It’s Thursday, July 25th, A.D. 2024. This is The World View in 5 Minutes written by Jonathan Clark and heard at www.TheWorldView.com. Filling in for Adam McManus I’m Ean Leppin.
Christians in China Facing the Worst Persecution in Decades
Bob Fu, the founder of China Aid, addressed the second International Religious Freedom Summit Asia in Tokyo this week.
Fu said Christians in China are facing the worst persecution in decades.
FU: “Between 100 to 130 million Chinese Christians are now currently experiencing the worst Christian persecution we have not seen since the cultural revolution in 40 years.”
Fu said China has moved from trying to control Christianity to eradicating it. For example, the Chinese Communist Party forbids children from believing in Christianity. Officials encourage family members of Christians to report them. Authorities have also banned private Christian education and many foreign missionaries.
Fu goes on to say that part of eradicating Christianity involves criminalizing aspects of it.
FU: “The recent trend shows the Communist party even tried to criminalize the most fundamental elements of Christian worship. Pastors, one after another, had been arrested for simply putting up an offering box, are now being criminalized as business fraud. So many pastors already got sentenced from three years, four years, seven years imprisonment for collecting the tithing and offerings.”
Please pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in China, ranked the 19th on the Open Doors’ World Watch List of nations where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Christians in Scotland feel Excluded
A recent survey from Logos Scotland found most Christians in the country feel excluded from public life.
Seventy-percent of respondents believe the Scottish government does not support them. A similar number said they are concerned about abuse leveled at Christian politicians. Most also said they have experienced discrimination for their faith.
Scotland’s latest census data from 2022 found people who identify with no religion outnumbered those who do identify with a religion for the first time.
Netanyahu speaks to Congress
As reported by NBC News. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday delivered an impassioned speech to Congress, taking on protesters inside the House chamber and thousands gathered outside the Capitol.
It was his first address to U.S. lawmakers in nearly a decade and the first since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and resulted in the taking of over 240 hostages to Gaza, where about 100 are still believed to be held captive.
Netanyahu spoke about that day.
NETANYAHU: “October 7th is a day that will forever live in infamy. It was [a] Jewish holiday. It began as a perfect day – not a cloud in the sky. Thousands of young Israelis were celebrating at an outdoor music festival. And suddenly, at 6:29am, 3000 Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel. They butchered 1200 people from 41 countries, including 39 Americans. Proportionately, compared to our population size, that’s like 29 9/11s in one day.”
Netanyahu also emphasized the importance of the US and Israel standing together.
NETANYAHU: “This is not a clash of civilizations. It’s a clash between barbarism and civilization; between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life. America and Israel must stand together.”
Vice President Harris Secures Democrat Delegates
In the U.S., Vice President Kamala Harris has received enough support from Democrat delegates to become her party’s nominee for president.
She has secured 3,180 delegates, well over the required 1,976.
This comes after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday and endorsed Harris. She went on to raise over $80 million for her campaign in the first 24 hours.
The Democratic National Convention meets next month and plans to officially select their nominee by August 7.
Trump Leads Harris in Polls
Former President Donald Trump narrowly leads Vice President Kamala Harris in recent polls, according to Real Clear Politics.
Trump led by three points in a CNN poll with an average lead of 1.7 points across recent polls. However, one poll from Reuters/Ipsos gave Harris a two-point lead.
With many voters supporting Biden’s decision to not run again, Harris is performing better against Trump than Biden did in the polls.
Pro-abortion Work of Harris
Speaking of Kamala Harris, the Vice President is an outspoken supporter of killing unborn babies.
Emily Davis with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America warned, “American women and babies lose if she’s in office, because she will not stop. She knows whom she’s beholden to financially. She is the preferred candidate of the abortion lobby.”
Harris is known for targeting pro-life voices. As California’s attorney general, she prosecuted whistleblower David Daleiden in 2016. Daleiden had exposed Planned Parenthood’s sale of body parts from aborted babies.
In an interview with Fox News Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said this concerning a potential presidency of Kamala Harris.
RUBIO: “Kamala Harris is owned by the left. She is a product of the left wing of the Democratic party, whether it’s defunding ICE, getting rid of ICE, defunding the police. Single payer health care- I know she’s changed her positions when she became the vice presidential nominee. But these are the things she fought for and stood for and voted for when she was a senator, and that’s what she’ll do when she’s president. She is a committed California left wing Democrat. And she will be the most radically left president this country will ever have if she were elected.”
Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
Happy Birthday John Newton!
And finally, this week marks the birthday of John Newton.
He was born on July 24, 1725 in London.
Newton was a captain of slave ships in his early life. While at sea, a severe storm brought him to his spiritual senses, leading to his eventual conversion.
Newton went on to marry, become a pastor, and work to end the slave trade. Newton is probably best known for his hymns. Each week he would write a hymn to a familiar tune. Of his hundreds of hymns, he is especially remembered for “Amazing Grace,” “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” and “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds!”
Newton wrote his own epitaph for his tombstone which says, “JOHN NEWTON. Clerk. Once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa was by the rich mercy of our LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy. Near 16 years as Curate of this parish and 28 years as Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth.”
Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
And that’s The World View in 5 Minutes on this Thursday, July 25th, in the year of our Lord 2024. 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. Seize the day for Jesus Christ.