A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – The United States tightened the screws further on Iran with sanctions on its metal industry on the day Tehran said it was suspending some of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The White House said that the new sanctions, announced on May 8, target Iran’s steel, aluminum, copper and iron sectors — all key sources of revenue for the country.

Hours earlier, Iran said that it will no longer sell its surplus enriched uranium and heavy water to other nations as stipulated in the nuclear agreement between Tehran and six world powers. It also threatened to enrich its uranium stockpile closer to weapons-grade levels in 60 days if world powers fail to negotiate new terms. [ Source: Radio Free Europe (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that China “broke the deal” in trade talks with Washington and would face stiff tariffs if no agreement is reached.

“You see the tariffs we’re doing?” Trump told a rally with supporters in Florida. “Because they broke the deal. … They broke the deal. So they’re flying in. The vice premier tomorrow is flying in, but they broke the deal. They can’t do that. So they’ll be paying. If we don’t make the deal, nothing wrong with taking in more than $100 billion a year.”

Trump has threatened to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods beginning on Friday after China backtracked on substantial commitments it made during ongoing trade talks, top U.S. trade officials said this week. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, intends to launch 100 new Bible translations this year among the most populous people on the island of Borneo. More than three million Dayak people on Borneo, representing 287 languages, are without the Scriptures.

“Millions of Dayak people have never seen a Bible in their own language,” said Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “But now, Christians from these language groups have contacted us, requesting the tools to translate Scripture for their own people.”

Decades ago, missionaries shared the gospel with the Dayak, predominantly in the Indonesian language. As the gospel spread from the cities to smaller towns and villages, it could only be shared by word of mouth. Only a handful of the local languages had Bible translations. In some of the most remote Dayak villages, only a few of the residents speak Indonesian.

“The Christians in the villages have heard stories from other parts of the country about the incredible transformation that happens where God’s Word becomes available in the heart language of the people,” said Smith. “Tribes at war for generations, regions bound by demonic influence, have experienced a new wave of peace.”

Through an innovative translation method known as MAST, or Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation, Wycliffe Associates provides training to mother-tongue translators in a workshop setting. The workshops are staffed by local churches, and the translators and church leadership participate in a review process throughout the translation project to help ensure the translation is accurate. Twenty-first century neurological and education theories guided the development of the MAST strategy, which consists of four drafting steps and four accuracy checking steps.

“One hundred language groups are already recruiting mother-tongue Bible translators to start translating,” said Smith, “yet they can’t start without the technology and tools: computer tablets, Bible translation resources, and training.”

In addition to training at the MAST workshops, Wycliffe Associates equips translators with computer tablets loaded with translation software and provides technology such as Print On Demand equipment, open-source translation technology, and resources to help empower local Bible translators.

More than 1,300 Bible translations have been launched since the development of MAST.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers are currently accelerating Bible translations in 92 countries. For more information, please see http://bit.ly/1yHQh0f.

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(Worthy News) – Israel will not let Iran attain nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday just hours after Iran announced that it will continue its nuclear program.

Netanyahu’s comments came at the government’s central Remembrance Day ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery honoring the country’s 23,741 fallen soldiers.

“This morning, on my way here, I heard that Iran intends to continue its nuclear program. We will not let Iran get nuclear weapons,” he said. “We will continue to fight our enemies, and will strike our roots even deeper in our homeland. That is what our heroes did at the dawn of the nations’ rebirth, and we march in their path.” [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – The Archbishop of Canterbury hosted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt at a meeting of faith leaders on Wednesday to discuss how Christians can be protected from persecution.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said the meeting also discussed ways to ensure freedom of religion and belief for people of all faiths and traditions.

The Archbishop raised two concerns during the meeting, one being that the UK use its trade links with countries where persecution occurs to promote freedom of worship. [ Source: Christian Today (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – The FBI has more than 850 open investigations into domestic terrorism across the country, and the threat continues to grow, top counterterrorism officials said Wednesday.

FBI, Justice Department and Homeland Security officials gave testimony before a congressional committee on homegrown hate and violence. They cautioned lawmakers they could not prosecute a white supremacist simply for the ideology or an online manifesto — there must be intent to harm or harass.

And much like foreign terrorists, domestic terrorists are radicalizing quickly online with few gateways or barriers and no need to meet up in person. [ Source: AP (Read More…) ]

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by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Iranian President Hassan Rouani threatened Wednesday to resume enrichment of uranium if the terms of the 2015 nuclear accord, from which the U.S. withdrew this time last year, were not renegotiated within 60 days among the powers that remain signatories to it.

Rouani presented a summons to Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany to “help Iran to reach its benefits in the field of oil and banking,” which have suffered since a recent U.S. imposition of sanctions on Iranian oil exports, promising that “Iran will return to its commitments according to the nuclear deal” if the countries’ response is sufficient to reverse the effects of President Trump’s policies.

In the last year alone since the U.S.’s withdrawal from the nuclear accord, the Iranian rial has plummeted, now trading at 153,000 to $1 compared with 32,000 to $1 a year ago.

The stranglehold on the Iranian economy is not the only form of pressure the U.S. has employed in recent weeks against the Islamic Republic. Just last Sunday, U.S. officials announced a strike carrier group with Air Force support would be deployed to the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway critical to world oil trade that Iran controls and has threatened to close.

The 2015 nuclear accord was negotiated by members of the Obama Administration and Iran, and provided the Islamic republic freedom from economic sanctions in exchange for assurances that it would cease its enrichment of uranium, which process holds the potential for creating a nuclear weapon.

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(Worthy News) – The diplomatic cable from Beijing arrived in Washington late on Friday night, with systematic edits to a nearly 150-page draft trade agreement that would blow up months of negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, according to three U.S. government sources and three private sector sources briefed on the talks.

The document was riddled with reversals by China that undermined core U.S. demands, the sources told Reuters.

In each of the seven chapters of the draft trade deal, China had deleted its commitments to change laws to resolve core complaints that caused the United States to launch a trade war: Theft of U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets; forced technology transfers; competition policy; access to financial services; and currency manipulation. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – House Democrats move to hold the attorney general in contempt of Congress. They say William Barr is withholding parts of the Mueller report.

Holding the attorney general in the contempt comes as the White House makes its own moves – asserting executive privilege over the entirety of the special counsel document, which means a constitutional conflict between Congress and the Justice Department.

The last time Congress held an attorney general in contempt was in 2012 when Republicans moved against then-Obama Attorney General Eric Holder. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was held on death row for eight years in Pakistan, is a free woman.

Her lawyer, Saif-ul Malook said the mother of five is finally reunited with her daughters in Canada. Wilson Chowdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association told The Associated Press that he received a text message from a British diplomat saying Asia “is out.”

Officials at Pakistan’s interior and foreign ministries also confirmed her departure from the country on condition of anonymity. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

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