An International Missionary Outr

An International Missionary Outreach Dedicated to Evangelizing the Lost and Equipping the Church for Discernment

Weekly News In Review

March 27 - April 2, 2006

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Roger's Blogs
"Personal Update From Roger Oakland"
"Exposing The Emerging Church"

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

Be worried, be very worried
Brain Cells Fused with Computer Chip
Mission Chicago seeks to 'jump-start' evangelization
U.S. to Contract Hong Kong Firm to Help Scan for Nuclear Materials Passing From Bahamas to U.S.
China repeats it in accord with Russia on Iran
Israeli leader's party will divide Jerusalem
Imams and rabbis form summit on issues surrounding Temple Mount
Vatican Change of Heart Over 'Barbaric' Crusades
News of successful Iranian missile test worries Israel, U.S.
Road to Temple Mount uncovered
Cost of clergy sex abuse now exceeds $1.5 billion

Article: Signs of the Last Times

March 26, 2006 - Be worried, be very worried

No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth.

Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.

From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us.

The problem -- as scientists suspected but few others appreciated -- is that global climate systems are booby-trapped with tipping points and feedback loops, thresholds past which the slow creep of environmental decay gives way to sudden and self-perpetuating collapse. That's just what's happening now.

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Article: Signs of the Last Times

March 27, 2006 - Brain Cells Fused with Computer Chip

The line between living organisms and machines has just become a whole lot blurrier. European researchers have developed "neuro-chips" in which living brain cells and silicon circuits are coupled together.

The achievement could one day enable the creation of sophisticated neural prostheses to treat neurological disorders or the development of organic computers that crunch numbers using living neurons.

To create the neuro-chip, researchers squeezed more than 16,000 electronic transistors and hundreds of capacitors onto a silicon chip just 1 millimeter square in size.

They used special proteins found in the brain to glue brain cells, called neurons, onto the chip. However, the proteins acted as more than just a simple adhesive.

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Article: Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days

March 29, 2006 - Mission Chicago seeks to 'jump-start' evangelization

CHICAGO, March 29 (CNA) - The Archdiocese of Chicago has taken on a mega-evangelization project in an effort to draw back lapsed Catholics and to re-energize practicing Catholics in their faith. It's called Mission Chicago 2006 and, according to a New York Times report, Chicago is the largest archdiocese to organize such wide-ranging events focused on evangelization.

Fr. Robert Barron is heading the yearlong project, initiated by Cardinal Francis George. So far, Mission Chicago 2006 has included a three-day Festival of Faith at a convention center, a day of round-the-clock confessions with 70 priests on hand, a series of six "back-to-basics" sermons by Fr. Barron and the distribution of 2,500 motivational DVDs.

Thousands flocked last month to the Festival of Faith, which featured concerts and workshops in English, Spanish and Polish. And, at one parish, 400 people turned out this month for the round-the-clock confession initiative.

According to the New York Times, some of the efforts are taking a cue from evangelical Protestants, whose mega-churches are attracting some lapsed Catholics due to their ability to link Scripture with everyday life. They also use pop music, social events, the Internet, informal settings and small-group fellowship to foster a sense of community.

Mission Chicago is a response to the current reality facing the Church, namely declining church attendance, a priest shortage, the aftermath of sexual abuse ! scandals and the lure of other Christian denominations.

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Article: Wars and Rumors of Wars

March 24, 2006 - U.S. to Contract Hong Kong Firm to Help Scan for Nuclear Materials Passing From Bahamas to U.S.

ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Ted Bridis and John Solomon, Associated Press Writers - March 24, 2006 - One of Americans' favorite beach destinations, the Bahamas, is getting a new U.S. arrival -- sophisticated equipment to detect radioactive materials in shipping cargo.

...Hutchison Whampoa is the world's largest ports operator and among the industry's most-respected companies. It was an early adopter of U.S. anti-terror measures. But its billionaire chairman, Li Ka-Shing, also has substantial business ties to China's government that have raised U.S. concerns over the years...

...Hutchison's port operations in the Bahamas and Panama "could provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology or prohibited items from the West to the PRC (People's Republic of China), or facilitate the movement of arms and other prohibited items into the Americas," the now-declassified assessment said.

The CIA currently has no security concerns about Hutchison's port operations, and the Bush administration believes the pending deal with the foreign company would be safe, officials said.

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Article: Wars and Rumors of Wars

March 23, 2006 - China repeats it in accord with Russia on Iran

REUTERS - March 23, 2006 - China said on Thursday, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin left Beijing, that Beijing and Moscow are in accord on Iran's nuclear standoff with the West.

...Russia, backed by China, wants to delete large sections of the draft statement the Security Council has been studying for nearly two weeks as a first reaction to Iran's nuclear research, which the West believes is a cover for bomb-making. Iran insists it wants only to produce electric power.

Both nations fear that involvement by the 15-member council, which can impose sanctions, could escalate and lead to punitive measures including possibly military action...

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Article: Israel and The Last Days

March 24, 2006 - Israeli leader's party will divide Jerusalem

WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - March 24, 2006 - JERUSALEM - Just five days before national elections here, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party revealed yesterday it would divide Jerusalem and allow a Palestinian state to be established in parts of Israel's "eternal capital."

The revelation follows months of denials by top Kadima officials that the party would advocate withdrawing from Jerusalem.

"The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat, Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is established, they will become its capital," said Otniel Schneller, a Kadima member who represented the party at a debate yesterday on dividing Jerusalem.

...Schneller said Kadima supports "separation between us and the Palestinians who don't live in the heart of Jerusalem," claiming there would be "no concessions" on sites that are sacred to Jews.

...Olmert, who served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1993-2003, said in a June 2004 interview with the Jerusalem Post that Israel is contemplating turning parts of Jerusalem over to Palestinian control.

"Jerusalem is dear to me, but one must not lose sight of proportions over peripheral areas we do not need," said Olmert, who served as deputy prime minister at the time. He claimed ceding control of eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods to the Palestinians is "needed to maintain a Jewish majority in the Holy City."

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Article: Israel and the Last Days

March 22, 2006 - Imams and rabbis form summit on issues surrounding Temple Mount

SEVILLE, Spain - The first attempt of its kind to prevent crises over the Temple Mount took center stage yesterday at the Second World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, which ends today.

A panel discussion on holy sites discussed a proposal to establish a permanent committee comprising an equal number of Jewish and Muslim clerics to discuss issues affecting the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

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Article: Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days

March 19, 2006 - Vatican Change of Heart Over 'Barbaric' Crusades

The late Pope John Paul II sought to achieve Muslim- Christian reconciliation by asking "pardon" for the Crusades during the 2000 Millennium celebrations. But John Paul's apologies for the past "errors of the Church" - including the Inquisition and anti-Semitism - irritated some Vatican conservatives. According to Vatican insiders, the dissenters included Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

...At the conference, held at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University, Roberto De Mattei, an Italian historian, recalled that the Crusades were "a response to the Muslim invasion of Christian lands and the Muslim devastation of the Holy Places".

"The debate has been reopened," La Stampa said. Professor De Mattei noted that the desecration of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by Muslim forces in 1009 had helped to provoke the First Crusade at the end of the 11th century, called by Pope Urban II.

He said that the Crusaders were "martyrs" who had "sacrificed their lives for the faith". He was backed by Jonathan Riley-Smith, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge University, who said that those who sought forgiveness for the Crusades "do not know their history".

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Article: Wars and Rumors of Wars

April 2, 2006 - News of successful Iranian missile test worries Israel, U.S.

Iran successfully test-fired a missile that can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads, the military said Friday, a development which raised eyebrows among officials in Washington and Jerusalem.

The Fajr-3, which means "Victory" in Farsi, can reach Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East, state Iranian media indicated - causing alarm in the United States and Israel. Friday's announcement also is likely to stoke regional tensions and feed suspicion about Tehran's military intentions and nuclear ambitions.

"I think it demonstrates that Iran has a very active and aggressive military program under way," U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in Washington. "I think Iran's military posture, military development effort, is of concern to the international community.Israel said it too was alarmed by the missile report.

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Article: Biblical Archaeology

March 31, 2006 - Road to Temple Mount uncovered

The main road that ran from Jerusalem's City of David to the Temple Mount during the time of the Second Temple has been uncovered by Israeli archeologists, those involved in the dig said Thursday. The road connected the Shiloah pool in the City of David to the Temple Mount compound.

The 2,000-year-old road was discovered adjacent to the Shiloah pool during ongoing excavations at the site, said Israeli Antiquities Authority archeologist Eli Shukrun. He is directing the dig together with University of Haifa archeologist Prof. Ronny Reich.

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Article: Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days

March 31, 2006 - Cost of clergy sex abuse now exceeds $1.5 billion

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The cumulative financial cost to the U.S. Catholic Church for clerical sexual abuse of minors is now more than $1.5 billion and still climbing.

A new report released March 30 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said U.S. dioceses, eparchies (Eastern-rite dioceses) and religious orders spent $467 million last year in settlements, therapy for victims and abusers, attorney fees and other costs related to sexual abuse of minors by priests or deacons.

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