Monday, June 27th, in the year of our Lord, 2016.
By Mark Robinette
23 people are dead and the death toll is expected to rise in West Virginia as scores of missing people still are unaccounted for after Friday’s deluge and flooding. Greenbrier County was the hardest hit. 500 people were stranded in a shopping center overnight after a bridge washed out while dozens had to be rescued from rooftops and cars.
Belinda Scott, of White Sulpher Springs, was burned over two-thirds of her body in a bizarre twist of events. As her house filled with rushing water, she climbed into her attic but then had to bust out a vent to escape the attic when she smelled gas. As she popped out the vent onto her porch her house exploded. She then jumped into a nearby tree where she was stuck for hours while the house burned and she waited to be rescued.
After 52 percent of Brits voted to leave the European Union late last week, world money markets went haywire, multitudes rejoiced and others cried.
On Saturday an emergency meeting of EU-founding nations was called to deal with the immediate fallout and the terms of what some are calling an “unfriendly divorce.” If, as some predict, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, and Finland follow suit, what they are calling the “Brexit” may actually be the beginning of the end of the 28-bloc national pact.
It’s “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel but Operation Blessing International wants to use the sensationalized and overrated danger of the shark to launch a campaign highlighting what they call “the real world’s deadliest creature,” the mosquito.
David Darg, vice president of international operations for the organization, said they plan to host their first-ever “Mosquito Week” beginning on Sunday. The main purpose of the campaign, purposely overlapping “Shark Week,” is to raise awareness about the dangerous illnesses mosquitoes spread, especially in the developing world. 750,000 deaths are caused each year by diseases spread by mosquitoes while shark deaths are rarer than deaths by lightning.
Alligators kill 1,000 people per year. Robert Lineburger is thankful he’s not one of them. At the same time he’s mourning the loss of his loyal companion. An alligator attacked him at the Port LaBelle Marina in Southwestern Florida. His service dog, a protective pit bull named Precious, jumped between Lineburger and the gator. It cost the dog his life, but he saved his master Robert’s life. His dog served to warn him of seizures from which Lineburger suffered.
After finding the body of Ace Kimberly, the father and second of four Florida family members missing at sea since Sunday, the Coast Guard called off the search. The body of Ace Kimberly was identified late last week along with a mast believed to belong to the boat, six life jackets and other personal items of the family. The body of 17-year-old Rebecca was also recovered on Wednesday. The family was in route from Sarasota to Fort Myers in a 29-foot sailboat when they encountered rough waters and called a relative.
9-year-old Nassiff Malagara was tied to a tree and burned to death by his Muslim father in eastern Uganda after the father learned of his son’s conversion to Christ. He was from the Kakira Parish area near Kisozi. He is now in the hands of his loving Father in heaven.
According to ChristianToday.com, the miraculous conversion of an ISIS spy took place in Turkey after the man, identified only as “Mohammed,” was sent to the church of Ghassan Thomas on a deadly mission by his commanders. Mohammed said he had killed many Christians in the name of Islam and had come to do more of this bloody work when God touched him and changed his heart. Mohammed said the people of the church treated him with love and acceptance not knowing who he was. Talking about his conversion he said, “When they pray for me, I start to cry like a child. And I feel like something come out of my body – very heavy.”
Jesus had taken the burden of his sins. He was like those Jesus spoke to in Matthew 11:29-30: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.