Current Events & Trends: Australia concerned about land purchases
Some officials in Australia are voicing concerns over the large amount of Australian land being bought up by Chinese investors.
The Wall Street Journal reports that "Chinese investors spent almost 6 billion Australian dollars (US$5.4 billion) on real estate during the 12-month period ending in June 2013" (Jason Chow, "Australia Is Worried Too Many Chinese Are Buying Homes There," March 18, 2014).
Australia's main concern is that these investment purchases, which often leave the properties sitting unused and empty, are pushing the Australian middle class out of the buying market. Whether or not foreign real estate investments are the real root of the problem, it's clear that Australia, along with the United States, is feeling the pressure of foreign economic influence.
Thousands of years ago God made a promise to a man He called His friend—Abraham—and nations that would descend from him. Those promises included prosperity and assured national sovereignty (Genesis 17:1-8). To Abraham's descendants God expanded and explained the covenant relationship.
God declared that He expected a standard of conduct and self-governance—and the promises were conditional based on these standards (see Deuteronomy 28). Among the penalties for not respecting the standards of God is the warning that outside nations would enjoy the fruits of the work of a people who have forgotten their God.
Australia and its fellow English-speaking nations certainly fit the bill of peoples who have forgotten their God and are feeling the squeeze of outside influence.
Time will tell if it's too late for these nations to wholesale return to God, but it's certainly not too late for you to turn to God and experience the joys of a deep relationship with Him and His Son Jesus Christ. Don't follow the lead of the nations—live faithfully starting today! (Source: The Wall Street Journal.)
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Rudolph Rangel III
Rudy Rangel attends the Cincinnati East, Ohio congregation along with his wife Judy and two children.
Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
Peter Eddington
Peter serves at the home office as advisor to the Church's president. Beforehand, he was Media and Communications Services operation manager for 25 years.
He studied production engineering at the Swinburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and is a journeyman machinist. He moved to the United States to attend Ambassador College in 1980. He graduated from the Pasadena campus in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and married his college sweetheart, Terri. Peter was ordained an elder in 1992. He served as assistant pastor in the Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, California, congregations from 1995 through 1998 and the Cincinnati, Ohio, congregations from 2010 through 2011.
