the international prophetic voice for the endtimes www ...gerald bray, an anglican theologian and...

The International Prophetic Voice for the Endtimes

www.midnightcall.com June 2016—$4.75

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

• Picture Worth a Thousand Words...• Refugees...• Egypt JudgmentPg. 39

WORLD FOCUSYour Biometric Profile • Can Swearing Make You More Relaxed? • Stewardesses Refuse Headscarf

Why Are Christians So Often

Divided?– Part II

Is the World Empire of EuropeComing?Pg. 14

Christian Negativity: WherePositive Witness?

Pg. 16

Evaluating SuccessPg. 22

“Mystery Babylon” will finalize the desire of the Towerof Babel builders, a global system under the phi-losophy of political democracy, free enterprise,

unified financial systems, and ultimately a one-world religiousfaith. You may ask, “Why?” Because the father of lies (Satan) mustimitate that which is promised to take place when Jesus comes:the establishment of the 1,000 year kingdom of real peace.

EXPOSINGMYSTERY BABYLON SERIES

EXPOSING MYSTERY BABYLON: PART I ITEM #1078Booklet • 48 pgs.

$4.50 Sale $3.50Author: Arno Froese

The success that has caused Mystery Babylon (the world) to“live deliciously,” reveals the total dedication to material-istic success, but all in the absence of the blessing of God.

Who does not want to be successful, rich, prosperous, happy, andenjoy all the good things in life? That is quite normal. However, thereis one thing lacking, and that is acknowledging God. The world does

not give credit to the Creator, the God of heaven and earth.

EXPOSING MYSTERY BABYLON: PART II ITEM #1080Booklet • 48 pgs.

$4.50 Sale $3.50Author: Arno Froese

NEW!

NEW!

6

Why Are ChristiansSo Often Divided? – Part IIBy René Malgo

We need not be surprised that Christianity todayappears to be more quarrelsome than at itsbeginnings. The signs of the last days areundermining the Church, and it is getting worse.Biblical prophecy tells us this.

11 The Epistle to the PhilippiansBy Norbert Lieth

14 Is the World Empire of Europe Coming?By J. C. Van de Haar

16 Money: Ends and TrendsChristian Negativity: Where Positive Witness?By Wilfred Hahn

21 What Does It Mean? – Isaiah 24:19 By Wim Malgo

22 Evaluating Success By Dr. Ron J. Bigalke

26 Escape from a Fatal ArrestBy Friedrich Hilliges

Midnight CallJUNE 2016

4 Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By René Malgo

34 Fellow Laborers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Erich and Jutta Schäfer

37 Action for Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Arno Froese

39 Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Arno Froese

PICTURE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS...REFUGEES...EGYPT JUDGMENT

Contents

DEPARTMENTS

COVER STORY

28 USAYourBiometricProfile

29 INDIAFastest GrowingEconomy

30 CHINAGlobal Warming OpensArctic Shipping Route

31 EGYPTStar of David Engravedon Ancient Temple

33 CANADACan Swearing Make YouMore Relaxed?

MIDNIGHT CALL

Editor’s Note

God Is Absolute

By René MalgoInternational Editor-in-Chief

When the ancient Qumranscrolls were discovered, itwas the time when the Jew-

ish people finally received their ownstate after almost 2,000 years, in theyear 1948. The discoveries at Qumranprove how reliably the Old Testament ispreserved. Also, the findings indicatethat God has not removed His promisesfrom His people, as some theologiansclaim. The promises of the Jewishprophets are still valid, such as thewords of God spoken through theprophet Jeremiah:“Thus saith the LORD, which giveth

the sun for a light by day, and the ordi-nances of the moon and of the stars fora light by night, which divideth the seawhen the waves thereof roar; The LORDof hosts is his name: If those ordinancesdepart from before me, saith the LORD,then the seed of Israel also shall ceasefrom being a nation before me for ever”(Jeremiah 31:35-36).As impossible as it is to destroy the

sun, the moon and stars, so it is impos-sible to destroy the people of Israel.Thus says the God of the Old and NewTestament. And that both He and Histestimonies are sure, He has visibly con-firmed before the whole world by theQumran scrolls found at the Dead Sea.Gerald Bray, an Anglican theologian

and church historian, once said that

through archaeology, many theologianshave become more conservative, be-cause the findings have so often pre-cisely agreed with the biblical accounts.God was right, God is right, and Godwill remain right. And so we see that thefindings from Qumran ultimately showus that the end time prophecy of theBible is reliable. As true as it is that theLord Jesus Christ is the Messiah andSon of God expected in the Old Testa-ment, so true is it that this Lord will re-turn exactly as He has promised.In the last book of the Bible, the Reve-

lation, the Lord God says that He will“make all things new”; not only for Is-rael, but also for the whole world,namely for all who believe in the Mes-siah Jesus (Revelation 21:5, 7; cf. 5:5-6,9; 7:4-12). God promises that He willmake a new heaven and a new earth,where He will forever live “among thepeople” and “give them light,” andwhere His servants “will reign for everand ever” (Rev. 21:1, 3; 22:5). And twiceat the end of Revelation—once throughGod the Father Himself and oncethrough an angel—it is emphasized:“These words are true and faithful”(Rev. 21:5; 22:6).What God promises, He will also

keep, “truly and faithfully.” Today,things are topsy-turvy in the world; Is-rael is attacked more and more, Chris-

4 M I D N I G H T C A L L

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STATEMENT OF FAITHWE BELIEVE in the divine inspiration of the whole Bible and there-with the infallibility of the Holy Scripture, which is God’s Word, andin the eternal Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

WE BELIEVE Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was conceived of theHoly Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, and shed Hisblood to save mankind. He died and arose bodily the third day andlater ascended into heaven.

WE BELIEVE that the Lord Jesus Christ died in the place of eachindividual sinner and that all who believe in Him as their personalSavior are justified through His shed blood and have become children of God.

WE BELIEVE that Israel is God’s chosen people, and that therestoration of the Jews to their own land is the fulfillment of theWord of God.

WE BELIEVE in the pre–tribulational appearance of Jesus Christ forthe Rapture of His Church (all born again believers).

WE BELIEVE in the immortality of our souls and the resurrection ofour bodies, and in the resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting punishment ofthe lost.

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tians are harassed and persecuted, militant Islam is on the rise, andthe political instability of the West is steadily increasing... and yet, atthe end of all things a new creation will emerge. At the end of allthings, God will be victorious. At the end of all things, Satan will bedestroyed. Paul even says that “the God of peace shall bruise Satanunder your feet shortly” (Romans 16:20). The time is near! “Surely Icome quickly,” says our Lord (Rev. 22:20). These words are also “trueand faithful.” He is coming, “and all the saints” with Him. And thenHe will be “king over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:5, 9). Maranatha!

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Why AreChristians So Often Divided? – Part II

Our disunity unfortunately comes from the fact that we letourselves be taken by surprise by demonic thoughts. Webelieve the worst of others; we don’t allow ourselves to beguided by the principles of the gospel and love; we fall intogossip and slander, and into traps that are made to measurefor us; we let ourselves be flattered, accept false advice, oract in anger. So often in Christian quarrels, hatred, anger andbitterness are involved. These feelings do not come fromGod, in whom is light and no darkness.

RENÉ MALGO

C O V E R S T O R Y

Ineed to beat my own breast. We forget soquickly that we are easily influenced, weak,fragile and dependent creatures, who are in

the midst of a cosmic battle that we are not able towin in our own strength. With this we come tothe fourth reason for division.This spiritual battle becomes fiercer and more

dangerous the nearer we come to the end. Thewealth that we in the West enjoy, and the decep-tion that surrounds us on all sides, can cloud ourview of this reality. But the New Testament makesit clear that the time between the cross and the re-turn of Jesus is an evil time, which gets worse andworse (cf. Hebrews 1:2; Ephesians 5:16; Matthew24—25). Paul emphasizes in one of his letters con-cerning the Church, that “there will be terribletimes in the last days” (2 Timothy 3:1), in which“people will be lovers of themselves, lovers ofmoney, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient totheir parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love,unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, bru-tal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, con-ceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers ofGod—having a form of godliness, but denying itspower.” Notice that lovelessness, pride and irreconcilabil-

ity will increase in the last days. I do not know howfar we have progressed, but one thing is clear: weare nearer to the end now than 2,000 years ago, andthe increase of the above characteristics in our dayshould at least make us think. We need not be sur-prised that Christianity today appears to be morequarrelsome than at its beginnings. The signs of thelast days are undermining the Church, and it is get-ting worse. Biblical prophecy tells us this.That is why it is a miracle that Christians today

are of the same opinion on anything! The questionin the title is wrongly phrased. Considering the lim-ited nature of man, the infinitely mysterious natureof God, the demonic power in the invisible world,and the Biblical proclamations for the end times, weshould rather be asking, “Why are Christians so of-ten united?” The answer is, it is thanks to the HolySpirit.The Holy Spirit is the underestimated God.

Many people attribute absurd ideas to Him, and

others expect nothing at all of Him. And yet God isa triune God and not a twofold God, and this is theguarantee of our security. Through the Holy Spiritthe fullness of God dwells in us (Ephesians 1:13-14,17; 3:14-19). He is the Comforter and Advocate whochanges our unwilling, stormy and weak hearts,and makes us still. He has sealed us. This is why wecan understand the Word of God (1 Corinthians2:11). And for this reason we are more than thegreatest prophets in the Old Testament, and can dogreater things than the miracles of Jesus (Luke 7:28;John 14:12). God Himself dwells in us, and hasmade us capable of functioning for 2,000 years as apeople without a visible king, as a “religion” with-out a visible sanctuary, and as an organic unitywithout being blood relations. Through faith in Je-sus Christ, we are in a position to be one with peo-ple from whom we are separated by thousands ofyears, thousands of miles, or thousands of culturaldifferences. This miracle is greater than all that tookplace under the old covenant. We are not united with a sword, or fear, or a na-

tionality, but the Holy Spirit of God. The power thatraised Jesus Christ from the dead has watched overus for 2,000 years, that the redeemed of the Fathermay worship Him “in Spirit and in truth,” confessthe name of Jesus, and wait for His return. This isthe greatest miracle that the invisible world has everseen (Ephesians 3:9-10): God’s limitless fullness inweak, once fallen and still limited people.This is all very well, some people may object, but

despite the Holy Spirit, it is a fact that we believersare often not one in spirit. What can we do aboutthis? There is only one answer, in my opinion. Thisrefers, however, only to particular theological dis-putes among Christians. It is not about the questionof what we should do when other believers sinagainst us through their behavior, their deeds, theirwords, and what they neglect to do for us. And it isnot just about Christians who try to embellish orjustify immorality, greed, or similar things underthe cloak of the gospel.Let us first admit the following. There are good

reasons why many Christians are so argumentative.It is their task. Paul emphasizes that good churchleaders should “silence” the false teachers and “re-


Why Are Christians So Often Divided? – Part II

buke them sharply” (Titus 1:11, 13). Like Paul, theyshould not tolerate for a moment the false brothers whohad “infiltrated their ranks to spy on the freedom [theyhad] in Christ Jesus and to make [them] slaves.” “Wedid not give in to them for a moment, so that the truthof the gospel might be preserved for you” (Galatian 2:4-5). Christians, especially church leaders and preachers,cannot allow themselves to compromise (cf. Titus 2:7).Believers must fight for a sound doctrine (2 Timothy1:13; Titus 1:9; 2:1). The question that arises here is,who has, in the jungle of Christian confessions andcreeds, the one sound doctrine, and who should beavoided? We find help in the Bible.During his captivity in Rome, Paul experienced that

some Christians (or pseudo Christians!) preached thegospel to harm him. He rejoiced over this because forhim, the main thing was that Christ was preached,whether from false motives or true (Philippians 1:15-18). Paul did not make any effort to correct the argu-mentative. For him, these people did not belong tothose who had to be silenced. A sign of sound doc-trine for Paul was not that somebody should be in hiscamp, but that they preached Jesus Christ. The apos-tle’s letters make it clear that to preach Christ is thesame as preaching the gospel (cf. Romans 1:9, 16;10:15-16; 15:20; 16:25; 1 Corinthians 9:2; 2 Corinthi-ans 11:4; Galatians 1:6-11; 2:5, 14). In the last epistle ofthe apostle Paul, we see that the preaching of thegospel of Jesus Christ is closely connected with sounddoctrine (2 Timothy 1:8; 2:8; 4:5). Those who haverecognized Jesus have recognized the gospel, andthose who have recognized the gospel have recog-nized sound doctrine—and vice versa. Sound doctrineis the gospel!When Paul writes in the letter to the Ephesians, that

he expects us Christians to “keep the unity of the

Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3), then thatis never possible without the gospel of Jesus Christ. Af-ter this, Paul shows us why Christians can and mustbe one, for we are 1) one body; we believe in 2) oneSpirit; we have 3) one hope; we serve 4) one Lord; weshare 5) one faith; we practice 6) one baptism; and wehave 7) “one God and Father of all, who is over all andthrough all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). We can seein this a summary of the sound doctrine and thegospel.The great challenge, however, is to give these points

a concrete filling. One sore point, for instance, is bap-tism. Does Paul exclude the baptism of babies or not?Or, what about our hope? Does it mean a rapture be-fore the tribulation? The principle with which every-thing stands and falls is the question, “Is Christ beingpreached?”Let us stay with the point of contention: the bap-

tism of infants. Martin Luther was vehemently againstthe baptism of children, and he raged against the An-abaptists. Was he not contradicting one baptism? Thisdelicate question serves as a measure of whether weare determined in our dealings with other believers byour dogmatic systems, rather than the burden of theapostle Paul: the main thing is that Christ is preached.In Mark 16, we see that believers should be bap-

tized. In Acts 16, we see that whole families were bap-tized. On the one hand, can we say with 100% suretythat there were no young children there? On the otherhand, can we say with 100% assurance that there werechildren there? Two thousand years later, we still donot know. The one baptism may well emphasize thatChristians should baptize and be baptized, but itseems when one considers the different positions un-der a magnifying glass, we could at least discusswhether only the adults who had become believers, or

JUNE 2016 9

3One sore point, for instance, is baptism. DoesPaul exclude the baptism of babies or not? Or,what about our hope? Does it mean a rapture

before the tribulation? The principle withwhich everything stands and falls is thequestion, “Is Christ being preached?”

C O V E R S T O R Y

also the children of the whole house were baptizedwith them.Let us venture to say something now: did Martin

Luther not preach the Lord Jesus Christ? A possibleproblem in our consideration of other believers, isthat we require unity on an unrealistic basis. We onlyaccept the Christians who are one with us in almostevery detail—thus making us fallible creatures intothe measure of all things. And yet the measure forunity is much simpler: it is the gospel of Jesus Christ.This does not mean that we do not mention errors,as far as we can judge them, or tolerate sin. If we leteverything stand because they mention the name ofJesus, we will never make any progress. But weshould examine things very carefully, on whether itis necessary to combat them, or whether we shouldlet love, forbearance, and peace prevail. And here wecome to the answer on how we can find true unity.The answer, i.e. the keyword, is humility. Some-

times we must simply render our pride as dead (Ro-mans 6:11). This is not easy, but it is necessary.When we read the epistle of James carefully, we seethat the recipients had their problems with prideand knowing better. Everyone wanted to teach theother and be a teacher of the church. Now Jamesasks those who would like to be the measure of allthings, “Who is wise and understanding among you?Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in thehumility that comes from wisdom” (James 3:13).With this our pride is attacked. Our wisdom and un-derstanding in doctrinal questions is not proved inour detailed dogma, but in how meek we are in ourdealings with others. This is true wisdom.“But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambi-

tion in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny thetruth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down fromheaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For

where you have envy and selfish ambition, there youfind disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdomthat comes from heaven is first of all pure; thenpeace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercyand good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakerswho sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness”(James 3:14-18).Mind you, these words are in a chapter in which

James says that not many should desire to be teach-ers, as we all stumble in many ways. Unity in theSpirit is possible if we really display wisdom fromabove. This wisdom is not shown in being argumen-tative, assertive or condescending, but in the will tobe meek, compassionate and seek peace. Thus, unitydoes not begin with Christians who, in our opinion,err in their theology and must be corrected, but withourselves—with each one of us personally.Good Christians and Bible teachers are peacemak-

ers, who rejoice when Jesus Christ is preached. Paulsays it like this in Ephesians 4:1-3, “As a prisoner forthe Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of thecalling you have received. Be completely humble andgentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spiritthrough the bond of peace.” It is a challenge to each of us not to be proud but

humble, not quarrelsome but meek, not obstinatebut compassionate. It is easy to criticize other believ-ers from the pulpit, in emails, newsletters, “confiden-tial” conversations, or magazines. True greatness andwisdom, according to James, consist of somethingquite different.Our attitude concerning those followers of Christ,

with whom we are not of the same opinion on every-thing, should be like Paul’s. “What then? Notwith-standing, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth,Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, andwill rejoice” (Philippians 1:18). (MR0216/758)


Why Are Christians So Often Divided? – Part II

3Good Christians and Bibleteachers are peacemakers, whorejoice when Jesus Christ ispreached.

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JUNE 2016 11

The Epistle tothe PhilippiansN o r b e r t L i e t h

A continual exposition of the epistle to the Philippians, by different pastors of MidnightCall Ministry. Part 1. Introduction.

The author of the epistle to thePhilippians is the apostle Paul(1:1). He is often mentioned in

the epistle. The recipients are the Chris-tians in Philippi (1:1). In contrast toother epistles, the epistle to the Philippi-ans is a very personal letter. The epistleto the Galatians is, for instance, ad-dressed to various churches in Galatia.The epistle to the Colossians is a circularletter as well; it was also to be read inLaodicea (Galatians 1:2; Colossians4:16).The epistle to the Philippians was

probably written around 61 A.D. Paulwas in Rome in his first imprisonment(1:13-14; 4:22). When he wrote the let-

ter, he was under house arrest, andthrough this he had relative freedom.The believers in Philippi sent Paul finan-cial support through Epaphroditus.They had done this twice before, whenPaul was in Thessalonica, for instance(Philippians 4:10, 15-16, 18). Paul wrotethem to thank them for their support.Epaphroditus possibly brought this let-ter to the Philippians upon his returnfrom Rome (2:25-30). Philippi was in northern Greece

(Macedonia) and was founded byPhilipp II of Macedonia, who was the fa-ther of Alexander the Great. Philipp hadconquered the territory around 357B.C., developed the city, strengthened it,

Philippi was in northern Greece (Macedonia).

and gave it his name. At the time of theapostles, Philippi was the most signifi-cant city in the region (Acts 16:12). Itwas developed by the Romans for the re-tired soldiers of the Roman Legion (vet-erans). As Philippi was thus a Romancolony, the citizens of Philippi had thesame rights as the citizens of Rome. TheJohn MacArthur Study Bible has a noteconcerning Acts 16:12, saying, “Philippibecame a Roman colony in 31 B.C., andthus exercised freedom (it was self-gov-erning, and independent of the provin-cial government), was tax exempt, andhad the right to full ownership of land.” Around 50 A.D., Paul wanted to go

on his second missionary journey, butthere was a conflict concerning Mark,so that Barnabas and Paul parted com-pany. Barnabas took Mark with him,and Paul Silas (Acts 15:36-41). WhenPaul and Silas came to Lystra, theywon over Timothy as their coworker(Acts 16:1-5). The plan to preach theGospel in the province of Asia (AsiaMinor, present day Turkey) wasthwarted by the Holy Spirit (Acts16:6). When they were in Troas, in thenorthwest of Asia Minor, Paul receiveda vision at night. A Macedonian mansaid, “Come over into Macedonia, andhelp us.” They saw the leading of theLord in this, and decided to go toMacedonia (Acts 16:6-10). In this way,the Gospel came to the Europeanmainland for the first time.When they came with the ship via

Samothrace to the port of Neapolis, theycontinued to Philippi, the capital of that

region (Acts 16:11-12). There they pon-dered how they could reach the Philippi-ans with the Gospel. They knew that bya river outside the city, women used tomeet to pray (Acts 16:13). On the Sab-bath, Paul and his fellow missionariesdid not go to the synagogue first but tothe women. This shows that in Philippithere were almost no Jews. To build asynagogue, ten Jewish men were neces-sary. There was no synagogue in thetown. Among the women, there was aseller of purple named Lydia. She was aGod-fearing woman and probably not aJew, like Cornelius. During the visit ofPaul by the river, Lydia became a Christ-ian together with all her household (Acts16:14-15). So, the first person to becomea Christian on the European mainlandwas a woman. After this, the apostle Paul met a

woman with a spirit of divination. Hecast a demon out of her, so that shecould no longer foretell the future.Through her fortune telling, the womanhad brought her masters great sums ofmoney. She was doubly enslaved: to thedevil and to her employers, who usedher for their own purposes. After thespirit of divination was gone, she couldno longer bring any gain to her masters.Enraged, they took Paul and Silas cap-tive and dragged them before the magis-trates. Paul and Silas were accused,slandered and beaten (Acts 16:19-22).Then they were thrown into prison andheavily guarded. At midnight, the two ofthem prayed and sang God’s praises. Anearthquake took place and the keeper of


Among the women, there was a seller of purple named Lydia. She wasa God-fearing woman and probably not a Jew, like Cornelius. Duringthe visit of Paul by the river, Lydia became a Christian together withall her household (Acts 16:14-15).

The Epistle to the Philippians

the prison, with all his householdcame to faith in Christ (Acts 16:26-34).Paul and Silas were released fromprison and returned to the house ofLydia. From there they traveled furtherto Thessalonica.About eight years later, during his

third missionary journey, Paul was ar-rested in Jerusalem (Acts 21:15ff.),later brought to Caesarea, and then toRome. There he spent a good two yearsin prison. Probably toward the end ofhis time in Roman captivity, Paul wrotehis epistle to the Philippians (Acts28:30; Philippians 1:19, 26; 2:23). Soas long as ten years lay between hisfirst visit to Philippi and his epistle. Inthe meantime, a sizeable church hadgrown there, which supported Paul.The main topic of the epistle to the

Philippians is joy. In these four chap-ters, the word joy appears sixteentimes. Paul explains to his readers inthe course of the letter also, why hewas able to rejoice despite his captivity.He said that even when he was pouredout like a sacrifice, he still rejoiced(Philippians 2:17). The epistle to thePhilippians can be described as a joy-ous epistle. Philippians 4:4 is a keyverse, “Rejoice in the Lord always: andagain I say, Rejoice.”Key topics are: Christ, our life

(1:21); Christ, our example (2:5);Christ, our goal (3:14); Christ, ourstrength (4:13). As well as: fellowshipin the Gospel (1:5); confirmation ofthe Gospel (1:7); furtherance of theGospel (1:12); defense of the Gospel(1:17); conduct becoming the Gospel(1:27); faith of the Gospel (1:27); ser-vice in the Gospel (2:22); laboring inthe Gospel (4:3); preaching the Gospel(4:15). Or: the right motive (1:12-19);the right goal in mind (1:20-24); theright life (1:27-30); the right mindset

(2:5-11); the right endeavor (3:12-14);the right example (3:17-21).Further topics in the epistle to the

Philippians are: confidence in suffering(1:12ff.; 2:17-18); pastoral counselingon love, humility, unity and zeal (1:8-9;2:1-2, 12; 1:27-30; 2:1-5, 12-16; 3:15-17; 4:2-3, 5-9); warning of false doc-trines (3:2ff., 17-19); carelessness(4:6-7); testimony of Christ (2:6-11);Paul’s own testimony (3:4-14); testi-mony of Timothy and Epaphroditus(2:19-30); and the return of Jesus onthe day of Christ (1:6, 10; 2:16; 3:20;4:5). One can also draw one’s conclu-

sions from what is not written. In theepistle to the Philippians, there is noquotation from the Old Testament. Thechurch at Philippi was mainly made upof non-Jewish Christians. As they wereunfamiliar with the Old Testament,and as Paul was the apostle to the Gen-tiles, he did not quote any Old Testa-ment texts. This was different in theepistle to the Romans, as there weremany Jews in the Roman church. Fur-thermore, there is no direct theologicalteaching in the epistle to the Philippi-ans. The epistle is very personal.In the epistle to the Philippians, the

word “sin” does not occur. This charac-terizes the church there all the more.Where there is no sin, joy is all themore dominant. Sin robs us of our joy.It does not speak of the “day of the

Lord,” but of the “day of Christ” (1:5,10; 2:16; 3:20; 4:5). This is probablybecause Paul was the teacher of the na-tions. The apostle of the Jews writesabout the return of Jesus in glory for Is-rael (“day of the Lord”). The apostle tothe Gentiles, on the other hand, mainlywrites about the return of Jesus for therapture of the church (“the day ofChrist”). (MR0116/745)

JUNE 2016 13 Visit www.midnightcall.com


Babylon, 2,000 years ago: King Neb-uchadnezzar had a dream. He saw“a great image,” which was broken

by a stone. The head of the image was “offine gold, its breast and his arms of silver,his belly and his thighs of brass, his legsof iron, his feet part of iron and part ofclay” (Daniel 2:31-34). Later, the prophetDaniel explains that this image portrays

four successive world empires: the Baby-lonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek-Macedonian, and the Roman Empires.These empires did indeed arise in succes-sion and fall—just as the Biblical prophetsaid. Or not? The Roman Empire was notcrushed with one blow but crumbled.

The explanation is simple: the RomanEmpire will rise again, and only then re-

There is much speculation over Europe’s part in Biblical prophecy. Even if muchremains in the dark, there are yet some remarkable pointers in Daniel and Reve-lation. A short overview.

Is the World Empire of

J . C . Va n d e H a a r

Europe Coming?

JUNE 2016 15

ally fall. Only in the description of the“fourth kingdom” (Daniel 2:40) doesDaniel speak clearly of a divided empire(verse 41). In spite of this, there is nomention of a fifth empire. Note what Neb-uchadnezzar saw: the Babylonian Empireof gold will be succeeded by the Medo-Persian Empire of silver, which will besucceeded by the Greek-Macedonian Em-pire of brass. And the Greek-MacedonianEmpire will be succeeded by the RomanEmpire of iron.

The iron empire will rise again. To theiron only clay will be added. Otherwise,the “divided kingdom” is the same em-pire as that of the “legs of iron.”

In Daniel 7, where these empires areshown as beasts, this is confirmed. Onlyfour beasts are spoken of. The Romanreign of the fourth beast appears here asan uninterrupted period of time. Despitethe two different stages, it is about theone and the same Roman Empire.

Patmos, 700 years later: Nebuchadnez-zar’s dream is, for the most part, alreadyreality. The fourth, iron Roman Empirerules over the then known world. John,who was banished to Patmos for “the tes-timony of Jesus Christ,” receives from theLord a vision. It is a revelation “whichmust shortly come to pass” (Revelation1:1). Among other things he sees “a beastrise up out of the sea, having seven headsand ten horns, and upon his horns tencrowns, and upon his heads the name ofblasphemy” (Revelation 13:1). If we com-pare Daniel 7 with Revelation 13, it be-comes clear: John sees the rise of a futureempire, or rather, the restoration of anempire. It says, “And I saw one of hisheads as it were wounded to death; and

his deadly wound was healed” (Revela-tion 13:3a; cf. 17:8a). A restored RomanEmpire will appear on the world scene.The unbelievers will be amazed at thisbeast that “was, and is not, and yet is”(Revelation 17:8b; 13:3b).

The “dragon,” that is, the devil, willgive the restored Roman Empire “hispower, and his seat, and great authority”(Revelation 13:2; cf. verse 4). Accordingto Revelation 17:8, he will “ascend out ofthe bottomless pit.” The restored RomanEmpire will be of demonic origin. Thismeans that this empire will rise againstGod unrestrictedly (Revelation 13:1). Itsdiabolical character will reveal itself, inthat the believers of this time will be per-secuted terribly (Revelation 13:7). Thehuman ruler of this empire is called a“horn” in Daniel 7:21, which “made warwith the saints, and prevailed againstthem.” As so often, the face of the king-dom is determined by its ruler. In otherwords: the empire reflects its ruler.

This would-be ruler and his empirewill go “into perdition” (Revelation17:11). His time is exactly determined:forty-two months, or three and a halfyears (Revelation 13:5). With the last bat-tle of Armageddon, the Roman reign willbe over forever (Revelation 16:14; 19:19).Daniel 7:11 describes this dramatic eventvery vividly, “I beheld then because of thevoice of the great words which the hornspake: I beheld even till the beast wasslain, and his body destroyed, and givento the burning flame.” The Roman Em-pire will never rise again, but give way toan “everlasting kingdom,” namely thekingdom of God (verse 27).

(MR0216/767)


Is the World Empire of Europe Coming?

The “dragon,” that is, the devil, will give the restored Roman Empire “his power,and his seat, and great authority” (Revelation 13:2; cf. verse 4). According toRevelation 17:8, he will “ascend out of the bottomless pit.” The restored RomanEmpire will be of demonic origin.

16 M I D N I G H T C A L L16 M I D N I G H T C A L L

For resources on “endtime economics” and to subscribe to the free newsletter, Eternal Value

Review, visit Wilfred’s website www.eternalvalue.com or contact him at: [email protected]

Is there not anything positive to cele-brate or condone? Arno Froesemakes the point that there have

been many achievements of mankind,and that, contrary to the doomster’s in-cessant bleatings, humanity in manyways is actually experiencing the best oftimes.If so, would this change the truth and

prophecies of the Bible?

No. Without a doubt, we know in ad-vance the choices that mankind willmake, which will play a willful part ofthe events leading to the Apocalypse andJudgment Day. Why? Because the Biblehas foreknowledge of these free and un-godly choices of mankind.But that is not the complete story. The

perspectives of the above-described “nega-tivist” are not entirely Biblically balanced.

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CHRISTIANNEGATIVITY: WHEREPOSITIVEWITNESS?B y W i l f r e d H a h n

Christians, who are looking up—“for [their] redemptiondraweth nigh” (Luke 21:28)—sometimes fall into a negativ-ity trap. To them, every trend is black, terrible and con-demned. Since the Bible foretells a day of God’s wrath andan ungodly mankind, they tend to focus only on the media

headlines of disaster, strife, and disease. News reports of misfortune, eco-nomic or financial market downturns … etc. are repackaged, re-tweetedand blogged about by Christian news aggregators and conspiracy theorists.

JUNE 2016 17

God did bless humans with skillsand creativity. After all, the LORD said,“Let us make mankind in our image, inour likeness, so that they may rule overthe fish in the sea and the birds in thesky, over the livestock and all the wildanimals, and over all the creatures thatmove along the ground […] in the imageof God he created them; male and fe-male he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Moreover, God engaged mankindto “Be fruitful and increase in number;fill the earth and subdue it” (verse 28).Mankind here is clearly implored to

“subdue” the earth. To do so, therefore, isnot necessarily an ungodly endeavor. Mankind is even capable of achieving

things far beyond what the LORD had in-tended to be ideal. Consider the “ad-vanced-technology” story of the building ofthe Tower of Babel. The people of that era(living not long after the flood) “[…] said toeach other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks andbake them thoroughly.’ They used brick in-stead of stone, and tar for mortar. Thenthey said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves acity, with a tower that reaches to the heav-ens, so that we may make a name for our-selves; otherwise we will be scattered overthe face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11:3-5).We see here how the people of that

day quickly translated their achieve-ments into arrogance and the celebra-tion of self-determination without God.“But the LORD came down to see the

city and the tower the people werebuilding. The LORD said, ‘If as one peo-ple speaking the same language theyhave begun to do this, then nothing

they plan to do will be impossible forthem’” (Genesis 11:5-6).We repeat part of the quote from

above for emphasis: “[…] then nothingthey plan will be impossible for them”! We must conclude that mankind in-

deed has the capability to take domin-ion over the earth, in so doingestablishing many achievements.Consider some examples of how

mankind has subdued the world sinceCreation:

Human Productivity: For a great part ofhuman history (even as late as betweenthe fall of the Roman Empire and theMiddle Ages), productivity growth wasabsent. People would spend their shortlives fetching water and wood. Today,conditions are comfortably different.Only in parts of the developing worldwill one not find piped water. The con-tributors to advanced productivity havebeen the discovery of electricity, refrig-

Christian Negativity: Where Positive Witness?

Mankind is even capable of achieving things far beyond what theLORD had intended to be ideal. Consider the “advanced-technology” story of the building of the Tower of Babel.


eration, telecommunications, the inter-nal combustion engine ... etc.

Technology: Thanks to modern telecom-munications, we can today have discus-sions or exchange information withanyone, virtually anywhere in the worldalmost instantly. Mankind has also mas-tered flight and stepped onto the sur-face of the moon.

Increasing Lifespan: The Bible documentsthat mankind enjoyed very long lifes-pans until shortly after the Flood. Morerecently, great increases in lifespans haveoccurred. For example, from the 1500sonward, until around the year 1800, lifeexpectancy throughout Europe hoveredbetween 30 and 40 years of age. Today,by contrast, life expectancy at birth in de-veloping countries has lengthened bynearly one-third, from 50 years of age in1960 to 65 years of age today. Seen overa longer time frame, the average life ex-

pectancy of all humans has more thandoubled over the course of the last cen-tury.

Human Travel Speed: A normal walkingspeed for humans is around 5 km (a lit-tle over 3 mi.) per hour. Today, the aver-age travel velocity of humans is muchmore rapid. We may drive our automo-biles at speeds 20 times faster than wecan walk. Jet travel is also common-place, at speeds of 100 times that ofwalking.

General Health: Improved health care,sanitation, immunizations, antibioticssuch as penicillin, access to clean run-ning water, and better nutrition have allcontributed to the massive increase inhealth. In 1960, 22 percent of childrenin developing countries died beforetheir fifth birthday; but by 2013, only5% did. The rate of child death has de-clined in every single country in theworld. Diarrhea killed five million chil-dren a year in 1990, but claimed fewerthan one million in 2014. Half as manypeople now die from malaria as did in2000.

Poverty: The share of people living inextreme poverty has fallen by half overthe last two decades, according to theWorld Bank. While poverty will neverbe eradicated (Christ said, “The pooryou will always have with you,” Mark14:7), in fact, global poverty is fallingfaster today than at any other time inhuman history. In 1993, about two bil-lion people were trapped in extreme

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Improved health care, sanitation, immunizations, antibiotics suchas penicillin, access to clean running water, and better nutritionhave all contributed to the massive increase in health.

JUNE 2016 19

poverty. By 2012, that number haddropped to less than one billion.The above cited accomplishments

range from the incredible to theamazing. Man, who was made in the“image” of God, accomplished these(though surely not without God’s al-lowance and His Creation). Is anyone of these to be interpreted nega-tively? Not in and of themselves. Yes,these achievements can be used forevil by someone with demonic in-tent. But, that does not nullify thebeneficial aspects of inventions andimprovements mankind has enjoyedover recent centuries.Then, for what reason does God

bring His wrath? Not for mankind’sachievements, but for a very different

cause. To begin, God is no “respecterof persons” (Acts 10:34). Mankindbecomes smug, proud and indepen-dent as a result of his achievements.Subsequently, humanism becomesthe world’s most prevalent attitudeand religion.Mankind seeks independence

from God and the freedom to dowhat he considers to be right andgood. It is at this point that “ungod-liness” emerges. Consider that Godcharged Israel to “Do what is rightand good in the LORD’s sight, sothat it may go well with you […]”(Deuteronomy 6:18). The Bible provides a number of

examples of the admonishmentsthat God brought against nations

Christian Negativity: Where Positive Witness?

Ezekiel tells of a high and mighty tree (symbolizing Assyria). GodHimself says that “I made it beautiful with abundant branches, theenvy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God” (Ezekiel 31:9). Wesee that God blessed this people, and then something happened thatkindled God’s wrath. What was it?


and peoples that became proud and inde-pendent.Here we cite just one: Ezekiel tells of a

high and mighty tree (symbolizing Assyria).God Himself says that “I made it beautifulwith abundant branches, the envy of all thetrees of Eden in the garden of God” (Ezekiel31:9). We see that God blessed this people,and then something happened that kindledGod’s wrath. What was it?The people took credit for their greatness,

not attributing any glory to God.“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD

says: Because the great cedar towered over thethick foliage, and because it was proud of itsheight, I gave it into the hands of the ruler ofthe nations, for him to deal with according toits wickedness. I cast it aside” (Ezekiel 31:10-11).

Thoughts to PonderAre there achievements of mankind to cele-brate? Can we not accept the many conve-niences and health improvements that theworld increasingly enjoys as a blessing? Yes,definitely. It is not honest to only publish neg-ative news … as if to imply that Christians aresomehow gleeful about bad news, taking de-light in the failures and sufferings of mankind.Such an unwarranted bias brings discredit. Christians have no reason not to provide

fair attribution for the many achievements ofmankind in “subduing” the earth. The maindifference is that these acknowledgements donot lead to conceit and arrogance. In doing so,we praise and give thanks to God. It is onlythrough Him and His Son that all things arecreated.Says the Revelator: “You are worthy, our

Lord and God, to receive glory and honor andpower, for you created all things, and by yourwill they were created and have their being”(Revelation 4:11). That truth doesn’t change,no matter how much God may have enabledmankind to subdue the earth and achievebeneficial accomplishments.

However, today mankind has become quiteproud. Humanity has again come to the pointof converging languages and materialistic be-liefs. Globalism, globalization, monetarismand the interconnectedness of all peoples onthis planet have caused mankind to come along way. Indeed, as God said “[…] nothingthey plan will be impossible for them.”In fact, organized humanity no longer

thinks it needs God. Worse, the notion ofeven believing in a God who is Creator is re-garded as primitive.Mankind’s situation will eventually come to

the point described here by Jude: “See, theLord is coming with thousands upon thou-sands of his holy ones to judge everyone, andto convict all of them of all the ungodly actsthey have committed in their ungodliness,and of all the defiant words ungodly sinnershave spoken against him” (Jude 1:14-15).We can already discern the specter shown

in Psalm 2 taking place in our day. In thischapter, we note the Psalmist’s prophecy:“Why do the nations conspire and the peo-ples plot in vain? The kings of the earth riseup and the rulers band together against theLORD and against his anointed, saying, ‘Letus break their chains and throw off theirshackles’” (Psalm 2:1-3).God therefore responds in wrath: “The

LORD Almighty has a day in store for all theproud and lofty, for all that is exalted (andthey will be humbled) […] The arrogance ofman will be brought low and human pridehumbled; the LORD alone will be exalted inthat day, and the idols will totally disappear”(Isaiah 2:12-18).Christians, who have been given the Great

Hope and are therefore saved from wrath, canbe thankful for the advances and quality of lifeafforded today. However, technology (and hu-manism) is not our strong tower. “The nameof the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteousrun to it and are safe” (Proverb 18:10). “ForYou have been my refuge, a strong toweragainst the foe” (Psalm 61:3).

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MC



Heaven and earth will indeedpass away. Peter says, inspiredby the Holy Spirit, “But the day

of the Lord will come as a thief in thenight; in the which the heavens shallpass away with a great noise, and the el-ements shall melt with fervent heat, theearth also and the works that are thereinshall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). Onthe grounds of this fact, which is de-scribed in the Bible text mentioned, weare admonished in 2 Peter 3:11 to beholy and godly in our lifestyle. In verse

13, Peter says that we arelooking for “new heavensand a new earth, whereindwelleth righteousness.”John saw this new heaven

and new earth on Patmos,and says in Revelation 21:1,“…for the first heaven andthe first earth were passedaway.” The new heaven andnew earth will be of unimag-inable beauty, especially as itsays in Revelation 21:3 thatthen “the tabernacle of Godis with men, and He willdwell with them.” The holy

city, the new Jerusalem, will descend outof heaven from God to this new earth.And from this city shines a bright light.It is the glory of God, and the Lamb isthe light of it (verses 10 and 23). Thepeople who live on this “new planet”will walk in its light. Apparently, thegates will never be closed from the newearth to this wonderful holy city (verse25). These are only hints of the glorythat lies ahead of us. Blessed are theywho prepare to meet their God evennow (Amos 4:12). (MR1115/738)

In Isaiah 24:19, it says, “The earth is utterly broken down, the earthis clean dissolved. The earth is moved exceedingly.” Will this earthbe completely destroyed? And will we go to another planet?

What Does It Mean?– Isaiah 24:19

By Wim Malgo

The peoplewho live onthis “newplanet” willwalk in itslight. Appar-ently, thegates willnever beclosed fromthe newearth to thiswonderfulholy city.


EvaluatingSuccess

In evaluating his first twenty years asking, one could easily affirm thatSolomon was amazingly successful.

Solomon was at the point in his lifewhere he needed to direct his mindsetfrom one of success to that of signifi-cance, in order to prevent his achieve-ments from dwindling into failures. Ifone desires a picture of “success asheaven measures it, of greatness as Godviews it, don’t look for the blaring of thebands on Broadway; listen, rather, forthe tinkle of water splashing into abasin, while God incarnate, in a humil-ity that makes angels hold their breath,sponges the grime from the feet of Hisundeserving disciples.”1

ACHIEVING SUCCESSChapters 9—11 of 1 Kings detail theclosing years of Solomon’s life and re-count his backsliding. In chapter 9,God issued both a promise and warn-ing in relation to worship (esp. in termsof the Temple). The people were re-minded that the building itself (i.e. theTemple) was not a mere guarantee ofGod’s blessing. Even today, God’s peo-ple may be tempted to trust in preced-ing endeavors or outward displays ofsuccess, rather than relentlessly pursu-ing “the upward call of God in Christ Je-sus” (cf. Phil 3:12-14).As the two books of Kings reveal the

progress of God’s people throughout

Dr. Ron J. Bigalke

An addiction to success can develop in our lives, when we do not know howmuch is enough and what to do when we attain our goals.

JUNE 2016 23

the period of the monarchy, it is evidentthat Israel trusted more in outward dis-plays of religion as opposed to pleasingGod by means of inner transformation(cf. Lev 20:26; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Pet 1:13-16). Being a recipient of immense spiri-tual privileges can sometimes deceiveone into thinking he or she is immuneto God’s discipline. First Kings remindsus that immense privileges always en-large responsibilities as opposed to less-ening them.When he had finished building the

Temple and his own palace, Solomonhad accomplished all that he desired. Atthat moment in time, the Lord appearedto him again (1 Kgs 9:1-2); although,this occasion was different in that Goddid not ask Solomon what he wanted(cf. 3:5). God warned the king whatwould occur if he did not measure suc-cess by what God desired from him(9:3-9). The remainder of 1 Kings willrecount the history of God’s people to apoint where God’s promise would be in-tensely relevant (cf. Deut 28:36-37, 58-68; Josh 23:15-16).Similar to all God’s leaders, Solomon

was granted a choice; that meant his re-sponsibilities were significant, espe-cially because his kingdom could reapthe benefits of both economic and polit-ical independence. Nevertheless, as Je-sus said, “From everyone who has beengiven much, much will be required; andto whom they entrusted much, of him

they will ask all the more” (Luke 12:48).For this reason, the writer of 1 Kings(9:10—10:29) addresses Solomon’s abil-ity to govern the people of God.Solomon invested much to finance

and maintain his building projects. Tocompensate for his massive debt, “KingSolomon gave Hiram twenty cites in theland of Galilee” (9:11). The cities wereevidently part of Asher’s tribal inheri-tance (cf. Josh 19:24-31), which meantthat Solomon was surrendering thePromised Land.Solomon invested greatly in military

protection by building a network of re-gional fortress cities. However, the pro-jects were not without cost, becausegreat finances and manpower were nec-essary. The cities were built by forced la-bor (1 Kgs 9:15, 20-22; cf. 4:6). Mosesand Samuel warned the people that a

When he had finished building the Temple and his own palace, Solomonhad accomplished all that he desired. At that moment in time, the Lordappeared to him again (1 Kgs 9:1-2); although, this occasion was differ-ent in that God did not ask Solomon what he wanted (cf. 3:5). Godwarned the king what would occur if he did not measure success bywhat God desired from him (9:3-9).


king would tax them excessively, in ad-dition to demanding their labor for per-sonal benefit, and would generallyenrich the kingdom at others’ expense(Deut 17:16-17; 1 Sam 8:11-17).Solomon’s kingdom was mighty, yet hispersonal ambitions were crushing to hispeople, and would eventually ruptureinto rebellion.First Kings 9:1 asserts that when

King Solomon finished building theTemple and the royal palace, all he “de-sired to do” was accomplished.Solomon began his building projects inthe fourth year of his reign (6:1), and ittook him twenty years to build “the twohouses” (9:10). If he ascended thethrone at approximately twenty years ofage, then he was in his early fortieswhen he accomplished all he “desiredto do.” He was slightly beyond thehalfway point of his forty-year reign(11:42).

ACHIEVING SIGNIFICANCEKing Solomon was living the best yearsof his life, as he was experiencing thepinnacle of his days as both a man anda king. As he reached halftime of hisforty-year reign, Solomon enjoyed theenviable and unique experience ofknowing he had achieved all he “de-sired to do.” At the age of forty-four,Solomon was favored and especiallygifted because he was responsible forthe “Golden Age” of Israel. History re-members Solomon as one of the mostsuccessful kings of his nation.Slightly beyond the halfway point of

his reign, Solomon’s life appeared—byall standards—to be tremendously suc-cessful. Nevertheless, he never emergedfrom success to significance.The second half of Solomon’s life was

not a success. Solomon’s kingdom wasremarkable yet wholly superficial.

Solomon failed as a king because hemade compromises with God’s stan-dards, which resulted in devastatinglyenduring consequences.Solomon’s life demonstrates several

truths. First, success has the inherentpotential to become addictive. Solomonaccumulated greater fame and wealth,yet he lacked a compelling purpose andstrategy for the future. His lifestyle be-came that of self-serving excess.Second, success can become decep-

tive because it may obscure one’s truebeing and circumstances. All the wealththat surrounded Solomon obscured thefact that his heart was drifting fromGod.Near the end of his life, Solomon

wrote that a life not focused upon Godis meaningless and purposeless. “Vanityof vanities,” he remarked; all is utterlyfutile without the Lord God (Eccl 1:2).A greater accumulation of “stuff” cannotsubstitute for a relationship with God. Third, success can become illusory.

Certainly, no one reading the end ofFirst Kings 10 would imagine that allthe resplendent success would disap-pear within a few brief years, yet that isexactly what occurred.Evaluating our lives at halftime is es-

pecially urgent when experiencingtremendous success. Of course, none ofus can “boast about tomorrow,” becausewe “do not know what a day may bringforth” (Prov 27:1). Thus, we should liveeach and every day circumspectly.Choices made in the present determinewhether we can say, “I have fought thegood fight, I have finished the course, Ihave kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7); and,also will ascertain whether we hear theLord remark, “Well done, good andfaithful slave” (cf. Matt 25:21).God’s eternal decree has always been

to call a people—holy and separate—

Evaluating Success

JUNE 2016 25

Solomon is one of the foremost examples of the truth that our greatestthreat can be our own self. Solomon’s successes occurred more exten-sively and rapidly than anyone in his generation.

unto Himself from the world, and thatthis elect group would live their earthlylives as saints (“unique ones”)—holy andseparate—unto Him. Therefore, a primaryreason for “pressure” (“tribulation”) ex-erted upon Christians is to produce per-severance (endurance), as the believer isdependent upon the Lord God (Rom5:3-11). As “proven character” becomesevident in the Christian’s life, confidencein God is intensified and thus hope“does not disappoint” (v. 4-5).Apparent success can diminish what

will genuinely endure, if we do not mea-sure our lives by God’s standards. Au-thentic success can only be determinedover longer periods of time. Genuine suc-cess is measured only by perseverance;in this sense, the life of the believer is nota sprint but a marathon. The aspirationand goal in life should be to persist in thegoal of the upward call of God in ChristJesus (Phil 3:10-14).Solomon is one of the foremost exam-

ples of the truth that our greatest threatcan be our own self. Solomon’s successesoccurred more extensively and rapidlythan anyone in his generation. WhenSolomon was experiencing the pinnacleof his reign, his contemporaries certainlyimagined that his kingdom would en-dure for a thousand years. Yet the kingdrifted from God, and his self-indulgencekeep producing ignominious results, un-til he recognized the “vanity of vanities”arising from his own actions (Eccl 1:2).Solomon never encountered an enemy

on the battlefield, yet he lost the greatestbattle ever: the one with himself.Solomon’s choices inflicted enduring an-guish upon his kingdom, and ultimately,

his legacy was that of suffering for thosesubsequent to him. By his own actionsand qualities, Solomon demonstratesthat a gifted intellect is not a substitutefor an obedient heart (cf. Eccl. 12:13-14).You and I are also vulnerable in the

exact same manner as King Solomon.We would be intensely arrogant and fool-ish to imagine that we are somehow im-pervious to the influences thatculminated in Solomon’s downfall. FirstKings 1—11 is divinely intended and re-vealed to spur us to examine whateverpotent temptations exist in our ownlives, and thus compel us to dependupon God for our endurance (cf. 1 Cor10:11-13).King David set a standard for obedi-

ence (e.g. Ps 32; 51). David’s sins areglaring faults upon an otherwise faithfulservant. When the prophet Nathan re-buked David, the king repented andlived his life pleasing before God, as heunderstood the blessedness of forgive-ness and trust in the Lord. The standardof King David is not perfection, but sinthat is confessed; and when it is, there isrepentance and wrong made right. Thegrace of God should never be consideredan opportunity to sin, because persistentdisobedience displaces the longsufferingof God (cf. Rom 6:1-4; 1 Pet 4:17). Chris-tians are not perfect, but let us pray thatwhen we are aware of our sin, we wouldrepent and finish well the work that Godhas entrusted to us. (769)

ENDNOTE1 Dr. Paul Rees, as quoted from Bible Expositor, in Paul

Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations (Rockville,

MD: Assurance Publishers, 1979) 1371-72.



At the end of the war, I was 13years old and, on account ofthe evacuation of the bombed

cities, lived with my sister at myaunt’s house in Waren/Müritz. Myparents and family home were inBerlin.Like all young people, I belonged

to the “Hitler Youth.” This was com-pulsory. As I had no uniform, how-ever, I was recognizable with all myfamily as not belonging to the party.When school lessons were

stopped at the end of January 1945,on account of the approaching East-ern Front, we had to report daily tothe Hitler Youth for service. Therewere work parties doing things likesawing wood in the forests, smallertransfer orders and the like, and“boys’ games.” The latter were wargames with defense and attack.They often ended in mass fights. Ifeared them because it became alltoo obvious what the purpose of

them was, namely due to the newlyerected structures (tank barriers) todefend the city—I was no hero by na-ture! As Christians, my parents were criti-

cal of the Nazi regime from the begin-ning, mainly on account of the brutalanti-Semitism. They had secretly at-tempted to help Jews. I followed theirideas and beliefs, and therefore I alsorejected the Hitler Youth, even if I wasforced to participate in it. From March 1945, the disciplinary

rules were tightened. Whoever was ab-sent from the Hitler Youth without anexcuse received a week’s youth arrestin Malchow (in Mecklenburg). Thiswas not only threatened but also putinto practice, and at the morning as-sembly the name of the offender wasopenly read aloud to act as a deterrent.On Sunday I went to Sunday

School. My absence from the Sundaymorning Hitler Youth was questioned,and I answered that I had been to a

Seventy-one years ago, the Second World War ended, and with itthe terrible Holocaust. Memories of events of the time before, dur-ing and after the war. By Friedrich Hilliges. Part 5.

Escape from a

Nazi leader Adolf Hitlersmiles while uniformedSaxon youths salute himoutdoors in Erfurt, Germany.

January 1, 1933Credit: Hulton Archive

Fatal Arrest

JUNE 2016 27

children’s church service. After that no-body dared say anything.Thus I was absent from the Hitler

Youth on Sunday, 1 April. On that day,surprisingly and to our great joy, mymother arrived, and so I missed the sec-ond service time. An additional servicetime was announced, of which I knewnothing. I missed this one too.My mother was very disturbed and

fearful: where and how should we waitfor the end of the war? My father couldnot leave Berlin on account of the war.They believed it to be too dangerousthere for us children. But to be separatedwas just as bad. On the following day,completely unexpectedly, my father ar-rived from Berlin. He decided on thespur of the moment that all four of usshould go to Berlin, so that at the end ofthe war, when a catastrophe was feared,we would at least be together.The following day my Hitler Youth

leader, my next door neighbor, suddenlyappeared and said to me, “You havebeen absent three times. You know whatthat means?” I had a sinking feeling inmy stomach, a terrible fear. I did noteven dare tell my parents. I could get aweek’s youth arrest in Malchow! What ifthey came now and fetched me?!But once again, I got off lightly. The

next morning, we left with the last train

that went to Berlin. Unsuspectingly, myparents had been a little faster than thepolice.Fifty years later, I learned more

through a report on German TV: a campwith imprisoned youth at Malchow,which was not obedient to the Naziregime, fell into the hands of the ap-proaching Soviet troops. As it was led bythe Hitler Youth or Nazi political powersand paramilitary, the Russians mistookthe young people for “werewolves”: thiswas the name given to a Nazi plan be-gun in 1944, to create a resistance force.And so they went from bad to worse.They were interrogated: with beatingsand abuse, “confessions” were obtainedfrom them that they were werewolves.They were sent to prisons and work

camps. Hardly any of them survived,and so the world heard almost nothingof them.—The report on German TV onMay 2, 1995, was called “After 50 yearsof silence.” This would have been my“youth arrest in Malchow.”“Praise to the Lord, who o’er all

things so wondrously reigneth,Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so

gently sustaineth!Hast thou not seen how thy desires

e’er have beenGranted in what He ordaineth?”

(MR0915/747)

Escape from a Fatal Arrest

When school lessons were stopped at theend of January 1945, on account of theapproaching Eastern Front, we had toreport daily to the Hitler Youth for service.


28 M I D N I G H T C A L L Visit www.midnightcall.com

Identity theft, fraudulent payments,and accidental misuse of funds are

all realities in our fast paced economy.In recent years however, technology has

played a huge role in securing financial as-sets. PINs and security codes have been thestatus quo for basic financial security, buttwo friends in New Jersey are taking thatconcept a step further by using vein scansto confirm a person’s identity to secure fi-nancial transactions.

It’s called Pulse Wallet and it is a point-of-sale register and biometric payment termi-nal. Pulse Wallet lets customers link theircredit cards and other payment methods totheir palms so they can leave their wallets athome.

The co-founders are Matt Saricicek andAimann Rasheed.

They say there are benefits to this newtechnology in all sorts of marketplaces.

“We were thinking about a convenient wayto make a payment like using yourself, be-cause you’re more unique than anything outthere,” said Saricicek.

Pulse Wallet says airlines want to use it as anew type of boarding pass.

The technology actually scans palm veinpatterns underneath the skin.The company claims it is moresecure than fingerprints becausethere are no traces for someoneto replicate and the scanning re-quires blood flow for a properread.

Pulse Wallet says it can alsofunction like a normal creditswiping system if users or mer-chants choose to opt-out on reg-istering their biometric profile.

-www.my9nj.com

Commentary: These two engineers of Turk-ish origin are leading us closer to the ulti-mate identification and control. Theirstatement, “…using yourself, because youare more unique than anything out there,” isprofound. Why? Because it is no doubt aprecursor to the mysterious Mark of theBeast. If the computer, in this case the PulseWallet, can identify a person 100%, then themark is here. How it will be implementedon the right head and the forehead is still un-known. But, tech-nology is marchingon to conquerplanet earth. 6255

(For more on this subject,

read Preparing for the

Mark of the Beast, Item

1061.)

J A P A N

Print More MoneyThe Finance Ministry plans to in-crease the number of ¥10,000 billsin circulation, amid signs that morepeople are hoarding cash.

It will print 1.23 billion such notes infiscal 2016, 180 million more than a

year earlier. The number of ¥10,000 bills is-sued annually leveled off at around 1.05 bil-lion in the fiscal years from 2011 to 2015.

Some financial market sources believe itis because more people are keeping theirmoney at home rather than in banks, be-cause interest rates on deposits have fallento almost zero after the Bank of Japan intro-duced a negative interest rate in February.

The total amount of cash stashed at homeis estimated to have surged by nearly ¥5 tril-lion to some ¥40 trillion in the past year,Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-ichiLife Research Institute, said.

There will be 200 million ¥5,000 bills is-sued in fiscal 2016, down by 80 million, and1.57 billion ¥1,000 bills, down by 100 mil-lion.

Your Biometric ProfileWe live in a world where the securityof our finances is just as importantof a concern as the security of ourhomes.

U S A

You leave fingerprints everywhere, but you don'tleave veinprints. (Reuters/Yuriko Nakao)

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The Finance Ministry plans to increaseprinting of ¥10,000 notes in fiscal 2016as demand for cash grows. BLOOMBERG

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(continued next page)

Recent BOJ data show daily averages forcurrency in circulation rose 6.7 percentfrom a year before to ¥90.3 trillion at the endof February, the sharpest growth in 13years.

The number of ¥10,000, ¥5,000 and¥1,000 bills in circulation increased 6.9 per-cent, 0.2 percent and 1.9 percent, respec-tively.

-www.japantimes.co.jp, 7 April 2016

Commentary: Japan is a super successfulnation and belongs to the group of mostdeveloped countries in the world. Lifeexpectancy in Japan, for example, issecond to none at 84.74 years. When itcomes to healthcare, Japan is leading.Infant mortality stands at 2.08% perthousand live births (US 6.1%).

Of interest is the fact that only 1.5percent identify as Christians.

So, with all the success, the Churchis not growing. The overwhelming ma-jority of Japanese adhere toShintoism/Buddhism.

Furthermore, Japan, like otherprosperous nations, is battling withanother problem: population decline.Such an issue causes unknown diffi-culties. Longevity puts an additionalburden on the government purse.There are not enough children grow-ing up to replace the aged. The old inturn are stashing away their money,even the old fashioned way: under themattress.

We publish thisinformation to callChristians to prayincreasingly for theChurch in Japan.

6256(For more on Shintoism,

read World Religions &

Cults 101, Item 2204.)

I N D I A

Fastest Growing EconomyPrime Minister Narendra Modi’stwo-year old government is seekingto bolster an economy which grew7.3 percent, among the fastestgrowth rates in large economies,but below the 8 percent growthneeded to generate jobs for millionsof Indians joining the workforceevery year.

Central Bank Governor Raghuram Rajansaid the government had created a plat-

form “for strong sustainable growth,” but said itwould need to ensure it stays on that path.

“As a central banker who has to be prag-matic, I cannot get euphoric if India is thefastest-growing large economy,” Rajan said in aspeech to banking and finance students inPune.

“Our current growth cer-tainly reflects the hard workof the government and thepeople of the country, butwe have to repeat thisperformance for the next20 years.”

“We cannot get carriedaway by our current superior-ity in growth, for as soon aswe believe in our own superi-ority and start distributing fu-ture wealth as if we already

have it, we stop doing all that is required to con-tinue growing,” he added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was quoted byCNBC-TV 18 as saying “any other country in theworld would be celebrating” with the rate ofgrowth being posted by India.

Rajan noted his intent was to signal that In-dia’s “outperformance was accentuated be-cause world growth was weak,” while alsochastising those who stir controversy by misin-terpreting his comments.

-www.reuters.com, 20 April 2016

Commentary: India is destined to be thelargest country in the world population-wise.According to the World Bank, India is listedin 9th place economically; the InternationalMonetary Fund has them in 7th place. At thepresent time, the Asian giant communistChina has about five times the economy ofIndia. But, considering the fast pace ofgrowth in India, nothing seems impossible.

Only a few decades ago, no one in theEuropean world (West) considered any Asiancountry to be of any significance. That has allchanged, and will continue to, based on theprophetic Word. The world must unite; allmust grow to reach equal footing. That is ex-actly what is needed in order for the final au-thority (temporarily) to arrive; the system ofAntichrist. 6258(For more on this subject, read How Democracy Will Elect the

Antichrist, Item 1064.)

Governor of the Reserve Bank of IndiaRaghuram Rajan speaks at a forum onfinancial development at the 2016 IMFWorld Bank Spring Meeting in Wash-ington Reuters/Joshua Roberts

Print Money (continued from page 28)

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C H I N A

Global Warming OpensArctic Shipping RouteChina will encourage ships flying itsflag to take the Northwest Passage viathe Arctic Ocean, a route opened upby global warming, to cut travel timesbetween the Atlantic and Pacificoceans, a state-run newspaper said.

Shorter shipping routes across the ArcticOcean would save Chinese companies

time and money. For example, the journey fromShanghai to Hamburg via the Arctic route is 2,800nautical miles shorter than going by the SuezCanal.

“Once this route is commonly used, it will di-rectly change global maritime transport and havea profound influence on international trade, theworld economy, capital flow and resource ex-ploitation,” ministry spokesman Liu Pengfei wasquoted as saying.

In Ottawa, a spokesman for Foreign MinisterStephane Dion said no automatic right of transitpassage existed in the waterways of the North-west Passage.

“We welcome navigation that complies withour rules and regulations. Canada has an unfet-tered right to regulate internal waters,” JosephPickerill said by email.

Melting sea ice has spurred more commercialtraffic, and China wants to become more active inthe Arctic, where it says it has important interests.

Chinese ships, even merchant vessels, usingthe Northwest Passage could raise eyebrows inWashington.

-www.reuters.com, 20 April 2016

Commentary: Communist China is destinedto become the world’s number two econ-omy after Europe; that almost seems cer-tain. So again, what is the significance ofthis development? We may answer withone word: unity. The communist designedand guided economy has learned to be flex-ible: to make the most of communism, so-cialism and capitalism. That is preciselywhat Israel has done since 1948, and hereconomy is now listed in 37th place ac-cording to the World Bank (2014).

Such developments simply confirm thatthe world is becoming one, which is so fit-

tingly expressed bythe European Unionmotto: “United in Di-versity.” 6259(For more on this subject,

read Revelation 13: Satan’s

Last Victory, Item 1067.)

U S A

Will Robots Steal Jobs?If you put water on the stove andheat it up, it will at first just get hotterand hotter. You may then concludethat heating water results only inhotter water.

But at some point everythingchanges—the water starts to boil,

turning from hot liquid into steam. Physicistscall this a “phase transition.”

Automation, driven by technologicalprogress, has been increasing inexorably forthe past several decades. Two schools ofeconomic thinking have for many years beenengaged in a debate about the potential ef-fects of automation on jobs, employment andhuman activity: will new technology spawnmass unemployment, as the robots take jobsaway from humans? Or will the jobs robotstake over release or unveil—or even create—demand for new human jobs?

The debate has flared up again recently be-cause of technological achievements such asdeep learning, which recently enabled aGoogle software program called AlphaGo tobeat Go world champion Lee Sedol, a taskconsidered even harder than beating theworld’s chess champions.

Ultimately, the question boils down to this:are today’s modern technological innovationslike those of the past, which made obsoletethe job of buggy maker, but created the job ofautomobile manufacturer? Or is there some-thing about today that is markedly different?

This is not a new concern. Since at least asearly as the time of the Luddites, in early19th-century Britain, new technologies havecaused fear about the inevitable changes theybring.

While manufacturing output is at an all-timehigh, manufacturing employ-ment is today lower than it wasin the later 1940s. Wages forprivate nonsupervisory em-ployees have stagnated sincethe late 1960s, and the wages-to-GDP ratio has been declin-ing since 1970. Long-termunemployment is trending up-wards, and inequality has be-come a global discussiontopic, following the publicationof Thomas Piketty’s 2014

book Capital in the Twenty-First Century.Is automation, driven by progress in technol-

ogy, in general, and artificial intelligence and ro-

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Ships sail on the Yangtze river nearShanghai November 5, 2013.Reuters/Carlos Barria

(continued next page)

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

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botics, in particular, the main cause for theeconomic decline of working Americans?

A 2015 study by the International MonetaryFund concluded that technological progress isa major factor in the increase of inequality overthe past decades.

-www.theguardian.com, 7 April 2016

Commentary: The article, of which we onlypublish excerpts, intends to show that ro-bots create an underclass of people earningonly bare minimum wages. Evidence sup-ports that low level earners have a lower lifeexpectancy. CNN Money reports, “Not onlyare the poor getting poorer, but they are alsoliving shorter lives than the rich.”

What does the Bible say? Fair compen-sation for labor is repeatedly emphasized inthe Old Testament. Moses instructs his peo-ple, “If there be among you a poor man ofone of thy brethren within any of thy gatesin thy land which the LORD thy God giveththee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, norshut thine hand from thy poor brother: Butthou shalt open thine hand wide unto him,and shalt surely lend him sufficient for hisneed, in that which he wanteth. Beware thatthere be not a thought in thy wicked heart,saying, The seventh year, the year of re-lease, is at hand; and thine eye be evilagainst thy poor brother, and thou givesthim nought; and he cry unto the LORDagainst thee, and it be sin unto thee”(Deuteronomy 15:7-9).

The New Testament warns regarding payand labor, “Behold, the hire of the labourerswho have reaped down your fields, which isof you kept back by fraud, crieth: and thecries of them which have reaped are enteredinto the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye havelived in pleasure on the earth, and beenwanton; ye have nourished your hearts, asin a day of slaughter” (James 5:4-5). 6253(For more on this subject, read Bankruptcy of Our Nation,

Item 2244.)

E G Y P T

Star of David Engraved onAncient TempleEgypt has recently been witnessing agreat commotion following the ar-chaeological discovery of two Star ofDavid engravings in an ancient Tem-ple in the southern city of Aswan.

The Roman Temple, which datesback to the 3rd century BC, is lo-

cated in the Elephantine Island in Aswan.Dr. Mahmoud Afifi, the head of the

Egyptian Antiquities branch in the Antiqui-ties Ministry, said that he noticed a stonewith two Star of David engravings in theRoman temple.

Afifi accused the delegation of Germanarchaeologists that has been working onthe site’s reconstruction of engraving theStars of David into the Shrine’s stone.

Afifi ordered the archaeologists to im-mediately remove the stone with the Starof David’s engraving from the temple,threatening to take all legal measuresagainst them if they would ever repeatsuch a move.

An Egyptian news site, Suezbalady,went even fur ther, claiming that the twoStar of David engravings that were foundwere drawn by a Jewish member of theGerman delegation, who wanted to van-dalize Egyptian culture and provoke Egyp-tians.

The newly-appointed Egyptian Antiqui-ties Minister, Khaled Anani stated that hehad instructed the joint Egyptian-Germangroup to submit him a scientific repor tabout the two engravings found on one ofthe temple’s walls. “The repor t will includea picture of the stone under discussionfrom the time it was discovered, to exploreits archaeological repercussions withoutthe two Star of David engravings,” Ananisaid.

“We will be aided by an exper t of Is-lamic antiquities to understand whether the

Sign of David was common in that earlyperiod,” Anani announced.

-www.jpost.com, 3 April 2016

Commentary: Israel’s presence in the landof Egypt is well documented. The last timeEgypt is mentioned in the Old Testament isin Zechariah 10:10, “I will bring themagain also out of the land of Egypt, andgather them out of Assyria; and I will bringthem into the land of Gilead and Lebanon;and place shall not be found for them.”

It seems strange that archaeologists whotry to uncover historical facts would takethe initiative to carve the Star of David onthe stone of an Egyptian temple. What iseven stranger is that the Egyptian archaeol-ogists desperately try to avoid any connec-tion to the Israeli nation.

Although Israel signed a peace treatywith Egypt in March 1979, normal peacehas never developed and apparently won’tin the near future. What is the reason? Wecan answer with one word: Hate. Why? Be-

cause Israel is thevisible manifesta-tion of God’s pres-ence on earth, andthereby proves thatMuhammed is not.

6246(For more on this sub-

ject, read Target Israel,

Item 2293.)

The Sign of David engraving found inthe Aswan shrine.(photo credit:ARAB MEDIA)

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Robots (continued from page 30)

F R A N C E

Stewardesses Refuse HeadscarfAir France is compelling femalemembers of its cabin crew to wearmore modest attire and a headscarfon renewed flights to the Iraniancapital of Tehran—a move that iscausing consternation among itsworkforce.

According to The Guardian, the airline is“facing a mutiny” from staff members

who object to being forced to wear garb thatconstitutes “ostentatious religious sign.”

The airline’s union has raised the matter withmanagement, which is standing firm on the re-quired dress code before Air France resumesthree daily flights to the Iranian capital.

The row between Air France managementand crew comes against the backdrop of re-newed economic ties between the EuropeanUnion and Iran following the completion of thenuclear agreement signed by the govern-ments in Tehran and major world powers.

Air France flights from Paris to Tehran werediscontinued eight years ago after sanctionswere imposed against the Islamic Republic.

“They are forcing us to wear an ostenta-tious religious symbol,” Francoise Redolfi, aunion leader, told RFI radio. “We have to letthe girls choose what they want to wear.Those that don’t want to must be able to saythey don’t want to work on those flights.”

“Many female members of flight crewshave told us that it’s out of the question theybe obliged to wear headscarves. It’s not pro-

fessional and they see it as an insult to theirdignity.”

-www.jpost.com, 3 April 2016

Commentary: France is known for its pas-sionate defense of personal liberties. Whilethe end is not in sight at the time of writing,this development shows an “ostentatiousreligious sign” being imposed on themostly non-religious crew of Air France.One wonders how offensive it would be tohave the crew of Iranian Airlines dress ac-cording to French requirements. Whatabout wearing a crucifix? One knows theanswer: absolutely impossible and ludi-crous.

Europeans in general and the French inparticular are not known for their adher-ence to Christian principles. How will itend? Doubtless, Iran will insist on havingthe “cabin crew wear more modest attireand a headscarf.”

6247(For more on Iran, read Iran and Israel, Item 2283.)


A flight attendant salutes to visitors dur-ing the International Paris Airshow at LeBourget. (photo credit:AFP PHOTO)L

E U / U S A

Visa Waver Dispute Hangsin the BalanceThe Reuters news agency reportedthat the European Commission isconsidering demanding that Ameri-can and Canadian citizens apply for avisa if they want to visit Europe, as re-taliation for stalled talks on looseningvisa requirements for citizens fromsome eastern EU member states.

Citizens from 23 EU countries are eli-gible to take part in the US visa waiver

scheme when they want to travel to the US,but those from Cyprus, Poland, Romania, Bul-garia and Croatia are not.

The EU is telling the US and Canada to treatall EU citizens equally, a principle called “fullvisa reciprocity.”

In the commission’s most recent report onthe issue, dated 5 November 2015, it said “it

is unlikely that all non-reciprocity cases in-volving Canada and the US will be resolved byApril 2016.”

There are fears that if the EU does move toreintroduce visa requirements for Americans,it may harm negotiations on the free trade andinvestment treaty known by its acronym TTIP.

The EU reciprocity debate comes amidfears in the US that EU visa perks could help“foreign fighters” infiltrate the US.

The term refers to radicalized EU nationalswho went to train with the jihadist group Is-lamic State in Syria prior to returning home.

-euobserver.com, 8 April 2016

Commentary: The bottom line issue is ter-rorism; however, it is vastly overempha-sized. The Centers for Disease Control andPrevention reports the following: from2001 to 2013, 406,496 people died byfirearms in the US. During that same period

(including 9-11), 3,380 people died due toterrorism.

So, what is the real purpose behind this“full visa reciprocity”? In one word, con-trol. All people everywhere in the worldwill ultimately be registered and controlledthrough a manmade system, which is nowin the works. The Bible simply states, “Andhe causeth all, both small and great, richand poor, free and bond, to receive a markin their right hand, or in their foreheads:And that no man might buy or sell, save hethat had the mark, or the name of the beast,

or the number ofhis name” (Reve-lation 13:16-17).

6254(For more on this sub-

ject, read The Coming

Muslim Invasion? Item

1071.)


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Visit www.midnightcall.com JUNE 2016 33

S W E D E N

Military Spending on the RiseThe Stockholm International PeaceResearch Institute (SIPRI) publisheda report showing global militaryspending increased by one percentin 2015, marking the first increasesince 2011.

“On the one hand, spending trends reflectthe escalating conflict and tension in

many parts of the world; on the other hand, theyshow a clear break from the oil-fueled surge inmilitary spending of the past decade,” said SamPerlo-Freedom, who heads SIPRI’s militaryspending project, in a statement.

While the US and China remained at the top ofthe list with $596 billion (529 billion euros) and$215 billion respectively, Saudi Arabia overtookRussia for third place, partially due to its engage-ment in the Yemen conflict and the depreciation ofthe Russian ruble.

Meanwhile, Europe witnessed a 1.7-percent in-crease with Eastern European nations signifi-cantly boosting funding in response to the easternUkraine conflict, according to the report.

Germany dropped one place to ninth in the listof global military spenders, swapping positionswith Japan. The SIPRI report noted that Europe’sthree top spenders, the UK, France, and Germany,had all pledged increased military outgoings in thecoming years.

-www.dw.com/en, 5 April 2016

Commentary: We are still living in the dispen-sation of war. It started when Cain killed Abel,and will end when the Prince of Peace comes

to planet earth and orders the end of the entiremilitary industry. “And he shall judge amongmany people, and rebuke strong nations afaroff; and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruninghooks: na-tion shall not lift up a sword against nation,neither shall they learn war any more” (Micah4:3).

In the meantime, the prophecy of Joel is ineffect, “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles;Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let allthe men of war draw near; let them come up:beat your plowshares into swords, and yourpruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, Iam strong” (Joel 3:9-10). 6251(For more on end time events, read The End Times in Chrono-

logical Order, Item 2284.)

C A N A D A

Can Swearing Make YouMore Relaxed?In a pub in Calgary, Canada, yogaenthusiasts are encouraged to [par-take in] a new twist on an ancientart: Rage Yoga.

This new concept takes the quiet, zen-likeenvironment of a yoga class and flips it on

its head—those who attend the classes are en-couraged to swear and shout between poses, andstick around afterwards for a beer.

Creator Lindsay Istace, 24, who teaches flexi-bility and wellness, stumbled upon the idea of re-leasing her anger with her asanas (yoga poses,postures and positions) after a bad breakup. “Iwas in a really rough spot,” Istace explained. “Iwas very hurt and angry and confused.” Shefound she was inadvertently incorporating ex-pletives into her daily yoga practice.

A report by US industry research companyIBISWorld showed the alternative healthcaresegment was worth $13.3bn in revenue in2015 in the US alone. Of that, meditationmakes up 7.4% of total industry revenue atnearly $1bn, with yoga at 15.1% and deepbreathing exercises 15.3%.

Research led by psychologist Dr. RichardStephens at Keele University in the UKshowed that swearing can help you becomemore persuasive and increase pain tolerance,particularly for those who seldom swear ineveryday life. The reason? Swearing seems totrigger the “fight or flight” stress response.

-www.bbc.com, 5 April 2016

Commentary: Human values in a civilized so-ciety are being trod underfoot.

The yoga religion has conquered theworld, often even offered in churches.Granted, this particular form of it is the excep-tion, but it does show the tenacity of religion,without morals and decency. The Bible warns,“Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessingand cursing. My brethren, these things oughtnot so to be” (James 3:10). David writes abouthis enemies, “As he loved cursing, so let itcome unto him: as he delighted not in bless-ing, so let it be far from him” (Psalm 109:17).And Psalm 59:12 and 14 read, “For the sin oftheir mouth and the words of their lips letthem even be taken in their pride: and forcursing and lying which they speak…And atevening let them return; and let them make anoise like a dog, and go round about the city.”

To those who opposed Jesus, He said,“O generation ofvipers, how can ye,being evil, speakgood things? for outof the abundance ofthe heart the mouthspeaketh” (Matthew12:34). 6252(For more on yoga, read

Yoga and the Body of Christ,

Item 2224.)

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He Is Absolutely Trustworthy

How did you come to Midnight Call Ministry?

Erich: I came to know Midnight Call Ministrythrough my parents. Early in the morning, we usedto listen to Midnight Call radio programs: the un-mistakable sound of the trumpet, followed by themessage by Wim Malgo. In this way the ministrywas known to me as a child. I came to know Mid-night Call better when I was sent by the BibleSchool Breckerfeld (Germany) to Pfäffikon(Switzerland), as an intern at Midnight Call head-quarters. I worked there for three months in thestudio. That was in the years 1974-75. I enjoyed thetime there so much that I also did my second train-ing period there. Later, after Bible school, whenJutta and I felt it our calling to go to South America,we prayed for the Lord’s guidance. The Lord heardus during a church service in 1977. We dedicatedour lives for missionary service, and in 1978 wewent to Brazil.

Jutta: For me it was similar. My grandfather lived afloor above us, and he was hard of hearing. He al-ways listened to the Midnight Call radio programsso loud that we could hear everything. One daymy mother asked him, “You listen to such good ra-dio programs. Who is preaching? Can you get liter-ature by [Wim Malgo]?” Later we received theMidnight Call magazine. When Midnight Call hada meeting near us, we drove there for the first time.

We lived in Hannover, and the meeting was inWuppertal. Upon leaving, we took many maga-zines and books with us.

How did you come to know one another, and howdid you become missionaries together?

Jutta: We were in the same Bible school in Ger-many, which at that time was led by Friedrich Vo-gel. He sent us to Midnight Call Ministry. We didnot know much about the work, but we went. Weworked with Manfred Kreuz, who led the GermanMidnight Call Ministry at that time in Waldshut.We worked in the administration, where we tookcare of the address lists and acknowledging dona-tions. In this way we came to know the work. Erich

BY ERICH AND JUTTA SCHÄFER, ARGENTINA

MIDNIGHT CALL

Fellow Laborers


A conversation with Midnight Call missionaries Erich and Jutta Schäfer inBuenos Aires, Argentina, about divine leading, miracles on the way, and vehiclebreakdowns.

JUNE 2016 35

and I were also in the meetings in Zürich andwere part of the youth group.

Erich: We got to know each other in the Bibleschool, but had no direct contact. That was notallowed. The day after graduating, I was able toask her, in the middle of the street! It turned outto be divine guidance. We married very soon af-ter, and upon being sent out, we went to Austriafor 6 months of training. We both come from anevangelical background, while in South Americamost are Catholic. We had no idea how to evan-gelize in such a culture, and went from door todoor. We experienced how to preach the Gospelto a Catholic. In March 1978, we traveled toSouth America.

Jutta: Before we came to Argentina, we worked inthe Midnight Call Bible School in Montevideo,Uruguay. In Austria we went from door to door.We designed and made our own personal callingcards. When Erich was the leader of the group ofBible students, we did the same, and with thesecards we covered whole territories and broughtthe Word of God to the people. Many of themcame to believe. So our experiences in Austriaproved to be useful in Uruguay.

What are your goals for your work in Argentina?

Erich: Two new missionary couples have joinedus, and so we have been able to extend the work.For instance, more ventures with the MaranathaLatinomobile (a converted bus) are possible. Weare planning new Bible studies, church pro-grams, a weekend Bible school, and conferences.There are many possibilities. We also plan tohave a Bible school on wheels. In the future, de-pending on the Lord’s leading, we want to re-

place the Maranatha Latinomobile. As long asthe Lord gives us this instrument in our hands,we want to make use of it.

Jutta: Actually, every year we have to renew theroad permit. The vehicle is old and emits a lot ofexhaust, so we have to get it checked every year.

Erich: When we go for our test, it is a matter ofprayer whether the vehicle will pass the test ornot. We have often said in recent years, “Nexttime it won’t pass the test!” But the Lord continu-ally gives grace.

Jutta: We can also say that every time somethingbroke down on the way, God had a plan for us. Itonce happened in the middle of the jungle. Thatresulted in the local tool and die maker buildingus a new axle. We came to a place where the peo-ple could hear the gospel, but we otherwisewould never have stopped.

Erich: Another example comes to mind. One time,the transmission broke down. Stephan Beitzeand I were left standing in a parking lot. I drovewith the transmission in tow in a bus to BuenosAires to have it repaired. When we got back tothe parking lot with the repaired transmission,we tried to put it back in. Stephan and I both layunder the automobile, but we made no progress.Then a cyclist came by, who asked us what wewere doing. We answered, and he told us that hewas a car mechanic. He helped us to properly in-stall the transmission. We came to have a conver-sation with him, and learned that he once wentto a church but had departed from the faith. Wewere able to offer him Biblical guidance andshow him how necessary it was for him to returnto church. This was also God’s leading.

When we go for our test, it is a matter of prayer whether the vehiclewill pass the test or not. We have often said in recent years, “Nexttime it won’t pass the test!” But the Lord continually gives grace.

With credit cardready, call:

800-845-2420 or fax:

803-755-6002

MC0616

MIDNIGHT CALL

“To the only wise Godour Saviour, be gloryand majesty, dominionand power, both nowand ever” (Jude 25).

Mail to: Midnight Call Ministries, PO Box 84309, Lexington, SC 29073

r After prayerful consideration, I/we have decided tosupport ________________.

r yearly r monthly r one time $__________

Name:___________________________________________

Address:______________________________________

City:__________________________________________

State:______________________Zip:________________

Credit Card #:__________________________________

Exp:_________Phone:____________________________

Email:________________________________________

What is the greatest or most important thing thatyou have learned as missionaries?

Erich: For me personally, it is to let the Lord doHis work. He always has something ready forus. This means saying “Yes” when the Lordputs something in the way, even if we think, “Ican’t do that!” When the Lord gives a task, Healso gives the strength, the means and every-thing else that we need. This happened to mewhen we wanted to operate a printing press.Me print? I had never done that before. But theLord gave me grace and the wisdom to learn toprint. Meanwhile, we have printed millions oftracts. This is how it is with preaching; yes, inall areas, even with the Maranatha Latinomo-bile. Sometimes we lack the wisdom to find theproblem, but here too our Lord hears ourprayers and leads.

Jutta: One day we were on our way in the mid-dle of the Pampas, and suddenly all the lightsin the bus went out. No street lamps, no city;

there was nothing nearby. How do you fix a busin the dark?

Erich: We couldn’t see our hands before our eyes. Ifa car approached at 65 mph, it could have drivendirectly into the back of ours. I could only pray,“Lord, what should I do?” I felt around for the fusebox and unscrewed the lid. There were innumer-able cables and switches. “Lord, lead me” was myprayer. Then I felt into a corner and the light wenton again.

Jutta: The Lord had done this. We cannot explainit—I can only stress the faithfulness of the Lord.When God calls, He then equips us for His service.When God puts us in a difficult situation, He is theOne who can save. He is the Savior, not only con-cerning our eternal salvation, but also here andnow. He is the Lord. We belong to Him, and Hetakes care of His children better than we could takecare of our children. He is absolutely trustworthy,and we can rely on Him. And we want to do that tothe end. (MR0316)


MIDNIGHT CALL

Fellow Laborers

When God calls, He then equips us for His service. When God putsus in a difficult situation, He is the one who can save. He is the Sav-ior, not only concerning our eternal salvation, but also in everything.

Since the first Aliyah from Russia in1882 to the land of Israel, the abovequoted Scripture continues to be ful-

filled. From the north, the south, and fromthe ends of the earth, the Jews continue toreturn to Israel.Dr. Roger Liebi, in his book Are We Re-

ally Living in the Last Days? lists the num-ber of Jews who have reached Israel fromArab and Islamic countries: • Morocco: 270,000• Algeria: 54,000• Libya: 37,000• Egypt: 37,600• Lebanon: 4,000• Syria: 9,500• Iraq: 150,000• Yemen: 51,000• Aden: 6,500• Iran: 100,000

Not many Jews are left in these countries.They left everything behind. Arriving in Is-rael, they left behind hundreds of years ofhistory in their host countries, and oftengreat wealth. Why did they come? There are multiple

reasons listed when one reads Jewish his-tory, but the main reason is the “I will” ofGod. We also note the preceding verse,“Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thyseed from the east, and gather thee from thewest” (Isaiah 43:5). That simply means allJews will one day return to the land of Is-rael.

Back to the RootsSomething strange has been happening inEurope in recent years; namely, the returnof many Jews from Israel to the former hostcountries. What is the purpose? The mostobvious one is European citizenship; withan EU passport, the world is literallyopened up to an Israeli. However, we believe there is another rea-

son, and that is Israel’s preparation forglobal rulership. This is not an invention ofthe authors of the anti-Semitic writing, TheProtocols of the Elders of Zion. Wikipediasays: “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion orThe Protocols of the Meetings of theLearned Elders of Zion is an anti-Semiticfabricated text purporting to describe a Jew-ish plan for global domination. The forgerywas first published in Russia in 1903, trans-lated into multiple languages, and dissemi-nated internationally in the early part of the20th century. According to the claims madeby some of its publishers, the Protocols arethe minutes of a late 19th-century meetingwhere Jewish leaders discussed their goal ofglobal Jewish hegemony by subverting themorals of Gentiles, and by controlling thepress and the world’s economies.”So, what is the real reason? It is fulfill-

ment of Bible prophecy. We find the docu-mentation in Zechariah 8:23, “Thus saiththe LORD of hosts; In those days it shallcome to pass, that ten men shall take holdout of all languages of the nations, evenshall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew,

Ac ion for Israel

MIDNIGHT CALL

“I will say to the north, Give up; and to thesouth, Keep not back: bring my sons from far,and my daughters from the ends of the earth”(Isaiah 43:6).

JUNE 2016 37

BY ARNO FROESE

Mail to: Midnight Call Ministries, PO Box 84309, Lexington, SC 29073

r After prayerful consideration, I/we have decided to supportthe project “Action for Israel.”

r yearly r monthly r one time $_______

Name:___________________________________________

Address:______________________________________

City:__________________________________________

State:______________________Zip:________________

Credit Card #:__________________________________

Exp:____________Phone:_________________________

Email:________________________________________

With credit cardready, call:

800-845-2420 or fax:

803-755-6002

MC0616

“I will bless them thatbless thee...” (Genesis 12:3).

Ac ion for Israel

MIDNIGHT CALL

Ac ion for Israel

MIDNIGHT CALL

saying, We will go with you: for we haveheard that God is with you.”An article on haaretz.com features the

headline: “First Israeli set to get Spanish citi-zenship after tracing ancestry back to 1492expulsion.”

Yossi Ben Naim is the first Israel to complete the

application process, filed with the help of the La

Unión Sefaradí Mundial, an NGO based in

Jerusalem. The process required Ben Naim to

trace ancestry back to the 1492 expulsion, a per-

sonal connection to contemporary Spanish cul-

ture, and passing a language and general

knowledge test. Ben Naim left for Spain where he

completed the final stage of the process, filing his

documents with a Spanish notary. Now he awaits

an invitation from the Spanish embassy in Tel

Aviv to receive the highly coveted passport.

Speaking with Haaretz, Ben Naim told of his

family, saying both of his parents were born in the

northern Morocco town of Tétouan. His father,

Moshe, was born in 1925 and moved to Israel in

1972; his mother, Rahel, born in 1941, came to Is-

rael in 1956. “They spoke Spanish at home, and so

did I,” he recalled.

The La Unión Sefaradí Mundial helped Ben

Naim to create a detailed report of his genealogy,

based on preexisting research into Spanish Jewry,

and discovered he is related to Morocco’s head

rabbi from the end of the 19th century. The report

also included details of the names of the Jews

from Tétouan, and details of his father’s birth.

“The legacy of Spanish Morocco is part of me. I

feel very connected to Spain and its culture,” he said,

adding that his parents “were very very excited” when

they heard that their son would be the first Israeli to

receive a Spanish passport. “They felt very honored,”

he said, “most of my family never made Aliyah [immi-

grated] to Israel—most moved to Spain and

Venezuela.”

Yossi Ben Harush, head of the La Unión Sefaradí

Mundial who assisted Ben Naim in his application

process, told Haaretz that the group “has received

hundreds of requests, but this is the first to material-

ize into a passport. We have a large number of addi-

tional applications in the works,” he said.

The group is not the only one working to assist Is-

raelis in the quest for Spanish citizenship. A number

of organizations and private lawyers are also working

in the new market. Speaking to Haaretz, one such

lawyer, Maya Weiss-Tamir, said that the first group of

such clients is now about to begin the process.

-23 January 2016

Only in Israel! Many Jews can trace backtheir lineage; in this case, 524 years. It is ofinterest that Christopher Columbus is cred-ited with the discovery of the American con-tinent in 1492. Who was Columbus? Manyhistorians are convinced he was Jewish, andconverted to Christianity during the SpanishInquisition. While these things may be coin-cidental, the prophetic Word is not; it is eter-nal, and will be fulfilled to its finest detail. MC

JUNE 2016 39

Address letters for publication to: Letters to the Editor, Midnight Call, P.O. Box 84309, Lexington, SC

29073. Include full name, address, and daytime phone number. Without name and address, letters will

be discarded unread. All material is subject to editing. Midnight Call assumes all publishing rights on

letters sent to the Editor.

Note: All letters will be answered by the Executive Editor, Arno Froese.

PICTUREWORTH A THOUSANDWORDS...REFUGEES...EGYPT JUDGMENT

Picture Worth a ThousandWordsDear Mr. Froese,I very much enjoyed the arti-

cle, “Is the Millennium Really inthe Future?” by EberhardHanisch. Since many of us learnvisually, I was wondering if youcould suggest a particular endtimes timeline with Scripturereferences, that would showyour understanding of our bib-lical future. There are many onthe internet, but I don’t trustmy limited understanding tochoose one that is trustworthy.A picture is worth a thousandwords. I devour Midnight Callevery month. Thanks so muchfor your ministry.

-T. Franke, OR

Answer: Midnight Call offers the re-

source Panoramic View of the Bible

(Item 9073).

However, when it comes to the

Word of God, it’s just the opposite: a

picture is not worth a thousand

words, but the Word is worth more

than a thousand pictures.

The millennium is God’s new cre-

ation here on earth, but not the final

one because we are awaiting a new

heaven and a new earth.

It is of interest that in Revelation

1:3 it says, “Blessed is he that readeth,

and they that hear the words of this

prophecy.” Nothing is said of seeing.

For that and many other reasons, I am

always very cautious when it comes

to artistic representation of spiritual

things.

RefugeesDear Editor,As I read your publication

through, I was grieved by thewording used and not used inthe article, “Refugees at OurDoor.” First, man can hear thegood news, but he cannotopen his own heart. Second,the simple truth is one who de-sires to experience God’s salva-

tion can do so by believing inthe Lord Jesus Christ. This iswhat disturbs in this article. Byno means am I criticizing any-one for seeing the need of oth-ers and sharing the gospelwith them. What disturbs meis, “open their hearts”; mancannot open his heart. “To experience salvation

personally, stand up.”“Give his life to this King.”“I will pray with him.”“Each one prayed in his

heart.”People across the globe have

been given the impression,false, that if they stand, comeforward, raise a hand, pray aprayer, they are saved and theHoly Spirit comes into theirlife.From Genesis, God has re-

quired of His creation only onething; that is, to believe Him.Adam didn’t. Abraham did,and the fact that he believed

Letters to the Editor


God was counted to him forrighteousness. It’s extremelyimportant to know that Godcalled and chose Abraham;Abraham only responded toGod.The world is confused be-

cause the churches are con-fused. Church is about church;what it believes, its programs,its activities, and not JesusChrist, even though He is men-tioned.

-L. Gillingham, WY

Answer: I am in total agreement with

your insistence that faith is the key to

salvation. That stands to reason be-

cause by faith Eve and Adam lost par-

adise, and by faith we regain it.

The author of the article, “Refugees

at Our Door,” is an Egyptian living in

Germany. He is our full time mission-

ary to Arab speaking people.

You write, “I was grieved by the

wording used and not used in the ar-

ticle.” But I for one rejoice greatly, as

does heaven when one sinner re-

pents.

The fact that many Muslims, who

are forbidden to change their religion

at the risk of their lives, come to Chris-

tian meetings and actually accept Je-

sus Christ as their Lord and Savior, is

decisive; there is no justification for

critique.

Indeed, God called Abraham and

he responded. Today, He calls the en-

tire world, “For God so loved the

world, that he gave his only begotten

Son, that whosoever believeth in him

should not perish, but have everlast-

ing life” (John 3:16).

You conclude your letter, “The

world is confused.” That is correct, but

then you add, “because the churches

are confused.” Your attempt to gener-

alize all churches does not work be-

cause Jesus is building His Church,

and the good news is whoever wants

to belong to that Church only has to

believe.

Egypt JudgmentDear Mr. Froese,Quite recently, I was

stunned at the implications ofEzekiel 29:11… Even havingread the Bible through severaltimes verse by verse, the realsignificance of a 40 year utterdevastation of Egypt, alongwith the destruction of theTower of Syene, had never reg-istered with me.I was taken aback on hearing

that Israeli scientists/engineershave already spoken, publicly,that: should they ever need togo to war with Egypt, the way todefeat them catastrophicallywould be to demolish theAswan Dam, thereby floodingthe inhabited Nile Valley (all theway to the Mediterranean delta)with trillions and trillions of de-bris-laden, radioactive water…radioactive, because Israeli sci-entists believe that they wouldhave to employ several smallnuclear explosives, since ordi-nary ordnance could not “takedown” the 2000+ft-thick con-crete dam walls.Talking with several of my

Christian friends, I heard manydisclaimers: that the prophecyhad been fulfilled in Ezekiel’stime; the “40 yrs.” is not to betaken literally: it merely indi-cates a long time; the referenceto the Tower of Syene probably

refers to some structure in theJewish settlement that wasthere… and so on. All of whichdo not at all seem to hold wa-ter upon further thought. I’mso surprised, by the way, howmany believers feel perfectlyfree to take literally dates/peri-ods in one section of Scripture(viz., the 40 years of the Is-raelites’ desert wanderings)and discard literalness forother texts!My take, by the way, among

other points is: the Tower ofSyene did not exist at the timeof Ezekiel’s prophecy… A group of us would be most

grateful to “hear” your take onthis astounding verse.

-P. Hanson, CA

Answer: The judgment upon Egypt, as

recorded in Ezekiel chapters 29

through 32, has been fulfilled partially,

but in due time will be fulfilled com-

pletely. The emphasis upon forty years

(Ezekiel 29: 11-13) does not seem to

have been fulfilled. It is my personal

understanding that Egypt and all other

nations of the world will be judged

when Jesus returns to set up His thou-

sand year kingdom of peace. Only after

judgment has been executed, will

those nations be able to enter the mil-

lennium. Here we must read Isaiah

19:24-25, “In that day shall Israel be the

third with Egypt and with Assyria, even

a blessing in the midst of the land:

Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless,

saying, Blessed be Egypt my people,

and Assyria the work of my hands, and

Israel mine inheritance.” Interestingly,

Egypt is called “my people,” Assyria “the

work of my hands,” and Israel “mine in-

heritance.” Hope this is helpful.

Letters to the Editor

Day of RestDear Mr. Froese,I love your magazine. Thank

you for recently starting my giftsubscription to my brother inprison. So far he enjoys it too. Since you’re still getting let-

ters about the Sabbath, Ithought I would chime in too.You are right to quote Colos-sians 2:16. I believe also He-brews 4 has a lot to say aboutthe “7th day” rest; for us (theChurch), it is much more thanjust a day of the week. We mustenter into that rest and ceasefrom our own works. I remember asking my pastor

once about all the differenttranslations of the Bible in Eng-lish. He said non-believers aren’tstaying away because they can’tdecide what translation is best,or what food is ok to eat, orwhat day to rest—but if Satancan get us to argue among our-selves about such things, thatmay keep them away.We need to remember that

the non-believing world iswatching us, and we should befocusing on living in the Spiritto produce fruit. “Let us labortherefore to enter into that rest…”

-K. Tebo, NY

Answer: We may rest any day of the

week: in Israel it is the Sabbath, in the

European world (West) it’s Sunday, and

in the Muslim world, to a degree, Friday.

Paul writing to the Romans says, “One

man esteemeth one day above an-

other: another esteemeth every day

alike. Let every man be fully persuaded

in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

According to Wycliffe Bible Transla-

tors, the Bible has been translated into

over 550 languages. Thousands of lan-

guages more have part of the New Tes-

tament or the complete New

Testament.

All translations by whatever name

are the work of man and subject to error

and revision. That’s why today we have

many different translations, and those

of us who are able to read other lan-

guages discover more discrepancies.

Regarding the law of God, it’s eter-

nal and perfect, but the law was given

to the Jews, not to the Gentiles. That is

why the apostle Paul writes, “Touch

not; taste not; handle not; which all are

to perish with the using; after the com-

mandments and doctrines of men?”

(Colossians 2:21-22).

It is my understanding that unbe-

lievers do not seek truth because not

enough Christians are praying for the

unbelievers.

Spiritual prayer will cause convic-

tion of heart.

Correct ErrorsHi Rev. Froese,I’m writing about two erro-

neous things you said on page36 in the book, Terror OverAmerica. One was aboutPharaoh dying in the Red Seawith his soldiers, when the searushed in over them. The otheris when you say Hitler waskilled by having gasolinedoused over his body and be-ing set on fire.I don’t know where you

heard these things, but theyaren’t true. And it tends tothrow distrust on reading therest of the truth in an otherwisevery good book. I hope you can

correct these errors in futurecopies.

-D. Spence, FL

Answer: Psalm 136:15 reads, “But over-

threw Pharaoh and his host in the Red

sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

The Hebrew Tanakh makes it even

more plain, “Who hurled Pharaoh and

his army into the Sea of Reeds, his

steadfast love is eternal.”

According to German and Soviet

records, Hitler swallowed a cyanide

capsule, and then shot himself with his

pistol. The staff was instructed to incin-

erate him, which they did by dowsing

gasoline over his body and setting him

on fire.

CremationDear Brother Froese,In reference to your answer in

the January 2016 “Letters to theEditor” on the subject of Crema-tion, I agree with you that itmight be better to bury a body,even though to the Lord it mat-ters not. You mention 1Corinthians 3:16 as your argu-ment. But may I add that in yourquote, “Our body is the templeof the Holy Spirit,” that only ap-plies while the body still has thesoul and spirit. The Holy Spiritdoes not dwell in a dead body,and the temple is no longer holywithout soul, spirit, and body allintact. Am I correct?

-O. Caballero, TX

Answer: The issue is the disposal of

the body. What does the Bible say?

Very clearly, burial—not burning.

Cremation has been popularized

by the Hindu and Buddhist religions,

through the avenue of yoga.

JUNE 2016 41

MC



Midnight Call’sJune Resource Guide

Reprint

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Read about Satan’s plan to create peace andprosperity through deception!Finally, it seems the world has a leadership they can trust, admire, even worship. How Satan andhis cohorts accomplish this feat of deception, and how far his preparations have progressed isthe theme of this book, Revelation 13: Satan’s Last Victory.

REVELATION 13: SATAN’S LAST VICTORY ITEM #1067


$11.95 Sale $9 Author: Arno Froese

Something strange is happening in the Mideast. The awakening of the Arab nations heralds to the world the coming great change—the Arabsare to be counted as an important power structure on earth.

Democracy Invades Islam reveals how the Arab revolution will hasten the establishment ofthe final world government under the auspices of Democracy, led by Antichrist.

DEMOCRACY INVADES ISLAM ITEM #1072


$12.95 Sale $10 Author: Arno Froese

How Daniel Saw Our DaysDaniel’s Prophecies Made Easy takes a new and refreshing look at theancient prophecies illustrated by Nebuchadnezzar’s image, the fourworld powers, the ten horns and the climax of Antichrist’s dominion ofplanet Earth, followed by the establishment of God’s divinelyordained Kingdom.

DANIEL’S PROPHECIES MADE EASY ITEM #1057


$12 Sale $9 Author: Arno Froese


A Complete Biblical Study of Death and the AfterlifeIf you have ever been called upon to counsel the aged, the terminally ill, or those who are just beginning to ques-tion the mysteries of life and death, you will realize that mere human perspective is not enough to satisfy themind. Personal opinions, near-death experiences, out-of-body phenomena, or fantastic dream-world ideas can-not supply the proper and satisfactory answers to our questions. When Death Comes is a biblically basedstudy answering life’s questions about death and what occurs thereafter.

This study is a great tool for the minister as well as the layman who wishes to have answers to some oflife’s most puzzling questions. What about suicide? The death of a child? Heaven? Hell? Burial vs. cre-mation? All of these issues and more are addressed in this book. Death is a fact of life that we mustall face; therefore, it is wise to know the facts and to be prepared when death comes.

WHEN DEATH COMES ITEM #1056 224 pgs. • Paperback

$12.99 Sale $10 Author: Keith Harris

One of the unique books published by Midnight Call Ministries is Letters to the Editor.This book features original letters with a variety of questions selected during manydecades and prayerfully answered from the pages of Holy Scripture. You will find twenty-two chapters categorized under subject issues for easy refer-

ence. Here are the chapter titles:

• Creation/Evolution• Sin• Israel• Authority of Scripture• Spiritual Fundamentals• Prayer and Salvation

• Christian Practices?• End of Life• Scriptural Explanation• Endtime Prophecy• Future Prophecies• Past and Future Prophecies

Clearance

Questions That Need Answers

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ITEM #1045

438 Pages • Hardcover$22.99 Clearance $12Author: Arno Froese

The incredible doctrine ofthe return of Christ commands us to investigateThe Great Mystery of theRapture. • An intense biblical study designed toclarify the prophetic Word• An exhaustive analysis of the greatestevent in the history of the Church,revealing often overlooked truths in theOld and New Testament.

THE GREAT MYSTERY OF THERAPTUREITEM #1038 • 368 pgs. • Hardcover


How the Church Is Being DeceivedExamined in the light of God’sWord:

• Spiritual Baptism• Laying on of Hands• The Identity Theory• Out-of-Body Experience• Signs and Wonders• Renewal Theology• The Ecumenical Alignment

THE CHURCH SUBTLY DECEIVED? ITEM #2091128 pgs. • Paperback

$9.99 Sale $7 Author: Alexander Seibel

Want to know how you can get incredible deals on a weekly basis?Once a week you will receive an email with unbeatable savings on our many Bible-based products.

midnightcall.com/specialsSign up for FREE weekly specialoffer emails.

Are you missinghalf the storyabout the lastdays?

Reprint

A WOMAN RIDES THE

BEAST ITEM #2296 580 pgs. • Paperback

$16.99Sale $15Author: Dave Hunt

Unleashing the Power of God’s Word in Your LifeAfter Erwin Lutzer, senior pastor of the Moody Church, and his wife, Rebecca, realizedthat memorizing Scripture has nearly become a lost pursuit today, they decided tocreate this practical, relevant resource filled with powerful verses and insightfulexplanations to help stimulate a spiritual hunger in readers’ own lives.

LIFE-CHANGING BIBLE VERSES YOU SHOULD KNOW ITEM #2299


$12.99 Sale $11 Authors: Erwin W. Lutzer and Rebecca Lutzer

An Informed Response to Islam’s War with Christianity In The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent, readers will discover helpful answers to thesequestions and more:

• How does Islam’s growing influence affect me personally?• In what ways are our freedoms of speech and religion in danger?• How can I extend Christ’s love to Muslims around me?

THE CROSS IN THE SHADOW OF THE CRESCENT ITEM #2300


$14.99 Sale $13 Author: Erwin W. Lutzer

Many people are unaware of the signs of thetimes. WAKE THE BRIDE

ITEM #2302224 pgs. • Paperback

$14.99Sale $13Author: Jeff Kinley

NEW!

From Adam to the Second Coming of Christ!

This detailed chart has brief descriptions of such topics as the PeopleGroups from Adam, Noah and Abraham's time, the Kingdom Years, theTime of the Church, the Tribulation and Second Coming of Christ. Thereverse side has a summary of the judgments in Revelation. A perfecttool for personal or study group use.

PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE BIBLE (ENGLISH)ITEM #9073 • Size: 8.5 x 5.5 • also available in Spanish $9.95 Sale $7

3 7glossy protectivecoated panels!

3Perfect tool for

Bible study

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Mail to: Midnight Call PO Box 84309, Lexington, SC 29073 or call: 1-800-845–2420 (M-F, 8-5 EST) fax: 803–755–6002online: midnightcall.com/storeName:________________________________________Address:_______________________________________City:__________________________________________State:____________________ Zip:_________________Card#:________________________________________Exp:___________Phone:_________________________Email:________________________________________

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Credit card orders call 800-845-2420 or fax 803-755-6002 • Send check or money order to Midnight Call Ministries • PO Box 84309 • Lexington, SC 29073

Midnight Call PO Box 84309 Lexington, SC 29073

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage PaidColumbia, SCPermit No. 185

A refreshingly different view of the book of Acts!

The book of Acts is a historic documentrevealing the beginning of the Church. Itends with unfinished business, “Preaching

the kingdom of God, and teaching those thingswhich concern the Lord Jesus Christ….” Thus,preaching and teaching will continue until theChurch is completed.

The author highlights the building of thefoundation of the Church in Jerusalem. This is aone-time event, not to be repeated. It is clearlyemphasized in Ephesians 2:20, “...built upon thefoundation of the apostles and prophets, JesusChrist himself being the chief corner stone.” That isthe one-time and only foundation on which theChurch is built. During the construction of theChurch upon the existing foundation, God hascalled evangelists, pastors, and teachers, but nomore apostles and prophets.

This study is not influenced by schools of thoughtor determined by denominations, Bible schools andseminaries; thus, rather unusual.

THE SURE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCHITEM #1066 • 544 pgs. • Paperback


Order online:midnightcall.com/1066

the international prophetic voice for the endtimes www ...gerald bray, an anglican theologian and...

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