good news magazine - july/august 2010

8/9/2019 Good News Magazine - July/August 2010

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July-August 2010

A M A g A z i n e o f U n d e r s t A n d i n g

The Ultimate Security System 9

A Foreign Invasion Is Reshaping the West 14How Can You Deal With Information Overload? 16 Make the Most of Your Time 22

How Can We Copein a World of Rapid Change?

Page 4


2/322 The Good News

ome 26 centuries ago an angelic messengerrevealed to the prophet Daniel what would be adening characteristic o our age. At the time

o the end, he said, many shall run to and ro, and knowledge shallincrease (Daniel 12:4, emphasis added throughout).

In Daniels day, who in his wildest dreams couldve oreseen thehuge changes in transportation and inormation technology that have

so powerully reshaped our world?Consider what weve seen in just a centurys time.A ew years ago my grandmother passed away. What changes she

witnessed! Born in the days o the horse and buggy, she lived to seethe invention o automobiles, airplanes, jet aircrat, television, com-puters, skyscrapers and men walking on the moon. In a single airlinefight she traveled more miles than her parents had in a lietime.

When it comes to inormation, many o us have access to thousands

o news sources all over the world via the Internet, not to mention entire

electronic libraries at our disposal. In addition, were deluged with inor-mation that pours down on us constantly rom our TVs, radios, phones,computer monitors, laptops, books, newspapers and magazines.

Yet in spite o all the inormation inundating society, most lack theknowledge thats most important.

Have you ever considered how many great men o God spentconsiderable time alone in the wilderness? Moses spent 40 years as ashepherd tending focks in the desert. David grew up in the outdoors asa shepherd boy; his many psalms refect that ormative part o his lie.Elijah fed to the desert to escape the wrath o the murderous Jezebel.

Jesus Christ regularly went away into the wilderness to avoid thecrowds and commune with His Father, just as He had done at the

beginning o His ministry. The apostle Paul similarly went into thedesert or three years to spiritually prepare himsel or the work Godhad called him to do.

With all these men, something about the calm and quiet o the wil-derness purged their minds o lies distractions. In their solitude Godcould ll them with purpose and passion. In the calm o quietnesscame conviction.

Is there a lesson here or us? In many ways todays inormationexplosion is a great benet. At our ngertips we have access to vastamounts and kinds o inormation previous generations could havescarcely imagined. But while this incessant fow o inormation ishelpul in many ways, it can be quite destructive when it distracts usrom what is really important.

With all o this inormation, so many are sadly lacking in theknowledge thats most crucial. God warned more than 2,700 yearsago that people can be and are destroyedor lack o knowledge(Hosea 4:6). The all-important knowledge people lack is that ohowto live, why we are here and where we are going.

Thats why The Good News is so important. Were here to provideand point you to that knowledge you wont nd elsewhere. Were hereto help ocus your mind on the timeless, eternal truths God reveals inHis Wordthe true words that make lie make sense.

Dont let yoursel be continually distracted by the trivial, insigni-cant things that will consume your time and leave you rustrated andempty. Focus on whats really crucialthe all-important good news

o Gods Word! Scott Ashley, Managing editor

In spite of all the information inundating society,most lack the knowledge thats most important.

SThe Danger of Distraction

Visit us atwww.GNmagazine.org

July-August 2010 Volume 15, Number 4 Circulation: 362,000

The Good News (ISSN: 1086-9514) is published bimonthly by the United Church o God, an InternationaAssociation,555 Technecenter Dr., Milord, OH 45150. 2010 United Church o God, an International Asso-ciation. Printed in U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any orm without written permission is prohib-ited. Periodicals Postage paid at Milord, Ohio 45150, and at additional mailing ofces. Scriptural reerencesare rom the New King James Version ( 1988 Thomas Nelson, Inc., publishers) unless otherwise noted.

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3/32July/August 2010 3

REGULAR FEATURES

World News and TrendsAn overview of conditions around the world 12

Beyond Today Television log 24

Letters From Our Readers Readers ofThe Good News share their thoughts 28

God, Science and the Bible News from the world of science about God and the Bible 29

Youth Focus From Vertical Thought The Difference Between Infatuation and Love 30

Are You Protected by the Ultimate Security System?

We live in a dangerous world in which natural and man-made disastersare commonplace. Threats to our saety and security are growing.How can you insure that you and your amily are always protected? 9

Immigration: How a Foreign Invasion Is Reshaping the West

In the last 50 years, millions o people rom the Third World havemoved into the Western democracies. Soon they could constitute themajority in several key countries. What does this mean or the uture? 14

How Can You Deal With Information Overload?

Were oten bombarded with inormation rom every direction, leav-ing us stressed and atigued. How can we better cope with this on-going inormation explosion and sort the helpul rom the wasteul? 16

Germany and the Euro: What Will Be the Ultimate Outcome?

A crisis oten results in economic and political disaster, but it canalso oster an opportunity or exercising greater control. Does theBible indicate where the current crisis could eventually take Europe? 20

Time FliesHow to Make the Most of It!

Benjamin Franklin said: Dost thou love lie? Then do not squandertime, or that is the stu lie is made o. The Bible also has manythings to say about time and liethings we very much need to hear! 22

The Decline and Fall of Nations: A Prophetic Perspective

Ancient Babylon ell in one night ater having been weighed inthe balance and ound wanting. Can modern empires all just asar and just as quickly? History and the Bible provide an answer! 25

Table ofContents

How Can We Cope in a World of Rapid Change?

Do you eel bombarded with change rom every direction? Do

you eel stressed, overworked, with too little time to appreciateand enjoy lie? Do you fnd it difcult to keep up with every-thing you need to do? I so, youre not alone. Our rapidly chang-ing world is rapidly stressing us out. What can you do to cope? 4

An immmigration wave is changing countries 14

COVER FEATURE

Can you cope with the information explosion? 16

If youre stressed and overworked, youre not alone 4


4/324 The Good News

you have children or grandchildren,chances are you cant help but noticewhat a dierent world theyre growing upin compared to when you were their age.

I you tell them what lie was likewhenyou were young, they may be aston-ished at how dierent things were backthen. I know when I tell my 14- and

16-year-old sons stories rom when I wastheir age, they have a hard time graspingthe concepts o typing term papers on atypewriter, writing out letters by hand, onlyhaving our television stations to watch,and having to go to the library to getinormation or a school project.

O course, weve come to expect thatliestyles are going to change somewhatrom one generation to the next. Amazingly,though, my kids have also remarked on howmuch the world has changed just since theywere born. Though theyre only in their

mid teens, they can remember a time whenpeople didnt carry cell phones and PDAs

with them wherever they went, and whenthere were no such things as iPods, Wi-FiInternet, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Theyll oten note how our slow com-puter we get rustrated with today wasconsidered a ast machine just a ewyears ago. They can also think back to atime when we didnt have to wait in long

security lines at the airport, and terrorismseemed like something that only happenedin ar-fung lands.

Change now exploding exponentially

It all underscores a vital point: Whileour world has always experienced change,the rate o change is speeding up. Manyhistorians, sociologists and journalists haveexpressed concern in recent years about therapid change in our society. They tell usthat todays world is changing at an acceler-ated rate, unlike anything past generations

witnessed.In his 2004 bestsellerMargin, physician

and uturist Richard Swenson explains thatchange picked up momentum in the earlypart o the 20th century and has been rap-idly accelerating ever since. The reason, hestates, is that the mathematics are dier-

ent. Many o the linear lines that in the pastdescribed our lives well have now disap-peared. Replacing them are lines that slopeupward exponentially.

Because there is little in our day-to-daylives that changes exponentially, we tendto think with a linear mindset. The sunrises and the sun sets. Twenty-our hours.Week ater week, everything seems aboutthe same. Meanwhile, largely unnoticedby us, history has shited to ast orward.I linear still best describes our personal

lives, exponential now best describes mosto historical change (p. 40).In other words, as time progresses the

world is changing at an exponentiallyincreasing rate. Yet a century ago, historicalchange was linear (maintaining the samepace) and thus was much less noticeable.

This period o accelerating changewere now witnessing can and has put astrain on individuals and entire societies.In 1970, uturist Alvin Tofer described theeects o too much change in too short aperiod o time in his contemporary classic

Future Shock.At the time, he predicted that people

GOOD NEWS FEATURE How Can We Cope in a World of Rapid Change?


Do you eel bombarded with change rom every direction? Do you eel

stressed, overworked, with too little time to appreciate and enjoy lie?

Do you fnd it difcult to keep up with everything you need to do? I so,

youre not alone. Our rapidly changing world is rapidly stressing us out.What can you do to cope?

I

by Becky Sweat



exposed to these rapid changes o modernlie would suer rom shattering stressand disorientation. They would be, in hiswords, uture-shocked. He maintainedthat the need to constantly adapt to chang-ing situations could lead to eelings ohelplessness, despair, depression, uncer-tainty, insecurity, anxiety and burnout.

Four decades later, what Tofer wrotedescribes our world more than ever. Futureshock is here!

More change than we can handle

The ear o rapid change is big today,observes Gabe Ignatow, Ph.D., a soci-ologist at the University o North Texas.Many people see the changes going on inthe world around us and are worried andanxious. I they also have changes going

on in their personal livesmaybe they losttheir job or had to nd a new place to livebecause their home was oreclosedit canall be overwhelming.

Most people can handle a certain amounto change, Ignatow says. The problem is,we are increasingly being overloadedwithmore change than we can handle.

Susan Silbey, Ph.D., is a sociologist withthe Massachusetts Institute o Technology,with a special interest in technology andsocietal change. She also sees the intensi-ying problems o uncertainty and anxiety

resulting rom too much change.She notes that mankind has always

aced uncertainty, along with pain, hard-ship and tragedy. A ew centuries ago, theuncertainty might have been: Whats it likein the new rontier where were headedto? Will this season produce a good crop?When will it rain again?

A big dierence between previous timesand today, she says, is that in the past people

looked to God to help them through diculttimes. Several hundred years ago therewere very ew people who didnt have somereligion, which gave them an explanation othe world. But or many people today, thatdoesnt exist as an answer anymore.

When the religious belie system erodesaway, people generally do not cope as wellwith change and stress, she notes.

The root of change

So what has caused our world to change

so rapidly in recent years? Ultimately,

its due to technological advances, repliesIgnatow. Case in point: With the advent othe printing press in the 15th century, therewas certainly a paradigm shit (a changerom one way o thinking to another), butit took a century or that shit to occur.Beore that (with only word o mouth andslow travel), it may have taken several cen-turies or a major shit in societal views tooccur. Now, with the Internet, such a shitmay take only a ew years. Theres a caseto be made that with the Internet and com-munication technology spreading around

the world, it has really upset a lot o socialpatterns, Ignatow says.

Certainly technological progress canlead to very positive changes. Inventionssuch as computers, the Internet, commu-nications satellites and genetic diagnostictools help improve our lives in many ways.Dicult tasks are made simple and can bedone much more quickly.

However, technological innovation can

also lead to other changessome o themnot so positive. Throughout history, whennew inventions were introduced into asociety, it has impacted the societys cus-toms, values and belies, Silbey says.

Since the Industrial Revolution, whenthe speed o change really started pickingup, society has been transorming accord-ingly. It began with a shit rom a rural,agrarian society to an urban, industrialsociety. Fewer workers were needed to cul-tivate greater crops, so more people moved

to big cities to take actory jobs. That ledto a whole range o changes in liestyle,amily structure, culture and values.

The computer revolution that startedaround 25 years ago sent the rate o changeinto its exponential rise. Today, scienticand technological changes are taking placeat such a breathtaking pace that many havediculty keeping up with them.

Seven kinds of stress-producing changes

Today we see at least seven major kindso changes that are causing a great deal o

stress and anxiety. Most o these changesare directly related to the digital revolutionand have only become problems in the last10 to 20 years. Some o the other changeshave been occurring or a couple o gen-erations now but have been exacerbatedin recent years by technology.

All o these issues have played a signi-cant role in making our era dierent rom allthose that preceded it. What are these sevenareas o change, and how are they impactingour society, institutions and world?

1. The pace of life is speeding up.

We are a society in a hurry. For yearsweve been told that the aster computersare the better machines. Somehow thatway o thinking has seeped into how wethink we should live our lives. We have beencranking up the speed at which we operate,and lie is becoming increasingly rantic.

Silbey believes that our aster pace olie stems rom the act that modern com-munications technology has collapseddistance and time. For instance, this allows

an American lawyer to get a depositionrom a client, e-mail it that aternoon to

Theres a case to be made that with theInternet and communication technologyspreading around the world, it has reallyupset a lot of social patterns.


6/326 The Good News

workers in India who will transcribe it, andbe able to have it back the next morning,all typed up. Eectively, day and nighthave been erased.

When you collapse time and distance,everything speeds up, because what hadbeen a physical, material limitation tohuman action is now gone, Silbey says. It

then becomes expected that everything elsein the workday should go just as ast.

Even i theres no need to hurry, asterhas become the normative way we dothings today. We may nd ourselves get-ting impatient and angry with slower driv-ers on the highway even when theres noreason to be in a rush. We may groan whenwe realize the customer in ront o us at thegrocery store checkout is having an itemprice-checked, even though its only goingto take an extra minute. We walk ast and

wol down our meals.Sometimes we dont even want to com-pose an e-mail message anymore becausethat takes too long. Some people nowpreer communicating through textingand tweeting because the messages areshorter and aster to compose and read.

2. We are busier than ever.

As a society, we are busier than everbeore. Thats because while technologyallows us to do our work aster and moreeciently, it also puts more demands on us.

Nowadays were expected to accomplishmuch more with our time, says David Levy,Ph.D., proessor at the School o Inormationat the University o Washington.

In an attempt to get more done, wemultitask, always trying to do two or threethings at the same time, Levy says. Sowe may eat our ast-ood lunch and con-duct business calls while were driving orchecking our e-mail.

Another trend: Portable digital commu-nication allows employees to be reached

anywhere, anytime. You cant get awayrom work anymore, Ignatow says. Evenwhen youre relaxing on the weekends,youre oten bombarded with e-mails andcalls rom the oce. Its not unusual tosee people at the beach or park with theiramilies while rantically working at theirlaptops or composing messages on theirBlackberries.

More people are also bringing workhome with them. Everyone is workinglonger hoursnot only because theres alot more work to be done, but also because

o concerns about getting laid o i theydont put in extra hours. Working overtime,

working weekends and being on call 24hours a day are standard or employees atmany companies.

3. Life is more complicated.

Our daily lives are becoming increas-ingly complex. Think about some o thepurchasing decisions you make. In just

about any product category, the numbero choices are increasing. Whether yourebuying pet ood, selecting a cell phoneplan, making airline reservations, choosinga doctor or setting up a retirement account,you may have more choices than you canrealistically consider. Having so manyoptions can be overwhelming.

The same thing is true when seekingout inormation. You can easily becomeoverloaded with acts and gures. Forinstance, you might do a Google search

on a particular topic and get 10,000 searchresults. Now you have to decide which othem you are going to read and which youare going to ignore. The very act o choos-ing takes time, says Levy. A lot o timesyoull come across conficting inormation,which can be very conusing.

Ironically, another way our lives havebecome more complicated is by some othe technological innovations we bring intoour homes that were intended to make ourlives easier. Now its certainly true that our

modern gadgets can make our lives easier.But as complex as some o them are, they

can really add to our stress levels.Some o our modern-day time-savers

can be really hard to gure out and use! Iknow proessionals who dont know howto use important eatures on their PalmPilots, digital cameras and cell phones. Asrustrating as that is, they simply have nothad the time to read the manuals careully.

Actually, there are times when I missmy simple, old typewriter. Sure, it took alot more time to type an article on it thanit does on my computer. But the typewriternever crashed, it never bogged downbecause o spyware or viruses, and I didnthave to read a manual to gure it out.

4. Families are structuredand functiondifferently.

Family structure changed dramaticallyin the last hal o the 20th century. The

traditional nuclear amily with Dad,Mom and kids has been largely replacedby new congurations, includingblended amilies, single parents and

unmarried couples with children.The divorce rate in the United States

peaked at around 50 percent in the 1980s,ater climbing or two decades. Since then,it has remained at that level. The stigmaassociated with divorce has largely disap-peared, and marriage as an institution hasbeen weakened, says William Doherty,Ph.D., proessor o amily social scienceat the University o Minnesota.

While divorce rates were climbing, morewomen were entering the workorce. Dur-

ing the 1950s, 20 to 30 percent o motherswere employed outside the home. These



Often in an attempt to get more done,we multitasktrying to do two or threethings at the same time.



were primarily poor women who neededto work out o necessity. By the late 1980s,70 percento American mothers wereemployed outside the home, either ull-or part-time. Unlike beore, a lot o thesewere women in middle- and upper-incomehouseholds who were working to sustaintheir liestyles and to pay an increasing

tax burden.Today, three out o our households have

two working parents, according to the U.S.Bureau o Labor Statistics.

In recent years, the American amily haschanged still urther, albeit more subtly.Dads and moms are both working longerhours outside the home. Their commutetimes are increasing. At the same time, par-ents have been involving their children inoutside activities such as music and sports.This is quite a shit rom 10 to 15 years

ago, when parents and kids spent most otheir downtime relaxing at home.Now parents are busy all weekend shu-

fing their kids to all the dierent sporting

events theyre involved with, Dohertysays. Thats in addition to running errandsor catching up on housework that didnt getdone during the week. As a result, theresmuch less time available or quality ace-to-ace time between parents and kids.

O course nowadays, even when amily

members are home together, parents maybe too worn out to talk and may insteadsimply veg out in ront o the TV. Kidsare either on the Internet or plugged intotheir iPods. In the past, you had to talk tothe people under your roo and spend timewith them, whether you liked it or not,observes Ignatow. Today amily mem-bers can tune into their iPods or laptopsand tune everyone else out and be withwhomever they choose to be with.

5. Traditional beliefs and values are

being challenged.As was mentioned up ront, religion

has been eroding in much o the West-ern world. Scientic developments haveinvalidated many o the assumptionsunderlying traditional systems o aith,Silbey says.

As a result, religion has lost a lot o itsauthority, and many people no longer holdto a system o ethics and concrete values.

In its place is a secular view where every-thing is relative. This has reconguredamilies, upset moral structures anddevastated traditions.

We now live in a society where justabout anything goes and nothing is cer-tain. We see a tolerance and acceptanceo promiscuity, adultery, couples livingtogether outside o wedlock, homosexualrelationships, lying, cheating, alcohol anddrug abuse, use o indiscreet and explicitlanguageto name just some o societys

ills weve grown used to.This period o rapidly changing valuesstarted accelerating in the 1960s, about thetime television gained a major oothold

in society. TV proved to be an extremelyeective medium to promote new valuesand new ways o thinking.

Today, this media blitz has intensiedwith around-the-clock exposure throughsatellite TV, MP3 players, laptops andsmartphonesmuch o it challenging

traditional belies and values. Probablymost o us can think o music with lyricsthat shouldnt be repeated or TV programswhere the characters with traditional valuesare made to look like ools.

Regrettably, most o the new media isviewed or listened to in isolation (unlike TV,which can be watched together as a am-ily, or music on the radio, which everyonewithin earshot hears). More oten thannot, parents do not even know what theirkids are listening to on their iPods or whatsites theyre checking out on the Internet,

Doherty says, so kids are not getting anykind o direction as to whats wrong with

these messages, and they go unchallenged.

6. Our sense of community is disappearing.

In recent decades, Americans havebecome increasingly disconnected romriends and neighbors, and less involved withcommunity organizations like parent-teachergroups, civic groups or recreation clubs.

Harvard proessor and political scien-tist Robert Putnam discussed this socialchange several years ago in his bookBowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival

o American Community. This loss ocommunity, maintains Putnam, threatenseducational perormance, sae neighbor-hoods, everyday honesty and even ourhealth and happiness.

Why the loss o community? One ac-tor is certainly our busy liestyles. Withpeople working longer hours, oten on

the weekends, we have less time or chatswith the neighbors or or neighborhoodbarbecues.

Were also changing residences more

requently than we used to, primarily dueto divorce and job changes. Accordingto the U.S. Census Bureau, 37.1 millionAmericans changed residences in 2009,up rom 35.2 million in 2008. In a ve-year period, between 40 and 50 percent oAmericans will change addresses. Increas-

ingly, these are out-o-state moves. Allthis moving means many people no longerlive in the towns they grew up in, urthereroding the sense o community.

A third actor is that or many people,social networking sites, chat rooms andother online venues have become theircommunity o choice. Instead o social-izing with others ace-to-ace, more andmore people are spending their ree timesitting in ront o their laptop, says Debo-rah Barreau, Ph.D., associate proessor atthe School o Inormation and Library Sci-

ence at the University o North Carolina atChapel Hill.

Thanks to rapidtransportation,what used to be

local problems canquickly becomeworldwide concerns.


8/328 The Good News

Such communication is oten muchmore trivial and supercial than ace-to-ace conversations, she says. Theres justnot going to be the same kind o connec-tions with others digitally that you wouldhave in person.

7. The world is shrinking.

Technological innovations like the jetplane, satellite communication and theInternet have allowed businesses to expandacross national borders and become globaleconomic players. This process has inte-grated nations and peopleseconomically,politically and culturallyand created aglobal village or the worlds 6.8 billionresidents.

But like so many o the areas o changealready discussed, we are treading onuncharted ground. Globalization is a new

phenomenon. Many are concerned aboutwhere it will take us in the months and yearsahead and how it will impact the world.

On the one hand, globalization providesa global market or companies to tradetheir products, which can create economicgrowth or rich and poor nations alike. Onthe other hand, it could cause millions inWestern nations to lose their jobs as workis outsourced to other countries wherelabor costs are cheaper. We may wonderwhether our nation will remain competi-tive in the world marketplace and i well

still have jobs in the uture.Because nations around the world

are linked economically, a stock marketcrash or banking crisis in one countrycan quickly spread to other countriessomething we witnessed several years agoater the U.S. housing bubble burst.

Broadly speaking, though, globaliza-tion means more than just economicintegration. What used to be consideredlocalized problems are now worldwideconcerns, Ignatow says. New inectious

pathogens that emerge in remote regionso the world do not stay there. Someonewho has come in contact with a diseasecan get on a plane and carry it to the otherside o the world in a matter o 24 to 36hours, in some cases long beore symp-toms even appear. Air travel has made theworld a smaller place.

Terrorism is another problem that usedto be localized, primarily in the MiddleEast. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Ter-rorists have taken advantage o technol-ogy, such as the ease o international travel

and the ability to communicate with theirnetworks around the world, contributing to

the spread o terrorism worldwide.Its the uncertainty o thinking about

what couldhappen that has a lot o peopleeeling unsettled, Ignatow says.

Our Island of Stability

I you are old enough to remember theway things used to be, that in and o itsel

can be disconcerting. Most o us dontenjoy having to deal with changes that arethrust upon us, especially i theres a lot ochange all at once. We preer to stay withthe status quo. Thats more comortable.

O course, even i we nd all the techno-logical changes exciting, it can be stressultrying to keep up with it all.

And then the changes themselves cancause us angsthaving too many pres-sures on our time, seeing morals deterio-rate all around us, seeing how amily

has been redened in our modern world.Or perhaps we eel disconnected romthe people around us and wish we hadmore o a sense o community. Maybewe grasp how change is speeding up andare concerned about what society will belike a generation rom now. How can wepossibly cope with these changes?

In Future Shock, Alvin Tofer wrotethat when people go through times orapid change, they need what he callsislands o stability. Those are things thatdo not change in your liesources o

security, sae harbors and anchors or theinevitable storms.

You can probably think o some islandso stability in your lie where you cannd solid ground in challenging and di-cult timesyour spouse, longtime closeriends, some sound advice that you weregiven long agoto name a ew.

Ultimately, though, our true source ostability is the one thing much o societyhas let go o in recent yearsGod. Hetells us in Isaiah 45:5, I am the Lord, and

there is no other; there is no God besidesMe. Jesus Christ similarly says in Mat-thew 28:20, I am with you always, evento the end o the age.

No matter how tumultuous or volatilethis world gets, we can count on God tobe our anchor and reuge.

Malachi 3:6 assures us, For I am theLord, I do not change. Were remindedagain in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christis the same yesterday, today, and orever.God does not change. He is steady andreliable, His promises enduring orever.

Indeed, we can trust completely in GodsWord. O course, in our society today, whats

true one year might not be the next. Wehear o studies that document the health ben-ets o a certain ood, and then a short timelater we nd that another researcher reportsthe same ood to be harmul. This doesnthappen with Gods Word.

In Isaiah 40:8 God says, The grasswithers, the fower ades, but the word o

our God stands orever (see also 1 Peter1:25). The Bible withstands the test otime. It will never be disproved and nevergoes out o date. Gods truths are as appli-cable to our society today as they wereto people hundreds or thousands oyears ago.

Its also important to remember thatGods plan and purpose or us will neverchange. Psalm 33:11 says: His plansendure orever, his purposes last eternally(Good News Bible, compare Proverbs

19:21).We know that God the Father will besending Jesus Christ back to the earthto establish His eternal Kingdom, andincluded in that plan is bringing manysons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). Thatshould give us condence and peace omind. What a spectacular uture to lookorward to!

O course, in the meantime, we will acedicult, even perilous, times ahead (2 Tim-othy 3:1). Yet God will give us the strengthwe need to make it through i we look to

Him and His Word to guide us. He is ourreuge and our strength (Psalm 46:1).

Moreover, God in His Word has givenus a wonderul vision o a better worldthats coming. His promises are sure(Hebrews 6:9-20). Indeed, we can ace ourrapidly changing, uncertain world with atruly positive and condent outlookiwe hold tightly to the God who does notchange and whose eternal truths are utterlycertain! GN

How can you better cope withlie? Where can you turn orhelpor time-tested guidancethat really works? How can youget down to the basics o howyour Creator intended you tolive? You need to read our reebooklet Making Life Work. Thisull-color guide is packed with bib-lical tips regarding amily lie, nances, career, health,marriage, riendships and much more. Download orrequest your ree copy today!

Contact any o our ofces listed on page 2, orrequest or download it rom our Web site.

T ln m...

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GOOD NEWS FEATURE Are You Protected by the Ultimate Security System?


ateline: Dec. 18, 2009,WDTN TV Channel 2, Day-ton, Ohio: The Montgom-ery County Sheris Ocearrested two men ater a Je-

erson Township woman called 911 asshe hid in her bedroom rom two menwho were breaking in the back door.

Theyre outside, but I can hearthem banging, she told the dis-patcher. Are they trying to break in?he asked. Evidently, but Im hidingin my bedroom . . . Hurry, pleasehurry, she said. The woman stayedon the line as ocers rushed to thehome. When they arrived, police saidthey ound two men inside the home.

You never know what a per-sons intention is; they might havejust walked away, or they may have hurther, you just never know, said CaptainDavid Hale, Montgomery County SherisOce.

Dateline: Dec. 10, 2009, The Bu-alo News, Bualo, New York: NiagaraRegional Police are looking or our menwho pulled o a home invasion robberyon Riverdale Drive Wednesday morning.Police said the our robbed residents othe home about 10:10 a.m., barging inside

ater ringing the doorbell.Two residents were ound bound

by the hands and eet when ocersresponded to a home intrusion alarm. Anundetermined amount o cash was stolenand police said they believe the robberywas not a random act.

Dateline: Dec. 15, 2009, The SydneyMorning Herald,Engadine, New SouthWales, Australia: A 21-year-old man had ashotgun pointed at his head in a violent homeinvasion in Sydneys south last night, policesay. The man heard three men trying to enterhis home at Dunstan Place, Engadine about11:40 p.m., police said.

He went out to conront them and had asmall shotgun pointed at his head. He wasmarched back into his house, where thegunman demanded money, police said. The

man and two other housemates, aged 24and 26, were orced to the ground beorehe was allegedly hit on the head with ablunt object. Police said the alleged rob-bers fed with some household items whenthey were unable to get any money romthe residents.

A growing threat

These reports are actual news storiesdescribing recent home invasions. A homeinvasion is the crime o entering an occu-pied private residence with the aim ocarrying out a crime, whether assault, rob-bery, rape or murder. Its a legally denedoense in the United States, Australia,New Zealand and other countries.

Over the past decade, law enorcementocials have observed a marked increasein the number o home invasions. This maybe due to many banks, convenience storesand ast-ood restaurants, all traditionallytargeted by criminals, installing advancedsecurity and surveillance devices. As aresult, criminals are now targeting lesssecure residential neighborhoods.

What can occur during a home inva-sion? Chris McGoey, a proessional secu-rity consultant, discusses this subject onhis Web site:

The most common point o attack isthrough the ront door or garage. Some-times the home invader will simply kickopen the door and conront everyoneinside. More common is when the homeinvaders knock on the door rst or ringthe bell. The home invader hopes that theoccupant will simply open the door, with-out question, in response to their knock.Unortunately, many people do just that.

Home invaders will sometimes usea ruse or impersonation to get you toopen the door. They have been known topretend to be delivering a package, fow-ers or lie about an accident like hittingyour parked car. Once the door is openedor them, the home invaders will use anexplosive amount o orce and threats togain control o the home and produce earin the victims . . .

Some home robbers have been knownto spend hours ransacking a residencewhile the homeowners are bound nearbywatching in terror . . . A major ear is thatthe robbers might commit more violence

like sexual assault or even murder . . .I you can delay a home invader at

Are You Protected by theUltimate Security System?

We live in a dangerous world. Threats to our saety and security are grow-

ing. Is there a way to insure that you and your amily are always protected?

by John LaBissoniere

While humanly designed security systemshave their place, complete protection can

only come from God.

D


10/3210 The Good News

GOOD NEWS FEATURE Are You Protected by the Ultimate Security System?

the point o entry then you have a chanceo deterring them or have time to call thepolice . . . The weakest home security linkis the home occupant who ails to lockdoors or windows or who will open the doorwithout question at the sound o a knock(crimedoctor.com/homeinvasion.htm).

Are you at risk?Obviously the thought o a home inva-

sion or any crime is alarming. Could youand your amily members be at risk?Becoming a crime victim is certainly apossibility. In the United States, or exam-ple, the Federal Bureau o Investigationestimated that more than 9.7 million prop-erty crimes took place in 2008, the mostrecent year or which complete statisticsare available, resulting in $17.2 billion inlosses. The FBI also estimated that nearly

1.4 million violent crimes occurred thatyear, including murder, orcible rape,robbery and aggravated assault.

What can you do to make your home lesssusceptible to a home invasion? Securityproessionals encourage good saety habitsand also advise installing solid core woodor metal outside doors with high-qualitylocks and deadbolt mechanisms. Manyexperts also recommend using windowalarms, motion-sensitive outdoor lighting,video surveillance cameras, interior motiondetectors and a two-way, voice-activated

security monitoring system.However, while these devices can help

reduce your chance o a home invasion,they cannot guarantee that you wontbecome a crime victim. No matter whereyou live, you are at risk in a dangerousworld. So what can you do?

It comes down to a simple question:Are you protected by the ultimate securitysystem? This system insures that no mat-ter what trouble comes your way, you willbe sae and sound. It is summarized in this

statement by King David o ancient Israel:The Lord is on my side; I will not ear.What can man do to me? (Psalm 118:6).

A failed security system

While humanly designed security sys-tems have their place and we should dowhat we can to shield ourselves romharm, complete protection can only comerom God. Regrettably, most people haverejected this critical security arrangement.Too oten they have placed trust exclu-sively in humanly-devised saeguards,

which can and do ail.For example, consider the inamous

Maginot Line. This massive security proj-ect, designed chiefy as a strong barrier

against any uture German invasion, wasconstructed by France on its eastern bor-der during the 1930s. Named in honor oAndr Maginot, a World War I hero andFrench minister o war during the 1920s,its intricate network o orts and bunkerswas intended to provide sucient timeor French armed orces to mobilize in theevent o an attack.

Built between 1929 and 1938, theMaginot Line became a vast, state-o-the-art deense complex stretching morethan 400 miles along the German and

Italian borders. Most o the systems or-tresses, which included miles o intercon-nected tunnels and railroads, were locatedunderground.

The multiple thousands o soldiers whoserved throughout the intricate congura-tion were sealed behind reinorced con-crete walls and heavy steel doors. Therethey trained, watched and waited or war.And war came on May 10, 1940.

As the key component o the Germaninvasion strategy, Adol Hitlers 19th

Panzer Corps quickly sliced through theArdennes region o the French-Belgiumrontier and broke through near where theMaginot Line connected with Belgian or-tications. The French mistakenly believedthe areas extensive orests and steep hillswould pose a major impediment to therapid movement o large motorized orces.

This ailed strategy allowed Germanysmain invasion orces to smash throughto switly outfank and trap Allied orcesthat had advanced into Belgium and Hol-land. Ater expending enormous eort

and resources on the Maginot Line, thesecurity the French thought they possessed

vanished nearly overnight. The Germanblitzkrieg overpowered and conquered the

entire nation in just six weeks.

Absolute protection comes from onesource

What lesson can we learn rom thisexample? Even with a careully calcu-lated strategy designed to protect an entirenation, no security method is oolproo.

What i we applied this lesson to themost advanced electronic home securitysystem? Here, too, we can nd inherentvulnerabilities. A door or window couldbe inadvertently let open or unlocked,

creating an opportunity or intrusion. Andwhat about times away rom home whiledriving, walking or shopping? A personswell-being could be compromised in theseand other situations.

So is security even possible in thisworld? Where can we nd the answer?A careul look into the Bible, the instruc-tion manual or lie, gives us the decisiveanswer. Throughout the Scriptures, we ndthat God oers His mighty protection tothose who trust and obey Him. A number

o passages conrm this important andcomorting act.Israels King David wrote o his pro-

ound condence in Gods pledge o secu-rity: He who dwells in the secret placeo the Most High shall abide under theshadow o the Almighty. I will say o theLord, He is my reuge and my ortress;my God, in Him I will trust. Surely Heshall deliver you rom the snare o theowler and rom the perilous pestilence.

He shall cover you with His eathers,and under His wings you shall take reuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.You shall not be araid o the terror by




night, nor o the arrow that fies by day, noro the pestilence that walks in darkness,

nor o the destruction that lays waste atnoonday. A thousand may all at your side,and ten thousand at your right hand; but itshall not come near you (Psalm 91:1-7).

Beyond the physical

Just as a mother bird instinctively coversits fedglings during a threat, God careullyguards those who believe and obey Him.But does this mean that no evil will everbeall those who trust in God? No, it doesnot. Biblical passages conrm that God

permits dicult trials to afict His people.David distinctly understood this reality:For all day long I have been plagued, andchastened every morning (Psalm 73:14).Yet although he suered, David knew Godstood by him and would deliver him: Nev-ertheless I am continually with You; Youhold me by my right hand. You will guideme with Your counsel, and aterward receiveme to glory (verses 23-24, emphasis addedthroughout).

David recognized that there was liebeyond his physical existence. He knew

that gloryeternal, spiritual lie withGod in His Kingdomawaited him. The

truth is, physical security and survival inthe here and now is not an absolute biblicalpromise. It is not without exception.

In act, Jesus Christ careully explainedto His disciples that they would ace harshpersecution and some o them would su-er martyrdom (Matthew 5:11; 24:9; John16:2). The prophets o past ages had su-

ered the same. And even Christ Himsel,though perectly righteous, was viciouslyabused and then brutally murdered at thehands o malicious evildoers (Matthew23:29-37; Luke 23:33).

A future focus

The long history o Gods true ser-vants is one o distress at the hands oSatans human instruments. The time justbeore Christs second coming will be nodierent.

Although God supernaturally protectsHis people in numerous ways and will ulti-mately spare many rom the terrible mar-tyrdom that is coming, He will neverthelessallow others among them to be the ocuso Satans erce rage at that time, even tothe point o acing death (Revelation 12:9-17). Yet or most, that prospect will notoverthrow their aith! Why? Because theirocus will then be on their uture spiritliewith God in His Kingdom rather than onthis feeting physical existence (Hebrews11:35-38).

Just like those who preceded them inmartyrdom in previous ages, they too willbe more attracted to the promise o aneternal reward than a desire to extend theirphysical lives a ew more days, months oryears. And they overcame him [Satan] bythe blood o the Lamb and by the word otheir testimony, and they did not love theirlives to the death (Revelation 12:11).

Though some o Gods people will diephysically in this coming martyrdom, theywill in the end be utterly victorious (Mat-

thew 10:28-39). They know that Godspromise o perpetual security is absolutelyguaranteed (1 Corinthians 15:53-54).

While God regularly provides physicalsecurity to those who trust and obey Him,the protection oour minds and hearts isHis oremost motivation and objective. Theapostle Paul wrote, Be anxious or noth-ing, but in everything by prayer and suppli-cation, with thanksgiving, let your requestsbe made known to God; and the peace oGod, which surpasses all understanding,will guard your hearts and minds through

Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).Physical saety is important, but our

spiritual well-being ought to hold signi-cantly more meaning and value to us. Ithen you were raised with Christ, seekthose things which are above, where Christis, sitting at the right hand o God. Set yourmind on things above, not on things on theearth. For you died, and your lie is hiddenwith Christ in God. When Christ who is

our lie appears, then you also will appearwith Him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4).

Rescued from death

What then is the ultimate security sys-tem? It is our eternal salvation. Salvationsimply means preservation, deliveranceand rescue. And rom what are we res-cued? From the peril and threat oeternaldeath. Jesus Christ has abolished deathand brought lie and immortality to lightthrough the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10).

Through His suering, death and resur-rection, we have been given ull access tonever-ending lie as spirit beings in Godscoming Kingdom (John 6:51; Ephesians2:22; Romans 6:23).

This salvation, which is our unendingsecurity, is only accessible through repen-tance rom sin and our ull acceptance othe sacrice o Jesus Christ on our behal(Colossians 1:14). Once we have repentedand been baptized, we must diligently laborat bringing every thought into captivityto the obedience o Christ (2 Corinthians

10:5). We need to ght the good ght oaith in order to lay hold on eternal lie(1 Timothy 6:12).

Our aith and obedience will berewarded at the second coming o JesusChrist: And behold, I am coming quickly,and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work (Revelation22:12).

Thatis ultimate security! The questionis, are you protected? GN

The Maginot Linebecame a vast,state-of-the-artdefense complex

stretching morethan 400 milesalong the Germanand Italian borders.

What does the Bible revealabout how we obtain Gods gito salvation? Are there multiplepaths to salvation? Is simplybelieving in Jesus Christ allthere is to it? Is anything elserequired? You need to knowthe answers, or it literally isa matter o lie and death! Learnwhat the Bible really teaches in our ree bookletTransforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion.Download or request your ree copy today!

Contact any o our ofces listed on page 2, orrequest or download it rom our Web site.

T ln m...

www.GNgzn.g/bkts



Its hard to improve on The Wall Street Journalsabove title when it comes to accurately depicting

the global siege directed against Israel or its enorc-

ing o its naval blockade o terrorist-ruled Gaza.Canada is one o the ew countries let in the worldwhose government and press remains reasonablyriendly to Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem-based correspon-dent or the Toronto Globe and Mailobserved, Thespeed and intensity with which governments aroundthe world condemned the Israeli behavior appearsunprecedented (Patrick Martin, Israels StatusSlips as Governments Around the World CondemnRaid, May 31, 2010).

Politicians and journalists ransacked their vocab-ularies or phrases deemed apt enough to describetheir bias and ill-will towards tiny Israel. The Israeliaction in stopping six ships was variously described

as piracy, banditry and barbarism, the massacreo Gaza, the true ace o barbarism, state terror-ism and a blatant deance o civilized values.

Longtime White House reporter Helen Thomasopined that the Jews should get the hell out oPalestine and return to Germany, Poland and theUnited States. While she was orced into retirementover these remarks, being almost 90, her sentimentsare shared by many people the world over.

Few bothered to ascertain the crucial backgroundactsor willully ignored themor Israels casebeore unleashing a storm o verbal criticism. Fewseemed to recall the act that Israel has alreadyendured 3,300 rocket attacks since unilaterally and

voluntarily departing rom Gaza ve years ago.A pro-Palestinian demonstration suddenly materi-

alized in New York Citys Times Square. Similar gath-erings occurred in Washington D.C., London, Rome,

Athens, Oslo and Stockholm.Trying to reason with people on behal o the Israeli

embassy in Washington, spokesman Jonathan Peledwrote in USA Today, Israel is not at strie with thepeople o Gaza and goes to great lengths to organizethe transer o some 15,000 tons o humanitarian aideach week (Opposing View on battle in the MiddleEast: A Bloody PR Stunt, June 1, 2010).

O course, the terror group Hamas, which rules

Gaza with an iron st, has many times taken activeadvantage o Israels already battered global image

to advance its relentless attack on the countrysvery existence. Yet according to London Telegraphreporter Adrian Blomeld, Some [citizens o Gaza]

in the battered enclave blame Hamas and its over-

lords or their depredations (The Sunday Telegraph,June 6, 2010).

Peled urther stated, Hamas not only calls or thedestruction o Israel and works hard to achieve it,but also deprives its own population o basic humanrights and reedoms.

Telegraphcolumnist Charles Moore wrote: Israelhas ought so long, and usually so well, in real battles,but it seems to have orgotten how to ght in verbalones. On the day o the fotilla incident, all the outragedgovernments were on the airwaves almost beore any-thing had happened. But it took ve and a hal hoursbeore the Israeli Ambassador in America appeared inpublic (Why Has Israel Disarmed Itsel in the Battle or

World Opinion? The Daily Telegraph, June 4, 2010).Daniel Henninger, reporting or The Wall Street

Journal, summed up the disturbing lack o characterand resolve among many in government or tacklingdicult problems: In any o the places where mendiscuss truly monstrous and dangerous plans, in KimJong Ils Pyongyang or Mahmoud Ahmadinejads Teh-ran, watching this hyperventilated criticism o Israel ora shoot-out on a boat must strike them as laughable . . .I the worlds powers unload like this only on relativelysmall, isolated nations like Israel, then clearly the keep-ers o the world order nd it easier to be blowhards thanstatesmen (June 3, 2010). (Sources: The Telegraph,

The Spectator, BBC News[all London], The Globe andMail [Toronto], USA Today,The Wall Street Journal.)

Beating up on Israel

Learn more atwww.WNPonline.org

A new age of rage?

The popular British historian Simon Schamais worried over where current trends are

headed, declaring that the world teeterson the brink o a new age o rage (FinancialTimes, May 22-23, 2010). He explained, His-torians will tell you there is oten a time-lagbetween the onset o economic disaster andthe accumulation of social fury (emphasisadded throughout).

Dangerously alienated citizens brood onthe dramatic disruption o their rising incomeexpectations and materialistic liestyles andthe act that the value o their property mayhave allen through the foor.

Many, he says, come to believe thatsomeone else must have engineered the

common misfortune.So scapegoats must beound and duly blamed. The state o Israel, orinstance, becomes a universal whipping boy,with worldwide displays o irrational outragedirected against its alleged misbehaviors.

Reality bites in Europe, where widespreadsocial unrest grows. Its been predicted thatthe new austerity [restrictive measures to alle-viate the recent European sovereign debt crisis]will impose strains on social peace in southernEurope (Beyond the Door Marked Auster-ity, New Statesman, May 24, 2010). This has

already happened in the streets o Greece.The ollowing headline emerged in Ireland:

Irish Mad as Hell Over Banks and Cuts (IrishIndependent, May 22, 2010). In Thailand, oneormer parliament member now aligned withthe Red Shirts (who maintain that the currentgovernment is illegitimate) observed, Peopleare illed with hatred and we must be pre-

pared or a campaign o terrorism (Thailand:Raising a Red Flag, Time, June 7, 2010).

So, beore this summer is even over, are weacing more and more populist uries aroundthe worldurther disrupting economic andpolitical well-being?

The Bible cautions against ill-consideredpopular uprisings where rumor and accu-sation urge people to renzied emotion andoutbreaks o violence: You shall not circulatea false report. Do not put your hand with thewicked to be an unrighteous witness. Youshall not follow a crowd to do evil (Exodus

23:1-2). ( Sources: New Statesman, FinancialTimes[both London], Time.)

Anti-Semitism reassertsitself in Eastern Europe

Extremist politicians in Hungary, Poland and otherEastern European countries are reverting to

blaming Israel and the Jewish people in general ortheir own national shortcomings.

The Fidesz Party, successul in recent Hungarianelections, launched verbal attacks on the Jewishcapital . . . which wants to devour the entire world.

A Warsaw political proessor stated: Anti-Semitismis crucial or the Polish right. The number o Jews in

Poland today is minimal, but the anti-Jewish prejudiceserves as a code or a general hostility to diversity andto Polish liberal democracy.

One Polish member o the European Parliamentwent so ar as to say that he will apologize or thekilling o Jews on Polish soil in World War II when Jewsapologize or killing Poles.

Denis MacShane o Newsweeksummed up seriousconcerns that all should have: To anyone with a halfsense of European history, the parallels with an olderJewish-baiting politics can no longer be dismissed(Europes New Politics o Fear, April 16, 2010,emphasis added). (Source: Newsweek.)

Are we facing more and morepopulist furies around the world

further disrupting economic and

political well-being?

The Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, location o abloody clash as Muslim activists tried to breakthe Israeli blockage o Gaza.



Christian educationon the wane in Britain

A

lead editorial in The Sunday Telegraphsummed upthe sad state o Christian education in the United

Kingdom today, betraying a rich historic legacy:The Christian religion is the oundation o most

o Britains culture and traditions. The history o ournation is incomprehensible without some knowledgeo it.And yet . . . the rudiments of Christianity arefrequently poorly taughtif, indeed, they aretaught at all. A report by Osted [the education watch-dog] has ound that, although nominally required bythe national curriculum, in many schools instructionis supercial, and is treated less seriously than thestudy o other religions (the Foundation o Our Cul-ture, June 6, 2010, emphasis added throughout).This is particularly true in secondary schools.

In the same issue o The Sunday Telegraph, edu-cation correspondent Julie Henry wrote in a separateeature article, In non-aith state schools, Christianassemblies are being dropped in avour o multi-aithworship, despite a legal requirement or Christian col-lective worship, and children are no longer taught theLords Prayer (Schools Failing to Teach Childrenthe Core Belies o Christianity, Says Osted June 6,

2010). She rightly advises that getting to grips withthe key teachings o Jesus Christ and other core ele-ments o Christianity are building blocks that will helpour young people analyse and interpret the societythey are growing up in.

The lead editorial previously quoted also said:

There is, as Osted euphemistically puts it, uncer-tainty about what the teachings of Christianity shouldinvolve.This is the crux o the problem. Even traditionalChristianity has missed out on truly understandingthe basic teachings o Christ given in the our Gospel

accounts and feshed out in the rest o the New Testa-ment, all solidly based on the undamentals o the OldTestament (see 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

The largely unrecognized apostasy rom the trueaith is explained in our ree booklet The ChurchJesus Built, which you can request or download romour Web site. (Source: The Telegraph[London].)

So much is happening in the world, and so quickly. Where are todays dramatic and dangerous trends taking us?What does Bible prophecy reveal about our future? Youre probably very concerned with the direction the world isheading. So are we. Thats why weve created the World News and ProphecyWeb siteto help you understand thenews in the light of Bible prophecy. This eye-opening site offers you a perspective so badly needed in our chaoticand confused worldthe perspective of Gods Word, the Bible. Visit us at www.WNPonline.org today!

How Can You Make Sense of the News?

Koreas at the brink?

At the end o the Korean War in 1953, the UnitedStates and the Soviet Union divided Korea at

the 38th parallel (a narrow strip here becoming the

Demilitarized Zone or DMZ). Nearly all Koreans wereopposed to the separation. Their dierences andantagonisms have since grown and deepened. Cur-rently North Koreas absolute leader is the ailing KimJong Il, who is also head o the ourth-largest armyin the world.

On March 26, 2010, the South Korean warshipCheonanwas sunk by a torpedo apparently launchedby a North Korean submarine, killing 46 o the 104sailors aboard.

South Korea has now sought intervention romthe UN Security Council, taking the strongest stepever toward bringing international punishment to the

communist North.North Korea must admit its wrongdoing andpledge to never again engage in such a reprehen-sible action, [South Korean President] Lee [Myung-bak] said. I the enemy continues to taunt us andthink that they can do whatever they want they mustunderstand that there is a limit. They must under-stand very clearly that they will have to suer the

consequences (Associated Press, June 5, 2010).North Korea, meanwhile, denies responsibility or theattack and warns that any punitive move against thecountry could lead to another war.

The story o the two Koreas is the story o the

worlddivision caused by conusion. God says thatthe way o peace is not humanly inherent (Jeremiah10:23). He promises humanity peace only at thereturn o the Princeo Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7). Then notonly will the two Koreas be united, but so will all peo-ples on earth (Isaiah 11). (Source: Associated Press.)

Greatest U.S. oilcatastrophe continues

Media reports have amply revealed the devastatingresults o an oil rig explosion in the Gul o Mex-

ico, which killed 11 oil workers and has led to millionso gallons o oil gushing rom a broken pipeline almosta mile below on the ocean foor. This ar-reachingdisaster is the worst oil catastrophe in U.S. history.

BP (ormerly the British Petroleum Company),owner o the well, has acknowledged its responsibil-ity or this ecological tragedy, but as o this writingit appears that it could be months beore the well

is plugged. Meanwhile, the American states alongthe Gul coastline are pleading or help to save theirbeaches, marshlands and natural bird sanctuaries.

As gooey tar blobs wash up on the once-pristinewhite beaches o Alabama and the Florida panhan-dle, human mistakes are taking a direct toll on thelivelihood o shermen and tourist industries alike.

Who knows where or how this will end? The Bibleoretells ar greater catastrophes or the UnitedStates and or humankind in general i we dont turnto and obey Him. To learn more, request or down-load our ree booklets The United States and Britainin Bible ProphecyandAre We Living in the Time ofthe End?

Pirates plaguethe Horn of Africa

T

he Horn o Arica is a large peninsula o East

Arica on which sits our countries: Eritrea,Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. American sol-diers are stationed in Somalia, a nation whichhas been in the international news quite a lotin recent times. This country has been plaguedby the presence o some 1,000 pirates in theGul o Aden (situated at the southern end othe Arabian Peninsula between Yemen andSomalia), one o the most important sea traderoutes in the world.

Nations such as Russia, France and Indiahave sent naval orces to both protect andrescue cargo ships rom Somali pirates, beingspecially authorized by the United NationsSecurity Council to enter these waters. Butthere are huge sums or the taking at stake,and these risk-taking pirates have proved verypersistentmaking these waters perpetuallydangerous or merchant vessels.

The Horn o Arica itsel remains no strangerto violence and continual confict. As the globalaairs magazine North-Southstates, the Hornis one o the most complex and deeply trou-bled regions o both Arica and the world andover the last 50 years it has suered some othe continents most brutal and enduring con-ficts while the antagonisms aroused by these

conlicts reach back generations and havebecome the basis or continuing rivalries andsuspicions: They include wars between Eritreaand Ethiopia, Ethiopia and Somalia and civilwars in Ethiopia and Somalia (North South,June 2010). (Source: North-South.)

The history of our nation is incompre-

hensible without some knowledge of it.

And yet . . . the rudiments of Christi-

anity are frequently poorly taughtif,

indeed, they are taught at all.



Immigration: How a Foreign Invasion

Is Reshaping the West

uddenly, immigration is becom-ing a bigger issue throughout theWestern world. Governmentsaround the globe are very con-cerned about potential problems

that massive immigration may bring.The American state o Arizona, which

borders Mexico, recently passed a lawauthorizing police to inquire o peopletheyve stopped or other legitimate rea-sons i they are in the United States legally,should there be sucient reason to suspectotherwise, and to ask or proo o their legalstatus in such case. Illegal immigrants have

contributed to mounting crime, increasinghealth and educational costs and otherproblems in the state.

Most o Arizonas citizens support thelaw, though some organizations outsidethe state have announced boycotts, whichcould cost it a great deal. Even the ederalgovernment is considering ling lawsuitsto prevent the law rom being implemented.

Immigration reshaping Western countries

A car bomb placed in New York CitysTimes Square on May 1, 2010, was the11th attempted terrorist act in the city oNew York since the attacks o Sept. 11,2001. The bombwhich, thankully,ailed to go o as plannedraised somedeeply troubling questions about even legalimmigration.

How could a young Pakistani immigrantwho lived the American dream possiblywant to kill hundreds o his ellow citi-zens? The United States and other Westerndemocracies, still coming to terms withradical Islam, are nding it hard to athom.

It just doesnt t into the multicultural ideal!France, Belgium, Italy and other European

countries are passing laws to block Islamicwomen rom wearing ull veils in public. Ger-manys Chancellor Angela Merkel is insistingthe countrys large Turkish population shouldassimilate, while the Turkish prime ministerinsists they should have their own separateschools to protect their Islamic identity.

Meanwhile, a Danish cartoonist whosecartoon depicting the prophet Muhammadled to riots in a number o countries wasthreatened by an ax-wielding intruder, and aSwedish cartoonist was physically attackedby protesters shouting Allah is great! as hegave a lecture on ree speech. Muslims insist

that reedom o speech, long cherished in theWest, has its limits.

In Britain, the issue o immigration mayhave cost Prime Minister Gordon Brownthe recent election. When a 65-year-oldsupporter o his own party approached himduring the campaign and expressed con-cern about all the immigrants rom EasternEurope fowing into her neighborhood, Mr.Brown was overheard in his car describingher as a bigoted woman. Leaders clearlydont like the sensitive issue o immigrationbeing brought up.

But its not going to go away.

Majorities becoming minoritiesin their own land

People are eeling increasingly threatenedby the changing demographics in their ownnations. The ethnic composition o Westerncountries is rapidly altering due to massiveimmigration in the last ew decades. TheUnited States alone took in 10 million moreimmigrants in the seven years ollowingSept. 11, 2001many o them rom coun-

tries rie with radical Islamists. To manycitizens, this just doesnt make sense.

An increasing number o Americans areaware that these demographic changes willlead to a majority nonwhite population intheir own lietimes. How they handle thiswill determine the countrys uture. As Timemagazine put it: How the current majorityreacts to its incipient minority status is themost crucial socio-demographic issue ac-ing the country (Gregory Rodriguez, TheWhite Anxiety Crisis, March 22, 2010,

international edition).In an amazing break rom tradition, many

Western nations changed their immigrationpolicies ater World War II and welcomedmillions o people rom the Third World.Even the United States, oten deemed acultural melting pot, had an immigrationpolicy prior to 1965 that avored maintainingthe racial status quo.

The late Senator Edward Kennedys 1965immigration bill deliberately changed ear-lier policy, welcoming a big infux o immi-

grants rom the worlds poorer nations. Atthe time, Americans were assured it wouldnot alter the ethnic mix and social abric otheir nation.

Now its evident this assurance wasalse. One could easily make the argu-ment that the election o Americas rstArican-American president would not havehappened without the reality o changingdemographics.

Immigration leading to unrest

The issue o immigration was briefy dis-cussed on NBCs Chris Matthews Show onMay 9, 2010.

During the program, John Heilemann oNew Yorkmagazine observed: Were goingthrough one o these once-in-a-centurytransormations that cuts across a lot o di-erent thingscultural change, theres bigdemographic change, theres big economicchange, and technological change, andit makes people really nervous. Its beengoing on or about 15 years in Americathe sense o anxiety, the sense weve lost

control o our lives.Also on the show was Cynthia Tucker,

In the last 50 years, millions o people rom the Third World have moved

into the Western democracies. Many have contributed to the welare o

these nations, but others lack work skills, proper education and demo-

cratic convictions. What will it mean i and when these ever-growing

minorities begin to constitute the majority in several key countries?

S



a columnist with theAtlanta Journal-Constitution, who oered this perspective:Ive always thought that this great meltingpot or salad, however you want to describethis diverse nation, works as long as the

economy is good, as long as the pie is grow-ing and every American believes he or shehas an opportunity to get a piece o that pie,were all pretty happy.

However, now that the economy is notdoing so well, the United States could be inor a more stressul time when it comes toassimilating the various ethnic groups thatnow live in the country.

The same applies elsewhere, o course.

Some o the eurozone countries are on thebrink o nancial collapse due to decades ooverspending. Severe government spendingcuts are inevitable. The nations have alreadyseen unemployment rise. Without jobs,many are already blaming immigrants ortheir situation.

In the latest election in Britain, the anti-immigrant British National Party almosttripled the share o the vote it received inthe 2005 election. In act, anti-immigrantparties are seeing growing support in anumbero European countries.

The perceived threat applies on severaldierent levels.

Security a growing concernBesides eeling that their way o lie is

threatened, both culturally and economically,people are also becoming more concernedabout security as radical terror movementsincreasingly recruit homegrown terrorists.Commenting on the recent attempted bomb-

ing in Times Square, Johns Hopkins Schoolo Advanced International Studies proessorFouad Ajami wrote the ollowing in the May10, 2010, Wall Street Journal:

A Muslim has no nationality except hisbelie, the intellectual godather o the Isla-mists, Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, wrote decadesago. Qutbs children are everywhere now;they carry the nationalities o oreign landsand plot against them. The Pakistani-born

Faisal Shahzad [who set up the car bomb]is a devotee o Sayyid Qutbs doctrine, andMaj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hoodshooter, was another.

Qutb was executed by the secular dic-tatorship o [Egyptian President] GamalAbdel Nasser in 1966. But his thoughts andlegacy endure. Globalization, the shakingup o continents, the ease o travel, and thedoors or immigration fung wide open by

Western liberal societies have given Qutbsworldview greater power and relevance.What can we make o a young man likeShahzad working or [the cosmetics com-pany] Elizabeth Arden, receiving that all-American degree, the MBA, jogging in the

evening in Bridgeport, then plotting massmayhem in Times Square?

The Islamists are now within the gates.They fed the res and the ailures o theIslamic world but brought the ruin with them.They mock national borders and identities. Aparliamentary report issued by Britains House

o Commons on the London Undergroundbombings o July 7, 2005, lays bare this men-ace and the challenge it poses to a system oopen borders and modern citizenship.

The our men who pulled o those brutalattacks, the report noted, were apparentlywell integrated into British society. Three othem were second-generation Britons bornin West Yorkshire. The oldest, a 30-year-oldather o a 14-month-old inant, appearedto others as a role model to young people.One o the our, 22 years o age, was a boyo some privilege; he owned a red Mercedesgiven to him by his ather and was given toashionable hairstyles and designer cloth-ing . . . Two o the our, rather like FaisalShahzad, had spent time in Pakistan beorethey pulled o their deed.

A year ater the London terror, hithertotranquil Canada had its own encounter withthe new Islamism. A ring o radical Isla-mists were charged with plotting to attacktargets in southern Ontario with ertilizerbombs. A school-bus driver was one o theleaders o these would-be jihadists.

A report by the Canadian Security Intel-ligence Service unintentionally echoed theBritish House o Commons ndings. Theseindividuals are part o Western society, andtheir Canadianness makes detection moredicult. Increasingly, we are learning omore and more extremists that are home-grown. The implications o this shit areproound (Islams Nowhere Men: Mil-lions Like Faisal Shahzad Are Unsettled bya Modern World They Can Neither Masternor Reject, emphasis added).

Prophecy warned of consequencesfor national sins

The modern descendants o the ancientIsraelites include many o the nations thatmake up todays Western world. In Leviti-cus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, God promisedtremendous physical blessings i they wouldobey Him, but He also warned them o thedire consequences o disobedience. Thepromised blessings or obedience are awe-inspiring; the assurances o punishment orsins are deeply troubling.

These chapters make or sobering reading

Immigrants march or amnesty in downtown Los Angeles on May Day, 2006.

Continued on page 27



GOOD NEWS FEATURE How Cn You Del With Informtion Overlod?

How Can You Deal WithInformation Overload?by Becky Sweat

o you have a stack o journals,magazines and books on yourdesk that you really should read,

but havent gotten to?Ever eel rustrated because

you dont know how to use eatures onyour cell phone, laptop or PDA?

Are you concerned that your job market-ability is declining because your industryknowledge is getting out o datebut youjust dont have time to take the classes tostay current?

Do you oten nd yoursel in conversa-tions with others who bring up events inthe news youre unaware oand you eelembarrassed admitting you dont knowwhats going on?

I you answer yes to any o the abovequestions, youre experiencing inormationoverload!

Its a common malady these days, stem-ming rom the rapidly increasing quanti-ties o inormation being produced andpublished.

Lets consider the ever-widening scopeo this problem, its impact on us and someways to deal with it in our personal lives.

An explosion of informationAccording to researchers at the Univer-

sity o Caliornia at Berkeleys School oInormation, mankind has produced moreinormation in the last 30 years than in allthe previous 5,000 years combined. Theyestimate that in just the last decade, thetotal o human knowledge has doubledevery two to three years. Soon researchersbelieve knowledge will double every year.

As the amount o available data expands,managing the inormation becomes moredicult. Most people today have more

inormation coming at them than they canever assimilate and process, observes

Deborah Barreau, Ph.D., associate pro-essor at the School o Inormation andLibrary Science at the University o NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill.

I were trying to make a decision, weoten have so much inormation that weget conused, and we dont know what to

do. At the same time, were expected tobe knowledgeable about more and morethings to unction in our society.

This state o having too much inorma-tion to digest is known as inormationoverload. Almost everyone suers rom itto some degree. It can cause stress, anxiety,atigue, rustration, reduced productivity,an inability to concentrate and eelings obeing overwhelmed and overburdenederoding work eciency as well as personalhealth and amily lie.

There are only so many details in

anyones lie that can be handled comort-ably, Dr. Barreau says. When that limit is

exceeded, circuits begin to shut down. Wereuse to process any more.

Inormation overload is not a totally newphenomenon. Ever since the printing presswas invented in the 15th century, making itpossible to distribute written inormation tothe masses, people have been complainingthat there are too many published materialsto get through.

By the late 19th century, there werealready more books in the average Ameri-

can library than anyone could possiblyread, notes David Levy, Ph.D., proes-sor at the School o Inormation at theUniversity o Washington. However, headds, inormation overload is a ar greaterproblem today than it ever was in thepast. This, he says, is directly related totechnologyin particular, the advent othe computer.

Information overload21st-century style

Beore the invention o modern comput-ers in the 1950s, inormation was produced

in very sedate increments. Once computersbecame available, data could be compiledand analyzed at speeds never dreamed obeore. Modern computers also allowedscientists to utilize computer modeling andsimulation techniques, which greatly accel-erated the scientic discovery process. Sci-entists could now conduct their research onthe computer, which yielded aster resultsthan doing traditional laboratory experi-ments. This caused inormation productionto soar.

But thats not technologys only impact.The modern computer, and accompany-ing growth o the Internet starting in themid-1990s, have allowed inormation tobe duplicated, published and accessed byjust about anybody. The World Wide Webhas provided us access to billions o pageso inormation, increasing the numbero people whose thoughts we encounterand exposing us to more ideas than everbeore, says Lark Birdsong, an inorma-tion proessional and Web search trainerin Denver, Colorado.

Anyone who wants to can start a blogor Web site or share their perspectives on

Were often bombarded with information of all kinds from every direc-

tion, leaving us stressed, anxious and fatigued. How can we better cope

with this ongoing information explosion? How can we sort the helpful

from the wasteful?

D



online orums and chatrooms. I its inor-mation you want, you can sit down in ronto your computer and do a Google or Yahoosearch and, within seconds, be presentedwith hundreds, thousands or even millionso search results to weed through. O course,a lot o the electronic inormation werebeing inundated with isnt inormation were

necessarily seeking.And our home or work computers sta-

tionary Internet connection is not the onlyway this inundation comes to us. Moderncommunications technology has given uscell phones, PDAs, MP3 players and wire-less Internet connections or our laptops,allowing us to be connected to inorma-tion sources wherever we go and when-ever we want it. Each day you may havepotentially hundreds or even thousands oe-mail messages, instant messages, RSS

eeds, podcasts and audio clips, YouTubedownloads, text messages and posts onsocial and proessional networking sites toread, watch or listen toall competing oryour attention.

All o the computer-mediated commu-nicationinstant messaging, chatrooms,social networking sites, text messagingwhile theyre not inormation in the tra-ditional sense, have really intensied theproblem o inormation overload in recentyears, Dr. Barreau observes. Much o thesocial messaging is relaying really trivial

inormation, like your riend posts a statusupdate on Facebook about where she isgoing or lunch today or what movie sheis going to see. But it can be so easy to getcaught up in all that.

Facebook is the largest social network-ing site, with more than 400 million activeusers worldwide, who share more than25 billion pieces o content (news stories,Web links, notes, photos, posts, etc.) eachmonth. Hundreds o other such sites aretargeted to specic lie stages or interests.

Anthony Rotolo, proessor at SyracuseUniversitys School o Inormation Studies,specializes in social media. What he ndsparticularly interesting is that more andmore people are accessing this inorma-tion on the go rom their mobile devices,rather than being tied to a computer. Thatinormation is coming at us 24/7 and beingintegrated into our daily routines.

Not only that, but, he adds, whether itsacademic or work inormation, the news,or seemingly irrelevant social inorma-tion rom riends, its all happening in one

spotyour mobile device. This constantbombardment is adding tremendously to

the eeling o inormation overload.In addition to electronic communication,

all the traditional inormation sourcescontinue to vie or our attention. Thatincludes magazines, newsletters, journals,newspapers, reports, books, letters, directmail, axes, memos, video teleconerenc-ing, phone calls, voice mail, radio andtelevision programs, DVDs and CDs. Con-sidering this tidal wave o data coming atus, its clear that the concept o keeping up

with it all is illusory.The sheer volume o inormation being

published today ar outstrips our capacityto deal with it, Dr. Levy says.

The road to overload

Excesses o either type o inormationthe actual kind (book knowledge) or thesocial inormation coming rom electroniccommunicationcan lead to inormationanxiety. Exactly how does it happen?

First o, its important to state that inor-mation in and o itsel is not a problem. It

can be wonderul to connect with riendson social networking sites. And obviously

we need inormation to be able to earn aliving, make wise decisions and take careo our amilies.

Proverbs 18:15 tells us, The heart ofthe prudent acquires knowledge, and theear of the wise seeks knowledge. Prov-erbs 24:5 similarly says, A wise man isstrong, yes, a man o knowledge increases

strength. God wants us to use our mindsand develop our abilities.

The stress comes in when we eel likewere not well enough inormed about thevarious situations we conront on a dailybasis, or when we try to keep up with allthe inormation coming at us and cant.So you may eel nervous discussing cer-tain business topics with your boss i youhavent had time to keep up with all thetrade magazines and books recentlypublished related to your eld.

You may be upset with yoursel or notmaking the move you should have withyour stock portolio, and the reason youdidnt is because you didnt have the timeto watch the nancial news to keep up withthe latest statistics. Or perhaps you arehaving diculty staying on top o the tech-nology you need to use at work o

good news magazine - july/august 2010

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