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The Mourning After

Joel Hilliker — 2013-05-23T05:00:00+01:00

Spare a thought for 24 million of our fellow human beings, made in God’s image, living in North Korea, mourning the death of their Dear Leader. Their suffering has a lot to teach us.

For over six decades, the rule of Kim Jong Il and his father, Kim Il Sung, is all these people have known. Before that was decades of harsh, exploitative rule by the imperialist Japanese.

Kim Il Sung institutionalized a grotesque combination of oppression and cult of personality. He enacted Communist policies that isolated his country and impoverished his people. He outlawed dissent. He condemned his enemies and political opponents and their families to prison camps, without trial, for life. Meanwhile, he erected monuments to himself by the tens of thousands and enshrined himself in the constitution as the nation’s “Eternal President.” He suppressed all religion outside the worship of himself.

The unsettling result of this propagandism was on display when Kim Il Sung died in 1994 at age 82. His son declared a 10-day grieving period, and hundreds of thousands attended his funeral, outdoing one another with their weeping and gnashing of teeth. The crowds were so intense that some mourners actually died in the crush.

What can explain it? How can a people so tyrannized grieve so much at the loss of the tyrant?

Kim’s body was preserved and embalmed in a glass coffin for viewing—where it bizarrely remains. To this day, this corpse is legally the president of North Korea.

Kim Jong Il ruthlessly perpetuated his father’s failed totalitarian policies. He funneled much of the poor country’s money into building a massive army and weapons of mass destruction. His government’s economic mismanagement has made life miserable for millions. His people suffer from chronic malnutrition; hunger and famine are rife.

Such failure is carefully preserved through crushing authoritarianism. The government controls information, stamps out freedom of speech and the right to privacy, censors all radio, tv and news organizations, blocks outside media, and strictly monitors its citizens’ correspondence. North Koreans have no right to privacy, and no freedom of assembly or religion except to worship the Dear Leader or his father, the Great Leader.

Those who break the rules pay terrifying penalties. Korea’s gulags are chambers of horrors: arbitrary imprisonment in terrible conditions, hard labor, torture, forced abortions, infanticide, deliberate starvation, public executions by hanging or firing squad, cannibalism. The percentage of his people who have starved or wasted away in his concentration camps puts Kim Jong Il among the bloodiest dictators of the 20th century.

Yet when he died in December, we became witness to the same unearthly story: uncontrollable crying and anguish on display by a nation of mourners. “Father!” they cried—speaking not of God, but of Kim—beating their chests, convulsing, losing their balance between sobs.

It is sincere sorrow; genuine agony felt by people programmed every day of their lives to worship this man. Even as he trampled and ruined them.

This is a disturbing example of how vulnerable human minds are to deception. An intelligent adult can become conditioned to accept the perverse as normal—especially when he has no accurate gauge of measurement and propaganda colors his thinking. He can actually embrace circumstances that are beneath the God-given dignity of human beings.

The noble, longsuffering North Koreans are an extreme example. But such deception is not nearly as isolated as you might think.

The Bible reveals that all nations are under a deadly deception foisted on them by a tyrant worse than Kim Jong Il (Revelation 12:9). Satan is the deceiver of this whole world.

Herbert W. Armstrong explained this remarkable truth in A World Held Captive. He wrote of Patty Hearst, who was kidnapped and brainwashed into preferring the criminal life of her captors. “But most astonishing,” he wrote, “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 devil’s way of life causes nothing but misery. Yet from our earliest days in life, Satan bombards us with propaganda to the contrary. He is “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” encouraging people to satisfy their lusts (Ephesians 2:2-3). Sin is bondage. When we fall into its snare, we become captive slaves (2 Peter 2:19; 2 Timothy 2:26). Yet the vast majority are duped, blinded to their plight. In their deception they are convinced of the inherent rightness and goodness of the very things that are destroying them.

People are so deceived, in fact, that when God brings this beastly, oppressive dictator to justice, Scripture prophesies a scene uncannily similar to what happened in North Korea. As much suffering as Satan’s beast power has caused, when it falls, people will “bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning” (see Revelation 18:9-11).

The story in North Korea is one of a queer and tragic type of unrequited love: people deceived into loving the cruel dictator who did not love them back. It typifies a greater tragedy enveloping our whole world. But soon—very soon—God will permanently dethrone “the god of this world” and free North Koreans and all other peoples from their captivity. He will establish a new world, a world free of deception. Jesus Christ will rule as King of kings, and as He promised, “[Y]e shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

China Expands Its Sphere in the South Pacific

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-23T05:00:00+01:00

China is once again working to expand its reach in the South China Sea. Its latest target is the Philippines. Recently China sailed a warship, two surveillance vessels and fishing boats into an area occupied by the Philippines’ military, causing an outcry from Philippine officials on Tuesday. While this small conglomerate of ships may pose little immediate threat, this is just the latest step in China’s expansion in the Pacific.

The controversial area these vessels entered was the Ayungin Shoal in the province of Palawan, a shoal that is part of the heavily contested Spratly Islands. According to the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs, the shoal is part of Philippine territory as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (unclos). However, these islands are also claimed by China, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia.

While this intrusion prompted Filipino President Benigno Aquino iii to announce plans to upgrade the country’s aging navy, China isn’t planning to wait around for that; it has already been busy making its presence felt in the island region. China is said to have recently been constructing military structures in the Union Bank, a group of islands that are also within the territorial boundaries of the Philippines as defined by unclos. China has also established itself on a number of other islands in the region, including Mischief Reef and Subi Reef.

While the Spratly Islands have been contested for decades, this is the second time in less than a year that China has made headlines over territorial disputes. Late last year, China and Japan butted heads over the Diaoyu islands (called Senkaku in Japan), a dispute that is still ongoing.

The implications of these advances go far beyond just territorial acquisition. This is yet another move to expose America’s unwillingness to face Chinese expansion.

Sounds extreme?

The United States has an agreement with both Japan and the Philippines that says it will come to their aid should they be attacked. But right now, the U.S. has no desire to commit to another war, especially against such a power as China. The Philippines can talk big as much as it wants, but without the backing of the U.S., it knows it doesn’t stand a chance in a conflict with China.

But why should America care about a nation like the Philippines? Should America even be concerned with the Pacific?

The Philippines is America’s first line of defense against an attack from Asia. After the Philippines, all there is are small, inconsequential island chains, followed by Hawaii. Beyond that, it’s a straight shot to the American coast.

The Philippines is vital to controlling the Pacific. World War ii proves that. Back then, the U.S. didn’t see the importance of defending the Philippines, but Gen. Douglas MacArthur was there, calling for America to intervene against Japan. You can see this history and the importance of the Philippines in the recent Key of David Web Exclusive “Japan Wants Military—U.S. Yawns, Ignores History.” Sadly, nothing has changed since World War ii. Just as America did not realize the strategic importance of the Philippines back then, it doesn’t fully appreciate it today. Only now, America doesn’t have a General MacArthur to wake us from our stupor.

Don’t expect the Chinese to back down from any of these disputes. Who’s going to stop them? For a more in-depth look at the situation, read “Will China Call America’s Military Bluff?”

The Ayatollah's Presidential Election

Callum Wood — 2013-05-23T05:00:00+01:00

As the June 14 Iranian presidential election draws closer, speculation remains over who will take the seat that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has filled for the past eight years. Those who would hope the Iranian people will rally to bring change to Iran may be disappointed. The truth is, the decision doesn’t rest with the Iranian people. It rests with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

When outgoing President Ahmadinejad steps down, he will leave office on less than favorable terms with the ayatollah. The relationship has soured slowly for a number of years, beginning with the president’s reelection in 2009. Constitutional law prevents a president from running for a third term in office. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s second term in office has seen him step out from under the guiding hand of the ayatollah as he has no longer needed to worry about public opinion. There have been a number of instances when the president has defied the ayatollah in recent months. In February, the ayatollah warned that anyone bickering publicly about the election would be guilty of treason. President Ahmadinejad defied the order by getting into a heated debate with parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani.

Now the system being guided by the ayatollah will attempt to establish a new puppet president who will be more inclined to do as he is told, much like Ahmadinejad was in his first term.

It is certainly within the ayatollah’s means to elect the president of his choice. That might seem unlikely, considering there were over 680 contenders for the office. However, that enormous conglomerate of contenders has been pared down to just a few. The responsibility of selecting the few contenders fell to the Guardian Council. This group is comprised of 12 clerics. Six of them have been directly appointed by the ayatollah himself; the other six were appointed by the judiciary and approved by parliament, both of which are heavily influenced by the ayatollah.

The Guardian Council is the most influential body within Iran. It approves all bills that go through parliament and has the ability to bar candidates from running in elections for parliament. More importantly for the upcoming election, it can veto candidates for the presidency.

The Iranian-owned Press tv quoted Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei as saying the Council “does not work based on numbers, but based on criteria.” So if Council members believe a candidate suits them—or suits the ayatollah—then they will allow him to run for office. Those who are pro-ayatollah have a significant advantage over the rest. From hundreds of candidates, only eight will run for office.

For President Ahmadinejad, getting his own candidate into office was a long shot from the start. The man widely alleged to be Mr. Ahmedinejad’s choice was Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. A close ally of the current president, Mr. Mashaei was slated to be one of two controversial candidates. Unfortunately for the president and Mr. Mashaei, the Guardian Council blocked him from entering the race. He is widely known for his controversial religious views, which have drawn him a lot of rebuke from clerics. He is subsequently barred, and Mr. Ahmedinejad’s best chance of choosing a successor is gone.

The other man who looked to be a good contender was former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The 78-year-old announced his candidacy late in the race and received plenty of public support. As a remnant of the revolutionary days and the fourth president of Iran, Mr. Rafsanjani seemed to be a fan of the people. However, he too was not so popular with the ayatollah and the Guardian Council. He was barred after the Guardian Council ruled he was too old to run for office.

Critics of the elderly contender also accused him of fueling the riots in Tehran following the 2009 election. Because Mr. Rafsanjani didn’t condemn the rioters, he is now accused of being a part of their movement.

Mr. Mashaei and Mr. Rafsanjani were widely considered the best chance for change within the regime. With both men removed, the ayatollah will pick who will be the next puppet president.

Even if the influence of the Guardian Council isn’t enough to swing the votes, the ayatollah also has the Central Election Board, which will oversee the election. It too is under the sway of the ayatollah.

With the election over three weeks away, there is still time for plenty of debate over who will take office. However, there is one contender that stands out at the moment: Saeed Jalili. He is currently Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator with the international community. Mr. Jalili has refused to make any concessions in nuclear talks, drawing condemnation from nations such as the United States for his stalling. He has allowed Iran’s nuclear program to continue forward.

If Jalili is elected into office, he will face tough economic problems. Sanctions are crippling the economy, but are not stopping the nuclear program. If Jalili does take office, there is unlikely to be considerable change. Under Ahmadinejad, the nuclear program couldn’t have gone ahead without the support of the ayatollah. With a newly appointed president who is more tightly connected to the ayatollah’s political circle, things will be unlikely to change.

Jalili aside, with all opposition removed, one might expect Iran to return to its 2009 state, when protesters took to the streets to contest the reelection of President Ahmadinejad. After a brief moment in the world headlines, the movement was crushed by the Iranian government. Dozens of activists were killed and hundreds were arrested.

Rioting on this scale is unlikely to happen again. Many of the leaders of opposition groups that united after the last elections, such as the Green Movement, were arrested and are still under house arrest today. The government isn’t taking any chances. Authorities have moved to lock down the youth headquarters of Rafsanjani’s youth supporters. Lessons were learned from the 2009 rioting, and the government won’t be so easily caught unawares this time around.

The ayatollah has so far steered the election with a typical iron grip. Dissent is rarely tolerated for long in Iran. The barring of outspoken presidential candidates, the arrest of protesters, the steering of elections in order to obtain a puppet president—all of it boils down to the fact that things are not about to get better with the election of a new president.

Whoever the new president is, he will remain firmly under the control of Ayatollah Khamenei. And for those who might still hope for change, look at what the ayatollah has called on the voters to do (keeping in mind that he holds powerful sway over much of the population). In one speech leading up to the selection of candidates, he told voters to choose a candidate who will “move the country forward in a pace similar to the current one or even faster.”

That means the same policies, the same belligerence, the same radical ideals and the same destructive goals. Looking at the way the election race is playing out, it would appear Iran is heading down the same course as under Ahmadinejad. This prospect is backed up by Bible prophecy.

Iran is the head of the prophesied king of the south (Daniel 11:40). With Iran at the head, this bloc will “push” at the king of the north, a unified Europe. One way that Iran may push is through its attempt to gain nuclear weapons. The longer Iran works to obtain the bomb, the more of a threat it becomes to Europe and the world. With the situation remaining the way it is in Iran, that time could be on us very soon. The election of another puppet president, one even more in line with the radical ayatollah, will be one more step toward that eventuality.

If you want to understand the dramatic events that will center around Iran, read The King of the South. It is completely free and will help you to understand the catastrophes to come.

Seven Keys to Answered Prayer

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-22T17:00:00+01:00

God has literally hundreds of promises written down for you in His Word saying that under certain terms and conditions, He will cause things to happen for you if you will ask Him. He promises supernatural intervention. He promises to deliver you from trouble, to supply your every necessity, to fight your personal battles for you, to heal you when you are sick and even to prosper you financially!

Why then, do the prayers of most people go unanswered? The vast majority simply do not know how to pray. The Bible reveals seven basic conditions you should fulfill to be certain your prayers will be answered. Let’s learn what they are.

1. Know God’s Will

1. To get answers to our prayers, what example did Jesus set that we should follow? John 5:30, last part. Are we also to understand God’s will? Ephesians 5:17. How can we get to know His will? 2 Timothy 2:15.

Comment: By studying God’s will, which is revealed in the Bible, you will begin to think more as God thinks. You will come to know that God is love and that His will is for our good.

2. If we pray according to God’s will, can we know that God will answer our prayers? 1 John 5:14-15.

3. After God led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, they rebelled to the extent that His wrath was stirred! Consequently, what did God tell Moses He would do? Exodus 32:9-10. Did Moses immediately intercede on behalf of Israel and ask God to spare the nation? Verses 11-13. Did God listen to Moses? Verse 14.

Comment: Notice how Moses pleaded with God. He recalled the promises God had made to Abraham, Isaac and Israel, which revealed God’s will to multiply and bless their descendants. It was Moses’s faith in those promises—and his assurance that God would abide by them—that gave him such boldness in talking to his Creator!

4. Are we to approach God’s glorious throne with boldness? Hebrews 4:16.

Comment: When Moses prayed for Israel, he was able to pray boldly and courageously because he knew God’s will. To pray with real faith and confidence, you too must first know God’s will. You must come to know how God thinks and acts. You must understand the purpose He is working out on Earth and the promises He has made in His Word.

2. Believe God

1. According to Jesus Christ, is it essential to believe God before we can receive what we ask of Him? Mark 11:24.

Comment: Most people do not realize that a disbelief that God will keep His promises or back up His Word is simply a lack of faith.

2. Does the Apostle James, the brother of Jesus, confirm that faith is an absolute prerequisite to receiving answers to our prayers? James 1:5-7.

Comment: The person who “wavers,” or doubts God, will not receive an answer to his prayers. If you lack the faith to trust God, ask God to give it to you. After all, faith is one of the “fruits” of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22), which is a gift from God.

3. A stunning example of answered prayer is recorded in 1 Kings 18:20-39, where you read about the Prophet Elijah confronting the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Was there any doubt in Elijah’s mind that God would perform a miraculous feat?  1 Kings 18:36-37. Did Elijah get the results he prayed for? Verses 38-39.

Comment: Notice that Elijah, like Moses, knew God’s will and gave it as a reason for God to intervene (verse 36)—never doubting that He would!

3. Obey God

To get results from your prayers, you must not only know God’s will and believe Him, you must also be willing to act on His Word.

1. What does God label the person who says he “knows God,” and yet does not keep His commandments? 1 John 2:4.

Comment: If you haven’t yet learned to accept God’s Word as the authority in your life, then you can’t really get to know God through prayer.

2. Can those who persistently refuse to keep God’s commandments really expect Him to answer their prayers? 1 Peter 3:12. What is “doing evil”—what is sin? 1 John 3:4. Does sin cut you off from God? Isaiah 59:1-2.

Comment: Here is one of the major reasons why so many prayers are not answered. God will not listen to a person who rebels and persistently disobeys His Word.

However, in certain instances, God does sometimes hear and answer the prayers of those who, in ignorance of the full intent of His law, are not conscious of their sins, but obey Him as far as they know. The lepers and cripples who came to Jesus to be healed didn’t know all of God’s truth, but they did realize that Jesus was sent from God and could heal; and they acted on what they knew.

So it is a matter of your heart or attitude. If you come to God in a humble, repentant spirit and are determined to obey Him to the best of your knowledge and ability, He will hear your prayers. But for anyone who knows the truth, there is no excuse to disobey God.

3. Can true Christians have a special confidence that God will answer their prayers if they are obedient? 1 John 3:22.

4. Fear and Humility

Too many have a self-sufficient attitude and think they can get along fine without God. They neither fear God, nor respect His Word as the authority in their lives. If people with that mindset pray, does God respond? Let’s understand.

1. What is the first prerequisite to be able to understand God and His ways? Psalms 111:10; 112:1.

Comment: To “fear” God means to revere Him—to stand in awe of Him, His law, His government and His will for us. It means we are apprehensive to disobey Him. The fear of God is not dread or terror. Rather, it springs from love. When we approach our Creator in that attitude—deeply respecting His power and authority over our lives—He will hear our prayers.

2. What kind of person does God relate to? Isaiah 66:2.

Comment: The word poor refers to humility, not poverty. God regards those who are truly humble—void of pride, arrogance and self-righteousness. He esteems those who tremble at, or very carefully observe, His words; and those who are of a contrite spirit—deeply affected by and repentant of disobeying His instructions and commandments.

On the other hand, God resists the proud (James 4:6).

The attitude of godly fear and humility is vital in prayer and at all other times.

5. Be Fervent

1. How is fervent prayer described in the Bible?  2 Chronicles 32:20; Psalm 62:8.

Comment: Notice the words “prayed and cried” (figuratively crying out, and at times literally crying) and “pour out your heart.”

It is common today among many to recite brief, memorized prayers, word for word. God is not moved by prayers of rote because they are not from the heart.

2. How fervent was Jesus in His prayers? Hebrews 5:7.

Comment: When Jesus prayed to the Father, He meant it. His prayers had deep meaning. He felt them. He was deeply moved on many occasions when He communed with God.

3. What can you expect if you pray fervently? James 5:16.

Comment: This kind of prayer “avails much”—it achieves great results! Energetic, heartfelt prayers are well-pleasing to God. When you wholeheartedly call upon God, you can expect real answers to your prayers.

6. Be Persistent

Some people, if God doesn’t answer right away, begin to lose faith and give up praying. They forget that although God promises to answer when we ask according to His will, He nowhere promises to answer right away. God does not tell us exactly how or precisely when the answer will come.

1. Is this why Jesus gave the parable of the persistent widow? Luke 18:1-8.

Comment: The New International Version correctly renders the words “not to faint” as “not give up”! Jesus gave this parable to show that even an unrighteous judge would finally hear the pleas of a widow who kept coming to him. So we should keep praying to God, even though He sometimes doesn’t answer right away.

2. Is God building patient faith into our character if we have to wait on Him to answer a prayer? James 1:3-4.

Comment: We must be persistent in prayer until God answers. If He doesn’t answer your prayers immediately, exercise patience and keep praying until He does answer.

However, don’t nag at God! He has supreme wisdom to know when and how to best answer your prayers. Occasionally remind God about your problems or afflictions; don’t cease praying about them.

God always keeps His promises—He cannot lie (Titus 1:2)—so He is bound to perform His part in His own time.

7. Use Christ’s Name

The seventh condition of answered prayer is the correct use of Christ’s name. This is a greatly misunderstood subject, and Christ’s name is often abused.

1. Is it possible to have access to the Father apart from Jesus Christ? Ephesians 2:13, 18.

2. After Jesus had been with His disciples for over three years and had taught them God’s will and how to obey it, how did He say they could petition the Father directly, for His help? John 14:13-14; 16:23-24.

Comment: These verses give us the privilege of employing Christ’s name—asking by His authority—when we pray to God the Father.

Most people misunderstand how we can ask “in Jesus’s name.” When a government sends an ambassador—its chosen representative—to another country, he is given authority to carry out certain business in the name of, or on behalf of, that government. His authority is limited to do only what the government has specifically authorized him to do. Likewise, God’s children can rightfully ask the Father for things “in Jesus’s name” when they know it is His will—that His authority stands behind it. Just rattling off the words “in Jesus’s name” to a prayer that is contrary to His will is of no avail! You need to study the Bible to know more about the principles of Christ’s will, in order that you may ask by His authority.

God wants to hear from you, but He will not force you to do anything. You must choose to rely on Him—to humble yourself, recognize your weaknesses, and depend on Him. When you do, your prayers will accomplish a miraculous change in your life. So pray to God every day—continually, regularly, fervently—and expect God to answer!

A Bloody Week in Iraq

Callum Wood — 2013-05-22T05:00:00+01:00

Iraq has seen yet another seven days of carnage. What started as peaceful protests between Sunni and Shiite Arabs has led to bloody reprisal attacks, similar to those that nearly led to civil war in 2006 and 2007.

To grasp the magnitude of the destruction since Wednesday last week, let’s look first at the Boston bombing on April 15. The horrific attack on American soil shocked the nation, waking many up to the dangers that we face from terrorism. It claimed the lives of three spectators, and a police officer was killed during a gunfight with the terrorist brothers on April 18.

Now look at the events in Iraq from Wednesday May 15, to Monday, May 20.

On Wednesday, a series of car bombs ripped through a number of Shiite districts in Baghdad, claiming the lives of 22 people. The same day, 10 people were killed when two car bombs exploded in the city of Kirkuk. On the outskirts of the city, two policemen were killed by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle, and a roadside bomb detonated near Mosul, killing another policeman.

That was one day.

Thursday was relatively quiet. Twelve people were killed at a local mosque as they paid condolences to those murdered the day before. This year there have been 45 attacks on mosques. Ten of those attacks were in April.

On Friday, 13 people, including at least eight police officers, were taken hostage. The Shiite government suspected Sunni insurgents were responsible.

Bombs went off in Sunni areas in and around Baghdad, killing at least 76 people. It was the bloodiest day of violence in Iraq in more than eight months. The majority of the attacks were against Sunni groups, one of which was a funeral procession. Eight people died in that attack. The body count since Wednesday was hovering around 130.

On Saturday, 14 Shiites were killed in Basra. In retaliation, a Sunni cleric was gunned down later that same day. The police taken hostage on Friday were found in the Anbar province. They had been executed and dumped in the desert.

On Sunday, more police were killed at checkpoints in the Anbar province when Sunni insurgents conducted a series of drive-by shootings.

On Monday, 10 explosions rocked Baghdad. Sixty-four people were killed and 170 were injured. Fourteen people were killed in Basra and three in Samarra. Eight police officers were murdered while out on patrol near the town of Haditha.

That brings the death toll to roughly 200 since Wednesday, with exact numbers still speculative due to the type and frequency of attacks. At this rate, May might catch up to April, which saw 700 deaths in such attacks across the nation.

Look at that in relation to the attacks in Boston. In one week Iraq saw a death toll almost 67 times greater than that of the Boston bombings. As tragic as the Boston bombing was, the numbers pale in comparison to the violence that is now sweeping across Iraq.

This latest round of violence in war-torn Iraq stemmed from a clash between Sunni protesters and government forces on April 23. The protesters were in a camp called al-Hawijah. The government had told them to hand over militants that were suspected of killing a government soldier earlier that month. When the protesters refused, the situation turned violent and led to the deaths of 25 protesters and three soldiers.

Since then, Sunni versus Shiite conflict has been tearing the country apart. Of course, this sort of Islamic infighting is nothing new. Sunnis and Shiites have been at each other’s throats in Iraq for years. And just to the west in Syria, the Sunni majority are attempting to overthrow the Shiite minority which rules under President Bashar Assad. The difference in Iraq is that the Sunnis are the minority. With the fighting in Syria going so well for the Sunnis, it has undoubtedly emboldened and empowered the Sunnis in Iraq.

Back in 2006 and 2007, Iraq came close to civil war. Thousands died as the Sunnis and Shiites turned on each other. The violence was eventually quelled, largely due to the fact that there was a substantial number of U.S. troops in the country.

Today, the situation could prove far more dangerous. In 2006, there were U.S. troops. There is barely any tangible U.S. influence today. In 2006, there was no conflict on the western border. Today, civil war rages between the Sunnis and Shiites in Syria. Though it may be politically driven rather than religiously, the war in Syria can still work to provoke conflict in Iraq, where political and religious tensions are becoming more and more intertwined. Without a U.S. mediator, and with increasing violence in Syria, Iraq might descend into the civil war that was narrowly avoided in 2006 and 2007.

With so much bloodshed, violence, turmoil and chaos, it can be easy to get lost in the statistics, or caught up in the moment, and fail to see the broader picture of what is happening in the Middle East. What is important to note is how the situation will eventually play out, because it will affect you. The bombing in Boston shocked America because it occurred here, in our own country. We should also pay heed to the violence in the Middle East, because it is a sign of things to come.

With the aid of Bible prophecy, we can know that Iraq will remain aligned with Iran. They will be a part of what the Bible describes as the king of the south. They will ally together against the king of the north, a unified European power.

As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in the June 2003 Trumpet print edition,

Daniel 11:40 through Daniel 12:13 happens during the “time of the end.” Oil and money give the king of the south power to “push” and trigger a world catastrophe! …

All of these events are tied together. They are horrifying to contemplate! The Bible says we are about to see a religious clash that will stagger this world!

Bible prophecy is being fulfilled as you read this article. These prophecies are exploding on the world scene right now at a dizzying pace. This world is about to be plunged into its greatest suffering ever .… It will all begin in the Middle East.

As you read about the terrible tragedies occurring in the Middle East—Iraq or elsewhere—remember that they are tied directly to Bible prophecy, and will affect each and every one of us. Read Mr. Flurry’s article “Is Iraq About to Fall to Iran?” to further grasp the magnitude of where these terrible events are leading in the Middle East.

Muslims and Assimilation in Germany

Callum Wood — 2013-05-22T05:00:00+01:00

The German Islam Conference, widely believed to be one of the best hopes for Muslim integration in Germany, ended its annual conference in failure. The meeting, held in Berlin on May 7, revolved around three main issues that involve the Muslim community. They were, “institutional cooperation between Muslims and the German state; gender equality as a common value; and prevention of extremism, radicalization and social polarization.”

There are currently an estimated 4.3 million Muslims living in Germany. They make up 5 percent of the population. The reason for the large number of Muslims living in Germany can be traced back to the signing of a labor recruitment agreement between West Germany and Turkey on Oct 30, 1961. The treaty allowed “guest workers” to come in from Turkey and work. They were originally supposed to stay for only two years, but the treaty was altered in 1964, removing the “rotation clause,” which meant that the workers could stay. Turks are now the largest ethnic minority in the country and play an increasingly important role in the German workplace.

With an aging population, Germany needs a younger workforce. If Germany isn’t careful, it will put itself in a position similar to that which the U.S. is starting to find itself in. The ability to pay all the pensioners is becoming less viable as retiree numbers swell. As time goes on, Germany is becoming more dependent on immigrants. For instance, the birth rate of the Turkish immigrants in Germany is nearly double that of the native German population. This ensures the availability of young, skilled workers—and the continual growth of the Muslim population.

The German Islam Conference takes in a conglomeration of representatives from all the Muslim sects within Germany and attempts to deal with current issues and gain input from the Muslim minority within the German population. The German government failed to make significant inroads through the use of the conference this year. The failure is partially because the Muslim representatives are refusing to take any blame for the problems being brought up.

Of the three issues the conference tried to deal with, the last was by far the most controversial. The Muslim representatives were outraged at the notion that the government was concerned about risks posed by radical Islam. German members of the conference brought up the subject of “prevention of extremism,” due to a growing concern from within the governments of European nations, primarily Germany.

In 2012, German Intelligence Chief Gerhard Schindler issued a warning that Europe is at “great risk” of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists. The threat stems from homegrown terrorists. These terrorists are European Muslims that travel to war zones such as Yemen or Afghanistan to obtain training as terrorists. The warning from Schindler came at a time when three terrorists were captured by Spanish authorities. The men were arrested on charges of planning to bomb a shopping mall in Gibraltar, the British island to the south of Spain.

Europe has plenty of reason to be suspicious of radical Islam. On July 19, 2012, a bomb ripped apart a bus in Bulgaria, killing five Israeli tourists. The attack was linked to the terrorist group Hezbollah, which is based out of Lebanon. Despite overwhelming evidence of the threat posed by radical Islam, the Muslim representatives at the German Islam Conference refused to see it.

Instead, the Muslim representatives wanted to focus more on the first issue. The “institutional cooperation between Muslims and the German state” was intended to cover a number of points such as “promoting the introduction of comprehensive Islamic religious introduction in public schools.” The German government has made headway in this area in the past, but the Muslim representatives said they wanted to remove German authorities “meddling” in the process of choosing teachers.

Germany has reason for being selective in whom they allow to teach Islam. Many of the Muslims in Germany are not considered radical, but through indoctrination or improper teaching by extremist groups, there is always the risk of radicalizing by hard-line clerics. Extremist groups do operate within Germany. On March 13, 2013, three Islamist groups were banned from Germany following a series of police raids. No arrests were made, but large sums of cash, as well as German and Arabic propaganda material were discovered.

There was no progress made on “institutional cooperation between Muslims and the German State.” There wasn’t any progress on the second issue either. The German government officials went in with the hope of tackling the issue of violence against women in the Muslim community, forced marriage, and overall gender equality. Instead, the Muslims just wanted to put the focus on the issue of women wearing burkas. They demanded that German employers promise not to discriminate against Muslim women who want to wear burkas to work.

All three of the issues that the German authorities focused on in the conference were bluntly rebutted by the German Muslims. The first, the assimilation issue between Muslims and the government, was dulled by the Muslims just calling on the German government to make more concessions and accusing it of “interfering” with Islamic teaching. The second issue, gender equality, was denied as even being a problem by the Muslims, and instead, they minimized the issue to the point where it was just about getting concessions for burka-wearing women. The third and final issue, dealing with the threat from radical Islam, simply enraged the Muslims. They refused to see the dangers posed by extremists conducting terrorist acts within the nation, and on the broader European continent.

The conference was a failure.

Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich came away from the conference as one of the few who thought it was a positive meeting. His political opponents had other ideas. Social Democratic Party (spd) parliamentary leader Thomas Oppermann said that Friedrich “is only interested in security and terrorism” and has led the [German Islam Conference] to a “dead end.”

The Muslims wanted the conference to end with more concessions and religious freedoms, whereas the Germans were hoping to come away with a stronger sense of security. Neither got what they wanted. Full Muslim integration into German society is not something that is going to happen.

Butting heads with the government is not the only blockade on the path to Muslim integration. The majority of native German people are also opposed to Muslim assimilation.

According to a study by the spd-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation, “Europeans are largely united in their rejection of Muslims and Islam. The significantly most widespread anti-Muslim attitudes are found in Germany, Hungary, Italy and Poland, closely followed by France, Great Britain and the Netherlands.” A case study by the Migration Policy Institute said “Almost half of all Germans said that there are too many Muslims living in the country—even though they make up only 5 percent of the population; that they are too demanding, and that their religion is intolerant.”

Germans are unwilling to accept Muslims if they won’t conform to the German way of life, and the Muslims don’t want to give up their own religion in exchange for living in Germany. That is why the German Islam Conference cannot work. That is why Germany and Islam will continue to clash. Right now, that clash is domestic. Yet prophecy reveals that very soon the clash will take on a much broader application.

The Bible prophesies of a clash between the king of the north—a unified Europe led by Germany—and the king of the south—a league of Islamic nations led by Iran. The Trumpet is offering you two free booklets that cover this subject in vivid detail. They are Germany and the Holy Roman Empire and The King of the South. Order and read these booklets. They will give you insight into why the assimilation of Muslims into Germany will never work.

You Can Conquer Spiritual Lethargy!

Stephen Flurry — 2013-05-22T05:00:00+01:00

The kingdom of Judah hadn’t seen this kind of courageous leadership since the days of King David. Asa was only a teenager when he became king, but he wouldn’t let youthful inexperience stop him from taking bold steps to purge Judah of its widespread idolatry and lawlessness.

Asa put God first, above his own personal wants and desires—even ahead of his own parents. He abolished all the idols “his fathers had made,” and he kicked his evil mother off her throne. The Bible describes the early days of Asa’s reign as 10 years of quiet (2 Chronicles 14:1). What peace God provides when we diligently work to remove idolatry and sexual perversion from our environment!

King Asa wisely used these peaceful, prosperous years to plan for the future. He worked doubly hard fortifying Judah’s cities (verses 6-7) and was careful not to forget God.

Then, when trouble finally did come—an incomprehensibly large, million-man army—Asa trusted in God, crying out for deliverance. “Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power,” he prayed. “Help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee” (verse 11). If we do our part to build spiritual strength during times of peace and quiet, we can still experience rest in the Lord during periods of trial and test.

God smote the Ethiopian army before all of Judah. He then sent the Prophet Azariah to deliver a message of hope—and warning. The prophet declared, “The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:2).

Asa heeded God’s loving instruction, and just as God had promised, blessings poured into the land. These blessings were so visibly obvious that many Israelites to the north started to move to Judah. They wanted to experience what it was like to be ruled by a righteous king! King Baasha of Israel was so alarmed by the exodus of his own people that he fortified Israel’s southern border, turning the city of Ramah, just six miles from Jerusalem, into a military stronghold.

Asa was distressed by this provocative act. Israel’s army was right at Judah’s doorstep. In his mind, this was an act of war. How would this righteous king respond?

Incredibly, after a long history of walking by faith and trusting God, King Asa gathered a large store of treasure from God’s house in order to finance a shady military alliance with Syria. Instead of looking to God, he paid a Gentile king to get rid of the problem!

At first, this unholy alliance seemed to work out: Syria invaded Israel, overthrew numerous cities, and forced Israel to evacuate its military stronghold. Ramah fell back into Judah’s hands. But these seemingly fortuitous events actually marked the beginning of a tragic end for a king who had devoted most of his life to faithfully serving God.

God immediately sent the Prophet Hanani to correct His wayward king: “Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars,” he said (2 Chronicles 16:9). Sadly, this loving correction from God only infuriated the aging king. He locked God’s prophet in prison and then unleashed a violent persecution against his own people (verse 10).

Soon after, Asa was stricken with a deadly disease. He refused to seek God’s miraculous intervention, turning instead to the feeble assistance provided by men. Within two years, he died, bringing an ignominious end to the short second act of a kingly reign that had been noted for legendary works.

“And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel” (verse 11). Yes, both acts are recorded—the first and the last.

In the first act, Asa was on fire for God. He brought Judah out of religious confusion and purged its cities of lawlessness. He cleaned house in Judah—and it prospered and grew. When the Ethiopians came to conquer, Asa cried out to God, who delivered Judah.

But toward the end of his life, in the second act, Asa had drifted far from God. This didn’t happen overnight. Over the course of many months, perhaps years, Asa steadily lost contact with God. His faith weakened. And when pressures intensified, when personal trials increased, he turned to men for help rather than God.

King Asa is no different than many of God’s own people in these latter days—brethren of God who are characterized as being spiritually lukewarm (Revelation 3:14-17). They no longer have the burning zeal and unshakable faith they had at the start of their conversion. They don’t pour out their hearts to God in effectual fervent prayer like they used to. Their deep and enduring love for digging into the fascinating truth that is buried in God’s Word has waxed icy cold. Fasting, fellowship, meditation—these all have fallen by the wayside.

Has any of this happened to you? Have you neglected God and allowed the disease of spiritual laxness to spread into your life? Have you, perhaps after getting off to a strong start, slowed way down—or maybe come to a complete stop?

If so, then take heed and learn from the unhappy lesson of a Jewish king whose first works were much greater than the last. For Asa, it didn’t have to end that way—and neither does it for you. Like Asa—who could have repented, but didn’t—you can turn back to God, even at the very end of your life, and finish the race the way you started.

You can go back and “do the first works” while there is still time (Revelation 2:5). But you had better hurry. Jesus Christ is coming quickly.

The Mystery of Human Creativity Explained

Dennis Leap — 2013-05-21T17:11:21+01:00

Human creative genius has left its mark on our world. It has advanced civilization by improving human living conditions. Think about the creative inventions that have drastically altered and improved our lives: airplanes, cars, light bulbs, telephones and television, just to name a very few. Man is virtually defined by creativity—in manufacturing, art, literature, music, humor, and virtually every other field of activity.

Every human is a creator. The photographer John Loori wrote: “Creativity is our birthright. It is an integral part of being human, as basic as walking, talking and thinking.” The playwright Julia Cameron writes: “Creativity is the natural order of life.” The historian Paul Johnson writes: “Creativity, I believe, is inherent in all of us.” Creativity expert Michael Michalko writes: “We were all born as spontaneous, creative thinkers.” Tom Wujec, creative director of Digital Media Services at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, writes: “We experience creativity every time a fresh idea pops into our minds. And we can summon creativity when we need it.”

In November 2011, Time published a special edition titled “The Invention Issue.” This issue featured 50 of the latest ideas being developed into new products. Here are some examples: a 3-D transistor that will use half the power and be about 37 percent more effective; an artificial leaf that will convert the sun’s rays into storable chemical energy; a tiny rectangular camera that captures an entire light field, allowing the photographer to refocus a picture after it is taken; an led light bulb to replace the incandescent and fluorescent; and a surveillance device that looks like and flies like a hummingbird. Truly amazing.

These creations are a reflection of the human imagination at work. Man has an almost limitless imagination. Humans use creativity so frequently, we miss what a miracle it is to be creative. Creativity didn’t begin in our technological age. Human creativity helped bring about the technological age.

Only man has the ability to create pictures in the mind and then manipulate materials from the earth to bring into reality what was imagined. Imagination ignites creativity and gives the human mind its uniqueness.

It is imagination that opens the door for us to meditate on our origins and our destiny.

Where Does Creativity Come From?

One theory of human origins postulates that millions of years ago, life began on Earth from a mathematically impossible chemical reaction—maybe caused by a lightning strike to a slimy pond of chemicals—that over eons of time, through incredible non-intelligent processes, first formed into a microscopic acid, then to an amoeba, then to a slug, eventually to an ape, and finally to a man who can sit down, be still and think back historically, asking himself: How did I come to be here?

Yet chemical soup can never ponder how it got to be chemical soup. Though man is made from the elements, he is far more than a bowl full of chemicals. So at what point did chemicals and lightning and the passage of time supposedly create the inimitable human mind?

Intelligent, sincere scientists have devoted lifetimes full of imagination and creative thinking to discovering man’s origins. Yet they are fighting a losing battle. No matter how much men dissect, investigate and postulate, the knowledge of origins has to be revealed by an Originator. The real truth of origins and why man is on Earth is known, is extremely well documented, and is so much more inspiring, rational and satisfying than the wild imaginations of evolutionary theory.

Education, religion and science could get a lot further down the path to understanding human origins and purpose if the people studying origins simply took a fresh look at the abilities of their own minds.

Man a Creator

We tend to overlook the fact that men, women and children are highly creative creatures. In fact, humans are the only creatures on Earth that are truly creative. Don’t be fooled by discussions of spiders’ webs or song thrush nests. Man is the only being that can imagine and then bring into existence what he imagines, whether architecture, art, literature, mechanical inventions, music or sculpture.

Creativity is a highly advanced mental process that involves dreaming or imagination, development and innovation. Let’s be honest: No other creature—ape, chimp, bird, dog or dolphin—can create.

So, shouldn’t this tell us something? Where did we get such power?

Experts studying creativity have uncovered that creative talents and traits are passed on from previous generations. Most great artists, musicians or writers were children or grandchildren of artists, musicians and writers. It is so simple. If we use our imagination and go back a multitude of generations and ask where humans got their ability to be creative, it is not so difficult to understand the answer to that question.

The gifted historian Paul Johnson gives us his insight on this question. In his book Creators, he writes: “We are the progeny of Almighty God. God is defined in many ways: all-powerful, all-wise, and all-seeing; everlasting; the lawgiver; the ultimate source of love, beauty, justice and happiness. Most of all, He is the creator.” Read that quote again. It is from a historian. Could humans be creative because we obtained our proclivity for creativity from our most distant ancestor—God?

To fully understand our origins, the fact that we do create should point us in the direction of God—not an ape. Human imagination and creativity is a key that unlocks the mystery of our true origins and our future.

Let Us Make

If you think about it, even the scientists hypothesizing about man’s origins use imagination and creative thinking. They just use it in a wrong way. Human imagination has to be governed by revealed truth and law, or it becomes fiction—either fruitless or extremely dangerous.

God, who is the Creator of all, is also the Educator. He has made it plain that man is not an animal—did not come from animals—and has a future far greater than animals and angels.

Our all-wise God tells us how we came to be: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27).

Here is fantastic truth that should fire our imaginations. Here is the sought-after truth of origins so simple to grasp. Man is not made after the ameba, ape, cat, chimp, dog, horse or zebra kind. Man is made after the God kind! In Luke 3, the genealogy of Jesus Christ states specifically that Adam was the son of God. Literally, God is the Father of the human race.

In this age (now coming to a close) we are created physical sons. However, in the soon-coming World Tomorrow man will be given the opportunity to become Spirit-born sons.

In his book The Incredible Human Potential, Herbert Armstrong explained, “Man, to be born ultimately into the very God Family, was designed to have godly-type mind—ability to think, to reason, to make choices and decisions, capable of forming ethical, moral and spiritual attitudes.” Feel free to request a free copy of this amazing book.

Man was created with a mind like God’s, only much inferior. In a limited way, man has the ability to create things from material substances using his mind and hands, just like God. This is the only viable explanation as to why man is so highly creative.

God intended man to use his creativity to subdue and rule over the Earth and its creatures (Genesis 1:28). God put Adam’s creative mind to work immediately by having him give names to the animals (Genesis 2:19). Coming up with a proper name to describe unique traits in each individual animal required a finely tuned process of creative thinking. Eve was also created with incredible creative ability.

Cause of Trouble

Our first parents rejected God and His revealed knowledge and the code of law that would produce all happiness. As a result, Adam and Eve’s creative ability became a source of tragic trouble for them and the family that came from them. Genesis 3 shows that Adam and Eve fell under the control of Satan the devil. Jealous of such a marvelous human mind and its potential, this once-righteous being began to influence men to use their minds for evil purposes. Moses tells us: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” (Genesis 6:5-6). As mankind turned further and further away from God, men, women and children used their imaginations to create evil. Verse 11 in this same chapter says the Earth was full of violence.

God did not create man to make a violent world. Yet, things got so bad on the Earth that God grieved over the creation of mankind. Man had become so evil in his imagination and actions that God decided to teach man a painful lesson about the destructiveness of sin. He brought about a worldwide flood, destroying all breathing life, including man. However, God spared Noah, his family and enough animals to start over. Did man learn the lesson?

Unfortunately, it was not long until man again degenerated in his thinking. Moses explains, “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city” (Genesis 11:6-8). Prior to this scene at the tower of Babel, mankind had only one language. Communication flowed easily, and men used their imaginations collectively to rebel against God. Essentially, they decided to build a tower tall enough so God could not drown them again for their disobedience. They put their imaginations to work. They developed engineering skill. They brought their mental pictures into reality. They fashioned building materials from the earth. They built.

God recorded for our education, now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. This is an astounding verse. It reveals that man, given enough time and the right resources, can create what he imagines—both good and evil. At the tower of Babel, God saw clearly that man, under the influence of Satan, would develop the technology to destroy himself and the entire Earth. So God put a time delay on what man could accomplish by introducing a multitude of human languages. The confusion created short-circuited man’s creative advance to self-destruction.

Created to Create

When we take an honest look at our world today, we can see that God’s time delay on man’s creative accomplishment has been lifted (Revelation 10:6). Our world is full of marvelous inventions that have made human life so much easier. Yet, on the dark side, man’s creative genius has developed horrific inventions, including weapons of mass destruction that can wipe all life off this planet.

Jesus Christ prophesied that just prior to His Second Coming, our world would be just like Noah’s world (Matthew 24:37-39). Men’s imaginations would be set on doing evil continually (Genesis 6:5). There is no better way to describe the shape our world is in. Men, women and children imagine evil, and then do what they imagine. Thus, we have a world ready to choke on its own filth and blood. Who is to blame? Certainly not God. We have done this to ourselves—with Satan’s help, of course.

Current news and Bible prophecy show us that our world today is just like Noah’s time. We can expect to see unparalleled world upheaval and violence. For a short time, our generation will suffer as no other (Matthew 24:21-22). Much of this suffering will come as the result of the wrong use of our imaginations.

Yet there is great hope: God is not going to let us destroy ourselves. He does plan to step in when we are at the brink of total destruction; when we are ready to fully learn the lesson that rebellion against God can never bring about goodness and happiness.

There is an incredible future just ahead for all mankind. What does that future hold? Men will finally be properly educated about God and His purpose for creating man. Brought to his knees, man will finally be willing to learn and admit that God is not only the Creator but also the great Lawgiver. To learn about God and His purpose for man, human beings will study creation, including the universe.

Discussing God with the Romans, Paul said, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20; English Standard Version). Much of what man wants to know about God and himself has been right before our eyes all along. Instead of looking down and digging in the earth for his origins, man should have been looking around him and up into the heavens for answers. This incredible Earth and the universe could never have come into existence as a result of chance or happenstance.

By studying the Earth and the universe without prejudice, we can gain awesome knowledge. Request our booklet Our Awesome Universe Potential. This free, full-color publication will give you breathtaking details on what we have learned about the Earth and universe from one of man’s most incredible inventions—the Hubble telescope. Combining this knowledge with what is revealed in the Bible, this booklet will show you how the Earth and the universe reveal that a Being of incredible power, intelligence and creativity, with skilled talent for design and engineering, brought into existence a wonderful planet, nestled in just the right place of a vast, expanding universe, made perfect to support microscopic, plant, animal and human life.

Is there a connection between man and the universe? The Bible reveals that there is a surprisingly stupendous tie between man and the countless numbers of stars and galaxies stretched across the vastness of space. Paul revealed, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21; esv). There is a stunning history behind these verses. Even more, there is extraordinary promise and a future as vast and limitless as the universe.

Our Awesome Universe Potential fully explains the history and the promise. This booklet will prove to you that man is destined to take responsibility for finishing the creation of the universe now suffering from decay. It is our awesome destiny to be born into the God Family and bring life to myriads of lifeless planets scattered into the deep blackness of space. What a truth! Man was created to create! And as God’s own sons, we will use that creativity forever.

Does Your Résumé Demand Attention?

Jesse Frederick — 2013-05-21T05:00:00+01:00

There’s no hiding from it: The job market is pretty ugly. The sluggish economy is forcing companies nationwide, even worldwide, to lay off staff members spanning a wide range of technical and professional backgrounds. It’s a hirer’s market, and job seekers are finding it hard to nab a specific job position even when it aligns with their experience and skills.

Nonetheless, there are a few essential steps you can take to get ahead in your job search—and get to the table for that job interview.

First, what is the purpose of a résumé? Here’s a hint: Its purpose is not to get you a job. Nor is it to catalog your career history, job duties and education—or to document your skills, qualifications and proficiencies.

Its real goal is to get your foot in the door. Your résumé is an introductory sales letter that shows the hirer that you warrant a person-to-person discussion about this job position.

1. Target Your Position

Many seeking a job in today’s economy are bordering on desperation. When they sit down to write a résumé too many think, I just want a job—any job—so I’ll make the résumé general enough to cover a wide range of positions in my field. Some get frantic and ditch even limiting their résumé to a specific industry—randomly aiming their résumé like a sawed-off shotgun toward a vague, wide range of fields.

This is not the tactic to take when you write your résumé—no matter how desperate your job search may be. In fact, the more desperate you actually are, the better off you will be if you apply this key.

It is a challenge to get a job interview in today’s glum job market. However, if you take a rifle approach (instead of that sawed-off shotgun approach)—your hunt will be much more effective—guaranteed.

Pick your goal first. Do some detailed, involved, diligent research. Choose your industry, then narrow it down even more and select your position within that industry. Then, narrow it down to even the specific company (or companies) you want to work for the most that has openings for the job you have selected.

Never forget, you are in charge of your job search. Take charge and be proactive. Once you’ve pinpointed the industry, position and companies you would most enjoy (and be skilled and beneficial) working within, target your résumé specifically toward that position. Make the language and verbiage of the résumé identify and relate well with the language that company uses on its website or in its literature. Include industry- and position-related keywords throughout. Also, submit a cover letter with the résumé that addresses the company and hiring decision-maker even more directly.

Scour job advertisements on the Internet, in newspapers or on job boards—and tailor your résumé toward any specific position that interests you directly. With each different position, company and/or advertisement, tweak your résumé and cover letter accordingly.

Remember, the general rule when effectively applying this point of picking your position is get as specific and detailed as possible in your résumé.

2. Focus on Achievements

The ammo for your résumé is your achievements: your accomplishments and highlights on the job. Achievements are actions you took or results you created which were positive for your company. These career successes you and/or your employer(s) are confident and proud of can include:

• Customer satisfaction scores

• Company awards and recognitions

• Sales revenue growth

• Process efficiency improvements

• Company savings plans and implementations

• Business expansion strategies

• Vendor/client negotiations

• Client testimonials

Did you save your company thousands of dollars by finding a new supplier? Did you work five years without a work-related accident? Did you exceed your sales targets five quarters in a row? These are facts that will help you sell your skills to the hiring decision-maker.

As you highlight these achievements on your résumé, include metrics if at all possible: exact dollar figures, quantities, percentages, etc. Eyes are often drawn to numbers, dollar signs and percentages. They add details, proof and “beef” to your highlights, making them more objective and less subjective. Here are some examples of highlights that may be included on various résumés, with metrics included:

• Improved production efficiencies by 25% within a high-pressure factory environment.

• Negotiated a lucrative business deal between company and client worth $1.5 million.

• Increased sales within department by 110%.

• Cut labor costs by $25,000.

• Lowered production costs by $200,000.

• Reduced product turnover by 15,000 units per month.

• Recipient of Salesman of the Quarter company award for closing the most sales accounts in the first quarter of 2010.

The most common rebuttal I hear about including job achievements on a résumé is, I don’t have any. But in almost all cases, that simply is not true. Having written and edited thousands of résumés covering a wide range of industries, backgrounds, skills and experience, I can say that the vast majority of people who have applied themselves diligently have had a number of accomplishments and career highlights. From recent high school graduates to elementary school teachers, lawyers to medical doctors, office managers to administrative assistants, engineers to construction workers—it isn’t a matter of not having achievements, it’s a matter of recognizing them.

For example, a recent high school graduate may have been involved in a school fundraiser for a few years. If he or she is applying for anything related to sales, customer service or marketing, there should be at least a couple achievements to draw from (example: “Expanded fundraising sales by 22% between 2009 and 2010″).

A medical doctor who has written medical journal publications, an administrative assistant who could have completed 100 percent of his or her office projects within both quality and deadline parameters, a construction worker who has met his deadlines—all of these workers have had numerous achievements. Feel free to think outside the box when determining and including achievements within your résumé.

Also, be sure to set your achievements apart from the rest of the text in your résumé (with spacing, bullet points, or other formatting). Although the metrics will stand out, you want to draw attention to these achievements even more. Secondly, only include your top career highlights (a maximum of two to three per job position, as a rule). They are highlights after all.

3. Two Sets of Eyes Are Better Than One

The final key to résumé success cannot be overemphasized. As often as I hear job seekers explain that they have read over their résumés before distributing them, I hear just as many hirers and employers complain about constantly finding résumés that have multiple grammatical, spelling or various other language usage errors. In fact, in a survey I took a few years ago, scores of hirers, HR managers, employers and recruiters unanimously proclaimed that—even with automatic spell-check embedded in our word processors—this was still the most common problem they had with résumés! And every one of them dismally said they never have hired anyone with such a résumé.

So do yourself a favor before sending out your résumé to your potential employer: Review it. And then ask someone who knows the English language and writing rules even better than you do to review it as well. This point alone—if applied—will in most cases bring an interview or two!

The next time you find your job-search door seemingly slammed and locked shut—and when your résumé just doesn’t seem to be doing its job of getting you phone calls or e-mails from employers—apply these keys, and watch the door swing open with interview opportunities galore waiting on the other side.

Germany to Store Europe's Energy

Gareth Fraser — 2013-05-21T05:00:00+01:00

Whether it’s storing money, gold, armaments or sustainable energy, 2013 has seen Europe’s largest country rapidly gobble up key assets, positioning it as continental chief operating officer.

Recently Germany’s government approved €150 million of new investment capital to maintain its Energy Transition policy, or Energiewende. The program is managed by the Ministries of Economics, Environment, Education and Research.

This phase of stimulus is dubbed “sustainable power grids” and comes as part of the government’s sixth stage of energy research. Once created, these power grids will act as smart distribution centers managing supply and demand. The research has established an “Internet of Energy,” which forecasts a 10 percent reduction in domestic utility costs and a 20 percent reduction for commercial businesses.

With memories of Chernobyl and Fukashima nuclear power plant catastrophes fresh in mind, the Energiewende goal is to draw down nuclear, along with gas, and transition to more sustainable, renewable energy.

“The policy has progressed well, and the increase of fluctuating renewable capacities is now causing the need for storage and smart grid expansion,” said Tobias Rothacher, senior manager of Renewable Energies at Germany Trade and Invest.

The Fraunhofer Institute says production of solar-powered batteries and panels will save an average home power bill 60 percent. This will also enable future use of other stored power sources and/or distribution into the revamped smart power grid.

“Such batteries not only make customers more independent from the energy price fluctuations, but the technological advances bring Germany closer to immunity from the energy and fuel merry-go-round,” continued Rothacher.

So ambitious is Germany’s Energiewende objective that its goal is to be 60 percent reliant on sustainable renewable smart energies within the next four decades. These advancements are significant, with wind, hydro, bio and photovoltaic sources providing 23 percent of its national electricity usage last year, with various sectors already self-sustaining.

In addition, government officials have attended a bevy of industry trade shows and conventions within and without Europe, offering low-interest incentives in an effort to attract investment in the energy storage program.

“Germany exported more energy in 2012 than at any time over the previous five years,” claims Germany Trade and Invest. “That’s eyebrow-raising enough, but the real head-turner was that Europe’s powerhouse had managed to do this despite the ongoing shutdown of all its nuclear energy-producing facilities. This was because of the ever increasing share contributed by Germany’s renewable energy industry, which in 2012 accounted for 23 percent of Germany’s power usage and produced 9.3 percent more energy than in 2011.”

The result of these advancements in an environment where the European Union’s leading nation is managing energy creation, storage and supply will position it at the forefront of power storage, distribution and management overseen by the smart grids.

In January of this year we drew readers’ attention to Germany’s construction of the largest battery factory on the Continent, and its dominance of renewable energy. Germany sees itself as lead actor of what it claims to be the energy revolution. Even the chancellor, speaking at an energy summit, assured enhanced cooperation regarding renewable initiatives in an effort to maintain the country’s elite status for ongoing advancements in renewable energies.

“Although all wealth comes from the ground, prosperity and affluence on a national scale always have come also by industry and commerce,” wrote Herbert W. Armstrong in his acclaimed book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

It is such “prosperity and affluence on a national scale” that Germany continues to procure through its policy, led by its corporate elites, of leadership through domination of industry and commerce as the fiscal gatekeeper of EU fortunes.

The Holy Bible, prophesies of these very events, identifying Europe’s economic powerhouse as most venerated by the “merchants of the earth” (Nahum 3:16; Revelation 18:3, 11, 15, 23).

The Trumpet’s editor in chief has drawn particular attention to the domineering of Europe by Germany, from domestic to foreign policy, finance, trade, religion and military expansionism. On the surface, the ever increasing overt actions of German elites may appear to be just another business plan. However, to the non-ignorant of recent geopolitical past, such aggressiveness, exploitation, regional expansionism and blatant Euromart domineering reveal the scale and impact of an aggressive continental and globally unchallenged economic policy whose designed scope will have disturbing, far-reaching, historic implications.

For more understanding on where the developments of Saxony’s world-leading technology is leading, request your free copy of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. This publication has been assembled by the Trumpet’s editorial staff and features acute historical and prophetic analysis by editor in chief Gerald Flurry recounting the final rise of a church-state combine that will impact global economics, religion and security (Daniel 8; Revelation 13, 17, 18, 19). It’s a warning you simply can’t afford to ignore.

Support for Syrian Rebels Reveals New Alliance

Richard Palmer — 2013-05-21T05:00:00+01:00

One of the most prophetic articles the Trumpet has ever produced was probably our editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article “Is Iraq About to Fall to Iran?” all the way back in 1994. That fall has now happened—thanks to America’s invasion of Iraq.

But that article contained a second prophecy that is now being fulfilled in a striking way. Mr. Flurry pointed to an obscure prophecy in Psalm 83 that listed a group of Arab nations that would ally with Germany. He said the modern identity of those nations was Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Elsewhere he included the Gulf states—Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, etc.—in this list.

The Trumpet uses world events and history as well as Bible prophecy to forecast the future. But back in 1994, outside of the Bible, there was no reason to expect such an alliance. There was simply no evidence for it. No one else predicted it.

But now you can read about that alliance in your newspaper.

Last week, the Financial Times published the results of an in-depth investigation into those supporting Syria’s rebels. Here’s what it concluded: “The West’s reluctance to intervene more forcefully in Syria has all but left Bashar al-Assad’s opponents reliant for support on Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, though since late last year, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have joined the rebels’ backers as junior partners” (emphasis added). There it is. The Arabic part of the Psalm 83 alliance. Other sources also point to organizations in Lebanon as a key supporter of the opposition.

The FT found that Qatar has spent up to $3 billion in support of Syria’s rebels, citing “sources close to the Qatari government.” It describes how Saudi Arabia, not wanting to allow Qatar to take the lead in Syria, has dramatically stepped up its support for the rebels.

“A supply route across Jordan’s border to southern Syria has opened up in recent months,” it writes. “The Jordanian government, which is terrified of jihadis getting the upper hand in its neighbor, has been reluctantly allowing Saudi deliveries.”

Several months ago, Stratfor reached a similar conclusion. Foreign weapons were turning up “well beyond the point where they could be considered coincidental,” it wrote. “This means that the current level of external intervention in Syria is similar to the level exercised against the Soviet Union and its Communist proxies following the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. The external supporters are providing not only training, intelligence and assistance, but also weapons—exogenous weapons that make the external provision of weapons obvious to the world.”

It identified the Syrian rebels’ supporters as the United States, Saudi Arabia and “regional powers such as Turkey, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.” It’s the Arab part of the Psalm 83 alliance again.

Germany’s Role

What about Germany? Has it joined its Psalm 83 allies in supplying arms to the rebels? It’s certainly possible. Germany’s intelligence service was caught smuggling weapons during the Balkan wars. It helped deliver tanks, artillery and even mig-21 airplanes to the Croats. At the time, Britain’s Telegraph wrote, “For many German politicians, however, the nub of the problem may not be the bnd’s operations at all—rather that it appears to have been caught out” (April 20, 1997).

Reuters reported that one of the main sources of light arms for the Syrian rebels is the Black Sea region—with its large stockpiles of ex-Soviet weaponry. Another source is probably Croatia. Germany’s smuggling in the Balkans proves that it has the connections and experience necessary to be behind the smuggling.

It is possible, but definitely not certain. Germany is one of the EU’s biggest opponents to arming the rebels. While it could be playing a murky game, there’s no evidence to support that.

But it certainly is arming those who are arming the rebels. Here, the Psalm 83 alliance is also building before our eyes. Between 2002 and 2011, Germany sold roughly $350 million worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the uae. Over the next decade, it’s projected to sell $26.5 billion to those three countries. That’s 75 times more—75,000 percent. In addition, Turkey has been a longstanding recipient of German arms.

As Saudi Arabia and Qatar pass small arms on to the rebels, they’re buying them from Germany. From 2008 to 2011, Germany sold roughly $150 million worth of small arms and ammunition to Saudi Arabia. In contrast, America sold around $70 million over the same period of time. This is in addition to the Heckler and Koch assault rifle plant that Germany has allowed Saudi Arabia to build.

Saudi Arabia doesn’t appear to be passing these new weapons on to the rebels. But rebels are often reported to have some Austrian Steyr aug rifles. Saudi Arabia is one of the only nations in the region to use the Steyr aug. The rebels seem to be receiving Saudi Arabia’s hand-me-downs, as the Saudis buy (and build) new German guns.

Germany’s military support of these nations has been one of the most important changes to its foreign policy in the past decade. It’s actively cultivating an alliance in the Middle East—an alliance made up of exactly the nations Mr. Flurry listed in 1994.

We’re just a few steps away from seeing the Psalm 83 alliance fully set up. The chapter lists Syria as a member of the alliance. This seems to imply that the rebels will win, perhaps with German support, though there are other ways this could work out.

But Psalm 83 contains an important warning. Verse four of that chapter shows that the goal of this alliance is to destroy Israel. We’ve long warned that Germany will double cross Israel, catching the world completely by surprise.

The rebels in Syria include Islamists who hate Israel. In the grip of huge unemployment, Europe is undergoing massive social changes that will bring dangerous leaders into power. These leaders wouldn’t be afraid to ally themselves with some radical Islamists in pursuit of their common goal.

A German-led surprise attack on Israel may sound unlikely now. But an alliance that included Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, the Gulf states and Germany sounded unlikely in 1994. That’s quite a large number of specific states. But you can see that alliance coming together right now. The Bible has once again proven itself uncannily accurate in forecasting world events. For more of what it forecasts for the Middle East, read our free booklet The King of the South.

Monster Tornado Strikes Oklahoma City Suburbs

Jeremiah Jacques — 2013-05-21T03:57:15+01:00

Rescue workers in Moore, Oklahoma, were scrambling Monday evening to pull survivors and victims from rubble while daylight lasted, after an EF5 tornado devastated some 30 square miles of the area. The state medical examiner’s office has confirmed that 24 are dead, and the death toll is expected to rise.

“This is no longer a search and rescue operation. It is now a recovery mission,” said kfor-tv correspondent Lance West after reporting that “up to two dozen” children were dead at Plaza Towers Elementary School.

The tornado swelled to a 2.25-mile width at its largest, and the National Weather Service confirmed winds of well over 200 miles an hour tearing through the area during the height of the storm. Among the buildings destroyed were two schools, a hospital, a theater and at least 500 homes.

kfor-tv reports on Monday evening said some locals were beginning to loot computers and other valuables from severely damaged homes. Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said open gas lines and downed power lines posed additional risks to the community in the aftermath of the storm.

The same Oklahoma City suburb was hit by a decimating tornado in May of 1999, which spawned the highest winds ever recorded near Earth’s surface. It killed 36 people, injured 295 and displaced 10,000. But Monday’s tornado is estimated to have been three times more destructive than its forerunner. kfor-tv meteorologist Mike Morgan called its destruction “the worst tornado damage in the history of the world.”

In May 2011, an F5 tornado swept through Joplin, Missouri, demolishing the southern part of the city and killing over 150. Hurricane Sandy ravaged much of the eastern United States in October, killing nearly 300. Just last week, tornadoes in North Texas killed six, and left almost 250 homeless.

Why is so much violent weather assailing the United States? Those personally affected by the incomprehensible carnage need answers. You need answers. These answers can be found in our free booklet Why ‘Natural’ Disasters?

UPDATE: On Tuesday morning, the state medical examiner’s office revised the death toll to 24 people, including nine children. Spokeswoman Amy Elliott said she believes some of the victims were counted twice in the early tumult of the storm.

Why Don't Americans Get Real News?

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-20T22:00:00+01:00

To understand the true condition of the United States, you have to go beyond mainstream news sources. The Philadelphia Trumpet magazine and Trumpet Weekly newsletter can help. Both are absolutely free and will keep you up to date on the most pressing issues facing America and this world. The information provided by the Trumpet and Trumpet Weekly is vital in an age where shallow reporting dominates our news sources.

Associated Press CEO: Government Seizure 'Unconstitutional'

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-20T20:17:23+01:00

On Sunday, Associated Press ceo and president Gary Pruitt called the government confiscation of AP phone records “unconstitutional.” The Justice Department (doj) disclosed that it had seized AP journalists’ phone records in a letter received on May 10. The grab involved more than 20 phone lines used by at least 100 journalists in April and May 2012.

Pruitt made the comments on cbs’s Face the Nation: “We don’t question their right to conduct these sort of investigations, we just think they went about it the wrong way, so sweeping, so secretively, so abusively and harassingly and overboard, that it constitutes—that it is an unconstitutional act.”

doj prosecutors said they were investigating a potential leak that informed the AP about a Yemen bomb plot around the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death. Pruitt said the AP story contradicted the U.S. government’s claim at the time that there was no plot.

Gary Pruitt: “So they were misleading the American public. I don’t know if they were doing it intentionally or the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing, but we felt the American public deserved to know this story.”

Pruitt said the AP held the bomb plot information for nearly a week, at the government’s request, until it was told the story no longer posed a national security risk.

Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder defended the Justice Department’s actions: “This is among, if not the most serious, within the top two or three most serious leaks that I’ve ever seen.”

However, at least one leader on Capitol Hill wants a congressional investigation.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn: “We want to get them in front of the Judiciary Committee. Put them under oath and get to the bottom of it. I think we have to do that to regain the public’s confidence.”

Pruitt said he was worried that the government’s actions have already affected the AP’s news gathering: “When we talk to officials and sources, just in the normal course of news gathering, recently, they cite this Justice Department subpoena and say, ‘We don’t necessarily want to talk to you, we don’t want our phone records monitored by the U.S. government.’”

America’s freedoms are rapidly being taken away. To understand what is happening to the U.S. government, request Gerald Flurry’s free booklets America Under Attack and No Freedom Without Law.

Web Exclusive: Japan Wants Military--U.S. Yawns, Ignores History

Gerald Flurry — 2013-05-20T17:59:13+01:00

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Will the Taiwan-Philippines Dispute Unite Taiwan With China?

Jeremiah Jacques — 2013-05-20T17:58:36+01:00

The Philippine Coast Guard shot and killed a Taiwanese fisherman on May 9 in waters claimed by both nations, setting off a chain of events that could mend the breech between Beijing and Taipei.

Both Taiwan and the Philippines are allies of the United States, but Washington’s ties with Manila run deeper than those it has with Taipei. However, there’s one factor of much greater importance than which side the war-weary U.S. may choose.

Enter China

Beijing is actively courting Taiwan in the dispute. In the days after the fatal shooting, China’s Global Times published articles urging the Philippines to apologize, and Taiwan recalled its envoy to the Philippines and froze all hiring of Philippine workers. Philippine President Benigno Aquino responded by sending a personal representative to Taiwan to convey “his and the Filipino people’s deep regret” to the fisherman’s family and the people of Taiwan.

Taiwan and China stood together in rejecting Manila’s apology as “insincere.”

With the rejection came several more sanctions from Taiwan against the Philippines, including a travel alert and an announcement of plans to hold military exercises in the waters where the incident went down.

China’s Global Times applauded Taiwan’s punitive measures as a “second front” for China to stand up to neighbors in territorial disputes. The paper reminded readers that, in China’s eyes, Taiwan remains a province-in-waiting, and deserves China’s protection. “China has reiterated over time that Taiwan is an integral part of China. Now is a good opportunity to show that China will not tolerate the shooting of our fishermen, whether they are from the mainland or Taiwan, and that our government is determined to protect the life of its people,” one article said.

Since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May 2008, Taipei and Beijing have taken many steps toward greater cooperation. And now the two governments are banding together in common aggression toward the Philippines, and by proxy, toward the United States. The two sides have some opposing interests in the dispute, but by the time Taiwan realizes this—and sees that China views the ordeal primarily as a chance to pry the Island nation out of Washington’s sphere of influence and into Beijing’s—it may be too late.

For several decades the close relationship between Taiwan and the U.S. has deterred China from using military force to accomplish its goal of bringing Taiwan officially under Beijing’s rule. But the current skirmish could persuade Taiwan to sacrifice its relationship with the Manila-friendly U.S., and to instead rely on China.

“Taiwan finds itself potentially crosswise with a U.S. treaty ally at the same time that it is being actively courted by Beijing,” said Scott Harold of the rand Corp. think tank. “This is in fact a far greater threat to Taipei than any dispute with Manila over fishing rights could ever possibly be.”

The China-Taiwan relationship has been moving closer for several years. This territorial dispute offers these Asian neighbors common ground that could be exploited for the unification project.

“How could anyone fail to see that Taiwan is destined to become a part of mainland China?” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry back in 1998. Herbert W. Armstrong, editor in chief of the Trumpet’s predecessor, the Plain Truth, predicted Taiwan’s fate over 50 years ago. In a letter dated Sept. 19, 1958, he wrote, “Will Red China invade and capture [Taiwan]? In all probability, yes .… The Red Chinese ‘save face,’ and the United States, with many American troops now on Taiwan, will again lose face!”

The simmering Taiwan-Philippine territorial dispute may become a key step toward fulfillment of those geopolitical predictions. Such an outcome would bolster China’s ability to push in the Pacific, and persuade other Asian states to rally behind Beijing. To understand the significance of China’s rise, read “The Collapsing ‘China Fantasy.’”

What Did Jesus Say About 'Natural' Disasters?

Stephen Flurry — 2013-05-20T17:00:00+01:00

Mark 2011 down as yet another record-breaking year for “natural” disasters. Over those 12 months, the United States was smashed by the deadliest tornado season in decades, an unprecedented wave of triple-digit heat, devastating droughts and billion-dollar blizzards, hurricanes and floods.

All totaled, 12 billion-dollar disasters pounded the United States in 2011—three more than the previous record set in 2008. These catastrophic events were responsible for killing 1,000 Americans and causing $52 billion in damages.

As the Associated Press reported on December 7, “With an almost biblical onslaught of twisters, floods, snow, drought, heat and wildfire, the U.S. in 2011 has seen more weather catastrophes that caused at least $1 billion in damage than it did in all of the 1980s, even after the dollar figures from back then are adjusted for inflation.”

Breaking it down further, ap revealed this alarming trend: During the 1980s, the United States averaged just one billion-dollar disaster per year. In the 1990s, it jumped to 3.8 per year—then 4.6 during the first decade of the new millennium.

So far in this decade, we have averaged seven billion-dollar disasters per year.

Something is frighteningly wrong with the weather.

What Is the Cause?

Some experts say we’ve just had a run of bad luck—that it’s purely a matter of happenstance. Others attribute the cause to “global warming.”

God, however, says it is a sign that we are living in the very last days. Weather disasters, as they increase in frequency and intensity, are actually fulfilling Bible prophecy. They are among the signs that Christ gave pointing to the end of this present evil age.

In His Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24, Jesus Christ gave His disciples a chronological overview of events to occur in the lead-up to His return. In verses 21-22, Christ said there is a time coming when no flesh would be saved alive if He didn’t return and prevent it. This is speaking of World War iii—a 3½-year bloodbath that will culminate in the “battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

But before the battle of mankind against Christ—before the European beast power and the Asiatic kings of the east square off—before Europe lashes out at the modern-day descendants of Israel—before it surrounds Jerusalem with armies—before the European king of the north comes against the Islamic king of the south like a whirlwind—before radical Islam captures East Jerusalem—just before all of this happens, Jesus said weather patterns and other natural phenomena would take a violent turn for the worse!

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in [different] places” (verse 7). The return of Jesus Christ, in other words, will be preceded by a sharp upsurge in “natural” disasters.

Jesus also said that famine—a shortage of food and water—and then pestilences (or disease epidemics) would accompany these weather-related disasters.

In May of last year, in a television program, the Trumpet’s editor in chief told Key of David viewers that the word famines needs to be seen not only in the context of war—which certainly causes famine—but also in the context of extreme weather. These epic disasters, in other words, are prophesied to have a profoundly negative impact on food production—a reality that is now making headlines nearly every day.

In like manner, Christ’s reference to pestilences can also refer to the diseases that often follow in the wake of such disasters. And if you examine how the Greek word is used in Acts 24:5, another dimension is added to Christ’s prophecy—the social breakdown that comes as a result of famine and pestilence.

The Beginning of Sorrows

These are the days we are living in right now! Weather disasters, as they increase in frequency and intensity, are actually fulfilling Bible prophecy. We are experiencing the outer edge of a storm that is about to inflict the worst suffering mankind has ever known.

Jesus Himself said it: “All these are the beginning of sorrows” (verse 8). This is where we are right now in Bible prophecy! Sad to say, the ever intensifying disasters we are seeing right now are only the beginning. It is prophesied to get much worse.

But Jesus did not leave us without hope! The Anchor Bible compares the “beginning of sorrows” to the beginning of birth pangs: “It’s almost a technical term for the sufferings which would immediately precede a new age, the age of the Messiah’s reign.”

What a beautiful picture! Right now, this world is being violently shaken by a rapid succession of agonizing birth pangs. But Jesus tells us that these catastrophic events will soon “give birth” to a new age of world peace and prosperity—a utopian paradise that will be totally free of weather extremities and other unnatural phenomena!

Iran Chairs the UN Conference on Disarmament

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-20T05:00:00+01:00

Beginning on May 27 and lasting until June 23, Iran will chair the UN conference on disarmament. Yes, the UN’s most important disarming forum will be led by one of the world’s greatest threats to nuclear warfare. The ridiculous situation shows the ineffectiveness of the United Nations in preventing the spread of nuclear armaments.

While the position that Iran will occupy is largely ceremonial, it is also a very prominent position that some of Iran’s opponents, such as the United States, would rather see filled by a less confrontational nation. The U.S. plans to boycott any talks that are led by Iran in the meetings to be held in Geneva.

It isn’t the first time a belligerent nation such as Iran has filled the position. In the summer of 2011, North Korea chaired the conference. The reason for these appointments is that there is an automatic rotation system.

Iran will take the seat at a time when the U.S. is accusing the Persian nation of stalling talks designed to halt its aggressive nuclear program. While Iran says it is willing to talk, there has been little evidence of a breakthrough that would lead to Iran giving up its nuclear ambitions.

Now Iran has been provided with another opportunity to flaunt itself as pro-disarmament by chairing the UN conference on disarmament.

“When the United Nations imposes four rounds of sanctions on Iran for illicit nuclear activities, condemns it for illegally arming the murderous Syrian regime, and denounces Tehran’s massive abuse of human rights, this kind of appointment just defies common sense and harms the UN’s credibility,” said Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch.

The UN was established as man’s attempt to bring peace and stability to the Earth. When a violent nation such as Iran is allowed to lead a conference on disarmament, it is a clear indication that the UN is failing in its objectives.

Herbert W. Armstrong was in attendance when the UN was established, and at that time he prophesied of the ultimate demise of the organization. Mr. Armstrong said, “I see the clouds of World War iii gathering at this conference. … I do not see peace being germinated here, but the seeds of the next war! … The United Nations conference is producing nothing but strife and bickering, and is destined from its inception to end in total failure. Yet world leaders are pronouncing it the world’s last hope—with the only alternative annihilation of humanity!”

The danger of Iran’s nuclear ambitions cannot be overstated, nor the UN’s inability to change the situation. Read “The Return of the Mahdi Is Nigh” to more deeply understand why the UN is unable to stop Iran in its quest for the nuclear bomb.

Flee Glee

Brad Macdonald — 2013-05-20T05:00:00+01:00

It is a pop-culture phenomenon. It’s one of the most popular shows on television, and the top entertainment series among teens. It’s a spellbinding musical comedy, set on a bright, beautiful campus, that follows the day-to-day antics of a high school glee club. Sounds sweet and innocent, right?

Well, last November, an episode of Glee—which airs in prime time and is adored by millions of children and teens—depicted two male homosexual teenagers losing their virginity.

Unpleasant as this subject is, it is important to discuss. For sure, it would be easier to remain silent, to ignore this sordid show, to join the majority in being “open minded” and “tolerant,” or in the very least, quiet. But that is exactly why this toxic show is so popular.

More significantly, that’s how the creators of Glee—activists of the radical homosexual juggernaut conquering America—want you and me to react.

Tragically, that’s how most people are reacting.

Whimpers and Gripes

Take the Parents Television Council, the leading television watchdog in the United States. The ptc slammed the Nov. 8, 2011, Glee episode as “reprehensible.” Not because of the flagrant teenage homosexuality—it said “the gender of the high school characters involved is irrelevant”—but because it celebrated “children having sex.”

The ptc is right, of course. Celebrating teens engaging in sexual activity on tv only promotes it in real life. But where was the similarly stinging rebuke of teenage homosexuality, a theme that pervades Glee, and especially that episode?

Liz Perle, the editor in chief of Common Sense Media, was even more blasé. “Homosexuality is a part of life in our kids’ world—no matter what your family’s beliefs are,” she stated. Instead of criticizing Glee, Perle encouraged parents to watch the episode with their children and educate them on homosexuality. How’s that for advice from the head honcho of “Common Sense Media”?

Although a handful of mostly Christian organizations and bloggers had stronger criticisms, the reaction of “conservatives” to the episode was feeble. Meanwhile, the liberal activists responded with effusive praise for Fox. “The actual sex aspect of the story lines [was] treated quite delicately,” wrote Kevin Fallon at the Atlantic. Entertainment Weekly described the episode as “incredibly moving.” The prevailing opinion was that Fox nailed it, that this milestone in television history was handled beautifully, with dignity and sophistication.

To be sure, the “conservative” reaction was pathetic. What was more astonishing (and telling), however, was that most “conservatives” didn’t even recognize their defeat! Homosexual activists, on the other hand, loudly celebrated what they knew was a milestone victory for homosexuality on network television. “The remarkable, if not revolutionary other element here,” wrote Fallon, “is that the decision by gay teen characters to lose their virginities is given equal weight to that of a straight couple. … From the nerves to the passion to the actual footage of the act, Blaine and Kurt’s first time was given the same consideration, weight and respect as their straight counterparts—a milestone for network tv” (emphasis added).

The success of that Glee episode, and the feeble reaction it elicited from “conservatives,” was certainly a measure of how widely accepted homosexuality has become. Be assured too, the activists in Hollywood noted the silence of the “conservatives” and are already planning their next “milestone.” Right now they’re thinking to themselves, If we can get away with showing teenagers engaging in homosexual sex on prime-time television, what can’t we do?

A Whole New Meaning to the Term

This was a victory for the radical homosexual juggernaut too—one more step in a comprehensive strategy for making perversity mainstream.

Much like the forefathers of the movement did with the word gay, the activist creators of Glee chose a title that invokes joy and conjures a mesmerizing world of teenage fun. From there, the show’s creators associated homosexuality with glee. Each episode overflows with well-dressed, perfectly complexioned, vibrant teens—mostly waif-like, hairless, pink-shirt, tight-jean-wearing metrosexuals—living a carefree life. Each episode is peppered with catchy, delightfully sung show tunes, smartly choreographed (albeit effeminate) dancing and, of course, plenty of teenage sex. Glee is a teenager’s paradise, a world without shadows or blemishes, without law and authority, without financial or moral constraints—and without consequences.

There’s no recognition of the fact that homosexual relations are far more dangerous to physical health than heterosexual relations. There is nothing said about how homosexual teens are more than twice as likely to experience depression. There’s no mention that between 30 and 40 percent of homosexual teens have attempted suicide, that the suicide rate among homosexual teens is three to four times higher than among their heterosexual peers. Are we not concerned about such effects? Do we really want our teens involved in such self-destructive behavior?

In fact, Glee puts homosexuality on a pedestal. Like so many of the homosexuals on tv, Glee’s homosexual characters are usually the happiest, the trendiest, the most popular, the best dressed, and the most sophisticated and cultured.

The message is subtle but strong: The homosexual lifestyle is something to aspire to!

In many ways, Glee is the perfect example of how the broader homosexual movement operates. The goal of this movement is to remove the historic stigma attached to homosexuality, to change the core values about marriage and family, to cultivate the cultural acceptance of homosexuality. To make homosexuality as natural and normal as eating, or driving, or heterosexuality (sidebar, page 11).

There is a direct connection between entertainment like Glee and the homosexual movement’s ruthless and mostly unimpeded invasion of Western society and culture, of our politics and legal system, and of our educational system. The homosexual juggernaut has followed a simple but effective formula. First, get people to accept homosexuality on the screen. Once that happens, most people will accept it in other parts of their lives, in their textbooks and courthouses, and in their tax codes and cafes.

Consider homosexuality’s advance in Western society. Since Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex “marriage” in 2004, six states have jumped on the bandwagon. Last July, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill requiring public schools to teach students about the contributions of “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender [lgbt] Americans” to U.S. history. In New York, a curriculum is being developed that will educate middle and high schoolers in homosexual practices and other unmentionable fetishes. Meanwhile, across America, legal and other actions are being carried out against ministers, students, parents and virtually anyone who opposes homosexuality.

Britain is under assault too. In Liverpool, homosexual hangouts are now identified by rainbow emblems on public signs. The British government is throwing the book at hotel owners who refuse homosexual couples, registrars who refuse to marry homosexuals, foster parents who oppose homosexuality, and adoption agencies that won’t assign children to homosexual couples. The government is also rewriting school curricula to condone and promote the lgbt lifestyle.

In Australia, the state of Queensland last November voted to legalize same-sex civil unions. Five of the nation’s eight states and territories now recognize homosexual unions. It is now just a matter of time before same-sex “marriage” legislation, which would require a change to the Marriage Act on the federal level, is introduced.

Meanwhile in all these nations, the large majority of the populace—having already been brainwashed by the media into accepting homosexuality—does nothing!

Why Is Glee Victorious?

One of the main reasons for the homosexual movement’s success is the weakness, manifested in silence and inactivity, of its victims. Despite the way it appears on television, most people today are not homosexual. And although the number of people supporting homosexuality is rising, a large number still oppose it. Why then, are the vast majority of people, even “conservatives” and supposed Christians, silent? Why do so many oppose homosexuality inwardly, but very, very few have the moral fortitude and willpower to stand up to it?

Author and columnist David Kupelian addressed these questions in the November 2010 issue of Whistleblower. “Very simply,” he wrote, “most people in today’s America, including conservatives, are afraid of ‘the gay issue.’ Although most know deep down there’s something wrong with homosexuality, they don’t want to be called ‘intolerant,’ ‘bigoted,’ ‘hateful,’ or ‘homophobic.’”

There’s no doubt that fear is part of it. But fear doesn’t always mean capitulation. Fear can be conquered. The soldier on the battlefield has plenty to fear, but his devotion to the cause enables him to overcome his fear. “There is no fear in love,” wrote the Apostle John, “but perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).

If you look back over the past few decades, you’ll notice that the emergence of homosexuality into the mainstream has occurred simultaneously with a cultural devaluing of traditional marriage and family. This is not a coincidence.

Both the birth of the homosexual movement and the current cultural disregard of traditional marriage and family can be traced back to the 1960s. This was an era marked by the pursuit of freedom from sexual repression, gender inequality and traditional roles. For many, this meant attacking the institution considered most responsible for infringing on sexual freedom and women’s rights: traditional marriage and family.

So, beginning in the ’60s, traditional marriage fell under near-constant attack from feminists and intellectuals, from politicians and the media, and eventually, even religious leaders. The assault on marriage has been wildly successful. While the number of people marrying remained high, the role of marriage in society and the value people placed on it waned. Soon, the results of the war on marriage were evident: skyrocketing rates of divorce, single motherhood, abortions and promiscuous sex.

But there was another effect: The homosexual movement blossomed.

The movement gained traction in the wake of the June 11, 1969, “Stonewall riot,” when a group of homosexuals patronizing the Stonewall Inn in New York revolted against a police demand to disperse. Then it made great strides during the 1970s and reached new heights when it bullied the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 into removing homosexuality from its list of official mental disorders. Although it suffered some setbacks during the ’80s, largely because of aids, it was gaining ground again by the early ’90s, thanks to the calculated efforts of homosexual activists.

Twenty years later, we’re at the point where homosexual teenagers lose their virginity to each other in prime time and no one bats an eye!

Without traditional marriage as the defining influence governing human relations, new ideas—and age-old perversions—crept into the mainstream. As the value society placed on heterosexual marriage and traditional family diminished, the more prone people became to condoning alternative relationships—most notably homosexuality.

The cultural embrace of homosexuality is a direct result of our rejection of traditional marriage!

Like the soldier on the battlefield, if Americans understood the importance of marriage, if they valued it as the institution critical to national success, they would be motivated to fight for it. Sure, they might fear the repercussions of taking on the homosexual juggernaut—but their love of traditional marriage would overpower that fear!

In 2 Peter 2, the Apostle Peter warned that in the time immediately prior to Christ’s return, all sorts of horrible sins, particularly homosexuality, would be prevalent. In verse 6, God even compares today’s world to ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities overloaded with sexual perversions. In verse 7, Peter recalls that God “delivered just Lot, [who was] vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.”

Notice the word vexed. It means exhausted with, or afflicted by, or grievously pained. Lot, as editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in his booklet The Epistles of Peter—A Living Hope, was tormented “by the appalling homosexuality that saturated his surroundings.” Even when radical homosexuals threatened to beat down his door and kill him, he boldly refused their demands. Verse 8 explains why Lot was repulsed by the rampant homosexuality: “For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.”

Lot’s abhorrence of sexual perversion was a measure of his righteousness.

What a powerful condemnation of our society today. Our cultural embrace of sexual immorality is a measure of our wickedness.

What Is the Solution?

When you understand the reason for the homosexual movement’s unimpeded advance into Western culture, the strategy for confronting it is obvious. It’s not a solution most people will willingly embrace. But you can, and should!

The solution is coming to deeply value and understand the God- ordained institution of marriage and family!

This doesn’t mean simply getting back to marriage the way it was in the 1930s or the 1800s. Though marriages for the most part were healthier and more productive in the “olden days,” they were far from perfect.

The first and most important step you can take to avoid being crushed by the homosexual juggernaut is to learn to understand and value marriage the way God does.

The Bible clearly reveals that God created marriage, that He created specific roles for the man and woman, and that He created family. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that man was created in the image and likeness of God Himself. We are not part of the animal kingdom, and God did not create us to behave like animals. In Genesis 2, we learn the reason God created females. Verse 18 recalls that God looked at Adam, the first man, and said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

In verse 22 it is recorded that God “made a woman [not another man], and brought her unto the man.”

Finally in verses 24-25 we see the first marriage, officiated by God in the Garden of Eden: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” How clear: God created marriage!

Why did God want men and women to marry? Perhaps the best explanation is found in Ephesians 5. Verses 20 through 31 of this chapter discuss the marriage relationship, specifically the roles of husband and wife. Notice how the Apostle Paul concludes this passage in verse 31: “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

That is an incredible statement—but there it is, canonized in the Word of God: Physical marriage is a type of a higher, spiritual marriage, the now-imminent marriage between Jesus Christ and His spiritual bride. This doctrine is the nucleus of Herbert W. Armstrong’s groundbreaking book The Missing Dimension in Sex.

“God blessed mankind with the holy God-plane institution of marriage—the very picture of the Christ-Church relationship,” Mr. Armstrong wrote in that book. “God endowed mankind with the God-plane institution of the family and the home—the very type of the Kingdom of God into which we may be born. Thus God ordained that even in this mortal life we may experience the blessing of family life, to prepare us for life in the Kingdom of God!”

That statement, rooted in Scripture, explains the vital importance of traditional marriage and family!

As you come to understand God’s view of marriage and family, it’s important that you start purging from your life and mind anything that undermines this perspective.

Why not start with your tv diet? Remember, shows like Glee are deadly. It’s so easy to get caught up in the emotion, in the visual, sensual appeal—and to forget that brightness is not evidence of purity; that smiles are not always signs of happiness; and that the perfect harmonies and slick dancing are not the result of a healthy, stable lifestyle. In 2 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul writes, “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

The devil is appealing; he can sing like Pavarotti and dance like Astaire—but he’s mean and miserable; he is the ultimate mastermind behind the radical homosexual movement!

Another tip: Make sure God, not the media or the fashion industry, is shaping your definition of what it means to be a man or woman. It’s no coincidence that Glee, and pretty much every other television show these days, is missing the barrel-chested outdoorsman, a man with hair on his chest, a deep voice, strong gestures, a love of sports, art and fine music, a likeable personality and quick intellect, and a respect for and willingness to serve women. In other words, anything resembling the traditional, masculine man!

If you really want to know what it means to be a man, study the lives of David, and Daniel, and Jesus Christ. If you want an idea of what it means to be a godly woman, study the biblical example of Hannah, and Ruth, and Proverbs 31.

Another way to stand fast and avoid being crushed by the homosexual juggernaut is to be like Lot. Strive to live righteously, to study and obey God’s laws, to pray daily, and to repent of sin. The more we think like God, the more repulsed by homosexuality we will be, and the more motivated we will be to keep it out of our lives!

Finally, here is something you can do right away. Request and then study deeply Mr. Armstrong’s free books The Missing Dimension in Sex and Why Marriage! Soon Obsolete? These books connect the many passages elucidating God’s laws about marriage and family. Once you’ve read these books, and come to understand God’s mind-stretching purpose for marriage, you’ll find yourself equipped, energized and motivated to defend yourself against the homosexual juggernaut.

In the meantime, start with something simple: Flee Glee!

Iran Sidesteps Sanctions With Smuggling and Drug Trafficking

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-20T05:00:00+01:00

As the United States and Europe attempt to cripple Iran with more sanctions, Iran is shedding the burden through the booming drug trafficking and smuggling trades. Both industries have been thriving over the past year.

Iran borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, both of which export opium to Iran. With one of the highest opium addiction rates in the world, Iran takes in 700 tons of the crop per year. With its ideal geographical position on the drug route from Afghanistan to Europe, Iran facilitates the trafficking of a further 1,300 tons of opium through to the Caucasus and into Europe.

Iranian officials admit the country is in the midst of a serious drug problem, yet they appear powerless to slow its momentum. There is approximately one ton of narcotics confiscated every day in Iran. Thirty drug traffickers or addicts are arrested every hour. According to Gen. Ali Moayedi, the head of Iran’s anti-narcotics police, over 200,000 people have been detained in relation to trafficking or addiction in the past nine months. In 2012, at least 76 people were executed for drug-related felonies. Iran has the highest rate of opium seizures in the world, accounting for 89 percent of worldwide arrests and confiscations of the substance.

Opium isn’t the only drug that is coming in and out of Iran.

Over the last few years, Iran has experienced a surge in the number of seizures of high-purity crystalline methamphetamines. Iran seizes 41 percent of the world’s heroine and morphine. The seizures are not a result of the police forces and anti-narcotics units getting any better at their job. Rather, the drug trade is actually getting bigger, meaning there are just more drugs to be seized. Captured drug traffickers operating through the Caspian Sea to Iran’s north have been found with high-tech, military-grade equipment including U.S.-made night-vision goggles. Heavy weaponry has been used to blast through checkpoints, and hundreds of border police have died in clashes with drug-related gangs. As the police force increases its efforts to catch the perpetrators, it is frustrated by increasingly well-equipped traffickers.

The U.S. is becoming increasingly frustrated with Iran’s response to the rise in trafficking. It claims Iran is only monitoring what is coming in, not what is going out. As long as Iran contains the amount of illegal drugs flowing in from Afghanistan and Pakistan, it can keep an eye on their dispersion within the nation. When narcotics flow out of Iran, they don’t have the same detrimental effect. On the contrary, they provide the sanction-shackled Iranians with a lucrative income that the U.S. can’t regulate. “The region could be the poster child for the nexus of crime and corruption,” said deputy director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center, Richard Kauzlarich (Washington Post, November 1).

With the U.S. unable to influence the drug trade, and Iran’s neighbors getting frustrated by Iran’s lack of cooperation in tracking drug shipments out of the country, illegal cross-border trade has become a booming business.

Aside from drugs, the Iranian economy is being assisted by the smuggling of goods. Iranians import electronics and household items—anything from a toaster to a tv—and they often come in illegally from neighboring countries. To purchase goods that have come into the country legally means paying an extra 25 percent compared to buying the same goods brought in illegally. When stores restock with illegal goods, they avoid high fees from the government, and can sell their merchandise cheaper.

If the smuggling system wasn’t there, Iranians would be brought to their knees by the cost of daily needs. That would in turn serve to hinder the government in its push for nuclear weapons. That is what the U.S. and Europe are trying to achieve at the moment, but are hampered by factors such as the illegal trade that Iran engages in.

Smuggling isn’t the only way goods are passing over the border. In the past year, the rial (Iran’s currency) has plummeted 50 percent. With the value so low, people are taking goods, and even food, across the border where they can sell them for a greater profit.

This pales in comparison to the amount of smuggled gasoline and diesel that leaves the nation. Every day, 7-10 million liters (approximately 2.6 million gallons) of gasoline and diesel is smuggled out of Iran illegally. This provides an incredible cash flow for the Iranian economy. Diesel will fetch 3,500 rials per liter (.26 gallon) in Iran. It will fetch 35,000 rials in a neighboring country. Some experts are saying that the smuggling of diesel is actually more profitable to Iran than its booming drug trade.

As long as Iran has the means to sidestep sanctions, it will continue to do so. When the sanctions don’t bite as they should, Iran’s nuclear program progresses. The Trumpet has long forecast the West’s inability to stop Iran pursuing the nuclear bomb. Read the article by editor in chief Gerald Flurry titled “A Clash of Civilizations Is Imminent” to see why Iran is not going to give up its quest for nuclear arms.

The Plain Truth About 'Speaking in Tongues'

Eric Anderson — 2013-05-19T22:32:47+01:00

A little over 100 years ago, the modern Pentecostal Movement began in the American Midwest and gained popularity a short while later during the 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California. The new religious movement soon spread across the country and even overseas. Today, the Pentecostal Movement claims over 500 million adherents worldwide, nearly half as many as Roman Catholicism. Pentecostal churches comprise the second most powerful denomination among all professing Christians.

Many Pentecostal groups claim that their religion is of God, and that the “latter rain” of the Holy Spirit is now falling on the souls of men. Some believe that “speaking in tongues”—i.e. the intense shouts, babbling and utterances of members of certain of their congregations—are modern demonstrations of the New Testament “gift of tongues.”

But is the presence of “speaking in tongues”—or glossolalia, as it is termed technically—evidence of God’s Holy Spirit? Or are these outlandish manifestations of emotional shouts, dancing, speaking gibberish, and fainting spells a ridiculous and dangerous counterfeit?

This question is of no small importance. Many feel such “speaking in tongues” is proof that one has the Holy Spirit, or at least evidence that one has achieved some superior level of spiritualism. Is this true? You need to know.

The Basic Doctrine

The late Herbert W. Armstrong made it plain that “the gift of ‘tongues’ spoken of in the Bible is the ability to speak of God in other languages—languages that are foreign and previously unknown to the speaker” (Tomorrow’s World, February 1972).

In other words, the gift of tongues is the God-given, miraculous ability to speak in a human language that one has not learned in any normal manner. But it is certainly not those demonstrations of emotional and indecipherable gibberish that some religious groups today call “speaking in tongues.”

Usual Teachings of This World

The 15th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the “gift of tongues, also called glossolalia (from [the] Greek glossa, ‘tongue,’ and lalia, ‘talking’), [includes] utterances approximating words and speech, usually produced during states of intense religious excitement. The vocal organs of the speaker are affected, the tongue moves without the conscious control of the speaker, and unintelligible speech pours forth. According to religious interpretations of the phenomenon, the speaker is considered to be possessed by a supernatural spirit, is in conversation with divine beings, or is the channel of a divine proclamation .…

“In addition to the religious interpretations of glossolalia as a supernatural occurrence, various psychological interpretations have attempted to explain it as a natural occurrence. It has been suggested that it is a charlatan’s technique, a neurotic or psychotic symptom, a form of epilepsy, or, most commonly, a hypnotic phenomenon resulting from religious excitement.”

Often, the so-called “tongues experience” occurs at an intense, emotionally charged religious revival called a “tarry meeting,” where the “spirit” is said to be “called down” or “worked up.” Generally such “working up” consists of frenetic repeating of certain phrases like “Glory, hallelujah!” or “Sweet Jesus!” With jazzy hymn-singing and the rhythmic, ecstatic chant of these repetitious utterances, the congregation is gradually whipped into an emotional frenzy.

Suddenly one or two or more in the group are “overcome with the spirit” and begin shouting gibberish. Usually this includes waving of the arms, jumping around, shouting or even writhing on the floor. One or another of the congregation may rise to “interpret” what a speaker is saying, usually attributing to the person great praises for God and other spiritual insights.

Some groups view this experience as absolute proof one has the Spirit of God. Others allow that Christians who do not speak in tongues in this manner may have the Spirit, but that those who do speak in tongues have obtained a higher degree of the Spirit with such “inspired” speaking. Glossolalia is a greatly prized spiritual goal in all tongues-speaking circles.

Some believe that such tongues-speaking is related to the episode of the “tongues of fire” in Acts 2:3. Others believe it to be the “baptism of the Spirit” predicted by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11). Beliefs differ, too, as to whether the utterances mean anything in any language. Some believe the utterances to be the “tongues of angels” (1 Corinthians 13:1). Others say the languages are unknown and cannot be known. Still others believe such utterances to indeed be known foreign languages spoken today, or at least previously known languages such as ancient Hebrew.

Most all who do such speaking take the greatest pride in the fact that they “spoke in tongues”—not in what they babbled that might have been meaningful. Few, it seems, stop and ask themselves whether their “gift” agrees with the biblical definition of tongues.

Let us “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) and see what the Holy Bible reveals about the tongues question.

The Bible Teaching

The place to begin is in Acts 2. The first 21 verses of this chapter form the crux of the Bible doctrine of tongues. Here, written nearly 2,000 years ago, is a record of the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a multitude.

Prior to the day of Pentecost, a.d. 31, and shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus Christ promised the original 12 disciples—who later became apostles—that they would receive miraculous spiritual strength after the Holy Spirit had come into their minds following His resurrection (John 14:16-17, 26; Acts 1:8-9).

While Christ was with His disciples in the flesh, He was their actual, physical “Comforter.” For about three and a half years, the Holy Spirit had been dwelling with the disciples in the person of Christ. Jesus told them that after His death and ascension they would receive “another Comforter”—the gift of the Holy Spirit; and it would dwell within them even as it had been evident in Him.

Notice that the receipt of this Holy Spirit was conditional upon the disciples’ obedience. Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:4 show us that they were instructed to wait (or “tarry,” as it states in the King James Version) in Jerusalem until the appointed time. (The word tarry comes from the Middle English tarien, meaning “wait.” It does not imply a “tarry meeting” or modern “revival.”) The disciples would not have been given the gift of God’s Holy Spirit had they ignored or disregarded this specific command. After all, God gives His Spirit only to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32).

The day God established for this special bestowing of His Spirit was on His annual festival of Pentecost—also known as the feast of weeks or feast of firstfruits—which was observed 50 days after the day on which Christ was resurrected. The word pentekoste is a Greek word meaning “50th [day],” or “count fifty.” Leviticus 23:15-21 tells us that Pentecost is an annual holy day which true Christians are commanded to observe every year in the late spring. Strangely, and significantly, the modern Pentecostal groups of this world do not even keep this biblically commanded day!

After Christ’s ascension, Acts 2:1 shows that 120 of His own disciples were faithfully and harmoniously gathered “in one accord” at church services in Jerusalem, as they had been directed, on that day of Pentecost in a.d. 31. Also assembled in Jerusalem on that special holy day, besides the disciples, were other devout men—Jews from all over the Roman Empire. Some were Parthians, some Medes and Elamites; others were from Mesopotamia, Rome and Arabia. Though they were not yet disciples of Christ’s, all of them understood that if they had not obeyed Jesus’ specific command to meet there in Jerusalem on that particular day, they would not have been eligible to receive the Spirit of God.

Pentecost, A.D. 31

At last, when the day of Pentecost had “fully come,” something truly amazing happened. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit arrived with a great display of power! (Acts 2:2-4, 8, 11).

With a loud sound, as of a mighty windstorm, the Spirit of God entered the room wherein the disciples were seated! It also came with the appearance of divided tongues of fire!

Have you ever seen anything even remotely like this in your life? I certainly haven’t. Yet, in this instance, this supernatural event happened—so says your Bible!

Imagine the excitement that ensued. Word of this momentous experience must have spread over the city. A multitude of Jews, amazed, came hurrying to the place. They wondered, for something mind-dazzling began to happen: God’s Spirit filled all 120 of Jesus’ disciples and enabled every one of the Jews—though they hailed from many different regions and spoke diverse dialects—to understand what was said! (Acts 2:6).

Every man, woman and child who came near heard the disciples speak in his or her own language! Those of the Parthian dialect heard the disciples, all of them, speak the Parthian language. The Medes, on the other hand, heard the same disciples speak the language of the Medes. Of course, what the disciples were saying was actually “all Greek” to those who had traveled in from Greece!

Then Peter, the chief apostle, stood and delivered a sermon (Acts 2:14-21). Again, the tongues he spoke in were known languages of the day that were clearly understood by those listening. The listeners marveled because Peter, to their ears, seemed to be speaking in their native, local dialects, although he obviously hadn’t learned all these languages by going to school or through some other normal method of study.

Obviously, Peter was not speaking incomprehensible, meaningless clack. He did not work up the crowd with rhythmically chanted, vain repetitions (Matthew 6:7). Further, we see no descriptions of wildly gyrating bodies, waving hands or people rolling around on the ground.

Concerning this utterly unique and amazing account of the gift of tongues, Mr. Armstrong concluded that “the miracle was in the hearing as well as the speaking” (ibid., emphasis mine).

Other Biblical Accounts

Besides the account in Acts 2, other instances of speaking in tongues are recorded in the Bible. One such time was on the occasion of the first outpouring of God’s Spirit to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:44-48). The account is brief, but verse 46 clearly states that those listening heard those speaking in tongues “magnify God.” In telling the apostles of it, Peter said, “The Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us at the beginning,” and, “God gave them the like gift as He did unto us” (Acts 11:15, 17).

On this occasion, the Gentiles received the power of the Holy Spirit by the ceremony of baptism and the laying on of hands by an ordained minister—in the same manner God gives the Holy Spirit to His begotten saints today. Peter did not say that the Holy Spirit came unto them with the same manifestations as it did on Pentecost in a.d. 31.

The gift of God’s Spirit to the Gentiles did not come suddenly from heaven, as the sound of a mighty wind, appearing as cloven tongues of fire. Aside from being filled with the Spirit and speaking in tongues, the nature of which is not here described, there is no similarity between these two experiences. The only reasonable conclusion is that these tongues again were known languages of the day.

In one other recorded case, men spoke with tongues upon being filled with the Holy Spirit. That was after Paul had baptized the Ephesian believers and laid his hands on them (Acts 19:1-6). Again, these tongues were known languages of the day; there is nothing to indicate the other accompanying manifestations as upon the original day of Pentecost.

Some modern tongues-speakers quote Matthew 3:11, contending that glossolalia is evidence of the “baptism of the Spirit.” John the Baptist’s reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit however, does not refer to tongues as some separate baptism in addition to one’s initial receipt of the Holy Spirit. It is, instead, a reference to that very act of receiving God’s Spirit after repentance, which baptizes us into the true Church of God (1 Corinthians 12:13).

The Gift of Tongues

The book of 1 Corinthians has much to say about the subject of tongues. The gift is mentioned in verses 1 and 10 of 1 Corinthians 12, but verses 27-31 are the most critical.

In verse 28, Paul lists the governmental offices of the church, including the ranks of apostle and prophet. Then, beginning in verse 29, through a series of rhetorical questions, Paul decidedly proves that not all have the gift of tongues (or any of a number of other gifts for that matter). Clearly, having the gift of tongues cannot be the only proof one has God’s Spirit. Nor is it proof of superior righteousness, for verse 31, along with 1 Corinthians 13, declares absolutely that love is a greater gift of the Spirit than speaking in tongues! 1 Corinthians 13:1 says that even if one has the power to speak in the “tongues of … angels,” he is spiritually worthless unless he has love.

It is important to note that these verses do not imply that the Corinthians spoke in angelic language. In 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, Paul lists a number of incredible feats, all of them beyond human capability (i.e., moving mountains with faith, and understanding every single mystery of life). He wanted the Corinthians to see that even if they could do certain things far beyond their normal abilities, it still wouldn’t make them righteous unless they were filled with and expressing godly love—which is an unselfish, outgoing concern for others (agape in the Greek). It is clear that Paul spoke of the tongues of angels also as something beyond the Corinthians’ natural abilities, just like moving mountains.

Chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians is devoted entirely to the tongues topic. Numerous verses defeat the arguments of modern tongues-speakers, proving that Paul wrote these words to downplay and control the gift of tongues, not to exalt it.

Verse 1 encourages normal, inspired preaching over the gift of tongues. The following verses stress that the purpose of speaking in tongues is to edify and benefit the audience, not the speaker. This, of course, is vastly different from modern tarry meetings and revivals, where the one who speaks in tongues is in the limelight while the rest of the congregation just sits back and watches the strange goings-on. These modern acts of glossolalia are generally more like freakish circus sideshows than a proper church service. No real educating takes place.

Verses 10-17 stress the need for the audience to understand the words, and thus make plain that the words should be capable of being understood. Paul is clearly writing of common human languages of the day.

Verse 23 makes the same point a different way. Paul warns against speaking in a language the audience doesn’t understand, saying that to do so would make one who is an unbeliever or unlearned think the believers were crazy. It wouldn’t make sense for a minister of God to speak Spanish to an audience if they didn’t understand the Spanish language!

The remaining verses clear up any modern misunderstandings on this question.

Verse 27 limits the number who may speak in tongues at any one time to two or three who must take turns. (This is what must have occurred on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-11.) It demands calm order in the service—all things being done “decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40), in a godly manner and with proper decorum—which is the very opposite of the emotionally charged atmosphere of a tarry meeting.

Verse 31 says that tongues should be used one by one in turn—not at the same time in devilish confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). God is not the author of confusion and disorder.

Verse 32 states that the one who speaks in tongues is in control of his faculties at all times. This is the very opposite of certain Pentecostals, who give themselves over to tongues-speaking and are for a while controlled by the phenomenon, so much so that they may not remember or even know what they said “while under the influence”!

Finally, verse 34 states that women are forbidden to preach in the church at all. Such is not the case today as many “tongues-speakers” are women.

In summary, we’ve looked at the commonly accepted beliefs about modern “speaking in tongues,” examined the pertinent Bible verses and extracted the key points. Obviously, modern tongues and biblical tongues are not only different, they are in fact opposite.

The biblical gift of tongues is given for instruction; the modern display of “tongues” is enacted for display and vainglory. One is at a preaching service where people are to be edified by the content of the speech; the other at an emotional tarry meeting. One is vocal only; the other is linked with wild physical movement and uncontrolled shouts. One is considered a lesser gift; the other a badge of “righteousness” to brag about. The Bible tongues are real languages; modern tongues are not. One is always under control; the other is worked up to uncontrolled frenzy. One is done in turn by two or three men at the most; the other usually degenerates to disorderly confusion.

What About Today?

Have you ever wondered why God ever gave the gift of tongues, and whether the genuine gift still exists today?

Evidently the gift of tongues was given for the same reasons as other miraculous manifestations in early Church history. It was to call attention to the initial outpouring of God’s power, to attract attention to the gospel message—not to the speaker—and to aid in the spreading of the gospel in a part of the world peppered with people who spoke many different languages (Acts 2:5).

Despite claims to the contrary, people today are not seen to speak miraculously in languages they did not learn through formal instruction. However, the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32, cited by Peter in Acts 2:16-21, may indicate God’s servants will again exercise that gift at a future time of God’s own choosing.

Key Verses

The main Bible verses about this subject of tongues are contained in a few easily remembered sections of Scripture. Acts 2:1-21 shows the first outpouring of tongues occurred on the day of Pentecost. Acts 10:44-48 describes the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentile Christians.

1 Corinthians 12 contains various scattered statements about tongues, while chapter 14 records the Apostle Paul’s instructions about and limitations regarding tongues.

Undoubtedly people can be led astray from the truth if they allow their own thoughts and emotions and evil spiritual influences to dictate their beliefs, rather than God’s precious word. Though these modern “tongues-speakers” may be sincere, they are sincerely deceived.

As Mr. Armstrong wrote, “We have no word of condemnation for these ‘Pentecostal’ people, as they call themselves, because they are unable to repeat the same accompanying manifestations as described for the day of Pentecost in a.d. 31″ (ibid.). Modern tongues-speakers are utterly incapable of reproducing the incredible miracles which occurred that day. At best, all they can do is pretend to imitate, or counterfeit, the gift of tongues.

From the beginning, Satan, the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), has blinded most of mankind to God’s truth. The devil has led many astray through counterfeit spiritual experiences. In fact, Satan has deceived the entire world (Revelation 12:9). But true Christians are told to “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the true litmus test. God’s word is the standard by which we should judge all things (John 17:17). “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:19-20). The “law” and “the testimony” are the Old and New Testaments—the Bible!

Those who search for deeper spiritual experiences by trying to “call down another Pentecost” or “work up the spirit” in their tarry meetings today are simply deceived by Satan.

God’s “very elect” Philadelphian Christians are not naive or gullible, nor can they be deceived (Matthew 24:24). They understand that Satan the devil has been cast down to this Earth (Revelation 12:10). They are fully aware that Christ has thrust them, as sheep among wolves, into society’s wilderness of religious confusion (Luke 10:3). They are not ignorant of Satan’s devices (2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:10-18), and are wise enough to discern that the “tongues” experience witnessed on the day of Pentecost, a.d. 31, is not being repeated today.

How about you?

For more information on this subject, request a free copy of our book Mystery of the Ages.

What Guttenberg Started, de Mazier Finishes

Ron Fraser — 2013-05-19T22:31:24+01:00

During his term as Germany’s defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg introduced the concept of radical change of Germany’s military force. Most controversial of all was his doing away with conscription—the traditional way of providing Germany with a defensive army since rearmament under the Western Allies’ approval following World War ii—and its replacement by an entirely professional outfit of volunteer soldiery.

The idea met with a lot of criticism during Guttenberg’s term in office. Yet now it is being embraced, along with other Guttenberg initiatives, as binding federal government policy.

Recently a rash of reports commissioned by the German government and the European Union have been publicized, all geared toward recommendations of leaner, meaner, better coordinated and consolidated European military forces and defense industries.

The emphasis is on a “high tech” approach to defense. Cyberwarfare, death rays capable of massive destruction, and cutting-edge developments in munitions have all been on the table for discussion by both German and EU defense experts in the process of producing these reports, published over the past few weeks.

Today, the combined military forces of EU nations make the European Union as an entity the second-greatest military power on Earth. It goes without saying that the strongest military power today within the EU is Germany. Thus it is axiomatic that any strength of leadership in a consolidated EU military will be Germanic.

Germany has come a long way since playing second fiddle to the U.S. in European defense both preceding and following unification, up to now.

But now, with U.S. defense focusing away from Europe and its periphery to concentrate on the Far East, Germany, followed by the EU, is picking up the ball for defense outside the European continental perimeter and increasingly focusing on the nations to its south and east.

“The time of planning, guidelines and draft projects is over,” declares the most recent report on the Bundeswehr. “The time has come to change the German military, the report said” (Deutsche Welle, May 16).

DW further states that “The reform of the German military is the most radical overhaul of the Bundeswehr in its history. … A new field will be a division for strategic intelligence (ksa) to launch attacks via the Internet. The Bundeswehr would thus be able to join the cyberwar with computer worms and viruses.”

The recommended new force structure for the Bundeswehr is for “troops ready for rapid intervention missions led by nato or the EU” and for highly professional units able to be launched at short notice as part of EU expeditionary forces (ibid).

These recommendations dovetail neatly with similar recommendations made in the recently released report for overhaul of all EU military forces put forward by the European Institute for Security Studies, commissioned by the chairman of the EU Military Committee.

Those opposing the mooted radical changes in Germany’s defense posture claim that “the overhaul of the troops as they see it [is] a move away from a defensive to an intervention army” (ibid).

They are right.

We have waited for the past 20 years, since German reunification, for the wolf to bare its teeth. Now the wraps are off, and the true nature of German militarism is speedily arising for a third time in a century.

The report indicates that “Barring changes to the national security situation, the Bundeswehr restructuring is to be completed by 2017″ (ibid).

The risk is that, amid the continuing euro crisis, “changes to the national security situation” could result in this timetable being rapidly speeded up, rather than slowed down.

The overall emphasis in both the EU report and the report on the Bundeswehr is that officially the deployment of their forces beyond the European sphere is to be billed as “peace keeping” initiatives.

The grave danger in describing overt military missions as such is bound up in one singular prophecy for our times: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

Read our booklets Germany and the Holy Roman Empire and Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans for more insight on this subject.

Herbert W. Armstrong Visited King Leopold Expedition in New Guinea

Gareth Fraser — 2013-05-19T05:00:00+01:00

On March 11, 1973, the internationally recognized ambassador for world peace touched down in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, for two days of meetings with state officials and the king of Belgium, at the site of one of the Belgian king’s historic expeditions.

Mr. Armstrong and his delegation were greeted by Indonesia’s protocol staff and Dr. Sarwono, chief of the Indonesian Educational and Scientific Institute, who had helped coordinate King Leopold’s expedition in New Guinea. In addition, awaiting them upon landing were Belgian Ambassador George Elliott, accompanied by the Belgian economic adviser.

Since his initial meeting with the king of Belgium 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 Leopold iii Foundation for the Exploration and Conservation of Nature. This collaboration was primarily centered in the fields of anthropology and exploration.

On March 12, 1973, Ambassador International Cultural Foundation officials met with longtime friend of Mr. Armstrong Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik. At the time he was second in charge under President Suharto. Prior, he had served as the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

President Suharto was unable to join the meeting as he was addressing the National Assembly at the time. “But he sent greetings and his personal best wishes for the success of the expedition and an invitation to visit him on our next return to Indonesia” (Plain Truth, June 1973).

In the summer of 1972, the president and the unofficial ambassador met in Jakarta. So vital was the meeting that it was only a few months later that Mr. Armstrong devoted his “Personal” for the November edition of the mass-circulation Plain Truth magazine to his meeting with the leader of the world’s fifth-largest nation at the time.

Later that night, the delegation attended a banquet conducted for the king. The next day Mr. Armstrong recalled, “We flew to Biak in West Irian (New Guinea). It was a five-hour flight, at nearly 600 miles per hour. We must have flown over hundreds of islands, all part of Indonesia, many of the islands as yet uncharted” (ibid).

Upon arrival they were met by the local administrator, a general, who was accompanied by military staff assigned to guide and protect the king’s scientific expeditionary entourage. This armed escort was a necessity as the group was headed into some of the globe’s densest jungle, known to be inhabited by noted headhunters, many of whom had never interacted with foreigners.

Mr. Armstrong spent about an hour with the explorers discussing the project and posing for photographs before farewelling the king and Dr. André Capart, head of Belgium’s Royal Museum of Natural Science. The pair were to spend the night in Biak, then meet various scientists the next day at Djajapura (Jayapura), capital of Irian Jaya. From there, the expedition was to get under way.

Mr. Armstrong, whether contributing financially or with personnel via the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, supported the anthropological study of societies and cultures. King Leopold iii’s exploration foundation was one of the first of various such humanitarian alliances contributing to the historic declaration of the message of good news as a witness to the world (Matthew 24:14).

Today, 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 its founder, Mr. Flurry goes on to describe its goals and activities, which first recognize “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 and to find out how you can support this philanthropic quest, download our foundation prospectus.

Will Your Children Be Better Off Than You?

Joel Hilliker — 2013-05-19T05:00:00+01:00

It’s a long-cherished American dream: seeing our children enjoy a better life than we had. And from the nation’s beginning, when the founders declared the “self-evident” truth that all people have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the United States’ remarkably steady growth in prosperity has made that dream come true for untold multitudes.

In today’s dismal economic climate, though, most Americans think the run is over—that we are the generation to witness the withering of that perennial promise. Not even one in five Americans believes today’s children will be better off than their parents. Two in three say the kids will have it worse.

It looks like—as President Obama said back in January 2009, after news of especially nasty economic contraction—we are starting to experience “the American Dream in reverse.”

Such pessimism is not without justification. The nation’s economic woes are hitting young men harder than just about anyone; more and more are moving back in with Dad and Mom. Gloomy near-term factors like job losses are coupled with longer-range realities like the growing ranks of retirees and the unsustainability of Social Security. The dream of homeownership—of building equity over the lifetime of a 30-year mortgage—has become a castle in the air: Home equity has collapsed from $13 trillion at the height of the housing boom to $6.5 trillion. The wealth gap between the old and young has grown eye-poppingly wide. And evidence abounds that the nation’s economic decline is irreversible.

But hold on a moment. Before anybody leaps off a bridge, let’s step back from the brink and assess the big picture.

Two important truths will give us some much-needed perspective on the threat to the American Dream.

Just What Is the American Dream?

First, we need to challenge our assumptions about the need for endlessly rising prosperity of the sort we enjoy today.

At one time, the focus of what is more or less an “official national dream” was different. It wasn’t about any particular possessions or income level, but about opportunity being available to anyone who went after it. Even the scrappy immigrant of low station, if he worked hard, had a better chance of giving his children a leg up in America than anywhere else in the world.

But that focus began to shift in the 1930s with the shared-sacrifice principle introduced by fdr’s New Deal. If all workers pitched in, the government could establish Social Security to ensure that retirees could enjoy their sunset years free of want. It was perhaps the first time that the model American lifestyle was attached to a particular material promise.

This trend quickly took aggressive hold in people’s minds. At the end of World War ii, the G.I. Bill offered returning veterans low-interest home loans, and enterprising developers began using mass production to erect inexpensive houses for the everyman. After decades of around 45 percent of American families living in homes they personally owned, that number ballooned to 55 percent by 1950, and 62 percent by 1960. Just like that, homeownership became a new facet of the American Dream. Riding a wave of postwar prosperity, Americans also began to enjoy higher levels of car and television ownership. The aim of sending the kids to college became mainstream.

In the middle of this unprecedented upsurge in standards of living—and helping to fuel it—was a mushrooming of consumer credit. At a comparatively small $2.6 billion in 1945, the nation’s personal-debt monster grew to $45 billion by 1960—and $105 billion just a decade after that. Meanwhile, Americans’ expectations of what life should offer floated up into the troposphere: a bigger house, a second car, a fancy annual vacation. The free spending transformed what was once the world’s biggest creditor nation into, in 1986, its biggest debtor nation.

There is something magnanimous about parents wanting something better for the next generation. “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children,” the proverb says. But clearly, during these pie-in-the-sky years, the American Dream got unhinged from the virtues of hard work, responsibility and self-control. And the inherent falseness in expecting a never-ending ascent in material abundance was exposed. As Gregg Easterbrook wrote in his 2003 book The Progress Paradox, “For at least a century, Western life has been dominated by a revolution of rising expectations: Each generation expected more than its antecedent. Now most Americans and Europeans already have what they need, in addition to considerable piles of stuff they don’t need.”

Today, even as Americans consume more and enjoy more luxuries and a higher standard of living than ever, a majority of them say they consider the American Dream unachievable. Nothing is ever enough. Whatever they have, they feel entitled to so much more. Satisfaction and contentment are ever just over the horizon.

Don’t buy into this poisonous, delusional thinking. Square your values with reality. And make sure you’re passing on to your children a wealth of what really matters in life. (Our reprint article “How to Be Rich” might help. Request a free copy.)

Just What Is America’s Future?

The second truth we need to understand in order to gain perspective on the state of the American Dream involves the broader view of the nation’s economic future. Much evidence points to decline for the foreseeable future. But other even more sure proof shows that the long-term outlook is much, much dreamier.

Consider this seriously. A recent Gallup poll found 65 percent of Americans believe the Bible “answers all or most of the basic questions of life.” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 78 percent of Americans—nearly 8 in 10—say the Bible is the “Word of God”; and of those, almost half believe “it is to be taken literally, word for word.”

That means nearly 40 percent of Americans consider the Bible literally God’s Word, and every word of it true.

Are you one of them? If so, consider this.

A full third of the Bible is prophecy. And very prominent within that prophecy are rich, vivid descriptions of a future world very different from our own. It is a world of universal prosperity. Not one in which a single nation provides opportunities to succeed for a span of a handful of generations—but in which all peoples and all nations enjoy such benefits for centuries. That is what God wants! Think of the American Dream—and multiply it by billions!

In front of the United Nations building in New York City stands a statue of a man beating his sword into a plowshare. This inspiring image comes from a passage in Isaiah. The book of Micah quotes the same passage: “nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Here, though, the prophecy continues: “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” (Micah 4:3-4).

This is a prophecy of God installing an economic system worldwide that revolves around universal land ownership, just as it did in ancient Israel (1 Kings 4:25). In God’s society, every family will own property, the very basis of producing abundance and wealth.

“… I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord …” (Ezekiel 34:26-27). “Showers of blessing”—what a wonderful expression. Rain is a blessing only God can give, and He blesses the obedient abundantly. Their fields, crops, orchards and vines will be so productive, and yields so great, that they cannot keep up! They will still be harvesting when it comes time to sow the fields with new crops (Amos 9:13).

God says He will bless us in the city, bless us in the field, bless our health and our children, our livestock and crops, our savings, our security and all the work of our hands. These are all promises He gave to ancient Israel (Deuteronomy 28). Those people disobeyed Him and were cursed, but all of mankind will soon obey God and receive all of these incredible blessings—especially a repentant modern Israel!

Imagine quality city life being affordable. Imagine a city providing enough stable, decent jobs that unemployment is next to nil, and everyone enjoys affluence. Imagine a city devoid of run-down, impoverished slums and ghettos. “… Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity …” (Zechariah 1:17; Revised Standard Version).

Sound too good to be true? God challenges you to believe it! “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:8-10).

Believe it or not, America is specifically described within those prophecies as rejoicing in those blessings!

The British nations and the United States—the modern-day descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh—became the wealthiest and most powerful nations on Earth in this end time (because of Abraham’s obedience to God). This status and power has faded from Britain, and is now fading from the United States. But their recent status among nations is only a foretaste of even greater wealth and power to come—in God’s service—once all of Israel is living in obedience to the government of God.

“Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all .… and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:12, 14).

An understanding of biblical prophecy reveals that, yes, we are in for some extremely difficult times in the short term. But these troubles are in fact signs that we are on the threshold of that far better world! They are signs that Jesus Christ is just about to return!

We are, in truth, the generation to witness the blossoming of that perennial promise! And that long-cherished dream of seeing our children enjoy a better life than we had will become a reality far more awesome than we ever imagined.

Pro-Israel Groups Targeted by IRS

Anthony Chibarirwe — 2013-05-18T05:00:00+01:00

Media fallout from the Internal Revenue Service (irs) scandal has revealed that the organization isolated tax-exemption applications of groups that seemed pro-Israel for extra scrutiny in ways similar to its treatment of Tea Party groups and other conservative political organizations.

One such group that is now suing the irs is Z Street, an educational, Zionist organization founded by Lori Lowenthal Marcus in 2009.

In December 2009, the organization applied for tax exemption from the irs. An irs agent later informed one of Z Street’s attorneys that its application was being delayed and scrutinized by “a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the administration’s public policies.” Specifically, the attorney was informed that Z Street’s application was receiving extra scrutiny because it was “connected to Israel.”

In August 2010, Z Street filed a lawsuit against the irs for what it perceived as viewpoint discrimination and violation of constitutionally protected freedom of speech. In response to that lawsuit, the manager of the irs’s Exempt Organizations Determinations Group, Jon Waddell, wrote, “Israel is one of many Middle Eastern countries that have a ‘higher risk of terrorism.’ A referral to [an irs screening department] is appropriate whenever an application mentions providing resources to organizations in a country with a higher risk of terrorism.”

Writing in November 2010 for the Jewish Policy Center, Matthew M. Hausman observed that this extra scrutiny of Z Street “occurred not long after the left-wing organization J Street announced its campaign to lobby the Treasury Department to revoke the tax-exempt status of Jewish charities that support religious and cultural institutions in Judea and Samaria.” Incidentally, J Street has never been subjected to an irs investigation.

With the irs now publicly apologizing for its “insensitive” and “inappropriate” discrimination of Tea Party groups, it appears it also owes an apology to some pro-Israel groups that it has discriminated against. For the first time since Z Street’s 2010 lawsuit, a hearing will now take place on July 2 in the U.S. District Court in Washington.

The irs’s anti-Israel actions come at a time when the Jewish state of Israel is in desperate need of strong allies such as the U.S. Unfortunately, America has not been friendly of late.

This state of affairs perfectly lines up with Bible prophecy, which states that the brotherhood between Israel and America, in particular, will be broken in the end time. For more about the prophecies on this subject, read our article “Band of Brothers” and our booklet America Under Attack.