Update 339

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Paul's Message to Corinth

On April 12, 2008, Norbert Link will give the sermon, titled, “Paul’s Message to Corinth.”

The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org at 12:30 pm Pacific Time (which is 2:30 pm Central Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

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The Least That We Can Do

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As we quickly approach Passover, we are once again reminded of the great sacrifice that Christ made. After divesting Himself of His Godhead, Jesus walked the earth as a righteous man, doing no wrong. For this He was rewarded with ridicule, abuses and ultimately death. Christ willingly did this so that we may have opportunity to have God’s ear when we go before Him on a daily basis, and as well as being offered the chance for salvation.

Having had such great possibilities laid at our feet, what are we willing to sacrifice in order to make the most of what we have been given?  Presently, we have not been asked to physically give up our life, but merely to be a LIVING SACRIFICE by means of SERVICE (Romans 12:1).

We read from our booklet “The Sacrificial System and the Tabernacle in the Wilderness“: “As the burnt offering was completely burned (Leviticus 1:9), so we must give ourselves completely and without reservation to God. As members of God’s Church, we have to become without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27).”

We do this through the righteousness which is following God comprehensively and unconditionally with all of our ability (Mark 12:33; Proverbs 21:3; Hebrews 13:16; Romans 14:17-18).

When we contemplate the magnitude of what Christ did for us and contrast it with what we have been asked to do, surely we must come to the conclusion that it is the least that we can do.  Every time we choose right over wrong and God’s way over our way, we offer up our spiritual sacrifice (1 Peter 2:5).  Let us keep this in mind for this season, the rest of the year and the years that we have remaining, before the return of the One whose sacrifice made this all possible.

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“NATO Summit Fails to Heal Deep Divisions”

On April 4, 2008, Der Spiegel Online reported the following:

“The smiles in Bucharest were little more than show. Politically, the NATO summit was a fiasco. The Western alliance remains deeply divided and faces an identity crisis… The allies didn’t even dare begin the urgent discussions about strategies and plans. They were afraid that by doing so they would no longer be able to conceal the deep division that cuts right across the defense alliance… Instead of just talking about expansion, NATO needs a new concept, a justification for its existence, a guiding vision behind which all members can gather…

“There are completely different conceptions of who is protecting whom against whom and by what means. The alliance is militarily bigger and more powerful than ever — yet politically weaker than it has ever been. There is a deep rift when it comes to all the important questions: On the one side the Americans and their friends in Eastern Europe, on the other the Germans, the French and their neighbors… It was Russia that dominated the meeting in Bucharest. Yet when outgoing President Vladmir Putin arrived in Romania on the last day of the summit, no one really wanted to debate with him.”

Deutsche Welle added on April 4:

“The big enlargement summit that NATO’s leading power and many new eastern European members had wished for has fallen through. Germany and France thwarted US plans and candidates Ukraine and Georgia were sent back to the waiting room. The conflict between the US and western European countries was openly talked about at the summit. That’s a new thing for NATO, since usually decisions are already made beforehand and everything happens according to plan.

“This time, however, the outgoing American president was stymied in his almost missionary expansion zeal. Another unusual aspect of the meeting in Bucharest was the fact that 25 NATO countries were unable to get Greece and Macedonia to agree on a compromise in the bizarre twist over Macedonia’s name. That’s why only Croatia and Albania were invited to become members. George W. Bush, the lame duck, didn’t manage to have his way against Greece, either…

“The summit’s surprise was German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s newly revived close cooperation. They obviously want to shift NATO’s focus towards Europe. France’s return to NATO’s military command structures in the coming year fits into that strategy. It now depends on who will win the race to the White House and what level of importance the new administration will place on the alliance.

“An overly confident Russian President Vladimir Putin has gained astonishing influence over NATO during his last years of neo-nationalistic foreign policy…

“In the short term, NATO will have to send even more troops to Afghanistan to get the security situation under control. The Germans will be called upon in the fall at the latest. In Bucharest, the chancellor cleverly managed to avert a debate on an expanded role for the German military in Afghanistan, but it cannot be avoided forever.”

Bush and Putin Say Farewell, Fail To Overcome Sharp Differences

The Associated Press reported April 6:

“President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to overcome sharp differences over a U.S. missile defense system, closing their seven-year relationship Sunday still far apart on an issue that has separated them from the beginning.

“‘Our fundamental attitude toward the American plan has not changed,’ Putin said at a news conference with Bush at his vacation house at this Black Sea resort. ‘We got a lot of way to go,’ Bush said… Putin said [his hand-picked successor, Dmitry] Medvedev would be in charge, and would represent Russia at the Group of Eight meeting of industrial democracies in July in Tokyo…

“At their 28th and presumably final meeting as heads of state, Bush and Putin sought to emphasize their good personal relations, praising each other extensively. But they also both acknowledged remaining strong disagreements… Putin called the U.S. missile plan – which envisions basing tracking radar sites in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland – the hardest of US-Russian differences to reconcile.”

Murder in the Name of Islam?

The Daily Mail wrote on April 4:

“A gang of British Muslims planned to blow up seven planes within hours in the biggest terrorist atrocity since 9/11, a court heard yesterday. Two thousand passengers would have died in the plot by eight fanatics working ‘in the name of Islam’, the jury was told [by the prosecution]. It could have involved up to 18 suicide bombers. And they were almost ready to strike. The jets they targeted would all have been bound from Heathrow to cities in the U.S. and Canada, it was claimed…
 
“The alleged plot was foiled on August 9, 2006 when two of the key gang members… were arrested by police in a town hall car park in Walthamstow, East London following several months of surveillance.  A series of arrests followed including… the alleged third key member of the plot, and led to chaos, cancellation and delays at airports across the UK as a huge security crackdown swung into operation.”

Now France Threatens China With Boycott of the Olympic Games

After Angela Merkel announced that she will not attend the Olympic Games in China, Nicolas Sarkozy followed suit and threatened to boycott the Games as well. AFP wrote on April 5:

“France stepped up the pressure on China Saturday over its handling of the Tibet crisis with a warning that President Nicolas Sarkozy may boycott the Olympic opening following fresh violence… Sarkozy will only attend the opening ceremony if China opens dialogue with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and frees political prisoners… China must also end the ‘violence’ against Tibetans… all three conditions [are] ‘indispensable’…”

“Something is Rotten in the State of” Europe

Reuters reported on April 5:

“Trade unions protested over corporate greed and the ‘poverty wages’ of more than 30 million workers in Europe as politicians and central bankers meeting in Slovenia on Saturday urged wage restraint to combat inflation… Company profits have risen for more than a decade, but the share of wealth going into wages has shrunk and the divide has widened between those at the top and bottom…

“European Central Bank Governor Jean-Claude Trichet said that keeping a lid on labor costs would be ‘absolutely decisive’ in fighting inflation and that a five percent pay rise for German public sector employees in 2008 should not be copied elsewhere. ‘It would be an enormous mistake to imitate Germany,’ said Trichet, stressing that German public sector workers had gone without any pay rise in the past two years and that others had not shown such restraint. More unusually, the euro zone’s chief inflation-fighter got hearty support from politicians too who were at pains to say that the fight against inflation was the best way to defend people’s spending power.”

While European politicians and governmental leaders are giving themselves pay raises and other benefits on a continuing basis, “average workers” are refused such benefits “to fight inflation.” This incredible proposal is probably one of the more abominable testimonies of an incompetent and evil world ruled by Satan the devil. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World.”

More Injustice in Europe–With Interesting Potential Consequences for the Superstate

The EUObserver wrote on April 4 about another outrageous decision of the EU Court, which flies in the face of social justice, equity and fairness, contradicting and overruling local German law:

“European trade unions have strongly criticised the latest EU court judgement on the right of member states to set minimum wages for foreign workers saying it is an ‘invitation to social dumping.’ The judgement, delivered on Thursday (3 April) by the bloc’s highest court, concerned a Polish subcontractor of German company Objekt und Bauregie which paid employees only 46.5% of the minimum wage prescribed by Lower Saxony for work on a public site. The court found in favour of the company on grounds of the freedom to provide services, one of the core principles of the EU’s internal market. It argued that Lower Saxony’s law on the awarding of public contracts, which states they may only be awarded to companies which promise to pay their employees the minimum wage for the sector concerned and promise to impose that obligation on sub-contractors, breached an EU law on the posting of workers to other member states…

“The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said ‘this is another destructive and damaging judgement. [It] underlines the need for urgent action by the European authorities to confirm that the EU is not just an economic project but has as its main objective the improvement of living and working conditions of its populations’…

“Trade unions are still smarting from a recent EU court ruling in a Swedish case with similar implications. Known as the Laval case, the Luxembourg-based court in December found that Swedish unions cannot force a foreign company to observe local pay deals. ‘The EU must improve peoples living conditions, not reduce them. Politicians ought to put their feet down and clarify the rules to change the practice of the Court,’ said Wanja Lundby-Wedin, head of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. ‘We want to see an open Europe, not a Europe that risks creating hostility towards foreigners and demands for closed borders,’ she continued…

“Meanwhile, Britain’s largest trade union Unite has said the ruling has implications for the construction of the London Olympics to be held in 2012, meaning the infrastructure may be built using workers who are paid very low wages. ‘This decision effectively means that foreign companies working here in the UK, or in any other European country, can flout domestic laws and collective agreements with regard to pay,’ said Derek Simpson, joint secretary general of Unite. ‘This is a recipe for disaster and, if applied here in the UK, will cause massive industrial unrest and threaten the delivery of major infrastructure projects including the Olympics site.'”

Unfortunately, it can be expected that the coming European Superstate WILL become hostile to foreigners. AND–that countries like Great Britain and perhaps Sweden will ultimately NOT be part of the prophesied ten nations or groups of nations which will RULE Europe, under the leadership of a powerful charismatic political personage. For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy – The Unfolding of End-Time Events,” “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord,” and “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Worldwide Financial Crisis–USA and Britain Hit the Hardest

The Daily Mail wrote on April 10:

“The world is facing the biggest financial shock since the Great Depression, warns the International Monetary Fund. And the IMF warns that Britain could be the country hit hardest by the global credit crunch as it has bigger debts than anywhere else… Analysis by the IMF reveals British banks will lose more than £20bn from the international mortgage meltdown, equivalent to three per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). For the first time the IMF also predicts that the American economy is heading for recession and will shrink by 0.7 per cent this year, sending shock waves across the globe. American banks, which it was thought would be worst affected, will lose £72 billion, or 1.4 per cent of US GDP.

“Despite healthy growth in the Far East, it now believes there is a 25 per cent chance that the whole world could follow the Americans into recession. ‘The financial markets crisis that erupted in August 2007 has developed into the largest financial shock since the Great Depression,’ the report says. It estimates that the losses from American mortgages will reach $945billion (£500billion) – more than twice previous estimates. The U.S. housing collapse is far from over, with the fund economists expecting a further 10 per cent decline in 2008, on top of a similar fall in prices in the previous years. Such declines, it believes, are way beyond anything seen in the previous American experience.”

More American Airlines Shut Down

Airline Business wrote on April 7:

“More trees are falling in the forest that is the US airline industry, chopped by the ever sharper edge of the fuel price cleaver. The latest carriers to fold their wings and shut down are ATA Airlines and Skybus Airlines, both of which ceased operations in the first week of April. ATA lost a key charter contract, making futile its search for new funding to meet the demands of the pump. Skybus, which plans to file for Chapter 11 today, also blamed rising fuel prices and a slowing economy. The death of these two airlines comes just days after another carrier with a long history and a well-known name, Aloha Airlines, shut down suddenly. All have blamed the rising spire of oil prices as well as competitive pressures.”

In addition, as The Associated Press reported on April 10, “American Airlines canceled more than 900 flights Thursday to fix faulty wiring in hundreds of jets, marking the third straight day of mass groundings as company executives offered profuse apologies and travel vouchers to calm angry customers. Other carriers operating similar aircraft also left passengers scrambling for alternatives as they too canceled flights to inspect the wire bundles at the heart of a renewed safety crackdown by the Federal Aviation Administration.”

Family Breakdown in Great Britain

The Daily Mail reported on April 4:

“Family breakdown is a ‘cancer’ behind almost every evil affecting the country, a senior judge will declare today. Mr Justice Coleridge blames youth crime, child abuse, drug addiction and binge-drinking on the ‘meltdown’ of relations between parents and children. He warns that the collapse of the family unit is a threat to the nation as bad as terrorism, crime, drugs or global warming… The 58-year-old judge, who is married with three grown-up children, will say family breakdown is an epidemic affecting all levels of society from the Royal Family down. It is ‘on a scale, depth and breadth which few of us could have imagined even’ a decade ago. It is a never-ending carnival of human misery. A ceaseless river of human distress.

“‘I am not saying every broken family produces dysfunctional children but I am saying that almost every dysfunctional child is the product of a broken family… Families are the cells which make up the body of society. If the cells are unhealthy and undernourished, or at worse cancerous and growing haphazard and out of control, in the end the body succumbs… Single parents often do a fantastic job, but a great many, perhaps through no fault of their own, do not. A large number of families now consist of children being brought up by mothers who have children by a number of different fathers, none of whom take any part in their lives or support or upbringing… Almost all society’s ills can be traced directly to the collapse of family life. We all know it. Examine the background of almost every child in the care system or the youth justice system and you will discover a broken family.’… Latest figures show marriage rates at a historic low and divorce at a historic high.”

The Pope on Abortion and Divorce

AFP reported on April 5:

“Divorce and abortion are offences in the sight of God, Pope Benedict XVI charged Saturday, while calling on the Catholic Church to be merciful to those who had experienced such events. ‘The ethical judgement of the Church on divorce and abortion is clear and well-known,’ he told participants in a Catholic congress on marriage and the family. ‘They are serious offences… which violate human dignity, inflict deep injustice on human and social relations and offend God himself… Divorce and abortion are choices… which sometimes develop in difficult and dramatic circumstances… and are a source of profound suffering for those who take such decisions. They also affect innocent victims, the barely-conceived and unborn infant, the children caught up in divorces.'”

Hollywood Legend Charlton Heston Died

The Associated Press reported on April 6:

“Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing ‘Ben-Hur’ and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the ’50s and ’60s, has died. He was 84… Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease, saying, ‘I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure’…

“The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates. In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle… [In 2003] he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. ‘The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also been seen throughout his life,’ President Bush said at the time…

“The Hestons’ newborn, Fraser Clarke Heston, played the role of the infant Moses in the film [“The Ten Commandments”]… He railed at suggestions the race [in “Ben Hur”] had been shot with a double…

“Charles’s parents divorced, and [his mother] married Chester Heston… [He called] himself Charlton Heston from his mother’s maiden name and his stepfather’s last name… In 1944 he married [a] drama student, Lydia Clarke… They had been married 64 years when he died.

“In [later] years, Heston drew as much publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action. He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union’s refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in ‘Miss Saigon’ was ‘obscenely racist.’ He attacked CNN’s telecasts from Baghdad as ‘sowing doubts’ about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War. At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing. Heston wrote… that he was proud of what he did ‘though now I’ll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time…'”

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Would you please explain Matthew 19:12. Does Jesus teach the concept of compulsory celibacy; that is, that ministers or priests must not marry?

When the disciples heard that marriage was for life, and that it can only be dissolved under very limited circumstances, they responded, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry” (Matthew 19:10). Jesus answered that “all cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given” (verse 11). He continued, in verse 12:

“For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

Most commentaries are in agreement that Christ was not teaching “compulsory celibacy” for anyone. The Nelson Study Bible explains the meaning of the passage as follows:

“Jesus indicates [in verse 11] that remaining unmarried is only for a few people… Some people do not marry because they were born with no sex drive. Others do not marry because they are castrated. Still others forgo marriage for the sake of serving God. Some have been given the spiritual gift of celibacy in order to do this (see 1 Cor. 7:7).”

The Life Application Bible points out:

“Couples should decide against divorce from the start and build their marriage on mutual commitment. There are also… reasons for not marrying, one being to have more time to work for God’s kingdom… Some have physical limitations that prevent their marrying, while others choose not to marry because, in their particular situation, they can serve God better as single people. Jesus was not teaching us to avoid marriage because it is inconvenient or takes away our freedom. That would be selfishness.”

The Broadman Bible Commentary adds the following observations:

“The alternative to marriage is celibacy. Jesus made room for both as honorable and proper to discipleship. He warned, however, that the demands upon celibacy are high, just as they are upon marriage. Some are incapacitated for marriage because of physical impotence or impairment. They are those who are ‘eunuchs who have been so from birth,’ or those ‘who have been made eunuchs by men.’ In royal courts, especially, there were slaves who were made eunuchs through surgery so that they would not be a threat to their masters’ household. Those who ‘made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven’ are those who forego marriage with a view of life given more fully to the service of Christ.”

To interject, some have taken this statement literally [“there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake”]; apparently, Origin castrated himself in obeying this “supposed obligation.” This is, however, NOT what Christ meant. He had already mentioned the category of literal eunuchs who had become such “by men.” The third category of “eunuchs” for the sake of the kingdom of God deals with those who VOLUNTARILY forgo marriage. Christ did not imply that they ought to literally castrate themselves.

The Broadman Bible Commentary continues:

“As Jesus spoke of marriage and celibacy he did not say that one was morally higher than the other… Each is an honorable choice to be made on an individual basis… ”

Jesus did not teach supremacy of celibacy over marriage. At least some of the apostles were married, including Cephas or Peter, as well as the believing brothers of Jesus (compare 1 Corinthians 9:5). Paul adds in Hebrews 13:4 that “marriage is honorable among all.”

It is correct that Paul seems to be giving celibacy a preferred state over marriage in 1 Corinthians 7:1, 6-8, 32-33, 40. But we must realize the context–it is because of “the present distress” (verse 26), prompting Paul to say that even those who have wives should be as though they had none (verse 29). He said this because of the ensuing persecution, which would cause married couples “to have trouble in the flesh” (verse 28). Christ said, in Matthew 24:19: “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days”–immediately preceding the Great Tribulation. He also stated in Luke 23:29: “For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!'”

On the other hand, Paul did not teach that it was ever sinful to marry, even in times of great physical distress, and he added that for some, it was necessary to marry even then. He stated in 1 Corinthians 7:9, 28: “… if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion… if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.”

To clarify, the Church of the Eternal God in the USA and its corporate affiliates in Canada and Great Britain do NOT advise to forgo marriage because of the soon-coming return of Jesus Christ. We simply don’t know the exact time of Christ’s return. At one time, many felt that Christ might return in the early 1970’s. Now, after more than 30 years, He still has not returned. If people had forgone marriage in the 1970’s because of their anticipation of Christ’s return, which will be preceded by the Great Tribulation, just imagine what they would have missed–including seeing their children and grandchildren growing up.

Proverbs 18:22 tells us that “He who finds a wife finds a GOOD thing, And obtains FAVOR from the LORD,” and God said at the beginning, after He had created man, that it was NOT GOOD for the man to be alone. He then made the woman to be the man’s companion and helpmate (Genesis 2:18). It is true that those who will, in the future, enter the Kingdom of God as immortal spirit beings, will not marry nor are given in marriage at that time (Matthew 22:30), but this is not to be applied today to mortal human beings on a physical level.

As can easily be seen from the very wording of Christ’s sayings in Matthew 19:12, He was not teaching that anyone MUST forgo marriage to enter the kingdom of heaven. He was clearly talking about a VOLUNTARY individual decision, without coercion from anyone. Biblical examples of those who decided for themselves, not to get married for the sake of the Kingdom of God, were Jesus Christ Himself, as well as John the Baptist. As a former Pharisee, Paul would have been married, but his wife apparently died, and he decided not to re-marry, but to remain a widower.

Since the Bible does not teach coerced celibacy, why is it, then, that the Catholic Church teaches compulsory celibacy for their priests–prohibiting them to get married?

An interesting explanation is given by James Hastings, in his “Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,” Vol. 3, pages 272-273:

“Two influences contributed especially to the rise of sacerdotal celibacy… To the Gnostic…, ‘marriage and generation are from Satan… marriage [was pronounced] to be corruption and fornication.’… To these we must add the influence of the religion of Isis and the worship of Mithra… both of which were wide-spread throughout the Roman Empire and had a powerful following in the 1st and 2nd century. The former had its… tonsured men and women–emblematic of a higher purity. The latter had its grades of initiation and its companies of ascetics and virgins… Catholic Christians were not to be outdone by heretics and heathens in self-renunciation… the outcome was inevitable. The highest type of Christian was the celibate… Christian teachers praised virginity, and marriage came to be in their eyes only a secondary good for those who were unable to preserve continence… [Ultimately,] superiority of virginity or celibacy to the marital state [had become Catholic Church doctrine]. Anathemas [being accursed from Christ] were pronounced on all who held to the contrary. This remains the law of the Roman Catholic Church…”

As we can see, the Catholic Church came to teach mandatory celibacy for their priests in direct or indirect consequence of Gnostic teachings and the worship of Isis and Mithra. This teaching was not derived from Scripture. On the other hand, Protestants have mostly rejected the concept of compulsory celibacy. Hastings continues to explain, on page 275:

“The Protestants vigorously denounced clerical celibacy… Luther, as early as 1520, advocated allowing pastors their freedom in the matter, and denounced compulsory celibacy as the work of the devil… he said that the celibacy of the clergy was ‘a popish innovation against the eternal word of God’… Calvin… denounced the ‘vile celibacy’ of the priests and the interdiction of marriage to priests as contrary to the word of God and to all justice… Ulrich Zwingli… condemn[ed] vows of chastity… [The] Anglican Church… asserts that ‘Bishops, Priests, and Deacons are not commanded by God’s Law either to vow the state of single life or to abstain from marriage: therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christian men, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge…’

“The attitude of Protestants and Catholics has remained practically unchanged to the present time, and the subject is unlikely to be touched UNLESS A PROPOSAL FOR UNION BE MADE” (emphasis added).

As the fruits have shown over the centuries, coerced celibacy is a very bad concept. Some who wanted to become Catholic priests and were forced, as a consequence, to take the vow of celibacy, have either been having their “affairs” with unmarried women, including nuns or their “housekeepers,” or they have been having homosexual relationships, sometimes even with minors and altar boys. Human regulations and man-made restrictions, which go beyond or contradict the Word of God, bring forth unnecessary and avoidable pain and suffering. Compulsory mandatory celibacy is one of those wrong concepts, which is clearly not taught in the Bible.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

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Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the Flock

A new StandingWatch program (#163) has been posted on StandingWatch, Google Video and YouTube. It is titled, “Where Do Evil and Strife Come From?” In the program, Norbert Link asks the questions why is it so difficult for man to live in peace with his neighbor? Why is there so much violence and war in the world? Did God create man with an evil human nature? Are we incapable of doing good and overcoming evil? The Bible gives us answers to all of these questions, but are we willing to believe God and do what He says?

A new member letter by the ministry was written and sent out via mail. The letter gives a report of our conference and raises important questions regarding the Passover season and the Work of God.

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How This Work is Financed

This Update is an official publication by the ministry of the Church of the Eternal God in the United States of America; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Team: Norbert Link, Dave Harris, Rene Messier, Brian Gale, Margaret Adair, Johanna Link, Eric Rank, Michael Link, Anna Link, Kalon Mitchell, Manuela Mitchell, Dawn Thompson

Technical Team: Eric Rank, Shana Rank

Our activities and literature, including booklets, weekly updates, sermons on CD, and video and audio broadcasts, are provided free of charge. They are made possible by the tithes, offerings and contributions of Church members and others who have elected to support this Work.

While we do not solicit the general public for funds, contributions are gratefully welcomed and are tax-deductible in the U.S. and Canada.

Donations should be sent to the following addresses:

United States: Church of the Eternal God, P.O. Box 270519, San Diego, CA 92198

Canada: Church of God, ACF, Box 1480, Summerland, B.C. V0H 1Z0

United Kingdom: Global Church of God, PO Box 44, MABLETHORPE, LN12 9AN, United Kingdom

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