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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.
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May 16 - "Big Brother" is big business?
Article: One World Government
The odds are you are not just a face in the crowd any
longer. Even if your picture isn't plastered all over social networking and
photo-sharing sites, facial recognition technology in public places is
making it harder if not impossible to remain anonymous.
Lesley Stahl reports on the new ways this
technology is being used that even has one of its inventors calling it too
intrusive. Her 60 Minutes report will be broadcast
Sunday, May 19 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Professor Alessandro
Acquisti of Carnegie Mellon, who researches how technology impacts privacy,
stunned Stahl with an experiment. He
photographed random students on the campus and in short order, not only
identified several of them, but in a number of cases found their personal
information, including social security numbers, just using a facial
recognition program he downloaded for free. Acquisti says smart-phones will
make "facial searches" as common as Google searches in the future. And
nearly everybody can be subject to such prying, even those who are careful
about their Internet use.
Companies are beginning to use facial recognition technology to
improve business. National retailers are installing cameras, some in store
mannequins, to learn more about customers, while entities like malls can put
cameras in digital billboards that recognize the age and gender of their
shoppers and tailor ads to them on the spot.
Read Full Article....
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May 13 - Poll: Many Protestant Pastors Lean Toward Young Earth Creation
Article: Creation/Evolution - Misc.
A poll commissioned by
evangelical Christian group BioLogos found that pastors hold a variety of views
when it comes to the origin of life and science, though Young Earth Creation
remains the most popular theory. The survey was conducted in 2012 by the Barna
Group, which asked 743 Protestant pastors from churches across various Christian
denominations in the U.S. to share their origin of life views. While BioLogos
asked a variety of questions and is putting together a comprehensive, in-depth
report in the coming months, the group released last week some key findings.
"The numbers varied widely based on a number of factors, however.
Pastors of mainline churches were most likely to accept Theistic Evolution,
while non-Mainline, Charismatic, and Southern Baptist pastors were
overwhelmingly Young Earth Creationists. Pastors of larger churches were also
more likely to accept Theistic Evolution," BioLogos said of
the results.
According to the poll,
19 percent of
Protestant pastors expressed certainty that the Earth is less than 10,000 years
old and that God created life in its present form in six 24-hour days.
Thirty-five percent said while they believe that God created life in its present
form in six 24-hour days, they express qualified certainty, or doubt the "young"
age of the Earth.
Read Full Article....
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May 16 - Natural Disasters Displaced 32.4 Million People In 2012, IDMC Study Shows
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
More than 30 million people
fled their homes in 2012
because of disasters such as floods, storms and earthquakes,
a new report indicates.
According
to the study by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
and the Norwegian Refugee Council,
natural disasters forced 32.4 million
people to flee last year, with the overwhelming majority (98
percent) due to climate- and weather-related events. While
most of the victims live in developing nations, 2012 also
saw an increase in environmental refugees in wealthy
countries, particularly in the United States.
The
report establishes that
most of the damage was caused by severe flooding, with India
and Nigeria suffering the brunt of the destruction. India,
in particular, experienced repeated flooding during its long
monsoon season. Africa suffered a record high in 2012, with
8.2 million people displaced because of natural disasters.
Read Full Article....
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May 21 - Final Declaration from the IV Christian-Buddhist Colloquium
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Roman Catholic Church Uniting With Other Religions
Here is the text of
the Final Declaration made during the IV
Buddhist-Christian Colloguium held at the Pontifical Urbaniana
University on May 6th, under the theme "Inner Peace, Peace among
Peoples. The Holy See made the text available
yesterday afternoon.
1. The Pontifical
Council for Interreligious Dialogue in collaboration with the Office of
Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of Italy held the fourth Buddhist-Christian Colloquium at the
Pontifical Urbaniana University on 6th of May 2013 under the theme
"Inner Peace, Peace among Peoples".
2. The participants
were of the view that the different papers presented, formal
discussions, friendly dialogues during free times
contributed to deepen the mutual understanding of
each other's traditions, to know better the convergence and divergence
and to be aware of the mutual responsibility to maintain or to restore
peace.
3. The participants
coming from Italy, Japan, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Vietnam, South
Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India
noted that the religious landscape of the world
today is undergoing rapid changes. In that context the followers of
different religious traditions can contribute to friendship and
solidarity among persons and peoples.
6. In both the
Christian and Buddhist journeys, therefore,
inner freedom, purification of the heart,
compassion and the gift of self are the essential conditions for the
inner peace of the individual as well as for social peace.
7.
In spite of differences, both Buddhist and Christian ethical teaching on
respect for life is a search for common good based on loving kindness
and compassion. The participants expressed that dialogue between
Buddhists and Christians be strengthened to face new challenges such as
threat to human life, poverty, hunger, endemic diseases, violence, war,
etc., which belittle the sanctity of human life and poison peace in
human society.
8. The participants
recognized that they have a special responsibility in addressing these
issues. The desire for cooperation for
the well-being of humanity ought to spring from the depth of spiritual
experiences. Only inner peace can transform the human heart and make one
see in his/her neighbour another brother and sister. If we really want
to build a world of peace, it is vitally important that we join forces
to educate people, especially the young, to seek peace, to live in peace
and to risk working for peace.
9 The colloquium
concluded with the affirmation that it is love which brings or restores
peace to human hearts and establishes it in our midst.
The participants also observed that the path of
peace is difficult; it demands courage, patience, perseverance,
determination and sacrifice. They consider dialogue a priority and a
sign of hope. It must continue!
Read Full Article....
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May 22 - Pope says no to intolerance, everyone can and must do good, even atheists
Article: One World Religion
Man, who was created
in God's image "must" do good. This
concerns us all, independently of ideologies and religions, even
atheists, for the Lord "redeemed all of us, all
of us, with the Blood of Christ; all of us, not just Catholics.
Everyone! 'Father, what about the atheists?' Even atheists.
Everyone!" During the Mass he celebrates every morning at the Domus
Sanctae Marthae, which he carried out this morning together with
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai,
Pope Francis spoke about doing good as a
principle that unites all humanity.
The pontiff began
his reflection with today's Gospel about the disciples who wanted to
prevent a person from outside their group from doing good. "They
complain" because they say, "If he is not one of us, he cannot do
good. If he is not of our party, he cannot do good." But Jesus
corrected them. 'Do not stop him,' he said. 'Let him do good'."
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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