On May 31, 2025, Kalon Mitchell will present the sermonette, titled, “Comfort VS Truth,” and Norbert Link will present the sermon, titled, “Do You Have the Holy Spirit?”

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.

PENTECOST: On June 1, 2025, Frank Bruno will present the Offertory, titled, “The Foundation,” and Eric Rank will present the sermon, titled, “On All Flesh.”

Live broadcast times will be the same as described above for Sabbath Services.

With current and looming problems in full effect around the world, bringing about increasing instability, due to ongoing threats, terrorism, and unrest all around, how are we to deal with this and where are WE to place our trust? Members and associates of the true Church of God are admonished to “be sober, be vigilant,” or, in other words, self-controlled and watchful, “because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  

Being sober and being vigilant both go hand in hand, for if we are not sober or in a clear state of mind, then we can be caught off guard, which could lead us to sin because of temptation.  Sobriety and watchfulness are very necessary for our Christian life, and if we are not sober in body and mind, we would not be watchful over ourselves and also over world events in fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Peter continues on explaining why we are to be sober and vigilant by saying, “…because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  Satan is our enemy, our opponent.  The Bible commentary, Barnes’ Notes of the Bible, explains that “Satan opposes man in his best interests. He resists his efforts to do good; his purposes to return to God; his attempts to secure his own salvation. There is no more appropriate appellation that can be given to him than to say that he resists all our efforts to obey God and to secure the salvation of our own souls.”

So then, Satan will do everything in his power to deter us, to throw us off guard, making sure that we will fail.  He will use any means possible in ways we probably wouldn’t recognize at first, and that is why we need to be circumspect at ALL times.

We are aware that Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4; John 12:31), and he is responsible for many terrible disasters to occur, keeping in mind that God allows them to happen.  Insofar as the Church is concerned, we may not necessarily fall victim to those who have lost their lives in such extreme and horrific ways, but Satan uses his cunning craftiness to attack us, to strike us where we are weak and where we may struggle, tempting us to sin, trying to make sure that we will not succeed, but only to FAIL. 

We CAN succeed and God expects that of us.  God provides us with tools and promises if we put our trust in Him.  By remaining vigilant, we can protect ourselves by putting on the whole armor of God (compare Ephesians 6:11-18).

We have a bigger challenge ahead of us, compared to the rest of the world, for we have the knowledge and the understanding as to how to defeat Satan, to overcome our trials and to live a righteous godly life, for God has chosen US now to come out of this world, and He has given US, as the firstfruits, the first opportunity to inherit eternal salvation, ahead of all others.

Because we know this, we can also expect to go through trials continuously which God allows, to test our strength and commitment to see whether or not we will overcome until the end and be counted worthy, so we can ultimately be a part of God’s Family (compare Matthew 24:13; Luke 21:36; Revelation 2:26). 

Satan is compared to a roaring lion that seeks those whom he wants to devour.  Yet in Revelation 12:12, a warning is placed to everyone on this earth, especially God’s elect, when Satan will attack. “…Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” Satan will strike as a roaring lion, implying his violent and voracious thirst for prey as a hungry beast.

We continue to preach that we are living in the end time and Christ’s return is near, and therefore we must understand how QUICKLY things can materialize.  If we are not watchful, but rather ignorant to what is happening around the world, as things continue to progress in light of biblical prophecy, then we will be in the same category of people as Christ explains in Matthew 24:48-51 where “the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of” and we will be caught unaware (also compare Mark 13:32-37).

We have a duty to fulfill. Jesus Christ makes it very clear how vigilant we must be at ALL times, in ANY situation.  Our calling to the Truth should not be taken for granted; neither is it a free pass to everlasting life, but it is something we need to work at continually, asking God for more wisdom and strength so that we can overcome Satan’s schemes. 

by Norbert Link

In this issue, we discuss President Trump’s confusing tariffs policy and European reactions; developments regarding alleged efforts to restrict freedom of speech in the USA and the UK; President Trump’s major blunder regarding South Africa; and we quote interesting articles pertaining to the Catholic Church.

We speak on developments in Germany and Austria; shocking and surprising reports on the Russia-Ukraine war; and conclude with several articles about the world’s hateful condemnation of Israel. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Why This Hatred for Israel and the Jews?”

Please note our new message, “The Downfall of America, Britain and Israel—Comments on News and Prophecy, May 24, 2025.” 

Trump’s Latest Tariffs Debacle 

The Associated Press wrote on May 23: 

“President Donald Trump on Friday threatened 25% tariff on Apple unless iPhones are made in America as well as a 50% tax on all imports from the European Union [starting June 1]. [Trump said the talks with the EU were going nowhere].” 

The New York Post added on May 23: 

“In response, the Dow dropped 256 points in a volatile day… while luxury automaker Volvo warned that prices on cars are going to spike…   A warning to President Donald Trump: Everyone, including your friends, is starting to get a brutal case of tariff burnout… It’s one thing for your enemies to find you unpredictable, another for your friends to worry that you’re acting on pure whim. 

“All this uncertainty exacts a cost of its own, angst that builds with every surprise twist. Every day, folks are nervous… Americans are really tired of tariffs… Even fans of the president’s theater can get sick of endless drama. Trump clearly sees tariffs as a wonderful hammer, but not everything is a nail.” 

Bild Online wrote on May 24:

“In return, Trump is accepting punitive tariffs [of 50 percent] on [some] US exports to the EU. Because Brussels has no choice now.” 

Subsequently, it was reported that Trump delayed his 50% EU tariffs. Trump’s tariffs policy will contribute to America’s financial ruin and its political isolation. 

Trump’s Tariffs Rollercoaster

Reuters reported on May 29:

“A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated the most sweeping of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, a day after a trade court had ruled Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing the duties and had ordered an immediate block on them. An order from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington provided no opinion or reasoning but directed the plaintiffs in the case to respond by June 5 and the administration by June 9…

“Financial markets, which have whipsawed wildly in response to every twist and turn in Trump’s chaotic trade war, reacted with cautious optimism to the trade court ruling, though gains in stocks were largely limited by expectations that the court’s ruling faced a potentially lengthy appeals process. Indeed, analysts said broad uncertainty remained regarding the future of Trump’s tariffs, which have cost companies more than $34 billion in lost sales and higher costs…

“Emblematic of that uncertainty, a separate federal court earlier on Thursday had also found Trump overstepped his authority in using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for what he called ‘reciprocal’ tariffs of at least 10% on goods from most U.S. trading partners and for the separate 25% levies on goods from Canada, Mexico and China related to fentanyl. That ruling was much narrower, however, and the relief order stopping the tariffs only applied to the toy company that brought the case.”

The three judges on the trade court who unanimously blocked the tariffs were Judge Timothy Reif, who was nominated by Mr. Trump; Judge Jane Restani, who was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan; and Judge Gary Katzmann, who was nominated by former President Obama. “We are living under a judicial tyranny,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote in response to the ruling by the trade court, adding that “the judicial coup is out of control.”

European Airlines Freeze Travel to Major US Cities 

Travel and Tour World wrote on May 24: 

“European airlines are freezing their transatlantic growth and pulling back from major U.S. cities like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago as they redirect flights to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Caribbean, where bookings are rising and demand is outpacing the American market. Carriers including Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France, KLM, Iberia, and SAS have adjusted their summer schedules to reflect shifting traveler priorities, with more passengers opting for destinations that offer smoother entry, better seasonal deals, and fewer political complications. The changes mark a clear retreat from the U.S. at a time when international sentiment is cooling and alternative routes are proving far more profitable. 

“The decision to reduce flights is being driven by a sharp drop in bookings, rising concerns among European travelers about safety and border restrictions, and growing political discomfort tied to President Donald Trump’s second term. Airlines that had once expanded aggressively across the Atlantic are now turning their attention elsewhere. Internal forecasts, passenger surveys, and travel agency reports across Europe point to one conclusion: fewer people are planning trips to the United States this year… 

“Lufthansa has quietly reduced frequencies on its routes to New York, Miami, and Chicago, three of the airline’s most important U.S. destinations… several weekly flights have been removed compared to last year…

“British Airways has suspended service to Las Vegas and has reduced its operations to Orlando and Philadelphia… Air France has discontinued its Seattle route and trimmed service to Washington D.C. for the upcoming summer… KLM is cutting back flights to both San Francisco and Boston… Iberia has… reduced service between Madrid and Chicago… Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has canceled its routes from Oslo to Newark and Copenhagen to Los Angeles… 

“… United Airlines has dropped its Newark–Tenerife service… Norse Atlantic Airways has pulled out of Miami–Oslo and Miami–Berlin… Lufthansa ended its Frankfurt–Minneapolis route on April 30… American Airlines suspended Miami–Paris… while KLM, Aer Lingus, and Iberia have all stepped back from routes including Miami–Amsterdam and Las Vegas–Dublin… 

“Behind the numbers is a growing sense among European travelers that visiting the United States has become more difficult. The return of tariff tensions between Washington and Brussels, renewed warnings at U.S. borders, and reports of increased security screening are all feeding into traveler hesitancy. Several European countries have updated their advisories for citizens planning to visit the U.S… In response, airlines are simply following the trend… for now, the skies between Europe and America are looking quieter.” 

Crazy! Meaning, that thanks to the Trump administration, the USA will suffer big time economically.

US-Japan Steel Deal

The Associated Press wrote on May 23:

“President Donald Trump said Friday that U.S. Steel will keep its headquarters in Pittsburgh as part of what he called a ‘planned partnership’ that seemed to signal that he’ll approve a bid by Japan-based Nippon Steel [of 15 billion] to make a big investment in the iconic American steelmaker, if not buy it outright.

“Still, Trump’s statement left it vague as to whether he is approving Nippon Steel’s bid after he vowed repeatedly to block the deal to prevent U.S. Steel from being foreign-owned. More recently, Trump suggested that Nippon Steel would invest in U.S. Steel, not buy it, and one union official suggested Friday that the federal government will have a role in the company’s management going forward. But investors seemed to take Trump’s statement as a sign that he’s approving some sort of merger, sharply pushing up U.S. Steel’s shares [by 21%], and the companies issued approving statements.” 

All of this seems to be in total contradiction to Trump’s previously declared goals for the USA. 

Musk Steps Down

 Newsmax wrote on May 29:

“Elon Musk is leaving his government role as a top adviser to President Donald Trump… Musk’s departure comes one day after he criticized the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda, saying he was ‘disappointed; by what the president calls his ‘big beautiful bill.’… Musk’s concerns are shared by some Republican lawmakers…

“‘The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,’ he told The Washington Post. ‘I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.’…”

Trump’s Fight Against Harvard

Breitbart wrote on May 23:

“A judge temporarily suspended Friday the Trump administration’s move to block Harvard from enrolling and hosting foreign students after the prestigious university sued, calling the action unconstitutional. On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign nationals, throwing the future of thousands of students and the lucrative income stream they provide into doubt. But Harvard sued, and Massachusetts district judge Allison Burroughs ordered that ‘The Trump administration is hereby enjoined from implementing… the revocation of Plaintiff’s SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) certification.’ There will be an injunction hearing on May 29, a court filing showed.

“President Donald Trump is furious at Harvard — which has produced 162 Nobel prize winners — for rejecting his demand that it submit to oversight on admissions and hiring over his claims that it is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and ‘woke’ liberal ideology…. The loss of foreign nationals — more than a quarter of its student body — could prove costly to Harvard, which charges tens of thousands of dollars a year in tuition… Noem had said Thursday that ‘this administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.’ Chinese students make up more than a fifth of Harvard’s international enrollment…” 

Newsmax added on May 23: 

“On Thursday, Noem said Harvard could restore its certification by turning over within 72 hours a raft of records about international students, including video or audio of their protest activity in the past five years.… Harvard called the revocation ‘unlawful many times over,’ saying the government violates the First Amendment by using coercion to police private speech, and forcing universities to surrender their academic freedom.” 

Breitbart added on May 26: 

“Harvard Law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe said Monday: ‘…This case involves Trump’s attempt to tell Harvard that it can no longer host foreign students. Now that’s crazy. There’s no legal basis for it. He’s talking about information that he would like about students. He wants to know details about what they say, what they think. That’s a violation of the First Amendment.’” 

The possible attack on freedom of speech is indeed ironic in light of the next article. 

USA vs. UK on Freedom of Speech 

Breitbart wrote on May 25: 

“The Trump administration reportedly dispatched a team to meet with victims of Britain’s draconian speech restrictions amid growing concerns over the state of liberty in the United Kingdom. A group of five diplomats from the U.S. State Department were recently sent on a fact-finding mission in March to Britain to meet with pro-life activists who have been arrested for silently praying outside abortion clinics in the UK…

“The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) team also met with UK Foreign Office officials and members of the Ofcom broadcasting regulator, which was recently empowered to police speech on the internet in Britain by the controversial Online Safety Act. The legislation has reportedly become a major bone of contention between Washington and London, given the potential for the British authority to impose hefty fines on American social media firms for failing to police content on their platforms.

“The Trump administration has publicly chastised Britain for its increasingly restrictive speech codes, and reports have claimed that the issue could become a sticking point during trade negotiations…

“Reform UK leader and longtime Trump ally Nigel Farage remarked: ‘… My American friends cannot believe what is happening in the UK.’ During a February meeting in the Oval Office, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer denied that his country has a problem with free speech… According to a report last month from The Times of London, British police arrest more than 30 people every day for supposedly offensive comments on the internet or other platforms, totalling around 12,000 arrests per year.”

Censorship and restrictions on freedom and liberty everywhere…

Trump’s Major Blunder re South Africa

Express wrote on May 24:

“Donald Trump made a major blunder at the White House during his meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa. The meeting turned confrontational after the US President presented his guest with alleged evidence of genocide committed against White South African farmers. In a moment that caught Ramaphosa and his delegation by surprise, Trump showed a screenshot of a video he claimed showed a mass grave of White farmers. ‘These are all white farmers that are being buried,’ Trump said as he glowered at his South African counterpart. However, the video – shot by Reuters – recorded the aftermath of an attack by a Rwanda-backed rebel paramilitary group in Congo.

“Published by the international news agency on February 3, the video showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from footage of a mass burial following an M23 rebel assault on Goma, filmed by video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty. Al Katanty was stunned to see his video used during the meeting. ‘In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, White people are being killed by Black people,’ he said. However, a BBC report identified the crosses as part of a memorial to a couple who were killed in 2020. 

“While South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, most of the victims are Black. Of the more than 26,000 murders committed in 2024, eight of those were of farmers, according to South African Police Service (SAPS) figures.”

Whether or not there is genocide against white farmers in South Africa, the incompetence with which the Trump administration presented its case is shocking and embarrassing. 

US Bishops vs. Trump on Immigration 

Newsmax wrote on May 24: 

“The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is on a collision course with the Trump administration over competing views on immigration and the role the government should play in caring for at-risk migrants…  This USCCB chastised the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) for rescinding a policy that gave guidance on the care, custody and documentation of pregnant women they encounter. 

“Bishop Mark J. Seitz, of El Paso, Texas, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration wrote, ‘It is deeply troubling and inexcusable that measures intended to ensure the basic safety of pregnant mothers and their young children while in government custody could be rescinded with such indifference toward the vulnerability of those involved… This decision is all the more concerning as the [Trump] administration simultaneously ramps up family detention in place of safer, more cost-effective alternatives to detention,’ Seitz said. 

“‘Let us be clear: protecting pregnant mothers and their children can never be considered “obsolete.” This principle irrefutably extends to noncitizens in immigration detention, each of whom possesses an inviolable, God-given dignity that must be respected. We urge the Administration to reissue guidance that adequately reflects and affirms the increased standard of care due to this vulnerable population while in government custody,’ he added. 

“Time will tell how much a of conflict the Catholic church generally and Pope Leo XIV specifically will have with the Trump administration over the issue of illegal immigration… Although he has yet to address the issue publicly, Pope Leo’s brother John Prevost told the New York Times, ‘I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration. I know that for a fact. How far he’ll go with it is only one’s guess, but he won’t just sit back. I don’t think he’ll be the silent one.’” 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is correct in this case. 

Catholic Sacrament of Confession Under Attack

The Blaze wrote on May 22: 

“Washington State Senate Bill 5375, passed earlier this month… would force Catholic priests who hear admissions of abuse within the context of the sacrament of confession to break the seal of the sacrament and report those admissions to the state, even though all other recognized privileges — like those between doctor and patient and lawyer and client — are preserved… 

“The practice of confession [is] a sacrament where we believe God extends His forgiveness for our sins, which we must lay out to a priest, Christ’s representative on earth. It’s a ritual: You list your sins in conversation with a priest, often anonymously or from behind a screen, and in return, the priest assigns a penance and grants absolution. It’s also a ritual critical to the spiritual life of Catholics. Without forgiveness and absolution, Catholics who die in a state of sin could go straight to hell, and Catholics who live in a state of mortal sin are barred from communion, which is the heart of our faith… 

“Priests who are found to be uncompliant could face a year in jail or thousands of dollars in fines… And priests who do comply would face excommunication… because the issue of confessional confidentiality is covered right there in the Church’s own catechism… 

“In a statement issued May 5, [the Trump administration] vowed to fight the Washington law on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment’s right to free exercise since it infringes on a core, sincerely held religious dogma…”

Confession (even though not biblical) is at the heart and core of the Catholic Church’s teaching. It will never abrogate that “sacrament.”

America.. the Fading Empire 

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on May 23: 

“The inexorable decline of the American Empire has arrived at an Imperial Paradox. It must either fight a war and die, or not fight a war and yet still die… 

“The Pentagon must understand it cannot sustain logistics in a war against China in the western Pacific. It simply cannot be done… 

“In the context of a war against Iran, all the geography is against the US… The US Navy could only operate at extreme risk in the southern Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Persian Gulf. Every US base in the region is well within range of Iranian missile strikes… 

“From a geographic and logistical standpoint, the only remotely conceivable war is one in Ukraine against Russia. The US at least has bases and forces already in place in the UK, Germany, Poland, Romania, Finland… Of course, whether or not such a condition persists long in a war scenario is another question altogether… 

“So if you’re an empire that thinks it needs a war to reaffirm at least its short-term relevance and fading glory … well, these are your choices. Sic transit gloria mundi.”

Thus passes the glory of the world… 

Germany to Defend Europe 

Bloomberg wrote on May 22: 

“As Europe waits anxiously for US President Donald Trump’s possible rollback of security commitments in Ukraine’s war against Russia, Germany wants to play more of a leading role. Speaking in Lithuania yesterday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany’s military is prepared to defend the Baltic region against ‘any threat.’ The new German leader and his defense minister, Boris Pistorius, traveled to Vilnius to take part in the first ceremonial roll call of the Panzer Brigade 45 [Germany’s biggest foreign military mission since World War II.]”

“Since taking office earlier this year, the center-right chancellor has pledged to transform the German military into Europe’s strongest army. G-7 finance ministers meanwhile agreed to continue supporting Ukraine as it attempts to keep Russia at bay. For its part, the EU is also giving its dedicated defense fund a 40 million Euro boast.” 

The Draft to Return to Germany? 

Deutsche Welle reported on May 24: 

“Germany is considering bringing back military conscription from next year unless more volunteers sign up for the armed forces, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said… The initial plan to boost numbers will rely on volunteers, but Pistorius warned that could change if numbers remain insufficient. Compulsory military service was scrapped in 2011… 

“‘If the time comes when we have more capacity available than voluntary registrations, then a decision may be made to make recruitment mandatory. That is the roadmap,’ he added…” 

It will come… sadly. 

Sebastian Kurz Acquitted 

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 26: 

“An Austrian court on Monday overturned former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s conviction for giving false testimony to a parliamentary inquiry. ‘Sebastian Kurz… is acquitted,’ a three-member panel of judges said… 

“Kurz was found guilty of making false statements in February 2024 and was given an eight-month suspended sentence, a conviction he then appealed. In his appeal, Kurz argued that he was interrupted during his testimony and that the judge who handed out his conviction was biased…

“Kurz is still under investigation for corruption in a separate case. Prosecutors suspect him of embezzling state funds, diverting them to polls distorted to boost his popularity.”

Ukraine Unstable Country

EurAsia Daily wrote on May 23: 

“The readiness of the European Union to maintain a Ukrainian army of one million people poses a threat to the security of the EU countries themselves, since Ukraine is an unstable state. This was stated by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban…  ‘Ukraine is a politically unstable state, and no one can say what kind of government there will be,’ he warned. 

“Accordingly, there are no guarantees that Ukraine, and therefore its armed forces, will take a friendly position towards the EU countries. Therefore, Orban stressed that the financing by the European Union of the million-strong Ukrainian army at the suggestion of Kiev creates a ‘serious threat to European security.’ 

“… the Government of Hungary from the very beginning of the conflict on Ukraine refused to supply weapons there and opposed the provision of military assistance to it. Budapest condemned Moscow’s actions, but at the same time always stressed that the Ukrainian conflict cannot be resolved on the battlefield, it should be settled through negotiations.”

Ukraine and Russia WILL become allies against Europe. 

What Happened During the Phone Call With Trump

Focus wrote on May 24: 

“The week began with a shock for Europe. After his phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, [Trump] dropped the bombshell in a conversation with the European heads of state: The US is no longer interested in acting as peace mediator. And sanctions against Putin, which Trump had previously promised, were suddenly off the table. The German magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ has now reconstructed what really happened in the shock phone call between Trump and the Europeans (Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelensky, Giorgia Meloni, Ursula von der Leyen, and Alexander Stubb)…

“The Europeans had hoped that Trump would read Putin the riot act during their phone call. Trump, who recently said that Putin might just be leading him on, is supposed to reinforce the new sanctions threats, according to the Europeans’ wishes. But Trump has none of that. Instead, according to ‘Spiegel,’ Trump says Putin doesn’t want a deal. And Ukraine is now the Europeans’ problem. Sanctions, ceasefire, not a word about that. 

“The Europeans know immediately: As before, Putin has lulled Trump into a false sense of security. As several media outlets report, there is a very long silence afterward. And all Europeans ask themselves: How can we keep Trump in this process? And above all: Who of us? 

“In the end, it is Friedrich Merz who takes the floor. As ‘Der Spiegel’ reports, citing diplomats and government circles, he says he wants to ‘summarize’ the situation. Merz says technical talks must now begin. The Chancellor also says that the Vatican could host such talks, as Trump suggested. Trump’s reaction: ‘Fine by me.’ Merz subsequently asked twice whether Trump was really part of it. It would be nothing new for Trump to suddenly back down. But the US President promises to send his special envoy on this matter…

“It is the absolute minimum success on a shocking day for Europe. Friedrich Merz himself threatened Putin with harsh consequences if there would be no ceasefire. He had believed he had the agreed-upon backing of Donald Trump. But he abandoned him again, just like he abandoned Ukraine.” 

America’s Betrayal of Europe 

news.de wrote on May 25:

“Ben Hodges is shocked by Donald Trump’s behavior in the Ukraine war. The former US general [who commanded the US Army in Europe] speaks in a recent interview about the US president’s betrayal of his allies and simultaneously revealed Vladimir Putin’s true war aim… ‘After all the loud talk about solving the problem in 24 hours, I think the credibility of this president and this administration will be severely damaged by this failure.’ 

“And further: ‘If the US turns away and says, “Hey, Europe, this is your problem!” I think that would be a real betrayal of our allies who have stood by us for decades… Russia has never changed its war aims. It’s still about the destruction of Ukraine and the idea of ​​Ukraine as a state’… 

“However, he is also convinced that Putin’s goals are much bigger than Ukraine. ‘Russia’s goal is to break NATO… And they achieve that by attacking a NATO country to see if we all respond appropriately. And if not, then I think it’s the end of the alliance,’ said Hodges…” 

Russia’s Demands 

Bild Online wrote on May 24: 

“Another setback for any hopes of peace in Ukraine in the near future. Vladimir Putin’s (72) regime now refuses to sign any peace agreement with Ukraine as long as the democratically elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (47) remains in office.” 

Trump: “Putin Absolutely Crazy!” 

Newsmax wrote on May 26: 

“President Donald Trump used his social media platform to take aim at Vladimir Putin, calling the Russian president ‘absolutely crazy’ for continuing to fire missiles that are killing Ukrainian citizens. Trump also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for saying things that help undermine the U.S. president’s efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. 

“‘I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!… He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!…’ 

“Earlier Sunday, Trump expressed deep unhappiness at Russia’s weekend bombing of Ukraine, saying of the Russian president, ‘I’m not happy with Putin… I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him? Right? He’s killing a lot of people. I’m not happy about that,’ Trump told reporters at the airport in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington. 

“Trump spoke in reaction to a Russian barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight on Sunday, including the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more.” 

Trump added on May 27: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

Trump also announced now that there will be sanctions against Russia. Russia responded by saying that Trump is suffering from “emotional overload.”  

Now, when did Trump ever say that Putin wants all of Ukraine? If Russia and Ukraine unite, that will not lead to the immediate downfall of Russia. That downfall will come later. 

Germany and Ukraine 

The Guardian wrote on May 28: 

“German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday during a visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Berlin will help Kyiv develop new long-range weapons that can hit targets in Russian territory… 

“The production of long-range weapons ‘can take place both in Ukraine and here in Germany,’ he said… Germany will provide further military support for Ukraine amounting to about €5bn ($5.65bn)…” 

The New York Post added on May 28: 

“Merz said last Monday that Germany and other major allies were no longer imposing range limits on weapons they send to Ukraine, although he indicated their use was limited to Russian military targets…” 

Israel’s Standing 

Israel Today wrote on May 23:

“Nearly 600 days after the outbreak of the October 7 war, and Israel has sunk to an all-time low in its international standing. Some of its closest allies—Britain, France, and Canada—have threatened sanctions if the war in Gaza continues. Never before has such a harshly worded statement been directed at Israel, effectively branding it a pariah state… 

“Most astonishing and alarming is the silence of the United States, Israel’s steadfast ally that has always stood by its side. Not a single word of condemnation from Washington regarding this threatening statement from other Western powers. If President Donald Trump was accused of throwing Israel under the bus, this is now taking tangible form on the global stage…” 

And so, Israel will end up all alone. 

US Demands of Israel to Delay Gaza Takeover 

Newsmax wrote on May 25:

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a full-fledged takeover of Gaza from Hamas terrorists, but the U.S. is pushing to delay that until the remaining hostages are returned, effectively giving the terrorists justification for their holding of what Israel has called its ‘human shields.’… 

“Netanyahu has pledged to hold all areas under full Israel control to accomplish the long-stated war goals: 1. Return all hostages. 2. Destroy Hamas in total. 3. Deradicalize and demilitarize Gaza.

Netanyahu’s regime contends that third goal can only be accomplished with Israel’s occupation of Gaza to root out radical anti-Israel extremism that led to the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.

The security situation in Gaza remains tenuous without a controlling force, under Israel’s view. 

“Not only are Hamas terrorists reportedly looting the humanitarian aid for the innocent civilians, but they are also reportedly firing on civilians trying to access the aid that the world leaders have demanded Israel release. Israel has long warned aid is getting stolen by the very hostage-holding terrorists Israel seeks to remove from power…” 

How much longer does Trump want to delay this? Admittedly, one has to note that Trump’s foreign policy has been pretty unsuccessful so far. 

Houthi Continue to Attack Israel 

Breitbart wrote on May 25: 

“The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have stepped up their attacks on Israel, firing three ballistic missiles in the last four days. Though all were intercepted by missile defenses, the pace of the attacks is a notable escalation. Moreover, the attacks have come despite a Houthi ceasefire with the United States; ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran on a possible nuclear deal; and Israeli reprisals at Yemen’s Hodeidah port and Sanaa airport… 

“Both President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said in the past that Iran is ultimately responsible for Houthi attacks. Israel could conceivably use that as justification to attack Iran. However, that would risk interfering in the ongoing diplomatic effort between the U.S. and Iran — an effort that is not making much progress, given that Iran refuses to accede to demands to stop enriching uranium.”

Breitbart wrote on May 28:

“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded to days of missile attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Wednesday, targeting the Sanaa airport and destroying the Houthis’ last serviceable airplane… The other planes were destroyed in an Israeli strike on the airport on May 6… It is unclear whether, or when, Israel will target Iran in response to Houthi attacks, though Netanyahu keeps raising the possibility…” 

Friedrich Merz Criticizes Israel 

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 26: 

“German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Israel’s ‘current level of attacks on Gaza can no longer be justified by the fight against Hamas.’ ‘Harming the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,’ he told German public broadcaster WDR in a televised interview.  

“He added he planned to hold a call with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him ‘to not overdo it,’ though for ‘historical reasons,’ Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than some European partners. ‘But if lines are crossed, where international humanitarian law is really being violated, then Germany, the German chancellor, must also say something about it,’ Merz said.” 

The Lying Press and Hatred Against Israel 

Report 24 wrote on May 25: 

“The mainstream media bombards the public with images of children with wide, pleading eyes… Instead of demanding evidence or sources, hatred against Israel is sweeping through the country… Ever since the Middle East conflict began, there have been countless lies emanating from the machinery of the so-called ‘Palestinians’ and their ‘National Authority’… 

“On May 20, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, via the formerly highly respected BBC, claimed that 14,000 babies in Gaza were at risk of dying within 48 hours… Tom Fletcher had fabricated the story. There is no truth to it. And the BBC failed to question it or classify it. Israel has been exposed to the hatred of the world. This doesn’t happen by chance—it’s a calculated move. Of course, the ORF [in Austria] also participated in the unreflective spread of this lie… 

“The wrongly accused Jews once again had to do their own research to find out the background to the story. It was discovered that Fletcher was referring to a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which estimated that up to 14,000 children between 6 months and 6 years of age could be affected by malnutrition over a period of one year… There were no current threats of death within 48 hours… 

“A high-ranking UN official went public with a fact that, upon closer examination, feeds the centuries-old antisemitic narratives that have led to pogroms, i.e., mass murder and expulsion, in many places. The ritual murder legend of the Jew as baby murderer. First historically documented in 1144 in England, when Jews were accused, without any evidence, of murdering a Christian boy. In 1475, a two-year-old boy was found dead in Trento. The authorities subsequently had all the city’s Jews tortured and executed. The image of the child-murdering Jews was taken up by Nazi propaganda… 

“We live in a time in which leftists, Muslims, and National Socialists are fraternizing to incite hatred against Israel and attack Jews. Yet, every lie seems to be justified. As a media consumer, one should have learned, at the very latest after the madness of the Corona period, to question everything critically… Anyone who relies on mainstream media is abandoned. Not just during the Corona pandemic, but always…”

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

In part one of this two-part series, we looked at the assertion by some, maybe many in mainstream Christianity, who believe that Jesus’ resurrected body was physical and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from where He will one day return to Earth.

Let us continue to look at evidence that proves otherwise.

We read Christ’s words and action in Luke 24:39:

“‘Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’”

As we said in the previous instalment, the Roman Catholic Church “explains”: “Christ makes it plain to His disciples that He does have a physical body; He is not a disembodied spirit.” 

Again, as pointed out before, this “explanation” overlooks that Spirit beings do have form and shape—they are not “disembodied” spirits, but their bodies are composed of Spirit.

There is plenty of evidence of angels taking on the form of a human being so that they could be seen, as we know that a flesh and blood human being can’t see a Spirit being unless it materialises itself.   The question has been asked and answered as to “How many times do angels appear in the Bible? More than a dozen times in the New Testament, and a dozen or so other times in the Old Testament.”  

Jesus was raised up at the resurrection with a spirit body which the disciples and humanity could not see unless He materialised Himself as He did on a number of occasions. How could Jesus appear in the midst of the disciples if He was physical?  In John 20:24-29, we have the account of doubting Thomas.   We read in verses 26-28:

^“And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”

We can see that Jesus entered the room while the doors were shut and suddenly He appeared in their midst, and said, “Peace to you!” After Thomas saw Jesus, he was convinced that Jesus had been resurrected.   As a Spirit being, Jesus was able to go through closed doors and be wherever He chose, irrespective of any physical obstacles that could be in the way.   In modern scientific terminology, the glorified body is not subject to the forces and laws of physics and chemistry.

How could Jesus appear in the midst of the disciples if He still had a physical body?  If this assertion was correct, He would not be able to go through walls and other physical barriers and instantly appear before the disciples.  In addition, Jesus would be the only physical being in Heaven and we should know that that cannot be the case as everything in the Third Heaven is spiritual, man’s doubting and misunderstanding or misapplying Scripture notwithstanding!

Romans 6:4-5 is instructive in this regard:

^“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,’

In Philippians 3:21, we read that Christ “will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

Jesus’ resurrection body is the pattern for our resurrection body, and we read the following in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

Jesus is now a Spirit being in heaven. He will return to earth to set up the Kingdom of God, and His people will be caught up in the air to meet Him in the clouds.

In our two-part Q&A “Who and What is in Heaven?” we showed that “In heaven, there is God the Father, Jesus Christ the Word, and innumerable angels” and no physical beings are there.   In John 4:24 we read: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”   God the Father and Jesus Christ, the two members of the God Family at this time are composed of Spirit, as will be the born-again members of God’s Church at the resurrection when Jesus returns to this earth.   We must remember that in Mark 16:19 we read: “So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.”  And He would have been a Spirit Being to have been in such a position next to the Spiritual Father and all the other Spirit beings that live in the Third Heaven.

In our booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World,” we read the following on page 17:

“Christ did not appear to His disciples in His glorified state. He did not appear, prior to His ascension to heaven, with all His power and glory that He has today. We can find a description of His glorious appearance in Revelation 1:10, 12–17. We also find a description of His glory, prior to His human birth, in Ezekiel 1:26–28. When He appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, He appeared just as an ordinary man, so much so that they did not recognize Him. Accounts of His appearances can be found in John 20:14–16 and John 21:4–7. They only came to recognize Him after He spoke a certain way or performed a certain miracle that He had performed earlier before His death.

“We read that the disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize the resurrected Christ until He ‘…took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight’ (Luke 24:30–31). The reason that they did not recognize Him earlier is explained in Mark 16:12: ‘After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.’”

A good question to ask is how a physical body could just vanish from their sight, as it states in Luke 24:31? 

In the same booklet on pages 44-45, we explain the misunderstood passage in Luke 24:39:

“Christ manifested Himself to the disciples as a being with flesh and bones. He even ate food in their presence to convince the disciples that it was He, not a spirit or a demon. The Greek word for ‘spirit’ is ‘pneuma’ and can refer to demons (compare Matthew 8:16; 10:1; 12:43, 45; Luke 4:33, 36; 6:18; 7:21, etc.). We understand, of course, that Christ is not a being with flesh and bones. Rather, at His resurrection He received a spiritual body and became a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:44–45, 50). He was able to manifest Himself, however, as a person with flesh and bones. We saw earlier that angels can manifest themselves as human beings as well. Demons cannot. Christ used this opportunity to show His disciples that He was not a spirit or a demon, because demons cannot manifest themselves as human beings with flesh and bones.”

It is emphasized above that Christ became a life-giving SPIRIT… not, as we quoted the following false assertion in the first instalment and repeat it again below,  a physical human being with a “physical body” which is “designed with eternity in view.”

In our Q&A entitled: “We read in Matthew 27:52 that many saints were raised at the time of Christ’s death. How can Christ then be called the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18)?,” We make these observations:

“Christ… became born again when He was resurrected to Spirit. It was at that time that He became the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29 tells us that we are to be ‘conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.’ We also read in Colossians 1:15, 18: ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation… And He is… the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.’

“Christ was the first human who became born again as a Spirit being. The Greek word for ‘firstborn,’ ‘prototokos,’ designates the person who is born first. It can refer to the firstborn Son of the spiritual Family of God, and it can also refer to the firstborn son in a physical family. We read, for example, in Hebrews 11:28 that Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood by faith, ‘lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.’ Christ was also, quite literally, Mary’s firstborn Son (Compare Matthew 1:25; Luke 2:7. The Greek word, ‘prototokos,’ used here does not mean ‘only’ or ‘only begotten’ son. That concept is conveyed by the Greek word ‘monogenes’…). Since Christ was Mary’s firstborn Son, it goes without saying that Christ as a human being had younger brothers. In fact, He also had sisters (compare Matthew 13:53-58).

“The same Greek word, ‘prototokos,’ is also used in Revelation 1:5. The New King James Bible translates the entire passage quite accurately in this way: ‘…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.’ (The Authorized Version’s rendition, ‘first begotten of the dead,’ is clearly wrong. The context here is the resurrection from the dead. The Ryrie Study Bible comments that ‘Christ was the first [man] to receive a resurrection [glorified] body which is immortal’).” (our emphasis).

As we mentioned earlier, there is the invention of a new description of Jesus “who has a physical body, with a difference. His resurrected body is designed with eternity in view.”   Why would anyone make up something that the Bible certainly doesn’t say?  Jesus’ resurrected body was a Spiritual body—a body with form and shape, but composed of Spirit—and He is now in Heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father where all around them are Spiritual beings and Spiritual things.  

It would be ridiculous to think that God the Father and all the angels in heaven are all spiritual, but Jesus is the odd one out having a physical body!

In His resurrection, Jesus did not and does not have a physical body. Neither will we. His physical body was in the grave for three days and three nights, but when He was raised from the dead, His physical body was changed into a spiritual body, which is the same that will happen to us, when we, who are still alive, will be changed.

We asked the question: “Is Jesus Christ a Spirit Being Today?,” and the answer, as we have shown in this Q&A, is an unequivocal YES!

Lead Writers: Brian Gale and Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

“Why This Hatred for Israel and the Jews?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Norbert Link. Here is the summary:

Hatred for the State of Israel and the Jews in general is spreading. Now, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also attacked Israel “more harshly than any German Chancellor before him.” But some believe his criticism was unbalanced, hurtful, and disappointing. Why is this so? And what should we make of the international “lying press” that demonizes Israel and stirs up anti-Semitism?

“Warum der Hass für Israel und die Juden?” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program, presented by Norbert Link. This German program covers the same topics as described above.

“Wir fallen, bevor wir aufstehen,” is the title of this Sabbath’s German split sermon, presented by Michael Link. Title in English: “We Fall Before We Rise.”

“Haben Sie den heiligen Geist?” is the title of the German sermon for Pentecost, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Do You Have the Holy Spirit?”

“Das Unkraut unter dem Weizen,” last Sabbath’s first split sermon in Germany was presented by Marc Vöeller. Title in English: “The Weeds Among the Wheat.”

“Sei ein Gewinner,” last Sabbath’s second split sermon in Germany was presented by Dmitrij Niemann. Title in English: “Be A Winner.”

“The Downfall of America, Britain and Israel–Comments on News and Prophecy, May 24, 2025,” last Sabbath’s sermonette presented by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is the summary:

What we have been announcing for decades is coming true right now: God is being ignored—in political life and in science, with Orthodox Christianity in total defiance of biblical Truth. While Israel is being isolated and the American Empire is failing, Germany intends to become Europe’s leader, with Britain’s downfall and its surrender to Europe continuing.

“Why So Many False Teachings About the Holy Spirit?” last Sabbath’s sermon presented by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is the summary:

Why is the doctrine of the Trinity unbiblical and extremely dangerous, regardless of whether one believes in Greek Orthodox or Roman Catholic doctrine? What is the Holy Spirit, and did people in the Old Testament have it within them? What about Christians in the New Testament? Can one receive the Holy Spirit if one sins—sometimes seriously? What are the essential requirements for receiving the Holy Spirit?

On May 24, 2025, Norbert Link will present “Comments on News and Prophecy, May 24, 2025,” and the sermon, titled, “Why So Many False Teachings About the Holy Spirit?”

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

In January 2025, I looked at the BBC Parliament Channel on television and saw a discussion entitled, “Flood Resilience in England”. Here were the great in London and via video calls giving evidence, information and suggestions on this subject.

The Environmental Audit Committee was undertaking an inquiry on how flood resilience can be strengthened in response to increasing risks from extreme weather, rising sea levels, and evolving flood hazards.

There seemed to be about 20 in the chamber which included politicians, professors and other interested and involved parties.

Their concerns were that in England, an estimated 5.7 million properties are at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea, surface water, and groundwater.  A number of recent problems outlined the challenges that have brought flood risk management back into the national spotlight.

It was stated on the TV channel that “looking to the future, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) anticipates that by 2050, the UK will face warmer, wetter winters, hotter, drier summers, and continued sea level rises.  Sea levels, which have already risen by 16cm since 1900, could place a third of England’s coastline under significant flood pressure. Flooding and coastal erosion are complex issues with serious economic, social, and environmental consequences. They pose significant risks to lives, health, homes, and infrastructure, yet the best path forward remains uncertain. Critical national infrastructure—including water supply systems, rail networks, and electricity grids—face vulnerabilities that will require careful evaluation and planning.”

Many would question the accuracy of their predictions. Still, their concerns and considerations, at least in a general way, should be taken seriously, as prevention is always better than a cure.   However, these are not the only critical issues to be addressed in a nation deluged with a seemingly endless list of problem areas.   Wherever you look, very little is working perfectly, and endless meetings, committees, commissions, talks and task forces, both local and national, convene to grapple with the problems confronting them and the nation.   It seems to be an endless grind and even when decisions are found, rarely is there enough money to fund the required action.

Sound familiar?  It should be as it seems to not only be a UK problem but extant in so many countries and areas around the world.   Why should it be?

Simply answered, it is because God is ignored.   The Bible is full of admonitions about how to do this, that and the other, but man always seems to know best and pursues his own line of reasoning and implementation.

God gave His Commandments for man to follow for his own well-being.   Many ignore them, even including those who say that they love God.   God gives counsel and rules in so many areas of our lives, and most of those are disregarded or rejected such as how to treat and deal with others, our own personal godly example, correct worship, tithing, eating only clean foods and correct sexual practices, and much more.

In Proverbs 11:1, we read: “Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight.”   We should never cheat anyone either personally or in business but how often is that ignored?   We should never lie to others just to get our way or the best in a business deal.   No shady deals.  The list could go on and on, but because God and His Ways are ignored, problems inevitably ensue.   

It will not be so in the Millennium.  All things will be done in a Godly fashion for the benefit of all concerned.   Jesus Christ and other born-again members of the Family of God at that time will ensure that all of God’s instructions are adhered to and the result will be a complete removal of all the problems that man has himself created and is now looking at how to deal with them.   And this has been because God and His Way have been ignored.   In the future, it will not be as it is currently.   Think tanks, conferences, symposiums, assemblies and gatherings will not be necessary as they are today, as matters will be dealt with perfectly from inception, therefore not requiring any remedial action.   Perfect from the get-go.

The difference will be stark, and the right Way will last for eternity!

by Norbert Link

We begin with the long-awaited phone call between Putin and Trump which proved to be fruitless; and continue with legal and economic developments in the USA (please view our new message, titled, “The Constitution Under Attack—Comments on News and Prophecy, May 17, 2025″ ).

We continue with Pope Leo XIV’s new comments (please view in this regard our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Pope Leo’s Demand of ‘Unity in Faith!”)  

We report on the dubious and contested “finding” of the FBI that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide.

We address the highly controversial deal between Great Britain and the EU; Israel’s war in Gaza; and Germany’s role in Europe.

We conclude with the elections in Romania and an article about the creation of the universe. 

Trump’s Phone Conversation With Putin 

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 19: 

“US President Donald Trump says talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the war would start ‘immediately.’ In a post on his Truth Social, Trump said his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin went ‘very well.’… Putin described the conversation with Trump as ‘frank and meaningful.’…  

“Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected Russian demands to withdraw Ukrainian forces from key regions in the east and south of the country claimed by Moscow… Russia has made it a condition for ending its war in Ukraine… [Zelenskyy] told reporters that he emphasized to US President Donald Trump that no decisions should be made about Ukraine without involving Kyiv… He spoke with Trump before and after the US president held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.” 

The New York Post wrote on May 19:

“[Putin] doubled down Monday on not accepting a cease-fire… following a two-hour call with President Trump — saying that Moscow was not ready for peace until the ‘root cause’ of the ‘crisis’ is addressed.” 

Trump’s “happy spin” can’t ignore the fact that the phone call did not accomplish anything. He stressed that Russia wants to become trading partners with the US — and made no mention of secondary sanctions, which the Europeans are determined to impose (note article below). 

Victory for Putin 

Die Welt wrote on May 19: 

“Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his US counterpart Donald Trump for two hours. There was no sign of Trump’s criticism of the Russians’ behavior in Ukraine. Putin can count the day a victory… For Putin, this means, on the one hand, he can continue fighting until a ceasefire is agreed upon – and with Trump’s tacit approval. Previously, some of Trump’s reactions to Russian attacks on residential buildings in Kyiv had caused irritation in Moscow. Now Moscow has nothing to justify itself for. 

“Trump failed to criticize the largest Russian drone attack on Ukraine since the war began on Sunday night. On the other hand, [Putin] can set conditions for the ceasefire alone… 

“The pressure on the Europeans is now increasing. The recently signaled transatlantic unity is over faster than it began.”

Bild Online wrote on May 19:

“If Putin’s statement is to be believed, the talks with Trump ended WITHOUT any concrete results. Russia is unwilling to fulfill Trump’s most important demand, an immediate 30-day ceasefire… That means: nothing will happen immediately. Putin will continue bombing Ukraine… This makes it clear: Putin once again turned down the most powerful man in the world.” 

As was to be expected, Trump lost again… while Putin was playing him like a fiddle. This was SO predictable. Note the following articles below which had been published prior to the phone conversation between Putin and Trump.

Putin Warns Trump 

The Daily Mail wrote on May 18: 

“Russian state TV aired a video of Vladimir Putin warning Donald Trump to stop trying to dictate the terms of a ceasefire with Ukraine. Putin stressed that he plans to finish what he started three years ago and warned that Trump should not push him into a US blueprint for stopping the war…. 

“Putin’s words were recorded in late March but broadcast today after Trump made clear he wants the Russian leader to concede a ceasefire… ‘We have enough strength and resources to bring what was started in 2022 to its logical conclusion with the result that Russia needs,’ Putin added.” 

This does not look like Putin is REALLY interested in a lasting peace agreement which can be secured and guaranteed. 

Trump Got It All Wrong 

The New York Post wrote on May 19:

“It was never going to be easy for President Trump to bring an end to the Ukraine war, but it’s even harder when he’s operating under an erroneous theory of the conflict. The man who instigated the war and who is the chief obstacle to peace is Vladimir Putin. Yet this enemy of the West, murderer of dissidents, and serial perpetrator of wars of territorial aggrandizement has never been subjected to the same US pressure campaign as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose fundamental offense is to be leading a country that his larger neighbor wants to subjugate… Putin, in contrast, has been at the receiving end of an all-carrots approach, and has reacted accordingly. 

“Pretty much whatever Putin does, Trump says someone else would do the same in his circumstances… 

“The play for the Kremlin is obvious here. It wants to keep inching ahead with territorial gains in the war, and if it continues to string along negotiations, has to hope that Trump tires of the whole thing and cuts off US aid to Ukraine. That would reward [Putin] with a very important diplomatic victory — a split between the US and Europe — and a chance to make major advances against an increasingly hard-pressed Ukraine…

“Whatever you think of the policy of NATO expansion, Ukraine didn’t invade Russia, and Putin has made it clear that Ukraine’s existence as its own independently governed nation is at the root of his war. So long as Putin believes that he’s winning and holds ‘all of the cards,’ there’s no reason for him to become more pliable… Putin has every reason to think he can persevere when the world’s superpower is inclined to blame the victim of his unprovoked aggression.” 

German Foreign Policy and the Dubious Trump 

Bild Online published the following commentary on May 15: 

“If Chancellor Friedrich Merz believed in Kyiv this weekend that the Europeans had Donald Trump (78) back on their side with the spontaneous call from Emmanuel Macron (47) and the prearranged statement, then he must now realize: No, Trump is continuing as before. 

“Trump’s statement today, after Russian dictator Vladimir Putin canceled the meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is devastating. Trump isn’t even gently criticizing the Russian president; he even understands his cancellation. The Kremlin must be laughing its head off… 

“If Merz cannot announce tough sanctions together with the US (for example, on oil and gas)…, that would be his first major embarrassment as Chancellor… 

“But Vice Chancellor Klingbeil also has a problem. The CDU/CSU and SPD had announced that they did NOT want to discuss arms deliveries in order to keep Putin in the dark. Just a few days after Merz reiterated this position regarding Taurus cruise missiles… Klingbeil’s parliamentary group leader, Mattias Miersch, showed that he couldn’t care less about the Chancellor’s words. Miersch publicly stated that he was AGAINST Taurus deliveries… Why? So that Putin knows exactly, shortly before possible negotiations, that he can rely on the SPD?… 

“Foreign policy is already becoming the biggest test for Merz and Klingbeil.” 

New European Sanctions Against Russia

Express wrote on May 16:

“European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen criticized Vladimir Putin for his lack of presence at the peace talks with Ukraine on Thursday in Istanbul, Turkey, stating that it demonstrates Putin’s disinterest in peace. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged Putin to personally engage in peace talks with Zelensky regarding the ongoing three-year conflict, but Putin dispatched lower-level delegates instead, which many interpreted as an indication that Putin is indifferent to peace. Consequently, Zelensky also opted to send lower-ranking officials, with von der Leyen indicating that the EU is now compelled to impose further sanctions on Russia due to Putin’s actions….

“‘… [The] new package of sanctions… will include for example sanctions on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2. It will include working on listing more vessels of the Russian shadow fleet and also lowering the oil price cap, and it will include more sanctions on the financial sector in Russia,’ she detailed.” 

It will remain to be seen whether Europe is going to go through with this without the USA. 

New Sanctions 

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 20: 

“The EU on Tuesday approved its 17th round of sanctions on Russia, the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas announced at a meeting of foreign and defense ministers in Brussels. The new measures target the nearly 200 ships of Russia’s so-called ‘shadow fleet.’ These ships are used to help Russia evade oil sales restrictions, and are often dilapidated, uninsured, with unclear ownership. 

Kallas added that more Russia sanctions are ‘in the works… The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response,’ she added. .. 

“Kaja Kallas… called for the United States to take ‘strong action’ against Russia if ceasefire talks do not come to fruition. ‘America said that if Russia doesn’t agree on an unconditional ceasefire, then there are going to be consequences. So, we want to see those consequences, also from the US side,’ Kallas said… 

“The UK on Tuesday said new sanctions would target Russia’s military, energy and financial sectors, coming as the EU also adopted a new raft of sanctions. The UK Foreign Office said the dual sanctions were part of ‘a coordinated effort to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.’”

Already: Merz in a Bind 

Focus wrote on May 16: 

“Politicians should always set the bar so high that they can just barely fit under it. For the tall Friedrich Merz, this advice, given half a century ago by Franz Josef Strauss, is difficult to follow. And Merz promptly broke in his first week in government – his own bar. 

“The resounding failure of the Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul after 90 minutes, the demonstrative departure of the delegations from the negotiating room, does not fit at all with the images of that conspiratorial gang of four a few days ago. They showed a standing Friedrich Merz in a light blue sweater, clearly briefing his counterparts from France, Poland, and Great Britain on his way to Kyiv about his actions in Ukraine. 

“A 30-day ceasefire as a prelude to serious peace negotiations was the demand of the united leading Europeans who had been working with the new Chancellor from Germany who should have been looked upon as a new leader… Merz remained vague. A tough chancellor would have sounded different… Merz suffered his first bitter foreign policy defeat. Annalena Baerbock couldn’t have done better, and Merz must realize that the international stage wasn’t waiting for this German.” 

Perhaps not for Merz… 

The Most Important American 

ntv wrote on May 18: 

“Trump is no longer the most important American in the world, that’s now Robert Francis Prevost. The headline in the New York Times sums it up. Pope Leo XIV has already won the sympathy of Trump’s critics – as a 100 percent antithesis to the US President… There were only doubts as to whether, after the Jesuit Bergoglio, it would be another person of a religious order, the first Augustinian ever in the history of the Church… 

“Of course, this Pope also carries the burdens of the Catholic Church: Half of humanity is women, but they have no say in his election or in his Church. Pope Leo XIV will also have to address the many cases of abuse by clergymen of their wards, minors, women, and men in the Church… 

“A harsher political antithesis to Trumpism is hard to imagine. The US President may have many Catholic voters, but he doesn’t have the Church…” 

The Pope’s Vision of the “Unity of Faith” 

Vatican News reported on May 19: 

“Speaking first to other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities, Pope Leo XIV took note of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, emphasizing that unity among Christians ‘can only be unity in faith.’…

“Turning to representatives of non-Christian religious traditions, Pope Leo XIV said our ‘common path’ can and must be understood to involve everyone, ‘in a spirit of human fraternity.’ 

The Council of Nicea decided dogmatically that God is a Trinity–  three co-equal and co-eternal Persons. All who disagreed were declared “anathema” (“cursed”) from  Christ and excluded from fellowship. Pope Leo’s somewhat inconsistent statements are interesting: “Unity among Christians can only be united in faith” seems to be saying what the Council of Nicea decreed with its consequences for “heretics,” while non-Christians seem to be given some time in reaching a “common path,” until the “unity of faith” must be encompassing them as well? 

Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Pope Leo’s Demand of ‘Unity in Faith!’” 

Trump’s Goals Are Crystal Clear 

Focus wrote on May 18:

“Trump’s policies are so consistent that the surprise in the liberal part of the West can only be explained by self-deception. Yet the US President’s goals are crystal clear. 

“The truly astonishing thing about Donald Trump’s policies is that they still astonish so many. The headlines express shock and disbelief whenever Trump once again shakes a cornerstone of the liberal world order – whether by endorsing Russia’s claim to Ukrainian territory, bringing up the forcible annexation of Greenland, or triggering economic chaos with tariff announcements.” 

Supreme Court Stops Trump 

CNBC wrote on May 16: 

“The Supreme Court on Friday granted a request by Venezuelan nationals seeking to block their removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act.  In a 7-2 decision, the court said the Trump administration had not given the detainees enough time or adequate resources to challenge their deportations. ‘Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,’ the ruling said. 

“The justices barred the removal of the men, who the Trump administration alleges are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, pending a new decision from a lower federal appellate court… The justices did not rule on whether the Alien Enemies Act, which the Trump administration invoked in mid-April to deport the detainees, had been applied correctly. ‘To be clear, we decide today only that the detainees are entitled to more notice than was given on April 18,’ their ruling said… 

“Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the opinion.” 

Trump raged against the order. 

Suspending Habeas Corpus? 

The Ron Paul Institute published the following article by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano on May 15: 

“What if the writ of habeas corpus has been guaranteed to the British since 1215 and to Americans since 1789? What if this encompasses the right of every person who is confined by the government against his or her will to compel the jailer to justify the confinement before a neutral judge? 

“What if this right is personal and individual and applies to all persons at all times? What if the right can be exercised by anyone who is arrested… What if this right — to be free from an unjust confinement; to be free from arrest without trial — is one for which the Founders and the Framers fought the American Revolution? 

“What if habeas corpus is today recognized by all judges in the United States? What if judges actually stop court proceedings when a habeas corpus petition is received in order to hold a hearing and compel the government to lay out the evidence against the accused and justify his or her confinement, lest he or she spend one minute more behind bars than is lawful? 

“… What if even the most tyrannical and absolute of monarchs in Britain recognized and respected habeas corpus for their subjects in Britain?… 

“What if Madison recognized that in cases of invasion or rebellion, Congress might want to suspend habeas corpus until the rebellion or invasion subsided? What if Congress — in order to prevent frivolous or politically based suspensions of the right — defined invasion or rebellion as a state of affairs of such calamity that the federal courts are unable to conduct proceedings? 

“What if Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the War Between the States in certain regions in the north so he could arrest his critics without trial? What if the Supreme Court ruled that under the plain meaning and recognized structure of the Constitution, only Congress — not the president — can suspend habeas corpus?… 

“What if Franklin D. Roosevelt did the same based on race during World War II and he claimed he did so based not on invasion or rebellion but on the fear of invasion or rebellion? What if — in one of its lowest moral rulings in history, at a time of anti-Japanese racial animosity in America — the court permitted the suspension? 

“What if subsequent Congresses and presidents and courts condemned this ruling and this suspension? What if Congress — 40 years later — compensated those still living and their offspring for these arrests without trial? 

“What if George W. Bush tried to suspend habeas corpus in the months following 9/11?… What if the Supreme Court ruled against him? What if Congress tried to implement arrest without trial and the Supreme Court ruled that there was no invasion or rebellion of such chaotic magnitude that the federal courts could not conduct proceedings, and so it invalidated the suspension of habeas corpus? 

“What if here we go again? What if the White House (Stephen Miller) announced last week that it—not Congress—is contemplating the suspension of habeas corpus, but only for certain persons?…” 

What if we never learn from history? 

Walmart Buckles… Somewhat 

Fox Business reported on May 18: 

“Walmart is going to absorb the cost of some tariffs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday after speaking with the company’s CEO in the wake of President Donald Trump’s warning that the retail giant should ‘eat the tariffs.’… 

“On Thursday, [CEO Doug] McMillion said Walmart would do its best to keep prices down, but with the ‘magnitude’ of the tariffs, ‘even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.’” 

One wonders what was going on behind the scenes. 

Strong Accusations by Rand Paul Against Trump 

Politico wrote on May 18: 

“Sen. Rand Paul attacked the economic logic of President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff strategy on Sunday… 

“The Kentucky Republican said Trump’s sweeping tariffs on foreign trading partners are based on ‘an economic fallacy’ about trade deficits… 

“‘Well, tariffs are taxes, and when you put a tax on a business, it’s always passed through as a cost. So, there will be higher prices,’ Paul said…

“Courts have previously upheld the legality of tariffs when they’re based on congressional authority. However, Trump’s decision to impose tariffs by himself has raised legal questions about whether he is exceeding his delegated power. ‘Now, we do have a long history, though, of both parties abdicating their responsibility on tariffs and granting power to Congress, which brings up another constitutional question, can Congress delegate powers given to it under the Constitution to the president?’ Paul said.” 

Interesting legal questions indeed… 

Jeffrey Epstein Committed Suicide? Hardly! 

Financial Express wrote on May 20: 

“Hoping to finally move past convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s death, the FBI gave its verdict on the case. Declaring the sex offender’s 2019 death inside the notorious Metropolitan Correctional Centre a suicide, Deputy Director Dan Bongino (alongside FBI Director Kash Patel) that there was no evidence to prove any foul play being at work… [Epstein’s] brother, Mark Epstein, has since slammed the suicide verdict. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he fumed over Patel having ‘no idea what… he’s talking about,’ as he ‘wasn’t there, he didn’t see the body, he didn’t see the autopsy.’.. 

“He admitted that it would be a lot easier for him to move on as well if he accepted his brother’s death as suicide. Suggesting that there was a ‘long list of things’ that serve as bombshell evidence of Jeffrey Epstein having been murdered in his prison cell. And so, Mark is among the many who are cynical of the FBI’s declaration… Standing his ground, Mark alleged that there was good reason for people wanting his brother dead, especially for ‘what he knew, what he had on people.’ … 

“While Jeffrey’s file states that he was discovered hanging by a bedsheet, Mark Epstein said, ‘I don’t think that sheet could have held his weight, it would have torn.’.. In light of the two cameras trained on Epstein’s cell experiencing technical issues, Mark went on to say, ‘So, [former attorney general] Bill Barr came out and said he personally viewed the video and nobody went in or out of the tier [where Epstein was housed]. When I heard that I said this is cover up.’… Noting that 11 or 12 inmates were already on that tier, Mark said, ‘They would not have to go in or out of the tier to kill somebody in their cell. Supposedly cell doors were left locked.’ The Epstein brother laid emphasis on how easily someone could have gotten into ‘Jeff’s cell and killed him.’.. 

“Mark Epstein’s argument aligns with what forensic pathologist Michael Baden had to say about the case. The deceased billionaire’s family hired Baden after his death was initially ruled a suicide. According to the pathologist, homicide was more likely than suicide, as he focussed on fractures in Epstein’s thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone being indicative of strangulation.”

The suicide story seems to be a fabrication and a cover-up. Far too many famous people would be interested in putting this case to rest and burying what could otherwise come to light.

Starmer’s Betrayal of Britain 

The Sun wrote on May 19: 

“BRITAIN will pay money to Brussels for a ‘sellout’ deal that drags the country back under the control of European judges and grants French boats access to our fishing waters for 12 YEARS. The agreement signed by Sir Keir Starmer in London today reveals the UK will be tethered to the EU’s rulebook on trade standards… 

“Former PM Boris Johnson blasted: ‘Two-tier Keir is once again going back on his promises to the people of this country – by making us non-voting members of a two-tier European Union. ‘Under this appalling sell out of a deal the UK will have to accept EU law on a host of measures from food standards to emissions trading.’… 

“The deal will see Britain follow the EU’s food standards but only be involved in ‘early stages’ of setting the rules – with the European Court of Justice the ultimate arbiter… The text also shows British taxpayers will make an ‘appropriate financial contribution’ to the EU as the price of what critics are blasting as a ‘surrender’ deal… 

“Sir Keir has agreed to give EU nations full access to its fishing waters until June 2038. The 12-year concession undermines one of the primary promises of Brexit: regaining control over British waters. UK fishermen, who were gunning for greater independence have expressed outrage at the major policy surrender.” 

Further evidence for Britain’s downfall. 

Britain Surrenders to the EU

On May 18, The Sun published the following article by Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary: 

“Whenever Labour negotiates, Britain loses. Keir Starmer is shamefully giving away Chagos Islands and then pay to rent them back. The two-tier tax deal with India was deeply unfair to British businesses. And today, we will see him roll over once again at his EU surrender summit… While he now talks tough on immigration for the cameras, we all know behind closed doors he doesn’t believe a word of it… 

“Today is Starmer’s first step in a walk of shame back to the EU’s stranglehold so he can crack Britain’s borders even wider open… It would make it far easier for hordes of unemployed people to come to the UK at a time when Labour is driving unemployment through the roof…” 

… and that without a shot having been fired…

Nigel Farage Issues Damning Verdict 

Daily Express published the following article by Nigel Farage on May 19:

“So, it’s happened. The Brexit betrayal by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party is in full swing. In 2016 we voted to take back control of our fishing waters from the EU and give a much-needed lifeline to our fishing industry. Today, we learn that Sir Keir [Starmer] will grant European fishermen access to British waters for 12 years. It’s an abject surrender… What makes this so galling is that 12 years is essentially enough to give European boats permanent access to our waters. This is because during that time older fishermen will leave the industry, and there will be no younger ones joining, and likewise no investment in new boats. With no new investment, the UK will quickly become an island with no fishing industry to speak of.

“First, he targeted our farming industry with increased inheritance tax on family farms. Now, he’s undermining our fishing sector by granting unbridled access to EU competitors. Starmer’s track record consistently puts foreign interests ahead of those of the British people. A clear example is the Chagos Islands deal, which is projected to cost the taxpayer £50 billion over its lifetime…” 

Starmer’s and Germany’s Take

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 19:

“The EU and UK are working towards a level of cooperation not seen since Brexit, with new agreements on fisheries, trade and security… ‘This is the first UK-EU summit,’ Starmer told reporters on Monday. ‘It marks a new era in our relationship, and this deal is a win-win.’ 

“An agreement on fisheries allows EU fishermen to have access to British waters for an extended period of 12 years in exchange for the EU indefinitely easing red tape on food and drink imports and exports. The eased customs checks on food and plant products are expected to add ‘nearly 9 billion pounds’ ($12 billion/€10.7 billion) to the British economy by 2040, Starmer’s office said in a statement.  Downing Street also said a new defense and security pact with the EU deal ‘will pave the way’ for the UK defense industry ‘to participate’ in a €150 billion ($167-billion) defense fund being set up by the EU… 

“Since taking office in July 2024, Starmer has pushed for what he calls a ‘reset’ of ties with the EU… Von der Leyen called the new agreements a ‘success’ and ‘an historic moment.’ Since the UK formally left the EU in 2020 after the Brexit referendum in 2016, ties have mostly been governed under a ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’ negotiated by former conservative PM Boris Johnson and signed in December 2020. Starmer… had opposed Brexit…

“In its election manifesto last year, Labour promised that it wouldn’t rejoin the EU’s single market and customs union, and free movement of people and goods. In August 2024, Starmer said revamping agreements with the EU ‘does not mean reversing Brexit or re-entering the single market or the customs union.’” 

Starmer has said the deal does not mean that Britain joins the EU. Stamer and the Labour Party are clearly engaging in double-talk. Starmer’s ambitions and goals are clear, but he will not succeed. Britain will never again become a full-fledged voting member of the EU. However, Starmer’s conduct may lead to a further surrender of Britain and its ongoing prophesied downfall. 

To Take Control of ALL of Gaza

AFP wrote on May 19:

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will ‘take control’ of the whole of Gaza, as the military pressed a newly intensified campaign in the war-ravaged territory. After Israel announced it would let a ‘basic amount’ of food into the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said it was necessary to prevent a famine for ‘diplomatic reasons.’… Last week President Donald Trump acknowledged that ‘a lot of people are starving,’ adding ‘we’re going to get that taken care of.’ In his inaugural mass, Pope Leo XIV [said], ‘In Gaza, the surviving children, families and elderly are reduced to starvation’… 

“But Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir argued against any resumption of aid, saying on X: ‘Mr Prime Minister, our hostages receive no humanitarian aid… The Prime Minister is making a serious mistake in this move, and he has no majority at all. Hamas must only be crushed, and not at the same time provided with oxygen for its survival,’ he said in a statement… 

“Since a two-month ceasefire collapsed in March as Israel resumed its offensive, negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to make a breakthrough. Netanyahu has opposed ending the war without Hamas’s total defeat, while Hamas has balked at handing over its weapons…

“Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians… Hamas also took 251 hostages during the attack, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead. Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday at least 3,193 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,339.”

A terrible situation all around. Trump’s Gaza “Riviera vision” becomes more and more a bad joke.

“Germany Can Still Rule the World” 

On May 17, the following article was authored by Johannes Koenraadt and published on linkin.bio: 

“… the Germans during the time of Otto von Bismarck were trying to unify all Muslims of the Middle East under the rule of the Turkish Ottoman Empire… Von Bismarck wanted… to attack colonial British interests in Egypt, Sudan, and Syria, by causing a revolt against the colonial rule. Germany could then seize control of the important trade routes of the Suez Canal and the Persian Gulf. Indeed, the surrounding territories such as Palestine, Iraq, Iran, and Syria were once allies of Germany during the world wars, even Turkey was an ally during World War I… 

“… American strategists also deeply fear… a German conquest of Russia… new German chancellor Friedrich Merz… vows to make the German army the strongest in Europe!

“During the Second World War, Germany was barely 1.5 times richer than Soviet Russia. Today, Germany is nearly 7 times richer than Putin’s Russia… Germany may indeed try to conquer Russia again… to ‘bring democracy’. With the EU’s help, by switching from Russian gas to gas from Qatar, the Muslim world might, for reasons of profit, even support the new German war machine…”

The Bible does indeed prophesy that Germany will enter into a collaboration treaty with Arab nations and Turkey to conquer Israel, and that a war will break out between Europe under German leadership and Russia and other Far Eastern nations. We are informed that the German leader will be disturbed by unsettling rumors from the Far East and will go out against those regions with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. 

The “Report” Against the AfD 

On May 15, Nius published the following commentary by Julian Reichelt: 

“This horrific report [by the “Verfassungsschutz” or “Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution”] is not about the AfD. It’s about the fundamental right to freedom of expression and all of us. The AfD is merely being used as a pretext to criminalize and permanently make impossible completely legitimate expressions of criticism of power and government… We are witnessing the most dangerous and unscrupulous attack on freedom of expression in the history of the Federal Republic. The report should remain secret so that you don’t realize that it’s not really about the AfD, but about your most sacred fundamental right… 

“In order to keep this report secret, the old government lied to us in its final hours in office. The failed, authoritarian former Interior Minister Nancy Faeser claimed that secret sources had to be protected… Now, our research reveals: There are no sources at all in this report. The report consists exclusively of public statements that were copied and documented from social media and public speeches… 

“Every journalist who has read this report must have realized: If the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution gets away with it, freedom of expression will end for every citizen. The secret dossier is nothing less than a legal basis for the prosecution of any criticism of power… The Stasi would be proud of this Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which naturally also wants to pursue comparisons to the GDR as delegitimization. Criticism of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is, of course, also recorded by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and classified as right-wing extremist… 

“Criticism of Microsoft founder Bill Gates is classified by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as anti-Semitism because Bill Gates supposedly ‘reads Jewish.’ This means: The secret service assumes that people are criticizing the political activist Bill Gates, who has financed Der Spiegel with millions, simply because they consider him a Jew, even though he is not.”

German Police Union: Tougher Border Checks Not Sustainable

Deutsche Welle reported on May 18: 

“Germany’s intensified border checks and the rejection of asylum seekers cannot continue for much longer…

“[Andreas] Rosskopf, chairman of the German Police Union (GdP) police union, [said] that the current measures were only sustainable because duty rosters had been adjusted, training sessions paused, and officers’ overtime leave canceled. ‘The police can only keep up these intensive checks for a few more weeks,’ Rosskopf said, noting that more than 1,000 riot police officers had been deployed in border areas for several days.

“Shortly after taking office earlier this month, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt ordered stricter border controls, allowing authorities to turn back migrants even if they seek asylum. According to Dobrindt, the number of people turned away has increased by nearly 50% since the changes were introduced….” 

What will the new German government do next? 

Pro-European Nicusor Dan Weins Romania‘s Election 

Newsmax wrote on May 18:

“Pro-European Union candidate Nicusor Dan has won Romania’s closely watched presidential runoff against a hard-right nationalist… A huge turnout Sunday played a key role in the tense election that many viewed as a geopolitical choice between East or West. 

“The race pitted front-runner George Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the hard-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, against Dan, the incumbent mayor of Bucharest. It was held months after the cancelation of the previous election plunged Romania into its worst political crisis in decades… In the first-round vote on May 4, Simion won almost double the votes as Dan, and many local surveys had predicted he would secure the presidency.

“But in a swing that appeared to be a repudiation of Simion’s more skeptical approach to the EU, which Romania joined in 2007, Dan picked up almost 900,000 more votes to solidly defeat his opponent in the final round… 

“Romania’s political landscape was upended last year when a top court voided the previous election in which far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped first-round polls, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow denied.” 

Romania has been accused of dictatorial methods and undue interference in the election process. 

WHY Does the Universe Exist? 

BBC wrote on May 20:

“Inside a laboratory nestled above the mist of the forests of South Dakota, scientists are searching for the answer to one of science’s biggest questions: why does our Universe exist?

They are in a race for the answer with a separate team of Japanese scientists – who are several years ahead… 

“The current theory of how the Universe came into being can’t explain the existence of the planets, stars and galaxies we see around us… 

“The scientists will travel 1,500 metres below the surface into three vast underground caverns…. ‘We are poised to build the detector that will change our understanding of the Universe with instruments that will be deployed by a collaboration of more than 1,400 scientists from 35 countries who are eager to answer the question of why we exist,’ [Dr Jaret Heise] says. When the Universe was created two kinds of particles were created: matter – from which stars, planets and everything around us are made – and, in equal amounts, antimatter, matter’s exact opposite.

Theoretically the two should have cancelled each other out, leaving nothing but a big burst of energy. And yet, here we – as matter – are… 

“Scientists believe that the answer to understanding why matter won – and we exist – lies in studying a particle called the neutrino and its antimatter opposite, the anti-neutrino. They will be firing beams of both kinds of particles from deep underground in Illinois to the detectors at South Dakota, 800 miles away. This is because as they travel, neutrinos and anti-neutrinos change ever so slightly. The scientists want to find out whether those changes are different for the neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. If they are, it could lead them to the answer of why matter and anti-matter don’t cancel each other out. 

“The Japanese-led team will be ready to turn on their neutrino beam in less than three years, several years earlier than the American project.  

Has one ever heard such total nonsense? Apart from this colossal waste of time and resources, it shows the absolute stupidity with which scientists are approaching the “mystery” of creation, even though the Bible has been giving the answers all along. But of course, scientists are too proud and far too “educated” to accept the simplicity of the Truth!

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

At first glance, it might seem a ridiculous question to ask but there are those who think that when Jesus went back to Heaven, He did so as a physical being.

In our Q&A entitled “How Important is the Correct Understanding About the Immortal Soul? (Part 2),” we quoted a Christian author who wrote:

“A fundamental article of the Christian faith is that the resurrected Christ now dwells in Heaven. We are told that His resurrected body on Earth was physical and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from where He will one day return to Earth. It seems indisputable, then, to say that there is at least one physical body in the present Heaven.”

On the website catholic.com, we read: “In Luke 24:39, the risen Jesus says to the disciples, ‘See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have’ (emphasis added). This verse is sufficient to debunk the idea that Jesus did not rise bodily, but John 2:19-22 provides another nail in the coffin. Here Jesus claims, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ Two verses later, it is made clear what Jesus has in mind; ‘he spoke of the temple of his body.’ Thus, Jesus prophesied that his body would rise.”

We will discuss at length Jesus’ statement in Luke 24:39 in the next instalment. Regarding John 2:19-22, the Catholic teaching does not follow, as it is being overlooked that Spirit Beings do have Spirit bodies; that is, they do have form and shape, but that is not physical. God created us in His image; with our potential of becoming immortal Spirit beings, as God is Spirit or a Spirit being.

In the book of Daniel, God the Father is described with form and shape consisting of Spirit, and so is Jesus Christ, even before His incarnation. We read that Moses saw the form of the LORD—Jesus Christ. Also, glorified angels are described with form and shape. What Christ is saying in John 2 is that He will be resurrected with a body composed of Spirit. His body which did not see corruption would be changed into Spirit—as we will be changed into Spirit when we are still alive at the time of Christ’s return. Others who have died in Christ, will then be resurrected as Spirit Beings. More about that later.

So, Christ confirmed that the Father would resurrect Him—bring Him back to life—and that He then would rise up—stand up—no longer with a physical body, but with a body composed of Spirit.

It appears that there are others who share this false Catholic “understanding”.

Let us have a thorough look at this assertion.

In John 1:1-3, we read:

^“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

In verse 14, it states:

^“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

It is evident that the Logos, The Word, was always an immortal Spirit being along with the Father. Jesus later prayed to God the Father prior to His arrest, to bestow on Him the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers observes: “‘The Word was made flesh.’ The term ‘flesh’ expresses human nature as opposed to the divine, and material nature as opposed to the spiritual…”

It is interesting that Jesus as the God of the Old Testament had a discussion with Moses about Who He was and what His Name was, as we read in Exodus 3:13-14:

^“Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What is His name?” what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’”

Matthew Henry’s Commentary states: “A name that denotes what he is in himself, I AM THAT I AM. This explains his name Jehovah, and signifies That he is self-existent: he has his being of himself. That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, today, and forever…”

That was about Jesus Christ as the God of the Old Testament—He was Spirit or a Spirit being for eternity along with God the Father, with no beginning. Then He came to earth and for about 33½ years was a human being before being crucified.

Most theologians and writers would probably agree with the fact that Jesus has always existed, except for those who believe that Jesus was a created Being which is contradicted by a number of Scriptures, or that He is the archangel Michael or Gabriel although the Bible shows that “Jesus is so much better than angels.” We also read that we will rule angels. If Christ was an angel, we would rule over Him—a preposterous concept.

Hebrews 1:2-4 reads:

“[God the Father] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

In addition, this passage also describes Jesus as “the brightness of His glory” which, of course, far exceeds any physical body.

Regarding the assertion that we are discussing in this Q&A, “Is Jesus Christ a Spirit Being Today?” the following is the answer given on gotquestions.org:

“Later in the same chapter of Luke, Christ makes it plain to His disciples that He does have a physical body; He is not a disembodied spirit: ‘See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have’ (Luke 24:39).  After spending forty days with His disciples, Jesus ascended bodily into heaven (Acts 1:9).  Jesus is still human, and He has a human body in heaven right now. His body is different, however; earthly human flesh is perishable, but heavenly bodies are imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:50).   Jesus has a physical body, with a difference. His resurrected body is designed with eternity in view.”

As mentioned, we will address Luke 24:39 in the next instalment. It seems, one writer copies the false “explanation” from another writer, and so on. All of this is just a man-made invention.   Why not just admit that Jesus was raised from the dead with a body composed of Spirit and all of this new-found wording would be unnecessary?

1 Corinthians 15:50 reads: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption,” but then there are those who invent a new description of Jesus “who has a physical body, with a difference. His resurrected body is designed with eternity in view.”  It is much easier to accept that Jesus, at His resurrection, was resurrected as a glorified Spirit being to continue as He was before coming to this earth to die for the sins of mankind, than making up a new description which is without any biblical foundation.

At His resurrection, Jesus was raised from the dead with a body composed of Spirit. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers discusses 1 Peter 3:18, as follows:

“‘Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.’… we should point to such passages as Romans 1:4; Romans 8:11 to show that the resurrection of Christ was due to the action of the Holy Ghost (better “Spirit”).”

Romans 1:4 reads:

“And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

McLaren’s Expositions state, “The grand avowal of faith in His Resurrection loses meaning, unless it is completed as Paul completed his ‘yea rather that was raised from the dead,’ with the triumphant ‘who is at the right hand of God.’ Both are supernatural, and the Virgin Birth corresponds at the beginning to the supernatural Resurrection and Ascension at the close.”

Since both Father and Son are “supernatural,” the Son cannot have a physical body!

In Romans 8:11, we read:

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who (better “which”) dwells in you.”

Acts 13:34 confirms the following Truth: “And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption…”

It has been pointed out that Christ gave His flesh for the world, and He could therefore not receive it back in the resurrection, as His Supreme Sacrifice was made only once and for all time. Another question is: How could He appear and disappear with a physical body?

This, and more, will be answered in the next instalment.

(To be continued)

Lead Writers: Brian Gale and Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

“Pope Leo’s Demand of ‘Unity in Faith!’” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is the summary:

We are told that Pope Leo XIV has become the most important American in the world. We are also confronted with his declaration that unity among Christians can only be unity in faith. In saying this, he referred to the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea. What was that council; what did it decide; and what were the consequences for those who did not agree with that decision? Could something similar happen again in the future?

“Papst Leos Forderung der “Einheit im Glauben“” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program, presented by Norbert Link. This German program covers the same topics as described above.

“Warum so viele falsche Lehren über den heiligen Geist?”, last Sabbath’s German sermon presented by Norbert Link, is now posted. Title in English: “Why So Many False Teachings About the Holy Spirit?”

“Warum bitten?” last Sabbath’s German sermonette presented by Johann Schell, is now posted. Title in English: “Why Ask?”

“The Constitution Under Attack—Comments on News and Prophecy, May 17, 2025,” last Sabbath’s sermonette presented by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is the summary:

The current administration has applied the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deportations of aliens. Is this law constitutional, and if it is, can it be legally used as a basis for such deportations? The US Supreme Court has had opportunity twice to look into this question, but has sidestepped it. 

The current administration is considering suspending habeas corpus. Would this be constitutional? Are the administration’s attacks against lawyers and judges constitutional? Is a recent executive order ending birthright citizenship constitutional? The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on this and related issues. How will they decide—or will they sidestep this important issue as well?

Do these and many more developments in the legal field threaten our liberties and freedoms, as well as our democracy and the US Constitution?

“Consider This…” last Sabbath’s sermon presented by Brian Gale, is now posted. Here is the summary:

We often do things by rote – that is by repetition – where we don’t have to think about such things which enables us to live our lives more easily.   But there are things that we do have to consider and this message reviews a number of those.   

“Pentecost – The Feast of Firstfruits” is the latest video in our Bible Story Series on YouTube.

PENTECOST will be observed on Sunday, June 1, 2025. Live Services will be available.

On May 17, 2025, Norbert Link will present the sermonette, titled, “Comments on News and Prophecy, May 17, 2025,” and Brian Gale will present the sermon, titled, “Consider This…”

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.

Now that the weather in our northern hemisphere is warming up and summer is approaching fast, we find ourselves getting involved in things we cannot do in the fall and winter, when the weather starts to turn. One of the first things that has to be done up here in Canada is the raking of all the leaves and branches which may have been broken by winds in the wintertime or broken by the weight of snow. Depending on the yard, that can be quite a chore, including preparations as far as fertilizer is concerned and getting the soil ready for planting. As the weather warms up, we have more outdoor activities and projects that can take up our time which is not so much an issue in the winter when we could spend more time on maintaining our relationship with God.

When we have a lot on our plate, we could get distracted, and we may start going down roads that take up time and take away from the things we ought to be doing.

It’s important to prioritize our time and not to neglect our prayer and Bible study which will otherwise cause a setback in our relationship with God. Satan is always there to provide ample opportunities for distractions, misdirection and getting us going on projects that take away time we should be spending in prayer and in studying the Bible. If we start neglecting our relationship with God, it could lead to sin, and then Satan accuses us before God of conduct which he instigated in the first place.

Summertime is a busy time for all, and it’s great to get out of the house and enjoy nature and more sunshine from the cold gloomy winter, and we appreciate the things we can do which we cannot do in the winter, but we have to make sure we are not robbing God of the time we should be spending with Him. God wants us to have a full and joyful life, but let’s ensure we don’t give in to the many possible distractions which might cause us to neglect God.

by Norbert Link

We are beginning with many reports on the new Pope, Leo XIV. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “The Pope Is Alive … Now What?”  

We continue with the fear that nuclear war is coming; and point out the volatile situations involving the USA, the UK, Canada, Europe, Russia, China, Ukraine, India and Pakistan. We also report on Trump’s trip to the Middle East.

Pope Leo XIV… Up to the Task?

The Independent wrote on May 9:

“The first-ever American-born pope inherits a world in crisis… Leo XIV’s vision for the Catholic church is one of ‘peace and justice’ and ‘building bridges’ ready to receive, with open arms, ‘all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.’… His urgent message of peace confronts vast suffering and death from brutal wars, simmering tensions among nuclear powers, a long shadow of abuse within a church he now leads, and humanitarian outrage from his home country following three months of chaos under Donald Trump’s administration…

“The papal conclave… selected Leo XIV despite allegations that he had mishandled sexual abuse cases involving priests in both Peru and the United States. Survivors of abuse are now demanding accountability from the new pope… Leo XIV — the ‘Latin Yankee,’ as he is known in Rome — follows the Jesuit legacy of Francis in South America.”

Leo XIV has been hailed by many, including his own brother, as a “second Francis.” But this may or may not be an accurate designation.

Pope Leo XIV… Not So Good News For Trump?

The New York Post wrote on May 8:

“Newly elected Pope Leo XIV spent years amplifying criticism of President Trump’s policies on social media — with the Catholic Church’s first American leader taking particular aim at the Republican’s hardline immigration stance… His final X post before being elected… was a retweet of a message from Philadelphia-based Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo, who on April 14 slammed Trump’s partnership with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on deportation of illegal migrants… ‘Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’ the tweet reads…

“Prevost was also an active participant in US political discussion during Trump’s first term — in 2017 retweeting a post from Palmo that said, ‘Calling refugee bans ‘a dark hour of US history,’ [Chicago Archbishop] Blase [Cupich] says “the world is watching as we abandon our commitment to American values”’. Also in January 2017, the new pope retweeted a message from Jesuit priest James Martin, who wrote, ‘We’re banning all Syrian refugees? The men, women and children who most need help? What an immoral nation we are becoming. Jesus weeps.’…

“The new pope expressed his opinion on other subjects as well. In October 2017, Prevost retweeted a call for new US gun control from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) after a gunman murdered 60 people in Las Vegas…

“Trump congratulated the new pontiff on Truth Social and told reporters outside the West Wing that he was thrilled that an American will hold the post… ‘It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!’…”

Other Popes Leo…

CNN wrote on May 8:

“The first Pope Leo, who served in the fifth century (from 440 to 461), is known as ‘Leo the Great,’ and is remembered [in legend] for persuading Attila the Hun to halt his invasion and spare the Roman Empire from destruction… The name Leo derives from the Latin for ‘lion,’ suggesting strength and courage.”

It was also suggested that his name choice could represent a pope who wants to be strong during a time of crisis, with a profound respect for tradition and history.

There have been 14 popes with the name of Leo. Famous was Leo III. (795-816). He is notable for the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans on Christmas Day, 800 CE. [see below].

CBS News wrote on May 9:

“Leo I… wrote Leo’s Tome, a document that influenced the official doctrine defining Jesus Christ as both fully human and fully divine. [A totally false teaching.]…

“… the last pope to use the name Leo, Pope Leo XIII, who was the head of the Catholic Church between 1878 and 1903… is perhaps most famous for writing the Rerum Novarum… which translates to ‘On New Things,’ but the Latin meaning is also ‘On Revolutionary Changes.’…”

Why Did the Pope Pick Leo? Here’s Why the Name Is So Important in the Catholic Church

National Geographic wrote on May 9:

“Pope Leo I tangled with Attila the Hun and won…

“Elected in A.D. 795, Pope Leo III was the pope who crowned Charlamagne as the first Holy Roman emperor. ‘Many historians credit Charlemagne with spreading Christianity across these formerly pagan regions, bringing a common culture and homogeneity to disparate tribes.’ The ruler became defender of the Christian faith and, under him, the continent flourished.

“Pope Leo III’s decision to name the emperor as leader of the Church reaffirmed the relationship between the papacy and the Frankish rulers who would protect the Catholic Church against threats.

“Things came to a head after Constantinople closed all its Latin churches. In response, Pope Leo IX sent a delegation led by Hubert of Silva Candida to Constantinople ostensibly to settle the disagreement with Patriarch Michael Cerularius. Instead, Hubert placed an excommunication bull for the patriarch in the city on the altar at Hagia Sophia on July 16, 1054 A.D. Pope Leo IX had died by the time of the excommunication, but it was nonetheless a move that he had initiated. As a result, the Roman Catholic Church based in Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople became two separate entities after this Great Schism…

“Another Pope Leo—Pope Leo X—also faced a divisive moment within Christendom. Pope Leo X… held the papal see from 1475 to 1521 A.D. During the last year of his pontificate, Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther…”

Before and after the Great Schism, Bible prophecies focus on the development of the Catholic Church, headquartered in Rome.

Why the Name Leo XIV was Chosen?

Breitbart wrote on May 10:

“Speaking with the College of Cardinals on Saturday, [the new pope said:]

“‘I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution… In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labor…’”

It is doubtful that this was the main reason for the choice of the name Leo. Note the next article.

The Pope and the Latin Mass

The Federalist wrote on May 9:

“[I’m setting] aside the obvious fact that Pope Leo is far more conservative on issues like abortion and gay marriage than most MAGA influencers… Pope Leo appears to be far more traditional and liturgically orthodox than his predecessor. In particular, he seems to have a special devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass.

“This matters a great deal more than whether he has policy disagreements with Trump over things like immigration or gun control… Pope Francis was infamously hostile toward the Latin Mass despite its growing popularity around the world, especially among young people, converts, and Catholics committed to conforming their lives to the orthodox Catholic faith… In contrast, there are ample signs that Pope Leo will reverse course on the Latin Mass, lift restrictions on its celebration.

“… a restoration of the Latin Mass under Pope Leo would mean a return to doctrinal clarity and confidence, and a renewed papal resistance to the modernizing factions within the Catholic Church, such as the German prelates who for many years have been pushing for the ordination of women and communion for divorced-and-remarried Catholics. Above all, the restoration of the Latin Mass will all but guarantee that this pope will not push doctrinal boundaries the way Pope Francis did, and will return the Holy See to its traditional role of defending the Catholic faith and evangelizing the world.

“… In recent days multiple Catholic commentators have reported that Pope Leo, when he was Cardinal Prevost, privately celebrated the Latin Mass for years, including at the Vatican in recent years, where he had a special indult from Pope Francis to do so… the blessing Pope Leo gave the crowd from St. Peter’s Basilica was in Latin, using a formula that has not been used since Pope Pius XII in 1939. On Friday, Pope Leo celebrated the first Mass… in Latin…

“All Catholics should hope and pray for this, but so should all non-Catholics, whether Protestants or unbelievers, for the simple reason that… without a clear, strong voice in the Holy See defending the faith, our civilization will not long endure.”

The mother church with its daughter churches will become all-powerful again in these last days.

Where the New Pope MIGHT Stand…

Newsmax wrote on May 11:

“Based on a 2012 address to bishops, Leo would likely bring the church back in line.

“In that speech, Cardinal Robert Prevost accused the media of fostering ‘sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel.’ He cited the ‘homosexual lifestyle’ and ‘alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children,’ according to the Post.

“Also, Prevost shot down a government initiative to promote gender ideology in schools while he was bishop of Chiclayo in northwestern Peru. ‘The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist,’ he told media outlets at the time.

“On abortion, Prevost posted [a] photograph from a March For Life event in Chiclayo with the exhortation, ‘Let’s defend human life at all times!’ That includes a push against euthanasia…

“In regards to capital punishment, Prevost said in a 2015 post, ‘It’s time to end the death penalty.’

“The new Pope is aligned with the previous Pope on climate change. In November, Prevost said it is time to move ‘from words to action’ on the ‘environmental crisis,’ the Post reported…”

And then there are the issues of immigration and gun control…

Capitulation Day

The Guardian wrote on May 12:

“Donald Trump will inevitably claim Monday’s temporary truce in the US-China trade war as a victory, but financial markets seem to have read it for what it is – a capitulation. Stocks were up and bond yields were higher after the US treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s early morning press conference in Geneva…

“… tariffs on Chinese goods will be cut from 145% to 30% initially for a 90-day period. In return, China has cut its own tariffs on US imports to 10%, from the 125% it had imposed in retaliation against the White House. That still marks a big shift in the terms of trade between the two countries since before Trump came to power, but falls far short of what was in effect a trade embargo… In other words, the president has caved… the White House seems to have opted for tactical retreat…”

Mediaite added on May 12:

“In a series of posts to X early Monday, Fox Business Senior Correspondent Charles Gasparino delivered a blunt analysis of the drastic temporary tariff reduction by the U.S. and China and the 90-day pause before any further escalation.

“‘Both sides blinked,’ Gasparino wrote. He quickly followed up by adding, ‘I didn’t say we won…. Trump… was forced to back off… when you have to depend on [the markets] as we still do… you can’t go to trade war with the world without bad stuff happening.’”

What Is Trump Even Doing?

The Hill wrote on May 9:

“One of the most frustrating things about the Trump administration is that it offers too much nuttiness to process. Not long ago, the discovery that the president doesn’t know what the Declaration of Independence is would have consumed the country for months. Today, it barely registers because the Trump White House pumps out similar stories two or three times a week.  When you compare such stories to the trade war with China or President Trump’s claim that he doesn’t know whether he’s required to uphold the Constitution, it’s tempting to view Trump’s recent brainstorms on movie tariffs and reopening Alcatraz as mere distractions. That would be a mistake. They are evidence of something much darker than Steve Bannon’s call to ‘flood the zone with s…’

“Alcatraz was closed down in 1963 because it was too expensive to run and too expensive to renovate… Nor can it be ‘substantially enlarged’ because Alcatraz Island is only 22 acres. If you want a new prison for the worst of the worst, Alcatraz would be the last place you would choose. 

“About 20 minutes later, Trump decided he is going to impose a 100 percent tariff on foreign movies… The idea is unworkable and betrays no understanding of how movies are made. What, exactly, is a ‘foreign film?’ Many films are made in multiple locations both inside and outside the U.S. What about content made for television and streaming? And what would you impose a tariff on? The cost of shooting overseas? The movie’s budget? Ticket sales? 

“Apart from all the practical issues, any plan to impose a tax on foreign films is almost certainly an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. If it isn’t constitutional to impose a two percent tax on newspapers, it’s hard to see how it could be constitutional to impose a 100 percent tax on movies… as a content-based restriction based on the ‘messaging and propaganda’ in foreign films…”

And now, controversial and extremely right-wing conservative White House “adviser” Stephen Miller announced that the Trump administration is considering suspending “habeas corpus,” as we are being invaded by foreign enemies. Can anything become more weird?

Regarding the concept of “habeas corpus,” ctvnews wrote on May 10: “Habeas corpus is a legal principle that allows people who believe they are being unlawfully detained or imprisoned to petition for their release in court.”

Habeas corpus, meaning “you should have the body,” is a legal procedure to ensure that individuals are not unlawfully imprisoned. It is a legal order that requires a person to be brought before a judge to ensure their detention is lawful. It’s a check on government power, protecting against unlawful imprisonment. 

Money Struggles and Mental Health

Study Finds wrote on May 8:

“Americans are drowning in money worries, and it’s taking a serious toll on their mental health. A new survey reveals that 70% of Americans say their financial stress has hit an all-time high, with more than three-quarters feeling totally alone in their struggle to manage money pressures.

“Even worse, this financial strain is affecting people’s overall well-being, with 20% reporting worse mental health over the past year. The survey found that 40% of respondents have skipped work or school to focus on their mental health…”

But everything is getting better in the USA, right?

Fighting Big Pharma

The Associated Press wrote on May 12:

“President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to electively [sic] lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. or face new limits down the road over what the government will pay…

“It’s unclear what — if any — impact the Republican president’s executive order will have on millions of Americans who have private health insurance. The federal government has the most power to shape the price it pays for drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid… The nation’s pharmaceutical lobby, which represents the top U.S. drugmakers, immediately pushed back against Trump’s order, calling it a ‘bad deal’ for American patients…”

Of course, Big Pharma would oppose this, as their incredible profit from overcharged drug prices might be somewhat diminished. As the article points out:

“Taxpayers spend hundreds of billions of dollars on prescription drugs, injectables, transfusions and other medications every year through Medicare, which covers nearly 70 million older Americans. Medicaid, which provides nearly-free health care for almost 80 million poor and disabled people in the U.S. also spends tens of billions of dollars each year for drugs.”

On average, drugs in the USA are approximately three times more expensive than the same drugs in Europe.

Many Afraid of World War III

Global News Canada wrote on May 6:

“Eighty years after VE-Day, which marked the formal Nazi surrender and the end of six years of war in Europe, many fear a third world war is imminent. New [polling] conducted in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.S. shows that between 41 per cent and 55 per cent of respondents in each country think another world war is likely to occur within the next five to 10 years. Forty-five per cent of Americans hold the same view…

“If another world war happens…, the majority (68 to 76 per cent) believe the conflict would involve nuclear weapons. Moreover, 57 to 73 per cent think that a third world war would result in a higher casualty count than previous global conflicts…  25 to 44 per cent believe that if another world war were to occur in the next five to 10 years, it would result in the deaths of most of the world’s population… 72 per cent believe there is a likelihood that nuclear, biological, or chemical warfare could happen somewhere in the world.

“… most people felt their respective country’s militaries would not be sufficiently prepared to enter a war. ‘Only a minority of western Europeans believe their national militaries could effectively defend their countries in the event of a third world war, ranging from a low of 16 per cent in Italy to a high of 44 per cent in France,’ the survey says. ‘By contrast, 71 per cent of Americans have confidence that the armed forces could defend their country,’ YouGov found.

“As for the source of the threat, most European countries cite Russia as the culprit, with 72 to 82 per cent of Western Europeans telling YouGov they see the superpower as a major or moderate threat to peace in Europe. Meanwhile, 69 per cent of Americans agreed.

“Since the beginning of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, attitudes towards Europe’s once-steadfast ally have shifted, with many now considering the country [the USA] a looming threat to peace… ‘With Donald Trump making threats against Greenland, Canada and Panama, as well as his stance on Ukraine, a majority of people in Spain (58 per cent), Germany (55 per cent) and France (53 per cent) see tensions between Europe and the U.S. as a major or moderate threat to continental peace,’ it says. ‘Meanwhile, Americans are less likely to say so, although a third (34 per cent) still agree with their western European counterparts,’ the polling continues.”

Nuclear War—a Frightening Scenario

The Telegraph wrote on May 10:

“The Arms Control Association, a US-based nonpartisan organisation, counts more than 12,100 nuclear weapons in the world today, 90 per cent of them held by the US and Russia. China, France, Britain, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea hold the remainder.

“They are generally delivered by very fast ICBMs that fly into space and can reach targets less than half an hour after launch. Some carry multiple warheads that then independently plummet to different targets. They are almost impossible to intercept.

“While we tend to think of mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki and memories of GCSE physics – the banging together of lumps of uranium or plutonium until electrons start smashing apart atoms – most of the weapons in the nose cones of today’s missiles are different beasts entirely.

“These ‘thermonuclear’ weapons use a Hiroshima-style device only as the trigger for another device, nestled next to it in the same bomb casing, that contains isotopes of hydrogen that fuse into helium atoms. That is the same thing that happens in the centre of the sun, and it generates extraordinary amounts of energy.

“The Hiroshima bomb killed 66,000 people with 15 kilotons of power – the equivalent of 15,000 tons of conventional TNT high explosive going off at once. But the most powerful thermonuclear weapons ever exploded, the US Castle Bravo test in 1954 and the Soviet Tsar Bomba in 1961, released 15 and 50 megatons respectively. One megaton equals 1,000 kilotons. There is, Soviet scientists concluded after testing the Tsar Bomba, practically no upper limit to the destructive power of such devices…”

Is Trump Abandoning Netanyahu?

Israel Today wrote on May 9:

“Sources claim Trump is fed up with Netanyahu and tired of Israel standing in the way of his Middle East vision.

“If the Reuters report is accurate and Donald Trump is no longer making normalization with Israel a condition for the US supporting a civilian nuclear program in Saudi Arabia, this would prove what many fear: Trump has thrown Israel under the bus.

“But this report doesn’t come out of nowhere. It fits into a series of American moves that have shaken Israel in recent months—whether it’s the secret dialogue with Iran, the US announcement of an agreement with the Houthis that Israel only learned about through the media, the omission of Israel from Trump’s upcoming Middle East trip, the warm relations with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at Israel’s expense, the planned withdrawal from Syria, and much more.

“… The US administration is frustrated with… the obstacles Jerusalem is creating for Washington’s vision for the Middle East—a vision that is supposed to earn Trump the Nobel Peace Prize.”

The White House responded by saying that reports about friction between Trump and Netanyahu are “preposterous.”

Will Israel Do It Alone?

Breitbart wrote on May 9:

“Netanyahu is reaching the point where he will attack Iran’s nuclear sides — and, ironically, it is President Donald Trump who is pushing him there. That might seem odd, given that Trump has been more supportive of Israel than any other U.S. president… Trump is now pursuing a new nuclear deal with Iran, and early reports suggest that it will have many, if not all, of the same features that made President Barack Obama’s Iran deal such a failure…

“Netanyahu recently said that no deal would be a better option than a bad deal. Meanwhile, Trump reportedly has grown frustrated with him, and is prepared to act without his cooperation. But the feeling is mutual. Netanyahu has been recalling, in public, the many times that Israel acted on its own, regardless of who was in the White House, to protect its interests. He is clearly setting the stage for Israel to strike Iran unilaterally….

“Moreover, the Trump administration has twice surprised the Netanyahu government in the past several weeks. First, as Netanyahu sat next to him in the White House last month, Trump announced that the U.S. would talk with Iran. Next, Trump announced a ceasefire with the Houthis — without Israel, which the Houthis vowed to continue attacking.

“Netanyahu does not want to risk his relationship with Trump… but he also does not want to go down in the in history as the leader who could have protected his country, but did not. (Especially after October 7.) The chance is growing that Israel will strike Iran on its own… do not be surprised when it happens.”

Trump in the Middle East

Reuters reported on May 13:

“The US agreed on Tuesday to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, according to a White House fact sheet that called it ‘the largest defense cooperation agreement’ Washington has ever done.

“The agreement, signed during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh, covers deals with more than a dozen US defense companies in areas including air and missile defense, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, the fact sheet said.”

In 2019, a congressional rebuke of Saudi Arabia followed the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which weakened support for Riyadh in Washington after US intelligence agencies found that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) ordered the operation. MBS has never been held accountable, and the newly-found “friendship” between MBS and Trump is embarrassing, to say the very least.

Trump encouraged Saudi Arabia to sign the “Abraham Accords,” which have established by now formal ties between Israel and four Arab countries. Trump also encouraged Saudi Arabia to recognize the State of Israel. Saudi Arabia had stated that in order to do so, a Palestinian State must be recognized first. According to the Bible, Saudi Arabia will turn against Israel—and perhaps the USA—in an effort to destroy Israel. Trump also announced that Saudi Arabia will invest $600 billion in the USA.

Further, in a major policy shift, Trump declared in Riyadh that he will end sanctions against Syria under Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa (whom Trump met in Saudi Arabia), who has been called by Israel a jihadist, leading a “terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force”. Sharaa was for years the leader of al Qaeda’s official wing in the Syrian conflict. He first joined al Qaeda in Iraq, where he spent five years in a U.S. prison. The United States removed a $10 million bounty on Sharaa’s head in December. Trump encouraged al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords recognizing Israel and said al-Sharaa would do so once his country has stabilized.

Trump’s policy shift came about after pleas from MBS and Turkey’s PM Erdogan.

Later, Trump flew to Qatar where he signed an agreement with Qatar to generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion. Trump also announced economic deals totaling more than $243.5 billion between the United States and Qatar, including a historic sale of Boeing aircraft and GE Aerospace engines to Qatar Airways.  

Fox News Host Mark Levin, a strong supporter of Trump, was not happy with his tour of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Levin blasted Saudi Arabia for playing a “significant role in the 9/11 slaughter of our people.” He also condemned Qatar for having “protected the leader of the 9/11 attack from the FBI, before he was able to launch his war on America that killed our people.”

Canada and Europe on Defense

The Canadian Press wrote on May 9:

“As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on the future of the NATO military alliance, Canada is looking to partner with the European Union on defence… European companies already invest fairly heavily and extensively in Canada, including on defence…

“Separately, Germany and Norway have proposed partnering with Canada to procure new submarines…

“… the EU wants to use the clout it enjoys due to the size of its market to set military procurement standards that would make it easier for European armies to work together…”

Russia and China vs. USA

NBC News wrote on May 9:

“Russia marked the 80th anniversary of the World War II victory over Nazi Germany on Friday with a parade attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the two countries vowed to strengthen ties and ‘firmly’ counter U.S. influence… thousands of Russian troops marched on Red Square, with military units from China and 12 other countries also taking part…

“In a lengthy joint statement, Xi and Putin said they would deepen military and other ties and ‘strengthen coordination and jointly respond firmly to the United States’ policy of ‘dual containment’ against both countries.’”

The Kings of the East alliance is getting stronger.

The U.S. Is Unloved

Politico wrote on May 12:

“The world is more divided than ever, but there’s still something (nearly) everyone agrees on: The U.S. is unloved. A majority of people surveyed had an overall negative perception of the U.S… America’s reputation took a particularly massive hit in EU countries…

“Meanwhile, China kept improving its global standing, overtaking the U.S. for the first time and recording mostly positive perceptions in all regions except Europe. Russia, the reputation of which tanked in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is still (slightly) more unpopular than the U.S. — though its image is also improving…

“Israel emerged as the country with the worst global reputation… especially in the Middle East and South Asia. Israel is unpopular even in European countries that have historically been its allies, such as Germany, signaling growing discomfort with its government’s conduct in Gaza and the West Bank….”

A Peace Deal Between Russia and Ukraine?

Fox News wrote on May 11:

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to meet face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin… Putin initially proposed the Thursday meeting this weekend, and President Donald Trump prompted Zelenskyy to accept the offer… Ukraine and Russia are currently under a ceasefire marking the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe…

“‘President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH,’ Trump wrote on social media. ‘Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY. At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly! I’m starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin, who’s too busy celebrating the Victory of World War ll, which could not have been won (not even close!) without the United States of America. HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!’ He added.

“Putin has thus far offered few, if any, concessions but is now saying talks should address the root causes of the war. He said he would speak to Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan later on Sunday about facilitating the negotiations…

“Putin’s proposal for direct talks came hours after European leaders [from Germany, France, UK and Poland] demanded on Saturday in Kyiv that the Russian president agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face new sanctions. But Putin dismissed attempts by some European powers to issue what he described as ‘ultimatums.’…”

The New York Post wrote on May 15:

“Instead of turning up himself, Putin sent his aide Vladimir Medinsky — his former culture minister… Though Zelensky was ready to meet with Putin for direct talks, he will now send Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to represent Kyiv in the talks with Medinsky.”

The four European leaders communicated with President Trump over cell phone, saying that their proposal for a 30-day ceasefire was “backed by” Trump, and that Russia would face “massive” sanctions if Moscow does not comply. Merz also stated Germany would continue “supporting Ukraine militarily as much as we can”; that “the measures we take together to end this war and what joint decisions we make to secure a possible peace in Ukraine are not matters for public discussion”; and that “Under my leadership, the debate about weapons deliveries, caliber, weapons systems and so on will be kept out of the public eye.” Is he just talking about his leadership of Germany, or his leadership of Europe?

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 15:

“German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday pledged to turn the Bundeswehr into ‘the strongest conventional army in Europe.’… ‘Our goal is a Germany and a Europe that are so strong together that we never have to use our weapons,’ Merz said… The chancellor said he believed that ‘anyone who seriously believes that Russia would be satisfied with a victory over Ukraine or with the annexation of parts of the country is mistaken.’”

No Return to EU

The Telegraph wrote on May 9:

“The EU has missed its chance to draw Britain back into its close commercial and regulatory orbit… Each British trade deal with another country or bloc closes the window further on a return to the EU single market and customs union. The agreements with India and the US follow rapidly on Britain’s accession to the East Asia-Latin America trade pact (CPTPP). A deal with the Gulf states is coming soon. These are large parts of the world economy.

“The magnetic pull of the EU can no longer compete with this greater force. All of the accumulating deals would have to be repudiated if Britain were ever again subsumed into the EU’s trading machinery as a satellite – i.e. a de facto EU member without voting rights. To do so would have exorbitant geopolitical consequences and costs. It is safe to say that the Rejoiner dream entered its final agony this week.”

Britain is not to become part of the EU again. However, the nature of the “deal” between the USA and the UK is highly disputed.

Trade “Deal” With UK Bad for USA

The Huffington Post wrote on May 8:

“President Donald Trump boasted on Thursday of a new trade agreement that, on average, triples the taxes Americans will have to pay on British imports…

“According to a chart used by Trump, the new trade deal with the United Kingdom will bring in $6 billion in ‘external revenue’… to describe payments collected by U.S. Customs… The new 10% rate for nearly all goods, which was announced last month for countries all over the world, is three times higher than the 3.4% average rate Americans have paid for goods from Britain and Northern Ireland.

“… In reality, foreign nations pay none of those tariffs. American importers do, predominantly manufacturers buying raw materials and retailers. Both pass along the import taxes in the form of higher prices paid by consumers… If all the tariff rates announced by Trump on his so-called ‘Liberation Day’ on April 2 go into effect, it will cost American importers and consumers an extra $2.4 trillion in new taxes over a decade.”

At the same time, voices in Britain say that the “deal” is bad for the UK.

Starmer Destroys UK Business

Express wrote on May 10:

“This week Keir Starmer has not asked what he can do for Britain, but what Britain can do for America. His attempt at a trade deal has sold our country short of the comprehensive agreement which is what we need. It is a rushed response to Donald Trump’s tariffs that leaves almost every business with worse trading arrangements than we had in January – and far worse off than when he got the job.

“Starmer is parading around like the emperor with no clothes… whilst the world averts its eyes at this sight of our embarrassing leader and his cabinet who understand nothing about business… The right deal with the US could start to repair some of the damage he caused by trash talking the economy, hiking taxes to record highs and the devastating trade union red tape about to be unleashed on business. A comprehensive US trade deal covering all sectors and eliminating tariffs on both sides is the closest he will find to a silver bullet…

“And it shouldn’t have been too hard. He just needs to pick up where we left off when we negotiated with President Trump in his first term… His Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said that any agreement that didn’t get rid of tariffs would be a failure. By his own mark – Starmer has failed. Most products made in Britain will continue to face the 10% baseline tariff imposed in April…

“As a patriot, I want Keir Starmer to succeed in securing the real deal with America, but this deal just is not it…  With a proper deal, every single part of the UK would benefit from better business access, more investment, better jobs and higher wages…”

India-Pakistan Ceasefire?

Daily Mail wrote on May 10:

“Donald Trump says India and Pakistan have agreed to a ceasefire just hours after both sides boasted of fresh military strikes. The two nuclear-armed neighbours had also traded drone attacks and artillery fire after a gun massacre last month that India blames on Pakistan.

“In a post on social media platform Truth Social, the US President wrote: ‘After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire…’”

Hours after the announcement, both India and Pakistan accused each other of having broken the ceasefire. It appears now that the ceasefire seems to hold.

Germany’s Fight Against “Far-Right Extremists” Continues Under New Government

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 14:

“A spokeswoman for Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the founder of the ‘Reich Citizens’ subgroup ‘Kingdom of Germany,’ Peter Fitzek, had been taken into custody on Thursday. Fitzek and three other suspected ringleaders of the group, part of a conspiracy theorist movement that rejects the legitimacy of the modern German republic, were arrested.

“Police on Tuesday conducted raids on the properties of key members of the group in seven German states, making four arrests. The swoop came after [new] Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt banned what is currently the largest group of so-called Reich Citizens. He accused the ‘Kingdom of Germany’ of trying to establish a ‘counter-state’ within Germany [and building] up criminal economic structures…

“According to Dobrindt, the ‘Kingdom of Germany’ group, which reportedly has around 6,000 members, is the biggest association within the Reichsbuerger scene… [S]ome members… refuse demands made by legal authorities, such as fines and taxes. They have also been known to print their own passports and driver’s licenses… The Tuesday raids took place in Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.”

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

In previous Q&As, we’ve already looked at false assertions by some Christian writers that “human beings have an immortal soul, that the present Heaven is a temporary lodging place even though the present Heaven is not our final destination place and that that between our earthly lives and our bodily resurrection God may grant us some temporary physical form that will allow us to function as human beings while in that unnatural state ‘between bodies’ awaiting our bodily resurrection.”  We have also reviewed the spirit in man which is not the same as the soul as the Bible shows, in simple terms, that man is a soul, not has a soul.   We showed that each human being has a non-physical component in his brain, called “the spirit in man.”

We also looked at the fact that the Hebrews did not believe that we go to Heaven when we die. Neither did the early Christians.   We also reviewed the false belief that “the resurrected Christ now dwells in Heaven and that His resurrected body on Earth was physical and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from where He will one day return to Earth.” This leads on to the erroneous assertion, where we are told that it seems indisputable, then, to say that there is at least one physical body in the present Heaven!   Of course, mainstream theology believes that man goes on either to heaven or hell at death together with the fallacy of purgatory and other intermediate states.

We mentioned that the Catholic Church invented a new description of Jesus by stating that “Jesus who has a physical body but with a difference. His resurrected body is designed with eternity in view.”  

Over the years, we have produced much Scriptural evidence on so many topics that much of mainstream Christianity falls short in understanding much of the Bible at all.  If all of the confusion mentioned above was not enough, a further idea is floated—that the present Heaven may be a physical place.   We are not talking about the first or second heaven which are both physical but the third Heaven where God’s throne is.

The following writing is offered by one author as some form of proof: “If we look at Scripture, we’ll see considerable evidence that the present Heaven has physical properties. We’re told there are scrolls in Heaven, elders who have faces, martyrs who wear clothes, and even people with palm branches in their hands. There are musical instruments in the present Heaven, horses coming into and out of Heaven, and an eagle flying overhead in Heaven.”   We showed in our two-part Q&A entitled “Who and What is in Heaven?” that this is a spiritual place and there are no human beings nor anything physical there.

God the Father and Jesus Christ are both spiritual.   Jesus came to earth for a most important purpose and had to be human to fulfil that role.  He was fully man while on earth until His physical death. He was seen, spoke and ate as a physical person would.  After His death and resurrection, He was able to appear through walls, doors and other physical obstructions which no living physical person could do, but which He was able to do as a Spirit Being and the Second member of the God Family.   Those who think that He was still a fully human being and could achieve such feats are deluded, to say the least.   After His resurrection, He could manifest Himself as a human being (without becoming a human being, of course) in order to be with the brethren in a fully locked and enclosed place—something, no physical human being could ever achieve!

So, let us now look at the proposal that the third Heaven could be physical.   In fairness to the proponent of this suggestion, he is not definitively insisting that the third Heaven is physical, but he feels that it could be.   But the fact that he even thinks that it could be is quite alarming.  

In our Q&A, “Who and What is in Heaven?,” we showed that only God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and angelic beings are in the third Heaven.   It is a spiritual place where no human being has been, except in vision.

The third Heaven refers to God’s home and as He is spiritual, His home is also spiritual.  Man has no idea where it is because it is not a physical domain. It is entirely spiritual. One writer observed that “It could coexist right alongside us, and we wouldn’t even know it. It’s in a completely different plane of existence.”

In Eason’s Bible Dictionary, we read: “According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens: (a) The firmament, as ‘fowls of the heaven’ Ge[nesis] 2:19 7:3,23 Ps[alm] 8:8 etc., ‘the eagles of heaven’ La[mentations] 4:19 etc. (b) The starry heavens De[uteronomy] 17:3 Jer[emiah] 8:2 M[atthew] 24:29 (c) ‘The heaven of heavens,’ or ‘the third heaven’ De[uteronomy] 10:14 1Ki[ngs] 8:27 Ps[alm] 115:16 148:4 2Co[rinthians] 12:2.”

2 Corinthians 12:1-6 is sometimes used as proof that man has been to Heaven:

¹ It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: 

² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 

³ And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 

⁴ how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 

⁵ Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. 

⁶ For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.

This passage mentions that “Paradise,” the spiritual garden, is in the third Heaven where God dwells and is a Heaven composed of spirit—the third Heaven where God lives (Psalm 11:4; Hebrews 9:24). The physical garden of Eden, which God later created for Adam and Eve, was patterned after the spiritual garden that exists in Heaven, and in which is a spiritual Tree of Life. When the heavenly Jerusalem comes down to the new earth, the heavenly garden, with the Tree of Life in it, will come down to the new earth as well.

One observer wrote: “Don’t read into these verses something that’s not there. Paul isn’t talking about the immortality of the soul. He’s not talking about his soul leaving his body. He didn’t mean to write, ‘I don’t know whether I went to heaven bodily or as a disembodied soul.’ That’s just wrong, though that may be the way it’s usually read. Paul is a Christian. Christians [don’t] believe in… disembodied souls.  Paul is saying that he had an experience of heaven. He calls it a vision or a revelation. The experience was so vivid, so real, however, that if it was an inner vision (a mental panorama), he found it indistinguishable from an actual visit (a physical panorama).”

There are a number of visions that are written about in the Word of God.   Indeed, the apostle John “was in the spirit,” as we read in the book of Revelation (compare Revelation 1:10) to see and write about what He saw there right through to the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven to earth, but it was in vision only.   He was not there physically.  If it was not in vision, he wouldn’t have seen anything at all as physical human beings can’t see the spiritual realm.  The Topical Encyclopedia states: “The concept of spiritual versus physical realities is a recurring theme throughout the Bible, highlighting the distinction and interaction between the unseen, eternal realm and the tangible, temporal world. This dichotomy is foundational to understanding the Christian worldview, which emphasizes the supremacy of spiritual truths over physical appearances.”

In Colossians 1:16, we read: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”   This shows that the spiritual realm (the invisible) is just as real and authentic as the physical world that we inhabit.  Visible and invisible; what else could the invisible be if it was not referring to the third Heaven?

Think about this.  Would it make any sense for the great Creator God and His Son, Jesus Christ Who have both existed from eternity as Spirit Beings to live in a physical Heaven?    In our Q&A, “Who and What is in Heaven?,” we show that all that is in Heaven is spiritual – there are no non-spiritual beings there and everything else is spiritual too.   We also quoted the following:

“Wikipedia gives the following insight into the 3rd heaven: ‘A third concept of Heaven, also called shămei hashamayim (שׁמי השׁמים or “Heaven of Heavens”), is mentioned in such passages as Genesis 28:12, Deuteronomy 10:14 and 1 Kings 8:27 as a distinctly spiritual realm containing (or being traveled by) angels and God’” (our emphasis).

“In Psalm 47:8 we read: ‘God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne.’   And in Psalm 103:19: ‘The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.’”

Everything in the third Heaven is spiritual, and in our free booklet, “Is That in the Bible? – The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation,” we read on page 145:

“Jesus says in Revelation 2:7 that the tree of life is presently in the midst of the ‘Paradise of God.’ ‘Paradise’ describes a beautiful Garden, also called ‘Eden.’ The reference here is to a spiritual garden, which is presently in heaven (compare 2 Corinthians 12:1–4), but which will descend to… earth, together with the (spiritual) tree of life and the heavenly Jerusalem. A reference to the spiritual garden of Eden or Paradise can also be found in Ezekiel 28:13, where Lucifer’s fall from heaven is described.”

Also, on page 141 of the same booklet, we read:

“In addition, John sees the ‘holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God’ (Revelation 21:2). This is a literal city—albeit not physical, but spiritual. (For more information on the spiritual nature of the new Jerusalem, please read our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World.”) That this city is literal and not just a symbolic reference to the Church, for example, can be seen from the very detailed and specific description in Revelation 21:10–22; 22:1–5. We are told in Revelation 21:2, in conjunction with other Scriptures, that God is presently ‘preparing’ this city in heaven (compare Revelation 3:12; Hebrews 11:9–10; 12:22; 13:14; Galatians 4:26). We also read that Jesus Christ is presently ‘preparing’ for us a place in the ‘Father’s house’—the new Jerusalem (John 14:1–3).”

Could anyone really think that God would sit on His throne in a physical heaven while being the supreme Spiritual Being in the universe?   How ludicrous would that be?   Jesus stated in John 5:37: “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.”   This shows the complete spirituality of the Father and to even think that He would be in a physical place when He is the greatest Spiritual Being that there is, or ever will be, is simply preposterous.

We have a Q&A entitled: “Will there still be physical people after the Great White Throne Judgment?,” and it concludes with this statement: “Taking all the Scriptures together, it is clear that there will be no human physical life in existence after the Great White Throne Judgment, when God will create everything new (Revelation 21:5). For more information regarding that ‘new’ world, please read our free booklet, ‘God Is A Family.’”

Most people who read and understand the Word of God would agree with the statement that the Bible clearly defines the created world as consisting of two distinct realms, the greater of which is the invisible realm of the Spirit.  The natural world is subject to this unseen realm.

The Book of Revelation is full of references showing that the third Heaven where God lives is a Spiritual place and where no physical being is, has been, nor ever will be.

The apostle John saw in vision the Throne Room in Heaven, as recorded in Revelation, chapter 4.   We will quote the whole of this short chapter, showing how spiritual all of this is; hence the reason why John could only see it in vision and not in reality.

¹ After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

² Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.

³ And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

⁴ Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.

⁵ And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

⁶ Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

⁸ The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,

¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

¹¹ “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

If anyone thinks that that is a description of a physical place, it would be most surprising.

Unquestionably, the third Heaven is God’s dwelling place; He is Spirit, Jesus Christ is Spirit, all of the “elders” and other angels are Spirit, and everything in that most wonderful place is Spirit!

And so back to the question, “Could the third Heaven Be Physical?” The answer is a very complete and comprehensive no!

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

compiled by Dave Harris

“The Pope Is Alive … Now What?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is the summary:

Is Pope Leo XIV up to the task? What does he stand for? Why is the possible reintroduction of the Latin Mass a big thing for Catholics? Why the name Leo? This program examines some of his predecessors with the name Leo, which might lead to some astonishing parallels.

“Der Papst lebt… was nun?” is the title of a new AufPostenStehen program, presented by Norbert Link. This program covers the same topics as described above.

A new Member Letter has been mailed to our subscribers and posted. Elder Frank Bruno writes about our need to continue focusing on the Work of God and the Kingdom of God despite the waves of chaos occurring all over the earth

A Tech Team Meeting was held on May 11, 2025. Hosted by Eric Rank, participants discussed the use of AI in video presentations and reviewed results for our booklet advertising.

“Warum so viele falsche Lehren über den heiligen Geist?” is the title of this Sabbath’s German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Why So Many False Teachings About the Holy Spirit?”

“Jeder denkt, sein Weg sei recht,” last Sabbath’s German sermonette presented by Mike Richter, is now posted. Title in English: “Everyone Thinks Their Way Is Right.”

“Laodicean,” last Sabbath’s sermonette presented by Eric Rank, is now posted. Here is the summary:

“Laodicean” describes a city, a church, an era, and an attitude. What can we learn from the description of the church of Laodicea so that we can make improvements in our lives to please God?

“Does the Bible Support Free Speech?” last Sabbath’s sermon presented by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is the summary:

The concept of free speech has been pushed to the limits. People claim the right to say anything, anywhere and at any time, and choosing to only speak the truth may seem irrelevant, but it isn’t to God!

PENTECOST will be observed on Sunday, June 1, 2025. Live Services will be available.