eNews

The United States is now more dependent on oil imports than ever before. In 1950, it imported just one-tenth of its oil supplies. By 1973, the share of imported oil had grown to one-third. Today, the United States gets nearly two-thirds of its petroleum from abroad. Many of these foreign suppliers, however, are politically and economically unstable.

In June 2004, the price of oil reached $42 a barrel - the highest point ever in 21 years of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange - pushing average US gasoline prices to more than $2 per gallon. The surge had numerous causes, including higher Chinese demand and insecurity in the Middle East. The root of the crisis, however, lay closer to home: in Venezuela, where a general strike in late 2002 and early 2003 severely constricted the flow of oil and gasoline for several months. Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and provides about 13 percent of US crude oil imports.

For the first time, the US oil supply was significantly disrupted by strife in a region other than the Middle East. The Venezuelan strike was also the first disruption not caused by a war, revolution, or embargo, but rather by a slow, debilitating political standoff.

Venezuela, led by Hugo Chavez, suffers from increasing political turmoil. Before President Chavez came to power in 1998, oil-rich Venezuela was a wealthy nation and one of South America's oldest democracies. This wealth attracted a large influx of poor immigrants from neighboring Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and the Caribbean. The poor became increasingly resentful of the wealthy and middle class. Chavez, who had been imprisoned for a failed coup in 1992 but was later released, became the champion of the poor during the 1998 elections.

Chavez won the election with 56 percent of the vote. He immediately embraced Cuba's communist leader, Fidel Castro, as Venezuela's chief ally, called Iraq's Saddam Hussein his "brother", aligned himself with Libya's Moammar Qadaffi, and formed alliances with North Korea's Kim Yong-Il and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Venezuela is one of the founding members of OPEC and is strongly aligned with the Islamic oil-producing nations of the Middle East. President Hugo Chavez recently defended Iran in its dispute with the United States and Europe over its nuclear program, saying Iran has a right to atomic energy.

Venezuela is emerging as a potential hub of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere, providing assistance to Islamic radicals from the Middle East and other terrorists. Middle Eastern terrorist groups are operating cells in Venezuela, including support cells for organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Thousands of Venezuelan identity documents are being distributed to foreigners from Middle Eastern nations, including Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon.

Venezuela is also supporting armed opposition groups from neighboring Colombia. These groups are on the official US list of terrorist organizations. These groups generate funds through money laundering, drug trafficking, or arms deals and make millions of dollars every year through illicit activities.

Last week Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticized Venezuela's reported efforts to purchase 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Russia. The US government is concerned that the weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists and that Venezuelas military buildup could trigger a South American arms race. Venezuela also is negotiating for the purchase of at least 40 Russian combat aircraft, at least 30 Russian attack helicopters, and possibly some Spanish naval vessels.

In addition to its support of terrorism, Venezuela has been a source of serious economic concern. Despite the country's tremendous oil wealth, most Venezuelans remain quite poor. Like many South American nations there is a vastly unequal distribution of income. As much as 80 percent of the population lives in poverty. In 2003 unemployment was 18 percent, the inflation rate was recorded at a staggering 31 percent, and the GDP declined by 9.2 percent. Some experts speculate that Venezuela might follow in Argentina's footsteps and default on its foreign debt. Venezuela's economy is dangerously over-dependent on the petroleum industry. Oil accounts for roughly one-third of its GDP, around 80 percent of its export earnings, and more than half of government operating revenues. Chavez has threatened to stop exporting oil to the US if the Bush administration supports an attempt to force him from office. Chavez has also threatened to sell Citgo - a subsidiary of Venezuelas primary state-owned oil company. Citgo supplies gasoline to over 14,000 retail outlets in the US and owns oil refineries in Illinois, Louisiana, and Texas.

With major developments happening in Israel and Iraq on a daily basis it isn't hard to understand why the situation in Venezuela has been largely overlooked. However Venezuela's socialist leadership still poses a serious threat to the interests and security of the United States – a fact which will undoubtedly become more apparent in the coming weeks and months.

Throughout the last week Christians all over the globe have observed Easter by remembering the death and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At this time of year we are often bombarded by an increase in press, radio, and television programming addressing the claims of Christ and the historical accuracy of Biblical accounts. Such commentary usually raises important questions. Why do we believe the Bible is accurate? Is it more than just a history book? What makes it different from all other religious books? Such questions are on the minds of many, and as Christians we should have a ready answer when asked why we believe what we believe.

In the 20th century we have witnessed one of the most remarkable discoveries in recorded history: the discovery that the universe is finite. The implications of this discovery are indeed staggering. Beginning with Albert Einstein in 1903, twentieth-century physicists have demonstrated that space-time and matter had a finite, simultaneous beginning.

Prior to this discovery, atheistic scientists and philosophers rested comfortably on the notion that the universe was eternal. Consequently, a universe without a beginning needed no cause, it just existed. However, a universe that has a beginning either created itself (a logical and scientific absurdity) or it was caused to exist by a Being who preceded it. By definition, that means a transcendent Creator, One who exists outside time and space.

A transcendent Creator presents some interesting possibilities. Because a transcendent Creator possesses the sufficient means to act in our space-time domain, He also has the capability to get a message to us. The Bible claims to be that message. The Bible authenticates that its text is an extraterrestrial, supernatural message system from a transcendent Creator in several ways. Not the least of which is its scientific accuracy.

The Bible declares that God is omniscient (all-knowing). He possesses a perfect understanding of the physical universe. Consequently, we would expect any book claiming to be the word of God to be without error or contradiction when it speaks on scientific issues. Well, not only is the Bible 100 percent accurate regarding scientific phenomenon, it revealed many scientific facts thousands of years before they were discovered by scientists (i.e. that time, space, and matter are finite, the universe is expanding, the spherical nature of the earth, the laws of thermodynamics, the oceanic currents, etc.)

Throughout the Bibles text there are highly specific and accurate statements regarding the laws of physics, the nature of our solar system, the planet earth, and its life forms that were penned centuries before this scientific knowledge was discovered by the scientific community. This phenomenon, called scientific foreknowledge, is present throughout the text of the Bible and is a powerful hint of supernatural authorship.

Throughout the Bible we find the fingerprints of a supernatural message system. Numerous design features in the Biblical text defy coincidence and demonstrate that the Bible, which consists of sixty-six books, penned by forty authors over thousands of years, is an integrated message system. Because God exists outside our space-time domain, He is able to see, in effect, the beginning and the end of our time domain simultaneously. Consequently, the Bible authenticates that its message is of extra-dimensional origin through predictive prophecy (i.e. by writing history in advance).

Astonishing evidence has gradually accumulated in the fields of archaeology, astronomy, physics, and biology which confirm the scientific and historical accuracy of the Bible, the supernatural origin of its text and the fact that it has been preserved virtually unchanged for over two thousand years. No other holy book on planet earth authenticates its message in these ways. For more information on the accuracy of the Bible, and for more examples supporting these claims, check out our series titled The Creator Beyond Time and Space.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that German measles, commonly known as rubella, has been eradicated in the United States. The battle against killer diseases continues around the world, however. While some threats like smallpox have been destroyed or confined to test tubes, other diseases have emerged in their place.

Rubella
Sixty thousand cases of rubella were reported in the US in 1969, the year that a vaccine was developed by Dr. Maurice Hilleman director of the Merck Institute for Vaccinology. By 2000, the number of reported cases had dropped to only 176. While not a particularly dangerous disease, rubella can cause severe birth defects or miscarriages if pregnant women become infected. Over 100,000 cases of rubella are reported around the world every year, and the disease continues to be a problem in Mexico. Since it could easily be brought back into the United States, doctors recommend that American children continue to receive the rubella vaccine.

Measles
An estimated 589 people - mostly children under age 5 - have died so far this year from measles (not rubella) in northern Nigeria. Fearful that immunizations are part of an American plot to kill or sterilize their children, Muslims in northern Nigeria have shied away from vaccination programs. Muslim leaders campaigned against the polio vaccination program last year, and now are rejecting a measles immunization program. "I heard on the radio that the vaccine was contaminated. I still don't trust any vaccine," said Ramatou Mohammed, a 28-year-old mother of four. Measles has been brought under control in the southern part of the country, where the population is largely Christian, and where the health care system is better. However, in the north, nearly 21,000 cases have been reported this year.

Marburg Disease
At least 122 people have now died from an Ebola-like disease in northern Angola. The virus causes internal bleeding and victims generally bleed to death. There is no known cure or effective means of treating the disease, but at least it does not spread casually through the general public. Those most likely to contract the virus are medical personnel treating patients who have been exposed to the disease. The virus is thought to have originally spread to humans from apes.  In 1967, laboratory workers in Marburg, Germany, contracted the virus after exposure to apes imported from Uganda.

Bird Flu
Secretive North Korea has admitted to an outbreak of bird flu in at least two chicken farms in its capital Pyongyang. North Korea has not asked for help in containing the disease yet, but South Korea is already setting up to quarantine the disease in order to keep it from spreading to the south. Even if it does not spread to humans, a disease like this could be devastating to the people of North Korea, who already suffer from massive food shortages as the poultry will have to be culled.

Mad Cow Disease
The destructive disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the bane of the British beef industry in the last decade, has made its way to Japan. A 9-year-old Holstein cow on the northern island of Hokkaido tested positive for BSE, making it the 16th case found in Japan since September 2001. Japan screens all cows that are slaughtered before their beef is sold for food, but the United States has banned all Japanese beef imports.

Revelation 6:8 describes a rider on a pale horse that is given power to kill one-fourth of the earth's population with the sword, with hunger, and with "the beasts of the earth". Some commentators believe these can refer to even the smallest of beasts - deadly viruses.

For those who know their Bible and have a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, rather than creating an atmosphere of fear, these tragic incidences should draw us closer to the Creator Himself. Disease is inevitable in a fallen world. However, we know the God that Heals. May we be prepared to minister to a suffering and dying world in the love of the One whose punishment brought our salvation.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" - Psalm 103:2-3