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November 24 - November 30, 2008 
 Weekly News In Review
 Vol 3, Issue 35
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The Weekly News In Review newsletter is a service provided by Understand The Times that is a compilation of the news articles posted on our site during the previous week.

 

 November 23 - Future is nuclear war and famine - US intelligence
 Article: Signs of the Last Times

Comment from UTT:
 
When news headlines point towards Bible prophecy that includes Armageddon, it is time to look up - if you are a Christian, your redemption draws nigh.

THE use of nuclear weapons will grow increasingly likely by 2025, US intelligence warned in a report on global trends that forecasts a tense, unstable world shadowed by war.

"The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over scarce resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," said the report.

"In one sense, a bad sense, the pace of change that we are looking at in 2025 occurred more rapidly than we had anticipated," said Thomas Fingar, deputy director of National Intelligence. One overarching conclusion of the report is that "the unipolar world is over, (or) certainly will be by 2025," Mr Fingar said.

"The potential for conflict will be different then and in some ways greater than it has been for a very long time," Mr Fingar said.

The report has good news for some countries:

- A technology to replace oil may be underway or in place by 2025;

- Multiple financial centres will serve as ``shock absorbers'' of the world financial system;

- India, China and Brazil will rise, the Korean peninsula will be unified in some form, and new powers are likely to emerge from the Muslim non-Arab world.

"Over the next 15-20 years, reactions to the decisions Iran makes about its nuclear program could cause a number of regional states to intensify these efforts and consider actively pursuing nuclear weapons," the report said. "This will add a new and more dangerous dimension to what is likely to be increasing competition for influence within the region," it said.



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 November 23 - Pope: if it rejects the kingdom of God, the world cannot help but go to ruin
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

Comment from UTT:
 
The Bible declares there is one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. There will be no Kingdom of God here on earth until the King arrives to set up His Kingdom.
 
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The "kingdom" of Jesus is not that of the "leaders of the nations," it is not of this world, but "brings to fulfillment all of the goodness that, thanks to God, exists in man and in history. If we practice love for our neighbor, according to the message of the Gospel, then we make room for the reign of God, and his kingdom is realized among us. If instead each one thinks only of his own interests, the world cannot help but go to ruin." Benedict XVI explained today the meaning of the solemnity of Jesus, king of the universe, to the 30,000 faithful present in St. Peter's Square for the recitation of the Angelus.

In his eternal kingdom, God welcomes all those who strive day after day to put his word into practice. For this reason, the Virgin Mary, the most humble of all creatures, is the greatest in his eyes, and sits as Queen at the right hand of Christ the King. We wish to entrust ourselves once again to her heavenly intercession with filial confidence, in order to be able to realize our Christian mission in the world."

In expressing the lively hope," the pope concluded, "that no political system can ever again, in the name of ideology, deny the rights of the human person and his freedom and dignity, I assure my prayers for all of the innocent victims of that immense tragedy, and I invoke the holy Mother of God, that she help the nations to proceed along the paths of reconciliation, and to construct the present and the future in mutual respect and in the sincere search for peace."



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 November 23 - Emergent church leader says 'gay' can be biblical lifestyle
 Article: Emerging Church

Comment from UTT:
 
The following article expresses the view of Tony Jones ( leader of emerging church ideas) regarding homosexuality.  This is one more example to show that Biblical Christianity is under attack by the postmodern mindset.
 
One of the key leaders of today's most cutting-edge church movement has opened an Internet discussion on the issue of same-sex marriage with the bold proclamation that he believes "gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer" individuals can and should live out their sexuality in - and blessed by - the Christian church.

"I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (as least as much as any of us can!)," writes author and church leader Tony Jones, "and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state."

Jones is an author and former youth pastor who holds a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is also the national coordinator of Emergent Village, a loosely-formed friendship of churches that derive their descriptive name from having "emerged" from postmodernism to take the gospel of Jesus Christ into a post-Christian culture.

The "Emergent Church," as these mostly young, community- and mission-driven congregations are collectively known, is criticized by some for being "theologically liberal," praised by others as the best hope for passing the torch of Christianity to future generations.

Despite recounting his earlier days of arguing that "biblical prohibitions to homosexual sex should be taken seriously," Jones admits his experiences and feelings led him toward a different conclusion. "And yet," Jones writes, "all the time I could feel myself drifting toward acceptance that gay persons are fully human persons and should be afforded all of the cultural and ecclesial benefits that I am."

Jones acknowledges that detractors against the somewhat nebulous and har



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 November 26 - Religious Leaders: Churches Should be 'Nonjudgmental' about Behavior That Transmits HIV
 Article: Perilous Times

Comment from UTT:
 
Bible prophecy is being fulfilled in the news daily. Read Romans chapter one. The new morality mocks at God and His Word. In the future, expect persecution to be on those who stand for truth and righteousness.
 
Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that labeling sex outside of marriage as sinful or having multiple partners as immoral behavior is "biased" - something society has "moved beyond." 

At a telephone news conference in advance of World AIDS Day, AIDS activist groups and representatives of various religious groups said that counseling teens and others to be abstinent and restricting sex to marriage just isn't "realistic," and called on churches and the incoming Obama administration to deal with HIV/AIDS in a "truthful" and "medically accurate way." 

The Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer, executive for health and wholeness advocacy in the national offices of the United Church of Christ, said the church should be "nonjudgmental" when it comes to HIV/AIDS - and cited a recent workshop he attended as an example of how the Church should act.

But Schuenemeyer balked when CNSNews.com asked why religious groups shouldn't label risky behavior the way religion has traditionally regarded it -- as immoral.

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(TRANSCRIPT)
 
CNSNews.com: Let me ask you this: Outside of medical accidents -- like blood transfusions or children born to HIV-positive mothers -- is it possible for an unmarried person to contract HIV without basically someone committing an immoral act?

Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer, United Church of Christ: I think your question exemplifies why we are struggling with stigma and discrimination in our culture, because it betrays a bias about what is moral and immoral. So, I think we' need to take a public health approach; we need to be nonjudgmental when we speak to people and we need to make sure people have accurate information.

CNSNews.com: Isn't 'having multiple partners' one of the major causes or routes for acquiring HIV, and doesn't your religion label that as promiscuity or immorality? Shouldn't religions counsel against sexual immorality?

Rev. Schuenemeyer: (No response.)
 
Messinger said labeling behavior as sinful was "an issue back in the history of HIV/AIDS in America" - way back in the early '80s."There was an early effort in this country to sort of suggest that how you contracted the virus would determine whether or not you got treatment -- and where," she said. "I think all secular groups, all service organizations, and all religious organizations have moved beyond that," she added. 
 



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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a blessing to you.

Sincerely,
Roger Oakland


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