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Princess Esmerelda's Admiration for Herbert W. Armstrong

Gareth Fraser — 2013-06-20T05:00:00+01:00

On Aug. 13, 1984, Belgian Princess Esmeralda visited Ambassador College in Pasadena, California, for a special luncheon with a longtime royal family friend, the college’s founder and chancellor.

Princess Esmeralda, the youngest daughter of the late King Leopold iii and Princess Lilian, grew up in the castle of Argenteuil near the famed Waterloo. Herbert W. Armstrong had been a guest at the castle for meetings with the king. While studying journalism, the princess lived in Paris, where she gained notoriety working for Le Figaro newspaper.

Reporting on the princess’s visit, the August 27 edition of the Worldwide News recalled, “She is president of the King Leopold iii Foundation for the Conservation of Nature and does journalism work.”

The foundation website relates its history and purpose by recalling that “on June 8, 1972, the founding act of the ‘Leopold iii Fund for Nature Research and Conservation association’ [was] signed.

“Article 4 of the statute states: The association aims to study and conserve nature .… The association is a patron of expeditions, studies and publications that relate to its purpose.

“The Leopold iii Fund is a strictly non-political association that relies entirely on patronage. All drivers are selflessly serving the ideals of the founder. After the death of King Leopold, hrh Princess Esmeralda of Belgium, in accordance with the will of the founder, was entrusted with the presidency. The president is very committed to attend all meetings. She also watches over all decisions, [ensuring they] are made in the spirit of what her father would have wanted” (translation ours).

Readers may be surprised to know that the princess maintained the honor and admiration her parents had for the unofficial ambassador for world peace, by listing him as the first founding member of the royal foundation, identifying him as, “Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, manager of companies, chairman of the Ambassador College, residing 300 West Green Street, Pasadena, California 91105, United States of America.”

In 1998, Salvador Moncada of Honduras married the Belgian royal, who later gave birth to two children. Moncada works as a professor, while the princess, in addition to royal duties, continues her journalism work under the name Esmeralda de Rethy, writing various books flavored by the history of fashion and her father’s work.

On June 20 this year, the foundation marks its 41st anniversary, as it continues its international activities that have spanned from Asia and Africa to South America.

Since his initial meeting with King Leopold iii in 1968, Mr. Armstrong ensured that Ambassador College supported cultural and humanitarian endeavors of the monarch. These were later formalized under the auspices of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation in cooperation with the king’s foundation. This collaboration was primarily centered in the fields of anthropology and exploration. This partnership was one of the first such humanitarian alliances contributing to the historic declaration of the message of Jesus Christ’s gospel as a witness to the world (Matthew 24:14).

Commenting on Princess Esmeralda’s 1984 visit to Ambassador College, the Worldwide News related, “After lunch Mr. Armstrong gave her a tour of [Ambassador Auditorium]. The princess first visited the campus in 1970, when she was 13″ (op. cit.).

Today, Princess Esmeralda would be pleased that the legacy of this commitment and contribution continues through the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation. “We are an international humanitarian organization dedicated to serving the cultural and educational needs of people everywhere,” writes chairman Gerald Flurry.

As the founder, Mr. Flurry describes the goals and activities of the foundation, which first recognize that “man is a unique being, possessing vast mental, physical and spiritual potentials—the development of which should be aided and encouraged.” Secondly, “that it is the responsibility of all men to attend to and care for the needs of their fellow men.”

These objectives are aptly summed up by the Apostle James, whose canonized words exhort, “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well” (James 2:8).

For more information about the foundation, its activities and how you can lend your support, visit us here.

Iran Counters the U.S. and Underestimates Europe

Callum Wood — 2013-06-20T05:00:00+01:00

A recent meeting between the Iranian government and prominent leaders of the Taliban highlights the fight for control in the Hindu Kush, and how all eyes are distracted from the most dangerous player in the region. While nations such as Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan fight to influence the Taliban in order to shore up their borders and counter U.S. influence, they underestimate the European presence. Bible prophecy tells us that this oversight will have a terrible cost attached, not only for the nations of the Middle East, but for the whole world.

The meeting in Iran, held from May 31 to June 2, highlights how Iran is attempting to build its relationship with a group that it has long been at odds with. The misgivings between Iran and the Taliban have been slowly healing since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, when Iran started supporting and training the Taliban to fight U.S. troops. Iran and Afghanistan almost went to war in 1998 when the Taliban executed 11 Iranian diplomats. Coming together to hold diplomatic discussion is something that wouldn’t have been considered in the days just before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Now Iran is showing that it is open to discussion with old rivals.

To Iran, the Taliban is a tool by which it can exert influence over the region and counter the United States. By focusing so intently on the U.S., however, it is neglecting the more dangerous influence of Germany. German influence in the region is expanding, while the U.S. is becoming less of a threat. Germany understands what will happen as U.S. influence wanes. As German-Foreign-Policy.com explained (Aug. 1, 2012):

Experts are warning that a power vacuum could emerge in 2014 in Afghanistan, and that new proxy conflicts between foreign powers could occur. According to a recently published analysis by the government-financed German Institute of Global and Area Studies (giga), “apprehensions” have emerged that following a withdrawal of the majority of the Western occupation troops in about two years, the Taliban will take over control in Kabul and the country will again be plunged into chaos.

German policies and plans in the Middle East will not allow Germany’s influence in the region to be undermined. If Germany lost its power in the region, it would lose its encirclement of the oil “golden triangle.” To ensure it has quick access to the oil-rich Middle East, Germany maintains a presence in the region: Its navy is deployed in the Mediterranean, thus securing Suez, and patrols the coast of Lebanon, securing the Levant; the German military is in Sudan; its navy is off the Somali and Yemeni coastlines securing the Persian Gulf; and its military is active in Afghanistan. Germany imported 366 thousand barrels of oil per day from the Middle East in 2011. The European Union imports around 40 percent of its oil from the Middle East today.

German positioning in the Middle East helps it maintain access to Middle Eastern oil, thus offsetting its dependence on Russia, while at the same time placing German troops in positions capable of decisive military action if needed. Afghanistan is ideally situated as a base from which Germany could move against Iran. With 4,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan now, and talks on how a military presence might remain post-2014, Germany is showing that it is unwilling to give up its position.

The only reason we can look at the Middle East and understand the real forces at play is because of Bible prophecy. Daniel 11:40 speaks of the king of the north (the German-led EU, as explained in our booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire) coming against the king of the south (Iranian-led radical Islam, as explained in the booklet The King of the South) like a whirlwind.

Right now, Iran is countering the U.S. and trying to exert influence over its neighbors such as Afghanistan through forces like the Taliban and other terrorist organizations across the Middle East. Iran is well versed in gaining influence through the terrorists it sponsors. But, because it is so focused on its own ambitions, it fails to see that it is already caught in the German whirlwind. Editor in chief of the Trumpet Gerald Flurry recently wrote an article titled “The Whirlwind Prophecy,” which explains just how Germany is encircling Iran. In it he writes:

Germany has surrounded Iran and radical Islam, just as God prophesied it would. Soon that whirlwind is going to start rotating and whirling against the king of the south like a well-armed—probably nuclear-armed—vortex!

Read “The Whirlwind Prophecy” and you will see the overwhelming evidence of German strategy in the Middle East and how oblivious Iran is to it. When Iran focuses its energy on countering the U.S. through building ties with the Taliban, remember that it is just a sign that it is being blinded to its own impending destruction.

Yes, there are dark times coming for the Middle East and the rest of the world as German militarism rises in the form of the Holy Roman Empire, but just as a whirlwind runs its course and then vanishes, so too will the times of destruction be brief. Ultimately, Christ will return, establishing His government, swiftly putting down the nations that have been at war for centuries. Then, His government will bring peace and joy to all: Germans, Iranians; everyone in the Middle East, Europe and the whole world.

How to Prevent Another Sandy Hook Massacre

Robert Morley — 2013-06-20T05:00:00+01:00

The unimaginable scene screams for answers: twenty children and six adults lying murdered in an elementary school.

The National Rifle Association demands one solution: Place an armed guard at every American school. Cost: $6.7 billion.

A strong liberal movement demands another solution: Outlaw assault weapons. Cost: A dramatic expansion in government power.

We’ve seen it all too often: A massacre takes place; politicians project indignation; they enact new laws—and little really changes. Last year 32,000 Americans died in front of the barrel of a gun. A little more than half were suicides. Tens of thousands more were shot, but lived.

Many Americans shout for more guns. Many Americans shout for fewer. And a lot of us are looking at this and realizing that the problem is so, so much deeper.

There is a real, practical solution to gun violence—to all violence—but we continue to ignore it while we bicker over this weapons-ban debate.

If America really wants to keep our children—all of them—safe from harm, we need a totally different debate. If we are honest with ourselves, we should realize that the cause of violence goes far deeper than whether people should be able to own guns, or what types of guns those should be.

The real debate shouldn’t be how many bullets we put into a clip—but what we put into our minds. Has anybody noticed our violent entertainment culture? How is there even a market for horror movies? Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3d debuted at number one at the box office in January! It displaced Django Unchained and The Hobbit—two other incredibly violent movies. Why do millions of us want to experience the horror of a person being savaged by a chainsaw in 3d Technicolor and thx sound? Can we have that conversation? Can we talk about the popularity of blood-and-gore-filled video games that millions of children and teenagers play? A youth, or an adult, cannot immerse his mind in this nightmarish filth without being affected. Where is the public outcry and political rage over our violent entertainment industry? Where is that debate?

And why are we ignoring the mental health/psychosis drug debate? So many killers are on prescription drugs. Sandy Hook butcher Adam Lanza was receiving treatment and taking medication for mental health problems. The Aurora, Colorado, killer was seeing a psychiatrist and took Vicodin before he went on his killing spree. Columbine mass-murderer Eric Harris was taking anti-depressant Luvox. The Virginia Tech murderer’s personal possessions included prescription medication for the treatment of psychological problems.

More than one in 10 Americans take anti-depressants. Almost 4 percent of adolescents take these medications. Abilify and Seroquel, two powerful antipsychotics, are the fifth and sixth best-selling prescription drugs in the United States. These are horribly high and condemning numbers. Numerous mental health experts believe that mood-altering drugs are likely a significant factor in school shootings and other gun violence, yet America’s leaders hardly raise an outcry. Why aren’t we discussing whether this drug-injection style of treatment is a failed system? Why aren’t we asking why so many people need mental treatment in the first place?

The biggest scandal of all this, though, is America’s culture of broken families. According to a 1991 study, more than seven in ten prisoners come from broken families. Many others grew up in dysfunctional homes. Today, 40 percent of all American infants are born to single parents. America’s violent cities contain far higher single parenthood rates. In Detroit, 70 percent of all births are to single parents. More Americans were killed in Detroit last year than in Afghanistan.

Do we truly want to do everything we can to give all children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose? Then instead of putting an armed guard in every school, let’s work toward ensuring there’s a strong father in every home. Instead of accepting occasional massacres as the price we pay for the luxury of easy divorces and other “freedoms,” let’s demand selfless fathers and mothers as the price for lasting families and safe schools. Instead of focusing on the aftermaths, let’s confront the causes.

The real issue we need to address isn’t gun control, it is character control. The truth is that we need to fix our depraved culture—and there is only one way to do that. America needs to turn to God in deep repentance, and that repentance requires actual change!

But don’t expect any politician to tell you that. Instead, America will keep doing what it is doing, and keep getting what it is getting: more political task forces on gun violence, another political gunfight, and sadly, more school shootings.

If we really want to keep our children safe from harm, America needs to take a long look in the mirror. It needs to end its collective fetish of constantly making new laws and regulations, and instead actually start keeping the higher laws that mankind was given from the beginning. If we are really honest with ourselves, if we really care about stopping the next Sandy Hook, we have to admit that this is the only way guaranteed to prevent more school shootings. And it is the only way to bring real, lasting, hope-filled change to America.

A Bigger Pastime Than Sports

Gerald Flurry — 2013-06-19T18:18:29+01:00

Did you know that 12 to 15 percent of all websites are pornographic? Every second, over 28,000 Internet users are looking at pornography. It is becoming so prevalent you almost can’t avoid it.

Thirty years ago, the porn industry in the United States brought in $75 million in revenue. That in itself is shameful. But it has since grown 17,000 percent! Today, it brings in $13.3 billion! $13.3 BILLION! As much as we love our sports, we don’t love them as much as we love pornography! Major League Baseball only makes $7 billion, a little more than half of that. The National Football League generates $9 billion in income. The National Basketball Association generates $5 billion. Pornography is almost triple the nba, and without any of the prime-time advertising, big-time merchandising or the massive arenas.

1 Corinthians 6:18 says we are to flee fornication. But we do just the opposite! This is the most massive sin you can imagine if you understand the Bible.

This isn’t just affecting adults. It is savaging our young people. The average age that children first see porn is 11. Seventy to 80 percent of 15-to-17-year-olds accidently see porn on the Internet. One survey I read about recently said over half of young people deceive their parents about pornography. They are able to get it so easily. Then it preys on their curiosity and pulls them in to a terrible quagmire.

Sex addiction is a lot like heroin addiction. I recently spoke to a minister who was counseling a drug and sex addict. This man was able to kick his addiction to seven drugs—but he couldn’t kick the sex addiction!

That is how addictive this is to adults—just imagine what it is doing to teenagers and to children!

This sin is destroying families, which are the backbone of every nation. We sin against our children and against our people by allowing it to happen.

What is this doing to our nation? It is not difficult to see. Pornography destroys families, which are the strength of any nation, and so it destroys nations.

America spews this filth out into the world. The United States is part of the descendants of Israel. Who are some of the other descendants? Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Jewish nation—all leaders in sins like pornography! Our nations are the only ones that have a history with God. They are supposed to set an example of God’s way of life. Instead, they’re doing the opposite.

Nobody eclipses the U.S. in producing pornography. God says in one prophecy that we are even worse than the nations around us.

Those who want to stop this from going on are helpless. What can they do? They’re not going to solve it by doing nothing, nor are they going to solve it without God empowering them.

Our people, who say they are Christian, hardly even talk about pornography anymore because they lost that war years ago, and they know it. It has taken over! It’s in our entertainment—even our mainstream television, movies, music videos, magazines and just about everything else.

And we let it go on—we must have “freedom of speech.” What an appalling deceit that is! It has nothing to do with freedom! It’s all about slavery! Sex addiction is slavery! You can see in the worst cases what it’s doing to us! Yet we still refuse to obey God.

This is a gigantic sin we are committing, yet we have the gall to say we’re a Christian nation, and to talk about how religious and good we are.

God calls America a “hypocritical nation” (Isaiah 10:6). He is full of wrath because of it.

There is a spiritual dimension to this situation. God is going to punish us for our sins. We have rejected His way of love and obedience to His law, the way of honor and morality and chastity and obedience. As a result, He is allowing a spirit of evil to grow in power and influence in our world.

Read my article on page 26 of this magazine. It explains this invisible evil force at work in our world today. This evil spirit is very active, and he is glutting us with these horrible influences, entrapping us in sins that wreck our families and fill them with hatred and lies and cheating—the opposite of the character of God.

Do you realize what is really inspiring all this family-destroying smut? The Bible tells us: It is Satan the devil. We have turned to the devil’s way, and we are about to see where that leads us. The Bible prophesies that Satan’s violent anger will culminate in the horrific Great Tribulation.

Do you look at this issue the way God does? He wants to free this world from its enslavement to such depravity. He wants to free you! When you see the suffering caused by breaking His law, like the suffering caused by pornography, it helps you to realize what a blessing His law is, which teaches us to stay away from that kind of lust (Matthew 5:27-28). If you want more instruction about that, request a free copy of our reprint article “Porn Free.”

Soon Jesus Christ will return in power and put a stop to these sins forever. He will rule, and He will show us how to have the happiness and joy we should be enjoying today—by keeping His law of love. You can do that individually today, if you are willing.

China Outpaces U.S. in Race for Fastest Supercomputer

Jeremiah Jacques — 2013-06-19T18:17:32+01:00

The United States’ chief political and military rival surpassed it in the field of supercomputer technology, building the world’s fastest machine, according to the semiannual top500 Supercomputers official listing released on Monday.

The Tianhe-2 was built by China’s National University of Defense Technology, and completed two years ahead of its expected deployment date. The supercomputer is capable of sustained computing at a rate of 33.86 petaflops per second—or about 33,860 trillion calculations per second. That’s twice as fast as the American supercomputer that previously held the record.

Supercomputers are instrumental in developing nuclear weapons, aerospace engines, vital chemicals and more. For decades, the U.S. had the largest and fastest arsenal of such computers, but now, as in many other realms, Beijing is challenging Washington. The Tianhe-2 isn’t expected to hold the record for long since the U.S., Japan and China are constantly developing faster machines, and taking turns occupying the number one slot. But the news underlines China’s rise as a powerhouse of science and technology.

The first time China ascended to the number one slot in November 2010, some analysts called it a “Sputnik moment.” But that time around, it wasn’t Moscow one-upping America in the space race, but China overpowering us in one of the most crucial sectors of national security. If America falls behind in supercomputing, it could lose its dominance in certain military fields, many branches of science, and in industries like pharmaceutical development and oil/natural gas production.

At present, China has 66 of the 500 most powerful supercomputers on the planet, up from zero just 12 years ago. That makes it second only to America. While the U.S. scrambles to pay for new supercomputer development, Beijing is awash with cash to pursue its ambitious technological goals. China has also become the largest nation on the Internet, climbing from 22.5 million Internet users in 2000 up to more than half a billion in 2012.

These trends illustrate how Beijing is leveraging speedy economic growth and sharp increases in research spending to join the global technology elite. Steady evidence of China’s burgeoning power will hasten the decision of weaker Asian nations to abandon the sinking U.S. ship and instead rally behind Beijing. To understand the implications of the rapidly shifting balance of global power, especially in the realm of science and technology, read “The End of the Space Shuttle and America’s Greatness.”

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Joel Hilliker — 2013-06-19T05:00:00+01:00

This past summer I visited a group of teenage boys at a summer camp and gave them some sobering news: If you follow the trend in society, you’re going to end up being sloths and underachievers. And women are going to leave you in their vapor trails.

It’s true, and it’s unmistakable: Female is the new male.

Girls dominate boys in education, from elementary through graduate school. Women are taking over the workforce. Hundreds of formerly male-dominated careers are becoming feminized. More and more wives outearn their husbands. Fathers are fading away inside their own families, and rising illegitimate births and single-parenthood are pushing them out of the child-rearing picture altogether.

Boys and men are passively watching it happen. Many of them, rather than working to stay ahead of or even keep up with women, are responding by waging something of a sit-down strike. They’re playing video games more than 2½ times as much as girls. They’re living with their parents at double the rate of their female peers. They’re dropping out of the labor pool in record numbers.

The result is effectively a reversal of a male-female dynamic that has existed for virtually all of human history.

Feminists may celebrate, but more and more people are recognizing that this trend has come with some steep costs we’re only starting to see. Even women are frustrated with today’s breed of spineless, ambitionless manboys. There is a genuine problem here.

The Ambition Gap

Women’s ambition is soaring. The facts are scrupulously spelled out in recent books like Hanna Rosin’s The End of Men: And the Rise of Women and Liza Mundy’s The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love, and Family. Women are pursuing higher education in far greater numbers than men. They’re remaining aloof from serious relationships so as not to derail their career aspirations (one college senior told Rosin that guys “are the new ball and chain”). Research shows young women expect higher earnings and better professional advancement than young men do.

And that is the flip side of this story. While women are surging with confidence and enjoying greater success, men are shrinking back. There is a growing ambition gap between the sexes. Women are increasingly driven to succeed in school, work and life; men seem ever more willing just to occupy a comfy spot on the couch.

“All my top academic students, my really top performers, have heavily been women,” Jeanine Mount, associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy, told Rosin. “I don’t know why. They are not inherently more intelligent than the men. Maybe they bring a different kind of focus to their work.”

Mount calls the men at her school a “lost generation.” They tend to be less driven, she says; they don’t have the same “hunger.”

Not long ago, men had an ample supply of that “hunger.” Today it is broadly, demonstrably absent. It’s as if the fire in their bellies has been quenched, on a massive scale. Or, perhaps more accurately, it has relocated—into the bosom of women.

Mount notes that virtually all the leaders within her university’s various student groups—school government, service organizations, campus fraternities—are women. Regarding college students, Rosin writes, “Guys high-five one another when they get a C, while girls beat themselves up over a B-minus. Guys play video games in their dorm rooms while girls crowd the library. Girls get their degrees with no drama, while guys seem always in danger of drifting away.”

Measurements of men’s shriveling ambitions are everywhere. Consider the five milestones that sociologists traditionally use to define the transition to adulthood: finishing school, leaving the parents’ nest, becoming financially independent, getting married and having a child. In 1960, about two thirds of men had passed all five milestones by age 30. By 2000, it had dropped to half that. In 1970, four in five 25-to-29-year-old men were married. Now the figure is two in five.

What are these guys doing? Nearly six in ten of them—among 18-to-24-year-old males—live with their parents. Even among 25-to-34-year-olds, it’s still almost two in ten.

Lest you think this is simply a sign of today’s troubled economy, consider: Those figures are almost double the rate among women the same age.

And forget masculine financial independence. Nearly 60 percent of parents are giving money to their grown kids—a lot of money. Adults between ages 18 and 34 who enjoy parental subsidies receive a hearty average of $38,340 a year. It’s localized Social Security, flipped upside down, with older workers supporting younger “retirees.”

And wouldn’t you know it, young men seem perfectly content with—or perhaps complacent about—their dependency. They’ve grown up in a world that praises them indiscriminately and teaches them never to judge. As a result, research shows, these “failures to launch” actually have ample self-esteem, and they’re confident success will come to them (though they’re not necessarily motivated to chase it down). They feel plenty good about themselves, living in Mom’s basement.

The ladies, on the other hand, aren’t impressed.

Marriage Dream Vs. Single Reality

For young people, the idea of marriage still holds considerable charm. A 2006 poll showed that more than 80 percent of high-school seniors expect to get married, and 90 percent of those assume they’ll remain wed to the same person for life. A survey of college students in England found 95 percent want to marry.

As to what that relationship would look like—well, that gets trickier.

The teen boys I spoke with last summer all said they’d like a spouse. Then I asked them an interesting question: Would you want to marry someone who was better educated or who earned more money than you? They all said no.

Some people may consider their thinking archaic, a byproduct of sexist socialization. Nevertheless, two truths remain: First, despite the fact that the male breadwinner model is actually seldom taught anymore—if anything, alternative ideas are far more aggressively promoted—remnants of it remain ingrained in the minds of both men and women. And second, wherever this thinking comes from, it is increasingly at odds with reality. As Rosin writes, “The men may cling to traditional ideals about themselves as providers, but they are further than ever from being able to embody those ideals” (emphasis added throughout).

You can see that something has to give. Every year in America, 170,000 more women than men get bachelor’s degrees. And while the average man still earns 10 percent more than the average woman, guess what? Among 20-somethings, women now have the edge in the wage gap. Men who hold the advantage in education and earning power are a dying breed.

The numbers of well-educated, financially self-sufficient women are mushrooming beyond the numbers of men who could be so described. In fact, men are trending in the opposite direction. Today, for example, we see the highest percentage ever recorded of men of prime working age who are not even working: about one in five. One fifth of men. Compare that to 1950, when it was one in 20.

“Recent years have seen an explosion of male joblessness and a steep decline in men’s life prospects that have disrupted the ‘romantic market’ in ways that narrow a marriage-minded woman’s options,” wrote Kate Bolick in the Atlantic. “[I]ncreasingly, her choice is between deadbeats (whose numbers are rising) and playboys (whose power is growing)” (November 2011).

Who will these women marry? The bar for what they want out of marriage is climbing, while the field is regressing.

Unsurprisingly, more and more of them, rather than “marry down,” are resigning themselves to the idea that their best option is just to skip it.

All the Single Ladies

Sure, they’d love to marry if the right man showed up. Yet, in their view—frustrating as it may be that Mr. Right isn’t around—marriage is, ultimately, unnecessary. I can take care of myself—I don’t need a man to support me, the thinking goes. He’d just be another person to take care of—another mouth to feed.

“[A]s women have climbed ever higher, men have been falling behind,” laments Bolick. “We’ve arrived at the top of the staircase, finally ready to start our lives, only to discover a cavernous room at the tail end of a party, most of the men gone already, some having never shown up—and those who remain are leering by the cheese table, or are, you know, the ones you don’t want to go out with.”

The question is on the lips of women everywhere: What’s wrong with all these guys?

Most people can agree there is a problem, but far fewer recognize its full scope. When you talk to the women and meet the men, when you read the stories and look at the data, you begin to realize: Bolick is not describing a minor irritant, nor a disappointment that a few women share. She is chronicling the collapse of a social order.

Social historian Stephanie Coontz says we’re experiencing nothing less than “a historical revolution every bit as wrenching, far-reaching and irreversible as the Industrial Revolution.” As she told the Atlantic, “When it comes to what people actually want and expect from marriage and relationships, and how they organize their sexual and romantic lives, all the old ways have broken down.”

It’s a crucial development. And what compounds the problem is that few people understand its true cause. As a result, most of these women are unwittingly participating in an unhealthy cycle that is doomed only to expand the ranks of underachieving men and embittered women.

A Relic

To get to the cause, we have to take a look at “all the old ways” that Coontz says have broken down. Regrettably, because of political correctness, this is treacherous ground.

What look like many different changes in “what people actually want and expect from marriage and relationships, and how they organize their sexual and romantic lives,” at their heart all trace back to one thing: the decline of the male breadwinner.

Historically, what largely drove men’s march through the milestones to adulthood was the expectation that they would fulfill the role of provider. A man who is serious about the responsibility of supporting a family approaches life with a special focus. He looks for a profession that will provide financial stability; he pursues his education with that end in mind. For generations, this commonly recognized duty propelled men into the workforce; it often served as a prod to men’s ambition and did much to shape society. Even today, it remains a strong motivation to any young man who accepts it.

However, for two generations now, esteem for this role has been fading—to the point where today it is ignored, if not treated with contempt. Rising standards of living have grown more difficult to sustain on a single paycheck. Two-income families are the norm, and few men expect to be a family’s sole breadwinner. The notion of devoting one’s life to a job out of a duty to others has grown passé. Today’s premium on individualism, self-fulfillment and self-expression often turns a job search into a long, meandering voyage with unpredictable compensation. Marriage and family are also fading from fashion; to say that pop culture promotes singlehood is an understatement. And though young people still say they want to marry, ubiquitous acceptance of premarital sex definitely removes their urgency to do so. This encourages men to brush breadwinning aside and removes the pressure on them to grow up.

These are just a few of the many factors that have turned the male breadwinner model into a relic. Two additional factors are worth special consideration.

‘Build a Bridge and Get Over It’

First is the influence of feminism. The movement for women’s equality is fundamentally opposed to an arrangement where a woman depends on a man’s provision. “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” goes the slogan, summarizing the drive to empower women to stand on their own two feet.

Under this banner, women have left their homes and stormed the barricades, filling schools, businesses, offices, clinics, battlefields and nearly everywhere else. And they have proven themselves spectacularly capable as productive workers, entrepreneurs and earners.

Now, however, a remarkable spinoff of this development has become obvious: Men watching it happen have gotten the clear message that they’re not needed.

It’s a proven, demonstrable aftereffect: In areas where they compete, women’s success tends to discourage men. You can attribute this to chauvinism, sexist indoctrination or whatever you would like, but it is real, and it is powerful. “What happens when women outperform men?” asked Sandy Hingston in Philadelphia Magazine. “Men withdraw from the field” (March 2012). Once they see that women are providing for themselves, they lose interest in taking over that job.

“Gender identity, sociologists say, is developed oppositionally,” Hingston wrote. “If boys see girls behaving in a certain way—working hard and excelling in school—they define masculinity in opposite terms: A real man doesn’t work hard at school or get good grades.”

This effect is apparent throughout the workforce. As women enter a profession, men lose interest in it. As Rosin details in her book, men are abandoning more and more jobs while women rush in to fill the void. Women’s options for employment keep expanding as men surrender them.

The upshot of all this, Rosin says, is “the emergence of an American matriarchy, where the younger men especially are unmoored, and closer than at any other time in history to being obsolete—at least by most traditional measures of social utility. And the women are left picking up the pieces.”

Unmoored. Obsolete. These are painfully accurate terms for far too many of today’s aimless, indifferent young men.

What to do? No one suggests that the solution is for women to underachieve so men don’t feel threatened. The standard response is that men simply need to change their thinking.

“Build a bridge and get over it. Don’t just sit and whine and carry on.” That’s the advice of one woman whom Rosin quotes in her book. Hers is a typical story: After her husband supported his family on a manufacturing job for decades, the plant closed. Now he’s struggling, she’s the family’s breadwinner, he’s nostalgic for the old days (“Probably no one has had their wife move up the ladder as far as I’ve moved down,” he says)—and she’s had enough of his brooding.

In cases like this, the man’s sense of duty as a provider is viewed as the source of the problem. He just needs to learn to be comfortable in his diminished role.

But this man is old-school. The young bucks never had that sense of duty, and a diminished role is cool with them.

Kay Hymowitz exposes this trend in her book Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys. She describes how it becomes a self-reinforcing cycle, with men responding to women’s progress by disengaging, which enables women to make even greater strides. When the two sides meet on the dating scene, strong women grow exasperated about childish men, “then in fear and disgust either give up on any idea of a husband and kids or just go to a sperm bank and get the dna without the troublesome man. But these rational choices on the part of women only serve to legitimize men’s attachment to the sand box. Why should they grow up? No one needs them anyway. There’s nothing they have to do. They might as well just have another beer.”

There’s nothing they have to do. This is the void that is currently left where that sense of duty to provide used to be.

Feminist social architects would call that progress.

Pig Heaven

Men’s self-destructive tendency to retreat under female pressure has synchronized with a second powerful factor eroding the male breadwinner model: the advent of modern time wasters tailor-made to suck the life out of the male mind.

Today’s media have become a black hole for male ambition and responsibility. As Hymowitz writes, “Relatively affluent, free of family responsibilities, and entertained by an array of media devoted to his every pleasure, the single young man can live in pig heaven—and often does.” This too is a self-perpetuating cycle: A man with little motivation to become a respectable breadwinner is more liable to devote his hours to senseless pursuits, which renders him even less capable of ever fulfilling that role.

Two of the most toxic examples are video games and pornography. Their most voracious consumers are young men, and they are ravaging society’s manhood on an epic scale.

Video game addiction is about four times more common among boys than girls. The average American boy spends 13 hours a week absorbed in video games, compared to five hours for the average girl. Half of college students admit that video games preempt their studies “some” or “a lot.” By the time the average American youth reaches drinking age, he will have devoted 10,000 hours to gaming—enough time to have earned two bachelor’s degrees.

The valuable time and energy being swallowed up by these games is problem enough, but the ghoulish content many of them contain makes their effect far worse. Millions of young people are immersing themselves in realistic games that encourage them to become killers, sadists, mutilators and monsters that use every conceivable weapon for murder, torture, dismemberment, decapitation, impaling, ethnic cleansing and rape.

Pornography has become mainstream, pervasive, socially accepted, and, thanks to the Internet, devilishly easy to get. It is also intensely addictive. The demand is monstrous: For every two Hollywood movies produced, 45 full-length commercial porn films are. The average high school boy watches porn two hours a week. Researchers conducting a study in July 2011 on porn and prostitution had so much difficulty finding non-users that they had to loosen their definition in order to muster up a hundred men for a control group.

These perverted images and warped concepts filling men’s minds have devastating effects on men’s relationships and mental health. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that regular pornography users have higher rates of depression and even physical health problems than non-users. “The reason is that porn may start a cycle of isolation,” the report explained. “Porn may become a substitute for healthy face-to-face interactions, social or sexual.” Psychologists say video games also tend to desensitize a user to reality and to real-life interactions with people.

In their book The Demise of Guys: Why Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It, psychologists Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Duncan contend that these media influences are actually rewiring men’s brains. “The excessive use of video games and online porn,” they write, “is creating a generation of risk-averse guys who are unable (and unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks inherent to real-life relationships, school and employment.”

Think on that. These influences are crushing society’s manhood. One specific proof: Academics have uncovered a correlation between porn use and an increase in a man’s willingness to move back in with his parents. Risk-averse men who cannot handle life’s complexities are deeply disadvantaged if not crippled in ever being able to support a family.

It’s impossible to measure precisely, but this media assault has contributed significantly to the development of today’s Incredible Shrinking Man.

A Curse

Feminists tend to applaud the breakdown of “all the old ways” of male-female relations. But look what has taken their place: academically and financially thriving women with no one to marry, and juvenile men huddling in caves of self-indulgence. Is this what feminists want?

Modern society has smashed the ideals it once held about what makes a man. In their stead, negative stereotypes and confusion remain. Sadly, men are increasingly living down to the stereotypes. Dr. Zimbardo found that nearly two thirds of men say they lack motivation because of mixed messages from media and society about a man’s role. We are raising generations of boys who have no idea how to become men. The results of breaking down “all the old ways” have been disastrous.

These failings vividly illustrate some vital truths, plainly evident to anyone willing to look at the situation honestly.

The loss of strong manliness is a plague on our society. The loss of breadwinning men in favor of perpetual adolescents has produced a swarm of other problems that result when men disengage from family and from society. Sure, women are succeeding financially and professionally—but families are fragmenting, and the nation is morally and spiritually disintegrating.

Believe it or not, this calamity was prophesied, in your Bible, thousands of years ago. The prophecy is in Isaiah 3:1-3, and it is primarily about the end time, in which we now live. It specifically focuses on “Jerusalem” and “Judah,” biblical language for the modern descendants of ancient Israel, including America and Britain. And it describes exactly what we see before our eyes: nations where strong male leadership has almost disappeared.

This prophecy also reveals the true, but hidden, cause: God has removed strong men as a curse on our nations—because of our sins.

Yes, God considers the loss of masculine men a terrible curse.

Why the Provider Role Is So Crucial

The Bible defines sin as the transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4). His law simply codifies His way of life, which is love (Matthew 22:36-40; Romans 13:10; Galatians 5:14; 1 John 5:3). It means outgoing concern, giving and sharing, kindness and courtesy, putting the needs of another above your own. God’s way of life is the way of give.

The prevailing spirit of today’s society—self-indulgence, lust, greed, materialism, excess, deceit, cheating and pride—is the way of get, the way of sin. It is also the way of our human nature, the way that comes naturally to us (e.g. Mark 7:21-23; Romans 8:7-8). God’s purpose is to help us overcome that natural tendency, to develop righteous character, and to live His way of love that produces happiness, joy and peace.

One of the most powerful tools God created in order to teach us that way is family. A man learns that noble, wonderful way by absorbing himself in his God-given role within the family (sidebar: “Why Men and Women?”).

The duty of provider is in many ways at the heart of a man’s role (e.g. 1 Timothy 5:8). It is fundamentally a giving, sacrificing responsibility. A man must apply his strength, his capabilities and his talents to produce something of value to more than just himself. He earns enough to support a wife and children, also stabilizing and strengthening society in the process.

Though this job requires a certain discipline and self-denial, the man who fulfills it as God intends receives tremendous satisfaction. He thrives where his strength and skill are put to productive use, where he is needed and respected, where others benefit from his accomplishment. He derives joy from being able to give to his family, to open opportunities for them, to supply their needs and many of their wants. He learns to value these things even above his own desires.

Even in a society that so routinely exalts selfishness, many people, deep down, know this to be true. They see nobility in a man who thinks this way.

Why Men Are Weak

A man who prioritizes his own selfish cravings above the needs of others grows smaller. He enters a negative cycle that pulls him away from responsibility, away from accomplishment and achievement—away from family. He grows more inward-focused, self-absorbed, myopic, lazy, self-indulgent. His perspective contracts; the size of his world shrinks. He puts his own interests above those of his family; his wife’s needs become secondary. His ability to lead suffers. In a word, he becomes less of a man.

The frustrations that so many people have over the weakness of men today all trace back to this powerful spiritual truth: Men are weak because of their sin. The self-indulgence, the sex perversion, the focus on self rather than on sacrifice—these are sins. If a man succumbs to sin, he becomes weak. God removes His blessings and allows the devil to do his work.

These sins are causing the collapse of manly leadership and male responsibility. They are creating weakness, insecurity and selfishness. They are leading to the disappearance of manhood!

The disappearance of the male breadwinner directly correlates with the disappearance of the manly man. A man who has willingly abdicated the role of provider—who is content to live off the largesse of others rather than marshaling his powers to produce for others—is not a man. He should do all he can to become self-sufficient and a net producer. Only as he does so can his thoughts begin to take on the dignity of godly manhood.

The transition from boyhood to manhood is largely a transition from taking to giving. From being dependent to being a provider. From being someone for whom others make sacrifices to being one who sacrifices for others. A boy who physically grows to look like a man, but has not made that change, is not truly a man.

The Path to True Manhood

Feminists say they want equality for women. But how many of them actually want weak men? No woman applauds a man for being addicted to video games and pornography. When revelations of a prominent man’s infidelity emerge, his stature drops; he becomes a lesser man in our eyes. In our hearts we know that this signifies frailty of character.

What is honorable and worthy of admiration is the man with self-mastery, who refrains from being entrapped by such sins. We yearn for the man with self-control, with temperance, with strong moral character.

A strong man is a blessing to his wife and children. He provides more than money—he provides security, attentive engagement, successful leadership, firm guidance, emotional stability and real love.

Society still appreciates such men, yet it teaches and pressures males to do the opposite. As I told the teen boys I visited this past summer: Follow society, and women are going to pass you by. To grow into real men, you must be strong enough to follow a different way.

Those boys all wanted to be the leaders in their future families, and they were also interested in marrying intelligent, capable women. I told them that there are plenty of those women out there, but they won’t want to marry uneducated, lumpish men. If a man wants a high-quality woman, there is only one way to attract her: He must become a high-quality man.

That means he must devote his full energies to swimming upstream against society. He must make it his unwavering aim to grow—against pressure—in those qualities that will arm him for the rigors of true manhood. He must eschew the pastimes that weaken men. He must avoid the addictions that eat away at men’s minds, blacken their consciences and destroy their confidence. He must stoke the flames of ambition in his life. He must aim high, and equip himself to become an able leader of a strong, capable woman.

We are living the curse of the shrinking man—its effects are everywhere. We must allow God to guide our individual lives along an entirely contrary course. We must not be swayed by the perverse reasoning of this politically correct world. We must dedicate ourselves to a higher purpose. We must allow God to shape us, to forge us into instruments strong enough to lead strong families, to give confidence to women, to give stability to children, to give solidity to society.

This is what God wants. This is how we were created. This is literally what we were born to do. Men: to grow up, achieve, mature and embrace the role that your masculine mind and body were designed for. Women: to grow up, achieve, mature and embrace the role that your feminine mind and body were designed for. This is that elusive solution—hiding in plain sight if your Bible is open—to our manless society. It’s not about getting back to the traditions of yesteryear. It’s about embracing how we were created. Discover that, live that, and you will be embarking on a life journey that no feminist, manboy, sociologist or author can even dream of: a life full of growth, challenge, fulfillment, confidence and happiness built on knowing what it really means to be a woman, and what it really means to be a man.

Pension Crisis About to Get Worse

Tyrel Schlote — 2013-06-19T05:00:00+01:00

American pension plans, already severely underfunded, are about to hit unsustainable levels as more baby boomers reach retirement age. For years now, many states have had problems with pension accounts being underfunded. But a new credit evaluation standard proposed by Moody’s Investors Service could make the problem worse.

This newly proposed credit evaluation standard would change how the government’s pension liability is determined. Pension liability is calculated by taking the estimated future value of the government’s pension investments and subtracting what it needs to pay out to cover all its employees as they retire. The problem is that governments make wildly optimistic assumptions about what their investments will be worth in the future. For example, many states assume a consistent 7.5 to 8 percent annual return, but Moody’s says a 5.5 percent return is more likely. However, even Moody’s standard may be too high.

Ed Ring, research director of the California Public Policy Center, says that a 4.5 percent average return is a more realistic assumption. Mike Shedlock, of Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis, says that in today’s world of manipulated interest rates and money printing, a zero to 2 percent average return is a distinct possibility.

This has huge implications for pension plans across the country. A lower return means less money in the fund when it comes time to pay retirees. This should make future government retirees nervous. It should also make government planners nervous, because state pension liabilities may be set to grow astronomically. This could affect the ability of states to access bond markets and borrow money.

If Moody’s starts issuing new state credit ratings based on its new evaluation standard, it could spotlight a funding crisis that is hiding behind the scenes. California’s unfunded pension liability would “officially” double to $328.6 billion, according to Reuters. States like Illinois, which according to a September 2012 report from Republicans on the Senate Joint Economic Committee has only a 30 percent-funded pension fund, face running out of money completely. The report noted that, “By standard accounting methods, some state pension funds will run out of assets within as little as five years.” When combined, state and local pensions are more than $4 trillion underfunded—this is money needed today and earning interest—to pay for retirement promises.

The federal government is in an even worse position. Over the next three years, 30 percent of federal workers are eligible for retirement. As more baby boomers retire, more strain is put on a system that cannot pay out what has been promised. In 2011, the federal government’s unfunded pension liability was $761.5 billion. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. A recent gop deficit projections report showed that in 30 years government debt could reach a mind-boggling $125 trillion. Most of that is social security, medicare and medicaid promises made to future retirees—for which the government has not put aside money to pay.

America’s “spend today, worry tomorrow” economic practices are beginning to come full circle. As more and more people hit retirement age, the government is realizing that its lack of planning and preparing for future retirees is leading to more and more debt. As more pensioners start collecting, more money will need to be borrowed to make up for the increase in retirees.

In January, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry warned that America’s huge debt would “present a very bitter harvest to every single American.” But you can protect yourself. God promises to provide for those who “seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:28-33). To understand the seriousness of what is happening with the economy and how to protect yourself from what’s coming, watch “‘We Don’t Have a Spending Problem’.”

Iran's New President: Is Hasan Rowhani the Moderate the West Hopes For?

Anthony Chibarirwe — 2013-06-19T05:00:00+01:00

No longer is the Iranian presidency headed by a bombastic, loose-lipped anti-Semite who is openly committed to the demise of the West. According to much of the Western media, President-elect Hasan Rowhani, unlike his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a “moderate” and a “reformist” who will alter the defiant course of the Islamic Republic.

But looks can be deceiving.

Rowhani won the Iranian presidential election with a fraction above 50 percent of the vote. Representing the “moderates,” he soared on the support and endorsements of “moderate” former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rowhani’s hardliner opponents split the vote among themselves and performed dismally, leaving the Shiite cleric victorious. This has been seen as a victory for the “moderates” in Iran.

But how much can you read into an election engineered by the ayatollah, who decided who would run and how many “moderates” and “hardliners” would run?

Despite being labeled as a moderate, Hasan Rowhani was one of the eight candidates handpicked by Ayatollah Khamenei. True, some of Iran’s mullahs would have preferred a hardliner like Saeed Jalili, but Rowhani may prove to be a far better president for the clerics in Iran, to whom he’s well connected. According to the popular Cranmer blog, Iran’s new president is a devout believer in the apocalyptic Twelfth Imam, as was Ahmadinejad. Rowhani’s main advantage is the “reformist” cloak that he dons, both for the Iranian public and the international community.

Texas-based think tank Stratfor noted: “Following four years of fractious infighting between Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rowhani’s election helps safeguard against public unrest and presents the West with a presumably more conciliatory Iranian president” (June 15).

Under Ahmadinejad’s tumultuous second term, power struggles saw the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rise in influence to counter him, but they did so to the detriment of the clerics’ clout, observes Stratfor. With Rowhani, there won’t be Ahmadinejad-like defiance, and the balance of power will shift more heavily toward the clerics—specifically, Ayatollah Khamenei.

On the international front, Hasan Rowhani is being widely viewed as a pragmatist whom the international community can engage in meaningful dialogue. His “reformist” image may be significant in helping ease the economic sanctions Iran faces. He was, after all, Iran’s chief negotiator with the West for its nuclear program from 2003 to 2005. In 2003, he successfully reached a deal with the European Union for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment, and at that time he called the deal a “victory of moderation and a victory of commitment over extremism.” Unfortunately, enrichment never stopped. And Rowhani was well aware of the fact.

After leaving his nuclear negotiator post, Rowhani gave a speech in 2006 in which he openly admitted to duping the international community. He said, “While we were talking with the Europeans in Tehran, we were installing equipment in parts of the facility in Isfahan, but we still had a long way to go to complete the project. In fact, by creating a calm environment, we were able to complete the work on Isfahan.”

Hasan Rowhani thus combines the same duplicitous nature of Iran’s mullahs with the tact and moderate face of a reformist, in contrast to the brazen demeanor of Ahmadinejad. This makes him the perfect president for the clerics—and potentially a deadly adversary of the West.

The Langley Intelligence Group Network surmised on June 17:

Rowhani’s win may be an attempt by the Iranian regime to find a replacement for Ahmadinejad with a softer, more moderate image .… Khamenei probably plans to use Rowhani’s softer image to mount an international campaign to improve Iran’s image in the West and promote international trade. Signs that such a campaign could succeed are already apparent with the strong positive Western media coverage of Rowhani’s election and its depiction of him as a moderate. With Rowhani serving as Iran’s chief diplomat, he may be welcomed more openly in many capitals around the world, making it more difficult for the United States and its allies to maintain the increasingly tight noose of economic sanctions that have been imposed on Iran in recent years. Rowhani’s more acceptable image may also complicate efforts to pursue coercive measures, including the use of force, should sanctions fail to prevent Iran’s nuclear advances.

The truth about Iran’s new president informs us that the world still has a dangerous Iran to contend with. Indeed, Iran may even be more deadly because of the “moderate” label its president now has. Whatever the nature of his leadership, it will be subservient to that of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who alone controls nuclear and foreign policy.

Bible prophecy reveals that Iran will continue its dangerously belligerent path. But Daniel 11:40 shows that one day, Iran will be stopped from without, by a European “king of the north.” For more on this subject, read our free booklet The King of the South. You may also be interested in a sidebar in our August 2005 Trumpet issue titled “Khatami Was No Slouch.”

U.S. and Germany Grow Closer

theTrumpet.com — 2013-06-18T22:28:56+01:00

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to arrive in the German capital of Berlin later on Tuesday, after attending the G-8 summit in Northern Ireland.

In 2008, then U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke to an estimated 200,000 people gathered in front of the Victory Column not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city. He urged Americans, Berliners and people of the world to work together for a better world.

[SOUNDBITE: Barack Obama, U.S. democratic presidential candidate at the time]

“This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom and you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work and struggle and sacrifice for that better life.”

Mr. Obama told the crowd that a new generation—“our generation”—must make its mark on history.

Former U.S. ambassador to Germany John Kornblum notes that U.S.-German relations are stronger now than they were 50 years ago.

[SOUNDBITE: John Kornblum, former U.S. ambassador to Germany]

“It’s no longer based on some Cold War threat. It’s based on a deep economic, personal, cultural, familial integration. Sixty million Americans say that they have German heritage. It’s the largest group in the United States. And so, the admiration for Germany—for its products, but also for the way that it built its society—is very high in America. So I think that the relations are much more mature than they were 50 years ago.”

Ezekiel 23 prophesies that Germany and America will indeed share close relations for a while. But these close relations will lead to a double cross. After gaining America’s trust and support, Germany will betray the U.S.

Watch for America to draw closer to Germany, as it foolishly looks to the greatest war-mongering nation in history for friendship, peace and safety.

Today, America trusts Germany more than it trusts God! That is the worst foreign-policy mistake we could ever make.

To understand more about this prophecy, read Gerald Flurry’s article “A Special Warning: Germany’s Long History of Deadly Deceit.”

Do You Know the Truth About the Trinity?

theTrumpet.com — 2013-06-18T17:00:00+01:00

Simply turn to and read in your Bible each verse given in answer to the questions. You will be amazed at the new understanding gained from this short study!Who is God? Who is it that hundreds of millions of Christians worship? For the great majority, at their heart of their answer lies a mystery: the idea that God is one deity divided into distinct-yet-merged hypostases: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Notice the candid admission of one world-famous evangelist who teaches this doctrine: “When I first began to study the Bible years ago, the doctrine of the trinity was one of the most complex problems I had to encounter. I have never fully resolved it, for it contains an aspect of mystery .… To explain and illustrate the trinity is one of the most difficult assignments .…”

When even religionists admit they don’t comprehend who they worship, is there any hope you can understand God’s identity? Yes! It starts not with researching trinitarian orthodoxy, but with examining some illuminating verses right in your own Bible.

Let’s start with Revelation 12:9, which is not about the nature of God, but rather the nature of our world. This shocking verse reveals that the whole world has been deceived! And 2 Corinthians 4:4 corroborates this. Satan is not only very real, he is also incredibly successful: He has deceived not only atheists and non-Christians, but almost all Christians as well!

Satan did not accomplish this feat by denying Christ outright. He did it by creating a great false church—one that still bears Christ’s name today.

Counterfeit Christianity

The origin of that counterfeit Christianity is recorded in Acts 8. Two years after Jesus founded the Church of God, the deacon Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ’s gospel. Samaria was dominated by the influence of Simon, a sorcerer who had bewitched the inhabitants (Acts 8:9-11). Along with the crowd, Simon himself came to hear what Philip had to say.

1. When Simon’s followers believed Philip, who was preaching Christ and the Kingdom of God, what did they do? Acts 8:12. Did Simon join them? Verse 13.

2. When the apostles Peter and John came to Samaria to lay hands on the newly baptized so they could receive the Holy Spirit, what did Simon try to do? Verses 18-19. How did Peter respond? Verses 20-23.

Though he had been baptized, Simon was not converted to true Christianity—he attempted to buy what he thought was the power to impart God’s Spirit. Peter knew this man’s attitude was totally wrong; he only wanted more power to further exalt himself!

3. How did Simon react? Verse 24.

This request was insincere—far from repentance from such an evil mindset. The account ends there. But Simon’s work did not.

The sorcerer went on to proclaim himself an apostle. He proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. He accepted the doctrine of “grace” for forgiveness of sin, something the pagan religions never had. He even called his religion “Christianity.” But he mixed these “Christian” ideas with his own pagan Babylonian mystery religion! Using the power of Christ’s name, he taught un-Christian doctrines. He turned the doctrine of grace into a license to sin (Jude 4) and aspired to turn his counterfeit religion into a universal faith that would gain political rule over the world!

Simon—the “Pater,” or father, of this counterfeit religion—did not accomplish his goal in his lifetime. But succeeding leaders, with the church’s headquarters moved to Rome, did later gain political control over the Roman Empire and its medieval successor, the “Holy Roman Empire.” (This empire is again being resurrected in Europe now!)

Even in that first century, Simon’s religion grew rapidly. The Apostle Paul indicated that by the 60s a.d., much of the Middle East had turned from the true gospel to a clever counterfeit! (Galatians 1:6-7).

This “Christian” counterfeit is actually the source of the trinity doctrine!

The Trinity

In a.d. 325, the Roman emperor Constantine called the Nicene Council to settle several religious controversies, which included arguments about belief in a trinity. Constantine was not a “Christian” then, but as political ruler, he assumed control of the church. The religious council approved the trinity doctrine, and Constantine made it law throughout the empire. But he was not able to make it the truth!

The word “trinity” is not used in the Bible. That is because God is not a trinity! A key to understanding God’s true nature is understanding the Holy Spirit.

1. Does 1 John 5:7-8 prove that God is composed of three divine persons?

Notice this! Verses 7 and 8 should actually read: “For there are three that bear record, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” The 1611 King James Version includes additional words, but these are omitted from most modern Bible translations—for good reason: They are spurious—fraudulent! They did not appear in any respectable Greek manuscript. They appear in a fourth-century Latin text, probably as a marginal note by a copyist who believed in the trinity doctrine. These extra words entered the text of the Latin Vulgate by the eighth century after Christ. Editors of Bible commentaries both liberal and conservative, both old and new, agree that the origin of the King James text in 1 John 5:7-8 is fraudulent.

2. What is the Spirit of God? Jeremiah 32:17; Genesis 1:1-3; Psalm 104:30.

The Bible says the Spirit of God is the power by which God creates. John 1:1 reveals that in the beginning, there was God and the Word (who became Christ). The Word created the universe using the Spirit of God. Spirit energy was literally transformed into the material creation (Hebrews 11:3). It was by this same power that God renewed the surface of the Earth.

3. How did the Word use His Spirit of power to create? Psalm 148:1-5. Notice the word commanded in verse 5. Also read Psalm 33:8-9 and Genesis 1:2-3.

The Word “spake, and it was done.” He willed that spirit energy emanating from Himself to transform into physical energy and matter. That is how the creation of the universe was accomplished.

4. Is God’s Spirit omnipresent? Psalm 139:7-8; Jeremiah 23:24. What does God use to sustain His vast creation? Hebrews 1:2-3; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 66:7.

God’s Spirit is everywhere, like the atmosphere on Earth. It is the power God uses to rule everything. It is what the Word used to do the work of creating. God uses this power much as man uses electrical energy. That is how Christ is “upholding all things by the word of his power.” Under the Father, He uses His authority as God and the power of the God Family to keep everything in the universe in its place.

Though the Father is supreme in the God Family (John 14:28), Jesus is the administrator of the Holy Spirit (John 15:26). The Spirit is not a personality, but rather the very power of God—the power by which God does His will. It is not another person!

5. How does the Bible reference the Holy Spirit? John 1:32; Romans 8:16, 26; 1 Peter 1:11; John 14:16-17, 26; 16:7-8, 13.

Normally, the Holy Spirit is referred to as “it” in the King James. In the 14th, 15th and 16th chapters of John, it is personified as one who brings help; therefore, the word comforter is used, along with the English pronouns he and him. Grammatically, all Greek pronouns must agree in gender with the nouns to which they refer. The Greek parakletos (comforter) is masculine in gender, so translators used the personal pronouns he and him for the Greek masculine pronouns. In many languages, a word’s gender has nothing to do with whether the thing itself is literally male or female. For example, the Spanish word mesa (table) is feminine. Gender in language is a mere grammatical tool.

In Greek, as in English, the word spirit is neuter—neither masculine nor feminine in gender. Pneuma is the Greek word meaning “spirit.” It is always grammatically neuter, properly represented by the English pronoun “it” (John 1:32; Romans 8:16).

The Family of God

Few realize why the truth about the trinity doctrine is so important. By making the Holy Spirit into a person, it implies that God is forever limited to three individuals. It denies the very purpose for which God created mankind!

There is a definite reason why Satan, the arch-deceiver, wanted this false doctrine introduced into false Christianity. The trinity doctrine is his attempt to do away with the heart of the gospel Jesus Christ preached. It limits God to only three—with no possibility of expansion! But the truth—the gospel that Jesus Christ brought from God the Father—is that God is not a trinity, but a Family! That is truth Satan wants to hide from mankind!

1. Does Genesis 1:1 speak of one God?

The English word “God” is translated from the Hebrew word Elohim. This is a collective noun (like family, church, group—one noun consisting of two or more members).

God is not a trinity. God is a Family composed of, so far, the two Personages mentioned in John 1:1. However, the God Family will not always be composed of only two divine beings. God is in the process of expanding His divine Family! Many thousands have already been begotten by God’s Spirit and will soon be born into His Family at the return of Jesus Christ—either by a resurrection from the dead or an instantaneous change. In the future, billions will eventually be born into the Family of God!

Jesus Christ, by His resurrection, was born a divine Son of God (Romans 1:4). But He is only the firstborn of many brethren who will also be born into the God Family (Romans 8:29). God the Father is the divine Father of the God Family, and when we who are now the Spirit-begotten sons of God are born into His divine Family at Christ’s return, we shall be like God (1 John 3:2), for we shall then be the Spirit-born sons of God! God is not a trinity. God is so much more—a Family!

Was Jesus a Prophet?

Gerald Flurry — 2013-06-18T05:00:00+01:00

How can we answer such a question? There is only one way.

Jesus Christ said we are to live by “every word of God” (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). He was actually quoting the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 8:3), so His statement obviously includes the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. Christ also said, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17).

Was Christ a prophet? There’s been a recent religious controversy about that, because the leader of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics says no. But we need to prove from God’s Word, the Bible, the answer to that question. People can prove it for themselves very easily.

Jesus’s Testimony

Look at Revelation 12:17: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” This verse says that repentant Christians “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” What is that? Considering that it is what Christ spoke—His testimony—we need to know what it is!

God says that no scripture is of any private interpretation (2 Peter 1:20). We should always let the Bible interpret the Bible. That is the only way we will understand it. In this case, there is another scripture that defines exactly what “the testimony of Jesus” is!

That definition is found in Revelation 19:10: “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” In other words, what Jesus Christ spoke is in the spirit of prophecy!

That is a strong statement! If you know anything about the Bible, you know Jesus Christ came preaching the gospel, or “good news,” of the Kingdom of God (e.g. Mark 1:14-15). He said that Kingdom was “at hand,” but not here yet.

What is the gospel? It’s the good news of the coming Kingdom, or Family, of God! Christ’s message about it was a prophecy direct from His mouth! It is a wonderful prophecy of the beautiful World Tomorrow that is about to come to this Earth when Jesus Christ rules and brings peace and abundance and joy! The gospel is the context of all the Bible’s prophecy!

What happened right before Christ began to proclaim that gospel? In verses 12-13 of Mark 1, you read that Jesus had to fight a titanic struggle with Satan the devil (see also Matthew 4; Luke 4). Do you know why? It was because He had to qualify to replace Satan on his throne, from which the devil rules this Earth! Yes, Satan has a throne, and he does bear rule. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us that he is “the god of this world”—the world worships him!

Nevertheless, Christ won that struggle and overcame Satan, and He qualified to kick him off his throne and to govern the Earth. He will assume that rule at His Second Coming.

That is why it was right after that struggle that Christ came declaring the gospel of the Kingdom of God!

God is offering positions of rulership today, as well, to those who conquer the devil as Christ did (e.g. Revelation 3:21). Though it is not on the same level as what Christ did, the firstfruits also qualify to rule with Jesus Christ by overcoming the devil today. That truth is very much a part of Christ’s glorious gospel!

Really, all the truth in the Bible should be viewed in the context of that gospel.

Christ’s Most Important Prophecy

In his November 18 Angelus to the faithful, Pope Benedict xvi declared, “Jesus does not describe the end of the world, and when He uses apocalyptic images, He does not act as a ‘seer’ [or prophet]. On the contrary, He wishes to ensure that His disciples in every age remain unmoved by dates and predictions.”

That is a startling statement. What does the Bible say about it?

Jesus Christ issued many prophecies while He was on Earth. The most important of these was the Olivet prophecy, recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. All prophecy revolves around it. I believe it is the most pivotal prophecy in the Bible.

And what is it about? In it, Christ describes the end of this age.

Matthew 24:3 sets the stage: “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” The Greek word translated “world,” aion, should read “age.” It’s referring to the present age of Satan’s rule on Earth; when Christ returns, there is actually a new world coming!

So this chapter shows Jesus Christ prophesying what’s going to happen at the end of this age! How could anyone say He’s not a prophet?

Some commentaries call this prophecy “the little apocalypse,” and for good reason. An account of it appears in Matthew, Mark and Luke—but not the Gospel of John. Why is John the only Gospel writer who did not record the Olivet prophecy? Actually he does, but not in his Gospel. He records it in the book of Revelation, chapter 6.

There John discusses seven seals, the first four of which are known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The word apocalypse is an untranslated Greek word that means revelation. The seven seals in the book of Revelation are interpreted in the Olivet prophecy! You can read about this in my article last month, “The Seven Seals of Revelation Have Been Opened!” So actually, all four Gospel writers had a version of the Olivet prophecy!

Revelation 5 shows that Christ is the only Prophet qualified to unloose the seven seals of Revelation. Christ is the Prophet of all prophets!

There are many instances in the Bible where Christ is referred to as a prophet (e.g. Deuteronomy 18:15, 18; Luke 7:16; 24:19; John 4:19; 6:14; 9:17; Acts 3:20-23; Hebrews 1:1-2). There are many more where He gave prophecies (e.g. Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; 25:31-34; 26:64; Mark 13:1-2; John 7:37-40).

Prophecy is revelation from God about what He is going to do. Christ prophesied, and every bit of that prophecy has comes to pass or is about to!

The prophetic signs Christ gave in Matthew 24 are intended to help us to be watchful and to prepare for His Second Coming. “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (verses 42-44). Christ said we wouldn’t know the day or the hour, but we should know when it is near—at the door (verse 33). We must understand that!

War With the Dragon

End-time prophecy describes a great, fearsome political power that has “a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies .… And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God” (Revelation 13:5-6). This “beast” is prophesied to ally with another “beast” that looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon (verses 11-12). This is a powerfully deceptive religious entity prophesied to kill millions and even to martyr the saints of God (e.g. verses 13-15).

What a condemning prophecy! Thus, it should be no surprise that the powers it describes would seek to take people’s focus off prophecy, and off the prophetic message of the greatest prophet ever, Jesus Christ.

In reality, a statement that Jesus is not a prophet is an attack on Christ—and on those who have the testimony of Christ!

Consider this end-time prophecy: “And the dragon [Satan the devil] was wroth with the woman [the biblical symbol of a church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). The devil hates that testimony and tries to discredit and suppress it. And he does so by warring against those who have it.

Again, that “testimony” is “the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). Those who have this revelatory spirit look to the one who gave that testimony—the one who alone can unloose the seals of Revelation so we can understand it—the Prophet of prophets, Jesus Christ! They then turn around and proclaim and publish that prophecy, which exposes Babylonish religion and reveals the deceitful, blasphemous spirit that dominates it (Revelation 17).

Revelation 12 tells the story of this battle, throughout history, between God’s saints who have Christ’s spirit of prophecy, and a church inspired by this “old serpent” that seeks to silence them in order to avoid that exposure!

Act Now!

It is a rather brazen statement to say that Christ wasn’t a prophet. He is the Prophet of all prophets! If He hadn’t unsealed the seven seals, which is the whole story of Revelation, we wouldn’t know anything about the time frame or sequence of all other prophecies in the Bible.

This error ought to powerfully motivate anyone who has the testimony of Jesus Christ remaining in their memory to repent and cleave to the Father of lights where His lamp of truth burns so brightly!

The time for taking such action—and receiving God’s protection from the devastating end-time Tribulation prophesied by Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:21)—is fast running out! Was Jesus a Prophet?

Fixing America's Broken Government

Ron Fraser — 2013-06-18T05:00:00+01:00

When you are the guest of a foreign country, it is generally considered bad manners to criticize it.

I’ve been an ex-pat resident of the U.S. for going on sixteen years. I love my home country which is a most loyal ally of America, but I’ve also come to love America, and have a particularly affinity with the people of Oklahoma, our state of residence for our tenure in the U.S.

The fact that my daughter married a real Okie, who was born in Muskogee, adds a personal touch to our attachment to this most conservative of states of the Union.

Mind you, I don’t like the climate in OK—freezing in winter, steaming hot in summer, with but little relief in spring and autumn. Then there are the tornadoes …

Added to all that this coastal boy from Aussie greatly misses the sound of the surf and the feel of golden sand between the toes.

Having said that, it must also be said that I live in one of the friendliest states of the Union, in, culturally, one of its most pleasant of cities, Edmond.

And there’s something else.

There’s still a real feeling of national pride here where Old Glory is respected for the heritage it signifies as is, generally, the nation’s constitution. It’s really akin to the depiction of the Oklahoman as expressed in the Merle Haggard song. Still, even dwelling here in red state Oklahoma, one cannot avoid observing that something has gone wrong, terribly wrong, with this once great country during the last decade and a half.

So I am moved, for what it’s worth, to speak out on what I have observed take place in this once great Superpower during my time of residence here.

Bill Clinton had been elected to a second term as president of the United States just a month before I relocated to America with my wife following a five-year tenure in Britain. Days later Madeleine Albright was appointed as America’s first female secretary of state. I did not consider either as worthy appointments to their respective offices for this great superpower, which America still was, at the time.

As time would reveal, of all post-war governments, it was the Clinton administration that brought to bear, on both domestic and international politics, some of the worst aspects of post-war moral relativism. That administration was overpopulated with children of the ’60s and ’70s who had their minds “closed” to reality (in the term used by Prof. Allan Bloom in his masterful work The Closing of the American Mind) via the brainwashing received from liberal-socialist professors at their universities and colleges during those two socially disruptive decades.

Within the U.S., in particular during the Clinton administration, moral sickness in the White House skewed the perspective of the governing elite away from the old moral absolutes and tore at the fabric of true democracy that had underpinned America in its greatest era of growth and development. The result was a warping of the national perception of just what it is that American democracy was supposed to stand for.

As Prof. Wesley McDonald of Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania, commented, “The American political culture has changed so dramatically during the Clinton era that it is now reasonable to conclude that the social, moral and cultural basis necessary for the prevalence of genuinely conservative ideas no longer exists” (Salisbury Review, Winter 2000). That was over 12 years ago, and the situation certainly has not improved since.

There simply cannot be a genuine democracy without a strong representation of the genuine, timeless values and virtues upon which it was founded. Unless those fundamental values and virtues are given a strong voice of support, the moral relativism of the left will overwhelm society and work to destroy its democratic foundations.

As America has dumbed down its culture—its taste in all things from food to dress, from music to sitcoms—the quality of life and the fruits thereof are painting a very different picture of the results of democracy to the rest of the world from that which the Founding Fathers envisioned. Family breakdown, a huge drug subculture, rampant sexual perversion, violent crime, the failing family structure—all these bitter fruits now being reaped by an Anglo-American society in decline are being perceived by undemocratic, religiously zealous, reactionary regimes as dramatic proof of the failure of the great Western dream.

After visiting the autocratically ruled state of Turkmenistan, British journalist Katie Grant observed that “We extol democracy, which allows societies to operate on the level of the lowest common denominator, as the best way to function. But when you compare our filthy streets and yob culture with the dignity of the Turkmen, democracy seems a shoddy affair. We haven’t risen to Bach; we have sunk to Marilyn Manson. … When we export democracy, we export Big Brother. When we insist on the supremacy of individual rights, we export family breakdown and the culture of whinge and litigation” (Spectator, June 29, 2002).

Those tendencies have been terribly exacerbated under America’s current administration. The acceleration of the “big brother” approach to government that has occurred over the past four and a half years has been staggering. The loss of the traditional freedoms enjoyed by Americans from the time the Founding Fathers put their signatures to the Constitution of the United States has, over less than half a decade, been breathtaking. The sense of impending national catastrophe is overwhelming to any independent observer inside America.

Yet the answer to halting this spreading quagmire of deeply entrenched fraud, corruption, sleight of hand and immoral purpose that emanates from the most senior levels of government in Washington is not a return to a truly democratic government. To completely route this perversion of government will take an administration of far greater purity in its motives of ruling the masses for the good of all: in fact, a government that is literally out of this world—believe it or not, the Government of your Maker!

Herbert Armstrong explained the root cause of our misgovernment in his booklet titled A World Held Captive. In that booklet he stated, “You live in a world of awesome progress, but paradoxically, of appalling evils. Why? It’s a world held captive, deceived into loving its captivity. … [M]ost astonishing of all is the actual fact of the colossal kidnapping of all time—in which the captive for 6,000 years has willed to pursue the life and evil philosophy of the archkidnapper—Satan the devil. The willing victim in this case is the world that inhabits this planet Earth! Yet this world has been so completely deceived that it cannot realize what actually has happened to it.”

The Trumpet’s editor in chief, Gerald Flurry, has outlined the current effect of that Satanic captivity on the American nation in his booklet America Under Attack. In that masterful expose of just what has happened to America over the past half decade, he states: “Many people are deeply concerned about the direction of America today. Many can see that the nation is on the wrong course and is rapidly losing its moral character and its strength. … [W]e have seen a rapid breakdown of law and an increasing amount of poison spreading through America’s political system.”

Identifying the root cause of the nation’s demise, just as Herbert Armstrong did, Gerald Flurry declares, “Satan is bringing these nations down. Through all the destruction, he is using individuals that he can to destroy law and government, so everything comes unglued and falls apart. That is what this is all about.”

The end result?

As Mr. Flurry states in the aforementioned booklet, “I’m watching as this government takes one step after another that is weakening this country and hastening the fulfillment of some of the most terrifying prophecies in the Bible! And I know that the devil, who is a liar and who hates law, is behind that.” That means that Satan, who is a spirit and thus a level above that of the human, can only be dealt effectively at the spiritual level.

Yet with the vision of Bible prophecy, we may look beyond the disheartening events of the day as we witness the rapid collapse of effective government within Anglo-Saxon society, to a time of great hope for the future, when this deceitful spirit will be finally dealt with.

As Gerald Flurry states in the conclusion to America Under Attack: “The events we see around us are deeply sobering. But they should also fill us with hope—and anticipation of the great event they lead to: the Second Coming of Christ to this Earth!

“Once Christ banishes the devil and takes his rightful place on the throne over the Earth, we will have joy and happiness and peace for the rest of eternity!

“Thank God for that!”

Only then will not only government in America, but the totality of government worldwide be fixed forever!

Read our booklets America Under Attack and The Epistles of Peter: A Living Hope for a real prophetic perspective on the broken government in America and the guaranteed solution to that problem.

Number of Stay-at-Home Dads on the Rise

theTrumpet.com — 2013-06-17T21:08:19+01:00

The number of stay-at-home fathers in the United States is multiplying. Since 2001, the number of dads who remain home to care for children while mothers work full-time has doubled. Today, 3½ percent of men remain home to care for the kids.

One example is Joe McLaughlin. Joe does most of the care-taking, cooking and cleaning in the home. While Joe and his daughter mingle with other stay-at-home dads and their kids in the park, his wife, Elizabeth, provides for the family by working as an executive coach.

[SOUNDBITE: Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, working mom]

“It was pretty much a no-brainer for us because Joe’s income where it was would’ve equaled childcare and we knew very much that we wanted at least one parent to stay home for a certain period of time.”

One reason more and more fathers are staying at home is finances. Women are earning more college degrees than men, and about 28 percent of married mothers in the United States now make more money than their husbands.

A Pew Center survey found that approximately 50 percent of people believe children are better off if Mom stays at home and doesn’t work. About 8 percent feel that way about stay-at-home dads.

The woman’s most important job is taking care of the home and children. When God created male and female, He also created specific roles. The woman is the nurturer and caretaker—the man is provider and protector. However, today parents have inverted these biblical roles. To understand where it is leading, read Conspiracy Against Fatherhood.

Under His Vine and Under His Fig Tree

Ron Fraser — 2013-06-17T17:00:00+01:00

There’s a deeply thought-provoking prophecy in your Bible about a great social and environmental revolution. It’s a complete change from our bloated, city-centered society and rat-race social mentality—to a calm, peaceful, largely rural habitat where man can concentrate on creation and Creator.

We read of the global outcome of this coming revolution in the prophecy of Micah 4:4: “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.”

Perhaps the closest we have ever come to this society was old rural England. In their enlightening book Rural England—Our Countryside at the Crossroads, Derrik Mercer and David Putnam paint a picture of Southeast England that is sadly fast diminishing in scope: “It is a cozy countryside where village greens echo each summer to the sound of cricket and polite applause. Overlooking the green will usually be the village church, still a place of architectural and spiritual homage in this more secular age. Church and inn, manor house and cottages, together they reflect a story of man’s impact on the land which frequently goes back a thousand years or more.”

During our five years living in Britain in the 1990s, my wife and I occasionally stayed at an inn in just such an idyllic, traditional English village. It made for interesting reflection on a way of life in the old country that, as these authors stated, “goes back a thousand years or more.”

The Industrial Revolution changed that way of life. While bringing massive progress in man’s technical capacities, it began to denigrate his long-held attachment to the land and its seasonal rhythms. That disruption dramatically escalated stress-related diseases, mental illness and the evolution of a rampant drug culture. These are all signs of a distressed society in the throes of a self-inflicted demise.

What the Industrial Revolution started in the early 19th century has run full course. Greed priced our labor out of the market years ago. Our industrial capacity moved overseas. Former and potential enemy nations now manufacture our goods—even key components of our military hardware, something the United States vowed after the Revolutionary War would never happen again. Last decade, the U.S. became a net importer of food, further eroding its once-independent economy. America now faces the fiscal cliff. Ideas for saving the national economy have been exhausted. Our society—in America, Britain and other English-speaking nations—faces unfixable economic and social woes.

In the process, Americans are fast losing peace of mind. They are daily subjected to personal terror—that tomorrow morning will bring not just Islamist terror, but loss of income, of home, of marriage, of family. Thousands of years ago, God prophesied that all these things would befall our society when we rebelled against Him and His laws (Leviticus 26:16).

The American way of life is barely two centuries old, and is already rapidly falling into decay.

Yet for over a thousand years, a traditional way of life existed in rural England, the last vestiges of which can be still experienced.

What’s the explanation of the two phenomena? To a major extent, it has to do with every man sitting “under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” Note that there are two elements to this vision of the future: a rural-based economy promoting the economic independence of man, and its conformity with the will of God!

The English discovered the value of the organized rural economy and built a society around it during the first millennia a.d. To a certain extent, their seasonal rural principles conformed to biblical tenets, until they were broken by the Industrial Revolution and chemical farming methods.

Developing much later—post-Industrial Revolution—the U.S. has broken both of these stabilizing elements of society that guarantee equitable distribution of national wealth. Other Anglo-Saxon nations are hell-bent on the same course.

So just how will the Anglo-Saxons—and ultimately all nations—extricate themselves from their present catastrophes to obtain that future forecast in Micah 4:4?

They won’t. They can’t. The task is simply beyond them.

To change today’s profit- and mass-production-oriented system—where too much wealth is concentrated in too few hands—into a world where every man has the potential to capitalize and maintain his own independent farm, we need the mighty hand of God.

Shinzo Abe's Japanese Economic Renaissance

Ron Fraser — 2013-06-17T05:00:00+01:00

British-based economics analyst Dr. Peter Warburton believes that under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s aggressive political leadership, Japan is finally set to emerge from its economic stupor.

Director of London-based consulting firm Economic Perspectives Ltd., Warburton senses a change in the mood of the population with the government now under Abe’s direction. He observes that the Japanese “believe a kind renaissance is going to happen” (Lignet, June 13).

One of the problems that has developed in the wake of Japan’s economy becoming moribund in the 1990s following decades of spectacular growth is the accumulation of a massive public debt.

Predicting a growth rate of 2 percent for the current year, Dr. Warburton posits that 2014 may “have Japan on a growth path that allows it to begin to address its huge public debt” (ibid).

A principal factor that weighs heavily on Japanese economic, fiscal and foreign policy at the moment is the state of the Chinese economy. “Abe’s economic stimulus policies are having a significant effect on the Chinese economy. According to Warburton, the declining value of the Japanese yen is ‘plumping up’ China’s currency. Warburton said this is not entirely a bad thing, since it is restraining Chinese inflation” (ibid).

In an April report, Stratfor stated, “The new governor of the Bank of Japan won almost unanimous consent for his proposal to launch massive monetary stimulus in Japan. The anticipation of the new policy has already contributed to a sharp drop in the yen’s value relative to export competitors. This move will not revive the whole economy, but the combination of political consensus and the government’s willingness to embrace new ideas is a notable development” (April 8; emphasis added).

This is what has become a primary indicator of change in Japan—consensus. As Japanese governments have come and gone in rapid succession over recent years, it has been difficult for the nation to reach a consensus on the direction of economic policy. We now appear to have a collective mind change taking place not only within government circles in Japan, but also in the mind of the public.

If Abe is able to manage this significant psychological advantage—a phenomenon that has not been experienced for decades in Japan—to his political advantage such that he wins a majority in the upper house of the Japanese Diet during elections this July, he could well be on course to lead Japan back to its prior status of an economic powerhouse, this time in direct competition with China.

That said, any revival of the Japanese economy must also be seen in the light of Abe seeking to propel Japan forward on a trajectory of military development. A significant plank in his political platform is the revision of the Japanese Constitution to enable it to legally embrace such a move.

In a December 2012 report, Stratfor observed that Japan sported a “world-class military” force. The report continued, “Over the years, postwar Japan has acquired formidable conventional capabilities despite Article 9 of the country’s U.S.-drafted constitution, which prohibits belligerency and armed forces.

“While remaining content with its limited military role for more than six decades, Japan’s current regional security and political concerns are accelerating the impetus for normalization—the political process of eliminating restrictions on the military” (Dec. 17, 2012).

Shinzo Abe’s election in December as prime minister of Japan has been followed by an increasingly bellicose stance by the Japanese government on changing its defensive posture to embrace legitimate entry into zones of combat as a recognized military power unfettered by restraints built into its constitution since World War ii.

These recent developments in Japan have been anticipated by the Trumpet for the past two decades. A check of our archive will prove that.

The reason we have written with such confidence of a Japanese “renaissance” is because of the prophecies documented in your Bible. Those prophecies reveal Japan will be a powerhouse economy, ultimately embracing Southeast Asia in something akin to the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which was its initial goal in World War ii.

By checking the ethnicity of the nations named in the future Far East alliance in the prophecy of Ezekiel 38:6, we see Japan and its Southeast Asian relatives combined in alliance with China and Russia (verses 1-3).

At present, Russo-Chinese relations are quite warm, to the point of holding periodic joint military exercises together. It is not yet apparent, given certain tensions between Japan and China over territorial questions, just how the two will form a future alliance to complete the prophesied Far East triumvirate. But, given that the prophecy cannot be broken (John 10:35; 2 Peter 1:19), it is something we should be watching for.

In the meantime, watch for the outcome of the Japanese elections in July. If the majority falls to Abe’s government at that time, we may well see Japan rapidly propelled forward into its future prophesied status as a global military power, yet once again to be reckoned with by the West. Read our booklet Russia and China in Prophecy for more insight into these developments.

What's Wrong With Marijuana?

Wik Heerma — 2013-06-17T05:00:00+01:00

Marijuana is getting stronger. It has become increasingly popular since open drug use crashed through cultural and moral barriers in the 1960s. Now the youths of the ’60s are parents, grandparents, voters and politicians. Today, youths and even adults say that marijuana is basically harmless—if not glamorous, like it is portrayed in entertainment—or even medically beneficial. Attitudes have become so relaxed that Americans in two states actually voted in November to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

We are watching marijuana change from a counterculture banned substance into a mainstream recreational aid. But the debate is far from over. What are the facts about cannabis?

Marijuana in America

The real extent of marijuana use is unknown, but it is chronic and widespread. Ninety-five million Americans have experimented with this drug at least once. In 2002, three out of four illicit drug users admitted they had used marijuana in the 30 days prior. In 2007, a survey found that 14.4 million Americans had smoked marijuana in the previous 30 days. Between the ’60s and 2000, the average age of marijuana users dropped from 19 to just over 17. Under-18 marijuana initiates now make up 67 percent.

Why is marijuana so popular? One student used this frank reasoning: “We do it because it’s there, because we like it, and because it is one way to tell the grown-up world to go to h—-.” Youths and even adults often claim it as an adolescent rite of passage. Many try it due to peer pressure.

The Facts

People have grown the Indian hemp plant for use as a hallucinogen for more than 2,000 years. The name comes from the Portuguese maringuango, meaning “intoxicant.” Drugs extracted from the Indian hemp are collectively called cannabis, and all forms of cannabis are hallucinogenic. The plant contains more than 400 known chemicals, many of which are toxic to the human body.

One compound, tetrahydrocannabinol (thc), produces psychoactive effects in the brain, which are usually called highs. This distortion of mental perception usually takes effect within minutes; sensations include increased heart rate, a slight rise in blood pressure, conjunctival vascular congestion, lessened coordination and balance, and a dreamy, unreal state of mind. These sensations peak within the first half hour, and usually wear off after a couple of hours, depending on the potency of thc and the amount ingested.

Marijuana is not only getting stronger culturally, it is getting stronger chemically. There are some significant differences between the marijuana teens and young adults use today and what their parents used. The levels of delta-9 thc have multiplied from less than 1 percent in the mid-1970s to more than 6 percent. In the past two decades, the potency of sinsemilla—a form of cannabis produced from the smaller leaves and flowers—increased from 6 percent to more than 13 percent. Some samples contained thc levels as high as 33 percent.

A Harmless Herb?

Many people claim that cannabis is a comparatively benign natural herb—less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Yet it contains many of the same cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco. The amount of tar and carbon-monoxide inhaled by those who smoke marijuana is three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers, regardless of thc content. And unlike alcohol, where the ethanol is eliminated within a few hours, marijuana residues can stay in the body for weeks.

Marijuana use can also seriously damage respiratory and cardiovascular health, causing chronic coughing, wheezing and bronchitis. Smoking a relatively small amount of marijuana has a similar impact to smoking five to seven times that amount in cigarettes, one after another.

And there is no denying that cannabis affects the mind—that is its purpose. This has been directly linked to health, safety, social, behavioral and academic problems. The drug can affect concentration, attention and learning for up to 24 hours. A University of Iowa study showed that people who used marijuana frequently exhibited deficits in mathematical skills and verbal expression. They also showed impairments in memory-retrieval and mental aptitudes. Animals given marijuana in scientific studies have suffered structural damage to the brain.

Like other hallucinogens, cannabis disrupts the flow of chemical neurotransmitters. Its use can lead to increased anxiety, panic attacks, depression and other mental health issues. One study showed that children ages 12 to 17 who smoke marijuana weekly are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than non-users. Recent research showed how the risk of major depression quadruples through cannabis use. Swedish scientists have also found a link between marijuana use and an increased risk of developing schizophrenia.

Long term, the cannabis user risks triple the likelihood of illicit drug abuse or dependence, poor job and academic performance, cognitive deficits, lung damage, lesions to the brain and other brain abnormalities similar to those caused by long-term abuse of other major drugs.

Many people believe cannabis use is not addictive. But use can lead to dependency, and heavy users have shown withdrawal symptoms that include increased aggression, irritability, anxiety and insomnia.

Marijuana use can deform the structure of sperm cells and cause temporary sterility in men. It can upset a woman’s menstrual cycle and is one of the few drugs that create abnormal cell division resulting in severe hereditary defects. It also drastically affects the immune system, reducing resistance to common illnesses.

Marijuana use also loosens inhibitions—since the user loses control of his mind—which, among other things, leads to more risky sexual behavior. This indirect consequence causes myriad problems for individuals and society. Research shows that the younger a person is when he begins using cannabis, the more likely he or she will suffer these long-term consequences.

A Growing Problem

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, 40 percent of adult males arrested for crimes tested positive for cannabis at the time of their arrest.

Among adults 26 and older who used the drug prior to age 15, 62 percent later went on to use cocaine, 9 percent went on to use heroin at least once, and 54 percent abused mind-altering prescription drugs.

Of all teens entering drug treatment, nearly two thirds are dependent on cannabis—a larger proportion than all other illicit drugs combined.

Rather than making people mellow, users showed a four-fold increase in violent and aggressive behavior. Users also tend to disobey authority and cause destruction of personal or public property.

An increasing risk to cannabis users, and the rest of society, is that of driving under the influence. Blood analysis shows 15 percent of trauma patients who were injured while driving a car or motorcycle had smoked marijuana. Another 17 percent had both alcohol and thc in their blood.

But It’s Beneficial

Many states allow people with certain medical conditions to use marijuana for relief. Yet, as a smoked product, cannabis has never been proven to be medically beneficial; it is more likely to harm the patient’s health. The majority of marijuana medicinal studies have been relatively short-term and limited in scope. They have looked for the treatment (suppression) of existing conditions, but have never proven that cannabis has any healing properties.

As with any drug at low doses, the intoxicated individual may profess an increased sense of well-being in a dreamy, carefree state of relaxation. Yet this distortion is a false sense of security—fooling the brain into thinking it is operating normally, or better, when the reality is the opposite.

In stronger doses, marijuana can even precipitate psychosis. More than a “personality disorder,” psychosis is a severe mental derangement.

No matter the dosage, marijuana is far from a harmless high. Evidence continues to mount that it causes harmful long-term physical and psychological effects.

People take marijuana and other drugs to escape certain situations or feelings. The high masks the problem for a while, but when the pleasure wears off, the problems are back—more intense and numerous than before. This often drives users to seek harder drugs. The long-term physical and psychological results of cannabis are far from dreamy or predictable.

A Physical and Spiritual Sin

Controversy over marijuana stems partially from confusion on the subject. Effects differ from person to person with the same amount of the drug, and even from occasion to occasion in the same individual. Some emphasize this, and the pleasure of the high, to argue that everyone should be “free” to use cannabis.

To clear the air from confusion, we have to open our Bibles. Scripture reveals that our bodies and minds are not our own to abuse as we please. God commands that we “glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20). The Bible reveals man’s incredible potential: to use our bodies, our minds and His Holy Spirit (verse 19) to develop the character of God!

An incredible, eternal future awaits each of us when we turn to God to let Him develop our minds and character. Intoxicating ourselves on the “pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25) and the “lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16; 1 John 2:16) destroys this incredible human potential. 1 Corinthians 6:10 states outright that drunkards—meaning the intoxicated—will never enter God’s Kingdom unless they repent—and that includes intoxicating drug hallucinations.

If you have a problem with drugs, conquering it will not be easy, but you can do it! Philippians 4:13 says all things are possible with Christ strengthening us. He will give you the real and lasting solution to your problems. And He will also reward you for overcoming sinful pulls and developing your God-given abilities (Luke 19:12-27; Revelation 2:26). No one is perfect; we all yearn to escape our problems, we all commit sin (Romans 3:23). But God gives us all the same amazing promise in Hebrews 4:16, encouraging us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Conquer this vice! Flee the temptation. Don’t try to slowly reduce your intake—throw away everything remotely related to it and never look back! Look forward to truly conquering your problems and embracing an incredible future ahead—unimaginably awesome and impossible to compare with any high. God will free your mind, individually—and everyone’s mind, at His return—from these debilitating effects and help you experience far, far greater experiences: your incredible human potential!

TV's War on Fathers

Richard Palmer — 2013-06-16T05:00:00+01:00

Fathers are useless, ignorant layabouts, less mature than the children they are supposed to be raising. That’s the message you get from nearly every tv show and ad. Almost all parents—93 percent—acknowledge that children’s tv shows don’t represent real-life fathers, according to a report by UK parenting website Netmums published on June 11. But most don’t care.

The figures show that only 18 percent think these shows could make children believe their dads are useless. Presumably that means 82 percent don’t have a problem with them.

But the fact is, children’s tv gives children a horrible message about fatherhood. And it’s getting worse.

For years, shows aimed at teens, like The Simpsons, have encouraged children to look down on their fathers. But now it’s spreading to a younger audience.

The trend in young children’s tv is striking. Go back a couple of generations, and shows for young children often supported family. They featured reasonable families—not perfect of course—but with the father in control, looking after his wife and children. When I was growing up, children’s tv didn’t really show families at all—we had programs like Thomas the Tank Engine and Postman Pat.

Now the shows attack the father. The Netmums report introduced me to Peppa Pig, currently one of the most popular children’s tv shows in the Western world. I’d never seen it before, so I went to YouTube, and clicked on one of the top hits.

It starts with Daddy Pig sitting in his favorite sunny spot. “Daddy Pig loves doing nothing,” said the narrator. He spends the rest of the show being told off, bossed around and laughed at by his children.

I clicked on another episode: The dads are having a barbeque but end up starting a fire. The moms, who were manning the fire station at the time, have to come and save them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_YCy2Pl1b0

Already, I’m starting to notice a pattern. The Times’ Ian King, who has obviously watched way more Peppa Pig than I have, writes:

Want a picture nailing to a wall? Daddy Pig manages to demolish the entire wall. Taking the family camping? Daddy Pig is too big to fit in his tent and ends up sleeping in the car. Having a family barbecue? Daddy Pig incinerates the lot .… Putting up a new flatpack toy cupboard? You get the idea. If there’s a wrong way to do it, Daddy Pig will find it.

The Bible describes the direction today’s families are taking in detail in Isaiah 3. “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths” (verse 12). Masculine leadership has become rare, and so families are led by women and children.

Peppa Pig is Isaiah 3:12 made into a children’s tv show. Peppa, the little girl pig, is the smartest and most mature character on the program. She makes all the decisions for the family. And if it’s not her, it’s her mother.

Peppa Pig is a more pernicious attack on fathers than shows older generations might be familiar with (e.g. The Simpsons) simply because it is aimed at a much younger age group.

Too many have dismissed Netmum’s criticism of these kind of shows because they say children know it is a joke, and it won’t affect how they treat their real fathers. Can a 4-year-old understand the “joke”? Can they really remain unaffected by this not-so-subtle message they receive every time they turn on the tv?

Unfortunately, at times fathers actually do show some of the characteristics of Daddy Pig. This show tells children that these lapses are normal rather than mistakes.

This is far worse than merely poisoning family relationships. In his booklet Conspiracy Against Fatherhood, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes, “The human father pictures God the Father. … The family of man pictures the God Family! God created the human family to get us into His Family.” Mr. Flurry quotes the May/June 1970 issue of Tomorrow’s World magazine, which stated: “This vicious and subtle attack on fatherhood is really aimed at God Almighty. Its aim is to warp people to the point where they cannot have a right relationship with their heavenly Father.”

That 1970 article goes on to talk about how children learn to respect their fathers. “We learn to yield to their authority and to be more loving and respectful to them,” it said. “We must transfer this same wonderful feeling of reverence to our heavenly Father!”

Peppa has zero respect for her father and is teaching a whole generation of children to behave the same way. It will be a real struggle for them to relate properly to their heavenly Father.

Of course fathers play a far more important role in teaching children these lessons than the tv does. But this is part of the same attack on family that we see in the whole of society.

Why has children’s tv become so much worse in the last few years? Because this attack has become worse. Almost every aspect of society is geared toward getting fathers to neglect their responsibilities—to tell them that they don’t need to teach and train their children.

Mr. Flurry calls fatherhood “the core institution of our society!” (op. cit.). It is something we must get right, despite these attacks. For more information on the critical role of the father, please read our article “Fatherhood 101.”

Remember Father's Day

theTrumpet.com — 2013-06-16T05:00:00+01:00

Every year on the third Sunday of June in America, Dad gets special attention and reward recognizing his sacrifice and hard work for his family. And with Americans spending over $8 billion on their dads for the event, it is little wonder that advertisers invest so much into Father’s Day.

But statistics show that a diminishing number of Americans have reason to celebrate on this day.

In a society where divorce is rampant, single parenting is common, and cohabitation is the norm, for many Americans, dadhood isn’t what it used to be. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, of the 66.3 million fathers in America, only 26.5 million are married with children under 18. www.fatherhood.org informs us that, between 1960 and 1995, the percentage of American children living in single-parent homes increased from 9 to 27. An estimated 40 percent of American children live in homes without their biological father. Among African Americans, that number is about 75 percent.

Families without fathers can experience devastating consequences. Columnist Phyllis Schlafly wrote June 15, “Most of our social problems are caused by kids who grow up in homes without their own fathers: drug abuse, illicit sexual activity, unwed pregnancies, youth suicide, high school dropouts, runaways and crime.” Yet, so often, society’s most prominent leaders overlook this connection between fatherlessness and teen pathologies.

A strong movement is afoot to portray fathers as unimportant and unnecessary. The institution of marriage itself is more commonly considered merely temporary, if not entirely antiquated. Yet the fruits of stable families headed by a dedicated father are obvious. Study after study shows that good fathers not only have a positive and powerful impact on their families, but on society as a whole.

It certainly is a role worthy of honor—even codified within the fifth of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12)—not just one day out of the year, but every day.

To understand more deeply the vital significance of fathers, read our booklet Conspiracy Against Fatherhood. Practical instruction on how to recapture some of the fundamental qualities of strong fathering can be found in our article Fatherhood 101.

There Is No Such Thing as Two Fathers

Joel Hilliker — 2013-06-16T05:00:00+01:00

President Obama used this past Father’s Day to show his support for homosexuals raising children. “Nurturing families come in many forms,” he wrote in a presidential proclamation, “and children may be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a stepfather, a grandfather, or caring guardian.”

Of course, biologically there is no such thing as “two fathers.” A child may be raised by his father and his father’s homosexual partner, but not by “two fathers.” That euphemistic term is a gross error.

In June, completely outside the purview of elected legislators, the Obama administration’s Labor Department unilaterally announced that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) now covers “all families, including LGBT families.” Thus, companies will now be forced to permit homosexual couples that adopt children up to 12 weeks of leave.

How could it make such a change? Simply by redefining “son or daughter” to “extend to the various parenting relationships that exist in today’s world.” Thus, using the president’s own terminology, a child’s father’s homosexual partner may now legally also be considered a second “father.”

“This action is a victory for many non-traditional families, including families in the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community,” the press release from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said. “[A]n employee who intends to share in the parenting of a child with his or her same-sex partner will be able to exercise the right to FMLA leave to bond with that child.”

All this language is framed to sound like it promotes family in general—that it is just win-win-win all around. In truth, it represents the ceaseless efforts of self-professed intellectuals to popularize deviant sexuality.

They are hostile to the actual meaning of deep and wonderful words like father, son and daughter, and are eager to redefine them after their own fancies.

On July 1, the administration gave another big assist to homosexuals. Now same-sex “domestic partners” of federal employees can receive long-term care insurance benefits as if they were married; all they have to do is sign a form to receive the benefit. The president ordered the change about a year ago, when he instructed agencies to find benefits that could be given to homosexuals who live together. Under the Defense of Marriage Act, the term “marriage” cannot refer to homosexuals, but the new Office of Personnel Management regulation circumvented that law by creating the classification of homosexual “domestic partners.” It denies the same benefits to heterosexual co-habitators, saying that they can get them by marrying, whereas homosexuals cannot—yet.

On June 9, the Obama administration’s State Department dropped this bombshell: “The U.S. Department of State is pleased to use the occasion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month to announce its new policy guidelines regarding gender change in passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad.

“Beginning June 10, when a passport applicant presents a certification from an attending medical physician that the applicant has undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition, the passport will reflect the new gender. The guidelines include detailed information about what information the certification must include. It is also possible to obtain a limited-validity passport if the physician’s statement shows the applicant is in the process of gender transition.”

Thus, anyone with a doctor’s note confirming his or her gender confusion can receive an official U.S. passport stating as fact that he or she is the opposite sex from plain biological reality! The press release nonchalantly states, “Sexual reassignment surgery is no longer a prerequisite for passport issuance.”

What utter confusion! Even male and female are open to redefinition in their minds. Perhaps there is no clearer illustration of the muddled thinking plaguing liberal secularists than the fact that they simply will not accept something so simple and clear-cut as male and female. In their twisted view, gender is a choice, and always open for reinterpretation.

Again, though, all this redefining is an intellectual fraud aimed squarely at exalting deviant sexuality.

The official language being deployed by the president and the federal departments he has staffed—“two fathers,” “various parenting relationships,” “lgbt families,” “gender transition,” “new gender”—camouflages some grotesque realities. Gussied up to look like it is promoting family, this is nothing short of an aggressive assault on family.

It is impossible to encourage both deviant sexuality and traditional family; they are diametrically opposite. And traditional family must be vigorously promoted and defended if it is to thrive.

The Ten Commandments speak to this fact by commanding both marital fidelity (“Thou shalt not commit adultery. … [T]hou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife”) and parental authority (“Honour thy father and thy mother”). Such laws are necessary to guide us toward appropriate conduct; our baser nature always gravitates toward what is not in society’s or our own long-term best interests.

Today’s society is forcefully pursuing a contrary, anti-Bible agenda that is dismantling families and leading to our ruin. All history proves that strong societies begin with strong marriages and families, yet self-professed intellectuals continue heedlessly striking blows at the pillars of family life.

In our own families, we must do all we can to resist this attack. Promote and defend family as originally and correctly defined by the Being who created it.

Floods Give German Army a Chance to Shine

Richard Palmer — 2013-06-15T05:00:00+01:00

Even 70 years after World War ii, the German Army has an image problem. “Not long ago wearing a uniform around an average town in Germany could get you beaten up; and even today it draws frowns, says Jan Ströhmer, a naval commander in Kiel.” So began an article by the Economist last year.

But this summer, that is changing.

On June 3, Central Europe, including Germany, was hit with massive flooding. The floods have continued, and 19,000 German soldiers have been deployed to help the victims—the biggest domestic humanitarian operation in the army’s history.

“The army, recently covered in the news largely for its failed drone program, is now generating positive headlines again,” wrote Spiegel Online. “At the same time, it is also regaining the trust of a German people who have traditionally been skeptical of the nation’s armed forces.”

Residents hold banners with slogans like “Thank you, Bundeswehr!”

“I’ve never experienced such a positive relationship with the civilian population,” said army spokesman André Sabzog. “We can’t even eat all the masses of pizza and cake that people are bringing.”

Of course there’s nothing wrong with the public’s gratitude or the army’s actions. The army is doing some genuinely good work at the moment, and it’s only right and natural that many are grateful. But it is part of a more disturbing trend. The German Army is becoming more “normal”—Germany is starting to use and view its armed forces in the same way as any other nation.

As Germany’s army becomes more popular, Germany is less afraid to use it around the world.

The nation’s history and geography alone make this concerning. Germany is a powerful country. If it becomes a strong military power, it will automatically affect the power balance around the world.

As the German public gives its army positive reviews—and forgets its history—the time is coming when it will be easier for Germany to use its army to attack others. For more on this trend, see our article “German Military Propaganda War.”

Teen Time With Dad Critically Important

Dennis Leap — 2013-06-15T05:00:00+01:00

It is often assumed that teens prefer to spend time with their friends, rather than their parents. A new study just released from Penn State University shows this is not necessarily the case.

Yes, teens want to spend time with friends. Yes, teens want their own space. Yes, teens want more independence. Yet, teens do not always just want to spend time with their friends.

Researchers have discovered that teens want to spend private time with their parents, and that time can actually increase during these critical developmental years.

Psychcentral.com reported on August 22 that Susan McHale, a professor of human development at Penn State University and co-author of the study, said, “The stereotype that teenagers spend all their time holed up in their rooms or hanging out with friends is indeed just a stereotype.”

McHale also said, “Our research shows that, well into the adolescent years, teens continue to spend time with their parents and that this shared time, especially shared time with fathers, has important implications for adolescents’ psychological and social adjustment” (emphasis added). The study is published in the August issue of Child Development.

HealthDay News also reported that the purpose of the study was to discover how time spent with parents affected teens’ self-esteem and sense of social competence with their peers.

Researchers created a study in which they invited families in 16 school districts in Central Pennsylvania to participate. Two hundred white, middle- and working-class families living in small cities, towns and rural communities accepted the invitation. The study lasted for seven years.

On five occasions over the seven years, the research team conducted home and telephone interviews with the father, mother, teenager and younger sibling in each family. At the start of the study, the oldest child was about 11 years old, the second-oldest was about 8.

During the home interview, the children reported on their social skills with peers and their self-esteem. After each home visit, the researchers also conducted a series of seven nightly phone interviews, asking the teens about their activities during the day of the call, including who participated in the activities with them.

McHale said, “Talking to the kids on the phone about what they did that day really gives you insight into the reality of everyday life for them. Rather than getting generalized or processed information, it’s right when things have been happening and in the children’s own words, and it’s harder for them to make mistakes or forget.”

One conclusion drawn from the study shows that teen time with parents and friends together declines as the teen grows older. However, teen private time with the parent often increases as the child grows into the late teen years.

The study authors were surprised to discover that when fathers spent more time alone with their teenagers, the kids reported that they felt better about themselves. “Something about the father’s role in the family seemed to boost self-esteem among the teenagers in the study,” McHale said.

Researchers also recognized that one of the significant ingredients that differentiated one family from another was how much time the father was around and involved with the family.

This study flies in the face of previous studies that concluded the role of the father was obsolete. Be sure to read online or download Gerald Flurry’s booklet Conspiracy Against Fatherhood. This booklet emphasizes the need for strong, loving fathers.

U.S. to Grant Military Aid to Rebels

theTrumpet.com — 2013-06-15T05:00:00+01:00

After confirming it now believes that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, the United States announced that it will give direct military aid to the Syrian rebels. The announcement came on June 13, after U.S. intelligence informed President Obama that Bashar Assad’s regime had “used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year.” This latest development could turn the tide of the war back in the rebels’ favor. However, it may bog down the U.S. in another Middle East conflict.

According to reports, the U.S. may impose a no-fly zone over parts of the nation that borders Jordan. Whatever Washington plans, its support will give a much-needed boost to the rebels, who have suffered some major setbacks in the past few weeks. Extremist rebels have been forced out of Qusair and are currently being threatened in the stronghold of Aleppo. Just knowing they will soon receive military aid from America will give the rebels a moral lift. It will also strike a blow to the Assad regime, which has enjoyed military dominance for the majority of the two-year conflict.

This latest development in Syria pushes events closer to the conclusion revealed in Bible prophecy. When discussing Syria, the Trumpet often refers back to the alliance of nations prophesied in Psalm 83, which includes Syria (anciently the Hagarenes). This is an alliance of nations that allies with the king of the north (Daniel 11:40) after the king of the north destroys the Iranian-led king of the south. Psalm 83 indicates that Syria will not be allied with Iran for much longer. This suggests that the Assad regime’s days are numbered.

For more information on this Psalm 83 alliance and why we expect a political realignment in Syria is soon, read “A Mysterious Alliance” by Gerald Flurry.

The Key of David (2013)

Gerald Flurry — 2013-06-15T05:00:00+01:00

Jesus Christ only gives one message to His Church in this end time, and that is the key of David message. This is the only message that He tells His very elect to deliver. The key of David message is one of the deepest truths in the entire Bible, and the more you understand it, the more it stirs your imagination and your inspiration for God’s Word.

Evolution's 'Unnecessary' Organs

Jeremiah Jacques — 2013-06-14T17:07:19+01:00

Why do you have an appendix? Or wisdom teeth? Or something called a coccyx? Since the days of Darwin, numerous scientists and educators have argued that “useless” or “vestigial” organs prove the theory of evolution. These organs, they say, are like leftover scaffolding that had previously performed vital functions in mankind’s “pre-human ancestors.” They just haven’t evolved their way into oblivion quite yet.

“Organs or parts … bearing the plain stamp of inutility are extremely common, or even general, throughout nature,” Darwin explained in On the Origin of Species. “It would be impossible to name one of the higher animals in which some part or other is not in a rudimentary condition.” His prime examples: the appendix and the coccyx (tailbone).

Subsequent specialists greatly expanded Darwin’s original list of useless organs. In 1895, German anatomist Robert Wiedersheim compiled a list of human structures he considered vestigial, which came to be regarded as the official one. How many human body parts were on it? More than 180.

American zoologist Horatio Newman said this staggering number was “sufficient to make of a man a veritable walking museum of antiquities.” These organs represented “evidence that man has descended from ancestors in which these organs were functional,” he said. “Man has never completely lost these characteristics; he continues to inherit them though he no longer has any use for them.”

Textbook publishers quickly joined the pack, saying the human body—with its myriad useless relics—is like an “old curiosity shop,” full of “showpieces” proving evolution.

The rapid embrace of the vestigial organ belief deepened the traction of the evolutionary theory, and also spawned new trends in the medical community. “There are undoubtedly cases where we know that certain vestigial structures are not only useless to man but worse than useless,” Henry Drummond wrote in The Ascent of Man. He called the appendix “a veritable death trap,” and also cautioned readers of the perils of other organs lurking inside of their bodies. Throughout much of the 20th century, medical practitioners removed appendixes, tonsils and other “dangerous” organs as routine operations.

The idea of vestigial organs is not a fringy, peripheral support of the evolutionary theory, but lies at its very heart. And the most frequently mentioned examples of these organs in mankind remain the appendix and the coccyx.

Appendix: The Last Shall Be First

The wormlike abdominal structure called the appendix has long occupied the lowest position on the organ totem pole. Darwin called it a leftover piece from mankind’s leaf-eating, pre-human predecessors. Many experts swallowed the theory, hook, line and sinker. The organ’s primary importance seemed to be only for the financial support of surgeons, and to provide fodder for tv sitcoms.

For that reason, experts took note in 2009 when immunologist William Parker at Duke University Medical Center said, “Maybe it’s time to correct the textbooks. Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a vestigial organ” (LiveScience, Aug. 24, 2009).

Parker suggested the correction after he and his colleagues discovered that the appendix serves as a storehouse where good bacteria can lie in wait until they’re needed to repopulate the stomach after an episode of diarrhea or other intestine-emptying illness.

A separate recent study showed that the appendix conducts operations similar to those of the tonsils at the opposite end of the alimentary canal, which increase resistance to throat infections. (The tonsils, too, were long branded by evolutionists as useless and problematic.) A 2011 study showed that the appendix also helps generate, guide and train white blood cells, especially for fetuses and children. Valerie O’Loughlin, a professor of medical sciences at Indiana University, said it is “the site where a type of white blood cell called b-lymphocytes can be recognized and where the newborn and young child’s body can start to recognize certain pathogens that are in the [gastrointestinal] tract.”

The organ is far from useless, and removal of a healthy appendix under most circumstances today is considered medical malpractice.

The Tale of the Tail

Most of the evolutionary faithful maintain that the human tailbone is a leftover, useless part from mankind’s ape-like ancestors. Darwin explained: “[T]he os coccyx corresponds with the true tail in the lower animals. … [I]n many monkeys the basal segments of the true tail are embedded … [and] plainly correspond with the four coalesced vertebrae of the human os coccyx” (The Descent of Man, 1871).

Some later evolutionists argued that the human coccyx was more of a reptilian relic than a mammalian one: “The human coccyx is an evolutionary remnant of an ancestral, reptilian tail …” (William D. Schraer and Herbert J. Stoltze, Biology: The Study of Life).

Though evolutionists disputed whether it descended from a simian ancestor or a reptilian one, they agreed that the tailbone is largely useless and, therefore, a proof of evolution.

In 1994, however, renowned anatomy professor David Menton produced evidence disproving the idea that the coccyx is vestigial. “[M]ost modern biology textbooks give the erroneous impression that the human coccyx has no real function other than to remind us of the ‘inescapable fact’ of evolution,” Menton wrote in Essays on Origins.

He explained that among the key functions of the coccyx is its acting as an anchor point for several converging muscles from the ring-like arrangement of the pelvic bones. “The incurved coccyx with its attached pelvic diaphragm keeps the many organs in our abdominal cavity from literally falling through between our legs” (ibid). Removal of the coccyx often causes incontinence and serious difficulties with sitting, standing or giving birth.

The evolutionary faithful long considered the tailbone vestigial and pointed to it as evidence against creation. But the tailbone, too, was placed in the body for a purpose.

The Body Is One

Biomedical research made great strides in the latter half of the century, and experts shortened the list of “functionless organs” considerably. By 1971, Encyclopedia Britannica labeled just over 100 human organs as vestigial. Research yielded more and more understanding about the importance of organs once called mere “accidents of nature.” One by one, they were proven to serve vital functions in the human body. For many biologists, Wiedersheim’s list—that once included over 180 vestigial organs—is now down to zero.

Again, the idea of vestigial organs lies at the heart of the evolutionary theory. As recently as 2004, prominent evolutionist Douglas Theobald said, “Some of the most renowned evidence for evolution are the various nonfunctional or rudimentary vestigial characters, both anatomical and molecular, that are found throughout biology” (29+ Evidences for Macroevolution).

Yet, the idea of “vestigial” organs is deeply flawed even in strictly scientific terms.

The argument claims that the organs in question have no function. But such a conclusion cannot be arrived at scientifically. Without infinite knowledge, it is impossible to prove that something has no function. The most a scientist could say would be that, despite rigorous efforts, no clear function was discovered for a certain organ, but that a future experimenter may well uncover one.

The heart of the vestigial organ argument, then, is either an acknowledgment of ignorance (“I wasn’t able to discover the function”), or a scientifically flawed statement (“It has no function”). Observational or experimental science allows no place for such a statement. Reputable scientists acknowledge that the teaching of “vestigial organs” actually retarded the progress of science for years. Rather than experiment to discover the purpose of structures like the appendix or tonsils, they were called “vestigial” and removed.

So, how did such a flawed theory gain widespread acceptance? The idea is the product of men groping for evidence to back the theory of evolution.

Adherents of this theory didn’t immediately see a use for certain body parts, so they hastily, blithely branded those organs as useless—or even harmful. The notion was based on a lack of knowledge about how the human body functions. Even vitally important organs such as the parathyroid and thymus glands were considered vestigial until fairly recently, simply because experts didn’t understand their crucial purposes. And, despite the fact that modern science has found purposes for all organs in the body—and that future experimentation will certainly reveal even more—evolutionists still cite “vestigial organs” as one of the sturdiest proofs for evolution and against design by an intelligent Creator.

Why are these scientists willing to compromise their objectivity, which is one of the foundations of science?

Done With a Purpose

In the centuries leading up to the Scientific Revolution, the Catholic Church reigned as the primary authority and knowledge source for much of the world. The clergy often viewed scientists and their discoveries as a threat to Catholic doctrine, and sometimes embarrassed the church by striving to defend erroneous church teachings like geocentrism that science offered empirical evidence against.

Competition intensified between science and the church, and, for some scientists, the desire to undermine the church’s authority became the driving force. Some scientists aimed to challenge God’s very existence as a way to discredit the underpinnings of religion. Such reasoning spawned the evolutionary theory. Proponents of the evolutionary theory have sometimes undertaken studies with that conclusion already firmly in mind. Whatever they can contort into supporting the arguments for evolution, they keep. All else they often reject or downplay.

Long before the evolutionary theory was hatched, the Apostle Paul labeled such movements “science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20). True science upholds objectivity and seeks truth free of any agenda. A person’s understanding of the human body will be incomplete until he accepts that it is “fearfully and wonderfully made” by a Supreme Being (Psalm 139:14). This Creator designed mankind after His own image (Genesis 1:26-27). He placed organs within the body in a specific way and for a specific purpose, and He called His design “very good” (verse 31).

The advancement of science only brings the perfection of the Creator’s designs more clearly to light. Evolutionists strive to present plausible-sounding arguments to the contrary, but this only reveals how blind and irrational the evolutionary religion truly is. The astonishing perfection and purpose in every element of the body’s design should deepen man’s faith in the divine intelligence behind our existence (Romans 1:20). But when evolutionists are confronted by proof of this Divinity, they instead resort to extremes of ludicrousness, striving to attribute the wonders of the human body to blind coincidence. In so doing, they unknowingly exercise a blind, deceptive and irrational religious faith.

Christians face a difficult battle against this blind faith in science, which is often found even among religious adherents. We must be able to recognize this blind faith in order to weigh evidence objectively. If we resist the vain, intellectual allure of this blind but fashionable faith, then we make it possible for the wonderment of God’s masterful biological designs to boost our faith in the Omnipotent Creator. And His purpose for our lives is as perfect as the bodies He designed to sustain us!

Sidebar: The Appendix; Why So Disease Prone?

If the appendix was created for a purpose and is indeed functional, why do many suffer from appendicitis, requiring the organ to be surgically removed?

Disease and degeneration do not reflect on the suitability of God’s original design, but are the result of man rejecting God’s law, and instead living by his own ideas. Additionally, appendicitis is common only in populations that subsist on a very highly processed and refined modern diet. Societies enjoying a high-fiber diet of vegetables, fruits and unrefined grains have very low instances of the disease.

Morning-After Pills for All

Tyrel Schlote — 2013-06-14T05:00:00+01:00

In a controversial move, the Obama administration has announced it will allow the morning-after pill Plan B One-Step to be sold to girls and women of all ages without prescription or proof of identity.

The government announced on Monday that it will drop its appeal of U.S. District Judge Edward Korman’s ruling to make the pill available to females age 15 and up without prescription. Back in April, Judge Korman overturned a ruling that required girls younger than 17 to have a prescription for the pill. When Plan B One-Step was first created in 2011, it was going to be made available to all girls and women without a prescription, but Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the decision and implemented the requirement for a prescription instead.

When the government filed its appeal last week, a federal appeals court decided to block the unrestricted sales of Plan B until the appeal was resolved, but ruled that it would allow the more generic, cheaper, two-pill version to be sold over the counter without a prescription to girls and women of all ages. The government, not wanting the two-pill version to become widely available, dropped its appeal, making Plan B One-Step available to all child-bearing-age females without a prescription or ID. The Food and Drug Association said there is less safety data available on the use of the two-pill version by younger adults than there is for the Plan B One-Step, which it approved to be “safe” for all ages.

This move has caused concern among certain groups which feel the decision shows contempt for parental rights and limits the amount of influence parents have in their children’s lives.

“A 12-year-old girl in a New York City school cannot be given an aspirin by her teacher, even if she has a fever. The same girl cannot buy a large soda during lunchtime because Mayor Michael Bloomberg has decreed that it is not good for her. But she can be given a pill, unbeknownst to her parents, that could arguably abort her baby,” notes Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

However, women’s rights groups are hailing the move as “a huge breakthrough” in the fight for women’s health and equality. Up to this point, many had criticized the government for bringing politics into the issue. “It’s about time that the administration stopped opposing women having access to safe and effective birth control,” said Annie Tummino, coordinator of National Women’s Liberation.

While both sides banter over the government’s decision, both sides are missing two big points.

First, America is hooked on promiscuous sex. While “pro-choice” groups see the pill as “reproductive justice” and a benefit to women’s health, pro-family groups are mostly focusing on why teenagers shouldn’t have such free access to contraceptives. Nobody is even talking about the universal problem of fornication. As Trumpet columnist Stephen Flurry wrote in March last year,

Promoting everyone’s right—including that of young teenagers—to a consequence-free, illicit lifestyle of casual sex now trumps the constitutional right every American once had to practice his or her religious convictions. And make no mistake, America’s government is the state religion when it comes to actively and aggressively promoting a sexually deviant lifestyle—a lifestyle that undermines everything God teaches about marriage, family and sex.

Second, the morning-after pill is potentially a form of abortion. It works by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting itself in the uterus. In other words, the already conceived embryo dies because it is unable to implant itself in the mother’s uterus. This is a form of abortion by any traditional definition. To treat that so casually as to make it available over the counter even to teenagers shows contempt for that unborn life. To understand why this is so serious, read “Is Abortion Really Murder?”

America’s backward values regarding sex and family are at complete odds with the wholesome values God outlines in the Bible. Herbert W. Armstrong outlined these values in his book The Missing Dimension in Sex. But America has rejected those values and gone its own way. To learn more about the birth control issue in America, read “The Inalienable Right to Illicit Sex.”