Information Related to "An Overview of Conditions Around the World - Mar/Apr 1997"

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World News and Trends - an Overview of Conditions Around the World

by John Ross Schroeder and Scott Ashley

Peace in whose time?

The Stockholm Institute for Peace Research is celebrating a world without war between sovereign nations. Regular Times feature columnist Simon Jenkins stated: "In 1997 we contemplate a second year in which, for the first time since proverbial records began, nothing that could be called a state of hot war exists between sovereign countries. Guns are not firing across borders."

Sometimes friction among the nations of the former Yugoslavia may stretch this point a bit, and civil war certainly exists at several points on the globe. Also, tensions are much in evidence between sovereign states; witness the Middle East.

Still, we have to be thankful for whatever peace does exist while keeping a wary eye on Jeremiah’s ancient prophecy of national leaders proclaiming, "Peace, peace!" when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11). The apostle Paul also referred to a time when people would say, "Peace and safety!" yet sudden destruction would soon follow (1Thessalonians 5:3). (Source: The Times.)

Crime and sexual freedom: a relationship?

Does male teenage promiscuity have anything to do with rising crime rates? According to a report by the Institute of Economic Affairs in Britain, it does. Newspaper coverage in The Independent showed that "the freedom of young men to engage in sexual intercourse without being powerfully restrained by the pressure to become monogamous husbands or fathers is closely linked to crime."

A similar article in The Observer reluctantly agreed that "it is ludicrous to deny the relationship between fatherlessness and crime. The areas of high unemployment, highest lone parenthood and worst crime are coterminous."

The report’s author, Norman Dennis, maintained that cultural mechanisms that once sent messages of "responsibility, striving, self-help and self-improvement" to the next generation have broken down.

American historians Will and Ariel Durant understood this principle well. "A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires," they wrote; "and if he is unchecked by custom, morals or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group."

Undeniable, yet often overlooked, is the relationship between the biblical commandments against promiscuity in thought, word and deed and those forbidding the crimes of stealing and murder. The apostle James noted this connection: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 4:10).

The adulterer steals affection that belongs to another. The news and entertainment media regularly bear out that sexual promiscuity can lead even to murder. Both Old and New Testaments command us to love our neighbor by refraining from these illicit acts that enslave and to diligently teach our children to follow this royal law of liberty (verse 12). (Sources: The Independent; The Observer; Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1968, pp. 35-36.)

Rampaging girl gangs

Gender bending, gender crossing and gender confusion have become characteristic phenomena of the late 20th century, increasingly borne out by the bad behavior of both sexes in conduct once considered unnatural and certainly unthinkable.

Nick Peters reported from Washington, D.C., for The Sunday Times (of London) that "gun-toting girl gangs stake claim to America’s streets." Significantly, he notes, "the arrest rate for teenage girls is now twice that of teenage boys. In some areas of the country, girls account for nearly 25 percent of violent juvenile crime, including murder, robbery with violence—even rape."

This article unwittingly revealed that the cause of much of this macabre behavior is the breaking of God’s law in the home: "At the core of the crisis are home lives where violence, sexual abuse and drug taking are commonplace." (Source: The Sunday Times.)

Don’t overlook the weather

In January extreme weather was a worldwide phenomenon. Snow and ice gripped Europe while storms battered the western United States and parts of Asia. Nations can quickly recover from weather-related calamities. But sometimes the worst weather can have lasting effects. Consider the winter of 1947 in Europe. Recently Barry Turner recalled that big chill in a Sunday Times feature article:

"Fifty years ago, Europe suffered its worst winter on record. The snow falls buried Britain’s brief dream of socialism and led to (West) Germany’s resurgence as a dominant force in Europe . . . (It was) the cold snap that shaped the post-war world."

Snow fell in some parts of Britain from January 27 to March 17, continuing in the Pennines mountain range until June. Widespread flooding followed the bitter cold, devastating thousands of acres of cropland and forcing a financially strapped Britain (her strength sapped by the war) to pay for expensive foodstuffs from overseas.

Before World War II Great Britain’s assets totaled some £3 billion; at war’s end the nation owed that much. Weather conditions greatly exacerbated her financial condition. According to a Sunday Times article, the winter of 1947 was the worst since record-keeping began. Writers described the onslaught as bringing "the longest period without the sun," "the lowest average temperature," "the fiercest snowstorms" and "the deepest drifts."

The Continent was hit hard as well. Wrote Mr. Turner: "On the continent the icy cold had an instant political impact, triggering Marshall aid from America and consolidating Western Europe as a bulwark against communism, anchored to a resurgent Germany" (emphasis ours). West Germany received well over $400 million in Marshall aid, helping to enable a relatively quick recovery. The hard-working German nation abolished rationing six years before Britain did.

"If the winter of 1947 has to take much of the blame for turning American favour towards Germany as the driving force for a new Europe, it also stalled the British economic recovery."

We should never overlook the weather’s potential role in the fulfillment of prophecy. (Sources: The Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph.)

Monarchy under fire

As we approach Century 21 we see a world exceedingly troubled by national strife and political instability. Long-standing institutions come under increasingly severe scrutiny by entertainers and journalists.

Hardly any institution is sacrosanct, including the British monarchy. Although the modern monarchical tradition in Britain has existed for a millennium, the royal family has come under siege in recent years, perhaps because of questionable behavior of some of its younger members.

A major television channel brought the national debate to a boil by airing a live program in early January titled "Monarchy: The Nation Decides." Listeners were invited to phone in their opinions. Some 2.6 million people did. Surprisingly, the vote was nearly two to one in favor of a continued monarchy in Britain.

Ultimately the question of retaining a British monarchy rests in the hands of Almighty God. His is the only referendum that really counts. (Sources: The Times, The Independent.)

Church unity: a step forward?

It’s been more than 450 years since the Protestant Reformation, a watershed event that split mainstream Christendom. From time to time, particularly in the 20th century, reconciliation has been attempted. None of the attempts has succeeded.

In the 1980s former archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie tried his best to forge meaningful links between his own Anglican congregation and the Roman Catholic Church. His efforts foundered, principally on the issue of ordaining women priests.

In the closing months of 1996 the Anglican Church in Britain endorsed the Porvoo Agreement: "a mutual compact between the Anglican and Lutheran Churches of the British Isles and virtually all Nordic and Baltic nations. This will mark the most significant step towards reunification since the Reformation." Besides its obvious symbolic value, in practice this agreement involves mutual acceptance of baptisms and the receiving of each other’s sacramental ministrations.

This covenant between churches also marks a remarkable change of strategy for the Church of England. It is seen as a step-by-step approach towards the Roman Catholic Church. "Church leaders have wisely recognised the need to build ecumenicalism block by block. A road to Rome cannot be built in a day" (emphasis ours). (Source: The Times.)

American abortion rate drops to 20-year low

The Centers for Disease Control report that 1994 marked a 20-year low in the abortion rate among women in the United States, with 21 of every 1,000 women 15 to 44 years old undergoing an abortion that year.

Although the rate has decreased, the number of abortions remains staggeringly high, with 1.2 million performed in 1994 and 1.3 million in 1993. The number of abortions in the United States peaked at 1.4 million in 1990. Since abortions were legalized in 1973, more than 25 million fetuses have been aborted—more than the population of many countries.

For every 1,000 live births in 1994, 321 abortions were carried out. This was the lowest rate since 1976, when 312 abortions occurred for every 1,000 live births. The profile of women seeking abortions has not changed from earlier years: Most are single, white and less than 25 years old.

Opinions diverge on reasons for the drop in the rate and number of abortions. Some pro-abortion groups cite the increasing difficulty of getting abortions, better access to birth control and harassment from right-to-life organizations. Abortion foes, on the other hand, attribute the decreases to their education efforts directing women toward churches, pregnancy centers and other alternatives to abortion. (Source: Associated Press.)