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.
The
purpose of posting these articles is to warn the church of deception from a
Biblical perspective.
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January 27 - Theologian integrates bodily movement into church practices
Article: Unbiblical Christianity
When the president of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary recently pronounced yoga incompatible with
Christian practice, the Rev. Marcia Mount Shoop
saw an opening for a wider conversation.
Her new book, "Let the Bones Dance: Embodiment and the Body
of Christ" (Westminster John Knox Press), argues that
many Protestant Christians feel uncomfortable in their own skins and
have opted to silence the body.
"The uniqueness
of Christianity traces itself back to a well-known miraculous
event in a barn in Bethlehem in which Christians proclaim that
God - yes, God - took on a flesh and blood body in the form of
Jesus Christ," she wrote on her blog in response to the Rev. Al
Mohler's attack on yoga. "The body for
Christians was, and is, a crucial point of contact with God."
Shoop, whose
husband, John, is the offensive coordinator for the UNC-CH
football team, is herself a
daily yoga practitioner. She is also an avid
horseback rider and a former competitive runner. Over the past
few years, she has made it her mission
to integrate bodily movement into church practices, whether it's
body prayers, breathing exercises or labyrinth walks.
One way Shoop
gets in touch with her own body is riding horses. "Riding is
a way for me to get out of my head
and embody my connection to a bigger world that is more than
thinking, but feeling," she said.
If she has
one wish for the church, it's that it too would
break free from its cognitive straitjacket.
"The body is a partner," she said.
"It has wisdom. It's not just a sinful vessel but a spiritual
vessel that's part of our Christian walk."
Read Full Article ....
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January 28 - Sen. Paul Calls for Cutting U.S. Aid to Israel
Article: Israel And The Last Days
A new Republican senator
favors cutting U.S. aid to Israel
as part of a deficit-driven effort to slash government spending
by $500 billion this year, drawing criticism from Democrats and Republicans
who argue the U.S. must be unwavering in its support for the longtime
Mideast ally.
Sen.
Rand Paul,
who is backed by the conservative
tea party
movement, unveiled his
budget proposal this week that
would make significant cuts in education, housing and energy while reducing
money for wars in
Afghanistan
and
Iraq
by $16 billion. Paul's plan also would cut some $20 billion in overseas aid,
and he said he wants to eliminate the $3 billion the
United States provides to Israel annually in foreign
military
assistance.
"The
overwhelming majority of Americans agree with Senator Paul -- our current
fiscal crisis makes it impossible to continue the spending policies of the
past," Paul spokesman Gary Howard said in a statement
responding to the criticism. "We simply cannot afford
to give money away, even to our allies, with
so much
debt
mounting on a daily basis."
"We share Senator Paul's commitment to
restraining the growth of federal spending, but we
reject his misguided proposal to end U.S. assistance to our ally Israel,"
said Matthew Brooks, executive director for the Republican Jewish Coalition,
in a statement Thursday. Rep. Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the House
Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, said
the United States cannot renege on its commitment to
the only Democratic nation in a dangerous region.
"Using our budget deficit
as a reason to abandon Israel is inexcusable," Lowey said in a
statement. "It is unclear to me whether Rand Paul speaks for the tea party,
the
Republican Party
or simply himself. I call on all those who
value the U.S.-Israel relationship to make it clear that our nation will not
abandon our ally Israel."
Read Full Article....
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January 27 - Brian McLaren: Christians in Denial Over Evolution of Faith
Article: Emerging Church
Controversial
emergent church leader Brian McLaren said recently that
Christians are in "deep denial"
over the continuous
evolution
of the Christian faith which allows the work of Charles Darwin
to be celebrated, not feared. McLaren, who
argued for an overhaul of the Christian faith in his 2010 book
A New Kind of Christianity, joined a panel discussion
Tuesday that addressed the evolution of the church and the
Christian identity in postmodern or "post-postmodern" times.
The telecast
discussion is part of "The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity,"
a project that seeks to bring
together a diverse panel of "evolution-celebrating" Christians
who don't believe one has to settle on either Jesus or Darwin.
Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for
Evolution, is host and moderator of the series.
"Evolutionary Christianity is a fact of
history about which a lot of Christians are in deep denial,"
said McLaren during a session entitled "Evolving Church." "The
fact is the church has
constantly been evolving. So many Roman
Catholics are shocked to learn that priestly celibacy wasn't
required for quite a while. It was several centuries ago that it
became a universal requirement."
"I think of
lot of Protestants assume that when the Apostle Paul was
establishing house churches they had Sunday School, bulletins
and hymnals," he continued. "So many of things,
even doctrines that are very precious to a
lot of people, particularly doctrines of atonement, for example,
have evolved greatly over history."
The emergent
church pastor, who views the
Bible more as an "inspired library" rather than a legal
constitution, also praised "Evolutionary
Christianity" as a faith perspective that allows for the
discussion of Darwin and evolutionary theory as
opposed to orthodox views that raise arguments to the theory.
Though
McLaren was recognized as one of Time magazine's "25
Most Influential Evangelicals" in 2005, many conservative
evangelicals are happy to distance themselves from him,
calling him "unbiblical" for
rejecting the Bible's narrative of Eden, the fall, condemnation,
salvation, and heaven or hell/damnation.
Other
panelists that spoke during the session with McLaren included
Gretta Vosper, a progressive Christian in
Canada
who advocates that the Bible is
not the authoritative word of God for all time;
Ian Lawton, a minister at C3 Exchange, a church that
recently made national headlines for
the controversial decision to remove the cross from their church;
and Bruce Sanguin, a minister at Canadian Memorial United Church
in Vancouver, who wrote a book combining
science, scripture, and poetry into 21st century prayers.
Read Full Article ....
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January 30 - British Anglicans Preparing Mass Defection to Roman Catholic Church
Article: Bridges To Rome
Hundreds of disillusioned
Anglicans were preparing Sunday to defect from the Church of England
to the Roman Catholic Church in time for Lent,
Sky News reported.
It follows a campaign by a former Anglican
bishop in protest at its stance on the ordination of
women and gay clergy.
Father Keith Newton
has encouraged Anglicans to join the Ordinariate -- a
special branch of Catholicism established by the Pope -- to welcome
protestant
defectors.
Despite the efforts of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Anglo Catholics have begun leaving
following the conversion of three Anglican bishops in mid-January.
At St. Barnabas church in Tunbridge Wells,
southeastern England, the parish priest said that
a majority of his parishioners want to defect -- and he is considering going
too.
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February 3 - Church must make women bishops, say MPs
Article: Miscellaneous
A group of
influential MPs will tomorrow call for
Parliament to intervene over the historic reform as fears
grow that the Church will reject plans allowing female
bishops. The cross-party group, including former
ministers Frank Field and Stephen Timms, and Simon Hughes,
the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, is concerned
that the General Synod, the Church's parliament, may not
pass legislation designed to end the
glass ceiling for women clergy.
Traditionalists believe that a rise in the number of
opponents of female priests to the Synod has improved their
chances of blocking the law, which can only pass if it
receives a two-thirds majority in the houses of laity,
clergy and bishops. Many of them feel
that the current legislation does not provide sufficient
concessions to those who cannot accept women as bishops.
However, Mr
Field has tabled an early day motion,
which could abolish the Church's current exemption from
equality laws relating to gender discrimination and
ultimately force it to consecrate women.
"We're
only acting because we
sense there's an overwhelming wish in the Church of
England to have women bishops."
"The Church has repeatedly made it clear it
wants women bishops so it would be unthinkable if it
were to fall at the last hurdle."
Three bishops have already left to join the
Roman Catholic Church and scores of clergy could follow
them if the reform is passed.
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January 31 - A Profile of This Year's Freshmen: Causes for Concern
Article: Perilous Times
The UCLA
Higher Education Research Institute has
released "The
American Freshman: National Norms for 2010."
The data have troubling implications for the future of religious
liberty, both on campus and beyond.
First,
the #2 "current religious preference"
(after Roman Catholic, which was #1 at
26.6%) is "none" (23.0%).
It is my sense - based admittedly upon
experience and anecdote rather than empirical study - that
those who profess no religious beliefs are
often least likely to respect and acknowledge the religious
freedom of others.
Second,
76.5% agreed that "gays and
lesbians should have the legal right to adopt a child."
Those who support the homosexual legal agenda are frequently
unwilling to accommodate religious exercise perceived to be in
conflict with that agenda. For example, the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts told Catholic Charities it
would either have to place adoptive children with same-sex
couples in violation of its religious beliefs or get out of the
adoption business. Although support for
adoption by same-sex couples does not necessarily mean
opposition to religious freedom, it usually does.
Constitutional protections of religious freedom (and of many
other freedoms) reflect an unassailable empirical reality: that
majorities sometimes do not respect freedom.
Growing support of the homosexual agenda, combined with a
significant numbers of those professing no religion, is cause
for concern - concern that majorities will not give religion the
space to operate that our constitution requires.
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February 1 - Obama and Jesus Ranked Equal as Teen Role Models
Article: Miscellaneous
One is the president of the United States. The
other, the Son of God. But to American
teens,
Barack Obama
and Jesus Christ are equal when it comes to who they see as their role model,
a new study shows.
A Barna Group study, released Monday, on teen
role models found that while two out of three teens
named someone they know personally as a person they looked up to, some did
mention high-profile leaders on their list.
Teens in the study, aged 13 to 17, also
mentioned teachers and coaches (11 percent), friends (9 percent), and
pastors or other religious leaders they know personally (6 percent) as their
personal role models. At least 6 percent of teens listed entertainers as
their role model of choice compared to 1 percent who said they admired
science or medical professionals. Other types of people mentioned were
sports heroes (5 percent), political leaders (4 percent) and faith leaders
(4 percent).
President Obama and
Jesus Christ were commonly named as teen role models, each
receiving 3 percent of the votes. Teenagers looked up to
Obama for his hard work and self-confidence. Jesus resonated among teens
because of his concern for others and being an example to follow.
Kinnaman observed that
faith and religion played a small role in the
choosing of teen role models.
"Even among
young Christians, their role models are virtually no different
than other teenagers," he noted.
Read Full Article ....
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February 2 - UFO spotted hanging over Jerusalem
Article: Rising Interest In The Supernatural
A
UFO has been spotted hovering over one of the holiest sites in Islam, the
Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
It
is the place where the prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven,
built on top of a site sacred to Judaism.
The event was captured on
camera by an American tourist and posted on YouTube.
It could easily be
dismissed as a hoax, but someone else filmed what
appears to be same event from a different angle.
The glowing ball of light
dropping until it hangs just over the Dome of the Rock, before suddenly
shooting off as if disturbed.
NEWS VIDEO CLIP:
Read Full Article....
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February 4 - Extreme weather is just the beginning: Garnaut
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
IF YOU are worried that
Australia's floods, fires and cyclones are getting more intense, the
federal government's key climate adviser says the scientific advice is
clear: ''You ain't seen nothing yet.''
Launching the first of
eight updates to his landmark 2008 climate change review, Professor Ross
Garnaut said Australia was seeing an
intensification of extreme weather events consistent with warnings from
climate scientists.
But Professor Garnaut
said any intensification of weather events
experienced to date, when the world has warmed by about 1 degree since
industrialisation, was only a fraction of what could be
expected under higher rises.
''The science says
that without mitigation - and with the sorts of emissions growth that my
analysis shows will follow the industrialisation of China, of India, of
Indonesia and the acceleration of economic growth in Africa -
then that first degree is just the
beginning,'' Professor Garnaut said.
''So if
we are seeing an intensification of extreme weather events now, you
ain't seen nothing yet.''
Professor Garnaut
said scientists predicted there would
be more frequent extreme cyclones - though not
necessarily more frequent cyclones - due to greenhouse gas emissions.
He said despite
concern that a carbon price would increase
electricity prices, it would be only a small part of the total price
rise, which was mainly due to rising coal and gas prices, infrastructure
upgrades and the resources boom.
Read Full Article ....
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February 2 - Nasa space telescope spots odd new solar system
Article: Creation/Evolution - Misc.
NASA has announced the
discovery of a strange new solar system with six planets orbiting around
a sun-like star. The discovery is mystifying astronomers and
illustrates just how much variety is possible in
the universe. Five of the planets were found to be in a closer
orbit to their star than any planet in Earth's solar system.
"We
really were just amazed at this gift that Nature...has given
us. And with six transiting planets, five so close
to their star, and getting the size and masses of these five fairly
small worlds, there's only one word that I can think of that adequately
describes the new finding we're announcing today -
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," Nasa scientist Jack Lissauer said
at a news briefing in Washington DC, referring to the word made famous
in the 1964 Disney movie, "Mary Poppins."
The team at Nasa and
a range of universities has named the system Kepler-11, after the
orbiting Kepler space telescope that spotted it.
The star resembles
Earth's own sun. But five of the planets orbiting it are packed into a
space equivalent to the distance between Mercury and Venus in our own
solar system.
Astronomers have now
found more than 500 exoplanets. Most are giant, because they are so far
away that only the biggest are detectable.
But some researchers are certain there are
Earthlike planets out there.
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February 2 - 1,500-year-old church found in Israel
Article: Biblical Archeology
Israeli archaeologists presented
a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in
the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved
mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks.
The small basilica with an exquisitely
decorated floor was active between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D.,
said the dig's leader, Amir Ganor of the
Israel
Antiquities
Authority.
He said the floor was "one of the most beautiful mosaics to be uncovered
in Israel in recent years. It is unique in its craftsmanship and level
of preservation," he said.
Though an initial survey suggested the
building was a synagogue, the excavation revealed stones carved with
crosses, identifying it as a church. The building had been built atop
another structure around 500 years older, dating
to Roman times, when scholars believe the settlement was inhabited by
Jews.
Hewn into the rock underneath that
structure is a network of tunnels that
archaeologists believe were used by Jewish rebels fighting Roman armies
in the second century A.D.
Stone steps lead down from the floor of
church to a small burial cave, which scholars suggest
might have been venerated as the burial
place of the Old Testament prophet Zecharia.
Israel boasts an exceptionally high
concentration of archaeological sites, including
Crusader, Islamic, Byzantine, Roman, ancient Jewish and prehistoric
ruins.
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January 29 - Dissident Anglicans step closer to Rome
Article: Bridges To Rome
The path to Rome detours
by the Gold Coast for those disaffected Australian Anglicans planning to
take up Pope Benedict's offer to join the Catholic Church.
Up to 50 clergy and laity will gather for the first
time nationally at St Stephen's College at Coomera for three days from
Tuesday to discuss the Australian Anglican ordinariate - the
local framework which will allow them to keep their married clergy,
liturgy and church structures within Catholicism.
''Certainly the exercise has never been done
before, not since the Reformation,'' he said.
The national meeting
comes after three married British bishops, similarly unhappy with the
liberal direction of the Anglican Church - such as
allowing women clergy - became the first to be ordained as Catholic
priests within a British ordinariate, at Westminster Cathedral earlier
this month.
But Archbishop
Hepworth, who first visited the Vatican 21 years ago seeking to bring a
Reformation church back into communion with the Holy See, said
it felt ''strange but good'' that the
long-sought-after arrangement was coming to pass.
Father Warren Wade
from the parish of St Mary the Virgin, Sydney's only Traditional
Anglican Communion parish, which operates out of a rented church space
in North Turramurra, said his paperwork for
re-ordination was in.
''I think this is a tremendous thing and
the Holy Father has been very generous in having an understanding of
where we come from, to the point where we can keep so much of the
tradition that we've gained over the last 500 years,''
he said. ''All my parishioners - all 15
of them who come to Mass every Sunday - they're all for it.''
Read Full Article ....
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January 31 - As Egypt goes offline US gets internet 'kill switch' bill ready
Article: One World Government
As Egypt's government
attempts to crackdown on
street protests
by shutting down internet and mobile phone
services, the US is preparing to reintroduce a bill that could be used
to shut down the internet.
The legislation, which
would grant US President Barack Obama
powers to seize control of and even shut down the internet, would soon
be reintroduced to a senate committee,
Wired.com reported.
Senator Susan
Collins, a co-sponsor of the bill, said that unlike in Egypt, where the
government was using its powers to quell dissent by shutting down the
internet, it would not. "My legislation
would provide a mechanism for the
government to work with the private sector in the event of a true cyber
emergency," Collins said in an emailed statement to
Wired. "It would give our nation the
best tools available to swiftly respond to a significant threat."
The
proposed legislation,
introduced into the US Senate by independent senator Joe Lieberman, who
is chairman of the US Homeland Security committee,
seeks to grant the President broad emergency
powers over the internet in times of national emergency.
Last year, Lieberman argued the bill
was necessary to "preserve those networks and assets and our country and
protect our people".
One of Australia's
top communications experts, University of Sydney associate professor
Bjorn Landfeldt, had previously
railed against the idea,
saying shutting down the internet would
"inflict an enormous damage on the entire world".
He said it would
be like giving a single country "the right to poison the atmosphere, or
poison the ocean".
"In an action
unprecedented in internet history, the Egyptian
government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all
international connections to the internet," James Cowie of
Renesys said in a blog post.
"We had no warning, it was quite sudden," a
spokesman for Telecom-Orange told AFP in France.
The shutdown in Egypt is the most comprehensive
official electronic blackout of its kind, experts
said.
Read Full Article ....
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January 28 - Catholic church silently supports GMOs
Artcile: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Yet another
leaked report reveals the truth about the
Vatican's real stance on genetically-modified organisms (GMO).
For years, the "Holy See" has held a dubious stance on the issue,
with its Pontifical Academy of Sciences having given GMOs
preliminary approval in 2000 while its public communiques expressed
opposition. But a new cable exposes the
Vatican's secret approval of "Frankenfoods," dismantling the
Vatican-promoted illusion of neutrality on the issue.
"Recent conversations between the Holy See officials and
USAID ... confirmed the cautious
acceptance of
biotech
food by the Holy See," wrote Christopher
Sandrolini, a U.S. diplomat to the Holy See, in an August 26, 2005,
cable. The same cable explains that
the Vatican has never really been concerned about the safety of
GMOs,
and its only concern is that "these technologies are going to make
developing world farmers more dependent on others, and simply serve
to enrich multinational corporations."
Again in 2009, another leaked cable states that
"Vatican officials remain largely
supportive of genetically-modified crops," referring to Pope
Benedict's November 16, 2009, speech at the World Food Security
Summit. At this event,
Benedict expressed support for global "development," which
Monsignor James Reinert from the Vatican Council for Justice and
Peace said was "a small but
significant step towards more vocal Vatican support of
biotechnologies."
In December 2010,
NaturalNews
covered a leaked report from June 2009 that revealed the Pope
Benedict's personal support for GMOs (http://www.naturalnews.com/030807_t...).
The report is linked to the one in November, both of which emphasize
overall support for GMOs by the Vatican and its scientific academy.
The Holy See is slowly trying to convince both the general public
and
GMO opponents
within its ranks, such as outspoken bishops,
to embrace the technology. This agenda clearly
defines the Vatican's role in working to cement a relationship
between governments and commerce in order to propagate GMO
technologies around the world.
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February 3 - White House, Egypt Discuss Mubarak Exit Plan
Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
The Obama
administration is in talks with top Egyptian officials about
the possible immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak and
the formation of an interim government that could prepare the
country for free and fair elections later this year, U.S. officials
said late Thursday.
Creation of a military-backed caretaker
government in Egypt is one of several ideas being discussed
as anti-Mubarak protests escalate in the streets of
Cairo and other Egyptian cities, the officials said.
Those protests are expected to grow in size
and intensity on Friday and the administration fears they may erupt
into more widespread violence unless the government takes tangible
steps to address the protesters' main demand that Mubarak leave
office.
Chaos already
prevails in the streets of Cairo, where pro- and anti-government
groups clashed for a second day Thursday in a central square, and
further escalation is expected Friday.
Mubarak told ABC he
is troubled by deadly violence in Cairo's Tahrir Square and
that the government is not responsible for it. In the interview at
the presidential palace, Mubarak blamed the outlawed Muslim
Brotherhood for the violence.
Among the options
being discussed is a proposal for Mubarak to resign immediately --
which the embattled president has refused to do --
and for him to cede power to a transitional
government run by Suleiman.
"It could well be
that this is in anticipation of events tomorrow," State Department
spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "We
are bracing for a significant increase in the number of
demonstrators on the streets and the real prospect of a
confrontation."
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February 3 - 'Chrislam' in Protestant churches
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Christians Uniting With Other Religions
A Protestant renewal organization is concerned
about the recent efforts of some mainline Protestant churches
to produce an ecumenical reconciliation between
Christianity and Islam.
According to a recent blog post from The
Last Crusade, congregations in
several metropolitan areas -- Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, and Detroit -- preached
sermons and held Sunday school lessons recently on the founder of Islam,
Mohammad, whom Muslims consider a prophet. Qurans were also placed in the
pews next to Bibles.
Proponents of the movement, which has been dubbed
"Chrislam," claim that Christians
cannot love their neighbors without having a relationship with them.
Alan Wisdom, director of the Presbyterian
Action committee and vice president for research and programs at The
Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD),
contends that Islam should never be viewed as an equal
to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Moreover, Qurans should never be placed next
to God's Holy Word.
"I think that that implies some kind of equal authority there, and I
don't think that's the case," Wisdom explains. "The Bible is God's unique
revelation to us. The
pulpit of a church is for preaching the Word of God, and we believe that
that is the scriptures of the Old and New Testament. When we go to worship
God, we worship Jesus Christ, and we can't mix that worship with any other
allegiance."
The IRD committee director adds that while he
believes it is important for Christians to study and understand religions
like Islam, he does not think believers
should ever cross the line and blend Christianity together with a religion
that is antithetical to Christian teachings.
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
Sincerely,
Roger Oakland
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