It’s Thursday, May 22nd, 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 Jonathan Clark
Pakistani Muslim man abducted, forcibly converted, and “married” Christian teen
A Christian 15-year-old girl in Pakistan reunited with her parents yesterday after being abducted five months ago.
A 29-year-old Muslim man, Muhammad Anees, kidnapped her with four other men from her aunt’s home, forcibly converted her to Islam, and married her. The girl suffered abuse for months and is now pregnant.
Attorney Hanif Hameed told Morning Star News, “This is a clear case of false conversion and fake marriage to cover the crime of abduction and rape.”
Sadly, such cases are increasing in the South Asian country. Pakistan is ranked eighth on the Open Doors’ World Watch List of nations where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Billy Graham Association to host evangelism meeting in Germany
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is hosting the largest meeting on evangelism in 25 years in Berlin, Germany later this month.
It’s the same location that Rev. Billy Graham held the first World Congress on Evangelism in 1966.
Evangelist Franklin Graham is focusing the upcoming event on the church in Europe. Listen to his comments to CBN News.
GRAHAM: “We want to ignite a fire in Europe to where there’s an excitement for evangelism and the churches are willing to be bold and not ashamed of the Gospel.
“We’ve got Ukrainian churches coming. We have churches coming from Russia. You know, some say, ‘These countries are at war.’ Yes, they are, but the Gospel is more powerful than any of that stuff.”
In Romans 1:16, the Apostle Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.”
Trump announces “Golden Dome” missile defense system
U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans for a $175 billion missile defense system on Tuesday.
U.S. Space Force General Michael Guetlein is leading the project, known as the “Golden Dome.”
Trump said the system should be completed in about three years.
Defunding Planned Parenthood remains in Trump’s budget bill
A handful of conservative Republicans, who hesitated to support Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” appear ready to support the massive package after a furious pressure campaign from President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, reports The Hill.
After meeting with Trump at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, and then huddling together afterward on Capitol Hill, the members of the conservative Freedom Caucus emerged to say they’re on the cusp of supporting the package — if a laundry list of changes promised by the White House is reflected in the final proposal.
Their newfound enthusiasm appears to stem from assurances Trump and Johnson made during the White House meeting, including a promise from the president to issue more executive orders addressing some of the spending concerns the conservatives couldn’t secure in the legislation, and expanding the rollback of green energy tax credits enacted in the Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
The bill seeks to deliver on Trump’s key campaign promises, including making permanent Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips.
Court: Florida should require parental consent for a minor’s abortion
Last Friday, a federal appeals court ruled against a Florida law that allows minors to get abortions without parental consent.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled that the law was unconstitutional and violated parental rights.
The decision stated, “Whatever asserted constitutional abortion rights may have justified Florida’s [law] in the past unequivocally have been repudiated by both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court.”
Married, employed, church-attending people happier
Harvard University recently published their Global Flourishing Study which surveyed 200,000 people across 22 countries over the past five years.
The study found people experienced higher levels of wellbeing when married, employed, and attending religious services.
Professor Tyler VanderWeele led the research. He noted, “Religious service attendance was one of the factors most consistently associated with present or subsequent wellbeing, across countries and across outcomes.”
Anniversary of First Council of Nicaea
And finally, this month marks the anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, 1,700 years ago.
In May A.D. 325, about 300 Christian leaders convened in the city of Nicaea, located in modern-day Turkey.
The council dealt with the doctrine of the Trinity. In particular, the church at the time had to refute the heresy of Arianism, which denied that Jesus is fully and eternally divine.
The council went on to affirm the Trinity and Christ as fully God in the Nicene Creed. It is recited by churches worldwide to this day.
The creed affirms there is “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made.”
John 1:1 and 4 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview on this Thursday, May 22nd, in the year of our Lord 2025. Subscribe for free by Spotify, 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.