|
|
This newsletter is available online by
clicking here. The archived newsletter are also available by
clicking here.
The News In Review newsletter is a service
provided
by Understand The Times that
is a compilation of the news articles
previously posted
on our site . Understand The Times does not
endorse these events but rather is
showing the church the current events.
The
purpose of posting these articles is to warn the church of deception from a
Biblical perspective.
 |
|
|
January 27 - 'Father' and 'Son' Ousted from the Trinity in New Bible Translations
Artical: Miscellaneous
A controversy is
brewing over three reputable Christian organizations, which are
based in North America, whose
efforts have ousted the words "Father" and "Son" from new Bibles.
Wycliffe
Bible Translators,
Summer
Institute of Linguistics (SIL)
and Frontiers are under fire for "producing
Bibles that remove "Father," "Son" and "Son of God"
because these terms are offensive to Muslims."
Biblical
Missiology, a ministry of Boulder, Colorado-based Horizon
International, is sponsoring the petition. The main issues of this
controversy surround new Arabic and
Turkish
translations. Here are three examples native speakers give:
First, Wycliffe
and SIL have produced Stories of the Prophets, an Arabic
Bible that uses an Arabic equivalent of "Lord"
instead of "Father" and "Messiah" instead of "Son."
Second, Frontiers
and SIL have produced Meaning of the Gospel of Christ ,
an Arabic translation which removes "Father"
in reference to God and replaces it with "Allah," and removes or
redefines "Son." For example, the verse which
Christians use to justify going all over the world to make
disciples, thus fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19)
reads, "Cleanse them by water in
the name of Allah, his Messiahand his Holy Spirit" instead of
"baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit."
Third, Frontiers
and SIL have produced a new
Turkish
translation of the Gospel of Matthew that
uses Turkish equivalents of "guardian" for
"Father" and "representative" or "proxy" for "Son."
To Turkish church leader Rev. Fikret B�cek, "This translation is
'an all-American idea' with absolutely no respect for the
'sacredness' of Scripture, or even of the growing Turkish church."
SIL has issued
a public response stating "all personnel subscribe to a statement of
faith which affirms the Trinity, Christ's deity, and the inspiration
of Scripture." However, in the same statement, which is similar to
Wycliffe's, it claims "word-for-word
translation of these titles would communicate an incorrect meaning
(i.e. that God had physical, sexual relationships with Mary) [sic],"
thus justifying substituting "Father" and "Son" in new translations.
Calls and emails to Wycliffe and SIL to clarify their
positions were not returned. Frontiers responded to calls with
articles that critics have already dismissed as skirting omissions
of "Father" and "Son" in new
Bible
translations.
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
January 29 - Pentagon Hopes to Develop 'Mother of All Bombs'
Artical: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
The Pentagon is
reportedly working on the development of
the "mother of all bombs" -- a bunker buster than
can destroy an Iranian underground nuclear power plant.
According to a report published by the UK-based Daily Mail
newspaper, America's top military authority
has secretly asked Congress for funds to create its largest
bomb ever.
A
13.6-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) already exists -- the
deepest-penetrating "bunker buster" in the American arsenal, it was
presented to the U.S. Air Force last September.
The Obama administration reportedly was considering
arming Qatar with the huge bunker buster bombs,
raising the possibility of an American-Israel-Arab attack on Iran.
The bombs are reportedly built to fit the Boeing
Stratofortress B-52 long-range bomber or the Northrop Grumman B-2
stealth bomber.
But the 30,000-pound
bomb, which is nearly six times larger than that that currently in use,
and which can penetrate concrete bunkers containing nuclear, biological
or nuclear weapons, is apparently still not strong enough to penetrate
all the bunkers in Iran, according to sources in Washington D.C.
As a result, U.S. military officials are
determined to make it better, even though Pentagon spokesman
Capt. John Kirby officially denied that the bomb was being designed for
use against Iran.
Kirby was quoted by
the British newspaper as saying in November that
the MOP would provide "a far greater capability to
reach and destroy an enemy's weapons of mass destruction that are
located in well protected underground facilities to a magnitude far
greater than we have now."
Iran is the only nation believed to have buried its
nuclear development facilities so far underground.
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
January 28 - Catholic and Orthodox Churches in UK Highlight Theological Unity
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Misc.
Pope Benedict XVI said
today that achieving Christian unity
requires more than "cordiality and cooperation" and that it must be
accompanied by interior conversion.
The Pope asked for "the
Lord in a particular way to strengthen the faith of all Christians, to
change our hearts and to enable us to bear united witness to the
Gospel." In this way, he said, they
"will contribute to the new evangelization and
respond ever more fully to the spiritual hunger of the men and women of
our time."
He said that
the "unity for which we pray requires
inner conversion, both shared and individual," and it cannot be "limited
to cordiality and cooperation." Instead, Christians must accept "all the
elements of unity which God has conserved for us."
Ecumenism, the Pope stated,
is not an optional extra for Catholics but is "the
responsibility of the entire Church and of all the baptized."
Christians, he said, must make praying for unity an "integral part" of
their prayer life, "especially when people from different traditions
come together to work for
victory in Christ over sin, evil, injustice and the violation of
human dignity."
Pope Benedict then
touched on the lack of unity in the
Christian community, which he said "hinders the effective announcement
of the Gospel and endangers our credibility."
Evangelizing formerly Christian countries and spreading the Gospel to
new places will be "more fruitful if all Christians together announce
the truth of the Gospel and Jesus Christ, and give a joint response to
the spiritual thirst of our times," he explained.
The Pope concluded
his comments with the hope that this year's Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity will lead to "increased shared
witness, solidarity and collaboration among Christians, in expectation
of that glorious day when together we will all be able to celebrate the
Sacraments and profess the faith transmitted by the Apostles."
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
January 22 - Church of England Congregations Continue to Decline
Article:Miscellaneous
The latest statistics from the Church of
England show a two percent drop in attendance
between 2009 and 2010. Average Sunday attendance
fell from 944,400 in 2009 to 923,700 in 2010, continuing the long-term
downward trend.
The number of children and
young people at weekly services also dropped by two percent, from
223,000 in 2009 to 218,600 in 2010.
The number of people opting for a Church
of England funeral fell by two per cent in
churches and four percent in crematoriums.
Despite the drop in attendance at Church
services, there is positive news in the growth of fresh expressions of
church. The figures show that there are
at least 1,000 fresh expressions and new forms of church linked to the
Church of England. It is the first time that fresh
expressions have been included in the Church of England's annual report
on attendance.
Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishops'
Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions team, welcomed the rapid
growth but cautioned that more needs to be done to reverse declining
church attendance in Britain. He said: "It's inspiring to think how much
has happened in so short a time. Since the 2004 Mission-shaped Church
report, we have seen the development of
some 2,000 fresh expressions of church in the Church of England and
Methodist Church.
"The Holy Spirit has been at work in
reaching thousands of people through
these fresh expressions and we are all running to keep up. This is
hugely encouraging and is a major contribution to the re-evangelization
of our land. "However it is just a beginning, this
is not a quick fix and there is much more to do.
Fresh expressions of church are one vital factor, but there is a long
haul ahead of us."
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
January 24 - Atty Says School Threatened, Punished Boy Who Opposed Gay Adoption
Article: :Perilous Times
A 15-year-old Wisconsin
boy who wrote an op-ed opposing gay adoptions
was censored, threatened with suspension and
called ignorant by the superintendent of the Shawano School District,
according to an attorney representing the child.
Wegner, a student at Shawano High School, was asked to write an op-ed
for the school newspaper about whether gays should be allowed to adopt.
Wegner, who is a Christian, wrote in opposition.
Another student wrote in favor of allowing gays to adopt.
Wegner used Bible passages to defend his argument,
including Scripture that called homosexuality a sin.
After the op-ed was published, a gay couple
whose child attend s the high school, complained.
The school immediately issued an apology - stating
Wegner's opinion was a "form of bullying and disrespect."
"Offensive articles cultivating a negative environment of disrespect are
not appropriate or condoned by the Shawano School District,"
the statement read. "We
sincerely apologize to anyone we may have offended and are taking steps
to prevent items of this nature from happening in the future."
But Staver said what the school system did next was
absolutely outrageous. He said the
15-year-old was ordered to the superintendent's office where he was
subjected to hours of meetings and was accused of violating the school's
bullying policy. "The superintendent called him ignorant and said he had
the power to suspend him," Staver said. "He's using
his position to bully this student. This is absolutely the epitome of
intolerance."
Staver said the boy's parents were
never notified. At one point, Staver said the superintendent gave him a
chance to say he regretted writing the column. "When Mr. Wegner stated
that he did not regret writing it, and that he stood behind his beliefs,
Superintendent Carlson told him that he 'had got to be one of the most
ignorant kids to try to argue with him about this topic,'"
Staver said.
"He was asked to write an article in the newspaper overseen by a faculty
adviser," he said, suspecting the
superintendent was specifically outraged over the Bible verses Wegner
had used.
"The superintendent wants everyone to accept homosexuality as normative
and homosexual adoption as something that should be standard practices,"
Staver said. "In
doing so, he's belittling the views and the biblical views of many
people across this country. He is playing a zero-sum
game. He's not interested in dialogue. He wants to cram his view down
the throat of everyone else and will not tolerate an opposing
viewpoint."
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
January 20 - Science Children With DNA From Three Parents Only Three Years Away?
Article: Cloning And Genetic Gengineering
Researchers from
Newcastle University have been funded more than $9.3 million by the
Wellcome Trust to begin experimenting
with a method that could lead to children having DNA from three people
to eliminate some genetic disorders.
According to the Telegraph, the technique involves
removing the nucleus from a donor cell
and inserting a fertilized nucleus from the hopeful couple or the
unfertilized nucleus of the mother for fertilization later.
This effort, researchers believe, could help couples where the
mother has known genetic disorders carried on her mitochondrial DNA -
DNA found in the mitochondria of a cell.
As of right now in the U.K., such embryos created would not be
allowed to be placed into patients but
the Telegraph reports that the health secretary could lift this
regulation and bring the research into human trials within two to three
years.
Prof. Doug Turnbull, who is leading the research,
said: "The important thing is that this has the possibility of stopping
the disease completely.
"If this technique proves to be as safe as IVF and
as effective as the preliminary studies, I think we could totally
prevent the transmission of these diseases."
Sir Mark Walport, head of the Wellcome Trust, said
the genetic impact of inheriting a third person's
mitochondrial DNA would be as minimal as changing the batteries in a
camera.
But, the research is not without its opposition. The Telegraph reports
the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children as
calling it "macabre and unethical" and cited fears
of other "developmental abnormalities".
Cristina Odone, in an opinion's piece on the
research for the Telegraph, writes that she sees this method
as another attempt to "dehumanize disabled
people." Odone writes that unlike chemotherapy and
vaccines, which are meant to save lives while still "confirming that
every one of them is special", this
technique is only attempting to save healthy lives while "keep[ing]
unborn the rest."
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
January 30 - World lacks enough food, fuel as population soars: U.N.
Article: One World Government
The world
is running out of time to make sure there is enough food, water and
energy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and to avoid
sending up to 3 billion people into poverty,
a U.N. report
warned on Monday.
As the world's population looks set to
grow to nearly 9 billion by 2040 from 7 billion now, and the number of
middle-class consumers increases by 3 billion over the next 20 years,
the demand for resources will rise exponentially.
Even by
2030, the world will need at least 50 percent more food, 45 percent more
energy and 30 percent more water, according to U.N.
estimates, at a time when a changing environment
is creating new limits to supply. And if the world fails to tackle these
problems, it risks condemning up to 3 billion people into poverty,
the report said.
"The
current global development
model is unsustainable. To achieve sustainability, a transformation of
the global economy
is required," the report said. "Tinkering on the
margins will not do the job. The
current global economic crisis ... offers an opportunity for significant
reforms."
There are 20 million more
undernourished people now than in 2000; 5.2 million hectares of forest
are lost per year - an area the size of Costa Rica; 85 percent of all
fish stocks are over-exploited or depleted; and carbon dioxide emissions
have risen 38 percent between 1990 and 2009, which heightens the risk of
sea level rise and more extreme weather.
The panel, which made 56 recommendations
for sustainable development to be included in economic policy as quickly
as possible, said a "new political
economy" was needed. They should work with international organizations
to create an "evergreen revolution," which would at least double
productivity while reducing resource use and avoiding further
biodiversity losses, the report said.
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
February 2 - Flesh-eating bug that you can catch on the bus or train is spreading in the UK
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
A flesh-eating form of pneumonia that is easily passed between
healthy people on public transport is spreading across the UK,
experts have warned.
The deadly strain of MRSA
called USA300 passes easily through
skin-to-skin contact. It can also survive on surfaces and so has the
potential to be picked up on crowded buses and tubes.
USA300 is resistant to treatment by several front-line antibiotics
and can cause large boils on the skin. In severe cases, USA300 can lead to
fatal blood poisoning or a form of pneumonia that can eat away at lung
tissue.
'These
community-acquired strains seem to be good at affecting healthy people -
they seem to be much better than the hospital ones at causing disease.
Dr Massey said
USA300 is 'a really big issue in the U.S. and
it's starting to emerge here.
'The ability of the MRSA
bacteria to secrete toxins is one of the main ways it causes disease.
'Using a sensing system, it carefully controls when it switches on its
ability to do this, so as not to cause disease until it is firmly
established within the human. 'Many antibiotics target the cell walls of
harmful bacteria, and to resist this, the bacteria have to make changes to
their cell wall.'
Justine Rudkin, a PhD
student working on the project, said: 'The
community-acquired bacteria has evolved further, and is able to maintain a
higher level of toxicity while also resisting treatment from antibiotics,
making it a much larger problem.' She added: 'While we
are constantly learning more about MRSA, there is a serious threat posed by
this newer strain of bacteria capable of
causing disease and even death in perfectly healthy people.
'We need to respond seriously to this threat as it reaches Britain
from the United States.'
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
February 1 - India's ID plan: An end to its inept bureaucracy or an Orwellian nightmare?
Article: Technology For Global Monetary System
A plan to provide each of India's 1.2 billion
citizens with a unique identification number has been praised as an
essential programme to impose some efficiency on
India's infamously inept bureaucracy. But its opponents have said it is
ripe for abuse. The government could
use it to spy on its citizens and criminals could steal the data and
create false identities.
Since the plan was
launched in mid-2010, about 110 million
Indians have queued up at data-processing centres across the country to
have their irises scanned and their fingerprints recorded. The unique
identification (UID) number that arrives in the post a couple of months
later can then be used to apply for welfare benefits and set up a bank
account, without the endless form-filling and bribe-giving,
which often goes along with proving your existence in India.
Headed by the respected
former chairman of IT giant Infosys, Nandan Nilekani,
the scheme has been a model of unusual government efficiency. But
the programme is now under threat from the Home Ministry, which has its
own biometric database.
It collects not only fingerprints and irises, but also
sensitive information such as caste and religion, which it wants to use
for security purposes.
A turf war between
the Home Ministry and the UID Authority led to a compromise last week.
The agencies agreed to share their data
to avoid duplication. That allowed Mr Nilekani to collect another 400
million people on to his database. The government is providing more than
US$1.5 billion (Dh5.5bn) to merge the databases.
It is unclear how all this information
will be stored and shared, but it has done nothing to allay the fears of
activists who foresaw the UID scheme turning into an Orwellian nightmare
that could target, rather than help, India's poorest citizens.
"Every attempt at
regulation in this country has failed," said Ms Ramanathan.
"They say this data will not be abused, but how
can we believe them?"
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
February 2 - Ahmadinejad calls for new world order
Article: One World Government
Iran's President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has called for a new world order of
justice-seeking nations, to replace the existing Western-dominated liberal
status quo. President Ahmadinejad made the remarks at the
inauguration ceremony of the 2nd International Conference on Hollywoodism and
Cinema in Tehran on Thursday.
The Iranian chief executive stated that the world's
dominant powers deliberately bully the smaller nations, who are not in conflict
with one another, thereby creating artificial problems between them.
President Ahmadinejad also pointed out that
this new world order needs to be all-inclusive, and not be dominated by any
particular single nation.
At least 48 foreign scholars from France, the US, Canada,
Belgium, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Italy, Egypt, Russia, Lebanon, Azerbaijan,
Palestine and the UK are taking part in the conference.
Read Full Article....
|
|
|
|
|
February 4 - Iran: We will help 'cut out the cancer of Israel'
Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
Iran will
help anyone willing to "cut out the cancer" of Israel,
its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today.
The religious leader also told
worshippers at Friday prayers that
the country will continue its controversial nuclear programme.
He warned that any military strike by the
West would only make Iran stronger.
"From
now on, in any place, if any nation or any group confronts the
Zionist regime, we will endorse and we will help. We have no fear
expressing this," said Khamenei.
He said
Israel is a "cancerous tumor that should be
cut and will be cut".
But any statement by Iran's
Supreme Leader, who has final
say on all matters of state, makes it all the more unlikely that
Tehran will switch tack.
Khamenei also said that Iran had
assisted militant groups like the Lebanese Hezbollah and the
Palestinian Hamas - a well-known policy, but one that Iranian
leaders rarely state explicitly. "We have
intervened in anti-Israel matters, and it brought victory in the
33-day war by Hezbollah against Israel in 2006, and in the 22-day
war," between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, he said.
Read Full Article....
|
|
We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
Sincerely,
Roger Oakland
|
|
