It’s Tuesday, April 13th, A.D. 2021. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Kevin Swanson
1,000 Canadian Christians protest COVID Tyranny
On Sunday, April 11th, an estimated 1,000 people gathered around the barricaded Canadian evangelical GraceLife Church to protest the injustice, reports CTV News.
The back story? On April 7th, the Alberta Health Services erected chain link fencing around the periphery of the church, blocking the ability of GraceLife members and visitors from even entering the building. The reason? The church violated Canada’s tyrannical COVID rule, restricting seating capacity in the pews to only 15%.
Meanwhile, about 400 members of the church met in an undisclosed location for their Sunday service.
This is how Pastor James Coates greeted the congregation.
COATES: “Well, good morning GraceLife. So good to see all of you. They can take our facility, but we’ll just find another one. (applause) What a blessing it is for us to gather together, to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
He delivered a sermon entitled “A Vain Thing” based on Psalm 2.
Pastor Coates spent a month behind bars for violating local health orders, and continuing to minister to his congregation with in-person Sunday services.
Psalm 2:1, 11-12 says, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. … Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”
20,000 Myanmar Christians in war zone need rice
Reporting from Myanmar, Dave Eubank of the Free Burma Rangers told CBN News that at least 20,000 Christians are in hiding during the present military crisis.
Eubank said they need to raise $730,000 for a three-month supply of rice. You can make a donation through a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com.
After police-involved MN fatal shooting, vandals hit businesses
On Sunday, a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota female police officer fatally deployed her service gun, instead of her taser, during a routine traffic stop of Daunte Wright. Police Chief Tim Gannon verified the shooting was accidental.
That same night, rioters threw projectiles and shot fireworks at the police guarding the Brooklyn Center’s police building. And last night, rioters vandalized 20 businesses including the Dollar Tree, reports TownHall.com.
Reporter Julio Rosas tweeted that “some Brooklyn Center stores are being protected by civilians with firearms. The looters have stayed away from these places.”
$2 billion of damages from George Floyd riots
Property Claim Services estimates that there was $2 billion of damage resulting from the George Floyd riots last year. That beats the $775 million of damage caused by the Rodney King riots in 1992.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports a total $7-$13 billion of damage caused by wildfires in the Western United States, brought about by an “Act of God” in 2020.
To get a better feel for the overall impact of natural disasters, the Insurance Information Institute provides an inflation-adjusted total impact per year since 1980. The average insurance hit now stands at $74 billion per year, up from $54 billion per year in the 1980s and 1990s. That’s an overall 37% increase of expenditures in the 2010s and 2020s.
Bitcoin hit $60,000
Bitcoin scraped $60,000 over the weekend, up from $30,000 on January 1st.
But now, the most powerful economy in the world is turning towards government-controlled digital cash. This gives the government the power to track every transaction, with its central bank issuing the currency itself.
Also, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress back in February that the issuance of a digital currency is a “high priority” for the U.S. central banks.
Democrat senator refuses to eliminate filibuster
In a Washington Post Op-Ed column last week, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced, “There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster.”
Thankfully, that pretty much seals the fate of the so-called “Equality Act,” as well as the “For the People Act” (sometimes called ‘The federal takeover of elections act”) for this legislative season.
But, let us remember this: God is in control of these leaders. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turns it wherever He wishes.”
600% increase in illegal immigrants breaching U.S. southern border
And finally, the United States is dealing with an abrupt increase in Border Encounters on the U.S.-Mexican border, reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It’s a six-fold increase, year over year, from March 2020 to March 2021. And it’s a three-fold increase, year over year, from February 2020 to February 2021.
However, the last six months of total border encounters in Fiscal Year 2021 only represented about a 20% increase from the first six months of Fiscal Year 2019.
Three years of deportations under Obama topped 1.18 million, while three years under Trump reached about 800,000, reports TheHill.com.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attributed the lower numbers under Trump to “an increased deterrent effect from ICE’s stronger interior enforcement efforts.” And the Trump administration had an increased proportion of immigrants from Central America, who are harder legally to deport, compared to that faced by the Obama administration.
Plus, because of Trump’s stand for the border, fewer people tried to illegally enter along the southern border in the first place.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Tuesday, April 13th, in the year of our Lord 2021. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I’m Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldView.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.