The U.K. is expected to require incoming airline passengers to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in the country due to concerns about the coronavirus, according to local reports. The only passengers who are exempt from the new protocol, expected to...

Britain is to introduce a 14-day quarantine period for almost everyone arriving into the country to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday. ......

Release date: 09/05/2020 The pilots' union BALPA has asked to see details of any government proposals to restart commercial flying. The pilots union says it is concerned that health and safety of aircrew and passengers, and the...

An Italian nurse working on the frontline against the Chinese coronavirus was brutally sexually assaulted by an African migrant after finishing her shift and heading to her home. ......

news V Sunday of Easter. Eucharistic Liturgy, online at 8pm (GMT 2) from the church of Sant'Egidio May 9 2020 - ROME,...

An ancient marine reptile that swam the oceans nearly 250 million years ago had unusual pebble-like teeth which it used to crush hard-shelled prey, scientists believe. The creature, named Cartorhynchus lenticarpus, belongs to an extinct group of reptiles known as ichthyosaurs. Not much is known about the ancestry...

Earlier this week, the Internet revisited clips of America’s Next Top Model, which premiered in 2003 on UPN and has aged pretty badly ever since, in which host ... More » ......

Donald Trump has been bullish about a coronavirus vaccine – so much so that experts have had to talk him off a more aggressive...

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. TOP OF THE HOUR: — Belarus hosts large military parade despite sharply rising coronavirus infections. — Germany says Europe must acknowledge it wasn’t well prepared for virus. — Seoul shuts down nightclubs, bars after spread of virus linked there. ___ PATNA, India — About 70 people fled from a quarantine center in the Indian state of Bihar’s Nawada district, alleging poor facilities and lack of food. They are among the tens of thousands of migrant workers who...

To mark Mother's Day 2020, the hosts and reporters of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network expressed their appreciation to their mothers and all the moms across America who are helping their families through the coronavirus pandemic. ......

80 young African scholars are tackling the business of agriculture through the innovativeness and freshness that comes with youth — while obtaining their masters or doctoral degrees in the process.

The post Africa’s Youth Scholars Harvest Ideas on the Business of Agriculture appeared first on Inter Press Service.

1. ICMR teams up with Bharat Biotech to develop Covid-19 vaccine  Hindustan Times
2. Bharat Biotech to lead monoclonal antibodies project for Covid-19 therapy  The Financial Express
3. Bharat Biotech leads CSIR project to develop antibodies against Covid-19  Times of India
4. Bharat Biotech to lead project on monoclonal antibodies therapy for COVID-19  The New Indian Express
5. Indian scientists to develop medicine against COVID-19  Deccan Herald
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Feminist responses to COVID-19 have been swift, insightful, and numerous. There have been webinars (so.many.webinars), twitter threads, illustrations, press releases and policy recommendations, and online house parties. Analysis pieces cover everything from the gendered impacts of COVID-19 to how to work remotely to the role of neoliberal capitalism. Most strikingly, feminists have mobilized on a […]

The post Autonomous Resourcing: the Engine Room of Feminist Work Amid a Global Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

How many COVID-19 deaths will occur before a vaccine becomes available worldwide? As with many seemingly simple questions about an uncertain future, the proper answer to that important query is: “it depends”. The total worldwide number of deaths from COVID-19 before a vaccine, reported to be nearly a quarter-million at the end of April and […]

The post COVID-19 Deaths Before A Vaccine? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Don’t let the 150-year history of modern Turkish painting fool you; it is only the tip of the iceberg. Rooted in the 500-year history of traditional Ottoman miniaturization, the art of painting evolved in these lands when the society was released from Abdulhamid II’s tyrannical reign. Click through for 16 ingenious Turkish painters of the 20th century you should now about, as compiled by İnci Hazal Özcan:

A full moon is seen over Galata Tower at the morning hours in Istanbul, Turkey on May 6. (AA Photo)

Turkey’s new production line, established with the locally-produced machines, came into service for a state-run shell factory on May 8. 

A pole dance instructor in Turkey has moved her studio to the internet as people across the world turn to online exercise classes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Turkish scientists have come to the animal experiment phase to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, the country's technology and industry minister said on May 8. 

Eversheds Sutherland has advised Doncasters Group on the sale of its UK Fabrications and Blaenavon Forgings businesses to Arlington Capital Partners as two separate transactions. The deals were led by Corporate partner Richard Kyle with support from...

New regulations on foreign investment in France were published on January 1, 2020. These texts make numerous changes to the legal framework for investment control in France. Financial relations between France and foreign countries are, in principle,...

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken global industrials around the world largely by surprise with wide-ranging consequences for their M&A pipelines. Coming on the back of a period of high valuations, political uncertainty and slowing deal activity, C...

Background The ongoing coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has quickly developed into a deep economic crisis of the like never experienced before. Many businesses, including those in the financial services sector, are facing a prolonged period of disrupti...

Introduction The FCA Business Plan 2020/21 is understandably overshadowed by the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic but the FCA has, nonetheless, taken the opportunity to set broader goals and review the  way it conducts its business for the years ahe...

After previously setting out its expectations of general insurance firms in relation to their treatment of consumers during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, on 15 April 2020 the UK Financial Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ...

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Please find details below of our next HR Summer School which may be of interest to yourself or colleagues. Click here The Summer School is being held at Henley Business School on 7th/8th July 2020 which includes conference dinner and your accom...

LONDON: The British government has told airlines it will introduce a 14-day quarantine period for most people arriving from abroad to try to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic, an airline association said on Saturday.

The state-owned carrier has been fighting for its survival since December.

Most candidates won’t work, but it’s essential to be ready to mass-produce the one that does.

The notion of testing COVID-19 vaccines by deliberately infecting volunteers with the novel coronavirus — something that’s now on the table — isn’t necessarily crazy ...

Rokuro Inui uses familiar elements of Japanese culture and history to build the world of his 2019 novel “Automatic Eve” (originally published in Japanese in ...

A crowdfunding campaign to save art houses reaches its donation goal as Japan's film industry grapples with the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.

With gigs off and venues closed, Japanese artists are getting more creative in staging shows for fans staying at home.

Doug Strable, a freelance learning and development designer based in Tokyo, lays out some ideas, advice and warnings surrounding the new type of classroom that ...

Rafael Nadal says Novak Djokovic will need to be vaccinated to keep playing if the governing bodies of tennis make coronavirus shots obligatory once they ...

The United States on Thursday voiced concern over the Philippine government-ordered shutdown of the country’s top broadcaster ABS-CBN, which has been targeted by President Rodrigo ...

While it is unclear what kind of chase it was, the Japan Coast Guard ordered the vessels to leave and deployed a ship to guard ...

The current environment surrounding the emergence of COVID-19 has forced people to come up with brand new ways of enjoying time away from work.

Anyone with four days of mild cold symptoms is now being encouraged to consult a public health center about getting tested.

[Nation] Some 50,000 people have been displaced by floods in four counties in western Kenya, the largest number in the past six decades.

The UK Government could be set to announce a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all passengers into Britain as part of measures aimed at avoiding a second Covid-19 peak, according to reports in British media.

Enabling Jerusalem-based Ogen to grant government-backed loans will enable financial assistance characterized by a higher level of risk than the traditional banking system is willing to accept.

The new guidelines focus on 13 principles that are designed to guide the decisions and planning of synagogues and communities throughout the United States.

No one caught breaking mandatory quarantine

In the lead-up to the Truth Matters conference in October, we will be focusing our attention on the sufficiency, authority, and clarity of Scripture. One of our previous blog series, Looking for Truth in All the Wrong Places, strongly emphasizes those doctrines. The following entry from that series originally appeared on June 12, 2017. -ed.

You have undoubtedly heard people say things like, “God is calling me to the mission field,” or “God led me to attend this college,” or “We feel God wants us to get married.” Perhaps you have even said such things yourself.

Christians who use expressions like those often mean they have had an impression or a strong feeling that they interpret as a disclosure of the divine will. Even people who believe prophecy and divine revelation have ceased sometimes fall into the trap of thinking God speaks directly to us through subjective means.

Normally people who make such claims have no intention of equating their mental impressions with divine revelation. They regard the subjective “leading of the Lord” as something far less than prophetic. Yet they believe God somehow communicates His will personally to individuals through inner promptings, signs, feelings of peace or uneasiness, strong impressions on the mind, or other similar means.

For reasons we shall examine, it is not wise to seek divine guidance through subjective impressions like these. Nowhere does Scripture encourage us to attempt to discern God’s will through such means. As we shall see, that sort of decision making can lead to confusion, disappointment, and sometimes spiritual tragedy.

And the truth is that treating subjective impressions as messages from the Holy Spirit is not really much different from claiming to receive divine revelation. Though most Christians who follow subjective impressions would not dream of listening to extrabiblical “prophecies,” in effect they are doing the same thing.

In fact, some advocates of modern prophetic revelation want to erase any distinction between subjective impressions and the gift of prophecy mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12–14. Professor Wayne Grudem, for example, who has produced the most thorough theological defense of the modern prophecy movement, believes God is giving revelation today chiefly through mental impressions. He even defines revelation as “something God brings to mind.” ^[1] Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1988), 42, 115. He suggests that when God providentially brings a thought to a believer’s mind, that is the New Testament gift of prophecy in operation. Thus he has elevated mental impressions to the level of prophetic revelation.

Grudem’s work has had widespread influence. And it is in many respects a fine study. He shows biblically why important distinctions must be made between Old Testament prophecy, apostolic prophecy, and the New Testament gift of prophecy. In places (but not everywhere) his exegesis of the pertinent texts is very helpful. He includes a crucial appendix on the sufficiency of Scripture which, if heeded by his friends in the modern prophecy movement, would provide a remedy against the serious abuses that have so plagued the movement. And he offers another important appendix showing that the canon of Scripture is closed.

But it is at this very point that Grudem’s position seems most inconsistent. If the canon of Scripture is really closed; if (as Grudem rightly suggests) “it is in Scripture alone that we are to search for God’s words to us”; ^[2] The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, 299. and if, in his words, “the Bible is sufficient to equip us for living the Christian life” ^[3] The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, 300. —then what point is there in seeking additional “revelations” like the prophetic messages Grudem advocates? It is unfortunate that Grudem relegated his thoughts on the canon of Scripture and the sufficiency of Scripture to the book’s final appendixes. If this had been the starting point for his study of prophecy, perhaps he would have reached very different conclusions.

Grudem’s defense of prophetic revelation has opened the door to a host of bizarre and misleading “prophecies” that have plagued evangelical Christianity over the past several years. Scores of churches worldwide have implemented Grudem’s theology and are encouraging people to share mere mental impressions as if they were prophetic messages from God. Ironically, Grudem’s work is frequently summoned to defend even the most outlandish aspects of a movement that has utterly ignored his many clear warnings against abuse of the prophetic gifts.

To his credit, Grudem appeals for a view of prophecy that “would still include a strong affirmation of the closing of the New Testament canon (so that no new words of equal authority are given today), of the sufficiency of Scripture, and of the supremacy and unique authority of the Bible in guidance.”^[4] The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, 15. He writes, “I am asking that charismatics . . . stop calling [prophecy] ‘a word from the Lord’—simply because that label makes it sound exactly like the Bible in authority.” ^[5] The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, 14. Elsewhere he writes, “Remember that what is spoken in any prophecy today is not the word of God, but is simply a human being reporting in merely human words something which God has brought to mind.” ^[6] The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, 262. He also warns that modern prophecy

should not be thought of as “God’s very words,” nor should the speaker preface his or her remarks with words which would give that impression, such as, “Thus says the Lord,” or, “Hear the words of God,” etc.—those statements should be reserved for Scripture alone. Something like, “I think the Lord is showing me that . . .” or, “I think the Lord is indicating that . . .” or, “It seems that the Lord is putting on my heart a concern that . . .” would all be much more appropriate, and far less misleading. ^[7] The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, 133.

If those warnings were consistently heeded, charismatic “prophets” could save their churches much grief and confusion.

But even in the denomination Grudem himself once identified with—the Association of Vineyard Churches—his words of caution are frequently ignored in the prophets’ actual practice.

James Ryle is himself a Vineyard pastor [Ryle passed away in 2015, Ed.]. He does give lip service to Grudem’s caution. He writes,

How often have you heard someone say casually, “The Lord spoke to me,” or “The Lord told me” to do this or that?

. . . Many within the church use these terms to justify their own desires and opinions. Possibly they feel that this puts what they are saying beyond challenge. After all, how does one argue with a “word from the Lord”?

In light of this problem I have found it a good policy to avoid such expressions and simply say, “It occurred to me” when I am sharing some insight which I’ve received in prayer or devotions. This removes unnecessary stumbling blocks and allows more people to hear the message without being distracted with the way the word is being presented. ^[8] James Ryle, Hippo in the Garden (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1993), 30-31.

But note the significant difference between Grudem’s position and Ryle’s. Grudem believes prophecy is merely “something God brought to mind”—not “God’s very words.” He seems eager to avoid confusion on this point. Ryle’s perspective is markedly different. He says he employs terminology like “It occurred to me” to avoid “unnecessary stumbling blocks.” But he clearly does think of prophecy as God’s very words. After analyzing the dangers of saying things like “God spoke to me,” he states, “Nonetheless, the Lord does speak to us today.” In practice he cannot avoid placing modern words of prophecy on the same level with the written Word of God.

Ryle does this perhaps without even realizing it. He repeatedly cites Matthew 4:4 in defense of modern prophecy: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” ^[9] Hippo in the Garden, 32, 39, 62 (emphasis added).—taking a verse that clearly speaks of Scripture and applying it to modern words of prophecy.

Furthermore, despite his stated preference for expressions like, “It occurred to me,” Ryle never once uses that expression or any like it in his book. Instead, the book is filled with statements like, “I heard the voice of the Lord,” “The voice of the Lord spoke to me,” “God was speaking to me again,” “The Lord Himself was standing before me . . . speaking directly to me,” “Again I heard the voice of the Lord. . . . The Lord continued [speaking]. . . . The Lord seemed to pause. . . . Then He delivered the knockout blow,” “The Lord was saying to me,” “The Lord spoke to him, telling him to call [me],” “He speaks to me,” “I received a word from the Lord,” “I sensed the Holy Spirit say to me,” “I treasure these words from the Lord, holding them in my heart with the deepest regard,” “These were the exact words I was given,” “The prophetic word from the heart of the Lord was spoken,” “This is what the Holy Spirit showed me,” and similar expressions. ^[10] Hippo in the Garden, 13-14, 15, 18, 20, 25-29, 83, 91, 113, 115-116, 142. All Ryle’s interpretations of his own dreams and visions are stated with dogmatic conviction.

Ryle continually uses terminology that suggests he has canonized modern prophecy—at least in his own mind. “The Holy Spirit inspires us to speak through any number of means,” he says, referring to his prophecies as “inspired utterance.” ^[11] Hippo in the Garden, 99.] At the end of the book, Ryle suggests that when the hippo of modern prophecy comes into the garden of mainstream evangelicalism, “the church will be found in the midst of the world, speaking forth the words of God to a crooked and perverse generation, among whom we will shine as light, holding forth the word of life.” ^[12] Hippo in the Garden, 292 (emphasis added).

So in practice, Ryle finds it impossible not to equate his own prophecies with the words of Scripture, even though he appears to be trying to avoid this error. (In one place, Ryle says, “We must stop putting our own words in the Lord’s mouth. . . . Scripture alone is our sure foundation.” ^[13] Hippo in the Garden, 54-55. To that I add a hearty amen.)

He is not alone in this failing. Anyone who is truly convinced that God is speaking fresh words of revelation will inevitably view the later prophecies as somehow more relevant and more personal than the message of Scripture, which is more than two thousand years old. Inevitably, wherever personal prophecy has been stressed, Scripture has been deemphasized. Two thousand years of church history confirms that this is true.

(Adapted from Reckless Faith.)

Among evangelical Christians, the word syncretism usually conjures thoughts of third-world missionaries who blend their religion with the indigenous pagan practices they encounter. A visitor to my home church related a conversation he’d had with a Roman Catholic missionary while touring South America. The priest wore his syncretistic practices as a badge of honor, boasting of how he intentionally incorporated native religious observances into his worship services. He was critical of Protestant missionaries who refused to likewise accommodate the paganism of the people they ministered to.

In October 1978, 334 evangelical leaders gathered in the city of Chicago to formulate what is now known as the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. One of the younger attendees at that gathering was John MacArthur, who was just shy of a decade into his pastorate at Grace Community Church.

Most people read a book only once—satisfied they’ve learned the story or the information it communicates, they don’t feel the need to read it again. Some ardent fans might return to a cherished book again and again, but the majority of readers eagerly move on to something new. So why is the Bible different? Why does God’s Word demand our constant attention?