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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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December 9 - Demographic Shift: Where Have All the Christians Gone?
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
Where have all the Christians gone? According to
Pew Research, in 1900, eight out 10 Christians were living in Europe and North
America. Today, the map demographics has been completely scrambled. In Latin
America alone, there are 517 million Christians. In Africa, 411 million. Asia
tallies 351 million. Once a global powerhouse of Christianity,
Europe is home to an ever-shrinking 553 million (expected to drop to 480 million
by 2050,) while Northern America has 275 million.
"One of the weaknesses of traditional,
ecumenical instruments and organizations is that they just work with
denominations," said Grandberg-Michaelson.
"Some of the newer models are really trying to figure out how
do we draw independent churches, especially like the growth of mega-churches
around the world. How can we draw them into more of an intentional fellowship?"
Read Full Article....
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December 19 - Pope Francis and his invitation to dialogue with Islam
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Other Religions Uniting With Roman Catholics
The Apostolic
Exhortation "Evangelii gaudium" is often presented as Pope Francis' pastoral
program, delivered a few months into his pontificate. It reveals the open,
friendly, positive and joyful soul of this Pope in his attempt to spread the
Christian message in today's world. In his Evangelii gaudium, the Pope is
very positive which is really beneficial in our globalized society.
A. EXEGENCIES OF A
GENUINE DIALOGUE 1 . Truth and Love (No. 250)
The first thing to be detected
in n. 250 is what is being said about "an
attitude of openness in truth and in love " that should characterize
relations with other religions . This is important for our global society in
which we are in frequent contact with members of different religions.
The Pope underlines that
the correct path for encounter and dialogue
requires both "love and truth": there is no truth in the hardening of
positions, there is no love in ambiguous and vague
communication. This is the correct, balanced attitude, that is often lacking
today.
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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While the adoption of
biometrics has been concentrated in the government sector, market dynamics are
shifting, as these technologies find increasing use in consumer electronic
products.
Big Brother could be
at your favorite store.
Scientists have created
the first ever "sperm-based biobots" by trapping single
sperm cells inside metal nanotubes and remotely controlling their direction
using magnets.
The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church
is calling on the faithful to reach out to
Muslims in order to foster a common understanding of religious liberty and
cooperation in supporting it.
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa
Dec. 15, Pope Francis called ecumenical
dialogue a priority of his pontificate, noting that
Christians of all traditions face the same persecution today.
The need for greater efforts to encourage religious
pluralism and cultural diversity by fighting the spread of fanaticism and
prejudice was the focus of Friday's audience between Pope Francis and Ekmeleddin
Ihsanoglu (pictured),
secretary general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which
brings together 57 Muslim countries, this according to a
statement released today by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. 
Biometric
smartphones are expected to become mainstream next year as leading handset
makers follow the lead of Apple Inc. into fingerprint recognition
technology, an Ericsson report on consumer trends showed
on Wednesday.
