Wednesday, September 6th, in the year of our Lord 2017
By Adam McManus
Powerful Hurricane Irma Heads for Florida
God’s mighty hand is coming down hard on this nation.
Armed with the most powerful winds ever recorded for a storm in the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Irma bore down yesterday on the Caribbean and is headed toward Florida this weekend, reports the Associated Press.
Irma’s maximum sustained winds had increased to 185 miles per hour.
The last Category 5 storm to hit the United States from the Atlantic was Hurricane Andrew in 1992. An estimated 250,000 people were left homeless, 55 were killed, and the storm caused more than $20 billion in damage.
Psalm 46:7-8 says, “The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth.”
Special Report on Hurricanes and Climate Change After the Newscast
Stay tuned for our Special Report featuring the founder of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation who answered this question. Are these hurricanes the result of global warming or so-called “climate change”? You’ll hear it immediately following today’s newscast.
North Korea May Be Moving ICBM Toward the Coast
North Korea has been spotted at night moving a possible intercontinental ballistic missile towards its west coast, according to Reuters.
The Asia Business Daily reported yesterday that the rocket began its move on Monday.
California Churches Forced to Pay for Abortion in Insurance Plans
A federal court has required that California churches must pay for abortion in their health insurance plans, reports WorldNetDaily.com.
Alliance Defending Freedom stated, “If the state can force a church to pay for the very thing they counsel against, in violation of their constitutionally protected religious beliefs, then no American is secure.”
The conflict began in California in 2014 when the California Department of Managed Health Care reclassified abortion as a “basic health service” and ordered all insurance plans in the state to cover abortions.
Black Teacher Allegedly Forces White Students to Apologize for “White Privilege”
First reported by the American Lens, Tarsha Clarke, a black teacher in Rockingham, North Carolina, allegedly forced white, Christian students to stand up in her class and apologize for their “white privilege.”
Farren Wilkinson, one of the parents of a student in Clarke’s Western Rockingham Middle School class, asserted that “children are not responsible or accountable for any inequalities that are believed to be present.”
Chicago Mayor Declares the City’s Public Schools a “Trump-Free” Sanctuary
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel assured incoming high schoolers yesterday that they need not worry about President Trump ending the “Dreamers” program, saying Chicago Public Schools are a “Trump-free” sanctuary for young illegal immigrants, reports The Washington Times.
Lady Gaga Says She is All Alone Despite Her Fame
Lady Gaga’s former math teacher, Chris White, once warned the pop star at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City that she would be left feeling empty from her fame.
In a new preview for her upcoming “Five Foot Two” documentary set to debut on Netflix on September 22nd, the singer tearfully reveals that she is in fact alone despite her fame.
The Grammy winner is heard sobbing on the phone while revealing to her best friend, celebrity stylist Brandon Maxwell, that fame has left her empty.
“I’m alone, Brandon. Every night. And all these people will leave, right? They will leave and then I’ll be alone. And I go from everyone touching me all day and talking at me all day to total silence.”
White, who taught Stefani Germanotta — Lady Gaga’s given name — told her “Stefani, you may get the fame and success you are longing for one day, but it will not last and it will not make you happy,” reports The Christian Post.
1 Peter 1:24 says, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls.” And Isaiah 40:8 adds this, “but the word of our God endures forever.”
Hillary Clinton Targets Bernie Sanders in Her New Memoir
Hillary Clinton took aim at Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders who challenged her in the primaries for the Democratic presidential nomination in her new book entitled “What Happened”.
Clinton noted that the Vermont independent “isn’t a Democrat”, saying “That’s not a smear, that’s what he says. He didn’t get into the race to make sure a Democrat won the White House, he got in to disrupt the Democratic Party. I am proud to be a Democrat and I wish Bernie were, too.”
Clinton wrote that President Barack Obama counseled her to “grit my teeth and lay off Bernie as much as I could.” In her opinion, she felt like she was confined “in a straitjacket.”
Two Brothers Buy a 21,000-Pound Truck to Help Harvey Victims
Two brothers from San Antonio purchased a 21,000-pound truck on Craigslist just so they could help people in Houston, reports SunnySkyz.com.
Brad and Adam Morris were trying to figure out how to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey when their cousin, a Houston police officer, gave them a tip: “We’ve got boats, but what we need is high water trucks.”
So Brad and Adam got on Craigslist and purchased a $13,000 truck called “The Punisher”, and rescued dozens of people.
Brad Morris told PBS that he “couldn’t sit around and just watch people suffer.”
The brothers from my hometown exemplified the biblical principle found in 1 Corinthians 12:26 which says “If one part suffers, every part suffers.”
Special Report: Are Hurricanes Influenced by Climate Change?
And now a Special Report compiled by Emily Swanson.
People are worried that the strength and power of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey might be influenced by global warming or so-called “climate change.”
However, The World View spoke to Dr. Calvin Beisner, the Founder and National Spokesman of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, about whether or not the hurricanes are affected by “climate change.”
“I’d say kind of. I mean, in terms of our understanding of fairly basic physics, it makes sense to say that as the earth gets a bit warmer you may have more storms and more powerful storms. But I’ve got a couple of caveats to that; the first one is that the big question is not weather, but how much? One way to look at it is this way. This was explained to me by Dr. Roy Spencer; he’s a principal research scientist in climatology at the University of Alabama, an award winning planet scientist with NASA. Roy’s a really outstanding climate scientist.
“Spencer explained it to me this way.
“Basically all the CO2 mankind has added to the atmosphere since the industrial revolution can be calculated from first principles to have reduced the overall climate system’s ability to cool itself, that is to cast off heat received by the sun, by about 1/4 – 1%. Now if you assume a linear relationship between total climate system energy content and the frequency and intensity of storms, that implies that 99 to 99.75% of the storms that occur and 99 to 99.75% of each storm’s intensity in wind and rainfall would have occurred without that effect.”
Dr. Beisner shared Psalm 89, a Psalm that should keep in context the landfall of each one of these storms.
Psalm 89:5-9 says, “And the heavens shall praise Thy wonders, O Lord: Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? Or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them.”
Having witnessed several hurricanes himself, Dr. Beisner encouraged Christians to continue to support those who have been affected and pray for them.
This has been a Special Report. I’m Adam McManus.
Pakistani Christian Teenager Murdered at School
A highly academic Christian teenager has been killed in his classroom in Pakistan, reports Premier.org.uk.
Because of his faith in Christ, Sharoon Masih from the Vehari District in the Punjab province suffered years of institutional peer bullying and discrimination. The only Christian in his class, Sharoon was regularly called derogatory names and threatened.
He died in the classroom after reportedly being attacked by a mob.
Speaking to the British Pakistani Christian Association, his mother Razia Bibi, said: “My son was a kind-hearted, hard-working and affable boy…Sharoon and I cried every night as he described the daily torture he was subjected to. He only told me about the abuse and violence he was facing. He did not want to upset his father.”
Over Half of British People Say They Have “No Religion”
Last year 53% of British people described themselves as having “no religion”, in a survey by the National Centre for Social Research, reports the BBC.
Among those aged between 18 and 25, the proportion of the irreligious was higher at 71%.
Some 15% of people in Britain considered themselves Anglican in 2016, down from 30% in 2000.
Those identifying as Catholic has remained stable – at around 10%.
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt. Rev Paul Bayes, said the figures bring a “continuing challenge to the churches” in “a skeptical and plural world”.
Houston Mayor Says the City is Still “Open for Business”
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the nation’s fourth-largest city is “open for business,” despite the devastation left in the wake of Harvey.
Turner told CBS News “Anyone who was planning on a conference or a convention or a sporting event or a concert coming to this city, you can still come.”
But areas in the city remain under water, people are not back in their homes, and there are billions of dollars in damage caused by the tropical storm to repair.
Christians Concerned About Deportation of Those Who Immigrated as Children
Some Christians fear their pastors, ministry partners, and fellow churchgoers could be deported if President Donald Trump ends federal programs granting legal status to immigrants who came to the United States as children, reports Christianity Today.
In response to a threatened September 5 lawsuit by 10 conservative state attorneys general, the President is expected to soon tighten or terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has allowed 800,000 “Dreamers” over the past five years to work and attend school without the threat of deportation.
Evangelicals, like most Americans, are more likely to favor a path to citizenship for the so-called “Dreamers” (54%) than illegal immigrants overall (43%), according to a poll conducted this spring by Morning Consult and Politico.
Man Caught Under His Vehicle Saved By Teenage Son and His Friends
Bob Staub might not be alive today if it were not for the quick-thinking of his 14-year-old son and his two teenage friends, reports GoodNewsNetwork.org.
Staub found himself in trouble after he took the three freshmen high school students out fishing at Tunica Lake, Mississippi last weekend.
They were backing their truck and boat down the boat ramp when the car’s gear suddenly slid into park. Because this is a common occurrence with their SUV, Staub knew that he could fix it by manually shifting the gear from underneath the car.
The father crawled under the vehicle and started fiddling with the transmission. As the car slid into neutral, however, Staub realized that he had made a fatal mistake: he had forgotten to pull the emergency brake.
The car then rolled three inches onto the side of Staub’s head, thus pinning him to the concrete. Unable to move, the dad fell in and out of unconsciousness.
Staub’s son Nick and his two friends spent the next 45 seconds pushing the car off of the man’s head until finally, Staub was able to regain consciousness and pull his head free.
The students called 911 and Staub was rushed to the hospital. Despite a superficial gash on the side of his head, he had only sustained some bruising.
Staub says that if it had not been for the teens, he may have died. Now, the dad considers the three youngsters his heroes.
University of Notre Dame Launches Program to Learn About Persecuted Christians
Christians around the world are brutally persecuted, facing imprisonment, torture, and even death. A newly launched program at the University of Notre Dame is giving people the opportunity not only to “encounter the reality” of the lives of persecuted Christians but also to understand how these Christians respond pragmatically in the face of injustice, reports The Christian Post.
“When do they choose to migrate or to hide? To challenge their persecutors and/or to forgive them? To band together with others in solidarity? What fruits has the Lord wrought through their responses?” These are some of the questions being addressed in a seven-session learning series called We Respond, which was launched Monday.
As Thomas Aquinas put it, our ultimate happiness consists not in passing delights but in the contemplation of truth.
Diplomat’s Daughter Will Not Be Prosecuted for Stabbing 13-Year-Old Boy
The daughter of a diplomat stabbed a 13-year-old boy twice in the shoulder with scissors in Georgetown at the British International School of Washington yesterday afternoon, reports NBC Washington.
The victim, who was taken to Children’s National Medical Center, was conscious and alert and is expected to be OK. The girl was detained, but as the daughter of a diplomat, she will not be prosecuted, police said.
No word on a motive.
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.