It’s Friday, January 10th, A.D. 2025. 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 Adam McManus
Muslims block construction of church in Indonesia
Muslims in Indonesia said they will sue Catholic leaders to prevent completion of a church building after months of construction, reports Morning Star News.
The St. Anthony Catholic Church in Bandung, the capital of West Java Province, obtained building permits. However, attorneys for area residents claim they were granted through improper means and without their permission.
Christians in Indonesia say they are routinely pressured to make extra payments known as “grease” – essentially a bribe — to local officials or residents in order to obtain construction permits in the 83% Muslim country.
In John 15:18, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.”
Judge temporarily blocks release of DOJ report on Trump case
In America, Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, ruled that special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the federal classified document case against President-elect Donald Trump cannot be released pending more court proceedings, reports NewsNationNow.com.
The move came after Trump’s attorneys demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland leave the release of the report up to the incoming administration.
Back in July, Judge Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump. She said Smith was illegally appointed.
Smith’s report was expected to be released “imminently” before objections by Trump’s attorneys, saying the report would be “one-sided.”
Trump wants Panama Canal back
At a recent press conference in Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Trump outlined why he believes America should get the Panama Canal back. The 51-mile waterway, which was completed by America in 1914, connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of Panama.
The Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous route around the southernmost tip of South America.
In 1914, 1,000 ships went through the Panama Canal. By 2012 however, more than 815,000 ships used the waterway shortcut.
TRUMP: “The Panama Canal was built for our military. Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China. China! And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn’t give it to China. They’ve abused that gift. It should have never been made, by the way.
“Giving the Panama Canal is why Jimmy Carter lost the election, in my opinion, more so maybe, than the hostages. The hostages were a big deal. It’s a bad part of the Carter legacy. He was a very fine person, but that was a big mistake. We lost 38,000 people. It cost us the equivalent of a trillion dollars.”
Gary Bauer, President of American Values, wrote, “Panama is likely in violation of the treaty it made with us when we handed over control of the canal. The treaty mandates that nothing be done at the canal that threatens America’s security. But Panama has allowed communist China to gain footholds on both ends of the canal. Trump’s strong language is what a president should say, which is why Joe Biden hasn’t said it.”
California fires claimed 2,000 buildings and 5 lives
Many images of wildfire devastation coming over the newswires made the City of Angels look every bit like Hades: raging infernos, charred skeletal remains of homes, a smoke-filled sky, and weeping residents, notes The Hollywood Reporter.
According to the Los Angeles Times, firefighters battled multiple blazes overnight as whipping winds, with gusts up to 100 miles per hour, fueled three major wildfires.
- The Palisades Fire burned more than 15,800 acres and numerous homes, businesses and landmarks in Pacific Palisades. It reached westward along the Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu.
- The Eaton Fire burned more than 10,000 acres and many structures in Altadena and Pasadena.
- And the Sunset Fire exploded around 5:45 p.m. yesterday and appeared to be burning south toward Hollywood Boulevard.
More than 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been damaged or destroyed and at least five people have died. Plus, 30,000 people evacuated their homes.
Actor James Woods saves 94-year-old man in fire with phone call
Appearing on CNN, actor James Woods tells a providential story about the fire.
WOODS: “We have a neighbor who is 94 years old, who has dementia. I said there were no cars on the driveway. We would go over to help him get in his chair, you know, sometime, if he fell, with the caregiver. But I knew he was in the hospital.
“God was on his side. I decided to call his son in Massachusetts and said, ‘Hey, Francis, just to be sure, your dad’s still in the hospital, right?’ He said, ‘No, he got home last night, and there’s a new caregiver, and I don’t have the number.’
“They wouldn’t let us back up. So, I finally got through to 9-1-1, and said, ‘You gotta go check on this guy.’ I call my neighbor, who hadn’t evacuated yet. He was on his roof, fighting his fire. I said, ‘Go in and check on him.’ He went. He said, ‘The door’s open, there’s nobody here.’ He went in and yelled. He said, ‘No, nobody here.’ I said, ‘Look, just go behind the pantry. There’s a little room. We can see him during the day. He likes to sit there because there’s a garden.
“He went in and found him. He’d been left alone. And it turned out the fire department made the new caregiver leave, and they said, ‘We’re coming back for him.’ Well, they hadn’t come back for him. I’m hoping that they would have but, you know, there was so much chaos.
“It was like an inferno. Every house was on fire around us, and he got him out, and the house burned down about an hour later.”
Psalm 138:7 says, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life.”
With a broken heart, Woods revealed that his own house was consumed by flames after he evacuated.
WOODS: “At 11:49 last night, all the smoke alarms in our house alerted our phones that our house that we had just renovated for three years and had just finally moved into about three months ago. You know, all the smoke alarms are going off, so that’s hardly [gets emotional] a good sign.
“So, I’m I’m not sure, but it it wouldn’t make any difference, because, you know, the whole street’s burned down. So, I mean, even if you go back to your home. We were out on our driveway. I looked at the smoke was so black. It was a house across the street was on fire. The house next door is on fire.”
McDonalds abandons woke DEI policies, embraces “Golden Rule”
And finally, fast food giant McDonald’s is the latest major corporation to distance itself from the woke “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies. Instead, they want to emphasize the “Golden Rule,” reports LifeSiteNews.com.
Matthew 7:12 says, “”In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.”
The Associated Press reports that McDonalds plans to abandon specific diversity targets for senior leadership, end a program aimed at diversity training for suppliers, and pause participation in “external surveys,” such as those conducted by the radical homosexual pressure group called the Human Rights Campaign.
McDonald’s cited the “shifting legal landscape” after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race-based affirmative action was unconstitutional in 2023 as contributing to the changes. Conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who has successfully pressured other companies to reverse woke policies, said he had informed McDonald’s that he planned to release a report on them as well.
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And that’s The Worldview on this Friday, January 10th, in the year of our Lord 2025. 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.