52 Hawaiians die in wildfires, Southwest Airlines objects to employees’ religious liberty, Ecuadorian presidential candidate assassinated

It’s Friday, August 11th, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)

By Adam McManus

Fire at “One for Israel” ministry building

Have you ever heard of a ministry called “One for Israel”?  Based in the Promised Land and founded in 1990, these Messianic Jews have a simple message to Christians worldwide. “The best way to bless Israel is with Jesus!”

After all, in Acts 10:36, Luke wrote, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.”

Sadly, 99% of Israelis do not know Yeshua, or Jesus, as their Messiah.

Thankfully, One for Israel has produced cutting-edge videos, that have been viewed millions of times, which are at the forefront of evangelism and discipleship in Israel’s modern-day revival.

In this video, entitled “Jewish lives transformed by the Jewish Messiah,” which has been viewed 24 million times, listen to the initial perception that Jews had about Christianity and the New Testament.

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 1: “I used to believe that Jesus was God of the Gentiles.”

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 2: “I imagined that Jesus was Italian.”

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 3: “The New Testament was one of those books that I saw nuns reading on the subway.”

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 2: “I was expecting to find a handbook on how to persecute the Jews. I’m reading a story, written by Jews, about Jewish people.”

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 3:  “One thing you don’t do or you don’t talk about Jesus.”

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 4: “I’m gonna get ostracized. They’re gonna think I’m crazy.”

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 5: “Are you out of your mind? You’re not Jewish anymore.”

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 1:  “Absolutely not. Do not look into this.”

FORMER JEWISH SKEPTIC 5:  “You are a traitor to your people.”

The Jews who have come to faith in Christ have been radically transformed.

MESSIANIC JEW: “I’ve been involved in Jewish outreach for over 30 years. This new form of evangelism, that One for Israel has so effectively uses, is really revolutionary in 2,000 years.

“The Ministry of One for Israel is an extremely valuable one, in effectively communicating, to the world, that Jesus is a Jew, that Jesus is the Messiah of our Jewish people, and that Jewish people are coming to faith in Messiah, in several different languages, but most notably, in modern Hebrew, into all corners of the Jewish world.”

Sadly, on June 21st, a fire in a nearby dumpster, started outside One For Israel’s building in Netanya, soon spread up the south side of the building.

Erez Soref, President of One for Israel, said, “Thankfully, no one was in the building at the time, and by a miracle of God, our campus library was unharmed — including our collection of irreplaceable Hebrew Old Testament scrolls!”

The building itself, however, sustained significant damage, including a number of concrete floor slabs that will have to be replaced to ensure the structural integrity of the building. And thousands of dollars worth of video equipment was also destroyed. 

While insurance is covering a portion of the repair costs, they’re asking for Christians worldwide to consider making a donation to help rebuild and buy new video equipment. You can that through a special link in our transcript at www.TheWorldview.com.

Ecuadorian presidential candidate assassinated

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio stood up to organized crime just days before he was assassinated in Quito at a campaign event Wednesday.

He said, “Come, here I am, […] let the drug lords come, let the hit men come. The time for threats is over. Here I am.”

And last weekend, Villavicencio said, in Spanish, that he would not wear a bulletproof vest despite the death threats he had received

He said, “Listen well, they have told me to wear the vest [but] here I am in my sweaty shirt. … You are my bulletproof vest, I don’t need it, you are a brave people, and I am brave like you.”

On Wednesday, the journalist-turned-politician was killed by a hail of bullets after he had gotten inside a car following a campaign rally at a school in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito.

The presidential election takes place on August 20, 2023.

52 Hawaiians die in wildfires

At least 52 people in Hawaii have died and 1,000 structures have been destroyed after wildfires, fanned by winds from a faraway hurricane, devastated much of the resort city Lahaina on Hawaii’s Maui island, reports the Associated Press.

Multiple neighborhoods were burnt to the ground as the western side of the island was nearly cut off.

NBC News talked to a number of the victims.

Listen to Lahaina resident Mason Jarvi’s description.

JARVI: “It’s like an apocalypse. We just had the worst disaster I’ve ever seen. All of Lahaina is burnt to a crisp.”

Some people fled into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames.

VICTIM #1: “We thought we were okay, but then the wind came. The gas stations blew up. Everything caught fire by the brush and then we just had to evacuate.”

VICTIM #2: “Pretty much everybody I know lost everything that we have.”

VICTIM #3: “We just barely got out. There were ashes, embers, everything flying through the air.”

In an August 10th Facebook post, Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham, asked people to pray.

He said, “Pray for residents, first responders, and leadership in the wake of this devastating disaster. We are working with local officials and churches to assess how Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief and Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Rapid Response Chaplains can best help.”

You can make a donation through Samaritan’s Purse to help the people of Hawaii through a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com.

Southwest Airlines objects to employees’ religious liberty

And finally, on February 7, 2017, Charlene Carter, a Christian Southwest Airlines flight attendant, took issue with her union, Transport Workers Union Local 556, and its president, Audrey Stone, for attending the pro-abortion Women’s March in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2017, which received some funding from Planned Parenthood.

Carter took to social media to take a stand.

Not only did she criticize the union’s attendance on Facebook, but she posted a video of an aborted infant. Referring to the video, she said, “Warning. This is very graphic! I want my tax dollars to stop funding this period! This is murder.”

She was following the command of Proverbs 30:8 which says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.” 

Not surprisingly, on March 14th, 2017, Southwest fired Carter.

Thankfully, in July 2022, a federal jury in Texas awarded Carter $5 million, reported Fox Business.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, a Trump appointee,  mandated that three Southwest Airlines attorneys take an eight-hour course on religious freedom by Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian conservative legal advocacy group.

The order comes after Southwest violated prior court rulings relating to its discrimination against pro-life flight attendant Charlene Carter.

However, on Wednesday, Southwest pushed back, planning to appeal the judge’s order, reports TheHill.com.

Close

And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, August 11th 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.

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