This Week's 66/40 Radio Broadcast

Articles and Commentary

• North Korea Threatens to Sell Nukes - (Read)
• Avian Flu Still a Threat? - (Read)
• The Sermon on the Mount - (Read)

Important News Headlines

Memory Verse of the Week

NORTH KOREA THREATENS TO SELL NUKES - (Print)

Not only has North Korea not stopped its nuclear activities, but according to a US intelligence report made public this week, North Korea threatened to sell nuclear weapons to terrorists in 2005. North Korea told US officials that they "could transfer nuclear weapons to terrorists if driven into a corner." The report also contains information on North Korea's enrichment and proliferation activities, Syria's nuclear ambitions, and al-Qaeda's plans for developing chemical and biological weapons to be deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report paints a vivid picture of the challenges we face as nation.

This past year evidence was uncovered that North Korea may be helping Syria develop nuclear weapons. The news was made public after Israel conducted a mysterious nighttime raid deep into Syria to destroy what some say was a clandestine nuclear facility. Syria's nuclear ambitions and its cooperation with North Korea will undoubtedly complicate the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Officials warn that the secretive and often unpredictable regime has not yet ceased all of its proliferation activities.

North Korea has shown some willingness to cooperate, but US government officials are skeptical. US diplomats won't be able to rest easy until all of North Korea's nuclear facilities are not only shut down, but dismantled. Experts suspect that North Korea currently possesses between six and eight nuclear weapons. However a report by the Institute for Science and International Security claims that North Korea has enough radioactive material to build as many as 13 bombs.

The standoff with North Korea began in October of 2002 when the communist regime announced its plans to build nuclear weapons. North Korea subsequently withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Four years later, in October of 2006, North Korea shocked the world when it conducted its first-ever test of a nuclear warhead. It had long been suspected that North Korea possessed such weapons; however the test laid to rest any lingering doubts about North Korea's nuclear capabilities.

The US has long hoped that pressure from the international community would motivate North Korea to continue with six-party talks and eventually abandon its nuclear program. For almost six years the six nations have tried to reach an agreement, without much success. North Korea's eccentric dictator, Kim Jong-Il, has a history of unpredictable behavior and has proven to be a fickle negotiating partner. Further complicating matters is the fact that the six parties involved in the peace negotiations have such divergent interests. The US and Japan, concerned about security, have taken a hard-line approach. Meanwhile, South Korea wants to avoid war and has increased aid to the North while Russia and China - afraid of sparking a refugee crisis - have been hesitant to back harsh sanctions.

Jesus warned us that as we approach the end times there would be "wars and rumors of wars..." and that "nation would rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom..." This knowledge, that we are in living in the last days, should give you a renewed sense of urgency and determination in pursuing God’s plan for both your life and mine. It is a plan in which we are called to be ambassadors for Christ bringing the light of life and hope into a world full of darkness, death, and decay.

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AVIAN FLU STILL A THREAT? - (Print)

Is the much-debated avian influenza, also known as the bird flu, still a threat? Experts say yes, it is, and we can't afford to be complacent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, the likelihood of an influenza pandemic within the next five to ten years is very high.

CDC and WHO officials believe that the avian influenza could become a global epidemic if a new strain of the virus emerges that can jump readily from human to human. If there is an outbreak health officials estimate that it would spread rapidly and could infect nearly one-third of the world's population. It could kill anywhere from 2 million to 50 million people. The disease has infected bird populations in most of Asia, Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa. Tens of millions of chickens and other poultry have already been killed by the flu or slaughtered in order to stop the disease from spreading. Experts suspect it is only a matter of time before migratory birds bring the disease to the United States.

In recent years the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread to more than 60 countries and has resulted in the deaths of millions of birds. Since the year 2003, there have been about 350 confirmed cases of the bird flu virus in humans and more than 200 deaths. The human death toll from the avian flu actually declined in 2007. However experts say that is not because the threat has decreased, it is because our response has improved. Experts also say that many cases are not reported, and the actual number of human infections could be much higher. Southeast Asia has been hit hardest, particularly Indonesia and Vietnam, which have the highest numbers of human fatalities. While most victims contracted the virus through direct contact with infected birds, there have been several isolated incidents in which the disease was reportedly transferred from human to human.

Avian flu could be the cause of the next pandemic, which experts say will probably happen in the near future. There have been four pandemics during the last century, which emerge, on average, every 30 years. Perhaps the most deadly pandemic in human history was the 1918 Spanish flu which emerged just after the end of World War I. It killed between 20 and 50 million people, more than the Black Plague or AIDS. When scientists reconstructed the 1918 virus they discovered that, unlike the last flu pandemic which hit Hong Kong in 1968, the 1918 flu virus was a bird flu that jumped directly to humans. This discovery has lead many to believe that the next pandemic will be similar to that of the deadly 1918 outbreak.

With the advent of antibiotics 50 years ago, scientists predicted the end of death and suffering from infectious diseases. During the past 25 years, however, we have witnessed the reemergence and geographical spread of well-known diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera, often in more virulent and drug-resistant forms. Scientists have also identified more than 30 previously unknown diseases, like HIV and Ebola, for which there is no known cure.

According to the National Institute of Health infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide, and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Diseases thought to be obsolete have once again become a global threat, and in recent years new pathogens have emerged, some of which carry antibiotic-resistant genes or mutations enabling them to move across different species.

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THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT - (Print)

The Sermon on the Mount is the manifesto of our King and the platform of the Prince of Peace. And it's the Law! It goes vastly beyond the Law of Moses. It is the Ten Commandments amplified and expanded. It raises the Law to the n^th degree. As the Law of the Kingdom, it is the highest ethical teaching in the Bible. It will be the Law of this world during the Millennium, and then it will find full fruition. Christ will reign on earth in person and will enforce every word of it. The Sermon on the Mount will finally prevail when He whose right it is to rule shall come.

The Sermon on the Mount is the longest discourse recorded in Scripture and it was addressed to believers! (This would be a source of condemnation to the unsaved.) Don't let the familiarity of this passage lure you into thinking that you have mastered it; it is tough ground and one of the most misunderstood portions of Scripture.

The Beatitudes

The word beatitude is not found in your Bible. It simply means "blessing" and comes from the Latin word for "blessed." Note that these verses deal with attitudes - what we think in our hearts, and our outlook on life. "Beatitudes" are the attitudes that ought to be in our lives if we are true Christians. These first 16 verses of Matthew 5 describe the true Christian and deal with character. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7) deals with the conduct that grows out of character. Character always comes before conduct, because what we are determines what we do. There is a definite progression in these verses. They show how the person begins with his or her own sense of sin and finally becomes a child of God and the results that then follow:

• "Poor in spirit" (v. 3): This is our attitude toward ourselves, in which we feel our need and admit it.
• "Mourn" (v. 4): This is our attitude toward sin, a true sorrow for sin.
• "Meek" (v. 5): This is our attitude toward others; we are teachable; we do not defend ourselves when we are wrong.
• "Hunger and thirst" (v. 6): Here, our attitude toward God is expressed; we receive His righteousness by faith because we ask for it.
• "Merciful" (v. 7): We have a forgiving spirit and love others.
• "Pure in heart" (v. 8): We keep our lives and motives clean. Holiness is happiness to us - there are no substitutes.
• "Peacemakers" (v. 9): We should bring peace, between people and God, and between those who are at odds with each other.
• "Persecuted" (v. 10): All who live godly lives will suffer persecution.
  

• "Through the Law we become conscious of sin." (Rom 3:20)
• "The Law was added so that the trespass might increase." (Rom 5:20)
• "It was added because of transgressions until the Seed [the Lord Jesus Christ] to whom the promise referred had come." (Gal 3:19)
• "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." (Gal 3:24)
• "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the Law." (Gal 3:25)
  

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Fresh Accusations In UN Bribery Scandal - February 05, 2008
The UN claims it has reformed its scandal ridden, multi-billion-dollar procurement system. However new evidence shows that it violated its own rules by purchasing millions of dollars worth of goods from a company that was involved in one of the highest-profile bribery scandals in the organization's history. FOX News

Scientists Make Three Parent Embryo - February 05, 2008
Scientists in Britain claimed a first Tuesday, saying they have created a human embryo using DNA from one man and two women, which they say could help provide treatment for genetic diseases. AFP

Ahmadinejad: Israel's Days are Numbered - February 05, 2008
Iran is approaching the "peak" in its nuclear program and will not yield to Western pressure to halt its activities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday. The Iranian president also noted that Israel's days were numbered and that it has reached its end. He was speaking two days after Iran received the eighth and final consignment of nuclear fuel from Russia for the Bushehr plant. Tehran has said the plant will begin operation this year. yNet

Part of Noah's Ark Found? - February 05, 2008
Explorers claim to have found "material evidence" to prove that Noah's Ark is real and rests on mount Ararat in Turkey. The Turkish-Hong Kong team reportedly found a petrified wooden structure in a cave, which they believe is part of the Ark. The Peninsula

Growing Number of Christians Voting Liberal - February 05, 2008
A surprising new survey out Monday found that a growing number of born again Christians are supporting democratic candidates. A new Barna study shows that if the general election was held today, 40 percent of all born again adults who are likely to vote in November would choose the Democratic candidate, and only 29 percent would choose the Republican candidate. The remaining 28 percent are currently unsure whom they would support. Christian Post

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:24-25 KJV

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

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