The board of directors of the Pastoral Bible Institute and the editors of The Herald are pleased to have participated in another year of service to the Lord and the brethren.

Circulation of the magazine remains about the same at roughly 2,500, including a number of complimentary copies sent to brethren and ecclesias in India and Africa. A regularly published edition in the Polish language continues to be distributed to about 500 subscribers; an occasional edition is also published in German.

For the past two years we have been placing a two-page insert in each issue of The Herald featuring an article based on a current event. If brethren or classes would like copies of these for their own witness work, we will be glad to supply them.

The full text of all issues of the Herald from 1918 to the beginning of this year, including the foreign language editions, is accessible through our web page at www.heraldmag.org. The site also includes the Bible Student Library and the On-Line Bible as well as the various booklets we distribute and a direct link to the Divine Plan of the Ages in many languages.

Booklets on selected subjects are distributed by the PBI free of charge. These are produced by a number of Bible Student organizations. A few older PBI booklets are dropped from the list when stocks are depleted. One booklet, The Promise of His Presence, is no longer available from the publisher, the Bible Fellowship Union in England. With their permission we reprinted it and will continue to offer it.

This year we added a new, hard-cover biography of Pastor Russell by Charles Redeker to our literature list. We continue to stock From Adam to Zion, with worksheets available on a separate computer CD. In addition, version 3 of the Bible Students Library is now being distributed in computer DVD format. It contains roughly five times the material of the previous version, including all the convention reports from 1904 to 2006.

We are happy to welcome Ernest Kuenzli of Orlando, Florida, as a new PBI director. We also wish to express our thanks to outgoing director, Dan Wesol of Albuquerque, New Mexico, for his past service.

The financial statement on this page shows our finances are sound and we have the resources to continue the activities of the Institute. We realize the responsibility this carries with it as stewards and seek your prayers that we may use good judgment in all things.

We look forward to the prospect of working together with all God’s children in the great harvest fields of our Master.

Directors and Editors
of the Pastoral Bible Institute

World News

Religious

A Vatican committee published a much-anticipated report that could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief that the souls of unbaptized babies are condemned to eternity in limbo, a place that is neither heaven nor hell. Priests have long told women that their aborted fetuses cannot go to heaven, which in theory was another argument against ending pregnancy. Without limbo, those fetuses presumably would no longer be denied communion with God.

Passive indifference to faith has left Europe’s churches mostly empty. But debate over religion is more intense and strident than it has been in many decades. Religion is re-emerging as a big issue in part because of anxiety over Europe’s growing and restive Muslim populations and a fear that faith is reasserting itself in politics and public policy. That is all adding up to a growing momentum for a combative brand of atheism, one that confronts rather than merely ignores religion. According to prominent British author on religion Karen Armstrong, the movement “mimics the ardor of Christianity, Islam and Marxism, all of which have at their core an urge to convert nonbelievers to their worldview.”

German officials forced a teenager into a foster home after taking her from her family because she was being home schooled. Fifteen police officers took 16-year-old Melissa Busekros from her family home in the Bavarian city of Erlangen. According to published reports, she was diagnosed with “school phobia” and described as having too much devotion to her father and his beliefs. Germany has a compulsory education law, and school attendance is mandatory. German home schooling advocates report that parents who teach their children at home have had to pay fines and in some cases have lost custody of their children. Joel Thornton, president of the International Human Rights Group, said that faith might also be a factor in German authorities’ opposition to home schooling. “The primary movement in Germany that is home schooling right now is religious-based and that may be part of the reason for the hostility,” Thornton said.

A double-decker French train smashed the world speed record for railways touching 574.8 kph (357 mph) on a gently downhill stretch of track in eastern France. [It] was a huge propaganda coup for France in its battle for foreign orders against rival German and Japanese designs for conventional, high-speed trains. The run beat the previous record of 515.3 kph, set by France in 1990. The record-breaking train is a prototype for a new generation of double-decker TGVs [which] will have more comfortable seats and Wi-Fi internet service.

The number of people who travel 90 minutes to work—deemed an “extreme commute” by the Census Bureau—has doubled in the U.S. since 1990, reaching 3.5 million. Nine out of 10 commuters travel by car and 88 percent of those drivers do so alone. Long commutes can increase loneliness and cut back social activities, undermining happiness.

Researchers have perfected an inexpensive and efficient way to convert types A, B and AB blood into type O, the universal-donor blood that can be given to anyone—an achievement that promises to make transfusions safer and to relieve shortages of type O blood. Bacterial enzymes [are used to] safely remove from red blood cells the sugar molecules that provoke an immune reaction in the recipient. Mismatching of blood causes at least half of all transfusion-related deaths.

Bees are dying by the billions. Nobody knows why. And the crops they pollinate, California almonds, especially, are at risk. While bees are in trouble this year, there’s little evidence so far that it’s anything other than the continuation of their long struggle with disease, environmental stress and the hardship of being hauled cross-country in midwinter to pollinate crops in California. News accounts have cited dramatic losses of 70 percent or more but because no comprehensive survey of the industry exists, it’s hard to say just how many hives have been hit by the ailment known as “colony collapse disorder” which causes entire hives of bees to leave home and never return.

Mosquitoes genetically engineered to resist infection with a malaria parasite outbreed their normal cousins and might be used to help control malaria, researchers said yesterday. The team from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said their study suggests that releasing such genetically altered insects could help battle malaria, which kills up to 3 million people a year around the globe, most of them small children.

By some estimates, around 40 percent of the 2.2 million people in American jails and prisons are infected with hepatitis C, compared with just 2 percent of the general population. When they are released, medical experts predict they will be a crushing burden on the health care system. At the same time, they will be carriers, spreading the disease.

Life expectancy for Japanese women—already the longest in the world—has risen by nearly one year, the Health Ministry said. Female life expectancy increased to 85.52 years in 2005 from 84.60 years in 2000. The latest figures were calculated based on the fixed census data taken in 2005. For men, life expectancy rose to 78.56 years from 77.72 years, the fourth-longest in the world after Hong Kong, Iceland, Switzerland.

Worsening energy efficiency and rising pollution are rapidly becoming significant domestic and international political problems for China. According to the International Energy Agency, China is expected to become the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2009 based on present consumption patterns. In addition, China’s surge of investment in heavy, polluting industries in the past five years has coincided with a sharp rise in global energy prices and rising demands by its citizens for cleaner air and water.

Levy Mwanawasa, Zambia’s president, has broken ranks with southern African leaders, calling on them to take a new approach to Zimbabwe, which he compared to a “sinking Titanic.” Several million Zimbabweans have fled to neighboring countries in search for work. No one wants to hold local currency, which loses value by the minute. In addition to rising inflation and industrial unrest, there has been an increase in political violence. Rallies have been banned and opposition leaders to President Robert Mugabe have been hospitalized. Inflation continues to rise and is estimated by the International Monetary Fund at 5,200 percent.

In Venezuela, shortages of staples such as meat are a symptom of an economy distorted by foreign exchange restrictions, price controls and subsidies. Another is rampant consumerism, fueled by cash transfers to the very poor and furious spending by the wealthy. The result is that while those at the top and the bottom have benefitted, the poor and lower middle class are suffering from scarcity and inflation. In the past three years, the real incomes of the poorest Venezuelans—58 percent of the population—have risen by 130 percent. At the same time, foreign exchange controls and inflation have provoked conspicuous consumption among the wealthy. Since Mr. Chavez took office eight years ago, prices have increased by an average of 19 percent a year, the highest of any Latin American country.

Amman is the latest Middle Eastern capital to announce it intends building a nuclear power plant. The country wants an operational facility by 2015. Other countries already embarked on a path towards atomic energy are Iran, Egypt, Yemen, and the Gulf Cooperation Council members (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates). For many in the Middle East, nuclear power represents a logical alternative to oil. In Yemen and Syria, reserves are beginning to run low, and they will have to seek replacements over the next decade.

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 was an “almost barbaric” act, Spain’s consul general in Chicago said. Consul General Francisco Jose Viqueira spoke during an event held in the city marking 21 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Spain. Viqueira described at length the expulsion of the Jews from the country in the 15th century and echoed King Juan Carlos’s apology to the Jewish people for the suffering they had endured. According to the consul, the expulsion was Spain’s greatest political and historical mistake, since the Jews and their culture were an integral part of the country.

Despite US arguments that its missile defense system is intended to deal with Iran and North Korea, Russia is alarmed by plans to place missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic. The issue has become a flashpoint, as tensions between Russia and the west rise.

People around the world are living longer. That positive development creates a big risk for insurance companies world wide according to findings from Swiss Reinsurance Co., the world’s largest reinsurer. This “longevity risk” would hurt standards of living and global economic growth, particularly as older people become a bigger portion of the population. Roughly $20 trillion is sunk into pension and retirement related insurance products.

A team from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo [Calif.] won the $10,000 grand prize [in a contest sponsored by Shell Oil Co.] by achieving the equivalent of 1,902.7 miles per gallon on regular gasoline in a student-built vehicle. At a measly 98 pounds, it [the car including the 50-cubic-centimeter Honda engine and a full tank of about four ounces of fuel] weighed less than the driver.

The combined earnings of the world’s top 25 hedge fund managers of almost $15 billion exceeded the national income of Jordan in 2006, and three individuals took home more than $1 billion, according to an annual industry survey.

Billions of Russian petrodollars are set to be invested in the stock of international companies for the first time, boosting Russia’s presence on financial markets. Russia has amassed $108 billion in windfall oil tax revenues since 2004, demonstrating the turnaround in public finances, fueled by record energy prices, since its 1998 crisis. The government has built gold and foreign exchange reserves of $356 billion—the world’s third biggest—in addition to its petrodollars fund.

36 Number of billionaires in India, the highest in Asia, pushing Japan to the No. 2 spot for the first time in 20 years.

80%  Percentage of Indians who live on less than $2 a day, making India the country with the world’s largest number of poor people.

For top violinists and cellists, there might be no greater status symbol than having an instrument made in Cremona, Italy, where Stradiviri perfected his craft more than 300 years ago. But the town’s reputation as the pre-eminent maker of high-end violins that can cost $27,000 each is threatened by low-cost Chinese manufacturers who can turn out a violin, bow and case for about $25. Chinese, manufacturers, some trained in Cremona, have picked up top prizes from the violin Society of America.

Many Arabs in foreign countries would choose to remain where they are despite Arab League and Palestinian Authority demands that Israel allow them to immigrate to the Jewish state, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune. The so-called “right of return” demands that about three million Arabs in foreign countries be allowed to live in Israel because they are descendants of about half a million Arabs who fled during the War of Independence in 1948. Most of them left Israel under the leadership of Arab nations that told them they could return after a quick defeat of the fledgling Jewish nation.

By a two-to-one margin, more Americans believe that an independent Palestinian state would be a terrorist state than a democracy, and a majority believes that Israel should not concede any more land to the Palestinians according to a new poll. The McLaughlin Associates poll, commissioned by the Zionist Organization of America, comes at a time when the Bush administration is pushing ahead Israeli-Palestinian negotiations with the goal of establishing a Palestinian state. In the survey, of 1000 Americans, … forty-five percent of respondents said they support Israel over the Palestinians, compared to 4.6 % who did not.

Gaza terrorists and criminal clans kidnapped 46 people and killed 25 others in March as anarchy threatens the failing power of the Palestinian Authority, the New York Post reported. The violence is just the tip of the iceberg in “Hamasistan,” the newspaper stated. The general disorder has caused foreigners, including journalists, and even Egyptian military offices to flee the Gaza region.

Russia’s announcement that it would work to promote international support for the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority [PA], its intention to supply missiles to Syria, and its opposition to sanctions against Iran present a worrying trend for Israel. The Russian move toward funding the Hamas regime found an echo in a report issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which suggested that the Western-led economic boycott of the PA must be lifted in order to fight poverty in the Gaza area. According to information received by Israel, Russia is set to conclude a deal, worth several hundred million dollars, to transfer thousands of advanced anti-tank missiles to Syria.