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Adventists Launch Russian-Language Web Site
Moscow, Russia .... [ESD Staff/ANN Staff]
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Seventh-day Adventists in Euro-Asia have launched a Russian-language
Web site that will make Adventist beliefs accessible to people who
would otherwise have no contact with the church, according to Valery
Ivanov, communication director for the church in the region.

"People can find so many Web sites about Adventists, but most of them
are in English," he says. "We designed our new site not only to tell
people about Adventist activities in Euro-Asia but also to offer basic
information about the Bible, church beliefs, and church structure.
English speakers can find these facts at the adventist.org site, but
Russian speakers need their own introduction to Adventism on the
Internet."

Plans are also underway to add pages about Adventist humanitarian work,
the Bible and science, medical and health information, books, the
Adventist seminary at Zaosky, and weekly news.

"People who would never enter an Adventist church are welcome to visit
our site, read the devotionals, and learn more about the Bible," says
Ivanov. "More and more people in Russian-speaking countries have access
to computers, especially young people at the universities. We need to
have an Internet presence if they come looking for us."

Russian is the first or second language for most people living in
countries of the former Soviet Union. There are also large groups of
Russian speakers in Israel, Turkey, the United States, and Canada.
Altogether, there are more than 270 million Russian speakers worldwide.


To see the new Russian-language Web site, go to www.adventist.ru.

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NORTH ENGLAND CONFERENCE CAMP MEETING - from Des Rafferty
<desrafferty@ntlworld.com>

On Sunday 16 June more than 600 people travelled to the Pontins Holiday
Park, Southport for the North England Conference's annual Camp Meeting. Just
months earlier the event looked certain to be cancelled due to events beyond
the NEC's control. However another date was found and Camp Meeting went
ahead, a little earlier than planned. "Following the uncertainties
surrounding this year's camp meeting," said Pastor Egerton Francis,
President of the NEC, "it was gratifying to see so many people checking in
for a week of spiritual and physical revival."

Commitment speaker for the week was Dr Don King, President of the Atlantic
Union Conference, who spoke on the theme, "Our Heritage - Inspired By The
Past To Shape The Future." Each night the congregation responded to elder
King's positive portrayal of our common heritage through the blood of Jesus
and many people made decisions that will last for eternity.

Youth speaker Pastor Dumiso Matshazi, director for Development and Public
Affairs at Solusi College, challenged everyone during the Power Hour to know
their heritage and to give full expression of their love in a joyful hymn of
praise to God. Later in the week Pastor Matshazi had us "speaking in
tongues" when he taught us a song in the Sindebele language. Other music
during the week was provided by singing evangelist and international artist
Pastor Winston Hurlock.

Bible study hour was led by Pastor Gifford Rhamie, lecturer in Theology at
Newbold College. His attention to cultural sensitivities paved the way for
the gospel to take deep root in the hearts and minds of those eagerly
searching the Word of God. Pastor Ron Surridge, a former president of the
NEC, had the hardest task of all as his Bible study session competed with
the England versus Brazil game.

Throughout the week there were a number of workshops. LIFEdevelopment.info
and Small Group ministry were presented by BUC Church Growth director Pastor
David Cox, assisted by NEC Church Growth director Pastor Paul Haworth. Mrs
Lois King led in the Sabbath School and Family Life workshops, and Ms Angela
Purkiss ran a Debt Management workshop for a second year. Dr and Mrs King
led in the health workshop and Pastor Steve Palmer took a closer look at
post-modernism and its effects.

Sabbath 22 June was designated a Day of Fellowship in the NEC and the main
hall was filled to capacity as over 2,000 people were seated. Pontins
security staff commented that they had never seen so many people in their
hall. Others, who could not be accommodated in the hall, watched the relayed
service on TV from the restaurant area and still others from the comfort of
their chalets.

In the afternoon, following an address by Pastor Ron Surridge, three
ministers were ordained to the gospel ministry: Mike Simpson, Roger Neal,
and Andrew Rashford-Hewitt.

---

LEAD STORY: by Eric Tiansay

'Left Behind' Series Fuels Interest in the Apocalypse

'Time' magazine says books are read 'not as novels but as tomorrow's newspapers'

Fears over terrorism and a best-selling end-times series are "fueling new interest in a real doomsday," according to "Time" magazine. The cover story in the newsweekly's latest issue says that since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, "many people are starting to read the 'Left Behind' books not as novels but as tomorrow's newspapers."

"Their success provides new evidence that interest in the end times is no fringe phenomenon," says the lengthy report "The Bible and the Apocalypse," which notes that only about half of 'Left Behind' readers are evangelical Christians.

Written by Tim F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, the wildly popular books - based on the book of Revelation - have made "the end of the world fun," the magazine observes. With sales jumping 60 percent after 9/11, the series has sold some 32 million copies of the graphic novels - a figure that rises to 50 million when children's versions are included. Book nine in the series, "Desecration," was the best-selling novel of 2001 even though it wasn't published until October.

"Evangelical pastors promote the books as devotional reading; mainline pastors read them to find out what their congregations are thinking, as do politicians and scholars and people whose job it is to know what fears and hopes are settling in the back of people's minds in a time of deep uncertainty," "Time" says.

According to a Time/CNN poll, more than one-third of Americans say they are paying more attention now to how the news might relate to the end of the world, and have talked about what the Bible has to say on the subject. Fifty-nine percent say they believe the events in Revelation are going to come true, and nearly one-quarter think the Bible predicted the Sept. 11 attack.

"Some of that interest is fueled by faith, some by fear, some by imagination, but all three are fed by the 'Left Behind' series," "Time" says. "To some evangelical readers, the 'Left Behind' books provide more than a spiritual guide: they are a political agenda. When they read in the papers about the growing threats to Israel, they are not only concerned for a fellow democratic ally in the war against terror; they are also worried about God's chosen people and the fate of the land where events must unfold in a specific way for Jesus to return."

The magazine notes that the growing audience for the end times extends even into mainline Protestantism, "a tradition that has spent little time on fire and brimstone." "I would go for years without anyone asking about the End Times," said Thomas Tewell, senior minister of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, N.Y.

"But since Sept. 11, hard-core, crusty, cynical New York lawyers and stockbrokers who are not moved by anything are saying, 'Is the world going to end?' 'Are all the events of the Bible coming true?' They want to get right with God. I've never seen anything like it in my 30 years in ministry."

Some ministers report that when they announce they will be preaching on the Apocalypse, attendance jumps at least 20 percent, although church attendance nationwide is back down to where it was before 9/11, "Time" says.

LEAD STORY: by Eric Tiansay

'Left Behind' Series Fuels Interest in the Apocalypse

'Time' magazine says books are read 'not as novels but as tomorrow's newspapers'

Fears over terrorism and a best-selling end-times series are "fueling new interest in a real doomsday," according to "Time" magazine. The cover story in the newsweekly's latest issue says that since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, "many people are starting to read the 'Left Behind' books not as novels but as tomorrow's newspapers."

"Their success provides new evidence that interest in the end times is no fringe phenomenon," says the lengthy report "The Bible and the Apocalypse," which notes that only about half of 'Left Behind' readers are evangelical Christians.

Written by Tim F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, the wildly popular books - based on the book of Revelation - have made "the end of the world fun," the magazine observes. With sales jumping 60 percent after 9/11, the series has sold some 32 million copies of the graphic novels - a figure that rises to 50 million when children's versions are included. Book nine in the series, "Desecration," was the best-selling novel of 2001 even though it wasn't published until October.

"Evangelical pastors promote the books as devotional reading; mainline pastors read them to find out what their congregations are thinking, as do politicians and scholars and people whose job it is to know what fears and hopes are settling in the back of people's minds in a time of deep uncertainty," "Time" says.

According to a Time/CNN poll, more than one-third of Americans say they are paying more attention now to how the news might relate to the end of the world, and have talked about what the Bible has to say on the subject. Fifty-nine percent say they believe the events in Revelation are going to come true, and nearly one-quarter think the Bible predicted the Sept. 11 attack.

"Some of that interest is fueled by faith, some by fear, some by imagination, but all three are fed by the 'Left Behind' series," "Time" says. "To some evangelical readers, the 'Left Behind' books provide more than a spiritual guide: they are a political agenda. When they read in the papers about the growing threats to Israel, they are not only concerned for a fellow democratic ally in the war against terror; they are also worried about God's chosen people and the fate of the land where events must unfold in a specific way for Jesus to return."

The magazine notes that the growing audience for the end times extends even into mainline Protestantism, "a tradition that has spent little time on fire and brimstone." "I would go for years without anyone asking about the End Times," said Thomas Tewell, senior minister of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, N.Y.

"But since Sept. 11, hard-core, crusty, cynical New York lawyers and stockbrokers who are not moved by anything are saying, 'Is the world going to end?' 'Are all the events of the Bible coming true?' They want to get right with God. I've never seen anything like it in my 30 years in ministry."

Some ministers report that when they announce they will be preaching on the Apocalypse, attendance jumps at least 20 percent, although church attendance nationwide is back down to where it was before 9/11, "Time" says.

---

LEAD STORY: by Andy Butcher

Court's Pledge Ruling 'Abominable,' 'Treacherous,' 'Shameful'

Outraged Christian leaders slam decision against 'under God'

Christian leaders have been lining up to denounce the federal appeals court that yesterday declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because it refers to "one nation under God."

While legal experts said they expect the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling to be reversed in a challenge, ministry heads expressed outrage and amazement over the decision.

Focus on the Family president James Dobson was "ashamed" of the "abominable ruling." The decision was "a slap in the face to all Americans and people of faith." The "activist" court's decision was unconscionable, he added, and an example of ultra-liberal judges' "social engineering without accountability to the people."

For Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council, the "treacherous" ruling was "the most shameful attempt to secularize a country rooted in the principle of inalienable rights endowed by the Creator." If the pledge was unconstitutional, then so was the Declaration of Independence.

"Judicial arrogance" was the opinion of Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. "The men and women of our military who have died and are dying for...freedom deserve better," he said. The court seemed determined to "remove any and all vestiges of our religious heritage from the public square."

Roberta Combs, Christian Coalition of America (CCA) president, described the ruling as "one of the most outrageous assaults on the First Amendment right of free speech made by a court."

CCA founder and Christian Broadcasting Network head Pat Robertson said the decision was a "senseless act of judicial tyranny" and that "a bulwark of spiritual protection against those who wish to destroy us" was needed. At the American Center for Law and Justice -- which Robertson also started -- chief counsel Jay Sekulow said: "This is one of the most absurd legal rulings of our time...just another attempt to remove any mention of God from the public arena."

Mat Staver, president and general counsel of the Liberty Counsel, which also specializes in religious freedom issues, said the court "spit in the face of our veterans who shed their blood for the freedom we enjoy." He said that the court was "the most reversed in the country" by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The controversial 2-1 ruling said that the reference to God -- added to the pledge in 1954 -- amounted to government endorsement of monotheism. If it withstands the appeals that have been promised, the decision will mean schoolchildren will no longer be allowed to recite the pledge in the nine states covered by the court: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

The judges ruled in a case brought by Michael A. Newdow, an atheist from Sacramento who objected to his daughter's having to listen to the pledge being recited at school. The justices determined that while students were not made to recite the pledge, the school district was "conveying a message of state endorsement of religious belief when it requires public school teachers to...lead the recitation."

The decision was widely criticized in Congress, with members gathering on the steps of the Capitol to recite the pledge en masse, "The Washington Post" said. President Bush said through spokesman Ari Fleischer that the ruling was "ridiculous." (charisma)

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** Dutch Lutheran Church Elects First Woman President **

(LWF) -- Rev. Ilona Fritz recently became the first woman to be chosen
as president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the
Netherlands. She was appointed during the church's May 31-June 1 synod.
Fritz, pastor of a congregation in the capital, Amsterdam, succeeds Rev.
Sietze van Kammen, who resigned for personal reasons. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands has been a Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) member church since 1947.

According to LWF, of the 34 pastors currently in the church, 16 are
women. About one in four pastors are of foreign origin, mainly from
Germany and Scandinavia. With about 15,000 members, the Lutheran church
is the smallest of the three Uniting Protestant Churches in the
Netherlands (UPCN) members, involved in a merger. The process began in
1969 with the Netherlands Reformed Church (NHK) and the Reformed
Churches in the Netherlands (GKN). The Lutherans joined in 1986.
Currently the two Reformed churches together with the smaller Lutheran
church, form the country's largest Protestant body, the Uniting
Protestant Churches, representing some 2.7 million Christians.

In other actions, the synod members unanimously expressed concern about
efforts within the NHK to push for the removal of blessings of life
partnerships other than traditional marriages from the UPCN's draft
constitution. (http://www.lutheranworld.org/)

---

** High on God: Christians for Cannabis **

ABC News reports that a Christian woman who examined research on
marijuana found "no evidence to back up the horrible things she had
heard about the drug." A Bible study on the topic turned up nothing
negative, so "she began to wonder why some religious leaders seemed to
favor stiff penalties for marijuana users." She even decided to try
smoking pot.

According to ABC, the woman, who is 35 and a mother of five, then
decided to launch a "Christians for Cannabis" Web site, and to begin a
grass roots campaign aimed at encouraging legislators, religious leaders
and newspapers to rally for an end to the marijuana prohibition. The
mission of Christians for Cannabis is "to provide encouragement, support
and prayer for the [Christian cannabis user] subculture as a whole and
those that work on its behalf."

ABC notes that while Christians for Cannabis is a bit unusual, it is not
the only religious group advocating an end to the war on drugs. The
Presbyterian Church (USA), the Unitarian Universalist Association of
Congregations, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society
of Friends and the Progressive Jewish Alliance are among the groups that
have lent their support to a call by the National Coalition for
Effective Drug Policies to redirect efforts to curtail drug use. "These
organizations all make clear that their opposition to current drug
policy is based not on support for drug use, but out of a belief that
the war on drugs has done more harm than good and that it is essentially
immoral." (ABC-News/ Crosswalk)