It’s Tuesday, May 16th, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com.  I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)

By Kevin Swanson

6-year-old boy only one in family to survive Texas mall massacre

Only one member of the Cho Family — a 6-year-old boy — survived the Texas mall massacre last week in Allen Texas, reports ABC News.

William Cho lost his parents and 3-year-old brother that day.  The Cho family was part of the Prestonwood Christian School and community in Plano, Texas.  

Pastor Jack Graham commented on the Christian community helping out.

GRAHAM: “This wonderful, sweet family, three of the four now in Heaven, one child left behind needs the ministry and the care of Christian people. Our entire community needs this as well. The church is made for a time like this. Christians are made for moments like these so that we can show the love of Christ and to be there for people.”

Thus far, the Go Fund Me campaign for little William Cho has raised almost $1.9 million. 

Psalm 68:5-6 tells us, “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.  God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.”

Non-mortgage debt on the rise

Consumer non-mortgage debt is on the rise in the U.S.

It’s now at $4.64 trillion, up from $2.7 trillion ten years ago. That’s an appreciable increase in debt per Gross Domestic Product as well. Overall household debt now exceeds $25.5 trillion, according to numbers just released by the New York Fed. 

Debt in America is 360% of Gross Domestic Product

The overall debt in America has grown from 160% of the Gross Domestic Product – the sum total value of all goods and services — in 1980 to 360% of the GDP today.

The federal deficit for this fiscal year has already topped $1.1 trillion, and estimates for the 2023 and 2024 deficits hover around $1.8 trillion.   The average deficits between 2013 and 2018 were about $600 billion.  

The average deficit under the Clinton administration was 1.6% of the GDP.  The average deficit under the George W. Bush administration was 3.3% of the GDP.  The average deficit under the Barack Obama administration was 4.9%.  The average deficit under the Trump administration was 7.4%.  And now, the average deficit under the Biden administration is estimated at 7.9%.

American optimism declining

Pew Research finds that American optimism has taken a dive in the last two years.

Now, a full 58% of Americans believe that life was better 50 years ago in 1973. Just two years ago, only 43% of Americans claimed that.  Democrats tend to be more optimistic.

Deuteronomy 28:43-45 reminds us that “the alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.  Moreover, all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments.”

Trump makes exceptions on abortion

An eye-opening interview with Donald Trump conducted by the Messenger over the weekend pressed in on the former president’s views on abortion.  

THE MESSENGER: “Abortion is a big issue you talked about in 2022 when you said that Republicans didn’t really have the right message. They didn’t know how to talk about the issue properly. So what’s the right way for a Republican to talk about abortion in the 2024 elections?”

TRUMP: “Well, pretty much what I said in the CNN town hall. … First of all, I’m a believer in the exceptions, right? And just as Ronald Reagan was a believer in the exceptions, but I’m a believer in the exceptions … the life of the mother, raping and incest.  … The other thing I really believe is that the radicals are people that would have a baby destroyed, killed at the end of the ninth month or even after birth.”

Later in the conversation, this was said.

THE MESSENGER: “DeSantis signed a six-week abortion restriction in Florida. Do you think he was right to do that?”

TRUMP: “Well, he has to do what he has to do. If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don’t even know if he knew what he was doing. But he signed six weeks, and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh.”

THE MESSENGER: “What do you think? Is it too harsh for you?”

TRUMP: “I’m looking at all alternatives. I’m looking at many alternatives. But I was able to get us to the table by terminating Roe v. Wade. That’s the most important thing that’s ever happened for the pro-life movement.”

The U.S. church gender gap

The church gender gap in America is bigger than you may have thought.

A recently released Study of Faith and relationships looked at 19,000 Sunday church attendees and found that there are 42% more never-married single women than never-married men in the pews today.

The gender gap between single, divorced churchgoers is 77 percent women to 23 percent men. Overall, women make up 62 percent of all Sunday church attendees. 

Here’s another important takeaway from the study.  

Faithful marriages matter. While less than half of young adults in the U.S. grew up in continuously married homes, a full 87% of young men still attending church grew up in continuously married homes.

Canadian government looking to punish Christian on-line content

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission will now be regulating online content, according to the newly adopted Online Streaming Act, reports the CBC.

It will have the power to impose financial penalties on anybody who violates parts of the act, which includes respecting diversity in sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Canadian Radio-Television Commission already regulates Christian broadcasters, requiring them to dedicate broadcast time to promoting other religions. 

No more COVID passports for incoming vistors to America

Beginning last Friday, Canadians and other multinationals may enter the U.S. without proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

The Biden administration dropped the requirement, following a vote of the US House of Representative to that order in February.  

Japan dropped their requirements for COVID vaccines or testing on April 29th. And China and Brazil still require testing before entering their respective nations. 

SpaceX launched another 56 satellites

And finally, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched another 56 satellites over the weekend taking the total to over 4,400.  

His Starlink internet system now has an estimated 1.5 million subscribers. The Royal Caribbean cruise line has implemented the system. The dish will run you $599, and the monthly cost will be $90-$120.  

If you’re an RV’er, and on the move, the month’s rate jacks up to $150. That gets you 30 gigs a day.

Close

And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Tuesday, May 16th 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.