Re: Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
There is no Santa and Christ was NEVER in Christmas!
Submitted by David Ben-Ariel
Mike, why are you repeating the mantra that amounts to whitewash for a pagan hollow day? Do you still believe in Santa too? Let's be honest with ourselves. Apparently those who pretend to care Yeshua was born, the King of the Jews (how ethnocentric), the King of Israel (how racist!), prefer the helpless "baby Jesus" or "crucified Christ" rather than the outspoken and forceful Rabbi who overturns the tables of those who exploit religion for profit and who condemned traditions that contradict the commandments of God and who said He upheld the Law and the Prophets (even making them more binding by including their spirit or intent or attitude - not just the letter of the law) - the same Law and Prophets that condemn the vain attempts to modify pagan holidays to worship the true God.
If folks truly loved God and were appreciative of His Son, grateful for His life and example, they would accept the gracious gifts of the biblical Sabbath and festivals that portray God's plan of salvation for ALL mankind. After all, Yeshua, the disciples, the apostles, and the early Church of God faithfully observed and celebrated them with God's blessing. Every one of them reflect aspects of Christ. Instead folks have exchanged the gifts God has given mankind (through Israel), for cheap counterfeits, baptized paganism, whitewashed holidays, as misled to do by Romanizers pimping their accursed replacement theology.
Besides, what's "merry" about what God condemns? Don't you believe the Bible that whitewashed pagan hollow days are abominations? Aren't you a Bible-believing Christian? National captivity won't seem too merry. Merry national captivity? Merry catastrophe? Think again and have the change of heart God calls upon our nation to experience or suffer the serious consequences!
And for the record, I used to love Christmas and enjoy it with family and friends, because I didn't know better. Once I discovered the truth, that God condemns and hates modified pagan holidays as ABOMINATIONS, I forsook Babylon and quit keeping the unclean holidays, trusting Father knows best (Isa. 55:7-9).
Even if some sincerely mean to glorify and worship God and Christ on Christmas, they're sincerely wrong and their worship REJECTED - according to the Bible. Once God brings this light, this truth, to our attention, we're responsible to let it set us free from religious error and popular sin, not revert to traditional darkness.
And were you aware that our Puritan forefathers outlawed Christmas, and that it was also outlawed in England for awhile too? They recognized Roman Catholicism and its holidays aren't Christian, regardless of how some keep trying to force Christ into something He wants no part of and was never involved with! That's the plain truth.
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Operation Paperclip
After WWII ended in 1945, victorious Russian and American intelligence teams began a treasure hunt throughout occupied Germany for military and scientific booty. They were looking for things like new rocket and aircraft designs, medicines, and electronics. But they were also hunting down the most precious "spoils" of all: the scientists whose work had nearly won the war for Germany. The engineers and intelligence officers of the Nazi War Machine...
Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip
The Queen's Christmas Message - Will it be her last?
The British Royal Family must be reminded of their Hebrew roots and Israelite origins and encouraged to become like King David, "a man after God's own heart." After all, they are scions of King David and continue his dynasty.
May Queen Elizabeth II use her Christmas message to educate the world of her Davidic ancestry and biblical responsibilities, and announce she will no longer participate in heathen customs and pagan holidays that masquerade as Christian, but will begin to love and obey God and keep the biblical festivals that God has blessed Israel with to share with all the world. Why should folks exchange these gifts for the cheap counterfeits of Romanizers?
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
C.H. Spurgeon on Christmas and Roman Catholicism
Christmas is About Giving -- Says Who?
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Monday, December 22, 2008
Is this racist?
Re: Will Germany Launch a Nuclear Attack on America?
As a realist, I'm as "racist" as the Bible teaches us to be
Submitted by David Ben-Ariel on Mon, 2008-12-22.
1. David Ben-Ariel calls for racial segregation and for blacks to return to Africa
Is that racist? If it's racist, is it wrong? If it's wrong, says who and why? Didn't president-elect Obama faithfully attend an Afro-centric church that believes the same, as well as Louis Farrakhan and many other black brothers? (Even though they apparently don't like to practice what they preach).
2. David Ben-Ariel claims Africa is a "chocolate continent" created by God where blacks belong
That comment was based upon New Orlean Mayor Nagin's comment about his city being a "Chocolate City." Was that racist too? Oh my! Where's your outcry? Do you exercise double standards? Are you racist against whites to prove how you're not racist to non-whites?
3.David Ben-Ariel claims races and nations need to be relocated within boundaries God has set.
The ethnocentric Bible teaches that, so if that's racist - I'm glad to be as racist as God! No apologies there, no sirree...
4. David Ben-Ariel claims blacks and other "militant minorities" belong under benevolent white Israelite rule..
Only in our White Israelite nations. Haven't they proved it's necessary? Are you in denial of this plain truth? It's unnatural for blacks to rule in White Israelite inheritances, whether it's South Africa (going to hell in a handbasket) or raped Rhodesia now Zimbabwe ruins or Obama, that fraud and foreigner, about to occupy the White House. Think about it and be honest with yourself.
Furthermore, have you visited South Africa or "Zimbabwe?" I was blessed to visit South Africa and "Zimbabwe" before the ANC rot began to set in and the famine struck occupied Rhodesia (due to racist theft of farms from the whites who worked them and produced food), spending three of my seven weeks in Africa with colored friends in Cape Town.
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
Jimmy Carter and Edward Abington, Jr
Jimmy Carter proudly becomes Hamas advisor
Former US president says he tried to help Hamas leaders determine demands for hostage Israeli soldier more»
Why Edward Abington, Jr. Must be Investigated!
"The American Diplomat in Arafat's Corner," published in The Jerusalem Report, came as no surprise to me. It was referring to Edward Abington, Jr., the United States' former consul general in Jerusalem who is now "guiding the Palestinians through the labyrinths of Washington. And his firm is being paid $2.25 million for his expertise."
“The United States of Europe”
“The United States of Europe”
December 22, 2008 From theTrumpet.com
Welcome to the king of the north. By Philip Nice
BERLIN—Before you know it, you’re here. Drive yourself up the ramp of a Dover-Dunkirk ferry, disembark onto E-40 eastbound, and a few hours later, you’ll pass Otto-von-Bismarck-Allee, looking out the window at the thick woods of the majestic Tiergarten. Take a right on Wilhelmstraße, and another on Unter den Linden, and now you’re staring 50 feet up at the magnificent Brandenburg Gate.
It takes more time to drive from New York to Cincinnati than it does to go from England to the heart of Europe, and that’s counting the two-hour ferry ride. Riding by rail through the Chunnel to Berlin’s brand-new Hauptbanhof station, you’ll arrive in the German capital even quicker.
And you will have had almost no idea that you just traveled through four completely separate sovereign nations. It feels about as extraordinary as driving from Oklahoma to Indiana.
Because this isn’t just Europe. This is the United States of Europe.
The History of War
First-time visitors to the Continent often expect much more of a distinction from country to country. After all, these are completely separate nations with their own borders, citizens, laws and governments. More than that, these aren’t new kids on the historical block like Australia or Canada or the States. Each of Europe’s proud states has its own extensive historical root system with its own stately history branching into its own long traditions and ingrained inside its own unique language.
Rubbing these contrasting cultures against each other for the past 22 centuries has kindled more than a little friction—it has ignited more wars than there are decades of European history. The Continent has been blasted and bloodied in wars—some of which lasted for decades—literally dozens of times: England vs. France, Spain vs. England, France vs. Spain, England and France vs. Germany, England and Germany vs. France, Italy vs. Austria, the Netherlands vs. Spain, Germany vs. Sweden, Germany vs. all comers, ad infinitum. The history of Europe and the history of war are virtually indistinguishable.
So, you may expect separation, delineation, reservation. And, of course, much of that remains, particularly in the cultural sphere. But especially since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, fragmented, wall-building Europe has merged into something much different.
Europe is changing.
Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Borders
If you are going to Europe, your passport will be stamped a grand total of about once. Once you’re in, you’re in. Driving through the Continent, you may be shocked to see how many of these former borders between nations have become porous—literally.
If you are traveling the Continent by car, you experience a different sensation driving off the ferry in Dunkirk than you did driving on. The difference is perceptible; you are in France now. But what might surprise you is what happens when you cross the border from France to Belgium. Nothing. You experience the same remarkably unremarkable occurrence when you pass from Belgium to the Netherlands—or the Netherlands to Germany—or Germany to Austria.
In fact, you almost certainly will not realize that you have passed into a completely new country until well after the fact. There are no border crossings. No passport checks. No customs. No stopping. In fact, it’s hard to notice any prominent signs—even on major interstate highways like the A-21 and A-40—informing you, “Welkom in Nederland” or “Wilkommen in Deutschland.” There’s more of a distinction driving from state to state in the U.S. than there is crossing the border from country to country here. You just zoom right through.
To travel European highways is to join a homogeneous mix of commercial vehicles, traveling businessmen, family vans, tourist buses and other cars from dozens of different countries crisscrossing borders without even easing off the accelerator. Trucks and vans bear company names in three or four different languages and carry multiple registrations. Passing the familiar white oval bumper stickers of PL for Poland, D for Germany, BE for Belgium, H for Hungary—all in one day—in France is about as remarkable as seeing out-of-state tags in the States.
It’s not so much that you’ve arrived in France as you’ve arrived in Europe.
Currency
Traveling throughout Europe prior to 1990, a Dutchman meeting contacts in Poland, Spain, Italy and elsewhere had to gear down for a number of border crossings to fish out his documentation as he reached across several plastic baggies of petty cash: one each for gilders, lire, marks, assorted francs and other currencies.
Inside today’s pan-European Schengen Zone, not only are those border crossings long gone, so are the baggies.
Currency symbolizes sovereignty. It is one of the main features of a sovereign state. In addition to traveling, one thing you do daily is use money. Whether you’re behind the helm of a gigantic hedge fund or a grocery cart, money is intrinsic to daily life. Currency unifies and identifies a country. And before 2002, you talked in terms of gilders if you’re Dutch, lire if you’re Italian, schillings if you’re Austrian or escudos if you’re Portuguese—each coin of which is imprinted with your culture, your leaders, your history, your identity.
No more. Today, wherever you go in Europe, you talk in euros.
The bill in your hand could be Slovenia or Finland, Greece or Luxembourg—it doesn’t matter; just so long as it’s European. Because, after all, when it comes to the all-important world of money, you’re not so much a Slav or a Finn as you are a European.
Beyond the everyday, real-world impact a united currency has on the average European, it also requires closer cooperation between member states for the sake of the Continent’s economy. “The euro, a symbol of European identity, is one of the strongest tangible symbols of European integration,” the European Commission says, adding that implementation of the single currency was “not only an economic decision; it was also a political commitment by the EU member states to work together.” A united currency also means more cross-border trade, and smoother investment and lending within Europe—less time and money lost in translation.
What a Superstate Looks Like
Not only are the geographic, societal and financial transitions of driving between nation-states comparatively seamless, but whether you speak German, Dutch or French, everyone from the business executive in the queue behind you to the petrol clerk in front is likely to understand. Most Europeans speak three or four languages, another factor that is helping modern Europe solidify.
Although each culture absolutely displays profound individuality—the aspiration of the French, the heartiness of the Swedes, the passion of the Italians, the proficiency of the Germans—Europe’s distinct societies still share core similarities. As a whole, European culture is unified in its values of refinement, sophistication and—thanks to the historic dominance of the Frankish, Romish and Germanic cultures—perceived entitlement to lead the world. The leading nations of Europe also have a different worldview than those across the Atlantic, being less obsessed with things like freedom, democracy, deregulation and excess. The European Union has also been largely unified in its overall opposition to the United States—particularly regarding today’s economic crises—and its desire for a greater world political role for itself.
Further behind the scenes, European countries are already cinched together with tightly bound cross-border trade, business and investment ties, the basis for political union and superstate status. Trade is, after all, how European integration began: first with the European Coal and Steel Community, then the European Economic Community and now the European Union. Whether the name changes or not, the next step is clear: a federal superstate.
But a superstate would require its own citizens, borders, government and law—right? It would need its own constitution, its own citizens, its own president, its own foreign-policy diplomats, superiority to its member states and those member states surrendering their sovereignty—right?
Right.
And that is exactly what has happened. Besides integrated borders, a common currency and tight trade ties, the European Union already has almost all the final remaining instruments of assimilation ready to operate. The Lisbon Treaty:
*Changes the EU’s legal form from a group to an official state
*Outlines the primacy of EU laws over member states’ laws
*Empowers the EU to act as a state separate from and superior to its member states
*Subordinates national parliaments to the superstate
*Institutes its own president to preside while other national leaders come and go
*Creates a de facto foreign ministry to represent Europe to the world.
*Establishes each nation’s citizens as European citizens
*Defines its citizens’ civil rights
The superstate is ALREADY HERE!
When Lisbon zigzags its way around popular opinion and rolls to a very undemocratic ratification by member states, it will become the constitution of Europe. And the Continent will be even less the fractured, warring patchwork of variegated sovereign states it once was, and much more the imperial federal superstate it is about to become—and, in many ways, already is.
Of course, many of the centuries-old heterogeneous distinctions and disparities remain. The differences between a Swede, a Slovene and a German are certainly more pronounced than the differences between an Oklahoman, a New Yorker and an Arizonan. But this centuries-old Continent has already found itself coming together over the most important issues—the essential structural components that can fasten it together as a superstate—and the remaining beams and loose bolts required to lock it into place are spinning tighter right now.
This doesn’t even include the soldering effect religion will have in fusing this continent together for one last crusade. This is not your father’s Europe. This is the new European superstate.
All the pieces are in place for Europe to unify, and some of them have already been welded together. The rest of the machine will be forged in a matter of years, if not months. Today’s Europe is not a union, a confederacy, a coalition or a treaty of sovereign states. It’s one. It’s a resurrected superstate.
The late commentator Herbert Armstrong originally described Europe’s future dead-on in February 1949—it took four words. It is the “United States of Europe.” •
************
Bible Prophecy States EU to Form Core Group
Europe's Bitter Roots
The EU is a German Ruse
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
Bavarian Pope to Sweep Europe Off its Feet?
Is a World Dictator About to Appear?
Will The Atlantic Times address the German threat?
Why Europe Is Furious With Germany
Brad Macdonald Columnist
Why Europe Is Furious With Germany
December 18, 2008 From theTrumpet.com
Germany is stonewalling attempts to rescue Europe’s collapsing economies. What is Berlin’s motivation?
Boneheaded.
That’s how Paul Krugman, this year’s distinguished Nobel Prize laureate for economics, defined Germany’s response to Europe’s financial crises. Krugman is part of a vast chorus of economic gurus, journalists and politicians disgusted and enraged at Berlin.
“For the first time in my life, I am starting to feel twinges of anti-German sentiment,” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, international business editor for the Daily Telegraph, wrote on Monday. “[E]ven Teutophiles who think that Germany has played an enlightened role for 60 years are losing patience with the antics of the finance ministry and Bundesbank, and with the DICTATORIAL TURN in Berlin’s EU strategy” (emphasis mine throughout).
European politicians are similarly enraged.
“France is working on it and Germany is thinking about it,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy jabbed recently in reference to Berlin’s sloth-like approach to solving Europe’s economic crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s habit of shooting down rescue efforts for Europe’s crashing economies has earned her the nickname Madame Non in France; in Britain, Frau Nein.
Across Europe, the impression is that Germany is fiddling while the Continent is burning.
Britain’s frustration with Berlin boiled over early last week when, ahead of Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels, Prime Minister Gordon Brown snubbed Merkel and invited only Sarkozy and José Manuel Barroso to London for pre-summit economic discussions. Press releases that claimed the snub was unintentional and denied reports of a rift in the EU were taken with a grain of salt. As Spiegel Online reported Thursday of last week, “Growing annoyance with Germany inside the European Union had hardly been the best kept secret in recent weeks.”
What’s going on? Why is nearly every European state furious at Berlin? More importantly, why is Germany stonewalling Europe’s rescue efforts? What does Germany expect to gain by infuriating its neighbors and isolating itself from the rest of Europe?
Europe’s economic chaos has received sparse coverage in America. That’s understandable: It’s hard to pay attention to the house burning across the street when your own house is going up in flames. Nevertheless, the economic fires roasting Europe’s economies are as deadly as those ravaging America’s economic house. In December, Europe’s manufacturing and service industries contracted at the fastest pace in a decade or more. Payrolls are falling. Consumer and executive confidence dropped last month to the lowest level in 15 years. Industrial production plummeted the most since 1993. Half of EU member states are running budget deficits; most others are right on the fence, and quickly eating into surpluses. Social unrest is now a reality, and the recent riots in Greece are fundamentally a result of Greece’s bankrupt economy and the government’s inability to solve its financial troubles. The Greeks are not alone; with recession striking Continent-wide, similar economy-precipitated crises are smoldering, particularly in Spain, Portugal and Eastern Europe.
Europe’s leaders are alarmed and scrambling to douse the flames. The problem lies with someone who is stalling these rescue efforts. Europe’s largest, most influential and best-positioned national economy disagrees with how its counterparts—particularly France and Britain, in addition to the European Commission—plan to put out the fires.
While London, Paris and Brussels seek the flamboyant American-style quick-fix, billion-dollar-bailout/stimulus-package approach, Berlin views that as reactionary and potentially dangerous. Instead of further rupturing national budgets by borrowing billions and haphazardly throwing money at the problem, Germany believes the bona fide solution lies in sound, cautious fiscal management that will solve the root cause of the problem.
“At a time when the global benchmark for decisive leadership boils down to the number of zeros that are attached to economic stimulus packages,” reported the New York Times Tuesday, “Germany has taken a different path.” Chancellor Merkel highlighted that path during a recent speech in the German region of Swabia, where she “lambasted the bailout mentality gripping Western leaders and lauded financial discipline, balanced budgets and the ethic of thrift …” (Washington Times, December 14). Every Swabian housewife knows the root cause of this crisis, she said: “You can’t keep on living beyond your means. … We are not going to participate in this senseless race for billions. We have to have the courage to swim against the tide.” Merkel was insinuating that German housewives know more about the cause of the economic crises than some European leaders.
Talk about bold.
Recently, Germany’s feisty finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, set off sparks during an interview with Newsweek. When asked what was wrong with the stimulus proposals being bandied about by Europe’s leaders, Steinbrück denounced the plans and said that the “speed at which proposals are put together under pressure that don’t even pass an economic test is breathtaking and depressing.” That was before the EU summit in Brussels where Europe’s leaders agreed to ignore EU rules limiting government borrowing and debt and decided to inject €200 billion, or 1.5 percent of the bloc’s gross domestic product, into European economies to bolster growth.
During the interview, Steinbrück specifically excoriated Britain for a recent tax cut: “Our British friends are now cutting their value-added tax,” he said. “We have no idea how much of that stores will pass on to customers. Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90? All this will do is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off.” Steinbrück called Britain’s efforts to kick-start its economy “crass Keynesianism,” in reference to the famous British economist who believed nations should spend their way out of recession.
Experts say that the German finance minister’s caustic swipe, aside from sparking outrage in Britain and being undiplomatic and divisive, also undermined the British pound and was designed to sap global confidence in the British government and economy. “The recession [in Britain] looks to be deeper than predicted,” wrote Philip Stephens in the Financial Times. He added,
[T]he last thing Mr. Brown’s government needs is a further weakening of confidence in sterling assets among international investors. IT SCARCELY HELPS TO HAVE GERMANY'S FINANCE MINISTER DECLARE THAT BRITAIN'S STRATEGY AMOUNTS TO "CRASS KEYNESIANISM." … [The danger] has always been that international investors—in British government bonds, in particular—will take fright. MR. STEINBRUCK SEEMS TO BE EGGING THEM ON IN THAT DIRECTION.
Were Steinbrück’s remarks a direct attack on one of Germany’s largest competitors in the European Union? Of course they were! Why? Because, as Evans-Pritchard put it on Monday, there has been a “DICTATORIAL turn in Berlin’s EU strategy.”
“[Y]ou can’t have a coordinated European effort if Europe’s biggest economy not only refuses to go along, but heaps scorn on its neighbors’ attempts to contain the crisis,” writes Paul Krugman.
Let’s not misunderstand. It’s not that Germany is not unwilling to deal with the economic chaos. Berlin has already passed a $31 billion economic package of its own—while still managing to balance its budget—and announced earlier this week that it is considering another stimulus package, to be released after the inauguration of Barack Obama. Over the past few days especially, it seems the Continent-wide uproar has caused Berlin to slightly soften its opposition to the let’s-slash-interest-rates-and-taxes, leverage-ourselves-to-the-hilt-and-pump-piles-of-money-into-our-economies approach to Europe’s economic crises.
Despite its relative softening, however, the German government still doesn’t believe that slashing taxes or handing out vouchers to promote spending are the primary solutions. Earlier this week, Merkel said that any stimulus package put forward will largely involve injecting money into the German economy by tackling infrastructure projects and promoting public works. Germany remains staunch in its refusal to bankrupt itself by injecting money into the failed economies of other European states.
But not everyone is furious at Berlin. Fiscal conservatives are praising Germany for its sound economic reasoning. “Germany is seemingly in good shape to weather the downturn,” wrote the Washington Times on Sunday, and is “in a better position than other nations such as the UK, Spain, Italy and France, for example, which have strained their budgets in attempting to stimulate the economy.” The Times concluded:
In the headlong rush to find an economic panacea, Mrs. Merkel is among few Western leaders keeping a cool head. As the EU moves forward on the Eastern Partnership and other platforms, she must continue to stand firm against the pressure to leverage Germany’s—and Europe’s—future with government bailout schemes.
It seems that Germany is giving the world a lesson in how it believes economic crisis ought to be handled! But we ought to dig a bit deeper to discern the true motives behind the German government’s resistance to the general stance of the rest of the EU on priming the pump of the European economies.
When it comes to economic management, the Germans are nearly the opposite of profligate Americans and some of their European counterparts. Where Americans want to spend their way out of a crisis, Germany prefers to save its way out. In general, the German national character is among the most thrifty, efficient and hard-working in the world. That’s partly why the German government abhors ridiculous spending and massive deficits. Even now, for example, Germany has a current account surplus of 7 percent of its GDP.
The prudent and thrifty national character of the German people is surely a reason for Germany’s fervent opposition to Europe’s rescue plan. But it’s not the PRIMARY REASON!
History shows that Germany has a frightening tendency to exploit a crisis. In fact, as British political commentator Rodney Atkinson once told the Trumpet, “THE GERMAN IS EXPERT IN CREATING A CRISIS, THEN POSING THE SOLUTION, WITH AN OUTCOME DESIGNED TO FURTHER HIS OWN ENDS.”
That’s what is now occurring in Europe!
Berlin’s stalling tactics are intensifying Europe’s economic crises. Europe-wide cooperation is essential if Europe’s bailouts and stimulus packages are to work. “[I]f Germany, the largest economy, refuses to go along,” Krugman said in an interview with Spiegel, “there will be no cooperation. EVENTS HAVE GIVEN GERMANY A STRATEGIC POLICY IMPORTANCE DISPROPORTIONATE TO ITS SIZE.”
This is a time-tested principle of European politics: GERMANY IS CREATING A CRISIS WITH THE INTENTION OF POSING A SOLUTION THAT WILL FURTHER ITS OWN ENDS! By hijacking Europe’s plans to rescue its economies, Germany is essentially DICTATING EUROPEAN ECONOMIC POLICY! Of course Berlin realizes it is infuriating its European neighbors. That doesn’t matter to it, because at the end of the day, whether European states like Berlin or not, this financial crisis will cause Europe to increasingly look to and rely on Germany as the savior of Europe!
Watch Germany. Watch Europe. Berlin’s strategy to establish itself as the leader of Europe is well underway—AND THERE'S PLENTY MORE GROUND TO COVER! To properly understand what’s going on in Germany and in Europe, we must not only set our gaze on current events happening on the Continent, we must also set our minds on both history and Bible prophecy. This is what Christ meant when He said in Luke 21, “Watch and pray.” Watching world events will not save a person from the impending disaster. Our watching must be done in the context of urgent prayer and in-depth Bible study.
Actually, effective watching—that which leads a person to being so moved by the danger of the times in which he lives that he feels impelled to seek after God—is a function of prayer and how well a person knows the Bible and God’s prophecies regarding end-time events. To truly understand what’s happening in Europe, one must understand Germany in history and prophecy. If this subject genuinely interests you, it’s critical you read, in this order, The United States and Britain in Prophecy, Germany and the Holy Roman Empire and Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? •
************
Can the leopard change its spots?
Is Germany in Danger of Backsliding?
Germany Behind the Mask
The EU is a German Ruse
Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads Its Wings Over the World
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
Will The Atlantic Times address the German threat?
Why Europe Is Furious With Germany
December 18, 2008 From theTrumpet.com
Germany is stonewalling attempts to rescue Europe’s collapsing economies. What is Berlin’s motivation?
Boneheaded.
That’s how Paul Krugman, this year’s distinguished Nobel Prize laureate for economics, defined Germany’s response to Europe’s financial crises. Krugman is part of a vast chorus of economic gurus, journalists and politicians disgusted and enraged at Berlin.
“For the first time in my life, I am starting to feel twinges of anti-German sentiment,” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, international business editor for the Daily Telegraph, wrote on Monday. “[E]ven Teutophiles who think that Germany has played an enlightened role for 60 years are losing patience with the antics of the finance ministry and Bundesbank, and with the DICTATORIAL TURN in Berlin’s EU strategy” (emphasis mine throughout).
European politicians are similarly enraged.
“France is working on it and Germany is thinking about it,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy jabbed recently in reference to Berlin’s sloth-like approach to solving Europe’s economic crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s habit of shooting down rescue efforts for Europe’s crashing economies has earned her the nickname Madame Non in France; in Britain, Frau Nein.
Across Europe, the impression is that Germany is fiddling while the Continent is burning.
Britain’s frustration with Berlin boiled over early last week when, ahead of Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels, Prime Minister Gordon Brown snubbed Merkel and invited only Sarkozy and José Manuel Barroso to London for pre-summit economic discussions. Press releases that claimed the snub was unintentional and denied reports of a rift in the EU were taken with a grain of salt. As Spiegel Online reported Thursday of last week, “Growing annoyance with Germany inside the European Union had hardly been the best kept secret in recent weeks.”
What’s going on? Why is nearly every European state furious at Berlin? More importantly, why is Germany stonewalling Europe’s rescue efforts? What does Germany expect to gain by infuriating its neighbors and isolating itself from the rest of Europe?
Europe’s economic chaos has received sparse coverage in America. That’s understandable: It’s hard to pay attention to the house burning across the street when your own house is going up in flames. Nevertheless, the economic fires roasting Europe’s economies are as deadly as those ravaging America’s economic house. In December, Europe’s manufacturing and service industries contracted at the fastest pace in a decade or more. Payrolls are falling. Consumer and executive confidence dropped last month to the lowest level in 15 years. Industrial production plummeted the most since 1993. Half of EU member states are running budget deficits; most others are right on the fence, and quickly eating into surpluses. Social unrest is now a reality, and the recent riots in Greece are fundamentally a result of Greece’s bankrupt economy and the government’s inability to solve its financial troubles. The Greeks are not alone; with recession striking Continent-wide, similar economy-precipitated crises are smoldering, particularly in Spain, Portugal and Eastern Europe.
Europe’s leaders are alarmed and scrambling to douse the flames. The problem lies with someone who is stalling these rescue efforts. Europe’s largest, most influential and best-positioned national economy disagrees with how its counterparts—particularly France and Britain, in addition to the European Commission—plan to put out the fires.
While London, Paris and Brussels seek the flamboyant American-style quick-fix, billion-dollar-bailout/stimulus-package approach, Berlin views that as reactionary and potentially dangerous. Instead of further rupturing national budgets by borrowing billions and haphazardly throwing money at the problem, Germany believes the bona fide solution lies in sound, cautious fiscal management that will solve the root cause of the problem.
“At a time when the global benchmark for decisive leadership boils down to the number of zeros that are attached to economic stimulus packages,” reported the New York Times Tuesday, “Germany has taken a different path.” Chancellor Merkel highlighted that path during a recent speech in the German region of Swabia, where she “lambasted the bailout mentality gripping Western leaders and lauded financial discipline, balanced budgets and the ethic of thrift …” (Washington Times, December 14). Every Swabian housewife knows the root cause of this crisis, she said: “You can’t keep on living beyond your means. … We are not going to participate in this senseless race for billions. We have to have the courage to swim against the tide.” Merkel was insinuating that German housewives know more about the cause of the economic crises than some European leaders.
Talk about bold.
Recently, Germany’s feisty finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, set off sparks during an interview with Newsweek. When asked what was wrong with the stimulus proposals being bandied about by Europe’s leaders, Steinbrück denounced the plans and said that the “speed at which proposals are put together under pressure that don’t even pass an economic test is breathtaking and depressing.” That was before the EU summit in Brussels where Europe’s leaders agreed to ignore EU rules limiting government borrowing and debt and decided to inject €200 billion, or 1.5 percent of the bloc’s gross domestic product, into European economies to bolster growth.
During the interview, Steinbrück specifically excoriated Britain for a recent tax cut: “Our British friends are now cutting their value-added tax,” he said. “We have no idea how much of that stores will pass on to customers. Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90? All this will do is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off.” Steinbrück called Britain’s efforts to kick-start its economy “crass Keynesianism,” in reference to the famous British economist who believed nations should spend their way out of recession.
Experts say that the German finance minister’s caustic swipe, aside from sparking outrage in Britain and being undiplomatic and divisive, also undermined the British pound and was designed to sap global confidence in the British government and economy. “The recession [in Britain] looks to be deeper than predicted,” wrote Philip Stephens in the Financial Times. He added,
[T]he last thing Mr. Brown’s government needs is a further weakening of confidence in sterling assets among international investors. IT SCARCELY HELPS TO HAVE GERMANY'S FINANCE MINISTER DECLARE THAT BRITAIN'S STRATEGY AMOUNTS TO "CRASS KEYNESIANISM." … [The danger] has always been that international investors—in British government bonds, in particular—will take fright. MR. STEINBRUCK SEEMS TO BE EGGING THEM ON IN THAT DIRECTION.
Were Steinbrück’s remarks a direct attack on one of Germany’s largest competitors in the European Union? Of course they were! Why? Because, as Evans-Pritchard put it on Monday, there has been a “DICTATORIAL turn in Berlin’s EU strategy.”
“[Y]ou can’t have a coordinated European effort if Europe’s biggest economy not only refuses to go along, but heaps scorn on its neighbors’ attempts to contain the crisis,” writes Paul Krugman.
Let’s not misunderstand. It’s not that Germany is not unwilling to deal with the economic chaos. Berlin has already passed a $31 billion economic package of its own—while still managing to balance its budget—and announced earlier this week that it is considering another stimulus package, to be released after the inauguration of Barack Obama. Over the past few days especially, it seems the Continent-wide uproar has caused Berlin to slightly soften its opposition to the let’s-slash-interest-rates-and-taxes, leverage-ourselves-to-the-hilt-and-pump-piles-of-money-into-our-economies approach to Europe’s economic crises.
Despite its relative softening, however, the German government still doesn’t believe that slashing taxes or handing out vouchers to promote spending are the primary solutions. Earlier this week, Merkel said that any stimulus package put forward will largely involve injecting money into the German economy by tackling infrastructure projects and promoting public works. Germany remains staunch in its refusal to bankrupt itself by injecting money into the failed economies of other European states.
But not everyone is furious at Berlin. Fiscal conservatives are praising Germany for its sound economic reasoning. “Germany is seemingly in good shape to weather the downturn,” wrote the Washington Times on Sunday, and is “in a better position than other nations such as the UK, Spain, Italy and France, for example, which have strained their budgets in attempting to stimulate the economy.” The Times concluded:
In the headlong rush to find an economic panacea, Mrs. Merkel is among few Western leaders keeping a cool head. As the EU moves forward on the Eastern Partnership and other platforms, she must continue to stand firm against the pressure to leverage Germany’s—and Europe’s—future with government bailout schemes.
It seems that Germany is giving the world a lesson in how it believes economic crisis ought to be handled! But we ought to dig a bit deeper to discern the true motives behind the German government’s resistance to the general stance of the rest of the EU on priming the pump of the European economies.
When it comes to economic management, the Germans are nearly the opposite of profligate Americans and some of their European counterparts. Where Americans want to spend their way out of a crisis, Germany prefers to save its way out. In general, the German national character is among the most thrifty, efficient and hard-working in the world. That’s partly why the German government abhors ridiculous spending and massive deficits. Even now, for example, Germany has a current account surplus of 7 percent of its GDP.
The prudent and thrifty national character of the German people is surely a reason for Germany’s fervent opposition to Europe’s rescue plan. But it’s not the PRIMARY REASON!
History shows that Germany has a frightening tendency to exploit a crisis. In fact, as British political commentator Rodney Atkinson once told the Trumpet, “THE GERMAN IS EXPERT IN CREATING A CRISIS, THEN POSING THE SOLUTION, WITH AN OUTCOME DESIGNED TO FURTHER HIS OWN ENDS.”
That’s what is now occurring in Europe!
Berlin’s stalling tactics are intensifying Europe’s economic crises. Europe-wide cooperation is essential if Europe’s bailouts and stimulus packages are to work. “[I]f Germany, the largest economy, refuses to go along,” Krugman said in an interview with Spiegel, “there will be no cooperation. EVENTS HAVE GIVEN GERMANY A STRATEGIC POLICY IMPORTANCE DISPROPORTIONATE TO ITS SIZE.”
This is a time-tested principle of European politics: GERMANY IS CREATING A CRISIS WITH THE INTENTION OF POSING A SOLUTION THAT WILL FURTHER ITS OWN ENDS! By hijacking Europe’s plans to rescue its economies, Germany is essentially DICTATING EUROPEAN ECONOMIC POLICY! Of course Berlin realizes it is infuriating its European neighbors. That doesn’t matter to it, because at the end of the day, whether European states like Berlin or not, this financial crisis will cause Europe to increasingly look to and rely on Germany as the savior of Europe!
Watch Germany. Watch Europe. Berlin’s strategy to establish itself as the leader of Europe is well underway—AND THERE'S PLENTY MORE GROUND TO COVER! To properly understand what’s going on in Germany and in Europe, we must not only set our gaze on current events happening on the Continent, we must also set our minds on both history and Bible prophecy. This is what Christ meant when He said in Luke 21, “Watch and pray.” Watching world events will not save a person from the impending disaster. Our watching must be done in the context of urgent prayer and in-depth Bible study.
Actually, effective watching—that which leads a person to being so moved by the danger of the times in which he lives that he feels impelled to seek after God—is a function of prayer and how well a person knows the Bible and God’s prophecies regarding end-time events. To truly understand what’s happening in Europe, one must understand Germany in history and prophecy. If this subject genuinely interests you, it’s critical you read, in this order, The United States and Britain in Prophecy, Germany and the Holy Roman Empire and Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? •
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Can the leopard change its spots?
Is Germany in Danger of Backsliding?
Germany Behind the Mask
The EU is a German Ruse
Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads Its Wings Over the World
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
Will The Atlantic Times address the German threat?
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