Monday, August 14th, in the year of our Lord 2017

By Adam McManus

Man Runs Car into Group of Protesters at Rally in Virginia

The presence of David Duke, the former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and white nationalist leader Richard Spencer at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia inspired people to picket.

But one apparent Duke sympathizer named James A. Field Jr. of Ohio allegedly plowed his Dodge Charger through a group of counter-protesters, sending bodies flying, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others, reports NBC News.

The rallies were held to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

President Donald Trump issued this statement.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence – on many sides.”

Russia Prosecutes Christians for Religious Activities

Christians make up the vast majority of more than 180 cases brought under Russia’s “anti-missionary” laws since they came into force a year ago, reports Christian Today.

Since being implemented on July 20, 2016, Russia has prosecuted activities including prayer meetings in homes, posting worship times on a religious website, and praying in the presence of other citizens being interpreted as “missionary activity”, with a fine for an individual the equivalent of six weeks’ worth of income.

DNC Deputy Chair Says Kim Jong-un Acts More Responsibly than President Trump

Democrat Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, who also serves as the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, said that the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was acting more responsibly than President Donald Trump.

Listen to this soundbite as Congressman Ellison refers to President Trump twice as “this guy”.

“You have this guy making bellicose threats against somebody else who has very little to lose over there. Kim Jong Un – the world always thought he was not a responsible leader. Well, he’s acting more responsible than this guy is.”

He made the remarks at the Atlanta-based Netroots Nation conference on Friday.

Hillsong Pastor Criticized for Taking Shots with Justin Bieber at a Bar

The transformation of pop star Justin Bieber has been widely associated with the mentoring he’s received from Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz in New York City. However, many Christians have expressed outrage after seeing pictures showing Lentz taking shots alongside Bieber at a bar during Hillsong’s conference in New Zealand in March, reports Christian Today.

Pastor Joe Schimmel of Blessed Hope Chapel in Simi Valley, California, rebuked Pastor Lentz in a letter on Christian News that is drawing a lot of attention.

Schimmel wrote, “[T]he chief concern from these images has to be how someone, who calls himself a pastor, is engaging in such an activity with someone who has a history of abusing substances.

“As Christians, we are not to walk as the world does. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. How must this look to the non-believing world. Is it normative behavior for the Christian? Is it the sort of behavior that a shepherd leading his flock should engage in? That is not what I read when I pick up my Bible.”

1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

Baby in Texas Found Abandoned in the Bushes

Police in Harris County, Texas said a local resident discovered a newborn girl in the bushes early Thursday morning outside the Cypress Creek apartments, according to the Daily Mail.

The resident told the Harris County Sheriff’s Office that he heard the baby crying and found her among the flowers and bushes; she was covered in ants and dirt, and her umbilical cord was still attached. The man said he cleaned her off and held her until authorities arrived.

Police found the mother, a 21-year-old living in the apartment complex, when they followed the trail of blood near the baby. The mother admitted that she had given birth to the girl about an hour earlier, though she initially denied it.

Police said the woman is in custody, and charges are being considered.

Fired Google Engineer Says Google is “Almost Like a Cult”

The Google engineer fired for writing a controversial memo about diversity now says that Google is “almost like a cult.”

In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, James Damore wrote that he “committed heresy against the Google creed by stating that not all disparities between men and women that we see in the world are the result of discriminatory treatment.”

Total Solar Eclipse Sweeps Across the US Next Monday

The first total solar eclipse in the contiguous United States since 1979 will sweep across the continent on Monday, August 21st and treat observers to one more example of the beauty God created on this special little planet, reports Christian Headlines.

The eclipse will cut a 70-mile-wide path of totality, a swath that stretches from Oregon to South Carolina, where the moon will completely block the sun.

As the moon blocks the sun, stars will shine in the sky and several planets, including Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, should be noticeable. Plus, the temperature will suddenly drop by as much as 15 degrees and birds will stop singing.

Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”

Police Raise Money to Replace Teenage Girl’s Stolen College Fund

Kristin Villanueva and her family were on vacation when an unnamed burglar broke into their house and stole her $2,000 college fund.

The 17-year-old high school graduate and valedictorian of El Segundo High School in California had saved up the money by tutoring other students. Now, as she prepares to study materials engineering, Kristin was heartbroken to discover the robbery, reports GoodNewsNetwork.com.

The El Segundo Police Force then stepped in and created a GoFundMe page through which they’ve already raised $5,340!

Violence Against Christians in India Reaches Record High

The violent, life-threatening attacks against Christians in India have reached record high in the first half of 2017, with 410 reported incidents, nearly reaching the number of attacks in all of 2016, reports the Christian Times.

Hindu extremists were suspected of being involved in 99 percent of the cases of violent assaults in their attempt to convert the Christians to Hinduism.

It’s attributed to “Hindunisation,” an nationalist ideology that only touts the tenets of one religion and one culture.

Nigerian Pastor Released by Fulani Herdsmen After Ransom Was Paid

Rev. Jen Moses, an evangelical pastor in Nigeria, Africa who was kidnapped on August 4th by Fulani Muslim herdsmen last week, was freed last Wednesday, reports The Christian Post.

Morning Star News reports that church sources have confirmed that a ransom payment was made to the captors.

In a statement posted to Facebook, “The Evangelical Church Winning All is seriously worried about the growing spate of insecurity and criminality in Nigeria which appears to have overwhelmed the government and its security agencies as nowhere — home, market places, work places, worship places and our highways — are safe.”

Human Rights Attorney in Vietnam May Face Long Prison Sentence or Death

After 19 long months of investigative detention following his Dec. 16, 2015 arrest in Vietnam, renowned human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai was finally charged with a crime on July 30, reports the Gospel Herald.

The trumped-up charge was “carrying out activities with the purpose of overthrowing the Peoples’ administration,” under article 79 of the Penal Code.

If found guilty of the serious charge, Dai could face 12 to 20 years in prison or even the death penalty.

Dai has already served eight years in prison and was under house arrest from 2007 to 2015.

President Trump Urges China to Pressure North Korea

During his conversation with President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that North Korea must stop its provocative and escalatory behavior. Plus, Jinping requested that both the U.S. and North Korea tone down recent rhetoric in order to avoid further tensions between America and North Korea, reports Chinese Central Television.

That portion of their phone call was confirmed early Saturday in a White House statement.

Trump has urged China to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program, which North Korea says is nearing the capability of targeting the United States.

And the president also spoke with Guam Governor Eddie Calvo, reassuring him that U.S. military forces stand ready to ensure the safety and security of the U.S. territory.

Twin Girls Born at 24 Weeks Now Healthy Two-Year-Olds

Twin baby girls, named Sapphire and Ruby, born at just 24 weeks in the UK have miraculously survived their premature birth and are thriving, according to The Christian Institute.

The survival of the premature babies raises questions about the UK’s abortion policy. Abortion is legal in the UK up to 24 weeks gestation which is considered the age before which a child supposedly not able to live on its own outside the womb. However, the survival of these two babies calls that into question.

Delivered by Caesarean section, they weighed one pound, five ounces, and one pound two ounces at the time.  Today, at the age of two, they are happy, healthy and thriving.

Seven States Down to One Abortion Mill

Here’s some good news. Seven states now only have one lone abortion mill in their borders, reports Life News.

The states with only one abortion facility are: Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming.

In addition to the passage of strong pro-life laws, a 2016 Bloomberg analysis suggested that abortion clinics are closing because demand for their deadly business is dropping, even in liberal states where lawmakers promote abortion on demand.

In 2014, abortions in the U.S. dropped below 1 million for the first time since 1975, the Guttmacher Institute reported.

Abortionist May Have License Revoked in Kansas for Failing to Report Abortion on Minor

The state of Kansas requires that abortion mills submit tissue from the aborted baby to the state Bureau of Investigation for patients younger than 14. The law helps provide information for cases involving the sexual abuse of minors.

Abortionist Allen Palmer, who crosses the state line of Missouri, did not collect or submit the tissue to the bureau for an abortion he performed on a 13-year-old girl at a Kansas Planned Parenthood in 2014, The Daily Mail reports.

So now, a Kansas medical board is considering whether to suspend or revoke Palmer’s license.  The abortionist blamed the staff for not informing him of the young girl’s age.

This is not his first run-in with the law. According to Operation Rescue, Palmer was convicted of corporate tax evasion in 1979 and spent time in prison. He also had his medical license suspended in Missouri for two years.

Auschwitz Survivor Passes away at Age 113

Holocaust survivor Israel Kristal, who last year was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living man, died in Israel last Friday at the age of 113, reports Reuters.

Born in Poland on Sept. 15, 1903, Kristal survived the Auschwitz death camp, where his first wife, two children and other family members were killed by the Nazis. He married again after the war and moved to Israel in 1950.

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide on the Rise in the Netherlands

Doctors in the Netherlands helped kill 4.5 percent of all the people who died in the country in 2015, reports Christian Headlines.

The data published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows more people are requesting physician-assisted death, and doctors are more willing to grant their requests. In 1990, just 1.7 percent of deaths in the Netherlands came through euthanasia or assisted suicide.

To receive a lethal injection or have a doctor prescribe life-ending pills, people from the Netherlands do not need to have a terminal illness.

Rap-Rocker Bob Ritchie Plans to Run for Senate

Kid Rock, also known as Bob Ritchie, the Detroit rap-rocker, perfected the outlandish, over the top white-trash persona.

And now Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, revealed Friday that they are “very interested” in his decision to launch a Senate campaign to take on Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow, in 2018, reports the Washington Examiner.

In a recent poll, Rock only trails behind Stabenow by eight points.

Freedom From Religion Foundation Demands That Mississippi Schools End Prayer Walks

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is at it again.

This time the atheist group is pressuring four Mississippi public schools to end their annual tradition of holding “prayer walks” to mark the start of each new school year, reports the Christian Post.

President Annie Gaylor whined “that these prayer walks were deliberately aimed at students who are young and susceptible to religious messages, [which added] a deeply disturbing element to this violation.”

Governor of Louisiana Declares State of Emergency Due to Flooding

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency in New Orleans amid fears of large-scale flooding, reports World Magazine.

And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.

What kind of worldview do your children get? The vast majority of teens from Christian families are abandoning a biblical worldview, according to the Barna Group. Sadly, many parents do not realize that the curriculum they have chosen for their children actually conveys the wrong worldview of history, science, life’s purpose, and truth. Pass on the faith to your children with a distinctively Christian education.

Check out our Christian discipleship curriculum at https://store.generations.org/collections/curriculum.