Good morning!

When an F-15 fighter jet was shot down on Friday and the two-man crew ejected in a remote, mountainous region of southwestern Iran, it could have been disastrous—as several past ugly incidents attest.

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It wasn’t. Instead, the mishap ended in spectacular success. It not only highlights America’s formidable military might but also indicates God’s presence.

• The pilot was located and rescued by U.S. forces in a perilous combat search-and-rescue mission in which supporting aircraft came under fire.

The weapons officer evaded capture for over 24 hours, even as Iran put a bounty on him and Iranian forces and militias engaged in a massive manhunt. What they would have done to him, what concessions they would have sought from the U.S., what humiliation they would have exacted, are not hard to imagine.

• Seriously wounded, the officer hiked through rugged terrain, hid alone in a rocky mountain crevice, and survived with minimal gear. “From his hiding place, the weapons officer alerted his rescuers to the areas they should target for strikes, where he could see Iranians advancing,” the New York Times reported, citing a senior military official.
• Meanwhile U.S. forces mounted a complex, high-risk mission involving hundreds of personnel, special operations commandos, helicopters, fixed-wing support and drones.
• Though complications forced the U.S. to leave some planes behind (and bomb them so Iran couldn’t seize them), no U.S. personnel were killed or left behind.

“We got him!” President Trump posted, calling the operation “miraculous.”

It is miraculous. Just think of past U.S. rescue operations, particularly those involving deep penetration into enemy territory, that ended in failure, heavy losses or significant embarrassment.

• The most direct comparison is Operation Eagle Claw in 1980. U.S. forces tried to rescue Americans held hostage by Iranian Islamist revolutionaries at the American Embassy in Tehran. Navy helicopters faced severe mechanical failures and a massive sandstorm. The mission was aborted, the force withdrew without reaching the hostages—and during withdrawal, one helicopter collided with a fuel-laden transport aircraft, triggering a massive explosion that killed eight U.S. servicemen.

This rescue operation’s success combines with other recent impressive American military achievements. The whole Iran war has been a tactical triumph. It has demonstrated America’s considerable power during this temporary national resurgence that President Trump was prophesied to oversee.

The rescue puts an exclamation point on the fact that it is God saving America by the president’s hand. We must give credit where it is due. And not forget that God has also prophesied the ultimate outcome of this war if America does not repent of its sins.

Trump’s Easter Message

“When Jesus Christ rose from His earthly tomb on Easter morning, He restored our grace, washed our sins, and reconciled humanity with God—fulfilling the ancient prophecy that ‘He was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity … by His wounds we were healed.’”

• That was part of Donald Trump’s message to the nation, posted on the White House website on Friday.

The next day he released a video from the White House stating:

I’m proud to join with Christians across the country, and around the world, to celebrate the most glorious miracle in all of time: the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In His life, Christ displayed true humility. In His death, He modeled true love. And in His resurrection from the tomb, He proved that even death itself will not silence those who place their trust in Almighty God.

His religious message is a major contrast to the statements Joe Biden would put out at this time of year.

• In Biden’s 2021 Easter remarks, his only mention of anything religious was to say, “God bless you all. May God protect our troops and take care of the Easter bunny.”
• Some of his messages had more substance to them, but even so, I haven’t found anywhere he talked about Christ dying for our sins.
• This year, several Democratic leaders issued statements to commemorate “Transgender Day of Visibility” on March 31 but had nothing to say about Easter.

By comparison, President Trump’s message sounds far better. But it would be a mistake to look no deeper than the surface.

“As we rejoice in this Easter season, we are reminded that the life of Jesus Christ and the truths of the gospel have inspired our way of life and our national identity for 250 years,” he said in his Friday statement. “From the Christian patriots who won and secured our liberty on the battlefield and every generation since, the love of Christ has unfailingly guided our nation through calm waters and dark storms.”

Is America really “guided” by the love of Christ? If you are guided by something, it changes your course and your direction.

• America’s Founding Fathers didn’t have a perfect understanding of the Bible, but if Americans would look at how they were guided by their beliefs, they could learn a lot.

“Christian leaders today teach that the law has been done away,” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry in 2011. “That is almost the extreme opposite of what our forefathers believed!”

Americans could let God’s law guide and change them. But it’s much easier to talk about God and keep doing what we want.

That is the truth about Easter. Jesus Christ never kept that holiday. Nor did the disciples. They kept Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

• Christ said He would be in the grave three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40), not the two nights and one day from Easter Friday to Easter Sunday. In fact, those three days and three nights are the only sign He gave of His Messiahship (verse 39). (Read our reprint article “From Good Friday to Easter Sunday” to learn more.)

Easter, named for the goddess Ishtar, is a pagan fertility festival. Mankind kept it and all its pagan fertility symbols—the bunny, the eggs, etc—and they added in a lot of talk about Jesus.

• That is the same approach America is taking to religion under President Trump. There is a lot of talk about Christ, but it is mixed with unsavory, unbiblical ideas and practices.

Many Christians know that their predecessors mixed the name of Christ with pagan festivals—and have no problem with it. As with Christmas, some openly boast of having taken over a pagan festival.

• But it comes down to whom we obey. Do we do whatever we want and find a way to call it Christian? Or do we really let Christ guide and direct our lives? If so, we will keep the same holy days He kept, not sticking a Christian label on pagan days.

Turning away from pagan days like Easter would be a real step for a nation, or an individual, to be “unfailingly guided” by the love of Christ.

Presidential Obscenities

President Donald Trump issued a new threat to Iran on Sunday, using three obscenities in one sentence in exasperation with Iran’s ongoing terrorism against civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

A number of presidents in the modern era are known to have used profanity in private and in meetings, but they conspicuously avoided it in public, fearing loss of support from the American people, whether Republican or Democrat.

• As Jonathan Turley noted in his February 28 column, as recently as President Trump’s first term, it was a shock and a minor scandal to hear someone using profanity who even just represented the presidency, let alone the president himself.

But President Trump, while enjoying the support of conservatives generally and Christians specifically, has regularly used foul language publicly and created a “new normal.”

It is a sharp contrast from a certain one of his predecessors:

The general is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice hitherto little known in our American Army, is growing into fashion. He hopes that the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it and that both they and the men will reflect that we can little hope of the blessing of heaven on our army if we insult it by our impiety and folly. Added to this, it is a vice so mean and low without any temptation that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.
—Gen. George Washington, 1776

But few Americans today seem to care.

During the Bill Clinton adultery and deception scandal, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry and executive editor Stephen Flurry wrote in Character in Crisis: “When Americans go from proclaiming that a free society can only exist when founded on private morality to thinking that character doesn’t matter, it is time to ask some hard questions about the future of this nation.”

IN OTHER NEWS

China building another major South China Sea base: China is transforming yet another reef in a disputed part of the South China Sea into an island suitable for military installations, according to satellite imagery analyzed by the Wall Street Journal and published on April 1. Since construction began at the mostly submerged Antelope Reef in the Paracel Islands in October, some 1,490 acres have been reclaimed. The Chinese have built a helipad on the island as well as jetties, numerous buildings and what appears to be the foundation of a runway. A large dredged lagoon looks to be capable of berthing submarines and warships perhaps as large as aircraft carriers. China is operating and once again expanding a sprawling network of military bases across the South China Sea, part of its illegal strategy to assert control over this vital maritime region. “China is being aggressive and provocative” and thereby challenging “seven decades of American naval dominance in the Pacific Rim,” Gerald Flurry wrote in the July 2016 issue. “This should alarm the world!” To understand the biblically prophetic implications of the alarming push, read his article “China Is Steering the World Toward War.”

France: need for munitions now ‘urgent’: France will boost its missile and drone stocks by up to 400 percent, “with a view to preparing for a ‘war economy,” a draft law to be published later this week states, according to Politico. The government plans to spend $73 billion on defense in 2027, a 26 percent increase compared to last year. This is set to rise to $87.8 billion by 2030. The 64-page draft budget the government is proposing earmarks $9.8 billion to boost missile and drone supplies before 2030. The proposed budget will go before France’s National Assembly in early May. France’s focus on boosting military capacity, even to the point of converting the nation into a war economy, is part of a broader European race to rearm. In 2017, the Trumpet wrote: “Though, at present, many nations support Europe’s efforts to expand its military power, biblical prophecy shows that this trend is one of the most dangerous happening in the world today!”

German men need military approval to travel: German men ages 17 to 45 may not leave the country for more than three months without permission from the German military. That specific provision, in a new law passed in January, went largely unnoticed until Frankfurter Rundschau reported it on Friday. German law previously required men of military age to get permission to leave only during times of war or imminent war. The new provision is not currently connected to any penalties, and the government said that approvals are currently being granted automatically. Nonetheless, a key provision for drastically increased German militarization of society is already on the books.

President Donald Trump asked Congress to approve a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027, the largest in U.S. history, to pay for the Iran war, restock weapons, and otherwise strengthen the armed forces. He also requested $40.8 billion for the Department of Justice, a $4.7 billion increase, to fight violent crime, gangs and drug cartels and to otherwise boost national security. Even with planned 10 percent cuts to non-defense programs, these expenditures plus interest are projected to add $7 trillion to the national debt, which now exceeds $39 trillion.

Artemis II crew nearing far side of the moon: This evening, four astronauts will conduct a flyby of the moon, with their closest approach occurring about 6:45 (Eastern Time). They will be traveling farther from Earth than any human beings ever have. The mission is the first since the Apollo landings ended in 1972. A crewmember has sent back a photograph of the entire Earth; the perspective on humanity being a family whose home is Earth recalls similarly profound moments from the first lunar flyby in human history, Apollo 8. Artemis ii has captivated many around the world who are closely watching and celebrating the event on social media. There is a deep reason why so many are fascinated.