3ABN, Amazing Facts to Announce Merger on Evening Broadcast
By Eddie Schwisow, AToday (541-868-4270).
Danny Shelton, president of Three Angels Broadcasting, and Doug Batchelor, president and speaker of Amazing Facts Ministries, will announce on tonight's broadcast of 3ABN Live that the ministries they lead are uniting as one, according to official representatives of their respective organizations. Batchelor, who has led the Roseville, Calif.-based ministry since 1994, will assume the presidency of the new organization. Official representatives from 3ABN, including Walt Thompson, board chairman, would not comment on what Shelton's role would be with the newly united ministry. Shelton, Batchelor and Thompson will discuss the merger in more detail during a two-hour broadcast of 3ABN Live that will begin at 9 p.m. EDT on 3ABN stations and 3abn.com.

"Change in leadership at 3-ABN 
By Gregory Matthews, Chaplain, Club Adventist (19 April 2007). Yesterday, April 18, Elder Doug Batchelor, of Amazing Facts, addressed the Board of the Sacramento Central SDA Church in regard to some changes in his duties. As I write this, Elder Batchelor is in flight to the HQ of 3-ABN, where in a special TV program, these changes will be announced tonight. Then tomorrow, Elder Batchelor will fly back to Sacramento to preach Sabbath. These changes have been approved by the President of the General Conference, the President of the NAD, ASI, and the Executive Board of 3-ABN. Danny Shelton is resigning from his position as President of 3-ABN. I do not know, at this point what continued role Danny Shelton will have in the administration of 3-ABN. He is expected to announce today, that he wants to have more free time to devote to however he wants to spend his time. Elder Doug Batchelor will become President of 3-ABN. The two ministries are expected to continue but under the unified leadership of Elder Batchelor [More of the story].

Seminary student assaults professor at Andrews University. 
"Student Assaults Professor (April 18, 2007), 
At approximately 9:15 am Monday, April 16, Seminary professor Russell Burrill was threatened and assaulted in his office at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary by Seminary student, Adelin Romana Baciu. There was no weapon involved. Office staff heard the struggle and calls for help, went to Burrill's aid and called Public Safety and the police. The student also assaulted a police officer and medic personnel. The student is in police custody and has been dismissed from the university. Burrill sought medical attention, was released, and returned to the classroom Monday afternoon. Baciu is currently receiving medical treatment and awaiting arraignment" [Link].

Andrews University professor assaulted
Student faces charges today, was expelled by university.
By Carol Draeger, South Bend Tribune (17 April 2007)
BERRIEN SPRINGS - An Andrews University student reportedly told police he tried to kill a seminary professor whom he assaulted in the professor's office on Monday. The 28-year-old Berrien Springs student was being held in the Berrien County Jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon. The student, who admitted to police that he was on cocaine at the time of the assault, faces potential assault and attempted murder charges, said Berrien Springs/Oronoko Township police officer Milton Agay. Police and Andrews University public safety officials said the student walked into the professor's office about 9:15 a.m. Monday , locked the door behind him and allegedly punched, choked and beat the professor. The professor yelled for help during the attack, but office staff couldn't immediately respond because of the locked door, according to a police report. No weapon was used during the attack, police said. A motive was not given for the assault. The professor was treated at an area hospital, released and returned to the college later Monday afternoon, said Beverly Stout, of the Office of University Relations. The student was handcuffed by Andrews public safety officers in the foyer of the college's Seminary Hall on Seminary Drive when Berrien Springs/Oronoko Township police arrived. The professor had been transported to the hospital by an ambulance before police arrived. Agay said the student had a rapid heart rate and his blood pressure was high. The assailant reportedly admitted to police that he wanted to kill the professor and that he had used cocaine recently, Agay said in his report. The student calmed down after being questioned and police unlocked his handcuffs so medical personnel could treat him in the ambulance, Agay said. But within a few seconds, the student leaped from the ambulance cot and allegedly struck Agay in the chest, saying he wanted to kill the officer, according to a police report. The student was expelled from the university. Denis Fortin, dean of the Seminary, reportedly addressed students and faculty about the assault Tuesday morning at a regularly scheduled chapel service" [Story].

First Freedom First
"The founders of our nation believed that all Americans should have the right to worship according to their own beliefs, or not to worship at all. So strong was their commitment to religious freedom that they enshrined it in the first senten The founders of our nation believed that all Americans should have the right to worship according to their own beliefs, or not to worship at all. So strong was their commitment to religious freedom that they enshrined it in the first sentence of the Bill of Rights. 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...' This constitutional guarantee is often known as the 'first freedom.' Religion is a deeply personal matter. Americans must be free to practice their religion without coercion. Government exists to provide for the general well-being of all people, and its workings must be independent of specific religious doctrines. Simply put, there must be a separation of church and state. If we do not stand together as a nation, we stand to lose this fundamental freedom"

[Sign the First Freedom First Petition].

Up to 200 killed in Baghdad bombs
BBC News (19 April 2007)
A US troop "surge" has not stopped insurgent attacks
Nearly 200 people have been killed in a string of attacks in Iraq's capital, Baghdad - the worst day of violence since a US security operation began.
In one of the deadliest attacks of the last four years, some 140 people were killed in a car bombing in a food market in Sadriya district. A witness said the area had been turned into 'a swimming pool of blood'. The attacks came as PM Nouri Maliki said Iraqi forces would take control of security across Iraq by the year's end. As the number of people killed in the Sadriya market bombing continued to climb, Mr Maliki called the perpetrators infidels and ordered the detention of the Iraqi army commander responsible for security in that area. 'This monstrous attack today did not distinguish between the old and young, between men and women,' he said. 'It targeted the population in a way that reminds us of the massacres and genocide committed by the former dictatorship.' US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the attacks were 'a horrifying thing,' but said insurgents would not derail the ongoing security drive in Baghdad" [More of this story]. A few days ago (16 April 2007): "Hundreds of thousands attended the Najaf rally against the US" (BBC News).

Top Senate Democrat to Bush: Iraq war is lost
By Susan Cornwell, Reuters, Washington (Apr 19, 2007). "U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Thursday he told President George W. Bush the Iraq war was lost and the recent U.S. troop increase had accomplished nothing. Reid, the Senate's top Democrat, described part of a meeting with Bush at the White House on Wednesday -- the same day bombs killed almost 200 people in Baghdad in the worst day of violence since a U.S.-backed security crackdown was launched there earlier this year. 'This is the message I took to the president,' Reid said at a news conference. 'Now I believe myself ... that this war is lost, and that the surge is not accomplishing anything, as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday,' said Reid, of Nevada. 'I know I was like the odd guy out yesterday at the White House, but at least I told him what he needed to hear, not what he wanted to hear,' he added. Suspected Sunni al Qaeda militants detonated a string of bombs in mostly Shi'ite areas of Baghdad on Wednesday. The worst was a truck bombing that killed 140 people in the deadliest single insurgent attack since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. In their meeting, Bush and congressional Democrats failed to settle their fight over funding for the Iraq war, as lawmakers pressed Bush to accept a troop withdrawal timetable. 'The (Iraq) war can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically, and the president needs to come to that realization,' Reid said." [More of the story]. Interestingly, Reuters about two hours later changed the story link to lead to "Bush, Senate leader disagree over Iraq-Vietnam link" with a different author, By Caren Bohan, with little prominence given to the "war is lost" statement, which had been the earlier headline. – LFG.

Articles in the current issue of Adventist Today: Subscribe today!

May-June 2007 (Vol. 15; No. 3). The central focus of this issue is the need for Adventists to deal with the problem of plagiarism.

CONTENTS

• 02 | Editorial: In "Term Limits" John McLarty reflects on the denominational health benefits of church leadership term limits, and how after 10 years as Adventist Today editor, promoting open discourse and news within the Adventist Church, it is time for him to "it’s time for me to acknowledge my own dispensability" as AToday sets out to find a new editor, in order to spend more time with his church and family.
• 04 | Letters | AT readers
• 06 | Letters on Abortion | AT Authors and Readers Response
• 10 | 3ABN used by Adventist Retirees for Inspiration and Witnessing | Edwin D. Schwisow
• 11 | Adventist College and University Enrollment Figures Released | James Stirling

• 12 | Defining Plagiarism - Article Review | James Stirling
• 14 | Posner is Wrong on Plagiarism | Jim Walters
• 16 | The Specter of Plagiarism Haunting Adventism | T. Joe Willey, reporting on a presentation by Dr. Frederick Hoyt
• 19 | Unity and Tolerance in the Church – Parts I-III | Mark F. Carr
• 22 | Buckle Up – A Commentary on the Adventist Soul | Alden Thompson
• 24 | Contemporary Adventism: The Owl and the Aging Tiger | Dr. Milton Hook

Now Available from Adventist Today:

Desmond Ford. In the Heart of Daniel: An Exposition of Daniel 9:24-27.
This accessible volume provides a concise summary of Dr. Ford's life time of study of the book of Daniel written in a way that the main points can be understood by any interested reader. His dissertation at the University of Manchester, The Abomination of Desolation in Biblical Eschatology, covered some of the information contained in this book. The author considers interpretations advocated by dispensationalists as well as the traditional historicist view of the last two millenniums. The main emphases of the volume are upon "Messiah the Prince" and his "atonement for iniquity" and argues that these themes are applicable to both inaugurated (the Cross) and consummated (the Second Advent) Christian eschatology. Published by iUniverse, Inc. 2007. $13.95 plus $3.50 for shipping and handling. Please call (800) 236-3641 to order.