It’s Friday, July 19th, A.D. 2019. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Jonathan Clark
Congo, Africa’s Ebola outbreak an emergency
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization officially declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa a public health emergency of international concern.
The declaration follows the first confirmed case this week in Goma, a city of nearly two million people on Congo’s border with Rwanda.
The disease has infected over 2,500 people and killed over 1,600 since the outbreak began last August.
Canadian Anglicans wobbly on “gay” marriage
Leaders of Canada’s Anglican Church met this past week for its general synod, narrowly voting down a proposal to allow faux homosexual marriage in the national church laws.
However, another motion passed, allowing individual diocese to decide if they want to perform such unbiblical ceremonies.
U.S. Navy downs an Iranian drone in Strait of Hormuz
President Trump said the U.S. Navy downed an Iranian drone that was flying too close to our warship, the USS Boxer, in the Strait of Hormuz, hours after Iranian forces said they had seized a foreign tanker, the latest in a series of incidents that have ratcheted up tensions in a vital oil shipping route, reports the Wall Street Journal.
27 victims of religious persecution meet Trump
Pastor Andrew Brunson addressed the U.S. State Department’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom on Wednesday following his release from a Turkish prison over his missionary work.
Brunson said, “For me to be back with my wife and my children, this is what I wanted.”
The department’s inaugural religious freedom summit last year focused on Brunson’s case leading up to his release.
Also on Wednesday, 27 victims of religious persecution from 16 countries surrounded President Trump’s desk at the Oval Office, sharing their stories and thanking the president for his work to promote religious freedom.
Trump defunded United Nations Population Fund for 3rd time
For a third year in a row, President Trump ordered the defunding of the United Nations Population Fund, an agency that promotes population control and abortion worldwide.
This order will divert over $32 million taxpayer dollars from the abortion-promoting agency to women’s health programs that do not involve abortion.
The United Nations Population Fund has worked for decades with China to implement its population control policies.
Christian soccer player turns U.S. women’s team down on biblical grounds
The U.S. women’s national soccer team won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup this month, making it a record fourth title.
Jaelene Hinkle, a Christian player who was invited on the U.S. women’s soccer team, declined the opportunity because the team required players to wear homosexual/transgender “Pride Month” jerseys.
On Tuesday, U.S. women’s team goalie, Ashlyn Harris, criticized Hinkle for her Christian position.
Hinkle told CBN News that although she gave up a life-long dream, she knew she made the right decision.
HINKLE: “I don’t question [God’s] goodness. I know He’s faithful. If I never get a national team call-up again, that’s just part of His plan, and that’s OK. And maybe this was why you were meant to play soccer – just to show the believers to be obedient.”
Peter said in Acts 5:29, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Opioid drug overdoses down by 5%
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data this week showing the number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. decreased by 5.1 percent between 2017 and 2018.
This marks the first time drug overdose deaths have fallen since 1990.
The decline was mostly due to a decrease in deaths from prescription opioid painkillers.
Berkley, California bans “manholes”
Soon, there will be no more manholes in the city of Berkeley, California. There will also be no chairmen, no manpower, no policemen or policewomen.
No, that doesn’t mean a whole city will be without committee leaders and law enforcement. It means that words that imply a gender preference will be removed from the city’s codes and replaced with gender-neutral terms, according to a recently adopted ordinance, reports CBS News.
The city voted Tuesday night to replace gendered terms in its municipal codes, like “manhole” and “manpower,” with gender-neutral ones like “maintenance hole” and “human effort.”
2nd man on moon had Communion
And finally, tomorrow marks 50 years since the 1969 moon landing, NASA’s first manned mission to the moon involving astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
Despite initial skepticism, officials granted Aldrin’s request to take Communion during the Apollo 11 mission.
Shortly after Armstrong and Aldrin touched down on the moon in the Eagle lunar lander, Aldrin, himself a Presbyterian elder, took Communion, reading silently from John 15:5. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without Me.”
Aldrin later wrote, “I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were Communion elements.”
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And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, July 19th in the year of our Lord 2019. 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.