A recent movie playing on Netflix called Cuties has caused some controversy. Politicians expressed outrage, newspaper, radio and internet sites all commented. The director of the film, Maimouna Doucoure, said she was inspired to make the movie after she was shocked at a dance recital for young girls that seemed to sexualize them. This incident led her to begin researching social media and the pressures on young girls today.

Doucoure said, “I believe that cinema, and art in general, can change the world. We are able to see the oppression of women in other cultures. But my question is, isn’t the objectification of a woman’s body that we see in our Western culture not another kind of oppression?”

Bahrain and Israel announced on September 11, 2020, that they have agreed to establish diplomatic relations just a few weeks after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) worked out a similar deal (see my blog of August 28, 2020) with the Jewish state.

“This is a historic breakthrough to further peace in the Middle East,” read the joint statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain and President Donald Trump of the United States. The statement went on to say, “Opening direct dialogue and ties between these two dynamic societies and advanced economies will continue the positive transformation of the Middle East and increase stability, security, and prosperity in the region.”

Parts of a half-dozen states are being charred by more than 70 wildfires. Over 3.3 million acres have burned in California this year, which is a modern record. This has occurred before the traditional fire season begins. Thus far thirty-five people have been killed and over 4,000 homes, farmhouses and wineries have already been destroyed.

Over 14,000 firefighters were fighting fires from San Diego County in Southern California to the Creek fire in the center of the state. In September red-flag warnings, signaling a high fire threat, were up in much of California, Nevada, western Oregon and Washington, western Arizona and southern Utah.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel reached an agreement on normalizing relations in mid-August. The UAE is now only the third Arab country after Jordan and Egypt to have diplomatic relations with Israel.

UAE officials said they made this move in part to stop Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank. The West Bank and Gaza Strip were Palestinian territories occupied by Israel after the Six Day War of 1967. Israeli settlers have created villages on some of this West Bank land and Israel was planning on taking over some of these areas. That has all been put on hold with this new agreement.

On August 5, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India helped dedicate a Hindu temple on the spot where a Muslim mosque once stood. The ceremony took place in the northern Indian state of Ayodhua. Modi and his Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is seeking to transform India into a state dominated by the Hindu majority.

In 1992 Hindu extremists destroyed a mosque where the Hindu temple site now stands. Nationwide riots ensued and about 2,000 people were killed. The temple project was also the source of riots in 2002 that left more than 1,000 people dead, mostly Muslims. India’s Supreme Court gave control of the site to Hindu groups in 2019 after a long legal battle.

Black Lives Matter (BLM). Let the words resonate in your mind for a moment. What are you thinking about? Are you thinking about peaceful protests that are trying to overcome oppressive behavior? Are you thinking about black people who have been killed by the police in circumstances that could have been avoided? Are you thinking of slavery in the United States? You might even be thinking of an organization called BLM. Some of you might even be thinking of protesters turning violent and causing mayhem. Or maybe you are thinking of racist behavior directed at black people in the United States throughout our history. There are other possibilities you could be thinking about, too.

With Covid-19 still raging around the globe, recent news from the Far East reminds us these types of issues will be with us moving forward. In June, Chinese researchers discovered a new type of swine flu that could be dangerous. This information was published in the U.S. scientific journal PNAS. The new strain, known as G4, is descended from the H1N1 strain that caused the pandemic in 2009.

In early June the missing children (Joshua and Tylee) of Lori Vallow were discovered dead on the property of her present husband Chad Daybell. The children were missing since at least November of 2019. Vallow is presently being held in Idaho on desertion charges.

A friend of Vallow’s reports that Vallow believed the children were “zombies” who were possessed by “dark spirits.” The friend said that Vallow had learned many of the ideas behind her present spiritual beliefs from Daybell, a religious author and declared prophet who often wrote about the end of the world and of preparing for the Second Coming.

As members in God’s Church we are servants to the people who worship with us. One of the most important ways to serve others is to listen to them. In these difficult times we see disagreements about how to react to the virus and how to overcome racial strife. The first step in overcoming disagreement is to listen to each other. Among the three primary forms of communication (listening, speaking, and writing), listening is probably the least practiced. Think about it: How many of you were formally trained in listening skills? I would ask that question in one of the classes I used to teach, and fewer people raised their hand for having had formal listening instruction versus speaking or writing instruction. Let’s understand a little bit about being better listeners.

Join Mike James on Friday May 29th at 7PM CST as he leads you through an interactive bible study on the subject of "Where are Enoch and Elijah?" Some Christian's believe Enoch and Elijah are in heaven, but what does the Bible say. The study will last 60-90 minutes. This is our first attempt at a live Church wide interactive bible study online. The GoToMeeting application will be used via your computer, but if you want to join using a phone line that is also available. To join into this study please send an email to mhjames6044@gmail.com or call Mike at 240-304-6798. You will receive an email or a phone call 20 minutes before the study begins. In the email there will be a link to click on bringing you right into the study. If you are joining by phone Mike can also call you with a number to call to join. This type of outreach may become a regular occurrence on Friday evenings when Bring on the Sabbath is not broadcasting.