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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.

Matthew 24 Unlocks the Seven Seals

Gerald Flurry — 2013-05-18T05:00:00+01:00

In Matthew 24, Christ unlocks the meaning of the seals of Revelation. The first four seals are also known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Do you understand the meaning of the seven seals of Revelation?

Ethiopia in the Crosshairs

Brad Macdonald — 2013-05-18T05:00:00+01:00

The Trumpet does more than simply analyze blockbuster headlines. We also write them—often months, years, decades even, in advance.

Here is a blockbuster headline soon to come out of Ethiopia: Islamists gain control of Ethiopia, Eritrea.

It’s easy to glance at Ethiopia, a pro-Western, comparatively stable, predominantly Christian country that rarely makes prime-time news, and think that’s absurd. But if you look closely, and consider the broader perspective, Ethiopia’s future is grim, very grim. In fact, Ethiopia is in jeopardy right now.

Surrounded by Islam

First, consider Islam’s control over the region. Start in Morocco, the western gateway into the Mediterranean, where in November the Islamist Justice and Development Party, which represents the Muslim Brotherhood, came out on top in parliamentary elections and now leads the nation’s coalition government. Islam’s victory in Morocco occurred less than a month after the Ennahda Party, another outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, dominated national elections down the road in Tunisia. Next door in Libya, where Col. Muammar Qadhafi was recently ousted and killed, Islamist parties, some of which are associated with radical terrorists, are gaining the upper hand.

Head a little farther east and we come to Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood and hardline Islamist political parties trounced their competitors in parliamentary elections last November and December. In the first two rounds of voting, Egypt’s Islamist parties garnered nearly 70 percent of the vote! It’s now abundantly clear, lamented Caroline Glick last December, that “Egypt is on the fast track to becoming a totalitarian Islamic state” (emphasis added throughout).

Travel north from Cairo and we hit Gaza, the stronghold of Iranian proxy Hamas. Farther north still are Lebanon and Syria, where there are an assortment of Islamic terrorist organizations, one of which recently lobbed two missiles into Israel. Syria is led (still) by Bashar Assad, a stalwart ally of Iran, and is a key staging ground for radical Islam’s war on Israel. North of Syria is Turkey, a nation that has in recent years slid toward the radical Islamist camp.

Skip east of Turkey and you find Pakistan and Afghanistan, two bastions of radical Islamic terrorism. Retrace your steps west and there’s Iran: the command center of global Islamic terrorism, a nation on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, led by mullahs determined to create a nuclear apocalypse. Across the border in Iraq, Iranian proxies are right now filling the power vacuum created by the departure of U.S. forces.

Farther south, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are all alarmed by the rise of Iran-sponsored Islamic terrorism. Head south from Riyadh and we come to Yemen: a chaotic, headless state where Islah, the Islamist political party created by the Muslim Brotherhood, will likely get the victory when Yemenis finally get around to voting. From Yemen we hop the Gulf of Aden to get to Somalia, where Islamist pirates routinely hijack vessels in the Indian Ocean and the fragile Transitional Federal Government (tfg) routinely wards off attacks by al-Shabaab and its terrorist partners.

Finally, we come to Ethiopia, a nation standing in the path of this barreling, Iran-steered, radical Islamist freight train! Is it any surprise that the Ethiopian government recently discovered a plot by Wahhabi Muslims to turn the country into an Islamic country governed by sharia law?

And Next Door, in Eritrea

Meanwhile, radical Islamist forces have gotten a foothold in Eritrea, Ethiopia’s regional adversary and a nation strategically situated at the gateway of the Red Sea.

In 2006, the United Nations accused Iran, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Hezbollah of providing arms, training and financing to Islamic militants in Somalia via Eritrea. In December 2008, reports emerged that Iranian naval vessels had visited the Eritrean port of Assab and deposited an undisclosed number of Iranian troops and weapons there, including long-range and ballistic missiles. A few months later, an official in Somalia’s tfg government accused Iran of arming al-Shabaab via Eritrean middlemen.

Most recently, Kenyan media reported in November that a shipment of arms, the third of its kind, had been delivered via Eritrea to al-Shabaab in Somalia. Eritrea’s support of al-Shabaab, and of Islamic terrorism in general, is so serious that the UN Security Council last November imposed sanctions on the country. The sanctions, stated U.S. ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, will send the message to Eritrea “that it will pay an ever higher price” for its support of Iran and radical Islamist groups.

In fact, sanctions are more likely to drive Eritrea more firmly into the Iranian camp.

Still More Pressures

In addition to the radical Islamist problem festering inside its borders and the growing threat from Eritrea, Ethiopia is under increasing threat from the radical Islamist presence in Somalia. Mogadishu’s Transitional Federal Government is frail and politically immature, two issues made worse by the fact that it is under near-constant attack from al-Shabaab and its regional supporters, including Iran. Ethiopia’s border with Somalia is nearly 1,000 miles long, and the risk of the Islamist war spilling over into Ethiopia is real, which is why Ethiopia supports the tfg. By doing so, however, Ethiopia risks becoming a target of al-Shabaab and its radical Islamist partners.

That’s not all Ethiopia has to worry about. Last August, Iran’s foreign minister visited Somalia and met with President Sharif Ahmed and other leaders in the tfg. The official purpose of the visit was to discuss Iran providing humanitarian aid. According to Stratfor, relations between Ethiopia’s leaders and Ahmed are strained. It’s possible, explained Stratfor, that the meeting between the Iranian foreign minister and the president of Somalia “could have been used to explore other sources of political backing” (Aug. 26, 2011).

No doubt, the visit to Somalia by the foreign minister of the number one state sponsor of Islamic terrorism gave more than a few Ethiopian officials nightmares!

No matter what angle you view it from, the picture is the same: Ethiopia is under extreme pressure to come under the influence of radical Islam!

When you look at a map, it is not difficult to see why Iran wants to ramp up its presence in this region. It wants control of the southern entrance to the Red Sea! To get this, the regime in Tehran needs sympathetic Islamic governments in Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia. This is what makes the Islamist encroachment on Ethiopia so significant!

Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and via its Islamic allies in Egypt is fast gaining decisive influence over the Suez Canal. When it eventually gains influence over Ethiopia and Eritrea, Iran will control the Red Sea.

When that happens, Iran will have the power to lock down virtually the entire Middle East!

Ethiopia in Prophecy

Last year, as the West was merrily endorsing the “democratic” revolutions sweeping through North Africa and the Middle East, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry warned that something more sinister was afoot in the Arab Spring. In the end, he warned, Iran and radical Islam will emerge the victors.

In the April 2011 issue of the Trumpet, Mr. Flurry prophesied specifically that Libya and Ethiopia would be the victims of radical Islam. “Why would Iran be so interested in getting some measure of control over Libya and Ethiopia? To me, the answer is intriguing. All you need to do is get a good map of the Middle East, with the emphasis on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Then you can see why the king of the south, or radical Islam, is so interested in an alliance with or control over these two countries (as well as Egypt and Tunisia). They are on the two seas that comprise the most important trade route in the world!”

When Mr. Flurry delivered that forecast, there was very little physical evidence to suggest Ethiopia could ever be threatened by Islam. What did he base his analysis on? In his April 2011 article, Mr. Flurry explained the prophecy in Daniel 11:40-43, which foretells an end-time clash between a German-led Holy Roman Empire and an Iranian-led Islamic coalition called the king of the south.

In verse 43, Daniel lists the “Libyans and the Ethiopians” as part of the king of the south alliance. “This verse states that Libya and Ethiopia are also going to be closely allied with Iran!” stated Mr. Flurry. Then, with confidence invoked by the “more sure word of prophecy,” Mr. Flurry stated even more emphatically: “Watch Libya and Ethiopia. They are about to fall under the heavy influence or control of Iran, the king of the south.”

It’s amazing, though not surprising, that since Mr. Flurry penned that article, radical Islam’s grip on North Africa and the Middle East has tightened immensely. From Morocco to Yemen, Istanbul to Cairo, Iran and radical Islam have grown, albeit to varying degrees, in power and influence.

Believe the facts, and believe biblical prophecy. It won’t be long now till you read this headline: Islamists gain control of Ethiopia, Eritrea. Not on the front page of the Trumpet, but on the front page of the New York Times.

And when you do, remember where you saw it first!

The End of the Free World

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-17T20:58:59+01:00

Read This First—A Note From the Trumpet Staff 

Ten years ago, in our January 2002 edition, the Trumpet presented an overview of biblical prophecy. Called “The Coming World Crisis,” this special issue featured articles on each of the major global powers foretold in Scripture to play a significant role in end-time events. We are now in the process of converting it into a booklet to offer to Trumpet subscribers.

The following article, about Anglo-America, is reprinted in full and unaltered from that issue. It is our hope that you will benefit from reading its astounding preview of world events—now in many instances a post-view. We believe it powerfully demonstrates the inerrancy of the Bible. Its timeless nature is made all the more exciting as you consider the astounding events that have taken place just over this past year.

As you read, remember the shocking economic collapse experienced by the U.S. and Britain in 2008. Remember the hundreds of financial institutions—including giants Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—that either failed, or were bailed out or nationalized. Consider the 9 million jobs that have been lost, the millions of homes that are being foreclosed upon, the record high food stamp usage, and the growing divide between rich and poor. And remember that another, greater crash is guaranteed to hit soon.

As you read, don’t forget the heightened social unrest spilling onto the streets in America and Britain. For five days in August, animal-like mobs of rioters in London burned businesses and homes, hospitalized police officers, looted shops, assaulted citizens, and even killed people. That same month, in America there were the race riots in Milwaukee that more closely resembled something out of tribal Afghanistan. More recently, the Occupy Wall Street movement has made dramatic headlines. Every day it seems that people are getting angrier—and looking for someone to blame. Authorities reported record gun sales in November, up 35 percent over the previous year. Violence is taking over the streets in many of our cities, and people are getting desperate for protection.

As you read, consider that America’s military—the institution that perhaps the most Americans take pride in—is reaching a critical breakpoint. After more than a decade of war, troops and equipment are stretched like never before. The average age of fighter aircraft is 24 years and rising. For naval vessels it is even higher. Hundreds of aircraft and vessels are operating far past their expected operational lifetimes. With the broken economy, massive military spending cuts are guaranteed. America’s military is set to shrink rapidly. In Britain, a country once renowned for its navy, its armed forces are so shrunken that it no longer has even a single aircraft carrier.

And as you think about the prophecy in this article, know that America and Britain are now less able than at any time in their history to cope with these problems. Think of the moral decline that has taken place over the past decade, and what that has done to our leadership. Think of the in-your-face homosexual agenda being forced on the nation. Think of the breakdown in traditional families. The consequences are becoming more apparent each year. America’s jails are full. Depression and health issues plague society. One in four women take at least one drug for a mental health issue. These problems are beyond our ability to fix.

But there is a solution to our problems. God promises to protect and prosper those who commit to obey Him and keep His laws. He promises to give answers to even our biggest problems. We hope the following article will help you see the urgency in God’s work today and that it will motivate you to action. This world needs solutions—God’s solutions—more than ever. And we hope you will continue to be a part of that.

The End of the Free World

One of the most astounding secrets of the Bible—that the United States and Britain are two of the most prominent nations mentioned in prophecy—may initially appear startling, or even preposterous, to some of our readers.

Yet, while never mentioned by their modern-day names, the prophecies about these nations that have come to pass are so numerous, they provide one of the most convincing proofs of the validity of God’s written Word! A startling statement, but provable beyond the shadow of a doubt.

These nations are dramatic, living examples of prophecy being fulfilled.

Tragically, these nations have a history of being quick to forget. Even knowledge revealing their identity and their role in history might have been lost forever in the corridors of time, had God not restored this truth to His Church through the late Herbert W. Armstrong.

But still more important for your sake than the prophecies already fulfilled are the prophecies yet to be fulfilled. The future of these nations, as portrayed by God’s prophets, is a terrifying one. Yet scriptures like Isaiah 55:11 remind us that God’s prophecies are sure.

We now can see the seeds of these vital prophecies being fulfilled, in world events, and exposed on the pages of this magazine!

Now, more than ever, before it is too late, you must have a clear-eyed view of what to expect in the years ahead—to get a grasp of what God forecasts for the American and British peoples.

To say that the effect these prophecies will have on your life will be dramatic would be a grave understatement!

Here is why.

Identity of U.S. and Britain

First, before we can understand the prophecies pertaining to the United States and Britain, an understanding of the identity of these countries in the Bible is essential.

The abundant material blessings eventually bestowed on the U.S. and the British Commonwealth of nations were initially conveyed to the biblical patriarch Abraham because of his obedience (Genesis 22:16-18). He then passed them on to his son Isaac, who later did the same with his son Jacob. In due time, Jacob conferred this birthright promise to his son Joseph’s sons—Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh was to become one great nation, and his younger brother a company of nations. One day, materially, these nations would become stupendously rich and powerful, above any other nations.

For proof of why Britain (together with some of the British Commonwealth nations) and the United States of America can be identified in the Bible as Ephraim and Manasseh—part of the lost 10 tribes of Israel—request a free copy of The United States and Britain in Prophecy, written by Herbert Armstrong.

The Bible is a book essentially about Israel—its history and its future. Given that the modern descendants of the Israelites are known, the key to understanding biblical prophecy suddenly jumps into view.

That includes an understanding of those future events which are certain to soon hit this world!

Prophecies Already Fulfilled

One of the most amazing stories of history, that of the unparalleled growth and prosperity of the United States and Britain, and the unprecedented, startling speed of their appearance on the world scene, takes us straight back to those promises made to Ephraim and Manasseh. Following the unwinding of these prophecies from their earliest phases makes a fascinating study.

Think of it! At the height of their power, these two countries possessed nearly three quarters of all the world’s cultivated wealth and resources. For Britain, the sun never set on its empire. In fact, it became the greatest territorial expanse in history, and the United States the greatest single nation.

Just as your Bible prophesied would be the case, no people have enjoyed greater blessings of prosperity and freedom than the modern nations of Israel.

However, the conditions on which these Anglo-American promises were made—the active part of the equation—depended on obedience to God, the awarder of such spectacular and abundant blessings. God kept His part of the bargain. Israel did not. God’s agreement with ancient Israel specified that, in such a case, curses for disobedience would follow on the heels of the blessings.

What the world has witnessed in these nations, especially over the last few decades, is an unequalled moral decline—and consequently, the gradual removal of God’s blessings. How clearly reality in both the U.S. and Britain reflects this truth!

Isaiah prophesied of the decline of strong leadership—nationally and within families (Isaiah 1:4-6; 3:1-12). Family strife, abusive parents, delinquent children, adultery and divorce are commonplace in the Western world. God also prophesied that sexual perversions would abound—comparing American and British society to ancient Sodom (Isaiah 3:9).

God prophesied of a decline in military strength and will (Leviticus 26:17-20). The facts speak for themselves. Both Britain and the United States are currently withdrawing from their role as the world’s peace brokers and turning the job over to a willing German-led European Union, which has begun to take on U.S.-led peace challenges in the Middle East, Bosnia and Afghanistan. Right now, despite the far superior size and capacity of its military, the casualty-shy U.S. feels particularly wary about acting forcefully enough to win a decisive battle.

Also prophesied for America and Britain was the gain of strategic sea gates (Genesis 22:17) only to be lost as these nations reaped curses for disobedience. This too has already largely occurred. The 20th century saw Britain’s and America’s loss of sea gates such as the Suez Canal, Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Cape of Good Hope and the Panama Canal. Gibraltar will undoubtedly be added to the list soon, as Britain is being bullied by the European Union to relinquish control of this strategic territory, under threat of horrendous fines.

To anyone with a truly open mind, who knows the identity of Israel in prophecy, the fact that God is allowing Britain and America to reap the corrective consequences of their actions should be increasingly obvious.

Given that people are largely ignoring the correction meted out thus far, what can we expect to occur in the future?

Prophecies to Be Fulfilled

Old Testament prophets like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Hosea provided specific detail about what is to happen to the United States and Britain. Their prophecies were sometimes dual, with a lesser fulfillment to happen in their day. But they were mostly written for the end time, just prior to Jesus Christ’s Second Coming.

Ezekiel, for instance, wrote about Israel’s future destruction and captivity well after ancient Israel had already gone into captivity. Other prophecies could not have been fulfilled during the lives of the prophets. God even explicitly told certain prophets that their words are for the end time (see Jeremiah 30:2, 24; Isaiah 30:8; “the time to come” reads “the latter day” in the Hebrew).

In these prophecies, God refers to the end-time nations of Israel as the “house of Israel,” “Jacob” or “my people.” Some prophecies refer specifically to the house of Judah—the modern nation of Israel in the Middle East today—but often, the general prophecies can be applied to Israel and Judah, since Judah is a tribe of Israel.

Armed with this knowledge, we can get a clear picture of the future of America and Britain from Old Testament prophecy. Tragically, the story told there is very bleak.

In addition to prophesying the decline of the greatest superpowers ever to exist, the fruits of which are being seen now, the Bible says the decline will culminate in the tragic devastation of these two countries. The U.S., Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and others will see utter defeat in a coming world war—what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21-22).

In comparing the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to modern-day Israel, Isaiah foretold that Israel would suffer the same fate as those two evil cities—with only a few righteous to be saved (Isaiah 1:7, 9).

Here is how these events will play out, as the Bible foretells, just before and throughout this future tribulation. The outline can be found in Ezekiel 5. Through Ezekiel—whose prophecy was for the “house of Israel” (Ezekiel 3:5)—God says that a third part of America and the British nations will die by pestilence and famine, a third by nuclear attack on the land, and the final third taken into captivity.

These are prophecies to sit up and take note of! This is the plain Word of God, printed in your Bible! Surely, it should merit your attention!

Pestilence and Famine

Ezekiel 5:12 states, “A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee .…”

Earlier in chapter 5, Ezekiel was told to go through a physical ritual that pictured this event: “And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled …” (verses 1-2).

In his new booklet, Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet, our editor in chief wrote, “The word pestilence just means destruction or death (see the Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon). One definition of the root word is ‘to lay snares, to plot against, to destroy.’ So this pestilence could be a plague of violence or burning—not necessarily a physical disease at all! It can be defined as a plague of violence and rioting—such as the Los Angeles riots in 1992 or as the violence of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks! Why would the first third be burned with fire (verse 2), if it refers to a disease epidemic?

“The pestilence, or plague of violence, will cause many health problems that lead to famine. Sewage disposal will be disrupted. Gas lines will be broken. Jobs will be lost. Society will unravel and the collective panic will bring a stock market disaster! It will get so bad that violence and famine will take millions of lives!” It will take a full third of lives, in fact! This is death on the scale of tens of millions of people! Write for a free copy of this booklet for more information.

The siege spoken of in Ezekiel portends an economic disaster, for God speaks of removing Israel’s financial blessings (Hosea 2:8-9). The Bible shows that this famine will get so bad, people will turn to what seems unthinkable in our current prosperity: cannibalism (Ezekiel 5:10).

Watch the American and British economies carefully. The U.S. economy, in particular, is an ever expanding bubble—ready to burst anytime. It has been kept afloat by superficial means, particularly heavy consumer spending. When the terrorist attacks struck on September 11, the fragile economy was revealed for what it was as consumer spending took a huge blow. Yet, it all began to pick up as the U.S. entered a retaliatory mode and the holiday shopping season struck.

America will not be so resilient when it suffers this kind of pestilence prophesied in Ezekiel 5. With one third of the population falling as casualties of domestic violence, the world’s largest economy will barely be a shell of what it used to be.

Of course, all this seems too unbelievable to be true! How could such a fate befall America? Well, before September 11, who would have believed that such terrorism could occur on U.S. soil? It was so unbelievably shocking. Yet, it happened. The terrorist attacks, the rioting and racial tensions already experienced in both Britain and the U.S. are signs that this plague of violence is imminent. We should watch these things, so this destruction does not catch us off guard (Luke 21:36).

As Mr. Flurry’s Ezekiel booklet points out, we should watch for increased racial tension in the nations of Israel. Increasingly over the last ten years, British and American newspapers have been spattered with stories about bloodshed over conflicts between racial groups.

The race riots in Cincinnati, Ohio, last April and Britain’s Bradford riots of six months ago were only a precursor of how major Western cities could fall to such violence in the near future—violence so great as to cause the death of one third of these countries’ citizens.

‘The Sword’

After the pestilence and famine, Ezekiel 5:12 says, “a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee .…” The next event will be a military attack against the end-time nations of Israel. Hosea 5:5 says that Britain, America and Israel will all fall together.

Yet, how could this prophecy come to pass, particularly against America, which is still by far the most militarily superior nation in the world?

We can expect to see something undercut the U.S. military might—perhaps more terrorist attacks or even cyberwarfare and cyberterrorism.

The U.S. has downsized its defense program to the point where it can no longer fight a war on two fronts. The current campaign in Afghanistan may look impressive, but prophecy indicates that what is left of America’s strength will be “spent in vain” (Leviticus 26:20). Perhaps this war on terrorism will have exhausted American forces by the time the real enemy attacks.

Britain is suffering from a similar military contraction. The Daily Telegraph reported on June 11, 2001, “The Royal Navy can barely meet its nato obligations, let alone think of mounting any campaign in Britain’s interests far away .…” As God prophesied in Isaiah 3, the “mighty man” and the “man of war” will continue to fade into non-existence.

The economic wounds previously discussed will most likely contribute to the lack of military strength and response at this point in time. Consider the implications of another of Ezekiel’s prophecies: “They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof” (Ezekiel 7:14). It appears certain that, at some future point, Israel’s military will be so crippled that an armed takeover by another country will occur.

But who will attack the United States and the British nations? When you understand Bible prophecy, you realize that these countries’ foreign policies have been off the mark when predicting which countries pose the real threat. It will not be the Russians. It will not be Iraq. It will not be North Korea.

The Bible actually shows it is those with whom Israel has formed a close alliance—its “lovers” (Lamentations 1:1-2; Hosea 2:13).

Ezekiel 23 reveals these “lovers” to be the Assyrians (verses 5, 7, 9, 12)—end-time Germany. Germany, by this time, will be leading a united Europe, a resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire—the prophetic beast power of Revelation 13 and 17.

God will use the German-led European Union to punish the U.S. and Britain: “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets” (Isaiah 10:5-6).

At this point, we can pause and make another point about what to watch in the times ahead: These verses provide prophetic proof that Britain will not remain in the European Union! Britain’s sense of national identity is in tatters. It is increasingly dependent on Europe for its financial well-being, and yet it is doing the balancing act of maintaining its sterling markets in the face of a Europe that officially adopted the euro as its means of exchange this month. Still, Britain has failed to find a comfortable role for itself in Europe.

Britain will be left out. Europe is prophesied to conquer Britain. In Isaiah 28:3, God refers specifically to Britain (Ephraim) being trodden underfoot.

God says this military attack on Britain and the U.S. will not only destroy another one third of their inhabitants, but it will utterly level the cities not already destroyed by the “pestilence.” Ezekiel 6:6 mentions the cities being “laid waste” and “desolate” (see also Hosea 5:9). Even more graphic, the Bible shows that these cities will be left without one inhabitant! (Isaiah 6:11; Jeremiah 2:15; 33:10). The cities of ancient Israel were not destroyed in this manner. In fact, these prophecies could not have come to pass until the advent of nuclear technology.

How utterly astounding to imagine cities like New York, Washington, d.c., Los Angeles, London and Sydney being leveled and left empty by nuclear destruction! But it is coming!

Captivity

The third and final phase of God’s punishment toward Israel will then be carried out: “… and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them” (Ezekiel 5:12). The survivors of the pestilence, famine and nuclear attacks will be taken captive by the German-dominated Europe.

God says He will cast Britain out of His sight (Jeremiah 7:15). Hosea 9:3-6 show that they will be taken as captives into Assyria and Egypt—where the beast power will also dominate during this nuclear world war (Daniel 11:42).

The suffering of this bondage will far outweigh that of any previous time (Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:21). The ghoulish concentration camps of Nazi Germany in World War ii were merely a small taste of what this captivity will be like. And it will affect one third of Anglo-America—millions of people forced to suffer under the iron fist of a revived German regime!

Jeremiah 30:3 states, “For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord .…” This clearly is referring to an end-time captivity.

But, thankfully, as the last half of Jeremiah 30:3 indicates, Israel will repent as a result of these heavy trials, and God will respond with mercy. Those Israelites who do not die in the Tribulation will turn to God in heartfelt, genuine repentance (Ezekiel 6:7-9). As World War iii comes to a close, as the beast power is totally defeated, God will bring His people out of captivity from the “north country” and Egypt and other parts of the Earth (Isaiah 11:11).

The Good News

This time of unparalleled suffering will bring Israel back to God. And that is the exact reason God allows something so utterly dreadful. Of course, if Israel were to repent and turn to God now, He promises that they could completely avoid such agonizing punishment.

Ezekiel 33:11 states, “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”

God does not want the nations of Israel to die. He wants them to repent and to be spared from the greatest time of suffering. If that does not occur, the prophecies will be played out in full (Ezekiel 3:7).

There is nothing to suggest that America, Britain and the other nations of Israel will turn to God in repentance. Even after a tragedy like the one suffered on September 11 of last year, there was more talk of pride in the “American spirit” than there was self-evaluation, humility and repentance. But you, on the other hand, can change the destiny of your life. You do not have to suffer the unparalleled misery of the Great Tribulation.

God promises protection to those who repent and surrender to Him (Psalm 91:5-7). If you will commit yourself to obey His laws, He will count you worthy to escape all these frightful things (Luke 21:35-36). The decision is yours.

It's Time You Read 'America Under Attack'

Brad Macdonald — 2013-05-17T15:28:46+01:00

America Under Attack. That’s the title of the latest book by Gerald Flurry, editor in chief of the Trumpet. The book was published last month. It’s free and you can read, or request a free hard copy, here.

There’s a lot to be impressed by in this book, but for me one of the most striking is the way events since its release have so powerfully vindicated its message.

America Under Attack is a smartly structured, well-researched, hard-hitting exposé of a terribly destructive war currently being waged on America, a war that is being waged, sadly, from the inside. The book has some pretty condemning observations which are delivered with some uncompromising, refreshingly straightforward language. Mr. Flurry explores and explains the sinister and destructive actions of America’s leadership, including the behavior of both political parties but especially the radical left, the mainstream media, the White House and President Obama. Unlike the many other books on this subject, criticizing the president and his men, or the media and radical left, is not the central purpose of the book.

What makes America Under Attack so profound—and so entirely unique—is the way Mr. Flurry gets to the central cause of America’s internal conflict. The book doesn’t merely criticize the decisions or behavior of America’s leaders: It gives the reason America’s leaders think the way they think and act the way they act.

But again, it’s the way this book has been so powerfully punctuated by events that I find especially remarkable, and that I want to write about here.

First, think back on that horrible week in April that began with a terrorist bombing in Boston—the first successful attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, followed by a massive explosion at a fertilizer factory in Texas two days later, and concluded with two failed bio-attacks on the government. Remember that week? That was also the week America Under Attack began landing in mailboxes.

I remember thinking to myself while reading about the Boston bombing, Wow, what a rough week for the States. America is really under attack. And I remember that same day opening an envelope that arrived in the mail and experiencing an adrenalin rush as I read the title of the book that fell out: America Under Attack.

Since then, the message of America Under Attack has been punctuated over and over and over.

We’ll review some of these events in a moment, but first let’s highlight just a few statements from this book. Here’s what Mr. Flurry wrote about U.S. foreign policy, which is essentially designed to shrink America’s global presence, ruin relations with friends and allies, and empower the enemies of the West (emphasis his throughout):

[I]n looking at the decisions this administration is making, I’m hard-pressed to think of any that don’t have the effect of weakening America, and strengthening the forces of evil in this world.

There’s a chapter in America Under Attack on the growing tendency among many of America’s politicians, journalists and intelligentsia to reject, circumvent and undermine the U.S. constitution. Why is this happening? Mr. Flurry answers:

It is because the Obama administration is taking actions just about every week that raise constitutional questions and that threaten to undermine America’s foundational document.

In another section, Mr. Flurry explains the level of deceit and deception coming from the Obama administration, and inflicting U.S. politics in general.

We are seeing bold, blatant lies become a bigger and bigger part of today’s political landscape.

The book quotes Mr. Obama assuring the American people, “You know where I stand. You know what I believe. You know I tell the truth.” To that, Mr. Flurry delivered a bold and frank response:

Does the president tell the truth? Is anyone paying attention?

Think on that last question, “Is anyone paying attention?” When Mr. Flurry wrote this book, and even when it was released last month, it’s safe to say most Americans were not “paying attention,” at least not nearly as seriously as they ought to have been. In fact, a good number of people, were they to read America Under Attack even as recently as April, might have felt Mr. Flurry’s evaluations were over the top and exaggerated.

Yet today, just a few weeks later, many Americans—some even on the left—find themselves coming to the same conclusions!

Since America Under Attack was released, we’ve seen one scandal on top of another engulf Washington and the White House. These aren’t minor scandals either. And they aren’t low level. Each scandal is taking place within the federal government. Each involves high-level figures, congressmen, senators, White House employees, cabinet leaders—most of whom were appointed by the president—committing despicable acts, acts of outright deception and lying—acts that directly impacted the well-being of America and its citizens.

And, perhaps most significantly, each scandal directly incriminates President Obama.

Phonetapping the Press

Last week, it was revealed that the U.S. Justice Department—headed by Eric Holder, an Obama appointee—secretly obtained telephone records of Associated Press reporters and editors. According to AP attorneys, the Justice Department seized records from about a year ago for more than 20 telephone lines used by the news organization. The Justice Department was interested in records of outgoing calls from the work and personal telephones of individual reporters, as well as calls from AP offices in New York, Washington and Hartford. More than 100 journalists work in the offices the Justice Department targeted. “They haven’t told us what they are looking for and nor have they explained why we got no prior notice, which our lawyers tell us is not only customary but required,” stated Kathleen Carroll, AP senior vice president and executive editor.

AP said it received a letter from the Justice Department last Friday that notified it of the seizure but offered no explanation. In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation.

The White House and Mr. Obama have tried to distance themselves from the Justice Department. The fact is, besides Eric Holder having been appointed by Mr. Obama, the Justice Department has for four years been a key appendage of the White House. As Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general, stated: “It would surprise me that the White House would not have received some type of heads-up. [Something like] ‘Hey, we’re about to do this, there’s going to be some type of negative reaction.’”

Unleashing the IRS

Then there’s the Internal Revenue Service scandal, which grows with each passing day, and which Peggy Noonan, George Will, and others, have stated could be as significant as Watergate.

The irs recently admitted that it targeted conservative groups during the 2012 election season. Lois Lerner, irs director of Exempt Organizations, admitted to flagging groups that used the name “tea party” or “patriot” for review and had their tax returns examined. Groups that advocated education about the American Constitution were also flagged.

Lerner claimed that this was not “out of any political bias.” That’s poppycock. As the Wall Street Journal wrote: “If there was no political bias, why were only conservative groups targeted?” The Journal goes on to explain the significance of the irs’s actions: “It’s important to understand that the timing of these requests, in the middle of the 2012 campaign, had the effect of stifling political activity. The targeted groups had tax-exempt status that allowed them to participate in certain kinds of political messaging. But any such group receiving irs missives is immediately going to become cautious, lest it risk the arbitrary wrath of some tax official. The speech-squelching effects may have been especially important in Ohio, which was ground zero in the battle for the White House.” (emphasis added).

In other words, the actions of the irs may have assisted the re-election of Barack Obama!

At first, the irs claimed only a few individuals were responsible. Now even Lerner herself has been implicated, and it’s clear that this was the work of more than a couple of rogue employees. USA Today wrote: “In February 2010, the Champaign Tea Party in Illinois received approval of its tax-exempt status from the irs in 90 days, no questions asked. That was the month before the Internal Revenue Service started singling out Tea Party groups for special treatment. There wouldn’t be another Tea Party application approved for 27 months. In that time, the irs approved perhaps dozens of applications from similar liberal and progressive groups, a USA Today review of irs data shows.”

This week two U.S. congressmen claimed that nearly 500 groups were affected. The whole truth probably hasn’t emerged yet. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called the irs’s actions “inappropriate.” My favorite commentary on this comes from veteran commentator George Will. “No, using the salad fork for the entrée is inappropriate,” he wrote. “Using the Internal Revenue Service for political purposes is a criminal offense.” His article was titled: “In irs scandal, echoes of Watergate.”

Benghazi

Benghazi is not a new story. What is new, however, is the level of attention finally being given to the actions of the White House that awful night. Details have now emerged showing that leaders at the very top of the U.S. government not only refused to dispatch the military to help rescue consulate employees during the terrorist attack, but that they knowingly, carefully orchestrated a cover-up.

Last Friday, abc News—not exactly a conservative source—revealed that the U.S. administration had tried to cover up the extent of their failure and had lied to the press.

Immediately after the September 11 attack last year, UN Ambassador Susan Rice described what happened using a set of talking points put together by the intelligence community. At the time, we were told that these talking points were barely edited. According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, “The White House and the State Department have made clear that the single adjustment that was made to those talking points by either of those two institutions was changing the word ‘consulate’ to ‘diplomatic facility’ because ‘consulate’ was inaccurate.”

We now know that Mr. Carney, the president’s spokesman, was telling a bald-faced lie. The State Department heavily edited and even censored the talking points—or at least heavily leaned on the intelligence community to do so. Statements about links to al Qaeda were cut out, as were references to the cia giving advanced warning of the attack. The attack on the embassy became a “demonstration.” America’s leaders said the attack was sparked by a demonstration about a YouTube video, even though there was no demonstration.

Last week, the deputy head of the mission, Gregory Hicks, said that the YouTube video was not a big deal in Libya, and no one saw the attack as a demonstration. Here’s how the Weekly Standard summarized the White House’s behavior: “After pushing the intelligence community to revise its talking points to fit the administration’s preferred narrative, administration officials would point fingers at the intelligence community when parts of that narrative were shown to be misleading or simply untrue. …

“[F]resh evidence emerged that senior Obama administration officials knowingly misled the country about what had happened in the days following the assaults” (emphasis added).

Together, these three scandals seem to be changing the perception of Mr. Obama and his administration, even in the mainstream media and among some of his liberal supporters. After four years of being blindly loved and embraced, and being given a free pass on its many indiscretions and flaws, the Obama administration appears to be under real pressure. More and more people are coming to see the lies and deceit.

Richard A. Epstein wrote in Foreign Policy:

The very president who has pledged himself to be the most open and transparent administration ever is now perceived on all sides of the political spectrum as a secretive soul who skulks about in the shadows, so sure of his own moral rectitude that he thinks that it is alright to ignore the procedural safeguards that the U.S. Constitution wisely puts in the path of less wise and omniscient presidents. Long ago, James Madison warned in Federalist No. 10 that the Constitution had to be rigged for bad times because it is in the nature of politics that ‘Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.’ Madison’s time has come.

Again, it’s the timing of these scandals that is especially remarkable. Eight weeks ago, Gerald Flurry released a book explaining that America’s government is run by immoral, dishonest figures who are pursuing policies and actions designed to ruin America. Since then, not one, or two, but three enormous scandals have broken that vindicate every detail of his message. Pretty extraordinary, isn’t it?

It makes me want to read America Under Attack again.

Germany Is Betraying Britain--Again

Gerald Flurry — 2013-05-17T05:00:00+01:00

On Dec. 9, 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron shocked the world when he vetoed a Franco-German plan to fix Europe’s debt crisis.

Standing before a room full of European leaders determined to amend EU treaties to cede more power to the EU, Mr. Cameron defended British interests. “What is on offer is not in Britain’s interest, so I didn’t agree to it,” he stated flatly. “We will not be presenting this new treaty, when it’s agreed, to our parliament. It will not involve Britain.”

It is hard to overstate the significance of this event.

Many say that Dec. 9, 2011, will go down as the day Britain left the European Union!

There’s something misleading about that statement. Most of the media will tell you that Britain abandoned the EU. In fact, just the opposite happened. For years, the EU, under German leadership, has been taking power away from its member states, including Britain. If Britain agreed to the plan outlined on December 9, it basically would have had to hand control of its finances over to European leaders. By refusing the plan, Britain was simply protecting its fiscal sovereignty.

In other words, Europe created this conflict!

Why would it do that? Because it wants to push Britain out of the European Union!

What does this mean to you? This event is going to plague Britain for years to come—as well as America! Yes, it will hurt the United States far more than you can imagine. America’s financial troubles are about to get far worse.

A Tipping Point

The Guardian’s European editor, Ian Traynor, wrote this: “When the dust settles, Friday December 9 may be seen as a watershed, the beginning of the end for Britain in Europe. But more than that—the emergence for the first time of a cold new Europe in which Germany is the undisputed, preeminent power imposing a decade of austerity on the eurozone as the price for its propping up the currency” (emphasis added throughout).

I will say that date absolutely will be seen as a watershed!

“For the first time in the history of the EU, the Germans are now in charge,” said Charles Grant, who directs a think tank called the Center for European Reform.

Germany is in charge, and everyone can see that now. This is the most authoritative step Germany has ever taken.

Did you know that we have been prophesying this very event for some 70 years? It is, in fact, prophesied in your Bible! And believe it or not, it is going to lead directly into the worst trouble this Earth has ever experienced!

The Bible prophesies that “ten kings” are going to unite themselves in Europe as the Holy Roman Empire (Revelation 17:12-13). Events today are moving quickly to fulfill that pivotal prophecy!

The EU is not a democratic union. Germany has gained so much strength today that it won’t have to worry about persuading people to join that 10-nation configuration: It can demand that they do! It is gaining that much financial and economic power—and also rapidly growing in military power. Germany has established real authority.

We have reached a tipping point that will begin to move events in Europe faster than ever. Britain was the real instrument in stopping Hitler in World War ii, at least in the beginning. It has been the biggest obstacle slowing Europe from moving forward with its plans. Getting Britain out of the way is like moving a boulder off the highway: Now Germany can move at lightning speed!

The idea that Britain decided to pull out of the EU is a big deceit. It was pushed into a situation where it was forced out. This has been plotted and planned for years.

What Herbert Armstrong Said

The prophecies in the Bible are sure. It was because of those prophecies that Herbert W. Armstrong foretold—decades in advance—exactly what we are seeing today!

Here is what he wrote in 1956—55 years ago. This is phenomenal! Speaking about the uniting of European nations, he wrote, “We Americans, with the British, gave them the idea. We’ve tried to organize the European nations together against Russia. They are going to unite against us! … The Germans are coming back from the destruction of World War ii in breathtaking manner. Germany is the economic and military heart of Europe. Probably Germany will lead and dominate the coming United States of Europe.

“But Britain will be no part of it!”

How did he know that? How do you explain that? Fifty-five years ago, he said not only that this European Union would come together and that Germany would dominate, but also that Britain would be ousted! Today it is being splashed across the headlines of news media around the world.

That ought to capture our attention. How could Mr. Armstrong possibly know? Because he understood Bible prophecy. This is what Scripture said would happen. It isn’t something you have to guess about: You can absolutely know.

The Bible is a coded book, and the only way we can decode it is to get help from God. One third of the Bible is prophecy, and 90 percent of it is for this end time. That prophecy is being fulfilled faster now than ever before!

In recent times, America and Britain have been friends to the Germans. But Mr. Armstrong said those European nations, led by Germany, would unite against our nations. That is about to happen!

The United States allied with Britain to provide the real power to conquer the Germans in World Wars i and ii. Today, both America and Britain are drowning in debt. America has the most debt of any nation in history, and it seems people have no clue how deadly dangerous that is. Meanwhile, Germany has never been stronger financially and economically! Its power is destined to grow, and that will seriously impair America and Britain.

Understand: I am not putting the Germans down. The German people are a great people, and Bible prophecies explain that they will achieve marvelous things in the World Tomorrow, when Jesus Christ rules as King of kings.

However, if you look at the Germans’ past, the reality is that they have been the deadliest warring people in history! Even in recent times, they started both world wars. And prophecy says the worst is yet to come.

Double Cross

After defeating Germany in World War ii, America and Britain helped to build it back into a power. They helped it to reach where it is today.

This makes what Germany just did to Britain all the more heinous. Pushing the British out of the EU was a blatant double cross. Germany has a history of double-crossing people. As Winston Churchill said, the Germans were very prone to betray their supposed friends and surprise and shock them by some sudden act. Prophecy reveals that they are going to double-cross America as well.

The Prophet Ezekiel foretold these events—and the good news he reveals is that all the suffering that is about to come from this, in the end, is going to help the whole world come to know God!

As I prove in my booklet Ezekiel—The End-Time Prophet (request a free copy), Ezekiel’s prophecy is only for this end time. Ezekiel wrote it when he was a prisoner; he couldn’t deliver the message. We must deliver it today, or he lived his life in vain.

Ezekiel 23 contains a prophecy about two women who committed immoral acts. Verse 4 reveals that these women, Aholah and Aholibah, represent Samaria and Jerusalem. This is an end-time prophecy, so who are Samaria (which represented the 10 tribes of Israel, anciently) and Jerusalem (which represented the ancient nation of Judah) today?

Prophetically, Aholah refers to the modern nations descended from Israel—primarily America and Britain—and Aholibah refers to the descendants of Judah, which today is the Jewish nation in the Middle East.

Verse 5 reads, “And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours.”

Who are the Assyrians in end-time prophecy?

The Assyrians

Consider this: Virtually every historian draws attention to the war-like nature of the Assyrian people. James McCabe, author of History of the World, says the Assyrians were a “fierce, treacherous race, delighting in the dangers of the chase and in war. The Assyrian troops were notably among the most formidable of ancient warriors .… They never kept faith when it was to their interest to break treaties, and were regarded with suspicion by their neighbors in consequence of this characteristic .… In organization and equipment of their troops, and in their system of attack and defense and their method of reducing fortified places, the Assyrians manifested a superiority to the nations by which they were surrounded.”

Dr. Herman Hoeh, historian and author of Compendium of World History, wrote, “Ancient Assyria was the greatest war-making power in all history” (Plain Truth, January 1963).

James Hastings wrote, “The Assyrians of historic times were more robust, warlike, ‘fierce,’ than the mild industrial Babylonians. … The whole organization of the state was essentially military” (“Assyria and Babylonia,” Dictionary of the Bible).

Leonard Cottrell, in The Anvil of Civilization, made this amazing statement: “In all the annals of human conquest, it is difficult to find any people more dedicated to bloodshed and slaughter than the Assyrians. Their ferocity and cruelty have few parallels save in modern times.” It’s interesting that Cottrell can only compare their ferocity with those “in modern times.”

Only one nation has stood out that way in modern times, and that is Germany. That is obviously what he is referring to here.

The Assyrians in prophecy are the modern-day Germans. As Herbert Armstrong wrote, “Today the descendants of those Assyrians are known to us as the German people” (The United States and Britain in Prophecy). You can see more proof of this truth in our October/November 2010 edition. It is extremely important for you to prove to yourself if you are to truly understand what is happening in Europe!

The warlike nature of the ancient Assyrians is clearly visible in that of the German people in modern times.

“Not a single neighbor of the Germans,” wrote Emil Ludwig in 1941, “could ever trust the Germans to remain peaceable. No matter how happy their condition, their restless passion would urge them on to ever more extreme demands” (The Germans: Double History of a Nation). You could certainly see that trait on display before World War ii, when nations made several concessions to the Germans to try to appease them, yet Hitler always wanted more.

After World War ii, many voices warned about the dangers in rebuilding war-ravaged Germany. The April 1952 edition of the Plain Truth contained this headline: “Does America Dare Arm Germany?” The article said, “Our leading generals in Europe have adamantly warned that Germany is a calculated risk.” Still, our nations went ahead and built it back up. Through the Marshall Plan, we poured millions and millions of dollars into Germany.

There were even voices of warning once a unified Europe began to build.

Notice this remarkable statement from Herbert W. Armstrong in March 1973, writing about when Britain joined the European Community: “Britain is going to look back on Monday, Jan. 1, 1973, in all probability, as a most tragically historic date—a date fraught with ominous potentialities! For that date marked the United Kingdom’s entry into the European Community.”

In 1995, as the European project was gaining steam, Margaret Thatcher said this: “You have not anchored Germany to Europe,” which was the plan behind European unification. “You have anchored Europe to a newly dominant, unified Germany. In the end, my friends, you’ll find it will not work.” Mrs. Thatcher was absolutely correct!

Remember

Return now to Ezekiel’s prophecy. Verses 6-8 of chapter 23 go into greater detail about what is happening today: an illicit love affair between America, Britain and Germany!

America and Britain have convinced themselves that they have a wonderful friendship with the Germans. But is it true? If you see what just happened to Britain, you know it is not true!

Verse 9 reveals the terrifying outcome of this immoral relationship: “Wherefore I have delivered her [Aholah, representing America and Britain] into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians [Germany], upon whom she doted.”

In a small way, this has already happened to Britain. But you watch as this prophecy is fulfilled completely: It is about to get far, far worse.

In 1953, Mr. Armstrong wrote about the unifying of this European power, and concluded with the statement, “Definitely Britain will not be in it.” The reason he knew that is because Britain is going to be a victim of it!

In his 1978 book The Incredible Human Potential, Mr. Armstrong said again, “Britain will not be in that empire soon to come.” When he wrote Mystery of the Ages in 1985, he repeated that statement.

In a co-worker letter dated June 10, 1980—nine years before the Berlin Wall fell—here is what he wrote, “It now looks entirely feasible that Yugoslavia may be included in this revived Roman empire. Also the pope’s native Poland and Romania, and possibly Hungary. Add Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France. There will be a union of ten nations in the general area of the medieval Roman Empire in the new united Europe. Probably Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden will not be included. But Ireland may. Britain will not!”

An astounding statement! Mr. Armstrong could never have made such statements if he didn’t understand biblical prophecy.

The Bible is God’s Word. The living God prophesied all that, and He is bringing it to pass just like He said He would, in intricate detail! This is a warning from God to all of us—primarily America and Britain.

Verse 17 talks about the Babylonians. That is speaking of a modern-day Babylon, which is actually a resurrection of the old Holy Roman Empire!

Watch the news out of Europe. Notice that the European Central Bank is now being run by a Jesuit-trained Roman Catholic, Mario Draghi. He is authoritatively implementing very strict fiscal policies among eurozone states. Notice that at the very summit in Brussels at which Britain was muscled out of Europe, leaders received news that Pope Benedict xvi was “praying to the Virgin Mary for the sake of Italy and Europe” (Economist, Dec. 9, 2011). Keep an eye on the headlines, and you will see more and more evidence of the Vatican and Germany working together. The Bible foretold it, and we have been warning about it for years: the emergence yet again of that church-state combine called the Holy Roman Empire.

Read Deuteronomy 28:49-52, which warns of God bringing a destructive nation against modern Israel. It says of this power, “he shall besiege thee in all thy gates.” That is talking about a trading blockade. It’s about finances and the economy. Somebody is going to damage America and Britain financially! Britain would absolutely starve to death shortly if it didn’t get its exports out and its imports in. The U.S. is going to suffer deeply as well.

“Britain will not be in that empire now building in Europe,” we wrote in the July 2004 Trumpet. “And when those headlines flash across the pages of newspapers worldwide proclaiming Britain’s exit from an otherwise united Europe, remember that one man and where you read it first.”

Remember what Herbert W. Armstrong said 50, 60, even 70 years ago! When you see those headlines—and they are right there to see—remember who told you that! He thundered that message for all those years, telling us everything that was coming. And we have continued to proclaim the same message.

Will you heed these warnings?

Good News in the End

In Ezekiel 23:36, God says He wants His loyal, faithful people to go to the modern nations of Israel and declare their abominations! God is deeply upset and disgusted with the sins and immorality saturating America and Britain today!

Terrible suffering is coming. The prophecies are sure—we are watching them unfold!

And what makes that so wonderful is that, if you follow those prophecies out, they directly lead to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ!

Look how the good news, the positive outcome, begins to be revealed in verses 48-49: “Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.” After all the punishment God is going to put them through, they will get to know God. In the end, all that suffering is going to bring people to get to know God! Nothing could be more important than that. It is a very difficult way to learn this lesson, but what wonderful news!

Still, how terrible that they won’t listen to God’s Word now, and turn from their sin. They have to suffer unimaginably before they will turn to God and get to know Him.

Why won’t we listen now to God’s Word, heed what He says, and let Him protect us from all of this? God will do so. He has promised it in the Bible, and He cannot lie! But we must do our part as well: We have to respond to God, and obey Him and live as He commands.

Take a good look at Europe, especially at Germany, in light of God’s prophecies. God put those warnings in Scripture for a reason: because He wants to save us from that suffering!

Go back into recent history. Realize how many millions of people in World Wars i and ii fought and bled and died in order to prevent Germany from ruling over them! Yet now, Germany rules Europe once again! What does that portend for this world? Both history and prophecy loudly cry out the answer! There is no excuse for us not knowing that!

But here is the good news. It is all a sign leading directly into the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Messiah is about to return to rule this world, and bring it true prosperity and peace and joy!

Tornadoes Kill Six in Texas

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-17T05:00:00+01:00

Multiple tornadoes swept through North Texas on Wednesday night. In Granbury, Texas, six people were killed and about 50 were injured. At least 250 were left homeless.

Approximately 50 people were taken to a local hospital. Fourteen were admitted for treatment of injuries, while two were transferred to a hospital in Fort Worth.

As of Thursday morning, Granbury officials were still trying to locate 14 people. They don’t yet know if the people are missing or just not in the area.

The tornado littered Granbury with debris and aluminum panels. About 20,000 homes and businesses lost electricity.

Police set up roadblocks on Thursday morning near the stricken areas. People affected by the devastation congregated in public areas.

Elizabeth Tovar: “We were all, like, hugging in the bathtub, and that’s when it started happening. I heard glass shattering and I knew my house was going. We looked up and then, like, on top of the bathtub, the whole ceiling was gone. And that was when we knew we were, we were probably gone—we were in trouble.”

Last May, 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.

Why is so much violent weather striking America? Those personally affected by these storms need answers. You need answers. These answers can be found in our free booklet Why ‘Natural’ Disasters?

IRS: An Abuse of Power

Callum Wood — 2013-05-16T22:00:00+01:00

Investigations into the dealings of the Internal Revenue Service have begun after irs officials confirmed on May 10 that they had targeted groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names. From 2010 to 2012, at least three officials, one in Washington and two in California, directly targeted these groups, which were seeking tax-exemption status. The actions of the irs run diametrically opposite to what is expected of the agency. It is supposed to remain free of bias.

There were at least 75 such groups that were targeted merely because of their names. They make up almost one quarter of all groups that were singled out for further analysis by the irs in Washington in that time period. Some of the targeted organizations were burdened with questionnaires that were designed to determine, among other things, the extent of their voter outreach. Not only were these questionnaires time consuming, they forced the conservative groups to give up valuable, confidential information.

In a Jan. 9, 2012, letter to the Richmond Tea Party, for example, irs officials asked questions about “the names of donors, contributors and grantors,” as well as how much money they gave, and when they gave it. According to Richmond Tea Party officials, the harassment led to a drop in donors, because the donors were concerned about remaining anonymous.

Other groups were frustrated by the irs after being blocked and delayed for two years. The Wetumpka Tea Party of Alabama was delayed in its acquisition of tax-free exemption before being hounded with more questionnaires that asked for the names of all its volunteers and contributor amounts, as well as the names of legislators it had been in communication with. This questionnaire came in 2012, in the lead-up to the presidential elections. Political conservatives are calling it an intimidation tactic.

The organizations with “tea party” or “patriot” in their name were not the only ones singled out. There were groups that opposed the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—that also came under heightened scrutiny. This raises concerns that the scandal goes beyond the irs, to the White House. Recent U.S. history proves that the irs isn’t immune to manipulation by the government.

Presidents have used the irs to harass political opponents in the past. In 1969, President Nixon agreed to use the irs to examine left-wing tax-exempt organizations. In the ’90s, conservative non-profit organizations accused the Clinton administration of targeting them through the irs.

The irs is not only selective with individuals and organizations, but also with states. A study published in the Economics and Politics journal in 2001 stated that “the percentage of tax returns audited by the irs is markedly lower in states that are important to the sitting president’s reelection aspirations. We also find that the irs is responsive to it oversight committees.” The pattern was noticed between 1992 and 1997. It shows that the irs is willing to be less troublesome to states that the president wants in his electoral camp.

As soon as the latest irs scandal started making headlines, Republicans across the board began calling for heads to roll. However, there are few in the irs that can take the blame. The commissioner at the time, Douglas Shulman, stepped down in November 2012. He could hold partial responsibility after receiving a briefing from the treasury inspector general for tax administration that gave a rundown of how the irs was targeting specific groups. He received the briefing in May 2012. His assistant, Steven Miller, was also made aware of the situation at that time. As the White House began to respond to the scandal, one of the first steps was for the Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew, to request and accept the resignation of Mr. Miller. Since Mr. Shulman stepped down, Mr. Miller fulfilled the role of acting-commissioner.

Both men were supposedly informed numerous times about the problem within the irs. “I wrote to the irs three times last year after hearing concerns that conservative groups were being targeted,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, a Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

Now it is time to ask, Did the White House know? With the White House condemning the irs scandal and distancing itself from it, it is not yet clear what role it had in the irs’s targeted investigations. The president claimed he first heard of the story on May 10. It was on the same day the irs acknowledged it was targeting specific groups.

Lois Lerner, the irs official overseeing tax-exempt groups, said the targeting was “a misguided effort to come up with an efficient means of dealing with a flood of applicants from organizations seeking tax-exempt status between 2010 and 2012.” Another way of saying that would be to give pro-liberal organizations a free pass, and burden the opposition with as many questionnaires and delays as possible.

Lerner may try to hide behind “misguided” efforts, but her actions speak louder than her words. When President Obama’s half-brother applied for tax-exempt status for his organization, Mrs. Lerner approved the application within a month. This is despite the fact that it operated illegally for years prior to that time. The application was submitted on May 23, 2011, and Lerner signed off on it on June 26. That is a stark contrast to the three years that other non-profit organizations had to wait. The situation has continued to stir controversy between Washington’s chief political parties.

Republican and Democratic political parties view each other as wrong, if not evil. When a political party holds such a mindset, then it is likely to do whatever it can to stop its opposition. Obviously such a mindset should be intolerable at the governing level, particularly for the president. Yet, as Peter Morici from Fox News said, “President Obama cultivates a culture of anything goes to defeat opponents and advance his liberal agenda.” This is evident in the way his subordinates within the irs have singled out certain groups for questioning.

At the outbreak of the scandal, President Obama responded by saying, “If you have the irs operating in anything less than a neutral and nonpartisan way, then that is outrageous, it is contrary to our traditions.”

The traditions that the president is referring to are the national laws which state that the federal government is not allowed to target specific people for tax purposes without a valid cause.

Here’s more on the response of the president and other policymakers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGAT336ECfc&feature=youtu.be

The irs is a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The commissioner is elected by the president of the United States for a five-year term. He reports to the secretary of the treasury. When the highest official in the irs is directly involved in the cover-up of the scandal (the acting commissioner responded to concerns from Congress last year by assuring it no such groups were being targeted), it shows a level of corruption that has permeated the government of the nation.

This latest scandal—the latest of many—has come just after the Philadelphia Church of God released a booklet titled America Under Attack, which highlights the corruption within the U.S. government, the judicial system and the attack on the law of the land. If the administration used the irs to attack its political opponents, that is an outright violation of constitutional law. In the booklet America Under Attack, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes, “This type of anti-Constitution reasoning is suddenly becoming quite popular. Do you know why? It is because the Obama administration is taking actions just about every week that raise constitutional questions and that threaten to undermine America’s foundational document.”

If you haven’t already, order a free copy of the booklet. It will show you how the administration has been systematically undermining to the point where it is working to bring down the very nation that it governs! The booklet will show you the reason behind society’s deadly decline, as well as where the attack is coming from, and how it is undermining the Constitution.

The irs investigation is the latest in a slew of scandals that lead right up the steps of the White House. Watch as this pattern of corruption continues as the Obama administration disregards the laws that were set in place to provide safety, and instead chooses to continue down its destructive path.

Shocked. Indignant. Outraged.

Joel Hilliker — 2013-05-16T20:21:15+01:00

Why does it seem that the only time the American government expresses shock, dismay and horror, it is over the conduct of its soldiers on the battlefield?

Through the Prophet Isaiah, God calls America a “hypocritical nation.” It’s at times like these it becomes clear why.

Surely you heard of the crude homemade video that emerged in January apparently depicting a Marine sniper team in Afghanistan urinating on the corpses of some Taliban fighters. The press jumped on the incident like it was Abu Ghraib all over again, and the highest leaders in the land came out in fire-breathing condemnation.

“Deplorable … reprehensible,” President Obama said through his spokesman. “I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” said Leon Panetta, the defense secretary. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed “total dismay.” Civilian and military leaders promised the guilty soldiers would be found out and punished to the full.

Why was everyone so upset? Let’s be honest: The biggest reason is that they are deathly afraid of offending Muslims. U.S. leaders continue to hope, against all evidence, that avoiding offense will solve problems.

Their man in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai, called the soldiers’ act “simply inhuman.” Is Karzai an authority on moral and ethical conduct? He said he was “deeply disturbed” and that the incident was “condemnable in the strongest possible terms.” But where is his condemnation for Talibani atrocities far worse than this? That means he either sympathizes with the Taliban’s extremism or feels he must pander to it.

Clearly the ones in the driver’s seat—dictating to both Afghan and U.S. leaders about what is an appropriate response—are radical Muslims.

For their part, Taliban leaders in Pakistan called the marines’ conduct “barbaric” and claimed, “No religion that follows a holy text would accept such conduct. This inhuman act reveals their real face to the world.”

Behold: a sermon from the Taliban about what is barbaric and inhuman. They have never condemned the torture, beheading or murder of a single non-Muslim. They have murdered thousands of civilians with roadside bombs. They execute people without trial for crimes like laughing at soldiers. They hang the dead bodies of defectors from lampposts to serve as a public warning. And we are supposed to listen to them condemn these marines?

Are Hamid Karzai or American leaders “deeply disturbed” by the Taliban’s sanction of polygamous “marriage” that allows old men to rape young girls? What about the Taliban commander ordering that an 18-year-old girl who fled her abusive in-laws be punished by having her nose and ears cut off? Who is condemning these acts “in the strongest possible terms”?

The Taliban deliberately assassinate civilians by the hundreds. They exploit children not just as soldiers but as suicide bombers, strapping explosives to them and sending them to their deaths. They consider anyone who is actively trying to rebuild Afghanistan—doctors, teachers, construction workers—worthy of death. The New York Times has reported that insurgents in Afghanistan kill twice as many civilians as they do uniformed government or coalition forces. Where is the outrage against that? Why no indignation over those “deplorable” and “reprehensible” practices?

No one is defending what those soldiers did. But to single them out for such damnation is to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

America’s leaders have allowed their moral standard to be skewed out of all proportion by extremists whose goal is to use every ounce of leverage possible to cripple America.

It is political correctness run amok: dismissing Muslim evils as irrelevant—after all, who are we to judge them?—while viewing Western actions through a distorted but harshly exacting moral lens.

We need a reality check. And that can only come from looking at the one true absolute standard of morality, the one supplied by the Being who defines good and evil.

God sees plenty of acts in America that are deplorable and reprehensible, that He views with total dismay and condemns in the strongest possible terms, and that He promises to punish to the full. But guess what? The action of these soldiers hardly registers on His radar screen.

Does it matter to you what God finds abominable? Instead of concocting our own standards of righteousness and appointing ourselves as judge and jury, how about aligning our thoughts with those of the Author of righteousness?

Forget the Geneva Conventions: God is outraged over our breaking the Ten Commandments. Blacklisting Him and worshiping idols. Urinating on His holy Sabbaths. Enslaving ourselves in greed, materialism, covetousness and debt, such that it sabotages the nation’s future. Glorifying violence. Desecrating the family. Turning our children out to pasture. Mass promoting and celebrating rank sexual immorality. Embracing fornication, cohabitation, adultery, divorce, homosexuality and other perversions.

God is “deeply disturbed” by such things. The fact that 40 percent of pregnancies in New York are aborted. That is an “atrocity.” The existence of an abortion butcher like Dr. Kermit Gosnell. That is “barbaric.” The support he received from state abortion lobbyists and clinic inspectors—and the pass he got from an appallingly liberal national media. That “inhuman act reveals their real face to the world.”

Why aren’t monsters such as that “urgently investigated” and given “the most severe punishment”?

Yes, this is a “hypocritical nation”—smug and self-righteous, praising, pardoning and punishing according to whatever standards it chooses. “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes,” Proverbs 30:12 says, “and yet is not washed from their filthiness.”

America wallows in rivers of moral sewage. It’s a little hard to stomach the sanctimonious moralizing about where a few soldiers chose to pee.

Is France Europe's Next Crisis?

Richard Palmer — 2013-05-16T05:00:00+01:00

“The trouble with socialism,” said Margaret Thatcher, “is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Although a bit of an oversimplification—it ignores the major role of the euro—it sums up France’s economy.

France’s citizens face the highest tax burden in the eurozone. Public spending makes up 57 percent of the overall economy—also the highest in the eurozone—yet the country can’t get its debt under control, and its economy is shrinking.

No wonder the French are currently the world’s biggest pessimists. But the consequences reach far beyond France. This is about a fundamental change in the most important relationship in Europe—the Franco-German axis.

The collapse of the French economy is part of a trend catapulting Germany to the forefront of Europe.

The bad news seems to come out of France on a daily basis. The latest was on May 15, when France’s statistics office revealed that the economy had shrunk 0.2 percent over the first three months of 2013, putting France in a “triple dip” recession. The International Monetary Fund said earlier this year it expected France’s economy to shrink over the course of 2013, putting it on a list of countries that includes Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain.

After publishing a poll of European nations on May 14, Pew Research concluded that “No European country is becoming more dispirited and disillusioned faster than France.” On the same day, the Financial Times wrote, “Whereas Spain and Italy are suffering from a severe credit crunch and drastic austerity, France’s biggest problem appears to be the generalized gloom infecting businesses and households.”

Unemployment is at 11 percent—double Germany’s. For youth, it’s 26.5 percent, compared to Germany’s 7.6 percent. At 3.2 million, the number of unemployed is setting new records. And it’s been rising every month for nearly two years. Many in France are cutting their spending, as they fear they could soon add to those statistics. “Scarcely a week goes by without another factory closure or a redundancy plan,” wrote the Economist last month.

Under eurozone rules, the French government cannot borrow more than 3 percent of gross domestic product each year. With borrowing at 4.8 percent, it was forced to ask permission from the European Commission to miss its target for the next two years.

French President François Hollande has painted himself into a corner. As a result, he is the most unpopular president in France’s history. He is a socialist, and was elected based on promises to reverse the austerity of the previous government. But now that he’s in office, he can’t get around the fact that the government has run out of other people’s money. With the tax burden already so high, he can’t raise taxes to increase revenue. Since he came to power opposing spending cuts, he’s stuck.

All of this could push France onto the list of problem countries. “France could get into a situation that is not too dissimilar to Spain if you see the economy contract a couple of percent from where we are now,” said the cio of Armstrong Investment Managers, Patrick Armstrong.

But the French aren’t just worried about the short-term economy. Only 9 percent think their children will be better off than they are, according to the Pew survey.

The unhappiness is so bad that Le Point magazine recently published an article titled, “How revolutions are born: Are we in 1789?”—referring to the year the French Revolution began.

Some argue that it’s not that bad. The French government can still borrow money cheaply. With Japan printing money, investors are desperate to put their cash anywhere they can avoid losing money. They assume France is “too big to fail,” and that Germany will always back it up.

They could be right. France may not ever request a bailout. But that doesn’t matter. Spain and Italy on their own could force a revolution in the eurozone.

The fact is, France is now a problem for Europe. Economists debate how big a problem it is, but almost no one disputes that it is a problem. It’s not one of the strong economies that will pull Europe out of this mess. It’s actually dragging the euro down.

In the long term, this gives more power to Germany. In the short term, it’s having the opposite effect as France sides with southern Europe against Germany. This shift in the balance of power makes it harder for Germany to gets its way.

However, in the long term, the golden rule applies: He who has the gold rules. France has run out. The borrower is servant to the lender. And France is a borrower.

The director of global economic attitudes at Pew Research Center, Bruce Stokes, says that its survey on economic attitudes in Europe suggests that France and Germany, “which have for decades been the driving force behind European integration, increasingly see the world through different lenses.”

“The Franco-German alliance was based on rough equality between these two continental powers,” he continues. “In the 1980s, West Germany’s economy and population were slightly larger than France’s, but not overwhelmingly so, and French economic growth actually exceeded its neighbor’s.”

“Three decades later, this rough balance between Germany and France no longer exists,” he writes. “Germany’s population is now a quarter larger than that of France, the German economy is 38 percent bigger” (emphasis added).

“Today the French and the Germans differ so greatly over the challenges facing their economies that they look as if they live on different continents, not within a single European market,” he writes.

“This new evidence of a dramatic divergence of public opinion across the Rhine on the problems now facing Europe and the merit of the European Union itself raises new questions about prospects for the European project,” Stokes concludes.

He’s right. Pew’s study shows that before the euro crisis, France and Germany were in broad agreement about the advantages of the EU and its future. Now there’s a huge difference. The French are now more Euroskeptic than the British—only 22 percent believe they’ve benefited from European integration.

This news comes just weeks after a public spat between the two countries. Last month a French government paper on European policy was leaked. It scolded Germany for “the selfish intransigence of Chancellor Merkel, who thinks of nothing but the deposits of German savers, the trade balance recorded by Berlin and her electoral future.” Merkel’s coalition partners, the Free Democratic Party, hit back, publishing an internal report titled “France—Europe’s biggest problem child”—which somehow made its way to the German press.

There is no more Franco-German axis. This means the end of an era and the end of the EU as we know it.

As both the Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and think tank Open Europe’s director, Mats Persson, point out, this isn’t a temporary falling-out that will go away if a left-wing party wins the German elections. There’s a broad agreement between all of Germany’s major parties when it comes to Europe and the euro. Germany won’t become more like France after the election.

The direction of Europe will no longer be decided by meetings of French and German leaders, who used to get together ahead of EU summits. Instead it will be a clash of wills—the future of Europe will be dictated by whoever can get their own way.

Germany, with its healthy economy, holds most of the cards. It doesn’t hold all of the cards, so it will have to make some compromises. But with the French economy weakened, France can no longer compete with Germany for leadership of Europe.

“Germany has more economic weight and political will to determine Europe’s future than it has had since World War ii,” wrote Reuters’s Fred Kempe. “Now, though, it lacks a partner that can replace France’s pivotal importance.”

France and Germany used to share the driving seat, listening to the demands of the other EU passengers and choosing the overall direction. France is out of the driving seat—it is now occupied by Germany alone.

However, there’s still a limit on what Germany can do alone—the passengers can still get out of the bus. The Trumpet has pointed before to the growing role of the Catholic Church in speaking up for southern Europe’s unemployed masses. The Vatican will supply the glue Germany needs to keep the EU together. The Catholic Church will soon take France’s place as Europe’s second driver.

The decline of France is a major milestone on the road to a new Europe. The next one will be the rise of the Catholic Church.

For an overview of what to expect from this crisis, see our 2008 article “Did the Holy Roman Empire Plan the Greek Crisis?”

A Better Pick-Me-Up Than Coffee

Stephen Flurry — 2013-05-16T05:00:00+01:00

Two black liquids keep America going—oil and coffee. That’s how one university professor recently described our addiction to caffeine. You could argue that coffee runs the entire world. An estimated 400 billion cups of the world’s most popular beverage are consumed every year.

The amount of caffeine many people now consume, particularly in America, has health officials concerned. Gone are the moderate 1950s, when caffeine consumption meant occasionally enjoying a five-ounce coffee after lunch. People today put down three times that amount with just one “medium”-size coffee at Starbucks.

And these days, a double espresso is hardly the only way to get your caffeine fix. Prescription drugs like Ritalin, 5-Hour Energy shots, trendy beverages like Red Bull and Full Throttle, even weight-loss supplements, are all loaded with caffeine. And don’t forget those supersized buckets of soda at the convenience store. If a 64-ounce Mountain Dew won’t do it for you, you can now buy the extra-caffeinated version. Not to be outdone, other companies are introducing all sorts of caffeinated novelties—beer, soap, lip balm; even a caffeine inhaler.

Consumed in moderation, a hot cup of coffee or tea can provide a temporary energy boost and even lift our spirits. But Americans have gone overboard—and our health is suffering for it.

“While every individual has a different tolerance for the drug,” the Washington Times reports, “experts agree that ingesting more than 500 mg a day can result in anxiety, irritability, headaches, sleeplessness, diarrhea and other health problems” (January 17).

The Times links skyrocketing caffeine consumption with the rise of the Internet. “We’re surrounded by round-the-clock entertainment, stimulated at every turn,” it says. There’s just so much to do—so much opportunity for stimulation. So we end up sacrificing the healthiest, most important, longest-lasting energy boost there is: sleep.

“No single behavior … more fundamentally influences our effectiveness in waking life than sleep,” wrote the authors of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working. In fact, a growing body of research indicates that sufficient sleep is even more important than diet and exercise in living healthy, energetic lives.

“Lack of sleep makes us more inefficient at work and more dangerous behind the wheel of a car. It undermines the quality of our lives and makes us more vulnerable to illness,” wrote Charles Leadbeater in Dream On: Sleep in the 24/7 Society.

Of course, the law of moderation applies here too. There is such a thing as too much sleep (Proverbs 6:9; 20:13). But the Bible also talks about the “sweet sleep” of one who labors hard during the day (Ecclesiastes 5:12).

God designed the human body to need seven or eight hours of sleep per night. Yet, on average, Americans get in about 6.5. We sacrifice sleep in order to squeeze more in, to have more fun, to “get more done.” But it’s actually making us less productive, and our health is suffering. We’re becoming increasingly dependent on caffeine and sugar to get us going. It’s a vicious cycle.

What can you do to break some of these unhealthy habits, to benefit from the recuperative effects of regular sleep and rest and to experience what it really feels like to be awake?

For one, if you’re like most Americans, you almost certainly need to go to bed earlier. Set a specific bedtime and then stick to it, even if it feels too early. It may take a while for your internal clock to adjust, but unless you set a specific time, you’ll end up going to bed when you feel like it—or after one more television show. This will rob you of the precious rest you need in order to be fully alive tomorrow!

Added to this, set a definite time for turning off all media devices—and make it a good while before bedtime. The earlier the better. If you want to watch a program with your family, plan for it, watch it, then turn it off. Leave the computer at the office if you can. Turn off mobile devices after dinner. Enjoy a family activity, squeeze in a quick workout, pour your heart into Bible study. And then when it’s time for bed, go to bed!

Lastly, cut back on caffeine, sugar and alcohol—particularly late in the day. This will help you sleep longer and deeper during the night. And there will be a big payoff in the morning! You’ll feel refreshed and ready to go. And you’ll be less inclined to go looking for that quick-fix jolt.

The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working refers to a successful investment banker who rearranged his daily schedule so he could squeeze in one more hour of sleep each day. He was amazed. “I was more rested, I felt better, I thought more clearly, I got less tired as the day wore on, and I had more energy when I got home. I never would have believed an hour more of sleep could make such a difference” (emphasis added throughout).

There is no substitute for refreshing sleep. “Adequate sleep, we’re convinced, sets the stage for taking more control of every other part of our lives” (ibid). Sufficient sleep is definitely not wasted time. It’s a foundational building block to a more productive, energetic life!

So if you’ve been living out of balance—overdosing on caffeine and sugar and lacking the energy and vitality to really drive yourself in service to God—then take control of your life! Give your mind and body the one, God-ordained energy boost that makes you really live at work, school or play, and results in a longer, more fulfilling life.

Detroit's Financial Woes Worsen

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-16T05:00:00+01:00

Dave Bing announced Tuesday that he will not seek a second term as the mayor of Detroit. Bing has been unable to bring the city out of its financial free fall. The crisis has been so bad that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has appointed a powerful emergency manager to try to fix what Bing could not.

Detroit was once the heart of a successful American auto industry. But the Motor City is now careening toward bankruptcy. Decades of corrupt leadership, poor management, high crime rates, selfish unions, high taxes and excessive spending have taken their toll.

Emergency manager Kevyn Orr reported on Monday that the city’s finances are even worse than expected. Its deficit is expected to rise to $386 million before July 1. Long-term liabilities are calculated to exceed $14 billion.

Officials are hoping that Orr can do for the city what others did for one of its biggest automakers.

Daniel Little, chancellor of University of Michigan, Dearborn: “When General Motors went into bankruptcy, it was able to eliminate its fixed costs and its future liabilities, and it had cars to sell. But the city of Detroit doesn’t have cars to sell. Really, what it has to sell are high-quality services, which people will then be willing basically to pay taxes for.”

However, about half of Detroit’s property owners don’t pay taxes.

East-side homeowner Fred Phillips asked, “Why pay taxes? Why should I send them taxes when they aren’t supplying services? It is sickening. … Every time I see the tax bill come, I think about the times we called and nobody came.” On Phillips’s block, only five people paid their taxes in 2011.

Bible prophecy shows that Detroit’s problems are coming to cities throughout the United States. For insight into this city’s slow-motion financial demise, read “Detroit Has a Spending Problem.”

Texas Groundwater Levels Plummeting

Anthony Chibarirwe — 2013-05-15T21:04:32+01:00

The levels of groundwater in Texas’s aquifers dropped sharply between 2010 and 2011, according to a report by the Texas Water Development Board.

The report, published in February 2013, shows a sharp decline in groundwater levels in the state’s nine major aquifers. This is a major consequence of the ongoing U.S. drought.

Manager of the water board’s groundwater monitoring program, Janie Hopkins, said the drought has “affected even the groundwater levels to a greater extent than I’ve ever seen.” Ms. Hopkins expects the results for the 2011-2012 period—due for publication in August—to show a “continuing downward [trend] in the majority of [Texas’s observation] wells.”

The state of Texas has experienced the worst drought in the continental United States. Nearly 99 percent of the state is in “abnormally dry” or worse conditions, and almost 13 percent of it is experiencing “exceptional” drought conditions.

According to the report, the Trinity Aquifer of Central Texas was hardest hit. The 33 monitors in this aquifer recorded a median decline of 16.7 feet and an average decline of 19.7 feet during the 2010-2011 period. The Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer of South Texas recorded a median water-level decline of 4.4 feet and an average decline of 17.1 feet in its eight monitors.

Water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer in the Panhandle region receded in 25 of its 26 observation wells, with a median drop of 1.8 feet and an average drop of 3.5 feet.

The Ogallala is Texas’s major source of underground water, and it stretches all the way from South Dakota, spanning eight states. It is a chief source of water for these states as well.

The conditions in Texas give a stark, microcosmic picture of 51 percent of the continental United States that is in moderate to exceptional drought. These conditions are not normal and are significantly worse than those in previous years, even as the Texas Water Development Board report concluded.

When water levels recede drastically, water needed for agricultural, industrial and domestic uses becomes a scarce and pricey commodity. Money and effort will have to be expended to lower pumps in wells or to drill deeper wells.

The situation in Texas, and much of the U.S., is a result of the now-rapid removal of the prophesied blessings that were once showered on this great nation.

To learn more about why the U.S. has to experience these weather trials, request your free copies of The United States and Britain in Prophecy and Why ‘Natural’ Disasters?

Will You Go to Heaven When You Die?

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-15T20:42:01+01:00

The Philadelphia Trumpet, in conjunction with the Herbert W. Armstrong College Bible Correspondence Course, presents this brief excursion into the fascinating study of the Bible. Simply turn to and read in your Bible each verse given in answer to the questions. You will be amazed at the new understanding gained from this short study!Why, if the righteous go to heaven, did Jesus say: “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man [Jesus Christ] which is in heaven”? (John 3:13).

If the saved go to heaven when they die, why did Peter say that King David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), “is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. … For David is not ascended into the heavens”? (Acts 2:29, 34).

Yes, why?

What a paradox! Millions today believe the saved go to heaven, yet righteous David didn’t go there!

And if the saved go to heaven when they die, what need is there for a resurrection from the dead? Why a resurrection if they have already “gone to their reward”?

Isn’t it about time these puzzling, yet vitally important, questions were answered?

To Inherit the ‘Kingdom of God’

1. What message did Jesus Christ proclaim during His ministry on Earth? Mark 1:14; Matthew 9:35.

Comment: Christ preached the gospel—the “good news”—of the coming Kingdom of God.

2. Will all the righteous men of old be “in” the Kingdom of God? Matthew 8:11; Luke 13:28.

Comment: The promises God made to the fathers included entrance into the Kingdom of God!

3. What did Jesus say Christians should strive to enter? Matthew 6:33; 7:21.

Comment: Notice in Matthew 7:21 that it is the Kingdom “of” heaven—not in heaven! It is the Kingdom of, or owned and ruled by, heaven, in the same sense that the Bank of Morgan was not in Mr. Morgan—but was owned and managed by him.

Matthew uses the term “kingdom of heaven” to express exactly the same idea that Mark, Luke and John express as “kingdom of God.” But the expression “kingdom of heaven” does not mean a kingdom in heaven, any more than it means a kingdom in God! But it does mean a kingdom owned and ruled by God, whose throne and dwelling place is in heaven.

4. What did Jesus say the “meek” shall inherit? Matthew 5:5. But what did He say of the “poor in spirit”? Verse 3.

Comment: Is this a contradiction? Of course not! The “meek” and the “poor in spirit”—in other words, humble Christians—shall inherit the Earth for an everlasting possession, and shall enter the “kingdom of heaven,” which will be on Earth! As is explained in our free booklet Just What Do You Mean Born Again?, the Kingdom of God, which Christ will establish on Earth at His return, is the divine Family of God, which will rule by the government of God!

To enter into—or “inherit”—the divine Kingdom of God is a destiny of such marvelous glory that the human mind cannot really grasp it! We mortals have no concept of what is really in store for those who obey God.

As we read in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” The full extent of the inheritance God has promised true Christians cannot be even remotely imagined by the natural mind of man—but God does reveal it to us “by his Spirit” (verse 10).

5. What does Matthew 6:10 also tell us about God’s Kingdom?

Comment: Christians today are to pray earnestly: “thy kingdom COME”! The word “come” implies it will come to Earth. Christ did not tell us to pray, “Let us go to heaven”! Obviously God’s Kingdom has not come to the Earth yet.

6. Where is the Christian’s inheritance being kept? 1 Peter 1:3-4; Matthew 5:12; Luke 6:23.

Comment: These verses do not say, “Great is your reward when you get to heaven.” They do not tell us when or where Christians will receive their inheritance and rewards—only that they are now being “reserved” for them in heaven!

7. When will the righteous inherit the Kingdom of God? Matthew 25:31-34. Is this also when the rewards reserved in heaven will be conferred? Revelation 22:12.

Comment: Clearly, it is when Christ returns that Abraham and his children through Christ will become inheritors of the promises and receive their reward! But notice what else will happen at Christ’s coming.

Importance of the Resurrection

1. Can anyone inherit the divine Kingdom of God while still a mortal flesh-and-blood human being?  1 Corinthians 15:50.

2. What did Paul say must happen to our mortal bodies in order to inherit—to actually become a part of—that spiritual Kingdom? Verses 51, 53. When will our bodies be changed—converted from flesh to spirit? Verse 52. Does that trumpet sound at the Second Coming of Christ? 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Is this when Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and others will inherit the promises? Same verses. What did Jesus tell Nicodemus about this change? John 3:6, 8. And if we are “born of the spirit,” can we finally “see”—enter—the divine, spiritual Kingdom of God? Verse 3.

Comment: At Jesus Christ’s Second Coming, all the dead in Christ will be raised with new spirit bodies. Those Christians still alive at His return will be instantly changed into the same kind of spirit bodies—bodies that will then be in the Kingdom or Family of God. Our present flesh is corruptible, subject to death and decay. Spirit beings, however, are eternally new—immortal, incorruptible, never subject to death or decay!

3. Did Jesus declare that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will—in the future—be resurrected? Matthew 22:31-32.

Comment: This text is often twisted and perverted in an attempt to prove that Abraham is not dead—that he went to heaven when he died—just the diametric opposite of what Jesus used this illustration to point out.

God is the God of the living, not the dead. God sometimes speaks of things that are to be as though they have already happened (Romans 4:17). Jesus was speaking of their future resurrection to immortal life! For He plainly said, in context, “As touching the resurrection of the dead .…”

We can now see why Abraham and his children through Christ have not, as yet, inherited the promises. They simply cannot come into their eternal inheritance until they receive eternal life! This, as Paul explained, will happen at the resurrection from the dead!

Without a resurrection, the dead would never live again (1 Corinthians 15:16, 18); therefore, the resurrection of the dead is central to God’s plan. And, unless Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all deceased Christians are resurrected from the dead at Christ’s coming, they cannot inherit the promises!

How different the plain truth of God’s Word is from the ancient religious fables and myths the world embraces today!

Heaven on Earth

After studying the Bible carefully, we see that the plain truth is that heaven is not the “reward of the saved.” Christians do not go to heaven when they die, or when resurrected.

The surprising truth is that heaven is coming to the Earth. The Earth will eventually become the very headquarters from which the Father will rule His vast creation!

Will you dwell on that new Earth? Will you be a part of that glorious world?

When Jesus Christ returns, He will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you …” (Matthew 25:34). May God help you to be among those who will inherit the Kingdom of God along with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

Temperatures and Violence on the Rise

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-15T15:39:26+01:00

Ten shootings occurred within 48 hours in Chicago over Mother’s Day weekend. The shootings left three people dead and 11 injured. Three of the injured remain in critical condition.

Recent figures suggest a correlation between Chicago’s crime rate and its temperatures. As the temperature has increased, so has violence. As summer approaches, Chicagoans are becoming more concerned about their safety.

Lucy, a senior at Columbia University, said:

“I’ve been a victim of violence in Chicago. I was shot by a stray bullet in 2007, like a month before I went off to college. So I definitely feel the weather does have an impact on whether [there’s] gonna be more violence or not. … [I]t’s sad. And something needs to be done about it.”

Lucy’s family lives in southern Chicago. The frequent crime there makes her worry about her brothers and sisters, who attend middle school in the area.

Statistics confirm her concerns. Last year, more than 500 people were murdered in Chicago. That’s more than in Afghanistan, where 310 U.S. soldiers died during the same period.

Tragically, Bible prophecy indicates that what is now happening in Chicago will soon spread to many more American cities. To stay informed about where these crime trends are leading, subscribe to our free newsletter, the Trumpet Weekly.

Despite High Unemployment--Here's How to Find a Good Job!

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-15T05:00:00+01:00

There is a type of man who never goes without work for long.

“Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town and village—in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: He is needed, and needed badly .…”

At the turn of the last century, Elbert Hubbard described this man in “A Message to Garcia,” an essay that was printed and reprinted around the world and even given to every enlisted man in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps during both world wars.

This man is resourceful. He is industrious. He has initiative. He listens to what his boss tells him to do and then does it.

But in today’s abnormal global economic climate, even a man of this quality may still find himself without work, laid off with thousands of others. What can he do then?

If you find yourself in this situation, you need a strategy. Here are seven practical steps to take if you’re looking for work.

1. Assess your spending

If you’ve just lost your job, or the end of your present job is in sight (and by the way, today’s labor market is tough, so don’t ever quit unless you have another job lined up), then stop and take stock of your financial situation immediately.

Depending on how much money (if any) you have in savings, you may have to curtail or sharply cut your monthly expenses. Take a long, hard look at your spending habits. Don’t hesitate to drastically reduce your standard of living. You may need to get rid of some or all of your non-essential bills and discretionary spending in order to survive. For example, you may need to cancel such things as your cable tv, gym membership and magazine subscriptions, and curtail dining out and entertainment.

In some cases, it may be advisable to quickly pay down—or pay off—as many short-term debts as you can. You might consider refinancing your home mortgage or auto loan to a lower interest rate in order to further reduce monthly debt payments.

At the same time, you will need to work out a new, realistic budget. Get help from a public credit counseling service if you can’t work out a budget on your own.

Resist the temptation to use credit and dig yourself into a hole that you might not get out of for a long time.

When it is time for you to go job hunting, first calculate how much income you will need to earn in order to make ends meet. The classic career guide What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles lists these expenses to consider when determining your “minimal survival salary”: Housing; cleaning, maintenance, repairs; food; clothing; automobile/transportation; insurance; medical expenses; support for other family members; charity giving/tithes; school/learning; pet care; bills and debts; taxes; savings; retirement fund; amusement/discretionary spending.

2. Prepare for the long haul

Getting yourself back into the working sector requires a lot of confidence and enthusiasm. But don’t pin your hopes on unrealistic expectations of landing another job easily and immediately, or your hopes may soon fade. It could take time—perhaps a year or so—to find the right job, so you also have to have steely determination.

This is why it is important to diligently reduce your debt load and get into a good cash position when you are employed. If you currently have a job, set aside funds for unexpected expenses. Each pay period, you should budget about 5 percent of your net earnings until you have accumulated enough emergency savings to pay your essential expenses for six months. Then, when an emergency occurs—like the loss of a job—that reduces your reserve, build it back up with the same diligence as before.

3. Assess your skills

Analyze your main interests in life in order to find the job that is right for you—not just one that pays a high salary. You usually enjoy the activities at which you excel. Think slowly and carefully over your entire life and write down a list of areas in which you excel, including school activities, handicrafts, hobbies, and all of your past jobs. Do you enjoy working on cars? Are you a fast painter? Do you like tinkering with computers? Fascinated by nature and biology?

Also note any specialized vocational training you received in school, the armed forces, or elsewhere. For an even deeper look at your aptitudes, consider taking a vocational guidance test from a college, university, employment agency or other institute.

Such lists will probably reveal a pattern. You will begin to see the type of job that would make use of your talents and in which you can excel, and also the type of job in which you would be a miserable misfit.

Bolles says self-assessment “involves sitting down and doing some inventory on what are called your functional or transferable skills. Your education and previous experience don’t lock you into only finding a job in a particular sector of the economy or in a particular job title. You have to take the blinders off and think, ‘I’m a person who’ and fill in the blank. Not, ‘I’m a human resources executive,’ for instance. Rather, think ‘I’m a person who’s good at analyzing things’ or ‘I’m a person who’s good at organizing things.’ Then you look for an organization that needs these skills and interests” (ibid). Perhaps your skills can be adapted to a job other than what you have previously done.

Your jobless situation can be a time not only for self-analysis, but also for education in new skills. There are many training courses and seminars offered by vendors, local schools and government-sponsored institutions. If you are Internet savvy, consider taking an online course or “webinar” to enhance your skills or learn new ones.

Go to your local library or bookstore and read up on the career fields that are on the rise. In addition to What Color Is Your Parachute?, you might find one of these titles very helpful: Guide for Occupational Exploration, The Pathfinder, and The UnCollege Alternative.

If you’re considering going back to school to get a degree in some “hot” field, be aware that a college degree does not guarantee you a job. While in some cases a degree can help you find work, according to Danielle Wood’s book The UnCollege Alternative, the majority—about 70 percent—of all jobs in the United States only require alternative education and on-the-job training.

4. Make a job out of finding a job

Too many go on the job hunt halfheartedly. It’s no wonder so many can’t find work and/or are living on public welfare.

Being jobless is not an extended holiday. If you don’t have a job, now is the time to work “overtime” every workday looking for a job. Stay in a regular work routine every day. Resist the temptation to aimlessly surf the Internet or watch tv. Don’t view your seemingly endless “free” time as something to fritter away on hobbies and backyard projects. Force yourself to get up and get going each day.

Be zealous in your quest for a job. Get up early in the morning—every morning—and start researching for openings, applying for jobs, arranging interviews and pounding the pavement—before lunchtime! Don’t quit until you’ve put in a full eight- or nine- or ten-hour day’s work looking for work. Keep at it for at least 40 hours a week. Be resourceful and persistent. Job researchers insist a job hunter who is looking for a nonexecutive job should be able to submit 40 applications a week. Set a goal of a certain number of applications a day until you land your job.

Besides your traditional job search—sifting through job websites like CareerBuilder and Monster, looking in classified ads, reading trade journals and professional publications, and checking out employment agencies—try networking. Get out and talk with your friends, neighbors, relatives and business acquaintances. Word-of-mouth referrals are often much more effective at gaining job interviews than merely answering want ads. In fact, some employment experts say that the majority of jobs available on any given date aren’t publicized. Bolles says that “80 percent of all vacancies that are filled are never advertised. They use their own grapevines within the company. … [N]etworking is the single most important way of going job hunting” (Business Week, March 22, 2004).

With this in mind, you may also want to use the Yellow Pages (www.YP.com) to look up potential employers. Call them and ask if they are hiring for the kind of position you are interested in applying for. According to Bolles, this method has a 69 percent success rate.

If possible, ask to speak with the director, the department manager, the foreman or whoever has decision-making authority. If you have good qualifications, the director may hire you even if there is no opening at the moment, because he is looking ahead to future needs.

Too many job hunters rely on the Internet alone. This approach has a low success rate. “The Internet has obviously increased the ability of people to locate jobs. But sending your résumé out unsolicited and using the Internet doesn’t really work even during a good economy. These strategies are miserable failures when you have a sour economy. Forrester Research has found that 10 percent at best and 4 percent at worst find a job through the Internet” (ibid).

5. Knock on some doors

One of the best ways to try to find a job, says Bolles, is to “[knock] on the door of any employer, factory or office that interests you, whether they are known to have a vacancy or not” (op. cit.). This tactic may seem outmoded; however, Bolles states this method has a 47 percent success rate.

Before you go knocking on doors, develop a plan. Avoid trudging up and down the streets at random in hopes that some company out there will have a position available. First take the effort to find out the exact name and location of businesses that hire people who have your abilities and skills.

After targeting a business or employer you are interested in working for, try to get in to see the hiring manager. If you can, avoid going through the Personnel Office, because its job is usually to screen out job seekers. Strive to make a good first impression. Dress appropriately, be clean, and present yourself with poise and enthusiasm. Put your best foot forward. And, with each manager you meet, leave a neatly prepared résumé and cover letter briefly detailing your education, work experience and personal information (see our February issue).

In big cities, and especially within big corporations, it may be difficult to get past security to talk to someone “in charge” without an appointment. Even so, Bolles says, “It’s uncanny how many people will say ‘Sure’ or ‘I’ll see if there’s someone who you can talk to .…’ It’s perfectly true that these monoliths that have 38 floors don’t pay off so well. But smaller companies are filled with people who are very interested in taking the time to talk to you” (op. cit.). Concentrate on organizations with 50 or less employees, he says. “When you approach companies like that—and when you know enough about interviewing—you often come as the answer to their prayers.”

6. Be flexible

The average person changes jobs at least eight times in a lifetime. Sometimes job changes involve career changes. Accept the possibility that you may need to switch careers. This involves thinking big: You may have to consider changing from a white-collar job to a blue-collar job—or vice versa. You may need to adjust to a lower pay scale. You may have to take a temporary or part-time job—or maybe two of them—in order to get by. You might be required to commute long-distance or even relocate.

Be open-minded about seeking a new job or career. Ideally, though, you should try to find a job where you can use many of your abilities and talents.

In any case, be adaptable. Don’t become overly anxious about the transitions you may have to go through along the way to becoming gainfully employed again. Excessive worry can hurt your health; it is nonproductive and can even be counterproductive.

7. Seek guidance

If you are unemployed or are thinking of changing jobs, be sure to seek advice and counsel. As Proverbs 11:14 states, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”

Talk to a career counselor. Visit job sites and ask for personal interviews with experienced people in a variety of careers. Especially ask for help from close friends and relatives—those who know you best—since they may be able to see your strengths and weaknesses more objectively than you can and aid you in considering a career path or job right for you.

Above all, don’t forget to seek counsel from above—heavenly guidance from God. Many turn to God only out of desperation as a last resort. But the power of prayer can work, and has worked, miracles in the lives of many who have experienced unemployment woes in the past. Use this vital tool throughout the job-seeking—and job-keeping—process!

God knows your needs even before you ask. However, He won’t necessarily supply what you don’t ask for (Matthew 6:8; James 4:2). Be sure to seek His help diligently. Be persistent and wholehearted. James 5:16 states that “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” If you expect God to hear, you must pray fervently, earnestly, zealously and without ceasing  (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Pray, and then wait, with patient faith—doing your part all the while—to see the amazing results. God will never fail you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), so long as you put Him first in everything. Know that He can, most definitely, guide you to success in finding the job you need.

Many nations are heading into the worst economic times since the Great Depression. The struggle to find—and keep—a good job will only intensify. But if you do your part and follow God’s laws, God will bless you and provide for all your needs. As Jesus said, “[S]eek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these [material] things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

Pray for favor. Stay positive. Realize that if Almighty God is with you, you will eventually succeed. Have faith: “Unemployment may reach 50 percent or more, but there is no reason that you cannot be one of the 50 percent with a job” (Solve Your Money Troubles!; request your free copy). In today’s global economic climate, finding a job can be tricky, but with God’s help it is possible.

Sidebar: More Americans out of work than reported

The state of the U.S. economy is shaping up to be a major issue in the 2012 presidential election. No presidential incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt has been reelected in a year when the national unemployment exceeded 7.2 percent. Perhaps this is why the current administration is trying so hard to downplay America’s joblessness. Most news media outlets made a big deal over the fact that the U.S. Labor Department announced that the U-3 unemployment rate fell from 9 percent to 8.6 percent during the month of November. Trouble is, the government-reported U-3 unemployment rate does not reflect how many people are actually out of work, but rather how many unemployed people are actively applying for government benefits. Further examination of the data shows that 315,000 people stopped looking for work during November, dropping out of the job market. The situation looks even worse when you consider the government-reported U-6 under-employment rate, which includes those who are currently working part-time until they can find a full-time job. The overall under-employment rate in America is currently at 15.6 percent.

German Arms Exports Grow

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-15T05:00:00+01:00

In a controversial move, Germany has approved the sale of 164 tanks to Indonesia, according to a member of the German Parliament. News outlets found out on Wednesday that German military manufacturer Rhinemetall was given approval by the government to sell 104 Leopard 2 tanks, along with an assortment of other vehicles. The decision was made by the German Security Council, which meets in secret, and its decisions on arms deals cannot be vetoed by the German Parliament.

Though reports suggest that many of these vehicles will be secondhand items from German Army stocks, a lot of concern has been raised over this sale because of Indonesia’s human rights violations and corruption concerns.

The sale is but the latest in a string of high-profile arms sales by Germany over the past few years. Last year, Germany approved arms exports valued at €1.42 billion (us$1.84 billion) to countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The previous year, the figure was just €570 million (us$739.5 million). All of this is part of what has come to be known as the “Merkel doctrine,” in which Germany is working to strengthen partner countries by supplying arms.

Watch Germany as it continues to prosper from its arms sales while the world plunges closer and closer toward global conflict. Bible prophecy shows that Germany will prosper financially in these end times. Revelation 18:15 says that many people will be made rich by German commerce and trade. But the same chapter also shows the ultimate fate of this great power. Read “Germany—Reverting to Militaristic Type?” to see where this increase in German military production is leading.

Words of Peace in the Middle East

Callum Wood — 2013-05-15T05:00:00+01:00

The Qatari prime minister let slip that the Arab League would consider territorial compromises as part of an Israeli-Arab peace deal. As soon as the United States got word of it, Secretary of State John Kerry rallied behind the deal in an attempt to get Israel on board. The comment, made on April 29, was seen by the U.S. as a leap forward in the direction of a peace deal.

It is almost comical that the U.S. could be so moved by the smallest of statements, while at the same time ignoring the threats directed at Israel by many nations in the Middle East, including those that claim to seek peace with Israel. There are numerous instances when Israel has been verbally attacked by surrounding nations, yet the threats have generated almost no response from the U.S.

The Arab League consists of 22 nations, many of which are passively, if not openly, hostile toward Israel. They certainly make known their hatred toward the Jews through their speech.

In Egypt, during a sermon in which a cleric asked God to “destroy the Jews and their supporters and disperse them, rend them asunder,” President Mohamed Morsi said, “Amen.”

In 2010, Mr. Morsi described Zionists as “bloodsuckers” and “the descendents of apes and pigs.”

The Palestinian Authority’s religious leader, the mufti, said, “The killing of Jews is a religious obligation.” When a religious leader calls the destruction of Israel an obligation over the sound of cheering crowds, what hope is there of achieving peace?

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said that Hamas’s goal was the “liberation of the Palestinian territories”—by which he is referring to the entire nation of Israel. Israel gave up the Sinai to Egypt in 1978. Since Egypt has become radicalized in recent years, the Sinai has been used to send weapons and terrorists up to Gaza, from where Hamas has launched rockets into Israeli towns such as Sderot, and threatened cities such as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

To the north of Israel, Syria is in upheaval while the Israel Defense Forces conduct strategic attacks on weapons shipments that are on their way to Lebanon. The terrorist group Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government, openly threatens the lives of the citizens of Israel. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, said he was “against any reconciliation with Israel.” Mr. Nasrallah’s viewpoint is shared by many of his followers and by other Middle Eastern leaders.

Then there are the inflammatory remarks and actions of Iran, which actively pursues Israel’s destruction. While attending a United Nations meeting in New York on Sept. 24, 2012, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel had no roots in the Middle East and would be “eliminated.”

Regardless of how hard the U.S. tries to bring peace, it can’t satisfy the myriad players that affect stability in the region. Peace with Israel would contradict the religious convictions of many Islamist believers in the region. Some Iranian leaders, for example, believe Iran’s weapons will speed the second coming of the Mahdi, their version of the Messiah. It is a guiding principal of their foreign policy.

As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes, “In the face of such problems—considering the existence of nation-threatening weapons today and the violent hostility bubbling up within whole populations in our world—you would think people would be scrambling to find some kind of a peace plan that would really work! Human civilization faces the very real threat of annihilation! This world desperately needs real peace.

“Herbert W. Armstrong actually showed this world a peace plan that does work: the way of God, and God’s law—the way of give versus the way of get. He taught about that way throughout his life, even taking the message of that way personally to kings and other leaders of nations all over the Earth.”

To understand the peace plan that works, read The Way of Peace Restored Momentarily.

Justice Department Seized AP Phone Records

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-14T18:07:24+01:00

Senior executives at the Associated Press have said that the United States Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of AP reporters and editors. According to AP attorneys, the Justice Department seized records from about a year ago for more than 20 telephone lines used by the news organization.

The Justice Department was interested in records of outgoing calls from the work and personal telephones of individual reporters, as well as calls from AP offices in New York, Washington and Hartford.

It is unknown which journalists used the office phone lines in April and May of last year, but more than 100 journalists work in the offices that the Justice Department targeted.

“They haven’t told us what they are looking for and nor have they explained why we got no prior notice, which our lawyers tell us that it’s not only customary but required” (Kathleen Carroll, AP senior vice president-executive editor).

In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation.

Prosecutors have sought phone records from reporters before, but it is unusual for the government to secretly seize so many sensitive records, which include general AP switchboard numbers and an office-wide shared fax line.

The AP said it received a letter from the Justice Department on Friday that notified it of the seizure but offered no explanation.

The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of classified information to the media and has brought six cases against people suspected of providing classified information, more than under all previous presidents combined. This could be a sign that the federal government is seeking to restrict and intimidate the free press.

As Gerald Flurry has pointed out, we are seeing a trend toward lawlessness on all levels of American society today. He has asked two important questions: “Does the president tell the truth? Is anyone paying attention?” Are you paying attention? Request our free booklet America Under Attack to see how our nation is unraveling from within.

Economic Crisis Helps Germany Reshape EU

Gareth Fraser — 2013-05-14T17:00:00+01:00

“Nothing can get done without the approval of Germany, and frankly, Germany would be insane to mess with the current status quo, given how much it’s outperforming the rest of the eurozone. Just insane,” wrote Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider.

“Who else can boast that its unemployment rate is substantially below where it was before the financial crisis? So, tight money, low inflation, austerity. It’s working great for the country that has the power,” he opined, pointing to a blatantly lopsided European unemployment chart produced by Danske Bank.

The weak euro currency and flagging continental export market are directly profiting one nation specifically—Germany. A continental bloc the West thought would bring equality, impartiality and equity for all, has become a cash cow for its largest and most dominant country.

Make it in Germany agrees: “Indeed, both domestic and foreign media are already using the word Jobwunder to describe the exceptional performance of Germany’s labor market.”

Seven years ago, Germany’s unemployment rate was near 12 percent. Since that time, compounded by the European financial crisis, it has been in free fall, now at near 5 percent. “If you are thinking about working in Germany, you have made an excellent decision—Germany is Europe’s largest, and the world’s fifth-largest, economy,” says InterNations.

The Continent is undergoing a labor migration of historic proportions as millions pack their bags and head for prosperous Deutschland, Europe’s job engine. With low population growth, Germany is in pressing need of qualified candidates to fill its burgeoning job market.

This comes as the country boasts an explosive export market, which has boosted gross domestic product and fueled strong employment opportunities. In 2012, the EU Blue Card was introduced to speed visa applications of the wealthy and their highly skilled employees. Money- and employment-creation laws were softened for investors looking to establish companies in Germany.

Like iron filings to a magnet, immigrants from the most fiscally depressed countries fled to the Teutonic promised land last year at levels not seen in the past 17 years, according to data released last week. “The report from the German statistics office was sure to fuel a debate over the consequences of immigration for the country. In all, 1.08 million people moved to Germany last year, or 13 percent more than in 2011, Germany’s statistics office said, indicating that the eurozone’s debt crisis is reshaping the fabric of European society as well as the economy” (Wall Street Journal, May 7).

Currently, 27 nations comprise the trading mart and 17 trade in the euro currency, while Germany has made no secret of its desire to reduce this number to a more dedicated German-centric core. The Trumpet has continually reminded readers of the words of the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: “You have not anchored Germany to Europe. You have anchored Europe to a newly dominant, unified Germany. In the end, my friends, you’ll find it will not work.”

“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 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, to the ignorant observer, the ever increasing overt actions of German elites 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 scope has disturbing, far-reaching, historic implications.

Request Herbert W. Armstrong’s booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? along with Gerald Flurry’s Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans for a deeper comprehension of these concerning developments.

Unleash Your Inner Da Vinci

Dennis Leap — 2013-05-14T17:00:00+01:00

What does it mean to create? When most of us hear that word, we think of the name of some great artist, musician or writer. We think da Vinci, Mozart, or Shakespeare. We carelessly assume that only a privileged few men and women are capable of creating things. Most of us assume that we lack the talent or intelligence to create anything worthwhile.

A lot of deep-thinking people are beginning to challenge that assumption. Do you have a correct concept of talent?

The truth is, God never intended that only a few enjoy the pleasure and fulfillment that comes by the creative process. He wants every human being—every man, woman and child—to have an abundant, creative and successful life.

Yes, it is your God-given heritage to live the life of a creator! Bringing something into being from nothing is a huge part of what makes human life abundant and fulfilling.

Yet, how do you become a creator? Only a few have learned how. There is a reason why. Something is wrong with our education system.

Becoming a successful creator comes only by obtaining right education and performing hard work. Creating anything—art, literature, delicious meals, new products and processes, music—does not come easy. Yet, creating is not a mysterious gift reserved just for the few. You can live an exuberant life creating wonderful things if you really want to. You simply have to learn how.

The Truth About Talent

In his book Talent Is Overrated, Geoff Colvin writes, “A number of researchers now argue that giftedness or talent means nothing like what we think it means, if indeed it means anything at all. A few contend that the very existence of talent is not, as they carefully put it, supported by evidence.” That is a shocking statement. Is there a possibility that talent has little to do with great performance? The truth is, many have given up hope of creating anything because certain myths about talent have been promulgated for years.

One of these is the Mozart myth. There is no doubt that Mozart’s music is breathtaking. The Mozart myth purportedly explains how he created such great music: Some people are simply born with towering talent, which bestows on them supernatural ability to produce ethereal works of art like the “Clarinet Concerto in A.” Music like this just leaps into being directly from its creator’s mind. Some experts believed Mozart composed his symphonies in one sitting with little or no revision.

However, truthful investigation into Mozart’s life reveals a different history. Mozart’s father, Leopold, was a famous composer and performer. He was deeply interested in how music was taught to children. His book on violin instruction was considered the most authoritative work on the subject for decades. Leopold Mozart was also a demanding father who started teaching his son music composition and performance at age 3. So Wolfgang was receiving intense music instruction at a very young age. Unsurprisingly, then, Mozart was composing music at age 5 and giving public piano and violin performances by age 8. He had an incredible role model to imitate.

Music scholars now recognize that Mozart’s earliest compositions were those of a student. Some were heavily edited by his father. Other compositions followed the style of another of his teachers, Johann Christian Bach. “Regarding how he produced this music, however it’s evaluated, the New Yorker’s music critic, Alex Ross, sums up much of the recent scholarship on the Miracle of Salzburg: ‘Ambitious parents who are currently playing the Baby Mozart video for their toddlers may be disappointed to learn that Mozart became Mozart by working furiously hard’” (ibid).

Same Capability, Equal Ability

It is important that every educator, ceo and parent know that the guiding assumption about talent is causing trouble for many individuals.

Every human has the potential to become a creator. Think about that statement. This matter carries great significance to how we rear our children, how we educate them in our schools, and how people perform on their jobs. Gifted performance is not reserved for the elite few. It is a matter of disciplined training, which includes blood, sweat and tears.

Current assumptions on talent are based on the false theory of evolution. Colvin shows that before Darwin, it was believed that people were born with more or less the same capabilities, which were developed to varying degrees during life—in other words, that all people held approximately equal ability to develop skills. It was up to each individual to make of himself what he would. This belief, more than any other, led to the notion that the United States of America was the land of equal opportunity. History shows many who fully embraced that belief made great fortunes in America.

Can you imagine the creative good that would result if we applied this old way of thinking to every man, woman and child today? It would revolutionize the way we learn and work. Believing and acting upon such knowledge would virtually eliminate today’s tendency to single out only a few as gifted or talented. Parents would realize fully that their children’s abilities in art, dance, music, sport or writing begin with their effort to discipline, encourage, motivate and inspire their children to work hard to perfect the skills necessary to be great at what they do. Adults desiring more out of life would not give up learning or doing something new or different just because it was difficult. Workers would be much more productive and successful on the job.

So how do you begin to become a creator?

Change Your Thinking

Research into the lives of great artists and inventors—the da Vincis, the Edisons, the Einsteins—has uncovered that these individuals were not necessarily more intelligent or talented than others. They thought differently. Actually, they were taught to think differently.

One of the number one problems in our education system is: Our children are not taught to think—they are taught to memorize facts. They are then tested on how well they repeat what they memorized. Students who have the best recall are considered really smart. But are they?

Assuredly, the memorization of certain facts is good—the multiplication tables in math or dates of history, for example. Yet what happens when cultural assumptions are taught to be memorized as facts? You could end up believing that the sun revolves around the Earth. Galileo, a man who thought differently, challenged the current thinking of his day—that the sun revolved around the Earth—and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for advocating such “heresy.”

Michael Michalko, in his book Cracking Creativity, states: “Typically, we think reproductively, on the basis of similar problems encountered in the past. When confronted with problems, we fixate on something in our past that has worked before. We ask, ‘What have I been taught in my life, education, or work that will solve this problem?’” Naturally, there is real risk in this kind of thinking. For starters, what we have been taught could be wrong. In addition, when we solve new problems based only on what we have done in the past, we can become narrow, rigid know-it-alls, assuming the correctness of our conclusions. This can close us off to new learning and new ways of doing things.

Creators think productively. Michalko explains, “When confronted with a problem, [productive thinkers] ask themselves how many different ways they can look [at] the problem, how they can rethink it, and how many different ways they can solve it, instead of asking how they have been taught to solve it.” Productive thinking opens the door for exploration. This kind of big thinking takes more work, yet yields more possibilities, adding significantly to the number of new ways to do things. Productive thinking is fundamental to becoming a creator.

How to Gain Creative Confidence

It is proven that human beings learn best by doing. If you want to become more creative or have your children learn to be creative, the best time to start is right now.

However, start small. If you want to become a painter, for example, don’t rush out to buy expensive brushes, canvases and oil paints. A box of crayons or colored pencils and a blank pad of newsprint paper will be enough to get you, or your child, started. Keep your expectations practical. Da Vinci didn’t create the Mona Lisa on his first attempt at painting.

The great creators in human history began their careers with learning the fundamentals of their art. William Shakespeare had to master meter and rhyme before writing Hamlet’s famous soliloquy. Einstein had to grasp the rudiments of math before he could develop the groundbreaking formula E=MC2. Any creating requires education in the basics. Wolfgang Mozart had to come to understand the basics of music composition before he ever wrote the music that so many consider a priceless treasure.

In his booklet The Seven Laws of Success, Herbert W. Armstrong described education, or preparation, as the second law of success. “[W]e have to learn—to study—to be educated—to be prepared for what we propose to do,” he wrote. “One of the first things we need to learn is that we need to learn.” (We will send you a free copy of this amazing booklet upon request.)

Often, very young children are naturally more creative than adults. Being new themselves, their world is full of wonder waiting to be explored. Curiosity opens wide the doors of investigation and experience. Children are quick to recognize that they don’t know something, but work quickly to fill the gap. In addition, young children tend not to fear failure. They are eager to try anything and everything. Safely introducing young children to a variety of experiences is the best way for parents to discover a child’s artistic or creative aptitude.

Sadly, as adults we tend to fall into the creativity-crushing mental rut of believing that we know everything. Intellectual arrogance can kill our curiosity, our desire to investigate, and our willingness to try new things. To become more creative, we must become more curious in our thinking—like a child. Michael Michalko writes: “Einstein once said that the ordinary person could learn all the physics he or she will ever need to learn if the person could learn to understand the mind of a child.” Jesus Christ taught that if we truly want to grow spiritually, we must become as little children (Matthew 18:3). The truly great creators never quit learning.

Insist on Discipline

How people encourage creativity today is more like sugar-coated rebellion than true creation. Some parents, not wanting to destroy a child’s creativity, will allow the child to color on walls in the home. Many municipalities have strict laws against such destructive activity, calling it what it truly is—property-damaging graffiti! Allowing a child to bang on a piano does not teach a child how to play music.

Discipline is a creator’s most important tool. Without it, no continuous creative work of any quality can be accomplished. The truly great writers know that quality literature is produced not by some mythological muse but by showing up at the keyboard at a specific time every day and then staying at that keyboard until real work is performed.

One famous British author was asked if he wrote by inspiration or schedule. His answer: “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at 9 o’clock sharp.”

A lot of would-be creators talk much about their art, whether it be dance, music, painting, sculpting or writing. Generally that is where it stops—talk. Successful creators do. Yet, doing art is more than a dab of paint on a canvas when you feel like it or when inspiration hits. Doing art means concentration, focus, order, organization, personal sacrifice, scheduling and meeting standards—all elements of self-discipline.

All parents should make it their goal to teach their children the fundamentals of self-discipline. No child can succeed at anything without them.

One of the most important elements of self-discipline is drive. Creative accomplishment requires the creator to keep a prod on himself. The person who desires to be a great piano player must drive himself to practice until he gets his music right. Drive is not an external force—it comes from within a person. All the histories of the great creators hold one fact in common: All were driven to create. How else could they have become the masters of their fields? Herbert Armstrong wrote, “Without energy, drive, constant propulsion, a person need never expect to become truly successful” (op. cit.).

Create With Passion

In his book Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson skillfully and with colorful detail gives us a clear picture of a man driven by passion. He writes: “This is a book about the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing” (emphasis added throughout). Steve Jobs demanded much of himself and the people he employed, which delivered incredible results. Before hiring an employee, Jobs expected to see the fires of passion for Apple products burning bright inside the applicant. If there was no fire, there was no job.

Creators love what they do. If you do not deeply love what you are doing, you will never be very good at it. Music composer Robert Fritz, in his book Creating, states: “Love is what creating is about .… In the creative process, love is generative rather than simply responsive .… [A] creator is able to love something that does not yet exist—even in the imagination—and bring it into existence.” The word generative basically means the power to originate or produce something.

Fritz further explains that generative love focuses not on the creator, but on what is created. Creation is a selfless, not a selfish, process. In reality this is a deeply spiritual concept.

The Bible shows us that God is both the great Creator and Lover (Genesis 1:1; 1 John 4:16). As a Creator, He is passionate about what He is doing. He is creating an incredible family to finish the creation of the universe (Romans 8:19-21). Look at God’s investment of love in His creative actions. God is so passionate about His plans that He gave up, or invested, what He valued most—His Son—to further His creation (John 3:16). And that Son, also God and a Creator, sacrificed His own life to unleash more power into God’s creative work (John 1:12). That is the highest form of generative love.

All those desiring to become creators will need to imitate and put into practice this kind of love. What a wonderful opportunity to be able to learn how to create. That education opens up new vistas to understanding God and deepens our relationship with Him.

It is crucial that parents help their children discover what they can be truly passionate about. Half-hearted interest produces half-hearted results. Every child has ability and aptitude to excel at some skillful enterprise. Yet there must be passion. Careful observation of your child as he experiences new things will unveil to you what your child will love doing.

Hard Work Works

Being a very good creator is very hard work. There is no way around it. Most people stop creating because they meet some obstacle along the way. That obstacle could come in the form of criticism or rejection. Most of the time, though, people give up when the act of creating gets hard. Painting a masterpiece is hard work. Composing unforgettable music is hard work. Writing poetry that lasts forever is hard work! Creation requires sacrifice and a lot of time.

One of the great weaknesses in today’s Western society is the inability to delay gratification. We want what we want—now! When we set out to do something, we expect to see immediate results. Most often, when we don’t get immediate results, we give up. Creating requires patience and longsuffering.

Scriptwriter Steven Pressfield describes the creative process as the war of art. What does he mean by that? A former marine, Pressfield experienced the difficulties, exhaustion and personal trials that afflict soldiers. He believes that to create art requires the toughness of a soldier. The major battle that creators face is with their own self. So, when the creating gets tough, you must push through the toughness.

Geoff Colvin encourages us: “There is a path leading from the state of our own abilities to that of the greats. The path is extremely long and demanding, and only a few will follow it all the way to its end.” Never giving up is a vital key to successful creating. Recent research on Mozart has uncovered that he continually revised his compositions. This is what made his music such a great treasure. Mozart’s compositions did not magically appear on a music sheet.

Herbert Armstrong explained in The Seven Laws of Success that a person seeking any achievement must use resourcefulness and perseverance when the work gets difficult. The truly great creators knew how to use these two building blocks of work effectively.

Human beings are creators by nature. Challenge yourself to embark on a creative journey that will add a new and exciting dimension to your life. You will be pleasantly surprised when you open up your own dazzling creative possibilities.

Planets, Planets Everywhere

Joel Hilliker — 2013-05-14T05:00:00+01:00

Star Trek had earthlings zipping to planets throughout outer space, regularly encountering other intelligent life—most of which looked suspiciously like human beings wearing prosthetics of various shapes. But outside the world of science fiction, no planets outside those in our own solar system had been discovered.

That was before 1994. Since then, our telescopes have improved and scientists have discovered hundreds of planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy. Seven hundred and twenty-nine, to be exact, currently fill the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia. And we have really only begun to realize how many really might be out there.

But a groundbreaking study published in Nature in January blows previous estimates out past the stratosphere.

An international team of scientists evaluated 100 million stars 3,000 to 25,000 light-years away, analyzing gravitational microlensing data. This data enables them to detect relatively small (approximately Earth-size) objects, even those that don’t radiate light. The team calculated the number of planets within that statistical sample and extrapolated how many planets the galaxy must hold.

Buckle your seat belt.

“We used to think that the Earth might be unique in our galaxy,” said one of the co-authors of the study, Daniel Kubas, from the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris. “But now it seems that there are literally billions of planets with masses similar to Earth orbiting stars in the Milky Way” (emphasis added throughout).

Billions. Just in our galaxy!

“This statistical study tells us that planets around stars are the rule, rather than the exception,” said the project’s lead astronomer, Arnaud Cassan, also from the Paris institute. “From now on, we should see our galaxy populated not only with billions of bright stars, but imagine them surrounded by as many hidden extrasolar worlds.”

Think of it! If you look at the sky on a clear night, you will see several hundred stars—maybe even a few thousand. Look through a telescope and you’ll see many, many more. However many stars your eye takes in, imagine most of them being the center of a solar system!

These scientists estimate a mean of at least 1.6 planets for every star in the Milky Way. In our galaxy of 100 billion stars, that means around 160 billion planets!

“One can point at almost any random star and say there are planets orbiting that star,” said Uffe Grae Jorgensen, another member of the team, from the University of Copenhagen.

But 160 billion is the most conservative estimate the scientists came up with. It only includes planets that orbit between roughly the distance of Venus and Saturn. Another study published last year shows that there could be a huge number of “rogue” planets that drift through space without orbiting any star. There are probably more of these “rogue” planets than “normal” ones, the study found.

If this is the way our galaxy is, it is reasonable to assume that many, many, many of the billions of other galaxies out there have a similar plenitude of planets. If there are 300 sextillion stars in the observable universe, that could mean more than half again as many planets.

Scientists have also found planets orbiting two suns, something they once thought impossible. “Nature must like to form planets because it’s forming them in places that are kind of difficult to do,” said San Diego State University astronomy professor William Welsh, who wrote about the subject in Nature. Scientists thought that the unstable gravity of a two-star system would tear a planet apart. Now the Kepler telescope has found three of them, and Welsh believes there could be millions in our galaxy.

Of course, scientists love to use the word “nature” as if it is a spontaneously imaginative and powerfully creative force. Dr. Welsh speaks as though “nature” has a will and preferences in its initiatives. That’s because the natural world they study is filled with evidence of imagination, creativity, power, will, design and purpose—yet so many of them refuse to believe in God.

“Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20; Revised Standard Version).

There is obviously a Creator. The question is, why did God manufacture so much interstellar real estate? Science does not and cannot answer that. But the Bible can!

Hebrews 2:8 says, “Thou [God] hast put all things in subjection under his [man’s] feet. For in that he [God] put all in subjection under him [man], he [God] left nothing that is not put under him.”

“Is it possible God could mean what He says (‘all things’)? Nothing excluded?” the late Herbert W. Armstrong asked as he examined the scriptural evidence in The Incredible Human Potential. “In the first chapter, the Moffatt translation of the Bible renders the Greek word translated ‘all things’ as ‘the universe.’

“In other words, for those willing to believe what God says, He says that He has decreed the entire universe—with all its galaxies, its countless suns and planets—everything—will be put under man’s subjection.”

That’s not just Mr. Armstrong saying that. Your Bible says God has put mankind over the universe!

“But wait a moment!” Mr. Armstrong continued. “Before you disbelieve, read the next words in the same eighth verse: ‘But now we see not yet all things [the endless universe] put under him [man].’” This is talking about a time yet future when man will be given such jurisdiction.

After examining several other relevant passages, Mr. Armstrong concluded, “These scriptures indicate we shall impart life to billions and billions of dead planets, as life has been imparted to this Earth.”

The implications are tremendous. Why would God have created such an enormous, empty and currently lifeless universe out of physical matter and energy if there will not be more physical beings?

Isaiah 9:7 says, “Of the increase of his [God’s] government and peace there shall be NO END .…” Could God’s government and peace keep expanding if God didn’t populate the universe with more human beings? These scriptures seem to indicate that the planets those scientists have found are in for an awesome future!

In the original Hebrew, the very first verse of the Bible says that God created not only the Earth, but also the heavens—plural. Isaiah 51:16 talks about God planting the heavens. Romans 8 says the creation—everything: suns, planets, moons, stars—was subjected to futility—in hope. And that hope lies with you.

The full biblical revelation on this truth is awesome to study—and becomes all the more so as science continues to pull the curtain back on the magnitude and majesty of the great beyond that lies waiting for us.

Of course, not all of those sextillions of planets are habitable. The conditions required for life to exist must be exceedingly fine-tuned—to a spectacular, even miraculous degree. That’s why some scientists have called Earth a “Goldilocks planet”: In every conceivable respect, conditions on this extraordinary jewel of a home are “just right.”

Deviations in those conditions, however minute, surely render the overwhelming majority of planets inhospitable—if not all. But doesn’t the very existence of all that extraterrestrial territory—just knowing that God put all that out there on purpose—fire your imagination? The fact that scientists are suddenly looking at stars, as a rule, as being “surrounded by hidden extrasolar worlds” is breathtaking.

It’s as if each star is burning on, awaiting the day it will serve as a hearth for a home.

Surely very few if any of those planets can host life at present. But when the time is right, with some tweaks and housekeeping overseen by the omnipotent Creator of those planets, who’s to say a great many more couldn’t?

Europe's Unemployed: An Army Waiting for a Leader

Brad Macdonald — 2013-05-14T05:00:00+01:00

Europe’s unemployment crisis is one everyone knows about, but no one is thinking seriously about.

We’ve all seen the atrocious figures and statistics, the long lines of grumpy, unemployed Greeks and Spaniards. But how many have actually thought about what this means, for Greece and Spain, for Europe, and even for the international community? Historically, mass unemployment has resulted in extreme social and political upheaval, followed by the rise of tyrannical ideologies and government, followed by the outbreak of large-scale war.

Considering the history, isn’t this worth thinking on?

Unemployment can be a frightening phenomenon. When a working-age person has meaningful daily tasks—be it making a cappuccino, laying bricks or creating spreadsheets—his mind tends to be active and occupied. Added to this, the employed person has income, which means food on the table, a roof overhead, clothed children and a hopeful future. Basically, he or she tends to be happier, more content, more stable, more hopeful.

Take employment away and two things begin to happen psychologically: First, as the bills mount and his stomach aches, the unemployed person becomes stressed, anxious and frustrated. Soon, the stress evolves into desperation and hopelessness, even despair. Second, disenfranchised by his deteriorating circumstances—the loss of the family home, his decline in status, marital tension—the unemployed person finds himself emotionally and intellectually vulnerable. The one commodity he does now have is time—time for his vulnerable, frustrated mind to entertain new, often extreme or radical “solutions” that promise to rescue him from the system that has failed him. Dismayed by the status quo, he pines for something new. A new political party, new ideologies, new leaders, new policies—a whole new system.

When unemployment is low, the threat of social unrest and political change is marginal and easily mitigated. But if the unemployment level rises, it creates a veritable army of disenfranchised, desperate, angry people. An army ready and willing to embrace extreme political ideologies. An army ready to support a leader who promises salvation. An army willing to overthrow the established system. When this happens, unemployment is no longer an unfortunate economic issue, it’s a terrifying social and political crisis capable of initiating major catastrophe!

So, where is Europe on the unemployment spectrum?

The combined March unemployment rate of eurozone states was 12.2 percent. Expanded to include all 27 EU states, the unemployment rate is steady at 10.9 percent. These figures are bad, but they’re not dire. But look a little closer at the unemployment rates on the national level.

In Greece, unemployment is just above 27 percent, up from 21.5 percent 12 months ago. Spain’s rate is 26.7 percent. In these two countries, more than one quarter of people who want to work cannot find a job. Unemployment in both countries is worse than it was in America during the Great Depression.

Other European countries are moving in the same direction. Portugal’s unemployment rate is 17.5 percent and rising. Slovakia’s is 14.5 percent and rising. I was in France over the weekend and spoke with three employed friends, each of whom told me that their company would be laying off employees over the next few months. One friend, an accountant who is privy to the finances of numerous businesses, said that nearly all her clients are making plans to lay off employees. France’s unemployment rate is currently 11 percent, but it’s about to get much worse.

These figures take into account only those who are willing and able to work. They don’t include people who no longer receive unemployment benefits. Or people who have given up searching for a job or have taken up part-time employment. They don’t include those in education. And they do not take into account those who have left the country to look for work elsewhere. (I was recently in Cyprus and was shocked by the number of people, especially the young, bolting to greener pastures.) In the last 12 months, more than 1 million have moved to Germany in search of work.

Stratfor ceo George Friedman has a guideline when analyzing unemployment: “A rule I use is that for each person unemployed, three others are affected, whether spouses, children or whomever. That means that when you hit 25 percent unemployment virtually everyone is affected.” By this measure, unemployment is affecting every person in Spain and Greece. In many other states, half to two thirds of the populace is touched by unemployment.

The more we dissect the figures, the grimmer the picture. In Greece, 34.2 percent of individuals ages 25 to 34 are unemployed. Nearly 60 percent of workers between 16 and 24 are out of work. In Spain, the unemployment rate for 16-to-24-year-olds is 57.2 percent. In Italy, nearly 40 percent of under-25s are unemployed. In Slovakia, it’s nearly 35 percent of under-25s; in Portugal, 28 percent. The under-25 unemployment rate across the EU is 23.5 percent. According to unemployment rates submitted to Eurostat, only two European countries currently have an under-25 unemployment rate under 10 percent: Germany and Austria. Europe is brimming with millions of young people disenfranchised by the established system, yearning for change, and ready to throw their support behind someone with radical solutions for a brighter future!

Looking at these figures, it’s a marvel countries like Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy have not already experienced mass unrest and riots. Indeed, as Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca, research director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, recently asked: Why have the Spanish people not revolted? For now it seems the masses of unemployed are being sustained on state handouts. This is untenable. What will happen when the benefits inevitably dry up? Already, thousands of people are being cast from their homes and food banks are running dry.

We need to think about this because it’s real and happening right now. Across Europe, and especially in the southern Mediterranean, there are millions of disenfranchised, frustrated people with the time and desire to entertain any person, or party, or ideology that can promise them a return to a better life. This massive army is ready right now to get behind the individual, ideology or government that can promise salvation!

Michael Collins, investment journalist with Fidelity Worldwide Investment, warned last month: “The rise of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during the 1930s depression shows how an unemployment crisis … creates political chaos that demagogues can exploit.”

Friedman recently delivered a similar warning: “It is important to understand the consequences of this kind of unemployment. … Fascism had its roots in Europe in massive economic failures in which the financial elites failed to recognize the political consequences of unemployment. [The elites] laughed at parties led by men who had been vagabonds selling postcards on the street and promising economic miracles if only those responsible for the misery of the country were purged. Men and women, plunged from the comfortable life of the petite bourgeoisie, did not laugh, but responded eagerly to that hope. The result was governments who enclosed their economies from the world and managed their performance through directive and manipulation” (March 5; emphasis added). We’ve already seen evidence of this with the rise of far-right and far-left parties in Greece and elsewhere.

On Sunday, Telegraph columnist and economist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote an excellent article on a subject the Trumpet has long been anticipating. Reporting from Toledo, Spain, Evans-Pritchard noted how the Vatican and the Catholic Church are taking a keen interest in Europe’s economic crisis, specifically Europe’s unemployment problem.

Before we note some high points of that article, recall what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote about the role of the Vatican and the Catholic Church in uniting Europe. In August 1978, he wrote: “Europeans want their own united military power! … They have made a real effort toward union in the Common Market. … But they well know there is but one possibility of union in Europe—and that is through the Vatican” (Good News, emphasis his). Two years later, he warned that “world conditions may force European nations … to unite, bringing to pass the revived ‘Holy Roman Empire’ .… [European nations] have wanted to unite politically, with a common currency and common military force, for some time—but have been unable. It can be accomplished only through the Vatican” (Worldwide News, June 1980).

In 1979, Mr. Armstrong described a scenario that is remarkably prescient. “The nations of Europe have been striving to become reunited. They desire a common currency, a single combined military force, a single united government. They have made a start in the Common Market. They are now working toward a common currency. Yet, on a purely political basis, they have been totally UNABLE to unite” (Plain Truth, January 1979). In spite of these conflicting political interests, Mr. Armstrong explained, European countries will find a way to unite. How? “In only one way can this resurrected Holy Roman Empire be brought to fruition—by the ‘good offices’ of the Vatican, uniting church and state once again, with the Vatican astride and ruling.”

Gerald Flurry and the Trumpet have been echoing this forecast by Mr. Armstrong ever since Europe’s economic crisis began: The Vatican will be the glue that unites Europe under German leadership!

Now consider the following recent remarks by Braulio Rodriguez, the archbishop of Toledo and the highest Catholic official in Spain, as reported by Evans-Pritchard. “We have to change direction, otherwise this is going to bring down whole political systems,” he said in an interview with the Telegraph. “It is very dangerous. Unemployment has reached tremendous levels. … There is a deep unease across the whole society, and it is not just in Spain. We have to give people some hope or this is going to foment conflict and mutual hatred.”

Archbishop Rodriguez apparently explained how the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (comece), a forum of leading European bishops, is currently gearing-up to play a greater role in helping solve the crisis.

About the archbishop’s remarks, Evans-Pritchard wrote: “Europe’s churches are emerging as a powerful pole of authority, filling a vacuum left by political parties of all stripes tainted by the crisis. German leaders may be more ready to heed criticism from the Vatican and their own clergy than from Club Med politicians” (emphasis added).

Note that last point: German leaders won’t listen to other European politicians, but they will listen to the Vatican!

This is precisely the scenario that Mr. Armstrong forecast. You need to watch and think about this. Europe’s economic crises are going to get worse. The unemployment lines will grow, and so will the army of disenfranchised Europeans searching for someone to rescue them. Don’t be surprised if we see massive protests and riots this summer. But as mass unemployment and mass disgruntlement grow, don’t take your eyes off the Catholic Church.

As Europe edges toward large-scale anarchy and chaos, the Vatican will emerge to mediate a new relationship between Europeans and their leadership.

Germany Ready to Accept Lead in Europe

Tyrel Schlote — 2013-05-14T03:27:03+01:00

Following a double bombing in Turkey on Saturday that killed 46 people and left 100 injured, the German media is speaking out. When Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Sunday, “It is time for the international community to act together against [the Assad] regime,” many of Germany’s leading newspapers from both the left and right jumped on board in backing his comments. The bombing, which took place in a town near the Syrian border, is believed to have been carried out by individuals with ties to Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s administration.

On Monday, Spiegel Online reported, “German commentators decried the bombing, as well as the failure of the West to take a unified position on the worsening situation in Syria. Though several commentators warned against full-scale intervention, they seemed to agree that the bombing … will increase the pressure on the U.S. and its nato allies to attempt to contain the violence.” The article then went on to quote both liberal and conservative German newspapers, all of which agreed that the West needs to step in.

This action by the German media to impress upon the German people the need for Germany to step forward as a leading nation is important. For years, Germany has been content to sit back and let other nations take the lead in conflict resolution. In a recent interview, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière “defended Berlin’s reluctance to put combat troops on the ground over the last 20 years, and its refusal to join the military effort to overthrow Muammar Qadhafi” (guardian.co.uk, April 22).

But now times are changing.

De Maizière admitted that “Germany had to learn that fighting is important.” He believes that Germany once again has to learn that force is acceptable and that it no longer needs to be ashamed of its war-like past. He defended German troops in Afghanistan, saying, “Some of our partners thought we were ‘cake-eaters,’ and not up to the task. … But the German armed forces proved to be able to fight.”

Europe and America realize that Germany has the capacity to be a dominant player in the world, and have begun to push Germany to take on more of a leading role in European and nato affairs. The world is signaling to Germany that it no longer needs to be ashamed of its militaristic past. The world is encouraging German militarism. Right now, Britain and France are in strategic retreat in Afghanistan. One big reason: They can’t afford a war anymore. Britain announced that it plans to withdraw 3,800 soldiers from Afghanistan this year. Meanwhile, Germany and Poland are the only two large European nations that have not made any significant cuts to defense spending.

Germany is in perfect position to fill the power void. When German newspapers call for Europe to take action in Syria, what they are saying is that it’s time for Germany to take action. The U.S. has shown little desire to intervene, despite “red line” promises of action if chemical weapons were used; Britain and France are downsizing; Israel faces retaliation from Hezbollah. That leaves Germany.

The German newspapers speaking out on the issue is conditioning the minds of the German populace to accept that Germany is the new dominant power in Europe and the world, and that it is the one that needs to take action.

Since the defeat of Germany in World War ii, Herbert W. Armstrong repeatedly warned that Germany would rise from the rubble to initiate nuclear World War iii. Back in 1945, he warned, “We don’t understand German thoroughness. From the very start of World War ii, they have considered the possibility of losing this second round, as they did the first—and they have carefully, methodically planned, in such eventuality, the third round—World War iii! Hitler has lost. This round of war, in Europe, is over. And the Nazis have now gone underground. … They plan to come back and to win on the third try.”

This time, Germany will succeed, for a short time, before Jesus Christ returns to put an end to all war. Read “Germany—Reverting to Militaristic Type?” to see where German militarism is leading and the good news that lies at the end.

United States of Violence: Shooting at Mother's Day Parade

theTrumpet.com — 2013-05-13T22:22:25+01:00

Video released early Monday by New Orleans police shows a suspect in the Mother’s Day gunfire that wounded 19 people during a neighborhood parade. The grainy surveillance video shows a crowd suddenly scattering in all directions, with some falling to the ground. They appear to be running from a man who turns and runs out of the picture.

Police believe more than one gun was fired in the burst of Sunday-afternoon violence. The scene is about 1.5 miles from the heart of the French Quarter, which is popular with tourists.

Sunday’s violence comes at a time when the city is struggling to pay tens of millions of dollars to comply with federal requirements to reform the police department and the city jail. Shootings at parades and neighborhood celebrations have become more common in recent years as the city has struggled with street crime, sometimes gang-related.

Ezekiel 7:23 says “the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.” Does that sound like the United States today? The Prophet Ezekiel actually forecast exactly what is happening today in the violent cities of the United States. God also used him to prophesy what would happen to Britain and Israel. Request our free booklet Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet and read it alongside your Bible to see where all this craven violence is leading.