It’s Monday, January 2nd, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
Ugandan Muslims sprayed pastor with acid in the face
A pastor has lost nearly all his vision after Muslim extremists lured him into an ambush in Uganda’s capital city and sprayed him with acid, reports Morning Star News.
Pastor Frank Mutabaazi of Mbarara can see only dimly out of one eye and has trouble eating and talking due to the burns from the acid attack on December 22 in Kampala. His shoulder was also seriously burned, and he cannot sleep without painkillers.
After the pastor preached at an evening service of a church in the Kasubi area of Kampala, a Muslim extremist, pretending to be a congregation member greeted him, praised him for his “wonderful sermon,” asked for a ride, and later three Muslims ambushed him, spraying acid in his face.
They called the pastor a deceiver who was not worthy to live.
John 3:20 says, “Everyone who does evil hates the light.”
Pope Benedict died at 95
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who will forever be remembered as the first pontiff in 600 years to resign from the job, died Saturday, reports the Associated Press. He was 95.
Benedict stunned the world on February 11, 2013, when he announced, in his typical, soft-spoken Latin, that he no longer had the strength to run the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church that he had steered for eight years through scandal and indifference.
And now Pope Francis will celebrate Benedict’s funeral Mass on Thursday, the first time in the modern age that a current pope will eulogize a retired one.
The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger never wanted to be pope, planning at age 78 to spend his final years writing in the “peace and quiet” of his native Bavaria. Being elected pope, he once said, felt like a “guillotine” had come down on him.
Barbara Walters dead at 93
Barbara Walters, the trailblazing television news broadcaster and longtime ABC News anchor and correspondent, died Friday, reports ABC News. She was 93.
Walters joined ABC News in 1976, becoming the first female anchor on an evening news program. Three years later, she became a co-host of “20/20,” and in 1997, she launched “The View,” a leftist talk program co-hosted by women.
She was married four times to three different men.
USA Today names Richard Levine — a man — among its ‘Women of the Year’
The editors at USA Today have officially drunk the “woke” Kool-Aid.
The paper named Richard Levine — a man pretending to be a woman named “Rachel” — among its “Women of the Year.”
USA Today described Richard Levine as “the highest-ranking openly transgender official when the Senate confirmed her as assistant secretary of health in October 2021.”
To be clear, Richard Levine has taken estrogen for years, has chosen mutilating surgeries, dresses like a woman, and now calls himself “Rachel” Levine.
The final vote was 52-48. Two Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, to their shame, joined all Democrats in supporting Levine.
Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female, He created them.”
2,500 pack Indiana library for Kirk Cameron story hour
Last Thursday, 2,500 people packed the Indianapolis Public Library to hear Christian actor Kirk Cameron read his new children’s book As You Grow after a debacle surrounding the actor’s allegations that his request to host the event was initially denied, reports The Christian Post.
The story hour booked by Cameron and his publisher, Brave Books, garnered large masses of people, forming an overflow crowd. A video posted on Twitter shows overflow attendees packed in the aisles of the library as there was no remaining space in the booked room.
In a public letter, Cameron questioned if he was prevented from reading his Christian children’s book because his race and the book’s Christian content didn’t fit the library staff’s view of diversity.
The book aims to use “brilliant art [to teach] the Biblical truths of the Fruit of the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Cameron and Brave Books claim that over 50 public libraries have denied them the opportunity to host story-hour events. For many of those libraries, Drag Queen Story Hour events are typically included in their programs for children.
Brother Andrew’s life remembered
And finally, as The Worldview looks back on the notable Christians who died in 2022, another disciple worth mentioning is Brother Andrew who died on September 27th at the age of 94.
Brother Andrew earned the nickname “God’s Smuggler” for his daring Bible deliveries behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War and was known by many for his adventurous faith and intensely devoted prayer life.
Appearing on The 700 Club with Pat Robertson, he said this.
BROTHER ANDREW: “My smuggler’s prayer is when I say, ‘Lord Jesus, when You were on Earth, You’ve made so many blind eyes to see. Now, it’s the same job for You to make seeing eyes blind. But You’ve got to do it now!’ And if He doesn’t, then I’ve had it. I cannot outsmart the crossing guards.
“Just think when I pull my car in there and I get out the show my papers. I’ve had situations where they took four hours to search — two fellows in the front of my vehicle, two in the rear, two underneath, and two standing there to watch the expression on my face to see if I was getting nervous.”
ROBERTSON: “And all the time they couldn’t find the Bibles?”
BROTHER ANDREW: “I’ve never lost one Bible in 20 years.” (laughter and applause)
He founded Open Doors, the oldest worldwide ministry to persecuted Christians, it reaches 60 countries, where it provides Bibles, emergency relief, and vocational training to Christians who are persecuted because of their faith. Open Doors is celebrating 67 years of ministry.
Toward the end of his life, Brother Andrew said he often was asked a pointed question.
BROTHER ANDREW: “’Andrew, what do you want written on your tombstone?’ I have options. One of them, sounds very pious, ‘He’s not here. He is risen.’ Or, like Oswald Chambers’ gravestone I visited that graveyard in Zeitoun in Egypt. ‘Oswald Chambers: A disciple of Jesus Christ.’ That gives glory to God. A disciple of Jesus Christ.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Monday, January 2nd, in the year of our Lord 2023. 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.