In America and Israel right now, there are plenty of reasons for worry. For Americans, an Associated Press headline blares, “Everything seemingly is spinning out of control.” Oil and food prices are skyrocketing as home values are plummeting. In the Midwest, floodwaters are bursting levees. Out west, fires are scorching the California coastline.

These mounting problems, AP writes, are taking their toll on Americans’ optimistic spirit. “The can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in the American psyche is under assault. Eroding it is a dour powerlessness that is chipping away at the country’s sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance.”

According to the article, only 17 percent of Americans believe the nation is headed in the right direction. Another poll puts the figure at 14 percent. Commenting on a number of topics we have followed closely at theTrumpet.com, the AP writes,

Food is becoming scarcer and more expensive on a worldwide scale, due to increased consumption in growing countries such as China and India and rising fuel costs. That can-do solution to energy needs—turning corn into fuel—is sapping fields of plenty once devoted to crops that people need to eat. Shortages have sparked riots. In the U.S., rice prices tripled and some stores rationed the staple.

As bad as it is, though, the article assures readers that it’s not unlike previous periods of hardship in America. And “each” of those trying times, the AP optimistically intones, were often “followed by a change in the party controlling the White House.”

So what started as a serious and sobering look at a world in turmoil ended with a gratuitous plug for Barack Obama.

But when we view these many disturbing developments in light of Bible prophecy, we see that what’s happening now is altogether different from previous eras. When Jesus Christ was asked about what signs to expect before His second appearance on Earth, He said there would be widespread religious deception—particularly in the world of Christianity, where most would believe in Christ, but reject His message. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes in different places (Matthew 24:3-8).

All this, Christ said, would be only the beginning of sorrows. So it’s prophesied to get much worse before it gets better. This is not good news for whichever political party takes control of the White House in November.

In Israel, while the economy is experiencing a general upswing, the impact of rising fuel prices and a weak dollar is being felt. Israelis’ gravest concerns, however, are over security. As a headline reads in today’sNew York Times, Israel is in a “season of dread.” Among Israelis, Ethan Bronner writes, there is “a widely shared gloom that this nation is facing alarming threats both from without and within.” Many see last week’s truce with Hamas as a national failure. Bronner continues, “Israelis can’t decide which would be worse, for the truce to fall apart (as polls show most expect it to do), or for Hamas actually to make it last, thereby solidifying the movement’s authority in Palestinian politics over the more secular Fatah.”

Besides that, many are angry that negotiations with Hamas (via Egyptian mediation) did not result in the return of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, who has now been in captivity for two years.

Most Israelis are also dead-set against surrendering the Golan Heights. In her Jerusalem Postcolumn on Friday, Caroline Glick quoted a special envoy for the United Nations secretary general as saying, “Israel has given Syria a huge gift, without thus far receiving anything in exchange.”

When United Nations spokesmen seem hawkish by comparison, that’s saying something about Israel’s current government. Much has been written about the Hamas government Palestinians voted into power in 2006. What hasn’t received as many headlines is, at the same time, Israelis voted in a new Knesset, where 93 percent of its members are committed to land-for-peace negotiations that will result in a Palestinian state.

Amid their grave security concerns, Israel has left its future in the hands of its most radically left-wing government in its 60-year history.

In Lebanon, Glick writes, “Far from displaying alarm or anger over U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s decision to visit Beirut and give the U.S.’s blessing to the new Hizbullah-controlled Lebanese government, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert joined her defeatist bandwagon. He announced that he wishes to open negotiations with Iran’s Lebanese proxy and to that end he is willing to surrender strategically critical Mount Dov—or what Hizbullah refers to as Shaba Farms—to Hizbullah.”

Glick, like the AP, believes Israel’s position will take a dramatic turn for the better once Olmert is ousted and a new government is set up.

But the problems in Israel and America are past the point of repair by a single leader or government. Indeed, the problems these articles highlight reach far beyond the borders of these two nations, as explained on theTrumpet.com in this morning’s column by Ron Fraser. He wrote,

[S]omething unique in this tired old world’s history is now occurring which is testing the mettle of the realists within our society, the real thinkers, those who deeply consider just what is going on upon planet Earth. All of a sudden, there appears to be a confluence of numerous catastrophes that are affecting not just one or two nations here and there, but are beginning to affect the entire global system. …This world is facing global disaster of unprecedented proportions. That’s not alarmist talk. It comes from a perspective of clear-eyed observation and analysis, born of decades of studying the global situation in relation to history, current events, and irrefutable Bible prophecy. It’s the perspective that Herbert Armstrong possessed from which he warned for over half a century that great global catastrophe, of which the world is now beginning to have a foretaste, would become a reality unless humanity changed the rapacious ways it historically has dealt with itself and the wonderful environment that God gifted mankind to care for.

Read the entire column. Then request The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like and peer into a much brighter, more hope-filled world that will soon replace the one that is now dying.

Nazi War Criminal Is Home Safe in Austria

Milivoj Asner is wanted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the Second World War. The Simon Wiesenthal Center lists him as its fourth-most-wanted surviving Nazi criminal.

He is also enjoying an apparently comfortable life in Austria, attending European Football Championships games, the Times reported this past week.

Asner is Croatian, and Croatia has repeatedly demanded Austria extradite him so it can put him on trial. Austria refuses, claiming he suffers from Alzheimer’s and “severe dementia,” conditions that render him unfit for trial. The Times reports,

Mr Asner, 95, however, has been spotted in the company of his wife Edeltraut during a leisurely walk though the southern Austrian town of Klagenfurt, where the couple reside, and was filmed drinking wine and mingling with Croatian football fans.

Efraim Zuroff, who directs the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, makes a great point in the Times report:

“Mr Asner is clearly in a good enough state to stand trial if he is able to sip wine, walk without assistance and support his national football team,” he said.”There simply is no political will in Vienna to tackle the issue of surviving Nazi criminals who have successfully avoided facing justice in the country for decades. … There hasn’t been a trial of a Nazi criminal in Austria for over 30 years—but not for lack of Nazis, but rather because authorities are not willing to act,” Mr Zuroff said.

Asner’s “unfitness” for trial looks even more suspicious after a quite intelligible interview he gave to the Sun this week, in which he called the accusations against him “hilarious.” “I was just an officer with the justice department—a lawyer. I never did anything bad against anybody,” he said.

Well which is it? Is he demented or innocent? It seems clear he isn’t both.

This falls in line with much worrying news about the resurrection within Europe of the very pathologies that gave birth to the Holocaust.

If At First You Don’t Succeed …

This seems to be the motto of the European Union. After failing to get Ireland to approve the Lisbon Treaty in a vote, they may give it another go. According to the Sunday Times,

The Irish government is expected to bow to Franco-German pressure and hold a second referendum to try to rescue the Lisbon treaty that voters rejected this month.The plan for a possible new vote in Ireland, being discussed by some ministers in Dublin, will be greeted with outrage by opponents of the treaty in Britain.Irish ministers believe it may be able to rescue the treaty if they can secure concessions from Europe to placate voters on a list of issues.

In a related story, German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to push the Lisbon Treaty forward “as quickly as possible.” This time there is no time for reflection as in 2005 when it was last rejected, Merkel believes. She also ruled out the idea of a two-speed Europe, saying European unity was a “major asset.”

The California Effect

The term “California effect” refers to the broad phenomenon in America in which California, as the largest and wealthiest state, can dictate national policy by setting its own state regulations and forcing nationwide corporations to either comply or lose that state’s business. Generally, the term has been applied to California’s ability to effect change in American business and industry.

But the term took on a whole new meaning last week. Across the state, hundreds of same-sex couples, as well as many couples from other states, embraced last month’s decision by the California Supreme Court to overturn the ban against homosexual marriage and rushed to get married.

While California wasn’t the first state to recognize same-sex marriage (Massachusetts was), California’s law came with a twist: It grants marriage licenses to out-of-state homosexuals.

It’s hard to understate the potential ramifications for the nation: “This sets the stage for future court battles in the other states where same-sex marriage is forbidden,” Jeffrey Kuhner noted today in the Washington Times. “Gay and lesbian couples are already tying the knot in California, so they can return to their home states and demand that their unions be legalized there as well.”

It’s worked in one state already. New York declared that it will recognize same-sex marriages performed in California, a decision that will assuredly add legitimacy and momentum to the movement demanding other states recognize same-sex marriages performed in the Golden State.

This is a story worth watching. Over the next few months, state courts across America will likely be inundated with requests, even lawsuits, demanding that they recognize homosexual marriages performed in California. Don’t be surprised if this becomes a national movement, planned with great strategy by wealthy homosexual lobbyist organizations. Will homosexual lobbyist groups even encourage homosexual couples to get married in California then return home and add support to the case demanding their state recognize the marriage?

Well ahead of his time, Herbert Armstrong pinpointed the many causes of America’s moral decline decades ago. His book The Missing Dimension in Sex gives a detailed explanation of where this grossly immoral trajectory is leading us.

Also, for more on the problem with California, read “Is California Under a Curse?” and “The California Dream Is Dead.”

Nelson Would Be Turning in His Grave

A British aircraft carrier will become part of an EU naval force if current negotiations are completed, reported the Daily Mail this week. It “would mean an end to the centuries-old independence of Nelson’s ‘Senior Service,’” the Mail said.

Plans for the joint EU navy will be a priority for the six-month French EU presidency, which starts in July. The Mail wrote:

[T]he fact it is France leading the push for an EU defence force will be seen by many as a direct threat to Britain’s military independence.Tory defence spokesman Dr Liam Fox said: “The EU’s military ambitions know no bounds. … How is it supposed to work? Are we supposed to say, ‘Sorry, it’s our turn to use the aircraft carrier’? It’s ridiculous.”The whole concept of sharing naval assets with any other country is sheer nonsense. The idea of the Royal Navy flying the EU flag makes a mockery of centuries of British naval tradition.”

The Mail additionally reported, “Work is also under way to create a fleet of A400M military aircraft which would be available to EU members on a timeshare basis.”

It is exactly this sort of activity that has the overwhelming majority of Britons opposed to further integrating their country with the mainland. For the time being, British leadership appears content to ignore them. But the sight of a British carrier flying with an EU flag would likely produce a nasty backlash in public opinion.

As we have often said, Britain and Europe are destined to part company.

Elsewhere on the Web

Reports are that Turkey may be on the verge of turning into a radical Muslim state. The International Herald Tribunereports that a conflict may be about to erupt between the ruling “pro religion” party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the secular Republican People’s Party, which is backed by the military. The military in conjunction with the secular justice system has overthrown four governments, each accused of trying to Muslimize the country, since 1960. The difference this time is that the military may not have the power to overthrow the current political party. This time the movement to become more of a religious society is much more widespread within the populace.

Iran has warned of a “limitless” response to any military strike and called Israel’s recent drill in the eastern Mediterranean and Greece a “psychological” ploy. “It seems that parallel efforts and psychological warfare are underway to dissuade the Iranian nation from realizing its inalienable right,” Iran’s defense minister told the Iranian Fars news agency.

Abortions among girls are soaring in Britain, the Daily Mail reports. Half of all pregnancies among girls under age 18 are ending in abortion. Last year, under-16 abortions saw a 10 percent rise over the year before; under-14s saw a 21 percent rise. Think of a 13-year-old girl you know, and imagine the trauma she would endure not only from such premature sexual activity and the resulting pregnancy, but that associated with enduring an abortion. This is a regrettable reality in our sexualized and desensitized world.

The Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople sees a future in a system of “dual unity” for Byzantine Catholic churches which would bring them into full communion with both Constantinople and Rome. This trend is noteworthy because of biblical prophecies indicating the absorption of Orthodox churches back into the Roman Catholic fold.

And Finally …

A nearby star has three Earth-like planets orbiting around it, European researchers said this week. The finding suggests that planets like our own may be common within the universe.

The Trumpet loves to monitor such findings because of the biblical revelation about what the future holds for the universe. You can read a bit about it in our recent article “A Majestic Tour of the Universe.”