On November 20, 2021, Frank Bruno will present the sermonette, titled, “Trust and Be Grateful,” and Dave Harris will present the sermon, titled, “What May Be Known of God.”

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.

When we hear and read about God’s children, can we actually put ourselves in that category?  Are we truly His children, and what does it mean?  After all, God did create everything, including all of mankind, and He loves His creation. He did say however at the time of Noah that He was sorry that He had created man, but that’s because He had a different plan in mind. He gave man a choice to obey Him, and man rejected God’s ways and, as a consequence, the whole world was corrupted (Genesis 6:6-12).

Therefore, He wanted to destroy everything on earth, and if it had not been for righteous Noah, mankind would not have been saved. And through Noah, mankind was spared, and God blessed him and his sons, and they were fruitful and multiplied on the earth (Genesis 9:1).

Now, that didn’t mean mankind was righteous from that point on, since the world has become corrupt again. We read in John 3:16 that God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, but another step was significant, because He goes on to say that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  So, does that mean that all we have to do is believe in Christ, and we are all saved and are considered God’s children?

Obviously, more is involved as the Bible points out in numerous Scriptures.  What do we know, actually know? The law of the 10 commandments has not been done away as we are to keep it still, which Christ makes very clear, for He didn’t come to do away with the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17-20).  We need to do more than just believe—we have to be doers and followers of the law as Christ says in 1John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

Many Christians consider themselves children of God because they believe they have been saved just based on the mere fact that they believe in Christ.  They claim that they are born again and that if you’re born again, you are considered a child of God.  But the Bible clearly states that a born-again person IS spirit and invisible to the human eye, and anyone who is still human cannot be born again (John 3:6, 8).

How we are to be children of God is expressed in 1 John 3:1-2, 6-8:  “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is… Whoever abides in Him does not [practice] sin. Whoever sins [practices sin] has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins [practices sin] is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

Those who are not being saved cannot be children of God as we notice in 1 John 3:10: “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

We have the opportunity right now, as begotten children of God, who have been chosen to come out of this world, to be a part of His Family.  And this step can only be done by receiving His Holy Spirit at the time of our baptism after we have truly repented from what we came out of, and after having believed in and obeyed the gospel of the Kingdom of God. And, we must continue to DO what God requires of us, as explained in Romans 8:13-17:

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of (sonship) by (which) we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The (Holy) Spirit (itself) bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

by Norbert Link

We begin with several articles discussing the vaccination mandates by the Biden Administration and other developments which are dividing this country (moving down the dangerous road of “fascism”), as never before in recent history, and which may lead to the extremely frightening prospect of civil war—a possibility which more and more observers contemplate. Please view our StandingWatch program on the topic, titled, “Is Civil War Coming?”

We continue with Trump’s claim that Pence should not have certified the election (using this as an example to show how the press continues to misrepresent the facts); point out (as the New York Post put it) the continuing lies of the Biden administration regarding Afghanistan; address CNN’s report on the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris debacle; the “outrageous” indictment of Steve Bannon; the Kyle Rittenhouse scandal, pointing out, once again, how the mass media deceives us; and speak on the “climate change scare.”

Addressing the lessons which we should have learned (but did not) from World War I, we report on the fear that Russia might invade Ukraine; Germany’s energy regulator’s decision to place the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on hold; Russia’s missile test in space; the intensifying crisis between Poland and Belarus; and the concern that China might invade and take over Taiwan; the anti-Semitic unity of the world against Israel; and the prospects of a united Europe, which is perceived to be a power of peace, while in reality, it will become an instrument of war.

We speak on persecutions against the unvaccinated in Austria and Germany; report on huge earthquakes which WILL strike; address attempts in the past (but just only in the past?) to create humanzees; and conclude with an article about the divisions within the Catholic Church and its membership regarding abortion and other issues.

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

US Court of Appeals Permanently Prohibits Biden Vaccination Mandate

Breitbart wrote on November 12:

“A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed its stay on President Joe Biden’s workplace vaccine mandate on Friday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a rule that would require businesses with at least 100 employees to mandate coronavirus vaccinations or implement frequent testing. Friday’s decision comes after the Fifth Circuit issued a stay on the OSHA rule last Saturday.

“On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department requested the appeals court lift the stay, arguing it would ‘likely cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day.’

“In its decision, the court ordered OSHA to ‘take no steps to implement or enforce the Mandate until further court order’  [stating:] ‘The Mandate is a one-size-fits-all sledgehammer that makes hardly any attempt to account for differences in workplaces (and workers) that have more than a little bearing on workers’ varying degrees of susceptibility to the supposedly “grave danger” the Mandate purports to address.’”

Newsmax added on November 12:

“‘The mandate is staggeringly overbroad,’ the opinion said… ‘The public interest is also served by maintaining our constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals to make intensely personal decisions according to their own convictions – even, or perhaps particularly, when those decisions frustrate government officials’… “

A Ping Pong Ball Might Decide Biden’s Vaccination Mandate

The Associated Press reported on November 16:

“Challenges to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers will be consolidated in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals… The Cincinnati-based court was selected Tuesday in a random drawing using ping-pong balls, a process employed when challenges to certain federal agency actions are filed in multiple courts.

“The selection could be good news for those challenging the administration’s vaccine requirement, which includes officials in 27 Republican-led states, employers and several conservative and business organizations… The challenges… were made this month in 12 circuit courts. Under an arcane system, it was up to the clerk of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict litigation to select a ping-pong ball from a bin to choose where the cases would be heard.

“It was a favorable outcome for Republicans. Eleven of the 16 full-time judges in the 6th Circuit were appointed by Republican presidents… It had not yet been determined which judges from the 6th Circuit will be on a three-judge panel to hear the case or whether it will be considered by all the judges….”

A ping pong ball as the decision-maker. It would be laughable if it was not so sad. In any event, this will end up in front of the Supreme Court, and no matter what decision will be rendered, it will antagonize Americans even more.

Why the Biden Mandate Makes No Scientific Sense

On November 12, the Ron Paul Institute republished the following article by Dr. Gilbert Berdine, associate professor of medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center :

“The scientific basis for the [Biden vaccination] mandate is dubious. We are told that the vaccine is effective and safe. If this assertion were true… anyone taking the vaccine would have nothing to fear from the unvaccinated. If the vaccine worked, then everyone taking the vaccine would be protected. Of course, the vaccine does not work for everyone… it becomes a judgment call whether the risk of vaccination is worth the benefit.

“Contrary to what is claimed on a daily basis, the vaccine is not safe… As of November 7, 2021, there were 2,725,582 adverse events…including 8,284 deaths, 9,726 life-threatening events, 9,580 permanent disabilities, 363… birth defects, 38,818 hospitalizations, 79,615 ER visits, and 121,100 doctor’s office visits attributed to the covid vaccines. These are only the risks we know about so far. Nobody knows what the adverse effects will be one, five, or ten years from now….

“How effective are the vaccines?… As of August 25, 2021, it takes over twenty-five hundred vaccinations to prevent a single death in the US…

“What would the effect of 100 percent vaccination rate be on the virus? Contrary to claims, the virus will not disappear. The next outbreak would occur within a year and would be 100 percent breakthrough cases with a vaccine-resistant strain. Then we would need another vaccine mandate, and another, ad infinitum.

“… proponents of mandates underestimate the degree of conviction of those who decline the covid vaccines. Wherever people are not permitted to remain unvaccinated…, a percentage of people will quit their jobs rather than be vaccinated… at least 10 percent of physicians and 20 percent of nurses will quit rather than be vaccinated… similar events in hospitals could precipitate a catastrophic collapse of the US healthcare system…

“The worst-case scenario is outright civil war. This is too horrible to contemplate, but this possibility is real. President Biden said his patience is wearing thin. That works both ways…”

Apart from the downfall of America’s economy and its social services, including the health-care system, civil war IS, sadly, a distinct possibility. Note the next article.

“Would America Survive a Civil War?”

Unherd wrote on November 12:

“Talk of insurrection, secession, civil conflict and civil war is no longer the chatter of the gullible and the mentally ill. It’s entering the fringes of polite society…

“[There is a] very common assertion: that a civil war, if waged on American soil, would be over quickly… The idea here is that the US military is so advanced, and has so many tanks, gunships, fuel air bombs, and drones, that the federal government is simply assured of victory. As such, a civil war is an unlikely or impossible scenario, given the dramatic imbalance of power between the state and even a numerically large, dissatisfied internal population. But this is a dangerous misconception. While the US military is indeed powerful and lavishly funded, it is a military designed to fight other states….

“… how likely is it that there will be some sort of civil conflict in the near or mid future for the United States? Unfortunately, the correct answer here may very well be that it is not terribly unlikely…

“The legitimacy of its elite has been shaken repeatedly, and faith in the electoral process itself is now rapidly declining among large segments of the electorate…

“Most ominously of all, however, looms the growing supply crisis. This crisis would be tolerable if it merely implied a lack of variety at the grocery store… But it is also creating havoc in the productive economy itself, denying farmers the spare parts to run their harvesters and car manufacturers the metals they need to make cars. The longer the crisis goes on, the more broken the economy will become, and the more painful the necessary reforms will be, once America’s elites truly wake up to the danger.

“If there is one time throughout history where civil wars are actually likely to occur, it is precisely when a delegitimated elite undertakes necessary reforms after letting underlying problems fester for decades. That is when states are at their weakest, and when they are vulnerable to the worst forms of internal disasters. Sadly, that might just be where America is headed today.”

Our StandingWatch program, “Is Civil War Coming?”, addresses this frightening scenario. Also note the next article, showing how divided this country has already become over coronavirus regulations, mandates and restrictions.

How Covid Regulations Divide the Country

Newsmax wrote on November 13:

“Sixty percent of vaccinated individuals say they are banning unvaccinated family members from seasonal festivities… A slightly higher number, 63%, said they are not comfortable having unvaccinated relatives at their parties. Some 14% of those surveyed said they would never get the vaccine because of concerns about its safety and side effects.

“Almost half of the unvaccinated respondents, 49%, said they are no longer communicating with family members who won’t understand their hesitancy and unwillingness to get the shot, with 22% of those saying they have already been banned from family gatherings… 16% of those surveyed ended three or more friendships during the pandemic, starting in March 2020.”

There is really nothing godly about this.

The Road to Fascism

On November 17, the Ron Paul Institute republished the following article by the Rutherford Institute:

“We are moving fast down the road to fascism. This COVID-19 pandemic has shifted us into high gear. The heavy-handed collusion between the Techno-Corporate State and the US government over vaccine mandates is merely the latest manifestation of the extent to which fascist forces are working to overthrow our constitutional republic and nullify the rights of the individual… Katrina Trinko writes for USA Today, ‘the government is turning employers—who are not paid by, nor work for, the government—into an army of vaccine enforcers.’

“You know who won’t suffer any harm as a result of these vaccine mandates? The Corporate State (manufacturers, distributors, and health care providers), which were given a blanket ‘get out of jail’ card to insulate them from liability for any injuries or death caused by the vaccines… This has long since ceased to be a debate over how best to protect the populace at large against an unknown pandemic. Rather, it has become a massively intrusive, coercive and authoritarian assault on the right of individual sovereignty over one’s life, self and private property…

“At a minimum, our right to individual sovereignty over our lives and our bodies is being usurped by power-hungry authoritarians; greedy, self-serving corporations; egotistical Nanny Staters who think they know what’s best for the rest of the populace; and a short-sighted but well-meaning populace which fails to understand the long-term ramifications of trading their essential freedoms for temporary promises of safety and security…

“This merely pushes us one step further down that road towards a total control society in which the government… gets to decide who is ‘worthy’ of being allowed to take part in society.

“Right now, COVID-19 vaccines are the magic ticket for gaining access to the ‘privileges’ of communal life. Having already conditioned the population to the idea that being part of society is a privilege and not a right, such access could easily be predicated on social credit scores, the worthiness of one’s political views, or the extent to which one is willing to comply with the government’s dictates, no matter what they might be… nothing good can come from totalitarian tactics—no matter how benevolent they appear—that are used to make us cower, fear and comply with the government’s dictates.”

Amen to that.

How Big Pharma PROFITS from the Vaccines

Medical Press wrote on November 16:

“Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna… will make pre-tax profits of $34 billion this year between them, which works out to over $1,000 a second, $65,000 a minute or $93.5 million a day [from their COVID-19 vaccines]…

“Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna have used their monopolies to prioritise the most profitable contracts with the richest governments…”

 According to the New York Times, the US is planning to invest billions of dollars in expanding COVID-19 manufacturing capacity to have at least a billion doses by the second half of next year.

Trump Says Pence Should have Refused to Certify “Fraudulent” Election

The Insider wrote on November 12:

“Former President Donald Trump claimed in a new interview that half of constitutional scholars agree that former Vice President Mike Pence could have overturned his 2020 election loss… ‘How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that?’ Trump told [Jonathan] Karl about Pence’s refusal to reject the election results when Congress met to certify them on January 6. ‘And I’m telling you: 50/50, it’s right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them.’

“… That push came after the dismissal of dozens of lawsuits by Trump’s legal team challenging the results… The Supreme Court, which holds a 6-3 conservative majority, also rejected a Trump-backed bid to invalidate the results in key swing states….

“Last month, a bipartisan group of former officials and lawyers sent a letter  to the California bar association calling for an investigation into [John] Eastman, the lawyer behind the memo that claimed Pence could overturn the election. The group said the state bar should look into whether Eastman violated attorney ethics by making false statements.

“Eastman also retired as a law professor at Chapman University after more than 150 faculty members called for his removal following the January 6 insurrection. “

To clarify some misleading and troublesome statements in the above article: NO court decided the issue of election fraud on the merits. Cases were dismissed strictly on procedural grounds, such as lack of standing. It is appalling to realize that an attorney can be “investigated” and can be forced to retire for stating legal opinions which might not be in conformity with [politically motivated?] majority views.

Team Biden’s Never-ending Lies

The Editorial Board of the New York Post wrote on November 13:

“Before his utterly botched Aug. 30 withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, President Biden made a solemn vow: ‘If there are American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out.’ Not only did he break that promise, we’re still learning just how badly he failed: Thousands upon thousands remain stranded.

“Foreign Policy magazine reports, citing an in-the-know congressional aide, that the State Department believes as many as 14,000 United States legal permanent residents remain in Afghanistan. Plus, Deputy Secretary of State Brian McKeon revealed at a Nov. 3 hearing that State knew of 289 US citizens stuck in Afghanistan as of Nov. 2, with a further 81 ready to depart — after 140 Americans had left in the prior week. That tracks with the 450 US citizens the Pentagon reported still being in the country at October’s end. But it doesn’t track with the lowball numbers that State and the White House have claimed [repeatedly, which was under 200 and likely closer to 100]…

“And this ignores the tens of thousands of Afghan allies [Biden] promised to evacuate, whom he instead left to face the wrath of the Taliban. Biden, in short, vowed to get everyone out while having no clue how many ‘everyone’ was. Like all his other promises and pronouncements, it was just meaningless noise.”

No wonder Biden’s popularity has now reached an unprecedented low—with only a 38% approval rate (according to Breitbart, dated November 14). According to another poll which was released on November 18, Biden’s approval rate dropped to 36 %. One wonders who those 36 % are who support Biden’s totally unsuccessful policies. 

The Biden-Harris Debacle

The New York Post wrote on November 15:

“Vice President Kamala Harris feels increasingly isolated inside the White House as her approval ratings plummet…  Despite their public show of unity, Biden and his right-hand woman have a dysfunctional relationship that has reached an ‘exhausted stalemate,’ according to CNN, which based its report on interviews with nearly three dozen insiders..

“At a time when the president would usually be expected to promote his vice president as a future replacement in the White House, Biden has instead been sidelining Harris as a potential liability, the report said. For their part, Harris’ allies are reportedly frustrated with the president for dumping politically fraught issues in her lap — including, infamously, the ongoing illegal immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border…

“Insiders told CNN the West Wing has been especially bothered by Harris’ handling of the border issue. The veep’s trip to Mexico and Guatemala was overshadowed by a disastrous interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt, in which Harris responded to Holt by noting that she hadn’t yet been to the frontier region by chuckling and joking: ‘And I haven’t been to Europe….

“CNN also reported that Harris did not attend most of the meetings Biden held with members of Congress as he attempted to secure passage of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill…

“The CNN report is not the first time Harris has been the focus of DC whispers. At the end of June, Politico reported that her office was ‘chaotic’…

“The revelations emerged days after a poll showed Biden with an approval rating of 37.8 percent, a new low for the president. However, Harris’ approval rating was 10 points lower, at 27.8 percent.”

Of course, the White House tried to dispute CNN’s report, but did so quite unsuccessfully. Breitbart wrote on November 15:

“The White House on Monday scrambled to support Vice President Kamala Harris from a damaging CNN report about her struggles… The sudden reaction to the CNN story from the White House prompted mockery, especially after [White House Press Secretary Jen] Psaki claimed Harris helped deliver on broadband and actually succeeded handling the migration crisis.”

A more ridiculous and blatantly untrue “defense” could hardly be imagined.

The “Outrageous” Indictment of Steve Bannon

Breitbart wrote on November 15:

“The Justice Department’s (DOJ) indictment of Steve Bannon is ‘outrageous,’ Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz… said…  Bannon… faces contempt charges after defying a subpoena from a House committee ostensibly investigating the events of January 6th.

“Dershowitz said, ‘It’s an outrageous indictment. I’ll tell you why it’s outrageous. You don’t indict somebody when you don’t know what the law is. Nobody knows whether or not Bannon has the right to refuse to answer if the president tells him not to.  That is a disputed question. That’s not a proper subject for criminal indictment.’ Retention of executive privilege by former presidents is a disputed legal question, Dershowitz stated. ‘… you don’t use the criminal justice system except after you’ve exhausted all the alternatives to try to find out what the law is,’ he said…

“‘If you’ve got 10 constitutional scholars in a room — not Larry Tribe, because he’s not a constitutional scholar, he’s a partisan advocate, he was a scholar, but he’s now an advocate — but if you’ve got 10 reasonable constitutional scholars in the room and you didn’t tell them whether the person was a Democrat or a Republican, it would go five-to-five whether or not a former president has the authority to instruct his former adviser not to turn material over and not to testify.’”

Of course, the whole “investigation” is deeply political.

The Kyle Rittenhouse Scandal—and How the Media Deceives You

Fox News published on November 16 an article, which was adapted from Tucker Carlson’s opening commentary on November 15, 2021:

“Just days after Rittenhouse was first arrested, that was back in August of 2020… PolitiFact… claimed that Kyle Rittenhouse had committed a crime by carrying a firearm in the state of Wisconsin. Here’s the quote. ‘It is against the law in Wisconsin for someone younger than 18 to possess a dangerous weapon. Period.’…

“The problem was it was a lie. In fact, under Wisconsin law, which apparently no one in any newsroom in America had even bothered to check, 17-year-olds are allowed to carry rifles as long as their barrels meet a minimum length requirement, and Kyle Rittenhouse’s rifle met that requirement. So no, Kyle Rittenhouse did not violate Wisconsin’s gun laws. Today, even the prosecution at the trial was forced to admit that. And so immediately, the judge dismissed the firearms charge…

“Joe Scarborough [from MSNBC said]: ‘We have a 17-year-old kid underage, said he bought an AR-15 because he thought it was cool. He drove across state, had his mother drive him across state lines. He appointed himself a militia member. He goes around and he ends up unloading, what, 60 rounds?

“’… consider how totally dishonest the summary you just heard is. Virtually every word is a lie.  Kyle Rittenhouse wasn’t a militia member. He was a lifeguard. Kyle Rittenhouse did not fire 60 rounds, not even close to that. He was not underage, as we just told you, He was not in illegal possession of his gun. But most amazing is the claim, which you’re hearing everywhere right now, that Kyle Rittenhouse is bad because he ‘drove across state lines.’… So the very same people who have told you for years that borders are by definition White supremacy now claim it’s some kind of moral offense for an American citizen to enter a contiguous state. You’re making it sound like Kyle Rittenhouse snuck into a foreign land under cover of darkness to murder people. That’s not quite what happened. If you look at the map, you can see Kyle Rittenhouse’s drive from his mother’s home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Our map says 17 miles, probably shorter than your commute to work every morning. As Kyle Rittenhouse explained on the stand last week, when mobs set fire to Kenosha, he had every reason to want to defend the city because his father lives there…

“Bet you didn’t know that, bet you hadn’t heard it on CNN. Nor have any of the people hyperventilating about crossing state lines explained why it’s OK for the BLM rioters and the Antifa creeps to come from around the country to burn Kenosha down, as many of them did…

“But if there’s one thing this trial has taught us, it’s how completely dishonest and totally misleading so many of the news accounts of what Kyle Rittenhouse did have been. We’ve known for more than a year, for example, how Rittenhouse first encountered convicted child rapist Joseph Rosenbaum, the first man he shot… Joseph Rosenbaum had just been released from a mental hospital and for some reason decided to join the riot. So first he lit a fire. Then he began to swing a chain like a weapon. When he saw Kyle Rittenhouse, he threatened to kill Kyle Rittenhouse. Then he chased Rittenhouse in a full sprint, cornered him, and then tried to snatch his gun from his hands. It was at that point that Rittenhouse fired… After shooting Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse tried to turn himself in to police, but he couldn’t because a mob howling for his death chased him down a city street.  One rioter knocked Kyle Rittenhouse to the ground, another smashed him in the head with a skateboard, and a third rioter drew a loaded pistol, which he was not allowed to have, unlike Kyle Rittenhouse, and pointed it in Kyle Rittenhouse’s face. So at no point was Kyle Rittenhouse the aggressor in the sequence of events. Every move he made was defensive…

“In this case, there is… no racial angle to the story… everybody involved in the story is the same color [white]… the only bigot on the scene appears to have been Joseph Rosenbaum [who] kept screaming the N-word… And yet it’s Kyle Rittenhouse who Joe Biden accused of being a White supremacist on the basis of no evidence whatsoever. And let’s hope at some point he gets sued for that… So if a White guy shooting another White guy is an example of racism, maybe you should tell us how. This is insane.”

We publish these remarkable excerpts to show you how the left-wing mass media, including MSNBC and CNN, is lying to you to support their racial agenda. Also, for many months the mass media intentionally suppressed the fact that all actors were white, so that many thought that Rittenhouse had shot two black men during BLM’s riots. This “reporting” is appalling.

The Climate Change Scare

The Editorial Board of the New York Post wrote on November 12:

“For the past two weeks in Glasgow, Scotland, world leaders have gathered at COP 26,  the United Nations Climate Change Conference to listen to the same message: Disaster is just around the corner.

“[But] consider this news story from 1972: ‘We have ten years to stop the catastrophe,’ said the UN’s environmental protection boss… for more than 50 years, the United Nations and the media have regularly predicted we’re on the verge of calamity… In 1982, after the catastrophe failed to materialize, the New York Times covered the second UN conference on the environment, which opened ‘amid gloom’. The piece quotes Mostafa K. Tolba, executive director of the United Nations environmental program, as saying that if things aren’t fixed by the turn of the century — the year 2000 — the world would face ‘an environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible, as any nuclear holocaust.’’

“In 1989, a senior UN environmental official [said] that if we didn’t fix climate change by 1999, we would have ‘Global disaster, nations wiped off the face of the earth, crop failures’… In 2004, the Guardian newspaper said a ‘secret report’ from the Pentagon to President George W. Bush said climate change would ‘destroy us.’ Among the predictions: Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas. Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world…

“As of 2019, the UN said ‘only 11 years left to prevent irreversible damage from climate change’… That gives us until 2030 — or 58 years after the warnings of 1972. Advocates for change believe if they just scream louder… they’ll get the world to agree to a complete upheaval of modern life and trillions in spending…”

Buenos Aires Times wrote on November 11:

“Pope Francis warned time was ‘running out’ to save the planet while expressing regret at his absence from climate talks in Glasgow, in a letter published Thursday… ‘this occasion must not be wasted, lest we have to face God’s judgement for our failure to be faithful stewards of the world he has entrusted to our care,’ wrote Francis.”

A Lesson from World War I

The Daily Mail wrote on November 12:

“Known originally as Armistice Day, Britain’s first day of remembrance was held on November 11, 1919, marking the first anniversary of the end of World War I…. But what was it all about, that first Great War? Why did it happen?  Today… understanding the causes of World War I has never been so important. As in the years before 1914, we live in an age of feverish uncertainty…

“With China challenging U.S. power in the Pacific, and Vladimir Putin and his clients rattling their sabres in Belarus and eastern Ukraine, who would bet against provocation escalating into war one of these days?… China has reasserted its claim to the U.S.-backed island of Taiwan, while the U.S. State Department has explicitly warned that Russian troops are massing on the border of Ukraine… The footage that emerged yesterday of Russian and Belarusian paratroopers taking part in unannounced military drills close to the Polish border — where thousands of migrants are gathering — is certainly little cause for comfort….

“Has the global situation ever been so unpredictable? And isn’t it possible that the resulting adventurism, hubris, fear and distrust could build into precisely the same kind of cataclysm that tore the world apart in 1914?…”

Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria/Hungary by a young fanatic in Sarajevo, and after blaming especially Serbia for the assassination and due to treaties between certain countries (not unlike the NATO treaties in existence today), war was proclaimed.  

Is Russia to Invade Ukraine?

Time wrote on November 11:

“The U.S. is raising the alarm with European Union allies that Russia may be weighing a potential invasion of Ukraine as tensions flare between Moscow and the bloc over migrants and energy supplies… Russia says military deployments on its territory are an internal matter and it denies any aggressive intentions, while accusing the U.S. of provocation by sailing warships in the Black Sea close to its territory this week…

“Ukraine and Russia have been in conflict since Putin responded to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution that ousted the pro-Moscow president by seizing Crimea. Russia also backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people… Some analysts argue that Putin may believe now is the time to halt Ukraine’s closer embrace with the West before it progresses any further… the recent Russian deployment has been covert, often taking place at night and carried out by elite ground units…

“The deputy speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Pyotr Tolstoy, declared that ‘all of Ukraine will be part of Russia and there won’t be any Ukraine’ in a debate broadcast on Russia’s NTV last month….”

Sooner than later, Russia and Ukraine will become “re-united.”

Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline on Hold

AFP wrote on November 16:

“Germany’s energy regulator said Tuesday it was temporarily halting the approval process for Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, saying the operating company [which is registered in Switzerland] first needs to become compliant with German law. The move is the latest setback for the 10-billion-euro project ($12 billion), which has been dogged by delays and become a geopolitical hot potato. The Baltic Sea pipeline is set to double Russian gas supplies to Germany, which the EU’s top economy says is needed to help it transition away from coal and nuclear energy. But opponents say the recently completed pipeline will increase Europe’s energy reliance on Russia.

“Crucially, the pipeline also bypasses Ukraine’s gas infrastructure, depriving the country of much-needed transit fees. [This is also true for Belarus]. The dispute comes as Europe, which receives a third of its gas from Russia, is battling surging energy prices just as the continent heads into the colder winter season. German consumers have been warned that prices for energy are at their highest levels – and will increase further… The certification procedure ‘will remain suspended until the main assets and human resources’ have been transferred from the Nord Stream 2 parent company to its German subsidiary, that will own and operate the German part of the pipeline, [the regulator] added.

“Critics have accused Moscow of intentionally limiting gas supplies to Europe and driving up prices in an effort to hasten the launch of Nord Stream 2, a claim Russia denies… Germany’s energy regulator has four months, until January 2022, to give its green light for Nord Stream 2. After that, the European Commission still needs to give its recommendation.”

Militarizing Space?

The Hill wrote on November 17:

“Russia’s missile test that struck a defunct space satellite has U.S. officials and lawmakers rattled over fears Moscow seeks to further militarize space, with calls to hold the Kremlin accountable. The satellite explosion created at least 1,500 pieces of trackable space debris and hundreds of thousands of smaller pieces, which officials say could threaten astronauts and other satellites… U.S. officials and lawmakers worry that the ground-launched missile, which hit a Soviet satellite sent up in 1982, is indicative of ramped-up Russian efforts to develop and test space-based systems and weapons.

“The Kremlin in recent years has sought to outpace the U.S. in the hotly contested space domain — often referred to as the new ‘Wild West’ — testing several anti-satellite weapons, lasers and other armaments that could prevent the effective use of American and allied satellites… While the United States and its allies have condemned the missile test, it is unclear what more they can do to respond to the move. There are no universal norms, rules or principles of responsible behaviors relating to threats by nation states to others’ space systems. Russia earlier this month opposed a United Nations resolution that would move to set up such guidelines…”

It is not enough that man has waged war on the earth… now space has become the new frontier…

Crisis between Poland and Belarus Intensifies

Express wrote on November 16:

“An ongoing geopolitical crisis between Poland and Belarus has seen the EU prepare further sanctions against Minsk which the bloc accuses of attempting to destabilise the EU by pushing migrants across the border illegally… The Polish government is working to build a wall on the border with Belarus…

“The EU Commission has offered to pay for two percent of the cost of the wall. In exchange, Poland would have to change its laws allowing for pushbacks of migrants. Warsaw would also have to allow Frontex, the EU’s border agency, to process asylum seekers on Polish territory. But the Polish government is refusing to budge to Brussels’ demands, despite the lucrative cash incentive….

“According to Polish authorities, more than 20,000 members of the police, border guard and army are reinforcing the border where migrants have gathered near the Polish town of Kuznica. An estimated 4,000 migrants are at the border and many say Belarusian authorities are not allowing them to return to Minsk.

“Poland’s ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said his country was facing a hybrid war… Belarus, a close Russian ally, said assertions it had fuelled the border crisis were ‘absurd’… “

China Threatens Australia and USA

The Daily Mail wrote on November 14:

“A former Chinese official has threatened Australia and the US with ‘Armageddon’ if the democratic allies move to protect Taiwan in a military conflict. Victor Gao, who… now serves as a mouthpiece for the government, warned western powers to stay out of China’s quest to annex the disputed territory…

“US President Joe Biden last month vowed American troops will stand in China’s way if any attempt is made to conquer the island. On Friday, defence minister Peter Dutton made similar remarks saying it would be ‘inconceivable’ that Australian troops wouldn’t back up the US if such a scenario played out in the region…

“Senator Jim Molan, who also climbed to the rank of Major General in the Australian Army, explained there are three possible scenarios of how China could take over Taiwan… One possibility is that China’s vast navy could set up a no-sail, no-fly blockade around Taiwan, slowing choking the island’s economy to death before seizing control. Another option is a sudden attack ‘Pearl Harbour’ type attack and the third possibility is a simultaneous combination of both strategies.

“If any of these situations played out he warns Australia would be ‘monstrously vulnerable’ because we have a ‘naïve faith that American military power is infinite and it’s not’.”

Even though a war between China and the USA or Australia is not prophesied in Scripture, the assessment that America’s military power is (no more) infinite is very true.

The World Against Israel

Israel 365 wrote on November 12:

“The largest rabbinic public-policy organization in the United States called the Biden administration’s decision to abstain from a U.N. General Assembly draft resolution that targeted Israel ‘quite disappointing.’ The text… demands ‘compensation’ for descendants of Palestinian refugees who lost property when they fled their homes, as well as an unlimited ‘right of return’ for Palestinian refugees to a sovereign Israel.

“Israel would cease being the world’s only Jewish state as a result of the resolution… Israel was the sole country that opposed the text, which passed the General Assembly on Tuesday 160-1 with nine abstentions from the United States, Canada, Cameroon, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Uruguay.

“Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), which represents more than 1,500 traditional Jewish leaders, said: ‘This resolution employed a blatantly anti-Semitic double standard, demanding “compensation” for Arabs who left as advised by the genocidal Arab League, but no similar compensation from Arab states for the endemic ethnic cleansing of Jews and confiscation of their property, much less a “right of return” to countries unsafe for Jews to enter. The [Biden] administration abstained on an issue of hate and bigotry… This is not moral leadership. The previous administration took the morally correct approach, and we did not expect its position to be so rapidly abandoned.’

“The Trump administration unequivocally voted against similar resolutions aimed at Israel while the Obama administration traditionally abstained from the same resolution, which comes annually before the General Assembly.”

To be clear, some of the following countries are party to the UN and the General Assembly and have therefore voted for the anti-Semitic resolution: Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, including many other Western European nations.

The United States of Europe

On November 9, the European Council of the European Union published the following speech of President Charles Michel at the Berlin Conference 2021:

 “I am deeply touched to speak to you, here in Berlin… Berlin… is [Europe’s] symbolic capital… The 21st century will be the century of Europe…

“[Europe is] the largest area of democracy and freedom in the world. The most advanced area of prosperity and social development… Our single currency, the euro, has become the second most traded currency in the world…

“Unity and strength, along with our ‘strategic autonomy’, are the keys to the future of Europe…

“Our countries and regions have diverse histories, languages, traditions, political and economic backgrounds. It is precisely this diversity that makes Europe extraordinarily rich. But it also makes our quest for unity particularly challenging. So we must strive to understand each other and respect our differences…

“The European Union is the world’s leading trading power…

“We are often asked the question: will Europe one day have its own European army? The prospect exists…  One thing is certain: we will one day have to face a major cyber-crisis or cyber-attack… Recent attacks have shown that the threats are global. And so are the attackers. It is therefore in the interest of Europeans to pool our efforts and to create defensive and deterrent cyber capabilities. This should start by establishing an EU system for cyber crisis management and response to large-scale attacks…

“Our cyber security is also intrinsically linked to the security of our resources in space… [We] must strengthen the synergies between the civil, space and defence industries…

“The European project takes time. Seventy years is still a young age for such a unique organisation like ours. We have already achieved a lot. Our experience shows that sometimes we can gain time by taking our time. And in other moments, it’s good to be pragmatic and speed up….”

Europe will not end up as a peaceful power bloc. When they say, “Peace, peace,” there is no peace.

Austria’s Lockdown for the Unvaccinated!

The Associated Press wrote on November 14:

“The Austrian government ordered a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people starting midnight Sunday to slow the fast spread of the coronavirus in the country. The move prohibits unvaccinated individuals older than age 12 from leaving their homes except for basic activities such as working, grocery shopping, going for a walk — or getting vaccinated…

“The lockdown affects about 2 million people in the Alpine country of 8.9 million people… It doesn’t apply to children under the age of 12 because they cannot yet officially get vaccinated… police have been asked to check people outside to make sure they are vaccinated. [Chancellor Alexander] Schallenberg [added] that additional officers would go on patrol to control the lockdown. Unvaccinated people can be fined up to 1,450 euros ($1,660) if they do not adhere to the restrictions…

“Schallenberg also called on people who have been vaccinated to get their booster shot, saying that otherwise ‘we will never get out of this vicious circle.’”

Reuters added on November 14:

“Austria is the first European country to reinstate the same restrictions on daily movements that applied during national lockdowns before vaccines were rolled out, though this time they only affect [the unvaccinated.]… The measures on Monday will extend those brought in a week ago which banned the unvaccinated from places including restaurants, hotels, theatres and ski lifts…

“Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said there will be thorough police checks and fines of up to 1,450 euros ($1,660) for breaches, and all interactions with the police will include checking people’s vaccination status. ‘As of tomorrow, every citizen, every person who lives in Austria must be aware that they can be checked by the police,’ Nehammer told the news conference… As of Monday non-essential shops… will be off-limits to the unvaccinated…”

If this does not remind us of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany and the persecution of the Jews and other minorities, nothing will. It almost appears as if Austria under Schallenberg is becoming more of an autocratic dictatorship than it had been under Sebastian Kurz. And what about Germany? Note the next article.

Duty to Get Vaccinated in Germany?

Deutsche Welle reported on November 12:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the unvaccinated have a duty towards society to get inoculated… ‘You have the right to get vaccinated. But, to a certain extent, you also, as a member of society, have the duty to be vaccinated to protect yourself and to protect others,’ she said.”

Where does this incredible “revelation” come from, given the fact that vaccinations do not even protect the vaccinated in far too many cases? And if they did, what then do they have to fear from the unvaccinated?

Huge Earthquake to Come

Express wrote on November 15:

“Earthquakes happen every day… there are around 20,000 of them around the globe each year, amounting to approximately 55 quakes each day. Many of these are small and go unnoticed, mere tremors.  Others, more than a seven on the Richter scale, cause utter devastation. On average there are about 15 earthquakes every year with a magnitude of seven or more.

“The Richter scale is not a linear but logarithmic. As the numbers go up by one the magnitude of the quake increases by a factor of ten… the scale of an earthquake is related to the length of the fault on which it occurs: the longer the fault, the larger the earthquake. To produce a magnitude 10.5 earthquake, there would need to be a fault line with a length of around 80,000 km. Given that the Earth’s circumference is only about 40,000 km, this would be highly unlikely. And so an earthquake with a magnitude of 20 seems impossible.

“Yet… there is one way that such an event could take place… [It] would be due to a massive asteroid impact… Tsunamis and volcanic eruptions would be taking place, more earthquakes would likely be triggered and the whole world would be falling apart [and] destroy the planet..”

“The largest earthquake ever recorded is the 1960 Valdivia earthquake. Various studies have established that it measured somewhere between a 9.4 and 9.6 on the Moment Magnitude Scale…”

This does not mean, of course, that much larger earthquakes did not happen before which were not recorded. In Revelation 16:18, we read about a future “great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.”

Creating Humanzees?

The Sun wrote on November 12:

“… during Russia’s Soviet era Josef Stalin poured money into sensational experiments which involved injecting human sperm into female gorillas – and, even more shockingly, inseminating human women with the seed of primates. Stalin ordered renowned scientist Ilia Ivanov to create an invincible breed of Red Army soldiers… the Kremlin chief demanded these mutant warriors be ‘resilient and resistant to hunger’. He said they should be of ‘immense strength but with an underdeveloped brain’…

“Scientist Ivanov had made his name at the turn of the century by perfecting artificial insemination in horses proving that the sperm of one male stallion could impregnate up to 500 females. He then… tried to create a super-horse by crossing the animals with zebras.

“The term ‘humanzee’ was coined later in the 20th century and refers to a human-chimp crossbreed…

“In 1924, Ivanov… managed to secure support from the Pasteur Institute in Paris who let him use a research station in Guinea, West Africa, for ape-breeding research… He managed to inseminate three chimps with human sperm but none of the beasts fell pregnant. Ivanov reported that African women had been seized to be impregnated with ape sperm, but no pregnancy resulted.

“Female gorillas were set to receive human sperm as well before the experiments were shut down. Ivanov then headed back to the Soviet Union where he set up an ape nursery with 20 chimps in the subtropical republic of Abkhazia, near Georgia. When his project failed, Ivanov was arrested in 1930. He became one of millions rounded up by paranoid Stalin and died in a labour camp in 1932….”

This is just SO sick! According to some reports, Hitler also tried unsuccessfully to create “humanzees.” Especially the experiments in Russia were conducted in the name of science to “prove” the accuracy of Darwin’s ungodly evolution theory.

Divisions within the Catholic Church

Thomson/Reuters wrote on November 14:

“U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops this week are expected to revisit whether President Joe Biden’s support for abortion rights should disqualify him from receiving communion, an issue that has deepened rifts in the church since the Democrat took office…

“Biden, the first Catholic president since John F. Kennedy, has said he personally opposes abortion but supports a woman’s right to choose. He has vowed to protect abortion rights in the face of increasingly restrictive laws enacted by states; last month, his administration called on the Supreme Court to block a Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks. The issue has divided the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and pitted more conservative Catholics against those who support the president’s views. Some 55% of Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 59% of the general population…

“The debate has sown further discord as the church struggles to retain a fractured membership. Nearly 20% of U.S. Catholics have left the church in the past two decades… as sexual abuse scandals involving predatory priests have emerged and members have increasingly disagreed on social issues.”

It is truly appalling that the majority of members of the biggest professing Christian organization believe abortion should be allowed in most cases, even though their leadership is opposed to it. What are they even doing in the Catholic Church?

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.

Exodus 32:15 reads:

“And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.”

The two tablets of the Testimony refer to the two tablets of stone, containing the Ten Commandments, which Moses carried in his two hands (cp. Exodus 32:19; Deuteronomy 9:15). But what is meant with the statement (only found in Exodus 32:15) that the two tablets were written on both sides?

Much confusion exists regarding this statement. This confusion is somewhat related to the confusion regarding the correct numbering of the Ten Commandments.

In chapter 3 of our free booklet, “The Ten Commandments,” we say the following about the different ways in which people have been numbering the Ten Commandments:

“There is… much disagreement as to HOW to number the Ten Commandments…  It was Augustine, a Catholic bishop of Hippo in North Africa, who, in the fourth century, combined the First and the Second Commandment as ONE commandment… In order to reach the number ten, he divided the last or the TENTH Commandment into two… the reason Augustine renumbered the Ten Commandments (by counting the First and the Second Commandment as just one commandment) was a strictly ‘political’ one. It was done for the purpose of allowing the worship of images and statues as part of the worship of God. But… THAT is EXACTLY what the Second Commandment prohibits. While the First Commandment prohibits the worship of anything else BUT God, the Second Commandment prohibits the worship of statues in connection with the worship of God…

“Augustine’s renumbering of the Ten Commandments, which has been adopted today by so many professing Christians, is in DIRECT CONTRADICTION to God’s inspired Word!…”

Regarding the connection between the numbering of the Ten Commandments and the question as to which commandments were written on each of the two tablets,  Rienecker, Lexikon zur Bibel, “Gebote, Zehn,” points out on page 439:

“Nothing is said about the size of the tablets with the words which were written on both sides; however, we know from findings that 2 tablets not yet 10 cm high would have been enough to include the text. … Philo, Josephus, the Talmud, Irenäus and others were of the opinion that each tablet contained 5 commandments, later the border was placed behind the 4th commandment … Corresponding to the different numbering, the tablets for Augustine contained 3 and 7, for Calvin 4 and 6 commandments…. However, [for the Sabbath commandment], only the words of Exodus 20 [not the words of the version of Deuteronomy 5] were written on the tablets.”

The reason for Calvin’s decision to place the first four commandments on one tablet, and the last six on the other tablet, was that the first four commandments, correctly numbered, describe our relationship with God, while the last six commandments describe our relationship with our neighbor. But as we saw, this division, as far as the two tablets is concerned, came rather late (under Calvin), while originally, each tablet was thought of containing five commandments.

The question then arises as to what is meant, precisely, with the statement that the “tablets were written on both sides, on the one side and on the other.”

Friedman, Commentary on the Bible, p. 282, writes:

“Does this mean: written on both tablets? Or written on both the front and the back of each tablet? The former seems too obvious to require this mention: of course it is written on both sides; otherwise, why have two tablets? So the point is precisely that they are written on both sides of each tablet. For pictural purposes (in art and film), it is preferable to put the commandments all on the same side of each tablet, but the text suggests otherwise. And we know of numerous ancient royal inscriptions and statues that were written on both sides, front and back.”Gill’s Exposition of the Bible adds:

“… the letters were written on both their sides, on the one side and on the other were they written; some think that the engraving of the letters was such, that it went through the stones, and in a miraculous manner the letters and lines were in a regular order, and might be read on the other sides… others think that the letters were written both within and without, like Ezekiel’s book of woes; that the same that was within side was written without, that so, when held up, they might be read by those that stood before and those that stood behind; but rather so it was that the whole was written within, some of the commands on the right, and some on the left, and so the tables [sic] might be clapped together as a book is folded.”

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary agrees with the last suggestion, saying:

“[God] wrote the ten commandments on these tables [sic], on both their sides, some on one table [sic] and some on the other, so that they were folded together like a book, to be deposited in the ark.”

However, this explanation does not seem to correspond with the plain text of Exodus 32:15, as quoted above.

Accordingly, Adam Clarke’s Commentary writes the following:

“‘The tables [sic] were written on both their sides’ — If we take this literally, it was certainly a very unusual thing; for in ancient times the two sides of the same substance were never written over. However, some [rabbis] suppose that by the ‘writing on both sides’ is meant the letters were ‘cut through’  the tables [sic], so that they might be read on both sides, though on one side they would appear reversed… We may conceive the tables [sic] of stone to have been thin slabs or a kind of slate, and the writing on the back side to have been a continuation of that on the front, the first not being sufficient to contain the whole… Or the same words were written on both sides, so that when held up, two parties might read at the same time.”

Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible seems to agree, elaborating:

“… therefore, lest men should annex anything of their own inventions, God filled both sides, so that nothing remained unwritten upon.”

Further comments can be found on the Internet, as follows:

“The question arises whether the commandments were divided between the tablets (as has generally been assumed) or whether the two tablets were identical copies of all Ten Commandments… since it was conventional to make duplicate copies of the treaty document for the suzerain and vassal respectively, and it is arguable that the sanctuary would be the appropriate place to deposit both the copy for God and that for the people.

“However, while it would make good sense to make duplicate copies and keep them in separate places for security, making duplicates and then keeping them in the same place (which is clearly what happened, if they were indeed duplicates) seems to be a rather [strange] procedure. Moreover, while it would be logical to keep God’s copy in the ark, and thus in the most holy place, keeping the people’s copy there as well would make it inaccessible to them and of little practical use. It would seem more probable that the pair of tablets kept in the ark were viewed as God’s copy of the covenant, and that one or more accessible copies were made for reference by the people and their leaders…

“The OT itself does not give any indication whether the two tablets were thought of as identical copies, or whether the material was divided between the two…”

As we can see, we cannot be sure as to what is meant with the statement in Exodus 32:15. What we do know is that God gave us Ten Commandments which He Himself wrote on two tablets of stone; and that the first four commandments regulate our worship of God, while the last six address our relationship with our neighbor.

It appears however that the two tablets did not just contain four or five commandments on their front side, while nothing was written on the back of the tablets (but so Matthew Poole’s Commentary, without explanation), as it says that the two tablets were written “on both sides, on the one side and on the other they were written.” The Authorized Version says: “…the tablets were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.” So also the JPS Tanakh 1917 rendition. The New International Version says, “…they were inscribed on both sides, front and back.” The revised Luther Bible 2017 says: “…die waren beschrieben auf beiden Seiten, vorn und hinten waren sie beschrieben.“ [“…they were written on both sides, they were written on the front and back.”] So the Neue Lutherbibel 2009; the Schlachter Bibel; the Elberfelder Bibel; the Zürcher Bibel; and the Menge Bibel.

Beyond this, insofar as the precise way is concerned in which the Ten Commandments appeared on the two tablets of stone, we are left to a large extent with assumptions, imaginations and speculations.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

“Sterbehilfe – ist sie bei Gott erlaubt?”, the sermonette presented last Sabbath in German by Jens Herrmann, is now posted. Title in English: “Euthanasia – Is It Permitted by God?”

“Stepping Into The Ring,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Kalon Mitchell, is now posted. Here is a summary:

As Christians we have to fight. We have to choose with what attitude we are going to face the never ending battles. It is never easy to spend time in the ring, but it is absolutely essential in our growth.

“The Two Trees in the Garden of Eden,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden (Paradise) which had two special trees—the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. While the LORD (Jesus Christ) told them that they could eat freely of the Tree of Life, He ordered them not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why? When they disobeyed, they hid from God. Why? Because of their sin, God did not allow them any longer to eat from the Tree of Life. Why? What did these trees stand for? Are the principles, symbolized by those two trees, still applicable to us today? What kind of a world would we have today if Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Life? Why is there a Tree of Life in heaven? And what do we know about the existence of Paradise in heaven long before the creation of man?

On November 13, 2021, Kalon Mitchell will present the sermonette, titled, “Stepping Into the Ring,” and Norbert Link will present the sermon, titled, “The Two Trees in the Garden of Eden.”

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.

People don’t like to think. The reasons why are not surprising when we consider what it takes to actively engage the mind. Thinking takes work, time, energy, concentration, and can even cause a modest amount of discomfort. I believe that we can all relate to some degree that it is often easier to find reasons to do anything else but think when we are faced with the need to think. Thinking is simply hard to do.

Knowing that it is difficult for people to actively engage their minds in mental exertion, we can see why people would rather believe in something “simple” even though it is wrong, rather than do the work of asking questions and seeking out the answers. It is more comfortable to believe in a simple explanation because it doesn’t require thinking.

However, quite often simple explanations focus only on a limited point of view, and reject anything that challenges such an explanation. Oversimplified explanations often get in the way of understanding the whole truth of a matter. This oversimplification is reductionism. Reductionist explanations sound good, but can be very misleading to people when a deeper understanding is needed.

Reductionist explanations can do great damage when applied in situations when more completeness is necessary. For example, if we believe that all we need to do to maintain a car is to put fuel in the gas tank, it won’t be long before no amount of gas will make it go. It is true that a car requires gasoline, but relying on an overly simplified solution that “for cars to function, they need gas” doesn’t paint the whole picture. We often need to consider more information when looking to understand how things work.

When we look at secular so-called Christianity today, it is easy to recognize reductionist reasoning in effect. People will hang all of their beliefs on a handful of Scriptures and ignore the others that contradict their belief without even realizing it. People can read over Scriptures, passages, chapters, and books in the Bible without taking the time to think about what the words mean, because thinking is hard work. For example, it is common for nominal Christians to quote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” and stop there. It is appealing to read one Scripture and build an entire body of doctrine around it. Taken alone, one would think that all a person has to do is believe in Jesus Christ to have everlasting life. Yet people don’t ask what it means to believe in Christ. As we know, there is a lot more to becoming a fully converted Christian than a mere belief in the existence of Jesus. But asking questions that challenge such an appealing and simple belief structure is inconvenient.

Of course, we cannot place all of the blame on people who don’t take the time to think about the teachings of the Bible. Not everyone is called in this age to understand the Truth. God calls whom He will today, which excludes the vast majority (compare John 6:44-45, John 6:65). However, the warning of falling into the trap of reductionist explanations applies even to converted members, and gravely so. If we choose to pass too quickly over the teachings of the Bible and the Church, through God’s ministry, without taking the time to make sure we understand why those teachings are true, we place ourselves in a slippery place. Developing our understanding of the Truth that will lead us to salvation requires searching the Scriptures for more collaborating evidence, not reducing explanations to less.

Developing our understanding of the Truth requires the entire Bible. You don’t need to take my word for it either! The Word of God expresses this instruction with great clarity. In Jesus Christ’s response to the temptation of Satan, He said, “… ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”’” (Matthew 4:4). We must take this to mean that all of the words of the Bible are there for us to use, and not ignore when the teachings are inconvenient to us, or when we might not yet understand what we learn. By using the entire Bible to help us build a complete understanding of the Truth, without corrupting it with the bias of our carnal nature, we will grow spiritually. But it takes some work to do it. “… For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:9-10).

Whether it is easy for us or not, it takes work to think and ask questions about what we learn if we want to develop our spiritual understanding. It is undoubtedly hard work to do. But we didn’t answer our calling from God because it would be an easy path for us. We answered our calling out of love for the Truth, knowing that this is the better way to live. We can be reassured that the work is worth the effort when we consider the instruction of Jesus Christ, “‘Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it’” (Matthew 7:13-14).

by Norbert Link

We begin with interesting developments in America’s legal system regarding the highly contentious vaccination mandate which the Biden administration wants to impose on over 100 million Americans; address the hotly debated issue of vaccinations for very young children; speak on America’s and the entire world’s swift march into totalitarianism; and list examples of highly embarrassing conduct or comments by America’s president.

We point out questionable conduct by the FBI and Biden’s alleged conflict of interest; address the new infrastructure bill of over 1 trillion dollars which may not be as it appears; and another contemplated tax-and-spending package of over 2 trillion dollars, which, if adopted, would send America further into the dark abyss of the ever-rising national debt.  We also speak on America’s economy and its latest unemployment numbers, which, again, are not as good as many would like or represent them to be.

We also address rising tensions between the USA and Israel; and Israel’s preparation for the Temple service and the building of the Temple, as well as the “anointing” of the coming “Messiah.” In this regard, please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “A False Messiah in the Temple of God?” 

Turning to Europe, we speak on the border crisis between Poland and Belarus; speculations about France’s temporary leadership of Europe; Germany’s increased worldwide military involvement;  the relationship between the EU and Ethiopia; Austria’s new dictatorial  measures; thoughts on why Hitler did not invade the UK; the fight for UK’s fishery; and some ridiculous comments by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

We conclude with attempts to create “meat” without animals; and Donald Trump’s apparent inability to keep quiet when he should.

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

Huge Setback for Biden’s Vaccine Mandate… for Now!

Deutsche Welle wrote on November 7:

“A US federal appeals court on Saturday issued a [temporary] stay on a decision by US President Joe Biden’s administration requiring tens of millions of Americans to be either vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID. Saturday’s ruling followed a backlash from conservative Republicans, who had vowed to overturn the rule. At least 27 states filed lawsuits challenging the requirement…

“The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals cited  ‘grave statutory and constitutional’ issues with the vaccine requirement. Louisiana Attorney General Landry said the action stops President Joe Biden ‘from moving forward with his unlawful overreach… The president will not impose medical procedures on the American people without the checks and balances afforded by the constitution,’ Landry said in a statement…

“The Biden administration is also being sued by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis… over rules requiring employees of federal contractors to be vaccinated.”

Breitbart added on November 6:

“The ruling does not create legal precedent, but it is an important victory for challengers as it could signal which way the court would go on the merits as the case moves forward…

“In a final item that bodes ill for the Biden administration, the panel of the New Orleans-based appeals court wrote that all future cases, appeals, motions, and petitions on this issue in that jurisdiction shall be assigned to that same three-judge panel under this docket number. The judges are Edith Jones – an appointee of President Ronald Reagan and one of the most respected and brilliant conservative federal appeals judges in the nation, and Kyle Duncan and Kurt Engelhardt, both appointed by President Donald Trump.”

Lawsuits Galore

The Associated Press reported on November 5:

“Attorneys general in 11 states filed suit Friday against President Joe Biden’s administration, challenging a new vaccine requirement for workers at companies with more than 100 employees. The lawsuit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government…

“Missouri was joined in the lawsuit by the Republican attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat, also joined in the suit, along with several private, nonprofit, and religious employers.

“The Daily Wire, a conservative media company, filed a challenge in federal court on Thursday. So did companies in Michigan and Ohio represented by a conservative advocacy law firm.”

With all these pending lawsuits and the Biden administration’s position that federal law supersedes state law in this case, the Supreme Court will surely have to get involved. What the divided Supreme Court will decide is anyone’s guess. In addition, as the next article shows, there are many states, run by Democrats, which enforce OSHA regulations, showing the existence of totalitarian rule in America. We include in this edition numerous articles which point out this troublesome fact.

What the New Biden Mandate Would Do

 The Associated Press wrote on November 5:

“The Biden administration’s sweeping new COVID-19 mandate will apply to 84 million workers at mid-size and large companies… A separate rule requires workers at health care facilities that receive federal Medicare and Medicaid payments to be vaccinated. This rule, from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will apply to 17 million workers at 76,000 health care facilities, including hospitals and long-term care facilities…

“Employers must give workers paid time off to be vaccinated and to recover from any side effects. Vaccinations will be paid for by the federal government, though employees may have to pay for testing… OSHA says it will enforce the new rules… by relying largely on whistleblower complaints and some limited spot checks… The agency said it will work with companies to have employees vaccinated but would fine them up to $13,653 for each violation. Companies must collect proof of employee vaccinations and keep records. And employers must prove that unvaccinated employees have taken tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and that the tests are properly administered…

“The rules do not apply to employees who work alone, at home or outdoors. In addition, workers may apply for religious or medical exemptions. Nicholas Hulse, an employment lawyer at Fisher & Phillips LLC, noted that companies that have issued their own vaccine mandates are already being deluged with requests to be excused from vaccine requirements. Normally, Hulse said, religious exemption requests are straightforward: Someone, say, requests Sundays off to attend church or observe a day of rest. Now, he said, it will be ‘difficult to tell if (anti-vaccine) beliefs are sincerely held, or are they just trying to use religion to get an accommodation?’…

“In 28 states and U.S. territories that enforce OSHA regulations, the new rule will cover both public and private employers. These states and territories are:

“Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming. In the remaining states and territories, public employees are not covered by the new mandate.

“…A Kaiser Family Foundation survey last month found that 37% of unvaccinated workers say they would leave their job if they were required to get jabbed or submit to weekly tests — a figure that rises to 70% if testing isn’t an option…

“Only 10 times has OSHA issued an emergency rule, which allows it to bypass normal administrative procedures, including the need to seek public comment. Until it issued an emergency rule in June covering COVID risks in the health care industry, it hadn’t done so in 38 years. And no wonder: The courts have overturned four emergency rules and partially blocked a fifth, according to a review by the Congressional Research Service. To fast-track its rules, the agency must show that it’s acting to protect workers from a ‘grave danger.’”

This approach by the Biden administration constitutes dictatorship to the extreme, no matter how courts will decide the issue. And this might not be all.

Breitbart wrote on November 4:

“The Biden-Harris administration on Thursday is weighing if they should expand the vaccine mandate for companies employing fewer than 100 employees… [OSHA] is ‘seeking comment to help the agency’ determine if smaller employers with fewer than 100 employees can implement a coronavirus vaccine mandate ‘without undue disruption.’”

And now, the Biden administration is even going after the children. Note the next article.

Vaccinating Young Children against Corona?

WND News Center wrote on November 3:

“A former surgeon at the John Hopkins Children’s Center is describing the Biden administration’s move to vaccinate young children for COVID-19 as a ‘giant experiment’, arguing there is no sufficient data to determine the long-term risks posed by the shots. ‘Do we want to put our children at risk, when we know that the risk of the disease to them is relatively small, but we don’t know what the future risks are? Why would we do a thing like that? It makes no sense whatsoever,’ said Dr. Ben Carson in a Sunday interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

“Carson, renowned for his innovative surgeries to save the lives of children, is former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. He previously served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump administration. Bartiromo asked Carson whether or not young children should receive the COVID-19 vaccine. ‘Absolutely not,’ he replied… Carson also pointed to studies showing natural immunity ‘is very, very effective.’

“Dr. Carson is supported in his opposition to child injections for COVID-19, with other health experts voicing their opinions on the matter. Dr. Martin Kulldorf, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, member of FDA and CDC scientific advisory committees stated: ‘I don’t think children should be vaccinated for COVID… COVID is not a huge threat to children.’

“Dr. Harvey Risch, professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine, had a clear vision of what he would do if schools mandate the vaccine. ‘If the child has chronic conditions that make their risk appreciable, then there is reason that they should be considered for vaccination. Other than that, if it were my child, I would (remove them from public school and) homeschool them,’ he stated.

“Meanwhile, Dr. Sunetra Gupta, infectious disease epidemiologist and professor of theoretical epidemiology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, argued against injecting children, who were ‘unlikely to benefit’ from such an intervention…

“Dr. Robert Malone, virologist and immunologist known for his work developing mRNA vaccine technology, declared ‘There is absolutely no scientific or medical justification for vaccinating children, in my opinion.’”

KUSI San Diego reported on November 3:

“The CDC recommended the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 years old on Tuesday, following the FDA’s authorization of its use for those in that age group.

“Dr. Kelly Victory, Emergency Medicine and Disaster Specialist, joined KUSI’s Ginger Jeffries on Good Evening San Diego to discuss what parents should consider before giving their children a COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Victory described that the risk of the vaccine far outweigh the risks of [not] vaccinating children with a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Parents should research this issue very carefully.

America’s Totalitarianism… Much Worse Than Imagined

The Ron Paul Institute republished an article by Children’s Health Defense, dated November 7:

“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. last month delivered a speech at the 2021 Ron Paul Institute ‘Pandemic and the Road to Totalitarianism’ conference. In his speech — described by the Ron Paul Institute as ‘a compelling indictment of the mad push to total control’ — Kennedy said the techniques used by government officials during the COVID pandemic to ‘edge people into subservience’ come straight out of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) manuals he researched for his book, ‘American Values.’…

“Kennedy described a recent simulation, Event 201, a pandemic ‘tabletop exercise’ that simulated a global pandemic nearly identical to COVID. The event took place in October 2019 at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security, facilitated the simulation. Bill Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, global health officers and people from social media groups, large pharmaceutical companies and global corporations attended or sent representatives.

“Kennedy said: ‘…They were simulating a pandemic, but they weren’t simulating a medical response to that pandemic. They were simulating a militarized response. How do you use that pandemic to, particularly in that Event 201, to impose censorship globally? And that’s what they were modeling.’

“Describing CIA operations and organized mind control programs at top universities… Kennedy said the same techniques are used in today’s lockdowns: ‘The most potent technique,,, was isolation … And they did this in sensory deprivation tanks … and also just locking people in solitary confinement. You can get [people] to do almost anything you want after a certain period of time. It will drive them mad… If a government can hide what it’s doing by censoring its opponents and silencing dissonants, it has license to do anything that it wants,’ Kennedy said.

“He said what happens when you have a population of fear, ‘you have the complete obliteration of critical thinking, and then people stop asking questions.’

“Kennedy described how the rules and regulations handed down during the pandemic have been manipulated to [the] point where no one recognizes the country as a democracy anymore. ‘So there are all these democratic protections that were waived… All of these things were imposed upon us by fiat — with no discussion, no science cited.’

“Kennedy cited parallels in books he’s read by George Orwell and science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein, with what he sees all over the civilized world… ‘what’s happening now is this lockstep imposition of totalitarian controls — not just in America, but in every one of the liberal democracies in the world, and all of the other countries in the world. ‘China moved into Hong Kong and banned the last democratic newspaper. Everywhere in the world, we see democracy and constitutional rights disappearing. And it all happened at once, as if it was planned.’…”

It is planned indeed by none other than Satan, the god and ruler of this world.

Joe Biden’s Presidency… Scary!

The New York Post wrote on November 4:

“President Joe Biden ‘may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department,’ the ACLU said, after [he] angrily called a report that Justice would give $450,000-per-person payoffs to illegal immigrant families separated at the border ‘garbage.’…

“So either: 1) Biden is unaware of the deal and the progressives that dictate all policy through Chief of Staff Rob Klain are doing it on their own. 2) Biden is lying. 3) Biden was told and forgot.

“All of these scenarios seem plausible; none inspire confidence in this president. Scary…”

Biden’s selective memory and his outright lies have been the topic of much discussion recently. Note the next articles.

Biden’s flip-flops

APP reported on November 6:

“US President Joe Biden said Saturday he supported compensation for families of immigrants separated from their children at the Mexican border under the ‘zero tolerance’ policy of Donald Trump… The US departments of Justice and Homeland Security have been negotiating with affected families who have sued the government, the Wall Street Journal reported in late October. It said payments could run as high as $450,000.

“Asked about that report on Wednesday, Biden said it was ‘garbage’… A White House spokesperson… later clarified that… Biden was ‘perfectly comfortable” with the idea of compensation’…”

Biden’s flip-flops are more than just embarrassing. What a terrible message of incompetence and ignorance is being given to America’s friends and enemies!

The White House and the left-wing mass media later tried to spin it (what else is new?) in saying that Biden was just objecting to the figure of $450,000. But that was NOT what Biden was asked and what he responded to.

Biden clearly not in charge

Fox News reported on November 6:

“Biden claimed he would be in ‘real trouble’ for taking another question from the press Saturday following remarks about the passage of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill… The president has a history of saying he will be in hot water with his staff for taking media questions… In April, the president again claimed he would be ‘in trouble’ if he continued to take questions from reporters after speaking about new federal health guidelines for mask wearing for vaccinated and non-vaccinated Americans…

“Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki has also said that Biden taking reporter questions’ is ‘not something we recommend.’“

Biden also stated repeatedly that before taking questions from reporters, he had been “instructed” as to whom to call upon. He is clearly not in charge… but who is? We are confronted with an utter picture of total confusion.

Biden and FBI in Cahoots by Illegally Raiding Homes of Journalists?

Fox News wrote on November 6:

“The FBI  raided the home of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe as part of a federal investigation into the ‘stolen’ diary of President Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden. The New York Times reported the raid took place early Saturday morning just days after the homes of two Project Veritas associates were also the subject of search warrants…

“Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett appeared on ‘Hannity’ Friday and stressed there’s a ‘huge difference’ between what Ashley Biden’s attorney has alleged that her diary was stolen versus what O’Keefe alleged about it being left behind in a room, saying ‘one’s a crime and the other one isn’t.’ ‘Project Veritas did the right thing,’ Jarrett told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. ‘They didn’t publish this because they couldn’t verify the authenticity of the documents, but the other conservative website did publish it but they claimed they did verify it. What is so bewildering about this is why in the world would the feds even [be] involved in it.’

“Jarrett insisted that even if the diary was the subject of a theft, it would be a ‘state crime’ rather than a federal crime and that the investigation, which allegedly began under Attorney General William Barr, has become an ‘enormous conflict of interest’ with President Biden now in office. ‘A journalist cannot be criminally prosecuted for publishing stolen material unless the journalist himself or herself is involved in the theft. There’s no indication of that,’ Jarrett said. ‘And the same is true of leaked classified information. Journalists have never been prosecuted for that, although the leakers have when they’re identified.. [This story is] deeply troubling. They would barge into the homes of two journalists armed with a search warrant signed off by a federal judge and the Department of Justice, presided over by Joe Biden, this smacks of a political investigation and potential prosecution.’”

Whatever happened to the FBI’s investigation of the alleged criminal acts by Biden’s son Hunter, with the alleged knowledge and/or collaboration of Joe Biden?

House Passes Infrastructure Bill

The Washington Post wrote on November 5:

“House lawmakers late Friday adopted a roughly $1.2 trillion measure to improve the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections… The bipartisan 228-to-206 vote… proved littered with political conflict, pushing to the limits a fractious party with still-widening ideological fissures. Democrats initially hoped to approve the infrastructure bill on Friday along with a separate, roughly $2 trillion proposal [the ‘Build Back Better Act,’] to overhaul the nation’s health care, education, immigration, climate and tax laws. Doing so would have advanced two spending initiatives that have been stalled on Capitol Hill for months.

“Instead, House Democrats started only to debate, but did not finalize, the $2 trillion tax-and-spending package. Facing new delays, that bill remained bogged down in the broader war between liberals, who are eager to spend now that they are in the majority, and moderates, who continue to question the fiscal impacts of the bill.

“In the end, it was a bipartisan coalition of Democrats with the aid of 13 Republicans that helped propel the infrastructure proposal to passage… The bill includes more than $110 billion to replace and repair roads, bridges and highways, and $66 billion to boost rail, making it the most substantial such investment in the country’s passenger and commercial network since the creation of Amtrak about half a century ago. Lawmakers provided $55 billion to improve the nation’s water supply and replace lead pipes, $60 billion to modernize the power grid and billions in additional sums to expand speedy Internet access nationwide.

“Many of the investments aim to promote green energy and combat some of the country’s worst sources of pollution. At Biden’s behest, for example, lawmakers approved $7.5 billion to build out a national network of vehicle charging stations… the package also allocates another roughly $50 billion to respond to emergencies including droughts, wildfires and major storms.

“… Democrats ultimately worked out an arrangement that allowed for the adoption of the infrastructure bill in exchange for a pledge from moderates that they would hold a vote on the other spending package [the’ Build Back Better Act’] by Nov. 15, providing the spending plan does not add to the deficit, as Democrats have promised… Still, the arrangement did not satisfy the entire party: Six left-leaning Democrats…  ultimately voted against the measure…

“To be sure, the final bill is far less than what the White House initially sought. And lawmakers jettisoned some of Biden’s plans to pay for the package, which he initially had hoped to finance through tax increases on wealthy Americans and corporations — unwinding the tax cuts enacted under Trump in 2017. Instead, Congress relied on a pastiche of mechanisms that experts predict may not raise as much as some lawmakers say, including new reporting requirements on cryptocurrency that could be subject to legal challenge….”

The Guardian wrote on November 6:

“Progress on Biden’s agenda comes at a particularly difficult moment for the president. His approval ratings have slumped amid concerns over rising inflation, an unshakable pandemic and a harried withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden departed for a pair of international summits without securing progress on domestic agenda, only to be met upon his return by news of his party’s poor showing in races across the country on Tuesday.

“In Virginia, a state he won by 10 points in 2020, Republicans won the governor’s race, and came much closer than expected to denying the Democratic governor of New Jersey a second term. The grim results helped jolt Democrats into action on Capitol Hill, where leaders hope enacting their ambitious agenda will help the party regain momentum and improve their electoral prospects ahead of next year’s midterm elections….”

So it’s all for votes? It has been pointed out that the Infrastructure Bill does little, if anything, for the average American who is struggling with having to pay for astronomically high gas prices and groceries. Also, the Damocles sword of the increasing national debt, which can never be repaid, is hanging over America. This is not even addressing the second contemplated bill—the tax-and-spending package called the Build Back Better Act—which would cost another 2+ trillion Dollars. The claim by Democrats that this would not add to the national deficit is just ludicrous.

America’s situation is hopeless. It will take the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of a righteous and sane government to clear up the mess.

“U.S. Economy added 531,000 Jobs in October”

This headline, as quoted above from Breitbart, does not tell the whole story.  Note the article by CNS News on November 5:

“The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday that 100,450,000 people in this country were not in the labor force in October, up 38,000 from the 100,412,000 in September… Persons who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force. This category includes retired persons, students, those taking care of children or other family members, and others who are neither working nor seeking work.

“Among those not in the labor force in October, 1.3 million persons said they were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic… In October, 3.8 million persons reported that they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic.”

Tensions between Israel and USA on the Rise

Israel 365 wrote on November 8:

“Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, formerly political opponents, closed ranks to oppose the Biden administration’s plan to open a consulate to the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem… ‘There is no place for an American consulate that serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem,’ Bennett said… ‘Jerusalem is the capital of Israel alone.’… emphasizing that ‘sovereignty in Jerusalem belongs to one country — Israel.’

“The issue of the consulate is just one piece in the growing divide between the current White House administration and Israel. Just two weeks ago, the State Department rebuked Israel for branding six NGOs as terror groups after it was discovered they had deep ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Israel claims that it has proof that while claiming to serve humanitarian functions, the organizations in fact funneled foreign funds to the terrorist organization.

“At the same time, the State Department condemned Israel for its recently published plans to allow Jews to build several housing units in Judea and Samaria, a region the Biden administration would like to reserve for a Palestinian state that is ethnically cleansed of Jews.

“Another rift is the efforts by the Biden administration to reinstate… the Iran nuclear deal… Nikki Haley, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations warned that Israel should not rely on the US to protect its security interests regarding Iran.  ‘If Israel makes the grave decision that its security depends on removing that threat, it should not wait for an American green light… If a politician supports the disastrous Iran deal, opposes moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, and is embraced by anti-Semites who support the [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement, then a pro-Israel group should have absolutely nothing to do with him or her.’”

Strong words, and really frightening developments.

Anointing Oil and a New Temple in Jerusalem

Israel 365 wrote on November 8:

 “The Sanhedrin is moving forward to prepare enough [special oil] to anoint the Messiah from the House of David who, when he returns, will rule over Israel in the Messianic era.

“Rabbi Hillel Weiss, the spokesman for the Sanhedrin…  emphasized that a Kohen Gadol (High Priest) and Temple utensils will be anointed when the Temple service begins, which does not need an actual Temple structure, only an altar… ‘We are now entering the time when the preparations for the Temple are almost complete,’ Rabbi Weiss said. ‘Now is the time for people to act, to show whether they will be part of the Temple or stand against the reappearance of God’s house in Jerusalem.’”

Also, daily animal sacrifices may begin in Jerusalem before a Temple is built, but the Temple will exist when the man of sin and lawlessness will occupy it, sitting in God’s Temple and proclaiming that he is God—perhaps saying that he is Jesus Christ who, he might claim, has returned. It is interesting in that context that Rabbi Weiss also announced that special oil is being prepared for the anointing of the returning Messiah. Of course, the real Messiah, Jesus Christ, will not be anointed by human beings… but a false Messiah might be. Further, most Jews do not believe in Christ as being the Messiah.

Crisis at Belarus-Poland Border

The Guardian wrote on November 10:

“The [outgoing] German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has asked Vladimir Putin to intervene in the crisis on the Belarus-Poland border… In a phone call, Merkel told Putin that the ‘use of migrants by the Belarusian regime was inhuman and unacceptable and asked [Putin] to influence the regime in Minsk’, said the chancellor’s spokesperson, Steffen Seibert. The conversation came hours after Poland’s prime minister accused Putin of ‘masterminding’ the crisis on Belarus’s border with the EU… Russia has denied any involvement and blamed Europe [Deutsche Welle added in this regard on November 10 that Russia and Belarus blame the EU and Poland “for refusing to help potential asylum seekers…, with large groups of migrants stuck on the border in dropping temperatures. Between 2,000 and 4,000 migrants, reported to be mostly Kurds, have set up a camp near the barrier after failing to break through the fence on Monday.”]

“Poland and Lithuania have declared a state of emergency on their borders with Belarus, where Lukashenko has been accused of ferrying asylum seekers from the Middle East to the EU’s borders as revenge for the bloc’s criticism of his crackdown on opposition… Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki… said Putin was determined to ‘rebuild the Russian empire’ and called the crisis at the border ‘a new kind of war, in which people are used as living shields’… Moscow has been an increasingly crucial ally for Belarus in the past year, backing Lukashenko after his brutal crackdown on protests and after his grounding of a Ryanair flight in May that set off a fresh round of sanctions and pushed Minsk further into isolation.

“EU countries have threatened new sanctions and accused Lukashenko of ‘human trafficking’ and ‘gangster-style’ tactics.”

Belarus or White Russia will continue to work with Russia against Europe. Ultimately, Ukraine will join Russia in that fight.

Europe’s Future?

The Economist wrote on November 8:

“The EU is divided when it comes to defence… A French-led summit on defence in the first half of 2022, with the European Commission as a cheerleader, will put the topic front and centre. Deciding how to treat America will be the main bone of contention. For France, America is an unreliable friend that ditches allies without warning in Afghanistan and snatches submarine contracts. For Poland and its eastern friends it is the only viable bulwark against Russian aggression…

“France will cement its role as the EU’s most influential government. Angela Merkel’s departure leaves a power vacuum at the top, which the French will happily try to fill. France has the rotating presidency of the EU for the first six months of the year, allowing it to shape the legislative agenda of the bloc…

“A test of French influence will be in the coming reforms to the Stability and Growth Pact. Resetting the rules, which dictate how much governments can spend, will be the main fiscal battle of 2022. France, Italy and Spain have long called for a loosening. Germany and the Netherlands insist things work perfectly well as they are. Sorting out the spending rules will be the most consequential decision taken by EU leaders in 2022…  the pact has provided neither stability nor growth: wide gaps in growth rates have emerged between northern and southern Europe in the past two decades, along with a subsequent political backlash. The EU gains its power from its economic clout…”

France might “lead” Europe for a short while… But it will be Germany which will ultimately lead. A united Europe is also described in the book of Revelation and elsewhere as an extremely rich economic power.

Germany’s Increased Military Involvement

Defense News wrote on November 5:

“The German Air Force is preparing to… deploy six Eurofighter aircraft, three Airbus A330 tankers and three A400M transport aircraft in support of Australia’s Pitch Black exercise, scheduled for Sept. 5-23, 2022… Germany is ready to play a bigger role in the Indo-Pacific region… This is the Air Force’s ‘first and biggest deployment’ of air assets to the Asia-Pacific region…

“This air deployment would follow the August 2021 deployment of the German Navy frigate Bayern. The ship is to spend six months at sea, with stops planned in 12 different ports including in Djibouti, Karachi, Diego Garcia, Perth, Guam, Tokyo and Shanghai. However, news outlet Deutsche Welle reported in September that China rejected the planned Shanghai stopover ‘after a period of reflection.’”

Joint European Military Force by Core Members Only?

 The Telegraph wrote on November 10:

“The European Union is considering controversial plans to allow the bloc to deploy a joint military force without the unanimous support of all its member states. Removing the need for unanimity would stop a country blocking the rapid reaction force of 5,000 troops from being sent to crisis situations independently of Washington and Nato… ‘Europe cannot afford to be a bystander in a world order that is mainly shaped by others,’ a draft of the document obtained by The Telegraph, said.

“[Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief] told a group of European newspapers smaller groups of member states could take joint action and ‘we cannot decide by unanimity every step of the process… Europe is in danger… All the threats we face are intensifying and the capacity of individual member states to cope is insufficient and declining.’… Brussels and Germany have long called for member states to be stripped of their effective veto on foreign policy such as EU sanctions so that the bloc can react more quickly to geopolitical challenges.”

EU and Ethiopia

Euractiv wrote on November 5:

“The EU is prepared to issue sanctions against those responsible for the war and humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray province, EU officials confirmed…

“A sanctions’ regime signed by US President Joe Biden covering those responsible for prolonging the conflict in northern Ethiopia, human rights abuses and obstruction of humanitarian access is now about to be implemented. Officials say it will include travel bans and asset freezes on ministers, military commanders and regional authorities, as well as restrictions on aid and assistance and prohibition of arms sales to either Eritrea or Ethiopia.

“In the meantime, the EU will continue to supply humanitarian aid, despite continued difficulties in aid reaching those in need… More than 400,000 people are estimated to be living in famine conditions in Tigray… and a hundred trucks are needed daily to provide critical humanitarian needs….

“The recent escalation of fighting in the Amhara region and the military advances of the TPLF and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), as well as aerial bombardment by the Ethiopian Airforce of Mekelle, the main town in Tigray, threaten to make the war a truly national conflict. The European Union has already responded to the blockade of Tigray by blocking $107 million in budget support…”

Ultimately, Europe and Ethiopia might find themselves involved in a military confrontation.

Austria’s Newest Dictatorial Measures

Deutsche Welle wrote on November 6:

“Starting Monday, Austria will ban unvaccinated patrons from entering cafes, restaurants and large events… Under new rules that go into effect nationwide on Monday, those who cannot provide proof of full vaccination will not be allowed to enter places like restaurants, bars and hairdressers.

“Unvaccinated people will also be barred from hotels, events with more than 25 people and ski lifts… ‘We’re going to have to tighten the reins on the unvaccinated,’ Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said…”

Especially Austria should be careful with dictatorial rule in light of their unpleasant history under Hitler.

Why Hitler Did not Invade the UK

Express wrote on November 5:

“Hitler completed the German invasion of France in June 1940 after British forces withdrew from Europe and evacuated from Dunkirk. After France fell to the Nazis, German air raids were then carried out across Britain from July 1940. The Royal Air Force eventually won the Battle of Britain, which resulted in the extension of World War 2 and the eventual defeat of Germany.

“However, after the invasion of France, the German leader also began plotting the invasion of England in July 1940… Germany never carried out the invasion of Britain and by 1941 the idea had been taken off the table..

“Files from German General Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus have been preserved in a Russian archive. Paulus, who had only recently been promoted to General, surrendered to the Soviet Union as he led an offensive on Stalingrad in 1943. While a Soviet prisoner of war, in 1946 he provided a detailed account of the Nazis’ plans to invade England…

“Friedrich Paulus cited four points as reasons for the permanent postponement: firstly, the risk of a ‘loss of prestige’ if the invasion had failed… Second, the hope that the mere threat of submarines and bombing would make Britain want peace. Thirdly, the… calculation of ‘not hurting the enemy’ in order to be able to forge an alliance later. Fourth, Hitler’s clear intention to attack the USSR since the summer of 1940.

“… Paulus… was one of the military leaders of the empire from late 1940 to early 1942… Paulus, who was Germany’s highest-ranking prisoner of war, was interrogated at length by the Soviets.”

Some of the reasons stated above were well-known for a long time. Another reason was that Hitler considered the British people as part of the “master race,” which he did not want to obliterate. The Bible shows, however, that in the future, Britain will be invaded and destroyed by a unified European power bloc.

The Fight for UK’s Fishery

Express wrote on November 5:

“[The UK fishing industry is] ready to be sacrificed in order to get the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement across the line… This week, even as President Macron temporarily delayed his threats to impose severe sanctions on the UK, Boris [Johnson] described the issue of fishing as ‘really vanishingly unimportant’ when compared to his pet project of COP26… While protecting the sovereignty of our waters may not be as flashy as standing up and making big speeches to billionaires and other world leaders, the Conservative Party won the votes of this country with promises to ‘Get Brexit Done’ and to protect our fishing industry…

“If for a moment Macron feels French interests are not being given top priority, he will resurrect threats of trade tariffs and cuts to energy supplies, regardless of what is agreed in any ongoing talks, especially as we get nearer to the French Presidential elections next year. It is clear, President Macron does not believe Boris Johnson cares enough about UK fishermen to take drastic action… The current attitude of simply trying to sweep problems under the carpet will not work, and the PM’s failure to keep his promises to the UK fishing industry will not be forgotten…

“For example, it’s about time the UK makes the payment of the so-called ‘Divorce Bill’ conditional on the resolution of fishing talks and the end to French threats? In 2021 alone we are set to send £7 billion to the EU, with £5 billion to follow in 2022. Why on earth should we send this money to a hostile foreign organisation which so obviously has no interest in being our true ‘friend and partner’?…”

PM Boris Johnson is acting very weakly and indecisively. He is no match for President Macron or continental Europe, and the future will prove this.

Ridiculous Comparison by Archbishop Welby

The Daily Mail wrote on November 6:

“Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has apologised for grotesquely claiming that the failure to act on climate change is worse than the failure to prevent Hitler’s murder of six million Jews.

“Britain’s ever-dwindling Christian community is crying out for a brave, compassionate leader focused on saving souls…”

The “fight” to combat climate change reaches more and more ridiculous levels.

“Real” Meat without Animals?

ABC News reported on November 5:

“Bay Area company Upside Foods opened a new lab Thursday designed to create real meat, but no animals will be present in this facility… Upside Foods says workers will take cells from animal tissue and create the meat inside their lab. They say they have a staff of 150 workers including dozens of scientists working on this type of cultivation… With their new lab, Upside Foods says the goal is to produce around 50,000 pounds of meat…

“‘The only things transported through our tubes are the cells and the meat,’ [Eric Schulze, Vice President of Product and Regulation] said. ‘Instead of growing a cow for 18 months before it hits the grocery store we can make the same meat in 14-21 days.’”

Sounds weird.

Trump Just Can’t Keep Silent

The Insider wrote on November 6:

“Former President Donald Trump baselessly claimed that Alec Baldwin might have purposefully shot crew members on the set of the movie ‘Rust.’ The  firing of a prop gun by Baldwin on set led to the death of the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injured the director, Joel Souza. ‘He’s a troubled guy. There’s something wrong with him. I’ve watched him for years. He gets into fistfights with reporters,’ Donald Trump told conservative radio host Chris Stigall in a podcast on Thursday. ‘He’s a cuckoo-bird, he’s a nutjob. And usually, when there’s somebody like that, you know, in my opinion, he had something to do with it.’

“… In the police affidavit, Baldwin said that he was told that the gun was not loaded. Trump added that he thought Baldwin had behaved irresponsibly by pointing the gun at a crewmember, whether it was loaded or not… Trump said on the podcast that if he had been handed a gun, he would first discharge it into the air to make sure it wasn’t loaded… Trump suggested that Baldwin might have loaded the gun that killed Hutchins…

“The former president went on to say that he thought Baldwin’s impersonation of him on Saturday Night Live over the years was ‘terrible’… ”

Trump seems to be unable to be silent when his silence would be called for.

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.

We should first of all realize that there are many reports from people claiming to have seen Satan face to face, while supposedly appearing to them as a man. However, the Bible indicates that Satan cannot materialize himself to the human eye.

In our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World,” we say this:

“It appears from Scripture that demons cannot materialize themselves the way that angels can. Demons cannot appear as men. They can, however, create an illusion, or an apparition that might look very real to people. Examples of those illusions would include the appearance of ‘ghosts,’ or of a ‘lady,’ claiming to be ‘Mother Mary.’

“We read in Job 4:12–16 about Eliphaz’ encounter with a spirit: ‘Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men. Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair on my body stood up. It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; then I heard a voice…’

“Eliphaz saw some kind of a form before his eyes but he could not discern the appearance of the spirit. This indicates that it was a demon, as the Bible does not show that God’s angels appear to man in such a way. It was something like an apparition—a phantasm. It was what the disciples thought they saw, too, when Jesus was walking on the water.

“Another encounter with a demon is recorded for us in 1 Samuel 28. This encounter is discussed in detail on pages 38 and 39 of our free booklet, ‘Do We Have an Immortal Soul?’  To summarize here, King Saul consulted a witch to find out his future. During a séance, the witch ‘saw’ a demon, who pretended to be the dead Samuel. Saul could not see the demon. The demon spoke through the witch to Saul. We note again that the demon did not materialize himself as a being with flesh and bones. Rather, it was an illusion.”

In another example, alluded to above, the disciples saw Jesus walking on water and were afraid, erroneously thinking it was a ghost or a spirit or an apparition (Mark 6:47-50).  They did not think at first that the incident was real, but just an illusion. In these illusions and “visions,” Satan may “appear” in the disguise of a human being, but that is not how he really looks. Likewise, Satan cannot show himself in our dreams. In that regard, please see our Q&A,

When it comes to the real appearance of Satan, he most certainly does not look as Hollywood might portray him in movies (not that we recommend ever watching these kinds of demonic horror flicks). Rather, he was created as a cherub. Known as Lucifer, he was a high-ranking angel, but he rebelled and sinned against God (Isaiah 14:12–15; Ezekiel 28:11–17). We say this in our above-mentioned booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“… before he was sent to earth, Lucifer had been trained in heaven before the very throne of God, and he had angels under his command. We read in Ezekiel 28:14 that he was the anointed cherub who covers. Recall that the cherubs covered the throne of God when God appeared to Moses in the Tabernacle. Also, we read in Ezekiel 28:14 that Lucifer was on the holy mountain of God in heaven (compare Hebrews 12:22). When he sinned by trying to ascend from this earth to heaven to dethrone God, he was cast out of the mountain of God (Ezekiel 28:16). Christ later said that He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18).”

Lucifer, who had been created as a bright morning star or lightbringer, became the prince of darkness. His whole mindset and attitude changed from love to hatred. This had undoubtedly consequences for this outward appearance. Even though he likes to appear as an angel of light, his real appearance is one of horrific and abhorrent hatred and darkness, if one could see him in his real state, as God can. Even on the human level, a person who is absorbed and eaten up by hatred will show this in his or her facial expressions.

The Bible gives us numerous descriptions of the appearance of cherubs in their glorified state. Quoting from our booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“We find a very detailed description of their appearance in the book of Ezekiel. We read in Ezekiel 1:5–14: ‘Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies… As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning.’

“We are later told that these four living creatures were ‘cherubim’ (Ezekiel 10:20–22). They were transporting a throne on which the ‘LORD’ sat. Notice Ezekiel 1:26–28: ‘And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it… This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.’ We are told, for instance, in Psalm 18:10 that the LORD ‘rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind.’

“Ezekiel 10:14 also reveals that the predominant facial features of a cherub are those of an ox. While we had read in Ezekiel 1:10 that the four cherubs had the face of an ox, a man, a lion, and an eagle, Ezekiel 10:14 lists those characteristics as the face a cherub, a man, a lion, and an eagle. Taken together, the Scriptures equate the predominant facial features of a cherub with that of an ox. Some have suggested that cherubs look mainly like oxen. Notice, though, that they are described with the ‘likeness of a man.’ Only their facial features and the soles of their feet are different from the ‘likeness of a man’ (in addition to the fact that they have wings)…

“Rienecker’s Commentary to the Bible points out that ‘cherubim appear where God is personally present or where He reveals Himself in His glory… The cherubim are witnesses of the personal presence of God on earth… Today, cherubs are pictured similar to the winged creatures, called “kurubu,” that have been dug out in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Syria.’ Some of these ‘kurubu’ look like creatures with a body of a lion, with wings, and with the head of a man, while others have the appearance of a man, with animal heads.”

However, the mere fact that in the incidents where cherubim are expressly described in the Bible, they do not have animal bodies, does not have to mean that none of the cherubs have an animal-like appearance.

There are other powerful angels which are described with spiritual bodies resembling different animals. We are quoting from our booklet on “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“… four very powerful angels—the ‘four living creatures’—are described in the fourth chapter of the book of Revelation in this way: ‘Before the throne [of God in heaven] 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. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 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!”’ (Revelation 4:6–8).

“Here we are introduced to angelic beings that look like a lion, a calf, and a flying eagle. One angelic being has the face of a man, implying that the rest of his appearance may not resemble that of a man. In addition, all have six wings.”

The Bible speaks also of seraphim, and we say this in our booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“The word ‘seraphim’ means ‘burning’ or ‘noble.’ These beings are depicted as standing above God’s throne, each having ‘…six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew’ (Isaiah 6:2). The voice of a seraphim is so powerful that ‘…the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out’ (Isaiah 6:4). Isaiah 6:6 describes one of the seraphim as touching a burning coal with his hand.

“Whether this passage makes clear that seraphim look like men, is uncertain. The reference to ‘face,’ ‘feet’ and ‘hand’ might suggest this. On the other hand, the Hebrew word for ‘seraphim,’ ‘saraph,’ (compare Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, under ‘Seraphims’ and ‘Serpent’, Number 8314) is also used in other passages, describing dragons or serpents. We read in Isaiah 14:29, ‘Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper, And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.”’  The Hebrew word for ‘fiery serpent’ is ‘saraph.’ The New Jerusalem Bible gives the rendering, ‘a flying dragon.’ An additional passage can be found in Isaiah 30:6: ‘The burden against the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and anguish, From which came the lioness and lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent (‘saraph’ in Hebrew)…’

“Rienecker’s Commentary to the Bible states the following: ‘Passages such as Isaiah 14:29 and 30:6, describing flying seraphim (plural of saraph, translated by Luther as “flying dragon”, as well as Isaiah 6:2, 6, using the word to describe six-winged beings above the throne of God, go beyond the idea of an ordinary snake or serpent, and impress on the reader the concept of dragon-like creatures…”

It is interesting that seraphim are described as flying dragons or fiery flying serpents. Even though Satan is not identified as a seraph, but as a cherub, the parallelism is undeniable. Satan is described as a dragon. This does not seem to be a description of a person looking like a man. We read in Revelation 12:3 about Satan as “a great, fiery, red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.”

We also read that the dragon spewed water out of his mouth like a flood [apparently referring to human armies] to destroy God’s people (Revelation 12:15-16).

We understand of course that much of this is symbolic language. The Roman Empire and its ten revivals are portrayed as a beast with seven heads and ten horns, and with ten crowns on his horns (Revelation 13:1-3). Also, a woman is described sitting on a scarlet beast, having seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 17:3), depicting the last seven revivals of the Roman Empire under Roman Catholic rule and influence. We also read that the dragon gives his power to the beast, and who is being worshipped (Revelation 13:3-4). It is also the dragon who sends out demons to the kings of the East to assemble them at Armageddon (Revelation 16:13, 16). But there are distinctions between the description of Satan, the great fiery red dragon, in Revelation 12 and the beasts in Revelation 13 and in Revelation 17. Nowhere in the Book of Revelation are these two beasts referred to as dragons. Satan’s designation as a dragon may not all just be a symbolical description.

Rather than saying that Satan is described symbolically in a way similar to the beasts (the Roman Empire and its revivals), because he controls the beasts and his description is therefore patterned after the beasts, it appears more likely that the two beasts are depicted as “physical” patterns after their spiritual ruler—Satan—which would give us a clue as to how Satan might look in his spiritual state.

In addition, we should remember that Satan is also described in Revelation 12:9 as “the great dragon… that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.”  Compare also Revelation 20:2; 12:14-15.

In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul speaks of the serpent in the garden of Eden which beguiled Eve, clearly referring thereby to Satan the Devil.

In our free booklet, “Heavens and Earth—Before and After the First Man,” we say this:

“We read, for example, in Genesis 3:1 that ‘the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.’ While Satan is described as a serpent and as a dragon (Revelation 20:2), it appears that Eve was confronted by and spoke to a real serpent in the Genesis account. Satan gave the serpent a voice —in the same way that God gave a donkey a man’s voice to speak to the false prophet Balaam (Numbers 22:28; 2 Peter 2:16)…

“God punished the serpent, stating that it was more cursed than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field (Genesis 3:14). God pronounced punishment on a literal, physical serpent, as well as, of course, on Satan the devil who used the serpent.”

The punishment pronounced for both the serpent and Satan—the serpent of old—is interesting. In verse 14, we read: “On your belly you shall go…” When applied to Satan, God changed his appearance in the spirit world. Even if he stood upright before his temptation of Eve, that would not be the case anymore. Rather, he would be more like a dragon or a serpent, crawling on his belly. He would still walk [or move, travel, change his location] to and fro on earth, like a roaring lion, and he would also have wings with which he could fly. In fact, he will “fly” or ascend to heaven in our time to unsuccessfully try to replace God in heaven.

As the two beasts in the Book of Revelation are never described as dragons, so they are not described as serpents either, showing again the difference of descriptions between them and Satan (Further discussions in this regard can be found in our free booklet, “Evil Empires and Evil People—Wild Beasts of the Bible.” ).

Another hint regarding his present appearance can be gleaned from the book of Job, where Leviathan is being described. We say this in our booklet “Heavens and Earth—Before and After the First Man”:

“The description of Leviathan in the book of Job and in other places refers to a living animal… Some have said that the description of Leviathan in the book of Job is merely a description of Satan. However, clearly an animal is described in Job 41, not a spirit being (even though some of the characteristics of Leviathan might very well, in a symbolic sense, apply to Satan).

“We might also consider additional passages outside of the book of Job that refer to Leviathan. Psalm 74:14 says that God ‘broke the HEADS of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.’ Some might want to dismiss this passage as simply mythological, claiming that no known animal existed or exists with more than one head. This claim is not necessarily accurate. Even today, sometimes animals, due to mutation or birth defects, are born with more than one head, so there is no reason to believe that the passage in Psalm 74 must be understood in a mythological, rather than a literal way.

“Psalm 104:25–26 clearly identifies Leviathan as a real, living water animal, co-existing with man: ‘… The great and wide sea, In which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great. There the ships sail about; There is that Leviathan Which You have made to play there.’”

Having said this, it does not dismiss the possibility that the outward appearance of Satan is being described in the book of Job as well; and that Leviathan may be, to some extent, a physical pattern made after Satan, the spirit being. Viewed from that angle, note what God says about “Leviathan” in Job 41:18-21:

“His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; Sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, As from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth…”

The Bible tells us that Satan has the power to call down fire from heaven to kill people.

To summarize, it appears that the description of Satan as a great fiery red dragon and as the serpent of old is more than just a symbolic expression. Clearly, Satan does not look like an ordinary man, nor could he approach us as an ordinary human being. Even though the Bible is not dogmatic as to the way he looks, there are hints indicating his dreadful and terrible, and at the same time frightening appearance. It would be foolish to want to make contact with him, or to try to “see” him, but far too many are doing this in one way or another, perhaps without knowing it.

We want to conclude with this sober warning from our booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”:

“Though many people don’t believe in the existence of Satan and demons, they are quick to dabble in the occult, being ignorant of the danger therein. Demons are called ‘familiar spirits’ because they want to familiarize themselves with man (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27). Haunted houses, poltergeists, séances, communication with the dead, and contacts with ‘aliens’ are all clearly of demonic origin. Satan and demons are destructive… Sorcery, witchcraft, hypnosis, and certain meditation practices are further methods of Satan to overpower the mind of a human being and to make him or her into a helpless victim. Whenever we give ourselves ‘over’ to another influence, we have become victims of the powers of darkness.”

To visualize Satan as a devouring fiery red dragon with several heads and as a vicious poisonous serpent might perhaps show us the seriousness of our fight with Satan and his demons (Ephesians 6:11-12)—it is not a laughing matter, and must not be taken lightly.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

A new Member Letter (November 2021) has been written and mailed to our subscribers. Pastor Brian Gale addresses the false “religion” of Evolution in contrast to belief in God, and he reminds us of the wonderful understanding that God has given to us in our calling.

“A False Messiah in the Temple of God?” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: 

It was announced this week that a special oil was being prepared to anoint the returning Messiah from the house of David when He comes to His temple in Jerusalem. Why is this development remarkable? Will there be a physical temple prior to Christ’s return? Will He be anointed by men? Or is a great deception being prepared for the unsuspecting masses?

“Währt Ihre Leidenszeit zu lange?” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. “Title in English: Does Your Suffering Last TOO Long?”

“Was ist Wahrheit?” the sermonette presented last Sabbath in Germany by Johann Schell, is now posted. Title in English: “What is Truth?”

“The Minority,” the first split-sermon presented last Sabbath by Michael Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

A new type of minority exists today where people are singled out due to the decision they make whether they want to be vaccinated or not which leads to various consequences.  As true Christians, we are familiar with what it is like to be a minority.  What is the difference between the “minorities” in the world and the “minorities” that God has chosen out of this world today?

“Does Your Suffering Last TOO Long?” the split-sermon presented last Sabbath by Norbert Link, is now posted. Here is a summary:

The Bible speaks of longsuffering and gives us many examples of God’s followers who have suffered for a long time. And today, all of us are suffering too… some for comparatively shorter, and some for much longer periods. It may appear at times that our longsuffering is just lasting TOO long. So, what does God tell us about longsuffering?

On October 6, 2021, Michael Link will present the first split sermon, titled, “The Minority,” and Norbert Link will present the second split sermon, titled, “Does Your Suffering Last TOO Long?”

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.

I was watching a science fiction movie where the two main actors were willing to sacrifice their lives in response to a technical threat to the entire planet. They did it without reservation for the good of mankind which had been greatly reduced by this advanced machine technology.

About two thousand years ago, a Man faced an angry crowd, inspired by Satan, demanding His crucifixion, even though He had done no wrong. He did not cry out to profess His innocence; He did not whine or complain, but He took it all in stride because He knew that His sufferings and death were preordained and necessary for the ultimate good of mankind. That Man was Jesus Christ. He was rejected, persecuted, mocked, scorned, spit upon, punched, scourged, crucified and eventually killed by a Roman soldier’s spear which pierced His side—knowing that all of this was prophesied long before His death.

Why would He do that, since He had done no wrong and was innocent of the charges laid against Him?

He did it for the good of mankind, even though the world then or today did not and does not understand the scope or grasp the significance of His sacrifice. He did it so that man could ultimately fulfill his destiny to become God beings—to offer salvation by His blood for mankind, which was and is totally unappreciated at this time.

He attained perfection as a man through the things He suffered—learning how He could stay obedient in the face of trials. Not that He was ever disobedient, but He had to experience what it is like to be a man and not to sin. As a spirit being and the second member of the God Family prior to becoming a man, He never had to go through these kinds of physical sufferings to “learn” obedience.

As a man, He set a perfect example for us and gave us an important lesson, in that we are perfected through trials and suffering.  If you look at a silver bar, you will see stamped into it 99.9999 %, which means, almost all the impurities have been removed from it. As silver ore, it is melted down and the dross comes to the surface, which are the impurities within it, and they are skimmed off. This process may be done several times to achieve the 99.9999 percentage state.

As Psalm 66:10 clearly states: “For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.”

Our trials and our sufferings which we face are purifying us towards perfection, so that we can become immortal God beings in the God Family. Furthermore, we will receive a golden crown, gold being the most perfect metal in the physical existence. We will achieve the gold standard, and we will also be given a white robe, signifying righteousness or our righteous acts, because at that time we will be perfect and totally righteous before our God.

I know, trials are not easy, and some of us have gone through quite some serious ones since observing the Feast of Tabernacles, but if you look at them as being perfected towards becoming a God being, they are easier to bear.

Paul said the sufferings in this world were all worth it to attain salvation in the Kingdom of God, so let us not let trials affect us in any negative way, but let us look forward to being in the Kingdom because the current trials and sufferings are preparing us to become God beings.

by Norbert Link

We begin with reports on the political earthquakes in Virginia and New Jersey [please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Political Earthquakes in Virginia and New Jersey” ]; the unsuccessful G20 meeting in Rome and the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow; and the controversial meeting between President Biden and Pope Francis as well as Biden’s other [dangerous] embarrassments. We address troublesome developments involving Poland, Russia and Ukraine; and we speak on the authoritarian and persecuting conduct by the European Union. We also point out inappropriate statements by Boris Johnson and some silly comments by Joe Biden, causing immediate rebuke from the Brits.

We address the skepticism of many Germans regarding more vaccines; Big Pharma’s huge profits; and the “gender-neutral” and “white privilege” nonsense. We continue with extremely troubling articles on the “new global order”; governmental funding of despicable experiments; and the attacks on religious liberty.

We conclude with frightening [overlooked] warnings of the resurgence of the Nazi culture; and the stupidity of modern witch-hunts.

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

Political Earthquakes in Virginia and New Jersey

The New York Post wrote on November 3:

“Election Day Tuesday ended with races that should have been easy wins for Democrats.

“Most dramatically, Republican Glenn Youngkin easily beat Democrat Terry McAuliffe to be governor of Virginia, a state Biden carried by 10 percentage points last year… Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) predicted Youngkin’s victory ‘could be a political earthquake.’

“Gubernatorial election results hung in the balance early Wednesday in New Jersey, a state Biden carried by 16 points a year ago. Incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy — expected to be a shoo-in for the Democrats — remained virtually tied with Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli on Wednesday morning, with the pair less than a percentage point apart and 97 percent of precincts reporting. [In the meantime, The Associated Press projected Murphy to be the winner, but Ciattarelli has so far refused to concede.]

“While former President Donald Trump gave credit to his supporters for the upset in Virginia, political commentators appeared certain that Biden’s disastrous leadership, especially in trying to pass his extreme spending plans, was to blame. ‘The Democratic Party and Joe Biden were elected to solve problems, and all they’re doing is fighting about price tags,’ Doug Herman, a lead strategist for Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, told Politico…

“Despite potential catastrophe for him in the US, Biden clung to the belief that he had at least been a success in Europe, even while nodding off at important events.”

But China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gas, and Russia did not even participate at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Biden added that at least the USA “showed up.” Some “commitments” were made by the countries in attendance, which might not be worth the paper they were written on.

The Guardian wrote:

“… the US was clearly piqued at how little the relentless diplomacy of John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, had done to extract deeper emissions cuts from leading carbon polluters. ‘…the Biden administration seems to be turning its back on reality and throwing climate leadership into the toilet,’ said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director for WildEarth Guardians.”

Regarding the prior G20 Meeting in Rome, it also ended without a successful breakthrough.

AFP wrote on October 31:

“The G20 major economies committed on Sunday to the key goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but disappointed leaders warned that more was needed to make a success of UN climate talks, beginning in Glasgow. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the host of the COP26 summit that opened on Sunday, said the pledge from world leaders after two days of talks in Rome was ‘not enough,’ and warned of the dire consequences for the planet… saying the G20 commitments were ‘drops in a rapidly warming ocean.’

“UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed disappointment at the outcome of the G20 summit, saying he left Rome ‘with my hopes unfulfilled — but at least they are not buried.’”

Even accepting that there is something like man-made global warming, nothing will change as the countries which are allegedly mostly responsible will not alter their behavior.

Demoralized Democrats

CNN wrote on November 3:

“Demoralized Democrats need a reckoning after a rough election night that sent serious warning signs that they have misjudged the nation’s mood as their window closes before next year’s midterms.

“While the party feuds over its vast social spending agenda, Republicans are highlighting issues that preoccupy voters more immediately, like a sluggish economy, high gas prices, expensive groceries, crime rates and concerns about the rights of parents to influence what is taught in schools. Those concerns in many cases have been exacerbated by a prolonged pandemic, which President Joe Biden declared all but over in July but that spiked over the summer in a new blow to an exhausted nation’s morale.

“Virginia’s government race especially was seen as a one-year referendum on Biden’s presidency…

“In New Jersey… Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s squeaker reelection race…  reinforced a sense that the President’s party has lost the country’s confidence…

“Biden endured a wretched summer, including a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that shook confidence in his leadership and dented his approval ratings. It likely hasn’t helped that progressives… have been a dominant force in the party in Washington, playing into GOP claims that the President is hostage to far-left influences in his own party…

“McAuliffe, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and ex-President Barack Obama all appear to have miscalculated by reasoning that the best way to down Youngkin was to paint him as a Trump clone…”

Reasons why Youngkin Won

Newsmax wrote on November 3:

“Six factors have been key to Glenn Youngkin’s win over former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe; meanwhile, they also help explain why Republican Jack Ciattarelli has come within a hair’s breadth of besting once-popular New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

“Here are the six keys to the GOP’s successes:

“1. Voters reject COVID mask and vaccination lockdowns. Both Republican candidates made clear they opposed harsh lockdowns, mandatory vaccinations and mask requirements. Murphy ordered every child over 2 to mask up, which didn’t sit well with voters.

“2. Black voters didn’t turn out. Black voters were said to be crucial for McAuliffe’s victory, and they did not turn out as they did in 2020. Why? One reason may be mandatory vaccinations. Blacks have been hesitant to take the vaccine…

“3. Biden’s approval numbers have collapsed. The debacle in Afghanistan, a southern border in crisis, soaring inflation and questions about Joe Biden’s age and mental capacity, have created a brew of disenchantment among voters who are giving the president a thumb’s-down rating in approval polls.

“4. Critical race theory backfired. Cultural issues like CRT and gender politics played a major role in the Virginia race. McAuliffe’s claim that parents shouldn’t play a role in what their children are taught, coupled with the recent alleged assault of one female student by a male in a skirt — are issues that rubbed suburban voters who don’t accept ‘woke’ culture the wrong way.

“5. It’s the economy, stupid! Massive supply shortages and soaring inflation may be having a more significant impact on voters’ minds than had been supposed. People are seeing gasoline prices jump, and the party in power is paying the price.

“6. Trump helped Republicans. McAuliffe and Murphy attempted to paint their Republican challengers as puppets of Donald Trump. Trump did not prove a liability at all, though, and he may have even helped. Voters are clearly feeling buyer’s remorse with Biden, as Trump’s own rising poll numbers suggest.”

Another reason why Youngkin won had to do with issues specifically of interest for Virginians, such as substantial reduction of taxes propagated by Youngkin.

Pope Francis: Abortion-Supporter Biden a Good Catholic

Life Site News reported on October 29:

“After their much-anticipated meeting in the Vatican, President Joe Biden said to reporters Pope Francis had told him to ‘keep receiving Communion,’ despite the politician’s continued, public support for abortion and LGBT ideology. Biden [also] asserted that the pontiff ‘was happy I’m a good Catholic,’… As for whether the issue of abortion came up during the meeting, Biden said ‘it didn’t.’…

“News of the Pope’s alleged comments have caused instant consternation amongst Catholics…

“Brother Martin of the Oblates of St. Augustine… wrote briefly, ‘When the Divine Moral Law is treated beneath the authority of any bishop, he has placed himself above God.’

“Matt Gaspers, managing editor of  Catholic Family News, stated: ‘… I wholeheartedly… absolutely condemn the diabolical notion that Biden is “a good Catholic” and “should continue receiving Communion”’… U.K. commentator and author Deacon Nick Donnelly was equally critical of the news, stating that the Pope ‘tells pro-abortion Biden to keep receiving Holy Communion. Thereby, damning Biden and himself.’…

“Rhode Island’s Bishop Thomas Tobin was also swift to react, commenting that ‘I fear that the Church has lost its prophetic voice. Where are the John the Baptists who will confront the Herods of our day?’ Tobin had previously written to the Pope on Twitter, asking him to ‘challenge’ Biden for his support for abortion, which ‘is an embarrassment for the Church and a scandal to the world.’”

The question is: If it is true and not a lie that the topic of abortion did not come up and that Francis told Biden to continue receiving communion (something which some prominent Catholics question on both counts while the Vatican remains suspiciously silent), then who of the two would be the greater hypocrite?

Biden a Pathological Liar?

Breitbart wrote on October 30:

“Catholic League President Bill Donohue said Friday he maintains a ‘healthy skepticism’ about President Joe Biden’s unconfirmed claim that Pope Francis called him a ‘good Catholic’ and encouraged him to ‘keep receiving Communion.’… Donohue writes that ‘Biden is a pathological liar,’ which makes his account of the meeting dubious at best.

“The president’s promiscuous relationship with the truth goes back over 50 years, Donohue observes, and involves repeated episodes of plagiarism, reversal of facts, misremembering, and arrant tale-telling, all of which have been confirmed by left-wing outlets like Slate and the Washington Post, which are firmly in Biden’s corner…

“The Washington Post documented a series of lies Biden told about his academic credentials… More recently, the Post also published a list of 78 false or misleading statements Biden had made in his first 100 days in office….”

To be fair, Pope Francis also made some controversial statements in the past which the Vatican subsequently retracted or “clarified.”

Biden—the Weak Beggar-in-Chief?

The New York Post wrote on October 30:

“Another week, another series of fumbling, mumbling and disasters. How low can Joe Biden go? Once again, the common theme was weakness. At home and abroad, he is shrinking the presidency before our eyes. The diminished commander in chief visited his party members in Congress Thursday and was reduced to pleading for them to save his bacon… It was an extraordinary moment for a president, the ostensible leader of his party, but in reality this one is a beggar-in-chief. His focus was on the fate of two massive pieces of legislation, worth $3 trillion combined, even though the larger of the two hadn’t been written and major issues, including whose taxes would be raised, were still hotly disputed.

“Nonetheless, with his job approval tanking and needing anything he could call a victory… the president was desperate for signs of progress. Even a mere promise that both bills would eventually be passed would have been something he could boast about. Instead… Sanders, the Vermont socialist, flatly rejected the president’s request to pass the separate infrastructure deal first and urged his fellow travelers in the House to say no, which they promptly did.

“So the man who is supposed to be the leader of the free world cannot even lead his own party, meaning Biden headed for Europe bearing nothing except embarrassment.

“On Friday in Rome, he was again the pleader-in-chief, this time seeking forgiveness from French President Emmanuel Macron after a rupture in relations over a nuclear submarine deal in which Australia backed out of a deal with France and switched to one with the US and Great Britain. [Biden] called events around the Australian deal ‘clumsy’ and confessed he was not up to speed when the deal was announced.

“… Even live coverage of Biden’s meeting with the pope was canceled by Vatican TV with a few minutes airing later. Why not show the whole thing?… Friday brought a disaster of another sort in the form of a report on the administration’s plan to pay up to $1 billion to illegal migrant families separated at the border by the Trump administration…”

Biden’s presidency has been nothing but disaster and failure.

Pope Francis a Warrior for Peace?

npr wrote on October 29:

“Biden gave Francis a challenge coin with the seal of the United States on one side and the insignia of the president’s late son Beau Biden’s Delaware National Guard unit on the other. The president told the pontiff that such coins are given to ‘warriors and leaders.’

“‘You are the most significant warrior for peace that I have ever met, and with your permission, I’d like to be able to give you a coin,’ Biden said.”

Even though Biden ostensibly referred to the Pope as a warrior for the fight for peace (where there is no peace) and against climate change, calling the pope a “warrior” brings back many dark memories of the Catholic Church’s misconduct in times past.

Poland Preparing for War

The Associated Press wrote on October 26:

“Poland’s ruling party leader presented plans Tuesday for a bill to ‘defend the fatherland,’ legislation he said is aimed at ‘radically’ strengthening the military as the country faces migration pressure from its eastern neighbor Belarus. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who holds the position of deputy prime minister but is undisputedly the most powerful politician in Poland, said… ‘If we want to avoid the worst, that is war, we have to act according to the old rule: “If you want peace, prepare for war.”’

But preparing for war will NEVER lead to peace.

Build-up of Russian Troops at Ukraine Border

The Washington Post wrote on October 30:

“A renewed buildup of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border has raised concern among some officials in the United States and Europe who are tracking what they consider irregular movements of equipment and personnel on Russia’s western flank… The renewed movements of Russian forces in the area come as the Kremlin embraces a harder line on Ukraine. Russian officials from President Vladimir Putin on down have escalated their rhetoric in recent months, attacking Kyiv’s Western ties and even questioning its sovereignty. Putin has warned that any expansion of NATO military infrastructure on Ukrainian territory represents a ‘red line’ for Moscow.

“The situation also comes as the simmering 7½-year conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Donbas region enters a new stage. On Oct. 26, Ukraine’s military confirmed it had used a Turkish-made drone against a position in Donbas, the first time Kyiv has employed the technology in combat, prompting an outcry from Moscow.

“Relations between Moscow and NATO are especially tense. Russia suspended its mission to NATO in Brussels on Oct. 18 after the alliance expelled eight members of the Russian mission on accusations of espionage. What the Russian forces gathering near the Ukrainian border are doing is unclear… Officials in the United States and Europe began noticing the movements particularly in recent weeks, after Russia concluded a massive joint military exercise with Belarus known as Zapad 2021 on its western flank in mid-September.

“… satellite imagery shows that forces from Russia’s 41st Combined Arms Army, normally based in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, didn’t return to Siberia after the exercises, and instead linked up with other Russian forces near the Ukrainian border… imagery appears to show that Russia’s 1st Guards Tank Army, an elite unit based outside Moscow, is moving personnel and materiel toward Ukraine… the number of Russian troops deployed around the Ukrainian border [is estimated] at 80,000 to 90,000, not including the tens of thousands stationed in Crimea…

“Putin said formal NATO membership for Ukraine may never happen, ‘but military expansion on the territory is already underway, and this really poses a threat to the Russian Federation.’ Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and now the deputy head of Russia’s security council, called Ukraine a ‘vassal state’ that is ‘under direct foreign control’…”

Ultimately, Ukraine will be collaborating with Russia against Europe.

Russia’s Major Attack on Europe

Express wrote on November 3:

“VLADIMIR PUTIN has stopped gas deliveries and drastically cut back on other supplies in what has been described as ‘a major attack on Europe.’

“Since Saturday, ’state-owned Russian gas supplier Gazprom has not been delivering gas to Germany through its Yamal pipeline via Poland. And since Sunday, Putin’s gas giant has only been transporting half as much gas through Ukraine to Austria and southern Germany.  The situation is becoming more and more critical for German and other European consumers, with a lack of supplies pushing up prices…

“The resulting consequences of the action could see the pressure on the network drop, causing the entire pipe system in Ukraine to become unusable. Ukrainian presidential advisor Andrij Yermak warned of a collapse of the Ukrainian gas network to Europe, as the pressure on the pipelines is now simply too low. ‘Ukraine’s transit capacity is only 19 percent full. If the reduction in flows continues, the EU will lose the reliable Ukrainian route forever,’ said Mr Yermak.”

In the future, frightening rumors from Russia and other Far Eastern countries will prompt a united Europe to attack those regions militarily.

EU—the authoritarian Empire

Express wrote on October 27:

“Calling the EU an ‘authoritarian empire’, the Deputy Research Director and Head of Transport at the Institute for Economic Affairs Richard Wellings retweeted an article claiming the EU was ‘treating Poland like a Colony’. He said: ‘The EU is becoming an authoritarian empire, threatening and blackmailing member states that defy the elite’s agenda.

“‘The coercion will get far worse once the EU Army is in place’, he added.”

That is undoubtedly true.

Europeans’ “Need” to Act Together

The Diplomat wrote on October 28:

“Wars… seldom appear as thunderbolts from a clear sky; they are usually preceded by expressed intentions to use force if necessary, combined with the steady build-up of military capabilities. There is no question that China is becoming increasingly assertive on the global stage and increasingly aggressive in its own region…

“Europe must define what collective defense would look like without the United States, especially now that the U.S. is no longer able to carry out a ‘Two-War Strategy,’ the simultaneous waging and winning of wars against two great powers on different continents.

“… the choice between either supporting the United States or staying away from confrontation will affect Europe’s security and prosperity for decades. A decision on this must therefore be taken long before a crisis erupts… and should be coordinated by European states. As a first step, this subject must be included on the European Council agenda in the near future. A decision of this magnitude is too important to be left to politicians in the middle of the night.”

European states WILL coordinate their defense, and it will not be in support of the USA.

Europe’s Fight Against the Jews

JTA wrote on October 27:

“The highest court in Greece has ruled against allowing ritual slaughter, fulfilling fears that some Jewish leaders voiced last year after the European Union’s top court ruled in support of such bans. Last December, the EU’s highest court upheld the bans imposed in regions of Belgium against slaughtering animals for meat without stunning them first. The ruling meant that slaughter in accordance with Jewish law, which requires animals be conscious when their necks are cut, would be prohibited in those regions, as it is in some other parts of Europe…

“In 2011, the Netherlands briefly joined several EU countries where ritual slaughter is illegal, including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Slovenia. The Dutch Senate reversed the ban in 2012, citing freedom of worship. Poland also outlawed the practice in 2013 but has since scaled back the ban to include only meat for export.

“The bans on kosher slaughter, or shechitah, are part of a struggle across Europe between animal welfare activists and Muslim and Jewish community representatives… A similar fight is unfolding around nonmedical circumcision of boys, or brit milah in Jewish tradition.”

Anti-Semitism raises its ugly head, at first, in little steps, but it will grow and is only a matter of time…

Boris Johnson’s Sick and Bizarre “Joke”

Express wrote on October 26:

“In a bizarre exchange with children on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson… attacked the plastics industry, called for more eating of synthetic meat, and even suggested feeding humans to animals...

“In response to the comments, Brexit leader Nigel Farage questioned if the Prime Minister had started drinking again, saying that the PM seems to have ‘lost his marbles’… While Mr Johnson was apparently making the comments in jest, the green movement has long called for population control as a means of reducing carbon emissions and thereby supposedly saving the world from climate change.”

The fight against so-called (unproven) man-made climate change or global warming produces more and more bizarre ideas.

USA and EU the “Closest” of Friends?

Express wrote on October 30:

“Joe Biden announced in a speech at the end of the G20 Summit in Rome the US and the European Union had agreed to a carbon-based arrangement on aluminium and steel. President Biden also confirmed tariffs introduced on such traded goods under his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018 would be removed. Mr Biden remarked the deal with the ‘closest of friends’ marked an important step in the US relationship with the bloc… Under the new agreement, to run for two years, the Trump-era tariffs will remain but only for imports of the metals exceeding set quotas…

“European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who oversees trade for the 27-nation bloc, described the deal as a pause rather than an end to the dispute. ‘It’s a major step in the right direction… but it’s really not the final destination, which should be a complete withdrawal of the tariffs,’ he told a media briefing.

“The deal should also bring to an end EU retaliatory tariffs on products ranging from U.S. bourbon to Harley Davidson motorbikes. The EU had planned to double many of the tariffs in December.”

Joe Biden’s naivety is astounding, if he is honest in his remarks and if he is not just using common political rhetoric without any substance. In any event, Britain was quick in pointing out that according to Biden, the EU, and not the UK, is America’s “closest” friend.

Germans Skeptical of Vaccines

Deutsche Welle wrote on October 29:

“In most German cities, you have to be vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 recently in order to enjoy indoor activities like eating at a restaurant or going to the cinema… A poll carried out by the research firm Forsa on behalf of the German Health Ministry found that 65% of the unvaccinated have no plans to get their COVID-19 jab in the next two months; A further 23% would ‘probably not’ do so; Just 2% said they planned to get a vaccine but hadn’t been able to yet. 89% accused the media of ‘one-sided’ reporting about the pandemic…

“Some of the reasons included the feeling that they were being coerced into doing so or a perceived lack of clarity over whether vaccines are safe for people who are pregnant or trying to conceive. The biggest concern amongst the unvaccinated, at 34%, was what they called the lack of ‘long-term’ studies into possible side effects…

“66.5% of Germans are fully vaccinated…”

The concerns of many Germans should not be dismissed outright. However, Angela Merkel just said that her past decision to lock down the people was correct, and she warned about an indifferent attitude or a “certain recklessness” of many Germans towards corona. Health Minister Jens Spahn is promoting booster shots, for which he was heavily criticized by the Union of Doctors (“Ärzteschaft”) as being completely unnecessary and constituting “blind actionism” (“blinder Aktionismus”). The political propaganda in Germany is ongoing.

Huge Profits for Big Pharma

Reuters reported on November 2:

“Pfizer Inc on Tuesday said it expected 2021 sales of the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with German partner BioNTech SE to reach $36 billion and forecast another $29 billion from the shot in 2022… Analysts have said that Pfizer and other COVID-19 vaccine makers stand to reap billions of dollars from annual vaccine boosters over the next few years.”

And now, with the FDA’s approval and the CDA’s subsequent endorsement of Pfizer’s Covid vaccinations for 28 million children as young as 5 years old, the profits of Big Pharma will undoubtedly rise astronomically.

Gender Neutral Nonsense

npr wrote on October 30:

“In Germany, the debate about gender-neutral and inclusive language is complicated by grammar. Just as in many other languages, gender in German isn’t denoted by personal pronouns alone. German nouns that refer to people have traditionally been masculine or feminine. So, a male citizen is a Bürger and a female citizen is a Bürgerin. But in the plural, the masculine is traditionally used by default — a point that’s been contentious at least as far back as the second wave of feminism in the 1960s.

“In 2018, a new federal law stipulated that all forms of ID — from birth certificates to passports — must include three options: male, female and diverse, all of which can even be left blank.

“Since then, gender-neutral language has become more commonplace. German airline Lufthansa recently ditched the phrase ‘ladies and gentlemen,’ German scholars are preparing a gender-neutral edition of the Bible and in some cities — like Hanover — there’s an official directive about using gender-neutral words…

“In 2019, Hanover became the first state capital to mandate the use of gender-neutral language in all official communication, from emails to brochures and posters. It deployed what’s known as the ‘gender star,’ an asterisk placed within a noun to indicate it refers to men, women and nonbinary people alike. For instance, the word for all citizens became Bürger*innen.”

Of course, this utter nonsense is not limited to Germany.

npr reported on October 27:

“The U.S. State Department has issued the first official passport with the gender marker ‘X,’ a change the Biden administration promised this year in order to make the documents more inclusive for people who identify as nonbinary, intersex or gender-nonconforming… Also, in June the department announced that it would immediately start allowing applicants to select ‘M’ or ‘F’ as their gender without providing any medical certification if their choice doesn’t match their gender on other documents…

“The change brings the U.S. in line with several other nations that already issue passports with gender markers other than just ‘F’ or ‘M,’ including Canada, Australia, India, Malta, Nepal and New Zealand.”

It is interesting that many of these nations are either descendants of the ancient House of Israel or that they were once colonies and part of the British Commonwealth. No wonder God is very angry with all of them.

Teaching of White Privilege “Racist” and “Extremist”

The Daily Mail wrote on October 31:

“MPs have been warned that the teaching of ‘white privilege’ is ‘rife’ in schools following a dossier that revealed pupils are being given ‘politically based’ lessons on police, racism and colonialism. Teachers are facing accusations of introducing pupils to ‘politically based’ learning materials in lessons about racism, colonialism and the police.

“Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi[‘s] intervention came in response to a report by the Commons education committee, which said that teaching white privilege could be against the Equality Act. The report added that telling children they are different because of their race is unlawful.

“Tory MP Jonathon Gullis said earlier this month that the phrase ‘white privilege’ was ‘racist and extremist.’”

The idea is, white people should apologize for being white. What lunacy!

The New Global Order

Life Site wrote on October 29:

“The label on the political party in power may say ‘Democrat’ or ‘Republican’ but what’s happening all around you? If you see friends and relatives in what’s supposed to be a free society being fired from their jobs – critical jobs like nurses, doctors, firefighters, cops, soldiers and truck drivers – because they won’t concede to having an unknown experimental substance injected into their bodies, then you should not hesitate to take this at face value….

“We are living in a critical juncture in history. A relatively small cadre of very wealthy, very powerful elites are pushing us hard to accept a new system of corporate communism, actually more like fascism, in which an insanely bloated government has teamed up with big business to force the people to accept an agenda that many feel uncomfortable with. These elites, with their buddies in the corporate media, use fear-based propaganda to stir up hatred for the non-compliant, while pressuring everyone – man, woman and child – to submit to the ‘new normal.’… the message coming from Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Religion and Big Government is simple and direct – conform or get left behind.

“Pope Francis and powerful evangelical leaders such as Franklin Graham are also on board with this new global order, rebranded by the World Economic Forum as the Great Reset. So are the most important political leaders of both parties. In fact, any leader of people who pushes the idea of mandated universal injections is on board…

“Dr. Anthony Fauci’s division of the NIH funded a barbaric experiment at the University of Pittsburgh that involved grafting the scalps of 5-month aborted babies onto ‘humanized’ mice and rats. He funded another study at a North African lab in Tunisia in which 44 Beagle puppies were infected with disease-causing parasites, after which some had their vocal chords removed so scientists could work on them without having to endure their incessant barking as they died slow, painful deaths.

“This is the same Dr. Fauci who parents are being asked to trust for advice regarding the vaccination of their children. He appears daily in the big corporate media outlets making it his top priority to deceive parents into offering up their children to the COVID-vaccine experiment. He says he wants every child injected by the end of the year with his gene-altering ‘vaccine,’ despite the data showing children under 18 have a 99.998 percent statistical chance of surviving COVID. He’s making the rounds on all the major media spreading lies about the dangers of COVID to children and how safe and effective the experimental mRNA serum will be for kids ages 5 to 11…

“Dr. Richard Besser, a pediatrician and former acting director of the CDC, told CNN on October 22 that U.S. pediatricians will ‘push much harder’ for the COVID vaccines in children than in most other countries…  the pressure for parents to comply will be intense…”

The comparison with the rise of fascism in the USA and elsewhere is remarkable. The term “Nazi” is actually an abbreviation for “national socialism.”

US Government Funds Terrible Experiments

In the Ron Paul Institute, the Ron Paul Weekly Column stated on November 1:

“If people who torture animals are psychopaths, then what are government officials who use taxpayer dollars to fund animal torture? Many are asking this question in the wake of revelations that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci… funded medical ‘research’ involving the torture of puppies. This led… People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to call for his resignation.

“The puppy torture story was followed by disclosures that the federal government funded the testing of experimental AIDS vaccines on orphans. Many of the orphans used as human guinea pigs subsequently died, and nurses who assisted in these experiments reported that many children got sick immediately after receiving the vaccines.

“Testing dangerous drugs on orphans and torturing puppies in the name of ‘science’ is certainly shocking, but is it really surprising that [the] government would fund these types of activities?…”

Sadly, no. Satan is the god of this world and as the prince of darkness, he is ruling and deceiving mankind.

The Attacks on Religious Liberty

The New York Post wrote on October 30:

“Up until roughly April 2021, between 60 and 80 percent of US states had either numeric or percentage cap restrictions on houses of worship. In some cases, the restrictions were so severe that church meetings, regardless of size, were not permitted… 39 percent of households were not able to attend worship regularly as of August 2020 (that’s about 128 million Americans)…

“These restrictions may seem unique to the pandemic, but they’re not. They come at a time when, by various measures, religious liberty is being attacked… The United States experienced a 35.1 percent decline in religious freedom overall between 2006 and 2018…

“That trend is not unique to just the United States. In fact, the decline in religious freedom is concentrated among countries that historically have ranked high in economic freedom…

“These indefinite restrictions on freedom contradict the ideals on which America was founded — and we now have the data to prove they deteriorate social capital and mental health, too.”

But it will only get worse, not better. And when religious freedom is restored in some way, it will be the false religion.

Like in Nazi Germany

JTA wrote on October 30:

“A prominent rabbi in the Netherlands compared her country’s COVID-19 safety measures to the policies of Nazi Germany… Tamarah Benima, an outspoken 71-year-old Reform rabbi from Amsterdam, made the comparison on Thursday in a speech in the northern Dutch city of Leeuwarden. ‘Scientists worldwide apparently allowed themselves over the past 1 and a half years to be led toward totalitarian thinking,’ she said of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in December 2019. ‘What doesn’t fit their perspective must be silenced… as a Jew, what happened in Nazi Germany is a warning to me… don’t play with fire by setting aside people in our society as “a danger to public health,” as Health Minister Hugo De Jonge regularly does.’…

“At least three Dutch Jewish groups have condemned Benima’s statements. The Central Jewish Board of the Netherlands, the country’s largest Jewish umbrella group, said her comparison is ‘contrary to our values and shows a complete lack of realism.’ The Netherlands Association for Progressive Judaism ‘strongly rejects the irresponsible and offensive comparisons,’ that group said in a statement.

“Comparisons between COVID-19 public health measures and Nazism have proliferated in recent months throughout Europe and beyond. The wearing of yellow stars at protests against COVID-19 measures in Europe specifically have drawn sharp condemnations by Jewish groups.”

These Jewish groups are as blind as the rest, being (willfully?) ignorant as to what is happening in the world…

The Stupidity of Witch-Hunts

The Daily Mail wrote on October 30:

“Showbiz people are always keen on saving the planet – but private jets don’t count because everybody knows that only dirty commercial flights cause pollution. Rather like food not really having calories if you eat it standing up… Now the transgender crusade has struck a chord in Hollywood… America has Hollywood; the UK has the BBC… Hollywood and the BBC both fetishise diversity of colour while quashing diversity of views.

“For the BBC, the transgender debate was a glorious dawn… asking its staff to declare preferred pronouns in email signatures, be they ‘she/her’, ‘he/him’ or ‘they/them’… It turned on itself in a racism-routing fit of zealotry, removing episodes of… excellent comedy shows…

“In the past decade or so many words have changed their meaning. ‘Brave’, for instance, once meant rescuing orphans from burning buildings, but now means talking about one’s troubles in public. How is it brave to have a miscarriage? It’s sad and awful – but brave? If miscarrying is brave, what are firefighters?

“The word ‘diversity’ once meant a pleasingly wide range of viewpoints, but now means a selection of variously hued people all parroting the same liberal establishment platitudes…

“Did the long and splendid story that began with the invention of the printing press around 1436 really have to end up here? With publishing employees – who would seemingly be happier burning books than editing them – crying because they didn’t like the words?… And, amid the stupidity of these witch-hunts, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

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.

The Resurrection of the dead is one of the basic and fundamental doctrines (Hebrews 6:1-2). The Bible teaches that there is more than just one resurrection. For instance, Revelation 20:5 speaks of the “first” resurrection, necessitating at least a second resurrection. In fact, there will be three resurrections, and our free booklets, “The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation,” and, “Biblical Prophecy—From Now Until Forever,” explain this fact in much more detail.

The first resurrection will occur when Christ returns, and those who have died in Christ will be resurrected to eternal life. The second resurrection or the Great White Throne Judgment is a resurrection to physical life and includes those who have died without ever having been granted the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. They will be given that opportunity then, and, at the end of their judgment period, they will be given eternal life if they have qualified. The third resurrection is to physical life as well, but it is composed of those who have committed the unpardonable sin before they died. They will be thrown into the lake of fire to be burned up and extinguished.

Who, exactly, will resurrect those who have died? Who will bring them back to life?

The short answer is that God will do it. There is no biblical evidence that angels, let alone Satan and his demons, would have the power to resurrect the dead.

But since God is a Family, consisting of the Father and the Son, who within the God Family will bring about the resurrection?

We know from the Bible that it was the Father who raised Christ from the dead.

Galatians 1:1 says:

“Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead)…”

Note that it was the Father, not the Son or the “person” of the Holy Spirit, who resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead. Nor did the dead Jesus resurrect Himself. The teaching that God is a Trinity, consisting of three persons, is false. The teaching that the Son of God, as being part of the unalterable Trinity, stayed alive in heaven when Jesus died, is equally false and constitutes parts of the teaching of the spirit of antichrist. The idea that the Son of God resurrected Jesus is blasphemous, because Jesus WAS and IS the Son of God. When Jesus died, the Son of God died. And it was the Father who resurrected the Son of God—Jesus Christ—from the dead.

As God the Father raised up Christ, so He will raise us up as well.

1 Corinthians 6:14 states very clearly: “And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power”—the power of His Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:11 adds: “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 [which] dwells in you.”

2 Corinthians 1:2,9 says: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ… Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.” Paul speaks in this passage of God the Father who raises the dead.

2 Corinthians 4:14 adds to this: “… knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.”

Some commentaries have considerable difficulty with this last passage, since it says that “He”—the Father—will raise us up “with” Jesus. Due to the fact that most teach the Trinity, they have a problem with saying that the above-quoted Scripture states that the Father and the Son will raise up the dead, since the Holy Spirit is not mentioned. They therefore conclude that this passage does not even talk about the coming resurrection of the dead, but that it describes here a figurate resurrection to a new life and the community which we have with Christ today.

In this context, one might think of Ephesians 2:4-6 which states: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”

Another passage, which might come to mind, would be Colossians 2:8-12:

“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

However, an obvious difference should be noticed between passages such as Ephesians 2:4-6 and Colossians 2:8-11 (quoted above), and the above-quoted passage in 2 Corinthians 4:14, as Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 4:14 about the future (He “will also raise us up”), whereas Ephesians 2:4-6 and Colossians 2:8-12 address the past and the presence. While those passages convey indeed a figurative concept, 2 Corinthians 4:14 does not.

Some say that 2 Corinthians 4:14 should be translated in this way: “… Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus…” (Authorized Version). The German Schlachterbibel and the Lutherbibel of 1891 and of 1964, and the Neue Lutherbibel 2009, all say that God the Father will raise us up “through Jesus.”

Before addressing this alternate translation, let us explore as to whether there is any biblical evidence that Jesus will resurrect us.

John 6:39-40, 44, 54 quotes Jesus as follows:

“This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day… No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day… Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

According to this passage, it is the Father’s Will that Christ should raise up or resurrect man… beginning with the first resurrection. Christ clearly said repeatedly in the above-quoted passage that HE will raise up those who died.

John 11:23-25 adds to this, when addressing the death of Lazarus and his sister Martha’s reaction: “Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.’”

Jesus is addressing here those who will be resurrected to eternal life. But Jesus’ words must not be misunderstood by concluding that it is He, alone, who will resurrect us. This would contradict the passages, quoted above, which show us that the Father is involved in the resurrection of man. Rather, the Truth is that the Father and Christ will act in complete harmony. Their Will to resurrect man, and whom at what time, is totally identical. In that sense, the Father and the Son are “one” (John 10:30; 17:11,20). They are of a completely identical mindset (compare John 5:19).

John 5:21 tells us: “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.”

To understand all of these quoted Scriptures correctly, we conclude that Christ will be the Person within the God Family who will actually raise man from the dead, but He will be doing it in complete harmony and agreement with the Father. In fact, it will still be the Father, as the highest in the God Family (John 10:29), who will resurrect us through Jesus Christ, as it was the Father who created everything through Jesus Christ (Revelation 4:11; Acts 4:24; 14:15; 17:24-31; Hebrews 1:1-2; 2:10; John 1:3, 10; Colossians 1:15-16; Ephesians 3:9).

John 5:25, 28-29 says:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live… Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation [better: judgment].”

Gill’s Exposition of the Bible explains this passage in this way:

“It will be the voice of the Son of God that will quicken and raise the dead.”

The Father is greater than Christ (John 14:28). Whatever Christ does is in submission to God the Father. (Compare also in this context 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, which says that at the end, Jesus will deliver the kingdom to God the Father). Christ would never act in any way contrary to the Father’s Will. And so, when He resurrects someone to eternal life, it is in accordance with the Father’s Will as well. It is still the Father who directs and does it, but He does it through or by Jesus Christ. As the Father created man through Jesus, He will also resurrect man through Jesus.

Returning to 2 Corinthians 4:14 and the question as to whether the Father will resurrect us “with” or “by” or “through” Jesus, let us note some concepts as brought forth by several commentaries:

The Jamieson Fausset and Brown commentary says:

“… shall raise up us also—at the resurrection (1Co 6:13, 14) by Jesus—The oldest manuscripts have ‘with Jesus.’”

The Pulpit Commentary agrees, stating:

“By Jesus–The reading supported by nearly all the best manuscripts is ‘with Jesus.’”

Even translating it in this way (“with Jesus”) would not negate Christ’s role or the Father’s role in the resurrection. Rather, the thought would be expressed that God the Father, together with Jesus, will resurrect us.

Barnes Notes on the Bible explains this passage as follows:

“By Jesus – By the power or the agency of Jesus. Christ will raise up the dead from their graves, John 5:25-29.”

We would agree with these conclusions, as it is indeed the Father who will resurrect man through Jesus Christ, as it was the Father who made man through Jesus Christ.

This then may pose an interesting question: God the Father resurrected Christ and gave Him eternal life and the glory which He used to have before He became a man; and the Father will raise the dead through Jesus. Could this indicate, then, that we, who will be resurrected by the Father through Jesus and receive eternal life in the God Family, will also have a part in resurrecting others in the second resurrection, especially our loved ones who died without having been given the opportunity for salvation? We will of course always be subject to the Will of God the Father and of Jesus Christ, as Christ is also always subject to the Will of the Father. To state it differently, the Will of Christ is and always will be IDENTICAL with the Will of the Father. Likewise, our Will—the Will of immortal God beings in God’s Family—will always be totally identical with the Will of the Father and of the Son. And as the Holy Spirit, like living waters, flows out of the Father and the Son, so the Holy Spirit—God’s power—will also flow out of us as well (John 4:13-14; 7:37-39).

The Bible does not say what part we will have in the second resurrection, if any; but it is most certainly an intriguing thought to contemplate that we might be right there to greet our relatives and friends when they come out of their graves in the second resurrection. We will have to wait however until God reveals to us what He has in store for us.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

compiled by Dave Harris

“Political Earthquakes in Virginia and New Jersey,” is the title of a new StandingWatch program, presented by Evangelist Norbert Link. Here is a summary: 

The debacle for President Biden and the Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey cannot be underestimated. But what are the reasons? To a large extent, President Biden’s failing leadership in many respects and what he supports are blamed for the defeat in those states,  but he does not accept any responsibility, while blaming others and doubling down on unpopular issues. What does God have to say in His Word about the leadership in our English-speaking countries? 

Our new German booklet on Predestination was posted on our website and is being printed in Germany.

The final text for the German booklet on Born Again has been translated and sent to graphic artist Shelly Bruno in preparation for printing.

“Wer wird die Toten auferwecken?” is the title of this Sabbath’s new German sermon, presented by Norbert Link. Title in English: “Who Will Resurrect the Dead?”

“Wünsche, Erkenntnis und Einsicht,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath in Germany by Robert Kintzi, is now posted. Title in English: “Desires, Knowledge and Insight.”

“Providence,” the sermonette presented last Sabbath by Eric Rank, is now posted. Here is a summary:

Whenever we may have doubts about the difficulties that we face in life, we can find absolute reassurance that everything in our life is purposed by none other than God Himself. What is the wonderful end of His purpose for us and how does His plan work in our lives?

“As We Forgive,” the sermon presented last Sabbath by Dave Harris, is now posted. Here is a summary:

There will arise times in our lives when we have the opportunity, the responsibility and the power to forgive others. HOW to forgive is set forth in the Word of God.