NewsWatch

Europe Preparing for World War III

Tomorrow’s World has long warned that Europe and Germany would shift into war-production mode, becoming the military and economic powerhouse known in the Bible as “the beast.” For decades, this warning has appeared far-fetched to many—but that is changing. With the increasing “Russian threat” on Europe’s border, Germany has been forced to move into a mindset of war preparation.

In January, 300 experts visited Berlin at the request of the Bundeswehr (German Foreign Policy, February 20, 2024) to explore coordinating military and civil actions in the event of war on the continent. Germany’s Operationsplan Deutschland sets out actions needed for the “militarisation of German society as a whole,” and this recent meeting occurred in accordance with that plan. Should war break out, all elements of German society must be able to work together. Germany has greatly increased military spending, is exporting more military hardware, and broke ground last month on a new artillery shell factory (Deutsche Welle, February 12, 2024). Germany’s education minister has even suggested that schools should prepare pupils for war and foster a positive relationship with the armed forces (Deutsche Welle, March 17, 2024).

However, Germany is not alone in preparing for war. In a recent op-ed, European Council President Charles Michel said that “Europe must strengthen its defence capabilities and shift to a ‘war economy’ mode in response to the threat posed by Russia” (Reuters, March 18, 2024). He clearly warned, “If we want peace, we must prepare for war.” He also suggested changing the rules of the European Investment Bank to allow for the support of the European defense industry.

Germany and Europe are on the threshold of significant changes. War rhetoric is returning, the engine of the military industrial complex is rumbling, and Bible prophecy is proving accurate yet again.

Weeds Are Taking Over

Continuing research is demonstrating that farmers in the Great Plains of the United States—America’s “breadbasket”—are losing the battle against weeds (Reuters, January 16, 2024). Once-powerful herbicides are increasingly less effective. Twenty-one weed species globally are already “showing resistance to dicamba, the most recent major U.S. [weed-killing] chemical, which launched in 2017,” and even the active chemical in the “all powerful” Roundup weed-killer is losing its effectiveness. The large herbicide producers have reduced their research and development in recent years—coming out with fewer new products. One relatively new weed, kochia, can spread up to 30,000 seeds per plant, cutting crop yields “by up to 70 percent if left unchecked.” All of this is occurring at a time when fertilizers are becoming more expensive and weather is becoming more erratic.

While many factors influence the advance of weeds among farm crops, one factor is consistently overlooked by scientists and even most farmers. The God of the Bible once warned the Israelite peoples that “it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you” (Deuteronomy 28:15). Those curses strongly correlate to what we see today: “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land” (vv. 16–18). Today, as the predominantly Israelite-descended nations of the world reject God’s laws and ways, they are reaping the curses that God prophesied would come.

Grim Future for British Boys

In recent decades, school curricula have been deliberately changed to be more “girl friendly.” These major efforts have aimed at narrowing the supposed “pay gap” between men and women. Scholarships have been established to boost female university participation. Women’s health is often prioritized in policymaking. Some governments, like that of Great Britain, even have a “Minister for Women.” One of the casualties of this one-sided effort is that boys and men are failing abysmally.

As the Sunday Telegraph announced, boys in Britain are facing a “grim future” (The Telegraph, March 31, 2024). For decades in the developed world, women have graduated from university at far higher rates than men. Boys’ standardized test scores are significantly lower than those of girls, and men are dropping out of the workforce at record levels. Despite these alarming statistics, few seem to care.

Why are boys and men stuck in this downward spiral while girls and women are constantly improving? Some suggest that boys’ failure in school leads them to expect to underperform in the workplace. Andy Eadie, assistant headteacher at Cardinal Langley school in Rochdale, UK, observed that many teachers “write off” boys when they enter the classroom—and thus make no effort to help them succeed. Low expectations can also breed low performance, and the increasing number of boys growing up in homes without fathers means many young men have no role models for success.

While the model of the intact family, with a married father and mother, has been devalued and put down for decades, even secular research has concluded that children from intact families are more successful and healthier than those from single-parent homes. This principle is clear in the Bible as well; God created the first family with both a mother and a father. As our civilization experiments with novel social roles and politically driven values, our children—and, ultimately, society as a whole—suffer the consequences.

Rejecting God and Killing the Elderly

In a recent opinion piece for The Telegraph, author Tim Stanley asked a probing question: “But what happens to a society, many of whose laws are based upon the Ten Commandments, when the vast majority of citizens no longer believe in the teachings of Moses or St Paul?” (March 31, 2024). Stanley went on to make clear that laws treating human life as sacred and a culture that supports the heroic efforts of the medical profession to preserve life emanate from a foundation influenced by the Ten Commandments and other biblical principles. Yet, today, as we see the Ten Commandments and other Scripture increasingly excised from society, life is becoming a mere commodity.

Stanley’s comments were in response to an article by former legislator and political commentator Matthew Parris, who outlined a rationale for terminating the lives of the elderly once they become an economic burden on society—likening them to commodities that outlive their usefulness (The Times, March 29, 2024). Parris states that, eventually, suicide will “be seen as a normal road for many to take, and considered socially responsible—and even, finally, urged upon people,” and he calls that “a good thing.”

However, the Bible defines murder as sin (Exodus 20:13) and human life as sacred, made in God’s own image (Genesis 1:26–27). In fact, Christians are told plainly that their bodies are not their own, contrary to popular belief (1 Corinthians 6:19). With this perspective, taking our own life is also clearly murder—a sin. Yet this moral position means nothing to most people when the Bible is no longer considered a foundation for morality.

As Tim Stanley noted in the conclusion of his essay, “In an atheistic culture, beyond the here and now, there is little to live for—and when the here and now become unbearable, nowhere to turn but death.” The title of his article is chillingly true: “An age that rejects God ends up killing its old.” When it comes to life and death, our post-modern societies are becoming brutal—just as was prophesied (2 Timothy 3:1–4).

You Can Learn Happiness

Many people believe that you are lucky if you are happy, or that those who claim to be happy are not being honest. But are those conclusions true? The University of Bristol in England has offered a course entitled “Science of Happiness” since 2018 (StudyFinds.org, March 12, 2024). The course reviews the latest research on happiness and encourages students to put this research into practice in their lives. Recently, researchers published a study of students taking the class.

According to the results, “Students who took the happiness course reported a 10 to 15 percent improvement in well-being. However, only those who continued implementing what they learned during the course reported sustained improved well-being upon being surveyed again two years later.” As one professor observed, “Much of what we teach revolves around positive psychology interventions that divert your attention away from yourself, by helping others, being with friends, gratitude or meditating…. This is the opposite of the current ‘selfcare’ doctrine, but countless studies have shown that getting out of our own heads… gets us away from negative ruminations which can be the basis of so many mental health problems.” It appears that to truly become and remain happy, we must make certain intentional decisions and follow a proven path.

It should not be surprising that modern research has found that what makes us happiest is focusing on serving and helping others instead of focusing on ourselves, and being grateful for what we have instead of obsessing over what we do not have. These are ancient truths. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ taught, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) and commanded through the Apostle Paul that we “in everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). God knows the keys to being happy, and He shares them with us in the Bible.