It’s Friday, February 10th, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
When Iran pardons thousands, will Christians be included?
Iran has a tradition of pardoning a large number of detainees on the anniversary of its 1979 revolution.
This year it will take place on February 11th, and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is said to be pardoning “tens of thousands.” But many suspect that this does not include those arrested from recent freedom protests nor Christians who have been imprisoned unjustly for their faith, reports International Christian Concern.
Hebrews 13:3 says, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”
Keep our imprisoned Iranian brothers and sisters in Christ in your prayers.
Turkish/Syrian earthquake death toll climbs to 21,000
Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday as the death toll has now passed 21,000, reports USA Today.
In Turkey, 17,600 died and 6,500 buildings collapsed. In Syria, another 3,300 people died.
In some locations, where hope of finding survivors had vanished, crews began demolishing buildings.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has pledged $85 million to fund shelter, cold weather supplies, food, water and healthcare.
Plus, the Boeing Company pledged another $500,000.
Pence subpoenaed by special counsel investigating January 6 riot
Former Vice President Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump’s effort to stay in office after the 2020 election and his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, reports NBC News.
Special counsel Jack Smith was appointed in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead the Justice Department’s inquiries into Trump’s role in the riot as well as the former president’s handling of classified documents after he left office. The subpoena is related to the January 6 investigation.
Pence, as then-president of the Senate, presided over Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results, but, according to NBC News, that role was strictly ceremonial, with no power to intervene in the counting of electoral votes.
Biden’s judicial nominee is clueless about Constitution
On January 25th, Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana grilled one of Joe Biden’s lesser judicial nominees, Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, on the basics of the United States Constitution.
As Joseph Farah, founder of WorldNetDaily.com writes, “She failed miserably.”
Listen.
KENNEDY: “Judge, tell me what Article V of the Constitution does.”
BJELKENGREN: “Article V is not coming to mind at the moment.”
Article V discusses the process by which the U.S. Constitution can be amended.
KENNEDY: “Okay. How about Article II?”
BJELKENGREN: “Neither is Article II.”
Article II lays out who is eligible to be president, the powers of the president, how he can be removed from office by impeachment, and how the states choose electors.
KENNEDY: “Okay. Do you know what ‘purposivism’ is?”
BJELKENGREN: “In my 12 years as an Assistant Attorney General, and my nine years serving as a judge, I was not faced with that precise question. We are the highest trial court in Washington State. So, I’m frequently faced with issues that I’m not familiar with. And I thoroughly review the law, I research, and apply the law to the facts presented to me.”
KENNEDY: “Well, you’re gonna be faced with it, if you’re confirmed. I can assure you that.”
As Farah summarized, purposivism, or the purposive approach, is a philosophy of interpreting the law that emphasizes the law’s purpose – advocating for judges to enforce the spirit of the law when it contradicts with the text of the law. In contrast, textualists argue that judges must strictly adhere to the law’s enacted text, when it is clear.
Biden nominated Bjelkengren to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
Farah asserted that her chief qualification was obvious: “She’s a Democrat.”
After the hearing, Senator Kennedy said, “Some of these nominees that have been forced in the last two years have no business being anywhere near a federal bench. They don’t have any business being anywhere near a park bench.”
Two Republican New Jersey city council members slain
Two Republican city council members in New Jersey have been slain in the last week.
Russell Heller, a 51-year-old GOP borough councilman elected in 2020 in Milford, was shot to death in the parking lot of a building owned by the public utility provider PSE&G where he worked, reports NJ.com.
Police said the victim was targeted by a disgruntled former employee. The suspect, identified as 58-year-old Gary Curtis, later took his own life while sitting in his vehicle in nearby Bridgewater, New Jersey.
This comes just one week after a separate incident in which Sayreville, New Jersey councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, age 30, was fatally shot in a vehicle near her home. She had been elected in 2021. Police have no clear motive in her murder.
Woodpeckers stored 700 pounds of acorns in attic
And finally, listen to this modern-day, living Proverb.
A pair of California woodpeckers are surely crushed after a pest control technician, on a routine call, recently found their massive trove of acorns cleverly stashed in the walls of a California home, reports CNN.
The homeowners called Nick Castro, owner of Nick’s Extreme Pest Control, when they spotted mealworms coming from a bedroom wall. They were feasting on an incredible hoard of acorns, believed to have been amassed by a pair of aptly named acorn woodpeckers.
He estimates there were tens of thousands of acorns weighing at least 700 pounds of acorns, likely collected over the past two to five years. Often, woodpeckers store acorns on the outside of homes, sometimes in rain gutters, but rarely do they get them inside.
In this case, Castro discovered the birds dropped their treasures through a hole in the chimney and entered the attic through a separate hole to feast on their stash. The woodpeckers had filled the cavity of the walls.
Over the course of an entire day, Castro and his crew of three filled eight big, black garbage bags that weighed at least one hundred pounds each.
Proverbs 6:6-11 says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.”
Like the ant, consider God’s creation of the woodpecker. Especially if you tend to be lazy.
Close
And that’s The Worldview on this Friday, February 10th, in the year of our Lord 2023. 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.