Update 729

On March 19, 2016, Dave Harris will present the sermonette, titled, “Face It,” and Eric Rank will present the sermon, titled, “Let God Fight the Battles.”

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

On February 19th 2016 we had the spectacle of Mr David Cameron negotiating the UK’s position in the European Community. After two days of wrangling with the other 27 leaders of the EU, they came up with a declaration, which was the culmination of Mr Cameron’s extensive tour of Europe as he tried to persuade the other leaders about the renegotiated terms for the UK.

Without going into the details, which have been picked over for more than a month now, I would like to comment on the spectacle that unfolded before our eyes. Being in the UK gave us a grandstand view with the media in a frenzy.

Large luxurious limousines glided sedately towards the entrance to the conference hall with the usual carpet in full view. Some leaders addressed a huge press corps, and others just went straight into the hall. The size of the media presence was mightily impressive.

Of course, I have no idea about the sincerity of any of the players in this drama as only God knows the heart of each one of us, and it was plain to understand that getting all 28 leaders to agree was not going to be easy. However, these leaders and all of their support staff became much sought after for their views about how negotiations were proceeding and what their particular country’s views on the UK’s demands were. It became a media circus reminding me of that song “There’s no business like show business”.

It was all so very carefully orchestrated, there was a sense of theatre, egos were out in force, celebrity status afforded all the players and it was the best show in town.

In spite of all of this posturing and positioning, it is God who will work out all of the details according to His purpose, not the politicians who always have to compromise on their beliefs and requirements to obtain agreements. But God never compromises!

Sir Winston Churchill once said that “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others” and in human terms that may well be correct. There may be many more such conferences when the strong, charismatic leader in Europe emerges, and then there will be an even greater sense of theatre. It will be a time when there will be no negotiations, just the use of raw power.

That time may not be that far away.

We begin with staged and organized anti-Trump “demonstrations” by the (radical) left and gullible students at the Trump rally in Chicago and at other places, while commenting on the dishonest reporting of the mass media and the pitiful attempts of Donald Trump’s competitors to get a political advantage, showing again the deeply corrupt and despicable methods of politics at its lowest level. The irony is that all of these events might help, rather than hurt Trump. It is becoming more and more certain that Trump will win the popular vote as the Republican nominee. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled “How NOT to Stop Trump!” We also report on China’s and Japan’s views on America. 

We continue with surprising and disturbing facts on Ted Cruz and the stunning success of Germany’s anti-migrant party AfD, while Angela Merkel suffered a devastating defeat.

We report on the continuing rift between the USA and Israel and point at an article by the Telegraph about the undesired effects of the terrible deal between President Obama and Iran. We speak on the horrible fruits of war in Syria; Putin’s surprising announcement to withdraw troops from Syria; and the curse of nuclear power plants, by pointing at the failed attempts by the Japanese to come to grips with the highly radioactive fuel at the damaged Fukushima’s nuclear reactors.

We conclude with interesting articles about the Catholic Church and the origin of the name “America.”

An Organized Assault on Free Speech by the Radical Left

Breitbart wrote on March 12:

“We Warned You: Chicago Trump Shutdown Is Just the Beginning… last night’s battle in Chicago may come as a shock, but it should come as no surprise.

“No other news organization has documented the rise and origins of the groups behind Friday night’s madhouse as thoroughly as the team at Breitbart News. From its origins being exposed in the film Occupy Unmasked before the election cycle to covering and exposing every aspect of the new Black Lives Matter incarnation, we’ve given readers the intellectual ammunition to understand the dangerous rise of the new American left in the Obama era…

“The enemy here is the organized institutional left… Black Lives Matter will not back down or rest until it is either stopped by someone gutsy enough to call them out or until it gets what it wants: a bloody revolution leading to a socialist/anarchist America… There’s a battle for the soul of our nation.”

When Donald Trump decided to cancel his rally in Chicago on Friday night, due to imminent threats and the danger of violent actions by the organized (radical) left, sadly, the “reporting” of the mainstream media was predictable. The antagonism towards Trump was to be expected by left-liberal stations such as CNN, NBC and of course MSNBC, but it also included conservative outlets such as Fox News. All of this was pitiful and appalling at the same time. Comments by Republican competitors Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich, blaming the victim (and frontrunner) Donald Trump as the responsible perpetrator for violent anti-Trump “demonstrations,” was ridiculous and bordered on the fictitious narrative of the left, including by socialists and communists, but they also showed their willingness to capitalize on every opportunity they can get to secure a few more votes. (That Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama would seize on the opportunity to blame Trump was of course foreseeable.) This is politics at its lowest level.

However, all the negativism will only help Trump, as Breitbart pointed out on March 12:

“Supporters of [Cruz and Rubio] took to social media to slam the freshman senators for blaming leftists shutting down a Trump Chicago rally on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump… Cruz supporters, incensed by the Texas senator’s blame game, stormed social media to express their anger… Rubio fared little better… [Some Rubio supporters were] just as angry as former Cruz supporters.”

Members of the Church of the Eternal God and its corporate affiliates do not participate in politics and its rotten and corrupt political maneuvering; they neither vote nor endorse anyone as their political candidate. (Note the Editorial in last week’s Update). We are here to report the news in the light of biblical prophecy, and it has become apparent to us for quite some time that Trump MIGHT very well be predestined to become the next US President [and not Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz]—so that biblical prophecy can be fulfilled. For more information, please request a copy of our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Who IS to Be Blamed for the Violence?

Breitbart UK wrote on March 13:

“I’ve been saying it for a while now, the mainstream media, alongside the politicians running against Donald Trump on both sides, are creating the conditions in which it would be totally ‘understandable’ if there were an attempt on Trump’s life… First, they made Donald Trump the enemy of this race… Then… Mr. Trump started attracting serious support. And the primary victories came. And the other candidates dropped out…

“Now Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler. Because people raise their hands at his rallies… That must make them Nazis. Forget that Mrs. Clinton’s supporters have done the same thing…

“Mr. Trump, like Mr. Farage [in the UK], has been portrayed as the progenitor of violence, despite the fact that Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters shut down his rally in Chicago last night. And despite the fact that someone tried to jump Mr. Trump on stage in Ohio… The problem, to these people, is Mr. Trump. Not their own… violent tendencies…

“And it’s quite clear who is to blame for all of this… It’ll be the fault of the Hitlerizing media. It’ll be the fault of the groups who shut down his events, and made him an easy target. And it’ll be the fault of those who would rather defend President Barack Obama’s record as the ‘first black president’ instead of conceding that he has divided your country more than he has united it… Something very bad could be about to happen.”

It is indeed very sad that because of paid-for tumults, which are organized by the left, and because of the unfair propaganda of the liberal and conservative mass media, Donald Trump’s life could indeed be in danger.

“Republican Wimps Absolve the Rioters”

On March 14, WND published the following article by Pat Buchanan:

“Friday evening’s Donald Trump rally in Chicago was broken up by a foul-mouthed mob that infiltrated the hall and forced the cancellation of the event to prevent violence and bloodshed. Brownshirt tactics worked. The mob, triumphant, rejoiced.  And the reaction of Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich? All three Republican rivals blamed – Donald Trump.

“With his ‘dangerous style of leadership,’ Trump stokes this anger, mewed Rubio, ‘This is what happens when a leading presidential candidate goes around feeding into a narrative of bitterness and anger and frustration.’ Rubio implies that if Trump doesn’t tone down his remarks to pacify the rabble, he will be responsible for the violence visited upon him.

“Kasich echoed Rubio: ‘Donald Trump has created a toxic environment (that) has allowed his supporters and those who sometimes seek confrontation to come together in violence.’ But were the thousands of Trump supporters who came out to cheer him that night really looking for a fight? Or were they exercising their right of peaceful assembly?

“Cruz charged Trump with ‘creating an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discord,’ thus offering absolution to the mob.

“Friday night cried out for moral clarity. What we got from Trump’s rivals was moral mush that called to mind JFK’s favorite quote from Dante: The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. As news outlets have reported, Friday’s disruption at the University of Illinois-Chicago auditorium was a preplanned assault. Behind it were the George Soros-funded MoveOn.org, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, Hispanics hoisting Mexican flags and cop-haters carrying filthy signs to show their contempt for police.

“People for Bernie, a pro-Sanders outfit, tweeted, ‘[This] wasn’t just luck. It took organizers from dozens of organizations and thousands of people to pull off. Great work.’ Now, Sanders did not order this assault on the civil rights of Trump supporters. But MoveOn.org has endorsed him, and ‘Bernie’ signs and T-shirts were everywhere among the disrupters. Hence, he has a duty to disavow this conduct and those who engaged in it…

“Can one imagine how the media would pile on Trump if working-class white males in Trump T-shirts invaded a Hillary Clinton rally and shut it down?…

“Given their ‘victory’ in Chicago, MoveOn.org and its allied nasties will try to replicate it, again and again. And as Americans came to despise the ’60s radicals, they will come to despise them. And, as in the 1960s, the country will take a turn – to the right. America has changed from the land we grew up in. But she is not yet ready to allow ugly mobs screaming obscenities at Trump and his folks inside and outside that hall in Chicago, or their paragons like socialist Bernie Sanders, to take over the country…”

China’s Anti-Trump (and Anti-American) Propaganda

China’s state-owned newspaper Global Times wrote on March 14:

“Donald Trump, front-runner to be the GOP’s candidate for the upcoming US presidential election, encountered a major protest at his campaign event in Chicago on Friday evening… Trump’s mischief has overthrown a lot of conventional norms of US political life. His remarks are abusively racist and extremist, which has left an impression on the US public that he is intentionally overthrowing political correctness.

“Trump’s rise was not anticipated by most analysts and observers. At the beginning of the election, Trump, a rich, narcissist and inflammatory candidate, was only treated as an underdog. His job was basically to act as a clown to attract more voters’ attention to the GOP. However, knocking down most other promising candidates, the clown is now the biggest dark horse…

“The rise of Trump has opened a Pandora’s box in US society… Big-mouthed, anti-traditional, abusively forthright, he is a perfect populist that could easily provoke the public… The rise of a racist in the US political arena worries the whole world… He has even been called another Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler by some Western media.

“Mussolini and Hitler came to power through elections, a heavy lesson for Western democracy… Even if Trump is simply a false alarm, the impact has already left a dent… The US had better watch itself for not being a source of destructive forces against world peace, more than pointing fingers at other countries for their so-called nationalism and tyranny.”

The Huffington Post reported on March 14:

“The Shanghai Morning Post, a local [Chinese] newspaper owned by the Communist Party… accused Trump of continually making ‘empty promises’ to solve a string of social problems… It also added that Trump’s looks and hairstyle were ‘obviously bizarre.’ ‘If [Trump] really wins, it will be hard to imagine what will become of the United States,’ the editorial concluded. Chinese outlets have not shied away from commenting on Trump in the past. After former Republican candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson endorsed Trump on Friday, China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the country’s Communist Youth League, published an op-ed the next day titled, ‘Who Can Stop “Madman” Trump’s Leading Pace?’”

It seems that dictatorial Communist China, which tramples civil rights and liberties of its citizens under foot and which is taking advantage of the USA, is becoming really anxious and concerned about Trump, taking his threats (including high tariffs for imported goods) much more seriously than many Americans are willing to do.

Japan Worried About the USA

The Financial Times wrote on March 15:

“Japan regards the US military presence as crucial to its long-run security position given China’s rise, and counts on the US nuclear umbrella to deter attack by the regime in North Korea. ‘Still fresh in our memory is the tremendous damage another Washington outsider, Jimmy Carter, did to East Asia’s security equation,’ said one foreign policy figure with ties to the Abe government. ‘Had Carter indeed withdrawn US troops from the Korean peninsula at the peak of the cold war, the world as we know it might well not have existed.’…

“On TPP [Trans-Atlantic Partnership]… they worry that Mr Trump’s rhetoric will make it hard for Congress to ratify the deal, whoever wins. As well as the direct benefits from greater trade, the Abe administration regards TPP as one of its best tools for forcing the Japanese economy to reform in areas such as agriculture…

“Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, recently toughened her rhetoric on TPP… She wants tougher ‘rules of origin’ standards, which specify where motor parts must come from for a vehicle to enter the US tax-free.

“Tokyo regards access to the US car market as its main gain from TPP… The growing threat that TPP will fail in the US casts a shadow over Japan’s own debate about ratification, which is due to start after the budget passes this month…”

Trump on the Road to Victory

The New York Times wrote on March 16:

“Donald J. Trump’s series of victories on Tuesday extended his delegate lead and forced Senator Marco Rubio of Florida out of the presidential race. Mr. Trump’s path to winning enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination is not assured, but he is in a strong position…

“If Mr. Trump maintains his current level of support in the remaining races, he would almost certainly secure the nomination.

“After Tuesday’s contests, no other candidate retains a real chance of capturing the delegates required to win the nomination outright. Mr. Rubio dropped out, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio is too far behind, and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas would need to win the vast majority of the remaining delegates — a near impossibility.

“But Mr. Trump still needs to win most of the remaining delegates to avoid a contested convention. If he continues his current performance and wins a series of key states — like Arizona, California and New York — he would get the needed delegates. Mr. Trump will probably need to win California, which has 172 delegates. California is winnable for Mr. Trump, but it could be a difficult state for him… If Mr. Trump loses California, he could miss the delegate cutoff.

“Exit polls have indicated that most of Mr. Rubio’s support could be distributed to Mr. Trump’s competitors. Say 80 percent of Mr. Rubio’s voters go to Mr. Cruz. This would cut into Mr. Trump’s delegate lead. But even that may not prevent Mr. Trump from winning the key states — like California — that ensure him enough delegates.”

Breitbart added on March 16:

“Wednesday on CNN’s ‘New Day,’ Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was asked by show co-host Chris Cuomo about the possibility he could be denied the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Cleveland later this summer. Trump said he expected to have enough delegates before heading into the convention, but added that if he were just shy of the 1,237 requited to clinch the nomination and was ultimately denied it, there could be the possibility of ‘riots.’…

“Now, if you disenfranchise those people and you say, well I’m sorry but you’re 100 votes short, even though the next one is 500 votes short, I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen, I really do. I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it but I think bad things would happen…’”

Ted Cruz—a Pentecostal and the Anointed One?

East Orlando Post wrote on March 10, 2016:

“While Ted Cruz proudly proclaims he is an Evangelical Christian, his campaign takes pains to hide the truth that Cruz and his pastor father, Rafael Cruz are Pentecostal Christians, a fact further hidden by having Ted and Heidi Cruz’s belong to the congregation of First Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church in Houston, as their home church. Both Cruz’s parents, his father Rafael, a Cuban-born immigrant, and his mother Eleanor, born in Wilmington, Delaware, grew up in Catholic families. Both were among the millions that left the Catholic Church since the 1960s to embrace Pentecostalism, a Christian movement estimated to make up 4.4 percent of the U.S. population, accounting for some 13 percent of evangelical churches in the United States…

“Pentecostals believe [in the] unintelligible human utterances of [a] Pentecostal evangelist to be understood by foreigners who do not speak the Pentecostal evangelist’s language… Religion reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey, writing in the Washington Post on March 25, 2015, was [one] of the first to recognize Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign logo and the purifying tongue-of-fire logo used commonly to identify Pentecostal churches…

“Rafael Cruz, at the Pastor Larry Huch’s New Beginnings mega-church in Bedford Texas, outside Dallas, on Aug. 26, 2012, in a Dominionist sermon proclaimed his son, Ted Cruz, to be the ‘anointed one,’ a Dominionist Messiah who would bring God’s law to reign… God anoints priests to work in the church directly and kings to go out into the marketplace to conquer, plunder, and bring back the spoils to the church. The reason governmental regulation has to disappear from the marketplace is to make it completely available to the plunder of Christian ‘kings’ who will accomplish the ‘end time transfer of wealth.’ Then ‘God’s bankers’ will usher in the ‘coming of the messiah.’ The government is being shut down so that God’s bankers can bring Jesus back…

“During a 2012 sermon at the New Beginnings Church in Bedford, Texas, Rafael Cruz described his son’s political campaign as a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy… The elder Cruz told the congregation God would anoint Christian ‘kings’ to preside over an ‘end-time transfer of wealth’ from the wicked to the righteous. After this sermon, Larry Huch, the pastor of New Beginnings, claimed Cruz’s recent election to the U.S. Senate was a sign he was one of these kings… Rafael Cruz believes Christians must take dominion over seven aspects of culture: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government.

“By identifying Ted Cruz as the ‘anointed one,’ Rafael Cruz has designated his son as what he believes is God’s choice to lead an evangelical coup d’etat…”

What unspeakable utter nonsense…

Merkel’s BIG Defeat in Germany’s State Elections

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 13:

“Exit polls suggest significant success for the populist right-wing AfD in three key state elections. Chancellor Merkel’s CDU saw losses in two out of three states, which have been attributed to her refugee policies. The right-leaning AfD managed to enter all three state parliaments, winning double-digit percentage results in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. More than 12 million Germans were eligible to vote in the polls to elect new regional parliaments in the three states.

“According to exit polls the AfD won 23 percent [24 percent according to Bild Online] in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, making it the second largest party after the ruling CDU, which managed to win 29 percent. The SPD meanwhile seems to have been dwarfed to around eleven percent [10 % according to Bild]…

“DW-analyst Simon Young said Germany was seeing a consolidation of support for the right-wing party across the country…

“According to early figures in Baden-Württemberg the ruling Green Party gained a substantial 32 percent, while the CDU, which ruled the state for almost six decades until 2011, lost a dramatic 11 percent bringing it out to 27.5 percent. The AfD also managed to win 13.1 percent [14.9% according to Bild] in this state putting [it] in third place before the SPD, currently the junior coalition partner in government, which fell to 13 percent…

“The so-called ‘Super Sunday’ is largely billed as a referendum on Merkel’s open door policy towards refugees, which saw more than a million people arrive in Germany last year. The policy has proven divisive, both among the German public and within Merkel’s CDU…

“The AfD still leader Frauke Petry told German public radio: … ‘This election shows that numerous voters are turning their backs on well-established parties’… The populist right-wing AfD campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, and has sought to scoop support from voters disillusioned with the Merkel government’s stance on refugees.”

Bild Online wrote on March 13:

“Election Debacle… Horror Day for Merkel and Gabriel [SPD]… This election result will cause a political earthquake… a disaster for the CDU… Merkel must be prepared for further controversies within her party and from the [Bavarian] CSU… The big winner is the AdF.”

The Local added on March 13:

“AfD has arrived on the political scene at a fortuitous moment… ‘AfD has become a national German party,’ said the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Opinion polls suggest that AfD might even capture seats in the lower house of parliament in elections in 2017 in what would be an unprecedented success for such a movement… Mainstream parties have stridently refused any sort of television debate with AfD members. But [an] analyst believes that the taboo surrounding such right-wing populism could be soon shattered.

“Some believe that the chancellor herself is to blame for pushing a middle ground politics that tries to be all things to all people… Die Welt daily went as far as to say that ‘AfD is Merkel’s child’ because the CDU has ‘ditched its identity’.”

Are Merkel’s Days Numbered?

The Local wrote on March 14:

“Sunday’s state elections have caused an earthquake in German politics. What does this mean for the future of Angela Merkel, her conservative party and the policy which will become her enduring legacy – welcoming refugees?… Merkel will have to decide by the summer whether she wants to stand as the Spitzenkandidat (top candidate) for the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, in the 2017 national elections.”

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote on March 14 that even though the AdF received many votes, Merkel appears to be “relaxed” as a “charismatic antagonist” (“ein charismatischer Widersacher”) is still missing, who could lead the protest against her policy.

The Punishment of Angela Merkel and the Rise of the AfD

Daily Mail wrote on March 13:

“Angela Merkel is punished in crucial state elections as far-Right party wins big vote with call to stop flow of refugees… German voters turned to the far right in droves yesterday in a damning verdict on Angela Merkel’s open door border policy. In regional elections she was humiliated by the anti-immigrant AfD – Alternative for Germany – party. Formed just three years ago, it has surged in popularity following Mrs Merkel’s decision to roll out the red carpet for more than a million migrants…

“Analysts said the regional poll… was a ‘worst case scenario’ for the embattled chancellor ahead of a general election next year. The timing made it a virtual referendum on Germany’s refugee policy. It will also be seen as an indictment of the failure of Europe’s ruling classes to acknowledge the public’s fears about migration. Mrs Merkel’s welcome for arrivals from Syria, other parts of the Middle East and North Africa, has caused chaos across the continent… there was outrage when gangs of migrant men were involved in organised sex attacks on women in Cologne and other cities on new year’s eve.

“One by one, EU states have thrown up border fences to stop the flow of arrivals – leading to the slow collapse of the Schengen passport-free zone. Austria is one of several countries to limit numbers in defiance of Brussels.

“Mrs Merkel, who has failed to win support for a Europe-wide quota system to share out refugees, last week masterminded a deal for Turkey to take back migrants landing in Greece. In return, Ankara would be handed up to £3.9billion, EU countries would accept quotas of Syrian refugees from Turkey and all 75million Turkish citizens would be allowed visa-free travel around continental Europe. On Thursday Mrs Merkel insisted that imposing a limit on refugee numbers was a ‘short-term pseudo-solution’ and that only a ‘concerted European approach’ would bring down numbers. Germany has attempted to return economic migrants to ‘safe’ countries such as Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro but still risks being overwhelmed.

“Last night millions of voters showed they have lost faith in the chancellor’s policies… middle-class voters are deserting the Christian Democrats and other establishment parties… The tabloid Bild newspaper ran the headline yesterday ‘AfD shocks Germany!’…

“The far right victory came despite attacks by leading establishment politicians. Mrs Merkel described AfD as a ‘party that does not bring cohesion in society and offers no appropriate solutions to problems, but only stokes prejudices and divisions’… Sigmar Gabriel of the Social Democrats accused AfD of having a ‘linguistic affinity’ with the Nazis.

“The Tagesspiegel newspaper said that the party drew in racists and anti-semites and suggested many former members of the neo-Nazi NPD ‘and other right wing parties are attracted to it’…

“Germany’s AfD… started out at as an anti–EU, anti–euro party sceptical of the power of Brussels and the ‘superstate’ project beloved of most of the Fatherland’s citizens. Its destiny was almost certain to be that of a protest party until the refugee crisis came along and propelled it on to the national stage in a way no–one predicted… AfD is seen by many in Germany to be linked to Pegida, a xenophobic movement which draws thousands onto the streets of the city of Dresden every Monday…

“The current leader of AfD is an East German-born female scientist. But the parallels with Angela Merkel end there. Frauke Petry believes that German police should ‘if necessary’ shoot at migrants seeking to enter the country illegally. She was lambasted for saying so in January but a poll found nearly 30 percent of the electorate agreed… Its latest big win makes it more powerful than ever.”

International Press Review

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 14:

“Here in Germany, reporters called it a ‘black election Sunday,’ with one commentator smelling a ‘whiff of Weimar’ in the AfD’s successes…

“Spanish daily El Pais described Sunday’s election results as a ‘political earthquake’ in Germany…

“Le Figaro’s Berlin correspondent Nicolas Barotte described the results as a ‘nightmare’ for… Merkel…

“Similarly, British paper The Times said that Merkel ‘was given a bloody nose by voters’…

“Swiss daily Blick told its German-speaking readers that ‘Germany is torn,’ calling the ballots a twin vote of no-confidence – both in terms of refugee policy and grand coalition government more generally… The Neue Zürcher Zeitung similarly saw a ‘warning shot towards Berlin’ and next year’s federal elections in Sunday’s results, calling them a ‘clear signal of [voter] dissatisfaction’…”

Further Rift between Israel and USA

Business Insider wrote on March 10:

“President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in the midst of yet another public conflict. Earlier this week, the Israeli prime minister announced that he was canceling a planned trip to the US because of the limited window in which it would have been possible for him to meet with Obama. Netanyahu was supposed to address the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Meanwhile, Obama leaves for a historic visit to Cuba on March 18.

“Neither side disputes that a meeting could have taken place before Obama’s departure to Cuba. Instead, the Israeli side apparently decided that it wasn’t interested in a meeting… Netanyahu’s relationship with Obama has soured over a range of issues…

“Israel and the US are currently negotiating a memorandum of understanding that will help determine the next decade of US military assistance to the country.

“Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama wants to take one more shot at advancing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process before he leaves office, an effort that The Journal reported could include the US endorsement of a UN Security Council resolution outlining a final-status outcome to the conflict. From Israel’s perspective, such a move would unacceptably coerce concessions outside the context of direct negotiations with the Palestinians…”

The relationship between the USA and Israel is prophesied to deteriorate. Also note the next article.

Will Rocky American-Israeli Relationship Continue?

The New York Times wrote on March 15:

“For the last eight years, President Obama and Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, have disagreed over Iran, Israeli settlements and just about every other issue. The Democratic Party has meanwhile drifted further from Israel. Its candidates in this year’s election are Bernie Sanders, who boycotted Mr. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last year, and the more likely nominee, Hillary Clinton, whose history of thorny relations with Israel’s prime minister began in the mid-1990s, when her husband clashed with the first Netanyahu government, and continued through her tenure as Mr. Obama’s secretary of state…

“Mr. Netanyahu and his colleagues in one of Israel’s most hawkish coalitions ever have been biding their time, waiting for Mr. Obama to vacate the White House in the hopes that he’d be replaced by a Republican with whom they could finally see eye to eye. That shouldn’t come as a surprise: Polls regularly show that Republicans are much more supportive of Israel than Democrats, and Republican candidates tend to hold positions — on issues from Iran to the Palestinians — that parallel those of a majority of Israeli voters…

“Israel depends on an America that asserts itself abroad. Israel needs bipartisan support. It needs stable, predictable American foreign policy. It desires candidates who sing Israel’s praises as often and as loudly as they can. Mr. Trump, who looks poised to capture the Republican Party’s nomination, offers Israel none of those. Mr. Netanyahu has every reason to be concerned and disappointed by what the American political system has produced this election cycle.

“On foreign policy, Mr. Trump certainly uses muscular language. He says he would ‘bomb the hell’ out of the Islamic State. That’s a welcome change from Mr. Obama, whose equivocations about the use of force have made America look weaker in the eyes of Israel’s enemies. And Mr. Trump has also been in line with the Netanyahu government in condemning the nuclear deal with Iran. But many of Mr. Trump’s statements on foreign policy suggest he has an isolationist streak. Last September, for example, he said: ‘Russia wants to get rid of ISIS. We want to get rid of ISIS. Maybe let Russia do it. Let them get rid of ISIS. What the hell do we care?’ That poses a problem for Israel: The last thing Israel wants is an America that refuses to lead.

“That is, except when it comes to Israeli-Palestinian relations, because if there’s anywhere the Netanyahu government might want to see a hands-off America, it would be on that issue. But here, Mr. Trump suddenly wants to take the lead. He promises he would broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians and assures that he would do it as a ‘neutral guy.’ For Israel ‘neutral’ is a code word with one meaning: unsupportive. In fact, ‘neutral’ is how Israelis tend to describe Mr. Obama’s policies by way of expressing displeasure. There are other ways Mr. Trump echoes the Obama administration: He has hinted that the lack of progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with Israel’s lack of enthusiasm rather than, as Mr. Netanyahu and most Republicans believe, because the Palestinians aren’t a serious partner for peace.

“And then, of course, there is Mr. Trump’s unpredictability… Sometimes he promises to destroy the Islamic State, other times he wants to leave the task to Russia. He criticizes the Iran deal, but unlike some other Republican candidates, doesn’t say he will ‘rip it up’ if he is elected.

“In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has repeatedly called himself Israel’s ‘biggest’ and ‘best’ friend. When it comes to Israel-United States relations, friendship is a word with many definitions. Early in his presidency, Mr. Obama said that his role as ‘a friend to Israel is partly to hold up a mirror and tell the truth’ when he disagreed with its policies. It’s no wonder that these days, the American president and his Israeli counterpart often look more like adversaries than friends.

“Israel’s government hoped a new president would restore a more traditional definition of friendship — one based on mutual trust and support. But if the choice comes down to Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump, that’s unlikely. From a President Clinton, Israel’s hawkish government would come under more of the same pressure it received from the Obama administration. From a President Trump … anything is possible.

“The rocky relations of the Obama era have damaged the American-Israeli alliance and eroded Israel’s standing in Washington and around the world…”

President Obama Nominates Jewish Judge to Supreme Court

JTA wrote on March 16:

“President Barack Obama nominated to the Supreme Court a Jewish judge, Merrick Garland, who is currently the chief of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

“Garland, 63, a Chicago native, has worked in Washington since the 1970s, first as a Supreme Court clerk, then a private lawyer, an assistant U.S. attorney and, since 1997, a federal judge.

“Obama made the announcement on Wednesday morning in the White House Rose Garden about his pick to fill the Supreme Court seat held by Antonin Scalia, who died last month. Republicans have vowed to block any Obama nominee, saying the vacancy on the nation’s highest court should be filled by the next president. The U.S. Senate, which is controlled by a Republican majority, must confirm any Supreme Court pick…

“Garland is a graduate of Harvard Law School and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. In 1987, he married fellow Harvard graduate Lynn Rosenman in a Jewish ceremony at the Harvard Club in New York. Rosenman’s grandfather, Samuel Rosenman of New York, was a state Supreme Court justice and a special counsel to two presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

“Garland’s father, Cyril Garland, was born in Omaha but hailed from a Latvian Jewish immigrant family. He ran an advertising business out of the family home and died in 2000. Garland’s mother, Shirley Garland, who is still living, at one point served as director of volunteer services at the Council for Jewish Elderly in Chicago.

“If confirmed, Garland would be the fourth Jewish justice on the nation’s highest court, which is comprised entirely of Jews and Catholics. The three current Jewish members of the Supreme Court are Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elana Kagan and Stephen Breyer.”

Jewish Transgender Woman Obama’s Senior Liaison to LGBT Community

JTA wrote on March 14:

“Less than a year after becoming the first openly transgender person to serve in the White House, a Jewish woman been promoted to serve as its senior liaison to the LGBT community. Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, a Honduras native who was raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, by Jewish parents, will serve as the White House’s ‘lead point of contact’ for LGBT groups…

“Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Freedman-Gurspan’s former employer, praised the appointment…

“Freedman-Gurspan, who is in her late 20s, was ‘a powerful leader for trans inclusion’ in her Brookline synagogue, Temple Beth Zion, according to the Jewish LGBT advocacy group Keshet. She also was active in the Jewish Student Union as an undergraduate at St. Olaf College in Minneapolis.

“Although Freedman-Gurspan was the first transgender White House staffer, another Jewish woman, Amanda Simpson, was the first transgender individual to hold a position in the U.S. executive branch. President Barack Obama appointed Simpson in 2010 to senior technical adviser in the Bureau of Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce.”

Incredible!

Obama’s Deal with Iran Responsible for More Wars in the Middle East

The Telegraph wrote on March 12:

“Barack Obama’s ill-advised nuclear deal with Iran has kickstarted a new arms race. There is now a genuine risk that Saudi Arabia and its allies will become involved in a dangerous military confrontation with Iran…

“Iran’s decision to test-fire two ballistic missiles emblazoned with the legend ‘Israel must be wiped out’ in Hebrew is not the sort of reassuring conduct one would expect from a country that claims it wants better relations with the outside world. Timed to coincide with US Vice President Joe Biden’s tour of the Gulf states and Israel, the missile launches will not only be seen as an unnecessarily provocative act of aggression by countries like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. They are also deeply embarrassing for the Obama administration, which is still trying to reassure its allies in the Gulf and Israel that its controversial nuclear deal with Tehran has ended Iranian attempts to build nuclear weapons – for the time being, at least.

“Only a few weeks ago naive enthusiasts of President Obama’s nuclear deal claimed that gains made by so-called moderates in Iran’s recent elections for the majlis, or parliament, as well as the Assembly of Experts, demonstrated Iran was well on the way to reform and a more transparent system of government. What these modern-day fellow travellers – and they include many leading lights in our own Foreign Office [in the UK] – fail to appreciate is that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s uncompromising Supreme Leader and guardian of Iran’s Islamic revolution, personally vetted all of the candidates. Thus only those with impeccable revolutionary credentials were allowed to stand. So much for Iran’s new spirit of reform.

“For, despite the modest gains made by these so-called reformers, the fact remains that the real power in Iran lies with the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), whose duty is both to defend and export Iran’s revolutionary values throughout the Muslim world – with special focus on neighbouring Arab states. Not only do the Revolutionary Guards control a significant percentage of the Iranian economy – including the country’s vast oil reserves. They are also responsible for Iran’s defence and security policy which, contrary to Washington’s confident predictions in the wake of the nuclear deal, has led to a significant upsurge in Iranian meddling in neighbouring Arab states. The fear now among pro-Western Arab leaders is that Iran will embark on a military build-up funded by the estimated $150 billion Tehran is set to receive as a result of the sanctions being lifted.

“The missile tests will certainly be seen by many regional leaders in that context, particularly as many Western intelligence experts are convinced the missiles are being designed specifically to carry nuclear warheads. In addition to continuing to develop its ballistic missile programme, Tehran last month also concluded a deal with Russia to improve its missile defences. One of the more obvious failings of Mr Obama’s nuclear deal is that it allows Iran, a country which the CIA says once had an illicit nuclear weapons programme, to continue development work on its ballistic missiles. Washington no doubt believes there is no harm in Tehran building missiles that can strike at the heart of Europe when it does not have the means to fit them with nuclear warheads…

“Not surprisingly, the Gulf states have now embarked on developing a multi-billion pound anti-missile shield of their own. If nothing else, Mr Obama’s legacy to the Middle East will have been to initiate a new arms race. In Israel, too, intelligence officials take the same view about Iran’s long-term nuclear ambitions, which no doubt explains Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent decision to cancel his proposed visit to Washington later this month… For the past two weeks Saudi Arabia has been hosting the Middle East’s biggest-ever military exercise – Operation Desert Thunder. An estimated 20 Muslim nations have taken part in the exercise which is aimed at strengthening the ability of the Saudi-led coalition to defend itself against the growing threat posed by Islamist-inspired terror groups, such as Daesh. But the possibility should not be ruled out that one day these same forces could be used to defend Sunni Arab regimes from the threat posed by Shia Iran.

“In Yemen, Saudi Arabia is already fighting a proxy war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, while Riyadh has made no secret of its determination to secure the overthrow of the pro-Iranian regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the Obama administration continues to hail the merits of its nuclear deal with Iran, which it insists will form the centrepiece of Mr Obama’s legacy when his presidency concludes later this year. Yet if Iran continues with unprovoked acts of aggression, such as its latest test-firing of ballistic missiles, then there is a genuine risk that Saudi Arabia and its allies will become involved in a direct, and far more dangerous, military confrontation with Iran. And that is most certainly not the kind of legacy Mr Obama had in mind when he concluded his ill-advised deal with the ayatollahs.”

As it has been pointed out, this deal with Iran was one of the worst “deals” ever made in the history of the United States. But God prophesied in His Word that in these end times, the leaders of the USA and the UK, as well as Canada, would be “blind” to reality.

Regarding the differences between Sunnis and Shias, the paper wrote:

“The split between Sunnis and Shias begins with the death of the prophet Mohammed in 632 AD, and the battle to succeed him as the first Muslim caliph. Sunnis say his brother-in-law Abu Bakr was the rightful heir; Shias say it should have been his son-in-law, Ali. The two groups differ over the nature of the Mahdi (or messiah), the role of Islamic law in society, the correct way to pray, and which texts beside the Quran are canon. Sunnis are the largest group, comprising 80 to 90 per cent of Muslims and spread across the Islamic world from Pakistan to North Africa. Shias are a minority in most places – they were persecuted under the caliphs and the Ottomans – but hold power in Iran, where theirs is the state religion, and Iraq, where they form two thirds of the population. The conflict has ebbed and flowed for centuries now; it won’t end soon.”

The Toll of Syria’s Cursed War

AFP wrote on March 11:

“Syria’s war has killed more than a quarter of a million people, uprooted over half the population and left much of the country in ruins since it erupted five years ago…

“Among those killed are around 80,000 civilians, including 13,500 children. Far more people are feared dead, however, with an unknown number killed in detention at the hands of the government, rebels or jihadists. UN investigators in February accused the regime of “extermination” in its jails and detention centres. Handicap International, a French non-governmental organisation, said earlier this month that one million people had been wounded in the war. And a Syrian aid group in January denounced the incessant bombing of medical facilities in the country, where it said 177 hospitals had been destroyed and nearly 700 health workers killed since 2011.

“In January, the United Nations said that 13.5 million people out of a pre-conflict population of 23 million had been forced from their homes. The charity Save the Children said this month that at least 250,000 children are living under siege, with many forced to eat animal feed or leaves to survive… About 4.7 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries… Most of the refugees are in neighbouring countries, notably Turkey, which has become the biggest host country with more than 2.7 million on its soil… It is followed by Lebanon with over one million. More than two thirds of these live in ‘extreme poverty,’ according to the UN. Over 630,000 people have taken refuge in Jordan… Around 225,000 Syrians have fled to Iraq and 137,000 to Egypt.

“The refugees face poverty, health problems and growing tensions with local communities. Many live in makeshift camps and face significant restrictions on integration. While the vast majority of refugees remain in the region, hundreds of thousands have tried to make the perilous journey to Europe, though not all reached its shores alive.

“Experts say the conflict has set Syria’s economy back by three decades, with almost all its revenues cut off and most of the infrastructure destroyed… The education and health systems are in ruins. Exports have plunged by 90 percent since 2011… According to the oil minister, direct and indirect losses in the oil and gas sector amount to $58 billion (52 billion euros)… Syria is living almost without electricity, with 83 percent of lighting no longer working.”

These are some of the CURSES of war. Why would ANY decent human being, let alone a true Christian, advocate or engage in war? Thankfully, when Jesus Christ returns and establishes God’s righteous government on earth, wars with all their curses will be things of the past.

Russia Announces Withdrawal from Syria

Bloomberg wrote on March 14:

“Russia said it will start withdrawing forces from Syria in a surprise move… Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military intervention last year in support of Assad turned the tide in Syria’s five-year civil war, said the partial pullout should begin on Tuesday. A Russian air base and a naval facility will continue to function, he said in Moscow. Assad didn’t request the withdrawal, said Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov…

“For Putin, who’s worked with the U.S. to promote diplomacy in Syria even though the two powers backed opposite sides in the war, it’s an opportunity to display peacemaking credentials while preserving the gains Assad’s army made under Russian air cover…

“Putin and President Barack Obama discussed the Russian plan to withdraw troops by phone on Monday, the White House said. Obama welcomed the reduction in violence since the U.S. and Russia helped broker a truce last month, but said that ‘continuing offensive actions by Syrian regime forces risk undermining’ both that truce and the Geneva talks…

“The Syrian presidency said on Twitter that Russia had promised to continue supporting Syria’s fight against terrorism. The definition of who’s a terrorist in Syria, as well as Assad’s future role, has been at the root of the disagreement between Russia and the U.S., which says moderate rebels against the regime have also been targeted by Putin’s intervention…

“Salem al-Muslet, a spokesman for the main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee, said Russia is largely to blame for the current state of the conflict…

“The U.S. has softened calls for Assad’s removal in recent months… Putin’s latest announcement is ‘a symbolic gesture to sweeten the opposition’s pill, because Assad is clearly not going to go away even if Russia slightly reduces its operations,’ said Anton Lavrov, an independent Russian military analyst… At talks in Geneva earlier on Monday, there were few signs that Assad or the opposition are willing to make major compromises… Syria’s regime is indicating that it will only accept a limited role for the opposition in government, and that discussing Assad’s position is a ‘red line.’

“Putin said that the Russian bombing campaign had allowed the Syrian army to ‘take the initiative on nearly all fronts.’… Viktor Ozerov, head of the defense committee in the upper house of Russia’s parliament, said by phone that if the Syrian army isn’t capable of finishing off Islamic State, ‘we can come back.’”

The CURSE of Nuclear Power Plants… Notice Japan’s Terrible Example

Reuters wrote on March 9:

“The robots sent in to find highly radioactive fuel at Fukushima’s nuclear reactors have ‘died’: a subterranean ‘ice wall’ around the crippled plant meant to stop groundwater from becoming contaminated has yet to be finished. And authorities still don’t know how to dispose of highly radioactive water stored in an ever mounting number of tanks around the site. Five years ago, one of the worst earthquakes in history triggered a 10-meter high tsunami that crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station causing multiple meltdowns. Nearly 19,000 people were killed or left missing and 160,000 lost their homes and livelihoods. Today, the radiation at the Fukushima plant is still so powerful it has proven impossible to get into its bowels to find and remove the extremely dangerous blobs of melted fuel rods…

“The fuel rods melted through their containment vessels in the reactors, and no one knows exactly where they are now. This part of the plant is so dangerous to humans, Tepco has been developing robots, which can swim under water and negotiate obstacles in damaged tunnels and piping to search for the melted fuel rods. But as soon as they get close to the reactors, the radiation destroys their wiring and renders them useless, causing long delays… Each robot has to be custom-built for each building…

“What to do with the nearly million tonnes of radioactive water is one of the biggest challenges, said Akiro Ono, the site manager. Ono said he is ‘deeply worried’ the storage tanks will leak radioactive water in the sea – as they have done several times before…”

Nuclear power plants are a great danger to the welfare and even survival of mankind.

Catholic Church Faces Deep Crisis

Newsmax wrote on March 16:

“Pope [Emeritus] Benedict XVI warns that the Catholic Church is facing a ‘deep crisis’ following reforms of the Second Vatican Council that was held in the 1960s…  Among Benedict’s concerns are the belief that other religions are equal to Christianity in obtaining salvation and the change in dogma that lessens fears that one’s eternal salvation can be lost. ‘The missionaries of the 16th century were convinced that the unbaptized person is lost forever,’ Benedict said. ‘After the [Second Vatican] Council, this conviction was definitely abandoned. The result was a two-sided, deep crisis. Without this attentiveness to the salvation, the Faith loses its foundation.’

“As for the universalist view that all those outside the Catholic Church can be saved, which was adopted after Vatican II, Benedict asks, ‘Why should you try to convince the people to accept the Christian faith when they can be saved even without it?’ The view also prevents Catholics themselves from seeing a need to practice their faith, he said…

“Even less acceptable, Benedict said, ‘is the solution proposed by the pluralistic theories of religion, for which all religions, each in its own way, would be ways of salvation and, in this sense, must be considered equivalent in their effects.’”

How America Got Its Name

The Local wrote on March 11:

“Christopher Columbus is often credited with first ‘discovering’ the Americas for Europe, despite the fact that [he] thought he was somewhere in Asia most of the time. But back in the 16th century, another man who also braved the Atlantic around the same time was believed by many across Europe to have been the first European on New World soil. So it makes sense that North and South America would derive their names from that clever cartographer and adventurer, Amerigo Vespucci.

“But it wasn’t Vespucci himself who gave this land its current name…  Around 1502, a letter by Vespucci entitled Mundus Novus (New World) was published and reprinted across Europe. It described his voyage to South America between 1501 and 1502 and recognized that this was previously unknown land…

“By 1507, Martin Waldseemüller, a German cartographer, was tasked by academics in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France with creating an updated world map, based in part on Vespucci’s findings, along with the help of fellow German Matthias Ringmann. The two wanted to pay tribute to Vespucci and decided to use the feminine version of the navigator’s Christian name, Americus. ‘Now indeed these regions are fairly well known and Amerigo Vespucci has found another, fourth part, for which I see no reason why anyone could properly disapprove of a name derived from that of Amerigo, the discoverer, a man of sagacious genius,’ they wrote in commentary about the map. A suitable form would be Amerige, meaning [in Greek] Land of Amerigo, or America, since Europe and Asia have received women’s names.’

“But rather than going for the Greek ending they made it Latin. So over what we now call Brazil, Waldseemüller wrote for the very first time ‘America’… The two young Germans never intended the title to apply to the entirety of the land mass, but the map’s uniqueness made it highly in-demand, also serving as the model for the world’s first printed globe.

“But not long after the maps became a smash hit, Waldseemüller regretted it and tried to take back the name America. He ultimately lost confidence in Vespucci as being the first European to set foot in the New World and on a 1513 map, he called the territory ‘Terra Incognita’ or ‘Unknown Land’ instead… But… he could not undo the ripple in history that he had set into motion. The name America caught on and by 1538, Gerardus Mercator made the first map applying the term to both North and South America.”

In biblical prophecy, the USA is not known as “America,” but as Manasseh, a son of Joseph and grandson of Israel, or as the modern “house of Israel” (together with other English-speaking countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).

In the last Q&A, we discussed the fact that even though God’s law is written in the heart of a true Christian, that does not mean that he or she can ignore written rules defining and explaining God’s law.  We concluded by saying that we must follow God’s law, including its written rules, from the heart (Romans 6:17), and that we can only do so if God’s Spirit dwells in us.

In this Q&A, we will discuss the practical consequences when God’s law is written in our hearts.

In Old Testament times, God revealed the law of the Ten Commandments to the people, but since they did not have the Holy Spirit, they were unable to keep the spiritual intent of the law. However, God expected them to keep at least the letter of the law, but they were also disobedient in that regard. They sinned gravely, and sin is the transgression of the spiritual law (1 John 3:4). Because of their sinful conduct, God introduced a sacrificial system of ritual laws and regulations to remind them of their sins and to make physical amends (Hebrews 10:1-4). This system of ritual laws was only temporary (Hebrews 10:8-10). It included the laborious task of offering animal sacrifices, and sometimes it included very rigorous physical penalties, such as death by stoning. Dealing with carnal human beings, God knew that only harsh measures could prevent them from totally rebelling against Him and from living a terrible life of depravity and violence (compare Ecclesiastes 8:11). Nevertheless, even those measures did not help, and they ultimately became totally and completely corrupt (Ecclesiastes 9:3).

It was never God’s desire to “force” people to obey Him. It was never His desire to introduce harsh physical penalties for disobedience. He never wanted a sacrificial system. He did not desire animal sacrifices, but rather, that men lived in a way that such sacrifices [and penalties] would not be necessary (Psalm 40:6; 50:8-14; 51:16-17).

God had created man as free moral agents, with the faculty of deciding for himself whether or not to follow God’s rules. God had offered Adam and Eve the gift of the Holy Spirit (symbolized by the Tree of Life), but they rejected that gift and ate instead from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, representing the concept of determining and deciding for themselves what seemed right to them. The consequence was that man began to call good evil, and evil good (Isaiah 5:20), ending up in his unspeakable depravity and his destruction in a worldwide flood (Genesis 6:5-7).

God is a Kingdom—the Family of God ruling over creation. At this point, the God Family consists of the Father and the Son. God wants to enlarge His Family through man. God cannot sin because He does not want to sin. It is totally against His character to sin. He is love (1 John 4:8), and love is the keeping of His commandments (1 John 5:3). God does not keep the law because of fear of punishment for violating His law. He keeps the law because of love, KNOWING that His law is the only way to happiness and peace. He has purified His words (His law) seven times (Psalm 12:6) so that He can be absolutely sure that His law is perfect, right, good and complete (Romans 7:12). It cannot be improved (compare Psalm 18:30).

God wants His people to develop the same attitude towards His law. They too must become convinced that it is always right, and when they disagree on a given point, they are always wrong. When we have reached that conclusion and become persuaded of the goodness of God’s Word, we will want to follow it from the heart. But we won’t be able to do so automatically or obey without fail, because there is still a war going on in our members (Romans 7:14-24). Many times, we may want to do what is good, but the evil within us has not completely died.

However, to the extent that we embrace God’s law and have it written in our hearts, we will begin to do what is right, without having to be forced to do so, or because we are living in fear of punishment. When we have fear, then God’s law in us has not reached perfection, because God’s perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

When that point is reached, then we do not need to have anyone teach us the law anymore because we have now internalized it (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:11). We will do what is right, and we don’t need to have someone to tell us what is right (1 John 2:27; compare John 14:26). When God’s law is written in our hearts, then we will not listen to and follow those who want to deceive us and teach us that the law has been done away with (1 John 2:26). However, we will not always obey (there is no one who does not sin, compare 1 John 1:8, 10; 1 Kings 8:46; and Ecclesiastes 7:20 in the Living Bible), and we may not always be totally and perfectly firm in our conviction, and then it is needful and necessary that God’s ministers point out to us and remind us again as to what is the truth about sin, and how to avoid sinning on our way to perfection (Ezekiel 44:23-24; Ephesians 4:11-16). Even though we are taught by God to love one another (1 Thessalonians 4:9), this teaching was communicated to us through God’s ministers (Romans 10:14-15), and it sometimes needs to be reiterated by the ministry; further, we would not understand this teaching unless God had given His Holy Spirit into our hearts (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible states to 1 John 2:27:

“…and ye need not that any man teach you; not that they were perfect in knowledge, for no man is absolutely, only comparatively so, in this life; or that they needed not, and were above and exempt from the instructions of Christ’s faithful servants; for John himself taught them, and to teach and instruct them was the end of his writing this epistle to them; but the sense is either that they needed not the teachings of these men before mentioned, the antichrists, liars, and seducers, being better taught, and having an unction by which they knew all things; or they needed not to be taught as if they were babes in Christ, as unskillful in the word of righteousness, but so as to increase in spiritual knowledge, and go on to perfection, and be established in the present truths, at least so as to be put in remembrance of them…  this passage does not militate against the external ministry of the Gospel, or human teachings according to that perfect rule and declaration of the whole mind and will of God…”

When God writes His law in the hearts of men, then they will respond. In the Millennium, Christ will teach the people about the horrors of war (Isaiah 2:3), but that teaching alone will not necessarily convince everyone that they should stop going to war. At the beginning of the Millennium, hordes from the East will still want to fight. And so, God will supernaturally intervene and stop that potential fight (Ezekiel 38:1-13). People will be led to the understanding that war is wrong and also completely unnecessary, as God will fight our battles for us (compare Exodus 14:14). And to the degree to which God’s law against murder, war and killing is being written in their hearts, they do not want to learn war anymore, and they will destroy their weapons of war and exchange them with useful agricultural tools (Isaiah 2:4).

They do not do this because they are forced to do this; rather, they will do so because they accept the fact that God’s law tells them that this is the only right way; and since God’s law has become part of their character, they will be following it willingly and joyfully. This, in turn, will motivate others to do likewise, and we will not see war throughout the remainder of the Millennium, until Satan is released from prison for a short while (Revelation 20:7). When this happens, then those human beings, who are alive at that time, will follow Satan’s evil devices and his deception, and they will be wanting to fight again in war (Revelation 20:8-9). They never had God’s law against war written in their hearts. They might have refrained from fighting in war because nobody else did, but when they will be given an opportunity, they will choose to fight.

God wants us to embrace and internalize His law of love (Romans 13:8-10). God desires that we obey His law willingly and cheerfully—without compulsion or fear of punishment. God will not bring us into His Family, if we only obey Him because we have to. God lives the Way of give, because love is the outgoing concern for the welfare and benefit of others. And so, God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)—someone who loves to give willingly (compare Exodus 25:2). God loves someone who understands that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). God has always loved His Son (Matthew 3:17), but He GAVE Him for the salvation of the world (John 3:16). In addition, Christ laid down and GAVE His life for us (John 10:17; Mathew 20:28). Nobody forced the Father and the Son to do this; they did it willingly and joyfully for our benefit. We are to be living sacrifices as well (Romans 12:1), giving of ourselves to others. Somebody who gives, but does it grudgingly and under compulsion, does not really live the WAY of give and does not really have God’s love in his heart (compare Romans 5:5). Such a person wants to really live the way of get, and he will do so once the opportunity presents itself.

When God’s law is written in our hearts, then we will live the Way of love and of give, and we will do so joyfully and happily. We will love the truth (compare 2 Thessalonians 2:10) and we will love God’s law (Psalm 119:97). We will love to honor and praise God as our ONLY God, rather than choosing other gods and using God’s Name in vain; and we will love to keep God’s weekly and annual Holy Days. We will love to honor our parents; to always tell the truth; to give to others rather than stealing from them; and to respect the marriage of others rather than committing adultery with our neighbor’s husband or wife. We will love to give others joy and happiness rather than killing them; and to rejoice when others are blessed, sharing actively in their joy, rather than envying them and being willing to take from them what they have.

God owns everything, and He wants to give and share everything with us. His law is written on His heart, and He wants to write it on our hearts too. We must allow Him to do so, and then we will be fulfilling God’s law by loving Him with ALL of our heart, and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

The 2016 Church Conference will be conducted in San Diego, California. Arrival date is April 7th with departure scheduled for April 13th.

“How NOT to Stop Trump” is the title of the newest StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary:

All attempts to stop Donald Trump from becoming the Republican nominee have failed so far. In fact, they have backfired. Even though the recent events in Chicago have been terribly misrepresented by the mainstream media, they only helped Trump to gain popularity. The “organized institutional left” and the GOP establishment are “unified” in their attempts to fight Trump, but without any apparent success. Will the GOP risk a break-up of their own party at a contested or brokered convention in July, by deciding against Trump and the will of the Republican voters?  Whom do people actually vote for? Do they vote for a candidate or a delegate, and what is the huge difference? Will America become great again? The Bible says it will, and we explain what is going to happen in our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

“The Dark Side of Easter,” is the title of a special new StandingWatch program presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. This is another in our series which will be accompanied with special announcements and press releases. Here is a summary:

Where did Easter come from? Many believe Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but Easter existed long before Christ was even born. So what do Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Easter cakes and Easter sunrise services have to do with Christ? Most historians agree that Easter was originally a pagan festival, but many overlook its really dark and sinister side. Does it matter to God whether or not you keep Easter?

“Ein Christ ohne schriftliche Gebote?” is the title of this week’s German sermon. Title in English: “A Christian Without Written Commandments?”

“Feeding on Sin,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Robb Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The world takes God for granted and assumes that the Creator is unnecessary. This mindset is fed by mankind’s desire for self-glorification.  The state in which we find ourselves thinking in those terms is achieved by a lifetime of godless choices.

“It’s All about Work!” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Stunning, unimaginable accomplishment is described in the Word of God. It is about the work of God—the things He has done, continues and even plans into the endless future of eternity!