News

Not only does God talk about Jerusalem in the Bible, but many of the other cities and nations of the ancient world—their future—is described right in the pages of your own Bible. Now back in the same general time period when Jerusalem and Judah were reduced to captive parts of the Babylonian Empire, there was another great city state right on the Mediterranean. It was the city of Tyre. This was a city-state that had existed for centuries; it was a major commercial center. Tyre was part of a major commercial empire that included the entire Mediterranean world. The city of Carthage in North Africa had been founded as its colony.

The debate has raged for more than a century over the question of the origins of the universe. Has the universe always existed? If not, when did it come into existence—and how did it come into existence?

Years ago, the "Beatles' guru"—Maharishi Mahesh Yogi—declared that he had a plan to destroy world terrorism. Maharishi was known to have made the appeal that "with $1 billion he could train 40,000 expert meditators"—who would generate enough "good vibes" to save the world.

Many of you are aware that Jews around the world are about to observe the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur in the Hebrew language. It is a day of fasting during which Jews all around the world abstain totally from food and water for a full 24 hours, humbling themselves before God. But did you know that many thousands of true Christians all over the world are also observing the Day of Atonement? Why would they do that?

A few hours ago, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were each struck by airplanes in obvious terrorist attacks against the United States! Then, we heard that a third plane crashed into the Pentagon—the seat of the entire United States defense establishment in Washington, DC. Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska commented: "This is the second Pearl Harbor!" But for us, in this brief commentary, we need to ask: "Why?" Why have these attacks taken place? What is the meaning behind all of these things?