suffered varying degrees of ‘interference and harassment.’ China rejected the criticism as unfair.”

European Leaders Speak Their Minds

European leaders have openly expressed their feelings on world issues, according to an article of Associated Press, dated September 11. The article reported about the “loose tongues of the outgoing European Commission. The 30 members of the EU executive are suddenly free to say what they want because of their imminent departure as a new leadership prepares to take charge Nov. 1. In a flurry of farewell speeches, they are revealing personal opinions in unusually frank terms.” And frank they are. As the article pointed out:

“One says admitting Turkey to the European Union would spread Islamic radicalism throughout the continent. Another calls Britain America’s slavish ‘spear-carrier’ and bemoans Europeans’ image in Washington as ‘sanctimonious wimps.’ … Chris Patten, the EU’s outgoing external relations chief, said Friday European Union members must share more of the burden of global leadership with Washington if they want to shed their image as ‘sanctimonious wimps’ in the United States… He chided France, Germany and Britain for forsaking their leadership of Europe. In relations with Washington, he said, Europe ‘should be halfway between London and Paris: It must be neither a brave spear-carrier for the Americans, nor an elegant thrower of paper darts.'”

USA Doomed?

Recently, Globalresearch.ca, recipient of the 2004 Democratic Media Award, published a frightening article, titled, “Is a USA Economic Collapse Due in 2005?” The Canadian-based Website stated in its article:

“The official US myth is that the recession of 2000-2001 ended in November 2001 and ‘recovery’ has been underway ever since. The reality is not so positive. Using record low interest rates, the Fed has lured American families into debt at record rates, creating what might be called a ‘virtual recovery,’ financed by record amounts of new consumer debt. There has never been a recovery before in which debt levels increase, rather the opposite…

“All this economic consumption has created the illusion of a recovering economy. Behind the surface, a huge debt burden has built up. Since 1997, the total of home mortgage debt for Americans has risen 94% to a colossal $7.4 trillion, a debt of some $120,000 for a family of four. Bank loans for real estate purchases have risen since 1997 by 200%, to $2.4 trillion. Average US home prices have risen by 50% in the period since 1998. In 2003 alone a record total of $1 trillion in new mortgage loans were made. In 1997 mortgages totalled $202 billion… Many banks have loans written in adjustable mortgage rates. As US interest rates continue to rise over the next twelve months or so, that will trigger a wave of mortgage defaults. Some industry experts fear a ‘bloodbath’ in 2005…

“The American family is highly indebted, not just for their home. The Federal Reserve data show a total US debt level now above $35 trillions, or some $450,000 for a typical family of four. Average consumer debt for credit cards, autos and such is at record highs. Carmakers continue to offer car loans, with loans for up to six or even seven years. Many Americans owe more on their car than it is worth. The debt grows. As long as Fed rates are at 43 year lows, the debt is manageable. When US rates rise, it becomes unmanageable for many…

“The largest buyers of US government debt have been the central banks of the Asia-Pacific. The central banks of Japan and China alone hold more than $1 trillion of US Treasury bonds as foreign currency reserves. Worldwide foreign central banks hold some $1.3 trillion of US government debt. If private debt is added, the United States is the world’s largest debtor, with some $3.7 trillion in net foreign debt, as of the start of this year, likely well over $4 trillions by now. In 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected [,] the US was the world’s creditor with a plus of $1 trillion…

“In the 12-month period to this April, the Bank of Japan spent a record $200 billions to buy US dollar bonds or, in effect, to finance the cost of Bush’s Iraq war. The Banks of China, South Korea and Taiwan bought almost as much dollar bonds. They did this for clear reasons: Their currencies are linked to the dollar, and were the dollar to fall against the Yen or the Yuan, Asian exports would suffer a decline, endangering their economic growth and leading to explosive rises in unemployment across Asia. By recycling their trade dollar surplus into buying US Treasury debt, they argue they are looking after their own needs. A dollar crisis in early 2005 could signal the next global crisis. The whole world is hostage to the misconceived economic policies of a dollar standard out of control.”

Australia Under Attack

On September 11, 2004, Reuters stated in an article that Australia’s top policemen warned: “Militants behind the deadly bombing of Australia’s Jakarta embassy have a second group poised for attack.”

The article continued: “Indonesian police have launched a nationwide hunt for al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militants blamed for the suicide car bomb attack that killed nine Indonesians and injured 182 outside the Australian embassy on Thursday… Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reissued a travel advisory on Saturday warning citizens against non-essential travel to Indonesia and also issued a rare general warning for its nationals traveling overseas… Australia has never suffered a major terror attack on home soil but 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in nightclub bombings two years ago on Bali, an Indonesian resort island.”

The article also pointed out: “Security analysts have warned that the rift between the two big parties could leave Australia open to attacks similar to the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people three days before Spain’s March 11 elections. The pro-U.S. government was swept from power and the incoming Socialists quickly pulled the country’s troops out of Iraq.”

Lingering Questions on School Shooting in Russia

Associated Press reported on September 11, 2004, that “questions lingered over how authorities handled the three-day standoff that left at least 330 hostages dead.” It quoted the Russian daily Russkiy Kuryer as follows: “One of the most painful questions that the whole world is asking — why all the events surrounding the Beslan school No. 1 looked so out of control … probably has an answer: Because nobody was in charge of the operation.”

A.P. continued: “Referring to the Beslan crisis, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told The Associated Press on Thursday that ‘preliminary reports suggest there wasn’t the kind of coordination and leadership and direction and somebody being in charge.'”

The A.P. article concluded: “Lamenting the corruption and lapses in duty that allowed the attackers to bring their arsenal to the school, residents are demanding a full explanation of the circumstances that made the attack possible as well as how it all ended. Whether they will get it remains to be seen.”

Bush Speech

President George W. Bush addressed the Republican Convention on September 2, 2004. We are bringing you the following excerpts from his speech:

“We will build a safer world and a more hopeful America and nothing will hold us back… I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy… In this world of change, some things do not change: the values we try to live by, the institutions that give our lives meaning and purpose. Our society rests on a foundation of responsibility and character and family commitment….

“Four years ago, Afghanistan was the home base of al-Qaida, Pakistan was a transit point for terrorist groups, Saudi Arabia was fertile ground for terrorist fundraising, Libya was secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, Iraq was a gathering threat, and al-Qaida was largely unchallenged as it planned attacks. Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders, Saudi Arabia is making raids and arrests, Libya is dismantling its weapons programs, the army of a free Iraq is fighting for freedom, and more than three-quarters of al-Qaida’s key members and associates have been detained or killed.

“In Afghanistan, terrorists have done everything they can to intimidate people yet more than 10 million citizens have registered to vote in the October presidential election — a resounding endorsement of democracy. Despite ongoing acts of violence, Iraq now has a strong Prime Minister, a national council, and national elections are scheduled for January. Our Nation is standing with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, because when America gives its word, America must keep its word… Our allies also know the historic importance of our work. About 40 nations stand beside us in Afghanistan, and some 30 in Iraq… America is grateful, and America will not forget….

“The progress we and our friends and allies seek in the broader Middle East will not come easily, or all at once. …To everything we know there is a season — a time for sadness, a time for struggle, a time for rebuilding. And now we have reached a time for hope. This young century will be liberty’s century. By promoting liberty abroad, we will build a safer world. By encouraging liberty at home, we will build a more hopeful America. Like generations before us, we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom. This is the everlasting dream of America… Now we go forward grateful for our freedom, faithful to our cause, and confident in the future of the greatest nation on earth.”

Clinton Speech

Former President Bill Clinton is presently recuperating from a complicated quadruple heart bypass surgery. Many are praying for his speedy recovery. On July 26, 2004, Mr. Clinton gave a highly recognized speech at the Democratic Convention. We are quoting the following excerpts from his speech:

“The 21st century is marked by serious security threats, serious economic challenges and serious problems, from AIDS to global warming to the continuing turmoil in the Middle East. But it is also full of amazing opportunities to create millions of new jobs and clean energy and biotechnology, to restore our manufacturing base and reap the benefits of the global economy… To build that kind of world, we must make the right choices…

“Americans long to be united. After 9/11, we all just wanted to be one nation. Not a single American on September 12, 2001, cared who won the next presidential election… All we wanted to do was to be one country, strong in the fight against terror, helping to heal those who were wounded and the families of those who lost their loved ones, reaching out to the rest of the world so we could meet these new challenges and go on with our democratic way of life….

“America just works better when more people have a chance to live their dreams. And, secondly, we live in an interdependent world in which we cannot possibly kill, jail or occupy all of our potential adversaries. So we have to both fight terror and build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists…

“In the early days of the republic, America was divided and at a crossroads, much as it is today, deeply divided over whether or not to build a real nation with a national economy and a national legal system. We chose to build a more perfect union. In the Civil War, America was at another crossroads, deeply divided over whether to save the union and end slavery. We chose a more perfect union. In the 1960s, when I was a young man, we were divided again over civil rights and women’s rights. And again we chose to form a more perfect union…

“Now, again, it is time to choose. Since we’re all in the same boat, we should choose a captain of our ship who is a brave good man, who knows how to steer a vessel through troubled waters, to the calm seas and the clear sides of our more perfect union. That is our mission.”

EU vs. Great Britain

As Associated Press reported on September 3, 2004, “The European Union’s executive will take Britain to the Court of Justice of the European Communities in a dispute over the controversial nuclear power plant at Sellafield, EU officials said.” The article continued: “The European Commission had told Britain in March to give EU inspectors unfettered access to the Sellafield site or face legal action, in a stern warning welcomed by environmental campaigners. The European Union executive’s patience had run out after repeatedly asking British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to open up access, under a European agreement, to a facility on the site in northwest England that stores spent nuclear fuel. Under the terms of the 1957 Euratom Treaty, EU inspectors have the right to enter nuclear facilities in member states to ensure that material is being stored safely and cannot end up in the wrong hands. But for several years, inspectors have been unable to gain access to a pond at Sellafield called B30 that stores irradiated fuel because of high radiation levels and poor visibility, Brussels complained.”

Attacks on Iraq’s pipelines

AFP reported on September 3 about serious and heavy attacks on Iraq’s pipelines. The article stated: “Saboteurs exploded a bomb on the strategic pipeline at 6:30 pm Wednesday by the town of Riyadah 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Kirkuk, Iraqi officials said. They called it the most serious attack on the north’s oil infrastructure since the US-led invasion of Iraq.” The article continued: “Repeated sabotage of Iraq’s oil industry has cost the country more than a billion dollars in revenue. In particular, exports from the lucrative Kirkuk fields have been brought to a virtual standstill by insurgents for well over a year. A recent string of attacks has also damaged several pipelines in southern Iraq. That area accounts for 90 percent of exports from the country, which sits atop the world’s second-largest oil reserve.

What’s Happening in Russia?

While Russia’s leader, Putin, is blaming the terrible fiasco at a southern Russian school on terrorists, questions are being asked by some as to what happened — especially in light of the fact that Russia’s dealings with “Chechen rebels” have ended in tragedy before. Associated Press published an article on September 4, 2004, stating the following:

“More than 340 people, including 155 children, were killed in the violence that ended a hostage standoff with militants at a southern Russian school, a prosecutor said Saturday. President Vladimir Putin accused the attackers of trying to spark an ethnic conflict that would engulf Russia’s troubled Caucasus Mountains region.”

The article continued: “Two major hostage-taking raids by Chechen rebels outside the war-torn region in the past decade provoked Russian rescue operations that led to many deaths. The seizure of a Moscow theater in 2002 ended after a knockout gas was pumped into the building, debilitating the captors but causing almost all of the 129 hostage deaths. In 1995 – during the first of two wars in Chechnya in the past decade – rebels led by guerrilla commander Shamil Basayev seized a hospital in the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk, taking some 2,000 people hostage. The six-day standoff ended with a fierce Russian assault, and some 100 people died.”

In addition, Reuters published an article on September 4, titled, “Moscow Angered at EU Demand.” The article explained: “Russia denounced today as ‘blasphemous’ a request by the EU’s Dutch presidency for an explanation for the bloody end to a mass hostage seizure at a school by Chechen gunmen. But Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot, who made the request in a statement yesterday on behalf of the EU presidency, said he had been misunderstood… In a statement issued in the name of the EU presidency yesterday, Bot said all countries should work together to stop such tragedies, adding: ‘We also would like to know from the Russian authorities how this tragedy could have happened.'”

Questions are also being raised about Russia’s treatment or mistreatment of journalists. Associated Press reported on September 7, 2004:

“The detention of several journalists traveling to and from the deadly school siege in Russia is raising new concern about press freedom in the country, media watchdogs said Tuesday. There are also accusations that a prominent Russian journalist and critic of Moscow’s campaign in Chechnya, Anna Politkovskaya, was victim of a deliberate case of food poisoning…. Some analysts fear the Russian government may tighten its grip further following the school siege and other attacks in recent days blamed on Chechen separatists. ‘The fear of the Russian population will be used to justify further restrictions on the media,’ said Luitgard Hammerer, of Article 19, a London-based free speech group. … Chechnya is the most taboo subject, watchdogs say. ‘There is a complete blackout of information on what’s happening in Chechnya,’ Blatmann, of Reporters Without Borders, said. ‘In this critical moment, the Russian population has the right to receive independent and complete information.’ … Press freedom organizations say that in recent years Putin has been exercising strict control over much of the media, particularly broadcasters.”

The Bush Administration pointed out its different position regarding Putin’s “handling” of the Chechnya situation. As Associated Press reported on September 7, 2004, “The Bush administration differed Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said that only a political settlement could end the crisis between Russia and the breakaway region of Chechnya.” But Putin’s hard course was again manifested, as the article continued to point out: “In an interview Monday with a group of foreign journalists and academics, Putin rejected Western calls for negotiations with Chechen rebel representatives, Britain’s Guardian and Independent newspapers reported. ‘Why don’t you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?’ the Guardian quoted Putin as saying sarcastically.”

In a related article, the Washington Times wrote in its editorial of September 7, 2004: “Vladimir Putin’s government, which has had trouble getting its stories straight every time there’s a massacre, now says it has determined that at least 10 of the 30 or so intruders who took more than a thousand hostages were Arabs, and the others were Chechens and Ingush who were trained at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Survivors of the massacre said some of their captors spoke Arabic, and Russian security agents confiscated notebooks in the rubble, inscribed in Arabic script.”

The ongoing consequences of this act of terrorism show how swiftly seemingly isolated events can cause major international difficulties. As reported by www.comcast.net, 9/9/2004, “The European Union, already at odds with the Bush administration over pre-emptive military strikes, reacted warily to a warning from Moscow that it too reserved the right to neutralize terror threats anywhere in the world.” The article continued: “Col. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, said Wednesday that ‘we will take all measures to liquidate terrorist bases in any region of the world.’ “

This article also showed that the prevailing position of the EU in matters such as this was against such pre-emptive strikes: ” ‘For us, it is by its nature a question that must be debated under the European framework, in the Group of Eight and of course in the United Nations,’ spokesman Herve Ladsous told reporters.”

Is Schwarzenegger Changing History?

www.nctimes.com published an article on September 4, regarding statements about Austria, as uttered in a recent speech by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Austrian historians are alleging that Schwarzenegger inaccurately described Austrian history. The article pointed out:

“Historians criticized Arnold Schwarzenegger for telling the Republican National Convention that he left a ‘socialist’ country when he moved away in 1968, noting that Austria had conservative leaders during the entire time he lived there. Some also were doubtful about Schwarzenegger’s remark that he saw Soviet tanks as a child, since he lived in an Austrian region occupied by British troops after World War II… In his convention address Tuesday, Schwarzenegger said: ‘As a kid, I saw the socialist country that Austria became after the Soviets left’ in 1955 and Austria regained its independence. But Austria was governed by coalition governments that included the conservative People’s Party and the liberal Social Democratic Party, Martin Polaschek, a law history scholar and vice rector of Graz University, told the Vienna newspaper Kurier. Between 1945 and 1970, all the nation’s chancellors were conservatives — not socialists. And when Schwarzenegger left in 1968, Austria was run by a conservative government headed by People’s Party Chancellor Josef Klaus, a staunch Roman Catholic and a sharp critic of both the socialists and the communists ruling in countries across the Iron Curtain.”

The article published the following retort, in defense of Schwarzenegger: “Schwarzenegger’s spokeswoman, Margita Thompson, said the governor was not referring specifically to the Socialist party but rather to ‘a socialistic style of government and governing that he experienced when living in Austria’… [and] to a visit to the Soviet zone, which was as close as 30 miles to his family’s home. ‘Never in there did the governor reference that the tanks were where he grew up. It was a reference to visiting Soviet-occupied Austria,’ she said.”

The article also briefly commented on the (somewhat sad) reaction of the general Austrian public, as follows: “Many ordinary Austrians seemed in a forgiving mood Friday over any gaffes. ‘Maybe he has a wrong recollection — it’s so many years since he left,’ said Wilma Fadrany, 32, a waitress in Vienna. ‘There must be political reasons for such comments,’ she said. ‘You’ve got to tell the (convention delegates) what they want to hear in order to win them over. Politicians always talk the way it fits into their agenda.'”

Hurricane Frances’ Damage

According to an article of the Associated Press, dated September 6, 2004, “Hurricane Frances did more damage to the Kennedy Space Center than any other storm in history, tearing an estimated 1,000 exterior panels from a giant building where spaceships are assembled, officials said Monday.”

Even as the human and economic toll for Frances is tallied, another more powerful hurricane name “Ivan” is threatening to hit the state of Florida by late this weekend. This dangerous storm has already brought devastating destruction to several Caribbean islands.

Military Deaths in Iraq

Associated Press reported on September 7, 2004, that “U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign passed the 1,000 milestone Tuesday, with more than 800 of them during the stubborn insurgency that flared after the Americans brought down Saddam Hussein and President Bush declared major combat over.” The article continued: “The 1,003 figure includes deaths from hostile and non-hostile causes since the United States launched the Iraq campaign in March 2003 to topple Saddam’s regime. The vast majority of U.S. deaths – all but 138 – came after Bush’s May 1, 2003 declaration of an end to major combat operations. ‘Mission Accomplished,’ read a banner on an aircraft carrier where Bush made the announcement.”

IPS reported on September 7, 2004, that “The new outbreak of violence in Baghdad has shattered ceasefire talks between Shia militants and the Iraqi government.”

British Report on Iraq

Associated Press reported on September 7 that a British report concluded: “British Evidence on Iraq Thin.” The article continued: “Intelligence indicating Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons was ‘very thin,’ the author of a critical report on the British government’s case for war in Iraq said Tuesday. In his first public comments since publishing the results of his inquiry in July, Lord Butler said the weakness of a government dossier on the threat posed by Iraq had ‘come home to roost’ as no such weapons had been found.”

Germany and the Wall

A somewhat shocking survey was just published in Germany. Reuters reported on September 8, 2004, that “Fourteen years and a trillion euros after reunification one in five Germans would like to see the barrier that split the country during the Cold War put back, a survey found Wednesday. A poll by the Forsa institute found a quarter of western Germans wishing the 15 million east Germans were cut off again by the Berlin Wall, living in a different state, while 12 percent of eastern Germans wanted out of the united Germany….The lingering divisions have erupted in recent months as Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government attempts to reduce unemployment and welfare benefits, touching a nerve in the east… Thirty-seven percent of west Germans said the 80 billion euros ($96.28 billion) the government pumps into the east each year was too much. But almost a third of east Germans thought it too little, Forsa said.”

Germany’s Economy

Associated Press reported on September 6, 2004, about Germany’s economy and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s recent state election defeats. The article stated: “Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder insisted on Monday that there was no turning back in cutting social programs despite pressure to reverse the unpopular measures after his party suffered a rout in a German state election. Schroeder’s Social Democrats lost 45 percent of their voter support Sunday in the small western state of Saarland, while the conservative Christian Democrats – the main opposition party at the national level – retained control of the local legislature and the governor’s post… Schroeder has staked his political future on the reforms, which he says are needed to boost Europe’s largest economy, reduce debt and fight unemployment. But the latest electoral defeat reignited criticism of his course inside his party and among labor unions. … In Sunday’s vote, support for the Social Democrats plunged to 30.8 percent from 44.4 percent in the last Saarland election in 1999, the party’s worst showing in the state since 1960. Those capitalizing on the backlash included the small far-right National Democratic Party, which came out of nowhere to win 4 percent of the vote with a platform opposed to Schroeder’s welfare-state cuts.”

Iran’s Atomic Bomb?

On August 28, 2004, WorldNetDaily.com published an article on Iran’s preparations to accelerate uranium enrichment in violation of Tehran’s pledge to the European Union, according to Israeli sources. The article claimed that Iran plans to acquire enough enriched uranium to assemble its first nuclear weapons in 2007. It quoted the U.S. government as follows: “If we permit Iran’s deception to go on much longer, it will be too late… Iran will have nuclear weapons.”

It was also alleged that “Tehran has told Britain, France and Germany that Iran could enrich enough uranium for a nuclear weapon within a year… The Israeli intelligence assessment asserted that Iran would acquire indigenous nuclear weapons capability in 2007 and produce its first atomic bombs in 2008.”

At the same time, a U.N. report claimed that there is no evidence that Iran is accelerating uranium enrichment.

This World Still Turns…

While the American public has been fixated on the upcoming governmental election for the U.S. Presidency, watching every speech of both the Democratic and the Republican conventions, the world’s problems, unaffected by America’s political campaigns, have not decreased, by any standard.

We do not endorse any candidate or party. Instead, we are observing events in the U.S., as well as in all the world, which might very likely affect your future, based on Biblical prophecy. And so, let us give you, first, a very brief overview of this week’s events, taken from articles from Wednesday, September 1, 2004, followed by a selection of more in-depth quotes and analysis:

RUSSIA:

“More than a dozen militants wearing suicide-bomb belts seized a southern Russian school in a region bordering Chechnya on Wednesday, taking hostage about 400 people — half of them children — and threatening to blow up the building if police storm it. At least eight people have been killed, one of them a school parent” (AP).

“Russia deployed extra troops to guard dozens of nuclear facilities across the country on Wednesday after militants seized a school in the south and a suicide bomb attack in Moscow, the nuclear authority said” (Reuters).

“Distraught Moscow residents laid flowers Wednesday outside a subway station where a suicide bomber killed 10 people, while a militant Muslim group that claimed responsibility for the crash of two Russian airliners last week said it was also behind the latest attack” (AP).

ISRAEL:

“Israeli troops closed off a West Bank city and Palestinian militants celebrated after Hamas blew up two buses, seconds apart, in the desert town of Beersheba, killing 16 Israelis and ending a months-long lull in suicide attacks” (AP).

“Israel threatened Syria on Wednesday after Palestinian suicide bombers killed 16 people in the first such attacks in the Jewish state in nearly six months” (Reuters).

“Israel vowed a global pursuit of Hamas leaders and to accelerate construction of its West Bank barrier after the deadliest Palestinian attack in nearly a year” (AFP).

SUDAN:

“A U.N. report called Wednesday for a quick increase in the international monitoring force in Sudan, saying the government has not stopped attacks against civilians or disarmed marauding militias” (AP).

FRANCE:

“France frantically called on Arab leaders and Muslim religious leaders Wednesday to help save two journalists kidnapped in Iraq, setting in motion a swell of solidarity unseen in previous hostage dramas” (AP).

“Pope John Paul, echoing appeals by Muslim leaders, called Wednesday for the release of two French journalists held hostage in Iraq as France’s foreign minister pressed on with a Middle East rescue mission… A report by the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television that Iraqi militants had released seven hostages from Kenya, India and Egypt could also give France some cause for hope. But the killing of 12 Nepali hostages by a separate group of militants highlighted the gravity of the situation. Pictures of those killings appeared on an Islamist Web site Tuesday… The kidnappings have stunned France, which led opposition to the U.S.- led war and objected to pre-war sanctions against Iraq. It was also a shock to a country which prides itself on its relations with the Arab world” (Reuters).

NEPAL:

“Thousands of people rampaged through Kathmandu, setting fire to a mosque and Arab targets and ransacking employment agencies after 12 Nepalese hostages were murdered in Iraq” (AFP).

IRAQ:

“Saboteurs attacked an oil pipeline in southern Iraq over the weekend, sending up pillars of smoke and bringing a slowdown in supply. It was by no means an isolated incident” (OneWorld.net).

INDIA:

“After a devastating deluge that left over 700 dead, rendered millions homeless and washed away the harvest, over 20 million people in the eastern Indian state of Bihar are faced [with] starvation and disease, with food riots and three starvation deaths reported so far” (OneWorld.net).

Muslims Go to Heaven?

If the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, were to be believed, Muslims will go to heaven after death, according to an article published by news.telegraph.co.uk, on August 30, 2004. The article quoted Williams as saying that he “reminded Christians that they did not have a monopoly on the afterlife.” The article continued: “He surprised some… by declaring that Muslims can go to heaven. Dr Williams said that neither he nor any Christian could control access to heaven. ‘It is possible for God’s spirit to cross boundaries,’ he said. ‘I say this as someone who is quite happy to say that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by Jesus. But how God leads people through Jesus to heaven, that can be quite varied, I think.'”

However, Dr. Williams is wrong on both counts. The Bible is clear that there is no “salvation in any other” but Christ (Acts 4:12). As long as we are not TRUE Christians, we will NOT be saved. At the same time, even true Christians don’t go to heaven, when they die. No human being does, or did, except for Jesus Christ Himself (compare John 3:13). For a full discussion of this important subject, please read our free booklet, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?”

Britain kidnapped by EU?

AFP reported about an attack of Anti-EU papers against Brussels for an alleged “‘hijack’ of Olympics.” In its article of August 31, 2004, it stated: “The European Commission spokesman might only have been joking when he hailed the collective success of the European Union at the Olympics, but for the vehemently anti-Brussels press it was no laughing matter. Two of the most strongly anti-EU newspaper[s] reacted with horror on Tuesday to Reijo Kemppinen’s light-hearted comment that the 25-member bloc had ‘swept the floor’ at the Athens Games with a collective tally of 82 gold medals. They were equally aghast at a suggestion by outgoing European Commission president Romano Prodi that EU member teams could fly the European Union flag alongside their own national emblem at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.”

Especially The Sun, the country’s best-selling daily paper, attacked Romano Prodi with these strong words: “Mr Prodi, a failed Italian politician, is about to step down after a dismal term as EU president. He has infuriated critics by spelling out his vision for an EU superstate, dubbed the ‘Holy Romano Empire.’ The article disapproved of other statements as well, continuing: “German Ingo Friedrich, vice-president of the Euro Parliament, insisted medals must be listed under the EU to ‘foster a European identity.'”

The anti-European movement is strong in Britain. Bible prophecies strongly indicate that Britain will not be a member of the future EU.

Schwarzenegger Speaks Out

In his first nationwide televised address, since he became California’s new governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered a passionate speech on Tuesday at the Republican National Convention. The following excerpts from his speech show that Schwarzenegger, a “liberal” Republican, who is in disagreement with numerous issues of his own party leadership, might very well play an important role in the future of the United States:

“I was born in Europe …and I’ve traveled all over the world. I can tell you that there is no place, no country, more compassionate, more generous, more accepting and more welcoming than the United States of America… When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets. I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, ‘Don’t look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead.’ It was a common belief that Soviet soldiers could take a man out of his own car and ship him off to the Soviet Union as slave labor.

“My family didn’t have a car — but one day we were in my uncle’s car. It was near dark as we came to a Soviet checkpoint. I was a little boy, I wasn’t an action hero back then, and I remember how scared I was that the soldiers would pull my father or my uncle out of the car and I’d never see him again. My family and so many others lived in fear of the Soviet boot. Today, the world no longer fears the Soviet Union and it is because of the United States of America!…

“I finally arrived here in 1968. I had empty pockets, but I was full of dreams. The presidential campaign was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon and Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend who spoke German and English, translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which is what I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting government off your back, lowering taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air.”

Later on in his speech, Schwarzenegger addressed principles of leadership and the role of America in the world. He stated:

“My fellow Americans, make no mistake about it, terrorism is more insidious than communism, because it yearns to destroy not just the individual, but the entire international order. The President didn’t go into Iraq because the polls told him it was popular. As a matter of fact, the polls said just the opposite. But leadership isn’t about polls. It’s about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind those decisions…

“We’re the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children. We’re the America that sends out missionaries and doctors to raise up the poor and the sick. We’re the America that gives more than any other country, to fight [AIDS] in Africa and the developing world. And we’re the America that fights not for imperialism but for human rights and democracy. You know, when the Germans brought down the Berlin Wall, America’s determination helped wield the sledgehammers. When that lone, young Chinese man stood in front of those tanks in Tiananmen Square, America’s hopes stood with him. And when Nelson Mandela smiled in election victory after all those years in prison, America celebrated, too.

“We are still the lamp lighting the world especially for those who struggle. No matter in what labor camp they slave, no matter in what injustice they’re trapped — they hear our call … they see our light … and they feel the pull of our freedom. They come here as I did because they believe. They believe in us. They come because their hearts say to them, as mine did, ‘If only I can get to America.’ Someone once wrote — ‘There are those who say that freedom is nothing but a dream.’ They are right. It’s the American dream.”

Putin’s Problems

Reuters reported on August 31, 2004, that evidence may exist that the recent Russian airline crashes were caused by al Qaeda. The article stated: “Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday investigators were probing a possible link between al Qaeda and Chechen rebels widely believed to have downed two passenger planes a week ago.” Putin also defended the most recent election in Chechnya. The article pointed out: “At a meeting with the leaders of France and Germany, Putin also defended Sunday’s election in the turbulent Chechnya region, which was denounced by rights groups as stage-managed, and by Washington and the European Union as seriously flawed.”

Putin had also been criticized for his uncompromising and sometimes brutal dealings with the “Chechnya problem.” The article continued: “Putin, who sent Russian troops back to Chechnya in 1999 to cement his image as a strong leader ahead of his own election, has repeatedly said ‘foreign terrorists’ were driving a rebel insurgence in the region on Russia’s southern rim. He told Chirac and Schroeder he would never allow Russia to splinter and its territorial integrity was beyond question.”

Putin’s claims are not unchallenged. As Reuters reported: “Last week an Islamist group calling itself Islambouli made an Internet claim that its followers had brought down the two planes on August 24, killing 90 people, to avenge the killing of Muslims by Russia in Chechnya. Moderate Chechen separatists accused Russia’s special forces of spreading misinformation and denied any link to the group.”

Sanctions Against the U.S.

Associated Press reported on August 31, 2004, that “The World Trade Organization decided Tuesday to authorize the imposition of sanctions against the United States by the European Union and other leading U.S. trade partners in response to illegal antidumping rules, officials said.” It is, however, uncertain, whether the EU will impose sanctions, or whether they will use the decision of the WTO to compel the U.S. to repeal their antidumping rules.

As the article explained:

“The EU may prefer to use the threat of sanctions to force the United States to repeal the legislation more quickly or to obtain concessions in other trade negotiations. Named for its sponsor Senator Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, the three-year-old amendment allows the United States [to] give U.S. companies money collected in fines against foreign exporters judged to be selling products in the United States at artificially low prices. The WTO ruled the measure illegal in 2002, backing claims that it punishes exporters to the United States twice because first they are fined and then those fines are passed on to their competitors.”

Milosevic Defends Himself

As Reuters reported on August 31, 2004, “Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic launched his long-delayed defense on Tuesday, branding his war crimes trial a ‘distortion of history’ and blaming the West for fueling Yugoslavia’s collapse… Milosevic, a Belgrade law school graduate, tackled the Austro-Hungarian Empire, World War One, Nazi Germany’s occupation of countries in the Balkans, U.S. foreign policy and the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 in his opening statement.”

Associated Press pointed out in its article of August 31, 2004:

“Milosevic, 63, faces 66 counts of war crimes for allegedly instigating three wars during the violent breakup of the Yugoslav federation in the 1990’s when more than 200,000 people were killed. Prosecutors say he was responsible for ethnic cleansing in the former republics to create a ‘greater Serbia’ that united Serbs across Yugoslavia. Milosevic said tens of thousands of Serbs were killed or driven from their homes in Croatia before the Yugoslav army responded. ‘This is a classical example of an armed rebellion against a state,’ he said. ‘A state has the right to use all means necessary to control the rebellion.’ Later, Milosevic, said mujahadeen fighters flooded into Muslim-dominated Bosnia from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Morocco ‘to support the first Islamic state in Europe.’ The Afghans came with arms supplied by the U.S. intelligence agency, the CIA, Milosevic said. ‘”

AFP pointed out in its article of August 31, 2004:

“Milosevic, who is acting as his own lawyer, angrily attacked the UN court for the former Yugoslavia as ‘an illegal institution.’ … In his opening statement Milosevic focussed on the historical backdrop of the Bosnian and Croatian wars. He blamed Western powers in general and Germany in particular for recognising what he called ‘the illegal secession’ of the former Yugoslav republics. … ‘He says he fought a just war and that he defended himself from outside interference. These might be valid arguments but he is not on trial for the wars as such but for… violating the internationally enshrined humanitarian laws and laws for the rules and customs of war,’ legal expert Heikelina Verrijn Stuart said.”

Hurricane Frances

Associated Press reported on September 2, 2004:

“Hurricane Frances churned its way toward the Bahamas on Thursday after forcing hundreds of people from their homes in the nearby British territory of Turks and Caicos as the Caribbean faced one of its strongest storms in years. The Category 4 [downgraded to Category 3] storm’s lashing winds of more than 145 mph tore tin roofs off houses and plucked trees from the ground as it hit the Turks and Caicos on Wednesday. No injuries were reported but hundreds fled their homes and many telephone lines were still down… More than a dozen houses were damaged, and one woman was rescued after her house’s roof blew off.”

The article continued:

“Forecasters warned U.S. residents from Florida to the Carolinas to monitor Frances — the third major hurricane of the Atlantic season, following Alex and Charley. Three-quarters of a million people in Florida were told to leave their homes by Thursday afternoon as Hurricane Frances inched toward the U.S. mainland. States of emergency were declared in Georgia and Florida. Forecasters said the still-strengthening Category 4 [downgraded to Category 3] storm could hit on Labor Day weekend as early as Friday night, less than three weeks after Charley raked Florida’s western coast with 145 mph wind, killing 27 people and causing billions of dollars in damage. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency, activating the National Guard.”

Please also note our prayer request regarding this situation in Florida.

Germany and Italy Booed at Republican Convention

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani prompted the audience to boo at Germany and Italy, when he delivered his speech Monday at the Republican National Convention. In his support for President Bush’s war against worldwide terrorism, he compared Mr. Bush’s decisiveness with Germany’s and Italy’s indecisiveness about 25 – 30 years ago.

Giuliani said: “Terrorism did not start on September 11, 2001. It had been festering for many years. And the world had created a response to it that allowed it to succeed. The attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics was in 1972. And the pattern had already begun. The three surviving terrorists were arrested and within two months released by the German government.”

At that moment, the audience booed. Giuliani continued:

“Action like this became the rule, not the exception. Terrorists came to learn they could attack and often not face consequences. In 1985, terrorists attacked the Achille Lauro and murdered an American citizen who was in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer. They marked him for murder solely because he was Jewish. Some of those terrorists were released and some of the remaining terrorists allowed to escape by the Italian government because of fear of reprisals.”

At that moment, the audience booed again. Guiliani continued:

“So terrorists learned they could intimidate the world community and too often the response, particularly in Europe, was ‘accommodation, appeasement and compromise.’ And worse the terrorists also learned that their cause would be taken more seriously, almost in direct proportion to the barbarity of the attack. Terrorist acts became a ticket to the international bargaining table. How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize when he was supporting a terrorist plague in the Middle East that undermined any chance of peace? Before September 11, we were living with an unrealistic view of the world much like our observing Europe appease Hitler or trying to accommodate ourselves to peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union through mutually assured destruction. President Bush decided that we could no longer be just on defense against global terrorism but we must also be on offense.”

Especially the response of the German press to Guiliani’s attacks on Germany, and the reaction of his audience, was mixed. Bild Online, a daily tabloid normally supportive of the Bush Administration, expressed irritation that Guiliani and the Republicans would resurrect an event that happened more than 30 years ago. On the other hand, Der Spiegel Online, normally extremely critical of the Bush Administration, had this to say, when commenting on the tragic events during the Olympics in 1972:

“Three of the captured terrorists were allegedly released by the Germans within a few months, according to Giuliani. And he was right. His statements were even much more tame, than reality had been. The German conduct belongs to Germany’s darkest hours of its post war history. On October 29, 1972, only a few weeks after the terrorist attack, a Lufthansa airplane was kidnapped on its flight from Beirut to Frankfurt. The kidnapper demanded the release of the three captured terrorists. Very quickly, without any consultation with Israel, the German government complied with the demand.”

Reports on Iraqi Prisoner Abuse

Associated Press reported on August 25, 2004, that, according to an independent report, “Inattention to prisoner issues by senior U.S. military leaders in Iraq and at the Pentagon was a key factor in the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, but there is no evidence they ordered any mistreatment.” The article continued to point out:

“The independent panel’s report directly blamed the events at Abu Ghraib on the soldiers there and their immediate commanders. It also said senior commanders and top-level Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, can be faulted for failed leadership and oversight…. The report contradicts the Bush administration’s assertion that the problem was limited to a few soldiers acting on their own. So far, seven military police soldiers have faced criminal charges; two dozen or more military intelligence soldiers may also be charged, but it appears increasingly unlikely that top-level commanders will be disciplined.”

On August 26, the New York Times published an article about a second report that was released on Wednesday. It stated: “A high-level Army investigation has found that military intelligence soldiers played a major role in directing and carrying out the abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. The report undercut earlier contentions by military officials and the Bush administration that a handful of renegade military police guards were largely to blame… The report blamed the abuses on a combination of factors, including a small group of ‘morally corrupt’ soldiers and civilian contractors, poor leadership by commanding officers and a failure by military headquarters in Baghdad to recognize the looming disaster. Coupled with the findings released on Tuesday by a four-member independent panel headed by James R. Schlesinger, a former defense secretary, the Army report reaffirms the suspicion of many critics that culpability extended far beyond a handful of low-level military police personnel, to include military intelligence soldiers in Iraq and up the chain of command in the Persian Gulf to the highest levels in Washington.”

France and Germany Europe’s New Leaders

The Associated Press reported on August 25, that 60 years after France’s liberation from Nazi occupation, “the people who suffered most are among the staunchest supporters of a new Europe in which France and Germany are, essentially, just two members of a 25-nation super-state. ‘”The article continued: ”’A united Europe is a lesson for the rest of the world,’ according to an observer.”

U.S. Troop Withdrawal from Germany

The Washington Times reported on August 25, 2004, that “U.S. troop plans alarm Germany.” The article pointed out: “The planned worldwide redeployment of U.S. troops has created an acute problem for Germany, which has benefited for decades from the largest concentration of American bases in Europe. At stake are about 80,000 jobs in a country unable to halt the tide of unemployment, now at 10 percent of the labor force, and the loss of considerable revenue to regional administrations. Mayors of towns near U.S. bases have appealed to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to persuade Washington to change its mind. The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the protesting mayors and regional chiefs that it was in contact with Washington and that ‘no definitive action has been taken,’ according to German sources. Diplomats point out that the German demands have nothing to do with defense and everything to do with local economic considerations.”

The article continued to explain: “The Pentagon has announced a major reduction in U.S. military presence abroad, affecting an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 troops stationed mainly in Europe and Asia. The gradual withdrawal is to begin in 2006 and will last four years as part of the changing strategy in the post-cold War era. The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent disintegration of the Soviet bloc has already resulted in the reduction of U.S. military strength in Germany from 250,000 to 73,000 personnel. The new cuts are expected to reduce that number by half… “

This new development could not have come at a worst time for Germany’s Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder. The article explained:

“This and other such protests have added to the problems besetting Mr. Schroeder as Germany struggles to emerge from recession. For the past few weeks, hundreds of thousands have demonstrated in about 150 towns across the former communist east German region in protest against the government’s latest reform plans. The demonstrations were mainly triggered by the law that cuts jobless benefits to those who decline job offers, even if the offers don’t correspond to the applicant’s qualifications and his previous salary. Unemployment in former East Germany has reached 20 percent in some areas. So far, Mr. Schroeder has refused to change his mind. ‘I see no other alternative for Germany,’ he said, despite a considerable loss of popularity by his ruling Social Democratic Party.”

The article also stated: “Karsten Voigt, coordinator for U.S.-German cooperation, claims that Germany will remain the main area of U.S. military deployment in Europe. According to some reports, the United States has put out feelers about moving several bases eastward, to Poland, Hungary and Romania. Bavaria’s governor, Edmund Stoiber, said he would spare no effort to make sure that a maximum of U.S. troops remain in Germany. Some conservative politicians have accused Mr. Schroeder of causing the withdrawals by his opposition to the U.S.- led war in Iraq. But according to the authoritative German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung, the plan to further reduce U.S. forces in Germany existed long before the invasion of Iraq.”

Europe’s Need for Additional Defense?

www.eubusiness.com published an article, dated August 17, 2004, titled, “US pullout puts pressure on Europe’s defense plans.” It continued:

“The US decision to withdraw tens of thousands of troops from Europe and Asia will add pressure on European governments to boost long-flagging military cooperation plans, analysts said Tuesday. Monday’s announcement by US President George W. Bush is also not good news for NATO, the transatlantic alliance still battling to heal deep divisions triggered by last year’s Iraq war, they said. European Union heavyweight Germany will bear the brunt of the biggest US reorganisation in 50 years, with about 30,000 troops due to go home by the end of the decade, while Britain and Italy are also likely to be affected… ‘If there were any future Kosovos in and around Europe, the Europeans would have to look after themselves,’ said Daniel Keohane of the Centre for European Reform. ‘Certainly the Europeans will have to think in more autonomous terms about looking after their own security.’… The German government sought to play down the significance of the US move. But an opposition spokesman said Washington was ‘withdrawing from part of its responsibilities in NATO,’ and thereby ‘endangering security in Europe.'”

A Needed Miracle for Europe?

An article was published by news.telegraph.co.uk, dated August 19, 2004, about an apparently failed attempt to beatify Robert Schuman, founder of the European Union, due to the Vatican’s inability to confirm that Schuman had visions or miraculously healed others. The article pointed out:

“Schuman supporters lobbied hard for a favourable interpretation of the rules, arguing that Franco-German reconciliation in the bitter aftermath of the Second World War was itself miraculous. So far, the Pope has responded coolly.While embracing Schuman as an ‘authentic Catholic’ and an ‘eternal example’ who highlights the value of piety in public life, he sternly instructed the bishop of Metz ‘to proceed with the greatest rigour in demanding a miracle in the case of political figures.’ Jean Moes, a former professor of German history and the leader of the inquiry, said the Vatican was unlikely to be swayed by his team’s findings. ‘We need a miracle and we haven’t been able to find one,’ he said. ‘All we have is the construction of Europe after the war and Rome does not accept that as a real miracle.'”

The article concluded: “The Schuman Plan, the basis of the European Coal and Steel Community, was the precursor to the European Community seven years later. It was intended to lead to full economic union and ultimately a European federation. Fifty years later, the EU appears to have turned its back on the deeply Catholic inspiration of its founding statesmen, dropping all reference to God in the draft constitution.”

However, as Biblical prophecy clearly reveals, Europe will remember soon its “deeply Catholic inspiration” and return to its “Christian roots.” For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Radio-Carbon Dating Results Questioned

On August 22, 2004, an article was published on www.topix.net, claiming that “Neanderthal Man ‘never walked in northern Europe.'” This dramatic and spectacular article continued: “Historians of the Stone Age fear that they will have to rip up their theories about Neanderthal Man after doubt has been cast on the carbon dating of skeletons by a leading German anthropologist. Work by the flamboyant Professor Reiner Protsch von Zieten showed that Neanderthal Man existed in northern Europe. Calculations on skeletal remains found at Hahnofersand, near Hamburg, stated they were 36,000 years old. Yet recent research at Oxford University’s carbon-dating laboratory has suggested that they date back a mere 7,500 years. By that time [according to the postulates of “established science,”], Homo sapiens was already well-established and the Neanderthals were extinct. Chris Stringer, a Stone Age specialist and head of human origins at London’s Natural History Museum, said: ‘What was considered a major piece of evidence showing that the Neanderthals once lived in northern Europe has fallen by the wayside. We are having to rewrite prehistory.’

But Prof von Zieten, 65, the descendant of a famous 18th-century Prussian general, rejected the evidence from Oxford University last week. ‘The new data from Oxford is all wrong,’ he told Germany’s Der Spiegel. He said that the university’s scientists had failed to remove shellac preservative from the specimens. As a result, the remains appeared to be much younger. ‘Unfortunately, archaeologists and most anthropologists do not study physics or chemistry and therefore they cannot make judgments on carbon dating,’ he said. ‘Wrong measurements are made in all laboratories.’… Now, however, important remains that Oxford scientists no longer believe are prehistoric include the female ‘Bischof-Speyer’ skeleton, found near the south-west German town of Speyer with unusually good teeth. Their evidence suggests that she is 3,300 years old, not 21,300. Another apparent misdating involved an allegedly prehistoric skull discovered near Paderborn in 1976 and considered the oldest human remain ever found in the region. Prof von Zieten dated the skull at 27,400 years old. The latest research, however, indicates that it belonged to an elderly man who died around 1750… Concern about Prof von Zieten’s carbon-dating estimates arose last year following a routine investigation of German prehistoric remains by the German and British anthropologists Thomas Terberger and Martin Street. ‘We had decided to subject many of these finds to modern techniques to check their authenticity so we sent them to Oxford for testing,’ Mr Street told The Sunday Telegraph. ‘It was a routine examination and in no way an attempt to discredit Prof von Zieten.’ In their report, though, both anthropologists described this as a ‘dating disaster.'”

The article inadvertently points out a serious problem for the entire concept of the Evolution theory. If the radio carbon dating of fossils is not reliable (which it clearly is not), then the whole structural building of the evolutionary concept crumbles. Our free booklet, “Evolution — a Fairy Tale for Adults,” proves from the Bible and scientific admissions that Darwin’s Evolution theory could not — and did not — happen.

Worldwide Water Problems

On August 24, 2004, the Associated Press reported about growing power and water problems in California and worldwide. The article stated: “With state lawmakers again concerned about keeping the lights on three years after California’s energy crisis, two new studies Tuesday warned that the real battle of the future may be over another increasingly scarce resource: water. The studies by an Oakland-based independent research institute focus separately on problems facing California, and on growing worldwide challenges for businesses. California’s electricity and water shortages are related, says the first report by the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, in cooperation with the Natural Resources Defense Council. ‘They’re both particularly scarce resources here in California. A lot of people don’t realize if they save or conserve water, they’re saving electricity,’ said NRDC spokesman Craig Noble. Plus, both are at a premium during the hot summer months. The report comes with Southern California in the midst of a multiyear drought. The state is setting new records for electricity use.”

The article continued: “The second report, called ‘Freshwater Resources: Managing the Risks Facing the Private Sector,’ warns that companies face increasing difficulty finding enough water to run their plants in the United States and around the world, and aren’t doing enough about it. Problems include water cutoffs, scarcity, contamination and rising costs.”

US and Britain Split over Israel

An article was published by www.smh.com.au on August 25, 2004, titled, “Britain Splits with US over West Bank.” It pointed out: “A significant gap has opened up between the British and US governments on Middle East policy, with Downing Street expressing its continued opposition to any expansion of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. Fuelling the controversy, the Israeli Government has announced plans to build another 533 homes in settlements in the West Bank, in addition to the 1000 construction tenders approved by the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, last week. The British Government, in a rare departure from Washington, positioned itself alongside its European Union partners on the settlements. The EU, unlike Washington, is critical of Israeli behaviour in the West Bank and Gaza. Washington signalled at the weekend that it was abandoning its long-term call for a freeze on all settlement activity and would back limited expansion. But a Downing Street spokesman said on Monday: ‘Our position is consistent with the statement put out by the European Union last week, and our view is that the Israelis should freeze all settlements.’ The EU had earlier expressed its dismay over new construction in the occupied territories.”

Abortion and “Morning-After” Pill

Zenit reported on August 18, 2004, about a scientific report, that had been issued by the Peruvian bishops’ conference, dealing with the abortifacient effect of the “morning-after” pill. Zenit pointed out: “The documentation includes 33 scientific works presented in July — together with 190 pages of appended information — to Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti, who has promoted the introduction of the drug in Peru. The report quotes several studies that corroborate the drug’s anti-implantation effect, which has been omitted in texts prepared by the Health Ministry. According to the research, the morning-after pill causes modifications in the endometrium, the inner lining of the uterus, which impedes the implantation or nesting of the human embryo. The information presented has been confirmed by institutions such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Princeton University; Gedeon Ritcher, the laboratory that manufactures and commercializes the drug in various countries; and the 2004 edition of the Physicians’ Desk Reference, a book that lists all the drugs in current use.”

Human Cloning

On August 22, 2004, Reuters reported: “Pope John Paul on Sunday condemned human cloning as an arrogant attempt to improve on God’s creation… The comments come less than two weeks after British scientists were given permission to clone human embryos for medical research — believed to be the first such license granted in Europe. The pope said medical research should not try to ‘manipulate’ human beings ‘according to a project considered with arrogance better than that of the Creator himself… The way taught by Christ is another: it is that of respect for human beings,’ he said, urging ethically responsible science. The Vatican has repeatedly condemned all attempts at human cloning, comparing it to the experiments carried out by Nazis in World War II.”

Evolution’s Dictatorship

On August 17, 2004, www.crosswalk.com published a telling article about the unscientific “faith” of evolutionists in the so-called “scientific” Evolution theory, and the methods with which some try to quench any opposition to the “holy cow” of Darwinism. The article, titled, “Student Struggles Against Evolution’s Dictatorship,” pointed out:

“Samuel Chen was a high school sophomore who believed in freedom of speech and the unfettered pursuit of knowledge. He thought his public high school did, too, but when it came to the subject of evolution — well, now he’s not so sure. In October 2002, Chen began working to get Dr. Michael Behe, professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University, to give a lecture at Emmaus High School in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. Chen, who was co-chair of a student group that tries to stress the importance of objectivity on controversial issues, knew that Behe would be perfect, since the group was examining evolution as a topic. The author of Darwin’s Black Box, a critique of the foundational underpinnings of evolution, Behe had presented his work and debated the subject in universities in the U.S. and England.”

The article continued: “Behe agreed to come in February 2004 and give an after-school lecture entitled, ‘Evolution: Truth or Myth?’ As the school year drew to a close in 2003, Chen had all the preliminaries nailed down: he had secured Behe’s commitment, received approval from school officials, and reserved the school auditorium. Then he found out just how entrenched Darwinist orthodoxy was in the science department at Emmaus. By the following August, Chen had entered into a six-month battle to preserve the Behe lecture. As the struggle unfolded, it became obvious that those who opposed Behe coming to Emmaus didn’t seem to care about his credentials. In addition to publishing over 35 articles in refereed biochemical journals, Darwin’s Black Box was internationally reviewed in over 100 publications and named by National Review and World magazine as one of the 100 most important books of the 20th century. Instead, it was Behe’s rejection of Darwinism — in favor of what is called ‘intelligent design’ — that drove opposition. According to the Discovery Institute, of which Behe is a fellow, this theory holds ‘that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.'”

The arrogance with which Emmaus’ science department tried to withhold important information from its students and continue to promote the myth of evolution is, unfortunately, no exception, but, sadly, only too well-known. The article explained:

“The head of the science department, John Hnatow, sent a statement to every faculty member in the school stressing that Emmaus held to the official policy of the National Science Teachers Association. That policy states: ‘There is no longer a debate among scientists about whether evolution has taken place.’ It appeared there would be no debate at Emmaus, either. Some of the science teachers would not even allow Chen to address their classes and explain to students what Behe’s lecture would be about. Chen said various tactics were apparently used to undercut the event, including an attempt to cancel the lecture and fold the student organization without the knowledge of Chen and other members; requiring that the necessary funds for the lecture be raised much faster than for other student events; and moving the lecture from the auditorium to the school cafeteria.”

The article concluded: “That tyranny can be intimidating to students. ‘Some of the students who support me are afraid to speak out, especially because they saw how the science department reacted,’ Chen said. ‘They have a fear of speaking out against it in their classes.’ On the other hand, he added that some students ‘are now questioning evolution, some for the first time.’ That may be the first step in the overthrow of Darwin’s dictatorship.”

Germany’s Genocide in South West Africa

Associated Press reported last week that “a senior government official offered Germany’s first apology Saturday for a colonial-era crackdown that killed 65,000 ethnic Hereros -a slaughter she acknowledged amounted to genocide.” The article continued to report about this nearly forgotten incident, as follows:

“‘We Germans accept our historic and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time,’ Germany’s development aid minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Hereros’ 1904-1907 uprising against their German rulers. ‘The atrocities committed at that time would have been termed genocide.’… During the ceremony, held in the Waterberg region about 250 kilometres north of the capital, Windhoek, Hereros re-enacted scenes of their ancestors being shackled and enslaved. Many of those in attendance were dressed in the khaki military uniforms worn by their former colonial rulers.

“German general Lothar von Trotha, who was sent to what was then South West Africa to put down the Herero uprising in 1904, instructed his troops to wipe out the entire tribe, historians say. When the extermination order was lifted at the end of the year, prisoners were herded into camps and allocated as slave labour to German businesses, where many died of overwork and malnutrition. Some two-thirds of the tribe was wiped out. The Herero people have for years sought reparations from Germany. In 2001, they filed a $4 billion US lawsuit against the government and two German firms in U.S. district court in Washington D.C. But German authorities have dismissed the claims, saying international rules on the protection of combatants and civilians were not in existence at the time… Germany took over the diamond-rich, semi-desert country in 1884. After Germany’s defeat in the First World War, South Africa occupied the territory for more than 70 years before Namibia became independent in 1990.”

US Troops Will Leave Germany

On August 14, 2004, Great Britain’s Financial Times reported:

“The US… is pulling 70,000 troops out of Europe and Asia in the largest restructuring of its global military presence since the second world war… Two-thirds of the reductions will come in Europe, most of them military personnel stationed in Germany who will be sent back to US bases… Germany will continue to be home to sophisticated training and command facilities and to a mobile infantry force which will be equipped with the new light-armoured Stryker vehicles and is expected to form the core of a restructured European presence. The Bush administration has been re-evaluating the US military’s global posture almost since its first days in office. Senior Pentagon officials emphasised that the move was not intended as a punishment for Germany’s lack of support in the Iraq war.”

Iran vs. Israel?

On August 16, 2004, WorldNetDaily reported that “a senior Iranian military official told reporters yesterday Israel and the United States would not dare attack Iran since it could strike back anywhere in Israel and against U.S. military installations in the Middle East with its latest missiles.”

The article continued:

“Iranian officials have made a point of highlighting the Islamic state’s military capabilities in recent weeks in response to some media reports that Israeli or U.S. warplanes could try to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities in air strikes. Iran last week said it carried out a successful test firing of an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile. Military experts said the unmodified Shahab-3 was already capable of striking Israel or U.S. bases in the Gulf.”

In discussing Israel’s position, the article pointed out: “Israel has recently conducted military exercises for a pre-emptive strike against several of Iran’s nuclear power facilities and is ready to attack if Russia supplies Iran with rods for enriching uranium. An Israeli defense source said ‘Israel will on no account permit Iranian reactors — especially the one being built in Bushehr with Russian help — to go critical.'”

Does the Vatican Meddle?

On August 16, 2004, the International Herald Tribune published the following article, titled, “Vatican meddling in the EU.” The article pointed out:

“Having failed to persuade Europe’s leaders to enshrine Christianity in the final draft of the constitution of the European Union, the Vatican has found a new way to try to conflate [merge] European and Christian identity. The Holy See would like to block Turkey’s candidacy to the European Union. In an interview last week with Le Figaro magazine, the Catholic Church’s top theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said that Turkey, a predominantly Muslim secular republic of 70 million people, is ‘in permanent contrast to Europe’ and that linking it to Europe would be a mistake. To drive home his point about Turkey’s disqualifying otherness, he cited the Ottoman Empire’s incursions into the heart of Europe in centuries past.”

The article continued: “Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has staked his future on EU membership, brushed off the cardinal’s comments. When the EU decides in December whether to begin formal accession talks with Turkey, it too should discount the cardinal’s views in favor of the political merits of Turkish membership.”

However, we might add that Cardinal Ratzinger’s reservations against European membership of Turkey are shared by many Europeans — especially those of the Catholic faith. As the Bible predicts, Europe is destined to become a mighty power under Roman Catholic leadership — which indeed would seem to have no membership to offer to a Muslim state.

Iraq — and No Peace in Sight…

Zenit reported on August 16, 2004 that “some 40,000 Christians have left Iraq in the wake of recent attacks on churches in the country, says a government official. In statements Sunday to the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, the minister for displacement and migration, Pascale Icho Warda, said that the emigration ‘is due to the insecurity and the attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul two weeks ago.’ Four attacks on Christian places of worship in Baghdad and two in Mosul left at least 10 dead and 50 wounded at the beginning of August.”

The report continued:

“On August 2, John Paul II sent a message to Archbishop Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and president of the assembly of the Catholic bishops of Iraq, to express his sympathy. ‘At this time of trial I am spiritually close to the Iraqi Church and society, and I renew the expression of my heartfelt solidarity to the pastors and faithful,’ the papal telegram said. John Paul II assured Iraqi Christians of his prayer and ‘constant commitment’ so that ‘a climate of peace and reconciliation will be established in the beloved country as soon as possible.’ Christians comprise about 700,000 of Iraq’s 24 million inhabitants.”

The Pope at Lourdes

On August 16, Zenit reported about the Pope’s visit at Lourdes. The article pointed out: “Like the other 6 million people who come to Lourdes annually, John Paul II came to this Marian shrine on Saturday as a pilgrim. ‘In my apostolic ministry, I have always had great confidence in the offering, prayer and sacrifice of those who suffer,’ the Pope said in the text of a message delivered at the Grotto of Massabielle, scene of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions in 1858. ‘I ask you to accompany me in this pilgrimage to present to God, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, all the intentions of the Church and of the world,’ he said in the message.”

The article continued: “In the afternoon, John Paul II participated together with some 100,000 people in a meditation on the luminous mysteries of the rosary… The procession began at the pools, the most characteristic place of Lourdes. Last year, more than 380,000 pilgrims were submerged in the waters in response to a request of the Blessed Virgin to Bernadette Soubirous on Feb. 28, 1858: ‘Go drink at the spring and bathe there.’ In his introductory address, the Pope said: ‘When kneeling here, before the Grotto of Massabielle, I feel with emotion that I have arrived at the end of my pilgrimage. This grotto, in which Mary appeared, is the heart of Lourdes.’… The third mystery was prayed in front of St. Bernadette’s Church, located near where the saint witnessed the Blessed Virgin’s first apparition… The rosary ended with a prayer the Pope composed, calling on the Virgin Mary’s intercession… ‘Invoke the Virgin Mary with me, so that she will obtain for the world the longed-for gift of peace,’ he said. ‘May she inspire in us sentiments of forgiveness and fraternity!’ he implored. ‘May arms be put down and hatred and violence extinguished in our hearts.'”

The Bible teaches very clearly that Mary, the mother of Christ, is dead and in her grave, waiting, together with all true Christians, for the resurrection from the dead, at the time of Christ’s return. Prayers to Mary — or to other dead “saints” — are forbidden in Scripture; rather, we are to pray to God our Father, with Jesus Christ being the ONLY Mediator between men and God. Since Mary is still dead and in the grave, it is abundantly clear that Mary did not appear, in a vision or otherwise, to anyone at Lourdes. This is not to say that there was no apparition — but it was distinctively NOT that of Mary. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?”

Real Threats for Planet Earth

On August 9, 2004, BBC News published a frightening article, titled, “Nature ‘mankind’s gravest threat’.” The article continued to point out that “Giant tsunamis, super volcanoes and earthquakes could pose a greater threat than terrorism, scientists claim.” The article mentioned the following scientific predictions which might, or might not, happen in our lifetime: “Giant walls of water that can devastate coastal cities, volcanoes so big that their ash crushes houses 1,500 km (932 miles) away, giant earthquakes and asteroid impacts.

The article explained: “The last ‘super volcanic eruption’ was back in April 1815, when Tambora in Indonesia exploded violently, in what was the largest eruption in historic time. The eruption column reached a height of about 44 km (28 miles), ash fell as far as 1,300 km (800 miles) from the volcano – and an estimated 92,000 people were killed. Rare though they are, events this catastrophic need to be taken very seriously. The potential threat that scientists currently have their eye on is an insecure rock – the size of the Isle of Man – in the Canary Island of La Palma. The rock is in the process of slipping into the sea and Professor McGuire fears that when it finally collapses, the resulting tsunami will cause massive destruction along the coasts of countries like the USA, UK and many on the African continent, within a matter of hours… The triggering factor could be the eruption of the volcano on La Palma, called Cumbre Vieja, which could feasibly blow ‘anytime,’ according to Professor McGuire.”

The article continued: “The greatest danger to humanity comes from asteroids, but work funded largely by the US government is swiftly tackling this threat… According to Benny Peiser, of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, the threat of cosmic mega disasters will be essentially ‘abolished within 30 years.'”

Of course, the question is, Do we have another 30 years — even if this time frame were remotely accurate?

In a related article, published by the European Space agency on July 21, it was stated: “Once dismissed as a nautical myth, freakish ocean waves that rise as tall as ten-storey apartment blocks have been accepted as a leading cause of large ship sinkings. Results from ESA’s ERS satellites helped establish the widespread existence of these ‘rogue’ waves and are now being used to study their origins. Severe weather has sunk more than 200 supertankers and container ships exceeding 200 metres in length during the last two decades. Rogue waves are believed to be the major cause in many such cases.”

Reuters published an article by the end of July, reporting about the fear of scientists that an “Alaska volcano that last erupted 12 years ago, raining ash on the state’s largest city, is now rumbling with earthquakes that may be a precursor to another eruption.”

The article continued: “In 1992, Mount Spurr’s eruption sent an ash plume up 65,000 feet, disrupting air traffic….Two other Alaska volcanoes are classified as subjects of elevated concern. Mount Veniaminof, a 7,073-foot volcano on the Alaska Peninsula and about 510 miles southwest of Anchorage, has been emitting small amounts of steam and ash since April. Shishaldin Volcano, a 9,372-foot peak in the eastern Aleutian Islands, has also been emitting ash. Alaska has about 60 volcanoes that have been active in the past.”

The Bible predicts gigantic volcanic eruptions and cosmic disturbances in the not-to-distant future. For a full analysis of this little-understood REAL THREAT to humanity, please read our free booklet, “Evolution — a Fairy Tale for Adults.”

Biblical Locust Plagues on the Rise

On August 6, 2004, Reuters reported about a tremendous locust plague in West Africa. The article was titled, “West Africans Urged to Fight Locusts.” It was pointed out: “Desperate West African farmers whose crops are being devoured by tens of millions of locusts have been urged to burn, drown and stamp on the insects that can decimate whole fields in minutes. The region’s worst locust crisis for 15 years has already seen Mauritania — twice the size of France — engulfed by the plague and neighbouring Mali said on Friday the swarms had spread across most of its vast arid territory… Desert locust swarms contain up to 80 million insects per square km and can travel more than 130 km (80 miles) a day. They can devastate entire crop fields in minutes, with adult locusts munching their own weight, about two grams, of food a day. The swarms are moving across the Sahara desert towards countries including Senegal, Niger, Chad and Gambia, many of whose inhabitants are subsistence farmers and whose governments lack the resources to fight the airborne invasion.”

The article continued: “The plague has also now spread to Senegal, according to a team of experts sent by France’s agronomical research centre CIRAD. President Abdoulaye Wade has cancelled his holiday and urged world leaders to declare war on the insects… Residents in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott compared the latest plague — which ate their main football pitch as well as the president’s gardens — with the locust invasion of 1987-89. That plague was the worst in 30 years, sparking fears of famine and taking $300 million and 28 states to contain.”

When reading such accounts, one is reminded of the frightening prophecies for our time, as written down thousands of years ago in the book of Joel. Beginning in verse 2 of chapter one, the prophet predicted: “Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?” The prophet then described unprecedented locust plagues still to occur. There have always been locust plagues, of course, but, apparently, not with the same magnitude and dire consequences. We read in verses 4-7: “What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten… For a nation [of locusts] has come up against My land, Strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he has the fangs of a fierce lion. He has laid waste My vine, And ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; Its branches are made white.”

In addition, John, a prophet and apostle of Jesus Christ, predicted terrible and unprecedented wars to break out on this earth, in the near future, comparing helicopters and airplanes with locusts. We read in Revelation 9:3-10: “Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as scorpions of the earth have power… The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men… and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails.”

Real and figurative locusts will bring devastation over the entire earth in the not-too-distant future. God warned us of these events, so that we can spiritually prepare for them.

Nuclear Threat from Korea

On August 3, 2004, Reuters reported: “North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States… Apart from targeting the United States, South Korea or Japan, cash-strapped North Korea might seek to sell the technology to countries that have bought its missiles in the past, with Iran a prime candidate… North Korea pulled out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in January 2003 and is locked in long-running crisis talks with the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea over terms for scrapping its atomic weapons program. The extent of that program remains unclear, although North Korea’s deputy foreign minister was quoted as telling a senior U.S. official last year that Pyongyang possessed nuclear weapons… The new land-based system had an estimated range of 2,500 to 4,000 km (1,560 to 2,500 miles), and the sea-based system, launchable from a submarine or a ship, had a range of at least 2,500 km.”

The article continued, quoting an expert, as follows: “‘If you can get a missile aboard a warship, in particular aboard a submarine…you can move your submarine to strike at targets such as Hawaii or the United States, just as examples. Whereas it would be much more difficult to actually develop a ground-launched missile to achieve that sort of a range.’… Until now only the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China have been known to possess submarine-launched nuclear weapons, although there has been speculation that Israel has a similar capability.”

Terrible Consequences of War

Der Stern Online published a shocking article, describing the terrible psychological consequences for soldiers returning from war. The article was published on July 15, and was titled, “The Trauma of War.” Doctors and scientists examined German soldiers returning from Kosovo and Afghanistan, and reported their frightening and disturbing findings: “Some say that they beat their children, when helping them with their school work — something that they had never done before… In other cases, they show no more emotions, neither joy nor sadness… Many try desperately to forget the past. They withdraw, drink or take drugs. Some become depressive and avoid their friends… In extreme cases, returning soldiers go berserk and kill others.” The article also pointed out that traumatic developments, following experiences in war, can be proven bio-chemically in the brain.”

Greece a Future European leader?

As euobserver reported on August 9, “Greece wants to be among the avant garde in the newly enlarged EU, the Greek prime minister has said. In an interview with the Le Monde, Costas Caramanlis said ‘we want to be among the avant-garde of the European Union through reinforced co-operation.’ He added: ‘Although I am in favour of enlargement, I cannot imagine that in a large Europe, everyone will advance at the same speed. The countries that believe in a strong Europe have to form an avant-garde.'” The article continued:

“Speaking about Turkey’s eventual membership of the EU, Mr Caramanlis said the Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government had made a ‘great effort’ to reform. He said that a ‘Europeanised Turkey’ is in the interests of Turks themselves, of countries neighbouring Turkey and the EU.”

Bible prophecy reveals that Greece will play a role in a powerful future Europe. Whether Turkey will become a full-fledged member of Europe appears doubtful, however.

European Passports and the USA

Euobserver reported on August 11 that “a year’s extra time has been granted to all EU member states with visa waiver agreements with the US to start issuing passports with biometric measures such as fingerprints.This year’s deadline has been extended to 26 October 2005 after it became apparent that so many countries were not going to be able to have the new passports ready on time.

“The issuing of biometric passports is part of a US law designed to tighten up border security after the 11 September (2001) terrorist attacks. However, one requirement is still in place for 26 October this year. By that time, ‘all passports used for travel in the Visa Waiver Programme must be machine-readable,’ says a State Department press release. If visitors – including those from countries whose citizens are not normally obliged to have a visa to get into the US – do not have machine-readable passports then they will have to obtain a visa.

“EU member states that have visa waiver agreements are 14 of the ‘old’ member states (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and the UK) and one new member state, Slovenia.

The article continued to report about frictions among European nations, regarding this issue of US passports:

“Greece and the nine other new member states do not have visa waiver agreements with the US. For the new member states, this has been a source of friction recently where some of them, particularly Poland and the Czech Republic, had agitated about invoking a law requiring solidarity from other member states on the issue. This so-called solidarity clause, which is part of the Schengen (open borders) legislation, would mean that all EU member states would be required to act uniformly on the issue.

“The European Commission said earlier this year that EU investigations into whether the new member states are fit to join the open borders area would garner useful information for the US authorities. An official at the time said that the Brussels executive would rather negotiate to see whether all new member states as a bloc could join the visa waiver in 2006 or 2007 – the years they are expected to join Schengen.

“Other countries that have a visa waiver agreement with the US and are affected by the new deadline are Andorra, Australia, Brunei, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, San Marino, Singapore and Switzerland.”

Israel and the Dietary Laws

On June 24, 2004, Arutz Sheva Israel National News published an interesting commentary by Ariel Natan Pasko, titled, “Israeli Government: Kosher on the Outside Only.”

In the article, it was pointed out: “The Israeli Supreme Court, in contradiction to thousands of years of Jewish tradition, and Israeli Law, overturned the 1956 Law of Authority, which granted city governments special authority to enact regulations banning the sale of pork products within their municipality. Many cities in Israel have such a ban, and at issue were petitions to the court to remove that power from municipalities. The nine-judge panel voted unanimously to allow the sale of pork and instructed municipalities to enact new regulations conforming to guidelines set down by the court. The guidelines include taking the character of individual neighborhoods into account when enacting restrictions on sales of non-kosher meat. The guidelines allow pork to be sold in neighborhoods where the overwhelming majority of the population wants to buy pork, or are indifferent to its sale; i.e., where there are few religious or traditional Jews. In mixed neighborhoods, the city would be allowed to decide for itself.”

The article continued to explain: “Throughout Jewish history, kashrut observance, i.e., Jewish dietary laws (as seen in Leviticus, chap. 11 and elsewhere), has been a hallmark of Jewish life. Historically, if you asked most non-Jews about Jews and Judaism, the things they would know most about were the Sabbath, Passover and matzot (those funny dry crackers), Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – and that Jews keep kosher and they don’t eat pork.

“After their conquest and occupation of Judea, the Syrian Greek Hellenists (c. 168 BCE) attempted to ‘break’ the Jews. They set up an idol and began offering pigs to their pagan deity in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. When they began to spread their heresy among the Jews, they started in a small town called Modi’in. They set up an altar in the town square and instigated some weak Jew to offer a pig up as a sacrifice in plain public view. Public acceptance was meant to imply that the Jews were repudiating the Torah and their covenant with the G-d [sic] of their fathers. But in a clear example of the ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’, it sparked a national revolt instead, when a priest by the name of Matityahu took a sword, stabbed the turncoat Jew and the Syrian Greek officials, and declared, ‘Whoever is zealous for the Torah and is steadfast in the Covenant, let him follow me.’ The revolt spread, and ultimately was successful, leading to a liberation of the Judean homeland from occupation. The Jews cleaned-up the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and re-lit the menorah. And Hanukah is celebrated until this day, throughout the Jewish world, as a holiday of the liberation of the Jews and Judaism from pagan culture.”

The article continued to ask and answer the following question: “Why is the pig so detested in Jewish tradition? If you look closely at chapter 11 of Leviticus in the Torah, dealing with dietary laws, you’ll find the defining characteristics of kosher land animals: they must ‘chew their cud’ and they must have ‘split hoofs’. Several animals are given as examples of those that chew their cud but don’t have split hoofs. The pig is given as the example of that animal having split hoofs, but that does not chew its cud. The Torah clearly says just following the pig example, ‘don’t eat their meat’… So, it’s very clear that Jewish law forbids eating pig. The pig has even entered the popular culture of Jews as the symbol of hypocrisy, because it looks kosher on the outside – you can see it has split hoofs – yet it is treif, i.e., not kosher, on the inside – it doesn’t chew its cud. In Yiddish (one of the thirty-some Judeo-vernacular languages that Jews created in their 1,900-year-exile from their homeland), a ‘chazzer fissel’ (lit. ‘pig’s foot’) was what one called a hypocrite.

“And so, the most beautiful thing just happened, the G-d [sic] of Israel made His manifest will clear for all to see. Usually one fumbles around, good intentions, good behaviors, but you’re never really sure if you’re doing the right thing. Then, once in a while, comes a blessed moment, and G-d’s [sic] message is as clear as day. This court decision on pork comes at a time when the Israeli government is attempting to carry out an ethnic cleansing campaign against part of its own Jewish population. Ariel Sharon, current prime minister and the ‘father of the settlements,’ who for years encouraged Jews to ‘take to the hilltops’ and set up ‘outposts,’ has agreed in the Roadmap to ‘painful concessions,’ which includes dismantling those very same outposts. Those so-called outposts are actually new neighborhoods – only extensions of existing towns – within the legal boundaries of town limits. Some were set up without permits (a technicality), but many others do have all their paperwork done.

“But Sharon, for his own political purposes, has allowed the image of the outposts to be portrayed in the Israeli and world media as ‘wildcat settlements’ that are patently illegal. And now, with his ‘Gaza Disengagement Plan,’ Sharon is determined to evacuate, expel, ethnically cleanse Jews from their legally lived in homes, from their legally lived in towns, from historically Jewish Gaza, a part of the Biblically promised ‘Land of Israel’. Sharon looked kosher all these years to many on the Right in Israel – retired general and war hero, supporter of settlement activity, tough on terror, the opposition to Oslo. Yet, in the end, he’s willing to give away a part of the Land of Israel without any quid-pro-quo from the ‘Palestinians’. He’s willing to allow Gaza to become a Terror State launching pad to wipe out the rest of Israel (the security fences won’t stop Hamas missiles). And he’s going far further than any left-wing politician who supported Oslo.”

Spain a new Leader of Europe?

On July 29, euobserver.com published an article, titled: “Zapatero: Spain should be with Franco-German motor.” The article continued: “Spanish premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said that he believes his country should be alongside France and Germany as the ‘decisive countries for the European construction.’ In an interview with French daily Le Monde, Mr Zapatero – who recently celebrated his first 100 days at the head of his Socialist government – said, ‘France and Germany are the two decisive countries for the European construction and Spain should be there.’

“Spanish government sources have said that Spain, France and Germany will hold an informal summit meeting after the summer break. ‘The European Union will not move forward just by virtue of the big countries or the little countries, but because of ideas, initiatives and proposals,’ he added. Furthermore, Mr Zapatero believes that Spain has re-joined the European family after the departure of his predecessor Jose Maria Aznar, who had, according to Mr Zapatero, ‘one foot in Europe … and one outside to slow it down.'”

It is very possible that, based on history, Spain will play a major role in the future of Europe.

Computer glitches threaten air traffic

“Computer Glitch Causes Air-Travel Delays!” With this headline, Associated Press published an article on August 1, 2004, showing once more how fragile our sophisticated highly-technological societies in the Western World really are. The article continued: “A computer glitch grounded American Airlines and US Airways flights from coast to coast Sunday morning, causing delays that were expected to last all day. American had its planes back up after two hours, while US Airways flights were grounded for about three.”

The article continued: “US Airways spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the airline’s flight-operation database malfunctioned, due to ‘an internal technology problem.’ A similar problem affected American’s flight plan system, grounding about 150 flights, spokesman John Hotard said… The problem forced US Airways, based in Arlington, Va., to delay about 100 flights.”

Recently, flight cancellations or delays occurred in the UK, due to technical computer glitches. One needs to ask: What if those glitches were to occur within military operations, and what if they were not right away determined as being computer glitches. The possible nightmarish consequences could be catastrophic.

Mounting Problems in Iraq

As the Drudge Report announced on August 1, 2004, “JUSTICE LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO MISSING IRAQ BILLION.” The article continued: “The Justice Department has launched an urgent investigation after U.S. civilian authorities in Baghdad failed to keep track of more than a $1 billion, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Investigators have found multiple examples of fraud and abuse in millions of dollars worth of contracts to rebuild Iraq that used U.S. taxpayer and Iraqi funds. Word of the Justice Department investigation spread throughout official Washington late Sunday.”

It should become more and more obvious to any objective observer that Almighty God has not blessed America’s war against Iraq.

Why did America Go to War?

We are printing excerpts from the following article, not because we want to take sides in this hotly-debated issue, but because we want to show how many people in England feel about it. This attitude is also pervasive in many European contries — especially Germany:

On July 28, 2004, Great Britain’s “the Guardian” published an article by John Chapman, titled, “The real reasons Bush went to war.” John Chapman is a former assistant secretary to the civil service, in which he served from 1963-96.

In the article, it is stated: “There were only two credible reasons for invading Iraq: control over oil and preservation of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Yet the government has kept silent on these factors… Saddam controlled a country at the centre of the Gulf, a region with a quarter of world oil production in 2003, and containing more than 60% of the world’s known reserves… Iraq has capacity second only to Saudi Arabia. The US, in contrast, is the world’s largest net importer of oil… By invading Iraq, Bush has taken over the Iraqi oil fields, and persuaded the UN to lift production limits after the Kuwait war… Oil and dollar were the real reasons for the attack on Iraq, with WMD as the public reason now exposed as woefully inadequate. Should we now look at Bush and Blair as brilliant strategists whose actions will improve security of our oil supplies, or as international conmen?”

Germany’s view on John Kerry

Last week, Bild Online published several articles to discuss what a President John Kerry, referred to in the press as “JFK,” would mean for Germany and Europe. The paper uttered the opinion, in its article, dated July 29, that Kerry would in all probability be good for Germany and Europe, as he is expected to create better relationships between the U.S. and Europe. The paper claimed that Bush and Kerry share one “dark secret” – that they are allegedly both members of the order, “Skulls and Bones,” one of the most “influential and farcical orders in the U.S.” Bild Online commented on July 30: “It will have to be seen, with anticipation, how exactly the relationship between the U.S. and Germany will develop, if John Kerry becomes the next President.” In a commentary of July 28, the paper stated: “It is no secret that many Germans and Europeans desperately hope that Kerry becomes President… He would listen more closely to the advice of his European allies… But, Kerry would be determined, too, in the pursuit of his Iraq policy, to strongly demand military and financial assistance from Germany and France.”

It will indeed be interesting to see who the next American President will be — Mr. Bush or Mr. Kerry. We do not endorse or promote any political candidate – fully realizing that it is God who is in control over world affairs. The Bible teaches that it is “the Most High” who “rules in the kingdom of men,” and that He “Gives it to whomever He will” (Daniel 4:17) – so that His plan here on earth can be accomplished.

Germany’s Homosexuals

As AFP reported on August 2, 2004, “Gay politicians in Germany quitting the closet.” The article continued: “Has homosexuality become fashionable in German politics? Perhaps not quite, but a recent clutch of movers and shakers ‘coming out’ points to something afoot in the halls of power. Guido Westerwelle, the head of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), caused a splash this summer when he appeared at a tony reception with his companion Michael Mronz, head of a regional equestrian society… Westerwelle, who has nevertheless declined comment on Mronz, is gunning for the post of foreign minister if the FDP and Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) manage to unseat the center-left coalition of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 2006. By laying his cards on the table now, he avoids making his sexuality an issue during the campaign and could even begin tapping new reservoirs of political support…

“The mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit of Schroeder’s Social Democrats, stole the fire of his potential critics when he was running for office in 2001 with the now immortal line: ‘I’m gay and it’s just as good that way.’ The crowd roared. In the conservative camp, Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust was reelected in a landslide in February after his ‘coming-out.’ And among the Greens, junior partners in the national coalition government, deputy Volker Beck has made no secret of his sexuality either.”

The article continued: “Tolerance, however, has its limits. Nine percent of women say that a candidate’s homosexuality could influence their voting decisions, and the figure is twice as high among men…”

However, due to the open confessions of German politicians and others as to their sexual preferences, it is now being asked in the German media how far public school teachers should go in discussing homosexuality with their pupils. The media points out that this has been the practice for years in countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden, and that “only in Great Britain it was prohibited, until recently, to even talk about homosexuals and lesbians in school” (Bild, August 2, 2004).

The Bible is clear on the issue of homosexuality. But the question is, are our “advanced” Western societies willing to accept the clear teaching of the Bible – or do they think that they know it better than God does?

Warsaw Uprising

Associated Press reported on August 2, 2004, how “Western Leaders Mark Warsaw Uprising.”

The article continued: “German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder joined Poles in honoring the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazi occupation, voicing shame but also the hope that history’s wounds are healing. Joined in Warsaw on Sunday by Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Schroeder – the first German chancellor invited to an uprising anniversary – had the hardest mission. An estimated 200,000 Polish fighters died in the 63-day battle that began Aug. 1, 1944, led by the Home Army resistance movement. Most of the victims were civilians, including many children and teenagers. After the revolt collapsed, the Germans razed most of the city and sent many civilians to concentration camps or into slave labor.

“‘Today we bow in shame in the face of the Nazi troops’ crimes,’ Schroeder said to applause at the official ceremony. ‘At this place of Polish pride and German shame, we hope for reconciliation and peace. Never again must we allow such terrible wrongs. This task unites the peoples of Europe.’

Sadly, Biblical prophecy for the future of Europe indicates otherwise. For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

Catholic Church Condemns Feminism

As Associated Press reported on August 2, 2004, “The Vatican on Saturday denounced feminism for trying to blur differences between men and women and threatening the institution of families based on a mother and a father.” The article continued:

“The pamphlet by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican’s orthodoxy watchdog, was published during a Vatican campaign to protect what it terms the Christian family. Earlier salvos have blasted same-sex marriage and appealed to politicians, regardless of their religion, to prevent such unions from winning legal recognition. The document, addressed to bishops worldwide, contended that new recent approaches to women’s issues were marked by a tendency ‘to emphasize strongly conditions of subordination in order to give rise to antagonism: women, in order to be themselves, must make themselves the adversaries of men.’ Such an attitude, the document said, ‘has its most immediate and lethal effects in the structure of the family.’

“The document also said that feminism wrongly tends to deny the differences between men and women ‘in order to avoid the dominance of one sex or the other.’ The consequences of obscuring the differences between men and women, it said, included calling ‘into question the family, in its natural two-parent structure of mother and father,’ giving homosexual and heterosexual couples an equivalent status… The document also expressed the Vatican’s concern that blurring of differences between sexes could pose a challenge to church teaching, including the belief, in a reference to Christ, that ‘the Son of God assumed human nature in its male form. From the first moment of their creation, man and woman are different, and will remain so for eternity,’ the document said. Many Italian politicians pay close attention to the pronouncements of the church, with its headquarters a few minutes away from the Italian parliament.”

We note that the Bible reveals that a great religious power will reign “over every tribe, tongue, and nation” (Revelation 13:7). These events, so long ago prophesied in the Word of God, are now well on the way to their final fulfillment. These are things we all must watch and pray fervently about. We encourage you to write for our free booklets covering these subjects, or to simply view them at our website-www.eternalgod.org.

News from Europe

Associated Press reported on July 20 about the election of the new European President. It pointed out: “Despite a boycott from Euro-skeptics, lawmakers on Tuesday elected a pro-European from Spain to be its next president as the expanded European Parliament met for the first time. The 732-member assembly chose Josep Borrell, a relatively UNKNOWN Spanish Socialist, to its top job… He asked all members for their help during his 2 1/2 year term as head of the EU assembly to push ahead with EUROPEAN INTEGRATION…”

How politics “works,” and how candidates are “chosen,” can be seen by the next few interesting statements of the article: “Borrell’s victory was expected FOLLOWING A DEAL BETWEEN THE CONSERVATIVE EUROPEAN PEOPLE’S PARTY AND THE PARTY OF EUROPEAN SOCIALISTS — THE TWO LARGEST GROUPS IN THE ASSEMBLY. The two parties worked together to secure the EU’s top jobs for the next five years. The deal is expected to help former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Barroso to win lawmakers’ approval as president of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive.”

And so, let us notice what happened on July 22, 2004, as reported by Reuters:

“The European Parliament on Thursday approved former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Barroso as the next president of the European Union’s executive commission… The 48-year-old Barroso, who traveled a path from MAOIST STUDENT ACTIVIST IN THE 1970s TO PRIME MINISTER OF A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT AND SUPPORTER OF THE WAR IN IRAQ, has promised to bring a STRONG HAND TO HIS NEW EU ROLE. He will head the European Commission, which runs the EU’s day-to-day affairs. It drafts EU law, ensures they are enacted in each of the 25 member states and represents the union in world trade and other negotiations. The president is the face of the EU.”

These incredible developments show HOW QUICKLY relatively unknown persons can, virtually and literally “overnight,” climb to the highest political and governmental positions in Europe.

France and the US

Associated Press published an article last week, titled, “Chirac’s Outbursts Worry World Leaders.”

The article explained: “Jacques Chirac, whose refusal to join the Iraq invasion gained him I-told-you-so clout, IS WORRYING ALLIES WITH BLUNT OUTBURSTS that some say RAISE THE RISKS IN AN OVERHEATED WORLD. At a time when fighting terrorism needs a united front, arrogance in Paris and Washington alike is breeding discord, analysts and diplomats say… But things have gone beyond the two men’s [Chirac and Bush] apparent mutual dislike to drag in other leaders. Turkey, for instance, badly wants to join the European Union. But last month, when Bush endorsed Turkey’s ambitions, Chirac [and many other European leaders and the European media] essentially told him to mind his own business [a polite saying for “keep your nose out of European affairs”], saying Europe doesn’t tell the United States how to deal with Mexico.”

The article continued: “Chirac has enraged eastern European newcomers to the European Union by warning them against supporting the Iraq invasion. He is engaged in a nasty exchange with Ariel Sharon over the Israeli prime minister’s [overblown] claim that France is engulfed in the ‘wildest anti-Semitism’ and that its Jews should get out. And he has angered the Muslim world by championing a ban on schoolgirls’ wearing Islamic head scarves at school. Chirac also sent a message to this month’s international AIDS conference in Thailand accusing Washington of tying aid to trade and calling it ‘tantamount to blackmail.'”

The article pointed out: “Iraq is the obvious issue [for discontent between France and the USA], but underlying it is something much more basic to the French — a sense that their global leadership role, and even their identity, is being submerged in the united 25-nation European superstate they themselves worked to build.”

The German media implied that Chirac’s behavior can be explained by his desire to become a modern Napoleon — the new leader of Europe. However, the final leader will not be French, but of German/Austrian descent — as the Bible clearly reveals. For more information, please study our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

Turkey and the EU

The Middle East Times ran an aticle this week, titled, “Austria Lists Turkey’s EU Obstacles.” The article stated: “Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said in a TV interview on Sunday that Turkey’s entry into the EU would pose ‘huge problems.’ He said the main problem was that Turkey had a population larger than the 10 most recent EU entrants combined. Per capita purchasing power in Turkey was only one-fifth of that in the older members of the EU, and half that of the 10 new members, he said, Turkey had three times more farmers than the entire EU. Turkey’s strategic position on the frontiers of Iraq, Iran, and Syria could also be a problem, Schuessel said.”

EU and the Middle East

On July 22, 2004, Reuters reported that “Israel’s Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he told an E.U. convoy on Thursday the Jewish state was uncertain it could trust the European Union as a negotiating partner for Middle East peace. Israel is furious at the European Union, a member of an international peacemaking quartet, for backing a U.N. General Assembly resolution that it should tear down the barrier it is building inside the West Bank.”

On July 23, 2004, Reuters published an article, titled, “EU Vows Middle East role as Israel fumes.” It pointed out: “The European Union’s top diplomat has said the EU will play a role in ending the Middle East conflict ‘like it or not.’ The pledge by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana followed talks on Thursday in which Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned him there would be little chance of EU involvement in ending the conflict without a drastic change in the European position. Ties between Israel and the EU have hit a new low after the 25-nation bloc voted for a Palestinian-sponsored General Assembly resolution demanding Israel heed a World Court ruling calling on it to tear down the barrier.”

The article continued: “After failing to resolve the row in meetings with Israeli leaders, Solana wrapped up his visit telling reporters: ‘Europe … is a very important international power and is going to play a role, (whether) you like it or not.’ He said the EU had a right to participate because of its important interests in the region… Palestinians have always insisted on a European role, seeing them as more balanced to their cause than Washington, Israel’s staunchest ally.”

Israel Faces Potential Missile Attack

www.dailystar.com published an article, dated July 26, 2004, titled, “Hizbullah can hit Tel Aviv.” It was stated: “The head of Israeli military intelligence warned Sunday that Hizbullah has developed rockets capable of reaching the Tel Aviv region from its bases in Southern Lebanon, public radio reported.” The article continued: “Agence France Presse reported that General Aharon Zeevi Farkash told the weekly Cabinet meeting that Hizbullah had dozens of missiles with a 105-kilometer range and several with a 205-kilometer range which would represent a threat to Israel’s commercial capital. The missiles were supplied by Syria, the chief sponsors of the militia, public radio said. Israeli officials warned two years ago that Hizbullah possessed 8,000 Katyusha rockets with a range of up to 70 kilometers, representing a direct threat to the north of the country.”

Reuters reported on July 24, 2004: “Israel’s Security Minister warned Saturday of a possible attack on a Jerusalem mosque that is Islam’s third holiest shrine by Israeli right wing groups seeking to derail a plan to pull out of Gaza. The comments follow a report by Israel’s secret service that there is an increasing threat of an attack on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by right-wing groups who oppose his plan to pull troops out of Gaza and dismantle all 21 settlements… The al-Aqsa mosque in Arab East Jerusalem is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or Holy Sanctuary, and is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, the site of two ancient biblical temples. The extremists would take advantage of the fact that the shrine served as ‘the most sensitive, most volatile, most sacred site for Muslims’ in order to attack either the mosque itself or its worshippers’… The shrine has also been the site of numerous clashes by Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police since a Palestinian uprising erupted in September 2000.”

Alternate Pope in Spain?

On July 27, 2004, Reuters published an interesting article, titled, “Spanish Sect Leader says he is the real Pope.” The article pointed out: “Papal pretender ‘Gregorio XVII’ is leader of a self-styled church in Spain who says God crowned him after Pope Paul VI’s 1978 death, that Satan controls the Vatican and that the devil will crucify him at the start of an apocalyptic end of an era.” The article continued: “Church members say followers number several thousand and come from as far away as the Americas. But membership is clearly dwarfed by the 1 billion Roman Catholics around the world who recognize John Paul as head of the church… Gregorio’s church has conferred sainthood on former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco for defending Catholicism in Spain’s Civil War and four subsequent decades of fascist rule. Followers call 58-year-old Gregorio the last pope, and say he will be crucified. An electronic information package handed out at the church shows gory pictures of Gregorio with bleeding wounds in the hands, torso and forehead similar to those of Christ on the cross… Gregorio’s congregation rejects reforms made by the Catholic Church at the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, such as saying mass in local languages instead of Latin and dialogue with other religions and branches of Christianity… Mass is said in Latin and members of the congregation — all wearing pictures of Christ’s face and two bleeding hearts around their necks — spend most of the service on their knees.”

The article continued to point out: “Before crowning himself ‘pope,’ the man formerly known as Clemente Dominguez said he had visions of the Virgin Mary and messages from God that the church in Rome and Pope Paul VI were being misled. ‘Satan is governing in the Vatican,’ Gregorio was told in a vision in 1971, according to one booklet. A year later he was told, ‘Masons and communism have infiltrated the Vatican.’ Gregorio lost his sight in a 1976 car crash but the Virgin Mary promised he will regain it one day, church documents say. Two years later Paul VI died and Clemente Dominguez, on a trip to Colombia, proclaimed himself pope… The corpulent leader does not always lead services but appears for special occasions. But Pura Hernandez, a 76-year-old woman from Barcelona, said that his presence was overwhelming. ‘I saw him once in ecstasy. There were so many angels,’ she whispered.”

Reading an article like this, one should be reminded of Christ’s stern warnings for our days, as recorded in Matthew 24:11, 24: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many… For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

Francis Arinze — the Next Pope?

post-gazette.com published an article, dated July 26, 2004, titled, ” Outspoken Catholic cardinal captivates audience.” The article pointed out: “Cardinal Francis Arinze, one of the most powerful men at the Vatican, is known for an acerbic wit in defense of church teachings… Arinze, 71, heads the Vatican office responsible for sacraments and liturgy. Because he is embarrassed that the news media have touted him as a potential future pope, he avoids interviews… While Arinze is known as a traditionalist, he criticized what he perceived as traditionalist deviations from good Catholic practice. Two questions dealt with purported ongoing apparitions of the Virgin Mary, which are wildly popular in some conservative Catholic circles but have not been approved by the church. Arinze said he would not visit an unapproved apparition site, recommending Mass instead. Even when an apparition has been judged authentic — such as at Lourdes in France or Fatima in Portugal — no Catholic is required to believe in it, he said. ‘If you don’t believe Our Lady came to Fatima and you don’t believe Our Lady came to Lourdes, you can still be a good Catholic. But, if you don’t believe that Jesus died in Jerusalem, then you are not a Christian anymore,’ he said.

“He cautioned against extreme fasting and penance that Mary is said to have called for in some of these apparitions. Prayer and fasting are good, but not when they begin to interfere with the joyful completion of the ordinary God-given duties of family life, work and service to the church, he said… Arinze is an enthusiastic advocate of the church ban on artificial contraception. But in reply to a question about what to do when one spouse wants more children and the other doesn’t, he insisted they decide together… Arinze called the ban on women’s ordination ‘settled’ and said no future pope was likely to reconsider.”

US in Danger of Nuclear Attack

www.janes.com published an article, titled, “US vulnerable to EMP attack.” The article pointed out:

“The US armed forces infrastructure, and American society at large, remain vulnerable to a debilitating attack by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generated by a high-altitude nuclear blast, a senior-level, congressionally appointed panel has warned. Several potential adversaries, such as China, are capable of launching a crippling EMP strike against the US with a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile, and others, such as North Korea or even terrorist groups, could have the capability by 2015, the panel said in its findings that it unveiled to US legislators at a hearing on 22 July. Panel members said this type of attack may be an appealing option, especially for an unsophisticated opponent. One possible scenario is a ‘Scud’ missile, with a modified nuclear warhead to maximise the EMP effect, launched from a barge off the US coast.”

The article continued: “An EMP attack, for example, could place the nation’s electrical grid ‘in danger of fundamental collapse,’ said commission chairman William Graham, who served as scientific advisor to US President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. The overall effects could be long lasting and difficult to recover from, he added. An EMP strike would also be likely to knock out non-hardened satellites in low-Earth orbit ‘within days or weeks,’ he said, noting that commercial satellites are especially vulnerable.”

Religion under attack in the US?

On July 23, 2004, WorldNetDaily ran an interesting exclusive, titled, “Group threatens churches with loss of tax-exempt status over activism.” The article pointed out: “At least two organizations are monitoring the content of Sunday sermons by U.S. pastors and threatening to report churches to the Internal Revenue Service if they hear political messages they deem inappropriate under federal guidelines on tax-exempt status. Earlier this week, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, headed by Barry Lynn, filed a complaint with the IRS against Ronnie Floyd, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., accusing him of preaching a sermon promoting President Bush’s re-election July 4. The complaint challenges the church’s tax-exempt status as a religious organization.

The article continued to point out: “Lynn’s letter to the IRS reads, in part: ‘The pastor’s description of the candidates’ stands and their personal religious beliefs was obviously aimed at encouraging congregants to cast ballots for Bush. The church is known for its stands on social issues and its opposition to legal abortion and gay rights. By lauding Bush’s stands on these and other issues and attacking (Sen. John) Kerry’s, Floyd was plainly telling his congregation to be sure to vote for Bush…’

“Organizations granted tax-free status under federal law ‘may not participate at all in campaign activity for or against political candidates,’ according to published IRS guidelines. According to IRS regulations, tax-exempt organizations ‘are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position, verbal or written, made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violation of this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise tax.’

“The guidelines add: ‘The political campaign activity prohibition is not intended to restrict free expression on political matters by leaders of organizations speaking for themselves, as individuals. Nor are leaders prohibited from speaking about important issues of public policy. However, for their organizations to remain tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), leaders cannot make partisan comments in official organization publications or at official functions.'”

Not Only In the USA

The following article was published in the British The Daily Mirror, dated July 22, 2004, adding to the terrible information presented in our Editorial:

“A GIRL aged 14 who had a miscarriage in hospital was given the foetus in a jar and told to take it home. The teenager and her mother, who were distraught, put the baby’s remains in the kitchen fridge. Only when the girl’s father came home and expressed anger did they ring the hospital to complain. A midwife and undertaker were sent to collect the foetus. Last night health chiefs apologised, saying staff at Bishop Auckland General in Co Durham should have acted ‘in a more appropriate and sensitive manner’. The family want an inquiry and are to write to Tony Blair, who opened the flagship £67 million hospital two years ago. The mother, who also lost a baby recently, had known her daughter was pregnant for about five weeks.

“Last Sunday the girl, who does not want to be named, had slight bleeding and went to the urgent-care GP centre at the hospital. The next day, she started to miscarry in McDonald’s and went to A&E [Accident and Emergency ward]. Her mum said: ‘We saw a nurse and a doctor who told us to take the foetus back for the night, then return it to the gynaecology department. They didn’t explain and we were too upset to argue. They actually told us to put the baby in the fridge.’ The foetus was in a specimen jar in a blue plastic bag inside a padded envelope. The mum added: ‘Mr Blair needs to know what’s happening.'”

July 20, 1944

As AFP reported on Monday, July 19, 2004, “German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder paid tribute to the army officers who mounted the bomb attempt on Hitler’s life on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the unsuccessful attack, describing them as models for all Germans. ‘They showed there was another Germany, a good Germany, a democratic Germany at that time,’ he said of officers who tried to kill the Nazi leader on July 20, 1944. Aided by the aristocratic Claus von Stauffenberg a group of Wehrmacht (regular army) officers planted a bomb in a briefcase at a meeting with Hitler at his war headquarters in what was then East Prussia. Von Stauffenberg placed it on the floor before leaving the room, saying he had to make a phone call. He flew immediately back to Berlin, where he and co-conspirators hoped to stage a coup.

“But an officer moved the briefcase behind a leg of the solid oak table at which Hitler was studying maps, saving Hitler’s life. The explosion killed five of the 24 people in the room but the Nazi leader was only slightly injured. Von Stauffenberg and three other plotters were executed by firing squad on the same night. Dozens more were sent to often agonizingly slow deaths. ‘I have a profound respect, admiration, for the women and men who belonged to this resistance and who gave their lives for a Germany in which we now have the joy of living,’ Schroeder told a television station. ‘I think that if there are models in Germany, human models, these men and women belong to them.’ The fact that the assassination attempt failed is regarded as one of the great tragedies of the 20th century. Between July 20, 1944 and the end of the war in Europe in May 1945 killings in concentration camps continued, four million Germans, a million and half Soviet soldiers and more than 100,000 Allied servicemen lost their lives.”

The Bible predicted the rise of Hitler as part of the ninth resurrection of the Roman Empire. It says that the dragon (Satan), with God’s permission, gave his power to the “beast” (compare Revelation 13:4) — and Adolph Hitler, together with Benito Mussolini, constituted the ninth resurrection of the “beast” power. It is predicted that a last and final resurrection of the Roman Empire will still occur, before Jesus Christ returns. In a recent sermon, we addressed why the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, as well as prior assassination attempts, had to fail. The sermon — titled, “Who is in Control?” — is posted on the Audio page of our Website (www.eternalgod.org).

Sharon Angers France

Associated Press reported on July 19, 2004, that “an appeal by Israel’s leader [Ariel Sharon] for French Jews to flee for their safety [from France] prompted an outcry in France on Monday, with lawmakers and Jewish groups urging Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to mind his own business. The president of France’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, said Sharon ‘missed a good opportunity to keep quiet.’ ‘These words are inadmissible, unacceptable and, furthermore, irresponsible,’ Jean-Louis Debre told Europe-1 radio, adding to a chorus of complaints in Paris from the government and opposition groups. Sharon on Sunday urged France’s Jews to move to Israel to escape a tide of anti-Semitism at home. ‘If I have to advocate to our brothers in France, I will tell them one thing,’ Sharon told American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. ‘Move to Israel, as early as possible.’ Israel’s government spokesman sought Monday to tone down the remarks, saying Sharon only meant to let French Jews know they were welcome in Israel.”

The article explained the typical political propaganda associated with an attempt to soften Sharon’s outrageous remarks, as follows: “‘Sharon was misunderstood,’ spokesman Avi Pazner told Europe-1 radio, adding the prime minister said ‘he considered that French Jews, like all Jews in the world, belong in Israel — and he invited French Jews to come.'”

AP continued: “Anti-Semitic acts against Jewish schools, synagogues and cemeteries have risen in France in recent years, coinciding with tensions in the Middle East. Many attacks have been blamed on young Muslims. The latest French Interior Ministry figures show 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 — compared with 593 for all of last year. ‘I would simply remind that France is today certainly the country with the strictest legislation on all problems of racism,’ Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told RTL radio Monday. She added that France shows the ‘strongest disapproval, its condemnation and sanctions racist and anti-Semitic acts.’ France’s opposition Socialists also condemned Sharon’s remarks as ‘unjustifiable,’ saying such comments would only add to the racial confusion in France, said party spokeswoman Annick Lepetit. The French Foreign Ministry issued a swift reply Sunday to Sharon’s remarks, saying it had immediately contacted Israeli authorities for an explanation to ‘these unacceptable statements.’ French Jewish leaders interviewed on France-2 television said Sharon’s remarks were unhelpful. ‘These comments do not bring calm, peace and serenity that we all need,’ said Patrick Gaubert, president of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, known by the acronym LICRA. ‘I think Mr. Sharon would have done better tonight to have kept quiet.'”

The tragic truth is that, as the Bible prophesies, state-endorsed and state-organized anti-Semitism WILL occur in Europe in the future. However, not unlike current events in Germany, Sharon’s comments at this point represent a wrong evaluation of the present affairs and will, in the long-run, hurt, rather than help. Angry reactions to comments like the ones from Sharon might very well bring into motion events which no one wants to see, and which many will be shocked about, when they finally occur.

Israel Ready to Strike

WorldNetDaily reported on July 19, 2004: “Israel has conducted military exercises for a pre-emptive strike against several of Iran’s nuclear power facilities and is ready to attack if Russia supplies Iran with rods for enriching uranium, Israeli officials told reporters. An Israeli defense source in Tel Aviv told the London Sunday Times, which first published the story, that ‘Israel will on no account permit Iranian reactors — especially the one being built in Bushehr with Russian help — to go critical.’ The source was also quoted as saying that any strike on Iran’s reactors would probably be carried out by long-range F-15I jets, flying over Turkey, with simultaneous operations by commandos on the ground. Russia is expected to deliver the enriching rods, currently being stored at a Russian port, late next year after a dispute over financial terms is resolved. ‘If the worst comes to the worst and international efforts fail,’ the source said, ‘we are very confident we’ll be able to demolish the ayatollah’s nuclear aspirations in one go.'”

The article continued to point out: “The Sunday Times reports Israeli sources fear a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities could provoke ‘a ferocious response,’ which could involve Lebanese-based rocket attacks on northern Israel or terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad.”

We know from Biblical prophecy that an all-encompassing war will be fought in the future in the Middle East, and that “all nations” will battle against the state of Israel, and especially the city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2). It will be interesting to observe how these prophecies will reach their ultimate fulfillment. For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

Canada Forbids Distribution of Bibles

On July 13, 2004, LifeSiteNews.com reported the following: “The Canadian Bible Society is disappointed and strongly questioning the rationale behind a recent decision by Senior Citizenship Judge Michel Simard, removing the Society’s ability to present bibles on request to new Canadians. For more than 50 years the Society has welcomed immigrants in citizenship courts, offering them copies of the Scriptures. The right of the Society to do that was formalized in an agreement signed in 1998 with the government. At all times, it was made clear that acceptance of the bibles was purely voluntary on the part of the recipients… In a letter to the Society, Judge Simard merely noted that Canada is a multicultural nation where freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. His letter indicated that notwithstanding the agreement ‘allowing holy books to be made available at citizenship ceremonies detracts from this message.'”

Apart from the questionable rationale of the Judge’s decision, God looks with disfavor at individuals, institutions and governments who break their promises and agreements. The history of the mistreatment of American Indians is only one of the sad records of making and breaking promises. God holds us accountable for what we say and what we do. If we give our word, we must keep it — otherwise, God might withdraw His protecting hands from us — individually and nationwide.

Tame Animals Becoming Wild

On July 15, 2004, news.com.au published a remarkable article about a change in the nature of presumably tame animals:

“Just days after a large kangaroo drowned a pet dog in Canberra come reports that farmers in New South Wales’s southeast believe it is only a matter of time before packs of wild dogs in the area attack a human. The wolf-sized dogs, which have reached plague proportions in the Snowy Mountains and South Coast regions, are becoming increasingly bold and have reportedly begun stalking farmers. The combined effects of the drought and last year’s bushfires, which killed off large numbers of native wildlife in NSW national parks, have seen an increase in the number of big dogs roaming through grazing land, attacking and killing stock. Bombala grazier Kurt Pougratz and neighbour Peter Shoeman last month shot and killed two dogs that were attacking his breeding deer. The dogs, believed to be crosses between great danes and rhodesian ridgebacks, weighed 60kg and 70kg and were nearly 180cm long. Bega farmer Ellen Green and her husband Bill were forced to abandon grazing sheep at their property after attacks and now run less profitable cattle, whose calves are constantly being killed.”

This report brings to mind, as a small foretaste, frightening Biblical prophecies for the descendants of the ancient house of Israel, including the United States of America, Great Britain and Australia, describing the not-too-distant future: “I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate” (Leviticus 26:22).

Missile Defense Site in Europe?

The Guardian reported on July 13 that plans are underway to build a missile defense site in central Europe:

“The US administration is negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic over its controversial missile defence programme, with a view to positioning the biggest missile defence site outside the US in central Europe. Polish government officials confirmed to the Guardian that talks have been going on with Washington for eight months and made clear that Poland was keen to take part in the project, which is supposed to shield the US and its allies from long-range ballistic missile attacks. Senior officials in Prague also confirmed that talks were under way over the establishment of American advanced radar stations in the Czech Republic as part of the missile shield project… Under Bush administration plans, two missile interceptor sites are being built in the US – one in California, the other in Alaska. Such a site in Poland would be the first outside America and the only one in Europe.”

Saturday or Sunday?

WorldNetDaily ran a surprisingly candid article about the Biblically-commanded Sabbath and the man-made establishment of Sunday in an exclusive, titled, “Testing the Faith — Sunday, holy Sunday?” It continued: “Pastor resurrects Sabbath debate with 1 million dollar reward.” The article pointed out:

“One of the longest running disputes in the history of Christianity — Saturday vs. Sunday — is having new life breathed into it with a cash reward of up to $1 million toward a resolution. A. Jan Marcussen, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in Illinois, is starting with $50,000 of his own money if someone can produce ‘a verse from the Holy Bible showing that God commands us to keep holy the first day of the week’ — Sunday — ‘instead of the seventh day’ — Saturday — ‘as is commanded in the Bible… Millions of people believe and have confidence in their clergy that what they’re being taught is true,’ says Marcussen. ‘They’ll find out that the clergy is not teaching from the Bible.'”

The article continued to say: “Experts on biblical scripture tell WorldNetDaily that Marcussen has little need to worry about paying out the money. ‘I am afraid that you are not going to find an exact Bible verse to counter the good pastor’s challenge and collect,’ says James Efird, professor of biblical interpretation at Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina. ‘As far as I know, there is no verse which specifies that Sunday is the day for Christians to observe the Sabbath.’

“Indeed, neither the words Saturday nor Sunday appear anywhere in most translations of the Bible. Days of the week are referred to by number, starting in the first chapter of Genesis in the account of creation. It was after the work of creating that God made special note of one day of the week: ‘And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made’ (Genesis 2:3). In the Ten Commandments, the seventh day was made the focus of the fourth mandate: ‘Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy … thou shalt not do any work … For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it’ (Exodus 20:8-11). The word sabbath comes from the Hebrew root word ‘shabbat,’ meaning to rest, cease or desist. Scholars say the word in Bible scripture not only refers to the weekly day of rest, but also the ANNUAL festivals of God such as Passover and Day of Atonement (emphasis added)…

“In the lexicon of modern society, the debate over which day is holy — that is, set apart to God — goes unresolved by the editors of Webster’s New World College Dictionary. While the first definition of sabbath calls it ‘the seventh day of the week (Saturday), set aside for rest and worship and observed as such by Jews (from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) and some Christian denominations,’ its second meaning defines it as ‘Sunday as the usual Christian day of rest and worship.’ ‘There’s a fear factor among preachers,’ says Marcussen, on why churches don’t have their members look into this issue. ‘They’re afraid their sheep will start reading the Bible, and they know they’ll lose their sheep.’

“One expert who has spent his career researching and explaining the Sabbath debate is Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, a retired theology professor at Andrews University in Michigan. He tells WorldNetDaily two factors are responsible for the shift from one day to another: ‘Anti-Judaism caused the abandonment of the Sabbath, and pagan sun worship influenced the adoption of Sunday.’ Bacchiocchi says the Church of Rome, which grew into the Roman Catholic Church, had great influence in promoting Sunday observance. ‘The Church of the capital of the empire, whose authority was already felt far and wide in the second century, appears to be the most likely birth-place of Sunday observance,’ he writes in his book, ‘From Sabbath to Sunday: A historical investigation of the rise of Sunday observance in early Christianity.’

“In May 1998, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter on the subject, entitled Dies Domini (The Lord’s Day). In it, the pontiff refers to the origins of Sunday-keeping. ‘In the weekly reckoning of time, Sunday recalls the day of Christ’s Resurrection,’ writes the pope. ‘It is Easter which returns week by week, celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and death, the fulfillment in him of the first creation and the dawn of “the new creation.”‘ The pontiff goes on to state that though Sunday has become a time for cultural, political and sporting events, it has a significance that shouldn’t be ignored… Though Protestant churches have some significant differences with Catholicism, one thing often agreed on today is Sunday observance. ‘The church always met on Sunday throughout the New Testament,” says Rev. Jerry Falwell, chancellor of Liberty University in Virginia. ‘Saturday is clearly the Sabbath as is recorded many times in the Old Testament. In Christian Church tradition, Sunday became “the Lord’s Day” when Jesus rose from the grave.’

“The actual times of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are not universally agreed on either. ‘I personally believe he was crucified on Wednesday evening … and rose after 6 p.m. Saturday evening,’ Falwell tells WorldNetDaily.”

We might mention here that Christ did in fact die on a Wednesday and that He rose on Saturday — NOT Sunday! (We are preparing a new booklet on the Mystery of Jesus Christ, which will explain these facts in much more detail.) However, it is absolutely false to claim that the New Testament Church “always met on Sunday throughout the New Testament.” It is hard to believe that Jerry Falwell would make such a clearly erroneous statement — unless he meant to say that the New Testament church always met on Saturday — which it clearly did. For more information on these vital issues, please read our free booklets, “God’s Commanded Holy Days” and “Europe in Prophecy.”

To continue with WorldNetDaily’s article: “Most scholars agree that biblical references to ‘the Sabbath day’ denote the seventh day of the week. But in the years to come after Jesus rose, the first day of the week came into competition with Saturday, and at times both days were being observed side by side. The ostensible church was divided on the issue, choosing different days to regard as holy. ‘It may be that Sunday was originally one of the [pagan] Roman festival days,’ explains Professor Efird at Duke, ‘but so were several others that the church adopted in its evolution, [for example:] Christmas.'”

Again, this last statement is very true. That is the reason why true Christians should not keep Christmas, either. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Don’t Keep Christmas.”

The article continues: “Marcussen condemns the change in day of observance. ‘It’s the greatest hoax of all time, foisted upon the world for hundreds and hundreds of years,’ he says. His zeal on the matter reflects his belief that citizens of the United States and other countries will be forced to choose sides on the issue in the so-called ‘end time’ mentioned in Scripture. ‘Sunday worship is the mark of the Papacy’s authority,’ Marcussen writes in his book. ‘Sunday worship is the “mark of the beast!”‘”

Indeed, it is — in addition to the celebration of Christmas, Easter and other “Christian” holidays of pagan origin, and the rejection of the weekly Sabbath and the annual Festivals, as set forth in Scripture. Again, we encourage our readers to study our free booklets: “Europe in Prophecy“; “God’s Commanded Holy Days“; and “Don’t Keep Christmas.”

Bird Flu a Terrible Worldwide Threat

The web site www.theage.com.au published an article on July 10, 2004, titled, “Bird flu a danger of pandemic magnitude.” The article pointed out: “The bird flu strain that killed 24 people in East Asia earlier this year and has resurfaced in recent weeks is now endemic to the region, and the virus could trigger a global health crisis if it goes unchecked, a study says. In the study published by the London-based science journal Nature, researchers led by a Hong Kong microbiologist found that domestic ducks in southern China had played a key role in the creation of the H5N1 influenza virus, while wild birds had probably helped its spread through Asia. Early this year, the virus raged through Asia’s poultry farms and transferred to humans in cases that were mostly traced to direct contact with sick birds, killing 16 people in Vietnam and eight in Thailand. Health officials raised concerns about the illness mutating into a strain that could easily be passed between humans, but said there was no sign that had happened. New outbreaks from the same deadly strain re-emerged in eastern China and two central Thai provinces this week, and Chinese and Thai officials are slaughtering thousands of chickens to halt its spread. Vietnam also has been dealing with bird flu outbreaks in recent weeks.”

Israel’s Barrier and Europe’s Hypocrisy

Reuters reported on July 9, that the “World Court strongly condemned Israel’s West Bank barrier Friday, saying it had illegally imposed hardship on thousands of Palestinians and should be torn down. The court said in a nonbinding ruling hailed by Palestinians and rejected by Israel that the barrier violated international humanitarian law. It called on the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly to stop its construction. But the United States, which has vetoed Security Council resolutions against the Jewish state in the past, dismissed the court’s intervention and an American judge on the 15-member panel did not back the ruling. Israel was forthright in its rejection of the ruling, saying not one Palestinian suicide bomber had managed to slip into the Jewish state wherever the barrier had already been constructed.”

At the same time, according to israelnationalnews.com of July 4, 2004, the “European Union funds a separate fence” in Northwest Africa. The article pointed out: “…while the European Union attacks Israel mercilessly for the partition fence it’s building to protect Jewish lives, the EU itself funds and operates a similar fence designed only to protect itself from illegal immigrants.”

The article went on to explain: “The fence is located in a Spanish enclave in northwestern Africa, the coastal city of Ceuta just across the Straits of Gibraltar from Spain. Unknown to most of the world, when Spain handed over most of northern Morocco to the newly independent kingdom in 1956, Spain retained Ceuta and Melilla (about 250 kilometers further east) – thus that the European Union is present in Africa as well. Poverty-stricken Moroccans attempting to cross into Ceuta, from where they will then be able to work anywhere in Europe because of the EU’s no-checkpoints policy, are stopped in their tracks by the eight-meter-high, double layer fence. Funding for the fence, some 60 million Euros, came from European Union coffers.” The article concluded: “The EU continues to oppose Israel’s fence, constructed to protect against murderous terrorists and suicide bombs – even as it plans to build another fence of its own around Spain’s second enclave in northern Africa, the Moroccan town of Melilla.”

No Right to Life for a Fetus

The web site news.bbc.co.uk reported last week: “A woman whose pregnancy was wrongly terminated in a French hospital has lost her fight at the European Court to enshrine a foetus’ right to life.” The article continued to report about this outrageous incident, as follows: “Mrs Thi-Nho Vo went to the court after French courts said the doctor could not be prosecuted for homicide as the foetus did not have the right to life. She said it had that right under the European Convention on Human Rights. But the Court of Human Rights ruled against her, and involuntary abortion did not constitute manslaughter. The ruling sets a precedent on the legal status of unborn babies that will be applied across European countries… Mrs Vo argued that the foetus is protected by article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees a right to life… Nuala Scarisbrick of the pro-life charity Life, told BBC News Online: ‘This is not a surprising decision. But it is a disgusting one. It is morally bankrupt. It’s a disgraceful situation that a child of that stage, who is perfectly viable, is not given the right to life.'”

Biblical Truth and Worldly Persecution

World Net Daily reported last week that “A Swedish court has sentenced Ake Green, a pastor belonging to the Pentecostal movement, to a month in prison, under a law against incitement, after he was found guilty of having offended homosexuals in a sermon, according to Ecumenical News International. Green had described homosexuality as ‘abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society’ in a 2003 sermon. Soren Andersson, the president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights, said on hearing Green’s jail sentence that religious freedom could never be used as a reason to offend people. ” We wonder whether the Swedish Court, bowing to pressures from homosexuals, would have sentenced the apostle Paul to prison as well (compare Romans 1:20-32)?

The Vatican and the American Catholic Bishops

NewsMax.com reported on July 7, 2004 about a private memorandum from Cardinal Ratzinger, telling American bishops that Communion must be denied to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion. The article continued: “While never mentioning Sen. John Kerry by name, the memo implicitly aims at the pro-choice Catholic Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate. Ratzinger’s ban is broad and includes all other pro-abortion Catholic politicians who are defying the church’s ban on abortion. According the Culture of Life Foundation, which obtained a copy of the confidential document, the Cardinal began by stressing the serious nature of receiving Communion and the need for each person to make ‘a conscious decision’ regarding their worthiness based on ‘the Church’s objective criteria.’ But the Cardinal adds that it is not only the responsibility of the pro-abortion politicians such as Kerry to make a judgment about their worthiness to receive Communion. It is also up to those distributing Communion to deny the sacrament to those in conflict with the Church’s prohibition of abortion and the duty of office holders to oppose the procedure.”

In an interview on the Larry King Live Show which was broadcast last week, Senator Kerry explained that he has been receiving communion from Catholic Bishops — it, therefore, seems that Cardinal Ratzinger’s memorandum is presently being ignored by most American Catholic Bishops.

The article continued that Ratzinger’s “document also address the issues of the death penalty and war, contrasting these issues… with abortion. ‘Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia … There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia,’ Ratzinger wrote.”

We would like to say that there cannot and MUST NOT be “legitimate diversity of opinion” among TRUE Christians about waging war. God condemns the wars of this world that are being fought by humans. The Biblical teaching on this issue is abundantly clear.