If you asked my cousin about loyalty, he would tell you about manning a machine-gun post during World War II on a Pacific Island. During an attack by the enemy, his aide deserted him and he was left to fend for himself. He was horribly wounded, and though he lived to come home, his experience left him handicapped and bitter for the rest of his life. Will trials and betrayal do the same to you?

The EU Observer just published results of a German-conducted survey that was released on September 15. Survey participants hailed from Germany, Poland and France. When asked whether their nation would be better off with their own national currency, two-thirds of Germans said “yes” to a return to the Deutsche mark. Forty-nine percent (virtually half) of Germans also agreed that they would be “better off” if the EU did not exist.

Nearly everyone has seen a rainbow. The beautiful, majestic, multicolored arc in the sky inspires awe and is a wonder to behold. But there is more to the rainbow than meets the eye. Beyond the elusive and transient image of this miracle of nature is a divinely inspired miracle that represents one of the first promises of God recorded in the Bible.

Regular readers of this News and Prophecy and students of the Scriptures are aware that as the end of the age approaches, we will see far more troubling events. There will be more false prophets, wars, catastrophic weather, major geopolitical shifts, and the Israelite-descended nations will experience unique problems and suffering due to their outright rejection of God.  Without Christ’s own revelation, these escalating events will cause some to become paralyzed with fear and worry.

Germany is calling for a new European treaty by the end of the year to clear the way for more European integration and a new legal foundation for the Union.  “Germany would like to see… a legal basis that would give the European Court of Justice the jurisdiction to monitor the budgets of member states and to punish deficit offenders” (Der Spiegel, August 27, 2012).