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Dear Ron,
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.
Our purpose of posting these
articles is to warn the church of the
Biblical deception.
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June 19 - Shack author has personal ties to Canada
Article: Unbiblcal Christianity
Comment
from Understand The Times:
It is
amazing how professing Christians will read a fiction book that
misrepresents God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and then claim
that the book helped them to better understand God. Such a delusion can
only be understood as a sign of the times. Worse yet, many church
leaders have promoted The Shack and have even used the book for
Bible study. If these leaders actually studied the Bible rather than
The Shack, they would find that they are deceived and deceiving
others like Paul warned in (2 Timothy 3:13).
According to the publisher's
promotional material, The Shack "is a suspenseful, imaginative and to some,
controversial account of a man who suffers a devastating personal family
tragedy -- and, in his despair, encounters
supernatural manifestations of the three persons of the Trinity in a shack.
God the Father appears as a large African American woman, Jesus Christ as a
Middle-Eastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit as an Asian woman."
The Shack has made
a big emotional impact on many people. It has also
been endorsed by respected Christian figures such as Eugene Peterson,
author of The Message, who writes: "This book has the
potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress did
for his. It's that good!"
Some critics are not so
persuaded, however. Berit Kjos, author of A Twist of Faith, decries what she
considers "the twisted 'truths' of The Shack."
Kjos maintains that Young's version of the
Trinity is problematic, with a distorted view of both the Son and the
Father: "This new 'Jesus' never returned to heaven. Was there no real
resurrection? Not according to the female 'God.'"
It is not entirely
coincidental that, just a few blocks south, Christ Church Cathedral, not
long ago, had a similar kind of session with
Brian McLaren, the 'emerging church' leader -- who, as it
happens, is also a good friend of William Paul Young's.
Read Full Article ....
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August 24 - Speaking in Tongues at Mass
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Protestants Uniting With Roman Catholics
Comment from Understand The Times:
Over the
years, there has been a trend developing that unites charismatics
who are NOT Catholic with charismatics who are Catholic. The
common denominator is speaking in tongues.
As the
following article states, allowing speaking in tongues during Mass
in Brazil "is credited as helping to
stem the hemorrhaging of Catholics toward Pentecostal sects." because "the
renewal is considered as being especially attuned and appealing to a
wide swath of Brazilian society."
Answered by Legionary of
Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina
Apostolorum university.
Q: What is allowed for regarding the (so-called)
"speaking in tongues" during a Charismatic Mass? And what exactly is
an acceptable type of such Mass?
A:
There are practically no universal guidelines on this subject,
except of course the general norms that prohibit adding anything
whatsoever to officially prescribed texts.
It must be noted that the Brazilian bishops
have a generally positive view of the Charismatic Renewal, and a
significant number participate in charismatic Masses. The
renewal is considered as being especially attuned and appealing to a
wide swath of Brazilian society and is
credited as helping to stem the hemorrhaging of Catholics toward
Pentecostal sects.
"In the celebration of Holy Mass the words of
the institution must not be stressed in an inadequate fashion. Nor
must the Eucharistic Prayer be interrupted by moments of praise for
Christ's Eucharistic presence by means of applause, cheers,
processions, hymns of Eucharistic praise or any other manifestations
that exalt in this way the Real Presence and end up emptying out the
various dimensions of the Eucharistic celebration."
When referring to speaking in tongues (No. 62), the document offers
the following clarifications:
"Speaking or praying in tongues:
The object or destination of praying in tongues is God himself,
being the attitude of a person absorbed in a particular conversation
with God. The object or destination of speaking in tongues is the
community. The Apostle Paul teaches, 'When I am
in the presence of the community I would rather say five words that
mean something than ten thousand words in a tongue' (1 Corinthians
14:19). Since in practice it is difficult to
distinguish between the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and the
instigations of the group leader, there should never be a call
encouraging praying in tongues, and speaking in tongues should not
take place unless there is also an interpreter."
Read Full Article ....
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August 25 - The Government's New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS
Article: Technology For Global Monetary System
Comment from Understand The Times:
Maybe it's time for people to wake up and smell the roses. For
years, Bible prophecy scholars have been warning that a time was
coming when a global system of control would impact human beings
worldwide. This would be part of a New World Order
governance system set up to help prepare the way for the antichrist.
This article gives just a tiny glimpse as to what is coming. Fasten
your seatbelts!
Government agents
can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night,
put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and
keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't
violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because
you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own
driveway - and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't
tracking your movements.
That is the bizarre
- and scary - rule that now applies
in California and eight other Western states.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this
vast jurisdiction, recently decided the
government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime
it wants - with no need for a search warrant.
It is a dangerous
decision - one that, as the dissenting judges warned,
could turn America into the sort of
totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell. It is
particularly offensive because the judges added insult to injury
with some shocking class bias: the little
personal privacy that still exists, the court suggested, should
belong mainly to the rich.
Plenty of
liberals have objected to this kind of spying, but it is the
conservative Chief Judge Kozinski who has done so most passionately.
"1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it's here at
last," he lamented in his dissent. And
invoking Orwell's totalitarian dystopia where privacy is essentially
nonexistent, he warned:
"Some day, soon, we may wake up and find we're living in Oceania."
Read Full Article ....
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August 22 - Iran inaugurates nation's first unmanned bomber
Article: Israel And The Last Days
<
Comment from
Understand The Times:
For Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to say that an Iranian unmanned bomber aircraft
is "an ambassador of death" that will provide a message to bring
about "peace and friendship" is an oxymoron. Ahmadinejad has gone on
record by stating that Israel must be "wiped off the map." Saying
that a nation should be "wiped off the map" means that he would like
Israel to be destroyed. Therefore, by his very own words he himself
is an "ambassador of death."
Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday inaugurated the country's first
domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft,
calling it an "ambassador of death" to Iran's enemies.
"The jet, as well as
being an ambassador of death for the enemies
of humanity, has a main message of peace and friendship,"
said Ahmadinejad at the inauguration ceremony, which fell on the
country's national day for its defense industries. The goal of the
aircraft, named Karrar or striker, is to "keep
the enemy paralyzed in its bases," he said, adding that the
aircraft is for deterrence and defensive
purposes.
The president championed the country's military self-sufficiency
program, and said
it will continue
"until the enemies of humanity lose hope of ever attacking
the Iranian nation."
The ceremony came a
day after Iran began to fuel its first nuclear
power reactor, with the help of Russia, amid international concerns
over the possibility of a military dimension to its nuclear program.
Referring to Israel's
occasional threats against Iran's nuclear facilities, Ahmadinejad
called any attack unlikely, but he
said if Israel did, the reaction would be overwhelming.
"The
scope of Iran's reaction
will include the entire the earth," said
Ahmadinejad. "We also tell you, the
West, that all options are on the table."
Read Full Article:
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August 22 - Pope: Prayer to Mary Queen of Peace, where the absurd logic of violence rages
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Comment from
Understand The Times:
The Bible does mention
there is a queen of heaven.
However, this queen of heaven is NOT Mary, the mother of
Jesus. Jeremiah proclaimed that the "queen of heaven" was a demonic
female entity that had seduced and deceived the Israelites. This
partnership between man and spirit being would bring about judgement
upon Israel (Jeremiah chapter 7 and 44). Also there is NO
mention in the Bible that the mother of Jesus was ever called the
Queen of Peace. To call Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Queen of
Heaven or the Queen of Peace seems to be very questionable in light
of God's Word.
To
Mary, Mother and Queen of Peace, we entrust the world,
especially those places "where the absurd logic of violence rages."
This is what Benedict XVI recalled today in his address to pilgrims
at Castel Gandolfo before the Angelus prayer,
the day when the Church celebrates Mary as Queen.
"The Mother of Christ - said the pope - is completely crowned by her
Son, thus associated with his universal kingship, as the many
mosaics and paintings depict her".
"The small and simple girl of
Nazareth - he continued - has
become the queen of the world! This is one of
the wonders that reveals the heart of God's kingship. Of course
Mary's queenship is totally relative
to Christ: He is the Lord, who after the
humiliation of death on the cross, the Father exalted above all
creatures in heaven and on earth and under the earth (cf. Phil
2:9-11). By a design of grace, the
Immaculate Mother was fully involved in the mystery of
the Son: his Incarnation, his earthly life, at first hidden in
Nazareth and then manifested in the messianic ministry, his Passion
and Death, and finally, the glory of his Resurrection and Ascension
to Heaven. Yes, Mary is the
first that has passed through the "way" opened by Christ to enter
the kingdom of God, a way accessible to the
poor, those who trust in the word of God and are committed to
putting it into practice".
"In the history of cities and peoples
evangelized by the Christian message - concluded Benedict XVI -
there are countless testimonies of
public veneration, in some cases, even of the royal institution of
the Virgin Mary. But today especially as
children of the Church, we renew
our devotion to her as Mother and Queen, left
us by Jesus. We entrust to her
intercession our daily prayer for peace,
especially where the absurd logic of violence rages, so that all
people will be persuaded that in this world we must help each other
as brothers to build a civilization
of love.
Read Full Article ....
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August 22 - Global currency coming
Article: One World Government
If the International Monetary
Fund gets its way, the U.S. dollar will be replaced by the "bancor" as the
world's reserve currency. According to a report published April 13,
the IMF would like to
adopt a plan of action that would expand the use of SDRs (Special Drawing
Rights) to replace the U.S. dollar as the storehouse of value,
and eventually create a global currency called the "bancor."
The new
global currency would be issued by a new global central bank that
would have the authority to levy taxes for various infractions. The bank
would have to be, according to the report writers, "accountable to member
nations, but remain independent."
A
global central bank has long been a goal of those who advocate
global governance. America's school system
has failed to teach students about the century-long
conflict between those who want a global governing authority and those who
do not. Schools do not teach that President Kennedy planned to turn
over U.S. military power to the United Nations in
order to give the emerging global government the power to enforce its global
governance policies.
The
people who believe the world should be governed by a global authority
have been working toward this goal for more than a century. They are
relentless; they are driven; they are convinced that
they know best how people should live. They believe that all nations and
all societies should be controlled by an elite, benevolent intelligentsia
that can ensure social justice by enforcing what has now become known as
sustainable development. These people are closer to achieving
their goal than at any previous time in history.
Those who advocate global
governance have changed their tactics, but not their goal. They have made
great strides through a variety of treaties, and particularly through the
implementation of Agenda 21 and the concept of sustainable development.
The erosion of freedom that is inevitable under any
system of global governance has been painted green, packaged in a bundle
labeled social justice, and sold to a generation of Americans eager to make
the world a better place.
The global currency proposed by the IMF is
just the latest step toward that ultimate utopian
vision pursued for so long by so many.
Read Full Article....
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August 26 - Sarkozy Outlines G-20 Priorities
Article: One World Government
Comment from
Understand The Times:
Each week we see current events
unfolding that reveal we are heading towards a global currency that
will lead to a monetary system that is controlled by a New World
Order and a One World government.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called
on the world's 20 largest economies to work
together to reform global monetary order. "We must define
a new framework for discussing currency movements,"
Mr. Sarkozy said, adding that it is "nonsense" to talk about
exchange rates without including China, which has accumulated huge
foreign exchange reserves.
He said stabilizing erratic foreign
exchange and commodities markets will feature high on France's
agenda when it heads the Group of 20 from November. He added
there is a need to reduce the U.S. dollar's
dominance as the reserve currency of choice and called for
a greater role for alternative currencies.
Better coordination of global economic policies aimed at unwinding
world imbalances is key to reducing foreign exchange volatility,
Sarkozy said. Another way to achieve better currency stability will
be for the G-20 to try to prevent the accumulation of excessive
foreign exchange reserves among its members, particularly in
emerging countries, he added.
But he
suggested that a conference of experts could be held, possibly in
China, to discuss the future of the monetary system without
"taboos." "Since the 1970s, we've been living in a nonexistent
international monetary system," he remarked. Monitoring global
exchange rates has until now been the exclusive remit of the group
of the world's seven most industrialized countries, which doesn't
include China.
The
global monetary system should also be more multipolar and not rely
solely on the U.S. dollar as the world's main reserve currency,
Sarkozy added. Noting that there's increased interest in the Special
Drawing Right, a monetary unit used by countries in their
transactions with the International Monetary Fund, Sarkozy said that
the international monetary system would be reinforced if countries
could use an international reserve asset that's not
issued by only one nation, like the U.S. dollar.
Read Full Article....
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August 25 - Benedict XVI Encourages Choosing a Special Saint
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Comment from
Understand The Times:
Anyone with any biblical
knowledge knows that the Scriptures warn about attempting to pray to
the dead. Suggesting that "spiritual guides" can get us closer to
God opens the door to the demonic realm and strong delusion. The
Bible states: For there is one God,
and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus
(I Timothy 2: 5).
Benedict XVI is
recommending that everyone have devotion to a particular
saint -- he suggested, for example,
a namesake -- so that
the saint can offer closeness through intercession but
also be a model to imitate.
The Holy Father said that
it is important "to have 'travel companions' on
the journey of our Christian life: I am thinking of a
spiritual director, a confessor, persons with whom we can
share the experience of faith, but I am also
thinking of the Virgin Mary and of the saints."
"Each one,"
he said, "should
have a saint that is familiar to him, to whom he feels close
with prayer and intercession, but also to imitate him or her.
Hence, I would like to invite you
to know the saints better, beginning with the one
whose name you bear, by reading his life, his writings. You
can be certain that they
will become good guides to love the Lord ever
more and valid aids for your human and Christian
growth."
Read Full Article ....
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
Sincerely,
Roger Oakland
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