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Weekly News In Review

April 17 - 23, 2006

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The following articles were posted at www.understandthetimes.org this past week:

The Reemerging Of The Emerging Church
Keep religion out of politics, Canadians say
Israel calls Mideast terror "declarations of war"
Drugs companies 'inventing diseases to boost their profits'
Rabbi Ariel: Paschal Sacrifice is Still Obligatory
Controversy erupts after Catholic, Protestant clerics concelebrate Easter mass
Russia: Don't Pressure Iran Over Nuclear Program
Nuclear Jihad

Commentary: Bridges To Rome

The Reemerging Of The Emerging Church

We know from the Scriptures that Satan’s plan is to deceive the whole world. His objective is to blind the minds of the unbelieving and to recruit those who have believed to become part of his agenda to set up an end-times delusion.

Do you recall what Paul said would happen to the early Christian church? This is what he said:

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

A brief overview of church history reveals Paul’s prophetic warning was fulfilled. He said it would happen and it happened. Numerous church leaders emerged during the first to the third centuries. The foundational principles of the Scriptures were ignored and many followed the experiential teachings of men who claimed they had discovered new and innovative methods to get in touch with God.

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Article: Signs of the Times

April 17, 2006 - Keep religion out of politics, Canadians say

Canadians are becoming increasingly uneasy about mixing religion and politics and they'd be more likely to vote for a party lead by an atheist or a Muslim than an evangelical Christian, suggests a new poll.

The survey was conducted for CanWest News Service late last week, less than three months after Canadians voted for a government led by Stephen Harper, an evangelical Christian and one of the country's most openly religious leaders in decades.

"There's an increasing discomfort with a mixture of religion and politics, which is occurring at the same time as religion and politics are becoming increasingly intertwined," said Andrew Grenville, a senior vice-president of the polling firm Ipsos Reid.

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Article: Israel and the Last Days

March 17, 2006 - Israel calls Mideast terror "declarations of war"

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israel's ambassador to the United Nations called actions by Iran, Syria and Palestinian leaders "declarations of war," but the Palestinian envoy said on Monday Israel's attacks on Gaza were inhumane and violated international law.

The two diplomats opened a U.N. Security Council debate, that included more than two dozen speakers. The session had been scheduled before Monday's Palestinian suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, in which nine people were killed and 60 wounded.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian U.N. observer, Riyad Mansour, echoed the condemnation made by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. The Hamas-led Palestinian government has not made similar comments.

"We restate our condemnation of the loss of innocent lives, Palestinian and Israelis, and we call upon the occupying power to do the same," Mansour told the council.

Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman said every day fundamentalist leaders were inciting acts of terrorism.

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Article: Signs of the Times

April 11, 2006 - Drugs companies 'inventing diseases to boost their profits'

PHARMACEUTICAL companies are systematically creating diseases in order to sell more of their products, turning healthy people into patients and placing many at risk of harm, a special edition of a leading medical journal claims today.

The practice of "diseasemongering" by the drug industry is promoting non-existent illnesses or exaggerating minor ones for the sake of profits, according to a set of essays published by the open-access journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

"Disease-mongering turns healthy people into patients, wastes precious resources and causes iatrogenic (medically induced) harm," they say. "Like the marketing strategies that drive it, disease-mongering poses a global challenge to those interested in public health, demanding in turn a global response."

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Article: Israel and the Last Days

April 20, 2006 - Rabbi Ariel: Paschal Sacrifice is Still Obligatory

"It's not a question of 'maybe' or 'if'," says the Temple Institute's Rabbi Yisrael Ariel. "Bringing the Paschal sacrifice is a Torah obligation incumbent upon the People of Israel these very days."

Speaking with Yoel Yaakobi of the weekly B'Sheva newspaper, Rabbi Ariel said that though there are some grave Halakhic [Jewish legal] problems associated with bringing the Paschal sacrifice, "we have found the solutions, and the obligation is as strong as ever. This is [one of the only two positive Biblical commandments] that those who forsake it are liable to receive the ultimate karet [cutting off] punishment. From the moment that a Jew stands on the Temple Mount and the site of the Holy Temple is under our control, the Jewish People are immediately obligated to bring this sacrifice."

Sixteen of the 613 Biblical commandments relate to the Paschal sacrifice, which must be brought on the 14th day of the month of Nissan - Passover eve - and eaten on the night of the 15th. Today, this sacrifice is remembered only in the form of the Afikoman, the piece of matzah snatched and hidden by children during the Pesach seder meal, by the small roasted shank-bone on the Seder plate, and by prayers and study.

Rabbi Ariel said, "After the destruction of the First Temple, when the Jews began returning from Babylonia to the Holy Land, they brought the Paschal sacrifice during the course of 22 years even though there was no Holy Temple. They also were considered ritually impure - because there was no Red Heifer by which to become pure - yet they still brought it... There is currently no genuine impediment to bringing the Paschal sacrifice."

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Article: Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days

April 21, 2006 - Controversy erupts after Catholic, Protestant clerics concelebrate Easter mass

Belfast, Apr. 20, 2006 (CNA) - Controversy in Ireland continues after a Protestant clergyman marked the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Western Front by celebrating mass with three Catholic priests, reported the Belfast Telegraph.

Both the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland have promised to launch investigations after it was revealed that the minister, Rev Michael Graham, had brought 20 members of his congregation to the Augustinian Priory in Drogheda, Co Louth, where they took Communion.
The Catholic primate, Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh, said he intended to seek further details about the event, which drew about 1,000 people.

"True ecumenism is best served by initiatives that are respectful of, and sensitive to, the traditions, ethos and discipline of all those involved," he reportedly said. "Otherwise there is a real danger of causing widespread confusion, raising false hopes and creating situations that are open to misunderstandings and manipulation."

The head of the Church of Ireland also expressed concern about the implications this incident would have on ecumenism.

"Unfortunately, such occasions - while well intentioned - can lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations at a time when relations between our Churches have improved so much," Archbishop Robin Eames was quoted as saying.

Fr. Iggy O'Donovan, one of the Catholic priests involved, told the Irish Times he had had no intention of defying Church rules, which strictly prohibit intercommunion.

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Article: Wars and Rumors of Wars

April 22, 2006 - Russia: Don't Pressure Iran Over Nuclear Program

MOSCOW - A top Kremlin diplomat warned against threatening Iran with sanctions or the use of force, saying that would only aggravate the international standoff over Tehran's suspect nuclear program, Russian media reports said Saturday.

Rather than getting Iran to stop uranium enrichment, a tougher stance could result in Tehran's total refusal to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said Oleg Ozerov, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry's Middle East and North Africa Department, according to ITAR-Tass.

"We firmly stand today for resolving the problems in and around Tehran diplomatically rather than militarily. Increasing international pressure on Iran has no prospects," Ozerov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

The United States and European allies are pushing for sanctions because of Iran's refusal to suspend its enrichment program, as demanded by the U.N. Security Council. They suspect Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons in violation of its treaty commitments.

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Article: War And Rumors Of Wars

April 20 - Nuclear Jihad

A.Q. Khan -- a rogue Pakistani scientist - has done more than any other person or country to spread nuclear weapons around the world. (read a chronology of his life)

Name a nuclear hotspot -- and Khan's clients are there. Iran. North Korea. Libya. And perhaps the deadliest potential customer.a terrorist network. willing to make its own nuclear jihad.

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