It’s Tuesday, November 5th, Election Day, A.D. 2024, a critical moment in the history of this country. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 125 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Kevin Swanson
Chinese Communists crack down on house churches
Last month, one of the largest house churches in China, the Beijing Zion Church, was subjected to more raids. The church was banned by the government in 2018, but has continued to meet. The most recent arrests included a church elder and 11 members.
Also, 25 members of Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church in Shanxi province were arrested, fined, and sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention. The members had refused to sign a statement that they would no longer participate in church activities.
North Korean soldiers face first combat in Russia’s Kursk
According to Newsweek, a Ukrainian senior official has reported the nation’s armies firing upon North Korean soldiers in Kursk on the border of Russia.
This was the first action involving North Korean troops in the Ukrainian war.
North Korea launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
Speaking of North Korea, it launched another Intercontinental Ballistic Missile last week — setting another record of 86 minutes in flight. This was the first missile test in a year.
This time the missile hit a record altitude of 4,776 miles and a distance of 621 miles, according to the official KCNA news agency. The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile has a range of 8,100 miles, capable of reaching the United States.
North Korea also touts the fourth largest army in the world, complete with 5,000 tons of chemical weapons. The military has already conducted a 35-kiloton nuclear test, twice the power of the nuclear bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Experts believe that North Korea is in possession of as many as 200 nuclear weapons.
Rasmussen polling: Trump ahead of Kamala by 3%
Here in the United States, one of the few conservative polling organizations, Rasmussen Reports, has Donald Trump ahead of Kamala Harris by 3% going into today’s presidential election.
Rasmussen also has Trump ahead in Pennsylvania by two percentage points. Plus, the former president leads in North Carolina by three points and Nevada by two.
A billionaire election
Today’s election will be a billionaire election.
Kamala Harris has received backing from 83 billionaires and the Trump campaign counts 52 billionaires, reports The Independent.
The role of political action committees
Super PACs, which take in donations of $5 millions and higher, are far more involved in the presidential race this year, as well.
The political action committees backing the Donald Trump campaign have given $522 million more than they did in the 2020 campaign — a 300% increase. And the super PACs backing Kamala Harris have raised 50% more than they did for the Democratic presidential ticket in 2020.
Kamala raised $1 billion; Trump raised $400 million
Speaking of presidential donors, Kamala Harris raised over one billion dollars for her campaign, and Kamala Harris and Joe Biden together have spent $1.9 billion in this election.
By contrast, Trump has spent $400 million. Republican Bob Dole spent $70 million on his campaign for president back in 1996. And George W. Bush spent $180 million in 2000.
Bloomberg reports a total of $15 billion has been spent in the 2024 elections, up from $14 billion in 2020, and up from $6 billion in 2012.
Dramatic contrast in celebrity endorsements for Kamala vs. Trump
America’s entertainment cast of celebrities also showed up for this election, almost in unison, endorsing Kamala Harris in political advertisements and cameo appearances at rallies.
These included Beyonce, Usher, Jennifer Lopez, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Ricky Martin, Eminem, James Taylor, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Don Cheadle, Leonardo DiCaprio, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Robert DeNiro, Jeff Bridges, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Elba, Cher, Billie Eilish, Matt Damon, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Morgan Freeman, Jason Bateman, Dave Bautista, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alecia Keys, John Legend, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder, Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Keaton, Bryan Cranston, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, J.J. Abrams, Whoopi Goldberg, Nick Offerman, and Samuel L. Jackson. Those names were compiled by Breitbart and Forbes.
This is the worldview of Hollywood and the pop music scene in America, supported by Christians who watch the movies and listen to the music.
By contrast. the handful of celebrities who have stated support for Donald Trump in this election are Mel Gibson, Dennis Quaid, Jon Voight, and Rosanne Barr.
Psalm 33:10-12 reminds us that “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever; He plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”
J.D. Vance articulates his faith
At an October 26th town hall meeting in Rock Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Pastor Joshua Robertson asked Trump’s Vice Presidential pick, Senator J.D. Vance, about his faith.
PASTOR ROBERTSON: “Political candidates aren’t always clear about their faith. How do you define your faith and what do you believe?”
VANCE: “I’m a devout, practicing, church-going Christian. I was actually baptized for the first time in 2019. So, that wasn’t always true.
“I was raised by my Mamaw because my mom struggled with opioid addiction for a big chunk of my life, and she was a woman of very profound Christian faith. She didn’t graduate from high school, but she thought more about what the Bible required of her than any person that I’ve ever met in my life.
“I served four years in the United States Marine Corps, and then, by around the time that I got out of the Marines and was starting college at Ohio State, I started to think that I knew more than Mamaw did. I started to think that to be educated, and to be knowledgeable in the ways of the world, meant that I had to discard the Christian faith that Mamaw had raised me in.
“As I became a more mature young man, and you start thinking about the big questions: What do you want to be as a father? What do you want to be as a husband? What is required of me to be a good man? And I kept coming back to the answers were found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, that led me back to my faith.
“If you work hard and play by the rules, whether you agree with my religious faith or not, you ought to be able to provide for a family, you ought to be able to give your kids a good education, and you ought to be able to build a life in this country that all of us love. That to me is the politics of the common good, and it’s very much influenced by my Christian faith.”
How a woman’s suicide attempt leads to her courtship and marriage
And finally, here’s an inspiring story of a British nurse who was about to commit suicide on a summer afternoon in 2019.
Charlotte was standing on train tracks, waiting for the end. But little did she know that the engineer, Dave Lay, had other plans. He stopped the train short, descended from his cab, knelt down beside the woman, and struck up a conversation. He said, “Hi! My name is Dave. Are you having a bad day?”
He got her some help, but later Charlotte looked him up to say thank you. They spent a few months meeting in coffee shops, and just getting to know each other. Today, they’re happily married with a couple of children, reports BBC News.
But even more important is this lesson from Proverbs 11:30. “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview on this Election Day, Tuesday, November 5th, in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by Amazon Music or 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.