With today being Mother’s Day here in the United States, take this opportunity to consider the vital importance of motherhood in building a strong, stable society. According to biblical commands, mothers should be highly honored for the tremendous role they play in our families. The Fifth Commandment includes God’s command to honor your mother (Exodus 20:12). In 1 Peter 3:7, the Apostle Peter tells husbands to give honor to the wife.

Remember—and not only on Mother’s Day—to put Mom on a pedestal. Her God-given role is most praiseworthy and exalted, most beautiful and honorable.

Israel’s Multimillion-Dollar Plan for a “United Capital”

We have written before about Israel’s plans to expand an archaeological park in East Jerusalem. Yesterday, the New York Times provided additional details about the expansiveness of the program. The Times wrote (emphasis ours throughout),

Israel is quietly carrying out a $100 million, multiyear development plan in some of the most significant religious and national heritage sites just outside the walled Old City here as part of an effort to strengthen the status of Jerusalem as its capital.

According to the report, the plan has been in place since 2005, but only became operational over the last year. The Jerusalem Postreports that it is an eight-year project. As part of the plan, the Times wrote,

As part of the plan, garbage dumps and wastelands are being cleared and turned into lush gardens and parks, now already accessible to visitors who can walk along new footpaths and take in the majestic views, along with new signs and displays that point out significant points of Jewish history. …As part of the effort, archaeologists are finding indisputable evidence of ancient Jewish life here. Yet Palestinian officials and institutions tend to dismiss the finds as part of an effort to build a Zionist history here.In other words, while the Israeli narrative that guides the government plan focuses largely—although not exclusively—on Jewish history and links to the land, the Palestinian narrative heightens tensions, pushing the Israelis into a greater confrontational stance.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has vowed to push ahead with this multiyear development plan, even as critics lambaste the government for making it harder to divide Jerusalem as part of any two-state solution. One official from Netanyahu’s office who defended the government’s position, told the Times, “Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people for some 3,000 years and will remain the united capital of the State of Israel.”

Given the fact that the two previous governments in Israel have offered significant chunks of Jerusalem to the Palestinians as part of a two-state solution to the peace process, the present government’s hard-line stance is of great significance prophetically. It brings us one giant step closer to the fulfillment of Zechariah 14:1-2. Jerusalem, as we have written many times before, will soon be divided—not by negotiation—by violence.

One particularly explosive region, as we have also noted previously, is the Palestinian village of Silwan, where the ancient City of David is located.

Silwan spills down the steep slopes south of the Old City wall, in the shadow of the Temple Mount and the steely dome of Al Aksa Mosque. The Wadi Hilwe section, in Silwan, which houses thousands of Palestinians … sits on an ancient ridge where King David is said to have conquered an existing stronghold and laid the foundations of Jewish Jerusalem 3,000 years ago.It is one of the most important archaeological sites in the region, and is, according to Ir David—which sponsors digs there and brought in some 400,000 visitors last year—“the place where it all began.”

Destruction of the Second Temple

As an interesting aside, the above Times piece references the Palestinian Al Quds University website, which argues that the Western Wall, instead of being a remnant left from the second temple, is actually a wall built by the Romans. “An assumption is made that the present Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa compound is the same location of the Temple Mount or Mount Moriah,” the website notes.

But as Ernest L. Martin has demonstrated (working strictly within biblical scholarship), the Al-Aqsa compound cannot possibly be in the same place as the first or second temple. Further, what is called the “first temple,” associated with the legendary Solomon, was in fact a pre-monotheistic place where many gods were worshipped. As scholars like Herbert Niehr document, the “first temple” was dominated by Syro-Phoenician traits and appealed to pagan worshippers living in the area. Various “pagan” sites existed until after Constantine converted to Christianity in the early 4th century. At that time, Constantine’s mother Helena determined many biblical sites, most coinciding with pagan temple locations. …Further, the Wailing or “Western” Wall is a most likely candidate for being the wall of a fortress built for Roman legions (as Ernest Martin reports, citing other scholarship). Even if we assume that Herod built a “second temple,” the building was reportedly destroyed in the 1st century a.d.

It was Jesus, in fact, who, in pointing to the buildings of the second temple, prophesied that not one stone would be left on top of another (Matthew 24:1-2; Luke 21:5-6).

That prophecy was fulfilled in a.d. 70.

Our Dying Constitution

President Obama says he wants to fill the coming Supreme Court vacancy with a judge who exercises “empathy” for certain groups. He specifically said he’d like to see someone with a “heart” for the poor, someone who would judge according to the special needs of the downtrodden.

Thus, rather than governing by the rule of law, the Supreme Court would move toward becoming a charity organization.

Interestingly, in the law that God gave to ancient Israel He specifically forbade a judge from factoring a defendant’s economic status into his judgment. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor” (Leviticus 19:15). Prioritizing “empathy” over impartial justice is certain to create unjust rulings.

This is just one example of how, when the rule of law is dispensed with, it leaves society at the mercy of the whims of the judges.

Thomas Sowell provides some good commentary on the folly of such a plan. He explains how the real goal behind it is for judges to “ratify an expanding scope of the power of the federal government and a declining restraint by the U.S. Constitution.”

Judicial expansion of federal power is not really new, even if the audacity with which that goal is being pursued may be unique. For more than a century, believers in bigger government have also been believers in having judges interpret the restraints of the Constitution out of existence.They called this “a living Constitution.” It has in fact been a dying Constitution, as its restraining provisions have been “interpreted” to mean less and less so that the federal government can do more and more.

Though the “living Constitution” argument is gaining ground, it is not new. During an earlier eruption of public discussion about it, Gerald Flurry wrote his booklet No Freedom Without Law. In Chapter 2, “Justice and Our ‘Evolving Constitution’,” he wrote,

Christ came the first time for a great purpose. “And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see [or think they see, but are wrong] might be made blind” (John 9:39). Christ came to this world for the purpose of judgment, or justice. … This world hated His judgment, or system of justice, and killed Him. But the second time He comes, Christ will enforce His justice based on God’s law of love. He will rule according to what is right and wrong.”And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?” (Micah 3:1). … The Gesenius Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon defines judgment as the sentence of a judgment, according to law. Judges are supposed to interpret and enforce law. Other translations use justice instead of judgment.This is addressed to the heads—magistrates and government officials responsible for upholding the law. Their responsibility is to give us justice based on law.The only perfect law is God’s. The framers of America’s Constitution founded much of that document on God’s law as they understood it. … Proper judgment must always include law.That is why it is so crucial that judges not change the righteous law or reject it.

Read the entire chapter to see prophecies where God gives His judgment against our declining justice system. Gerald Flurry also addresses this exact subject in this week’s Key of David program. “If we as a people don’t obey the rule of law, then we fall victim to the rule of man. This leads to the horrifying rule of brute force,” he says.

It is important we monitor this national debate, and pay special attention to Mr. Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, particularly his criteria for making his selection. As Sowell notes, the ramifications go beyond activist judges advancing the liberal agenda. Fundamentally, we are witnessing the redefining, undermining and overthrowing of the rule of law.

But Unemployed Taxpayers Owe Me a Nicer Home!

I’ve never seen the public so angry, says British Member of Parliament Norman Baker in yesterday’s Daily Mail. Britons’ frustration with their politicians is roiling. Why? Because of shameful selfishness and abuses of office. MP Baker cites a laundry list of ministers profiting unethically from taxpayers and hampering public efforts to curtail the corruption.

Put these actions against a backdrop of skyrocketing unemployment and increasing deprivation among the people, and they become even more odious.

The basic problem is this: Claims for expenses should reflect expenditure legitimately and necessarily incurred by a member of Parliament as part of his or her duties—no more, no less. Instead, they have been used by too many MPs as an alternative income stream, as a way of bumping up their salary without having to vote through an embarrassing increase.It is totally wrong that MPs should be taking out mortgages with money provided by the taxpayer, then pocketing the capital gain when the property is sold. …How can it be right to charge the taxpayer for the likes of oil paintings, goldfish bowls, pot plants and mock Tudor beams? What has any of that got to do with discharging your duties as an MP?The standard defense trotted out is that everything claimed has been within the rules. But that does not make it ethically correct, not least because those rules have been written by MPs themselves. There’s a circular justification for you.And so we have the unedifying spectacle of Peter Mandelson, who after all knows a thing or two about houses, claiming £3,000 to improve his house less than a week after he announced his intention to stand down as an MP. Within the rules? Yes. Defensible? No. And he had the cheek to go on the radio this week and say it was all a smear campaign by the press and that not a single abuse had been identified.

What distinguishes such corrupt behavior from that of the Third World despots that Western leaders so casually condemn? We recently wrote about the forgotten biblical truth that the character of a leader matters. Jesus Christ taught and demonstrated servant leadership—leadership that puts the needs of the people first. He also prophesied of a dearth of such leadership in our day. As we wrote in that column, these words of righteous King David are as relevant today as they were when he wrote them: “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” (2 Samuel 23:3).

Obama Cuts Military Spending

According to the Washington Times, “President Obama has targeted the Department of Defense to absorb more than 80 percent of the cuts he has proposed in next year’s budget for discretionary programs.” Of the $11.5 billion in total reductions, the defense department will take a $9.4 billion hit. According to the Times, “The $17 billion in total cuts represents less than one half of 1 percent of the $3.6 trillion 2010 budget the president proposed in February, and it is less than 1 percent of this year’s budget deficit.”

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss said the defense cuts send “a very clear signal that this administration is not going to be as forceful on national security issues as the previous administration.”

Though some say the military is not taking a disproportionate cut, others have questioned why the president has not shown the same diligence in cutting spending in other areas of the budget.

Obama is also seeking to resurrect Cold War-style arms control, according to an article in the Washington Post. After a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said that arms control “is of such profound global concern that that is at the top of the list.”

Last month in Prague, Obama vowed to seek “a world without nuclear weapons.” Obama has launched talks on a U.S.-Russian strategy known as start and is making strides toward that end on three other fronts according to the Post, including “pushing for Senate ratification of an international treaty banning nuclear testing; reaching an agreement on halting production of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium; and strengthening the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty, the grand global bargain in which most nations pledged not to seek nuclear arms.”

President George W. Bush’s administration was wary of similar arms control agreements, “viewing them as unreliable and crimping U.S. flexibility,” according to the Post. In a clear shift of policy, Mrs. Clinton said she is seeking more arms control experts to return to the department, which she said had been “significantly degraded” over the past few years.

John R. Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control in Bush’s first term, said Obama’s policies mark a philosophical shift. He added that the agreement with Russia is a “sucker move” on the part of the U.S. since it is not in Russia’s best interest to help the U.S. on Iran.

Shortly after the conclusion of World War ii, when the U.S. began naval disarmament, Winston Churchill wrote, “It was argued in odd logic that it would be immoral to disarm the vanquished unless the victors also stripped themselves of their weapons.” As the Trumpetwrote, “The idea sounds noble and virtuous—trouble is, it’s also frighteningly naive and reckless.”

History Not His Strong Suit

History has proven a “double-edged sword” for President Obama, according to London’s Times. Though the president has made good use of historical parallels in some of his past speeches, this has also posed problems when he gets his facts wrong.

The article highlighted a few of Obama’s blunders, including previous claims that his uncle and grandfather were associated with American troops on missions in Auschwitz and Treblinka—both liberated by Soviet troops, not Americans. His most recent slip-up concerned British history, as the Times noted.

Last week Mr. Obama extrapolated from another historical example—the prohibition of torture in wartime Britain—to conclude: “Churchill said ‘We don’t torture’ when … all of the British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat.” Historians pounced again, with a flurry of blog postings pointing out that there was no record of Churchill explicitly banning torture.

Obama’s ignorance of history is sadly typical of many leaders in the Anglo-Saxon nations. Editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote, “Many of our modern leaders … learn very little from history. And we are about to pay the terrifying price.”

Adult TV Harms Children

A new study shows that children who watch adult tv are 33 percent more likely to become sexually active in the young teenage years, according to an article in the Telegraph last week. The study’s co-author, Dr. David Bickham, said: “Adult entertainment often deals with issues and challenges that adults face, including the complexities of sexual relationships.

Children have neither the life experience nor the brain development to fully differentiate between a reality they are moving toward and a fiction meant solely to entertain.Children learn from media, and when they watch media with sexual references and innuendos, our research suggests they are more likely to engage in sexual activity earlier in life.

Dr. Hernan Delgado, who carried out the study, warned, “Television and movies are among the leading sources of information about sex and relationships for adolescents.”

A Blue Day for Brown

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is very unpopular at the moment. The leaders of the other two main British parties—the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats—launched a scathing attack on him last Wednesday. The New York Times said Brown’s “government is widely seen as weary, porous and flailing. His own party members spend their time plotting, spreading nasty gossip and openly defying his policies.”

Conservative leader David Cameron repeatedly called for a general election, launching an attack on the prime minister. The Times wrote, “So mercilessly and brazenly did his Conservative opponents mock, taunt and ridicule Mr. Brown that at times he seemed more piñata than politician.”

“We’ve got a wasted year with an utterly busted government!” said Cameron. “Isn’t it clear you’re just not up to the job? The public know it. Your party know it and now the cabinet knows it!”

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg joined in the attack: “There comes a point when stubbornness is not leadership; it is stupidity.”

Gordon Brown is in serious trouble politically. The next government could well be a Conservative one. One reason this is important is Europe. Gordon Brown broke one of Labor’s key campaign pledges, and signed up for the EU constitution without holding a referendum.

The Conservative party is far more Euroskeptic, and wants a referendum. A Conservative government would move Britain further from Europe. The Trumpet has long said that Britain will not be part of the core European Union of nations. Watch for Britain to move further away from Europe in the future. For more information, see our article “Britain Was Warned” from the May-June print edition of the Trumpet.

Elsewhere on the Web

This Brussels Journal article has an interesting tidbit: that Germans tend to resist the federalizing trend in the European Union. They are growing more eager to assert themselves as a nation. “Many Germans feel that Germany has become a normal country which is allowed a certain degree of nationalism and is again entitled to look at its own interests,” the article says. “A survey among readers of Die Welt, asking ‘What do you think about the EU?’ found that 74 percent think the EU ‘takes too many powers from Germany.’ As in other European countries, the majority of the Germans feel that the EU interferes too much or should not interfere at all.” This sentiment is important to keep an eye on, considering the prophecy of 10 European nations in the future, led by Germany, having “one mind” and giving “their power and strength” over to a single political leader and governing authority (Revelation 17:13).

In Commentary, Mark Steyn outlines the steady rise of anti-Semitism over the past few years. He details one incident that took place on Holocaust Memorial Day, 2008. Anti-Semitism is a rapidly growing problem. For more information, see our article “Anti-Semitism: Why You Should Be Alarmed,” from the latest print issue of the Trumpet.

Pope Benedict xvi began his tour of the Middle East last week. The International Herald Tribune reports, “On the third day of his first visit to the Middle East as pope, Benedict touched on a theme of great concern to the Vatican: the situation of Christians in the Middle East, whose numbers have dropped significantly in recent decades.” Pope Benedict told the crowd of 30,000 Catholics who came out to celebrate mass in Amman that staying true to their Christian roots meant “bearing witness to the love which inspires us to ‘lay down’ our lives in the service of others ….” On Monday, the pope is expected to travel to Israel and the Palestinian administered territories.

And if you have the time this afternoon, you may enjoy this lengthy piece sent in by one of our regular readers. There’s something in it for everyone—Lawrence of Arabia, George Washington, King David—even basketball!

And Finally …

A reader alerted us to this fascinating story from last year about one of the many benefits of a healthy lifestyle. According to the study, making comprehensive lifestyle changes not only improves overall health and fitness, it actually leads to changes at the genetic level. Read the whole thing.