Current Events & Trends: U.S. presidential leadership called into question
Of potentially greater concern than the Middle East minefield are the serious straits besetting U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration.
Newspaper and magazine headlines, both from the United States and overseas, highlight and reflect a growing lack of confidence in American presidential leadership.
A headline from the Financial Times reads, "The Obama Presidency Is Not Over, but It Is Failing" (Nov. 17, 2013). The title of an Ezra Klein article in Bloomberg Businessweek laments, "How the iPod President Crashed: Obama's Broken Technology Promise" (Oct. 31). A London Times headline adds, "Weak Obama Won't Stop Iran Going Nuclear" (Nov. 19). A Wall Street Journal piece is titled, "Latest Troubles Imperil Obama's Pull With [the Democratic] Party" (Nov. 17). Other Journal headlines include "Europe Loses Trust in Obama" (Nov. 11), "Obama's Credibility Is Melting" (Oct. 23) and "The Unbearable Lightness of Obama" (Oct. 28).
The point in relating this is not to kick a man while he's down, especially one who's a national leader. Rather we should be praying for our nations and our nations' leaders. The apostle Paul tells us, "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we [Christians] may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence" (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
One of the principal problems at issue is the massive governmental health-care program being imposed on the nation (the troubled website designed to help implement it being only the tip of the iceberg). Remember that America's primary economic legacy has always been dominated by a strong national belief in capitalism and the free market. So when a socialist program of such massive scale is suddenly grafted into the U.S. economic picture, serious difficulties are certain to loom large.
This dilemma is not helped by the vast debt burden the nation currently finds itself under. (Sources: The Times [London], Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: January - February 2014
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
