It’s Thursday, April 21st, A.D. 2022. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
Algerian officials shut down 17th Protestant church this month
Algerian officials shut down the seventeenth church affiliated with the Protestant Church of Algeria this month. The church of Aouchiche had 300 members.
Since 2017, the Algerian government has convicted 12 Christians on faith-related charges.
Authorities have increasingly pressed charges against Christians, especially Protestants, since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Islamic nation has the second-largest Christian community in Northern Africa and is trying to regulate the church out of existence.
Algeria is the 22nd worst country in the world for the persecution of Christians.
Russia focused on taking Eastern Ukraine
Russia began a new phase of its operation in Ukraine on Tuesday.
Russian forces are concentrating on taking control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region after they failed to take the capital of Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region have clashed over the past eight years.
Franklin Graham’s Easter message from Ukraine
On Resurrection Sunday, Evangelist Franklin Graham released a pre-recorded sermon he preached in Lviv, Ukraine.
Graham lamented the suffering in Ukraine and shared the many ways that Samaritan’s Purse is helping.
GRAHAM: “So much suffering in this country. Thousands of people have died. There are over 11 million people who are displaced at this point.
“At Samaritan’s Purse, we have responded. We have several field hospitals. We have a number of clinics. We’re doing food distribution. We have about 160 people working here on the ground. We’ve got chaplains here from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, ministering in the hospitals, praying with people, comforting people. And I think it’s important, for this Easter, that we remember the people of Ukraine, and that we pray for the people of Ukraine.”
Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
You can make a donation to the work of Samaritan’s Purse in Ukraine at SamaritansPurse.org.
Christian professor won a $400,000 settlement over pronouns
Last week, a Christian Ohio university professor won a $400,000 settlement after years of litigation over preferred pronouns.
Shawnee State University can no longer require philosophy Professor Nick Meriwether to address people with pronouns that contradict their God-given biological sex.
The case began in 2018 when Meriwether used a masculine pronoun to address a man pretending to be a woman.
Travis Barham with Alliance Defending Freedom said, “Dr. Meriwether went out of his way to accommodate his students and treat them all with dignity and respect, yet his university punished him because he wouldn’t endorse an ideology that he believes is false.”
42 states introduced 536 anti-abortion bills
So far this year, 42 states have introduced a total of 536 anti-abortion measures. That’s almost as many pro-life bills as were introduced during the whole of 2021.
This year, nine states have also enacted 33 anti-abortion measures.
Notable pro-life laws include Oklahoma’s near total abortion ban, Kentucky’s 15-week abortion ban, and Florida’s 15-week ban.
The leftist Huffington Post said, “The year is shaping up to be the most devastating on record for abortion.”
DeSantis vs. Disney
On Tuesday, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called a special session for the state to repeal Disney’s special status.
The status has allowed the theme park to operate as an independent government through its properties in Florida.
The move comes after Disney opposed a Florida law that bans public schools from teaching kindergarten through third grade children about “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.”
Sign the “Hold the Line” petition against Disney through a special link in our transcript.
Only 2% of parents of preteens have Biblical worldview
New research by Dr. George Barna at Arizona Christian University found that only 2% of parents of preteens have a biblical worldview.
However, 67% of these parents describe themselves as Christian, but 94% of them possess a worldview of Syncretism. Barna defined Syncretism as “the blending of elements from numerous, unbiblical worldviews along with a few biblical views.”
The report suggested many children disrespect their elders and think Christianity is contradictory in response to the Syncretistic worldview held by their parents.
Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Homeschooling skyrockets while public school enrollment drops
And finally, homeschooling continues to rise as public school enrollment falls.
For example, California’s public school enrollment fell for the fifth consecutive year, dropping by over 100,000 students this year.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau reports about 3% of students were homeschooled before the pandemic. Between May and September of 2020, homeschooling households increased from 5.4% to 11.1%.
In 18 states that shared data through the current school year, the number of homeschooling students increased by 63% in the ‘20-‘21 school year, then fell by only 17% in the ‘21-‘22 school year, reports the Associated Press.
Homeschooling increased the most, or five times the amount, among African-American families. Some states saw homeschooling increase by over 10% like Alaska, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Vermont, and West Virginia.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Thursday, April 21st, in the year of our Lord 2022. 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.