World News and Trends: Iraq yes, but don't overlook Iran

Oct 15, 2002
2 minutes read time

U.S. intentions concerning Iraq command the news media's attention, but Iran is never off America's mind for long.

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According to Randal Lurie, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., future chroniclers "will emphasize the massive, well-organized, state subsidized terror that stemmed from and flourished in Iran. That country, history will record, was overtaken by a religion that incorporated itself into a so-called legitimate state for one strategic purpose: The Islamization of the world as the endgame." American strategists estimate that Iran will be able to develop a nuclear-tipped missile within two or three years. But even more worrying is the prospect that Iranian leadership may have no qualms about using weapons of mass destruction against countries and peoples they deem as infidels. Mr. Lurie continued: "Iran is much stronger than Iraq, and its religious fanaticism cements its mission to eliminate nonbelievers wherever they are. You can read nowadays open analysis by military pundits in the Iranian press debating whether two Hiroshima-size bombs could be more than enough to destroy Israel, or whether one would be sufficient." Indeed we live in a world where such frightening thinking is common. You need to know what the Bible says about the trends that characterize our dangerous age. Please request our free booklet Are We Living in the Time of the End? (Source: The Los Angeles Times.)
Iran
Iraq
United States
North America
Middle East
World Regions
Conflicts and War
News and Prophecy

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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. 

Melvin Rhodes

Melvin Rhodes is a member of the United Church of God congregation in Lansing, Michigan.  

Tom Robinson

Tom is an elder in the United Church of God who works from his home near St. Louis, Missouri as managing editor and senior writer for Beyond Today magazine, church study guides and the UCG Bible Commentary. He is a visiting instructor at Ambassador Bible College. And he serves as chairman of the church's Prophecy Advisory Committee and a member of the Fundamental Beliefs Amendment Committee.

Tom began attending God's Church at the age of 16 in 1985 and was baptized a year later. He attended Ambassador College in both Texas and California and served for a year as a history teacher at the college's overseas project in Sri Lanka. He graduated from the Texas campus in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in theology along with minors in English and mass communications. Since 1994, he has been employed as an editor and writer for church publications and has served in local congregations through regular preaching of sermons.

Tom was ordained to the ministry in 2012 and attends the Columbia-Fulton, Missouri congregation with his wife Donna and their two teen children.