It’s Thursday, January 18th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
North Korea, Nigeria, and China remain on Persecutor List
Open Doors released its 2024 World Watch List yesterday on the 50 worst countries for the persecution of Christians.
Over 365 million Christians faced high levels of persecution last year. That’s one in seven Christians. Believers suffered over 4,000 detentions, nearly 5,000 murders, and 15,000 attacks on property or church buildings.
North Korea ranked number 1 again, where becoming a Christian is effectively a death sentence. Nigeria, at number 6, saw the most violence, with 82% of killings happening there. And China, at number 19, perpetrated the largest number of church closures.
1 Corinthians 12:24-27 says, “God has so composed the body . . . that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
The seeds of China’s one-child policy
Speaking of China, the country’s population declined for a second year in a row.
The nation had 1.4 billion people at the end of 2023, a decrease of over two million compared to 2022.
Once the world’s most populous country, China has record-low birth rates following its one-child policy from the 1980s. India now has the largest population globally.
Also, China’s latest economic data shows the country grew at one of the slowest rates in decades last year.
Javier Milei to World Economic Forum: Socialism and abortion are bad
Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland yesterday.
The libertarian came into office last year, promising to reign in government bureaucracy and spending.
He called out socialism and abortion during his speech at the forum. He said, “I am here today to tell you that the West is in danger . . . because those who are supposed to defend the values of the West have been co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism.”
Milei also said, “Another conflict presented by socialists is that … we human beings damage the planet which should be protected at all cost, even going as far as advocating for … the bloody abortion agenda.”
(You can watch Milei’s 26-minute speech, translated into English, in a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com. It begins at the 6:05-mark.)
Psalm 2:1-2, 4 asks, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against His anointed. … He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”
National Religious Freedom Day
In the United States, Tuesday marked the 21st annual National Religious Freedom Day.
Coinciding with the event, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty released the fifth edition of their Religious Freedom Index.
The report found American’s support for religious freedom reached 69 on a scale 0 to 100. It’s the highest score on the index since it started in 2019.
Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket, said, “Despite some efforts to turn religion into a scapegoat for our nation’s problems, most Americans believe that religion—and religious freedom—are key to solving them.”
U.S. Supreme Court’s pro-trans ruling
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lower court ruling to stand that was in favor of transgender bathrooms.
Indiana’s Metropolitan School District of Martinsville had barred a girl, pretending to be a boy, from using the boys’ bathrooms.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the school district in the matter. And the U.S. Supreme Court denied the district’s request to hear the case, continuing its trend of turning down transgender cases.
Microsoft passes Apple
Last Thursday, Microsoft overtook Apple as the most valuable company in the world for the first time since 2021.
Microsoft shares reached a market cap of $2.89 trillion as Apple’s value dropped to $2.88 trillion.
Microsoft grew in value significantly over the last year after investing in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Microsoft has been a frontrunner in integrating aspects of artificial intelligence software into its products.
Treaty of Paris ended America’s War for Independence
And finally, this week marks the 240th anniversary of the Treat of Paris.
The Confederation Congress of the United States ratified the treaty on January 14, 1784. Representatives of the U.S. and King George III of Great Britain had signed the treaty the previous year in Paris. This officially ended America’s War for Independence. The American states received recognition as “free, sovereign, and independent states.”
The Christian character of the treaty was apparent, as it was drafted, “In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Thursday, January 18th in the year of our Lord 2024. 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.