It’s Friday, March 26th, A.D. 2021. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
Chinese Communists raided house churches
Chinese officials raided or shut down several house churches last week.
Authorities took Zhang Pei-Hong, a preacher and lawyer, in for questioning after raiding the Lancun House Church in Shanghai. Zhang represents several Christian pastors who have been targeted by the Chinese government. Officials also raided Mt. Olive Church and shut down Ren’ai Reformed Church.
Underground churches across China continue to face harassment for not joining the state-approved Three-Self church movement.
China is the 17th worst country in the world for the persecution of Christians, according to Open Doors’ World Watch List.
Four Western countries sanction China for human rights violations
The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada imposed sanctions this week on Chinese officials for human rights violations.
The U.S. State Department stated the sanctions were “in response to serious human rights abuse against members of ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.”
The European Union also announced sanctions on Eritrea, known as the “North Korea of Africa”, for its religious liberty violations. Eritrea is the sixth worst country in the world for the persecution of Christians.
Scottish judge sides with churches against COVID Tyranny
A judge in Scotland ruled the country’s closure of churches was unconstitutional and violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
The case came after 27 Scottish church leaders challenged the government’s coronavirus restrictions on churches.
The judge, Lord Peter Braid, acknowledged that online services could not be considered a replacement for in-person services.
Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
Biden’s halting first press conference
U.S. President Joe Biden held his first press conference at the White House yesterday. It was Biden’s 64th day in office, the longest it has taken a president to hold a press conference in over 100 years.
When the president was asked what consequences North Korea would face for launching two ballistic missiles this week, he read, hesitantly, and verbatim, from a cue card.
BIDEN: “We’re consulting with our allies and partners. And, uh, there will be, uh, responses if they choose to escalate. Um, we will respond accordingly. But I’m also prepared, uh, um, for some form of diplomacy.”
President Biden had a number of fumbles, including this doozie.
BIDEN: “So the best way to get something done, if you, if you hold near and dear to you that you, uh, like to be able to, uh (pause). Anyway, (pause) I’m (pause) we’re going to get a lot done.”
He was asked about whether he would seek re-election in 2024.
REPORTER: “Have you decided whether you are going to run for reelection in 2024? You haven’t set up a re-election campaign yet, as your predecessor had by this time.”
BIDEN: “My predecessor needed to. (laughing) My predecessor. (laughing) Oh, I miss him. No, the answer is yes. My plan is to run for re-election. That’s my expectation.”
And Biden talked about the crisis at the Southern border.
BIDEN: “Of all the children who are coming across the border, over 70% are either 16 or 17 years old. We’re not talking about people ripping babies from mothers’ arms or little three-year-olds standing on the border. Less than, I think, it’s 1.5% fall in the category of the very young. The idea that I’m going to say, which I would never do, if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we’re just gonna let them starve to death and stay on the other side, no previous administration did that either, except Trump. I’m not going to do it.”
GOP Senator Ted Cruz described Biden’s open border policy to be a disaster.
CRUZ: “This border crisis is the biggest political mess Joe Biden has. It threatens to derail the entire administration. They’ve created this crisis. And they’ve created this crisis because of their political partisan commitments that they can’t back away from. So, why are we having this crisis at the border?
“Because when Joe Biden got elected, the first thing he did was stop construction of the border wall. He reinstituted ‘catch and release’, the failed policy. So the now when we detain illegal immigrants, we let them go. We give them a court date sometime in the future, and many of them never show up. And he ended the remain-in-Mexico policy, which was this incredibly successful foreign policy accomplishment, where the Trump administration had negotiated with Mexico, that illegal immigrants from Central America would remain in Mexico while their asylum proceedings were moving forward.
“All of those had produced real success. But because the Democrats campaign on saying [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is evil, securing the border is wrong, because the Democrats support open borders.”
(In all, President Biden only took 10 pre-selected questions from among the 30 socially-distanced reporters. Fox News was not among them. Check out Peter Doocy’s take.)
21% of Americans experiencing high COVID stress
A year into the coronavirus pandemic, a Pew Research study found that 21% of Americans are experiencing high levels of psychological distress. The figure is slightly down from 24% last year.
Young people were the most likely to experience high levels of distress.
In the U.K., Google searches for terms like “hug,” “hope,” and “prayer” reached record highs. Searches for terms like “panic attack,” “hypochondriasis,” and “how to help” also trended up.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
67% of Americans support faux homosexual marriage
The Public Religion Research Institute reports 67% of Americans supported faux homosexual marriage last year, up from 61% in 2017.
By party affiliation, sexually perverted lifestyles are supported by 76% of Democrats, 72% of Independents, and 51% of Republicans. It’s the first time a majority of Republicans voiced support for such relationships. Even a majority of white Evangelical Protestants favored faux homosexual marriages. Only 7% of Americans are completely against pro-LHBTQ policies.
Isaiah 59:14-15 says, “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.”
3,500 languages still lack Bible translation
And finally, illumiNations, an affiliation of 10 Bible societies, launched the “I Want to Know” Bible translation campaign this week with the goal of eradicating Bible poverty by 2033.
About half of the world’s 7,000 languages still need a Bible translation.
In 12 years, illumiNations hopes that 95% of people around the world will have a full Bible, 99% of people will have a full New Testament, and 100% of people will have portions of the Scripture in their language.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, March 26th, 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.
Press story
India greenlights murder of unborn babies until birthday
India’s Parliament passed a bill last week to legalize the murder of unborn babies up to birth in some cases.
The bill extends abortion from 20 to 24 weeks of pregnancy for so-called “therapeutic, eugenic, humanitarian and social” reasons.
An estimated 15.6 million babies were killed by abortion in India in 2015. Under the new law, yearly abortions could double.