It’s Tuesday, March 17th, A.D. 2020. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com.  I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)

By Kevin Swanson

As we reported last Thursday, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law has documented that 3,000 Christians have been killed per year in northern Nigeria, Africa since 2015.  An additional 350 more were killed in the last two months. Plus, the lives of 20 pastors were taken by the pogrom.

Muslim Jihadist Fulani herdsmen accounted for 7,400 Christian deaths, the Muslim terrorist group, Boko Haram, killed another 4,000 and the ‘Highway Bandits’ took the lives of 150-200, noted the Christian Post.

South Carolina teachers can now push sexual perversion

Last Wednesday, a U.S. District Judge overturned a 1988 South Carolina law prohibiting teaching sexual perversions in public school classrooms, reports NBC News.  The judge argued that the law violated the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The law had made it illegal for public school teachers to discuss “alternate sexual lifestyles from heterosexual relationships” except in the context of sexually transmitted diseases. Teachers who disobeyed the law and included sexual perversions in their curriculum were fired.

Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to 0%

Responding to the downturn in the economy due in large part to coronavirus fears, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero again, reports CNN.

That’s roughly the same percentage the Fed held between 2008 and 2015.  These are the lowest rate levels for the Fed in the last century, a strategy the government hopes will stimulate a little more debt spending.

Coronavirus infections peaked in S. Korea, killed 1,000 Italians

Coronavirus infections have peaked now in both South Korea and China.

South Korean new cases have dropped under 100 this week. In Italy Meanwhile, where 1,000 have died, saw its largest day-to-day increase in infections, reports CNN.

And Germany joins the list of nations shutting down borders including Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Switzerland, and Austria.

Stock market beating

The U.S. stock market took a beating yesterday, opening the way to an economic recession.

The Dow closed at 20,186 — down another 3,000 points for the day, reports Clear Channel Radio. That represents a drop of about 9,000 points off the high of 29,300 last month, a 31% correction thus far, and the worst percentage drop since 1987.

And the NASDAQ index experienced its worst day in history.

Oil dropped to $28.70 per barrel, lowest in 40 years

The Federal Reserve moved Sunday to inject $700 billion of Quantitative Easing into treasury and mortgage-backed securities. This is reminiscent of the $4 trillion of Quantitative Easing the Fed applied in the 2008 financial crisis, reports CNBC.

Also, oil dropped to $28.70 per barrel on Monday, the lowest wholesale price in 40 years.

1 Timothy 6:17 instructs “those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.”

12 states close restaurants & bars over coronavirus

As of Monday, 12 states have closed bars and/or restaurants, by order of state governors over coronavirus concerns, reports TheHill.com.  They include California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington

New York City has closed all of its schools. School closures in America due to the coronavirus have now affected 30 million children in the U.S., almost half of the public school population.

Also, in a White House briefing conducted yesterday, the president advised that all American children “school at home.”

Coronavirus deaths compared to other virus deaths

So far, 6,700 have died of the coronavirus around the world including 70 in America.

Contrast that with about 5 million people worldwide who have died of other communicable diseases during the same time frame, according to www.OurWorldinData.org.  For example, 1.2 million have died of influenza and other digestive diseases, 500,000 of tuberculosis, 500,000 of HIV/AIDs, 310,000 of malaria, and 3.2 million have died around the world of upper and lower respiratory disease.

Let’s fear God and not these diseases as we are told in Deuteronomy 28:58-60.  “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, The LORD your God,  then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.  Moreover, He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.”

Churches not holding services over coronavirus fears

Many churches across the country are not gathering for their Sunday services out of concerns the coronavirus will be spread.

World Magazine reports that Pastor Mark Dever’s Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Pastor Kevin De Young’s Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, N.C., and Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston cancelled services at their buildings on Sunday.

Dead Sea Scroll fragments in Museum of the Bible are fakes

The Dead Sea Scroll fragments displayed at the Washington DC Museum of the Bible have turned out to be forgeries. National Geographic has reported that all 16 pieces were faked.  The Museum had learned that at least five were forgeries two years ago.

Over 10,000 actual fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls reside at a museum in Jerusalem.

“I Still Believe” movie about Jeremy Camp #1 at box office

And finally, despite low theater attendance over the weekend, the “faith-based” film “I Still Believe” took the number one place for box office sales. Depicting the life story of Christian musician Jeremy Camp, the film has been reviewed positively by Focus on the Family.

The film beat out Sony’s “Bloodshot” and Disney’s pro-homosexual film “Onward.”

Close

And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Tuesday, March 17th in the year of our Lord 2020. 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.